Getting you're shit pushed in during Curse is more or less a case of "system working as intended" since it's supposed to be a dark, gothic horror setting, and strahd stomping your shit is going to make sense since ~hey check it out~ you are taking on one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the whole of D&D.
Now with all of that having been said, I'd suggest that you do a couple of things going forward:
1. Don't stress about options that aren't going to be available for another two levels. Looking too far ahead in your planning has a tendency to distract you from the things going on in the immediate moment.
2. Consider what you want to do in the party and what the party needs. Fireball is the RPG-7 of wizard spells, but it's also one that every wizard, sorcerer and light cleric is going to grab ASAP so taking it might not be in the party's best interest.
3. Get your Tarokka reading done and follow the instructions; this can net you powerful allies and tools for evening the playing field.
4. Don't wander aimlessly. Barovia is deadly as fuck and just wandering around and exploring every random tomb or mountain peak is going to lead you into disaster since it isn't clear what can be handled and what can't at first glance.
5. Travel during the day and rest at night, keeping tabs on the locations you've cleared is imperative to establishing safe resting zones.
6. Broad smiles hide the sharpest teeth.
Getting you're shit pushed in during Curse is more or less a case of "system working as intended" since it's supposed to be a dark, gothic horror setting, and strahd stomping your shit is going to make sense since ~hey check it out~ you are taking on one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the whole of D&D.
Now with all of that having been said, I'd suggest that you do a couple of things going forward:
1. Don't stress about options that aren't going to be available for another two levels. Looking too far ahead in your planning has a tendency to distract you from the things going on in the immediate moment.
2. Consider what you want to do in the party and what the party needs. Fireball is the RPG-7 of wizard spells, but it's also one that every wizard, sorcerer and light cleric is going to grab ASAP so taking it might not be in the party's best interest.
3. Get your Tarokka reading done and follow the instructions; this can net you powerful allies and tools for evening the playing field.
4. Don't wander aimlessly. Barovia is deadly as fuck and just wandering around and exploring every random tomb or mountain peak is going to lead you into disaster since it isn't clear what can be handled and what can't at first glance.
5. Travel during the day and rest at night, keeping tabs on the locations you've cleared is imperative to establishing safe resting zones.
6. Broad smiles hide the sharpest teeth.
Thanks for the advice. I'm probably planning to far in advance, you are right.
Our setup right now is Lore Bard/Samurai Fighter/Conquest Paladin/Graver Cleric/??Sorcerer/Ranger. I should probably talk to the Cleric and the Sorcerer what their plans are re:damage. Might be in our interest for me to go straight support with Counterspell/AOV? As a side note, Graver Cleric is incredibly fucking useful in CoS, what with being able to determine the location of all undead within a mile on a minutes notice.
We have managed to be pretty focused so far. We've gone Death House -> Burying Ireena and Ismarcks dad -> valiti (?) camp for the reading -> travelling, misadventure at bone grinder -> strahd encounter -> valilki church.
Our DM has been great so far, though granted I have no real frame of reference. He pulled a real neat trick with one of our group members. The gist of it is that for the entirety of Death House, one of our players was a pretty shitty rogue. Immediately upon escaping it, we had our first encounter with Strahd where a carriage with no driver pulled up and tossed out a coffin. Inside the coffin was the rogue! Turns out the rogue had died way back 10 minutes into the first session where he wandered out into the fog to see what was up, and returned a while later with heavy injuries. At this point, our Rogue drops the illusion and turns out to have been Strahd this whole time! The real rogue died back when he went out into the fog. We get to fight the reanimated corpse of our erstwhile rogue in our severely wounded state, and get saved by a cleric that turns out to be our real 6th party member.
So I wanted to solicit some advice for a first time player
This is my first game, we are running Curse of Strahd. We just hit Level 4, outside the coffin maker in Valiki. I was spoiled accidentally and know that the coffin maker is bad news (not that it wasn't obvious).
I am playing the Lore Bard, Grand Mimosa. In 2 levels, I will get my first set of magical secrets, and another 2 at level 10, which is where our DM has told us he is aiming for us to finish at, at which point we will carry on into original content.
Now for character reasons, I really want to take Ancestral Spirits. However, the difficulty of this campaign is ramping up, and while our DM has told us (and we agree) that we prefer a focus on character building and roleplay, he has shown that he isn't afraid to let us die for realsy if we play stupid, no matter how much work we've put into the character (or how much work the DM has put in, as he has allowed us to decide things about the background of the setting and has changed elements of certain characters or plot points to work better or tie in with specific players). To the point where our second encounter with Strahd had multiple players at 0 hp and I was a single dice roll away from total death*.
Due to this, I've been paranoid about what choices to take at level 6. I really wanted Ancestral Spirits, and I wanted Fireball so I could have some damage, since I have shit all for weapons and nothing much for damage besides Dissonant Whispers. I have been persuaded by a party member to push Ancestral Spirits off to level 10, since if we are ending the current campaign around that level I'd have AS in time for the character stuff I would want it for, and I could choose a more useful spell in the mean time.
I am stuck deciding between Counterspell and Aura of Vitality. On one hand, Counterspell is incredibly useful I am told and I would get it first out of our party. It could straight up shut down devastating spells, and be invaluable against a powerful caster like Strahd (or those windmill hags if we go for a rematch). On the other hand, Aura of Vitality is supposed to be incredibly useful at keeping people alive and on their feet, which seems vital if the fights keep progressing as they have been, and considering that I'd like everyone to stay alive extra hard for character and story reasons. I don't think I should switch out Fireball as one of my choices, since the extra damage that spell brings when my debuff/control spells aren't required is a massive boost to our party damage output. Anyone with experience playing a lore bard or CoS have any advice?
*Strahd was leaving after trouncing us and I may have told him to do some unsavory, degrading things to someone's mother
Hey there, I'm playing a Bard as well. There are two things you should know about them:
1. Bards are supposed to be team players, which means that the makeup of your team is important. For instance, you say you'll be the first (?) to get counter spell, which implies there isn't a wizard. If you're considering aura of vitality, I assume there's no cleric either?
2. Bard spells are mainly concentration. Which takes a lot of getting used to, because you can only use one at a time. When deciding on spells, it's not just a matter of "Is this worth a spell slot?" It's also a matter of "Is this worth my concentration?" And sometimes it isn't. For instance, faerie fire is a super handy support spell that will give your team advantage on attack rolls. Ask yourself: How many situations will you face where spell X would be better than faerie fire? You'll also want to make sure you include non-concentration spells.
As your friend said, I would wait until level 10 to decide whether or not to get Spirit Guardians. A lot can happen between now and then. As the story moves forward, you'll gain lots of items and information to help you on your mission.
Aura of Vitality? I wouldn't recommend it. Not only does it require concentration and your magical secrets, but it also costs a bonus action (which you need to deliver bardic inspiration) and your concentration. Stick with healing word, which also costs a bonus action, but which doesn't take concentration. At level 5, you'll already heal more per round than Aura of Vitality. Would AoV pay off in the long run? Not really. In combat, you'd have to be dealing with a very powerful enemy, at which point you'd probably be tempted to cast something else to help your team do damage or escape. Out of combat, if someone is damaged badly enough so they need a full minute of healing, then you might as well cast Tiny Hut and take a rest.
Fireball? You're averaging 28 damage for a 3rd level spell. Dragon's breath at level 3 will average 14 damage, but it's a concentration spell you can use for multiple rounds, and you have more options for the attack type. And keep in mind you don't have to cast it on yourself. If one of your team mates has an animal companion, now it's an animal companion that breathes fire.
Haste is another option for concentration, which will give you two actions per round, one of which can be a spell.
Counterspell is nice to have. Be careful though: Counter spell requires a reaction, which means that you can't use it in the same round you use the Bard's cutting words ability. So if you're using cutting words on a spell caster, make sure it's worth it.
Also, here's a tip for playing bard: Jack of All Trades applies to all ability checks, and cutting words can be used on all enemy ability checks. Why is that important? Because initiative is a dex roll. Meaning you can simultaneously boost your own initiative while lowering the enemy initiative. This should be used in EVERY encounter where you face a strong enemy.
One thing to keep in mind for fireball is that it's way overbudget for dmg for that spell level, and that's because it's "an iconic spell to get then". I read or heard that from an official source, but now i don't remember from where.
So I wanted to solicit some advice for a first time player
This is my first game, we are running Curse of Strahd. We just hit Level 4, outside the coffin maker in Valiki. I was spoiled accidentally and know that the coffin maker is bad news (not that it wasn't obvious).
I am playing the Lore Bard, Grand Mimosa. In 2 levels, I will get my first set of magical secrets, and another 2 at level 10, which is where our DM has told us he is aiming for us to finish at, at which point we will carry on into original content.
Now for character reasons, I really want to take Ancestral Spirits. However, the difficulty of this campaign is ramping up, and while our DM has told us (and we agree) that we prefer a focus on character building and roleplay, he has shown that he isn't afraid to let us die for realsy if we play stupid, no matter how much work we've put into the character (or how much work the DM has put in, as he has allowed us to decide things about the background of the setting and has changed elements of certain characters or plot points to work better or tie in with specific players). To the point where our second encounter with Strahd had multiple players at 0 hp and I was a single dice roll away from total death*.
Due to this, I've been paranoid about what choices to take at level 6. I really wanted Ancestral Spirits, and I wanted Fireball so I could have some damage, since I have shit all for weapons and nothing much for damage besides Dissonant Whispers. I have been persuaded by a party member to push Ancestral Spirits off to level 10, since if we are ending the current campaign around that level I'd have AS in time for the character stuff I would want it for, and I could choose a more useful spell in the mean time.
I am stuck deciding between Counterspell and Aura of Vitality. On one hand, Counterspell is incredibly useful I am told and I would get it first out of our party. It could straight up shut down devastating spells, and be invaluable against a powerful caster like Strahd (or those windmill hags if we go for a rematch). On the other hand, Aura of Vitality is supposed to be incredibly useful at keeping people alive and on their feet, which seems vital if the fights keep progressing as they have been, and considering that I'd like everyone to stay alive extra hard for character and story reasons. I don't think I should switch out Fireball as one of my choices, since the extra damage that spell brings when my debuff/control spells aren't required is a massive boost to our party damage output. Anyone with experience playing a lore bard or CoS have any advice?
*Strahd was leaving after trouncing us and I may have told him to do some unsavory, degrading things to someone's mother
Hey there, I'm playing a Bard as well. There are two things you should know about them:
1. Bards are supposed to be team players, which means that the makeup of your team is important. For instance, you say you'll be the first (?) to get counter spell, which implies there isn't a wizard. If you're considering aura of vitality, I assume there's no cleric either?
2. Bard spells are mainly concentration. Which takes a lot of getting used to, because you can only use one at a time. When deciding on spells, it's not just a matter of "Is this worth a spell slot?" It's also a matter of "Is this worth my concentration?" And sometimes it isn't. For instance, faerie fire is a super handy support spell that will give your team advantage on attack rolls. Ask yourself: How many situations will you face where spell X would be better than faerie fire? You'll also want to make sure you include non-concentration spells.
As your friend said, I would wait until level 10 to decide whether or not to get Spirit Guardians. A lot can happen between now and then. As the story moves forward, you'll gain lots of items and information to help you on your mission.
Aura of Vitality? I wouldn't recommend it. Not only does it require concentration and your magical secrets, but it also costs a bonus action (which you need to deliver bardic inspiration) and your concentration. Stick with healing word, which also costs a bonus action, but which doesn't take concentration. At level 5, you'll already heal more per round than Aura of Vitality. Would AoV pay off in the long run? Not really. In combat, you'd have to be dealing with a very powerful enemy, at which point you'd probably be tempted to cast something else to help your team do damage or escape. Out of combat, if someone is damaged badly enough so they need a full minute of healing, then you might as well cast Tiny Hut and take a rest.
Fireball? You're averaging 28 damage for a 3rd level spell. Dragon's breath at level 3 will average 14 damage, but it's a concentration spell you can use for multiple rounds, and you have more options for the attack type. And keep in mind you don't have to cast it on yourself. If one of your team mates has an animal companion, now it's an animal companion that breathes fire.
Haste is another option for concentration, which will give you two actions per round, one of which can be a spell.
Counterspell is nice to have. Be careful though: Counter spell requires a reaction, which means that you can't use it in the same round you use the Bard's cutting words ability. So if you're using cutting words on a spell caster, make sure it's worth it.
Also, here's a tip for playing bard: Jack of All Trades applies to all ability checks, and cutting words can be used on all enemy ability checks. Why is that important? Because initiative is a dex roll. Meaning you can simultaneously boost your own initiative while lowering the enemy initiative. This should be used in EVERY encounter where you face a strong enemy.
Jack of All Trades also applies to Counterspell/Dispel Magic checks.
What about people that left the Acquisition Incorporated bunch over the years?
Will Wheaton
Scott Kurtz
Morgan Webb
?
Bare in mind all I say is rumor mill. No one knows the truth save those involved.
Will Wheaton left for scheduling reasons because it was about the time he left that he started getting more work on TV. But there is rumor of bad blood between him and Kurtz. Never substantiated btw.
Scott Kurtz rumors say he left on quite amicable terms. Aq Inc is just becoming way too big of a juggernaut for him to go to *every* PAX and play a DnD game. It was fine with Prime and East, but adding South and AUS is too much when PAX aint even his thing.
Morgan Webb same thing. Amicable, she shows up when she can, but she has her own thing too
Same when/if Patrick decides to drop out. He wasnt at AUS2017 and i cant blame him for not making the trip.
I saw somewhere back when it happened that Wheaton and Kurtz really did not get along. I got the impression they were friends at first but them something happened and Wil Wheaton was like, "fuck this guy, I refuse to work with him anymore"... no idea what happened, who is at fault, or whether or not its been fixed since then but I did see a Wheaton blog about it many moons ago.
Scott Kurtz leaving, I think, was the nicest disagreement about money I've ever seen. Wizards and Penny Arcade (I assume) were making boatloads of money/publicity off of Acquisitions Inc. and the big draw that it is. Scott was not, and it was getting to be a lot of work for him to be involved with it. So he decided to take whatever IP he could from AQI (Binwin) and run with it on his own. He spelled it out on his own site. He wanted to get paid for own thing, and not tag along on someone else's thing. In my, uninformed, opinion that is why I think the Acquisitions Inc. special that is Scott/Binwin's last show is paid content whereas everything else is free. I think they did it so that Scott could cash in a little bit.
IMO Bard magical secrets are for cheating the power curve with your spells: check out the Ranger spell list and especially the Paladin spell list. You can pick up some of their signature spells much sooner than those characters would be able to.
Patching holes in your team's lineup is also a good use. Buffing if you don't have a buffer, AOE damage if you don't have someone covering that, etc.
He originally wanted to have an owl as a beast companion to perform the trick, I actually showed him the better method. He still ended up beast master (revised) he just now has a riding dire badger named ruffelstuff, and Pam the owl familiar. He's just a gnome that really cares about animals.
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He originally wanted to have an owl as a beast companion to perform the trick, I actually showed him the better method. He still ended up beast master (revised) he just now has a riding dire badger named ruffelstuff, and Pam the owl familiar. He's just a gnome that really cares about animals.
our ranger is a mute telepathic halfling named Wolf that rides a wolf also named Wolf. It's not entirely clear to toher character where the telepathy is coming from and we've idly toyed with the notion that the wolf is the smart one.
In 4e I made a half-elf Shaman|Sentinel with the Lycanthrope template. So he was a bear, had a shaman spirit companion that was a bear, and a druid animal companion that was a bear.
I always wished that there were more cool touch spells for familiars to deliver. Shocking Grasp is neat (because if it hits, the familiar can dart out without taking an attack of opportunity), but beyond that my search of the PhB didn't turn up much. Shame.
In 4e I made a half-elf Shaman|Sentinel with the Lycanthrope template. So he was a bear, had a shaman spirit companion that was a bear, and a druid animal companion that was a bear.
I named him Theodore Three-Bears
I just made a Sentinel with the Fey Beast Tamer theme and multiclassed shaman. Have a Bear, G(host) Bear, O(wl) Bear and then Papa Bear.
This resulted entirely from me deciding I wanted to roll as many d12's as possible.
Going to be playing my first game of 5e in a while tonight, and I'm looking forward to it. Just one problem: I can't decide what to play! I'm stuck between hexblade and light cleric. The rest of the party is Fighter, Sorcerer, Monk, and Wizard, so Light Cleric is probably best for group composition. On the other hand, my idea for the Warlock is more interesting (his pact weapon is an ancient Dwarven maul haunted by its last owner, who possesses the Warlock in combat situations because the Warlock himself is a coward). To contrast, the cleric just wants to learn the secret to eternal youth because his teacher died.
I haven't played much 5e, and none at high levels. How big of a deal is it to run a group of 5 with no appreciable healer?
Owl familiar can avoid attacks of opportunity, not that it matters, since it shouldn't be in melee range to begin with.
The real downside is giving up a magical secret for a first level spell that doesn't scale.
Owls can use the help action on their flyby. Its incredibly powerful
I'm playing with the UA Raven Queen pact in my current game, and the raven familiar you get from it doesn't get flyby, so he has to hang out in melee a lot if I want to use him as an advantage machine, leaving him frequently at risk of getting popped.
but the feature also says that if someone kills your raven, you get advantage on all attacks against that guy for 24 hours. He's like a little oath of enmity grenade and so far most enemies have been mysteriously unwilling to spend their action on giving me permanent advantage against them.
Just discovered that Storm King's Thunder has stats for a primordial. That might be handy as a reference for converting others (although I guess the Princes of Elemental Evil count as well).
So I am doing an online dnd party with the following as my crew:
-Gnome Bard-barian (Rock)
-Dragonborn Paladin (White)
-Dragonborn Life Cleric (Silver)
-Dragonborn Druid (Green)
-High Elf Rogue
-High Elf Fighter
-Half-Elf Bard
Now...here are the major MAJOR issues with this party....
- Everyone wants to kill the druid
- The druid wants to become a lich
- The paladin wants to become Nasus from League of Legends
- The Bard-barian thinks he can use his 'axe' to have everyone just headbang to death
- Nobody (save me) has any real experience with DnD
- The druid has left the shield he has as a currency
- I am the DM
Now you see what I get to work with
Destrokk on
It always seems to drag me back in...CURSE YOU MAPLE STORY!
So I am doing an online dnd party with the following as my crew:
-Gnome Bard-barian (Rock)
-Dragonborn Paladin (White)
-Dragonborn Life Cleric (
-Dragonborn Druid (Green)
-High Elf Rogue
-High Elf Fighter
-Half-Elf Bard
Now...here are the major MAJOR issues with this party....
- Everyone wants to kill the druid
- The druid wants to become a lich
- The paladin wants to become Nasus from League of Legends
- The Bard-barian thinks he can use his 'axe' to have everyone just headbang to death
- Nobody (save me) has any real experience with DnD
- The druid has left the shield he has as a currency
- I am the DM
Now you see what I get to work with
No one has experience with dnd and wants to do crazy shit? Give them a sandbox for a while. And when the players get annoyed by it, give them an option to reset a few things, and agree on running a proper campaign. I guarantee you will loose a few players, because this is just too silly to work right out of the gate, but you might get a few players excited to play a game of dnd with you.
Looks like my monthly in person game got canceled this month. We couldn't find a day that worked for everyone and have to wait till Feb now. Getting old really gets in the way of gaming some times, everyone has kid and job obligations.
Looks like my monthly in person game got canceled this month. We couldn't find a day that worked for everyone and have to wait till Feb now. Getting old really gets in the way of gaming some times, everyone has kid and job obligations.
Story of my life, friend. We can't even get our shit together enough for a quarterly game session!
I haven't played much 5e, and none at high levels. How big of a deal is it to run a group of 5 with no appreciable healer?
It can be done, have to allow for more short rests (Which as a warlock you'd want anyway) and maybe an increase in conveniently discovered healing potions. The DM can make anything work really.
Talk to this player. Why does the character (not player, character) want to become a lich? When did they decide to pursue this goal? Why haven't they already abandoned druidry to pursue arcane study?
These are important questions. And "honestly I just wanna play a character that becomes a lich" is not a bad answer, it's just an answer that should prompt a reroll, because otherwise it doesn't add up!
Like, a half-elf sorcerer that was born with elven magic and resents their half-humanity and its mortality and wants to become a lich? Brilliant! A druid? ...less so.
Talk to this player. Why does the character (not player, character) want to become a lich? When did they decide to pursue this goal? Why haven't they already abandoned druidry to pursue arcane study?
These are important questions. And "honestly I just wanna play a character that becomes a lich" is not a bad answer, it's just an answer that should prompt a reroll, because otherwise it doesn't add up!
Like, a half-elf sorcerer that was born with elven magic and resents their half-humanity and its mortality and wants to become a lich? Brilliant! A druid? ...less so.
Yeah, that concept feels a lot like a Paladin aspiring to become a Blackguard. Like, okay, that's something you can do, but... what?
Yeah. Off the top of my head, "Druid thinks that nobody can/will protect the land as well as they can (out of arrogance, or paranoia, or something else), so aspires to lichdom as a path to immortality so they can guard their forest forever" seems like a perfectly reasonable, if somewhat unconventional, character concept. Or "druid has a particular enemy/place/object they want to guard forever," and so on. There are plenty of reasons a person might want to be immortal, and simply being a druid doesn't make you immune to very many of them.
By all means talk to the player and hash out a character concept that supports their goals, but I'm pretty fundamentally skeptical of "you can't do that because it's not something a [class] would ever do" as an argument against any particular build or concept.
I'd say that "Become immortal so that I can [foo]," at first blush, seems reasonable as a character goal for a nature-type.
"Become a lich so that I'll be immortal and can [foo]" is less so.
Which is why it would make sense to talk to the player about it.
EDIT: Like, if they're brand-new players, there's a decent chance they don't really know what a lich is beyond, like, "immortal spellcaster," and the logic chain of "I'm a spellcaster, I want to be immortal, therefore I should try to be a lich" isn't super far out there.
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Now with all of that having been said, I'd suggest that you do a couple of things going forward:
1. Don't stress about options that aren't going to be available for another two levels. Looking too far ahead in your planning has a tendency to distract you from the things going on in the immediate moment.
2. Consider what you want to do in the party and what the party needs. Fireball is the RPG-7 of wizard spells, but it's also one that every wizard, sorcerer and light cleric is going to grab ASAP so taking it might not be in the party's best interest.
3. Get your Tarokka reading done and follow the instructions; this can net you powerful allies and tools for evening the playing field.
4. Don't wander aimlessly. Barovia is deadly as fuck and just wandering around and exploring every random tomb or mountain peak is going to lead you into disaster since it isn't clear what can be handled and what can't at first glance.
5. Travel during the day and rest at night, keeping tabs on the locations you've cleared is imperative to establishing safe resting zones.
6. Broad smiles hide the sharpest teeth.
Thanks for the advice. I'm probably planning to far in advance, you are right.
Our setup right now is Lore Bard/Samurai Fighter/Conquest Paladin/Graver Cleric/??Sorcerer/Ranger. I should probably talk to the Cleric and the Sorcerer what their plans are re:damage. Might be in our interest for me to go straight support with Counterspell/AOV? As a side note, Graver Cleric is incredibly fucking useful in CoS, what with being able to determine the location of all undead within a mile on a minutes notice.
We have managed to be pretty focused so far. We've gone Death House -> Burying Ireena and Ismarcks dad -> valiti (?) camp for the reading -> travelling, misadventure at bone grinder -> strahd encounter -> valilki church.
Our DM has been great so far, though granted I have no real frame of reference. He pulled a real neat trick with one of our group members. The gist of it is that for the entirety of Death House, one of our players was a pretty shitty rogue. Immediately upon escaping it, we had our first encounter with Strahd where a carriage with no driver pulled up and tossed out a coffin. Inside the coffin was the rogue! Turns out the rogue had died way back 10 minutes into the first session where he wandered out into the fog to see what was up, and returned a while later with heavy injuries. At this point, our Rogue drops the illusion and turns out to have been Strahd this whole time! The real rogue died back when he went out into the fog. We get to fight the reanimated corpse of our erstwhile rogue in our severely wounded state, and get saved by a cleric that turns out to be our real 6th party member.
Hey there, I'm playing a Bard as well. There are two things you should know about them:
1. Bards are supposed to be team players, which means that the makeup of your team is important. For instance, you say you'll be the first (?) to get counter spell, which implies there isn't a wizard. If you're considering aura of vitality, I assume there's no cleric either?
2. Bard spells are mainly concentration. Which takes a lot of getting used to, because you can only use one at a time. When deciding on spells, it's not just a matter of "Is this worth a spell slot?" It's also a matter of "Is this worth my concentration?" And sometimes it isn't. For instance, faerie fire is a super handy support spell that will give your team advantage on attack rolls. Ask yourself: How many situations will you face where spell X would be better than faerie fire? You'll also want to make sure you include non-concentration spells.
As your friend said, I would wait until level 10 to decide whether or not to get Spirit Guardians. A lot can happen between now and then. As the story moves forward, you'll gain lots of items and information to help you on your mission.
Aura of Vitality? I wouldn't recommend it. Not only does it require concentration and your magical secrets, but it also costs a bonus action (which you need to deliver bardic inspiration) and your concentration. Stick with healing word, which also costs a bonus action, but which doesn't take concentration. At level 5, you'll already heal more per round than Aura of Vitality. Would AoV pay off in the long run? Not really. In combat, you'd have to be dealing with a very powerful enemy, at which point you'd probably be tempted to cast something else to help your team do damage or escape. Out of combat, if someone is damaged badly enough so they need a full minute of healing, then you might as well cast Tiny Hut and take a rest.
Fireball? You're averaging 28 damage for a 3rd level spell. Dragon's breath at level 3 will average 14 damage, but it's a concentration spell you can use for multiple rounds, and you have more options for the attack type. And keep in mind you don't have to cast it on yourself. If one of your team mates has an animal companion, now it's an animal companion that breathes fire.
Haste is another option for concentration, which will give you two actions per round, one of which can be a spell.
Counterspell is nice to have. Be careful though: Counter spell requires a reaction, which means that you can't use it in the same round you use the Bard's cutting words ability. So if you're using cutting words on a spell caster, make sure it's worth it.
Also, here's a tip for playing bard: Jack of All Trades applies to all ability checks, and cutting words can be used on all enemy ability checks. Why is that important? Because initiative is a dex roll. Meaning you can simultaneously boost your own initiative while lowering the enemy initiative. This should be used in EVERY encounter where you face a strong enemy.
Jack of All Trades also applies to Counterspell/Dispel Magic checks.
Bare in mind all I say is rumor mill. No one knows the truth save those involved.
Will Wheaton left for scheduling reasons because it was about the time he left that he started getting more work on TV. But there is rumor of bad blood between him and Kurtz. Never substantiated btw.
Scott Kurtz rumors say he left on quite amicable terms. Aq Inc is just becoming way too big of a juggernaut for him to go to *every* PAX and play a DnD game. It was fine with Prime and East, but adding South and AUS is too much when PAX aint even his thing.
Morgan Webb same thing. Amicable, she shows up when she can, but she has her own thing too
Same when/if Patrick decides to drop out. He wasnt at AUS2017 and i cant blame him for not making the trip.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Scott Kurtz leaving, I think, was the nicest disagreement about money I've ever seen. Wizards and Penny Arcade (I assume) were making boatloads of money/publicity off of Acquisitions Inc. and the big draw that it is. Scott was not, and it was getting to be a lot of work for him to be involved with it. So he decided to take whatever IP he could from AQI (Binwin) and run with it on his own. He spelled it out on his own site. He wanted to get paid for own thing, and not tag along on someone else's thing. In my, uninformed, opinion that is why I think the Acquisitions Inc. special that is Scott/Binwin's last show is paid content whereas everything else is free. I think they did it so that Scott could cash in a little bit.
Patching holes in your team's lineup is also a good use. Buffing if you don't have a buffer, AOE damage if you don't have someone covering that, etc.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Yeah but when Strahd reaches out and tears into the throat of the said creature, when he says "Mmmm ... that tastes familiar" then it'll be worth it.
The real downside is giving up a magical secret for a first level spell that doesn't scale.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Owls can use the help action on their flyby. Its incredibly powerful
I have a player about to start that little ploy. He's calling his owl PAM (Permanent Advantage Machine)
our ranger is a mute telepathic halfling named Wolf that rides a wolf also named Wolf. It's not entirely clear to toher character where the telepathy is coming from and we've idly toyed with the notion that the wolf is the smart one.
I named him Theodore Three-Bears
I just made a Sentinel with the Fey Beast Tamer theme and multiclassed shaman. Have a Bear, G(host) Bear, O(wl) Bear and then Papa Bear.
This resulted entirely from me deciding I wanted to roll as many d12's as possible.
I haven't played much 5e, and none at high levels. How big of a deal is it to run a group of 5 with no appreciable healer?
I'm playing with the UA Raven Queen pact in my current game, and the raven familiar you get from it doesn't get flyby, so he has to hang out in melee a lot if I want to use him as an advantage machine, leaving him frequently at risk of getting popped.
but the feature also says that if someone kills your raven, you get advantage on all attacks against that guy for 24 hours. He's like a little oath of enmity grenade and so far most enemies have been mysteriously unwilling to spend their action on giving me permanent advantage against them.
-Gnome Bard-barian (Rock)
-Dragonborn Paladin (White)
-Dragonborn Life Cleric (Silver)
-Dragonborn Druid (Green)
-High Elf Rogue
-High Elf Fighter
-Half-Elf Bard
Now...here are the major MAJOR issues with this party....
- Everyone wants to kill the druid
- The druid wants to become a lich
- The paladin wants to become Nasus from League of Legends
- The Bard-barian thinks he can use his 'axe' to have everyone just headbang to death
- Nobody (save me) has any real experience with DnD
- The druid has left the shield he has as a currency
- I am the DM
Now you see what I get to work with
No one has experience with dnd and wants to do crazy shit? Give them a sandbox for a while. And when the players get annoyed by it, give them an option to reset a few things, and agree on running a proper campaign. I guarantee you will loose a few players, because this is just too silly to work right out of the gate, but you might get a few players excited to play a game of dnd with you.
Comics, Games, Booze
Story of my life, friend. We can't even get our shit together enough for a quarterly game session!
It can be done, have to allow for more short rests (Which as a warlock you'd want anyway) and maybe an increase in conveniently discovered healing potions. The DM can make anything work really.
I'm gonna stop you right there.
Talk to this player. Why does the character (not player, character) want to become a lich? When did they decide to pursue this goal? Why haven't they already abandoned druidry to pursue arcane study?
These are important questions. And "honestly I just wanna play a character that becomes a lich" is not a bad answer, it's just an answer that should prompt a reroll, because otherwise it doesn't add up!
Like, a half-elf sorcerer that was born with elven magic and resents their half-humanity and its mortality and wants to become a lich? Brilliant! A druid? ...less so.
Yeah, that concept feels a lot like a Paladin aspiring to become a Blackguard. Like, okay, that's something you can do, but... what?
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
By all means talk to the player and hash out a character concept that supports their goals, but I'm pretty fundamentally skeptical of "you can't do that because it's not something a [class] would ever do" as an argument against any particular build or concept.
"Become a lich so that I'll be immortal and can [foo]" is less so.
Which is why it would make sense to talk to the player about it.
EDIT: Like, if they're brand-new players, there's a decent chance they don't really know what a lich is beyond, like, "immortal spellcaster," and the logic chain of "I'm a spellcaster, I want to be immortal, therefore I should try to be a lich" isn't super far out there.
So, again, communication!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]