D&D NEXT: Infinite Posts of the Abyss

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Ryuujin: Sep 26, 2007; Dragon God

quote:

@JeremyECrawford
Nov 5

We're still tinkering with the artificer, amid our other work. We'll release a new version of the class when it's ready for another round of feedback, and we're ready to act on that feedback. #DnD

So when asked about the Artificer apparently it is still in the works, but no mention of when we might actually see it.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 09:00

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# ? May 29, 2024 22:54

Nutsngum: Oct 9, 2004; I don't think it's nice, you laughing.

Conspiratiorist posted:

Here's how you melee Cleric:

Variant Human
16 8 15 8 16 8
1. Resilient (CON)
4. Magic Initiate (Wizard) for Find Familiar, Booming Blade, and a vanity cantrip.
8. WIS+2
12. WIS+2

There, done. Don't put anything more into Strength; it's not worth it when you've only got one attack. Your familiar will take care of accuracy. You want Resilient to maintain concentration and have decent HP. Wisdom is still your core stat so that's what you want to put the rest of your ASIs towards.

If you want to melee harder still, ask for a magical weapon or enchantment that deals lightning damage so you can proc Thunderbolt Strike on your melee hits in addition of with Wrath of the Storm. Take a moment to contemplate that foes repositioned as such need to move - and thus proc Booming Blade - to get back into melee.

This is pretty much the route I came up with myself (sans familiar as it doesnt quite fit my flavour). Just seems very odd they wrote so much varying subclasses for Cleric yet kind of failed to make their actual attacking ability as varied. I have no issue with sacrificing certain aspects of a class but the option would at least be nice.

Btw your strength still effects your to hit modifier so I wouldnt say leaving strength out is such a great idea either.

Nutsngum fucked around with this message at 12:18 on Nov 7, 2018

# ? Nov 7, 2018 12:16

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

I played a lizardfolk tempest cleric and if I was resorting to my weapon it was because it was an easy encounter and I didn't want to waste resources or it was a long rear end day. Generally your turn is better used casting. Wading into melee is good and your lower damage is offset by thunderously rebuke, upping your damage output per round when you do manage to get hit. Nothing like the DM asking "Ugh. How many times do you get that??"

Much better off casting a max damage shatter and trying to bring the roof down, or starting a storm or boosting damage with spiritual weapon of spiritual guardians.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 14:28

Pussy Quipped: Jan 29, 2009

Nutsngum posted:

This is pretty much the route I came up with myself (sans familiar as it doesnt quite fit my flavour). Just seems very odd they wrote so much varying subclasses for Cleric yet kind of failed to make their actual attacking ability as varied. I have no issue with sacrificing certain aspects of a class but the option would at least be nice.

Btw your strength still effects your to hit modifier so I wouldnt say leaving strength out is such a great idea either.

I think he was assuming you�d have the familiar grant you advantage on every hit, thus lowering the need for a higher hit modifier.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 15:52

Conspiratiorist: Nov 12, 2015; 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the ~~fifth~~ ~~sixth~~ some day

Nutsngum posted:

This is pretty much the route I came up with myself (sans familiar as it doesnt quite fit my flavour). Just seems very odd they wrote so much varying subclasses for Cleric yet kind of failed to make their actual attacking ability as varied. I have no issue with sacrificing certain aspects of a class but the option would at least be nice.

Btw your strength still effects your to hit modifier so I wouldnt say leaving strength out is such a great idea either.

All your stronger abilities key off WIS, so that's priority. Barring STR-boosting items, STR/DEX just have to stick to being 16 at best until the fabled late levels.

If you really wanted to be religionman who things hits more, then play Paladin instead.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 16:40

Nehru the Damaja: May 20, 2005

My dm was trying out an item wishlist so I was able to build with low strength on a hill dwarf, knowing I could still wear the armor and eventually get Str to boost Booming Blade.

Straight busted. I took a level in sorcerer instead of Magic initiate though. Slower spell progression but having Shield and Favored by the Gods as well as Bless in a non-prep sorcerer list was well worth it for me.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 18:09

Antiquated Pants: Feb 23, 2011; Oh god I'm so lonely in here...

Aniodia posted:

GTFOH, really? by the book it is, I guess.

Totally gonna be a bad influence here, but you should subtly try and get him to do exactly that.

Hah, yah- I was going to let it happen, but the other players made sure it didn't happen! Now the jig is up and they know it's really evil.

quote:

In that case, there either should be a limit (maybe once per short rest?), or no limit to how long it can remain animated at all. Personally, I'd lean towards the latter, since you're starting to hit the levels where magic should be powerful, even if it's just a floating +3 AC boost that lets you use both hands.

I took off any time limit, it's active until he doesn't want it to float, or he's incapacitated.

quote:

You do you, I guess. I just have some serious PTSD from jackoffs playing wild mages back in 2e, and 5th has done pretty much nothing to really make me reconsider my stance.

Maybe 5e has toned it down, the rare times it has happened it's been mostly harmless (someone turned blue, or had a beard of feathers?!?), but it's definitely been more helpful than harmful.

quote:

Lemme take a crack at it (and feel free to completely ignore it)

Obsidian Shard of Elemental Flame (Weapon (staff), Very rare, Requires attunement, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard only)
This staff is a solid piece of black glass, warm to the touch with an internal warmth. Once attuned, it bestows the following effects:

I love all of this. I used pretty much all of it. Though I kept the automatic stabilizing part. making the sword be able to use charges and really blast em is great, and baking in the wild magic with charge use instead of making it a separate action is exactly what I wanted but hadn't realized how to do!

Oh, and I took the dagger and made the poison DC 10+Dex mod +proficiency. That way it gets more powerful with the wielder. Already I think that puts it at 18 instead of the 15 default.

Can't wait for next session, gotta throw some serious combat at 'em just to test it out now.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 19:45

PenguinKnight: Apr 6, 2009

Ryuujin posted:

So when asked about the Artificer apparently it is still in the works, but no mention of when we might actually see it.

next month'll be 2 years since the UA was released. the artificer is never coming out

# ? Nov 7, 2018 19:48

Darwinism: Jan 6, 2008

PenguinKnight posted:

next month'll be 2 years since the UA was released. the artificer is never coming out

Nonsense, it'll be released

As a wizard archetype

e: Right after the Psion gets released as one is my personal bet

# ? Nov 7, 2018 20:05

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

PenguinKnight posted:

next month'll be 2 years since the UA was released. the artificer is never coming out

I think it will be coming out relatively soon. We have the Eberron play test book and the artificer is a pretty important part of that setting. I think we will see it next year.

Darwinism posted:

Nonsense, it'll be released

As a wizard archetype

That was their first idea, it was not popular so they decided to make it it's own class.

# ? Nov 7, 2018 20:05

Cool Dad: Jun 15, 2007; It is always Friday night, motherfuckers

I'm planning some spooky encounters with the undead. I'm looking for ideas to make the encounters dynamic and interesting. If by some weird coincidence you're reading this and you're playing in a game about "gay fire" (I did not name it that), don't read this.

The premise is that this place was a huge machine-city a thousand years ago, but now it's a necropolis full of rusted metal and the few living people hide among the ruins from the hungry dead that rule this place. I'm not using straight MM stats for anything, so assume all of these encounters are scaled to be appropriate for between four and eight level 7 characters, depending on who shows up.

This is intended to take one or two sessions to complete. The encounters I have in mind are:

1) A bunch of desperate living humans engage the party, looking to rob them for food and supplies (and with the implication that they're desperate enough to resort to cannibalism). This isn't meant to be a combat encounter, necessarily. This one is going to depend on how the players react to these people. The purpose of this encounter is to set up the rest of the adventure and give the party a chance to gather information and role play a bit.

2) In the town square before the castle at the center of the city (or wherever the players go next) a bunch of skeleton and zombie soldiers led by a skeletal knight on a skeletal horse. This is a fairly straightforward combat encounter. I intend the knight to be very mobile and tough to pin down, charging back and forth on his horse, but otherwise this encounter feels kind of bland to me and I'd love some ideas to make it a little bit more exciting.

3) In the castle, they will meet the vampire lord who rules the city, and his feral vampire minions. I'll probably put this in a throne room or some sort of grand hall. I don't want to make the castle an entire dungeon itself, but I could use some ideas for interesting non-combat encounters or setpieces in other parts of the castle if they go exploring. The vampire is a mid-boss, who is going to flit around attacking people with spells and doing vampire stuff like turning to mist while his minions engage people in melee.

4) There is a tunnel in the castle leading to a subterranean tomb. Shades and spirits will attack the party as they pass through the tunnels. I haven't pinned down exactly what kind of incorporeal undead these will be, just some kind of spooky ghost guys. I plan to have them moving in and out of the walls and grabbing people and holding them down, generally lots of spooky ghost stuff that the party will have to deal with creatively using spells and readied attacks.

5) The final boss fight in the tomb is with a lich powered by wild magic. When engaged, he will use magic and awaken a colossal skeleton and use magic to give himself some legendary actions. He'll also inflict wild magic surges on the party. This encounter has a lot going on with the giant melee monster and all the heavy magic use.

So, any suggestions to make this stuff a little more interesting to engage with? Does this sound reasonably entertaining so far?

# ? Nov 7, 2018 21:58

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:

I'm planning some spooky encounters with the undead. I'm looking for ideas to make the encounters dynamic and interesting. If by some weird coincidence you're reading this and you're playing in a game about "gay fire" (I did not name it that), don't read this.

The premise is that this place was a huge machine-city a thousand years ago, but now it's a necropolis full of rusted metal and the few living people hide among the ruins from the hungry dead that rule this place. I'm not using straight MM stats for anything, so assume all of these encounters are scaled to be appropriate for between four and eight level 7 characters, depending on who shows up.

This is intended to take one or two sessions to complete. The encounters I have in mind are:

1) A bunch of desperate living humans engage the party, looking to rob them for food and supplies (and with the implication that they're desperate enough to resort to cannibalism). This isn't meant to be a combat encounter, necessarily. This one is going to depend on how the players react to these people. The purpose of this encounter is to set up the rest of the adventure and give the party a chance to gather information and role play a bit.

2) In the town square before the castle at the center of the city (or wherever the players go next) a bunch of skeleton and zombie soldiers led by a skeletal knight on a skeletal horse. This is a fairly straightforward combat encounter. I intend the knight to be very mobile and tough to pin down, charging back and forth on his horse, but otherwise this encounter feels kind of bland to me and I'd love some ideas to make it a little bit more exciting.

3) In the castle, they will meet the vampire lord who rules the city, and his feral vampire minions. I'll probably put this in a throne room or some sort of grand hall. I don't want to make the castle an entire dungeon itself, but I could use some ideas for interesting non-combat encounters or setpieces in other parts of the castle if they go exploring. The vampire is a mid-boss, who is going to flit around attacking people with spells and doing vampire stuff like turning to mist while his minions engage people in melee.

4) There is a tunnel in the castle leading to a subterranean tomb. Shades and spirits will attack the party as they pass through the tunnels. I haven't pinned down exactly what kind of incorporeal undead these will be, just some kind of spooky ghost guys. I plan to have them moving in and out of the walls and grabbing people and holding them down, generally lots of spooky ghost stuff that the party will have to deal with creatively using spells and readied attacks.

5) The final boss fight in the tomb is with a lich powered by wild magic. When engaged, he will use magic and awaken a colossal skeleton and use magic to give himself some legendary actions. He'll also inflict wild magic surges on the party. This encounter has a lot going on with the giant melee monster and all the heavy magic use.

So, any suggestions to make this stuff a little more interesting to engage with? Does this sound reasonably entertaining so far?

2) Instead of a skeleton knight and a skeleton horse, make them a clockwork horses/knight. Play up the broken down machine-city (maybe even have some of the shades haunt hulking machine wrecks?). For the clockwork knight, make his gears turn backward and rewind time on hits (randomly) erasing damage. Could also have him phase in and out of reality instead of galloping around. See if maybe the players try and predict where he resets to and hold an attack to break him/jam his gears up/something like that. Straight up combat works but is harder than doing X.

5) I would play up the wild magic part in all of the previous encounters, making the entire area surrounding the tomb be warped by wild magic. The first encounter with the humans, have them look horrible (heads of grotesque creatures, mutilated, maybe elemental appendages or whatever) but have it be foreshadowing where they are trying to scrounge enough supplies to leave the cursed place. Might look like an attack by monsters initially but maybe it's just people looking monsterous? Divide the colossal skeleton into parts that the party can attack directly and have it be affected differently by different stuff on the wild magic table: an arm on fire, a leg that has purple hair, a skull that is ethereal and an arm with a bone club that has been turned invisible. Have the effects change and rotate locations on every round, bonus damage for doing force damage to ethereal part, fire damage to ice limb, etc. Maybe make it resistant to normal damage or something?

Ceros_X fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Nov 8, 2018

# ? Nov 8, 2018 05:01

Elector_Nerdlingen: Sep 27, 2004

Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:

1) A bunch of desperate living humans engage the party, looking to rob them for food and supplies (and with the implication that they're desperate enough to resort to cannibalism). This isn't meant to be a combat encounter, necessarily. This one is going to depend on how the players react to these people. The purpose of this encounter is to set up the rest of the adventure and give the party a chance to gather information and role play a bit.

I dunno how "horror" you're going for here but if you're going for unsettling, if they attack the desperate/starving people then let them win without rolling. Then narrate something like:

"Yeah, you cut him down. He doesn't even try to resist. The others just stare. You realise with horror that they're not staring at you, but at their fallen friend. They look hungry."

Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:

4) There is a tunnel in the castle leading to a subterranean tomb. Shades and spirits will attack the party as they pass through the tunnels. I haven't pinned down exactly what kind of incorporeal undead these will be, just some kind of spooky ghost guys. I plan to have them moving in and out of the walls and grabbing people and holding them down, generally lots of spooky ghost stuff that the party will have to deal with creatively using spells and readied attacks.

Gridded combat? Have some squares (for example, those next to a grave marker) be "dangerous", where a ghost will grab you if you enter them, ending your move and restraining you. As an action, you can destroy the grave marker and move again (milder version - it's a free action to destroy the marker and render adjacent squares safe, but it still ends your move). They're nothing you can fight and they don't do damage - treat them like terrain while a real combat encounter happens.

# ? Nov 8, 2018 05:41

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Man these things are creepy looking.

Pretty accurate to the original art.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 04:10

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

Convince me (pro or con) about multiclassing Hexblade Warlock together with Bard.
Go.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 04:16

Conspiratiorist: Nov 12, 2015; 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the ~~fifth~~ ~~sixth~~ some day

P.d0t posted:

Convince me (pro or con) about multiclassing Hexblade Warlock together with Bard.
Go.

Assuming Hexblade 1 / College of Swords X

Pros:
You get shield proficiency and Shield.
You can focus on CHA so your DCs and number of available Bardic Inspirations don't suffer.
Eldritch Blast is a better basic ranged attack than Vicious Mockery.
Cons:
You delay Bard spell progression by a level.
If you're playing College of Swords you aren't playing Lore Bard.
You don't get Extra Attack until level 7.
You don't get spell buffs like Blur and Haste that make you actually effective at melee. Until Magical Secrets at 11, anyway.
Your melee damage will be crap without feats or spending your concentration on Hex.
Being in melee means you *need* either Resilient or War Caster.

Conclusion:
It's not terrible, but you're shrinking your Bard dick by two inches for the privilege of being merely-kind-of-okayish at meleeing.

Hexblade 2 / Lore Bard X that stays at range is okay, though.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 05:27

lightrook: Nov 7, 2016; Pin 188

P.d0t posted:

Convince me (pro or con) about multiclassing Hexblade Warlock together with Bard.
Go.

For Hexblade 1/Lore Bard 19:

Pros: Proficiency with Medium armor, shields, and martial weapons without needing to pick College of Valor. Can use CHA for combat rolls. Some extra Warlock spells, too.

Cons: One less level of Bard, literally the best class in the game. And maybe you need Warcaster if you plan on benefiting from your shield proficiency?

For Hexblade 3/Lore Bard 17:

Cons: Even fewer levels in The Best Class In The Game.

Pros: ???

One nice thing is it lets you frontline without being forced to take College of Valor/Swords, so you can take Lore, i.e. The Best Spec For The Best Class. If you start off as Vuman with Point Buy, you can start with 15/15/14/10/8/8 in CHA/CON/DEX/WIS/STR/INT, respectively, bump CHA and CON to 16, and spend your free feat on War Caster so you don't have to worry about having your hands full; you won't need more than 14 DEX since you're wearing medium armor for AC and using Hex Warrior for combat rolls. Warlock also gives you access to the Blade cantrips, Booming and Green-Flame, which you would otherwise need a feat to access, and even at level 1 you get your pick of a couple of Warlock spells; Warlock doesn't share spell progression with other casters so you can just pick for utility, which takes a little burden off your Bard spell selections.

Honestly, the more I look at it, the better it sounds; I've been itching to roll a bard for my next character so I might end up playing exactly this.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 05:27

Skyl3lazer: Aug 27, 2007; [Dooting Stealthily]

Release date question: The supplemental Ravnica books are scheduled to come out on the 20th, but I got an email today about them being available in Beyond -> https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/source/38

Are they actually just online earlier than in paper? How does "Beyond" work, could I print character sheets and stuff? Or is this just a preorder online?

e; Apparently LGS got it in today in paper, so maybe amazon/online just wait longer?

Skyl3lazer fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Nov 9, 2018

# ? Nov 9, 2018 16:40

ChaseSP: Mar 25, 2013

* I shouldn't phone type.

ChaseSP fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Nov 9, 2018

# ? Nov 9, 2018 17:09

She Bangs the Drums: Oct 17, 2009; by VideoGames

ChaseSP posted:

So, in a friends game with other friends, and one of them is playing a paranoid kobold mystic that and it keeps ending up with arguments IC out of nowhere due to playing a gruff Dwarven cleric.

While I'd be fine with that alone, they're also hiding stuff like a method to contact a magic vendor some of the party has come across and it's very much ending up frustrating on that metric. And I'm kinda unsure what to say on this manner, they've also complained to be about racism due to a remark of trolls being ravages so unsure if this is a grudge or something.

This makes no sense. What are you asking?

# ? Nov 9, 2018 18:07

Sion: Oct 16, 2004; "I'm the boss of space. That's plenty."

ChaseSP posted:

So, in a friends game with other friends, and one of them is playing a paranoid kobold mystic that and it keeps ending up with arguments IC out of nowhere due to playing a gruff Dwarven cleric.

While I'd be fine with that alone, they're also hiding stuff like a method to contact a magic vendor some of the party has come across and it's very much ending up frustrating on that metric. And I'm kinda unsure what to say on this manner, they've also complained to be about racism due to a remark of trolls being ravages so unsure if this is a grudge or something.

'I fed a Neural Network 5 editions worth of monster manuals and this happened.'

# ? Nov 9, 2018 18:12

Kaysette: Jan 5, 2009; ~*Boston makes me*~
~*feel good*~

ChaseSP posted:

So, in a friends game with other friends, and one of them is playing a paranoid kobold mystic that and it keeps ending up with arguments IC out of nowhere due to playing a gruff Dwarven cleric.

While I'd be fine with that alone, they're also hiding stuff like a method to contact a magic vendor some of the party has come across and it's very much ending up frustrating on that metric. And I'm kinda unsure what to say on this manner, they've also complained to be about racism due to a remark of trolls being ravages so unsure if this is a grudge or something.

The other players sound like assholes. Talk to them out of character about it.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 18:18

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Skyl3lazer posted:

Release date question: The supplemental Ravnica books are scheduled to come out on the 20th, but I got an email today about them being available in Beyond -> https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/source/38

Are they actually just online earlier than in paper? How does "Beyond" work, could I print character sheets and stuff? Or is this just a preorder online?

e; Apparently LGS got it in today in paper, so maybe amazon/online just wait longer?

Gaming stores get early release. I�m picking mine up whenever I stop being lazy today.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 18:22

ChaseSP: Mar 25, 2013

Well mostly I'm wondering what exact approach would be best, I don't wanna piss anyone off or make them feel unwanted or anything. It's just aggravating when it's full on denying stuff for no good reason besides gently caress you. Which is what their characters thoughts pretty much were due to no trust.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 19:12

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Skyl3lazer posted:

Release date question: The supplemental Ravnica books are scheduled to come out on the 20th, but I got an email today about them being available in Beyond -> https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/source/38

Are they actually just online earlier than in paper? How does "Beyond" work, could I print character sheets and stuff? Or is this just a preorder online?

e; Apparently LGS got it in today in paper, so maybe amazon/online just wait longer?

Beyond and Wizards affiliated gaming stores get books early. So both Ravnica and Dungeon of the Mad Mage are out now.

MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Nov 9, 2018

# ? Nov 9, 2018 19:28

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

ChaseSP posted:

So, in a friends game with other friends, and one of them is playing a paranoid kobold mystic that and it keeps ending up with arguments IC out of nowhere due to playing a gruff Dwarven cleric.

While I'd be fine with that alone, they're also hiding stuff like a method to contact a magic vendor some of the party has come across and it's very much ending up frustrating on that metric. And I'm kinda unsure what to say on this manner, they've also complained to be about racism due to a remark of trolls being ravages so unsure if this is a grudge or something.

There's at least three words missing from various sentences and I think they're important ones.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 19:46

Pussy Quipped: Jan 29, 2009

So one of my players is a BM Ranger with a giant poisonous snake companion. We are using the UA Revised Ranger rules, and it seems kinda lame that they will never get a second attack feature without multiclassing. I understand that the pet can attack as a reaction when you attack, but if the snake couldn't get in range or died the ranger becomes incredibly weak, especially as we progress to Levels 10+.
Would it be reasonable to let the Ranger have a second attack if they choose to not have the companion attack or if it is unable to make an attack action for whatever reason?

# ? Nov 9, 2018 19:47

ChaseSP: Mar 25, 2013

I'll rewrite the thing when I'm home.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 19:53

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

Pussy Quipped posted:

So one of my players is a BM Ranger with a giant poisonous snake companion. We are using the UA Revised Ranger rules, and it seems kinda lame that they will never get a second attack feature without multiclassing. I understand that the pet can attack as a reaction when you attack, but if the snake couldn't get in range or died the ranger becomes incredibly weak, especially as we progress to Levels 10+.
Would it be reasonable to let the Ranger have a second attack if they choose to not have the companion attack or if it is unable to make an attack action for whatever reason?

The main thing I would worry about is the ranger starting to ignore his pet most of the time because using the pet would mean less damage.

# ? Nov 9, 2018 21:07

Trojan Kaiju: Feb 13, 2012

Does anyone here know of any attempts at converting 4e/PF2e-style multiclassing into 5e as an alternative to what 5e has?

# ? Nov 9, 2018 23:42

mastershakeman: Oct 28, 2008; by vyelkin

Friend of mine is gonna start his first ever 5e game, he likes being a munchkin

Any guides for him? Just the original 3 books. I told him variant human wizard with owl flyby familiar , alternatively paladin or bard. That the right track?

# ? Nov 10, 2018 01:56

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

mastershakeman posted:

Friend of mine is gonna start his first ever 5e game, he likes being a munchkin

Any guides for him? Just the original 3 books. I told him variant human wizard with owl flyby familiar , alternatively paladin or bard. That the right track?

He just needs to google "5e wizard guide" and they always talk about what is OP and broken multiclass. Forums like GITP, EN World, etc. "5e wizard optinization" also

# ? Nov 10, 2018 01:59

Slab Squatthrust: Jun 3, 2008; This is mutiny!

mastershakeman posted:

Friend of mine is gonna start his first ever 5e game, he likes being a munchkin

Any guides for him? Just the original 3 books. I told him variant human wizard with owl flyby familiar , alternatively paladin or bard. That the right track?

Yeah Wizard or Bard if he wants to be a heavy caster, Paladin if he wants to be melee (with a side of caster) are the strong starting points.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 02:08

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

Sorlock or sorcadin also

# ? Nov 10, 2018 02:24

Novum: May 26, 2012; That's how we roll

Just go full hexblade and only do 1 awesome crit per short rest imo

4d6+12d8+10d10+18 at level 9 or whatever. Screw it.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 02:36

Kaysette: Jan 5, 2009; ~*Boston makes me*~
~*feel good*~

Novum posted:

Just go full hexblade and only do 1 awesome crit per short rest imo

4d6+12d8+10d10+18 at level 9 or whatever. Screw it.

PHB only, yo.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 02:48

Conspiratiorist: Nov 12, 2015; 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the ~~fifth~~ ~~sixth~~ some day

mastershakeman posted:

Friend of mine is gonna start his first ever 5e game, he likes being a munchkin

Any guides for him? Just the original 3 books. I told him variant human wizard with owl flyby familiar , alternatively paladin or bard. That the right track?

Wizard only gets particularly strong past level 9 or so; it's like the third best caster, and dependent on the ability to transmute gold into spells known.

Paladin with Polearm Master is the overall best "pure" martial.
Lore Bard is great at casting and skills, and with support abilities on top. With a Cleric dip it's the best healer in the game (Aura of Vitality for PHB-only).
Tempest Cleric is a great blaster on top of the Cleric good AC and general damage dealing, and party aftercare. Life has better spell versatility since its domain autoprepares most of the 'mandatory' spells.
Draconic Sorcerer (fire) is good at blasting and just about the best at buffing (Twinned Spell). PHB-only means no Hexblade, but can still dip two Warlock levels for Sorlock EB blasting at level 11.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 04:54

Darwinism: Jan 6, 2008

Conspiratiorist posted:

Paladin with Polearm Master is the overall best "pure" martial.

I think that you probably mean melee because otherwise... :psypop:

# ? Nov 10, 2018 06:58

CeallaSo: May 3, 2013; Wisdom from a Fool

Darwinism posted:

I think that you probably mean melee because otherwise...

It's "pure" martial because all you ever do is swing your glaive at people. Just ignore the fact that your glaive is exploding with searing radiance for most of those attacks.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 09:04

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Aniodia: Feb 23, 2016; Literally who?

Antiquated Pants posted:

I love all of this. I used pretty much all of it. Though I kept the automatic stabilizing part. making the sword be able to use charges and really blast em is great, and baking in the wild magic with charge use instead of making it a separate action is exactly what I wanted but hadn't realized how to do!

Oh, and I took the dagger and made the poison DC 10+Dex mod +proficiency. That way it gets more powerful with the wielder. Already I think that puts it at 18 instead of the 15 default.

Can't wait for next session, gotta throw some serious combat at 'em just to test it out now.

Glad you like it, man. With the staff, it was really just a matter of making the wild magic stuff seem like a drawback, without having it actually be too much of a real drawback. Wizards; no sense of right or wrong. :v:

The poison DC adjustment sounds fine. I was thinking that adding DexMod on top of Proficiency would be a little much, but that maxes out at 21, which while tough, is achievable. Do it up.

And yeah, get them right in the think of everything, get that trial by fire. Again, glad you like the ideas, and I hope your players end up liking them too.

Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:

1) A bunch of desperate living humans engage the party, looking to rob them for food and supplies (and with the implication that they're desperate enough to resort to cannibalism). This isn't meant to be a combat encounter, necessarily. This one is going to depend on how the players react to these people. The purpose of this encounter is to set up the rest of the adventure and give the party a chance to gather information and role play a bit.

Play up the cannibalism as subtle, but noticeable differences. Things like filed teeth to be more pointed, a couple of gnawed bones but no animals (wild or otherwise) to be seen, everybody seems slightly emaciated. Some of the more major diseases associated with cannibalism are downright nasty, so have a few people show symptoms of them.

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2) In the town square before the castle at the center of the city (or wherever the players go next) a bunch of skeleton and zombie soldiers led by a skeletal knight on a skeletal horse. This is a fairly straightforward combat encounter. I intend the knight to be very mobile and tough to pin down, charging back and forth on his horse, but otherwise this encounter feels kind of bland to me and I'd love some ideas to make it a little bit more exciting.

Seconding the clockwork knight idea. Also, depending upon how long it takes between encountering some of the cannibals and going to deal with these guys, maybe have one or two of the cannibals go missing, and they've been killed and reanimated into the horde here, recognizable by their wardrobe.

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3) In the castle, they will meet the vampire lord who rules the city, and his feral vampire minions. I'll probably put this in a throne room or some sort of grand hall. I don't want to make the castle an entire dungeon itself, but I could use some ideas for interesting non-combat encounters or setpieces in other parts of the castle if they go exploring. The vampire is a mid-boss, who is going to flit around attacking people with spells and doing vampire stuff like turning to mist while his minions engage people in melee.

Since it just came out recently, take some inspiration from the aesthetic of Castlevania from the Netflix series. Clockwork cogs and gears in corners and in walls, mechanical servants, steam-powered poo poo everywhere. Make that poo poo a steampunk fan's wet dream.

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4) There is a tunnel in the castle leading to a subterranean tomb. Shades and spirits will attack the party as they pass through the tunnels. I haven't pinned down exactly what kind of incorporeal undead these will be, just some kind of spooky ghost guys. I plan to have them moving in and out of the walls and grabbing people and holding them down, generally lots of spooky ghost stuff that the party will have to deal with creatively using spells and readied attacks.

One of the neat things about ancient tombs, especially when it comes to the peasant tombs, is they were little more than walls made of rows and rows of skulls, with slightly more well-to-do people getting their entire skeleton immortalized into the wall. Have one or two skulls start chattering as they walk by, maybe a skeleton in the wall reaches out towards them or even fully animates, have a skull crawl out of the wall powered by a skeletal hand (almost like a weird hermit crab) and grab onto a player, slowing them down. Embrace your spooky, scary skellingtons. :hb:

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5) The final boss fight in the tomb is with a lich powered by wild magic. When engaged, he will use magic and awaken a colossal skeleton and use magic to give himself some legendary actions. He'll also inflict wild magic surges on the party. This encounter has a lot going on with the giant melee monster and all the heavy magic use.

So, any suggestions to make this stuff a little more interesting to engage with? Does this sound reasonably entertaining so far?

For the wild magic stuff, take a page out of what I said to Antiquated Pants and have it seem like it's a drawback and/or side effect of the lich starting to unleash more and more powerful magic. Maybe have a wild magic surge have it's own initiative count, and as the fight drags on, start introducing more and more so that way surges happen at increasing rates as the lich breaks down the walls of reality with his magics. If there gets to be too many, maybe have them persist even after both the lich and big skelly are down, and the party has to figure out a way to keep the area from just straight becoming a wild magic zone.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 09:18

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