AP Forums Tabletop Gaming Thread: ROLLIN' DICE AND PLAYIN' NICE

[Kirbycide]

Thank you very much, Hooschy, ol' buddy, ol' pal! I'm eternally grateful.

It's strange that this is the only item without a curse. I like Bestial Bloodlust, but I would be wary giving that ability to the Fighter while there is also a Barbarian in the party. It’s very similar to Reckless Attack and it doesn’t cost a bonus action so the Barbarian might feel bad about it. 5 charges can get you through two fights most of the time, maybe even three, so this is basically always on unless you plan on having more fights per day.

Also, when you say that it’s a free action to enter this frenzy, do you mean that player can then not interact with an object for free this turn? That is what I would classify as the free action, but I don’t think that’s anywhere in the rules. Or do you mean that it doesn’t cost anything at all to do this? Then I would word it similarly to the Fighter’s Action Surge. ‘On your turn, you can enter a frenzy (…). Once you have used this feature, you can't use it again until the start of your next turn.’

Or, considering that this weapon can only ever be attuned to Braxius anyway, why not tie it to Action Surge? I’m just spit-balling here: ‘Whenever you use your Action Surge (feature), you can enter a frenzy and mark a creature as the object of your bloodlust. Until that creature is incapacitated or 1 minute has passed, you add 2 to any attack roll you make against that creature, and every other creature adds 2 to attack rolls made against you.’
Or: ‘Whenever you use your Action Surge (feature), you can enter a frenzy and mark a creature as the object of your bloodlust. For 1 minute, you add 2 to any attack roll you make against that creature, and every other creature adds 2 to attack rolls made against you. When the marked creature is incapacitated, you may use a bonus action to mark another creature as long as you are still in a frenzy.’
This means that the Fighter can use this ability once per short rest, so possibly also in most fights. I don’t know. Like I say, I like the concept as long as the Barbarian doesn’t feel stepped on.

Now that I've written all this, I realize that the charges might be used for other abilities in the future...oh well.

So, as I understand it, the Barbarian's reckless attack doesn't require any sort of action/bonus action on his part, so I don't think that this feature is any better, really.

That said, I do really like the idea of tying it to the Fighter's Action Surge... Let me think on it a bit and I'll see what I can come up with.

The curse seems very harsh, especially because I don’t feel like being able to cast Crusader’s Mantle once per day is all that powerful. I might be wrong. The first part of the curse depends on how you plan on ruling sleeping in heavy armor. It’s usually not that comfortable. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything offers this optional rule: “Sleeping in light armor has no adverse effect on the wearer, but sleeping in medium or heavy armor makes it difficult to recover fully during a long rest. When you finish a long rest during which you slept in medium or heavy armor, you regain only one quarter of your spent Hit Dice (minimum of one die). If you have any levels of exhaustion, the rest doesn’t reduce your exhaustion level."

The other part of the curse just seems way too wordy to me, especially because there will probably me a creature right next to the Paladin that has hit them with a ‘crit’. I would try to make it one streamlined effect. Maybe the first effect from the Confusion spell? On their next turn, roll a d8 and they run in a random direction? I think I would even let them attack first though (or during the move). Otherwise, that’s just a very feel bad moment doing nothing on that turn. I know that’s the point, but I’d try to punish the player another way. This movement opens them up for opportunity attacks which sort of negates the crit-negation of the armor.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the less I like the insanity curse, too. I want the armor to negate crits, but for it to have some sort of drawback, like redirecting that crit damage somehow. That was the intent, anyway. The movement shouldn't really open them up to opportunity attacks, per say, unless they are coming from creatures that he can't see, since he is supposed to charge at and attack the nearest creature he can see. But you're right that it's quite wordy... I'll see if there's a simpler way for me to implement it.

I was also thinking that there'd be no real downsides to sleeping in the armor, since he'd be so used to it after wearing it for years. I'll probably add that to the description somehow.

I love these. Cool effect and cool visual. Once again, the curse effect
seem harsh to me, but I suppose there is a good chance a Barbarian will pass one of those two checks.

Yeah, I tried to give him two chances to overcome the curse each long rest. His con score will likely be quite high, and I think Barbarians have con save proficiency. Glad you like these! I had fun writing all of them, lol.

Kind of an odd combination of abilities. I’m not sure where the higher constitution comes from, but alright. The main ability (I would say), is somewhat situational. It’s great when there’s magical darkness, of course. But seeing through natural darkness doesn’t really help all that much when a lot of enemies will have darkvision. Unless this Rogue is a ranged attacker, then he can go more than 60 feet away. In that case, I do like the ability.

I don’t love the Con save afterwards though. Even one level of exhaustion is so crippling to a Rogue who relies a lot on their skill checks (including Stealth for hiding). And then when trying to get the Third Eye ability back, he may get unlucky and get a second level? That’s a lot.

I would have him spend a certain amount of time blinded in order to get the ability back. Or maybe immediately after he’s used it, he is blind for a while and can use it again afterwards (or the next day). Anything that’s not exhaustion please. I have bad memories of my own Arcane Trickster whose cursed weapon also made her pseudo-sleepwalk and wake up exhausted :P

You've convinced me to remove the drawback to using the third eye. Now he only has the long rest detrimental effect... but I'm not getting rid of that one! The player suggested it himself, and I relish having the opportunity to force the party's hand when he has to sleepwalk.

This one is just a whole lot of text and abilities. So much more than what the other items have. I would start smaller and add those abilities over time when the weapon levels up. Including the sentience, I think.

Yeah... I really want to keep the sentience, but I agree that there are probably too many spell options right now. I'll probably get rid of some before the game starts.

Lots of thoughts. Not sure how useful they are though. ;)

Very useful, indeed! I always appreciate your input, Huschel. :)

[Jabberwok]

For the cursed chainmail, I think I'd remove the phrasing that a 19 or 20 results in a crit and instead just say the Confusion-like effect activates on a 19 or 20 roll. As for the effect itself, I might word it like "When the curse activates, you must immediately use your reaction to move up to your speed towards the nearest creature and make a melee attack against it, if you are able to. If you cannot reach a creature with this movement, or if you have already used your reaction this turn, you take 1d6 psychic damage."

The paladin doesn't lose his turn but can take multiple d6s of psychic damage if unfortunate enough. Opportunity attacks should rarely come up since he's moving to the nearest creature and therefore not really away from anyone that close.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Additional thoughts: I think Lionsfang seems fine to me, and activating as part of Action Surge is a nice way to tie it in. That said, if someone's getting focused via Action Surge, they probably aren't going to last more than 2 or 3 rounds. I might extend that -2 attack rolls debuff to protect CON number of allies too for a single turn, which could add some nice strategic elements and differentiates from the Barbarian a bit more.

I didn't realize the Cleavers also subjected the wielder to the same saving throw. That's extremely high risk. I'd suggest potentially changing it to a Strength saving throw so the Barbarian can have advantage on it, and potentially raising the DC over time as enemies will soon be ignoring it. Additional buffing options include giving it proficiency bonus/LR uses, and allowing the wielder to spend two charges to teleport to the thrown axe if it's within 60 feet. Range can be an issue for Barbs and this has a lot of potential for mitigating that.

If you're still looking to make the Periapt stronger, I'd consider potentially stealing from Ranger subclasses. Invisibility in total darkness (like Gloomstalker) or casting Etherealness for a minute (Horizon Walker, though maybe add a ST against exhaustion) could be neat abilities to add.

[Kirbycide]

Yikes! Been so busy that I forgot to reply, Jab. Thank you so much for your input, too!

Finally ran the first session last night and it went pretty well. Though, the characters are still stuck in the jail that they started in and haven’t gotten their hands on their gear yet, hahaha.

Implemented a lot of the changes that you two have talked about, and I think that it’s made the items simpler and a bit better balanced between each other. Totally forgot that Barbarians got advantage on Strength checks and saves while raging, so thank you very much for reminding me, makes the axes a lot better.

Some of the changes you’ve suggested seemed better as eventual power ups for the items as the characters get more experience, so I’ll keep them tucked away for now. Again, thanks so much for the input, I definitely appreciate it, and I know my players will, too!

[Huschel]

I have a question now, or maybe I just want to talk about my current character.

It's a Lizardfolk Knowledge cleric of Semuanya that just got to level 5 recently. The campaign is supposedly going to be rather long and should get us to level 13+. I noticed that cleric level 14 gives me exactly nothing of value. The only thing that happens is an upgrade to Destroy Undead. No new cantrips, spell slots or anything else. Which is rather annoying. So I started wondering about multiclassing and the only thing that would make sense to me is to dip into Wizard for a level or two. Specifically Divination wizard because the Portent ability sort of goes with the theme of the Knowledge domain and the character's personal goals. I would go to cleric level 9 for access to all the domain spells (and the second ASI/Resilient (Con)) and then take two levels of wizard.

Pros:
I get access to six to eight wizard spells, specifically Shield and Absorb Elements which let me use my reaction.
We have two wizards in the party so multiclassing is easily explained and could be fun for some roleplay.
The cleric's god Semuanya (the way I play him) is all about helping yourself by making use of the tools that are given to you. So studying magic makes sense.
If I multiclass before level 10 that means I am delaying Divine Intervention which sort of goes against the helping yourself credo anyway.
I've always wanted to try Portent because it seems super strong.

Cons:
I delay access to higher level cleric spells.
We have two wizards in the party already.
My intelligence score is not particularly high so I would only ever be able to prepare 2 or 3 wizard spells.
I am already annoyed that I can't prepare as many cleric spells as I want and dipping into another class would make it worse.

I'm not sure what I want to do. Right now I'm leaning towards multiclassing because the only downside I care about is the last one. But there's still lots of time before I need to decide. Also, it's not totally clear how high we will go and I do want to make use of Divine Intervention eventually...

Any thoughts?

[Jabberwok]

Higher level Cleric abilities, with a few subclass exceptions, have always seemed fairly underwhelming to me. Divine Intervention is unreliable and Destroy Undead is pretty meh. I'm not too enamored with high level Cleric spells either since you can be just as effective upcasting stuff like Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians. I'd be all for multiclassing.

That said, I don't know that Wizard is necessarily your best option. With two wizards already in the party the gained utility is pretty reduced, and like you said, you'll only have a few Wizard spells to prepare.

My personal preference would actually be the new Circle of Stars Druid. It should be able to fit thematically, allows you to continue focusing on Wisdom, offers some nice buffs, and still allows you to pick up Absorb Elements (though not Shield). Plus, free uses and preparation of Guiding Bolt.

[Huschel]

Higher level Cleric abilities, with a few subclass exceptions, have always seemed fairly underwhelming to me. Divine Intervention is unreliable and Destroy Undead is pretty meh. I'm not too enamored with high level Cleric spells either since you can be just as effective upcasting stuff like Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians. I'd be all for multiclassing.

That said, I don't know that Wizard is necessarily your best option. With two wizards already in the party the gained utility is pretty reduced, and like you said, you'll only have a few Wizard spells to prepare.

My personal preference would actually be the new Circle of Stars Druid. It should be able to fit thematically, allows you to continue focusing on Wisdom, offers some nice buffs, and still allows you to pick up Absorb Elements (though not Shield). Plus, free uses and preparation of Guiding Bolt.

Interesting suggestion, thanks. I don't really see it for the character right now, but I can steer him there if I want to.

This just made me realize that multiclassing into another Wisdom caster lets me prepare way more spells than staying with cleric. That's fun. And Produce Flame is an excellent cantrip for my poor lizard man who is always cold (guess which new module we're playing). Thorn Whip lets me pull enemies into my Spirit Guardians. Which I will basically never lose concentration on because of the starry Dragon form. The Chalice form is also pretty nice.

It's definitely a powerful dip that seems superior to my idea. I'll keep it in mind going forward. :)

[Kirbycide]

You can also pick up the magic initiate feat if you really want to get your hands on a couple more cantrips and the shield spell. You’ll only be able to cast shield once per long rest this way, but it’s something. A well timed shield can be encounter changing.

[Huschel]

True, that's another option. But I do want to get my Wisdom to 20 at some point and Resilient (Con) will even out my Con score. So I don't really have the room for another feat.

[Huschel]

Oh hey, this forum is back. It's not like I've been checking every day or anything.

My personal preference would actually be the new Circle of Stars Druid. It should be able to fit thematically, allows you to continue focusing on Wisdom, offers some nice buffs, and still allows you to pick up Absorb Elements (though not Shield). Plus, free uses and preparation of Guiding Bolt.

Guess who took this advice and has recently multiclassed into Druid. I haven't done much with it yet. But I do know Primal Savagery now which allows me to use my Lizardfolk teeth much more effectively. And that is worth plenty. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

[andre]

I'm starting a campaign with some friends soon. It'll be my first. I'm pretty freaking excited!! I'm developing a half-orc cleric as my first ever character.

[Huschel]

I'm starting a campaign with some friends soon. It'll be my first. I'm pretty freaking excited!! I'm developing a half-orc cleric as my first ever character.

Oh, cool! That is exciting. And you chose the best class, too. :P

I initially took a liking to clerics because they are prepared casters and I wouldn't have to deal with picking the right spells on every level up. I think at this point I'd be fine with a Bard or Wizard, but nevertheless I am on my third cleric right now. First time they're gonna be higher level though. And different domains make a huge difference, too. Which one are you thinking?

Have fun!

[andre]

Oh, cool! That is exciting. And you chose the best class, too. :P

I initially took a liking to clerics because they are prepared casters and I wouldn't have to deal with picking the right spells on every level up. I think at this point I'd be fine with a Bard or Wizard, but nevertheless I am on my third cleric right now. First time they're gonna be higher level though. And different domains make a huge difference, too. Which one are you thinking?

Have fun!

My first instinct is to go tempest, but I'm still learning a lot about what that'll actually mean and look like given my character, so nothing is set in stone.

[Kirbycide]

So my homebrew campaign had its tenth session this week, feels great to be in the double digits!

The individually tailored magic items have been working great so far, everyone’s been having fun with them, though I can see they’re all thinking already about how they want them to level up in the future.

This week’s session was the first one that was entirely roleplay, and it’s probably the one that I’ve enjoyed most so far as DM. But I’m also finally getting a handle on keeping combat rolling on Roll20, so that’s good too. And I think I’m also finally starting to be able to estimate pretty well how far the group will make it in a single session, which has done wonders for my stress levels regarding preparedness, hahaha.

All told, it’s been a blast and I’m really excited to keep this thing going for a long time!

[Huschel]

So my homebrew campaign had its tenth session this week, feels great to be in the double digits!

The individually tailored magic items have been working great so far, everyone’s been having fun with them, though I can see they’re all thinking already about how they want them to level up in the future.

This week’s session was the first one that was entirely roleplay, and it’s probably the one that I’ve enjoyed most so far as DM. But I’m also finally getting a handle on keeping combat rolling on Roll20, so that’s good too. And I think I’m also finally starting to be able to estimate pretty well how far the group will make it in a single session, which has done wonders for my stress levels regarding preparedness, hahaha.

All told, it’s been a blast and I’m really excited to keep this thing going for a long time!

Happy to hear that things are going great for you :D Yeah, like most anything, DMing is an acquired skill, isn't it? Personally, I haven't acquired it yet. I keep dodging the responsibility bullet except for the occasional one-shot. I was thinking about trying out improv classes to get me out of my comfort zone and to just sort of let go. But...not so much a possibility right now.

In our campaign, I died last week. Because I failed three death saves in a row and my comrades were busy being paralyzed, unconscious, or suffering from 5 levels of exhaustion (don't even ask). Luckily, my character is literally a Cleric of the god of survival so he (I) had a contingency plan involving a makeshift poor person's Contingency spell. That got me Gentle Reposed. So then all the other three players had to do was to get me and themselves out of immediate danger and to anyone who could cast Revivify within the next 10 days. I actually had a blast watching them play. And they saved my life, too ;_; So tomorrow, they'll get a special Ceremony as a thank you.