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Are paladin players usually toxic?

>>98644350
In my experience sorcerers are. Paladins have almost always been bros.

>>98644386
>sorcerers
In what way? Gaming shit with their insane Charisma?

>>98644419
No, they're just usually insufferable cunts.

>>98644342
>Got any opinions on arcana unleashed?
The spell school adept feats are retarded and should not give you access to off-list spells.

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>>98644350
>Are paladin players usually toxic?
toxic to DEMONS and DEVILS!

>>98644688
I don't hate the idea in theory, but shit like Shield, Wall of Force, Raise Deat shouldn't be on there.
The Warlock spell list in particular seems designed around what spells should be short-rest spammable.

>>98644703
I would unironically prefer them to give you a bonus spell slot that you can only spend on spells from the chosen school, rather than fucking around with what spells you have access to.

>>98644703
>>98644712
I think it would make sense for it to give you at least one spell of the school, just to ensure that someone taking the feat can actually make use of the secondary feature.
But even then it should be more like Fey-Touched or Shadow-Touched where it's just adding a low level spell with an extra cast of that specific spell.

>>98644723
Nah, make having spells of the school the prerequisite so that it actually represents mastery of a skill the character already has.

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>iron golem gets firebolts now at will
>but it also needs to keep its 60-foot cone of poison
>also it's not longer immune or even resistant to non-adamantine damage despite that being a huge part of golem lore

>>98644920
Too specific, not useful enough design.
>huge part of golem lore
No one cares.

>>98644342
Making Ranger builds for damage is difficult because so many of their features compete for your bonus action. It's hard for a Ranger to beat the Warlock baseline at level 11. So far, only a simple Hunter Ranger with DW + TWF has beaten it, and only by a tiny amount, while Hollow with basically the same build just about ties it.
However, I suppose the Shortsword Mastery should increase the DPR, though calculating that is already beyond me.
>But why are you min-maxing?!
I just do it for fun. I don't actually use these builds.

>>98645028
>It's hard for a Ranger to beat the Warlock baseline
Without HM*
With hm is easy of course

Just a reminder that half-races already exist in 2024: the Khoravar from Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. They’re descendants of humans and elves.

ok

>>98644350
https://youtu.be/VxYjjyJMyxE?si=l-6CpC00f1N_oHFe

>>98644342
>arcana unleashed
I'm really hyped for the Mystic Arts Monk subclass.
>works off wis instead of making monk need yet another stat
>shit out a bunch of attacks as usual for monks
>can mix in a shocking grasp slap or throw out a sorcerous burst for extra damage in your attacks
>can do 2 attacks, a cantrip, and flurry of blows for 1 punch and one level 1-2 spell all in one turn
>gets access to shield to further boost durability
>can shift around spell slots and focus points to remain adaptable
>can still bonk things extra hard with arcane staves

>>98645463
I like the concept and it's not the worst implementation but I'm spoiled by the Wu Jen on the laserllama monk which is basically the same thing just better.

>>98644342
I'm thinking about making a character for an upcoming Eberron campaign who was subjected to some clockwork or magitech experiments in the past. The idea is that he would have had bits of his body replaced with parts of constructs against his will. I figure that this could be used as story/intrigue hooks for the DM, such as the guy with a macguffin is tied to the people who did this, I need to find replacement parts that aren't poisonous, lmao are you even still a person or just an object, etc.

Anyways, would a human or reborn work better for this idea?

>>98645173
Those were cringe as fuck.
>Don't call us half-elves you fucking istaphobe!!!!
Bunch of blue haired cry babies
>But anon they were like that in 3.5
The rot had already set in back then too

>>98645584
Reborn only really makes sense if it is more of a Robocop/Frankenstein situation, where he's was either nearly dead or actually dead. Though that does also do a better job of having questionable personhood relative to just using Human.

Mechanically Reborn and Warforged have some similar features, so it works pretty well from that angle.

>>98645173
A-ok for Nazis of the Coast as long as they're not actually called "half-X" i guess

>>98645608
Maybe I could run it as he died during the experiments and was labeled as a failure by his captors, got thrown into the corpse dumping zone, then got jolted back to life by his parts and had to crawl out of the trash back to civilization.

>>98645606
>Not calling themselves half-elves, what a bunch of snowflakes
>What do you mean it's been generations and thousands of years since any actual crossbreeding?
>No, I've never heard of Muls

>>98645463
At the end of the day it's another case of using class specific resources to simulate being a caster, and a 1/3 caster at that, and all of those suck major donky dick.

>>98645812
That's great and all but they're still just half-elves and will continue to be called that.

>>98645965
What are you talking about? It gets spell slots.

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Do the Eberron Cameos (Changeling magic concealment for a single disguise) require Attunement?
>pic related are the author Keith Baker's words on them
Being Uncommon is reasonable. His not mentioning Attunement seems to make sense balance wise, but could he perhaps have forgotten to include that condition, as it could make more sense flavor wise?

I really like the race/species and this neat inherent Magic Item of theirs is not that OP as it is restricted to a single persona, but it sure bypasses monsters' natural Truesight, which is unheard of elsewhere (Nondetection and Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location block the spell Truesight, but most likely not the innate ability many higher CR creatures have).
Not requiring Attunement is amazing for most Changeling builds, but wouldn't such a personal token of personality be something one deeply connects to? Oh well, considering there are other Magic Items that would make sense to need Attunement but don't, it really seems to be mostly just a balance thing.
>TQ
I am excited about the new Arcana Cleric. I like the flavor and the fact that they rival Wizards in the end game power levels, hope it continues that way.

>>98644342
Is the Arcane Propulsion Arm the only magic prosthetic that actually has effects beyond "lmao it's an arm/leg/eye"?

>be Eberron changeling
>shapeshift into a primary identity
>never change back into your original form
>not even the party knows what you really look like
>permanent advantage on charisma checks
This feels like someone made a mistake, and that it should have been advantage on convincing people you're the person you're impersonating.

>>98646730
Yes, the de-facto permanent advantage at Cha checks is a bit over the top, but definitely intended, which allows for some very fun builds.
However, the hiding one's true species from the party thing is notoriously overplayed, every other changeling player has this idea and often the moment of the 'big reveal' is not that cool as expected as people might be a bit disappointed that they were not let in on the fun sooner. YMMV of course. Personally I imagine it can be loads of fun to include the party heavily in the changeling shenanigans with two or three personas used in daily party activities and in moments of infiltration or socialization, for example.

>>98647142
Honestly, the best is when the players all know, but the characters don't.

How is 5th? I haven't played since 3.0.

>>98647151
Enter: The Metagamer

>>98647237
Man, if your players aren't willing to
>Oh, no, I spilled my soup! Guess I'll stand up in distress and frantically try to mop it up, giving you the opportunity to slip back into your tent without me noticing that you were gone, thereby facilitating my continued belief that my good friend and the allied noblewoman that I'm pining for are completely different people.
then I don't know what to tell you.

>>98647151
Yes, that could be fun, specially with modest arcs of character development throughout the campaign. Definitely better than hiding one's identity from the players.

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What's wrong with vitriolic sphere?
Isn't it like a bad spell?

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what is Darkhold and how can I use it in my games for low level players? it seems to be a massive fortress, but the zentarim are less of a nation and more of a merchant conglomerate, so why do they have a random fortress in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain

>>98648042
d4s give people the ick

>>98648043
The Zhentarim are merchants AND mercenaries, originally with less than moral aims and methods (although they are working on improving their public image).
Their goal is to become the ONLY organisation protecting trade in Faerun, so everyone becomes dependent on them.
They obviously need a base of operations for all their soldiers.

There is a write-up in SCAG and the Forgotten Realms wiki will have more details.

>>98646156
Okay cool, still a dogshit 1/3 caster that wastes valuable subclass features on dogshit low level spells since it's a fucking 1/3 caster with trash spell progression.

>>98644350
Does this guy look more like a Crusader/Holy Knight than a Paladin?

>Every so often we need a bit of wildfire to clear the detritus and revitalize the earth.
>We can't leave Mother Nature to fight all her battles alone, so I'll fight for her.
>HOWL AND BRAY, RULES OF NATURE, PREDATOR AND PREY!
Are there any other angles you can think of for evil druids, or does this about cover it?

>>98648655
Supremacist for some particular aspect of nature, eg. sea druid wants to flood the world, fungal druid wants to turn everyone into mushroom food, etc.

>>98648212
Is that it? Just that?

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Progress

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How can I write this goblin players see in a tavern so that players don't try to kill her

I need to give her a cute and retarded name maybe, like brie

>Any opinion on Arcana Unleashed?
Holy shit they fucked Vestige Warlock into borderline unplayable garbage.

>>98646285
Truesight sees through transformation caused by magic, so it doesn't help against changelings anyway.

>>98647142
>allows for some very fun builds
It might be fun if the mechanics made any sense. I wouldn't get any enjoyment out of a "build" so blatantly retarded.

>>98648541
Also is there really an innate difference between Crusader/Holy Knight and a modern day Paladin?

>>98648787
Why would your players randomly attack a tavern patron?

>>98648042
It's a slightly stronger acid Fireball that's a level higher, upcasts better and does less damage if the target saves.

>>98648850
Because they are a goblin?

>>98648655
Just your regular asshole who's, by coincidence, a druid?

>>98648850
i'm planning on playing this mini-module i'm making with a whoooole bunch of groups for playtesting

the players come across a big bunch of orcs later on which they actually have to RESCUE if they want to proceed so I want to set the scene of 'yeah there are some civil monster races at play here'

>>98648864
So what? It's in a tavern and nobody else gives a crap, so it's presumably normal.

>>98645028
A small sized Strength Ranger riding their Beast Master pet and using GWM with a Lance and duelling style. Ignore Hunters Mark. Return to 2d10+18 with a pet BA attack and whatever Concentration spell you want at level 5.

>>98648864
If the place of goblins in the world is such that one can be found hanging out in a tavern, whatever assumptions you'd be using to justify killing one who's minding their own business are obviously not applicable.

>>98648655
>>98648693
Could take it an extra step and make the druid fixate on natural conditions that are alien to the Material Plane. Like the Elemental planes or a specific Abyssal layer. Some conditions might be perfectly natural over there, but on other planes they might be hellish.

>>98648877
>which they actually have to RESCUE if they want to proceed
And what, if they choose not to you fold up your DM screen and say they failed? It should develop differently or worse, but really you should just have the DM be ready to clarify that these orcs are travellers, not monsters it would make sense in the world to attack or leave for dead.
>want to set the scene of 'yeah there are some civil monster races at play here
Conditioning players like this is way too vague. By all means spotlight a civil monster race NPC, but if you expect doing so to be the difference between PCs slaughtering the imperilled orcs or not you'll be disappointed.

>>98648787
Make her very tired and very used to patrons starting shit over the fact that she's a goblin. Not belligerent, but exhausted by the mere thought of the argument. Very used to dodging things. A few scars where she didn't quite manage.

If they engage with her and she warms up to them, there could be some fun space to play in that, sometimes, she thinks maybe it WOULD be easier to just drop all this and join a raiding party. But...that isn't her.

>>98648936
>And what, if they choose not to you fold up your DM screen and say they failed?
No, the players can choose to do this - the module proceeds but the orcs have a pretty important part to play later on and their deaths would skew things and introduce complications that would be a real headache to fix, so I'd like to do SOMETHING to at least steer the more murderous players away from B O R N T O P U R G E FAERUN IS A FUCK Kill Em All -1069DR 120987439717 DEAD ORCS

>Conditioning players like this is way too vague
game design is all about subtle conditioning! 99% of players play the same fucking game the same fucking way and theyre utterly clueless about it, and they love it

>>98648820
A subclass that's taking cues from the Binder was never going to work in 5e with the way WotC likes to "port" over old stuff
>Only Celestial, Undead and Fiend are options for your vestige
WotC added three Creature types and figured it was good enough as long as you can switch between them. Feels like I'm choosing what damage type to equip per session rather than making a pact with a forgotten Deity. It also reads like it was tacked on

>>98649087
They also got rid of the teamwide resistance aura, lifeline aura, AND charm/frighten immunity aura and swapped it all for a mid combat Minion Res.

The class sucks ass now and I'd bet my left nut it got the nerf bat because it fucked over some playtesters le epic 20 Save or Sucks a turn BBEG

>>98648986
Fair enough, then! I just question how much effect a goblin minding her own business will have on this "B O R N T O P U R G E FAERUN IS A FUCK Kill Em All -1069DR 120987439717 DEAD ORCS" player's decisions on the later orc situation. Not that it's not worth doing.

>>98645398
Based

>>98648655
This >>98648693 and >>98648929.
Could also go the eco terrorist route and have the villain rebel against all of civilization.

>>98648850
Yes, but there would be realistic consequences to deal with. A few examples:
>town's guard, sheriff or militia
>patron's family member(s)
>patron's pals
>patron's shield guardian (gifted to them by a rather powerful admirer)
If violent shenanigans are frequent and the party is getting more powerful, their reputation might cause higher CR groups to take interest or go after them, possibly hired by a local ruler, for example.

>>98648787
put a wanted poster board up in the hall, when they enter, find a means for her to intrtoduce them to the wanted board and have her be in charge of accepting and paying out the bounty


she works there, its her job. they can't be goign around killing workers. if they do try killing her after that, you have murder hobos and its terminal.

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>>98648655
If you want to go a weird route, you could draw some inspiration from AM. A warforged druid who has come to loathe it's creators and how they are forcing nature to bend to their will. A synthetic that holds up nature as better "design", and is actively trying to stop those that are raping nature and creating abominations like itself.

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How do I fix these? Should I just give them an insanely-high Constitution? They're Small-sized metal bugs that crawl around destroying everything. I've always loved them, but obviously some degree of contrivance is necessary to make them a high-level challenge. I don't want to add new abilities to them, beyond tweaking what they have already.

My biggest concern is the damage resistance. Now, the closest analogy I make is the oaken bolter. Which in 2014 5e was a 58 hp with resistance to nonmagical nonadamantine BPS. The new one is just double the HP, without that resistance.

So is that the idea? Just double the hp of all those creatures to take away the adamantine vulnerability? I liked the idea that golems and constructs were VULNERABLE to adamantine damage, and otherwise they had no resistance/immunity. Maybe for golems? But 2024 Golems don't have that immunity anymore.

So what should I do? I can just double their HP by boosting their Con to 22 and adding a few more hit dice, but their hit dice numbers are getting so ridiculous already. I feel like it detracts from the monster stat blocks aesthetics at some point.
>but there's no such thing!
Yeah but if a CR 8 monster has 32 or 33 Hit Dice I feel like, even if it doesn't affect any of the monsters' others stats, it starts to look a little fucky.

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>>98648655
>one group of druids wants to eradicate almost all water
this ensure only the strongest, most brutal creatures can survive. They can shift into creatures who can withstand such climates, and conjure water, so its not a problem for them

>another group wants to flood the earth and eradicate all civilization, total reset
shifting into animal forms, they can move as they please in this new water world

you can run either or both

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Is there a free alternative to DnD Beyond's TTV? Having to own the books to fuck with character sheets is fucking ghey.

>>98649805
swarm

>>98648827
>>98646285
Thank you for your input.
>While the Changeling maintains that [Cameo's] form, they register as that individual to all forms of magic
Understandably, it can be debated if the innate Truesight of some monsters is considered a form of magic or not (possibly not).
Truesight from the True Seeing spell, however, is indeed fooled by changeling cameos and also by the Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location as well as the Nondetection spell (as per Sage Advice).

>>98649866
>Understandably, it can be debated if the innate Truesight of some monsters is considered a form of magic or not (possibly not).
It's not that. The changeling shapeshifting isn't magical, that's why Truesight can't see it through it anymore than it can "see through" someone changing their hairstyle. It works exactly the same way for True Seeing spell.
The cameo works against some more subtle effects, like Glyph of Warding set to blow up changelings (or ignore humans) wouldn't trigger on a changeling using the cameo set with human persona. It could also possibly fool someone using Detect Thought to read the changeling's mind for anything incriminating.

>>98649842
they aren't THAT small

>>98649946
I know

SWARM

>>98648655
Druids are often aligned with fey, and fey are bastards. Hags would probably love some corrupted druids on their no-payroll
Elemental evil cults too
A druidic shaman of some barbaric tribe could have same goals as the tribe. The druidism doesn't have to be the centerpiece of the villain's motivation.

>>98649946
Ghosts of Saltmarch had a "swarm" of skeletons. '25 MM has swarm of lemures, who are medium sized (and small-sized dretches). Swarms of human-sized creatures are a thing.

>>98649925
Interesting.
The cameo does indeed work that way against specific Glyphs of Warding as well as Hallow or Protection Against Evil and Good, for example.
From what I understand, nevertheless, although the changeling shapeshifting may not be magical (thus working inside an Antimagic Field AFAIK), True Sight specifically sees real forms of shapeshifted creatures and objects (similarly, shapeshifters are also more vulnerable to Moonbeam -the whole thing is similar to that of lycantropes, for instance). That is why strategies such as the Changeling Cameo, the Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location or the Nondetection spell come in handy against at least the spell version of Truesight.

>>98650028
>Transformations. You discern the true form of any creature or object you see that has been transformed by magic.
As written, Truesight doesn't work against shapeshifting that isn't magical, so plenty of shapeshifting creatures are immune to it. Ironically, saying that the Changeling Cameo *does* make a changeling using vulnerable to it (the transformation now has a magical component) is a valid reading.

>>98650049
Good point. Hmm.

>>98649763
absolutely perfect, thank you

>>98649831
buy FoundryVTT, download plutonium importer and enjoy having almost everything on 5etools become a drag and drop import that pretty much always works right off the bat

I had a player describe a nightmare just making shit up, and playing it out I could import the specific monster and drop it into the game fully functional in about 10 seconds

I'm STUNNED that people are still using dndbeyond, roll20 etc

>>98649950
>>98649969
how does that improve the stats issues though? making their effective hp doubled cause they are resistant to BPS for being swarms? I guess.

>>98650049
>>98650060
A quick search revealed that, in addition to discerning true forms of creatures or objects transformed by magic, the 5.0/2014 Truesight included perceiving original forms of shapechangers, while the 5.5/2024 version does not.
RAW you are spot on and RAI is unknown.

>>98650101
Roll20 has the advantage of being free. Using DndBeyond is and always was insane though.
Maybe I will switch to Foundry

Anybody else remember when D&DBeyond was a third-party site and got in legal trouble for using the logo?

>>98648655
Bheur hags and cultists of Auril have been known to go out of their way to expose people to the elements. Doing stuff like break windows and walls, throwing water on firewood, killing cattle. That MO could easily be adapted for a druid. If you want to lean into Carpenter-esque horror, you could make it a thing that the druid remains inconspicuous of their crimes by hiding in an animal guise.

Or you could just plain align the druid with one of the Elemental Evils, like Olhydra.

Either today or tomorrow I will get my Dragonheist hardcover in the mail. My 5e collection will finally be complete

I have been passively contemplating the idea of running something in strixhaven,
What is some media you guys recommend for inspiration.
I've already read/watched Harry Potter and Soul Eater.

>>98650919
Try other magic school anime, manga and light novels. There's 100s of them out there. In fact, don't restrict yourself to them. Watch others with interesting magic systems and worldbuilding. As cliche as it is, I'd suggest Fairy Tail and Black Clover for different feels, because of their mages are organized around magic. The Percy Jackson Novels are more like summer camps with field trips, but also worth a look. Also heard good stuff about a Scholomance novel series by some Naomi chick

>>98650114
It solves your "issue" of "Not enough HP bloat" by justifying the HP bloat by saying "There's 20 of them, that's why they have 30 HD".

>>98650919
>>98650966
Discworld?

>>98649831
>immediately recognize the artist
Oh, hey, he's the guy I commissioned to help me iron out the visual designs of my setting's races.

Weird shit

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/2243-designer-insights-from-unearthed-arcana-underdark

>>98653209
>cleric of freedom
I'm just imagining a nudist cleric desu

Doing a 2024 Battle Master Fighter Archer with point buy...

Is it ok if i do 13 Str/15 + 2 Dex/14 Con/10 Int/12 Wis/8 Cha so I can take Great Weapon Master instead of 12 Str/15 + 2 Dex/14 Con/10 Int/13 + 1 Wis/8 Cha?

And where should I put the +1 if I take the first one?

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Polymorph, the earliest Save or Die spell in 5.5e at the moment.

>>98653209
are they just remaking Escape from the underdark or some shit

>high dex cleric
sure cus we need MORE dex/wisdom subclasses right

>>98650101
Does it distinguish between 5.0 and 5.5? I play 5.0 but I sometimes want a 5.5 thing.

>>98653209
>content warning for the UA
Lol. Lmao, even.

>>98653340
The seahorse can unbelievably move 10 feet per round (5 feet of movement, dash action), meaning that it has up to 50 feet of mobility before it begins to suffocate. If it manages to hop or roll somewhere it can drop 5 feet, it can break polymorph.

>>98653340
>>98653984
Further it does not have this issue in 5.0, where the seahorse lacks a walking speed and only has a swimming speed.

>>98653984
*10 foot drop

>>98653984
>>98653992
>>98653998
Grab it. It has a +1 Dex save and a -5 INT so its not particularly smart and would likely run in circles.

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>>98654140
>>98653984
Alternatively, turn them into a Fish.

>>98653984
>before it begins to suffocate.
Honest question, do they have breath to hold when they are polymorphed above water? Its one thing if they were underwater and held their breath before getting Polymorphed, but when your above ground and not holding your breath before hand- do you not just start choking/suffocating?

>>98654207
Think of it as less of literally holding a breath and more as a time you can last before suffocation kicks in. Pretty sure you can technically still talk while holding breath. Well, unless you've just been polymorphed into something that doesn't have a language.

>>98654264
Fair, the rule does say "If you run out of breath..." so if you can induce that without dealing 1 point of damage, it would speed up the process here.
But really it's a minor point, you either wait 30 seconds for them to die or 1 mintue for them to die. You can grab them during this to stop them from moving and once they gain 1 level of exhaustion they can't move anymore.

>>98653984
>>98654207

my understanding is that you can't "react" to an event by stating "I hold my breath". on your turn you can say I hold my breath, adn then sure, you gain those benefits. but say you're dragged underwater by a kraken, you start suffocating immediately

>>98653984
If you're being outrun by a seahorse on land, you have bigger problems than it finding a 10 foot drop

what are the pros and cons in you anons opinions of spell points vs spell slots?

Do the bonus cantrips Arcana Cleric gets benefit from Potent Spellcasting?

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Man, with how shitty, inefficient, or only being viable through cheese Conjurers have been, I really hate that WotC and their stupid word choices made it so that giving a Battle Familiar the Durable Summons benefit is a massive headache of nonsense.
>Empower your familiar? Those aren't the "same" temp hit points. No resistance.
>Oh well you wanna just straight up cast Battle Familiar? Fuck you then, thats technically not considered Find Familiar, so bye bye to all the buffs you took for your familiar through your feats.
>Also the wonky math royally fucks up upcasting too, lmao.
Would it really have been so ball busting to just write "While a conjured summon has temp HP, it gets resistance"?

>>98650984
I guess so yeah

>>98654782
Spell points are slightly stronger, due to the extra versatility they allow.
While a player can theoretically dump all of their points into only doing big spells, that leaves them completely spent for the rest of the day. So unless you only have 2-3 encounters in a day, it's not really a good strategy.
And if you do only have 2-3 encounters, then a full caster is already doing really well for themselves even with spell slots, which is why I say that spell points are only slightly stronger.

>>98655061
>>Oh well you wanna just straight up cast Battle Familiar? Fuck you then, thats technically not considered Find Familiar, so bye bye to all the buffs you took for your familiar through your feats.

There's no way that's what they ruled on this right after that shit came out.

>>98653984
>>98653340
There's also no rule saying you can't attack yourself.

>>98655385
interesting, thanks anon

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>>98655552
So, they actually, TO WOTCS CREDIT, actually did sort of add a clause to this.
Familiar Friend and its branch off feats specifically list a familiar summoned by FIND FAMILIAR. And RAW, BATTLE FAMILIAR is a different spell.
HOWEVER, there is a clause in Battle Familiar that basically says you can just juice up an already summoned familiar so it could retain all the proper buffs and circumvent the name ruling.
The problem is this makes it incompatible with Conjurer's Durable Summons feature, or at least makes it very tricky to use RAW because of mathematical breakpoints when it comes to efficacy.
If you empower the Familiar, you aren't summoning the creature, so THP With Resistance.
If you DO use Battle Familiar, you aren't using FIND FAMILIAR, so the Familiar Friend feats don't apply.
This leads you having to do some obnoxious fucking math to find breakpoints between raw HP values from Familiar Friend vs. Resistances.

It should've just aid "If your Conjured Summons have Temp HP, they have resistance." Most of them only last an hour anyway, so you can't cheese it too too hard.

Or just do the bullshit Yugioh does; "This spells name is always treated as Find Familiar."

>>98654782
as a DM, it's a bit harder to predict the player's actions since SP provides so much versatility. a 5th level player with two 1st lvl slots and a 3rd level can do two 1st level spells and a 2nd or 3rd level spell. The equivalent in SP could also do three 2nd level spells.


as a player, they are fucking awesome, and I'd always take SP over spell slots.

>>98654313
No, it doesn't work like that at all. The suffocation rules would be totally different if they wanted them to work like that.

>>98654489
The point is, you don't just fire the spell off and then concentrate on it for several rounds until the seahorse dies, you have to go chase him down. Or use a creature without a walking speed.

>>98654159
That's not from 5.5, so you'd need DM buy in.

>>98655568
You can but, these are creatures with a 1 INT they wouldn't have the capacity to understand to do that. But in the case where the DM doesn't care about that I picked the Fish and Seahorse. Both of which have a -5 or -4 Strength modifier which means they can only deal 0 damage to themselves with an unarmed Strike and they have no Action attacks- no bites, no claws, nothing. So they cannot self harm themselves to break the form.

I see that pact of the chain warlocks can get a skeleton familiar. Is there anything saying that I can't buff him up with the party's spare magic items and have him be my frontline skeleton buddy?

>>98653992
In 5.0 the suffocation rules were different, when you ran out of breath you'd drop to 0 HP then start making death saves. That would end Polymorph in 2014.
Suffocating a person like this was impossible in 2014, but is now doable in 5.5e.
>>98655799
True, but the Seahorse will do just fine for the majority of purposes. 10 Feet of movement per round is not enough to cause a problem when someone can just grapple them and stop them from moving then put them in a bag or throw a net on them!
Obviously, this is not foolproof its got counters:
>If the foe has Immutable Form or something like it, then Polymorph doesn't work on them.
>If the target is flying when you Polymorph them they begin falling, and unless someone has Feather Fall to stop them, they will take fall damage and break the form.
>If your Underwater, this doesn't work. Unless your DM doesn't have the 1 INT Polymorphed creature start attacking itself. If they don't then you can turn them into a Bat.

>>98655803
The spell states characters retain their alignment, hit points, personality, hit points, and hit dice. It specifies they cannot cast spells, implying they retain access to class features not inhibited by their anatomy. As a Tiny creature with 1 Strength can lift 7.5 lbs as a light load there is nothing preventing them from hurting themselves on a finesse weapon (DEX 12) OR if applicable activating a non-spell class feature.

>>98644350
>puckee aka redditor pucke℮21 spamming his commission again
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/17saywb/commart_knightbrother_emmerich_paladin_by_pedro/
https://desuarchive.org/_/search/image/dvXb01E_8-EcWGWcqB5Hyw/
>posted 38 times since November 2023

>>98655958
They don't have those a weapon since all of their equipment fused with them, they don't retain class featrues or in the case of NPCs- NPC traits or features- it straight up says the only thing you retain is your Alignment, Personality, Creature Type, Hit Points, and Hit Point Dice. You wouldn't have your proficiencies or class/subclass features since you're a Seahorse. The whole
"It can't speak or cast spells"
is there for cases where you Polymorph them into a speaking or spellcasting Beast form.
Again- grab them or throw a net on them.

>>98655982
Unless there's a place in the book where the term "Game statistics" is defined as you're using it, there's no reason to assume you're interpreting it correctly. Even if there was, you have a move of 5 and can lift 7.5 pounds, and have a Dex of 12. You are capable of injuring yourself on a finesse weapon, should you drop one or use someone else's. But in lieu of a citation I see no reason why they'd include a clause designating you can't cast spells if you did not retain spells mechanically but just couldn't access them due to anatomical limitations.

>>98655997
>Unless there's a place in the book where the term "Game statistics" is defined as you're using it, there's no reason to assume you're interpreting it correctly.
Closest you get is Druid. Wild Shape says the following:
>Game Statistics. Your game statistics are replaced by the Beast's stat block, but you retain your creature type; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also retain your skill and saving throw proficiencies and use your Proficiency Bonus for them, in addition to gaining the proficiencies of the creature. If a skill or saving throw modifier in the Beast's stat block is higher than yours, use the one in the stat block.
This implies that Game Statistics does include class, subclass, and feats.
The spell Shapechange says the following:
>Your game statistics are replaced by the stat block of the chosen form, but you retain your creature type; alignment; personality; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; proficiencies; and ability to communicate. If you have the Spellcasting feature, you retain it too.
Which specifies you retain your Spellcasting Trait and Proficiencies which makes me believe when your Polymorphed you do not retain your Class Features because it doesn't say you do.

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>>98656017
On the other hand, the general rule for shapeshifting specifies that each spell is unique and specifies what portion of your mechanics carry over and the fact polymorph mentions spells implies you at the bare minimum retain spellcasting but simply cannot access it, as otherwise there would be no point in covering that as it would already be implied by the term 'game statistics' being replaced.

Of course the real answer is that this game wasn't written by lawyers and nobody standardized this shit like they should have, and this entire exhaustion insta-kill is an oversight. But that's not as fun as being needlessly pedantic. Honestly my next line of thought is to somehow abuse the fact Shove doesn't require a roll (its a Strength Save) and doesn't specify it has to be horizontal to somehow help get you that 10 feet in the air for fall damage.

>>98655799
Isn't it written somewhere that legacy material is fine?

>>98656042
This to me isn't that big a deal- to make this whole Polymorph a guy to kill them strategy is slow, and only really usable when you're in a fight where no one will be able to damage the Polymorphed target. Its neat in a fight where its just 1 guy that you've burned through all their LRs and they fail the save, then they have a very high chance of instant death via suffocation...which takes at least 30 Seconds or 1 Minute which is a long time for something to happen in a battlefield.
Its really a nothing burger, its just funny to imagine that you can use a 4th level spell to kill a Tarrasque Cthulhu or a Blob of Annihilation by turning it into a Seahorse and it dies.

>>98655710
I thought the same thing. it seems to be just objectively better from the player perspective.

>>98656058
Honestly if I was the DM I'd probably just rule that there's no such thing as instant death and that running up exhaustion sets your HP to 0. I don't think there is a meaningful distinction between 'you die' and 'you run out of health' anyway. RAW I think I could quibble more if I really wanted to get extra Jewish about it and start scanning every line of the 5.5 PHB, but RAI its pretty obvious you're not supposed to be able to use polymorph to insta-gib people in any circumstance.

I might even just rewrite the spell outright, because I like the idea of permanently turning people instead stuff over this concentration-based suicidal seahorse fuckery anyway.

>>98656068
>t RAI its pretty obvious you're not supposed to be able to use polymorph to insta-gib people in any circumstance.
I wouldn't say its RAI, because we don't have any comments from any designers on this. Its a neat trick and is a 4th level spell. You can use a 2nd level spell (Suggestion) to make non-Charm Immune targets spend its turns healing you and your teammates instead of fighting you. Suggestion has a ton of leeway in terms of what you can accomplish with it for a 2nd level slot- a 4th level spell in the right situation could over the course of 5 or 10 rounds of combat kill someone- I don't think that's really something they'd care much about. All I can say is they deliberately changed the Suffocation rules which makes this possible.

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Who the fuck asked for a Kuo Toa race?

>>98656057
It's the DM's choice what material is allowed in any game. The rules address backwards compatibility if older material is used with the 2024 rules.

>>98656081
Anything that involves staring at precise rule combinations probably was not consciously intended by the devs. I don't think they consciously changed Suffocation so that Polymorph would get buffed. As to Suggestion, I'd say that healing a person you or your allies are fighting (or really helping them in any way) violates the clause of the spell that states the request must sound reasonable and the clause that prevents you from using it to force the target to do anything obviously harmful.

Basically if there's no possibility of mundane charisma accomplishing the same feat under ideal circumstances, suggestion probably can not accomplish it based on those stated limitations.

...I checked upon finishing this post and saw they shortened/changed the spell description of Suggestion in 2024, and now my position is simply 'fuck 5.5e for removing crucial limitations on spells in the interest of saving book space'. What the fuck were they thinking?

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>Campaign ending
>never going to kill my fellow PC
>sad

>>98656222
I'm putting the bad ending option in front of my party soon. They're not going to let the Tiamat-sworn wizard PC have the artifact back because they don't trust him not be evil with it, but if they let him re-attune to it to carry out his plan then the people of the city whose fates hang in the balance will be delivered from Zariel (unto Tiamat).

>>98644342
Okay... I think I finally found a Ranger build that can consistently deal good damage at level 11 without spending resources.
First, at level 3:
Species: Human
Background: Wayfarer or Guide
Ranger Subclass: Beast Master
STR 13 / DEX 17 / CON 12 / INT 8 / WIS 16 / CHA 8
Species Feat: Tough
Fighting Style: Archery
Equipment: Longbow
At level 4:
Ranger Class Feat: Great Weapon Master +1 STR
At level 8:
Ranger Class Feat: Crossbow Expert +1 DEX
Equipment: Heavy Crossbow
Damage comparison against the Warlock baseline:
Level 3: 11.50 vs. 8.25
Level 4: 12.10 vs. 8.90
Level 5: 20.38 vs. 17.80
Level 11: 29.05 vs. 28.65
And from level 13 onward, the Ranger gets a pretty significant damage boost. Believe it or not.

>>98656814
Surely full Str Lance like this post is beating anything else. The roving benefits are irrelevant if you are mounted.
>>98648892

>>98656961
>Mounted Combatant
>Mounted Strike. While mounted, you have Advantage on attack rolls against any unmounted creature within 5 feet of your mount that is at least one size smaller than the mount.

Okay... I never really considered this General Feat before. It's actually really good for Beast Master, I'm not gonna lie.
>Mounted Combatant at level 4
>GWM at level 8
better, and way less convoluted than what I've been trying to figure out ngl.

>>98657010
You don’t need it. Two Lance mastery attacks and the beast charge, you have 3 chances to knock a monster prone for advantage. Take GWM at 4. 8 is open but I like heavily armoured. Mounted combatant only gives advantage against things your mount is bigger than so ride an elephant (or other huge mount). That build would be better as a Fighter if your DM is cool or a Paladin to make sure you get a mount.

>>98657060
Very impressive, thanks for the build, anon. It’s interesting. I think a Strength-based Ranger with a Maul could deal more damage, but with worse defense. That seems to be the general weakness of STR Rangers.

>>98657165
The Lance is the only way to trigger GWM and Duelling style. 1d10(5.5)+2 for duelling is more damage than 2d6(7). I would use a trident and shield when on foot but a medium mount with a 40ft climb speed should be able to go anywhere a normal PC can go. You could take Sentinel at 8 and Opportunity attack whenever someone hits your mount if you don’t want heavy armour. Don’t forget to use a concentration spell too.

I am running an Archer Fighter aiming for Battle Master in a 2024 game and I just notice that one of the other PCs is actually a Dex Ranger with like longbow and rapier and all. How much are we stepping on each other's toes?

>>98653209
>content warning for
>mind control
>body horror
>Freedom

>>98658330
Ask this again when you start fighting over magic items

>>98656096
Me. I love my schizo fishfolk.

>>98653209
>content warning
How are these people even real

>>98658576
Considering how many people were triggered by the lack of slavery in the nu Dark Sun, it seems warranted.

>>98644350
I don't know if I've noticed any correlation between class and players I don't enjoy playing with. It's far more player behavior than anything else.

Should I run a campaign for a DM I owe a campaign to? Or should I prep a one on one campaign for a player I really want to play with?

Washroom idea: aquatic adventures sourcebook.

>>98656062
and its not even closea.

if you want to turn into an EK who just uses absorb elements and shield all day, you can and its more efficient.

>>98658330
I mean if you both take the Archery Fighting Style Feat, you are both looking to hide behind each other and shoot arrows.

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>>98644342
How much is too much when you want your character to be likeable and beloved by your group?

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How do I do dragon encounter propertly?

I have party of 3 PC on level 6. They intend to lure and kill a dragon.

I was thinking I will use this one's as basic statblock (but change the color and damage type in fiction).
According to DMG, High Difficulty encounter for group of three lvl6 PCs is 4200 XP, this dragon 5900 XP.

It still seem like the rested party would be able to kill the beast, main problem for them is likely going to be dragon breath - but they intend to approach from mutliple sides.

Another thing is this dragon lacks Legendary Resistance, and the sorcerer likes using control spells. I want to make the dragon flee at the first sing of trouble (i.e. around half HP), but controll spells might make this more difficult, and I would hate the party to kill season boss hour into session.

Another thing I am pondering, if the dragon manages to escape into camp of its followers - can it take "short rest", the same way PCs can? I feel like it should be able replenis _some_, but not _all_ resources when the party is short resting. But it doesn't have any daily powers.
I guess I could just make it restore half of the hitpoints.

>>98659365
can you give the dragon some kobold archers who'd only pop into combat to shoot at anyone concentrating on control spells

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>>98659365
>this one's as basic statblock
(Sorry for forgetting this, me am retard.)

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>>98659408
I am afraid, that I already established the dragon is on its own right now.

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>>98659365
The young red dragon is too powerful for a meaningful fight. If he wins initiative they should be dead. I would use a weaker dragon like a young green but give him a lair. His animal spy network would have informed him of the parties approach and anything they were chatting about while headed to his swamp. Plenty of waterways and paths under the swamp scum for him to swim through that would be suicide for an adventurer to jump into, could be any helpers you need underwater too. Reskin this to lava if you prefer instead, red dragons are immune to fire damage. If he’s going to win have him recruit the party. If you want them to fight 1 big enemy you are going to have to accept legendary resistance or him “passing” the first save.

>>98659365
I'd agree with >>98659867
A CR 10 can end up very lopsided, since even if the party is approaching from multiple angles, odds are the dragon blasts one with breath and takes them out of the fight immediately.
The Sorcerer might land a control spell, but a lot of those aren't going to be particularly effective, and with only three PCs they'll have trouble capitalizing on the opportunity.

The Green dragon is a good fit because it's got a good amount of bulk, but the breath weapon is 42 damage on average, which is more survivable for a level 6 character.
If you're worried about control spells and you want a road encounter that he can easily flee from, my suggestion would be to have it use an Animated Breath. If not the specific statblock, then the general concept of using its breath weapon to conjure up an elemental.

That way it can pretty quicky put one PC in danger with its breath weapon, have them surrounded by Mephits or something, and then fly away pretty quickly. And then you can focus more efforts on the fight within its lair.

Am I the only one who thinks the current rogue subclasses just kind of feel lame? Will we be seeing an updated Swashbuckler anytime soon?

>>98660628
Updated swashbuckler will be in the warcraft book

>>98660635
Oh god. They're going to fuck it up and make it like the WoW class, aren't they? The BG3 Swashbuckler exists, yet they seem to hate fun

Can improvised weapons become useful? I'm not seeing many options to help make them relevant.

>>98660711
Isn't point of the improvised weapon precisesly that they are NOT as useful as proper weapons?

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Genius WOTC!
For my level 7 payers, a room with 14 skeletons.

>>98660881
Sure, but it seems like there's usually a way to "practice" using such weapons so their unwieldy and unconventional features become assets. Maybe I'm just too used to Pathfinder and it's not a normal thing outside of that system.

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>>98661037
>6 revenants
this is a bad idea
Who the fuck is playtesting these modules?

>>98660881
>>98661042
There's a class which focuses on punching people. There really should be a better option for this than just tavern brawler and Magic Weapon.

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Lore question that came up in the other thread ( >>98658847 ) does Owlbear have cloaca or asshole?

>>98661306
cloaca, they are bear shaped owls

>>98661037
Bunch of low-HP enemies packed in a small room? Sounds like an attempt to bait out a spell slot for a Fireball or other AoE.

>kuo-toa PC rules
One step closer to sahuagin.

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>>98659867
>>98659901
I feel like the Young Green Dragon would last like two-three rounds against the party (and especially somewhat optimized Paladin).
They already defeated CR 8 enemy last session, and they had little trouble doing so. (But they had an advantage and I might have played the enemy like retard.)

But I agree that dragon's breath with average damage 56 could easily one-shot most PCs.

What if I used the Young Red Dragon anyway, and just toned down its breath damage? And perhaps gave it 1 use of Legendary Resistance instead?

Thoughts on playing a reborn that's literally just a skeleton, no meat or anything? Even would have to write down his bone puns on a writing tablet because no lungs to talk

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As a player character, should you ever negotiate with terrorist NPCs? In the game I am currently playing in, a NPC has been terrorizing major locales in the area via some sort of remote earth quake voodoo magic bullshit. He got the coordinates of the Monastery that my Paladin grew up in and threatened to seismic quake the whole place if the party doesn't hand over some sort of magic amulet. Apparently the amulet has a shard of power from some sort of eldritch being we haven't discovered yet. In my head I am thinking "Why would I ever negotiate with a terrorist?" Because if we hand over the amulet, what if he earth quakes my monastery anyway? I have no way to tell if he really won't do it or not. So I am very much leaning towards "Blow up the Monastery and I will never leave you alone until you die." What would you do?

>>98661949
minor illusion would let him speak

>>98662428
what’s the point of negotiating with someone you cannot trust to keep their word?

>>98661777
What's the party composition? Do they know what kind of dragon is it? They are already accounting for breath weapon in tactic, maybe let them figure out fire protection on their own?

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>>98662428
If you give up and do what they asked for, they will know they have a lever on you and can use it again in future. That's reason why states have policy of not negotiating with terrorists.

Then again, just negotiating (as in talking) with them is still useful, because it can buy you time, or maybe some intel on them.

The way you describe this, I would be leaning towards not giving up the amulet.

>>98662659
Why don't you just cast Web or Sleep and leave the damage to the martials? wizardboy?

>>98662630
>What's the party composition?
Sorcerer (spells include Web, Command, Scorching Ray, Fly, Fireball)
Optimized Paladin with Greatsword.
Unoptimized dexterity Fighter.

>Do they know what kind of dragon is it?
They know it is a black dragon. But I intend to repaint the statblock to use acid damage anyway -just trying to find fitting statblock to repaint. I don't think they have any way to counter acid damage specifically.

>>98662703
Let them buy potions of resistance or better yet, spellwrought tattoos with Absorb Elements. The tattoo is IMO better, because it only works against one breath and takes a reaction, while the potion is a resistance for an hour.
Better yet, don't let them have enough for the entire party, so they may want to bait the dragon to use the breath on the one resistant target (the fighter, probably, as he's got the best Dex save)

>>98645965
Eldritch Knight is the strongest Fighter.

>Cleric
You are the chosen one by a deity, they give you power because you are accomplishing or working towards a goal they want completed. It does not matter if you worship them or not- you are given power. The powers once given cannot be removed.

>Warlock
You sacrifice something (Time, body, persons, soul(s), tasked with something, money, items, emotions, etc) and your continued prolong commitment to a Pact that will continue to feed you power given to you by a Powerful Non-God entity. If the warlock breaks their Pact or fails at upholding their commitments, their powers bottleneck and cannot grow any further, depending on the Pact itself, they may even lose their powers if the Pact says they do.

>Paladin
You swear an Oath- a deity hears this and your powers are on layaway based on if you upkeep your oath. If you break your oath you lose your Oath Specific abilities and are changed to a different Oath relevant to your new actions and ideals or you simply lose your Oath Specific abilities until atoned.

>Sorcerer
You gained your powers from your birth, magical event, a creature, pact, or deity. Once the powers are obtained, they are innate and grow within the Sorcerer regardless of the creature, pact, or deity. These powers cannot be bottlenecked or removed, and can be passed down via offspring.

>>98662809
What do you think about this? Human EK Fighter + Magic Initiate (Druid).
Fighting Style: Dueling + Shillelagh. Weapon: quarterstaff for Topple, with a shield in the other hand.
No idea what the general feats would be, though. GWM wouldn’t work with a quarterstaff. Maybe Polearm Master for extra damage?
I ran some calculations, and it starts out a little behind other Fighters in terms of damage, but you have 18 AC from the start and it gets considerably stronger as you level up.
That being said, it kind of annoys me how most of the builds I come up with end up depending on an extra feat from Human.

What's a fun level 1 fight that isn't just goblins

I'm thinking of two giant frogs jumping the players with two mephits as backup, maybe the frog tries to swallow a gnome NPC on the first turn

>>98663211
Level 1 fights are always a crapshoot. one monster crit and its now a TPK. I'd advise just do the goblins.

>>98662925
>Druid
Dude weed XD lmao

>>98658771
Isn't the whole point of making it adults only because slavery and all that shit will be featured?

>>98655061
Conjurer suffers the curse of trying to find a balance where the Player feels useful and has fun while the DM doesn't get auto-aggressive because there's now another thing on the table to consider

>>98663211
If you want to spice things up, I'd suggest focusing more on CR 1/8 monsters to help fill out the ranks, which gives you more room to include a more novel CR 1/4 or 1/2 monster that can be more of a star.

Traps and terrain are also often at their best. Putting a pitfall trap in the middle of the battlefield may or may not catch a PC, but if the party spots it they get to have a fun moment where they can try to shove in the enemies.

>>98662925
>The powers once given cannot be removed.
It surprised me that in 5.5e they made it so a Cleric's god cannot remove their powers or limit them. Cursing your god out then throwing out magic is canon.

>Gods and Divine Magic
>Divine magic—which includes the spells cast by Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers—is mediated through beings and forces that are categorized as divine. These can include gods but also include the primal forces of nature, the beneficent power of ancestral spirits, the sacred weight of a Paladin's oath, and impersonal principles or entities such as Fate or the order of the universe. These beings and forces grant characters the power to wield the magic of their planar domains.

>For game purposes, wielding divine power isn't dependent on the gods' ongoing approval or the strength of a character's devotion. The power is a gift offered to a select few; once given, it can't be rescinded.

>That said, characters' relationships with the divine forces they access to wield their magic, much like Warlocks' relationships with their patrons, are ripe for exploration. A Cleric might accompany every casting of a spell with a litany of complaints directed at the gods. The Paladin class description in the Player's Handbook offers some suggestions for how a player might roleplay a situation where their Paladin has broken their oath. You can also decide how NPCs react to a character whose behavior doesn't square with the ideals implied by the Holy Symbol the character wears.
>>98663440
Druids and Rangers are considered divine casters too, they just get their power from primal/nature forces.

humans are explorers
halflings are brave
dwarves value defense and protection
elves are creatures of longevity
orcs are all about kinship within the tribe
gnomes chase mastery of a subject

and then you have tiethlings and aaisamars, which are just... What even are these things meant to be. Why are they in the game. They have no 'thing' like what I just listed above. I hate them!

>>98664362
Teethlings are all about dental hygiene, and Aasiamars are big on Eastern culture stuff.

>>98664369
You're just nailing down my hatred even further, that I don't care about them enough to bother remembering how their names are spelt.

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>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFOjr7YsMr8&list=RDOFOjr7YsMr8&start_radio=1

I love all the stuff AI is capable of doing for me in regard to these games. I've got an old school JRPG sheet for my dhampir laserllama monk.

currently working on a "dungeon" below a big casino, what sorts of unique stuff can i include to suit the setting? the basic structure is
>f1: main building, nothing too out of the ordinary
>b1: security and money management, the usual sort of backend. likely going to require stealth/trickery of some sort to navigate
>b2: hidden defence layer for the monster running the whole show, most dungeon-y section
>b3: boss lair
the party got a lead on some missing people and most signs point to the casino. the culprit is the secret boss monster, people that cheat or cant pay their debts or whatever get turned into nymphs and become staff all while the boss uses the gold coming from upstairs to bolster his power. i feel like theres a lot of room for fun setpieces given the setting, but i was never the best at making dungeons so any help or ideas would be much appreciated

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>>98665128
(weakened) treasure mimic. replace pseudo pods with more bites, reduce strength score to 1

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How can adventuring parties still be ambushed during a long rest if they maintain a rotating guard detail against evil?

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeEDWcdN9nM

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How can adventuring parties travel long distances when they don't have Freerent's rent free jeepney ride-sharing service?

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSmK6-O-0gk

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How come 6 is the magic number of characters during event scenes?

For example, it's always 6 with Critical Role
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ns_dTc9_vA

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blICu7KsmyA

>>98663211
Animated flying weapons are a suprise contender. High AC but just 3-10 damage. Could make them shortswords d6's or bigger axe d10's depending on your needs.
Bonus: It could be a magic item when you 'loot' a defeated one.

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How come the dungmaster (DM) in /5eg/ gets triggered yet again whenever I ask for feedback on rating Freerent's new and improved adventuring party?

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Moa19RapR8

>>98656042
Nothing about that implies you retain spellcasting. It says spell EFFECTS carry over, not spell ABILITY.

>>98665385
I was referring to the text of polymorph, not the thing I posted.

>>98665339
critical role 4? wtf? didn't 3 just come out? Did they TPK or something?

>>98665590
their third campaign ran from like 2022-2025 and ended without a tpk. the fourth one started about a year ago.

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Eberron question, was there ever a Warforged Colossus that was fully self-aware/conscious? I vaguely recall reading of one that is asking philosophical questions, questioning the meaning of reality, big thinker (moreso than a default Warforged), but looked like a complete murder machine.

May have been a homebrew but not sure.

High Elf Rogue, shortbow + Sneak Attack + True Strike.
17 CHA/WIS, 16 DEX, 14 CON, 10 in the other mental stat.
At level 4, I’d take Elven Accuracy and put the +1 into either CHA or WIS.
I assume CHA would be more fun during actual sessions, but mechanically WIS is stronger because it covers some of the more common saves.
Also, which subclasses (both legacy and 5.5e) dobyou think synergize best with this type of build?

>>98666797
Considering they were made up for 5e, there's basically nothing on them.

>>98665183
I'm a little retarded and wanted to confirm something about mimics in 5.5e. My understanding is that if it successfully surprises the party, it gets advantage on its initiative roll and the party gets disadvantage on theirs, but it otherwise doesn't get a free action to shapeshift into a form that can attack, correct? Or is the action of shapeshifting what causes the combat to occur, so it gets that action in before initiative is taken?

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>>98666797
Warforged is my favorite race in Dungeons and Dragons. Back when I first played the MMORPG RF Online, I had fondness with the Accretia race, which were originally a fully biological race, but due to their world's environment getting harsher, they have evolved themselves to become cyborgs. The quote often cited about Accretians is "flesh is weak", but I believe this is the wrong, maybe even shallow, view about them, rather it's CONSTANT EVOLUTION. As a DnD plot device, maybe there's an organization dedicated to fending off a world destroying threat, ala. The Night's Watch in Game of Thrones, but the environment had become very hostile, ala. Chernobyl or Fukushima, and they've resorted to the creation of magical cyborg warriors and ninjas, ala. Warforged and Accretia, to better combat the forces of evil. My idea was that each Warforged would be imbued with the souls of multiple individuals with high spirit sync who volunteered be commandeer the soul vessels, much like how the Jaegers in Pacific Rim had two pilots to operate the giant mech, though these Warforged have a more manageable size role-playing-wise, usually maybe around 9 feet tall or more, ala Spacemarines from Warhammer 40K, or maybe around average humanoid size.

Also an improvement of the design is that the souls would be bound to the magical sap refined from an ancient tree. It's not the material of the vessel itself that they are bound to, but rather the magical sap that forms a network in the vessel much like the nervous system in biological creatures or the electrical circuitry in robots. This enables further upgrades and various configurations ala. 2B from Nier Automata.

>>98668180
if you're the DM, just make it a bonus action. that monster block was made pre 2024

>>98661777
What strategy could they come up with to get him out of the water? Assuming he emerges, breathes poison, submerges himself and attacks from a new position. He can use logs or crocodiles as decoys. They are going to need readied actions in order to accomplish anything, all while trudging through difficult terrain, swimming or sailing through his lair which is naturally going to clump them up. If you don’t want them to have a chance of beating him then simply say he makes the save and flies or swims away. It seems like you are overthinking this.

>>98668180
>doesn't get a free action to shapeshift into a form that can attack
It can attack in either form.

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Warrior of the Mystic Arts as an Air Bender

>Arcane Focus
Quarterstaff
>Cantrips
Blade Ward
Sorcerous Burst
Elementalism or Gust
>1st Level Spells
Thunderwave
Jump
Shield
Feather Fall
>2nd Level Spells
Shatter
Levitate
Gust of Wind
Warding Wind
>3rd Level Spells
Cacophonic Shield
Thunder Step
Fly
Haste
>4th Level Spells
Storm Sphere

Thoughts?

>>98670132
If teleporting is too much- Cloud of Daggers can replace it. Flavor it like a small razor wind twister.

>>98646285
Revisiting that thought, it doesn't seem that likely that Keith Baker forgot to consider it.
Changeling cameo with attunement would indeed make sense logic wise, but the way it is without it seems balanced enough.

do you guys think this is a good character hook for a dnd adventure from lvl 1-6?

'your character is cursed, what that curse entails and how/when you got it is up to you, but it's a dire one that you'd risk your life to lift. Now, you've heard news of a man who is gathering others like you on a mission to lift the curses affecting you all'

(this won't be a mechanical curse that affects gameplay in any way, and can't be lifted by the level 3 spell remove curse)

>>98672777
Basically how Baldurs Gate 3 starts. Shouldn't they all have the same curse?

>>98672786
its also very similar to wild beyond the witchlight and tomb of annihilation, i've been told

but I really want to make an opening that the every single player will genuinely care about, not just the characters, and i'm finding that quite tricky

I like to print out NPC monster stat blocks, but I can't find a nice aesthetic looking template to do so. Anyone have any?

>playing with a paid group

>my character hears someone calling for help in a snowstorm.
>"hey guys maybe we should see if we can help them?"
>cleric says it might just be the wind playing tricks on me
>barbarian says whoever is calling for help is already too weak to survive in the time it takes to get to them
>wizard claims he cast divination magic and sees nobody is out there
>okay

>daughter of mayor begs us to get medicine for father.
>"hey guys i found the medicine lets give it to the daughter"
>cleric claims god probably struck father with sickness because he was wicked
>barbarian says medicine is for the weak
>wizard claims I don't know whether the cure is even a cure, and I could be giving poison to a hysterical daughter, or she may be a hag in disguise
>I give it to the daughter in secret in dead of night, mayor is saved

>mayor's building on fire, daughter shouts she can't get out because skeletons are attacking her, mayor begs us to rescue her
>"hey guys maybe we should help her?"
>cleric says we have too much important work to do, and above table says he wants to long rest to get his spells back in case there is a bigger combat later
>wizard demands I answer whether I have the moral certainty to murder skeletons who may be alive and good and who could be getting revenge for past wrongs of the mayor's bloodline
>barbarian barricades the door and windows and warns he'll grapple me away if I try to enter
>i manage to save the daughter by climbing up the roof and grappling down the chimney

>mayor asks if my companions can be trusted
>i tell him they're all basically a bunch of psychopaths, give examples of their insanity, say i'm there to mitigate how much damage they cause along the way
>"What the fuck?!"
>redcard notification
>barbarian tries to argue this is a clear cause for pvp (his character is not in the room and cannot hear us)
>wizard bursts out "Who died and made you the grand poobah of being a fucking little cunt bitch?!"

>>98673622
Lots of paid games are available, your group sounds terrible to play with or DM for.

>>98673622
I would watch a show based on this party. Lol.

>>98673605
pencil
paper

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Reading this section of the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan:

Rolling Stone Trap. A millstone, concealed in the wall behind a layer of stucco, lies at the top of the steps. No nonmagical means can detect the hidden stone. If the trap is triggered, the mechanism pushes the millstone through the wall and sends it rolling down the stairs. When this occurs, anyone who has a passive Perception score of 14 or lower is surprised. Everyone rolls initiative, including the stone, which has a +10 bonus to the roll. On its turn, the stone moves 60 feet. Anyone in its path must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 27 (5d10) bludgeoning damage and have a 50 percent chance to drop anything carried in hand. A character whose saving throw fails by 5 or more takes maximum damage, is knocked prone, and drops anything held in hand. Dropped objects take damage from hitting the stone and end up somewhere on the stairs.

Now by the rules of Breaking Objects and if they fail their Dex save, it sounds like whatever they're holding ought to get broken but my players all have magic weapons and shit and would be very pissed if their magic weapon got destroyed by a rolling rock. Is there some sort of middle ground here? I don't want to take away a feature of the trap because they'll get pissy but I also think that 'whelp your magic weapon is destroyed' is a bit too much.

>>98673622
Sounds like the DM was glad you called them out on their bullshit.

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>>98673706
Magic items have resistance to all damage, but even if they are resilient (as weapons should be) that may still not enough to tank the damage. It also depends on the weapon in question... a warhammer may get its haft broken, but the head will be fine, a whip would be unharmed, a sword would probably be fucked.

>First time DMing
>Have fun designing dungeons and encounters
>Things seem to balance pretty well with CR and stuff
>Party finally hits Level 5
>Suddenly they're destroying even Lethal level CR encounters with ease
>RP is no longer interesting because of how high their bonuses are, rolls are almost always successes
>No point in traps because their Passive Perception is so high they auto spot everything
>Resorting to greater levels of HP bloat
I'm starting to lose the fun that I had DMing for them at lower levels. 1-2 was so fucking fun, 3 was alright, 4 was meh, and 5 has been a nightmare.

We began including a durability system into the game. WEapons have varying degrees of quality which can be improved. Weapons can also break without proper maintenance at blacksmiths. It's simple but has added a lot of depth to our games. Now there's a reason to stock up on weapons. It's been awesome.

>>98674233
The DCs of traps and things shouldn't have spiked that high. It's going from +2 to +3 in terms of proficiency, and at best +3 to +4 for ability mod. That's a +2 increase in total, or roughly a 10% increase assuming the DC hasn't changed, which it reasonably should.

The other power spikes are more expected, since characters are either making twice as many attacks or have unlocked more powerful 3rd level spells. In my experience you pretty much have to start using CR as a much looser guideline because PCs can start handling much more deadly encounters. Especially if you've been handing out any half-decent magic items.

>>98674233
Start taking into consideration the environment. Even a light fog or haze lightly obscures the area giving players disadvantage to perception checks. At level 5 it's okay for them to run into dc 20 and 25 skill checks. Don't go for go bloat, go for more monsters that do crowd control on the players. You want to give your players a challenge and feel as if they breeze through you aren't giving them that.

>>98673622
And some how you're still the biggest retard in the group. Why would you play in a game like this, let alone pay for it?

>>98674233
call me crazy but dnd gets really fucking boring after level 6 and I can't really tell you why

>>98674531
I can think of two reasons you might feel that way.
1. You get too powerful
2. You're ready for the next campaign with a fresh character

My current campaign is at lvl8 and I do feel a little desire to go to my next character.

>doing a dumping ground of the multiverse campaign, make a cager thiefling
>take gate warden as the origin, outland scion of the outer planes
>then infernal tiefling trait
I have resistance to psychic and fire damage off chargen? Seems fucking busted. Just for trying to make a cutter who stepped through the wrong portal.

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https://5e.tools/book.html#au,5,stathash-lucky%20foot_au
At higher levels, you pay 40 gp per natural 1 on a saving throw or an ability check you want to reroll. That does not seem bad.

https://5e.tools/book.html#au,5,stathash-orb%20of%20sorcery_au
Seems totally pointless when the bloodwell vial exists.

https://5e.tools/book.html#au,5,stathash-thespian's%20playbill_au
Add Charisma modifier to most Intelligence checks for knowledge as an uncommon (attunement) item.

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>>98675229

https://5e.tools/adventure.html#aud,8,stathash-eyes%20of%20deceit_aud
+5 Charisma (Deception), no attunement needed. Uncommon.

https://5e.tools/adventure.html#aud,8,stathash-ring%20of%20candor_aud
+5 Wisdom (Insight) and 1/dawn Zone of Truth, no attunement needed. Uncommon.

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Anyone familiar with Auroboros? It was made by Warchief Gaming, started in part by Chris Metzen of Blizzard fame, I guess it's a campaign setting for 5E that was crowdfunded to print.
I'm curious what people think of it.

>>98663211
>mephits
>at level 1
Are you nuts? Those things explode when they die!

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>>98675347

https://5e.tools/book.html#au,5,stathash-boon%20companions'%20bands_au
Uncommon, no attunement. 1/dawn ally friendliness for an ally-unfriendly ability or spell.

https://5e.tools/adventure.html#aud,8,stathash-sniper's%20bracelet_aud
From adventure, common, attunement. Bracelet that turns into a ranged weapon (only one weapon form per bracelet), or back again, with a Magic action. Produces its own ammunition, which is explicitly magical.

I've been looking through the monster manual (2014) for low CR monsters with interesting abilities to build encounters around.
>Jackalwere CR 1/2 - sight based sleep condition on failed Wis save
>Darkmantle CR 1/2 - can attach to target, blinding them, suffocating them, and gaining all the benefits of grappling without it counting as grappling
>Crawling Claw CR 0 - can be made from the hand of a living person, reattaching to the arm for infiltration and automatically putting them in a coma when it detaches again
>Gray Ooze CR 1/2 - corrodes metal, allowing it to eat through 2 inches of solid steel in 6 seconds
>Gas Spore CR 1/2 - 1hp and explodes upon death, pass a Con save or get poisoned, poisoned creatures auto-die in 1d12 + Con hours and spawn more gas spores
These things seems stupidly busted.

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A major plot point of the Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall adventure is some horde of "malefites," which is to say, undead infused with demonic/Abyssal power. However, they simply use regular undead statistics blocks and gain nothing extra.

If the 20th-level party fails to stop the villain, an "army of malefites kills thousands," which does not exactly seem like a 20th-level threat in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, the whole adventure seems more thematically in line with level 3 to 12 than level 11 to 20.

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Will you be buying Glasya's book?

>>98676578
I might. I do like buying 3rd party books. The last one I bought was the Monster Manual Expanded and I've used it quite a bit.

One of the players contracted a disease that will ultimately lead to vampirism if left untreated. However, I think having the cure for this preliminary stage disease be a simple tonic/remedy/potion is kinda boring. Any leads on how to make curing it/reversing it more interesting?

>>98676578
>Glasya
I'm loyal to Fierna.

Thoughts on this Hexer Arcane Knight build?
Human Farmer
Origin Feats: Tough + Shadowmoor Hexer
STR 17
DEX 10
CON 16
INT 8 (doesn’t matter much, since the 2024 EK has access to a lot of spells that don’t require INT, like Shield and rituals)
WIS 14
CHA 8
Level 4 feat: GWM, +1 STR
Level 6 feat: War Caster, +1 CON
Level 8 feat: ASI, +2 STR
Weapon: Maul
Basically, the build revolves around using Hex for the extra damage and then demolishing enemies with your huge bludgeoning weapon, knocking them down to give yourself advantage on your next attack."

>>98677057
>War Caster, +1 CON
I mean +1 wis

>>98675631
>Jackalwere
Great infiltrators. As long as they don't outnumber the party, the sleep gaze isn't much a problem, everyone should have at least 50% chance to save. The weapon immunity, though...
>Darkmantle
Nasty, and someone will probably go down. Still, not much of an issue unless there's a bunch of them.
>Crawling Claw
Whoever the claw was made out of was more dangerous than the clas, so I doubt the players will object if an enemy knock himself out for that.
>Gray Ooze
Nasty in melee, super easy to kill at range.
>Gas Spore
With AC 5, 1 HP and -5 to initiative, it has the dubious honor of being the easiest-to-kill thing in the game. More of a trap than a monster, really. As long as you keep your distance, it's harmless, but really nasty if you get up close.

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>surrounded by monsters at a crossroads
>north is just a bunch of slow and weak mooks that can be easily sidestepped with plenty of room to spare
>west is a two-layer chokepoint that has to pass right through the range of a giga death treant
>south is an invincible steamroller thats chasing us
>tell everyone to go north
>guy playing both himself and the absent character goes into the west path and basically forces us to follow lest we get separated
>tell him multiple times that the north path is best
>he gets caught by the treant and dies
>"wtf this is stupid i shouldnt have died the grapple is bullshit why didnt anyone help me?"
i wish i could feel bad. was there some bad luck involved? yes. but was there also an incredibly obvious path that i tried to lead him down a dozen times that would have avoided half the heartbreak? also yes

>>98676875
They have to kill the alpha vampire that caused the disease. Not the vampire that gave it to them, the Big Cheese vampire. Cue an adventure where your party hunts down vampires as you get closer to the original source and as you get closer the party member becomes more vampiric, even being offered a spot as the right hand man to the Alpha Vampire. I totally didn't steal this from that one Futurama episode with Bender turning into a were-car.

What defines a "living tree"? I ask because unless they mean every creature that resembles a tree i have no idea of what it means

>>98678171
In what context?

>>98678213
The stat block for Wood Woad, in the Tree Stride trait description

>>98678171
>>98678258
That's probably using the same logic as the Tree Stride spell then, where it is referring to any tree that is living. Contrasted by a tree that is dead.
So a normal tree, because plants can be living without being creatures.

It technically wouldn't disqualify an animate tree, and something like a Treant might qualify, but that's not what the spell/ability is asking for.

>>98678171
Any large or larger tree that is alive, doesn't matter if its a palm tree, elm tree, pine tree etc

>>98677302
>Whoever the claw was made out of was more dangerous than the clas, so I doubt the players will object if an enemy knock himself out for that.
I was thinking more that it's made from an important npc who the party desperately needs to NOT be in a coma.

>pg 8
>dead game
>dead thred

Should i assume the treasure tables in the DMG are balanced for 4 players?

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>>98677682
I think I also once saw a TV show about this same concept.

>>98681785
I haven't read the DMG in a long time. 5e works okay without magic items, they have a guide around rarity which is basically useless given some low rarity items are amazing and some high legendary ones are complete shit. If you want to be safe just give out potions and watch them hoard them like the greedy cunts they are.

>>98676578
Why does that orc look like an evil gorilla instead of a wholesome Latinx?! Was this book made by a nazi?

>>98681785
The rules for Treasure Hoards are already based on the CR of monsters, so a larger party that is having bigger battles with higher CR monsters involved should be finding bigger treasure hoards and thus more magic items, generally speaking.

That said, if you go by the 2024 book's tables for treasure hoards and magic items per level, the expectation seems to be that from levels 1-4, the players will need to find roughly 7 treasure hoards, in order for the average 1d4-1 items to tally up to the 11 magic items they're expected to find. Not counting any non-random items they receive.
That spikes up to 17 hoards (1d3 treasures totaling to 34 items) for 5-10; 12 hoards (1d4 for 30) at 11-16; and back to around 7 (1d6 for 25) at level 17+
For the bulk of the game, I think if you just tossed in an extra hoard or two per extra player, you'd probably still be on pace.

The other two things I'd say here is that magic items are only truly necessary in 2014 where a Fighter is going to have a bad time if they can't get even a basic magic sword to bypass damage immunities.
That said, players do still enjoy magic items, and I find they're a good way to help some PCs keep pace. Though that also means I'm typically giving out specific magic items rather than relying on a table.

I made a military archer type Goliath fighter using kibblestasty Spiritsworn subclass for a campaign going to level 20 in a sky pirate type world. I have sharpshooter with 19 Dex, alert origin feat and a lucky 16 in Str and Con making them all around decent physically. I have realized that lately they are swinging away in melee more often than I intended just as a result of positioning and their personality of being rough and tumble. There's a Eldritch Knight thats super difficult to hit with high ac, a lockadin shitting out damage with smites and a mercy monk that fits in elsewhere andnis useful...making my fighter feel lackluster overall.

Im about to hit level 6 and get a feat and I naturally want something to give me that last +1 to dex to max it at 20 early. Im unsure of what feat to get. Anyone got any advice for me to spice up the character and possibly give me an edge? We are going into a sword tournament and i know its not what ill excell at either way but the character is big on competition and is joining and aiming to win of course. She has a longsword scaling with dex and has a greataxe that adds proficiency to damage on hit as well but feels worse to use because 19 dex vs 16 str.

>>98679414
The source of the hand has to be a murderer, so...

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>>98676578
Is Bane canonically a K-pop idol?

>>98683942
What the fuck is this gay league of legends faggot shit?

>>98683942
>>98683968
Aren't there two Bane? Like the one that everyone knows and the one in 4e?

>>98683942
I reject this for now and for always.