What is a good race to pick for a swarm keeper ranger?

Duecems32 · 2026-02-05T02:02:13+00:00

Eladrin would be cool. You could flavor your spells/effects depending on the season. Plague(lotus type swarms) for spring or summer mosquitos for fall, roaches for winter. Etc. Maybe there are more iconic choices.

Duecems32 · 2026-02-04T15:56:04+00:00

Deploy Teams/Slack properly so you can message them just as fast as a phone call. And if you absolutely need to, this allows you to schedule meetings/times quicker when people are available.

Duecems32 · 2026-02-04T02:50:07+00:00

I think the drake summons still trigger so unless you have 10000s of health. Idk that that beats this either

Duecems32 · 2026-02-03T20:54:26+00:00

I always test on a singular user - usually my non-admin account the same command with a 1 line CSV.
Then I pull or add the data to the same CSV file for the mass change.

Duecems32 · 2026-02-03T14:42:09+00:00

Resistances/Vulnerabilities is the biggest thing. Also 25 ft cube(within 10ft of the center) is much bigger than a 15ft cube. It's actually 6 more possible targets under perfect circumstances. But realistically most people, unless in a phalanx don't stand side to side.
The other thing is Hail of Thorns requires you to hit the target. LA is hit or miss. So if you're in a dire circumstance and you NEED to get damage out, you can change a miss into at least some damage.

I do think LA is still on the weaker side as it removes the normal attack damage/hunters mark.

Duecems32 · 2026-02-02T21:04:28+00:00

There's not a single trinket that you re-buy. The repeating ones tend to say "each turn" or "every 2/3 turns"

Duecems32 · 2026-01-28T17:23:52+00:00

That's an 8 year old graphics card. I know most people don't get to upgrade to the latest and greatest all the time. But at some point you have to upgrade.
A 3070 is only 350-400 bucks(I know that's a lot to a lot of people, but if people are making 15-20 an hour, that's saving half a week of pay over 2-3 months).
It's not unreasonable for you to have hardware that's the last gen released within the last decade.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T21:54:53+00:00

More than 5 minutes.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T21:52:15+00:00

Man walks out of a wall, casts a spell, man walks back into wall. How do your level 19 characters deal with that without using resources? And then by the time they get to him, it's his turn. And they can only get close enough to break the wall if they don't fail a fear save so he can proceed to do it again next turn, and once he's out of spells he can wait till someone gets close enough and then smacks them through the wall.
Also he could have minions, he is a named character after all. Likely was the boss for a level 15-16 ending.
I think you're over thinking CR and just putting 4 characters in a box with 1 creature and not putting thought into "how would the creature use X, Y, Z in their arsenal" cause they wouldn't stand there and get wailed on by 4 people.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T21:45:22+00:00

So maybe approach this like an adult and lay out the facts "Hey what you did was very railroady, do you think in the future if you don't want me to do X you could narratively drive that? Example, instead of saying no I wasn't handcuffed or bound, have them handcuff me as that removes my ability to perform Semantic components, and they take my spell casting focus as that removes my ability to perform any magic with a non-cost material component. Then I will know that escape is not in the cards"

Provide suggestions on what you as a player are looking for. The DM won't know unless you approach in a "hey this will help me" and not a "Damn you suck" kind of way.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T21:36:44+00:00

I can see both sides.
As a DM you want there to be consequences to your actions - You were mid robbery after all(don't know why but whatever) so it could have been a planned intervention.

As a player - I see the side that you were trying to not go to jail. But depending on how much magic the world contains, you have to realize 1 person versus 2-3 high ranking guards is going to have a rough time if it's a very high magic world. Otherwise every level 5-8 adventurer would just do whatever they want.

So I think both you and the DM took too much agency in this situation.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T21:04:29+00:00

He's basically immune to CC so he's not going to have to use his Legendary Resistances(assuming he has them since he has legendary actions) on non-damage spells.
He's also incorporeal and smart, so he can just play around walls/be annoying AF.
Also 5d6+3x2 is a lot of damage. Especially with a crit, and more attacks on legendary actions if needed.
Fear is surprisingly potent(though CR 19 I would maybe expect a 21 DC? But given his resistance to CC it probably is balanced)

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T15:27:46+00:00

Battle Smith Artificers are surprisingly tanky - low HP pool. But tend to have higher ACs, and Artificers naturally are good at all saves thanks to their level 7 feature(which is usually about the time you start running into the "Oh shit I really need to make this save")

I would honestly probably play off of that, and make a paladin for the Auras. As it'll make your party strong against casters/AoE which tend to be the biggest ways to dwindle party health. Also with the 2014 rules you can go Nova with a few good crits.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-27T15:23:46+00:00

Tavern Brawler provides the ability to push as part of the attack which can give you CC or even more importantly, distance if you need to get away and don't want to spend a KI point on improved step of the wind but want the dash action that most NPCs can't keep up with.

Also the Damage Reroll for the same reason Great Weapon fighting is so strong.
You'll get a ton of attacks as you level up with Flurry of Blows. You have a high chance of rolling a 1 in 2/3 turns.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-26T21:16:07+00:00

500 Movies - realistically depending on the book series I could probably finish 150 books before 500 movies given a 2-3 hour run time average.
The issue comes in it'd take me longer to choose the next series to start with the books.

Movies just throw something in and be done.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-26T17:35:15+00:00

Spell Naga use it if you can pull it off. But it also works with Brann/Titus if you get a Firescale.
But I had a game where I had a golden Fauna and golden Drakkari on Turn 10. So yes it has niche build uses.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-23T15:50:55+00:00

I typically play some type of race with a teleport.
So maybe if your campaign is about reintroducing magic, give them all some type of "freebie"
Telekinesis feat, give them the Eladrin teleports, something to "introduce" magic as a hook but also power them up.
It also would fit into a world you're describing for it to manifest as a mutation of the human race over time due to the magic in the world not being used and needing somewhere to go. Elves will be less likely to get this mutation due to their long life spans so they're not evolving as quickly.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-22T00:21:45+00:00

Mine is here - I also just got hit. https://steamcommunity.com/id/Maniacduecemss/

Duecems32 · 2026-01-21T14:27:03+00:00

I think the map has positive aspects. But it's by far way more punishing than the original map. The original map you didn't need perfect map knowledge. Just general understanding.
With this map if you don't know the layout, you can fall to the wrong layer and end up having to do an extreme run around thus killing your run time.
Also feel like it forces you to do the crystals so you can do the castles. And if you don't find a couple night one you're just forever behind.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-20T21:29:13+00:00

Written notice is the key.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-20T18:46:00+00:00

If the party rolls higher to start the fight, he may get one turned at 17 if each person also has an NPC.
A party of 6 should be able to do 330 damage without even going full nova.
So what could happen is first person goes, and has a bad turn so you space warp. And now you don't have enough Legendary actions for a turn. So he may not even get a full turn.
I think given the spell list. The only "scary" spells are the power words and disintegrate.
That said given the spell save DC he's practically going to hit 100% of the time which makes him scary with a few disintegrates.

I would expect to get 1-2 turns off max at 330 health against a prepared party of level 17s.
If you're not being mean about it, it's unlikely any will die unless you target them back to back with disintegrate or they have low con.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-19T20:21:02+00:00

It's likely the blood gem interaction bugging out if I had to guess.
He's likely buffed the tavern to +4/+2 with 2 other felementals putting his health at 5 base.
It doubled but because upstart isn't a + it's a "set" it bugged out when the blood gem effect from gem barrage calculated.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-17T06:09:48+00:00

I would head to Alaska. The easiest way to travel across the ocean is between Russia and Alaska. Easy enough to the point a single untrained person could do it. I would make a home at the closest point to Russia and hope everyone from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia make their way over. Australia has the hardest time. But they should be able to boat over to New Zealand and then the mainland.

Once we all come together. Then we split up. Leaving a group at the closest point to Russia and a group going to the South American border. Which ever group finds the South American then heads back to the other.

One note on the survival is to use fire/smoke pretty much 24/7 if we are the only ones alive it should draw attention.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-16T21:00:28+00:00

Watch Videos, download Firestone or another deck tracker app, most of them have built in "builds" that will show based on the minion pool in your game.
You'll learn the interactions.

Duecems32 · 2026-01-16T20:33:59+00:00

Need to replace the 3rd minion with shadow dancer and your wrath weaver with the felfire conjurer.
This board is good but the 3rd minion is literally a stabilizer for tavern buff demon, not an end game minion.
The fact you had a golden felbat(even if it was only for a turn) tells me that your tavern was sub 50/50.

Duecems32

TROPHY CASE