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P.d0t posted:Thanks for this! If you want working math and not a bunch of premade monsters, just use these bad boys from forumuser gradenko_2000: https://songoftheblade.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/improved-monster-stats-table-for-dd-5th-edition/ https://songoftheblade.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/building-an-average-encounter-in-5th-edition-dd/
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May 21, 2019 17:09
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Is it just me or are druids just kind of dull a lot of the time? Like maybe it's because there isn't too much you can do with "power from nature and nature alone".
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May 21, 2019 18:30
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KittyEmpress posted:So my ravnica character might be turning into a slime woman. The DM originally intended for it to be a plot arc about finding a cure, but both I and my PC are pretty chill with it. Her goal in life was ultimately 'transcend my mortal body and become immortal', so her hair turning slimy and dripping and her arms being kinda off and stretchy doesn't bother her much. I've played enough MTG to know that actually being an Ooze is pretty rad because there are a lot of really rad oozes. Like, the current leader of Simic in MTG is herself an ooze woman, and if the lady with the magic and the resources to turn herself into drat near anything is pretty chill about being an ooze that's a pretty strong endorsement I'd think.
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May 21, 2019 19:12
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“My character is the Mimeoplasm, look it up dude”
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May 21, 2019 19:13
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I saw Ettin tweeting about Planescape; did anybody announce anything about Planescape?
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May 21, 2019 20:44
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ProfessorCirno posted:So in AD&D, Ranger is a straight up upgrade to the fighter, and is also Aragorn. It is not Legolas, who is an elven fighter focused on archery, it is Aragorn writ large to the point of having a special ability where they can use magical items based on scrying. Beyond being Literally Aragorn, the general theme of the ranger is that they were the wilderness special ops guy who kept civilization safe, and this is a definition that matters more as we get into other editions. They were not the friendly happy hippy animal guys - they were the opposite, gaining a bonus towards specifically Giant based enemies because they lived in the wilderness to keep it out, and were not "of" the wilderness. They also don't get an inherent bonus to dual wielding; instead, they get a bonus weapon proficiency for a "woodsman-esque" weapon like a hatchet or knife, and in AD&D, that in a roundabout way means you're going to be dual wielding, as those are the only two weapons you can actually use in your offhand. Druids can talk to animals and pass through forests without a trace, rangers can hunt and track foes and survive in the wilderness on their own cunning. Again, this difference matters. Also it's important to note that only humans can be rangers at this point. Once again, thematically, they are very specific. Some of this AD&D stuff is spot on, some is wrong. Humans and Half-elves could be rangers in 1E (because Elrond's half-elven sons are rangers in LotR); dagger or hand axe were the only off-hand weapons, but rangers didn't get free proficiency in either of them (unless that got added in Unearthed Arcana as an optional rule). You probably weren't dual-wielding unless you had DEX 17 or better as even a -1 penalty was a big deal for most of a campaign, at least until you got STR boosting items. The other big distinction AD&D rangers had was that they received both a small number of druid spells AND a small number of magic-user spells. They also started with an extra hit die, although d8s instead of d10s. And they could wear any armor and use shields, meaning you could be in Plate Mail while you shot your bow at people and switch to sword and board when they closed.
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May 21, 2019 20:55
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I thought dual wielding Rangers didn't become something that was mechanically supported until 3rd edition, mostly due to the popularity of Drizznt?
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May 21, 2019 21:09
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theironjef posted:4e Ranger was less of a good class than a particularly good At-Will with some neat stuff adjacent. This is a vast oversimplification, and not true. The difference in 4E was that they actually attempted to carve out a space for the ranger, to not entirely 100% success, but more than other editions have typically had. Looking back to the basis of the ranger, Aragorn, the term "ranger" means you're descended from a lineage of people who have become the best-of-the-best survivalists in the forests, plains, and mountains of Tolkien's post-apocalyptic Middle Earth. This immediately calls for the ranger to be good at systems that any version of D&D generally ignores. That is, traveling, finding food, and finding people or places. For the sake of simplicity, tradition, and because the ranger is not viewed as a core party role, all that stuff is just assumed to happen, or happens in simple ways that don't require a dedicated character. 4E ranger fits neatly into the game's class design, owns most of the ranged attack design space, and picks up optional stuff in combat mobility, party support, skill buffs, and other concrete design choices. 4E isn't a survival game either, but it cares about the ranger, a good class with a real job. In posturing itself as all things to all gaming groups, 5E drops things like making sure each class has a defined niche and just continues being a simulation of itself. The ranger returns to being an afterthought.
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May 21, 2019 21:31
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The fact that it's not optimal be damned, what's a good way to try and do two weapon on a paladin? Is it worth a level dip into fighter or something? Grabbing the feat if I'm a vuman?
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May 22, 2019 00:23
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Fureil posted:The fact that it's not optimal be damned, what's a good way to try and do two weapon on a paladin? Is it worth a level dip into fighter or something? Grabbing the feat if I'm a vuman? The best thing I can say about TWF is that you can get a budget version of PAM without spending the feat, which means more ASI into your important stats. It also means you can throw around more dice rolls to fish for crits to potentially drop a big smite, in which case your tiny base damage won't matter. Playing a half elf for Elven Accuracy to really double down on the fistful-of-d20s strategy sounds promising too, but I don't quite remember off the top of my head what sources of Advantage are available to paladins. If it's the look you're going for, though, maybe a Double Bladed Scimitar could also work?
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May 22, 2019 00:41
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lightrook posted:The best thing I can say about TWF is that you can get a budget version of PAM without spending the feat, which means more ASI into your important stats. It also means you can throw around more dice rolls to fish for crits to potentially drop a big smite, in which case your tiny base damage won't matter. Playing a half elf for Elven Accuracy to really double down on the fistful-of-d20s strategy sounds promising too, but I don't quite remember off the top of my head what sources of Advantage are available to paladins. Vengeance Paladin can create it's own advantage, and I think it (or maybe another Oath) gets Hold Person. TWF does get a nice bonus from Improved Divine Smite at 8 or 11 or whatever since that just flat boosts every attack. PAM is probably better except for needing the feat.
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May 22, 2019 01:52
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Rand Brittain posted:I saw Ettin tweeting about Planescape; did anybody announce anything about Planescape? The next adventure is going into Hell.
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May 22, 2019 01:57
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In case it wasn't clear from the discussion you shouldn't do anything to support 2 weapon fighting except take defensive fighting style and pick up two weapons.
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May 22, 2019 02:37
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final trip report; tomb of annihilation loving sucks, what is this design poo poo, the last session really encapsulates all of it's bad stuff; you have the proper climax with the boss then go through a portal and have to do some useless puzzle stuff and also thread the logic needle to get teleported out to the entrance and that'll take a bit, including potentially fighting some random rear end old man and killing all pacing.
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May 22, 2019 03:02
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I was also disappointed in ToA. I ran the entire thing. Port Nyanzaru is pretty okay, but then with the time crunch inherent in the plot, my party pretty much beelined towards the final dungeon. They really didn't do any of the extra stuff at all. The final dungeon is so poorly written and hard to read that my eyes glaze over even attempting to parse how banal it is. I ended up changing almost everything about it which made the purchase completely nonsensical. The free guides on DMGuild helped flesh out some things, but man, what a lovely adventure. I like the sandbox nature of it, and the T-Rex that vomits zombies, but that's about where the cool stuff stops. Completely wasted setting, dumb idea to rewrite Tomb of Horrors, and Acererak is such a non-entity in the adventure that it's sad. I also ran HotDQ, which was actually marginally better.. and running CoS right now which is GREAT.
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May 22, 2019 03:16
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Tibalt posted:I thought dual wielding Rangers didn't become something that was mechanically supported until 3rd edition, mostly due to the popularity of Drizznt?
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May 22, 2019 03:17
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Sodomy Hussein posted:This is a vast oversimplification, and not true. The difference in 4E was that they actually attempted to carve out a space for the ranger, to not entirely 100% success, but more than other editions have typically had. That being said and true, you had one choice for at-will with a Ranger. Because the other was Twin Strike.
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May 22, 2019 05:02
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Thirding the trip report on Tomb of Annihilation is a bad adventure. Whoever thought "you need to make Nature checks to make sure you move to the hex you want to, otherwise you move to a random hex, but also the DM doesn't let you see your own roll so you don't know whether or not you succeeded" was a Good and Fun mechanic needs to die in a goddamn tire fire
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May 22, 2019 05:11
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Froghammer posted:Thirding the trip report on Tomb of Annihilation is a bad adventure. Whoever thought "you need to make Nature checks to make sure you move to the hex you want to, otherwise you move to a random hex, but also the DM doesn't let you see your own roll so you don't know whether or not you succeeded" was a Good and Fun mechanic needs to die in a goddamn tire fire
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May 22, 2019 05:19
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Gamerofthegame posted:tomb of annihilation loving sucks, what is this design
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May 22, 2019 05:53
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gradenko_2000 posted:(and this sort of mentality leads to a complaint I've heard of 4e in which that game was apparently less customizable and too pigeon-hole-y because you could no longer make a ranged Fighter) And, of course, you could make a ranged Fighter! Just pick a bow and start making Ranged Basic Attacks at enemies, voila! What's wrong, you don't like it? What are you, a powergamer or something?
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May 22, 2019 07:17
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Fureil posted:The fact that it's not optimal be damned, what's a good way to try and do two weapon on a paladin? Is it worth a level dip into fighter or something? Grabbing the feat if I'm a vuman? Echoing above posts, just take Defense Fighting Style and pick up two shortswords or whatever. VHuman is nice so you can grab Resilient(CON) without slowing down your ASI progression on STR. Once you're up to Paladin 11-13 you can think on whether you want to take Dual Wielder to boost your AC and damage a notch, and/or dip Fighter for TWF fighting style/Action Surge/Improved Critical.
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May 22, 2019 07:44
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Josef bugman posted:Is it just me or are druids just kind of dull a lot of the time? Like maybe it's because there isn't too much you can do with "power from nature and nature alone". They're dull because everyone plays them like Marisha Ray where they're harmonious little losers who silo themselves off in Nature, which to 90% of them means lush forest from West Europe. I've had them play interesting is to heavily embrace the "gently caress civilization" aspects of the class. A Desert Druid doesn't want your Endless Flask. She knows that magic bullshit like that will gently caress up her pristine desert that has tons of water in cacti and poo poo. Mountain Druids don't want your pocket house or military base. Becoming one with the mountain means weathering storms until your constitution is equal to the stone you walk on. And if you build that bullshit they will summon a landslide the day after you start. It clicked for me when I realized conservationists and Indigenous groups will keep working while a bear eats a seal 20 feet away, meanwhile urban vegans have to take a second around that poo poo because to them nature = gentle and kind.
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May 22, 2019 19:54
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P.d0t posted:Thanks for this! It's not the same. Volo's is just a lot of variants, not necessarily better math.
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May 22, 2019 19:55
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Oh that's cool. The new starter set thing the D&D Essentials Kit will come with a code to redeem the adventure for free on DDB and a coupon for 50% off the PHB on DDB. This is something I wanted for the physical books.
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May 22, 2019 19:59
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theironjef posted:That being said and true, you had one choice for at-will with a Ranger. Because the other was Twin Strike. True, but many classes have the same problem.
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May 22, 2019 20:10
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Razorwired posted:They're dull because everyone plays them like Marisha Ray where they're harmonious little losers who silo themselves off in Nature, which to 90% of them means lush forest from West Europe. Think about how little time your average person spends in nature that isn't a pristine managed park. Druids and Nature in general got Disney Princessed in fantasy. Part of it is mechanic based, but most of it is culture based. People don't want to view nature as the wolf pack ripping into a fawn, they want to view it was Bambi and Thumper playing around all day.
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May 22, 2019 20:19
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Razorwired posted:They're dull because everyone plays them like Marisha Ray where they're harmonious little losers who silo themselves off in Nature, which to 90% of them means lush forest from West Europe. Yeah, I've started playing in a buddy's Ravnica setting campaign and it made me realize D&D druids could use a little more Golgari/Gruul and less Selesnya.
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May 22, 2019 20:35
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Xae posted:Think about how little time your average person spends in nature that isn't a pristine managed park. Druids are crazy psychos who live in the woods like animals, control the weather, and kill things with their bare hands/claws/teeth. They're Tempest Clerics wearing mud and blood instead of platemail, and without a god to tell them how to serve. If a druid is into turning the world into fertilizer, he has the full fury of nature backing him up. If he just wants to be doctor Doolittle and keep the deer happy and the river clean, don't mess with him either.
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May 22, 2019 20:38
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Kaysette posted:Yeah, I've started playing in a buddy's Ravnica setting campaign and it made me realize D&D druids could use a little more Golgari/Gruul and less Selesnya.
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May 22, 2019 20:40
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Yeah, if the campaign I’m playing in ever meets again (we’re hitting 3 months between sessions), I’m changing to an eco-terrorist Druid Halfling. The setting is in a sort of mega-city state that has harnessed everything around it in the name of civilization, and I want to have this guy who destroys factories by growing gently caress-off big trees in the middle of them and survives by living in the sewer.
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May 22, 2019 20:41
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Crime Druids are the best Druids.
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May 22, 2019 20:44
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Be fey do crimes
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May 22, 2019 21:10
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Conspiratiorist posted:Echoing above posts, just take Defense Fighting Style and pick up two shortswords or whatever. VHuman is nice so you can grab Resilient(CON) without slowing down your ASI progression on STR. This is basically where my Goblin Paladin is now. Though part of why I've been doing it is having a buckler-styled shield from the adventure that lets me do stuff with that hand.
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May 22, 2019 21:19
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Razorwired posted:They're dull because everyone plays them like Marisha Ray where they're harmonious little losers who silo themselves off in Nature, which to 90% of them means lush forest from West Europe. I'm currently playing one as a ex-pirate water genasi. My own personal lore is that most ships want a druid on them to help control the storms and currents, to create fresh water and food, and to help repair any issues with the wooden hull/whatever else. I'm taking heavy inspiration from the Wheel of Time series, but I love the idea that instead of being all 'hippy dippy lets hug a tree' it's more utilitarian. I'm basically playing as a mobile chef/shipwright/meteorologist and I love it.
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May 22, 2019 22:12
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Razorwired posted:I've had them play interesting is to heavily embrace the "gently caress civilization" aspects of the class. A Desert Druid doesn't want your Endless Flask. She knows that magic bullshit like that will gently caress up her pristine desert that has tons of water in cacti and poo poo. Mountain Druids don't want your pocket house or military base. Becoming one with the mountain means weathering storms until your constitution is equal to the stone you walk on. And if you build that bullshit they will summon a landslide the day after you start. Not nearly vindictive nature enough. Gotta wait till the grand opening and cause an earthquake to bring it down and all the people around it. I personally am a big fan of the savanna druid. Summoning hyena, friends with the lions and hippos, turning into a giant vulture or something to soar around your domain. gently caress all those green trees and poo poo.
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May 22, 2019 22:21
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Nature is patient. Crack the foundations so it's unfit for purpose and will become a crumbling ruin within a decade no matter what they try to do to fix it. Nature reuses or recycles. Once they've left you can use it as a habitat for the local murderfauna that were displaced during construction.
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May 22, 2019 23:02
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Kaysette posted:Yeah, I've started playing in a buddy's Ravnica setting campaign and it made me realize D&D druids could use a little more Golgari/Gruul and less Selesnya. My current druid is Simic and taking the mad scientist "nature comes up with OK solutions, but we can come up with better ones" approach. Lots of experimentation on creatures and environmental "adapt or die" style spells. Considering Ravnica is basically one gigantic city with very little in the way of real untamed wilderness, it seems like the only way to do a kind of urban druid.
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May 22, 2019 23:27
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There's a lot you can do with druids besides just being the 'WoW shapeshifter' or whatever. My latest druid was a civilized wizard. At wizard school he discovered elemental magic and explored it. "Look guys, if you tap into this crazy power you don't even need a spellbook!" So yeah, kicked out of wizard school. Like any good wizard, he had no interest in nature itself, just the power that could be derived from it. Any mechanical restrictions were just factored in as 'this is the way it works'. Like oh, you cant wear metal armor while doing this or it won't work. Mechanically it was an arctic circle druid with the sage background, lots of int skills and high investigation/perception.
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May 22, 2019 23:31
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Xae posted:Think about how little time your average person spends in nature that isn't a pristine managed park. This definitely depends on where you live. I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Northern Nevada and pretty much every weekend and all summer was "wander around the desert/mountains looking for cool stuff/places" time. Also almost every teenage boy in the town was also in the Boy Scouts which meant even more wandering around the desert/mountains doing stuff to get badges. Granted, that was before the internet was really a thing. Nowdays the only badges I get are on Steam.
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May 23, 2019 00:49
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