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Conspiratiorist posted:Ask me about my high level (10), shield+plate, spell-immune flying Paladin and how the DM grits his teeth every time he's reminded that the only encounters that can challenge me would mean certain death for the rest of the party. Spell immune? Ancients and... something else? Not high enough level for Greater Find Steed either, boots of flying/wings of flying? Either way if both you and him realize this, maybe tone it down for the sake of the whole table?
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Sep 25, 2018 03:36
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Conspiratiorist posted:Ask me about my high level (10), shield+plate, spell-immune flying Paladin and how the DM grits his teeth every time he's reminded that the only encounters that can challenge me would mean certain death for the rest of the party. Yeeeeep. This is absolutely a thing that can happen.
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Sep 25, 2018 03:38
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mango sentinel posted:It's intentionally ahead of the damage curve, but yeah spell level 3 in general is designed as a big power bump in general since it's also when martials get Extra Attack Martials get their second attack at level 5 
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Sep 25, 2018 03:40
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Conspiratiorist posted:Ask me about my high level (10), shield+plate, spell-immune flying Paladin and how the DM grits his teeth every time he's reminded that the only encounters that can challenge me would mean certain death for the rest of the party. I am asking about your high level (10) etc etc. Show us your secrets!
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Sep 25, 2018 03:40
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The spell-immune part is what's throwing me for a loop.
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Sep 25, 2018 03:45
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Section Z posted:This reminds me of conversations with a friend. "Caster getting X at level 17 is fine because Fighters get 4 attacks at level 17!" "20." "oh" They said spell level 3, as in... 5th level. I loving hate this way of naming them, I'd just call them tiers of spells or something. Elysiume posted:The spell-immune part is what's throwing me for a loop. Me too a good bit. Can't be Aarakocra or Winged Tiefling as you cannot use either with anything beyond Light Armor
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Sep 25, 2018 03:53
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Arthil posted:Spell immune? Ancients and... something else? Not high enough level for Greater Find Steed either, boots of flying/wings of flying? - Angelic Protection (D&D Beyond Expanded Racial Feats; advantage on saves vs spells and other magical effects) - Shield Master - Resilient Constitution - Aura of Protection at max CHA - Aasimar resistance to necrotic damage, which accounts for about half the damage effects that I can't outright no-sell with Shield Master - Wave's Cube of Force effect - Belt of Hill Giant Strength - Winged Boots I have been holding back: in little over a month of play I've yet to smite even once or activate Radiant Consumption, and almost all my slots have been so far spent on party support with Dispel Magic and Remove Curse. But I just can't die. The closest I've gotten was a Beholder's 70 damage Death Ray I rolled 1 and 2 on my saves for, which because of Aasimar got cut in half. And that was a fight where I ate up like 80% of the eye rays (which would've otherwise annihilated the party). Conspiratiorist fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 04:00
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Arthil posted:They said spell level 3, as in... 5th level. I loving hate this way of naming them, I'd just call them tiers of spells or something.  That's okay, I hate it at times too.Primarily going between classes where the path related spells alternate between class level and spell level and you need to stop and take a moment to remind yourself of this.
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Sep 25, 2018 04:07
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Conspiratiorist posted:- Angelic Protection (D&D Beyond Expanded Racial Feats; advantage on saves vs spells and other magical effects)
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Sep 25, 2018 04:17
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Arthil posted:They said spell level 3, as in... 5th level. I loving hate this way of naming them, I'd just call them tiers of spells or something. Way back (like, "AD&D isn't out yet" way back), there was apparently talk about making it character rank, spell circle, and dungeon level, but even by then level/level/level was cemented enough that talking about changing it got the reaction you'd expect.
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Sep 25, 2018 04:25
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Elysiume posted:How do you have three feats and 20 charisma at level 10? DM houseruled free racial feat at 1, plus free feat when you go up in proficiency bonus (level 5, level 9). Similar suggestions have been made ITT due to the restricting opportunity cost of feats vs ASIs. So in light of that I took Angelic Protection, Resilient and Shield Master, and the two ASIs went to maxing CHA. We were also allowed a free rare item and an uncommon since we were high level, so Winged Boots for the obvious reasons, and Belt of Hill Giant Strength to set my STR to 21 - allowing me to put a 10 on it and distribute the points to everything else (14 DEX, 15 CON, 12 WIS, 16 CHA). Obtaining Wave was hilarious happenstance, I've posted the story before.
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Sep 25, 2018 04:31
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Conspiratiorist posted:DM houseruled free racial feat at 1, plus free feat when you go up in proficiency bonus (level 5, level 9). Similar suggestions have been made ITT due to the restricting opportunity cost of feats vs ASIs. That might be better than the "just take your feat+asi" houserule my groups use.
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Sep 25, 2018 04:41
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AlphaDog posted:That might be better than the "just take your feat+asi" houserule my groups use. It staggers picks a little more while still keeping them pegged to fundamental advancement mechanics, and it doesn't penalize multiclassing, so yeah.
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Sep 25, 2018 05:15
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I hear that 5th is balanced around "not having access to magic items," whatever that precisely means. My players are getting close to 4th level and I've given them some non-statbuffed magic weapons so far, like a shield that casts Sanctuary on you if you fall beneath 1/4 health, or a throwable returning battleaxe. Should I keep to that level of power for now, or is it fine to start making +1 weapons readily accessible? Are +1 weapons even important for staying competitive? I remember in older editions you needed magic weapons because monsters started getting damage resistance to mundane weapons. Could I just give a player something of parallel power that isn't a plain +1? i just really enjoy homebrewing magic weapons and think plain +1 longswords are kind of boring and hard to make flavorful
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Sep 25, 2018 06:00
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Cephas posted:I hear that 5th is balanced around "not having access to magic items," whatever that precisely means. My players are getting close to 4th level and I've given them some non-statbuffed magic weapons so far, like a shield that casts Sanctuary on you if you fall beneath 1/4 health, or a throwable returning battleaxe. You basically have about three magic items in 5E outside of a few exceptions because of mechanics arounding binding that many items to yourself and no more. It's not like 3E or 4E, where every part of your body was a data point for the equipment mart. As a side effect this means that gold becomes "lol who cares?" pretty early.
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Sep 25, 2018 06:21
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Cephas posted:I hear that 5th is balanced around "not having access to magic items," whatever that precisely means. My players are getting close to 4th level and I've given them some non-statbuffed magic weapons so far, like a shield that casts Sanctuary on you if you fall beneath 1/4 health, or a throwable returning battleaxe. The game is not meaningfully balanced. If you're reasonably even-handed between PCs, you can do whatever you like with magic items and it'll still be way less uneven than if, for example, someone brings the PC Conspirationist mentioned this page, and everyone else... uh... doesn't.
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Sep 25, 2018 06:29
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Cephas posted:I hear that 5th is balanced around "not having access to magic items," whatever that precisely means. My players are getting close to 4th level and I've given them some non-statbuffed magic weapons so far, like a shield that casts Sanctuary on you if you fall beneath 1/4 health, or a throwable returning battleaxe. In previous editions of the game, you needed +1 to +5 weapons in order for your to-hit against monsters to scale properly, +1 to +5 armors in order to make your AC scale properly against monster attacks, +1 to +5 resistance cloaks in order to make your saving throws scale properly against monster spells and effects, and +2 to +12 ability boosting items (across the multiple different ability scores) in order to make your stats scale properly You don't need any of those anymore.
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Sep 25, 2018 06:30
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I almost feel like in a game where magic weapons don't need to escalate to the moon, any given magical weapon or armor or other relic should have some kind of legend and/or gimmick to it. It shouldn't be a +1 Longsword, there should be something more to it. (Which makes League play kinda disappointing in a way...)
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Sep 25, 2018 06:52
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Gearhead posted:I almost feel like in a game where magic weapons don't need to escalate to the moon, any given magical weapon or armor or other relic should have some kind of legend and/or gimmick to it. Yeah, that's kind of it - you don't need it to be a "+1" longsword, you can just make it "a longsword that can turn into a spoon on command"
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Sep 25, 2018 07:03
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AlphaDog posted:The game is not meaningfully balanced. If you're reasonably even-handed between PCs, you can do whatever you like with magic items and it'll still be way less uneven than if, for example, someone brings the PC Conspirationist mentioned this page, and everyone else... uh... doesn't.
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Sep 25, 2018 07:10
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Gearhead posted:I almost feel like in a game where magic weapons don't need to escalate to the moon, any given magical weapon or armor or other relic should have some kind of legend and/or gimmick to it. This is reason number 3847 for new DMs to at least read Dungeon World. That game outlines that a +1 weapon means a forgemasters masterpiece or a dwarves hammer headed with Understeel. Cool and beyond normal weapons, but ultimately mundane. Magic weapons are things like spears that you aim by thinking about the target or a dagger that kills a king every 23 years like clockwork.
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Sep 25, 2018 07:20
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Gearhead posted:any given magical weapon or armor or other relic should have some kind of legend and/or gimmick to it. This is one of the things that original-FR was good at. Like: 
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Sep 25, 2018 07:55
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Cephas posted:I hear that 5th is balanced around "not having access to magic items," whatever that precisely means. My players are getting close to 4th level and I've given them some non-statbuffed magic weapons so far, like a shield that casts Sanctuary on you if you fall beneath 1/4 health, or a throwable returning battleaxe. Adventurers League (5e's organized play system) might be a good place to look for guidance on when to award +x weapons. They recently moved to a system where players can purchase magic items with "treasure checkpoints" earned after completing each adventure. A character can afford a +1 weapon as early as level 5, +2 before level 8, and +3 before level 14. As for the necessity of magic weapons, damage resistance (and immunity) to mundane weaponry is still a thing in 5e, so you did good in offering magical +0 weapons. The bonuses to attack and damage rolls from a +x weapon are fairly notable, however. The wielder of a +1 weapon can expect a 10-20% damage increase over using a +0. Weapon bonuses in 5e cap at +3, and a character using one of those is looking at a 30-60% increase over +0. There's no rule against putting both a +x bonus and a cool extra ability on the same weapon. Many weapons in the DMG do just that. The rule of thumb is that you trade one "plus" for an ability. So a vanilla +2 sword and +1 sword with a cool extra thing would be of roughly equal value/rarity.
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Sep 25, 2018 09:31
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Arthil posted:They said spell level 3, as in... 5th level. I loving hate this way of naming them, I'd just call them tiers of spells or something. Having ability levels be the same as class level (fireball is a level 5 spell you get at level 5) makes things a lot easier to understand for new people, so you can see why they reversed that decision for 5e. As for the magic item chat, I have a question about defenses in general and magic armor in specific: So, you have a longsword. You have +1 in proficiency, and eventually you've got +6 proficiency. So, your to-hit naturally goes up by 5. You have your armor. It doesn't have proficiency. Normally, 2/3rds of your saves also do not get proficiency. Is it really just "You're steadily easier to hit", or (and I understand the immediate response this can bring) was the game designed so that your defenses didn't need to scale at the same rate as your attacks?
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Sep 25, 2018 15:17
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Gharbad the Weak posted:Is it really just "You're steadily easier to hit", or (and I understand the immediate response this can bring) was the game designed so that your defenses didn't need to scale at the same rate as your attacks? The short answer is "no, you do not become steadily easier to hit" The somewhat longer answer is "it depends on how the DM builds encounters, but you'll probably not become steadily easier to hit" The detailed answer is: https://songoftheblade.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/building-an-average-encounter-in-5th-edition-dd/
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Sep 25, 2018 15:50
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question for role playing: the last character i played felt very lackluster and didn't have much character. If i ever get a chance to join a game, how can i give my PCs more character? so far I had two character ideas: one is a tiefling rogue (neutral) dealing with his cultist father and the other a very polite half elf cleric (lawful good) who acts like a doormat. I'm afraid these might go to waste as I suck at improv and I have issues putting myself in my character's shoes. doesn't help I can't be able to discern reality from fiction. edit: I have trouble with telling the difference between out of character or in character stuff sometimes. it's not as bad as it seems. Fruity20 fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 16:06
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Fruity20 posted:question for role playing: the last character i played felt very lackluster and didn't have much character. If i ever get a chance to join a game, how can i give my PCs more character? Fruity20 posted:doesn't help I can't be able to discern reality from fiction.
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Sep 25, 2018 16:09
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Fruity20 posted:doesn't help I can't be able to discern reality from fiction.
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Sep 25, 2018 17:02
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Splicer posted:Do you mean you have trouble separating in character and out of character knowledge and motivations? yes. I have tendency to be very gullible. I guess one thing i could do is write down notes on things my character knows and refer to it every now and then.
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Sep 25, 2018 17:25
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Fruity20 posted:yes. I have tendency to be very gullible. I guess one thing i could do is write down notes on things my character knows and refer to it every now and then. I don't understand how gullibility fits into that? could you explain more? also don't worry about knowledge stuff too much. I have a wide range of players who vary between knowing the game inside and out, players who get really into characters and others who can barely remember anything about last session. a good group comes to a natural consensus of what a character should or shouldn't know through backstory and a bit of common sense.
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Sep 25, 2018 17:47
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When it comes to playing a good character, here is all you need to know: a.) Does he have a funny or cool accent? If so, is it grating on the other players? If yes, reduce accent by 10%, repeat a.) until satisfied. b.) What is your character afraid of? Dream big; don't think of something hyper-specific like 'dragons' but something fairly big like 'poverty' or 'disease.' Again, respond accordingly but reduce reactions to stimulus by 10% until you are not a cartoon character. c.) Does your character have any obvious quirks or tics? Examples include: laughing at awkward situations, sighing audibly when presented with unforeseen challenges, or a tendency to fall back on history and poetry when wanting to appear intelligent. Bad examples [for most games! exceptions abound]: constant farting, an attraction to 'shiny things', any sort of IC 'racism'. d.) You only really need to know one thing from your backstory: why are you doing this whole 'adventure' thing instead of finding a job or being a minor noble somewhere? I find where most players fall down is that they hedge their bets and only think of 'safe' options that require lots of input from the DM to mobilize. Like, here's an example: If the whole of your character is bound up in, 'an ancient wizard kidnapped my father and I need to find the tools to get him back' you have now left it up to the DM to seed the game with things you might be interested in. Now, a good DM will respond to that, of course, but it's also good to write things into your character that can respond to any situation in an interesting way. If however, your backstory is, 'My father was kidnapped by an ancient wizard, which prompted me to become wizard-police and I now spend my time hunting down evil spellcasters and enforcing local magical law' you've got something that can react to a lot more of the game. The other way new players fall down is that they go so all-in on their concept that it disrupts the game and attempts to pull the whole party around by the nose. Learning that balancing act is tricky, but once you get it, you're golden.
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Sep 25, 2018 17:57
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Proud Rat Mom posted:I don't understand how gullibility fits into that? could you explain more? also don't worry about knowledge stuff too much. I have a wide range of players who vary between knowing the game inside and out, players who get really into characters and others who can barely remember anything about last session. a good group comes to a natural consensus of what a character should or shouldn't know through backstory and a bit of common sense. i meant gullibility in "i think player meant this when really he meant that". of course that rarely happens often so i guess i'm good.
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Sep 25, 2018 18:02
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Mendrian posted:When it comes to playing a good character, here is all you need to know: I think d) is a great one I wish I followed more, and I thank you for reiterating it. Once when I didn't the world nearly ended.
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Sep 25, 2018 18:05
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Flawless Victory!
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Sep 25, 2018 18:47
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Mendrian posted:When it comes to playing a good character, here is all you need to know: say hypotheically, my cleric hates germs and hates getting messy, which includes bloodly battles. are these good quirks if you flesh them out more?
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Sep 25, 2018 18:57
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You're allowed to hate bloody battle but you still have to participate in the bloody battle.
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Sep 25, 2018 19:01
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Fruity20 posted:say hypotheically, my cleric hates germs and hates getting messy, which includes bloodly battles. are these good quirks if you flesh them out more?
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Sep 25, 2018 19:04
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Fruity20 posted:say hypotheically, my cleric hates germs and hates getting messy, which includes bloodly battles. are these good quirks if you flesh them out more? You could transform that into someone who gives advice to their allies because he doesn't want them to get bloodied since he then has to clean them up. Make sure he can heal people by touching them but tries not to. He might even instruct them in first aid so he doesn't have to do it. Something like that?
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Sep 25, 2018 19:07
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The absolute key to RPing character quirks is that these quirks will sometimes impact their reasons for progressing the adventure and the manner in which they progress the adventure, but, and this is the most important thing, they will not prevent progressing the adventure. Think about what you as the player think needs to be done next, and then work out how your character would reach that destination. If your character is a coward, and the maguffin is in a scary situation, you don't think "My character is a coward, he's not going to go get the maguffin." You think "My character is a coward, why would a coward go get that maguffin? How would a coward go about getting that maguffin?" As someone (please tell me if it was you I really want to give credit) said, the thing about the A Team is that at the end of the day, Mr. T always got on that drat plane. Splicer fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 19:39
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Splicer posted:The absolute key to RPing character quirks is that these quirks will sometimes impact their reasons for progressing the adventure and the manner in which they progress the adventure, but, and this is the most important thing, they will not prevent progressing the adventure. Think about what you as the player think needs to be done next, and then work out how your character would reach that destination. If your character is a coward, and the maguffin is in a scary situation, you don't think "My character is a coward, he's not going to go get the maguffin." You think "My character is a coward, why would a coward go get that maguffin? How would a coward go about getting that maguffin?" yeah i agree completely. perhaps it could be a motivation that eventually has them overcome it. what's the point of playing a character who's scared of dragons when your gonna kill one anyway.
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Sep 25, 2018 19:46
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