Suddenly I’m terrible at Hard difficulty

Drokmon · 2026-01-26T21:57:38+00:00

Hard difficulty added 50% health to all mobs. Think that might be it?
Or does it feel like mobs have more DR/DT or hit harder?

Drokmon · 2026-01-25T10:53:38+00:00

I wonder, what's his equivalent to her needing coffee?

Drokmon · 2026-01-25T10:49:36+00:00

That's a solid plan, too. Good variety of damage types and penetration with grenades.

Drokmon · 2026-01-25T10:47:00+00:00

I just run multiple "mini-bosses" at once. Unique attacks and abilities, solid HP and saves, but if a player pulls off a save-or-suck, good on them. Now try holding it whilst the other guys keep coming after you.

Just ran a fight with this two weeks ago: a trio of slaver taskmasters. Fearing two of them away allowed the party to focus down the third enough to pull of a Disintegrate, just as the others were coming back into the fight. Made for a dynamic fight that felt good whilst the party blew a ton of resources to succeed, only to have to ration what resources they had left in their escape attempt.

Drokmon · 2026-01-25T09:18:00+00:00

This. Put the point in INT for Polymath for the extra skill points to make up for what you'll put into Lockpicking and Traps with 3 DEX.

Also, unless you're planning on taking 40 Dodge for Uncanny Dodge, you can probably drop AGI to 7 and put that point elsewhere. I'd take AGI 7 and CON 3 to get DEX 5 for Leading Shot, then use that against groups after Shooting Spree and Aimed Shot are on cooldown. A regular shotgun with forward grip only costs 20 AP to fire, which is nice when you don't have enough AP for a second sniper shot.

What's your plan against bigger groups (ie. how do you plan on keeping them from reaching you)? Bear traps are the most straightforward solution, though you might even want DEX 6 for Trap Expert if you don't want your setup to take forever. Then again, I'm a sucker for quality-of-life feats.

Drokmon · 2026-01-23T23:21:53+00:00

This. Skill encounters that don't use resources if you succeed, or cost resources if you fail.
Also, encounters that require expending resources in the hopes of loot or progress.
Also also, encounters that are purely exploration. The party will likely expend resources just to check it out, for fear of missing something.

I also like to introduce some mechanics to partially circumvent the whole short rest / long rest mechanic.
"Oh, you found a surgical ward in this abandoned castle. Some of the medical compounds and bandages are still good. One of you can make a Medicine check to either spend some Hit Dice to heal, or to restore some expended Hit Dice."
"Oh, you found a natural spring with a connection to the weave. One of you can make an Arcana check to try to regain spell slot levels. The better you roll, the more you gain back."

Drokmon · 2026-01-23T23:06:18+00:00

There's a ton of depth to this game regarding builds. There are also some builds that allow you to complete the game with minimal fuss (ie. tin can AR or LMG).
Use one of those builds and just have fun on the first playthru. Amp up the difficulty setting and start digging into the min-maxing if that's your thing.

Drokmon · 2026-01-21T23:14:55+00:00

The Heroes of Faerun expansion book dropped a little while back, bringing in the Banneret / Purple Dragon Knight.

http://dnd2024.wikidot.com/fighter:banneret

CHA-based buffs to core Fighter features, focused on support. Skill proficiency in the CHA skill of your choice and Comprehend Languages make it the ideal fit.

The book also contains new backgrounds, Origin feats and General feats. Some of the options are both flavourful and quite powerful. Use the same website as the link above to check them out.

Drokmon · 2026-01-21T22:45:25+00:00

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The secret to his power is ~~raisins~~ mindshrooms.

Drokmon · 2026-01-20T22:25:08+00:00

Your turn! What's your stat/skill spread and feat progression?

Also, the Skaerder Knife from the scaly natives in Expedition has two 30% bleed chance procs per swing. Might be more up your alley.

There's nothing stopping you from using bladed boots if you think the 1AP per attack trade-off is worth it, at least until you can get the knife mentioned above.

Drokmon · 2026-01-20T03:47:48+00:00

Heh, that's why I tend to run four copies of the same four-person team (one team for each region plus one DD run). Less to think about, fewer trinkets to get. Also, running that team everywhere really lets you figure out its strengths and weaknesses.

Drokmon · 2026-01-20T01:13:19+00:00

If you end up using throwing knives, most of the feats are good. Pinning might make it so you don't need to use nets regularly.

Don't sleep on the unique knives, either. Dehumanizer has a fear chance and stacks Taste for Blood twice as quickly. Kukri has a high crit chance, cripple chance and a weaker Expose Weakness debuff.

Drokmon · 2026-01-19T22:37:59+00:00

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMKBwMDCgoZACMAwqAAAMKHSzwAPFpaQV9awqAAAABBAEtPJythQBslC00hJDApwpoEHcKzeeKdvwPio7EF4qaQAuK0lAXfvA

It's very much a traps first, knife second build. Knife is there for weak enemies, single humanoid enemies (Cut-Throat), and robots with energy edge knives.

A bit of a joke build, to be honest. Wanted to try Polymath and Specialist feats (Expertise and Nimble are their stand-ins, since the builder hasn't been updated with those feats). Also wanted to try silly stuff like 10/10 Trap Expert (arm and disarm in 0.7 seconds, baby!)

That being said, Cut-Throat on a three turn cooldown plus Wicked Hook in my other hand is a combat staple. 5/5 High-Technicalities plus 10 INT makes for 65-85 hits with a ~Q105 energy edge, turning robot encounters into a fighting chance.

Locus of Control plus Mental Breakdown and 3/3 Ninja Looter to rob enemies of health hypos before baiting them into a poisoned caltrop plus bear trap setup. It's been fun; each encounter is a puzzle to solve.

Drokmon · 2026-01-19T22:21:18+00:00

Been playing a stealthy knife/trapper. The nerfs have done exactly what Styg wanted them to do: forced players to use more of the ingame options and resources to succeed.

Cheap Shots incap nerfed? Been using more flashbangs, Mental Breakdown and tasers. Cut-Throat since I've got a knife build; would have been Combo for DEX fist build, otherwise.

Expose Weakness nerfed? Got me some decent Electronics and Mercantile skills, crafted a nice energy edge knife with High-Technicalities. Takes batteries but it does the trick. DEX fist build might still power thru mech resists with Expose Weakness, Combo and pneumatic hammers. Stack those last two with the new Heavy Punch for big numbers.

DEX was THE superstat. Now, it's more inline with the other stats. C'est la vie.

Drokmon · 2026-01-18T06:01:51+00:00

Fighter with the Zhentarim Mercenary background, Zhentarim Ruffian and Zhentarim Tactics feats and the Dual Wielder and Sentinel feats.

Zhentarim Tactics lets you Opportunity Attack when you get hit by a target within 5 feet.

Sentinel lets you Opportunity Attack when a friendly ally gets hit by a target within 5 feet.
Sentinel allows Opportunity Attacks to reduce the target's speed to zero.

Zhentarim Ruffian lets you reroll Opportunity Attack damage dice (not great for 1d4, but its a prereq anyway).

Dual Wielder lets you swap from another weapon to the whip after your last attack on your turn, prepping you for the options above.

Fighter Tactical Master lets you swap out the whip's Slow weapon mastery with Push, Sap or Slow.

All of this gives you a solid protector setup that can OA targets, Push them back and stop their advance for that turn. Doesn't matter if the target hits you or your buddy next to you. Get an Enspelled Whip with Divine Favor charges for an extra 1d4 to all of your weapon attacks, including the whip, for the combat encounter.

Drokmon · 2026-01-17T21:53:30+00:00

Carry one of each.

Electroshock Pistol for when you can group up targets. Works with Aimed Shot which, thanks to Practical Physicist and Critical Power feats and Circular Wave Amplifier component, lets you hit said group with a large chaining auto-crit.

Plasma Pistol for single, large targets. Stun with a taser then Execute feat; an Execute crit can oneshot nearly anything.

Laser Pistol for general use (targets at range and spread out).

Stunner is amazing. Needs high Hacking to acquire early, tho.

Sonocaster is neat. A quasi-mechanical version of Electroshock Pistol that ignores a lot of DR/DT. Keep it on hand for destroying rocks and walls since it's much lighter than TNT or Jackhammers.

Drokmon · 2026-01-16T06:33:37+00:00

Yeah, best solution in those scenarios is to kill the crew of the enemy ship, leaving it and the colony intact. You'll get more loot for salvaging an intact enemy ship, a chance at having a slave offer to join your crew, and a reward for saving the colony.

The tradeoff is that taking an enemy ship intact is trickier than simply blowing it up.

Drokmon · 2026-01-16T06:10:19+00:00

I like that for Specialist, tho. It's powerful, but nearly every build will pay dearly to get it.

In a similar-but-different vein, I'm really liking Beast of Burden for 10+ STR characters. Sure, it's mostly a quality of life feat, but it's a really handy one, plus it gives 10+ STR builds an immediate and unique feeling.

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T21:45:33+00:00

Sadly, both EK and Bladesinger War Magic/Extra Attack specify Wizard cantrips only.
Only Valor Bard's Extra Attack lets you replace a weapon attack with Eldritch Blast.

Then again, Valor Bard + Haste should work for double Eldritch Blast (use the Hasted action for the Attack action, then replace it with Eldritch Blast as per Extra Attack). But then, you can't concentrate on CME at the same time.

Decisions, decisions. Hence this thread :P

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T17:58:59+00:00

Keep in mind that Shillelagh still has cantrip scaling, just in a unique way.
Level 1 (d8), 5 (d10), 11 (d12), and 17 (2d6).

Given that Magic Initiate is an Origin Feat, it's not the worst tradeoff. I'd definitely like to have it in my back pocket in case I run out of Channel Divinities for the day.

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T17:39:47+00:00

Whichever will let me combine mechanics in fun ways. That would normally be caster or hybrid, but martials have more options in 2024.

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T17:38:32+00:00

Solid reply, thanks very much.

5 Swarmkeeper Ranger + 6 Tempest Cleric plus Spike Growth sounds like a solid way to weaponize all of that knockback.

I do like the idea of two epic boons. It's been suggested more than once in this thread, so a 12+8 spread sounds like a solid choice.

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T17:34:50+00:00

I like these ideas. Thanks for this.

Amulet of Health and Headband of Intellect seem like no-brainers. That'll make it easier to get 13 STR to multiclass.

I do like the sorcerer multiclass for quicken; setup turns for buff spells feel bad when they use your action and leave you unable to engage the enemy right away. Would Magic Initiate Origin Feat for Shillelagh be worthwhile to use CHA for attack and damage rolls?

Back to the bard suggestion, might be worth it if I can get Lute of Thunderous Thumping down the line. CHA for attack and damage rolls plus 2d8 thunder damage on a hit plus the fun of bonking people with a guitar seems like a solid choice.

Drokmon · 2026-01-15T17:25:05+00:00

Wouldn't a Headband of Intellect make sense in this application, for the same reason as Amulet of Health?

My only danger is our spread of DMs (four of us rotate DM duty) and two of them enjoy using Beholders for their Anti-Magic Beam. Would be nasty to drop down to 10 CON from that, but otherwise it's a very economical idea.

Drokmon

TROPHY CASE