/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

This

Players aren't even reading all of their skills let alone the DM stuff, but I'll remove the links and resend to the DM.

>Players how do you make a character? Do you start with a personality and background or a class and general theme?
I like to fill roles that the party needs filled, so I'll usually start with a class and then work backwards until I can come up with a background and backstory that explains how the character arrived at that class.

>DMs how do you make memorable NPCs? Do you try to flesh them all out a lot or make the basics then flesh out the ones the party latch on to?
Don't do the first one unless it's a major plot-important NPC. You will burn yourself out making huge backstories for every single NPC when for like 9/10 of them, the players will only talk to them once or twice. DMs who do this are almost always the kind of people who are better off writing off a book than running an interactive thing like a campaign.

>Players how do you make a character? Do you start with a personality and background or a class and general theme?
I start with a theme/persona and then work backwards to find a class that works well with it, although I do try to play classes i've never tried before instead of re-treading old ground.

I have a question on backgrounds.
Whats a good way to balance out having mutiple (if thats even a good idea) if it generally makes since for the character to have two, like a criminal thats forced to become a soldier who then goes on to become your standard adventurer?
As far as 5E goes its kinda broken to start out with some many skills and such, but how would you work it for the player and character?

Custom backgrounds are a thing.

Have them pick one or the other that will fit the theme of the character going forward or

I was asking about this last thread. Found it in case anyone is interested.

A request / writing prompt:

I'm going to be DM'ing a campaign soon and one of the players wants their character's goal to be becoming a bona fide knight, since he's idolized them since his youth.

I've written an NPC they will meet during the campaign who is a renowned elf paladin who gained notoriety hundreds of years ago for protecting such-and-such and defeating so-and-so.

What I'd like to do is write a "book" like the books you could find in The Elder Scrolls games that serves as kind of an abridged lore dump. I'd like to give this "book" to him in Session 0 with the explanation that it's a book he read as a child and keeps with him to remind himself of what he aspires to be.

The book will contain the tale of the elf paladin character and serve as foreshadowing. But I want to include a bunch of other knights' stories so it feels like an actual compendium of famous knights.

I'll probably raid the Forgotten Realms wiki and paraphrase the stories of a couple knights I find there, but I also wanted to see if anyone from /5eg/ wanted to contribute a short "knight's tale" to the "book."

You could make it up right now, or actually summarize something done by a knight in a campaign you DM'd/played in. Three paragraphs should be sufficient, but feel free to go over.

If you write one, thank you in advance.

So am I retarded if I go for a Dex Paladin?

I sorta want a medium armour Paladin with medium high Dexterity (probably around 16) and then pump Charisma as much as possible for that 20 at level 8 if I can manage it. Ancients Paladin if it matters.

The idea is having a shield+Rapier, with a Longbow as a backup ranged weapon, and letting my damage mostly come from smite damage.

where is that from?

Dex pally is always solid.

Shit I'll try and remember the story of The Old Man of Pelor correctly:
>Playing a LG Paladin of Pelor
>Older, bit past his prime but still going around trying to make the world a better place
>Always tried to stay in the background
>Encouraged the other party members to shine
>Acting somewhat like a father figure
>Always nudging them along to do good and be the best they could be
>Final fight against BBEG
>Shit goes fubar
>I mean full fubar
>We failed completely and let a death knight gain godhood
>Gods sealed behind the divine gate
>We're it and this campaign setting is over
>Offer up a final prayer to Pelor to grant me the strength to strike down this abomination
>DM decides that since I wield a greatsword made from a shard of Pelor's armor when he was last on the material plane I get through
>Also decides BBEG hasn't "solidified" his godhood so he's closer to a demi god for now
>Offers me strength
>As much as he can push through the gate without breaking it
>However it means the end of me
>I'll be consumed by the power soul and all
>No resurrection
>Not even an after life to look forward to
>Accept
>Fight became two demi gods duking it out
>Manage to hit all the rolls I need(with a little help from the party)
>As the death knight is burning away from the greatsword rammed through it's chest
>Begin burning as well
>Nothing but ashes and the sword left
It's still referenced as the one time the old man of Pelor shined. All because the DM didn't want the setting completely fucked and felt somewhat bad we had abysmal rolls that night. Then again the others think it was all planned, but it was the one thing he confided in me as a fellow DM because I didn't believe he intended it for a second.

pic related. You don't have to be a Knight to have Knightly qualities

My players have asked for an NPC intensive social adventure, but I'm drawing a blank on what the adventure should be. They've also said they wouldn't mind a monster or two.

Any strict disadvantage to Dex? I assumed strength was the "better" choice.

Corporate espionage, smuggling, detective agency

You don't get heavy armor and you can't smite at range, that's about it if you're avoiding polearms anyways

Heavy political intrigue. Bring the characters in at a slightly higher level with a couple of good deeds written in under their belts. Have them align under an upstart noble in a court who desires an even higher station. Hell, you could even give them the option of choosing who to help out. Monsters can come in the form of things like shapeshifters trying to sabotage the city, or an unknown creature killing off kitchen peons or something.

Trying to make a typical "tank" fighter for my upcoming game, not so much because my party needs one (though now that I think about it, it would benefit from one, we've got 4 fucking casters) but because I like the idea of being a walking mass of metal and fuck you. The aesthetic of plate, shield, and a flail are also cool.

It looks like shield master benefits dex fighters more than str fighters, and sword and board in general looks to be more a dex fighter affair. I'm not really into playing a dex character this time around, just got done playing a rogue for a few months. Before I get too far into this, should I even bother with trying for a str-based sword & board?

Str-based sword and board is just fine, as is shield master on a str character

Hey, what is better a Blood Hunter/Rogue or Rogue/Blood Hunter?

If I start off as a Blood Hunter I would have 2 more max HP and STR + WIS saves. In comparison, if I start off as a Rogue I get 2 more skill proficiencies and DEX + INT saves.

Reminder that Eldritch Knight with Shield and Absorb Elements is the tankiest character in the game.

Shield Master itself is a very "meh" feat, but the shield alone gives you some extra AC.

Are there any advantages of having our party Barb/Fighter to toss the little monk? Can it be done?

Certainly. By relying on Strength, you will have a much better Athletics bonus, which improves your Bonus Action Shove.

I quite like the idea of corporate espionage. Sine they'll be level 3 or so, I suppose being agents for the local tavern against a rival might be good.

Playing a cute Halfling Swashbuckler girl.

Okay.

>Cute
>Halfling

Pick one. Preferably not the Halfling.

Right on, the more I read shield master the less tempting it become when compared to other options (even an ASI increase), but I don't need it to run the sword & board character.

Wish the shield master feat felt more like 'being one with your shield' as opposed to what it seems to be.

...

Why do they make Fem Bilbo such a slut?

Mix & have the player start off working for gangs and Co and then getting picked up by a noble family and have them work their way up. Maybe have them earning their own title

Is that a halfling or a gnome?

Why she covering up them lovely hairy feet? Does she loreal them shits? They got braids in the motherfuckers?

Don't forget about Heavy Armor Master.

If you want to protect your casters definitely consider picking up Sentinel at some point. Between Sentinel and grappling you can keep 2 enemies locked up, and even more if you start using Manacles.

I get that it's your magical realm or waifu or whatever, but she's really not that hot.

>an Oathbreaker Paladin is mechanically a Paladin of Wee Jas

I don't have a lot of time unfortunately. At most 1 or 2 sessions. It'd have to be a screaming fast power grab.

Not that user and I agree she isn't a bombshell, but I'd mating press that tiny slut in a heartsbeat. Thicc shortstacks are high tier.

>Players how do you make a character? Do you start with a personality and background or a class and general theme?
I use Heroes of Legend PDF most of the time because I usually have no strong feelings on what to play. Based on that random backstory I try to formulate what his class would be. So if he's destitute human who's helped out with smuggling and he's recently had loved sold into slavery I'd make him a rogue. Or if I roll a dwarf who's had some religious events, got drafted into the military, watched 30% of his comrades die and made an advisor to a local ruler. I would make him cleric.

I have fun trying to stitch the random events together and then expanding on it. My DMs liked the two characters I used for that because it gave them a handful of NPCs to work with and plot hooks.

>Carrying the bow like that.
Fucking fake adventurer girls, man.

Well aside from there being literally 4 finesse weapons total in the game (which sucks) dex is rather nice for medium and light builds.

wait you have 2 session before what?

Sentinel is one of the feats i'm eyeing, along with Heavy Armor Master and probably Tough as well.

Feel like i'm missing out on damage potential here, but I suppose that really ain't my shtick being a sword and board fighter anyways.

So how many people like making miniatures and terrain for their sessions? I rather enjoy it more than playing.

I only have 2 sessions AT MOST, probably just 1 to run the game. This is a quick adventure between campaigns using players that can only make one weekend.

PCs- I latch onto gameplay concepts first, more often, then go from there. I try to keep the personality from being defined by class while still having a valid reason for doing what they do.

NPCs- Function, first. Have to justify taking up time, even if it's just fluff or comedy. Then key mannerisms and how to portray them, what they have to offer the party and game at large, and how they do it.

Well you're wanting to play a tank, so the biggest thing is ensuring that ignoring you is not an option. The other thing is that you can pick up a lot of damage from just reactions. Take Tunnel Fighter because it works well with Sentinel.

How would you go about buffing the 4 elements monk, /5eg/? I have a player that's thinking about playing one, and I've allowed the revised ranger at my table before. I'm fine withit being a tad strong, since I'll just throw more shit at them anyways. I was thinking maybe giving them double ki points, and making it so they can pick an additional discipline at 3rd and 6th level. Does that shore up their weaknesses?

You don't need to have damage potential. At level 2 you unlock a free 2d6 bonus damage on hit. Add that to your smite and hand weapon, you do 2d8+2d6 damage at level 2

Paladins are fucking monsters in 5th ed

Just play a Wu-Jen Mystic.

>Well aside from there being literally 4 finesse weapons total in the game (which sucks)
If you go s&b, there is literally no difference between strength and Dex weapons.

And dex is objectively better because of Dex saves being so ubiquitous. Yeah you get a bonus from cha, but with no proficiency, you really want some Dex to not eat the full effect of the many Dex save spells in the game.

Strength saves are far too rare to care about.

Strength is only better if you want a two-handed weapon and the feats that it brings.

You could be a Champion instead if you wanted. When/if you hit level 10 you could even pick up Dueling style to hit a little harder.
Either way, Fighters have the most additional attacks out of goddamn anyone, so that's plenty of damage potential.
I suggest just decreasing ki point costs for the 4 elements stuff, since giving them more ki points lets them spam dodge and flurry of blows more too

>You don't need to have damage potential. At level 2 you unlock a free 2d6 bonus damage on hit.
What.

That was kind of the idea, honestly. It lets them use spells more, but they can also funnel it into monk shit too. I figure of all the monk subclasses it should be the most "spend my special resource to do the cool monk things" one.

>You could be a Champion instead
Champions seem like a solid archetype, but they don't seem very deep or fun to play. They look like they'd get stale really quick.

Thinking of going Battlemaster for the maneuvers. Maybe Knight, as my DM is allowing UA shit.

Battlemaster is the most fun fighter, and it gives you plenty of in combat utility that would either make it harder to ignore you or make it harder for enemies to reach your other companions.

Paladin feels nice as a protector because of lay on hands and auras, as well as the thematics of smiting the shit out of someone.

GM here.

I have them two pools, elemental points and ki points. Both could into be used for their respective categories, but it still effectively doubled their ki points.

It felt like a good way to go about it, and the player liked it. It made it so he didn't feel like he had to save the resources to do one or the other, and could spend them for what they were intended for. His initial concern for double ki points was that he would just end up using it all on stunning, this let him stun as much as anybody else, but without sacrificing his elemental abilities.

It brought it more or less in line with the other two monk types.

>DMs how do you make memorable NPCs? Do you try to flesh them all out a lot or make the basics then flesh out the ones the party latch on to?
By fucking accident. Im running a star wars game and the players were sneaking past some droids and decided to eves drop. I improvised some diologue about droid1 "thinking" he heard something and droid2 chastizing him for thinking for himself. The party immediately wanted to recruit the droid once theu were done so I said "uh the droid has red paint... painted like a human skeleton" and they were all like aww he wants to be people. And now hes just an NPC who hangs out in the parties spaceship and has an existential crisis every once in a while. Seriously all my best NPCs have been happy accidents.

Someone made a good fix like, three years ago. Within months of 5e's release. Look around.

>all my best NPCs have been happy accidents.
Mostly this is how it happens. It's magic.

Which do you think would be more fun to play? A Forge Cleric, or an Illusionist Wizard? Having trouble deciding.

Depends. Do you want to fuck with other people? Or just be rad as hell?

Fucking with other people would be ideal, though I'm not opposed to being rad.

I like this idea. I'll probably use that.

Female Dwarf Cleric is team mom. She's looking for good husband

That seems like a good way to go about it. My group had an elementalist and the DM gave him a handful of scaling points based on his proficiency, but it still felt odd

Having it be a side option seems like it would make it a lot more appealing to use.

NPCs you think through, have plot relevance or are something you want to use later will be ignored.

The irrelevant, mildly entertaining one you made up on the spot will be loved and revered for all time.

I had a magic item shop keep, who made faulty/extremely specific items that were basically useless (keeping with I wanted a smaller amount of magic items, but theyd look for a magic item store in every town, so I gave them one)
She was the essence of high int, low wis (Which i later fleshed out as being actual brain damage caused by a modify memory spell gone wrong). She could make powerful magic items, but only ones that caught her fancy which meant they had really specific uses.
It was supposed to be more of a joke character, bc i had told them that magic item stores didn't exist in 5e, but they kept going. She ended up being a recurring NPC because they would return to that shop even in future campaigns.

ie Staff of Disintegration (one of my players had their last character disintegrated, and is now terrified of the word itself) which just immediately turned to ash. And, my favorite, the non-relative immovable rod. As soon as she turned it on, it broke through the wall and vanished through the town, leaving a rod-shaped trail of distruction as the earths rotation left the rod behind.

How about this one, user? He likes axes, enjoys a good drink, and has plenty of hair on his face. Perfect dwarven husband material.

Dwarven women deserve Human men.

>Grumak "Grub" Gro-Shalak
>Half-Orc Barbarian3/Druid2

Abandoned in the woods by his tribe as a baby for being a dirty half blood, he was found by a family of halflings. The halflings raises him and taught him to be kind and merry. Around the time of his teenage years his halfling village was attacked by the very orc tribe that abandoned him. His family was slain, his home burnt to the ground, he was left beaten and bloodied to die in the woods. Eventually he regained his strength but with no home to go to he travelled into the forest. There he met a wounded mama bear and her cub. He helped the mama heal and protected the cub and eventually found a new home. This was around the time Grumak found out he had the ability to shapeshift into animals. He lived as a bear for some time until human hunters came to their forest. They attacked and killed the mama but Grumak flew into a rage at the prospect of losing another family and slaughtered them all before they could hurt the cub.

The party ended up hearing about this attack and went to investigate. Instead of a crazed bear they found Grumak in orc form tending to the cub. After some interactions Grumak and the cub decided to join the party and they've been adventuring together ever since.

Father is a halfling. A shrewd Merchant
Mother is human who was an explorer who braved the seas.

They manage a flotilla of merchant ships and escorts.

be their daughter

inherit mother's tenacity and father's height

That's why Charisma Paladins are great, especially ancients. Can still do a lot of damage with smites, halves magic damage and adds a lot to the saving throws of everyone around you, which makes you a headache for any enemy.

What the fuck are you talking about.

>Mystic
>Allowed ever
Sounds like a train on wobbly tracks.

>At level 2 you unlock a free 2d6 bonus damage on hit.
Paladins?

What am I missing here?

>Oath of the Ancients
Played one of them awhile back, I enjoyed it. I always had him with vines/moss growing all over his armor, and his skin always seemed to smell of fresh rain.

That has nothing to do with the mechanics you're talking about, but it was my favorite part of play basically an ancient protector of nature.

Yeah, ancients has some great fluff and aesthetics. Mine was a Wood Elf with a focus on dex, and the studded leather armour I used, was fluffed as vines crafted into an armour using magic.

Another was a medium strength high Cha Dragonborn who wore a Plate armour fluffed as being made from Dragon scales, and was a worshipper of Bahamut.

The sheer flexibility is amazing.

Is there a download for the Tortle PDF yet?

there has been for atleast a week?

>sword goes all the way behind her back, between bowstring and bow

Speaking of armour...

I was looking through the list, and it seems to be mostly:

Light armour can get 17 AC, but requires 20 Dex.

Medium armour can give 16, or 17 if you accept a disadvantage on stealth checks. Requires 14 dexterity, so investing in Dex and not being able to use stealth properly is a consideration.

You can also pick up the feat for +1 AC if you have 16 Dex, and this also negates the disadvantage, making it a very nice option, but requiring a feat.

Heavy can give 18 AC, but requires 15 strength, and gives disadvantage on stealth.

What do you guys generally feel about this split? I find that most of my fighters prefer Dex due to the ranged weapons being my favoured weapons, so I almost always grab light armour and 20 Dex, until I can get Medium Armour Master at level 12 for that bonus to AC. Strength feels like it should give a more clear advantage in AC, as just +1 seems very lacklustre.

Thunderous Smite

If you stack it on your regular divine smite and your attack connects, you do 2d8 + 2d6 + whatever damage your weapon des normally

Speaking of Paladin's Oaths, wat are the best ones?
I'm torn between oath of devotion and oath of the ancients.

I'm a level 1 human paladin still, but i want to plan out my growth

+1 AC is a pretty nice bonus, and you can wield 2-handers that dexbois don't get the option of using.

That said Dex is pretty stacked, you get AC, initiative, damage, and very handy skill modifiers from it. Personally I think it's a little bit OP, but not enough that it really bothers me. Strength has its clear advantages and so does Dex.

Damn my love of Paladins.

I'd hardly call that free. That's all of your spell slots for that day in one attack. I'd personally opt to just smite again on the next turn.

But you're not wrong if your point is paladins get a hilarious amount of burst at level 2.

I personally think Dex is just too powerful as a whole in 5e and needs to be toned down. You get a plethora of useful skills from it, you get AC, you get initiative, and finesse is just strength with different weapons. The problem isn't so much the difference in armor or ac, it's that Dex gives too much while other stats give so little. That being said I've never been a min/maxer in D&D so I'll still play strength fighters even if they're inferior.

>Thunderous Smite
>free
Oh, so you are retarded.

Alright buddy.

Ancient or Vengeance are your top tier. Vengeance if you just want to utterly fucking kill the boss without a care and piss the DM off. Personally I enjoy Crown.

Medium armour just feels weird to me. From what I can tell Martials almost never want to use it because to get "optimal" use from it requires you to invest halfway into Dex, but a martial is always going to go 20 STR or 20 DEX, and in both cases heavy and light armour are just objectively better. Medium armour master does exist BUT it requires giving up an ASI AND it's still a "halfway" investment.