/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

How does a +1 Frostbrand Greatsword stack up to a +3 Defender Greataxe for my EK? They're my bonded weapons right now and I'm always split on which one to summon ever since I got the axe 3 sessions ago.
GWF lets me reroll the extra d6 and fire resistance is nice (though I can always cast Absorb Elements, too) but the defender lets me go from 19AC to 22AC before casting Shield.

Hmm, increasing by one is practically pointless. Would giving a total level prerequisite help balance out a feat such as this?

I mean, the axe is just better, unless you need fire resistance or for some weird reason need cold damage. +3 on a weapon is huge, even more so when you can make your AC absurd with it

>Character vices
My EK/Wizard was a chubby kid, so he's a health nut now to avoid backsliding.
My Cleric was a drunk who joined the church for the communion wine and was cursed by his goddess (Umberlee) not to taste alcohol or feel a buzz until he completes the task she gave him.

+2 is a 50% DPR increase, give or take, just because of hitting more often. +3 is massive.

This is almost like a "Super Task". Since you will always move half as far (consistantly; the number of feet you can move in theory can be divided until the planck length), you will eventually reach the otherside. It might just take Days/months of perseverance. Is this the sort of solution you are going for?

I'd probably wouldn't even do that, if the feat only increases the maximum by 2 and could (as normal for feats) only be taken once per character. Since a character would only get some mileage out of it after he improved the stat to 20 he would need (assuming point buy) need two ASIs to get the stat to 20 and a further two ASIs to get to 22 (one for the feat, one for the actual increase). So even a VHuman Fighter needs level 8 for it to come online.

Not awfully strong if you allow feats at all but it encourages stacking a stat rather than taking flavourful feat choices, especially on SAD classes.

thoughts on this monster? There aren't any swarms in 5e besides the default so I am curious if what I did here is "ok." For example all swarms are medium but I made this one large. Because....well, it's large. Any thoughts on how I worded the abilities? Should it get 4 attacks since it takes up 4 squares?

So the +3 to hit/AC outweighs the extra average extra ~3.67 damage from the 3d6+1 vs 1d12+3? Thanks folks, good to know.

I posted this in the last thread, but didn't get a response so I'll try my luck here.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some build advice.

I'm playing a level 7 variant human Monster Hunter (The fighter subclass form the Gothic heroes UA)

Sharpshooter, Crossbow expert

Str 8
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 14

So I'm weighing up between using my level 8 ASI to boost my DEX to 20 so that I'll hit with sharpshooter more often, or getting Resilient Wisdom because there are a lot of evil spell casters in the setting.

Monster Hunter lets me use superiority die for wisdom saves, and cast Protection From Good And Evil, but I'm not sure that's going to cut it. My characters trying to hunt down a spell casting Vampire, and I'm fairly certain the battle with him will take place before my next ASI at 12.

Hitting more often will do more damage. I know that we always assume people always hit for DPR calculations but gotta still keep in mind missing some.
Alright, i'm finally putting pastebin.com/gMDS2u5j into Homebrewery for formatting and i'm thinking about making a few of them increase max stat on top of some of the other effects.

It's 11.5+MOD+some slight but bigger crit bonus versus 9.5+MOD+some slight crit bonus but +1 to hit versus +3 to hit, so +3 is better, not to mention that AC is more valuable the more of it you get.

>I know that we always assume people always hit for DPR calculations but gotta still keep in mind missing some.
I've posted a lot of damage graphs n' shit in these threads that account for to-hit.
What really needs to be noted is that making 2 100% hit attacks with 50% damage is usually better than 1 200% damage attack with 50% to hit.

What are some of the most interesting/good non-magical items to use in dnd?

Better go with the Wis increase. If you have the Archery fighting style, that should compensate a little.

The thing is, your damage calculation is assuming they both hit. If you're using a +3 weapon, you're actually going to hit more often, that's likely going to skew the damage in favor of the greataxe.

I'd go with Resilient unless you have someone buffing you with Protection from Evil/Magic Circle, and even then it's very good. Even when you can't use the -5/+10 you're at least benefiting from the other SS benefits, too.

It's a case of "open-ended puzzle" but I don't know if it's solveable. I don't generally like to give a fixed solution so I wanted to see if anyone would say something like "well if you use this spell to push team mates it's easy" - cause then I'd know if my players would be able to complete it.

I'd kill for an epic game, I'm fed up of beimg the regional janitor going about cleaning up patches of Goblins or Orcs for the nearby shithole village.

It's, uh, 80 ft.? If any of them dash once their fine, otherwise it's not possible to complete.

If pushing is unaffected by this puzzle then it can be solved pretty easy. So no issues then.

It's not actually 11.5 vs 9.5 because of GWF style, it's like 13.5 vs 9.83, but I see your point. Our houserule for crits is "max damage plus weapon dice again" so that changes it a little probably but whatever. Being able to bump up to 27AC with shield is great though.

I didn't read through all of the feats but then I will have to revoke my judgment. I assumed you essentially had to invest two ASIs into improving a stat of your choice by one ASI over the maximum. This actually would rather be too weak rather than overpowered given how limited ASIs are for most classes. But if the feat grants an additional effect the balance of these custom feats depends a lot on the other effects.

Also wording tip for your feats: expertise is the name of a class feature of rogues and bards, but "gaining expertise" in a skill is not a valid rules wording (though most people will get what you mean). The wording is something like "your proficiency bonus is doubled for X ability checks".

>9.83
It's 10.333 actually

Okay sounds good, I'll go with Resilient. Thanks for the advice

Monster Hunter Fighter, Monster Slayer Ranger, or Vengeance Paladin? They all seem to be very similar fluff-wise.

My bard is a former drug addict. Going into adventure was his rehab for the first few levels, and high ones his sobriety

Was a nice way to fluff and justify Resilient (Con) feat

I almost miss regional cleaner games.

>players wake up on an island
>find out the island is illusory and they're the dreams of a monster god the entire plane is a prison for
>find out that they became real somehow, the only other real people are the heroes who imprisoned the monster 7000 years earlier
>destroy the towers that hold the plane together
>escape into the Abyss on Orcus' layer
>find out that Orcus was the one who made them so they'd free the monster god
>try to escape
>kill Orcus, who escapes death by stealing one of their bodies
>discover Orcus was the last one holding back mind flayers from the future
>escape the Abyss in a spelljammer
>flee across the universe pursued by mind flayers to get to Realmspace, the last place unconquered by them or the beholders
>fight and kill the original monster god
>new one exactly the same appears
>Orcus was the "good guy" trying to kill everyone so he'd have the forces to stop the flayers
>discover some of them were the heroes who trapped it originally
>activate weapon that sends them back to the past, causing a time loop
>take off in the spelljammer to defeat the mind flayer fleet
>end up piloting The Spelljammer and running a space city

It gets convoluted.

Reposting from last thread: I want to reward my players with their own castle for their current quest, but how is the best way to go about this? It's not like the characters founded a company to whom the castle could be transferred to. But if I just pick one character and gift the castle to him, the others need similar rewards or feel left out. And I would want this to be rather a group thing than the other characters being guests at that ones' mansion.

My bad, I was using 3.5 instead of 6.5 for adjusting the average for rerolls.

>your proficiency bonus is doubled for X ability checks
I know but its just a lot more typing for something that should honestly already be a keyword.

What'd be a good damage progression for a race's natural bite attack? Assuming it starts at 1d4.

What are the three most important stats for each class, including specific builds like ranged/finesse vs melee fighter?

Actually it's 12.82 instead of 13.48 for the 3d6 weapon unless the 3d6 is its innate property (i.e. there is a weapon you can put on the weapon table that is a 3d6 weapon rather than, like a flametongue weapon or any magical weapon, it having additional damage because you only reroll the weapon dice, not additional dice)

walrock-homebrew.blogspot.com/2017/03/worldbuilding-option-fortresses-temples.html

>Level 4: 1d6
>Level 8: 1d8
>Level 12: 2d4
>Level 16: 1d10
>Level 20: 2d6

Ends at 1d4 too.

Your casting stat/ DEX/STR if you're a martial
CON
DEX (If DEX is already #1 then WIS)

no higher than a d8 around level 12. can't say i'm a huge fan of racial level progression, but that is just me.

It shouldn't increase at all unless the race somehow evovles as it levels up.

A lot of it depends on how well your DM handles you trying to be MacGyver. You can figure out how to do some pretty rad shit with random assorted tools and trade goods if you apply yourself.

Getting a handful of flour thrown at your eyes hurts really bad.

>GWF lets me reroll the extra d6 and fire resistance is nice
see:

>unless the 3d6 is its innate property

I have used flour before, as a way to see invis people I like this

so the idea is first guy walks but can't get very far then the next guy dashes to around 60ft and then closes the 20ft next turn to end the puzzle.
its nice, bit complex but requires team thought and some experimentation

Seems alright.
I know, I know, you probably want some constructive criticism, but ... it's just good. I like it.

My DM ruled that I can reroll it since it's part of the *weapon's* magic, not part of an *attack's* magic (he doesn't let me reroll BB/GFB d8s, for example).

I'd kill for a campaign like that.

How good is transmutation

Honest question: if I wanted to convert a Seeker PC over to 5e mechanics, what's the best option? Arcane Archer from Xanathar's Guide?

Thanks, but from a first look these are more rules about building shit (I'll defenitely have a closer look later). My problem is more like "the duke gifts you three with this castle and its sourrounding lands, granting you the title x" seems really strange if one castle is given to the whole party. But I don't want to give them three castles and only giving one player a castle could make me seem like I'm playing favourites. And of course put the other characters in an awkward spot where they are essentially guests in what is supposed to be their home.

It has some cool spells but a lot of the good ones aren't available until later levels. If you want good early spells take enchantment or illusion.

Rather than a castle, just make the count give them baronies and put an abandoned fortress nearby for the players to reclaim

I meant duke

Have the duke loan them the money to build a castle. You can have an ongoing plot to pay back their loan and its outrageous interest (reason to continue adventuring) and you get to immediately tell who's really interested in the castle and maintenance by who gets invested into building the thing. They then get to customize it to their liking and all offer input. Make them feel like its their baby growing up and really care about it rather than just give it to them.

What did they do for the ruler to earn the castle? Maybe he doesn't trust that a single one of the party is able to hold the land, only the entire group has proven itself to him, not only one individual? Or maybe he appoints them "acting" rulers of a keep in disputed/dangerous territory, saying that it's theirs if they can protect it and if they make the surrounding area into a safe area incorporated into his territory they will gain titles (and perhaps each get their own lands and keep at that point in time)?

But why would three baronies share a castle instead of each having their own? But I suppose I could do something like this, if noone (including myself) comes up with a better idea.

This is also a possibility. Have them adventure to reclaim it from some monster(s) or other and then put the effort into repairing while still not making them feel too bad about tearing parts down to make room for cooler stuff.

Well the game I'm in starts at 10

do not give it another attack. It already deals more damage, has higher AC, has a higher attack bonus, and has more conditions/damage resistance/immunities than the expected for a CR 9

since it's a swarm it should probably deal reduced damage when below half hit points, like every other swarm

Ways to buff other races to variant human levels?.

remove variant human and start every character with a feat

Ban V. Human (and Half-Elf too, fuck that race) and make Standard Human better

>you can now choose both an ASI and a feat at the designated levels
How broken is this?

How close to overall civilization would they be? You could say something like that the lands are the fruits of a recent conquest, and the duke is entrusting it to the PCs to bring a bit of order to them - the castle would be from whoever used to rule there

I mean, you didn't want to give them more castles and castles take years or decades to build unless your setting is very high-magic, so it kinda sorta makes sense

But then base humans become the race no one wants to play.

But the other races afe boring at base, what makes vuman fun is they actuslly impact the way you play your class in more ways than just being a stat increase.

pretty broken, unless you don't mind the PCs being good at literally everything

If everyone gets it then it's not broken, you'll just have to make encounters harder to compensate.

Fix Standard Human so it's no longer the worst race in the game so that people that just want to play humans don't have to pick the variant to not be shit.

Very strong or not at all broken, depending on the feat. Something like Keen Mind (at least if you remove the +1 stat) or Martial Adept with an ASI won't really break anything, but +2 Dex and Sharpshooter the same level immediately reduces the penalty for using SS, stuff like that is super broken.

pretty broken, because if nothing else, you can get +4 to your prim stat.
you'd need to scale the monsters up a good bit and not combat encounters will probably be rolled through fairly easily

>But then base humans become the race no one wants to play.

did anyone want to play base humans before? since when is 4 irrelevant one point ASIs worth 2 skills and a feat? if that bothers you buff base human as you see fit. much easier to do now that if the standout racial feature (feat) is equal for everyone.

but they won't know to do so going in. It could be that they travel at a slow pace, checking for traps along the way. Then it'll take forever to get through if they can't do forced movement.

There's no feat that gives you +2 stat, you can get +3 to a stat if you pick the right feat though.

Remove the half-ASIs from feats since they'd be redundant

To provide some context:
>the duchy is currently at war with a hobgoblin nation
>the players are some of the most valuable champions in the duke's army (around level 10)
>human allies of the hobgoblins turned an abandoned ruin of an ancient empire in the wilderness (but only a few days travel from the current hotspot of fighting) into a makeshift castle
>after their main army left the party singlehandedly took out the rearguard left in the castle
>they returned to the main fights (still ongoing) but advised the duke's commander to claim the empty castle which he did

After the war is hopefully won I plan the duke to grant them the castle precisley because its a cheap way for him to grant what seems like a massive reward to the heros of this war
Also I think that building this stuff and having a common base of operations to invite NPCs etc would be really neat

Haven't tagged you since you posted while I typed.

my bad, its been a while since i looked at feats and could've sworn there was one that gave plus +2 to con. but i checked ad you're right . point thats that its still pretty strong to hand out

Well, it's not RAI, but it does give more reason to use the +1 weapon. But the +3 is still better if only for the AC.
Actually, you can wield both at once and put one away for while you're attacking, so that you have the +AC and cold resistance benefit of both on half of all turns.

It's a general buff to martials that allows them to get both high main stat and the compulsory feats they want. Not really a big deal but you'd better have some extra feats to choose from and make sure paladins don't become too powerful in particular.

Let them take the Hobgobbo castle and have the duke fight for them to own the lands around it. They can even keep the goblin/bugbear servants that are still around afterwords for a little bit of comedic relief.

If it's still disputed territory with the Hobgoblins then this works I think , don't give them titles yet but give them the opportunity to by reclaiming and protecting this castle. You don't even have to do that in the campaign really, just give the official titlehood to the castle to one who likes their keep the most, and give other land to the other PCs in an epilogue or whatever.

I know smite doesn't get a re-roll RAI, but do you have a source on whether Frostbrand/Flametongue dice do or do not count as "weapon dice?" They are part of the weapon it seems like.

>martials are finally as good as casters
>paladins, the one true gish, become broken
I like it.

Well, flametongue deals an additional 2d6 damage. It's a magical effect produced by the wewapon. Not really 'weapon dice', weapon dice would presumably be the in nate property of the weapon.
There's no solid evidence either way but I think it logically follows that magical extra weapon damage isn't what GWF affects, and if you read the article it's not intended to allow you to reroll anything but the weapon's base damage anyway 'because that would be rerolling too much shit and might make GWF worth more than it's supposed to be'.

My summoner likes bright lights? dunno if that really counts as a vice though.

Do the trove change periodically?
Last time I checked the files were organized differently and it seems to be different versions of the files uploaded.
>I'm spooked

Yeah I read the article and I get it, but I don't agree that it takes too long for one re-roll. On paper GWF is also weaker than Dueling, in both absolute and relative damage increase, definitely weaker than Archery, and probably worse than Defense. I end up re-rolling a lot of d6s so it's been good for me, but I don't know other people's experience in actual play with it.

Taken down and reuploaded.

The trove didn't change, you just got planeshifted.

Air Genasi Sword Bard (Dervish-type)

Should I go for Duelling or Two-weapon fighting?

Thanks user.

Ah good points. I will add them. Should I reduce the damage of each attack and give it a fourth to compensate? My CR calculator says it's still 9 but it's probably on the high end of 9.