Dungeons and Dragons Megathread
- Thread starter Havocfett
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere
No. Because they deleted that entire cosmology. The Great Wheel stopped existing when 4th happened. Possibly so that they could declare that "eladrin" meant "what you used to call elves" instead of "a type of angel"
- Location
- Land of the Midday Sun
They sorta adapted it in the 5e DMG.
Edit: Modrons are in the MM as well. Only up to pentadrones for now.
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AuraTwilight
The Sorcerer of Smiles
- Location
- The Silver City
Uh, they sort of brought it back. Or, at the very least, they brought back the Great Ring, which is honestly the important part.
Also Sigil and the Lady of Pain got mentioned in 4E stuff.
- Location
- Somewhere
Anyone else have like a billion character ideas floating around, and wish you had more time to play them all?
just a handful that I wish I could play:
just a handful that I wish I could play:
- Magaambyan Arcanist (PF), basically a wizard prestige class that gives you [good] descriptor spells, some spontaneous casting for specific spells, and some bonuses against eivl outsiders. The part I like about them is the flavor. They ooze it in PF lore, and I would love to play one.
- like a billion archetypes for Magus all seem super fun to me, but I have nowhere near enough time to play all billion
- quite a few gish-ideas I want to play, but I haven't had a chance yet. Eldritch Knight, Hellknights (PF), etc.
- I'd love to play a Githyanki gish build, to see what started it all
- the Fiendish classes from the PF Book of the Damned are all super cool, flavorfully themed around worshipping a Daemon Lord, Demon Lord, or Devil Lord
- an illusionist character like MCU Loki
- A martial caster that uses runes/songs to cast spells (a la mythological Odin). A PF Skald can kind of cover for this, but I would love to do digging in ADnD 2e or 3.0/5 to see if they have classes that fit this idea better
- A redeemed Daemon/devil/demon, with some class levels. Would have to be a campaign that started above level 1-5 to really work.
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- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I really want to try an Agnostic/Deist Cleric. Just posts 'help wanted' signs on the celestial noticeboard. Healing spells might get you normal healing, a Fire god who cauterises everything, or, like, Nurgle.
I've heard there's some archetype or something that kinda does this already? But I don't know what it is.
As well, I want to try a Summoner who takes the Eldritch Heritage feat tree, and slowly starts to lose it, blurring the lines between his eidolon and himself, until he thinks that he's half-eidolon, or an eidolon who's been trapped in humanoid form from a ritual, or something.
- Location
- Drachyench on Discord
Hm. A minor thought I had re: 2E Character Generation, since a lot of people are use to modern conventions of Point Buy for PnP games. Would it theoretically be possible to have somebody roll 3D6 (possibly straight down the line, but six times and distributed as desired also works), but then have a certain "minimum" number of points that a PC must meet (and get extra points to reach, should they roll under)? The average of 3d6 times six is 63 points. Since PC's presumably want to be above average in at least one thing, we'll add... nine points, to this, for a nice even total of 72. Thus all PC's, no matter what, will start with at least 72 points total.
Let's say two people roll 3D6 six times and gets the following numbers:
Player 1: 17; 18; 13; 13; 9; 8
Player 2: 8; 6; 16; 10; 11; 11
Normally, in a situation like this, your first PC would have extraordinary character options (even going straight down the line) while the second would be shoehorned into either being a one-trick pony at best (best put that 16 into a Primary Class Attribute) or a mediocre Cleric / Wizard at worst. But with the above idea in mind: Player 1 keeps their rolls and distributes as desired, no changes:.Their total cumulative points comes out to 78, so they're fine. Player 2, tapping in at only 62 points, gets ten points to distribute however they so desire. Maybe they use it to boost their underwhelming scores to average and use the last bit on making something else a little above average. Or perhaps they dump five each into both those 11's and have a specialist who's good in 1-2 things but average or worse in others.
This sort of CharGen would obviously need a ton of kinks worked out (what do you determine to be the point-buy cap? what is the cut-off point on points for 2E? What do you do when someone's roll completely BTFO's the expectation by something like 15+ points?), but I feel like it could help to preserve some of 2E's character generation intent (as well as the concept of rolling for stats in general) without starting from the ground up to deal with 2E's many, many tables that make a 14, 15, or even 16 much more valuable for one attribute than the other.
Let's say two people roll 3D6 six times and gets the following numbers:
Player 1: 17; 18; 13; 13; 9; 8
Player 2: 8; 6; 16; 10; 11; 11
Normally, in a situation like this, your first PC would have extraordinary character options (even going straight down the line) while the second would be shoehorned into either being a one-trick pony at best (best put that 16 into a Primary Class Attribute) or a mediocre Cleric / Wizard at worst. But with the above idea in mind: Player 1 keeps their rolls and distributes as desired, no changes:.Their total cumulative points comes out to 78, so they're fine. Player 2, tapping in at only 62 points, gets ten points to distribute however they so desire. Maybe they use it to boost their underwhelming scores to average and use the last bit on making something else a little above average. Or perhaps they dump five each into both those 11's and have a specialist who's good in 1-2 things but average or worse in others.
This sort of CharGen would obviously need a ton of kinks worked out (what do you determine to be the point-buy cap? what is the cut-off point on points for 2E? What do you do when someone's roll completely BTFO's the expectation by something like 15+ points?), but I feel like it could help to preserve some of 2E's character generation intent (as well as the concept of rolling for stats in general) without starting from the ground up to deal with 2E's many, many tables that make a 14, 15, or even 16 much more valuable for one attribute than the other.
In would love to see more on Rune Magic, but honestly just like Witches as a Class it has been Inconsistentfir a very long time.
One thing Rune Magic generally has is that it removes Material Cost for most spells and allows Casting with Armor.
However the Runes have to be written or engraved on something, Runes made with lower skill disapearring after use.
I have been looking at the Warcraft D20 stuff recently and they have a different take on Runes as well, with Rune Families that grant Bonuses.
Making a Runecaster with consistent rules would be interesting.
- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
How my old DM for a modified 2E did it was, you roll for seven stats, drop the lowest, and reroll ones. So it's seven lots of 3d6, with rerolls on any ones. Didn't give as consistent results as a point-buy system, but gave much better results than the official 2E rules. And if you had a character concept that demanded a low stat somewhere, you were free to use that seventh rolled number instead.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
Actually, the retcon was from forest-place Chaotic Good afterlife Angel to Fae that are totally an ancestor population to Elves. Elves weren't removed from lore, they were just bizarrely absent from the core rule book.
Beastmorph Vivisectionist Alchemist/Synthesist Summoner Goblin. Worshipper of Lamashtu is the thing I wanted to do well, but Pathfinder doesn't have any decent setups for long-term self modification(I've floated Paladin/Summoner hybrid class homebrew ideas to have a solution to this. Never could pin down a baseline set of powers and thematics) that Goblins work with(Cha penalty hurts Summoner). "Deliberately suboptimal" is perfectly fine by me, though. And Natural Attack spam can rack up the Sneak Attack damage for hilarious peaks, while Synthesist de-squishes the build fairly well and gives more to bring up the lows of deliberately suboptimal(optimal for the Monstrous transformation theme is Synthesist 20) builds.
Being able to dump a/all physical stat(s) and still function in melee is a godsend for solving MAD problems of this setup(needs physical stats for melee and two mental stats, one at a penalty, if it wants to use all its features competently). Dumping Con is probably the most optimal, as it's the most efficient to boost with Synthesist. In the sense of the largest benefit, due to bonus HD. Going for Natural Attack spam eats quite a few points, but has key advantages over weapon spam by being cheaper(three weapons costs more than a Natural Attack item) and less feat intensive(...does Pathfinder even have multiweapon fighting?). Also, just three Synthesist Natural Attacks doesn't eat a huge amount of points, while Beastmorph gives two or three more of them, so going spam still works quite well. Whether to put Flight on Mutations or Extracts is largely up to which side you focus on, though Synthesist dips do have absurd utility potential from physical dump stat removal and several permanent, major, bonuses, like flight.
shepsquared
Erratic Aussie
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
Have you looked at the back of the 5e PHB? Because the great Wheel is right there with no mention of how 4e did it (though they did add the Feywild and Shadowfell to the great wheel. Or kept them since they got added in 4e)
Elves were in the 4e PHB. WotC just decided to split Magic Elf and Nature Elf into 2 different races since they weren't doing subraces. So they renamed Magic Elves Eladrin and said they still live in the realm of faerie while elves departed it for the less magical material plane.
And this was awesome, because why didn't d&d have a magical realm of faerie before? Why not make some interplanar stuff an innate part of the setting? The only real issues came from some minor complaints about them reusing the name Eladrin and when they messily integrated 4e stuff into Faerun. Then made Faerun the default for 5e, which has led to me being so utterly over Faerun.
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
- Location
- Somewhere Offscreen
I think most players feel that way. Lots more ideas that we think would be fun or interesting to play than we have games to play them in.
The Plane of Faerie was in the 3.5 Manual of the Planes, it wasn't included in the setting by default but it existed.
- Location
- Somewhere
Was there before 3rd too. There are examples in the earlier novels of folks going there. It just wasn't on the wheel, like Ravenloft.
Scots Dragon
Trans Daughter of Krypton
- Location
- Rainy Fascist Island
- Pronouns
- She/Her
'Secret Evils of the World: The Darker Side of Dungeons & Dragons', or 'Hey, D&D and the 1980s are popular again thanks to Stranger Things, let's resurrect the satanic panic as well!'
I thought these types had burned themselves out on Harry Potter, honestly.
I thought these types had burned themselves out on Harry Potter, honestly.
- Location
- Somewhere
Nope. They control the US government again. Which is what so many of us liberals warned people about when they were freaking out about "sjws" ruining gaming. If you put conservatives in power, this happens. And they actually try to do something about it, unlike the sjws who just bitch online.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
So, I'm now working on a Paladin Oath based on From Smite to Song from 3.5, which allows a Paladin to use Smite Evil as Bardic Music uses. More particularly, it's actually based on the A-game Paladin optimization highlight, which ends up with support abilities only meaningfully inferior to Bards of similar optimization(and this is Illumian for Strength-to-casting on top of Sword of the Arcane Order kinds of optimization) in quantity. It's for a Tactics and Leadership contest, and I figured that Smite to Song and a pile of Oath Spell buffs can offer useful round-to-round options to the buffed person and buffer.
The "aura" effect is where I've decided to put the Smite to Song effect, swapping Smite dice for Bardic Inspiration dice at a one-to-one ratio and having Channel Divinity carry an Inspiration die. Is limiting it to one die per roll enough to avoid it breaking 5e? Does adding Charisma modifier uses per long rest to Channel Divinity cause it to step on Bard's toes too much with Inspiration uses? How broken would having the Improved Divine Smite enable extra/automatic Inspiration dice be?
I ask because I know next to nothing about 5e balance, and I think bounded accuracy is touchy around spammable d8 Inspiration. A d8 is enough to kinda kill that chance of low-difficulty failure for high-competence non-Rogue characters. For reference, here's the Oath Spell list I've decided on:
1st: Heroism, Healing Word
2nd: Prayer of Healing, Enhance Ability
3rd: Mass Healing Word, Protection from Energy
4th: Death Ward, Stoneskin
5th: Mass Cure Wounds, Dispel Evil and Good
---
The point is basically a support Paladin. Powerful support that dips into typically-offensive abilities for further support fuel.
Edit: Also, the 20th level effect would be continuous Heroism to all friendly people in 30 ft. range. So Charisma modifier temp HP each round and Fear immunity, if I have the 5e version of Heroism right.
The "aura" effect is where I've decided to put the Smite to Song effect, swapping Smite dice for Bardic Inspiration dice at a one-to-one ratio and having Channel Divinity carry an Inspiration die. Is limiting it to one die per roll enough to avoid it breaking 5e? Does adding Charisma modifier uses per long rest to Channel Divinity cause it to step on Bard's toes too much with Inspiration uses? How broken would having the Improved Divine Smite enable extra/automatic Inspiration dice be?
I ask because I know next to nothing about 5e balance, and I think bounded accuracy is touchy around spammable d8 Inspiration. A d8 is enough to kinda kill that chance of low-difficulty failure for high-competence non-Rogue characters. For reference, here's the Oath Spell list I've decided on:
1st: Heroism, Healing Word
2nd: Prayer of Healing, Enhance Ability
3rd: Mass Healing Word, Protection from Energy
4th: Death Ward, Stoneskin
5th: Mass Cure Wounds, Dispel Evil and Good
---
The point is basically a support Paladin. Powerful support that dips into typically-offensive abilities for further support fuel.
Edit: Also, the 20th level effect would be continuous Heroism to all friendly people in 30 ft. range. So Charisma modifier temp HP each round and Fear immunity, if I have the 5e version of Heroism right.
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AuraTwilight
The Sorcerer of Smiles
- Location
- The Silver City
It's a troll post.
shepsquared
Erratic Aussie
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
Then I'm gonna say putting it on the wheel was a good move, because way too many people get the impression that all there is are the Outer and Inner Planes (me included)
- Location
- Somewhere
Gonna be honest, the second someone asked if they could run a Paladin who got to use strength for casting, I'd tell them no, and not allow anything from the book that made them think that was okay to begin with.
But then again, I also never allowed dipping into classes. If you're in, you're in for 5 levels minimum.
But then again, I also never allowed dipping into classes. If you're in, you're in for 5 levels minimum.
The "dipping" isn't an issue. The issue is trading which stat is most important to your character. Physical fighters use Strength. Casters use Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma. Hybrid classes have to choose which part of the hybrid they are going to focus on. It is entirely possible to make a Paladin or Ranger who is a high-Wisdom build and prioritize their casting. Doing so comes at the expense of their melee or ranged abilities. The reverse is also true - focusing on Strength or Dexterity means they will never be the best casters they could be.
.. or at least not without making some serious sacrifices somewhere ..
Giving someone the ability to use the wrong stat means they are going to get the most out of their class(es) without having to suffer the drawbacks that other characters run by other players would have to make. It only gets worse when you consider the stat advancement system in 5E. Players have to make serious choices of what to do with their stats as they advance. They can either get a feat or get +1 to two stats or get +2 to a single stat. But if you are letting them use Strength for physical combat and casting it is effectively like giving them two stat increases every time they raise their strength.*
* - Note it wouldn't affect skill proficiencies or saving throws but I hope you get the point.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
It's an explicit (3.5) Illumnian racial thing to be able to use Strength as their casting score, at least for bonus spell slots, which is all Paladins will ever care about. It eats some options, but this is still only upper-mid t3 in total. High-optimization, to the point it competes with utter bullshit like Sublime Chord Bard or the dread Incantatrix, so it kinda needs this insanity to be relevant at its "level."
Technically, the build is Paladin 20. Practically, it is some kind of bizarre Wizard/Bard/Paladin freak with deep pockets for shenanigans, getting three times the total Lay on Hands pool a Paladin would normally cap at and providing something insane like +27 to attack rolls. Also 6d10 temporary bonus hit dice. Look up "A game Paladin" to find the build.
- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Does anyone know if there's an archetype in PF or 3.5 or somewhere for an agnostic Cleric? Because at present, my 'put a 'help wanted' sign on the Divine Noticeboard, may get Asclepius, may get Thor, may get Nurgle' approach seems to me to mean that I'd have to come up with a bunch of charts, maybe even randomise which Domains my Cleric gets per day, depending on who answers his prayers that day, and that just seems like endless frustration.
The other approach I've considered is picking a god/dess and going 'the not-Cleric may not believe in them, but they believe in him', basically following all the Cleric rules, including patron Deity, Alignment restrictions, and possible Atonement necessity, but have him not actually sure they exist, or that if they do he could choose to worship them specifically, since 'either none of the Gods are real, or all of them are'.
I also think said Agnostic Cleric should have the highest Knowledge(Religion) bonus he possibly can, since he's had so much debate experience with people who can't believe he's actually an Agnostic Cleric, of all things! Maybe a high Diplomacy score, too.
The other approach I've considered is picking a god/dess and going 'the not-Cleric may not believe in them, but they believe in him', basically following all the Cleric rules, including patron Deity, Alignment restrictions, and possible Atonement necessity, but have him not actually sure they exist, or that if they do he could choose to worship them specifically, since 'either none of the Gods are real, or all of them are'.
I also think said Agnostic Cleric should have the highest Knowledge(Religion) bonus he possibly can, since he's had so much debate experience with people who can't believe he's actually an Agnostic Cleric, of all things! Maybe a high Diplomacy score, too.
There's a PRC in manual of the planes IRRC for the Athar; which are basically a faction of agnostic clerics.