The General D&D thread

Just trying to find stuff for the city cops game I've been trying to get off the ground since birth of Christ.

Hmm, well, helpfully some of those are useful. The modules at least sound like good adventures for cops since opposition in some of them is clearly criminal

So in our latest session the party made deal with a red dragon, used their ship to travel to the Ethereal Plane, and got stuck on an island governed by Peryton-riding, flesh-eating murderous penguins.

And their biggest mistake was still cutting a deal with a dragon.

Lofwyr would be proud

It one of the rules isn't it? Never cut a deal with a dragon!

So, can anyone give me the low down on Ravenloft? (Is "low down" even used nowadays?)

Gothic Horror D&D Edition is basically the TL;DR of it. Hell, it even provides the trope picture

As Jason Thompson put it: "Where Castle Greyhawk meets Castle Dracula."

On another note, I've decided I'll start running Out of the Abyss sometime later this year. However, before that I must make a lot of changes and notes, including but not limited to:

• Adapt the adventure to my campaign setting. This is mainly because I have established my own setting and think it'll be easier to do that than start reading up on Faerun and all its lore.
• Figure out new adventure hotspots for Graz'zt and Orcus, who both are statted in the book but have criminally little presence in the story.
• Remodel the demons in Monster Manual. Apart from maybe Marilith and Chasme, I think all of the demons could use some revising so they were something more than just colourful bags of HP.

edited 1st Jul '16 2:38:14 PM by Xeroop

Ravenloft is ... something something mists something something. The basic module is gothic horror, but the setting has a lot more history than just that. I mean hell, the Stone Prophet CRPG from the 90s was set in an ancient egypt analog. Still horror though.

Ravenloft is weird.

Ravenloft is basically a collection of demiplanes, each of which is an Ironic Hell for the really, really fucking evil person imprisoned in it. These people are known as Darklords, and while they are nominally the rulers of each of the demiplanes (Domains of Dread), the fact that said Domains are tailor made for keeping them imprisoned means that the one thing they actually want (freedom) will never happen.

As an example - let's take Strahd von Zarovitch, the headliner and Big Bad of the original module. He was a force of Law and Good in the world, until he retired to rule his lands of Barovia. While doing so, he fell in love with this one peasant woman, and tried to woo her as one does. Unfortunately for him, she vastly preferred his younger brother, and the two lovebirds were set to be married. Strahd by this point had gone mad with jealousy and desire, and had made a pact with something capital-E Evil. He murdered his brother during the wedding, and chased his love until she threw herself of the walls of his castle (the eponymous Castle Ravenloft). Strahd, despite being repeatedly shot and whatnot during this whole series of events, survived due to the whole vampire thing he had going on by this point.

His Domain of Dread basically reincarnates his love (Tatyana) every generation (or there's someone he thinks is her every generation). He can't help but try and woo her because he's that obsessed with her, but every time he does she'll inevitably die as the actual Tatyana did. He's constantly being teased with finally having her, but will never actually be able to be with her. Each time he's given the hope "maybe this time I will finally be able to be with her", but then that hope is ripped away at the last moment...except maybe the next time? Or the time after that?

And so it goes with every Darklord - they're the lord and masters of their Domains, but can't leave because the Dark Powers that rule Ravenloft (the setting) won't let them as long as their still being punished - except that the prisons are tailored to keep them being punished. So they can't leave, ever.

Well, except for Lord Soth (originally from Dragonlance). He basically ignored what his Domain was trying to do to him and refused to have his sins be shoved into his face, and the Dark Powers eventually gave up and let him go.

The Domains aren't physically connected, but are bounded by the Mist - which generally can't be traversed, except by the Gypsy-people who are basically native to Ravenloft, I forget their name.

Also, the Dark Powers that rule Ravenloft? One mechanic in the setting is that you can try to invoke them. If you succeed, they'll help you....but at a cost. Maybe they'll let you survive a massive fall that shatters your body, but they'll leave your healed body as a twisted, wrecked mockery of what it used to look like. They might help you finish researching a new spell, but you could find yourself slowly growing addicted to casting magic, until you pay attention to neither eating, sleeping, or even breathing - just the rush of magic flowing through you. Oh, you're an undead lich now? Eh, all the better! You're sustained by that wonderful, intoxicating rush of power! Those villagers that used to live nearby? You're showing them just how wonderful magic can feel, it's a favor to them, truly!

So yeah. That's Ravenloft.

edited 1st Jul '16 7:32:39 PM by Krika

So my current D&D group is breaking from our pathfinder campaign to do Curse of Strahd. I've settled on playing a Drow Warlock with a Fiend Pact and Pact of the Blade. I've looked into all the usual build options online, but I figured I'd ask people here if they had any advice for it since it's a pretty irregular path to take as a caster, though I tend to play any class in a more unconventional way anyhow. I'll probably do a Dex build given the Drow's bonus to it and go with a rapier as my pact blade.

I should note that I feel slightly more comfortable being a Bladelock than usual given that another one of our party has decided to play a Wizard so I can probably afford to dabble in melee more than I otherwise would. I'm mainly concerned with what feats and spells to focus to maximize my chances of surviving/being able to wreck stuff. I just know Co S is challenging and Bladelock is a really uncommon build so I want to get it right.

Well, Eldritch Blast can be upgraded with knockback, so make use of that and spam Attacks of Opportunity against anything that tries to get within punching range

Except a creature moving out of reach doesn't provoke an opportunity attack unless said creature uses its movement speed. Being pushed or hurled by another creature or an explosion or anything like that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

As for the bladelock, what is optimal will probably depend on the rest of the party. Do you have a rogue but no other melee combatant? You are now sneak attack buddies. If not you might decide to not worry about being the best at anything in particular in combat and let your adaptability be your strength, using spells by default and melee when creatures come after you.

edited 4th Jul '16 9:28:32 AM by Braincogs

Our party's still picking classes and stuff, but that's my general plan. Just to focus eldritch blast and then move in with the blade to deal the final blow when they're weak enough (and hopefully regain any health I'll have lost with Dark One's Blessing to boot). I'm considering taking a dip into fighter for first level to reap those benefits...

Really? Huh, could've sworn an enemy moving IN range triggered one two.

Could've sworn I've seen that build suggested somewhere else.

The Polearm Master feat lets you provoke an attack of opportunity when an enemy enters your reach.

I've considered the polearm mastery route, and it's most likely the most effective way to play a bladelock. But I'm partial on a character personality level to an actual sword. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on your opinion) I'm one of those players that lets RP aspects get in the way of making characters that should be more effective than they are. Ultimately I'm content at being a Master of None honestly.

I'm taking the Noble background as well so that my warlock will be Not So Different from Strahd; a cursed noble bound to the will of some greater evil but powerful nonetheless. I want to play him as this Ambiguously Evil guy that's gunning for Strahd because he's simply more powerful than my character, just out of spite rather than out of any real meaningful motivation.

What's so important about getting AoOs as a bladelock exactly?

The idea is that there is an invocation that lets you push an enemy away with eldritch blast, then if they run at you again, you'll get the attack of opportunity as they enter your reach. If you further combine it with Sentinel, you can actually stop their movement, even preventing them from engaging you in melee if you're using a reach weapon. Combined with a choke point where the enemy *has* to come at you, it can be pretty effective.

Today we'll see if my group can make it out of the Ethereal Man-Eating Penguin Island alive.

Anybody here a fan of the retro-clone systems? Personally, I am a fan of Microlite 74.

Question: Is there an equivalent of Spelljammer for 5e?

Not as such. Supposedly 5e is setting-agnostic, but all the official material is Forgotten Realms centric except that one time it was Ravenloft.

I'm sure there's plenty of homebrew rules around for that, though. Even the basic DMG has rules for stuff like Ray Guns.