Shadow blade is definitely not as good for hex blades because it can't benefit from hex warrior, so it is operating off of dex, a thing you are specifically avoiding investment in.
Maddening hex is better than pole arm master, so long as you can regularly hold the spell. It's a bonus action for guaranteed damage, possibly on multiple targets.
Great weapon master would also be good but waiting till 12 or 16 won't kill ya. You can probably push GWM off till 16 and grab life drinker at 12 to double dip your charisma for damage with your pact weapon (this at the same time you put your cha to 20). Basically with a full hit round you'd apply your charisma to damage 5 times adding another 20 is cool but not 100% needed.
As well, while it is cool that you can turn out the greatsword and have a 2d6 weapon, a shield might be advisable for this guy as well in some conditions. Having either sharpshooter or GWM is advisable late in the game to really amp up damage heck the 20th level hex blade could be sporting both.
Naw, if you're wearing medium armor you still have a dex bonus of +2 or +3, and the 2d8-4d8 base damage more than makes up for Charisma unless you're packing a serious magical weapon, plus Psychic damage is a very strong damage type. The real reason Shadow Blade isn't good for a bladelock is that it's not your Pact Weapon, and therefore doesn't benefit from Lifedrinker or Thirsting Blade.
I got a copy of the AD&D Monstrous Manual recently and have been looking through it for inspiration. I just got the Maedar.
Maedar are the male counterpart of Medusae, but they largely look like bald humans. They are immune to petrification, can pass through stone, and can cast stone to flesh.
The real treat here is what happens to Maedar that attempt to cheat death; such a Maedar transfers his conscious into the rocks and soil, where it glides through the earth until it encounters and becomes bound to a gemstone, transforming the gem into a Glyptar. If the Glyptar is excavated from the ground and set into a stone statue or weapon the imprisoned spirit will be able to animate the object to use as a new body.
A far cry from 5E's male Medusae, for sure. Where did the idea for Glyptars come from?
Shadow blade is definitely not as good for hex blades because it can't benefit from hex warrior, so it is operating off of dex, a thing you are specifically avoiding investment in.
Maddening hex is better than pole arm master, so long as you can regularly hold the spell. It's a bonus action for guaranteed damage, possibly on multiple targets.
Great weapon master would also be good but waiting till 12 or 16 won't kill ya. You can probably push GWM off till 16 and grab life drinker at 12 to double dip your charisma for damage with your pact weapon (this at the same time you put your cha to 20). Basically with a full hit round you'd apply your charisma to damage 5 times adding another 20 is cool but not 100% needed.
As well, while it is cool that you can turn out the greatsword and have a 2d6 weapon, a shield might be advisable for this guy as well in some conditions. Having either sharpshooter or GWM is advisable late in the game to really amp up damage heck the 20th level hex blade could be sporting both.
Naw, if you're wearing medium armor you still have a dex bonus of +2 or +3, and the 2d8-4d8 base damage more than makes up for Charisma unless you're packing a serious magical weapon, plus Psychic damage is a very strong damage type. The real reason Shadow Blade isn't good for a bladelock is that it's not your Pact Weapon, and therefore doesn't benefit from Lifedrinker or Thirsting Blade.
Frankly it seems like a cool offhand weapon for the blade lock. Main hand your pact blade and offhand the shadow blade.
Shadow blade is definitely not as good for hex blades because it can't benefit from hex warrior, so it is operating off of dex, a thing you are specifically avoiding investment in.
Maddening hex is better than pole arm master, so long as you can regularly hold the spell. It's a bonus action for guaranteed damage, possibly on multiple targets.
Great weapon master would also be good but waiting till 12 or 16 won't kill ya. You can probably push GWM off till 16 and grab life drinker at 12 to double dip your charisma for damage with your pact weapon (this at the same time you put your cha to 20). Basically with a full hit round you'd apply your charisma to damage 5 times adding another 20 is cool but not 100% needed.
As well, while it is cool that you can turn out the greatsword and have a 2d6 weapon, a shield might be advisable for this guy as well in some conditions. Having either sharpshooter or GWM is advisable late in the game to really amp up damage heck the 20th level hex blade could be sporting both.
Naw, if you're wearing medium armor you still have a dex bonus of +2 or +3, and the 2d8-4d8 base damage more than makes up for Charisma unless you're packing a serious magical weapon, plus Psychic damage is a very strong damage type. The real reason Shadow Blade isn't good for a bladelock is that it's not your Pact Weapon, and therefore doesn't benefit from Lifedrinker or Thirsting Blade.
Frankly it seems like a cool offhand weapon for the blade lock. Main hand your pact blade and offhand the shadow blade.
The only thing is you can have a Hex Warrior weapon and a Pact Weapon at the same time and both could be magical.
So, all of this talk about melee warlocks has got me thinking about playing one, which I've never done before.. But I'm also the DM, and I don't like DMPC's.
I'll be running Tomb of Annihilation for my IRL group soon-ish. We were talking just this weekend and my one friend wants to take a shot at running some of the sandbox parts of the module so he can get a feel for the DM side of things. (We're all old school D&D players but relatively new to 5e) Also, so I can get a chance to play here and there and not just be the DM. Awesome.
His character will be an Eldritch Knight. I was thinking of doing the stereotypical Tiefling Warlock, but turning it around a bit so that my race is Aasimar and my Fiendish Patron is actually an Angel of some sort. I plan on playing it in such a way as that whenever the Eldrich Knight player and I swap sessions in the DM Chair my patron (who is also fighting Acerack out there in planes) randomly swaps out my character for his.
Would a Warlock somewhat fill the gap left behind by an Eldrich Knight? I don't want this character swapping to change the dynamic of the party dramatically.
So, all of this talk about melee warlocks has got me thinking about playing one, which I've never done before.. But I'm also the DM, and I don't like DMPC's.
I'll be running Tomb of Annihilation for my IRL group soon-ish. We were talking just this weekend and my one friend wants to take a shot at running some of the sandbox parts of the module so he can get a feel for the DM side of things. (We're all old school D&D players but relatively new to 5e) Also, so I can get a chance to play here and there and not just be the DM. Awesome.
His character will be an Eldritch Knight. I was thinking of doing the stereotypical Tiefling Warlock, but turning it around a bit so that my race is Aasimar and my Fiendish Patron is actually an Angel of some sort. I plan on playing it in such a way as that whenever the Eldrich Knight player and I swap sessions in the DM Chair my patron (who is also fighting Acerack out there in planes) randomly swaps out my character for his.
Would a Warlock somewhat fill the gap left behind by an Eldrich Knight? I don't want this character swapping to change the dynamic of the party dramatically.
Yeah, just make sure you have some Nega-Bands to facilitate the switch.
If you went Hexblade/Pact of the Blade that's more or less a better Eldritch Knight without heavy armor. You could even just start as a Fighter with higher CHA and have your second level be Hexblade if you wanted con saving throws and heavy armor proficiency.
Thanks. I'm not too interested in being better than the character of one of my own players though. Just wanted confirmation on that a warlock would fill more or less the same role in the party as the EK.
The problem is that it's kind of counter intuitive to take Pact of the Blade without Hexblade. You'll have to attack with STR/DEX still. Not impossible to just have those stats decent of course.
Regular pact of the blade is still workable, considering how little concentration the celestial pact is likely to use you basically trade off con and pack on dex and cha, make up for the hitpoint lag with your built in healing, and get some eldritch smite on. The one big downside is that you are going to have a mediocre AC
You could probably grab the moderately armored or defensive duelist feat to be a little more defensive.
Sleep on
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited January 2018
This is from a while back, but is a favourite subject so:
Baelnorns = good liches; the process for creating them is completely different though.
Yea, they're created via Elven High Magic and are thus from the arcane side of magic, not the druidic side. It is, however, extremely fun to play an elven druid and grapple with the fact that your own race accepts and indulges in practices which are otherwise anathema to your druidic teachings.
There is, however, a single canonical Druidic Lich that exists in the Forgotten Realms: Lossarwyn. From Champions of Ruin:
"...His mission to eradicate humanity continued, despite all the human lives he had saved. Lossarwyn was searching for a plague that had no cure. Whenever he came across a disease that seemed especially virulent, he would whisk away its victim for a detailed study, research that often ended the life of the one he had ostensibly come to heal. Many diseases seemed promising, but most had the drawback of difficulty of transmission. It seemed that magical assistance was needed, which led Lossarwyn to study necromancy, thus renouncing the deepest strictures of his faith.
After many years, just when he seemed on the verge of discovery, his goal of loosing a plague upon mankind was finally uncovered by a jealous rival, and he was revealed to his fellow druids. They declared his crimes unforgivable, and they prescribed a secret death by assassination for Lossarwyn rather than allow the general public to learn of his plots. But Lossarwyn fled rather than face punishment and was pursued by three of the most powerful druids of that time. They chased him north into the frozen lands and at last cornered him in glacial cavern. A magical battle ensued, and Lossarwyn died and was frozen into the heart of the glacier, lost forever (or so it seemed). But as he breathed his last, Lossarwyn made a pact with darker forces that resulted in his being cursed with undeath. In their malice, those dark powers did nothing to free him, and so Lossarwyn remained frozen in the ice for many centuries..."
After he was freed from the ice, he ended up being trapped in a Maze spell in the Dire Wood (guy just has no luck). Current leading theory as to why he can still cast Druidic magic while being a lich is that he's receiving his spells from another deity without his knowledge (Moander is the leading candidate given his history), or just that Auril is providing his spells from when he was trapped in a glacier, he is an ice-lich after all.
He's basically a walking exception that proves the rule.
Also: don't piss off druids, apparently. They will secretly attempt to assassinate you, chase you to the ends of the earth (literally), encase you in ice, then when you escape keep chasing you and imprison you in a magical extradimensional labyrinth.
Speaking of druids, I'm looking through the PHB now to familiarize myself with everything and find it odd that warlocks can get an eldritch invocation that allows at-will use of speak with animals while druids can only prepare it as a spell.
I just came up with an idea that I'm fairly proud of that I'm probably going to use for at least a few regions in my campaign world.
HERALDIC SERVANTS
- The heraldic servants are unique magical beasts, most of which are capable of assuming humanoid form. Each is associated with a human noble lineage and was assigned to that family as a guardian and adviser in antiquity.
- However, as time went on and the bloodline spread throughout countless generations of increasing size the heraldic servants shifted from being guardians of a single family to something akin to totem animals for entire ethnic groups. This change of role was often interpreted by the masses as a sign that a noble family's divine right to rule had been revoked, inspiring political reform and revolution in several lands.
- Some noble families responded to this by adopting new otherworldly patrons to replace their ancestral heraldic servants; tieflings are one such race to come into being from noble families making desperate pacts in an effort to retain their right to rule.
This was inspired by two things I read recently. First, I was surveying the online Monstrous Index for inspiration and came upon the Heraldic Servant entries from the Mystara setting. Second, I had recently read an article about European ancestry that included this:
You have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. But this ancestral expansion is not borne back ceaselessly into the past. If it were, your family tree when Charlemagne was Le Grand Fromage would harbour more than a billion ancestors – more people than were alive then. What this means is that pedigrees begin to fold in on themselves a few generations back, and become less arboreal, and more web-like. In 2013, geneticists Peter Ralph and Graham Coop showed that all Europeans are descended from exactly the same people. Basically, everyone alive in the ninth century who left descendants is the ancestor of every living European today, including Charlemagne, Drogo, Pippin and Hugh.
Although this raises the question of how humans still exist in a setting where tieflings do if the child of a tiefling is always a tiefling. I also plan to reintroduce the vryloka race from 4E's Heroes of Shadow as another cursed noble lineage, the tuathan human subrace as a fey noble lineage that has since become diluted, I might style the dragonborn as having been descended from nobles (unsure), and I'll probably include noble families of sorcerers and warlocks.
Speaking of druids, I'm looking through the PHB now to familiarize myself with everything and find it odd that warlocks can get an eldritch invocation that allows at-will use of speak with animals while druids can only prepare it as a spell.
Circle of Shepherds druids in Xanathar's Guide get a class ability for it, but yes.
Speaking of druids, I'm looking through the PHB now to familiarize myself with everything and find it odd that warlocks can get an eldritch invocation that allows at-will use of speak with animals while druids can only prepare it as a spell.
handwave-y explanation incoming: Druids don't have an inherent affinity with animals, the Circle of the Land is more concerned with a whole area or their grove. Some use their powers to change into animals, but they do not inherently care about all animals. Some do, but it is just as important to their being as any other part of the forest.
Warlocks are a different kind of casters and can decide that talking with animals all the time is useful to them, just like they can decide to pick different spells if they decide to do so.
I dunno, I am glad there's now a Circle of the Shepherd druid who does go 100% animal handler.
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AssuranIs swinging on the SpiralRegistered Userregular
Judging by her website she's an artist, graphic designer, and it appears writer too. She had to have done some kind of work on an RPG though as I think that's a prerequisite for application.
Judging by her website she's an artist, graphic designer, and it appears writer too. She had to have done some kind of work on an RPG though as I think that's a prerequisite for application.
With the focus on podcast play from Wizards for the D&D brand I would not be surprised if being part of a very successful streamed game qualified.
@World as Myth helped design Guild Wars 2's UI so given DND's current focus on D&D Beyond, her talent and experience makes her exceptionally situated to make that a better experience.
GONG-00 on
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Law and Order ≠ Justice
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@World as Myth helped design Guild Wars 2's UI so given DND's current focus on D&D Beyond, her talent and experience makes her exceptionally situated to make that a better experience.
Oh wait, WaM is Kate? Because she was super great to have in [NICE] and a great communicator in the thread.
I am hosting a oneshot based on LMoP for my group. One player can't make it for our regular campaign, so I am DMing and our regular DM is rolling a PC.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about Changelings and Doppelganger culture in 5e? I am now just going on Jerry's stuff for the C-team's oneshot The Changeling Baby along with some stuff from Eberron I found online...
The Doppelgangers need regular humans to procreate. I am planning an elaborate carnival in town that is a big cover for a hive of Doppelgangers to gather resources, get more Changelings and solidify their control on a region. My DMPC is being kidnapped by the Changelings and the PCs can rescue him and deal with some cool dnd monsters along the way.
But is there more info out there? Anything is welcome.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
I am hosting a oneshot based on LMoP for my group. One player can't make it for our regular campaign, so I am DMing and our regular DM is rolling a PC.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about Changelings and Doppelganger culture in 5e? I am now just going on Jerry's stuff for the C-team's oneshot The Changeling Baby along with some stuff from Eberron I found online...
The Doppelgangers need regular humans to procreate. I am planning an elaborate carnival in town that is a big cover for a hive of Doppelgangers to gather resources, get more Changelings and solidify their control on a region. My DMPC is being kidnapped by the Changelings and the PCs can rescue him and deal with some cool dnd monsters along the way.
But is there more info out there? Anything is welcome.
You should definitely try to have that scene where a doppleganger impersonates the player, and the party has to figure out which one is their true companion.
I am hosting a oneshot based on LMoP for my group. One player can't make it for our regular campaign, so I am DMing and our regular DM is rolling a PC.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about Changelings and Doppelganger culture in 5e? I am now just going on Jerry's stuff for the C-team's oneshot The Changeling Baby along with some stuff from Eberron I found online...
The Doppelgangers need regular humans to procreate. I am planning an elaborate carnival in town that is a big cover for a hive of Doppelgangers to gather resources, get more Changelings and solidify their control on a region. My DMPC is being kidnapped by the Changelings and the PCs can rescue him and deal with some cool dnd monsters along the way.
But is there more info out there? Anything is welcome.
You should definitely try to have that scene where a doppleganger impersonates the player, and the party has to figure out which one is their true companion.
I am hosting a oneshot based on LMoP for my group. One player can't make it for our regular campaign, so I am DMing and our regular DM is rolling a PC.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about Changelings and Doppelganger culture in 5e? I am now just going on Jerry's stuff for the C-team's oneshot The Changeling Baby along with some stuff from Eberron I found online...
The Doppelgangers need regular humans to procreate. I am planning an elaborate carnival in town that is a big cover for a hive of Doppelgangers to gather resources, get more Changelings and solidify their control on a region. My DMPC is being kidnapped by the Changelings and the PCs can rescue him and deal with some cool dnd monsters along the way.
But is there more info out there? Anything is welcome.
You should definitely try to have that scene where a doppleganger impersonates the player, and the party has to figure out which one is their true companion.
"Shoot him!"
"No, shoot him!"
For fun, plop down two miniatures and make sure the player doesn't know which is which. Then they have to voice both.
I love that scene from TAZ. It hit home why listening to an actual play podcast can be fun in a different way than playing, because as a DM I would not have been willing to give up my cool doppleganger puzzle, but the payoff on that goof was SO WORTH IT. I was falling out of my chair laughing.
What are some reflavoring options for my halfling monk's shortsword? I think he's mainly going to be a stick fighter, but I probably need a non-bludgeoning weapon option so I'll keep the sword as a backup.
What are some reflavoring options for my halfling monk's shortsword? I think he's mainly going to be a stick fighter, but I probably need a non-bludgeoning weapon option so I'll keep the sword as a backup.
Sharpened tonfas.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
What are some reflavoring options for my halfling monk's shortsword? I think he's mainly going to be a stick fighter, but I probably need a non-bludgeoning weapon option so I'll keep the sword as a backup.
Still a short sword but specifically the one from crouching tiger hidden Dragon
Posts
Naw, if you're wearing medium armor you still have a dex bonus of +2 or +3, and the 2d8-4d8 base damage more than makes up for Charisma unless you're packing a serious magical weapon, plus Psychic damage is a very strong damage type. The real reason Shadow Blade isn't good for a bladelock is that it's not your Pact Weapon, and therefore doesn't benefit from Lifedrinker or Thirsting Blade.
Maedar are the male counterpart of Medusae, but they largely look like bald humans. They are immune to petrification, can pass through stone, and can cast stone to flesh.
The real treat here is what happens to Maedar that attempt to cheat death; such a Maedar transfers his conscious into the rocks and soil, where it glides through the earth until it encounters and becomes bound to a gemstone, transforming the gem into a Glyptar. If the Glyptar is excavated from the ground and set into a stone statue or weapon the imprisoned spirit will be able to animate the object to use as a new body.
A far cry from 5E's male Medusae, for sure. Where did the idea for Glyptars come from?
Frankly it seems like a cool offhand weapon for the blade lock. Main hand your pact blade and offhand the shadow blade.
The only thing is you can have a Hex Warrior weapon and a Pact Weapon at the same time and both could be magical.
I'll be running Tomb of Annihilation for my IRL group soon-ish. We were talking just this weekend and my one friend wants to take a shot at running some of the sandbox parts of the module so he can get a feel for the DM side of things. (We're all old school D&D players but relatively new to 5e) Also, so I can get a chance to play here and there and not just be the DM. Awesome.
His character will be an Eldritch Knight. I was thinking of doing the stereotypical Tiefling Warlock, but turning it around a bit so that my race is Aasimar and my Fiendish Patron is actually an Angel of some sort. I plan on playing it in such a way as that whenever the Eldrich Knight player and I swap sessions in the DM Chair my patron (who is also fighting Acerack out there in planes) randomly swaps out my character for his.
Would a Warlock somewhat fill the gap left behind by an Eldrich Knight? I don't want this character swapping to change the dynamic of the party dramatically.
Yeah, just make sure you have some Nega-Bands to facilitate the switch.
You become a bit more paladin like than an eldritch knight... you can bring a shit load of heals
You could probably grab the moderately armored or defensive duelist feat to be a little more defensive.
Yea, they're created via Elven High Magic and are thus from the arcane side of magic, not the druidic side. It is, however, extremely fun to play an elven druid and grapple with the fact that your own race accepts and indulges in practices which are otherwise anathema to your druidic teachings.
There is, however, a single canonical Druidic Lich that exists in the Forgotten Realms: Lossarwyn. From Champions of Ruin:
After he was freed from the ice, he ended up being trapped in a Maze spell in the Dire Wood (guy just has no luck). Current leading theory as to why he can still cast Druidic magic while being a lich is that he's receiving his spells from another deity without his knowledge (Moander is the leading candidate given his history), or just that Auril is providing his spells from when he was trapped in a glacier, he is an ice-lich after all.
He's basically a walking exception that proves the rule.
Also: don't piss off druids, apparently. They will secretly attempt to assassinate you, chase you to the ends of the earth (literally), encase you in ice, then when you escape keep chasing you and imprison you in a magical extradimensional labyrinth.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
HERALDIC SERVANTS
- The heraldic servants are unique magical beasts, most of which are capable of assuming humanoid form. Each is associated with a human noble lineage and was assigned to that family as a guardian and adviser in antiquity.
- However, as time went on and the bloodline spread throughout countless generations of increasing size the heraldic servants shifted from being guardians of a single family to something akin to totem animals for entire ethnic groups. This change of role was often interpreted by the masses as a sign that a noble family's divine right to rule had been revoked, inspiring political reform and revolution in several lands.
- Some noble families responded to this by adopting new otherworldly patrons to replace their ancestral heraldic servants; tieflings are one such race to come into being from noble families making desperate pacts in an effort to retain their right to rule.
This was inspired by two things I read recently. First, I was surveying the online Monstrous Index for inspiration and came upon the Heraldic Servant entries from the Mystara setting. Second, I had recently read an article about European ancestry that included this:
Although this raises the question of how humans still exist in a setting where tieflings do if the child of a tiefling is always a tiefling. I also plan to reintroduce the vryloka race from 4E's Heroes of Shadow as another cursed noble lineage, the tuathan human subrace as a fey noble lineage that has since become diluted, I might style the dragonborn as having been descended from nobles (unsure), and I'll probably include noble families of sorcerers and warlocks.
Circle of Shepherds druids in Xanathar's Guide get a class ability for it, but yes.
handwave-y explanation incoming: Druids don't have an inherent affinity with animals, the Circle of the Land is more concerned with a whole area or their grove. Some use their powers to change into animals, but they do not inherently care about all animals. Some do, but it is just as important to their being as any other part of the forest.
Warlocks are a different kind of casters and can decide that talking with animals all the time is useful to them, just like they can decide to pick different spells if they decide to do so.
I dunno, I am glad there's now a Circle of the Shepherd druid who does go 100% animal handler.
That is so dope!
With the focus on podcast play from Wizards for the D&D brand I would not be surprised if being part of a very successful streamed game qualified.
With the brand's current focus, I'd rate streaming experience higher than DMing experience if I were the Wizard's Hiring Manager.
Law and Order ≠ Justice
ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
Oh wait, WaM is Kate? Because she was super great to have in [NICE] and a great communicator in the thread.
So y'know, good decision on Wizards' part.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about Changelings and Doppelganger culture in 5e? I am now just going on Jerry's stuff for the C-team's oneshot The Changeling Baby along with some stuff from Eberron I found online...
The Doppelgangers need regular humans to procreate. I am planning an elaborate carnival in town that is a big cover for a hive of Doppelgangers to gather resources, get more Changelings and solidify their control on a region. My DMPC is being kidnapped by the Changelings and the PCs can rescue him and deal with some cool dnd monsters along the way.
But is there more info out there? Anything is welcome.
You should definitely try to have that scene where a doppleganger impersonates the player, and the party has to figure out which one is their true companion.
"Shoot him!"
"No, shoot him!"
You asked for this.
For fun, plop down two miniatures and make sure the player doesn't know which is which. Then they have to voice both.
Like a Canesword, but smaller.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Sharpened tonfas.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
I like a hobbit's canesword.
Still a short sword but specifically the one from crouching tiger hidden Dragon
Of course it's not a backup weapon!
It's, uh...
...an ace in the hole. Yeah. When all other methods fail: The trump card, you see!