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But it doesn't say what happens if you heat metal on a creature! If I cast Heat Metal on my shield guardian and have him grapple an enemy, does the enemy take burn damage every turn? Does the Shield Guardian? Do both?
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May 3, 2019 20:51
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Gharbad the Weak posted:I'm not a fan of caster supremacy, but if it's really that crippling, going "but actually no" is not a great way of handling it. If someone can neuter an encounter with a single, limited resource, that SHOULD be super cool and celebrated. Honestly, multiple-enemy combats are much more satisfying. An enemy with "adventuring party" composition is way more interesting than a bag full of HP and big numbers. On the other hand, Heat Metal is a really situational spell that can be broken by concentration, and 2d8 damage is not a punishing DOT. If I were to nerf it, I'd say that making the Con save lets them hold on to the item (and continue taking damage) without taking disadvantage.
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May 3, 2019 20:54
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deathbagel posted:But it doesn't say what happens if you heat metal on a creature! If I cast Heat Metal on my shield guardian and have him grapple an enemy, does the enemy take burn damage every turn? Does the Shield Guardian? Do both? RAW you can only cast Heat Metal on a "manufactured metal object".
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May 3, 2019 21:09
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Alternatively, have a creature cast it on the party tank and cleric 
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May 3, 2019 21:12
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Anil Dasharez0ne posted:RAW you can only cast Heat Metal on a "manufactured metal object". What if you heat metal then animate object?
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May 3, 2019 21:14
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Anil Dasharez0ne posted:RAW you can only cast Heat Metal on a "manufactured metal object". A shield guardian is manufactured and not alive, therefore a manufactured object as far as I'm concerned. Edit: I know it's a creature and exempt but that's stupid and unfun.
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May 3, 2019 21:19
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Wondering how far I should be going to police my players. It seems like every time we play they get stuff wrong (either by mistake or on purpose) and sometimes it's something they've gotten wrong multiple times or that we've hashed out previously. I don't mind it when people fudge little rules because I'd rather spend time playing than figuring out specific rules and I don't want to seem like some RAW hardcore judge DM, but I am trying to run things in a fair and fun way for their benefit and it bugs me when the artificer says he has an 18 Dex for the third time when I'm looking at his character sheet and it clearly says 16. This was all fine and dandy when they were newbs and didn't know the rules, but they've been playing for almost a year now and while some of the players have gotten really good at figuring out how to maneuver the game mechanics and stay on top of their characters and are honest about things, two in particular have been giving me trouble. One in particular gets pretty indignant. I've already switched to Ability cards as a way to keep track of their magic/dailies because it was turning into an issue when they'd complete a session, come back without a rest and start using all of their highest level spell slot/daily abilities even though they used them in the previous session. They have a number of cards equal to the number of spell slots they have access to. They then write down the spell they cast on the Spell Slot card of the appropriate level. I give them back their cards when they complete a long rest or whatever. It's working fairly well! The barbarian gets Rage cards to keep track of their rages, the cleric is having a better time managing his spells and it came into play when another player was convinced they didn't cast a particular spell earlier until I showed them the card they handed me with that spell's name written on it, which ended up being a huge benefit for them. I'm thinking of making little simple character sheets with just pertinent information for me to keep on my screen. Things like armor class, HP, saving throws, etc. to keep track of information mismanaged/easily forgotten stats. This is beneficial for everyone since I don't have to ask for it any more, so if anything it'll at least save us that much time. What do you all think? Verisimilidude fucked around with this message at 22:25 on May 3, 2019 |
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May 3, 2019 22:17
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Verisimilidude posted:I'm thinking of making little simple character sheets with just pertinent information for me to keep on my screen. Things like armor class, HP, saving throws, etc. to keep track of information mismanaged/easily forgotten stats. This is beneficial for everyone since I don't have to ask for it any more, so if anything it'll at least save us that much time. I don't think this is unreasonable! I had similar issues with my party to start with, but playing in Roll20, I can helicopter parent their character sheets. My problem child from a previous campaign played a wizard and would frequently proclaim he was "out of spell slots" to try and force the party's hand into a rest, when in actuality he was just down a single 3rd or 4th level with plenty to spare at high levels. Being able to peek at his sheet certainly let me prevent him from being a poo poo and outright lying to the rest of the party over petty bullshit. Keeping some cliffnotes on their AC and passive perception is actually suggested by most DM resources, and I like your spell card idea. Just keep in mind that they may have temporary AC-changing effects, like Mage Armor or Shield of Faith. I'd draw the line at tracking their HP, particularly because I'm an extremely lazy person and tracking monster HP is a pain in my dick as it is.
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May 3, 2019 22:33
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Malpais Legate posted:I don't think this is unreasonable! I had similar issues with my party to start with, but playing in Roll20, I can helicopter parent their character sheets. My problem child from a previous campaign played a wizard and would frequently proclaim he was "out of spell slots" to try and force the party's hand into a rest, when in actuality he was just down a single 3rd or 4th level with plenty to spare at high levels. Being able to peek at his sheet certainly let me prevent him from being a poo poo and outright lying to the rest of the party over petty bullshit. Ugh HP. Last night they fought some Vampire Spawn and keeping track of their temporary hit points AND their reduced hit points was enough to get me to stop caring. I was trying to keep their HP up to date on the screen since we play with Roll20 on my TV, but it really doesn't matter and it's so much work. They can just ask who has what health.
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May 3, 2019 22:41
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Verisimilidude posted:Wondering how far I should be going to police my players. Ask yourself if they're forgetful or if they're cheating. That's something nobody here can help you with, so be honest with yourself. If they're forgetful and inexperienced then yeah, keep notes on their numbers, use cards, use tokens. I used to have fist sized decorative stones I'd hand out as action points in 4e, forgot about them for a while but recently been using them for inspiration in 5e (and any other one thing players forget in any given game. It's hard to forget a big rock on your sheet). Maybe simplify encounters if it's all too much to track. If they're cheating... figure out why. Maybe it's something you're doing that they're cheating or fudging out of because it's un-fun and too frequent (Traps? Stuns? Disarms?) Maybe the difficulty is too high to be fun for this group. Maybe you've overstated the stakes and they're freaking out it'll be game over if they screw up even a little bit (ie maybe the tension is too high). Or maybe they're cheating pricks who need to win even if that means cheating, in which case warn them twice and then sever.
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May 3, 2019 22:53
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I give my players goofy poo poo all the time and let them get away with so much poo poo. And I let enemies do the same but I always broadcast the stupid bullshit about a round in advance to let them escape. In other words 5e is a mediocre system that I know well enough to bullshit.
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May 3, 2019 22:56
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Wait, yeah, if "don't give too much of a poo poo" is an option for you then definitely take it.
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May 3, 2019 23:10
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Verisimilidude posted:Wondering how far I should be going to police my players. It seems like every time we play they get stuff wrong (either by mistake or on purpose) and sometimes it's something they've gotten wrong multiple times or that we've hashed out previously. Just increase the DC/damage/whatever they cheated/"forgot" about. DM: What's your AC? Player: 20 DM: It hits, you take... 9 damage. Player: Uhhh, it rolled a 19? DM: If you can "forget" your character's AC than I can forget some bonuses I forgot to include. The rest of the stuff (Spell cards, rage cards, etc sounds p. cool).
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May 4, 2019 01:21
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For a little while, I was using note cards to keep track of turn orders, and folded them in half. On the part the players couldn't see, were their HP, AC and Passive Perception, so all I had to do was look up, check, and roll. It also was good for making sure people knew the turn order.
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May 4, 2019 10:15
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What would be good builds for a pair of cat burglar/assassin sort of NPCs? They should be able to sneak their way in and lie their way out, or vice versa. Maybe not so strong in prolonged combat, but good at avoiding combat and capable of a good strong hit and run. I was thinking arcane trickster/sorceror for one for subtle spell and mage hand hijinks and maybe some flavor of bard for the other? If he was brutal with melee sort of precision damage that would be good too. The kind of guy who can deal 50 damage in a turn once, but then he’s out of tricks and has to run. I’ve only DMed 5e so I never really build characters-these guys are probably 8th-9th level? If they wind up in a fight with the party of 4 5-6th lvl PCs level I want it to be a tough fight. They’re NPCs so obviously they don’t have to be exactly RAW but I’d like them to have some basis in real mechanics.
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May 4, 2019 16:15
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Ceros_X posted:Just increase the DC/damage/whatever they cheated/"forgot" about. solving out of game problems with in game solutions, I like it
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May 4, 2019 16:29
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Farg posted:solving out of game problems with in game solutions, I like it always the most sensible solution...
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May 4, 2019 16:33
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My players never took backgrounds when making their characters and now they’re level 4, is too late to ask them to choose, now that they have a better idea of who their characters are? It’s a bunch of free bonuses they’re missing out on.
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May 4, 2019 16:57
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change my name posted:My players never took backgrounds when making their characters and now they’re level 4, is too late to ask them to choose, now that they have a better idea of who their characters are? It’s a bunch of free bonuses they’re missing out on. Never too late.
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May 4, 2019 16:57
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What would be good builds for a pair of cat burglar/assassin sort of NPCs? They should be able to sneak their way in and lie their way out, or vice versa. Maybe not so strong in prolonged combat, but good at avoiding combat and capable of a good strong hit and run. Don't build them as PCs, but go ahead and freely steal abilities from classes if it fits the concept. And remember you only need to fill in abilities in their sheets as far as how they'd interact with the player characters.
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May 4, 2019 17:03
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What would be good builds for a pair of cat burglar/assassin sort of NPCs? They should be able to sneak their way in and lie their way out, or vice versa. Maybe not so strong in prolonged combat, but good at avoiding combat and capable of a good strong hit and run. The assassin statblock in the MM is CR8 so you can tweak that to match the flavor you want. Volos has a CR5 master thief you could flesh out with the arcane trickster stuff you mention. This document has NPC statblocks aligned with all the PC options if you want to check it out. I haven't used it extensively but it seems cool.
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May 4, 2019 17:20
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edit: Never mind.
Nehru the Damaja fucked around with this message at 03:21 on May 5, 2019 |
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May 5, 2019 02:12
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What would be good builds for a pair of cat burglar/assassin sort of NPCs? They should be able to sneak their way in and lie their way out, or vice versa. Maybe not so strong in prolonged combat, but good at avoiding combat and capable of a good strong hit and run. Shadow monk / arcane trickster is good to pillage from. I've seen shadow step as an ability on several NPC / monsters. Shadow Step + sneak attack + high movement ranged kiting + hit and run should keep them busy.
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May 5, 2019 02:49
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change my name posted:My players never took backgrounds when making their characters and now they’re level 4, is too late to ask them to choose, now that they have a better idea of who their characters are? It’s a bunch of free bonuses they’re missing out on. Definitely not too late, just do it.
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May 5, 2019 03:24
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I used to have some reservations about changing both mechanical and fluff aspects of characters once they've been in play, but once I was playing in this campaign where some of the choices I had made just didn't feel like they were working out for me, so I asked the DM if I could make changes given as I'd already been playing the character for a month or two. His response? My dude, what am I going to tell you? "No, you can't have fun"? Since then, if I or another player run into similar issues, and the DM's response is to say no, I tell them this story. And they insist on not, then I immediately 
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May 5, 2019 05:27
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Conspiratiorist posted:I used to have some reservations about changing both mechanical and fluff aspects of characters once they've been in play, but once I was playing in this campaign where some of the choices I had made just didn't feel like they were working out for me, so I asked the DM if I could make changes given as I'd already been playing the character for a month or two. His response? TL;DR - Just let them make the change, It'll lead to a better game experience for everyone. Also, make sure to pick who you play with carefully. This is a golden rule to follow. It is their Character and I have no right to tell the player they can't have fun. I've been that player with the DM that says "No, you can't swap Thunderwave for something more useful and not Area of Effect.". I find it really frustrating as a player when I choose an AoE spell and then all we fight in is small Close Quarter Spaces where Friendly Fire is inevitable in the AoE. Which usually leads to people upset and complaining and the whole table devolving into a severely challenged argument ending in no fun for anyone. Followed by a month long discussion attempting to convince the DM to let me switch. Verisimilidude posted:I'm thinking of making little simple character sheets with just pertinent information for me to keep on my screen. Things like armor class, HP, saving throws, etc. to keep track of information mismanaged/easily forgotten stats. This is beneficial for everyone since I don't have to ask for it any more, so if anything it'll at least save us that much time. You can look up a D&D Character Tracker Sheet which there are lots of designs for on the wider internet (google). I use one for my campaigns since we have a group member that's been known to cheat when ever he can, one bad egg spoiled it for the bunch. Its handy for keeping Health, AC, Initiative, Death Saves, Movement, and all their modifiers for you to reference.
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May 6, 2019 05:46
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Hello folks. I am going to be making a Ravnica Rogue for House Dimir, masquerading as Orzhov, does anyone know if inquisitive or manipulator are better options for subclasses? Thank you!
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May 6, 2019 18:01
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Go Thief and express your job through the Spy background or cook one up with your DM imo
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May 6, 2019 19:51
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Razorwired posted:Go Thief and express your job through the Spy background or cook one up with your DM imo The "background" section is filled in for with guild (in my case Dimir), but is thief any good? I always thought it was rather lacklustre?
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May 6, 2019 20:07
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I’ve heard tell of a lot of Thief builds that wreck poo poo with caltrops, sleight of hand, and disarming, and there are a lot of out-of-combat uses.
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May 6, 2019 20:34
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99 CENTS AMIGO posted:I’ve heard tell of a lot of Thief builds that wreck poo poo with caltrops, sleight of hand, and disarming, and there are a lot of out-of-combat uses. I mean all it seems able to do RAW is open locks as a bonus, jump a lot, sneak better (which come on at level 9 you should be practically invisible anyway!), use all magic items (which I will admit is pretty cool but very DM dependent) and (tbf) one of the best capstone abilities that makes you able to go twice.
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May 6, 2019 20:38
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Thief is the ultimate "this class is good because I have a good GM" class.
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May 6, 2019 22:12
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Pretty sure Assassin is that one, seen too many DMs just not even care about the concept of surprise.
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May 7, 2019 01:38
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Arthil posted:Pretty sure Assassin is that one, seen too many DMs just not even care about the concept of surprise. Nah, Assassin is more 'this genuinely doesn't function unless im giving constant handholds from my party, GM and narrative style'.
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May 7, 2019 05:07
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kingcom posted:Nah, Assassin is more 'this genuinely doesn't function unless im giving constant handholds from my party, GM and narrative style'. I thought that the whole "set up a secret identity" thing might work well in a Ravnica game? Hmmm, bit to think about.
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May 7, 2019 07:12
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Josef bugman posted:I thought that the whole "set up a secret identity" thing might work well in a Ravnica game? The point being that you're really hoping your GM plays that up as being really important or else its not. 'Disguise yourself as someone else and infiltrate' is like, something you can do sure but everyone can just take a check and use your disguise kit or whatever to do it. As an assassin you're getting a class feature that maybe is going to come up and if the GM wants to include everyone, is probably just going to let everyone come up with a disguise. This is on top of Ravnica being a high magic setting so by the time you are level 9 anything you aren't capable of brute forcing you're way through is probably pretty high up there. You then need to hope your GM lets you go off as its written on top and doesnt have some kind of magic solution to your disguise. Basically you're banking on lot going right for something that, if you have a GM who is on board with this stuff, would really just let any class choose to disguise themselves.
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May 7, 2019 07:50
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Fair. Hmmm, just trying to work out who would work best for subclass.
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May 7, 2019 07:52
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I'm thinking about rolling up a Mountain Dwarf War Wizard with the Guild with the Mercenary Veteran background, RPing him as a surly, lazy Teamster type of mercenary. Considering the War Caster feat as well as taking a 1 or 2 level dip into Fighter for armor profs, con save, and Action Surge. Thoughts?
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May 7, 2019 14:51
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kingcom posted:Basically you're banking on lot going right for something that, if you have a GM who is on board with this stuff, would really just let any class choose to disguise themselves. It's basically the Beast Master's issue, where the best way to have a pet is to just ask DM for one whilst playing literally any other class.
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May 7, 2019 15:59
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Smashing Link posted:I'm thinking about rolling up a Mountain Dwarf War Wizard with the Guild with the Mercenary Veteran background, RPing him as a surly, lazy Teamster type of mercenary. Considering the War Caster feat as well as taking a 1 or 2 level dip into Fighter for armor profs, con save, and Action Surge. Thoughts? Mountain Dwarves are proficient in light and medium armor by default, so your dip into fighter is inadvisable because as a wizard, I doubt you'll have the strength requirements for anything heavier than that. You'd have to start with Fighter to get the Con proficiency. It's doable, but you'll also have to live with being a whole spell level or two behind your party.
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May 7, 2019 16:18
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