The Dungeoneers And The Dragonslayers (A DND Thread)

[Tea Leaf]

So, I am a long time DM, I started planning a new campaign recently. I normally have been a DM for two maybe three players, over a call, in 5e. Now this new campaign is finally in person, with at least 6 players (could be up to 10) and it is 3.5e. So does anyone have any advice for hosting this?

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

Have you played 3.5 before? If not, I would suggest reading up on the core books and supplements as much as you can. Out of all the editions of D&D, 3.5 (I think) has the most rules and secondary books. Knowing the shenanigans that 5e players pull with that more limited rule set, it would be in your best interest, as the DM, to be as familiar with the rules as you possibly can be.

My advice if you have played 3.5 before applies to D&D in general. Be familiar with your PCs backstories. I know that this is kinda obvious, but with 6-10 players, it will be much more of a hassle to incorporate their backstories into the game. Not all of us, and certainly not me, are Matt Mercer and able to efficiently run a game for nine people.

[Tea Leaf]

45 minutes ago, The cheeseman said:

Have you played 3.5 before? If not, I would suggest reading up on the core books and supplements as much as you can. Out of all the editions of D&D, 3.5 (I think) has the most rules and secondary books.

I have a bit of experience, the reason I chose 3.5e primarily was the complexity of the rules (I am a math nerd).

46 minutes ago, The cheeseman said:

Knowing the shenanigans that 5e players pull with that more limited rule set, it would be in your best interest, as the DM, to be as familiar with the rules as you possibly can be.

I've been creating Min Maxed characters for years by now (I don't use them). Seeing the chaos in the edition that created Pun Pun will be enlightening.

[Frustration he/him]

On 8/3/2023 at 2:28 PM, Frustration said:

So I made a Kaladin build.

V-human for polearm Master

5 Levels in Hexblade Warlock, picking up Pact of the Blade, Fly, Spider climb, Eldritch Smite, and Thirsting Blade. And taking Great Weapon Master at level 4. This does mean we have to use a glaive instead of a spear, but the loss of damage without it was rather large.

Next 4 Levels in BattleMaster Fighter, grabbing namely Precision attack, and the Sentinel feat.

Next 2 Levels in Paladin for that sweet Smite power.

From then on it's 9 levels of Storm Sorcerer to maximize spell slots progression, grabbing Levitate. And the ability to create a frankly absurd number of spell slots by taking short rests after turning Warlock spell slots into sorcery points and back into sorcerer spell slots, allowing us to smite a lot more often.

 

I'd rather take 3 levels in Sorcerer and take the remaining 6 in Graviturgy Wizard, but that's campaign specific.

 

So what do you think?

So I found a way to improve this.

At third level in Warlock we take Pact of the Chain, grab a Sprite familiar to act as Syl. She can turn invisible and use the Help action to give us advantage on attacks.

Then at 4th level we use Eldritch versatility from Tasha's to switch to pact of the blade. Since only the Find Familiar spell was part of the pact boon we can keep our familiar as long as she doesn't die.

 

 

 

I also made Vin.

V-Human and grab the Crusher feat. This is weird but trust me.

For our class we're going with 10 levels of Genie Warlock, we are flavoring Eldritch blast as coins, and the Genie vessel as a vial of metals. And we want our patron to be a dao. This gives us Bottled respite to use for Bendalloy, and limited flight at level 10.

For our invocations we are grabbing agonizing blast, repelling blast, grasp of Hadar, armor of shadows and another one of your choice, though I recommend Eldritch sight, as it is similar to bronze.

Our pact boon isn't really relevant for this build, use it as you see fit, maybe grab pact of the tome and Aspect of the moon, but that's up to you.

At level four grab Metamagic adept and grab quickened spell.

 

Now in combat we have resistance to bludgeoning damage, and once per turn we can add a little bit of bludgeoning damage on our Eldritch blast.

When we do use the crusher feat to send the target straight up. Once we've done that we can use repelling blast to send them up diagonally, where they take additional fall damage of 1d6 for every 10 feet, or for each blast that hits them, and they land prone. So obviously the rest of the build focuses on maximizing that damage.

With quickened spell we can cast Eldritch blast as a bonus action, and as an action, as it's a cantrip.

Next two levels in fighter as we can grab action surge, so we can cast Eldritch blast a third time in one turn.

 

Our next three levels will be in Shadow magic sorcerer. This is another Sorlock build, I promise I tried hard not to, but getting the sorcery points to use Quickened spell so often was almost impossible otherwise, and it gave darkvision to use like Tin.

 

We then finish up with 5 Levels in swashbuckler Rouge to get all the other Mistborn like features.

 

So what do you think?

Edited August 25, 2023 by Frustration

[Just_a_Fan he/him]

oof.

[TheFrugalWizard he/him]

Sorry but I don't have enough time to look through this entire thread. I am a big homebrew writer and have written D&D classes for Mistborn, Freuchemist, and Rithmatists. In addition, I have written Koloss, Kandra, and Elantrian races. I have written a few monsters as well. Does anyone else have any homebrews? I'd love to get and give some feedback. 

I have written a couple other homebrews too, if anyone's interested.

Just to clarify, I write all 5e

Edited September 3, 2023 by TheFrugalWizard

[Frustration he/him]

On 9/3/2023 at 10:21 AM, TheFrugalWizard said:

 Does anyone else have any homebrews? I'd love to get and give some feedback.

I have a few, but here's one that I use, and one I'm considering.

For all monsters, cut their hp in half and double the damage dice.

 

I'm considering a few things to balance the primary ability of classes somewhat, and fix the monk more than anything.

1. Clerics are charisma based, Bards are Wisdom based, Warlock's are Intelligence based. Monks become Cha and Dex based.

Charisma has been the stat of fervor and will so I don't see why Clerics have been casting with Wisdom which is about awareness and knowledge, while Bards have the opposite problem as they cast spells based on memorization.

Warlocks make deals with beings most people don't know about, as part of hidden lore and study. Also we have far too few Intelligence based classes, and too many Charisma ones.

Monks are about discipline and force of will. Also Monk/Paladin multiclasses just should be possible, the thematics are too appropriate.

 

2. The Monk hit die becomes a d12, and as a bonus action they can regain any number of expended Ki point, by rolling that number of d12's and taking the number rolled in Necrotic damage that cannot be reduced or avoided in any way.

[TheFrugalWizard he/him]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:47 PM, Frustration said:

I have a few, but here's one that I use, and one I'm considering.

I'm sorry, perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by "Homebrew", or else I'm missing something. I mean, like a fan-made class or race, not changes to existing rules. 

 

On 9/6/2023 at 1:47 PM, Frustration said:

For all monsters, cut their hp in half and double the damage dice.

I'm curious as to why you mentioned this. While I think there is something to be desired from the monsters that 5e has, I think that each monster has its own unique style, whether it be offensive or defensive.

On 9/6/2023 at 1:47 PM, Frustration said:

Clerics are charisma based, Bards are Wisdom based, Warlock's are Intelligence based. Monks become Cha and Dex based.

I completely agree with Clerics; they gain power from their devotion to a deity.

I think that you could absolutely argue that Bards should be Wisdom based, however that you have to remember that they draw their power from music. Music is essentially an art; and thus should be Charisma based. So I don't think 5e was entirely wrong here.

I don't understand your argument for Warlocks. They draw power from their pact with a supernatural being. Their spells and magic don't come from lore or knowledge, but from their connection with said being. This hardly suggests Intelligence. I could see Wisdom, easily, however.

As for Monks, charisma is intentionally a weak suit. They hide up in caves or monasteries with little to no interaction to others. They generally don't even have a deity, and thus become very inward and self focused. This is the polar opposite of Charisma. I agree that hit die for monks could be upped, but perhaps to d10? Also, I think that necrotic damage thing is good, but perhaps save it for a subclass. That art suggests literally tearing chunks out of the mind and soul, converting physical and internal energy into ki points. This is typically something that would be reserved for a subclass, as 5e classes do their best to allow the character to choose either good or evil, but the subclasses are typically more restrictive in this regard.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by TheFrugalWizard

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

1 hour ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

Also, I think that necrotic damage thing is good, but perhaps save it for a subclass. That art suggests literally tearing chunks out of the mind and soul, converting physical and internal energy into ki points. This is typically something that would be reserved for a subclass, as 5e classes do their best to allow the character to choose either good or evil, but the subclasses are typically more restrictive in this regard.

Doesn't the Way of the Long Death subclass already do this?

[Frustration he/him]

Quote

I'm sorry, perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by "Homebrew", or else I'm missing something. I mean, like a fan-made class or race, not changes to existing rules.

Any change to the base game is collectively called homebrew.

15 hours ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

I'm curious as to why you mentioned this. While I think there is something to be desired from the monsters that 5e has, I think that each monster has its own unique style, whether it be offensive or defensive.

Because most fights end up being slog fests, ten rounds of trading in a few points of damage here or there, and they end up feeling rather boring.

With this the biggest enemy in the group can walk up to the Cleric and take half their hp in a single turn.

Keeps the players on their toes, and it makes healing characters actually relevant rather than just giving them a single hp once their down.

15 hours ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

I don't understand your argument for Warlocks. They draw power from their pact with a supernatural being. Their spells and magic don't come from lore or knowledge, but from their connection with said being. This hardly suggests Intelligence. I could see Wisdom, easily, however.

Well lets go with the most stereotypical warlock story, guy preforms a ritual, and makes a deal with a being beyond their comprehension.

I can't think of a more fitting high Int low Wis vibe, but I guess that's up to interpretation.

The main goal was to get another intelligence based class, and Warlock was the one I felt was closest to it.

15 hours ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

I agree that hit die for monks could be upped, but perhaps to d10?

The monk is designed to be a front liner, but they have pretty poor AC and Con is third in line for their stats, and they can't use a shield. They need the extra HP, not to mention the only other class to use unarmored defense is the Barbarian which is the only class to use a d12.

15 hours ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

Also, I think that necrotic damage thing is good, but perhaps save it for a subclass. That art suggests literally tearing chunks out of the mind and soul, converting physical and internal energy into ki points.

I was imagining it closer to forcing your body to produce more Ki than it would normally, to the detriment of your overall health.

15 hours ago, TheFrugalWizard said:

This is typically something that would be reserved for a subclass, as 5e classes do their best to allow the character to choose either good or evil, but the subclasses are typically more restrictive in this regard.

I actually based it off of Sorcerer's ability to turn spell slots into sorcery points, as they function almost identically. Monks of course do not have spell slots, so I made due with what was available to me.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Frustration

[Cash67 Where’s/Perry]

On 9/3/2023 at 11:21 AM, TheFrugalWizard said:

Sorry but I don't have enough time to look through this entire thread. I am a big homebrew writer and have written D&D classes for Mistborn, Freuchemist, and Rithmatists. In addition, I have written Koloss, Kandra, and Elantrian races. I have written a few monsters as well. Does anyone else have any homebrews? I'd love to get and give some feedback. 

I have written a couple other homebrews too, if anyone's interested.

Just to clarify, I write all 5e

I know earlier in this thread I’ve posted Hemalurgist and Twinborn homebrew. My hemalurgist is busted (learned this thru playtesting) but I think my twinborns are pretty balanced so far. 

[Frustration he/him]

So I've got a story and a plan.

 

I was playing a game with a friend of mine who is playing a 380 pound Goliath Barbarian. He got into a stage fight with our Druid to distract a potion shop owner so the rogues could steal things.

The Barbarian tries jumping on the Druid, misses and lands on the shopkeeper. The druid grabs a potion to throw on them, and the DM has him roll for it, and he ends up throwing a potion of growth, which if you don't know acts as the Enlarge part of the Enlarge/Reduce spell.

I started to read what it did and stopped after reading that the weight of the character is multiplied by eight.

The Barbarian goes from 380 pounds to 3040 pounds.

The Storekeeper goes from solid to liquid.

The attempted robbery turns into attempted genocide as we got rid of the witnesses.

All in all fun session.

 

Now for what I'm working on right now, another friend used the Aspect of Tiamat against his party once and came to the conclusion that it was too powerful, so I am making a party of 4 level 20 characters to go agaonst it.

Each one gets 1 Epic boon, 3 uncommon magic items, 2 rare items and 1 very rare item, and the whole party starts with an artifact.

 

My plan is to do:

19 level Twilight domain Cleric 1 Level Clockwork Soul Sorcerer with Boon of High magic

18 level peace domain cleric 2 level Divination Wizard with Boon of High magic

19 Level War Magic Wizard 1 Level Artificer with Boon of High magic

7 Level Oath of the Watchers Paladin, 2 Level Hex blade Warlock, 11 level Divine Soul Sorcerer. Probably boon of Spell Recall, but I might just raise his Cha to 22 instead.

For the Artifact I'm taking the Mighty servant of Leuk-O as honestly I'm not sure how you're supposed to lose with that thing.

Basically the idea is Twilight sanctuary and Protective bond along with liberal use of the defensive trifecta(Shield, Silvery Barbs, Absorb Elements), and massive saving throw bonuses, and the Servants huge defensive profile basically render the party untouchable while the wizard locks Tiamat down with forcecage, and by that point it's all over.

 

I'm about halfway done with character creation, so I will hopefully have updates on this shortly.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Frustration

[The Sibling she/her]

Hello! I did this on hero forge a while ago to show my players what an NPC looked like. Probably starting a new MAG campaign soon so I'm going to make a ton of these. I might practice by making stormlight characters while I'm still writing the plot. 

[Tea Leaf]

DM Tip, designate a set of Spooky Dice. I watched last session the whole party go "Fae... this isn't going to kill us" when I pulled out the bag the dice were in. The only damage dealt out to the 8 Players was 3 acid to the Cleric.

[Just_a_Fan he/him]

Idea: a flintlock rifle w/ bayonet, but there's a weak ring of dispel magic at the end, thus anything that it fires loses it's magic properties for one sec. shrink a cannonball, use that as ammo. portable cannon.

just came up with an idea for a pf 2e campaign: party starts under the servitude of the in universe equivalent of davy jones/blackbeard/jack sparrow/etc., but are saved by an artificer kitsune. big bad escapes, start plot.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Just_a_Fan

[TheFrugalWizard he/him]

On 9/19/2023 at 11:37 AM, Cash67 said:

I know earlier in this thread I’ve posted Hemalurgist and Twinborn homebrew. My hemalurgist is busted (learned this thru playtesting) but I think my twinborns are pretty balanced so far. 

I don't know if you can see my suggestions on your google doc, but I'm using a separate homebrew site (highly recommend, completely free, no ads or anything: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com). I will revise and post it in a couple of weeks.

Also, I'm just going to avoid the spiritual metals for now, since I have no clue what they do.

[Just_a_Fan he/him]

lol

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/180961-the-cult-of-the-cosmere

[TheFrugalWizard he/him]

Sorry it took so long, but here is the completed Scadrial handbook (not finalized for publication yet). It has races, classes, and monsters. I'd would really love feedback.

HB-Mistborn (1).txt

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

So let's say that someone has polymorphed another player into a grape. The grape is then, by some means, fed to a boss. Because of the way polymorph works, the player reverts back to their original state, having retained the damage taken by the bosses stomach acid. How would this be ruled?

[Weaver of Lies he/him]

6 minutes ago, The cheeseman said:

So let's say that someone has polymorphed another player into a grape. The grape is then, by some means, fed to a boss. Because of the way polymorph works, the player reverts back to their original state, having retained the damage taken by the bosses stomach acid. How would this be ruled?

I think unless they can fit in the boss’s stomach, they would be transported to the nearest space they can fit in. That’s generally how those things go I think.

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

1 hour ago, Lightweaver2 said:

I think unless they can fit in the boss’s stomach, they would be transported to the nearest space they can fit in. That’s generally how those things go I think.

The wording of polymorph doesn't have anything related to this, at least not in the PHB. I'm assuming that the wording is the same on spell cards.

What I'm considering doing is an opposed strength check, and if the player succeeds, he will burst out of the boss Alien-style, causing him to take probably bludgeoning damage, and then some bleeding damage at the bottom of every round. If the boss succeeds, the player will be regurgitated and take bludgeoning damage, and will also be prone. Note that this hasn't happened yet, my players are just trying to figure out how to pull unnecessary shenanigans.

Edited December 24, 2023 by The cheeseman

[Weaver of Lies he/him]

Just now, The cheeseman said:

The wording of polymorph doesn't have anything related to this, at least not in the PHB. I'm assuming that the wording is the same on spell cards. What I'm considering doing is an opposed strength check, and if the player succeeds, he will burst out of the boss Alien-style, causing him to take probably bludgeoning damage, and then some bleeding damage at the bottom of every round. If the boss succeeds, the player will be regurgitated and take bludgeoning damage, and will also be prone. Note that this hasn't happened yet, my players are just trying to figure out how to pull unnecessary shenanigans.

Polymorph doesn’t say anything specific, I’m just going off of similar effects. However, I personally like your way better.

[Silver Phantom he/him]

This may not be the place for it. But I got the Stormlight miniatures and have started painted them. I will be using at least a few in a campaign

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

That's so cool! May I request pictures once the painting is complete?

[Just_a_Fan he/him]

I made a meme, based on my Paw patrol x Tpp campaign, and Pattern according to r/cremposting. enjoy i guess.

Edited January 4 by Just_a_Fan