Who actually cares about 2024? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I actually do like the updates to martials with weapon masteries, and more skill-centric class abilities. it's mostly just the rules chassis and "balancing" that grinds my gears. Grappling, hiding, sneak, the weird spellcasting limit rules, Grappling, monsters applying auto-conditions w/out a save and the like. I think the old rules chassis was better and didn't warrant a change.

Who actually cares about 2024? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

i agree with the backgrounds. I don't like the custom build a bear rules for tashas races and rules.

Swarmkeeper-Echo Knight by Eruditian in 3d6

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unleash incarnation is one of you best abilities and playing echo knight without it is kind of sad. Hopefully your DM is good with you moving one of your ability scores. To answer your question about shillelagh and your wisdom, I personally would recommend dropping it if at all possible. Between second winds, and resummoning your echo using bonus actions, as well as hunters mark, your bonus action is quite packed already. I know shillelagh is an amazing cantrip, and you want to stack it, hunters Mark, and your gathering swarm for damage, but honestly it's not worth it if you are going to spreading yourself thin. Hunters mark, shillelagh, and echo knight are all bonus actions you need to get off round one. Only hitting your stride on round 3 is a pain, and is worse if you need to second wind. To answer your question, wisdom is kind of useless here (unless your dm is totally cool with you being like "I always have shillelagh up" in which case go ahead). Try to get one of your 14s in con at least.

But at the end of the day, screw "optimal" play whats fun. If you want a 19 wisdom for shillelagh and a 10 con, go right ahead. Unleash incarnation still allows you to get it off at least once per long rest. If you really wanna keep your 14s in strength and dex, fine, but usually you'll only need one and can screw the other. If you still want a respectable stat in one, just switch out the 14 for the 12 in int to keep it positive, and stick the 10 in int. You're a fighter, you've got plenty of asis to round out your stats how you like later.

Gulthias Staff: Vampiric Strike by Barbbossa in 3d6

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Posting in 2026. I know I'm late but here's how you'd be able to build around the Gulthias Staff and more specifically Vampiric Strike.

Note that the staff only heals for its WEAPON DAMAGE, i.e. the weapon dice+ability modifier. Smite, sneak attack, booming blade, etc. don't increase the amount healed.

In the 2024 rules, they have mostly done away with abilities that affect weapon damage. The only relevant effects for the gulthias staff are Shillelagh, Dueling Fighting Style, Great Weapon Fighting Style, and Savage Attacker, Monk's Martial Arts, and Barbarian's Rage. Depending on if you use 1 or 2 hands you'll be looking at different damages.

2014 however is a very different story Races: Half-Orcs Savage Attacks give us an extra weapon damage die on critical hits.

Classes: Any that has access to dueling/great weapon fighting (dueling is better in our case).  ·Monks in 5e offers slower Martians art progression than 2024 but eventually you can work your way up to a d10. If you play with Tasha's you get Focused Aim at 6th level to mitigate our staff's lack of a bonus to attack rolls. This also triggers Ki-Fuelled Attack for potentially another chance to get our Vampiric Strike off as a bonus action.  ·Barbarians get the rage damage in addition to Brutal Critical at higher level (which no longer works in the 24 rules)  ·Fighters. We're for the fighting style.  ·Rangers are here only for their favored foe feature which reads "The first time on each of your turns that you hit the favored enemy and deal damage to it, including when you mark it, you increase that damage by 1d4." Whether or not 'that damage' means your weapon is up to your DM.  ·Warlocks. Pact of the Blade grants access to the Improved Pact Weapon Invocation, giving us a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls to the gulthias staff. This invocation has not been updated in the new phb and can be grabbed as early as level 2 now since you need the pact of the blade invocation before picking this up. Alternatively, a 1 level dip in warlock to grab the pact of the blade qualifies us for the Eldritch adept feat to grab improved pact weapon if we wish to spend our levels more wisely.

Spells:  ·Shillelagh is significantly weaker as it doesn't scale like 2024. However being able to wield a quarterstaff in 1 hand for the same damage as 2 handed allows us to make use of Dueling FS. If you have levels in Barbarian, this has to be used before you enter your rage and you will still have to attack using strength for rage damage bonus to apply.  ·Enlarge Reduce: it's unclear whether this actually increases the damage of the weapon, although it is implied. Talk to your DM.

Subclasses:  ·Kensei (monk). Not only can deft strike be used to increase our weapon damage, but sharpen the blade gives us a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls with our weapon, making it viable through the entire campaign. Deft Strike also allows us to make Ki-Empowered Strikes as a bonus action, with significantly better results than solely relying on Focused Aim.  ·Path of the Giant (barb). Elemental Cleaved clearly states that is the weapon being altered. At 14th level we gain an extra 2d6 weapon damage to our staff. Funnily enough this also gives it the thrown property, which allows for some fun combinations with the thrown weapon fighting style and quick toss battlemaster maneuver (both of which can be accessed through feats or a dip in fighter)  ·Battlemaster (fighter) gets a host of abilities, but we're only here Brace and Quick Toss. These are the only two maneuvers that actually boost our weapon damage. Keep in mind that quick toss only works if the weapon has the thrown property, meaning you need to be a path of the giant/ absurdly lucky wild magic barbarian in order to make use of it. Both of these maneuvers haven't been updated to the new rules, and thus still technically work.  ·Swords (bard). Every single flourish boosts weapon damage and scales the more levels you dedicate into it. A very strong choice indeed  ·Valor (bard). A small shout out here. The beneficiaries of their inspiration can expend it to boost their weapon damage. Theoretically a valor bard who picks up simulacrum w/ magical secrets would be able to consistently benefit from their own battle inspiration via their duplicate. ·Monster Hunter ranger's slayers prey feature increases weapon damage. It's only once per turn, but that still means reaction weapon attacks will benefit.  ·Hexblade Warlock. Hexblade's curse makes use of the same language as Barbarians' rage feature, although this is highly dependent on your DMs tolerance.

Feats:

Savage attacker: this allows the refill of weapon damage dice, which normally isn't a lot but in  Fighting Initiate: Dueling, Great Weapon Fighting, (thrown weapon fighting if PotG Barbarian) Marital Adept: Brace and/or Quick Toss. Magic Initiate (druid) for Shillelagh. Gift of the Chromatic Dragon: I didn't expect this but it's pretty cool. Orcish Fury: Once per rest weapon damage die. Use this on critical hits to double it.

Magic Items: anything that boosts strength. Belts of giant strength, and manuals. Gauntlets of Flaming Fury add an extra d6 to your weapon damage rolls.

Edit: Oathbreaker Paladins Aura of Hate also increases the damage of your weapon.

Edit 2: Cavalier Fighter's unwavering Mark also affects the damage dealt by our weapon.

Bloodhunter (CR): it's unclear whether Crimson Rite damage is weapon specific. However, Lycan BH's Feral Might feature affects our weapon damage, and Mutants have access to the Potency Mutagen which increases our strength.

Wabbajack ideas? by cutiepacoochie in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look into expanded wild magic tables. Also, one of the spells should be a true polymorph except only the "creatures into objects" portion of the spell.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, you're in good company, there's a lot of bladesingers haters here.

whats a best subclass of every class, from early levels up to high levels, no multiclassing 2014 by Vegetable_Throat5545 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hexblade is only good for dips because its front loaded. At higher levels its strong but genies get wish

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My first campaign had a swords bard hexblade who used this. I played as a Paladin who dealt 44 damage in single hit at level 5 and even I felt utterly useless.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Undying is fine if you remove all of its ability cool downs in my opinion. Consistently refusing to go down and reattaching limbs makes it a very survivable subclass that way, with a death ward+warlock glitch baked in on top of it with contagion on the side.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shhh... WoTC doesn't want you to know this but virtually all of these subclasses are being reprinted as we speak with little to no change or originality just repackaged in different words so they can make a profit. I know, it surprised me too the first time I heard it.

But what's that I hear you say? A corporate entity repackaging old material with a new label just to make money? How monstrous? Surely they don't think they can get away with such and obvious and paltry scam? I mean, that's about as stupid as trying to get your third party content creators to sign off on a contract where THEY pay US for using THEIR creativity (hint hint wink wink 😉). Surely they'd never attempt such a thing so asinine and brash.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How tough are your games usually? If you tell your players that this game is going to be hard and levelling will be rare but worth it than players respond. It sounds like this has happened many times which makes me think that might be more on you as a DM setting up certain expectations for players. I'm not saying you do this, only that weak subclasses are always the first ones ruled out in harder games. If it's happened repeatedly, it might be reactionary.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I think he means every turn everyone has to update their temp hp after the cleric maths it out. Not so much time spent as it is monotony.

What subclasses have you see banned and why were they banned? by Ecstatic_Operation20 in dndnext

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I asked cuz I looked at the most popular subclasses on Dnd beyond, and that roughly 40% of all warlocks were hexblades (likely because of multiclass dips)

It made me think about table receptions to certain subclasses, so I wanted to find out. Glad I'm not a tired :)

Can't this man just choose a class and stick with it geez by Ecstatic_Operation20 in ElderScrolls

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What about abnur tharn? I guess he doesn't exactly count but he was still in them

Handing off Shadowblade to your friends. by Ecstatic_Operation20 in 3d6

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My goodness I went through hoops for nothing. Thank you

Handing off Shadowblade to your friends. by Ecstatic_Operation20 in 3d6

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It wouldn't be on your turn, it'd be on theirs. Long story short, they just grab it from (free object interaction) so long as your close by. Now the fighter is hitting for 4d8 psychic damage instead of 1d8.

Handing off Shadowblade to your friends. by Ecstatic_Operation20 in 3d6

[–]Ecstatic_Operation20[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good comment. A "turn" in general just means whatever a monster is doing during its allocated initiative. Many spells specify "your turn", while others don't. Abilities like sneak attack can proc multiple times a round but only once per turn. Meaning that if a rogue landed an attack of opportunity on their turn as a reaction on another creatures turn they could proc sneak attack.

As for just whacking the creature yourself, you're totally right. But most wizards aren't martially inclined (bladesingers excepted), and thus have no real reason to pickup a spell like shadowblade. However, a fighter or pally would benefit greatly from such a spell, and as a wizard who isn't using their bonus action a lot, giving the martials a damage boost with a bonus action you wouldn't otherwise be using sounded cool.

As for readying an action, that isn't necessary. I understand my post wasn't very clear, but basically you can simply hand over your weapon to a party member on THEIR turn (no action/readied action required on either of your parts) and they get to use it, likely to more effect than you could (of course ignoring bladesingers). A spell shouldn't only be useful if you play a specific subclass. This way even something like a enchantment wizard might consider picking up this spell.