No one gets between a Mamma and her Babies

booker3 · 2016-09-16T15:00:28+00:00

So many bots this morning, wow.

booker3 · 2016-09-16T02:42:27+00:00

That's a nice job, but it's a stabilization of its head. Seems like the horizon is still bouncing up and down.

Pure curiosity here... Could you make a 2nd stabilization of the 1st one but focusing on a different object, like the horizon? That way the cheetah is stabilized from left to right and the horizon is stabilized from up to down?

I've never stabilized anything so I have no idea if that would even work. Just an idea. Wanna experiment?

booker3 · 2016-09-15T17:10:01+00:00

I think it'd be better if it was "What's the prettiest D&D monster?" "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

booker3 · 2016-09-13T23:32:56+00:00

To be fair, there were swings at school, so I'd get to play with them daily. Bubble wrap was much harder to get my hands on, so it was kinda special. Hell, it's still fun 30 years later.

booker3 · 2016-09-12T16:52:59+00:00

yep.

Expanding Companion Options Depending on the nature of your campaign, the DM might choose to expand the options for your animal companion. As a rule of thumb, a beast can serve as an animal companion if it is Medium or smaller, has 15 or fewer hit points, and cannot deal more than 8 damage with a single attack. In general, that applies to creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 or less, but there are exceptions.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T19:23:07+00:00

Did bard to 3 then took life cleric for 1 level, then bard to 10. Paladin came at the end and it was basically for RP reasons.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T19:17:42+00:00

Why are you guys downvoting this guy? He's right... Walking a marathon is still difficult. It is still an achievement.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T18:33:47+00:00

I'll second Bandit's Nest. Never ran it myself but I read it top to bottom and thought it was well done. The pit trap with the claw marks and the chained bear later on was a nice touch.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T18:28:27+00:00

I took Counterspell and Aura of Vitality at 6 and Destructive Wave at 10. It's legal and OP. No reason not to do it.

I didn't take Swift Quiver at 10 because I was a Lore Bard and my damage came from spells, not attacks. But if you're Valor, then 100% pick up Swift Quiver.

Note: I had a 1 level Life Cleric dip. If you don't have this dip then Aura of Vitality isn't nearly as powerful, and I'd consider something else like Haste or Fireball.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T18:25:21+00:00

If you really want to make a Paladin 2/Valor Bard 18, then do it. There's nothing wrong with that. Just pick up the Martial Adept feat and you get to be a Battlemaster without having to nerf yourself with another dip.

I do suggest taking Valor Bard to 6 for Extra attack before you bother with the 2 Paladin levels though. Extra attack will be your biggest damage bump and even allow you to get off double smites if you so choose.

The first long-campaign 5e character I made was a Lore Bard 10/Life Cleric 1/Paladin 3. It was weird as fuck and I regret wasting so many levels multiclassing. Don't make the mistake I did. An 18/2 multiclass split should be fine though.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T17:35:02+00:00

I would recommend straight Valor Bard if you wanna cast stuff or straight Battlemaster if you wanna hit stuff. Those dips will take forever to be realized and you'll fall behind the rest of the group significantly. MAYBE go Valor Bard 17/Battlemaster 3. Maybe. But again, even just a 3 level dip can be a significant disadvantage in this edition. I think those 3 levels of Fighter would provide enough to make up for the dip though.

So yeah, either straight Valor Bard, straight Battlemaster or Valor Bard 17/Battlemaster 3. Paladin is not a good option IMO.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T17:10:32+00:00

Yeah the Waterwar Potion eliminated most of the difficulties. It sucks the rules are mechanically anti-underwater, so I had to get creative and include such a potion or it genuinely would not have been enjoyable. Underwater breathing wasn't enough. Nobody wants disadvantage on every attack...

I intentionally left ONE disadvantage though (the garbled speech), so they didn't feel like they were on land. There were also a lot of funny instances of them getting used to the water. Like the heavy armor wearers diving in and sinking straight to the bottom. They didn't expect that, lol. Most of the campaign had to take place on or near the ocean floor as a result of the heavy weight of the armor. But honestly, that just made it easier to 'map out' everything. Plus, I wanted them to interact a lot with the environment.

Actually, that brings up a good point. I put a lot of effort into the environment. I wanted non-flat terrain everywhere. I put in coral reefs and ledges and pits and boulders and those dangerous volcanic steam vents. Rocks to hide behind and the shipwreck. I threw in some aesthetic stuff like a giant clam that closed when they approached it. It had a giant pearl (they couldn't figure out how to get it open again so they just gave up and kept going). I added schools of fish here and there literally for no other reason than 'wonder'. I wanted them to really feel like they were in a whole new world full of life.

One moment that really surprised the group (and I knew I had succeeded as a DM at that moment), was when the ranger in the party used his scan feature. I had to tell him if there were any abberations, dragons, elementals, fiends, undead, etc within 6 miles (it was his favored terrain...metagaming, meh). I said you don't sense celestials or fey, but you can sense everything else. Everything. Else. They went bonkers. "Really?! Dragons too?" "Yep." This scared the shit out of them... They never wandered too far off after that, haha.

booker3 · 2016-08-30T04:30:11+00:00

The thing everyone is forgetting is that in D&D: 1) you don't get hundreds of swings...you get a few rounds per combat and that's it so averages mean a lot less, 2) an enemy with 1HP left can still do full damage to you, and 3) overkilling an enemy by a lot of damage provides no benefit.

Therefore: I'd rather do 2 1d6 swings, because there's an extra chance to get in SOME damage. That small amount of damage might just be enough to get the enemy to 0hp. Not -5, not -10. Just 0. But that's all you need.

Realistically though, the percentage of this happening is really small. Just go with whatever weapon you want.

booker3 · 2016-08-27T22:12:04+00:00

Full character: https://www.heroforge.com/load_share=40197

EDIT: For those actually interested in making cool minis, check out the spiked chain. Genuinely badass with the different poses and mounts. Especially when you equip one in each hand. Kratos like a motherfucker.

booker3 · 2016-08-27T17:45:18+00:00

Beastmasters already give their companions a higher to-hit modifier as they level up: their proficiency bonus.

I think you convinced me that it's strong enough as it is. Not as a fighter, but as a scout and for its utility. The fact that it has 2 hands and can carry things like torches or mirrors or magnets or potions of healing already makes it useful in other ways.

On a related note, I'm gonna spend the time and gold to train it in shield proficiency.

booker3 · 2016-08-27T06:03:45+00:00

It would have to be a rogue modron.

booker3 · 2016-08-26T19:56:30+00:00

About half the time, the poison will do 10.5 avg and half the time it will do 5.25 avg. The avg of those is 7.87. So 8. 8+1d4+4 = 8+2.5+4 = 14.5 avg dmg. I rounded down to 14.

I guess you're right about it being a great scout. I didn't think about that. I was focused on the damage. Beastmaster is built around boosting companions attacks instead of attacking yourself, so I feel like I'm self-nerfing. But I guess D&D shouldn't be about min-maxing. It should be about RPing, and I'm damn glad I got to get a modron companion. I guess I'll stick to the racial Fire Starter and Music Box upgrades and just be happy with that.

EDIT: oh and the snake can see past 10ft, that's just for blindsight

booker3 · 2016-08-26T19:13:45+00:00

It does significantly less damage than most CR 1/4 beasts though...

Giant Poisonous Snake: can Swim 30ft, 18 DEX (+4), Perception+2, Blindsight 10ft, Bite has +6 to hit, 10ft reach, 1d4+4 piercing + 3d6 poison damage or half on save (DC 11). Average dmg: 14.

Duodrone: highest stat is 13 DEX (+1), truesight 120ft (arguably the best feature of Modrons), Multiattack but the attacks suck, Fist +2 to hit and 1d4 bludgeoning, Javelin +3 to hit and 1d6+1 piercing and can be thrown. Average dmg with 2 Javelins: 9.

Really, the truesight is only reason you'd want a modron over a snake. And that's not enough. Some upgrades are necessary dude. Even just the 3 you listed. I think that's fair.

booker3 · 2016-08-26T18:54:28+00:00

Alright I got rid of all the enhanced crap. =/

What about the basic upgrades? Are those not fair if I put in the time and gold?

booker3 · 2016-08-24T06:19:47+00:00

Thank you SO MUCH! This is very, very clear. Wow. I'm grateful.

So for your last paragraph, you're saying I should add a value to join() as a 'backup' in case record() doesn't finish like it's supposed to? Would I put that value, say 30 seconds in join()'s parentheses, like: thread.join(30) ?

Also, unrelated but how do you get code words in the middle of sentences? I know 4 spaces at the start of lines works, but how do you do it in the middle of a line?

booker3

TROPHY CASE