Thanks For Playing Edition>2024 PHB Scan (Gencon copy, not DnDshorts)https://files.catbox.moe/88h924.pdf>Cropped and rotated, but more artifactyMjAyNCBQSEIsIE5vIFRodW1icywgT0NSZWQsIEFub24ncyBCb29rbWFya3MgdHJhbnNmZXJyZWQgb3Zlci4gCgpodHRwczovL2Vhc3l1cGxvYWQuaW8vd2Fvcm9h>2024 DMGhttps://easyupload.io/2kvpen>2024 Official free ruleshttps://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules>2014 Official Free Ruleshttps://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014>2024 UAhttps://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/ua>2014 Erratahttps://dnd.wizards.com/dndstudioblog/sage-advice-book-updates>5etools (2024)http://5e.tools>5etools (2014)https://2014.5e.tools/>TroveThe Trove Vault (seed, please!): mega(dot)nz/folder/uktzzTAI#KfV-EWdhd15FhHNn5HndHg>Resources:https://pastebin.com/X1TFNxck>Previous Thread: >>94618151Have you enjoyed your games this edition, /5eg/? Which one was your favorite?
Anyone got the new dungeon master manual in pdf?The one from the OP https://easyupload.io/2kvpen has been removed.
How do es your table handle overland travel?
>>94638496Not how horribly these rules are written for certain.
>>94638496We do encounter rolls every so often but mostly handwave it as time passing without playing through it.
>>94638496niggas be jumpin through hoops concocting formulae and shit just to avoid learning narrative structure.
Strawpoll for if you're playing 2024 or 2014 ruleshttps://strawpoll.com/eNg6vzVkwgA
>>94637819>TQIt's hard to say because most of them I've been DM and it's a very different experience. I think it would be when I ran Odyssey of the Dragonlords but the current Dark Sun game has been very fun. The only problem is I feel constantly outstaged by Rikus as a fighter but not much I can do about that I guess.
>>94638631>tfw just got removed from a Dark Sun game before it started because the DM's friend wanted to joinIt sucks. I wasn't a fan of his ruleset, but I really want to play a DS game.After reading a bunch of setting lore, it's a shame they didn't keep expanding it. The 4E stuff was a passable start, but the group I was going to run with was ignoring that.
Hold on, is Shield Master actually good for a S+B character?>have two extra attacks>hit with your first attack>Shield Bash the enemy prone>next two attacks then have advantageBut I'd guess a DC8+2+2 strength save isn't likely at all for a dex based fighter.
>Tricked into preparing a session this week only for my friends to not turn up with no message even nowGreat. Good.
How do you guys handle light-generating cantrips in the world without sunlight? Dead sun, underdark, etc.I would like to make torches or lanterns matter. Something like a currency. But cantrips just trivialize everything.
>>94639276I’ve not played but if you’re playing in a specific setting which is designed around resource management and darkness I could reasonably see just banning the cantrips or make them require a disposable component
>>94639276Banning them or adding a costly component that it consumes would be the simplest answer. Dancing Lights might be able to get away without a change, since it being a Concentration spell and only providing dim light makes it slightly less functional, especially during combat.
>Players start the session>Wrap up some minor stuff involving selling gear from the last battle>Spend like 3 hours RPing about a poison plant and magical playing cards>Don't get to a single combat I prepped two weeks agoHonestly, it was super fun. And it took literally none of my prep time and they enjoyed it. I mean, didn't realize how easy DMing could be until today.
>>94639276Have you tried a different system? People ditch 5e for games that actually have meaningful resource management.
>>94639276>banning spells in the only circumstance players will actually use them
what's a setup for a fight that forces the players to actually communicate and work together?im thinking something like a mcguffin switch/tile/lever/button that one needs to stand on/touch while the others do something/attack the monsterbut I cant really translate that into a monster/room scenario
>>94638496i pretend things happen randomly, when in fact i'm railroading the fuck out of them behind the scenes>>94639136:(
>>94639732>what's a setup for a fight that forces the players to actually communicate and work together?not staring at their character sheet that's for sure.Emphasize problem-solving, not with the mechanics or any of "the lonely fun" parts but with something not written down in the rules. Make problems with no solution. Better yet, make a hundred problems that could be solved in a million different ways.
>>94640234well that's the rest of the game and that is working fine, when they are not in combat they work togetherbut as soon as there's a combat encounter it's no longer a party but a bunch of individualsi wanna find a setup that forces them to actually work together in combat instead of bruteforcing it each solo
>>94639276>cantrips just trivialize everythingThink of it the other way around for a second. When players choose features like Light, Goodberry, and Tiny Hut they're basically saying they don't want to be inconvenienced by survival rules like that. Same as choosing a ranger so that they don't have to worry about losing themselves offroad, even at the cost of chargen options. That's a valid approach to choosing features and signalling to the DM what they don't want to deal with as a player. If you want "light" to be a commodity or currency in your setting, you make that part of the setting document for the players and make it clear what light actually means.>light lets you see for a short distance around you, and lets anyone within a mile of eyeshot know exactly where you are>with light and fuel for it as a major currency that comes with a cost, it makes people who can make light both very valuable and incredibly coveted>people who can naturally make light and become known as such are either treated with respect and responsibility, to expected to aid in travel for those without it, to even abducted for their abilitiesIt's usually a bit obnoxious to invent a problem to avoid a chargen choice you want to avoid, but it can still be treated on a spectrum of response without invalidating it as a concern of the world. A shortcut often will involve an additional challenge to overcome in exchange, so avoiding the torch currency system means they're embracing a Lampet social structure where the response to that ability can change depending on how hostile/hazardous the surrounding area is. You can also add differing forms of the same kind of currency, like bio-luminous plants or creatures, or glowing crystals is a staple. Tying one of those into something else can limit their functionality to only within civilization, like glowing mushrooms-as-lightbulbs connected by a fungal network to a mother shroom like a power plant but which immediately die if plucked.
>>946386862e has much better Dark Sun content. There are also fan projects. Fans will do better that Wokesters of the Coast.
>pick class>pick race that has a +2 to main ability score and +1 to a score I may or may not need>standard array>put 15+2 in main ability score, 14 in an important or useful secondary score, try to get some extra value out of whatever 13+1 is, distribute 12, 10 and 8 to taste>plan to take a half-feat at 4 to get main ability to 18 and some fun extra stuff>pick a subclass that gets something extra out of the half-featDo you have a favourite half-feat build?
why is melee str based and bows are dex based? shouldn't all swords, spear and glaves be finesse and long bows and short bows strength or like have str requirement for long bows because muh draw weight? Like I guess short bows and light crossbows would be dex, but wouldn't long bows need strength to draw and heavy cross bows would need a lot of strength or be super slow to cock?
>>94640808Bows and crossbows have a draw weight, which would better be indicated by needing a STR minimum, but accuracy is more based on DEX. STR is the bar to entry, but it doesn't really increase the damage. Drawing the bow to its full extension gives you the full damage. More STR wouldn't increase it further.
>>94640808it comes from a mistaken idea that weapons like rapiers and bows don't require great physical strength hence why you see common media tropes of waifish female protags who use rapiers and bows because swords and axes are typically tied to strength and masculinity.
If you added a str requirement to long bows that only fucks over rangers, which if the point of a ranger is to be Aragorn then Aragorn used a short bow in the films and no bow in the book and I guess fighters who have a spell casting subclass who use bows. Rogues can't use long bows. most spell casters outside of clerics can't use long bows and the clerics who can use long bows still don't have extra attack and have heavy armor anyway. monks can't use long bows, barbarians features are based around using STR. Paladins have heavy armor and their feature only work in melee and nonspell casting fighters don't really need mental stats to dropping points into str and dex wouldn't bother them
>>94640808Because Conan is a strong man who uses a sword to chop down his foes and Inigo Montoya is a trained swordsman with the rapier. bows are dex because nobody really cares that it takes a lot of back strength to draw a bow, because the fantasy is more on the accuracy and the hitting targets at a long range with precision.
>>94640808Antiquated mechanic from older editions that already struggled to make worthwhile use of. We'd be better off going all-in on proficiency bonus to calculate these things.
here are the retarded builds I am going to do with bg3 when the next patch comes outDurge1 death cleric, 3 rogue assassin, 7 cleric, then I'm not sure if I should grab 4 rogue or 9 cleric 10, 15, 13, 12, 17, 8Shart 1 trickery cleric, 1 rogue, 2 cleric, 6 shadow monk, 2 cleric, probably change the cleric to life after that thing frog will be 12 battle masterKarlach, I'm trying to decide bearheart or eagle heart for the dives and 8 wild barb 4 battle master or 12 wild barbJaheira 7 land druid 5 battle master fighter when I see someone say spore druid for her I assume they eat a lot of curry and no meat. Also why does wyll have armor of agathys when his sub class grants temp hp on kills?
How do you feel about spell scrolls? I read the description and the way it's worded makes it really freakin suck ass to """use"""" as a character who isn't a caster, hand waving the stat, probably int or whatever your highest spellcasting stat would be if your DM is chill like that and I totally understand this limitation as it makes sense for someone who's educated on,or in tune with magic and spells to be more inclined to cast spells from scrolls unlike a fighter who would just see esoteric moonrunes, HOWEVER I feel like it would be real mean as a DM for your non-caster player to attempt to do something with a scroll and it's just a dud, losing the scroll, as well being a non-caster player and trying it out and it just turns into dust, of course this wouldn't really be that common of occurrence for a non-caster to utilize a spell scroll but there are some situations that could call for it.MY POINT IS THOUGH, I think casters have too many damn toys and it's not just having so many toys, it's the ease of access!So instead of taking away the toys you could share them in a bit more of mechanically friendly way. (which 100% will probably of the benefit casters waay more, but a rising tide raises all ships...)So what about something like a variant of spells scrolls called "Primed" and then whatever level scroll it is, it would basically be a timedscroll that works as a normal spell scroll but it can be a free cast, so no checks or anything like that, it just works out of the box,the way to keep it from getting out of hand is for it to be timed, with the higher level scroll the shorter the time, so like a primed level 1 spell scrollhas a time limit of months and a mid level like weeks and higher level, days to maybe even just hours.I think it would be natural if primed spell scrolls were more rare and you could even have a spell scroll primed by like some NPC or something for a cost about around to it's level.Thoughts?
>>94641239I've just made it so anyone can use spell scrolls without a check and haven't run into any sort of problems. And I tend to hand out spell scrolls very liberally. It might depend on how much your players like to hoard resources, but ultimately spell scrolls are a consumable item, so even if they use them to trivialize some challenges, they're not going to have those scrolls for next time.
>>94641239it makes sense. normie retards without spell casting can't spell cast. magic users can use scrolls but too high a level scrolls needs an arcana check. also don't thief rogues have a feature letting them use scrolls?
>>94641239low level scrolls (like 1st-3rd) should be usable by anyonenot only is this more interesting for players but it also gives narrative usage (i.e disgruntled dockworker has a scroll of fireball and wants to poop on company time)
>>94640808The Versatile weapons not being Finesse at least is bullshit. That and the fact that Dueling magically stops working if you two-hand the weapon.>Can't get +2 when two-handing>If you use a shield can't switch to two-handing for an attack anyway because of shield utilization mechanics costing an action>Can't benefit from Defensive Duelist because it's Finesse weapons only>Benefit from Great Weapon Fighting when two-handing but NOT Great Weapon MasterVersatile my ass, it's the worst of all worlds.
>>94641189Why are you talking about BG3 on /tg/?
>>94640808I had to sit a player down because they were upset that str didn't factor into their bow attacks. 5e makes no sense sometimes.
>>94641641
>>94641695says the bearfag
>>94641695>Expressing bafflement at /totally gay/ being gay
How do you deal with extremely strong NPCs being somewhat easy to stumble across? Like a vampire lord in the hub city while the players are level 3. Do I just railroad them into never coming across them even though it makes sense? I want to set up for them by laying down crumbs for them to follow, but I'm worried they'll follow it and get their asses handed to them.
>>94641189>Why does Wyll have Armor of AgathysProbably as a high-value opening to play aggressively with the magic items that proc off of ice damage. Rush in, tank the damage while inflicting debuffs, then restore some of the cushion with a takedown.
>>94641713What fucking vampire lord is going to bother with some level 3s? He has people (for a given value of the word) for that. Have him dismissively wave a hand and walk away while Scrotus the Vampire Spawn and his goons attack.
>>94641711I don't like halsin >>94641725temp HP doesn't stack. he can't get the fiend hp until the agathys HP is gone.
How do I cope with the fact that I will never be as good of a DM as I was when I was a NEET and not waking up at some ungodly hour in the morning just to have a "real job"? By "NEET" I also include when I worked part-time because working 15 to 20 hours a week is basically NEETing. I often consider regressing. If I didn't have a girlfriend I probably would. I still run games but I just don't have the inspiration for it anymore. I could sit down and make an adventure with a semi-original concept pretty much on cue back in the old days, but now I struggle to come up with anything. There's just nothing to draw inspiration from. I still go new places, go hiking sometimes, but it doesn't help. I miss when I first started playing 5e and I was having fun since it was easier to balance and run than 3.5e was, and I ran such a classic D&D campaign with two bros from work every week on a Thursday and it was the best. Feels bad knowing I'll never have that again. I still run games and still even play with those guys but it's just not the same anymore.
>>94641829I know, that's why you have him run in to take hits. He'll shrug off the worst of it through sheer volume of temp HP, dealing big chunks of ice damage as a counter, and when it's burned through, he counter attacks and gets kills.
>>94641713It doesn't have to end in slaughter. Who is this vampire lord? If a bunch of nobody level 3's can find him, does this mean he recently moved in and his control network isn't established? Maybe it means he's in a turf war with someone/something else, or perhaps an entire group, and it has weakened his station to the point where these nobodies can find him. Perhaps he used to rule the place but had to take an extended deathrest after a defeat years/decades/centuries earlier. Whatever the case may be, instead of just killing them, maybe he can use these enterprising young idiots to fulfill his own machinations. Meatbags to throw at a rival? Dopes to take the fall in a political scheme? Just disposable gophers to get something he wants but doesn't necessarily need. Lots of ways to play it.
>>94641844What inspired the game you ran that you liked?
>>94641844I'm discovering exactly this about myself. I was depressed and out of work for a year and I built up my own custom setting that wasn't anything special but it was mine, I understood how it moved and all the NPCs and factions therein, and I've run some very successful games using it. I'm trying to make something new, and it just won't come. I can't even make a list of NPCs to flesh out a starting village. I feel like a well that's run dry.
>>94639732I made an encounter where at the start of combat the villain did a room-wide freaky friday spell and I asked the players to give their character sheets to the person next to them and imposed a "you can only ask for advice about what to do next in-character" clause for that encounter. It may or may not work with your table depending on individual player knowledge about how classes and tactics work but it worked well enough for my players.
>>94641946Have a few drinks and furiously jerk off to furry porn, that usually stimulates my creative process.
>>94641844>>94641946I think you might want to take a little break from DMing and play in other games, maybe get some inspiration from there. Barring (or in addition to) that, engage with communities, ask for ideas, take what you get back and make it your own.And don't be afraid of being 'derivative' or overvalue being 'original.' Adventure structure can look pretty samey even for the better ones when you take a more abstracted, experienced view, and it can feel like nothing is 'inspired' because of it... but if the players didn't like it, they wouldn't be coming back.I think a lot of creatives, once they're used to the process, can convince themselves that the well has run dry when it starts to feel obvious (to them, and generally them alone - since they're the ones in their heads) where their inspiration comes from. It takes away some of the magic of "this came out of my brain on its own somehow." It was almost always coming from stuff you saw elsewhere, but it's still the same creative process. The well of "my idea alone" was an illusion to begin with, you just have a greater awareness of where the water is coming from with experience.Just use and reuse stuff that you like. Making it work in your setting is always the hard part. Once you've collected enough ideas to use, it can feel like there's nothing left to find... but you're probably just realizing how all of these pieces come from similar ideas that are hammered into shapes to fit their settings, just like yours are. They're still good ideas.If you're truly desperate for something 'new'... look for something (in any medium, really) that you ignored because it seemed uninteresting to you and see if you can make some of its ideas work for you anyway.All that said... finding the time to do any of that is the next problem, and one advice from our anonymous online Mongolian Hungry Hungry Hippos discussion board is probably not going to solve for you.
idk how you guys run out of inspiration when there is so much content to read through and everytime I read a new module I get a new idea to steal/modify/tweakIf anything I always feel guilty for not reading enough, i've been making my way slowly through all the PF AP's and im barely through 1/3, and even when im done there will be still a bazillion other modules/campaigns/adventures etc to read and get inspiration from
>>94641844>>94641946you might be confusing game burn out with your life changing. Try other systems, run some weird modules, move out of your confort zone.You can learn to run into the odd or mothership or troika in like an hour or two, Sometimes changing the mechanical parts reawakens stuff in your head.
>>94639276isnt there an entire system build around having limited light sources? what is it called? two torches deep or some shit?
>>94641844i loved DMing when i was NEET and now im a big boy with a real job so now my goal is to make 1mil aggressively investing in leveraged tech positions and retire early and go back to NEETing it up
>>94641401>That there is my next reoccurring NPC.
>>94641713Have him cast Geas on their asses to never decide to go after him.
>>94642469i have played dnd for 7 years and a DM has charmed me one time i think
>>94641919I don't know. I was listening to Visigoth at the time and had just gotten into 5e. I would walk around the local community college campus after work. I was younger. I still went on trips with family. I don't know, my life was just more full. >>94641946Yeah man it's not just you. The other guy in that group was a NEET for 16 months between jobs and he ran some cool campaigns for us. Now when he runs games he stutters a lot and it sucks cause you can tell he's burnt out on being a wagie. I got him the job too so it sucks even more.>>94642167Yeah I do play nonD&D games but that makes it even worse. Like I want to play Apocalypse World and I could have DMed it after spending time in online photo galleries looking at pics of decay and ruin and I had such intense imagination of running a STALKER-esque setting with all this human drama and shit and now I can't continue that campaign at all.>>94642242I don't have time to read modules anymore man. It was hard enough the one time I ran one and had to read Dragon Heist.>>94642259I've run loads of systems man. It's just that 5e is where I was in my prime as a DM. I still like other systems and I run those too but they'er all suffering.>>94642383based
>>94639276>But cantrips just trivialize everything.If you want a gritty OSR style adventure you're either going to have to ban spells or play a different system because 5e was objectively and empirically designed to eschew the harshness of traveling through rough lands and by default it's a disneyshit simulator, not LOTR. I mean, we now have elementalism which lets any level 1 druid/sorc/wizard totally bypass the need to even carry water, so good luck ever running a campaign in the Dark Sun setting because Bobert the level 1 wizard is a God that can effortlessly provide infinite water.The default standard at the vast majority of tables is to ignore things like encumbrance or eating because what little rules we have for these are abstract anyways and most players don't want to actually have to roleplay a character that needs to sit down and actually eat while travelling through 400 miles of thick dark woods.If you want to make resources matter, play a different system. Don't try to wrench it into 5e because it won't work and your players likely won't want it anyways.
>>94639732Just do the classic two corridor gate set up where there's a lever in each segment that opens the gate on the other side, so the party has to split in two and takes turns opening the gate for the other group to get through.
So looking back what was the design reason for making dragonborn racials so weak?
>>94642551That's kinda kooky. Most DMs will usually try that at least once. It's just too easy a bait to fall for; the ol' *charm the barbarian* schtick.
>>94639318I don't really want to ban it, because banning is no fun.>>94639355I was thinking of adding a cost, but concentration might be good too.>>94639650Yes, I do. But I cannot be the first one to come up with the idea of a no-sun campaign. So I asked for tips.>>94639688Banning is boring.>>94640350>they don't want to be inconvenienced by survival rules like thatI think it varies from player to player.I have seen DMs ask players to use at least one real berry as material for Goodberry.Some people will just say: roll for survival; no berries? oh well. Berries? ok, we eat, what else? Then yeah, they probably don't care.Or: They RP about whether or not to find a single berry that could save them from starving to death today, and that is much more fun. ofc not every day, and every situation, but you get the point.And TinyHut. I've seen various ways (some tested on me) to signal players, and it's not always a good idea.>It makes people who can make light both very valuable and incredibly desirable.One of the first ideas I had was that they can cast it, it's ok, but they will feel like they have a target on their back from basically everyone.Overall great post. Thx anon>>94642379First time I heard about this, I will check it out. thx.>>94642722Yeaaa but they want to play 5e. And I agree with you anon, it would be easier and Bobert would fuck everything up. But if you give them mechanics in a fun way, they will play with them.
on a grid is a 5-foot radius just a 10-foot cube or a 15-foot cross
