The General D&D thread

I meant in terms of their powers. Mechanically, Humans Are Average, and thus (to some people), boring. Gensai are pretty much human (meaning they don't have the baggage of other player races — hauty elves, sullen dwarves, etc) but mechanically different (ie, more interesting).

On the RP side of things, if you can't come up with an interesting background based on the fact that you (and possibly your family) are basically the only members of your race on the planet, then I don't really know what to tell you.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

You still need to not have disadvantage, though.

I will say, it is definitely nice that you can now "flank" with ranged weapons even from hundreds of feet away.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

If anyone is interested, Loading Ready Run recently finished livestreaming/recording a very entertaining 5th Edition dungeon-run of the GM's design. I found it a pretty good indicator of how 5e plays.

edited 18th Mar '15 1:00:58 AM by Gaunt88

Elemental Evil player's companion free pdf released, four races and stuff in it

I'm interested to hear comments of people who actually know about D&D :p I do like the bird people race and the goliath race

I get to DM tomorrow for the first time in a looooooooong while.

Hopefully I make something fun and not lame

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

I just like that wizards finally have an at-will AOE, even if it IS only enemies within 5 feet.

I really like the Goliath's new design.

Aarakocra seem okay, though flight can rapidly get a bit OP as a class feature. At least it comes with an armor limitation.

How OP can flight really get, though? I mean, I feel like there's plenty of better ways to keep the party from the MacGuffin than just, like, a tower or a big gap.

Especially if we consider the idea that most games take place in worlds where being able to fly isn't a massive deal, so if your ancient dungeonmakers or evil lich warlock demon emperors are smart, they'll put in some better obstacles than lots of air.

"We're home, Chewie."

It's (repeatable) flight at LOW LEVEL that is sort of O Ps.

Your level 1 party doesn't need to worry about liches or dungeons built by gods. And having someone who can effortlessly cross ravines, rivers, traps and the like does make life really easy for the whole party. Not counting that flying makes a lot of combat also really easy, since any non-flying opponent who doesn't have decent ranged attack is pretty much incapable of harming you.

And even in Lich dungeons and such, most of the people going through them only have limited use of flight, since it's not an at-will thing, except for the bird folks.

It's not a massive thing, but flight, teleportation and intangibility and things that require a change in the way dungeons are built, because they can make entire challenges trivial, especially when the players can use them at will.

edited 18th Mar '15 4:04:52 PM by CobraPrime

What's that? Pack of Dire Wolves? FLIER WITH A SLING, BITCH!

That's when you, as the DM, decide that dire wolves can spit acid.

If the player complains that it's unrealistic, remind them that they are a birdperson.

"We're home, Chewie."

It creates an arms race in your world. If flight is common, then combat tactics will be built around flying creatures. This includes defensive fortifications designed to fight off flyers; it means that most creatures, especially those who lack flight, will pack ranged capability of some sort. It doesn't have to be game-breaking, but it is paradigm-shifting.

If you allow your players to abuse flight because nobody in the world anticipates and plans against it, then you've handed them a Game-Breaker on a silver platter, and you aren't doing your job as a DM properly.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Gamebreakers can make for fun games, though. My one buddy gave us a million gold from a ring of wish, which led to us spending exorbitant amounts on enchanted weapons (except me, I was a wizard that summoned Lovecraftian cthulhoid centipedes) which led to the best NPC in the campaign - the Blinged-Out Knoll.

He did throw in all kinds of tough stuff for us to kill (granted mostly it was my pseudonatural centipedes paralyzing the fuck out of stuff, then my party members beating the immobile creatures) and all that.

I mean, there's an extent to which that's true, but most things that create a 'prepare for this or have your game broken'-type ultimatum like that are a tad harder to get consistent access to.

And surely there's an argument to made that 'will consistently trivialize encounters unless you specifically plan to stop it' is a useful definition of overpowered.

edited 18th Mar '15 5:03:48 PM by Gilphon

Exactly. Reliable flight is overpowered in most games.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Not true. Add in dwarven anti-aircraft weaponry, stolen and manned by orcs. Or giant carnivorous eagles.

Yeah, as long as what you're throwing against them: 1) can fly, 2) has natural ranged attacks, and/or 3) is smart enough to use a sling, there's not a big combat advantage on the flyer's part.

"We're home, Chewie."

Speaking as someone who's never been a GM, wouldn't including counters for one flying party member make things harder for any characters who can't fly? It seems like something you'd have to balance carefully.

Well, if the things in question (excluding the fliers) are worse at range than they are up close, then uh, yes the flier has an advantage.

Not to mention it allows them to not have to worry nearly so much about their aptitude in melee combat as other ranged-focused character might.

The real solution is exceedingly low ceilings.

Mostly does better things now. Key word mostly. Writes things, but you'll never find them. Or you can ask.

All of which requires me to change my setting to make place for this, and then face the question of "If dwarves built flak cannons, why don't they have guns?"

Yes, there's ways around it, but my point is, almost no other race has abilities that require this much paradigm shifting. I don't have to redesign entire encounters, or the entire setting, coz someone is a goliath, or an elf or a dwarf.

"Hey, I want a scene where my players need to escape a pack of ravenous wolves... wait, gotta go get the Monster Manual and find myself some beast type critter to chase them that will also be a threat to birdman."

They are. Slings have worse ranges than bows do.

TL:DR The bird people become the sole race that a DM has to actively plan around for. So they get a chance to use their powers, but not have them become the free bypass to most difficult challenges. No other PC race requires this level of consideration when making encounters.

edited 18th Mar '15 5:30:16 PM by CobraPrime

Fair enough. Just add fatigue penalties per round of combat flight/hour of noncombat flight.

Slings were just the most basic ranged weapon I could think of. You get my point.

"We're home, Chewie."

I do, but my point is still, the race's ability is so powerful it needs the DM to plan around it. And there's no 5th ed race but them who have such a powerful ability with such far ranging consequences. That's what I mean by overpowered. I never meant "flying races are so OP, Game over!"

Yeah, but then, that still more work than I should put, and it's harsh on the player, because you make a house rule SPECIFICALLY to nerf them, and they didn't do anything wrong, they picked a race the game offers freely.

edited 18th Mar '15 5:44:15 PM by CobraPrime

Then again add flying enemies and the player can have dogfights with them, while "Highway to the Danger Zones" blares in the background.

I can get behind that.