help me do my D&D homework
September 16, 2017 12:38 PM Subscribe
D&D 5e tomorrow, last session with these characters, and the DM has said that he's come up with a """"fun""""" and """""really challenging""""" final dungeon. I assume this means he is going to do his level best to murder us all. Help me come up with a legendary-level item to make him work for it.
Details:
- I'll be a 12th level elf ranger who went the animal companion route and therefore got hilariously, ridiculously nerf'd by 5e. But I did get an awesome blink dog animal companion!!!!!! Who may be the second-smartest member of our party.
- Our other party members, all 12th level: a half-elven bard, a half-elven Paladin who is fucking taking Raise the Dead because of course he can do that, and a halfling barbarian.
- My current armor is a hide +1, and I have a +2 longbow, along with a +1 sword. I also have a handful of regular potions of healing, and am thinking of ditching food in favor of extra arrows because I can cast Goodberry and feed myself and the blink dog with that.
- We're each authorized to come up with one (1) legendary-level item/equipment piece for us to use. We're not supposed to use a named artifact, but it sounds like everything else is on the table.
- My goal is to get the most awesome and stealthily overpowered item I can without getting DQ'd for being ridiculous/being cursed with lycanthropy in retaliation.
My first inclination is to get a really awesome bow, since we don't know exactly what kinda dungeon we're gonna be dropped into, and I feel like elemental damage bonuses/the versatility could come in handy. On the other hand, since we don't have a dedicated healer, would something like this come in handy, especially since I'm not particularly buff? Or better armor? Or would some kinda awesome magical animal barding for my blink dog, especially since he gets multi-attack at 12 and the idea of the blink dog dying with the rest of the party makes me kinda fucking upset?
Bonus points for something that a bunch of middle-aged geeky-as-fuck lawyers and/or an old-school D&D-playing DM might get a chuckle out of.
Details:
- I'll be a 12th level elf ranger who went the animal companion route and therefore got hilariously, ridiculously nerf'd by 5e. But I did get an awesome blink dog animal companion!!!!!! Who may be the second-smartest member of our party.
- Our other party members, all 12th level: a half-elven bard, a half-elven Paladin who is fucking taking Raise the Dead because of course he can do that, and a halfling barbarian.
- My current armor is a hide +1, and I have a +2 longbow, along with a +1 sword. I also have a handful of regular potions of healing, and am thinking of ditching food in favor of extra arrows because I can cast Goodberry and feed myself and the blink dog with that.
- We're each authorized to come up with one (1) legendary-level item/equipment piece for us to use. We're not supposed to use a named artifact, but it sounds like everything else is on the table.
- My goal is to get the most awesome and stealthily overpowered item I can without getting DQ'd for being ridiculous/being cursed with lycanthropy in retaliation.
My first inclination is to get a really awesome bow, since we don't know exactly what kinda dungeon we're gonna be dropped into, and I feel like elemental damage bonuses/the versatility could come in handy. On the other hand, since we don't have a dedicated healer, would something like this come in handy, especially since I'm not particularly buff? Or better armor? Or would some kinda awesome magical animal barding for my blink dog, especially since he gets multi-attack at 12 and the idea of the blink dog dying with the rest of the party makes me kinda fucking upset?
Bonus points for something that a bunch of middle-aged geeky-as-fuck lawyers and/or an old-school D&D-playing DM might get a chuckle out of.
Are you making up your own items or using homebrew ones or using the DM guide because I don't recognize either of those items, but don't have my DMG here with me to check?. These are from memory & from the DMG.
Ring of 3 Wishes. Gives you three wish spells but there is a huge cost and a chance of things going wrong.
Ioun Stone of Greater Absorption is great for players if you think there is going to be a lot of magical combat.
If interested in a bow an Oathbow is pretty awesome.
Daern's Instant Fortress is fun & great for the whole group. It's hard for a horde of ogres to kill you if they can't get to you and you can use it as a weapon too. Also handy for long rests & pisses off random wandering monsters that come to stop you long resting.
If you want to keep your dog alive, some sort of armored collar or armor for him there is an allowance for horses/companions to wear armor (they call it barding PHB in chapter 5 I think), though if it's use is just cosmetic or not and if companions can wear it depends on the DM.
Remember Blink dogs move between the Material & Ethereal plane to blink. When they die here all that happens is that they are simply stuck in the Ethereal plane until they can get back. Trust me I'm a DM.
Good luck in your adventure, may the dice be ever on your side.
posted by wwax at 1:46 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ring of 3 Wishes. Gives you three wish spells but there is a huge cost and a chance of things going wrong.
Ioun Stone of Greater Absorption is great for players if you think there is going to be a lot of magical combat.
If interested in a bow an Oathbow is pretty awesome.
Daern's Instant Fortress is fun & great for the whole group. It's hard for a horde of ogres to kill you if they can't get to you and you can use it as a weapon too. Also handy for long rests & pisses off random wandering monsters that come to stop you long resting.
If you want to keep your dog alive, some sort of armored collar or armor for him there is an allowance for horses/companions to wear armor (they call it barding PHB in chapter 5 I think), though if it's use is just cosmetic or not and if companions can wear it depends on the DM.
Remember Blink dogs move between the Material & Ethereal plane to blink. When they die here all that happens is that they are simply stuck in the Ethereal plane until they can get back. Trust me I'm a DM.
Good luck in your adventure, may the dice be ever on your side.
posted by wwax at 1:46 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
A few of the old school legendaries that I'd seriously consider:
1. A ring of three wishes. Your first wish on it should be that "the next two wishes I make with this ring will each be granted according to my intent when I utter them." :-P
2. A ring of djinni summoning is pretty awesome. The djinni can fight for you (tons of HP and magical attacks), summon their own air elementals, and provide other logistical support (e.g., create food & water, plane shift your party to safety).
3. A belt of storm giant strength would be awesome, too: strength becomes 29!
and
4. Under older rules, a spell scroll with a 9th level spell was considered a legendary item. So you could also have Resurrection ability, if you wanted. :)
My choice: a ring of three wishes, use the first wish to prevent DM shenanigans*, the second wish for a ring of djinni summoning, and keep the third wish in reserve for your game. Good luck!
*As an old school DM, I should note that DM shenanigan prevention can never be guaranteed.
posted by darkstar at 1:47 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
1. A ring of three wishes. Your first wish on it should be that "the next two wishes I make with this ring will each be granted according to my intent when I utter them." :-P
2. A ring of djinni summoning is pretty awesome. The djinni can fight for you (tons of HP and magical attacks), summon their own air elementals, and provide other logistical support (e.g., create food & water, plane shift your party to safety).
3. A belt of storm giant strength would be awesome, too: strength becomes 29!
and
4. Under older rules, a spell scroll with a 9th level spell was considered a legendary item. So you could also have Resurrection ability, if you wanted. :)
My choice: a ring of three wishes, use the first wish to prevent DM shenanigans*, the second wish for a ring of djinni summoning, and keep the third wish in reserve for your game. Good luck!
*As an old school DM, I should note that DM shenanigan prevention can never be guaranteed.
posted by darkstar at 1:47 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Alternately, if you feel that the DM will twist your wishes regardless, go ahead and take the djinni ring. A friendly, powerful, magic-wielding henchman that can travel invisibly and fly!
I'm also a fan of the Daern's Instant Fortress wwax mentioned for defense, as well as the Portable Hole and Deck of Many Things, for potentially game-breaking player shenanigans. The latter is especially interesting in a character's last gaming session.
posted by darkstar at 2:23 PM on September 16, 2017
I'm also a fan of the Daern's Instant Fortress wwax mentioned for defense, as well as the Portable Hole and Deck of Many Things, for potentially game-breaking player shenanigans. The latter is especially interesting in a character's last gaming session.
posted by darkstar at 2:23 PM on September 16, 2017
Immovable Rods. Get as many as you can. They are simply the best dungeon exploring tools out there. Have one in a harness strapped to your chest, activate if you fall. Use a pair as an instant ladder. They can bar doors shut, restrain creatures, block boulders, hold ceilings up, and so on.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks, folks! I ended up going with the elemental bow in the rebalanced ranger build that Maecenas suggested.
For anybody curious, it turned out not to matter in the end. The dungeon was short but profoundly nasty, infested with Mindflayers and their Drow thralls, with the final boss being a Beholder. That meant that my low Int, low Con character did (i) fuck and (ii) all through the two big battles, because she kept getting stunned by the Mindflayers, then frozen in place/paralyzed/getting wrecked by various eyes of the Beholder. But the two rounds that I did fight THE WHOLE FREAKIN' FOUR HOUR SESSION turned out to be pretty awesome -- the first, I summoned two allosauruses, who promptly ate the Drow 10HP thralls trying to menace us, and then I used my bonus action to fasten a grenade we'd been given onto an arrow. On the second, I rolled an 18 to shoot the grenade arrow, which the DM ruled went directly into the Beholder's mouth since I had a +13 for a total attack roll of 31. And then finished the Beholder off with a barrage using my second attack.
So pretty satisfying in the end. :D And we got to help out a silver dragon that our bard hit on!
(Mr. Machine mentioned to the DM about the trick with the three wishes, and the DM said he'd actually been thinking one of us might do that, and therefore had planning out devious ways to misinterpret/make any wishes go horribly horribly wrong. :D)
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:25 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
For anybody curious, it turned out not to matter in the end. The dungeon was short but profoundly nasty, infested with Mindflayers and their Drow thralls, with the final boss being a Beholder. That meant that my low Int, low Con character did (i) fuck and (ii) all through the two big battles, because she kept getting stunned by the Mindflayers, then frozen in place/paralyzed/getting wrecked by various eyes of the Beholder. But the two rounds that I did fight THE WHOLE FREAKIN' FOUR HOUR SESSION turned out to be pretty awesome -- the first, I summoned two allosauruses, who promptly ate the Drow 10HP thralls trying to menace us, and then I used my bonus action to fasten a grenade we'd been given onto an arrow. On the second, I rolled an 18 to shoot the grenade arrow, which the DM ruled went directly into the Beholder's mouth since I had a +13 for a total attack roll of 31. And then finished the Beholder off with a barrage using my second attack.
So pretty satisfying in the end. :D And we got to help out a silver dragon that our bard hit on!
(Mr. Machine mentioned to the DM about the trick with the three wishes, and the DM said he'd actually been thinking one of us might do that, and therefore had planning out devious ways to misinterpret/make any wishes go horribly horribly wrong. :D)
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:25 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
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posted by Maecenas at 12:44 PM on September 16, 2017