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Toshimo posted:Typically, what I've seen of "XXX Slayer" items in 5E is that they are a flat +X but get xd6 bonus damage against the named foe. Either works, honestly. Go with whichever you prefer. I like the extra +1 to hit, personally, but if you or your players like to chase the extra die on damage (that would be subject to critical hit rules), then by all means. I'm trying to find ways to tone down my players' damage output lately. The group doubled in size because one of our DMs took a break and I'm running the only game among the group right now, and it's getting really hard to design encounters for 7-8 people that aren't overwhelmingly lethal in the first round or two for the party, that also aren't trivially easy for the same party due to volume of actions and magical control effects.
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Jan 17, 2019 20:46
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Roughly how many sessions do you think it would take to run Dragon Heist? Assuming session lengths of about 3-4 hours. I don't need anything exact here just a very rough ballpark from people who've played it before.
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Jan 17, 2019 20:50
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Reveilled posted:Roughly how many sessions do you think it would take to run Dragon Heist? Assuming session lengths of about 3-4 hours. I don't need anything exact here just a very rough ballpark from people who've played it before. WDH is incredibly freeform and it will take exactly as long as you want it. Ch. 1 is basically doable easily in one 4-hour session. Ch. 2 is all RP and side missions, so you could do it in another 4-hour block. If you'd like to stretch Ch. 2, the tools are there and you can get a 2nd session without it feeling pushed. Ch. 3 is another session or two depending on side content. Ch. 4 is pretty brief and I'd say it's worth another 1-2 sessions. Overall, a minimum of 4x4 hours, capped out at 7x4, maybe 8x4 if your players go after the BBEG in their lair. No longer than that, though. There's not enough content to support it.
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Jan 17, 2019 20:55
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Reveilled posted:Roughly how many sessions do you think it would take to run Dragon Heist? Assuming session lengths of about 3-4 hours. I don't need anything exact here just a very rough ballpark from people who've played it before. It really will depend on the group and whether they get bogged down in some of the social and business aspects the adventure has options for. I would plan for 4-6 months of play, if playing weekly, to complete the module, so maybe 18-26 sessions if you're hitting on all the major plot points and exploring the adventure a little. It can probably be done in 12 if you're hyper-focused. e: Toshimo's playing with the Prima Guide if he's doing it in 7-8, holy poo poo.
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Jan 17, 2019 20:56
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Speedrunning 5e
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Jan 17, 2019 21:12
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Mr. Humalong posted:Speedrunning 5e Roll to glitch through the wall
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Jan 17, 2019 21:28
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What kind of magic items for spell casters would you make out of dragon parts? Knuckle bones for bonuses to divination? Blood for potion making? Idk what else really.
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Jan 17, 2019 21:32
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RC Cola posted:What kind of magic items for spell casters would you make out of dragon parts? Knuckle bones for bonuses to divination? Blood for potion making? Idk what else really. Quick thought: Breath gland for a chargeless scorching ray/burning hands (change to fit dragon's breath type) wand. Use it to basically replace whatever cantrip the caster is using for a level 1/2/3/4 or level 1/3/5/7 version of the spell based on the wyrmling/young/adult/ancient type of dragon. e: Scorching ray is level 2, so make it 2/4/6/8 koreban fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Jan 17, 2019 |
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Jan 17, 2019 21:36
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RC Cola posted:What kind of magic items for spell casters would you make out of dragon parts? Knuckle bones for bonuses to divination? Blood for potion making? Idk what else really. Specific to casters and not general use (because there's plenty of general use stuff that is quite good for casters)? Fashion bones into Wand of the War Mage or Rod of the Pact Keeper.
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Jan 17, 2019 21:39
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RC Cola posted:My DM had this to say Did they get rid of the special materials rules in 5? In 3.5 anyway they just flat out stated what you could make from a dragon (armorwise anyway), even if it was pretty ungenerous: d20srd posted:Dragonhide
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Jan 17, 2019 22:26
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Azhais posted:Did they get rid of the special materials rules in 5? In 3.5 anyway they just flat out stated what you could make from a dragon (armorwise anyway), even if it was pretty ungenerous: There are no rules on harvesting monster parts in 5E (except poisons). Consult your DM.
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Jan 17, 2019 22:31
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Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:I have one player who complains because I don't give out XP. He's...kind of an old school guy. One of my current DMs just fakes tracking XP because two of the players really really need the xp number to go up several times before the level number increments. It's been going on for over a year and they have yet to notice that they're actually milestone leveling.
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Jan 17, 2019 23:59
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:One of my current DMs just fakes tracking XP because two of the players really really need the xp number to go up several times before the level number increments. It's been going on for over a year and they have yet to notice that they're actually milestone leveling. I did this throughout my entire teenage DMing career. Oh, um, yeah, I'm keeping track of experience, don't worry guys! Hm, the next module is for level 7-9 and they're level 5, I'll just give them a level halfway through this module and then another one at the end, whatever When my dad was my DM back in first edition he told me he was tracking XP too, but I'm now pretty sure he was winging it just like me.
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Jan 18, 2019 00:11
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Reveilled posted:I did this throughout my entire teenage DMing career. Oh, um, yeah, I'm keeping track of experience, don't worry guys! Hm, the next module is for level 7-9 and they're level 5, I'll just give them a level halfway through this module and then another one at the end, whatever Same, kinda. You
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Jan 18, 2019 00:14
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My group prefers milestone leveling because that way we can constantly annoy the DM by asking if we leveled up every time we win a fight or discover some treasure.
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Jan 18, 2019 00:16
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Conspiratiorist posted:My group prefers milestone leveling because that way we can constantly annoy the DM by asking if we leveled up every time we win a fight or discover some treasure. Sure. You all get a level... of Exhaustion!!
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Jan 18, 2019 00:32
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Same, kinda. I take your point for 1st edition, but in my dad's defence I think I our thief was 8 years old so I doubt he minded much. 
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Jan 18, 2019 00:39
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Reveilled posted:I take your point for 1st edition, but in my dad's defence I think I our thief was 8 years old so I doubt he minded much. Your dad sounds pretty awesome My dad thought D&D was dumb, but only from a "too many rules and they're all ambiguous, let's play some hex and counter historical stuff instead" perspective. Conspiratiorist posted:My group prefers milestone leveling because that way we can constantly annoy the DM by asking if we leveled up every time we win a fight or discover some treasure. A running in-joke in my old high-school gaming group is slipping "do we level up?" or similar into unrelated bits of gaming conversation to try to derail the GM's train of thought. Bonus points for successfully doing it in a game without xp or levels.
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Jan 18, 2019 01:22
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If you gave the option of rolling 2d10 for attack rolls rather than 1d20 do you think that would be an interesting tradeoff for consistency vs crit chance or would everyone pick 2d10 all the time?
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Jan 18, 2019 02:38
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CJ posted:If you gave the option of rolling 2d10 for attack rolls rather than 1d20 do you think that would be an interesting tradeoff for consistency vs crit chance or would everyone pick 2d10 all the time? I can tell you what's better and under what circumstances, but I can't tell you what everyone will pick because people are notoriously bad at math.
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Jan 18, 2019 02:47
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Your dad sounds pretty awesome Thanks! He had a group at his work back when he was in his 20s and they used to play every lunchtime. He kept the books when that wound up and that's how I got into it. I mentioned back at the start of the thread that he's got the gang back together and my first game as DM for them is next week! I'm looking forward to it, we'll probably run Tales from the Yawning Portal or Mad Mage after LMoP. I'm expecting a full on murderhobo game though, I asked them to share with me some of their favourite moments from their time playing D&D and I got back stories about lethal PvP, TPKs, and a massive dispute over the ownership of a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power. I can't wait til they find those in Wave Echo Cave. Maybe Tomb of Annihilation if the overland stuff in LMoP goes really well, I'm usually a bit of a softie DM and I feel I could get in touch with my inner Gygax if I had some character sheets to tear up.
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Jan 18, 2019 02:54
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CJ posted:If you gave the option of rolling 2d10 for attack rolls rather than 1d20 do you think that would be an interesting tradeoff for consistency vs crit chance or would everyone pick 2d10 all the time? People who understand how bell curves work would choose 2d10 if their attack bonus is greater than the target's [AC-10], such as if they were rolling a +8 versus a target with 16 AC, because that yields a better hit chance (79% using 2d10 vs 65% using 1d20) And then, if it's the other way around, if their attack bonus is less than the target's [AC-10], they'd use 1d20, because that yields a better hit chance. But that's if they understand how bell curves work.
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Jan 18, 2019 02:57
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For attack rolls and favored saving throws (and most trained skills), rolling an 11 succeeds basically every time and 2d10 is a no brainer. For things you're bad at, you usually need to roll 14+ and the 2d10 roll would be a drawback. But yeah, most people are dumb and make stupid choices when it comes to maths.
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Jan 18, 2019 02:57
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Chalk me in as someone who prefers giving XP whilst DMing but I do it based on roleplaying situations and completing tasks (quests) as well as fighting. I just feel that it adds a bit more reward more often for the group and it avoids the "have we leveled up yet?" questions that are going to happen every session once they are on the brink of the milestone but never quite completing the specific clause.
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Jan 18, 2019 03:00
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Toshimo posted:Sure. You all get a level... of Exhaustion!! I actually lol'd The av helps
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Jan 18, 2019 03:04
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gradenko_2000 posted:But that's if they understand how bell curves work. Can we please call them Gaussian distributions to further alienate the non-mathed. ILL Machina fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jan 18, 2019 03:09
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Glory to Italia!
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Nutsngum posted:Chalk me in as someone who prefers giving XP whilst DMing but I do it based on roleplaying situations and completing tasks (quests) as well as fighting. I just feel that it adds a bit more reward more often for the group and it avoids the "have we leveled up yet?" questions that are going to happen every session once they are on the brink of the milestone but never quite completing the specific clause. My biggest concern with this, mostly driven by precon rewards is that you end up giving people bonuses for doing things towards a particular alignment, like 50xp per saved villager, when characters sometimes could care less with regard to their background
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Jan 18, 2019 03:11
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I've been running my group at level 20 for a bit, we have a few more sessions to go in the campaign. The campaign is evil with lots of hellish themes. By endgame they will either rule a chunk of hell, end up as minor devils enslaved to a greater one, or somehow worm their way out of the whole situation and dominate the earth. With that in mind, and since there's no more level progression, I've been trying to come up with other ways they can grow, story ties or perks, that kind of thing. Each player has been getting something unique that ties into the coming endgame. There's a rogue, he's awesome in single-target combat, very survivable and skillful but lacks the crazy utility of endgame casters. So I've been throwing utility magic items his way, then around 18 declared he can steal drat-near whatever he wants between sessions, and now at 20 he's learned how to steal souls. We had a cool dream scene watching an evil soul fall into the Styx, drown and bloat into a mindless lemure and get plucked from the river bank and binded to a master, destined for the blood wars. A horrible nightmare. But all the while he's taking notes so he can learn that awesome poo poo. Like I said, evil campaign. Mechanically every time he gets a kill he can decide to steal the soul, which is slowly granting him devil powers and looks (resistances, horns, wings, etc). We've also got a fiend warlock pacted to a pit fiend who plays a prominent story role. The character has struggled with the pact, and for a few levels managed to turn to Abyssal powers instead (going full chaotic) before being harshly punished and 'monitored' by the hells (via a free imp familiar). Now at 20 I've declared the pact can be tugged both ways. The warlock can now influence the pit fiend to do what she wants. And she's able to break the pact entirely when the time is right, redirecting it from the hells to the Abyss. That would let her break free at the end, maybe becoming some lord of an abyssal layer with no master. A fitting end if she can pull it off. Then there's a death cleric of asmodeus. He's basically the anti-pope, head of the major religion of the lands. I've struggled with what to give a character who already has everything. High-level magic and divine intervention is pretty crazy. The character was even a vampire for a few levels, so he's been getting visions of himself in a sort of hybrid vampire/devil form, dominating the hells. It's a reminder that ambition is still important to his religion even at 20th level. He's probably going to enforce the edicts of hell right up to the end, but if he lacks the ambition to carve his own path that will drat him. Finally there's a paladin, again he's got almost everything. A nightmare mount, a loving dragon mount, an evil holy avenger, he's the emperor of their evil kingdom and even married himself off and sired an heir (and now his evil wife is probably conspiring to kill him). He's got endless earthly might. I've been giving him visions of the end of all that temporary mortal power, and the equivalent roles in the hells, how power works there. That plays into the campaign-ending choice... Everything is culminating in a big ritual where the warlock's pit fiend is going to ask the party to sacrifice themselves, fulfilling all their unholy obligations, ending the campaign and completing a campaign-long mega-ritual that will sink their whole empire and everyone in it into the hells forever. Oh and enslave them to the fiend, who will now rule the new chunk of hell, his plan all along. GG. I'm trying to come up with interesting options for this big campaign-ending moment. The warlock will have the option to bail on the pact and be free, or gently caress everything up and redirect the whole empire into a new Abyssal plane instead of the hells. The rogue will be able to harvest those souls for himself, powering up at the expense of the ritual (and the other PCs). The cleric and paladin will probably go along with the fiend's plan in general, but the cleric will realize he can sacrifice some other bastards instead (the fiend included) to save themselves. And they will want to oppose the rogue and warlock, but only be able to stop one or the other, or split their power. Then the pit fiend will be involved and tug things his way, and an Abyssal influence might show up to wreck things too. I have no idea how I'm going to pull this off mechanically, it's got to be more than opposed skill checks between PCs, but that's where I'm trying to go with things. Maybe some sort of point system or hidden influence bidding that can let each player decide their important end goals. tl;dr - help me steal some sort of secret bidding system from another game to end my campaign ritorix fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jan 18, 2019 03:39
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I'm assuming that your players aren't going to talk about it OOC and come to an agreement about a narrative that works for everyone, and that there's no twist you could put on the situation to make them all pull in the same direction right at the end? The whole thing's a bit confusing to read, but it sounds like each PC has more than one goal. If that's the case, can you try to make them each pick between no goals and living through it, or 1 goal and not living through it? Can you lay out in 1-2 dot points each PC's goals, and then explain how they conflict? E: there was supposed to be another sentence on the end of that post. It was "Because if you can do that, you might be able to construct a scenario where everyone wins a little bit". Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jan 18, 2019 07:22
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Quick newbie question here- I知 playing my first real D&D campaignand just hit level 2 with a Goliath Paladin who I intend to have take the Oath of Ancients. I知 going to be very focused on actively smashing things with a maul in combat alongside whatever utility stuff I get. I致e been thinking about what to do in terms of advancement when I hit level 4 and the Heavy Armor Master feat grabbed my eye. From where I stand right now that could be incredibly useful but I知 a little concerned I壇 be gimping myself to take it since I知 not sure how meaningful 3hp is at higher levels, particularly when compared to another attribute point. On a related note, how is the Lucky feat? Coming from a wargaming background having access to what are effectively slightly better rerolls for critical dice rolls has a ton of appeal but I知 concerned about paint out on the raw stats.
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Jan 18, 2019 07:23
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Pendent posted:Quick newbie question here- Heavy Armor Master scales poorly and does nothing about magical foes (which are more common as level increases). I would not take it on any character unless they were a Variant Human and I was taking it at level 1. Lucky is ok, but not busted. Characters with a lot of feats might take it, but it's not build-defining. However, Paladins are super stat dependent. You need max CHA at some point, max STR or DEX depending on build, high CON since you are in melee, and even WIS and DEX are helpful for Perception and Initiative. Given your stat dependence, feats have to be AMAZING in order to outweigh a stat bonus. If you started 16-10-16-10-8-14, you'd take 5 ASI's just to cap STR/CHA. A paladin only gets 5 ASIs total (and the last one is at level 19.
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Jan 18, 2019 07:41
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Pendent posted:Quick newbie question here- What are your attributes, currently?
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Jan 18, 2019 07:49
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Conspiratiorist posted:What are your attributes, currently? 16-8-16-10-10-14
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Jan 18, 2019 07:53
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Toshimo posted:Heavy Armor Master scales poorly and does nothing about magical foes (which are more common as level increases). I would not take it on any character unless they were a Variant Human and I was taking it at level 1. Just had session 0 for the new campaign my weekly group is starting and we're starting at level one. I'm going with (Variant) Human Sorcadin (Ancients for in-character reasoning if ever I go past Paladin 2, and Storm for Booming Blade/Tempestuous Magic) and yeah, that DR 3 vs non-magic (and +1 STR) is going to be handy up front, but I know it'll be mostly obsolete by level 10. This is okay, we'll probably switch to something else before then. The setting's a bit oddball so while we did roll for starting gold it was then doubled. Starting with Splint Mail ain't bad.
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Jan 18, 2019 08:01
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I壇 been sort of thinking Aura of Warding would take a lot of the sting out of magical attacks honestly. Definitely good to know about the scalability issue
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Jan 18, 2019 08:06
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Pendent posted:16-8-16-10-10-14 Half-attribute feats aren't going to be worthwhile here since you don't have stats to round up, nor is Resilient (Constitution) a must-have if you're going Ancients, so the only feat I can truly recommend here is Polearm Master, which would very significantly boost your offense while wielding a Glaive/Halberd or Spear/Quarterstaff. Other than that, just max your Strength followed by your Charisma. The reason is that all else being equal, a combat ability modifier increase on a martial translates to a 15~18% increase in damage output, so that's a pretty high opportunity cost for feats to overcome. Polearm Master can do this, since the additional attack alone is around 30% damage increase plus an extra roll and hence chance to crit (for delivering double damage smites) plus the chance for additional attacks through its reaction. And if you get to level 11, the 1d8 from Improved Divine Smite applies to each of these extra attacks. And once you're done with offense, Charisma grants an increased save modifier across the board and in an aura that you can share, which is simply exceptional protection. Alternatively, beg your DM for Gauntlets of Ogre Power/Belts of Giant Strength so you can ignore Strength altogether and put all your ASIs into Feats and Charisma.
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Jan 18, 2019 08:12
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Problem with relying on the latter is running into Antimagic Fields, Beholders and the like.
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Jan 18, 2019 09:36
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Arthil posted:Problem with relying on the latter is running into Antimagic Fields, Beholders and the like. Though those things are pretty rare.
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Jan 18, 2019 10:02
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MonsterEnvy posted:Though those things are pretty rare. One of the most iconic monsters in the game and an incredibly key spell for reigning in the most powerful classes in the game. Pretty rare.
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Jan 18, 2019 10:05
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Arthil posted:Problem with relying on the latter is running into Antimagic Fields, Beholders and the like. My experience vs Beholders as a kickass paladin has been to force them to keep the anti-magic cone on me while my party does the killing, because otherwise I'd immediately turn it into sashimi - you're on an strictly melee class vs a flying monster that can shut down all means of reaching it short of growing non-magical wings, so that's the best you can hope for, really. Anti-magic fields just screw over everything and everyone, so going from a +5 STR bonus to +3 is a negligible penalty compared to the whole package of options you'll be losing access to.
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Jan 18, 2019 10:15
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