Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

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Mr. Manchester said:
which doesn't exist in pathfinder
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Au contraire, it even has tables for fucking up time travel.

The way my DM handles time travel, as far as I understand it, our former wizard's dad is a lvl 19 chronomancer is that there are multiple timelines and only a select few powerful wizards (or cursed oracles) who can fuck with with time to some degree or another. We haven't gone fucking around with timelines ourselves yet, but from what I remember should that happen we'll be murderfucked by a small army of aeons.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
Hey, guys. Werewolf 5th's early access PDF came out a few days ago, a few Kiwis took a look at it:


@Pentex wrote a very solid write-up of the different Garou tribes in W5, on page 112 of the World of Darkness General thread:


To give a small summery of several of the flaws; the Gets are 100% evil and must be killed at all costs, fascism is the real issue that must be combated, humanity is what caused all of the issues in the WoD including the Wyrm becoming too powerful instead of the other way around, and the Red Talons are openly committing BSD-level acts of horror and yet are still regarded as in the right. Oh, and W5 allows you to recruit and try to "redeem" BSDs but encourages you to mindlessly kill all Gets of Fenris, and even directly encourages players to put real-world people and organizations in the game and then kill them off. To use the exact terms: "Put recognizable faces in your game, then tear those faces right off."

As stated, @Pentex has a fantastic write-up of all of the tribes, and @Adamska and Dice Scum have a fantastic review of the book. Anyone has some time and/or braincells to kill, give it a shot!
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It's honestly not bad for the most part; it understands a lot of the core aspects of the game from a clinical point of view; it's just it comes off as tired and it's notably inferior to W20. Doesn't help that the things they do change usually are for the worse or are dumb as hell. It also cribs a bit too much from Forsaken, which has been an issue with all 5e books for World of Darkness; they keep cribbing and making the mistakes of Chronicles.

Fun fact: where it shines, likely due to LARPers, is in its character concepts. There were flops in that, but it did do some pretty neat takes. Also it has AIDS Dog, which is a testament to how stupid it was to not have the Talons go full "War of Rage 2: kill all hominid boogaloo", since that was some wyrm tier shit.
 
I do have a question for everyone; does anyone happen to know any decent sites for getting help on making a D&D character? I was going to be playing my first D&D campaign for the first time in quite a while, but I got stuck on figuring out which class I should run.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
I do have a question for everyone; does anyone happen to know any decent sites for getting help on making a D&D character? I was going to be playing my first D&D campaign for the first time in quite a while, but I got stuck on figuring out which class I should run.
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Google "D&D <edition> builds" and look for the links to Plebbit or Stack Overflow (and sometimes GitP) for how to make a character that will utter destroy that edition.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
I do have a question for everyone; does anyone happen to know any decent sites for getting help on making a D&D character? I was going to be playing my first D&D campaign for the first time in quite a while, but I got stuck on figuring out which class I should run.
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If you have no particularly hard preferences, ask the GM or even the other members of the party what they could use. Seriously, the other people playing appreciate when someone new shows up and actually wants to help make it a better game.

And if they have no particularly hard preferences, consider some character like a thief/rogue who is pretty all purpose, neither a glass cannon like a magic user (who often needs to be guarded by the rest of the party) or a pure hack and slash character like a fighter/barbarian.
Ghostse said:
Google "D&D <edition> builds" and look for the links to Plebbit or Stack Overflow (and sometimes GitP) for how to make a character that will utter destroy that edition.
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But then don't actually do that, at least not to the max, because nobody likes a rules lawyer turning it into a munchkin campaign.
 
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Scream Aim Fire said:
I do have a question for everyone; does anyone happen to know any decent sites for getting help on making a D&D character? I was going to be playing my first D&D campaign for the first time in quite a while, but I got stuck on figuring out which class I should run.
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RPGBOT is great for getting into the nitty-gritty of character optimization, and while I think the bulk of their materials is for 5e, they also have 3.5e and PF 1e and 2e sections too, so you should be covered no matter what system is being run. While there are a few munchkin builds, they tend towards general advice that helps you avoid pitfalls and build a decent character no matter what you decide on. Start with their intro article and then peruse articles until you find something that sounds interesting.

Echoing @AnOminous's suggestion to ask ahead what might be useful for your potential party. There's nothing stopping you from playing anything you want (especially in 5e where there's less of a need for a rigid party composition), but it's always appreciated to have a character that can fill a role and help out the group as a whole.

If you're stuck, your DM should be willing to help you work out a character. This is also helpful because you'll learn what sort of limitations they have for their campaign, like not wanting certain races to be used or banning feats. When in doubt, your DM should be the one to consult.

Most importantly, your character should be something that you think looks fun. A purely-optimized munchkin isn't worth using if you don't like how the class plays. You can't go wrong with picking a race and class that you think is cool, but it still won't hurt to do a bit of optimization to let you be a strong addition to your party.

If you want something generalist that should work no matter what, bards and rogues are usually a good option. Very versatile with plenty of ways to use your skills to support your party, and you can specialize to better fill a particular niche.
 
Thanks for all the replies, guys! Truth be told, I did some talking with the rest of my group recently - it's a six-man party including myself - and I already know what the other guys will be using. I just couldn't figure out which class I should go for. It is 5e, for the curious.

I'm gonna write my thoughts down here; figure it might help me think. If anyone wants to help, go ahead, if not, then that's alright too.

The campaign we were going to be running was going to be more of a narrative-driven story; there's still going to be some combat and general antics, but we're focusing on the story this go-around. The other five members of our group were going to be running are a Fighter, a Warlock, an Artificer, a Bard, and a Rogue; everyone's got a unique class. The character I was running was going to be a Hermit; not exactly the classic "loon that lived in the middle of nowhere", more of a character who prefers isolation and study; an intellectual, basically. We kinda figured that it might be an interesting choice of background for writing.

Of course, figuring out both what class I would like to be using as well as what he can bring to the party is the current challenge; the Fighter is going to be our frontline tank guy, the Warlock is going to be a strong magical focus, Artificer is focusing on guns, the Bard is providing support and healing, and the Rogue is already sneaking around and stealing shit. The rest of the group already has all the bases more or less covered; as a result, I'm left trying to figure out which class to run. Not really looking for a character that's super-optimized, mind; just one that's fun to run.

Gameplay-and-story-wise, I find myself playing as a jack-of-all-trades, usually; someone that can do just a bit of everything, though not usually excelling in everything. I find it good to have options; I'm not going to be outclassing anyone, but at least I can keep up and provide some backup if needed.

Off the bat, Druid is really fun and has really good abilities - it was my previous main class and I actually really enjoy it, along with Barbarian - but it seems a bit too "environment focused" for the design I was going for, if that makes sense; the character's a hermit, not a hippie, you know? Somewhat of the same issue with Barbarian and Ranger; despite being socially isolated, I never really thought the Hermit as a wilderness expert. Paladin and Cleric both look really good, but I didn't think the character as particularly religious; spiritual, but not devout to a particular god. Monk sounds decent, I just couldn't really get into it gameplay and design-wise, not sure why. Sorcerer looks really nice overall, but we've already got a magic guy, so... 🤷‍♂️

If anyone has tips on background or class writing - i.e., how a city-dwelling intellectual Hermit could be a Druid or Barbarian, for instance - let me know.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
how a city-dwelling intellectual Hermit could be a Druid
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Literal Tunnel-dweller.
You didn't move to the city, the city moved on top of your Druid mushroom caves. Now that the city is there, the city tied some tunnels they build under the city to the subterranean cave system and...lets just say the mushrooms are doing very well now and leave it at that.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
I do have a question for everyone; does anyone happen to know any decent sites for getting help on making a D&D character? I was going to be playing my first D&D campaign for the first time in quite a while, but I got stuck on figuring out which class I should run.
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Don't listen to all these replies. There are good classes in D&D, and shit classes. Good class options, and bad class options. If you want useful help in avoiding a pitfall, or twenty, might I introduce RPGBOT. Multiple guides for D&D 3.5 and 5e, along with both editions of Pathfinder, including in depth guides on all classes and their various options. It isn't exhaustive (as in covering every possible option, simply due to the sheer number), but it covers the basics and everything in core, at the very least.

edit: Just realized I got ninja'd. Oh well. Consider my response a second vote for RPGBOT.
 
If you enjoy jack of all trades classes, unfortunately your party already has the traditional ones all covered: artificer, bard, and rogue. Not to say you can't double up, of course, but if you're wanting to play something entirely different from things already taken, then that limits your selection.

The next best thing would be a wizard, in my opinion. Despite having a warlock and artificer, you only have one full caster in the bard; artificers are half casters, and warlocks are Eldritch Blast bots that occasionally fire a different spell. Wizards get plenty of spells as they level (44 by level 20!), and they can copy down more from spell scrolls or spellbooks to add to their arsenal. You're limited in terms of how many you can prepare each day, but you can swap out daily so you can pick the spells you think you might need for that day. And with the massive variety of spells a wizard can cast, you should be able to build to support your party easily, especially shoring up the weaknesses of your bard; bards aren't the best with AoE which you can cover, and having more arcane magic around allows him to build more towards healing and defensive ability.

I think it would also fit well for your intellectual hermit character idea. Wizards are intelligence-based, after all, and nothing says "I'm a prime wizard candidate" better than some weirdo spending way too long in the stacks perusing tomes of forgotten lore. There's a big variety of subclasses to choose from as well, most themed around the different schools of magic and a few odd ones like War Magic and Bladesinger. If you want a really wizardy wizard, Order of Scribes is pretty neat, with some of its class features getting stronger the more spells you know.

As a caveat, wizards do have a couple downsides. With no armor proficiencies and a d6 hit die, you are going to be very squishy, especially at low levels, so your party better do a good job of keeping you alive. And because copying additional spells into your spellbook costs gold and time, you're probably going to find yourself broke more often than not if you're trying to gain a lot of spells, unless your DM is generous enough to dump a pile of treasure in your lap on a regular basis. That said, they're a lot of fun to play if you like to pewpewpew while still having a lot of tricks up your sleeve, so that's what I'd pick for your character.
 
RPGBot is generally speaking, pretty good for avoiding serious pitfalls.

But he (or she) seems weirdly inconsistent sometimes in the details. Sorcerer bloodlines, for example, don't seem to be well organized -- for example, he rates the draconic (gold) type as one star, and the red at three stars, despite the fact they both have the exact same breath weapon (30' cone of fire).

I mean, I grant some players are going to wring more efficiency out of some abilities that RPGBot considers subpar. Such is life. But it's very strange to see that inconsistency.
 
Capsaicin Addict said:
RPGBot is generally speaking, pretty good for avoiding serious pitfalls.

But he (or she) seems weirdly inconsistent sometimes in the details. Sorcerer bloodlines, for example, don't seem to be well organized -- for example, he rates the draconic (gold) type as one star, and the red at three stars, despite the fact they both have the exact same breath weapon (30' cone of fire).

I mean, I grant some players are going to wring more efficiency out of some abilities that RPGBot considers subpar. Such is life. But it's very strange to see that inconsistency.
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Another big issue is how non-exhaustive the site is, despite its age. For example, for the 3.5 fighter class, he lists the Tome of Battle classes as good dips (if anything it should be the other way around, as the fighter is only really worthwhile as a dip class), but has no guides on how to play any of the Tome of Battle classes. He only covers certain core books for Pathfinder, missing a lot of the better player options and content. The best offered is for people to contact directly if they want any assistance regarding any content they don't cover.
 
Scream Aim Fire said:
I'm gonna write my thoughts down here; figure it might help me think. If anyone wants to help, go ahead, if not, then that's alright too.
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You sound like you've put a lot more thought into this than most players do and will probably be a great addition to any party.

I mean a lot of players don't get any further than "I wanna throw fireballs at orcs."
 
Capsaicin Addict said:
RPGBot is generally speaking, pretty good for avoiding serious pitfalls.

But he (or she) seems weirdly inconsistent sometimes in the details. Sorcerer bloodlines, for example, don't seem to be well organized -- for example, he rates the draconic (gold) type as one star, and the red at three stars, despite the fact they both have the exact same breath weapon (30' cone of fire).

I mean, I grant some players are going to wring more efficiency out of some abilities that RPGBot considers subpar. Such is life. But it's very strange to see that inconsistency.
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If there's inconsistencies, it's probably because there are multiple people who write for the site, and they just need to do a better job of going back and cleaning things up. That does seem to be a weird error, though (it's in the PF section if you were like me, confused looking over DnD articles). Don't know how often they go back to edit articles.

That said, it's not the end all be all of build guides, but it's a great place to start, helping you figure out at a glance what's worth looking into and what to avoid. It's also good for summarizing races, classes, spells, and so on from every sourcebook released thus far, as well as telling you where they're from so you know if there should be issues with pulling from a book your DM doesn't want.

Oh right, speaking of, @Scream Aim Fire, you should also look at 5etools while you're consulting guides. Literally everything from every sourcebook has been copied verbatim, so you can easily look up whatever's being referenced. It's by far the best resource out there, and also a great way to save money on books. (PF2e has its own version here.)
 
Capsaicin Addict said:
But he (or she) seems weirdly inconsistent sometimes in the details. Sorcerer bloodlines, for example, don't seem to be well organized -- for example, he rates the draconic (gold) type as one star, and the red at three stars, despite the fact they both have the exact same breath weapon (30' cone of fire).
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That really ought to be the other way around since, bar maybe the first level, form of the dragon gold is just better than red.
 
2LtMashengo said:
That really ought to be the other way around since, bar maybe the first level, form of the dragon gold is just better than red.
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Well, I'm referring to the draconic bloodline subtype that determines your breath weapon and energy resistance, not the form of the dragon spell (which technically isn't limited to your subtype).

Form of the dragon is a pretty solid self-buff, even if you don't have good physical stats. +Str, +Con, +natural armor, flight, darkvision if you don't have it, a better energy resistance, a breath weapon, and multiple attacks in a pinch -- and that's FOTD I. Sure, you're better off staying out of the melee, but anything that increases your survivability is good. The Str/Con bonuses are size based, not enhancement, so they'll stack with a belt. And of course... being able to cast spells (a number of polymorph spells don't let you do so).
 
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