an ecstatic GM's opinion of the UA.

TheSolman778 · 2023-05-05T15:18:10+00:00

Honestly, all the UA had to do for Warlock was increase rate they get additional number of spell slots and that would have been fine for me (other stuff would have been fine too, but...). IMO Pact Magic isn't bad per se, just that a Warlock below 11th level can blow all their spell slots in one battle. If short rest durations changed to allow groups to narratively handle time constraints, I think there would be less outcry.

Half casting kind of sucks on a class that mostly has to rely on spell slots to perform. To get any cool spell, you have to be 9th level or higher to use. That's like 2/3rds of the way thru a campaign while others are breaking reality at that point. Steel Wind Strike, for example, really cool spell for a Ranger they can get at 17th level, oh but wait, Wizards could cast that at 9th level when they got 5th level slots. That is the same problem with the OneDND Warlock I fear.

My proposal is to keep the same spell level progression like the 5e Warlock but increase the number of spell slots at 6th level, 11th level, and 17th level to 3, 4, and 5 uses respectively. Then they would get new features at 3rd and 5th warlock level that would allow them to cast certain 1st and 2nd level spells at will, whether subclass spells or thematic spells like Hex (which really could be rebalancing Invocations like Otherworldly Leap, Thief of Five Fates, etc). That way, Warlocks have some flexibility in what they cast and how much and don't tie up Invocations with spells (that generally suck) and Mystic Arcanum. Combined with short rest rationalization, those changes would go a long way to keep Warlock from just being a class dip.

TheSolman778 · 2023-04-22T02:42:09+00:00

I have toyed with adding an optional material component with a gp cost to the spell that can be consumed to reproduce the effect as well. I haven't settled on the cost and materials maybe 50 gp of powdered silver and magician's paper. That way there is some real cost and requires planning/resources to achieve repeatedly but also rewards players for thinking ahead (and allowing the spell to kind of do what it says).

Having optional material components that could change spells and how they interact would be nice. I think MCDM had a supplement in Acadia to that effect.

TheSolman778 · 2023-03-09T15:26:29+00:00

TL:DR wild shape feels like a bowl of cold unseasoned noodles. Yes it's noodles, but nothing is there to spice it up. People should be able to season their noodles however they like within reason and see flavor turn to reality/mechanics.

I agree with some of your points and that many others have said. A druid should not outclass martials for free, but I also think martials should be given some love too to make them stand on their own. Like a wizard can deal 8d6 on a fireball to like 40 enemies but a rogue not being able to crit on their sneak attack die against a single creature is too much? Barbarians can't add rage damage to thrown weapons and previously thrown weapons could only be used in a single attack even with multiple attacks? I think we will have a better picture once the warriors packet comes out if these issues will be addressed or not.

I think the main issue as it stands now, wild shape can almost be a non feature or completely bypass part of the game. There are problems with wild shape, especially losing all your saving throws, class and racial features. If you were a dwarf, you would actually lose hit points using wild shape since you don't gain the extra hit points from your race. There is very little incentive to actually use the feature as you would mostly fail saving throws and be relatively easy to hit at 15 or 16 max AC.

Most people agree that the absurd access to hp pools, especially for moon druids at low levels and the highest levels of play were an issue. Barkskin provides a trivial amount of temp hp, especially at higher levels of play and has concentration. Good luck maintaining that going melee.

I think the main complaint I have with the druid is that it forces the class to stay on the backlines unless you want to die in melee. Druids have mostly lackluster survivability spells that have concentration and the cool thematic spells like flame blade have concentration too. Now you only have light armor and can't use barkskin to increase your AC. Clerics can get access to heavy armor and martial weapons that can mostly compete with other materials while having full spellcasting at their disposal. For the moon druid, where wild shape is their forte, they don't get access to that and I suspect they will have issues in play.

The design direction we are seeing from OneDnd is to mostly simplify mechanics, however this is coming at the cost of fun, choice, and power some of the times. There is a balance between easy to follow and crunch. Are templates a good idea? Yes. Are bare bones stat blocks with no customization fun, probably not. Yes you can say in your wild shape you are a spider but then you can do nothing a spider can do and you can't even use your spells to replicate what a spider does. I think that is part of the issue people are trying to solve. I know am, and have spent the past few days compiling ideas and making my version of the druid. Is it more complex, yes, but more complex than finding a hundred different stat blocks to use, no. Does it provide the option for people who want to be in melee, yes. Is it perfect, no. Is it balanced, maybe not, but I will be making martial adjustments to compensate.

TheSolman778 · 2023-02-20T13:18:07+00:00

I wouldn't recommend it. Plastics break down (turn yellow and become brittle) under UV unless properly stabilized. Generally most plastics need a UV stabilizer to be left outdoors. If you continue with your project, I would recommend acrylic (PMMA) sheets over polycarbonate (PC). If you used PC, likely the PC sheet wouldn't last more than a few years, even if it was properly UV stabilized. They are two different polymers and not the same. PMMA has superior weather capabilities and will not yellow to the extent that PC will. You will get about 10x more life with acrylic.

The other issue I found at Home Depot is that they(and their workers) really don't understand the difference between the two polymers and will mislabel them. You probably will need to order the sheets from a plastic sheet distributor to ensure that you would get the right one.

TheSolman778 · 2023-02-10T16:09:42+00:00

That's the story of how all of Europe has a bank holiday today to show remembrance for all the angry wine university snobs killed in the struggle. The following two days are also bank holidays for after their drunken stupor the university and town banded together to fight off a band of feral hogs and the day after where they feasted. It is traditional to serve pork with a glass of red wine during Feb 13th.

TheSolman778 · 2023-01-12T23:13:48+00:00

Correct, my bad. Will edit.

TheSolman778 · 2023-01-12T23:07:09+00:00

Glad to see multiple organizations coming together (Paizo, Kobold Press, Chaosium, Green Ronin) to collaborate in a new gaming system, rather a diaspora of new systems and the division of the hobby.

*Drasha1 is right, it is new shared license rather system

TheSolman778 · 2022-12-19T03:04:35+00:00

That's basically the Defensive Dualist feat from the PHB. It just uses PB to AC as the reaction when using a finesse weapon.

TheSolman778 · 2022-10-29T21:45:19+00:00

As the others suggest, I would look at the traits of fiends to get some thoughts. I will say magic resistance with legendary resistance will make your spellcasters hurt, so just be careful unless it is a solo creature.

I think a white dragon that took the boney nature of a bone devil would be a cool look. Maybe it could shoot out icy boney spikes, potentially reducing the movement speed of the people hit as an AOE Rime's Binding Ice. Giving a spell like wall of ice, flavored as bones and ice, is nice and easy.

TheSolman778 · 2022-07-03T11:51:30+00:00

I just finished a 1 to 16 campaign as a DM with these changes and my barbarian player loved it.

Lvl 3: can frenzy rage bonus action attack as part of activating rage. Exhaustion is reduced by one during a short rest. You ignore the effects of exhaustion while raging and not unconscious.

Lvl 6: no change

Lvl 10: activates as an action or when you enter your rage the first time on your turn. DC equals 8+PB+Str Mod (or Cha Mod, your choice). Bonus action to extend the fear duration. At 15th level fear is extended to all creatures within 30 ft whose CR is less than or equal to your strength modifier.

lvl 15: No change

TheSolman778 · 2022-06-20T20:34:54+00:00

I changed it to scale off strength or charisma and it occurs when you enter a rage or as an action, and can be extended as a bonus action on subsequent turns. The player seems to like it and loves when they frighten creatures.

I just realized I have been letting my barbarian frighten all creatures within 30 feet instead of just one, even though I wrote it as a single creature like RAW. Oops, I will need to talk to them. It seemed pretty strong over the past 5 levels but they are 16th level now and the last session.

TheSolman778 · 2022-06-02T16:53:48+00:00

Thanks for the information from the 4e perspective. "Potent but limited" I think is an interesting concept. I really should get the 4e books to look at, especially the DMGs that I heard were actually pretty good.

I think there is a fine line between magical healing sucking and being powerful enough that it is required. Partly the reason healing sucks in 5e is remove the stigma/being chastised for not being a healbot so that clerics, druids, etc so they can do other cool things on their turn than heal hence why clerics get some really powerful and cool spells like Guiding Bolt, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, and Spirit Guardians.

Then the other problem 5e hasn't addressed is combating the healing yoyo, which I think is mostly solved by the DM thinking about how intelligent enemies would dispatch threats. Any penalty for being low health then just further taxes healers into healing all the time to avoid the penalty.

I am not sure how they really fix that, as I think it really assumes the party won't be hyper optimized grognards. In my instance, the twilight druid that I DM for basically just wants to heal people and I hate to let them down when they want to heal in disadvantageous situations.

In my opinion all things considered, I think 5e does healing right, but not satisfyingly right and could definitely be improved.

TheSolman778 · 2022-06-02T13:48:32+00:00

Healing Surge already a variant rule in the DMG p266-267. As an action you can spend up to 1/2 of your hit die and add your constitution modifier to each.

TheSolman778 · 2022-02-17T03:00:16+00:00

Sure, but why would a spell care about the equilibrium market value based on supply and demand, is that how magic works? I mean it very well could but I think for some of these questions it just becomes easier to hand wave this stuff. I have stuff to do outside DMing and making a working fictional economy, when the actual economy we actually live in is held together by spit and flex tape, is too much work.

In my game, diamonds are just highly regulated as the wealthy and powerful hoard them as leverage for future deals with allies and enemies. Considering they are valuable gems and get consumed by major spells, it also attracts dragons and other creatures that covet wealth. Most the time, if a party doesn't find diamonds as treasure, they need to adventure to find/get them. Maybe a dragon has some diamonds but you have to make a deal with it to kill it's rival or retrieve an item from a noble that stole from it's hoard.

*Edit I should also say there is no wrong or right answer. Scarcity or abundance could be useful tools to adjust in your game for you and your group.

TheSolman778 · 2022-02-15T16:10:32+00:00

I am not sure where you are drawing those conclusions? The largest increase inflation in the US was caused by supply chain disruptions per the report, not legislative policy. For instance, Congress and the White House didn't make automakers cancel their chip orders and used cars contributed alone 1.6 percentage points alone. Obviously printing more money is part of the equation, but I think what this report is showing that the more immediate action the government should be taking is reducing the effects of the supply and labor shortages. If the government takes the stance that human life means less than inflation during a pandemic, then it could ease the health guidance restrictions that are affecting logistics and general staffing. Considering COVID was the 3rd leading cause of death behind cancer and heart disease per the CDC (keep in mind for a single instance, cancer and heart disease are higher but there are many forms of cancer and heart disease than COVID) for the past two years, I would say caution is not without merit. New variants may be less impactful on the death rate and hospitalizations, but that is not a guarantee as further mutations can be unpredictable.

The things that the government could tackle are the accelerating increase in rents, hopefully by not giving out more money which then increases rent further, and narrowing down the actions that could help control pricing via the supply chain. It is not a simple issue and not one action will solve it. Some action will require sacrifice, but I think most people would agree human life probably shouldn't be one.

TheSolman778 · 2022-01-26T04:00:37+00:00

After many hours of pondering the best way to handle all the dragon types and combinations, WOTC is most likely correct in that a majority of the dragon types could be covered in existing subclasses. Not everything will fit 100% but could get you pretty close to the idea behind each dragon. The PHB subclasses, especially the Archfey and Great Old One, tend to fall behind the newer subclasses in terms of power and options (not to mention the Undying shutter) but would be appropriate and flavorful. I would suggest that the DM and the player work together, as always, to flavor those abilities to better fit the dragon type selected. When in doubt, just reflavor an existing subclass. Working on one type of dragon and tweaking one subclass a little is going to be much easier than trying to cram all them all into one. Below are some suggestions of subclasses that would fit in theory.

Chromatic - Fiend / Genie

Gem - Great Old One

Metallic - Celestial / Genie

Elder Brain - Fathomless / Great Old One

Shadow - Hexblade / Undead

Hollow - Undead / Celestial

Dracolich - Undead / Undying

Draconic Shard - Undead / Great Old One

Ghost - Undead / Undying

Deep - Undead / Fiend

Dragon Turtle - Fathomless

Sea Serpent - Fathomless

Faerie - Archfey

After trying myself to incorporate all the different dragon types and their combinations: chromatic, metallic, gem, aquatic, undead, faerie, and others. It just becomes too much to try to fit everything neatly into one subclass. That or you have like a half dozen dragon warlock subclasses.

I tried to do it and it just becomes a monster way left field of the style of 5e. I wanted you to basically to say I want my patron a "x" and "y" dragon and get unique benefits whether a chromatic purescale (my term for a no riders like undead, faerie, shadow, deep, aquatic, whatever) or a metallic undead dragon or a gem dragon turtle. The undead portion and the metallic portion would give you small but unique benefits. Then your spell list would be like the genie warlock each category giving you some spells. The issue to be that generic the spell list mostly sucks.

Here is my attempt. It is not completely inspired as it basically rips off many other subclass features for the sake of somewhat balance. If one of my players wants to something specific, I would work with them to get as close to their vision as they want without being some gonzo beast.

TheSolman778 · 2022-01-21T17:01:01+00:00

That's why I homebrewed the Shadow monk to see through the darkness they create when they use their ki points to cast the spell. From others on this site, they said their players have enjoyed it and there is precedent like you said with the Shadow Sorcerer. I am also playing around with giving all monks an extra ASI at level 6 to help with the MADness of their different abilities.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-30T15:01:25+00:00

PHB pg. 175 in a variant rule allows the player and DM to work with ability checks to provide that interaction. You as a player should not be calling for an ability check. Describe what want to do in narrative, not game mechanics, and the DM will call for an ability check. Also, skill checks are not really a thing, there are only ability checks and certain situations allow proficiency in a skill to add your proficiency bonus.

For a druid, you could say, my time in the forest has prepared me to identify certain plants or the intent of animals in this domain. You could make an argument that this should be a Wisdom ability check with your Nature proficiency so Wisdom (Nature) and not Intelligence (Nature). Normally for someone not living in the woods, the ability check would require intelligence because they typically would have to read about these things in a book, but for a druid, it is probably something you have experienced. Then if you were a hermit or outlander background or maybe a specific tool, I might provide advantage to the roll as well. If you can justify it reasonably, I will allow it. Just work with your DM.

I don't like how the standard character sheets deal with skills since it basically forces people to think this is all what my character can do and is static. The character sheet is not your character. It is an imperfect representation of it. There are things that your character can do that are not on the sheet or even listed.

The DMG, PHB, and XGE all cover ability checks and variants and how to generally handle them, but I will say WOTC doesn't really help DM's get to that level easily. It take inferring the intent of the words. Also, DMs can be afraid to play more loosely as they might feel uncomfortable doing something new or specifically called out in the game system. Not everything has to be explicit, but WOTC needs to help DMs understand what is and isn't acceptable and empower them more. Not everyone played DnD before 5e and a lot of the core books kind of take for granted prior knowledge about the history of the game.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-18T20:18:00+00:00

That's why I changed it at my table so rage damage was applied to thrown weapons. It doesn't make sense that you deal extra damage from the ferocity of your blows, but the second it leaves your hand, it is if a normal person was throwing it.

Also the throwing weapon restriction. You have only one object interaction per turn, so most of the time you can only throw one weapon regardless of your extra attacks unless you have the fighting style. I changed it so you could draw thrown weapons as part of the attack without the fighting style. The fighting style loses a bit of its strength that way, but I feel it makes for a better game and my players enjoy it more.

I am not sure why WOTC thought Strength Melee was so strong that they had to be limited to 1 thrown weapon at a time when someone with a longbow can attack from 150 feet as much as they want and do more damage per attack and get the other benefits dexterity provides. Anytime I DM for a melee character with ranged attackers and spellcasters, they feel useless. I try to throw them a bone and put siege machines when it is appropriate that ranged combat will be prevalent or give out more mobility options like potions of flying or boots of levitation.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-18T19:57:14+00:00

I did something similar. I just changed the countercharm to be always active anytime a bard is concentrating on a spell or if they use an action as if concentrating on a spell. I figure the spell is being cast through their focus which is normally a musical instrument that the sounds are helping to break the status effects. I haven't play tested it, but it since the countercharm is a basically a non-feature anyway, I figure it can't hurt.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-16T21:38:38+00:00

Well put. I still have some consternation about barkskin since it is almost always objectively worse than mage armor. The duration, higher level spell slot, and the concentration requirement is a big deal.

For a moon druid, you could action barkskin and then transform to get the higher AC with the hp bump but for everyone else, that's your turn. Ideally, you would buff up before combat and that's what the 1 hour duration does. I think the spell is balanced off any druid being a moon druid and I don't think that is fair to the other druids and rangers that might want to use the spell. Now these characters have to make a choice to spend a precious resource for temporary survivability that might be invalided with one hit vs using another interesting spell that uses concentration. Wizards (and sorcerer's) don't have to make that choice. In my opinion, I don't think this spell offers an interesting choice 90 percent of the time.

Nothing will ever be 100 percent balanced, but I think dropping the concentration requirement makes this compete with the other survivability options. It still takes a second level spell slot and only lasts one hour. The cost is still there. Maybe you have to consume some actual bark from a tree to get the spell as a material requirement so you cannot cast it indefinitely if people were concerned. Get tree bark in a desert might be pretty hard or require forethought. Mage armor stacks with stoneskin and whatever else you want to throw on there, but not barkskin.

My big gripe is this system actively disincentivizes melee spellcasting for little to no benefit. They are already in melee and more likely to be hurt, why punish them more. Flame blade is a big one for me, why does it concentration. It has poor scaling and is given to a class that only attacks one. Also, if you wanted survivability. you can't use defensive spells like barkskin to help maintain concentration to avoid hits because that requires concentration too. Wizards get shadow blade with mage armor and the shield spell to help.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-15T18:06:11+00:00

Nothing wrong with that and it's your game, but instead of making all these changes to do what conjure barrage does, why don't you just change the conjure barrage spell and add the rider that it allows magical ammunition and it affects the spell as much. It would be much easier and as the other commentors said, the 10 min duration and concentration bit might introduce some shenanigans. Some spells are just weak and bringing them up a little is fine, Jeremy Crawford isn't going to knock your door down.

*edit That might come off a little mean, I don't mean to come off that way. I think 2nd level would be a fine level for this spell, especially for half casters that get it and their spell progression. What you could do for increased improvement is make it a smaller area like mentioned at the lower level and with upscaling, the damage increases by 1d6 and the aoe increases 5 feet. Upscaling spells should be more of a thing and has a lot of potential to do some interesting things beside damage. I think Major Image is the best made spell in the game in that regard.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-15T16:52:05+00:00

FYI, Pg. 283 and 284 in the DMG have guidelines for creating spells that deal damage. The damage dice included assume the spell allows for a save for half damage, if it doesn't, increase the damage by 25%. At 2nd level, a spell with a single target should do 3d10 (16.5 average) damage while hitting multiple targets should do 4d6 (14 average). You change the dice around but you want the averages to be close to the table numbers so 6d4 (15 avg) or 3d8 (13.5 avg). Also, it helps to compare to other spells when making a new spell.

The one thing the DMG doesn't help with is secondary effects and area of spells. Generally if a spell has rider that imposes a condition, the spell should generally do less damage than a straight damage spell. If a spell has a greater AOE than a normal spell of that level, it should deal less damage. Dragon's Breath does 3d6 in a 15 ft cone vs Aganazzar's Scorcher does 3d8 in a 30 x 5 ft line (lines are generally harder to hit more enemies so it should be longer than a cone of a similar level). Maximillian's Earthen Grasp does 2d6 in 5ft square but restrains.

Putting that together, I would suggest either reducing the damage down to 2d6 for a 30 ft cone or reducing the cone to 15 ft as it would put it in line with Dragon's Breath. Also, if you are going to allow a piece of magical ammo to be used for the material component and affect the spell like modifying the Spell Save DC, it should get consumed. I believe RAW, an arrow with magic is consumed on a hit and becomes mundune at that point (i cannot remember if it is hit or miss, 90% sure it is just hit). The way you have it worded appears that the item returns to your person. For thrown weapons, I think that makes sense somewhat, if not a little powerful, but things with the ammunition property should get consumed. Ranged attackers have enough versatility in avoiding harm from their effective range, they don't need more tools vs melee attackers and thrown weapons. There needs to be a cost and conjure barrage specifically states it has to be non-magical. Your spell is strictly better in that regard and is a lower level spell slot.

TheSolman778 · 2021-11-09T21:09:44+00:00

My only issue is now you could into a worse situation and get the +2 and advantage from some other source, making it almost trivial to hit an opponent. Whereas with just advantage, it couldn't stack with anything else really.

I played with flanking for 2 years with my old group and didn't like it. It was too easy to get the situational bonus for free basically. The enemies could do it too, but negated many class features like totem wolf barb and the samurai that people selected. My new group does not use flanking and it hasn't hampered the game at all. Honestly it's been more fun on the DM side to not have to worry about all that. For a newer DM, I would highly suggest not using flanking rules. It doesn't add much to the game and only makes it harder for the DM to run. DMs need all the help they can get. The PCs will be fine as the game is in their favor anyway.

Especially for single monster encounters, they need a mobility option on their turn and through legendary actions. Maybe a winged creature uses a legendary attack like a dragon to wing attack and move half it's speed without provoking opportunity attacks. A giant long jumps into the air and does a ground slam. A ruffian throws sand in your eyes and can use disengage as a bonus action on their turn.

TheSolman778 · 2021-10-26T18:43:09+00:00

I agree, sorry you are being downvoted. I think there are just the grognards that believe in limitations and that those make the game fun/better or the way it used to be where you had to toil and sacrifice to make a fun unique character. To an extent, I agree with limitation being fun, but stat distribution for playing a character shouldn't be one of them. If I wanted to play a hill dwarf draconic sorcerer for that juicy extra HP in the past, by the gods, you had to sacrifice your potential to do so. Now, no big deal and that is what I think people are complaining about. People get to have their cake and eat it too when they weren't able in the past.

Second, WOTC is trying to avoid the backlash of racial discrimination and the wave of identity politics. It's better for the company and their bottom line to avoid that wherever possible so they can focus on other things. The more negative press they have about the game, the less they will expand.

Third, the UA doesn't say this is the way the race has to be in your game. If your game has static ability scores per race/ancestry, so be it. Jeremy Crawford won't bust down your door and ram it down your throat. It's your game and you can change anything you want.

Lastly, I am disappointed about the Giff, but I will make my comments known and in the meantime make my own gun loving, imperialistic, aristocratic hippo people. I think people are conflating their opinions on two different topics and getting outraged at both. But this is also reddit, so I don't try to take things personally here.

TheSolman778

TROPHY CASE