Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

@Tyranexx This time it wasn't the DM, we went somewhere he wasn't quite prepared for us to end up so he was scrambling to get things together. Our Eldritch Knight however, wanted to go kick every door he could open because he hasn't had an opportunity to stab anything recently.

Your one shot sounds fun, there is something great about just playing overpowered heroes with no consequences. Level 20 Fighters can kill it when then throw out 4 attacks and then action surge for 4 more, especially if they start rolling criticals. I also hope that you got to dish out a Critical Divine Smite because the damage dealt with a Level 5 divine smite is a just disgusting,. You can tell which class the creators liked (Paladins) and hated (Rangers) when they made the game.

I thought about starting a campaign with something like that. The premise would have been their level 20 versions of themselves challenging the throne of the gods, only to be defeated, depowered (level 1) and thrown into frozen wilderness to die. The adventure would be them trying to return home.

@Darknyht Oh, so the Eldritch Knight is to blame lol. Are you sure he isn't secretly a Barbarian in disguise?

The one shot was great fun. It was a really to my advantage some of the time to engage in regular combat since my Paladin could hit twice and also had some bonus damage from their divine weapon (can't think of the name of it right now sadly). We did have some limitations when it came to the amount of spells we could have and the slots we were allowed. I could only have one 5th level slot, and I used that on Destructive Wave, which was a nice AOE that helped tremendously at one point. Shame the Betrayer made their Constitution save and wasn't knocked prone. Shame the creators hated Rangers since that's a class I'm fond of. I like that campaign idea of yours. It probably wouldn't hurt to try it on a willing group at some point if you're up to DM.

@Tyranexx Funny that you say that, he usually plays the barbarian .

My campaign idea will have to wait. I am going to be DM'ing for a bunch of teens from our church that either play or want to play. So I am running a mash-up of the Beginner's Set and Starter Kit for them, which should run from level 1 to 13 (I have the three expansions for the Starter Kit). Since some of them know part of the campaign, I am mixing some of the events up and using "The Monster's Know What They are Doing" to make the battles more tactical.

So when they encounter the goblins, it will be a surprise, sneak attack with hit and run tactics employed by the Goblins. If they encounter the Manticore, it will be attacking from in the air until its tail spikes run out. Monsters will retreat, regroup and use tactics that fall in line with their abilities and stats.

I feel the same way about Rangers, they were my preferred class before I discovered Artificers. I am finding that am fond of all what are being called the Expert Classes (Artificer, Bard, Ranger and Rouge). I really hope that One D&D fixes some of what is broken with Rangers.

Have you looked at the One D&D Playtest Material at all, and if so what are your thoughts?

@Darknyht THAT explains a lot. XD

That sounds like a fun campaign to be DMing! A nice way to ease in the teens to how strategic D&D can be. I'd be curious to hear more about the group makeup when that campaign begins.

The Artificer is another class I'm interested in trying, though I admittedly am attracted to the concept and know little about how to actually run one. Thankfully there are ample online sources to help remedy that since they aren't included in the Player's Guide that I own.

I unfortunately haven't looked at the One D&D play test material yet. Still getting back into the groove of things a little after my long vacation. I'm back in at normal work today.

@Tyranexx Artificers can be really interesting but you do have to think about how to build them. The typical online build seems to favor Battle Smiths mounted on their Steel Defenders, but each sub-class can flex into different roles.

The character I am running now is a Battle Smith, but I focused on melee with an infused Glaive to gain reach. I fight from behind the Steel Defender that mostly just uses the Dodge action to force disadvantage on attack rolls against him and block enemies from overwhelming me or someone else in trouble. You can also use the push/shove action to force enemies back away from someone being overwhelmed so they can safely disengage.

I initially fell into the trap of trying to pay what the internet said to play as and didn't enjoy it. They tend to focus so hard on the DPS of a class, and they ignore the role-play and utility. I am looking at picking up either Ritual Caster (Wizard) or Polearm Master at the next level (level 8). Ritual Caster would let me add a familiar to my character and free up prepared spells as I can move some like Detect Magic to ritual. Polearm Master would give me an alternative bonus action for action economy to balance out how I use the Steel Defender.

Anyways, if you are interested the character can be seen here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/78671938/UajYfH

As for the campaign, so far we have a Dragonborn Fighter, Centaur Paladin and a Shifter Sorcerer signed into the campaign. The rest of them still need to make their characters.

@Darknyht I think the sheer utility that the Artificer class has intimidates me in a way since they can be used many ways, such as in your example. That is a creative way to use the Steel Defender, more a shield and distraction than entering the scene on it glaive a-blazing. I confess I'd be tempted by DPS numbers too, but in the grand scheme of it all I'm newer to the game than many. Other strategies besides hitting things hard should definitely be considered.

I did look at your character sheet and quite like your character setup. Seems like you have access to a lot of spells too. Our group uses printed sheets, but I can definitely see the benefits of storing the info online. Especially since we've had a player forget his before.

On that campaign: That's a fun party makeup so far. Looking forward to seeing the others!

@Tyranexx Well as I Told ya my group will be getting back together for some D&D. We will be starting in September, and I do believe that some one will be playing an artficer. I will let you know how that goes. As usual it will be ran by me as DM and I do my own content not premade stuff, I have a hard time running modules cause I usually go off the rails with them and make my own story elements. Nothing wrong with modules just not my dming style.

@Themagusx1 Awesome! I hope everything goes well when your group starts next month. I'd be curious to learn about the full group makeup when the time comes. Nothing wrong with going off script and doing your own thing if you're comfortable. Personally, as a player I'd certainly appreciate the uniqueness.

@Tyranexx oh yeah I am looking forward to playing again. You are right going off the rails is fun for the players and the dm. Thanks by the way for the well wishes on my group. I already have one player who is set on their character and that’s a cleric. So we have a healer ready to go. And some one thinking about an artificer. We will see how that goes.

Any word on how your group is going?

@Themagusx1 Healing is a must in pretty much any party makeup IMO. Hopefully there's a tankier character or two as well.

We're gauging when to meet next. This weekend is out due to conflicting schedules. Not sure about next weekend yet, but I'm not available Saturday. Sunday evening is a maybe.

@Tyranexx Scheduling is always the trickiest part to these games huh? And yeah a healer is a must. Found out today though we are going to have a centaur barbarian in the party, that’s goi g to be pretty neat I think.

So I am curious how long has your campaign been going on?

@Themagusx1 Prior to 5e I would agree that a healer is a must but with 5e they put so many safety nets in place that you don't need a healer. Several classes have way to self heal with bonus actions and such and even with the ability to buy healing potions, also being able to roll a hit die and get HP during a short rest. Having a healer is always nice, but in 5e its not really necessary.

@Tasuki That’s a good point. The fighter has stuff like second wind and things like that. I guess I am still stuck in my 2E days lol.

@Tasuki I think there are more classes that can heal than not in 5e. Even those could burn a starting feat or ASI to pick up the Healer, or use the Skilled Feat or character background to have proficiency in the Herbalism Kit to craft potions.

@Darknyht That's one of my gripes with 5e. The fact that there is so many ways to heal that playing a healer just seems pointless.

@Tyranexx It was overwhelming at first to be honest. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and read some guides to get an idea on how I would progress, but once I found my concept it was just building around it. Each of the sub-classes specialize in a specific direction, but there still can be some variation and utility where you can fill in holes for the overall party build.

I ended up with my build because I wanted survivability and flexibility. It has evolved as we played and we figured out our roles in the party. Our fighter tanks and provides damage through Warcaster + War Magic. I provide utility, secondary damage/healing. The steel defender provides secondary tanking/protection and provide me with extra damage output when needed. Our druid focuses on healing and buffs/debuffs with the occassional damage via Call Lightning or cantrips.

@Themagusx1 Scheduling is indeed very tricky. Centaur Barbarian huh? Now THAT would be fun to play as I think!

Our campaign started a little before I stepped in I think. Maybe 2.5-3 years by now?

@Darknyht I don't blame you; I'd do my homework too (and likely still will if I do play another class I'm not familiar with). Finding the core concept/foundation would make the rest easier. I think it would be fun to play oek for the utility.

It completely makes sense for a character to change as a campaign evolves and the player and party grow in knowledge. Your group has a great party makeup right now with decent role coverage. I'm interested what'll happen with your Strahd encounter.

@Tasuki My gripe is that the healing is incapable of keeping up with the damage output of encounters. Nothing worse than burning a level 2 spell slot of cure wounds and rolling snake eyes.

In my opinion, the healing magic in general needs to be rethought. I would advocate healing clases get to a pool of healing points like a paladin's lay on hands instead of spells like cure wounds, or change their healing spells to be more like Heal where you get a burst of healing energy of a set number of points. Anything to make it change it from it's current form where the best use of it is to bring someone up from 0 HP.

@Tyranexx If you are interested, https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/artificer/ is one of the better guides that I used. It has links to further breakdowns based on race, sub-class and spells. They also provide some sample builds that you can look at for ideas.

@Tyranexx Yes it can be trick. As for my group , we have a sorcerer who will be using some of the dragon spells, from the Fizban book. Have you looked at the dragon spells? Some of them are pretty neat.

As for the healing discussion, while I get some classes can help themselves having a healer won’t hurt. And plus they have some nice buffing spells don’t ya think?

@Darknyht I'm very interested. Thanks for the link! Bookmarked for future reference. The sample builds will especially be useful I think. It'd be interesting to see the breakdown by race too. Especially if it's a more unconventional one.

@Themagusx1 I've thumbed through some of Fizban's; we have it available during our sessions since my Ranger is a Drakewarden, so I need to reference it on occasion. I think I've looked through the spell section before, but I don't recall any that stuck out offhand. My Ranger does get Drake's Breath as a potential action. One free use per long rest, after that it costs at least a third-level spell slot or higher.