Dice To hell and back Characters

[Voltsung]

It was what we discussed in the last thread.  It's a story thing.  We technically do have our equipment, but it's been taken.


And yah, but this isn't a Variant.  I was using the normal rules.

 

[Umbrie]

Variant human is also in the Players handbook. same section as the core human, and might as well be a core race due to how ubiquitious it is. i really recommend it. unless you don't want to. it isn't so much a power gamer race as much as it is a race that allows you to customize your subrace to better match how you envision your particular character. i mean, there are people who use it to minmax their role out of the gate, but there are also people who use it to flesh a character out from the gate. not that you can't have a fleshed out non-variant human, but variant human is easier to flesh out. because it actually lets you have a skill and feat appropriate to your backstory, Variant human is my favorite core/standard race for that reason. half elf comes second because the flexible bonuses to attributes and flexible bonus skill proficiencies allow a similar level of customization to a lesser extent.


nothing says that a Specific "Wizard" is an "Apothecary" any louder than said wizard having the healer feat for example. 

 

[Umbrie]

i can say from personal experience and having tried a few prison break scenarios. that i have noticed some of the following factors that lead to a massive risk of TPK when done in a prison break scenario by a GM looking to "Challenge" their Players and generally isn't happy unless a portion of the party is knocked out or using up a few spells every fight. 


forcing Gearless PCs to fight Geared Guards, despite making sense, is generally not a good idea in the long run, because killing PCs early generally hurts the chance of telling a prolonged story in the long run assuming you wanted multiple arcs. PCs without weapons have no viable means to deal damage, spellcasters without a focus cannot access their spells. some martial characters are dependent on armor to soak hits, and will thus have drastically less durability and wizards cannot prepare their spells at all without a spellbook.


Forcing PCs to sneak past the guards generally requires the Party as a whole to be reasonably competent at stealth. while a lack of armor removes armor based disadvantage from the equation. the fact is, you usually have somebody in the group who is likely very bad at stealth who generally ends up getting the whole party caught. and well, any kind of seasoned prison guards are going to require extremely frequent cases of suspiciously good luck to sneak past. so the easiest fix if you wanted us to sneak, is to sneak past novices. which means we are lower on the ladder and probably not priority targets they care about or they think their security is infallible out of arrogance.


guards aren't on shift 24/7. there is generally a between shifts period for each shift, and a no shift period. the no shift period is usually whenever the guards themselves need to go to their own homes and rest. nothing goes entirely without sleep. guard duty is exhausting, and they are usually centered in the more violent areas. where the more violent criminals tend to be. they would need more guards focused on the higher level inmates and less on the lower level ones. because what can a young novice truly do in most prisons? you generally don't put the novice inmates in the same area as the seasoned career criminals. putting the novices in the same cells as the veterans is bound to prematurely kill the novices, all because of the power possessed by the Veterans. most 1st level characters would be barely apprentices and have likely not done anything on a grand scale unless massive charges were trumped up against them, meaning that the lie would be revealed immediately.


i know, this a bit too much of comparing logic to an RPG. but Low Ranking Novices would likely be supervised less because they aren't the inmates the guards would be immediately worrying about. i think it makes sense, that we would be pitted against smaller and less powerful guard shifts and as long as we didn't try to kill them first, they probably wouldn't try to kill us and they would probably assume us to not be a threat. there is probably some 5th, maybe 8th level drunk the guards are more worried about. 


not that levels are inherently visible directly, but the experience one has is likely visible through their eyes and through their facial expression.

 

[Voltsung]

Hm... true.  It would be nice to have Korvin's backstory have a bit more of an effect on his stats.  I'll think about it. We still have some time, and I'm way too tired to trust myself with changing anything I might regret later.

 

[Umbrie]

Hm... true.  It would be nice to have Korvin's backstory have a bit more of an effect on his stats.  I'll think about it. We still have some time, and I'm way too tired to trust myself with changing anything I might regret later.

Variant Human allows your character's backstory to better affect their statistics. both through the extra skill and the free feat. which allow you to build a bit truer to your character's history in a way you imagine.


i went with noble, because it made sense to me that most half elves or half fey in general would be born in noble houses because it would be easier for a noble to afford to support the high maintenance fey lifestyle. and it made sense with Umbrie being Spoiled, that she has to have a Wealthy Relative somewhere. her mother was A Fey Wizard Apothecary and well, married somebody wealthy because she needed funding for her research to create alchemical daughters. so you can say Umbrie and her sisters were born from Alchemy. but then, her sisters were kidnapped and she was separated from them, as they were from each other. which adds a potential sidequest.

 

[Umbrie]

a single guard with Standard Equipment as per the Entry in the monster manual could likely take down the whole party while they are without their gear due to the advantage of having access to better armor and having a weapon while most of us would have to provoke free swings from said guard to hit for like 1 damage before modifiers from strength or dexterity. i mean, we could take it down if we all ganged up on it, but guards aren't usually alone and they usually come in groups of 2-4. sure, the guard might not have exceptional bonuses to damage, but they have weapons, and they have armor and well, they have a sizeable amount of hit points. i mean, i could probably throw a 4 point punch at +5 to hit purely from dexterity and proficiency. but i doubt most of the other PCs could besides the Strong Fighter.


i think most of the other PCs are throwing 1 or 2 point punches. a Punch deals 1 point of damage plus an additional amount based on the higher of your strength or dexterity scores due to being a light weapon, which also determines attack bonus. light and finesse are effectively the same property except you can dual wield light weapons, but not necessarily every finesse weapon and certain feats work with one but not the other. but light and finesse both use the higher of strength or dexterity. the reason some weapons have both is for interacting with certain feats that require one or the other.

 

[Umbrie]

let me Tally up the Damage Every Body Deals with an Unarmed Attack


unarmed attacks are essentially light weapons. meaning you can make an unarmed offhand attack as a bonus action for 1 damage, unless you have a benefit that precludes you from making off hand attacks like dueling. because they are light weapons, thier attack and damage values are based on the higher bonus of strength or dexterity. everybody is proficient in them and they deal a base damage of 1 unless you are a monk or have the tavern brawler feat. attribute bonuses don't apply to offhand damage unless you have the 2 weapon fighting style as a class feature or dual wielder feat, but you can generally make an off hand punch or kick for 1 damage. penalties and damage reduction cannot reduce damage dealt below 1 point. but immunities can. i factored everybody's unarmed attack and damage bonuses thus far on the stipulation that Korvin tries to benefit from his dueling feature and not make an off hand punch. as you can tell. Korvin has amazing unarmed damage and can probably be our best bet at damaging a guard.


but if i enter a gang up position on one of the guards, it could probably make things easier. i thought one guard was going to be a pain to kill until i reread the rules on light weapons and unarmed attacks and realized we have 2 characters with reasonably damaging unarmed attacks. maybe we might be able to handle 2, maybe 3 guards at a time.


Umbrie: +5 to hit 4 Damage Primary Hand (16 Dexterity) AC 13 HP 8


Korvin +5 to Hit 6 Damage Dueling (16 Strength and dueling.) AC 12 HP 12


Rhys +3 to Hit 2 Damage Primary Hand (13 Dex) AC 11 HP 10


Fjord +3 to Hit 2 Damage Primary Hand (12 Str) if Fjord were a Mountain Dwarf and Had Racial Modifers of +2 Strength and +2 Constituion that were previously not factored. his Strength would be 14, increasing the accuracy of his Punches to +4 for 3 points of damage. AC 9 HP (what is the max for a Brawler's hit die?)


still need Slepnir and Hawkmoon's Characters so i can calculate their unarmed damage values

 

[BlightGiver]

Hey, I can't manage to find a working sheet; mind if I just post all his stats and stuff here, then use it as reference later on?

 

[Umbrie]

take these. you can rename them when you click save as. you will need the free Adobe Reader to open them,

View attachment Character Sheet - Alternative - Form Fillable.pdf

View attachment Character Details (Optional) - Form Fillable.pdf

View attachment Spellcasting Sheet (Optional) - Form Fillable.pdf

 

[BlightGiver]

@Umbrie You're a lifesaver, thank you.

 

[Umbrie]

Welkies. all my D&D 5th Edition Books are on Hardback. and i don't know whether or not it is against the RPN TOS to share PDFs among other players in the Same Campaign for the Sake of providing specific rules from specific splats to the GM and players.

 

[BlightGiver]

I should probably check on that before posting then...


Edit: After checking the terms, there is nothing against sharing pdf files so I assume it's ok, just nothing offensive, illegal, or copyrighted.

 

[Umbrie]

Mountain Dwarf information for your Dwarf Brawler if you need it.


+2 Strength


+2 Constitution


Proficiency in Light and Medium Armor


Darkvision


Dwarven Resilience. You have advantage on saving
throws against poison, and you have resistance against
poison damage (explained in chapter 9).
Dwarven Combat Training. You have proficiency
with the battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer,
and warhammer.
Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with the
artisan's tools of your choice: smith's tooIs, brewer's
supplies, or mason's tools.
Stoneeunning. Whenever you make an Intelligence
(History) check related to the origin of stonework, you
are considered proficient in the History skill and add
double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of
your normal proficiency bonus.

 

[Umbrie]

for a Mountain Dwarf's Point Array i recommend


14, 14, 14, 12, 10 8 before racial modifiers,. broken up as desired. which makes you a fairly decent brawler. this is because you need an even score to actually increase the bonus.

 

[Umbrie]

http://1-dot-encounter-planner.appspot.com/point-buy-calculator.html


Fjord is extremely short on Points.


and a lot of the characters here could use a little help in Expenditure. so i will do my best to help do what i can to ensure the player characters survive for just a little bit longer. and my first goal. is to tweak arrays that are more efficient but still as true to the original stats as possible.

 

[Umbrie]

i did a little Calculation on a Possible Variant Human Korvin and found that after Variant human Racial modifiers


16 Strength


14 Dexterity


14 Constitution


8 intelligence


12 wisdom


10 charisma


lost only one point of charisma modifier, but opened the way for an Extra Skill Proficiency and a Starting Feat and well, wisdom and charisma can be swapped if desired. and works pretty well.


and i discovered a Sweet Array that might help Fjord, assuming he goes with a Mountian Dwarf


Strength 16 (14+2)


Dexterity 14


Constitution 14 (12+2)


Intelligence 8/10


Wisdom 10/8


Charisma 14


while a point of either intellect or wisdom modifier is sacrificed. charisma is retained, dexterity, strength and constitution go upwards quite a bit. giving you good mileage as a brawler. giving you a sizeable boost to hit points and damage output that makes you a better brawler. whether 10HP if d8 12HP if d10 or 14HP if d12.


i know a bit about getting mileage out of the 27 points. not that i am a power gamer or anything. but i am doing my best to ensure you survive to continue roleplaying your characters while doing my best to stick true to the arrays as best i can,

 

[Umbrie]

the cleric seemed fine enough on points if the 4th level stat bump went to boosting both dexterity and charisma at the same time by 1 point each. which i assume would have already been planned to happen later on. which combos nicely with medium armor. and that ranged damage dealing cantrip will be extremely useful for the earlier portions and make nice recreation later on.


if we can work on getting the cleric a Shortbow later on. that will help a lot too. or a handaxe or shortsword. both of which are simple light weapons.


cure wounds might heal more. but healing word is technically a bonus action that can be done at range, both have their uses though.

 

[Umbrie]

https://dnd.rem.uz/5e D&D Books/


here are the important D&D 5th Edition Books. the ones with the player options. though i truly think they should host all the player options on a free to access website that serves as an easy reference and allows them to better advertise their books, i strongly miss the World of Darkness Subnet and i enjoyed the Pathfinder SRD. in fact, the Pathfinder SRD, because it had all the character options i sought, and referenced the book they were detailed in, meant i could get away with purchasing just the book i needed for those particular character options and optimized my expenditure, thus increasing my enjoyment of the system instead of purchasing books at random and getting disappointed.


i get it, WotC doesn't like the idea of Sharing their Rules Freely. but they pretty much might as well have to if it helps convince people to actually purchase their products. a Free ETool containing all the player options and magic items actually increases sales and has been proven to do stuff for 3.5. it also increases the amount of publishers willing to write third party content for the system, which increases revenue for the publishers.

 

[Hel]

what resource is the Draconic Elf Listed In? because i don't really remember where that particular Elven Subrace came from.


i know there are Eladrin in the Dungeon Master's Guide, and Drow Elves, High Elves and Wood Elves in the Player's Book. and Nyxads are just a pale non-evil reskin of Drow. so a Half Nyxad is identical to any other half elf.


i would be Wary About Homebrew, especially if it comes from D&D Wiki. not that an Elven/Dragonborn hybrid doesn't make sense, but i don't remember which supplement it is in. i know i didn't have to invent any new mechanics combinations or substitutions to be half-nyxad.


if you wanted to be a Snow Elf with +1 Constitution, Cold Resistance and the ability to ignore difficult terrain in natural environments. i think that would actually be pretty cool. not that i mean to complain about Draconic Elves. i'm just unsure of the source they came from. i mean, it doesn't look any stronger than a snow elf. but i noticed it is missing a few of the Core Elven Traits. namely Fey Ancestry and the Perception Proficiency.

They were a race from D&D wiki that I asked the DM about, however if it makes everyone more comfortable then I can switch it over to being another type of elf. Eladrins look cool but I can't find them anywhere that doesn't look homebrew- same with Snow elves.


Don't want to cause problems, just liked the idea  

 

[Umbrie]

They were a race from D&D wiki that I asked the DM about, however if it makes everyone more comfortable then I can switch it over to being another type of elf. Eladrins look cool but I can't find them anywhere that doesn't look homebrew- same with Snow elves.


Don't want to cause problems, just liked the idea  

please send a link to the Draconic Elf? it doesn't look too bad based on what i have seen of most D&D Wiki races based on what i read of your sheet. but i want to learn more about it.


Eladrins are in the dungeon master's guide Page 286


CREATING A NEW SUBRACE
Creating a new subrace is more involved than making
some minor tweaks to existing racial features, but it
does have the advantage of increasing the diversity of
options for a particular race, rather than replacing some
options with other ones.
The following example walks through the creation of
an elf subrace: the eladrin. This subrace has history in
the D&D multi verse, so you already have some stories to
draw on when building its traits.
CHAPTER 9 I DUNGEON MASTER'S WORKSHOP
286
ExAMPLE SuBRACE: ELADRIN
Creatures of magic with strong ties to nature, eladrin
live in the twilight realm of the Feywild. Their cities
sometimes cross over to the Material Plane, appearing
briefly in mountain valleys or deep forest glades before
fading back into the Feywild.
The elf subraces in the Player's Handbook include
an ability score increase, a weapon training feature,
and two or three additional traits. Given the story of
the eladrin and their magical nature, an increase to an
eladrin character's Intelligence is appropriate. There's
no need to alter the basic weapon training shared by
high elves and wood elves.
An ability that sets the eladrin apart from other elves
is their ability to step through the boundary between the
planes, disappearing for a moment before reappearing
somewhere else. In the game, this is reflected in a
CHAPTER 9 I DUNGEON MASTER'S WORKSHOP
limited use of the misty step spell. Since misty step is
a 2nd-level spell, this ability is potent enough that the
subrace doesn't need additional traits. This leaves us
with the following features for the eladrin subrace:


Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score
increases by 1.
Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the
longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
Fey Step. You can cast the misty step spell once usin
this trait. You regain the ability to do so when you finish
a short or long rest.

 

[Left Out]

Welll.....

 

[Left Out]

Welll.....so...any questions on the beginning?  Cause like I see some confusion...the beginning is what you make of it really

 

[Hel]

@Umbrie Here's the link to what I was using:


https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Draconic_Elf_(5e_Race)

 

[Umbrie]

how do you all like my honest efforts to hopefully increase everyone's Survivability?


and will we be expected to punch out guards or sneak past them?


and what are the other 2 players here playing.


we have 4 out of 6 sheets listed.

 

[Hel]

SLEIP will be playing a ranger and I'll post the sheet for her as soon as her background is done- she doesn't have access to these fancy PDF apps on her phone right now