/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

>What's your favorite monster
I unironically like vampires the best.
Needs more barrels of mead, way more food, and the heads of slain animals decorating the walls.

Animal trophies. Good point.

I'm really not sure how do I portay a fighting pit or a ring.

>and the heads of slain MONSTERS
ftfy

How out of hand have you seen deception checks/scenes get?

Two questions:
What's the best way to get magic stone as a rogue?
Is it just me or is Frostbrand a little shit for a very rare attunement weapon?

Haven't gotten to them yet, but I look forward to siccing some mind flayers on the party.

During a once-off I had the party fight 4 dryads. That was pretty nice too. They have the same charm power as vampires, making them quite dangerous.

Fuck off, Shad.

Wouldn't they all have the same patron?

Make the ring a square.

>stuffed tarresque in the corner
>surrounded by several smaller amalgamations of multiple monsters

Jeez Charisma 7? That's pretty high for a disgusting troll...

Bugger off.

Resistance to fire damage is pretty nice. Not certain if it's Very Rare nice, but it's nice.

Did they have those ropes back in the day?

Arguably Madokami's vastly increased power comes from Homura's rewinds rather than her patron, so she might be the only exception compared to her alternate timeline iterations.

>to use
Doppelganger. All it takes is one and a blank piece of paper handed to everyone that you then take back and throw away. Delicious.
>fight against
Dragons. Big badasses that are tough to beat, are smart enough to require strategy, usually have some sort of personality, and give large amounts of goodies when you win. What's not to like?

Magic Initiate I'd think.
It's okay.

This thread has more posts, more posters, and it's higher up the board. Even if that one was made first it's clear that the one we're in now is the "actual" thread.

>stuffed tarresque in the corner
and today we celebrate the annual "Awakening of the Tarrasque," the one to get the killing blow receives the grand prize!

Fair point.

Also now that I've thought about it there's no reason not to be able to pick different mechanical 'patrons' and just say that that's how that pact works anyways. Similar to being able to choose different boons.

What's the best martial archetype that has access to spellcasting?

They don't have to. Old boxing rings used to just have straight up fiber rope strung between heavy wood posts. It'll ropeburn like crazy if you fall on them but that's about it.

In general the rarity of magic items is fucked

I love using Beholders, I try to not to over use them though.

that depends, Paladins are great and have access to magic, but they'll never actually cast a spell. Arcane Tricksters are my favorite, but they are quite different to Eldritch Knights.

Rangers are rangers.

Mind Flayers are super strong if your party dumped Intelligence (like most do), we fought several and everyone except me got BTFO hard more than once by Mind Blast. Really fun though.
I'd say a Frost Brand is probably slightly better than a Flame Tongue since cold damage is less likely to be resisted than fire (plus YOU get to be resistant to anyone that has a Flame Tongue). It's decent for Very Rare but not the best weapon.

god I miss the Gibbering Orb from 4e.

I guess now is a good a time as any to get this shitshow started
critique welcome

paladin 2 sorcerer X

Magic item rarities can be a little wonky in my experience. For example, Ring of Protection is exactly the same as the Cloak of Protection mechanically, but is a different rarity. Honestly I treat rarity of magic items just like CR of monsters. It's a decent enough guidline, but it's perfectly fine to step out of the bounds once you get a hold of things and understand the system better.

Would it be unbalanced to give it a +1 if I were to give it to a player? Considering he's icy themed I want to give him a weapon he'd find useful.

It makes sense flaming swords would be more common than icy ones, everyone wants a flaming sword so more would get made.
>to use
Ropers are pretty fun, so are Mind Flayers.
>to fight
Dragons. We fought a dragon in a siege once when we were way underleveled and it is one of the most fun fights I've ever been a player for.

I think that's an improvement.

Not at all unbalanced, in my opinion.
In that case it's essentially a +1 to hit, +4.5 damage weapon in that case which I think is fine (+5.16 damage if it's a Greatsword and you let him reroll for GWF I suppose). I think that's fine.

I need some tips..

I DM'd once before and I was shit

things I learned

>have opening explanation of the world and how it is, general lore
>get gud at adlib and improve
>dont be "nice" to players and let them guilt you

I want to work with narrative building, I also used sword coast and did mines of phandelver, would it be cheesey to re use the same continent and fast forward time?

No, a time skip is fine.

I'm new to DMing but I love Hobgoblins for being weak but threatening. You throw a tank monster in front of someone and put a group of archer Hobs somewhere in the back and they do a fuckton of damage.

Monks are already crippling MAD and this just makes it worse

Can you explain how?
Open hand monks are Wis, Dex, and Con. This archetype is Wis, Con, and either Dex or Str. It seems like a fair trade, not to mention the change in Unarmored Defense is explicitly optional.

>posts OP
>doesn't even errata the damn thing

If an Illusionist casts Mirror Image, can they use Malleable Illusions to refresh how many duplicates they have?

>What's your favorite monster to use or fight against
Iron golems, specifically those that have a furnace in its belly. Always a good scrap, that is.

No, but they could make the duplicates appear to do different things, which could easily confuse someone.

Super dumb question: I am more of a pathfinder guy so I was wondering if I could use modules/creatures from 5e as they are or do I have to buff them somehow?

RAI probably not. But I like the idea of it.
I mean, it's not infinite. It ends after a minute. And it takes your action for some possible protection. I'd only let you bring back one copy.

Ask your DM.
I admit I'm biased because I love illusions and anything that requires more thinking than "I cast fireball"

i would suggest making it longer in one direction, probably vertically. Valhalla is a Viking long hall after all

Theater of the mind, unless you plan to have the players actually go there. You won't do their imaginations justice with a map, and while I see the effort, I honestly can't see anything but a tavern with a giant sitting in the center and random paddles on the floor

>What's your favorite monster to use or fight against?
Honestly anything that flies.
I love the risk of being picked up and dropped, having to lock it down, etc.

So dragons I guess. Since they're also supposed to be smart.

More like you have to tone them down in most cases. My advice, as someone who pulls from past editions a lot, is find a stat block close, reskin and only worry about making signature abilities.

Anyone run HotDQ or RoT on roll20?
Do what they add help the experience of running it?

making AC wis+con completely separates it from your damage stat. normal monks can boost their dex to get both AC and damage together, but this version can't for... reasons? It seems like it's intended to give monks the option to dump dex and go str but doing so doesn't seem to gain any significant benefits

most stuff like this you are either looking to completely dump dex for str with some mechanical benefit (having dex is generally much better than str for monk purposes unless you add new stuff or plan to multiclass barb) or be able to dump WIS a bit to achieve some rp or multiclass goal

Hmm well those resistances can be a bitch to get past..
Thanks dude

>favorite monster

*picks you up and flies 200ft in the air and then drops you*

Pssh, nothing personnel adventurers.

Probably because of the grappling feature.
If I were to use that homebrew I'd just play v human and take prodigy for expertise in athletics. And use regular dex, Wis, con split.

My nig

Yeah, it definitely takes some work and practice but once you get the hang of it it really helps break up fighting the same things over and over.

If I were playing a wot4e monk
>Inb4 don't
Would it be smarter to go Wis first? Seeing as I want people to fail my saves.
I think I can also reasonably grab a +1 weapon soon.

Anybody have a low level (CR2ish) Dragonborn NPC laying around I could borrow?

Need a first mate and already have a shitton to print for tonight.

i have a couple of questions about hired goons.

i intend on throwing my players into a situation where the more flourish they use in a competition, the more ally NPCs they will have for the sessions bbeg. how do you usually ruin friendly npcs? should i let each player control their own squad of dudes or should I control them?

also, i plan for my players to start hiding a crew for their flying ship. My intent is to have each type of crewman give them bonuses to the perspective roll (+5 to navigation checks if they have a good navigator for example) but I'm having trouble coming up with interesting quirks. I want the ship to feel alive with people, not just buying stat upgrades that they pay upkeep on. I was thinking of some sort of morale system where if the crew repeatedly makes bad decisions eventually the crew may mutiny. is there any pre made system like this i can use, our does anyone have any experience with a system like that?

is anyone good at homebrewing/wants to make me a monk monastic tradition?

Because I want to play as Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3. The guy who goes around, defeats kung fu masters and then turns them into jade summons.

fastcharacter.com/results.php

Just take some levels in Moon Druid.

Don't.
Also, use the community revised W4E if you can.
And WIS vs DEX depends on what disciplines you plan on taking. If it's a lot of saves then yeah, go WIS.

Thoughts on adjusting magic by
>Actual requiring magical components, all spells including cantrips
>Cantrips consume a charge on a gem or charged item.
>Gems Only have a certain amount of charge like ammo.
>Learning new spells requires finding them through other means
>Other means such as, spellbooks, scrolls, teachers, lessons, and etc

This is to off set the fact that it seems like all of my players keep using it as a crutch and don't want to do anything until they get a long rest after expending all their spells, which they blow thrown in like 2 encounters. I just feel like magic doesn't really feel magical anymore because everyone spams it and uses it to crutch crap. Thoughts?

You're pretty close. Barb+Monk is even more MAD (Str+Dex+Con+Wis), and I wanted to effectively fill a niche that as far as I can tell just hasn't been filled. And like I said, agile boxers exist, so the Unarmored Defense is optional.
I'm struggling to think of some feature that isn't just recrunched Rage damage that will give bonuses for using strength over dex.

That feature is just one of four. Were the others not balanced against it?

I'd use them as large tar pit mobs that make moving around more difficult for enemies. Giving direct command over one or two exceptional NPCs to the players would be okay.

Simple, don't let them take long rests after every other encounter. Magic is supposed to be 'balanced' because you'll only have a handful of spells that you need to ration throughout 7 or 8 encounters.

Here's what happens:
1. No one in the party uses magic anymore, or
2. The players who like playing casters leave your group.

If you want to prevent them getting long rests then have the fight be brought to them.

NPC famadam, NON-PC

thanks tho

Play the revised version its way more fun. If you really don't want to use homebrew or your DM is against it then you would want to go WIS more if you have more disciplines that require saves otherwise DEX.

Even if my setting is semi low fantasy? I offset with the fact that magic becomes more powerful just harder to come by. Maybe I am just tired of all the Mid to high fantasy stuff with people running around casting spells left and right. Is there no other way to balance magic besides just throwing more encounters their way or increasing long rest time?

What said. They want eight hours of rest? Make them fucking earn it. The people they're fighting/dungeon they're raiding won't let them wait outside for a whole afternoon, and if they don't get the whole eight hours before someone pops out and shoves an arrow in their ribs, they don't get spells back.

>all of my players keep using it as a crutch and don't want to do anything until they get a long rest after expending all their spells, which they blow thrown in like 2 encounters
Yeah, if they're going to commit to an objective, they should usually need to get through more than 2 encounters to complete it. And if they give up and take a day to rest up after just 2 encounters, make sure there are serious consequences. Not much good in clearing out a few bandit outposts if the bandits find out a few hours later, and the party comes back to find more, better prepared bandits the next day.

I prefer regular fist of unbroken air desu.
If you stun someone and you want to finish off the fucker for sure just dump all your ki into the attack.
It's 3d10 + 1d10 per ki and they auto fail due to stun.

Speaking of visions, my players will see a vision of three kings leading their nation to certain doom. I've got every aspect of the vision nailed, except for the kings themselves.
The kings represent very specific NPCs, and although their faces are the same, they wear distinct crowns. Those crowns are something I need help with. Each crown must represent what the king believes in.

>The first king believes in the blood and lineages - he has the right ancestry, so he's entitled to lead.
>The second king believes in gods and magic - he is a god fearing man, blessed by the God of Hunt, so he is entitled to lead
>The third king believes in gold and nothing else. He is a rich man, who will pretty much throw money at people until they kneel before him.

Which crowns should they wear?

You could in theory, but let's say you take a caster's cantrips and put them on a charge system and you make those gems you mentioned difficult to find. Once the gem runs out of it's 20 or so casts of firebolt the caster in question does not have an adequate means of performing in combat. They feasibly don't have the strength or dex (or hp for that matter) to get into fights and cantrips are designed to scale in damage as the martially inclined get access to multiple attacks.

You'd be making it very difficult for casters to perform on top of limiting the spells they learn anyway (as you also mentioned adjusting)

Anyone here got a recs for or links to resources that could help me be a better DM? Worldbuilding, scene setting, story making, characterizations, etc. I'll take anything.

i want glamoured studded leather on a character, how much do you think is reasonable to charge for it?

First king should wear an Iron crown. Third should wear something golden and adorned with jewelry. Second king probably something similar to a Laurel Crown I'd say?

>Tall, sharp, iron, fluted. Wearing this crown wrong would kill you.
>Simple, silver, thick, banded, with laurels behind his ears. It may seem wise, but it's far heavier than it looks.
>Adorned, jeweled, smooth, eye-catching. Worn cocked, as if carelessly.

>first king
If he is the kind of man to put duty first, it should be something simple and built to last; a band of silvered iron or steel that can fit over his helmet in battle. If he is a bit more lofty in his opinion of what a king is, then it should be something that alludes to the blood line in question; something with a sigil involved or maybe the points of the crown are shaped to emulate his family crest.

>second king
As a god-fearing man he should be reminiscent of religious figures. So instead of an actual crown, maybe some kind of not-Pope hat that fits with the aesthetic theme of this God of Hunt. Or, if he is of the mind, something small and mayhaps unassuming--a simple band of a cheap metal instead of a full crown--to humble himself before his god.

>third king
An ostentatious crown of gold and jewels, something to show his wealth and power of wealth. The jewel in the center should be something very rare and difficult to get, to the point where players should have to roll to identify it.

Why iron? That seems fitting for some warrior king, not a sissy with the right parents.

Arcane Trickster is my current plan; we're doing level 5 starts so I'll have some good stuff from the get-go. I've heard Eldritch Knights are lacking? Paladins are too care-bear for me, and if I go ranger we'll have two rangers which will just be shit because there's not a huge difference between beastmaster/hunter, really, unless you go for something other than archery. Which I hadn't considered. Hmm...

A circlet adorned with a golden tree (family tree) whose branches wrap around the head. Instead of leaves the tree is adorned with silver droplets (blood)

A simple silver headband, inscribed with a prayer (maybe in an unknown language)

A huge golden crown, purple felt, jewels of all sorts held by silver gauntlet reliefs

hexblade is my favorite if you're looking for offense, paladin is more defensive, and the others are kinda meh in general unless you multiclass

Wot4e monk :^)

>Paladins are too care-bear for me

while I'm not particularly interested in pushing paladins, you should really take a look at all the 5e paladin oaths if you think that is really the case

>The first crown adorned adorned with purple cloths and silks, clad in imperial colors adorned with a king's ransom and a kingdom worth of jewels assembled over many life times. The man who wears it stands tall with a disdainful smugness.
>The second crown, wrought out of more simple materials; iron beaten from spears, arrow heads , and hunting goads atop a simple carved wooden frame accented with metal leaves. He radiates confidence born of many successes and trials overcome.
>The third is a simple crown, delicate and formed of a thin filigree of platinum inset with precious stones and materials from around the world. A man who has gold piece for every grain of sand on his shores and to whom each person is worth less than a single grain.

I've only slept 2 hours in 2 days so quality may be suspect.

WOT4E is playable by standard PHB rules. However, it barely uses wis at all since if you play standard PHB WOT4E you use it for utility rather than making enemies make saves, so why would you go wis and gimp yourself even more?

How bad is it that I let a spirit naga have a collection of magic items she offered as a reward to a character who did something for her? His options were a rust bag of tricks, 7 beads of force, elven boots, cloak of protection, or +1 scimitar. He chose the bag. Is D&D really meant to have LotR-tier magic item rarity now? I'm still so used to 3.5 I've found myself having dumb shit like Magic shops cause I'm used to it. I just don't know what the hell they are supposed to spend their gold on. I know XGtE has buying/selling rules, I got that for Christmas and I like the rules, especially the complications. I just feel like maybe I am handing out too many even though I've only given out 2 magic items the entire campaign.

or it could just crush you in its vastly powerful feet
birds of prey only pick up and drop large prey if they have a touch armour (like a shell, or plate armor) to reveal the juicy goodness inside
often they just kill and eat on site
eat fast, and fly away when you are finished
i had an encounter where the players met a hill giant on a cliff face, only for a roc to appear, knock the giant off the cliff, then fly down and finish it off, gorging on it on site
like how eagles hunt goats
its great