/5eg/ - D&D Fifth Edition General

Traps are encounters, too! Perhaps the people who owned the castle were paranoid.

Also mimics. They're kind of traps and kind of monsters. Also cliche. Don't use mimics. Unless they're couch mimics, because sitting should be discouraged. They're adventurers, fitness is essential!

Another adventuring party is ransacking the castle in search of loot. They are perfect foils to the party, almost as if some mysterious force is mocking the player characters. (Very spooky and ominous.)

Ghosts of the dead castle denizens. Ghosts are OP as fuck in combat though, so this can also be a social encounter. Maybe they don't even know they're dead.

A band of metal as fuck devil slayers that mistake the party for shapeshifted agents of evil. Only through battle, or perhaps extreme social wiles, can these slayers be overcome!

A portcullis splits the party in half. That's it. I mean splits them in half as in two on one side, two on the other without any obvious way to regroup. Not... not the portcullis falling on them and literally bifercating the entire party in the most savage instant TPK ever performed. That would be bad.

Be more worried about the constant injection of Magical Realm.

Wait until you have to learn university-level solid mechanics from a Chinese guy speaking not just with a heavy accent, but also completely random punctuation.

does anyone have the pdf maps for tomb of annihilation?

If your character start having to turn their wands off and on again, just run.

I will never forget how "with" is pronounced "wizuh" in a Chinese accent.

The book is in the trove, now stop spamming.

Dopplegangers / Mimics are engaged in a shadow war to milk the most gold out of adventurers in order to bribe the gods of the underworld to bring back their own god.,

So what is a vial of acid then? Or holy water? Or alchemist fire? They are considered improvised weapons but I don't know what they are most similar to.

break them and use the glass as a dagger

>Traps are encounters, too! Perhaps the people who owned the castle were paranoid.
They weren't, but the fiends that took it over sure as fuck are. That's a good idea.
>Also mimics. They're kind of traps and kind of monsters. Also cliche. Don't use mimics.
If you're sure. :( I like them.
>Another adventuring party is ransacking the castle in search of loot. They are perfect foils to the party, almost as if some mysterious force is mocking the player characters. (Very spooky and ominous.)
>>A band of metal as fuck devil slayers that mistake the party for shapeshifted agents of evil. Only through battle, or perhaps extreme social wiles, can these slayers be overcome!
Going to combine these two into treasure hunters that think the party are devils in human form. Maybe they'll even be survivors from the first assault that've lived this long by hiding in the dungeons.
>Ghosts of the dead castle denizens. Ghosts are OP as fuck in combat though, so this can also be a social encounter. Maybe they don't even know they're dead.
OP as fuck is good, I promised them a challenging campaign and goddamnit there's six of them, so they better get one.
>A portcullis splits the party in half.
The portcullis at the front gate of the castle is open right now, so that could work really well. Splitting the party to either try and get themselves back together or to run encounters separately could work, but it'd be pretty boring for half the session for most of those PCs. So it'd be better as a puzzle.
Maybe a combat right after the portcullis comes down to exploit the split group?

Mimics are essential in my opinion. Don't overuse them, but if you've got a lot of loot first ask questions later kind of players then mimics are necessary to slow them down and have them actually consider consequences.

Each of those items has its damage listed in its description in the PHB.

get a glassblower to make vials in the shape of daggers.

>Maybe a combat right after the portcullis comes down to exploit the split group?
Remember, ghosts are incorporeal and can move through a portcullis as they please.

You know, just in case.

You are evil, I like it.

What's your favorite Wizard subclass, and why?

I personally like Conjuration and Necromancy because I like having minions, but Necromancy does feel rather lacking until you reach higher levels.

Divination because it makes your GM's job a living hell.

just don't accidentally kill your characters with old age...

>DMing for a new group
>the weasel lookin nigga speaks up
>"i'm gonna make a divination wizard"

Technomancy.

>whats your dex?
>whats your con?
>whats your ac?
>whats your hp?
>why?
>just asking

had it coming

>5e's monster manual doesn't have a smokin' hot githyanki babe like 3.5 does

Why would you ever play such a shitty system?

>Implying he won't just portent out of anything you throw at him

you only get like 3 though and its dependant on rolls

Shouldn't you know the AC of all the players, or at least ask for it when you're rolling for attacks against them? I just tell my players whether the attack is a crit, hit, miss, or crit miss. With stuff like cutting words and shield, you're giving them too much information if you tell them what you rolled.

You are 100% misunderstanding my question. I want proficiency with alchemist fire, holy water, acid vials, etc... So what weapon proficiency would I need here? I know the damage already.

But that's kind of the point of spells like shield and cutting words

Player brought up an interesting point last game. I'm the DM.

> "I feel like we're always going to be at a disadvantage (in combat) because we're forced to plan out, prepare, and lay traps out loud and you (the DM) will always be privy to that and can make adjustments or altogether avoid them on the fly."

This is after a a long combat that they ended up winning with no threat of death or losing, but they spent the better half of the session planning an elaborate (but ultimately easily avoidable / obvious bait) "trap" The "trap" being they were in large tent surrounded by enemies, and they coated everything in oil, cut it slit out the back, and tried to "lure" enemies to come into the front with illusions so they can light it and run out the back. The enemies just surrounded the tent and began chucking spears at it..

Thoughts on the players supposition?

Oh, then the only way to get that is Tavern Brawler, as previously asked. Happy lobbing!

>"I feel like we're always going to be at a disadvantage..."
Yes. That's the fucking point.

well thats why the first user said "DMing for a new group"

>Thoughts on the players supposition?
Their plan was bad and deserves to have failed. However, at least their plan involved them leaving the tent before they get mercilessly penetrated from all angles.

>With stuff like cutting words and shield, you're giving them too much information if you tell them what you rolled.

So how do you handle enemy monsters that use abilities like that, since you always know what the player's roll?

You just have to ask your players to trust that you're playing the mobs as if they don't know what you know, which, hopefully you are.

Two of my party members made some form of pact with a black dragon. What do you think it is?

I felt the opposite when I was a player and asked the DM to not announce the numbers he rolled when attacking me. It felt cheaty to know that I shouldn't even bother reaction casting shield because the +5 AC wouldn't cause the hit to miss.

>homebrew

That's the thing, I am. They've made good tactical preparations in the past, or made good plays mid-combat that gives them the win. I just try to be rational depending on the monsters I'm running, and what's going on in the fight.

True.

How so?

it lets them live in return for slaves

Does it involve dragon dick or dragon pussy?
If not I'm fresh out of guesses.

So i'm a warforged Storm Rager Barbarian and i'm thinking about branching into paladin at some point for character reasons. What would be a good level to do so?

>How so?
The DM has literally infinite resources, the players don't. They are at a disadvantage, that's what makes their accomplishments mean something.

...

What Half-Elf subrace should my Thief be? I'm considering either High for the cantrip or Wood for the 35 ft movement

Improvised weapons I guess

I'd accept proficiency in Alchemist supplies.

Hey everyone, I'm working on a campaign setting set in something of an ice age. The basic premise is that a moon goddess killed another moon goddess, effectively dropping her moon from orbit and into the world, creating an impact winter that affects ~70% (maybe more?) of the planet (the explanation for the moon not destroying the planet entirely is something between the magic of other gods and the fact that the moon simply wasn't big enough relatively speaking). The campaign itself is set a few thousand years after the event.

My main question is, what are some good resources or ideas for agriculture and food sustainability? I was thinking something along the lines of underground farming/greenhouses and hunting/ice fishing to be the main ones, but the idea of inter-planar trade with fey or something would be interesting too. Any thoughts or ideas?

Move speed is better.

Wood for either move speed or mask of the wild, depending on the setting

I'd pretend I don't know what the player rolled when deciding whether the monster uses it or not. It's easier to ignore information that would keep you alive if you used it when you're just playing a monster and not a character you've been playing as for multiple sessions.

They'd be really really constipated until they shat out a glue plug. That or they'd suffocate because the stuff is to thick to slide down their throat. Good reason to give someone a trach maybe? I doubt pounding the universal solvent would be a very pleasant experience. Make that character a mute for a while and center a quest around it.

Don't listen to them. Take booming blade cantrip so you can whack them, disengage and move 15 feet to b8 them into moving. Even better if you go swash instead, but it's still good for thief.

How do you guys feel about the Artificer class? I thought it needed more spells and cantrips, plus the progression and types of magical items you can create were lacking. Is there any updated version or homebrew that works off of the UA artificer that you like?

If a Helmed Horror is slain what even happens? Does it just revert to plate armour and a longsword?

>My main question is, what are some good resources or ideas for agriculture and food sustainability?
The best place to get this answer is the tribes living in polar/arctic regions, like the Inuit and Sami, and how they historically got by.
>I was thinking something along the lines of underground farming/greenhouses and hunting/ice fishing to be the main ones
Indoor farming would work, particularly when enhanced by magic. People nowadays are experimenting with essentially warehouses filled with shelves to grow crops on. Versatile and efficient crops would be prioritised (like soybeans).
As for hunting and ice fishing, hunting is logical. Ice fishing, though... as bad as global cooling would be for land creatures, the water might be worse off. Not only is life going to be affected (tropical creatures would die off and arctic ones would move south) but water currents would be, too. After thousands of years, though, I imagine fish would've spread out enough that fishing is viable globally.
>but the idea of inter-planar trade with fey or something would be interesting too.
That would be interesting, definitely, and would have some potential for cool sociological changes regarding the perception of fey and so on.

1. The enemy knows it is fighting for it's life and uses it's class abilities the first time something big comes their way.

2. The enemy doesn't take the PCs seriously and is uses the abilities once he's below half HPs, or to aid in his escape.

Came up with a campaign idea. I want to make a campaign that's basically a redux of paper mario TTYD. It would be organized around collecting 7 mcguffins before the illithids (x-nauts). The idea is that the chapters would be a retelling of the corresponding paper mario chapter setting-wise without trying to perfectly mirror the story. So the general overarching story (bad guys want mcguffins to summon ancient evil below the city, good guys want them to prevent it) would be based on TTYD and the chapter settings would be, but the actual action in the chapters would be different. So the individual chapters would be like any other D&D campaign where you have mini-goals along your path to reach the main goal and it's up to you to figure out how to achieve those mini-goals, who you talk to to figure out what's going on, etc. Settings I'm thinking of:

Chapter 1: classic intro quest, "there's a bad guy who lives in the castle on the hill can you guys deal with it"
Chapter 2: pixies in a nearby forest were entrusted with the magical item the heroes are looking for, but the illithids sent some underdark baddies to come and take the item
Chapter 3: desert city celebrating its new year festival. The city holds a gladiator tournament with the festival, and it appears to be the heroes' best way to gain audience with the noble.
Chapter 5: the magical item is thought to be on a Morkoth's island floating around the seas to the east.
Chapter 7: sneak into the illithid colony (or maybe a remnant colony on the astral plane) to take the item they've stolen

Trying to make it less railroady than it sounds by basically just committing to the settings and the goals and allowing the players to figure out how to achieve those goals in those settings.

So I am going to begin an all-rogue campaign with afew friends, and I plan to make an arcane trickster.
Should I make a con art... "Saul Goodman" kind of con artist with charlatan background, or a graverob... a respectable scholar archeologist with a sage background, à la Indiana Jones?

Can someone with the spell jump on them or someone with otherwise ridiculous jumps run and jump attack someone to cover more distance

it makes sense in my head if you just run straight at them and achilles them

Jump distance counts against your move for the turn, so no they couldn't cover extra distance.

>Can someone with the spell jump on them or someone with otherwise ridiculous jumps run and jump attack someone to cover more distance
No.

You can't jump further than your regular movement speed in a single round. You don't have fucking jet engines that propel you through the air once you jump. You're still moving a regular speed.

That seems really arbitrary and pretty dumb to be honest. Wouldn't it just be easier (and likely more fun) to just give the players the information that they need to use their abilities effectively? That way you could also do the same without having to worry about it being unfair?

>to cover more distance
your jump distance can't exceed your movement, even with magic/gear, so you'll never "cover more distance" unless you're jumping off a cliff.

>unless you're jumping off a cliff.
Technically, falling would take time. You wouldn't gain extra distance, you'd still move your regular movement speed forward each round until you splat and die. It would be a further distance in the end, but it would take longer.

So, answer is still no even with a cliff.

Who cares? We're gods!

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SyF1G_gPg
This is the one I use (though since nobody in my group plays an artificer, I mostly just use it as a framework for Artificer NPCs).
The main improvements I think this has is are the expansion to its crafting, some actual abilities for the archetypes that aren't just "you get a new formula/type of damage", and the construct is its own archetype.

oh so for combat it would really only be useful if you need to jump over something

falling moves you 60ft a round, iirc

I was considering that because I plan to make extensive use of objects, like throwing holy water and acid and stuff. So I need to be within 30 ft to not have disadvantage. But I also planned to use a crossbow mainly, and shoot from the top of trees and such. At that point though I would just poison my bolts. So being close wouldn't matter and if anything tried to go under the tree I could drop shit on them still. I dunno.
I do think BB would be good for this playstyle still.

Thanks so much for the advice, it's greatly appreciated :)!

feather fall moves you at 60ft a round.
Free falling is...faster.

Yes, but it doesn't increase your forward speed. "Extra distance" is, as far as I understand it, forward in direction.

Downward speed is just the speed at which you approach your inevitable demise via explosion of viscera on hard rock.

Never build environmental dependencies.

Right. Didn't sound right to me after I posted that so I did the math and it's only 6 mph. Not nearly lethal.

the extra distance i referred to in was intended as downwards. As in, the only way you are covering more distance is if you throw yourself down a cliff.

>The NPCs having personality and a plan seems arbitrary and dumb

Well ok then, user.

Apparently, there are no explicit rules for free fall speed, according to google, but people are estimating you should fall 150ft in a round.

I know. I'm not. Tree can be interchangeable with any elevated surface.

I would make the armor cursed just for funsies.

You are. There is no reason to expect there to be elevated surfaces in dungeons. Terrible build.

Oh this is really nice! I'll have to run it by my dm but it looks pretty stable. Thanks for the link!

Overall I find it really interesting but it seems to just not be all that great for what it brings, at least at lower levels.

incorrect
sageadvice.eu/2016/02/13/how-many-feet-does-a-creature-fall-in-a-single-round/

It'd be easier, sure. But what makes it any different from telling the players how much hp something has? Rolling is an abstraction; Something we use to add randomness to the game. Characters never know exactly what was rolled. To characters, there is no rolling. There's only the attempt to do something and the outcome.

Terrible build? A versatile build is "terrible"? Or are you saying Thief is terrible? Or are you just retarded? I can use a Rapier up close or a crossbow from atop an elevated surface. It's not a "build", it's tactics. Fucking autist.

wew, not even close.

Oosh. Sounds like I struck a nerve.

I think he is saying that it is terrible to build a character on the assumption that you'll have access to something outside of your control.

It's similar (though not as bad) as those asshats who come in raving about how they can do 1000 damage a turn, assuming they will have artifact level gear.

But I'm not building anything around that. I'm able to be viable in either situation. From up close or from afar. If there's no elevated surface, I can just shoot from the ground and throw acid, or stab with a rapier using BB then disengage.

eldritch knight is so fun holy shit