Min/Max Boards

Keep out the Ambuscade Ranger and the Awakened Mystic (really just Psionic Weapon) from Unearthed Arcana as mentioned.  They let characters nova hard.  Nothing in the PHB is unbalanced in a "too powerful" sense except maybe Wish > Simulacrum loops which are of questionable legality anyway.

If you're going to customize the magic items that are given out, things that give out + to AC, attacks, saves, etc. can get a little out of hand at higher levels.  Princes of the Apocalypse goes to 15, which is about where I noticed the + items making a big impact relative to what monsters have.

Can you expand on the relationship of magic to monsters in PotA? Are magic items something that they will need to survive the encounters or are magic items going to make the encounters too easy?

Any experience you have from this would be helpful.

As the title says I am a new 5e DM. I have played 3.5 for many years so when the group decided to step away from 3.5 and its easily broken rules and go to 5e I agreed to take the helm.

SO ....... what can be broken in 5e?

What I am looking for is signs to watch for early on. We are starting at 1st level with the Starter Set and the Lost Mine of Phandelver module. So I don't think I have to worry about much at 1st level but as we progress what should I watch out for.

Let me be clear I don't mind a little optimization, as a matter of fact I encourage it. I find that if players do a little optimizing they know how to play their characters better.

What I don't want is a broken and unbalanced character compared to the rest of the party. We have an assortment of characters and I suspect we will end up going through every class and race combination at some point during our run with 5e. (Ok maybe not every one but still there will be diversity)

The party is 6 players so I am going to have to scale up a little on the Mines adventure but I don't want it to be a cake walk and I don't want the party near death all of the time either.

Any suggestions, advice, or experience you guys can offer would be appreciated. The goal is to run through the mines campaign and then transition into Princes of the Apocalypse.

Thanks in advance and please keep the advice coming. It will be really helpful

personally, when i had cause to be playing a sorcerer character for some reason, i usually went with the battle sorcerer variant. from unearthed arcana, i believe.

however, a beholder mage is the kind of casting class i would really prefer to play - having to be a beholder is a bit of a challenge though.

Beholder would be fun but my DM would immediately say, "Not just no but HELL NO" lol

Man, you don't check a thread for a few days and all hell breaks loose lol

OK

So I decided to just go straight Sorcerer 13 for now. It seemed to be the simplest solution and since this is my first time making a true spell caster I figured simple is good.

I looked more into the Beguiler and the Ultimate Magus (DM's Suggestion as well) but ultimately went with the straight sorcerer.

And yes I am stupid new to Character Optimization. So I really don't know my MAD from a portable hole. (ok maybe not that bad) But I am grateful to everyone of you who actually took the time to reply. No matter how off topic.

So here is where I am at. Straight Sorcerer with decent stats and most of my spells are "utility" vs glass canon.

Going forward I need to look into ways of being less squishy.

+2 Mithril Buckler of Moderate Fortification was at the top of my list but of course the DM nerfed that. He believes fortification shouldn't be able to be put on something the size of a dinner plate, armor yes but not a buckler or small shield. Makes sense I guess so I am not going to push it.

I have the Greater Mage Armor spell in my list so I can use that but one good dispel and I am goo again.

What equipment/gear can you recommend to help make me less likely to die due to a strong breeze.

MIC is allowed so I am good there. I have a purchase cap of 27500 gp on any one piece (since I am starting a new character)

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and support.

 

Quote from: Kikkenass on November 14, 2015, 11:49:37 PM

Quote from: muktidata on November 13, 2015, 11:44:14 PM

Cleric 4/Church Inquisitor 5/Divine Oracle 2/Prestige Paladin 1/Contemplative 1

No flaws makes you feat starved so you probably want to be Human. With no ToB I'd recommand just playing a Divine Metamagic Persistent Spell abusing cleric. Battle Blessing to reduce the casting time on your spells. Persist Divine Power, Mass Lesser Vigor, Righteous Might, etc.

Yea the no flaws thing is kind of a drag but I can understand why he doesn't do it.

The build looks cool but I would prefer to keep it down to two classes if possible because I don't want to be assessed the 20% XP penalty for the third+ classes

Thanks for the input though

Prestige Classes don't count for XP penalties/favored class rules.


And that's really a shame about the trip attacks... The game is boring enough for non-casters. Being able to do things like trip helps relieve some of the mundanity...

Thanks for that clarification!

I looked at the build Cleric 4/Church Inquisitor 5/Divine Oracle 2/Prestige Paladin 1/Contemplative 1 and it really looks like it requires a lawful good character. Having the Paladin in the group (looks like he isn't going to retire the character) really already fills our requirement of lawful good babysitters lol

Anything you can suggest that would work more in line with a chaotic good alignment build. I want to try to make this as simple to make as possible. The swift hunter build I made last time caused the DM to make special changes in the campaign to counterbalance the character because he ended up being more powerful than the rest of the party (guess he didn't like it when I dropped 50 damage with 1 arrow lol)

So this time around I want to try to make it simple but still solid.

Thanks again

Being the biggest threat is doing (or allowing) the biggest DPS/DPS. Tanks roles alone don't do that. If you want to be a double threat, you risk out-optimizing your party.

Tanking is defined as not dying despite waves of damage coming at them. In DnD you will have to be careful to actually take the damage or your opponents will realize they can't hurt you.

That is a really good point that I never thought of. I guess what I am looking for is a tank that can take a beating but still do enough damage to the Big Bad to keep their attention in combat.

As far as straight-up "beatsticks", I'm currently playing this guy, which I think is pretty solid. You could go in quite a few directions after this.

Goliath Barbarian 2 (Wolf and Lion (CChamp) Totem)/Fighter 4

Ability Scores (32 pb)
Str 18 (16+2race) (10)
Dex 14 (15-2race+1lvl) (8)
Con 18 (16+2race) (10)
Int 10
Wis 8
Cha 10

Feats: Power Attack (flaw: Unreactive), Combat Reflexes (Flaw-Vulnerable)Endurance (1), Improved Trip (Bar2 bonus), Improved Bull Rush (Ftr1), Knockback (Ftr2), Extra Rage (3), Shock Trooper (Ftr4) Steadfast Determination (6)

Tactics: Heedless Charge pounce with a 2-handed weapon, attacking twice.
Free Bull Rush against anyone hit, using Directed Bull Rush + Domino Rush to knock them into an ally, tripping both.
He'll also have tremendous reach (large + reach weapon), so will be pretty good at BFC as well (especially once I can actually pick up Combat Reflexes... maybe I should take another flaw...).

So he's basically like a gigantic cannonball of rage.

Later: Combat Reflexes, Leap Attack, Reckless Rage, ?

I personally like the flavor of this build but I know my DM and he has been burned by players who use trip attacks a lot in their builds. He would blow a gasket and has specifically said trip attacks are not allowed in his campaign. He hasn't ever used them on us so we aren't allowed to use them on him.

Wish I could but don't want to piss the DM off right out of the gate lol

Solo's Sorc guide is a good starting place.

Sorc 20+ is Tier 2, and if you're paying more attention
to your build, it'll be as good as the Cleric Druid + Wiz.

Rogue 1 / Sorc 19+ is a standard > party skill+face build.
Rogue 1 could be Martial Rogue 1 or really any class with
Trapfinding at level 1.  Still go to Solo's guide, still Tier 2.
Picking spells is still where it's at.

Martial Rogue 2 / Battle Sorc 8 / Eldritch Knight prc 10 / Sorc +X
might just pull it down to Tier 3, not out-shining the other full casters
if you're aware you're pulling your relative punches a bit.
Supposing this is where the party is anyway, it works great.

Considering your other post, Fighter 2 subbing in
for the above build, would be an OK Tier 3 combat
some of the time, casting most of the time, build.
Again it's about picking the spells, and going
buff me 1/3rd , buff party 1/3rd , "W"in spells 1/3rd.

Solo's guide has been an entertaining read and may very well serve as my build structure.

Is Rogue 1 Sorc 11 still going to be the best way to go if I want to stick to 2 classes?

Is there a Sorc X / PRC X that would be better?

I am really open to suggestions.

What about Spellwarp Sniper? Is that doable?

Hey Guys,

I am in need of assistance in building a solid combat character dish out some pain and take a beating too.

We are currently playing in a Forgotten Realms setting.My party has been decimated and half of us are starting new characters. The surviving characters are Wizard/Blood Mage and Cleric and Druid. We have a Paladin currently but he is going to retire that character and bring in something new (possibly a Bard) The characters that died were Swift Hunter (mine) Half-Giant Fighter (DM Run NPC) and Raptorian Fighter (Ranged).

What D&D books you can use? PHB, PHB II. DMG, DMG II, Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Champion, Complete Divine, Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel, Complete Warrior, Complete Psionic (Non Psionic Feats only), Magic Item Compendium, Miniatures Handbook, Races of Destiny, Races of Stone, Races of the Dragon, Races of the Wild, Spell Compendium, Player's Guide to Faerûn

What type of character you want it to be? I want to make a TANK, the kind that is seen as the biggest threat on the table and can go toe to toe with the meanest baddies. Druid tanks are not allowed as we already have a druid in the group and the DM has seen how a broken tank druid can be played.

What levels will this character be played at? My character would be level 13 with intent to go to epic levels.

Any house rules or particular details about your DM or the other characters in the game? There are a few house rules Psionics are not allowed, Repeatable trip attacks are not allowed. Flaws are not allowed. Since there is a druid in the group currently we cannot have a second druid. No Undying Barbarians, No Psionics and No Broken Characters (The DM made sure my Swift hunter can never come back again)
 
What specifically you are looking for help with? I have never made a tank so I really am open to suggestions. My main goal is to be a BAMF without being broken. I would like to limit the character to a single class or no more than 2 classes. I don't want to create a broken character, I do however want to make a character who is "Solid"

Since my swift hunter was also our utility character I don't want to leave the party without any means of dealing with traps and locks and what not. So I am willing to sacrifice "some" things to make sure that I am a good utility character if possible but this is not a priority.

My DM is not the Monty Hall type who just gives us free reign on magic items. Most have to be either acquired via structured shop inventory or "ordered" and delivered at a later date.

Since I will be building this character straight to Level 13 to start I will have 88k gold to spend and he utilized the rule that no starting character can spend more than 25% of their starting gold on a single item (which equals 22000 gp iirc)

I have already rolled out the stats and did extremely well

Level 1 attributes came out to be, 17 13 12 17 16 18. I will have two ability points to add to this as I level up the character as well.

I wanted to build a different character that would be more balanced and solid in both the areas of combat and skills (I don't want to die because I can't swim) so I am open to suggestions.


Thanks in advance for all your help.

So, what's the answer you found?

Complete Champion Page 53
 
DIVINE FEATS
First introduced in the Complete Divine supplement, divine feats are the province of those who are able to turn or rebuke undead. Instead of attempting to affect an undead creature, you expend a turn or rebuke undead attempt to trigger the benefit of a divine feat you have. You can activate only one divine feat per round, though overlapping durations might allow you the benefits of more than one divine feat at a time. Activating a divine feat is a supernatural ability, requires a type of action or an amount of time depending on the feat, and does not provoke attacks of opportunity unless otherwise noted in the feat's description. Activating a divine feat is not considered an attack unless doing so would directly deal damage to a target.
 
 
Rules Compendium Page 119
 
SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES
Supernatural abilities are magical. They don’t function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated, such as in an antimagic field. However, these abilities can’t be disrupted in combat, as spells can. Supernatural abilities aren’t subject to spell resistance, counterspells, or to being dispelled by dispel magic.
 Just like spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities might have a use limit or be usable at will. A supernatural ability takes a standard action to use unless otherwise noted in the ability description. Using a supernatural ability doesn’t usually provoke attacks of opportunity. They never require Concentration checks.  Unless otherwise noted, a supernatural ability has an effective caster level equal to the creature’s Hit Dice.