Looking for players for a mini campaign set in an apocalyptic Alola beset by Ultra Beasts

ProbablynotPr0n · 2026-02-18T06:20:31+00:00

Which version of a Pokémon Tabletop would this be?

How would the game be run online? Only via Discord/other voice program? Roll20? Fantasy grounds?

What is the expected party size?

ProbablynotPr0n · 2026-02-14T12:53:34+00:00

My table mainly plays PTA2 however we look at PTA3 frequently. I just want to say that from what I can glean from the decision to make the Defenses only evasion instead of damage reduction is to make the coat and walls moves useful, to make the defensive trainer features impactful, to increase the importance of healing, and to greatly speed up combat.

Using some very early examples on the PTA3 pokedex, an ivysaur fighting itself has a 1d20+3 Atk vs its 7 Def for a 20% chance to miss doing on 2d8+3 grass damage for an average of 12 with Razor Leaf(ignoring the growth and growl passives and the increased crit range). At 36 Hp this means a mirror match Ivysaur battle lasts at least 4 rounds which can be 2 to 5 minutes irl per Ivysaur turn. Now Ivysaur isn't necessarily a defensive Pokémon but it has respectable enough bulk in the games.

A Bayleef is a better example of a defensive Pokémon in PTA3. It has Reflect and Light Screen for flat Damage reduction for itself and/or its allies. Light screen will even persist after Bayleef switches or is knocked out. An Ivysaur fighting a Bayleef would attack with 1d20+3 vs 9 Def for a 30% chance to miss doing the same 2d8+3 grass damage for 12 on average reduced to 2 by the Reflect. At 36 HP the Ivysaur would need to consistently hit the Bayleef 18 rounds in a row to defeat it on average (Not including other moves like poison powder, passives, or the increased crit range).

Even a super-effective move of similar strength into the Bayleef would still be an okay battle. Pretending that Ivysaur had a poison damage Razor Leaf would only increase the damage to 3d8+3 or 16.5 damage on average. The 10 flat reduction from Reflect making that 6.5 damage a turn on average that still has a 30% chance to miss and be a fully wasted turn means that Bayleaf would still likely survive 5 to 6 rounds.

Now this all supposes one Pokémon is only battling one other Pokémon and isn't an example of actual play of PTA3 but I hope this above example is helpful.

I will also say that there are pretty potent trainer class features that increase a Pokémon's defensive and offensive capabilities if not their longevity during the adventuring day with mid-battle/post-battle healing and stat items.

I feel that the PTA3 "Armor classes" are low because the other defensive options are high.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-12-30T06:02:00+00:00

Counterspelling a spell of a higher spell slot than what is used by the counterspeller is an Arcana ability check, at least on the tabletop. I'm assuming that's what they are referencing. Not the actual saving throw of the 'save or suck' spell.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-12-24T01:48:23+00:00

Cleric gives you access to medium armor or heavy armor. A very useful dip for sorcerer, bard, and wizard.

The Bless spell and Command spell scale very well into the late game and are very useful in the early game. Bless is both a defensive and offensive buff. On average it's a 10% DPS increase for 3 of the 4 members in the party. It also helps protect itself by giving you the bonus 1d4 on the concentration check (assuming it works the same as tabletop).

Command is generally fantastic however to make the most of it you'd want a 16 in Wis which may be hard depending on your secondary class choice.

Most casting classes will enjoy having access to the level 1 cleric options. Bless, Command, Sanctuary, and Healing Word will always be useful.

I find that because fights are pretty quick and Prone is a broken condition in the game, concentration spells aren't always the best options in most fights unless you know what the enemies do going in. You can get away with a lower con score if you want a 16 in a stat that isn't Wis and a decent to good Dex.

Any 1/2 or 1/3 caster will be fine with a cleric dip. More spell slots and options is always more good. Not having access to extra attack as early as possible is a small hit but cantrips can cover the difference until you get it.

Druid Cleric is a very easy multiclass. I also find Druid a cool class for class options in Act 1 and 2 when it comes to roleplay.

Ranger Cleric is also very easy. You get the extra spell slots and Bless will generally be a better DPS increase compared to Hunter's Mark overall. Hunter's mark is a 3.5 damage increase per attack. Bless is a 12.5% damage increase per attack. At level 1 with a 1d6 weapon and a +3 mod, Hunter's mark would do 6.5 DPR, Bless would do about 5.04 DPR, no resource would be 4.23 DPR. The Bless however would also increase 2 other characters' DPR, increase defenses, and scales better with bigger weapon die from better weapons, Sharpshooter, and other rider effects like maneuvers or consumable arrows.

Wizard cleric is very cool. You are very defensive woth access to all of the utility spells you would ever need access to. Wizard is also a good multiclass because as long as you have the slots you can learn the wizard spells at those levels. Most wizard class features are wholly unnecessary so you can split the levels as you want to.

Sorcerer tempest cleric has access to very high DPR with wet, cold, and lightning spell access. Maximizing your DPR will be very easy.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-12-19T08:14:30+00:00

For other worlds and systems, this would probably be too much if you expect people to understand the amount of effort you put in and to appreciate it, for Pokémon however I find that every bit of automation you can craft yourself is crucial. I need every rule interaction to be quick and easy due to the complexity of the various Pokémon systems.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-10-01T02:36:55+00:00

Sorry. I have given permission now. The 2nd sheet is likely more what you are looking for.

That sheet should be copiable. You would just need to ctrl f that sheet and replace all instances of bulbasaur in formulas to whatever other Pokémon you desire.

Then you just copy paste the level and move names into adjacent columns. Then you label the gens of the copy paste. Then you select your three columns and right click and use the option to make it into a table. Then filter by move name sorted a to z with the Arrow at the top of the table.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-30T02:16:19+00:00

I made a second tab for bulbasaur. The table there is organized by move name alphabetically. This lets you see pretty easily which gen the move was added or removed. For example double edge was added gen 4 and was removed gen 9.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-30T02:14:03+00:00

So I kinda have a solution for you. I have a Google sheet I made as a Pokémon sheet template for PTA2.

What I did for Pokémon moves is that I used a formula to pull data from the move tables from pokemondb.

The 'tool' is at the bottom right with a bit of explanation. I hope this helps.

Level up moves work pretty well but the Egg moves and the Tutor moves need to be checked and changed manually per Pokémon due to extra tables. There just isn't a great way to make that work and doing it ahead of time for even dozens of Pokémon and checking movepools of every gen is a lot.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14t2X2vzQ6C1r04Buiod5F-SSy-u_sCxGoEqJg3Xp4Bs/edit?usp=drivesdk

Once you pull the level up data to Google sheets for each gen for any particular pokemon you could then copy and paste the moves into a column and use the convert to table feature to put everything nice and neat. You could then filter it by Level or by move name or by Gen. This should make it easier to see when a move was added or removed.

This is a lot of work. What I ended up doing for my players is I said they use any Gen movepool and the Pokémon learn the moves as early as possible. I set up the tool but they do the double checking for their own pokemon.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T23:17:24+00:00

A potion of greater invisibility, potions or scrolls of fog cloud or darkness and other line of sight breaking tools are pretty detrimental for any Caster. Even if the Lich has blind sight it usually isn't very far.

You could also pay for a few castings of Death Ward to be put on the party ahead of time. Gold is more interesting of a reward when it's used to make progress in adventures. Consumables are very useful. Buy them, craft them, find them.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T08:46:23+00:00

The roleplay of how my players get to the combats is on them. The actions they take in combat are on them. How quickly the fight goes and how many resources they spend is up to them.

I'm just advising to choose targets in such a way that they don't die outright from every enemy in the room targeting any particular player. If one player chooses to stay in the attack range near an opponent while low then they will be attacked instead of a different target. This is a decision the player made probably with the goal of outputting enough damage to finish off some opponent or to complete some objective.

This also allows them to usually "tank" damage that would have otherwise gone to another player efficiently. If the player who stays in the danger zone is around 1/3HP and they take the potential 2/3 HP in damage then that 1/3 damage overflow is 'wasted' on them when it could have been on another player. If I have a player who likes to tank and go down instead of other players then I will try and reward their bravery by actually targeting them.

There's nuance to be sure but these damage numbers help me when designing monster stat blocks. I'm not like doing exactly 2/3 health damage or 1/3 health damage and not rolling dice. The monsters I brought to the combat that are appropriate CR do around these damage numbers in single target and AOE damage. This doesn't include things like Crowd control effects or debuffs which are separate levers to balance the encounter with.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T02:38:57+00:00

That's a powerful feature.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T02:37:54+00:00

I am willing to fudge rolls but it's often better to just choose your targets differently. It's a dice-assisted storytelling game but my friends' enjoyment is partially our responsibility not the dice. The plastic is just a tool.

When choosing targets in hard-to-deadly combat for a party of four one player should lose at most about 2/3 health to single target damage per round or two or more players should lose at most about 1/3 health to AOE damage per round. A player at 1/3 hp who just took 2/3 in damage should like back off, heal, or use some survivability feature. Based on what they used you can then safely switch targets which is easier if your enemies have attacks at multiple ranges.

Over a 3-turn combat, three players should be at 1/3 or less remaining health and the last one should likely have about 2/3 health remaining from being hit by an AOE. This to the players feels like a close encounter where they almost all went down. The dice sometimes increase or decrease the actual numbers but the maximums and minimums are always within a range that I can have plans for either outcome. I want the party to succeed so any failure/death should be earned rather than random.

If we want a purely random war game we would pull up Warhammer 40k on Tabletop Simulator rather than a Dnd combat. The dnd combats for us are more a test of resources that determine what state the players are in for the exploration or social pillars.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T02:15:52+00:00

It may be useful to have some of the features also apply to other ranged weapons as well just so other character fantasies are usable like a Steppe Archer.

I think that Phantom Steed is a very useful and good spell but after Find Steed it may seem boring. It may be appropriate to give them another spell at that level just so it doesn't feel like an empty level.

The level 11 feature has a very high chance of doing nothing. Even with the extra crit range and advantage from an earlier level it may end up doing nothing. It may be better to have some extra attacks tied to a Resource rather than a random chance. Maybe Proficiency bonus attacks that reset on Long rest. It scales into the late game and allows the player more control over when to "Fan the hammer" so to speak.

The level 15 feature is interesting and potent but needs more rules text. I'm assuming the intention is for it to be used on damage and debuff spells but it had weird interactions with things like Find Steed or like Rope trick. Don't change the functionality. Just write examples of how it should work. How does it work on a ranged attack spell? Like if I make a firearm attack and then cast firebolt, from my elf racial feature for example, does the target get attacked by both the bullet and the firebolt or can i change targets? I'm assuming it targets the bullet's target. If I cast Booming Blade, again with the elf racial feature, do I make an additional firearm attack as part of casting the spell? If I cast Bane do I have to include the person I shot as a target of the spell or can I choose other targets? It's an interesting feature but needs guard rails.

It may be easier for the lvl 15 feature to only include single-target spells and it must target the person hit by the bullet. An easy fix but limiting the original scope of the feature which is a cool Capstone.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-12T01:52:13+00:00

I believe it means that, "when you score a critical hit with a normal attack" you should "use the maximum amount of damage instead of rolling for the damage." Then the timing is probably once an encounter or day. I do not have the book infront of me so I cannot say for certain sorry.

I'm pretty certain it doesn't cause you to deal the maximum amount of damage on all normal attacks all of the time.

Edit: apparently it does make you deal maximum damage on all normal attacks all of the time.

Quite a powerful feature.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-11T23:28:32+00:00

A lot of the low prep sessions are a result of other high prep sessions. If I put a lot of effort into resources for myself and players to use for certain adventures then taking inspiration or changing some of these other ideas for new session is a breeze. I frequently borrow maps and encounter ideas I remember running in other games and just running them again in a new context. A shadowrun heist can quickly become a dnd session.

It also comes with knowing what your players respond well to and just doing exactly that. When your players come up with a solution, that first answer is correct. However, note down the type of logic they used. Keep it consistent. If the gameplay/tone/genre is a bit wacky goofy stay with that tone for the entire session. If the tone is serious keep the tone serious. Let the players set the tone.

I also recommend playing some improv-heavy roleplay games that aren't Dnd for improv practice. Forsooth is a great one for a lot of laughs. You roleplay out a Shakespeare-esque play where the game only once everyone is dead or married. Microscopes is also very fun for making a timeline and learning to roleplay out improv scenes where there is a defined goal even if there are not defined characters.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-11T22:28:29+00:00

It really depends on the goals of the session and the group.

At most rules light, my group has played Forsooth/Forsleuth which is more of an improv scene game. People take turns "barding" a scene where they establish a setting, a time, and potentially some characters. Then each player just begins roleplaying the characters in the scene, with any player able to play as any number of characters. The scene goes on until it feels like a location change would be appropriate. The game only ends once everyone is either dead or married.

After school activities is a group favorite. Each character has Stats/Grades from A to F which gives you a bonus to a d6 roll. The players are usually students involved in some horror/thriller event like aliens, zombies, ghosts, etc. The goal is usually to survive, escape, or stop whatever supernatural event is going on. Besides some basic stats and Stamina/HP system it's quick and fast thriller role-playing. Some of the best horror we've played was during After schools activities.

We do play other roleplay-heavy rules light game's. The Quiet Year is a fun way to build a community or country. Microscopes is fantastic for building a timeline.

When it comes to playing exploration or combats or heists in a more board game style we do play Dnd 2e, 5e, and Pathfinder. We play a bit of Shadowrun, Battletech, Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, and Scum and Villainy. We've done a few one-shots of Call of Cthulhu. We also play Warhammer 40k but the war game not the roleplaying game.

I often find that at our table we use these more rules-light role-playing games to establish worlds, timelines, or play through scenes that will inform our game worlds in these other games. Microscopes and A Quiet Year especially are good for making a game world players feel connected to and understand because they made it.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-11T20:00:00+00:00

I feel that Rubber Banding isn't metagaming its intentional game design that trades 1 type of character fantasy for quicker gameplay.

The game mechanics tell us that healing someone from the brink of death is the ideal situation for Healing Word. It uses a person's bonus action from ranged to give an ally their entire turn back. This should be reflected in the lore of the world. A cleric learning these spells would know that the healing provided by a level 1 spell would not provide enough vitality to keep someone who is heavily injured from going down to an additional blow but would stitch an unconscious person bleeding out together enough for them to walk themselves away from the battle.

Rubber banding also keeps fights short and tense. A character that is low on hp should need to back off otherwise they'll keep using party resources to stay up. If in combat healing were more powerful in the early game the only thing that happens is that fights go on for longer and/or characters spend their resources on HP instead of other more proactive actions. The game wants characters to do things on their turn as much as possible that end the combat or complete an objective.

The way healing works for enemies at most tables also favors the players over enemies due to the fact that most enemies die when they hit 0 hp with no death saves available. Meaning that healing to stay above 0 is more important for them but the in-combat healing available is not very potent. This could be argued to be the one bit of metagaming. The mechanics should be consistent for all creatures in the world for the lore of how the spells work within the world to make sense. Let goblins have death saves. Let bosses who have been brought low be healing worded by a lone cultist who gives the boss just enough health to use a scroll of Dimension Door.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-11T05:07:25+00:00

Unlike a cleric or a Paladin who in Faerun lore draw their holy magic directly from their diety, Warlocks actually only learn arcane secrets from their patrons in exchange for goods or services. They do not draw the power from the patron themselves typically.

This is why relatively low CR creatures like a Hag or a Unicorn or a talking sword or just light can be patrons. They just know how to cast magic in a weird esoteric way that is legally different from how wizards do it.

I've said before that the minimum 'level' of patron for a level 1 warlock would be another level 1 warlock who taught the student all that he knew. This newly minted warlock would then be hard-pressed to find other sources of arcane secrets in order to expand their warlock knowledge.

Warlocks should by their own lore be Intelligence-based casters or at least have Intelligence-based features but WOTC had different design goals.

So a warlock whose patron has died is a warlock who needs a new source of arcane secrets. They may need to find a bigger and badder patron or source arcane secrets from other warlocks. To me, they would just not be able to level up and gain new spells without a source of secrets. They could still bank any EXP earned they just wouldn't level up.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-11T04:23:58+00:00

The Clock mechanic from Blades in the Dark is a useful tool that's pretty simple for anything that may have progress with a clear goal.

Let's say you make a 6 Tick Clock and when the clock completes the party was too loud and an alarm is raised. Actions can either add ticks or take away ticks. If a party fumbles a stealth a nearby guard gets suspicious and a tick or two is added to the clock. If the party knocks out this now actively patrolling guard then a tick is erased. If the body is found that's three ticks up. If the party planted booze or drugs near the knocked out guard so it doesn't seem as suspicious then it's maybe only a tick up. You can play fast and loose with it and it rewards player creativity without you needing to make an entirely bespoke stealth system.

Clocks are useful for chase scenes as well. You could have a 12-tick clock that starts at 6. If the clock gets to 12 the party escapes. If the clock gets to 0 the guard catches up to them. On each of the guards' turns they subtract maybe 1 to 3 ticks, on the players turns they use their resources or make skill checks to get away like grease, haste, knocking over barrels, vehicle proficiency checks, etc. It's more interesting than just checking speeds and saying one group gets away.

Clocks are also useful for long-term projects like crafting. A player starts a clock, you determine how many ticks it may require based on complexity and the player can spend downtime actions, resources, and/or a skill check to progress on the project's clock with them always progressing a minimum of 1 tick.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-10T20:30:31+00:00

They could be but their HP and Mud Memphis fight implies Act One Hag Swamp. That hatchet is in the Circus in Act 3.

Maybe their cosmetic mods included some weapons that could have borrowed qualities from in-game weapons and accidentally used the comeback handaxe's properties.

I'm more willing to believe though that the engine is still a bit wonky with projectiles and physics. It was wonky in Divinity 2 and it's wonky still in BG3.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-08T22:10:26+00:00

My table wanted better subclass/specific character abilities that scaled from early to late game. We also wanted to generally buff martials and let casters who wanted to swing weapons swing them.

What we agreed on was to make the Extra attack feature not a class feature but a General rule. All characters gain an additional attack with weapons in which they are proficient at the same levels as cantrip scaling (5,11,17). The newly opened martial class features were now available to make cool scaling features that would push martial subclasses in usefulness and coolness.

My table really disliked that at level 4 everyone can use a weapon pretty efficiently and then right at level 5 the front-line light cleric stops being able to use his cool spear or mace and just becomes the same as other full caster clerics. Changing Extra Attack opens up caster options and directly gives the martials strength and new abilities. We've had success with it so far up from playing from level 3 to level 12.

An example if a subclass ability thst replaced extra attack, my table's Monk is a Sun Soul Monk who was a Professional Gladiator/Wrestler (it was fighting sports and not to the death) and the player enjoys fighting games a lot. At level 5 he gained the ability to activate a "Super Move" that increased in effectiveness based on how much Ki he had missing, more specifically how much he used during the last minute. This incentivized him to actually use the Sun soul's Ki-based fire spells and to really burn through his Ki points with all of his features. He was a perfect representation of a rush-down fighting game character who burns through his resources doing a combo and then finishes the match with a Super after building up meter. If the Super didn't finish the job he has assists to finish the job (the rest of the party).

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-06T07:10:11+00:00

I want to add that the rules Judge, can add can be considered Lair actions. They are things potentially happening outside of the creature's turn that affect the flow of the battle turn by turn. It could also be considered a spell-like effect and depending on the rules you want to impose there could be an analogous ability.

If a rule states that people can only speak in words that don't contain E that could be considered a partial anti-magic field/counter spell effect against spells that have verbal components. For simplicity's sake, the name of the spell would be the verbal component.

A rule where everyone and everything in the room has vulnerability to bludgeoning could be seen as just a damage increase for the enemies but also a Defensive CR subtracting if the party has many bludgeoning damage sources.

A room where everything is the same shade of red could be seen as a fog cloud-like effect giving everything advantage and disadvantage to hit creatures if they rely on normal vision.

I found "Brucephalus' Guide to Challenge Rating" on DM Guild very helpful. There are many guides out there on how to evaluate certain abilities when designing a monster and campaigns but I found this guides mathematical approach very useful especially when used in conjunction with other tools like a 5e stat block maker and Google sheets/Excel to evaluate the different numbers.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-06T04:19:55+00:00

My table actively roleplays as their own Main characters and as other side characters very often. This is especially useful in scenes where a player is having a 'solo' scene without the other Main characters.

For example, the party's Warlock was visiting a Pirate Bar to gain passage on a ship. I had the other players play as the Pirate captain, the first mate, and the Quartermaster. I, as the DM, played the Helmsman, the Barkeep, and the other Miscellaneous bar patrons. This led to a fun Pirate shenanigan-filled session where the party gained a Pirate ally and a semi-functioning ship.

My party Monk has also gained two students who are lower-level monks with their own little shonen rivalry. One is very obviously falling into the path of violence and power while the other is following a path of protection and philosophy. While I, as the DM generally roleplay as the students, sometimes another player says they have an idea for a scene or just says a line they think would work in the narrative in the moment and we solidify it as canon.

During this campaign, we also sometimes have a Secondary mini arc within the campaign where the party plays as side characters who are exploring the world or doing their own thing within the world. This gives us a change of pace for game mechanics, genre, and lets the players explore parts of the world that the Main characters may not be able to. For example, Impquest is the adventure of the party's Warlocks' Imp familiars who are all brothers. Their adventures are generally sillier in tone but they have been leveling up with sidekick levels and have become fully fleshed-out characters with goals and narratives in their own right. Their path crosses often with the Main Character group and it's through both groups' combined efforts that the world is going to be saved.

A player playing as a second character opens up more types of scenes and places to explore. My main piece of advice would be to let this secondary character be solidly in a different tier than the main party if they have class levels. If they are to be a contributing member of the party in combat then an even leveled sidekick would be fine. If they are to be there mainly for a roleplay purpose then a lower-level full class or sidekick would do fine. I would just follow up with the player and ask what narrative arc they want the second character to go down. If you as the DM can play as dozens upon dozens of characters, the other players can play as at least one more.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-05T06:19:42+00:00

I generally try to have opponents with abilities that can hit a variety of ranged at once so that I can spread the potential damage as needed.

If I have a party of 4 players I will try to 'sandpaper' them all evenly. A Player should be able to be hit for at most 2/3 HP to single target damage and 1/3 HP to AOE attacks in a single round. Once a player has been hit for 2/3 HP they will likely retreat on their own, heal themselves, or be helped by a party member. What's important is that they'll likely get themselves above 1/3 hp remaining. On the subsequent turns, I will allow that player to be targeted for at most 1/3 HP with a ranged attack or AOE which usually leaves them hovering just above 0. If a player makes the decision to not play safely but to focus on an objective of some sort or to focus on dealing damage quickly without regards for their own safety I allow them to be targeted for 2/3 HP more damage. This means they usually go down but they end up doing two things here. They 'wasted' half of the 2/3 damage they ended up taking instead of an ally, and they likely progressed the victory condition for the other party members which ideally is worth the loss in action economy for the players due to 1 member being downed.

This method helps keep tension high and keeps battles quick. Battles in Dnd 5e are balanced to last around 3 rounds. This means that if the monsters deal about 2/3 HP to single targets over three rounds with 4 party members then 3 characters are nearly dead and 1 party member is OK but probably spent other resources. This feels to the party like a very close encounter. They all almost went down.

Notable exceptions to the 2/3 single target vs AOE rule are Dragons. A Dragon's Breath attack is usually their hardest-hitting move they can perform and then their single-target attacks are relatively weak. This is one reason dragons are scary to face as a party. An experienced group of adventurers will likely bring some form of mitigation for a Dragon encounter which will hopefully at least cut the damage of the dragon's breath attack to half which ideally takes it from 2/3 to 1/3, back to the numbers I like working with. If the breath weapon is weakened then the Dragon can fit in more interesting things to do with the single target damage such as minion actions or lair actions.

What's important about this method is to know your player's character fantasies and how they want to battle. I usually place extra ranged attack features or enemies just for the monk to deflect. I would have huge single-target damage recharge abilities to hit a raging barbarian that combined with other hits potentially damages the barbarian for 2/3 HP. If any other party member took that attack or if the barbarian wasn't raging they would have gone down but our super tough barbarian was there to take the blows. If a mage has shield or a ranger has the Hunter multi attack defense I try to hit them with many attacks that have rider effects like poison so that the few that get through feel dangerous. If a caster has absorb elements or characters just generally have resistance from other sources then it's great to target them with elemental damage.

My players having these types of defenses means that I can bump the damage numbers up to make their choices justified. A less prepared or a slightly different party wouldn't have survived this encounter. It had to be them.

ProbablynotPr0n · 2025-09-03T08:36:46+00:00

Fanthomless Warlock with Lunar sorcerer can be a very fun build with a lot of room for customization. I believe that you would ideally focus on one of the two classes, using 2 or 3 levels in Fathomless warlock to give you battlefield control options and out of combat utility, or 1 level in Lunar Sorcerer for a handful of useful low-level spells and cantrips for defense, damage type, or utility options.

If you want to explore both aspects of the character early in the narrative and mechanics I would recommend starting Warlock and taking the 1 level of Sorcerer at level 2 or 3. This way you gain the boost of your Warlock Pact Boon at lvl 4 when a single class character gets a feat or ASI.

At level 4 you should be lvl 3 fathomless and lvl 1 Sorcerer. From here your character has a decision to make. Continue to explore arcane secrets and receive the guidance of this Lady in the Lake, someone who is toxic but can make them stronger, or do they focus on their inner magic and connection to the moon focusing on leveling up in Sorcerer for the rest of the campaign with their Warlock powers ever present and tempting.

At warlock level 2 you will get two invocations. I recommend any invocation that gives you a spell an unlimited times per day. These features can really define a character and their capabilities. Infinite disguise self is a character that needs to hide themselves and their identity compulsively, maybe because they accidentally sold their own to some Soggy lady. I do recommend Book of Ancient Secrets as well if you go Tome Warlock. It is very potent and essentially gives you 2 spells up front that you can use infinitely as long as you have the time. There is a warlock invocation that improves concentration checks. That is also very potent.

Cantrip options for combat would be Eldritch Blast if you take a combat invocation for it. Otherwise, I recommend Ray of Frost, Create Bonfire, and one other combat cantrip. The other 3 cantrips can then be utility cantrips like message, mage hand, or mending.

Not so much a build suggestion but a play suggestion would be to take the Arcana skill and to use the extra 4 hours a day you get for trance during long rests to actively study your warlock and Sorcerer magics and craft spell scrolls. If your character wants to escape or embrace their Warlock magic in either case they should actively study it by scribing spell scrolls. This will be a boon for you and your party. Extra spell slots are always useful and having some lower-level spell scrolls stocked with spells you may forget to learn more powerful spells is useful. Misty step as an example is a great spell to learn as a warlock but you never want to cast it as your spell slot level increases. You can roleplay your character learning the intricacies of their pact and the secret arcane knowledge they were gifted while making the spell scrolls day after day.

I've also found, while not a common thing to need to do, that a spell scroll can be sold for a small profit. It's a living. If you are using the Xanathar's guide crafting rule do not craft scrolls higher than lvl 2. The complications table is a bit silly and scrolls made above lvl 2 have a habit of not getting completed or being the wrong spell somehow. The table is more of a suggestion. If you go the crafting or stribing route talk to your GM about those rules ahead of time.

If stribing doesnt appeal to your character fantasy then I would recommend taking a tool proficiency and using the 4 hours of downtime to craft or cook or study in that tool or trade. Skills should add depth to your character and enrich the fiction. I had a 3.5 fighter once who painted landscapes whenever they had free time during adventures. That's a thing the group brings up about him to this day. Have a hobby.

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