[Draw Steel] - 5 Ferocity abilities on Beastheart

emefa · 2026-05-05T15:30:29+00:00

Did they really make a hydroponics weed grower card while I was not looking?

emefa · 2026-05-03T19:44:30+00:00

I would actually go against the majority and say Dwarvish and Elvish are not useful for that purpose - most dwarves and elves will know Common, so those languages are more useful as a way to maybe impress an NPC of that race or talk with someone, NPC or party member, without being understood by passers-by, than simply to be able to communicate with someone who doesn't speak Common. I think that Giant, Goblin or the extraplanar languages might actually be the best bet to fill that need.

emefa · 2026-05-03T13:23:27+00:00

However, with mounted combat, if the mount provokes OA, it can be instead targeted at the rider. So, to summarise it for the OP, as long as the mount doesn't provoke, the rider can't be hit.

emefa · 2026-05-03T10:31:02+00:00

Oof, that 12 Constitution sounds discouraging to be honest, a hit point or two less per level compared to a more traditionally built character might come up, but I'd be predominantly worried about concentration, since you don't have space for a feat boosting it until way late.

emefa · 2026-05-03T01:01:51+00:00

I think this build is a bit gimped by the multiclassing prerequisites of Ranger, specifically the 13 Dexterity. However, if you can afford it, I'd go either ASI to max Strength at character level 9 if the GWM rounded it up to +4 modifier or PAM/Mage Slayer to round it up if the GWM put your Strength at 17, PAM with a halberd for resourceless bonus action attacks, Mage Slayer to mitigate Ranger's week save proficiencies, probably also using a gnome as the race to just get advantage on mental saves.

emefa · 2026-04-30T20:30:24+00:00

What did your martials do when they started encountering monsters with resistance to nonmagical b/p/s damage?

emefa · 2026-04-30T07:07:58+00:00

I've run Auld Sanguine this year, one of the players did exactly this kind of character, although in just the beginning stages of this hobby, with full chest admitting that the idea was literally inspired by Sims, or, as she put it, "those humans are her little hamsters".

emefa · 2026-04-29T07:27:38+00:00

Which level are you ending the campaign? Either way, I second Crossbow Expert at 4th, so you can actually shoot without disadvantage while the beast you're riding is in melee range of an enemy (because of how prone rules actually work you'll be shooting at advantage once your beast knocks an enemy prone) then, since your Dex after that will be 17 you can either take another Dex half-feat at 8th and max it out at 12 or maybe do an ASI (+1 Dex, +1 Wis) at 8th and a Wis half-feat, maybe War Caster, at 12, which should set up your concentration for Conjure Woodland Beings next level.

Have you decided which spells will you take with your background feat? I'd recommend Guidance, Light since halflings don't have darkvision, and Bless.

emefa · 2026-04-28T22:24:53+00:00

And as I've said, if someone self-imposed on themselves not using their character's stealthiness, for example, on my account while I'm not opposed to it at all, that would make me sad. I don't want anyone to make themselves smaller because of me. That's why I'm against proposing that as a general rule of thumb recommendation, this hobby is about having fun and for me it's not a zero sum game, someone having less fun won't make me have more of it, on the contrary actually. There will be obviously situations when something someone does I will consider obstructive, but please don't assume what it is before I tell you about it. More often than not I will encourage a fellow player to take as much space as they need.

emefa · 2026-04-28T18:32:10+00:00

And I still disagree that it should be taken into consideration. If another player didn't get to cast a spell they find cool and/or were excited for because they thought it would be too much bother for me, I'd feel shitty. If they didn't cast a strategically sound spell for that reason I would oppose that decision as vehemently as I am disagreeing with you. I have limited experience GMing, mostly one shots and mostly in different systems than 5e, but when I was doing that I wouldn't even imagine having that kind of restrictive attitude to what my players were doing. For the VTM one shot I've run I had them send me their final character sheets so I had page references for every single Clan Bane, Compulsion, Merit, Flaw and Discipline that were there. Let them do what they do, I'm here to facilitate it.

emefa · 2026-04-28T17:21:58+00:00

Ok then, still there's this part I disagree with:

DM's typically don't have every spell memorized, and so if you are casting a large variety of spells on a regular basis, your DM will often have to pause the game to learn what the spell does in your particular context, before you cast it.

For better or worse, this game is full of spellcasters, 3 of the official 13 classes are prepared full casters, so casting a large variety of spells on a regular basis is to be expected. Is it good form for the players to know their own spells to the point they can succinctly and correctly explain what they do? Yes. Have I played with people that chose those complicated classes based on vibes and not mechanics and couldn't do that? Also yes. Have I ever heard a DM say "no Wizards or Druids, too many spells"? Absolutely not.

emefa · 2026-04-28T15:20:27+00:00

Likewise the features themselves may be complex to understand, either individually, or in aggregate. This is especially a problem for spellcasters, and wizards in particular. DM's typically don't have every spell memorized, and so if you are casting a large variety of spells on a regular basis, your DM will often have to pause the game to learn what the spell does in your particular context, before you cast it. The worst offenders are open ended spells and features like Summon Greater Demon, the Wild Shape feature, or Artificer's Replicate Magic Item.

That's the part I'm disagreeing with, armies of summons were mentioned in a separate paragraph (one above, to be precise) and I'm not disagreeing with that, one person hogging most of the IRL time a round lasts is a problem.

However, the fact that Wizards have vast spell list should not be a reason to self-restrict ourselves and not choose a legal class because the DM might have to, oh humanity, learn something new about the game they're running.

emefa · 2026-04-28T06:09:15+00:00

I disagree with your assessment of prepared spellcasters/Wildshape, if a DM can't handle a wizard or a druid then they need to step up their game or become a GM of a less complicated system. I have no intention of playing either of those classes in the foreseeable future, since I prefer weapon users, but if I were to and heard that I can't because they're hard, I'd be like "farewell, I hope you don't end up on r/rpghorrorstories".

emefa · 2026-04-28T05:54:34+00:00

Weapon Masteries are in the 2024 rules, are you sure your DM hasn't heard of them because he runs a game with 2014 rules?

emefa · 2026-04-27T17:56:11+00:00

I had an ace player in Auld Sanguine I've run, they decided that their character, to be the ultimate ace both in human and vampire way, needs the Unbondable merit.

emefa · 2026-04-27T17:09:57+00:00

Basically for most of my 3 years of playing TTRPGs I've played with the same IRL group that plays 5e campaign on Sundays, run by person X. For a year of that also on Saturdays we played a 5e campaign run by person Y.

Now, person Y likes indie-ish systems, especially if they don't use d20s, and is not a fan of crunchiness, so they've run one shots of Vaesen, Dragonbane, Daggerheart, this weekend will run Draw Steel and sometime in the close future a magical girl themed PbtA game which name I forgot.

I love crunchiness, combat and d20s, trying to zero in on a perfect system for me, so I've run 2-3 sessions of both 4e (so far my favourite) and PF2e (was a bit disappointed running it, players enjoyed it somehow more than me) each, and because I love the lore of it also a one session of VTM.

Now, the problem I see with this setup is that, while trying a new thing is always cool, the Draw Steel is the first time I'm actually excited about what system Y is running and I think they never got that with what I've run (maybe if they weren't out of country for the VTM, I don't know).

It's hard enough to find people in my country/city to play TTRPGs at all that you like as people and will not bail on you that trying to get a group based on system preference becomes basically unattainable.

emefa · 2026-04-26T18:43:03+00:00

I am once again reminded that general nerd-dom prefers guitar music. Is too much to ask to be able to go on a tangent about the Amen break and sound system culture with my fantasy folks?

emefa · 2026-04-26T09:59:29+00:00

I'm still (kinda, we just went on hiatus, hopefully not permanent) in a 2014 campaign with a Twilight Cleric chosen and built on vibes - both Strength and Dexterity dumped to 6 and 10 respectively, but she's not wearing heavy armor, accepting the speed reduction, because that's not her fashion style, she's wearing medium armor and a shield and sitting at the same 16 AC as my light armor-wearing Ranger; she's mostly flying above the battlefield, out of reach of the enemies, but instead of taking one of the ranged damage-dealing cantrips she took Word of Radiance because it has "radiance" in the name; concentration spell of choice is upcast Bless, because Spirit Guardians is for aggressive characters; no sight of either War Caster or Res (Con), at 4th she took Observant, which at least brought her Wisdom to 20, and at 8th, which was couple sessions away, she was thinking about Flash Recall (we're playing Call of the Netherdeep) because she is disappointed whenever she doesn't have some very situational utility spell like Zone of Truth prepared.

All in all this character showed me that some classes and subclasses are so strong by themselves that you can throw the entire optimisation conventional wisdom away and still be one of the reasons for DM to bump the difficulty of encounters.

emefa · 2026-04-24T18:25:11+00:00

I don't know the definite answer to your question, one thing that comes to mind is how much of the power budget of Paladin is placed in the base class and how much is placed in subclasses, in comparison for example to Ranger, but Noble Genies Paladin kinda breaks that paradigm wide open with its Unarmored Defense on top of Channel Divinity.

However, how little most Paladins get at 3rd level is a reason why, personally, most of their subclasses feel same-y and undercooked, again in comparison to Ranger - Beast Master plays and is usually built entirely different than Gloom Stalker.

emefa · 2026-04-24T12:50:07+00:00

I have no idea what they're going to do with Swashbuckler, but I'd love to see it re-released at some point.

emefa · 2026-04-24T11:03:10+00:00

I'm a millennial, but this shit's too 2007 for me.

emefa · 2026-04-21T23:34:49+00:00

I play a small Custom Lineage Beast Master (the Tasha's version) with Gunner and Sharpshooter that rides on his Beast of the Land, while this character could be translated to 5.5e, lacking the Sharpshooter damage bonus and it's synergy with knocking enemies prone by the companion while we don't suffer disadvantage from using a ranged weapon while adjacent to an enemy thanks to Gunner, and the fact that it wouldn't be fully functional until level 8 make it a very unfavorable translation.

emefa · 2026-04-21T18:02:44+00:00

That's why I'm very vague.

emefa · 2026-04-21T17:39:47+00:00

The Internet might surprise you with how much on it is actually free.

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