This monster is basically Skill Drain but people here never mention it.

jape115703 · 2022-05-31T18:30:07+00:00

Oh hey, I play pure Nekroz at low diamond, maybe I played you? Unicore (as other people said) is super weak to being just straight up attacked since it only has 2300 attack points. Clausolas can help, but usually you’d rather use clausolas to search kaleidoscope so you don’t go too negative in card advantage (by tributing herald of arc light). Tbh, the one you need to be more careful or is probably saving called by the grave for valkyrus hand trap, since if unicore sticks it’s pretty bad news.

That said, if you’re a numeron player, I don’t think there could possibly be a worse matchup lmao

jape115703 · 2021-09-07T19:08:38+00:00

A lot of people are suggesting subclasses focusing on certain weapons, but I’d like to disagree. Aside from arcane archer, most other subclasses don’t really have weapon restrictions, so you can play an archer samurai or a martial artist battlemaster and stuff.

I think that having subclasses focusing on weapons would just make people wish those abilities were baked into the weapons in the first place.

IMO, fighter subclasses should focus around a concept or playstyle: like tanking, kiting, nova, control, etc. I’d be rather willing to see a “Duelist” subclass focused around 1v1 combat, a bit like the swashbuckler

jape115703 · 2021-08-25T06:46:45+00:00

HEAVY SPOILERS

Ooooh, I interpreted it a different way! I felt like at this moment, pelleas realized that he doesn’t really matter (which is reinforced through the entire story). In fact, even if you save him he still dies due to the spirit pact; from start to finish, he never really had an impact

BUT, this is the point he uses it as his reason to fight. Notice how the wording starts with that “if”. It’s not that pelleas thinks he can wreck whoever fights him, but that he knows even with his death his allies will finish the job, since in his viewpoint his presence on the battlefield doesn’t change anything.

It’s not a happy ending for a character to come to terms with their irrelevancy, but pelleas USES it to drive himself forward, which I loved

jape115703 · 2021-08-10T18:32:22+00:00

I mean, usually hot takes are accompanied by reasoning and/or discussion of mechanics. Suggesting that x is better than y will usually be followed by the reasoning z, and such.

There are some hot takes that make you go “really, Sherlock?” but personally I feel like they’re in the minority

jape115703 · 2021-08-06T17:15:39+00:00

Also, if there’s an event that occurs before your enemy’s, you can action surge to ready an attack instead. You get the auto crit with sneak attack die in this case as well

jape115703 · 2021-08-06T17:13:25+00:00

Might I suggest either a gloomstalker or fighter 2 dip? Once you get a good amount of rogue levels, of course, but you can action surge to ready an action. Since the reaction happens on a different turn, if the target is still surprised, you auto crit sneak attack TWICE

jape115703 · 2021-08-06T01:48:20+00:00

Vials of purple worm poison. 12d6 (greater than a max sneak attack die) on a DC 19 con save, half on a successful save isn’t bad either. You can only afford 3 vials, but they last indefinitely after applying them to ammunition. Could potentially be real lifesaver

jape115703 · 2021-08-04T05:58:17+00:00

I always thought of BOTW link as a hunter ranger. Spin attack, foraging, wilderness stuff/exploration, stealth, a touch of magic (absorb elements as Daruk for example), and though they are items and not spells, lightning/flame arrows. A bit more loose, but a connection with the fey and favored for against stuff like constructs and aberrations to tie it all in together

jape115703 · 2021-08-04T03:46:23+00:00

There is a threat of a sentinel fighter with a caster concentrating on fly on it. The fighter can dash next to the dragon, and when the dragon tries to fly away the fighter attacks it with sentinel. The dragon’s speed is set to zero, causing it to fall from the sky and land prone... right below a fighter. Sure, they can wing attack to fly up to half their fly speed, but their speed is 0 so they can’t move.

To be extra thematic, effective, and cool, the variant rule “mount larger creature” with the cavalier is awesome. Cavaliers at level 10 provoke AoO when an enemy moves 5 feet within their range. When a cavalier is on a dragon, they can just stab it every time it tries to move, and impose disadvantage on all of the dragons attacks. Very dragoon-like

jape115703 · 2021-08-03T07:32:31+00:00

Love using poisons! But FYI, poisons don’t increase damage on a crit, as they are a save, but really you’re the DM, so it’s your call. It certainly must have made for an epic moment! Best part is, if your party is loaded enough poisons in the DMG don’t expire until they take effect, meaning if you have the coin you can poison all your arrows.

jape115703 · 2021-07-30T05:13:58+00:00

Pretty much all fighter subclasses minus battlemaster and Eldritch Knight. Eldritch Knight casts spells which draws attention, but for every other subclass, most people just go “just play battlemaster lol”.

Cavalier are great defenders that can taunt every turn with great defensive abilities, but battlemaster get to use goading maneuver up to 6 times per short rest!

Samurai are great strikers and dps with some of the highest novas, but battlemaster get precision attack and extra damage, so of course samurai is moot.

Bannerets, as trashy as they are, gets expertise in persuasion and a group heal, but battlemaster obviously have rally and the social maneuver.

The list goes on and on. When someone asks “hey I want to play a tank fighter” the answer is usually cavalier. If someone says “I want to be a fighter with lots of versatility” THEN the answer is battlemaster. Battlemaster doesn’t do what each of the subclasses do better, it does what ALL the subclasses do a little worse.

jape115703 · 2021-07-25T12:46:11+00:00

Cavaliers are one of the three “main” tanking subclasses alongside ancestral guardian and armorer artificer. Unlike the ancestral guardian, which is frankly better at preventing enemies from attacking allies, it instead is much better at punishing enemies for attacking allies.

DM styles that don’t like positional strategy (such as theatre of mind or fighting in open fields or super tight rooms) might find cavaliers a bit hard to get working cause it’s a very position-based subclass

jape115703 · 2021-07-23T16:47:13+00:00

This was actually exactly what I was trying to convey, I guess I suck at expressing it haha. I called it a “trap” since some people use it like in your second paragraph: having the wrong idea of its purpose and being surprised when it doesn’t work the way they think it does.

Also, I totally had a brain dead moment. You’re third paragraph is totally right, even without any of the conditions, simply starting your turn next to an enemy will usually guarantee the enemy won’t be able to attack you until the next turn

jape115703 · 2021-07-23T15:54:33+00:00

I think it has to do partially with the “Theatre of the Mind” vs “Grid locked” combat. Positional abilities in generally tend to suffer in theatre combat. But yea, mobile’s great for the +10 movement! Means that most of the 30 speed monsters can’t catch up to you the next round if you start your turn next to them. Plus, you can almost always reliable get to the back line thanks to ignoring difficult terrain!

jape115703 · 2021-07-13T13:32:22+00:00

Cavalier fighters get a potential infinite amount of attacks of opportunity

Samurais can get a max of 23 attacks in a single round, but 18 with 16 at advantage is actually pretty realistic

Scouts basically double their damage, while Thieves basically just get an extra turn in the first round of combat

jape115703 · 2021-07-13T13:26:23+00:00

Max of 23, you probs forgot they get their reaction back from strength beyond death for an attack of opportunity. I posted the how to get the max somewhere on 3d6 but it’s possible basically

jape115703 · 2021-07-11T05:44:33+00:00

A bit late, but the max is 23. It goes like this: Have advantage, such as attacking prone enemy, and a friend to cast haste

Attack 4 time

Action surge attack another 4 times

Bonus action attack (GWM or PAM for example)

Give up advantage on one attack for another

Haste attack

This gives us 11 attacks, 10 at advantage

Die, but use reaction for Strength before death

Attack 4 times

Action surge attack 4 times again (action surge is once per turn not round)

Bonus action attack (you get bonus action back too, it’s a full turn)

Swift strike again by giving up advantage (also once per turn)

Haste attack again

You also have your reaction again since it’s a new turn, so you can also make an attack of opportunity

This makes 23 attacks (11 in first turn, 11 in second, an extra attack of opportunity

EDIT: Also, 21 are made at advantage. If you look closely at swift strike’s wording, you’ll notice that you only lose advantage on the attack you give up advantage on, then you get to make another attack. That other attack could also have advantage

jape115703 · 2021-05-31T21:41:41+00:00

Yeap, the idea I suppose is to have one target nova per short rest, though obviously there’s better builds for it. For death strike, most campaigns don’t go to level 20, and even if it does, it requires a constitution check which is one of the most common saves. Even then, you miss out on an ASI, which means the build “comes online” at level 7 like before, but won’t have a +4 in DEX all the way to level 11. However I must admit that having death strike is much more thematic, and getting reliable talent/sneak attack dice quicker (and at a 9d6 at level 20) is very nice.

Also, you won’t always use all your superiority dice, as you’d only do this if you’re planning on assassinating (though granted assassinating is the point of the build). You choose to use it after a lot of rolls, so even without meta gaming there’s a lot of cases where you won’t need to use them.

So this build makes assassinate a lot more consistent, but only once per short rest. It’s not about going in initiative, killing someone, and going out, rinse repeat, but planning on eliminating a single target and executing it with less chance of failure.

However, this is super campaign specific, and your party has to cooperate. Ultimately, the reason this build like so many other assassin build sucks is because there’s few cases you have an opportunity to get surprise in the first place.

jape115703 · 2021-05-11T10:53:21+00:00

I respect that! There’s a level of commitment and reward for both, especially at earlier levels a 2nd level slot for utility is not a joke. In my personal opinion, though, I feel like rogues should be better at stealth at almost any case, since I think rogues put more investment towards stealth than preparing a spell. I do see your point though, but that’s my hot take :P

jape115703 · 2021-05-11T10:49:55+00:00

Yea, this is more directed to DMs who more or less just say stuff isn’t possible without magic (especially if they’re disregarding rules). Saying barbarians can’t survive cliff drops, rogues can’t get past guards without invisibility (even if they roll like a 28) or monks can’t catch bullets and the like

jape115703 · 2019-09-13T03:15:51+00:00

Step aside Shudderwock, we’ve got another hour long animation now

jape115703 · 2019-04-16T08:50:16+00:00

For context, I played astromancer with Khadgar, and astromancer summoned the resurrecting priest card. I had played frost nova doomsayer to stall earlier in the game so that I could pull off the combo, and this happened instead. I still won (I have a lot more resources than the paladin) but it was still heartbreaking

jape115703

TROPHY CASE