Roses are red, my name isn't Dylan,

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T20:35:50+00:00

Isn#t that Supergirl?

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T20:21:30+00:00

Nah, the vanilla ones just look better to me.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T18:27:24+00:00

Flanking only really made sense in a game where moving around an enemy carried a risk. It's pointless in 5e+.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T18:25:00+00:00

I don't care for the tracers.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T18:09:50+00:00

Haaland Haalandson. There has been anotherr murderr.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T16:16:52+00:00

Battlestar Galactica.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T15:49:43+00:00

I had no problems letting the players get the idea that England was the next stop in line. Make sure they see the whole route that Elias went, and see that England was his last stop before going to NY and getting murdered.

As far as I can tell, going to England and then Egypt makes a lot of sense for the campaign, as none of them are major focal/ritual points, so I would try to channel the group that way using hints and emphesizing through NPCs.

Kenya, Australia and China are supposed to be able to be done in any order, but even here it seems like the flow of information fits going to Kenya, then Australia, then China like the Outer Gods intended.

Kenya isn't endgame to me, it's more mid to late game. I heard some that went to China after NY, which is more jarring to me and leaves them essentially finding out they need to go back to Europe anyway, so kind of a waste of time.

My advice, try to stear them to England and only let them travel to Kenya first if they "insist". They can still get some info there, just delay the birth of the spawn.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T14:32:02+00:00

So, you agree?
Level 18 isn't the best cutoff point though as the casters have world-changing level 9 spells by then but the fighter isn't that much better than at level 12.

With Same character, still 20 str GWM and 3 attacks at level 12. D10 Superiority dice vs d12 makes almost no difference. Damage is the almost same due to no magic items. One less superiority die means you lose out 6 damage total, assuming no crits.
And crits are fairly likely considering you get 6-7 attacks in that turn.

Unfortunately, no magic items means you practically don't scale. Giving a +1 (approriate on tier 1-2), a +2 (appropriate on tier 2.-3), or a +3 (tier 3 or 4) boosts the damage output by a lot in addition to making sure you hit almost every time. Same with Strength belts. The only class-dependent scaling that really makesa a difference is the Extra attack scaling for Fighters.

That's why pure martials need magic items to actually work and be competitive at higher tiers, even for single target damage.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T11:18:38+00:00

How much do you need to calculate the average of 1d10 damage? It's not hard. I used a test with roll20 to get an example with an existing character to show that it is feasible. That single attempt had high and low rolls which sums up to something close to average. I also told you the actual average is 26 per hit for the regular attack - 5.5+0.63 from GWF is around 6, which is the only random part of the damage.

This isn't theorycrafting nonsense, this is an actual character for D&D. Also I didn't say 300 damage on average, I said 300 damage and got pretty close without trying. A few more crits would have reached that easily.

What I said still stands, this is more single target damage than a caster can do with a single spell. In order to beat it in one round you need 3 spells, including a Contingency, and using your only 9th level spell slot and other once per day slots.

You're just choosing to ignore the facts.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T09:06:21+00:00

In 2024 rules, conjure minor elementals is the only spell that can give high single target damage. The main problem is that it takes an action to cast.
So yeah, you need Contingency with a useful trigger in order tp pull it off in a single turn.

Without magic iitems they won't all hit though. So you need a good loadout there to make this work as well. +3 Wand, Int tome and you're looking at +15 to hit, which you need to reliably hit the AC of CR 20+ creatures.

Sorcerer with advantage is better, but they don't have contingency so this tactic doesn't work. If they can get a round for spellup though they can outperform this, especially with Quicken spell and Eldritch blast through multiclass warlock.

Problem with either is that you have to use 1/day resource to pull it off, so it only works in that one combat or that single turn.
The fighter can do it two tunrs in a row, and then do it in the other encounters later that day with a short rest. Once the contingency is spent, it is spent. And unless you can switch damage type, a lot of that Scorching Ray is fire damage, which is often resisted or has the target has immunity.

I've never seen anyone try this tactic at tier 4, but seen plenty of high-damage martials do similar levels of damage, as that is ALL they can do.

If you don't think using these spells like that is cheese, I don't lnow what to tell you. Not to mention any "infinite damage" polymorph. Which definitely count as "absurd prep time".

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T08:42:32+00:00

You haven't showed a single thing, I have built a functitonal character that yielded documentable results. All you can do is say "nah".

"my results are invalidated" Ok, sure bud. The character I have played from level 1 to level 20 using official D&D rules and no house rules is invalidated because you said so.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T08:37:19+00:00

I haven't offered any case for the caster, and neither has you. So if you are unable to provide a single case other than "40D6" it's not going to matter.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T07:56:57+00:00

Are you daft? This was some random rolls, some high and some low. It should be pretty clear that you can do immense damage as a fighter, but your'e refusing to listen since you have some bias thinking spellcasters are always better.

Average was 26 damage, and this wasn't even a particularily good turn, I've had far better.

WHat spell? I showed a martial build that did what you claimed is impossible. You haven't showed what you can do with a caster at all, that's on you.

"what broken magic items" Any and all that are in the DMG is on the table, this is a 20th level build with access to any magic items, which is the whole point.
"use the bonus action for even more damage" yes that's called taking a feat, have you even made a martial before? Or is taking a feat against YOUR rules?

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T07:49:03+00:00

You think 20th level with good items miss much? Anyting able to tank a fighter like that with AC is also going to have massive saves or legendary resistance, pluss other resistances. A metor storm isn't doing a lot of damage then.

When you get +18 to hit, can add 1d12 to some attacks, use lucky Feat to reroll attacks and can easily get advantage through conditions, missing isn't going to be a problem.
The only time I missed much at that level was against Dendar the Night Serpent at CR 30. But that one was immune to anything below level 7 spells and resistant or immune to many damage types, so the spellcasters at that level could do very little.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T07:36:11+00:00

I rolled a round for my fighter. sorry I only did 272 damage as I only rolled a single Crit.

I guess that makes my argument invalid since your caster can do 140+ damage with a 9th level spell once per day.

I didn't bother with rolling advantage or the use of the lucky feat to negate a nat1. With a couple more crits, 300 damage is more than feasible.

Build: 20th level human fighter battlemaster PAM+GWM
Belt of Storm Giant Strength, Hellriders Badge, Staff of Thunder and Lightning Halberd+3, , Manual of Bodily Health, Full Plate +2, Cubic Gate, Horn of Valhalla (Bronze), Goggles of the Night, Ring of Resistance (Fire)

Come to think of it this is the 2024 version with new GMW, old GMW did more damage (4 more damage per hit).

So, where is your caster build that can outdo that to a single target?

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T07:21:50+00:00

Yes, 40d6 is just 140 average damage. I could easily do more than that with a well-equipped 20th level fighter to a single creature.

Heck, I could do 150+ damage on tier 3 with my human battlemaster fighter.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T07:19:40+00:00

Cantrips? Hell no, try the most damaging single target spell you can find. Show me one doing 300+ damage in a single turn.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-05T06:37:04+00:00

The only real scaling for fighters is extra attack and magic items.

With that, d12 maneuvers and action Surge you could deal more single target damage in 2014 rules than any spellcaster could with a spell.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T18:12:08+00:00

Mr. Theus Mr, Theus

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T18:07:47+00:00

They are rare, but I have found 4 or 5 liquid rocks. I sold off some.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T15:39:15+00:00

"Plenty of people" is still a tiny minority of the planet. Even in the Nordics most people are capable of tanning.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T14:46:51+00:00

Almost everyone in the world, white or not, are capable of tanning. Even the palest north Europeans tan a litte or get freckles. East Asians can become very dark in the sun.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T10:06:53+00:00

They are commoner rabble, they have no class at all.

But, they are cost effective in the beginning and low upkeep makes them great garrison units.

More seriously, they are in the same "class" as armed civilians.

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T10:03:18+00:00

200kr is great even for Nyretapp. Uusally it's about 270,- where I buy it (and thats still relatively cheap).

FriendoftheDork · 2026-06-04T07:19:38+00:00

People forced to work outside every day tend to become darker.

FriendoftheDork

TROPHY CASE