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folgore posted:I've been playing in my first campaign (Dragon Heist) since April and we're all level 4 and combat is really starting to drag. I play a trickery cleric and spend most of the time spamming sacred flame or toll the dead. The rest of the time I'm waiting to heal people for 3 HP after they get KOed or whack things with spiritual weapon. I'm running out of ways to describe praying to Waukeen for things. I mean, if you have a high enough dex...say somewhere in the 14-16 range, you can get a lot of use out of invoke duplicity and getting advantage on all your stabs (if you have martial weapon proficiency especially). Does you DM play well with illusions in general? You have a perfect copy of yourself you can use to mess with the opponent, if you get creative, you can do a lot to mess with opponents, use your stealth to sneak in then steal something important, break line of sight and then hide. Then use your invoke duplicity to create a copy of yourself and have it run down a hallway, in plain view of the enemies. However, if your DM is not good with illusions, you're pretty stuck in the rut you are in now.
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Dec 31, 2020 18:56
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It's also worth remembering that clerics are by a long shot the tankiest full casters. If you want to mix it up in melee you absolutely can, and depending on your stats it might actually deal more damage on average than your attack cantrips...until you hit level 5 and the cantrips gain a die, anyway. 
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Dec 31, 2020 19:24
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A group of us have been playing Storm King's Thunder for the better part of a year, and are getting close to the end. This was my first time ever playing D&D (the DM and one of the other members have DM'd multiple times, and two others have played a good deal. Me and one other guy in the group were first time players).Does anyone have a good recommendation for a campaign to pick up after we're done for Level 11+ characters? Also, when there are days where not all of the group can play, but most can, we have been doing one-off adventures with characters of our choice. For example, the DM says that it will be an adventure with level 8 characters, and each character gets one magic item (excluding Legendary items) and 1,000GP worth of gear. One night we did a level 10 delve into the Underdeep and fought a Beholder. There is much less of a focus on story, and it is almost strictly combat. The next one is Terminator-themed: We get to build level 20 characters of our choosing, but the premise is we are sent back in time to save the world, andarrive completely naked and unequipped. One of the members is playing a Monk, which seems to be a good choice, but I'm wondering what others would choose for a character in this type of situation.
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Jan 3, 2021 13:59
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Samadhi posted:A group of us have been playing Storm King's Thunder for the better part of a year, and are getting close to the end. This was my first time ever playing D&D (the DM and one of the other members have DM'd multiple times, and two others have played a good deal. Me and one other guy in the group were first time players).Does anyone have a good recommendation for a campaign to pick up after we're done for Level 11+ characters? if you play a barbarian and you max con, you won’t need armor and you can rage infinitely, but i think the gold star goes to circle of the moon druid, who can wildshape cr7 beasts infinitely and would be almost impossible to kill even with zero equipment
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Jan 3, 2021 15:14
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Declan MacManus posted:if you play a barbarian and you max con, you won’t need armor and you can rage infinitely, but i think the gold star goes to circle of the moon druid, who can wildshape cr7 beasts infinitely and would be almost impossible to kill even with zero equipment Level-20 moon druids are indeed basically impossible to kill, since you need to knock them out of wildshape and then incapacitate them before they get another turn. Minor nitpick though -- their wildshape caps out at CR6 (level / 3) unless I'm missing something. That gets you mammoths but not giant apes. Then again, since you can cast in wildshape without using verbal or somatic components, does the stats of the creature beyond its HP really matter? And of course at L10 moon druids get the ability to turn into elementals with their wildshapes, and elementals pretty handily outclass beasts even if they're only CR5. Divine casters and bards would also be decent so long as they can jury-rig a holy symbol. But it's gonna be hard to beat that moon druid.
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Jan 3, 2021 15:50
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Declan MacManus posted:if you play a barbarian and you max con, you won’t need armor and you can rage infinitely, but i think the gold star goes to circle of the moon druid, who can wildshape cr7 beasts infinitely and would be almost impossible to kill even with zero equipment Looking at the Barbarians in the late levels, it appears pretty tempting. I'm considering using the Path of the Beast from Tasha's for early on in this, until I can get real weapons.
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Jan 3, 2021 16:05
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Samadhi posted:A group of us have been playing Storm King's Thunder for the better part of a year, and are getting close to the end. This was my first time ever playing D&D (the DM and one of the other members have DM'd multiple times, and two others have played a good deal. Me and one other guy in the group were first time players).Does anyone have a good recommendation for a campaign to pick up after we're done for Level 11+ characters? Sorcerer, Druid, or Cleric, who can use magic without special materials or spellbooks. Ok the cleric needs an item to banish undead but they can also bless something to be a sigil. Also if you go Cleric, the time shift should cause your Deity to change but it's just a name change. In timeline A you are a cleric of Kord, in timeline B you are a cleric of Dork.
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Jan 3, 2021 16:53
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CannonFodder posted:Sorcerer, Druid, or Cleric, who can use magic without special materials or spellbooks. Ok the cleric needs an item to banish undead but they can also bless something to be a sigil. If you time traveled back before you accrued all of that credit with your god, would you even have your powers though?
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Jan 3, 2021 16:59
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change my name posted:If you time traveled back before you accrued all of that credit with your god, would you even have your powers though? You know the symbol and have the power, but when you first call up the power of your god in timeline B they are all "How do you have my blessing?" and then a quick explanation of timey wimey bullshit and they go with it. Or the god is involved with the time travel and is omniscient enough to tell it's past self that it's sending a trusted cleric into the past. Or after the time travel the cleric tries to use cleric powers and they went so far back in time it's a much younger version of the god so now it's teenage Kord so there's a 1/6 chance of random bullshit because Kord is a teenager. Bad DM answer: Haha you don't have any power CannonFodder fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Jan 3, 2021 |
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Jan 3, 2021 17:09
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CannonFodder posted:Or after the time travel the cleric tries to use cleric powers and they went so far back in time it's a much younger version of the god so now it's teenage Kord so there's a 1/6 chance of random bullshit because Kord is a teenager. And/or he's extremely loving stoked to suddenly have a free 20th level worshipper (the current pope is like 9th level or something) and is constantly popping in with terrible newb advice.
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Jan 3, 2021 18:15
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Or you go with Pratchett's theory from Small Gods, and this god pops into existence with one extremely devoted follower.
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Jan 3, 2021 18:24
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Or you go with Pratchett's theory from Small Gods, and this god pops into existence with one extremely devoted follower. That's obviously going a different direction with the campaign, but starting from scratch to form a predestined great religion is one heck of a campaign setting.
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Jan 3, 2021 18:48
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It's also quite mean if everyone else is level 20, and you have to go round gathering up believers by doing cantrip 'miracles' (that your cleric can hear their 'god' audibly straining to perform in their head).
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Jan 3, 2021 18:59
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"Behold, I have turned this water into slightly crisper water. Now watch me sink very slowly into this lake."
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Jan 3, 2021 19:30
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Level 20 clerics get the "your god automatically answers your call for aid" feature. Maybe your vague, impersonal god who rarely manifests in the mortal plane used to be way more hands-on until your cleric went back in time and made them hang out and do menial tasks together?
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Jan 3, 2021 19:32
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"I cast thaumaturgy, making the doors and windows slam open!" sounds of god, who is little more than an invisible servant, running round in the background individually yanking each window open
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Jan 3, 2021 19:44
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Bobby Deluxe posted:It's also quite mean if everyone else is level 20, and you have to go round gathering up believers by doing cantrip 'miracles' (that your cleric can hear their 'god' audibly straining to perform in their head).
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Jan 3, 2021 19:56
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The barbarian is so strong when he’s raging that every weapon becomes single-use, forcing him to collect and hoard a bagload of anything and everything which could conceivably be used as a weapon
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Jan 3, 2021 22:03
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please knock Mom! posted:The barbarian is so strong when he’s raging that every weapon becomes single-use, forcing him to collect and hoard a bagload of anything and everything which could conceivably be used as a weapon DM: "... And that hits, lemme get a template out... OK, remove the 'half a cow carcass' from your inventory, and everything in this circle counts as difficult terrain unless you want to spend an action to gather hamburger."
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Jan 3, 2021 22:16
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Cthulu Carl posted:DM: "... And that hits, lemme get a template out... OK, remove the 'half a cow carcass' from your inventory, and everything in this circle counts as difficult terrain unless you want to spend an action to gather hamburger." *drumming from the bard that turned a Viking round shield into a Timpani drum intensifies*
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Jan 3, 2021 22:27
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Cthulu Carl posted:DM: "... And that hits, lemme get a template out... OK, remove the 'half a cow carcass' from your inventory, and everything in this circle counts as difficult terrain unless you want to spend an action to gather hamburger." I would be this dm
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Jan 3, 2021 23:30
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Another option is the Order of Scribes wizard, since they can turn any blank book into their special spellbook over a short rest, which will regain all the spells from their old book AND works as a spellcasting focus. Any other wizard would be completely hosed by losing their spellbook but that subclass doesn't care at all.
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Jan 4, 2021 04:58
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I have a concept I've been struggling to find the best way to build, and a game coming up I'd like to be able to use it in. The core concept is an ex-city watch member turned detective. What I'm struggling with is that I see him as more of a hand to hand fighter. Backstory is he uncovered something he shouldn't have, got the poo poo beaten out of him, and is now obsessive and paranoid. Ideally I'd homebrew something to have some extra damage when unarmed. So instead of having ki points and flurry of blows etc, they'd have access to rogue sneak attacks (I don't see him dedicating himself to martial arts so much as being sneaky, knowing where to hit etc). I'm also having trouble building it in D&D Beyond as a homebrew. I know there's an investigator rogue subclass in (I think) Xanathar, and a City Watch background in Sword Coast. Should I just stick to those and try to sweet talk the DM into letting me hide a pair of brass knuckles? Can you normally apply a sneak attack bonus to unarmed strikes? Or are there any other feats you think might be useful to help my unarmed strikes remain competitive if I survive to higher levels?
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Jan 4, 2021 05:51
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You can only sneak attack with finesse or ranged weapons, and unfortunately unarmed strikes are neither, so you’d need a house ruling on that. Tasha’s adds an Unarmed fighting style for fighters to do d6 or d8 + str, and a Fighting Initiate feat to let you pick it up as a non-fighter, but that’s still not finesse. You should really just use a shortsword or a rapier and have the DM reskin it as a punch with bludgeoning damage. Otherwise you’re jumping through a lot of hoops just for style. Doesn’t feel broken to me.
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Jan 4, 2021 06:06
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The Tavern Brawler feat makes your unarmed strikes deal d4 damage and gives you a bonus action grapple after hitting enemies. It's never gonna be great damage compared to other options though. Rogue sneak attack RAW requires a finesse or ranged weapon, and I don't think unarmed strikes count since they use STR. I think that's a reasonable thing to try to homebrew though, and it'd help a lot with fixing your damage output. In terms of a sneaky fighter who focuses on hitting weak points, rogue definitely makes the most sense to me, with fighter being my next pick.
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Jan 4, 2021 06:10
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I have a concept I've been struggling to find the best way to build, and a game coming up I'd like to be able to use it in. Inquisitive Rogue with City Watch (or its Investigator variant) background is the canonical answer. I don’t see why he can’t just carry a dagger at all times, especially with his paranoia. A dagger lends itself toward being sneaky and knowing where to hit. And it’s not that far removed from hand-to-hand combat. quote:Inquisitive nelson fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Jan 4, 2021 |
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Jan 4, 2021 06:11
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I have a concept I've been struggling to find the best way to build, and a game coming up I'd like to be able to use it in. play a strength rogue and ask dm for fighting initiative feat to give fighting style, pick unarmed fighting style feat, use rogue expertise to athletics and now you got good punching and grappling and if your dm is fun your punches can sneak attack for massive damage TooMuchAbstraction posted:Rogue sneak attack RAW requires a finesse or ranged weapon, outside of AL play, i can not think of a single reason why you would disallow unarmed strike sneak attacks. it is such a fun concept that is extremely flavourful for rogues(eye jabs! random sucker punches!) and is worse than just using a dagger or some other weapon, etc. it does make rogues better if you strip them of all their weapons i guess but rogues can palm daggers easily pog boyfriend fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jan 4, 2021 |
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Jan 4, 2021 06:15
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Am I misremembering, or is there a specific page in one of the rulebooks that talks about how each Cleric should have a secret? Could have sworn it was in the "Creating a Cleric" section of the handbook. I found a table for it in XGE, but the way it's written implies that the concept is introduced elsewhere. I'm surprised I can't find it again, because I was originally (and probably still am) planning to have every player make a secret for their character, and remember being surprised when a rulebook made it part of a specific class...
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Jan 4, 2021 06:31
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bear named tators posted:Am I misremembering, or is there a specific page in one of the rulebooks that talks about how each Cleric should have a secret? Could have sworn it was in the "Creating a Cleric" section of the handbook. I found a table for it in XGE, but the way it's written implies that the concept is introduced elsewhere. I'm surprised I can't find it again, because I was originally (and probably still am) planning to have every player make a secret for their character, and remember being surprised when a rulebook made it part of a specific class... No? I think you're just confused because XGE adds a section for every class about interesting character details you could add and Clerics have suggested secrets the same way Barbarians have suggested tattoos. There is nothing inherent about secrets specific to the Cleric class they just decided to put that there because they put a couple of those tables on every class and I guess they couldn't think of a third one.
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Jan 4, 2021 07:00
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I am starting my first ever D&D group with my wife and a few friends and plan on being the Dungeon Master for our first campaign. I played Rolemaster back in High School so I understand the basics of tabletop rpgs. For this campaign, I am going to be the DM and I thought it would be best to run a pre-made adventure since it will be my first time and most players have never played a tabletop rpg. Wanted to see if anyone had thoughts on the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure from the Essentials Set and if this is a good one to start with. I plan on doing a Session 0 but any tips are much appreciated!
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Jan 4, 2021 07:15
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CannonFodder posted:Yeah it's a one-off module. The most important thing is fun. Having level 20 peeps have to deal with low level equipment or stuff they aren't trained for is a fun twist. "Haha your powers don't work now" is a bad twist. I had a discussion along those lines with my one-shot DM the other day. I made a fire druid, main enemy was a bearded devil (immune to fire if anyone doesn't have the monster manual memorized). I laughed and found some ways to assist while the other party members did damage. As a punchline to the end of the game it worked fine, if it'd been a longer dungeon crawl it'd be an issue but I can also change some of my spells. That moment when I flashed back to every time during character creation I thought "I could take this, but I'd just use the fire spell for that" and resistances never occurred to me.
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Jan 4, 2021 08:11
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Ideally I'd homebrew something to have some extra damage when unarmed. So instead of having ki points and flurry of blows etc, they'd have access to rogue sneak attacks (I don't see him dedicating himself to martial arts so much as being sneaky, knowing where to hit etc). I'm also having trouble building it in D&D Beyond as a homebrew. It's always kind of struck me as weird that in a world where people deliberately carry swords and axes and can make things explode by wiggling their fingers, in-universe characters would willingly want to "stick to the basics" and just focus on punching dudes. And monsters that are made out of magma. I guess monks can get away with it because it's Magic Punches but I've never liked monks in my Western European Fantasy Simulator anyway...
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Jan 4, 2021 08:28
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Monks are ascetics who gain supernatural power from discipline and vows, I don't see why that would be a problem at all.
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Jan 4, 2021 08:36
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Seldon posted:It's always kind of struck me as weird that in a world where people deliberately carry swords and axes and can make things explode by wiggling their fingers, in-universe characters would willingly want to "stick to the basics" and just focus on punching dudes. And monsters that are made out of magma. If people can “make things explode by wiggling their fingers”, then why can’t someone be good at punching? So good that they can harm monsters of all kind?
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Jan 4, 2021 09:27
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I make enemies explode by wiggling my fingers. Into their face.
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Jan 4, 2021 09:55
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Seldon posted:It's always kind of struck me as weird that in a world where people deliberately carry swords and axes and can make things explode by wiggling their fingers, in-universe characters would willingly want to "stick to the basics" and just focus on punching dudes. And monsters that are made out of magma. because. its cool
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Jan 4, 2021 13:48
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Seldon posted:It's always kind of struck me as weird that in a world where people deliberately carry swords and axes and can make things explode by wiggling their fingers, in-universe characters would willingly want to "stick to the basics" and just focus on punching dudes. And monsters that are made out of magma. We also live in a world where guns and swords and axes exist, why do people train in our version of martial arts which doesn't even give you *checks notes* a second set of magic arms, invisibility, and immunity to aging? Also lol at calling D&D an anything simulator.
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Jan 4, 2021 14:34
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Bruceski posted:I make enemies explode by wiggling my fingers. Into their face. "I cast FIST"
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Jan 4, 2021 16:16
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CannonFodder posted:"I cast FIST" 4e was definitely on to something with making Monks effectively Dex-Based spellcasters. There were some issues with the implementation, but I could easily see a lot of really cool stuff done with monks using that design conceit.
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Jan 4, 2021 16:23
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The main problem with monks has always been mechanical; it's a neat idea in search of a reason to exist in the rules. It doesn't help that it runs off of assumptions that are directly counter to D&D's assumptions about the role of equipment.
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Jan 4, 2021 16:31
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