I have seen people talk about Wizards and Bards using this combo, but has anyone seen Wildfire use it in 5.5e? It looks like a solid option and you get medium armor and shield without multiclassing. You would probably want MI Wizard for Shield though.
I would like to play as a Single Class Scion of the Three rogue. There are a few things giving me 2nd, 3rd and even 4th thoughts. Any suggestions to compensate?
Subclass Feature only works INT mod times per long rest with no way to get any uses back earlier till level 17. Nothing until then, not even a get back one use on a short rest.
Subclass features have you make a Melee attack on the reaction strike. Does this allow a Magic action if you want to focus INT and use Strue Strike?
I make it to level 13 and the feature I get is 10' Emanation that does only INT Mod in damage and only usable Int Mod times per Long Rest.
And that is if I make it to level 13 Unless this is a to level 20 campaign.
If I go INT prime for True Strike (Magic Initiate) and multiple uses of Class Feature, it will cut into DEX for all the Rogue skills and AC (Plus may want CON for HP, WIS for perception)
Help.
I want to play a mounted halfling beastmaster whose companion is a Lion. Character wise he is inspired by the many Greek heroes like Perseus, Heracles, Odysseus, and Theseus. What is like a backstory that makes sense for him and fits within forgotten realms as I don’t know a lot of lore? Obviously the game it self will be his trials and labors. But like what makes sense for him in terms of where is he from and the prevalence of lions in forgotten realms? In 2024 there is no “folk hero” background what should I pick instead?
Trying to make a choice here.
So as the title mentions...which is more optimal? I am ok with either.
Starting as level 5 in campaign. Point buy Option Fire Goliath + 1d 10 damage or Infernal Tiefling Fire resistance and spells. Maybe Dragonborn?
Paladin is Oath of Vengeance, casting Divine Favor, with maybe True Strike. Heavy Armor, no Shield, Two Weapon Fighting fighting style and Duel Wielding feat, Short sword and Scimitar...Pretty basic here
Warlock is Infernal for Misty Step and Darkness, Could go Fiend for Command, Suggestion, Fireball and just get Misty Step and Darkness spells
Evocations:
Pact of the Blade, Mask of Many Faces, Thirsting Blade, Devils Sight and pact of the Chain with Sphinx for advantage
Dual Weapon feat, again +1 Short Sword and Scimitar Typical fighting in Darkness, maybe have a Whip also, dropping Hungar of Haddar and pull enemies into it or using Rappelling Blast to push them into it.
Never played a duel wielding Paladin so unsure if that would be my style. Have done Great Weapon Fighting with Great Sword and Two Handed Weapon
Not sure which might actually deal most damage, but Fire Goliath will add in damage with both.
Thoughts?
Most people underestimate these demons because they don't quite reach the CR that the Pit Fiends and Solars do. The thing that makes them truly threatening is that they can afford to die. You kill a Solar? Great, you took out appropriately 5% of the entire population. You kill a Pit Fiend? Good going, there's probably less than a thousand alive now. You kill a Balor? A. You didn't make a dent in the population. B. There's gonna be the Abyss to pay when it explodes.
If only demons could get their act together, all other Fiends and Celestials would be dead.
Subclass here:
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/U6KXn0LRT2C8
Howdy ya'll, looking for any insight, advice, or notes on this little rewrite for the Gladiator subclass that appeared in the Apocalyptic Subclasses PDF that dropped back in August of last year linked here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/ua/apocalyptic-subclasses
As the tin says, I thought it would be interesting to take a step away from the Battle Master design of 'spend resource=bonus damage and effect', so please let me know what you think of the balance. There's also a second page that explains my thought process a bit too. Thank you for reading, my buddies
With the new 5.5 trickery domain invoke duplicity no longer being concentration I want to hear good ideas on combos with it. Not spirit guardians we all already know about spirit guardians I want other ideas. And I wanna hear even non cleric spells. I personally like the idea of greater invisible and just casting spells from your dupe as you hide on the other side of the map.
Context:
The party I will be playing with are a stabby stabby rouge, Shadow Monk, Evo Wizard, and Light Cleric.
The campaign will be Descent into Avernus and has been Homebrewed up to level 15 from the original 13. I am not spoiling myself by reading about the campaign so I am only going on assumptions, but at the very least I am expecting to predominantly be fighting Fiends, some undead, and likely a monstrosity or two.
The players are largely new and I don't expect them to minmax or even necessarily play their build more than their player fantasy. I do however expect the Clerk to take Inspiration Leader
The Rules we are playing are ONLY PHB 2024
With that in mind I see the obvious gap of some Charisma, which sure probably not too much wheeling and dealing to be had in hell, but I know devils do love their deals so it should at least be present and something we can handle well. So that pushed me toward Bard or Paladin.
I originally built this with a sorcerer instead of a bard, but when I realized that because of the enemy types I'll be facing are largely fiend/undead/Monstrousity a large portion of them (or at least the dangerous ones) will have Magic Resistance if not outright immune to Fear or Charm, which were my primary group control. With this in mind I shifted the build toward a Bard that will allow my team to reposition without penalty, have some extra temp hp and better roles when it counts, as well as eventually get me a free fire bonus action Command.
I want to be clear this build is support and control first, foremost, and exclusively. He is being built to protect the other players and enable them to dish damage and cover for their mistakes if not outright prevent them by locking the enemies down. I am attempting to achieve this through a mix of locking them in melee with me, while still being able to protect those in melee and while having concentration running still be able to CC with spells like Command and eventually charm when Bard gets to 3. Yes I know "just go full wizard or Druid! Spellcasters are the best cc!!!" Shush, that's not what we are doing here.
Here is the level plan I have:
1: Pally 1: Origin is Musician, Race is Brass Dragonborn, I rolled STUPID high stats 18-18-17-16-15-5 (Yes, my character will be illiterate for the sake of optimization lmao). Rocking a Battleaxe and Warhammer for Topple and Push
2: Pally 2: Fighting Style: Protection, Bless, Command, Thunderous Smite
3: Warlock 1: Pact of the Blade, Eldritch Blast/Mind Sliver, Armor of Agathys
4: Pally 3: Oath of vengeance, Vow of Enmity
5: Pally 4: Sentinel
6: Pally 5: Extra attack, Warding Bond
7: Pally 6: Aura of Protection (The entire reason I am playing Paladin here)
8: Warlock 2: Magical Cunning, Eldritch Mind, Repelling Blast
9: Bard 1: Bardic Inspiration, Faerie Fire, Vicious Mockery
10: Bard 2:
11: Bard 3: College of Glamour, Beguiling Magic, Mantel of Inspiration, Mirror Images
Past here is really loose because I don't know what items we will get, if everyone is still alive yadayadayada
12: Bard 4: Likely Shield Master/Mage Slayer(My guy reads at a 3rd grade level and might need the int save), Silence
13: Bard 5: Font of Inspiration, Cacophonic Shield, Hypnotic Pattern/Mass cure wounds
14: Bard 6: Mantel of Majesty
15: Bard 7: Greater Invisibility
I would love some feedback on whether Warlock is necessary or if you have different suggestions for feats. I'll even take recommendations on another build if you can rationalize spell control against largely Magic resistant Enemies, dropping Paladin 6 is non-negotiable so start from there if that's what you doing. I would love to see something that rolls in Spirit Guardians since I can't use Cacophonic with allies near by.
I recently had an idea for some kind of supportive character, but some spells that I considered thematically really bumped me.
For example, is magic weapon really worth it if I have things like phantasmal image (on early levels) and misty step on higher?
But above else, protection from Energy is just so stupidly high level, it definitely should be a 2nd level spell. Protection from poison is way more useful while also being concentration free.
In general, most support-oriented spells are just so underwhelming.
What weak spells make u unwilling to play your concept? Do you have homebrew for such cases?
Playing as beast master ranger at level 6, and i often find myself going down almost every combat.
Do to being out groups scout/my character being kinda reckless (mele two weapon fighter) i often find myself taking a lot of beating.
Looking for advice for feats/spells/items to make me bulkier.
For now i have 17 Ac and 52 hp (14 con). I already picked up defensive dualist feat and have magic initiate Wizard as origin feat. And my friend has inspiring leader for some temp HP.
I know everyone and their mother is already complaining about how martials got the short end of the stick in 5.5e, but having played a lot of 3.5 back in the day, I feel like there's a fix that can be homebrewed into games to make the caster/martial divide less important, at least in terms of damage. And no, this isn't a post to say 3.5 or 5e were better, I'm simply picking out one feature I liked, everyone can choose their own edition.
In 3.5 there used to be no PB, instead there was Base Attack Bonus (BAB). This number only applied to your attack bonus, and it was different depending on your class. Martials got a +1 every level, casters got a +1 every other level, and half casters were in between. There also was not any "Extra attack" class feature, your BAB determined how many attacks you had (from 0-5 was 1 attack, 6-10 was 2, etc.) with each following attack being made with a lower bonus. This meant that all martials ended up reaching 3 and later 4 attacks per round, whereas casters only ever reached 2 attacks. This system is somewhat complicated, and would require too many changes to 5.5e to be brought back in its current form, but it is what gave me my idea.
I think making the "Extra attack" feature grant 2 bonus attacks for full martials instead of just one, and giving all full martials the "Improved extra attack" feature (which would give 4 extra attacks instead of 2) would be a solid solution, albeit a little lazy. To compensate for the fighter, the class would get maneuvers regardless of subclass, and Battle master would need a retrain.
I know people might disagree, think this is too powerful, or not powerful enough. Looking at what it does for martials, one more attack per round than what they should have from levels 5-10 is pretty good, adds to their dpr without being gamebreaking. Half casters that get extra attack would still only get 1 extra attack, so there's little risk of abuse (that I'm seeing right now). Also, martials would get this bonus right as casters get Fireball, Spirit Guardians and the like, so I feel like it's a nice way to compensate. The improved extra attack at level 11 would give martials 2 more attacks than they should have, at a level where casters get access to Globe of Invulnerability, Disintegrate, Summon Fiend, etc. All of these still seem very powerful compared to 5 attacks per turn. Since WotC seems to aim martials more as single target focused and casters as aoe (generally speaking), this stays in line with this design.
I'm definitely open to criticism, and if anyone here has already tested this or decides to test this out in the future, please let me know how it goes in game.
tl;dr : Homebrew to make Extra attack give 2 extra attacks instead of 1 for full martials, Improved extra attack give 4 extra attacks instead of 2, and giving Improved extra attack to all full martials at level 11.
I want to play a halfling who is mounted on the beast of the land primarily. One question I have about this is if the beast can move on its own without me using a bonus action to command it does that mean I can move shoot move or move shoot command the beast to attack with bonus action in that order? Also would heavy crossbow be a good weapon because I can push enemies away from me then use the charge feature of the beast? Bonus question what are some cool beasts that are not a wolf that my primal companion can take the form of? I like the idea of a ram, an ape, or a hyena
The Feywild Handbook is officially out now for Monster Week! This 14 page 5.5E compatible PDF is completely FREE on my Patreon from April 20th to April 24th only. Go grab it right now!
Inside you will find:
2 SUBCLASSES, 2 SPECIES, 4 SPELLS, 5 MAGIC ITEMS, & A TERRIFYING NEW MONSTER!
Cordon of Arrows is an odd spell at first read, but it starts to make a lot more sense when it's scribed into spell scrolls.
Give your Ranger proficiency with Calligrapher's Tools or Arcana and at level 5 you can start scribing one CoA scroll for every 3 days of downtime, at a cost of 100 GP per scroll. Now, the amount of down time you'll get will vary by campaign and by DM, but 100 GP every three days isn't that much in Tier 2. As long as you're getting at least an average amount of treasure, you can probably afford to do this pretty consistently with whatever time you do have.
Keep this up over a long enough campaign, and sooner or later you'll find yourself facing a big fight in a location where you can get the enemy to come to you. This is when you get out your pile of CoA scrolls and start casting them, one after the other. Casting time is only one action per scroll, the spell doesn't require concentration, and by my reading of its description there's nothing to stop you piling all the arrows into the same 5 ft square so that they all go off at once. As long as the enemy shows up within 30 ft of that square within the next eight hours, you're all set. The arrows will fire on their own, so there's no in-combat action cost for you, their targeting ignores darkness and invisibility, there's no friendly fire, and if you know what you're going to be fighting you can even set the spell to only target the low-dex monsters. And none of this costs you a spell slot.
Of course, the results are more spectacular if you save up lots of scrolls, but you get a proportional benefit with smaller numbers too. Just use whatever you have with you when the opportunity presents itself.
Spell text for reference:
>CORDON OF ARROWS (2nd Level, Action, Touch range, VSM, 8 hour duration)
You touch up to four nonmagical Arrows or Bolts and plant them in the ground in your space. Until the spell ends, the ammunition can’t be physically uprooted, and whenever a creature other than you enters a space within 30 feet of the ammunition for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there, one piece of ammunition flies up to strike it. The creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d4 Piercing damage. The piece of ammunition is then destroyed. The spell ends when none of the ammunition remains planted in the ground.
When you cast this spell, you can designate any creatures you choose, and the spell ignores them.
Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The amount of ammunition that can be affected increases by two for each spell slot level above 2.
I was curious what the interaction between the Jump spell and the Boots of Striding and Springing are. The boots read:
"While you wear these boots, your Speed becomes 30 feet unless your Speed is higher, and your Speed isn’t reduced by you carrying weight in excess of your carrying capacity or wearing Heavy Armor.
Once on each of your turns, you can jump up to 30 feet by spending only 10 feet of movement."
Meanwhile, the Jump spell reads:
"You touch a willing creature. Once on each of its turns until the spell ends, that creature can jump up to 30 feet by spending 10 feet of movement."
If you have the boots and the Jump spell active, can you hop 30ft, land, then hop another 30ft (spending 20ft of movement) or can you jump 60ft (spending 20ft of movement), or do they not stack?
Since everybody online seems still very disappointed with the new Ranger do you think they're gonna release an official fix like they did in Tasha? How long do you think will it take? Are they gonna learn from their errors and listen to feedback faster and act promptly this time around or are they gonna wait 6 years like they did with 5e?
I played a wizard with the 2014 rules a while back and was wondering if y’all have suggestions on what spells to pick that are new (like from the Heroes of Faerûn book) or ones that have been updated like Mirror Image?
(Character context being a Diviner Wizard, focusing on the usual controller / enabler archetype 🪄✨
I did the almost classical thing. I went Magic Initiate: Wizard for Shield and Warcaster. I basically went True Strike with a Great sword all the time. I did bump wisdom to 18. I know that optimizers would go shield and 1h for increased defense for Spirit Guardians. You'll soon see why it didn't matter.
My take
The gameplay is fun for two reasons. You have both the spell slot of a fullcaster and you also have a resources that recharges fully on a Short Rest. Bards can understand this feeling. The result is that you feel like you're a Battle master or a Monk resource-wise but luckily you're not as effective in melee as them. It's addicting taking a Short Rest after every fight.
What keeps this class in check are a bunch of reasons:
You don't have a Fighting style, so therefore you don't have Defense or other good fighting styles
You don't have weapon mastery so there is that.
The attack is not extra attack therefore you can't combo with Spiritual Weapon for even more attacks.
the bonus action attack uses your physical ability so if you bump wisdom for Warcaster, this attack will have a lower score than your average 18 wisdom.
What is good however :
You can both True Strike and Bonus Action attack. This means you have 1d6 extra damage from the cantrip. It's also true that you can leverage blade cantrips.
Having the bonus action attack means you can for example cast an action spell and also have the attack. where normally you would go attack and Healing word, here instead you can even go Cure Wounds and Bonus Action attack. That is especially good when Upcast because you can basically refill half your hp in one go.
I didn't try the level 6 feature because I was level 5
The sad part is that I didn't even end up casting Spirit Guardian for this one-shot. I was saving the Spirit Guardian for the final boss fight.we realized only at the end that there was no final boss fight and that was a bummer. I did however cast a Dispel Magic to help the party go through an obstacle. I did a few Shield of Faith and it helped me tank better the incoming hits. I did have splint armor
For the sake of this one-shot I did have Gauntlets of Ogre power, so the physical attack and the True Strike attack had the equivalent amount of bonus
Funnily enough, in this one-shot, the highest damage dealer was the rogue because he kept high rolling the sneak attack damage EVERY SINGLE TIME
Tldr: having the bonus action attacks recharging after a short rest is addicting. Makes you wanna use them all and then short rest after every fight.