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#then i wanted to try high elf for perception and the extra cantrip
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Sometimes I have multiple ideas for one class when really I should just figure out what I would do if I had ONE character for each class
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nerdythebard · 3 years
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#25: Artio, The Bear Goddess
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Fáilte, Gods and Goddesses!
Today, we step onto the green shores of Ireland for our first Celtic deity. Meet Artio, the Bear Goddess. Evidence of her cult was found as far as modern-day Switzerland, where a figure showing a woman feeding a bear was discovered. In SMITE, Artio is a melee druidess who shapeshifts into a bear to protect her allies.
Next Time: Who knew the wisest of the gods would turn out to be the pettiest...
Let's start with the goals of making Artio:
Bear Hug: Easy one, but necessary - we need to be able to transform into a huge bear and deal some serious damage.
Mother Nature: Artio can heal, conjure up vines, and drain vitality from her enemies.
Celtic Guardian: Artio's strong sides are good Crowd Control abilities and High Sustain. We need to be able to soak in some damage and prevent enemies from advancing.
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Now, we could just go with a human or (like Artemis) an elf, but for Artio, I think we'll look at the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron and one of their races. More specifically, the Beasthide Shifter. Believed to be descendants of humans and lycanthropes, Shifters combine the traits of man and beast into a single, deadly force. Beasthide Shifters get a +2 Constitution and a +1 Strength, 60 feet of Darkvision, and proficiency in Athletics skill. We also get the Shifting ability; as a bonus action, we can assume a more bestial form for up to 1 minute. We gain Temporary Hit Points equal to [our level + our Constitution modifier] plus one more benefit depending on our Shifter subrace. Beasthide Shifters gain an extra 1d6 THP and +1 AC bonus when shifted.
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As the Big Bear In Charge, Artio is the protector first and foremost, so making her the Folk Hero seems right to me. We gain proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival, one type of artisan's tools, and land vehicles. The Rustic Hospitality feature allows us to seek help and shelter among the common folk, because of our good reputation among the poor.
ABILITY SCORES
We'll start with Strength - we're a melee combatant, our blows need to pack a punch. Constitution will be next, we're the guardian with a thick bear hide for a reason. Follow that up with Wisdom, it's going to be our casting ability, but we won't be very spell-forward.
Dexterity is next, while not the most nimble of fighters, we need to make sure everyone around is protected. Charisma is a little low, but since Artio keeps mostly to the wilderness and forests, she doesn't necessarily interact with people... although we need to boost this up, bears are pretty intimidating. Finally, we're dumping Intelligence. I don't see a reason to have academic smarts here.
CLASS
Now, I know what you're thinking. Nature, shapeshifting, magic... Druid start-to-finish, right? Well, not necessarily. Half-a-point for trying, though.
Level 1 - Fighter: Artio is a melee character with spellcasting. We need to be a tank first, a magic-user second. Fighters get a d10 Hit Dice, [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, and proficiency with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. For Artio (when not in the Bear Form) I think we could get regular leather armour and either a quarterstaff or a glaive. Our saving throws are Strength and Constitution and we get to pick two class skills (Intimidation and Perception).
Fighters begin by choosing their Fighting Style, and to fulfil Artio's role as a guardian, we're gonna go with Interception from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Whenever a creature within 5 feet of us is hit by an attack, we can use our reaction to reduce the damage taken by [1d10 + our proficiency bonus] to a minimum of 0 damage. We must be wielding a shield or a simple/martial weapon for this.
We also get Second Wind, which lets us take a breather and heal [1d10 + our Fighter level] Hit Points as a bonus action once per short or long rest.
Level 2 - Fighter: We get Action Surge. Once per short or long rest we can take one additional Action on our turn.
Level 3 - Fighter: We get to pick our subclass, our Martial Archetype. For Artio, who uses her bear form to maul any enemy in her sights, we're gonna pick the Brute archetype from a 2018 Unearthed Arcana. With Brute Force we increase our overall weapon damage by an extra 1d4.
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Level 4 - Fighter: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. We're really going to double down on our Hit Points, by taking the Tough feat. Our maximum Hit Points increase by [our level x2]. Whenever we level up afterwards, we get +2 Hit Points Maximum.
Level 5 - Druid: Time for some representation of Nature's might. Multiclassing into a Druid gives us proficiencies we already have, so we're going to skip it. We do, however, learn the Druidic language - a system of phrases and symbols we can use to encrypt messages.
Druids are also full casters, so we learn Spellcasting from the start. Wisdom is our casting ability, and we can learn cantrips and ritual spells. Druids have an access to their full spell list, and can each day prepare [our Wisdom modifier + our Druid level] spells. We start by knowing two cantrips:
Druidcraft is a druid-exclusive cantrip used to influence nature around us. We can make flowers bloom or wither, predict the weather, light and extinguish small flames, and create harmless sensory effects.
Guidance lasts for 1 minute (concentration). A willing creature we touch (or us) can add a 1d4 to one ability check of its choice.
We also start with two 1st-level spell slots:
Cure Wounds is a very useful healing spell. One creature we touch regains [1d8+our spellcasting modifier] Hit Points instantly. The number of Hit Points healed increases if we use a spell slot higher than 1st level.
Earth Tremor creates a shockwave within 10 feet of us. Each creature in the range must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and fall prone.
Level 6 - Druid: We unlock the Druid's signature ability: Wild Shape. As an action, we can transform into a beast for a number of hours equal to half of our Druid level (rounded down). In the beginning, we can only transform into a beast with no flying or swimming speed and with a maximum CR of 1/4... which means, we can't become a bear yet.
We also get to pick a second subclass, our Druid Circle. We need to become a bear ASAP, therefore we're choosing Circle of the Moon, which focuses on improving our Wild Shape. The Combat Wild Shape feature lets us transform as a bonus action instead of action and lets us spend a spell slot when transformed to regain 1d8 Hit Points. Circle Forms changes our Wild Shape table, giving us the ability to transform into beasts with a maximum CR of 1 as of now. This means we can now become either a brown or black bear.
We gain another 1st-level spell: Entangle causes grasping vines and thick brambles to grow in a 20-foot square area centred at a point within 90 feet of us. For 1 minute (concentration), the area becomes difficult terrain. Any creature that enters (or ends their turn in) the area must make a Strength saving throw or become restrained. On each of their turn, they can make a Strength saving throw to free themselves.
Level 7 - Druid: We don't get any class features here, but we do unlock 2nd-level spells. Gust of Wind causes a strong gale to blow in a line 60 feet long and 10 feet wide for 1 minute (concentration). For every 1 foot they want to move, all creatures within the line must spend 2 feet of their movement speed. The wind disperses gases and fog and can either extinguish flames or fan them (50% chance).
Level 8 - Druid: Time for another ASI. This time, let's put two points into Constitution for even better durability.
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Our Wild Shape ability also improves, now giving us the ability to transform into beasts with a maximum CR of 1 but with swimming speed (e.g. a giant octopus).
We also learn a new cantrip: Frostbite causes ice and frost to appear on one target within 60 feet of us. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or take 1d6 cold damage and gain disadvantage on their next weapon attack before the end of its next turn.
We get one more Druid spell: Enhance Ability lasts for 1 hour (concentration) and enhances one ability for one creature of our choice (or ourselves).
Level 9 - Fighter: Coming back to the frontline combatant, we unlock Extra Attack. We can now attack twice instead of once during each Attack action.
Level 10 - Fighter: Halfway through the build and we get an ASI. This time, let's raise our Dexterity by 2 points for better AC and Initiative count.
Level 11 - Fighter: We get another subclass update. With Brutish Durability, we can now shake off more powerful attacks. Whenever we make a saving throw, we can roll a 1d6 and add the result to the overall score. This benefit also works on Death Saving Throws; if a total result is 20 or higher, we gain the DST benefit of a Natural 20 (+2 saves).
Level 12 - Fighter: Another ASI. This time, let's put one point in Strength and one in Dexterity.
Level 13 - Fighter: We get the Indomitable feat. Once per long rest, we can re-roll a failed saving throw. We have to use a new result even if we fail it again.
Level 14 - Fighter: Another subclass upgrade. This time, we get to pick a second Fighting Style. The Superior Technique style lets us choose one manoeuvre from the Battle Master subclass. We also get one d6 Superiority Die to fuel said manoeuvre. Pushing Attack allows us to spend the Superiority Die whenever we hit the enemy and impose the Strength saving throw on them. On a failed save, the target is pushed up to 15 feet away from us.
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Level 15 - Fighter: Our Extra Attack can now be used to attack twice instead of once, for a total of three attacks per one Attack action.
Level 16 - Fighter: For another ASI, we once again increase both Strength and Dexterity.
Level 17 - Fighter: We improve our Indomitable feature into two re-rolls between long rests.
Level 18 - Fighter: Another level, another ASI. Let's max out our Constitution into 20.
Level 19 - Fighter: We get our final subclass upgrade. With Devastating Critical, when we score a critical hit with a weapon attack, we gain a bonus to damage roll equal to our Fighter level.
Level 20 - Fighter: Our capstone is Fighter 16, which means final ASI. Let's put two points into Intelligence to get rid of negative modifiers.
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And that is Artio, the Mother Bear of Ireland. Let's see what I came up with here:
To start off, we're an absolute tanking beast (no pun intended). With an average Hit Points of 235 and Temporary HP of 25+1d6 every time we shift, we can soak some serious damage and protect our allies. Our AC is 16, and we have a +3 to our Initiative.
Unfortunately, our magic capabilities are pretty scarce for a Druid. Plus, most of our spells require concentration. Our Intelligence and Charisma scores are also not great, so we might be vulnerable to those kinds of saving throws.
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Another day, another build. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you for the next one. I'll start with another request when we finish gods beginning at the letter A.
- Nerdy out!
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raeynbowboi · 4 years
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The Character Forge: How to Play as Link in DnD 5e
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Link is without a doubt one of the most iconic heroes in fiction, which is why I’m excited to work on this build of Link. Now, of course Link has a long history of games where he’s had a wide variety of skills and abilities. So, for this build, I wanted to focus on his most recurring skills and items, and try to find DnD items with similar effects, if possible, to fill out his arsenal. Link is a multi-talented young man who has a talent for many skills, weapons, and items. He’s extremely flexible in what he can work with, and that was a primary focus of this build: to broaden his abilities as much as I could.
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The Makings of a Hero
Hylians are clearly some kind of elf. You could make Link a Human or Variant Human if you want, but if it looks like an elf and it hyaas like an elf, chances are it’s an elf. There are a lot of kinds of elf he could be. Hylians are closely connected to the gods and think highly of themselves, so High Elf is a strong possibility. But Link is also something of a wilderness expert, so he could be a Wood Elf too.
Link is clearly good, but where on the goodness scale is a little less clear. He is a champion for goodness and light, so he could be Lawful Good, but he’s also jokingly famous for breaking into random houses and smashing random pots to steal people’s hidden money, so he could fall under Chaotic Good. And that divide could also make him Neutral Good.
As for background, that also tends to differ between game. Sometimes he’s a simple villager, a rancher, a farmer, a knight, an amnesiac foreigner. He’s so inconsistent that it’s better to just give him a background that covers the skills he doesn’t pick up from his build. Top contenders for Link’s background would be Outlander, Knight of the Order, Soldier, Far Traveler, and Folk Hero.
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Skills, Abilities, & Items
Weapons      -Longsword      -Shield      -Bow and Arrows      -Bombs      -Slingshot      -Boomerang      -Greatsword      -Club      -Spear      -Magical Rods Skills      -Horse Riding      -Mounted Combat      -Dungeon Crawler      -Puzzle-solving      -Weapon proficiency      -Fighting Maneuvers Famous Items      -Triforce of Courage      -Master Sword      -Hylian Shield/Mirror Shield      -Hero Bow      -Ocarina of Time      -Power Bracelet/Golden Gauntlets      -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit/Zora Flippers      -Roc’s Feather/Feather Cape/Hover Boots/Glider      -Hookshot/Longshot      -Gale Boomerang      -Wind Waker      -Pegasus Boots/Pegasus Seeds      -Biggoron’s Sword      -Fire Rod      -Fire Arrow/Lightning Arrow/Ice Arrow/Light Arrow      -Ball and Chain      -Fierce Deity Mask
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Get to Class
Fighter     Arcane Archer     Battle Master     Cavalier/Knight     Champion     Monster Hunter     Scout     Sharpshooter
Paladin     Ancients     Crown     Devotion     Heroism
Ranger     Hunter     Monster Hunter
Rogue     Inquisitive     Scout     Swashbuckler
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Stats & Proficiencies
Honestly, Link was hard to stat balance at first. I figured his best stat should be Constitution to correlate with a late-game number of heart containers. Link needs to be able to take a serious hit, and he spends most of the game getting a bigger health bar for just that very reason. Aside from Constitution, nothing really stood out as more important, though Intelligence and Charisma can get the shaft a bit, as Intelligence covers mostly book-learning which Link isn’t really known for, and largely in part to being a mute, aside from dancing in the Subrosia dance hall or playing his Ocarina, Link isn’t exactly great with Charisma-based skills. That’s not to say he’s really bad at anything, though. Link is a real Renaissance Man, as he’s good pretty much everything. Which means he shouldn’t have any negative modifiers. But Link is also not the pinnacle of strength, durability, or insightfulness. He needs items to perform feats of great strength, speed, or stamina, and wouldn’t get very far without them, so he’s also not going to be the max in any of his stats either. Rather, he’s going to be competent in Intelligence and Charisma, and fairly good at everything else.
Proficiencies:      Acrobatics      Animal Handling      Athletics      Insight      Investigation      Nature      Perception      Stealth      Survival
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Link’s New Toys
    -Bag of Holding     -Triforce of Courage (Banner of the Krig Rune)     -Mastersword (Dawnbringer)     -Hylian Shield (Shield of the Hidden Lord, Shield +3)     -Mirror Shield (Repulsion Shield)     -Hero’s Bow (Oathbow)     -Golden Gauntlets (Gauntlets of Ogre Power)     -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit (Cap of Water Breathing, Cloak of the Manta Ray)     -Gale Boomerang (Storm Boomerang)     -Hover Boots (Boots of Levitation)     -Pegasus Boots (Boots of Speed, Boots of Striding and Springing)     -Fire Rod (Necklace of Fireball)*     -Fierce Deity Mask (Mask of the Dragon Queen) *There are items like the Wand of Fireball and the Staff of Fire, but both items require the holder to be a magic user, which Link is not.
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Name: Link Race: High Elf Background: Outlander Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Monster Slayer Ranger (6)             Battle Master Fighter (10)             Inquisitive Rogue (4) Base Stats:      Strength: 16 (+3)      Dexterity: 14 (+2)      Constitution: 18 (+4)      Intelligence: 10 (0)      Wisdom: 16 (+3)      Charisma: 10 (0) Saving Throws:      Strength: +9      Dexterity: +8      Constitution: +3      Intelligence: 0      Wisdom: +3      Charisma: 0 Combat Stats:      HP: 200      AC: 15      Speed: 30      Initiative: +2      Number of Attacks: 2      Proficiency Bonus: +6      Passive Perception: 19      Dark Vision: 60 feet Proficiencies and Expertise:      Acrobatics (Rogue)      Animal Handling (Ranger)      Athletics (Outlander)      Insight (Ranger)      Investigation (Ranger)      Perception (Elf)      Survival (Outlander) Skills:      Acrobatics: +8                 Medicine: +3      Animal Handling: +9        Nature: +6      Arcana: 0                         Perception: +9      Athletics: +15                   Performance: 0      Deception: 0                    Persuasion: 0      History: 0                         Religion:0      Insight: +9                        Sleight of Hand: +2      Intimidation: 0                  Stealth: +8      Investigation: +6              Survival: +15 Condition Resistances:        Charmed Immunities:        Sleep Racial Feature: Elf        Elven Weapon Training: Proficiency with Shortsword, Longsword, Shortbow, and Longbow. Ranger Feature: Fighting Style      Archery: Add +2 to attack rolls for ranged weapons. Ranger Feature: Favored Terrain      Forest     Grassland Ranger Feature: Favored Enemy      Monstrosity      Fiend Fighter Feature: Fighting Style      Dueling: Add +2 to melee damage rolls when using 1 one-handed weapon. Fighter Feature: Superiority Die      5 (1d10s) Fighter Feature: Maneuvers      Disarming Attack: spend a superiority die to force your target to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed roll, it drops 1 item of your choosing.      Feinting Attack: spend a superiority die as a bonus action, and select a target. You gain advantage against that creature and add the roll of your superiority die to your attack damage if you hit the target creature.      Parry: As a reaction, reduce melee damage you take by your dex modifier + the roll of a superiority die.      Precision Attack: add the roll of a superiority die to the damage roll of a melee attack you made.      Riposte: When an enemy’s attack misses you, you can make a counter attack, and add the roll of a superiority die.      Sweeping Attack: Use a superiority die to cause your melee attack to hit a second creature within 5 feet of your first target. Add your superiority dice roll.      Trip Attack: Use a superiority die to force a large or smaller creature to make a Strength saving throw. on a failed save, that creature is knocked prone. Spell Slots:      1st (4)      2nd (2) Link’s Spellbook      Cantrips True Strike      1st Level Cure Wounds Hunter’s Mark Wild Cunning Protection from Good and Evil      2nd Level Find Traps Actions:      Action Surge: take an extra action once per rest.      Primeval Awareness: Spend a spell slot. For 1 or 2 minutes, you sense the kinds of creatures within 1 mile of you, or 6 miles in forests and grasslands. Bonus Actions:      Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, or Hide once per turn.      Second Wind: Regain 1d10+10 HP once per rest. Features, Traits, and Feats:      Archery Fighting Style: Gain +2 on attack rolls with ranged weapons.      Dueling Fighting Style: Gain +2 on damage rolls when armed with a single one-handed melee weapon.      Ear for Deceit: Any roll of 7 or lower on an Insight check against lying becomes an 8.      Extra Attack: You get two Attack actions.      Eye for Detail: Perform an Insight or Investigation check as a bonus action.      Favored Enemy: Deal +2 bonus damage to Monstrosities and Fiends. Gain advantage on Survival checks to track Monstrosities and Fiends, and Intelligence checks to remember information about them.      Fey Ancestry: Resistance to Charmed effects, immunity to magical sleep.      Hunter’s Sense: As an action, choose a creature within 60 feet. You learn the creature’s damage immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. Can be used 3 times per long rest.      Improved Combat Superiority: Your superiority die become 1d10s.      Indomitable: Reroll a failed save once per long rest.      Insightful Fighting: As a bonus action, make an Insight check against another creature’s Deception check. If you succeed, you can use Sneak Attack against the creature even without advantage for up to a minute. Doesn’t work if you’re disadvantaged. Wears off if you target a new creature with this feature.      Know Your Enemy: If you spend at least 1 minute outside of battle observing a creature, the DM will tell you whether the creature is superior, inferior, or equal to you in any 2 of the following stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, AC, Current HP, Total Class Levels, or Fighter Class Levels.      Natural Explorer: Favored Terrains are Grasslands and Forests. While in your favored terrains: double proficiency bonuses for INT and WIS checks you’re proficient in, difficult terrain doesn’t slow your party down, always alert for danger, can move stealthily at a normal pace when traveling alone, find double food when foraging, and when tracking anything, you can tell how big they were, how many there were, and how long ago they passed through.      Sharpshooter: Attacking from long range doesn’t disadvantage ranged attack rolls, ranged weapon attacks ignore half and 3/4 cover, and you can -5 on a ranged weapon attack roll to add +10 to the damage roll on a successful hit.      Slayer’s Prey: As a bonus action, pick a creature within 60 feet of you. Add 1d6 damage to the first attack you make against that creature.      Sneak Attack: Add 2d6 to damage roll when you have advantage, or another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it.      Thieves’ Cant: You can articulate covert messages in casual conversations.      Trance: Trance for 4 hours instead of sleeping for 8.      Wanderer: You have an excellent memory for terrain and don’t need a map. You can remember where to find settlements, foraging spots, and geographical landmarks. You can always find enough food and water to sustain yourself and up to 5 more people provided the land can provide food and drinkable water.
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I’m sure there’s some who will disagree with my picks, but I optimized a build around looking for enemy weaknesses, having a ton of proficiencies, and having a wide and varied arsenal of weapons at Link’s disposal. If you’d build Link another way, tell me what you’d do different. Who do you want to see me make next? And as always, I look forward to seeing you again at the Character Forge, where heroes are made.
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Sucker Punch Island: Session 1
Players :
Masari Half-Elf Monk. High Wis + Dex. Low Int + Cha.
First impression : Capable and very ernest, but just not that clever.
Nonamei Elven Wizard. High Int. Very low Str + Cha.
First Impression : Can't sit still. Trigger Shy. Asks the right questions.
"Jinx" (Me) Half-Elf Cleric. Prophecy Domain. High Wis + Cha. Very low Con + Str.
Blind man with a full-size crossbow who can't stop talking. Makes up a new god every five minutes. Still has clerical powers, somehow.
So, we're all on this island populated mainly by Kenku (Crow people). It all starts out pretty standard, We're all answering a "Heroes Wanted" bulletin, right? There are some other hereos at the bulletin board that look pretty badly singed. We try to talk to them to see what happened, but they lose their voices when they try to answer us. One tries to write something, but magically can't do that either. Weird. We figure they must have been cursed by whatever they encountered on their job. We tried a few things, but can't really help them or figure out exactly what's wrong.
So, the person we're meeting for the job shows up, a kenku. Rube. He's nervous. Jinx makes him even more nervous by idly pointing his crossbow in worrisome directions. Blind man with a crossbow raises a few eyebrows.
Rube takes us to city hall. Jinx bullshits about the decor and the statues. Mostly to see which party members are gullible. Surprise, it's the Wizard. So now the Wizard and the Kenku think Jinx knows all sorts of things about the city's founder. Convinced them that the statue in the hall is actually a petrified person. Good fun. Not terribly important. Yet. We'll see.
The mayor himself (or some such official) is called Ergard, and he's the one that actually hired us. Monsters in the sewer attacking the city, and can we go exterminate them please. Good benefits. We promise to resurrect you if you're awful and die. Nominal 10gp fee (a bargain!). Here's some magic rings with extra powers to help make sure you don't die. Here, sign this contract to be employed by the city.
Contract? Really?
I did try to see if we were being duped. Sense motive did show he wasn't really being straight with us, but we all thought he was just withholding some pertinent information about the job. Boy was he. Jinx cast Detect Magic to see what other shenanigans he might be pulling,. Just paper contracts, though. Nothing special. Rings are just cantrip level magic. Big-ass mirror in the guy's office is hella magical, and the mayor himself has some serious equipment, but that's all we know.
The Wiz and Monk sign the contracts. Jinx is blind and can't read and is a complete bastard, so he folds his up into a paper airplane and flies it across the room. Nobody really pays attention to that. The mayor sets out some magic rings for us. Jinx pockets all of them.
We head for the sewer. Wat a mess. Jinx hands out the rings. He's not greedy. And besides, He can't really use more than two. We wander through the sewer. There's slime everywhere and eventually some of it gets annoyed at being walked on and wakes up. We kill of a couple of them. Jinx does a fair bit of damage shooting at them with his crossbow. Blames it on being blind when he rolls low. The slimes are fire resistant. Kinda odd, but whatever. They go down easy. A much bigger one comes out of the pond of sludge down here. Jinx fires of his one big spell at it, but misses. "Did I hit anything?" He does have blindsight in a small rage around him, but it's a good schtick.
Another couple of stabs and bolts and that slime goes down too. The DM is rolling really low. Hits nothing the whole battle.
Next room, there's a Lizard-Taur. Already wounded but still feisty. Dumb as a rock, but not instantly hostile. The Monk speaks Draconic, though so we chat with it for awhile. Of course my compatriots have shitty Charisma, so they go nowhere for a long time. Eventually the Monk upsets the Liz-Taur and gets bit. We run away, but it can't follow us through a particular rusted grate. So we halt there and continue trying to chat with it, from a distance.
Jinx gets bored and sets up camp. Makes an omelette. Figures, this Lizard is only slightly smarter than a puppy. He's speaking in one word sentences. So I throw half my omelette at the lizard. Apparently it's pretty good, because I roll well on the persuasion check and suddenly he likes me enough to let me in the room he's guarding. Alone. No others. I wander around in there for awhile. There’s a pile of gold and a big ol' egg. Some massive scorch marks on the ground. There's some growling noises, but Jinx bombs his perception and investigation. Confused he assumes the gold and egg belong to the Lizard and the noise is coming from the egg. Probably about to hatch?
I figure I should leave the treasure alone. Go back and tell everyone there's not a lot in there. Just  a bunch of gold that obviously belongs to the Lizard and an egg that's probably his. Hers? Who knows. They're still trying to be nice enough to get past the Lizard without hurting him, so I give him an herbal poultice for his injured leg. That makes him happy enough to get a real conversation going with the only PC that can actually talk to him. Eventually  we figure out that the Liz-Taur is smelling the Kenku on the rings we're wearing. Really hates those guys. So my buddies chuck their rings to gain the Taur's trust. JInx picks them up. Guess they're all mine now. Puts all the rings on one hand.
So, finally we can all go in the room with the gold so that someone with a half-decent Investigate skill can make a roll instead of Jinx with his sad little +1. The roll is bombed by all present. No idea what's in here. The one that should have been successful actually Crit Fails and gets overwhelmed by nausea from the smell of burnt slime.
Jinx is hanging out with Lizard Boy in the back of the cave, so he can't sense what's going on near the treasure pile. Apparently what we all failed to detect was a dropoff at the back of the cave where a colossal dragon was sleeping. It finally wakes up. Jinx heads to that side of the cave to see what the commotion is all about, so we're all in a nice formation when the dragon breaths on all of us and we all die. While the DM plays the theme to 'The Price Is Right' in the background.
Of course, that was the plan all along. We wake up after being resurrected in the Mayor's office. Chained to chairs. Lovely. The Kenku does some magical shenanigans so that our perfectly normal contracts look like they say the Resurrection service has a nominal 10,000,000 gold fee. The usual arguing and threats ensue, but really we don't have any options. Another spell is done sealing the rings (all of which I'm wearing. Sheesh) and manacles to prevent us from leaving the island. And prevent us from talking to anyone about any job we do here or the 'arrangement' we have to work off our 10,000,000 gp debt.
ME :Jinx shrugs "i don't get all the posturing. I mean, if you're going to be thugs, then just be thugs. As the Acolyte of Moodwise, I won't forgive you, though" Masari Monk:"No, no, they have an image to keep." DM :Ehgard (The Kenku Mayor) rubs a hand over his beak."This is what you signed for. Most of you." Wiz Nona:"We signed for 10 Gold." Nona insists ME :Shruggs "I can't read. Never sign anything." DM :"We can take back the services we've done for you, if that's what you desire, sir." ME :"I suspect that would be quite illegal, if you want to play that game. Your option was to not raise me in the first place. But, clearly you're going to do whatever you like. Get on with it." Wiz Nona:"Jinx..." Nona warns nervously Masari Monk:"Yeah, let's cut to the chase. What do you get out of doing this to us? What are you expecting us to do to pay back this forged debt?" DM :"Illegal. No, not me sir." ME :"I am a cleric of Normenglasterpastich. We do not suffer liars lightly." Wiz Nona:what a name Masari Monk:Masari eyes Jinx. DM :"I suppose you'll have to work it off. I can think of a few more missions for you to go on to start earning that money..." His eyes narrow at Jinx, shaking his head."So untrustworthy..." ME :"What a lovely complement. I'm blushing." Masari Monk:"More missions that involve certain death? More missions that put us deeper in the hole through ressurections?" ME :"Sounds like a good plan. Infinite access to decent heroes. It's a nice racket if you can get it. Man's got a dragon to deal with. You do what you can." DM :The Kenku in purple walks around, putting a bracelet on Nona and Masari. "Certain death? No, no. Ambassador's of a sort. For Kiebnis herself (name of the city)." Masari Monk:"What's this now?" ME :Jinks looks straight at him with white eyes, "She's going to eat you, you know. I'm a prophet of Ibnis. I've seen it." Grinning like a madman. Wiz Nona:"Jinx, now isn't really the time to make threats," Nona whispers warily under her voice DM :Ergard tilts his head, eyes narrow as he looks away from Jinx. ME :"That wasn't a threat! That was valuable information. Worth at least 1,000,000 GP. ME :rolling persuasion. just that I'm an actual prophet. I have been playing the part pretty well, i think. (A decent roll. Total 19) DM :xDDDDD ME :No derail or anything. I just wanna unsettle the old bird. DM :Alright. Now I have to figure out this guys religion lol Ergard's feathers pick up a might. "Those are the old ways..." He 'mumbles' under his breath. So, that's why those other adventurers couldn't answer any of our questions. Apparently this crazy Kenku does the same thing to all the nice heroes that visit his island. Kill with dragon. Fake a masive debt. "You belong to me now." Rinse Repeat. At least I got to give the Mayor a good scare, though. I very much intend to make it a true prophecy.
Anybody know what I do with three magic rings cursed to the same hand?
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onion-souls · 6 years
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Fun Build: the Bardbarian
Now, the bard/barbarian is a fun build, but has a lot of difficulties in functioning properly in 5th edition D&D, unlike, say, if you play Pathfinder and just use the Skald, a class purpose built for that purpose. But it's still one of my favorite quirky character paths.
You will need at least 13 Charisma and Strength. Not too hard, though 13-14 is as high as you should go for Charisma. My favorite races here are, perhaps oddly, Wood Elf or Half-Elf. Wood Elf for the movement, perception, and hiding ability, Half elf for the extra skills and almost guaranteed Charisma bonuses. Also, I like my elves to be a bit creepy and fae, so you don't even have to act like a real bard to justify your magic, as we will see with the load out.
A cat Tabaxi is fine too; perfect for the build if you don't mind the looks when you say you're running a sexy catgirl barbarian. It's actually optimal, but come on.
Favorite backgrounds are urchin, for thieves' tools, and two great skills, the barbarian-perfect outlander, and charlatan. Soldier and sailor are also good as always.
Small hip-slung drums made out of an enemy skull are your instruments. Or a bone rattle. Or femur pipe. Or a Jew's harp and kazoo, because you can hide them in your mouth. Just don't be that fucking lute guy.
Start as a Barbarian for the Constitution save. You are trading very little either way, though, as you still get 3 skills and musical instruments, your armor and shields. It's just a matter of Con and Strength saves for Dex and Charisma save proficiencies. You should be trying to max out Con, Strength, and Dex anyway, so a Charisma save might be good in the rare cases someone is trying to Banish you. But starting class doesn't matter too much here; take barbarian first if you only want 14 Dex and need that Medium armor proficiency.
The bard here only goes up to 3 to 5 levels. 4 levels nets you Jack of All Trades, Songs of Rest and Inspiration (d6), Expertise, and 3 Cantrips and 7 spells known. Use expertise on Athletics and either Perception or Stealth. The three cantrips don't matter too much; I like Vicious Mockery, Minor Illusion, and Friends, which is ironically best used to gain advantage on Intimidation. Utility cantrips like Mending, Message, and Light are also cool. The theme for the spells here is out-of-combat utility, with no saves (at 13 Charisma, your save DCs are going to be abysmal) and little need for concentration. I also like ones that fit into the fae and totem barbarian themes (you already get Beast Sense and Speak With Animals as rituals). My favorites here are Animal Friendship (has a save, but animals will usually fail it), Animal Messenger, Enhance Ability, Disguise Self, Featherfall, Inivisbility, and, this one is key, Longstrider. Longstrider gives you 10 feet of extra movement for 1 hour. No concentration, so you can cast it before a rage and not lose it. 5 levels pumps up your Bardic power significantly, but you lose a much needed ASI.
The archetype to take? Good old College of Satire from the UA: Kits of Old. At level 3, it gives you Thieves' Tools proficiency (urchins get another since they already have these tools) and two other skills and Tumbling Fool. Tumbling Fool gives you resistance to fall damage, a climb speed equal to your walking speed, and the ability to disengage and dash as a single bonus action. Better than Eagle Totem 3 and Cunning Action.
Then take the barbarian line all the way up to 16th street, unless you want a 2 level fighter or paladin dip. Take the Totem Path. Elk at 3 for +15' movement while raging, Tiger at 6 for two extra skills (you will have 10 skills and two tool proficiencies as a wood elf Urchin, 11 as a half-elf, tell the rogue to suck shit), and Eagle at 14 so you can jump 80-100 feet while raging.
The mobility here is the biggest draw. Start with the wood elf 35'. Get the barbarian bonus of 10 feet, then Elk for another 15 while raging. Longstrider will net another 10 feet; Mobility feat a final 10. This is 80 feet of movement without items or that one +30' epic boon. You can then dash another 80 feet as a bonus action; Totem Barbarians don't really have much of a use for bonus actions anyway. You use your athletics expertise for great effect here; grappling people with advantage and doubled Proficiency (at high levels, likely a +17 bonus) and moving them up to 80 feet is brutal, especially when you can start dropping them at level 17 or 18 mid-flight.
Remember that Jack of All Trades applies to initiative. At 18 Dex and level 10, you will have +6 and advantage on initiative rolls.
Also, take advantage of the Wood Elf's Mask of the Wild and Invisibility to ambush suckers. What's scarier than a high level barbarian decloaking behind you like a Romulan Warbird?
Addendum: now that Eberron and Ravnica are out, the Centaur race is a great bardbarian candidate, while the perfect weapon for the elf, the double-bladed scimitar, is out. You don't even need the Revenant Blade feat, though it doesn't hurt (+1 to Dex or Strength, an additional 1d4 to your bonus action attack, and a bonus point of AC are great, even if you don't want the finesse property). In fact, pick up smith's tools and see if your DM will let you trade the finesse property for Heavy for GWM compatibility.
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Do you think you could do the same thing you did with the Re-Flavoured Classes, but for the 5e Races? Like new things for Elves, Dwarves and All the Other Races.
Ok sure!
Dragonborn > Lamia. Play a Green dragonborn and you can breathe poison fumes or ichor and gain poison resistance. Only real difference is you have a serpent lower body.
Dwarf > Plant Creature. Plants have high CON and would be presumably resistant to poison like dwarves. Maybe just change stonecunning to plantcunning or something.
Elf > Automaton. You are robotic, giving you your darkvision and perception bonus. Your are resistant to charm and don't need to sleep. The bonus to INT, a cantrip, and extra language make it feel even more robotic. You could even explain away magic using your various robotic tools. Charm Person? You mean Go-Go-Gadget hypnobeam! And hey, if you want a robot with personality, just put your brain/soul inside of a robot so you can emote like you did in your old body.
Gnome > Fey Creature. You have resistance to many spells, fey darkvision, and are small. If you go the Rock Gnome route, you can say the trinkets are faerie magic: an illusion for the clockwork toy, a snap of the fingers for the firestarter, and tinkling faerie music for the music box. You could convince your DM to make you even smaller than a regular gnome, like Tiny instead of Small, maybe taking a STR penalty for a +1 AC or something.
Halfling > An Ooze creature. You can move through creatures' spaces with your fluid form, are difficult to frighten (I mean you're already a got-dang ooze), and can hide behind creatures presumably by comically mimicking their movements. The small size could account for the lack of room you take up and being able to move through tight spaces. The Lucky trait of rerolling 1s could be said to be a result of your stretchiness accommodating for your mistakes. Miss with an attack? Your arm stretches around back to try and hit them again.
Half-Elf > Ratfolk. You dwell in the gutter and have picked up some skills and languages, being the curious rat you are. Take Stealth and Sleight of Hand for your bonus skills, and see if your DM will let you take Thieves Cant as your language. The darkvision comes from your time in the dark allies and sewers of the city. Your resistance to charm and immunity to sleep could just be racial thing or it could be a resistance to trusting others and being a light sleeper.
Half-Orc > Undead. Use the 1/day death-defy to explain your hard-to-kill undead form, and the STR boost as part of your zombie strength. Darkvision and intimidation only enhance the undead feel.
Human > This race is your canvas. They can be pretty much anything.
Tiefling > A psionic race. The bonus to CHA comes from the positive psychic energy you radiate. Your darkvision comes from sensing psychic vibrations. Change fire resistance to psychic resistance. Then simply change the terms of the granted spells: change thaumaturgy to prestidigitation, change the Hellish Rebuke to psychic damage and make it a WIS save, and then either change Darkness to a Blindness/Deafness spell or else another utility 2nd level spell like Calm Emotions.
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cyberkevvideo · 4 years
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Throne of Night Theory Builds Part 5: The Drow Demon Binder of Book 4
Continuing the posts of wondering what the builds of certain encounters would be for this AP, here’s a drow queen that has at least two demons under her command.
Like the other post, this uses only OGL material. I had discussed things with the Paizo legal team (it was suggested I do so and it’s good that I did), and to do this without any legal issues from their side, I would have to abide by the same rules that Gary did. I’m okay with that. However, Kickstarter is out of their jurisdiction so they couldn’t comment on anything further regarding that. I’m still being careful of what information I’m sharing (despite it being six years later and most of the public now has access to the updates anyhow).
Also, I didn’t note this in the last one, but any monsters that don’t change stats and are directly part of the encounters, I’ll just link them directly. Summons don’t count though as that can change from GM to GM. Tactics can be ignored if the NPCs have gained information about the party and this would cause them to act differently.
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For space reasons, cropping the encounter build.
Again, all images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus.
EDIT: Cleaned up the stats and fixed the broken link.
Book 4 discussed entering the drow city, for whatever reason that may be. It could finally be time for revenge for the drow siblings or maybe the dwarves wish to finally avenge the svirfneblin back in Book 1. Either way, the party enters here, take on an arena with spider riders and confront drow royalty that looks exactly like a dark elf version of a marilith. Both of these I’ve done previously, and have linked to those blog posts.
The situation here is that the party encounters the queen after they witness what looks to be some kind of civil war between drow families. One side are all regular drow surrounded by darkness, while the other is surrounded by flames and winged demons. My assumption is that you side with one of the two warring factions.
Ignoring that one or two of the encounters might include drow troops, I’m jumping straight to the main course. In Way of the Wicked, this same spot was a CR 18 encounter. Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t tell the entire story because no matter how I try, I can’t balance it that high without adding in a fourth party that’s not in the picture.
Meet Queen Alyarra Aleanmtor. Her name literally means “Legendary Queen of the noble line of the Abyss.” I used this generator. She’s described as a merciless monarch who wants to rule over everything, and wants to destroy the empire the party is trying to create.
Thinking about the drow side of the AP, I thought it’d also be interesting if she was also the antagonist that was responsible for their mother’s death and their banishment. It’d be a great story beat if that was the case so they could finally get their revenge on her. If this wasn’t the case in the original story, then it definitely should be now.
The best part of this build is I even got to use a feat from Fire Mountain Games Book 5 (which I’ll attach a link to it). I’m assuming that he would have used at least something from his previous publication. It’d be too sad to have made those feats, class archetypes, items, and spells only to have them appear once. This all takes place in the same universe, after all.
Don’t forget to add the +2 hp/HD for any and all demons the queen summons with summoning spells. As well, as the extra +1 for Superior Summoning and bonus to stats for Augmented Summoning (which grants even more hp) or all creatures summoned.
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QUEEN ALYARRA ALEANMTOR OF HOUSE UNDORIEL   (CR 16; 76,800 XP) Female blasphemous covenant drow noble conjurer (teleportation) 16 CE Medium humanoid (elf) Init +8; Senses darkvision 120 ft., see invisibility; Perception +3 DEFENSE AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +4 dodge) hp 110 (16d6+52) Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +11; +2 vs. enchantments, +2 vs. continuing effects Immune sleep; Resist fire 30; SR 27 Weakness light blindness OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee mwk staff +8 (1d6–1) Arcane School Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +22)   10/day—shift   At will—dimensional steps (480 feet/day) Conjurer Spells Prepared (CL 16th; concentration +22)   8th—maze, quickened wall of fire, summon monster VIII   7th—caustic eruption (R-DC 25), quickened fireball (R-DC 24), quickened haste, reach mass bull's strength, summon monster VII (usually shadow demons)   6th—conjure black pudding, globe of invulnerability, greater dispel magic, planar ally (already cast; hezrou), quickened acid arrow   5th—acidic spray (R-DC 23), cone of cold (R-DC 22), hungry pit (R-DC 23), reach greater invisibility, wall of force, whip of centipedes   4th—acid pit (R-DC 22), black tentacles, greater invisibility, solid fog, touch of slime (F-DC 22), wall of ice   3rd—displacement, fireball (R-DC 20), mad monkeys, rain of frogs, slow (W-DC 20), stinking cloud (F-DC 21), twilight knife   2nd—acid arrow, create pit (R-DC 20), glitterdust (W-DC 20), mirror image, see invisibility (already cast), resist energy, web (R-DC 20)   1st—grease (DC 19), heightened awareness, magic missile (2), mudball (DC R-19), shield, vanish   0 (at will)—mending, message, read magic, resistance Opposition Schools enchantment, necromancy Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +19)   Constant—detect magic   At will—dancing lights, deeper darkness, faerie fire, feather fall, levitate   1/day—divine favor, dispel magic, suggestion (DC 16) Hedge Wizard Cloak Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st)   At will—acid splash, prestidigitation   1/day—mage armor, unseen servant TACTICS Before Combat Queen Alyarra casts mage armor from her cloak, then heightened awareness, resist energy (fire), and see invisibility. If there’s time, she casts greater false life from her scroll. During Combat On the first few rounds, Queen Alyarra casts mass hold person and quickened fireball, before dropping them into a pit spell or hitting them with black tentacles. Afterwards, she summons as many allies to the front lines as possible while her demon bodyguards protect her and attack anyone who gets too close. Queen Alyarra starts with summon monster VIII, calling greater fire elementals, surrounding as many targets as she can and using a quickened wall of fire to trap as many creatures with the elementals. Anyone heavily armored becomes the target of her maze spell, with healers being a prime candidate. Arcane casters have the best chance of inhibiting her summons and countering her spells, so she targets them with quickened acid arrow and mudball, hoping to blind them, then using globe of invulnerability to make them ineffective against her.
In following rounds, she turns invisible and buffs her allies with her quickened haste, reach bull’s strength and reach greater invisibility, before using levitate to survey the battleground. Using her wall spells to control the fight, Queen Alyarra traps opponents and summons shadow demons with summon monster VII, or frogs and monkeys, to battle those within her created barriers. If anyone turns invisible, she hits them with faerie fire or glitterdust. Queen Alyarra never stays in one place for too long, utilizing her shift ability as best as she can.
If forced into melee combat, she casts displacement, and mirror image, then divine favor, and summons a twilight knife and whip of centipedes to attack the would-be attackers. Morale Queen Alyarra does not fear death thanks to her aegis of recovery and countless summoned minions. If the aegis is used to keep her alive, she calls her summons to protect her. Her pride does not allow her to leave the battle, and fights to the death. Base Statistics Without greater false life and heightened awareness, Queen Alyarra’s stats are hp 90; Senses Perception +1; Skills all Knowledge skills are 2 lower. STATISTICS Str 8, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 24, Wis 12, Cha 16 Base Atk +8; CMB +7; CMD 26 Feats Augment Summoning, Contract Master (FMG #5), Craft StaffB, Improved Initiative, Quicken SpellB, Reach SpellB, Spell Focus (conjuration), Scribe ScrollB, Spell Penetration, Superior Summoning, True Name (greater planar binding [nalfeshnee], planar binding [glabrezu]) Skills Appraise +17, Diplomacy +19, Fly +11, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, history, local, nature, nobility, religion) +22, Knowledge (planes) +27, Linguistics +15, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +20 Languages Aboleth, Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Skis'raal, Terran, Undercommon SQ arcane bond (staff), compression (belt), summoner’s charm (8 rounds) Combat Gear scroll of greater false life, scroll of mass hold person, acid (2); Other Gear ring of protection +1 (signet ring), Aleanmtor Crown (acts as a headband of vast intelligence +4 [Diplomacy, Sense Motive]), aegis of recovery, belt of the weasel, cloak of the hedge wizard (conjuration), jaunt boots, spellguard bracers, staff of speaking (bonded object), ring of counterspells, spell component pouch, traveling spell book (contains all prepared spells plus all Core cantrips, scorching ray, whip of spiders, and fly) SPECIAL ABILITIES Blasphemous Covenant (Ex) Since their twisted beginnings, the drow have consorted with demons. Some drow have strong ties with these creatures and may call upon ancient and obscene associations to sway demonic cooperation. Drow with this racial trait gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks made against unbound creatures with the demon subtype. Furthermore, demons conjured with any summon spell gain +2 hit points per Hit Die. Lastly, the cost of bribes or offerings for any planar ally spell cast by these drow to summon a demon is reduced by 20%. This racial trait replaces keen senses and poison use.
--name means “legendary queen of the noble line of the abyss”
UL'GUTH XELGRARITH   (CR 14; XP 38,400) Nalfeshnee
VOROK BASTROR    (CR 13; XP 25,600) Glabrezu
TOZZAN    (CR 11; XP 12,800) Hezrou
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And that’ll do it at this time. If I come up with anything else that needs stats, I’ll probably do another one of these. We’ll see though.
These are my own designs for how I thought things would go, and can be changed or ignored entirely. It was just something I wanted to do for myself. The itch has been scratched for the time being.
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ameliathermopolis · 7 years
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dnd session #1
our group is me, the dm, and five other ladies, the players
our cleric had to be absent since she was feeling ill and had to stay home so i’m frantically reading this backstory and trying to remember how prepared spells work 
the first ten minutes of this campaign are a blur to me because i was just about ready to vomit from nerves. the impostor syndrome hits me like a baseball bat to the face.
in the storied tradition of dnd, we have pizza, and our story starts in a tavern, the hag’s pots. a dwarven woman engaged the party to find some missing members of her lumber guild, which involves trekking through the swampy thick forest that surrounds the town. 
the elf fighter immediately becomes the mom friend. the half elf cleric is quiet, shy, and squeaks a lot at anyone who shows interest in her, sexual or otherwise. the elf ranger, our only boy, tries to hit on the human paladin instead and she rolls a natural 20 intimidation check to get him to leave her alone. he immediately runs up to bunk with our gnome rogue, and it is glorious.
the paladin is the only one who thinks to ask for the healing potions. i give them a couple extra just in case and because she asked so nicely. 
one of the ways to get to this druidic burrow they have to find can be found in a book, inscribed in sylvan. both the ranger and cleric roll to see if they can understand the dialect, and both get less than 5. a natural 20 investigation check on the elf fighter’s end rectifies this and she finds a translation elsewhere in the mill.
our gnome rogue has no filter and she really really just wants to do some impulsive shit, up to and almost including drinking from a river we all tell her is poisoned. this will be an omen of how she will act the entire journey.
everyone passes their survival check so they breeze past all the stuff i had in the forest for them. knowing what they could face ahead, i’m not that mad about it. the ranger continues to smooth talk the cleric and i am starting to want to indulge him. 
our adventurers run into one of the dead loggers and face a batch of twig blights. the elves prove to be the best hands at actual fighting, and both the paladin and cleric prove useless, though not for lack of trying. we press on. 
the paladin uses divine sense on this cave where the poisoned river seems to be sourced and finds some Big Bad Undead energy. not seeing anything else to do, however, the party presses on with the rogue scouting ahead. with the help of a quick light cantrip by the cleric, they’re able to find the entrance with minimal issue. 
the rogue finds this humanoid figure lying face down and thinks throwing a rock at it is a great way to see if it’s alive. it is alive and since everyone but the light holding cleric succeed on their stealth check, the blight decides to engage. he doesn’t get much of a chance since our paladin has FUCKING JAVALINS and the fighter does max damage against him with one arrow. same fighter will go on to perceive and basically one shot another blight upstairs. this girl wasn’t even that into playing to begin with and she is just wrecking shop.
point of order: our ranger rolled a natural 1 on an attack because he wasn’t looking where he was shooting and wanted to impress the cleric.
a pool of water is found that seems like the source of the poison. through more rock throwing the rogue finds a transportation circle and dives in to see where it goes. the cleric follows soon after. 
they find an overgrown, poisoned garden, the last thing that remains from the druidic tribe, with a massive oak tree at the center. as the other party members follow, the tree speaks to the rogue and with a very impressive insight check, sees that she’s full of shit. what follows a villain npc monologue about being the life and the ancient and the land.
“i am his blood.” right about then the javalins came out and we were in big boss town. all of our ranged attackers begin to see that their piercing damage is not as effective as it should be. the cleric rolls a critical hit for a sacred flame and deals double damage. the tree is pretty fucking pissed now and starts to spawn blights.
the gnome rogue gets pummeled by a natural 20 slam that knocks her unconscious. the cleric rushes in, followed by the paladin. the fighter and ranger have lit a torch at this point and are shooting flaming arrows. the cleric chooses to try another sacred flame, rather than heal, and rolls a natural 1. the fighter who AGAIN IS WRECKING SHOP THROUGH THIS ADVENTURE crits with the tree at 1 HP. as the tree dies in the ensuing conflagration, they hear a repeated phrase “begun by blood, by blood undone.” 
the glamor on this tree fades and instead of leaking sap, it is leaking thick, viscous blood. the ranger rolls a high enough perception check to see that once the blood is hitting a certain point, similar runes to the first transportation circle are lighting up around them. they are transported to a place surrounded by fog, with massive gates that swing open when they step close enough. a sign for the village of bavoria is by the roadway leading into the valley, with the words “abandon all hope, ye who enter. we are his blood.” painted on it. 
and that’s where we ended so we can get into “curse of strahd” proper next time. 
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raeynbowboi · 4 years
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How to Play as Rayla in DnD 5e
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This is one of the builds I was requested to make, so let’s dissect her powers, skills, and abilities and figure out how someone would go about playing as Rayla. I will be taking into account Unearthed Arcana. They may not technically be official yet, but it’s DnD stuff, and if it exists, I’ll use it.
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Moon Prism Power
Rayla is a Moonshadow Elf. There are Moon variant High Elves that also get an innate talent for magic. Easy enough. As a high elf, Rayla gets +2 DEX and +1 INT, and a free wizard cantrip. We’ll give her minor illusion since moon magic is focused on illusions. While it’s true that Rayla does sleep, we can just say that Rayla’s clever enough to find a way to resist sleep spells like she did when Claudia tried to put her to sleep. Plus Half-elf’s added CHA stat would not help her build one bit.
Rayla does what she thinks is right, even if it breaks tradition or expectations. She’s also not selfish. She was okay with losing her hand to keep Ezran safe and alive. Rayla is True Good.
We’ll give Rayla the Adopted background since Runaan and Ethari took her in after her parents died, and will give her proficiencies with Deception, Persuasion, and Stealth. You could argue that as an assassin, she could be a criminal, but being an assassin doesn’t seem to be an illegal occupation in Xadia. She could be a Soldier, but whatever level she might have held in the moonshadow elf military is gone now, so it would only serve to make her skilled in athletics and intimidation.
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In A Class All Her Own
Monk     Shadow: As an assassin and a Moonshadow Elf, this was almost too easy of an option. Ironically, Moon Druid didn’t work so well, but Rayla would realistically have a pretty high DEX and WIS stat, so a monk class would be great at raising her AC. Rayla doesn’t need a lot of levels in Monk, just enough for her unarmored defense, and maybe Extra Attack and Evasion, but the later talents to become immune to disease and poison go a little too far for what she’s able
Ranger     Gloom Stalker: Rangers typically do well with archery, but dual-wielding two short swords is another option for Rangers. By level 5, they also get Extra Attack, though Monk gets that as well, so trying to avoid doubling up is something to keep in mind. Rangers also get to pick a favored enemy so you can channel your racism into super potent hate crimes against those dirty humans. You can pick up a dash action, Hide without needing to move, Hide as a bonus action with no way of being tracked or followed, fight invisible enemies, and add your WIS mod to your melee weapon attacks. As a Gloom Stalker, you gain magic that actually fits really really well for a Moonshadow Elf, the ability to ambush effectively, see in darkness and become invisible in darkness, even to creatures with Darkvision, become proficient in WIS, INT, or CHA saving throws, turn a missed attack into a hit, and invoke the darkness to make yourself harder to hit.
Rogue     Assassin: As a Rogue, you gain cunning actions, skill expertise, uncanny dodge to reduce the damage when someone does hit you, and evade all the damage you’d take if you make a DEX saving throw, which you have proficiency in. As an assassin, you get proficiencies with Disguise Kits so you can convince people that you’re Human!Rayla, and when you manage a surprise attack, it’s an instant critical. However, Rayla is an assassin who has never killed anyone, so it might not be a great fit.     Scout: As a scout, you gain an improvement to your mobility and can move away from enemies without provoking an opportunity attack, and you get proficiency with Nature and Survival so that you can know to use a rose to keep yourself from falling asleep and follow tracks easily.
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Stats and Proficiencies
As an elven assassin, your DEX and WIS scores are the top priority. You need to be flexible, nimble, and alert. A good CON stat will make sure you can shake off a kick square in the chest and run without getting winded.  Ordinarily, you’d want a good STR stat to do well with your melee weapon attacks, but as a Monk, you can treat your shortswords as Monk Weapons and swing with your DEX stat instead. and INT and CHA just aren’t super important to this build.
Acrobatics Deception Insight Intimidation Investigation Perception Persuasion Nature Stealth Survival
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Name: Rayla Race: High Moon Elf Background: Adopted Alignment: True Good Class: Scout Rogue (8)             Gloom Stalker Ranger (8)             Shadow Monk (4) Base Stats: Strength: 10 (0) Dexterity: 20 (+5) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 10 (0) Wisdom: 20 (+5) Charisma: 10 (0) Saving Throws: Strength: 0 Dexterity: +11 Constitution: +2 Intelligence: +6 Wisdom: +11 Charisma: 0 Combat Stats: HP: 151 AC: 20 Speed: 40 Initiative: +10 Number of Attacks: 2 Hit Dice: 8d8, 8d10, 4d8 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Passive Perception: 27 Dark Vision: 90 feet Proficiencies and Expertise:    Acrobatics (Rogue)    Animal Handling (Ranger)    Athletics (Rogue)    Deception (Adopted)    Insight (Rogue)    Investigation    Nature (Scout)    Perception (Elf)    Persuasion (Adopted)    Stealth (Adopted)    Survival (Scout) Skills: Acrobatics: +17                  Medicine: +5 Animal Handling: +11         Nature: +6 Arcana: 0                           Perception: +17 Athletics: +6                       Performance: 0 Deception: +6                    Persuasion: +6 History: 0                           Religion: 0 Insight: +11                        Sleight of Hand: +5 Intimidation: 0                    Stealth: +17 Investigation: +6                Survival: +17
Condition Immunities    Magical Sleep
Equipment:     Shortsword x2
Monk Feature: Ki    Ki Points: 4
Ranger Feature: Fighting Style   Two- Weapon Fighting: Add your DEX mod to your off-hand weapon attack.
Ranger Feature: Favored Enemy    Elf    Dragon    Human
Ranger Feature: Favorite Terrain    Forest    Mountain
Spell Slots 1st (4) 2nd (3)
Rayla’s Spellbook
Cantrips     Minor Illusion 1st Level     Detect Magic     Disguise Self     Hunter’s Mark     Jump     Longstrider 2nd Level     Pass Without Trace     Rope Trick
Actions:
Primeval Awareness: Spend X spell slot, Sense creature types for X minutes within 1 mile, or 6 miles in favored terrain.
Bonus Actions:
Cunning Action: Aim, Dash, Disengage, or Hide once per turn. Flurry of Blows: After an Attack, spend 1 Ki to make 2 Unarmed Strikes Martial Arts: Make an extra unarmed strike after an Attack Action. Patient Defense: Spend 1 Ki to take Dodge Action Step of the Wind: Spend 1 Ki to Dash or Disengage, Jump distance doubles.
Reactions:
Deflect Missiles: Reduce ranged damage by 1d10+9. At 0, return to sender. Slow Fall: Reduce falling damage by 20. Uncanny Dodge: Take 1/2 damage from attackers you can see.
Features:
Dread Ambusher: Add your WIS to your Initiative, your speed becomes 50 during the first turn, and make an additional 1d8 weapon attack on that turn. Evasion: On a successful DEX save, take 0 damage. Extra Attack: Make a second attack action once per turn. Favored Enemy: Advantage at tracking and fighting Humans, Elves, and Dragons. +2 damage against favored enemies. Fey Ancestry: You fall into a trance instead of sleeping and remain alert. Iron Mind: You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. Land’s Stride: Nonmagical difficult terrain can’t slow your movement. Natural Explorer: In favorite terrain, double bonus proficiency INT and WIS saving throws, your group isn’t slowed by difficult terrain, you can’t be surprised, you can move stealthily at normal pace, double food when foraging, and determine the number, size, and speed of creatures being tracked. Shadow Arts: Spend 2 ki to cast Darkness, Darkvision, Pass Without Trace, and Silence. Skirmisher: move up to 1/2 your speed when foes end within 5 ft of you.  Sneak Attack: Deal 4d6 extra damage when attacking with advantage. Survivalist: Gain Nature and Survival proficiencies. Thieves’ Cant: Hear and convey secret messages in casual conversation. Trance: Trance for 4 hours instead of sleeping for 8. Trust Issues: Other elves have difficulty trusting and believing you due to your family history. Umbral Sight: Increase your darkvision by 30 feet.
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How do you guys feel I did with Rayla’s build? If she learned more moon magic, a pure Gloom Stalker might have worked perfectly for them, but for Rayla who is less skilled, I had to fill out her levels with other classes and subclasses. Would you build Rayla differently? And this is the first of my many requested builds. If you have a character you’d like me to build, send me a request, and I’ll add it to the list.
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