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wishing-stones · 1 year

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Looking at the DnD post, what race bonus do you think the monsters get? And the twins assuming their semi-spirit nature have different stat boosts

Hm! I just did a poke around to see if someone had successfully made an Undertale TTRPG system to cross-reference before I spout off a bunch of homebrew. I haven't had a proper look at Dialtone, since I'm at work and don't feel comfortable downloading it to my work computer, but it looks promising.

According to this one, though, Skeletons have natural buffs to their constitution with immunity to poisoning, strangulation, and drowning. I agree, and would say that Skeletons, on the whole, get +1 to constitution, but -1 to strength.

Leveling up here could be done in two ways: actual levels, which open up new stat boosts, abilities, features, and the like, and LoVE, which unlocks these faster, but comes at an alignment change drawback. Your character will become Evil if they kill too much, end of story.

Classes are a whole different deal, but just for shits and kicks:

Killer is a rogue specializing in knives, with dexterity as his highest stat. Charisma is a close second. He has access to magic, too. Dust is a multiclass necromancer (with only one level in it) and some variant of a spellcaster class-- he uses his magic more than physical weapons. His intelligence is his highest stat. Axe is a barbarian, with strength as his highest stat and intelligence as his dump stat (he's still smart, of course, but he's not as quick on the draw as the others.) Cross is a swordsman with access to magic, but I wouldn't call him a warlock. A fighter who has access to spells, maybe? Strength is highest stat, with his wisdom as his dump stat. Baggs strikes me as a Chaotic Neutral Cleric. He'll put you back together, but by god, you'd better not fight him while he does it. Charisma and wisdom are the same level as his highest stats, and strength is his dump.

And Nightmare technically counts as a deity. He's level 30, his LoVE is way higher than that, but he's not really a threat because he doesn't like bothering with things personally. That's what his boys are for.

As skeleton monsters, they get that +1 Con, -1 Str, but get buffs from their feats, classes, and pact-- which all of them have, warlock or not.

I also feel like a racial feat for them (and all monsters) is the ability to access 1-3 spells for free, basically as cantrips. These are limited to their bone attacks and blasters, for the most part, but those who can still use magic effecting the soul get that one as a freebie, too.

All of them can "Call the Boss" as a free action, but had better do it only if they really need him there.

They're high in actual level as well as LoVE, so some of them have bonus points or feats they've gained to help level out some of their shortcomings stat-wise. A lot of their feats, abilities, proficiencies, and the like are all homebrew.

All monsters, skeletons included, take 2x damage from physical attacks from humans, but get a bonus to attack rolls for ranged magic.

That's what I'd do for a TTRPG for them, anyway, it depends on the system, how it's created, how complex it is, and how firmly it sticks to 5e or any other TTRPG insofar as framework is concerned.

#k answers #k headcanons #readmore for length of course

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charaday5e · 2 years

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ASI Part 3, Intelligence Races

It occurred to me the other day that while my graphic showing the less optimal race and class combinations is a cool visual, that the ASI rule actually means that all race and class combinations can be created with a primary starting stat at 16 and potentially a secondary stat at 16. This makes the math so easy, just take 15 core races and multiply by 12 core classes to get a total of 180 unique playable builds.

When it comes to Intelligence Stat boosted Races, the options are slim. You’ve got both types of Gnome (Forrest, Rock) but also High Elves and Tieflings. Memory serves that all of these races are well known for being Wizards, Illusionists, Evokers, and Diviners.

High Elf The archetype for High Elf has primarily been the Archmage. A wizard without peer, who just happens to be a vulcan with pointy ears. I’ve even heard my party members say, “Oh right, I almost forgot that I was an elf”. This is because the boost to Intelligence was so rare in the past that people ignored most of the racial boons and focused only on the Spells.

To start, you must have heard of the feral high elf babies, Romulus and Remus, who were “raised by wolves” The first was exiled from the planet Vulcan, while the other honed their emotions. But seriously, if High Elf babies were “raised by wolves” or Orcs or another culture, they could easily be like an albino bodybuilder, a spectacle but massively strong. So a Barbarian Wolf Totem high elf with +2 strength would turn heads, especially when they cast Shocking Grasp with Advantage and granting Adv to all your allies with Wolf Pack Attacks.

Turn the Strength now towards fighter and you can boost Int to make quite the skilled Battle Master Investigator with Str +2 and Int +1 maybe sending a fire bolt into the darkness to light the way.

Now a Devoted Paladin with Str +1 and Cha +1 sounds perfect for the high elf in Mithril Full Plate and Shield

Finally, the Two Weapon Fighting Ranger with a Wolf Companion might make a Wood Elf look twice given their Str +2 and Wis +1

High Elves could easily slip into common Elven tropes like Druid or Cleric with a Wis +2 or even Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, with Cha +2

The truth is that this subrace gets an Int based cantrip that’s easy to choose something that’s not dependent on Intelligence like Mending or True Strike. Making this flavor of ASI character the “Magic Initiate” of Races.

Tiefling At 3rd level, all Tieflings get Hellish Rebuke with a Dex save DC reaction for 2d10 fire damage save for half. Hellish Rebuke is very good, even if you can only cast it once per day. The look, style, and feel of fiendish playable characters trumps everything since you can change the skin color and demonic aspects of your character to make truly unique and fantasy flavored people.

A Strength based Tiefling with Str +2 can take Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, or any other melee character and let loose the Hellish Rebuke to surprise their enemies.

With the wisdom casters, like Cleric and Druid the Wis +2 Tiefling may actually learn Thaumaturgy for free, cancelling their 0th level racial spell, but still the flavor of casting Darkness as a Druid or Cleric is opposed by the light themes of both divine classes.

Since Hellish Rebuke works at 60 ft range, having a Tiefling with Dex +2 and as a Rogue or Ranger with a bow, it’s reassuring that anyone cherry picking the back row can get a taste of 2d10 fire damage

Dumping Charisma is tempting for most non-caster classes but even if you use Hellish Rebuke with a Charisma of 8, the DC will still be 9 at 3rd level

Gnomes I am reminded of a reddit thread that polled the most popular races and classes of players and Gnome always rated on the lowest end of the scale. This might be due to the Int boost for martial characters but also might be the reduced Speed of 25 ft. I think primarily, people conflate gnomes with Kender and play them like kleptomaniacs or misbehaved children.

Regardless of how you play your Gnomish Heroes, they have some of the best racial flavor of all other characters. The Forest Gnome gets to speak with animals and small beasts but also knows the cantrip minor illusion. Rock Gnomes have History checks on Magic and Alchemy but also have Clockwork Gadgets that entertain and can take on almost any form you want. Both of these are great flavor for your characters.

A Barbarian Gnome might have weapon shrinkage in no access to heavy weapons but he has a clockwork wolf following him arounds or even a baby chipmunk that he can talk to.

The Gnome Fighter Tinkers with gadgets, can help appraise military costs or just create weapons and fix trebuchet.

Druid and Cleric Gnomes makes so much sense since they are close to Rocks or Nature and have miniature followers. While Forrest Gnomes have experience as Rogues and Rangers, The Tinker Gnome is a welcome flavor change from the woodsy variety.

Gnomes make great Bards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks, just shaking up the norm

Int based races Concluded If you think your stats are pigeonholing your character options, then break the mold, roll up an ASI character, and throw caution to the wind.

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littjara-compleated-sage · 2 years

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Building the Praetors pt. 5: Elesh Norn

Finally, we come to the finale of the praetor build sequence (following Jin, Sheoldred, Vorinclex, and Urabrask)! Norn cleaved to her D&D cleric archetype perfectly, and she was an extremely compelling build to make. I’ve always dreamed of playing the praetors in a D&D one-shot, perhaps as a flashback prior to their ascendancies. I was especially taken by Norn’s raw power and damage output capabilities as well as her durability.

Stats: STR 10 DEX 8 CON 18 INT 10 WIS 20 CHA 16

I knew I wanted to focus on Wis for her cleric spellcasting, Con for durability in combat, and Cha for her force of personality. Dex was an easy dump stat, fitting for the not-so-nimble but nigh-unkillable tank role that she plays in her party along with Vorinclex. Her subclass grants her proficiency with heavy armor, mitigating the loss of Dex. I headcanon that white Phyrexians’ porcelain is naturally the hardest and best for defense among the five main lineages.

Race: Scourge aasimar

I really liked the innate light cantrip and radiant/necrotic resistance (especially as in my own New Phyrexia D&D setting, the Orthodoxy’s signature damage type is radiant and Phyrexians’ oil attacks are necrotic). A self-damaging AoE effect seemed extremely neat for Norn and reminded me of the Phyrexian-mana-costing Marrow Shards. Racial ASIs have been switched over to +2 Wis and +1 Cha.

Background: Acolyte

Another natural choice for a pious cenobite who devoted her life to the Phyrexian Scriptures. I have an entire complicated and angsty headcanon about Norn’s backstory as an impressionable young priestess genuinely wanting to do good, being twisted by indoctrination and warped into the tyrant she is now—but that’s a whole different story.

Proficiencies: Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion, Religion, Common, Celestial, Infernal, Phyrexian

Every one of these skills and languages is wonderfully thematic (I just wish I could give her expertise in Religion). Infernal seems like a useful language for parsing ancient Phyrexian texts and memories, while Celestial reflects Norn’s affinity for angels and similar creatures.

Class: Order Cleric 20

I knew immediately that I wanted Norn to be a cleric, and the Order Domain was perfectly fitting for her abilities. It emphasizes battlefield control, commanding deference, and at higher levels buffs allies’ attacks on marked foes, which works extremely well with both Norn’s own card and others that feature her (like Due Respect). Without going into too-excruciating detail, Norn’s Order Cleric class features allow her to:

Have spells like command, heroism, hold person, zone of truth, compulsion, and dominate person always prepared

Command allies she buffs with her spells

Use Channel Divinity to charm enemies and force them to drop their weapons

Curse creatures she hits with her radiant Blessed Strike, causing the next ally’s attack against them to deal an extra 2d8 psychic damage

Spell Preparation: This is a sample spell list that Norn could have prepared on a given day, focusing on AoE buffs/debuffs and enchantment effects. Of particular note are the many radiance-themed area effect spells in her repertoire, which call to mind the card Rout.

I’ve always imagined Rout as a depiction of Norn casting Dawn (a signature spell of hers), showcasing both the majesty and the horrifying power of her magic. I wish she had access to crippling 9th-level damage spells like Power Word Kill, but you can’t have everything I suppose. Mass Heal is good enough as a wide-range ally buff.

Feats: Alert

Alert was to give her Vigilance, and it works well—a +5 to passive Perception brings hers up to 21, ensuring that almost nothing slips from her watchful gaze, and she is also impossible to take by surprise. It also gives her +4 to initiative despite having dumped Dexterity, which I’m very happy about.

Norn was a great powerful build to close out this series, and I hope you all have enjoyed these as much as I like making them. Since I love the idea of New Phyrexia characters as D&D PCs, I might go on to work on other praetor-affiliated characters like Glissa and Atraxa. Any suggestions?

#elesh norn #new phyrexia #mtg #magic the gathering #dnd #dnd 5e #cleric #order domain #listening to take me to church while making this was an excellent choice #dnd build

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amethyst-wind-uk · 2 years

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Since I started watching Critical Role, I’ve been thinking about a character build I would use if I ever get into a game of DnD (using 5e rules):

I wanted to play an off-healer character, so I’m using a Tabaxi Way-of-Mercy Monk with exactly ONE level in Cleric (taken at Level 2, the rest of the way I’m going full-Monk).

However, even with that one level in Cleric, I’m still roleplaying that my Monk is using her hands to do basically everything. Thus, my chosen Cantrips / 1st-level Spells are all touch-range (and based around healing and assisting my allies):

Cantrips: Guidance + Resistance + Spare The Dying (this is the important one)

Spells: Cure Wounds (not up for debate) + either Inflict Wounds (if the DM wants strict following of the rules) OR Shield Of Faith (if DM allows me to homebrew a little and drop the 60-foot range down to ‘Touch’/’Self’, in exchange for making the +2 AC boost a +3).

Now, being a Monk, my character unfortunately wouldn’t be able to use a whip (which I really wanted to do - I could use it as a Rogue, but they don’t really have any healing options without heavy multi-classing. If the DM presented an in-game option to gain whip proficiency, you bet your ass I’d be on that like a shot). So, unarmed it is, as Tabaxi have natural good unarmed (slashing instead of bludgeoning) with their claws. First chance I get, I’d take the Martial Arts feat so I could use my Dexterity over Strength for attack damage (I’m thinking STR is gonna be one of my dump stats, along with INT and maybe CON).

Speaking of stats, I’d be looking to max out my DEX and WIS (dodge tank!) as soon as possible, and probably want to buff my CHA too.

Stats:

STR - 8

DEX - 15 (17 with Tabaxi racial bonus)

INT - 8

WIS - 15

CON - 8

CHA - 15 (16 with Tabaxi racial bonus)

Languages: Common + Undercommon

Naiara (my character’s name) is probably not packing the flashiest skillset out there, but I think she’d be a solid support member for the party, keeping her teammates out of the worst danger while still contributing some meaningful damage. Unlikely to be rolling in HDYWTDTs, but that cupboard wouldn’t be totally bare either.

[This is all mechanical concerns, mind you. I still haven’t figured out just WHO Naiara is going to be yet.]

#Dungeons and Dragons #Dungeons & Dragons #5th Edition #Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition #Dungeons & Dragons 5e #Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition #Dungeons and Dragons 5e #5e #DnD #D&D #DnD 5th Edition #DnD 5e #D&D 5th Edition #D&D 5e #Critical Role

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raeynbowboi · 4 years

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How to Play as Violet Parr in DnD 5e

To be fair the Invisible/Force Fields power combo is a surprisingly common trope, so you can also view this as how to plays as the Invisible Woman Susan Storm among other characters with this power set, I was just introduced to Violet first, and I’m a bigger fan of Disney and Pixar than I am of Marvel.

First up for Race, we’re mostly human but genetically mutated. It’s never made clear how supers came to be, but it seems to just be a genetic mutation, so Violet is a Variant Human. Variant Humans get +1 in two stats of their choice, we’ll choose DEX and INT. Luckily for this build, we only need 2 stats to be as maxed as possible so the rest can be dumped in the trash where they belong. Variant Humans also get to pick up a free feat, and here are your best options: Defensive Duelist - While wielding a finesse weapon, when an enemy makes a melee attack, add your proficiency bonus to your AC. A high AC means stronger forcefields which means fewer attacks are going to hit you. Also, because Abjuration Wizards get Spell Resistance which not only improves spell saving throws but reduces damage taken from spells, this melee-exclusive dodging aid is a fantastic option to further capitalize on her forcefields by reducing the odds of spells working on her and on melee attacks getting past her defenses. The only drawback is that Violet does not canonically use any finesse weapons. However, if your DM is willing to handwave the finesse requirement by letting Violet use a shield for this feat, it could still be in character for her. Fade Away - Okay, this is a Gnome exclusive feat but it works very nicely for her. Immediately upon taking damage, Violet will turn invisible, allowing her to run away or recuperate herself. As Violet’s invisibility is a little harder to incorporate into her build, this is a great way to give her another route to becoming invisible during combat.

Medium Armor Master - Only if you have proficiency with medium armor, you no longer have disadvantage on stealth checks which is great for an invisible girl with a knack for stealth. Your AC increases by an extra +1 when your DEX is 16 or more.

Moderately Armored - You gain proficiency with Medium Armor and Shields if you don’t already have it, and +1 STR or DEX. Not necessary if Violet takes a few levels in Cleric, Fighter, or Paladin.

Shield Master: You can use your shield to push enemies away, add your shield’s AC bonus to DEX saving throws, and Uncanny Dodge becomes Evasion.

Violet isn’t above defying her mother and sneaking on the plane, but then later on, Violet is the one advocating for following their mother’s instructions and doing as they’re told. Thus, I’d label her as Neutral Good. She does what she thinks is right, which isn’t always following the rules, but not always breaking it either.

For background, City Watch has been my standard go-to for super heroes. However, she’s dealing with a secret identity and is technically a criminal since super heroes aren’t currently legal. Secret Identity variant Charlatans get proficiency with Deception so you can bluff to your boyfriend that you’re totally normal and Sleight of Hand so you can sneakily take evidence about criminal activity.

The Class Weirdo

Let’s get this out of the way first, you are an Abjuration Wizard of at least 14 levels. By 14th Level you get temporary hit points equal to 2x your Wizard level + your INT mod when you cast an Abjuration spell. News flash, Mage Armor and Shield are both Abjuration spells. Literally any time you raise your AC, you’re getting an instant, automatic base 33 temp HP points, and 45 if you go maxed out Wizard. But more importantly, at 14th level, you not only have advantage on resisting spells, but when they do hit you, they deal resisted damage, leaving only melee attackers as a viable threat. Trust me, you want to be a 14th level Abjuration Wizard. However, there are a few other multiclass options to consider.

Cleric Protection: Your Wisdom score won’t be very high, but then, you’d mostly use your Cleric levels to pick up non-damaging spells like Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, Warding Bond, Spirit Guardians, and Guardian of the Faith. You pretty much get handed the Protection Fighting Style, and Radiant Defense which gives you or an ally radiant armor that, when struck for the first time, deals 2d10+your cleric level radiant damage. Too bad you need to be 14 levels in Wizard, so the absolute highest this can be is 2d10+6 for anywhere from 8 - 26 damage. You also get proficiency with Medium Armor and Shields, which is important.

Fighter Psychic Warrior: You tap into your inner reservoir of psychic energy. With augmented defenses, you can reduce any damage you or an ally takes by 1d10. You also get mage hand but big woop you already picked that up as a Wizard Cantrip.

Fighting Style Options: Defense: Increases your AC by +1 Interception: Reduce damage meant for an ally within 5 feet by 1d10, however distance can be discussed with your DM. Protection: Impose disadvantage on attacks meant for an ally within 5 feet.

Paladin Redemption: You can punish those who take violent actions against those other than you in radiant damage equal to the damage they just dished out with your Channel Divinity. At 7th Level you can take damage for your allies, but by 7th level, you’re a little out of luck, since that makes 21, and is therefore not viable. Also, Paladin requires CHA to multiclass and Violet is awkward and insecure.

Rogue Okay, so this one doesn’t offer shield proficiencies, but on the other hand, it does offer Uncanny Dodge, which becomes as good as Evasion with Shield Master. You also get Expertise so you can be unbelievably good at Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Deception, or Investigation. There’s no real recommendation here, as none of the Roguish Archetypes really seem to scream “yo, this is so Vi”, but Rogue is still a useful class to consider for her build. However, I suppose the best is Inquisitive as it lets her detect lies and makes her better at perception and investigation out of combat to find clues so she can solve crime.

As an Abjuration Wizard, Intelligence is the #1 priority. It’ll provide us with more temporary hit points when we use our Arcane Ward. Dexterity determines our AC. This can be one’s knack for dodging attacks (as was the case with Itachi) or it can be the deciding factor for how hard your defenses are to bypass. Considering a multiple ton robot had to drop its entire body on Violet multiple times to break her shield, I’d argue her shield must be pretty durable, so a high AC is in order. After that, we’ll pick up Constitution. While it’s fair that Violet herself isn’t super tough, her high CON stat could be seen as an extension of her force field powers. After that, the other three can land wherever you want to put them. This is one Fighter who doesn’t care about having a high STR stat, and Violet doesn’t need WIS or CHA outside of multi-classing.

Name: Violet Parr Race: Variant Human Background: Secret Identity Charlatan Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Psychic Warrior Fighter (4) Abjuration Wizard (16) Base Stats: Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 20 (+5) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 10 (0) Charisma: 8 (-1) Saving Throws: Strength: +5 Dexterity: +5 Constitution: +8 Intelligence: +5 Wisdom: 0 Charisma: -1 Combat Stats: HP: 132 AC: 19 Speed: 30 Initiative: +5 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Passive Perception: 16 Dark Vision: 0 feet Proficiencies: Athletics (Fighter) Deception (Charlatan) Insight (Fighter) Sleight of Hand (Charlatan) Stealth (Variant Human) Skills: Acrobatics: +5 Medicine: 0 Animal Handling: 0 Nature: +5 Arcana: +5 Perception: 0 Athletics: +5 Performance: -1 Deception: +5 Persuasion: -1 History: +5 Religion: +5 Insight: +6 Sleight of Hand: +11 Intimidation: -1 Stealth: +11 Investigation:+5 Survival: 0

Equipment Leather Armor Shield

Damage Resistances: All Spell Damage

Paladin Feature: Fighting Style Interception: When an ally creature within 5* feet is attacked, use your shield to intercept 1d10+ Proficiency Bonus amount of damage.

Spell Slots 1st (4) 2nd (3) 3rd (3) 4th (3) 5th (2) 6th (1) 7th (1) 8th (1)

Violet’s Spellbook*

Wizards can learn ore spells than this, but we’re only focused on shielding and invisibility spells. Even her teleportation spells are a reflavored way for her to disappear and reappear somewhere else.

Cantrips 2nd Level 5th Level Blade Ward Blur Arcane Hand Friends Hold Person Hold Monster Mage Hand Invisibility Intellect Fortress Message Levitate Wall of Frce True Strike Misty Step Wall of Light 1st Level 3rd Level 6th Level Feather Fall Counterspell Globe of Invulnerability Mage Armor Magic Circle Guards and Wards Pro. from Evil & Good Nondetection 7th Level Shield Protection from Energy Teleport Ten’s Floating Disk 4th Level 8th Level Greater Invisibility Antimagic Field Mord’s Private Sanctum Ostil’s Resilient Sphere

Actions:

Action Surge: Take an extra action once per rest.

Bonus Actions:

Second Wind: Recover 1d10+4 HP once per rest.

Features:

Abjuration Savant: Spend less time and money copying Abjuration spells. Arcane Recovery: Recover 8 or fewer level 5 or lower spells on a short rest. Arcane Ward: Get temp HP equaling 2x Wizard Level + INT Mod on first use, and 2x spell level on subsequent uses until you finish a long rest when you cast an abjuration spell of 1st Level or higher. Defensive Duelist: Add your Proficiency to your AC against melee attacks. False Identity: You have a legally recognized second identity as a super. Improved Abjuration: Add your proficiency to checks for abjuration spells. Interception Fighting Style: Reduce damage on allies by 1d10+6 within 5 feet. Projected Ward: Your Arcane Ward can shield other creatures within 30 feet. Psychic Armament: Reduce damage of you and others within 30 feet by 1d10 Shield Master: Use your shield to push, add your Shield’s AC to DEX throws. Spell Resistence: Advantage on spell throws and take resisted spell damage. Telekinetic Hand: Cast invisible Mage Hand without components.

Between your high AC and your Arcane Ward bolstering your Temp HP, once you start getting to higher levels, your actual HP bar will hopefully start to see dwindling instances of being reduced. Pair her with a dedicated healer, and your team should be nice and secure with her around. How do you feel I did building Violet Parr? Would you build her differently? And as always, I take requests.

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vulturevanity · 4 years

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Session 1 highlights

Me: "You go into the the tavern. There's the waitress serving a very drunk guy in a corner, there's an older dark-skinned man behind the counter who is talking to a kid no older than 13, but other than that it's just you guys.

Morthos (tiefling bard): "I find someplace I can use as a stage."

Me: "This is a tiny tavern, you can tell it's probably just a repurposed house room. There's no stage, but you can use the empty table if you wanna be an asshole."

Morthos: "Oh. I climb the chair then."

-----

Tavern keeper, after the party made an unsuccessful attempt at gaining favour from the waitress: "Look, I can't give you a discount. But you seem like a skilled bunch, I could maybe do something for you in exchange for a favour."

Mavis (wood elf cleric, played by my sister): "but could you reconsider, though? I mean, I am very beautiful."

-----

The town had been invaded by bandits, led by scrawny-looking but still scary orc on a horse. Combat initiated.

Me: "The orc screams orders around, sees you and sends two bandits at you. The bandits use their entire action to move toward you, and that's it. Aluori, you're next."

Aluori (dragonborn fighter): "I use my breath weapon on them."

Me: "Ok, they need to make a dex save. What's your DC?"

Aluori: "uh, 8."

Me: "Oh yeah. Because you for some reason chose Constitution as your dump stat."

Aluori's player: "I'M NEW, OK?!"

Me: "Right, sorry. You better pray that this works." *rolls* *cackles* "ok so they both fail,"

*entire group dissolves into laughter*

Me, between tears: "roll damage."

-----

Me: "The orc, after being shot at by Mavis and seeing two of his henchmen incinerate, grins with a sick excitement. He slaps his horse with the one free hand and it moves all the way to you, to take on the challenge. He takes his great axe and swipes it at... Aluori, who he perceives as the biggest threat." *rolls* "oh god, does 21 hit?"

Aluori: "yEP."

Me: "ok then, let's just roll low then." *rolls* ... "Aluori, how many hit points do you have?"

Aluori: "... 8."

Me, really not wanting anyone to die on session 1: "You black out."

-----

Mavis heals Aluori with a full cure wounds.

Me: "Aluori, you take an axe to the face, blink and now you're on the ground. It's your turn."

Aluori: "I stand up and I'm really mad, so I strike him with my long sword. Real hard on the neck." *rolls* "does a 22 hit?"

Me, who somehow forgot I'd allowed him to start with 20 str: "OH GOD, yes it does. Jeez."

-----

The orc took a few hits and so did the horse. Mavis's player (my sister) felt pretty bad about that and got the party to focus on the orc. Morthos got the final blow.

Me: "As soon as you strike (the orc) down and he falls, all the other bandits, who'd been busy pillaging the market, stop and look at you. The whole town falls into dead silence. What do you do?"

Morthos: "I pose like Dio from JoJo."

Me: "Of course you do."

Aluori made a successful intimidation check and the bandits dropped their stolen goods and left running.

Mavis: "I heal the poor horse, god damnit."

-----

In the end they got a free meal and a room for the night from the tavern keeper (who had a ton of movement because the townsfolk wanted to celebrate a small victory against the bandits). Also Mavis kept the horse (and they forgot to loot the orc's body.)

They still haven't stumbled into the main plot.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #first time dming #we gotta think of a name for the campaign lol #*ominous smile*

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cyberkevvideo · 7 years

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Flaws of the Advanced Race Guide

The Advanced Race Guide was meant as a way for GMs to come up with original races for their world, or for players to customize mixed races that they wanted to play, or even convert some races from other systems over to Pathfinder. It could also be used to allow monsters to be converted to playable races. It also listed some of the current races and showed their value to GMs, which unfortunately was used to dictate whether a player could play a particular race or not. The best part was when Paizo tried to convert monsters to base races and the abilities didn’t match. I loved that gnolls, which were normally +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha and +1 natural armor, were now +2 Str and +2 Con and had +2 natural armor. No penalties at all and more natural armor? Interesting. When they were called out on it, it was explained that they were based on the flind gnolls. Oh, but then why don’t have they weapon familiarity with the exotic flindbar? Or even the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat? That’s curious. Or the lizardfolk which are normally +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int yet have no penalty to Int and a weaker bite. Considering they’re only 8 RP you could have easily kept the -2 Int and given them their 1d4 bite. I also love that swim speeds start at 30 for base races, but it’s 15 for monsters. Because sure, why not? Don’t even get me started with their aquatic races that they released a little while ago. Paizo is anything if not consistent in the wrong ways. I still love the reason this guide exists. The concept apparently come after numerous people argued with the developers that the Core races were unbalanced. Paizo said they were all the same. Before the release, they said they were 10 RP each. Then the play test came out and we learned that was false. Then abilities increased to compensate, and two editions were printed, and they’re still not all 10 RP. Again, consistent in their inconsistency.

It should be noted that so many GMs I know, especially mine, are using the Advanced Race Guide as gospel when it comes to the “balance” of races. More race points than a human? You’re probably broken and should be treated as such. Less race points than a human? Then you’re probably super powerful and the lack of points is meant to balance you out in some way. This insane way of thinking is even more hilarious when you point out various abilities shouldn’t as expensive as they are. The second printing of the guide actually increased some abilities, and it makes absolutely zero sense to have done so. It makes as much sense as how they nerfed neutralize poison from the 3.5 D&D version to the point that it’s useless to ever take. There are so many better spells at lower level that do that spell so much better.

From here on, I’ll be explaining things further, but it gets quite lengthy. As such, I’m going to crop this so that people following me don’t have a massive length of text taking up their screens if they don’t want to read further.

My GM allows us to create original races with 10 RP (racial points), using the guide. Unfortunately, this current time around he got to choose 5 of those points, and we all got the worst ability possible. We’re all essentially as powerful as kobolds. Add to the fact that we have 15 point buy on top of that, and we’re essentially NPCs. But, like other GMs, he’s blinded by the fact that so long as you’re given 10 RP you’re essentially more powerful than a human at 9 RP. This is definitely not the case.

I’ve read other people talk on reddit about how they hate the Race Guide for these exact reasons. That GMs are blinded by the numbers and don’t consider the actual abilities themselves. One guy in particular mentioned that after he went through the second printing, he could theoretically build a custom 50 RP race that was actually weaker than a premade 10 RP race, or could build a custom 10 RP race that dominates any race over 30 RP. While he never produced these races, it got me curious and I tried my hand. I was shocked by the results.

I haven’t pointed it out to my GM yet, but if he keeps allowing himself a narrowed gaze about the guide, I’ll have to do things the hard way. This is what I came up with as a powerful 10 RP custom race:

Humanoid (0 RP)

Medium (0 RP)

Advanced stats: +4 Wis or +4 Int (cleric/druid or wizard), -2 Int or -2 Cha (cleric/druid or wizard), +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con (4 RP)–Note: Str and Cha may be dumped to 7 for wizard if player wishes (making it a 5 Str after creation).

Static Bonus Feat: Pick any 3 feats that don’t have prerequisites such as Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Point-Blank Shot, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, etc. (3 x 2 RP each)

Slow 20 ft. speed (-1 RP)

SLA 1/day (1 RP): defensive spell that lasts a long time or help you in a pinch, such as mage armor, faerie fire, or feather fall; preferably something not on your spell list.

Total 10 RP

If you go cleric, druid, or wizard, this is absolutely ridiculous for a build. Truthfully, any spellcaster. You could even do this for a martial type too. Have the +4 go into Str if you’re melee and take the penalty in Dex, or have it go into Dex if you’re a gunslinger or archer, and take the penalty to Str. Then with the +2 to all your mental stats, you could drop a few stats to 8 or even 7. A standard two-handed fighter could be Str 20, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 7 with 15 stat point buy. And, for those thinking you couldn’t play such a character, Grog from Critical Role had a 6 Int, and I knew guys in PFS that played nagaji brothers who were fighter/paladins with Int 5 each. They were just meat shields that you pointed in one direction and told to charge. Admittedly, these are all meant as extreme examples. They’re just meant to show awareness of how insane it could get.

On the other side of the coin, you’ve got the terrible race that pretty much can’t do squat:

Dragon (10 RP)

Large: +2 Str, -2 Dex (7 RP)

Paragon stats: +4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha (1 RP)

Advanced Dex +2 (4 RP)

Advanced Int +2 (4 RP)

Linguist (1 RP)

Battle-Hardened (4 RP)

Halo (2 RP)

Unnatural (2 RP)

Damage Reduction 5/magic (4 RP)

Curiosity (4 RP)

Focused Study (4 RP)

Shards of the Past (5 RP)

Sneaky Rider (6 RP)

Fell Magic (3 RP)

Magical Linguist (2 RP)

Greater Spell-Like Ability 1/day: Controlled Summoned Creature, Minor Creation, Neutralize Poison (12 RP)

Vestigial Wings (2 RP)

Ferocity (4 RP)

Wyrmscourged (3 RP)

Total 84 RP

There’s absolutely no way anyone would willingly play this race as-is. In D&D 3.5 terms, this creature has a level adjustment of +7 (every 10 RP beyond the first 10 points, rounded up, is supposed to represent a level). This means that with a single class level, it’s the equivalent of an 8th level character. Looking this over, no one would ever believe that. Again, this is an extreme example, and nearly double the 41 RP for the drow noble, but according to the race guide, this race would be +2 CR. Think about that for a second and let it sink in. While at really beginning levels it could be a moderate challenge to take on due to the damage reduction, it becomes completely inconsequential once your PCs are around 3rd or 4th level as they should have a magic weapon or something similar. Even then, you’re standard two-handed fighter, arcane spellcaster, or cleric with magic weapon prepared should make short work of this within 2-3 rounds.

Take heed, GMs and players. Just because 10 creatures have 10 RP each, doesn’t mean that they all have the same power scale, nor is a 20 RP overpowered and broken by comparison. Beware the balance or lack there of.

While I’d still like to see a second book produced with more of Paizo’s race abilities they listed as alternate traits, or how much some of the new races cost (especially the strix since they have 3.5 stats), and the given point value of the new traits, I doubt we’ll ever see such a thing as Starfinder is Priority 1 at the moment. Maybe we’ll see a 3PP supplement some day.

#pathfinder #race guide #d20 #dungeons & dragons #D&D #races #advanced races #rant #roleplaying game #monster manual #bestiary #advanced bestiary

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leshrac-cleric-of-the-weave · 5 years

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Character concept

I Love Leshrac Nightwalker from the old Magic the Gathering lore.

He was this badass dark/evil-aligned necromancer/super-mage (all planeswalkers were super mages; they could do anything back then, like superman in the golden age, but worse) who ultimately ended up fighting the flagship bad guy (Nicole Bolas) for dominance as 'ultimate badguy'. He lost, and has been essentially forgotten ever since.

But I will never subject the rest of the table to me playing an evil aligned character. I can't subterfuge well enough, and it'd destroy the party eventually when I messed it up.

I also love clerics. My favorite two PCs I've been have both been clerics; one a war cleric and the other a life cleric. But I also love slinging those high impact spells.

So I essentially want to be a cleric who can heal, spell sling, be a little bit of a necromancer, and not be squishy.

Rough. Seems like he is going to suffer a little bit of what dnd speak is called "MADness" or multiple ability dependency; basically he needs INT to be a spell slinger, WIS to be a cleric, and both DEX and CON to not be squishy. Leaving CHA and STR as the only dump stats.

I also probably want to be a gnome, because I love gnomes. They're just really cool. I have this headcannon where all of my DnD characters are part of the same family, and they're all kinda half blooded mutts of all different species. But I've realized lately that gnomes are really fun to me, so I'm leading towards a few generations of Gnomish blood.

Also, I'm an MTG nerd, and I have the dimir symbol tattooed on my bicept. So I'll go with the dimir operative BG and tailor/reflavor/homebrew it to the campaign.

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gmtopaz · 4 years

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Always-Billows-Smoke

In my last post, I discussed my character in my main player campaign, which is wrapping up a modified version of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and going into Tier 2/3 sandboxing. I wanted to talk a little bit about the build of the character who has made for the most interesting fighter I’ve made yet.

In this post, I will be discussing the projected level-9 build of a character that just hit level 8, since I’m planning on multiclassing at next level up into Sorcerer (see the last post)

Smokey is a Fire Genasi that had a tougher life, first as a slave and then as a pirate. He left his crew after a good number of them died in a Navy raid and was pulled out of his booze and gambling when he picked up the trail of an old interest of his: research on Giant runes. All told, I rolled pretty good stats for this character and it’s given me a lot more optionality, but I’m starting to regret my dump stat being Charisma and Dexterity as I round out the build.

Stats

STR: 18, DEX: 13, CON: 18, INT: 18, WIS: 16, CHA: 13

Rune Knight (Fighter: UA) 8 / Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer: UA) 1

Mariner Fighting Style (+1 AC when not wearing heavy armor, 30 swim/climb speed)

AC: 18 (+1 Mithral Half Plate that I crafted recently)

Main Weapon: +1 Greatsword (+9 to hit, 2d6+5 slashing damage)

With the basic info out of the way, let’s go piece by piece on class features and feats:

Giant Might. Giant might is a huge part of Smokey’s arsenal, giving him advantage on Strength checks/saves and +1d6 damage to each of his melee weapon attacks. This means that, on a crit, he hits about as hard as a middle-damage fireball. With a +9 to hit, he hits pretty frequently which means a reliable 3d6 and possible 6d6 without crits per turn.

Giant Runes. Smokey gets three giant runes to have prepared right now, each of them with unique abilities and passive buffs.

Ild (Fire) Rune. The big one for Smokey is the Ild rune. This rune allows you, as a free action when you land a melee attack, to conjure fiery shackles and attempt to bind the target of that attack. They make a Strength save but there’s no restriction on size category and larger creatures don’t get advantage on this one. If they fail, they take automatic damage at the start of each turn and can’t make the save again until they end their turn. In addition, your proficiency bonus gets doubled for every tool that you’ve got proficiency in, which brings Smokey’s crafting checks up to a +14 with the special hammer he has.

Uvar (Storm) Rune. The Storm rune honestly hasn’t been used in a bit just because of one of the big mechanical issues I have with this subclass: almost every rune is a bonus action or reaction and quite a few of them have a duration rather than single-instance. It’s hard to pick what you want to use your limited reactions on. Still, it gives Smokey advantage on his Arcana checks, which is why he is the main user of Identify, and he can’t be surprised.

Skye (Cloud) Rune. I’ll tell you what, Skye is one of my favorite runes just because of it’s substance as a “no u”. Plus, on a low Dex and low Cha character, the advantage on Sleight of Hand and Deception is nice, even if I don’t use it very often.

Defensive Runes. Big guns reaction. With this, I can basically cast Shield on one of my allies against one attack each round. It’s the main reason that Uvar hasn’t seen many uses as of late. If it’s disadvantage on the attack or just raise the cleric’s AC to 25, I’ll take the AC jump.

Ritual Caster. While I used the level 4 and 8 ASI’s to increase my Strength and Charisma (prepping for the multiclass), I used the level 6 to take Ritual Caster since very few of the casters in the party prepare utility spells. I took a lot of them over some down time scribing, including Identify and Alarm, and a couple lesser-used but useful like Waterbreathing. Overall I think it’s been a good investment.

Sorcerer Spells. At 1st level, most of the Aberrant Sorcerer stuff is flavor (which I may write up at a later date cuz I’m bored), but the meat and potatoes is how I’m making a low-charisma sorcerer work. I’ve carefully selected a bunch of spells that don’t require saves or spellcasting rolls, to focus on my strong suits, and will probably spend my next ASI in Dex and Cha to boost my AC and make some decent illusions or have a chance with spells like dominate person.

Cantrips. Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, Friends, and True Strike (great with action surge)

1st Level Spells. Magic Missile, Absorb Elements, Arms of Hadar (psionics and goot AOE), Dissonant Whispers (good ship damage even in a successful save)

There you have it, a decent try at a low-cha sorcerer multiclass. Go forth and torment your GMs!

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thelongestdamnreviews · 6 years

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Tactics Ogre: One Vision (mod)

As far as I know, One Vision is the only mod for the PSP version of Tactics Ogre. The intent behind the mod was to balance things, make the OP things less so, change things around, make the game different but not change it at its core. This review covers v0.91a, the latest version available when I started playing again. There's now a v0.92 available as of August 15 2018, so that's worth consideration. Download is available here.

The first biggest change is that characters in battle no longer get 0.1 added to all stats when the class they're in levels up. Instead, classes confer a percentage of given stats at each level regardless of their taking the field or not. So if you have a character class change to a Lv20 Dragoon, they would have comparable stats to one who was a Dragoon from level one.

A screenshot of the patchnotes, but this is still a good guide to follow.

Hired generics also are set to randomly be set under four different base stat distributions, for frontline fighters with lots of STR and VIT, archers with lots of DEX and AGI, mages with lots of INT and MND, and all-rounders. You have to look at the blue bars on the hiring screen to tell what archetype they fit into, and they change each time you enter the screen too.

Magic changed substantially too. You're no longer able to use grimoires during battle, so you can't have your Warrior throw out Exorcisms when your Cleric is busy. If you want magic, you actually need to field people that naturally use it instead of stocking up on one-shot spells. Instill spells are now learnable Skills that cost TP and quite often I'd get an Instill off after moving and attacking someone instead of sacrificing my attack to power up. Elemental magic now inflicts Averse of the opposite element so it's possible to set up elemental volleyball combos with two mages. Reagents are no longer used and use MP/TP/sometimes HP to fuel them instead, though the buffing Ninjitsu still requires them plus a pittance of TP.

Healing got buffed. It now scales slightly with MND but it also heals a percentage of the target's maxHP as a secondary effect, but this won't happen when using heals to hurt the undead. This makes enemy Clerics straight goddamned bats because they can and will undo a lot of the damage you're dealing to the enemy leader and several fights field one or two in the very back. Enemies still have a ton of HP so enemy healers are priority one...or you can trick their AI and beat the crap out of another enemy in range so they heal that one instead. I seriously exploited this several times since rushing Hawkmen to deal with them was potentially fatal for my guys. Knights lost the ability to heal too so thankfully all of the enemy leader Knights won't tank and heal all the hurt you'll bring.

Oh, and resurrect magic no longer exists as far as I found. You can save someone from death with two new items, the Lifeline Gem that Shiftstones them from the field (but never to return), or the Lifeline Gem that revives the ally and restores their HP, but removes the user instead so you're still permanently down one ally for that fight.

Magic availability got shuffled around too. Wizards and Spellblades get access to missile spells, but Warlocks can only use indirect magic. Draconic Magic now uses the caster's weapon power in the damage formula and I often had it dealing the most damage between plain elemental magic and using the weapon normally.

Items got the biggest change. Gear is now normalized and every class of weapon or armor now does the same thing with higher tiers having better stats. So 2H Swords all deal damage with a chance to inflict Stagger, and they give a bonus to AGIL, so late-game ones would do more damage and give more bonus stats--weight and RT stay consistent. Armor is split between cloth/caster, light, and heavy. Light armors boost evasion, while heavy armors boost HP and VIT for soaking up damage. Ranged weapons have much higher RT values across the board, to make up for their users not moving as often as your frontliners.

The Cutlass, Khora, and Damasc Sword are all the same weapon, but their stats are different. I didn’t mess with crafted weapons but I imagine they break the ‘same thing, better stats’ pattern.

Crafting got overhauled, so instead of getting +1 gear that's clearly better than the original, you get sidegrades. 2H Sword sidegrades are heavier and more damaging, but come with an AGIL penalty, Hammers have a high change to knock a target back, Cudgels trade caster bonuses for bonuses fighters would enjoy, Fists damage the target's MP as well as HP, and so on. Armor is a bit different, such as light armor getting a slightly heavier and more protective version to heavy armor getting even heavier and tanky. Some caster armor is different, like the standard Wizard Hat's sidegrade having a sharp RES penalty but innate Absorb MP. Crafting also doesn't require anywhere near the dumb number of steps like the original game--Wootz Steel for example can be done in one step and crafting is intended to be 100% successful (but it wasn’t in the early chapters for me, so possibly a bug) too.

Purified Ore isn’t very cheap, but it beats repetitive stress injury.

And of course Skills got changed around quite a bit. Fortify, Strengthen, and the other +stat skills are entirely gone (though enemies currently have dummied-out versions applied), Instills are skills as said above, skills that level up by use do so much faster now (I got Steal up to 2 before the end of the game, even), racial skills are now changed around so you can't stick Anatomy on everyone now (so demihumans have a use for your team), and activateable skills were either changed in function or swapped around between classes. Some skills like Bash or Counterhit or Field Alchemy had entire tiers removed, so Bash/Counter start at 50% and Field Alchemy I grants you use of most items instead of slowly unlocking them through the four tiers. Status Effect resist skills are gone and -Proofs unlock much earlier, and they allow you to cast a 'free' single-target cleanse against that type too. You'll generally have more SP than normal since you're not dumping them into +stat skills.

Finishers were balanced and Brimstone Hail is no longer the be-all end-all it was in the original. Each one inflicts a status effect or hits twice, and accuracy or damage is determined by current TP.

And there's a bunch of other small mechanical changes like changes to RT, cost, range, area of effect, and so on. Many things have new names now too.

Some character sprites were changed. Catiua now wears blue pants, Vyce has a red coat on Chaos/Neutral, Folcurt has a new sprite, Sara and Donalto have different portraits and have permanent sprites like unique characters, Tamuz was made into an interesting hybrid Hawkman that has access to Orc classes and he ended up being a pivotal part of my team as a Juggernaut. Templar Knights were given distinctive colors so you could see at a glance what they were capable of--red Templars were either Wizards or Warlocks so could cast magic, green were Archers or Fusiliers, so they could snipe you, blue with a black collar was Cleric so kill them first, etc. Given how many you have to go through in the last part of the game, having this kind of information is extremely helpful so you don't need to keep checking all of the identical mooks to see who's dangerous and who is easy pickings.

Please brain enemies with your giant hammer, flying heavy armor man. He can get Battering Ram to ignore Rampart Aura, but flying units kinda do that already.

I think the difficulty as a whole was increased somewhat, mostly at the start when you have terrible gear and skills. For example, the very first real battle has Canopus join you as a guest...and he died my first time in that fight. Uh. Canopus, the gamebreaker, died in an easy fight. I wound up making Denam a Cleric and fielded a second one and I still had quite a few incaps. No deaths, but I had to use the Chariot more than a few times because things went south fast. The Chapter 2 Chaos fight against Vyce 1v1 wasn't bad with Cleric Denam, mostly because I used whatever to inflict Falsestrike and gave myself Truestrike, so I could whittle him down. The Chapter 3 Neutral fight to save Cerya was made easier by her being given armor and leggings, but I had more trouble with actually killing Oz than keeping her alive (since you can use Lifeline Gems to ensure your guest lives). That was one of the instances where I had to grind.

I don't really have anything negative to say about the mod. I had to grind a bit and that was off-putting, but I think that was what killed my interest in the original game. The changelog is set up logically, but there's no rolling "this is everything that's different as of this moment" sort of list, so you kinda have to read from the bottom-up to get an idea of how many changes there are. And there are a lot. The PDF changelog is 67 pages long and 65 of them are patch notes, though not all of them are full pages. Still, there's been a lot of work done on this mod and it really shows. And it's not even done. It is kinda annoying to have to actively overwrite your own memory of "oh, well X is different than what I read a few minutes ago" while you read, though.

This isn’t a change that the mod made (as far as I know there’s no text alterations) but this is something that happened while I was going through a second route and I never knew this was possible.

The changes to gear kind of makes new tiers unlocking less exciting, not that they really were much in the original. Every standard upgrade does more than the prior one, but I don't really think it's a negative. The author has also tried to use the crafting system to give direct upgrades to some items that have big gaps between levels so that does help to keep things feeling consistent. I felt the light helmets gap between Circlet and Damasc Helm was pretty wide but that's something that can be addressed later. At least the system is otherwise pretty consistent instead of having one item increasing one set of stats and the next iteration increases something else.

One Vision is definitely worth a look if you're kind of tired of standard Tactics Ogre. I think it does a fine job of cutting off the chaff and streamlining things, but you should take some time to look over the extensive changelogs so you're not going to get your ass handed to you when the tried-and-true tricks of old cease to work. I'd suggest downloading a save that has classes maxed and so on so you can get a preview of all of the differences, if spoilers are no problem for you.

I honestly feel like trying a for-fun run where Denam only has monster allies for some reason now...

Edit: Hi, I’m an idiot and I guess I thought it was the same name as the Deus Ex mod, but nope! I fixed the name here almost a month after the fact.

#playstation portable #game mod #recommended

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