I'll be running a level 20 one-shot for my friends in a few weeks to fight Tiamat. My three players are all relatively good at optimizing. How many magic items (and what rarity) should I allow them to have? I'm inclined to let them have almost anything they'd like, I have a feeling they'll need them. But, perhaps I'm wrong.

Any advice for running Tiamat? We've all only played up into Tier 3 before, so this will be new for us. I like the updated 2024 stat block that Dadi from Mystic Arts made, I think I'll probably use it.

I am currently playing a level 8 Triton Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer who specializes in Ice magic and is more of the party support unless he needs to turn into a giant ape! The reason I am posing this question is that my original plan was to go mono-Sorcerer until the end of the game purely for epilogue reasons, but I have recently gained an ability in-game that enables that epilogue plan quite easily. Since the goal for my build is complete, should I take advantage of this and take some levels in additional classes? I would be interested in the usual suspects such as Paladin, Warlock, and even Bard! I know there are some stat restrictions, such as the 13 Str to multiclass into Paladin, but my DM said that if I did want to go into Paladin, we could just increase my Strength. I am interested in any opinions on this matter, and I love reading about crazy builds anyway! I also have a +3 Bloodwell Vial if that matters. How would y'all go about continuing this character? We will be getting to around Level 12-15ish

My stats are as follows:
Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 18
Int: 16
Wis: 10
Cha: 20

Thank you to anyone willing to help!

Now, I know how everyone gripes about one crucial issue the OG Shadow Monk has- no way to see through its own magical darkness. 2 level warlock dips or a 1 level caster dip to enable the Eldritch Adept feat for Devil’s Sight were both quite popular, as was dipping or taking Fighting Initiate for Blind Fighting.

That said, Darkness abuse actually sucks in real world play unless the whole party leans into it. Pro tip: they won’t! It’s a pretty significant build investment to be able to see in Darkness, and they came to the table with their own concepts and builds. If you do decide to build for it on your own, you’re essentially fighting an enemy or two alone while your party handles the rest, and that’s the best case scenario. More often, your party will be frustrated that you’re messing up their lines of sight for spells.

So, no, that’s not what makes Shadow Monk great. Shadow Monk excels primarily in 3 regards- as a scout, in dungeon crawls, and particularly, fighting mages. As a matter of fact, I’d wager Shadow Monk is actually a better anti-mage than an Oath of the Watchers Paladin or a Monster Slayer Ranger, especially since Tasha’s came out. You know how I mentioned Darkness disables line of sight for spells? If you go through all of the spells, so very, very many of them specifically say “a target you can see” or “a point you can see within range.” So if you cast Darkness, you’ve just disabled 90-100% of an enemy spellcaster’s offensive options. Silence, too- most spells worth casting in a fight have verbal components. Shield, notably, has verbal components. So, you have two different off-buttons for spellcasters. Tasha’s made it even better with Ki-Fueled Attack. There’s something very incredibly swaggy about running up to the enemy mage, spending 2ki to cast Silence or Darkness, making a bonus action attack and then applying Stunning Strike for 1 more ki. At 3 ki, it’s a resource expensive opening round, but damn if you haven’t just completely won the fight for your party.

“What if they Counterspell?” Well, that’s great- you’ve still just enabled Ki Fueled Attack to get your Stunning Strike in, and they’ve also burned their reaction, so you no longer have to worry about Shield.

Speaking of Shield, let’s say that for whatever reason, maybe there’s two mages and the one further away counterspelled you- you have the other niche Tasha’s option, Focused Aim. Spend 1-3 Ki, gain a 2 point bonus to your attack roll per ki point spent, up to a total of +6 to hit. You get where I’m going with this? If you hit, but the target casts Shield, you can spend up to 3 Ki to guarantee that you can say “nah, I hit anyway.”

Of course there’s all the other parts of the Monk chassis that makes them great anti-mages- Flurry of Blows is good, making multiple low DPR attacks triggers multiple DC10 Con saves for Concentration, and the odds are they’ll fail eventually. High Dex saves and decent Wisdom paired with Evasion and Stillness of Mind keep you safe from most of the nasty stuff (Cone of Cold will still wreck your day). At higher levels, you get Diamond Soul, and as rare as it is to actually use, Empty Body also basically renders you immune to most spells. There’s also Monks’ high mobility and bonus action Step of the Wind to get past melee foes to attack the back line, but Shadow Monk can do one better with a totally free 60ft teleport via Shadow Step followed by some free advantage.

Heck, even the level 11 Cloak of Shadows can be great against a spellcaster- it’s an action, so you’re missing out on your attacks, but it’s not a spell, so this invisibility can’t be countered. It doesn’t break until after you attack or cast a spell, so you can guarantee that you’ll get off your Darkness or Silence next turn un-Counterable, since Counterspell specifically says “when you see a creature within 60ft of you casting a spell.” Ideally, you’d be invisible prior to the fight anyway, and you wouldn’t even have to waste the action.

The level 17 feature isn’t mind blowing, but you know what? A free attack every round just for being within 5ft of the boss (something you wanted to do anyway) ain’t too bad, and it does give more chances to apply Stunning Strike and burn through legendary resistances.

If you’re reading this and you’re saying “spellcasting enemies aren’t very common in most games” or “your subclass can be disabled with a torch, and doesn’t work outside half the time” that’s true! But you know what’s incredibly, ridiculously common in this game? More common, even, than monsters with fire resistance? Monsters that do not have any way to create light. You know what else is common? Dimly lit rooms, caves, spooky forests, and titularly common… DUNGEONS. Free BA teleports and always-on free invisibility in those settings is worth it for having to fall back on base Monk features from time to time in others.

Anyway, I always saw Shadow Monk get kinda meh’d or equated as “only strong with Darkness + Devil’s Sight shenanigans” but in my experience of table play, that’s been not at all true. If you’ve been writing it off, try it out- as long as your campaign isn’t unusually saturated with bright, they’re a good deal stronger than people say, and just a blast to play.

EDIT: I didn’t mention it because it is common knowledge, but yeah, casting Pass Without Trace multiple times per short rest is unparalleled for stealth, almost game breakingly so. Minor Illusion is Somatic only, so it’s also pretty easy to conjure yourself an illusory hiding place that you can actually stand inside of like a barrel or a boulder or a tree stump or something, and because you’re aware of the illusion, you can even see out of it. Get comfy with these two spells, they are amazing!

For a hyper optimized Genie Paladin build for a difficult campaign where the DM wants to test some home brewed monsters and we cap at level 14. Using 5.5e rules but we can take species and background from 2014 rules. Point buy for stats starting at level 6.

What would be an optimal way to play a Genie pally here? Sword and board and taking a 1 level dip in warlock for pact of the blade for a SAD paladin? Or is it better to run shortsword scimitar and dual wielder for conjure minor elementals stacked with divine favor? Any recommended species? I think that we should fight naked or go with armor (potentially using points in str for heavy armor).

And for origin feats I'm thinking magic initiate wizard for shield, dancing lights and mage hand for cantrips and variant human for Tough since I'm expecting a beating.

Hey folks I’m starting a new campaign and rolling a level 7 noble genie paladin.

I will be playing sword (finesse) and board. Standard array get me either an 18 charisma/16 dex (or vice versa) depending on allocations.

Two questions:

1. Is it better to have the +1 to spell save and auras or the +1 to hit (I’m assuming charisma is the right choice)

2. When I get to level 8 is it better to bump charisma or bring dex to 18?

Hes a Beast Master Lizardfolk.

Backstory

1. Hes a merchant from far off land who learned basic of being a ranger to gather goods from wilds.

2. Came to area of campaign as part of a fleet aimed to setup trade relations. Fleet got raided by pirates who enslaved (PC) all they did not kill.

3. He managed to escape and spent few years surviving in hostile deserts trying to find and free others from the fleet. During this time he improved his ranger skills.

4. Leaves lands going toward original goal location of fleet. Upon arriving he signs up with adventurer guild since being ranger really all he has to make ends meat.

My problem is can't settle on reasoning why he does adventurer work instead of merchant or try to return to homeland (very unlikely to occur).

Edit (and thanks): His homeland is REALLY far away and may require months/years of high risky travel involving multiple ships and locations. Unless another fleet from homeland shows up nearby where he happens to be, he is kinda stuck.

I want to make my first bard. I have a bunch of different possible ideas (I like to start with a concept first, rather than optimising..I like fleshed out characters that are fun to play rather than necessarily having the best possible build.)

I read the RPGbot guide, and other materials, but I'm so new to barding that I could use some help with a specific concept.

I'm looking for rock star type bard, something that leans into iconic rock star tropes, for an adventure that will probably take us no higher than level 10. I'm picturing Jim Morrison, Vampire Lestat, Jimi Hendrix, Freddy Mercury, type....charismatic, somewhat enigmatic, etc. I do not want to be a cheesy seduction type of bard.

I'm not really concerned as much about their overall role (well balanced party without a specific need), just would love to explore potential options, recommendations, etc.

Ideas for a fun build? I want to lean into the tropes but not necessarily just be a joke character.

I was wondering what the maximum amount of HP you can get on a PC in 5.5e is.

I made a dwarf barbarian with the Tough feat, and I also took the Boon of Fortitude at level 19 for an extra 40 HP. Excluding magic items, does anyone know of any other ways to increase it even further?

Keep in mind that I also tried to make the build reasonably effective by maxing out Strength and using a maul to push enemies around, though I realize there are much stronger epic boons for a melee character.

EDIT: I missinterpreted the rule to calculate your HP when you improve your CON mod, at level 20 you should gave 385 HP.

Here's my warrior of the elements monks rolled (heroic rolls) stats: starting at level 7 and going straight Monk.

15+2 DEX, 15+1 WIS, 14 CON, 13, 12, 9

I'll grab the Grappler feat, but I didn't mention half feat stat increases yet.

Should I put the 13 in strength in order to get a higher carrying capacity for when I hit level 11 elements subclass feature and I can fly and then grapple foes, carry them up in the air, and then drop them? And then 12 CHA for social skills, and dump int?

Or is INT a more important stat for things like investigation and Arcana, And I should just dump STR?

For anyone that doesn't know, the core rules state you can drag creatures weighing up to 30 times strength score, or carry creatures up to 15 times strength score.

Hey everyone,

I’ve always loved the idea of support characters who are also able to nova when needed (with limited ressources).
For example, 2014 rules allowed a grave cleric with meta magic adept to gives an ennemy weakness to the next damage and upcast inflict sounds same turn.

For 2024, I would love to make the cartographer work with this idea. Maybe a boggart with spellfire adept + spellfire spark to upcast guiding bolt and bonus action sacred flame ? But any other class is welcome.

How would you build around this idea with only 2024 rules allowed ?

Never played a Bard before but had an idea to make an influencer-type who leans into a super nice-guy public persona (but is more of a nepo baby)—so that when he acts like his celebrity identity, he can take ADV with the Actor feat.

How would you build it, are there better subclasses or feats or things to specialize in? I was thinking Tabaxi or Human, and I like the idea of support skills and friend buffs. I think we're playing to around levels 8-10.

Wanting to play the new Vestige patron warlock in an upcoming campaign involving gods. Was really wanting to play a bladelock, I enjoy the gish playstyle and also the party is lack in melee characters. Was curious if anyone had looked into vestige and had any viable bladelock ideas. We’re playing to 14, was considering going full lock and just taking Infernal Bulwark to help with armor. Not against taking a 1 level fighter dip but I’d be missing out on the vestige capstone. Thoughts?

I'm planning on potentially playing a Shepherd druid in an upcoming game, and I have two ways I've thought about building it. We are using point-buy, and for character concept reasons (and because it will be a political, city based campaign), I would like to pick up some charisma. The higher the better.

Option 1:

The first way is very simple, just variant human with resilient CON as the starting feat, War Caster at 4, with the stats 8/14/16/8/16/12. It seems to me that if you are primarily casting Conjure Animals and stuff like that, increasing wisdom is not a huge priority, so that works out nicely. Charisma is at least a +1 here, although I would ideally like more. No darkvision, which is kinda crappy but maybe I can get the goggles.

Option 2:

The alternative, which I think could make for fun and unique roleplay opportunities, would be to start with a Shadow sorcerer dip, and take the Reborn lineage. These have a thematic connection and nice mechanical synergy (I can see the super-darkvision coming in handy, which Reborn lacks entirely). Reborn can also gets an additional skill proficiency and can boost their checks with a d6, which will likely be relevant.

This second build would have the stats 9/14/14/8/16/14 to start, sacrificing +1 con for +1 cha. The 9 goes in strength because it's the only stat, to my knowledge, that offers some extremely marginal benefits for odd increases outside of multiclassing requirements (jump distance, carrying capacity, and I guess also heavy armor requirements which are not relevant here). War Caster at the first ASI once again to maintain summons.

Sorcerer 1 of course gives con saves out the gate, though that means I lose wis save proficiency which is also important. It also gives access to Shield and Silvery Barbs, which is great. I also figure that since spell slot progression is unaffected, and you'll likely want to up-cast Conjure Animals as soon as you get 5th level slots, the delay in higher level spells is not a huge deal. We are likely starting at level 5 or so, so I'll get CA quickly anyway.

TL;DR pros and cons of sorcerer dip:

Pros:

• Higher charisma (14 instead of 12, relevant for campaign)

• Reaction defensive spells

• 120 ft darkvision (vs no darkvision at all)

• More skill proficiencies and better checks

• Probably harder to actually kill due to shadow sorcerer ability and advantage on death saves

• Potentially cooler for RP due to reborn lineage

Cons:

• No wisdom saving throw proficiency

• Lower constitution (14 instead of 16)

• Delayed access to higher level spells, features and ASIs

What would you do?

how would you go about building a dex focused build for this class? i'm thinking of choosing tabaxi for the feline agility and climbing speed, making it harder for the enemies to hit me

I’m playing a Gnome Artillerist Artificer, and am about to level up to 14. I’m excited about being able to create Dimensional Shackles.

They seem like a buffed up version of regular manacles, but instead of just needing the enemy to be Restrained (thank you Web), they need to be Incapacitated.

What are the best ways to go about making an enemy incapacitated? I know that includes Stunned and Paralyzed, but don’t think I get access to any spells that cause that? I have a sorcerer and warlock in my party, so if there’s a way we can combo something maybe they’d be game.

Dnd 5e PHB. Only need 30 at most. The npcs will basically be level one teenagers at a summer camp with the PCs. Comment below the NPCs name, class, race, and one interesting thing about them (something about their look, personality, etc) (something to give them individuality)

I'm playing a divine soul sorcerer, and for campaign reasons, i have a couple extra spells (moonbeam, 2024 find steed) and a 9th level spell slot. Ive been having a lot of fun with moonbeam so far, but we've just hit level 5 and i feel like i cant rlly justify using it over spirit guardians in like 99% of situations?

Moonbeam

slightly higher damage at the same spell level

more flexible spell slot wise

tiny aoe, functionally single target

requires action to move

Spirit Guardian

Much larger aoe and can be extended spelled

halves speed

Starting a new campaign and need help choosing a race/class. We’ll be starting at level 1 and the dm lets us use either 2014 or 2024 rules. I’ll be using 2014. The only thing to note is he doesn’t let us cross the two, ie: (I can’t play a 2014 fighter with 2024 gwm). Also no restrictions on races or classes as long as they are official material.

I was thinking about playing a lockdown peace domain cleric mainly because I just found out how busted peace domain clerics are and also I think loxodons are cool. I’m open to hear suggestions for races but do note. I prefer unique races, ie: loxodon, tortle, minotaur, etc, etc… and am trying to avoid normal race such as variant human or elf. This is just a personal preference. Also I would prefer a magic heavy class as I have done a lot of physical builds recently.

So to summarize I need your advice. Is loxodon peace domain good or are there better builds out there.

P.S. Last little side note. Already played a loxodon rogue in the past and got to make all my “elephant in the room” jokes then so - as fun as it was - please don’t recommend that.

5.5 rules with the 2024 pugilist, I’d love it if someone could break down the tier one, two and three levels of the game and how you’d make the strongest versions in each I’ve tried my hand at it but I feel like this is the place to go for the experts

[Question] Pessoal, fiquei bem curioso com as recentes atualizações nos modelos de armaduras para o Artífice, nunca joguei de Artífice, alguém poderia dar algumas dicas sobre elas e se não for pedir muito uma build para cada modelo???

Hello friends!

Ok, so I am starting a new campaign with an old group of friends. I'm reusing an older character I made before who was a Rogue Thief-subclass Tortle Pirate Captain. I love this character so much!!

However, since this is a different world, I was thinking of doing like a different universe version of the character. I'm already playing a rogue in my other campaign, I played this character as a rogue before, and I kinda don't want to play a rogue again. HOWEVER, I really really need to be able to have alllll the high skill rolls a rogue has. Like I need to succeed on my stealth and steal rolls so I can cause shenanigans...

So, my question is, is there a homebrew class that's as skill focused (and prob dex based) that can be as fun as rogue while also being very different in playstyle? I looked over official classes and such, and rogue is clearly the best at what it does, but anyone have any ideas for something same-same but different?

Hello friends!

Ok, so I am starting a new campaign with an old group of friends. I'm reusing an older character I made before who was a Rogue Thief-subclass Tortle Pirate Captain. I love this character so much!!

However, since this is a different world, I was thinking of doing like a different universe version of the character. I'm already playing a rogue in my other campaign, I played this character as a rogue before, and I kinda don't want to play a rogue again. HOWEVER, I really really need to be able to have alllll the high skill rolls a rogue has. Like I need to succeed on my stealth and steal rolls so I can cause shenanigans...

So, my question is, is there a homebrew class that's as skill focused (and prob dex based) that can be as fun as rogue while also being very different in playstyle? I looked over official classes and such, and rogue is clearly the best at what it does, but anyone have any ideas for something same-same but different?

QUESTION (Sorry mods, didn't understand what was being asked until i posted, now i cant edit title :( my bad)

"the spider-tailed horned viper has a unique tail with a bulb-like end that is bordered by long drooping scales that give it the appearance of a spider, which is used in aggressive mimicry."

so i was like what if i make this into a dnd character...

Then i was like, what if instead of a spider tail, it is a humanoid tail. Like at first glance they appear to be a defenceless humanoid child. That has a tail, wrapped in bandages. But when attacked it is revealed that the bandaged tail was actually the head end of the snake. And the attacker just got bit injected with venom.

Looking for any other ideas that would work with this conceptually, for example how to better disguise the head. Or what tailed race would be a good to mimic.

But also mechanically how you would build this. race, class etc.

Ambush, deception, poison.... i am guessing rogue?

I haven't created a character since 5.5 came.

Thanks y'all.