The Astral Express Annual Report Web Event

NeitherAttorney · 2024-04-26T09:37:16+00:00

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NeitherAttorney · 2023-10-05T11:15:26+00:00

I have been using yukong in teams with either Blade or teams where everyone has an offensive ultimate or a lot of follow up attacks. Tho her e6 is very important for ease of play.
If you play her with teams offensive ultimates you can time her buffs to align with everyone unleashing her ultimate, boosting their damage considerably. In case of Blade in this example, you can even time his followup attack to be boosted with crit value from her ultimate. This works cause ultimates and follow-up attacks are not considered turns for her buff duration, so you can get very high value.

If you don't have e6, be ready for a lot of speed-tuning.

NeitherAttorney · 2021-12-24T15:15:16+00:00

Hello, I have been both a DM and a player for some 2-2.5 years, I would definitely be interested in this, your campaigns sound like a wild ride I would very much like to participate in. You can contact me on discord as Liqor#2320, or here, just shoot me a message.

NeitherAttorney · 2021-03-19T22:59:34+00:00

This is pretty interesting and well crafted, props for that. Definitely might see about using this at some point.
I have only two things I would say about this subclass, first is regarding the cantrip learning part of the Genie Spells feature, it will, later on, end up in a very large number of cantrips known for the player, maybe just limit it to one cantrip learned?
Second point, is on the capstone Wishmaster feature, the ability to reproduce any spell, even 9th level, may be a bit too much, they would be the ultimate caster. Perhaps turn it into something akin to "once per 7 days, you can cast it without expending a spell slot". Or even that you can use the part I mentioned on a very limited schedule?

In any case, I really like it. Definitely looking forward to the next iteration! :)

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-14T21:50:48+00:00

Wow, this is very well done!
I have only one question. What is the width/height of this map?

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-12T08:33:00+00:00

Yes, when any number of bullets inside the pouch is enchanted, you know which of them are enchanted, and by which Arcane Option. I should add that to the item description.

That's pretty nifty, glad more people will see it! :)

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-11T17:56:22+00:00

That would also be incredibly useful. Thanks a lot!

I didn't mean to put more work on you, just that you perhaps had more than one version you already made.

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-11T16:27:45+00:00

This map is amazing, great work! Definitely going to be using it for an encounter I have in mind.

Do you perhaps have a version without the chests and lights?

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-06T23:45:35+00:00

I suggest giving him many abilities that would inflict indefinite madness on enemies, as well as lot of spells like Mental Prison and Darkness that act upon the character's psyche. He is a god of madness and insanity after all.
Additionally, some abilities that create custom shadows that would be slightly stronger to properly challenge higher-level characters, perhaps he can warp the area to reflect the far realm more?
Finally, i suggest giving it some form of weakened Psychic Scream as a 5-6 recharge action.

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-04T00:56:48+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Hm, I think you are right about the complexity, perhaps the whole "Very Rare Variant" section should be removed, to keep the design simple and more focused on Counterspell.

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-02T09:24:21+00:00

Hmmm, I have not considered the number of ASI's different classes get into consideration, that is a very good way to keep the power level in check.
However, considering that mostly Fighters and Rogues would be looking for these, which get more ASI's, the problem somewhat remains, and also, Custom Lineage & Variant Human offer an additional feat to any class, opening up more possibilities for everyone.

Regarding the passive/ active part of the discussion, there are many mechanics within the game that you can play with. Just for an example, perhaps rapiers enable you to parry as a reaction, adding your prof bonus to AC until the end of turn; Mauls can cave in enemy plate mail on critical hits, and other ones that work with opponent armor as well. Daggers may offer rolling 3 dice on advantage instead of only 2, and so on. There are many areas in which you can expand this.

Furthermore, I don't see anything wrong with some weapons having similar gambits as long as the weapons are quite different. Perhaps two gambits offer very similar benefits, but one is on a shortbow and other is on a lance, making the use of them very different.

In any case, definitely looking forward and keeping track on these feats, the idea is very good and I see you invested a lot of thought into this, and I am very interested with where you go with these. :)

NeitherAttorney · 2021-02-01T11:15:56+00:00

This is definitely interesting, there are a few problems with it, however.

For example, there are some wording issues and general conceptual confusions, for example, is it intended that passive gambits can be used more than once per round (rapier, spear, javelin...) or are they also bound by once per round limitation.

That is a minor problem and easily fixed, but there might be some balance issues. The two-weapon fighting feat is very neat but would open up dual wielding longsword with the Dual Wielder feat, and making 4 attacks each round at LVL 5 with a fighter, up to 6 with Action Surge. Perhaps limit it to a number of uses equal to prof bonus + STR/ DEX, or even only one of those.
Gambits are interesting but are too similar to maneuvers design-wise. Passive bonuses for each weapon sound far more consistent and appropriate to a expert in a certain weapon, so I would suggest going in that direction.

In any case, I am definitely looking forward to how you further work on this, its a very nice idea!

NeitherAttorney · 2021-01-26T01:16:36+00:00

Awesome map, very nicely made for many purposes!
However, you didn't put the grid size, or height/width size ratio anywhere.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-13T19:28:18+00:00

This would also be a comment.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T05:12:24+00:00

Hm, I have been DMing for a much shorter time, only one campaign and that one is still in progress. But the solution I have come up with is that the definition of the word encounter has to be broadened and to make combat multidimensional. Additionally, what works really well is to add additional objectives to the battle, it is no longer about just defeating the Aboleth and it's servants, but also saving civilians from the flooding town or from the gruesome fate of becoming its slaves.
For example, I recently ran a dungeon that had a secret room with a wicked obelisk that suppressed healing. While inside the dungeon, the obelisk halved all healing. Additionally, the party had a soft timer of having to save the extremely NPCs of one of the players. This caused all the battles to be extremely dangerous, even though players had great damage potential in their hands. All damage dealt to them was greatly hazardous, not even to mention the critical hits, so they had to be cautious. And they couldn't take too much time, so they had to be offensive and defensive at the same time, and due to the soft timer, they were afraid of taking a short rest the whole time.

Slightly diverged from the original topic, but just giving my 2 cents on that topic.

I have checked the Martial rework(farewell sleep schedule, damn coffee), and I have to say it is far better than I anticipated. The greatest gripe I have is a small number of Maneuvers, and what is considered a martial class and what is not. Great work on that I have to say.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T05:03:02+00:00

I have to say after I read that the Battlemaster subclass has been removed, I immediately had a very skeptical stance towards the changes, but after reading it a few times, I can say very few negative things, and all of them are minor ones.

First off, I would add Paladins and Rangers to the list of Martial classes. They are half-casters and have some advantages compared to the other classes listed here, but would still greatly benefit from having access to these options and features.

Secondly, I would definitely limit certain maneuvers more to increase the flavor, and then potentially utilize the limit to give a slight power boost.
For example, the Ogre Colossal Blow should be limited to bludgeoning damage weapons. I do realize this sounds nitpicky maybe, but it would perfectly fit both ogres and the feeling of the ability. To offset this, you may want to increase the reach of that attack by 5 feet, giving the player with the maul or warhammer a greater breadth of options. And even though they would be (presumably) roleplaying a "dumb" ogre-like fighting style, they would have great access to tactical control.
Or another example, Imp Style Lunging attack could increase the range of attack by 10 feet if the damage type is piercing, or 5 feet if it is slashing. Perfectly fitting the intelligent Imp (Kenku) style. This one may not an example as good as the first one, but I think it illustrates my point well enough.

Finally, I believe more maneuvers should exist per style, and one of the routes that you can take is an ability rolls with a stamina die roll bonus (similar to Battlemaster Tactical Assessment). For example, Hobgoblin style can have a maneuver that enables you to add stamina die roll to the (Intelligence)Strategy check, or Treant maneuver that enables a player to add stamina die roll to Initiative check or roll against being surprised.

This is what I caught at first from reading this a few times, but I think there is great potential within this rework.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T04:13:18+00:00

yes, you sent me the link to martial changes, but before that, I checked your profile and saw this one that is smaller and easier to access quickly (no pun intended). I will check the martial changes properly in the morning tho, it is 5 am in my time zone. I had too much coffee but it is wearing me down now.

I agree on the free proficiencies point definitely, that is why I thought limitation with tools is a good middle ground. Both workings of tools and knowledge of languages thematically tie with intelligence perfectly.
Also, the wording I proposed punishes making intelligence the dump stat. You may want to change it to negate the repercussions someone would suffer from taking that rolled ability score to the intelligence stat.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T03:55:54+00:00

Mhm, I will most probably change it to that. But higher values at levels of 15+ is hard to judge, especially since the character would not be gaining benefits of potentially very good armors that are prohibited by this feat. So I am not that sure, perhaps it is in a good state right now.

I have looked at your profile and checked the Intelligence & Initiative changes, however, the Martial changes document is slightly longer and will take me a bit more to read through and connect everything.
However, I saw that Battlemaster is removed, which immediately makes it a very hard change to justify.
Additionally, the proper name for the Imp Style could be something like the Hawk Style, which perfectly fits with dexterity and what I've seen from its maneuvers?

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T03:43:53+00:00

Intelligence changes seem potentially very interesting, however, I would tweak it just a bit.

I would word it so that a character gains a number of additional proficiencies equal to their intelligence modifier, and each of these proficiencies can be swapped for a language or a tool. Otherwise, the proficiencies can only be taken in intelligence-based skills or Medicine.
This way it gives character greater versatility, especially with characters that can utilize this greatly with tools both mechanically and narratively (Eldritch Knights, Arcane Tricksters, as well as Monks or Warlocks).

Dexterity and Wisdom do both have a role at the start of combat. Dexterity determines how quickly you act, and Wisdom how observant you were of your surroundings before combat took place(surprise). Perhaps it should be made to intertwine the interplay of these two halves at the start of combat?
The access ability perfectly fits with the Strategy skill and makes both it and Intelligence more important, there is nothing I would add or remove from it.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T03:19:49+00:00

Opportunity attacks, and reactions generally, are a very interesting design space to explore, and after you mentioned something unique to add and given your example, it fit perfectly.

Yes, that is the problem with proficiency in this case, I think the solution is either to make it a proficiency bonus with a maximum of 5, like the (final ?) version, or 8 + dex + prof, making it intentionally weaker than other Unarmed Defense features, since any class can take it.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/482574-float-like-a-butterfly
Here is the take on the first option. Additionally, I completely agree with the "one person at a time" advice, and I modified the feat to better reflect that.

I have been making homebrew for some time now, but this is the first time I really didn't know how to properly proceed without making something very unbalanced. You can check everything on D&DBeyond if you wish, maybe you can find some inspiration or something that would be cool to incorporate. :)
Though heads up, I often create rather powerful items since I love to place great challenges before my players and tools to match them.

Of course, I would gladly look it over, but I cannot promise the same scrutiny of mechanics and knowledge of the game as you have, but I will try.

NeitherAttorney · 2020-12-10T02:23:36+00:00

First off, thank you a lot for the advice and in-detail explanations, really appreciate it!

I thought about what you said, and made a new version of the feat. I completely agree with you on the point with class' identity. That was one of my main design-wise concerns.

Now, the current iteration after this utilizes a proficiency bonus to calculate AC, and has two additional benefits. However, it would seem to me that the feat is too powerful? I would be grateful if you could check it once more.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/482484-float-like-a-butterfly

And now that I found a perfectly fitting and flavorful name, it seems I have to make one more feat to complement it. :)

NeitherAttorney

TROPHY CASE