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Just remind that dude if he's only a mountain of HP and damage reduction but negligible damage that enemies can safely ignore him to focus on other targets.
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Jul 30, 2018 15:53
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kaffo posted:Thanks for the advice! Appreciate it This always makes me so sad. People see that bear totem ability, or even just the rage's damage reduction, and their mindset becomes making an hp sponge that hits things sometimes. I prefer my barbarians along the veins of I hit things a lot and just as a side note I'm decently okay at not getting killed.
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Jul 30, 2018 15:55
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Splicer posted:Pick a scenario, then read through the wild magic table thinking of how each would effect the scenario and the other players and the other players' sense of agency. Put a checkmark down for each under the categories "funny" "funny the first time" "annoying" and "why haven't we killed him yet". This plus the fact that you’re capped to how many spells you know vs the wizard unlimited tome space has made me seriously reconsider making a sorcerer. The preparing your spells limitation still feels less restrictive than sorcerer as a whole.
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Jul 30, 2018 15:58
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xilni posted:This plus the fact that you’re capped to how many spells you know vs the wizard unlimited tome space has made me seriously reconsider making a sorcerer. Prepared slots is level+INT, so your average wizard has more spells prepared at any one time than a sorcerer has spells known total, on top of all the rituals they don't even need to prepare.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:05
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Sorceror is a power drill Wizard is a tool shed
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Jul 30, 2018 16:07
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xilni posted:This plus the fact that you’re capped to how many spells you know vs the wizard unlimited tome space has made me seriously reconsider making a sorcerer. The Sorcerer's basic concept was crippled from the moment it was printed in the 3e PHB because the Wizard's spell-acquisition became so relaxed from AD&D that the Sorc's "learn any spell you want, but you can't learn everything" advantage was immediately watered-down. And then 5e also removes the Sorc's spontaneous casting advantage because Wizards no longer have to arm specific spells to specific slots, and it's just sad.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:08
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Fureil posted:This always makes me so sad. People see that bear totem ability, or even just the rage's damage reduction, and their mindset becomes making an hp sponge that hits things sometimes. I prefer my barbarians along the veins of I hit things a lot and just as a side note I'm decently okay at not getting killed.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:10
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Sorcerer's two big tricks are doubling the effectiveness of key buffs or debuffs with Twinned spell, and in a pinch the action economy advantage of Quickened spell. They're also a little tougher than Bards/Wizards and have a stronger basic attack action (that can further synergize with both Twinned and Quickened), but in all other aspects they're just worse casters, and the system mastery required to make the most out of their advantages makes them very unforgiving for newbies.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:18
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Conspiratiorist posted:Prepared slots is level+INT, so your average wizard has more spells prepared at any one time than a sorcerer has spells known total, on top of all the rituals they don't even need to prepare. This is what gets me. I always felt the trade off was you had to properly prepare your arsenal in between long rests but now you have enough prepared spells that it becomes trivial to bring a large arsenal plus utility to each situation. Unless you get really lucky as a sorcerer and keep being able to regenerate your spell slots.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:19
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Conspiratiorist posted:Sorcerer's two big tricks are doubling the effectiveness of key buffs or debuffs with Twinned spell, and in a pinch the action economy advantage of Quickened spell. They're also a little tougher than Bards/Wizards and have a stronger basic attack action (that can further synergize with both Twinned and Quickened), but in all other aspects they're just worse casters, and the system mastery required to make the most out of their advantages makes them very unforgiving for newbies. Bards are significantly tougher than Sorcerers.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:20
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Reik posted:Bards are significantly tougher than Sorcerers. Constitution save proficiency, access to Shield spell, and in the case of Draconic, effective d8 hit die plus built in Mage Armor so they don't have to bother with that either.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:22
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kaffo posted:Noted, I'll let him know I'm all for playing a bear totem if that's what he wants to play, people just seem to forget that your job isn't soley to stand there and get hit. If you're not a threat than any intelligent enemies will see you as just something to walk around to get the squishies behind you. You only get one reaction after all, and unless your playing with the mark alternate rule there is no reliable way as a barbarian to even get one guy to stay there fighting you. Sticking with phb stuff I'm more a fan of the wolf totem or berserker, but if Xanathars is on the table and you want to be a tank then Ancestral Guardian isn't aweful and I personally love Zealot for free extra damage each turn.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:24
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Bear Totem is fine as long as you realize that: a) Unarmored Defense is a ribbon feature rather than something you build a character around. Barbarians need armor. b) Reckless Attack + Rage bonus damage is how the Barbarian keeps up with the damage output of the other martial classes. c) Rage's Damage Reduction is needed to mitigate the defensive penalty of the aforementioned Reckless Attack. 3rd level Bear is good because it lets you survive better, Wolf is good in a melee-heavy comp due to the offensive party support, Ancestral Guardian is decent defensive support, and Zealot is just good extra damage. But no matter what you pick, as has been mentioned, the Barbarian's primary job and most effective tool is to be able to deal damage so that it can't be merely sidelined by enemies.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:33
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Conspiratiorist posted:Sharpshooter Wood Elf Rogue with Elven Accuracy - gets Hasted by a party member in order to reliably get two Sneak Attacks per turn by way of action economy shenanigans How do you get two Sneak Attacks per turn?
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Jul 30, 2018 16:50
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*round Haste action to Attack, normal action to Ready so on a following turn you attack again as a Reaction. Judicious use of Familiars/Cunning Action Hide allows both to have advantage.
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Jul 30, 2018 16:50
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Conspiratiorist posted:Constitution save proficiency, access to Shield spell, and in the case of Draconic, effective d8 hit die plus built in Mage Armor so they don't have to bother with that either. College of Lore gets Cutting Words as a general Shield replacement, and College of Valor gets Medium Armor + Shields. Both get the d8 hit die, and they do get half proficiency on Constitution saving throws at least. You're probably picking up the Warcaster feat to help with Concentration checks as well.
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Jul 30, 2018 17:05
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Cutting Words isn't a Shield replacement, nor are you picking Valor if you want to play Bard as a proper spellcaster, and you can't use Jack of all Trades on concentration checks since they're Constitution Saving Throws rather than Ability Checks.
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Jul 30, 2018 17:11
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Fureil posted:I'm all for playing a bear totem if that's what he wants to play, people just seem to forget that your job isn't soley to stand there and get hit. If you're not a threat than any intelligent enemies will see you as just something to walk around to get the squishies behind you. You only get one reaction after all, and unless your playing with the mark alternate rule there is no reliable way as a barbarian to even get one guy to stay there fighting you. Sticking with phb stuff I'm more a fan of the wolf totem or berserker, but if Xanathars is on the table and you want to be a tank then Ancestral Guardian isn't aweful and I personally love Zealot for free extra damage each turn. 
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Jul 30, 2018 17:31
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If he's using a shield I recommend he picks up Polearm Master and a staff so his damage doesn't fall off too much, else bread-and-butter Greatsword Great Weapon Master Barbarian works. But with two Bards you're gonna need some additional punch in there yeah.
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Jul 30, 2018 17:36
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Conspiratiorist posted:Cutting Words isn't a Shield replacement, nor are you picking Valor if you want to play Bard as a proper spellcaster, and you can't use Jack of all Trades on concentration checks since they're Constitution Saving Throws rather than Ability Checks. You're right on the saving throw thing, but how is Cutting Words not a Shield replacement? After they roll you subtract d6 from the attack roll, essentially adding d6 to your AC from the attack? Both Lore and Valor bards can also eventually pick up Shield if they want.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:13
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Reik posted:You're right on the saving throw thing, but how is Cutting Words not a Shield replacement? After they roll you subtract d6 from the attack roll, essentially adding d6 to your AC from the attack? Both Lore and Valor bards can also eventually pick up Shield if they want. Shield lasts an entire round. Cutting Words affects 1 roll.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:16
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And it's good, but not *that good* that you'd pick it over a cross-class 3rd or 5th level spell. Shield is basically a class feature of Sorcerers and Wizards (and Eldritch Knights).
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Jul 30, 2018 19:33
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Conspiratiorist posted:Just keep in mind Wild Magic Sorcerer is a joke that's only funny if everyone is in on it. 13th Age has a feat that can be taken by everyone but the Chaos Mage (Wild Sorcerer equivalent) that lets them cancel out a Wild Magic effect if they get sick of it. I don't know if anyone actually uses it or if it's just a joke, though.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:40
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Conspiratiorist posted:And it's good, but not *that good* that you'd pick it over a cross-class 3rd or 5th level spell. Hexblades get shield, and if you MC w/ Paladin it becomes loving awesome. How about 27 AC for a round? And the paladin save bonus aura means spells which cause saves are not such an obvious way around that. It does have the side effect of causing enemies to just ignore him, but compel dual and abjure enemy lets him at least try to make the Big Bad stick to him. Combine that with warlock spell slot refresh and a pearl of power and when he's not smitin, he's shielding. Man I love playing that character.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:48
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Conspiratiorist posted:And it's good, but not *that good* that you'd pick it over a cross-class 3rd or 5th level spell. I feel like maybe I should give it a second look on my War Wizard since I just dropped it from my Level 1 list.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:50
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Since I've seen it come up, it's arguable RAW whether the wizard gets to know whether Shield would block an attack that hits them without Shield, but there's a sage advice from Mearls saying that a wizard will know if Shield would save them.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:58
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Toshimo posted:Shield lasts an entire round. Cutting Words affects 1 roll. You can also get a ton of them in a day when you hit level 5. Over the course of a day surviviability-wise I'd say they're pretty close.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:59
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Can I just ask but I have only done 5e dnd thus far, what did 4e do better?
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Jul 30, 2018 22:06
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Josef bugman posted:Can I just ask but I have only done 5e dnd thus far, what did 4e do better? -Let people without spell slots affect the battlefield in a meaningful way. -Managed hit points as a resource. -You almost never ran in to multiple ability dependency issues.
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Jul 30, 2018 22:08
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Had the Warlord. Was the most fun and useful the Fighter has ever been. Almost every class (before essentials stuff and I guess like except the phb wizard) was reasonable well balanced and playable. That being said 4e had some really prevalent math issues that granted are easy to patch by just like, doubling damage and halving hp on monsters, and giving everyone a flat +1 per tier. Also the feat bloat was arguably WORSE than 3 and definitely than 5.
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Jul 30, 2018 22:21
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Did feats still work the same way? What made the wizard so good in the PHB? And would that be like giving fighters the ability to do "get over here's" on particular enemies, that kind of thing? What is a "multiple ability dependence issue" can I get an example?
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Jul 30, 2018 22:37
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Josef bugman posted:Did feats still work the same way? Josef bugman posted:And would that be like giving fighters the ability to do "get over here's" on particular enemies, that kind of thing? 4e posted:Come and Get It
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Jul 30, 2018 22:50
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Josef bugman posted:Did feats still work the same way? Feats worked the way they did in 3e which was that you got an allotment of them at specific levels and there were just a fuckmillion of them. In 5 you only get them at ASI levels and only if you give up the ASI, and there aren't nearly as many. There's still the problem where polearm master competes with linguist for a slot, but you don't have you scouring books to create a list of like 15 feats for your career from countless dozens. Wizard wasn't good in the PHB. It was actually kinda bad. They assigned wizard the "controller" role but at that point had no idea what that meant so wizards just did a whole lot of unfocused nonsense that wasn't very effective. They got better with supplements. Fighters actually did get to manipulate positioning and they were a constant threat because all "defender" type classes had some mechanic for "you get a penalty to hit if you're not attacking me and I punish you for it". Fighters punished by hitting dudes in the fuckin mouth and it was way better than just "do a lovely opportunity attack". They also did actual significant damage. (This sounds like the same as an AoO except they got to put riders and effects on those attacks and they actually hurt bad) I can't think of anything off the top of my head but it's just like monk in 3e always used to need dex for AC, wisdom also for AC and other abilities, strength to do damage, con to have hp. They made it a tiny bit better in 5 because damage is now based on dex. Glagha fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 22:50
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Splicer posted:Note that due to the Fighter's innate marking mechanic all the targets would now be at a penalty to hit anyone not the fighter and the first to try or to try to walk away would eat an AoO. Fun fact: fighter AoOs stopped enemy movement, had a bonus to attack, and occurred once per turn. There was no gentleman's agreement needed, the fighter could actively prevent enemies from reaching other PCs. My favorite 4e thing was the unification of resource mechanics. 5e has the champion fighter (can swing all day!) competing with daily abilities (spellcaster ends a fight). It's horrific to balance. 4e, everyone had weaker at-will attacks (notice wizards got to keep this in 5e), stronger encounter abilities, and powerful daily abilities that could significantly change a fight. Easier to balance, since you compare daily attacks to daily attacks, and so on. Warlord daily attacks are amazing.
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Jul 30, 2018 23:07
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Okay so at-will would be the equivalent of cantrips, right? Encounter ones were (as the name suggests) per encounter and the Dailies are the equivalent of things like turn undead.
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Jul 30, 2018 23:29
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You're not allowed to like 4e though because it's WoW for babies
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Jul 30, 2018 23:35
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I'm thinking of trying out an EB-spam Warlock. What do I need to know?
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Jul 30, 2018 23:38
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Toshimo posted:I'm thinking of trying out an EB-spam Warlock. What do I need to know? It's pretty easy. Take Evocations that buff EB. Like the one that adds your charisma to damage.
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Jul 30, 2018 23:43
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Glagha posted:You're not allowed to like 4e though because it's WoW for babies One of my friends who I game with said it was a tad disconnected and a bit weird, but they had only played a bit of it so it might just be a bad DM.
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Jul 30, 2018 23:44
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You also have to unfortunately take Hex as a spell tax but if you're just gonna spam EB you don't need those spell slots anyway. Just hex all day err day.
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Jul 30, 2018 23:46
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