gradenko_2000 posted:

There is no "surprise round" in 5e. Rather, if everyone passes their Stealth check versus the passive Perception scores of the enemies, then the enemies cannot take any actions during the first round of combat, and they can only take Reactions after the round has passed their initiative count.

In effect, "Round 1" becomes the Surprise round, as opposed to 3e/4e, where there was a "Surprise round" that was separate-and-apart from "Round 1" and came before it.

Now, if even just one person fails their Stealth check, then the enemies are not Surprised, and act normally, but everyone who did pass their Stealth check still starts the combat as Hidden. This can create a scenario where the Fighter fails the Stealth check, and so enemies will act normally in Round 1, but the Rogue did pass their Stealth check, and so is Hidden, and thus the enemies cannot target the Rogue until they reveal themselves.

gradenko_2000 posted:

There is no "surprise round" in 5e. Rather, if everyone passes their Stealth check versus the passive Perception scores of the enemies, then the enemies cannot take any actions during the first round of combat, and they can only take Reactions after the round has passed their initiative count.

In effect, "Round 1" becomes the Surprise round, as opposed to 3e/4e, where there was a "Surprise round" that was separate-and-apart from "Round 1" and came before it.

Now, if even just one person fails their Stealth check, then the enemies are not Surprised, and act normally, but everyone who did pass their Stealth check still starts the combat as Hidden. This can create a scenario where the Fighter fails the Stealth check, and so enemies will act normally in Round 1, but the Rogue did pass their Stealth check, and so is Hidden, and thus the enemies cannot target the Rogue until they reveal themselves.

Nephzinho posted:

My current group loves being sneaky, so I'm giving the Fighter/Rogue hybrid a quest to build armor that is half plate but stealthy. No-one else in the party wears armor.

Reik posted:

Half-Elf using the Sun/High Elf Variant from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide to pick up Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade is always solid. +2 Cha and +1 Dex/Con can yield a pretty strong starting array, too.

Madmarker posted:

Yeah......I know Half-Elf is best, I just really dislike being an elf or half-elf. I really like the idea of being some variety of tiefling or variant human, so do you have any advice within that framework?

Reik posted:

Oh sorry, didn't know you were avoiding Half-Elf.

Variant Human with Magic Initiate could kinda do the same thing but also yield you a single sorcerer or warlock first level spell. A once per day Shield might not be bad?

I play a Valor Bard, and there is nothing better than tagging a guy with Dissonant Whispers while in melee and taking my Opportunity Attack with Booming Blade (picked up Warcaster at 4).

Madmarker posted:

Would I still want one of the SCAG cantrips if I am going Glamour Bard?

Reik posted:

Are they building Mithral Armor?

Glagha posted:

I mean breastplates exist but I'm fully on board with players innovating like that.

doctor 7 posted:

Madmarker posted:

Hey so, joining a new group and will be playing a Glamour Bard. I really like the ability to reposition the team with my inspiration and the Daily bonus commands seems like a lot of fun. Anywho, I'm torn between four options insofar as my race and wondered what would be optimal (any of the four work for me w/ regards to character concept/rp stuff)

Conspiratiorist posted:

Perception, Investigation, Insight, Athletics/Acrobatics, and Stealth are the most commonly rolled skills in the game, so taking them even if your attributes aren't tuned to them is optimization 101.

Conspiratiorist posted:

It is, yeah, since it's the "is this NPC lying to me" skill, so it's gonna come up in group social situations as - if not more - often than Persuasion/Intimidation (which is a good skill to have, but you only need 1 person to have it).

And you're right on Athletics vs Acrobatics, and that's how it works in practice.

Personally I only skip Stealth if I really can't afford it for the sake of the concept, just because of how common a check it is.

quote:

School of the Force Missile Mage
The School of the Force Missile Mage focuses on Magic Missile almost to the exclusion of all else. Focusing on the iconic spell, with a minor emphasis into some other Force related spells. Their dedication to these few spells greatly improves how they work, but at the cost of the breadth of spell capability other Wizards enjoy.

Called Force Missile Mages, members of this school are sought when the sheer bombardment of unerring force magic is required, as well as the ability to simply ignore the force effects of lesser wizards.

Force Missile Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, you gain the Magic Missile spell if you did not already know it. You may cast the spell at the highest spell level available to you at will without using a spell slot. You lose access to the highest level of spell slots available to you.

Mastery of Mage Armor
Starting at 2nd level, you are constantly under effect of an improve Mage Armor. While under this effect you calculate your AC by 13+Intelligence modifier instead of the usual method. You cannot benefit from armor or shields while using this Mage Armor. You can still benefit from spells like Shield and Shield of Faith. While under this effect you have resistance to Force damage. At 6th level the AC becomes 14+Intelligence modifier, and 15+Intelligence modifier at 10th level. Your resistance becomes immunity to Force damage at 10th level.

Improved Missile
Starting at 6th level, your mastery of Magic Missile improves. You now add your Intelligence modifier to the damage of each missile when you cast Magic Missile. Your missiles ignore Force Resistance. You now lose access to the two highest levels of spell slots available to you.

Advanced Missiles
Beginning at 10th level, your missiles now ignore the Shield spell and Force Immunity. You now lose access to the highest three levels of spells slots available to you.

Force Mastery
Starting at 14th level, you can cast the Shield spell at will using your Reaction. You also can ignore the effects of Force spells as you choose, allowing you to ignore Bigby's Hand and walk through Forcecage as you will. You lose access to the four highest level spell slots available to you.

quote:

Force Bloodline
Your innate magic comes from a font of Force magic that has manifested within your blood or that of your ancestors. Perhaps an ancestor called upon the power of Force too many times, perhaps a twist of fate resulted in the connection. Or perhaps no one knows what happened. However it did happen you find that you have a connection to the magic of Force that is far stronger than most. It comes instinctively to you.

Living Force Missiles
At 1st level, you gain the Magic Missile spell and can cast it at will without expending a spell slot. The spell is always cast as if using the highest sorcerer spell slot you have, even if you do not have access to that spell slot for actually casting spells. However you lose access to the highest level of spell slots available to you.

Force Resilience
As magic flows through your body, it causes physical changes to your body. At 1st level, your hit point maximum increases by 1 and increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level in this class.

Additionally, your body is infused with Force magic giving it many of the properties of the Mage Armor spell. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Force Affinity
Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that deals Force damage, you can add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell. However when casting your at will Magic Missile you instead add your Charisma modifier to the damage roll of each missile. You gain Resistance to Force Damage and now add your Charisma modifier to the AC gained from Force Resilience. You lose access to the two highest levels of spell slots available to you.

Metamagic Missiles
At 14th level your ability to apply your Metamagics to your at will Magic Missile improves. Of the metamagics that can be applied to Magic Missile they change in these ways:
Quicken: Only costs 1 SP and can cast a non-cantrip spell with your actual Action, including another Magic Missile.
Empowered: Reroll dice equal to 2xCha
Distant: Cost 0 points
Subtle: Cost 0 points

Force Salvo
At 14th level, your Magic Missiles ignore Resistance to Force damage and cannot be blocked by the Shield spell. You now lose access to the three highest levels of spell slots available to you.

Avatar of Force
Beginning at 18th level, you can cast Shield at will using your Reaction. You are immune to the effects and damage of Force spells. This allows you to ignore the effects of Bigby's Hand or walk right through a Forcecage or Wall of Force as you will.

gradenko_2000 posted:

Penny Arcade's Acquisitions Inc was the Critical Role of its day, and every version of D&D has always been the most popular its ever been relative to the previous one.

Pollyanna posted:

Huh, turns out that a one-shot(?) that I'll be playing on Monday is apparently Acquisitions Inc-themed. Is there anything I need to know about it in advance?

doctor 7 posted:

Also you bring up another reason to be proficient in something you aren't great at: giving somebody better than you advantage on their rolls.

Kaysette posted:

Note that you don't need to be proficient in a skill to use the help action to give someone else advantage. In certain cases (like the lockpicking example in the SRD) you'd need proficiency to fulfill the requirement "that he or she could attempt [the task] alone" but this isn't usually the case. If you're not proficient in insight you can still help someone interrogate an enemy, etc.

doctor 7 posted:

Well that is super lame and I'd definitely not allow anybody to help with every skill ever otherwise you're rolling advantage for basically every skillcheck ever

Gumby posted:

Yeah, it's a long one-shot. Bring food. But you don't need to know anything about the group itself; the gist is your party is subcontracting for them.

doctor 7 posted:

Well that is super lame and I'd definitely not allow anybody to help with every skill ever otherwise you're rolling advantage for basically every skillcheck ever

Razorwired posted:

I actually prefer the "One and Done" rule for skillchecks where the two best PCs for the job do the task as a single check with advantage over the Brute Force method parties tend to take otherwise. That way it's "Good thing we brought the magic nerds" instead of "everyone roll because someone will get a 19".

doctor 7 posted:

Well that is super lame and I'd definitely not allow anybody to help with every skill ever otherwise you're rolling advantage for basically every skillcheck ever

P.d0t posted:

I see you've never heard of the Guidance cantrip.

AlphaDog posted:

I tried to play an online game with random people. Wasn't as bad overall as I thought it might be, but I don't think I'll continue with that group.

We needed to do something in a church to proceed. It was supposed to be a puzzle, but it was poorly worded to the point where nobody understood that it was even a puzzle, let alone what to do about it. After 20 minutes of nothing much happening, the DM cracked and said "it's something you could only do in the bell tower".

The rest of the group spent nearly an hour loving around moving ladders and screaming NO WAIT WAIT whenever I said "I ring the bell".

You'll never guess what we needed to do!

The Dregs posted:

OK, so my crotchety old bastard of a friend really wants to run his 'Dream D&D Campaign". I've seen his notes, some of them are over 30 years old. This will end badly, but it is sure to be a wild ride. His main rule is no magic. Sword and Sorcery, Conan style. Only humans. One guy got a special dispensation to play a halfling reskinned as a motherfucking midget. We're allowed one cleric, and she is supposed to only memorize healing supporty type stuff. His one exception is that if we can come up with a character concept that uses low-key magic stuff reskinned as mundane, he will allow it. So I am thinking beastmaster ranger.

Problem is that ranger is a mess? Apparently the one in the PHB sucks, and has been rewritten a few times or something. It confuses me. Can someone give me a little advice on making a ranger given the guidelines above?