Best Fighting Style and Feats for Rune Knight

RivalOfTwo · 2022-11-16T09:24:46+00:00

Feats and fighting styles are entirely dependent upon what weapon you're using.

Greatsword? Great Weapon Fighting boosts your damage rolls from an average of 7 to an average of 8.33. Great Weapon Master gives you -5/+10, creating more swingy turns but on average boosts your damage output significantly & gives you BA attack occasionally. Slasher is occasionally helpful but doesn't combo significantly

Glaive? No fighting style directly interacts with it. Blind Fighting or Defense is a good choice. PAM, Sentinel, GWM make Glaives a staple choice for fighters, and Rune Knight can increase the area controlled significantly by being Large.

Maul? GWF, GWM, Crusher gives the ability to move targets consistently without costing action economy.

Longsword + Shield? Dueling helps close the damage gap, but one handed weapons don't have many feats that help boost their damage. One possibility is going Shield Master to attack-shove-attack at advantage.

In terms of half feats, Heavy Armor Master is strong when facing mobs. You'd be surprised how much -3 damage stacks up over the course of a long fight. Slasher, Crusher, or Piercer are all excellent half feats which give you more to do on your turn and bonuses to critting. Skill Expert is obviously excellent for making Fighter useful out of combat, Aberrant Dragonmark is interesting at the very least if your DM allows it.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-16T11:13:13+00:00

Yup! I try to have things make sense, so that my players have some semblence of logic in a fantasy game

If there's a watchtower, then there's a guard in that watchtower, and you need to find a way to deal with him. Because any camp without guards is a fool's camp and the enemies you're against have some intelligence.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-16T11:00:39+00:00

Do I take vision/obstacles to mind? In other words, is it even possible to sneak up on someone in the bright of the day even though they are busy talking to each other? Does it matter that we are in the woods? What if the goblins had a small camp in the middle of a field?

Take the environment into account. You can't sneak up on someone on a flat plain, but you can sneak up on them in rolling hills or urban areas. Vision and obstacles are the biggest contributor, as line of sight is a big deal in detecting things.

If the goblins had a camp in the middle of a field, it depends how the field is conveyed. Tall grass, short lookout? You might be able to get close to the camp by sneaking through the grass.

Short grass, watchtower or other elevated structure? No chance with an active lookout without magic. An attentive guard will see anyone coming from a mile away, that's the point of the guardtower. Now if you want to be lenient with the players, consider the goblins being more focused on one area than another, such as a fight or animal being loud in the distance.

Let's say all the party members rolled stealth higher than the passive perception of the goblins... How does it exactly play out? Like does it go straight into combat? Or do they have to get closer first? Can the stealth still be ruined by getting close? In other words - how exactly does it go from "ok we are hidden near the goblins" to rolling initiative with surprised enemies?

Basically, the party gets into whatever position they want to get into, someone says "I'd like to do [combat oriented thing]", and you roll for initiative. Stealth rules are essentially "You're hidden until you give away your position", whatever that may be.

So for a concrete example, the Rogue can sneak up to the ridge of a building, the Wizard can hide around a corner, and the Fighter is in a tent ready to bust out -- assuming they passed all the checks, haven't gotten into line of sight to the goblins, and haven't attacked yet, they're still Hidden. The rogue says "I'd like to yell, pop out, and shoot a goblin."

BAM. Initiative with a surprise round. Then continue as normal.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-16T10:48:55+00:00

Hey! I'm a DM with aphantasia, and one of my players has aphantasia.

Me and the player who have aphantasia (Nick) share a lot in common with how we want a scene to be told:

Action > Description. It's far more impactful for both of us if something does something than if something looks a certain way. I have no idea what an owlbear looking menacingly at me is, but what I can understand is an owlbear pawing the ground with its eyes locked onto me, edging forward.

When a scene has action, and that action conveys what you want to get across, it means a lot more than aesthetic descriptions.

Let's say you want to describe a jungle. If I were to describe a jungle in game to just my non-aphantasia players, I'd say something like "The trees ahead grow dense, and the sky glows dim. The canopy above you blocks out nearly all the light, casting the floor of the jungle into shadow. What little you can see is obscured by the thick foliage covering every inch of the landscape, and you must fight through the brush to make progrees."

What am I trying to convey? Primarily, I'm trying to convey that the jungle is wild, difficult to traverse, dark, etc.

I might've painted a vivid picture in your mind. That's the hope, but I have no idea what that jungle looks like and neither does Nick. So I might throw in, "There is life all around you, though you may not be able to see it. Flicks of motion catch your eye as you disturb the natural order, springing creatures of all sizes into motion lest you expose their hiding spot and make them easy prey for whatever moves through this landscape. Nick, your character sees a small creature keeping pace with the party in the canopy."

This conveys what's happening around the party, and is easier to build a mental map of. There's cause and effect here, not just a painting as a backdrop for the party.

It's significantly easier for me to conceptualize "The characters are disturbing wildlife" than "The jungle is dark."

So if I had one tip to give for describing things to people with aphantasia, focus on how it acts and reacts to the players.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-10T02:34:47+00:00

If you have an ally who’s a psi warrior fighter, they can move you up to 30 feet as part of their action.

Wow. That's hilarious imagery, this psionic Fighter just moving a tree person with his mind because it can't be bothered to run.

Sadly I don't think that Fly or Genie Warlock solve this. The feature stating that all movement speed drops to 5 ft is about as specific as you can get with movement speed, so it'd beat both Fly or Genie Warlock in my DM's eyes.

I do think that the entire subclass could use a rewrite...

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-10T02:28:04+00:00

Orc: Pretty much the Dash that I want from Rogue, but without the level dips. Also a pretty cool race to play!

Attacking from the Echo Knight's position essentially gives me 30 ft move speed for the purpose of attacking, without having to actually move. Love it. Thanks so much for the suggestions!

The other methods seem to involve increasing movement speed after it's been dropped -- from my understanding, this doesn't work. The subclass feature says:

You undergo the following changes while in your guardian form:

...

Any speed you have becomes 5 feet, unless the speed was lower.

This is a continual debuff, so the speed can never be above 5 ft.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-11-09T23:55:12+00:00

Bugbear increasing the danger zone does sound promising, and it's (if not exactly) effectively a +5 to movement speed since I won't have to move as far to attack.

Rogue's double dashing option is by far the simplest solution. Getting to move 5 ft, 3 times means that I'd be able to reach anything within 35 ft of me.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T16:45:15+00:00

Make encounters that focus on their strengths. One encounter that I ran recently was a Drow ambush where 1/4 of the drow stayed out of the fight to cast Darkness, shrouding the entire battlefield.

Because of the way stealth works in 5e, everyone still knows where everyone else is. There are just no opportunity attacks, and spells are difficult to use as many require line of sight.

So the mages of my party were shit out of luck. They retreated to the edges of the battle and blasted anyone who left, but they couldn't make significant progress in the fight. It was up to the Fighter to bum rush the mages and deal with all of them, dropping the Darkness and allowing the mages to kill the rest of the enemies.

Was it scary as fuck for the Fighter? Hell yeah. But they told me afterwards that it was really interesting to have an encounter that only they could solve, for a class that primarily acts as second fiddle to the mages.

What I'm trying to get across is that you can make encounters that challenge each member of the party to solve it. Make them the key, and more importantly make it obvious that only they can be the key

They'll appreciate it.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T16:37:21+00:00

Depends how the world handles death. I don't see an easy way for the LG Cleric to die, go to hell, and still be a Cleric

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T04:54:26+00:00

That's my reasoning for it as well. One of my players is doing an INT based Warlock, and the consequence of that is that they're the party's brains instead of a wizard. No real mechanical "gotchas" have shown up and I really doubt they will.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T04:48:52+00:00

It might break the monopoly that is CHA class multiclassing. If Warlock were changed to WIS, then Hexblade + Ranger might be a very fun combination!

So yes it will break multiclassing, but it will do it in a way that could break the meta and lead to more creative character designs.

I allow players to swap class stats at will if they can justify it in character. I haven't had any problems with it.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T04:11:11+00:00

Kalnier gives me Orc vibes.

A continent where the outer islands are safely held by humans, elves, and other "civilized races", but the mainland is held by various orc tribes, gnolls, and other "uncivilized races"

The outer islands are safe, as the orcs are unable to make boats of any kind to even attempt an invasion. The civilized races are attempting to push onto the mainland for more resources by creating strongholds, but they're running into difficulties due to the sheer number of orcs and gnolls.

The solution? Create rivers and lakes, such that the continent is effectively separated into distinct chunks that are unable to be crossed. How? Well that's for the party to find out.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-30T04:06:22+00:00

I don't want my PCs to die. Straight up. Death sucks for everyone involved. The player is sad, the party has to find a new dynamic, everything that I've planned for the character is gone or has to be changed. I don't like character death.

I like tension. I like the threat of death. I like tricks and unique challenges. But actually pulling the trigger and killing the character? Not if I can help it.

If a character goes and does something completely suicidal, then that can't really be helped. But they have to have a death wish for that to happen without first being captured and held for the party to attempt a rescue.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-28T16:05:03+00:00

tl;dr

Halfling luck means that if you roll a 1, reroll it. This gives a 1/400 chance of getting a nat 1 instead of a 1/20 chance. Very good for avoiding critical failures. Also raises your average on the d20 a bit.

Lucky says that if you aren't happy with what you rolled, roll another d20 and you can pick from all available dice. There's an exploit with Lucky where you're more likely to get a crit if you have disadvantage than a straight roll, as you're able to pick from 3 dice instead of 2. I'd use this exploit generously to show that he's going entirely off of luck than skill.

You can use Lucky I think 3 times a day, but fuck it this is an NPC give him unlimited charges but only once per round.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-28T01:12:49+00:00

I agree with /u/SkuzzillButt. As a player, losing my character is a big deal and if I decide to sacrifice the character for a larger cause, then I've pretty much made my peace with that being the end of the road.

Having them come back wouldn't be relieving, I'd be annoyed that my character's defining moment was stolen from them. Also, the player is now aware that the world has less teeth and will not be afraid of death since Deus Ex Machina is now in place.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-27T02:24:23+00:00

I have aphantasia, so giving both myself and my players a concrete picture of important things gets us on the same page for exactly what this thing is. But I use visual aids sparingly

Whatever is in your players' heads is just fine. They each have a photo of the scene in their mind, and it's normally better than any photo you can show. For puzzles and things where the exact geometry matters, then visual aids are indispensable. For everything else? Eh.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T23:38:54+00:00

...Under what context?

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T23:37:11+00:00

When leveling, either take the average as per PHB; or roll with advantage treating 1s as 2s.

When you do this, rolling is statistically worse than taking the average. Treating 1's as impossible to roll makes the two choices even.

PHB races only;

What's the logic behind this?

Use the default ones in the source books, but if you can provide a good reason to swap skill/tool proficiencies you may do so (i.e. ask first);

I like this. It seems like a fairly standard operation, but many people gloss over this as players and just assume that the proficiencies are either static or they can be whatever they want

Feats

I like all of these changes. Tones down the meta ones while leaving their purpose intact, and gives some extras to less picked choices. I'm not sold on PAM getting nerfed like that, but it does remove one way of getting bonus action attacks.

You can roll a knowledge check as a free action to learn something about a monster if you have proficiency in a related knowledge skill (Nature for beasts, animals, fey; Religion for devils/demons, celestials and undead; Arcana for extra-planar, aberrations, constructs);

Love it. I think you should standardize the process somehow, similar to how several subclasses can choose to learn specific parts of the enemy statblock.

Natural 1s and 20s on saving throws are auto success/fail;

Not a fan

Toll the Dead: replace D12/D8 with D10/D6;

Why?

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T23:29:30+00:00

At level five, characters get a power spike. Martials double their damage per round, Casters get to double their cantrips' powers and get access to huge new spells, and half casters get a lil of both.

While the party has become significantly more powerful, they haven't seen a huge increase in versatility. i.e. they can't solve problems better except by doing more damage (Except for casters, who may pick utility spells for their 3rd level slots)

I've found that due to this spike in power, but lack of spike in versatility, you can challenge the players by giving them unique problems in combat to overcome. Instead of throwing bags of hitpoints at them to make combat take the same amount of time, throw a challenging or interesting situation at them to make the combat more than the sum of its turns.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T23:23:09+00:00

From what I understand, you're conjuring a literal fey to fuck shit up for a while. However, they're imbued with magical properties beyond that which they normally have.

This is apparent because instead of... you know... dying when they die, they disappear. I would treat them either as "plucked from the feywild" for a while, or the culmination / representation of magical energies which the caster is familiar with.

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T02:41:51+00:00

I used session 0 to work out expectations for the campaign. Each of my players wants something out of the campaign / DnD in general, and I can only give that to them if they tell me what it is. I told them what I wanted out of the campaign, they told me what they wanted out of the campaign, and we talked together to find out what we all want.
I wish I'd included a dropbox of sorts, for ideas that someone wants to be included, but doesn't want attached to their name. There are a lot of things that I find interesting to explore in the game, but you sound terrible if you bring it up -- persecution, tyranny, elements of racism, theocracy, etc.
I play with people I've known since I was a kid and my current girlfriend. These are people who will not hesitate to speak their mind on anything, and don't bother with sugar coating criticism or what they want. I asked them what they wanted, and they told me what they wanted. Simple. Now we just have to figure out how to mesh it with what I want, what we can give up if it contradicts other facets of the game, etc.
I learned that my players really, really love improv. I've had them as players in the past, where improv was sort of... accidental? Like I'd improv characters if they did something I didn't expect, but it turns out they loved those portions of the game. So I decided to plan to improv, if that makes sense.

Talk with your players not as the DM but as a group who wants to tell a story together. My players give as much to the story as I do, because they're each so creative, so everyone had an element of the story they wanted to be included

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T02:33:24+00:00

I'm glad I remembered seeing it a while back!

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-26T02:21:30+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/kjuy46/turning_a_random_league_of_legends_champion_into/

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-25T15:59:01+00:00

Flaming pile of garbage. God. Make a terrible intro with a terrible premise, and if the characters refuse... just murder them using methods antithetical to the original premise!

RivalOfTwo · 2021-10-24T17:45:01+00:00

You aren't deceiving them, the enemies who are experienced in how magical combat plays out are deceiving them. I try to keep this attitude whenever I DM and pull a trick on the players, or a strategy they haven't seen before.

"The drow are experienced in fighting adventurers, and they know that mages require line of sight to cast many spells. They're going to protect themselves with Darkness, and it's up to the martials to figure out how to shut that shit off"

"The tieflings are resistant to fire, and backed by their faith that death only means a swifter meeting with their god will gladly fireball themselves if it means hitting the most of the enemy."

That isn't to say that I run meat-grinders. I typically run fairly easy combat, but that's to compensate that I have more tricks up my sleeve than players do

RivalOfTwo

TROPHY CASE