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Juno frowns and produces her mag-key kit. For a moment she's fitting little components together, then scanning the lock with a small instrument, then making adjustments. It doesn't take long before she presses her custom-built mag-key to the locking mechanism and turns it on. (OOC - I actually don't know what attribute to base this on, but I'll just roll a d20 and we'll figure it out. :) Prof...

So this is my prospective thinking for the Accidental Clone: Lunysh was a vain girl. She had been the prettiest and then most beautiful in her small rural village on the outskirts of Magnimar's influence, and she had had the local farm boys (and maybe even a farm girl) wrapped around her little finger. But her vanity made her believe that she was greater than her humble beginnings, and so...

The OP did say they play with minis on a grid.

Oh, it's going to get worse before it gets better... * * * Chapter 209 This time they didn’t hesitate. Even as Jakan spoke, Darethan lifted his bow and launched an arrow at him. Once again, the shot looked to be true, but a sudden, intense breeze swept through the grove. It caught the arrow in mid-flight and lifted it into the air. It thudded into one of the thick upper branches...

Nice! Hands down one of the best systems out there.

"Hm," agrees the big guy with a nod. "So let's try it then. We'll guard." OOC: Back to the ready action for him. You want to roll for Juno, GK? I'm thinking try until we get it or there's a consequence for failing?

You have never really left until you've moved your bookmarks. B-)

Shillelagh could be prevented from stacking with Extra Attack by baking in Extra Attack: When you cast shillelagh at 5th level or higher, you get Extra Attack. This is also nice because it has no impact on opportunity attacks. (This makes it a little bit attractive to rogues as a cheap way to get an additional chance of Sneak Attack but I don't think that's a good enough benefit to worry about....

Jericho steps forward to aid Hiromi but swings and misses the demon. Corwin steps up and attack the wounded demon bringing it to the brink of death. Elkran fires his crossbow through cover and kills the wounded demon. He then reloads. Urik delivers a strong blow to the remaining demon. Hiromi wildly swings three times to no effect as the poison courses through her veins. (Another fort 15 save...

I’m ambivalent about the specific lore of the settings. It never makes it into my games anyways. For me the setting are basically maps and ideas for different styles.

8-1/2 hours and over half way to goal.

I haven't played or run in AL so I can't speak to organized play. However, I've been prepping to run CoS and have been looking at a variety of material to add, including the AL CoS adventures. Overall, the quest line is decent. Some highs but some very low lows. The background info of the region and the NPCs (Jeny Greenteeth!) and town the adventures are set are cool that the adventures are...

The difference is that the stealth check was always opposed. With the navigation check, you're switching from a random check against a fixed DC to a fixed check against a random DC. The outcome is the same, except for the part where it invalidates the tools players may have to influence a random check. Effectively, you're reducing player choices for the sake of a purely semantic distinction...

I don't know why you would say this. Summoning is an extremely powerful tool. Drop 4 flying swarms on the board and go to town. Or, make it a 5th level spell and drop 8. Sure, they're only +3 to hit, but, most baddies aren't that hard to hit and 4d4 damage on a hit is pretty significant. Not when you can get 4 attacks per round. And, aside from a few attacks, they effectively have 44 hp...

The process may have been the other way around as far as multiclassing is concerned. I doubt there was ever any consideration of not having multiclassing in 5e, so it's just as likely that the spell was written while they still considered multiclassing to be part of the standard rules, before they switched them to being optional.

There is some truth to this. :)

You're going to feel awful if that turns out to be the case, yah know!

Hiromi felt dizzy, but she kept lunging with her rapier, hoping to kill the demons before they got her. 1: Strike for piercing. 2: Strike for (or Step if that one died) 3: Strike for (or the strike from 2 if 2 was instead a Step) ...ugh. I guess she's dizzier than I thought! HP 13/17

You must have had really bad luck with rolls. So yeah first hit the Manticore can crit on 15-20 (or 16 on the monk) but second hit he has to hit a natural 20 to crit either. Same for the third of he takes one. So you had multiple rounds where the DM rolled a 15+ on first roll and then a 20? Well if so that’s tough luck and you’d have been annihilated in 1e too. As for crits yeah they enjoy it....

Star Frontiers can still be obtained, and I think I've heard someone is working on an updated version or something. (If you hit the Star Frontiers sites, you'll be able to find out for sure, or if it's just a fervent imagination playing tricks.) And yes, I think a 5th edition rules of the Star Frontiers game would be pretty fantastic! As to Esper Genesis, I like it better than Starfinder,...

Iron Fist Season 2: Danny learns adulting.

People ignoring most of the spell list is similar to why I'm not impressed when some D&D book advertises "dozens of new monsters". Most will be ignored during actual play. At least if new monsters appear in a module you know they'll actually be used. I'm sure someone has done this, but it'd be interesting to go through printed modules and see what monsters get used and how often they show up.

Cleric, Druid, Wizard, doesn’t matter. In my experience, players pick their favorite spells and prepare them every time unless they somehow know they will specifically need a different one. For example, a Cleric might never prepare Zone of Truth, until the party captures an NPC and plan to interrogate them. Then the Cleric will request they wait a day so he can prepare Zone of Truth. I have...

I'm pretty sure the OP disclaims any real intent: these are a goofy game. That being said, even though Tolkien was the right answer in the last thread, the ultimate result of Fritz Leiber is pretty legit.

Spell cards and electronic character sheets like D&D Beyond having led to the use of more clerical spells IME. Easier to switch them, so players do.

Fair enough, although I don't think there's much difference between rolling for a creature's DEX (Stealth) check versus a PC's passive Perception and rolling for the terrain's navigation DC versus a PC's passive Survival. The point is that it's a passive check because it involves hidden information. Obviously, a DM can run navigation checks without hiding information.

That is often the case, but I've been playing some AL Elemental Evil adventures can have been pleasantly surprised at the puzzle solving involved. That said, they all have to be a bit railroady.

Taylar looks over the spirit to try and determine cause of death. "No wonder the spirit we encountered was so angry if these are his remains. He can't move on and needs our help. After we search those other three rooms behind the tapestries we should collect his corpse and bury it in the garden so his body may return to the earth from which we were formed. This will help him move on to the...

The rulings v rules debate goes back to 1e and before. The game began with sand-box & mini wargamers. You think they didn't argue about rules? EGG himself facilitated on the rulings v rules debate, shifting more towards following the RAW as he felt the need to protect D&Ds IP and market share. Whatever the addition it all seems to come down to "the rules matter" but the DM ultimately has to...

The cleric spell list in particular has a lot of spells that are so good you are kind of an idiot if you don't take them. Bless, some fo the healing spells, Spiritual Weapon/Guardians etc. This may vary by domain I would not take a few of them as a light cleric for example. I have heard some players are struggling with Druids as well as as you either go wildshaped but the others are kind of...

As Dewydd calls for the guard, the ring-giver gets a look of panic in his eyes. He looks to reaching into his robes for something! At this point, combat begins. Everyone would normally roll initiative at this point, but don't do so just yet. The reason being is that it probably won't matter, if you can't beat a 32. That's what happens when you invite epic-level entities to your party. On a...

"Even if you can account for all the traps, suppose the area down below is isolated from The Doctor's main base. He cuts power to this auxiliary base and we are trapped down below," The Princess says.

With clerics is more reducing MAD. They can key everything off wisdom and have 14 de and con with the default array and use medium armor and run around with shillagh and spiritual guardians. Compare that with the war cleric who has to pick between strength and wisdom. Nature cleric can just buff wisdom to 20 and double dip spell DCs and beat down and is one of the better beat down clerics in the...

There is a brief retcon at the begginning when it is revealed Verzubak did not get back on the train in Naalam and that Ulvaar has an ability to reroll will saves. He rerolls his save and resists the effects of the lantern , seeing the gaslights going purple and his colleagues collapsing he moves to turn them off however before he is able to turn them off he has to resist the effects again and...

Sovereign answers "It this was a normal situation I would bet it would alert security and slam down an extra security door or seal or even set off some kind of trap. Now it all depends what's on the other side. As far as I can tell there is no extra power on the door for security on this side I don't think anything can happen if we trip something. But you can never guarantee anything with a corp...

I posted too. Onwards.

I guess they might have done it for bards, since some bards can get Extra Attack. Neither warlocks nor nature clerics get more than one attack, though, so they wouldn't be a concern; and feats are not assumed in much the same way that multi-classing isn't assumed by default.

I second Dragonsbane for sure.

Zemryn scowled in disgust at the mutilation of the Korrud dead. It was not Atemi's way. But she understood the man's urges well enough. Kicking at the contents of the sled, she procured herself another short sword before setting her mouth in a firm line and removing a bloody leather armor and boots from a dismembered Korrud. Donning the bloodstained cuirass and ill-fitting boots, she scraped the...

Primal Savagery is the spell you are all looking for. It's simply a melee spell attack cantrip, which means it uses your casting stat to attack in melee combat. Granted, I liked the UA version better, back when it dealt piercing or slashing damage, and it doesn't count as a weapon which can be an issue (or highly desirable, depending on your stance). But there is a scaling caster-stat melee...

Note, when I said "Cast like a sorcerer", I meant that they pick and choose from their spells known as needed. But, their spells known don't change. IOW, they have every spell of whatever levels they can access accessible. I remember actually doing this in 2e and it worked great. 99% of the time, I simply cast the normal stuff, and that 1% of the time, I'd actually use spells that no one...

animal handling check for the first sled: Gimlack grabs on to the one wolf sled, and returns to the rest of the group. There he approached the deat dwarves, and slashed two arms for the one that was still intact. He looks at his companions "Let me take the faster sled, I may need the speed" He then proceeds to feeding each wolf one arm. Seeing the disdain from some of his companions he adds...

Sounds like it. "What's the secondary one trip if it goes?" inquires the troll once Juno communicates her 'lock findings. If it's an alarm or s'mthing else that needs power- well then they're golden!

Finding pace is always tricky in PBP, and compounded by periods of inactivity from players and so on. I think you're doing fine. :)

Also Useful: List of Third-Party 5th Edition Campaign Settings

Why is the onus on Wizards of the Coast for that new world? Do they have some sort of magical powers that make their settings inherently better than every other campaign world in existence? Are you being compelled by a curse inflicted upon you by an evil fairy godmother that prevents you form using material from another publisher? If not may I suggest: Midgard by Kobold Press Lots of...

Its not just MCing though, see previous comment about being able to get it via feats, Tomelocks, Bards, Nature clerics, 3pp via races as well although you can do that with the Vuman as well.

AL would not make a satisfying campaign for a home group of experienced players. They are very vanilla and by design simple enough to be solved in 2 to 4 hours. It is as primitive as possible with the early levels being nothing more than go from point A to point B, have two fights, pick up an item/rescue someone, and then come home without incident. Honestly, you as a DM could do better off...

Agreed. But for many GMs it is not a matter for need. There are GMs who have a preternatural urge to tinker with any rule set.

Welcome back! The plan is pretty much this, except that gimlak will switch sleds to have a faster two wolfpower engine.I recommend that all y'all turn the sled on its side fo conver (and hiding). Apologies for not being responsive, I was travelling for business, but I'll post IC right now to get thiings moving. Cheers, SG

20 AC is what the Ranger was. The Ranger was Bow/Two-Weapon. The Manticore landed at least one Crit every round, sometimes two. The Monk/Wizard had a 21 AC with the Shield Cantrip up (most of the time), 20 AC otherwise. The Monk/Wizard had no STR bonus, so was just hitting for 1d6. The Manticore AC was high and Monk/Wizard never landed a Flurry. I believe it was your observation that your...

He literally "glides." It's the aberrant equivalent of a saunter. ;)

Actually, I’ve been playing a few clerics over the past few years, and come to think of it, I rarely swap out spells. Sometimes I have to force myself to remember that I can have my PCs pray for different spells each prayer time.

Sure, and thats my intent too. I point is that calling the check is not a signal to the character in game to cast guidance. So the players needs to explain why they cast guidance right now after walking throught the forest alday without casting it or they are triggering the spell casting on a metagame reason. If a character says I am going to try and jump that hole and tie off the rope, the other...

1st Edition AD&D was Greyhawk. The Forgotten Realms was not purchased until 1987, two years prior to 2e. 2e had no default setting and a myriad of non-FR settings were published. 3e was Greyhawk by default. 4e was the Nentir Vale by default. Why would they get away from FR? The whole point is that it's generic so it's easier to file off the serial numbers to use it in a homebrew world. ...

This seems extraordinarily unlikely unless you made a mistake. OBVIOUS SPOILERS BELOW When the PCs enter the straight corridor leading into the hall where the villain is located, they are 80 feet away. The villain has 120-ft. darkvision. The villain likely doesn't have line-of-sight for the full 80 feet due to stairs, but he can still see them in the corridor before they even get to the...

I can see your point of view and I think a lot of folks in Adventurer's League are going to run into this issue with this AP. But I love it. There are plenty of reasons a powerful NPC would run from the fight. First, most powerful people got to where they are at by not getting into unnecessary fights and not under-estimating opponents. Even weakling get lucky. Also, depending on the...

Shillelagh remains competitive up to level 10, even for a straight-up single-class druid. Produce flame gives you 2d8 damage (average 9); shillelagh gives you 1d8+5 (average 9.5) with maxed-out Wisdom. While you're limited to melee range, you're also dealing magical bludgeoning damage, which means you almost never have to deal with resistance or immunity. And you don't get disadvantage in melee,...

Yeah, switching things from active checks by the players against a set DC to passive checks versus an opposed roll is effectively just bringing in rolling-secretly-for-the-players by the back door. At that point you may as well just roll the players' checks secretly, because it amounts to exactly the same thing.

Something I've just thought of: Time If there is no chance of failure but the elapsed time is important then make the roll, but don't treat a low roll as "failed to perform the activity"; treat it as "took longer than normal to perform the activity." For example, there is generally no way a skilled woodworker is going to fail to create a simple chair. Sometimes, however, a one hour job...

Yes, if you have a pre-racial stat bonus of 18 and get a +2 to that stat, you start with a 20. And then you can raise it to 21 at 4th, 22 at 8th, and so on...

But the thing is the creature in question is specifically listed as not trying to kill the party; it's first and only goal is to run. If it has to knock some/all of the party unconscious to do that, it will, but the PCs should not at any point end up dead because of it. To be fair this is true of most encounters a 1st level party is expected to encounter. This... this is kind of...

Some of the art is really stupendous, so yeah, definitely.

The really weird thing is that this druid cantrip was designed to account for multi-classing at all, when multi-classing isn't even assumed in the basic game. Unless you add in that option, the only point of the cantrip is that it lets your druid use a (thematically-appropriate) club or staff for their rare melee attacks, rather than the (technically-allowed) scimitar. If you're playing in a...

The encounter is bad. It's not the first time D&D made a bad encounter and it isnt THAT big a deal. I was just shocked that the online reaction to it seems to be"Doesn't matter what the rules of the game are just do what you want" when it comes to saving the party. Also no the foe isn't telegraphed in any way.The pc's don't find out about him until they see him but yes he is indeed...

When Doctor Who and D&D meet in an... unexpected way. (For those not in the know, the female in that picture is Eldrad, the foe of the 1974 Doctor Who serial The Hand of Fear.)

The cantrip is good as is, Druids have never been good at melee outside of things like Flameblade or a magic weapon. My 1E Druid used a +2 Scimitar of Speed for example and it made him OK at combat (lower THACO, fighters had weapon specialisation). 2E was similar to 1E except Druid got nerfed, 3E spells and wildshape were better, 4E not sure about. Basically you only used weapons much at low...

Well I think a big shelf thing at 5th level is that is when you get your first stat increases. So since that means everyone would get likely 1 more AC from dex at that level and thus would catch up more than just their level progression. Looking at the level 4 characters I pregenerated for when my group made the conversion the Paladin/Fighter had a 20 AC at 4th level. This is with no magic...

Hey, you chose the sea, and when I rolled for encounters, this is what popped up. But that said, y’all have done GREAT! I know the baddies had some big restrictions, like not being able to attack immediately and needing to get the boats together, but I’ll make sure the rewards as you play are worth the battles. You will all probably level up after this fight. We’ve games been going on...

Alexander, Lloyd 21 Bulfinch, Thomas 4-2=2 Cook, Glen 21 Jemisin, N.K. 18 Kay, Guy Gavriel 21 LeGuin, Ursula 21 Lynch, Scott 20 McKillip, Patricia 21 Peake, Mervyn 18 Pratchett, Terry 19

Sesto nodded at Luko's warning. You're right. I better stay here. If I'm going to be robbed on the way to the "Sun" then I might as well get robbed here by the inn keeper... at the least I will keep my life! Sesto handed Luko a copper piece for his honest advice and went to the inn keeper to make arrangements. Safer here were people think we are friends of the Brotherhood.

If the NPC is scripted to run, this looks like very typical bad scripting. They could at least have had him 'saunter'. :)

You are still looking at it through the lens of combat being the only way to interact with the villain. I think that is the heart of the problem.

One thing I don't think anyone has pointed out yet is that Shillelagh, unlike the other one-shot-and-done cantrips, can also be used outside your turn for your opportunity attack if someone provokes one. Without even bringing Extra Attack into the equation, there's still the possibility of getting in more damage than just your one hit on your turn. Not saying that's a huge thing, but it may well...

That is demonstrably not true. As a matter of fact, unless you are using a variant where you play on a grid, there are no "squares". So it can't even be possibly true in the base game. It's a line - I can shoot in in any direction I like. I can fire ti at 20 degrees to the left - which if I was on a grid would start in the sam square as if firing 20 degrees to the right, but the next...

Something reasonable would be: There are things more powerful than you, play close attention to my descriptions. And if you find yourself in a tough battle, retreat might be in order. But the encounter would still be be 100% wrong - it's telegraphed weaker (running), and there was no opportunity to realize they were in a rough battle and retreat since it was a one turn kill. If the DM...

The Last Unicorn--24 The Hobbit--22 The Lord of the Rings--19 Wizards--9Princess Mononoke--23 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind--23 Spirited Away--23 Secret of Nimh--23Kubo and the Two Strings--19 Howl's Moving Castle--18

While we're still busy getting the orphans to the druid's community, we say goodbye to Gale. Auryn asks her to stay safe and to avoid getting indebted to someone who might force her to act against her beliefs. “I really don't want to see you become a slave to someone else, you know? Should you ever need help, just ask us. Even if we cannot guarantee you that the RHC might be able to help,...

True but then its only a +1 damage bonus over a normal ranger who took the TWF feat instead (and +1 AC and draw an extra weapon). As I said the only way you can really break the feat is really high rolled stats IMHO and PHB have this problem as well (say 18+ and 16+). Otherwise its mostly +1 or +2 damage to all attacks on weaker weapons. Helps close the gap. Maybe at level 12 and 16 as well...

Speaking of ranger, it seems quite useful for the Strength Ranger too. Another one that will likely start with 16 strength and 14 dex.

Just wanted to post a revision update. Several revisions have occurred over the last month: Revision history: 1.02: removed images due to broken links, changed the Lopper's reaction to fire, added hitpoints for Splatterman's rats. 1.03: changed lockpicking checks 1.04: adjusted some stats, changed the leveling suggestions, clarified some rules 1.05: added in suggested stats for Kendra...

The Last Unicorn--23 The Hobbit--22 The Lord of the Rings--19 Wizards--9Princess Mononoke--23 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind--25 Spirited Away--23 Secret of Nimh--23Kubo and the Two Strings--19 Howl's Moving Castle--18 The Dark Crystal--20

Anything that gets Barbarians away from great weapons is fine by me so I would allow it. I have not like the Barbarian class since 2E though there it was a tough outlander non magical Ranger type PC not a rager (which was 1 option). The way I look at it is the feat rewards you for trying something different kind of like how Monks rock with spears but spears overall are a bit meh. The...

Yes, this is one of the misgivings I have about using passive Survival; it's either too static or I'm treating the terrain as if it's a creature. I've seen some DMs suggest rolling for traps versus passive Perception, and I've never much liked that idea. The difference here is that while each trap is unique with its own DC and once it's encountered the next one may be different, terrain types...

I used to be an FR fan but after they blew it up in 4E I'm not interested in it. The Mary Sues are not baked in as such but they do exist and I remember an adventure in the 2E boxed set that had Elminster make a cameo walking a dog saying heel which triggered a wand or something. You would generally have to buy splat books to get the Mary Sues stats so not baked in as such but not that hard...

Very nice. 3x 1d6+Strength+Dex+Rage damage is pretty respectable.

Hope so, it's one heck of an introductory battle.

I looked this combo up last night to see if it worked. Some 3pp also lets you acquire it in various ways. We're playing Midgard next and one of the races gains shillagh as a cantrip while another one picks up a Druid cantrip. Said race (Dragonkin) gets +2 charisma and +1 str so you can have a Paladin key everything of charisma and probably wear medium armor. Even without 3pp and...