/5eg/ - Fifth Edition Genera

It's rare to find criticism on Veeky Forums that ends higher than "it's shit" or "X class comparison".

>fairly new to 5e and D&D in general
>can't help but have a minmax video gamey attitude when creating characters
i always try to make the backstory fit and make sense but i can't stop min maxing when it comes to the mechanics
send help

Posted and last thread, and got more people yelling at someone who pointed out rivers don't have tides, than actually contributing ideas
Putting together an encounter against a hobgolbin warband that occurs on a cliffside near a riverbank, that has about 50 feet of beach underneath it. Party is sixth level, comprised of a gnome paladin of vengance, a dragonborn bear bath barbarian, a teifling wizard. Warband is there to ambush a ship carrying valuable goods wanted by their vampire master . Party is there to prevent said ambush. What can I do to make it interesting?
There are caves in the cliff that the warband has set up their temporary camp in. Should I have the party have to clear out all the caves vietcong style?
Should I incorporate tides and tide pools in an interesting way?
The party is currently on top of the cliff, looking down, time is off the essence so I expect them to engage from this angle.
Should I have the ship arrive earlier than expected, during the encounter?
It's worth mentioning that a powerful theives guild is set to attack the ship and steal the goods, as many people and powers that be are after the item on board, (a dragon skull, the last part of the skeleton the good guys have in possession) And I was planning on the party boarding after the theives guild makes off with it, causing the ship to explode in their escape, and the party rescuing their allies on the ship, and dealing with any left behind saboteurs.

to be fair, 99% of the time, homebrew is utter shit.

Or it can be easily compared to another class

extremely powerful, and certainly more powerful than anything in the phb, but not the most powerful of the published races, so uhh
good work

Random character generators.

I don't think I've ever seen a homebrew peddled around with anything higher than a "it's ok."

>8 religions
>37 deities
>Some of the religions share deities in different forms
How the fuck am I supposed to explain this to my players in a reasonable and organized way?

like sorcerers then?

There is no helping you friend. I don't even minmax in videogames. Hell, if I didn't have some kinda completionist complex/had the tendency or ability to replay RPGs, I'd even leave some quests unfinished! You're too far gone. In a few years, your favourite game will be Civilization and you'll find a job working with spreadsheets all day thrilling.

And then you start playing GURPS

Open a dictionary to the word Pantheon.

The sorcerer is just a shitty homebrew for people who miss metamagic feats

as much as I like Sorcerers, this is, sadly, accurate.

Make it a need-to-know basis. A party of non-religious peeps probably wouldn't know or care to know anything outside of the god(s) of their home/race.

That's what I thought and then a devout paladin showed up.

I think the only two homebrew that most people end up saying, "it's passable" to are the homebrew stuff that Matt Mercer made, and those are both due to getting heavy playtesting (one due to being used in his game, the other due to heavy fan community feedback).

Then you talk to/work out what god(s) that paladin would know.

...So, the same ability score array as the Half-Orc, an unarmed strike power that almost nobody will use, Powerful Build, and the Lizardfolk's Natural Armor trait are more powerful than the Half-Orc's "shrug off a killing blow 1/day + do an extra dice of damage on a crit"? Really?

my fix for Sorcerers is to give them "Origin Spells" where they get a free spell at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, and tie it into their Origin somehow.

For example, in my game I have a Phoenix Sorcerer, and this was his choice of options at those levels.

>1st Level
Chromatic Orb, Burning Hands

>3rd Level
Levitate, Scorching Ray

>5th Level
Fireball, Fly

>7th Level
Wall of Fire, Polymorph

>9th Level
Flame Strike, Raise Dead

This lets them be a tiny bit more flexible with their spell options and still feel useful for out of combat scenarios.

think Abrahamic religion, 3 major religions all based around the same place, time period and more or less- same events
13+con as AC is the problem area

>adding constitution to armor class
>adding dexterity to damage
The stats in this game really have lost all meaning, haven't they?

You're going to have to convince me on that. Make an acrobatics (charisma) check.

The future is now, user.

>If you make a move action to get within range of an enemy before making a horn attack, you have Advantage on the attack roll.
>Move action
Pls

But essentially you can move 5ft away from a target then 5ft closer repeatedly for advantage on all rolls
Sure, they might get an opportunity attack, but they get one at most IF you haven't used one of a billion things to cancel out opportunity attacks (Mobile for example won't let them make opportunity attacks)

Otherwise though you could just make it like having the charger feat innately

I need help making constellations for my setting. I also want to associate them with cleric domains. Any suggestions?

I just finished with a session over a half hour ago. So far, players are satisfied with how things are going.

Question: What kind of challenging monsters could I throw at them to spice up the adventure in the next session? I created the adventure with level appropriate monsters using the kobold fight club Encounter Calculator, but I severely underestimated their ingenuity and power. Currently we have a Bear Totem Barbarian, a Valor College Bard, a Forest Druid, a Rogue Assassin, and a Ranger/Fighter all at level 5. The next arc of the campaign may feature a malevolent sect dedicated to "pure nature".

>Move action
Might want to word that differently, kinda like the MM with "move 10ft in a straight line...." for minotaurs

Almost every spell that I want to pick up as a wizard requires concentration. What are some good non-concentration spells that I should be considering, and what can I do during a turn that doesn't require concentration beyond just falling back on cantrips?

Pretty much this:
astranauta.github.io/races.html#minotaur (krynn)

you can cast any non-concentration spell you like, while concentrating on another

Let me see...
Knowledge: The Tome (stars that form a rough square shape)
Life: The Heart (cluster of crimson stars that form a love-heart)
Light: The Lantern (small cluster of very bright stars)
Nature: The Tree (stars that form the outline of a tree)
Tempest: The Vortex (stars that form an upward spiral shape)
Trickery: The Veil (large swathe of small, dim stars)
War: The Sword (stars clustered to form a sword shape)
Death: The Skull (skull shaped cluster or a patch of darkness devoid of stars save in the eye-sockets)
Arcane: The Wand (stars grouped in a straight line, with the tip glowing particularly brightly)
Forge: The Hammer (stars forming an angled T shape)
Grave: The Weeper (stars forming the rough outline of a bowed human)
Protection: The Shield (stars forming the shape of a shield)

>Start new game irl
>2 people I've never met before
>competent DM
>2 guys I've known for a while that are alright
>Trying to get this questing thing underway
>the chick and the two guys I know start harassing commoners within 10 minutes of starting
>the one guy I don't know and I manage to talk the authorities down
>we're level 1 and two people almost died

First session, we'll see how it goes I guess.

I think you should ramp up the CR a little bit more.

If I'm a good DM and do 8 or so encounters an adventuring day, how difficult should they all be? Mostly "hard" as per kolbold fight club or less than that?

I dunno, it's not that much tougher than an ancient red dragon which has a cr of 24

If you're actually doing 8 encounters per day only one or two should be deadly, then do like 3 moderate fights and the rest can be trivial. If your wizard blows a spell slot to bypass one of the trivial encounters then it has done its' job. Trivial enouncters are like one or two enemies beefy enough to survive one round of your martial's damage so that it will either swing and take some hp or force the spellcasters to use resources.

That's pretty good. Thanks.

Ok I'm running out of the abyss and my players just got out of Velkenvelve. I want the travel encounters to be tough and interesting so I'm planning on doing 1 day a week of travel be 8 encounters (probably 2 or 3 random, and one of the set encounters) as apposed to 1 or 2 each day so they can just nova everything and feel super powerful

My DM's running a 4 player deathmatch one shot this month. We had randomly assigned classes - I got Wizard, and there's a Fighter, Rogue and Barbarian.
How fucked am I? Is there a way to unfuck myself?

Anons? Long story, but I plan to include a race from the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting in a homebrew campaign. Thing is, this race has two names; the Elven "Tel-amhothlan" and the Orcish "Guruk-vra".

Which name do you think is the less awkward to use?

What level are you all?

>Wizard

Keep your distance and try to whittle down everyone's hp.

So, I've run into a little problem in today's session. After killing some skeleton minotaurs, I took one of their greataxes as a trophy (it deals 2d12 damage btw), and since I have a Potion of Enlargement I figured I could work around using the axe. According to the spell, all the equipment I carry grows along with myself, but if I drop the greataxe on the ground before using the potion and then pick it up again, could I use it normally or would the greataxe also grow as soon as I have it in my hands?

Cast Invisibility as soon as the fight starts and let the others kill themselves. As soon as only two of you remain, proceed to mow down the other dude with everything you have.

Were all level 20. We can bring in resources at the DM's discretion, but I don't know how much I'll be allowed to get away with.

By resources you mean magic items and such? If so, you might actually stand a chance.

So you cast Greater Invisibility on yourself and do literal stealth attacks on the biggest threat in the room at the time. The Rogue probably is the first to die because at level 20 they can basically get such a high Stealth check that there's no way to spot them. After that, you let the Fighter and Barbarian duke it out and then Power Word Kill whoever's left standing.

This really isn't too much of a fair fight for the other three. The only way you die is if you lose on initiative rolls and get 3v1'ed in the first round.

DM running same campaign for two different groups.
First group full murderhobo, in debt to the 'mafia', didn't even bother identifying the macguffin they slaughtered a ship full of innocent sailors to retrieve.
Second group avoided killing anyone this session, made nearly 5k gold working with said mafia and realized they recovered a ridiculous magic item.
Crazy disparity

That's the plan, as well as spell components, etc. Like I say, not sure how much will be allowed before the DM'S calls bullshit though.

Make the successful group hunt down the murderhobos, it'll be fun.

If you're all level 20 then I assume you can pick most magic items from the DMG tables. I don't know what items would be useful to a wizard with the exception of the Robe of Eyes, but I imagine there's plenty of good stuff for you.

Also, get yourself Diviner, it might save you some trouble when being attacked/attacking others.

Make a billion clones using wish in a demiplane and just have infinite fucking lives.
True polymorph yourself into a fucking dragon.
Heck, you can even use power word: Kill if you just feel like being an absolute bitch. Though power word: stun also exists and is ridiculous but I can't remember if wizards get that.
As others said, casting invisibility is a good idea (but you need an action to hide after that)

As long as you can prepare something before the battle and you're not a scrub you have a gauranteed win unless the others realize and work together against you and bumrush you, but you can still just go invisible and hide or hide in a fucking alternate dimension with several spells that let you do that.

>"fix" sorcerers
>by making them more versatile, and closer to wizards.
I have my own fixes i use, but whatever you choose to use, make sure it gives them a niche, and not "charisma wizard with metamagic tacked on"

So my original plan was to throw up a prismatic wall between me and the other three on turn one, then use spells that don't specifically have to pass through the barrier to harass the others as the slug it out. I'll probably use Greater Invisibility once the wall goes down and pick away at the survivor(s)

just teleport to a pocket plane where time is faster and make clones of yourself and come back at the end of the fight with an army of expendable nerds

>new campaign on trying to defeat wizard clones

>campaign has gone to the point my players are gonna go against their big bad evil group after much build up over the course of the campaign (currently at level 13-15 range)
>they pretty much declared war on the group
>current situation: an important NPC is inside a maximum prison that my players need but the BBEGroup wants the important NPC for their own devices
>after much persuasion and deception the players have rallied the warden and the strength of the prison to defend against the incoming raid of the enemy group
>additionally they were able to quickly contact allies from their campaign nearby to help them
>enemy group arrives that night
>much talk is exchanged
>my players then suddenly offer themselves to the BBEGroup instead of the important NPC
>BBEGroup dubious at this offer but the others argue that the leader might find use to them and they'll do
>my players then cite that they were able to rabble a band of troops to defend the important NPC to the death
>BBEGroup considers this offer
>they roll a great persuasion (with dis) to get themselves caught as part of my player's plan in exchange of important NPC's life
>BBEGroup nabs them and teleports them to their lair
>my players are whooping at such a great heroic moment
>this is all in hour 1 of our 5-6 hour session
>me: "15 minute break everyone"

ANY GOOD PRISON BREAK IDEAS I CAN THROW AT THEM

>clones wreak havoc in the arena
>guards are powerless to stop it
>no one can stop it
>wizard takes control of the entire kingdom and his next step is ascending to godhood

Have a DMPC with a map of the prison tatooed on his back

Also use contingency in a manner such as 'when somebody moves within 5ft of me, polymorph myself into something really fucking tough'
Don't forget the rogue is highly likely to resist dex saves, the barbarian also has advantage on them unless you hide yourself so their danger sense doesn't activate
You can summon creatures to fuck people up.
Dominate person is a level 5 spell for a wis save that completely takes someone out of the running until you hurt them, so in 1v1 it's practically an instant win providing you can set them up for a swift death. Power word: stun is safer though but level 8.
For your 'don't let people hurt you, make them hurt each other' I'd suggest blink, and also get mirror image just for defence. It won't last long, but it's great if you're avoiding combat. Shield is a no-brainer. You should have find familiar to have a familiar that can do almost nothing but it can give you advantage on one attack roll before a player gets pissed at it and instakills it.
If you somehow get a minute during or before the fight, leomund's tiny hut basically makes it so that nobody can fuck with you and you can move out of the hut to attack before going back inside again.
Rope trick is a single action alternative to the above, but not entirely fool proof.

Barbarian: Hit them with wis/int/cha saves.
Rogue: Hit them with str/con/cha saves.
Fighter: Hit them with dex/int/wis/cha saves but be wary of rerolls

Just let it run its course naturally, they'll think of something. If they don't, they'll die.

Then again, if they wanted to be nabbed by the BBEGs all along, they probably already have some plan in mind.

Goddam it guys, I'm calling my Wizard Horatio now

..
Yes, I'm still going.
For raw attacks, you can take a bunch of tiny sized objects and use animate objects to have a swarm of cutlery fuck people up.
If you manage to hide in a leomund tiny hut, you can use magic jar to possess someone and if you succeed you basically instantly win against them and can even use them to fight other players.
Heck, you can even use mass suggestion to say 'don't attack the wizard' and if you succeed you now have a bunch of people who can't fucking attack you.
Also, ottoluke's irresistible dance is a great once because it automatically succeeds and they have to use their entire action to 'try' to end it. If you use it they can't move fucking anywhere.

I could go on and on and on but let me just say again:
If you lose this, you are a massive fucking scrub.

Be sure to ask if getting caught was part of their plan

>When they think you're dead and you reveal that they were fighting a simulacrum the whole time

Are players even meant to use Glyph of Warding? Not being able to move the thing you glyphed more than 10 feet from the original location of the casting seems like such an extreme restriction.

You can use it to stack spells upon spells upon spells and set up the ultimate deathtrap for the BBEG.

How often are you able to get any NPC in particular, let alone the BBEG, into a place so well controlled by you that you had the time to stack so many glyphs?

If you're a fucking wizard it should be no problem
go up to the BBEG castle doors with invisibility, cast glyph of warding a billion times then run off giggling

Depends what you consider its original location.
Like if you have a flying castle, is the original location of the table on which you cast the spell somewhere in the castle or somewhere in the world.

I'm a dumbass and new to this, what would be a good way to balance a necklace that lets you cast enlarge/reduce on yourself?

>CLANG!
What the fuck was that?

Charges. Always use charges.

Casts spell as normal (You're concentrating on it, takes an action, etc)
Even at-will this wouldn't be too broken
But make it 1/short rest, 1/long rest, 1/day, heck even make it at-will but each use has a 1d6 roll and if you roll 6 it breaks.

Want to create a Tempest Cleric, trying to make him LN, but everything about the domain and the potential patron deities seems chaotic in nature, I mean we're talking about being a storm cleric basically.

Worked myself into a corner here, are Tempest Clerics pretty much always some chaotic alignment?

Hm, I'm considering this but make him a mute NPC. Don't want to toe the line of DMPCing.

This is true. That said, I still want to give a place they can tinker around. I don't want to let them needlessly run about. But yeah, I'll just do the old DM trick of picking my player brains as I go. That said, this is no doubt one of the most exciting things in our campaign so I'm more than happy to see what they're planning and I'll cook something up. So far I've let them go through an escape-room style puzzle at the moment to buy me time.

I did and it just went about just as we both expect it to go for you.

How do you mean balance? It's perfectly normal to have random loot that just provides a straight bonus. Or are you going the cursed item route and giving it a negative effect to offest/undermine the benefits?

Talk to your DM if you can find a way that the campaing you're in has a certain order of the elements in tandem with the tempest domain. Like you don't just set an area in an electrical storm just because. Balance of nature or some shit.

It depends.

My last campaign, i used it every downtime period to further enhance our base or vaults defenses. We established that 50% of all acquired funds would go to upgrades and maintenance for the team, and the rest was split evenly, so we always used a portion for the glyphs. We also had a steel vault installed, walled off the town, had a secondary wall for our base proper, had a sustained garden, and hired guards.

Hell, one of our "quest rewards" was that we convinced a wolf goddess to have her minions guard the town, which was adjacent to a portal to her realm anyway.

The latter, my DM thinks it's a bit unbalanced so he wants a drawback before he'll let me acquire it somehow

>Mute NPC
Having his tongue pulled out sounds reasonable since it's in a prison

I don't see how it's fucking unbalanced

It takes an action
it requires concentration
you get +1d4 damage to attacks
and
uhh
you're bigger, I guess?
Or you make yourself smaller to fit in tight spaces
Generally it's a situational utility item

Why is dexterity objectively better than strength?

Well, yeah. We're talking about a force of nature here, and nature is, by its very nature, chaotic.

>I still want to give a place they can tinker around
It's the BBEG lair, not just some random dungeon. Make it so that that is the last place they wanted to go.

>Unless you're a barbarian, barbarogue or pure paladin
ftfy

Fuck off, Nine.

Why does rapier exist?

WHY

It also gives you advantage on all STR checks, so I'd say that it's not really that situational. Also, it might be unbalanced for a low level group.

How is strength better for paladin?

Even if rapier didn't exist it doesn't fucking matter because both rapiers and longswords fucking suck

>barbarogue
shortswords
>rogue
crossbows
>fighter
crossbows
>ranger
crossbows
>paladin
you're not using dex weapons who cares
>barbarian
you're not using dex weapons who cares
>casters
crossbows

>Balance of nature or some shit.
Leaning towards neutral, almost like the cookie cutter drood at that point, which isn't a negative but it's different.

>nature is, by its very nature, chaotic.
There is always substantial balance in nature, meaning there is some order to it, but you're correct. Especially when referring to storms, while hurricanes and storms do a lot of good they do a lot of bad too.

I suppose LN would be pushing it, I could try neutral I suppose.

idk, ask the dude who first forged one i guess