Restart Check: Warm Springs

[Kowsauni]

SunnyTasha

I've been thinking about doing an unearthed arcana Circle of Stars Druid.

A druid would be nice! No one has a wisdom based character yet or heals for that matter. Do you know what race you are interested in?

Anyways, here is the site we use for character sheets

https://www.myth-weavers.com/

Just make an account and click on sheets from the menu on the top of the site. Then click create on the next page and select the DnD 5ed sheet.

If you need help filling out the character sheet you can always look at the one myself or Pupsage completed or fill free to ask any questions here.  

[SunnyTasha]

I have yet to create a background story for this character but
I went Aasimar Protector Druid: Circle of Stars
Bellatrix Mariposa

 

[glitterboypilot]

I would like to toss my hat into the ring.

I think I am either going with a barbarian or fighter. Stout halfling or Hill Dwarf as the race

But first, I am new to 5e, so please forgive the stupid questions.

1. What does resistance in 5e mean?

2. Does a thrown melee weapon lose its melee property? Probably should phrase it as; can I use Reckless Attack with a thrown weapon?

3. Would the Sentinel feat clash with the Guardian path's "Ancestral Protectors" ability?

4. And are we playing with the homebrew rules on page 2? If so, is the Level 1 Ability Score Improvement character level or class?  

[Kowsauni]

glitterboypilot

I would like to toss my hat into the ring.

I think I am either going with a barbarian or fighter. Stout halfling or Hill Dwarf as the race

But first, I am new to 5e, so please forgive the stupid questions.

1. What does resistance in 5e mean?

2. Does a thrown melee weapon lose its melee property? Probably should phrase it as; can I use Reckless Attack with a thrown weapon?

3. Would the Sentinel feat clash with the Guardian path's "Ancestral Protectors" ability?

4. And are we playing with the homebrew rules on page 2? If so, is the Level 1 Ability Score Improvement character level or class?

No questions are stupid, especially when you are learning a new system. so, to answer your questions.

1. Having resistance means you take half damage from damage from that source. For example, when your raging as a barbarian, you have resistance against bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage. So, say someone hits you with a spear for 8 piercing damage you would only take 4 damage.

2. No, the kind of attack you are talking about is a ranged attack, even though you are doing it with a melee weapon. Once you throw the weapon it goes from being a melee attack to a ranged attack and Reckless Attack specifically states it applies to melee weapon attacks (which also means you cannot use an unarmed strike with this ability).

3. I don't see any conflict between that class feature and that feat. In fact, they would synergies quite well with each other.

4. The homebrew rules on page two are currently up for discussion but they have not been implemented. Pupsage is definitely against the second rule. I myself don't feel they are necessary at all but you and SunnyTasha are definitely allowed to way in with your opinions. The ability score increase would just be something the DM is giving you and is not associated with either character level or class.  

[glitterboypilot]

Rolling for wealth. The first two are if I go Barbarian, all five if I go fighter.  

[glitterboypilot]

How would a defender work in 5e? I don't know a better term, so using the 4e name.

I mean outside of a few class features like Ancestral Protectors, or Unwavering Mark and feats like Sentinal, I am not seeing many ways of telling an enemy to "attack me or be punished". Nor am I seeing a way to stop them from blowing straight passed the defender to kill a not so armored guy. Am I missing something or are those features a tax for a defender character type?

I ask because, I settled on playing a basic human fighter, for simplicity, and would like to go with Echo Knight or Champion, instead of Cavalier. But, neither have a mark-like ability.  

[PupSage]

glitterboypilot

How would a defender work in 5e? I don't know a better term, so using the 4e name.

I mean outside of a few class features like Ancestral Protectors, or Unwavering Mark and feats like Sentinal, I am not seeing many ways of telling an enemy to "attack me or be punished". Nor am I seeing a way to stop them from blowing straight passed the defender to kill a not so armored guy. Am I missing something or are those features a tax for a defender character type?

I ask because, I settled on playing a basic human fighter, for simplicity, and would like to go with Echo Knight or Champion, instead of Cavalier. But, neither have a mark-like ability.

Human fighter (battlemaster really adds to the vibe and gives a little leader flavor), take sentinel use the extra feat he is giving out to take polearm master. Use a glaive, halberd or pike.

Congrats, you now own custody of a 5 sq by 5 sq area where you are God. People enter it, you hit them, people leave it, you hit them. When you hit them they lose their movement. If they want to disengage to avoid you, they can't. If they attack a friend and you can reach them, you hit them. Add in your battlemaster stuff that lets your allies hit them too and you have some fun stuff.

Ie, baddy enters space to attack your ally, triggering sentinel, you attack them, then activate goading attack, now they have disadvantage to hit your friend.  

[glitterboypilot]

So, there are no other options outside of the aforementioned feats and features and I should copy and paste, what everyone else does to play a defender?

What I wanted to do; No feat human fighter with a short sword. javelins and a shield. Take defensive as a fighting style, and take defensive duelist at level 4. From that point, try to be good at many, or at least limit what I suck at. Drawing inspiration from Roman soldiers of history.

But, as it sounds, I have to have the same build as everyone else.  

[PupSage]

glitterboypilot

So, there are no other options outside of the aforementioned feats and features and I should copy and paste, what everyone else does to play a defender?

What I wanted to do; No feat human fighter with a short sword. javelins and a shield. Take defensive as a fighting style, and take defensive duelist at level 4. From that point, try to be good at many, or at least limit what I suck at. Drawing inspiration from Roman soldiers of history.

But, as it sounds, I have to have the same build as everyone else.

If you are thinking in the limited confines of applying 4e logic to 5e, then yes, that is the "you must attack me" build.

That said, there are several tanky options that are good damage, high ac. Barbarians, Clerics, Monks, Druids, Paladins, Fighters, all of them can make good tanks.

Rather than the 4e style of you have to come to me, 5e took the approach of, you can't get away from me kind of stickiness.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Yelling, being the loudest nail on the battlefield, and causing a ruckus is a large part of 5e's way of pulling enemies to you. And, in Kow's Glimmer's in the Dark, let's say there is a reason Ruin acts as he does in combat. It works in 4e, and on party members, it seems... :XP:

So, Load up on "Your Momma" jokes, poke at important things, and chant "Your suck."

Beyond that, there is Opportunity Attacks. The "Don't walk away from me" juice all 5e characters and creatures drink, to my knowledge.

To beat an undead horse, 5e was built around the idea of Role-playing your character(the thing I love about it, despite all my arguing to the contrary). If you don't want your friends in danger, paint a bigger target on yourself, or whitening it out altogether. And you generally do that by your words and actions, over your class/race abilities in post. For example, Pup's character can pull large numbers in damage, but if the defender doesn't pull the attention even a stupid hobgoblin would be smart enough to know the elf is the one that needs to die.

Pup: (Sorry, for using your character for a lot of my examples. When compared to the other classes, I know what the rogue's role is capable of, off the top of my head.)

On a side note, I thought I posted this yesterday...

SunnyTasha

Bellatrix has been accepted.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Oh, and on point again, don't feel shoved into a role/style/anything. I have 4 NPCs created just in case if the group needs a little something. You will meet all four at the start. But, If the group feels strong enough on your own right, I will keep the NPCs around the town to be helpful in other ways.  

[PupSage]

Dwarf, forge Cleric is pretty great for aggro. My wife played it on ToA and no matter how badly I as a DM wanted her dead, it wouldn't happen. Her self healing was insane, her damage was okay, her AC was through the rough, and when she dropped spiritual guardians, I had to throw so many enemies the wood chipper because the party learned the rhythm, take out anyone with a ranged attack, throw up spirit guardians, or "the lawn mower" as we started to call it, and back the melee peeps into a corner.

The absolute worse thing was that if I took it down she would just recast it on the next turn. By level 15 she had war caster, so she was getting advantage on concentration checks too.
----------------------------
Or a Tabaxi Monk. Not only do you get good AC, but should anything have the common sense to run from you they have to contend with your essentially infinite movement speed. If they use a ranged attack at you, just throw it back.
----------------------------
Scourge Assimar Zealot or storm Barbarian, rack up massive damage. Hit something, then do bonus damage to it, then maybe hit another nearby enemy for free for good measure. Rock incredible AC while you do it, with a massive hp pool and DMG resistance and refuse to die.

Or if you want true immortality the half orc zealot barb. Went under 1 hp? Say no, heal. Died? Thats cool, resurrecting you is free if somebody has the spell.
----------------------------
Moon druid. Because its hard to ignore you when you are a giant ape or a T-rex. Best part is that you can self heal your animal forms And even if you hit zero hp as an animal you just start again on your next turn.
----------------------------
Want AOE, but hate casters? Be a ranger and rain pointy death on your foes. Have one of the highest to hit bonuses possible in this game with an attack range that can hit the goddamned moon.
----------------------------
I hear you, "But what if I run out of arrows?" Okay my dude, look at this warlock, literally any ******** warlock, this baby right here is a god damned turret pumping out eldritch blast like nobody's business. Flavor your turret with cool features like slowing down your enemies, buffeting them back, doing extra damage, or eventually even getting to drop a ******** fireball on a target you hit. Mix and match as you please and gradually level up, you could get them all.

But you want more that to be a turret? I got you. Get fire powers from the fiend and hurl your enemies through hell. Get mind control s**t from C'thulhu with the great old one. Or be the ultimate edge lord and get powers from a ******** sword with the Hexblade. Yeah, casters can be melee too! Add Charisma damage to your sword attacks like a ******** beast.
------------------------------

All of that too complex? Lets go easy mode with Paladin. AC for days? Check. Healing powers? Yeah, if you are into that kind of things? Damage? WHOA BUDDY, you've got SMITE! Smite will take down even the most Beefy of the BBGs. Flavor your smites with cool powers too, and even turn undead like a cleric.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

xd

Did you literally just give a sales pitch for every PHB class?

correction: Minus the Bard, Sorcerer, and Wizard.  

[PupSage]

Southern Cross Nemesis

xd

Did you literally just give a sales pitch for every PHB class?

correction: Minus the Bard, Sorcerer, and Wizard.

Mostly was just doing a sales pitch for "How to be a defender in 5e" pointing out that its not as easy as saying "This class is the one."  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

I know I just thought it was funny.

in addition to Pup's word wall, with right spells and spell combos, the Sorcerer/Wizard can defend. For example, Ray of Sickness and Maxi's Earthen Grip is a big ol' "Ye Shall Not Pass!"

All chit chat aside, I plan to start in a few days. Glitterboypilot, if you need more time we can pull you in at a later date.