The closer we get to release, the more I worry that their decision to make this a backwards-compatible revision that also has its own entire set of rules changes, subclasses, magic items, monsters, and adventures is going to leave everyone unhappy.
I’m not sure what you mean by that? You can either use the ASI to get one of those abilities to its pre-capstone max of 20, and then the capstone takes it to 24, or you use the ASI to get a feat.
I like the idea of Studied Attacks…but at the same time, I don’t like how it makes it impossible to roll your 3-5 attacks at once, because the order of your attacks (and whether you hit or miss with a previous attack) matters.
Oh good, they finally addressed how the “X Savant” (the wizard school discount feature) actually incentivizes you to not take spells of the appropriate school on level-up, and hope you find them as scrolls to copy them later. It actually does what it should do now: give you more spells of a particular school.
Also, Memorize Spell means that the wizard is now not only the best utility caster for rituals, they’re the best utility caster, period. Every weird, niche spell that could be useful but only if you happened to prepare it on the right day is now available to you with just a minute of prep time. That’s simply fantastic, I love it.
I did some math to see how good Sorcerous Burst is on average, now that it’s a d8. Because these are averages, I’m only looking at additional bonus dice added from the base dice, because the chances of rolling a second round of bonus dice is so minuscule (even at lvl17) that they don’t affect the average damage significantly.
From levels 1-4, you roll 1d8 as a base, which means you have a 12.5% chance to roll one 8 and get a bonus damage dice. Each 1d8 has an average damage of 4.5, so your average damage is 4.5 + (12.5%)(4.5) = 5.06. That’s still less than a Firebolt’s average of 5.5, but you do get to change your damage type every turn AND you’re more likely to do 10 or more damage than a Firebolt (10% chance of 10 damage, vs (12.5%)(87.5%) = 10.9% chance of rolling an 8 and then at least a 2 to deal 10+ damage). At the same time, Sorcerous Burst is much more likely to do negligible damage than a Firebolt. A 5e goblin has 7 HP, for example. If you hit one with Firebolt, you have a 4/10 = 40% chance to deal at least enough damage to kill it with one shot from full health. If you hit one with Sorcerous Burst, however, you have a 2/8 = 25% chance to deal enough damage to kill them.
From levels 5-9, you roll 2d8, which gives you a 21.88% chance of rolling exactly one 8, and a 1.56% chance of rolling two 8s, for a total average damage of 10.13 (vs Firebolt’s 11). At lvl11, the average damage goes to 15.19 (vs 16.5), and at lvl17 it goes to 20.25 (vs 22). So it’s the same pattern at every level: Firebolt does more on average, but Sorcerous Burst has better chance to deal high damage, has a much higher potential damage cap, and its damage can be changed if damage type matters…while it also has a greater chance of doing a small amount of damage. It is, in short, a swingy and unpredictable spell, which is very thematic.
I think Sorcerous Burst is the right pick for a sorcerer looking for a damage-dealing cantrip. It’s not strictly better than Firebolt, and is more likely both to overkill its targets and to not deal enough damage when you need it to, but it’s also more likely to surprise you and deal way more damage than you thought it would. It’s also more likely to be useful as a damage-dealer in more situations, since you can change its damage type.
Ah, I missed the fact that the lvl19 ASI specifically is allowed to break the max of 20. Yeah, that’s a weird interaction. They just need to change it so that it increases both your score and your maximum by +4.
I don’t think what you said would make it work with Giant belts though, they just set your strength to be that number, you’re not supposed to be able to boost beyond that number.
My paladin is now level 4 and has 19 strength and 15 charisma. I know it is probably better to take the ability score increase and get another +1 on the majority of rolls I’ll be making but that’s just so boring!...
I don’t mind having to make “tough choices” in general, only when the obviously correct choice is boring and the suboptimal one is the cool fun one.
This perfectly sums it up. The problem is that increasing your scores needs to be pretty darn strong, strong enough to compete with a feat…but as you said, it’s usually pretty boring. A couple of +1s certainly add up and make your character more powerful on average, but a feat that grants entirely new functionality just feels so much more impactful and fun.
I would have preferred them to entirely separate stat growth and feat selection, but the OneDnD method of just making most (all?) feats into “half feats” is acceptable as well.
Originally posted by David Nett on Twitter, the “I Know A Guy” house rule is intended to give all players a way to influence the story without handwaving away any difficult narrative situation the DM might want to put them in. The comparison that David used was the moment in Empire Strikes Back when Han decided to go to...
The EC team put together this breezy and accessible overview of the legal, financial, and creative history of DnD, from its creation in the 1974 to the OGL fiasco of early 2023. It’s sad but a little funny how cyclical the licensing situation has been for the past 50 years. Here’s hoping that the community’s protests...
Crawford says it’s the biggest yet, with 7 classes (Experts: Ranger, Rogue, Bard; Priests: Cleric, Paladin, and Druid; and Monk confirmed), spells and weapon mastery tweaks, capstones back at lvl20 (epic boons will be pushed to another UA), and subclass progression reverted to the 2014 cadence after lvl3. Notably, rogues are...
Oh for sure that’s why they’re doing it. Subclasses require a bucket of features when you first get them in order to substantially differentiate themselves from the main class, which means it’s a big power jump. All the most common dips in 5e (warlock, cleric, sorcerer) are classes that get their subclass at 1st level.
In order for subclasses to feel impactful and varied, they do need to change how you play pretty significantly...but that means they need to have a pretty hefty set of abilities right when you first get the subclass. I don't think it's a coincidence that the classes that are the worst offenders as "most abused multiclass dips in 5e" all get their subclasses at levels 1 or 2.
What's a unusual but sensible ingredient used to make a Cloak of Protection? Could be something you harvest from a defeated monster or collect from nature or an abstract concept.
Like many 5e players, I investigated other systems during the drama in January. I have converted my table over to Pathfinder 2e, so that’s what I’ll mostly be running going forward....
Honestly it sounds a lot like the Heroic Inspiration system from the OneDnD playtest material. Mostly the part about getting one every session (human characters get one for free every long rest) and having more defined reasons for a DM to hand it out.
So I play an Ancients Paladin in one of my games and have the 7th lvl feature, which is resistance to magic damage caused by spells. Sounds great on paper....
This feature really is lackluster, especially given how it initially looks pretty strong.
How about something like the Nature Cleric’s 6th level ability, Dampen Elements, reworked into an Aura?
Starting at 7th level, when you or a creature within 10 feet of you takes acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, you can use your reaction to grant resistance to creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you against that instance of damage.
So, it’s more limited in range than the cleric’s (10’ vs 30’), but you have the option of applying it to multiple people if they all get hit by the same elemental damage, so it should still work for spells. Shame it won’t work against Magic Missile or other force / bludgeoning damage spells anymore though. Maybe you could put “force” in there as another option…but that could probably lead to cheese, since on-demand resistance to force is likely to open up some abusive interactions (like make Staff of the Magi a much less suicidal nuke).
It’s also balanced somewhat by the fact that a paladin’s reaction is more useful than a cleric’s usually.
Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users.
Shot for shot (startrek.website)
D&D Studio Update: 2024 Core Rule Books and Survey Results (www.youtube.com)
Update video about the upcoming revision for 2024 Some highlights:...
UA Playtest 8: Bastion System, Revised Cantrips (www.youtube.com)
Quick summary: the bastion system are rules to create a personal home / guild hall / fortress for your party with prices and special abilities.
OneD&D Playtest packet 7 (media.dndbeyond.com)
Haven’t started reading it yet, but its out now!
The creators of Pathfinder have released their own version of D&D's controversial OGL—and it could have a huge impact on all tabletop RPGs (www.pcgamer.com)
cross-posted from: iusearchlinux.fyi/post/331337...
New place to post memes, same problem as the old place. (ttrpg.network)
Do you hate having to pick between ability score increases and feats?
My paladin is now level 4 and has 19 strength and 15 charisma. I know it is probably better to take the ability score increase and get another +1 on the majority of rolls I’ll be making but that’s just so boring!...
The “I Know A Guy” House Rule (www.sageadvice.eu)
Originally posted by David Nett on Twitter, the “I Know A Guy” house rule is intended to give all players a way to influence the story without handwaving away any difficult narrative situation the DM might want to put them in. The comparison that David used was the moment in Empire Strikes Back when Han decided to go to...
The History of DnD that Hasbro Refused to Learn From - Extra Credits (youtu.be)
The EC team put together this breezy and accessible overview of the legal, financial, and creative history of DnD, from its creation in the 1974 to the OGL fiasco of early 2023. It’s sad but a little funny how cyclical the licensing situation has been for the past 50 years. Here’s hoping that the community’s protests...
Or a journaling game (aussie.zone)
Transcription:...
PHB 2024 Playtest Drops Tomorrow - Overview (youtu.be)
Crawford says it’s the biggest yet, with 7 classes (Experts: Ranger, Rogue, Bard; Priests: Cleric, Paladin, and Druid; and Monk confirmed), spells and weapon mastery tweaks, capstones back at lvl20 (epic boons will be pushed to another UA), and subclass progression reverted to the 2014 cadence after lvl3. Notably, rogues are...
Magic item ingredients- Cloak of Protection
What's a unusual but sensible ingredient used to make a Cloak of Protection? Could be something you harvest from a defeated monster or collect from nature or an abstract concept.
A Pathfinder 2e mechanic that I will henceforth always use in 5e
Like many 5e players, I investigated other systems during the drama in January. I have converted my table over to Pathfinder 2e, so that’s what I’ll mostly be running going forward....
Typo in community name - Call of Cthul(h)u
Offically, the game has two hs in the name: Call of Cthulhu
Ancients Paladin -7th Lvl Feature Issue
So I play an Ancients Paladin in one of my games and have the 7th lvl feature, which is resistance to magic damage caused by spells. Sounds great on paper....
Community request thread
If there's a community you want added, comment it here. We'll create it, and you can comment in that community and we'll make you the mod of it.
Definitely need a dnd group finder in the fediverse (imgur.com)
Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users.
Sly Flourish's Lazy RPG Talk Show: Reddit's Enshittification (www.youtube.com)
Reddit's Enshittification and How it Affects D&D DMs and GMs....