D&D 5E Discussion

[Morblot]

Soyladin 3, Oath of the Male Ally

 

[vonAchdorf]

He's dog-whistling Jordan Peterson fans with the "lobster" plushy.

 

[Spectacle]

He literally looks like white Pravin Lal, so I don't see what your problem in particular is.

if Pravin Lal was gaping like a moron and hugging a toy for children he'd be a nu-male too, but he doesn't, so he's not.
On Planet there's no room for such frivolous displays. Our colonies' and humanity's survival depends on on everyone to be focused and disciplined, there is no space for fake enthusiasm over plush toys.

 

[Fairfax]

Question still stands for the other conversions (White Plume Mountain, Against the Giants, The Sunless Citadel) , though I imagine they might have similar problems.

Sunless Citadel was considered a great introductory module for 3E, and the 5E response seems pretty similar. You might want to give it a read and see if you'd rather run that one instead of LMoP.

Update: I'm running a Sunless Citadel campaign while introducing a couple of friends to D&D, and I can confirm that it's a good introductory module. It's also more challenging than I expected, though I'd guess it's mostly due to 1st level D&D.

I also changed the combat system to use a modified Greyhawk Initiative. I've seen comments about it being too complex/slow, but that wasn't the case with my group at all. The experienced players liked it a lot and the new ones had no trouble getting the hang of it. Definitely worth testing IMO.

 

[Andhaira]

People here should try Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules; they are easy to port to 5e and are made for Codex audience.

 

[Sacibengala]

People here should try Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules; they are easy to port to 5e and are made for Codex audience.

Maze of the blue medusa is a great module.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Didn't Zak get #metoo'ed?

 

[Akratus]

What do you guys think of this bit of homebrew? It's a first second third draft for a Barbarian Primal Path: Totem of the Shark.

LEVEL 3: SPIRIT SEEKER
Yours is a path that seeks attunement with the natural world, giving you a kinship with beasts. At 3rd level when you adopt this path, you gain the ability to cast the beast sense and speak with animals spells, but only as rituals.

TOTEM SPIRIT: SHARK
While raging you may bite as a bonus action. This deals 1d6 piercing damage plus strength modifier and can be used as an opportunity attack.

LEVEL 6: ASPECT OF THE BEAST
You gain a swimming speed equal to your regular speed and can smell fresh blood on land from 100 feet and one mile underwater.
Your bite now deals 1d8 damage.

LEVEL 10: SPIRIT WALKER
At 10th level, you can cast the commune with nature spell, but only as a ritual.
Your bite now deals 1d10 damage.

LEVEL 14: TOTEMIC ATTUNEMENT
On a successful bite attack, you reduce the target's movement speed to zero for one turn.
Your bite now deals 1d12 damage.

 

[Andhaira]

People here should try Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules; they are easy to port to 5e and are made for Codex audience.

Maze of the blue medusa is a great module.

Though its not a LotFP module, IMO Barrowmaze is perhaps the best OSR megadungeon of all time. Art is beautiful, as is the book overall. Its also recently been ported over to 5e by the original author. (and a sequel megadungeon was also made by him for OSR)

 

[Akratus]

What is the standard setting in 5e? Like, if in the player's handbook it mentions gods and factions, what world are they talking about?

 

[Morblot]

It has deities from the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Eberron and nonhuman deities. Also included are Celtic, Greek, Egyptian and Norse deities.

The example character being created is a certain "Bruenor" by a certain "Bob". The spells are still the good old Mordenkainen's this and Tenser's that.

I guess it would be fair to say it has no default setting per se; certainly not in the way 3e used Greyhawk, for example.

edit: this is all based on the PHB. I don't own any other 5e books.

 

[Mystary!]

Most - if not all - official campaigns are set in Forgotten Realms. It's as close to standard setting as you can get.

 

[Akratus]

I'm working on a one shot I'll be doing next friday evening. I was inspired by The Thing and the Hateful Eight to set a murder mystery in a snowed in log mansion inn in a blizzard. I'm thinking of combining a gibbering mouther and the doppelganger of course and setting it loose by having it crash through the roof. The gibbering mouther has a flash blinding attack that's absolutely perfect for getaways. I think I'll try to get the players to realize it needs to be set on fire, most will either not have seen the Thing or not make the connection I think so that'll be somewhat tricky. As long as it doesn't end too quickly or without enough fun moments I'd be okay with killing all of them and describing the true form emerging as it ate it's last victim, I think.

It'll be my second time DMing and last time was somewhat rocky but the players seemed to genuinely enjoy it so that's good. Also learned two lessons: Have players make characters beforehand and work out ALL the characters you'll need.

Any tips/advice?

 

[J1M]

Create more story hooks and characters than you will need, so you can adapt to players heading in unexpected directions.

 

[DavidBVal]

Make one of the players play the murderer (unknown to other players).

 

[deuxhero]

Most - if not all - official campaigns are set in Forgotten Realms. It's as close to standard setting as you can get.

And all books with additional rules are FR sourcebooks too. Anyone have a reliable source on the claim they have to let Ed Greenwood write a FR sourcebook each year? Because the rate of new material for 5E seems to match that perfectly.

 

[Optimist]

The gibbering mouther has a flash blinding attack that's absolutely perfect for getaways.

What's the size and levels of the party? Unless you're going to fiddle with DC, it's likely that quite a few of the party's members will pass the 13 dex throw. Sinde you'll want it to avoid grouped PCs anyway, you might want to turn it the flash into a weak attack (that can be used in multiattack) and also impose a disadvantage on saving throw if the attacked has no light sources around (due to iris contraction fuckery). This also ties into the fact that you want players to use fire against it.

I think I'll try to get the players to realize it needs to be set on fire, most will either not have seen the Thing or not make the connection I think so that'll be somewhat tricky.

Have the torches/fireplace go out the moment it crashes through the roof. This should ramp up the panic for non-darkseeing folk, but also gives you the opportunity of describing it recoiling from any source of open flame the moment a player stokes the fireplace/ lights a torch/ throws a fireball.

Any tips/advice?

Play some wintry/rainy sounds on a loop, and prepare a few unnerving music pieces to play in the background. Good soundtrack can turn an OK session into something memorable.

 

[Catacombs]

I'll be doing next friday evening. I was inspired by The Thing and the Hateful Eight to set a murder mystery in a snowed in log mansion inn in a blizzard.

I'd play the shit out of this.

 

[Akratus]

The gibbering mouther has a flash blinding attack that's absolutely perfect for getaways.

What's the size and levels of the party? Unless you're going to fiddle with DC, it's likely that quite a few of the party's members will pass the 13 dex throw. Sinde you'll want it to avoid grouped PCs anyway, you might want to turn it the flash into a weak attack (that can be used in multiattack) and also impose a disadvantage on saving throw if the attacked has no light sources around (due to iris contraction fuckery). This also ties into the fact that you want players to use fire against it.

I think I'll try to get the players to realize it needs to be set on fire, most will either not have seen the Thing or not make the connection I think so that'll be somewhat tricky.

Have the torches/fireplace go out the moment it crashes through the roof. This should ramp up the panic for non-darkseeing folk, but also gives you the opportunity of describing it recoiling from any source of open flame the moment a player stokes the fireplace/ lights a torch/ throws a fireball.

Any tips/advice?

Play some wintry/rainy sounds on a loop, and prepare a few unnerving music pieces to play in the background. Good soundtrack can turn an OK session into something memorable.

Great advice! Added it to my notes.

 

[Akratus]

Just tried that one shot with two friends of mine as a kind of trial. Both of them never really played 5e but I talk about PNP RPing with the one guy all the time and he wanted to play this this evening, they just left. It was really great. That one guy is really creative and smart and I really got into the vibe of describing what the players are experiencing. I didn't much get that last time because it was all down to me really, the players weren't being very creative or inhabiting their character much and my best creative moments are always reactions to someone else, oh you mentioned X, that makes me think of Y and that makes me formulate a whole idea and now I've got it, it always takes outside influence. But this time I had some of that.

But I didn't have much time. We cut it short just now and the monster killed the owner of the place they are stranded in which was my first intended target and they had to go inspect the hole in the roof still and get duped by the doppelganger alien monster still but both were very enthusiasting in continuing some other time so I'll be able to get at them then. At least I got to describe the gooey bloody slimey carcass splattered over the floor and ceiling and haning together haha.

 

[Morblot]

I didn't much get that last time because it was all down to me really, the players weren't being very creative or inhabiting their character much and my best creative moments are always reactions to someone else, oh you mentioned X, that makes me think of Y and that makes me formulate a whole idea and now I've got it, it always takes outside influence.

Active players are a DM's best friend. I've never met a DM who can shoulder the burden alone, no matter how good they are otherwise; if the all players are shit, shy or just off their game, the session's going to suck.

I have no good advice to give, except this: keep running games. The more you do it, the better you become at it. Trust me, I was absolutely shit when I began; I think I've advanced to "average" since then.

Good luck with your game and have fun.

 

[Night Goat]

How would you guys rank the 5e adventures paths?

 

[Cael]

How would you guys rank the 5e adventures paths?

It is 5e. Automatically and eternally banned.

Fuck wotc in the eye socket.

 

[DavidBVal]

How would you guys rank the 5e adventures paths?

I only know in detail Curse of Strahd.

Nice scenes, nice ideas all around, but I think it lacks a backbone. There's no clear motivation for players other than escaping Barovia and do generic do-gooder stuff along the way, which feels a bit bland. Some of the locations/encounters are great, other suck or feel like a pointless drag. It'll require some work on your part to alter it if you want it to feel like a truly thematic adventure that motivates players and where everything feels connected and with an adequate pace. Still I'd say it is a good sourcebook and an entertaining read.

 

[Catacombs]

How would you guys rank the 5e adventures paths?

I only know in detail Curse of Strahd.

Nice scenes, nice ideas all around, but I think it lacks a backbone. There's no clear motivation for players other than escaping Barovia and do generic do-gooder stuff along the way, which feels a bit bland. Some of the locations/encounters are great, other suck or feel like a pointless drag. It'll require some work on your part to alter it if you want it to feel like a truly thematic adventure that motivates players and where everything feels connected and with an adequate pace. Still I'd say it is a good sourcebook and an entertaining read.

I played COS with a bunch of guys in another forum. I enjoyed what we played but never finished because the group fell apart.

I've always wanted to play a modern update of Tomb of Annihilation.