/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

Forgotten realms books
Just keep in mind you'll have to use 2nd edition books for lore and organizations since a lot has changed.

don't forget getting access to wrathful smite as well. paladins get less mileage out of it because they max their casting stat after their str/dex in most cases so they have lower dc for a while. but hexblade turns it into a standard spellcaster dc melee bonus that might as well shut down enemies until they waste their action getting rid of it, especially since you don't need your concentration for the special hex

More sensible to just ban non-thematic multiclassing.

I though you'd make a joke about preferring it to Kender PC's.

I've told them about some of the NPCs I loved from playing through and such.

Ah okay, but nothing that's a direct campaign book of the PC game?

Shield passes over to other spellcasters with no issue because of no casting stat.
And rather than thinking of it as a spell, think of it as a class feature that says 'you can add 5 to your AC until your next turn as a reaction after seeing an attack's results, X time(s) per short rest, depending on Warlock level'. And if you end up dipping into another caster it just becomes a permanent 5 AC, putting you at an average of 22 with your medium armor

>More sensible to just ban non-thematic multiclassing.
Strongest GM tool there is: "Make me like the idea".

I actually know almost nothing about D&D but want to learn. I've got the three main books and three other people eager to play. The other guy in the group is the only one with any experience, but it was decades ago during the first or second edition. I've got some ideas in my head but don't know if they're any good.

>Ah okay, but nothing that's a direct campaign book of the PC game?

No.

>I've told them about some of the NPCs I loved from playing through and such.

Be careful it's doesn't turn into "Ok guys now shut up and watch me play the game"

No no, i'm really interested in how they react in the world and setting.

I just ban the subclass, far easier. I like my players multiclassing as it lets them be creative. All I ask is that when they do make their builds, they generally opt to tell each other in advance about it, so they all know what they're getting in for.
It's easy for me to make my campaign easier or harder for people regardless of their builds, and every build has weaknesses to abuse and strength to bolster.
But Hexblade is simply far too strong while non-Hexblade bladelocks are far too weak without multiclassing.

Brewing a war between 5 nation states in a postmodern science fantasy setting, need suggestions on each society's take on an arms race.

> Mountain men (dwarves, duergar, the "queen" is an Azer) are creating a warforged army
> High magic society experimenting with magitek and mecha
> Corrupt metropolitan run by corrupt politicians looking to summon Demons to help
> need two more unique societies

Don't worry user we'll get right on that, after we get you all to like the best subclass idea we've ever had with the Lore Wizard. :^)

Pirate nation is looting and pillaging the coast, kidnapping villagers for some nefarious purpose. Kidnapped return 13 days later, but there's something wrong with them...
Add Old Gods to taste.

>Too many fucking tieflings in this game
ftfy

Elves and metric fucktons of animals like the very spirits of the land decided to aid them in their army
Halflings, Gnomes, Goblins and whatever other Small races you can squeeze in engaging in explosive/alechemy fueled guerilla warfare and ambushes

Viking-type culture that is pillaging and conquering as much as it can, stealing technology in the process
Undead culture that is just Curse of Strahd in entire kingdom form

Would you be madder at a level 5 hexblade multiclass or a level 5 revised ranger with Sharpshooter and Deep Stalker Conclave?

It's an easy default edgelord race, and works perfectly with the easy default edgelord class.

>Nat 20 reduced the DC by 5 but doesn't immediately result in an instant success

Would that make everyone who cries about nat 20 culture happy?

Madder? Hexblade. Because how the fuck did that get into my game
Deep Stalker is completely fine. If anything, SS is just a dumb feat, but still manageable.

nah
you could offer to get a whore to suck people's dicks every time someone rolls a 20 and someone would still not be happy

Do whatever you want man, it's your game. There's just no such thing as critical success or fumbles for skill checks anymore so I support the RAW

>Deep Stalker is completely fine
>Three attacks with Sharpshooter and advantage, rapes the enemies

I'm more concerned about Elf Inquisitive Rogue with sharpshooter and longbow that can sneak attack + dash from 600 feet away.

How are these supposed munchkins finding all these Hexblade patrons lying around anyway?
Like, you don't get this problem with the bloody Celestials and Archfey

>it's just Assassin in Ranger form
I play a GWM glaive Deep Stalker and it's honestly not all that overbearing. A higher chance to get a +10 is still nothing compared to Rogue/Paladin consistently. In terms of sheer DPS, a CBE SS Fighter will do more than this class will. Heck, a Deep Stalker doesn't even get all that bad unless it takes Action Surge for double attacks on the first round.

And there are a lot worse things to make you cry than 63 average damage on the first turn on a build that's made to do do a bunch of damage on the first turn. The real scary part of Deep Stalker is the permanent invisibility in darkness, as now your monsters need to bring torches

It's the advantage on initiative rolls and free advantage on attack rolls that's bullshit.

Why are people crying about Hexblades if there are better, higher damage builds?

Desert isolationist Dragon worshipers (Dragonborn, Kobolds, etc) attuned with elemental magics and just want to be left the fuck alone. Shun newer technology and ideas, conjure storms to interfere with flying machines and other metallic transports. Smugglers of tech run rampant and possession of illicit technology is cracked down on. Ruled by an elite class of spell slingers.

Power creep and implications of future subclasses signalling the return of the Gishfags.

Because versatility can mean a lot
Before hexblade, to be proficient in melee combat and casting, you needed a melee stat (Dex or Str), your casting stat (usually Cha because 'lock or pally), and Con because everyone needs Con

Now you can cut that down to just Cha and Con, and that gives you casting, melee combat prowess, and health. You essentially do just about everything, especially when you MC into Sorc and get access to their spell list.

I think the sheer flexibility of it. You can build a super maxed out crunchy build but it's gotta take planning and precision. With Hexblade literally any class, any character concept can snag it and be more powerful because of it. Fighers, Rogues, any of the Cha classes would be downright stupid to NOT pick up a magical blade from Shadowfell or the Bad Wrong Realms or whatever.

How do all these wizards manage to finish their apprenticeships before their pubes grow in?
They must be recruited out of the womb and transcribing tomes by age 3.

Elves don't grow pubes until they're like 64 years old obv.

On the first turn, yes. This is exactly what Assassin does, but Assassin also does more when paired with multiclassing.
One extra attack with advantage when it's all on the first turn ends up losing out significantly when you compare the average damage to other classes.
Three turns of an archer Deep Stalker attacking while they're not in darkness is weaker than most archers attacking for the same time. It's when they're permanently invisible that it gets obnoxious, and there are clear ways around that, ie. subverting the tropes.

Because one, this is literally what Deep Stalker is made to do, whereas Hexblade is made to do literally everything - Hexblade multiclassing results in the strongest builds in the entire game.
Two, people are more concerned about Hexblade, for one level, being the best value in the entire game and getting more bonuses than most dips combined.

new to DMing: how do you know when to let players talk

i imagine this is less of an issue in real life, but playing on a virtual tabletop makes this an issue as i can't tell if they intend to say something. this either leads to awkward silences where i stop and they don't say anything, or i get interrupted

also, checks. if they pass/fail a check, it's the DMs job to say what happens right? one guy i'm playing says i should just tell him if it's a pass/fail and then he gets to decide what happens

Is this bait

I thought Hexblades usually tossed out their spells to hit harder anyway.

Shadow Sorcerers get their powers from the exact same place as Hexblades, Meaning you have a built-in mulitclass excuse/explanation.

>Fighers, Rogues, any of the Cha classes would be downright stupid to NOT pick up a magical blade from Shadowfell or the Bad Wrong Realms or whatever.

What does a Battle Master GWM/PAM get from dipping into hexblade?

Don't let your players boss you around, it's your decision. If you deign to let them decide how they succeed, finish off an enemy or fail then you can, but only if you want to. I've seen some players try to salvage a failure but if you want there to be consequences you have to give them.

Yeah, but you can get those class levels out of a fucking book.
For Warlocks you need to be selling your soul for that cantrip.
And that requires a buyer
Which requires the DM to be cumplicit

Straight Hexblades result in melee doing far more damage at all levels, assuming GWM.
Sorc/Hexblade results in SCAG melee Twin/Quicken doing more damage until level 9, then Eldritch Blasting does more until level 11, then it evens out for a while due to Thirsting Blade, until level 15+ it goes back to EB until 20 because of the sheer number of modifiers they get.

I don't allow multiclassing.

If your character can read, if he can find the book.
Unless every hamlet has a "My A-B-C and How to bend the secrets of the arcane"

Good luck enforcing patrons in a game with my DM where he knows how to make stories that aren't all about fucking the player over for picking a class.
As far as he's concerned the entire background of each class is flavor and what matters is the direction you intend for the character to go, not the direction he intends for the character to go.

>At the sea, Triton is awakening an ancient dragon.
>Alchemist society mass producing loyal super soldiers.

>if they pass/fail a check, it's the DMs job to say what happens right?
it's up to the DM. I've played in one game where the DM would always encourage us to describe our successes and failures but every other game the DM describes results

I've never multiclassed because unless you're taking the highly minmaxed MCs, it doesn't feel worth it.

Tempest Cleric, just turned 12. What do I do with the ASI? Already have Warcaster. I'm thinking it might be best to just do +2 Wis

>+2 Wis
Put me at 18 Wiz

>Tough
Ive rolled shit for HP: 67. Would make it 91HP

>Xbow Expert
Theoretically I could get 2 shots off with Hand Xbow and add d8 lightning to each attack

>Shield Master
The group is particularly reckless with fireballs

>how do you know when to let players talk
Have you tried prompting them by "What are you going to do?" or something?

> if they pass/fail a check, it's the DMs job to say what happens right?
PHB says:
Players describe their actions, DM narrates the results (and maybe ask player to roll).

I can see how someone could be uncomfortable with someone else describing what their character do, but if they take time to describe their actions, i'd expect space of possible results would be somewhat limited.

I multiclass for the sake of it.

Shield, bonus damage to a cursed target once per short rest AND higher chance to crit (basically a champion feature given to the BM) and some minimal healing. What else are you gonna do for a 1 turn dip for GWM? Other dips require 2 levels to get you the good stuff and that means you get ASIs and feats faster. If it took until level 2 or 3 to get this stuff I wouldn't care, but a SINGLE LEVEL dip is way too little of a price.

>just turned 12
How are you adapting to high school? It must be a big step up

There's one for nearly every class. For a race of exotic outcasts they sure are fucking everywhere.

I'd max Wis ASAP, need to get that spell save up as possible so you can zap some nerds with your powered up spells.

It somewhat depends on your style, but maxing Wisdom seems like way to go.

Also:
>rolling for HP
Why?

>crossbow expert
Note that Divine Strike (or what is it called) gives its bonus damage only once per turn.

Or you could take more fighter levels, get more feats, get those extra attacks, etc.

Reminder that it's GAY to grapple

It depends on who and where are you grappling, though.

Never don't take the tough feat

t.-2 Str bonus

You're not missing out on much with a single level dip out of fighter. Plus Shield (rechargeable on a short rest) is way too good for a frontline player with only a 2h weapon and no other class gives you that, all other options with shield only give you it with long rests.

>taking one level to give yourself the equivalent of another Fighter subclass entirely, two Hexes (basically the equivalent of taking two Warlock levels on its own), and Shield is too much
Given how much people love to do nothing but compare single target damage, you'd think the ability to double your chance to crit with how many times Fighter builds attack would be something greatly desired, given that it's an effective 10% DPS increase on its own, not even counting the proficiency damage modifier.

>It's gay to restrain a female warrior by fondling her breasts.

Yeah what are you a homo or something?

It may be gay to wrestle other guys, but it's also the current reigning champion for how to win in a real life fight, so everyone who fights is gay. I can make you gay by grabbing you and forcing you to make me get off you

if tits and ass make me a homo, sure.

No that just makes you fat or a woman.

The way to win a real fight is to shiv the guy's kidneys

It's gayer in fact

I'll grab your shiv and now your shiv is gay, and you're grabbing your gay shiv so now you're gay

Ah, I've seen you've played shiv-y gay-y before

At least I didn't start the gay by grappling

Once per short rest and only one one enemy.

Any suggestions on what campaign I should run my two friends who have one year of experience with D&D and another who has no experience? They love high fantasy and especially when tech is thrown in, if that helps?

Ebberon

spelljammer

There's gonna be a new UA today, right?

Is it alright to take sex slaves in non-ERP games?

Doesn't matter, most people compare damage to an enemy with high AC and are considered to not be losing effective damage due to enemies dying, etc, so it generally implies a boss. They also end up including their DPS when using things like Action Surge, etc, which is likely to be saved for big enemies that you'd like to hit a lot. At level 11, for example, Action Surge gives you 24 guaranteed damage with this special Hex on top of the base ~10% DPS increase you get simply from doubled crit.
You use this on a boss and it's going to take far more damage than if you took one more level in Fighter.
Additionally, you've still got a spell slot that you can use for a Hex that works for an entire encounter, or a Shield to save your ass.

Do Aarakocra and other beast races have boobies?
This is a very important question.

Shhh, you'll confuse the white-room scenario theorycrafters that only consider the best encounter for the specific feature to "break" the game and not actual games since they don't play.

...what do you mean by postmodern?

>Telepathic elves are (de)constructing magical curses, that remove the targets ability to derive meaning from words and sense data.

I actually talked about why whiteroom theorycrafting supports this, because whiteroom theorycrafting is generally aimed towards boss monsters, which this is for - and if you're playing a pure DPS fighter that's actually contemplating the difference in taking a level in one class vs another, you're a whiteroom theorycrafter even if you don't do the maths yourself.

No

>The group is particularly reckless with fireballs
There are seriously groups where players hit their allies with fireballs? A monk or rogue I could understand, but fireballing the 67 HP cleric? what the fuck

birbies

A deeply religious people that use drugs and hormones to make super soldiers a la Witcher/Final Fantasy 7/Captain America

Halfling nation, who, because they would outright lose in a straight up fight takes to using guerilla warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and trying to poison EVERYTHING. Not just the people, but their rivers and their fields and their wells and their animals.