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 This is an advice thread for D&D Next. Post here if you're new to the game and want some advice, you want help creating a character, or you'd like some tips on running campaigns. You may also post here if you want to help the people asking those things. Here's some stuff from the main Next thread OP that might help: Covok posted:On a budget? Use this handy guide by forum user by Gradenko Other Next Threads NEXT discussion thread (Here Be Dragons) PBP Discussion Station (For people running Next play-by-posts to discuss poo poo) There are probably some Next games in the Game Room.  A Note For Goons Post poo poo, don't poo poo post. If you think a post is dumb or what someone wants to do flat-out won't work, explain why! No "Next sucks, don't play Next" posts. Take general Next discussion to the other thread and derails to the chat thread.
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Feb 7, 2015 14:54
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As a DM I've used these two generators extensivly: http://tools.goblinist.com/5enc - This one is good for a mixed party, since you can punch in different levels and it will spit out encounters. Sometimes it can be a mixed bag but I generally re-generate till I get something neat and use that as a seed. http://donjon.bin.sh/ - This is a FANTASTIC generator for random dungeons (including traps, motifs, little wandering monsters/events. It's great if you just want a short crawl, or have an idea for a crawl and want a random generated map for you.
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Feb 7, 2015 16:19
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To generate some initial points of discussion, some houserules and gameplay reminders to make the game possibly play better: * Use the standard array: 15/+2, 14/+2, 13/+1, 12/+1, 10/0 and 8/-1 The game's underlying math has a bunch of assumptions which include to-hit percentages and damage bonuses that rely heavily on your attribute scores increasing according to a given "schedule". Using rolled stats can throw off this pattern: it's okay if your stats end up higher than the standard array, but it might not feel good if they ended up worse. It might also not feel good across players if someone gets lucky and gets really good attribute scores while someone else rolls low, and while it's possible to craft a rolling scheme that guarantees good stats, at some point removing the chance of a bad roll means it's equivalent-but-faster to use the standard array anyway. If you really wish to use rolled stats, make sure the group understands the implications of it. Alternatively/additionally, you might want to try a system wherein every player rolls for their stats, but the players all choose a single set of 6 between those rolled as the one to be used across all their characters. That way, stats are still random, but equal across characters. * Groups should have a Short Rest approximately every 2-3 encounters, and a Long Rest approximately every 6-8 encounters * Short Rests are 5 minutes long * All characters have their level 1 maximum HP increased by an amount equal to their CON score * Replace Hit Dice healing with Reserve Points: a character has Reserve Points equal to their maximum Hit Points. When a character takes a Short Rest, they can convert Reserve Points into Hit Points at a 1:1 ratio. Half of all Reserve Points are recovered after taking a Long Rest. The first one is a general reminder, and the next three are house rules. I'm grouping all of these under the reasoning that it is very easy to die in this game at early levels. A couple of good rolls by a Kobold can knock out a Wizard in a single round, and even a Fighter or Barbarian can go from full health to unconscious with the span of a single fight. So the first bullet point is just a reminder to give the party sufficient chances to heal themselves up. The second point is to shorten Short Rests so that it's narratively easier to sell the idea that the group is taking a quick break. Under the normal 1 hour Short Rest, not only can it be difficult to engineer a situation where the group is safe and secure for an entire hour, it also lends itself to the idea that if the group is secure for an hour, then they're likely going to be secure for a full 8 hours and might as well take a Long Rest. The third point is to give players a larger HP buffer, to reduce the chance that they'll be killed by an encounter that wasn't really supposed to. You can still create difficult encounters if you want, but a wider HP range gives you a larger margin of error so that an easy fight doesn't bleed into a hard fight just because of the dice. Finally, the last point allows players to tap into their Short Rest-based healing in a precise manner. I really don't see the reason why Hit Dice healing has to be random apart from the general idea that rolling dice and randomness is "fun". If you were taking a break, you would know exactly how much you'd heal yourself for. It's also much easier to track and perform healing this way, rather than having to note down how many Hit Dice you have then rolling those dice. If you want to retain the lethality of the game and think it's a good thing, then you can simply throw out the +CON score to max HP rule. Alternatively, when leveling up and increasing max HP, you can disregard any new HP value that isn't higher than your current max, until such time that you "grow out of it" naturally. The 5 minute Short Rests and Reserve Points I think are good rules to keep even if you want to retain the raw threat of death of the first 3 levels. Having said that, starting at level 3 is also a plausible idea. Not only will it get you to a point in the game where you're not so easily killed, but most classes will have a number of their abilities unlocked by then and can do stuff beyond basic attack and raw improvisation. It may be overwhelming for completely new players though, so yet another general good idea is to fast-track level advancement: you might want to be level 2 by the end of your first session, and then level 3 after your second. The first 2 levels were deliberately designed to be easily achievable even under the raw experience-marking rules anyway.
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Feb 7, 2015 16:27
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gradenko_2000 posted:houserules snipped I really like how those house rules sound. How much play testing have you put into them? Speaking from the experience as a player new to table top and D&D our group did run into situations as level ones where lucky crits ended up putting us into some difficult situations. I am playing a cleric and was able to keep us upright while some creative game play turned things back in our favor. Having hit points equal to the level one max combined with our CON score would have helped out for sure. As the cleric I'm not the group's dps source but getting to swing my war hammer or use my cantrip nuke instead of healing would have shaved some combat rounds. The short rests being five minutes instead of an hour is also interesting. Our DM and our rogue are both old school experienced players so they've been really helpful in learning for my brother, the paladin, and I. So while we are using the one hour short rest we learned quickly to be aware of what was going on around us. On both short and long rests we'll make a point to set watches, put out improvised noise makers, etc. Also regarding the house rule of five minute short rests what happen to thing like the cleric/paladin channel divinity abilities? For example where I am now I have two channel divinities: turn undead and guided strike. Guided strike gives me a plus ten to my hit roll if I announce its usage before the DM declares a hit or miss. Did you find that being able to reset those abilities every two to three encounters made these abilities too powerful or raised their usefulness? I have caught myself holding onto my channel divinity waiting for a big encounter and ended up not using it. Converting hit dice to reserve points is also a nice idea. It really sucks to roll a one or a two on a hit dice when you need healing. We already roleplayed hit dice as time we took to apply bandages, etc. So now it would just be bandages that don't immediately fall off and burst into flames. 
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Feb 7, 2015 21:41
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Trast posted:Also regarding the house rule of five minute short rests what happen to thing like the cleric/paladin channel divinity abilities? For example where I am now I have two channel divinities: turn undead and guided strike. Guided strike gives me a plus ten to my hit roll if I announce its usage before the DM declares a hit or miss. Did you find that being able to reset those abilities every two to three encounters made these abilities too powerful or raised their usefulness? I have caught myself holding onto my channel divinity waiting for a big encounter and ended up not using it. E: To be fair to your GM though, 1 hour short rests are really hard to fit into the narrative. In both my groups I think we're averaging 0-1 per day in actual play, so it's not just you guys. ImpactVector fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Feb 7, 2015 |
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Feb 7, 2015 21:56
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If you're houseruling short rests anyway, be prepared to house rule it further than that - short rests are fundamentally a narrative convenience for 'mechanically, some limited resources refresh and you get access to some others' - any time it could be reasonable for them to take a short rest, and they're due one, it should be possible for them to take one. Even if it's 'you stop and drink from the enchanted pool' or 'your god smiles on your recent success and you feel reinvigorated'. Don't feel hidebound to 'you must sit and do nothing for x minutes', however big or small x is. Same for long rests.
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Feb 7, 2015 23:15
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thespaceinvader posted:If you're houseruling short rests anyway, be prepared to house rule it further than that - short rests are fundamentally a narrative convenience for 'mechanically, some limited resources refresh and you get access to some others' - any time it could be reasonable for them to take a short rest, and they're due one, it should be possible for them to take one. Even if it's 'you stop and drink from the enchanted pool' or 'your god smiles on your recent success and you feel reinvigorated'. Don't feel hidebound to 'you must sit and do nothing for x minutes', however big or small x is. Same for long rests. I'd also like to point out that quite a number of the officially published material from the early 5E encounters did exactly this. It was also done heavily in 4E too.
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Feb 7, 2015 23:18
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Regarding creating your own monsters: (This is hacked up information from several different posts I made in the other Next thread) When I created some monsters for the (other) thread before the MM came out some of the things I did were: Focus on synergistic abilities, Give the elite enemies priest buffs to use, Give some enemy groups a single spell to unleash to make them slightly more interesting. LFK posted:The system supports interesting and synergistic monster abilities like 4e, so that part of monster design is still fun. I think the conditions I feel work best in combat are poisoned; frightened; and strangely enough, charmed. Not coincidentally, those are the ones I used in the monsters I created.
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Feb 7, 2015 23:22
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DalaranJ posted:Give some enemy groups a single spell to unleash to make them slightly more interesting. Do you mean "this group of monsters casts this one spell once in the fight", eg 5 kobolds collectively getting to cast one Web? Because that's an excellent idea that I don't think I've seen elsewhere. -- I'll ask a question, too. What's everyone's opinion on jack-of-all-trades type characters? Or to put it another way, how do I best make a character who can do a bit of everything? Obviously "casts spells" provides heaps of options, but can I get decent spellcasting, melee combat, ranged combat, sneakiness, and healing (even just self healing) into the one character? Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 7, 2015 23:58
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Dex based Valor Bard sounds like a good bet. You'll be proficient with all weapons, shields and up to medium armor, 2 attacks per round or cast a spell and attack once as a bonus action with the ability to swap from finesse melee to bows easily enough, full spellcaster with the ability to poach spells from other classes, half proficiency to ability checks and double proficiency in 2 skills each at levels 3 and 10, so pick some sneaky stuff, and healing spells and Song of Rest to make help eke out some extra HP from short rests.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:28
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ImpactVector posted:Once every 2-3 fights is actually about how often you're supposed to be able to short rest by the book. I think the official guideline is "twice per day between long rests", but if you're not getting that then you're behind the curve. The 5 minute length is just to make it more likely to hit that number. In my GM's defense our group has an amazing ability to get ourselves into trouble or prolonged running battles. It turns out our rogue is really into stabbing things while I am trying to talk out a situation. I'm going to bring those suggested house rules up to him and the group and see what they think.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:31
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You should be aware, though, that D&D rules systems in general reward specialising and punish generalising. A single generalist in two areas will tend to be less than the sum of the two halves of specialists that make it up, IYSWIM. It's a function of how feats, class features, items etc are assigned, as well as at least partly an intended part of the design - one person isn't supposed to be good at all the things, because it's a team game.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:32
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thespaceinvader posted:You should be aware, though, that D&D rules systems in general reward specialising and punish generalising. A single generalist in two areas will tend to be less than the sum of the two halves of specialists that make it up, IYSWIM. It's a function of how feats, class features, items etc are assigned, as well as at least partly an intended part of the design - one person isn't supposed to be good at all the things, because it's a team game. I'm actually asking because these days my main group generally runs to 3 players (or maybe even just 2 on occasion) instead of the 4-5 we used to have. I should have included that in my question, I guess. My idea was that you'd run 3 generalists and have all your bases covered, but if someone can point out a good/interesting party composition with 3 specialists, that would be neat too (I'm thinking bear druid, wizard, and... maybe valor bard?) Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 00:36
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Re-linking Sanglorian's Microlite5E document because it's a good resource on making RAW-legal monsters that are easy to construct with having to use the rear end-backwards DMG method, and it has some good ideas on streamlining the character creation process (although these characters will be more powerful than using the standard array)Trast posted:I really like how those house rules sound. How much play testing have you put into them? Trast posted:Also regarding the house rule of five minute short rests what happen to thing like the cleric/paladin channel divinity abilities? For example where I am now I have two channel divinities: turn undead and guided strike. Guided strike gives me a plus ten to my hit roll if I announce its usage before the DM declares a hit or miss. Did you find that being able to reset those abilities every two to three encounters made these abilities too powerful or raised their usefulness? I have caught myself holding onto my channel divinity waiting for a big encounter and ended up not using it. Reducing them to 5 minutes makes it easier to engineer a narrative situation where it can be done, but it's not a question of changing the balance of the game because you were already expected to get them that often in the first place. AlphaDog posted:I'll ask a question, too. What's everyone's opinion on jack-of-all-trades type characters? Or to put it another way, how do I best make a character who can do a bit of everything? Obviously "casts spells" provides heaps of options, but can I get decent spellcasting, melee combat, ranged combat, sneakiness, and healing (even just self healing) into the one character? Bard is definitely your best bet - they can choose to be Proficient in any skill (assuming your group is strict on following skill proficiency selections by class/background), they have access to Expertise, and then can still use half their Proficiency on skills they're not Proficient in. Valor gets you better at combat, but Lore lets you cherry pick more spells from other class' spell lists, such as say if you wanted some explicit healing spells. gradenko_2000 fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 00:44
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AlphaDog posted:I'm actually asking because these days my main group generally runs to 3 players (or maybe even just 2 on occasion) instead of the 4-5 we used to have. I should have included that in my question, I guess. My idea was that you'd run 3 generalists and have all your bases covered, but if someone can point out a good/interesting party composition with 3 specialists, that would be neat too (I'm thinking bear druid, wizard, and... maybe valor bard?) With a smaller party there's a stronger argument in favour of doing it. Casters have more flexibility generally anyway, so picking the right set of spells will let you accomplish this with more or less any three casters, I suspect. But I'd still avoid trying to do melee weapons, ranged weapons, face and sneaky all on one character at the same time. Instead, build a decent party as abve and play to the whole party's strengths. Look for ways to accomplish your goals which ay to what you're good at, and if you're only offered two options both of which you're not so good at... find a third. Or a fourth.
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Feb 8, 2015 10:04
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Thanks guys. Next time I get to play I'm gonna go Lore Bard and see how it ends up.
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Feb 8, 2015 10:47
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Just sort of pondering by post, but has anyone done any kludges to address the M.A.D. aspects of 5e? Like, the fighter doesn't get much out-of-combat capability to speak of (no expertise AND no spells) and basically you have to pump STR if you want to go melee/thrown or pump DEX for finesse/ranged... and AC  And CON because really everyone needs it. At that point you're tapped out on ability scores, and you're missing out on the big skill groupings (INT/WIS/CHA). Feats/ASI being an either-or is also problematic, IME.It also bugs me that Druids and (ostensibly Rangers) want WIS but they moved Nature back to being an INT skill. The first thing that comes to mind is something like Gamma World, where you automatically get high numbers in the abilities you need and roll for the rest..? or some variation on that. Actually, it also seems like it'd be pretty easy to get rid of ability scores altogether; the math is pretty transparent (whether it works right is another matter entirely, but)
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Feb 8, 2015 10:50
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P.d0t posted:...basically you have to pump STR if you want to go melee/thrown or pump DEX for finesse/ranged... and AC I'm not sure this one is easily solvable. There was talk of merging STR and CON into one stat, but that sounds like it will massively boost classes that want a casting stat and then melee stats (bear druids and valor bards, off the top of my head) instead of just fighters. I heard an idea about removing the CON score and incorporating the bonuses it gives into class bonuses, but I can't remember details. I guess the simple way to start working it out would be to have a list of "X class = Y con score". If I run a game, players will get feats and ability score increases. I can't see it hurting if everyone gets it. P.d0t posted:It also bugs me that Druids and (ostensibly Rangers) want WIS but they moved Nature back to being an INT skill. It bugs me too. Let Nature be either INT or WIS, problem solved. P.d0t posted:Actually, it also seems like it'd be pretty easy to get rid of ability scores altogether; the math is pretty transparent (whether it works right is another matter entirely, but) I dunno man, you could remove the scores themselves while leaving in all the bonus/penalty stuff, but that seems a bit pointless. If you're talking full DTAS, that's a complete re-write of the rules, isn't it? Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 15:25
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AlphaDog posted:There was talk of merging STR and CON into one stat, but that sounds like it will massively boost classes that want a casting stat and then melee stats (bear druids and valor bards, off the top of my head) instead of just fighters. I can't think of much off my head that CON is used for besides HP, so you probably could just ditch it and just make hp a function of class pretty much like you say (Fighters get X, Rogues get Y, etc.) while rolling the other functions into STR.
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Feb 8, 2015 16:28
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What about completely decoupling skills from ability scores. Right now, they're often written as something like "you can make a Strength (athletics) check" which seems to me like that might have been the original intention (unless this is some D&D tradition that goes over my head because 5e's my first system). It'd be tougher to justify using something other than int for skills like history or arcana, or for using something other than dex for acrobatics, but intimidation could just as well be based off of str or dex if you have a reputation as a deadly opponent. Con could be used in place of cha while drinking is involved or for athletics checks that involve running long distances. Nature could be combined with either wis or int. On short rest talk: What narrative situations would prevent players from taking a short rest after every single encounter instead of every 2 or 3? As a player, I'd certainly push to lick my wounds and get back to full HP immediately after a fight before venturing into the unknown, so I'm trying to get some ideas on how the story/DM could push back. This goes even for the RAW 1 hour short rests. It's hard to call time a concern, as even taking an absurd 5 hours of rest leaves a lot of time for adventuring each day unless travel is involved unless the party is racing someone else to a goal. The 5 minute variant sorta throws out that idea.
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Feb 8, 2015 19:59
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Slippery42 posted:What narrative situations would prevent players from taking a short rest after every single encounter instead of every 2 or 3? As a player, I'd certainly push to lick my wounds and get back to full HP immediately after a fight before venturing into the unknown, so I'm trying to get some ideas on how the story/DM could push back. This goes even for the RAW 1 hour short rests. It's hard to call time a concern, as even taking an absurd 5 hours of rest leaves a lot of time for adventuring each day unless travel is involved unless the party is racing someone else to a goal. The 5 minute variant sorta throws out that idea. Being in a dungeon. I think the idea is that if you're going to take an hour long rest, you've gotta roll wandering monster or whatever.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:21
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Slippery42 posted:What about completely decoupling skills from ability scores. Right now, they're often written as something like "you can make a Strength (athletics) check" which seems to me like that might have been the original intention (unless this is some D&D tradition that goes over my head because 5e's my first system). It'd be tougher to justify using something other than int for skills like history or arcana, or for using something other than dex for acrobatics, but intimidation could just as well be based off of str or dex if you have a reputation as a deadly opponent. Con could be used in place of cha while drinking is involved or for athletics checks that involve running long distances. Nature could be combined with either wis or int. The DM can choose when or not to make the skill checks related to actual skills or not. So for instance to use your examples: "intimidation could just as well be based off of str or dex if you have a reputation as a deadly opponent" Somehow you've attained a reputation for being a brutal murderer or something. Like to the extent where the DM agrees that the average guy in the street knows who you are. If you walk up to some peasant in a bar and you're like "Get the hell out of MY seat" the DM could just say "Yeah the guy is clearly scared shitless of you and runs off" or the DM could say "thanks to your deadly reputation, it's an easy (5DC) challenge to scare the peasant" and I'll give you an advantage. If you somehow fail that even with low charisma I'll be amazed and it obviously means some sort of random factor is at play here. The idea that you have a reputation and the idea you can intimidate someone aren't always linked. You may not be very good at talking to people but everyone knows you're Cohen the Barbarian and you'll kill a man if he knocks over your drink, or you could actually have never killed anyone but you convince someone you'll kill them. "Con could be used in place of cha while drinking is involved or for athletics checks that involve running long distances" As far as I was aware constitution is used to see if you get drunk from drinking or not? If you're on about say persuading someone while they are drunk, I'd still say it's the persuade skill but if you are more drunk then they are, you get a disadvantage, if they are more drunk than you you get an advantage to the roll. So that way a character with high con can get people drunk to stand a better chance of getting them to do stuff, but that's nothing to do with what they actually say, and no matter how drunk someone is if you accidentally imply their mother is a whore, they will be pissed off. I think the second point is valid, because the fitter and healthier you are then you can run further, whereas being strong doesn't necessarily mean you can do a marathon. On the other hand, a dwarf may have high con and they aren't known for their endurance running. So I guess that's one of those things you need to sort yourself. "Nature could be combined with either wis or int." To me "Nature" is more like "book stuff" to do with nature and "Survival" is more about experience living in a forest. Nature tests will be "Ah yes, that is locium virbirillium and that contains a horrible poison which will cause your immune system to burn in agonising pain before dying" whereas survival is "Don't eat that mushroom, it will kill you". Personally I can't see a huge amount of difference between the skills, and if there's like a druid or something with 10 intelligence trying to pass Nature tests and failing you could always give them an advantage if it's about the forest they live in or something. Slippery42 posted:On short rest talk: My own personal opinion is that generally a short rest should happen when the DM thinks it should, and should last as long as they think it should. Generally I don't think this needs to be an hour, but it also doesn't need to be half an hour. If you're exploring a dungeon and you want to rest for an hour, there's no real reason you can't do it, but monsters might wander in and things like that, which means you'd have to fight again without getting the benefits of a short rest. Or there could be some time factor, monsters have kidnapped a little girl and they are going to sacrifice her to open a hell portal and you want a nap? If the DM is playing RAW you need an hour though, find a way to make a safe area to sit down in and if you can't the only option really is to back track through the entire dungeon to camp outside, or to press on, otherwise the DM might just be like "OK well a giant spider wanders in".
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Feb 8, 2015 20:26
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Generic Octopus posted:I can't think of much off my head that CON is used for besides HP You're forgetting Concentration checks for spellcasters, which is part of why everyone wants CON. Maybe to replace that, you could have Concentration key off of the middle of INT/WIS/CHA?  The big problem with getting rid of an ability score entirely is it messes up point buy, unfortunately. AlphaDog posted:It bugs me too. Let Nature be either INT or WIS, problem solved. One idea that I've had, which I've posted other places for other editions is to let any Knowledge Skills from your class list use either INT or WIS. For the most part class skill lists don't do much (because of backgrounds) and this makes them meaningful without being a straightjacket. Basically what I think I was angling at was "Fighters need CON and DEX or STR; You get 18 DEX or STR and 16 CON. Then roll for the rest/get 14 in one of INT/WIS/CHA." Although I'm sure some munchkin would ruin this with multiclassing. Slippery42 posted:What about completely decoupling skills from ability scores. Right now, they're often written as something like "you can make a Strength (athletics) check" which seems to me like that might have been the original intention I think that was the intent, and I borrowed from that idea for the skill list I'm using in The Next Project; each Skill is a Skillset, and does different things when used with a different ability score. A DM I had in 4e did something similar, where "Appraise" was "Streetwise but with INT instead of CHA" for example. Or, "Climb" could be "Athletics + STR" and "Tumble" could be "Athletics + DEX" or stuff like that. Maybe, if you want to go DTAS, start by creating a class-based equivalent of Proficiency that stacks with actual Prof. Fighters would always add it to Weapon attacks and probably Athletics. Admittedly I haven't thought about this at any depth, I'm just sort of thinking this up as I type.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:46
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AlphaDog posted:Do you mean "this group of monsters casts this one spell once in the fight", eg 5 kobolds collectively getting to cast one Web? Not like "wondertwin powers activate', I was merely trying to come up with a happy medium between one of them being a full caster and none of them having any unique powers. Although if you were thinking 'wondertwin powers activate' that is a cool idea, but it is not a unique idea. In D&D 3e, there were thunder lizards who could collectively create a lightning bolt, and I know there is an example of that type of power in 13th age as well, I think duergar have it? Now I sort of want to make a thunder lizard in 5e, but unfortunately I do not have a DMG. Generic Octopus posted:I can't think of much off my head that CON is used for besides HP, so you probably could just ditch it and just make hp a function of class pretty much like you say (Fighters get X, Rogues get Y, etc.) while rolling the other functions into STR. Con is a pretty important save, but if you were going to remove Con, Str would be the place to move it. Kitchner posted:My own personal opinion is that generally a short rest should happen when the DM thinks it should, and should last as long as they think it should. It sounds like you are suggesting that players should be restricted from attempting a short rest when they choose. Perhaps I am misunderstanding. How do you think a DM should determine when short resting is possible? Would the DM inform the players after each encounter whether short resting is allowed?
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Feb 8, 2015 22:20
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DalaranJ posted:
No, if they want to take a short rest and there's no reason they can't hang around for an hour as described in the rule book then they should be able to rest. However, if you're in the middle of a dungeon and they just got battered because you got some lucky rolls, it's probably unlikely they'll be safe for an hour, but on the other hand you don't want them dying. So you might say they can have a 30 minute break to patch up their wounds and things and it will count as a short rest. In some situations though, yeah the GM should actively work against the players taking rests all the time. Their abilities are limited for a reason, and you want to tread a line between providing a challenge with interesting decisions (do we push on or do we just retreat all together? Do we rest and risk the bad guy getting away? etc), making it way too easy (imagine if they were allowed to just rest for 8 hours after every fight, there would be no need to think about when to use your spells), and making it way too hard (if they get battered black and blue and they are all on half health, is the big boss fight you planned actually going to be fun?). To specifically answer the last point, yeah I think if the DM thinks the players need a rest, they should be told they can have one. Smart players would realise if the DM is giving you a chance to heal for no reason then it's not actually for no reason though.
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Feb 8, 2015 23:27
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General tips for character creation and play: Remember, although there are serious issues with class balance, it is not a competitive game. If you don't want to be a wizard and want to be a sword guy, you don't have to. Unless of course, your DM is a poo poo trying to kill you, not understanding TTRPGs, in which case, find a new DM. Multi-Classing: -The first class you take for Level 1 is the most important, because it determines your full array of proficiency. IE: You only get the save proficiency of your first class, as well as your skills. You cannot gain heavy armor proficiency from multiclassing. If you want to be an Heavily Armored Wizard with a sword, your first level should be Fighter, not Wizard. Barbarians: -The Frenzy Path is not advised. The stacking exhaustion will derail your character fast unless you literally only rage once per day. You may try to convince your DM to remove or at least cap that rule because it makes it unplayable IMO. Fighter -Champion path is not advised, unless all you truly want to do is say 'I attack'. You are probably not on this forum if this is your level of involvement in the game. They only get a critical boost, and critical hits are not too strong in this game. Battlemaster lets you be more involved, and everything they get refreshes on a short rest, so it's the advised go to Fighter archetype. -Eldritch Knights are weirdly limiting. If you really want an Arcane-casting Fighter, consider multi-classing Battlemaster with something else, or just take 1 or 2 levels of fighter for the abilities and proficiency. A combo that jumps to my mind possibly is Sorcerer/Fighter, using quickened spell on top of standard attacks. Fighter/Wizard is the most obvious parallel, although it forces you to attack or cast, rarely ever both(unless you Action Surge.) Healers: -Healing Word is superior to Cure Wounds. Cure Wounds requires a standard, for you to be right next to your ally. Healing Word, on average, heals only two less HP but is a bonus and has range. This is important because: -Healing in battle is not worth it. Outside a few exceptions of the Heal spell and Restore Health channel divinity, 1d4 or 1d8+WIS/CHA is not going to make a long term difference. In Early levels, using Healing Word and making an attack will push the party to victory more effectively than Cure Wounds and doing nothing. In later levels, it's best used to revive people who have fallen unconscious, because no matter what you do, 1d8+modifiers will not help someone survive more than one hit. -The 'Healer' feat is not terrible at lower levels for what amounts to something stronger than a hit die. It's pretty much a poor man's version of the Wand of Cure Light Wounds from 3.5. It's cheap, reusable on a short rest, and should be used before normal hit dice are used. Rogue -Similar to the Champion, the Assassin is actually very poor in combat. It can be chosen for the disguise perks, but that's the only reason to take it. You become a one trick pony. Granted, you are VERY good at that trick. -You can only sneak attack once per round, so a multi-class combo with Fighter, like in 3.5, doesn't work too well. Humans -If you're playing a heavily armored Human who will be in melee, IE: Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, consider the human variant and take Heavy Armor Master. It's a great boon for low levels and acts as a mild survivability buff in higher levels. General Advice: -Great Weapon Fighting is a must if fighting with a two hander. The -5 penalty becomes less of an issue as levels go up, and the +10 damage applies to every attack. The 'Cleave' is nice when cleaning up weak enemies - and remember, you get your extra bonus attacks on a critical hit as well. -Polearm Master gives you an opportunity attack against approaching enemies with a reach weapon. This can be combined with great weapon fighting. -You only have one reaction a turn, so don't pick too many effects which use that as a resource. More if I think of any.
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Feb 8, 2015 23:51
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How much should Bards care about their weapon stat? (i.e. STR or DEX) What builds might you use a halfing or gnome for?
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Feb 9, 2015 00:07
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I am entirely new to D&D, and table top games in general, as is the entirety of my group. I ended up getting stuck with DMing because I beat Baldur's Gate 2 a couple of times and that somehow made me the most qualified person for the job. So far the learning curve hasn't been quite as harsh as I expected it to be, but the thing I'm struggling with right now is loot. I really have no idea what I should be handing out and what I should be withholding and the whole randomly generated loot hoards aspect doesn't seem to be helping.
Semper Fudge fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 00:26
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Kitchner posted:No, Oh, you didn't have to write all that. I was only really interested in what your answer was if it was 'yes'.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:36
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DalaranJ posted:Oh, you didn't have to write all that. I was only really interested in what your answer was if it was 'yes'. Oh well, in that case my apologies. Someone else may find it interesting anyway I suppose.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:39
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Slippery42 posted:On short rest talk: It usually comes down to either time pressure or wandering monsters. From a more general perspective it's a difficult thing to balance because it comes down to DM fiat, but there needs to be a reason and it needs to be believable. 13th Age does this thing where narrative justification for a Long Rest is disregarded entirely: the party can be in whatever situation, but they can only ever actually benefit from a Long Rest once every 3-4 encounters and when the DM allows them to, because it's so key to the pacing and tension of the game for that 3-4 encounter interval to be maintained that it basically boils down to instead of trying to twist the story's arm to make it fit, just go "gently caress you, no Long Rests until you finish 3-4 encounters, realism be damned", with the small caveat that okay, the party CAN force a Long Rest before they're allowed to, but it means taking a plot failure. I mean, you could certainly approach it that way - no Rests until I say you get Rests, but it breaks the 4th wall as it were and getting people to go along with it requires that they understand the underlying gameplay-based reason for it. You only rest because of gameplay, so the only reason to rest should be gameplay-based. Kitchner posted:"intimidation could just as well be based off of str or dex if you have a reputation as a deadly opponent" You reminded me that this one of the very first things I had to houserule mid-flight - Intimidation keying off CHA made the Fighter completely ineffective at trying to threaten dudes. I definitely think it's a workable idea to decouple skills from their attribute modifiers and assign the pairing on a case-by-case basis. It's probably the closest thing to make characters more flexible without having to do an entire DTAS rewrite, although some characters would still suffer from MAD. Another idea in the same vein would be simply letting a character select whatever 4 proficiencies they want, class and background be damned (as long as the player supports it)
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Feb 9, 2015 01:07
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P.d0t posted:How much should Bards care about their weapon stat? (i.e. STR or DEX) I guess it's how much you want to hit things vs. cast spells. Bards innately are keyed towards being DEX characters but there's nothing stopping you from doing Strength based characters. One of the concepts I might use is a Fighter1/ValorBardX with two battle axes. Suboptimal, but there's nothing I see that is keyed off dexterity. Halfings are pretty good for any DEX based class that doesn't rely on the longbow, and probably makes the most out of it on a character with a bunch of attack rolls. Bards and Rogues are good standards. A Rapier-based fighter/two weapon finesse fighter also prob works just fine. Non-standard, there's nothing saying a Paladin must be strength based, so a halfling paladin with a rapier could do just fine. The Con or Cha bonus both apply pretty well. Gnomes are far more limited. Only one class really cares about INT. If you insist on Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster, they'll be competent at either, and the only real way Gnomes can flourish statistically as front line fighters. The rules as written put a damper on Gnomes with Greatswords or Gnomebarians, which really does tell me Mike Mearls hates fun.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:32
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Semper Fudge posted:I am entirely new to D&D, and table top games in general, as is the entirety of my group. I ended up getting stuck with DMing because I beat Baldur's Gate 2 a couple of times and that somehow made me the most qualified person for the job. So far the learning curve hasn't been quite as harsh as I expected it to be, but the thing I'm struggling with right now is loot. I really have no idea what I should be handing out and what I should be withholding and the whole randomly generated loot hoards aspect doesn't seem to be helping. I'd reccommend usimg a premade module adventure for your first try. It'll help you get a hang of the mechanics of the game, and avoid the difficulty of designing encounters and gear.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:36
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Semper Fudge posted:I am entirely new to D&D, and table top games in general, as is the entirety of my group. I ended up getting stuck with DMing because I beat Baldur's Gate 2 a couple of times and that somehow made me the most qualified person for the job. So far the learning curve hasn't been quite as harsh as I expected it to be, but the thing I'm struggling with right now is loot. I really have no idea what I should be handing out and what I should be withholding and the whole randomly generated loot hoards aspect doesn't seem to be helping. It sounds like you're already playing the game, right? So what I'd do is to think about (and observe in-game) what kinds of things the characters need and put in some stuff like that. If they're having trouble staying alive or if they're running out of healing before running out of adventure, put in more healing potions and stuff. If one character is having trouble hitting the enemy, then put in a a magic version of that character's signature weapon. If one character is getting hit very often, put in some magic armor that's the armor they wear. Players will generally be pretty good about picking up on "there's magic black leather armor, the rogue wears black leather armor, the magic black leather armor should go to the rogue", but you should expect them to do something unexpected from time to time. If they do, just roll with it. Use magic items as Chekov's Guns. Is there a river-travel scene coming up in the next adventure? They find a magic boat, or stuff for breathing underwater. Is the real threat not the goblins, but the Necromancer? They find stuff that hurts undead creatures. Use magic items as adventure hooks. Here's a wand that shits fire into your opponent's throat (like, three times then it's empty). The box it came in is marked with a strange sigil. You suspect that there's more where this came from. Alternatively, you can just roll randomly and let the dice fall where they may. It'll probably be a clusterfuck, but it should also be entertaining, especially if you and the players are good with just kinda rolling with weird stuff. This next part is more about making your own stuff up, and I'm gonna quote myself from way way back in the other thread: AlphaDog posted:I've always been a fan of weird non-combat magic items. So have my group. I'm not sure Next supports that sort of thing, but the existing rules don't do anything to prevent it either. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 01:51
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Semper Fudge posted:I am entirely new to D&D, and table top games in general, as is the entirety of my group. I ended up getting stuck with DMing because I beat Baldur's Gate 2 a couple of times and that somehow made me the most qualified person for the job. So far the learning curve hasn't been quite as harsh as I expected it to be, but the thing I'm struggling with right now is loot. I really have no idea what I should be handing out and what I should be withholding and the whole randomly generated loot hoards aspect doesn't seem to be helping. Use this: http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/random/#treasure Individual treasures for random/mook encounters and treasure hoards for beating bosses, quest rewards and reaching plot milestones. If you see an item that you don't recognize, resist the urge to look it up in the book. Instead, just make something up. The generator just spat out "Silk Gloves trimmed with Sable" which is supposed to be 25g vendor fodder, but you could just as easily play it off as a consumable item for a skill check that requires delicate handiwork. You can also use the treasure generators for other systems this way.
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Feb 9, 2015 02:09
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P.d0t posted:How much should Bards care about their weapon stat? (i.e. STR or DEX) Bards generally use dex weapons since their skills are usually dex based. If you are still talking about bards, lightfoot halfling and forest gnome are good choices. Did you have anything specific in mind?
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Feb 9, 2015 02:44
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eatenmyeyes posted:Did you have anything specific in mind? Sorta kinda not really. Like, basically what I'm thinking about is, the Bard's weapon selection is poo poo if you start as one at level 1 (like when you have to be the healer, or whatever). Once you get to level 3, you can go Valor Bard and have some more options (with the added  So starting as a Fighter and then multiclassing Bard can work (hurray for getting all weapon/armor proficiencies) but I dunno exactly what weapon might be most useful in that scenario. Is going heavy armor and dumping DEX any good? Or is it better to not MC and stick with Light/Medium and the limited Bard weapon profs? Or just gently caress weapons, get enough DEX for the +2 AC with Medium armor and use spells all the time? Alternatively, you can go with a Race that gives you some more weapon proficiencies (Elf, Dwarf) but no CHA bonus... So I guess my question is, would that be even worth playing, as a bard?
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Feb 9, 2015 05:46
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P.d0t posted:Sorta kinda not really. Bear with me, but I want to try something out. What three things is the character you want to make most notable for? These can be anything: "good at fighting", "fly fishing", "sharp eyesight", "silver tongued" What five things is the character good at, but to a lesser extent than the previous three?
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Feb 9, 2015 05:59
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Nothing on the bard is keyed to DEX, go hog wild. 1 Level of fighter gets you a fighting style too, which is certainly nice. And Second Wind, which... ok, if you have nothing else to do with your bonus action(and free heal before short rests). Two would give you action surge which is ripe for tricks, but delays your spell progression even more.
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Feb 9, 2015 06:10
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DalaranJ posted:Now I sort of want to make a thunder lizard in 5e, but unfortunately I do not have a DMG. Here goes. (If somebody with the books wants to fix this stuff up for me, that would be good, I'm working from assumptions based on the basic rules.) GigaLizard* Small beast AC 12 HP 20 (6d6) Speed 30 - Dex 14 - Senses Darkvision** 60ft. Damage Immunity: Lightning - Actions Bite +4, 4 (d6+2) P Conduct Charge The Gigalizard produces a up to 60 ft. line of electricity from it's extended neck frills from itself to another Gigalizard or field of Electrofungus. Creatures that pass through the electricity take 4 (d6+2) lightning damage. (No Save) The line of electricity remains in place until the Gigalizard moves or takes a different Action. The Gigalizard may produce up to two lines of electricity at once (over two consecutive turns). Electrical Discharge (Recharge 6)*** Trigger: If the Gigalizard is adjacent to at least two other Gigalizards it can use this ability. The Gigalizard shoots a 30ft line of electricity from its extended neck frills that deals 10 (3d6) lightning damage, dex save halves. Instinct: To defend its 'territory' Tactics: Gather in groups of 3 in order to use their Discharge power, then spread out to separate invaders using their conduction power Grouping: Always combine with Electrofungus, at low levels add giant fire beetles or bats instead of multiple Gigalizards *In consideration of it being 2015, please remember to pronounce Gigalizards starting with a soft g sound. ** Gigalizards lose darkvision if their Action "Electrical Discharge" is not 'charged'. *** A Gigalizard's 'charge state' is clearly visible to both characters and other Gigalizards. Electrofungus Medium sized patch of fine plants? Creates a 30 ft radius of dim light Creatures touching or standing in Electrofungus take 2 (d4) lightning damage per turn.
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Feb 9, 2015 06:43
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