Regarding crafting, I run three 5e campaigns currently, with some players in two or three of the campaigns on different characters. In one of my games, the wild magic sorcerer told me that he wanted a wand of wonder for his character. We talked about it and decided that it wasn't something he could just buy or easily find, so he would need to gather materials to have it crafted. However, I didn't want to derail the campaign with a bunch of side missions to hunt down creatures for components, so I created a magic shop in Waterdeep called "Monsters' Ink" that sells magical inks, parchment, some magic items, etc. and had everyone in all three of my campaigns roll up lvl 1 characters using 5.24 rules. They are monster hunters working for the shop, and when someone can't make a regular session in one of the campaigns and there's some major story point going on that would keep us from moving forward, they can all pull up their monster hunters and go on a job to collect crafting materials. It gives me a chance to demo the 5.24 rules, it keeps us from having to completely cancel a session, and my players love it. Multiple problems solved.
Well deserved! This has recently risen as one of my favorite channels for staying ahead of 2024 5e so i can be prepared for this stuff. Congrats Chris!
Agreed. It's definitely a grid-based play mentality that locks people into positioning. In an actual grapple opponents tend to move around one another and jockey for position.
Sometimes turn-based combat stretches the bounds of credulity. Remember that a round happens in 6 seconds. In 6 seconds can my character run back and forth between two enemies, then get picked up by an ally, who runs him back and forth, and then gets picked up by another, who does the same thing? Just say no.
@brojoe4919 *Ready* action is silly. Once per round is what makes the most sense, but I like this implementation, since it rewards *Grappling* where the foe has an incentive to escape it to get out of the area
I never understood the spike growth one because I always wondered how the player character was immune to the damage, but watching you explain it, I see that it's clever placement if the minis. I always played that the grappled creature and the grappler occupy the same space.
Grappling characters sharing a space is how it worked in at least some older editions, and I do think it very simply solves problems for 5e. Plus, kinda makes the most sense narratively - who grapples at arms length? 😆
@@LilliumElessayou also gotta account for how a player describes their actions and because you don't need all your hands to grapple just one free one they could be dragging someone a foot away from them like broly from dragon ball z and grinding someone into the ground next to them I don't see how a maneuver like that would force the player to wade into the spikes but to balance the act you could argue that they may need to also knock them prone before they could drag them from a distance I could easily see it working if the grappler is dragging them by the leg, either way something like spike growth could be used by both player and foe it doesn't care who moves through it and if the druid or whoever decides to drop their concentration on the spell because the enemies started dragging the fighter through the spikes then that's good for the npc's because no more spike growth
Those are my favorite kinds of videos. Fixing problems rather than exploiting them. I'm using your fix for CME for a while now and it's pretty good. I'm also using "dmg once per round" for Emanation spells but i'm going to test "on your turn", it sounds a bit better. At my table, I changed Spike Growth's damage (3d6, +1d6 per upcast level) to trigger once per round instead. It's simple, but still very strong.
this is why I like Treantmonk more than most of the other "optimizer" channels, 1. he teaches us why things do damage rather than tell us the specific build/combo we should exploit, so we are better informed how to build a good character with whatever we want to do with it, 2. he's interested in us running a good game, for players, and for DM Channels like Pack Tactics focus on you outsmarting or breaking the rules, which might be fun for a one shot but I can't imagine how that would actually lead to a fun game
@override367 Yeah, Pack Tactics vids can be fun but they're silly in terms of what you realistically will EVER be able to do in a campaign 😅 I remember a simple point about Magic Stone allowing for significant damage... as long as you have a bunch of commoners following you to give the stones to. Like, yeah sure, if there's ONE point in the campaign where you're defending a village, you could make use of them. Good use of the cantrip 👍 The rest of the time? It's not because you could in theory always hire a bunch of commoners to follow you around _based on the rules_ , that it is _ever_ gonna happen in actual game. 😂 "Hey, peasants! We're going to fight the dragon. Wanna tag along for a nice bag of gold?" Peasants, realistically: "Fuck no! Gold is useless to dead men!" 😅
22:21 Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dri(der) Honestly makes complete sense though. You're not scooping them up like a baby - and if you are, they aren't scraping the floor.
I wanted to put this since it's similar to the video. If you see this Treantmonk, please make a video on your comments submitted for the Artificer UA! It is really helpful to see what people like you comment on, even if I don't fully agree it is super helpful to have that other perspective.
Regarding the "cheese grater" problem, we're considering simply ruling "When a creature drags a grappled creature through the edge of a hazardous area, that creature is also exposed to the hazard."
My updated drag rules are as follows: *Drag.* You can use your movement to drag the creature. Until the end of your turn or until you let go of the creature, your you must spend 2 feet of movement for each 1 foot you move, and the creature you drag must immediately move into the space you leave while you move in this way. If the creature is larger than you, it can make a Strength saving throw to avoid being dragged (DC = 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency bonus).
I would say 3 feet of movement per foot moved, and they get a chance to escape the grapple every 5 ft. So, on a character with the standard 30 feet of movement, you could move the target 2 squares, 4 on a dash, but they would get 2/4 escape attempts as a result.
The fix my dm used for grappling and area effects is he limited it to pushing and pulling directly away from you which has a similar effect. Can no longer drag the creature straight horizontal and the positioning in general becomes much more important
Which, so half of 500 is 1000. What do we think? In 5e very focused burst damage builds could do around that at level 20. Obviously not as consistently but they didn't require buffs and support from the whole party
Agreed - I like that you can still pull creatures through spikes, but you have to plan it more carefully instead of just going ham. As a barbarian, dragging them straight through the spikes while you take half damage in rage suddenly has its own niche, and it's way more flavorful than the cheese grater.
@@aimerw I tried to grapple and drop a creature off a cliff once, and the DM let it have a reaction attempt to try and pull me down with it. A little cheap but the flavor was fun! I have since learned to use the Push mastery or Shove action for cliff shenanigans
@@minikawildflower I think that was a cool situational ruling, if you knew in advance that there was a risk if he'd allow you to drop them without shove action.
@@minikawildflower And furthermore, you can create or use walls to drag large creatures through the spikes, while leaving a 5ft corridor for the grappler.
Yes, and add the "I choose to not be hit too" rule for the NPCs, because after all, the decision is theirs to decide they shouldn't be hurt by the guy deciding to move them... It isn't elegant, it is idiotic. Never have I seen someone suplex someone and the person being suplexed decided they'd just get set safely off to the side away from getting slammed instead. Sure, guys who escape the grapple can flip and avoid, but if they are grappled, they get put where the grappler chooses, that is realistic.
man, this video confirmed again what i know for forever... nobody got such a grounded, level-headed and still fun-oriented grasp on the game like you! keep being you, chris. you and your vids are amazing! :) happy holidays and congrats again on the 100k
at a table i was at, we were doing fun cheese grater stuff without grappling, just repelling blast and thunderous smite and whatnot. it’s powerful, but then we ran into an enemy with a high strength score and flight, and realized that 1) they could fly over the spikes, though our DM did decide that forced movement close to the ground sent them into a tailspin and drag along the floor, but 2) they could drag *us* through spike growth like Ridley in smash bros. we won that fight, but were much more careful about deploying it after that
I think CME is ok to scale at 1d8/ level. That way, the one attack per round is still not terrible. But if you do have someone that has built a Gish with 4 attacks per turn, I still think that’s ok. They have multiclassed, spent their feats specialising on DEX and have to get in close combat with low hit points for it to work. They can also only spend the 8th spell slot in one combat and have to maintain concentration. So they become a glass cannon, which will probably draw most enemies fire (causing the concentration and low hit points to be a bigger issue). This also only becomes a problem at the end game (which most people don’t play at). That’s my 2 cents 😊
How idiotic can people be? Every level you have in Spellcaster to upcast the CME is levels that can't be used for multiattacking... The best possibility is a Level 17 Bard, 1 Level Warlock, 2 Levels Fighter... Cast Conjure minor Elementals, Action Surge, Cast Eldritch Blast at the guy 10' away (15' is outside the emanation, 5' is with disadvantage, the combo only works if they are 10' away with standard spacing), you get off up to 4 Eldritch Blasts for 1d10+12d8 each... you may kill the one foe, then all the others avoid you and focus fire on you, making you die or lose concentration... It doesn't need to be 1d8 a level upscale, it could be 4d8 a level and would still be just as useless... Smart Foes will see the spell and not enter it, they can simply move and dash to keep out of range initially, forcing you to dash and not get an attack to trigger the CME extra damage until their allies have chipped away at your HP or made you lose concentration, meanwhile anyone far enough away can just shoot and then move 30' further away... Druids and Wizards can't actually benefit from it, and every time concentration is lost, that is a high level spell slot and turns lost of doing nothing..
@@TxSonofLiberty Martial characters become obsolete the more powerful caster single target damage becomes. A similar level fighter can put out 4 attacks too, but they don't get +12d8 on each one
1d8/level is what it should have always been. I don't know why 2d8 was ever a thing, and 1d8 every other level is just as bad, just in the other direction. MOST spells scale at 1d8 a level, it doesn't break the game on this one. This strikes me as a no-brainer. I hope when the inevitable errata comes they don't make the spell utterly useless like they did with Healing Spirit.
If for your table those casters dont have 3/4 attacks per turn, but only 1 or 2, you can let them 1d8 per level. Since it is a fix to avoid unbalance, you can tailor it to the table. My suggestion is to turn it into d6, 3d6 +1d6 per level, if you want to give a dice every level. Remember this is for SPELLCASTERS, they should have no business being so strong with attacks while having all utilites, heals, crowd control...
@@TxSonofLibertyEXACTLY. People do not play enough high level DND if they think this is really an issue. My tables level 18 vengeance pally is still hitting 150+ without jumping through insane hoops lol. Just nick and dual wield with 2 rare weapons. Serious at max level if the worst your player is doing is high damage then they are a saint and give them a bloody gift basket. My 2 level 17+ parties and trying to screw over reality itself and the other broke time and space screwing around with clone/magic jar/simulacrum shenanigans lol. if all they want is high damage then I am in heaven as the DM.
For CME you could keep it as is but not allow it to benefit from spell slots above 5th level. at 13 you'd see the spike, but then for the rest of your carrier it would plateau ending at the same 88.1. For CWB That's a great fix and I love how simple it is. For Cheese Grater that's really a clever fix.
A way to slow down crafting is to use part of Xanathar's that says you need a diagram or schematic and an incrediance that is guarded by an appropriate cr creature.
Congratulations on 100k!!! Thank you for all you do to contribute to the community! Regarding this video, I love seeing level-headed fixes that improve game balance instead of just complaints about how broken things are. I personally enjoy those a lot more than “Hey! Wanna make your whole party hate you and suck the collaborative fun out of the game?“ type videos about these problem rules
Yeah I agree. There are spike growth builds that use other push effects that would be very sad for a once a turn damage change so this change maintains those builds viability.
As for the crafting rules, I run an Eberron campaign, and Eberron kind of has a built-in limit for crafting. Almost all magic items in Eberron, at least the non-consumable ones, have dragonshards. I give out dragonshards as a reward sometimes. I list the GP value of each dragonshard, and for crafting, I require a value of dragonshards to be used in addition to GP cost for materials. Example: you want to make an uncommon item. In addition to the 200 GP material cost, you need to find or buy 200 GP crafting value of dragonshards. However, due to the demand of said dragonshards, if you try and buy them, you might be paying exorbitant amount of gold for a 200 GP crafting value shard. For the rarest dragonshard, Syberius shards, you're probably looking at a 100% markup if you buy them.
Oberoi Fallacy spotted at 24:42. Just because the DM can change it, remove it, or homebrew a fix, it does not excuse a badly designed rule. Try using that logic on Kobold from Pack Tactics or Colby from D4. If you allow this crafting system for one wand of magic missiles, you have to allow it for 500 of them.
I love videos talking about fixes! Good job. I'd like to see Conjure Minor Elementals scale as advertised, but only work once per round (not turn) to support characters designed to hit really hard once per turn, which is really where base druid and wizard would benefit, rather than benefiting hybrid characters with extra attack instead. I agree with the "on your turn" change and I also use it (it is how most spells should work.)
That grappling one is so good, I'm baffled how simple the solution is yet I never thought about it and instead came up with several versions of these convoluted grappling systems.
Chris, we understand your proposed change to conjure woodland beings because of your explanation. Very creative and insightful. You did the heavy lifting! Please be aware, however, that you put “on your turn” in a wrong spot. As suggested, it corresponds to what can be seen on your turn. If you move “on your turn” to just after “Whenever the Emanation” then it should work grammatically.
I did the same thing in a bg3 mod as the you did with conjure woodland beings. Once on your turn, then on another turn. So max twice per round, can still use teamwork but they also get a chance to leave.
On the CWB proposed change: teamwork tactics can still trigger the damage quite a few times. A martial can shove them in to the area and trigger the damage, then grapple and drag them out (if there’s another character who wants to do the same thing). I think adding “but no more than twice per round” on when the saving throw triggers encourages creativity to get the second trigger, keeps the spell fun, and puts a cap on how powerful it can be.
100k!!! You deserve it! Been following you for years. Thanks for all the advice and content you’ve been giving to us for so long!! The true god wizard!
Artificer UA can't make Enspelled Staves (they never get access to the staff category), and you can't take the same item more than once (whether that would mean only one enspelled armor, or only one enspelled armor of XX is kinda unclear though). Enspelled Armor of Shield will certain-certainly make an appearance though lol
@@imakuniaw nah when it comes to the replicate magic items feature they're referring to the magic item categories (seen on the italics line of a magic item and listed in the DMG). The feature specifically calls out the magic item types: Weapon, Armor, Wand, Ring, and Wondrous Item. (This is also why those words are capitalized in the Magic Item Plans table.)
You know what, sometimes i forget that your videos genuinely are for us to have a great fun time playing (DM & PLAY) and this type of video reminds me that, thanks man
Love all these fixes. The only one I probably won't use is the cheese grater grappling fix, and that's just because it's a bit too confusing to explain to players. Instead I'll just cap the damage from spike growth at max 10d4 per creature per round. Still decent damage but prevents the near-infinite scaling potential.
I agree about the DMG being for DMs only. Which is why I think the new artificer is horrible... as it tells players to pick and choose (specific things) from the DMG - making the DMG available to players.
I appreciate this video a ton..the past month since the call woodland beings video you did, I've really been wondering what to do on these fronts. And there are other creators putting up similar vids expressing taking advantage of those broken tactics. So yeah, thanks for the tips
For CME,I like the 1d8 per level upcasting. It is a concentration spell and 1d8 for two levels make it not worth up casting, especially if you don’t do any damage on that first round. It’s also a compromise for the single attack spell-casters. Just my two cents on this
Honestly, it isn’t much of an issue unless you have a player going out of their way to exploit it. Yes it is stupidly powerful, but only Bard can really exploit it properly. For the record I have a level 18 paladin just casually hitting 150+ per turn thanks to just having 2 rare weapons. 2 flametongue scimitars plus nick dual wield vengeance pally bonus attack. This is 5d6+5*STR+5d8 radiant strikes level 11 feature + 10d6 for flametongue + 10d8 for spirit shroud. Then if he feels like it he can add smite. This is just with 2 rare weapons and matches a 9th level CME quite easily. And paladin is less likely to lose his concentration. Add in advantage on everything from either fighter knocking prone with Topple or just bow of enmity and I have seen him break 250 damage in 1 round. As someone with 2 parties over level 15, of the worst thing they are doing is 150+ damage a round that player is a saint and I am getting him a bloody gift basket. That paladin and fighter are a damned menace and the wizard just makes me regret living most times, but again this is stuff that is built in and just rare weapons. So I do not see how CME is broken really since your squishy caster is just hitting on par with a tanky front liner with a rare weapon. Fighter at level 11 with flametongue great sword is still hitting 3d6+6d6 with no spell requirement. Bard however at 11 has only 1 lvl6 spell slot for that 6d8 CME, and 2 5th level so he is super limited in uses. It really isn’t that broken and only seems problem attack with bladesinger nick duel wield which isn’t supposed to be a thing in 2024 but if given that then yeah it would be an issue.
I think the whole CME issue is sooooooo blown out of proportion compared to the other 3 features that completely change / break the game and combat. 1 bard subclass doing double the damage of martials while using 6+ spell slots, using concentration, one combat per cast (10m duration), taking an action to set up, while not having most of the martial defenses.... Yeah no...
I think my favorite CME fix is to limit the damage application to a single attack per turn. This becomes the Spirit Shroud for builds that wanna hit 1 time REALLY hard. Like a Pact of the Blade Warlock that wants to use a single attack with True Strike (or Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade, if allowed). Makes it unique while preventing it from being obscene.
I saw the Readied move thing an Conjure Woodland Beings so I was amused and quietly impressed with myself, but then the grappling came in and I couldn't stop laughing
Carft Items: the entire reason I'm purchasing rules from the publisher instead of making them up myself is I expect them to tell me what's broken and what's not. Giving the DM the whole job of deciding which items can be crafted or not completely defeats the purpose. This is a hard task. This is the work WotC should have done for us! They should get rid of "rarity" and use a metric specifically tied to "character power" instead!
I prefer 1/turn for Conjure Minor Elemental. Your fix is balanced around a certain number of attacks. It's a trap if I have less attacks, like a straight land druid with Shillelagh or Truestrike. Or it can go back to OP if I gave more attacks, like Valor bard + Eldritch Blast + Quicken + Nick. I haven't done the math, so the dice may need to be adjusted (+1d8 per level?), but 1/turn is going to be much more consistent. It will still rewards multi-attack a bit, as a higher chance to land it, but not significantly so.
that just makes it worse than spirit shroud(a third level spell) at base level and scale a crazy amount with upcasting. treantmonk’s fix gives it a way more reasonable and gentle curve without doubling and tripling in effectiveness with a couple levels upcasting
Grapple is hard enough now guys. Why all this? The DC is terrible! Everyone can use STR OR DEX TO SCAPE, COME ONE! Just remove grapple. More easy fix, RIGHT? o.O With this "fix" u will never thrown a creature from a window! wtf! The creature can change his position and u will be in the same spot that HE would be! wtf!
For conjure minor elementals, our table just applies the damage on one hit per round. Even in this video, he says it isn't bad on one attack. So it keeps the scaling, but doesn't go crazy with multiattacks. We also discussed the possibility of having it only apply to unarmed/weapon damage on during attack phase; but that seemed a bit more complicated. But it does prevent eldritch blast/scorching ray shenanigans.
that fundamentally changes the spell when the problem is just a simply fixed by lowering the scaling. both solutions work but treantmonk’s is a way simpler and less drastic of a house rule additionally it makes it weaker than spirit shroud(a 3rd level spell) at base level without upcasting
@perfectiondreamusa i feel like they are both simple (change scaling vs applying once per turn), but i do agree they function differently. Treantmonk's definely is better with multiclass builds that esilly get multiple attacks in one turn; but on the typical druid/bard, it tends to only cast 1 spell per turn. So, o table's version is better for the typical spellcaster with a single strike and the high level moon druid beast that usually dish out one big hit (pre monster manual release). So honestly pick your poison. We went with that as we felt it made more sense for the typical spellcasters that had the spell on their list. The fun of homebrew rules is you basically play what you want.
That’s a pretty extreme nerf that favors big single-attack builds (which are already heavily favored). There’s nothing wrong with CME as-is without upcasting. Chris’ proposed house rule is a little on the generous side, but probably fine relative to the cost of a high level spell. The simplest fix to the problem is just not to upcast it. What’s nice about that is a player can simply choose not to cheese it at higher level without sacrificing the spell’s fundamental utility.
Hope you get to a 100k by New year's Eve or new year itself. Cheese grater should absolutely be once on your turn. As for things like spirit guardians, I think most people would agree that those spells would be better if you could only receive damage from them once per round instead of once per turn.
I trained in grappling martial arts for over a decade. If it's verisimilitude you're after, then you should really allow for pushing as well as dragging. Just look at Sumo for a prime example. But I really like the idea that the grappled person gets to chose their location relative to the grappler during the movement. That rings true to me in a lot of ways.
Ever since I started watching your videos years ago I’ve always appreciated how obvious and “common sense” a lot of things you say seem to me… This video illustrates that PERFECTLY 😂 Especially with magic item crafting - it’s laid out in the DMG sooooo THE DM HAS DISCRETION lol duhhh 😅 Good stuff, thanks for awesome fun entertaining content as usual my friend.
There is a much simpler solution to the alleged spell that issue. plan for the exploit. That way you can choose times to let it work and the players feel good about the choice. As for crafting It is not as bas as everyone whining thinks lets see here, the best uncommon item options the mentioned items Broom of Flying (Attunement) Enspelled items (Attunement) So yes you can have a broom with Shield enspelled Armor, and Eldridge Blast Enspelled weaopn or Silvery Barbs un a staff but that is your attunement. I am more concerned with people realizing that Robe of Useful Items is on the list and could be a better option than most other uncommon items. Make, use, sell, repeat and buy what you want for your spell scribing or whatever else you choose to use gold for in game.
Great video as always! I’m almost always playing as a Druid when I get the chance to be a PC and my favourite spell in the game is spike growth, no contest. I love the mechanics and flavour, and I’m a big tactical CC fan. That being said, even I - a Druid fanboy and SG enthusiast - can see how broken SG can be. My solution is just that “a creature can only take a maximum number spike growth damage instances equal to your wisdom modifier on each turn.” Or something of that nature Yes it still has the problem of each party member grappling and using held actions, but the upper limit of 6d4-10d4 is wayyy less game breaking than 12d4 with just a basic grapple. Still an S tier spell but one that requires good team work and won’t instakill an encounter on round one. It’s also pretty elegant and streamlined as to not make gameplay too clunky or convoluted - and it addresses the flyer issue! Plus it has built in scaling
23:41 I have always considered the 'optimal' magic items to be as much a part of any longterm build as the race/class-levels/spells you select. In my experience, if you let your GM know that you really want an X as a part of the build for the char you are running, X has a way of showing up in a dungeon chest or shop window. It's pretty standard storytelling, the protagonist happens to find the thing that enables them to advance in their quest. The new rules are pretty much specifically there for the other kind of GM... the one that doesn't want the protagonists to perform optimally or ever find anything directly useful to their quest, just random junk from a table. It is, to me, a pretty clear indication that the devs always intended this to work as in my experiences and to guide the GM that doesn't want to give their players any good loots to how the game tends to work best, collaboratively rather than tyrannically.
I mostly agree with you,but you made a leap there at the end. I assume you have had experiance with a tyrannical DM (haven't most of us) and its left you a bit triggered. A DM can use item rules and not be tyrannical there is a middle ground between "the player said he wants robes of the archmagi at level 1" and "muwhaha you kill the ancient red dragon and get armor that requires you to be a gnome to use and if you're not a gnome and none of you are gnomes" personally I like to start my players with a common or uncommon magic item other choosing (depending on the level we start at) and then constantly sprinkle bespoke items good for their builds. There will never be a wizard-only magic item in a game with no wizard players when I'm DMing. I gave out 5 magic items and a follower to a group of 3 level 1s. Because the first adventure module only had 1 and that didn't seem fair to me and I view myself as that middle ground you lept right past.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Regarding crafting, I run three 5e campaigns currently, with some players in two or three of the campaigns on different characters. In one of my games, the wild magic sorcerer told me that he wanted a wand of wonder for his character. We talked about it and decided that it wasn't something he could just buy or easily find, so he would need to gather materials to have it crafted. However, I didn't want to derail the campaign with a bunch of side missions to hunt down creatures for components, so I created a magic shop in Waterdeep called "Monsters' Ink" that sells magical inks, parchment, some magic items, etc. and had everyone in all three of my campaigns roll up lvl 1 characters using 5.24 rules. They are monster hunters working for the shop, and when someone can't make a regular session in one of the campaigns and there's some major story point going on that would keep us from moving forward, they can all pull up their monster hunters and go on a job to collect crafting materials. It gives me a chance to demo the 5.24 rules, it keeps us from having to completely cancel a session, and my players love it. Multiple problems solved.
It feels like the 100k subs is gonna be your CHRIStmas gift!
Haha, it is so close, I hope it will happen!😊
RUclips does show 100k subs right now
@@xolotltolox Nice, finally! A very well deserved achievement! 💯
Well deserved! This has recently risen as one of my favorite channels for staying ahead of 2024 5e so i can be prepared for this stuff. Congrats Chris!
Congrats on 100K!
Elegant solution for Conjure Woodland Beings.
Agreed. It's definitely a grid-based play mentality that locks people into positioning. In an actual grapple opponents tend to move around one another and jockey for position.
Sometimes turn-based combat stretches the bounds of credulity. Remember that a round happens in 6 seconds. In 6 seconds can my character run back and forth between two enemies, then get picked up by an ally, who runs him back and forth, and then gets picked up by another, who does the same thing? Just say no.
@pdubb9754 Exactly. It's the peasant rail gun all over again. All GMs repeat after me, "No."
I would prefer that ready action move is still viable. Just remove all the grapple/carry cheese.
@brojoe4919 *Ready* action is silly. Once per round is what makes the most sense, but I like this implementation, since it rewards *Grappling* where the foe has an incentive to escape it to get out of the area
I never understood the spike growth one because I always wondered how the player character was immune to the damage, but watching you explain it, I see that it's clever placement if the minis. I always played that the grappled creature and the grappler occupy the same space.
Grappling characters sharing a space is how it worked in at least some older editions, and I do think it very simply solves problems for 5e.
Plus, kinda makes the most sense narratively - who grapples at arms length? 😆
@@LilliumElessayou also gotta account for how a player describes their actions and because you don't need all your hands to grapple just one free one they could be dragging someone a foot away from them like broly from dragon ball z and grinding someone into the ground next to them I don't see how a maneuver like that would force the player to wade into the spikes but to balance the act you could argue that they may need to also knock them prone before they could drag them from a distance I could easily see it working if the grappler is dragging them by the leg, either way something like spike growth could be used by both player and foe it doesn't care who moves through it and if the druid or whoever decides to drop their concentration on the spell because the enemies started dragging the fighter through the spikes then that's good for the npc's because no more spike growth
My house ruling on this is that you can only drag an unwillingly grappled creature into a space you previously occupied.
Occupying the same space while grappling makes a lot of sense. I think I’m going to use that.
Those are my favorite kinds of videos. Fixing problems rather than exploiting them. I'm using your fix for CME for a while now and it's pretty good. I'm also using "dmg once per round" for Emanation spells but i'm going to test "on your turn", it sounds a bit better. At my table, I changed Spike Growth's damage (3d6, +1d6 per upcast level) to trigger once per round instead. It's simple, but still very strong.
I think emanation spells should be able to damage enemies once on the caster’s turn and once on the enemy creature’s turn.
this is why I like Treantmonk more than most of the other "optimizer" channels, 1. he teaches us why things do damage rather than tell us the specific build/combo we should exploit, so we are better informed how to build a good character with whatever we want to do with it, 2. he's interested in us running a good game, for players, and for DM
Channels like Pack Tactics focus on you outsmarting or breaking the rules, which might be fun for a one shot but I can't imagine how that would actually lead to a fun game
@override367
Yeah, Pack Tactics vids can be fun but they're silly in terms of what you realistically will EVER be able to do in a campaign 😅
I remember a simple point about Magic Stone allowing for significant damage... as long as you have a bunch of commoners following you to give the stones to.
Like, yeah sure, if there's ONE point in the campaign where you're defending a village, you could make use of them. Good use of the cantrip 👍
The rest of the time? It's not because you could in theory always hire a bunch of commoners to follow you around _based on the rules_ , that it is _ever_ gonna happen in actual game. 😂
"Hey, peasants! We're going to fight the dragon. Wanna tag along for a nice bag of gold?"
Peasants, realistically: "Fuck no! Gold is useless to dead men!" 😅
"Fixing problems rather than exploiting them" unlike Pact Tactics.
@@senrith_ Yeah, I feel like I only watch Pact Tactics so I know what exploits to disallow 😝
22:21 Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dri(der)
Honestly makes complete sense though. You're not scooping them up like a baby - and if you are, they aren't scraping the floor.
Congrats on 100K, Chris! Best Christmas present ever! It's so well deserved, my friend. 🎄🎉🥳
I really like the "on your turn" fix and the cheese grater fix
I wanted to put this since it's similar to the video. If you see this Treantmonk, please make a video on your comments submitted for the Artificer UA! It is really helpful to see what people like you comment on, even if I don't fully agree it is super helpful to have that other perspective.
Yeah, record it on the day it comes out, or the day after 😳
(Please don't do that. Enjoy the holiday break!)
Congrats on 100k Chris. You deserve it as the godfather of dnd builds!
Regarding the "cheese grater" problem, we're considering simply ruling "When a creature drags a grappled creature through the edge of a hazardous area, that creature is also exposed to the hazard."
My updated drag rules are as follows:
*Drag.* You can use your movement to drag the creature. Until the end of your turn or until you let go of the creature, your you must spend 2 feet of movement for each 1 foot you move, and the creature you drag must immediately move into the space you leave while you move in this way. If the creature is larger than you, it can make a Strength saving throw to avoid being dragged (DC = 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency bonus).
Notice it is an unarmed strike to "hit" with the drag.
I would say 3 feet of movement per foot moved, and they get a chance to escape the grapple every 5 ft. So, on a character with the standard 30 feet of movement, you could move the target 2 squares, 4 on a dash, but they would get 2/4 escape attempts as a result.
Gratz on 100K, JUSTLY deserved. Happy for you.
The fix my dm used for grappling and area effects is he limited it to pushing and pulling directly away from you which has a similar effect. Can no longer drag the creature straight horizontal and the positioning in general becomes much more important
Yeah you'd have to push I to an out of a spike growth. Effectively halving the damage
Which, so half of 500 is 1000. What do we think? In 5e very focused burst damage builds could do around that at level 20. Obviously not as consistently but they didn't require buffs and support from the whole party
Happy 100k! It's so wierd this has just now happened. You make some of the best dnd content.
Been running grappling like this for years, but it never occurred to me to add the "dragged creature decides" rule for edge cases. Super elegant!
Agreed - I like that you can still pull creatures through spikes, but you have to plan it more carefully instead of just going ham. As a barbarian, dragging them straight through the spikes while you take half damage in rage suddenly has its own niche, and it's way more flavorful than the cheese grater.
@@aimerw I tried to grapple and drop a creature off a cliff once, and the DM let it have a reaction attempt to try and pull me down with it. A little cheap but the flavor was fun! I have since learned to use the Push mastery or Shove action for cliff shenanigans
@@minikawildflower I think that was a cool situational ruling, if you knew in advance that there was a risk if he'd allow you to drop them without shove action.
@@minikawildflower And furthermore, you can create or use walls to drag large creatures through the spikes, while leaving a 5ft corridor for the grappler.
Yes, and add the "I choose to not be hit too" rule for the NPCs, because after all, the decision is theirs to decide they shouldn't be hurt by the guy deciding to move them... It isn't elegant, it is idiotic. Never have I seen someone suplex someone and the person being suplexed decided they'd just get set safely off to the side away from getting slammed instead. Sure, guys who escape the grapple can flip and avoid, but if they are grappled, they get put where the grappler chooses, that is realistic.
Awesome, 100K subs, Happy Holidays, Merry Xmas and all that good cheer!
man, this video confirmed again what i know for forever... nobody got such a grounded, level-headed and still fun-oriented grasp on the game like you! keep being you, chris. you and your vids are amazing! :) happy holidays and congrats again on the 100k
Congratulations on 100k subs! A splendid new year to you!
Congrats on 100k! Always insightful and wise takes!
I’ve been toying with the idea of the grappler taking up the same space as the grappled.
100K!!!!!!! So happy for you Chris!!
at a table i was at, we were doing fun cheese grater stuff without grappling, just repelling blast and thunderous smite and whatnot. it’s powerful, but then we ran into an enemy with a high strength score and flight, and realized that 1) they could fly over the spikes, though our DM did decide that forced movement close to the ground sent them into a tailspin and drag along the floor, but 2) they could drag *us* through spike growth like Ridley in smash bros.
we won that fight, but were much more careful about deploying it after that
Damn. That's one of the most entertaining "If you can use it, the enemies can too" things I've ever see
At least if it was your party's spike growth, you could drop concenration if you ever did start to get grated.
I think CME is ok to scale at 1d8/ level.
That way, the one attack per round is still not terrible.
But if you do have someone that has built a Gish with 4 attacks per turn, I still think that’s ok. They have multiclassed, spent their feats specialising on DEX and have to get in close combat with low hit points for it to work. They can also only spend the 8th spell slot in one combat and have to maintain concentration.
So they become a glass cannon, which will probably draw most enemies fire (causing the concentration and low hit points to be a bigger issue).
This also only becomes a problem at the end game (which most people don’t play at).
That’s my 2 cents 😊
How idiotic can people be? Every level you have in Spellcaster to upcast the CME is levels that can't be used for multiattacking... The best possibility is a Level 17 Bard, 1 Level Warlock, 2 Levels Fighter... Cast Conjure minor Elementals, Action Surge, Cast Eldritch Blast at the guy 10' away (15' is outside the emanation, 5' is with disadvantage, the combo only works if they are 10' away with standard spacing), you get off up to 4 Eldritch Blasts for 1d10+12d8 each... you may kill the one foe, then all the others avoid you and focus fire on you, making you die or lose concentration... It doesn't need to be 1d8 a level upscale, it could be 4d8 a level and would still be just as useless... Smart Foes will see the spell and not enter it, they can simply move and dash to keep out of range initially, forcing you to dash and not get an attack to trigger the CME extra damage until their allies have chipped away at your HP or made you lose concentration, meanwhile anyone far enough away can just shoot and then move 30' further away... Druids and Wizards can't actually benefit from it, and every time concentration is lost, that is a high level spell slot and turns lost of doing nothing..
@@TxSonofLiberty Martial characters become obsolete the more powerful caster single target damage becomes.
A similar level fighter can put out 4 attacks too, but they don't get +12d8 on each one
1d8/level is what it should have always been. I don't know why 2d8 was ever a thing, and 1d8 every other level is just as bad, just in the other direction. MOST spells scale at 1d8 a level, it doesn't break the game on this one. This strikes me as a no-brainer.
I hope when the inevitable errata comes they don't make the spell utterly useless like they did with Healing Spirit.
If for your table those casters dont have 3/4 attacks per turn, but only 1 or 2, you can let them 1d8 per level. Since it is a fix to avoid unbalance, you can tailor it to the table. My suggestion is to turn it into d6, 3d6 +1d6 per level, if you want to give a dice every level. Remember this is for SPELLCASTERS, they should have no business being so strong with attacks while having all utilites, heals, crowd control...
@@TxSonofLibertyEXACTLY. People do not play enough high level DND if they think this is really an issue. My tables level 18 vengeance pally is still hitting 150+ without jumping through insane hoops lol. Just nick and dual wield with 2 rare weapons. Serious at max level if the worst your player is doing is high damage then they are a saint and give them a bloody gift basket. My 2 level 17+ parties and trying to screw over reality itself and the other broke time and space screwing around with clone/magic jar/simulacrum shenanigans lol. if all they want is high damage then I am in heaven as the DM.
For CME you could keep it as is but not allow it to benefit from spell slots above 5th level. at 13 you'd see the spike, but then for the rest of your carrier it would plateau ending at the same 88.1. For CWB That's a great fix and I love how simple it is. For Cheese Grater that's really a clever fix.
A way to slow down crafting is to use part of Xanathar's that says you need a diagram or schematic and an incrediance that is guarded by an appropriate cr creature.
I hade a Repeating Shot Infusion. It kinda defined my character. I get that. But it was a Class feature!
Very close to 100k hopefully by newyears
TODAY!
The CWB fix is soooo clean! Thanks for suggesting it c:
100k to you sir. Merry Christmas Chris.🎉🎊🎁
I think I prefer 1d8 per spell slot level scaling for CME. smoother scaling and no feel bad for the caster if they use the "wrong" spellslot
Better to just let it apply once since majority of casters only get one attack
Get this man to 100k for Christmas!
Another great video with great advice! Congrats on 100k!! More than deserved. You have the best in depth DnD videos and I love watching your content.
So glad you covered magic item crafting. I've been saying this for so long!!!
Congratulations on 100k!!! Thank you for all you do to contribute to the community!
Regarding this video, I love seeing level-headed fixes that improve game balance instead of just complaints about how broken things are. I personally enjoy those a lot more than “Hey! Wanna make your whole party hate you and suck the collaborative fun out of the game?“ type videos about these problem rules
I really like your spike growth fix, it's also so much more intuitive too.
I know right?? The dynamic movement within a grapple is really clicking for me
Yeah I agree. There are spike growth builds that use other push effects that would be very sad for a once a turn damage change so this change maintains those builds viability.
Perfect, I always appreciate your insight before house-ruling stuff.
As for the crafting rules, I run an Eberron campaign, and Eberron kind of has a built-in limit for crafting. Almost all magic items in Eberron, at least the non-consumable ones, have dragonshards. I give out dragonshards as a reward sometimes. I list the GP value of each dragonshard, and for crafting, I require a value of dragonshards to be used in addition to GP cost for materials. Example: you want to make an uncommon item. In addition to the 200 GP material cost, you need to find or buy 200 GP crafting value of dragonshards. However, due to the demand of said dragonshards, if you try and buy them, you might be paying exorbitant amount of gold for a 200 GP crafting value shard. For the rarest dragonshard, Syberius shards, you're probably looking at a 100% markup if you buy them.
Oberoi Fallacy spotted at 24:42. Just because the DM can change it, remove it, or homebrew a fix, it does not excuse a badly designed rule. Try using that logic on Kobold from Pack Tactics or Colby from D4. If you allow this crafting system for one wand of magic missiles, you have to allow it for 500 of them.
I love videos talking about fixes! Good job. I'd like to see Conjure Minor Elementals scale as advertised, but only work once per round (not turn) to support characters designed to hit really hard once per turn, which is really where base druid and wizard would benefit, rather than benefiting hybrid characters with extra attack instead. I agree with the "on your turn" change and I also use it (it is how most spells should work.)
That grappling one is so good, I'm baffled how simple the solution is yet I never thought about it and instead came up with several versions of these convoluted grappling systems.
Chris, we understand your proposed change to conjure woodland beings because of your explanation. Very creative and insightful. You did the heavy lifting!
Please be aware, however, that you put “on your turn” in a wrong spot. As suggested, it corresponds to what can be seen on your turn. If you move “on your turn” to just after “Whenever the Emanation” then it should work grammatically.
I did the same thing in a bg3 mod as the you did with conjure woodland beings. Once on your turn, then on another turn. So max twice per round, can still use teamwork but they also get a chance to leave.
Congrats on hitting 100k you deserve it with your great work.
Congrats on the 100k subscribers! You earned it.
Gratulations to now 100k Subscribers - you earned it (from Germany)
On the CWB proposed change: teamwork tactics can still trigger the damage quite a few times. A martial can shove them in to the area and trigger the damage, then grapple and drag them out (if there’s another character who wants to do the same thing).
I think adding “but no more than twice per round” on when the saving throw triggers encourages creativity to get the second trigger, keeps the spell fun, and puts a cap on how powerful it can be.
It would require a bunch of held actions and careful positioning but you are right.
the only issue with that is it doesnt make much sense from a logical standpoint of the spell, and no other spell in the game uses a mechanic like that
100k!!! You deserve it! Been following you for years. Thanks for all the advice and content you’ve been giving to us for so long!! The true god wizard!
24:46 Artificer UA be like "hold my beer. You get an enspelled staff of Shield, and you get an enspelled staff of Shield."
Artificer UA can't make Enspelled Staves (they never get access to the staff category), and you can't take the same item more than once (whether that would mean only one enspelled armor, or only one enspelled armor of XX is kinda unclear though).
Enspelled Armor of Shield will certain-certainly make an appearance though lol
@@vitaly2422 "Staff" is just a fancy "Quarterstaff". It's a weapon, which artificers do get.
@@imakuniaw nah when it comes to the replicate magic items feature they're referring to the magic item categories (seen on the italics line of a magic item and listed in the DMG). The feature specifically calls out the magic item types: Weapon, Armor, Wand, Ring, and Wondrous Item. (This is also why those words are capitalized in the Magic Item Plans table.)
@@imakuniaw Right, and enspelled weapons can't have Abjuration spells on them.
You know what, sometimes i forget that your videos genuinely are for us to have a great fun time playing (DM & PLAY) and this type of video reminds me that, thanks man
And 100k! Congrats!
Congrats on 100k subscribers!
Long overdue, but well earned!
This is the one! I feel it! 100k incoming my dude!
Thank you, great fixes! And congrats for your 100k subs!
Love all these fixes. The only one I probably won't use is the cheese grater grappling fix, and that's just because it's a bit too confusing to explain to players. Instead I'll just cap the damage from spike growth at max 10d4 per creature per round. Still decent damage but prevents the near-infinite scaling potential.
I agree about the DMG being for DMs only. Which is why I think the new artificer is horrible... as it tells players to pick and choose (specific things) from the DMG - making the DMG available to players.
Thanks for this. I appreciate all your work doing the math and graphs.
Huge congratulations on reaching 100k subs! Super well deserved!
Congratulations on the 100k subscribers Chris. Well deserved indeed 🤩👏🏻
I appreciate this video a ton..the past month since the call woodland beings video you did, I've really been wondering what to do on these fronts. And there are other creators putting up similar vids expressing taking advantage of those broken tactics.
So yeah, thanks for the tips
For CME,I like the 1d8 per level upcasting. It is a concentration spell and 1d8 for two levels make it not worth up casting, especially if you don’t do any damage on that first round. It’s also a compromise for the single attack spell-casters. Just my two cents on this
Since it is a correction, I think you can absolutelt homebrew it if the caster has polearm master or not, if he is a valor bard or not, etc.
Honestly, it isn’t much of an issue unless you have a player going out of their way to exploit it. Yes it is stupidly powerful, but only Bard can really exploit it properly. For the record I have a level 18 paladin just casually hitting 150+ per turn thanks to just having 2 rare weapons. 2 flametongue scimitars plus nick dual wield vengeance pally bonus attack. This is 5d6+5*STR+5d8 radiant strikes level 11 feature + 10d6 for flametongue + 10d8 for spirit shroud. Then if he feels like it he can add smite. This is just with 2 rare weapons and matches a 9th level CME quite easily. And paladin is less likely to lose his concentration. Add in advantage on everything from either fighter knocking prone with Topple or just bow of enmity and I have seen him break 250 damage in 1 round.
As someone with 2 parties over level 15, of the worst thing they are doing is 150+ damage a round that player is a saint and I am getting him a bloody gift basket. That paladin and fighter are a damned menace and the wizard just makes me regret living most times, but again this is stuff that is built in and just rare weapons. So I do not see how CME is broken really since your squishy caster is just hitting on par with a tanky front liner with a rare weapon. Fighter at level 11 with flametongue great sword is still hitting 3d6+6d6 with no spell requirement. Bard however at 11 has only 1 lvl6 spell slot for that 6d8 CME, and 2 5th level so he is super limited in uses. It really isn’t that broken and only seems problem attack with bladesinger nick duel wield which isn’t supposed to be a thing in 2024 but if given that then yeah it would be an issue.
I think the whole CME issue is sooooooo blown out of proportion compared to the other 3 features that completely change / break the game and combat.
1 bard subclass doing double the damage of martials while using 6+ spell slots, using concentration, one combat per cast (10m duration), taking an action to set up, while not having most of the martial defenses.... Yeah no...
This channel continues to be my go-to when i ask myself if something is broken or not
I like this guy! Your guide's still help me til this day!
Congrats on 100k Chris! So well deserved.
Congratulations Chris!!!! 100k!!!
100k HAPPY CHRISTMAS! :D
i like your solution about the grappling. the mechanics are easy enough for anyone to follow
Grapple and drag is an elegant solution. I am using it, immediately.
Grats on 100k! 🎉
Finally 100k! Congrats brother, that is well deserved.
Except for the spike growth issue those were exactly the same solutions I have in my homebrew rules.
I feel validated ☺️
Congratulations on the 100k!
I think my favorite CME fix is to limit the damage application to a single attack per turn. This becomes the Spirit Shroud for builds that wanna hit 1 time REALLY hard. Like a Pact of the Blade Warlock that wants to use a single attack with True Strike (or Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade, if allowed). Makes it unique while preventing it from being obscene.
Congratulations on the 100k subs Chris! Totally deserved!
Congrats for your 100k! Well deserved.
It looks like u hit 100k! Congratulations chris
I saw the Readied move thing an Conjure Woodland Beings so I was amused and quietly impressed with myself, but then the grappling came in and I couldn't stop laughing
Grats on 100k before the end of year- Goals!
Carft Items: the entire reason I'm purchasing rules from the publisher instead of making them up myself is I expect them to tell me what's broken and what's not.
Giving the DM the whole job of deciding which items can be crafted or not completely defeats the purpose. This is a hard task. This is the work WotC should have done for us!
They should get rid of "rarity" and use a metric specifically tied to "character power" instead!
Thanks! Merry Christmas!
I prefer 1/turn for Conjure Minor Elemental. Your fix is balanced around a certain number of attacks. It's a trap if I have less attacks, like a straight land druid with Shillelagh or Truestrike. Or it can go back to OP if I gave more attacks, like Valor bard + Eldritch Blast + Quicken + Nick.
I haven't done the math, so the dice may need to be adjusted (+1d8 per level?), but 1/turn is going to be much more consistent. It will still rewards multi-attack a bit, as a higher chance to land it, but not significantly so.
that just makes it worse than spirit shroud(a third level spell) at base level and scale a crazy amount with upcasting. treantmonk’s fix gives it a way more reasonable and gentle curve without doubling and tripling in effectiveness with a couple levels upcasting
You got 100K Subs!! Congratulations!! Well deserved!!
holy crap 100k!!! congrats.
Hurra!!
Absolutely love the grappling fix! Stops cheese-grating being so cheesy :)
Grapple is hard enough now guys. Why all this? The DC is terrible! Everyone can use STR OR DEX TO SCAPE, COME ONE!
Just remove grapple. More easy fix, RIGHT? o.O
With this "fix" u will never thrown a creature from a window! wtf! The creature can change his position and u will be in the same spot that HE would be!
wtf!
congrats on 100k Chris!!!!
Congrats on the 100k subscribers Chris!
For conjure minor elementals, our table just applies the damage on one hit per round.
Even in this video, he says it isn't bad on one attack. So it keeps the scaling, but doesn't go crazy with multiattacks.
We also discussed the possibility of having it only apply to unarmed/weapon damage on during attack phase; but that seemed a bit more complicated. But it does prevent eldritch blast/scorching ray shenanigans.
that fundamentally changes the spell when the problem is just a simply fixed by lowering the scaling. both solutions work but treantmonk’s is a way simpler and less drastic of a house rule additionally it makes it weaker than spirit shroud(a 3rd level spell) at base level without upcasting
@perfectiondreamusa i feel like they are both simple (change scaling vs applying once per turn), but i do agree they function differently.
Treantmonk's definely is better with multiclass builds that esilly get multiple attacks in one turn; but on the typical druid/bard, it tends to only cast 1 spell per turn. So, o table's version is better for the typical spellcaster with a single strike and the high level moon druid beast that usually dish out one big hit (pre monster manual release). So honestly pick your poison. We went with that as we felt it made more sense for the typical spellcasters that had the spell on their list. The fun of homebrew rules is you basically play what you want.
That’s a pretty extreme nerf that favors big single-attack builds (which are already heavily favored). There’s nothing wrong with CME as-is without upcasting. Chris’ proposed house rule is a little on the generous side, but probably fine relative to the cost of a high level spell. The simplest fix to the problem is just not to upcast it. What’s nice about that is a player can simply choose not to cheese it at higher level without sacrificing the spell’s fundamental utility.
Woo Hoo!!!! 100K! Congratulations!
Hope you get to a 100k by New year's Eve or new year itself. Cheese grater should absolutely be once on your turn. As for things like spirit guardians, I think most people would agree that those spells would be better if you could only receive damage from them once per round instead of once per turn.
Made it today!
@@TreantmonksTemple congratulations!!!
I trained in grappling martial arts for over a decade. If it's verisimilitude you're after, then you should really allow for pushing as well as dragging. Just look at Sumo for a prime example.
But I really like the idea that the grappled person gets to chose their location relative to the grappler during the movement. That rings true to me in a lot of ways.
Gratz on the 100k subs!
These are all fantastic solutions to these issues. If WotC has any idea what they were doing they would hire you 🎉
Ever since I started watching your videos years ago I’ve always appreciated how obvious and “common sense” a lot of things you say seem to me… This video illustrates that PERFECTLY 😂 Especially with magic item crafting - it’s laid out in the DMG sooooo THE DM HAS DISCRETION lol duhhh 😅 Good stuff, thanks for awesome fun entertaining content as usual my friend.
Excellent video, I’m sure we will need a part 2 eventually
Congrats on 100k subscribers!
There is a much simpler solution to the alleged spell that issue. plan for the exploit. That way you can choose times to let it work and the players feel good about the choice.
As for crafting It is not as bas as everyone whining thinks lets see here, the best uncommon item options the mentioned items Broom of Flying (Attunement)
Enspelled items (Attunement)
So yes you can have a broom with Shield enspelled Armor, and Eldridge Blast Enspelled weaopn or Silvery Barbs un a staff but that is your attunement.
I am more concerned with people realizing that Robe of Useful Items is on the list and could be a better option than most other uncommon items. Make, use, sell, repeat and buy what you want for your spell scribing or whatever else you choose to use gold for in game.
I’d like to see a review on the optional rules in the DMG, more specifically, spell points
Great video as always! I’m almost always playing as a Druid when I get the chance to be a PC and my favourite spell in the game is spike growth, no contest. I love the mechanics and flavour, and I’m a big tactical CC fan. That being said, even I - a Druid fanboy and SG enthusiast - can see how broken SG can be. My solution is just that “a creature can only take a maximum number spike growth damage instances equal to your wisdom modifier on each turn.” Or something of that nature
Yes it still has the problem of each party member grappling and using held actions, but the upper limit of 6d4-10d4 is wayyy less game breaking than 12d4 with just a basic grapple. Still an S tier spell but one that requires good team work and won’t instakill an encounter on round one. It’s also pretty elegant and streamlined as to not make gameplay too clunky or convoluted - and it addresses the flyer issue! Plus it has built in scaling
great, practical, easy to implement fixes
23:41 I have always considered the 'optimal' magic items to be as much a part of any longterm build as the race/class-levels/spells you select.
In my experience, if you let your GM know that you really want an X as a part of the build for the char you are running, X has a way of showing up in a dungeon chest or shop window. It's pretty standard storytelling, the protagonist happens to find the thing that enables them to advance in their quest.
The new rules are pretty much specifically there for the other kind of GM... the one that doesn't want the protagonists to perform optimally or ever find anything directly useful to their quest, just random junk from a table. It is, to me, a pretty clear indication that the devs always intended this to work as in my experiences and to guide the GM that doesn't want to give their players any good loots to how the game tends to work best, collaboratively rather than tyrannically.
I mostly agree with you,but you made a leap there at the end. I assume you have had experiance with a tyrannical DM (haven't most of us) and its left you a bit triggered. A DM can use item rules and not be tyrannical there is a middle ground between "the player said he wants robes of the archmagi at level 1" and "muwhaha you kill the ancient red dragon and get armor that requires you to be a gnome to use and if you're not a gnome and none of you are gnomes" personally I like to start my players with a common or uncommon magic item other choosing (depending on the level we start at) and then constantly sprinkle bespoke items good for their builds. There will never be a wizard-only magic item in a game with no wizard players when I'm DMing. I gave out 5 magic items and a follower to a group of 3 level 1s. Because the first adventure module only had 1 and that didn't seem fair to me and I view myself as that middle ground you lept right past.