I made these lie-detectors for my next session, thought you guys might like them

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>minor spelling error
Fuck

>>94560870
Rule of cool is often used as a crutch for DMs and players who don't know the rules of the game or do not respect the balance of the game. Players who ask to do those things are ignorant at best, or intentionally cheating at worst.

In the OP examples, the DM does not understand that they are granting the Wizard three free levels of Rogue OR they are taking away the Rogue's features by universally applying them to every one. The same is happening with the Battlemaster and the Ranger. If the game intended to allow you to use items as bonus actions, there wouldn't be a specific feature that grants you that ability and Utilize wouldn't be listed as specifically an Action.

The idea that cheats and breaking of rules is a reward for "good roleplaying" is a laugh.
>"What if I shoot the weapon out of his hand?" -Ranger
>"Wow so clever so smart." -DM
>"Hey, I took a feature specifically so that I could do that." -Fighter
>"But he's so smart and clever to ask to do it, not you who used the rules to plan for this situation so you could do it." -DM

>>94560870
I find DMs and players who rely on rule-of-cool are often the most toxic people to play with. Toxic positivity comes to mind. rules-as-written players can be toxic too, but often don't try to step on the toes of the other players. The rules-as-written player cares about doing cool things within the rules to have fun. The rule-of-cool player cares about doing cool things, but will try to do it at the expense of the rules and integrity of the game.

>>94560870
You would need a rule-of-cool if your rules simply allowed anyone to attempts things like disarms etc.

>>94561022
wouldn't need*

>>94560975
Almost had me until 'respect the balance of the game.'

>>94561022
Play a different game if you don't like the rules.

>>94561059
I do. I'm only posted in this general because I saw the OP image

>>94561074
Good.

>>94560870
If memory serves there are optional rules in the DMG for non-battlemasters to disarm people.

As for the question itself, I killed a hag in Strahd by wildshaping into a bear and jumping on some rubble she was buried under with the help of a jump spell someone had cast on me.

>>94561167
>Falling (PHB'14 p183) (PHB'24 p367)
>A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.

>Falling onto a Creature (TCE p170)
>If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them. The impacted creature is also knocked prone, unless it is two or more sizes larger than the falling creature.

You're more likely to kill yourself with fall damage before you kill the Hag.

The problem with all of this is rule 0.

If you guys don't like DM rulings that's your perogative, but the solution isn't to bitch, it's to run your own game and see if anyone wants to play with you.

>>94561234
What's rule 0?

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>>94561239

>>94561246
>rule 0
>gamer's first law
nice reading comprehension

You shouldn't need to clarify that you want to follow the rules of the game you're agreeing to play together.

>>94561239
>Good DMs know not to change or overturn a published rule without a good, logical justification

>>94560975
>three free levels of Rogue
Oh cool, so the wizard.gets Cunning Action and 2d6 sneak attack with their light crossbow attack? Nice!

>>94561291
I'm a Goblin Wizard, so I get half of Cunning Action already :)

>>94561303
Uh actually steve was really good roleplaying by saying that his character would try to hide, so he can hide as a bonus action too.

>>94560870
>TQ
We record it, codify it, and continue to abide by it unless it is subsequently overturned. If this results in trivializing or negating character options, we’ll either overturn the rule of cool or we’ll come up with some kind of compensatory feature. For instance, the ranger might be able to disarm his target, but wouldn’t do any damage while doing so, while the battlemaster would get the full normal benefit of his attack IN ADDITION to disarming.

>>94561259
Anon, rule 0 goes back several decades before you were born, its the name of a concept common across hundreds of different ttrpgs. You're being smug about something you clearly know nothing about.

>>94561211
What if you grapple a creature, jump with them, and then fall on top of them? It takes 1.5x damage?

Conversely what if you're a Monk and don't take damage but still fall on top of the creature?

>>94561270
But the rules of 5e are terrible and nobody plays RAW, at least not for long, because it sucks a fat dick.

>>94560123
Artificer is actually more low-magic than a Wizard or Sorcerer. The only issue is Battle Smith and Armorer are default flavored as magitech classes. For example an Iron Defender could easily be reflavored as a chimerical beast.

>>94561337
First question is this sequence. The Jump spell would allow you to jump 30ft up, which would be halved to 15ft due to the grapple. You can Jump 15ft up with them, end your grapple at 10ft up, they fall 10ft and take the 1d6 fall damage, then you would fall on them and would take 1d6 fall damage which can then be split between you and them if they fail the save. The situation described was that they were just jumping on the Hag though. Or more specifically, they were jumping on rubble on top of the Hag, so technically none of this would apply anyway.

Second question is answered in the rules.
>any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them
If the fall results in zero damage to the Monk, there is no damage to divide between the creatures.

Rule of cool is not a substitute for the actual rules.

>>94561379
It is if you're cool (nobody is)

>>94561374
With Grappler, you would have full movement with a grappled enemy. Would you actually need to release the grapple to fall on top if the enemy, or could you just hold the grapple and force them down first?

>I want to disregard the rules every time they don't work the way I want them to because it's more fun for me
Play a different fucking game

>>94561469
Forced movement breaks grapples, technically you wouldn't be grappling them after the fall anyway. You don't occupy the same space as a creature you are grappling, they must be below you if you want to fall on top of them.

trying to decide between a paladin or a war domain cleric. I feel stronger about the idea for the war cleric but I want to play something that is tanky and able to be in the frontline. I'm leaning Paladin since I know they can be incredibly rugged plus I can pick out a bigger target and try to beat him to death acting a sort of champion of the battlefield/duelist which can be fun to RP as. I'm just not familiar with War clerics options if I want to go for the type of mf who wants to get in enemies faces and beat them down.

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>>94560611
>it requires a very specific setting to make sense

>wow, a world of clockwork order, clock gnomes, animated corpses and golems, how cool and generic. but the artificer can craft a mechanical pet? holy fuck that's too specific

Have you thought that maybe, just maybe, most of the people who are even aware if that, being more attentive or hardcore enough to know the actual fucking lore, thinks that's fucking stupid? Or that that's a very occasional thing that only comes up in specific multiplanar adventures, so having something in line with that is a bit dumb? And that if you have a specific low-to-mid magic homebrew setting, it being considered a major class that tons of fuckers want to take to be fantasy Iron Man is a bit fucking annoying?

I mean, fuck, I get your point on "someone has to be crafting these things", but look at every piece of art they've fucking published for Artificer in 5e. You tell me that looks like normal fantasy with a straight face.

>Mechanicsl pet
I can only justify this as a rare artifact or something like the owl from Clash of the Titans, and that's pushing it for a third level feature

>oh, the fighter found a suit of magic armor, that's fine. the artificer makes magic armor for themselves? fucking nonsensical
See
>>94561365
While I disagree with some of that, though dude has a point, those are definitively magitech. So half the fucking class. It is incredibly dishonest to imply that "Empowered armor that can shoot lightning out of its arms and fly and shit" is comparable to +1 Plate or Dragon Scalemail.

Also
>Mechanognomes
Any variety of Gnome in any setting outside 4e or literal angry garden gnomes can go fuck itself to death and get punted, and especially the stupid fucking clankers.

>>94561485
So falling is forced movement?

I just want to suplex a nigga.

>>94561535
Correct. You could still flavor and describe the act of jumping, dropping and falling on them as a suplex or piledriver, but the mechanical outcome is as a I described. You will no longer have them grappled and both of you will be prone on the ground after fall damage has been applied. Flavor does not override mechanics, but flavor does not need to contradict mechanics either.

>>94561554
Elbow drop sounds like it fits nicely here.

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>>94560870
>>94561022
>>94560975
The problem I find with a lot of "rule of cool" is that it's generally just a misunderstanding of the rules, or ignorance of certain options. I think that's distinct from throwing out the rules maliciously, but the rules are a sort of social contract. It's also that certain things are kind of buried in odd places/tied to classes that otherwise seem natural. I put a lot of it down to player/DM experience, too.

For instance, the Thief ability is such a weird one. I earnestly almost prefer the version from BG3 that just gives you two bonus actions, because "Object interaction" is fairly poorly defined in the game versus a free action to interact with something. Obviously some sort of active tactic with rope or whatever should just eat an action, because you're actively doing a specific thing with an effect. However, that's more likely a rookie mistake than idiocy. Want to display how it should work? Instead of getting mad that this cucks the Thief feature, start using the fucking Thief feature. I cannot count how many times I've surprised the table and clarified mechanics by doing something entirely RAW but rare, which then led to similar things being played correctly moving forward.

Similarly with the disarm, yeah, that's a bit shitty for the Battlemaster. However, like other anons pointed out, the BM also adds extra damage to it and does it as part of an attack. If you bring up that the DMG, for some fucking reason, buried an option where you can disarm with a specific check but no damage, rather than getting pissy, it'd probably go over better and lead to more interesting tactical play from other players.

In short
>Inexperienced DMs/Players
>They're afraid to say no to step on people, and that leads to stepping on others
>Know the options and use them to make it more obvious that it works that way so they're less likely to "rule of cool" it unaware it's already got a system
>Acting pissy doesn't convince anyone, act clear and help

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>>94561513
I mean, I always fall into this problem, but what is everyone else playing? Really, I get your concept qnd impulse, but it depends on what the party needs. It is important to remember that War Cleric is a full caster first, scrapper second. If you definitively want to be a frontliner fucking things up and tanking, and the party needs the beef. If your party already has a couple martials and no full caster, go Cleric.

For what War Cleric offers, basically, you get to be up in the scrap. You're still on a D8 hit die, but you get heavy armor to start, a pseudo-extra attack as a bonus action, and use of Channel Divinity to all but guarantee a hit. That comes on top of strong healing ability, good spells, and all the normal Cleric stuff. Treat it more as a switch hitter.

If your party has no martials/beef, go Paladin. They get similar as a base feature on top of whatever Oath you take, lesser casting and healing. The Auras cannot be overrated once you hit the mid-levels, and they have actual extra attack. Smite can't be underrated either, though if you wanted to be more a caster type is what you'll want to conserve spell slots for more. One of my favorite characters ever was a Paladin and does a serviceable job as a Gish type.

>tl;dr: Play Paladin if you want to fuck shit up and provide some support and the party needs it, play Clerif if you want to be a caster, the party needs support, and you're fine with switch hitting from the frontline

>>94561603
The accusation of malice was toward players who know how the rules work but ask to break them under the rule of cool. For example, all players should know Utilize or Object Interaction is explicitly an Action. A player asking to take it as a Bonus Action is obviously asking for the rules to be bent in their favor, and by extension asking to cheat. The Ranger asking to do that, I would be more likely to forgive because the rules that contradict or detail the optional disarm feature are buried somewhere and it's unlikely the Ranger specifically wanted to break the rules.

The DM in both situations in the OP is objectively a shitty DM. The player brought up exactly why using the rule of cool in that way is undermining their choices and agency, and the DM told them to kick rocks.

>>94561709

Yeah our composition currently is Wizard, Ranger, Sorc and another Wizard so having a full on frontliner is important. Both characters I'd want to play as a fanatical 'war is good, you need to have something to fight for' kinda extremes but with Paladin it'd either be Glory or Vengeance and Cleric it'd be War Domain. I guess that helps narrow it to Paladin.

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>>94561603
Thief's bonus Utilize is actually to make them a wand of magic missile spammer anyway.

Thief Rogue would be a good subclass if 90% of DMs actually knew how object interactions worked. Throwing a bear trap at your enemy's feet as a bonus action is "too overpowered" as the Paladin deals 300 damage

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>>94560870
>How does your table handle rule-of-cool versus rules-as-written? Do you agree with it?
'Rule of Cool' should be used in UNIQUE situations or environments where context is facilitating what effect should occur. It's not as simple as saying
>"After I dodged the Soldier's spear attack, I attack with my Halberd and swipe at their hands to attempt to disarm them."
This situation is too generic and by allowing this to let them disarm the Soldier- this is not a 'Rule of Cool' it's just a homebrew rule at that point. If I was using the optional Disarm rule in the 2014 DMG then that would be different- there's a mechanic for that thus it's not Rule of Cool anymore.

However, if we had a different situation like...
>You and your group fought a band of Bandits. You specifically brutally killed many of them, and in the end you and your group decided that the rest can go on living as long as they turn over a new leaf. Time Passes. You have a new encounter and in this encounter, you see a few of the Bandits that you let go last time in the enemy ranks.
>You: "When I slay X target, I look at the Bandits we let go last time and intimidate them with a knowing glare that they're next or I say some badass line to show they're not surviving this time- to Frighten them"
In this context I'd allow you [Specifically you because you were the one who killed a lot of their allies before and they were likely the most scared of you] to roll an Intimidation to frighten all of the bandits. This is where Rule of Cool works because it's not like this can happen every session.

>>94561833
We spam True Strike now actually. Utilize to cast True Strike from a scroll, Ready action to cast True Strike off turn. Two Sneak Attacks per round easily.

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>>94561801
Oh, yeah, hate to say it but with that party comp, definitely Paladin. I'd focus on Charisma, then Con, then Str. to pump the auras later and keep up your health.

>Fanatical 'War is good, you need to have something to fight for'
Ooh, I like the concept. You may also want to look at Conquest too, though that verges into more evil territory, though that may be my love for bloodthirsty if vaguely moral mercenary types talking. Between the three

>Vengeance: Good permanent spells, Misty Step always a plus. Good Channel Divinity, but single-target, can get advantage on things through, great single-target killer. Great mobility. Batman knight.
>Glory: Less useful spells, but a couple great hits. Channel Divinity is meh, except Inspiring Smite may be great for party support. Very mobile and speedy and bleeds over to party, so may be good for that.
>Conquest: Pretty solid permanent spells, almost verges into Warlock. Channel Divinity group fear is great, has basically the same alternative effect as War Cleric to guarantee a hit. Aura synergizes well for battlefield control.

Depends how you want to play the character/concept, but from what you've said? I'd recommend Conquest, really, but if that's too rude for you and going off the previous post, Glory would work well and give you a bit more support. Happy playing, anon.

>>94560870
>Disagree with DMs ruling
>Whine like a bitch
I suggest suicide, why should everyone have to take your retarded subclass if they want to do things that any experienced warrior should be able to attempt.
You never attempt to go outside and make real friends because it would invalidate people who took the well adjusted member of society subclass, I say embrace the rule of cool and stop being such a useless piece of shit.

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I've got an unusual question - can parasitic races infect non-mortals? I don't know how better to word this. Like can an Illithid tadpole work inside an Angel, Demon or like one of the genies?

>>94561941
Why not? It's your setting

>>94561887
>Utilize to cast True Strike from a scroll, Ready action to cast True Strike off turn. Two Sneak Attacks per round easily.
Except for the bit where you’re using your action AND reaction for the second True Strike, so you don’t get any attacks at all.

Rule of cool = The players I like more get to break the rules

>>94561959
>Take Bonus Action Utilize to use Spell Scroll True Strike
>Make the attack with True Strike
>Take the Ready action to cast True Strike as soon as any one moves or takes any actions
>Ready action triggers
>Make the attack with True Strike

>Be DM
>Player A asks to do something cool
>Say yes
>Player B says it's against the rules
>Say I don't care about the rules
>Player B has a fit

>>94561930
Absolutely seething

>>94562262
5e everyone.

>>94561981
>Make the attack with True Strike
What are you talking about? True Strike just gives you advantage on your next attack.

>>94560870
Solution here is to give the people who picked those classes/features better odds to succeed than those who didn't.

>>94562530
The 2014 version did. The 2024 version lets you swing as part of the casting. Kind of like Booming Blade.

>>94562576
>this spell is too weak
>rather than figure out a way to actually improve it, we’ll replace it with a functionally entirely different spell that doesn’t even make sense with the name
That promise that every spell from 5E would be in 5.5 has led to some really stupid shit.

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Anyone have a working link for the 2024 DMG?

>>94561022
5e does have an optional rule for it in the DMG, attack roll contested by STR (Athletics) or DEX (Acrobatics) check, Disadvantage on attack if they're holding it with two or more hands, Disadvantage on ability check if defender is one or more sizes smaller, Advantage if they're one or more sizes larger. But the fact that it's an optional rule, and in the DMG rather than the PHB probably lead to being used less. Didn't get reprinted in either 5.5 book that exists now (with modern design language they're using for a lot of 5.5 things I'd assume semi static DC based on the stat you use to attack with that weapon versus the appropriate save if they had decided to reprint it, but the 5e version works fine enough as is)

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>check out gnomes in the new PHB
>the flavor is still shit
I don't know why they keep with this, nobody fucking likes it.

>>94563557
They should just go full Warcraft and make Gnomes the insane mecha-tinkerer race instead of just having them be off-brand Halflings.

>2014
>hill dwarf
>giant founding
>tough
>redemption paladin
>ilmater fanatic
oh yeah baby time to be the party moral compass and shield them from all harm because im a giant teddy bear

My current campaign is coming to a close, and I'm beginning to do some writing for the next one. I've used so much homebrew that my players are actually enjoying high level play, so I think I'll be starting them out at 8th-ish level for the next campaign. At the same time, I want to write something that's a bit grounded, at least not "end of the world" type threat. Any primers on what to write?

Any advice for running a level 1 campaign for experienced players? Want to run a campaign where the PCs start low-powered and are forced to be more creative and less mechanical before things really ramp up at later stages.

>inb4 don't run a level 1 campaign
The only alternative is running a new system, and I don't think the group wants to learn a new system.

>>94563755
>Any advice for running a level 1 campaign for experienced players?
How does this differ at all from running anything normally?

>>94563766
Encounter balance is a whole other beast. It's very easy to TPK a level 1 party, and both sides miss a lot more often.

>>94563715
Start with a grounded threat that they’re realistically capable of dealing with within the first few levels of their adventure, then establish some ties to various powerful entities. Then, after each session, write a bit on how those various entities are responding to developments. By the time your PCs are hitting higher levels, you’ll have a web of intrigue and relationships with powerful entities that you’ll be able to leverage to keep the plot going. It becomes less about facing off against archdevils because they’re trying to end the world and more about battling against high-ranking (but not arch-) devils because of the consequences of their schemes. You also get to have the PCs be more proactive than reactive, which is nice.

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thoughts on this spell list?

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>>94563583
For me it's GW2

>>94562807
Their whole "5.5 isn't a new edition" push kinda requires them to keep the same spell list. I think it's more a symptom of 5.5e RAW being quite poorly written and there being effectively zero effort to maintain thematic appropriateness with spells they've 'rebalanced.'

For example: Magic Jar is basically a partial upgrade to Disguise Self now (doesn't even change your fucking size or species because I guess they were just too terrified of people having fun with it - possess a large humanoid as a halfling and you'll, somehow, still be able to fit through a 3-foot-tall doorway), and it's STILL quite trivial to 'break' (if the size thing didn't make it pre-broken already).

For another example: they've made the type changing (i.e. making non-humanoid stuff humanoid) of Magic Aura pretty explicit in RAW, which is probably part of why they ruined Magic Jar, but combining it with the 2024 Magic Jar, a player can still possess a beholder but while possessing the beholder CAN'T HOVER BECAUSE ALL THEY GET FROM THE BEHOLDER'S STAT BLOCK FOR MOVEMENT IS SPEED.

Roleplaying the RAW of such a scenario requires the player to essentially roll the beholder's body across the ground to move. Alright, so at least a beholder's relative roundness makes this feasible, but WHY IS IT NECESSARY? Why is a possessed fish now able to breathe above water and at risk of drowning in its body's native environment?

Even ignoring Magic Aura, why can a human suddenly spit fire if a red dragonborn possesses them? Why is an orc possessed by an Arakocra ABLE TO FLY?

It's like they were so desperate to 'balance' RAW gameplay they forgot what the game rules of an RPG are there to facilitate.

Dear /5eg/,
Got any cool ideas for evil fungal lair actions? I'm making a campaign act encounter which will cap off this part of the campaign. The party is tasked with eradicating what is basically a fungal lich from a forest, and like a lich I would like it to have some legendary actions, in this case tied to its transformation of the forest into mushroom hell.

>>94564230
Love these little gremlins. Haven't played the game since the abysmal writing of Icebrood Saga, though. Did they remember how to worldbuild or is it still just an incoherent "and then this happened" plot where the best stuff is mooching off of (and diluting/worsening) the worldbuilding they did for GW1 when they still remembered how to do it?

>>94564437
If anything, it's gotten worse.

>Show threat earlier in campaign
>Party Wizard realizes what's going on
>Prepares spells to brutally fuck up the threat's main gameplan in perpetuity
Do you allow the party to curb stomp the enemy or do you change things up?

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>>94564540
I adjudicate situations as impartially as possible.
If that means the players shitstomp an encounter, then so be it.

>>94561801
Illrigger is now considered Partnered content

>>94564490
Ah, shit. I was afraid of that. Any funny examples, at least?

>>94564540
Visualise the encounter or gameplan as a three-stage process. Allow the well prepared, clever or lucky party member to trivialise the first stage, probably saving plenty of resources and giving them a leg up, but not solve the remaining stages.
If I were a player, I'd want to get rewarded but not to solve the whole scenario without any drama.

>>94564417
>Roots rising up to restrain or slow the party
>Grasping Vine-style effects (Perhaps even conjuring Assassin Vine or Myconid minions)
>Clouds of spores that give poisoned and/or blindness on a failed Con save

>>94563557
I conjecture that writing gnomes that people actually like for roleplaying is actually very difficult. The basis for this conjecture is that nobody has ever successfully done it, despite gnomes being a commonplace in traditional fantasy roleplaying games.

>>94564540
Yeah, as long as its not metagaming. Add some extra complications that will spin off if you're worried about them blasting through all the content too easily, but if they plan ahead they should get the benefits of it.

>>94564287
It is even dumber than that. They don't want players to use MM statblocks for anything.
This is why they tried to fuck up wildshape wildshape with fixed wildshape statblocks, but the responose to that was so negative they kept it in.

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>>94564417
For some reason the Zuggtmoy stuff from MtF comes to mind. Not exactly lair actions, other anon has solid ideas, but this is the only direct "fungal" NPC stuff I can recall. Maybe look at Circle of Spores abilities and adapt some of those in as lair actions.

Actually, now that I think of it, her block actually has actions, which aren't in this image. Granted she is CR23, so adjust from there, but here's the text:

>Rally Plants. Up to four plant creatures that are friendly to Zuggtmoy and that Zuggtmoy can see can use their reactions to move up to their speed and make one weapon attack.

>Summon Fungi. Zuggtmoy causes four gas spores or violet fungi to appear in unoccupied spaces that she chooses within the lair. They vanish after 1 hour.

>Unleash Spores. Zuggtmoy uses either her Infestation Spores or her Mind Control Spores, centered on a mushroom or other fungus within her lair, instead of on herself.

Check the rest of the block for ideas/specifics.

>>94564540
My experience is that trivializing a single major encounter because it’s exactly what you’re built for is very gratifying, but that it can reasonably be followed rather closely by a challenge that is not trivialized by those build components without losing the goodwill.

>>94564540
Throw them a few easy victories, then have the bad guys wise up and deploy countermeasures.

>>94564918
I'm still disappointed that they walked that back instead of putting in the effort to make wildshape an actually interesting feature. It wasn't there yet, but it had potential.

>>94564918
>>94565344
Those stat blocks are there to describe the creature... if you turn into an example of the creature (via wildshape, polymorph, possession, or whatever else), why the hell WOULDN'T you have at the very least the physical components of its stat block? I can see a roleplay reason to avoid giving stuff like magical abilities (for example, a beholder's eye attacks might be esoteric and difficult to activate if you're not used to a beholder's body), but the physical parts of the statblock (including movement type and resistances, and physical abilities like claws/teeth) should be mandatory.

Though if I'm DMing and one of my players has, through the enormous effort required to do so, somehow become something like a beholder, I'd much rather lock the eye attacks behind some kind of character progression as they "get used to" the body they're inhabiting than categorically not let them use the cool things they should have access to because RAW thinks I'm too much of a coward to actually make DM decisions about ignoring rules lawyer players trying to be a munchkin.

You can't RAW munchkins out of the game, it's a kind of IRL player that a DM just needs to know how to deal with regardless of system - and the system shouldn't break its core philosophies out of fear of munchkins, because then you're balancing around a type of player who wasn't actually interested in playing your game at all (they just want to break things - they'll still likely succeed, and everyone else suffers nerfs for the trouble).

I'm extremely dubious of the design philosophy of 5.5e. D&D isn't an MMO, but everything I read about 5.5e gives me the impression that they're trying to balance it like one, replete with a balance team ruining the flavor of abilities they changed because flavor is a balance team's last priority.

>>94565387
On the wildshape front, I largely dislike them walking back the idea of separate statblocks because there are a hell of a lot of animals that they’ve never statted, and they’ve acknowledged that the existence of wild shape leads them to not stat certain things as beasts—which fucks over other parts of the game. Give me customizable tools for building wildshape stat blocks and I’ll be a happy man.

>>94565492
>Give me customizable tools for building wildshape stat blocks
Wouldn't letting wildshape use the creature's stat block and just giving you a customizable tool to build creature stat blocks solve both the problem you're having and the unstatted creature problem at once?

>>94565937
At that point, why use the original stat blocks if your tool covers them? Seems like a weird and unnecessary limitation, and then incentivizes players to specifically pick animals that haven't been statted.

>>94561259
page 5 my dude

>>94561259
>what is zero indexing

>>94563715
Cultshit. Cults everywhere.

One of my favorite adventures is Mark of the Drow, where the players seem like they're set up to fight the Drow in their underground city, but it turns out there's a bunch of intrigue with a revolutionary movement supported by different houses and surface factions being subverted by Tharizdun cultists, leading to full on civil war and eventually (of course) the players having to fight gods.

Basically just give the players antagonist factions they both can't and don't necessarily want to stomp, make some unlikely allies, introduce bigger bads, add twists and turns.

>>94566115
A nerd thing for tryhards and nerds.
The meaning of rule 0 is a separate rule that comes before the regular list. It'd be rule -1 if the rules were zero indexed, but they're not, because that's cringe. Think about how RMS's four freedoms starting at 0 because of "programmer's humor".

>>94564211
I'm not into elementalism, but it looks good.

>>94564594
You can't just call them that.

>new campaign
>vet players
>cool batch
>decent interesting characters we workshop together
>3 sessions in
>goes well, everyone cool, no issues
>get to lvl3
>ask for choices/spells/etc for their levelups
>the most generic, flavorless, obvious, uninspired, by the books class progression choices
aaaaand im bored. Goddam players are the most uncreative people on the planet. God forbid your character isnt the most optimal and effective in combat. As if there was something to win. As if I wasnt just gonna bump or lower the difficulty depending on how powerful the characters are. So many fun spells, so many interesting things. But no, everyone's gotta take Shield and have the exact same character

>>94566824
Well what are their classes and subclasses vagueposting anon?

>>94566824
Sounds like a you problem.

>>94566824
>Mad that roleplayers don't like rollplaying and just stick to their tried and true stuff
Skill issue

>>94566824
>what do you mean you guys picked spells that are actually useful and will help you survive?!?

>>94566824
>the most generic, flavorless, obvious, uninspired, by the books class progression choices
It's almost like they're playing 5E and going for flavor is almost always going to be a worse option in play.

>>94567008
>>94567031
who the fuck cares? this is the most simplistic game of all time. Why does everyone try to "solve it"? I don't understand the fun in that
imagine if you got invited to minigolf and showed up with your irons and driver
>HEY IM JUST TRYING TO BE USEFUL

>>94567057
>who the fuck cares?
You and you alone.

>>94567057
>who the fuck cares
the sperg having a meltdown does apparently

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Who was in the wrong here?

>be me
>make suboptimal character
>flavourful and fun
>feel like shit when other characters fill my niche better and with more flavour
>feel like shit when i cant contribute more to the party
>"nah anon, let thad roll for it, he has better modifiers"
>"dont worry about chad's damage, youre useful elsewhere anon"
>"oh anon, you can try enabling brad, he could use a hand to really pop-off"
>the bitter taste of being suboptimal is cleansed
>bittersweet about not being relevant anywhere except in roleplay
>slowly realize that flavour can be independent of build
>finally ascend to tried and true builds, while improving on roleplay and flavouring

>>94567057
>>94567031
That's a feature and thank WotC for it.
Just speak with your players, tell them their choices don't matter in 5e and if they are not fine with that you will suggest another system.

Remove goodberry

>>94567057
how about you use pbta instead

>>94560975
Isn't 5e made for rule of cool theater kids anyway?

>>94567993
5e is made by committee and markov chain and isn't really for anybody, it simply is.
It is sold to theater kids quite often though, yeah.

How does a party with only the "best" classes (ie no martials) actually play?

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Before I leave this gen for good I just want to say I detest rankings and tiers of character options with a unfathomable furor. There ought to be no wrong choices mechanically in character generation in TTRPGs.

>>94568120
If there are no wrong choices, then choices don't matter and it's all just varying flavors of shit. There is nothing wrong with someone being satisfied with their build.

>>94568120
I can't wait for the quality of the threads to increase exponentially.

>>94566766
The 2/3rds casting makes it really funky.
I wanted a trade off for going all in on one element versus a more balanced approach though. Balanced gets more spells early, while all-in has to wait.

>>94567993
Depends on how RaW the game is, but generally really well.

>>94568067
Monk is the best class though.

>>94568067
Hexblade Warlock does Fighter things
War Cleric does Paladin things
Sorcs, Wizards, Druids, and Bards do the same thing they always do.

If nobody builds for front line, then every reaction will be casting Shield and half the turns will be battlefield control spells. Honestly it probably works fine.

>>94568120
You are taking a generally worse choice to be the wrong choice, which doesn't have to be the case.

>>94568836
>War Cleric does Paladin things
War Cleric does a poor Paladin I think.

>every reaction will be casting Shield and half the turns will be battlefield control spells
For sure.

>>94567993
Theater kids basically have to twist and distort the rules for it to work. 5e is more of a Skyrim situation, where it's a basic RPG that can be twisted decently well into something that fits what you're looking for.

>>94568067
Paladin is objectively one of the strongest classes, but you'd otherwise have clerics acting as the frontliners. Shield of faith makes them fairly tanky.

So I bought art and arcana, and Lore and ledgends. Is the only other book in this "series" the realms one

>>94566022
I was assuming the DM would be statting the creatures, and likely using statted creatures as a baseline.

> why use the original stat blocks if your tool covers them?
Because the original stat block covers them already. I'm talking about a tool specifically for unstatted creatures.

>>94567773
Removing a goodberry can be accomplished by consuming it.

Hope this helps!

>>94567057
Look, Anon. Choosing flavorful spells is fun, but when the other options are shit like hypnotic pattern, slow, Psychic lance, fireball etc, players are left with a choice;
"Do I pick flavorful options or stuff I know will be good?"
The problem is those good spells are INSANELY good. No one but brand new first time players want to risk wasting slots on shit like "Frost Fingers" or "Illusory Script" when all it will do is MAYBE sometime in the future give then likely ONE cool moment where they can go "Hey my niche thing applies here!" while every other situation is getting completely solved by the people with the "The enemy doesn't get to take turns" spell.

>>94569996
I hope you choke on them or did of heart disease early.

>>94570109
except the game isnt about combat only
and as a DM I adapt the encounters to what the players pick
if a player picks speak with animals, there will be animals with answers, like the missing wizard's cat, etc
if a player picks knock, there will be some reinforced door, etc
but when every player just picks The Most Optimal Combat Options According To Reddit, it just limits the game. I either put the cat and the door and haha, you should have picked this! or I make the game have more combat, and we all know how fucking shallow 5e combat is.

>>94570560
>as a DM I adapt the encounters to what the players pick
>if a player picks speak with animals, there will be animals with answers, like the missing wizard's cat, etc
I don't even look at character sheets, I just throw problems at them. Maybe their problem this week is resolving a love pentagram.

>>94570560
It's DnD, combat is about 50% of it minimum and the best spells (like slow) can still see flavorful, out of combat style use for other things. Shit like Illusory script is not only out of combat, it's incredibly niche and can also be accomplished just as easily by writing in some kind of code.

You're being disingenuous by saying shit like
>The Most Optimal Combat Options According To Reddit
to denigrate the choices. They aren't "the best according to some random fag" they're "Measurably and demonstrably the best spells that will see the most chances for use in a normal campaign."

Or are you going to to somehow try and convince me that Fireball isn't just objectively better than dogshit like Vitriolic sphere because enemies with fire immunity exist?

>>94566824
Just ban stuff you dont want to see in session 0 if you're tired of seeing them every game. Dont just leave everything on the table and then bitch when your players pick the choices they know are effective.

Reminder that any sane DM would ban all Divination spells.

>>94570685
>Or are you going to to somehow try and convince me that Fireball isn't just objectively better than dogshit like Vitriolic sphere because enemies with fire immunity exist?
I am not arguing that there arent clear obvious combat choices. 5e is balanced like trash and so you have shit like fireball that is better than anything. I am just tired of players beelining those options for the purpose of "winning". Because
1. it's fucking boring
2. I dont understand what they think they are accomplishing. The game will not be harder or easier because you picked fireball over vitriolic sphere. Because this isn't a static video game. All that will happen is every character will be the same.

Vitriolic Sphere
PHB'24
p337
Level 4 Evocation
Casting Time: Action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S, M (a drop of bile)
Duration: Instantaneous
You point at a location within range, and a glowing, 1-foot-diameter ball of acid streaks there and explodes in a 20-foot-radius Sphere. Each creature in that area makes a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 10d4 Acid damage and another 5d4 Acid damage at the end of its next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half the initial damage only.
Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The initial damage increases by 2d4 for each spell slot level above 4.

Fireball
PHB'24
p274
Level 3 Evocation
Casting Time: Action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S, M (a ball of bat guano and sulfur)
Duration: Instantaneous
A bright streak flashes from you to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into a fiery explosion. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on that point makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d6 Fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. Flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried start burning.
Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d6 for each spell slot level above 3.

15d4 = 37.5
Half of 10d4 = 12.5
Assuming 50% success rate AVG = 25

9d6 = 31.5
Half of 9d6 = 15.75
Assuming 50% success rate AVG = 23.625

Vitriolic Sphere does more damage than Fireball.

I want to adapt a couple books for 5e so I can run them for my friends who refuse to play anything else but I'm too busy and lazy, life is pain

>>94571140
Yeah, for a whole spell slot higher. How much damage does fireball do when cast at 4th level?

>>94571241
He literally calculated Fireball at 4th level.

>>94571254
You right, I'm dumb. I saw third level and went "HAH, idiot." I Guess I was the idiot this time.

>>94571140
Based math poster.

>>94570877
They know that if they don't take those options and anyone else in the party does, that party member will just be objectively more useful in more situations.

>>94571140
You forgot that Fireball will make enemies take fire damage on their turn, the acid from Vitriolic Sphere will just reduce their AC by 2.

>>94571448
>Fireball will make enemies take fire damage on their turn
Excuse me?

>>94571448
>>94571493
What's more
>Vitriolic Sphere will just reduce their AC by 2

Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about? Where does it say that? It'd be nice but that ain't in the spell.

>>94571448
What

>>94571448
Is that something from a video game?
That sounds like something that would be in a video game.

>>94571448
That's a thing in Baulder's Gate 3 not 5e D&D.

>second session today
>get crit by a bandit, bypasses Shield, instantly go down
>roll a 1 on my first death saving throw
>other player goes down too
>miraculously, new player joins the session just in time to save our asses
>kills one bandit, the other bolts
>I have to roll one more death saving throw before the fight ends
>fail
>die
>GM has to come up with actual divine intervention to bring me back because none of us have revivify and the town doesn't have a Cleric with resurrect, barely justified since I was ready for a level up to start a Warlock pact
You know I thought the supposed average of four combat encounters per session was bullshit given the pace of my other group, but no that's right on the money. Unironically we average two people going down every encounter and everyone is badly injured.

FUCK Goblins, FUCK stealth advantage, and FUCK multiattack.

Fun though.

>>94560870
>How does your table handle rule-of-cool versus rules-as-written? Do you agree with it?
I always try to add some trade-off so I'm not just giving a class feature away from free. Things like:
>it takes way more extra time to pull off than if you had the class feature for it
>it requires an ability check to pull off, or if it already calls for a roll, then you get a penalty to it
>it costs inspiration, spell slots, ki points, superiority dice, exhaustion, madness, hit points, broken weapons, etc., whatever the player has available to give up and that would make sense to spend
>more often it's a combination of all of the above
In the wizard example, I'd probably ask him to make a DC 15 Dexterity check, and maybe have him drop the rope or hilariously entangle himself if he fails the check by 5 or more. The ranger can shoot an item out of someone's hand, but he'll have to give up doing damage, or take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. The ranger might be able to waive penalty if he gives up an extra attack to carefully aim his shot. If it's really important that the wizard tie his rope this turn or the ranger make his shot, then I might let them spend a spell slot and add its level as a bonus to the roll, or burn HP to represent extra effort and add 1/5th the HP lost as a bonus.

>>94571904
Low level D&D is brutal. One lucky crit from a random bandit can spell doom. In a way, I kind of prefer it to the higher level tiers where everyone has so many resources at their disposal, that it's hard to go down, let alone die. And there's always revivify.

>>94571892
Oh, my DM runs everything like it's BG3. I just assumed.

>>94572610
>my DM runs everything like it's BG3
it's fucking over

>>94572610
How's that going out of curiosity? BG3 has a lot of little mechanics that must take a bit of time to remember or keep up with all of them?

>>94572610
grim

>>94572610
It's an interesting mix of genuinely good tweaks to 5e and video game adaptations. I can see someone being inspired or unintentionally using some of its rulings, but full BG3 mechanics doesn't sound great.

>>94572813
>>94573001
It's pretty fun. Nothing seems hard to keep track of.

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I think I'm gonna go arcane trickster fairy Puck and then have backup character as a Guts expy fighter if it dies. Have him be the Guts companion and they've been separated and they're looking for each other. If fairy doesn't die early, then they'd be able to meet up, else can just substitute in the party.

>>94573102
Do you guys use the special weapon moves- like Lacerate or Piercing Strike or Pommel Strike? Do you guys have an attunement limit? How many conditions are in your game?

>>94573133
Yup. We have a sheet that tracks all of our short rest features, we just put a coin on them if they're used then clear the coins on short rest. What's an attunement limit? We have a lot of conditions that we use soda rings to track. Bleed, radiating orbs, reverb, heat, chill, acid, all the BG3 stuff I think.

>>94573164
How do you keep track of all those conditions?

>>94573201
Our rule is that if you're the person applying a condition, it's your responsibility to keep track of it or else it doesn't happen. I'm doing a radiating orb and reverb build, so I keep a notepad that I use to track them on the enemies I apply them to.

>>94566765
>what is a joke

>>94573320
A thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline, though I don't know what that has to do with what you posted.

>>94573164
>What's an attunement limit?
I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. Do certain magic items in your game require 'Attunement'? Its a mechanic in 5e DnD that some magic items require your character to usually spend 1 Hour to attune to an item. Characters normally have a limit of 3 Item Attunements at a time.

Potentially interesting interaction when using backwards compatibility rules. 5e version of the Grave Cleric gets a modifier on Spare the Dying
>In addition, you learn the Spare the Dying cantrip, which doesn't count against the number of cleric cantrips you know. For you, it has a range of 30 feet, and you can cast it as a bonus action.
5.5 version of Spare the Dying is given a longer default range of 15 feet compared to touch in 5e, and a form of cantrip scaling further modifying the range.
>Cantrip Upgrade. The range doubles when you reach levels 5 (30 feet), 11 (60 feet), and 17 (120 feet).
How do you read this interaction? Is the doubling of range the active bit with the parentheticals just there as a helpful note for the base spell (essentially putting Grave Clerics always one doubling ahead having them go 30/60/120/240 compared to the base 15/30/60/120), or are the parentheticals explicit with the note about doubling being descriptive? I'd probably run it as the former, it's just Spare the Dying and it's very unlikely to actually come up where someone is that far away and needs stabilizing, but whether that's RAW or not is an interesting ambiguity. (Change from 5e's Bonus Action spellcasting rule to 5.5's "only one spell slot expended on a spell per turn" rule is also a somewhat decent buff to Grave Clerics as they can stabilize someone with a BA and still potentially cast an impactful spell with their Action)

>>94573597
No, we don't have anything like that. We can only equip so much stuff though.
>Hat
>Cape
>Chest
>Gloves
>Boots
>Amulet
>Ring
>Ring
>Main Melee Weapon
>Off Hand Melee Weapon / Shield
>Main Ranged Weapon
>Off Hand Ranged Weapon

>>94573715
You aren't playing 5e

>>94573715
Fascinating how you guys are able to keep up with all of that. More power to you guys. Last question what's your PC, what's their goal, and whats the party's goal?
>>94573723
It's still 5e DnD if its using the same mechanics but with a bunch of bells and whistles added and some stuff removed.

>>94573745
>it's still 5e
no it's not

>>94573715
How come you can only wear two rings? You have 10 fingers, don't you? Plus some PCs might have a tail or a cock.

>>94573715
fucking disguting video game shit
5e may be garbage but at least it's not bg3

>>94573826
To be fair DnD 5e does have something similar.
>You can't wear more than one of certain magic items. You can't normally wear more than one pair of footwear, one pair of gloves or gauntlets, one pair of bracers, one suit of armor, one item of headwear, or one cloak. The DM might make exceptions.

>>94573715
Keep in mind that there's a lot of magic items in 5E that are highly useful and don't require attunement. It's mainly signature gear items with multiple powers.

>>94573745
It's really not that hard to keep track of. You should know your character. My PC is a Nature Cleric. There's a mysterious fire demon that is causing the forests of the plane to burn down, so we're trying to figure out what's going on and stop it.

>>94573892
I see, well I'm happy to hear that your BG3 TTRPG + 5e game is going well! Best of luck with striking down that demon.

>>94573745
You think that's too much to keep up with? Our DM added full maneuver progressions for all martials. Seven maneuvers known and eight superiority dice by level 10.

>>94574000
That's not so bad, the idea is that BG3 has dozens of additional conditions on top of new mechanics. Maneuvers, magic items, etc not all that wild its the added conditions

>>94574023
It really isn't that bad. Our Barbarian does Bleed, Maim, Radiant Orb, Reverb and Prone. I do Radiant Orb, Reverb and Prone. Our Sorcerer does Chilled, Encrusted With Frost, Burning, Heat, Wet, and Shocked. Our Warlock has a lot as well, but I don't know all his off the top of my head.

>>94561941
RAW no. Most of those effects specify Humanoid. But if you want to make it work differently, just houserule/homebrew it. Sounds like it could make for cool enemies.

>>94573851
>mfw all of Monk's magic items are miscellaneous body wraps, gloves, or tattoos you can apply anywhere

man, I wish 5e had a blue mage class. moon druid doesn't count

man, I wish 5e had a cool skeleton companion class. pact of the chain doesn't count

>>94574297
>mummymaxxing with 200 wraps of unarmed power

>>94575163
Circle of Spores can do it fairly well.

>>94575925
Not really, the zombies only have 1 hp

>>94575925
zombies suck skeletons are better
also the "can cast touch spells" is fucking useless on the warlock familiar
whichever anon said "invisible death drones" was retarded and a dm cocksucker to get that allowed

>Arcane Vigor
>Level 2 Abjuration
>Casting Time: Bonus action
>Range: Self
>Components: V, S
>Duration: Instantaneous
>You tap into your life force to heal yourself. Roll one or two of your unexpended Hit Point Dice, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to the roll's total plus your spellcasting ability modifier. Those dice are then expended.
>Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The number of unexpended Hit Dice you can roll increases by one for each spell slot level above 2.
vs
>Healing Word
>Level 1 Abjuration
>Casting Time: Bonus action
>Range: 60 feet
>Components: V
>Duration: Instantaneous
>A creature of your choice that you can see within range regains Hit Points equal to 2d4 plus your spellcasting ability modifier.
>Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The healing increases by 2d4 for each spell slot level above 1.
Vigor Heals 2d6+3 (10 Average) and cost your hit dice. 2nd Level Healing Word (Which you could get from Magic Initiate Druid or Cleric) heals for 4d4+3 (13 Average) and can be used to heal an ally. The upcasting on Healing Word is even better: 1d6 vs 2d4.
Healing Word heals more than Arcane Vigor.

>>94575163
I know the 3rd-party Grim Hollow sourcebook has a sorcerer subclass that lets you pick a specter as your familiar.

>>94576845
>Not on the normal spell list for the classes that get Arcane Vigor
>You know, ARCANE
>The way to get the better spell is avoid an ASI or other better feats to burn for that
>Someone else in the party probably has it
>Still as Bonus Action to effectively short rest mid-combat using a resource that only comes up with short rests so isn't too much a burn

Wow, no shit!

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Other DMs, do you make a table document for your players?
As in, something they can reference for house rulings?
What do you include in it?

>>94575163
Just brew it yourself or ask your DM, you can literally make something serviceable in a couple hours.

I need a well known, low level, monstrous humanoid D&D monster known for sneak attacks. Can anyone suggest one?

>>94577440
I include the full text of all classes, subclasses, feats, spells, maneuvers, and psionic disciplines as they’re run at my table. Some of the spells are the same as the printed material, but pretty much everything else has been tweaked by this point.

>>94577857
Bugbear

>>94577985
Thanks

>>94577857
Alternative to Bugbears and if you're not looking for literal "Sneak Attack", I'm a fan of Deathmantles, Trappers, and Assassin Vines. Which, granted, aren't humanoid, but I figured I'd mention it depending on the context you were using them for. Pretty well known in the groups I've played in across a decade plus, at least.

>>94560870
The Fighter example is wrong. Disarm is a Variant Rule Action that the GM can allow in the 5e DMG.

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>>94577440
I have a full houserule document I drafted in the format of the actual books that follows the rough order of the PHB, including all added class features/changed classes, adjusted feats, added equipment and crafting rules, and all combat/spellcasting rules adjustments to finish. Also has a heavily modified version of the "Ten rules to remember" at the start of TCE for major staple points I want to promote with how I run games in there, as well as reminders of RAW stuff across the book for often-overlooked, houseruled, or misunderstood rules.

I even included art and chapter pages. I presented them printed out In bulk by my corporate work printer, kek in an individual binder for each player at session zero and literally referred to it as our social contract for it. I otherwise provided them with a .pdf of it, a character sheet I adjusted to be my perfect taste of one, as well as a few other files in a shared drive with links/suggestion to use 5etools for primary reference unless they're using the books.

I was quite proud of it and considered posting it here several times, but would want to scrub any identifying features off it first. Plus, I need to make the "2e" of it to adjust a few small things/incorporate whatever I did like from 5.24 now. And I always get new ideas. It really did function as my "5.5e" in function and ideal, and the players reaction to it was very heartening. I just really suggest something like that because you only have to do it once, and every other table I've been to has just been a mishmash of different sundry rulings and DM fiat that can be forgotten, or misremembered in other games; this gave a clear document of everything, no wiggles after, and easy reference.

>>94564211
This looks pretty solid, anon. Good mix of features, customizability, and spell choices. Unsure if you should use a Ki-to-Spell-Points exchange rate, though, or if the Ki-per-level approach works. For a single subclass with tightly limited spells, I think your method is fine.

>>94578177
These are good. I need monstrous humanoid versions of classic pc classes that the party can instantly recognize as “evil” toward human and demihuman civilization. Something weird I noticed is that every humanoid wizard monster i can think of is a corrupted version of a human or demihuman rather than its own thing. Can you think of an evil race that has magic on its own besides corrupted demihumans like drow?

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>>94578336
No problem. In regards to that, that's actually a fascinating point, though I'm sure somewhat intentional. Some of it can be contextual - there's nothing wrong with a basic evil hedge Wizard, kek.

Off the top of my head, depending on the context of the campaign/party alignments, there's a few pirates including one "rival"/gang leader figure in Ghosts of Saltmarsh that are casters, including Deck Wizards, may be able to use the stats off those. Looking around otherwise, there's the classic Booyahg Goblins that do magic, so that'd fit, especially if you use a Bugbear. LMoP has just a basic 1CR evil human mage statblock. Kuo-Toa have some spellcasters, that's a fairly evil funny little fishman race. There's always the Gith, depending on level/campaign setting, though obviously borders on psionic. Lizardfolk Shamans, too.

Really, for that portion of it, you could probably use the bestiary on 5etools and filter it down to Humanoid/Spellcasters and poke around for ideas, but that's my thinking on it.

>>94578498
Personally for this kind of thing I'd use an existing humanoid and slap some additional features on them. I have a party of evil adventuring NPCs and they are:
>a knight
>2 x eye of gruumsh
>a wererat with the cult fanatic spell list
>a redcap pretending to be a gnome

>>94578336
Illithid?

>>94561515
Unironically, the only reason to bitch about artificer is if you're actually too dumb to understand that it's a crafting class, not a science class.
It's just as easy to flavor an artificer as an enchanter as it is to flavor them as a mechanic.
Celebrimbor from Lord of the Rings would probably be an artificer. This is not a world with steam engines and shit. Even the artillerist uses a wand by default, not a gun.
In a world full of equipment both mundane and magical, wanting to play as a guy who MAKES shit is not a huge ask.
If anything, I can agree that the published art makes them a little too explicitly steampunk, but that's just art. If they drew the fighter with a top hat, monocle, and steam-powered blade, that wouldn't make it absolutely necessary to throw them out of a more grounded setting.
Even with subclasses that really stretch the ability to justify it, like the Armorer, it's still just a subclass. You wouldn't ban the Fighter for having the Psi Warrior subclass just because psionics aren't a thing in your setting, right? You can reflavor the psionic powers pretty easy, or just drop the specific sub without needing to drop the entire class.

>>94578700
>wanting to play as a guy who MAKES shit
Sounds like an NPC and we question why it’s gated behind a class mechanic and not something every hero skilled can do

>>94578740
Why swinging a sword twice gated behind class features? Why is getting mad a class feature? Why is hitting things with the other side of your quarterstaff locked behind a feat? Why is being able to disarm or trip someone something only a subclass can do? Why do you need a free hand to grapple when leg-locks are a thing?

>>94579077
Yeah, that guy's logic is so obviously retarded it wasn't even necessary for you to comment on it.

>>94578305
Thanks!

>>94579096
>>94579077
glad you guys got fucked and they opted to just open up crafting to everyone.

>>94579111
>artificer gets a boost
>retards think they got fucked
Crafting has always been something anyone can do, they just had to spell it out for retards like (You).

how do you challenge a minmaxing bladesinger player? just str and con saves?

>>94579316
literally make a strength save. i had a player make a super AC bladesinger for an elemental dungeon oneshot and the water elementals slurped em up

>>94579316
>minmaxing bladesinger
>str save
obviously not, because he started with a level in fighter

>>94579353
oh no his, uh.... +2 strength save?

>>94579371
Oh, you're playing in the tutorial levels? Just throw goblins or bandits at him.

>>94579379
what strength score do you think the bladesinger has?

>>94579382
Do you not know what proficiency is?

>>94579353
>because he started with a level in fighter
nah i dont allow multiclass shit
imma do an ooze that has sticky body (str check to pull weapon after hitting) and can engufl (dex save)

Why do you feel the need to counter your players build?
You have access to limitless resources, literally just chuck extra enemies at them. They get to feel good about building well, and you still get to have tension and drama.

>>94579405
Yes, now what strength score do you think the bladesinger has?

>>94579527
>Why do you feel the need to counter your players build?
>You have access to limitless resources, literally just chuck extra enemies at them. They get to feel good about building well, and you still get to have tension and drama.
This general is really constantly ass pulling straw men in order to try to refute something nobody said.
I never said anything about countering my players build, just challenging it. If I wanted to counter it I would make the whole material plane a non magic zone, gg.
And I think although it can work to fish for crits by having a billion enemies, it can make fights tedious. Having 20 enemies attack his 24 ac twice each turn is not gonna be the most exciting experience. Also he picked shadow blade so he'll get to feel clever when he "outplays" me by letting the weapon go instead of trying to contesting the str check from the sticky body and resumoning it the next turn.

>>94579500
Then he's not min-maxxing
>>94579565
At least a 10 if he's actually min-maxxing, 12 if he's smart. You don't know how to min-max if you think str is a dump stat for a wizard.

>>94579633
So what, he has 10 wis or con then? yeah dumping those saves will get him far as a wizard, definitely

>>94579316
>noooo I'm not winning against my own players?! better throw all the strength saves at my wizards and all the int checks at my barbarians!
What leads a DM to do this? The ability to make whatever ambushes you want with as many or as powerful enemies you want, in whatever terrain gives them advantage, isn't enough?

If you don't want to spam the initiative count, just add tougher monsters.

>>94579353
>started with a level in fighter
If you want to be Blademaxxing, you dump three levels in Artificer to strike with Int, and get your CON and weapon proficiencies so you can dump strength. That way you lose no spellslot progression either, while getting Infusions as a bonus.

If you're actually worried about strength checks, choose Armor of Magical Strength.

>>94579664
Who said anything about dumping wis or con?
>>94579714
Now this guy min-maxes. I didn't bring up artificer because if anon is having trouble with a bladesinger, he'd probably have a full on meltdown about artificers like the anon did earlier.

>>94579316
Start making more interesting encounters with phases and terrain specific stuff. I'm talking magical abjuration glyphs that buff the boss of the encounter in absurd ways that requires the party to handle destroying the glyphs first then the boss and minions. Or you need to start having fights that require the group to protect someone or something, if the bad guys get that something or slay that someone the party's failed and negative things happen.
It should be less "How do I challenge X player" and more "What can I do to make encounters exciting and different?"

>>94579744
I hate artificers because they’re the npc class and they undermine part of the game - the collection of magical items

>>94579714
>>noooo I'm not winning against my own players?! better throw all the strength saves at my wizards and all the int checks at my barbarians!
>This general is really constantly ass pulling straw men in order to try to refute something nobody said.

>>94579746
>Start making more interesting encounters with phases and terrain specific stuff
Already doing that. But thanks for assuming, again, some imaginary thing that is beside the point and not about the question asked.

>>94579765
Question: Does the player feel as if they're not being challenged? Is that something the rest of the group is feeling?

>>94579761
As if anyone else in the party is touching any Infusions. The DM can just give fewer items to the Artificer.

Essentially they're just reskinned Warlock Invocations.

>>94579761
Every class is an NPC class that undermines core concepts of the game

>>94579777
>Question: Does the player feel as if they're not being challenged?
No, every combat encounter, except for the introductory one, so far has been a nail biter, where they accomplish the objective at the last second when 2-3 PCs are down, due to adding save-related abilities to the low level monsters they are fighting (for example the humanoids they fought had 2024 nets) and leaning into high dmg, low hp mobs.
However as the campaign ramps up I will of course keep throwing AC attacking enemies at the bladedancer to make him feel good, but I also need to use other things so he doesnt get bored

>>94579785
That’s what I mean, the solution is to just stop interacting with the looting of items

>>94579792
Idiot

>>94579807
>That’s what I mean, the solution is to just stop interacting with the looting of items
I think you're overblowing the issue. Maybe instead of a bunch of +1 equipment, give the Artificer more niche magic items? Things that are flavor or situationally useful.

>>94579802
Why do you assume he'll get bored when you haven't even asked him if what he wants are more challenges?

>>94579802
Alright, then if you want more things besides just targeting saves- anti magic stuff- Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Silence, Anti-Magic Fields- those work well against any spellcaster. Something like an Aeorian Nullifier for example. I like dividing people around, something like a banishment effect that splits the group around to fight individual monsters. Magical and non magical traps anything at all to keep the group on their toes.
Boredom happens when all of your fights devolve into "Hit it till it dies" or "This one strategy we've been using works just fine here' which is why at its core you just have to make encounters that aren't instantly solved by hitting it or blasting it until the opposition is not able to fight. Idk what type of game you're running or the goals in that campaign or what they'll be up against at their higher levels- all I can suggest is try to come up with some gimmicks for encounters.

>>94579761
Please explain how a class is stopping you, as a DM, from giving out loot, because Artificer doesn't do that even a little. Oh and don't tell me it's because Artificer creates their own magic items, that's part of their class kit and it should have 0 impact on what you're placing in the world.

>>94579802
>>94579867
>I also need to use other things so he doesn't get bored
Just to add, you can have a fight that's challenging and boring as hell. The challenge is just difficulty, a nailbiting encounter where the party narrowly won- doesn't mean it was fun for the group- it could've been annoying or frustrating for them. I think having fun matters more. That is why I'm recommending interesting gimmicky fights with odd mechanics. These fights don't have to be hard- they just have to feel different and have some fun quirk to work around.

Also seconding what this anon >>94579853
said. Just figure out what type of encounters and encounter design interests the group and do that.

>>94579807
I'm not the retard playing an NPC class, then getting mad when he gets called an NPC

what cool abilities would you give a hobgoblin npc that's like cr15 and an old swordmaster /mercenary/ ronin travelling to visit an ancient shrine

I want him to be around should the PCs need help or manage to pay his fee or make him owe them a favor

>>94580566
Maneuvers are obvious, a shield-like ability isn't terrible, stuff like sentinel, PAM, GWM, and SS

Thoughts on starting with one level of Paladin for a Bladelock?

>>94580902
It's fun

Is multiclassing dead in 2024?

>>94580566
>Parry & Riposte. Trigger: The Mercenary is hit by an attack while holding a weapon. Response. The Mercenary adds 5 to its AC against that attack. After the attack hits or misses, the Mercenary then makes one Longsword/Greatsword attack against the target if they are within reach. (Yes he can slice a cannon ball in half)
Also, you can add two or three once per turn on a hit feature for its sword. It could stun, frighten, prone, blind, disarm, push or something like it.

I'd like a Bonus Action feature that lets them focus on a single target, sorta like a Compelled Duel effect, while that's active the Mercenary has advantage on attacks against the target and the target has disadvantage on attacks against the mercenary- plus if you wanted to add more damage here you could.

>>94580902
That's my current character. Though I don't think I'm going Hexblade, it just works. Eldritch Smite is even an unnerfed Divine Smite.

Frankly I would prefer Archfey, Fiend, or Celestial. Remind me, which of Undead or Undying is the meme pick?

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>>94580977
Combining Maneuvers btw is better than just one imo. They could have something like
>On a hit, the Mercenary can cause one of the following additional effects (choose one or roll a d??):
>Mighty Blow. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed 20 feet away from the mercenary and drop an object it is holding of the mercenary's choice. The object lands at its feet.
and...
>Defensive Measure. The Mercenary's AC increases by 5 until the start of their next turn and the target can't make Opportunity Attacks until the start of its next turn. (Or maybe AC boost + Dex save for Blinded?)

>>94580968
nope, its just not lv 1 dips as much anymore

>>94581090
I really liked the one level dips

>>94580968
Yes.
>rogue was removed from the game
>can't dip for Espear anymore
>fullcasters (i.e. bard) buffed into the stratosphere
Only dip that still exists is fighter 2

>>94580968
Not really. They killed a lot of one level dips but left a lot.

Casters like starting 1 level of Fighter or Artificer for armor and CON saves. Sorc start is also fine still

Sorlock and Bardlock are still exactly as strong as they were before, they just only use the three levels of Hexblade variant of the build now.

Paladin still likes one level of Warlock for CHA attacks. Paladin can still jump ship to Bard or Sorcerer after they get their aura.

Fighter and Ranger kind of get ass for features after level 11, so they can jump ship after that

>>94581243
Though they left a very big carrot dangling on every class' late game progression at level 19 with the Epic Boons if you ever get there.

>>94581277
You can get them when multiclassing as long as you get an ASI at level 19 or 20. You can even get two if you do like a 12 Fighter/Ranger and 8 Rogue levels

>>94560975
>"But he's so smart and clever to ask to do it, not you who used the rules to plan for this situation so you could do it."
Correct. Planning for it ahead of time is way less cool than coming up with it naturally in the moment.

>>94581401
>(you)

>>94580968
>>94581090
>>94581243
It's kind of a pain in the ass, a lot of good builds get taken off the table because they get set back way too far now. For example any starting subclass with higher level features suffers a lot from having to invest three levels somewhere else rather than one or two.

The thought of only reaching your level 11 main class features at level 14 because you wanted a subclass somewhere else really sucks. This also really highlights what classes get worthwhile features at low levels and which are way more lackluster. Like good luck dipping Cleric, Druid, or Sorcerer, or really any subclass from '14 that wasn't updated and wasn't designed to only be unlocked at level 3.

>>94581277
That's not a big carrot.

>>94581312
The fuck are you talking about? If you don't have that level in a class, you can't get it. You can't even get one Epic Boon as a 12 Fighter/Ranger 8 Rogue build, let alone two.

>>94581138
Well, you were wrong for liking them.

>>94581472
>That's not a big carrot.

>Can turn a miss into a hit every turn
>free teleport every turn
>Get to have resistance to two elements you change each LR, and can use a reaction every turn to redirect one of those into an enemy
>base speed increases by 30 and Disengage is a BA
>Have proficiency in every skill, and gain expertise in any one you don't already have it in

There's some in there that are more meh, but they're pretty potent powers.

Cleric not getting True Strike is stupid.

>>94581500
A lot of other features from various sources can replicate those effects in some way.

For example Rogue gets four proficiencies baseline and four expertises. Add some background or racial features, or anything you can get from subclasses or multiclassing, and chances are you'll easily have every proficiency you'd ever want by the time you'd ever have gotten that boon. Hell, any Bard multiclass gets half-proficiency in all skills at level 2. Meanwhile, Archfey or Shadow Monk are the "lmao I go where I want anytime" teleport subclasses. Several classes get bonus action disengages or movement options, and a bunch more get features that help your accuracy.

Now, obviously the boons are good. But in a lot of cases, they replicate effects you can get through multiclassing. At best, they're kind of an in to those features for classes that don't want the hassle of multiclassing. On Fighters, Paladins, or Sorcerers, who all get their capstone subclass abilities super late, it's extra incentive to stay monoclassed. But if you're like a Bard or a Warlock or something, and your capstone is at 14 with the main incentive to keep going being your higher level spells, then you might have good reason to multiclass 6 levels into something else for some features you may really want that offer something more specific than the boons.

Of course the biggest advantage is that you can get those features early, rather than when your group is probably about to stop playing.

>>94581639
Most of those effects have tighter limits than what you get from the boon, though. A level 19 Eladrin* Archfey Warlock with 20 in Cha, for example, would have 6 free Fey Steps and 5 free Misty Steps, while a Sorcerer with Boon of Dimensional Travel doesn't have to track and potentially run out of free teleports, they just get to use it after a Magic or Attack action every turn.

*Assuming once they get converted to 24 they keep Fey Step, but they have it for now

>>94581571
Yep, as is Sorcerer's not getting Shapechange or True Polymorph. Easy to remedy though- just give the classes those spells.

>>94580566
Disengage and attack (after 20ft movement) rolled into a bonus action

Rolled 4, 1, 11, 10, 8, 9 = 43 (6d20)

my rape wizard pc

>arcana cleric with war caster
>casts spirit guardians for the first time
>take 2 points of damage
>roll nat 1 and 5 so i fail the check
i thought you guys said that they were a good combo
>down to 3 hp and team is focused on the horde so im alone against a brute with 51 hp
>use spell scroll of second level inflict wounds, use inspiration to roll with advantage
>i fucking crit for 45 damage and finish it off with spiritual weapon
that felt good

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/5eg/, I tried making a gnome race based on the writings of the 16th-century swiss alchemist Paracelsus. Does the Meld into Stone feature feel like a problem?

>>94582141
You could use it to make any stone object totally inert. You could pasify gargoyles or turn magical conduits into trash.

>>94582010
kwab
yeah, your wizard definitely gonna get raped

>>94582130
>warcaster
skill issue, git gud

>>94582010
Jesus that's horrendous. Can he even walk with a DEX score of 1? Your 'rape wizard' is a paraplegic retard.

>>94578247
I believe I am slowly building a similar document as it becomes obvious what rulings are missing from official material, or which are actually present and are very stupid.

That's pretty cool though anon, what's a change you think anyone could add to their game for a better experience?

>>94582141
I'm giving everything a pass because of gnatural armor

Rolled 3, 14, 18, 13, 13, 5 = 66 (6d20)

>>94582010
Rolling a barbarian to rape this wizard

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>>94582830
>no charisma, no strength, decent mental scores, high constitution
I present my barbarian.

>>94578247
>I was quite proud of it and considered posting it here several times, but would want to scrub any identifying features off it first.
I'd say to go for it. As the Anon's Bullshit guy, I can tell you that it takes no more than a couple of hours to scrub identifying features, and that's including the time for any table of contents and PDF link updates. After that, it's mostly a matter of maintaining it whenever you make an update to your core group document.

>>94582236
I don't see how. It only removes the qualities of illusions, not preexisting actual objects.

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R8 my wild magic sorc rework

>>94582889
Awful

>>94582897
:(

>>94572161
Based and skilled GMing

>>94582130
Did you have CON save proficiency?

Rolled 7, 1, 1, 6, 2, 20 = 37 (6d20)

Rolling for my shadow sorc who is totally just a normal dude and not possessed by an evil spirit, haha.

>>94583070
Holy shit you're even worse than the wizard

>>94583070
Child cancer patient stat line.

what's the best race for a fighter who's gimmick is always showing up late cause he's slow? Was thinking halfling

>>94583053
clerics dont start with con prof

>>94583249
Tortle obviously

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Don't forget to feed your elves!

>>94583379
but you cant wear armor as a tortle

>>94583874
When you play tortle you ARE the armor

What would an actual, proper 5.5 look like?

>>94584244
Next completely fucked up the races, but I think it did a decent job with the base classes. I think a right proper 5.5e or 6e would just expand that into the subclasses and tweak it a bit better.

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>>94584244
Some of its okay like the healing buff, but other stuff is retarded like dropping contests. Without being too exhaustive:
>all subclasses at 1st level instead of 3rd
>maneuvers list for martials, similar to spell list, and half casters only get access to half of it in exchange for their half spell access
>monk allowed to wear armor
>every class now has an "invocation" list, similar to how artificer got infusions
>fuck whatever this weapon trash they created, instead allow special actions with weapons like parries for a main gauche or distance grapples with a whip

>>94584383
I disagree with a few of these but monk armor is the one that is the most wrong

>>94584395
fite me

Monk is inherently anti-5e, and should probably be deleted altogether.
>progression is dependent on itemization
>class that is unarmed and unarmored

Absolutely retarded addition to the game, and this from someone who loves monks as a concept. They simply don't work in this game as designed.

>>94584395
Monk armor’s the only one I find objectionable, and it’s actually one of only two—the other being weapon-specific special actions—that I haven’t already implemented at my table.

>>94584414
Wraps, cloaks, rings, etc are all options for monks

>>94584414
Honestly, I’d take the exact opposite stance and prefer to kill all the +1/+2/+3 bonus items. It’s the blandest fucking shit and doesn’t even feel particularly magical.

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>>94584417
My designs aren't the best, but they bring some fun diversity to martials.

>>94584432
Obviously I am aware. Do you believe it is an acceptable game design choice weaken a class along a dimension that is only obvious to veterans?

>>94584438
I agree. Ironically it was a video game that showed me the light. If you like Diablo-likes, check out Grim Dawn.

>>94584496
Are you the guy with scaling maneuvers based on how many superiority dice you spend? That’s been a pretty fun mechanic for the martials at my table.

>>94584496
>only veterans use magic items?

Not sure I agree with that, but all martial classes are significantly weaker if you don’t use them in your games

>>94582130
>I had bad luck and didn't actually build towards concentration so it broke, this design is trash
>meanwhile I actually expended multiple resources and got lucky and survived
>clearly the former isn't my fault and the latter is the baseline
Confirmation bias, sweetheart.

>Creating a Gnoll War Band; Notable Behavior or Tactics
>Use of flaming arrows and burning pitch

how would you mechanically implement this

>enspelled magic weapon
>all require attunement
I get it, but at the same time fuck me.

>>94560870
I'm actually having a problem like this in my current game. My usual group is on hiatus, so I went to find a new one to play with in the meanwhile. I like RAW games, but my usual group is pretty casual and loose with the rules so I'm mainly there to roleplay. One of the players in my new group said they really like playing RAW and they like diving into the mechanics, so I was excited to play with them. After a couple sessions, it became extremely clear that this player doesn't actually know the rules well at all. He's tried to tell me that rules I'm using don't actually work in the way that's beneficial to me, then when I cite my rules and try to explain he gets mad and shuts down. He'll ask for things like in the OP, asking to use items for free or if he can have surprise rounds and free subtle spell casts, and I'll point out that it's against RAW. They got mad at me and said they play RAI and don't like power gaming and abusing mechanics, which is the opposite of what they said at first. But from my perspective, he actually just doesn't want to play by the rules in any way that doesn't benefit him, and he wants to break the rules to gain unfair advantage all the time. Can anyone explain what is going on?

>>94584947
>Can anyone explain what is going on
incompatible players
the only to find out if you're compatible with players is to play with them
no matter what people say during interviews etc (they lie or describe themselves completely opposite of what they actually are)

>>94584998
I meant like, I don't get why he flip flopped

>>94585039
People don’t always perceive themselves in accurate ways.

>>94585055
He said "I like to play RAW and like diving into mechanics." at first, but now he says "I play RAI and don't like power gaming and abusing mechanics." I don't even really think either or accurate because they don't want to play by rules at all, I just don't get why their rhetoric changed.

>>94585077
I should also add that we all agreed on no homebrew at first, but now he's asking for a bunch of homebrew features and spells and magic items.

>>94585077
>>94585102
He sounds like a power gamer that's used to being able to walk over people by pretending to be a rules lawyer, but you're an actual rules lawyer and you shut him down.

>>94585102
Okay, yeah, then he was just lying and saying whatever he thought would get him in.
Though I can’t imagine why anyone would want to run or play 5E without any homebrew.

>>94583070
>Literal disembodied spirit
At least you have 20 CHA

>>94585116
Should I just not bother with this group then?

>>94585117
I've been so far deep in homebrew for like five years that it's nice to have a palate cleanser with none.

>>94585245
I’m just not sure I could go back to baseline 5e. No maneuvers alone would be such a dealbreaker.

Joining a Strixhaven campaign, not sure what to play, but it's been agreed that I'm playing a Satyr. Any suggestions? We have 2 druids and a sorc so far

>>94585117
>he was just lying and saying whatever he thought would get him in.
when I interview for new campaign I always ask "what about this post made you wanna apply"
if they have no answer they're out
some people just apply to any game and dont realize that just causes inevitable incompatibility
yeah you wanna play dnd, but there are 9000 different dnd's and you dont fit in mine

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>>94585424
An eloquence bard, as Theros intended

>>94584496
Monks can unironically buff themselves more through magic items than any other class.

>>94584947
>or if he can have surprise rounds and free subtle spell casts
That is RAW though. No such thing as a suprise round, but you can have the party take ready actions to do something the moment battle breaks out. In many cases you can also subtle spell all you want so long as a spell lacks a visual description and it's verbal or somatic components can be socially masked. Doesn't work for actual stealth, but in most situations you can reasonably hide a spellcast.

>>94585977
>and it's verbal or somatic components can be socially masked
Citation fucking needed. Verbal components are distinct sounds that have to be spoken and enunciated clearly, not words in the common tongue, and somatic components are involved and intricate enough that you can’t perform them if you’re holding something in your hands.

I had an idea of using strike of the giants + soul of the storm giant on a rune knight fighter to give it extra pseudo-tank abilities but then I saw a suggestion of using dhampir as the race which is a cool idea, hill strike would give the bite extra damage so you could heal for a lot when you roll a crit but the subsequent feat for hill is kinda useless so would it be better to just take +2 con instead?

>>94585977
>this stranger pulled out a bunch of weird objects, started doing weird gestures, and shouting in arcane gibberish
>i'm sure it's nothing

Let this fucking retard be a reminder to never engage in rules related discussions here. No one here knows the rules or is intelligent enough to discuss them.

Speaking of this what are all the instances of a class/subclass/feat/build choice/item that change rules so that you don't grant it for free to players who could have selected it? Unless it's acceptable or limited

for example thief can use items as bonus, but it's generally considered acceptable to allow drinking potions as a bonus for everyone, just not other items or feeding potions to others

Other than Fire Bolt and Fireball, which other spells should be considered essential for a Tiefling Draconic Sorcerer with the Flames of Phlegethos feat? Are there any special Tiefling variants I should give a closer look?

About three minutes ago, I remembered gnomes. And now I'm angry.

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>>94586427
You've every right to be.

>>94585993
So? Depends on context.
If you are at a loud tavern, that caster could easily do it while the target is distracted or engaged in something else.
I would not allow it mid-combat, though.