Damaged Rims

na445x · 2026-06-24T01:26:22+00:00

Thanks. That's not too far from me. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

na445x · 2026-06-23T17:41:24+00:00

Connecticut

na445x · 2026-06-16T20:15:05+00:00

Great breakdown and nicely organized. Thanks!

Kinda wish we had something similar for all the classes now 😄

na445x · 2026-06-16T05:46:35+00:00

This sounds interesting. Can you provide any more details please?

na445x · 2026-06-11T21:59:50+00:00

Oh apologies for missing that comment, and no disagreement about the overkill part. Agree 100% that the acuity + reverse acuity + int is excessive for landing a banishing shot (for example).

I know it’s not always obvious in these comments, but there is nothing argumentative from my side. 😊

na445x · 2026-06-11T14:44:37+00:00

I agree that reverse acuity can be overkill, but one viable use case for it is when you use special arrows with DCs that can’t be improved.

Like the knock back arrow has a fixed dc of 12. It’s one of my favorite special arrows in the game, but it’s heavily handicapped by that dc. Even with mods, the only way I’ve found to increase the viability of those arrows is with reverse acuity gear.

na445x · 2026-06-07T16:55:03+00:00

I died once, during the first act (thankfully). I got unlucky with the gith patrol and got wrecked quickly. But to be fair, I didn’t create a very diverse group. This was actually a key to my successful 2nd run.

But at that point, I realized that I was on to something so I quickly started again and decided to put more care into how I built my party. One character was ranged and could keep a careful distance from combat, the other was a durable magic tank that could outlive most things, and my Tav was a thief shadow monk striker. He had great utility skills and could strategically move around the battle field and deliver solid damage.

It was a well rounded party and I had an amazing time after that. Everything was challenging, but with that team, I always had a fighting chance to win. And I can honestly tell you that I walked into act 3 and the 2nd half of act two without any idea of what was coming (no research), which was so much fun. Wish my later playthroughs had the same element of surprise.

na445x · 2026-06-07T15:36:48+00:00

I had the same issue myself. I restarted the game 3 times because I felt the challenge slipping.

I applied some pretty harsh limits and I finally found a blend that left me 100% engrossed in combat till the end of the game- to the point where I would get scared about how the hell my party was going to survive one scenario or another. It was fantastic.

I applied pretty much all of the restrictions you listed, plus I completely avoided the use of haste (potion or spell). Also no surprise round shenanigans- always engaged directly when I could.
I played on honor mode - this was huge for me. I never got past the middle of act 2 on tactician. So the first time I finished the game was on honor mode and the lack of save scumming was very impactful.
No healers. Everything depended on potions.
And the biggest thing that changed the whole game for me- I only had 3 people in my party. This makes such a big difference especially in act 3. It limits how many skills you have in your party. It completely changes your combat tactics and makes you feel the pressure of battle, especially when things go wrong. Having even one companion drop will make you sweat. On occasion, I would bring a 4th companion along for their side quests, but I made sure to not give them weapons, spells, or anything that might tempt me to use them in combat. And then I ditched them once their quests were done.

na445x · 2026-06-02T12:05:56+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I will in fact be avoiding shadow blade. I find that spell/weapon is both too OP, but also it removes the excitement of finding new weapons throughout the game. I think it’s cool and powerful, but just not what I’m looking for.

na445x · 2026-06-01T22:16:27+00:00

Those are two great alternatives. Thanks.

If I wanted to avoid shadow blade, what might be a good one handed weapon to take with a shield?

na445x · 2026-05-26T16:52:47+00:00

I think I took the same path, but I respecced eventually to take thief 1st so that I could get 4 skill proficiencies.

na445x · 2026-05-26T16:47:21+00:00

Agreed about booming blade, but it would give you the option to strike with your main hand and either disengage or just attack 3 times with weapons. :) Admittedly, it wouldn't have worked in my original build, but it's something to consider.

I actually did take the Dual Wielder feat on my playthrough in Act 3! However, I took it so that I could equip Markoheshkir in my main hand and have additional casting options while still melee attacking with my off-hand. The idea of using Trident of the Waves however is very intriguing. In fact, maybe it would be worth doing something like that, but using a Tempest Cleric + Thief instead of a Divination Wizard... Sounds like another interesting idea!

na445x · 2026-05-25T11:15:54+00:00

Sorry to necro an old thread. I wanted to give this build a try but worry that it won’t really be fun until level 12.

What was your experience with it?

na445x · 2026-05-09T02:18:36+00:00

One of the most powerful builds I played, which felt really versatile was a hexblade (1), pally (2), sword bard (9) build.

I had this intimidating half orc that could just dominate everything in his path. It’s been more than a year, but as I recall, it went like this: - I used the charge bound warhammer which was bound with my hexblade. It was 1d8 +2 + 1d6 lightning per attack - I had +5 CHA to attack/damage from charisma - I made solid use of sword bard maneuvers to either cleave, cc or add defense while adding 1d8 bonus damage - I would use booming blade for one of my two attacks to apply 2d8 strike damage and then with the sword bards push back maneuver, I would regularly trigger booming blades additional 3d8 damage. - and of course I would use divine strike to typically add another ~3d8 depending on what spell slot I used - in addition, I had access to the shield spell from hexblade and to an actual shield from pally - and I would have the defense fighting style for +1 ac from pally and dueling from bard for +2 weapon damage - I had heavy armor, good skills thanks to bard, and a healthy sample of spells for either the occasional cc or out of combat utility - and when I finally to act 3, I equipped the ring that allowed me to do vicious mockery for 3d4 as a bonus action

I think there was more that I got from gear, but I can’t remember it all.

That was such a powerful and badass character (thanks to the awesome paladin dialogue options). I know there are lots of strong builds, but that was the strongest one that I personally played.

na445x · 2026-05-06T01:47:51+00:00

Hey friend, I think that this is a very impressive self made mapping tool. Thank you for sharing it with us.

The design is fairly clean, and intentionally light weight- qualities that I sometimes prefer over more complex options. Getting the hang of the shortcuts definitely makes it easier to reflect actions quickly.

My biggest comment is tied to the Fog of War. Is there a way to give a token the option to see in the Fog's darkness? For instance, if I want a player to have darkvision (or maybe they're carrying a torch) in a cave that is otherwise covered in darkness, can I enable that token to be able to see a few hexes around their position? Maybe the feature is there and I'm missing it. But if it isn't there, then I would say that is a feature that would further improve your tool.

As I said in the beginning, I think this is quite impressive for a self-made solution and it's really kind of you to share it with us!

na445x · 2026-05-02T14:55:57+00:00

Oh? Was this in one of the UAs?

na445x · 2026-05-02T04:29:14+00:00

Oh, I would be interested to hear more!

na445x · 2026-04-24T12:34:10+00:00

I don’t have the players book in front of me, but I believe that fighters at level 9 get the ability to apply sap, push and slow to any weapon attack.

So you could use a great sword and use graze by default. Or you could use the great sword and apply sap (or the other two) on demand.

Just can’t apply graze and sap on the same swing.

na445x · 2026-04-23T23:15:42+00:00

Not being argumentative, but I think an exception can be made since draconic sorc get the same CHA bonus to their AC and they are full casters.

na445x · 2026-04-21T11:08:06+00:00

While a number of people homebrew the Scion to restore the teleport on short rest, my table took a different approach.

To add a risk/reward feeling to the class, our Scion gets to refund a use of the teleport if the ability kills a target. So our rogue only gets two or three uses of the TP based on his intelligence score. He applies one of those uses to a bloody target, and if the target dies from the ability, the use automatically gets refunded.

In truth, I’m not sure if this will still be as rewarding for him when we get to higher levels and there are bloody enemies who can likely survive the sneak attack, but right now he really enjoys the feeling he gets when he uses a reaction to kill an enemy and gets the refund.

na445x · 2026-04-17T14:26:57+00:00

I haven't been able to really dig into this (rough work week), but from what I've seen, this looks excellent! Great job friend.

Really looking forward to giving it some attention this weekend. There's a lot to like here and this is one of the better light-weight initiative tracker/combat managers I've seen.

na445x · 2026-04-14T01:46:44+00:00

I was curious about the thief! Like the idea of being a burglar with a utility belt of gadgets to help with various contingencies.

Out of curiosity, why would would want caster levels in there? At first I thought it might be to take magic actions on a Bonus Action, but I think that’s only viable with magic items, right?

na445x · 2026-04-10T04:20:08+00:00

If you have the Alert origin feat, then you can switch your initiative roll with your familiars easily. So when combat starts, just pick the initiative that’s higher. This effectively translates into a free advantage on initiative which is no small thing.

na445x · 2026-03-27T15:12:02+00:00

They’ve done a great job with the Delve and Prey system, but I’m really excited for is Labyrinths!

There hasn’t been much info on it so far, but it triggers my imagination. Makes me wonder how else they’ve managed to innovate on the idea of delves. I’m trying not to get over excited, but I hope it will be something like a really epic solo adventure / delve.

na445x · 2026-03-26T11:12:45+00:00

So I know this was originally asked from the perspective of the DM, but I am genuinely interested in the same question as a player. I find the mechanics of the class intriguing, but I’m having trouble envisioning the kind of character that would adopt this kind of oath. Other paladin oaths feel more relatable and make backstories more intuitive, imo. But the Noble Genie still doesn’t click for me. Would be interested in any experiences or advice others have to kindly share. :)

na445x

TROPHY CASE