[OOC] DnD 5e - Beginner's Game

[Ms Ravenwinter]

@The Harbinger of Ferocity Death Cleric has a d8 hit die, martial weapons, medium armor with Dex and a necrotic damage smite that's later buffed by all of my necro damage not being reduced by necro damage resist. I might not be a great melee combatant but I can at least help some.

[Ermine]

If nothing else, you'll be gothdorable. ^~^

EDIT: QUESTION FOR THE NEW PEOPLE. Do you think you'd be comfortable starting at 3rd level instead of 1st? I can say the steps, but it's not that different. We'd be going with the "default" HP per level (so if you use a d6, 4 + Constitution modifier HP per level)

[Ms Ravenwinter]

@Ermine Duh. You already know I'm punkabulous.

[JBRam2002]

@The Harbinger of Ferocity Death Cleric has a d8 hit die, martial weapons, medium armor with Dex and a necrotic damage smite that's later buffed by all of my necro damage not being reduced by necro damage resist. I might not be a great melee combatant but I can at least help some.

@Ms Ravenwinter

@The Harbinger of Ferocity My PC is a melee build almost entirely. Spells are mostly for closing in, AoE options, and for when melee is not an option. However, I'm not much of a tank since just d8 HD and medium armor, same as Death Cleric.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

We're definitely not in short supply of scrappers. Just no tanks. Which Ermine has already said she won't throw out any fat tankbusters in our way if we lack the role.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

If we do start at third level as @Ermine was suggesting, I can work more easily with a Barbarian 1/Fighter 2 or Paladin 3 to add another melee fighter with added staying power to the front, @Ms Ravenwinter, @JBRam2002. Just so we have some means to split a bit of the damage rather than focus it all into one target.

[JBRam2002]

@The Harbinger of Ferocity I played a Battle Master Fighter X / Berserker Barbarian 3 up to about lvl 10... she was nigh unkillable. It was amazing.

[Ermine]

Things just for new people:
1) PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS. I have a burning desire to be useful.
2) Going to draw attention to my previous question: Would you be willing to do the extra (usually quick) steps to start at level 3, or would you prefer level 1? The fun class features start at levels 2 and 3 for the most part (or at least the ones I like), but it is a tiny bit of extra work, since that's learning how leveling up works before technically actually leveling up.

[Mesonyx]

2) Going to draw attention to my previous question: Would you be willing to do the extra (usually quick) steps to start at level 3, or would you prefer level 1? The fun class features start at levels 2 and 3 for the most part (or at least the ones I like), but it is a tiny bit of extra work, since that's learning how leveling up works before technically actually leveling up.

@Ermine

I'd like some help with figuring out how my Bard levels up from 1 to 3. (I still have to assign stat points, with which I'd also like some help because I'm not sure what would be the proper way of assigning them. I do know that CHA is important as a bard, but unsure what to boost next to that)

[JBRam2002]

@Mesonyx The first thing I would suggest is to go to the Bard table in the Player's Handbook (p. 53). That gives you the name of each skill you get per level. You can then check through the next few pages and read more info on what the skills do. I put a lot of helpful info in the hiders below, and if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me :)

Leveling Up

For example: at lvl 1 you learn Bardic Inspiration (d6) and Spellcasting. You also have the number of cantrips you know on the table (2), and the number of spells you know (4). You are also told between the table and the description for spellcasting that you can cast 2 lvl 1 spells per long rest (basically 2/day) which means that you know more spells than you can cast. For bardic inspiration (BI), you learn that you can use a bonus action to give an ally a dice roll that they can add to certain abilities. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma mod per long rest, which means a higher CHA gives you more flexibility.

Lvl 2 gives you more spells and spell slots, as well as Jack of all Trades and Song of Rest (d6). For Jack, add 1/2 of your proficiency bonus (PB) to all skill checks (athletics, acrobatics, etc.) Since our PB is 2 at this level, you gain +1 to all skill checks if you aren't already proficient. Sweet. Song of rest allows you to perform a song for us during a short rest, and we all heal a little more. Also sweet.

Lvl 3 is where things get interesting. This is where you choose your college, which pretty much dictates the course of most of the rest of your level ups. In the PHB (Player's Handbook), there are two options: College of Lore and College of Valor. Lore has you focus more on spells, and Valor focuses more on martial fighting. Both are really good, but the choice depends on what you want for your character. Once you make this choice, you (normally) cannot change it. (I say normally cause our DM might be nice if you realize you aren't enjoying an archetype and allow you to respec, but I wouldn't count on it.) If you go College of Lore, you gain some bonus Skill proficiencies and Cutting Words, which allows you to use BI to reduce an enemy's attack. Both of those are incredibly useful. If you go Valor, you gain bonus weapon/armor proficiencies and Combat Inspiration, which allows your inspired allies to use the BI for their AC, potentially negating an attack. Both of those options are also incredibly useful. On top of that, you get lvl 2 spells, new learned spells, and Expertise. Expertise allows you to DOUBLE your PB on two skills. This is incredibly useful.

Ability Scores

How you allocste the points depends largely on specifically what you want your PC to be good at. My descriptions and suggestions below are aimed at a typical bard, so feel free to pick and choose ideas.

Strength allows a character to use stronger weapons and do things like Grapple, etc., easier. Typically not the most important thing for a bard, but some Valor bards could make an interesting build with it. Unless you plan to swing around a Greatsword or try to pun down your foes, I would probably make this an 8.

Dexterity is a measure of how nimble a character is. This is probably the most widely used score in the game. It helps with Initiative, AC, finesse and ranged weapons, escaping grapples, and one of the most common saves in the game. I would suggest this to be your 2nd highest stat.

Constitution is a measure of how much punishment you can take. It is important for Concentration checks (lots of your spells are concentration), HP (you add your Con mod each lvl to your HP roll), and Con saves against some of the most debilitating effects (such as stun, petrify, poison, etc). I would suggest this be your 2nd or 3rd highest stat, although you can definitely make a low Con bard.

Intelligence is really good for gathering info. Depending on the game and the DM, Int checks can be some of the strongest checks in the game. Strategy is always good, and knowledge = power. That said, it has little other use, and INT saves are fairly uncommon. If you go Lore bard and want to be a wealth of knowledge, you might consider putting some points into it. Otherwise, I would probably suggest putting a 10 in here and getting a background that grants a knowledge skill proficiency.

Wisdom can also be extremely helpful. Perception is one of the most-used skills, and Wis Saves are good for avoiding mind-altering spells like Charm, etc. Most non-damaging spells tend to use Wis saves (and some powerful damaging ones too). That said, we likely will have a lot of Wis in the party (druids and clerics use it for casting). There are a few really good wis skills (insight can save your butt), but I would suggest either a 10 or 12 in this, depending on what you do with Int.

Charisma is your strongest stat. Unless you are trying to go for a melee centric Valor bard and are taking spells that don't need a high casting stat (they exist, but are a bit rare), this should probably be your highest stat. You probably also want a race that adds to Cha if possible. Since our highest stat is 15, even a +1 Cha race is useful, but I would consider putting points into this for your ability score improvements (especially if you have nothing better to do). The faster you can get this to 20, the better.

I wrote this in my phone, so I apologize for any typos. Tried to catch most of them.

EDIT:

I set up a test roll campaign, and I just wanted to see how simple it is to use the rolls here, vs trying to use rolls from a different site and copy them in. I know our wonderful DM has said that the dice roller won't be required unless abuse is suspected, but I like to backstop my rolls and be as transparent as possible as a player. So here was my test.

>Draj rushes forward to the Titan, swinging his longsword upwards and aiming for the gap between the enemy's chestplate and pauldrons. With his ally flanking, the enemy is slightly distracted. Now is his chance to shine! To Hit: 18 | 21 for 9 slashing damage!

Well, it's not the simplest method in the world, but the information is all there, and the roller is pretty user-friendly, as long as you know some basic BBCode to set up the URL correctly.

[Ermine]

I know our wonderful DM has said that the dice roller won't be required unless abuse is suspected

@JBRam2002

Dunno if I said that publicly, actually. I don't start taking notes unless it's related to in-game content. ^//^

So...we have a noble dragonborn warlock {@JBRam2002}, an outlander "human" druid (pretty much human) {@The Harbinger of Ferocity}, and the beginnings of a far traveler half-elf cleric {@Ms Ravenwinter}. Is that all right so far?

EEP! And a bard of some sort {@Mesonyx}!

[JBRam2002]

<Snipped quote by JBRam2002>Dunno if I said that publicly, actually. I don't start taking notes unless it's related to in-game content. ^//^

So...we have a noble dragonborn warlock {@JBRam2002}, an outlander "human" druid (pretty much human) {@The Harbinger of Ferocity}, and the beginnings of a far traveler half-elf cleric {@Ms Ravenwinter}. Is that all right so far?

EEP! And a bard of some sort {@Mesonyx}!

@Ermine

Oops... sorry about that. My PC's information so far is correct at least though :)

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

@Ermine, you would be correct with that from my perspective.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

EDIT: I rolled wealth and on a 5d4 I got three 1s, a 2 and a 4... I'm starting to roll like @Ermine

[JBRam2002]

@Ms Ravenwinter Don't worry about gp too much, I tend to share my wealth with the party fairly often :D

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

You would be considered wealthy by a druid's starting wealth standards. Starting gold of 2d4 x 10gp came out to a pitiful 30gp. Thankfully there's not much need for it.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

I ended up using all of it quite easily. Rapier + Component Pouch + Medium Armor gets pricey. Holy Symbol wasn't, but it was also the only other thing I could afford before my coinpurse started pushing up cobwebs.

[JBRam2002]

Warlock gets 4d4 x 10. As is fitting for a noble, I had a pretty decent roll with 110 starting gp... + 25 from background. Gonna start off with a healing potion. Awww yeah.

[Ermine]

@Ms Ravenwinter You got a 4. You're only halfway to rolling like me.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

I am curious how my rolls will be fated this time around. Previously they have been in my favor, but there are days past where it would been better not to roll at all.