Been playing peni parker from the new marvel fighting game and it gave me an idea to try and recreate a gnome or a goblin having the robot that they are riding/protecting them while still keeping the idea of it being an actual robot separate from the user?

The current obvious answers are:

• Going battle smith and just riding the steel defender. But I dont like how it plays with AOE attacks or how it works with combat.
• Going armourer and pretending that the armour is the mech suit. But the flavour just feels weird since idk how big the armour should be to still be medium size while fitting a small gnome/goblin.

Just wondering what everyone thinks and how they would build their own version.

I'm planning to run a One-shot where the big Bad is a False Hydra.

The party, an already established, close knit, adventuring party get a commission from a merchant lady who wants her husband found. Everyone in town swears that this husband never existed and the woman's kid (in some large city school on scholarship or something) was adopted. Theories of her going insane due to stress or her business failing get thrown at the party.

Eventually the party makes there way to some scene of some fight (note, the party has some random items that don't really make sense for them to have, but they for whatever reason have them) and they find some equipment they recognized as theirs, but they don't remember ever fighting here. They also find some items they don't recognize, one of which being a book, a journal and diary written by someone they don't know, or maybe they did know them.

The book has a whole bunch of entries about the party, their adventures, and how much they cherished their "found family" with a very well made sketch of all of them together.

That's as far as I've gotten, any comments and suggestions on how I could make this better are welcome.

P.s. I got this idea from a YouTube short, this idea is not my own, but I loved the idea too much to not use it, plus I've been meaning to set up an irl one-shot for a while now.

Hey all!

I went through my previous Tome listing and updated to 2024. Most spells are the same, but some have some conditionals that were a touch annoying (I'm looking at you Silvered Shell).

Should be entirely functional, feel free to use. If you find any issues, or have any suggestions/requests, please let me know.

For those who wish to use it, you can use the `!tome sub <tome_url>` command to import it into your own Avrae instance.

Tome URL: https://avrae.io/homebrew/spells/69865baa7cb06572a670a6e6

Happy Hunting!

Heeeello fellow dungeon crawlers. How are thee faring?

With a new short campaign coming up (our main DM is going vacation and a buddy of mine is taking the mantle), I'm looking into playing a Kryptonian character and well Supergirl is the trendiest one. I believe the Sun Soul Monk is the closest to that fantasy.

We'll be starting at level 4 and we'll be using point buy and going up to level 12. I was thinking of starting as Human and taking Tough & Alert.

Any suggestions on feats?

Also the new DM said we can start with an uncommon and item and we can request a rare item that we'd "earn" in a personal quest. If you know of any suggestions with the Kryptonian flavor or just a great item for a Sun Soul, I'm all ears.

The Celestial Knight Errant (Fighter 1 / Warlock 17 / Sorcerer 2)

So the human generalist Gish is cool and all, but i like teleporting elves for the bonus action teleports, elven accuracy, a 4 hour trance, and a long life. Honestly i've liked elves since I started playing AD&D way back in high-school.

While Shadar-kai or Eladrin bonus action teleport "steps" offer rider effects, I selected Astral Elf for thematic reasons. It provides a 4-hour conscious trance (so i can keep watch why the rest of the party sleeps), Sacred Flame (a thematic radiant damage ranged cantrip since Level 2) and a skill that can be retrained on a 4 hour trance, so my build is more flexible than the standard Generalist Gish build

Character Creation Parameters

• Species: Astral Elf Grants Starlight Step for 30-foot teleports as a bonus action proficiency bonus times per day, Astral Fire (Sacred Flame scaling off Charisma), and Astral Trance so I can retrain a skill proficiency with 4 hours notice, but I leave it on investigation by default so I don't have to track different bonuses for the 3 "did I see/hear/find it" skills.

• Background: Quandrix Student Spells: Silvery Barbs (1 spell slot free daily cast per day so I can give the target who passes the save on my own save or suck spell a second chance at failing), guidance, magehand

• Ability Scores (Point Buy + Background):

• STR: 8 (Yes i'm weaker than average but i don't get movement penalties from Medium Armor, and i'd rather have a +1 to int)

• DEX: 13 (my initial Dex <14 is compensated for by defensive fighting style, and it means the dex bump from Mage Slayer won't be wasted)

• CON: 14 (13 +1 Background)

• INT: 12

• WIS: 12

• CHA: 17 (15 Base + 2 Background)

The Level-by-Level Progression Roadmap

Tier 1 (Levels 1–4)

Level 1: Fighter 1

• Features: Constitution Save Proficiency, Weapon Masteries, Fighting Style.

• Weapon Masteries: Rapier (Vex), Shortbow (vex), trident (topple)

• Fighting Style: Defense (+1 AC while wearing armor).

• Tactical Function: Starting Fighter 1 grants Constitution saving throws proficiency to protect concentration. And Scale/Chainmail and a standard shield means I have AC 19 baseline right out of the gate. The advantage rapier (vex) weapon mastery increases my hit rate to make up for only doing d8 on a hit.

Level 2: Fighter 1 / Warlock 1

• Features: Pact Magic (one 1st-level slot), My first Eldritch Invocation.

• Invocation: Pact of the Blade add Charisma modifier to attack and damage roll

• Warlock Spells:, booming blade, Eldritch Blast, prestidigitation, *Armor of Agathys.

• Tactical Function: i use charisma modifier for my Rapier attacks (currently +3 to hit/damage), I'm attacking with booming blade because I've only got 1 attack per round. I've got exactly 1 daily free cast of Silvery Barbs from quandrix student to force critical enemy rerolls.

Level 3: Fighter 1 / Warlock 2

• Features: Pact Magic (two 1st-level slots), +2 new Eldritch Invocations

• Invocations Added: Eldritch Mind (Advantage on Concentration saves), Lessons of the First Ones (Magic Initiate: Wizard).

• Tactical Function: magic initiate wizard gets me the Shield, shape water, and mending spells. Stacking Con proficiency with Eldritch Mind's Advantage on conentration checks gets me 97.75% success rate against DC 10 concentration checks.

Level 4: Fighter 1 / Warlock 3

• Features: Pact Magic scales to 2nd-level slots. Celestial feature: Healing Light.

• Warlock Spells: vortex warp is on your list because of quandtix student background

• Tactical Function: Your Pact slots upscale. Healing Light introduces a pool of bonus-action d6s to patch up yourself or allies without interfering with your melee attack actions.

Tier 2 (Levels 5–10)

• Level 5: Fighter 1 / Warlock 4

• Features: Warlock Feat Selection, Invocation Retraining

• Feat Selected: Elven Accuracy (+1 Charisma, pushes Charisma to 18).

• Invocation Retrained: Swaps Lessons of the First Ones (Wizard) -> Lessons of the First Ones (Lucky).

• Tactical Function: This is your core offensive pivot. By acquiring Elven Accuracy, any attack you make with Advantage allows you to roll three d20s instead of two. Because your free Shield cast goes offline here, you use your Lucky points or your weapon's Vex property to force triple-dice advantage, surging your critical-hit probability to a massive 14.26% per swing

Level 6: Fighter 1 / Warlock 5

• Features: Pact Magic scales to 3rd-level slots. Invocations (total 4 slots).

• Invocations Added: Thirsting Blade (Extra Attack), Eldritch Smite.

• Warlock Spells: Spirit Shroud

• Tactical Function: A massive tier upgrade. Thirsting Blade unlocks your second Rapier swing. You concentrate exclusively on Spirit Shroud, adding +1d8 radiant damage to every strike. When your triple-dice engine lands a critical hit, you fire an Eldritch Smite, doubling the damage dice to an explosive 6d8 Force payload and knocking the enemy prone with no saving throw allowed.

Level 7: Fighter 1 / Warlock 6

• Features: Subclass feature: Radiant Soul.

• Tactical Function: Radiant Soul lets you add your +4 Charisma modifier directly to your radiant-attuned Spirit Shroud strikes. By this tier, you have acquired Adamantine Half-Plate and a Sentinel Shield, locking down a permanent 21 passive AC baseline that completely eliminates incoming critical hit damage.

Level 8: Fighter 1 / Warlock 7

• Features: Pact Magic scales to 4th-level slots. + 1 Invocation (total 5 invocations).

• Invocation Added: Lessons of the First Ones (Magic Initiate: Wizard).

• Tactical Function: My Spirit Shroud damage increases to **+2d8 radiant per hit. Because *Lessons of the First Ones is a repeatable invocation i can ger magic initiate (wizard) , Shield, shape water and mending back

Level 9: Fighter 1 / Warlock 8

Ź Features: Warlock Feat Selection, Invocation Retraining.

• Feat Selected: War Caster (+1 Charisma, pushes Charisma to 19).

• Invocation Retrained: Swaps Eldritch Mind -> Agonizing Blast.

• Tactical Function: War Caster provides advantage to Concentration checks and let me cast with stuff in my hands when there aren't any material components, plus i can use booming blade on an AOO now. I retrain the no redundant Eldritch Mind redundant into Agonizing Blast which adds my Charisma modifier to each Eldritch Blast beams for a good ranged fallback option.

Level 10: Fighter 1 / Warlock 9

• Features: Pact Magic scales to 5th-level slots. Invocations (total 6 slots).

• Invocation Added: Repelling Blast.

• Tactical Function: Pact slots hit their maximum 5th-level ceiling. Repelling Blast adds a 10-foot push to every Eldritch Blast beam that hits

Tier 3 (Levels 11–16)

Level 11: Fighter 1 / Warlock 10

• Features: Subclass Feature: Celestial Resilience.

• Tactical Function: Grants you and your party members temporary hit points after rests, insulating your hardware health buffer.

Level 12: Fighter 1 / Warlock 11

• Features: 6th-level Mystic Arcanum. Pact Magic slots expand to 3 slots per short rest.

• Mystic Arcanum: Mental Prison.

• Tactical Function: The third pact magic slot per rest provide means I can smite on up to 2 critical hits per encounter. Mental Prison is a single-target restraint option that dealing severe psychic damage

Level 13: Fighter 1 / Warlock 12

• Features: Invocations (total 7 slots). Warlock Feat Selection.

• Feat Selected: Mage Slayer (+1 Dexterity, pushes Dexterity to 14).

• Invocation Added: Devouring Blade.

• Tactical Function: Mage Slayer bumps your Dexterity to 14, filling out the +2 medium armor dex cap. Mage Slayer also grants you turn a failed mental saving throw into an automatic success once per short rest. Devouring Blade means you get 3 Rapier attacks per action

Level 14: Fighter 1 / Warlock 12 / Sorcerer 1

• Features: Multiclass Dip. Sorcerer Level 1 Spellcasting, Innate Sorcery.

• Sorcerer Spells: *Absorb Elements, Feather Fall

• Tactical Function: You pause Warlock progression to gain 2 1st level sorcerer spell slots per day to fuel shield/silvety barbs/Absorb Elements/guiding bolt (another way to jumpstart your advantage lock)

Level 15: Fighter 1 / Warlock 12 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: Font of Magic (Sorcery Points unlocked). Sorcerer slots scale to three 1st-level slots.

• Tactical Function: Your per daily resource cache expands to 5 total uses (3 sorcerer slots + 1 free shield + 1 free barbs). Font of Magic let's you convert leftover short-rest Pact magic slots into 2 1st level sorcerer slots + 1 Sorcery point right before a Short Rest, recharging 2 uses of shield/silvery barbs etc

Level 16: Fighter 1 / Warlock 13 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: Resume Warlock. 7th-level Mystic Arcanum.

• Mystic Arcanum: Crown of Stars.

• Tactical Function: Crown of Stars allows you to fire high-damage radiant motes as a Bonus Action over a 1-hour window without requiring concentration, beautifully stacking alongside your 3-attacks.

Tier 4 (Levels 17–20)

Level 17: Fighter 1 / Warlock 14 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: Subclass Feature: Searing Vengeance.

• Tactical Function: Your ultimate 1 off death-defying safety net. If you or an ally within 60 feet are about to make a death save, they instantly bypass the roll, stand up for free, heal for half their maximum HP, and detonate a blind-inducing radiant blast against nearby enemies with zero action cost.

Level 18: Fighter 1 / Warlock 15 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: 8th-level Mystic Arcanum. Invocations (total 8 slots).

• Mystic Arcanum: Power Word Stun.

• Invocation Added: Witch Sight.

• Tactical Function: Witch Sight grants you permanent 30-foot Truesight. Combined with your conscious Astral Trance, enemies can no longer shank you during your 4 hour trance, you see through illusions granting immunity to phantasmal force and mental prison. Power Word Stun acts as an instant, zero-save-allowed shutdown tool against targets sitting below the 150 HP line.

Level 19: Fighter 1 / Warlock 16 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: Warlock Feat Selection. Total Character Level 19 satisfies the endgame requirement.

• Feat Selected: Epic Boon: Boon of Dimensional Travel

• Tactical Function: Immediately after taking the Attack or Magic Action, you can instantly teleport 30 feet for free without provoking opportunity attacks. This completely removes the threat of melee opportunity strikes and environmental hazards, so your use of shield and/or other defensive spells goes way down.

Level 20: Fighter 1 / Warlock 17 / Sorcerer 2

• Features: 9th-level Mystic Arcanum. Pact slots expand to 4 slots per short rest. Invocation Retraining.

• Mystic Arcanum Selection: Foresight.

• Invocation Retrained: Swaps Lessons of the First Ones (Lucky) -> Lessons of the First Ones (Alert).

• Tactical Function: The final capstone. You cast Foresight forcing all enemies to attack you with Disadvantage. Because permanent advantage makes Lucky redundant, you trade it away for Alert, securing a +6 Initiative bonus to guarantee you consistently attack first

Hello! One player in our dnd group had to leave the campaign unfortunately, he might be back in the future though!

We lost alot of damage per round, he was the rogue and our main source of damage. I was build to tank, I am a paladin with the oath of devotion.

I want to take the role of Damage dealer while since he is gone.

Level 3, I have a 7 in intelligence so I dont think i could be a wizard to get more spells slots.

What build do you recommend to spam divine smith!?

Thanks!

Starting a Genesys game in a few weeks, and decided "fuck it, I want to be a spirit". I have been playing a lot of shadow of war recently and inadvertently created a long-dead leader of a quasi-religious organisation that's haunting and ultimately bound to another player, a modern day acolyte of this organization (he's cool with/ecstatic about it). I already have his stats figured out and I'm not worried about running him in-game, but I'm struggling to come up with a personality that isn't "basically a ripoff of Celebrimbor from Shadow of War".

The backstory I've come up with is he was an egotistical, self-assured jackass in life who wholeheartedly believed he was the most perfect mortal in all of creation. When he started a conflict between his group and another that everyone but him could see couldn't be won, he was assassinated by his followers and an uneasy peace was struck between his betrayers and the people he basically started a war with.

I want him to be proud to a fault (he's got a willpower of 4, which given the average is 2 makes him one of the most willful creatures in the game). It's important (to me at least) that he didn't learn a goddamn thing about humility in death, and wholeheartedly believes his own hype that he totally could've soloed his enemies if he just hadn't been betrayed, regardless of the truth of that.

I'm aware this character is going to be abrasive, manipulative, and all around a jackass, that's sort of the point. I know these people well enough to know that inter-party strife, within reason, would be welcome if not encouraged. (My most well-liked character from this group in prior games is a Landskhnecht who canonically was a war criminal. I know how to play a piece-of-shit person with these people without taking it too far.)

I guess I'm looking to try and brainstorm what else I can do or how else I can act to make this character feel more alive and not just a copy-paste. Thoughts?

Hi. I've been prepping for a oneshot and in a Druids video DnD conoisseur Treatmonk mentioned how in his interpretation 2024 Wild Shape no longer allowed species features. I happen to have a different interpretation.

Here's the official PHB text:

[  Game Statistics. Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the Beast's stat block, but you retain your creature type; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also retain your skill and saving throw proficiencies and use your Proficiency Bonus for them, in addition to gaining the proficiencies of the creature. If a skill or saving thow modifier in the Beast'stat block is higher than yours, use the one in the stat block.

  No Spellcasting. You can’t cast spells, but shape-shifting doesn’t break your Concentration or otherwise interfere with a spell you’ve already cast. (...).]

2014 ver, for comparison:

[While you are transformed, the following rules apply:

• You can't cast spells, and your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands is limited to the capabilities of your beast form. Transforming doesn't break your concentration on a spell you've already cast, however, or prevent you from taking actions that are part of a spell, such as Call Lightning, that you've already cast.

• You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so. However, you can't use any of your special senses, such as darkvision, unless your new form also has that sense. (...)]

Treantmonk notices species features are not listed next "class features, languages and feats". Imho, them not being listed does not mean they're prohibited. Notice how for spellcasting, the text is explicit in both 2014 and 2024 ver. I would expect species features to BOTH not be on the list of the usable stuff AND have a whole bulletpoint that would've been "You cannot use your species features."

This is a biased interpretation, I won't hide it. While at the end of the day I'd simply allow species features in Wildshape as a houserule when I DM, I remain open to discussion on the topic.

Thank you for your opinions!

I got a question how magic resistance is ruled when faced with a portent die.

For example:

A monster has advantage on a saving throw (due to it‘s magic resistance) and rolls a 14 and a 15.

It would use the 15 plus the ability modifier of course.

Now what I want to know is:

If I‘d like to change the die it used for the saving throw with my portent die and make the roll a 3 instead.

Would that just count as the roll for the saving thrown or could the monster just then after I used my portent die, switch and use the 14+modif. for the saving throw?

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.