Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

@Tyranexx if our Druid could, he would be tossing fireballs. (He prefers to play sorcerer.) I get that Fireball is fun, but man the potential collateral damage makes me cringe.

The flavor part of ritual casting is coming into play and that is always fun. Comprehend Languages and Find Familiar should prove useful I think in the next leg of the journey. Detect Magic and Alert already see a lot of usage. I am preparing Rope Trick so we can make an instant short rest spot.

@Darknyht Fireball is a indeed a very powerful spell, but it can act like a mini nuke as well in my limited experience lol. I have yet to play a character that has access to the spell. The closest my Ranger has to a decent AOE right now is the Drakewarden's breath attack. One free use for either the Ranger or Drake a long rest. Otherwise it consumes a level 3 spell slot.

Seems like a lot of spell utility in your group, which is a good thing. Out of curiosity, why would Find Familiar and Comprehend Languages come into play? The rest make sense with the limited context I have.

@Tyranexx Find Familiar is ridiculous in its utility and can be somewhat broken. There is also a power combo for an Owl Familiar. The Owl gets flyby as an ability along with 60 feet of fly speed. This lets it swoop down to give the help action, and then fly away so that someone gets advantage on their first attack roll.

Since we have a druid, he can wild shape into a mouse and be carried for cheap flight. I can cast Cure Wounds through the familiar (or any touch spell) and it gets better once I get a Spell Storing Item I can put on the Familiar for 10 free castings. So I can put a rat familiar in my Eldritch Knight's backpack for on demand healing from me.

Comprehend Languages I suspect will come into play when it comes to our next destination. Our last goal requires going into some ancient ruins. We have already encountered some things that were written in languages no one in the party can understand. That one may be niche to our particular game.

@Darknyht I see what you mean regarding Find Familiar's utility! Quite the range of options you've listed out. I looked up the spell on 5etools, and part of the description reminds me a lot of my Ranger's Beast Sense. Looks like the only obvious drawbacks are the casting time and becoming deaf/blind when seeing/hearing through the familiar's senses. We did have an Arcane Trickster Tiefling Rogue in our party who had this spell, but she is sadly deceased.

I always figured Comprehend Languages was pretty situational. Definitely sounds useful when it comes to those ancient ruins though. We ran across a bit of that with some star charts we found in the swamp castle in our own campaign. Our Dragonborn Sorcerer is a collector of knowledge and took possession of them to study them later.

@Tyranexx I would agree generally about the spell. The main benefit of ritual caster is having utility spells available with spending spell slots or preparing them. Part of the reason I looked at multi-classing into wizard is they have the ability from their spell book. Detect Magic, Alarm, Find Familiar, Comprehend Languages, and Tiny Hut are just too valuable to not have in a party in my opinion. I thought about going Ritual Caster Cleric, but the Wizard ritual list is better in my opinion.

The latest developments from the campaign. It was a short session, but a big event happened:

We made our way to Krezk, having to deal with some zombies and wolves that attacked us while traveling. Zombies are just so annoying to completely destroy without holy water, but eventually we hacked them into pieces. Once in the city, we made our way to the golden pool and bathed the hilt and blade in the waters. The weapon glowed and I could feel it speaking into part of my mind. It wasn't so much words as it was impressions.

The sword itself was a beautiful hilt that when activated produced a blade of pure sunlight. I cannot help but feel that this will be a mighty weapon against Strahd. A ghostly vision of the past urged us to bring Irena back to the pool, so that she could be protected and we started off to the Abbey to get her.

@Darknyht Oh, definitely; if we ever 1. Resume/finish our current campaign, and 2. Go back to a Grim Hollow campaign another player started during one of our off seasons, I'd like to move my Tabaxi Rogue into an Arcane Trickster role due to all the Wizard spell school possibilities. I'd be stuck with Mage Hand for one cantrip, but I think it is a useful one. I was looking at Misfortune Bringer, but impressions were that the subclass was middling.

I've not yet encountered a zombie in D&D. Are they really that much of a pain to kill without holy water? Some nice RPing there regarding bathing the hilt and blade in the golden pool's waters. Classic vampire lore indicates this weapon will 100% be helpful against Strahd, but I'm sure fighting him won't be straightforward. What is the significance of Irena? Or was that covered previously?

@Tyranexx irena is the McGuffin of the campaign. Strahd wants her and you initially don’t know why. So our first objective was to escort her to Krezk to an Abbot that could protect her.

I have learned that I like utility and support characters, and I usually try to build self sufficient ones (as much as DND allows). This usually pushes me into what they now call expert classes (Rouge, Ranger, and Arrificer) or Bards.

Mage Hand is a very versatile spell and I debated taking the Telekinetic feat instead of Shadow Touched with my racial feat. Telekinetic gave you the ability to shove with Mage Hand as a bonus action. Basically so I could force someone back to allow escape with Attack of Opportunity.

Cantrips can be very useful with creativity. Minor Illusion and Predestination both have utility for disguise and cleanup. My arcane trickster would be using Telekinetic along with Booming Blade to deadly effect. Booming Blade requires a melee attack (so sneak attack) to do massive initial damage, then telekinetically shove them away from you so they either have to take secondary damage or lose their turn. The spell does require high spell casting ability, and that would be key for a caster like that. Focusing on spells like this that damage even on success or don’t factor in dice let’s you not become as MAD.

@Darknyht Ah, so Irena IS the McGuffin. I figured she had some importance, though I didn't know her much or how she figures in. I think I'd like to play a version of Curse of Strahd eventually. I've enjoyed reading all your updates and know it's a setting I'd enjoy. I quite like classic monsters and Gothic horror.

I too like characters with utility, trending towards some forms of healing since I've never liked relying on potions and others when it comes to that in fantasy settings. Though not the glass cannon types; I like having characters that can take a few hits.

Om cantrips: I researched Mage Hand a little and like the versatility, though I sometimes wish there was a higher weight limit. I'm not familiar with Predestination but will research it. Minor Illusion speaks for itself and is definitely among the Cantrips I'd take if running an Arcane Trickster. I like the idea of that Booming Blade/Telekinetic combo. I'm usually on the lookout for attacks/combos that can cause secondary or lingering damage.

@Tyranexx When a DM allows it, Cantrips and Rituals can be very effective tools in my experience. One of the notes for Ezmerelda is that she is constantly ritual casting Detect Magic. I toyed with the idea of being a Pact of the Tome Warlock with the Book of Ancient Secrets, but Wizards nerfed them too much by making them dependent on finding spells (and the cost can be prohibitive).

Glass Cannons are not my cup of tea either. I want to be able to survive long enough to contribute. I like Artificers because they have adaptability as they level. If an infusion choice doesn't work, it can be swapped out on a level up, and with double the choices you can infuse you can adjust on a long rest for the next objective. Same applies for their prepared spells.

The Battle Smith gets some burst damage with Branding Smite and Arcane Jolt, along with utility of how to us the Arcane Jolt (You or the Steel Defender can deliver it, and you can damage or heal with it). At level 9, I can deal weapon damage + 2D6 radiant + 2D6 force damage on one of my attacks (spell slot bonus action plus class ability that is usable up to INT modifer times). This eventually scales up to 5D6 radiant with a level 5 spell slot and 4D6 force damage, although Banishing Smite would bring 5D10 force damage at that point. Not quite on part with the Paladin, but the Battle Smith can change the Arcane Jolt into 2D6/4D6 healing for someone 30' away for damage & healing in the same action.

I am glad you have enjoyed my updates. I have been surprised how much I have enjoyed the campaign despite not being a big horror fan. I am starting to understand why Curse of Strahd if frequently called one of Wizards best adventure modules. With the cards coming into play, the way the pieces fall together shift slightly with each playthrough so there is some replayability built into it. Even with me having listened to the campaign, I am being surprised by shifts in locations of key items (and finding items they didn't get).

Just realized I didn’t explain the zombie comment. Our group seems to have terrible luck with zombies. They seem to make their saving throw to stay at 1 HP at least twice before going down. Radiant Damage or a Crit is the only way to skip the roll.

So more of an in character gripe than a real problem. The six Zombies took 30 minutes to die.

@Darknyht

My sentiments exactly. Power and burst damage is fine, but not when you trade it for some survivability IMO. I'm sure I'd quite like playing an Artificer should it ever come to it, though I think it'll be some time before that happens. I've noticed it isn't in the Player's Handbook that I own and was added in a later module, so for now I'm stuck with the internet when it comes to planning for one. Love the breakdown of your Battle Smith; you have a ton of versatility in damage and even some healing. I'm sure your character and Steel Defender are very valuable to your party.

Curse of Strahd has come up on many "Best D&D Modules" lists I've found out there, subjective as they are. I'm tempted to read into the campaign in detail just to know what happens, but I also don't want to spoil too much for myself should I ever get to participate in the campaign. Even if some replayability is there.

Aren't the zombies already dead? 30 minutes to end their second tenure does seem like a long time. Seems like the DM has great luck with them, not so much the players.

@Tyranexx - If our DM was able to channel his luck into anything other than keeping zombies at 1 HP, he would be a very rich man.

Artificer first appeared in Eberron and then was revised for Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. I have loved the idea of someone that mixes technology and magic from my days playing Rifts and honestly Star Wars. There has always been a little Steampunk in me also. If you ever get the opportunity, Tasha's is a good resource book.

If you want to hear the campaign played, I cannot recommend High Roller's take on it enough. The DM, Mark Hulmes, re-mixed part of the campaign because one of the players had played it before. So they do a good job of capturing the feeling of it, while making it different enough that I have been surprised by details this time around.

@Darknyht So...would that make your DM an unintentional necromancer? Not the best luck outside of keeping zombies alive on his part it seems.

Ah, that was it; I first saw Artificer associated with Tasha's. That's another book I'd like to get at some point. Some of our group own copies, so I've had the honor of perusing it for a fun one-shot before when in search of a powerful weapon for my character. Likewise, I like it when magic is mixed with technology or science; in fact, I believe my first exposure to the concept of alchemy was in relation to create "magic" through science.

I've heard of High Roller but admittedly haven't watched much of their content. You've made me curious about their Curse of Strahd campaign, so I might give that a watch/listen sometime (That's how I "watch" much of my YouTube - by listening, either at work or when doing house chores).

@Tyranexx I found them during COVID so I only know them from campaign 2 and some of the mini-campaigns (Like Curse of Strahd). I mainly listen via podcast, but they have been an enjoyable replacement for Sneak Attack (although less family friendly).

I am debating grabbing Neverwinter Nights when it goes on sale via Steam. While it uses 3.0 rules, the mods out there for it kept me playing the game for years. I cannot find my discs for it anymore, so if the price gets low enough next Steam sale I will grab it.

So what was everyone else’s favorite PC/Console DND and why?

@Darknyht I've thought of delving into podcasts too should I ever get more of a commute. I can sometimes listen to things at work, but it depends on what I'm doing. Much of what I do is mental, so I've found it's easier to listen to stuff with little to no words or lyrics much of the time.

I too have thought about trying Neverwinter Knights through Steam, but it isn't a high priority for me right now. Completely unrelated, but congrats on finishing Tears of the Kingdom! I've not played a console D&D game. I'd like to try Baldur's Gate 3 eventually.

We didn’t get to play last night. Instead me and the DM worked on trying to get the updates to Foundry working. The official DND integrations are nice, but some of the automation we used got broken. One of the fun issues is it ignores who is targeted so the DM will have to apply damage to each creature. We had it set where this mostly applied automatically.

After a long hiatus (half a year), my D&D group is back at it again! We had numerous delays due to illness, part of the group moving, schedules that wouldn't align, etc. We played last weekend and managed to make it out of the floating storm giant castle, but...our group is fractured. Two of the players moved during our long break and couldn't find their character sheets, so one played as the Gnome NPC Arcane Trickster traveling with us while the other played our mysteriously returned Changeling Sorcerer that one of the players (the one currently playing the Kobold Warlock) voluntarily dropped earlier in the campaign (I think he runs chaotic good in real life). That meant we lost our Half-Elf Bard and Dragonborn Sorceror + Croc companion.

Our party makeup for the session: Human Drake Warden Ranger (me), Gnome Arcane Trickster Rogue, Changeling Sorcerer, and Kobold Warlock.

We realized as part of our castle survey that we never checked out the room with the two Wizards. Rumors from the Kobold kitchens indicated they argued a lot. So our Kobold Warlock friend and the Changeling Sorcerer - disguised as an Elf + Cult of the Dragon member and mysteriously returned after the Dragonborn's teleportation spell went awry in the night, taking the Half-Elf Bard with him - went to their room under the pretense of apologizing for one of the earlier food mishaps. Sadly not much was gleaned from the two red wizards, but the ruse was found out not long after when the Kobolds took their real lunch from the kitchens to their quarters. There was quite a ruckus; my Ranger and the Gnome left our room, saw just enough of the ruckus to nope out of the situation, then returned.

Problem is, one of the Kobolds squealed. So we hid in our room. The Changeling Sorcerer switched to a Halfling, and I gave him a shield in my inventory so he could hide behind it on the wall (I forget which spell he used to make it appear mounted). The other two small characters hid near the bed. I took advantage of Hide In Plain Sight and hid myself against the ice wall; I failed my disadvantage roll AND another I bought with an Inspiration point, but then spent a Luck point from Lucky and rolled very well. My actual words: "I AM the wall!". XD

By this point there was quite a ruckus out in the courtyard between some of the Cult members and the Storm Giant (who owns the place) and his ogre crew. A decision was made to search the rooms for an "Elf and strange Kobold". We caused some distractions using Thaumaturgy and other cantrips, but we were found out when one of the wizards walked into the room, walked out, then teleported back in once he figured out the shield didn't quite fit in. Most of the party engaged him in a brief encounter - I stayed hidden unless things got very ugly - and the wizard bailed through a hidden passage in the middle of the wall in the far side of the room that went out to a balcony. We didn't know where he went, but we knew it wouldn't be long before he returned. With no other recourse and realizing we couldn't fight the whole castle, we bailed off the balcony using Featherfall.

...And that's where our session ended. Next time we'll be starting a new book in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign, which includes rolling new characters starting at level 12. I'm fond of my Drake Warden, but I'm OK with shelving her for a bit. The Dragonborn Sorcerer player had wanted to switch characters anyway, though the lost character sheets kinda sealed the deal. I don't know the full party makeup yet, but I'll be playing a female Half-Orc Oath of Vengeance Paladin with a Marine background. So far the other party members are a Lizardfolk Mark of the Serpent Monk and a Halfling Alchemist Artificer. Not sure on the last player yet...and knowing them I probably won't know until we next play, or close to it.