/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

What's your favorite plane? I'm one for Mechanis

>get volos today from amazon promo

damn this book is gorgeous. easily the best 5e book.

>Sexy succubus person with a tail, horn, hooves and red skin
>Human who looks slightly angelic
GEE, I WONDER

You're ignoring my point to be a pedant.

My sorceror got his hands on the wings of a dracolich. What should I make out of them?

Toilet paper

A cloak, obviously

To imagine living in: Elysium
For gameplay: the Nine Hells

Eat them

Even if you'd picked a different spell, that hyperbole went so high as to be nonsense.

>Should I have to come up with a good lie when my character is an expert in deception?
Try it next time. Even if it's not mandatory, it's more engaging and entertaining.

What kind of game would be fun for Halloween?

Why should a character bedefined by the experience of its player, rather than it's own capabilities?

Why is it so much trouble to say 'these aren't the druids you're looking for' to the guards instead of 'i roll bluff'?

How is a small twink-like bard more intimidating than a mammoth of a fighter?

The DM can substitute the stat used for a skill at his discretion, such as Strength in place of Charisma for an Indimidation check, or Constitution rather than Stength for a long-distance Athletics check

>when u have exams this week but also need to prepare for weekend session
life is pain

Why do you not have the material down yet?
How much prep do you do?
Why did you come here?

yeah but what cloak? Cloak of Protection is boring.

I have an idea for a magic weapon and could use some input. The concept is a sword that "learns", it talks INCESSANTLY because it wants to learn about everything and because it is incredibly needy due to abandonment issues (for good reason, everyone always ends up ditching it or pawning it off because of how annoying it is). At first it just starts out as a run of the mill +1 sword, but as it travels with the party more and more I had brainstormed possibilities of it learning spells the wielder could use and or capping out at +3 or something as endgame.

It's meant to be this thing that grows with the party, should they choose to nurture its potential and see past its initial flaws. Since it's purpose is to learn, the idea is that it /learns/ how to be a faithful and worthy weapon. The reason it's actual able to do all these things is because the material it's forged out of is one half of a McGuffin. Of course, none of this would ever be apparent, there's no way to know it'll ever be anything more than it already is. I figured it be fun to either reward the players for sticking through with something so annoying, or to have them kick themselves should they abandon it just like everyone else

So how does it sound? What's the best way to maintain this thing so that it doesn't end up completely busted?

Because the character is an extension of the player.

A stylish one, duh

Cloak of Fear aura?

How are you going to have the sword talking constantly without derailing your sessions?

Hmm, I wonder what would be a good magic cloak to make out of wings.

first thing that comes to mind is a cloak of flying, or something that allows them to glide or negate fall damage, could also have some stuff to do with the dragon's color and affinity.

Also might have some residual negative energy that could fuck with the sourcerer in the wings trying to do their own shit, less in a "fuck you for wanting a cool thing" way and more a way that makes encounters and other portions of the game interesting.

I know right? How can Aasimar even compete?

plus if you use the original aasimar tables they're just as weird looking

>Color and Affinity
The resurrection ritual was interupted just before completion, so while it revived, it didn't revive quite right. It was falling apart so its AC grew as the fight went on and it got harder to hit, but it didn't keep its previous Type.

either one of the PCs will need to be designated to occupy its time (likely going to be the dorky wizard), or I can give them the opportunity to find a wizard to craft them an enchanted item that will talk just as much as the sword does. That way, the two of them can talk amongst themselves as much as they want in a bag of holding, though this won't help it to grow

because that takes time?
a lot
because im bored from studying, still doing so on my other screen

because it's a role playing GAME, not a role playing SIMULATION.

good answer tbqh

So I'm running CoS and I could use advice.

Spoilerish

I have tied heavily Iszek's character to that of one of my players with him having held the role of towns executioner before he did,and now Iszek walks around with the Axe that he used to use to chop off the heads of the convicted victims that haunt his nightmares.

I kinda wanna do something cool with that Axe, but I kinda really don't want to give magic weapons to them before they deal with werewolves.
I do I screw with this?

What are the implications of giving a player "divine strike" (1d8 once per turn) instead of Extra Attack at 5th level?

They deal less damage, though how much less can change and denying them a lot of flexibility with the grapple/knockdown rules.

well then possibly something related to necrotic or force damage to show off the raw magic of the ritual of necrotic residue of it, like a breath weapon energy beam that they can maintain through spending sorcery points to keep it going, more or less just funneling raw magical energy out in to the world to orbital laser array people.

>Spoilerish
>doesn't use spoilers

New DM here. I have trouble giving my players things to do when they aren't in dungeons. I don't think they mind too much, but I certainly do. Any tips to help me improve writing and roleplaying social interactions

Any help is good help on this, as my next session was intended to delve into one of the players backstory plothooks, and I want to make sure I deliver

I think there were some alternate rules and possibilities for between dungeon stuff in the Unearthed arcana, but in general perhaps stuff relating to character backstory, or events going on in the larger world that touch on whatever city or settlement they're in. Most of all see what the players seem to enjoy and try and play off of that, whatever isn't related to the crawl that is.

>either one of the PCs will need to be designated to occupy its time
No

What do you mean by "thing to do"? what other things would they want to do besides progressing the adventure they're currently on?

Have some ideas in mind beforehand, but what helps me come up with scenarios and activities is asking the ol' "what would you like to do?" bit. Then I can hook up some other stuff I've had in the back of my mind into whatever it is that they want to do.

If it adresses a player's backstory, work with that player. Talk to them about how to work this out. Keep the other players in the dark for sure, but if it's in his backstory, there's clearly something he wants to happen.

I'm just gonna do the regular campaign and interject jumpscares like "and a skeleton jumps out!" and play stupid spooky sound effects, chain rattling, screaming, etc.

That sounds like it'd be pretty fun if you make sure to do it sparingly enough. Gotta time it so they're not expecting another.

>"You and the sword talk as you continue traveling with the party"

What's the problem? Give me some credit here, obviously I'm not gonna make the game unfun for one person in particular

>as my next session was intended to delve into one of the players backstory plothooks

I mean sounds like you got it figured out, player backstories are a good idea to shove into a game.

One of my players is a heretical criminal and another one sold their soul for forbidden divine knowledge.

Planning to send paladin-assassins after them when they are in bigger cities and basically have to avoid Zones of Truth and lay low as things pan out.

Fighting can happen if they choose the hard route (it'd be dumb to not plan for that as a good DM anyway) but I'm trying to get them to bullshit their way out with more rp focused means.

Seconding this. Additionally having NPC's talk about stuff going on in the world that the party didn't have shit to do with but could hint at future events (war? Lich on the rise? trade being disrupted) is good worldbuilding too and you can get your player characters' opinions on it.

our party has several options for healing magic, so whenever somebody goes down they are usually healed back up immediately
i dont want to multi-attack them while they are down and kill them instantly or anything because thats just a quick way to start an argument, but i do want the threat of death to exist so that the game doesnt get boring
are there any optional rules or something that would make going down a bit more serious/threatening?

honestly, INCLUDING progressing the adventure they're on. The only things I'm really good at setting up is "the NPC or information you need to find for the next dungeon". I'm very comfortable making up dungeons, but I feel like the plot has devolved into me telling the party what they need to "find" the next dungeon. It makes me feel like I'm robbing them of rp opportunities and makes me feel like I'm putting them on rails. But I'm really bad at figuring out how to provide the opportunities for the players to "create" the world their playing in and finding chances for them to stretch their roleplaying wings.

>Then I can hook up some other stuff I've had in the back of my mind
but user, that's the problem I face. The only things rattling around in the back of my mind are monsters, statblocks, dungeon lay outs, and traps

the player who's backstory I wanted to go into is a player who chose the hermit background. he wrote into his backstory that he chose to become a hermit because he accidentally murdered someone in a crime of passion and didn't like that it didn't feel as horrible to him as it should, so he ran off into a life of solitude in the forest. I planned to bring the murder victim back as a Revenant who's been trying to lure the PC back to the site of his murder for revenge. But that's just more combat, I'm struggling to build non combat aspects into this

I guess my problem is coming up with scenarios that can't, or shouldn't, be handled via combat?

That plan of your sounds awesome, I was actually going to do something similar involving a group of Paladin Tieflings who will begin to hunt down Gnomes, including the Gnome party member, because of their secret knowledge of how Tieflings came to be it's because of a pact a Gnome made with a Great Old One,
and the Gnomes have been suppressing the truth for hundreds of years

If it's just going to be a background thing it is essentially pointless. Also by just taking up a PCs free time it locks them out of doing other things, implied or stated, in their free time because "well gotta talk to the sword and I feel obligated to since I agreed." For what? What is the actual tangible pay off for doing this.

If you want an annoying sword look to Soul Eater's ExCaliber

What is the best fighter Archetype and why is it Battle Master?

Do the Factiions exist outside of Organized Play?

Which one is best?

Eberron aasimar are half-couatl, and have serpent features and rainbow feathers for hair.

I'm not gonna get into the nuances of how I'll rp the sword, I feel like that conversation will lead nowhere. If they don't want it, they ditch it. If they want it as a Mcguffin, then they smelt it down. I already talked about the benefits of keeping it around, not to mention it's meant to develop just like any other character and not be so needy. That kind of investment in a character can feel incredibly rewarding

Neither. If you play an extraplanar race, you are a shit player. I know they are a "core" race now but that's because Wizards of the Coast is trying to add new snowflake races to pander to MMO players. I am sick of these fucking niggers who think they should be allowed to start out the game as angelspawn and demonspawn. Why do you think you get to be special? What does your angelspawn character add to the game? Fucking nothing, besides inflating your ego and crutching your lack of roleplaying ability.

Because unlike most archetypes for most classes, it gives you features that are always on. The fact that maneuvers are strong and impactful and come back on a short rest means you don't feel like you have to save them. You always feel like a battle master fighter instead of a fighter that is occasionally a battle master.

>tfw you want to ask /5eg/ if something you have planned for your story is cool but you're not sure if any of your players are lurking

any of you fuckers playing in a party with a rogue who has a pet pig?

Con save when they come back from 0 or they get a point of exhaustion.

>What does your angelspawn character add to the game? Fucking nothing, besides inflating your ego and crutching your lack of roleplaying ability.
sounds fine to me.

5eg is slow as shit recently so you're probably fine dude

>tfw I'm the closet degenerate of the group, i.e. the only one who would ever visit this board
>I will never have to worry about this kind of thing

feels good

>That kind of investment in a character can feel incredibly rewarding
But they're not investing in a character, they're investing in a NPC that one of the characters has to babysit. Also you're going to go out of your way to have your players regret not making an investment that has no apparent value at all other than "weird talking sword that is annoying." It just sounds like a terrible idea and if I were a player I'd toss it because there is literally zero apparent reason to keep it, then Bert stare you as you tried to make us "kick ourselves" for not wanting to put up with it.

DC?

Playing a sword-and-board paladin. Party as of right now consists of a revised ranger, swashbuckler rogue, and UA shepherd druid (who may or may not have to drop the game soon due to scheduling).

My stats are pretty high. 16, 10, 17, 13, 14, 18. The ranger and rogue basically have damage down pat so I don't really feel like I need to bump STR that bad. We've been mostly fighting bandits, kobolds, and gnolls. Should I go Heavy Armor Master or Shield Master for my first feat? We kind of lack in crowd control and I think the bonus action shove would be very useful, especially for gaining advantage to make up for the essential -1 attack I'm taking.

UA Samurai (and soon to be published in XGtE) are pretty hecking good, you can just give yourself advantage on attacks.

Shield Master by a mile

How many encounters are you running?
Add "pointless" fights and traps to deal little damage enough to award using heals, at some point they'll run out of healing.

Seconding samurai. Mechanically it just seems fun as fuck. Especially the capstone that lets you interrupt the fucking initiative.

anyone got a pdf of Lost Artifacts of Greyghast?

lucky fuck, I know for a fact that one of my players frequents a few boards but I don't know if she's wandered to /5eg/ or not.

eh, fuck it. you're probably right. Here goes:

I gave my party an amulet that lets them communicate with the dead and ask a yes or no question. It was eventually going to be revealed that the necromancer-Lich BBEG was controlling it and using it to misdirect the party. Well, the party kind of just stopped using the amulet.

I'm trying to decide if I should "power up" the amulet and let them converse a bit deeper than a yes or no with the spirits, give it some other ability that can be "twisted" by the BBEG, or just drop that thread entirely?

power it on up bose
ive been asking for it for a while now and ive only gotten radio silence in response
seconding this request

Aside from things like devils, which are always evil, can there reasonably be a nature vs nurture aspect to alignment? For example, could a baby red dragon ever believably be raised from birth to be good?

put them in situations where its TOO convenient not to use the amulet
then they will of course be motivated to use it, but at the same time, it might seem a bit too good to be true?

I feel like you tend to get radio silence around here when asking for third party stuff in general, either because nobody uses it themselves for lack of trust, nobody wants to get the thread crashed or that its up in the trove, I've been wondering about shit from the DM's guild for funsies and inspiration for a while now and been wanting to ask but only expect silence.

i love third party shit since theres so little official stuff out for 5e
third party shit is pretty important
always looking for more

what food are you guys planning for your Halloween sessions, /5eg/?

My problem with the third party stuff is that ... 5e is so easy to break. I feel like the third party stuff is more often then not broken in some way that isn't super apparent until you're at the table and start playing

if something is over or under powered i dont mind just rolling with the punches or adjusting it
either way it works out

Shield master.

regardless of balance, im just an infophile
i love compendium-type books with monsters, magic items,etc.
the more the merrier

It's better than having to create it out of the blue, though

Well if we're on the subject of third party stuff, anyone got some DM's guild stuff they don't mind sharing? Mainly that 'one grung above' supplement thing, raiders of the lost tomb, the guide to magic and any sort of monster manuals that you have found to be rather interesting?

Look at enough homebrew & UA stuff and you pretty quickly develop an eye for catching the bullshit just at a glance.

>Do the Factiions exist outside of Organized Play?
Not well read on the Forgotten Realms, but I know most of them are pretty thoroughly accounted for.
I like the Harpers. I've always dug the "benign clandestine group" stuff and how it's such a natural play off of the concept of Bards in D&D settings as stewards of information.

>Harpers
>Benign

We've got a pretty big campaign with 12 players not including the DM.
Our DM lets us take our own custom skills every few levels as long as we run them through him first. I'm playing a Kobold war cleric of Tiamat who went through a quest line in order to become a Dragonborn. The question is, do you guys have any ideas for skills to us with the character? Example:

[Charged]
Damage: 3d2 initial lightning damage.
Effect: Target takes +3 extra lightning damage whenever they're hit by electricity [max of 9 per round].

What? If a lv5 sorc with the spell point variant converts his sorc points into spell points he can cast up to 16 spells (all level one) in between long rests. Or done another way he can cast up to 10 level one spells and 2 level two spells. And he also only has 6 spells.
Meanwhile a wizard without spell point variant can cast 10 level one spells, 3 level two spells, and 2 level three spells. And a wizard starts off with 6 spells at level 1! By the time you're 5 you have at minimum 14 spells and can have 8-9 of them prepared!

Battle Master can't even Mark people.

I'm already shaking my head at your campaign and goal. So I can't help.

Every melee attack can Mark if your DM allows the optional action.

Jfc user, stop. Just stop. There are better systems for this, bastardizing 5th Ed. D&D in this way is just asking for trouble.