Dungeons and Dragons

[proud osprey]

y’all remember my fallout system-

a west marches game with western vibes would be fun tho

[final phoenix]

Lasers and feelings maybe?

[tepid crane]

I remember you saying that your game would have western vibes but still medieval, which ironically is the exact opposite of dnd

[proud osprey]

yeah

i think i just want a very grounded game with a bit emphasis on nature and stuff like that

[tepid crane]

How important was the mercenary element of it I might have a game that fits it for you

[proud osprey]

hm

less

more narrative

this is making me think about that fallout rpg again tho

[tepid crane]

This does feel like Gurps territory

[proud osprey]

doesn’t it

i’ve literally got a gurps book real close

many thoughts happening

holding the gurps

[tepid crane]

Best of luck deciding on what bonus splats to use

[proud osprey]

or if i land on gurps at all

maybe i resurrect that fallout game idea i had

i know some of you were interested in that, @worthy plank and yourself at least i believe

wondering if i could make that work in a west marches format after a trial period running an early few sessions

[worthy plank]

I was interested in the Fallouts ye

[proud osprey]

iiinteresting

might change the premise around a bit

[worthy plank]

I am chill with whatever premise

[proud osprey]

when’s fallout 1 set? 100 years on? or is it like 80

2161

2178

ITS 2178. somewhere, in postwar america, things are changing

but we all know there’s one thing that doesn’t

that never ever does

alright i’m back on my bullshit

who’s in

[worthy plank]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[proud osprey]

yeeeehaw

[stone hollow]

First time I'll be playing a lizardfolk

It feels good to be excited about DND again

[lament geode]

Okay, I don't really care for liveplays MOST of the time

Usually just makes me wish I was playing

But I've been lured in by the siren's song of the animated shorts for the Legends of Avantris crew

and Once Upon a Witchlight has utterly captivated me with its hilarity

[smoky notch]

AAAAAAAAAAA LIZARDFOLK SUPREMACY

[stone hollow]

YEAAAAAH

Trying to think of how to make it relevant to my backstory

[lament geode]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ICwM788wbZE

[proud osprey]

thinking about my current main d&d setting

i have accounted for

• humans
• dwarves
• elves
• orcs
• halflings
• gnomes
• tieflings
• aasimar
• goliaths
• goblins
• firbolgs
• hobgoblins
• dragonborn
• lizardfolk
• kobolds

what am i missing

that any classic d&d setting should have somewhere

[final phoenix]

No warforged?

Also i think I'm going to put a gogagog/ swarm/worm that walks character in my game

Mostly gogagog

The swarm/worm the walks also cool looks

I need to think of a name, I was going to say Nidhogg but I don't think that is The name. One of them but not it's name name

[sand hornet]

Gnolls

[proud osprey]

i reckon they’d exist out west

oh. loxodon exist in the south

[sand hornet]

Is this a dnd game you're making?

Western-inspired?

Reading the backlog at least

[proud osprey]

no no that’s been canned

i’ll be running a fallout western instead set in postnuclear colorado

[sand hornet]

ah

fair

[proud osprey]

this is talk about my d&d setting that’s currently in use

[sand hornet]

mhm

[stone hollow]

are lizardfolk in dnd still like, kinda tribal?

[modest echo]

yeah

[stone hollow]

my dm is giving us a free feat at level 1, what might be good on a light cleric?

[slender nexus]

Resilient Con is the boring but good option

[cosmic geyser]

Fey Touched/Gift of the Metallic Dragon if you need the boost to one of your mental stats

Meta-Magic Adept if you want a single (?) subtle spell per long rest

[slender nexus]

Elemental Adept Fire isn't unreasonable on Light Cleric, considering how many things resist it

[cosmic geyser]

If you have a high perception w/proficiency, Observant is another good half-feat that also increases your passive perception/investigation

[slender nexus]

Although the awkward part of Elemental Adept is it doesn't help out with immunity, and there are swaths of immune to fire enemies

Really wish it made immunity into resistance

[cosmic geyser]

Bypassing resistance is still really good, though in the case of fire and poison it still not enough since there's a boatload of stuff that's immune to both damage types

[slender nexus]

Bumping up the average damage of a d6 by .5 isn't bad either, for a subclass that gets Fireball

[craggy cloak]

any limitations on sources?

[dapper fulcrum]

misty step is a lifesaver

so fey touched is good

[pure elm]

Telekinetic is also a good option

for the stat boost and shoving people into AoE

[stone hollow]

none really

[craggy cloak]

when its a free feat, i like to make it a character choice, stuff like Chef

[stone hollow]

i thought about taking heavily armored to get heavy armor prof maybe

[craggy cloak]

not sure how magic item focused your campaign will be, but i think if youre using a shield you wont see too much difference between medium and heavy

[slender nexus]

Heavy armor prof is nice on Clerics, especially if you're a dwarf

(Or a race with a speed bonus)

Since then you can drop dex and str as low as you want

[slender nexus]

+1 AC and lower stat requirements are pretty notable

[craggy cloak]

I've never felt the difference, but I run no/low magic settings

[slender nexus]

I mean, magic prevalence is pretty irrelevant here

[pure elm]

Heavy needs 15 Str to not be penalized
medium needs 14 Dex for maxed AC

which is generally easier

[slender nexus]

Oh right, was thinking 13 for some reason

[pure elm]

well, Chain and Splint are 13

Plate is 15

[slender nexus]

But yeah, Dwarf or 35ft movespeed race can also just grab heavy and ignore the str

[craggy cloak]

magic prevalence tends to matter because magical heavy armor is kinda Busted

also depends on if your table messes with encumbrance and such

[slender nexus]

It's one of those things that doesn't have an obvious impact, but taking ~10% less damage and having a better stat spread makes a pretty major difference over the course of a campaign

[slender nexus]

Yeah, heavy armor with variant encumberance is not a good time

[craggy cloak]

I mean, having dex for initiative on a caster is pretty good

I couldnt imagine trying to rock 0 initiative on a caster 😭

[slender nexus]

Alert my beloved

But yeah, that's the cost to dumping dex on Cleric

(Because let's be honest, you're not passing dex saves anyway)

[craggy cloak]

not with that attitude!

[modest echo]

just roll high

[dapper fulcrum]

does your DM allow for the new backgrounds

from the new books

because they give Free Feats therein too

[craggy cloak]

yeah if you use set backgrounds its pretty strong

[cosmic geyser]

Oh my god, we forgot to recommend Alert

[slender nexus]

Yeah, Alert's another "boring but extremely strong" one

[stone hollow]

i'd have to ask but probably

[dapper fulcrum]

the key question here is less "are these background allowed" and more "is it okay to start with 2-3 feats at character creation?"

[cosmic geyser]

In my experience, the free 1st level feat rule always had the rider of “unless your background provides a feat already”

Doesn’t hurt to ask the DM though

[stone hollow]

i'll have to see but given what they've allowed so far i expect yes

[dapper fulcrum]

i like the idea of giving 1st level characters a lot of Stuff

[stone hollow]

same

[pure elm]

I would personally say go for casting stat half feats though

[dapper fulcrum]

to offset the pain of starting level 1

[pure elm]

leaves you open to take Warcaster and Res:Con at 4 and 8

[craggy cloak]

its always fun to see how different folk run their games

[slender nexus]

The only background that's really absurd is Wildspacer, which gives Tough

[dapper fulcrum]

?
i dont think its absurd that much
+2 hp is nice for survivability

[slender nexus]

The rest give feats that are nice value but not huge power spikes

[dapper fulcrum]

at least
compared to the background feats that give you damage resistances

and the best martial support that isnt spells (Strike of the Giants)

[slender nexus]

Tough is a lot of hp

Okay, yeah, Strike of the Giants is up there too, true

[pure elm]

Tough is fine, but there's better things usually

[slender nexus]

Which ones give you damage resistances? I thought it's mostly free spells in the background feats

[cosmic geyser]

Tough, to me, is similar to Resilient and Alert. Good in a very practical and low-key way.

[dapper fulcrum]

Planescape background feats

which is the prerequiste for Funnier feats

like the one that gives you tongues+misty step, the one that lets you imitate a vampire and heal from dealing a smidgen of damage, the one that immobilizes targets, etc

[slender nexus]

It's one of those feats that you don't usually want to spend a feat slot on, because most characters have build-specific ones that are better, but the fact that it's even in contention with build-defining feats indicates how strong getting it for free is

[craggy cloak]

Is it in contention?

I've never seen Tough rated highly

Increasing your Con with feats/ASI is just generally better overall

[dapper fulcrum]

Strike of the Giants is also the prerequiste for several other fun giant feats

my favorite is Ember of the Fire Giant

+1 to strength, con or wis, fire damage resistance, prof mod/day replace 1 attack with a 15ft explosion of fire that can blind people

[stone hollow]

that could be cool

since im a light cleric

[dapper fulcrum]

its replace an attack though so if youre a caster thats removing your full action

[slender nexus]

Increasing your con takes twice as many ASIs per hp. Admittedly, it's usually a better choice on casters for concentration checks, but it's pretty much universally better to take Tough on martials

[dapper fulcrum]

the Strike of the Giants (Fire) prerequisite might be a waste since it adds extra 1d10 damage prof mod/day on a melee attack

so unless youre going in melee a lot you wont use it oftne

*often

[craggy cloak]

when are martials taking tough

[slender nexus]

If you have a way to get Shillelagh it's not so bad

[craggy cloak]

you need your str/dex, then feats for damage

[slender nexus]

Yep, it's a decent choice at 12/16, depending on your build

[dapper fulcrum]

when Tough is a valid background feat

[slender nexus]

And any time you get it for free

[dapper fulcrum]

it really depends on campaign availability

[craggy cloak]

right people play above 10

ignore me lol

[dapper fulcrum]

ive played 20

multiple times

[slender nexus]

They really shouldn't play martials above 10

But it does happen

[craggy cloak]

youre so brave

I refuse to DM above 10

[dapper fulcrum]

i play in Organized Play though in a specific community that likes wild build stuff so im ann outlier

[slender nexus]

Yeah, even if your players are actively trying to avoid causing issues it's pretty awkward

[craggy cloak]

the specific reasons for me to run 5e are all in lv1-10 raw play

so i just stick to that

[slender nexus]

(To clarify, Shillelagh makes the Giant Strike tree nicer since you can just bop people with your casting stat, it's a bit unfortunate without it since your melee to-hit will be low)

Particularly it's tolerable on Cleric since you've got good bonus action spells, so using an action to thwack isn't as painful as most casters

[dapper fulcrum]

yea Shillelagh is great for melee clerics/tomelocks

or the occasional SAD monk

i should make a SAD monk again

[slender nexus]

The question is, do you go Tortle so you can skip dex too

Be a ninja turtle

[craggy cloak]

any monk can be sad if you just play somber flute music-

[dapper fulcrum]

Tortle hm
good point
then again if i pump WIS and keep a base dex of 14 id have 17 DEX same as a tortle with no limber

thats not limber

[slender nexus]

You also can't scale above 17, though you probably won't be putting an ASI in dex until quite a while later

[obsidian jasper]

My wizard has 7hp

[worthy plank]

perfect

[worthy plank]

I have a somewhat cursed level 4 build that's a wood elf arcana cleric that takes wood elf magic as their feat

shillelagh, booming blade, fire bolt, longstrider, magic missile, and pass without trace slapped onto a cleric

I think that's the most amount of spell lists you can cram onto a single character by level 4 without multiclassing

[dapper fulcrum]

hilarious

swiss army knife caster that isnt a wizard

[worthy plank]

indeed

such is the arcana cleric's lot

to be burdened with Limitless Util

[dapper fulcrum]

speaking of tier 1 builds

a Sorcardin at T1 is funny

[worthy plank]

I find the community's perception of the SCAG funny as 'the place where subclasses go to die' cuz

my two favorite subclasses are from there

Arcana Domain and Bladesinger

two of I think the best subclasses in the game lol

[worthy plank]

sorcadin is just

rude

[dapper fulcrum]

very

[worthy plank]

sorcerer, warlock, and paladin in any combo is just rude tbh

I honestly hate how optimized the combinations just natively are, because they're simultaneously very fun from a roleplay perspective

like lockadin and sorlock both get the fun of their base classes, the oath or the magic bloodline, plus the idea your character is choosing a funky pact

But the builds are just so easily overpowered that people assume the only reason you're doing it is to minmax

[dapper fulcrum]

Hand Crossbow Hexblade Paladin

[worthy plank]

GOD

JAIL

FUCKING JAIL

[dapper fulcrum]

I've seen that, played that, seen worse and played worse

[worthy plank]

The most cheesy I've gone is funnily enough a warlock/bard

[dapper fulcrum]

gunslinger paladin is a fun concept though

[worthy plank]

which is the sleeper pick of the charisma casting combos

Because it is the queen of stealing other classes spells

tomelock lore bard

Fuck you, all the spells are mine

and it also gets to be a really good melee fighter if you take hexblade

oh look, what I did

One combo I wanna try out is actually some sort of race with good natural armor

and do hexblade with fey wanderer ranger

[stone hollow]

Excited to play light cleric so I can be blasting crucified by army of lovers while I chuck a fireball

[worthy plank]

Ah the rave cleric

[cold cloak]

Hexblade Swords Bard my beloved.

With a good 6 levels of Paladin

[obsidian jasper]

[worthy plank]

I mean whaddya expect you're a fuckin wizard lol

[obsidian jasper]

what class can persuade the best?

[tepid crane]

I mean bard I guess if you want classes to play into it

but anyone with a charisma score in the green is good at persuasion

[obsidian jasper]

I want to make a chaotic evil character that just makes everyone fight eachother

basically I don't want to make my hands dirty

[cosmic geyser]

Anyone can do classic persuasion (read as: the persuasion skill, though bards, rogues and, depending on the version you use, rangers can do it better), but if you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you could do necromancy or enchantment wizard

[mellow rivet]

Persuasion is more "Give me a discount" or "I have a good reason to be on your property, we don't have to fight". "Turn on your comrades" or "Give me everything in stock" is definitely Enchantment magic

[tepid crane]

RP

[obsidian jasper]

alr thx

[stone hollow]

Eloquence bard

[obsidian jasper]

This is gonna be funny

[frail hull]

Barbarian, intimidation through strength can do absolutely wonderful

As a face

[tepid crane]

charisma rolls aren't mind control however. You can't "Nuh uh" your way through everything

[pure elm]

If you wanna be good at rolling social checks, play Eloquence Bard

Basically can't fail a check after level 3

[obsidian jasper]

So with enchantment I can convince an enemy that they’re comrades are spies and that they’re evil or something like that right? (Or do stuff like that with spells)

[mellow rivet]

Yeah, that's Enemies Abound

[tepid crane]

yes a lot of enchantment spells make monsters like you

[worthy plank]

Bard is the best given your charisma has to be high an you get Expertise to use on persuasion

[worthy plank]

I think I've figured out what I would play in a Humblewood game

A Hexblade warlock/fey wanderer ranger

[obsidian jasper]

dnd beyond peak

but like seriously huh?

[pure elm]

What are you confused about?

[obsidian jasper]

if 15 is the base score

and I have a plus 3(2 from custom lineage and one from feytouched)

how does it end up with 17?

[pure elm]

Its not counting Fey Touched here

[obsidian jasper]

oh and should I change my stats (wizard of course)

[obsidian jasper]

but it says +3

[pure elm]

Yeah the modifier for 17 is +3

[obsidian jasper]

oh I'm stupi

d

I read it wrong

[pure elm]

Check that you actually have the stat from Fey Touched assigned to Int

[obsidian jasper]

ye so dnd beyond just doesn't recognise it

I swear if I have to rebuild my character

ye

so It doesn't accept the feat

peak design of course

and now it removed it

Why won't it accept it

[arctic yew]

....i have
a rules question

if a character is downed,all attacks against then are crits. they are at 0 hp,so they dont take any additional damage. instead,they lose two death saves from being critted

however,if a creature has something like "when this attack hits,heal by the damage dealt",would they still heal

[modest echo]

I think so yeah

[arctic yew]

ok that kinda buffs my butcher enemies a lot

[slender nexus]

In a pretty flavourful way, no pun intended

[pure elm]

All attacks from within 5 ft are crits notably

Ranged attacks are not

Also yes, because you still take damage while at 0
You just can't be below 0

This is also relevant for massive damage

[timber sleet]

in fact, ranged attacks actually dont get advantage because being prone makes ranged attacks against you be at disadvantage (but being unconcious gives all attacks against you advantage, so it cancels out)

[tepid crane]

so falling asleep while being shot at is good

[slender nexus]

Well. Preferable to stay awake and just lie down. But it's not bad.

[arctic yew]

"hit the deck" is a thing after all

Also sorry for the Necro but I just got my PC back and had the time to

Implement and work on some ideas

And your suggestion

[stone hollow]

making a dragonborn blood wizard

[cosmic geyser]

"Tiamat requires your blood"

[obsidian jasper]

Yall btw

My friend found a great character creator

[modest echo]

oho?

[obsidian jasper]

Don’t have the link rn

But it’s good for humanoid that actually kinda look like humans

So dwarves, elves, tieflings, halfelfs

Maybe orcs idk

And Pinterest really does wonders

I found a bloodborne themed character that almost exactly looks like my character, if my character would’ve seen some dark stuff

[tepid crane]

Like an AI thing?

[dapper fulcrum]

:T

[obsidian jasper]

NO!

same place as the thing you guys sent me

anyway

Question, subclass that trades its hp for damage

[modest echo]

more like a Picrew or something, makes sense

[obsidian jasper]

like minus 2 hp for a damage boost to the next attack stuff like that

[modest echo]

There's a bunch of those in homebrew

they're hard to get right

[obsidian jasper]

what if low hp/regen/sacrifice hp to get more damage

[modest echo]

It's opening up a whole extra resource bar for a character, which is really strong by default

For a sorcerer who's already really good at staying out of range and risky situations, a blood magic subclass is really cool, but might not add any danger

vs a "dark knight" paladin who's in the thick of a fight, it might not be worth the sacrifice

Oh the Blood Hunter homebrew is really popular and has some HP spend effects iirc

i'll defer to people who actually know 5e homebrew now

[pure elm]

The newest Blood Hunter is alright

Bit still kinda meh IMO

[obsidian jasper]

does it have lifesteal?

[pure elm]

Not really I think

Atavist is also a class in that direction

[obsidian jasper]

never heard of that

I think I'll do it myself

and use the the stuff you mentioned as guidance

[cosmic geyser]

I tried making a dark knight fighter subclass years ago. I have to revisit it now that I know that Blood Hunter is a thing.

[cosmic geyser]

Blood Hunter, iirc, does not have life steal. I think it has a mechanic similar to fighter's second wind though.

[pure elm]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NWkyKuXbOwlHFa07DqrXUE1xV2J5u_9-/view

It's a neat class
Still very risky though

[obsidian jasper]

ooh

[obsidian jasper]

I think this is basically what I want

I can't find videos about it

[obsidian jasper]

what does this class not have

they've got a healing subclass

a stealthy one

one that is just "burn the world down"

one that is based on blood

more than the others

[obsidian jasper]

welp this IS my favorite class no

w

wizard ain't my class anymore

[cosmic geyser]

RE Atavist:

You can rend yourself to any damage roll for an attack with a melee weapon as a part of the Attack action, for a spell attack, for a reaction, or for a bonus action.
Is this supposed to be "You can rend on Attacks with a melee weapon, a spell attack, on reactions, or on bonus actions?"

[pure elm]

oh that is a bit clunky in wording
I think it's meant to be you can Rend on melee attacks or spell attacks done with any of those

oh wait now I get it

I forgot it's only on damage rolls by default

so if you roll damage due to a bonus action or reaction, you can Rend to it

so if you cast say, I dunno Hellish Rebuke
I think you could Rend to that

been a while since I actuall read Atavist

[obsidian jasper]

Alaen

do you have an idea where I can find guides and such to the atavist

not even chatGPT can help me with this one

[pure elm]

not sure there are any

you can check for the threads on the Unearthed Arcana reddit I guess

or ask on their associated discord

[obsidian jasper]

wait was it a planned class?

[obsidian jasper]

where can I find that?

[pure elm]

no it's a homebrew reddit

[obsidian jasper]

ah, my dm once told me that ua is wotc game testing stuff like the warforged has subtypes in ua

[pure elm]

yes it is

the reddit is named the same, it's a bit poorly named that way

[obsidian jasper]

alr

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah, I was meaning to ask if it was from r/unearthedarcana

[pure elm]

https://discord.gg/domt

here you go

[pure elm]

it is, yes
on the Curated List even actually

I used to be quite active on the DoMT a couple years back

then I got into Lancer, and didn't have the energy to keep up with two servers

also I was kinda burnt out on 5e

[obsidian jasper]

thx

so can I just ask about the atavist?

[pure elm]

any homebrew recs I make will thus also be a couple years out of date 😛

[obsidian jasper]

there

[pure elm]

if you ask in the appropriate channels, you might get a response

[obsidian jasper]

which one would that be?

[pure elm]

no idea how things are organized now

like I said, I haven't been there for several years

there probably are some open discussion channels
if you post the brew and ask for some help, people might come in to respond

[obsidian jasper]

alr but thx a lot

[pure elm]

if you're really unsure, you can also ask in a general channel about where asking for help with a brew would be appropriate

[obsidian jasper]

Yep got the help I needed

[obsidian jasper]

I'm already creatin my atavist lmao

anyone want to see the picture for the character?

[modest echo]

Sure!

[modest echo]

niiiiiiice

[obsidian jasper]

blood magic fucks a bit with your body I figured sot that's why the pale skin, white hair and weird mark

[obsidian jasper]

what class is closest to the atavist so I can just make it a custom subclass on dnd beyond?

[cosmic geyser]

I wouldn’t use dnd beyond to make a homebrew class unless you absolutely had to. But given that the Atavist was a part of r/unearthedarcana’s curated list, you might be able to find someone who’s already made it on DNDBeyond

[stone hollow]

what might be a good backstory for a pirate moon druid

[cosmic geyser]

Maybe they’re the navigator of a former crew. They found out their captain was up to no good and tried to form a mutiny that failed and led to the Druid being kicked off the ship.

[stone hollow]

well tbh im more concerned with the shapeshifter part than the moon part

[cosmic geyser]

Ooh! Instead of them being a navigator, they could be the former quartermaster.

Wild shape would help them be able to keep an eye on the crew without them noticing. And since you’re a pirate, it would make sense that you know how to use your wild shape for combat purposes

[craggy cloak]

cursed by a sea deity to be a denizen of the sea, so their human form is actually a wildshape instead

[mellow rivet]

learned to wildshape to be with their true love, who was cursed to be a denizen of the sea

[craggy cloak]

"i learned to wildshape so i could date a mermaid" is pretty damn good ngl

[modest echo]

chewing on the Beyond update stuff and i thiiiiink they've covered their bases aside from the convenience tech, but i got some questions about character creation if anyone knows more about the edition change than i do

[obsidian jasper]

ye

what's the question

might be able to help

[modest echo]

races and backgrounds work differently between 5.0 and 5.5, right?

Is there any procedure for using a 5.0 race or background in 5.5?

[obsidian jasper]

since when is 5.5 out?

[cosmic geyser]

Hold on, let me consult rpgbot

[obsidian jasper]

maybe I've never even played 5.0

[pure elm]

Not really, no

Though theoretically you just remove any ASI I think

[modest echo]

i dunno but I know there's a procedure for using 5.0 subclasses in 5.5

not a great procedure but it exists

[pure elm]

And maybe any proficiencies

[obsidian jasper]

so 5.5 is dndONE?

alr

never played 5.5 then sorry

[pure elm]

Officially they just call it tge 2024 PHB

[modest echo]

okay so the big cross-compatibility thing sounds like race/background/class combos that use options from both books

[cosmic geyser]

So officially per rpgbot, it's basically add +2/+1 or three +1's ASI and one Origin Feat

[pure elm]

For backgrounds yeah

[obsidian jasper]

is custom lineage and variant human still a thing and are they still peak?

[cosmic geyser]

Honestly the class porting shouldn't be too bad. It's basically "any feature that would be gained at levels 1/2 are now bumped up to level 3"

[modest echo]

If I read it right they have the 5.0 and 5.5 character builders both available, you can choose which one you want

[cosmic geyser]

Actually, a lot of the porting stuff in general shouldn't be bad from what I've seen.

[modest echo]

The biggest concern for conversions is keyword cascades

[obsidian jasper]

tf did they do to races/species

T-T

[modest echo]

like if a homebrew got perfectly balanced somehow around old Exhaustion, the convenience tech pointing you at new Exhaustion is a disruption

[cosmic geyser]

Oh true. I was thinking only in terms of official content

[modest echo]

...but that's kind of speculative

[modest echo]

like we know it will happen but we don't know what difference will actually be made in okay because of it

and is species totally flavor now, or do they still get darkvision

[cosmic geyser]

I think darkvision is still tied to species

[obsidian jasper]

btw this kinda unrelated but can a paladin go from like vengeance or redemption to oath breaker?

[cosmic geyser]

Yes

If your DM allows it

[obsidian jasper]

time for a villain arc

wait

you get feats

for backgrounds

this isn't fair!

My variant human and custom lineage got dethroned

[modest echo]

vuman had it too good for too long

Basically they shifted the primary mechanical emphasis from species to background

[cosmic geyser]

It's also because newer backgrounds in regular 5e often come with access to feats

[obsidian jasper]

it was my first ever characters race

I have an emotional attachment

[obsidian jasper]

but like still

[modest echo]

(although if darkvision is still on i'm not sure how true that is)

[obsidian jasper]

it was cool that you could either get a jack of all traits

or some guy that could do questionable things at lvl 1

[pure elm]

it's very funny to me that they somehow made Exhaustion Worse lmao

new Exhaustion is so much more brutal than the old one its almost comical

[modest echo]

get rekt

ah there we go, 2014 Berserker as an example of keyword cascade

[pure elm]

tbh, why would you ever use old Zerker when the new one is just so much better

[modest echo]

idk but it's a rhetorical tool

[sand hornet]

Doesn't affect DCs though

So casters are fine

Or at least in a better position

[pure elm]

yeah but neither did the old one

and a flat penalty is worse for Concentration checks

[tepid crane]

had a pretty great Ad&d session yesterday. First time ever playing the OG system and it was fun.

I like being a wizard but ass

[sand hornet]

Fair

[tepid crane]

after my singular spell of "Read the sparkly scroll" and I'm just a peasant with a shiv

reminds me of discworld

[stone hollow]

had a thought

so tempest cleric gets access to martial weapon prof and a ton of stuff thats great for lightning

what if potentially i swapped out one of the level 3 domain spells for lightning arrow and played a lightning archer cleric

[obsidian jasper]

I just realised that the normal blood atavist is probably the most spiteful, petty and vengeful class there is

[ashen hollow]

ok I have to share this one
We're in a boss fight with a Hag - She's flying, and she's just cast a wall of ice on my ranger. He's almost dead, but he's also hasted, blessed, and his sword is poisoned with Wyvern venom.
He sprints across the top of the ice wall, jumps high enough to hit the hag, Crits, deals 60 damage, kills the hag, falls 30 feet, and hits the ground hard enough to go into dying.

I love TTRPGs

Oh also he goes invisible when he kills an enemy with more than half his health in HP.
So he's in the middle of a crater, Goku style, dying, invisible.

Life is good.

[frail hull]

Well, don't you lose invisibility when you came damage to something? So leaving a small Yamcha crater should do the trick 😂

[final phoenix]

Dang it. None of my players took the deal and joined with the Conquering worm. Time to make them a force in thw background

Actually they gave 2 of the 5 worms to homeless people then had them join their spelljammrr crew.

[tepid crane]

Who’s the conquering worm

[final phoenix]

Gog, the all conquering worm, the one that gnaws on the roots of the word

[modest echo]

our pal?

[final phoenix]

Yep. An adaption of them

[modest echo]

yaaaaay

[final phoenix]

Made to fit my spelljammer setting. They met the party in a mimic building (the building also gog) and made an offer, "2 things all you gotta do for me. get this worm into the body of the twilight giant, and eat these worms. Simple as that"

The story I'm thinking is gog is just trying to get things back to how the cycles use to be. A world tree rises up, they eat at the roots of existence, reality comes into being, divinties, races, all that. And as Gog does, they eat it up and then the feast of a Kalpa. But then.... those dang elves made that portal into that other existence and everything has been broke ever since that changed death. Made the system able to refresh itself. No matter how much they gnaw at the roots of things. It's not collapsing

So Gog thought in it's great Gogness, time for more Gog. If everything has some Gog to it. Then, maybe then, the cycle can start again

[obsidian jasper]

why did they make it so everyone gets a feat?

at lvl 1

kinda confused about that

[cosmic geyser]

Partially it’s so that the revamped versions of the classic backgrounds can keep up with the newer backgrounds like Wildspacer and Giant Foundling that hand out feats for free

Another part is that the new backgrounds do not have a built-in feature like the 2014 ones do. Adding onto this is the increased emphasis on background vs race/species with regard to making a character, which is a part of the plan to move D&D away from its problematic past.

[obsidian jasper]

what was problematic?

[mellow rivet]

back when orcs got -2 int it was only a few steps away from arguments for eugenics, and they never made a completely clean break from it

[obsidian jasper]

what are arguments for eugenics?

I'm trying to understand sorry

[tepid crane]

Eugenics is the belief that some genetic factors carried by people are bad

Racism pretending to be more scientific

[cosmic geyser]

The fact that the average orcs are, according to D&D, dumber than the other races

[mellow rivet]

like saying "people from this country are never going to be as smart as the countries who made the empire, may as well go colonise 'em"

[obsidian jasper]

I thought the idea of like different species having different traits was neat as they probably didn't have the same habitats or other things

in their evolution

but the minus 2 to int is kinda weird

[mellow rivet]

you can do that without putting a number on it though

[obsidian jasper]

with different stats, like humans that expand quickly but don't have a long lifespan can learn things faster etc

?

[mellow rivet]

It's important to say that in a functioning society a smart orc has the same chances as a smart elf

[obsidian jasper]

ye

didn't they already have that though?

after the -2 was removed

[mellow rivet]

plus "lifespan" can't really be a balancing factor when there's no advice on how long in-universe a campaign lasts

[obsidian jasper]

fair enough

idk feels like the character of different species is kinda gone (I only played humans, warforged and custom lineage so I don't have much to say

[tepid crane]

It depends on the implied setting

Like reading through the older books with “All orcs are evil” doesn’t really fit in current generic fantasyland

[obsidian jasper]

ironically the people I've met that played orcs or half orcs didn't make them smart

[tepid crane]

Cliches my beloathed

[obsidian jasper]

I mean if it's a subjective (I hope that's the right one) thing of like the view of humans it kinda makes sense

[modest echo]

Humans don't all think the same way either, though

[obsidian jasper]

bc I feel like not everyone has a great relation with everyone

[mellow rivet]

I had a player who made a dashing, well educated orc rogue

[obsidian jasper]

oh so it wasn't like what a certain human kingdom or village thought?

[obsidian jasper]

I'd love to have such a character in my party

[cosmic geyser]

The problem is that, as we are outside forces looking in, it is objectively true as far as D&D is concerned

[obsidian jasper]

oh

[mellow rivet]

it was all for the "orchaeologist" pun but I still loved their character

[obsidian jasper]

ye no that's stupid

[obsidian jasper]

lmao

[tepid crane]

If only people made their fantasy species less anthropomorphic

[obsidian jasper]

idk seems logical that the "intelligent" species share some traits

[tepid crane]

When you make them humans but with fins/horns/blue people compare them in weird ways

[tepid crane]

It’s fantasy. Unless all the sapient species were made by the same god who used a template they shouldn’t be the same.

[obsidian jasper]

or they evolved from the same

what's it called

[tepid crane]

Most fantasy doesn’t use evolution

[obsidian jasper]

?

tf

[tepid crane]

“The god of dwarves made the dwarves”

[obsidian jasper]

I've only been in homebrew campaigns so far

where the gods represented things like the stars or nature

[tepid crane]

But even if there is evolution why is the human form the convergence. Why are tortoises turning into people.

[obsidian jasper]

maybe they were human like first and then went the tortoise way

[tepid crane]

So are normal tortoises and dragon tortoises also sapient? Who wouldn’t want to play a magical tortoise with a pointy purple hat

[obsidian jasper]

I guess

idk

how can I play a character that is perfectly suited for murderhoboing with depth?

if the backstory also has some dark parts?

[modest echo]

You could probably engineer some kind of backstory that would plausibly lead to a "trust no one, strike first" attitude, but, that wouldn't resolve most people's concerns with "murderhoboing" as a behavior

[obsidian jasper]

the idea was bc blood magic and all that the character has like one thing he treasures very much and if something were to happen to that thing or person it will be a murder hobo

but before it's fine

maybe the character got usurped too

[final phoenix]

In a game I run i very specifically made dwarves that evolved themselves and changed themselves for spelljammer/space travel

[tepid crane]

Mine are rock dudes and their enchantment will be unraveled by the sunlight

[obsidian jasper]

so wait

can I no longer get something like feytouched at lvl 1?

[final phoenix]

I do love monster garden's idea and look forward to when he puts out a setting book https://youtu.be/-mvLxx36XTg?si=TNnQpiR7UhGKKRA1

[sand hornet]

I like the Elves of Blackbirds

They're wonderfully weird

They're made of otherworldly metals and starstuff

They are masters of illusion magic as well

[sand hornet]

While I don't have dwarves in my setting. I do have Moonfolk, who are based on a mixture of Dwarves and Archeans from Veins of the Earth

People from the moon who came to Earth after said moon was Shattered and Fragments fell

They're masters of creation, but are very alien in nature

[tepid crane]

Oh I love veins

But yeah I think people should make non-humans more fey, or alien

[sand hornet]

Ye

[frail hull]

I always try to have some sort of evolution play out in my settings, at least as much as it makes sense. The half races always seemed to support most of the original human like species having a fairly recent common ancestor. Sort of like how all the different near homo saipan races on our own world went. The idea that all these various gods making competing races is that then it quickly becomes " Orcs are large and stupid because their god wants them this way, and to change that is heresy to them." sort of issues.

[stone hollow]

how do you guys think it would work out if my gm allowed me to take lightning arrow on tempest cleric at 5th level as a domain spell instead of sleet storm and i played it as an archer build but with lightning

[cosmic geyser]

Wouldn’t hurt to try

Although, you’ve given me a bit of inspiration for changing up the Tempest cleric as part of my project to port the rest of the 5e classes to 5e2024

[slender nexus]

I think there's a bit of awkwardness since you'll need high dex to have decent accuracy but that comes at the cost of your casting ability

But Cleric's a decent class to do that on, since you've got a fair number of utility spells that don't have an attack or save

[obsidian jasper]

If you’ve done the port can we see it?

[obsidian jasper]

Yo guys, all that know the atavist aspects (subclasses) or ones that are curious I need on advice which subclass has the highest damage potential. CW bc some aspects of this class are kinda gory and such (especially the spells)

[pure elm]

Cruorwrought has the highest theoretical ceiling IIRC

cause Weapon of Blood lets you basically double Rend

but also consequently you lose a lot of HP if you go full throttle

Bloodied can do some dumb things with Serrated if you get lucky, but that's not very consistent

[cosmic geyser]

Murderer also looks pretty strong if you have ways of readily giving yourself advantage. It also gets Steel Wind Strike, which is good if you get to that tier of play somehow

[pure elm]

Murderous is very consistent yeah

[obsidian jasper]

I thought if built correctly bloodied or crourwrought have the highest damage, as they get acess to spells and physical damage

btw

this is a damage dealer class more than anything right?

like bloodied, demonic, murderous, crourwrought

divine and anomalous are the two exceptions it seems

[pure elm]

mostly damage oriented, with a bit of being fairly tough on the side

Divine also dabbles into support a bit

[obsidian jasper]

alr then I understood that correctly

[obsidian jasper]

good, firs my playstyle well enough then

the only thing I find sad about the bloodied one is that you basically have to be a masochist

or the flavour text says most of them are masochists

btw in the flavour text at the start it talked about hurting yourselves but the others take the consequence of that

is that the case with any spell I might've missed

[tepid crane]

I wonder where the idea of “stupid barbarian” came from

[stone hollow]

the fact that Conan is the single most mischaracterized character of all time

[modest echo]

Racism

[stone hollow]

also its probably racism a bit yeah

[worthy plank]

Yeah racism

which simultaneously confluenced with Conan being so mischaracterized

[tepid crane]

Yeah I guess the Arnold movie overshadowed the original works but it feels weird that even in the earlier days of dnd people were making dumb barbarians

[craggy cloak]

i think its a weird mix of "outlander not having academics" and how the mental stats work in dnds

[tepid crane]

Right but this started way back before the idea of dump stats

[stone hollow]

there is a conversation to be had about the implications of dnd stats and the personal beliefs of Gary Gygax

[tepid crane]

I think Gygax did read a fair deal of conan although I wouldn’t put it past him to put his view on First Nations into the mix

[stone hollow]

i mean the man called himself a "biological determinist"

[craggy cloak]

very excited to start the teen d&d club at the library, got a lot of nice stuff set up

[modest echo]

ooooh nice

...how are you handling the shift to .24, with that?

[craggy cloak]

i am not haha

running everything out of essentials boxes / my own notes

[worthy plank]

not just on the race/ethnicity front either, guy was a misogynist

And like

weirdly invested in his misogyny, even for the time

[craggy cloak]

we wont be sticking with d&d as is, its just the first game i have approval to run

[modest echo]

Wisdom

[craggy cloak]

ideally we'll do some essential boxes for 5e and then move onto some playbook/pbta games to give them a nice breadth of stuff to try since the goal of the program is to get the local teens to run their own games

as is we'll be running the Stormwreck Isle starter adventure, which i like a lot with some modifications

[tepid crane]

Oh the new 5.5 starter adventure is Keep on the Borderlands

This will be a bloody era

[willow wadi]

I'm curious how similar to the old one it'll be

(Rhetorical question - it won't be)

[sand hornet]

Keep on the Borderlands?

[tepid crane]

As long as they keep the hermit random encounter I will be happy

[willow wadi]

It's one of the oldest D&D modules and I think maybe the oldest one which was intended as a starter module

[tepid crane]

Nothing like a leopard snatching your halfling away

[willow wadi]

It's also like 26 pages long and was written for "six to nine" 1st level characters

[tepid crane]

I do like it though, all the little notes like “these hobgoblins will attempt to ransom captured PCs back if you show similar respect to their downed fighters.”

[willow wadi]

Stuff like that is great

One of a lot of reasons I wish many RPGs had more robust rules for losing and being taken captive and not dying in combat

[tepid crane]

There are also so many little notes about what Gygax expected players to do and like damn his group must of also been assholes

[modest echo]

so many.....

[willow wadi]

I’ve heard some highlights for that but I’m curious now

[tepid crane]

I just hope some of the original spirit gets kept

[willow wadi]

Early D&D was just Like That

[tepid crane]

They weren’t expected to all be there at the same time

[willow wadi]

Big ass parties

[tepid crane]

Adnd was like a westmarch or troupe play

[willow wadi]

I am curious what the norm for table dynamics was

I’ve heard stuff like “party captains” being set up to communicate between the party and the DM

[tepid crane]

The requirements for special classes being so high was because you were expected to have a few characters hanging around in the game world

And by far the coolest thing to me is the fact you could build your own castles, wizard towers, etc and staff them with guards because it was implied other groups might try to raid you

Kind of like a mmo

[craggy cloak]

these notes are invaluble, its one of the first things i try to teach new DMs

ive "revamped" a potentially lethal combat in the starter module by explaining that the ghoul is more interested in a meal than downing everyone, so he just wants to paralyze one party member and grab em and run - giving everyone else more reasonable chances to down him

[dapper fulcrum]

KotB seems interesting
Real harkening back to basics
I want it to supplant Phandelver tbh

Im not a big fan of the Phandelver rewrite (Shattered Obelisk)

*supplant Phandelver as the de facto starting mod for 5e players

[normal crow]

The core idea behind Shattered Obelisk? Cool.
The implementation? Missed the target by a mile.
It's the kind of book I'd tell GMs to read a brief summary of and then build their own version off that.

[dapper fulcrum]

Spoilers to obelisk: ||going full darkest dungeon with a cosmic horror twist is fine, but i loathe how every other enemy in part 2 of the mod is an int save stunner. From the corrupted villagers to the packs of brain dogs to the various different shades of mind flayer mutation||

||If a player can stun an enemy, thats fine, as a dm you can still play game, players incapping your mobs are fine

But being a player with a +0 to int saves being forced to deal with DC 15+ stunner enemies every other combat?

Pain||

[cold cloak]

Obelisk is great in that it contains Last Mines and unfortunately also has a subpar attempt to follow up that veers off in a different direction and doesn't have any of the same ease of play or usability as the first half.

Like if you weren't familiar with Lost Mines, the transition point feels pretty jarring in how the adventure format and flexibility shifts and the guidance basically stops existing.

[dapper fulcrum]

Yeah its no longer the 5e starter adventure and became its own eldritch thing

I am a big fan of gonzo dnd weirdness to be honest.but

Those monsters just arent fun to fight against 😭

[cold cloak]

It would have been better if they did a new module that was built to do the idyllic medieval to eldritch horror switch

Imo

[obsidian jasper]

so uh I'm currently fucking around with changing certain features later on bc tied to character development from going to you having to have taken damage and stuff to more murder and stuff like that (bloodied)

would that be too strong?

[frail hull]

So another group I am in was talking about statist bonuses/minuses at character creation and trying to still keep some of the old school feeling while dumping most of the more problematic issues. So far the solution floating around is this. Your characters heritage determines your maximum physical stats ( example an orc would be allowed up to 22 strength, while a dwarf could go as high as 22 con) while class would determine max mental stats ( wizard at 22 int , while a warrior might be limited to 18) to represent years of training in certain areas at the cost of others. Then do what 5.25 is doing and give the initial boosts to the backgrounds. Any thoughts about how it could be improved?

[cosmic geyser]

One "issue" that sticks out to me immediately is that, at least from how I'm seeing it, it would just be a pure buff to clerics and druids. Reason being that I don't see a single class having a cap on wisdom below 20, but I can see Cleric, Druid, Monk, and Ranger having a cap at 22. It's fine for the latter two (although monk would have an interesting issue of "what stats monk cap out at 22/20/18"), but druid and cleric are already two of the strongest classes in the game.

Another thing to be mindful of is the barbarian (and if you're using 5e2024 rules, the new monk) capstone and how it would interact with this new system.

[tepid crane]

I think letting class determine max mental stats is putting the cart before the horse

[frail hull]

Good point on capstone, would probably stay the same honestly. It would just be less of a bonus at 20th level, which won't matter the majority of the time.

[tepid crane]

aDnD placed a cap on what level of wizard/cleric/druid you could get to based on your int

Same with the fighter and your strength score

[frail hull]

Huh, the ad&d we found didn't have that. Interesting.

The reason class was were mental stats went is to avoid the issues of certain races being considered dumb etc. We could switch it to a bonus when you select a class you get the plus 2 in the relivemt Stat.

[tepid crane]

I don’t follow, you could avoid making some humanoids stupider mechanically by letting them all follow the same projection of level cap to int

If everyone with a 17 intelligent can reach the same level of wizard then problem solved?

[frail hull]

We were trying to avoid the stereotype or certain races being metaly weaker than others.

Which is what happens when you tie intelligence bonus to race.

Or wisdom or charisma

[tepid crane]

Right I think my suggestion fixes that? You said only background would affect starting stats.

[frail hull]

Yes, backgrounds are were the bonus to stats come in. The class would determine the max.

Using stats to determine max level doesn't sit right, if someone has some bad rolls they get locked out until they hit the next Stat improvement? Then they have to multiclass when they didn't want to until then seems, not great to do to a player.

[tepid crane]

It is the old school way which you said you were trying to keep

[frail hull]

The old school was basing starting bonus on race only.

And I'll be honest, I wanted to base starting bonus strictly on class and background only. But compromise is what it is.

However, thanks for the feedback, I'll bring these points to up them and see if it changes some minds.

[cosmic geyser]

Rate my Tempest Cleric additional spell changes please? Fun fact: there are not a lot of 5th level spells that really fit the vibe of tempest cleric.

Main thing is: I'm not sure if I should do both Call Lightning and Lightning Bolt at the same time

[dapper fulcrum]

how about thunder step instead of lightning bolt? so you have a thunder and lightning option at 5th level instead of two damage spells competing with each other/making this subclass too DPR heavy

plus Thunderstep is just a damage-dealing dimension door with a slightly more limited range

a teleport option is always nice

[cosmic geyser]

That could work… thunder step is pretty underutilized too

[dapper fulcrum]

dramatic entrance/exit spell

[cosmic geyser]

Thunder step it is!

[next canopy]

one day 'ill try to make chaos Gods paladin

[obsidian jasper]

Yall I made a funky little spell, it has a range of 15 feet but does some serious force damage, what level would fit that spell? (If it’s upcasted to lvl 9 it’s a fuck everything in that general direction because it has 300 feet and it ignores walls n all)

[willow wadi]

Hard to say without seeing the spell

[obsidian jasper]

It deals like idk 5d6 force damage or something like that initially

[cosmic geyser]

Does it increase in damage as well?

[obsidian jasper]

Most likely

[dapper fulcrum]

is it multitarget?
what saving throw? is it an attack roll?
when you mean by ignores walls, does it ignore cover if its an attack roll, etc

[obsidian jasper]

Its general direction

Either dex or just an attack roll

[frail hull]

So it increases in range and damage if upcast? Well 5d6 would put it in 3ed level territory. But its force with built in cover negation....I would say no lower than 4th lvl, probably looking at 5th.

Unless it's single target only, then 4th sounds good

[obsidian jasper]

The cover negation is only at higher levels

[frail hull]

Still going g to stick to 4th

[obsidian jasper]

Alr thx

[cosmic geyser]

I'd increase the base range from 15 feet to 30 feet and make the ignoring cover aspect part of the base spell. As I am under the assumption that the spell is a 4th-level spell, 15 feet without the ignoring cover rider is pointless.

Also when you say "in a general direction," what shape does the spell affect? I assume that it would be more of a save-based spell since you want it to be in a general direction as opposed to a specific target.

[obsidian jasper]

like crescent moon shape

but the tips are pointing towards the caster

I don't know what that shape is called

[cosmic geyser]

A crescent?

[obsidian jasper]

idk

arc maybe

[cosmic geyser]

Arc works

[cosmic geyser]

So... does it only hit one target?

[obsidian jasper]

hits stuff infront of it

[dapper fulcrum]

Thats a cone

[obsidian jasper]

again I'm sorry

if I used the wrong wprd

word*

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah, that's a cone

[dapper fulcrum]

30ft cone of dex save 5d6 force that ignores cover is at least 4th level

[cosmic geyser]

I thought you were going for something like Diana's Q

[obsidian jasper]

no

[obsidian jasper]

at early levels it's smaller so if two enemies don't stand next to each other only one gets hit

it would also not ignore cover

[cosmic geyser]

Okay, I think I'm getting ahead of myself here. What level do you imagine this spell being?

[obsidian jasper]

like 3 maybe?

[cosmic geyser]

I figured. The issue with that is that this spell, as is, is going to be competing with Pulse Wave.

[obsidian jasper]

what this spell does is cut

really precisely and really sharp

[cosmic geyser]

Okay, so the fantasy of the spell is basically a sword beam. Mechanically, why would I ever pick this spell as it is over Pulse Wave. Yes Pulse Wave doesn’t cut and is generally gated behind dunamancy , but Pulse Wave still hits in a 30-foot cone for 6d6 force damage and either pushes or pulls enemies 15 feet.

Giving it the ability to ignore cover at least gives it more of an identity. Or I guess if it’s a sword beam, it would be more appropriate to say that it deals auto-fail max damage to objects in its path

[obsidian jasper]

good idea

I mean I can also up the damage

[cosmic geyser]

I mean 5d6 is on par with a fair bit of spells at 3rd/4th level, if a little bit under par. It’s also dealing force damage, which is one of the least resisted damage types in the game.

[frail hull]

Cause alot of tables don't allow the critical role home brews? Granted this is also a home brew so probably not the biggest hurdle.

[cosmic geyser]

It’s not a homebrew… I get what you’re saying though.

[frail hull]

As far as the spell, you could change the damage to sonic and have a great homage to a great modern Kung fu flick

[obsidian jasper]

it's based on sukunas cleave

https://tenor.com/view/sukuna-vs-maho-sukuna-slice-sukuna-slash-sukuna-cleave-sukuna-attack-gif-3564216804798056365

based on this kinda

less extreme though

[frail hull]

Was thinking these guys https://youtu.be/r8MbVjzgonA?si=327XzHNgOIBhC9pz

[cosmic geyser]

Looking at the jjk clip, thunder would actually be appropriate

[obsidian jasper]

let me get something more fitting

this isn't the best example

https://tenor.com/view/jjk-jujutsu-kaisen-jjk-fight-jujutsu-kaisen-fight-sukuna-gif-9526078671029098228

like this but less cuts

it just doesn't really cause cracks

smoother cuts

[cosmic geyser]

So it’s slashing damage?

[obsidian jasper]

so why I chose force is because

it's magical

and

it like cuts basically everything later on

[cosmic geyser]

I mean force works in that case. It wouldn’t be the first time a slashing-based spell does force damage instead of slashing damage (see: Steel Wind Strike)

[obsidian jasper]

alr

[stone hollow]

Working on some backstory for a character, what could be some ideas for a lizardfolk tribe or something that worships Helm?

[muted yacht]

hmmm
maybe they lived in a dangerous/high magic area, and survival became dependent on constant vigilance against the threat of monsters; even while hunting, you must remain aware of the world around you or your catch will be stolen (and you will be attacked) by something else

helm seems like a deity concerned with safety, which everyone likes to have

[stone hollow]

the idea me and my DM are working with is that this is right after Helm is revived and we've got a few ideas going. A big one is that we're thinking of leaning into rivalry he has with Lathander for basically causing the death of his beloved. To this helmite order, Lathander's light extends to the day and no further. Helm is the light of torches, the walls they build, the sentinels that keep watch atop them. Helm is the light and the flame that keeps them safe in the darkest nights

[arctic yew]

...ok,legitmate question

what is open hand monk supposed to be
like,what is the design philosophy
they have an attack feature,one healing feature,a instakill and one feature that i dont think works

[modest echo]

Monk-iest Monk

kung fu tropes that aren't "being a ninja" or "the Avatar"

[arctic yew]

well,then why does it not sinergize with the standard monk features more

[modest echo]

Unclear

[dapper fulcrum]

Id disagree, its base ability customized your unarmed strikes to a really versatile degree

And its kit reminds me of the base monk features in 3e

[normal crow]

^which, for better or worse, is likely what they were going for

[pure elm]

Open Hand is mostly legacy Monk stuff

That's why it's a grab bag

[craggy cloak]

Open Hand Monk is the generalist monk of the base class options, yeah

[cosmic geyser]

So for my 5e2024 porting project, I've tallied up a list of the subclasses for the OG classes that haven't been ported over yet. I wanted to get you guys opinions on which classes were fine as is, which ones needed a little bit of fixes, and which ones needed a lot of fixes.

[cosmic geyser]

Per the giant table, I already have some stuff written up for tempest cleric (See replied comment). As for sun soul monk, the stuff I have drafted up has the subclass treating its radiant damage as if it were sunlight like the recent change to the daylight spell (tl;dr: daylight now produces sunlight).

Feel free to ping me when you have the time. Also good god the text is tiny on computer...

[sand hornet]

This is more idle thinking than anything else, but in a Norse inspired setting with a giant Serpent, do you think Yuan Ti could be associated wjth said Serpent?

As opposed to weird (and somewhat racist) Asian stuff

[modest echo]

hmmmmm
Midgard/world serpent could give snake people the idea that they're the right inheritors of the plane, orrrr maybe just encourages them to be seafarers if their patron deity exists beyond the ocean?

[tepid crane]

Sounds pretty cool

[stone hollow]

my black dragonborn Blood Magic Wizard

[modest echo]

WOOOOOOO

[normal crow]

Absolutely.

[obsidian jasper]

Then why not just Jormungandr?

[obsidian jasper]

Blood Magic!!!

What subclass are you using?

[stone hollow]

Blood magic from tal dorei

[obsidian jasper]

this is really cool

y'all, for a oneshot I kinda want a character build

that looks fine if you don't take a closer look

but then it does something like have a super high ac

or

you can't get close to the character

stuff like that

[fossil raven]

Warforged Forge Cleric

lvl 6

with the Fighting Initiate feat and the Defense fighting style

in plate armour with a shield

[obsidian jasper]

Thx

[obsidian jasper]

Yall is a child character fine in your opinion, or is it hard to balance or things like that?

[modest echo]

Balance would not be my concern

Tone would be my concern

and more specifically for combat games, "are we okay with regular child endangerment"

[obsidian jasper]

Oh

My idea was

Do you know Yuta from jjk?

[modest echo]

Nope

[obsidian jasper]

Basically

His gf died

And now she protects him

As some fucked up entity

I hope this doesn’t spoiler anything

It doesn’t

Anyway

He doesn’t fight at the start

The thing does it for him

So basically the child isn’t actively fighting

[modest echo]

hmmmm
Are they on the battlemap at all

Because if so they're within fireball range

[dapper fulcrum]

thats a question for your DM methinks

[obsidian jasper]

Ye but most likely just running and hiding

[obsidian jasper]

I’m asking here because like in general

[modest echo]

yeah if they're represented on the combat map at all there's that regular child endangerment thing

[fossil raven]

You could discuss with your DM that they have a permanent Sanctuary spell on them functionally

[obsidian jasper]

What’s that do?

[dapper fulcrum]

its a spell

from the cleric spell list

[fossil raven]

And the Rogue's Evasion feature but for all saving throws

[dapper fulcrum]

or just have it that narratively Nothing Happens To the Child and any injuries and death only occurs to their summon

like that one girl from guilty gear strive with the robot bed

fighting game logic

[obsidian jasper]

Ye that makes sense

But what do I do when the thing dies?

[fossil raven]

The person they're protecting?

[obsidian jasper]

Ye

No

Mb

The thing protecting

[dapper fulcrum]

you have other party members to back you up and protect you (narratively stopping you from dying) until you get your summon back

[fossil raven]

Could be a god protecting

[obsidian jasper]

But if it like dies it’s only temporary?

[obsidian jasper]

My ideas were

[fossil raven]

Or a personal guardian angel type thing

[obsidian jasper]

Either a loved one

Or

Some godlike being

Character has a dark theme

[fossil raven]

Wait wait, is the character the child?

I thought the child was some kind of companion

[obsidian jasper]

No

The characters the child

And the thing protecting it

Is either some really powerful being or a loved one

[fossil raven]

Hmm, at that point my main questions would be:
How old?
What race?
What class/subclass?

[obsidian jasper]

Custom lineage bc I like dealing good damage

Age range between like 12-16

[fossil raven]

Because considering the generally medieval setting of DnD, a teenager (or race-dependent social equivalent) is reasonable

[fossil raven]

Don't mean stats-wise, I mean roleplay-wise

[obsidian jasper]

Class most likely a warlock multiclass

[obsidian jasper]

Human or half elf

[fossil raven]

Ahhh see Warlock has an easy fix

The Patron has a more active role in protecting the child

[obsidian jasper]

Ye

[fossil raven]

Until they come of age

[obsidian jasper]

That was my idea

[obsidian jasper]

That wasn’t part of my idea

[fossil raven]

Could be a simple passive constant effect, a passive effect that happens when the character is at/below half health, or a reaction the player has to make

To be discussed with the DM

Some DMs might be fine with a minor degree of teenager endangerment

[obsidian jasper]

I just now the patron will protect the child

[fossil raven]

Because of orphaning, or the general horrors of medieval-esque life

What Patron, what pact?

[obsidian jasper]

Not a direct pact

Either just kinda happened

[fossil raven]

Because Pact of the Talisman has a RAW tool to help, and Pact of the Chain has a simple edit

[obsidian jasper]

Or

The child accidentally cursed someone they loved

And when that person dies

D

[fossil raven]

No, there I mean stats-wise

[obsidian jasper]

Ah

Probably like hexblade

[fossil raven]

Pact of the Blade I would assume?

Are... Are you going Hexadin?

[obsidian jasper]

Most likely

I don’t care for armor

But vengeance would fit thematically

Although my current character is already a hexadin lol

[fossil raven]

Broaden your horizons then!

[obsidian jasper]

I played a ton of wizards

[fossil raven]

I know it's a good combo, I do

[obsidian jasper]

An undead warlock

A normal paladin

[fossil raven]

But don't have the same characters or character archetypes

[obsidian jasper]

I don’t like martials without spells

[fossil raven]

A child character makes sense for a Sorcerer more than basically anything else

Because sorcerers' powers are innate, stemming from their bloodline

[obsidian jasper]

Ik but I really want the aspect of something keeping the child safe

[fossil raven]

Meaning that an adult sorcerer has always had latent or lvl 1 powers

[fossil raven]

The ancestor could be the reason

They're still alive in some capacity, or they're especially powerful even from the afterlife

Divine Souls can have their celestial/fiendish ancestor's direct aid, or one of their servants' immediate attention

Draconics? Dragons are functionally immortal and they're suuuper powerful, or you can have the relevant god (Bahamut or Tiamat) be intervening

[obsidian jasper]

My ideas for something that isn’t the loved one are uhh

Let me get pictures

So uh cw

There’s blood on the thing

[fossil raven]

Deeefinitely Divine Soul

Even angels are fucky sometimes

[obsidian jasper]

Oh

[fossil raven]

If not that, perhaps Aberrant Mind?

[cosmic geyser]

See: the Thrones

[obsidian jasper]

It looks like an angel

[obsidian jasper]

Ik that one

[fossil raven]

BE NOT AFRAID

[obsidian jasper]

Or another thing

[fossil raven]

/ref

[obsidian jasper]

https://tenor.com/view/rika-vol0-jujutsu-kaisen-vol0-yuuta-okkotsu-jujutsu-kaisen-gif-23680659

Something like this

[fossil raven]

Aberrant Mind even more lol

[obsidian jasper]

https://tenor.com/view/jujutsu-kaisen-shibuya-arc-mahoraga-shibuya-arc-gif-14345339483327262720

Or this

[fossil raven]

Those look like servants of a being from the Far Realm, or denizens of the Astral Plane

[cosmic geyser]

Jujutsu Kaisen does lend itself to Abberant Mind sorcerer yeah

[fossil raven]

This is where Warlock and Sorcerer do have a funny little overlap too

[obsidian jasper]

Really?

[cosmic geyser]

A bit. It’s also a lot of Monk stuff too (see: Maki Zenin)

Funnily enough, Panda would be a barbarian

[obsidian jasper]

Ye I don’t like monks

[craggy cloak]

lots of jujutsu sorcs are secretly hexblade warlocks its true

[fossil raven]

You could have 6 levels of Aberrant Mind, as your character's innate powers develop
Then perhaps make a deal with the being (I'd suggest Great Old One?) for a more direct or immediate source of power and/or protection

Unless you're really vibing with being straight sorc

[obsidian jasper]

I had a great old one warlock (he was not nice)

[fossil raven]

Remember, both classes use Charisma as their spellcasting modifier

[obsidian jasper]

Basically what happens if you chain Cthulhu into a garden gnome

[obsidian jasper]

Yippee

Is aberrant mind a good dps?

[fossil raven]

It has some utility, but the spells you get access to are a very solid mix of damage and utility

[cosmic geyser]

Hit 'em with the bard specialty of Dissonant Whispers

[obsidian jasper]

My current character is a dps god

I don’t like not dealing big damage

[fossil raven]

The reason I say 6 levels of it is twofold:
5 levels of Sorc gets you re-rolls for a Sorcery point
6 levels of Aberrant Mind gets you two really useful features

Have a read:
https://5e.tools/classes.html#sorcerer_phb,state:ishideoutline=b1~sub-aberrant-mind-tce=b1

[obsidian jasper]

Alr thx

[fossil raven]

That's the site I use for immediately looking up info

It's formatted a tad weirdly?

But overall is incredibly useful

[cosmic geyser]

Also don't use it on mobile.

I did that once. Never again

[obsidian jasper]

Ye

But it’s fine

Going through my notes is worse

[fossil raven]

GOOlock (Warlock of the Great Old One) is muuuch more utility-based

[obsidian jasper]

I made one that was literally a chaotic evil garden gnome

[fossil raven]

You mentioned

[obsidian jasper]

Alr so I’ll look into aberrant mind

Btw how could I give it a darker theme

I also had this as inspiration

https://tenor.com/view/ender-lilies-gif-5841337308465525767

[fossil raven]

Just look up HP Lovecraft stories

[obsidian jasper]

Read some

[fossil raven]

That's the general vibe of anything at all psychic in DnD

Especially aberration-types

[cosmic geyser]

Maybe constantly casting magic or using metamagic causes eventual mutations. Please consult your DM if your Metamagic causes sudden mutations to your sorcerer

[obsidian jasper]

I read Dagon which I enjoyed very much

[fossil raven]

Too many tentacles, horrors the mortal mind is not designed to comprehend

[obsidian jasper]

Oh hell naw

That sounds like wild magic

[fossil raven]

Chanting backwards Latin

[fossil raven]

Look at the Aberrant Mind's 14th level feature

[obsidian jasper]

I did that irl and it really sounds cursed

[cosmic geyser]

No... Wild Magic would be "I casted a spell, but now my hair is falling out."

[fossil raven]

It's basically "you get a cool, useful mutation for being aberration-adjacent"

[obsidian jasper]

Seems like a stronger feature of the undead

Wait

I just had an idea

What if my current character who’s a murder hobo and a “monster”

Turns into a spirit to protect the kid

[fossil raven]

Wild Magic is "I cast a spell and exploded/coughed up butterflies/started walking upside-down/farted really loudly"
Aberrant Mind is "I cast a spell and can now hover around like a Mind Flayer, but I'm slimy like one too"

[cosmic geyser]

I really should try and play a wild magic sorcerer at some point

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

I don’t like their randomness

[fossil raven]

Far too random, and not dwarf-y, enough for my liking

[obsidian jasper]

I’ve only played warforged, humans and half elf’s so far (excluding one shot characters)

[cosmic geyser]

I also have not played a dwarf. I'm so tempted to make Senshi if I do play a dwarf

[obsidian jasper]

Oooh

I kinda want to make thistle

[fossil raven]

My top 5 characters:
Levistus Tiefling Hexblade Warlock of the Blade
Hill Dwarf Forge Cleric of Moradin
Mountain Dwarf Battle Master
Warforged Armour Artificer (be the armour)
Hill Dwarf Samurai (Fighting Spirit caused by a swig of beer)

It's 60% dwarves by content

[obsidian jasper]

I won’t talk about mine

They’re far too fucked up or some of them at least

[fossil raven]

The next 5 are also 40% dwarf-y

[obsidian jasper]

But it’s mostly humans

[fossil raven]

One is a Rock Gnome who lives with dwarves, the other is another actual dwarf

[cosmic geyser]

SMH My Head no Kenkus

[obsidian jasper]

So

What themes does this give

[obsidian jasper]

^^

[fossil raven]

Aberrant Mind still

Maaaybe a Warlock of the Undead or Undying

(Two surprisingly different patronages)

[obsidian jasper]

Undying is ass

[fossil raven]

Agreed

[cosmic geyser]

I feel like Undying should really be renamed to Immortal or something like that... It's always been kind of just there, and I feel like especially now with the Undead warlock it doesn't really have much of a place at the table

[obsidian jasper]

Undying sounds way cooler though

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah, but there's already a problem when it can be confused with Undead

And Immortal leans into the fact that it's a support class that adds rider effects to... checks notes Spare the Dying?

[obsidian jasper]

But ye

Idk I kinda don’t feel it with aberrant as it is also based on utility and being slimy is kinda not my thing

[fossil raven]

Just play Grave Cleric smh

Sliminess doesn't come til lvl 14

So there's that

[obsidian jasper]

But the whole protector thing isn’t there either

[fossil raven]

If you wanna be Big Damage, Fiend is the best Warlock pact - get an Imp with Pact of the Chain for maximum Flavour

[fossil raven]

That can be flavoured in and added mechanically by the GM

[cosmic geyser]

Okay I checked. Undying Warlock is literally "I'm doing my best not to die" whereas Undead is more "I'm already dead, so fuck it we ballin'."

[obsidian jasper]

I had the idea that the damage was already made by the thing protecting