D&D 5E Ariadna, the allmighty druid

Ritorix · Sep 23, 2014

We don't have drowning rules yet, but in the final playtest it eventually set your HP to 0. A 'fish out of water' would just turn back into a giant.

Silvenger · Sep 23, 2014

Don't focus on the fish. The point that it's a very powerful spell that succeeds too easily. Let's say it's not a fish, but a turtle. And let's say Ariadna is L7. The giant is two levels above the druid. She still has the spell and her Spell Save DC is 16 instead of 17. The giant only fails with an 1-9 roll. Too easy for a final boss, in my opinion.

Silvenger · Sep 23, 2014

Lancelot said:
1. Druid wins initiative and polymorphs the giant into a trout. PCs celebrate with high-fives!

2. Ambush drakes look puzzled, notice a trout flopping around on the floor, and take a bite out of that tasty fishy treat.

3. Trout takes at least 1 hp of damage, and is immediately returned to angry cloud giant form, with a drake's tooth sticking out of his rear end. He then proceeds to go Barry Bonds on the druid with his club

This point is really cool. An unexpected counter attack.

TwoSix · Sep 23, 2014

Silvenger said:
Don't focus on the fish. The point that it's a very powerful spell that succeeds too easily. Let's say it's not a fish, but a turtle. And let's say Ariadna is L7. The giant is two levels above the druid. She still has the spell and her Spell Save DC is 16 instead of 17. The giant only fails with an 1-9 roll. Too easy for a final boss, in my opinion.

Honestly, if you're used to 4e, it's just a difference in play style you'll have to adapt to. 4e removed the bulk of the insta-kill spells that existed in previous versions. 5e has brought some of them back in. The best bet if you want to have a single Big Bad Boss is to make it a legendary monster, so that it can auto-succeed on several saves. Otherwise, mixing and matching multiple monsters is your best chance for a challenging encounter.

5e, like many earlier versions of D&D, doesn't assume that every encounter will be a challenging one; sometimes encounters are just there to use up resources. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing has been hotly debated, and primarily depends on what kind of game you like to play.

Tormyr · Sep 23, 2014

Ritorix said:
We don't have drowning rules yet, but in the final playtest it eventually set your HP to 0. A 'fish out of water' would just turn back into a giant.

Actually, there is. Page 65 of the basic rules. You get Con mod number of minutes (minimum 30 seconds) before you run out of breath. You then get con mod (minimum 1) rounds to get a breath before dropping to 0 points and death saving throws.

Gargoyle · Sep 24, 2014

Since HotDQ came out the same time as the PHB, I'd say it's understandable why the final boss doesn't have legendary actions and saves, but ideally he should have them. Regardless of whether you think it's OP or not, the nature of spells like polymorph causing anticlimactic fights is why legendary monsters exist. I plan on making him and his lair legendary.

Silvenger · Sep 24, 2014

Gargoyle said:
Since HotDQ came out the same time as the PHB, I'd say it's understandable why the final boss doesn't have legendary actions and saves, but ideally he should have them. Regardless of whether you think it's OP or not, the nature of spells like polymorph causing anticlimactic fights is why legendary monsters exist. I plan on making him and his lair legendary.

It makes sense.

D&D 5E Ariadna, the allmighty druid

Ritorix

First Post

Silvenger

First Post

Silvenger

First Post

TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer

Tormyr

Hero

Gargoyle

Adventurer

Silvenger

First Post

Similar Threads