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With this thing of naming books after NPCs, are there any female characters who could front a book? The only one I can think of is Aurora of Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue
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Apr 20, 2018 06:26
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| # ? May 15, 2024 08:17 |
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Angrymog posted:With this thing of naming books after NPCs, are there any female characters who could front a book? Iggwilv off the top of my head.
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Apr 20, 2018 08:04
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Angrymog posted:With this thing of naming books after NPCs, are there any female characters who could front a book? The Simbul's ______ Tasha's ______ Alustrial's ______ . . . Tiamats Tome of Terrible Tangents
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Apr 20, 2018 08:22
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Shemeska Guide to Sigil.
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Apr 20, 2018 08:35
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The Lady of Pain?
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Apr 20, 2018 08:40
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gradenko_2000 posted:The Lady of Pain? Dont poke the
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Apr 20, 2018 08:52
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FRINGE posted:Dont poke the It's unlikely she is a Demon or a Goddess. I doubt anyone would want to risk asking.
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Apr 20, 2018 09:20
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gradenko_2000 posted:The Lady of Pain?
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Apr 20, 2018 09:46
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Splicer posted:The definitely-not-endorsed-by-the-lady-of-pain Guide to Sigil. 100% Guaranteed not to be authoritative! Certainly not the final word on the subject!
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Apr 20, 2018 10:05
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Everything Bork Halfborken knows about barbarism, and stuff you wanted to know, but didn't want to ask a bugbear
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Apr 20, 2018 14:26
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 My Dabus Says
Piell fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Apr 20, 2018 |
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Apr 20, 2018 14:39
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Getting away from the tangent, anyone got any advice on being a necromancer? Animate Dead seems kinda trashy in it's current incarnation, which cuts down on the greatness that was playing a Dread Necromancer in 3.5
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Apr 20, 2018 23:05
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Did they errata it or something because last I checked Animate Dead was brokenly good.
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Apr 20, 2018 23:21
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Reene posted:Did they errata it or something because last I checked Animate Dead was brokenly good. 5e version appears to literally just make a CR 1/4 zombie or skeleton, and requires a recast every 24 hours to keep control of any undead you created. Is that good by 5e standards? I'm still just starting to learn anyinth about 5e in any depth. I could be horribly missing something?
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Apr 20, 2018 23:28
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MohawkSatan posted:5e version appears to literally just make a CR 1/4 zombie or skeleton, and requires a recast every 24 hours to keep control of any undead you created. Is that good by 5e standards? I'm still just starting to learn anyinth about 5e in any depth. I could be horribly missing something? The key thing to remember here is that Bounded Accuracy means that a dozen level 1 archers shooting at a target is more effective than a single high-level archer at dealing damage, because the quantity of rolls will always outweigh high-quality rolls.
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Apr 20, 2018 23:41
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Also you can name your skeleton friend something cool like “Bones Jackson” and dress him up with all the normally useless-except-as-gp art pieces you find in every treasure chest and everyone playing gets to cheer when good ol murderbones gets a lucky crit and completely fucks up some random monster.
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Apr 21, 2018 00:18
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And then a few days later, you have a Bone Zone Army that just shreds everything and for some reason NPCs don't like there being skeletons and zombies around despite them being tame and just hanging out and its a right bother.
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Apr 21, 2018 00:24
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Dragonatrix posted:And then a few days later, you have a Bone Zone Army that just shreds everything and for some reason NPCs don't like there being skeletons and zombies around despite them being tame and just hanging out and its a right bother. Well if you forget to cast the spells that get control over them or die they turn into rogue undead that try to kill everyone. And some people like having extra spell slots and not spending them all on the undead.
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Apr 21, 2018 01:53
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At 6th level they get a pretty significant boost if you're actually a necromancer. Idk if it's worth it but it would definitely be interesting.
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Apr 21, 2018 02:15
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I have a necromancer in a paused campaign right now who has done all sorts of skeleton shenanigans. She usually has a squad of 4 skeletons protecting her and/or playing in a skeleton marching band. One time we killed a giant skeleton named Biggest Jeremy, and my GM let me take control of him in lieu of having my skeletons, which was awesome until 1 hour later we found some giants that tossed boulders and killed him in 2 hits. So necromancers can be fun and good if your GM is willing to play along.
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Apr 21, 2018 03:20
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MonsterEnvy posted:Well if you forget to cast the spells that get control over them or die they turn into rogue undead that try to kill everyone. Play however you like, but nothing in the spell's text as it appears in the players handbook supports this statement. Probably best to sort it out with your DM one way or another before you build a skeleton summoner though.
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Apr 21, 2018 03:46
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Yeah I'd love to know beforehand if someone is gonna self manifest an npc army in one of my games.
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Apr 21, 2018 03:50
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AlphaDog posted:Play however you like, but nothing in the spell's text as it appears in the players handbook supports this statement. Probably best to sort it out with your DM one way or another before you build a skeleton summoner though. quote:The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you’ve given it. Elysiume fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Apr 21, 2018 |
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Apr 21, 2018 03:55
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Novum posted:Yeah I'd love to know beforehand if someone is gonna self manifest an npc army in one of my games. As a dread necromancer in 3.5 I always went for a small number of undead. Either big bags of HP, or something specialized like zombified giant eagles for air transport. The undead army only got broken put when thematically appropriate or the party needed to tie down a shitload of bad guys while we did sneaky poo poo.
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Apr 21, 2018 05:26
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Elysiume posted:Animate Dead? What I'm responding to is the following words: "Well if you forget to cast the spells that get control over them or die they turn into rogue undead that try to kill everyone." Which isn't supported in the text Here's what the spell description says that's relevant: "Once given a task, the creature continues to follow it until it is complete". "If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures". "The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which is stops obeying any command you've given it". At no point does the spell mention what happens if the caster dies during that 24 hour period. The duration of the spell is instantaneous, so it doesn't need you to do anything to keep it going, and nothing else in the text implies that it's cancelled as soon as you die. The straight reading of the text is that once they finish their last order, they hang around doing nothing except defending themselves until the 24 hours is up. (That is, it finishes performing your last command. It defaults to doing nothing but defending itself. You could now issue another command, except that you are dead. It remains in its "I have not been issued a command" state.) After 24 hours? I dunno, maybe they turn into rogue undead that try to kill everyone, or maybe they do what it says in the monster manual and perform repetitive behaviour from their life and only try to kill anyone who approaches them, or maybe people interpret those the same way. My DM interprets that as "if you leave them in an out-of-the-way place they'll just stay put and attack anyone who approaches them" while apparently other DMs have interpreted it as "they'll go rogue and try to kill everyone", which to me sounds like two different enough things that you'd probably be a bit frustrated if you were expecting one and got the other. That's why I said it'd be worth working this out with your DM before the game. e: What I'm getting at is, the case "after 24 hours" and the case "you die" are different. Play how you like, but the text doesn't support the skeletons getting murderous as soon as you're killed. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Apr 21, 2018 |
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Apr 21, 2018 06:09
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AlphaDog posted:After 24 hours? I dunno, maybe they turn into rogue undead that try to kill everyone, or maybe they do what it says in the monster manual and perform repetitive behaviour from their life and only try to kill anyone who approaches them, or maybe people interpret those the same way. quote:Habitual Behaviors. Independent skeletons temporarily or permanently free of a master's control sometimes pantomime actions from their past lives, their bones echoing the rote behaviors of their former living selves. The skeleton of a miner might lift a pick and start chipping away at stone walls. The skeleton of a guard might strike up a post at a random doorway. The skeleton of a dragon might lie down on a pile of treasure, while the skeleton of a horse crops grass it can't eat. Left alone in a ballroom, the skeletons of nobles might continue an eternally unfinished dance.
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Apr 21, 2018 06:16
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Another thing you can do with your skeleton army: Find a lycanthrope Order your skeletons to grapple it Use magic jar on it You are now immune to nonmagic, nonsilver weapons, go nuts.
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Apr 21, 2018 06:18
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Elysiume posted:There's a pretty important section after the part about doing routine tasks. The bit about "if you die" was my main point. There's nothing in the text of the spell to support the skeletons doing anything other than performing the last task they were given (and if they finish that, then going to their "haven't received a command" behaviour as specified in the spell text), even if the caster dies, until the 24 hours is up. The after 24 hours part? My DM has them hang out doing their bullshit unless they're approached, because that's how they interpreted "When skeletons encounter living creatures". Because what "encounter" means is clearly open to interpretation. If your DM says they viciously attack everyone they see and then go looking for more stuff to kill, I'm not gonna say they're doing it wrong. Which is why I said "check with your DM". Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Apr 21, 2018 |
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Apr 21, 2018 06:26
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I've played alongside a necromancer for the past few years in a campaign that's currently level 12. Burning most of your slots on Animate Dead is a powerful strategy to be sure, but the DM has plenty of tools to keep it in check. Setting aside just throwing a dragon or clerics at them, here are some of the challenges a necromancer's horde faces. Geography. In an open field, nothing remotely approaches the damage of a necromancer. However, remember that map from LMoP posted a few pages ago? The games titular dungeons can often be too cramped to allow more than a few skeletons into the fray at a time. At that point, the skeletons are more a wall or speedbump than an offensive force. Still extremely useful to be sure, but not the insta-win button a few dozen skeletons seem on paper. Travel. A party with a necromancer can never be subtle or cover their tracks. Everyone, including the campaign's BBEG, should have little trouble knowing the party's whereabouts. Also, the army can also be cut down significantly simply by the DM requiring the party ride a vehicle to the next portion of the adventure: a boat, airship, or even a lift with a weight limit can force the necromancer to give up a lot of their army simply because they don't fit. Politics. My DM makes his NPCs fairly accepting of necromancy. However, as is oft-mentioned in this thread, much of the community can be awfully grognardy about alignment, so yours may very well make a world somewhat more hostile to the practice. A necromancer may be completely shut out of the social portion of the game unless they reserve a mid-level spell slot or two for Seeming to hide what the horde is. Fewer spell slots means fewer skelemans and fewer Counterspells to prevent spellcasters from blowing up the whole army, and it still may not even work if your reputation precedes you. Corpse availability. Animate Dead demands humanoid corpses. Humanoids are common enemies early on, but by the time Animate Dead becomes available, they begin taking a back seat to the other creature types. A necromancer may need to resort to actions that may make some enemies in order to replace losses they sustain: digging up graveyards, casual murder of NPCs, etc. As for the poster asking for advice, I'd recommend keeping an eye on the spell "Danse Macabre" from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. It's a 5th level spell, requires concentration, and only lasts an hour, but it has several redeeming qualities that make it a more practical way to go about being an undead overlord. First, it doesn't specify corpse type, so you can use anything you kill over the course of a typical adventure to fuel the spell. Second, the minions created get a bonus to both their attack and damage rolls (on top of necromancer bonuses), so a skeleton will go from a +4 to hit to 4 + int, and their damage will go from 1d6 + 2 + prof to 1d6 + 2 + int + prof. Third, they simply de-animate when the spell ends rather than going feral, so no worry about that little issue. Finally, you don't need to write a goddamn computer program (like my table's necromancer did) to track health, attack, and damage rolls of over 30 minions.
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Apr 21, 2018 06:30
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My hot take is that it's very easy for the DM to apply all sorts of narrative reasons for why you couldn't have a skeleton army, whether it's forcing the player to "look" for skeletons to reanimate, having the world revile the practice, placing limits on command-and-control, and so on ... ... but if you're going to do that because you don't want the Necromancer PC to dominate the game in a way that you're uncomfortable with, cut out the middle-man and have an out-of-game discussion on how you feel about their use of Animate Dead.
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Apr 21, 2018 06:42
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Also one of those things that's worth checking with the rest of the players first. And think about the tone and general vibe of the game. If the rest of the players are playing something like optimised druid, bard, and sorcerer, you might be able to go balls-out skeleton army and not even be weird. If they're two fighters and a rogue and went with fluff/roleplay abilities over optimisation, you'd be a dick to try the skeleton crew.
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Apr 21, 2018 07:03
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Slippery42 posted:I've played alongside a necromancer for the past few years in a campaign that's currently level 12. Burning most of your slots on Animate Dead is a powerful strategy to be sure, but the DM has plenty of tools to keep it in check. Setting aside just throwing a dragon or clerics at them, here are some of the challenges a necromancer's horde faces.
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Apr 21, 2018 07:07
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Elysiume posted:There's a pretty important section after the part about doing routine tasks. What if you accidentally uses the corpses of a murderhobo adventuring party? That would explain them killing everything they see and looking for more.
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Apr 21, 2018 13:16
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Splicer posted:Animate Dead allows one player disproportionate influence over the narrative. You can solve this by structuring the entire narrative around them. If that's your entire narrative you must play boring rear end games man.
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Apr 21, 2018 13:27
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The Gate posted:If that's your entire narrative you must play boring rear end games man. woooosh
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Apr 21, 2018 13:44
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The Gate posted:If that's your entire narrative you must play boring rear end games man. I absolutely love hot posts like this that completely fail to understand the problem and the conversation itself in one go.
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Apr 21, 2018 15:30
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There isn't a huge difference conceptually between a necro going hog wild with animate dead and someone having a rich character and hiring a bunch of men at arms, but the latter is fairly unheard of post TSR
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Apr 21, 2018 15:45
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kingcom posted:I absolutely love hot posts like this that completely fail to understand the problem and the conversation itself in one go. Okay, really though, here are the things that his narrative involves: going places, killing things that aren't always humanoid, not fighting in empty fields are three points. All of these are already things the party will do, whether there is a necromancer or not in the party. This stuff is hardly being tailored entirely around this single character. Encounters are going to be planned around every character, not just the necromancer. Okay, so moving on to the actual parts that would possibly require actual additional effort on the DM's part: politics/social reactions to the army of undead. Hey, look, a thing that actually will require additional thought, possibly just for the necromancer's character. Likely though, at least to some degree, a DM is going to be putting effort into this for all the characters, unless the entire party is totally normal looking people who are unknown. I had a party that was Barbarian, Rogue, Warlock, and you better believe that I considered how people were going to react to a shirtless muscled warrior carrying a huge axe into town and what they thought about a Tiefling that could speak inside their heads where no one else could hear. And what the hell that totally innocent looking halfling had going on to be hanging out with that crew. This is the kind of poo poo that most DM's are already considering. It's not driving the whole narrative to consider this poo poo for a necromancer suddenly.
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Apr 21, 2018 15:51
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I'm about to sit down for a 10+ hour in person session to start OotA. Wish me luck on my journey.
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Apr 21, 2018 16:11
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My wife has decided to join in on our D&D game. She likes being a support character, but finds the huge list of cleric spells daunting (7th level). She hates bards. IS there a way to make the cleric easier to play, or a good support class that I haven't thought of?
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Apr 21, 2018 17:45
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