/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

D&D 5th Ed. General Discussion

>Unearthed Arcana: Three-Pillar Experience
media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-ThreePillarXP.pdf

>5etools:
astranauta.github.io/5etools.html

>/5eg/ Trove:
dnd.rem.uz/5e D&D Books/

>Resources Pastebin:
pastebin.com/X1TFNxck

>Previous thread:
Have you ever tried running or playing an OSR-style game with 5e?

Other urls found in this thread:

dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-april-2016
twitter.com/AnonBabble

>players are trying to uncover a crime mystery
>they don't know a beholder is behind it
>they've never fought or encountered one before
>as soon as they found the location of "the boss" they just headed straight there
>riding on a high of confidence after catching a Vampire off guard by destroying his resting place and then him
>"we're basically gods"

how fucked are they, boys

I'm trying to run a game with an oldschool feel right now.

110%

>Over confidence is a slow and insidious killer
They're fucked

Those poor morons.

Give the Beholder Legendary Resistances.

Give the Beholder Lair Actions.

Make them pay for walking into such a marvelous creature's domain like the humanoid filth they are.

Make sure to run the Beholder as an intelligent creature not a killer lolrandum disco ball.

Best wizard feats?

i certainly plan to

they're going to try waltzing in and peppering him the second they see him so it may go disco ball real quick

Might be a dumb question but...
If you have temp hit points and you're concentrating on a spell, and you're hit for an attack that deals damage less than your temp HP, do you need to make a concentration check?
Basically, does damage to your temp hp still count as damage to you?

It still counts as damage.

It still counts as damage taken. Arcane ward on the other hand will prevent a check if it absorbs an attack

Does anyone do the Dawn War setting, where civilisation is weak and uncommon races aren't distrusted?

Thanks! I figured it would.

I've heard War Caster is good.

What's a good backstory for a Divination Wizard?

Does Volo's guide have information on the Gith?

"I looked into the future and saw myself as an adventurer, so I basically have no choice."

No

You set out one day with the goal of telling everybody in the world that you knew they'd do that. Be sure to say it every time an enemy does anything even remotely surprising

Alternatively the opposite of this
"I looked into the future and saw I was a boring cunt in a study so I'm going to abuse my magic to fuck destiny in the ass"

start with an odd CON score and get Resilience (CON). Raises CON by 1 so try to work it so it will improve your CON bonus and it makes you proficient in CON saves which wizards don't normally have and helps you pass Concentration checks when damaged (a CON save). If given a choice between this and War Caster I would pick this one first.

They foresaw the time and place of their death, so they multiclass Barbarian because they have the utmost confidence that they're invincible.

>I was the apprentice of Shambok the Abjurer. He was the most powerful wizard east of Aquilonia, but for all his power he failed to forsee his own demise. I have sworn that would never happen to me.

You spent your youth as a charlatan, giving palm readings and predicting the future with tarot cards. You were raised in this fashion by your parents in a traveling show, but your grandmother also taught you the basics of real magic. One day every tarot, bone and tea leaf reading began showing portents of doom. It's all bullshit of course but maybe not? In any case your grandmother thinks it is real and so you set out for adventure to expand your magical talents in hopes of saving your family and extended family in the traveling show from this unnamed and unknowable destruction portended in the cards.

Got a question about surprise.

If a party with a forward scout that is hiding is attacked by 'non-stealthing' orcs, who gets to act on the first round?

The hypothetical ranger was hiding so should surprise the orcs, but the main part of the party and the orcs weren't trying to hide, it gets to be a bit of a cluster fuck.

>If a party with a forward scout that is hiding is attacked by 'non-stealthing' orcs, who gets to act on the first round?
Everyone. A creature is only surprised if it is unaware or not anticipating combat.

>person want to make a tiefling
>sure ok, can have some interesting things happen
>warn them beforehand the world will assume the worse
>remind them again once we finish making their sheet
>ask again before the first session they're ok with it
>player proceeds to whine when they use Charm Person very obviously on someone in public and he gets mobbed

I would say the stealthed ranger gets a surprise round and then takes their plaice in the initiative order with everyone else

You would be wrong.

Any undetected individual has advantage on their attacks from being hidden, but "surprised" vs "not surprised" is a question of preparedness. Once you are "ready" for something threatening, you are in a position to defend yourself.

Hey you like blood?

This is correct, just because an enemy doesn't notice A THREAT doesn't mean the enemy didn't not THE THREAT. That Ranger would just get advantage from unseen attacker. Got a player than is an assassin rogue that gets pissed because the assassinate ability is pretty crap unless you can surprise enemies and the way D&D is usually played, the PCs are the being offensive so laying ambushes doesn't really happen and the rest of the party is stomping around in metal boots.

Have you ever heard the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Is the maps of the Curse of Strahd campaign from roll20 going to appear on the trove?

How do you make someone who fights with hand crossbows and other crossbows and whips

A rogue with crossbow expert feat

I've been trying to make a haunted house event for my group but I can't think of a way to do other than building up tension before having a spooky ghost pop out. Any tips?

Include an encounter with a ghost and a zombie of the same person. Could have the ghost be benevolent and want the party's help in subduing his body

They've gone past baby adventure levels so I doubt a zombie could remotely pose a challenge to them.

Make it a full horde of zombies while they figure out which one not to kill

One of the dumber tropes about haunted houses is why the adventurers don't just leave, explore some avenues on how they're stuck in the haunted place.

If you go with the classic scenario do a House of Leaves kind of thing where the hallways and basements are infinite and they have to make saves not to be entranced deeper and deeper into the house's innards. The house itself becomes the antagonist so you don't have to focus so much on coming up with a bunch of different monsters. Less traditional route, have them stranded on a ship (or oil rig if you can cook up a more modern setting) so they can't escape easily.

Depending on how serious of a tone your game has in general you could just rip off a scooby doo episode

This is dumb but I'm totally going to take it.

Remember beholders can fly
Remember to use its antimagic cone and then have its minions beat the tar outta the wizard
Remember to check volos for all your beholder info and I suggest using the eye power variants or make your own for more fun
Remember to disintegrate a motherfucker

How's it going?

Be warned that disintegration does make for salty players. I had a player send me a strongly worded email anout being disintegrated

If I, as a DM, put these minis up to use as the player characters, would you find yourself wanting in any department? I know I need a wizard or two.

beggars can't be choosers (but we all know they will try). They look perfectly reasonable to me but if I had my own I would prefer to use that.

We were using Ork nobs as character pieces. I was the only Orc

Hey man, if they show up with their own mini I will more than welcome it.

That's the right proppa orky way to do it.

What equipment can I use to improve my monk? I know getting belts of giant strength works in place of receiving a magic weapon.

Whatever the DM gives you

Hello i'm a really dumb person who has never played as or with a rogue and even though I have read the book, i'm a very dumb person who doesn't understand things very well.

With Rogue you get a feature called Sneak Attack which can only be used when you have advantage on the attack. But if i'm reading it correctly, if there are two enemies next to each other (5ft) then I don't need advantage? Is that correct?

And it works for ranged attacks too?

Then with Rakish Audacity it states you don't need advantage when the enemy is not within 5ft of you.

This seems really powerful for ranged fighting, yes?

I don't get your question. I want a cheeseburger

Who let the meme from 2006 into the general?

We had these blank figures, noyl three types - guy with sword, guy with bow, guy in a robe and these would indiate someone melee fighting, ranged rfighting, or ranged spellcasting

Do you get to reroll 1s and 2s on divine smite damage with the Great Weapon fighting style?

No.
dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-april-2016

> But if i'm reading it correctly, if there are two enemies next to each other (5ft) then I don't need advantage? Is that correct?

No. It's "enemy of the target". In otherwords, your ally (unless you are having a battle royale).

> And it works for ranged attacks too?
Yes

> Then with Rakish Audacity it states you don't need advantage when the enemy is not within 5ft of you.

Rakish Audacity require your target to be within 5 feet of you too. The exact word is "No creature other than your target"

Aww; thanks for your help.

Thank you for clearing that up for me

I doubt it. Besides, WotC didn't even make the top-down Ravenloft maps, they're just made by some random person at Roll20.

>No. It's "enemy of the target". In otherwords, your ally (unless you are having a battle royale).
>> And it works for ranged attacks too?
>Yes
So if the enemy that i'm targeting is engaged in battle (within 5ft of my ally) and i'm say 20ft away, I will be able to use the Sneak Attack ability if i'm doing a ranged attack?


>Rakish Audacity require your target to be within 5 feet of you too. The exact word is "No creature other than your target"
So just trying to get my head around why I would be able to 'sneak' attack if it's just the enemy and myself next to each other? Does this mean when I sneak up behind them?

I want to make a speedy character, how would you do it without special magical items.

>So if the enemy that i'm targeting is engaged in battle (within 5ft of my ally) and i'm say 20ft away, I will be able to use the Sneak Attack ability if i'm doing a ranged attack?
Yes

>So just trying to get my head around why I would be able to 'sneak' attack if it's just the enemy and myself next to each other? Does this mean when I sneak up behind them?
No, think of swashbuckler as a fancy duelist. Big show offs that do ridiculous things. They aren't really the sneaky throat slicing type, they're the over the top pirates. You're just exploiting an opening they revealed, but can push it further than other classes, it's the only explanation I can give

How useful is Thief's Fast Hands? Choosing Archetype for Rogue 3/Barb X(no sneak attack, but going rogue 2 for expertise and cunning action and might as well grab level 3). Narrowed it down to Thief, Assassin and Scout (completely forgot about him, most likely will pick scout).

Sneak attack != backstab.

Ability name is just a name. Expeditious Retreat doesn't make you retreat. Tiny Hut isn't actually a hut.

I want to be a Necromancer! Wizard How do prevenf my table from hating me from rolling dices.

Hi all,

Soon i will be starting a dnd campaign with some friends of mine. i will be the Gm and my plan is to go for a Lovecraft inspired world.

got any tips for a horror/Lovecraft game?

Don't play 5e for a lovecraftian horror setting. It doesn't really work

I've heard good things about Middle Finger of Vecna.

What does Veeky Forums think of their work?

Rakish audacity is the 1v1 me faggot mode activating sneak attack. As long as your enemy is the only thing next to you, you're in the zone enough to get sneak attacks

monk with mobile

Some notes:
Blood Bath is a bit too strong and easy to abuse. You really need to limit the possible scope of it. I'd say 1/short rest at 3rd level, and up to 3 uses at a high level. I'd also call them "Blood Dice" or similar to separate them from normal Hit Dice, so you can't use your normal hit dice instantly. That's way too strong to have.

Hound would be more interesting if you had to taste it, imo. Also, it's unclear what "gives you the current location, at the time" actually means. Is it the location NOW, when you're tracking? Or is it the location, AT THE TIME? I have no idea how it's meant to work.

Ritual of the Blood Priest is neat, but I'd say, again, limit it only to the bonus Blood Dice.

Hemhorrage is way too strong. Not only is it an extremely easy way to boost crit range--which is intentionally difficult to do in this edition--but it's also being given to the class with Reckless Attack and bonus damage on critical hits. This is insanely, broken overpowered even if you can only use it one or two times a day, but is even worse if you can use it 3 or more, which isn't impossible with racial modifiers and things to stats.
I'd say this one needs to be rethought mechanically. I'd recommend doing something different: A critical hit gives you a 1d6 die for a limited duration, but no limited to how often you can gain dice in this way. That encourages the Barbarian to play aggressively and try to pull out those big Reckless crits without making them overpowered in damage, and it's a powerful higher-level ability because it provides a slow drip of healing and easy fuel for other powers in the path that doesn't run out unless you stop messing people up.

Overall it's a good concept, but a bit on the strong side.

Well the first time I tried to run it, I used randoms from roll20 and they all flaked on me.

Taking it from the top with Veeky Forums folks, they seem like a fun enough group. We haven't begun yet, but I have hope.

Read up on the Aberation monster type. They fit that Lovecraftian niche just right. Monsters like Sahuagin, Kuo-Toa and other sentient water type monsters (though not Aberations) also work real well.

Avoid things like insanity checks that you find i in other Call of Cthulhu type games however. That stuff doesn't really work for 5E.

But things like secluded villagers filled with weirdos worshiping Blipdoolpoolp and turning into slime monsters with the help of their Aboleth high priest sounds like a grand old time.

How many mean tricks can you think up?

My Thief had glass dust, choking powder, poison dust, acid flasks, oil flasks, perfume bottles, caltrops, marbles, a grappling hook...
Not to mention just about anything else I could get my hands on as we went, and the ever-useful utility of the fast potion chug or wand usage.
I've yanked goblins off ledges with a well-placed grappling hook and I've sent zombies back to the grave with a ship's rigging.
If you can dream it, you can do it. Sky's the limit.

Also note that almost anything you huck, chuck or swing that isn't in the Weapons table is an Improvised Weapon, including things like thrown oil or acid and the ever-faithful grappling hook. Tavern Brawler is an incredibly useful feat, since it makes you proficient in Improvised Weapons--which also, by the by, means you have the ability to beat people to death with that flagon, stool, ladder, or your bare hands.

Godspeed, my friend. Let me know if you come up with any truly nasty things for your bag of tricks, I'm always in the market.

Stop shilling this. We get this every single thread.
Nobody wants your viral marketing crap.

Shit, utter trash

I was thinking scout, because my intial reason for multiclassing was expertise and more expertise is always good, but you almost sold me the Fast Hands. I'll think about it.

Help me with small minor magic items. I need some interesting ones that aren't necessarily combat based.

>Flask of Rejuvenating Light
>Drink for a 1d4 HP per level of the imbider. Can be used 3 times per day.

>Instrument of Night
>Bard specific. Play before a long rest. All who hears this before their sleep, gain a full HD of temporary HP, as well as an inspiration for equal to their HD, which lasts for the entire day or until expended.

>Tendril of Reach
>An odd rope of dark matter, which can latch onto surfaces. It is a grappling hook, which automatically lathes on to solid matter, and will not detach unless the user wills it. It automatically accommodates the weight of the user, and prevents the user from affecting the target in any way.

Any other similar good ideas?

Continuing a level 18 campaign, we are going to another dimension/plane/whatever.

My character is a Bard who is a Smith of magical items. He found a forge and anvil which are magically imbued, and can reforge mundane items into magical ones, with the outcome depending on the events they have been apart of.

He has a small fort with this equipment, as well as 10 people who live and work there. I don't want to lose this.

The plan is to make a pocket dimension they can stay in. The fort isn't that large, only about 1x1km with some vegatation around it.

Is this possible somehow? I am allowed to switch out spells (the in-game break took 5 years, so it is assumes we had time to adjust our choices.) if necessary.

Or is it something I should request from my GM?

Can you fuck off with that crap.

Please be a troll. The thought that someone might actually be this stupid hurts me.

Nah, the lower power ceiling and the fact even low CR enemies remain relevant throughout could mean you could run awesome horror games in 5e.

>minor
That rope is not minor. I could cause some serious shit with that rope, including hanging a orger from a twig... it's just got too many applications to be 'minor' in the hands of a devious player.

Drawing a blank on any actual minor ones that are of any note tho, I'm kinda lit
>tankard of refreshment
Tankard that is always half full of ale. If another drink is poured in, it acts as a normal tankard but will keep the drink chilled and fresh indefinitely. Once the drink is drunk, it returns to being half full with ale.

>rogues compass
Points to nearby gold coins (the players gold for example)

>coin of fortune
A gold coin, when flipped it always sides with the user. If he calls heads, it shows heads, if called tails it shows tails.

>casters have relatively boring RP potential for their basic damage dealing spells "I blast the thing" "I shock the thing" etc while martials can explain in detail what and how they hit
>casters don't get to do a whole lot of things each round in comparison to martials who get extra attacks

who fighter master race here?

I'm a new DM but I tend to describe battles blow by blow.

>monks makes attacks killing a goblin
You slice drive your short sword into the goblins stomach, almost to the hilt. He screeches in pain, grasping at your hand, realizing his end is near he looks up at you as you send your fist flying into his face, knocking his head black and forcing him off your blade. His lifeless corpse falls back into a limp pile before you.

>wizard casts firebolt killing a goblin
As the goblin battles with [the fighter], ducking and slipping each other's blows, your hand fills with flames and soars into his side, his face taking on horrific expressions as his organs cook inside his chest before he collapse, foul smelling smoke raising from the wound.

Similar experience for both. If they describe how they attack I base it around what they say, and if they describe something particularly cool yet doable, I'll sometimes give them a + to hit.

Im actually curious whats so bad about it. is there anyone here who does use it?

Our DM gets us to describe exactly what we do and how we do it instead of narrating it all.

Also, speaking of the whole descriptive combat thing, how many of you guys in this thread make on-the-fly adaptations to the rules to suit the combat narrative? Like say for example I say "I slice at the bandit's wrist to cut his tendon" how many of you would set a DC in your head for the attack roll to make the bandit drop his sword or get a debuff or something from that? Or do you consider it too imbalanced to reward RP in combat with fiat bonuses?

>Bonus action shove mooks into hazards/off ledges with shield master
>Can even shove teammates out of harms way if they're being stubborn and stupid
>Can grapple one enemy to prevent it from moving, and with a Sentinel AoO I can lock down two enemies at once
>Now two enemies that can't disengage me and I have AC through the roof, dealing damage the whole time
>If need be I even have some daggers I can throw at other enemies. Disadvantage but hey, it's a last resort
Martials are fun

>same guy
I allow that on rare occasion, I worry if i allow it every fight it would become the norm with everyone attacking legs or just going for that throat on the slim chance they can one shot him.

While all that is awesome, I feel like a decent leveled magic user has a whole
book of different shit they can use in incentive ways to do equally cool shit.

Telekinesis for example has almost endless possibilities

Well, I wouldn't allow instakills but I might say his trachea got crushed and he couldn't speak for a certain amount of time on a really good roll

I could go for that.

We used to run extended rules for crits we carried over from 2nd edition. But it slowed combat done too much so we stopped. I guess this sorta fills that role.

I'm not against the idea of allowing called shots with a boosted DC, but it becomes a problem as soon as you have a Battlemaster in the party, because now every PC can do "his thing" y'know?

I've read a few times people suggesting that maneuvers should be a fighter class feature instead of an archetype feature, and i'm inclined to agree.

While casters have plenty of toys to play with, i'm one of those weirdos that finds enjoyment in playing a character with some restrictions. It forces me to accept that I can't do everything I want and I have to approach situations creatively if I want to excel. When I play a spellcaster with "just the right thing" for every situation it actually pulls me out of the fantasy in a weird way. I, as a player, don't want to have the perfect solution readily available. Because of this I find myself gravitating towards martials or half casters.

How do I make a cool vampire or dhampir character dudes? I'm not big on edge but love the aesthetic. Any help would be great!

I hear ya, I mostly DM these days and did my playing back in 2nd edition when wizards had to memories the spells themsleves, and not just pick ones you can cast with your levels.

It forced much more creative thinking. Already used up your flying spell and the mob is floating above a lake? Time to cast wall of force as a walkway so your party can run out to them, etc

Whats the problem with them? also samefaging is real.

>bag of rats