/5eg/ - Fifth Edition D&D General

Same as in other thread
How do I stop writing edgy characters and what are some general guidelines for writing a good character?

I don't find DnD lends itself to those types of games very well.
I definitely wouldn't enjoy it, I'm a big fan of ridiculous over the top heroism and stuff like godslaying, planehopping and magitech.

Post an example so we can a) have a laugh and b) figure out where you're going wrong.

Step 1. Have at least one living family member or npc who you care about as if they were family.
Step 2. Have short term goals. Something you can accomplish in 5 sessions or less.
Step 3. Have long term goals. Something you can only accomplish after 15 sessions minimum.
Step 4. Invest in the world. Buy and improve land. Make NPC contacts who don't have to be "quest givers".

Reposting from last thread:

How would you guys handle time travel? Would you go with some kind of congruent reality world hopping time travel, in which what you do in the past doesn't effect the world that you're from, or something has a few more consequences? What should happen if a player's past self sees himself?

What about contacts such as a warlocks patron? How should beings like that react to it?

Need help coming to a decision for a Battle Master Fighter. Both options seem fun and stuff, but I can't decide.

Would a former mercenary known for being pragmatic be more likely to specialize in a shield and flail or a polearm?

Is one of those options more unique/badass than the other?

Forward only.

I just wouldn't. Time travel makes things messy in ttrpgs and it makes for tons of meta-mechanics like divination wizard but more irritating for everyone. Things will also feel like they don't matter because you can just go back and fix them.

how to beat Klauth ?

Greek Myths

edginess is relative, so just stay close to the edge levels of everyone else.

>greek myths
>not edgy

How many of you roll for trinkets?

I reckon the way to do time travel is that if you go back in time and dick around basically nothing will change as time tries its hardest to stay on a fixed track. You'd have to change certain major events to actually change history.

Have something you care about, and I don't mean "I care about getting vengeance", I mean something you have strong POSITIVE feelings for, like a family member, a vision for the future, ect.

Im the other way for sure. Magic items are rare, but it does give big advantages to have them, as most people don't expect magic. I keep the over all power levels low, but it makes slaying that gryphon or hag that much more exciting. Stakes are high, but I don't tend to kill many players. I give a lot of freedom to the players to come up with ideas, and I always urge them to try anything they want too. But with all things comes consequences.

What's wrong with being edgy? I always have fun playing the secret murderhobo of the party who always finds a way to murder, cheat, steal, and lie without getting caught by his party or his enemies. This is why I usually play high-CHA characters who can get away with that sort of shit on the regular. Any Evil/Chaotic Neutral Bards, Warlocks, Oathbreakers are my favorite things to play.

My favourite way to do it is to subtly imply that the players actions are why certain events in the history of the world happened. If you keep it vague you can give your players loads of flexibility while still having their actions be "destined"

I'm preparing a homebrew campaign and I love feats because I think they make characters more unique and specific in a game where skill trees aren't really a thing. I want to hand out one self-made free feat per player at around level two or three, that doesn't really do much, but gives the player a fun little custom bonus. Here are a few examples:

Stand-Up Guy - Standing up only takes 5 feat of your movement
Practically immortal - You permanently gain one additional hitpoint
Paleo Diet - you don't need to prepare/cook foraged food to use it as a ration
Eloquence Personified - once per long rest, you gain advantage on persuasion checks against nobles, but only if you aren't wearing any armor
Aw yiss - You can reliably use a piece of bread to attract a pidgeon or duck (your choice) if one could reasonably be near. The bird will follows you for 24 hours as a pet.

What other small, free feats could I just give away? Pic probably not related?

A lot of characters are going to have edgy backstories, just don't rely too much on it
and let it be implied more than anything
good answer

Oh... your THAT guy. The kind of guy that gets kicked from parties because your a dick. Gotcha. Do you at least preface this when you join a group?

Don't use time travel in a nearby sense.

Have them go back around 100 years at least. You know, back to a golden age, or before their main kingdom rose to glory.

As for patrons, have them not care. They act like they're still dealing with the hero in the hero's personal timestream.

>Stand up guy
That's pretty good
>Practically immortal
This is really bad, if you made it 1hp every level it'd be better, while still only being half as good as an actual feat.
>Paleo diet
When does this ever matter?
>Eloquence personified
Far too specific and is something that's already a thing with the Noble Background.
>Aw Yiss
Useless and just shitty lulrandom humor.

I have never been kicked out of a group because I am charming and manipulative IRL too. I have never had anyone be mad with me because I pad it with compliments towards other players, letting them get the spotlight, and being nice to them in person in general so that they are not upset when I get a bit "unruly" in-game.

They've already traveled back... They took advantage of a situation and did something I wasn't expecting. Why anyone would jump through a crack in reality created by a chaotic sorcerer who just lost all his marbles is beyond me..

I need suggestions not 'dont do it' more like consequences of actions in the past. Three of them have effective patrons and those are what I'm most confused about.

....They travelled back 11 days. The sorcerer was just trying to bring back a friend who had recently got fucked... Then the party killed him and jumped through the portal..

It's just Eberron, all changes are minor.

I would tell my players to just accept the time travel as presented, don't overthink it, enjoy themselves and any obvious time paradoxes aren't allowed.

>This totally happened guys
I bet you're so smart that you understand the complexities of Richard and Mortimer.

I am afraid even I am not sufficiently advanced to comprehend such advanced art. But I am a reasonably attractive,
charming, and manipulative woman so this allows me to get away with a lot of things with no protests from anyone ever.

Has anyone used the Modern Magic UA? I’m curious as to how it runs, I like the flavor even if I’m likely to never use it.

Well, they can't interact with their past selves or anything their past selves interacted with or else they won't do the things that got them to where they are and they'll either stop existing or jump timelines.

All I can say for sure is you've really screwed the pooch.

I'm willing to bet that you think your crafty, but everyone talks mad shit behind your back.

>larping this hard when everyone knows there are no girls on the internet

It's like people have forgotten the golden rule of timestamp and tits when trying to play the woman card.

When I’m making characters I like to roll for trinkets. If they ever come up in game i doubt it.

Just buff things, and if your players have magic items, chances are the enemies will too.

Eberron is my favorite setting to DM. There is just so much variety in there. It also makes it easier for me to allow all sorts of PCs without the usual alignment/race limitations. Xen'drik in particular is a favourite of mine, ran a long campaign there where my players were setting a new city they had to develop and find resources to build while dealing with tribal drow and the typical temporal/spacial anomalies there. I miss those days.

Never deliver shit because everyone is just a shitposter not even worth the bandwidth for a reply?

I hope I actually get to play DnD this week.

It's not supposed to have a constant mechanical impact, it's supposed to come up once or maybe twice during the entire campaign as a gimmick that is fun once and then mostly forgotten.

I hope I actually get to play DnD this season.

I hope I actually get to play DnD ever again because all of my old college friends have moved on and become normies.

That's unironically true in the current year, though.

>tfw everyone has their schedule clear for saturday
>9 AM
I just know someone is going to sleep through it

My players prefer the world I give them. We cycle out so there are other sessions that have the more High Fantasy setting for them. Everyone seems to enjoy my games so I think I will keep them as is, I defiantly have there attention when playing (not a lot of phone usage and it stays on track)

Been REALLY bad since summer of '16 really, took a monumental dip and never recovered.

>playing D&D with anyone

Someone fucked up and now we're in a doomed timeline while the smug fucks are living it up in the alpha timeline.

Yeah because /pol/'s "colonization" plans of Reddit backfired to the surprise of no one. The problem was no one thought it'd get as much traction as it did and that it'd be full stop shut down so they flooded here.

How do you decide when to hand out advantage in your games?

I usually, once per session, during a long rest, ask a player to give us a flashback to part of the backstory of their character.A lot of backstory is stuff players put a lot of work into coming up with, but doesn't get the chance to manifest in-game throughout the campaign so that lets them share it with everybody. They get advantage they get to use when they want but it only lasts until the end of the session.

You mean inspiration?
Never, because it's fucking useless.

>advantage
Inspiration? When a player does something suboptimal because it's cool or "fits the story better."

ok someone tell me if my sorcerer idea seems good or if I'm writing a too 'main charactery' character. Writing backstory in bullet points because none of you are gonna read it in full anyway.

>Long line of mages using eugenics to create super mages
>Character's father super powerful turbo wizard but longs for humble life and hates daddy
>He flees, marries a peasant girl, and renounces magic
>Character is child in farming village, discovers magic ability as child
>wild magic sorc because dad but mom has shitty genes so poor control
>parents tell him to fucking not and keep secret, but practices in secret for some years hoping to flee home and become wizard when older
>caught when accidentally wild magic surge almost killing self
>dad convinces him give up magic and he quits
>at 16y/o a fire breaks out and he manages to put it out with a lucky surge, becomes town hero(Folk hero background)
>dad reveals own backstory and tells him he's almost an adult and can do whatever the fuck he wants since its his own power and nobody else's but warns him again
>leaves for wizard college for two years but learns nothing because he's a fucking peasant boy
>roams land as small-time local hero helping villagers and shit and visits mom and dad often
>one day attacked by assassin sent by grandpappy who really doesn't like his pure bloodline soiled
>returns to village to find it destroyed but all villagers safe except dad
>villagers tell story how wizards came to kill the traitor and rounded everyone up in town hall
>dad put ward around town hall and managed to kill 4/6 before dying
>character helps rebuild village before setting out on adventures to once again help others but develop his powers to one day avenge father

Judging from I lack a short-term goal. Mother still lives and village is very dear to him. So all other points ought to be covered. Only thing I'm really feeling skeptical about now is why the dad would even fight instead of surrender with how I wrote him

Also the old mods have been cycled out and the new one can't tell a spammed shitpost from a meme.

>Long line of mages using eugenics to create super mages
Stopped reading there I can already answer your question

> if I'm writing a too 'main charactery' character
Yes

it looks like a fable plot

This is so cookie cutter I could cut every cookie in the world with it and the blade would still be sharp.

Here's a backstory for you
>Discovered magic talent last week, now out to get that adventurer pay to send money home to his wife and kids

Yeah, that's pretty main character-y, but not in the edgy sense, more in the "I'm super important" sense.

A background shouldn't be so chosen one. What level are you starting off as?

If you work with your DM for your backstory it's fine, he just has to work in the eugenics meme somehow.

>why the dad would even fight
Because grandpappy would have killed his wife who he loves?

Probably 4 or 5.
Any particular tweaks I could make that would resolve it to some degree without rewriting the entire thing?
Not that I agree, but what's wrong with being cookie cutter?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, can anyone help me spice UP my backstory.

>Middle child to noble family
>Everyones' a fucking dick, backstabbing people for power
>Get's fed up of the shit and leaves as soon as he's old enough
>Works for a Courier company, transporting goods and messages between towns.

Is it possible to make some sort of barbarian/wizard shaman character that is viable? I am really bad at the theory-crafting part, I am more of a writer than a fighter.

>barbarian/wizard
Almost literally the least synergistic classes you could have picked, maybe beat out by monk/wizard

Originality is the most overrated aspect of any story ever. Execution is the only important thing.

Doing such pleb work is heavily frowned about by family. So much so they send agents to either kidnap him and bring him home to marry him off for some reason or just kill him. Has learned to be on his toes and how to either stay one step ahead of pursuers or fight them off if need be.

Play a Barbarian and pick totem, act shamanic, maybe take magic initiate for some other rituals.

I had a similar character, only he was a smart kid who saw through intrigues and backstabbing in the palace and often managed to figure out who the culprits are, even if he didnt always call them out. Left the castle to live a simpler life, became a detective, some of the crimes he had to solve in the campaign lead higher and higher up the ladder until he ended up face-to-face with some of the conspirators in the noble court he knew as a kid once again.

>pick wizard
>take outlander
>customize your background to take Nature instead of athletics and proficiency in herbalsim kit instead of a musical instrument
Wow, you did it!

If your starting out at level 4 or 5 then its not that bad that your back story has meat to it.

What about like barbarian/druid?

I know its pretty weird, that's why I asked if its even possible for it to be functional.
Oh, well, if that's as far as it can be taken I suppose thats fair enough.
I was more interested in the whole having totemic spirit powers while blasting people with lightnings type of deal,

Ask your DM if you can just play a tempest cleric with the druid spell list. Boom, zappy shaman

>Stand up guy
Why are you giving them a much weaker version of the athlete feat when you could just give them athlete?

Barbarian with path of the storm herald subclass? Take a proficiency in woodcarving so you can make totems?

Yeah definitely. But it still remains the point that the other anons criticized that I did notice myself that the character seems too "main character/chosen one". And I would like to tune it down. And "I'll get revenge some day I guess" is a decent long term goal. But just fucking around being an adventurer for the sake of practice seems like I need a better short term objective. One idea I got just a moment ago though, seeking magic items that would help restrain, empower or control wild magic surges. Would need my DM in on this though, but I suspect he's open to it.

Those are actually solid ideas. Will read up more on them. Thanks!

If you want a shaman type class a Druid with Circle of the Land is what your looking for. Flavor your shape change to be a spectral looking animal and bomb. WoW shaman. I think the title of "Druid" has a big nature vibe from wow, but really its the class most of us shamy fans should be looking at.

What path should my Ara~ara~kocra Monk take?

>Stats:
8/17/15/8/16/8 (point buy)
>Background:
Urban Bounty Hunter
>Meme:
Simple but bighearted, family-loving lumberjack and hunter, living on the outskirts of a small, rural village. Met up with the town's blacksmith apprentice and a passing bounty hunter to hunt treasure and feed his family more reliably.

Sun soul. Blast them without ever putting your feet on the ground.

I don't DM, but if I did I'd start by handing out inspiration at the start of every session as a rule. It might require tweaking or removing, but I'd like to try it because our current DM hands it out so rarely that I almost never use mine if I can help it. I like your suggestion of talking about backstory, as well as intentionally doing something suboptimal to stay in character or help the story along. I'd also vote for anything especially descriptive or unnecessarily detailed, like saying which ingredients your character buys and making a meal at the campfire for the group, or detailing how your spell looks or what moves you make for your attack.

Kensei so you can lumberjack your enemies

>MRW Next UA comes out

Which are the "OP builds" a new-ish DM should be on the lookout for? I havent ran a campaign since the release of vanilla 5e and I have no idea how things are now.

On this note, is a druid monk who uses shape shifting and dodge something to be on the lookout for?

There aren't really many in 5e.
A lot of people complain about people taking Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter, Polearm Master or Crossbow Expert as feats, but IMO they're pretty necessary for martials to get an edge over casters.

Some stuff to look out for is any multiclassing between Charisma based classes, most notably:
Warlock/Sorcerer
Sorcerer/Paladin
Warlock/Paladin

Sharpshooter and GWM will melt monsters much faster than you might expect if they're picked up early.

As a DM I would advise against this suggestion, since it can result in players engaging in unnecessarily long, detailed descriptions for every little thing their character does. If you have RPd in an MMO its the type of player that needs 2 paragraphs to describe their character sitting in a chair and ordering a drink. An exception is if you trust your group and know they will save such detailed descriptions for when they are relevant, or if you don't mind spending less time progressing in your session and prefer listening to detailed descriptions of mundane tasks.

Multiclassing across charisma casters.

It can be. A druid who wildshapes can still use racial or class features when wildshaped(as long as it makes sense for them to do so) so a monk/druid still has unarmored defense when wildshaped. It's not going to ruin your game or anything, they're just going to be a really high AC bear or mammoth or whatever.

Hexblade Warlock is pretty great at everything. The martial feats mentioned by are fine, don't let anyone use UA material without checking first, though.

lol no, druid is not great

>Multiclassing across charisma casters.
What exactly can this do that makes it so dangerous? Is it the low investment for big gains?