Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition - Its not called Dungeons & No Dragons, son

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition - Its not called Dungeons & No Dragons, son

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Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Decided to make a dragoon type character out of a Dragonborn Hexblade knight, using the Fly spell and Jump Expert invocation. I don�t know how useful jumping in combat will be, even with the Jump spell, but I think it�ll be a fun character.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2019 05:18

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:24

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

ProfessorCirno posted:

It lets you briefly lie to yourself about the possibility of being a cool acrobatic swashbuckler until you realize that D&D has never once taught DMs to actually set a stage and create interesting places to fight in, and that you will basically never get to be a cool swashbuckler unless you artificially push for chances yourself, and then hope your GM knows not to set multiple checks for no real reward.

Well, we do believe if it�s cool or funny, it�s worth doing.

My last character was dying after a fireball, and I petitioned a roll to see if my posessed murder glove would pull me out of the burning building. I rolled a 1, so I started to strangle myself instead. I managed to remove the glove, but I still succumbed to lovely death saves.

The DM apologized for killing me, but I was happy to die by my own hand.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2019 07:05

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Mr. Humalong posted:

Oh, I forgot to ask: this is going to be my first time playing D&D in real life and not through Roll20. Anything I should bring besides dice, some paper and pencils, and myself? We'll have a dry erase board to track initiative.

Will theater of the mind work for a group of 7 players? Would I be better served finding a way to have a grid for combat?

e: This is still at least a week or two away, so no rush.

If you�re going to try theater of the mind, use that dry erase board as a crutch to crudely show where everyone is at at the beginning of combat.

Things are going to get real messy with 7 players. Nobody is going to be able to remember everyone�s relative positions. So, just keep it simple.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2019 11:40

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Nash posted:

High school DnD trip report.

With the various plot hooks I gave the group, they decided to help a wealthy human with a problem. They were promised gold so the more mercenary members of the group won out. I had several different ways this could turn out depending on how they approached things.

The man turned out to be a fairly paranoid and delusional dude who swore he was going to be robbed. He had claimed he saw faces in the orchards behind his house. Thinking they had found an easy score they planned to show the guy a party member that had been shapechanged to prove they had caught the thief.

The daughter of the man overheard and begged them not to take the job to kill the �thieves�. Very quickly they figured out it was her lover that was seen in the orchard and not a thief. Through some pretty impressive good cop/bad cop RP they got her to admit that the lover was a bandit who operated in the area. The girl didn�t trust the party because of their attitude toward her so she escaped to run off with the boyfriend.

Father didn�t take this very well and threatened the group with death if they didn�t bring her back alive. They tracked her thanks to the ranger in the group and discovered the bandits holed up in an old abandoned windmill. After a brief fight the bard grabbed the daughter who had entered the fight and held a knife to her. Her lover immediately dropped his axe and the fight ended. The two actually did love each other.

All of this meant nothing to the group. The two lovers couldn�t muster enough money to outpay her father�s reward money and the group didn�t trust the two to return with money. Back to the father.

As soon as the two were taken back to her father he immediately fulfilled the promise of money and weapons. Then in full view of his daughter and the party he casually cut the throat of his daughter�s lover. The last thing the group saw as the session ended was an enraged girl being dragged back into her father�s house, swearing oaths to the gods that she would escape and kill them. As the doors to the house slammed shut they saw her eyes begin to glow blue and energy begin to crackle around them. They have made their first personal enemy.

This is really good, guys. I assume you�re a nerd teacher training the next generation. I�d love a little breakdown of what kind of characters these kids made.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 06:25

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Our DM seemingly rewards us with a lower DC if we come up with something clever for our social checks.

Actually, if it�s cool or funny the DM will up the chance of it happening. Sometimes we�ll even get away with real ridiculous stuff if we roll a natural 20. Our Earth Genasi activated another party members lycanthropy by rolling a nat 20 when he mooned him.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 01:51

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Kaysette posted:

A character in my current AL game is named Lightning McHugeBeef and we have deep, deep lore established for him.

Same, but with Buff McLargeHuge. We did a Muppet Babies style one shot called Buff Babies, and our current campaign takes place in the past and has Buff�s father in the party. Buff�s dad is kind of a loser, but our characters are so good at bluffing, people believe we�re legends.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2019 15:59

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Tibalt posted:

Most of the MtG lore would make good fodder for a Spelljammer or Slider-esque campaign. Lots of good art to show as well.

I�ve been rolling the idea around in my head since the Ravnica book came out. Having them later planeshift to different planes like the Aztec dinosaur and vampire conquistadors world, or late 90�s Rath to have them deal with Slivers.

I�m the only Magic player in my group, so I have to make this actually fun, and not just me indulging myself.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2019 10:49

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

I�m playing a real basic greatsword wielding fighter with savage attacker and great weapon master, and it�s actually a lot more fun than I thought. I never play the tank, even my paladins are usually supporting the main fighter/barbarian.

Also, I�ve never had anyone play a wizard. I kind of want to make one to see how nuts they get.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 02:14

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

You should start a GoFundMe to get some books for the kids. Having something they can take home and fuel their imaginations would probably do some good. Long before I ever played, I�d read the Players Handbook and Monster Manuals, and just let them take me places.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2019 03:45

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

We do roll 4d6, reroll 1�s and drop the lowest dice, for each stat. It makes our characters a little bit beefier than average, but the DM does a fine job of compensating for it.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2019 11:03

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

P.d0t posted:

Glad we agree

I disagree. Being the only guy that knows draconic or abyssal has helped me a couple times. People have gotten some use out of orcish as well.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2019 04:56

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

It was some draconic writing. We could have tried to find an NPC or just ignored it, but I was able to read it, and it gave us some clues for the next puzzle.

It�s fun when a DM throws a character a bone, and gives their bonus language some relevance.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2019 05:21

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Wait hold on what's wrong with talking to animals as a power? Talking to animals is rad!!!

I have a Shepherd Druid/Hunter Ranger character I�ve been itching to play. Magic Initiate so I have a familiar, and I�ll be the beast whisperer.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2019 06:55

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Baller Ina posted:

A sorcerer AND a wizard in a party of three? I foresee a grim future for this group.

And the ranger is probably using a bow. Run and gun all day.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2019 20:07

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Abongination posted:

No idea if this is interesting to anyone else but talking about it helps me flesh bits out, the ancient power being guarded by old and forgotten figures comes from some half remembered Spider-Man it xman cartoon from the 80�s. A bunch of old superheroes in disguise protecting it however they can even as they age beyond their ability to protect it.

90�s Spider-Man. Funny that you have six players because the storyline was called Six Forgotten Heroes.

Good luck with your campaign. Glad you guys are having fun.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2019 00:05

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Abongination posted:

I�m constantly surprised at the extent of goon knowledge, this storyline really captured my interest when I was younger so thanks for pinpointing it. Might have to give it all a watch and see if I can knock off any more ideas.

Have a lighting focused sorcerer as Electro, who was Red Skull�s son in the show.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2019 05:27

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

My friend wants to DM a pirate campaign, and the rest of my party is making stand ins for One Piece characters. Since I don�t watch the show, I thought I�d try a Forge domain Cleric that focuses on flintlock pistols since they�re allowed.

Any good tips or tricks for running Forge, or playing in a campaign with gunpowder?

# ¿ Sep 1, 2019 18:28

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Started playing my flintlock pistol wielding, dex based, Forge Cleric, and it�s been pretty fun. D&D Beyond has a feat called Firearm Specialist, and then I took Weapon Master at level four to give me more martial weapons.

I�ve been repairing/upgrading the ship, and crafting weapons for the crew. We�ve also established that all my spells are focused through my gun. Create water turns it into a fire hose, and the gun is used like a syringe for cure wounds. It�s a weird rear end character build, but I�m really enjoying it.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2019 09:15

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Malpais Legate posted:

One of my players wants to basically play a gun-toting paladin.

Y'all think there's any harm in letting him use his Divine Smite on a ranged attack?

Should be fine, unless he starts sniping your NPCs or something.

I�ve been playing a Cleric of the Gun, and it�s a lot of fun.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2019 08:35

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Narsham posted:

For the first instance, a tiny tiny car rolls up and ten clowns pile out. For the next, a tiny car rolls up and fifteen clowns spill out. For the next, two tiny tiny cars pull up and the twenty clowns trip over themselves trying to get out. For the cue to run, a huge stretch limo pulls up

The cars are a portal to the clown dimension. A realm infinite clowns. Any mortal that enters is eventually driven insane by the honking, and becomes another clown.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2019 05:25

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

ElMaligno posted:

Helping new players make their characters was exhausting. My PCs are:

A Sea Elf Warlock (raven queen pact) who is an underwater basket weaver (guild artisan).
A halfling bard criminal with a heart of gold.
A aarakocra fighter urchin. The pc hosed up the personality/ideal/bond/flaw and picked them from the soldier background. He was a child soldier I guess.
A half orc barbarian bounty hunter who is in for the money but hates murderers.
A tiefling sorcerer (divine soul) acolyte, a gentle kid who believes in authority yet was betrayed by it.

I can't wait to do this game.

That sounds like a fun group. Bunch of non humans from the bad side of town just trying their best

# ¿ Oct 30, 2019 09:13

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Could always have a couple guards get murdered as stuff starts popping off, and have the fighter classes scramble to arm themselves. Maybe the carving knife is actually a magic weapon that can carve through ghouls just as easily as a warm roast. Be generous on grapple checks for anyone that might decide to body slam a ghoul through a table. Have some big windows for the PCs to boot their enemies through.

Have fun, and treat it like a deadly tavern brawl. The players will be trying to one up each other for ghoul kill of the session. Winner will probably be the guy who decapitates one, the head landing on a serving tray, and he stuffs an apple in its mouth.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2019 08:40

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Have you considered a Paladin?

# ¿ Nov 14, 2019 11:13

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

How�s the new artificer? I�m getting the book tonight, and I have to make a character to replace my gunslinger forge cleric after he took a crit bullet in the neck.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2019 17:13

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

With the current pirate campaign I�m in, an artificer with the infusion that eliminates reloading and ammo on a flintlock pistol would turn me into a murder machine, but I�ve grown attached to the character concept of him having a returning spear. At the reduction of damage I have a weapon that I can use one handed, two handed, or at range.

A repulsor shield, and a cloak of the manta ray are my other two infusions. Also, I can tinker my iron dog to replay a recorded message, or serve as a walking lantern, and I have a character concept I�m very happy with.

Anybody else want to share characters that are suboptimal for the sake of just being more fun?

# ¿ Nov 22, 2019 07:15

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Had a different concept for a Battle Smith, but I discovered the double bladed scimitar, and it�s associated feat

And since it�s a pirate campaign, I�m taking cloak of the manta ray as one of my infusions.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2019 02:43

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

PaybackJack posted:

So in building this artificer I realized that I just ended up building Iron Man as a D&D character. Deploys two gun cannons, wand pops out of prosthetic arcane arm, the arm itself detaches and punches people at a distance then returns, has flying boots, a large amount of HP, an outrageous AC, and is the smartest guy in the room. All the spells are basically crazy things Tony's armor could do in different situations if you think of it like that.

I took belt of giant strength as one of my infusions because every now and then you gotta hulkbuster.

Needs a repulsor shield.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2019 00:55

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

I�m playing a level six Artificer Battle Smith. He�s a high elf with the feat making the double bladed scimitar a finesse weapon. It�s got me thinking about cross classing with Rogue. I could use my steel defender to help me flank enemies, and I could use one of my infusions for Boots of Elvenkind.

Any thoughts?

# ¿ Dec 10, 2019 00:46

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Gharbad the Weak posted:

Definitely lawful, but I can't tell here if he's good or evil.

He�s as good as anyone can be in our campaign, but I wasn�t asking about alignment. I was just trying to get thoughts on the cross classing.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2019 00:27

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

lightrook posted:

Rogue is... not really that great at anything, I think; generally not as a dip, and barely even as a primary class. Usually the most important thing to consider when dipping is what you're getting upfront, in the first and second level. With rogue, you're getting Expertise and Sneak Attack at level 1, and a Cunning Action at level 2. Expertise is situationally kind of nice if you absolutely need to pump a specific skill, which usually means Athletics for grapple shenanigans, and Sneak Attack is something but also pretty marginal - that's 3.5 damage a turn, on average, which is not really that much. Cunning Action is has a few nifty uses, but the biggest thing to note is that it eats up your bonus action, which for most classes, artificer included, is already a fairly important resource - you're kind of expected to sic your robot buddy on someone every turn, so there's diminishing returns to having yet another at-will ability that competing for the same resource every single turn.

I guess the better question is, what are you hoping to accomplish by multiclassing? If you just want to be a sneaky burgleperson, then you could go into wizard to accelerate your spell slot growth and have more slots for Invisibility and other larceny-related magic, because magic solves everything in this game. Or you can stick with Artificer and still advance your spellcasting, along with your other artificer abilities. With Battle Smith abilities you're guaranteed a flanker for consistent sneak attacks, but to what end? An extra 3.5 damage a turn? At that point, you might as well dip into Fighter and pick up a fighting style if your only goal is to add a little extra punch to your basic attacks, since either Archery or Dueling will be equal or better than Sneak Attack at that point, and that's not exactly something I'd recommend, either.

I appreciate the input.

I like the rogue skills and stuff, but fighters great weapon fighting is tempting when I�m using a 2d4 weapon.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2019 20:24

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

My other two party members are a frog man arcane archer, and a swashbuckler of that blue skinned aquatic race

I usually always stay straight class unless the concept was initially created that way. I swear I have a good idea for a Druid/Ranger that I�m going to use someday. The Rogue cross classing idea came about because I thought about using my steel defender to flank enemies. I should probably just stick with the artificer, so I can get the higher level stuff sooner than later.

I think these next couple levels are just kind of dead and making me feel antsy.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2019 23:45

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Midig posted:

Ok. Making an adventure where a cast out wizard plots revenge. He has experiments where he uses a magical item to combine animals. In my world he creates the first Owlbears, Leopasser, Half moles/wolves. I thought maybe he made one creature that escaped that I want for a water fight they have on a raft or something. Something that can float on water such as a frog. But I wonder what I should combine it with to make it an interesting fight. I though the frog can try to grab one of the players with its tongue.

Hit them with the flying snake things. Anaconda with wings.

Or a Froctopus, and have him be able to swallow two people at once.

Maybe have them rescue a friendly flying hippo.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2019 06:46

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

xanthan posted:

So, going into a Dungeon of the Mad Mage game in a few weeks and I'm debating what to make. A Gloom Stalker would be useful and with the free bonus feat the DM is letting everyone take I can try some build that needs a feat without just going variant human. On the other hand, I could do a variant human ancestral guardian barbarian and have 18 AC at level 5, but damage would be lacking. I'd be a monster at keeping stuff where I want I guess.

Also might go for a gimmicky melee sorcerer using shadow blade and green flame blade, with high dex and the dragon bloodline giving me better AC.

Rest of the party is still up in the air. Anyone got ideas for gimmicky builds I could make since everyone playing gets an extra feat?

Try an elf with a double bladed scimitar, and the feat that makes it a finesse weapon and gives you +1 AC while you're holding it.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2019 07:07

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

thespaceinvader posted:

Someone else already has their eye on Artificer, plus I do like the range of buff spells the forge cleric gets.

My forge Cleric was a lot of fun He was tanky, and could buff his teammates. He died before I got to go more in-depth with him smithing his own branded weapons.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2019 00:56

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

please knock Mom! posted:

Cats rule elves drool

Let�s leave the elves out of this.

Last night YouTube recommended a video of Anderson Cooper describing himself as elvish Stephen Colbert, and talking about D&D.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2019 22:30

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

change my name posted:

Hmm, that's good to know. I'm about to start a new campaign as the group healer and it looks like the blood hunter wants to play it as a tough frontline sword guy.

Just remember that your character is a healer, and not his personal power battery. Don�t let him get other players killed because you had to juice him up.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2019 04:31

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

I�m always the only one that considers any sort of healing, but I make sure I�m tough enough that we hardly need it.

Being a buff/heal cleric was a mistake. I�ve had a lot more success with paladins and druids as secondary tanks/healers. My artificer is doing solid so far. Steel defender is so useful.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2019 05:30

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Trojan Kaiju posted:

My favorite monsters to use are two that I don't use in combat, the Spectator and Faerie Dragon. In our Lost Mines -> SKT campaign, my players befriended a slightly unhinged Spectator and in the future may go on hunting quests for him. He collects specimens from across the planes to discover new foods he can then make with Create Food And Water.

In our other campaign, there are Faerie bars that are literally just hookah bars but you feed snacks to a Faerie Dragon and it uses its breath on you.

Gonna borrow that bit. In my campaign setting, I have a larger on the inside style bar on the back of a roving Ent called �The Fae Bar�

# ¿ Jan 10, 2020 16:14

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Stone cloak?

# ¿ Jan 19, 2020 21:19

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:24

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

DressCodeBlue posted:

Oh, that's perfect! Thanks.

Wasn�t even thinking how useful that could be for a caster that might need to hunker down. I�ll have to keep that in mind.

Spell gems are also really good ideas.

I�m definitely a fan of her character idea.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2020 01:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition - Its not called Dungeons & No Dragons, son

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