#it's also why timing when to multiclass is important!

[red-dragon-archfiend]

I don't have enough time or experienced with enough classes to write a detailed multiclassing guide, but for D&D players, especially new players, wondering if they should multiclass, the simple answer is "probably not". Multiclassing is, in general, bad. The game was not balanced with it in mind, and it's very easy to muck up your character if you don't know what you're doing. I'm not just talking from an optimization perspective, either; it's difficult to justify it narratively in a way that doesn't cheapen the significance of what class levels represent. You don't become a Bard by practicing the lute for a week. You can't become a Wizard without years of study. If you plan to multiclass, my advice would be to find some way of tying it narratively into your primary class somehow; an Eldritch Knight becoming a Wizard is sensible, because they already have an understanding of how to work arcane magic, they just need to spend some time focusing on that over improving their martial abilities to learn enough to start filling out a spellbook. Of course, that still takes a long time, but the Eldritch Knight's previous experiences mean they already know how to cast multiple spells already. If you want to multiclass for story reasons, ask yourself two questions: Is multiclassing really the best way to convey this change in my character, and, if so, do they have the adequate time, experiences, and resources to practice the skills necessary (physical training, study, spiritual attunement, etc.) to even START being that class? The reason I put so much weight into class levels is because the Player's Handbook itself makes a point to clarify what sets a member of each class apart from others who seem similar on the surface; not every soldier in a given army is a Fighter, chances are most of them aren't. And Paladins are even rarer! To achieve even one class level is a strong indication of skill and effort, and I as your DM would expect you to consider how your character achieves levels in a second class. My campaign features a Fighter/Warlock multiclass, and her patron is both the supplier of her occult magic, and her instructor, personally training her in her dreams, so she can level up in either class and it'll make sense. My favorite combination, Paladin/Sorcerer, can be explained by latent powers emerging in response to their experiences and the holy power they channel within themselves, perhaps a gift from their deity or the result of them or their ancestor slaying a creature like a dragon or vampire whose blood imbued the Paladin's bloodline with arcane magic. Maybe a Monk/Cleric comes from a monastery that reveres a specific deity, and that Monk caught their deity's attention, choosing the Monk for a holy mission. If multiclassing is part of your character's backstory or projected future, having a plan for it is key to making them still feel like a cohesive, singular character.

#musings #dungeons and dragons #take my advice with a grain of salt since not all groups will put the same weight into class levels as i do #but the reason most wizards are depicted as elderly is because wizardry is extremely difficult and takes a long time to master #class levels being rare or hard to achieve is kind of necessary from a worldbuilding perspective #if becoming a wizard was possible after what amounts to a college course there'd be wizards everywhere #and the players wouldn't be as important because their own abilities wouldn't be anything special for a long time #i didn't talk about optimization very much since i think most d&d players don't care about that as much as roleplay and thematics #but if you're questioning if multiclassing would be good for you #look at the benefits you'd get from even one level of another class and ask if that's worth setting your main class back permanently #even one bad multiclass level can become a problem with initiative is rolled and you're functionally one level lower than you should be #it's also why timing when to multiclass is important! #it's tempting to multiclass as soon as you hit level 2 but unless you're starting as your secondary class you should really wait #until you're at least level 5 or so because that's a big power spike #and once you achieve that it doesn't hurt as much to delay levels in your main class in favor of another #that's variation in this of course #if you're a paladin who plans to take just one level of hexblade you really should do it at level 2 if you dumped strength #you don't want to be relying on 13 strength for weapon attacks any longer than you have to #and if you're only interested in the thematic elements of a class remember that flavor is free! #plus you can use things like your background to give you a feel akin to a different class #a warlock entertainer who makes a deal with the devil to save their music career is a cool way to get bard flavor without multiclassing #especially since if you manage to become a true bard you probably don't need the devil's help anyway

[utilitycaster]

Fighter Breakdown Tracker, episode 3x78

Welcome to what was originally an opportunity to talk about the myriad wizards (not Myriad wizards, a separate concept) of Campaign 2 that occasionally gets co-opted into other things when the thought arises. Anyway, obviously the main event was the Barbarian Breakdown and, relatedly, the Party Breakdown, due to their Communication Breakdown, giving Allura Vysoren specifically her 19th Nervous Breakdown, but I've already talked a lot about Ashton. How are the fighters doing?

As a reminder: characters are included on the basis of 1. are they a fighter, 2. are they remotely relevant to this campaign, and 3. do I have something funny to say about them. I cannot stress enough how important item 3 is in the decision process; do not make requests, my muse speaks to me and that is how the characters (and, to be honest, classes) are chosen.

Cassandra de Rolo: Yes! According to the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting (not reborn) she's multiclassed into fighter! Anyway that plan to go to the ziggurat went well, huh? totally normal and great. I like to think that due to her rogue levels she saw Fearne march down the ziggurat steps and just peaced out and has been chilling in Pike's little cabin ever since. 4/10: normal "is the world ending" concerns but otherwise she's having maybe the best day anyone on the Whitestone War Council can.

Jarett Howarth: he's specifically avoiding Bells Hells because motherfuckers keep teleporting from Marquet and not bringing any fusaka. This, plus normal "putting the Pale Guard on a war footing and also there's a really mad goat lady in the garden" bumps him up to a 6/10.

Orym: my serious thoughts about the space made for Chetney, FCG, and Imogen to step up aside I honestly think the semi-joking narrative of Orym going off in a huff and working out his feelings quite literally via the power of elaborate bodyweight calisthenics of the sort that grant you 20 Dex and 10 Str would be good for him. Allow yourself a little pettiness, Orym; it's good for the soul. 5/10 because I don't fucking know; we'll see next game.

Ariks Eshteross: I hope he's at peace and buried next to his love as requested; I still haven't gotten around to making those cookies actually and frankly I've had much more of an eye on the gunpowder tea shortbread. 0/10; I like to think he has found true rest.

Bertrand Bell: These motherfuckers have not visited the grave of their namesake at ALL. Traipsing around the Raven Queen's temple - literally everyone but Laudna and FCG has wandered over to that corner of the city - and NO ONE has taken a moment to pause and reflect. He died as he lived: everyone kind of setting him aside for more important matters except for followers of the Raven Queen. 8/10 because hopefully he was entertained by the raven show that got put on but also, come on man you couldn't stop by at all?

FRIDA: I have to imagine things in Vasselheim are wild and it's going to be missing FCG hours, but at least they're in great company! 5/10; they're a pretty even-keeled robot all things considered but the situation is pretty tense.

Otohan Thull: My sole regret about how great this episode is and the fact that we're dropping into the Fey Realm for a bit to have some much-needed time to regroup is that we are likely delaying their richly deserved demise. Anyway everyone's beloathed Palpatine knockoff is unfortunately super unflappable; another reason why they are boring as shit and why I very much want Bells Hells to make the bridge a little bit bloodier on the way up. 3/10.

Percival Friedrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III: Here's the thing. All things considered, his personal position is stressful, but not terrible. The ziggurat did not blow up; Gwen appears to either have not told him about her Delilah incident or did so in such a way that he didn't realize what was going on; he doesn't seem to have noticed the break-in into his parents' bedroom yet; Allura was reassuring re: Whitestone likely being safe (although...it's on a ley nexus so watch out!); and he got to deliver the line "ever since I met you, I knew you were destined for stupidity" which is actually how he specifically blows off steam. On the other hand, every single window in the castle has been destroyed, Allura had to leave, and I just checked and confirmed that Pike does not have the mending cantrip. Maybe one of the local clerics does? Maybe one of his kids does? Maybe Vilya or Ebenold does? Maybe Grog's in town and can be convinced that the role of the Grand Poobah etc etc is fixing windows? 6/10.

#d&d class breakdown tracker #(the new generic tag no one asked for but i need) #critical role #critical role spoilers

[moghedien]

ok fine so like preface just wanna say this isn't really a critique on Wyll specifically. his patron and whatnot at least has some contextual reasons to make sense in this game on the sorta devil side of the plot and I'm also like only barely starting act 2 of the game so I have not seen where his whole story is going. this isn't a Wyll specific thing and more just like the general way Warlocks are handled in dnd media that I've experienced

because when it comes to dnd I am absolutely a warlock apologist. Its my favorite fucking class and I will fight anyone to the death who argues that it's only good as a multiclass option because it is one the classes that has the MOST rp fodder built into it and its so versatile. if you're a minmaxer who just wants to make the biggest explosion or do the most damage yeah you're probably not gonna like it. but if you wanna be forced to fuck around with magic in creative ways (and even use weapons while being a caster) and have your backstory be important to everything about your character, then its warlock all fucking day baby.

but I find fiend warlocks just so fucking boring.

not because they have to be inherently boring but because that's for whatever reason the only kind of warlock that exists to everyone involved in making dnd related media. like I swear every time its just "someone made a deal with a devil and it turned out to be bad!" like come oooon. Doctor Faustus was written in the 1500s, we can be more creative than that.

and yes, examining the fucked up power dynamics between a warlock and their patron is great! but we know a devil is bad when we make a deal with them! there's arch fey, eldritch beings, even fucking celestials as patron options in dnd that are at the very least morally indiscernible and sometimes outright good that are like much more interesting moral and ethical storylines to go down. for instance, why a morally good celestial might turn to some freak willing to make a deal with them to get something accomplished rather than, say, a cleric.

like I love warlocks. the potential to get messy and fucked up with it is just soooo ripe no matter which direction you go. but GOD. why do we just always go down the same "deals with devils are bad!" storyline over and over again.

#I would genuinely be much more interesting in a fiend warlock that just flipped the dynamic entirely #or like if the warlock clearly didn't hate the situation at the very least #and even outside of fiends warlocks #half the time its still like 'We have to free this poor warlock from their pact!' #like I swear no one will just commit to being a fucked up little freak.

[strugglingatart]

Jr Year ep4

This is me live blogging bc I need to get thoughts out also would love fandom friends full spoilers bellow the cut just so no one accidentally reads anything they don’t want to this will be long

I have wanted most if not all of Zac's and Murph's shirts this season

I still have issues with the multiclass system but also no school thing has made the most sense in universe

I believe you and that's why I'm not saying anything is SUCH a trouble friend mood

"what's the drinking age?" "you have murdered SO many people"

BRENANS FACE WHEN KALINA SAYS I'M NOT BAD ANYMORE OH LORDS

the whole Kalina/Cassandra/Kristen scene is so nerve wrecking and interesting and once again I can talk so much about this topic and I know I have critized Kristen's approach but that's bc honestly I do have issue w it despite understanding it but it does make for an interesting arc and with this conversation it does seem like she believes in this domain of faith on the unknown. I will at some point talk more about from the point of someone who also left a culty religious thing but was still expected to perform similarly once out of it but my thoughts are still not the most organized

that being said I do not trust kalina and i do love cassandra

when you're in the dark I'm there holding your hand why am i crying

not kvx still being a thing lmao so Brennan

oh I just love how complicated but absolutely Bill Seacaster is the whole trust thing, the money going to the nemesees, there being a whole department, honestly that's a department I'd work for it's basically spy and gossip stuff

but also poor Fabian having to go through all this head ache stuff alone

watch Caperslolly Cattlekrush not be a direct nemesis but someone from her party be yes Fabian get that service!

I too keep thinking it is rat ccrushers no t grinders and will absolutely get it wrong

the gorthlax art is PERFECT

my school nurse did not have sweat pants but ok murph(i also absolutely am not from the us idk why i keep pointing out diferences)

they each will have a foil in my head so why just one owlbear contender? also is riz in the bloodrush team?

grinding for xp is so much weirder and terrible imo in this context also should be less effective bc like lbr experience is important like thinking on your feet etc like yes they are probably equal level and Brenan will play them well but they should absolutely not be as good as the bad kids at actual adventuring

I love how they all are so agro tho bc I get it and love the energy and I would absolutely be that mad

YES SOMEONE CALLED OUT THE HIPOCRISY

xp isn't bad if you at least still DO INTERESTING STUFF TO GET IT

if brenan makes them like grinding i will become as agro as the bad kids so far lol

gorthlax gave great advice, that being said i do hope they get a lil bit petty and end annoying grinders

nooo Gorgug (cries) I really want him to do well

listen I am so emo about gorgu's storyline like it's just no thoughts just feels and all of them

listen i don't do character builds but it does not sound to me like artificer and barbarian are THAT ill fitted, like yes the require different focus levels and types but they are also USED in different moments, nothing is stopping Gorgug from using his down time to come up with gadgets that work WITH his strenght and dex and rage and then use reckless abandon in battles. I think even th solar lasso is very much an example of that because it uses his strenghts, he's realing it in with atheltics checks iirc or how his shoes have jump like yes absolutely a challenge and not the most obvious but people are acting like it's impossible when it absolutely isn't

we love Corsica Jones

Riz helping Kristen <3

Brenan is absolutely having so much fun with Ayada's messages

Listen Fig does not need to go to warlock classes, no one in the school knows she is a warlock just do bard and barbarian and help your friend

also i get that procrastination girl

Please I want Fig and Gorgug to work on a song together and for us to get that scene so bad

Aelwynn is a whole entire mood

well that answers me: riz is not on bloodrush

I KNEW BRENNAN MADE THEM STUPID RATS TOO GOOD I HATE IT BUT I LOVE IT

wouldn't detect magic tell riz what enhancements she has? cause otherwise it's nnot THAT useful for spies (which is reason #1 the gadget exists)

oh brennan REALLY made people we will all hate

Yes Bucky I adore him

someone please go home with Fabian

ohhh Brennan put extra stakes at Fig just quitting/failling auegfort since she technically doesn't need it

oh warlock classes are night classes, kinda love that for Fig and also good for her being good at it

also looove the talk about exchanges and that

FIg could make an album out of pressure and expextations that woul be rad as hell

RAGH we love him

LISTEN Ragh should be like party guy, he was absolutely popular and is older and it takes stuff away from the bad kids to do

oh Fabian goes into it immediately we stan

Listen Ally is MASTER of weird ass energies and I love them for it

they truly are such dorks and somehow cool at the same time

I cannot tell if they don't know milkyriver's name or if they are benedict cumberbunching it and I love that

literally everything kalina says is so threatening

also the bad kids should count as followers of cassandra like they are not clerics sure but they ablsolutely belive in her... do only clerics/paladins count?

LISTEN BRENNAN WE DON'T NEED MORE PROBLEMS

oh the shard and red thing that was in one of the arts

oh I REALLY thought they were gonna split party this

I do hope the party still goes well

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #fhjy #adaine o'shaughnessey #fabian aramais seacaster #fig faeth #gorgug thistlespring #kristen applebees #riz gukgak

[thehomelybrewster]

My proposed changes to the Warlock

This is a rudimentary post, nothing exact, but it's inspired by my many problems I have with the warlock in D&D right now. I love the aesthetic, I love Eldritch Invocations, but the class to me is the victim of powercreep and no longer relevant design philosophies.

So this is, generally, what I'd do, and why:

Warlocks should be Intelligence casters. This is both to strengthen the relevance of Intelligence as an ability score, to strengthen the fantasy of a warlock discovering a pact through effort, and to make multiclassing with Charisma casters harder.

Warlocks should use half-caster spellslot progression like a paladin or ranger (now the discussion on whether rangers should automatically be magical is a different one for a different post, but still). Why? That way warlocks fall more in line with the way short rests are normally run at the table without having to touch short rests as a mechanic. Generally I'd like to minimize the importance of short rests/make it something that most parties will only do once per day, and this is part of that (I'd consider adding a renamed version of the wizard's Arcane Recovery feature to the warlock, for the sake of appeasing old Warlock fans). Mystic Arcanum remains unchanged. Eldritch Master would need a complete replacement, of course.

Eldritch Blast becomes a class feature. This means it will scale only with warlock levels, thus no longer making warlock dips to get autoscaling Eldritch Blasts possible. The upside is that Eldritch Blast, being no longer a spell, cannot be counterspelled anymore. Granted, it probably isn't being counterspelled anyway, but that's one benefit. It also means that Sorlocks won't be able to use metamagic on it anymore, which is a bit of a shame, but that, for the sake of simplicity, is a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The Eldritch Invocations that affect Eldritch Blast remain unchanged.

Patron spells are added to spells known. Very simple change, and the sole change the 5e Revision is actually implementing. It's a simple quality of life change that will lead to more diversity in terms of spell options, and will make "mid"/situational spells offered by your patron actually something you have access to. But I wouldn't allow for free castings of them.

I'd 100 percent incoporate the Contact Patron feature introduced in the 5e Revision playtest into the class. I adore it, wouldn't change a thing.

Hexblade needs to go. The Pact of the Blade boon would incorporate some elements of that subclass, but probably just using Intelligence to hit with your weapons (using the original ability score for the damage calculations), and then an automatic Extra Attack at 11th level (because that's when fighter's get their Extra Attack #2). This is also to prevent wizards (and artificers) to basically become Bladesingers all the time, because I really dislike the classic optimized paladin with a hexblade dip build, both in terms of flavor and in terms of its impact on play.

These are all big changes, and there'd probably be a bunch more small ones, but I hope you understand my reasoning.

Maybe I'll eventually work on an actual warlock revision, or list out similar changes I'd make to the ranger, bard, and monk, which are the two classes I'd also change pretty drastically if it were up to me (do any of y'all remember the ki-less monk I made a while back?).

#thehomelybrewster #dnd 5e homebrew #5e homebrew #dnd homebrew #dnd warlock #5e rant #rant tag #dnd 5e #dungeons and dragons

[dantes-divine]

I would like to ask about elowen’s extensive lore-compliant backstory, please!

HIIIII I LOVE UUUUUU thanks for asking

basically, Elowen is the bastard daughter of the fifth daughter of house Faen Tlabbar in Menzoberranzan, ~1200s when house Faen Tlabbar was the seventh house of the city. as the firstborn daughter, she was meant to be honored--but her mother had fallen for a wood elf during a (failed) surface raid, and so Elowen is of impure blood. balancing these two facts--a deeply fanatical house unable to kill a firstborn daughter for fear of angering lolth, but also wanting to destroy the impure--her mother was killed and she was kept alive, but treated the way men in menzoberranzan are treated. subservient and forbidden from learning magic, she trained with Faen Tlabbar's weaponsmaster for a time before fleeing the city and taking up with the mercenary band bregan d'aerthe.

bregan d'aerthe is an infamous mercenary band of drow renegades, founded and led by a son of house baenre. she served for a time, learning to tame beasts of the underdark, wield a bow with precision alongside her dual shortswords, master stealth and tracking. this is how she became a gloomstalker ranger!! she combined her affinity for stealth and ambush with weapons skills and knowledge of poisons, multiclassing into assassin rogue!

this was a time of tumult for bregan d'aerth, though, as it followed on the heels of conspiracy within the organization and the deaths of important members such as arathis hune. splintering loyalties, questioning whether jarlaxle baenre was capable of leadership, all that good stuff. fearing questioned loyalty and a knife in the back, elowen left behind the violence of the underdark to search for her father.

she tracked his whereabouts down the sword coast, learning the ways of rangers on the surface. here she sheltered for a time with the druids of the emerald grove, but was never fully accepted due to her appearance, and quickly moved on. her father's trail led her to a city like none she'd ever seen--baldur's gate! overwhelmed in the urban environment, she was still struggling to find him when she was abducted by mindflayers B)

she's unfamiliar with surface customs and deeply disconcerting as a heavily armed, light-footed, lolth-sworn drow with black eyes and heavy makeup. this is why she has low charisma lol--but she's neutral good! she wants to help everyone and be kind, but unfortunately rolls chronically low on everything, especially charisma checks.

her religious background, reverence of house baenre, and history with the emerald grove make her especially close to shadowheart, minthara, and halsin, but she looks up to wyll more than anyone and considers him and karlach her best friends.

#THANK YOU YIPPEE!!! #bg3 #tav #elowen

[ostermad-blog]

📖, 💡?

Two excellent questions. We'll take 'em in order!

📖 My favorite class or playbook from a game.

It's funny, this question. I'm someone who prefers to run games rather than play in them, so I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about classes/playbooks unless I'm designing a game (my current project has had me doing a lot of reading over different playbooks for inspiration). So I'm going to cheat and give you two answers.

The first answer is the Ghelf from TheOriginalCockatrice's game Troupe. The Gelf is a preening pissant, someone petty and small and full of self-importance with a flair for the dramatic. They are hard and bitter but believe themselves to be loving and sweet. They are in so much agonizing denial that my heart hurts to think about it. I think TheOriginalCockatrice did a phenomenal job expressing the ghelf's wretchedness, their vulnerability, and their allure.

The real answer is the one I am embarrassed about, the one I knew was my answer as soon as I read the question, the one class that has stuck with me since I read it as a middle schooler in the Complete Warrior book for dnd 3.5. I feel like an indie ttrpg poser that my favorite class is one from dnd, but let me talk to you about the Warshaper and maybe you'll see why it has been in my bones since I was 13.

The Warshaper is a prestige class, something that doesn't exist in dnd 5e (thank goodness). Prestige classes had to be built into, you had to multiclass in just the right way, do the right in-game things to qualify, take the right character customization options. And some of them were utter garbage and some of them were incredibly powerful. Like many things in 3.x, there was a kernel of a good idea somewhere in there, but the implementation was horrible.

The Warshaper's most onerous requirement was that you had to be able to change your shape, to transform from one body to another. A wizard's polymorph would do, as would a druid's wildshape. As would being a werecreature, as well. And the central premise of the Warshaper class was: what if you could change your body better? Now, this was dnd, so the implementation was all about combat - you can grow more natural weapons, they do more damage, you can rearrange your organs and muscles to make you immune to critical hits, your limbs can extend up to 10ft away from you. But the idea behind the class was immediately compelling, and as a deeply, deeply closeted trans teenager, as soon as I read this class I knew I wanted to be it, in a powerful and personal way. I also, being a deeply, deeply closeted trans teenager, never attempted to build a character that could take the class. I thought about dnd a lot more than I played it, and I made dozens of characters. And I was never brave enough to make someone who could transcend their body-of-birth and take this class, at least not until many years later, in college, when I played my first female character. Playing her was probably the closest I came to realizing I was trans until my egg actually did crack.

So, yeah, the answer I like to that question is the Ghelf. My real answer is the Warshaper.

💡 A game that inspired my own design or creative practice

Here I have many equally true answers. Honorable mention to dnd 3.5 for being so poorly designed that I had to start designing for it to patch up the gaps and salvage something good from it.

The actual answer, well, one of them, is Kazumi Chin's Rogue 2e, which is a love letter to the OSR and storygame ttrpg genres. Rogue 2e is an elegant game. It uses as few rules and mechanics as possible to communicate worlds of potential. Chin's game really opened my eyes to indie ttrpgs more broadly and proved that the adventuring ttrpg experiences I had grown up on could be built in so many more ways than I had thought possible.

Another answer, and the last I'll give for now, is Alexis Smolensk's D&D. Smolensk is a phenomenal writer and his blog (tao-dnd.blogspot.com) is an invaluable resource to anyone looking to run, play in, or design adventure ttrpgs. He has been building his world and expanding his rules for decades with the care and artistry of an expert craftsman. He showed me what adventure games could be, that the skills involved in running them could be deeper than I had ever imagined. I will spend the rest of my life trying to meet his skill level, and I hope that one day people playing in my setting can have half the fun I had playing in his.

#Ttrpg #Indie ttrpg #Ttrpg questions #Dnd #D&D #Tao of Dnd #Troupe ttrpg #Ttrpg design #osr #Rogue 2e

[ryttu3k]

Current play updates! I got the Explorer-mode multiclass mod, and Tae now has the first level of Cleric! (Of Eilistraee, ofc.) Also gave them longsword proficiency, so they can use Phalar Aluve. Honestly probably won't be levelling up Cleric any further, I genuinely just wanted the dialogue options.

Also gave Astarion the first level of Bard. Listen he's made for using Vicious Mockery.

Storywise, pretty sure I'm at the end of act 1! Really only got two things left - the elevator at Grymforge, or the Mountain Pass. Image-heavy below the cut!

I know that taking the elevator at Grymforge definitely leads into act 2. Not sure about the mountain pass, so I may do that first and just… see how it goes. That's where I stopped first time because it warned about me being underlevelled (I was on 4 at the time, I think); since I'm using both the EXP mod and the no party limits mod, I'm, uh, now level 8 across the board instead and now have seven level-8 characters instead of four level-4 characters… bit of a difference, haha.

As suspected, the Underdark was interesting as hell as a drow. Lots of fear from characters like the gnomes, lots of characters assuming you're Just Another Drow In Service To The Absolute, like this guy. Honestly, was pretty satisfying kicking Nere's ass.

Tae is So Grossed Out but stuck to the more important point.

I actually ended up doing the third option and got some interesting side-eyes, but it didn't end in a fight. Ended up killing them later in the fight against Nere, anyway.

The discovery that the drow in the cages were likely surface drow… as in Tae's people… oh yeah, they killed him.

Interesting responses from Astarion (not in the image, just for this part in general). He actually tended to disapprove of things like helping the enslaved gnomes? I'm kind of wondering if it's trauma-based resentment, like, "No one ever helped me, why are you going out of your way to help others?" It's still very early on in his arc here, especially since Tae isn't romancing him, and I suspect a lot of those disapprovals are like…

He still almost has this mindset of 'slaves deserve what they get, they're just slaves, they're not actual people'. Because if he acknowledges that the gnomes are people as well, then he has to acknowledge his own personhood and the two hundred years of trauma that accompanied it. With the Moonlight Towers conversation, he admits he had still been thinking like a slave, and we haven't even got there yet. A lot of the disapproval may be from Cazador's conditioning, which is genuinely depressing.

Gale's response when Tae told the duergar to free the gnomes. I goddamn love how much the characters respond to stuff autonomously, it makes them feel so much more like people, not just collections of stats.

Of course, it's not all murdering! Here is some cuteness. One of those delightful times you get both [Astarion approves] and [Karlach approves]…

The babies <3

Thanks cutiepie it's appreciated <3

Thanks to a staff that creates rain, Karlach gets smooched!!

I swear we just have super high approval as friends XD;; Actually, honestly, I suspect Tae is ace or acespec, so even when Karlach does get her engine fixed, I can see a situation where it's like... Tae is unsure about anything beyond all the cuddles and maybe some kisses, and given that Shadowheart and Lae'zel are both pretty thirsty for Karlach and they're sleeping with each other (or, uh, have at least once), Karlach can do more sexual things with them while her more romantic relationship is with Tae? Hmm!

Barcus I would die for you. We are definitely going to have to rescue the little shit (affectionate) again at some point, right.

And finally, sh-she handsome…

#ry plays bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers

[sonntam]

I don't get it when people say "oh, why minmaxing in DnD, it is all make-believe anyway".

Guys. It's real. If my character in tabletop is the biggest badass in the world, killing people left and right, then it's SO much more real than anything that ever happened in a videogame.

Videogames are so make believe. But tabletop?? My homies are there. They see my beautiful build. They see how well I execute my strategies. If it works, it's glorious.

I literally lived for past three days on the high of being a paladin with an aura that gives +2 to saves and casting Bless on my group. It was SO important that everyone passed their save. It was so important that my Find Steed horsie accompanied a lost druid back to his village.

This is where everything comes together: roleplay supported by in-game abilities and spells. Lady Arisa von Fellengard as I originally conceived her was supposed to be not very flashy and being tank/support Eldritch Knight Fighter. Now she is a paladin and she really blossomed.

Full tanking capabilities by having War Wizard multiclass, so that she gets both Shield AND the ability to add +4 to her saves as a reaction. Full support with Bless (bonus to saves & attacks) + Lay on Hands (healing) + Crusader's Mantle (group buff with radiant damage). Some additional support spells like Gentle Repose, Revivify, Dispel Magic, Lesser Restoration and Protection From Good and Evil always at hand.

I have whole TWO awesome weapons: Siab'Mal, the sentient sword with radiant damage which gives off sunlight AND a gorgeous magical whip with 30f range and automatic grapples on hit. That is SO COOL, because I have a Dexterity build, so with the addition of my DM graciously giving me the partial effect of the Shield Master feat (being able to put on/take off shields as a free action) I can use longbows, rapiers, whips AND my best boi Siab'Mal. It gives me a great weapon versatility which I highly appreciate, since I wanted Arisa to be a veteran of many fights and able to wield anything.

Then there are spells which highlight her personality: Zone of Truth (always prepared due to her subclass) which is utterly perfect for Arisa who prides on always telling the truth (and wishes more people followed her example). Shield, Find Familiar and Comprehend Languages nicely round up her bookish interests, while Alarm helps to show how she is often expecting the worst case scenarios and ready for an attack... at pretty much all times. Tactical Wit feature from the War Wizard has a similar feel, giving her a bonus to Initiative equal to her Intelligence.

And I did not even talk about her aura which gives immunity against charmed effects, which is so fitting, because Strahd loves charming people... and she utterly hates him (the hate is mutual). I like to think that Arisa's no-nonsense aura sobers up people around her, suppressing their charm.

And last but not least, since taking her oaths Arisa became immune to diseases with Divine Health... and also got rid of her phobia of being unclean or getting parasites.

#it all is working like a charm #every fight is a delight #sonntam talks #lady arisa von fellengard #tabletop

[bigyikes97]

not all horror is the same and multiclassing takes finesse

For me, I'm fine with some categories and not with others. I can do zombies to a point but not slashers. I can do weird but not occult. Everyone has their thing.

A corpse portrayed graphically of a sympathetic character is a different kind of horror than a mascot chase or an alien romp. I'm processing why I'm intrigued enough to sift through several layers of content regarding a piece of horror media, but was unsettled by a particular image that seemed out of place in its sheer meanness.

As a creator, an important thing to consider when approaching this kind of media is the source of the fear you're conveying. Is the scary thing death, or is it the corruption, an alien unknown, and the machinations of some evil guys? If I know the horror of a thing will stem from death, I would decide whether or not to engage accordingly. If I know it's the unknown, likewise.

While the rest of the media dwelt creatively in my comfortable zones of corruption, aliens, and machinations, it took an abrupt and I daresay meanspirited jaunt into uncomfortable territory with a single graphic image that soured me towards the whole project. It was a different kind of horror, and it hit a deeper chord that I probably wouldn't have interacted with if I'd known it was there.

You approach Disney movies expecting a certain level of scariness from its villains. If some chainsaw horror killer suddenly turned up in a Disney movie, it would be inappropriate. It also wouldn't be what you came for.

Genre-blending should be thematically unified enough to flow within the viewer's expectations. If you watch Pride and Prejudice and zombies appear, you'll likely be confused and disturbed and probably disappointed that the story wasn't what you hoped for. Likewise, if you turn out for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and get vanilla Pride and Prejudice, you'll feel you didn't get what you expected.

There are also degrees of meanness. Like the hypothetical chainsaw killer in a Disney movie, if you go to a movie expecting PG and get an R, you're going to be overwhelmed and upset. It takes time and headspace to acclimate to certain levels of content. Suddenly jumping from PG to R is not a tasteful shock--it just says the writer needs schlock to keep eyes on their story.

I'm salty the PG-13 romp I was enjoying turned unexpectedly into an R. I don't think that was right, and I think it was inappropriate. There's a difference between, "Aha! A corpse jumpscare in a game about animal animatronics," and "we are going to make this abruptly introduced human corpse of a sympathetic character so much more gruesome than anything else shown so far, we're going to make it clinically realistic and exacerbate its suffering to the point of downright meanness with a different breed of cruel from the other material we presented." These things were not the same.

Why did I peruse so much content from this source before suddenly calling it quits? Because those realms of corruption, the unknown, and machinations within a PG-13 frame were all areas in which I'm comfortable, and that's where the initial story stayed. However, that sudden tip into R territory and a new theme was so sudden that I have no further desire to interact with it. All in all, this has been a very instructive experience which I'll be sure to keep in mind as I create my own stories.

#storytelling #writing #horror writing #writers on tumblr

[yourfavsinbg3]

YOUR FAVS IN BG3: Link and Zelda from ToTK!

Link, the half-elf folk hero Ranger, and Zelda, the half-elf noble Wizard.

Reasoning and builds under the cut!

These are specifically from Tears of the Kingdom/Breath of the Wild because there is so much variety in the Links and Zeldas of the series as a whole! I've also only played BotW and ToTK so I'm most familiar with these incarnations. I do plan to attempt making other incarnations, but I'd want to get more familiar with those games first before jumping in. (I do know that OoT Zelda would be a monk, for obvious reasons, but beyond that I don't know much.)

Both Link and Zelda are half elves here because I feel that fits the Hylian aesthetic the best.

LINK

First up: why is Link a ranger and not a fighter? I decided on ranger because of their focus on wilderness survival. Plus, they've got the "ranger knight" subclass which implies service to a noble house; in my mind, that fits Link being the Champion of Hyrule and Zelda's chosen protector. Ranger's limited spellcasting ability is also a nice nod to the runes and abilities he's able to use in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

His background being "folk hero" feels kind of self explanatory; he's one of the most famous warriors in all of Hyrule, even if no one recognizes him when they first meet him.

Link is a wood half elf, for that movement speed buff. Boy's gotta zip around all day, he's gotta be quick about it.

Build

Despite him being a ranger from the start, the best class to describe Link would be the Eldritch Knight fighter subclass. However, having played that subclass, it can feel kind of underwhelming. I believe a Ranger/Fighter multiclass allows for a similar vibe while being more effective in combat.

For level one stats, he has 16 strength, 16 dexterity, 14 constitution, 8 intelligence, 10 wisdom, and 10 charisma (all pictured below).

I've chosen for wisdom to be kind of a dump stat because he's the Hero of Courage, not the Hero of Wisdom. Man's is a little bit stupid and that's okay. Also, in my experience, the most useful ranger spells are either passive buffs (like Hunter's Mark), or damaging spells that rely on your attack roll to hit (like Ensnaring Strike).

Once Link levels up, he'll be taking an immediate level in fighter. It's important to get second wind and action surge as soon as possible, just because of how useful they are in combat. Also, it's a good analog for flurry rushes and going absolutely ham with the apples to heal during combat.

Beyond level 2, there are a couple different paths that make a ranger/fighter build good. These are just what I've personally experimented with, so if you wanna do something else, go nuts!

One is to go three levels ranger and nine levels fighter. This lets you pick up the "Hunter" subclass and the Horde Breaker ability, which is very good. (Honestly all the Hunter's Prey options are great, it really depends on personal preference.) Fighter subclasses are between Battle Master and Champion; either are fantastic, but I've found Battle Master to be a little overwhelming. If you just want to whack stuff, go with Champion. If you're okay with strategy, Battle Master fits with the "lore" of BotW/ToTK Link better.

Another option is to just do one or two levels of ranger, and slam the rest into fighter. If you do a 1 Ranger/11 Fighter split, you get access to 3 attacks per turn, which is very very nice. A 2 Ranger/10 Fighter split is pretty much the same, but this time you get two spells. Whoopie! These builds definitely offer more raw damage, but I personally don't see the point in having this small of a split. It kind of makes Ranger redundant, so I personally wouldn't go this route. If you're hungering for extra attacks, Hyena ears let you make haste potions, but Wizards can cast it as soon as they get access to level 3 spell slots. (The Darkfire Shortbow also lets you cast it on yourself once per long rest. You got options if you wanna get extra attacks and actions!)

The inverse of this (10 Ranger/2 Fighter) gives you access to action surge, second wind, and you get access to much more spells and more interesting class abilities. This is my personal favorite combination, because I'm a filthy ranger defender. Even so, I can recognize it needs the little extra oomph fighter can offer.

ZELDA

Zelda was actually a lot harder to decide on a starting class for. She's definitely a spellcaster, and an argument can be made that she's a divine spellcaster and therefore should be a Knowledge domain cleric. (Also, her holding the Triforce of Wisdom? That's cleric shit if I've ever heard it.) I can also see an argument for her being a sorcerer, as her powers come from being a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia.

If there was a divine soul sorcerer class in BG3, it'd be that, hands down. However, there's not, so I personally discount sorcerer as an option here. (Would love to see a Zelda build using this in pen and paper, though.)

(ToTK Spoilers in this paragraph) There's also a very convincing argument that it'd be most fitting to make her a dragon soul sorcerer, because gestures at ToTK. However, I don't think it fits beyond that, though the comparison makes me laugh. Figured I'd mention it for that reason alone.

I ended up with Wizard because most of her work, in both ToTk and BoTW, is scholarly in nature. Zelda is most driven by knowledge and her desire to do better by her people, as opposed to devotion to a god.

Build

Zelda's level one stats are 8 strength, 8 dexterity, 12 constitution, 16 intelligence, 16 wisdom, and 14 charisma (as pictured below). Her starting spells are Mage Armor, Shield, Protection from Good and Evil, Sleep, Magic Missile, and Feather Fall. Her cantrips are Mage Hand, Blade Ward, and Friends. As a high half elf, I gave her the Light cantrip as another nod to her divine power manifesting. (All in the picture below, but it might be hard to see.)

In terms of leveling up, I think an argument can be made that a cleric multiclass might not be a bad idea. However, builds like that are Multi Attribute Dependent (MAD), so they can be a bit difficult to level properly to feel effective. I've never personally experimented with it, and have been advised by friends who are better at this game to avoid MAD builds. I just think it'd be neat, which is why I mention it as an option.

Overall, Zelda has a pretty simple level up scheme: level up into Divination Wizard, get her hands on as many scrolls as possible, and keep learning spells till she drops. Wizards are a versatile and powerful class already, so while multiclassing is tempting, I personally avoid it here.

There is, however, a very very compelling argument for getting three levels in sorcerer, subclass of your choice. Using sorcerery points to get more spell slots, quickened spell and twinned spell... All extremely fun things to play around with. Plus, I love Wild Magic dearly. I don't think this multiclass fits Zelda very well, but it's such a good combo that I had to mention it.

#bg3 #totk #link #zelda #totk spoilers #(i mean not really but just in case) #bg3 builds #bg3 character creator #bg3 tav #uuuh idk how to tag shit i just know i need to #also despite how much i love both of these games i have yet to beat either of them so keep spoilers to a minimum #thank you i love u all #also yes ranger is my favorite class but i never play it unless I'm playing something other than DnD 5e #like pathfinder 2e!! rangers are so good there

[utilitycaster]

What are your thoughts on the new ua's mechanics, especially the bard? It looks like almost all casters will be preparing spells now. I am not sure if its fits bards flavor-wise, but it makes them more flexible, so I'll take it.

For the most part I like it! I took notes so I can send in my thoughts when they have the survey later this month but my complaints aren't major.

Personally with the exception of sorcerers I think prepared spells makes sense for everyone. The only reason there's a divide between prepared and known-spell casters is because D&D was heavily influenced by Jack Vance's magic systems. And while in older editions there were benefits and drawbacks of each - prepped casters picked new spells each day but they pretty much had to pre-load their spell slots and couldn't use the same spell multiple times unless they prepped it multiple times; spontaneous casters knew fewer spells but they could cast them in whatever configuration they chose provided they had a slot for it - 5e did away with the prepared caster limitations, which means that they have a distinct advantage over known-spell casters. Bards, rangers, and warlocks are in my opinion particularly fucked over by this since they're not only known-spell casters but also high-utility classes that would benefit from a little bit of flexibility; bards also in standard 5e get tons of weird spells that they can't take unless their party has like, another healer AND another arcane caster because how often will you cast guards and wards*, so it's not worth taking up one of your precious known spells to learn.

Anyway getting into the actual details:

Bard: I like the new inspiration mechanics and LOVE that you can use it to heal as a reaction but I do think that even with the improved flexibility of use, it should be CHA modifier still rather than proficiency bonus, and if it's not at the very least Font of Inspiration should remain a L5 feature of the class rather than being pushed to L7. I already covered spell prep and I do like that you can swap cantrips because lbr, if you pick a shitty cantrip you often end up stuck with it unless you beg the DM for mercy. Songs of Restoration are FANTASTIC; I'm not mad at the loss of song of rest because I have played a primary healer bard and it's hard as fuck and this solves literally every problem I had. I also in general like the increased important of schools of magic, and think the options provided to bard are about the same as how the class already works anyway. Most of the rest is roughly comparable to standard 5e. My one question is why Jack of all Trades is so much later; I do wonder, and won't be able to say for sure until more classes come out, if they're trying to make multiclassing a bit more of a commitment.

Ranger: VERY good. Bard was always pretty decent with a few easily fixable flaws but ranger needed a boost and boy did it get it. Rangers should have expertise! They are a knowledge-based class! They should get cantrips! Also, rangers always suffered from having far too many concentration-only spells and making hunter's mark essentially a freebie was the correct call. Roving and Tireless also feel very true to the flavor of ranger as does the high-level blindsense. For what it's worth, I'm sure some people who are more experienced in rangers might not like this but I think nixing favored terrain is a good call because it's so frustrating when a ranger is useless simply because you are in the forest and not the mountains, when their entire thing is "good at tracking in general". Rangers always felt weirdly too specific and this has provided a focus in keeping favored enemy while allowing their wilderness skills to actually shine.

Rogue: fewest changes here, imo. Subtle strike makes far more sense than blindsense (blindsense was always weird for rogues to have and the buff to slippery mind to include charisma balances out any loss) and the thief subclass, always one of the better rogue subclasses, gets some really strong features.

*I am, in case you wondered, at all times, thinking about how much I want to cast guards and wards.

#answered #Anonymous #one d&d #d&d mechanics

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Don't Underestimate Your Index

The 5th Edition D&D books' biggest problem, in my opinion, was their indexes.

There were certainly broken rules, particularly where the optional (almost immediately adopted as canon/"normal") rules around feats and multiclassing were involved.

But when it came to allowing a player to play the game well quickly?

Indexes. Indices. Whichever.

This is a mistake a lot of games make, and there are two core pieces of it.

First is what's known in the game industry as UX, or "user experience." In this context it means thinking not about how the game looks but how it's going to be used. A player will be sitting at a table, and will decide they want to grab the orb out of Necromancer von EvilDeath's hand. They go into the index and they look up "grab." "Grab" isn't actually in the index. That's fine; It's not like every term a player might use for something needs to be covered; You're allowed to have keywords! They find "grappled," which says, "see conditions" but also "grappling" which has a page number. This is a start! They go to the page listed, and read that "grappling" doesn't really have to do with getting an item out of someone else's grasp. Someone suggests "disarm." A hunt through the index finds that the only match there is "Disarming Attack maneuver (Fighter) see maneuvers"

Now, this is perhaps an unkind example because doing the thing the player described isn't really in the mechanics of 5th Ed D&D at all if you aren't a Fighter, but it's worth mentioning that that wasn't intentional! It's literally just one of the first things I thought one might do as a party when you see the villain has a macguffin you don't want them to have. Rather than trying to murder them while they raise their army of the undead, just take the stupid orb so they can't summon any more zombies!

This process of figuring out what word might be applicable to the rules question and then using the index to get to the page number? For many rulebooks, this will be the primary mode of usage. After a basic read of the character creation process and maybe a few examples, most players most of the time will just want to jump in and then look up details as they arise.

The other thing that really Acid Splashes my kobold is that bit I mentioned twice in that example: A player looking through the 5E index will constantly find "see [other term elsewhere in the index]" written. The word "see" is already 3 characters, and the book is less than 1000 pages long, so no matter how short the other term is this is a waste of ink and book space AND it wastes the player's time as they bounce from one section of the index to another. If I want to know about the Grappled condition and I look up Grappled it sends me to "Conditions" in the index first. Why? Why not just send me straight to page 290?

TL;DR Your index is important if you're writing a rulebook, and it's worth making sure it gets your player to their information as quickly as possible. Don't skimp on it! Honestly the 5E PHB would also have been a notably better book if they'd added 2 more pages to the index so they could beef up the font by a point or two. And for the love of Lolth don't have your index point to itself.

#D&D #indexes #game design #game dev

[strugglingatart]

Jr Year ep 3

This is me live blogging bc I need to get thoughts out also would love fandom friends full spoilers bellow the cut just so no one accidentally reads anything they don’t want to this will be long

EX GIRLFRIEND I will legit fight Brennan why did we at least not see it....

btw me saying I will fight brennan is mostly a joke like I get why we made all these changes, I don't actually love everything but I do trust all these people enough that it will serve the story and play out great

Immediately clocking the fairy festival (Frosty whatever it is I'm so sorry Brenan says it and then it's immediately out of my head) connection we love

love love looove the aguefort projections, so many Arthur statues!

Riz's manic energy is such a vibe, not exactly healthy but a vibe I get

the astral realm where all the dead gods go

lowkey love that Gorgug and Fabian are solid like the boys lowkey play them so dumb but that's just teenage boys for ya (also thought maybe Fabian would be in less trouble but still some so this makes my anxiety relax a bit, only issues we already knew off)

Actually for the wizards I'm really chill is an A+ and also probably true sentence

ah the answer I needed about Fig's multiclass

Ah the society of shadows again, and a college for sad alone adventureres lol

their record is bad but it should be worse when talking about the one person sports team is SO FUNNY to me

the friends bit is so good, everythig about it, all the laughing, Emily failing intentionally, Ally letting it work even tho it shouldn't, perfection

Lydia still making half orc meals we love and stan

Adaine-Riz friendship is SO IMPORTANT to me

the sibbling energy our girls have are amazing

the Thisstlesprings will literally just go into sex ed and Gorgug's reaction is gold everytime

"Can I run from you?" LMAO

ok I'm getting the silly energy they were talking about now

listennnn we are gonna get into Gorgug isn't a good barbarian according to his teacher again aren't we? it's why it wasn't pre approved? I will fight this teacher he literally saved the world twice as mostly a barbarian let him be a chill barbarian

WHY DID GILLEAR NOT TALK TO FIG

yes Fabian make Fig go to class

yay new lunch lad

also I legit thought the time quangle was just an explain continuity errors away and also get rid of the agueforts who break encounters thing but it might be related to the plot now that it's come back up in the recap and in the intercom in story

Fig has Gillear's luck confirmed ok

Zac's physical comedy continues to be SO GOOD

the sillies really are here I'm laughing so much

straight away this lady is insane

four different dogs is such a good burn, love agro Kristen

do not trust this people at all

ohhh skullcleaver, Katya's aunt? cousin? I don't recall the seven mentioning that

listen Fabian's house being party house is lowkey dangerous

Kristen being a disaster gay even when trying to help friends flirt is a mood and a half

ooohh I like mazey

don't trust the attomaton tbh

also yes I just thought of this now so it's late but going back to Kipperlilly whatever her name is, like homegirl can't make big institutional changes youre class president not on staff

rules always being followed to the letter is tbh scary there has to be room for interpretation, perfect order doesn't exist

YES PLOT love how it's already too much bc mood and "yeah I cannot think about that right now" and "embodyment of writers block" oh this season is gonna continue to hit me in the face

Wanda Childa is wild

she was a turncoat, more importantly she was a mirror

why is Ally's hey girlie voice so terrifying

fully forgot porter was the barbarian teacher and I will fight porter LET GORGUG MULTICLASS...

aaaa I'm going into a worry is here, legit thought it was gonna be in battle but I love Gorgug's energy here bc I've been there where you do things kinda nontraditional way and have teachers make the achivements sound so much worse just bc i didn't get there through the path they wanted me to take

love terpsichore immediately

they get 30's fairly often now we love level 10

fabian is such an arsty kid at heart and always was like Lou wanted to make a jock maybe but never did

listen trashbag sandwich is worrying but it was indeed fine

I get that Riz is type A but he is the non annoying kind

homegirl who desn't like technicalities and ppl gettign away with stuff got out in one huh? also I have no idea what that means the teacher found her? what?

Jawbone I love you and also I worry about how much I relate to Riz

I so hate this girl I'm with Adaine, she's the worst we've had

oh no the Applebee's

ok so I have a huge like essay somewhere about both why I don't like how Kristen is dealing with Cassandra but also how I 10000% understand her as someone who abandoned religion but was then forced to still be in similar roles and religious enviornments after that somewher in my head buut also who cares but just know it exists

omg Bucky giving her a hug I cry

Kristen is not doing well but that was actually a pretty good parental confrontation tbh I'm proud

oh damn poor Adaine I'm sosorry my dear you don't deserve this

Brennan really went you know what? we are not having your wildness work for you this time Emily, your shit is catching up to you

yay fig went to class finally

we got SO many designs with all the teachers and such and they are all so great

oh nooo Kristeeen, each step I take the step behind me vanishes is such a raw ass line like this poor teenager is legit so lost like someone help her please (also that was a relatable little monologue.. am I ok?)

love the cleric teacher a lot

ok but i love cassandra alright twilight, mystery and doubt are such a cool ass domain you can sell it and embrace it Kristen I belive in youuuu

but also again: a good ass teacher

awn I love that they're back in the forest

again Siobhan promised no taers and I have cried twice now maybe three times in three eps??? rude af

the bad kids should've helped with the whole Cassandra stuff I just realised I'm so sorry

oh shit not Kalina again.... I feel like i got stabbed in the heart

oh I am sooo pumped for next ep!!!!!

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #fhjy #riz gukgak #kristen applebees #fabian aramais seacaster #adaine o'shaughnessey #gorgug thistlespring #fig faeth

[cinastre]

playtest & scheduling, and secret & heart for any character you'd like!

thanks!! for the character ones im gonna answer for leynah!

Playtest: What class (or subclass) do you want to try out?

i think ive played every class at least once but i really want to play more wizard stuff!! and multiclassing. let me play weird builds

Scheduling: Do you prefer to play in long campaigns, oneshots, or something in between?

oooh im gonna have to say mid-length campaigns! oneshots are fun and all but i really like the idea of telling a longer story with more chances to develop characters/relationships/etc and really live in the world! i dont have any experience with playing long campaigns so i cant speak to those

Secret: Is there anything that you know about your character but your character doesn't know? What is it? How did you come up with this secret?

there are a few things i know that she doesnt! i know her dad was actually a very important figure before his betrayal and that she had three other parents when she was born. i also know that the fire at the edges of her being is dragon fire! i came up with them cause a) i think the Traitor is a very interesting character type to explore b) her mom and dad are really hot and i think they should be poly and c) fire being a symbol/source of life and dragons as wardens of it is really cool, and i think her inheriting some but not really knowing about it cause shes isolated is very neat

Heart: What drives your character? Do they have a theme, question, mission, etc. that they're holding onto? How did you pick it for them?

leynah is driven by her desire to be a part of the world she was kept away from and to make her dad proud of her. shes not sure why they had to live so alone but she wants to be successful enough for them to be welcomed into it. the question that led to her creation was what happens to the kids of the Heroes and really important people in times of strife

#ardyx.txt #questions #impossibletruths #this was neat!! #i started answering but got sucked into read a really long reddit post so this took hours whoops #i know i havent done an intro for leynah but shes a whole can of worms at the moment and i havent yet been able to extricate her #but i really love her vibes and wanted to talk about her

[elphael]

HOW TO MANAGE ACTION ECONOMY

If you've been playing for a while you've probably come to realize that sometimes combat can get stale, not from an encounter design standpoint, but from your own character sheet. In that case, a lot of people gravitate towards magic items to compensate and spice things up, but I find that most of the time, it's more satisfying to pick my class / design my character around having options and versatility in a fight. This can be done by multiclassing or even with a monoclass!

What it boils down to is understanding how action economy functions. Not only for your character but for other PCs and for monsters as well. In combat, a lot of the time you're fighting one large boss as opposed to an equal number of combatants or several weaker combatants. Your party usually will have several more turns than a single enemy in one round, That's why Legendary Actions exist, particularly for larger bosses: to adjust their action economy so they can give a full party a run for their money.

On every round, you have your Movement, Object Interaction, Action, Bonus Action, and then your Reaction whenever it's triggered either on or outside of your turn. In general, to make the most of your action economy, you should be striving to be able to use most parts of your action economy every turn you can.

You'll probably hear me talk a lot about the 'Bonus Action Funnel' or 'Reaction Funnel' which in general is something to avoid and that comes up more often in multiclassing, but that's my term for when I end up overloading a certain component of my action economy to the point where it comes unwieldy. I rarely say 'Action Funnel' because in general, your action is already incredibly versatile in what it can do, those options are just overlooked.

I'd encourage anyone to refamiliarize themself with Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Ready, & Help. Sometimes, the most effective thing IS to Attack or Cast a Spell or use another class feature, but there are sometimes when one of these actions can be just as smart or can really help out an ally.

When I'm building a character, I try to aim for having at least two potential bonus actions and reactions so I usually will be able to find a use for those pieces of my economy on any given round. When you can you ALWAYS want to have a bonus action.

That's why Barbarians, Wizards, and depending on your subclass, Fighters, can get really frustrating. Some Barbarian subclasses do make use of your bonus action but the only core ability you have that uses a bonus action is Rage and once you've triggered your rage, assuming it remains, whether you have a bonus action is dependent on your subclass.

Depending on your class, figuring out how to optimize your action economy can be trickier than others, and frankly, you might have fewer options without feats and/or multiclassing. An important piece of advice I have for casters is to pay attention to casting time when picking out your spell list and try to get coverage in your Action, Bonus Action, & Reaction. Also, be careful not to overload yourself with Concentration spells!

So, I feel like it's easier to explain how to do this by example so I'm going to go level by level with a martial character (monk) and a caster (wizard) from 1st level to 10th level and go through what abilities they get for combat and what I would do to make sure they have coverage in all areas. I'm going to try to do this strictly as monoclassing but I may also include some thoughts at the end of how I'd revise it by multiclassing to get more out of the build. I also intentionally picked a class with generally a better spread of abilities across different parts of their action economy (monk) as well as one that can lack that (wizard). I've also randomly generated what subclass they have to make it 'fair' or closer to what it may look like for someone building a character sheet with a specific character concept in mind.

For the sake of explaining my own terminology, after each class/subclass feature I will specify whether it's an Action, Bonus Action, Reaction, as well as Resource, for expendable resources, Passive for resistances/condition immunities/unarmored defense etc, or Miscellaneous if it doesn't fit any category but nonetheless is applicable knowledge for combat outside of your action economy.

Disclaimer: this also isn't covering abilities and tools to use in other tiers of play (Exploration & Social) which ALSO super important to me when I'm building a character, but that's a different topic.

WAY OF MERCY MONK

At first level you get Unarmored Defense (Passive), Martial Arts (Miscellaneous; Bonus Action)

Second level gives us Ki (Resource; Bonus Action), currently only applicable to be used on your bonus action, and Unarmored Movement (Passive)

Now we get Deflect Missiles (Reaction; Resource Optional) as well as Implements of Mercy (Passive/Non-Combat), Hand of Healing (Action OR Bonus Action [With Stipulations]; Resource), & Hand of Harm (Action; Resource), Ki Fueled Attack (Bonus Action)

Slow Fall (Reaction), Quickened Healing (Action), & ASI or Feat. At this point, unless there was a specific feat I wanted for character flavor or coverage for something outside of my action economy, I would take the ASI.

Extra Attack (Replacing an attack with a shove or grapple now becomes slightly more viable), Stunning Strike (Miscellaneous; Resource), & Focused Aim (Miscellaneous; Resource)

At this level Hand of Healing now heals certain conditions and Hand of Harm can afflict the poisoned condition temporarily.

Evasion (Passive) & Stillness of Mind (Action)

ASI / Feat; same opinion as earlier. Monks get a lot of coverage in terms of action economy, especially with TCE and Mercy Monks in particular have a LOT of versatility in terms of offense, defense, support, and mobility.

Unarmored Movement Improvement (Passive)

Purity of Body (Passive)

Here's a table of what that looks like when we break it down by category:

General Tweaks - To be perfectly honest, the only changes I would make to this would be for character reasons. You have a fantastic amount of options for attacks, mobility, defense, healing, and debuffing. I think the biggest weakness monks have is damage, and if I felt like I wasn't doing enough damage, I'd just pick up a shortsword to use alongside my unarmed attacks at earlier levels. Like I said, I'd pick feats for versatility outside of combat more than in combat, or for flavor. In general, Monk is a pretty strong contender for a well rounded action economy. You can see you have several potential reactions and bonus actions, but they're all useful for different things so it doesn't feel too unwieldy. Sometimes I might suggest picking your race based on your class/subclass's action economy but in this case, it wouldn't really matter.

Multiclass Thoughts - I wouldn't multiclass this sheerly to fix the action economy. The action economy is pretty damn respectable where it is. If I multiclassed this, it would be for character flavor, out of combat versatility, or to hone in on a specific niche strategy (damage, healing, or debuffs) determined by the character/campaign and party needs.

CONJURATION WIZARD

1 - Arcane Recovery (Miscellaneous), Spellcasting (Resource; All)

Three Cantrips: Ray of Frost (Action), Shape Water (Action), Message (Action)

Six Spells: Find Familiar (Miscellaneous, Action to Summon), Ice Knife (Action), Shield (Reaction), Mage Armor (Action), Comprehend Languages (Action), Magic Missile (Action)

2 - Conjuration Savant (Miscellaneous), Minor Conjuration (Action)

Two Spells: Feather Fall (Reaction), Fog Cloud (Action; C)

3 - Cantrip Formulas (Miscellaneous)

Two Spells: Misty Step (Bonus Action), Earthen Grasp (Action; C)

4 - ASI or Feat. At this point, if my intelligence was good enough, I might take a feat because as you can see, the options for bonus actions are slim. I'd either take War Caster or Metamagic Adept, purely to pick up Quickened Spell. Tbh, in the long run War Caster would be better.

Two Spells: Vortex Warp (Action), Dragon's Breath (Bonus Action; C)

5 - Spell Level Increase

Cantrip: Mind Sliver

Two Spells: Counterspell (Reaction), Summon Shadowspawn (Action; C)

6 - Benign Transport (Action; Resource)

Two Spells: Slow (Action; C), Fireball (Action)

7 - Spell Level Increase

Two Spells: Summon Elemental (Action; C), Fire Shield (Action)

8 - ASI if I didn't take one at 4th; Feat (same choices) if I didn't take it at 4th. THe only reason I'd deviate is if I wanted to do another feat for character reasons.

Two Spells: Psychic Lance (Action), Summon Aberration (Action; C)

9 - Spell Level Increase

Two Spells: Cone of Cold (Action), Far Step (Bonus Action; C)

10 - Focused Conjuration (Passive)

Cantrip: Fire Bolt

Two Spells: Steel Wind Strike (Action), Synaptic Static (Action)

Here's what that looks like when we put it in a cute table:

General Tweaks - You can see why wizards can be so frustrating to play monoclassed despite their incredibly versatile spellcasting. I couldn't even have this many spells prepared (With a +5 INT at level 10 I could have 15 spells prepared out of 22, the BARE minimum a wizard would have assuming they hadn't learned spells along the way). The way I would fix this is by Multiclassing LMAO. I would give up those fifth level spell slots for two levels of Fighter so I could have a bonus action heal, the ability to survive a bit more in melee, and action surge to cast two spells on a turn if I needed to OR two levels of rogue for expertise and cunning action for dash/dodge. In theory, you can fix the bonus action problem with Expeditious Retreat but especially with conjuration wizards, that's just not worth your concentration.

Multiclass Thoughts - ^ Replace one of my cantrips with Booming Blade and I'll play in mid-range with two levels of Rogue or Fighter. Genuinely would rather take the versatility over 5th level spell slots.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading, I know it ended up being very long. I hope this sort of explains the process I go through when building a character. I tend to think a lot about their action economy and what I can do to make a really fun character with cool flavor but also options for diversity in combat. I think there's so much more you can do in combat if you're thinking about your action economy and if you remember all of the actions we tend to forget because they're not as flashy.

#d&d mechanical stuff #this is so long and idk if this fully explains stuff but i tried to show by example lol #its so unfair how some classes are built So Well for good action economy and versatility #and then others are dogshit #pain and suffering #my d&d posts