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[D&D 5E] Xanathar's Guide to Striking a Nerve

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Posts

  • AbbalahAbbalah Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    webguy20 wrote: »
    Gaddez wrote: »
    webguy20 wrote: »
    The swashbuckler subclass of the rogue looks super fun. Its the character type I want to play next.

    Swashbuckler is really solid with the right party, though I do caution that it takes some finesse to make it work well; you just about always have advantage on your attack rolls and can churn out some serious damage with two weapon fighting/sneak attack, but the class really needs to stay mobile since it can't stand up well in a brawl from what I've seen.

    Well that seems pretty standard to the regular rogue archetype. Good to know though. Theres just a lot of fun thematic stuff to pull from to play a great swashbuckler.

    A curveball of a swashbuckler starts with one level of fighter for medium armor, shields, and the dueling fighting style. Then, if you're a human, take Shield Master or Medium Armor Master before you move to Rogue. Either way it'll help your odds of not getting hit, or make you very hard to hit with a fireball - especially when your rogue abilities start up.

    But the whole point of swashbuckler, mechanically, is to enable two-weapon fighting by letting you disengage from melee without spending your bonus action to Cunning Action->Disengage (so you can spend it on an offhand weapon attack instead). You can't use the dueling style with two weapons, and you can't use two-weapon fighting if you're carrying a shield. If you're going to MC Fighter, you'd be way better off with the two-weapon fighting style, since that's gonna add +4-5 damage to your bonus action attack instead of +2 to your single standard attack. Or if you want the full swashbuckling pirate theme, the Mariner fighting style out of UA, which gives you the same +1 AC as the Defensive fighting style but also gives you a climb speed and a swim speed so you can run around swinging on the rigging.

    Medium armor also doesn't do much for you if you're maxing DEX anyway, except at low levels - Studded Leather is 12+DEX mod, which is gonna give you 15 at the start (16 dex) and 17 by mid-levels (20 dex). For a high-dex character, half-plate is 17, rising to 18 if you also take the medium armor master feat. +1 AC is pretty low value for a feat - if you're spending a 'real' feat on it, you could get the same benefit plus better initiative and skills by just continuing to max your dex (and eventually your CHA, since swashbucklers get to add it to their initiative), and even if you're a human there are better things to do with the bonus feat.

    I don't think I'd dip fighter unless I were going at least fighter 3 (for action surge and battlemaster) and possibly fighter 5/6 (because once you're 3 in and planning on swinging swords in melee you might as well pick up the stat bonus(es) and Extra Attack).

    If you're just after the fighting style, 2 levels in the revised Ranger gives you the same fighting style options, medium armor (and shields), plus advantage on initiative rolls to go with your already-boosted init rolls from swashbuckler, advantage (and thus guaranteed sneak attack eligibility) on your turn one attacks, and Hunter's Mark for an extra 1d6 damage on every hit. And favored enemy, which functionally translates to +2 damage against humanoids. Also an extra skill, bringing you up to 7 trained skills. (Multiclassing ranger does require 13 wis, but even as a variant human you have enough points to start 16/16 in dex/cha, put wisdom at 13, and still bump con to 12. any dex/cha race [half-elf, drow, tabaxi, lightfoot halfling, variant tiefling, etc] can do the same but with 14 wis so you don't have the wasted point.)

    Alternately straight rogue is fine and gets you to uncanny dodge, evasion, and reliable talent faster, and still gives you a sort of Hunter's Mark Lite in the form of +1d6 damage/round from sneak attack advancement that you'd miss out on by multiclassing. Also gets swashbucklers to Panache faster, and in my experience an at-will non-magical Charm Person is the solution to a shocking number of problems.

  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Abbalah wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    webguy20 wrote: »
    Gaddez wrote: »
    webguy20 wrote: »
    The swashbuckler subclass of the rogue looks super fun. Its the character type I want to play next.

    Swashbuckler is really solid with the right party, though I do caution that it takes some finesse to make it work well; you just about always have advantage on your attack rolls and can churn out some serious damage with two weapon fighting/sneak attack, but the class really needs to stay mobile since it can't stand up well in a brawl from what I've seen.

    Well that seems pretty standard to the regular rogue archetype. Good to know though. Theres just a lot of fun thematic stuff to pull from to play a great swashbuckler.

    A curveball of a swashbuckler starts with one level of fighter for medium armor, shields, and the dueling fighting style. Then, if you're a human, take Shield Master or Medium Armor Master before you move to Rogue. Either way it'll help your odds of not getting hit, or make you very hard to hit with a fireball - especially when your rogue abilities start up.

    But the whole point of swashbuckler, mechanically, is to enable two-weapon fighting by letting you disengage from melee without spending your bonus action to Cunning Action->Disengage (so you can spend it on an offhand weapon attack instead). You can't use the dueling style with two weapons, and you can't use two-weapon fighting if you're carrying a shield. If you're going to MC Fighter, you'd be way better off with the two-weapon fighting style, since that's gonna add +4-5 damage to your bonus action attack instead of +2 to your single standard attack. Or if you want the full swashbuckling pirate theme, the Mariner fighting style out of UA, which gives you the same +1 AC as the Defensive fighting style but also gives you a climb speed and a swim speed so you can run around swinging on the rigging.

    Medium armor also doesn't do much for you if you're maxing DEX anyway, except at low levels - Studded Leather is 12+DEX mod, which is gonna give you 15 at the start (16 dex) and 17 by mid-levels (20 dex). For a high-dex character, half-plate is 17, rising to 18 if you also take the medium armor master feat. +1 AC is pretty low value for a feat - if you're spending a 'real' feat on it, you could get the same benefit plus better initiative and skills by just continuing to max your dex (and eventually your CHA, since swashbucklers get to add it to their initiative), and even if you're a human there are better things to do with the bonus feat.

    I don't think I'd dip fighter unless I were going at least fighter 3 (for action surge and battlemaster) and possibly fighter 5/6 (because once you're 3 in and planning on swinging swords in melee you might as well pick up the stat bonus(es) and Extra Attack).

    If you're just after the fighting style, 2 levels in the revised Ranger gives you the same fighting style options, medium armor (and shields), plus advantage on initiative rolls to go with your already-boosted init rolls from swashbuckler, advantage (and thus guaranteed sneak attack eligibility) on your turn one attacks, and Hunter's Mark for an extra 1d6 damage on every hit. And favored enemy, which functionally translates to +2 damage against humanoids. Also an extra skill, bringing you up to 7 trained skills. (Multiclassing ranger does require 13 wis, but even as a variant human you have enough points to start 16/16 in dex/cha, put wisdom at 13, and still bump con to 12. any dex/cha race [half-elf, drow, tabaxi, lightfoot halfling, variant tiefling, etc] can do the same but with 14 wis so you don't have the wasted point.)

    Alternately straight rogue is fine and gets you to uncanny dodge, evasion, and reliable talent faster, and still gives you a sort of Hunter's Mark Lite in the form of +1d6 damage/round from sneak attack advancement that you'd miss out on by multiclassing. Also gets swashbucklers to Panache faster, and in my experience an at-will non-magical Charm Person is the solution to a shocking number of problems.

    You bring up extremely valid points, but playing with the DMs that I have I've always favored survivability. He'll, the last rogue I played was built around the idea that he'd be impossible to surprise and very hard to kill. Instead of a bonus actions attack, I'd be throwing expertise on Athletics and make a bonus actions to shield shove, which gives me more unique encounter options than just more damage. I'll never argue that it's optimal, though.

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  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    I am having fun with an arcane trickster rogue that I've built up as a kind of Agent 47/ skill monkey.

    The DM at the LFGS was irked at my 20 passive perception. Also this session had us try to steal a MacGuffin from a castle and of course it went sideways. I had the cross on my person, and while the whole party was being chased down a corridor, I broke left by myself in an act of desperation. Everyone got mad but I told them to just keep running, I'll meet them back at base. Of course a few guards start chasing me, and so I start asking the DM questions:

    "You said this place was pretty ostentatious, right?"

    "Yes."

    " so... things and items on display? like a museum, or a dick wagging contest? suits of armor around?"

    " yes, here and there."

    " how much of a lead do I have on these guys?"

    "Looks about 40 feet but they're gaining if you keep running."

    " perfect. I run around the next corner to break line of sight and I cast disguise self to make me look exactly like the suit of armor across from me."

    Insert some rules lawyering, but i can make myself look however i want. I had to roll an acrobatics check, 22, broke line of sight. Became armor, stealth check, 28. Opposed by individual perception rolls by five guards. The best they had was a 20.

    Don't get me wrong I was getting kind of pissed that this DM rolled 5 times to find me, but to no avail. The guards moved away, I then cast invisibility on myself, made a few more stealth checks than I needed to, because fuck this DM. And walked out the front door and met up with the rest of the party.

    It was the most Assassin's Creed shit I've done in DnD. The DM was pissed because he was looking for a kill for "dramatic effect", but everyone got out, even if we're all wanted criminals now because apparently they have photo quality sketches in DnD land.

    NotoriusBEN on
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  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Man what, that's dumb on a number of levels. It just discourages creative use of abilities. Never mind that a death isn't dramatic if it's planned.

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    Ben's death, I think, would have been more spiteful than anything else.

    If that happened while I was a DM I'd be miffed too that you fucked up my plans, I'm not going to lie. But that was so awesome I'd totally roll with it!

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    Let me back pedal a bit I was fairly certain he was looking for a kill but it's not confirmed.

    Trust me if there was another DM about my LFGS, Id hop tables in a heartbeat but this guy is the only game in town right now.

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  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Steelhawk wrote: »
    Ben's death, I think, would have been more spiteful than anything else.

    If that happened while I was a DM I'd be miffed too that you fucked up my plans, I'm not going to lie. But that was so awesome I'd totally roll with it!

    If it was me I might have said to roll disadvantage just cause of the hastiness and the guards presumably knowing the area better. But that'd probably be it. Mainly cause I do like creative use like that but don't want it to always be a sure thing.

    Definitely wouldn't be wasting everyone's time with individual perception checks of every guard in the area.

  • FryFry Registered User regular
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Going down this road could be interesting but unless you're willing to completely reestablish how the legal/economic/political systems actually react to common magic and introduce it to the players it is just going to come off as a DM power trip to justify what you want to do in the moment.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    I was tempted to ask if we were playing Shadowrun or not, but thought better in front of the whole group.

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  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Oh shit. Minority Report, except Divination Wizards.

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Going down this road could be interesting but unless you're willing to completely reestablish how the legal/economic/political systems actually react to common magic and introduce it to the players it is just going to come off as a DM power trip to justify what you want to do in the moment.

    In a world where certain people can reliably detect good or evil in anybody around them, or detect thoughts, or cast spells that force a person to tell the truth (or just summon fireballs), I think the legal/economic/political system would have to be completely reestablished from what we have in our world if you're going to put any further thought into the setting at all. I'm just saying, once we start down that path, things can get complicated. Just try to imagine a political debate that included "'Mr. Doe, our cleric of Wee Jas has cast Detect Evil on you, and found out that you are, in fact, evil. How do you respond?' 'Well, yes, I am evil, I suppose. But I'm lawful evil, and I heartily object to this invasion of my privacy without my express consent...'"

    And that's not even getting into the kind of weird stuff people would probably be about if we could magically heal or resurrect each other on a daily basis.
    Just saying that communion would probably be a whole lot stranger than grape juice and crackers if the priest could spontaneously regrow a finger or two with a prayer.

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    I now want to be an Evangelical priest that screams, "BE HEALED!" As he palms paritioners in the face.

    He can cure blindness, he can cure wounds, but he can only fix stupid for an hour at a time.

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  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    I never liked that spell detect good and evil. It just kills any sort of intrigue or narrative motivation of NPCs. I'd be curious about putting a spin on it like:

    Good and Evil on what spectrum? Your version of good? What does that entail? It'd be like Trump and Hillary with both of their followers thinking the other is evil in their candidate is good.

    Or just straight-up tell players don't pick that spell.

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  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    I never liked that spell detect good and evil. It just kills any sort of intrigue or narrative motivation of NPCs. I'd be curious about putting a spin on it like:

    Good and Evil on what spectrum? Your version of good? What does that entail? It'd be like Trump and Hillary with both of their followers thinking the other is evil in their candidate is good.

    Or just straight-up tell players don't pick that spell.

    The problem is that Tia-Trump and Baham-Hillary both exist and are the one giving the answer. There is absolutely a defined spectrum in standard D&D.

    The other thing is Detect Evil/Good was only really relevant if folks were priests/undead and/or really high fucking level. Finally, being a dick isn't a crime and depending on how cynical you are lots and lots of folks will ping as faintly evil. It'd be a weird world where you're fine murdering Farmer Jensen because he kicks his dog and yells at neighborhood children.

    Now that I've steered this Titantic discussion directly towards the iceberg of Alignment I'm gonna go find a door frame to cling to.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
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  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    I guess steering back to my DM issues, I'll come in an hour early and talk with him. I don't know if it's intentional, but I've noticed that he asks for more rolls when he tries to force something. I'll take that it's good that he plays where the dice fall, but more rolls tend to lead to the outcomes he wanted to happen. I was rolling hot dice that night.

    Too bad it's an LFGS, because if I was drunk I'd have come up with something even crazier.

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  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    I guess steering back to my DM issues, I'll come in an hour early and talk with him. I don't know if it's intentional, but I've noticed that he asks for more rolls when he tries to force something. I'll take that it's good that he plays where the dice fall, but more rolls tend to lead to the outcomes he wanted to happen. I was rolling hot dice that night.

    Too bad it's an LFGS, because if I was drunk I'd have come up with something even crazier.

    Yeah, I don't think default disadvantage is really the best strategy to "counter" having "creative players".

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  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    UA this month is Fiendish Options for Tieflings and NPC cults.

    http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/fiendish-options

    Lots of subraces, basically they all get +2 Cha, +1 other stat, a cantrip, and spells at 3rd and 5th level. Lots of options for Charisma casters of all kinds.

  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    Levistus will probably be a popular choice:
    Levistus
    Frozen Stygia is ruled by Levistus, an archdevil
    known for offering bargains to those who face an
    inescapable doom.
    Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score
    increases by 2, and your Constitution score
    increases by 1.
    Legacy of Stygia. You know the ray of frost
    cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast
    the armor of Agathys spell as a 2nd-level spell
    once with this trait and regain the ability to do so
    when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th
    level, you can cast the darkness spell once with
    this trait and regain the ability to do so when you
    finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting
    ability for these spells.

  • Moridin889Moridin889 Registered User regular
    captaink wrote: »
    Levistus will probably be a popular choice:
    Levistus
    Frozen Stygia is ruled by Levistus, an archdevil
    known for offering bargains to those who face an
    inescapable doom.
    Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score
    increases by 2, and your Constitution score
    increases by 1.
    Legacy of Stygia. You know the ray of frost
    cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast
    the armor of Agathys spell as a 2nd-level spell
    once with this trait and regain the ability to do so
    when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th
    level, you can cast the darkness spell once with
    this trait and regain the ability to do so when you
    finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting
    ability for these spells.

    Oh man, and the inescapable doom as your backstory has so many great roleplay options.

  • BucketmanBucketman Call me SkraggRegistered User regular
    Finally got to start playing in a game, I'm playing a Blue Dragonborn Cleric of Thor, whos convinced Thor is his long lost father

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    I need a crew for drunk DnD next year at PAX WEST. We're doing this to fuck with the DM.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8VwE92HqME

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  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Oh man I would be so down for that.

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  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    easy enough to subvert, though.
    The heroes you sent out come back as high level, fully blinged out gods of war.
    good luck murderhobo-ing that ;p

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Oh shit. Minority Report, except Divination Wizards.

    I wasn't even thinking that advanced, but that might be a cool world, too. In the situation that was described, guards saw the responsible parties fleeing on foot and gave chase, so presumably they got a decent look at the suspect. A good artist could make a decent sketch, with artist skills aided by minor magic (Guidance for +1d4 to the skill check for drawing, maybe Enhance Ability instead/as well). Could use slightly heavier magic to have the artist view the guards' memories to make a better sketch. And then the magic to make copies of nonmagical text or images has historically been pretty low level, not sure what that'd be in 5E.

    Of course, if the perpetrators had thought to use a Hat of Disguise or something, all these photo-realistic wanted posters would be of the wrong person, so I guess that would not be a common procedure?

  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    Or as they asked on the "C"-team: would an elf be impressed by someone using Latin sayings?

  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2017
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Oh shit. Minority Report, except Divination Wizards.

    And thus began the nuclear magical arms race.

    You're disguising yourself as statues, so they start casting see invisibility and true seeing as routine precautions, so you start carrying around items that passively grant you Nondetection, so they start preemptively casting Mordenkainen's Disjunction into any room they enter.

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    In a world where people can use magic to look believably like a suit of armor, I could see a police artist type NPC using magic to put a photo realistic picture of a criminal on a poster. Maybe not distribute copies around an entire kingdom, but I could see an angry noble putting up several in their local fiefdom if something valuable was taken.

    Oh shit. Minority Report, except Divination Wizards.

    I wasn't even thinking that advanced, but that might be a cool world, too. In the situation that was described, guards saw the responsible parties fleeing on foot and gave chase, so presumably they got a decent look at the suspect. A good artist could make a decent sketch, with artist skills aided by minor magic (Guidance for +1d4 to the skill check for drawing, maybe Enhance Ability instead/as well). Could use slightly heavier magic to have the artist view the guards' memories to make a better sketch. And then the magic to make copies of nonmagical text or images has historically been pretty low level, not sure what that'd be in 5E.

    Of course, if the perpetrators had thought to use a Hat of Disguise or something, all these photo-realistic wanted posters would be of the wrong person, so I guess that would not be a common procedure?

    What about Scrying?
    I mean, the spell just says "A particular creature on the same plane", seems like a good sized constabulary force should have some magic types on hand (or at least available for contract work) that could whip up a scrying spell to figure out where you are. And, if you make your save against the first wizard, maybe the second one has better luck.
    Just saying, if somebody in your party bled, or narrowly avoided getting skewered by a trap leaving some part of their clothing behind...

  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    The hand-wavey explanation is that magic users are scarce, just not in your line of work as a PC.

    --

    I would enjoy a campaign where you're a consulting detective helping out the City Watch with solving their toughest cases. Would be like one of those procedurals like iZombie, Lucifer or Mentalist. Just with you and friend{s} as the only magic users up against the toughest criminals, necromancers and evil cults.

  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Aldo wrote: »
    The hand-wavey explanation is that magic users are scarce, just not in your line of work as a PC.

    --

    I would enjoy a campaign where you're a consulting detective helping out the City Watch with solving their toughest cases. Would be like one of those procedurals like iZombie, Lucifer or Mentalist. Just with you and friend{s} as the only magic users up against the toughest criminals, necromancers and evil cults.

    I just watched the first episode of Lucifer's new season last night. Warlock/Bard, Detective, Forensics Expert, a Fighter, and an Assassin bodyguard?

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  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    I sometimes post on the 5e reddit. Today I gave some feedback to someone about their Knight Fighter subclass. It was kind of a mess but I tried to guide them towards toning it down and bringing it in line with other 5e subclasses. I guess they liked my advice because they started DMing me with newer versions and getting my feedback. It just kept getting more unwieldy though. This is the level 15 ability, spoilered for length.
    PART 2: NOT WALL OF TEXT VERSION FULL TILT:
    On 15th level, use once a day. Takes into consideration, (does not spend) 3 superiority dice.
    The Knight-Errant couches his lance and makes a do-or-die charge against a target.
    The Knight-Errant must be a distance at least X (500/Steed’s Raw Dex) feet away from the target, and pass a DC18 Animal Handling check (unless his steed is intelligent, i.e. Int>=10). If the knight performs the attack less than X feet away from the target, they lose their attack bonus.
    If he fails, he does not use up a use of FULL TILT, though it does count as an action. If it succeeds, he carries through with the charge (full tilt counts both as an action and an extra attack) and the following occurs, in this exact order:
    If the opponent is capable of a ranged attack, they are allowed to make that attack as a reaction. The attack has disadvantage, and the knight and horse gain 2 AC for the purpose of this exchange only.
    The opponent can choose to attack the knight, or horse*, or both if it is an area of effect attack. On a critical hit, the knight and horse will fall, be knocked prone and given environmental damage. Otherwise, if hit the knight will only lose the damage from the superiority dice.
    Next, if the target has a reach, with a melee attack, that is within 5 feet of the length of the knight’s lance, (so a normal lance compared to a great lance, or a sword compared to a normal lance, but not a sword compared to a great lance) they have the option to stand their ground and attempt to use the knight’s speed against him. Should they choose to do so, the knight makes an Intimidation roll, which the opponent must beat with a Charisma saving throw. If they succeed and beat the Intimidation roll, then both parties make a DC15 dexterity saving throw. The knight has advantage, and the target has disadvantage. If they both pass, then they miss each other by an inch, and the knight opens themselves for a normal damage opportunity attack by the opponent. If one fails, but not the other, then the successful party rolls for attack. If they both fail, they both roll for attack.
    Here the opponent (and the knight, if they are fighting another knight) decides whether or not to target the knight’s steed*, or the knight himself. Attacking the steed most certainly kills it, but at the same time the knight will be unharmed and free to carry on with his momentum and attack the attacker.
    Alternatively, the opponent can stand their ground and brace, giving them +2 AC, or attempt to dodge, which requires they beat a DC24 saving throw, as everyone knows it is very hard to run from a lancer (to do this they also need to be size medium or below, or capable of flight).
    If the opponent chooses to brace or stand their ground, they cannot evade, or diminish, any damage they receive. Neither can the knight, if he follows through with the charge.
    Next comes the knight’s last chance to slow his horse and turn away, but in doing so he uses up a use of FULL TILT, and finds himself half-distance between his target and where he started. Should he, instead, choose not to slow his charge:
    The knight, if eligible, rolls attack as follows: Athletics + D20 + 10 (if the knight started their attack from a sufficient distance away).
    The opponent’s possible attack roll is the same, but they do not receive the +10 bonus.
    If the knight succeeds, they roll damage. If they fail, and are attacking with any weapon with less than 10 reach, they are disarmed and hurled to the ground, making them prone, and opening them to an opportunity attack. If they fail, and are attacking with a polearm, said polearm breaks, but they are not subjected to an opportunity attack or unhorsed.
    If they failed the DC15 saving throw, but their opponent rolled for attack and did not penetrate their armor, then they are merely pushed off of their horse (read: not prone, no opportunity attack) and their opponent’s weapon (or arm, or teeth, or tail, ect) breaks (they can incur damage from this). However, when they roll attack, they use the difference in length between the weapons to consider ‘feet’. If the knight failed the DC15 saving throw, and failed to block the attack, and failed to attack (read: worst case scenario), they receive unmitigated damage, and their weapon breaks.
    Damage is determined separately by both parties. It can be assumed that any melee attack that hits at great speed is devastating. Damage for full tilt in a fight of mounted knight vs knight is considered to be always completely lethal, reducing one knight, or both, to HP 0.
    Damage dealt by knight = normal weapon attack + 3 superiority dice + bonus action damage + strength bonus X D(reach) + 1d10 per foot of reach, if weapon is piercing**
    Damage dealt by opponent = normal weapon attack + (1d10 + strength bonus) per foot of reach**
    **If the attack or weapon is blunt, or sharp, or this is a bite attack (not a goring), the reach is here considered to be 5. The only attacks or weapons that benefit from extended reach are piercing.
    On a successful attack, the Knight-Errant has a great chance of pinning his opponent to the ground for 3 turns (DC5) and giving allies advantage on attacking the opponent for 3 turns (DC10). Here he can choose to make an Athletics roll to remove his weapon (DC weapon’s reach), ending the pin and freeing his opponent (if they are still alive). Weapons of below length 10 cannot pin. Whether or not he withdraws the weapon or pins the enemy, or indeed if they are pinned at all, the opponent is now completely stunned and at disadvantage for one complete round from when the knight attacked them.
    Knights-Errant cannot be pinned by their opponent, even other knights, if they are the one to have initiated FULL TILT.
    Note that a knight can be just as easily killed or gravely wounded by this exchange of blows as his enemy can. This is especially true when fighting another knight. The Knight-Errant has the advantage, but one stroke of bad luck could prove to be lethal.
    *Mounted Combatant allows redirection of attacks
    Exchange of Lances:
    On 18th level, use FULL TILT twice a day. Carry, for all intents and purposes, three lances, rather than one, per day. That is, if a lance is broken, it can be repaired twice, out of battle, daily; a replacement tip can be taken, and fashioned, from either an enemy lance or part of an enemy. The DM will determine if this adds to the lance’s damage or not—it will only lower the lance’s damage if the lance head is stuck in a door or something and cannot be removed.

    This was in response to my suggestion that maybe it just does a triple damage crit and 1 round stun.

  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    Wow. Just wow.

    http://www.fingmonkey.com/
    Comics, Games, Booze
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    So many if statements

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Tell him to look in player book at every existing class lvl 15 abilities. Good is not allowed to exceed the word count for the longest one.

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  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    I do enjoy /r/dnd, but damn theres a lot of wordy dudes there. I appreciate people going there to ask if something that happened on their table was ok, it is like "if Reddit thinks it is weird, then it is really weird." There are enough sensible peole there that any serious question gets serious responses and usually some great insights or good anecdotes.

  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    Wizard spell list preview from Xanathar's Guide

    http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/DnDXL2017_Spells.pdf

    Looks like the Elemental Evil player's guide spells made their way in. And some nasty-sounding necromantic spells, like Negative Energy Flood and SOUL CAGE

  • A duck!A duck! Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited October 2017
    captaink wrote: »
    Wizard spell list preview from Xanathar's Guide

    http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/DnDXL2017_Spells.pdf

    Looks like the Elemental Evil player's guide spells made their way in. And some nasty-sounding necromantic spells, like Negative Energy Flood and SOUL CAGE

    Man, Abjuration always gets the shaft. I think this will let me have both Booming Blade and Absorb Elements on my fighter though, which is nice.

    Edit - wait, no, I'm wrong. Oh well!

    A duck! on
  • XagarXagar Registered User regular
    Man, what a wall of text in that knight thing. There's a lot of fat in there that could be trimmed. Even this is too long, really, but at least it preserves the risky feel of it.

    Full Tilt
    If you are mounted and are at least (distance) away from a creature, you may engage in a Full Tilt on that creature as an action.

    The target may spend their reaction to defend themselves, choosing one: Make a ranged opportunity attack; (intimidate contest); (dodge check); (hold ground check). If the target succeeds or hits, you have disadvantage on your (handling check).

    You make a (handling check) to steady yourself, and gain (attack bonus) if you succeed. If you hit, you have (damage bonus/auto-crit). In addition, the target must make (check) or be (stunned).

    If you fail both your attack roll and (handling check), you fall off your mount after the attack, and the target may make a melee basic attack on you as a free action.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    So I just spent the last couple hours making a lvl 12 Tabaxi Swashbuckler/Lore Bard. Do I get expertise from both the rogue and bard paths? If so most of my proficient skills are doubled at this point. Its crazy.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
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  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: »
    So I just spent the last couple hours making a lvl 12 Tabaxi Swashbuckler/Lore Bard. Do I get expertise from both the rogue and bard paths? If so most of my proficient skills are doubled at this point. Its crazy.

    welcome to being the professional jobber!

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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