D&D V6 - Edition jokes don't really make sense anymore - Games

So me and a group of friends are about to start up another campaign (5e standard), and we have a group of 6 (5 PC, 1 DM), starting at level 3. I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to do with a character I'm thinking of. The main "goal" is "A bounty hunter that prefers not killing people (mostly "good/neutral" humanoids, things that would make sense), but still will if he needs to". At first I was going to do a Rogue (didn't decide on a race yet), but I didn't intend on sneaking that much due to the personality of my character, meaning I wont often use sneak attacks which is a core part of rogues damage, on top of that, I have no interest in being a Thief, and as someone trying to shy away from killing, Assassin wont work either. The second attempt is a Ranger, as its class abilities feel like it would go well with a bounty hunter. After that I thought that being a Wood Elf would go with it as well. Rangers natural explorer and favored enemy abilities, however they are limited and specific about when they can be applied. There's also the issue of I simply want to be able to do more than just track things. After going through various combinations of spells, feats, races, etc, I just couldn't find something I feel happy with. The only entertaining thing I could think of was doing the dual-wielding hand-crossbows build, which I have already done before in a one-off session. Overall the character just ended up feeling a bit lackluster. (It was fun except for the part where I have the worst luck in history and constantly roll 1's. The DM took pity on me and slowly made the crit-fails less and less punishing.) The next issue: Before I sat down and started building the character (Race/Class/Stat-wise, the background was already a rough sketch), I had already talked with a few other group members about starting the campaign knowing each other a bit. The story goes: Two of the group members characters are going to be half-siblings, one Half-Elf sorcerer (younger brother) and one High Elf wizard (older sister). The idea was that the sorcerer had accidentally burned down a town due to a wild magic surge while practicing (or something along those lines). The town blamed the brother, the sister took the brother and went into hiding, and the angry town residents placed a bounty on their heads after they went missing. This is where my character is supposed to come in, finding them while chasing after their bounty, hearing the story, and deciding not to chase the bounty anymore. I end up helping them and we become best friends. Campaign starts x time later. It's not 100% set in stone but that's the rough idea we're going for. The idea is that I would be the "leader" of our group of 3 since I helped/saved them, and we would meet the other 2 players (they also know each other). So now I have an issue of I need to create a bounty hunter that is able to lead and show sympathy, while trying to capture without killing if possible. Fighter, Bard, and other casting-based classes are out of the picture (I've played fighter a few times already and want to do something else. We already have 3 casters in our group). Our currently planned group is going to be: - A spastic Sorcerer that burned down his town - An antisocial Wizard trying to protect her brother, - A rogue that killed a paladin, stole his armor, then after wearing it felt as though he had become imbued with holy power and is now a changed man working for his god (and the rogue doesn't even know what god it is) and the greater good, and from here on out will be a Paladin. (Multi-classing a level 3 Rogue, and only leveling Paladin from now on) - A naive wizard using necromancy that thinks he is a druid. He was raised alone by a crazy old lone wizard in the middle of a swamp, but the wizard believed he was a druid. He is going to re-name all of his spells so they sound "druidy", and his explanation for corpses being reanimated is "The vines are controlling them". - Me, the undecided semi-friendly? bounty hunter. As you can tell, this group is going to be a hilarious disaster, but it will be fun (hopefully). Now I just need to decide on my Race/Class/Background. I'm just having a hard time thinking of some alternative that will still fit my role as the "Hunter, Savior, and Leader".

The Sword Coast Adventure guide includes a background for an '[URL="http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Urban_Bounty_Hunter"]Urban Bounty Hunter[/URL]'. If your DM rules it as legal content in your session it's a good place to start. You can easily flavor the character as being just your bog standard Bounty Hunter. The important thing to remember though is that unless you want to play to the typical martial bounty hunter route you can easily take this idea of a bounty hunter to any class. A divination wizard could use his scrying and precognitive magics to track bounties for example. Just make sure you ditch the coned hat and flowing robes for an iron helm and fatigues. As your group is comprised mainly of casters here's what I recommend: [quote]- Vengence Paladin. At 3 you get Hunter's Mark as a domain spell which fits the thematic of a Bounty Hunter. Follow a god of justice, or flavor your characters magical abilities as stemming from an intense following to the loftiest ideas of mercy and justice. Also makes for cool moments to RP with your Rogue turned Paladin. - Battlemaster Fighter. Instead of years of military training a lifetime of catching bad guys has taught you to fight dirty. Disarming Attack, Trip Attack, and Percision Strike are all really good abilities that can be flavored as sweeping the leg or cheap shots during combat. - Variant Human anything. Take Magic initiate, then ask your DM if instead of the normal spell you can take Hunter's Mark. It's of approximately the same power level as Hex, which you can take by choosing Warlock. The other cantrips can be whatever. Boom. - Anything you want, then multiclass into Ranger 2. You get spellcasting for Hunters mark as well as a favored enemy. If you play using the Revised Ranger from the Unearthed Arcana pdf released by WoTC you can make that enemy 'humanoids' and gain advantage on initiative rolls. Nonobstruive to how you want to build your character while also still keeping the flavor of the most bounty hunter appropriate class.[/quote] The upside of playing a Martial class is you can use the feature mentioned in the PhB where you can choose to knock targets out on what would otherwise be a killing melee blow.

backgrounds are also pretty flexible anyway, the ones in the book are pretty much just examples

Yeah, you can just be a bounty hunter and stick with Vengeance Paladin as a balanced set of skills (or any class, but that one can easily be applied as an example).

Looking for 1-2 more people for a game of Unknown Armies, Third Edition. It's an Urban Fantasy game with a weird twist(by that, I mean they took urban fantasy tropes and said 'lets make this weirder'). Probably starting at 8pm GMT, dunno what day yet but probably not Monday. [url=http://i.imgur.com/sAJbdC4.png]Here's[/url] a screenshot from the 2e book that kinda fits with what I'm wanting the game to be like. And [url=http://i.imgur.com/Rkx7CdA.png]Here[/url]'s the start of the introduction from the 3e player's book. Both should help give you a rough idea of the setting. General idea is, players will start with little to no knowledge of Magick. If you're interested, either PM me on here, or message me on Steam(link under my avatar), or Discord(Rats #9479).

[QUOTE=Rats808;51620687]Looking for 1-2 more people for a game of Unknown Armies, Third Edition. It's an Urban Fantasy game with a weird twist(by that, I mean they took urban fantasy tropes and said 'lets make this weirder'). Probably starting at 8pm GMT, dunno what day yet but probably not Monday. [url=http://i.imgur.com/sAJbdC4.png]Here's[/url] a screenshot from the 2e book that kinda fits with what I'm wanting the game to be like. And [url=http://i.imgur.com/Rkx7CdA.png]Here[/url]'s the start of the introduction from the 3e player's book. Both should help give you a rough idea of the setting. General idea is, players will start with little to no knowledge of Magick. If you're interested, either PM me on here, or message me on Steam(link under my avatar), or Discord(Rats #9479).[/QUOTE] If you do Sundays I'm actually probably interested, thats pretty much my only good day tho [editline]4th January 2017[/editline] That setting summary is really cool, the videotape of a goddess being born makes me think some silent hill shit except were a squad of guys who are like, jaded to it or at least are acceptant if it's existence

Just finished the longest D&D session I've ever done, as the latest I've ever been out at that. Started at 7pm, and our final battle went from 11pm-5am. It was the cumulation of months of build up. I will write the story tomorrow, but it features such epic... just flat out fucking cool/metal/badassery that bards would make tales of. Some examples: •riding a dire bear on a rock while plummeting to the ground, while shooting the boss with arrows from 130ft+ in the air •gouging the bosses eyes out while fighting before plummeting to the ground •when everyone is unconcious the wizard with 2hp makes the decision to cut his own eye out to replace it with an evil one he found to potentially save everyone.... only the bard revives them from some ill mentioned ability while the wizard clutches his old eye •neck to neck fighting on the verge of death the whole time, right down to everyone but the boss and the paladin with 5hp, one strike between winning or losing... the end result, I'll write tomorrow :)

If this doesnt end in a tpk I want my munny back

[QUOTE=elowin;51597678]shadowrun is top tier joke game dude if you build your character right you can literally get into a sportscar and drive around at like mach 300[/QUOTE] Yeah it can be a joke game, if the DM wants it to be... :)))

Finished a year long campaign a few days ago, specifically the one that I usually post gripes or funny moments from in here. It actually started pretty close to around now too. Crazy.

So I was part of a DnD 5e one shot, where we all played dwarves given a quest from our clan, to see if the words of a prospector were true. The GM was a lot better than I first thought and it was every enjoyable. It was my first ever DnD 5e session and I also got to make my first ever DnD 5e character. It was Igrof Gleamback the war cleric of Clangeddin. As a token of appreciation to the DM, I wanted to share his VOD of the session as I had a lot of fun! [video=youtube;GW0EOvReTLk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW0EOvReTLk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Has any of you played any of the pre 3rd edition D&D games or it's various retro clones or is it just 5th edition that's played in here?

[QUOTE=Amakir;51625852]Has any of you played any of the pre 3rd edition D&D games or it's various retro clones or is it just 5th edition that's played in here?[/QUOTE] I mean I'm pretty big on 3.5 but I haven't experienced earlier games tbh.

[QUOTE=No Party Hats;51626031]I mean I'm pretty big on 3.5 but I haven't experienced earlier games tbh.[/QUOTE] 3rd edition is pretty much a different game with some similarities to the older ones. Brown box old D&D up to AD&D 2nd edition is pretty much the same game with more rules and balancing applied to it. It's axially quiet fun to follow how the game evolved from the 70s original until the final edition of AD&D. If you're interested in playing it though I recommend checking out one of the many retroclones of older D&D since Gary Gygax sucked at explaining rules. [editline]5th January 2017[/editline] Also why is facepunch saying I'm in Norway? I'm in Sweden, pretty far from Norway too. Does if suddenly know my true heritage?

Found the best combo of stealth gear in Shadowrun, totally innoculus [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/259030976548700160/266341203371491339/unknown.png[/img]

Took part in a Secret Santa with my D&D group. I literally can't come up with a gift idea that is under the $10 price limit. I'm gonna write the dude a really nice card, cause he's a chill guy. I was originally gonna buy him dice, but then realised that's such a cop-out present. I was gonna hand-make a small wooden chest, but with exams right round the corner, I don't have the time. What can I get him that any D&D player would love, excluding dice and the player handbooks.

[QUOTE=loopoo;51626232]Took part in a Secret Santa with my D&D group. I literally can't come up with a gift idea that is under the $10 price limit. I'm gonna write the dude a really nice card, cause he's a chill guy. I was originally gonna buy him dice, but then realised that's such a cop-out present. I was gonna hand-make a small wooden chest, but with exams right round the corner, I don't have the time. What can I get him that any D&D player would love, excluding dice and the player handbooks.[/QUOTE] Write him a well thought out guide on avoiding being 'that guy'

[QUOTE=loopoo;51626232]Took part in a Secret Santa with my D&D group. I literally can't come up with a gift idea that is under the $10 price limit. I'm gonna write the dude a really nice card, cause he's a chill guy. I was originally gonna buy him dice, but then realised that's such a cop-out present. I was gonna hand-make a small wooden chest, but with exams right round the corner, I don't have the time. What can I get him that any D&D player would love, excluding dice and the player handbooks.[/QUOTE] I would suggest a dice tower but those are probably well over $10.

below 10 dollars and related to tabletops is really hard if you dont have the time to hand-craft something and you've excluded dice.

A set of the most bootleg Warhammer figurines, of course.

[QUOTE=loopoo;51626232]Took part in a Secret Santa with my D&D group. I literally can't come up with a gift idea that is under the $10 price limit. I'm gonna write the dude a really nice card, cause he's a chill guy. I was originally gonna buy him dice, but then realised that's such a cop-out present. I was gonna hand-make a small wooden chest, but with exams right round the corner, I don't have the time. What can I get him that any D&D player would love, excluding dice and the player handbooks.[/QUOTE] Does he have a dice tray? It should be a fair bit simpler than a trying to make a wooden box. All you need to do is find or make a flat bottom box, buy a piece of self-adhesive felt from any craft store. Cut it out to match the shape of the box, and print off a stencil of something dnd related. You could either buy a little bit of fabric paint, or just a permanent marker. Someone on reddit recently posted one he made using pretty much this method. [t]http://i.imgur.com/8v6gM0M.jpg[/t]

I'd love to make a dice tray, as I was planning on getting that from the start, as our DM has a rule that any dice that fall on the floor are natty 1's, and so many of us have gotten fucked from over-enthusiastic rolls. Only problem is, I'd need a glue gun which I don't have. I could have a go with hammering dowels into it to hold it all together, but for a first time project, leaving it so late, I don't want to risk it not working out. I might just buy a generic dice tray on amazon for ten bucks, or get a dice rolling cup. I'll probably go for the tray. Cheers for the feedback, guys.

[QUOTE=loopoo;51626897]I'd love to make a dice tray, as I was planning on getting that from the start, as our DM has a rule that any dice that fall on the floor are natty 1's, and so many of us have gotten fucked from over-enthusiastic rolls. Only problem is, I'd need a glue gun which I don't have. I could have a go with hammering dowels into it to hold it all together, but for a first time project, leaving it so late, I don't want to risk it not working out. I might just buy a generic dice tray on amazon for ten bucks, or get a dice rolling cup. I'll probably go for the tray. Cheers for the feedback, guys.[/QUOTE] You don't really need a glue gun, and if you want to go really simple, you don't even need to build the box. You can buy deep picture frames (look for shadow boxes without glass or removable ideally), and then self adhesive felt. Only thing you would have to is cut the felt to the right shape, peel off the backing and stick it in place.

Oh, that's actually a really good idea. I'll have a look at buying picture frames. Cheers!

[QUOTE=loopoo;51626232]Took part in a Secret Santa with my D&D group. I literally can't come up with a gift idea that is under the $10 price limit. I'm gonna write the dude a really nice card, cause he's a chill guy. I was originally gonna buy him dice, but then realised that's such a cop-out present. I was gonna hand-make a small wooden chest, but with exams right round the corner, I don't have the time. What can I get him that any D&D player would love, excluding dice and the player handbooks.[/QUOTE] Pair of fuzzy d20s

[QUOTE=Ott;51632079]Pair of fuzzy d20s[/QUOTE] and between the d20s are a pair of fuzzy handcuffs

Now that I'm working on Stalker Tabletop after a very considerable amount of leaving it in limbo, or rather straight up avoiding even working on the existing trash I and a certain other person made, I think I came up with an alright manner of creating characters thanks to all the discord homies. Basically, the core of your stats are defined in the Physical, Social, Cognitive, and Firearms Handling attributes. From these four, relevant Skills branch according to what fits in what category. You only really do major rolling for the initial four attributes, and everything else is modified further during chargen. I have also developed a concept for the substitute to a magical system: Paranormal Mysticism. Basically, during chargen, players can decide to pick certain traits which would unlock this mystical potential bound to The Zone, categorized in five groups: telepathy(mind manipulation), telekinesis(object manipulation), chemomorphing(alteration of matter), cryptopathy(interaction with mutants) and anomalomorphing(manipulation of anomalies and artifacts). The question is on my proposition of implementing this mechanically. The way I'm thinking of having casting work is effectively as follows: besides starting off with initial "intensities" of each paranormal action, you have to use cognition as your base statistic. Then, after building up your unlocked mystic skills, you have to make a successful roll to be able to utilize anything that you've unlocked. Over time, you can also raise the amount, strength and limits of individual casts via various means, making them more useful in practice. What do you guys think about having a system like that? Naturally I'm trying to lower the overall average power of Wizard-type characters or rather make it more manageable in regards to this system, and also making them less reliant on it, but I'm still trying to see if there's any additional things that I can alter in the idea before I begin creating the crunch.

Ho boy, I have competition out there! My system uses the standardized core of my general RPG system: Physique, Intelligence, and Charisma. No skills, and most rolls use raw attribute + relevant dice (primarily d6's). Not sure how I feel about zone magicalness, as any such things I shove under Trait/Perk system where you have a limited number of slots you unlock over "rank ups", and fill in with the Perks, so you can immediately fill the slot with a minor but useful perk, or wait for a bit to clear more slots, so you can take a better perk. Anyway, to get back to your point, some sort of training system would work well - you can plan out what your capabilities are beforehand, but perhaps you can only unlock/use those abilities in highly stressful situations (getting shot up by bandits, so you can try using cryptopathy to call blind dog pack for help)? But in that case, if players are doing well, you may relegate player with those abilities to the background of the group.

[QUOTE=gufu;51633266]Ho boy, I have competition out there! My system uses the standardized core of my general RPG system: Physique, Intelligence, and Charisma. No skills, and most rolls use raw attribute + relevant dice (primarily d6's). Not sure how I feel about zone magicalness, as any such things I shove under Trait/Perk system where you have a limited number of slots you unlock over "rank ups", and fill in with the Perks, so you can immediately fill the slot with a minor but useful perk, or wait for a bit to clear more slots, so you can take a better perk. Anyway, to get back to your point, some sort of training system would work well - you can plan out what your capabilities are beforehand, but perhaps you can only unlock/use those abilities in highly stressful situations (getting shot up by bandits, so you can try using cryptopathy to call blind dog pack for help)? But in that case, if players are doing well, you may relegate player with those abilities to the background of the group.[/QUOTE] Well, in the case of the stock chargen, rookie start, I do in fact want to make it very obvious that it is rookie start that I'm working with. This also generally includes a lower progression start for everyone-- don't expect to be an absolute machine-gun toting pro, nor a spell-farting wizard, at least not without extremely major sacrifices. As for balancing it out, I'm primarily thinking about using the passive boost feature of artifacts as a passive cast boost chance as well. That way collecting artifacts and finding/buying more containers is a necessity if you wanted to start effectively casting tougher shit without spending fuckloads of points on cognition and the various mystical stats. Anyhow, in order to make the best use out of our shared knowledge, we might want to, you know, talk this over in private. I'll drop you a PM.

[QUOTE=croguy;51632936]Now that I'm working on Stalker Tabletop after a very considerable amount of leaving it in limbo, or rather straight up avoiding even working on the existing trash I and a certain other person made, I think I came up with an alright manner of creating characters thanks to all the discord homies. Basically, the core of your stats are defined in the Physical, Social, Cognitive, and Firearms Handling attributes. From these four, relevant Skills branch according to what fits in what category. You only really do major rolling for the initial four attributes, and everything else is modified further during chargen. I have also developed a concept for the substitute to a magical system: Paranormal Mysticism. Basically, during chargen, players can decide to pick certain traits which would unlock this mystical potential bound to The Zone, categorized in five groups: telepathy(mind manipulation), telekinesis(object manipulation), chemomorphing(alteration of matter), cryptopathy(interaction with mutants) and anomalomorphing(manipulation of anomalies and artifacts). The question is on my proposition of implementing this mechanically. The way I'm thinking of having casting work is effectively as follows: besides starting off with initial "intensities" of each paranormal action, you have to use cognition as your base statistic. Then, after building up your unlocked mystic skills, you have to make a successful roll to be able to utilize anything that you've unlocked. Over time, you can also raise the amount, strength and limits of individual casts via various means, making them more useful in practice. What do you guys think about having a system like that? Naturally I'm trying to lower the overall average power of Wizard-type characters or rather make it more manageable in regards to this system, and also making them less reliant on it, but I'm still trying to see if there's any additional things that I can alter in the idea before I begin creating the crunch.[/QUOTE] Why does there need to be magic at all? Just make it like Twilight 2000 or Fallout. Not every tabletop RPG requires magic, and it doesn't really fit STALKER at all.