/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General:

I am preparing the Old Bonegrinder from Curse of Strahd as a one-shot. Minor CoS spoilers ahead!

The windmill and the hags seem cool and sinister, but I need ideas for starting the adventure. The group will be in Barovia, but how do I introduce the plot hooks effectively? How do I make them want to go to the windmill? They are of course going to meet a woman trying to sell the suspicious pastries, but what else? Two kids are captured in the windmill, but they were given to the hags by their parents, so a regular rescue-mission seems less than optimal.

No shit, it's a gnome. They are the comic relief race.

How do I stop making my backstories so long? Why am I so shit at writing? They just wind up being long pages of "One day event x happened to character_name. Then thing z occurred and affected character_name through event y"

Does the Rogue class need work? From what I've seen during the campaigns I'm in, most of the time it just has the Rogue do burst damage in combat once a round, and that's it.

Am I just playing with shitty players?

>How do I stop making my backstories so long
You remember that nobody gives a fuck about your backstory - only what happens during the game matters, so you should make it as simple as possible.

>How did my character ended up an adventurer?

only include X amount of life events, I suggest three, one childhood, one coming of age, one adult

>comic relief race.

I don't thinks so. They are supposed to be on weaker side in combat, but they have ton of utility for outside the combat.

Stop writing backstories. Just write likes and dislikes.

Or use a This is Your Life generator

>They are supposed to be on weaker side in combat

Is... there something wrong with that statement?

>Does the Rogue class need work?
No
>From what I've seen during the campaigns I'm in, most of the time it just has the Rogue do burst damage in combat once a round, and that's it.
The rogue is literally designed to do burst damage once a round in combat. But Rogues also operate outside of combat at a level other martials do not.
>Am I just playing with shitty players?
Probably

>You remember that nobody gives a fuck about your backstory - only what happens during the game matters, so you should make it as simple as possible.
>How did my character ended up an adventurer?

This is essentially what I wrote on my sheet. But my DM said he had some ideas with my character but would like a more developed backstory. So I did and I'm at page 4 and not done. I've never really wanted to be a fiction writer anyway and it's visible since it's just a long fucking recount of a fictional character's history with details that I can't tell if they add to the story or just clutters it

Essentially what I am doing, only really childhood, early adulthood and one key event worth writing. Writing these events are turning out to be very long and boring to my eye.

isn't that the whole point of a cult to an old god?

that old lady who gives you cookies and chases off kids can be a cultist, the librarian, the guy who bags your groceries

Why is homebrew the new target of trolls and meme lords? What the fuck is going on?

I don't think there's any homebrew people will unanimously say is good, especially since there's shit in the PHB people disagree about. Homebrew should be tailored to the DM, players, and setting. Thus, it's almost always shit from an objective angle.

Shitty homebrewers that refuse to listen to criticism are infuriating. Guarateed (You)s

>Essentially what I am doing, only really childhood, early adulthood and one key event worth writing.
the goal is only one event for each, limit it to a couple sentences:
Do: Orphaned as a baby, raised by wolves.
Don't: In the year 9595 My parents Michelle Dicklicker and John flogalog decided that they no longer wished to have a baby, the rode me out to the countryside and left me in a ditch, tears pouring down my mothers cheeks, later a she-wolf found me, that night I joined my new brothers and sisters. Fleas plagued me for most of my life and i developed a nasty habit of lifting my leg whenever I took a piss. One day, while I was out taking the biggest shit of my life I saw humans for the first time...
>Writing these events are turning out to be very long and boring to my eye.
Then why the hell are you writing so much

Fuck this shit, Santa Paladin.

Gonna make a human grappler

Should I be a regular human or variant? Is there a feat that is essential to grappling?

>Thus, it's almost always shit from an objective angle.
Even the PHB says that the core stuff is up to the DM. Therefore, by your logic,the PHB is almost always shit from an objective angle.

>new
nobody has ever liked homebrew user

>Is there a feat that is essential to grappling?
Oh you poor, dumb bastard...

>Then why the hell are you writing so much
Because I am a trash writer and not a big reader in general. I have no idea if a detail adds depth or just length. So I just write everything I can think of. This of course, turns out to be shit.

...

>the PHB is almost always shit from an objective angle.
Beastmaster
Wot4E
Berserker
Assassin
Wild Magic
is there a point you're trying to make?

Besides the combat grappler.

Like is mage slayer really worth it?

what does mage slayer have to do with grappling?

anyone plan on dming a curse of strah campaign online? If so can I join?

5 options out of the many, many more in there isn't "almost always", user.

>What does a feat that shuts down casters super hard when you're within 5 feet of them have to do with grappling

Not that guy, but smacking a nerd in the face for using that gay magic shit sounds pretty great from a flavor perspective. God dammit, now I want to be a bully grappler that gives people wedgies and noogies in combat.

>wanting to play with /5eg/

Desperate times, user?

If I’m grappling them I’ll always be within 5 feet of them so I can melee, break concentration, and have advantage on saves

Are you sure about that? My whole group enjoys homebrew.

Not him but my DM doesn't want to run CoS.

So which Rogues have the most options in combat? Is it a matter of building up a utility belt yourself?

what he meant to say was no person has ever liked homebrew

so you're going to sacrifice an attack to grapple a mage so you can use your reaction to attack them when they cast a spell to break that grapple?

The reaction slap doesn’t stop them from casting does it? Like if the nerd I’m bullying tries to use fireball or something, splappig him in his face doesn’t interrupt his spell?

i'm starved to just sit back and enjoy a game

Dming for two idiots in two separate groups is exhausting.

>The reaction slap doesn’t stop them from casting does it?
it does not. The spell still goes off.

No, but you let him know that your dick is bigger

All right boys I've always wanted to set a game in the Bronze Age. Any tips on making it work? plot hooks? I was planning on using 5e but now i'm thinking of using a different system.

It would start out/ be mainly in Egypt btw.

it is, and tavern brawler has OK features for this but your best bet is shield master if you're doing the grapple and prone thing and/or war caster if you're gonna be using spells to enhance your playstyle

Is it worth picking up then?

in fact, it happens AFTER the spell is cast, so a mage could misty step away and laugh as the mage slayers is left with no target for his reaction attack

Keep in mind they have disadvantage on Concentration and you have advantage on all of their spells while you're grappling them.

You'd basically force them to use Misty Step, and then you'd just chad stride after them and do it again since they're fucking loser nerds.

>chad stride after them and do it again since they're fucking loser nerds.
Misty Step 30ft, move 30ft, laugh in Ray of Frost.

I wanna run Out of the Abyss. Are there maps for it online to drop into roll20?

Mechanically? No. If you want to bully the nerds and make them cry the few times they show up? Yes.

ATs get magic on top of their usual shit so they win out, the others all have different but good stuff going for them, depends what you're going for. just make sure you plan how you're allocating those expertises, that's the gamechanger

>Not being a Bard WWE Grappler and trapping them in a f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶c̶a̶g̶e̶ HELL IN A CELL

Help, I have a game tonight and didn't pick spells for my druid. First time playing druid but we start at level 9, which spells are crucial?

if you're literally building around grappling then yes, it's too good when it does come up. not every caster is gonna even have misty step remember

>Not being a Bard WWE Mage Slayer Grappler and trapping them in a f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶c̶a̶g̶e̶ HELL IN A CELL
FTFY

There used to be in the trove. Could always snip the maps out of the PDF if push comes to shove.

Hey guys, GM here who needs some help

I'm running a game that is essentially about world hopping, and the group has to complete a goal in each world, though they only get a hint towards what it is

Last time I gave them a hint and let them loose, and they didn't enjoy it too much. They said there was not enough direction or hints, but that's sorta what I was going for, throwing them into a new world and letting them explore it to their hearts content

What should I do anons? I don't want to be railroady, but they didn't enjoy the open world I had. Should I just plainly give them the goal of each world? Should I have a NPC guide for each to help them when they get lost?

Alright, still looking for feedback on my Circle of Spores overhaul. Specific questions:

Is it out of line to give the druid a way to heal their undead? Why don't wizards/clerics have a means of healing undead?

>Burst Damage Once a Round
>People Agreeing with you
>DMs and players without an understanding of cover, movement and hidden attacks
Sad.

sounds like you need a pretty specific batch of spells to get away, and you have to waste all your time just holding the grappler off while his friends chew you up

Didn't read.
It's shit.

>Lore Bard Grappler
>Enlarge/Reduce
>Cutting Words any time they try to break your grapple
>Mage Slayer
>Forcecage

BAH GAWD KING IT'S A SLOBBERKNOCKER

It's one of my fav campaigns so far so i'll post what i have

what's your subclass, party composition and intended role. or as many of those as you can give us?

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how does that change the damage? or are you talking about the other things rogues can do? i dunno if OP was just talking about what offensive options they have

>sounds like you need a pretty specific batch of spells
Ray of frost and misty step? Literally any good arcane caster will have those.
>you have to waste all your time just holding the grappler off while his friends chew you up
Presumably the caster has friends too.

mages typically travel with "friends" too.

I'm not saying Mage Slayer is a bad feat, but it's not as mage-slaying as it could be and it will NOT shut down any mage with access to any teleportation or forced movement

Don't use 5e

5e presumes you have magic, so unless you're planning on having a highly fictional bronze age game, don't

I recommend using something like GURPS or Genesys

any good PC caster, and it still works against non-arcane casters and distracts arcane ones that do have those spells. remember it works against monsters with spells too, not many of those have both of those options

If they don't like open world stuff then i guess don't do that. Just tell them the goal.

Shepherd, well balanced party (large), intended roll is control/utility with out of combat healing via the new spirit healing spell.

They can have the "burst damage" as well as an advantaged attack almost every turn and still have time to move around much the battlefield almost untouchable- really quite powerful, a smart rogue

no one's running curse of strahd?

true but it keeps them on their toes and burns spell slots which is nice, you're right that it isn't a win button for mage fights though obviously but it's quite nice against many casters and fine against the rest as well as being flavorful which is nice in a non-optimal build like a grappler

Why not?

Have you any examples of what I could be doing better? I'm playing a level 6 Arcane Trickster, perhaps I should be having my mage hand more active?

I've played through it, and I am also currently running it.

i'm looking to join a fresh game.

You think idiot players are in low demand? That you can just spam your way into a game? Good luck.

Is rogue the only class that can use a whip without suffering too much?

Good luck, just use roll20 you might find a good game there.

>advantaged attack almost every turn
How?

>They can have the "burst damage
Like when they hit with their Attack action, they do slightly less damage than fighter who uses Attack action? I mean, sure, Rogues hit harder and less often, but that is somewhat different from what "burst damage" usually refer to.

honestly, Mage Slayer is probably best on Monks. For fighters/barbarians, GWM is probably the better mage slayer, since you can't cast spells if you're a bloody heap on the floor.

no such luck.

>How?
Seriously? Advantage is super easy to get.

Well... they still need to get the proficiency with it, somehow. But it seems like it.