D&D 5E Discussion

[Azrael the cat]

Got the book(s)! Much earlier than expected, but only had time to read them late at night, so I had to do it p. fast and sleepy.

Sword Coast: Glanced over it, found the out of place SJW artwork (Gandalf and the little niggers) in the beginning. I'm not an expert in Forbidden Realms, only know stuff from cRPGs, so I wanted to learn more. Not liking much of what I'm reading, maybe I read it too fast? Maybe I need an old book instead for an introduction. The book has a fuckton of content, but from what I read the fluff is kinda boring, sad. Best part seems to be about the Gods. I was not really interested in the crunch because adding more options for powergaming is what turns rpg systems to shit bloated clusterfucks. Oh well... Don't care much about monks or barbs, for instance. Monks never make sense to me, I don't think kaate and kung-fu should be included in D&D. Barbs are bloat and should just be a fighter archetype, not a whole class. But I digress. I'll keep reading and maybe my opinion will change. Read a few interesting things, like the far wanderer or something background.

Out of Abyss: Had barely enough energy to look at the first 5 pages last night. Looked better written and gave me more hope for great reading.

Princes of Elemental Evil: Didn't touch the book.

The problem with monks is that they are balanced for fighting without gear...and then the DM (this is far worse in computer rpgs btw) still has to give them loot or they miss out on an interesting portion of the game. Recipe for really bad imbalance v really peeved player.

 

[Irenaeus II]

The problem with monks is that they are balanced for fighting without gear...and then the DM (this is far worse in computer rpgs btw) still has to give them loot or they miss out on an interesting portion of the game. Recipe for really bad imbalance v really peeved player.

I get where you are going at, the mechanics of the class, but my problem is them is one of bigotry aesthetics. They are too Asian for a D&D settings, but superpowered martial arts are shoehorned in generic setting because... DBZ? There's no problem with an Asian-themed D&D setting with this kind of thing, it's actually very interesting, but mixing things of different styles should not be considered standard. It triggers me makes me mad looks out of place.

I guess I can just pretend they don't exist in my safe space homeworld crafted campaigns.

 

[Alchemist]

I get where you are going at, the mechanics of the class, but my problem is them is one of bigotry aesthetics. They are too Asian for a D&D settings, but superpowered martial arts are shoehorned in generic setting because... DBZ? There's no problem with an Asian-themed D&D setting with this kind of thing, it's actually very interesting, but mixing things of different styles should not be considered standard. It triggers me makes me mad looks out of place.

I guess I can just pretend they don't exist in my safe space homeworld crafted campaigns.

While D&D is definitely a hodge-podge of influences with little concern for realism, it's not completely off-base for an asian-style monk to appear in Medieval Europe, historically speaking. There were trade routes between East and West going back to antiquity. An asian would be a rarity in Europe but not impossible.

One thing that changed from 1st Edition AD&D, is that in modern editions there are no longer strict requirements to get the monk class. Originally, it had pretty steep requirements, which was a way of making them appropriately rare.

 

[Neanderthal]

Drop Monks and recruit Flagellants, problem solved, and a good dollop of S&M added.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Read some parts of Princes of Apocaliptical Elements last night. Seems like a really really cool campaign, with lots of things to steal adapt to homebrew campaigns if one wishes to. Genasi and elemental spells a good addition. was gonna read more of Out oF Abyss but fell asleep

 

[fastjack]

I am running "Princes of the Apocalypse" for my group (their characters ran through the starter box "Lost Mines of Phandelver" first) and everyone seems to be really enjoying it so far. I'd reckon we are about halfway through and as the gm I have really enjoyed the sandboxiness of the campaign since there is a lot of room to adapt, expand and evolve the game without the book itself becoming near useless to me.

I also tried to run "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil" with some of my players a few years ago and even though it started out strong once we got to the main temple area it became a slog and killed the campaign before we could finish. I find that the side quests (and hooks) included in PotA and the nature of the (beginning) of the temple really help to break up that sloggy feeling that RttToEE and even the ToEE crpg had.

 

[Alchemist]

Tabletop D&D officially enters virtual reality through the AltspaceVR system: http://altvr.com/how-to-play-dnd-in-vr/

Video of how it works (and they seem to be using 5E) :


Kind of interesting but I probably won't be getting a VR headset any time soon.
I wonder if these minis and tiles were leftovers from the aborted 4E virtual tabletop project. They look kinda crappy and low-poly.

 

[LeStryfe79]

In your wildest dreams....

 

[Irenaeus II]

I've been reading Out oF Abyss. What a great campaign so far, very well written and detailed. I also read more of the Sword Coast fluff and it gets better and more helpful indeed. Not as detailed and inspiring as OoA unfortunately.

 

[Scruffy]

Sword Coast fluff

the adventurer's guide? or what? is it good?

 

[Irenaeus II]

the adventurer's guide? or what? is it good?

Yes, it's decent for lore and inspiration, but not brilliant. Some character options, but I don't care much for that.

 

[Scruffy]

Yes, it's decent for lore and inspiration, but not brilliant. Some character options, but I don't care much for that.

decent in general terms or decent for being a shitty WotC product?
I really want to read good sword coast fluff... i guess Volo's old guide will have to do...

 

[Irenaeus II]

Decent in general terms. 5ed has been really really good and Sword Coast could be even considered subpar in that context. It's still decent.

I haven't finished reading, I'm about 40% in. I can change my opinion later.

 

[LeStryfe79]

It's



Some good artwork, some good lore, a few decent character options. It's not essential unless you are running FR.

I like the way they draw the maps for some reason, though.

My biggest complaint is that it's a 150 page book for $40. For that price, it should have included bard, druid, and ranger options, and a 20 page adventure.

 

[Irenaeus II]

At least I paid only $30. In fact, $23.10 + $7.32 (diluted shipping):

It arrived some 10 days in advance lol

Good buy, Abyss is much better than Princes. Princes is alright, but Abyss is where they come into their own(of buying campaigns off other people)

Now that I've been reading both books a bit, I do agree with this.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Yeah I paid $15 shipping so that book could keep me company at the shit hole I work at. I'm not in my right mind.

 

[Irenaeus II]

lol shipping to fucking Brazil is cheaper than to your shit hole $$$

 

[DavidBVal]

my 5e Players Handbook and DM guide are on the way. Wooot.

Not sure if I'll be able to make the time to play a game, but heck, we must support a good edition when they release one.

 

[Dorateen]

Just picked up 5e Players Handbook over the weekend. Was good to see the Dwarven pantheon still intact.

 

[Andhaira]

Sword Coast Adv. Guide has been getting pretty good reviews. idonthavetimeforthiscrap I don't know how good it is fluffwise in terms of Sword Coast lore but the crunch options are pretty good and their lore is supposedly good as well. I thought the Bladesinger looked really good and worth getting the book for alone from the leaks.

 

[Scruffy]

thanks, However, I'm not really playing or anything these days, so crunch doesn't interest me that much... I do feel like taking a look at this stuff though.

 

[DavidBVal]

I've gone through half the the Player's Handbook, and aside from the rules, I have to say the book itself is poorly organized compared to 3.5 edition.

- On page edges, no indication of section, subchapter, etc. Sometimes in the text you are directed at "the rule in chapter 6". Well, if you're not familiar with the book, that's a minute of your life you'll never get back. And heck, with nowaday edition software, they could easily tell you the actual page it is on.
- Spell descriptions don't list the classes that have them. As you're trying to learn a new system, this would have been very useful, for instance to see what spells are shared between wizard/bard, paladin/cleric, etc.
- Spell lists don't include any information other than the spell name. I liked how in 3.5 they also had a one-liner with the essential information about the spell. Very useful for non-expert players to have a photocopy (and for a quick overview of a class' spells)
- No table comparing racial bonuses. No biggie, really, but why not?

Also something feels wrong with the order in which the book is explained, as it feels more logical to explain how the basic turn/actions work before telling you class X can perform Y reaction. Honestly I can't remember if this was the case with previous editions, but I think it wasn't.

 

[DavidBVal]

A few things feel overpowered and broken. Or maybe I'm missing something?

Rogue uncanny dodge makes him extremely strong in pure melee, taking half damage from 1/attack per round, without losing any offensive capability, is a crazy "passive" ability.

Assasinate at 3d level also sounds too deadly. The "advantage" part sounds good, but the auto-critical... consider that unlike 3.5, sneak attack damage is doubled on crits. Basically, if he wins initiative, an average level 3 assasin will attack with advantage and damage will be 6D6+dex. Now, I'm all for deadly systems, but I don't think it's intended to work that way. Or is it?

Grapple rules. One hand grapple sounds terribly overpowered.

 

[Irenaeus II]

I'll check with the book when I get home.

 

[Lhynn]

A few things feel overpowered and broken. Or maybe I'm missing something?

Rogue uncanny dodge makes him extremely strong in pure melee, taking half damage from 1/attack per round, without losing any offensive capability, is a crazy "passive" ability.

Assasinate at 3d level also sounds too deadly. The "advantage" part sounds good, but the auto-critical... consider that unlike 3.5, sneak attack damage is doubled on crits. Basically, if he wins initiative, an average level 3 assasin will attack with advantage and damage will be 6D6+dex. Now, I'm all for deadly systems, but I don't think it's intended to work that way. Or is it?

Grapple rules. One hand grapple sounds terribly overpowered.

Its all fine.