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TQ: Rogue, don't like relying on others.

>>97536230
>puckee spamming his commission again
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/z8dw3w/comm_art_magpie_by_kartstudio/
https://desuarchive.org/_/search/image/F-YogEcgXT9pq5W4sbU5uw/
https://desuarchive.org/_/search/image/jynultXDc4JJ3_XSM1WuPw/
>combined 89 times

>>97536252
buy an ad

>>97536230
Work on your art

>>97536230
Rogue by definition have to rely on others for sneak attack.

They're the only class that has good initiative that basically always wants to go last so the melee beaters are adjacent to enemies.

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>>97536401
He doesn’t play D&D he just wants to post his artwork.

>>97536225
>What is your favorite class and why?
rogue, because i am addicted to the rush of rolling high on a small bucket of dice

>>97536225
>TQ
Warlock
I like playing as Charisma gishes. Charisma is my favorite stat to use. Paladin and Swords Bard as runner ups for favorites.
I like Warlock in particular because they can use Charisma for magic and attacking. They're also very customizable with the invocations and recharge magic on short rests which are also pluses.

How can you make a unarmored/lightly armored paladin?

How do I kill an aboleth bros, they're too damn strong

>>97536225
Monk
I have watched too many Shaw Brothers films

>>97536658
build them like a DEX fighter, smite them with your rapier

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Barefoot Paladin

>TQ
I like the idea of Ranger the best, the archetype of an archer with a connection to nature who can forage and live off the land. Of course, as a player I actually enjoy playing as just kidding, I'm a forever DM. At least I get to test drive classes via the occasional DMPC.

>>97536225
Wizard, I like casting spells

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>TQ
Paladin because I like being a warrior of justice.

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Who are some good characters in media to take inspiration from, for a moon druid? Most of what i come up with reduces itself to a caveman

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v5iun-qWvVU

Pplaying a Living Spell as you PC could be fun.

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>>97537521
I think it'll also depend on the characteristics you're going for.
Have you considered looking into media depictions of Native Americans, where they're basically druids?

>>97537636
Yes, indians could work well to take examples from. I'm going for a serious faced "funny on accident" leader of a tribe, something like that

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>>97537660
>Serious faced, but funny
>leader of tribe
hear me out, picrel

>>97537521
You could look at some of the later Animorphs books, when it goes from “kids having animal-themed adventures” to “But, Major, how can there be war crimes when there wasn’t a war?”

>>97536401
Depends if you are an archer and hiding behind something.

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My players are going to have a harder time beating this CR 7 Hook Horror Matriarch at level 4 than they did the CR 8 Young Green Dragon at level 3.
Inspired by BG3, this lass will jump at them and throw them into each other.

>TQ
Fighter, I just really like Battle Master, and not having magic forces me to engage with systems most people don't.

Does this seem too good for a level 5 fighter to start with? The dude really wants to use a gunblade.

>Revolver-Saber (1d10 slashing + str, can expend 1 ammo to add an effect on hit for one attack. Reload as a full action, or load 1 ammo as a bonus action. Can load up to 6 rounds. Two-handed. The weapon bears discreet red-and-gold markings recognizable to those familiar with the organization. Creates a loud gunshot sound when fired.)
>Acceleration Rounds (12 + 6 loaded, adds 1d10 fire damage to the Revolver-Saber when used. Requires materials worth 15gp to make.)

>>97537636
He's not supposed to be funny, but Chakotay from Voyager.

the self-proclaimed "Cherokee" they hired for consulting so as to be accurate rather than presumptively or inadvertantly offensive was a total fraud, Jamake Highwater, born Jackie Marks, was in actually 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. All of his books, and of course everything he ever contributed to the character of Chakotay, is 100% made-up bullshit based on what a Jewish New Yorker thinks Americans Natives would be like. Very, very mystical noble savage coded.

For the life of me I don't know how the writers fell for it. I could smell it was bullshit even before knowing the story, but since it was made in the 90s I assumed the writers were just shitty privileged whites being shitty privileged whites, why would we need to ask a native how to write a native? Which is out of character for Star Trek, but Voyager's writing was always a little pulp/b-movie schlockier than the rest of the TNG era, like fuck they hired a playboy model when the ratings dropped.

>>97538942
> I assumed the writers were just shitty privileged whites being shitty privileged whites,
Well, they were trek writers, so I’d sooner chalk it up to “stupid and sheltered” than “shitty and privileged”. After all, if they were just shitty, why even bother with a consultant at all? You know the old saying “never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity”.

But if you want an episode that’s more respectful, try the TAS episode: Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth, it’s actually written by a Native American writer who coincidentally was already on staff.
The Enterprise runs into Quetzalcoatl (going by his Mayan name: Kukulkan) who is pissy with humanity, but not in the same “get down on your knees and worship me worm!” Way Like Apollo, but more like a spurned parent. “I showed you how to farm, build homes, and kept your young civilization safe, and this is the thanks I get? You shun me?” “Well we didn’t know you actually existed” “oh twist the knife why don’t you!?”

>>97536225
>What is your favorite class and why?
Monk.
Ranged is for pussies and cowards but I hate ending a turn having only moved, I need the entire map in my secondary threat range.

Bonus points because it's toolkit is made for clowning on squishy magical nerds, who basically always have some kind of horseshit up their robe sleeves.

I also like the idea of supporting, but hate keeping up with other people's sheets, which is necessary for most forms of strategically effective support. But debuffing enemies so my allies kill better, I just have to keep up with normal threat assessment.

>>97538821
>12 + 6 loaded
>15 gp
Is this saying you get 18 bullets for 15 gp?
An extra d10 damage is a very good rate for that. Certainly better than Basic Poison, which is 100 gp for 10 rounds of 1d4 extra damage.
I might say to adjust the cost to 20 gp and dial the damage down to d6 for the basic ammo. Maybe a d8 if you want to push it.

It does seem a bit odd that it's a two-handed weapon, although functionally if it were one-handed you'd presumably need a free hand to reload it anyway, so that doesn't change much.

>>97539121
I interpreted it as him starting the campaign with 18 rounds, and that each additional round would cost him 15gp. Should I let him make 6 for that price instead?

>>97538942
Highwater’s career was predicated entirely on the idea that the sort of person who thinks it’s worth hiring a consultant to be respectful wouldn’t even entertain the idea that someone would impersonate a member of another culture. And, after you have thirty books published, people ask even fewer questions. He’d actually been outed years before Voyager was in production, but his name as an expert had too much inertia.

>>97539165
15 gp per shot sounds like a lot, although in the context of d10 damage it's more understandable. In some ways it's akin to a character scribing Divine Smite spell scrolls. 5.5 average damage instead of 9, for 15 gp instead of 25.

The price technically feels right, but it might turn into a money sink at those rates. I suppose it depends how generous you are with funds. I think it's just a question of if you want this to be a consistent minor boost he can rely on, or a large boost that he'll need to use sparingly.
The latter probably has more advantages, since you can more easily use existing smite spells as a basis.

Regardless, I might suggest going for 2d4 instead of 1d10. That way he's more likely to get closer to the average damage, and less likely to spend a handful of gold only to roll a 1.
10gp could be a fair price for that. A little under half of what a 1st level spell scroll would be, offset by the fact the weapon's damage dice is slightly lower than other two-handers already.

>>97539320
Alright, it'll do 2d4 and cost 10gp per round. If it works out well, maybe I can let him get better ammo that does different shit later on, since this weapon's tied to his backstory with the whole "The weapon bears discreet red-and-gold markings recognizable to those familiar with the organization" thing. I doubt he's gonna wanna switch it out for anything else.

>>97539066
>Well, they were trek writers, so I’d sooner chalk it up to “stupid and sheltered” than “shitty and privileged”. After all, if they were just shitty, why even bother with a consultant at all? You know the old saying “never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity”.
Right that's what I'm saying.

Before knowing the story, I thought it was shittyness, since Voyagers writing is in general just a little trashier than other trek. But after knowing the story, I know they were at least trying as much as every other trek to be progressive, they were just so dang naive they couldn't even sniff test, so ended up falling for advanced grift jewery.
Which makes the character's intended serious-as-a-heart-attack spiritualism retroactively satirically funny as fuck. They in full wholesome and earnest sincerity wrote an accidental Damara Megido but for pretendians instead of weebs.

Which is why I'm suggesting it for inspiration for anon putting a native shaman spin on his moon druid. Doing it authentic and respectful, rough? Doing it intentionally exaggeratedly badfake for comedic purposes? Easy and fun.

Kind of like how nobody likes an edge lord at the table, but people like ironically-over-edged-lord. Or how racist characters don't typically go over well, but if you crank it to Cornelius Hawthorne or HK-47 levels suddenly he's a table favorite.

>>97539499
>Doing it authentic and respectful, rough?
Jesus Christ autocorrect is even fucking my punctuation now.
Speaking of comedy racism, fuck these goddamn clankers.

>>97536225
>Notice that DndBeyond has Pugilist on their site now

So it's just a hooligan who's good at fight? It's neat but did this have to be it's own Class outside of Fighter?

>>97536225
>TQ
Warlock. There's just so much you can do with it in terms of builds, flavor, plot hooks and so on.

>rock gnomes get mending and a better version of prestidigitation
>forest gnomes get minor illusion and speak with animals
At a glance this looks uneven.

>>97536225
>TQ
Cleric
It use to be warlock and I guess it still kinda is just because of how many ways you can build one? but after playing a couple different clerics in one shots, and what I feel is the best character I've made so far being a cleric in my current campaign they've really started to grow on me. Something about being really self sufficient in combat where you always have access to healing, damage, and buffs no matter what subclass you are feels good and the dynamic between the PC and the god could be really interesting depending on the DM like warlocks patron.

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>>97539600
Because monk is too appropriative of eastern mysticism, and fighters wear armor and use weapon properties.

Also because the people who always pick monk don't want to play like monk plays, which is Ty Lee with an occasional dash of Naruto jutsus. They want to play like Goku, run up to the biggest thing on the battlefield and start waling on it, trading blow for blow. So they get butthurt when their little twink buddy gets immediately reemed for trying to pretend they have d12 HD and 22 AC.

If WotC would just publish an unarmed-focused barbarian things would be done and dusted.

Instead, we see 3rd party DMs guild stuff like this.

>>97539830
*Bussy

My hate for clankers only compounds.

>>97539600
It didn't need to be, but it probably works better this way. You could already cobble together something mostly like what the pugilist class does using fighter with the unarmed fighting style and battle master subclass, but it was all just a little bit janky because fighter is so focused on using weapon masteries now and going unarmed just leaves those entirely on the table. Sure you can work with your DM to house rule weapon masteries onto unarmed strikes but that doesn't end up feeling very good after all is said and done.

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>>97539857
>He doesn't have a little twink buddy along on all of his adventures
Way to out yourself as a terrible adventurer, anon.

>>97536230
Does anyone else find her weirdly sexy?

>>97540128
>conventionally attractive woman
>wearing tight, form-fitting leather
>has a knife and can stab you with it when you least expect it

What's so weird about that?

>>97540294
He means that he finds her weirdly sexy, like he's aroused that her nostrils are clearly visible in the picture.

>>97539507
>autocorrect
Why have it enabled at all?

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Home rule bros

Should women have an advantage in matters of intelligence and magic to make up for the gap in strength?

>>97540981
Wasn't it generally charisma?

I'm experimenting with BG3-inspired short rest rules in my campaign:
>two short rests per long rest
>duration reduced to 20 minutes
>can roll up to half your hit dice to recover HP on each rest

I dig the early returns but wonder if I should tweak this a little more

>>97540294
>has a knife and can stab you with it when you least expect it
Does the danger add to the allure?

>>97540981
Depends on how you implement it. Ability score caps are probably the safest option. Only being able to get an 18 instead of a 20 doesn't matter for early levels where you start with a 17 at best anyway.

I could also see doing something like letting a player take an additional penalty in pointbuy for extra stats. Getting an extra point if you take dump a stat to 7 instead of 8 for instance. Could allow people to self-select towards a penalty instead.

Add in the option for different caps/floors across different races and you can probably do something interesting.

>>97540981
>to make up for the gap in strength?
This is 5E, that doesn't exist.

>>97540981
Not only are you retarded for reposting this after the thread died, but also for posting this in a general for a game where gender doesn't have any effect on stats.

>>97540981
Rennala isn’t the most powerful wizard in her own setting

>>97536230
Kys redditor

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>>97540981
No, because they don't have a strength gap in 5e. It's a ttrpg, strength is just a number, there's no biological advantages beyond the race you pick.

Lemme get this straight, in 5E only *some* martials get additional attacks and every full caster gets to cast multiple spells per turn? So is the disparity even greater than in 3.X?

>>97541535
No it's less than.

Should I name my male human fighter: Maximilian (Max) Dildo?

>>97541551
Call him Max Dickspace

>>97541420
>there's no biological advantages beyond the race you pick.
Background in 24.

>>97541535
every martial gets extra attack, and most casters only get to cast one spell a turn via the magic action

>>97540981
>women
>intelligent

>>97541673
Sorcs can cast 2 by spending Sorcery points, but even then only 1 spell with a level per turn.

>>97541673
>>97541790
Okay, that seems more reasonable. I only ever played one session of the original 5E playtest and I'm watching a game now where bonus actions can be used to cast non-concentration spells. I guess that 's a house rule, then.

>>97541838
See (>>97541539)

>>97541838
There are Bonus Action spells, but most of them aren't damage-dealers. And the ones that are buff melee attacks.

>>97541838
The rules for casting bonus action spells specifically state that after casting a spell as a bonus action you can not cast any other spells that turn except for a cantrip with a cast time of 1 action.

>>97541838
>watching a game
what kind of cuck bullshit are you doing?

>>97541085
Doesn't it always?

>>97542006
Like in Basic Instinct?

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>>97542032
no, Killer Instinct

>>97542052
yeye

>>97541535
>only *some* martials get additional attacks
This is a weird way to phrase "of the six martials, one doesn't get Extra Attack because its core design is about getting one big hit".
>>97541673
Rogue.

>>97542150
rogues aren't martials

Hey, I have a concept but not sure how to implement it.

I had the idea of when the PCs are looking to purchase a magical item (because the dungeons have been giving out crap, or they’re looking for something specific, I don’t know). Have it so there isn’t a specific magic shop to venture into, but they would need to scour the town’s antique stores, pawn shops, and flea markets hoping to find something (really nothing better than an uncommon item) that might’ve been misidentified as some weird, but mundane, curiosity. They’d still need to pay for the thing, of course. But I wonder how to mechanically translate that.

Maybe have it be a wisdom check (or maybe persuasion to represent asking around at every shopkeeper and pedestrian if they know any place that might have what they’re looking for) that takes 4 hours and the DC gets harder the rarer and more specific the item?

Like:
> a roll on table A (DC 15)
> specific common item (DC 20)
> a roll on Table B (DC 25)
> a specific uncommon Item (DC30)

Rare items or rarer are just never going to just “show up” in a random antique store, so those HAVE to be found in a dungeon treasure horde

What are your thoughts?

>>97542151
Skill Monkey. Bards fall under that as well.

>>97542173
that sounds like the standard 5e mechanical setup for a downtime activity, ie a single roll to represent the efforts of x days. You can look at the downtime "research" in xge for example

if you want to make it more of a thing you can have multiple rolls, complications, rival buyer looking for specific item, etc. Like an artifact is known to have be pawned in town and important people are looking for it in secret, but there is a town festival, a fire, robbery, etc

>>97542173
Common magic items aren't impressive enough to really warrant a DC 20 check to find them. Most uncommon items aren't either.

Making a shopping trip engaging isn't easy to do. Especially with this angle where the PCs are presumably just casting Detect magic, going into shops and markets, and trying to find anything that lights up.
It also doesn't make much sense when you actually look at tables A and B in terms of items, because most of those results are potions and spell scrolls. Things that shouldn't really be in a random antique shop and aren't something a shopkeeper would feasibly mistake as a mundane item.

Even if you were to do this, I would just say to treat it as a downtime activity. Spend 8 hours looking for a particular items, do some sort of roll. On a low roll, they find some table A items for purchase, on a middling roll, they find some table B items or a common item of choice, and then on a high roll it's an uncommon item.

What >>97542215 suggested in terms of turning it into a mini-adventure is likely to be more engaging than having it be a series of rolls though.
Auctions can be interrupted by a robbery, pawned items are collateral for a loan to whoever owns it, antiques might be haunted by a ghost that needs to be put to rest.

>tq
Warlock. Specifically utility lock, but thats coming from a 3.x mindset of having a variety of options for multiple solutions.
Also the idea of being able to whatever I need as often as I need it in non combat situations appeals to me.

>>97542215
>>97542252
> make it into a mini-adventure
Yeah… kinda forgot this system requires you to manually do that…

Sorry I’m used to the Genesys system where that kinda stuff is baked into the normal skill roll. So I did figure weird shit could go down doing this stuff… I just didn’t think to include a narrative trigger for them.

>>97540294
She has nice doe eyes.

>>97542408
Yeah, by default a series of skill checks in 5e is just that unless you go out of your way to spice it up.
No reason you can't draw inspiration from Genesys and implement aspects of that in whatever subsystem you're making, but it's an extra layer that you'd need to work in.

>>97542451
>a series of skill checks
Remember that even persuasion checks are meant to be a singular check after a long conversation modified by topics mentioned

>>97541838
if the action spell was a cantrip than that's kosher.
And in 5.5, I think it's even kosher if the bonus action spell is the cantrip, a la magic stone or shillelagh.

but it's, you know, a cantrip. they're actively weaker than a martial's attack action until like 17th (warlocks excluded, because they're a caster built like a martial, and play closer to a half-caster like paladin and ranger or even original 4elem monk)

>>97540007
anon, it's a monk, he IS the little twink buddy/bussy.

>>97542173
It sounds like a great idea, but that's because you're reinventing the wheel.
you're literally just describing the magic item purchasing downtime activity from XGE and Tashas.

>>97542252
>It also doesn't make much sense when you actually look at tables A and B in terms of items, because most of those results are potions and spell scrolls. Things that shouldn't really be in a random antique shop and aren't something a shopkeeper would feasibly mistake as a mundane item.
Yeah, A and B are more for actual magic item shops, since they're things that people actually know how to make, unlike normal magic items, which are largely dredged up gubbins of bygone eras where people knew how to make them, and the recipes to make more, if discovered/recovered at all, are jealously guarded secrets worth as much or more than the item itself.

Scrolls, everybody that knows spells and has Arcana or Calligraphers proficient can make a scroll. And if they don't, calligraphers only costs 250 to learn and should be one of their first money investments. They're basically either free spell slots (stuff you cast often) or free spells prepped (niche stuff you need once a blue moon, not worth prepping). 25gp for 1st level, 100 for 2nd, 150 for 3rd, definitely worth their low price.
And anybody with herbalism proficiency can make a healing potions. Which are basically an extra HD/1st level healing word each for 25g.

They're out of peasant budget range obviously, but adventurers should be flush to the gills with them. Well, maybe not the wizard, his scroll budget is probably all going to buying premade ones and eating them to expand his spellbook. And the ranger and paladin might spend some of theirs on equipment improvements, fullplate for the paladin especially.

How would you handle a dance puzzle?

https://youtu.be/H9RGNEZI-Uk?si=ClPQLbQ394Ekyqhd

>>97542762
My character is literally "The Greatest Dancer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLSwHaYk6k

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I posted something similar last thread. Now, with some refinement and a map.
Here is my first dungeon made from scratch. For 4 very strong level 4 PCs.

Room 1:
>Here, some quartz crystals resonate with the magical ley-line in room 2.
>Some Underdark predators, a Gibbering Mouther and a Phase Spider have been drawn to the pleasing vibrations. They have been influenced by this magic.
>During combat, the unstable ley-line may surge, causing the crystals to unleash a thunderous crack.
Room 2:
>Here, a Myconid colony tends to the unstable magical ley-line. The ley-line is Evocation-Thunder in nature.
>They are growing magic-absorbing mushrooms on the exposure. Yet this situation has slowly worsened over the past decade.
>The players can use their Netherese Obelisk Shard to absorb a huge quantity of magic from the exposure. However, this process is experimental and risky.
>If they help, the Myconids will let the PCs pass to room 5 through the small tunnel, bypassing room 3, and give them a warning about the Hook Horror.
Room 3:
>Is a tunnel overgrown with dangerous mushroom, Bibberbangs and Torchstalks.
>The PCs can attempt to pass the mushrooms with a skill challenge, or they can blow them up from a safe distance. Also, they can attempt to harvest them if they are cocky.
>Excessive noise will draw the attention of the Hook Horror.
>On that note, there a bone rattles suspended with spider silk at the start and end of room 3.
Room 4:
>Is a small safe-haven. Someone camped here, and the players can find some pouches of powder that makes mushrooms grow, and powder that discourages mushroom growth.
Room 5:
>Here, the cave system opens up to a large natural balcony overlooking a huge underground geothermal lake hundreds of metres below.
>A steaming pile of mud and fungus sits in the middle. It is a Hook Horror nest.
>A Hook Horror Matriarch will jump down from a cave in the ceiling to defend its nest and happily find its next meal.
Room 6:
>Villain lore & loot.

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cute tomboy monk

How do I describe werewolf immunity to normal weapons? Like "Your sword just doesn't penetrate" or "You hit him, but the wound closes without a trace immediately"?

If were Ravens are immune to non magical attacks, how our Strahd's minions even hunting them?

Let's assume for a moment that a god, or at least a divine-style very powerful entity, empowers a person for mysterious plot reasons. That person is not aware of said reasons, doesn't know why that divine being is empowering them, might not even actually like the interference in their life.

Is the result a cleric, a paladin, or a warlock? I'm thinking warlock makes the most sense, as a cleric would require actual faith and a paladin would require a conscious decision of making an oath about whatever, while in this case it's genuinely just average Joe/Jane who suddenly finds divine power forcing itself into them because of some being's plans.

>>97544117
for a pc that's a sorcerer
for a npc it's whatever you want

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>>97543249

I have a hard time not looking at Bards like they're just joke characters.

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>>97544511
They bring levity.

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How mentally capable do you rule the undead created by Animate Dead as? I'd like to see a second opinion, but I personally would have them be completely stupid personality-less automatons with nearly no memory and minimal capacity for logic, for example these commands would work:
>kill anyone who tries to go past you except me and these guys (point to the party)
>hit this wall with a pickaxe, if the pickaxe or your arms break, go this way and find me
but these wouldn't (ignored at best, performed wrong at worst):
>kill anyone who tries to go past you and isn't wearing a red hat
>hit this wall with a pickaxe, and find me if you come upon something other than rock
>go look behind this corner and raise one finger for every dragon hatchling you see
>raise your arm if two plus two equals four
>nod your head if you agree the fighter's gay

This is assuming bitch-basic casual casting of Animate Dead on a random pile of bones you found. Your thoughts?

>>97544600
>kill anyone who tries to go past you and isn't wearing a red hat
I want to say Phandelver has a chamber of skeletons in the Redbrand hideout that are specifically designed to not attack people with the Redbrand uniforms.
>hit this wall with a pickaxe, if the pickaxe or your arms break, go this way and find me
Animate Dead only lasts for 24 hours unless you refresh it, so if there arms are breaking before then, then there's a bigger problem. And it's also not like the undead have a way to find the caster, so at best they're just going to wander aimlessly.
That's not saying such a command is invalid, but rather unnecessary. You'd rather they stand in the tunnel not doing anything if them or their tools break, because otherwise you're hunting down missing skeletons when on a time limit to refresh the spell.

>>97544117
Cleric: Devotion and Faith creates a feedback loop that grants divine power
Warlock: Power is gained via the pact with a powerful entity
Paladin: You Oath creates the link to divine power
Sorcerer: Through birth, happenstance encounter with magic, or some entity's will, you have become a living conduit for magical power.

>>97544511
I have an idea kicking around for a more serious Bard backstory. Essentially, he'd be a Valor Bard who acts as a military historian. He'd recount tales of heroes past and wars fought long ago to inspire his allies in battle.

>>97544884
>Animate Dead only lasts for 24 hours unless you refresh it, so if there arms are breaking before then, then there's a bigger problem. And it's also not like the undead have a way to find the caster, so at best they're just going to wander aimlessly.
I was kind of envisioning the necromancer reading his wizard erotica in a camp outside of the tomb/mine/whatever and using particularly withered skeletons or equipping them with makeshift tools, so they're told to get out of the cave if their work is interrupted.
>I want to say Phandelver has a chamber of skeletons in the Redbrand hideout that are specifically designed to not attack people with the Redbrand uniforms.
That's a good thing to know.

Basically I'm expecting lots of necromantic shenanigans in my campaign soon and I intend to follow my preferred vision of how the undead work but I don't want to just pettily dick over my players for wanting to interact with necromancy.
For the uniform thing for example, I think I'd go for something like this: either spend extra time casting the spell and succeed an arcana check to impose a more complex command OR ensure the undead you're raising are wearing the uniforms themselves, because they're much better at parsing their own condition and comparing it to others than evaluating things completely unrelated to them.

Hey, besides the… Carrionette (I think that’s the right spelling) from the Ravenloft sourcebook, are their any other possessed doll/puppet states I can look at?

I mean I’m putting together a small lvl1-4 adventure and while that… thing is a CR1 and technically an “easy” fight for 4 lvl 1 PCs, that body-swapping attack of its is a bit more bullshit than I want to throw at players expecting a fun & silly adventure.

But I do like the idea of a random “too spooky for this shit” encounter now and again and a room with an evil doll does the trick nicely.

So…

Any less bullshitty prepublished options for the role of “evil possessed doll”?

>>97545040
Take a look at the Poltergeist for inspiration. While the base statblock might be a little too powerful (CR2), consider the telekinetic abilities.

The party enters a room full of old furniture, which starts flying around and pelting them with bric-a-brac - but no source is visible!
If they have a paladin or can cast Detect Evil, then they can pinpoint the source as a Creepy Doll up on a shelf.
Otherwise, have some things to hide behind. They may realise they won't be targeted if they hide in the right place (where the doll can't see them). By process of elimination, the one place that can't see their hiding places is the shelf with the doll on it.

If discovered, the doll might start to fly around, but unlike a conventional Poltergeist it can't be invisible and will dissipate if the doll is destroyed or Unpossessed.

Hey, anyone has played advanced 5e and has any reviews for it?

>>97544600
>How mentally capable do you rule the undead created by Animate Dead as?
They're the same Int as an Ape or Dolphin.

So if the zoo chimps they teach sign language and have do logic puzzles could do it, so can mr skellyman. Anything 5 or above, like a monkey, raven, or raccoon is smart enough to work a basic cage latch and escape but 6 is smart enough to trade food for a loose piece of wire, fashion it into a very basic lockpick and hide it in its lip to sneak it past its guards, then escape to go meander around the zoo as a visitor instead of an exhibit (looking at you, Fu Machu the Orangutan.)
Short answer, probably about as smart and productive as a very focused and motivated 2 year old child. Same enhanced Int as a Found Steed too, if you want to think of like, pokemon or the average disney movie animal companion.

Zombies are dumber, they're only int 3. About as smart as a real life horse or hawk.
2 is cow, chicken, reptiles, smart fish like sharks and rays, probably jumping spiders if they had a separate entry, etc. our most advanced robotics AIs at the moment, in that if you give it a simple goal it can devise a plan to achieve that goal, even if it might take 2 or 3 steps, thought my require some think time to get there. Likely also displays some amount of social behaviors, be it mating dances, schooling, pecking order, or coordinated hunting. You could probably teach it exactly one trick with enough effort, provided it was something it was already inclined to do.
1 is invertebrates, dumb fish, a roomba, you get the idea. Barest minimum self and environmental comprehension to achieve automation.

Anything lower is effectively a plant or a device, operating purely mechanically/chemically. In short an Object.

>>97545694
I wouldn't hang on the INT score too much, it's a limitation of the system. The superior D&D edition had skeletons with no INT score and described them as mindless automatons "unable to draw conclusions".
I looked it up in 5e MM and it says that they need very minute instructions to accomplish their tasks and have a modicum of "common sense" so to say (i.e. look for a way around an iron door instead of bashing it) but it says nothing about the most important thing I'm concerned about: how good are they at perceiving and judging their environment and drawing conclusions from their observations. Can you order a simple skeleton to count things?

>>97544522
What would you put this bard's CHA at?

>>97543523
Mostly the latter with maybe a splash of the former

>Despite throwing all your weight behind the blow, your blade seems to glance off the creature's hide leaving only a shallow wound, and even that seems to fade from sight so quickly that you question whether you imagined it to begin with.

>>97544117
I'd go by the patron's general vibes. If it's divine power, go cleric. If it's more arcane in nature, sorceror. If you're going for dark eldritch shit, warlock and just come up with some technicality for how they unknowingly entered the pact at some point.

At what PC level do kobolds stop being a serious threat?

Because, (while I only skimmed Volo’s Guide) it seems like PCs will quickly outpace the danger a pack of kobolds can pose. So by what level do kobolds just kinda become irrelevant?

Note: I know about Tucker’s Kobolds, and this situation I’m in isn’t going to allow that too much because they’d (the kobolds) would be acting more aggressively, moving in a more offensive fashion where there’s less opportunities to set up elaborate traps and bolt holes as if they were have if acting defensively.

Also, follow-up, besides dragons, what other powerful entities might kobolds ally themselves with?

>>97545694
And before someone says Fu Machu was just unusually smart, escapes are a repeated problem with orangutans. Ken "Hairy Houdini" Allen in San Diego got out repeatedly too, Rocky and Knobi in Indianapolis, 4 got out in Denver, and Kembali in Toronto got out just last year. There's only about 900 orangutans in captivity total and of them most aren't even trying to escape because we make it very nice in their enclosures.

[By all accounts, since retards, late stage dementia patients, and toddlers still have legal personhood, there's not much of a case for chimps and orangs not to. Either that or we need to return to the days of PT Barnum and start treating retards like animals.]

My point is, if you tell a skeleton to guard a place, but goblins kidnap it, slap some manacles on its legs and lock them, then hang the key just out of reach, it's got enough smarts to, after maybe 15 minutes of failing to pull loose brute force ways, consider and start reaching for the key, then when it can't reach it, grab a stick and hook it, all so it can unlock the manacles and return to its post.

Or just keep brute forcing against the manacles until it ripped its legs off. Skeletons won't senselessly walk into avoidable danger but they don't care much about self-preservation or pain avoidance, and they don't get bored or discouraged. They follow their directive hell or high water. Normally that's death to livings, but if they're being commanded, it's supplanted by whatever the command is.

>>97546335
In the context where the Kobolds are actively trying to assault a town or a fort, and therefore can't rely on traps and ambushes, then I'd say around level 5 is where they really can't keep up any more.

Prior to that, you can toss in a handful of dragonshields and scale sorcerers, and that's enough CR 1 monsters to still be a threat to a level 4 party with enough numbers.
Once you hit level 5, then not only are martial characters probably killing two Kobolds per turn with extra attack (if not more), but a single Fireball is enough to ruin basically any kobold encounter.

You could potentially stretch if further by using generic Humanoid statblocks and converting them into kobolds, so that you've got kobold Druids/Priests/Archers/etc., but that might only sustain you for a couple more levels before the kobolds start to no longer feel like kobolds. Likewise, adding in other monsters like Guard Drakes can bolster the CR, but eventually the kobolds aren't really contributing.

>Also, follow-up, besides dragons, what other powerful entities might kobolds ally themselves with?
Kobolds are lawful evil, so ending up in a deal with devils would make some sense. Yuan-ti could also be an interesting angle for some shared reptile overlap. I could also see Mind Flayers using Kobolds as a quickly replenishing source of brains. I seem to remember some module having a Vampire Kobold statblock, so that could also be an option. A curveball might be a Dao. They value gems quite highly, and kobolds are skilled miners, so positioning themselves as a lord for the kobold and granting the occasional wish in exchange for tribute would be possible.

Half-dragons also have potential. Any humanoid/giant/monstrosity can have the template, and use that as a claim of rulership that kobolds might buy into.

>>97545858
In 3.5, they WERE. Things change between editions. Like the world literally does not work the same.

Warforged didn't used to be humanoids. Now they can be werewolves and get animated and resurrected.

Tiny hut explicitly didn't stop weapon and spell attacks from entering. Now it explicitly does.

Monks didn't used to have ki points, and could teleport. Now they do, and can't.

Paladins used to need a god. Before that they didn't. And now they don't again.

If 5e skeletons were fully mindless, they could have at least given them int 1 instead of 6. Vermin went from null to 1. 6 is crazy high for a subhuman creature. Anything higher is a caveman. 8 is lowest PCs are expected to ever be.

Instead, the MM entry you just read corroborates that they're markedly smarter now.

>>97546335
>At what PC level do kobolds stop being a serious threat?
In 5E while there is a point that a single low-level enemy will be easy to one-shot, your AC doesn't really grow enough that a swarm of them stops being a threat. 5E threat growth comes from:
Bigger HP pool
Bigger Damage
More complex actions, reactions, and resistances

>>97546335
Drakes and Dragonnels. Wyverns. I personally like them teaming up with evil dragonborn, kind of dragonlancey. Speaking of, dragonlance has a lot of dragon people enemies.

You can also make kobolds out of all the dragon-touched humanoids in Fizbans.

They at least share a language with Troglodyte, Lizardfolk, and Yuan Ti, as well as Chimeras they're just not verbal.

>>97544600
As a DM? It depends solely on the form of undead created. Zombies will always be dumb brutes, Skeletons will always be quick-witted and loyal, but a total slacker. Ghouls will always be psychos. Frankenstein-esque constructed undead will always be intelligent and diligent, but sometimes so intelligent as to rebel against their creator.

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>>97546485
>Half-dragons also have potential.
24 Half-dragons suck.

>>97546723
So don't use 24 half-dragons? You have free will anon

>>97546335
>>97546608
True, kobolds biggest threat is often just sheer numbers.

Hectopeasant them, anon!

It only takes 44 to make a deadly for a level 5 party of 4.

>>97541936
It's a consequence of rural life. I haven't had a D&D group in nearly a decade. I just recently started listening to campaigns, treating them like podcasts to eat up time at work.

>>97546762
> It only takes 44 to make a deadly for a level 5 party of 4.
See, at that point it kinda stops feeling like a fun combat encounter, and feels more like a chore.

>>97546762
Are you accounting for fireballs and tiny huts?

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>>97545588

>>97547019
> and tiny huts?
Be careful with those extra-dimensional spells. Some super dungeons have a way of… warping those spells, such that they end up taking you deeper into the dungeon, in random places, rather than the extra-dimensional space they’re supposed to take you.

> “which fucking Dungeons do that?”
the ones I run…

>>97547139
Well in that case 1 kobold is deadly to the party

>>97547139
NTA, but Tiny Hut isn't even an extradimensional spell. There's no warping of space. It's functionally just a one-way wall of force.

And on top of that, the initial anon >>97546335 was asking for using kobolds at higher levels in the context of them being on the offensive. If the answer assumes that the PCs are delving into a magical kobold warren that causes their higher-level spells to malfunction, then that doesn't really fit with what's being asked.

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The room has a secret door
> I want to investigate the room
> rolls 11
> Well, you don't find anything unusual
> others don't roll since why would they do it

The room has a secret thing on the ceiling, otherwise it is empty
> nobody tries to search since it looks like just an empty room on the way to other rooms

Should I use passive perception instead? This kinds removes agency.
Should I just say them that they probably should all try to search for stuff and it is a good idea to do it in every room? Rolling for everybody in every room is kinda dumb and wastes time.
Is it a dungeon design issue?

>>97545970
Second question. Can you tell CHA just from a picture?

>>97546241
Thanks, I like the bit about not being sure if the wound was there.

>>97547227
The way I usually handle it is that Perception can be used to find secrets, but has a higher DC than an Investigation check to do the same thing, because Investigation is more time-consuming and usually involves going tile by tile, rather than giving a room a glance from a distance like with Perception.

That said, if you're including a secret door, it's kind of expected that there's a chance the PCs don't find it. That can be offset by clues elsewhere that might hint towards the secret's existence, and could prompt either another search or potential advantage.
But what ultimately removes agency is if you make it so that the PCs are incapable of not finding the secret. Secret doors should be optional bonuses.

>>97546485
>>97546683

This is useful. Your honest answer actually helps me out a lot. The adventure I set out to construct was only meant to be a lvl 1-4 treasure hunt. So it actually works out nicely to have the Kobolds be the main competing antagonist force in the adventure since it wraps up right as their viability as a major threat starts to get stretched. I just need to have the conclusion make it clear that they will not be a returning adversary IF the campaign keeps going.

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I liked it when my character raper a goblin to death. it cool

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>running game
>characters just hit level 6
>several different antagonists in campaign
>characters were about to go to a dungeon full of grells to retrieve an important magic item
>bought four Nolzur's grell miniatures and painted them in preparation
>decided to have the characters run into an agent of another faction for a different adventure thread
>they now are going to follow him to the faction's compound
>after they come back they're going to be level 7 or 8 and grells are already barely a challenge as is
>tfw all I can do is artifically given them less XP which they will notice and will feel janky
>tfw milestone XP fags will make fun of me for this

>>97547447
All my character dual wield raper. it cool

>>97547449
>all I can do
nigger it's your game, you decide what happens. Just have something else have moved into the dungeon while they were dicking around and now it's way harder than it would've been

>>97547227
>Should I use passive perception instead? This kinds removes agency.
That's literally the purpose of passive perception. If the check is such that a character's passive perception would pass it and it's not something they have to go out of their way to have any chance of even maybe seeing, then they should passively notice it.

>>97547227
>>97547482
But also if you've thrown your players into a dungeon where they should be searching for things and none of them are searching for things, then either your players are stupid, you've not made it clear to them that there are things to be found, or both. Consider adding some rooms that give them hints that things probably aren't what they might immediately seem in this place. Maybe have a room where if they fail to look around well enough, something jumps down from the ceiling and gets the drop on them, that'll give them a reason to be looking up in subsequent rooms.

>room that's empty except for the one specific thing I hope the players randomly decide to look for
is not very compelling level design.

>>97547449
Ah yes because there is no way to ever make a monster stronger or more of a challenge. You must always run them exactly as written or else WoTC send hired goons to your house.

But in all seriousness just give them a lair action or pump up the numbers.

>>97547019
Unless they're all shoulder to shoulder in a big square, then fireball isn't getting probably more than 5, 8 max.

And if they use 2-3 fireballs, that's resource expenditure on par for a deadly.

>>97547019
Tiny hut has a 1 minute cast time.
That's 10 rounds of 44 slings.

Even assuming 50% miss, that's more or less 880 incoming damage while you get up your little forcefield.

>>97547456
>nigger it's your game, you decide what happens.
That's not at all true.
>Just have something else have moved into the dungeon while they were dicking around and now it's way harder than it would've been
But I want to use my grell miniatures. And it really doesn't make sense for them to have moved into the other factions dungeon, because they wouldn't be overrun by a bunch of grells, and I have a ton of different rooms and encounters for it. That dungeon doesn't have room for 2 concepts, one of which is "X faction" and the other is "grells took over ruin"

>>97547503
I mean I could but I like running monsters RAW. And the alternate grells on 5e tools are all pretty low CR too.

>>97547537
Well you should've mentioned in the first place that you're terminally autistic, that changes things.

>>97547542
>wanting to run the game properly and not just make up random numbers on the fly, and actually enjoying game mechanics, makes you autistic
Stranger Things is over, you can leave D&D now, normofaggot

>>97547547
>run the game properly
you fundamentally do not understand the concept of playing pretend lmao

>>97547449
Use the psychic grell, it's CR 4 instead of 3.

>>97547547
You're literally supposed to change and adjust things to fit your particular game's needs you retard, they say so right in the books.

>>97547550
>you fundamentally do not understand the concept of playing pretend lmao
D&D isn't "playing pretend" you fucking reductionist child.

>>97547554
If you just randomly make up stats for monsters then they have no meaning.
If you run into a normal wolf and he has 400 hit points and hits at +10 for 10d6 damage, then the game is fucking retarded.

>>97547552
I'll try it. At least it's WotC official, unlike the patriarch and philosopher which I had to find 3rd party stats for. These lazy fucks can't even make multiple variations of one of their most famous kinds of monsters.

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>>97547561
>D&D isn't "playing pretend"

>>97547561
>If you just randomly make up stats for monsters
Literally who said to do that? What is functionally wrong with the meat your brain is made of?

>>97547506
>>97547525
cool whiteroom nogames

>>97547564
It isn't, you fucking retard.
It's a roleplaying game.
So fucking sick of beardstroking reddit fags saying "uhhh D&D is a collaborative storytelling game" and use that to subtly reframe arguments about the game and undermine the culture and expectations of the game.

>>97547584
>roleplaying
>playing a role
>pretending to be someone else while playing a game
>playing pretend
?????????????

>>97547587
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9dSYgd5Elk

>>97547587
You pretend to be someone else when you play a video game too, is that playing pretend?
Writers pretend to be someone else while writing from their point of view. Is that playing pretend?

>>97547597
>You pretend to be someone else when you play a video game too, is that playing pretend?
yes

>Go to 5e tools
>Move CR slider
Literally that easy to adjust CR. Fuckwit.

>>97547619
But anon, he can't do that. It's not WOTC official.

>>97547629
>>97547619
I'm going to use monsters that aren't WotC-official material, but they are supposed to be the higher level variants.

Grell is CR 3
Grell psychic is CR 4
The philosopher from Monster Manual Expanded is CR 7
The patriarch who was supposed to be the boss is CR 9
This game is so fucking annoying with how fast characters level up and characters can hit above their CR, that after like 20 sessions half the monster manual is irrelevant.

>>97547619
If a monster isn't of its CR then the characters can't make accurate judgements in the world. If a group of level 15 characters stumble across 5 ogres in the woods, they should be able to say "yeah we can probably take these guys pretty easy"

Otherwise there's no player skill involved and you might as well not even have "resource management" or whatever this game has, if you can't have any aspect of threat assessment in the game, or call it "metagaming" every time.

>>97547656
Maybe try using the literal skills that exist in the game that your players could use to try to assess threats without relying on meta knowledge from the monster manual, since in an actual setting every member of a species isn't a carbon copy of the same creature, and some might be more threatening than others.

>>97547669
>some might be more threatening than others.
Yes but that would be wolf/alpha wolf
Not wolf/wolf 10 levels higher

>>97547683
You are retarded

>Party found the bug I planted on them eight sessions ago
Teehee

>>97547582
The white room is assuming fireball takes out the full maximum 64 squares worth of kobolds.

As is assuming you can get off a tiny hut in combat or as guaranteed pre combat setup.

In fact, white room is an understatement it's magical christmas land.

>>97547587
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hvQ-xep-I0o

>>97547643
>This game is so fucking annoying with how fast characters level up
You have full and total control of that

It's fucked up when your mind's playin' tricks on ya

>>97547564
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left

>>97547449
> decided to have the characters run into an agent of another faction for a different adventure thread
Dude why did YOU decide to do that of the Grell encounter was so level-sensitive? It was your choice to dangle the keys of a side plot in front of the players and spoil the planned encounter.

You idiot!

here I am fussing over “what if they miss this encounter or that?” And “how do I tie this mini dungeon into the bigger plot”and this nimrod is going “Hurr durr I have bad impulse control and screwed up my own campaign” Christ on the cross! If it was so goddamn important and you had a modicum of planning and self control you would’ve had the faction agent show up AFTER the Grells. Fucking dumbass

>>97547656
>If a monster isn't of its CR then the characters can't make accurate judgements in the world. If a group of level 15 characters stumble across 5 ogres in the woods, they should be able to say "yeah we can probably take these guys pretty easy"

>"As you turn the corner, you see 4 grell. These grells look *especially* jacked."
>"When you enter the ruined ballroom, you see another 3 grell, one feasting on the carcass of a freshly slain goblin. They look just as jacked as the last 4. That's... a little worrying. Maybe there's something happening in this dungeon that's making them stronger."

level 1
>hermetics stance. as a bonus action you can enter this stance. while in it you can use splash weapons as simple ranged weapons with the light and thrown proerties. You can also use alchemists supllies as a splash weapon, but they have ammunition and do 1d6 damage. they deal double damage to metal objects
>fast alchemy: as a bonus action you can create an alchemical item or poison worth 20gp per level
>splash cannister. as an action, attack with a splash weapon, whether you hit or miss each creature in 5 feet on a failed dex save
>smoking admixture. as an action throw a splash weapon. whether you hit or miss, create a 15-foot smoke cloud

level 2
>good medicine. as a bonus action consume or administer an medical substance. The target regains +1d4*PB HP
>potent poison. poison you touch deals necrotic instead and uses your maneuver dc. if applied to a weapon it doesnt wipe off on a hit, but a creature cant save against it more than 1/turn
>adulterate concoction: split a potion, poison, or antitoxin into two. they cant be split again, have no value and spoil in 1 hour
>enervating admixture. as a reaction when you hit a creature with a splash weapon or poisoned weapon, they gain 1 exhaustion (max 3)

level 3
pharmaceuitical augment. potion gains a second effect of the same rarity. roll potion miscibility when drunk
paralytic enzyme: as a reaction when you damage a creature with a poison or splash weapon, the target is poisoned and must make a con save at the end of each turn to end it. while poisoned, they are paralyzed
cataclysmic admixture: as an action, throw a splash weapon. whether you hit or miss, a 20-for sphere starts burning for 1 minute. creatures and unattended objects in the area must make a dex save when they enter or start their turn, taking 3d8 damage of the alchemical's damage type
hypnotic toxin. as a reaction when a creature is poisoned by you, make them charmed and stunned for the duration (con save ends)

shit, I forgot

does this sound too boring for a list of 2014 alchemical maneuvers?
>>97547810

>>97547227
you put things where players think of looking or where it's clued that they should be

if there's a secret under the bed but the player looks behind the painting, you put the secret there instead, unless you gave a clue that the secret was under the bed

>>97547804
>These grells look *especially* jacked.
How does a floating brain with a beak and tentacles manage to look muscular?

>prisoner of his own autism complains he painted himself into a corner
this is a whole category of posts ITT
like the guy who wanted old events to not be remembered but couldnt change elves to be shorter lived or make the events further away

>>97547823
As an addendum to anon:

Don’t have the extremely plot-critical stuff be particularly well hidden. The last thing one needs is to have the entire plot grind to a complete halt because the player characters missed one perception check. The stuff that the players can soft-lock themselves from ever getting should be largely bonus content, or an easy-mode bypass. Ya’ know, stuff that if the players fail to find, it just kinda sucks, but the plot moves forward.

>>97547850
In general nothing meaningful should be hidden without a clue.

If a player checks for something hidden somewhere where nothing was planned to be hidden, he should find some kind of treasure that isnt meaningful (and sometimes not worth anything). This treasure should be prepared in advance for the location, and placed on the fly when the players roll particularly high on investigation, OR describe/take the time to look at what would have been something were treasure could logically have been. Like if you didnt plan any loot from the xorn but the player describes searching through its stomach or whatever, maybe he finds something there on a high roll that you come up with on the fly

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>>97547830
Tentacles are literally all muscles. Muscles, layered on muscles, layered on muscles, layered on muscles.

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>>97547830

>>97547866
-unless you are running Tomb of Horrors, or some adventure in a similar vein.

But they are the exception, since the whole point of Tomb of Horrors is the DM going “Fuck You” to the players.

>>97547736
Whiteroom is thinking that the kobold are placed strategically around with minimal casualties, as is thinking everything blinking into existence at the start of initiative. You would know this if you weren't a nogames retard. But please explain how it is literally impossible to ever cast tiny gut before a fight starts. I wish to hear what a retard nogames thinks the gane is actually like.

>>97547795
No you're right I'm an idiot and it's really frustrating.

>>97547804
Their power doesn't come from their muscle and most of their body is a fuckin brain. I guess I could make them giant but then the miniatures wouldn't work.

>>97547905
> cast tiny gut
What spell is that? What does the tiny gut spell do?

>>97547905
any campaign where tiny hut affected a combat encounter isn't worth playing in
it's the dm's job to make sure cheese shit doesn't have the opportunity to impact the game

>>97547656
You sound like a metagaming cunt. You would assess based on the situation, what the DM has told you, and how the fight goes. Do a skill check if you must. I have told my players many times I always change monsters or use variants. They have no incentive to google them that way too. If the fight is too easy I just double the enemy’s HP. Idgaf, you are a shit DM and autistic

>>97547019
You can just have them keep coming in waves.
Fortunately tiny hut is not my problem because I houseruled it to work as in 3.5.

>>97547911
lmao of course your fatass doesn't know
>>97547928
>any campaign where basic survival skill isn't worth playing
>RAW is cheese
Hey, at least you admit to being a nogames retard
>>97548124
>waves
Keep 'em coming, the fighter and rogue have plenty of arrows, wizard has slots and cantrips, and the monk is down.

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>>97536225
>TQ: Favorite Class
Sorcerers.
>Why?
Sorcerer's powers can come from nearly anything, with the exception of being learned. Meaning, Sorcerers have the most degree of flexibility in terms of how their powers came to be, why their powers came to be, the Sorcerer's reaction to the powers, others' reactions to their powers, and possible expectations/responsibilities that come with them.

I like backstories that have built-in conflict or goals due to their class (Warlocks and Paladins do something similar). So you can do things like...
>You got your powers after raiding a tomb and drinking a mysterious liquid from an ancient urn. It gave you an incredible degree of magical potential, but now you're cursed/are being revered as a reincarnation of a great evil/good by those around you.
>You helped a powerful Dragon/Fey/Demon/Celestial/Modron/Aberrant, and in return, they bestowed a fragment of their power to you. Now they have certain expectations of you, or you gained enemies from this event.
>You were cursed by a terrible creature and got dangerous powers from it; you feel yourself changing as your powers advance. Into what- who knows?
>You were blessed by a deity/the cosmos for reasons unknown to you yet.
>You got a heart implant from a creature [like a Dragon, Fey, Demon, etc.] that gave you superpowers.
>You survived a magical explosion. The magic from the magical conflagration changed you.
>You were made in a laboratory by a Wizard/Artificer trying to create the ultimate lifeform. Or you're a government project super soldier, forged from the parts of a powerful Sorcerer or magical creature.
>You were born with sorcery thanks to some event/actions taken by someone in your lineage- you needed to hone and control these talents. So you found a master Sorcerer/School for the Gifted to help you hone your skills.

>>97547973
{you}

>>97547106
I didn't want to bring it up in this thread but going through the handbook I was shocked by how every time it would show a wizard, it would be an elderly black female

>>97547873
I didn't say BE muscular, I said LOOK muscular. A hydrostat isn't going to display the sort of bulging, rippling individual muscles one associates with being jacked.

>>97547883

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>>97547883
>>97548999
>saved the thumbnail
This stain upon my honor is unbearable.

>>97548139
Yes, retard, nobody wants to play a "RAW" game shooting dungeon walls from max longbow range. Anyone interested in some mechanical grind isn't picking 5e except absolute idiots like you

>>97548228
> why their powers came to be,
Most amusing answer to that I’ve seen is:
“The character’s family is so rich and affluent that all that old money has leached into their blood and sometimes will result in members being born with magical powers”

Which classes are actually sluttier than Bards?

>>97549728
Warlocks if they have a special relationship with their patron

>>97549744
A comment I read somewhere that was kinda funny to me was like:

The wizard passes the exam because he spent all night studying.
The sorcerer passes the exam because his daddy is rich and influential.
The bard passes the exam despite spending all night partying.
The warlock passes the exam because he's fucking the teacher.

>>97549763
“So how did you get your magic powers?”

> Cleric/paladin: “it’s a reward for my faith”
> warlock: “so, I might’ve sold my soul…”
> sorcerer: “I don’t know, I was born this way”
> Druid: “I smoked some crazy good shit back in the day…”
> Ranger: “I took a hit off whatever the Druid was smoking”
> wizard: “I worked my fucking ass off”

>>97549763
>The sorcerer passes the exam because his daddy is rich and influential.
It's really more like the sorcerer passes the exam because he just gets the material without trying.

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>>97549621
Do these Sorcerer's magic have gold/money in them? Like, if they cast Fireball, do they cause an explosion of molten gold?

>>97547973
>bro just brainlessly roll dice because otherwise it's metagaming
5e doesn't even have a fucking system for knowledge about monsters. Also the stuff in the core monster manual is mostly common knowledge, at least for low-CR stuff. The average person should know about how scary a bugbear is (very scary, to them) but a warrior would have heard that they are tough but can be taken down pretty easily by a small group. As opposed to an ogre that needs several volleys of arrows to die.

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Please review this custom magic item, focussing on fun.
It was constructed in accordance with my homebrew custom magic item crafting rules.

>>97549728
Rogues are pretty slutty too.
And sorcerers and warlocks can be.

And barbarians can be manslutty. You know, johnny bravo it up when they see someone they like, mostly likely person in the party to hire a hooker or just end up with a floozy on each arm because he's a loud impressive specimen during carousal. Even female barbs present manslutty.

>>97550135
>5e doesn't even have a fucking system for knowledge about monsters.
Sure it does, it's called you, the DM, using your god damned brain and running the game with even the slightest bit of creativity.

>>97549728
Warlocks. Paladins are also slutty little faggot subs for their god.

>>97550135
You are too retarded to understand that DND is not a video game and you are fully in control of tailoring the system to your game's needs lmao.

>>97550100
Sorta, they get things like:
> if the sorcerer is ever forced to pay money unwillingly (like a fine or as part of a spell) the money is magically siphoned out of the pockets of everyone around the sorcerer (up to 120’) until either the sum is paid, or all the money in all the other pockets is drained (only then does the sorcerer have to pay the remaining sum)
> gets an additional spell casting bonus based on the highest value coin they are carrying (gold: +1, platinum: +2, etc…)
> can spend a sorcery point (and a modest sum of gold) to artificially boost their proficiency bonus
> if they are ever in need of transportation, the sorcerer can just cause a brand new ship or carriage to be delivered to their location, no questions asked

And stuff like that.

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>>97550164
Looks ok enough, but if this is at least level 3 game:
1. I'd drop the DEX save completely just to streamline it.
2. I'd remove the take 1d6 damage tax
Also the range on lightning bouncing is completely unknown. You could suppose it's 15 ft. from the creature taking the lightning damage, but it should be specified. It should also specify if the weapon user decides to whom the lightning bounces and whether the user can choose to stop it to avoid hitting an ally.

Also, a creature that's hit is a creature within 15 ft. of itself; in other words the lightning damage can be applied to the creature hit with the arrow. If that's intended, good (that's how I'd make it myself), if not I suggest you make it "another creature" rather than "one creature".

>>97550164
You're probably never getting the damage bounce, and taking 1d6 to use it is a bit odd. If you could use it multiple times per day maybe, but it's already once per day so it's not like you can gamble more by spending more HP.

>>97550246
Where dem slutty paladins at

>>97550423
my house

>>97550331
Thanks for the feedback regarding wording.
Also, what a wonderful image.

>>97550331
>>97550355
I agree it doesn't bounce enough. Infrequent bounces, and the self damage, are a result of a tight power budget. A Grell is only CR 3.
I'll make some changes.
1. No Dex save for half damage
2. Damage reduced to 1d6
3. Bounces on 4-6
4. Both the target of the arrow and the first electrocuted target take the first 1d6 lighting damage
5. Remove 1d6 self damage.

This is much stronger than my original design. From 2 net damage to 10.5 damage. Fuck the power budget.

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>>97550423

>>97550331
Why is he shooting himself?

>>97550656
Also
>A guy is wearing what seems to be a "Lycanthrope: the Rape" shirt
>Girl on the opposite side seems to be REALLY into his shirt

>>97550656
>>97550669
This your first time seeing
>Thai Cuisine
?

>>97550656
Satan promised him that if he shoots himself, he will bestow upon him a carbon steel wok to pursue the dark arts of thai cuisine

>>97550683
No, I've seen it before. It's Jack Chick, isn't it?

>>97550702
It's from a Werewolf: The Apocalypse book. It's satire.

>>97550516
>power budget
You asked about fun, not balance. And a weapon with a 1/LR ability that has a 3% chance of doing the cool thing is just kinda boring.
And because the odds are so slim, it's more likely the player is just going to save it for an important enemy, rather than trying to trigger a chain reaction on a group of goblins. Which in turn makes the whole thing feel even worse if they roll that 12 against a dragon and don't have anything to bounce it to.

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I have given up on gaming in person or even online. Is there a way to play 5e using AI?

Pic related, literally me.

>>97550644
Shouldn't that be Mother Favi-? Oh.

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This should be a good template for a lvl1 dungeon, right?

Like, party is being paid to do a welfare check and shit goes sideways once inside.

Or something…

I’m still working on a justification to get the PCs there.

But this won’t be too big, or too tiny?

>>97551220
Honestly, a little big for a level 1 unless you plan to give them a rest somewhere.

>>97551238
Well, not every room would be an encounter, some would just be “empty” rooms (as in nothing to qualify it as an “encounter” just some tasteful (but mundane) furnishings). But I agree that it might feel overwhelming for players.

>>97551307
Are they new? If they're brand new to the game, some empty rooms to walk through and RP in make sense. For a practiced party, I worry they might be a tiny bit bored.

>>97547547
These same retards will simultaneously whine about things being one dimensional/too easy. You are right though, when the novelty of larping as an autist fades they will jump on the next current thing.

What are the thoughts on CPR healing method?

When someone is stabilised, you knock them for a point of damage so they start rolling saves again. Repeat until they roll a 20 to come back at 1 HP

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How slutty can a paladin be before people inevitably start saying they're no real paladin?

>>97551625
>Men
Can fuck as many wenches as they want

>Women
One is too many. They must remain chaste and pure.

>A key that can open many locks is called a master key, but a lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock.

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>>97551076
Yeah, it's called playing a videogame. Actual chatbots and stuff are complete ass - they're repetitive, forgetful, and prone to ignoring prompt elements or restrictions.

>>97551076
BG3

>>97551625
Depends if they do anything to violate their oath or not.

>>97551539
I do "failed death saves aren't removed until long rest", simple solution.

>>97551646
>>Women
>One is too many. They must remain chaste and pure.
There's alway virgin buttslut loophole. Bonus points for strict Goodberry diet so that she doesn't poop at all and can have her anus re-purposed into dedicated sex organ.

>>97551652
Did you know that they don't actually remember anything? Every time you send a new prompt you're actually sending the entire chatlog as a new token request.

>>97551646
>>97551661
So where does Father Favilla from a few posts up fall into

>>97551753
an oath of bussy conquest

Will fucking a vampire break my Oath of Ancients?!?!

>>97551822
>stand against the wickedness that would swallow it.
It's fine

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>>97551753
TBF she's from a series of Nun-themed ideas, but the lance and shield felt more Paladin.

>>97551822
It actually might. But Oath of Conquest basically reads "every hole is a goal".

>>97551832
I mean, nothing says a nun can't be a paladin, even if they'd naturally lean more towards cleric. One of them might just be particularly fervorous about it,

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>>97551843

>>97551832
That werewolf looks more like a gnoll.

>>97551832
Furries are really gross

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>>97551832

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>>97551335
Ehh, I don’t think so…

But It’s fine, I found something more modest. Doesn’t seem any bigger than the haunted house in salt marsh, so it should be fine

what sounds like the most fitting thing for clerics to have?

>death rites: turn/sear/rebuke/command/bolster/resurrect undead
>prayers that can heal anything: health, conditions, spell slots, magic item charges
>channeling the spirts of angels and demons to gain their abilities
>being able to cast non-ritual spells as rituals via religious ceremonies
>invoking divine intervention
>magic seals that debuff enemies

>>97551694
Wasnt looking for a solution, just curious on opinion

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Should a PC wizard start off as more of an apprentice or a full fledged mage?

>>97552300
I'd argue recently finished apprenticeship would probably be the best point. Maybe make whatever happens at level 1 the final test and level 2 is the "Aight, now fuck off out there and make a name for yourself, I'm gonna go take out another kid from the orphanage" point.

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>>97549728
I'd just like to point out that Luka, from Monstergirl Quest, would canonically be a Hexblade Warlock. He got ALL of his powers from running around making deals with/running quests for supernatural monsters.

And he had sex with all of them. Submissive little fuckboy that he was.

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>>97551625
Chastity isn't actually a virtue in most religions. Just most of the ones that are still practiced.

Quite the opposite in fact, most pagan religions celebrate sex as a bringer of fertility, sex is what creates new life. Sex isn't something to be ashamed of, sex is in fact sacred.

The issue is just that Christianity tried very hard to crush "demonic" pagan religions and their "perverse" fertility rites anywhere it went. About the only surviving major pagan religion is Shinto, because Christianity didn't really hit there in any force until after WW2.

new DM entirely. Does it really matter if I choose 2024 or 2014? Does either one have a leg up over the other? Is converting monster stat blocks between versions easy?

>>97552538
Even in the big five, the Abrahamic religions dont say "don't have sex, full stop" they say "don't have sex outside of marriage." And I'm just looking at India and guessing that Hinduism doesn't really say anything for or against sex

>>97552652
All the monster stat blocks should be pretty much compatible as-is. Picking 2014 you'd know exactly what you're working with, with 2024 you'd have access to everything that's going to be released and you can backport pretty much anything you want from 2014. 2014 has more character options overall at the moment, 2024 has the new stuff they added like weapon masteries for martials if you care about that. character level progression is a lot more normalized in 2024 as well with everyone getting their subclasses at the same time and having roughly equal options for variations.

I like a lot of the changes they made to simplify stuff like grappling and unarmed strikes, but some stuff does feel weird like warlock not even choosing a patron until they take their subclass at level 3, but you can just houserule that part away like most people do if you want.

>>97552681
>All the monster stat blocks should be pretty much compatible as-is
does this work both ways? if I'm running 2014 and see a fun 2024 stat block, is it forwards and backwards compatible?
>I like a lot of the changes they made
would you say it's a net positive? the setting I'm running doesn't have too much 2024 content so I'm a little wary

>>97552703
2024 monsters are more powerful than the 2014 equivalent, but it should be fine in most cases.

>>97552703
for the most part yeah it should work both ways, I don't think they've really changed much about monsters in 2024, only thing you might come across is if any of them use newly introduced features like weapon masteries, and you could even backport those to 2014 if you felt like it.

I don't know that I'd say it's a net positive or negative, I think it's mostly just different and you may prefer the changes or you might prefer how it used to be. Biggest positive is probably that they did in fact give martials more options to compete with casters finally, I don't know if it's really achieved what they wanted or if it's an overall good approach yet, I haven't seen it in action enough really, but it's something.

>>97552724
interesting. I heard PCs are generally stronger in 2024.
>>97552726
that makes sense, I've read similar testimonies about the differences. I've never DM'd 5e in general, so I feel like going with 2024 should be fine. thanks anons

>>97552738
2024 monsters are stronger because 2024 PCs are stronger, so things have to scale up to still be challenging

>>97552742
>we need power creep for power creep

I can think of ways to avoid that situation

>>97552374
So starting their Journey. Ged after leaving the Roke?

>>97552821
I can too, I'm just saying, it's not one or the other, in 2024 both PCs and monsters have been generally scaled upward in power

>>97552825
Yeah, journeyman wizard is a good starting point for an adventurer in that kind of setting I think.

>>97552821
>I can think of ways to avoid that situation
You really can't, though you are forgiven for thinking otherwise. Players like doing new things, and new things is always power creep.

>>97552538
Christianity hit hard in Japan, it was just crushed during Sakoku. From there it morphed into the Kakure Kirishitan.

I sorta wanted to dabble with a spellcaster backstory who is just a very briefly trained young man who spent his youth working on merchant ships as a sort of storm ward

then theme his spells around controlling weather, thunderclap etc.

>>97552933
Sounds like Earthsea shit

>>97552932
Christianity may have hit Japan hard, but the nukes hit them and the christians in japan even harder.

>>97552933
Fairly reasonable. Low-level mages being brought on ships to help out is something that shows up even in NPC statblocks.
Granted, there's some slight difficulty there since Gust of Wind is the lowest level spell that could hypothetically help a boat, aside from more basic utility like Mending or Create Water.

I wouldn't let that stop you though. Could easily have him apprenticed to another mage that did something similar. Even works if he's a something other than a wizard, since the apprenticeship is less about learning spells and moreso how to use those spells to help a ship.

I'm constructing a wizard's laboratory for a future encounter in a low level campaign, and I'm trying to come up with goofy things based on turns of phrase sprinkled around the room for the players to use to try and defeat Super Frankenstein. So far I got:
>lightning in a bottle (casts Lightning Bolt once)
>the tempest in a teapot (creates the Strong Wind hazard for 1d6 rounds)
>a long tooth (weakens Super Frankenstein by aging him 50 years)
>tub of elbow grease (spreads as Grease in a 10 ft radius on the floor)
>a drawing board (will reset the fight, once)
>a stomach full of butterflies (charms both the user and Super Frankenstein)

>>97552538
>About the only surviving major pagan religion is Shinto
I'll note that Shinto is mainly Animist, but also has a pantheon on top of it, with Kami as spirits present in everything and can be cultivated by caring for them, especially antique objects, with the pantheon of Ookami in high domains. It's also pretty much straight up ripped from the older Ainu Kamuy beliefs.

Most Indo-European Pagan religions dropped the animism elements.

>>97552671
>the Abrahamic religions dont say "don't have sex, full stop"
Paul said if you can not have sex, don't. If you can't control yourself, get married so you don't have sex outside of marriage. (1 Corinthians 7)
Jesus says something similar in Matt 19, about becoming a metaphorical eunuch for the kingdom.

So sex is to be avoided as something worldly if at all possible, it's just that most people are too weak to forgo it.

Catholicism took this and even made celibacy a hard requisite of ordainment (even though bishops are explicitly supposed to have 1 wife and believing children, and 1 Tim 4 said those that *require* celibacy are false prophets. but that's just me ex-protestant kvetching).

Paul and Peter both said dressing immodestly is also bad, and Jesus said causing others to sin (which would include lust) is still itself sinful. So it's not enough to keep sex within marriage, even publicly dressing sexually is bad.

And that's because Jesus said to even think about lusting after someone you aren't married to is sinful.

And Paul also said not to use obscene or lewd speech, and to not talk of sultry matters. (Eph 5). So even talking about sex in a lascivious manner is bad.

You shouldn't do sex at all if you can help it because sex is inherently worldly, but if you do sex, get married and sex only your spouse privately, don't even think about sex unless it's with them, and don't dress in a way that reminds people of sex, or talk in a way that reminds people of sex. Sex should only exist behind your closed bedroom door.

That is a very, very different take than basically any paganism worldwide, which say "sex good! sex makes world turn!"

>>97552671
>India
? That's Japan. that's why i mentioned shinto. Hindu has brahmacharya. Tantra Vamachara are... arguably sex positive, but tantra is a form of inner alchemy, and Vamachara is literally "left hand path." That's like saying Christianity is pro-sex because Laveyan Satanism is founded on the same mythology.

>>97553163
thanks reddit, but nobody gives a shit

>>97553200
if you don't want to be corrected, don't talk bullshit.
It takes 47 muscles to frown, and a mere 10 to smile, but it only takes 4 to keep your fool mouth closed.

>>97553163
>Catholicism took this and even made celibacy a hard requisite of ordainment
Technically that was a requirement imposed a few hundred years into its existence. That conveniently resulted in the church suddenly owning everything its priests owned at the time. Which happened in the 12th century.

>>97553231
There is nothing in your post that corrected anything I said. It's almost as if I'm a different anon, you stupid fuck tourist.

>>97553163
How come Jesus never went on epic adventures like Jason and the Argonauts?

He a pussy?

>>97553266
The Church didn't want to include his campaign in the underdark in and left it out of the official module. That's why he disappears in his teenage and early adult years in the book.

>>97553266
Didn't slay any frost giants either. Or beat back any world-eating chaos dragons. If he's so cool, why didn't he just show up in the garden and beat up the snake? Save him and everybody a bunch of trouble.

Plus, dude's god dad canonically jobs to iron chariots and chemosh too. Not to mention talks big shit then walks it back, i mean... Everybody knows about when Nebuchadnezzar trounced Tyre then wiped Egypt off the map, never to be rebuilt, right? What? Died within 10 years? Existed until the founding of Imperial Rome??? Oh no. No no no no nooooooooo.

>>97553305
he had to cheat to win in a wrestling contest, why did god make str his dump stat?

>>97553266
He actually did go on an epic Dungeons & Dragons campaign into Hell between Good Friday and Easter Sunday where he saved the trapped souls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrowing_of_Hell
but people don't talk about it much

>>97551539
>>97552271
Late reply, but since I devised a solution (that also solves a few other issues), my opinion is that this is abominable and I wouldn't allow it at my table, nor even consider it as a player because it's silly.

Okay. I now understand why 5.0 advised GMs to calculate XP to account for having multiple monsters on the map.

Yeah without that multiplier, 6 kobolds should be a “medium” difficulty encounter for 3 Lvl1 PCs… I tested that, and assuming the GM runs them like a brainlet (like, not using pack tactics) yeah, seems like PCs didn’t have any trouble clearing them out…

But… actually play with all the mechanics correctly, and make use of them and it’s more likely to kick the shit out of the PCs, TPKs are likely. Which makes sense since when factoring in the xp multiplier for multiple enemies, yeah 6 kobolds is more of a deadly encounter for 3 lvl1 PCs.

So would 1 dragon shield and 1 kobold actually, which was (more or less) what I saw in mock fights.

But… it also would suggest 3 kobolds was more of a “medium” difficulty for a party of 3 lvl1 PCs and it kinda seemed like they were mostly just clearing those encounters without trouble. So maybe, maybe I’m not understanding the goal in what the different encounter difficulties are supposed to be accomplishing.

Is it:
> deadly: this is either an end-of-adventure boss fight, otherwise the point in which the encounter is objectively too hard, TPK is likely.
> hard: this is where the dungeon bosses & mini bosses should be at. One or more Characters after a fight like this are likely on the brink of death, and having one get KO’d isn’t unreasonable
> medium: this I don’t know, is the idea for this one: “just get the PCs to exhaust more finite/limited resources? Like consumables, potions, spell slots, etc…” but I’m guessing it’s meant to be somewhat more subtle. Like it’s still meant to feel mostly easy so the players don’t feel they need to stop or slow down, they’ll keep pushing forward resulting in them not being at 100% when the tougher fights happen.
> easy: this feels like either these encounters were just to XP farm.

Is that right?

Tucker's kobolds are goated

>>97553726
>anon discovers tactics
CR is bullshit

>get to roll characters for the duo game I'll be playing tonight

Excited as all hell, I just need to figure out if I want to roll all my stats first and pick a class based on that or if I want to play the Valor Bard idea I've had kicking around in my head the last week or so. I could also let my roommate pick first and go from there.

>>97553750
some people are really big on the theorycrafting and haven't gotten into the game play part where positioning is king and are still worried about raw dps between classes

>>97553750
>>97555186
Plus, some people need to put restrictions on themselves to not go full ham on the players. And CR is supposed to do that so what other metric is there?

In an upcoming combat-lite 2024 rules game I'm going to be in I'm wanting to play as a fighter, which I've never played as.

I'm torn between Champion and Battle Master. Battle Master definitely has a lot more going on, but overall Champion just seems better?

I'm not sure if the campaign will run this far, but the Level 10 Champion ability sounds incredible.

Idk, anyone have any thoughts on this?

>>97555244
combat-lite?

more of a social adventure with some combat sprinkled in or that the rules will be followed less and it'll be more free-form?

>>97555254
This. Sorry, should have specified better.
My girlfriend is going to DM and she thinks combat is boring and should never last more than ~3 rounds. She's more into exploration and social problem solving scenarios.

I'm going to be the only guy playing, everyone else is normie-adjacent girls who watched Stranger Things and want to try it now.

>>97555277
Champion is super simple and you could just run them as a regular guy and not have to worry about the mechanics.

Battlemaster has the Student of War w/ an artisan tool, and Tactical Assessment isn't too bad for a tool to use out of combat, Plus soul reading someone at lv7 is pretty neat.

I think battlemaster gives you more things to play with out of combat but if you dont care for buttons / resources you can just play the hero

>>97555277
> she thinks combat is boring and should never last more than ~3 rounds.
Sounds like she just doesn’t know how to make fights interesting.

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>>97553726
And now you add disarming, sundering, tripping, flanking and cover rules of 3.5e and drop the stupid advantage/disadvantage shit and that is where the Kobold fun begins>
Further reading: >>97553738

>>97555277
>she thinks combat is boring and should never last more than ~3 rounds
Go Champion. Battle Master excels at more tactical play, but you'll derive more enjoyment from the game she's going to run if you focus instead on raw numbers--and she'll appreciate that, as well, since it will let her use more of the Monster Manual without feeling like she's making the game boring.

>>97555335
I think it's that she's only played twice and the first time was a woman DM who had never DMed but played Baldur's Gate 3 so thought she knew how combat worked and it was extremely easy / bad.
The 2nd guy is a giga-autist but every combat takes 30 years because he throws out waves of enemies that all have individual turns and individual damage rolls.
So both times she's played D&D combat has unfortunately been the least interesting part.
>>97555388
>she'll appreciate that, as well
Yeah, I think I'll go Champion.

Thank you guys!

>>97536225
TQ: Now that's hard.
I really love the "build a skillset" of Warlocks.
Bards are neat too but I just cannot with full casters.
Rangers I love conceptually but they are saddled with too many concentration spells and a toolset that's they're the only ones interested in using.

>>97555398
> he throws out waves of enemies that all have individual turns and individual damage rolls.
1) this is why you use the CR mechanic to pace yourself as a DM
2) you can do it that way and make it interesting, you can’t have every goblin in the horde go “he runs up and hits you with his scimitar”. Do interesting things, have some try to grapple the PC’s describing a screaming goblin climbing onto the back of the fighter pounding on his head like a bongo while two more go to town on his kneecaps, and the rouge can’t help because he’s got a 4th goblin trying to slash at his crotch while a 5th is lobbing Molotovs like they’re going out of style… that’s interesting! That’s the kind of crazy fights players will eat up!

>>97555470
>make it interesting
good luck teaching the autists ITT that the DM's job is one of creativity

>>97555244
battle master is so much more fun than champion its not even funny

>>97547830
they have hentai tentacles instead of jellyfish tentacles.

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>>97555244
>I'm torn between Champion and Battle Master. Battle Master definitely has a lot more going on, but overall, Champion just seems better.
You're completely free to pick what you want; there is no wrong answer when it comes to this sorta thing. However, I will say 2024 Champion is probably not a better subclass than Battle Master. Champions get a small Critical Hit increase that, on average, barely adds 1 damage in most combats. Advantage on Initiative is nice, but not great on a Fighter who can't take great advantage of that, and an extra Fighting Style is mid. They don't get a good feature until level 10!
Meanwhile Battle Masters are out here getting 3-7 Combat Maneuver options(and 4 or 5 dice) that could give you things like: Increased Damage + Secondary Effects, Skill bonuses (Ambush, Tactical Mind, Commander's Presence), Mobility, Initiative Bonuses, AC Bonuses, Additional Attacks, and giving allies more attacks! Plus they get an extra skill and tool which could be useful for crafting stuff (like magic items!) or RP.

As I said at the start- play what you want! There is no wrong answer- since you're playing in a low combat game where your RP, creativity, and possibly skill bonuses will matter more. Its just uhh... Battle Master being worse than Champion is a tough sell.

>>97555244
Depending on what you want to make out of it, battlemaster would be way better for combat-light campaigns because of the Commanding presence and tactical assessment maneuvers basically granting you up to a +8 on a charisma/history/insight roll, compared to champion who basically only gets advantage on athletics and nothing else out of combat. Whatever ones you pick, I think its better to inform her at the same time as your choice of subclass.

>>97550656
Are you unfamiliar with Jack Chick? He was a leading purveyor of the "D&D is satanic" furor.

>>97553726

Smug comments aside,

The difficulty breakdown seems mostly accurate:

Easy fights are for either easing players into the game and learning the mechanics. Or the party is grossly under level for where they are in the adventure and the GM is trying to compensate by throwing easy, barely-resource-draining encounters to even it out.

A medium difficulty encounter is a breezy resource-drain that won’t discourage players. If all that comes of such an encounter is the Paladin spending a few lay on hands charges to top everyone off, or even one spell higher than a cantrip gets used, or the party just decides that chugging along at 80% health is fine. Then the encounter did its job.

Hard is a boss fight

And deadly is a last stand

How would you build a sword and pistol carrying officer style character without being a Bard?

>>97556199
Soldier background fighter, ez.

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>>97556199
That could be a Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue with the Soldier Background (Specialty: Officer). Even an Artificer could be that!

>>97556199
If you mean officer in the context of being able to buff or help out the party, then Paladin or War Cleric could also easily qualify. Just need to have them from a more militaristic order.

>>97556199
If your table allows homebrew, I've always heard that Kibble Tasty's Warlord class is very well made.
I've never used it personally so I can't really comment on it, but it might be worth looking at.

>>97556199
Soldier background battle master fighter with two weapon fighting or close combat artillerist fighting style

>>97556199
Open seas paladin with a hand crossbow flavoured as a muzzle loading pistol is what I'm playing

>>97556543
I'm in 2024 so actual firearms are possible, and I was given the go ahead to reflavor a suitable strixhaven expanded spells background as a sort of officer's schooling so a paladin is a good choice