Quick DMing question: The Essence of Ether poison entry reads "A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 8 hours. The poisoned creature is unconscious. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake." My question is does the poisoned condition end when the creature wakes up, or does the poisoned condition continue for the entire eight hour duration?
My inclination is to rule that the poisoned condition stays in effect for the entire eight hours even if the unconscious condition doesn't.
I wish I could play in a game that uses all the 5E rules. All of the ones I've been in so far have glossed over or ignored aspects of the rules I'd like to become more familiar with, like lighting conditions, stealth, and surprise.
I'm trying to prepare a scenario now where a group of four creatures are hidden in the brush while their leader addresses the party, seemingly alone. I assume I should just go ahead and pre-roll the Stealth checks, giving me the following results:
The encounter would be in dim light, meaning that anyone who doesn't have darkvision will have disadvantage on Perception checks and a -5 penalty to Passive Perception related to sight.
So in these circumstances, if I understand correctly, a character with a passive perception of 16 but no darkvision would hear darkling 1 and 3 but not see them, while one with passive perception 16 and darkvision would see them. So neither character would be surprised, but all the darklings would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the first character, and darklings 2 and 4 would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the second character, right?
It's a bit confusing because some of the darklings can be hidden versus a specific character, but a character cannot be surprised by any darkling if they noticed at least one. I think that's how it goes, right?
EDIT: I'm also feeling kinda annoyed how long it's taking me to get this adventure ready compared to others I've done, but I guess it's because I'm actually trying to engage with aspects of the game's rules I've so far neglected.
I wish I could play in a game that uses all the 5E rules. All of the ones I've been in so far have glossed over or ignored aspects of the rules I'd like to become more familiar with, like lighting conditions, stealth, and surprise.
I'm trying to prepare a scenario now where a group of four creatures are hidden in the brush while their leader addresses the party, seemingly alone. I assume I should just go ahead and pre-roll the Stealth checks, giving me the following results:
The encounter would be in dim light, meaning that anyone who doesn't have darkvision will have disadvantage on Perception checks and a -5 penalty to Passive Perception related to sight.
So in these circumstances, if I understand correctly, a character with a passive perception of 16 but no darkvision would hear darkling 1 and 3 but not see them, while one with passive perception 16 and darkvision would see them. So neither character would be surprised, but all the darklings would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the first character, and darklings 2 and 4 would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the second character, right?
It's a bit confusing because some of the darklings can be hidden versus a specific character, but a character cannot be surprised by any darkling if they noticed at least one. I think that's how it goes, right?
EDIT: I'm also feeling kinda annoyed how long it's taking me to get this adventure ready compared to others I've done, but I guess it's because I'm actually trying to engage with aspects of the game's rules I've so far neglected.
You can also check the section for group stealth rolls to apply an overall "are they noticed or not" and make it faster.
I wish I could play in a game that uses all the 5E rules. All of the ones I've been in so far have glossed over or ignored aspects of the rules I'd like to become more familiar with, like lighting conditions, stealth, and surprise.
I'm trying to prepare a scenario now where a group of four creatures are hidden in the brush while their leader addresses the party, seemingly alone. I assume I should just go ahead and pre-roll the Stealth checks, giving me the following results:
The encounter would be in dim light, meaning that anyone who doesn't have darkvision will have disadvantage on Perception checks and a -5 penalty to Passive Perception related to sight.
So in these circumstances, if I understand correctly, a character with a passive perception of 16 but no darkvision would hear darkling 1 and 3 but not see them, while one with passive perception 16 and darkvision would see them. So neither character would be surprised, but all the darklings would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the first character, and darklings 2 and 4 would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the second character, right?
It's a bit confusing because some of the darklings can be hidden versus a specific character, but a character cannot be surprised by any darkling if they noticed at least one. I think that's how it goes, right?
EDIT: I'm also feeling kinda annoyed how long it's taking me to get this adventure ready compared to others I've done, but I guess it's because I'm actually trying to engage with aspects of the game's rules I've so far neglected.
You can also check the section for group stealth rolls to apply an overall "are they noticed or not" and make it faster.
I just looked at the group check rules. So for a group stealth roll, all four darklings would roll Stealth checks against the highest Passive Perception, and if at least half of them made the check they are all hidden, right?
Also, I just realized that hiding is of limited utility for the darklings anyway unless I give them a ranged weapon since there doesn't seem to be a way to sneak up on enemies from hiding and attack them without them seeing you coming (unless the DM arbitrarily says you can, apparently).
I was just about to post something about if someone could ready an action out of combat (such as "I get ready to cast darkness in between us and our enemies if negotiation goes south and it looks like we're about to fight"). I decided instead to look at Sage Advice first.
Wait what? I wasn't aware "in combat" was a condition in 5th edition. Sure you can hold a spell "out of combat", that would prompt initiative roll, in which the "enemy" continues doing what they were doing, and if they dont move in position by the wizard's next turn, the spell is lost. If it is something that can be readied every single turn, you can save the initiative roll until the condition for the held action occurs ( like readying a bow attack), and then roll initiative - unless the opponent sees them, they will have the surprised condition
Someone correct me if I'm wrong
It is Chris Perkins though, I've seen him tell his players they can't cast something without a non-valued component because he doesn't know what an arcane focus does
Yeah no that's wrong in fact readying, or holding spells, not only is possible it's one of the things that causes concentration. If you ready a fireball you're concentrating on it till your condition pops and you finish the spell. Like say you're readying that fireball till the fighter and sorcerer push the enemies in a clump you can hit. Those enemies could shoot you, void your concentration and burn your slot. I actually need to check to make sure it still burns the spell slot, it might not.
It burns a spell slot, because the act of readying involves casting the spell, and readied actions are expended if not used by your next round - so by raw you'd have to be sure your fireball would be optimum to fire in 6 seconds
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include "If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that opens it," and "If the goblin steps next to me, I move away."
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.
When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell's magic requires concentration. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be broken.
To me, this suggests that the spell slot is spent. If the turn passes without triggering the Ready condition, or if concentration is broken, then the spell is wasted. I think I saw Mercer make such a ruling at one point as well, though I couldn't tell you where in Campaign 2 it happened.
My initial thoughts were similar to yours, that the ruling didn't make sense and players should be allowed to use Ready outside of combat. Thinking about it more, though, I think not strictly allowing that makes more sense. After all, there is a massive time dilation once combat is entered since each round spans a matter of seconds. Noncombat scenarios could take minutes to play out, so an action that is waiting for something to happen in the next ten seconds would not be appropriate to hold that long. As a DM I do think I'd throw my players a bone for thinking proactively in some ad hoc way, but I probably wouldn't let them hold that fireball for minutes on end.
What I do is have concentration checks periodically to keep a spell held if it's going to be a minute or longer, it's not strictly the rules, but since martials can hold an attack over and over forever, I allow them
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.
Strict interpretation says you can ready a spell outside of combat, but you can only hold it for six seconds, which would limit the abuse potential.
Imagine a DM doing this: "I want to ready fireball for when I get the sense these jolly adventurers walking into the room are actually here to loot my crypt" "Ah! I get the sense!" *fireball* *roll damage* OK, everyone roll initiative...oh look at that, my NPC goes first... Uhh they cast fireball again.
Imagine a DM doing this: "I want to ready fireball for when I get the sense these jolly adventurers walking into the room are actually here to loot my crypt" "Ah! I get the sense!" *fireball* *roll damage* OK, everyone roll initiative...oh look at that, my NPC goes first... Uhh they cast fireball again.
Yes, npcs can do this too, I always tell my players "if you can do this, so can other things in the world is that okay?"
I wish I could play in a game that uses all the 5E rules. All of the ones I've been in so far have glossed over or ignored aspects of the rules I'd like to become more familiar with, like lighting conditions, stealth, and surprise.
I'm trying to prepare a scenario now where a group of four creatures are hidden in the brush while their leader addresses the party, seemingly alone. I assume I should just go ahead and pre-roll the Stealth checks, giving me the following results:
The encounter would be in dim light, meaning that anyone who doesn't have darkvision will have disadvantage on Perception checks and a -5 penalty to Passive Perception related to sight.
So in these circumstances, if I understand correctly, a character with a passive perception of 16 but no darkvision would hear darkling 1 and 3 but not see them, while one with passive perception 16 and darkvision would see them. So neither character would be surprised, but all the darklings would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the first character, and darklings 2 and 4 would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the second character, right?
It's a bit confusing because some of the darklings can be hidden versus a specific character, but a character cannot be surprised by any darkling if they noticed at least one. I think that's how it goes, right?
EDIT: I'm also feeling kinda annoyed how long it's taking me to get this adventure ready compared to others I've done, but I guess it's because I'm actually trying to engage with aspects of the game's rules I've so far neglected.
You can also check the section for group stealth rolls to apply an overall "are they noticed or not" and make it faster.
I just looked at the group check rules. So for a group stealth roll, all four darklings would roll Stealth checks against the highest Passive Perception, and if at least half of them made the check they are all hidden, right?
Also, I just realized that hiding is of limited utility for the darklings anyway unless I give them a ranged weapon since there doesn't seem to be a way to sneak up on enemies from hiding and attack them without them seeing you coming (unless the DM arbitrarily says you can, apparently).
You would need concealment in order to continue hiding. You don't need full concealment so darkness works. But you indeed cannot sneak up on a character with darkvision if they're in a clearing. Buut if you can get within your speed of them without being noticed you can still get a surprise round and make attacks during that round.
I was just about to post something about if someone could ready an action out of combat (such as "I get ready to cast darkness in between us and our enemies if negotiation goes south and it looks like we're about to fight"). I decided instead to look at Sage Advice first.
sage Advice is wrong here BUUT in your specific situation its right.
If you're "getting ready to cast darkness" you're actually taking an action to prepare. Which means you're actually casting the spell (or drawing your bow if you're reading a ranged attack).
And "I cast a spell while in vision of potentially hostile people" means "roll initiative" to me. And similarly i would rule that casting a spell and holding it creates a clear indication that you're doing so. So if you cast a spell behind a pillar then walked into view you're at roll initiative time.
Imagine a DM doing this: "I want to ready fireball for when I get the sense these jolly adventurers walking into the room are actually here to loot my crypt" "Ah! I get the sense!" *fireball* *roll damage* OK, everyone roll initiative...oh look at that, my NPC goes first... Uhh they cast fireball again.
I mean, they're the DM, they can do literally anything anyway. Oh look, you've been ambushed by multiple spellcasters that all throw a fireball in a surprise round. Hey look, all the NPCs targeted the squishy wizard and killed them before they even got to their initiative turn.
Being able to ready a spell for an ambush is hardly suddenly tipping the balance of power in the DM-player dynamic.
Re: hexmage and his stealth fiasco
I'd like to add that you don't necessarily have to roll stealth for the bad guys.
If they're behind cover and remaining motionless until their boss gives them the attack order there's not a lot of stealthing going on.
Re: ready outside of combat
Had this at my table. The problem occurs when the DM wants to do it as well.
You then end up with trying to decide which action, that's based on a thing or things occuring simultaneously, goes first.
The answer is initiative and starting combat as normal.
Upon further reflection, here is how I would handle the ready a spell thing...
The concentration required to delay the release of arcane energies for even brief periods is extremely taxing. To perform such a feat, the spellcaster must first decide a trigger, as the ready action. Then, each "round"* that passes, the spellcaster must make their normal concentration save, where the DC is 12 + the level of the spell, and it increases by 2 each round. On a failure, the unplanned discharge of energy deals 1d8 psychic damage per spell level to the caster.
I don't allow readied actions out of combat and any time I see someone attempt to do it (and I DM weekly at a ten table AL event, so I've seen it a lot) it's right before a fight and they're trying to cheat the upcoming initiative. Your readied action triggers, or doesn't, within six seconds. So outside of combat, when rounds don't mean anything you're either doing the thing or you're not.
If you're readying an action to kick off a combat and get the jump on someone, then the Initiative/Surprise mechanics cover that. Either your target is aware of you, or at least aware combat is possible, in which case when you go for your weapon/start casting, the enemy will do likewise so roll initiative and hope you beat them. If they're not aware you're about to strike either via stealth, or you just out of nowhere decide to stab them in the face while discussing the price of grain, then they're surprised (Though your friends might be surprised too) and you roll initiative. This seems infinitely preferable to me, as instead of just getting one triggered action, then straight to combat, you avail of the surprise condition and get your full turn - move, action, bonus. It means having to be quite consistent, and not stingy, with the Surprise Condition but it works a treat (And all the Assassins I run into love being able to actually exploit Surprise).
I also would not let a player ready an action before combat starts. If a players wants to ready something for combat, that's the trigger for an initiative roll and they ready something on their turn.
If a surprise round can be taken advantage of in that situation, great for the party. Otherwise the spell must be completed or it fizzles.
Recap: There are four of us (bard, eldritch knight, monk (me) and sorceress), we are each cursed/blessed (it has its advantages but also disadvantages) and each of us are reacting to it in a different way. Evil Half-Orc Bard is trying to gain power from his condition, Good Human Fighter has accepted the curse and tries to live with both its advantages and disadvantages, Good Dwarven Monk tries to keep the curse/blessing under control with discipline and willpower and Good Aasimar (but thinks or pretends she's Half-Elven) Sorceress is in complete denial.
We have just left the village of magical dogs and are on our way to a city near the coast where a powerful druid and expert on the curse lives, hoping that she can help us.
Mostly a travel episode. We followed the path and got into a snowy area. We made camp and found a mute elven child (none of us, even the "Half-Elf" sorceress, speak elvish) that was basically adopted by the Bard. We found a nearby cottage and thinking that it was his home, the Sorceress tried to enter.
The Cottage was a Mimic.
(From this point on, every encounter with an object or animal, will elicit the response "Action 1". Action 1 is poking something with a quarterstaff to see if it was not a mimic. Or throw a stone at it to see if it is a Mimic.)
The Mimic grabbed the sorceress and tried to eat her (leaving her grappled and with 2 HP), but all of us were faster than the Mimic, so we had a shot to save her. My Monk went first and hit the Mimic with quarterstaff and flurry of blows and I chose to disable its reactions for the rest of the turn. Knight hit it with his claymore. Bard and child backstabbed the Cottage. Sorceress tried to free herself, but critically failed and the counterattack knocked her out (DM forgot that I had disabled its reaction, so clarification if this was an attack or a reaction. It was a reaction, so rewind and Sorceress was still alive). Mimic attacked the sorceress again, but missed its attack this time. Next round of battles was enough to bring its HP down that the Sorceress shooting a guiding bolt from her hand (that was inside the Mimic's mouth) was enough to kill it off.
Bard got a lecture from Sorceress and me on child endangerment.
We went back to our camp to sleep and allow the Sorceress to recover (part of the curse is that we can't really sleep anymore, but Sorceress is in denial, so she cast sleep on herself. Got an inspiration from the DM for that.) The next morning the child was gone.
Bard got a lecture.
No tracks, no clues where the child could have been, the group decided to track forward, though I protested that leaving a child behind in the wilderness was unacceptable, but with no actual action to take to find or help the child, we continued the path. After two near-death encounters for the Sorceress, we decided to keep her in the middle of the party, surrounded by the others to protect her. Maybe a rope as a leash was discussed as well, because she tends to be the sort that runs headfirst into danger.
We entered a path of the snowy forest that was completely silent (we could make noise, but nothing around us did). We found a half-empty bottle on the road.
The Bottle was not a mimic. Also not really resistant to stones thrown at it.
The Sorceress managed to capture a squirrel from a tree with Mage Hand and we investigated it: the squirrel could not make any sound. Especially after the Bard took it and broke its neck.
The Squirrel was not a Mimic. The Sorceress does not like small animals getting hurt.
At night the child returned, we decided to check if the child was a Mimic in a friendlier way than Action 1; last night, the child had a flute and communicated with the Bard through music. He could still do so.) Next morning the child disappeared again (but this time one of us saw it actually disappear.
Bard got a lecture (3 strike rule: losing a child another time and no children allowed anymore).
Eldritch Knight cast Detect Magic to find any traces of the child and found some magic around us. Some magic fruit/vegetables, a magic stone and a magic path. We followed the side-path and found a shrine.
Despite not being proficient at religion, a good roll allowed me to deduce that the shrine was to a Goddess of Ice.
The Shrine was not a Mimic.
We found bones around the shrine and decided that people sacrificed to the goddess here by chopping of their own arms (thinking back, there were far more rational explanations).
None of the bones were Mimics.
Also there was a chest with a magic lock.
The Chest was not a Mimic.
Attempts to use magic, brute force or religion (prayer) against the chest did not work. Finessing the magic lock did not work. Fire and ice magic did not work. The Bard decide to put the dead squirrel on the altar/chest as a sacrifice. The blood seeping into the lock did something. I cut my own hand, lock reacted more. Bard and Knight did the same. Sorceress kept her distance, especially disturbed by her three party members holding bloody knives and looking at her to make a sacrifice. She threw her bloodied bandages from the day before. This opened the chest, which contained gold and jewels.
The Gold and Jewels were Mimics.
Attacked by 10 mini-Mimics, the Bard was able to kill 1 outright. Sorceress, this time from a safe distance, managed to put half of the rest to sleep. 2 Mimics bit me, 2 Mimics bit the Bard. The Eldritch Knight spend his turn to use a rope to tie up one of the mini-mimics which he wanted to keep as a pet. The Bard decided to do the same. I managed to kill a Mimic nearby, then used two headbuts to get rid of the Mimics on my arms. The Sorceress finished of the last .. uncaptured (sigh)... Mimics. Bard and Eldritch Knight were very pleased with their new "pets" and started to train them.
Now keep in mind: the Sorceress had a near-death experience with mimics and my dwarven monk is the youngest daughter of a family that was destroyed by their greed for gold and has taken a vow of poverty and has an instinctive fear and hatred of gold and money. our 2 companions have chosen pets that are both Mimics that look like money. So there is *some* tension within the group. There was some real money in the chest as well, which was divided between Bard, Knight and Sorceress (vow of poverty, so didn't take any money).
Child returned and disappeared again several times. Both the child muteness and the silent part of the forest seemed to be linked, but we could not solve it, so we tracked forward and arrived at a town in the mountains (not the town we are heading for, but it's on the way there).
In our few minutes in the town:
Bard paid for my entrance (as I don't have any money).
My Monk has challenged some hipster to a Brew-off (She does not care for money, but she does take pride in the quality of her beer) which will take place in two days (I know that brewing a beer takes a lot longer than that, but we will magic our way around it probably).
The Bard will perform at an Inn. Also the bar has used a disguise kit to look human.
We found the location of the city where Warforged are produced and met some of them in this town. They seem to be slaves to the population there, so Sorceress and Monk are starting to plot a revolution within 10 seconds.
DM has realised that by introducing Mimics, she has made a HUGE mistake, cause now the party is infested with mind goblins: We only entered the Inn in a busy, busy town once we saw people walking out of it again.
I catapult my returning mace that I have cast arcane weapon on. Do I simply deal the 3d8? And does it count as a thrown attack (aka can I command it to return)?
I catapult my returning mace that I have cast arcane weapon on. Do I simply deal the 3d8? And does it count as a thrown attack (aka can I command it to return)?
I'd say you do 3d8 + 1d6 and can use the returning feature per RAW (depends on how the returning feature on your weapon is worded, however.)
When you make a ranged Attack, you fire a bow or a crossbow, hurl a Handaxe, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance. A monster might shoot spines from its tail. Many Spells also involve making a ranged Attack.
This magic weapon grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it, and it returns to the wielder’s hand immediately after it is used to make a ranged attack.
It does not specify what sort of ranged attack it has to be, therefore applicable to catapult!
You channel arcane energy into one simple or martial weapon you’re holding, and choose one damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 damage of the chosen type to any target you hit with the weapon. If the weapon isn’t magical, it becomes a magic weapon for the spell’s duration.
Again, it does not specify that the hit needs to come from a melee attack. Simply that you hit someone with it. If catching a flaming mace with your face doesn't count as getting hit then I don't know what does!
Catapult is a dex save spell effect and therefore not a ranged attack, which requires you to make an attack roll. As such you do not "hit" with it and cannot apply arcane weapon damage. Nor did you make a ranged attack and so cannot apply the returning property.
As it eats up two first level spells and is cool as hell i would definitely let you do it.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
So crossposting here from SE, I'm putting together ideas for a potential guest character in my brothers game
Warlock with an infernal pact to Baron in Dis, or just general cultist/follower of a forge and Jewelers district. Warlock would be tasked with finding special/precious gems, metals, items etc. And similar contract type work finding materials, obtaining land and hiring miners, making deals with Jewelers and merchants etc. Receives finders fee in form of magic jewelry, rings etc? Possibly is given souls based on successful sales. Possible commission chart, reward tiers with different devil forms upon reaching afterlife with competition between contractors. "Everyone wants pit-fiend tier"
Ufo conspiracy theorist/cryptozoologist archaeologist type, hot on the trail of an ancient story of a ship from the void landing with alien
god and refugees and subsequently disappearing or leaving.
Magically shapeshifted spy from another race, possibly gone rogue/on the run, possible sleeper agent
Characters spouse was a secret retired member of mercenary group/cult/secret society, either it's members or enemies killed them, the character is now out to uncover the truth and get revenge
Cleric/Druid former member of cult following a Naga who obtained a shard of divinity, worshipped as a deity of fertility, cures/antidotes, and herbalism (including both poisonous and healing plants) appeared as a giant serpent with stone-like scales covered in moss, herbs, vines and flowers, with the head of a beautiful woman with serpent hair. An evil deity seeking to obtain her spark of divinity/eliminate a rival planted rumours of an evil cult to lure in adventurers, and when one group following such a trail stumbled on a ritual venerating the Naga, they burst in, cut down and scattered the cult and most of its leadership, and killed the Naga goddess. The character, as a druid/cleric in the goddess’ service, was one of the only ones to escape and was able to save a small shard of their demigods power. Now they spread the faith of their goddess knowing that such will help feed the small spark and keep it going, while seeking another piece of divinity to steal to bring their god back to life, all while seeking revenge against the adventurers who killed them, and the evil deity who duped them into doing their bidding. Wears a mask/helmet in combat in the image of their goddess’ visage, formed from carved and magically hardened wood or forged steel.
Hobgoblin Paladin of the Crown, searching for a former general of her kingdom that started a civil war that killed many in the kingdom and betrayed their oaths. Lawful evil but very justice and duty oriented, respects laws of the land.
On the Hobgoblin Paladin of the Crown I had some further thoughts to potentially flesh out the backstory a bit
the local kingdom (humans most likely but it could work with other races) might have had trouble with bandits or raiders during a previous rulers reign hiding out in a section of the Hobgoblin territory they don't really use much, but they wouldn't want to take the chance of causing strife with the Hobgoblins at that time, as they were known to be building up for a push into territory held my orcs or something similar, but they could well turn some of that attention elsewhere. Instead the ruler signed a sort of extradition/mutual law treaty with the Hobgoblins, but being smart realized they wouldn't want Hobgoblins to always be looking for runaway slaves or the like, or worse asking them to, so they agreed that it would be for those whose actions would be criminal in both territories (with some exceptions, like if necromancy were illegal in the human kingdom but not the Hobgoblin one, the Hobgoblins might allow for them to make a treaty claim regardless, since they don't want some rogue necromancer haunting the foothills near their goblin farming villages), the agreement would allow for both sides to ask for the criminal to be tried in their own justice system, or they could defer to the others' legal code and system. The Hobgoblins, recognizing this would be useful to them in the future, and finding the raiders would likely become a nuisance to them in time, agreed.
So now, some time later, some individual (civil war starting general, treasonous vizier, power-mad wizard, whatever works) has escaped from the Hobgoblin lands into the human/other kingdom's land and has started working with some criminal group. The Paladin would be one of a reasonable number of agents the Hobgoblin King has sent with permission to work with locals in the Kingdom to track down and bring the criminal to justice.
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
So after some looking around, it turns out that there was an errata for Polearm Master that allows spears to benefit from it. So I'm rolling a Kensei Monk that focuses on spears. I'm excited for it.
I think I'll lean hard into the Wushu movie inspiration for the background. Maybe have a group of villainous martial artists that I'm seeking to defeat.
So what's some of the more interesting homebrew? I'm partial to the Codex of Waves myself.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
What does a low con character vs a high con character look like visually? Same for Dex.
I like to commission art of characters I make (av's one of them) and I wondered what my runt gnoll monk would look like with -2 mod to Str but a +4 to Dex and a +1 to Con along with a fellow player's character having like only +1 in Str but like +3 in Con.
What does a low con character vs a high con character look like visually? Same for Dex.
I like to commission art of characters I make (av's one of them) and I wondered what my runt gnoll monk would look like with -2 mod to Str but a +4 to Dex and a +1 to Con along with a fellow player's character having like only +1 in Str but like +3 in Con.
In my mind, high con tends to be a beefier character. Big muscles, broad shoulders, that kind of thing. Not going to the maxed out cut body builder look, but more of a heavy weight MMA fighter a couple weeks after their last match, but before they have to start working to make weight for their next match. High con makes me think "This is a person who can, and has, taken a punch".
High dex makes me think leaner character design. Not "skinny" necessarily, but wiry. That long, lean build that you might see in a marathon runner or a ballet dancer. Maybe not someone who can take a punch, but someone who could dance around it.
I feel like a lot of high Dex characters would be ones you'd have to see in action, that ease of movement that comes from motor control and flexibility applied to their strength. Alternately: the gymnast look. Lean, but Dorito shaped with the major muscle groups being more expansive and defined: back, thighs, shoulders. You could describe them in a lot of ways.
I feel like a lot of high Dex characters would be ones you'd have to see in action, that ease of movement that comes from motor control and flexibility applied to their strength. Alternately: the gymnast look. Lean, but Dorito shaped with the major muscle groups being more expansive and defined: back, thighs, shoulders. You could describe them in a lot of ways.
Dex is almost an extension of strength. What makes a gymnast is both strength and dexterity. The strength lets you do the penny drop, dexterity lets you properly catch the bar and not break your neck.
Dexterity also plays into manual dexterity, like a piano player or a lockpick. And stealth, so ability to contort oneself into small places that are shadowed?
Constitution also affects how well you take chemical attacks upon your body (stinky dragon breath, poison, alcohol). Con to me seems there most genetic one as opposed to dex/str being trainable.
I imagine a high Dex character as always in the fight or flight position. Balls of the feet, hands near weapons at all times, fingers flexing, a whole "coiled spring" attitude.
High Con I imagine as stocky, either with muscles or just chunkiness. The kind of person you can imagine winning a Man Vs Food challenge
I imagine a high Dex character as always in the fight or flight position. Balls of the feet, hands near weapons at all times, fingers flexing, a whole "coiled spring" attitude.
High Con I imagine as stocky, either with muscles or just chunkiness. The kind of person you can imagine winning a Man Vs Food challenge
yeah the mage in my group is like that. 18 con.
clocks in at 450 pounds. has a speed of 15/round.
You'd think he'd have died by now but the others in the group keep stalling (and dying to) enemies they try to flee from
so that the chonky mage can get away.
My Glamour Bard now has Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. I have to start designing floor plans. Sooo many floor plans...
Earlier we finally got to a real town to spend all the money we had been hoarding. I bought a bunch of clothes for his Shield Guardian. Seemed like the right thing to do.
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I'm trying to prepare a scenario now where a group of four creatures are hidden in the brush while their leader addresses the party, seemingly alone. I assume I should just go ahead and pre-roll the Stealth checks, giving me the following results:
- Darkling 1: Stealth Check 12
- Darkling 2: Stealth Check 25
- Darkling 3: Stealth Check 15
- Darkling 4: Stealth Check 26
The encounter would be in dim light, meaning that anyone who doesn't have darkvision will have disadvantage on Perception checks and a -5 penalty to Passive Perception related to sight.
So in these circumstances, if I understand correctly, a character with a passive perception of 16 but no darkvision would hear darkling 1 and 3 but not see them, while one with passive perception 16 and darkvision would see them. So neither character would be surprised, but all the darklings would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the first character, and darklings 2 and 4 would still be hidden and have advantage on attack rolls versus the second character, right?
It's a bit confusing because some of the darklings can be hidden versus a specific character, but a character cannot be surprised by any darkling if they noticed at least one. I think that's how it goes, right?
EDIT: I'm also feeling kinda annoyed how long it's taking me to get this adventure ready compared to others I've done, but I guess it's because I'm actually trying to engage with aspects of the game's rules I've so far neglected.
You can also check the section for group stealth rolls to apply an overall "are they noticed or not" and make it faster.
I just looked at the group check rules. So for a group stealth roll, all four darklings would roll Stealth checks against the highest Passive Perception, and if at least half of them made the check they are all hidden, right?
Also, I just realized that hiding is of limited utility for the darklings anyway unless I give them a ranged weapon since there doesn't seem to be a way to sneak up on enemies from hiding and attack them without them seeing you coming (unless the DM arbitrarily says you can, apparently).
Someone correct me if I'm wrong
It is Chris Perkins though, I've seen him tell his players they can't cast something without a non-valued component because he doesn't know what an arcane focus does
To me, this suggests that the spell slot is spent. If the turn passes without triggering the Ready condition, or if concentration is broken, then the spell is wasted. I think I saw Mercer make such a ruling at one point as well, though I couldn't tell you where in Campaign 2 it happened.
My initial thoughts were similar to yours, that the ruling didn't make sense and players should be allowed to use Ready outside of combat. Thinking about it more, though, I think not strictly allowing that makes more sense. After all, there is a massive time dilation once combat is entered since each round spans a matter of seconds. Noncombat scenarios could take minutes to play out, so an action that is waiting for something to happen in the next ten seconds would not be appropriate to hold that long. As a DM I do think I'd throw my players a bone for thinking proactively in some ad hoc way, but I probably wouldn't let them hold that fireball for minutes on end.
Strict interpretation says you can ready a spell outside of combat, but you can only hold it for six seconds, which would limit the abuse potential.
Yes, npcs can do this too, I always tell my players "if you can do this, so can other things in the world is that okay?"
It's delightful
You would need concealment in order to continue hiding. You don't need full concealment so darkness works. But you indeed cannot sneak up on a character with darkvision if they're in a clearing. Buut if you can get within your speed of them without being noticed you can still get a surprise round and make attacks during that round.
sage Advice is wrong here BUUT in your specific situation its right.
If you're "getting ready to cast darkness" you're actually taking an action to prepare. Which means you're actually casting the spell (or drawing your bow if you're reading a ranged attack).
And "I cast a spell while in vision of potentially hostile people" means "roll initiative" to me. And similarly i would rule that casting a spell and holding it creates a clear indication that you're doing so. So if you cast a spell behind a pillar then walked into view you're at roll initiative time.
Being able to ready a spell for an ambush is hardly suddenly tipping the balance of power in the DM-player dynamic.
I'd like to add that you don't necessarily have to roll stealth for the bad guys.
If they're behind cover and remaining motionless until their boss gives them the attack order there's not a lot of stealthing going on.
Re: ready outside of combat
Had this at my table. The problem occurs when the DM wants to do it as well.
You then end up with trying to decide which action, that's based on a thing or things occuring simultaneously, goes first.
The answer is initiative and starting combat as normal.
The concentration required to delay the release of arcane energies for even brief periods is extremely taxing. To perform such a feat, the spellcaster must first decide a trigger, as the ready action. Then, each "round"* that passes, the spellcaster must make their normal concentration save, where the DC is 12 + the level of the spell, and it increases by 2 each round. On a failure, the unplanned discharge of energy deals 1d8 psychic damage per spell level to the caster.
If you're readying an action to kick off a combat and get the jump on someone, then the Initiative/Surprise mechanics cover that. Either your target is aware of you, or at least aware combat is possible, in which case when you go for your weapon/start casting, the enemy will do likewise so roll initiative and hope you beat them. If they're not aware you're about to strike either via stealth, or you just out of nowhere decide to stab them in the face while discussing the price of grain, then they're surprised (Though your friends might be surprised too) and you roll initiative. This seems infinitely preferable to me, as instead of just getting one triggered action, then straight to combat, you avail of the surprise condition and get your full turn - move, action, bonus. It means having to be quite consistent, and not stingy, with the Surprise Condition but it works a treat (And all the Assassins I run into love being able to actually exploit Surprise).
I also would not let a player ready an action before combat starts. If a players wants to ready something for combat, that's the trigger for an initiative roll and they ready something on their turn.
If a surprise round can be taken advantage of in that situation, great for the party. Otherwise the spell must be completed or it fizzles.
Recap: There are four of us (bard, eldritch knight, monk (me) and sorceress), we are each cursed/blessed (it has its advantages but also disadvantages) and each of us are reacting to it in a different way. Evil Half-Orc Bard is trying to gain power from his condition, Good Human Fighter has accepted the curse and tries to live with both its advantages and disadvantages, Good Dwarven Monk tries to keep the curse/blessing under control with discipline and willpower and Good Aasimar (but thinks or pretends she's Half-Elven) Sorceress is in complete denial.
We have just left the village of magical dogs and are on our way to a city near the coast where a powerful druid and expert on the curse lives, hoping that she can help us.
Mostly a travel episode. We followed the path and got into a snowy area. We made camp and found a mute elven child (none of us, even the "Half-Elf" sorceress, speak elvish) that was basically adopted by the Bard. We found a nearby cottage and thinking that it was his home, the Sorceress tried to enter.
The Cottage was a Mimic.
(From this point on, every encounter with an object or animal, will elicit the response "Action 1". Action 1 is poking something with a quarterstaff to see if it was not a mimic. Or throw a stone at it to see if it is a Mimic.)
The Mimic grabbed the sorceress and tried to eat her (leaving her grappled and with 2 HP), but all of us were faster than the Mimic, so we had a shot to save her. My Monk went first and hit the Mimic with quarterstaff and flurry of blows and I chose to disable its reactions for the rest of the turn. Knight hit it with his claymore. Bard and child backstabbed the Cottage. Sorceress tried to free herself, but critically failed and the counterattack knocked her out (DM forgot that I had disabled its reaction, so clarification if this was an attack or a reaction. It was a reaction, so rewind and Sorceress was still alive). Mimic attacked the sorceress again, but missed its attack this time. Next round of battles was enough to bring its HP down that the Sorceress shooting a guiding bolt from her hand (that was inside the Mimic's mouth) was enough to kill it off.
Bard got a lecture from Sorceress and me on child endangerment.
We went back to our camp to sleep and allow the Sorceress to recover (part of the curse is that we can't really sleep anymore, but Sorceress is in denial, so she cast sleep on herself. Got an inspiration from the DM for that.) The next morning the child was gone.
Bard got a lecture.
No tracks, no clues where the child could have been, the group decided to track forward, though I protested that leaving a child behind in the wilderness was unacceptable, but with no actual action to take to find or help the child, we continued the path. After two near-death encounters for the Sorceress, we decided to keep her in the middle of the party, surrounded by the others to protect her. Maybe a rope as a leash was discussed as well, because she tends to be the sort that runs headfirst into danger.
We entered a path of the snowy forest that was completely silent (we could make noise, but nothing around us did). We found a half-empty bottle on the road.
The Bottle was not a mimic. Also not really resistant to stones thrown at it.
The Sorceress managed to capture a squirrel from a tree with Mage Hand and we investigated it: the squirrel could not make any sound. Especially after the Bard took it and broke its neck.
The Squirrel was not a Mimic. The Sorceress does not like small animals getting hurt.
At night the child returned, we decided to check if the child was a Mimic in a friendlier way than Action 1; last night, the child had a flute and communicated with the Bard through music. He could still do so.) Next morning the child disappeared again (but this time one of us saw it actually disappear.
Bard got a lecture (3 strike rule: losing a child another time and no children allowed anymore).
Eldritch Knight cast Detect Magic to find any traces of the child and found some magic around us. Some magic fruit/vegetables, a magic stone and a magic path. We followed the side-path and found a shrine.
Despite not being proficient at religion, a good roll allowed me to deduce that the shrine was to a Goddess of Ice.
The Shrine was not a Mimic.
We found bones around the shrine and decided that people sacrificed to the goddess here by chopping of their own arms (thinking back, there were far more rational explanations).
None of the bones were Mimics.
Also there was a chest with a magic lock.
The Chest was not a Mimic.
Attempts to use magic, brute force or religion (prayer) against the chest did not work. Finessing the magic lock did not work. Fire and ice magic did not work. The Bard decide to put the dead squirrel on the altar/chest as a sacrifice. The blood seeping into the lock did something. I cut my own hand, lock reacted more. Bard and Knight did the same. Sorceress kept her distance, especially disturbed by her three party members holding bloody knives and looking at her to make a sacrifice. She threw her bloodied bandages from the day before. This opened the chest, which contained gold and jewels.
The Gold and Jewels were Mimics.
Attacked by 10 mini-Mimics, the Bard was able to kill 1 outright. Sorceress, this time from a safe distance, managed to put half of the rest to sleep. 2 Mimics bit me, 2 Mimics bit the Bard. The Eldritch Knight spend his turn to use a rope to tie up one of the mini-mimics which he wanted to keep as a pet. The Bard decided to do the same. I managed to kill a Mimic nearby, then used two headbuts to get rid of the Mimics on my arms. The Sorceress finished of the last .. uncaptured (sigh)... Mimics. Bard and Eldritch Knight were very pleased with their new "pets" and started to train them.
Now keep in mind: the Sorceress had a near-death experience with mimics and my dwarven monk is the youngest daughter of a family that was destroyed by their greed for gold and has taken a vow of poverty and has an instinctive fear and hatred of gold and money. our 2 companions have chosen pets that are both Mimics that look like money. So there is *some* tension within the group. There was some real money in the chest as well, which was divided between Bard, Knight and Sorceress (vow of poverty, so didn't take any money).
Child returned and disappeared again several times. Both the child muteness and the silent part of the forest seemed to be linked, but we could not solve it, so we tracked forward and arrived at a town in the mountains (not the town we are heading for, but it's on the way there).
In our few minutes in the town:
Bard paid for my entrance (as I don't have any money).
My Monk has challenged some hipster to a Brew-off (She does not care for money, but she does take pride in the quality of her beer) which will take place in two days (I know that brewing a beer takes a lot longer than that, but we will magic our way around it probably).
The Bard will perform at an Inn. Also the bar has used a disguise kit to look human.
We found the location of the city where Warforged are produced and met some of them in this town. They seem to be slaves to the population there, so Sorceress and Monk are starting to plot a revolution within 10 seconds.
DM has realised that by introducing Mimics, she has made a HUGE mistake, cause now the party is infested with mind goblins: We only entered the Inn in a busy, busy town once we saw people walking out of it again.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I catapult my returning mace that I have cast arcane weapon on. Do I simply deal the 3d8? And does it count as a thrown attack (aka can I command it to return)?
I'd say you do 3d8 + 1d6 and can use the returning feature per RAW (depends on how the returning feature on your weapon is worded, however.)
edit:
quotes!
Clearly, hucking a mace at someone, be it with magic or brute physical awesomeness, is a ranged attack.
It does not specify what sort of ranged attack it has to be, therefore applicable to catapult!
Again, it does not specify that the hit needs to come from a melee attack. Simply that you hit someone with it. If catching a flaming mace with your face doesn't count as getting hit then I don't know what does!
Catapult is a dex save spell effect and therefore not a ranged attack, which requires you to make an attack roll. As such you do not "hit" with it and cannot apply arcane weapon damage. Nor did you make a ranged attack and so cannot apply the returning property.
As it eats up two first level spells and is cool as hell i would definitely let you do it.
here Goumindong ...*takes lawyering pants off*
... I'm not worthy of them anymore!
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Ufo conspiracy theorist/cryptozoologist archaeologist type, hot on the trail of an ancient story of a ship from the void landing with alien
god and refugees and subsequently disappearing or leaving.
Magically shapeshifted spy from another race, possibly gone rogue/on the run, possible sleeper agent
Characters spouse was a secret retired member of mercenary group/cult/secret society, either it's members or enemies killed them, the character is now out to uncover the truth and get revenge
Cleric/Druid former member of cult following a Naga who obtained a shard of divinity, worshipped as a deity of fertility, cures/antidotes, and herbalism (including both poisonous and healing plants) appeared as a giant serpent with stone-like scales covered in moss, herbs, vines and flowers, with the head of a beautiful woman with serpent hair. An evil deity seeking to obtain her spark of divinity/eliminate a rival planted rumours of an evil cult to lure in adventurers, and when one group following such a trail stumbled on a ritual venerating the Naga, they burst in, cut down and scattered the cult and most of its leadership, and killed the Naga goddess. The character, as a druid/cleric in the goddess’ service, was one of the only ones to escape and was able to save a small shard of their demigods power. Now they spread the faith of their goddess knowing that such will help feed the small spark and keep it going, while seeking another piece of divinity to steal to bring their god back to life, all while seeking revenge against the adventurers who killed them, and the evil deity who duped them into doing their bidding. Wears a mask/helmet in combat in the image of their goddess’ visage, formed from carved and magically hardened wood or forged steel.
Hobgoblin Paladin of the Crown, searching for a former general of her kingdom that started a civil war that killed many in the kingdom and betrayed their oaths. Lawful evil but very justice and duty oriented, respects laws of the land.
On the Hobgoblin Paladin of the Crown I had some further thoughts to potentially flesh out the backstory a bit
the local kingdom (humans most likely but it could work with other races) might have had trouble with bandits or raiders during a previous rulers reign hiding out in a section of the Hobgoblin territory they don't really use much, but they wouldn't want to take the chance of causing strife with the Hobgoblins at that time, as they were known to be building up for a push into territory held my orcs or something similar, but they could well turn some of that attention elsewhere. Instead the ruler signed a sort of extradition/mutual law treaty with the Hobgoblins, but being smart realized they wouldn't want Hobgoblins to always be looking for runaway slaves or the like, or worse asking them to, so they agreed that it would be for those whose actions would be criminal in both territories (with some exceptions, like if necromancy were illegal in the human kingdom but not the Hobgoblin one, the Hobgoblins might allow for them to make a treaty claim regardless, since they don't want some rogue necromancer haunting the foothills near their goblin farming villages), the agreement would allow for both sides to ask for the criminal to be tried in their own justice system, or they could defer to the others' legal code and system. The Hobgoblins, recognizing this would be useful to them in the future, and finding the raiders would likely become a nuisance to them in time, agreed.
So now, some time later, some individual (civil war starting general, treasonous vizier, power-mad wizard, whatever works) has escaped from the Hobgoblin lands into the human/other kingdom's land and has started working with some criminal group. The Paladin would be one of a reasonable number of agents the Hobgoblin King has sent with permission to work with locals in the Kingdom to track down and bring the criminal to justice.
I think I'll lean hard into the Wushu movie inspiration for the background. Maybe have a group of villainous martial artists that I'm seeking to defeat.
I like to commission art of characters I make (av's one of them) and I wondered what my runt gnoll monk would look like with -2 mod to Str but a +4 to Dex and a +1 to Con along with a fellow player's character having like only +1 in Str but like +3 in Con.
In my mind, high con tends to be a beefier character. Big muscles, broad shoulders, that kind of thing. Not going to the maxed out cut body builder look, but more of a heavy weight MMA fighter a couple weeks after their last match, but before they have to start working to make weight for their next match. High con makes me think "This is a person who can, and has, taken a punch".
High dex makes me think leaner character design. Not "skinny" necessarily, but wiry. That long, lean build that you might see in a marathon runner or a ballet dancer. Maybe not someone who can take a punch, but someone who could dance around it.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Dex is almost an extension of strength. What makes a gymnast is both strength and dexterity. The strength lets you do the penny drop, dexterity lets you properly catch the bar and not break your neck.
Constitution also affects how well you take chemical attacks upon your body (stinky dragon breath, poison, alcohol). Con to me seems there most genetic one as opposed to dex/str being trainable.
High Con I imagine as stocky, either with muscles or just chunkiness. The kind of person you can imagine winning a Man Vs Food challenge
yeah the mage in my group is like that. 18 con.
clocks in at 450 pounds. has a speed of 15/round.
You'd think he'd have died by now but the others in the group keep stalling (and dying to) enemies they try to flee from
so that the chonky mage can get away.
Earlier we finally got to a real town to spend all the money we had been hoarding. I bought a bunch of clothes for his Shield Guardian. Seemed like the right thing to do.
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