/5eg/ - D&D Fifth Edition General

It was a half-asses "compromise" between outdated exp systems and non-autistic milestone leveling, that like most compromises satisfied neither side and actually hurt the one people SHOULD be using.

This guys Artificer Revised fixes most of that.
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJ-lzWkNB-

>homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJ-lzWkNB-
meh, lacks an alchemist subclass, i like the mad bomber archetype

I want to piece of equipment i'd like to commission a blacksmith for, just wanted to float the idea here first before I ask my DM about it.

Basically my Ranger uses a shield but I want to have a free hand to cast spells if the need arises. Could I get a blacksmith to craft me a plated sleeve (pic kind of related, but less ornate than this) and have it give +1 AC (as opposed to shield's +2) and let me still have a "Free hand"?

Would you let one of your players have an item like this? If so, at what level and would you allow them to craft it and for how much gold?

Explain further the system seems fine to me. Whats wrong with it on a technical level?

I'm a touch confused as to how explosive blast works. And I'm not sure how balanced this is as written.

>Homebrew

Which is fantastic, but sadly I'd rather see what the official crack at it can do because I prefer to keep homebrew to the minimum possible to have fun.

Also I will never allow a Homebrew Class on principle. Archetypes, spells, races, feats and all are fine, but never homebrew classes because the balance is too much to expect me to review as a DM and it opens the floodgates.

What are the best shenanigans to get up to during a time stop spell?

What are some interesting things for the players to be as a group, other than "ragtag group of mercenary "adventurers" who kick over goblin dens for coin until they inevitably get roped into a quest to save the known world"

I've gotten pretty burned out on what feels like the expected format for progression in these games at this point. I want something, anything other than "will adventure for coin" that works with this system

Fantasy spec-ops strike-team.

Siblings. Siblings working for money to save the orphanage they're from.

Holy Champions of different gods.

Chosen ones that fate forces together.

something like this is good. Make them THE special forces, assembled from some of the most effective and promising people they could find to solve political and supernatural problems.

1000gp, custom fitted to you so nobody else can use, imposes disadvantage on dexterity ability checks
+10k go for mithral and eliminates disadvantage
Alternatively make it a magic item requiring attunement.
You could also get the War Caster feat.
Are you playing PHB or UA Ranger?

Yes. Any level they could afford it. A couple hundo.

...

I'm playing PHB, Hunter archetype and so far I haven't felt significantly less powerful than the other PCs, although I might consider asking my DM if I can switch to the UA variant at some point.

Probably just allow it for nothing? It's basically -1 AC in order to save dropping weapon, casting and picking it up. Gives no advantage you can't already get aside from your character doesn't look retarded dropping his weapon all the time.

All you have to do is give your players set guidelines for their backstory so you can come up with some reason for them to all be together. Like make them all be related to a certain nobleman by association or blood so they can be part of his armed forces. Or maybe have them all be kidnapped and sold into the same slave camp early on in life. Or maybe have them all rise to prominence in some form and be called into court to aid with a task that requires their combined abilities. Maybe have them all right their backstories so they're zealots of some form that came to be affiliated with some secret society or something

The options are down to your imagination. The only reason why the ragtag group of mercenaries is so common is because it's one of the few sensible premises for DMs who don't want to restrict their players in how they write their backstories and motivations. I say sometimes taking away a little freedom in many ways can improve the adventure, after all many adventures start at high levels, which straight away removes the ability to start out as a weakling.

that reminds me of the ward cestus from 3e's arms and equipment guide

Ward Cestus: This is a stout leather gauntlet with a well-forged metal weight sewn into it over the knuckles. A strike with a ward cestus is considered an unarmed attack. If you take a Total Defense action, you gain an additional +1 bonus to your Armor Class, representing blows you block with the back of your protected hand. Your opponent cannot disarm you of a ward cestus.
and it cost 10g

>right their backstories

write*

DESU I would say both.

Put all the players in service to a noble, especially an eccentric one. Sets the party up for everything from diplomatic missions to treasure hunting expeditions.

Make the players members of a noble family and have something threatening their kingdom. Rip off the plot of a Fire Emblem game.

Make all the players students at a magic school, rip off the plot of a Harry Potter book.

Have the players found their own guild. Yeah, they're still basically mercs for hire, but now there's reputation-building and an attachment with their home community going on.

Make the players part of a merchant caravan dealing with the dangers of travelling across a fantasy world filled with wars, monsters, and exotic wares.

Make the players part of a criminal organization trying to work their way up in a city or region, rip off the plot of a GTA game or some good heist movies (This is REALLY fun if you have a group of good roleplayers).

Players are part of a monster hunter group assembled by the church or dominant religion of your setting. Rip off the plot of a Castlevania game and throw in elements of supernatural investigation media.

>Make all the players students at a magic school, rip off the plot of a Harry Potter book.
Why would you even want to rip off one of the dullest franchises in the history of movie franchises. Seriously each episode following the boy wizard and his pals from Hogwarts Academy as they fight assorted villains has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the series’ only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of special effects, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.

Perhaps the die was cast when Rowling vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody, just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for her books. The Harry Potter series might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-James Bond series in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.

>a-at least the books were good though
"No!"
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.

I wish I hat one of these for Veeky Forums.

Is there ANY reason to use the vanilla Ranger rather than UA's revised version?

Not really. I mean, beastmaster is slightly less dependent on his pet than beast conclave, but that's kinda the problem.

this, though i bet your players will act NOTHING like it and be spec-ops in title only.

I've thought the same thing for a while now. Remember you'll have to get the players to work together during char gen for it to really work. Also your options will open up a lot more if your players are willing to play with asymmetrical relationships in the party (i.e. if they're not emotional children). Some ideas:

- A group of acolytes from some church on a holy mission to kill a vampire/convert the locals/find a relic/etc.
- A noble and retinue (guard, confessor, court wizard, etc., not just squires) on a quest to reclaim ancestral lands/do something EXTREMELY HONOURABLE.
- A merchant and hired guards. The merchant seeks out artefacts etc. to sell and needs muscle to protect him & do most of the actual retrieval work. Him being nominally in charge is balanced by him taking a backseat role in dungeons.

Generally just having some common features in background and a defined quest is enough to mitigate the problem somewhat.

Your one of those people who spends 3 years world-building then bitches because your players ruin your grand epic story that you should have just written a book about in the first place, aren't you?

So, played my first session in a newish campaign yesterday. Posted a bit about this in the last thread, but fuck it.
>DM and at least one player are low-ish key furries
>i decide to give the campaign a shot because fuck it, why not
>races are mostly pretty similar to standard, with a few exceptions
>a few haven't been clarified or seen yet, but the relevant ones are
>Arachne, giant fucking spiderpeople
>Avariel, elves but with wings
>mild_concern.jpg
>fuck it, whatever
>i'll play a regular human dudeman and kick ass
>end up creating a pseudo-scottish wizard/shaman/necromancer who's on a quest to become a big damn hero so he can go home and not have to worry about fucking paladins and their fucking idiot mobs trying to burn down his village because he spoke to a spirit ONCE
>Party is level 5, they've been going for a few sessions
>they're currently between adventures, so I introduce myself by walking into a tavern and loudly proclaiming that i'm looking for men and women of skill and good character to hunt down a wanted criminal while brandishing a poster
>i'm looking for some shifty necromancer asshole who's killed people and stolen a shitload of bodies
>conveniently run into a band of professional murderhoboes
>An avariel sorceror, a fucking HUGE kratos looking bastard who is apparently a Goliath barbarian and a human paladin
>They seem interested enough once they learn there's a reward, and agree to tag along
>We set out to track this guy down at his last reported location, a city to the north
> Run into some chick who's apparently a half-Arachne on an island full of them
>i guess she's like a quarter spider
> Apparently the giant spidermen are kinda dicks to half-breeds, as is tradition with literally every fantasy race ever
>i'm still not sure if I'm in a magical realm right now
> She asks for safe passage to a city slightly past our destination, and offers a "scroll of angel wings" as compensation
>i have no idea what the fuck that is
Cont'd

>DM and at least one player are low-ish key furries

Stop shilling this stupid shit. Wandslinger is completely busted.

This seems like the way to go. My group is pretty nice, but I'm *slightly* worried that they might exploit this.

>Spider chick mentions that there have been rumours of displacer beasts in the forests around this area
>i am now concerned
>We set out to our next destination
>We set up camp as it gets dark
>DM asks who's taking watch
>[concerned scottish noises]
>I take watch
>"You see something moving in the forest"
>I cast light on a pebble and throw it at the movement while poking the barbarian with my quarterstaff to rouse him
>It's a fucking displacer beast
>The barbarian gets up
>Some worgs come out of the trees
>what the fuck is going on
>Paladin is still sleeping, as is the escort quest
>Displacer beast gets two attacks on her before she wakes up
>some jokes about the first tentacle attack being on a female PC ensue
>worg takes a bite out of her
>the paladin is now, to be charitable, fucked up
>Spiderlady heals her because she can do that?
>I use Ray of Enfeeblement to protect the barbarian from the displacer and then move to the opposite side of the campsite
>the fire is now between me and the rest of the party, who are between me and the wildlife
>I narrowly dodge two arrows from the treeline behind me and take a fair chunk of damage
>[ANGRY SCOTTISH NOISES]
>at this point I do the only reasonable thing
>I run directly up to the treeline, shout something and cast Thunderwave
>I hear something shouting in pain and crashing through the forest
>Good enough
>Meanwhile the barbarian is turning out to be much, much stronger than I thought
>like holy SHIT
>He's got the "Soulfire Greatsword", which is apparently a weapon they got from their last adventure
>It's just a big sword that gains a small amount of damage when it kills something with a soul, that resets after an encounter
>He's still fucking insane even without it
>this displacer is pretty much trying to fight Havel the Rock with a broken sword
>Suddenly two more arrows come at me from a completely different angle
cont'd
surprisingly not, they're pretty good so far

Format this like a regular human being and maybe I'll read it.

Those new xp rules sure do look good. Hope my DM uses them!

You seem familiar. Have we met?

Aight, senpai.
So, our barbarian finally gets a chance to hit the displacer and begins turning it into chunky salsa. Spider-whitemage begins patching up the paladin, who starts beating on the worgs.
I'm now trying to spot the two bow-wielding assholes hiding in the trees. The sorceror is sleeping and somehow remains undisturbed because his player hadn't shown up yet and we were sitting him out of the encounter. Damn elves.

Suddenly, our woodland animal abuse incident was interrupted by a new challenger. Someone bundled up in heavy, obscuring travelling clothes runs straight through our melee and out the other side of the campsite. The worgs and displacer retreat back into the woods while we're distracted, and no more arrows come from the treeline.

This shifty asshole is our last player, a dragonborn? sorcerer, who attempts to sneak up on the campsite to get a proper look on us. He rolls a six. At the sound of cursing and crunching leaves and snapping branches, I light up another pebble and toss it into the darkness. "Alright, who's there? We're not gonna hurt you."

Our new guest emerges from the treeline. He looks halfway between your standard dragonborn and a lizardman - Basically, think a slightly bulkier and more draconic lizardman with silvery scales, but not quite as excessive as a vanilla dragonborn. At least, I think he is. He's wrapped up in so much shit it's hard to tell. As for my character, he doesn't know what the fuck he's looking at. He only found out spiderpeople were a thing when he got to this island, and suddenly there's a silver lizard guy and squid-cat-things.

I mean, at least this one wasn't trying to kill him or making him feel like the 5'8" manlet he is. Our new pal is cagey, preferring to say as little about himself as possible. OOC, this makes total sense - dragonborn are almost myths in this setting, and are the subject of a vast number of rumours. In-character, however, I'm suspicious as hell.

We (somewhat reluctantly) agree to let this guy tag along with our merry band of misfits and freaks, at least until the next town. The rest of the journey passed without incident.

Anyway, in this next town we enter a tavern, as is adventuring tradition, before buying rooms and staying the night, as is also adventuring tradition. The next morning the place is surprisingly packed, and I decide it's time to start gathering information in the most sensible and reasonable way possible. That is, by walking into the centre of the room and holding up a wanted poster before shouting "HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS MAN?", before detailing the charges. 3 counts of murder, 17 counts of grave desecration, and at least 20 counts of unlawful and unwilling reanimation.

The vast majority of the bar's patrons look at me before quietly tucking away or pocketing copies of very similar looking wanted posters. As much as I wanted to try and get them all on board and bring forty murderhobos to a zombie fight, I decided against it on the grounds that:
A. I can't afford it.
B. They'd probably steal everything I own.
C. It'd be like herding those stupid fucking squid-cats.
So, instead, the party shuffles over to a spider-man in the corner who had gestured at us earlier. Some brief questioning reveals that there have been grave robberies occurring at a cemetary outside of town. We unanimously decide to go check it out on the grounds that it was probably magic fuckery.

>Play with DM's younger brother
>Guy says he wants to be a support/healer character
He plays a warlock/artificer
>Only uses healing spells on himself
>Only uses "support" spells on himself
>Gets pissed at anyone who starts using those spells because "That's my job"
Don't get me wrong he's not a bad kid, but I sometimes I just want to bitch slap the little brat.

We set out for this spider graveyard, and it's at about that point I realise we're going to be fighting not just zombies, but eleven-foot spider zombies. While that particular realisation was setting in, we arrived at the graveyard and started looking around. As reported by our informant in Murderhobo Inn, there were quite a few empty graves. The soil hadn't settled around one of them, which meant that the last body had to have been taken recently. And by recently, I mean that the paladin pinged a zombie moving away from the graveyard a few seconds later. After setting up an alarm on what looked to be the next grave in line for looting, we gave chase. Quietly. About an hour later, we find the zombie's destination, a dodgy looking cave. Peeking through the entrance revealed about fifteen giant zombie spiderpeople, at least that we could see.

We were hopelessly outnumbered by enemies that were substantially larger and tougher than us, and we were pretty sure there was a necromancer in there too.

Hell, this was starting to look like fun.

Well, i'd be happier if my DM used those, than what they do now, but milestones master-race, anyway.

I just don't see the fun in counting experience points. If i wanted to make leveling more predictable than DM fiat, i'd go with:
-You gain level every 2/3/4 sessions you attend.
-If you're not highest level player in group, you gain level after each session instead.

No, mearls shitty UA doesn't handle combat XP as smoothly as your screenshotted suggestion.

That's pasta

He's definitely retarded. I wish people() wouldn't act like his video game XP system addressed the three pillars in any improved way though.

>I was only pretending to be retarded!

What? Are you that paranoid that you think I'm the same user that posted that stale shit?

Are you?

>editing down this image down to nothing

What's the matter, Redditor? Loli doujins upset your delicate sensibilities?

All I think it did was make it easier. Why don't you think that is an improvement over the complexities of what the current system grants us?

>The Great Gatsby

Pointless drivel

>The Stranger

Arguably the worst book I have ever read in my life that was intended for adults.

>Don Quixote

Fantastic if you have the time. Should be read while listening to the soundtrack of "Man of La Mancha", though I think the book is better than the musical.

>Les Misérables

Fantastic if you have the time and don't mind the fact that the first 50 pages focus on someone who not only isn't the main character (and said main character doesn't even show up until those 50 pages have passed), but in fact doesn't even show up again after his scene with the main character is finished. The stage musical is probably better even if it leaves out some important details.

>The Count of Monte Cristo

Fantastic

>The Picture of Dorian Gray

The only book that's ever scared me.

>1984

I honestly found the book-within-the-book more interesting than the book itself.

>Ulysses

James Joyce should not be billed as a great Irish writer. He left Ireland as early as he could and never went back. That Ulysses is set in Ireland means little. Also the man needs to get over his phobia of punctuation marks.

Ulysses itself is meh.

>Charlotte's Web

Classic

>Hamlet

I honestly think that Shakespeare's comedies are better than his tragedies or histories. Having said that, Hamlet isn't nearly as good as MacBeth, and both of them hope to be The Tempest when they grow up.

>The Lord of the Rings

I've tried, I've really tried, to get through it. Can't.

>Harry Potter

Starts out okay, is very good for books 3 and 4, fades in the stretch. To this day I can't remember what actually happened in Book 6 other than Snape killing Dumbledore.

>To Kill a Mockingbird

I've read it, but barely remember it, which speaks poorly as to the book's ability to impact me.

>Everything else

Never read.

How to build a Immortal Mystic that doesn't suck? They are using point buy to set up our characters

>Snape killing Dumbledore
Dude spoilers.

I have a rule of not spoiler'ing anything more than 2 years old.

>my DM's never heard of the point-buy system
Hmmm

Mystara seems interesting and I'm tempted to use it. How would you insert some of the more modern D&D stuff into it, though? Things like the Feywild, Shadowfell, or some of the outer planes?

Suicide Squad of scoundrels goes on adventures on the behalf of a powerful and moraly questionable entity in order to gain something in return, be it freedom, power or redemption

I did this for my player. It was a robot Arm.

Then watched him loose his shit when Strahd came around welding Shatterspike

>I just don't see the fun in counting experience points.
I don't see the point in the players keeping track. The DM can keep track of 4-6 people's points, and if it's group-wide (which it typically will be, unless people miss sessions) then it's even easier. The only reason at that point is for the players to know how close they are to leveling.

I don't like this new system though. I feel like leveling is going to go WAY too fast.

What did you use to make this? It seems handy.

Different user, but it looks like Hexographer.

I didn't actually create it, I saved it from an older thread.

I'm convinced grappling is one big meme. Why waste two feats and two turns for mediocre utility and damage when you could just hit something twice and pick better feats?

Believe it or not but not everyone cares about pulling big numbers and they try to have fun.

What do you guys think of orcpub2?

Prone/grappled is an ugly condition to suffer, and your main drawback is using one hand to keep the guy grappled. What two feats are you talking about?

The problem is that some people think it's useful. Not to mention that you're actively dragging down the rest of the party.

>Prone/grappled

These aren't the same thing.

It's extremely useful, to say the least.

This isn't 3.5. Some things might be unoptimal, but they're still useful.

I meant it as combo of prone and grappled, which means you can't easily stand up. Depending on your party composition it can be murderous or outright stupid to do (e.g when you are the only melee combatant).

Grappling by itself is nearly useless.

If the party cared enough they'd speak up and it's not like a grappler will wipe the party. And even then who cares how someone else plays in someone else's game?

I'm not sure what the second feat you're talking about is, but I can see grappling being useful enough, in certain situations, to be called on. I will never get tired of pushing people off things and into things.

Also, I can see a strong Rogue/Roguebarian using grappling and the grapple feat to gain easy advantage or lock down a mobile enemy. With a high strength, and Athletics expertise, and rage giving you advantage on the roll, you could easily just grab a dude and shiv him repeatedly. On a Berserker, that could be a more versatile higher-defense alternative to the more common TWF and Reckless Attack combo.

Makes me think of the temporary HP webm from Wolfenstein TOB.

>shitty players who don't realize stopping a creature from moving, gaining advantage on melee attacks on it, or shoving it away can each have their own benefits in certain situatons and can even be combo'd with one another

Is battlefield control really that difficult of a concept? By the way, I'm talking about straight up grappling. The Grappler feat is a complete trap option and a direct downgrade to it.

That's called a manica.

I'd allow it. Probably about the same as the cost of a shield.

>emphasizes the use of social and explorative XP rules, not just combat.
It's a simpler XP tally, but it doesn't handle the three pillars better. It's still just giving as much xp as you want for whatever reason you want.

Are you retarded? Most of that either requires Grappler or has nothing to do with grappling.

>there are people who don't understand the greatness of grapplers
I feel sorry for you desu

This actually looks pretty fun, as I keep looking at it. A 5th level Barbarian has 40ft movement and two attacks, so they can take a target they're in melee with and move them 25ft with a grapple and a push if the dice are with them. Advantage on +7, vs say +4 if you're up against a CR5 Troll or a CR6 White Dragon; make friends with a Warlock and Hex will put disadvantage on that roll. Unless your GM hates fun, you will encounter situations where the terrain matters enough to skip a couple of greataxe attacks in exchange for that forced move.

And that version doesn't require the feat. The feat seems pretty weak, unless you're routinely restraining enemies non-lethally or attacking enemies you've grappled. Those two are circumstantial enough that I'd add +1 Strength to the feat; make it into one of those half-feats, like Observant or Resilient.

>When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Atlack action, this atlack replaces one of them. The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check, a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition (see appendix A). The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).
>Using the Attack action, you can make a special melee atlack to shove a creature, either to knock it prone or push it away from you. Ifyou're able to make multiple atlacks with the Attack action, this atlack replaces one of them.
PHB pg.195

Being grappled reduces a creatures speed to 0.
Being prone causes melee attacks on the prone creature to have advantage.
Standing up from prone requires half of your movement, which you can't spend if your speed is 0.
You can subject someone to this combo in one turn as soon as you get Extra Attack provided you're decent at Athletics.

Shoving someone backwards 5ft per attempt can also have its own benefits depending on terrain features.
There's also the benefit of being able to move grappled creatures with you, although your speed is halved for that movement.
Are you unironically looking at all these potential things you can do when hitting the monster with your sword isn't the most effective option and saying "It's shit"?

1. You can't grapple a prone creature.

2. If you grapple a prone creature, you are also prone.

3. Shoving has nothing to do with grappling.

...

Can you kindly point out where in the rules it states this just as I did?

Do you go out of your way to be this wrong or does it just come naturally?

> #
>1. You can't grapple a prone creature.
>2. If you grapple a prone creature, you are also prone.
Well, which is it?

In my current campaign? They kind of are and kind of not.

Dragons used to be this demi-god-like race that ruled the world in pre-history, fucked up a bunch of stuff, and then got fucked in return.

Fast forward twenty five thousand years later when the campaign is actually set and half of what the players and everyone is dealing with is some delayed fallout from their ancient empire. The most direct being the Dragonborn waking up after being put on ice for millennia.

Up to the DM. I'd personally go with 2.

There's a reason why you need a feat to pin shit.

I'm a fan of letting players chose the highest if they're is enough overlap

Pinning means you can restrain a prone target. That's something separate from grappling them.

You know those are two different posters arguing against each other right?

Visually and physically it's the same thing.

>Visually and physically it's the same thing.
But not mechanically, read the rules faggot.