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P.d0t posted:IIRC, gradenko mentioned that there's a variant rule in the DMG where SD recharge whenever you roll initiative... and there's also a variant rule where you roll initiative every round Uhhhh to be clear, I was referring to the high-level Battle Master ability that gives you back 1 SD every time you roll initiative, when combined with the variant rule that adopts AD&D-style initiative where your weapon type and/or declared action modifies your initiative, and then you roll initiative every round because your declared action every round changes what your initiative modifier will be. It was a rules-lawyery joke, because you've still got to slog through 14 levels of Fighter before you can get to it. The official variant rules are an Epic type of time passage where Short Rests are 5 mins and Long Rests are 1 hour, or a Gritty mode where Short Rests are 8 hours and Long Rests are 1 week.
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Jun 3, 2015 06:29
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odinson posted:Keep in mind that Hoard was written when some of the rules and monsters weren't fully developed and some things were lost between writers and the publisher. Here are a few links you should email the DM. Thanks for all this! I checked out the D&D Next for Newbies thread that Siivola recommended but I gave up after people started getting really vicious about whether or not centaurs are too dangerous or something, I didn't understand what the gently caress was going on but people seemed really butthurt and angry.
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Jun 3, 2015 09:55
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Keshik posted:Thanks for all this! I checked out the D&D Next for Newbies thread that Siivola recommended but I gave up after people started getting really vicious about whether or not centaurs are too dangerous or something, I didn't understand what the gently caress was going on but people seemed really butthurt and angry. One of 5e's weakpoints is monster construction: The stats of the monsters in the official Monster Manual in conjunction with the frailty of sub-level 3 PCs makes them out to be glass cannons: it's relatively easy to create a low-level encounter that'll result in a TPK or at least a couple of deaths/knockouts even for what's supposed to be an 'easy' encounter, but at the same time if the monsters roll poorly or the players roll well, the monsters are easily killed too, so the outcomes of combats are difficult to predict. The centaur was one of those outlier monsters that's particularly bad at having a good chance of one-shotting a PC. There is a procedure for creating your own monsters in the DMG, but it's so crazy and convoluted to be just about useless because you can't do it on the fly. You end up having to eyeball monster stats anyway, which was supposed to be what monster construction was supposed to save you from.
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Jun 3, 2015 15:28
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If you're DMing 5e you need to consciously have your monsters spread out their attacks. Conversely, you need to have enough meat shields in melee to eat those attacks. Monsters get multi-attack WAY before players do and even one lucky crit on a 3 attack volley means someone's at negative hit points. Trust me, I speak from repeated experience.
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Jun 3, 2015 15:35
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Generic Octopus posted:any class with spellcasting is great (Bard being the best)
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Jun 3, 2015 19:22
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People say bard is the best. Could someone break this down for me?
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Jun 3, 2015 19:36
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They're a skillmonkey like the Rogue, only with armor and full spellcasting(including heals) instead of Sneak Attack.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:01
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On top of that, there are two REALLY good Bard Archetypes. Lore College lets you poach spells from other classes earlier and more often, but Valor Bard gives you medium armor, shield, and military weapon proficiency (not like Bards didn't already have access to longswords, rapiers, and handcrossbows natively), plus a multi-attack by level 6. And of course all Bards are badass spell casters that can do all kind of badass spells anyways.
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Jun 3, 2015 21:03
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Also their skill monkey stuff lets them be the best at a huge variety of things usually given to other classes, like being the best grapplers.
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Jun 4, 2015 00:09
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They also improve rest healing and the chances their allies will hit via their class features, the latter of which especially is not to be discounted in a game that's about hitting a giant alpha strike.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:07
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:They also improve rest healing and the chances their allies will hit via their class features, the latter of which especially is not to be discounted in a game that's about hitting a giant alpha strike. Oh, and their primary stat is Dexterity, so they're usually high up in the initiative. Unless they polymorphed into a T. rex, in which case gently caress it because they're a T. rex.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:09
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Mecha Gojira posted:Oh, and their primary stat is Dexterity, so they're usually high up in the initiative. Unless they polymorphed into a T. rex, in which case gently caress it because they're a T. rex. I'm all about that
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Jun 4, 2015 01:16
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Mecha Gojira posted:Oh, and their primary stat is Dexterity, so they're usually high up in the initiative. Also, since initiative is a dexterity skill check that doesn't add your proficiency bonus, I'm pretty sure "jack of all trades" lets you add half your proficiency bonus to it as well.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:25
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I'm pretty sure Initiative is its own mechanic and not actually an ability check, but considering how poor 5E's writing is I would totally believe it can be interpreted that way.
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Jun 4, 2015 02:10
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Kurieg posted:even one lucky crit on a 3 attack volley means someone's at negative hit points.
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Jun 4, 2015 02:39
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Dick Burglar posted:I'm pretty sure Initiative is its own mechanic and not actually an ability check, but considering how poor 5E's writing is I would totally believe it can be interpreted that way. quote:Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order.
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Jun 4, 2015 02:46
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FRINGE posted:You dont roll for them individually? You do, but level 1 hit points are so low that a single crit means you're basically dead. If all three attacks hit one person you're also probably dead.
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Jun 4, 2015 02:55
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Kurieg posted:You do, but level 1 hit points are so low that a single crit means you're basically dead. If all three attacks hit one person you're also probably dead.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:02
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 gently caress you, Mike Mearls.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:17
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Don't forget spamming Guidance before combat starts, so you can add a d4 to your initiative roll.  EDIT: Oh, and something I hadn't even thought of before I saw it in a game, a Lore Bard could also use their Cutting Words feature as a reaction to reduce an opponent's initiative roll. Vanguard Warden fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Jun 6, 2015 |
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Jun 4, 2015 03:56
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Mecha Gojira posted:Oh, and their primary stat is Dexterity, so they're usually high up in the initiative. Unless they polymorphed into a T. rex, in which case gently caress it because they're a T. rex. I just want to mention right here, that if you're any kind of weapon-using class, other than Barbarian or some kind of Paladin-MC, you can and probably should make DEX your primary.
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Jun 4, 2015 08:15
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The Crotch posted:Rangers are so bad that people don't even remember they exist when they make statements like this. Bards are powerful because Rangers exist. Without them, the Bard wouldn't be able to take their Swift Quiver spell that lets them fire off 4 arrows a round at level 10, where the Ranger doesn't get it until 17. Ya, it is sort of like the Bard punching the Ranger and taking his milk money. But I'm sure Bards have a spell which automates the actual punch-and-take process as well, so in the end everyone is happy.
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Jun 5, 2015 06:37
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Ever have that DM you only play with because they are your friend? We are doing a settle a town type game. We are level 2 now. This game has had 6 sessions over 2 months. Im trying to tell the DM to hurry up the XP, because goddamn. I'd like to once in my life have a character with two digit levels. Im trying to suggest a level about ever 3-4 sessions.
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Jun 6, 2015 03:34
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How long are your sessions? I'm DMing a game, and so far we did one session at level one, one session at level two. I'll probably do 2 sessions each for the next few levels and then maybe do three from then on out. I can't imagine anyone having fun spending any appreciable amount of time at low levels.
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Jun 6, 2015 04:27
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Mecha Gojira posted:Oh, and their primary stat is Dexterity, so they're usually high up in the initiative. Unless they polymorphed into a T. rex, in which case gently caress it because they're a T. rex. Also, use Cutting Words and Hex to nerf your opponents' initiative, whenever possible.
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Jun 6, 2015 06:36
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P.d0t posted:Also, use Cutting Words and Hex to nerf your opponents' initiative, whenever possible.  Whoa, I didn't think of this! Cutting Words is a reaction, so it should work. Definitely keeping note of this for the next time I play a bard. I'm curious how Hex would work for this, though. Initiative would be already be rolled before you can cast it in most cases unless you're using that variant rule where you roll initiative each round, right?
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Jun 6, 2015 07:11
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Do that poo poo before initiative while you're invisible, because ~MAGIC~
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Jun 6, 2015 07:24
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Always be ambushing. Surprise grants advantage, advantage is silly. edit - Ok, so really it's not the surprise that does it, it's the not being seen part, but w/e goatface fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Jun 6, 2015 |
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Jun 6, 2015 14:50
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winterwerefox posted:Ever have that DM you only play with because they are your friend? We are doing a settle a town type game. We are level 2 now. This game has had 6 sessions over 2 months. Im trying to tell the DM to hurry up the XP, because goddamn. I'd like to once in my life have a character with two digit levels. Im trying to suggest a level about ever 3-4 sessions. Who even uses XP in a modern D&D game, anyway? I just get my players to level whenever I'm bored with their powers or run out of interesting monsters to use at the current level. (Usually every two or three adventures)
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Jun 7, 2015 22:14
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The organised play does, and that's what a significant chunk of stuff seems built around supporting.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:16
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Gort posted:Who even uses XP in a modern D&D game, anyway? I just get my players to level whenever I'm bored with their powers or run out of interesting monsters to use at the current level. (Usually every two or three adventures) It took our current 4E DM a while to figure out that no one was even bothering to count the XP totals he gave out. Now it's taking him a while to figure out that people are rebuilding/bringing in different characters because we don't have inherent bonuses and he's not giving us money.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:17
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goatface posted:The organised play does, and that's what a significant chunk of stuff seems built around supporting. Every time I have heard about organised play it sounds like the least fun you could possibly have with a D&D set.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:19
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5e's core audience is AD&D->3e fans, who absolutely still use XP (Because AD&D). For them, XP is the "reward" you get for playing, as if the game were some kinda terrible slog that you only do for the chance to level up. Look at how many people say things like "if a player skips or misses a game, no XP for them!" Because they didn't earn it. As with so many things D&D, it's something that made sense in the dungeon crawler days where XP was literally your "score," and then carried into situations where it increasingly makes no sense.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:20
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My DM has chosen to reward XP only after the completion of milestones, or maybe after entire story arcs, rather than actually calculating anything. Which sounds like it should be a good thing, but has led to our party being level one for three sessions now, with no advancement in sight. Kill me.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:26
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Gort posted:Every time I have heard about organised play it sounds like the least fun you could possibly have with a D&D set. My experience is that for most participants, organised play usually teeters close to the line where no gaming > bad gaming. It's certainly been fairly close to it for me in the past, but nobody in my current group really has the time or motivation to DM a long-term original campaign, much as we'd all very much like to play in one.
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Jun 7, 2015 22:30
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Xp makes sense when different classes level at different rates
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Jun 7, 2015 22:33
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mastershakeman posted:Xp makes sense when different classes level at different rates
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Jun 7, 2015 22:48
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Each of the sessions have been about 3 hours long. But it has been all roleplay rather than combat, and roleplay isnt defined as giving xp, of course. 
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Jun 7, 2015 23:03
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mastershakeman posted:Xp makes sense when different classes level at different rates Yeah. Like I said, XP works in AD&D (different level requirements for XP and multiclassing built around XP) and OD&D/Basic (Gold = XP as a means of "keeping score" and highly variable XP payoffs). Those systems had XP built into them from the start. While 3e tried to do one or two things with XP (magic items cost XP, you gain XP faster if you're under level to the party), in general it was a vestigial limb, especially with late 3e and Pathfinder's push to adventure paths which would have highly regimented places for leveling up. 4e and 5e do absolutely nothing with XP but keep it there because, uh,
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Jun 7, 2015 23:40
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:It took our current 4E DM a while to figure out that no one was even bothering to count the XP totals he gave out. Now it's taking him a while to figure out that people are rebuilding/bringing in different characters because we don't have inherent bonuses and he's not giving us money. Judgement posted:My DM has chosen to reward XP only after the completion of milestones, or maybe after entire story arcs, rather than actually calculating anything. Which sounds like it should be a good thing, but has led to our party being level one for three sessions now, with no advancement in sight. Kill me. winterwerefox posted:Each of the sessions have been about 3 hours long. But it has been all roleplay rather than combat, and roleplay isnt defined as giving xp, of course. quote:SESSION-BASED ADVANCEMENT
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Jun 7, 2015 23:53
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