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 SPECIAL NOTE: THE EDITION WARS HAVE OFFICIALLY ENDED. ANYONE FOUND TO BE ENGAGING IN ATTEMPTING TO RESTART THE EDITION WARS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED FOR SUMMARY MOD ACTION. THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING. Dungeons and Dragons - 5th Edition is a tabletop role-playing game produced by Wizards of the Coast. Like previous versions, Fifth Edition (5E) is a mix of sword and sorcery fantasy combat with assorted problem solving, puzzles, and social interaction. Each player controls a single Player Character (PC) who interacts with monsters, situations, and Non-Player Characters (NPC) in a game setting managed by the Dungeon Master (DM). The core conceit of 5E is that nearly every time a character's success needs to be measured, it is accomplished by rolling a 20-sided die (d20) and adding the character's Attribute modifier and Proficiency bonus.
Multiple smaller bonus categories have largely been done away with in favor an Advantage/Disadvantage system: When your circumstances grant you Advantage, you roll 2 d20s and keep the higher number; when you are at a Disadvantage, you roll 2 d20s and keep the lower. Tracking all your sources is unnecessary because any number of sources of Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other out completely. Either you are 100% at Advantage, 100% at Disadvantage, or your roll is unmodified. Combat is broken out into 4 basic parts:
So, how do you get into 5E? You can start with the New Player info on the Official D&D Website: http://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dragons/what-is-dd You can even get a free copy of the basic rules here: http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules That alone should be enough to start playing. For a more robust new player experience, consider the D&D 5E Starter set (MSRP $19.99): http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset If you'd like a more guided character creation and searchable rules info, check out D&D Beyond: https://www.dndbeyond.com/ You can create free characters with the basic ruleset on D&D Beyond, but getting access to more content involves buying digital sourcebooks that are tied to that website (and Android/iOS app) only. Check the bottom of this OP for coupon codes and discounts. Many players have even shifted to using digital tabletops for play, even in person! The most popular virtual tabletops are Roll20 (https://roll20.net/) and Foundry VTT (https://foundryvtt.com/). Wizards of the Coast has also introduced an Organized Play program for 5E, called Adventurer's League. Using a standard ruleset and modules, you can find groups to play with all over the world at game shops, conventions, and even online groups. More information can be found at https://dnd.wizards.com/adventurers-league Additional resources:
Free 1st-party adventures:
A brief overview of the 1st-party hardback adventures: quote:The Lost Mines of Phandelver Toshimo fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Sep 26, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2018 06:55
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mastershakeman posted:Are there any abilities that let you use your reaction for extra movement? Yes. Scouts (Rogue archetype) get this: Skirmisher Starting at 3rd level, you can move up to half your speed as a reaction when an enemy ends its turn within 5 feet of you. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.
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Dec 22, 2018 16:58
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gradenko_2000 posted:Give that ability to anyone who wants to "tank". Why even have all that duration nonsense? 5 rounds is effectively forever, already.
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Dec 22, 2018 18:05
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Gharbad the Weak posted:One of the effects of exhaustion is going to be disadvantage on saves, isn't it. At 3 stacks, yeah.
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Dec 22, 2018 22:02
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 D&D Adventurer's League is the Organized Play program for D&D 5E. It's split into 2 divisions: Forgotten Realms and Eberron. The core conceit to Adventurer's League is that you are able to play a limited number of League-oriented modules with a consistent ruleset so that (a) you are getting as consistent an experience across tables as possible and (b) have a way for players without regular playgroups to drop into sessions at game stores and conventions. So, here's the rundown: Who can play/run an Adventurer's League game? Anyone. As long as your table abides by all of the rules for play and plays an approved module, you're good. You can play at a convention or game store, a local MeetUp, online via Roll20 or other virtual tabletop, or even just with your friends at home. A DCI number is highly recommended for tracking purposes, but not required, and they are free to sign up for on Wizards' website. How does Adventurer's League differ from a standard home game? The big changes are:
Adventurer's League isn't for everyone, but I'd recommend it for the following reasons:
Right now, in its 8th season, AL is in a bit of a transition. ACP/TCP is a new system and there's been some real problems with transitioning pre-S8 characters. They almost always come out way above or way below the current power band. Also, the new rules were largely not playtested, so you run into issues like Wizards getting the short end of the stick because downtime and gold are very limited, keeping them from scribing all the spells to their spellbook that they'd normally want. Also, the previous modules weren't retroactively changed to accomodate the new item/gold economy, so you'll occasionally run into stuff, especially at early levels, that doesn't work so well, like asking level 2 PCs for multiple hundreds of gold, or having level 3 PCs run up against mundane-immune or -resistant enemies before they can possibly have magic weapons. That all said, I'd like to start DMing some more AL stuff once we get past Christmas, so I'll be post here with more details if people want to try it out. Here's a set of links to AL resources:
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Dec 24, 2018 00:46
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I really think this thread is off to a good start and we've had a lot of people post a lot of good links and resources and everybody's been largely chill and good to each other for a whole 24 hours and I really appreciate that. The only way I think it could really get to be the best thread it can be, though, is that if we all took a moment every time we read a real dumb MonsterEnvy take and went "nope, I don't need to respond to this, I can just let it float away like garbage on the tide." Namaste.
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Dec 24, 2018 06:03
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Section Z posted:One of my usual I'm not sure I agree with any of this. First off, the PHB explicitly mentions that rogues can choose to be the "find traps guy" or they can choose to focus in other areas. Second, Rogues are almost completely focused on a single attribute (DEX) with their to-hit, damage, AC, Initiative, Stealth, and Sleight of Hand all coming from that single stat. So, if you want to be a "trap dude" you get your option of going secondary on either of the 2 trap-finding stats (Int or Wis), getting larger bonuses to that stat than anyone else (Expertise), eventually taking 10 on those checks, and getting an extra ASI/Feat slot to use if you really, really wanted to focus on this. All of that, does indeed let them choose to be "traps guy" in a way that basically anyone (except bards) can't really replicate. What it all does add up to, is letting the non-rogue classes do a minimum level of trap-finding, which isn't a terrible thing, as it removes the hard class requirements from parties.
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Dec 24, 2018 06:50
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issues with Rogues (which was also an issue in 4th ed) is how they are reputedly the "Find traps guy". Then you get saddled with finding traps running off WIS, AND official print traps where the spot DC can end up as high or higher than the disarm. And then 5th ed double dips by reviving Investigate, which uses INT.
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Do traps even have any reason to exist as they do? I can't think of a system that feels less necessary and more harmful to the progress of the game. As implemented, you're telling your players "there's a mechanic that for the most part does not exist and will rarely exist. But if you forget that it actually *does* exist, I'm going to punish you. The only way to avoid this is to bring up the mechanic that functionally does not exist in every room when you go through a dungeon. Occasionally I'll decide if the mechanic exists and give you a *chance* not to get hurt by it." BTW, this is almost word-for-word how I describe Encumbrance.
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Dec 24, 2018 07:20
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Yeah, I feel like there's a pretty universal agreement among DMs though to the effect of "gently caress it, you get a Haversack or a Bag of Holding. I don't want to have to track this poo poo." And for some reason, this doesn't hurt Muscles Malone's feelings the way removing traps makes your Resident Thieves Tools Expert feel unwanted. Hoo boy I made a rogue in AL and a bunch of the truest goobers were trying to get me to invest hard in increasingly large Belts of Giant Strength instead of pumping my Dex so I could just use STR for all my attacks while dumping it excessively and one of their go-to arguments was MAH ENCUMBRANCE. (To be fair, the default magic items in the DMG are really really bad and dumb and unbalanced and it's miserable trying to gear out a whole lot of builds using just those.)
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Dec 24, 2018 07:29
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Nehru the Damaja posted:edit: I guess my only issue here is we'd have to track passive Investigation too, which the Observant feat insists is a thing but who's ever used that? One of the nice things about the DnDBeyond character sheet is that, by default, it pulls out Passive Perception, Investigation, and Insight into a "Senses" block, which is a nice reminder that the other passive skills should get more play. For example: https://ddb.ac/characters/3408615/QNlbYA
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Dec 24, 2018 16:29
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:What do you mean by using passive perception in this case? Do you roll stealth for the trap or something like that? Passive perception seems weird to me because, in a lot of cases, it's indistinguishable from DM fiat. There's no way for me to unlearn my players' passive perception score to make good faith DC judgements. Rolling stealth makes sense when it's stealthy monsters rolling against them. Official modules have explicitly proscribed DCs for traps. For instance, Dungeon of the Mad Mage effectively has 3 tiers of trap: DC15, DC17, and DC20. I think those largely map to the level range of the particular floor of the dungeon that the trap falls on. So, if you've got the DCs planned out, it's a simple comparison at the time they enter the room. This falls apart a bit if you are making the traps up on-the-fly, but if you are prepping a homebrew in advance, you can largely work within a similar framework. For example: 
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Dec 24, 2018 18:40
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Okay but a DC 15 trap that I know in advance will be seen and not not something I could ever see myself putting in a dungeon. Why would I bother? Making my players think "ahh, a trap, I must be in a dungeon"? I get the point of traps in a game where you gotta explicitly talk about how you search the room, 10 foot pole and all that, but not this. So either I'm making a trap that I know 100% will be spotted or I'm making one that requires a DC 20 roll? Does everyone get to roll? If so, that's still practically guaranteed to be spotted. If not, that's a pretty harsh check depending on how I choose who gets to roll. You can put stuff in that you know will get spotted. However, the marching order of the party will largely determine if and when they get to see it. You don't just plop people down in a room and go "Traps are here, here, and here". If the fighter is going first, he might eat the trap before the rogue or cleric can see it. If the rogue goes first, then that could be problematic for combat. There aren't perfect answers to every situation, but throwing things at a party to make their marching order matter makes trap-finding have an opportunity cost. That said, we could argue all day whether Passive skills should be a thing, how traps should be found, etc. But I think the better discussion is "how can we do traps better within the framework of the system?".
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Dec 24, 2018 19:00
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Technically, although it's stupidly squirreled away in a feat, characters only need to indicate that they are moving slowly to be able to passively detect traps, so there's never a reason for repeatedly rolling. Basically, the general version goes:
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Dec 24, 2018 19:35
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For_Great_Justice posted:Yeah that is very clear. Thinking about it it may have come to DM of where it applies despite it being clear. It may have been an issue of not wanting dex advantage 90% of the time for traps. Party did the overly thorough checking of traps. If a barb just straight got advantage on DEX saves vs traps with no restrictions, that would still be ok and not overpowered.
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Dec 24, 2018 22:24
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Infinite Karma posted:Carrying a backpack with dungeoneering tools, rope, tents, ladders, etc. makes complete logical sense for adventurers, because they have no idea what they'll run into, but it also makes terrible thematic sense, because Hercules isn't going to fight while carrying a giant camping pack on his back no matter how strong he is. And nobody imagines their character with weapons and armor and spell flourishes, with 100lb of bulky gear towering over him all day every day. This Hercules?  or the OG always-naked one?
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Dec 25, 2018 02:28
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I'm finally getting by Bowbear Assassin together in AL and it feels so good. I gotta work my butt off to keep relevant sometimes, but getting to full RP taking 10 on a sniper shot to the boss to start the fight and having a 50+ damage alpha at level 5 is C H O I C E.
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Dec 26, 2018 19:54
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Razorwired posted:I don't think D&D really needs these little brother classes if you make your newbies actually play levels 1-3. I'm currently working through a write-up on the Official Adventurer's League play through of Waterdeep Heist and the DM (who is one of the people writing the rules for AL) is absolutely infuriating with how he's handling new players. Not only does he get basic rules wrong (when the newbies have the right interpretation in the first place), but his choice to not guide players through how to play to the game is killing me. For instance, here's a bit from the first notable fight:
Overall, it was butts to watch and makes me mad, because it reinforces bad player and DM habits in what could have been a very good teaching session to start the program.
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Dec 26, 2018 20:11
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Ferrinus posted:Meteor Swarm (this would deal weapon rather than fire damage and involve you zooming into or shooting at an area like a Dynasty Warriors character) You mean like:  or 
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Dec 27, 2018 07:58
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Epi Lepi posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Eldritch Knight gets these spells and that's dumb as hell. Correct. They are 5th level spells and EK only gets level 4.
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Dec 27, 2018 18:04
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Humble Bundle has some 3rd-party 5E... ish? books.
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Dec 27, 2018 22:41
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So, S8 of Adventurer's League saw them bring in some real restrictions on Magic Item acquisition. And whiny manbabies flipped their everloving poo poo on it. I just learned today what the official DM advice is for the approximate number of Big Boy magic items (DMG Tables F-I) a player is expected to accrue from level 1 to 20 is, to stay sort of within the power guidelines of official adventures. 5: 2 uncommon, 1 each of rare, very rare, and legendary. Plus around 20 assorted minor items and consumables from Tables A-E. Now, how many items does AL effectively limit you to by comparison? 10: 1 uncommon, 2 rare, 6 very rare, 1 legendary. There's some extra points floating around and you can get more legendaries instead of very rares, but they are more expensive and it's more a matter of unlocking them by running the right adventures. D&D "fans" are the worst.
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Dec 28, 2018 03:39
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:I just picked finished going through Art & Arcana, and I dug all the old D&D art. I found though that I far more enjoyed the older art than the newer stuff. The new stuff is certainly beautiful and technically accomplished, but it's so staid and monotone and lifeless compared to the older images full of color and pop. HOW loving DARE YOU?? 
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Dec 28, 2018 04:21
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Don't use tinypic.
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Dec 28, 2018 06:14
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Arthil posted:The issue from what I understand is less the amount, and more how you get them. Instead of kicking down the Dragon's front door, giving him the worst bad day ever, and then getting to rifle through his hoard... "Congrats! Here's some loot points". Kind of deflates the whole thing, doesn't it? That's a valid complaint. However, I have heard a poo poo to of munchkins whine about the reduction in items and how they can't make their superman builds like they used to.
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Dec 28, 2018 21:44
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Darwinism posted:Loot in AL has always been a shitshow seesawing between "give the players fun things" and "b-b-b-b-but my verisimilitude" and this change will not be the last. Did they at least change it so that more than one person can get the good poo poo from a module? If an item would drop in an AL module, you now just unlock it for purchase. You get Treasure Points whenever you get Advancement Points (which are used in place of XP for milestone leveling). You buy magic items with Treasure Points. So, effectively, if a module drops a Vorpal Sword, every player unlocks it for purchase and can choose whether or not to buy it if it's relevant to them. If you were the player hoarding poo poo tons of magic items because you loot hoovered everything you could get, you hate this system. If you were the person who was only taking the items they needed and fairly distributing everything, this system is fine. If you were the person who never got poo poo, this is awesome for you.
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Dec 29, 2018 02:08
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Yes. The overall system is a very big improvement. It has a ways to go, but as far as a complete overhaul, it's a good step in the right direction. If I had it my way, I'd make all of the following changes for S9:
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Dec 29, 2018 03:18
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:That prevents the table full of wizards from stabbing each other over the headbands of intellect, so I'm OK with this? Also, it was definitely the EKs and ATs stabbing each other for the Headbands of Intellect. It was real sad when I was trying to build a Rogue and some particular folks got Super Ornery about wanting me to just use Belts of Giants Strength for attack/damage and ignoring my Dex so I could hoover up feats.
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Dec 29, 2018 03:23
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In short, yes it bears similarities to MMO token systems. And, no, that's not necessarily bad.
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Dec 29, 2018 15:37
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Factions aren't really a thing anymore, in that your renown doesn't tie to a faction and you can have renown while factionless (but, weirdly, leaving a faction resets your renown). However, they did add a neat little renown benefit: at the start of every module or HC chapter, you get one of the following, temporarily, based on your renown level:
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Dec 29, 2018 16:07
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Ok, so AL recently unlocked this item as an option for everyone and I really liked it for my Bowbear Assassin: Then I went back and read the RP fluff on it and was like... HOLD UP. I WANT IN ON THIS TRAIN. So, I looked up Mechanus and it's what I remembered from 2E as Nirvana, most famous as the home of the Modrons. It's a plane strewn across the Lawful axis, and being that my bugbear is LE (as the only evil option for AL is LE), I'm looking at revising his backstory to really go HAM on this concept. Digging around I found this bit:  Yeah. This is EXTREMELY MY PACE. What I'm looking for:
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Dec 30, 2018 03:16
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Oh no what have I done.
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Dec 30, 2018 03:35
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Waffles Inc. posted:If I make an AL character at home to bring to a session, do I make them level one? Is there an at-table catch up mechanic or will I just be the low level person in the party? Are you using this packet? https://www.dmsguild.com/product/208178/DD-Adventurers-League-Player--DM-Pack The entirety of page 2 of the Player's Guide is Character Creation. But, yes, level 1. Any AL table will be run at a specific Tier, and Tier 1 is level 1-4, so if you show up to a Tier 1 table with your level 1 guy, you might be the lowest, but everyone will be relatively close and the encounters will be doable at your level.
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Dec 30, 2018 15:22
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CharOp: I want to dip a level of fighter with my rogue. What's the best time up until level 10 to dip? Is it even better if I start fighter 1 and then just go rogue from there?
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Dec 30, 2018 20:03
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Yeah, I'm doing it for a bow rogue so I can get big boy bows and Archery style. The medium Armor and Shield aren't doing me any good, so I figured to do it either after 4 or 5.
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Dec 30, 2018 20:16
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JustJeff88 posted:This made me laugh because it reminded me of something. Years ago, I was playing the board game Pandemic with an old friend and a few others. This game is, not surprisingly, about wiping out four worldwide plagues. The game encourages you to name these diseases for flavour, so my mate named them "Gonorrhoea, bears, smaller bears and Taylor Swift" 
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Dec 31, 2018 19:36
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I think I have this guy right how I want him before I lock him in for good. https://ddb.ac/characters/3408615/X45crh
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Dec 31, 2018 21:34
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Ginger Beer Belly posted:I am trying to let playstyle direct how future levels are chosen, but I can easily see 19 rogue/1 fighter to maximize sneak attack and rogue/swashbuckler abilities, or go as far as 6 total fighter levels for Action Surge, Battlemaster or Champion, ASI, extra attack, and another ASI. Yeah, for my assassin, I'm looking at 1-3 levels of fighter. Level 2: Action Surge vs. Feat Level 3: Battlemaster Dice vs. Elusive + 1d6 Sneak Damage Also, the tiny HP benefits of 1 max HP per fighter level and +1 healing on Second Wind/Hit Die. The larger problem though, is where I'd place those levels if I did take them? Delaying Slippery Mind feels like asking for trouble in T4.
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Jan 2, 2019 20:47
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Malpais Legate posted:So after using Mind Flayers in my game, I need to ask: were those creatures designed to be fought at all? Especially in a game where only like, 1.5 classes don't use Intelligence as a dump stat. Get a paladin. Trivialize everything.
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Jan 2, 2019 22:45
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Ginger Beer Belly posted:I haven't read it, but there may be some useful info for you in here ... Ah, sweet. Thanks.
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Jan 2, 2019 22:45
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R A N T M O D E Tomes are dumb as poo poo and nobody should be able to benefit from multiple times per stat and tomes should self-destruct after reading, Mission Impossible-style.
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Jan 3, 2019 14:17
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