r/3d6

As we know...Ranger is pretty good at tier 1 and tier 2 but fall off hard.
Taking 5 levels in Ranger give you more or less the whole class package.
Weapon mastery, fighting style, extra attack, hunters mark and level 2 spells. And if you take for example Fey Wanderer you will also get misty step and a nice bump to the charisma skills so you can talk to people and not just plants and animals.

But then the question as at level 6 and on what do you do?
I think the Druid is in theory a great class for utility and their strongest spells upcast really well. Selyune's viper, conjure animals, Grasping vine, Conjue minor elementals etc.
And with circle of the stars you get an extra attack during your bonus action.
Is this the best way to build a ranger in fact to be mostly a druid?
You also get a little increase to Nature and Arcana checks and that is always nice.

(Theory build for a 5-20 potential "play by post" campaign I'm joining so there is a lot more focus on skills than just combat. Ranger fits perfect with the setting and it is quite seamless step to druid without being this natureloving hippie).

We are level 8 and in a gladiator arena fighting for a boon from a duchess. My party is a cleric, two barbarians, and a ranger. I’m playing a spellfire sorcerer, and everyone at the table agrees I’m screwed. The crowd at the arena frowns upon cowardly tactics. Any strategies y’all can think of for me to win?

Currently my plan is stacking fire shield, death armor, and cacophonic shield in the hopes that can dish out more damage than I’m hit for.

So I had been talking to my DM in our newly started 1-20 about some ranger fixes, to hopefully make them less reliant on HM. He offered to swap to use the "Rangers Quarry" from, SW5e, a free and resourceless scaling die (d4->d12) of damage once per turn.

My issue is that this would eliminate HM and the character Im building is planned as a dual-weilding Beast Master. Which means HM is getting 2 hits now, 3 at level 5, 4 at 11, and 5 at 15. So its

• Tier 1: 2d6 v 1d4
• Tier 2: 3d6 v 1d6
• Tire 3: 4d6 v 1d8/10
• Tire 4: 5d6 v 1d10/12

To me, the single unmodified die seems largely negligible in terms of damage, and not worth giving up the option of having that single-target boost of HM, even if I leave it down in certatin combats. Especially giving up the 2-6 free castings of it so I dont need to spend spell slots.

That said, Im inexperienced playing into the half caster side of ranger (never taken one past Gloomstalker 6). The question is whether the trade-off is worth it (lower damage vs free BA and conc), and what would be the best uses of concentration for a ranger if HM were removed. Any advice would be appreciated.

Added context: This is planned to be a 1-20 and we're currently level 2, its also a gritty realism campaign so adventuring 'days' are likely to be longer than a typical campaign, meaning resources may be more valuable.

Hi everyone! I need some help creating an optimized, highly powerful Bladelock build using strictly the 2024 rules. Multiclassing is allowed.

I want to focus primarily on melee combat, deal a solid amount of damage, and be tanky enough to hold the front line. That said, looking ahead to subclass options, if the best way to "tank" is actually teleporting around and bursting down key targets, I consider that a valid form of tanking too.

For the most part, I have three major questions:

1. Which direction is better to choose?

a) Strength, Greatsword, and Heavy Armor: When looking through guides, this seemed to be the most common route.

b) Dexterity, Medium Armor, and a Shield: When theorycrafting on my own, I thought this combination might be better on average. It seems to offer more out-of-combat utility like Stealth, and the defense is higher, while the damage difference feels negligible.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, as well as your recommendations for weapon choices.

2. Which subclass is the best choice?

I’ve read a lot of opinions and concluded that they are all strong depending on what the player wants, but I’d love to hear your take. My goals are damage and survivability, and I want to know which subclass fulfills this role best.

Fiend: At first, I thought this was the most natural choice. However, I’ve come to realize that its defensive feature is somewhat unreliable since it requires getting a killing blow. It does offer a more aggressive spell list, which is cool, but as far as I understand, we will be spending most of our spell slots on Spirit Shroud anyway, which slightly diminishes the value of that aggressive kit. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the popular Armor of Agathys synergy with the Fiend's temporary HP feature. It seems interesting, but from what I can tell, it’s too unreliable at higher levels when temp HP can be wiped out in a single hit—especially considering that this temp HP is completely vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Celestial: The healing feels incredibly reliable and doesn’t depend on killing enemies. Plus, it can be used on allies. Celestial also provides a decent damage buff via Radiant Soul—especially with a Paladin dip. I saw this trick in a "Celestial Generalist" guide. Except for the Fiend's more aggressive spell list and its solid bonus to saving throws, it feels like the Celestial beats out the Fiend. However, the difference seems razor-thin, and I need an outside perspective.

Great Old One (GOO): I looked into this and it felt more suited for pure casters or melee duelists. I have no doubt you can build a strong Bladelock with it, but how does it stack up against the others?

Archfey: This seems like the hardest one to evaluate. Such massive mobility, combined with other bonus effects, could be incredibly powerful in the vast majority of situations, but completely useless in others. As I mentioned, I want a character that is strong in both damage and survivability, which can also be achieved through Archfey and outperform other subclasses via player's creativity, but I really need a second opinion here.

3. From what I understand, to power up a Bladelock, it's best to take a dip into Fighter or Paladin. Which one do you think is better?

What do you guys think of my conclusions?

I would be incredibly grateful if you could help me resolve my doubts, share your experience, and give me some solid advice.

Thank you all so much in advance!

Hi, I'm starting an adventure from level 3 to 9 and I'm gonna play a rogue, subclass scion of the three, and as 2nd option for outside turn sneak attacks I'm not sure what the best option is. Halfling with the combo withdraw+naturally stealthy+sentinel or human, extra feat for Zhentarim Ruffian and Zhentarim Tactics and at least 3 fighter levels for battle master 's riposte and some hp.

Any advice? Thanks

2014 rules :)

I'm considering playing a Hexblade with War Caster and PAM, to make use of the somewhat infamous "Forcelance" combo (Trigger OA when enemies approach to within 10ft, Eldritch Blast them with War Caster spell OA, while pushing them away with the Repelling Blast invocation).

I was considering starting with one level of Shadow sorcerer, because it feels thematic and because I plan to go variant human, so the 120ft darkvision is really nice (the build is invocation-heavy, so Devil's Sight is not easy to pick up). I also like the two 1st level slots, for casting the occasional Shield or Absorb Elements when your pact slots are of a higher level. War Caster + CON save prof also means you are very unlikely to lose concentration, right from level 1.

Would you bother with GWM? I was planning to just go War Caster at 1, PAM at warlock 4, and max out CHA from there. Eventually you get Life Drinker, and you could make use of upcast Spirit Shroud and the like, so the accuracy penalty doesn't seem super worth it; this way I am also not compromising my casting (and attacking) stat for too long. In my view, GWM could wait until warlock 16, if that ever happens.

My main question though is, have you played this type of character before, or seen it played? Was it fun? Did the DM get annoyed by constantly having their melee enemies pushed away?

Thanks in advance for your input!

The title says it all.
I'm very interested in seeing what crazy level 10 builds look like in 5.5, my goal is to both look for inspiration for stuff to play as, get ready for stuff my friends might play as if I'm mastering and overall just seeing what you all have cooked up with 2024 dnd as of now.

So, the thing is, I don't really think that it's a problem, just wondering if many DMs have this happen at their tables.

We have a group of PCs. They successfully finished the Rime and are going through VEoR right now. But each of them is still their own person that has a personal plot (family, lover, curse, homeland) that is more important to them than their party.

They clearly care about each other, but since most of their time together was spent "trying to save Icewind Dale/its people/their own lives," they are not even entirely sure that they can call each other friends.

They are not murderhobos or selfish assholes, and they have their own principles, so innocent NPCs get saved and injustice is usually stopped. It's just that none of them are like, "I'm so happy to be here with you guys, this is the best part of my life, and I've always dreamed of adventuring with a great party like this." They are more like, "I would really like it if we defeated Vecna fast, because there is a civil war in my motherland / I'd like to get back to my coup in Neverwinter / my revenge on the Order of Blue Fire is awaiting me / I am vital to the process of rebuilding the influence of the Order of the Gauntlet in Bryn Shander / etc."

So, does that happen often to you guys? Do you feel like it's a bad thing?

One of my players wants to play a barbarian who is completely blind, having been cursed to be blind because his father made a deal with a Fae to give himself foresight, so the Fae took PC'S sight. I was thinking of letting him have the blind fighting feat as his origin feat and otherwise just playing the character as completely blind past 10 feet needing to rely on the blindsight and just hearing past 10 feet, does this sound like a terrible idea?

My rogue has some good magic items but I’m looking to add some to my wishlist. What are your favorite magic items for a lvl 14+ rogue and campaign?

Edit: my attunement slots are filled but something good enough could convince me to give up attunement. This is a low magic campaign so magic items can be precious.

I am curious, if you were in a situation where your group needed a fighter style character but you wanted to play a full caster, what kind of build would you go for?

More specific version. Level 1 to 20 campaign, the other party memebrs are a life cleric, a Thief rogue, and an evocation wizard. You want to make a character that fits well with the group, doesn't overlap too much with party role, and is fun. As well as being a full caster. What are you playing?

edit: that party is just an example, also curious for other scariest where youd usually assume a fighter or a barbarian as the 4th member

A greatsword is to a fighter, what a fireball is to a wizard.

It is iconic, it is stylish, and well it's always been pretty solid.

What is the appeal of the greatsword in 2024? I know that people who graph damage say that Graze is actually good, but to my eyes it is wildly underwheling.

Two weapon fighting, polearm master, and every other weapon having a better weapon master - just makes me feel like the greatsword has become a flavour choice rather than a viable choice?

It's just odd to me I guess, but maybe I am not as well versed in the 2024 eddition and someone can let me know why the greatsword is still good?

So here’s the skinny: My party has a draconian sorcerer with a split personality (very Jekyll and Hyde) one is nice the other is mean and he’s spells are flavored depending on who was in charge of the body.

(Before you ask yes I know a sorcerer can not change his spells I’m the DM and it’s a rule of cool)

The party come across a genie in a bottle and are granted a wish with like 90 sec in real time to use it. The cleric of the group who found the bottle wished for the sorcerer to have his curse removed.

The player did not expect this to happen and has asked me to help him figure this out.

Here’s the crossroads:

• The simple choice is to merge and play a character with a new personality.

• I could split the character into two wholly different characters and let him choose which one to keep and I take the other away and use him for my own purposes.

• I could split them and give him 2 characters to play in game (one of his ideas)

What do we think? Give me your thoughts!

To preface I do not know much about football but linebackers are the guys that get in and tackle the heck out of people right?

I’m joining an ongoing game with a few friends and I want to play the tank (they need one too) but I don’t have much tank experience past a few lvls of barbarian.

We start at level 9, I like multi classing but am not bothered by a single class

I know there’s a wizard and a cleric and a gunslinger (I think? I forget exact class but they shoot)

So I want a tank that doesn’t need or even have two brain cells to rub together and can maybe get in and tackle the shit out of bad guys before they realize he’s even doing it.

I know there’s some good fighter classes with crowd control but I’ve never built a fighter.

I’m good with almost any race, I could even do a human but I’m not crazy for them. DM hasn’t banned anything and I want to make a fun build and not build something that would make the game frustrating for him or the rest of the party.

My DM has ruled that my GOOlock can debuff targets saving throws and ability checks with hex. This isn't typically something you can do until level 10 in this subclass and we're level 4. Worth considering keeping hex through early tiers?

I'm hoping to multiclass in a campaign my friend is running here's some info.

Race: ruinbound (Exploring Ebberon)

1st Class: lvl 3 Monster Hunter Devourers Guild (Grim Hollow players guide)

The campaign is a western setting

Hi there,

In my playgroup we rolled for classes and I got druid, I decided to go Circle of Wildfire and was curious as to if there was a viable way to make them strong in combat? I feel like my damage is lack luster, we're starting at level 5 and I picked Fire Genasi as my race.

Any help is appreciated :)

What class abilities are there that can change a weapon’s damage type? All I can think of off the top of my head is devotion paladin channel divinity (radiant) and horizon walker as a bonus action (force). With how useless “magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance” became in 5.5, I’d love to come up with less traditional ways to overcome traditional resistances.

Edit to ask a similar question: what the hell does the magic weapon spell do anymore?

Edit 2: my real hope is to make the beast barbarian’s weapons useable without any dm buy in, but it’s still nice to see all the options for more traditional weaponry

Hey everyone. I am trying to come up with an idea for a paladin sorcerer combo. The main thing i want out of the build is to be able to enhance my abilities and make my attacks stronger. Like I want him to be able to enhance his sword and do more damage or put magic into his shield to increase defense or even enhance a shove or something to that effect. I kinda want like a mage knight sort of aesthetic where he is born with magic and uses that as a knight of a kingdom to protect it

A few members of my main group are going to start running through eve of ruin on Sunday, adding in my fiance who wants to get into D&D.

There are three player characters total. My main group has played weekly for the last 8 years, with three campaigns going from lvl 3 to 20, but they were all homebrew campaigns. However this being a published model, for some reason for the first time, I have no idea what to play.

The others are playing a defiled magic sorcerer, and a Shadow Monk.

The sorcerer player is usually playing more support oriented characters, and the shadow monk being my fiance who is brand new, I think I want to play more supportive, and setting them up for big plays.

Any advice?