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[D&D 5E Discussion] It works just fine except when it doesn't.
Denada
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
These are wizards:
And this is a coast:
Put them together, and you get:
Being a company that tries to make money and also makes D&D, Wizards of the Coast has released a new game. Or rather, is in the process of releasing a new game. That game is called Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition.
5E, as it will be called from here forward, has been quite a spectacle. There was a very public playtest while the game was being developed, which brought about a lot of enthusiasm, criticism, and Monte Cook's invention of Passive Perception.
Anyway, the playtest is over and the actual product is (sort of) out now. There's a Starter Set for anyone wanting to dip their toe for a little bit of money. There's also the Basic Rules for anyone that wants to look at some of the rules (but sort of more than the Starter Set while also sort of less than the Starter Set) without paying any money at all.
The Player's Handbook was released on August 19th, 2014. The Monster Manual was release on September 30th. The Dungeon Master's Guide, which is generally considered to be the third core D&D book, will be released on November 18 December 9. Actually you know what, just go look at the product page if you want to, because there's other stuff and I'm tired of pasting URLs.
Where D&D 4E had the D&D Insider digital suite of two kinda-functional tools, two magazines that are no longer being produced, and one compendium of rules, D&D 5E is was going to have DungeonScape, but it was cancelled. There are currently no stated plans for digital D&D products of any kind (PDFs or otherwise), though lip-service has been paid to the idea that there might one day be tentative plans for something to be, theoretically, made available in some fashion in the future.
The last thread is over now, so let's talk about 5E in this thread.
Great Ways to Introduce Yourself to the Thread
And this is a coast:
Put them together, and you get:
Being a company that tries to make money and also makes D&D, Wizards of the Coast has released a new game. Or rather, is in the process of releasing a new game. That game is called Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition.
5E, as it will be called from here forward, has been quite a spectacle. There was a very public playtest while the game was being developed, which brought about a lot of enthusiasm, criticism, and Monte Cook's invention of Passive Perception.
Anyway, the playtest is over and the actual product is (sort of) out now. There's a Starter Set for anyone wanting to dip their toe for a little bit of money. There's also the Basic Rules for anyone that wants to look at some of the rules (but sort of more than the Starter Set while also sort of less than the Starter Set) without paying any money at all.
The Player's Handbook was released on August 19th, 2014. The Monster Manual was release on September 30th. The Dungeon Master's Guide, which is generally considered to be the third core D&D book, will be released on November 18 December 9. Actually you know what, just go look at the product page if you want to, because there's other stuff and I'm tired of pasting URLs.
Where D&D 4E had the D&D Insider digital suite of two kinda-functional tools, two magazines that are no longer being produced, and one compendium of rules, D&D 5E is was going to have DungeonScape, but it was cancelled. There are currently no stated plans for digital D&D products of any kind (PDFs or otherwise), though lip-service has been paid to the idea that there might one day be tentative plans for something to be, theoretically, made available in some fashion in the future.
The last thread is over now, so let's talk about 5E in this thread.
Great Ways to Introduce Yourself to the Thread
- Complain about 5E in vague ways that offer no real criticism.
- Complain about the people criticizing 5E, no matter how little attention you've actually paid to the discussion.
- Complain about the people complaining about the people etc etc.
- Ask if you can talk about 5E positively as if you need permission, but don't say anything more than "I like it."
- Do the above, then complain about the lack of positive discussion.
- Post the
gif.
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Denada on
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My FLGS is starting the DnD Adventurer's league tomorrow night, so I believe we will be doing character creation, and then I'm speculating we will be running the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign.
I'm about jump into a PbP campaign.
And finally another friend of mine texted me last night and asked if I wanted to play DnD via Google Hangouts with his brother in law.
So I am sufficiently hyped. I'm thinking of rolling a Paladin, because I think it strikes a nice balance between heal-bot and smashing evil in the face.
I really dislike the first three levels because I hate playing a dirt farmer. I dislike Advantage/Disadvantage because they feel too swingy in a game with such flat math. I don't like that Feats and Ability Increases share a resource. I HATE the fake warlord stuff. Don't tell me Temp Hit points are just as good as healing when we all know better.
I dig the subclass system. I am a fan of the Warlock. The subraces are neat (except the Drow...why?...).
I am hoping the DMG provides some good modules to fix my issues with the system and improve the things I like.
At my FLGS I am thinking of rolling a Paladin.
For the PbP, I'm referring to Barrowtown, wherein I created an Eldritch Knight, which is sort of like an Arcane Paladin.
For the Google Hangouts campaign, it will probably be a continuation of the Starter Campaign, so I will continue being a Cleric in that.
I love the idea of an eldritch knight because it just reminds me so much of shardbearers from the Stormlight Archive.
and while the life cleric might not be the crunchiest of the classes, I find that I had enough power due to auto getting the healing spells and heavy armor.
Great choices, all around.
Haha I was even thinking "hey I have a 5e pbp too" and didn't put that together.
Also @Ardent yeah I'll get them in the there.
Doesn't the Greatsword, with its 2d6 damage die, do more damage, both on average, and with Two-Handed Weapon mastery, than just a 1d12, because you're rerolling low numbers more often?
Well for the Paladin I'm planning on rolling, it's going to be a Tiefling, because their racial abilities are fairly well-suited to the class. However, this called for a convincing backstory, and what I've come up with is:
"Raised by his Human Paladin grandfather, who brought up his demonic looking grandson to be a Paladin, because the grandfather is the only Paladin in the world with a sense of irony."
You can be anything within reason.
Is "reason" defined as "not evil"?
As far as I can tell, you can make a Paladin of any alignment. All of the fluff talks about righteousness and justice and all that, but nothing I can see actually tags alignment in any mechanical way.
Speaking of that PBP game... When do we start? I am looking forward to when I get to walk around a corner and get cinderbombed to death!
Edit: And nice picture in OP. I am half tempted to take that for my Sorcerer-Bard I rolled up.
"You fools! While you were busy in my death-free severe discomfort trap, I donated enough money to the local orphanage to keep their doors open for years! YEARS, I SAY! Now, I'm off to pay down all of the local widow's mortgages! AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME! BWAHAHAHAH!"
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You just need to be able to pitch a plausible reason for a Chaotic and/or Evil Paladin. I think a Lawful Evil Vengeance Paladin is a pretty easy sell, but a Chaotic Paladin of any kind would take some backstory finagling.
fuck it - we all know it's the 4e Warden.
Anyway, that path doesn't bend toward law that much. Easily neutral good, certainly understandable as chaotic good too.
Yes, the greatsword is objectively a better weapon unless you're a half-orc, because they get a thing that lets them add one extra weapon damage die on crits. So with a greatsword, you'd only add another 1d6, whereas a greataxe would add 1d12. At least, that's the way I read it.
It might be getting a bit metagamey for D&D, but the idea would be that a Paladin's aim is for a new story to be created with their deity at the centre of it, or for an old story to be retold to reinforce it in the public consciousness. A Chaotic Paladin's thought process wouldn't be, "Is this the just thing to do?" but, "Does this make sense as a story?"
Chaotic paladins are absolutely a thing because it's not following a rule system but following the oath system. What I mean is that there are two specific oaths (ancients and vengeance) that aren't about the law, but about either the "greater good" or vengeance. So a chaotic good paladin could totally swear an oath of the ancients, vowing to protect the light by whatever means necessary. A chaotic neutral paladin could swear a pact of vengeance against the orcs that killed her family, damn the laws that failed her.
Vengeance only really seems feasible with evil characters, if only that I don't see evil as protecting the light.
And yes, a greatsword is objectively better with two weapon fighting style, and I'm cool with that as sometimes I think it's okay to have something be the best. However, It may be intended that half-orcs get to roll 2 extra die on a GS crit, but that's not what it says, so we went with RAW. I like this because, for half orcs, it's now a choice. Reroll those ones and twos more often with a GS, or roll bigger dice when you crit? YMMV.
One of the villains in Order of the Stick is focused on being the best villain in a story possible, so this is totally a way someone should play a Paladin.
Assuming this carried over, it seems like belligerent's interpretation may be correct.
F*#^$().
Okay. Then apparently I need to put a copy of the new rules on my flash drive (work blocks it) so I know what I am talking about next time. =P
This is something I don't mind so much.
I'm bothered by the fact that there are no free Feats at first level, as this means you're stuck with background/class/race choices at level 1, with class (and any relevant class choices) being the only decision that really affects battle playstyle. So if you're a melee fighter, you just run at things and hit things (and die).
But as for Feats and Ability Increases sharing a resource, I think at least some of the Feats hit a good balance with a straight Ability Increase, or at least they did.
I think at level 4 I took Heavy Armour mastery as a melee fighter in the playtest. This gave proficiency in the armour, effectively increasing my AC, and resistance (of some kind) to all physical damage. It didn't matter that I'd traded in the +1 to attack, when I had received +1 to AC and huge damage soak instead.
Now, this Feat may have been a great pick for my char, but most Feats looked to provide either really powerful benefits such as above, where I couldn't really tell if the bonus would match the ability increase I was trading up, or the Feat ability was more a utility power and it still gave you a single point ability increase.
So, if a Feat can provide as much usefulness in combat as a straight +1 to hit in combat, then I'm fine with trading that +1 in.
But that means we give up variety at the low levels, as the Feats are "too powerful" to give out for free.
Soon! I think I'm just waiting on Tox's sheet and then we should be good to go.
The whole Green Knight/ Fey Knight thing for the Ancient One oath is going to be a huge thing in the game I'm running too. That just sounds AMAZINGLY cool and flavorful for the elves/fey. I've always wanted more for the paladins and this is doing a great job. 4e did too with getting rid of the alignment of LG only and this is continuing that for me.
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You have to be careful not to extrapolate too far with chaotic's definition. If you go too strongly toward "lives by no rules even of their own" you eventually reach a point where only the insane and the magical / fantastic could ever be chaotic. Everyone behaves according to some internal system of guidance.
In 4E, Heartwarder was a paladin paragon path. Sune is chaotic good. Requiring her paladins to be LG makes less sense then having them match her alignment, I think.
I'd assume 5E would permit these same character concepts?
I saw some of it creeping into 3e later on but I'm more speaking to initial release of the class I suppose. Plus, the paladin wasn't too exciting in 3rd for me anyway.
The default one was really kinda bound by tradition until they started exploring the spell space for them.
All the alternate alignment ones were a bit better flavor wise for not having to adhere to all the previous traditions that are of practical application (Remove disease? Oh YEAH!)