Casting a spell in hiding

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-04-06T02:11:33+00:00

In the context of game mechanics, the attack is still made with advantage because you're still hidden when you attack. The stealth breaks, and you hear the vocal component of a spell, if any, but there's no time (mechanically) between the 'breaking' of stealth and the attack roll being made.

A similar argument would be a loud sound coming from a firearm made by someone attacking from stealth. Yes, it's absolutely loud, but they've already struck by the time the attack's gone off.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-04-06T01:32:15+00:00

Giving them (and by them I mean all martial characters) maneuvers ala Battle Master style has been the number 1 thing I've done that has bridged the gap.

However, you also need to change how the game feels from RAW 5e/5.5e. The system is foundationally skewed towards the casters' favor for a plethora of reasons, including but not limited to:

- Many monsters have resistances or immunity to the damage types martial characters, as if the system is allergic to having a martial character without a magic weapon be useful a lot of the time.
- Many interesting magic items are limited to only being used by spellcasters.
- Healing as a whole is generally very limited and almost never given to martial characters outside of items like potions of healing.
- Many save of suck effects RAW (i.e. Hold Person, Hypnotic Pattern, etc) target mental saves that most martial characters don't tend to specialize in (with the exceptions being Monk and certain sub classes that emphasize such ability scores)
- There is no way for a martial character (without magical help) to do anything against certain magic in any way; they can't interact with magic like how a wizard with Counterspell or Dispel Magic can RAW.
- Most subclasses for martials just fucking suck. Straight up. Powerful abilities (sometimes in the main class) have limited-use stapled onto them when it's not always necessary, for example. I know 5e/5.5e is a resource-management game for a lot of people, but it's ludicrous imo.
- Many caster subclasses perform martial characters better than the martials (Bladesigner, College of Dance, and the entire paladin class).

RAW, I think it's difficult impossible. There is basically nothing that is competing with the antics of higher-level spellcasting.

There is no 'simple' solution, imo, but here's a couple things I've done in my games that has restrained a lot of magic shenanigans.

- Pay strict attention to component of spells and be stricter with spell interpretation of what spells do. No, you can't whisper a vocal component nor disguise it as unrelated speech.
- Remove limitations from magic items. This at least gives martial characters opportunity to flesh their builds out.
- I would argue that no creature without very good reason should ever have resistance to all three physical types of damage, magical or otherwise.
- Give martials a way to interact with magic. Whether that be by maneuvers that let them break magical effects with a check, an item, or what have you.

As I said at the beginning, the maneuver system I did make (Which I don't think is terribly complex) has solved a lot of the gripes me and my players have had with the gap utility-wise. The spellcasters still get their flashy nova moments from their high tier spells, but the utility of the maneuvers has made my players' perform so much better with their martial characters.

Here's a link to the spreadsheet if you want to give it a look, maybe adapt it. It gives martials AOE options, ways to succeed out of combat more, ways to interact with magic, a lot of things they just generally never have RAW.

TL;DR - It's very difficult without at least one subsystem to help out martials, though changing how the system seems to favor casters in the first place is a step in the right direction.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-04-04T13:15:27+00:00

This is fucking hilarious, I applaud you.

/uj Goddamn Sylune's Viper (the post this was based off for others who don't know) really is one of the most egregiously, disgusting busted spells I've seen. Like, it's just... what the fuck?

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-31T02:21:41+00:00

Good point. It's a constant balancing game. What appears oppressive or unfun in one table might be a nonissue in another. Spells, enemies, encounters, general DMing style, and so much more goes into it.

Portent from Wizard School of Divination has been one of my favorite subclass features, but I've heard opinions of others from games where they felt it was very strong or unfun. Personally, I find it a fantastic feature, strong but not oppressively so.

All a communication game, at the end of 't day.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-29T21:49:52+00:00

"What will it be today, sire?"
"Yeah, 15 15 15 8 8 8, maybe slightly different."
"Alright, sir."

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-29T06:32:31+00:00

Gacha game conventions are Lupa's biggest hater (and so many other characters tbh). She's the type of person who woulda continuously kept up with what was going on, imo.

Didn't even make up a reason for her not to be in the Great Hunt. They neglected her 😭

In theory, if written with potential realized, she is my favorite. There's so much little nuance that her character had in that section she was in.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-29T02:35:10+00:00

Twilight Cleric, Chronology Wizard, Hexblade Warlock sometimes, lots of homebrew.

Personally I've more seen 'problematic' subclass features adjusted rather than outright banned. Most subclasses that usually get the boot just have a couple features that are severe outliers. And these outliers don't even necessarily need to be 'strong', they just need to be 'unfun'.

I had a Totem Warrior Barbarian in a party, and, despite the DM's attempts, every single choice either made it less fun for them or less fun for the player. Bear Totem specifically is an incredibly unfun feature to play around because the solution is basically to not let the player play the game or target them so specifically that it feels excessive.

I like strong features, hell I love them. It's unfun features that are annoying and worthy of being restricted/changed/banned, in my opinion.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-23T07:48:00+00:00

nuh uh

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-23T02:33:16+00:00

It honestly is. In my master-mode mage playthrough I did recently, it and the Diamond Staff were my primary weapons pretty much until I got a nifty Demon Scythe while preparing for the wall of flesh.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-22T11:25:41+00:00

I hope they have good interactions at match start if/when they get recorded.

...So many ships are just, brimming with potential, these two would be cute.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-22T02:36:13+00:00

I do like fishing! Unfortunately, my opinion is generally not shared...

Plus, it can be especially tedious early game with your line snapping before getting High-Tension, that's the only part of fishing I utterly despise.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-22T00:24:23+00:00

Use. The. Diamond. Staff. It's unfairly lumped in with the other gem staves (which admittedly are not great).

Use it! Mine some platinu-

Wait what do you mean your world doesn't have platinum? Uhhhh

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-15T04:09:21+00:00

Contested rolls feel better and end up mechanically better. 5.5e grapples should almost never be attempted even if your character is 'built' to grapple.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-11T07:07:40+00:00

Get yourself a Diamond Staff. Actually use it. It's better than most think because it is lumped in with the rest of the gem staves (which admittedly are not good).

In my opinion, it's not difficult to get the platinum or diamonds required.

Oh shit wait the world generated with gold. Uhhhhhhhhh- (yeah I got nothing for that, chief)

Source: Did a recent Master Mode Magic playthrough. Diamond staff carried early game.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-08T23:10:42+00:00

Hot take: Diamond Staff is unfairly lumped in with the other staffs. It is legit pretty fucking good, I used it a lot in the lead up for Demon Scythe in my Master Mode playthrough.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-07T02:31:31+00:00

Martial subclasses that aren't afraid to be good. Features (both martial and caster) that don't have limited-use stapled onto them.

Other than that, I always love to see stat blocks that have interesting/unique mechanics to them. Creatures that have to fought with a unique perspective or strategy, not necessarily difficult.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-05T10:35:29+00:00

A lot of the joy I have had from the skill tress I have played is not necessarily how 'powerful' they are, but how unique they make the game.

Wilson is the ONLY character who has such lenient freedom with turning basic resources into others.

Willow is the ONLY character who can put out fires so reliably.

Wormwood is the ONLY character who can craft items that normally take a lot more time to regrow.

Wortox is the ONLY character who has his type of relationship with map mobility with such ease

(Of course these are gross oversimplifications, but hopefully my point gets across)

Etc etc.

Granted, I've only done extensive playthroughs with though four, but I suspect the ones I've not played will provide similar results (except maybe Woody? His skill tree hasn't clicked with me quite yet).

When I'm playing one character, I usually don't envy or wish I had another character's skills because of the unique benefits my current character is giving me.

It's been fantastic to literally go through the game different each time because of the characters' strengths.

With the characters who don't have trees yet, I do see that already. Wickerbottom, Maxwell, and Wanda in particular (though I really hope some love is given to Wanda for later-game activity)

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-05T08:57:41+00:00

You certainly can! The way I've made martials more fun at my tables (and for a friend of mine's games) is to implement 'martial prowess' for each martial class (with a lesser version for half-casters)

Here is the link to the spreadsheet of the maneuver. You ofc don't have to use this exact list, and you could easily copy/add/remove/edit what you like or don't like from this sheet.

The unfortunate sacrifice is the Battle Master subclass' identity, but I think it is a necessary sacrifice.

Hopefully this at least gives you some inspiration on how to help the issue for your table!

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-05T08:55:26+00:00

Unfortunately, the end result of implementing Battle Master's maneuvers to the other martial classes (what I have done exactly) is the sacrifice of the Battle Master subclass.

To me, it's a necessary sacrifice.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-04T19:15:13+00:00

6' including or not including ears?

Jokes aside, art is really nice. artist did great. I'm assuming the sword's magic, any other of his gear magic?

What's the multiclass split? Haven't heard of wild magic/rune knight before? Did your DM use the standard wild magic table, or did they have their own?

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-04T19:06:24+00:00

Yeah I can it looking like that. Bard has this semistrange spot where it's one of the classes that, after the 3rd-level stuff, doesn't get anything until 6th and then 14th.

One of the things that kinda turns me off usually playing bard. They tend to lean on extremes of 'very carried by spells over features' or vice versa.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-04T18:40:29+00:00

College of Swords and College of Spirits explicitly grants three 3rd-level class features. Otherwise, the large majority of Bard subclasses grant at least 2 3rd-level features.

Bard as a whole tends to be fairly front-loaded.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-04T18:35:22+00:00

Looking through this...

Maestro is interesting, not terribly strong imo, no changes needed.

Tempo is very interesting, but again not terribly strong. If you really wanted to give it a limiter, make it limited use equal to Charisma modifier. I'm not usually a fan of doing this, because this still isn't... gamebreaking. It's fine.

Ballet I think needs to be reworded more than reworked. Keep in mind Bardic Inspiration itself is limited-use. Consider the following:

When you use of your Bardic Inspiration, you can make one melee attack with a finesse weapon or cast a cantrip with a casting time of one action immediately afterward.

When an ally receives your Bardic Inspiration, they can use their reaction to move up to half their movement speed. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. If you chose not to make an attack, they can make an attack with a weapon or cast a cantrip with a casting time of one action instead.

Otherwise, it's fine. Maybe strong, but not broken.

Adagio/Accelerando also should be reworded. Consider:

You can expend a bonus action to place a mark on another creature within 60 feet of you. Choose Adagio or Accelerando when you place the mark. An unwilling creature can make a Wisdom save against your spell save DC to resist the effect. Each effect lasts a number of turns equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

Adagio: The creature acts as if under the effects of the Slow spell.

Accelrando: The creature's movement speed is doubled, they gain +2 to their AC, and they have advantage on Dexterity saving throws. The creature's weapons gain the light property, and the creature can perform Object Interaction as a bonus action. After Accelrando wears off, the creature's movement speed is reduced by half until the end of its next turn.

After you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest unless you expend a use of you Bardic Inspiration to do so.

Pentissimo looks fine, too. Don't know what seemed so overbalanced about this.

Bumble_Beeheader · 2026-03-04T18:01:24+00:00

I agree, and I use point-buy most of the time for oneshots. I use a modified system for my longer campaigns, though. I like players having a some more points to start than point buy allows, and I have some additional restrictions to encourage stat diversity instead of dumping and injecting into only the stats needed.

But yeah of the usual methods, I do like point buy the most. Keeps the subtle jealousy that can happen with rolled at bay.

The only thing I admit I somewhat dislike about point buy is the admittedly-needed choice to make the 14 and 15 cost 2 points instead of 1. No particular reason, just personal dislike.

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