D&D 5E Being strong and skilled is a magic of its own or, how I learned to stop worrying and love anime fightin' magic

[Maxperson]

Well I sure don't have a chance now if you take my crits away!

What if I take them away, but give you three military drones?

 

[Cadence]

Their cantrips scale, and they can cast a bonus action spell the same turn as an attack cantrip. Mage Armor and Shield exist. Plenty of casting classes/subclasses get armor proficiencies. In my experience, it's harder to hit a Wizard than it is a martial character, because Wizards can use spells and subclass abilities to substantially increase their defense, while martial characters generally have static defense capabilities.

Then pause leveling at the level you like playing at, and don't let them get those abilities.

If you're fine with casters getting reshaping the world abilities, you should be fine with martial characters doing the same. This is a game, and one person's fun (casters with high level spells) shouldn't take away from another person's (the fighter just getting another attack).

No arguments. So I'd be all over an E10 version of the PHB. And if we only get one or the other, the one that goes to higher levels is the one to pick.

Someone posted tongue in cheek above about having a B/X and Advanced version. I wonder what we'd get if we had two parallel games, one that tried to spread out levels 1-10, and one that embraced the full 20. (I mean, get besides splitting the player base, etc...)

 

[Haplo781]

No arguments. So I'd be all over an E10 version of the PHB. And if we only get one or the other, the one that goes to higher levels is the one to pick.

Someone posted tongue in cheek above about having a B/X and Advanced version. I wonder what we'd get if we had two parallel games, one that tried to spread out levels 1-10, and one that embraced the full 20. (I mean, get besides splitting the player base, etc...)

I think you mean full 30.

If the Basic/Advanced split were to come back, Advanced would be a refinement of 4e's best ideas on a 1DD chassis.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not what I said.

You said that him being able to remove the rope before the energy hit him with alike a cartoon.

Except it's a 'magic' item and there's not precedent for how fast it's supposed to move as it gets to do anything because 'magic'.

That's the deal, apparently right? Magic gets a pass to be not 'realistic' (despite a simple you tube search shows people jumping through hoops like all the time, so realist is not realistic, I guess), so that part should be fine because it's magic.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I prefer to have some things grounded in something closer to "realism" in my fantastical settings because it makes the fantastic more so. If everything is just high fantasy it just saps the magic out of it for me.

See, I'd rather have the fantastic rather than realistic. Fantastic being battered down for the sake of 'magic' saps the joy out of it.

 

[Maxperson]

You said that him being able to remove the rope before the energy hit him with alike a cartoon.

Because energy moves waaaay too fast for that to be possible. He could and should have been able to interact with the object and taken damage as he did so. OR removed it before the guy could trigger the energy.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Because energy moves waaaay too fast for that to be possible.

...

...

Energy does now work that way.

First of all, different forms of energy move at different speeds through different mediums. Light moves at a different speed through vacuum than in air than in water. Same with sound. Same with non-light radiation, same with kinetic energy.

Second, whatever's in that rope is... not 'energy'. It's clearly not electricity because electricity can't cut through metal on its own. So it's like a plasma channel or something. Point being, we have no idea how it works to try and start assigning a speed to it. Basically, it is magic. A black box to explain a thing working without explaining that thing working.

And seeing as it's magic, it gets to do what it wants as per the 'rules' set down in this very thread. Don't like not getting to do fun things? Get a magic weapon or get spells and now you get to break whatever false verisimilitude we're striving for. So this guy is interacting with a magic item, just like we're being told and that still isn't enough.

 

[Maxperson]

First of all, different forms of energy move at different speeds through different mediums. Light moves at a different speed through vacuum than in air than in water. Same with sound. Same with non-light radiation, same with kinetic energy.

Which of those move slower than a human arm can move?

Second, whatever's in that rope is... not 'energy'. It's clearly not electricity because electricity can't cut through metal on its own. So it's like a plasma channel or something. Point being, we have no idea how it works to try and start assigning a speed to it. Basically, it is magic. A black box to explain a thing working without explaining that thing working.

I mean, this is not Discworld light we're talking about here, though what happened in that clip was certainly comedic.

 

[Baron Opal II]

The real and pure issue is

What is the 18 HD CR 12 warrior equivalent to this:

Spoiler

View attachment 258603

How about this?

Stalwart Elena Hadrian
Fighter 18; Order of the Gorgon
STR: 18+2, INR: 11, WIS: 13, DEX: 8, CON: 15, CHA: 11+2

Background: Street Rat (Streetwise, Tighten Belt, Criminal Contact)

1st Fighting Style (Defender- +1 AC w/ armor)
2nd Action Surge
3rd Improved Critical; Order of the Gorgon (joins at 3rd, could have at 1st)

• Hide of the Beast (+2 AC with Heavy Armor)
• Geas: Must be barefoot and in contact with the ground

3rd Order of the Gorgon (Blood-bound, +1 hp/level)

5th Leadership (+1 Morale to followers w/in 30 ft)

6th Order of the Gorgon (The Beast Does Not Move- Considered large sized & x3 weight against forced movement, grappling, and lifting)

6th Order of the Gorgon (Comfort of Stillness- paralyzation, hold, &c. at half duration. May be completely immobile for level in minutes at a time)

7th Remarkable Athlete

9th Indomitable;

9th Order of the Gorgon (The Charge Does Not Stop- As “The Beast”, but applies to applying forced movement, &c. Hurled weapons can charge / overbear.)

10th Fighting Style (Unarmed Fighting)

12th Order of the Gorgon (Breath of the Gorgon- Stunning strike, 1 + CON mod / hr)

15th Superior Critical; Order of the Gorgon (Immunity to paralyzation, petrification, &c. May be immobile for up to 12 hours)

18th Survivor; Order of the Gorgon (Open / Close Fissure, 1/day)

Weapon: Grinder; +2 Battle axe, Wounding; if scoring a critical hit, the axe bites into the foe and chews. The next hit is automatic.
Item: Heartbound Gauntlet- One bonded item within 30 ft. can be summoned to the hand as a free action
Totemic Armor: +2 Plate made from gorgon scales. Weighs twice as much as normal to those outside the Order due to the thick crude plates. Grants +2 STR to members of the Order.

To separate it out:

Order of the Gorgon
Earth/Metal based fighting style
Geas: Must be barefoot and touching the ground

1st: +2 AC with heavy armor
3rd: +1 hp/level
6th: Bonus to resist forced movement
6th: Partial immunity
9th: Bonus to apply forced movement
12th: Stunning Strike
15th: Full immunity
18th: Thematic attack

 

[Vaalingrade]

Which of those move slower than a human arm can move?

Heat through metal?

Also, moving a human arm involves the transfer of energy too. Never conduction velocity, the mechanical constriction of muscle fibers. The friction of tendons and bone.

Energy is not just 'glow stuff that moves faster than human reflexes'.

I mean, this is not Discworld light we're talking about here, though what happened in that clip was certainly comedic.

We're also not talking about whatever 'energy' people describe when they don't know what the glowy bits are. We don't know what it is-- except we know it's not 'pure energy' because that is not a thing.