I thought it would be nice to have a dice mechanic for 5e’s character creation with an output more similar to the point buy system, since the default dice mechanic leads to overall higher stats. This could be a system with the same output range as point buy as well as one that still offers the possibility of rolling very high numbers (16-18) but with a higher probability to roll very low than 4d6 drop lowest.
Do you already know of such a dice mechanic? Or could you maybe provide a source for the probabilities of a stat having a certain number in the point buy system, so as to make it comparable to 4d6 drop lowest? The latter would give a starting point to play around with dice.run in order to create a system as desired.
In our Gatewalkers game, my barbarian bit the dust in book 1. Very sad but more importantly, an opportunity arose; I could play this little awakened hedgehog dude! Only, there were some troubles. First off, Awakened Animal PCs aren't officially supported until the next splatbook comes out, so I needed to jury-rig a hedge hogman ancestry.
This was very easy.
The next hurdle was to find out what kind of class fits this little dude and worked with our party's already quite janky setup.
This was very hard.
ANCESTRY DETAILS
Hedge Hogman
Traits: Rare, Animal, Humanoid, Hedge Hogman;
Ancestry HP: 6;
Stats: +STR +CON +FREE(CHA) -INT;
Heritage: Quillcoat Hogman (Stolen from Shisk's "Quillcoat shisk");
Yogi Troubles, Professional Forgettor and Part-Time Grenadier. Goblin culture warns that practicing literacy steals thoughts from your head, so in order to make ends meet, Yogi has to constantly be learning staggering amounts of information on an enormous amount of subjects. Although he's best suited for exploration and a bit of downtime activity, it'd be unwise to underestimate his combat ability.
Note: This build benefits from an origin in Alkenstar, Dongon Hold, The Shackles, or some other place with access to guns. You can also just ask for Access from your GM.
Ancestry:
Goblin, naturally. Goblin grants access to the Goblin Weapon Familiarity feat, which gives you Martial Scaling on the Explosive Dogslicer and Crit Specializations for it and the Big Boom Gun at lv 5. Unbreakable Heritage is pro
Hey as my last character, ranger died in AV, im looking to make kobold champion, but cant decide between two flavors of build:
Here is the build link for Kobold champ summ. To view this build you need to open it on an android device with version 196+ Pathbuilder 2e installed. https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=485517
Champ, shield ally, with summoner dedication, dragon steed form.
Here is the build link for Kobold champ cavalier. To view this build you need to open it on an android device with version 196+ Pathbuilder 2e installed. https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=484839
Champ with cavalier dedication, mature draft lizard.
Eidolon pros: dont take double damage from aoe, spellcasting, fire breathing
Eidolon cons: less hp, no "free" actions (tandems).
Cavalier pros: more hp, better attacks, better ac later due to feats, free action from mature.
Cavalier cons: takes dmg from aoe, will need to be given commands if need to double stride.
I'm struggling to build out a Psychic that primarily uses Imaginary Weapon in melee. It is so flavorful, yet at 6 base HP per level and no armor proficiency, it feels really dangerous to get up close and personal. Sure, Warp Space amps it to be at 30ft range, but there are only so many focus points available to spend amping.
I'm looking to have this be viable at level 6 (so Parallel Breakthrough is an option). Any heritages, feat chains, or items I should look into to make it feel good to use Imaginary Weapon?
Note that this is subtly different from the “one level in every class” thing; this is about taking your levels one at a time, starting from level 1, rather than a fully-finished level 13 concept.
Could this be at all viable? What order would you go with?
Does anyone have experience with both versions of the kobold as a PC and have a strong opinion on way or the other on it?
I'm creating a kobold Rogue for a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. Pact tactics sounds like it could be very useful. But I generally like the MotM version of kobold a bit better.
For more context: We might get another player, but right now it looks like it will be just a party of 3. One is thinking of playing a wizard or sorcerer and the other is considering barbarian at the moment. My plan is to go Scout Rogue . And I am open to switching to Ranger if that feels like it would be a better fit for the party.
My absolute favorite thing to do in 5e is when I can find a niche spell that's perfect for a situation the party finds itself in.
This naturally draws itself to the prepared casters and especially the deep spell list and ritual casting of the wizard, but unfortunately wizard is also a generally good class which means there's usually someone looking to use it in a party, and while doubling up can be fun sometimes I like to have other options.
I'd like to ideally make something strong without any glaring weaknesses: I don't want to minmax utility off a cliff.
My front runner has been an arcana cleric, which enables Wish eventually and adds a handful of common wizard spells to its list, but I'm not sure the other features of arcana are all that great, and not getting heavy armor makes me a little leery of closing to melee for cleric staples like Spirit Guardians.
Any other cool setups that enable a lot of flexibility and utility?
I recently theorycrafted a Dex and a Str version of an Artillerist with the Gunner feat popping off a Booming Blade and a Force Ballista each turn.
Dex variant: Choose a race that gets a weapon proficiency (e.g. Githyanki) to weild a Rapier. Pick up Gunner at 4. Starting stats are somewhere along the lines of 8 15+2 14 15+1 10 8, aiming to max Dex and pick up a Headband of Intellect to cover the otherwise low Int. Rolling can get the starting Int to be more respectable, but otherwise this feels pretty bad early game.
Str variant: Can start with a feat race for Gunner, point buy stats of 14 13+1 14 14+2 9 8, aiming to max Int, get Resilient Wis, and pick up Gauntlets of Ogre Power to cover the otherwise low Str. Acquiring an All Purpose Tool can provide Shillelagh to not need GoOP.
Why do this at all? Arcane Firearm, whether you tap your rapier with it as your Artificer-required tool material component, or whether it itself is the staff you go bonking people with Booming Blade, provi
Much of the time I think of items as addons to a build, and focus on the race, class, and feat progression when planning. However, in both Westmarches and many standard canpaigns, it is not unreasonable to be able to buy, craft, or at least request some specific items, at least going up to Rare rarity. That got me thinking about trying to optimize a build around the item, rather than the other way around.
Out of the Abyss provides a unique and interesting Rare item, the Stonespeaker Crystal. It has 10 charges, regains ~7 per day, allows spending some charges to cast the three Speak With spells, and, most importantly, allows expending a number of charges equal to a divination spell's level to replace one consumed spell component. The following divination spells have consumed spell compoments:
Divination (4) 25gp¹
Fortune's Favor (2) 100gp
Legend Lore (5) 250gp
True Seeing (6) 25gp
¹uses two components with combined cost of 25gp, so the crystal can only replace one of them
(In the absense of a WhatWouldYouBuild type of community, I figure 3d6 is the closest place here for such things, but correct me if I'm wrong.)
How would you build, in either D&D 5e or Pathfinder 2e, Cirilla of Cintra, based on her powers and abilities exhibited in the beginning of season 3 of The Witcher? She had the battle-prowess of a witcher, but she doesn't use her magic in combat. Her magic is powerful enough to stand against very strong sorcerers, but seems to mostly be reactionary rather than intentional.
5e's Fear has the added mechanic of requiring the target to take the Dash action and run away, unless there is nowhere to run. This can cause some DMs to rule Oath of Conquest's aura as allowing the target to use its action for other things. But with Sentinel's reaction causing movement speed to drop to zero, that wouldn't trigger until after the Dash action had been used--creating an optimizable opportunity.
My current build idea for this is a Hexblade 1 / Whispers Bard X, choosing to be Custom Lineage to grab Sentinel at level 1. This means that Cha can be maxed by 9 (rather than 13), the build is Cha-SAD, and you can augment your attacks with blade cantrips (yes, BB doesn't synergize with either Fear* or Sentinel, but it is still a nice chunk of scaling damage). Bard also provides Command, Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, Psychic Blades, and eventually Find Greater Steed (to get another opportunity attack).
(* If your DM counter-rules that Fear, Command, Dissonant Whispers, etc
This is an old topic, but I'm curious what a more recent assessment for the ultimate support build would be in D&D5e.
Previously, Treantmonk has pushed the idea of the 'God Wizard' who is built around spells that shut down enemies and empowers allies. Area control, vision control, area denial, and the odd buff to assist allies.
However since his build was popularlized, there have been a number of fascinating subclasses that are built around support, specifically between bards and druids. With that in mind, what are the best support builds? These are builds that help win the fight without dealing any damage, preferably