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Aarakoca have flight, so long as not wearing medium or heavier armor, and a slashing unarmed attack. Deep Gnomes get the usual gnome advantage on Int, Wis, Cha saves vs Magic, but also get advantage on stealth in rocky environments, and 120 ft darkvision. Hmm other than the stat increase I am not seeing much in the Genasi base race. Each genasi gets to cast at least one spell once per day, using Constitution. Two get a cantrip as well, again using Constitution. Air can hold its breath as long as it wants so long as it isn't incapacitated. Earth seems weak to me, Air is kind of meh but can at least hold its breath as long as it wants. Fire and Water seem better, both with the spells they can cast and having some resistance, Water's ability to breathe water and air is not quite as good as Air's hold breath but not that much weaker and it gets a bunch of other stuff Air doesn't. So we got a ton of new spells, but no alternate class Archetypes? What?
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Mar 10, 2015 17:46
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Can hold its breath while it's not incapacitated. Was "doesn't need to breathe" deemed too powerful?
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Mar 10, 2015 17:56
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goatface posted:Can hold its breath while it's not incapacitated. Warforged don't need to, so . ..
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Mar 10, 2015 18:00
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At least it's not "acts as though under the effect of X spell" I suppose
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Mar 10, 2015 18:08
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Reading through the spells beast bond seems pretty useful, telepathy with an animal you charmed or friendly + advantage if you are next to a bad guy, catapult is ripe for "Creative use" (fling an object 5lbs/spell level 90 feet in a straight line). Dust devil makes a great corridor blocker too. Skeleton squad just got better too, wizards can snap bad guys out of the air to remove hit and run with Earthbind (Str save or flight speed is reduced to 0 and you start falling 60 ft a round). Better news, you can now enchant your skeleton squads arrows with fire, extra D6 of damage per arrow for 12 arrows for a 3rd level slot. Stormgale fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Mar 10, 2015 |
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Mar 10, 2015 18:21
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Ryuujin posted:So we got a ton of new spells, but no alternate class Archetypes? What?  edit for actual content: I think the bad martial archetypes have set the bar so low, that we're setting ourselves up for "3.5 ToB/Bo9S syndrome" where anything that's better than the existing baseline is considered overpowered and inevitably gets banned by DMs. P.d0t fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Mar 10, 2015 |
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Mar 10, 2015 19:08
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Someone elsewhere, in IRC I believe, had mentioned wanting to play 5e Dark Sun. And I am all for that. There was also mention of just taking someone else's homebrew for it instead of building their own. And look what I found on the WotC Dark Sun forums. Also Half-Giant Monk 
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Mar 10, 2015 23:32
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That blurb for Elemental Evil products at the end of the Player's Companion is almost kind of a downer. What comes next? Not any D&D RPG books, that's what.
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Mar 11, 2015 07:47
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I'm glad to see Gensai back - 4th made them really common in Forgotten Realms by making a mess of Calimshan so I assume they'd be more at home there than say Tieflings would be. I wonder when they'll release new ranger archetypes since they did say they wanted to (because everyone hates them).
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Mar 11, 2015 15:43
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Is there a printer-friendly version of that Elemental Evil PDF anywhere?
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Mar 11, 2015 20:34
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AlphaDog posted:I'm not arguing against the idea that D&D is "won" when everyone has a good time. That's what I think too. I know this is from last page, but I think this is a really interesting question. I think allowing for character optimization and what not is part of making everyone have a good time. As a DM, you want to set clear rules about character building and combat with the expectation that some players will enjoy character creation and combat by optimizing themselves within those rules. If you constrict your players too much, you ruin part of the fun of 3.5's expansive rules, which some people enjoy "exploiting." If you constrict the players too little, you ruin part of the fun for people who want to play pretend and have have to worry too much about rules. In other words, "playing to win" can be a legit goal of one player, but he is only able to do so at the mercy of the DM, who will control the game to make that specific player's goals compatible with everyone else's. "Everyone having a good time" is another way of saying that every player has something they want to get out of an experience and the DM's goal is to try to simultaneously allow every player to reach that goal in a convincing and fun way.
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Mar 11, 2015 20:48
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When we started our campaign I complained that 5e was poorly balanced, but no one in our play group would believe me. Now that we are level 5, our monk is starting to complain about how bad his class is. Tonight's session ended with our sorcerer just bypassing an encounter by destroying like a dozen blights and their tree with a single fireball.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:05
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mango sentinel posted:When we started our campaign I complained that 5e was poorly balanced, but no one in our play group would believe me.  This is the kind of post this thread needs.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:22
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mango sentinel posted:When we started our campaign I complained that 5e was poorly balanced, but no one in our play group would believe me. Punt a twig blight into the air for 1 bludgeoning damage (unarmed strike), plus 1d6 falling damage if you get it to go ten feet or further.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:46
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mango sentinel posted:Tonight's session ended with our sorcerer just bypassing an encounter by destroying like a dozen blights and their tree with a single fireball. He wasted a fireball on CR1/8th twig blights? Worst sorcerer.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:48
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ritorix posted:He wasted a fireball on CR1/8th twig blights? Worst sorcerer. EDIT: browsing around the MM for the first time I can see why. Most of these CR 5 monsters could potentially murder one of us per turn. mango sentinel fucked around with this message at 07:34 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 07:31
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From my understanding, a CR 5 monster is not meant to be used against a level 5 party. It essentially counts as 5 levels for an encounter's XP budget. Normally you'd build up something like a group of 5 CR 1 monsters to fight a level 5 party.
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Mar 12, 2015 07:47
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Dick Burglar posted:From my understanding, a CR 5 monster is not meant to be used against a level 5 party. It essentially counts as 5 levels for an encounter's XP budget. Normally you'd build up something like a group of 5 CR 1 monsters to fight a level 5 party. Nah, one CR 5 monster is meant to be able to be fought by a 4 person level 5 party.
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Mar 12, 2015 07:50
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mango sentinel posted:When we started our campaign I complained that 5e was poorly balanced, but no one in our play group would believe me. Even after I had attempted to re-do monster statting to something with a more solid mathematical basis, I just came to accept that spells didn't really have a power progression that was consistent enough to be worth the time and effort to consider. Dick Burglar posted:From my understanding, a CR 5 monster is not meant to be used against a level 5 party. It essentially counts as 5 levels for an encounter's XP budget. Normally you'd build up something like a group of 5 CR 1 monsters to fight a level 5 party. A CR 5 can be used against five level 5 players as a solo monster. It's CR-4 monsters that can be used on a man-to-man basis.
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Mar 12, 2015 09:25
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That right there is why it is so baffling to me why they designed CR in the way that they did. Common sense would make you to think: "X Number of Y Leveled PCs = X Number of Y Leveled Enemies", so naturally you would immediately think that 4 CR5 Monsters are an even challenge for 4 Level 5 PCs. It is the most common mistake I see next to not rolling critical hit damage correctly (Which I actually admit I don't know if they changed for 5E. How is Critical damage determined in 5E?). I sat in on a game a few weeks ago where the GM had supposedly been running 3.5 for YEARS (They apparently refuse to run anything else) and the very first encounter was almost a complete TPK. Sure enough, when I asked to see the encounter that they insisted had been properly built, they had made that EXACT mistake. It had a set up of 8 CR9 enemies against 8 Level 9 PCs. I'm completely mystified how the lone PC that DIDN'T get outright curb stomped actually survived, especially since the party didn't have a single caster in it. I'm guessing it had something to do with the party size already being kind of over the limits. Oh, it was also a two day session for that one fight. Took ten hours for it to complete, and that isn't an exaggeration. I wasn't present for the second half of that "encounter", though, that was just a report from one of the players.
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Mar 12, 2015 14:03
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Agent Boogeyman posted:That right there is why it is so baffling to me why they designed CR in the way that they did. Common sense would make you to think: "X Number of Y Leveled PCs = X Number of Y Leveled Enemies", so naturally you would immediately think that 4 CR5 Monsters are an even challenge for 4 Level 5 PCs. It is the most common mistake I see next to not rolling critical hit damage correctly (Which I actually admit I don't know if they changed for 5E. How is Critical damage determined in 5E?). The rule from the free rule set is: (oh hey what do you know trying to paste from the PDF results in 100% garbage characters) quote:Critical Hits
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Mar 12, 2015 14:15
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Agent Boogeyman posted:That right there is why it is so baffling to me why they designed CR in the way that they did. Common sense would make you to think: "X Number of Y Leveled PCs = X Number of Y Leveled Enemies", so naturally you would immediately think that 4 CR5 Monsters are an even challenge for 4 Level 5 PCs. I think this may have been the way 3rd Edition encounter building was done? Fake Edit: Yup: D&D 3.5 Edition Dungeon Master's Guide, page 48 posted:A monster’s Challenge Rating (CR) tells you the level of the party for which that monster is a good challenge. A monster of CR 5 is an appropriate challenge for a group of four 5th-level characters Agent Boogeyman posted:It is the most common mistake I see next to not rolling critical hit damage correctly (Which I actually admit I don't know if they changed for 5E. How is Critical damage determined in 5E?). If you roll a nat 20 on your attack roll, it's an automatic hit, and is a critical hit. Roll your damage dice twice, and then add flat modifiers.
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Mar 12, 2015 14:24
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Fuschia tude posted:(oh hey what do you know trying to paste from the PDF results in 100% garbage characters)
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Mar 12, 2015 14:26
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So pretty much identical to 3E's crit damage rolls. The confusing part about those was whenever you saw "crit" in the weapons' table it read "x2" or "x3" and some poo poo, which unless you found the one instance for the actual rule you'd immediately correlate to "Roll once, then multiply the result", not "Roll the dice X number of times where X is the crit number".
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Mar 12, 2015 14:30
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It's worth noting that 5e crits are extremely flaccid, being worth less then a second attack entirely, due to not stacking modifiers. This is one of the reasons the Champion archtype manages to be both boring and lovely! In 3e you would at least count your modifiers to each roll, and in 4e you'd maximize your damage and then add the equivalent of a second attack (albeit without modifiers). In 5e, it's literally just the same as having a single extra [W] to that one attack, not even fully doubling your damage. This means any class built around crit-fishing is going to fall behind dramatically in damage. Don't worry though, non-spellcasters don't crit, they only get crit, so this is sincerely just an overall buff to them. Of course. Of course.
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Mar 12, 2015 14:53
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ProfessorCirno posted:Of course. Of course.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:21
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ProfessorCirno posted:It's worth noting that 5e crits are extremely flaccid Didn't we figure out that they did this because doing anything else made crits too powerful for monsters? Because a PC crit and an NPC crit have to work exactly the same, right? 
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Mar 12, 2015 15:30
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ProfessorCirno posted:In 5e, it's literally just the same as having a single extra [W] to that one attack, not even fully doubling your damage. Eh, Rogue's Sneak Attack and Paladin's Smite get doubled on a crit as well...but that's about it. Assassin Rogue would be the only character to crit with any reliability and also get good damage out of it. P.d0t posted:Didn't we figure out that they did this because doing anything else made crits too powerful for monsters? And yet, there are still monsters that can kill (not down, kill) PCs on a crit.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:41
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Generic Octopus posted:And yet, there are still monsters that can kill (not down, kill) PCs on a crit. Eh, I've seen PCs get crit at low level and usually not die outright; not saying it isn't possible though. I'm more worried about monsters that get to attack 3 times when PCs are still only attacking once, because really, what is that? I mean, it's not as bad as facing a real nasty spellcaster (just Dodge and pray) but it also doesn't make for really fun combat either.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:45
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Let's play a game called: Which one is from D&D Next? 1. quote:Orcs with crossbows, behind cover, firing down at the PCs while the characters cross a narrow ledge over a pit full of spikes are much more dangerous than the same orcs being engaged in hand-to-hand combat in some tunnel. Likewise, if the PCs find themselves on a balcony, looking down at oblivious orcs who are carrying barrels of flammable oil, the encounter is likely to be much easier than if the orcs were aware of the PCs. quote:An encounter can be made easier or harder based on the choice of location and the situation. Increase the difficulty of the encounter by one step (from easy to medium, for example) if the characters have a drawback that their enemies don’t. Reduce the difficulty by one step if the characters have a benefit that their enemies don’t. Any additional benefit or drawback pushes the encounter one step in the appropriate direction. If the characters have both a benefit and a drawback, the two cancel each other out. 2. quote:A trap can be either mechanical or magical in nature. Mechanical traps include pits, arrow traps, falling blocks, water-filled rooms, whirling blades, and anything else that depends on a mechanism to operate. Magic traps are either magical device traps or spell traps. Magical device traps initiate spell effects when activated. Spell traps are spells such as glyph of warding and symbol that function as traps quote:A trap can be either mechanical or magic in nature. Mechanical traps include pits, arrow traps, falling blocks, water-filled rooms, whirling blades, and anything else that depends on a mechanism to operate. 3. quote:DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is a fantasy game, but that broad category encompasses a lot of variety. Many different flavors of fantasy exist in fiction and film. Do you want a horrific campaign inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith? Or do you envision a world of muscled barbarians and nimble thieves, along the lines of the classic sword-and-sorcery books by Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber? Your choice can have a impact on the flavor of your campaign. quote:DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is a fantasy game, but that broad category has room for a lot of variety. Many different subgenres of fantasy exist in both fiction and film. Do you want a horrific campaign inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith? Or a world of muscled barbarians and nimble thieves, along the lines of the classic swords-and-sorcery books by Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber? The D&D game can handle either of these models, and many others. 4. quote:When their mentor disappears mysteriously, his young students must hunt down the oni that’s terrorizing the village. Accomplished heroes, masters of their respective martial arts, return home to free their village from a evil hobgoblin warlord. The rakshasa master of a nearby monastery is performing rituals to raise troubled ghosts from their rest. quote:When a sensei disappears mysteriously, her young students must take her place and hunt down the oni terrorizing their village. Accomplished heroes, masters of their respective martial arts, return home to free their village from an evil hobgoblin warlord. The rakshasa master of a nearby monastery performs rituals to raise troubled ghosts from their rest.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:56
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gradenko_2000 posted:Let's play a game called: Which one is from D&D Next? 1. a 2. b 3. b 4. b 
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Mar 12, 2015 16:32
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gradenko_2000 posted:Let's play a game called: Which one is from D&D Next? I'll bite: 1: b 2: a 3: too close to call 4: a Where are the others from, all D&D eds or just 3.5?
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Mar 12, 2015 16:36
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4a is definitely from 4th edition. It says powers instead of spells, and mentions both sliding and anime.
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Mar 12, 2015 16:46
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Red Metal posted:4a is definitely from 4th edition. It says powers instead of spells, and mentions both sliding and anime. Likewise, 1b mentions "encounters." Generic Octopus posted:3: too close to call 3b says "D&D can do all this!" which screams 5e to me. Whereas 3a says "this may impact your campaign." P.d0t fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 16:52
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Answers: 1A is from 3.5 1B is from Next - the mention of Easy and Medium difficulties is the giveaway. 2A is from Next 2B is from 3.5 3A is from 4E 3B is from Next 4A is from 4E - as was mentioned the shifting and squares and powers is a dead giveaway 4B is from Next
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Mar 12, 2015 16:59
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I'll play, with what I'm thinking as I answer them. I don't recognize any of these passages outright. 1 is choice B), because the advantage/disadvantage system in 5e specifically works around cancelling out and the text specifically references this. 2 is choice B), because it takes great pains to define and mention how you need to include spellcasters and this is a continuation of 5e's fellation of all things magic-user. 3 is choice B) because player choice is specifically mentioned in A) and the general phrasing of the last line seems more progressive. 5e is not a progressive product. 4 is choice B) and really easy because 4e terms are used in A) and also it of course B) fellates spellcasting and spell effects rather than mechanics. OF COURSE you have to teleport, you can't just be that much of a badass to do a flying leap kick. Edit: wow I was wrong about how much 5e fellates spellcasters. It IS better than 3.5!
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Mar 12, 2015 17:00
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Edit: wow I was wrong about how much 5e fellates spellcasters. It IS better than 3.5! And this is how it unites the editions 
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Mar 12, 2015 17:08
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I don't recognize any of them but I'll play. 1. B, because it mentions shifting difficulty from easy to medium. 5e has those difficulties, 4e has easy and standard, 3e uses easy and challenging. 2. A, because the other mentions hiring an NPC spellcaster. I think 3e gave prices for that but 5e doesn't. (Could be wrong though.) 3. Wow, copy-paste much? I guess... A, because it mentions choice. It strikes me as more of a 5e thing to say "DM's choice". Not confident on this one though. 4. B, because the other one mentions anime. Oh and shifting.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:15
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Sage Genesis posted:3. Wow, copy-paste much? I guess... A, because it mentions choice. It strikes me as more of a 5e thing to say "DM's choice". Not confident on this one though. I went with B because it replaced big words like 'encompass' and 'envision' with simpler phrases. Next is the least common denominator edition, after all.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:42
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mango sentinel posted:When we started our campaign I complained that 5e was poorly balanced, but no one in our play group would believe me. This is pretty much what happened last week in a 6th level "two-parter" being run by one of my best buds. Our party is my Mountain Dwarf Artificer Wizard, a [Variant] Human Paladin of Vengeance using Polearm Master, a [Variant] Human Fighter 5/Druid 1 (???) , and TWO [Variant] Human Open Hand Monks. Encounter 1: 12 "Worgs" charge us over a hill. The guys who were scouting (Fighter/Druid and one of the Monks) get murdered because they were in front and the GM rolled three crits. I cast Fireball and manage to catch every Worg in it, and they all drop, since they had 25HP each and I rolled pretty well on my 8d6. Encounter 2: "Hobgoblin Champion" on an Armored Worg with 2 "Hobgoblin Raiders" on Worgs. The Paladin gets his Pole-Arm Master reaction Attack, AND his two attacks and using Divine Smite on each one. Champion and his Worg mount are down from 2d10+1d4+6d8+12 damage in that round. Cue the Fighter/Druid and the Monks whining that their characters suck and that spells are unbalanced. FAKE EDIT: My face when I saw that someone built Fighter 5/Druid 1 
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Mar 13, 2015 01:14
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