/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

I'm makeing a Drow elemental Monk but I can't seem to make a good backstory for him

Rune etched orb trinket: your rune-etched bronze orb has 2 charges. While carrying your orb on your person you can expend 1 charge as a bonus action and deal an additional 1d4 radiant damage with your attack. The orb regains all expended charges at dawn.

Embroidered silk handkerchief trinket: your embroidered purple handkerchief has 1 charge. By spreading the handkerchief over your clenched fist you can draw forth a mundane item from the well you make as an action, expending the charge as you do so.
Roll a 1d6 on the following list for the item you draw forth.
1. Dagger
2. Bullseye lantern
3. Steel mirror
4. 10-foot pole
5. Rope (25 feet and coiled)
6. Sack

Drawing forth another item from the handkerchief causes the previous item to disappear.

The handkerchief regains all expended charges at dawn.

>hoard of the dragon queen book
Do Lost Mines

Have everyone focus on enjoying themselves instead of minmax. Try to encourage actual role playing as much as you can. Read the DMG

Tired of all the spider shenanigans, he moved to the surface, where, upon explaining his past to a barmaid, learned the term "kill it with fire." Decided to see what he could do with that and the rest is history.

>elemental monk

An adventure book is certainly a good starting point for a new GM-even if you have to review a few of the encounters or plot elements, it at least gives you a baseline to work with, and that's handy when you don't have much experience drawing things up wholesale. If nothing else, it gives you a general idea on what you should have on paper. Polearm Master itself isn't too bad-it's when you start combining it with things like Great Weapon Master, Sentinel, and Quarterstaff/Shillelagh multiclass lunacy that it gets despicable. Variant Human is a bit tricky, since it represents the easiest way in the game to pick up feats.

What's a good background for a Tiefling Cleric of Lathander?

Under the Way of the Long Death, Hour of Reaping specifically states "creatures". Do I run the risk of making my allies poop themselves in terror?

Does...does that actually work? If you cast levitate on say a mattress you can lean forward while on top of it to "glide" forward?

Isn't this basically the end story of Jade Empire? Man I need to replay that if it was as fun as I think it is.

Well, it's the big plot twist-the climax comes later, after you've had a threesome with both female love interests.

>Lost mines
Is that the adventure with lots of freedom to do things in whatever order they want?

Sounds sensible, but I'm still not sure about Polearm master man, he will be doing more attacks than anyone else and I think he will be a 1 man army ruining the experience for the other players

it's a reference for Specter Knight so honestly probably not.

youtube.com/watch?v=qbv4tDLMnPk

Not just a threesome.

An incestuous threesome.

Yes and no...

Not so much trained wrong, as trained with a specific flaw that only the man who trained you can utilize, which also makes everyone else get distracted by trying to figure out what the flaw is.

I got the reference, but darn I was hoping this could be done.

Now you guys got my memory jogging, fuck that's such a dumb plot twist though. I love it. Gonna download tonight I think.

Minarde the Mindseeker
Weapon (Shortsword), Legendary (Requires Attunement)

>Learn: Vitality. When you hit a creature with Minarde you learn the target's remaining hit points.

>Learn: Body. When you hit a creature with Minarde the target must make a DC:15 Constitution saving throw on a failed saving throw you learn the target's resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilities.

>Drain: Skill. When a creature is killed by Minarde it absorbs their knowledge and transfers a part of it to you. When you kill a creature with this weapon you gain proficiency in one skill, one saving throw, and learn one language that creature had. If you gain a skill proficiency in a skill you are already proficient in you gain expertise for that skill. These effects last for 24 hours.

>Drain: Spell. ????

>Drain: User.When Minarde is attuned the weapon immediately attempts to learn its user's memories. The attuned must succeed on a DC:17 Wisdom saving throw (This can be failed on purpose) or become incapacitated for 1 minute and have Minarde learn everything about the attuned, their secrets, his allies, and objectives.

>Sentience. Minarde is a sentient Chaotic Good weapon with an Intelligence of 20, a Wisdom of 14, and a Charisma of 16. It has a hearing and darkvision out to a range of 30 feet. The weapon can speak, read, and understand all languages, and can communicate with its wielder telepathically.

>Personality: Minarde is very arrogant and similar to that of a student of magic, has a thirst for knowledge and always yearning for more power. It flaunts its vast array of knowledge as law and cannot stand anyone who does not read or attempt to advance in thought.

For Drain: Spell I'm not sure how to make a Ring of Spell Storing/Spell Thief effect for a weapon when you don't naturally cast spells or at least how to word that. Any ideas as to how that could work anyone?

One of the players in my campaign wants to use a combat shovel as a weapon what stats should I give it?

Morning star that does slashing/bludgeoning

They do build up to it quite well though.

I'd go for Battleaxe/Longsword stats.

Maybe without the versatile trait and just have it be a d8

Have fun, user.

Not ol' boy but I love this fucking game sometimes. The PF or 3.5 generals would have spent an hour or two trying to come up with unique stats, bitching about how the new shovel makes this or that obsolete or out-of-tier.

/5eg/ has its autism sometimes, but it's mostly manageable.

What would you suggest then

His dark elf monastery trained him wrong, as a joke.

1d4 piecing 10 ft reach
1d6 slashing
1d8 bludgeoning with disadventage and stun

Look, he could have learned deadly Shadow Monk kung-fun in a Drow monastery, but that shit was way too edgy. Instead he smokes blunts with Master For'tuen'tii Blaze'et in the chill vibes monastery. Not as effective but much more pleasant.

Is a Rogue 1/Trickery Cleric X a good idea?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going have it do 1d8, and that it can be slashing/bludgeoning damage.

Someone explain this meme to me. I'm not super familiar with the monk or their kits.

Yeah, Trickery Cleric X is widely regarded as the best Star Wars.

Elemental monk's abilities are all overcosted. It's the weakest monk specialization. Other than original Beastmaster ranger it's the weakest class in the PHB.

>2 dragons maximum in any one encounter
Counterpoint: three-dragon ante. Suggestion: dragon love triangle.

Oh shit really
I don't wanna do the ninja class since a drow gets several of its spells already

If you're going to have multiple creatures that are intended to be perceived as powerful 2 is the max. 3 powerful creatures is a clusterfuck. 1 powerful creature and two subordinates it fine, 2 strong things and a handful of weak minions is fine.

Open hand is the strongest. Sun Soul would be pretty funny as a complete inversion of Drow society, a sun worshipper with sunlight sensitivity.

What are some gimmicky (non-tortle) Monk meme builds?
I'm drawing a blank on fun stuff except maybe a STR monk since my DM is the kind that might let me change Unarmored Defense to STR+WIS or STR+CON since even with it STR monk is objectively shittier due to DEX just being a more useful stat in general.

Open Hand is the strongest under normal circumstances but if your DM allows Bag of Rat memes Long Death can also be really good.
(Personally I dont mind players doing the Bag of Rat gimmick as it seems perfectly in character for a non-NG or LG edgelord Monk to fuel their power with it, however I DO say it has to be at least on par with a large mouse or a rat, no squishing a flea and getting temp hp.).

Monk in full plate armor.

>str monks
why don't you just go dex and grab a level in rogue for expertise in athletics?

That's because 3.5/PF are autistic all of the time and don't understand anything about good and well designed rules.

Because Monk wants it's high level abilities ASAP and multiclassing hurts that.

Monk power is as follows-
>Level 1-4: breddy gud, mostly due to having a second attack
>Level 4-10: just play any other Martial unless you enjoy being the stun dispenser
>Level 11-17: really gud
>Level 17-20: lmao saveordie attacks

Can a Divine Soul Sorcerer use Empowered Healing on Vampiric Touch or Enervation?

Strength monks, I feel, are more a concept for a Fighter or Barbarian subclass than the Monk. You're working against about two full features just to get it to work versus introducing an unarmed ability or two for the classes that usually love Strength to begin with.

How does this sound guys?

>Drain: Spell. Immediately after a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack with Minarde against that creature, on a hit you negate the spell's effect and steal the knowledge for yourself and Minarde. While wielding Minarde you can cast the stolen spell once. The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell. The creature can't cast that spell until 24 hours have past or until you cast the spell. Once used, this property can't be used again until the next dusk.

Strahd learned of Eva’s prophecy and charmed a PC for information.

He now know the location of the Sunsword he thought was destroyed and the Holy symbol. He already knew where his Tome was. So he can confirm the prophecy as well.

How would he react? I think he would immediately go and retrieve the sword and hide it in his castle.

He would have killed the Ally NPC but the prophecy said that they were alone anyway.

what do they get at level 11?
anyway, Id say staying 1 level behind in exchange of expertise in athletics (if that's your thing) and perception/stealth plus sneak attack is worth it

>Critical Role
>Good storytelling

Mercer can play a character, but Critical Role is exquisitely mundane campaigning sprinkled heavily with the type of SocJus attitudes common on the West Coast.

I agree but every time I ask about how to make an effective unarmed/unarmored Fighter or Barbarian I get faggots REEE-ing uncontrollably for anything from "it's not realistic!" (while Wizards and Sorcerers exist) to "it steps on monk's toes!" when there's like 5 classes that use melee weapons but none of them are "stepping on toes".

Like nigga maybe I just wanna be the strong guy brawler instead of the twinky bitch boi brawler for a change?

Unless those guys are sitting at your table, ignore them and search out whatever shitty homebrew happens to be floating about like the Pugilist. Fun is always wrong.

The Discord link is broken

That's more of a loose list, didnt look anything up for it, but IIRC 11 is when you get d8 martial arts and your 11th level archetype goodie, the only ones being super notable I can remember being Long Death "lmao don't die", shadow invis at will in dim light, and Sun's mini fireball spam.

Good, fuck generals having a Discord, that has and always will be the death of a General.

Mercer is fine, his world is the epitome of bland, his story is a series of loosely connected boring character arcs, and he tends to put too much emphasis on all his females being strong/powerful and the males always having some sort of quirky personality, and everyone tends to fuck the same gender, but his actual DMing and game sense is fine.
Travis is a fucking treasure, fight me.

OP of this thread changed it, here you go: discord.gg/HzAfUGt

I deleted some of the letter to make it more fitting.

Praise be to [YOUR GOD HERE].
All the discord link does is cause drama to spill here, and for people to namefag all over the place.

Discord niggers go and stay go

So what you guys think about Glamour bards?

The OP isn't really meant to have discord link at all.

>he tends to put too much emphasis on all his females being strong/powerful and the males always having some sort of quirky personality

You know, I just noticed that today while listening to Return to Vasselheim, when everyone was fawning over Kashaw because he’s literally the only male PC who isn’t a joke - seriously, that entire scene in the tavern when even Vax was trying to get in his pants was just embarrassing. And then there’s the bait and switch with whoever that Platinum Knight was supposed to be; the big brawny man got his shit kicked in by their favorite Halfling lesbian - because fuck having new characters who aren’t some generic old man, right?

There’s a lot I can say that irks me about Critical Role, but it’s good podcast material and I can’t deny it’s done more to attract new blood to the genre than a thousand Generals, and for that I must be thankful for it.

Seriously, is the game that starved for an “alpha” male that everyone just drops their pants and starts fawning over Kashaw? Then again, this is the same group where all the men are “schemers” and Grog’s basically Pike’s attack dog.

Command is one of my favorite spells in the game.

For ease of reading, I made a Homebrewery page.

I like it! At level 6 they get an infinite Command spell which is amazing. Mantle of Inspiration is okay Temp HP for a party is pretty good alongside the pull effect if you are in melee for whatever reason. If you get to 14th level Sanctuary+ is awesome. So overall it looks pretty good.

If a wizard finds a spellbooks or a spell scroll containing spells of a higher spellcasting level than his own, can he still copy that spell into his spellbook even though he has to wait several levels to be able to cast it, or does he have to hold onto the source of the higher-level spell until he reaches the appropriate spellcaster level and *then* transcribe it into his own book?

He has to hold on to it til he's powerful enough to cast the spells himself.

My biggest problem with Mercer's setting is that he falls really badly into the "everything changed when the X attacked" problem of fantasy design. Every country is great, everything is basically fine, the world is filled with good people who are strong and solve all the problems.

He even makes a big deal in interviews about how gay marriage and trans acceptance is basically universal to the point of having gay kings being the norm for one of the giant societies.

When you do that there is no room for PCs to determine their own direction. They become reactionaries, waiting for something to come and fuck up their shiny and good utopia. All those strong good characters have to get iced by the new villain on the block so that they can't interfere in the plot and the PCs find out what the plot is going to be long after making their characters. Any motivations they thought of are relegated to sidequests because it interferes with the DM's narrative.

If you're going to make a setting from scratch it should be a generally uncaring shithole. People are good in small scales but any large country should be riddled with problems, obvious big glaring problems so the PCs can look at your notes and say pick things they don't like about the world that they want a change, you don't need Vecna to descend from on high to flip the table and ruin everyone's lawful good kingdoms.

He have to translate it costing gold and time. Every caster have their unique and special way of using them.

no one GMed CoS here?

>He even makes a big deal in interviews about how gay marriage and trans acceptance is basically universal to the point of having gay kings being the norm for one of the giant societies

Wait, that was in Mercer’s setting? I could’ve sworn that was another popular 5e Podcast, but I could totally see it being a thing in Exandria. Really, you’re aiming too late into the campaign to say it’s all Vecna’s fault, why not go for the five big dragons in the room as a better example? The Chroma Conclave was a perfect example of how everything changed when the Fire Dragon attacked, which happened at the precise moment Mercer seemed to run out of player backstories to integrate into their campaign. Speaking of which, wasn’t Matt patting himself on the back for making Delilah the one wearing the pants in the Briarwood relationship? I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, considering 90% of the strong characters in the campaign are women.

I don’t know what happened in the 3+ years prior to running the stream. I don’t know if Matt was working with a shit deal dealt to him by PCs who were absurdly bad at writing in genuine threats and conflict into their backstory (no Percy, “my parents got killed by vampires” is a small conflict in the scheme of things for a DM.) But I am inclined to agree that the world being a pristine utopia that can only be repaired, rather than built up, is bland worldbuilding.

I can only pray that the rosy-cheeked newcomers joining the system because “the Halfling sang a modern song” don’t expect that mindset in whatever campaign they join.

I’m still salty that Whitestone’s connection with Pelor was dropped like a prom night baby in favor of opening up a Le Strong Goddess Temple, with a mild side of salt at everyone not having any proficiencies in religion because atheism is fun!

I'm posting here because I don't know where else would be more appropriate.

A DM friend of mine likes coming up with gimmicky campaigns, things like special rules or restrictions during character creation, putting players halfway through a very specific story, and so on. Him and I are going to put together a campaign for some relatively new players who know how to play but haven't done much more than the bare basics to get started, with me as one of the PCs.

He came to me today and proposed a campaign where all the PCs are already dead and are wandering around as partially amnesiac ghosts, but neither the PCs nor the actual players know it. A major portion of the campaign will involve hinting to the players that they're already dead, and beating the BBE involves figuring it out with a big reveal that everyone's been dead from the start.

He wants me to be "in" on it to subtly guide the players away from figuring things out too soon or too late. I told him that it might not be too good of an idea since it kind of subverts the PC's backstories and motivations, but he insists that it'll be a good idea.

Does anyone see anything wrong with it? Anything to look out for?

Pay gold to translate it to his own to make it cryptic, but he can't use it until he is that level.

I need a name for not-Mjolnir other than Mjolnir. It's notable for having lightning powers, formerly belonging to a paladin order and being able to return after being thrown.

Stormcaller?

[Storm God’s ] Anvil?

Heavensbreaker

Why is Travis a fucking treasure?

Sun Soul Monk
A Drow who praises the sun

Consider the other guys in the party, user.

>Open hand is the strongest
Only if you reach 17th aka pretty sure never.

I don't watch Critical Role.

Use god of thunder names like a uncultured swine.

He's the most intelligent player at the table, yet plays a dumb barbarian believably. He is by far the best roleplayer among the group, to the point that, when it had regular Veeky Forums threads, one of the bingo squares was "Taliesin is visually impressed by Travis's ability to roleplay". He's god damned colonel mustang. He moves the game forward when the party is stumbling, yet does it subtly enough that half the time they don't even realize what he was doing. He's a top tier player, and would be welcomed in any home game.

Every single other player at the table are the types of people who exhaust the dialogue trees of every NPC they meet and then sit on their haunches until the DM points them at the next plot point. In contrast, Travis works with the DM to advance the plot, even if it makes his character do something unsavory or even hostile to party cohesion, like the Skull.

In Veeky Forums terms, Travis is an Alpha Chad in a party of mumbling betas.

youtube.com/watch?v=pJS7GmM_bTk
This scene alone shows the party dynamic, and how, despite letting the others shine, he is the best player by far.

He sounds like a fucking bro. Great guy.

Also, someone who isn't afraid to do stuff which isn't optimal for their character and isn't afraid to look stupid are the best roleplayers.

Sam is the best there, to be honest, Travis is great too (Second best in fact), but Sam blows it out the water in my opinion.

>Isn't afraid to look stupid

That's something I feel like more players could stand to learn. If you're not afraid to look like a jackass once in a while, your character could be so much more interesting.

I despise Scanlan. He is in many ways the archetypal “that guy’s first Bard.”

>~7 minutes of not moving
>calls 0 attention to it
>group slowly realizes individually over time
It was straight up applause worthy.
If you mean overall, i disagree largely because i was 100% not a fan of the shit jokes that permeated the early episodes. He was incredibly one note for a long time, and it was a less interesting/dynamic note than what Travis/Grog did.
Grog+Scanlan interactions are the best of the best though.