mellored
Legend
It's perfectly possible to hold someone over a fire without being in it yourself.
A compromise might be that the creature takes 1/2 damage, since it's not all the way in, or you take 1/2 damage, since your only part of the way in.
D&D 5E The Grappler's Manual (2.0) - Grappling in 5th Edition
A compromise might be that the creature takes 1/2 damage, since it's not all the way in, or you take 1/2 damage, since your only part of the way in.
Arandomperson
First Post
Vileo Sufora
First Post
Thankfully the Web Archive exists. Google Way Back Machine and punch in the WotC forums URL. I'd post a direct link, but forums and less than three posts.
Enjoy, all. Also, first post!
Thank you for this very enlightening guide. It helped me quite a lot so far.
Although I wonder if Heavy Armor Master is a bit underrated (at least for the eldritch knight) because of several reasons.
First it is quite potent early on. It might fall back at higher levels, when magical or spell attacks and energy attacks do happen more often, but still non-magical weapon attacks might be the most common damage source you'll have to face your entire career.
Secondly
Weak against large numbers of opponents. As in real life (for those martial artists in the audience), grappling is not particularly effective against multiple attackers. You can only meaningfully engage with as many attackers as you have hands, which is often just going to be two.
Now in case of being overwhelmed throw in a Blade Ward. Now you have resistance against slashing, piercing and bludgeoning (magical and non-magical) weapon attacks and - afaik - the damage reduction by Heavy Armor Master is applied after cutting the damage in half. Ok, you might not be able to grapple that turn (except when using Action Surge), but at least you have the bonus action attack (War Mage). If you do not get focused by the mob however this is where you can do your job, which is catch and pin the bad guys.
Another issue is the Create Bonfire Cantrip. If you probably run out of the most important concentration spell - Enlarge - or you might want to save a slot for worse, Create Bonfire might not be this bad, especially when focusing on one (medium or large sized) target. Grab him, prone him, strike him (11th). Now Eldritch Strike is in effect. Cast Create Bonfire on 2nd turn. You also might cast it before the battle begins and drag your victims into it. You can also cast it right between your enemies before you get into the thick of things. 3d8 fire damage while you have all your attacks left and Eldritch Strike further increases Create Bonfire's potential. It might not be gold, but at least it might be a viable last resort or backup plan, especially because it does not need a spell Slot (unlike other choices).
These are just some ideas. Feel free to disagree.
Although I wonder if Heavy Armor Master is a bit underrated (at least for the eldritch knight) because of several reasons.
First it is quite potent early on. It might fall back at higher levels, when magical or spell attacks and energy attacks do happen more often, but still non-magical weapon attacks might be the most common damage source you'll have to face your entire career.
Secondly
Weak against large numbers of opponents. As in real life (for those martial artists in the audience), grappling is not particularly effective against multiple attackers. You can only meaningfully engage with as many attackers as you have hands, which is often just going to be two.
Now in case of being overwhelmed throw in a Blade Ward. Now you have resistance against slashing, piercing and bludgeoning (magical and non-magical) weapon attacks and - afaik - the damage reduction by Heavy Armor Master is applied after cutting the damage in half. Ok, you might not be able to grapple that turn (except when using Action Surge), but at least you have the bonus action attack (War Mage). If you do not get focused by the mob however this is where you can do your job, which is catch and pin the bad guys.
Another issue is the Create Bonfire Cantrip. If you probably run out of the most important concentration spell - Enlarge - or you might want to save a slot for worse, Create Bonfire might not be this bad, especially when focusing on one (medium or large sized) target. Grab him, prone him, strike him (11th). Now Eldritch Strike is in effect. Cast Create Bonfire on 2nd turn. You also might cast it before the battle begins and drag your victims into it. You can also cast it right between your enemies before you get into the thick of things. 3d8 fire damage while you have all your attacks left and Eldritch Strike further increases Create Bonfire's potential. It might not be gold, but at least it might be a viable last resort or backup plan, especially because it does not need a spell Slot (unlike other choices).
These are just some ideas. Feel free to disagree.
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Here is a link to the old guide, as preserved by the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150917000749/http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4142801
It includes the missing section on builds.
Cheers!
Leugren
https://web.archive.org/web/20150917000749/http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4142801
It includes the missing section on builds.
Cheers!
Leugren
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Vileo Sufora
First Post
Thanks for posting the link for me! I mentioned it a couple posts back. The builds section also has the special moves with their corresponding builds, giving a lot of ideas for interesting combats.
ktkenshinx
First Post
Sorry for not finishing this up yet. I've been DMing a campaign and that's taken up most of my D&D planning time. I'll get some of those ported over, along with some new stuff, one of these days soon! There's a lot of vacation coming up which will definitely help.
ktkenshinx
First Post
With the holiday season here and more time-off on my horizon, I'm getting back to the editing process! Finished up the level 3 and 4 spells today and will keep working at this as the month goes on. Let me know if there's anything people want added or addressed!
TheBigHouse
Explorer
yay! thanks
Huge fan of your guide! I studied it intensively on the wizards forum before it got closed. It's thanks to your guide my party was able to take down a young green dragon at lvl 3 without a single casualty. Can't wait to see what amazing combinations will show up next. Have you considered using true polymorphs secondary effect? That being that if the duration of an hour passes the transformation becomes permanent. Perhaps one could use this to shapeshift into an adult dragon for keeps and use the natural shapeshift ability of its new form/race to maintain its old class abilities and skills?
EDIT:
To elaborate a bit more on the idea:
A level 17 bard would get access to True polymorph as a level 9 spell
True polymorphs spell desc states and I quote: "If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the transformation becomes permanent."
The second part of this spell that's important is what you can transform into: "If you turn a creature into another kind of creature, the new form can be any kind you choose w hose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target’s (or its level, if the target doesn’t have a challenge rating). The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality. The target assumes the hit points of its new form"
Basically what this means is that level=CR, so a lvl 17 character can transform into a CR 17 creature like..oh, I don't know, an adult golden dragon would do.
So this means the spell not only provides us with a form of permanent transformation into another race/species, but also potentially a massive statbump on top of that. (Not to mention new abilities such as flight, breath attacks etc).
Now the downside of assuming a new form is that the spell notes that spells, actions and even talking can be limited or even impossible depending on what form you're in, but that's where the beauty comes in: not only can an adult dragon speak, use basic and advanced actions and even spells, they also have the ability to Change Shape naturally. Meaning a PC that became a dragon for keeps through this spell could simply Change Shape into the form they had before they were changed by the spell. (useful for entering dungeons and many other occurances).
An important detail regarding this is that it's mentioned that the statblock of the dragon sticks around when it shape changes, effectively providing a PC with 27 STR to use the adult golden dragon example.
The total result of this? A grappler with 27 STR, 25 CON, 14 DEX and 24 CHA (mentioning CHA for bards regarding spellcasting). Since AC is natural armor+Dex and an adult gold dragons AC is 19 we're dealing with a natural AC of 17 instead of 10, making it especially amazing for barbarians which suddenly end up with AC 26 (without a shield or any magic items!), a very potent AoE breath attack (hordes are grapplers weakspot afteral), the ability to Change Shape to avoid size restrictions and finally what makes it so amazing for us grapplers: The ability to grapple GARGANTUAN creatures (adult gold dragon is huge size after all), a massive STR bonus to grapple and all that on top of our athletic skill.
Ladies and gentlemen *puts down mug* We can grapple the Terrasque.
EDIT2: Note that this costs NO concentration after the spell becomes permanent and can be cast on allies as well!
EDIT:
To elaborate a bit more on the idea:
A level 17 bard would get access to True polymorph as a level 9 spell
True polymorphs spell desc states and I quote: "If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the transformation becomes permanent."
The second part of this spell that's important is what you can transform into: "If you turn a creature into another kind of creature, the new form can be any kind you choose w hose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target’s (or its level, if the target doesn’t have a challenge rating). The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality. The target assumes the hit points of its new form"
Basically what this means is that level=CR, so a lvl 17 character can transform into a CR 17 creature like..oh, I don't know, an adult golden dragon would do.
So this means the spell not only provides us with a form of permanent transformation into another race/species, but also potentially a massive statbump on top of that. (Not to mention new abilities such as flight, breath attacks etc).
Now the downside of assuming a new form is that the spell notes that spells, actions and even talking can be limited or even impossible depending on what form you're in, but that's where the beauty comes in: not only can an adult dragon speak, use basic and advanced actions and even spells, they also have the ability to Change Shape naturally. Meaning a PC that became a dragon for keeps through this spell could simply Change Shape into the form they had before they were changed by the spell. (useful for entering dungeons and many other occurances).
An important detail regarding this is that it's mentioned that the statblock of the dragon sticks around when it shape changes, effectively providing a PC with 27 STR to use the adult golden dragon example.
The total result of this? A grappler with 27 STR, 25 CON, 14 DEX and 24 CHA (mentioning CHA for bards regarding spellcasting). Since AC is natural armor+Dex and an adult gold dragons AC is 19 we're dealing with a natural AC of 17 instead of 10, making it especially amazing for barbarians which suddenly end up with AC 26 (without a shield or any magic items!), a very potent AoE breath attack (hordes are grapplers weakspot afteral), the ability to Change Shape to avoid size restrictions and finally what makes it so amazing for us grapplers: The ability to grapple GARGANTUAN creatures (adult gold dragon is huge size after all), a massive STR bonus to grapple and all that on top of our athletic skill.
Ladies and gentlemen *puts down mug* We can grapple the Terrasque.
EDIT2: Note that this costs NO concentration after the spell becomes permanent and can be cast on allies as well!
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