I'm almost afraid to ask...

[TwinPeaksGuy]

I was afraid that would be the response.

That's definitely a last straw for me: I'm not buying into 5th.

The problem is not with 5th edition rules, it's that AL is organized play and has rules of its own. The ability to house rule anything, whether or not it makes sense, is limited in exchange for being able to drift from one FLGS or convention to another.

Find a home game and house rule things to your heart's content.

 

[kalani]

Yeah, this is the Adventurers League forum. As such, these rules only apply in respect to Adventurers League (the 5E Organized Play program). In a non-AL game, house-rules are only as limited as the DM allows. I don't see many DMs having an issue with you creating a hybrid weapon/implement in their games. Heck, I personally don't see it as game-breaking even in AL. It still isn't allowed in AL however, for the reasons described above (no matter how innocuous)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Dudes, this shouldn't even be a house rule issue. Attaching bells to a mace is something a kid could do. Native American war clubs and tomahawks were frequently decorated with beads, feathers, medicine pouches, etc. You can find Asian & African blades & polearms with metal rings that jingle in museums. For that matter, warriors worldwide and all through history up to the modern riot-gear equipped policeman have used their weapons & shield as improvised drums to intimidate their foes.*

The difference between an escrima fighting stick and a similarly sized rhythm stick? Ridges. That won't change the force of a blow struck with one.

Sure, it lets you have something that is 2 things at once, but so do wizards & monks with their walking sticks/quarter staves/wizard staffs. The difference is everyone EXPECTS those to be dangerous in a FRPG. Besides, it does so realistically, and usually at the cost of not being easily able to move silently. And making music with something most people wouldn't it is the very kind of thing I'd expect a Bard to be able to do.**

To be clear, there are things I like about 5th, but this kind of thing bugs the bejesus out of me. Besides, I have 70+ other systems I can play with, so, while I feel bad about abandoning the game that got me into the hobby in '77, that feeling will pass.

Paraphrasing Rival Sons' "Good Luck": well, its gonna hurt right now but later it won't even cross my mind.

Sorry to derail.






* by this point, I'm pretty sure that there is no rule for an improvised instrument.

** anyone ever make a comb harmonica? Familiar with the origins of the glass armonica? Seen the guy who makes flutes out of carrots? Or see Frank Zappa play the bicycle on the Steve Allen show?

 

[devlin1]

 

[delericho]

I was afraid that would be the response.

That's definitely a last straw for me: I'm not buying into 5th.

That does seem an awfully small thing to be a deal-breaker. Especially since it applies only to the organised Adventurer's League games. But then, once you've got a few doxen games available (and other editions of D&D as well), I guess you don't need much - they really have to persuade you to play their game.

 

[Steve_MND]

I was afraid that would be the response. That's definitely a last straw for me: I'm not buying into 5th.

Note that that's not 5E, that's AL, which is by itself an almost embarrassing collection of wibbly-wobbly elements on the one hand that are almost guaranteed to vary from table to table, coupled with a handful of other elements on the other hand that are so written in stone, they're practically cuneiform. It's definitely an awkward collection of disparate elements rules-wise, so the best advice I've been able to give is go by the rules as best you can, and go by what you can find in your area and the people running it so you can have fun with everyone, but do not expect anything will be the same at a different table or a different locations.

Not that AL can't be fun -- it still can be -- but you just have to keep in mind the occasioanlly-schizophrenic personality of the campaign. But if worrying about potential stuff like that isn't your bag (and it isn't for a lot of people), then they might be better suited to a home campaign under 5E. But if it's a local home campaign, your DM may well allow it. Don't sink 5E totally down just because of a single type of campaign.

 

[Eltab]

Oddly enough, I had a 3e Bard whose entertainment shtick was a puppet show. (with Mage Hand, I can do like Pinocchio "I got no strings")
I never thought to bring the puppets out during a fight, so the discussion embodied in this thread never came up.

 

[TwinPeaksGuy]

https://i.chzbgr.com/full/5302643456/h76EAD099/

 

[Pauper]

I was afraid that would be the response.

That's definitely a last straw for me: I'm not buying into 5th.

I wouldn't give up on the whole system over one AL ruling -- just start your own home game and you can have whatever jingling clubs or lute-axes you want.

Though maybe I'm misunderstanding the reason for your disappointment.

--
Pauper

 

[Jabborwacky]

To be honest, the whole creepy puppeteer idea feels more survivable than a lot of other character concepts in Ravenloft simply due to the xenophobia one has to expect when jumping into the Ravenloft setting. Your only real worry would be locals mistaking you for a true vistani, which will be quickly proven wrong by how differently you act. Hard mode would be playing an entire party of tieflings. Now if that doesn't cause some angry mobs, I don't know what will.