/5eg/ - Fifth Edition D&D General

Villainous Edition

>Unearthed Arcana: Three Subclasses
media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA-3Subclasses0108.pdf

>Trove
rpg.rem.uz/Dungeons & Dragons/D&D 5th Edition/

>5etools
5etools.com
latest update-mega.nz/#!pQURTRDD!D0_R4jIXvN_wTZ1z-clszujTR3vVYaHYHXO1XnAzNrI
Use the Readme to get it working if you're computer illiterate, or ask for help ITT.

>Resources
pastebin.com/X1TFNxck

>Previously, on /5eg/:
Tell us about best villain you met in your games. DMs, do you have any interesting antagonists up in your sleeve you want to pull out at players?

Other urls found in this thread:

wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/The_Way_of_Mrs._Cosmopilite
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Does this seem like a good reward item upgrade for the Warsmith? I have a player who loves asking the Sentient armor questions about creatures, objects, or spells, and I feel bad saying the armor does not know or it can't find out.

>Arcane Identification
>(Requires attunement by a Warsmith with the Sentient Armor feature)
>This visor is incorporated into your Mechplate and does not require separate attunement. This visor has 4 charges. Once it is integrated into your armor, you can use a bonus action to expend 1 charge to activate one of the following effects.
>Item Identification: You can target one object within 30 feet of you, and at the start of your next turn your Mechplate will inform you if it is a magic item, its properties, how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use, and how many charges it has if any. This information is stored in the armor for future use.
>Creature Identification: You can target one creature within 30 feet of you, and at the start of your next turn your Mechplate will inform you of its immunities, resistances, vulnerabilities, and if it can cast spells. If it's under the effects of a spell when you activated this you learn what spells are currently affecting it. This information is stored in the armor for future use.
>This item regains all charges after a long rest.

Which classes could be removed and no one would miss them if they didn’t know they existed in 5e/3e?

>sorcerer
>warlock most likely
>monk
>possibly ranger, since no one knows what its niche should be, except for the animal companion thing which doesn’t even work

I’ll allow paladin and barbarian cause they’re iconic in fiction and druid cause it’s got the wildshape niche. Bard I can take or leave but I think it’s sufficiently different from wizard to leave in.

Does a Druid add their proficiency to wild shape attacks? I.e. would a Druid with +3 prof have 8 to hit or 7 to hit as a polarbear?

The 5e skill system seems absolutely fucked to me. Without having played yet, it seems like it manages to be even worse than 3.5e. Characters basically get no skills except a very few class proficiencies, and for everything else you just roll ability score? Who thought this was a good idea?

Please tell me I'm understanding this wrong.

Your proficiency, it's stats. Says it in wildshape rules.

>Characters basically get no skills
Your background, class and some races (variant human, half-elf for example) give you skill proficiencies
for classes it's between 2 (fighter) and 4 (rogue), although the choice is limited to a list given there, then there's bards who get any 3
Background gives 2 skill proficiencies as well
Half Elf is free 2 proficiencies of your choise
VHuman is 1 proficiency, and 1 feat which you can spend on the Skilled Feat to gain 3 more proficiencies
so a VHuman Rogue can start at 10 skills at level 1
even at worst you get 4 minimum, and in those cases that's usually shit you want to use like athletics/acrobatics for a fighter and whatnot
some feats like Arcanist (although they're all UA playtest content) give you proficiencies as well
plus there isn't that many skills in the first place

Post character ideas. I'm about to play a monk following the path of Mrs cosmopolite

wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/The_Way_of_Mrs._Cosmopilite

Trained by his aging master in the dojo across the street from the curry shop. Whispered wise idioms such as 'it never rains but it pours' and 'it won't get better if you pick at it'

How do you explain to people that Lawful Good isn't the "goodest" alignment because Neutral Good is?

I disagree about monk. So many people want to punch shit, it's come up anyway. Warlock and sorcerer could slip by unnoticed, with wizard and bard filling in.

Most characters are proficient in a quarter, or more, of the possible skills. In that sense its already way more lenient than 3.x.

Sorcerer until wotc stops treating them like redundant wizards

How about you learn how the game works first and how to create a character.

Pretty sure the next book will be Mordenkainen's manual of the planes.

I think I'm going to play basically a dwarf alfred to a bruce wayne. Except for substantial differences. The premise is that my clan promised the family a Home that'd last X generations (dwarf generations, naturally) and after tragedy befell the family (as it does to human nobles), I have to repair the 'home' or else shave my beard in shame for failing in my duty. So I have to fix the building, sure, but I also have to make it a Home again. Should be good story fuel.

What leans you in that direction, user?

boy i fucking hope so, my campaign may be taking a plane hopping direction in the foreseeable future

I agree with warlock and to lesser degree with sorcerer.

Warlock is great when it comes to mechanics, because they have so many cool options, though.

Ranger is necessary as archetype, but i agree they might work just as well as fighter subclass (we already have wizardy-fighter, why not druidy-fighter).

>Implying D&D characters need skills

You right, why waste your time on skills that require rolls that could fail when you could just play a caster and use magic that always works with no failure chance?

good with a caveat is worse than just straight good, not that hard to understand. also doing good because you genuinely want to rather than because the laws/your code says you should

Well some magic has a failure chance, but it's usually half damage and no bonus effects. Magic Missile is like the only major exception to this rule, most Spell Attacks have a DC saving throw to halve the damage and negate negative effects. For instance, Discordant Whispers would have its damage halved and the effect that causes enemies to flee removed.

That said, our Bard pulled a goddamn Ulfric Stormcloak on a goblin level 1 and literally shouted him to death with Vicious Mockery so what do I know?

Why would you want to remove these classes? Do you think they're too powerful?

The thing is that none of these classes are bad, they just have better options. Even PHB basic Ranger is fully capable of keeping up (one player in my group played one for most of HotDQ/RoT and did just fine). The Sorcerer and Warlock likewise are by no means bad classes, it's just that the wizard is strictly better than either - but that's egg on the wizard's face, not theirs. Warlock and Sorcerer don't need buffs, Wizard needs a nerf. Personally on that front I propose bringing back school restrictions, and specifically the 2e/3.0 style where the schools that are verboten are pre-set and you don't get to pick them. But maybe change the classic setup a bit so they make more sense. Maybe something like pic, where you can't ever learn spells from a school directly opposite yours.

You have to pick one specialty school (and therefore two forbidden schools) regardless of whether or not you take one of the Arcane Traditions named after them (so even if you're a War Caster or whatever)

I was more referring to how a Rogue needs to get up close to a locked door and risk proximity traps attempting to pick the lock open while a wizard can just cast Knock from 60 feet away with no roll to defeat the lock.

Or teleport through the door.

Or use magic to detect traps on it.

Or use passwall.

Or summon a familiar to suicide bomb the traps.

Or use divination to see what's on the other side or if the door is even worth passing.

Or, you know, one of another couple dozen ways to just handwave the problem away.

In before screeching retards say "IT'S BALANCED COS SPELL SLOTS!" Yeah, you know, being a character who only sucks some of the time is balanced against characters who suck slightly less but all of the time.

Wow, caster hate much.
Aside from the fact that your point is pretty accurate: using magic in a magical world, to solve problems, even magical ones, is clearly superior to every solution you could possibly come up with, because most of them are "relying on supernatural abilities or magical objects", who when you think about it, is also magic.
But no. You could simply use your ability scores to perform tasks and solve situations without needing skills. D&D is not a skill game, it's a combat game. You need to jump? Roll Strength or Dexterity, whichever is better. You're a cleric and you saw some religious shit? Roll wisdom to know about it.

>and therefore two forbidden schools

*One forbidden school. Although actually I like the idea of two now. But what would they be...hmm...

The same way you tell them that Neutral Evil is by far the worst possible alignment, Chaotic Evil being a joke in comparison.

But it IS balanced because of spell slots. The wizard can only use Knock so many times per day, and each Knock that he does use is a combat or other utility spell that can't be used later.

More to the point, when you use Knock you seem to be forgetting that:

>A loud knock, audible from as far away as 300 feet, emanates from the target object.

You use Knock, whatever's on the other side of the door knows you're coming, verses the Rogue, who can pick the lock without making any sound at all.

I don't think I've ever seen Neutral Evil done right...

What character from fiction would you chalk up as a prime example of Neutral Evil? Just curious.

Spell slots do balance because you can't be a jack of all trades with a spellcaster. If you were to take enough utility to do all of those things you would be useless in combat, and the other way around. It's best to take maybe one utility spell unless you're a healer in which case you wouldn't be doing those things anyway, not to mention the fact that you ahve very limited uses without a rest.

Also, there's a roleplaying aspect; it's less fun if the spellcaster does everything, similar to how having only one human who is also a bard in your party makes roleplaying less fun for some players because the bard can already do all the talking.

I disagree, I feel as though specifically 5e is more of a storytelling experience with some slow, boring combat tacked on to give you that gambler's high from rolling dice. Maybe the other editions were more combat-focused, but the most fun I've had in 5e is the roleplaying element.

It's not like you can't use this to your advantage as well.

I can't believe they made the same fucking mistake again and made Wizards better skillmonkeys. These spells don't need to exist by any means.

Not him, but any "force of nature" or "utter misanthropy" types of villains. Things that kill simply on whim or nature.

It doesn't change the fact that d&d 5e, just like 3.5, favour spellcaster over mundane classes, albeit in a less extreme way

Yes, I agree with you. It's a way better edition for storytelling, but since skills, as the book implies, are simply an ability check with bonuses, they didn't need to even add them, maybe just a guideline for beginners.

For protagonists, Light Yagami. For antagonists, Anton Chirugh.

They aren't better skillmonkeys except at the cost of being useless in combat. The Rogue gets to be a skillmonkey AND useful in combat no matter how many times he's skillmonkey'd.

Doesn't kill on a whim fall under chaotic evil?

Isn't the bard strictly better than the rogue as skillmonkey though? You get skill+expertise+jack of all trades+spell. Heck, the mystic is probably a better skillmonkey than the rogue, because he gets two swappable skill if he goes nomad+ extra with nomadic mind

Guess I am starting Princes of the Apocalypse tomorrow. Other campaign fell through due to work so one of the players is gonna run it. Time to whip up a character. Any suggestions on what to make? Here is what I've played in the past (im usually just a fucking foreverdm)

>3.5 low level Cleric
>Champion Fighter
>Swashbuckler Rogue
>Lore Bard for a very brief period of time
>Life Cleric

let the dice decide your character desu

A middle aged balding Halfling who scrapes by as a traveling fortune teller, using a few minor magical spells that he copied from a novice wizard and recorded on a set of tarot cards to trick people into believing him during his bullshit seances. After he gets caught up in the adventuring life, his abuse of and reliance on fortune causes the goddess of fortune to send a cherub to inform him that he’s actually her great-great-great-etc-nephew, and for all his posturing, he’d better step up and change some fates.
Divination wizard 2/Divine Soul Sorc X, the relegation and his sorc levels coming at level 3. Play him with all the luck feats I can grab and be a full support caster, using Bountiful Luck and Guidance as much as possible.

Deadshot or Deathstroke.

If there's a mash up between Curse of Strand and Tomb of Annihilation, how would the gift from Zhudan the Corpse Star, who can resurrect anyone regardless of how long that creature has been dead, interact with the Death Curse? Does the Death Curse basically makes this impossible?

I'm not sure, it's a tough question for sure, but I'm thinking someone like Professor Moriarty or Khan Noonien Singh, people so evil they have not only cast all morality aside but most of their vestigial emotions as well. Driven only by their sheer wants, they don't mind putting up a facade to lull those around them but is just as quick to cast it aside as it suits them.

I think Neutral Evil is ambition boiled down to its ugliest core.

The bard is a better skillmonkey than everyone, plus a ridiculous competent spellcaster, because you can literally choose spells from any class ever, and a versatile combatant to boot. He also can heal. And you don't even need to multiclass.
The bard in this edition is preposterously good, making the 3.x bard look like it was a bad joke.

Mystic imho is fun. You can build them basically to do whatever you want

Are there any races that can’t see in the dark besides humans?

Bard is strictly better than a lot of things, but Rogue get's more skills to expertise in and eventually can take 10 on any check he makes.

Jack of all trades is nice, but in general just makes his bad skills suck a little less rather than being able to do any check with ease.

No one plays mystic so it doesn't really matter

Yeah, I still can't understand why they gave bards full casting instead of half casting

Macbeth

He murders the king to gain power, but then uses the law to murder supposed assassins.

Neutral Evil is awful because it is selfish awful, "that guy territory" that easily topples Lawful Evil or Chaotic Evil (and even Chaotic Neutral), because you can do something completely awful as long it is benefical for you, and only you, to the cost of everybody else, including your fellow players, and be totally legit about it, because you are backed by your own alingment.
To play it straight and properly you have to tone it down more often than not, or being a selfish person yourself. You would not be popular on your table.

...

Only Human and Dragonborn can't see in the darkness. With is way weird for a Dragon-like anything not having darkvision.

Halflings, Dragonborn, Kenku, Firbolg, Genasi, Lizardfolk

I'm torn as to what advice to give you. On the one hand, being a Ranger would make Abyss so much easier for you, at least in the first half (and a lot of Abyss games don't make it to the second half). On the other hand, the first half of Abyss is really all about Survival Horror and the legitimate concern as to whether or not you can forage enough food and water to survive. You lose a lot of the tone.

How do you deal with cliques forming in your groups?
It keeps happening in my games with the same 2-3 people, but those same people get upset when they are "excluded" from roleplay.
Yes, I have talked to them about it.
No, it hasn't changed much, to my chagrin.

Gaston, Scar, Jafar.
Yes. I like Disney!

What do you mean exactly? Like they just fuck off and talk instead of play or what?

That's because the 3.x bard wasn't that good, user. It was ok in that it was the least broken option in the core book.

Yes, it is. That's why Neutral Evil is despicable. Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil can only shy in comparison.

I mean that their characters, and roleplay, revolve around a select few, and if you are not in the clique, you are basically just shy of an npc.

Is there a higher RAW single-turn, single-target damage build than hexblade with eldritch smite, elven accuracy, and GWM?

How do the other players feel about it?

The other players don't like it, but generally quietly respond to it by ending up a clique themselves (I know, I was one of them in a completely separate game and system).
When half the group has little to do with you outside of combat and visibly treats you differently from others, you sorta cling to the people who haven't shut you out.
I'm about to enforce seating arrangements to pare it down.

Post the build and example turn or it's not worth theorycrafting

Core 3.5 bard was mhe, but outside core there were some really good option:
>sublime chord for level 9 spells
>dragonfire inspiration + words of creation for absurd amount of extra damage
>snowflake wardance (and slippers of battledance) if you want to completely ditch dex and strength for charisma

If you really want to keep these assholes around, you should calmly and firmly be like hey, I'm not okay with this, if you keep it up I'm going to put your little group on the backburner and focus on the others.

You should probably just find new players though.

I just now realized I confused Princes of the Apocalypse with Out of the Abyss. Mea culpa.

Sun Soul monk fire genasi, say you're an escaped slave from the City of Brass.

>2 Paladin/5 Hexblade/10 Whisper Bard/3 Assassin.

>You get half your proficiency to initiative, and opening round crit with your Eldritch Divine Psychic Shadow Blade.
>On a crit, Eldritch Divine Psychic Shadow Blade deals 24d8 + 14d6 + 7 damage.

quoting some user from last thread

Hey, if I had any drawing talent whatsoever I'd draw all my parties in a Disney style. And Aladdin is my go-to example of a thief.

Have you ever, for the good of a player, wanted their character to FUCKING DIE so they could make a new one and move on?

I've come to realize it's instigated by a single player, and I'm preparing to take steps.
Kicking players is my final option, in any case, but it's on the table. I'm seeking alternatives.
Yes, and that may happen.

He's good, isn't he? Damn, he's really good!

I'm planning to make a Clopin-like character, but i'm wandering in the dark because i suck at building character. Rogue seems the way to go i guess?

Wouldn't you feel weird if you were D&D devs and you were going to give YET ANOTHER race some form of darkvision?

Our bard is inspired by Kanye West and he got bored after the first session. Used up all his jokes and one liners. I kinda want his character to die

Rogue or Bard. Maybe both. Clopin was simply wonderful.

How often do you guys have character deaths happen in your games, 5eg? Is it a common occurrence? Is it rare enough to really have a huge impact when it does occur? What about TPKs?

The scary thing is, I think, that playing NE right you would still go along with the party most of the time, because long term it benefits you the most. I don't think a good NE character is short sighted.

Basically a good NE character is a good companion until you're all suddenly murdered in your sleep.

It should be standard norm in magical realm, that if something can see in complete and utter darkness (it is really a fantastic ability that makes absolute no sense whatsoever) humans should proably the only ones that couldn't. And maybe halflings. Because they're half Humans, but not Half-Humans.

First off, it is balanced by spell slots, but also
>Knock automagically opens the lock, but also automatically fails the stealth check.
>Teleporting somewhere you can't see takes Dimension Door, and leaves the locked/trapped door there. Splitting the party and trapping you inside.
>Detect magic won't detect mundane traps.
>Passwall is great. Also, 5th level and temporary.
>Assuming the familiar can even set off the traps, replacing it can take over an hour.
>Clairvoyance lets you see just the other side, and still relies on your senses and abilities to notice hidden things.
>Finally, a wizard only has a couple dozen spells even prepared, at the maximum, so they can't all be dedicated to solving door problems.

What's GWM?

Is there some list of 5e acronyms? I feel stupid ever time I see one.

And you only have to be level 20! WOW!

>Yes.
Good, because I am so fucking close to taking the very first excuse to smite this one party member that I get.

I would kill for things to be that simple. Our Rogue is just the players waifu. He is MISERABLE playing her because he constantly worries she'll die. It drags the other players down, and he complains whenever anyone does something remotely dangerous. He keeps wanting to temporarily retire his character, go do side-sessions and have "character development". He doesn't FUCKING realise that that development means jack shit if the party isn't involved. He refuses to retire his character despite hating every second of it because he keeps dreaming of some happy ending where he resolves his FOURTHOUSANDFUCKING NPC plots because he went and made his character a noble.
The DM agrees with me, but is too decent a human being to just go "rocks fall on this fucking rogue"

I want to get my DM this mug and/or die.
However, I can't seem to find them on the wizards site and my LGS doesn't have them.
Any idea where I can find them?

Jesus Christ, have you tried not being such a consumerist

Exactly. You stay with these people and save their lives countless times, until you reach level 18 with them, and betray them on the rost possible minute, for a ring of three-wishes. Then you retire to a Neutral Good Upper Plane, because a good neighborhood will always be better than an evil one, and tell stories to your grandchildren about that time you had to kill those awful people you used to travel with to save the day, those suckers.
it sounds interesting when you think about it, but "DON'T EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN" if done in the gaming table.

GW: Great Weapon Master
PAM: Pole Arm Master
EA: Elemental Adept
CM: Crossbow Master
ASI: Attribute Stat Increase (Strength, Dex, ect.)
MC: Multiclass
Gish: A character who uses both weapons and magic, such as paladins or hexblade warlocks or a retard.
BB/GFB: Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade

What's wrong with wanting to give someone a gift?

>he hasnt read the manifesto
da comrade

My problem with bard is that they are way too focused on spellcasting and my party look at them as jukebox. Maybe mastermind rogue is the way to go

Keep in mind most people who bitch about magic have DMs that ignore these things, and it sadly taints the players' views of magic and casters forever.

Great Weapon Master. Issa feat.

Idk I think it's kind of boring how sight is always the go-to sense to amplify to make a race feel special, it's a little bit of Naruto-esque problem really.

Sonar hearing, olfactory nerves that helps you tell someone's mood or when they're lying, stuff like that could be really interesting as well.

>CM: Crossbow Master

It is CBE for Crossbow Expert

Wait, aren't hexblades strictly bad with anything two-handed? As in their Hex Warrior buff doesn't apply?

The problem is the D&D races are all based on long standing traditions so suddenly giving the halfling bat ears is HARAM at WotC. Sacred cows and all that

Sounds kind of cool though, now that I think about it.

Last question, what's an EK? A class?

Honestly, as a DM I've become fed up with Darkvision on every fucking race. In my games, only Drow, Duergar, and however the fuck you spell Deep Gnomes get Darkvision (outside of monsters obviously).

Any resurrection only works if the target's soul is free and willing to return. While the Soulmonger exists, anyone who dies has their soul trapped inside. If someone died before the Soulmonger's creation, though,
they are a possibly a valid target for the resurrection since their soul made it to the afterlife. At the DM's discretion, of course.

>As in their Hex Warrior buff doesn't apply?
It does apply if said two-handed weapon is your pact weapon from Pact of the Blade.

Here we go with this meme again.