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ProfessorCirno posted:EDIT: "In our best games, we don't even pick up the die!" is so common, and so, so loving telling. As a guy who fuckin' love mechanics, I gotta tell you freeform roleplaying is a beast if you have enough people willing to give it a real go.
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Nov 6, 2017 03:48
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Free-form role playing is great! (With the right group and some other obvious caveats.) But forking out money to buy one of the more expensive roleplaying games just so you can do that is loving dumb. (Seriously : how much is a copy of Fiasco if that’s what you’re going to do anyway?)
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Nov 6, 2017 03:59
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Conspiratiorist posted:Wood Elf racial lets you attempt to hide when you're lightly obscured by natural phenomena like, you know, dim light.  Hang back and shoot faces isn't exactly what I had in mind, but yeah, that'll do the trick. I dunno if we'll be using a grid or what, but getting into light cover isn't generally that hard, so that's great. I'll talk to a couple of people about the haste combo, but it seems like I'll be able to pull off one big, accurate attack most rounds without it anyway. I guess I should keep up more with UA and with classes I don't generally play.
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Nov 6, 2017 04:08
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Dip a level of mystic for master of light and darkness to shoot from a darkness bubble you can see through or add nomadic arrow to never suffer disadvantage for missile attacks and reroll misses. Mystic is full of cheese if DM allows it.
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Nov 6, 2017 05:13
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Gharbad the Weak posted:As a guy who fuckin' love mechanics, I gotta tell you freeform roleplaying is a beast if you have enough people willing to give it a real go. Freeform IS great! Like I said, i think in truth there are a lot of people who seriously would prefer outright freeform roleplay, who've been tricked, mislead, whatever, into thinking they need all this other bullshit surrounding it - that they inevitably end up not using.
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Nov 6, 2017 06:09
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Any advice for a first time game playing a Paladin wrt fighting style and feats? I've been thinking of either trying duelist with sword and board, resilient feat for CON or great weapon fighting and feat for polearms.
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Nov 6, 2017 11:26
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Depending on how your DM interprets things, polearm master + sentinel + smites have some pretty good synergy. e: You want GWF and a halberd for that. I dunno about Resilient as a feat choice in general, but if you're gonna be a front line guy you could make much worse choices than extra con and con save proficiency. e: Go vengeance, use Vow of Enmity as your bonus action on the first round. Stand at reach, not adjacent. Get 2 attacks with advantage, smite with one. On the opponent's turn, they'll have to move either towards you or away from you, so use your reaction to hit them and reduce their speed to zero (sentinel). You can smite with that too, if you need them to die fast. Repeat until they fall over, but on the second and later turns, you use your extra attack from polearm master as your bonus action instead of Vow Of Enmity. If your DM disallows the stunlock thing, you've still got some good ways to use your reaction from both Sentinel and Polarm Master, and getting another hit in with your bonus action is good even though the damage is low. After 7th level, your Relentless Avenger gives you extra mobility to position yourself for OA on other targets if you want. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Nov 6, 2017 |
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Nov 6, 2017 11:35
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After taking Pact of the Chain, I learn my DM doesn't like familiars and won't allow usimg them for scouting. I still enjoyed using the imp as a distraction to give me advantage on my attacks, but I'm probably going to regret sticking with Chain instead of taking Tome instead, right?
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Nov 6, 2017 12:22
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az posted:Any advice for a first time game playing a Paladin wrt fighting style and feats? I've been thinking of either trying duelist with sword and board, resilient feat for CON or great weapon fighting and feat for polearms. Resilient [Constitution] is very good - CON saves are the most common type you'll find in the MM, and with Aura of Protection and decent CHA will be auto-passing Concentration checks or nearly so. Polearm Master is very strong on Paladins and I'd recommend that with either a Halberd + Defensive Fighting Style, or with a Quarterstaff+Shield and Dueling Fighting Style. It's a matter of whether you want Reach or better AC. So either/both of those two feats and then proceed to max your Strength out. PAM+Sentinel+Halberd is nice but Paladin doesn't really have the feats to afford all that without gimping their stats, as both Strength and Charisma are really good.
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Nov 6, 2017 12:43
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Ah, yeah, sorry. Both my groups do ASI+feats and I tend to forget that isn't the actual rules when I talk about builds. Ask your DM to do ASIs and feats instead of either/or. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Nov 6, 2017 |
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Nov 6, 2017 13:32
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Conspiratiorist posted:Resilient [Constitution] is very good - CON saves are the most common type you'll find in the MM, and with Aura of Protection and decent CHA will be auto-passing Concentration checks or nearly so. Cool that sounds great, I think I will try the shield and one hander route. My STR is already maxed out because of a lucky roll, should I dump all points after getting resilient into CON or CHA (both 14)? edit: What's special about the quarterstaff compared to a one handed martial weapon? az fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Nov 6, 2017 |
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Nov 6, 2017 13:39
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az posted:edit: What's special about the quarterstaff compared to a one handed martial weapon? Despite not being a Reach weapon, it specifically works with Polearm Master. Polearm master is an OK feat in general, but for pallies it's great because although the damage from the bonus-action attack is only a d4, you can still Smite with it. Because the quarterstaff is Versatile, you can use it with a shield and still get the bonus-action attack, which means you can alpha strike a dude with 2 (later 3) Smites in one round and still carry a shield. Not super useful at very early levels when you have few spells/smites, but it's amazing in boss fights at mid level. With my paladin I took the view that the best surviavbility thing you could possibly have is to kill opponents before they get to hit you so I went with the higher damge halberd instead of the shield combo. It's been working out so far. E: VVVVV Both my DMs run with ASIs+feats instead of choosing between those, and I went variant human for the bonus feat so I can't comment on when to take which advances with anything more than my assumptions, but I would assume that you'd want PM as early as possible. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Nov 6, 2017 |
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Nov 6, 2017 13:48
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Ooh that is pretty neat. I assume I'll take resilient as my ASI at 4 and then polearm master at 8?
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Nov 6, 2017 13:54
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az posted:Ooh that is pretty neat. I assume I'll take resilient as my ASI at 4 and then polearm master at 8? I suggest Polearm Master first: an additional attack is really strong, particularly with Dueling Fighting Style since it applies. Resilient is more significant if it helps round out an uneven stat, like 13 or 15. What race are you playing?
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Nov 6, 2017 13:57
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Goliath, from EE I think? I'm really green on anything pen and paper related, having only played DnD videogames previously but I figured that the constitution saving throw proficiency would be really important?
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Nov 6, 2017 14:03
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It is, but the feat also gives you a +1 to the relevant stat so it's best if applied to an uneven stat so that it can go up the next bonus rung (because DnD is stupid and odd numbers in stats do nothing). So if you've got a 13 or 15 that's nice to put in constitution then round it with resilient. But if you don't it's still okay. PAM first either way.
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Nov 6, 2017 14:07
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Oh yeah, I should have asked here first before doing character creation I guess  Thank you for the help, hope I actually get to find a quarterstaff early in the game. It's some sort of prison colony setting with no gear start.
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Nov 6, 2017 14:09
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az posted:Any advice for a first time game playing a Paladin wrt fighting style and feats? I've been thinking of either trying duelist with sword and board, resilient feat for CON or great weapon fighting and feat for polearms. Yeah, don't put your 9 on CON.
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Nov 6, 2017 14:11
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Toebone posted:After taking Pact of the Chain, I learn my DM doesn't like familiars and won't allow usimg them for scouting. I still enjoyed using the imp as a distraction to give me advantage on my attacks, but I'm probably going to regret sticking with Chain instead of taking Tome instead, right? If you take Tome you can still have a Familiar with the Find Familiar spell from said feature. You lose some benefits but if all you're getting is Advantage on attacks, you might as well switch if you can. Edit: With the Book of Ancient Secrets, not just the pact itself. Admiral Joeslop fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Nov 6, 2017 |
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Nov 6, 2017 14:31
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Has anyone else done the ASI + feat house rule? If so how did it work out? Did players feel free to take a wider range of feats than just the one or two power options for their build? It sounds interesting and I'm tempted to try it in the next game I run.
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Nov 6, 2017 16:46
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az posted:Oh yeah, I should have asked here first before doing character creation I guess Quarterstaffs are one of the most common options in such a setting. They’re thick trees or tent poles or something, which are easy to find next to solid piece of wood (club) and literally any knife (dagger).
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Nov 6, 2017 18:49
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Are there enough varied and useful monster abilities that some kind of Blue Mage class would be viable? Something with a minor melee build that gets augmented by monster attacks and abilities to do more damage, or control the field, or even be a blaster. Hard to balance and requires a lot of knowledge of the MM and extra paperwork but I think it could be neat.
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Nov 6, 2017 19:01
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The most interesting ones are stuff like the Yetis chilling gaze (damage and paralyze) and fluff things like the orcs Aggressive and such. There isnt much that only monsters do though.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:21
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the intellect devourer ability would be hilarious to have available
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Nov 6, 2017 21:26
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Admiral Joeslop posted:Are there enough varied and useful monster abilities that some kind of Blue Mage class would be viable? Something with a minor melee build that gets augmented by monster attacks and abilities to do more damage, or control the field, or even be a blaster. It really wouldn’t work, the economy of the game doesn’t fit and you really don’t want to get hit by a lot of spells
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Nov 6, 2017 21:44
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rumble in the bunghole posted:It really wouldn’t work, the economy of the game doesn’t fit and you really don’t want to get hit by a lot of spells you could absorb abilities from defeated foes. regeneration from trolls, need silver to hit from vampire , etc
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Nov 6, 2017 21:46
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Also doesn't have to be a flimsy Wizard or Sorcerer. I'd play the gently caress out of a Spelleater Barbarian.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:51
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Admiral Joeslop posted:Are there enough varied and useful monster abilities that some kind of Blue Mage class would be viable? Something with a minor melee build that gets augmented by monster attacks and abilities to do more damage, or control the field, or even be a blaster. The vast majority of "monster abilities" boil down to "they can cast these spells," so...it's a wizard.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:52
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Razorwired posted:Also doesn't have to be a flimsy Wizard or Sorcerer. I'd play the gently caress out of a Spelleater Barbarian. I'd think it would play kind of like a druid
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Nov 6, 2017 21:55
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What does a blue mage do when fighting, say, zombies or orcs or other monsters that don't have much in the way of interesting special abilities?
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Nov 6, 2017 22:11
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Soylent Pudding posted:Has anyone else done the ASI + feat house rule? If so how did it work out? Did players feel free to take a wider range of feats than just the one or two power options for their build? It sounds interesting and I'm tempted to try it in the next game I run. The difference I've seen is that players take feats that they think will be cool, rather than trying to pick only feats that are "worth" the +numbers they're giving up. It also lets the more optimisation-minded players fiddle a bit more finely with their ability scores.
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Nov 6, 2017 22:18
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AlphaDog posted:Depending on how your DM interprets things, polearm master + sentinel + smites have some pretty good synergy. e: You want GWF and a halberd for that. Polearm Mastery only activates on enemies moving into range of you. If they start their turn in range you don't get to hit and root them.
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Nov 6, 2017 23:42
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CJ posted:Polearm Mastery only activates on enemies moving into range of you. If they start their turn in range you don't get to hit and root them. I'm not going to argue about this, but I'll point out that I wrote "depending on how your DM interprets things" as the very first words of that post. If your DM doesn't interpret those rules as "you still get your OA when they move from Reach to Adjacent", then you should try to set up your move so you can take your 2 or 3 attacks from Reach, then step back 5' and root them if they approach on their turn. You'll only draw OA while stepping back if the enemy also has a reach weapon, and it's generally going to be better to eat an OA than an attack action.
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Nov 6, 2017 23:54
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Bonus if they let you take that broken tunnel fighter fighting style that says opportunity attacks don't cost your reaction.
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Nov 7, 2017 00:05
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Selachian posted:What does a blue mage do when fighting, say, zombies or orcs or other monsters that don't have much in the way of interesting special abilities? Throw bar darts like The Lord Gygax intended casters to do.
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Nov 7, 2017 00:41
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Toebone posted:After taking Pact of the Chain, I learn my DM doesn't like familiars and won't allow usimg them for scouting. I still enjoyed using the imp as a distraction to give me advantage on my attacks, but I'm probably going to regret sticking with Chain instead of taking Tome instead, right? What exactly is their justification for not allowing something that is written down in the rules as a thing you can do? Imps are still great for other reasons, such as advantage and giving you always-on Magic Resistance, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't let you use it to scout.
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Nov 7, 2017 00:46
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ProfessorCirno posted:The vast majority of "monster abilities" boil down to "they can cast these spells," so...it's a wizard. The Adventures in Middle Earth DM book has a whole section of generic monster abilities, and from memory none of them relate to spellcasting (due to the lack of spellcasting in AME generally). It might be possible to use that list of abilities as the basis for a PC stealing monster powers.
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Nov 7, 2017 00:50
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Bard Colleges to stay away from or ones to go for with interesting stuff in them? I think I'm going to be very supporty.
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Nov 7, 2017 01:28
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Razorwired posted:Throw bar darts like The Lord Gygax intended casters to do. I think this is one of my favorite things that early D&D did - because they didn't specify plumbata, bar darts have become insanely lethal superweapons in some D&D universes.
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Nov 7, 2017 01:58
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Elendil004 posted:Bard Colleges to stay away from or ones to go for with interesting stuff in them? I think I'm going to be very supporty.
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Nov 7, 2017 02:00
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