Dungeons and Dragons Megathread

PbP = Play by Post.

I personally do not recommend it, as I've never had a PbP game last very long.
It can work, earlier this year I PbP 3.5 campaign I was in finished (not 'had to be stopped' but 'reached the planned endpoint of the campaign') after running without major pauses since 2013.
 
So I am working on a new Arcane Dragon, and am wondering if this is to broken.

Mage Dragon:
A breed of Arcane Dragon obsessed with Magical Ability and expanding their powers.

By reaching Adult has at least 3 Levels in Sorcerer, and continues to advance as a Sorcerer, though Old and above sometimes Multiclass or take a Prestige Class.

Keep in mind that back from 3.5, and I don't think it has changed since then, Dragons who class as Sorcerers get their Sorcerer Level added on top of their Age Category.

The example given was that an Old Silver Dragon would be an 11th Level Spellcaster, and taking a single level in Sorcerer would make them cast spells as a 12th Level Sorcerer.

So while I want them to be pretty much the Reds/Golds of Arcane Dragons I am wondering if this is a bit to much.

Their second feature would be this.

Magic Domains:

While some breeds of Dragons are known to develop Clerical Spells that can be cast as Sorcerer Spells, Mage Dragons are unique in that they choose their "Domains" from the Wizard Domain List.

At Adult they choose a single Domain and gain it's spells but the only benefits it gains is casting these spells at +1 Caster level (only applies to spells in the Domain itself not others sharing the same descriptor as their Domain) and if they gain a Spell that deals the following Damage types (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Thunder, Poison, Acid, Necrotic, Radiant) they gain the option of gaining an Energy Substititution Metamagic of one of these elements the next time they can learn a Metamagic Feat.

This applies to both Spells and and their Breath Weapon (Line of Force).

Only one Element can be taken from each Domain for the purpose of Energy Substitution.

If the Mage Dragon reaches Old and Ancient they can choose an additional Domain upon entering the Age Category for a Maximum of Three Domains.

The Sorcerer Advancement and Magic Domain are meant to have each Mage Dragon be a distinctly unique individual and encounter.

As a form of balance they would only get a small smattering of Utility (such as Mage Hand and Prestidigitation) and some Force Damage Spells "developed naturally".

Most of their Damage Dealing Spells would have to come from their Advancement as Sorcerers and their Domains.

How does this sound as a basic outline?
 
You are adjusting their CR upwards for the Pc levels?

I mean, technically you can give any dragon extra pc levels, so eh?

The domain thing is a boost to power, but not big enough to radicslly change things.
 
Personally, if you are going to make Dragons to compete with Reds and Golds, it should be part of a series of them, each with a different replacement for the Domains that the Metallic and Chromatic have. Replacing spells with stuff drawn from various alternate casting modes would serve to mark the differences between them. If you want to just slap added Sorcerer levels, bake that into the racial casting, making them have 2/3 Sorcerer progression for their RHD. Cuts down on the ECL quite a bit, and makes basically everything better overall. More full-BAB, d12, all-good-saves HD relative to their total HD. Which is important for some functions of gameplay. Like being a PC.

Perhaps the most powerful can replace their spells with Psionic powers and associated PP, allowing them to do some nasty overkill. Or you can have them be able to replace spell slots with Mysteries. Incarnum can also use a Dragon for it. If you want to be crazy, you can have Truenaming replace spell slots and make the bonuses cause it to... work. Dreadful thought, isn't it?

You can actually play with the setup behind Dragons and have the CR scale inversely with the size/bulk of the dragons, with "weaker" and smaller dragons getting the better spell replacements. So you have this weird situation with having the smallest ones be the most dangerous due to having higher-power casting. Smol dragon bro murderstomping the Red dragon two age categories ahead of them is a funny thing to think of.
 
Arcane dragons are already weaker then regular in physical terms.

Their physical stats and size are always one Age Grade lower then a regular Dragon of the same age, and their reach has minus five.

On the other hand their magic is much better with both Tome having every Divinitation and Conjuration spell on the Sorcerer list, and Hex likewise having every Sorcerer Necromancy and Enchantment Spell.

The also get the Polymorph Self Feature as they age like Metallics.

While I am making Dragons for combos of the other schools Mage Dragons are designed to have many different options for how they progress, making each one Unique in their approach to Magic, much like Humanoid Spell Casters.

Edit: the other two Arcane Dragons I am considering are Evocation/Transmutation (Chaotic Neutral Cataclysm Dragon)and Illusion/Abjuration (Neutral Good Phantasm Dragon).

Hex are Neutral Evil and Tome True Neutral so Arcane Dragons seem to be Nuetral inclined.
 
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Pardon my interruption but does anyone know of a good way to squash DnD combat into a single turn for Questing purposes. Specifically I want to run a quest at a ridiculously high end of the power curve in a Konosuba like setting but I need to Squash combat into a turn or two otherwise it will get bogged down to the point where a single encounter may take forever to finish.

Also as far as the Quest will go I'm taking a leaf out of Witcher 3 and making it so that the PC's will always be on a quest, the quest must either be passed or failed to get a new one, and each quest is it's own mini story.

Currently I have "Caught between a cloth and a soft place" (Kidnappings at farm) , "A pup in lambs clothing" (Someone brought in Carnivorous sheeps. And a pup of a prize winning fluffy dog is somewhere in that herd. Find it before it's too late ), Bloodless night (a vampire is out hunting, kill it).

  1. "Caught between a cloth and a soft place"
    1. The PCs investigates a cotton farm where the men folk are dissapearing and no one can find them. Cotton Dryads are the cause of this
  2. "A pup in lambs clothing"
    1. As it says on the tin
  3. Bloodless night
    1. Corpses with no blood is found in an out of the way village every full moon. A Slime is involved. A blood slime and the Vampire hunting it.
Also there are stuff that I'll add if the Quest ever gets' far enough to need something more memorable than the normal dnd stuff .

  • The first to this higher end of Combat are Capstones. Namely I'm making Capstones really fucking powerful

    Currently only a few of them are done but with one exceptions all of them have drawbacks or limitations that limit their usage.

    1. Clerics.
      1. The Clerics Capstone are the Ritual of Life/Death depending on the specific god that is worship. The Ritual of Life/Death requires an action to activate at which point all life healed or damage done is tracked until the Cleric ends the Ritual or takes damage . Taking damage aborts the ritual to no benefit but if it ends correctly, all hp healed/damage dealt would be redistributed with a xN multiplier. For every person saved from or brought to 0hp a modifier (N) is added. For example if you healed 10 hp and saved 5 people from 0 hp you can end the ritual and distribute an extra 50 (10x5) worth of hp to your team and vise versa. This damage is Radiant in nature.
      2. This Capstone requires the Cleric to have the favour of their god.
    2. Wizard.
      1. Through sheer intellect, a phenomally skilled wizard can open a link to a dimension of pure magic and become a Font of Magic. When a wizard decides to open this link with his action, he requires one turn before the link fully forms. And on his next two turns the wizard can use an action , bonus action, free action, and reaction to cast a spell regardless of available spell slots. These spell are cast as 9th level spells however due to the concentration required to maintain the link, the wizard can't cast two spells of the same level int the same turn.
      2. As penalty from the stress of casting, the wizard forgets all spells of a single level (IE: All 9th level spells) for each Spell Cast by using this capstone starting from the 9th level.
      3. This Capstone requires the wizard to know at least 1 spell for all 9 levels of spells in order to be usable.
      4. This limitation works only if the 9th level spells are inherently difficult to obtain
    3. Sorcerror
      1. Capstone spell, The sorcerer through years of honing his intuition gains the ability to create a spell by combining all spell effects he knowsinto a single perfect representation of his ability to cast spells. Each affect increases the level of the spells by at least one level.
      2. For example: Curse Crystal Prison, a level 8 spell. An Ice Spell that encases an enemy in magically reinforcing ice (+2), magically binds them to seal off the prisoners magic (+2) and drains them of HP(+2) , spell slots (+2).
      3. This spell must be thematically fitting and must be approved by the GM.
    4. Fighter
      1. Edge of Perfection. Once used the Fighter can once an arc for one combat encounter imposed a single nat 20 or nat 1 a turn on any roll using a reaction. In that same Combat encounter he regains the use of this capstone (for that encounter) when anyone in his party rolls a nat 20 or a nat 1 (on a d20) though he may not use this capstone on the same roll that he regains the use of this capstone with.
      2. A combat encounter for the purpose of this capstone ends if the main objective of that fight is destroyed, neutralized or successfully escapes.
        1. If for example the main objective (Evil Vampire no26) attempts to flee but the Fighter gives chase, the combat encounter has not end for the purpose of this capstone
      3. PS: Am going to redo this to be more naturally limiting

  • Now Really powerful capstones are quite frankly not worth the time to write them down if there's no challenge for the players. As such I need some bosses or encounters where things are even more terrifying than normal. The following are templates from which monsters from the Monsters Manual can be slotted into to create suitably memorable encounters

    1. Colossus Class Encounters.
      1. A monster so huge it defies any attempts for a danger classification through sheer mass alone. Due to their physics deffying biology, this nonsense allows Colossus Class monsters to have multiple turns in a round as they are much faster than normal beings, with the strongest encounters allowing one turn for each adventurer in the party. However due to their size they are also slow to react as their perception is distorted with most adventurers being too small to be easily notticed. As such a Collosus will initiate a series of predictable actions done throughout multiple turns. Only at the end of this move set will the Colossus reevaluate their next course of actions. legendary actions are prebaked into some movesets though as damaged is increased generally this doesn't matter much.
        1. For example A colossus Class Red Dragon could have a moveset where it Flies up, Slams on the Ground and Release a Fire Tornado at the point of Impact with each action taking place over multiple turns in the same round.
      2. PS: If it wasn't clear 1 moveset = multiple actions
      3. PPS: There are no Legendary Actions on these Types of Encounters though Legendary Resistance is up for grabs
    2. Legendary Class Encounters.
      1. The main difference between this type of encounter and a normal Legendary Monster is primarily in that Encounters of this type is based around a single capstone equivalent skill possessed by the enemy. Monsters such as the Red Dragon could have a single Skill Where it kill's itself to create a firestorm around it's immediate (read 1km) vicinity. Important to note is that the stats of Legendary enemies are equivalent to the PCs under most occasions.
      2. Encounters like this would have a few key weaknesses the party can exploit while at the highest level a party of Legendary enemies is a viable option.
      3. At a lower levels a Legendary Enemy will be followed by adds to make things difficult for the PCs.
      4. Encounters like this are designed around a win condition that can vary widely from kill him before he self destructs to exaust him over a long enough period of time so that his immortality Capstone runs out and you can actually kill him.
    3. Beast Type Enemies.
      1. Designed from Blood Borne, These enemies are fast and are designed to displaced both it's position and turn order. Pure ferocious aggression Monsters under this encounter type are designed around fucking the initiative order and by overwhelming most plans through sheer agility. As far as teh encounter goes, monsters gain either the ability to stun someone out of their turn, to change someone's turn order, or to bypass meatshields though usually with a disadvantage on it's rolls.

*Technically 3 but the last bit, squashing combat so that you only need to input once per combat encounter isn't quite done.
 
Pardon my interruption but does anyone know of a good way to squash DnD combat into a single turn for Questing purposes.
Generally, have the D&D rounds be a back and forth of flat damage and saves. You calculate out average results of actions taken in the round, probably counting crits and saving throws, and have the Quest votes on combat be about tactics you offer so that you have control over the details of the actions and don't get bogged down in working out how to implement write in tactics in the rules. Don't bother with detailed distances, have movement be narrative-driven based on how you want the events to go. Try to use abstraction and narrative substitution to constrain the player's power, like having an ubercharger be countered by using narrative-based movement instead of mechanics-based movement to keep them from landing overkill on people you don't want dead.

Basically, don't try to directly follow D&D rules. They are for a structured game, not actual storytelling. You are not the DM, you are the QM, you do have control over the PCs. The details of what they do. You can define strict available options to corral the story and not get massive amounts of shit for it. Homebrew some restrictions on D&D mechanics. Make the character build choices yourself, instead of letting the Quest audience do it. If you let the Quest audience vote on the character builds, then provide a list of set options and only accept suggestions if they make narrative sense.

As a basic example, if you have a 3rd level Rogue with a Shortbow get off Sneak Attack, have them roll only to see if they hit/crit. 1d20 with Attack roll bonuses, pass if greater than enemy AC, if 20 is rolled, roll 1d20 again and double damage if the second roll also exceeds AC.(this is how crit confirmation works, right? It's a 3.5 example...) Have the damage dealt be a flat 10.5, rounding up or down as you please. Use 9+1d2, if you want to coin flip for 10 or 11.

Look up how to average out rolls as far as possible in D&D and use it. The average of 1d20 is 10.5, if you want to remove all randomness. You are doing a Quest, not a PBP, so you should be controlling the outcome beyond the rule's allowance for the DM(ignoring the Golden Rule/Rule Zero: "The DM is always right")
 
Pardon my interruption but does anyone know of a good way to squash DnD combat into a single turn for Questing purposes. Specifically I want to run a quest at a ridiculously high end of the power curve in a Konosuba like setting but I need to Squash combat into a turn or two otherwise it will get bogged down to the point where a single encounter may take forever to finish.
.... At high level, 3.5 wizards basically do end things in a turn or two. Slap down a disable and point a beatstick at them.

Though i'm guessing that's not what you're talking about.
 
While I am making Dragons for combos of the other schools Mage Dragons are designed to have many different options for how they progress, making each one Unique in their approach to Magic, much like Humanoid Spell Casters.

Edit: the other two Arcane Dragons I am considering are Evocation/Transmutation (Chaotic Neutral Cataclysm Dragon)and Illusion/Abjuration (Neutral Good Phantasm Dragon).

Hex are Neutral Evil and Tome True Neutral so Arcane Dragons seem to be Nuetral inclined.
Hmm... Digging into the Schools of Magic in 3.5, there's 8 of them, so you have no issues with overlap on schools. I still think a new set of dragons works, but if you are specifically wanting to base it on Tome and Hex dragons, then changing those two to fit an overall theme in mechanics is likely needed.

For example, I'd switch Tome to Lawful Neutral instead of True Neutral and have the Red/Gold counterpart be Usually True Neutral, allowing for them to still have significant impact on the world as something other than a mediating influence. Also Breath Weapons with a sphere AoE following the True Dragon set of energy types to relative power.
 
Hawk-Headed Aven are OP as fuck. +2 Dex, +2 Wis, no penalty on perception checks at extreme range, fly speed 30.
In fairness, they did cut 30 feet of fly speed off of the previous Bird People.

What do you mean 20 feet of fly speed isn't worth an entire point in a relevant stat?
 
As always, the stuff from Planeshift is ridiculously overpowered. Just look at the Cleric of Zeal that can maximize Fire or Thunder damage, has an auto knockback for thunder damage (and with it booming blade), has fireball and haste on it's spell list, and gets martial weapons and heavy armor.
 
Working on the Arcane Dragon Stuff I stumbled upon old notes for an old Campaign Setting Idea.

Basically in it Sorcery and Witches are the "True" Arcane Path coming from links to the Universe or learning from the Spirits.

Wizards are mostly Defilers and don't want to follow the path of Witches who learn how to Manipulate Arcane Magic safely from various Spirits and instead rip it out of the environment to empower their spells.

Preserver Wizards are few and far between.

It was partially inspired by the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Ah now those are some fond memories of my childhood..........

One of these old ideas stood out.

Celestial Sorcerers in it would be Cosmic Sorcerers split up into three separate categories, Sun Fire/Radiant with Healing Spells and some other Clerical aspects, Moon Cold/Radiant with a focus on Enchantment and Illusion, Star Radiant/Force with Divination and Conjuration focus, and a new category.

Void Sorcerers who draw on the Darkness between the Stars, the ephemeral power Which Came Before All Things and makes up the majority of the Physical Plane.

They would be Necrotic/Darkness Themed and would have a choice to regain Magic or HP when using Drain Effects.

Has anyone ever done a Void Cosmic Sorcerer before?

It seems rather logical, but the only thing close I can recall is the Third Party 5E Illumination Magic from Kobold Press, which is a mix of Darkness and Light as "Night Sky" themed Magic.
 
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As always, the stuff from Planeshift is ridiculously overpowered. Just look at the Cleric of Zeal that can maximize Fire or Thunder damage, has an auto knockback for thunder damage (and with it booming blade), has fireball and haste on it's spell list, and gets martial weapons and heavy armor.
Tempest cleric can do 90% of that already
 
So basically Dark Sun.

More like Dark Sun without the Inherent "MAGIC IS BAD 99% OF THE TIME!" and has already ruined the world.

It would be more interesting to have these three forms of Arcane Magic, Sorcerers, Witches, and Wizards "competing" against each other, with the former two being whatever the user wishes, and the latter being mostly Defilers.

Because such a conflict would be rather interesting to see play out in DnD terms as we all know how much Players love their Magic Goodies.

Having the most "Easily Accessible" form of Arcane Magic in fact be Dangerous to the Environment and most often used by Villains would be an interesting departure from things, but not as Grimdark as Dark Sun can be at times.
 
Could I get a hand with my Pathfinder Dwarf Fighter's build order, please? He's my first character in any D&D-derived system more modern than a heavily customised version of AD&D. It's also my first character that is not at least a secondary caster, or a hacker in that one sci-fi game we played. I'm pretty sure I've picked all the feats I want, I would just like help ordering them, please. I have a tentative build order, but it lease a lot of stuff very late that I'd prefer to have earlier, so any help shuffling stuff around so the more useful stuff goes as early as possible, given prereqs, would be greatly appreciated.

The character is a Dwarven Fighter with stats of:
Str 16
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 8

the Traits:
Defender of the Society(Combat)
Glory of Old(Regional)

and the alternate Racial Benefits:
Fey Thoughts(Fly, Acrobatics)
Craftsman
Rock Stepper

Tentative Build Order EDITED WITH ADVICE GIVEN ELSEWHERE:
Lvl1: Power attack, Combat Reflexes.
Lvl2: Weapon Focus (Dwarven Longaxe)
Lvl3: Furious Focus
Lvl4: Barroom Brawler, Str +1
Lvl5: Additional Traits(Militant Merchant, Eldritch Smith), Weapon Training: Axes
Lvl6: FAWT: Warrior Spirit
Lvl7: Cunning, AAT: Master Armourer
Lvl8: FAAT: Armoured Juggernaut, Str +1
Lvl9: Steel soul, AWT: Abundant Tactics
Lvl10: Greater Weapon Focus
Lvl11: FAWT: Armed Bravery, AAT: Armour Specialisation(Full Plate)
Lvl12: Cut From the Air, Int +1
Lvl13: Improved Critical, AWT: Weapon Specialist(Axes)
Lvl14: Weapon Specialization
Lvl15: Greater Weapon Specialization, AAT: Armour Master(Secured Armor)
Lvl16: Smash From the Air, Int +1
Lvl17: ???, AWT: Defensive Weapon Training
Lvl18: ???
Lvl19: ???
Lvl20: ???, Cha +1

EDIT NOTES: Changing to AATs instead of Armour Training, and ditching the Initiative-boosting stuff, freed up four Feats, so I put all of those at the end. If you see something that could go later, and fit an important feat earlier, please shout out!

The main problem with the build order, as I see it, is leaving so much good stuff 'til after Lv11. I'd really like to pick up stuff like Furious Focus and Improved Critical sooner. His main weapon is a Dwarven Longaxe, but he will be picking up at least one backup axe, which is why Weapon Specialist will be useful - plus, I'm planning on getting my Longaxe enchanted with Transformative Greater to be able to turn it into a Greataxe for close-in work, a Pickaxe if something has S-based DR but no P-based, and a Dwarven Waraxe if I only have one hand free. With Weapon Specialist, all the weapon-specific Feats, like Weapon Specialisation and Greater and Improved Critical, will work on all of those.

EDIT, I've had it pointed out to me, as I should've noticed, that I've got one too many weapon-specific feats to have them all work with the omniweapon. Should I make my peace that one of them will only work with the Dwarven Longaxe form of it, or should I ditch it, to bring it down to the 4 that can be used with it? If ditch, which, Greater Weapon Specialisation, or Improved Critical?

We're starting at Level 1, so I'd really like my Dorf to get up and running as early as possible, and then add 'nice-to-have's later on. So, that's what I'm mainly after help with, bringing him online earlier.

Thanks for the help!
 
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Alternate Rule: Light and Heavy Attacks

In essence, this splits the attack action into either two regular attacks that use dexterity (if not finnessable, does base damage with no bonus to attack roll) or one single attack that uses strength and rolls twice as many die plus another.

For example, two light attacks with the greatsword would be equal to two 2d6 attacks, which is pretty good. However, the heavy attack would do a whopping 5d6+Strength, making it always do more damage.

Now, for balance, this only applies to Melee and enemies will be allowed to do these light/heavy attacks too. Hopefully, this would make it work out to be a fun option that doesn't give the player or enemies too much power.

What do you think? Could it work?
 
Alternate Rule: Light and Heavy Attacks

In essence, this splits the attack action into either two regular attacks that use dexterity (if not finnessable, does base damage with no bonus to attack roll) or one single attack that uses strength and rolls twice as many die plus another.

For example, two light attacks with the greatsword would be equal to two 2d6 attacks, which is pretty good. However, the heavy attack would do a whopping 5d6+Strength, making it always do more damage.

Now, for balance, this only applies to Melee and enemies will be allowed to do these light/heavy attacks too. Hopefully, this would make it work out to be a fun option that doesn't give the player or enemies too much power.

What do you think? Could it work?
The main issues I see with this would be that accounting for feats Dex is still superior, a great sword with the great weapon master fear for the +10 gets more from multiple attacks with the damage boost then from one attack that does slightly more. If this opens greatswords to attacking with dex it makes the stat even better then it already is. There's also the question of how it interacts with the Fighters extended extra attack.

It's not a bad idea in theory, but it doesn't actually seem to solve the problem it seems to aim for, at least if making strength more appealing is the point.
 
The main issues I see with this would be that accounting for feats Dex is still superior, a great sword with the great weapon master fear for the +10 gets more from multiple attacks with the damage boost then from one attack that does slightly more. If this opens greatswords to attacking with dex it makes the stat even better then it already is. There's also the question of how it interacts with the Fighters extended extra attack.

It's not a bad idea in theory, but it doesn't actually seem to solve the problem it seems to aim for, at least if making strength more appealing is the point.
True, especially since I was thinking of 5e rather than other editions. So, how would you change it?
 
True, especially since I was thinking of 5e rather than other editions. So, how would you change it?
My first thought would be dropping Heavy Attacks, they're already mostly handled by the Great Weapon Master feat, and tying Light Attacks to Finesse or Light weapons with a similar feat. Perhaps something like Light/Quick Weapon Mastery: Before you make a melee attack with a (Finesse or Light) weapon that you are proficient with you may choose to forgo adding your attack modifier to damage rolls of the attack and instead make two weapon attacks.

I doubt it's particularly balanced as is, it'd combine quite powerfully with various attack riders like Hex, Smite, and flame blades, but it might work as a basis. Personally I'd recommend sticking with the light trait rather then Finesse for this, both as an opposite of the Heavy trait for great weapon mastery, and to avoid allowing Rapiers.
 
My first thought would be dropping Heavy Attacks, they're already mostly handled by the Great Weapon Master feat, and tying Light Attacks to Finesse or Light weapons with a similar feat. Perhaps something like Light/Quick Weapon Mastery: Before you make a melee attack with a (Finesse or Light) weapon that you are proficient with you may choose to forgo adding your attack modifier to damage rolls of the attack and instead make two weapon attacks.

I doubt it's particularly balanced as is, it'd combine quite powerfully with various attack riders like Hex, Smite, and flame blades, but it might work as a basis. Personally I'd recommend sticking with the light trait rather then Finesse for this, both as an opposite of the Heavy trait for great weapon mastery, and to avoid allowing Rapiers.
I see your point: it was just an idea to give players more options during combat. Still, I see your point.

Anyway, as something else, I'll create a grasshopper/cricket/locust race. I don't have a name for it yet, but I'll look for one.
 
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