dnd-discussion

[pearl hedge]

they don't

[tawny ether]

there's a fairly easy way to do so

either off-screen teaching from people who's the subclass that you wanna be

now, for warlocks...it be slightly difficult-

[knotty pasture]

No I mean like how do you minmax with 4 multiclasses, I know you can easily do 3

[tawny ether]

oh, which ruleset we doing?

[eager marsh]

The magic item lets you cheat casting limits the way Cartomancer does but worse

[pearl hedge]

just get into a devil contract easy

[tawny ether]

if we doing 2024...i have no clue; if we doing 2014, its really easy

[lavish flame]

you geniunely don't

[tawny ether]

ah yes, because the word 'imbue' isnt defined anywhere

if its what its meant to do, its metamagic adept but worse

if its raw, its...a ruby weave gem/spell gem in a feat

[lavish flame]

having 4 classes to balance for ur character is like. You've drawn and quartered your character's progression

[eager marsh]

No. Because the feat says a spell on your class list you have a spell slot for. A lv1 dip wizard lv19 cleric can use the feat to cast Wish

The word ‘imbue’ has no effect here

[tawny ether]

im, not tryna go into an arguement for what the RAW or RAI or RAF is for that cartomancer feat

[past blaze]

literally speaking, too

[tawny ether]

all i know is its one or the other

[knotty pasture]

I'm assuming 2014, I've no clue about how 2024 works

Don't plan to get into it until it receives more updates

[tawny ether]

anyways, 4 classes...we got monk druid wizard fighter

[knotty pasture]

How does Wizard work here

[round monolith]

Okay so I have a big session planned out for my players next week

Going to be storming a castle that was taken over by a cult

Originally I had intended for them to burst through the front door (silly me)

They managed to convince two dragons they befriended to fly them there

Now I love the idea, but I'd hate to make it too easy for them

So I plan to have them dodge ballista

But honestly that's where I'm stuck. Any ideas on further dangers I could throw at them?

[tawny ether]

bladesinger go br

bc ofc it is

[knotty pasture]

Would MAD be an issue

[tawny ether]

dex int wis

[knotty pasture]

No con?

[tawny ether]

mainly dex and int honestly

con is always a given for any class so i stopped counting it

[knotty pasture]

Yeah dex con int wis sounds v MAD

[covert cape]

drop in on one of the towers of the castle and guards on the way from the tower to where ever they're tryna get

[still plover]

Fair.

[covert cape]

add some ppl patrolling the roofs just in case, or some other sort of anti air roof design

[tawny ether]

you mainly need int for wizard stuff, dex for...well, armor, and wis for multiclass into monk and druid

dump str and cha as far as possible

now tbf, idk if yall include illrigger within the class-set but hey

[round monolith]

This helps thank you

I hate to go the railroad route. But I do plan on the dragons becoming injured.

I just don't think it would be a good encounter, if party has two adult dragons backing them up.

Unless I completely overhaul the big bad

[past blaze]

Cult ritual that has a giant flock of cursed birds of darkness swarming the skies. Makes it hard to see what's around and maybe even drags them to the ground.
In my immediate 'ideal' idea, it's "the dragons help, but there's resistance that has the dragons not trouncing the whole thing".

[round monolith]

Looks like you've already solved my problem as I posted

Ty

[past blaze]

give them a little moment of "haha! Dragon attack!" Before the cult immediately throws a metric thaumload of magic out to repel them and not get completely dumpstered by two dragons

[tawny ether]

metric thaumload of magic

[past blaze]

And from then on, keep the dragons as a net positive powerplay for the players, but after having tempered it so it doesn't completely invalidate the challenges in front of them

[tawny ether]

idk the lvl of play, but um, cough cough wall of force cough cough, and if you dont wanna use that, i suggest using the weather at some point

[opaque snow]

Afaik, Life Domain Clerics are the most healiest of healers. Who are the second most potent healers, if that’s true?

[past blaze]

For example if it is a big castle above ground, occasionally a dragon can stop by a window, do a breath weapon in there in a line through the window, give them a round to try and push/pull cultists into the line of 'fire'

[round monolith]

The big bad is a druid so this works

Party is lvl 11

[tawny ether]

uhhhhh, hilariously its either a fully stars druid or a fully sheperds druid

[past blaze]

If it's a night assault, also make use of that. Perhaps the cult has Devil's Sight as a secret from their head cultist's discoveries

[tawny ether]

then i think for a tank healer, twilight cleric

thennnnnnnn

[past blaze]

After all, dragons don't have all the darkvision, they would only have, what, 120ft? 300ft?

[pliant sapphire]

Twilight protect more than heal (?)

[round monolith]

What if i....allow the cults ritual to "finish" and throw a balor at em? 🤭

[knotty pasture]

There's many ways to build Twilight Cleric but tanky healer is not one of them

You'd rather go Life Cleric instead and stack AC if you wanna be tanky

[tawny ether]

not what i mean by tank, i specifically mean hp tank

not AC tank, nor Saving throw tank

my bad for not being specific

for a bit more specifics, a party hp tank

[opaque snow]

Thanks for the advice guys

[past blaze]

a bit of initial assault before most of their time is occupied fighting off a Balor is a great piece of background!

I wish I was this good at making plots and stuff from scratch

[knotty pasture]

Oh right I get you

[round monolith]

I'm winging it.

This was supposed to be netherdeep campaign.

But my players are more experienced than I am 😅

[past blaze]

I'm great at adding on to stuff it seems, but I am awful at figuring out where I want to start, what kind of plotlines I want, unless I'm given some kind of template

[round monolith]

As a first time DM doing his first campaign.

I would simply suggest finding a module and using that as the base.

Then just add what you want to make it meatier

[rough basalt]

Weather is always going on in my games, it makes things fun

[round monolith]

I would also suggest not being like me and giving your players too many gifts

[past blaze]

I've done a campaign, and have my players at level 14 currently in my second
I've just clung to whatever I could spin from whatever I had at the moment

[round monolith]

🤣

[high mesa]

ah yes the mistake of giving boots of flying to your low level party

[tawny ether]

as someone who's played in a decent amount of games, weather unfortunately is never used

[rough basalt]

The level 3 player whose flying when he gets Hold Person casted on him

[round monolith]

Or they even bigger mistake of letting them play races that can fly

[past blaze]

I'm too autistic for my own good, I can't figure out what normal weather is
The heatwave where I live has got my brain cooking in my skull like it's a pizza oven

[tawdry sentinel]

They get close and the cult mind controls one or both of the dragons.

[tawny ether]

s/o variant tiefling

[rough basalt]

It rains a lot in my Monday game

[past blaze]

a warlock in my game got that cloak with flight hours, hasn't broken anything. Flight is fine

[rough basalt]

It'll probably be snowing a lot soon

As they're in late October

[tawny ether]

just make sure you give no one tremorsense

i learnt that the worst way possible 😭

[high mesa]

i mean it depends, you can surely balance it, but if you have permanent fly speed an eldritch sniper or something in an open field then that's pretty rough

[rough basalt]

Gave a level 3 cleric a nightmare which can fly

[high mesa]

but i suppose if most encounters take place indoors it's probably alright

[rough basalt]

But it isn't much of a boon cause he made a troll PC that has a spell save DC of 11 and a +3 to hit on spells

[round monolith]

When my druid discovered earth elementals 🤣

[past blaze]

flightmare

[tawny ether]

[round monolith]

Best elemental hands down unless you want to fly

[rough basalt]

Also they gotta find out a way to have the city also known as the Holy See allow a nightmare into it

[tawny ether]

ai, let me do the thing where i try to get people rq

[past blaze]

everyone thinks of that until they consider that's one fewer target for melee damage to be spread around

[high mesa]

i mean sure it could result in most of the party dying

that one flying warlock will still live on though

[round monolith]

But the whole burrowing with tremorsense is so damn op.

Precast high level call lightning

And you can be like me and have your DM ban shape so fast 😫

Or heat metal

[tawny ether]

i cast pvp minecraft strat

[past blaze]

indeed, but that one. That's the important part. It's a tool, that can be misused. It's a DM's job to make sure that misuse of flight isn't always free.

[past blaze]

also knocking them out of the sky is often a great thing.
It also completely clowns on them with an auto death save fail due to fall damage if they get downed midair

[still plover]

Didn't know you could get wildshape into elemental forms.

[high mesa]

it can be balanced around, i think the issue is that it can hamstring some encounter design since you have to balance everything around that character having flight

[round monolith]

Moon druid exclusive but it costs both shape charges

[high mesa]

how many spells can hit someone 100 ft in the air?

[tawny ether]

s/o moon druids..

[past blaze]

any with 100ft range or more

[still plover]

Ahh, missed that part.

[tawny ether]

moon druids being one of the best monoclasses in the entire game

[past blaze]

Also, at certain angles, something like, say... a flying warlock's repelling blast, might be angled so steep they only get 5ft of push horizontal, or even nothing.

[round monolith]

Yeah they are incredibly powerful early game.

But kind of fall off late game

[tawny ether]

correct...until they hit lvl 20

[lavish flame]

a lot of them, basically every damaging spell

[round monolith]

God mode

[high mesa]

kind of interesting to think if you had repelling blast and did it directly overhead, i feel like it would knock the enemy prone

[tawny ether]

its why i did a errata for druids for them to not fall off until lvl 20

[high mesa]

not raw but seems like that's kind of how it should be if it's pushing them 5 ft directly downward

[past blaze]

That was, until 2024 said no infinite wild shape, just 4 charges.
Also, gave them more than just 2 wild shapes by the time they hit 6, and a 4th at level 10

[tawny ether]

...ew, that dont sound right

[round monolith]

I'll never forget my first time

Brown bear form, multi attack at lvl 3 🤣

[past blaze]

they do get more than just 2
but they don't get infinite

[still plover]

Forms, not charges.

[high mesa]

yeah druids are a menace in the early game

[tawny ether]

all i did was for the errata, was to equal the wildshapes the same way barbarians get rages

[past blaze]

wait a sec...

[past blaze]

Number of Uses. You can use Wild Shape twice. You regain one expended use when you finish a Short Rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

You gain additional uses when you reach certain Druid levels, as shown in the Wild Shape column of the Druid Features table.

[round monolith]

Yeah I got real humbled when the fighter started out classing me everywhere

But I did what druids do and became the healer 😅

[tawny ether]

healing word go br

[high mesa]

yeah at least you can pivot into cc and healing

[tawny ether]

but yeah the errata made then better but not broken

let me do the server owner thing though, carry on with the druid stuff

[round monolith]

Heat metal + badger burrow aint bad though

Unless you have a cruel DM

[still plover]

Sorry, I'm distracted. Thought you were talking about the other thing.

[past blaze]

I'm in a heatwave, I thought my brain was just cooked

[round monolith]

Yeah you guys got me gushing about my favorite class

Anyway thanks for the tips I think I have what I need to make this cultist rush memorable now

[still plover]

Flying bears riding lightning?

[jovial badger]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/155968169 is this a good char?

[round monolith]

Love it!

[jovial badger]

for lvl2

[still plover]

Sure, it's a strong, tough, agile barbarian.

How did you get the 18 in Strength?

[jovial badger]

lemme show you

nvm dont got img perms

the soldier background allows increasing a score by 2 and increasing a score by 1

i just got 15 strength (point buy) and increased it by 3

[still plover]

Sorry, that doesn't work. Read the description again.

[jovial badger]

what abt it?

[lavish flame]

new fear just dropped

[jovial badger]

OH SHOOT DIFFERENT SCORE

dang

lemme go fix that rq (dexterity time)

aw that sucks

now you making me think my other lvl2 with an 18 doesnt work

[still plover]

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

[round monolith]

It's what I'm thinking based on what you all suggested

Phase1: party flies in heroically both dragons ready to aid

The dragon they aren't riding will call out

"Prepare yourselves, not sure how but they know we're coming!"

The ballistas will fire for a couple rounds.

We'll say one of them in enchanted somehow with dragon slaying magic.

The one that the party isn't riding on will fly forward to intercept it'll hit him and it'll knock him out of the fight

Phase 2: the enchanted darkness and demon birds will flock out forcing the party to land.

They'll have to take the fight to the ground the dragon will stay to help them.

Phase 3: the cult manages to finish the ritual, summoning the Balor.

They will need the dragons help

Finale: party manages to win the fight and the dragon reclaims his castle

[jovial badger]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/155865761

[lavish flame]

usually for an 18 (or higher) in a stat at really early levels, you'd need to roll for your stats

and also pray to the dice gods for a solid roll

[jovial badger]

15 wisdom base, fey touched increase by 1, satyr increases by 2 (like soldier)

[still plover]

Anyway, don't worry about it. It's your party you'll be compared to, and they're all in the same situation.

[inner silo]

What does better damage, poison spray or a longbow on a wisdom focused gloom stalker?

[jovial badger]

whichever is more on your char sheet

[fair summit]

Longbow: 1d8+Dex
Poison Spray: 1d12 minimum, increasing at certain levels

[inner silo]

Can a longbow be shot twice with two attacks?

[fair summit]

Yes

[inner silo]

So at most it's 2d8+2 dex mods vs 4d12?

[fair summit]

Well the 4d12 is only at 17th level

[still plover]

By which point you should have a shiny magic bow.

[inner silo]

Yup, it'll be 2d12 vs 2d8+dex for the longest time

[fair summit]

Also importantly with two attacks, you have two chances to hit for at least some damage, while the cantrip is all or nothing

[inner silo]

I'm planning to main shillelagh but since gloomstalker really benefits from having ranged options I'm considering also using a cantrip

[still plover]

And the cantrip has a shorter range than the bow. But yeah, no harm in taking the spell too unless it means you miss out on something else you'd want more.

[inner silo]

Though perhaps a close ranged gloom stalker is a bad idea as a whole

[inner silo]

Taking druidic craft could be cool but not particularly useful and less thematic

[burnt vigil]

hello i'm very new to the game, but wasnt a 6th edition coming?

[hot gate]

There isn't anything like that on the horizon, no. But the 5e recently had a rules update.

[still plover]

Not yet, but there was a recent update to the rules. Generally they're referred to as the 2024 version (previously 2014) of the 5th edition.

[burnt vigil]

so i'm safe to get the 2024 books ? cause i didnt want to buy them and then 6th appears

[still plover]

Go for it.

[hot gate]

Quite a safe bet, considering 5e has been around for 10 years until it got an update.

[still plover]

Although if you're new to the hobby the Free Rules have plenty to try out before you put money down.

[burnt vigil]

great 🙂 thanks . also is there any good expansions ?

[humble cairn]

Longbow uses Dex, so if you're Wisdom focused, the cantrip is going to have better accuracy and missing means no damage. This is why Wisdom Rangers use Shillelagh and Magic Stone, because those use your Wisdom, but allow you to use your Extra Attack.

[teal niche]

tashas and xanathars are good

lots of new spells, good subclasses,

[burnt vigil]

thanks . was refering more to stories but i'll check

[humble cairn]

Magic Stone would be a better Cantrip choice.

[still plover]

This post has some free adventures to claim through D&D Beyond: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1943-five-inexpensive-tools-on-d-d-beyond-to-make-dming

[inner silo]

Sadly magic stone isn't avalible to me as it's not a 2024 phb cantrip

[cinder timber]

Wizards are better at controlling the battlefield than dealing straight damage, right?

[humble cairn]

You're limited to 2024 PHB cantrips only?

[inner silo]

That's the only sourcebook we have avalible and use

[fair summit]

Wizards can do anything they get the spells for, really
They can do control or damage just fine, even both

Cast Fireball

[humble cairn]

Uhh ... they can do both, but they can control the battlefield in a way that many other classes cannot and so they fill that niche better and it's a better contribution overall I would say, but you can do both.

[cinder timber]

Well, i think I fall into the problem of "deal damage is the best." So, I want to do what the wizard excels at like control.

[humble cairn]

So in other words, they are not worse at doing damage than area control, but their area control is better than other classes while their damage is basically comparable to other classes.

[jovial badger]

burning hands

[cinder timber]

Sounds like you are saying to invest more in area control than single target damage

[humble cairn]

Yeah my party just ran into the problem with "deal damage is best" because people decided to go damage on the first turn of combat, but monsters will almost always be beefy enough to survive at least one round of damage from the party, they were operating at full power and managed to down two party members. Whereas if we had decided to go with Control in the first round we probably would have been better off.

[inner silo]

Why is it good though? It eats a bonus action to set up and then you need an action for every throw and repeat the process every 3 pebbles and the damage doesn't scale with levels

[cinder timber]

Yeah, my party has a lot of martials and one warlock so it seems foolish to just go damage if I can do something unique.

[teal niche]

summons

[glass granite]

You can give it to others to chuck

[inner silo]

Summons throwing it?

[inner silo]

Yeah but usually you won't have anyone for that i think

[humble cairn]

Two attacks using your Wisdom is better than one. You are a half martial, using a Cantrip attack is not going to be better than using your full Extra Attack. I used Magic Stone on my Beast Master for many levels, and every other turn I would give my Companion one of my Attacks so I coud use a BA to recast.

[humble cairn]

There are some builds that have minions summoned specifically to throw a salvo of Magic Stones, but I'm not even talking about that.

[inner silo]

Two attacks? Extra attack works with it?

[glass granite]

Yes

It doesn’t specify an action, it specifies you attack it by hurling it or shooting it from a sling

[humble cairn]

I mean not 100%, what you should do is look at your party's abilities and figure out what would be the best contribution.

[inner silo]

Ahh

[humble cairn]

Yes absolutely.

[inner silo]

That makes sense yeah. Thanks for clearing that up, now i see it!

@humble cairn thanks for telling me about it, I'll ask my dm if i can use it!

[humble cairn]

And you can use a Shield because throwing a rock doesn't require two hands to reload unlike a bow or a sling.

Wisdom Rangers are Sticks and Stones build.

[inner silo]

This sounds funny and fire at the same time

[humble cairn]

It worked out pretty well for me.

[cinder timber]

Ok, all I know is their class

[inner silo]

Alrighty, thanks for the help!

[glass granite]

That’s a start. Also, wizards know enough spells that they don’t have to pick and choose oftentimes, cuz they can do both.

[still plover]

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but," Vicious mockery has entered the chat "...nevermind."

[teal niche]

power word kill

[cinder timber]

Fireball will be in the spell list, no further questions needed lol

[teal niche]

fireball should always be in your spell list

[humble cairn]

Actual conversation I had in character:
Ranger (Me): "You know what they say, sticks and stones'll break ya bones."
Partymate: ".. but words will never hurt you?"
Me: "What, mate? Never heard that part."

[teal niche]

well
warlocks replace it with synaptic static at higher levels

[cinder timber]

What is the upgrade to fireball? Blizzard?

[teal niche]

it's synaptic static

[glass granite]

Meteor swarm

[teal niche]

same damage (better type), worse save (for enemies) plus good debuff

[teal niche]

that too

[cinder timber]

Sounds cooler, will run with that

[glass granite]

Just gotta wait till you’re level 17

[cinder timber]

😐

[teal niche]

you can take synaptic static as early as level 9

[glass granite]

What it’s 9th level spell what do you expect

[inner silo]

What are some ways to extinguish a torch

[humble cairn]

Synaptic Static is a 5th level spell.

[cinder timber]

Oh wow

[teal niche]

prestigitate

[glass granite]

I meant meteor swarm

[teal niche]

thaumaturgy (?)
elementalism (?)

[humble cairn]

Ahh, right

[glass granite]

Prestidigitation?

[cinder timber]

I thought it was level 17. Im confused now.

[inner silo]

Elementalism can do it?

[teal niche]

no im misremebering

[glass granite]

You get it at level 17, but it’s a 9th level spell

[teal niche]

prestidigitation can do the thing
thaumaturgy cannot

[inner silo]

I see

[glass granite]

Cuz you get 9th level spells at lvl 17 as a full caster

[inner silo]

Are there ways to do it except for cantrips?

[cinder timber]

That is a LONG time for a level 9 spell

[humble cairn]

Leveled spells and then literally dumping water on it or grinding it in sand.

[teal niche]

uh
quick question, what level do you think spells go up to?

[cinder timber]

I plead the 5th

[inner silo]

Could a magic stone hitting it and breaking it extinguish it?

[humble cairn]

Create Water does it, interestingly if you have the misty Feat from Astarion's new book you can extinguish all fires in your fog.

[cinder timber]

Are barbarians good at damage?

[humble cairn]

Yes

[glass granite]

They bonk hard yeah

[humble cairn]

Uhh, that's a maybe and would have to be ruled on a case by case basis by your DM.

[teal niche]

meh
they're alright
decent by martial standards

[cinder timber]

Paladins bonk pretty hard too, right?

[glass granite]

Oh paladins bonk hard hard

[humble cairn]

Control Flames does it, and a Frostbrand Weapon can extinsguis flames when unsheathed.

[inner silo]

Alrighty

[teal niche]

paladins strength comes from aura of protection mostly (+5 to saves is really really good)
smite is good, but a little overrated

[glass granite]

But still, bonk hard

[inner silo]

Alrighty, thanks!

[still plover]

Gust of wind?

[cinder timber]

I need to visit the optimization channel more then. Im not at crazy bonking numbers yet.

[glass granite]

No need to optimise to bonk hard

[humble cairn]

It's not so much about smite as it is about the 1d8 Radiant damage on every hit, so now Nick Mastery and Dual wielding can get you some pretty decent numbers.

[cinder timber]

How do you get the radiant damage per hit?

[teal niche]

lvl 11 feature

[humble cairn]

Be level 11

[teal niche]

not worth it imo
multiclass out at 7 into sorc or lock for more spell slots

[humble cairn]

Ok, I had fun with it anyway.

[glass granite]

Sounds fun, imma try that next time I get the chance

[humble cairn]

It was neat to be outi n front doing damage and providing support at the same time.

Plus Thrown Weapon Paladins are a thing now!

I was on my flying steed chucking weapons at the enemy, Smiting or healing or providing buffs as necessary.

[glass granite]

Usually I either go spear and board or polearm gaming when I play paladins.
But dual wielding or thrown weapon paladins do sound rlly fun.

[humble cairn]

Spear and Board can be a thrown build.

[glass granite]

Never used it that way, but true

[teal niche]

actually
now that i think about it, you could achieve the same effect by playing a valor bard with CME

[humble cairn]

The nice thing about Nick/Dual Wield and Thrown is you can use a shield the whole time. All you need is the one hand free as long as you keep chucking your weapons.

[humble cairn]

Yep, done that too, is also fun!

Shillelagh + True Strike + CME is nice numbers. Not that high numbers is the only fun thing, but it is one fun thing.

[teal niche]

bladelock dip + eldritch blast is even better

[cinder timber]

Are druids fun?

[humble cairn]

Absolutely

[teal niche]

they can be
they are a bit worse in 5.5 imo
conjure spells got nerfed into the ground

[cinder timber]

I know what I'm being next time. Oh, here is question. Have you completed a campaign as a player or DM?

[humble cairn]

Completed? Hmm ... the one game I played for 5+ years was great but it technically imploded and ended unexpectedly rather than being complete.

[limber trail]

I played a warhammer pinball paladin once and it was a lot of fun

[cinder timber]

I've been stuck in the "what's your favorite color?" phase of the game 😂

[humble cairn]

... the DM just told the party "roleplay amongst yourselves" and then never got you back into the plot?

[vernal shell]

yam

[cinder timber]

No, I meant, stuck in the beginning. Just the first few sessions before it ends.

[humble cairn]

Unfortunate

[cinder timber]

One day I will finish one

It only takes one

[still plover]

I do suggest folk run shorter campaigns. Not everything has to be a 1-20 epic adventure for the ages.

[glass granite]

I’m doing mine 2-14 probably

[still plover]

Regular group?

[glass granite]

Yes

Main friends group campaign

[still plover]

Then that's reasonable.

[glass granite]

I’m hesitant DM’ing for multiple groups cuz I’m mildly intimidated by the prospect of having to worldbuild and create two campaigns. One shots I’m fine with, I DM’ed a one shot for a few newbies to help them get into the game fairly recently.

[humble cairn]

See this is another reason I like having the group make characters together and have shared history. When you do this it is assumed that "what's your favorite color?" has already been covered in the past and the group can get right to operating as a team, which gets the campaign off to a running start and maintains the interest. Because boredom and slow starts will often kill a game, especially if it's the DM that's bored.

[inner silo]

@humble cairn do you use a shield in the offhand along with your shillelagh?

[humble cairn]

Yes, though "offhand" is not an official mechanics term.

[glass granite]

If you’re proficient, why not. Good AC.

[inner silo]

Alrighty

[inner silo]

Also a lot of reflavouring options if you don't like a shield

[humble cairn]

One warning about being a Shillelagh Ranger. You are very limited in terms of what kinds of magical weapons you will be good with.

If the DM gives the party a nice magical bow or spear or something, you might be tempted, but you would regret it.

Unless you somehow also have a Dex or Str stat to match your Wisdom, which is difficult.

[inner silo]

Hopefully our DM doesn't. Though our fighter has good ac so they could take it tbh

[inner silo]

Mb i meant dex

[humble cairn]

Magical staffs that are also meant for actually attacking rather than casting are kind of few and far between,

[inner silo]

Our dm homebrews magical items quite a bit iirc so hopefully they'll come up with something or ask me. But thanks for warning!

[glass granite]

I gave my Spore Druid player a homebrew one for that very reason

(Magical staffs often only being able to cast or attack)

[inner silo]

How does it work?

[glass granite]

Spear (1d6) that can act as a spellcasting focus and magical staffs, and can cast Shillelagh 4 times per day, recharging 1d4 per long rest.

[cinder timber]

You're not understanding my point

[inner silo]

Interesting

[humble cairn]

That comment wasn't meant to address your point directly.

It was meant as an aside about a technique that can help prevent games from petering out due to boredom and lack of momentum.

[inner silo]

@humble cairn is dueling a good buff for shillelagh?

[humble cairn]

Yes-ish. But I might recommend Defense as a better fighting style. You're getting Shillelagh from .. Guide Background?

[inner silo]

Yup

[timber holly]

Hi

Is there a limit to what curses can do?

[inner silo]

Would defense be better if i plan to focus on spellcasting and dueling if i plan to focus on close quarters combat?

[humble cairn]

Dueling gets you +4 DPR .. maybe +6 if you go PAM.

[inner silo]

What's PAM?

[humble cairn]

Honestly Defense is probably better in both cases.

[humble cairn]

(P)ole(A)rm (M)aster Feat

[inner silo]

Ah i see

[humble cairn]

+4 DPR is not nothing, buuuut ... +1 AC is much harder to get and will keep you in the battle.

[inner silo]

Ig this could also depend on the subclass?

Like beast master would definitely want defense

[humble cairn]

Mmm ... more about the specific fighting tactics. Dueling is nicer with more attacks. So weapon juggling and Nick Mastery and Dual Wielder can get you more out of it than Shillelagh+shield.

[inner silo]

I see

[humble cairn]

But weapon juggling is also kind of awkward, imo.

If you have a shield in one hand and a Light weapon in the other you could theoretically Stab > drop weapon > darw and stab > drop weapon > draw third weapon and stab > free draw > BA stab

[inner silo]

This sounds really clunky but also really funny if you have like a guy with a hundred weapons

[humble cairn]

Makes a lot more sense with a thrown weapons user.

[inner silo]

Alrighty

[humble cairn]

But see with four attacks, Dueling gets you +8DPR.

[inner silo]

Oki

[inner silo]

No bonus two weapon fighting damage though

[humble cairn]

Right. So yeah, that's why I went with Defense.

[inner silo]

Alrighty

Btw what do you think of a melee gloomstalker?

[glass granite]

Could you please explain this to me

[humble cairn]

I think it works just fine!

[glass granite]

Fun as all hell

[tame estuary]

I hate weapon juggling so much, all that complication and for what? 6 more damage?

[humble cairn]

Attack with Light weapon > Extra attack with Light weapon > Nick Attack > Dual Wielder Attack. But if you only have one hand free then you need to clear up that hand between attacks so you drop your weapon which is free and doesn't cost you your object interaction. Then yo use your one free draw to draw the weapon that you will use on your BA since you cannot free draw as part of a BA attack.

[humble cairn]

Yeah, it's clunky and not real fun unless you're using Thrown weapons, in which case you're throwing your weapons at the enemy anyway.

[tame estuary]

yeah actual juggling

[glass granite]

I apologise, but I’m still hella confused. I thought you needed two weapons for nick?

(And dual wielder)

Like, I’ve heard of weapon juggling and understand that it works, just not how

[humble cairn]

You do not need to have them in your hands. Both of those things just need you to use a Light weapon to attack. You can freely draw other weapons based on those triggers.

[glass granite]

Ah, I see

That makes a lot more sense

[broken fulcrum]

wish dnd was easier to have pick up games, sometimes at 5 am i just feel like playing T.T

[tame estuary]

could one imagine a world where this is commonplace?

[still plover]

Roll20 hosts listing for pick-up games, if that's any help. Your mileage may vary.

Alternatively you might try joining some community servers?

[inner silo]

Alrighty, thanks!

[next crypt]

I'm surprised we never had a fire themed barbarian subclass, we have this idea that rage causes us to heat up and burn afterall

[inner silo]

Okay, thanks!

[tame estuary]

yooo

[humble cairn]

Giant Barb can go all in on the fire damage.

[glass granite]

Had a player do that for flavour, it was sick

[broken fulcrum]

oh I meant like right now pick up games style XD pipe dream ofc

[tame estuary]

see you should've been working on the FR books, the one with Karlach in the cover and no barbarian subclass

[still plover]

Yes?

[hollow stone]

oh yea lmao we got tree barbarian before fire, that's so weird

[humble cairn]

We have a Storm Herald Barbarian that can set things on fire with an aura.

So we have two different ways of doing a fire themed Barbarian.

[tame estuary]

oh yeah I need to check on that UA

[knotty pasture]

The art of elemental cleaver on Giant Barb, dipped in fire

[reef tundra]

I feel like I’m lacking context /lh

[tame estuary]

you should ask them innocuous questions to get to know them better actually

[hollow stone]

yea questioning people makes them think you're interested in their words and causes them to lean further into an inclination to favor you

[hallow ember]

So I’m doing curse of strahd with a few friends, right?
Is it normal to skip 17 scenarios because one of you decides to flee guards and kill 4 of them

[karmic mason]

No

I fear you have a murder hobo.

[hallow ember]

10 minutes prior he was performing Michael Jackson on a table in a tavern so I’m not surprised

[limber trail]

17 is quite a few. Every DnD game has some level of this. A fact of the game is that sometimes you can avoid/skip parts of the quests or take weird routes to bypass challenges. Skipping 17 encounters is a lot.

[hallow ember]

He almost got executed but one of our party members went invisible and pretended to be a god to convince the executioner to let him go

[raw ocean]

“What’s your opinion on dragons?”

[jovial badger]

peak

[muted gulch]

Cat flop

[woven flint]

Hello, friends.

Got to play my Tortle Cleric, Artanza, yesterday, we were playing a waterdeep campaign
And we were acting like true residents of water deep 💀
The session was hilarious

[woven flint]

We all (except the sorcerer) got extremely drunk before our first investigation and were singing all the way to the crime scene!
True gentleman of class, I tell ya

[humble cairn]

Are any of the PCs Nobles?

I honestly miss Waterdeep as a setting and if I weren't already in the Titanic Upheaval campaign I would have signed up to join that one in a heartbeat.

[muted gulch]

Time to continue the hunt

[woven flint]

Well, there was Neverembers son, I forgot his name though

[humble cairn]

One of you is playing Renaer Neverember?

[woven flint]

Oh, you asked if the pcs were nobles!
Lmao
Absolutely not
My fellas a Librarian
One fellas a street urchin
Another is a Wayfarer whose newer to Water Deep
And the other dudes also a bit of an Urchin

[humble cairn]

Ok so yall are going to explore the seedier bits of Waterdeep, then. Ha!

[woven flint]

Absolutely
We managed to find some nice loot after we uh.. robbed a Xanathar's Guild members shop 💀

[humble cairn]

Well that's totally not going to come back and bite you.

[woven flint]

He was withholding information, our Rogue intimidated him until he fainted, and we kinda grabbed a few things, but we didn't ransack his shop or anything

[limber trail]

loot which was put to very good use

nobody talk about the hill giant strength incident of 2025

[woven flint]

Yeah, and I got that Water Elemental summoning thing, so we have a nice "Oh Shit!" Button lmao

[true wagon]

Do we know what is coming down the pipeline from WotC for DnD 2024 after the Forge of the Artificer releases in November? I don't see anything on the horizon atm.

[limber trail]

it'll be fine I'm sure

[woven flint]

It was mostly THEM who wanted to rob him, I just took a nice purple gem lmao

[limber trail]

Hey, I didn't take anything until everyone else took stuff

i mostly just found a dead bug and an empty scabbard

[woven flint]

And you named him Ass

[tame estuary]

Current theory is that they're going through all the settings

[limber trail]

it's my characters favourite word

[uncut zenith]

Typically WOTC does a “D&D Live” event some time after the new year detailing what they have planned, so we probably won’t get a roadmap of sorts until then

[tame estuary]

Next could be barovia because we got astarion supplements, but that only makes sense if there's cohesion

[limber trail]

barovia would be nice to see more of (or ravenloft more generally)

[tame estuary]

Oh yeah that's what it's called

Wonder what kind of setting they'll release the psion class in if that ever gets finalized

Thing that makes most sense to me is eberron but that ship would have sailed

[true wagon]

follow-up question, have any errata or sage advice been released for DnD 2024?

[uncut zenith]

That said, now that WOTC’s D&D department is under new management, there’s no guarantee whether they’ll be doing a live event this year

[crimson gulch]

yeah a bunch

im hoping for some good announcements at Paxu this weekend, need me some new campaign books as i have ran all the current ones

[uncut zenith]

I’m ready for a new full campaign module

What was the last one they published, Phandelver and Below? Maybe Turn of Fortune’s Wheel?

[crimson gulch]

Dragon delves, Infinite staircase and vecna were the last three hardbacks all anthologies

[uncut zenith]

Vecna wasn’t an anthology, but I forgot about that one

[crimson gulch]

i have made strong arguments that it is

but thats besides the point, it has been a while thats for sure, im allready done dragon delves

[uncut zenith]

I’m planning on using some of the Dragon Delves in my current campaign as just side quests

[crimson gulch]

yeah that what i had done too, the first 2 chapters became learn to play one shots and the rest of it was all divergences from my other campaigns which have been wonderful

my hope is for a proper new location based campaign

[tame estuary]

I hope it's that one mtg setting with the racecar bugs

[solid grove]

It's always a hard pick for me if I want to be a sorcerer or druid. I multi-class as both whenever I can

[tame estuary]

Interesting

What do you like about druid combined with sorcerer if I may ask

[solid grove]

It just feels more rounded to what I like, more access to spells. But it can be hard to level them both up at the same time. I usually only level druid and keep sorcery as a title 💀. What I have been leaning more towards recently though is fighter druid

A sorcerer druid is like my ideal but practically a druid fighter is better if I want to take the run seriously

[humble cairn]

Have you considered Ranger?

[marble lion]

No wildshape, less spells, no cantrips

[solid grove]

Yeah but I love wildshape

[humble cairn]

Ah

[marble lion]

"More access to spells"

[humble cairn]

Do you want to use wildshape for combat or are you good with it being Utility?

[marble lion]

I wonder if you wouldnt get more spells by just being druid though

Higher levels give more spells

[humble cairn]

Wait, let's back up to your original idea. Want to meet over in #character-discussion to try and workshop this idea?

[marble lion]

Ofc youd lose out on spells only sorcerers can bring

[solid grove]

Oh yes, sorry I'm new to the group

[limber trail]

by multiclassing, you do get more spells at lower levels it's true, but you're losing access to higher level spells. If you take 10 levels in druid and 10 in sorcerer, you'll only be able to take spells up to level 5, even if you'll have your 9th level slots.

[timber holly]

Hi

Is it hard to fight with a sword while in a dress?
Would you get a disadvantage on attack rolls?

[limber trail]

in real life, it'd probably be tough. In dnd? Should be fine

there is

absolutely no mechanical basis for that disadvantage

[timber holly]

Got it
I do want to try a more grounded version of DND

[tame estuary]

Is your character proficient in dress?

If you're wearing an armor that you're not proficient in, you would be and you can't cast spells

[limber trail]

I am assuming a dress is just clothing

[tame estuary]

It's a light josh

[limber trail]

there's grounded, and then there's needlessly cruel imo. DnD already has plenty of crunchy rules optionally, disadvantage based on dresses is too far.

and if you want a more thematically gounded game, that's a session 0 chat

[tame estuary]

But yeah I would say this is a good rule, if you aren't used to fighting in a dress and suddenly you wear a dress, you would have disadvantage

[timber holly]

Maybe a magical one

[reef tundra]

Two of my friends are nerds about irl stuff and they’ve both tried to run “realistic” campaigns. Both of which I hated

[timber holly]

Oh
Got it

[reef tundra]

It is so boring to sit there for 4 hours after my character gets oneshot because something slashed their tendon and they bled out

[limber trail]

DnD isn't an irl simulator. Dnd isn't a physics simulator. Applying extra rules based on how things work in the real world are just, ehh.

[reef tundra]

It is cruel to die while having 43 HP.

[marble umbra]

Is it just me or is there no reason to really throw daggers when bows exist? I wanna throw daggers.

[reef tundra]

As someone who almost always plays tanks, their attempts at realistic dnd make constitution useless

[reef tundra]

You don’t always have to pick the optimal choice. Play however you wish

[tame estuary]

You can, you get tons of mechsnics that support this

[solid grove]

How long is the dress though

[tame estuary]

It's a light and thrown weapon

[marble umbra]

Aren't bows and crossbows just straight up better tho

[tame estuary]

Play what you want

If it's is it straight up better, everyone would play the same class

[marble umbra]

I guess that's fair

[limber trail]

the thrown weapon fighting style offsets the percieved damage loss. The difference mechanically works out to, A bow is a d8, a dagger is a d4+2. the dagger will be more consistent.

[tame estuary]

Now the hard part is if you want to play a 2 handed longsword

[marble umbra]

How can I get that as a Swashbuckler, and should I even

[tame estuary]

There is no mechanics supporting that playstyle

[limber trail]

plus, daggers are much more versatile because they can be used at melee and range

[minor lake]

Eeeee first session today!

[marble umbra]

I mean I ahve a rapier that I flavor text to be a katana as a Swash so I am already goated at melee yk

[limber trail]

unfortunately you can't get it as a swashbuckler, but you can still throw daggers tbh

[marble umbra]

aw

[inner silo]

Is the shadow monk kind of nonteamfriendly because of its darkness ability?

[limber trail]

shadow monk requires you to be smart & tactical

[tame estuary]

It requires the DM to make bigger maps

[limber trail]

if you use it 24/7 you'll upset your team

if you use it sparingly but well, your team will love you

it's a backup in the toolkit, not a first plan

[inner silo]

i see

so shadow monk is more of a difficult class to play?

[limber trail]

I would say so

[inner silo]

alrighty

[tame estuary]

Now if the entire party builds around the shadow monk, it's a different story

[inner silo]

would you say gloomstalker is also a difficult class?

[limber trail]

it's one of the few classes where I would say bad plays can actively disadvantage your party

most "hard" classes, if you mess up you're at least just messing yourself up

[inner silo]

the entire party coming together to build out a powerful team strategy?

[inner silo]

I`m asking because it seems the most similar class to the shadow monk

[tame estuary]

Yeah, there's a bit of subclasses with this darkness theme

And the blind fighting fighting style is there

If you really want to play shadow monk, just do it, just don't cast darkness all the time.

[inner silo]

it seems to be more of an inconvenience as noone in my party has it so benefitting from it would be really tough and the other fighting styles actually give you stable buffs

[tame estuary]

Sometimes you're really good at certain scenarios and sometimes you're just a plain monk and that's fine

[inner silo]

I`m not sure if i want to. Melee gloomstalker also sounds sweet if it works

I`m a beginner so getting into a complex class might be too much for me right now

[tame estuary]

You understand complex classes by playing them

Not by asking which one is good every day

[inner silo]

i cant swap classes between every game though

if i dont like one

[tame estuary]

So play 1 and you'll understand it, it's a slow game

You're not supposed to experience everything the game has to offer, most people won't and it's fine

[inner silo]

i see

[tame estuary]

If you really want to test things out bg3 is a good outlet for this

[inner silo]

can bg2 work?

[tame estuary]

There's a bg2?

[inner silo]

bg1 too

theyre for 2nd and 3rd editions iirc

[tame estuary]

I didn't know, I thought it was like persona and they start at 3

[slow island]

old BGs are based on 2nd or 3rd edition and the rolls are in the background while playing realtime fights

[inner silo]

what does rolls being in the background mean?

[tame estuary]

I don't think it's what you want but I was just saying a way to test out builds if you have the resources

[slow island]

like the combat is realtime (you can pause tho) but the mechanics behind the fight system are still "dice rolls"

[inner silo]

sadly my video card isnt the best

[tame estuary]

So uh, maybe try to just play your character, don't try ti be the best, don't try to pick the best subclass or the best spells. Just try to have fun

[inner silo]

ah i see

[tame estuary]

If you make it fun, you'll find that it's fun to just have fun

[inner silo]

alrighty, ill try that

Thanks for the help!

[humble cairn]

It can be, but if you're smart about it you can bypass that. I suggest casting Darkness on a small, enclosable object like a stone inside a locket. A coin held between the teeth will do, in a pinch. Close your lips and the darkness goes away, smile … and the Darkness leaks out to cover you.

[tame estuary]

Is that allowed?

I thought it was only for a target you can see

[humble cairn]

Yes, it's how the spell works.

"Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn’t being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness."

[tame estuary]

And I can just, momenterally turn it off as a free action?

[inner silo]

That actually sounds really cool

[humble cairn]

Cast it on a pebble on the ground, then pick it up and it'll move with you. Cover it up, and the Darkness goes away.

[humble cairn]

Your one free object interaction, yes.

[tame estuary]

I wonder how it would work with a returning weapon

[humble cairn]

If you carry a cloud of Darkness around you you can use it to go in and get Adv on all your attacks and then use your Monk speed to move the Darknes out of the way so your allies aren't blocked. Or turn it off.

[humble cairn]

.... very interesting and something I've never thought of.

[harsh hinge]

Persona didn't start at 3. That's just the one that cracked the mainstream.

[inner silo]

that does sound very useful if theres more then 1 enemies and they arent bunched up

[humble cairn]

You'd still get Adv because the enemy can't see you at the time of attack, and you could be off to one side to not block your allies.

[humble cairn]

Remember that an enemy needs to be able to see you to try an OA.

[inner silo]

thats also useful

[humble cairn]

Although Monks can Disengage very very easily nowadays.

[tame estuary]

Wait darkness spell says you can cast it on an object that's not being worn or carried, so my interpretation for that is thay if you carry it, it goes away

So no returning weapon shennanigans

[marble lion]

if the DM gives you cool magic daggers, its better because you can only have one magic bow out at the same time i guess

it also means that if someone closes in melee with you, you dont have disadvantage because you just melee attack them

[marble umbra]

I hope my DMs give me magic daggers :3

[marble lion]

daggers are also concealable weapons

i think a big part of their use is that factor

that part is only useful if the DM plays the campaign in a way that makes concealed carry useful

if you really want to use daggers that much, id inform the DM of this

give them a chance to consciously reward your weapon choice. otherwise daggers are pretty bad at d4 damage

[tame estuary]

I don't think it's really necessary, daggers are already good

[marble lion]

how

[marble umbra]

I primarily use a rapier (flavor texted as katana) and daggers haha

[tame estuary]

Yeah sure bow has more range but like come on, no DM has room that big

[marble lion]

ok but bow also deals up to d10

daggers are weak weapons by design in dnd, meant for utility and as a backup for people who dont have proficiencies in most weapons

[marble umbra]

Yeah!

[marble lion]

calling them good without the DM catering to those aspects is just wrong imo

[tame estuary]

I see, I'll note this down

[marble lion]

actually theyre the only light weapon with finesse and thrown property

so there is an argument to be made here

[tame estuary]

You perplex me, this was my argument before

[marble lion]

they are technically the only weapon that allows you to switch melee and ranged while dex building

but i dont think thats enough to say theyre good, honestly

[marble umbra]

Wait wdym by this?

[marble lion]

besides, most DMs let you pull out 1 weapon as free action per turn if its not in your backpack

[tame estuary]

The best weapons are the friends we made along the way

[marble lion]

so you can always just pull out a dagger anyway if you need to throw something as a dex user

[tame estuary]

Get that peasant railgun ready

[marble lion]

Yes, Lord

His blessings upon us, may he guide our shot so it be true to smite the foes of

[clear lark]

It's doable if the conditions are right. Darkness covers 30ft from end to end. So you are either 15 in front or 15 ft in back of your party. Other conditions include space. Dungeon halls of 10 ft wide/10ft high ceilings. Then there is the fact that if you are up front, they might not see any enemies because of your darkness spells. If it's outside in the open or an open cave in the dungeon, they might still be limited on sight if it is night time/dark in the open dungeon even with torches, because your darkness is blocking what's in front. It's doable, like I said, but takes cooperation/coordinnation.

[woven flint]

Oi, Lily, you're swapping to Armorer Artificer in Nealens campaign, right?

[humble cairn]

Yeah if conditions are tight, you can also cover it up.

[tame estuary]

No I'm staying in the cruddy smelly homebrew class

[snow agate]

So we know about over prepping which leads to railroading but what about underprepping

[tame estuary]

Leads to crying and lots of breaks

[humble cairn]

No, that's only on cast.

[woven flint]

Third Party Class 🤓

[humble cairn]

You cast it on something on a table, then you pick it up.

[tame estuary]

Can you throw your weapkn into the air, cast it, and then catch it?

Or does that require 2 free action

[humble cairn]

That's how I flavor it often, for style. Flip a coin into the air and cast it mid flip.

That would be "dropping" it and then picking it back up.

[snow agate]

The point is moreso to make it impossible to cast on enemies or moving allies

[tame estuary]

I forgot you can drop anything for free

[still plover]

Nobody will know as long as you think on your feet and take notes.

[snow agate]

Nah that’s fake

[tame estuary]

They will notice

Unless you're like really good and can think of an entire encounter straight up on the spot

[reef tundra]

My players don’t notice half the time

[clear lark]

Which was what both the Darkness and Light spells used to do for offense to blind an enemy.

[minor cargo]

This is my experience.

[tame estuary]

If you have a repository for tokens like on dndbeyond or something this won't be a problem. But I have to prepare tokens

[still plover]

What's my mantra?

Location, situation, opposition, complication.

[tame estuary]

And it takes a solid 3 minutes

15 if it was in person and I have to print them out

[still plover]

There's trouble at the old mill! Bandits have taken hostages, and someone's just knocked over an oil lantern. Go!

[hot gate]

I will say that there is such a thing as underpropping, yes. The more experienced you are, the more you can get away with just improvising. But even the most experienced DMs I've played under have tells when they're making things up on the spot.

Luckily, even a little bit of prep makes this a nonissue.

[minor cargo]

That's fair. I can see that being frustrating for everyone at the table.

In those situations, I typically default to TOTM in order to keep things feeling "snappy".

If I'm in-person, a lot of my monster tokens end up being generic minis ("Hey, so pretend this yellow orc fighter is actually a demon, okay?"). Or I use my tried-and-tested "ripped in half post-it note" method.

[tame estuary]

The dream for improv is when your players just write the story for you

[still plover]

Half a plan is better than no plan. Even a notion will do in a pinch.

[hot marlin]

My favourite go-to plot when I had no time to prepare is "Previously established NPC was murdered last night. While you guys fumble around doing nothing, I figure I have twenty minutes to decide who killed them and why"

[limber trail]

That requires a level of everyone at the table becoming familiar with the setting and choosing to play a game like this

[minor cargo]

For online games, I don't necessarily use my repository of tokens (though I do have a folder full of them). These days, it's fast enough to Google image search something then throw it into my token stamp maker.

Searching for a battle map (if I'm not picky) is very easy.

[tame estuary]

Mhm, dream table right there

[hot gate]

And some players don't necessarily want to make things up. They want to be along for the ride.

[reef tundra]

Theatre of the mind, baby. I’m a writer so it works for me

[tame estuary]

My life would be so much easier if I don't play with isometric

[limber trail]

Part of my prep for a new region is making a generic battle map for exactly this situation

[tame estuary]

But what is difficulty if not madness persevering

[hot gate]

That does sound like a tall order, yeah

[still plover]

I applaud your ambition. I like a good isometric.

[tame estuary]

No it takes 3 minutes, 2014 has standing tokens on dndbeyond

[limber trail]

I’ve recently put together some very swag icy mountain terrain battle maps just for whatever my party gets up to on their 4 day quest

[tame estuary]

The map though I have to make myself

Which I just steal from fire emblem maps I memorized

[minor cargo]

But yeah, just to tie this back, I think "underprepping" isn't as big of a problem as I think a lot of newer DMs think. And like, that's valid and I get it.

It's just as time goes on, a lot will find themselves prepping less and less.

Personally, I wish the DMG did a better job of embracing being a "lazy DM". I think 2024 does a better job than 2014.

[tame estuary]

For sure, I like that the recent books are less "here's an adventure you can run" and more "here's stuff, put it in your adventure in any order"

[limber trail]

Prepping takes different shapes. Every week my prep is different. Last week it was creating one good map and a few quality stat blocks for a set piece. This week it’s creating a ton of random things to find in a mountain range.

[still plover]

Situations and scenes.

[minor cargo]

Mmm hmm. My prep for Monday is basically cleaning up some tokens and rebalancing an encounter (we have a guest player).

My prep the last couple of weeks was just reading Batman wikis.

Edit: Oh yeah, and a few months ago, my prep was learning a totally new game so we could do collaborative worldbuilding!

[limber trail]

A previous week was prepping about 10 intricate scenes to be tackled in players choice of order

Every week it’s just preparing the stuff I can’t do in the moment

I’ve really come to learn that there’s no point writing something down if I already know it by heart

[minor cargo]

Actually, Lily! What's been your experience with collabortive worldbuilding with your groups? I don't recall if you've mentioned it before, but if you want your players to feel more like they can drive stories (more than what D&D typically tells you that you can), I find these to be super helpful.

[tame estuary]

My first attempt was to make the entire world be parts the players make. A collaborative world where the setting is a fractured different setting every player make.

My experience was that I found no players wanting to play this game.

This just changed how I approach finding players, I put up a google form and ask them what they bring in to the table and pick people who would look like they're interested in playing something a little more interesting than just "I'm playing a halfling artificer"

At that, I found players who understand what they want to roleplay and are excited about the roleplay aspect, but they still aren't confident with making their own setting. So the next step was the book that just released, Heroes of The Forgotten Realms and the Forgotten Realms wiki has all the ideas they can have to pull from

So what do I learn from this? Is that the way I play and run is atypical and I should just run the kitchen sink setting

[minor cargo]

Oh. Hmm. Yeah, I can see that not working...

Have you ever tried something smaller in scale?

[tame estuary]

Maybe if this group survivrs the december hiatus lol, they're fun people

I think they're still warming up, they're just doing what the DM wants them to do, but next session will be about choices

After that I'll poke them to have more choices and eventually no choices, they just have the map, go wild

[fresh bloom]

There's a character in a game I played who's a little boy from a tribal people who was cursed to transform into a bird after hunting a bird considered sacred, So, at the beginning he's still a normal boy, but his arms have transformed into bird wings. How could I create a character sheet for him in D&D?

[crimson gulch]

same way you would make a normal one, and then note down the transformation and its effects

[tame estuary]

You could go with a kenku

[still plover]

Aarakocra?

Presuming he can fly with those wings, anyway. Use a species that has the mechanics you need, customise the description.

[tame estuary]

Beast barbarian lol

Beast barbarian is my answer to like 70% of things

[marble lion]

I think kenku is the best take by far here

[fresh bloom]

Do you think it sounds weird to have him speaking in the third person? (Like Neeko from League of Legends)

[marble lion]

is this a game with talking vocally?

[muted gulch]

I have yet to finish a dnd campaign

[marble lion]

for me the end has stopped mattering. all that matters is making the journey fun

the 2 times i did reach the end were in the worst games ive ever played

[muted gulch]

I have yet to go on a proper journey too

[marble lion]

oh i see

[muted gulch]

Most campaigns just end abruptly or just have one game and gone

[marble lion]

ending abruptly is fine as long as there was a journey before then

[glossy otter]

always did hate when campaigns abruptly end

[marble lion]

life happens

its like expecting relationships to just all end with death, which is untrue for all but one relationship in our lives

[muted gulch]

Hopefully once i find a gm for my group I can finally witness a journey

[clear lark]

If you are finding campaigns ending too soon or abruptly, it might be that you only need to join/create just an adventure that might cover a few sessions. Then go on with a different adventure of sessions after that ends.

[marble lion]

that is if youre fine with playing short ones

it sounds to me like you want a longer one

i do agree that its good to look for a short one first though to meet people

imagine if you asked every single person youre interested in to marry you on the spot, instead of just having a fun date first

[muted gulch]

I like longer stories. I have something I wanna do with some other guys but we are on a search for the rare Dungeon Master

[marble lion]

you need to build up the ties imo

then you can depend on those ties to endure a longer campaign

[hot marlin]

I would recommend avoiding longer stories in order to have multiple shorter ones that follow each other.

[marble lion]

starting with a long game from the get-go will bring loads of cancellations hiatus and disappointment because none of you know what youre in for yet

[muted gulch]

We even have a whole homebrew extension we wanna use

[marble lion]

ok that sounds like something that would push away DMs

[tame estuary]

One of you kinda have to bite the bullet, honestly

[clear lark]

No need to imagine, because this actually happens. And sometimes they say "yes'.

[muted gulch]

Yeah

[tame estuary]

Maybe you can take turns DMing

[marble lion]

yeah alright well i think it doesnt work out for most people still

[woven flint]

Ti-Moth and a group I'm in is doing Dragon Heist into Dungeon of the Mad Mage, this is gonna be my first 1-20 campaign 💀

[muted gulch]

Wish that were an option if not most of them were new

[tame estuary]

Learn together

[marble lion]

dungeon of the mad mage is 1-20? damn

[woven flint]

I wonder how many PC's are going to die

[marble lion]

that sounds so weird

[hot marlin]

5-20 actually

[muted gulch]

I don't even know how to DM

[marble lion]

i guess the dungeon does consist of practically whole regions though

[reef tundra]

It is an art one learns with time

[marble lion]

its not really a dungeon in the typical sense from what i hear

[hot marlin]

Every level is practically its own dungeon

[clear lark]

That's what we used to do. Like I said you don't always have to have a long term campaign. Limited Adventures covering a couple of sessions (or three) is just fine.

[woven flint]

Dragon Heist is 1-5.
We're going into DTMM after Dragon Heist

[glossy otter]

that reminds me, I'm gonna need to find a new campaign as a player as my last one just went down

[marble lion]

not everyone is fine with only playing short ones

[shy stirrup]

Plenty of DMs, myself included, got their start because nobody wanted to DM, "So I guess I'll do it then"

[marble lion]

it may be fine to you to stick with that

[muted gulch]

I already made an ad for it but basically the homebrew expansion brings Kamen Rider classes, races, and items into a dnd format.

[tame estuary]

I kinda wanna watch but thursday nights are cursed for me

[marble lion]

yeah that sounds rough

i wish you the best of luck finding a DM, which is already rare, with a kamen rider homebrew focus

[clear lark]

You learn how to DM by watching and then doing. Just like you learn how to play the characters.

[hot marlin]

Technically watching is optional. You can DM if you have never played or seen a game.

[tame estuary]

Just run stormwreck isle

[woven flint]

So far our group is
Artanza, My Tortle Cleric (planned to be a Knowledge Cleric)
Hokrun, Orc Monk (Drunken, perhaps?)
Emios, Saytr Rogue (Thief, methinks?)
And
Ahan, Human Sorcerer (Spellfire)
We might be getting a Paladin, I just hope he isn't a buzzkill cuz out party was vibing hard last session 💀

[muted gulch]

I just want to get into something after leaving my last group

[clear lark]

That would unadvisable

[hot marlin]

Not necessarily. The first DMs had nobody to learn from. Some people just picked up a rulebook, read it and decided to run the game

[clear lark]

That's like a swim instructor who says they will teach you how to swim, but have never been near the water or learned themselves.

[tame estuary]

Back in the old days we don't even have character sheets /j

[muted gulch]

I've done dm before but never for any official ttrpg system and it was only two times

[marble lion]

its fine

[knotty pasture]

DMing without playing the game will feel very rigid, like you're just reading off the sourcebook

[shy stirrup]

I got started in exactly this way, but with all the resources available today, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if there are opportunities to learn the game as a player first, if feasible, and you hardly need much experience, just a few sessions to get the hang of it

[marble lion]

you can learn DMing with just internet research

[minor cargo]

I don't know if I agree with this.

I know analogies can only go so far but... let me try this one on for size? "It'd be like cooking a hamburger for friends." That is, if you've never cooked a hamburger, you could probably still make a delicious one based on previous experiences.

[marble lion]

you will make mistakes early on but its better than not playing at all imo

[shy stirrup]

All I had to go on was my DMG and my wits, at first

[marble lion]

I DMd with no knowledge and all, and after resetting the campaign, we are now 3 years in

[knotty pasture]

I'd sooner suggest people to play bg3 or Solasta first before dming lol

[shy stirrup]

Now you have 20,000 hours of content guides and live plays you can watch

[marble lion]

I just had what i found on google

[muted gulch]

I dm for a super hero game for my friends, however, my friends aren't the best. One guy is literally just playing office simulator while the other two do stuff

[hot marlin]

That analogy doesn't work. The DM isn't here to teach other people to play or DM

[marble lion]

yeah it doesnt work

the DM just knows more than players do, usually, so you can guide them a bit

[clear lark]

exactly

[marble lion]

if you run a few mock battles by yourself using tokens and a grid in paint, you will quickly figure out most basic principles of combat

all you need is the free rules on d20 for combat

[hot marlin]

That is not my experience. The DMs I've met who did that were actually very fast and loose

[marble lion]

roleplay is mostly without rules to be honest so you barely need to learn anything

[minor cargo]

This is also not my experience. That said, a lot of new DMs I play with these days are already familiar with TTRPGs. That may or may not be your situation, though!

[marble lion]

the most complicated thing to learn imo is probably balancing enemy statblocks and improvising dialogue
but improv is something you learn by doing it

if you use premade statblocks, that is a nullfactor

that leaves you with exactly nothing missing to run your first game

[shy stirrup]

Obviously helps to understand TTRPGs as a concept, then its just a matter of learning the particular system

[marble lion]

is it beneficial to be accustomed to DnD game flow before DMing? yes
is it necessary? no
if you cant find a DM for your game, DMing yourself without ever having played is 100% advisable imo as it will let you have fun with your friends instead of waiting

[muted gulch]

Yeah also I am not good at managing so many numbers

[marble lion]

practice it

just do math involving numbers up to 25 on a little paper or in your head until you get faster

[minor cargo]

(Cards on the table. I think more people just feel like DMing is accessible. So whenever I see "requirements" to DM pop up, I generally push back. ✌️)

[marble lion]

7+10
23-4
5+14
if you do this for a while, youll be completely fine with DnD math

[shy stirrup]

As the disparity between player numbers and DM numbers will demonstrate, DMing isn't for everyone, but I'd ecnourage any player to at least try it once, get familiar with how the sausage is made. Players who know what its like to DM often make for better players, from the DM POV.

[lean wigeon]

too hard

[muted gulch]

(Only requirement i have is be open for bat×××× insanity)

[marble lion]

note down the initiative order on a little paper, put down the HP per enemy, and then just do little add-up per damage dealt until they reach the HP

[marble lion]

thats a pretty big requirement for a stranger

[muted gulch]

It's kamen rider, you kinda need it.

Seriously, go and look up Kamen Rider Starfish and you will be in shock

[marble lion]

yeah no im familiar. i dont like it at all

you seem to be aware of how insane it is though so thats no issue

i just wonder if maybe youd be better off looking for a DM that actually wants to run normal DnD

or you could DM by yourself with a little math practice

[muted gulch]

I only understand the Kamen Rider side. I can watch/listen to a lot of dnd games and understand only the roleplay bits

[ember garnet]

Morning

Opinions on a paladin without shield or armor

[marble lion]

watch tutorials

asking a stranger to DM for your group when all of you dont know how the game works, want to add kamen rider homebrew and want insanity is like asking for a 5-star meal while halloween trick-or-treating

[clear lark]

Are you considering multiclassing Barbarian or Monk?

[marble lion]

if you learnt how the game works, that would increase your chances by a lot

[hot marlin]

Bad idea, probably dead before level 3. Paladins need AC

[muted gulch]

Yeah just- I wanted to play this expansion so I put up an ad on reddit only to get mostly newbies wanting to be players

[humble cairn]

Are you playing a Genie Paladin? Otherwise this is a pretyt bad idea.

[hot marlin]

Yeah because it's not attractive to DMs. You'd end up coming in with a group that already has a strong idea of what they actually want to do, leaving you little creative freedom. For me that's a red flag

[humble cairn]

And even Geniedins probably want a shield at least.

[frank zodiac]

Any recommendations for a new player? Was thinking of playing warlock idk if its too complicated

[muted gulch]

Yeah I honestly don't even know any more

Either I cancel it or try my best to be the dm

[lean wigeon]

pick what class you think is cool

[hot marlin]

Might be one of the simpler caster classes depending on the subclass you choose so it's not a bad choice.

[frank zodiac]

The genie one seemed interesting

[humble cairn]

The PHB labels them as High complexity. Fighter or Rogue are the ones labeled Low complexity and ostensibly should be simpler to learn.

[shy stirrup]

Your options, in descending order of the likelihood of success, are:

1. DM yourself/yourselves
2. find a DM who is also a fan of that content
3. find a DM willing to present your content to you

[frank zodiac]

Ohh i see, what about cleric?

[tawdry basin]

Well my D&D group did not want me play because of how i fight because i play as a fighter but i just run in don't think

[uncut zenith]

I will say, in my own personal experience, the only thing that makes Warlocks “complex” is the fact that Pact Magic works so differently from other casters. Otherwise, I wouldn’t say the class is particularly difficult.

[lean wigeon]

this got me thinking actually
what are people's thoughts here about the idea of demanding system mastery from the players

[woven flint]

Looks at my genies paladin who died last session in Nealens campaign, who didn't use a shield

What? Ha.. no....

[shy stirrup]

"demanding system mastery"?
You mean, inisiting on a certain level of player knowledge/experience?

[humble cairn]

Here you go: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024/creating-a-character#ClassOverview

[hearty bay]

Are there creatures immune to falling prone?

[lean wigeon]

right
this isn't about 5e specifically but TTRPGs in general that have as much if not more vectors for character customization and thus complexity

[humble cairn]

Yes

[marble lion]

ouch calling it red flag is so hostile

[marble lion]

go for it. make your dream come true

[woven flint]

Yup

[muted gulch]

Not really my dream since I wanted to be a Kamen Rider TwT

[clear lark]

Beholder. Spectator etc.

[woven flint]

Some spectral enemies are too, methinks

[hearty bay]

I was building a character upon the gimmick of making enemies fall prone, so I might need a fallback, in case this isn't possible

[woven flint]

A few Gargantuan Creatures are as well

[shy stirrup]

Such questions will often involve the answer, it depends.
I'm prepping a campaign that would demand a certain level of player skill, intelligence and experience, but that's because of the nature of the content, not necessarily my requirements as a DM in the general sense

[frank zodiac]

Thank you, do majority of games use the dnd beyond site?

[humble cairn]

I don't know, but a lot of groups that talk here do.

[shy stirrup]

Roll20 and Foundry are two other popular VTTs, personally I use Roll20

[knotty basin]

Mimics are, or at least they used to be

[twilit ginkgo]

I use the Maps VTT for my online games. I love it, but because it doesn't support music I need an alternative solution.

I was using Syrinscape, but left because I was having stability issues with it.

I tried switching to Fantasy Plus, but they've also screwed up my game twice with their own stability issues. Last night was miserable.

Can anyone suggest an alternative to these services I could try? I just want something that's reliable.

[crimson gulch]

I hate is personally, I had a dm that tried to quiz us on stuff before sessions, and his homebrew was so jank and not written down that there were no right answers.

I run the games in a way where folks don't need to know the rules, I teach as we go

[valid geyser]

Yeah I only expect just being competent and contributing to the team

[cerulean monolith]

Knowing shouldn’t a requirement, but learning should

[uncut zenith]

I will say, I can understand some DMs who don’t want new players because they just don’t have the patience to teach new players, but requiring players to have a certain amount of experience just feels like gatekeeping

[frank zodiac]

Its like the current job market lmaoo

[hot marlin]

Of experience, yeah, it's gatekeeping. And it runs into the whole "Every employer is looking for someone with more experience and there is no way to actually gain experience" thing. But requiring people to know the rules and their character in order to not waste time seems like the basis

[lavish flame]

Some Invocations don't cost a spell slot. Some do. They don't ever stop taking slots, its just that some take slots and some don't.

[uncut zenith]

The other thing I tend to ask of new players is to take the time between sessions to familiarize themselves with their character. I personally have had bad experiences with new players who just wait until session to try and work on learning the rules and their mechanics instead of taking the time between sessions to try and get a handle of it.

Not saying that’s the case with all new players, that’s just personal experience.

[limber trail]

I'll agree wholeheartedly on this. And also add, I can allow some grace period but I've got about 20 things going on back here behind the screen, remembering your sheet is on you as the player, I can't guarantee prompts as the DM

[frank zodiac]

I think some new players should at least learn the basics before going in. I only played like a one shot cuz I’m kinda new myself, but i did do research to try to not be a burden.

[valid geyser]

I definitely prefer trying to be helpful to new players when I’m also playing rather than being the DM

[limber trail]

100% true. I'm much more likely to catch things as a player than a DM

[uncut zenith]

Yeah, the players trying to help the new player so the DM can focus on DMing are the realest ones

[limber trail]

as a DM, if you say that's how your thing works, fine by me, as long as it sounds plausible

a player is where I start helping out

[valid geyser]

I also think i have a negative tendency related to that where I might backseat play/suggest possible strategies, but I like to think being helpful about what spells/stuff does is a more positive method to control that habit

[vapid berry]

So what got everyone into dnd?

[lean wigeon]

stranger things

[limber trail]

I do occasionally fall into this, it's a learned habit to get out of

[frank zodiac]

I lowkey played the game dispatch, saw the voice actors play dnd and now I’m interested in it

[valid geyser]

Yeah I think that’s just a habit gained from being rules lawyery but i think I’ve done well to curb it/channel it into more positive player behavior

[vapid berry]

I've been wanting to play that game but no money but I'm glad that got you into it!

[hearty bay]

Eldritch invocations are like passives that grant you an effect. Each one has a requirement level, and you have a limit on how many invocations you can have simultaneously. If an invocation says you can cast a spell without a spell slot, as long as you have the required level to take it, you can do it

As for the other invocations, they're passive effects and don't use spell slots, unless stated otherwise (like eldritch smite)

[valid geyser]

I also feel like I have issues with my tone so people might mistake me trying to clarify as an “um actually”

[frank zodiac]

I mean now, everything is already revealed so. Its kinda like u catch the ride along as it goes

[hearty bay]

Go "um actually", so people mistake you as trying to clarify

[eager marsh]

Friend is college marching band during the late 1980s asked me to play. Was super skeptical because of the 80s hype about “devil worship” stuff. Took a chance on playing and glad I did! Played up until right about the time 4e camper out and had to take time off when I bought a business. Just got back in with 5.24 and having a great time.

[vapid berry]

Trueee but this is the dnd chat so we can't talk about it here

[frank zodiac]

Yeah i know 😭. Srry everyone 🙇‍♂️

[valid geyser]

I remember my DM said he thought I was scary, and I’m still clueless on what he meant by that

[vapid berry]

Your fine! We stopped right away so we should be good to go!

[stoic obsidian]

So primal knowledge is only triggered if you use rage

…… why do I have a problem with that

[hearty bay]

You're so angry you can, as a hulk with an axe, stealthily approach places

[stoic obsidian]

I prefer warpick than an axe

[vapid berry]

So i'm not new to dnd but if you played two classes which ones work best with each other?

[eager marsh]

Love the question and then I immediately asked myself “What would be the two classes that work WORST with each other?”

[vapid berry]

XD

Amazing

[hearty bay]

The barbarian wizard

[stoic obsidian]

Also it primal force of power not really anger

[vapid berry]

I mean there is a barbarian wizard class

[eager marsh]

Might be good for a kind of two-face character with distinct personalities.

[hearty bay]

I know it, but it do be funnier if I just say the barbarian is just ANGRY

Imagine them using all their might and strength to walk on their toes

[stoic obsidian]

You mean wild magic barbarian

[stoic obsidian]

Or going into a focus state of a wild animal sulking between for one purpose to behead the king

[vapid berry]

I was thinking of path of the muscle wizard

[vapid berry]

That's what i was thinking of

[hearty bay]

Mashle

[stoic obsidian]

Or play a eldritch knight

[pearl hedge]

my temporal aura is messed up

[vapid berry]

What does that mean?

[stoic obsidian]

Would you say Monk or Barbarian?

[hearty bay]

I'd say a path of the muscle wizard could be like

"All your spells deal bludgeoning damage and their spellcasting attribute becomes strength"

[pearl hedge]

the -1 int wizard yes

[stoic obsidian]

Now this sound like #homebrew

[hearty bay]

It's an anime about a dude who has no spellcasting in an universe where everyone is a sorcerer. Instead, he has ungodly strength that far surpasses the capabilities of spells

Like being able to fly by swinging his legs absurdly fast, or creating a fireball by lighting up a campfire with a stick with overwhelming strength, stuff like that

[bitter spindle]

…could a monk/barbarian do rage and still use focus points? Does their AC scale off of dex, wis, and con if it’s done?

[hearty bay]

Focus points I think so. The AC wouldn't scale off 3 attributes

Because otherwise you'd potentially have a character with a 4-5 class multiclass becoming untouchable

[limber trail]

You can rage and use focus points, but you would only be able to use dex/wis or dex/con for your AC. Their unarmoured defence features don't technically add their wisdom/con to their ACs, they actually just set a new base AC, so you can only have one at a time.

[bitter spindle]

I mean, if barb’s gimmick for not having armor on is having their CON give AC, similar to monk’s being WIS, why not combine the two?

[limber trail]

You're physically not able to do them because of how the abilities work

[bitter spindle]

How so?

[hollow stone]

yea you would have to choose an Unarmored Defense to go with bc if you do both calculations you're either doing dex + ((wis+con)/2) or dex(2) + wis + con

[limber trail]

They both set your base AC to dex+con or dex+wisdom. You can only have one base AC, so you would need to pick one or the other.

They're technically not a bonus to your AC

[bitter spindle]

I would’ve thought since they both use DEX, just only count it one time, so it would be DEX+CON+WIS

[cinder temple]

when should we expect more details on the new sublclasses? :D

[hollow stone]

well, yes, both account Dexterity, but they account it independently, whicg would stack

[limber trail]

I'll also say, barbarian/monk is a very hard multiclass to do. You need a 13 in four of the six stats. In addition, a lot of barbarian features require you to use your strength, which monk doesn't prevent but also a lot of monk is mainly just based around letting you use Dex in place of Str

[atomic kayak]

Str monk works perfectly fine tbh

Its closer to 3 stats really

[limber trail]

You do need four stats physically to be allowed to do the multiclass

[atomic kayak]

the main area you will feel it will be AC but not so dramatically that it hurts that much

[hollow stone]

i mean in my hellish timeline i'd allow someone to average their con and wis if they were happening but DND deliberately hates division

[atomic kayak]

well yes but thats just 13s

[limber trail]

13s in four stats can be tough to get

[atomic kayak]

not terribly

[inner silo]

is 16 15 12 12 12 10 rolled stats on a ranger alright?

[atomic kayak]

yea

[inner silo]

should i grab asi for 14 con on level 4?

[limber trail]

are those stats in order? You might want a higher wisdom for your spells.

[inner silo]

no theyre just the numbers

[limber trail]

ah

[limber trail]

I've definitely played characters who haven't had those stats before. It's not possible with point buy iirc, or at least requires some dubious choices

I think it's possible, but I would also caution against it if you think it's some ridiculously OP multiclass

[inner silo]

i was going to distribute them as 12 16 12 12 15 10

[limber trail]

solid distribution

are your species / background ASIs included in there?

[inner silo]

no. with those it would be 12 18 12 12 16 10

[limber trail]

oh yeah great stats

[inner silo]

thanks!

[humble cairn]

This is not a Shillelagh build, right?

[inner silo]

mb i meant to write 12 12 16 12 18 10

[humble cairn]

So this is a Shillelagh build?

[inner silo]

yes

ill probably grab dex asi at 4

[humble cairn]

Why not max Wisdom?

[inner silo]

i was going to go dual wielding but 12 con is a bit nit great

[inner silo]

because ill be missing out on 1 ac

or is it fine?

[humble cairn]

How do you figure?

Will you be wearing medium armor?

[inner silo]

ill need to place either 16 con 12 dex or 12 con 16 dex

[inner silo]

most likely

[limber trail]

If you’re wearing medium armour you should be alright, maxing your wisdom will probably be more useful. Especially if you have a shield.

[humble cairn]

With Medium armor your AC will benefit from a 14 Dex at most.

[inner silo]

and mine will be 12

[humble cairn]

Oh I see, I thought it was the 16.

[inner silo]

i can put 16 in either dex or con. I think con will be more useful

[humble cairn]

I feel like I would put the 16 in Dex.

If you have an 18 in Wis I think the only thing that would stop me from maxing Wis is the lost opportunity to get two Wis Half Feats like Observant or Fey Touched or something.

What level are you starting again?

[inner silo]

I`m making it for level 3

[crimson gulch]

ah, my game last night was a masterpiece, brand new level 1 start of a campaign. at level 1 a hard encounter is 100 exp worth of monsters per player. and my party got 156 exp each from the first fight

[humble cairn]

Wow they must have been locked in.

[crimson gulch]

So very hard

the rogue was on 2 failed death saves by the end, we nearly lost them

no spell slots left in the whole party

[humble cairn]

I feel like Dex would be more so, personally.

[inner silo]

Alrighty, thanks for the help!

[high jolt]

I am too conservative with my resources, but if I see my best friend in this world use heroic inspiration and then lucky to hit one of two undead in the mop up part of combat before the real combat I swear to god

[inner silo]

sounds like reasonable behaviour

[sleek cloud]

What’s up everyone

[high jolt]

Also Misty stepping with spirit guardians instead of dashing to get people on the aura. It’s fine. I won’t die next session because of it and we can have a good laugh

[inner silo]

Hi! Finally building my ranger

[inner silo]

yes, makes sense

[sleek cloud]

Nice, whatcha goin with

[inner silo]

wisdom shilleilaugh and shield

just deciding between gloomstalker and beast master

[sleek cloud]

I’d vote beast master

So you can fight side by side with your beast

Plus wisdom based builds are better for beast master too since your wisdom directly affects your beasts stats too

[humble cairn]

Yeah I feel like Beast Master gets more out of being Wisdom maxed than other Ranger subs, Gloomstalker also still benefits.

[remote wadi]

Speaking of Ranger, I wanted to ask you about something

What should my level up plans be as a Ranger? Outside of Sharpshooter, Gunner if applicable, and possibly alert, what should I look for and know about?

[pliant matrix]

IM BAACK

[knotty pasture]

Which's a shame it doesn't work, I think the only good multiclass for Barb is Fighter

[remote wadi]

I feel like the 2 is for "modest 2 (from another universe)"

[pliant matrix]

I don’t know if you’re referencing something but cool 👍

[humble cairn]

This feels like it's for an archer build?

[remote wadi]

Thought you were referencing something from the "I'm back" comment RIP

[knotty pasture]

Lots of stuff work on the Ranger ngl, really depends on what you're trying to build into

[pliant matrix]

Oh no it’s just my default username

[remote wadi]

The plan was for it, yeah. Or a musket-esque weapon later on when money isn't a concern

[knotty pasture]

I would say Piercer only because it works on both melee and range

[humble cairn]

If you're thinking Feats, Fey Touched is almost never bad. That Misty Step is good for maintaining distance from melee enemies.

[remote wadi]

Looking at that, yeah. That makes sense

Just to be sure I understand the feat, it's +1 to Str or Dex (max of 20), getting another attack dice on a crit with piercing damage (i.e. 1d8 piercing becomes 3d8 on a crit), and dealing piercing damage allows you to reroll, then choose that new attack dice

[humble cairn]

Piercer isn't bad, but for me it's definitely a third pick.

[knotty pasture]

Eldritch Adept for Devil's Sight (immunity to darkness), Piercer for a general damage buff if you're using piercing weapons, Skill Expert/Lucky as general buffs, ASI for stats, Gift of Chromatic/Metalic Dragon for more staying power

[humble cairn]

I mean if you were going with a longbow Great Weapon Master (2024) is actually pretty nice.

[remote wadi]

I said this a few times in the past, but with a Barb, Fighter, and Cleric, enemies getting close to me is already telling me something is wrong

[knotty pasture]

Sometimes it can't be helped when people gap close, contingency plans is always really nice

[woven flint]

Oh, good lord, out water deep campaign has a barbarian now
(Loud sighs of being a Cleric in the party)

Well, when we get to level 3, our sorcerer's gonna be spellfire, so, healing isn't ONLY on me

[remote wadi]

I'm using a longbow for now because a firearm is slightly rare and expensive for a level 1-2 Ranger. Once I get more gold and expertise, then being able to get Gunner means big damage upgrades that I can afford

[humble cairn]

Stereotypical Barb or refined Noble Barb?

[knotty pasture]

Especially in smaller rooms, there's nothing anyone can do to stop the enemy from moving in outside of complete stuns

[woven flint]

8 Intelligence and 8 Charisma on his character sheet 🤔

[remote wadi]

That is true. By the way, what is the feat that allows me to get an opportunity attack when an enemy gets into (not out of) my range?

[woven flint]

He's a Tabaxi Barbarian though, so, that's fun!

He and the Monk are gonna be zoomin'

[humble cairn]

GWM and a longbow might actually get you more damage.

[meager fractal]

Would a Battlemaster Fighter 7 Battle smith Artificer 5 result in a decent character for a level 12 one shot where we have to multiclass?

[knotty pasture]

Polearm Master, which uhh, not a super good option unless you're going strength ranger

[remote wadi]

More than Sharpshooter, Gunner, Lucky, and Piercer?

[humble cairn]

I'm only replacing Gunner, there.

[blazing sluice]

You have much much Bette choices. But in a low difficulty game it'll work

Better*

[humble cairn]

Is this a 2014 or 2024 Ranger?

[knotty pasture]

Lucky doesn't actually buff your damage that much, its just there for when you need a reroll when someone's about to hit you or if you missed someone

[remote wadi]

Good question, 2014

[knotty pasture]

You burn through Lucky die really quickly as a result but its again, something nice to have in a pinch

[humble cairn]

Oh then never mind, don't get Great Weapon Master.

[remote wadi]

I wasn't really down for that, either way. If I was a Fighter or Barb, being able to wield both a battleaxe and a Longbow would be a totally different story

[humble cairn]

2024 Great Weapon Master works for longbow shots.

[knotty pasture]

I'd get Piercer, Chromatic, Gunner? Tbh even then I probably might not get Gunner

[remote wadi]

Gunner removes Loading drawback, though

[knotty pasture]

If you are double downing on the musket go for it