gradenko_2000 posted:

houserules snipped

ImpactVector posted:

Once every 2-3 fights is actually about how often you're supposed to be able to short rest by the book. I think the official guideline is "twice per day between long rests", but if you're not getting that then you're behind the curve. The 5 minute length is just to make it more likely to hit that number.

E: To be fair to your GM though, 1 hour short rests are really hard to fit into the narrative. In both my groups I think we're averaging 0-1 per day in actual play, so it's not just you guys.

P.d0t posted:

Minor Illusion bullshit.

ImpactVector posted:

Question for anyone with the DMG: What kinds of magical items or item effects are there that are aimed more towards casters?

In my Tuesday game the DM gave all of us weapons that will level up with us, but he's kind of at a loss as to what to do for the Warlock and my Druid. Neither of us really use weapon attacks (or rather, I probably won't starting at 5th level when my cantrips get an extra die of damage). I ended up getting a shotel (reskinned scimitar) and the Warlock got a book (he's a tome warlock). Though if we needed to do something else we could probably retcon it.

I don't suppose there are any items that add +hit/damage to cantrips? That'd be pretty neat, though I suppose not strictly necessary since as a spellcaster I can kind of choose when I get to hog the spotlight.

Kitchner posted:

I think Cantrips count as spells if it says "+3 to hit with spells" but I'm not sure though.

The difficulty with the caster based magic items is balancing them against magic swords and poo poo because casters can already be way stronger than say a fighter, for example. Like if your group is playing with 5 minute short rests or you're just allowed to rest a lot in general between encounters then maybe your casters are already killing the poo poo out of anything and everything so maybe the main reason you need something magic is for a lot point.

The caster items to me seem to be a mix of "yeah it's OK I guess" and "loving SHAZAM mother fucker!" in terms of power with not much inbetween. So it may be worth just having custom magic items that mimic the weapons (e.g. If all their weapons give +2 to hit and to damage with melee attack then have a staff that does the same with your spells).

Kitchner posted:

Well it came across as a guy was like "What are these lizard men wearing"

To which the response was "Oh not much, just loin cloths".

The guy then, stupidly, said "Yeah well I'm going to look under them".

Which got "You see lizard dicks"

Then I asked him if I could harvest them to sell to simple village folk as aphrodisiacs and he said I could try to do it, so hence why my inventory has "Bag of lizard cocks" in it.

ScaryJen posted:

DISCLAIMER: I don't know if it holds up in 5th edition, but one trick we used to do was cast silence on weapons (melee or arrows/bolts) instead of casters and then attack casters with them. It has like a 15' radius or something, and the items don't get a saving throw. Works for non-caster situations too if you want to stop goblins from raising an alarm or something.

BatteredFeltFedora posted:

Old tricks are the best tricks. Casting light spells on coinage has been a thing since at least 1st edition AD&D, since a coin is the perfect combination of size, weight, and disposability for a continual light spell.

3.x got away from this by changing the fluff to a flame that never goes out but doesn't consume the torch or light anything else on fire.

We used to rig up a hooded lantern to mount a coin instead of a wick.

JerryLee posted:

Can't top casting light on a squirrel that belonged to the druid. Looking back, casting it on an animal probably wasn't allowed but gently caress it, we had fun and didn't break anything with it.

Kitchner posted:

You can do that if they fail a dexterity save.

As for the squirrel I'm not sure you can just make a glowing squirrel, but if you put a collar on it you can do that.

Generic Octopus posted:

Kitchner posted:

Generic Octopus posted:

Yeah, totes flavor it however you like. And to address E. Monks again, it's not like they're bad, just wonky compared to the other options Monk has. Open Hand and Shadow are pretty front-loaded, giving you good stuff from the start and then giving you yet more stuff later, while Elemental doles out a handful of effects over the entire progression.

Point is though, even as an E. Monk, you're still a Monk, and they're great. Plus with Fangs of the Fire Snake you can nuke poo poo pretty handily, just as I said before, it devours your ki pool to do so.

30.5 Days posted:

You seem to be saying that this thread is not an advice thread, but a 5E hugbox. It's not.

Elendil004 posted:

So my Paladin just hit 5, any reason to multiclass into something else? Any cool combos to consider?

Laphroaig posted:

Hey King of the Thread,

Most monsters have average damage values next to dice values. Most of the time you want to use those average values instead of rolling dice.

I don't want to overwhelm new folks so I won't bother to explain why the above statement is true though

Elendil004 posted:

Naw, don't really have a reason to multiclass, just pondering ideas.

Last session a villian was monologuing and I stood in a belltower and pelted him with crossbow bolts to punctuate his sentences, it was pretty fun.

P.d0t posted:

To expand on this, as a general D&Dism, I nevertry not to ever put less than a 10 in any of CON/DEX/WIS (although in 4e DEX was less important)

CON: everyone needs it for HP, casters need it for Concentration, and it's a common save
DEX: everyone needs it for Initiative, non-heavy armor users need it for AC, and it's a common save
WIS: everyone needs it for (passive) Perception, it's the spellcasting stat for some casters and some important skills are associated with it, and it's a common save


On the flipside, the rare saves:

STR: only has one skill associated with it, mostly used for heavier/two-handed weapons or thrown weapons (you can get by using DEX instead, with finesse and/or ranged weapons)
INT: only Wizard and Eldritch Knight need it, has a bunch of skills though
CHA: if it isn't your spellcasting stat (Sorcerer, Warlock, Paladin, Bard), it's just there for social skills

QuarkJets posted:

NO, it has to be as much like a boring MMO as possible: when your character levels that's it, if you want to play lower levels then you have to roll a new character

Vanguard Warden posted:

I'm playing a character focusing on grappling and unarmed strike, mixing Totem Barbarian, Open-Hand Monk and Battle-Master Fighter. I don't use weapons and armor due to Monk/Barbarian features. What are some good magic items to support this?

gradenko_2000 posted:

As I understand it, the spellcasting paradigm now seems to be:

Clerics and Druids always "know" all of their possible spells, then "prepare" a subset, then can spend their spell slots on any of their prepared spells.

Wizards do not "know" all their spells right away, but they eventually can, and then "prepare" a subset, and then can spend their spell slots on any of their prepared spells

Sorcerors and Bards will only ever "know" a small subset of all their possible spells, but every spell they know is also always "prepared", and then can spend their spell slots on any of their known/prepared spells

Sorcerors justify their smaller spell list through their metamagic and Dragon/Wild magic abilities/modifiers, and the Arcane spell list vis-a-vis the divine casters

Bards justify their smaller spell list through their non-Arcane-spellcasting abilities such as Inspiration, better combat capability or school-dipping spell selection, and Bard-specific spell list

Whether or not this is actually "balanced" I leave up as an exercise to the imagination, but that's certainly what it the idea of it seems to be

monkeyboydc posted:

So, I want to get in on some D&D.

The starter set seemed like a good place to begin, but here's my problem: I know my group isn't going to want to play with completely pre-made characters. They'll probably want to put their own goofy spin on them and have some choice with their abilties. Does the starter kit give players the option to tweak the pre-made characters to any degree - mainly their abilities - or is that something I'd have to get the Player's Guide for?

monkeyboydc posted:

Gotcha. Thanks for the help! I'll probably pick that up before we get started then.