Quote from Conn_Eremon >>Yes. Yes! YES.
Yes?
-
- GPyromania
- D&D Beyond Staff
-
Member for 6 years, 9 months, and 6 days
Last active Tue, Dec, 26 2023 19:36:16
- 38 Followers
- 2,967 Total Posts
- 1091 Thanks
-
Mar 28, 2019
GPyromania posted a message on Everything You Need to Know About Acquisitions Incorporated: The BookPosted in: Posts -
Sep 5, 2018
GPyromania posted a message on What to do with 500,000 Gold Pieces?Posted in: Posts
It's certainly worth mentioning that there is a section in Xanathar's that also contain similar guidelines to purchasing magic items!
-
Jul 5, 2018
GPyromania posted a message on How to Play Hobgoblins like Perfect SoldiersPosted in: Posts
Very true! I was thinking more so along the concept of a general "Hobgoblin army". I always imagined the general militia to fight like Spartans.
-
Jul 2, 2018
GPyromania posted a message on How to Play Hobgoblins like Perfect SoldiersPosted in: Posts
Something that you can do that I think would really help highlight the organized military aspect of Hobgoblins is add one of the new monster features from Mordenkainen's, specifically Duergar Stone Guard.
Phalanx Formation. The duergar has advantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws while standing within 5 feet of a duergar ally wielding a shield.
I think that's super thematic and really helps to enforce the organized military component of Hobgoblins. Having said that, I'd warn anyone that would want to utilize that feature that it may make the CR higher so of course, you may need to tinker.
-
Mar 5, 2018
GPyromania posted a message on Is the Beast Master Broken?Posted in: Posts
While this is a very well written piece, I do have a few comments to consider:
First and foremost, a lot of the issues that people have with Beast Master and just in general boils down to Action Economy. During battle, there's only so much one person can do on their turn. It's also something that vexes many DMs with their attempts to make bosses, who just end up being overwhelmed because PCs will have 3-5+ actions (dependent on party size) while the boss itself has maybe one or two. This is largely why legendary actions exist to begin with- to help with that, but it's not a perfect system. With that said... I would like to comment on various things brought up throughout the article.
"...We talked it over and eventually decide to give her hawk companion a few buffs to make it more powerful in combat. ..."
Right, so that's essentially you agreeing that fundamentally speaking the class itself is broken and needed adjustments made so as to shore up its weaknesses. That in itself sort of defeats the purpose of the point you argue.
"...might need to reread the Beast Companion feature in the Player’s Handbook and be sure they aren’t missing any of the myriad little buffs the animal companion gets. Most of the perceived mechanical weaknesses of the Beast Master come from an incomplete understanding of the Fifth Edition rules."
Again, boiling back to what I was saying, it's boiling down to action economy that's allowed in 5E. Yes, you can use your action to command your animal companion to Attack/Dash/etc, but that's requiring YOUR action. It then begs the question... why not use your own action to do this? Of course you can argue that it prevents you from being in harm's way, but again, that's stemming from a lack of appropriate utilization, options or viable alternatives for the companion itself.
"The first thing he told me was that he when he reached 20th level as a Beast Master ranger, he played it without any house rules and was incredibly effective."
I don't think this is a fair comparison to make. Generally if you would have any sort of character reach level 20, you would be hard-pressed to argue that ANY class is not effective; as at that point it is pretty much assumed (and outright shown) that level 20 PCs are basically gods.
That said, this option isn’t available to people with rules-adherent DMs or those who are a part of Organized Play. That is a flaw of the Beast Master; it’s inflexible. If you want its combat ability to be on par with similar characters, you need to know what the good options are and optimize your build (yuck).
Right... new players or those who play in organized play would most certainly NOT have the ability (or knowledge for newer players) to fiddle with the system so as to make sure that Beast Masters have the same abilities of any other class/archetype. Your point here seems extremely muddled as you then go onto say that those in AL can just look in the right books in order to find a better creature. This sounds identical to the sense of optimizing a build that you decried earlier.
"Taking all that into consideration, the Beast Master is in a strong place mechanically. Dan says one underappreciated aspect of the Beast Master is that its animal companion simply adds another body to the players’ side, allowing rogues in the party to Sneak Attack more often, other players to get advantage more often (through the Help action and possibly Pack Tactics), and by allowing the ranger seriously improved battlefield control, as the animal companion can attack enemies on the other side of cover the ranger can’t shoot behind, get on top of elevated terrain if it can fly, and even serve as a mount if your ranger is Small and the companion is Medium."
Again, all this seems extremely situational and ultimately redundant with 5E's approach to the action economy. Why use your action to use the Help command when you could for example use your bonus action to cast Ensnaring Strike? You could then follow up with a normal attack roll, thereby providing your party with advantage AND providing the enemy with disadvantage on dex saves and preventing any sort of escape.
"If you’ve ever seen Critical Role, try to imagine Vex’ahlia without her bear Trinket. If Pike, the party cleric, didn’t like a spell she chose, she could switch it out the next morning with no trouble; specific spells aren't part of her identity, but Trinket is essential to Vex’s character."
I can, quite easily in fact, as often times Trinket is not relevant to combat. As VM began to reach above level 12-13, Trinket became more of an RP piece for Vex, as opposed to a viable combat asset. In fact, for the most part Trinket isn't even in battle, but safely in Vex's necklace because otherwise Trinket would get one-shotted and fall in battle. This is also bearing in mind that Laura and Matt gave Vex a combination of the PHB Beast Master as well as the Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger version of Beast Master.
Ultimately, it seems like your argument is boiling down to the fact that as a DM, you should be balancing the archetype yourself mechanically. I feel that if you as a DM have to change things within the rules because its too weak indicates an inherent failure in making that mechanic viable. This is especially bad for new players or players who aren't good with balancing themselves, or even those in organized play who wouldn't have the ability to make such adjustments. While I appreciate the fact that you are advocating for more usage for Beast Master, but a lot of the examples or instances you've utilized simply boils down to balancing it yourself. If anything that confirms that it's indeed broken.
- To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
0
Hey there!
This is now fixed - thanks for letting us know.
0
Welcome to the Support Thread for Dungeons of Drakkenheim!
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Dungeons of Drakkenheim is a fantastic adventure set in a gothic renaissance ruined city. The campaign is designed with four player characters in mind, so adjust accordingly for smaller or larger groups. You can play Drakkenheim as a series of loosely-connected exploration quests or an unpredictable narrative filled with faction conflict. This campaign will challenge characters from 1st to 13th level.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim is published by the Dungeon Dudes and Ghostfire Gaming.
This title is also supported within our Maps tool!
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content from the book, please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Once completed, your content should appear! If you experience any issues with accessing your content please reach out to our Support Team.
ENABLING CONTENT FOR YOUR CHARACTER
To use content from Dungeons of Drakkenheim in the character builder, you will need to set the character preferences to include the Dungeons of Drakkenheim source category (see the .gif below).
CHARACTER OPTIONS: BACKGROUNDS
Prerequisites
The Continental Nobility and Mageborn both have a prerequisite which only allows characters of a specific class to select the background. We’re currently unable to enforce this prerequisite.
Features
All character backgrounds require a feature (Noble Confidence, Bookworm, Guided by Faith, Makeshift Meals, Detail-Oriented). We’re currently unable to support these features.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: MAGIC ITEMS
Actions on Magic Items. Some of the new magic items grant specific actions as part of their magic. D&D Beyond doesn’t currently support the ability to attach actions directly to magic items; we have included charges and associated spells where appropriate, but in the case that an item’s functionality is otherwise text-only, we recommend creating Custom Actions on the character sheet to represent those items.
Crown of Westemär. In order to attune to the Crown of Westemär players must perform a special ceremony which requires six other characters attuned to the different Seals of Drakkenheim. We’re unable to enforce this as a requirement for attuning to the Crown of Westemär.
Flame Lance. This magic item allows players to cast burning hands at higher levels by expending extra charges. This is currently unsupported.
Spellcasting Modifier and Multiclassing. Some of the new magic items grant the ability to cast spells using the player’s spellcasting modifier/saving throw. Please note that these magic items will only show the highest spellcasting modifier/DC - even if a character has multiple spellcasting ability scores.
Seals of Drakkenheim & Relics of Saint Vitruvio. When a character is attuned to three Seals of Drakkenheim or three Relics of Saint Vitruvio they are granted additional abilities. This is currently unsupported.
Chancellor’s Crest and Steward’s Seal. These magic items allow the player to choose between their Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score for the spellcasting ability used when casting spells from these magic items. We are currently unable to let you choose the preferred ability score for magic items.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: SPELLS
Contaminated Spells. Some of the new spells include the "contaminated" descriptor beside their school of magic. These have been tagged as "Contaminated" to help you find them easily when searching throughout the site.
Researching New Spells and Secret Spells. Several new and preexisting spells take advantage of Dungeons of Drakkenheim’s learning new spells system. We’re currently unable to enforce the prerequisites for learning and using these spells.
CONTAMINATION
Dungeons of Drakkenheim introduces a new condition called contamination and additional rules in Appendix C. We’re currently unable to support the effects of contamination such as mutations.
DELERIUM
Dungeons of Drakkenheim introduces a potent magical component called delerium, which can be added directly to player’s character sheets as an equippable item. Delerium and some new magic items can also trigger arcane anomalies. We’re currently unable to support the effects of arcane anomalies, but for ease of reference, the arcane anomaly table has been added directly to the delerium itself and with links to the arcane anomaly table within the magic item description.
1
Welcome to the Support Thread for Grim Hollow: Lairs of Etharis!
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Grim Hollow: Lairs of Etharis provides 20 ready-made lairs, populated with some of the most dangerous monsters within the world of Etharis, their servile minions, and treasure. Designed to challenge characters ranging from levels 1-20, and offering a variety of plot hooks and adventure types, these lairs will challenge even the most battle-hardened souls.
Grim Hollow: Lairs of Etharis is published by Ghostfire Gaming.
This title is also supported within our Maps tool!
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content from the book (preorder bonuses or otherwise), please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Once completed, your content should appear! If you experience any issues with accessing your content please reach out to our Support Team.
ENABLING CONTENT FOR YOUR CHARACTER
To use content from Grim Hollow: Lairs of Etharis in the character builder, you will need to set the character preferences to include the Grim Hollow source category (see the .gif below).
CHARACTER OPTIONS: FEATS
Feats and Feat Options
Adroit Crafter and Careful Crafter
These new feats take advantage of the salvage system in Grim Hollow: Lairs of Etharis. D&D Beyond does not currently support the ability to craft items and these feats functionality is limited to text-only. Players can use the "Add Custom Item" feature on their character sheet to help simulate the salvage system. Please take a look below to see how to add custom items:
Go to Inventory, then click Add Equipment.
Click on Add Custom Item
Then fill out the details of the item you're adding.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: MAGIC ITEMS
Actions on Magic Items. Some of the new magic items grant specific actions as part of their magic. D&D Beyond does not currently support the ability to attach actions directly to magic items; we have included charges and associated spells where appropriate, but in the case that an items functionality is otherwise text-only, we recommend creating Custom Actions on the character sheet to represent those items.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: SPELLS
Heartseeker. This spell uses a school of magic not supported in D&D Beyond, Sangromancy. The addition of this school does not change the functionality of this spell. However, the spell utilizes the character's hit dice in order to deal damage - which is not supported in the character sheet.
1
Welcome to the Support Thread for The Book of Many Things!
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
In The Book of Many Things, introduce more magical whimsy by diving deeper than ever before into the lore behind the beloved magic item, the Deck of Many Things. How did it come to be? What is the significance of one baneful figure depicted in the cards? The answers you seek – and more – are contained within.
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content from the book (preorder bonuses or otherwise), please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Once completed, your content should appear! If you experience any issues with accessing your content please reach out to our Support Team.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: BACKGROUNDS
The Rewarded and Ruined backgrounds both feature "a gaming set (matching your chosen proficiency)", we can't currently control this choice so we will leave it to you to pick responsibly.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: FEATS
Feats and Feat Options
Cartomancer
The Cartomancer feat prerequisite requires you to have a "Spellcasting Feature", which our system is not able to enforce.
CHARACTER OPTIONS: MAGIC ITEMS
Actions on Magic Items. Many new magic items grant specific actions as part of their magic. D&D Beyond does not currently support the ability to attach actions directly to magic items; we have included charges and associated spells where appropriate, but in the case that an item’ functionality is otherwise text-only, we recommend creating Custom Actions on the character sheet to represent those items.
Armor of Weightlessness. This item is currently unable to allow its spells to be cast as a bonus action.
Bloodrage Greataxe. We cannot currently designate an item's bonus from the hp state of a character.
Bow of Melodies. The Bow of Melodies is complex, We can't currently swap bonuses dependent on the proficiencies of a character, nor increase its damage by an additional modifier.
Shield of the Tortoise. We are unable to halve a character's speed.
Magical Decks
This book introduces a number of new and magical decks - both building on the original Deck of Many Things as well as adding new types of decks that you can pull from. While each of the decks are available in the compendium and can be added to your character sheet, the individual effects of each card is not supported.
SUPERNATURAL GIFTS
There are a number of Supernatural Gifts presented throughout The Book of Many Things. These charms and blessings are not supported on the character sheet.
1
This has been fixed.
0
This has been fixed - thanks!
2
This has been fixed - thanks!
1
This has been fixed; thanks!
0
Fixed - thanks!
0
Welcome to the Support Thread for Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse!
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Return to the incredibly imaginative world of Planescape, where demons and angels sip tea together and the unexpected is just around the corner. From perplexing realities to multiversal glitches, fans of the original Planescape setting will encounter both familiar and unfamiliar uncertainties in this smorgasbord of multidimensional chaos.
This product contains 3 separate books on D&D Beyond - all of them are included with your purchase and outlined below:
This title is also supported within our Maps tool!
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content from the book (preorder bonuses or otherwise), please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Once completed, your content should appear! If you experience any issues with accessing your content please reach out to our Support Team.
ENABLING CONTENT FOR YOUR CHARACTER
To use content from Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse in the character builder, you will need to set the character preferences to include the Planescape source category (see the .gif below).
By default it will be Enabled.
NEW PLAYER OPTIONS
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse contains a host of new player options for you to enjoy:
Backgrounds:
Feats:
Please note - The Scion of the Outer Planes has been split into feats which represent its different alignments, and will appear as such in the feat selector.
Magic Items:
1
Welcome to the Support Thread for Lightning Keep!
If you find any issues with the adventure, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Lightning Keep is an adventure for four to six characters of level 3, designed to be playable in three or four hours. It is set in a world of your choosing—perhaps a world of your own creation. It features monsters from Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3: Minecraft Creatures and therefore fits nicely into Minecraft-inspired settings.
This title is also supported within our Maps tool!
How to Claim Lightning Keep
You can claim Lightning Keep by following this link:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/claim/source/lightning-keep
From there, all you have to do is press the "Claim Now" button.
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content after claiming it, please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Partnered Content
This release uses creatures from Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3: Minecraft Creatures, You can enable Minecraft content on your character sheet by toggling it on under Partnered Content:
0
Welcome to the Support Thread for Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures!
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
This is not currently available in the mobile app. We expect that this is available shortly.
RELEASE NOTES
Eldraine is a storybook world of quests and castles, knights and wizards, wicked warlocks and fantastical creatures. Once, valiant knights would venture from five royal courts to fulfill noble quests—but the invasion of the horrific Phyrexians from another world changed all that and left the kingdom in ruins. The realm and the wilds of Eldraine were introduced to players of Magic: The Gathering with 2019’s Throne of Eldraine set. The new Wilds of Eldraine set presents the world in the wake of the Phyrexian invasion, leaving behind the knights and castles and delving deep into the strange and mysterious wilds. Here, giants lumber through the clouds, faeries make mischief, and witches cackle over bubbling cauldrons.
Syncing Entitlements
If you don’t see any of the content from the book (preorder bonuses or otherwise), please be sure to resync your entitlements. You can do so by following these steps:
Once completed, your content should appear! If you experience any issues with accessing your content please reach out to our Support Team.
Enabling Magic the Gathering Content
In order to view any of these monsters in the character sheet, you will need to enable Magic the Gathering in the character builder. Please see the gif below:
Monsters
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures contains details of 25 denizens of Eldraine:
Finally, we've added new functionality to the compendium - being able to sort specific tables! When there's a table you can sort, you'll see the following:
We're eager to hear your feedback!
Please note that the table sorting function is not available in the mobile app at this time.
1
This has been fixed, thanks for reporting it!
3
Thanks for reporting this - I'll dig in deeper with the devs to see what's going on.
5
Okay...NOW we should be all set. Please let me know if you continue to experience issues.