See if you can get your DM to give you a sun blade?
Its a finesse longsword so you can wield it two handed 1d10 damage. The sneak requirements do not force you to use a fineese weapon with dexterity so you're not a loss there.
IMO its not particularly worth it to MC fighter as a str rogue imo. Bonus attacks with finesse weapons just aren't that great. Its probably better to attempt to load up on feats that give you off-turn bonus attacks like sentinel and mage slayer. Or things that give you guaranteed advantage (like grappler*).
*though getting a second attack is super nice with grappler
one level of fighter and one feat gets you grapple-and-prone was my thought. I'm undecided on two more for action surge and riposte
Reaction abilities have anti-synergy with uncanny dodge.
Grapple and prone? Why does one level of fighter get you that?
You need the shield proficiency and then with the shield mastery feat every time you make a successful grapple attack you can shield shove them prone
I'll have to think about the uncanny dodge thing. My instinct is that sneak attack damage off turn is worth it but maybe not with the two level dip.
You cannot grapple someone and knock them prone...
Well I mean you can but you need a free hand to grapple them... so you grapple them with your free hand then knock them prone with your shield. You now have both hands filled (one with shield, one with target) and no weapons. Certainly not any finesse weapons since fists are not finesse weapons.
You could doff the shield... as a full action which requires a hand... so you would have to release the target and spend an action in order to attack the turn after you release your grapple
do not try to grapple with a shield
oh damn
I got the idea from this grappling guide but i didn't think about the hands problem.
Would fast reflexes from Thief help me at all? Can I turn one use my action to grapple, and my bonus to shove, and turn 2 use my bonus to drop shield, and my action to draw a dagger and attack?
Use an Object:
You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.
Fast Hands
Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.
Dropping a Shield
Getting Into and Out of Armor
The time it takes to don or doff armor depends on the armor’s category.
Don. This is the time it takes to put on armor. You benefit from the armor's AC only if you take the full time to don the suit of armor.
Doff. This is the time it takes to take off armor. If you have help, reduce this time by half.
Category Don Doff
Light Armor 1 minute 1 minute
Medium Armor 5 minutes 1 minute
Heavy Armor 10 minutes 5 minutes
Shield 1 action 1 action
Going back to this, yes I would rule you can. However note that wizards has been extremely dumb with fast hands and so your particular DM might not allow it.
Specifically wizards said that “items which have a specific action required do not qualify for fast hands” because the fast hands refers to the “use an item” action specifically and those items do not use the “use an item” action.. which is super dumb. You could then expand and say that “doffing” is not a “use an item” action which means that you could not don or doff a shield either.
Re: holding a shield in one hand
Yes you can hold a shield in one hand, and hold something else in that hand but doing so requires an action to doff the shield and you lose the shield bonus until you don the shield again.
Yes you can hold a shield in one hand, and hold something else in that hand but doing so requires an action to doff the shield and you lose the shield bonus until you don the shield again.
No argument from me on RAW. I'm simply bringing up the point that realistically it's a silly rule that only makes sense in the context of the action economy of the system.
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
Oh shit, are we talking about realistic medieval combat? Roland Warzecha is my go-to guy for explaining medieval weapon fighting since a large portion of his videos are practical demonstrations. There are other guys out there like Skallagrim, but they mostly stand and talk without showing the techniques or principles they're talking about, or if they do demonstrate it's without a partner. Roland also has a lot of free play videos where you can see some near real time sparring.
The reality of the shield situation described above is that yes, you should be able to use your hand while it's holding a shield. That's how they were designed to be used. Maybe not for all purposes: it could be difficult to cast a spell (maybe? I dunno) or reach in a bag to find a potion or something, but if you're not actively engaged with someone else in melee combat I see no problem with holding your shield and weapon in the same hand to free your primary hand for something else. That is to say that physically it is not only possible, but so easy to do that you could easily replicate it at home.
That being said, there is the question of if mechanically that should be allowed, and that is a harder question to answer. In the context of shoving and grappling, I can see it as a viable trade-off only because of versatile weapons. By which I mean there is no reason to use a versatile weapon (small character size not withstanding) except that you occasionally want to have the option of using a free hand. Mechanically grappling is extremely under-powered save for two niche circumstances: you want to prevent a weaker foe from escaping, and your target is already prone. As someone with a martial arts background I can tell you that it's current iteration in 5e is unrealistic; if I'm moving in to grapple someone, I'm doing so to bind their arms and/or legs to restrict the ways that they can attack me, ultimately aiming to completely disable them in some sort of lock. In the context of the medieval fight to the death (courtesy the Roland videos) the purpose of a grapple or bind is to restrict the opponent's arms in order to either disarm them or create an opening to inflict a wound.
Finally, I think I saw reference to needing a shield to perform a shove, or is that just in reference to the bonus action from Shield Master? Because RAW you don't need a shield or even a weapon to make a shove attack.
to the last part, yeah, bonus action is the whole point of the shield
to the first part, i think the question is if you can, with one hand, properly move the shield around to block arrows, hit someone in the face with the shield hard enough to knock them down, and stab someone with a dagger as effectively as you might if you weren't holding the shield (sneak attack damage) and the answer is clearly no, RAW, and I would even say clearly no RAI. Certainly I would let someone have a mechanical change if they want to do something different from how most people use shields but I would laugh if asked for all 3 of +2AC, bonus action shove prone, and sneak attack dagger usage.
But my DM is actually giving that! he lets me have sneak attack on an improvised weapon, even. Plus he says I can shield bash before I attack, so I can have the advantage from them being prone on the attack roll.
I got my first grapple encounter yesterday, grappling a yuan-ti wizard inside Silence on top of a tall observation post. It went pretty well, but it was still a moderately tough fight because he had a poison bite that grappled (which my DM made me roll opposed Athletics to break by forced movement of the wizard away from the bear, which RAW I'm pretty sure I can force move my grapple target for free and break their grapple on someone else without a check) and a nightmare attack that frightened me. Being frightened sucks when you've got someone grappled!
If something forces you to move it breaks your grapple, so the way I see it if you got the snakeman in a hammerlock and he's got his face buried in somebody else's shoulder when you pull him away it would break his grapple, yes.
As far as the rest, RAW it doesn't work, like you said. But in 5e, letting a rogue sneak attack with whatever isn't really gonna break anything, as long as it sounded cool and they wanted to do it. Maybe I'd only give them a +1 to ac instead of the full +2, but as long as it's not stepping on anybody else's toes in the party it's a rule of cool situation to me.
Forced movement likes pushes and pulls breaks the grapple but a fear does not since fear is not a forced movement effect (Nor does being grappled break a grapple) so you could technically use all your movement (dash + normal) to drag whatever you’re grappling away with you.
Now if you’re feared and grappled that really sucks. You must dash which takes your action and then your movement is zero anyway. GG
Edit: or fear would if it didn’t require you to “drop what you’re holding” which should end a grapple.
Goumindong on
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
If something forces you to move it breaks your grapple, so the way I see it if you got the snakeman in a hammerlock and he's got his face buried in somebody else's shoulder when you pull him away it would break his grapple, yes.
As far as the rest, RAW it doesn't work, like you said. But in 5e, letting a rogue sneak attack with whatever isn't really gonna break anything, as long as it sounded cool and they wanted to do it. Maybe I'd only give them a +1 to ac instead of the full +2, but as long as it's not stepping on anybody else's toes in the party it's a rule of cool situation to me.
Yeah that seems reasonable. My rogue seems mechanically weaker than our moon druid and our beastmaster ranger, so letting me climb on top of a zombie dinosaur or give everyone advantage on one target at a time helps me feel less like an extra in somebody else's story.
Hey everyone! I have selected what I'm going to run for my siblings (this), and I'm pretty happy with it. I have never DM'd before, and the way this is all put together should make it easy (and I'm skipping the "everyone meets each other" bit via "there is a big tournament/festival in town, but there have been attacks in the wild, so you all ended up in the same caravan to get here and are bffs. Now hug."). With that all said, I'm pretty nervous. Other than avoiding railroading, are there things I should keep in mind? Tips that people wished they'd heard before they DM'd the first time?
Fun coincidence, I was going to run the same over the Holidays. I look forward to sharing notes after!
I got to run Madness of the Rat King for my brother and his GF a couple of days ago. It was my first time DMing for D&D (I've DM'd for FFGs Star Wars RPG a few times.)
Overall I thought it was a big success! We were down a player (a third friend dropped out at the last moment due to extreme real life stuff) so they got some NPC help in the form of the town constable (a Guard) who deputized them to go into the cavern and rescue the missing teen. The two who were playing are super novices at D&D. One great comment was "wait, he can attack TWICE in a round???"
Because there was only the two of them starting at lvl 1 (Lizardfolk Ranger and High Elf Wizard) along with Samson the grizzled guard, I scaled everything to the easiest setting in the module, and ended up not running any extra patrols.
The rat encounters were all pretty amusing, and I rather wish I'd worked in a third one using some of the rats types kept on the sidelines. They solved the puzzle on how to retrieve the magic hammer (reworked to a magic handaxe) and skipped all the stuff leading to a dangerous fight at the main chambers door by locating a secondary route straight to the main boss.
The main boss is a Wererat and I had some reservations that he might be too tough for a party of two (now level 2) seeing as how the guard would be nearly useless against him. But because they had retrieved the magic +1 ax from the other side of the cave first, they laid out some pretty impressive offense (Hunters Mark + Zephyr Strike is a solid alpha strike at this level) and took him down in 4 or 5 rounds. He also, unfortunately , missed every bite attack he made, so no lycanthropy saves had to be rolled.
The one mishap was actually after the boss fight, back in his main apartment. They had the NPC guard check out a chest they found dodgy, which led to poor Samson getting bit in half by a mimic.
I was overall pretty impressed with the module. The maps print out great and there is just enough going on with traps and puzzles and implied lore and side characters to keep things interesting.
This seems like an obvious idea, but I can't recall seeing it used much; has anyone used legitimate organizations in a setting as a front for a Watlock pact patron?
For example, a lawful order of demon hunters could all secretly have pacts with an archdevil, a powerful mercantile consortium could be controlled by an efreeti, and an association of adventurers that plunder the ruins of civilizations destroyed by demonic incursions could have the demon lord responsible as their informant.
Not the same but similar, I had a Gnome Warlock from a cute little Gnome village in the woods that derived all its protection from a (fairly weak) old one.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
This seems like an obvious idea, but I can't recall seeing it used much; has anyone used legitimate organizations in a setting as a front for a Watlock pact patron?
For example, a lawful order of demon hunters could all secretly have pacts with an archdevil, a powerful mercantile consortium could be controlled by an efreeti, and an association of adventurers that plunder the ruins of civilizations destroyed by demonic incursions could have the demon lord responsible as their informant.
This seems like an obvious idea, but I can't recall seeing it used much; has anyone used legitimate organizations in a setting as a front for a Watlock pact patron?
For example, a lawful order of demon hunters could all secretly have pacts with an archdevil, a powerful mercantile consortium could be controlled by an efreeti, and an association of adventurers that plunder the ruins of civilizations destroyed by demonic incursions could have the demon lord responsible as their informant.
A univerity library, focused on researching ancient and arcane arts, particularly research into ancient books written in languages no mortal tongue was meant to speak and no mortal eyes meant to read.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited January 2018
Man dragon worshipping kobolds are punks.
I’ve been listening to the Unexpectables and Zito’s kobold ranger wants revenge against a dragon for killing his clan.
Most dragons are callous greedy fucks it seems. Why would you put your trust in that?
I got the idea from this grappling guide but i didn't think about the hands problem.
Would fast reflexes from Thief help me at all? Can I turn one use my action to grapple, and my bonus to shove, and turn 2 use my bonus to drop shield, and my action to draw a dagger and attack?
Use an Object:
You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.
Fast Hands
Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.
Dropping a Shield
Getting Into and Out of Armor
The time it takes to don or doff armor depends on the armor’s category.
Don. This is the time it takes to put on armor. You benefit from the armor's AC only if you take the full time to don the suit of armor.
Doff. This is the time it takes to take off armor. If you have help, reduce this time by half.
Category Don Doff
Light Armor 1 minute 1 minute
Medium Armor 5 minutes 1 minute
Heavy Armor 10 minutes 5 minutes
Shield 1 action 1 action
I'm late to the discussion, but what exactly is the goal?
The rogue has a single attack with high damage output. Any attack action you put into the grapple/ shove combo is one less attack where you could be sneak attacking. It might make more sense to take 1 level in rogue for expertise and the rest in a class with multi attack, rather than the other way around.
What's the rest of the party makeup? Prone gives advantage on melee attacks, but disadvantage on ranged attacks. If there are other melee characters in the party, then why not have one of them do the shoving and the grappling? If there aren't other melee characters in the party, then you could be setting them up for failure.
If your goal is to gain advantage for sneak attacks, there are better options. Multi class as a wizard for a familiar, or a bard/ druid and cast faerie fire. Or better yet, consult party members who already have those spells.
Alternatively, you can be a ranged rogue with a level in fighter with sharpshooter or lucky. Fighter gives you proficiency with martial weapons and +2 to ranged attacks. You won't really have the advantage of armor and shield, but rogues aren't really meant to be tanks regardless.
Then you use nets to impose the restrained condition on a single action. Since nets are ranged weapons, you can use sneak attack and sharpshooter to add damage.
Nets have two downsides: 1) You can't combine them with multi attack, which is irrelevant, because rogues don't have that anyway. 2) The range is written in a way so they're always thrown with disadvantage, hence sharpshooter or lucky. The way lucky is written, you can turn disadvantage into double advantage (roll three dice, keep one). You only get three luck points per day, but that should be enough.
Keep in mind that the main advantage of grapple other nets is that its an ability check, not an attack roll. The problem is that both nets and grapple won't work on huge size creatures, and most of the creatures with ridiculously high ac will also be huge in size.
Alternatively, just do exactly what you were planning with the shield feat, but don't bother with a grapple or a multi class. Just sneak attack followed by shove. If there are melee characters in the party, have one of them do grapple instead of you.
Unless of course you WANT the micro-organisms because of some chemistry based transmutation you're planning, in which case you place your food into the CRISPR pocket.
So my friends and I are trying DnD for the first time. We have been playing other RPG's for a long time so nothing really stands out as hard to understand but as the DM in this first "test" campain I like to hear about how much Xp to award players. After combat its easy, just dish out the xp worth of the monsters but what about after a completed adventure or perhaps just at the end of the evning even if they didnt complete the current objectives yet? Oh yeah the group is starting at level 1.
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
So my friends and I are trying DnD for the first time. We have been playing other RPG's for a long time so nothing really stands out as hard to understand but as the DM in this first "test" campain I like to hear about how much Xp to award players. After combat its easy, just dish out the xp worth of the monsters but what about after a completed adventure or perhaps just at the end of the evning even if they didnt complete the current objectives yet? Oh yeah the group is starting at level 1.
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
The DMG has some guidelines for XP which are helpful, players should move up to Level 3 really fast and then it slows down a bit, Level 1 and 2 are just training wheels levels.
As far as first magical items, take a look at the treasure 'customization' tables (pg 142-143) in the DMG, or the 'common magic items' from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. These are fun little powers that add some pep and wonder to the game without giving the players a lot of power.
Unless of course you WANT the micro-organisms because of some chemistry based transmutation you're planning, in which case you place your food into the CRISPR pocket.
See I awesomed both puns because I am terrible and care more about the lolz than actual conversations about dnd mechanics.
So my friends and I are trying DnD for the first time. We have been playing other RPG's for a long time so nothing really stands out as hard to understand but as the DM in this first "test" campain I like to hear about how much Xp to award players. After combat its easy, just dish out the xp worth of the monsters but what about after a completed adventure or perhaps just at the end of the evning even if they didnt complete the current objectives yet? Oh yeah the group is starting at level 1.
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
I personally do narrative levels. I have predefined 'goals' and as they check them off they get levels/exp
That way, even when they do some weird thing I may not have forseen, as long as they are making progress they are gaining exp, even if its not through murdering monsters.
For fun magic items, try some flavorful or utility items. Like the cloak of billowing. It billows in the wind as a bonus action. Even if there is no wind! That way they get to have some fun and flavorful interactions with items that aren't just +1 to hit or AC.
So my friends and I are trying DnD for the first time. We have been playing other RPG's for a long time so nothing really stands out as hard to understand but as the DM in this first "test" campain I like to hear about how much Xp to award players. After combat its easy, just dish out the xp worth of the monsters but what about after a completed adventure or perhaps just at the end of the evning even if they didnt complete the current objectives yet? Oh yeah the group is starting at level 1.
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
Non combat XP is left somewhat vague as its intended to be upto the DM. Save the villagers? Sure, 200XP Some funny role play? Throw 50XP in there. Its meant to be played fast and loose and to give the DM some leeway to advance the power of the party as he or she sees fit. I think what ends up happening the most in my games is that the monster XP is all tallied and maybe the totals fall a couple hundred XP short to bump the players up a level. Well, that's what story awards are for.
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
That way, even when they do some weird thing I may not have forseen, as long as they are making progress they are gaining exp, even if its not through murdering monsters.
We did this once and I loved it. Anything else bothers me now. It's one less thing to track and you don't have perverse incentives affecting role playing decisions. In this campaign my DM is doing experience points instead, partly as an experiment and partly as a way to punish people for not attending (if you're not there your character gets half exp). I'm sure it sucked for him to have one fewer player and really spotty attendance in his previous game, but I wasn't in that game and I hate having to argue with players who want to pick whatever choice gets us more exp.
I got the idea from this grappling guide but i didn't think about the hands problem.
Would fast reflexes from Thief help me at all? Can I turn one use my action to grapple, and my bonus to shove, and turn 2 use my bonus to drop shield, and my action to draw a dagger and attack?
Use an Object:
You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.
Fast Hands
Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.
Dropping a Shield
Getting Into and Out of Armor
The time it takes to don or doff armor depends on the armor’s category.
Don. This is the time it takes to put on armor. You benefit from the armor's AC only if you take the full time to don the suit of armor.
Doff. This is the time it takes to take off armor. If you have help, reduce this time by half.
Category Don Doff
Light Armor 1 minute 1 minute
Medium Armor 5 minutes 1 minute
Heavy Armor 10 minutes 5 minutes
Shield 1 action 1 action
I'm late to the discussion, but what exactly is the goal?
The rogue has a single attack with high damage output. Any attack action you put into the grapple/ shove combo is one less attack where you could be sneak attacking. It might make more sense to take 1 level in rogue for expertise and the rest in a class with multi attack, rather than the other way around.
What's the rest of the party makeup? Prone gives advantage on melee attacks, but disadvantage on ranged attacks. If there are other melee characters in the party, then why not have one of them do the shoving and the grappling? If there aren't other melee characters in the party, then you could be setting them up for failure.
If your goal is to gain advantage for sneak attacks, there are better options. Multi class as a wizard for a familiar, or a bard/ druid and cast faerie fire. Or better yet, consult party members who already have those spells.
Alternatively, you can be a ranged rogue with a level in fighter with sharpshooter or lucky. Fighter gives you proficiency with martial weapons and +2 to ranged attacks. You won't really have the advantage of armor and shield, but rogues aren't really meant to be tanks regardless.
Then you use nets to impose the restrained condition on a single action. Since nets are ranged weapons, you can use sneak attack and sharpshooter to add damage.
Nets have two downsides: 1) You can't combine them with multi attack, which is irrelevant, because rogues don't have that anyway. 2) The range is written in a way so they're always thrown with disadvantage, hence sharpshooter or lucky. The way lucky is written, you can turn disadvantage into double advantage (roll three dice, keep one). You only get three luck points per day, but that should be enough.
Keep in mind that the main advantage of grapple other nets is that its an ability check, not an attack roll. The problem is that both nets and grapple won't work on huge size creatures, and most of the creatures with ridiculously high ac will also be huge in size.
Alternatively, just do exactly what you were planning with the shield feat, but don't bother with a grapple or a multi class. Just sneak attack followed by shove. If there are melee characters in the party, have one of them do grapple instead of you.
Or just dual wield.
oh there are other melee dudes, kind of a lot, with multiattack. There's a moon druid and a beastmaster ranger and a paladin and a knowledge cleric and me. So if anybody is going to be shoving prone it's going to be me or the paladin, and the paladin isn't very involved in the game so I doubt I couldget him to do the shoving and grappling, or really get him to do anything at all. The goal was basically "make my guy less useless" or maybe "make what my guy more interesting." I always have lots of inspiration, so I sort of have a shittier lucky already. This was my first 5e and I don't like it much, so I'm just trying to stay entertained through mid february when I can politely drop from the campagin.
That's really cool that you can sneak attack with a net! Especially with the lucky trick. If I hadn't gone grappling last week I might do that. It's so ridiculous my DM might have tried to argue, but at some point I can just say "make the game less murderhobo munchkin or let me do my munchkin thing since it's legal RAW or accept that I'm out after tonight"
So my friends and I are trying DnD for the first time. We have been playing other RPG's for a long time so nothing really stands out as hard to understand but as the DM in this first "test" campain I like to hear about how much Xp to award players. After combat its easy, just dish out the xp worth of the monsters but what about after a completed adventure or perhaps just at the end of the evning even if they didnt complete the current objectives yet? Oh yeah the group is starting at level 1.
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
I personally do narrative levels. I have predefined 'goals' and as they check them off they get levels/exp
That way, even when they do some weird thing I may not have forseen, as long as they are making progress they are gaining exp, even if its not through murdering monsters.
For fun magic items, try some flavorful or utility items. Like the cloak of billowing. It billows in the wind as a bonus action. Even if there is no wind! That way they get to have some fun and flavorful interactions with items that aren't just +1 to hit or AC.
I use this chart:
The Angry DM made it while he was figuring out how to plan out a giant level 1 to 11-13 dungeon for a party of 4 playing over the course of about a year, to figure out his encounter budget. The pertinent info are the columns marked "Fixed E (FE)", "RE", and "Opt E". The Fixed E + RE numbers give you the number of Encounters (Fixed E) and Random Encounters (RE) that a party should face per "adventuring day", as well as how many optional encounters / discoveries you can fit in without accidentally over-leveling the party. In this context, Angry is planning "days" of the dungeon out as extrapolations on the DMG guidelines of the adventure day, but with the knowledge that some parties/players may do more or less than that, and that's fine, it's all budgeted and planned. Random Encounters are mostly nuisance things to encourage the players to keep a brisk pace, and as such, they do not reward players with the same amount of exp as the other encounters.
But, and here's the magic, the Fixed Encounter list does not necessarily mean *combat* encounter. And here's how I use this chart to plan out more free-flowing level progressions:
For levels / dungeons where I have a lot of combat planned, I designate one person as the EXP tracker, and using this chart, I know that, for example, the dungeon I designed to take the players from level 6 to 7 needed a total of 13(ish) "events", each worth 750 exp (per player). So I knew how many things my players *had* to interact with in order to hit level 7 before facing the boss. I also knew that I could include an additional 1 full "event" worth 750 exp, and 2 "discoveries" worth 375 exp, and hide those off the beaten path, and the players could hit level 7 before the boss.
This let me plan out the dungeon to allow the players to rush, if they wanted to, and reach the boss still at level 6, and have an easier time saving the boy they were trying to find, but a harder time beating the boss (because they were weaker), or have an easier time defeating the boss, but the boy would be harder to save.
So, instead of planning out exactly 13 combat encounters, I planned out 13 events, with 1 extra optional event, and 2 lore discoveries that they could discover on their way to the boss encounter. If they found everything and did everything, they'd be level 7 exactly before the boss (with time to rest up before hand). If they rushed, they'd be level 6 instead. Some of the events were combat. Some were social. Some I just had a cool idea for a thing for them to find and let them run it how they wanted to run it, and however they "solved" it, I rewarded them full exp. There were friendly flumphs to save, a wounded spirit naga that they could have killed, chased off, or helped, deadly poisonous mushrooms to avoid, and gelatinous cubes to be gamed into swallowing their enemies. But the chart helped me figure out how many things to have.
It also can be used for more social levels. From level 5 to 6, the party was mostly trying to build up their home base, expand their social connections and contacts, and re-build the town they established their guild hall in. So, I used the chart to figure out that they needed roughly 20 "events", and each time they solved a problem for the town, or made a new contact, or re-established a trade route, or whatever they wanted to do, I had them mark down a tick in their play books. When they hit 20, they leveled up.
All in all, my players enjoy that kind of granular progressive feedback. They like to know that each session, they made a definitive amount of progress, and while some players are super happy to putz around and discover the world for a whole sessions, others get frustrated by a "lack of progress", so it's helpful to both players in my group when they get to see, Oh cool, we chatted up a merchant and got to add this new resource to the town / learned a piece of gossip, and that contributed to our level progression!
Your mileage may vary. I have another group I run one shots for, and we've talked about level progression and things like that, and they basically just want milestone type leveling. I think the key is to identify how your players *think* they want to experience XP, and then to check in with them every so often to see how they're liking the system you ended up using. However, I find that a lot of fellow GMs think that milestone is the be all end all way to reward experience, but more players than you'd think appreciate the granularity of actual experience points.
Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
The best magic items for low level parties imho are ones that are either utilitarian on a basic level (A +1 knife will bypass resistance to normal damage and an alchemist jar will get you endless drinking water) or really powerful but only in specific ways and with hefty limitations (Like soverigns glue or the imovable rod).
Best part of a party having those uber powerful one shot magic items? How they'll remember months later that "hey I got that iron Jar and can use it to distract the boss/break the thing" in interesting way.
Can anaerobes get in your bag of holding and ruin stored meat?
I thought a bag of holding was essentially a stasis container.
Depends from GM to GM. its not explicitly stated. Mat Mercer of Critical Role mentions often that Grog's Bag of Holding aint a meat locker much to the horror of shopkeeps and merchants he does business with.
They had a couple "Bag of Colding" for when they had Slayer's Take missions around the episode 15 to 25 arc.
Speaking of Critical Role, I just found out from Twitter that they are starting a new campaign soon and that I should catch up. I'm only on episode 30 of 115(?).
I started watching Dice Camera Action after I finished with the C Team, but I found all the characters particularly annoying. How does Critical Role compare?
The early Critical Role episodes (like 1 to 15) are pretty freaking rough. everyone is trying to get in the groove of doing this thing on the internet, and they have quite a few sound problems. I'm pretty sure because their room was a closet for Geek and Sundry's other productions. But it gets better from a technical perspective pretty quick and the players get better too. (Personally, I think the show gets better when Orion leaves for personal reasons, nothing against him, I just didn't like him spotlighting a bunch. Maybe that was my own perception, though)
I also need to get on and watch the later episodes. I'm still kinda stuck in the 80ish episodes before Thordak is taken care of, but after the White and Black dragons are dealt with.
Its not going to stop me from starting up with the new campaign though.
Whenever Travis (Grog) and Sam (Scanlan) pair up its always comedic gold.
I recently got to the part where Tiberius left the party. I see that it it's permanent then. This was a few years ago, right? Was there any juicy dirt regarding it? You know, I had never thought about it that way before but you are right that the player seemed to be showboating a lot of the time. But it was also in character, so I wrote it off as that Tiberius was a just a jerk.
I also tried Dice Camera Action but being video only kinda cramped my style. Loved C-Team and how personal Jerry gets with his stories. And Perkins is awesome at moving the story along and keeping it entertaining.
Mercer and his crew make a very traditional D&D game but they do it very well. Them all being accomplished actors helps, very much. The role play is tight, the players all work well together and Matt Mercer is an excellent Dungeon Master.
I recently got to the part where Tiberius left the party. I see that it it's permanent then. This was a few years ago, right? Was there any juicy dirt regarding it? You know, I had never thought about it that way before but you are right that the player seemed to be showboating a lot of the time. But it was also in character, so I wrote it off as that Tiberius was a just a jerk.
I also tried Dice Camera Action but being video only kinda cramped my style. Loved C-Team and how personal Jerry gets with his stories. And Perkins is awesome at moving the story along and keeping it entertaining.
Mercer and his crew make a very traditional D&D game but they do it very well. Them all being accomplished actors helps, very much. The role play is tight, the players all work well together and Matt Mercer is an excellent Dungeon Master.
As far as the community can tell, from statements from both Orion and Mercer, it was a combination of (confirmed) personal stuff on Orion's side mixed with him both (inferred) disrupting and potentially cheating during the game.
So I wanted to solicit some advice for a first time player
This is my first game, we are running Curse of Strahd. We just hit Level 4, outside the coffin maker in Valiki. I was spoiled accidentally and know that the coffin maker is bad news (not that it wasn't obvious).
I am playing the Lore Bard, Grand Mimosa. In 2 levels, I will get my first set of magical secrets, and another 2 at level 10, which is where our DM has told us he is aiming for us to finish at, at which point we will carry on into original content.
Now for character reasons, I really want to take Ancestral Spirits. However, the difficulty of this campaign is ramping up, and while our DM has told us (and we agree) that we prefer a focus on character building and roleplay, he has shown that he isn't afraid to let us die for realsy if we play stupid, no matter how much work we've put into the character (or how much work the DM has put in, as he has allowed us to decide things about the background of the setting and has changed elements of certain characters or plot points to work better or tie in with specific players). To the point where our second encounter with Strahd had multiple players at 0 hp and I was a single dice roll away from total death*.
Due to this, I've been paranoid about what choices to take at level 6. I really wanted Ancestral Spirits, and I wanted Fireball so I could have some damage, since I have shit all for weapons and nothing much for damage besides Dissonant Whispers. I have been persuaded by a party member to push Ancestral Spirits off to level 10, since if we are ending the current campaign around that level I'd have AS in time for the character stuff I would want it for, and I could choose a more useful spell in the mean time.
I am stuck deciding between Counterspell and Aura of Vitality. On one hand, Counterspell is incredibly useful I am told and I would get it first out of our party. It could straight up shut down devastating spells, and be invaluable against a powerful caster like Strahd (or those windmill hags if we go for a rematch). On the other hand, Aura of Vitality is supposed to be incredibly useful at keeping people alive and on their feet, which seems vital if the fights keep progressing as they have been, and considering that I'd like everyone to stay alive extra hard for character and story reasons. I don't think I should switch out Fireball as one of my choices, since the extra damage that spell brings when my debuff/control spells aren't required is a massive boost to our party damage output. Anyone with experience playing a lore bard or CoS have any advice?
*Strahd was leaving after trouncing us and I may have told him to do some unsavory, degrading things to someone's mother
Posts
Regular shove is an attack, so if you have multiple attacks in a round and a free hand you could shove to knock prone and then grapple.
Going back to this, yes I would rule you can. However note that wizards has been extremely dumb with fast hands and so your particular DM might not allow it.
Specifically wizards said that “items which have a specific action required do not qualify for fast hands” because the fast hands refers to the “use an item” action specifically and those items do not use the “use an item” action.. which is super dumb. You could then expand and say that “doffing” is not a “use an item” action which means that you could not don or doff a shield either.
Re: holding a shield in one hand
Yes you can hold a shield in one hand, and hold something else in that hand but doing so requires an action to doff the shield and you lose the shield bonus until you don the shield again.
No argument from me on RAW. I'm simply bringing up the point that realistically it's a silly rule that only makes sense in the context of the action economy of the system.
to the last part, yeah, bonus action is the whole point of the shield
to the first part, i think the question is if you can, with one hand, properly move the shield around to block arrows, hit someone in the face with the shield hard enough to knock them down, and stab someone with a dagger as effectively as you might if you weren't holding the shield (sneak attack damage) and the answer is clearly no, RAW, and I would even say clearly no RAI. Certainly I would let someone have a mechanical change if they want to do something different from how most people use shields but I would laugh if asked for all 3 of +2AC, bonus action shove prone, and sneak attack dagger usage.
But my DM is actually giving that! he lets me have sneak attack on an improvised weapon, even. Plus he says I can shield bash before I attack, so I can have the advantage from them being prone on the attack roll.
I got my first grapple encounter yesterday, grappling a yuan-ti wizard inside Silence on top of a tall observation post. It went pretty well, but it was still a moderately tough fight because he had a poison bite that grappled (which my DM made me roll opposed Athletics to break by forced movement of the wizard away from the bear, which RAW I'm pretty sure I can force move my grapple target for free and break their grapple on someone else without a check) and a nightmare attack that frightened me. Being frightened sucks when you've got someone grappled!
As far as the rest, RAW it doesn't work, like you said. But in 5e, letting a rogue sneak attack with whatever isn't really gonna break anything, as long as it sounded cool and they wanted to do it. Maybe I'd only give them a +1 to ac instead of the full +2, but as long as it's not stepping on anybody else's toes in the party it's a rule of cool situation to me.
Now if you’re feared and grappled that really sucks. You must dash which takes your action and then your movement is zero anyway. GG
Edit: or fear would if it didn’t require you to “drop what you’re holding” which should end a grapple.
Yeah that seems reasonable. My rogue seems mechanically weaker than our moon druid and our beastmaster ranger, so letting me climb on top of a zombie dinosaur or give everyone advantage on one target at a time helps me feel less like an extra in somebody else's story.
I got to run Madness of the Rat King for my brother and his GF a couple of days ago. It was my first time DMing for D&D (I've DM'd for FFGs Star Wars RPG a few times.)
Overall I thought it was a big success! We were down a player (a third friend dropped out at the last moment due to extreme real life stuff) so they got some NPC help in the form of the town constable (a Guard) who deputized them to go into the cavern and rescue the missing teen. The two who were playing are super novices at D&D. One great comment was "wait, he can attack TWICE in a round???"
Because there was only the two of them starting at lvl 1 (Lizardfolk Ranger and High Elf Wizard) along with Samson the grizzled guard, I scaled everything to the easiest setting in the module, and ended up not running any extra patrols.
The rat encounters were all pretty amusing, and I rather wish I'd worked in a third one using some of the rats types kept on the sidelines. They solved the puzzle on how to retrieve the magic hammer (reworked to a magic handaxe) and skipped all the stuff leading to a dangerous fight at the main chambers door by locating a secondary route straight to the main boss.
The main boss is a Wererat and I had some reservations that he might be too tough for a party of two (now level 2) seeing as how the guard would be nearly useless against him. But because they had retrieved the magic +1 ax from the other side of the cave first, they laid out some pretty impressive offense (Hunters Mark + Zephyr Strike is a solid alpha strike at this level) and took him down in 4 or 5 rounds. He also, unfortunately , missed every bite attack he made, so no lycanthropy saves had to be rolled.
The one mishap was actually after the boss fight, back in his main apartment. They had the NPC guard check out a chest they found dodgy, which led to poor Samson getting bit in half by a mimic.
I was overall pretty impressed with the module. The maps print out great and there is just enough going on with traps and puzzles and implied lore and side characters to keep things interesting.
For example, a lawful order of demon hunters could all secretly have pacts with an archdevil, a powerful mercantile consortium could be controlled by an efreeti, and an association of adventurers that plunder the ruins of civilizations destroyed by demonic incursions could have the demon lord responsible as their informant.
I will now.
A univerity library, focused on researching ancient and arcane arts, particularly research into ancient books written in languages no mortal tongue was meant to speak and no mortal eyes meant to read.
I’ve been listening to the Unexpectables and Zito’s kobold ranger wants revenge against a dragon for killing his clan.
Most dragons are callous greedy fucks it seems. Why would you put your trust in that?
because kobolds think of themselves as temporarily embarrassed dragons?
I thought a bag of holding was essentially a stasis container.
I'm late to the discussion, but what exactly is the goal?
The rogue has a single attack with high damage output. Any attack action you put into the grapple/ shove combo is one less attack where you could be sneak attacking. It might make more sense to take 1 level in rogue for expertise and the rest in a class with multi attack, rather than the other way around.
What's the rest of the party makeup? Prone gives advantage on melee attacks, but disadvantage on ranged attacks. If there are other melee characters in the party, then why not have one of them do the shoving and the grappling? If there aren't other melee characters in the party, then you could be setting them up for failure.
If your goal is to gain advantage for sneak attacks, there are better options. Multi class as a wizard for a familiar, or a bard/ druid and cast faerie fire. Or better yet, consult party members who already have those spells.
Alternatively, you can be a ranged rogue with a level in fighter with sharpshooter or lucky. Fighter gives you proficiency with martial weapons and +2 to ranged attacks. You won't really have the advantage of armor and shield, but rogues aren't really meant to be tanks regardless.
Then you use nets to impose the restrained condition on a single action. Since nets are ranged weapons, you can use sneak attack and sharpshooter to add damage.
Nets have two downsides: 1) You can't combine them with multi attack, which is irrelevant, because rogues don't have that anyway. 2) The range is written in a way so they're always thrown with disadvantage, hence sharpshooter or lucky. The way lucky is written, you can turn disadvantage into double advantage (roll three dice, keep one). You only get three luck points per day, but that should be enough.
Keep in mind that the main advantage of grapple other nets is that its an ability check, not an attack roll. The problem is that both nets and grapple won't work on huge size creatures, and most of the creatures with ridiculously high ac will also be huge in size.
Alternatively, just do exactly what you were planning with the shield feat, but don't bother with a grapple or a multi class. Just sneak attack followed by shove. If there are melee characters in the party, have one of them do grapple instead of you.
Or just dual wield.
That's why you normally store food in the Bag of Holding's "Crisper Pocket," though its main purpose is for vegetables.
What the hell’s an “anaerobe”? Is that some kind of negative energy thingy?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Also, magical items, what are some fun first magical items they might get?
The DMG has some guidelines for XP which are helpful, players should move up to Level 3 really fast and then it slows down a bit, Level 1 and 2 are just training wheels levels.
As far as first magical items, take a look at the treasure 'customization' tables (pg 142-143) in the DMG, or the 'common magic items' from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. These are fun little powers that add some pep and wonder to the game without giving the players a lot of power.
See I awesomed both puns because I am terrible and care more about the lolz than actual conversations about dnd mechanics.
I personally do narrative levels. I have predefined 'goals' and as they check them off they get levels/exp
That way, even when they do some weird thing I may not have forseen, as long as they are making progress they are gaining exp, even if its not through murdering monsters.
For fun magic items, try some flavorful or utility items. Like the cloak of billowing. It billows in the wind as a bonus action. Even if there is no wind! That way they get to have some fun and flavorful interactions with items that aren't just +1 to hit or AC.
Non combat XP is left somewhat vague as its intended to be upto the DM. Save the villagers? Sure, 200XP Some funny role play? Throw 50XP in there. Its meant to be played fast and loose and to give the DM some leeway to advance the power of the party as he or she sees fit. I think what ends up happening the most in my games is that the monster XP is all tallied and maybe the totals fall a couple hundred XP short to bump the players up a level. Well, that's what story awards are for.
We did this once and I loved it. Anything else bothers me now. It's one less thing to track and you don't have perverse incentives affecting role playing decisions. In this campaign my DM is doing experience points instead, partly as an experiment and partly as a way to punish people for not attending (if you're not there your character gets half exp). I'm sure it sucked for him to have one fewer player and really spotty attendance in his previous game, but I wasn't in that game and I hate having to argue with players who want to pick whatever choice gets us more exp.
oh there are other melee dudes, kind of a lot, with multiattack. There's a moon druid and a beastmaster ranger and a paladin and a knowledge cleric and me. So if anybody is going to be shoving prone it's going to be me or the paladin, and the paladin isn't very involved in the game so I doubt I couldget him to do the shoving and grappling, or really get him to do anything at all. The goal was basically "make my guy less useless" or maybe "make what my guy more interesting." I always have lots of inspiration, so I sort of have a shittier lucky already. This was my first 5e and I don't like it much, so I'm just trying to stay entertained through mid february when I can politely drop from the campagin.
That's really cool that you can sneak attack with a net! Especially with the lucky trick. If I hadn't gone grappling last week I might do that. It's so ridiculous my DM might have tried to argue, but at some point I can just say "make the game less murderhobo munchkin or let me do my munchkin thing since it's legal RAW or accept that I'm out after tonight"
I use this chart:
The Angry DM made it while he was figuring out how to plan out a giant level 1 to 11-13 dungeon for a party of 4 playing over the course of about a year, to figure out his encounter budget. The pertinent info are the columns marked "Fixed E (FE)", "RE", and "Opt E". The Fixed E + RE numbers give you the number of Encounters (Fixed E) and Random Encounters (RE) that a party should face per "adventuring day", as well as how many optional encounters / discoveries you can fit in without accidentally over-leveling the party. In this context, Angry is planning "days" of the dungeon out as extrapolations on the DMG guidelines of the adventure day, but with the knowledge that some parties/players may do more or less than that, and that's fine, it's all budgeted and planned. Random Encounters are mostly nuisance things to encourage the players to keep a brisk pace, and as such, they do not reward players with the same amount of exp as the other encounters.
But, and here's the magic, the Fixed Encounter list does not necessarily mean *combat* encounter. And here's how I use this chart to plan out more free-flowing level progressions:
For levels / dungeons where I have a lot of combat planned, I designate one person as the EXP tracker, and using this chart, I know that, for example, the dungeon I designed to take the players from level 6 to 7 needed a total of 13(ish) "events", each worth 750 exp (per player). So I knew how many things my players *had* to interact with in order to hit level 7 before facing the boss. I also knew that I could include an additional 1 full "event" worth 750 exp, and 2 "discoveries" worth 375 exp, and hide those off the beaten path, and the players could hit level 7 before the boss.
This let me plan out the dungeon to allow the players to rush, if they wanted to, and reach the boss still at level 6, and have an easier time saving the boy they were trying to find, but a harder time beating the boss (because they were weaker), or have an easier time defeating the boss, but the boy would be harder to save.
So, instead of planning out exactly 13 combat encounters, I planned out 13 events, with 1 extra optional event, and 2 lore discoveries that they could discover on their way to the boss encounter. If they found everything and did everything, they'd be level 7 exactly before the boss (with time to rest up before hand). If they rushed, they'd be level 6 instead. Some of the events were combat. Some were social. Some I just had a cool idea for a thing for them to find and let them run it how they wanted to run it, and however they "solved" it, I rewarded them full exp. There were friendly flumphs to save, a wounded spirit naga that they could have killed, chased off, or helped, deadly poisonous mushrooms to avoid, and gelatinous cubes to be gamed into swallowing their enemies. But the chart helped me figure out how many things to have.
It also can be used for more social levels. From level 5 to 6, the party was mostly trying to build up their home base, expand their social connections and contacts, and re-build the town they established their guild hall in. So, I used the chart to figure out that they needed roughly 20 "events", and each time they solved a problem for the town, or made a new contact, or re-established a trade route, or whatever they wanted to do, I had them mark down a tick in their play books. When they hit 20, they leveled up.
All in all, my players enjoy that kind of granular progressive feedback. They like to know that each session, they made a definitive amount of progress, and while some players are super happy to putz around and discover the world for a whole sessions, others get frustrated by a "lack of progress", so it's helpful to both players in my group when they get to see, Oh cool, we chatted up a merchant and got to add this new resource to the town / learned a piece of gossip, and that contributed to our level progression!
Your mileage may vary. I have another group I run one shots for, and we've talked about level progression and things like that, and they basically just want milestone type leveling. I think the key is to identify how your players *think* they want to experience XP, and then to check in with them every so often to see how they're liking the system you ended up using. However, I find that a lot of fellow GMs think that milestone is the be all end all way to reward experience, but more players than you'd think appreciate the granularity of actual experience points.
Best part of a party having those uber powerful one shot magic items? How they'll remember months later that "hey I got that iron Jar and can use it to distract the boss/break the thing" in interesting way.
Depends from GM to GM. its not explicitly stated. Mat Mercer of Critical Role mentions often that Grog's Bag of Holding aint a meat locker much to the horror of shopkeeps and merchants he does business with.
They had a couple "Bag of Colding" for when they had Slayer's Take missions around the episode 15 to 25 arc.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Yes
I don't think I'm going to make it.
I also need to get on and watch the later episodes. I'm still kinda stuck in the 80ish episodes before Thordak is taken care of, but after the White and Black dragons are dealt with.
Its not going to stop me from starting up with the new campaign though.
Whenever Travis (Grog) and Sam (Scanlan) pair up its always comedic gold.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
I also tried Dice Camera Action but being video only kinda cramped my style. Loved C-Team and how personal Jerry gets with his stories. And Perkins is awesome at moving the story along and keeping it entertaining.
Mercer and his crew make a very traditional D&D game but they do it very well. Them all being accomplished actors helps, very much. The role play is tight, the players all work well together and Matt Mercer is an excellent Dungeon Master.
As far as the community can tell, from statements from both Orion and Mercer, it was a combination of (confirmed) personal stuff on Orion's side mixed with him both (inferred) disrupting and potentially cheating during the game.
Will Wheaton
Scott Kurtz
Morgan Webb
?
This is my first game, we are running Curse of Strahd. We just hit Level 4, outside the coffin maker in Valiki. I was spoiled accidentally and know that the coffin maker is bad news (not that it wasn't obvious).
I am playing the Lore Bard, Grand Mimosa. In 2 levels, I will get my first set of magical secrets, and another 2 at level 10, which is where our DM has told us he is aiming for us to finish at, at which point we will carry on into original content.
Now for character reasons, I really want to take Ancestral Spirits. However, the difficulty of this campaign is ramping up, and while our DM has told us (and we agree) that we prefer a focus on character building and roleplay, he has shown that he isn't afraid to let us die for realsy if we play stupid, no matter how much work we've put into the character (or how much work the DM has put in, as he has allowed us to decide things about the background of the setting and has changed elements of certain characters or plot points to work better or tie in with specific players). To the point where our second encounter with Strahd had multiple players at 0 hp and I was a single dice roll away from total death*.
Due to this, I've been paranoid about what choices to take at level 6. I really wanted Ancestral Spirits, and I wanted Fireball so I could have some damage, since I have shit all for weapons and nothing much for damage besides Dissonant Whispers. I have been persuaded by a party member to push Ancestral Spirits off to level 10, since if we are ending the current campaign around that level I'd have AS in time for the character stuff I would want it for, and I could choose a more useful spell in the mean time.
I am stuck deciding between Counterspell and Aura of Vitality. On one hand, Counterspell is incredibly useful I am told and I would get it first out of our party. It could straight up shut down devastating spells, and be invaluable against a powerful caster like Strahd (or those windmill hags if we go for a rematch). On the other hand, Aura of Vitality is supposed to be incredibly useful at keeping people alive and on their feet, which seems vital if the fights keep progressing as they have been, and considering that I'd like everyone to stay alive extra hard for character and story reasons. I don't think I should switch out Fireball as one of my choices, since the extra damage that spell brings when my debuff/control spells aren't required is a massive boost to our party damage output. Anyone with experience playing a lore bard or CoS have any advice?
*Strahd was leaving after trouncing us and I may have told him to do some unsavory, degrading things to someone's mother