/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General - Brick in the Wall Edition

Without looking anything up, pulling out of my ass: prayer of healing since it takes 10 min

Healing Elixir, lets you make a literal healing potion that anyone can drink within the next 24 hours

What's better Relentless Endurance or Stone's Endurance?

How do i resist the temptation to optimize/minmax when I have a character concept?

That's not efficient though. Especially as an action economy deal.

Combat or out of combat though? That is vital to answering this.

Out of combat, it is a Life Cleric with Goodberries somehow.

In combat, definitely prayer of healing. At lower levels, bonus action heals are your friend, as healing will never be enough to outheal the damage you receive, so you should not skimp on your damage just to heal. Healing word is a godsend for that reason.

prayer of healing is a 10 minute cast time my dude
In combat most efficient is naturally mass heal, the 9th level spell

Hard to say. Stone's endurance can be employed pre-emptively, to ward off a really nasty high-dam blow, which allows you to use it intelligently, while relentless could potentially auto-trigger on a 1-dam poke from a goblin.

On the other hand, at higher lvls, relentless endurance means you can shrug off a dragons breath weapon, even though you were down to 3 hp (So long as it does not permadeath you outright), while stone's would be useless.

For lower levels, I would say Stone's is much better.

On top of what others have said, Aura of Vitality is fucking clown shoes. 20d6 healing over one minute as a 3rd level spell. It takes concentration, which isn't an issue outside of combat. The main issue is that only Paladins and Lore Bards can get it.

With favored soul being able to provide healing, an all sorcerer party is pretty fun
Until legendary actions and instant death at 0 hp become common, healing word because it's a bonus action and has range
If you're looking for big numbers, it's mass heal by far

Have you tried not resisting it? There's nothing wrong with optimizing your character and enjoying that aspect of the game, quit denying yourself enjoyment for Veeky Forums's approval.

I want my Cleric to be the party face so that would mean less Con or Dex which seem to be must have stats

Oh, you mean how do you resist min/maxing when it gets in the way of a character concept. I misunderstood. My suggestion would be to have a clear concept, then optimize within that space. Consider it a challenge and become the best cleric that is also the party face.

Alternatively, if your GM allows, play favored soul sorc. They get access to the cleric spell list and their casting keys off of charisma.

Just play a bard bro, they gets lots of healing spells. Even moreso if you go Lore Bard and pick up Aura of Vitality before Paladins even get it.

Bard (Band/Traveling Maestros), Rogue (New Thieves Guild), or Warlock (Crazy group of people who talk to themselves).

Man, reminds me of this game we had once...

>Strange chick who wanted to join our game.
>Pretty weird girl, usually wore a hat of some kind (caps etc,)
>Super into the game, even more so than the rest of us, always made sure we didn't skip sessions, and kept us focused on the game.
>Suddenly doesn't show up.
>call her out of concern
>It is some woman who asks us who this is
>Audibly sad
>Say we are friends she had plans with today
>Says she is hospitalized
>Like wont come again
>her voice cracks and she ends the call
>We visited her a few times, but it turns out she had terminal cancer, and knew she had limited time left.
>Suddenly all the times she had been in pain, and taking some meds that looked pretty strong, made sense.
>Wanted to play as much as possible, always been a huge fan of roleplaying games, but had always been too afraid to try it out before
>Wanted to try it before it was too late
Her character got immortalised in our homebrew setting. But damn man... cancer is no fucking joke.

Paladin, Cleric, Wizard or Bard. Other classes are too boring mechanically, don't have enough variety in playstyles, and/or have no cool fluff for a group of the class. A group project for wizard school, a magical band, any collection of godfearing individuals etc.

Damn, that sucks bro :(. But glad to hear she had an awesome time while she was here and that she gets to live on forever.

Would a Gloom Stalker Ranger/Way of the Shadow Monk be good? I'm trying to see if a Ranger/Monk build could work out.

>he uses alignments in his games
wew

I'm running ToA at the moment and one of the players has a Ranger 5/ Life Cleric 2 with a decanter of endless water
They pretty much eliminate the hazards of travelling outside of the creatures they run into

Considering it sounds like they made more revisions to it, we dont know. Maybe.

My gut feeling says it would be unnecessary. But time will tell I guess.

What stops you from using it before combat?

We've done that several times now.

I am a warlock. The mother of a thousand young would pay for child support as long as I make more baby. The deal is an endless loop.

You know the way you said it almost makes it sound like it's not your fetish. Good job.

your post made me think of a female warlock who made a deal to be a breeding sow for demons in order to gain demonic powers, sounds neat.

Yeah, but said "In combat, definitely prayer of healing", was just saying it cant be used in combat, was just being pedantic.

Is it possible to play characters who don't attack hp but win fights via disabling? Does the game offer any non-damage options for winning fights or damage options to deter hostile action?

Spam sleep and other restrictions spell.

Wizards, barbarians and rogues are all good choices for a "one class" game.

>not winning most of your fights via Polymorph spam

On this note, what would the revision feasibly even change of the Gloom Stalker?

Bards, Paladins, Rogues, maybe Rangers esp if UA content is in.

Bard and Thief (All Rogue) has incidentally been my favorite pure class mix since 2e

I want to make a character who is essentially a demonmancer, or who works with and summons demons, but isn't a warlock. Not evil, but mildly edge and not particularly a nice person, but works towards noble goals.
Presumably conjuration wizard, unless anything else fits better, but concentration not being broken at 10 sounds good.
>What are some spells that work well with the fluff?
I'll be using spells from old black magic, (not summon lesser demon, I have no idea what the fuck they were thinking) so I'll only be summoning 1 thing at a time which shouldn't be too much of a hassle for DM. I could also refluff conjure elemental. I also want to use alot of magic circle and planar binding.
That means I can't summon anything until at least level 7, what other spells could I be using? If DM is cool with it i would refluff familiar to an imp (without any of the abilities) purely for the aesthetic and connection to demons. Aside from some of the basic spells, like fireball, mage armour shield etc what else fits with this fluff? I've also never played a wizard before.
>Whats a good backstory?
I had an idea relating to some family member being a fiendlock, but "losing" to their patron and having their soul taken, but that would probably dissuade someone from meddling with demons. What's a good reason for someone to summon lesser demons, rather than pledge to a more powerful one?

>(not summon lesser demon, I have no idea what the fuck they were thinking)
No it's a good spell, you can cast it behind the enemies and away from allies. Plus then you can literally end concentration instantly if one is about to attack an ally.

All Ranger party
Hillbilly Mountain Men Must Needs Keep The Cityfolk Out Of Their Ding Dang Woods

>Want to play a Thief
>Elf seems too magical
>Lightfoot Halfling and Tabaxi have CHA which I plan to dump
>Human has no Darkvision
>Forest Gnome has spellcasting which I'm avoiding for in character reasons
At this point I'm thinking of just being a fucking Shifter.

goblin

It's one racial ability is nearly a duplicate of Rogues main ability. Literally worthless.

I would actually make a Goblin Deepstalker but we already have a Ranger.

Summon lesser demons summons 8 dretches/manes, thats not only pretty broken, it also takes wayyy too fuckin long, I feel the same way about conjure animals unless its one of the lower amounts. Maybe summon 2 CR 1s/1 CR 2, but summoning 8 creatures just fucks with everyone.

Hobgoblin with Whip proficiency.

It's literally a worse Conjure Animals, it's worse because Druid's meant to be the summon master. Anyone banning it is either just saying that because the player asking is an edgy fuck who'll abuse it, or better be banning a lot of other summon spells as well.

I'd take it but just use it rarely, as in never more then once per session max. Kind of a last resort trump card spell.

Human you mongoloid.

>Being this much of a fucking min maxer
Wood Elf.

No one else in the group has Darkvision so I feel like I should, plus there's no feats I actually desire in the slightest on this character.

This No real magic involved, just a forest person.

Elves aren't inherently magic, especially not compared to fucking shifters.

>Minmaxer
I am thinking of picking a fucking Shifter dude. I just want something that's normalish life span, darkvision and no charisma because I'm playing a thief not some charming dandy.

Magic was probably the wrong word, I'm not attracted to the idea of playing someone who doesn't sleep and lives hundreds of years.

Do you players sometime have troubles distinguishing the different humanoid enemies?

Or think than Orcs and Goblins band together because Warhammer & other works inspired by it?

Is Calm Emotions worth taking for an Archfey Warlock?

Play a Dwarf. they're long lived but nothing like Elves, have Darkvision and aren't known for being overly charming.

Hill Dwarf gives you some extra umph on the frontlines. Though I'd probably go for a Light Crossbow on a Dwarf.

Speaking of Rogues.

I am making an AT, and I am torn between Vhuman and Wood Elf.

What feats can be good for a Rogue? I plan on getting myself a SCAG cantrip (GM already approved of that with my Rogue cantrips in case there was any issue there) and going mostly melee with my cantrip as my main damage source, and a bow as my backup weapon.

Wood elf grants night vision, bonus movement and easier hiding options.

Humans mostly grant a feat as their main perk. But looking through the feats, I cant find anything that seems to really make up for the vast differences between the two, or even lend itself well to the Rogue I am going for.

I dont want crossbow expert.

When I was first introduced to D&D at the age of 12, I thought Orcs and Goblins worked together because Goblin and Orc are basically the same thing in LotR.

Nah, they're rather distinct.

>charming dandy
>Wood Elf
????

How would you make Anomander Rake in DnD as an npc.?

Yeah, I'm self-banning the spell because I usually DM and I know that summoning 8 creatures will either trivialise an encounter, or be a non-factor based on initiative and whether or not the enemy had AoE. Plus, one person rolling 8 attacks, moving 8 creatures, just takes up way too much time, and breaks action economy. I also restrict conjure animals in a similar way, limiting it to the other options, 4 CR 1/2, 2 CR 1 or 1 CR 2, and even then I'm a bit iffy on the 4 CR 1/2 option. It slows the game down and can trivialise encounters (blocked movement, 8 concentration checks etc.)
If there was any CR 1 or 2 demons, I'd ask to summon a 1-2 of those, but instead I'd rather not fuck with everyone elses enjoyment of combat.

All Wizards is all fun and games until you find yourselves in an antimagic field

>Plus, one person rolling 8 attacks, moving 8 creatures, just takes up way too much time, and breaks action economy.
Uh, DM controls summoned Demons dude. So you can make them all move and attack in pairs of 2 or 3.

Also one trick I've found with summons spells is this, if it summons 8 creatures then instead it's 2d4, if it's 4 then it's now between 2-4 (reroll 1 on a d4) and 2 or 1 creature are untouched.

>Bard casts Investiture of Flame

youtube.com/watch?v=di1XUB0YIzw&ab_channel=JonathanYoung

Also, why are you not making magic instruments that automatically cast Minor Illusion (Sounds only)+Thaumaturgy(Sound boom) when played to have your bard have any instrument they want with an amp?

>TFW walking into an anti magic castle and expects a fight in there.
Remind me, can I use bladesinging in an anti magic field? Is it at all affected by that?

We have been told that all magic is completely impossible in there, even magic items losing their effect. Fighter asked if any of his action surge/second wind things caused a problem, and he said no.

Bladesinging isnt magic, is it? Isnt it just a battlestance more than anything else, similar to battle master manoeuvres?

My other point, I'm planning to play a young character who grew up on the streets of a city. An 100 year old Wood Elf is still what? 19? It just feels wrong for the character I plan to play.

Dragonborn then.

Holy shit man, I have no idea. Do you have any casters? Because they might want to, you know, wait outside or something

DM controls them, but that's still an extra 8 moves and attacks. I can ask the DM, maybe he's cool with it, but when I usually DM i feel it slows things down too much.
Maybe making it 2d4 would feel a bit more balanced.

Now that I'm actually looking at the Manes and Dretch stats, the Dretch has 2 attacks each and twice the HP of a Manes, why would anyone pick the manes?

I have a dragonborn thief in my party, it's not as bad as you might think
>Fail stealth check
>Set place ablaze with breath weapon
>Sneak out in the smoke

Bladesinging I'd allow, on the grounds it's not really entirely magical. Same as Monk which has it's abilities allowed inside the field.

Or until all your group runs out of spell slots.

War Cleric, Paladin, Rogue and me, a Wizard.

But I am a Bladesinger Wizard. Thought I might still be *slightly* usable in there.

Let's say Cyric was doing some nefarious shit again at least semi-directly. He's back to his faith stealing ways by attempting to mass produce the Cyrinnishad. What's a method he could use to go about this? Avatar form on the material to do it himself? Providing guidance to clergy to craft their own?

quite an efficient magical tome for siphoning your competition's power

I'm playing a game in the FR's later today and holy shit, my Monk is called Cyric. I knew it sounded really fucking familiar and I shouldn't use it just in case it was someone.

Fuck, thanks for saving me.

You think I was kidding. I wasnt.

People severely underestimate how fucking good strength is on a Rogue. Expertise in Atheltics, and don't go into negative strength modifier. You can now grapple most enemies quite nicely.

Had one as well once. I still remember grappling someone after I got disarmed, and then flame breathing the fucker while giving him a nice and tight hug.

>not giving yourself to the mad prince
step it up, senpai

You'll probably be ok in that case, but at least keep near the back. What kind of twisted creature allows no magic in his castle? Why even HAVE a castle if your Unseen Servant can't clean up your shit?

He also has 16 str so I've seen the benefits first hand.
And 16 dex and con too. And I SAW him roll those stats myself, infront of my very eyes. What are the odds of that even happening?

Win fights by
A) Not getting into them in the first place
B) Calm emotions when the enemies get angry
C) Running away
D) Running away faster or dropping magical banana peels behind you
E) Being so fucking hard to hit because magical bullshit that you can solve the puzzle with the monsters still in the room
F) Just take the item from the monster's hands and run away
G) Make the weak monsters realize that fighting you will only result in death, because it really will only result in death

>Rolling for stats

some monsters are just unfortunately immune to every condition, like oozes, and the ooze demon lord.

>Wow, a +1 to athletics when you should already have expertise in athletics for +a fucking billion, and you only get one grapple a turn anyway!
Ideally you want extra attack so you can grapple and then attack with sneak attack, or grapple twice. This is why barbarogue is nice.

>What kind of twisted creature allows no magic in his castle?
It's a guardian of some kind, pretty much a spellbreaker type of guy who has made the entire castle grounds into a massive anti magic field to keep demons from coming through a portal in the depths of the castles catacombs.

Problem being that no one has heard from him in a long time. People assume he may be unable to defend the place, so we need to go there in case anybody tries to remove the anti magic field.

They're not immune to you not fighting them, though.

Don't tell me your DM gives EXP based on monsters you kill.

>Wow, a +1 to athletics when you should already have expertise in athletics for +a fucking billion
Hey guy that doesn't play the game. +1 when you can get at most 11 without expertise is far from insignificant.

You also don't gain a billion from expertise. You get twice your proficiency bonus. Which is 4 at level 1.

You heavily underestimate how much that +1 means.

>Half-Orc grapplemonk with Way of the Long Death
>Relentless Endurance and can spend Ki to resurrect each turn
>Almost unkillable except for insta-death and mobs of enemies

Definately RE, really useful for shit like being unexpectedly knocked down by a bad crit before your party can buff/heal you.

>The you have had a GM who only gave exp if we killed things
>Two players ended up angrily screaming at someone for talking us out of a fight, because we lost exp and got set behind the curve in premade campaign.
Those GMs need to off themselves. Didn't even bother seeing the campaign through till the end.

Never really spent any time with hobgoblins or bugbears (orcs fill that role, anyway), and I really don't like how 5e has kinda designed them. The kobolds are too manly. They shouldn't have pecs.

What would be the mechanical impacts of letting players choose their spellcasting ability (from CHA/WIS/INT) at character creation? So you could have for example charisma clerics or whatever.
Would this be majorly gamebreaking or still functional?

Everyone would go WIS because perception is the most important skill and WIS is also the most important save after the first few levels. Also more multiclassing between casters.

Illusion wizards can go CHA.

these are the immediately obvious ones.

The idea here is you shouldn't be failing grapple checks in the first place if you're taking the time to grapple. Most enemies don't have good grapple resistance.

But if you do fail a grapple check, it's more likely to be due to luck than a +2. There are two d20s involved which makes the check particularly swingey as the DC could be 1 or it could be 20.
By the time you get reliable talent, you'll have +8 from expertise and a gauranteed 10 roll which means you're always going to roll at least 18, which is good enough most of the time, really. But the real problem here is, again, rogues don't do grappling well outside of maybe having a bonus action dash to drag the enemy further because they only have one attack. They give up the entirety of their attack just for one grapple. Not that they should never try it, but it sucks compared to the other martials. And you can't use TWF with it.
As a rogue you're also not very likely to need the other benefits of having super-great athletics since you shouldn't have problems with those in the first place.

Monks need strength more than rogues need strength for sure, it's just that monks don't have the stats to spare. Really, the rogue should put their stat up on wisdom instead. It's not the best but it's good to have better saves and better perception so your party knows everything.

What will you play after Xanathar's release?

The same thing as before.

___4e____

Dungeon Master

Nothing as always but I hope my players have fun.

I am currently playing Scout Ranger, so probably that.

You wacky rascal!