#one with high str/end and the other with high int/cha

[fag4dykestobin]

its actually insane how much people put intelligence up on a pedestal like. its a problem everywhere but in this show and this fandom i see it so muuuuuch. this mentality that if you are not book smart you are stupid and if you are stupid you're a mean and awful person. or at the very least an ignorant nobody. i HATE it

[thecreaturecodex]

Pachydermion

"Elephant Warriors" © ArtStation user CY, accessed at their gallery here

[The pachydermions appear in the Basic D&D Creature Catalogue and never again, seemingly memory holed in favor of the loxo from Forgotten Realms. Nowadays, with corporate synergy at an all-time high, the loxodons from Magic the Gathering are the elephant-people most associated with D&D. But I like the pachydermions, partly because they actually have a culture associated with them (you may notice I've complained about that not being the case for a number of these Basic D&D sapients) and partly because the three-weapon style with the trunk is such a cool mental image]

Pachydermion CR 6 LN Monstrous Humanoid This giant humanoid has the head and hide of an elephant. It wears ornate armor and carries three weapons, one in each hand and one in its long, flexible trunk.

Pachydermions are elephant-like humanoids found in warm regions of the world. It is said that a pachydermion never forgets, and while this may not literally be true, they have a deep respect for knowledge and long, detailed memories. Pachydermions never write any of their lore down, keeping it instead in the oral tradition, and storytelling is a common pastime for both entertainment and education. Pachydermion lore may contain secrets thousands of years old, and pachydermions charge a premium price to share their knowledge with members of other species.

Pachydermion culture includes a proud tradition of masonry, and pachydermions tend to live in stone cities in jungle clearings or carved into cliffsides. Living is communal, with all members of the clan sleeping in a central fortification that can be defended if necessary. Outbuildings are used for work or for storage. There is almost always a central pavilion in a pachydermion city, used for martial practice and oration. Pachydermions are herbivorous, and their cities are surrounded by food forests where edible plants are grown in high concentration. Their culture is matrilineal, and male pachydermions typically leave the city of their birth in order to marry into a new clan upon reaching adulthood.

Although they are not typically aggressive, pachydermions fight fiercely to defend their cities. Their long memories also accumulate long grudges, and they have been known to go to war to avenge some slight long forgotten by the other party. Pachydermions have thick hides, but tend to supplement them with metal armor. The trunk of a pachydermion is as strong and flexible as an arm, and they can and do wield weapons with their trunks. A three weapon style, with the trunk being used as the dominant “hand”, is common, and pachydermions prefer to use bludgeoning weapons in their trunks to make the most of their crushing strength. Some pachydermion warriors instead wield a two-handed weapon in both hands and a shield in their trunk, often making use of shield bash techniques to combine offense and defense.

Pachydermions advance by character class. Fighter and monk are common classes, and pachydermion spellcasters are often druids, focusing on the Earth or Plant domains, or psychics, harnessing the depths of the pachydermion mind to greater ends. They have lifespans equivalent to dwarves, with individuals surviving more than 400 years if not slain by violence.

Pachydermion CR 6 XP 2,400 LN Large monstrous humanoid Init +5; Senses low-light vision, Perception +16, scent

Defense AC 20, touch 10, flat-footed 19 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +4 natural, +6 armor) hp 59 (7d10+21) Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +9 (+7 vs. emotion effects)

Offense Speed 30 ft. (40 ft. unarmored) Melee masterwork warhammer +13/+8 (2d6+6/x3) or masterwork warhammer +11/+6 (2d6+6/x3), 2 short swords +10 (1d8+3/19-20) or slam +12 (1d8+6) Ranged masterwork composite longbow +8/+3 (2d6+6/x3)

Statistics Str 22, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 12 Base Atk +7; CMB +14; CMD 25 Feats Alertness, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Multiweapon Fighting Skills Craft (masonry) +10, Diplomacy +8, Knowledge (history, nature) +11, Perception +16, Perform (oratory) +7, Sense Motive +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge (all) Languages Common, Loxo, Terran SQ martial training, never forgets

Ecology Environment warm forests and grassland Organization solitary, troop (2-6) or clan (4-20 plus 50% noncombatants) Treasure standard (Large breastplate, Large masterwork morningstar, Large masterwork composite longbow [+6 pull], 2 Large short swords, other treasure)

Special Abilities Martial Training (Ex) A pachydermion is proficient in all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor. Never Forgets (Ex) A pachydermion gains a +4 racial bonus on all Knowledge checks, and can make Knowledge checks untrained. However, a pachydermion suffers a -2 racial penalty on saves versus emotion effects.

[soylent-crocodile]

Vizzerdrix (Monster)

(Vizzerdrix by Dave Dorman)

(Behold, a late Easter AND an April Fool's Day special, all wrapped up in one not-so-fluffy bunny! I wanted to capture the idea of a puzzlingly high-value creature with no special effects and not as much combat capability as its peers, so I went with a mad genius. There's also just a couple of tropes here that I tend to avoid- or lean on- if you can spot them. Enjoy!)

CR16 CE Large Aberration HD25

Vizzerdrix are savage beings created by a mad wizard, ravenous beasts who tear apart any who meet their path. It is generally accepted that the vizzerdrix were the last creation of said wizard before being torn apart by vizzerdrix. Unfortunately for the world, her creations bred true, and now vizzerdrix can be found leaving swathes of blood and death in their path. 

A vizzerdrix is a hybrid between a rabbit, a giant, and a piranha, creating a being with incredible intelligence, sharp claws, a craving for destruction and flesh, and big floppy rabbit ears. Vizzerdrix are among the most brilliant beings to exist, and use this to their advantage- they’re expert at evaluating threats, manipulating others, and devising cunning traps. Fortunately for a vizzerdrix’s enemies, they lack any particular abilities to put this brilliance to use, and without external help or tools, must fall back on ripping and tearing. This isn’t to say that a vizzerdrix has distaste for such combat- indeed, tearing other beings apart with their claws and incisors is the deepest pleasure a vizzerdrix can experience, and all their goals and conniving generally works to the end of getting a vizzerdrix a never-ending source of innocent victims to destroy. 

Vizzerdrix are obligate carnivores, only able to digest animal flesh. Despite this, they have a deep craving for root vegetables, which give them incredible indigestion and, occasionally, food poisoning and intense gastric distress. It is suspected that this was a failsafe created by their master and the reason to include rabbit parts, as vizzerdrix will do anything for proper digestive aids that allow them to comfortably eat their favorite food. 

This hulking, clawed beast has powerful human musculature, furless skin, and the head of an angry rabbit. Misc- CR16 CE Large Aberration HD25 Init:+8 Senses: Perception +27 Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:28(+9) Dex:18(+4) Con:18(+4) Int:32(+11) Wis:9(-1) Cha:20(+5) BAB:+18/+13/+8/+3 Space:10ft Reach:10ft Defense- HP: AC:30(+4 Dexterity, +17 Deflection, -1 Size) Fort:+14 Ref:+12 Will:+17 CMD:39 Resist: Acid 20, Cold 20, Electricity 20, Fire 20 Immunity: Fear Special Defenses: DR5/Adamantine Offense- Bite +24(2d6+9), 2 Claw +25(1d8+9) CMB:+25 Speed:40ft Special Attacks: Rend (2 Claw, 2d8+14) Feats- Improved Initiative, Power Attack (-5/+10), Weapon Focus (Claw), Iron Will, Great Fortitude, Vital Strike, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Greater Dirty Trick, Critical Focus Skills- Acrobatics +27, Climb +17, Escape Artist +32, Knowledge (Arcana, Dungeoneering, Engineering, Geography, Nature, Planes, Religion) +26, Knowledge (Local)* +29, Perception +27, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +39, Stealth +32, Survival +27, Swim +17, Use Magic Device +30 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 20, Concentration +25) Dispel Magic /at-will Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Forests, Swamps (Any) Languages- Common, Aklo, Abyssal, Draconic, Giant Organization- Solitary Treasure- None

[curufiin]

Middle-earth Role Playing statsheet

Also known as: I AM GETTING TERRIBLY DISTRACTED!!!! I found this tag tame while scrolling and well I fucking love filling things out so. Edited some of this too just because I can. Also I'm just using the normal DND stats bc idk what the MERP ones mean lol

tagged by: me. tagging: @iriysse @thegreatstrongbow (and all of your other accounts obviously) @maedhros-feanoriel @fallensmith @descendantsoffinwe (anga and eggy would be cute 🥺) @gezelligheiid

orange is curufin / red is celegorm / blue is both

❯ STATS ⋯ ✵

STR: 12 / 17 DEX: 16 CON: 10 / 15 INT: 18 / 14 WIS: 10 / 8 (yet somehow still has a lot of proficiency in wisdom things..... dont ask) CHA: 16 / 17 (look celegorm is just built different like. he can do everything)

❯ BASIC INFORMATION ⋯ ✵

Name(s): Curufinwë Atarinkë, Curufin / Tyelkormo Turcafinwë, Celegorm Nickname(s): Curvo / Tyelko, Turco Gender: Male Culture/Race: Noldorin Profession: Weapon & Jewel smith / Hunter, Lords of Himlad, ex-princes of the Noldor Alignment: Lawful Evil / True Neutral Original Character or Canon Character?: Canon Date of birth: Y.T. 1300, a week or two before Finrod’s birth / Y.T. 1260 Place of birth: Royal palace of Tírion Current living place: Beleriand generally. Himlad / Nargothrond depending on the timeline Demeanor: Cold, quick to anger, tenacious / Sociable, avoidant in conflicts, stubborn Languages: Quenya (Noldorin dialect), Sindarin, Khuzdul / Quenya (Noldorin dialect), Sindarin, various animal languages, minimal Valarin phrases

❯ PHYSICAL INFORMATION ⋯ ✵

Height: 6'8" / 203cm, 7'6" / 228.6cm Weight: average / heavy end of healthy weight Eye color: Greyish brown / yellow Hair color: Black / pale blonde Special physical (tattoo, scars, left eye of a different color, etc): Burns on his hands, arms, and the right side of his chest that extends up to his neck. He tends to hide these scars with long sleeves, high collars, and gloves. Feanorian star back tattoo. / Various miscellaneous scars.

❯ FAMILY ⋯ ✵

Parent names & race: Fëanáro Curufinwë, Nerdanel / Noldor Grandparent names & race: Finwë, Miriel / Noldor Sibling names & race: Nelyafinwë Maitimo, Kanafinwë Makalaure, Morifinwë Carnistir, Pityafinwë & Telufinwë Ambarussa / Noldor Children names & race: Tyelpërinquar Curufinwë (Celebrimbor) / Noldo / none Partner name & race: Unnamed wife, Noldo / none Pets: none / Huan (Wolfhound)

❯ ARMOR & WEAPON SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Armor (None, light, medium, heavy): medium / light, medium in proper combat Favored weapon: Knife, shortswords / Yew bow, polearms Name of weapon: Angrist / none Skills with edged weapons: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★★ Skills with crushing weapons: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Skills with two-handed weapons: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★★ Skills with thrown weapons: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Skills in archery: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★★ Skills with polearms: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★★

❯ GENERAL SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Climbing: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Riding: ★★★★★ Swimming: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Tracking: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★★ Cooking: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★☆☆ Foraging: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★★

❯ SUBTERFUGE SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Ambush: ★★★★★ / ★★★★☆ Stalk/Hide: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★★ Pick Locks: ★★★★☆ / ★☆☆☆☆ Set/Disable Traps: ★★★★★ / ★★★☆☆

❯ ATHLETIC SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Acrobatics: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★☆☆ Brawling: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★★ Wrestling: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★★★

❯ CAREER SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Animal Handling: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★★★ Boat Handling: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★☆☆ Craft: ★★★★★ / ★★☆☆☆ Navigation: ★★☆☆☆ / ★★★★★

❯ MEDICAL SKILLS ⋯ ✵

First Aid: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★★ Apothecary: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★☆ (but really celegorm just uses Song to heal) Midwifery: ☆☆☆☆☆ / do animals count... Surgery: -100 stars / ★★★☆☆ Poisons knowledge: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆

❯ ARTISTIC SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Dance: ★☆☆☆☆ Play Instrument: ★★★★☆ / ★☆☆☆☆ Poetry: ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ Singing: ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ Tale Telling: ★★★★★ / ★★★★☆

❯ INFLUENCE SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Acting: ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ Bribery: ★★★★★ / ★★★☆☆ Diplomacy: ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ (in theory. in practice it's both one stars unless Curufin is dealing with dwarves) Interrogation: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★★ Leadership: ★★★★☆ Public Speaking: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★★ Seduction: ★☆☆☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Trading: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Trickery: ★★★★★ / ★★☆☆☆

❯ LORE SKILLS ⋯ ✵

History: ★★★★★ / ★★☆☆☆ Mathematics: ★★★★☆ / ★★☆☆☆ Religion: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆ Ainur Lore: ★★★★☆ Dwarven Lore: ★★★★☆ / ★☆☆☆☆ Elven Lore: ★★★★★ / ★★★☆☆

❯ MAGIC SKILLS ⋯ ✵

Enchanting: ok i'm gonna describe this bc magic to elves is kinda weird. Curufin is proficient in rune carving. Sorcery: Curufin mostly does not wield song, or if he does it's entirely out of his control. Celegorm has some capability to manipulate Song, mostly for healing purposes. Attunement: ...Curufin has a magic knife? Spell Mastery: see sorcery above

❯ OTHER ⋯ ✵

Perception: ★★★★★ Body Development: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★★ Read / Write: ★★★★★ / ★★★★☆

[commander-yinello]

Rangerlock Wyll Build

Theorycrafted how I'd make Ranger/Warlock Wyll in game. The idea is that once he knows he will be released from the pact at some point (at the end of act 2), which allows him to get acquainted with the ranger class while still using his warlock powers.

TL;DR: Fighter 2, Beast Master Ranger 5, Pact of the Blade Warlock 5. Hits nice and hard.

Light spoilers for the epilogue and my build under the cut.

We know from the epilogue from the Blade!Wyll ending that:

He became a ranger and has a wolf named Lily, which means he took the Beast Master subclass

He uses shortswords which means he is a Two Weapon Fighter

And he had to unlearn using his warlock powers, which means he kept using them till it was over.

With that in mind, the optimal build I think for Rangerlock Wyll is Beast Master Ranger 5, Fiend Pact of the Blade Warlock 5, Fighter 2. Here's how I would level him. (Note: Everything here is purely my opinion, you should definitely pick and rearrange whatever you like more.)

Level 1: Start with Fighter so you get access to heavy armor.

8 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 17 Cha.

Take Two Weapon Fighting Style (or Dueling or Great Weapon Fighting if you prefer that more. Dueling allows Wyll to hold a shield) and whatever skills you fancy.

Level 2: Continue with Warlock.

Patron: The Fiend.

Cantrips: Eldritch Blast + Friends if you're the party leader, or Mage Hand if no one else has it.

Spells: Hellish Rebuke and Hex. Use Hex: Strength at the beginning of every fight. Use Eldritch Blast when you can't reach the enemy.

Level 3: Warlock 2.

Eldritch Invocations: Agonising Blast and Beguiling Influence if you're the party leader, or Devil's Sight.

Spell: Armor of Agathys.

Level 4: Warlock 3. Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade. From now on, always bind your weapon after every Long Rest (important!).

Spell: Darkness. From now on, use Darkness at the beginning of a fight, try to only cover enemies. (Darkness is stupidly powerful against enemies, and having Devil's Sight means you don't get blinded. You are now a force to be reckoned with. Give your allies anti-blind items and they can join you.)

Level 5: Warlock 4.

Cantrip: Blade Ward.

Spell: Misty Step or Hold Person.

Feat: War Caster so enemies don't smack you out of dropping darkness.

Level 6: Warlock 5.

Eldritch Invocation: Beast Speech or Repelling Blast if you like to knock things off ledges.

Spell: Counterspell (so good).

You now have Deepened Pact, which gives you an extra attack. Unlike other extra attacks from other classes, this stacks! (except on Honour Mode)

Level 7: Finally on to Ranger. (You can also get Fighter 2 here if you want, it's up to you.)

Get any proficiency you like.

Favored Enemy: Bounty Hunter.

Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer Fire (other options are fine too).

Level 8: Ranger 2.

Fighting Style: Defence.

Spells: Ensnaring Strike and Longstrider.

Level 9: Ranger 3.

Subclass: Beast Master (Lily, finally!)

Spell: Enhance Leap or Cure Wounds.

Level 10: Ranger 4.

Feat: Dual Wielder or Ability Improvement (+2 Cha)

Level 12: Finally, Fighter 2.

Level 11: Ranger 5. We get an extra attack (which stacks with Deepend Pact which is soooo sexy) and Lily gets stronger.

Spell: Lesser Restoration.

All together, you should be a melee monster. You can hit 3 times in 1 turn, Darkness and high AC from heavy armor and your bonuses means enemies can't hit you but you can hit them quite well. Even without Darkness, Wyll and Lily can make mincemeat of monsters.

Other multiclasses you can try for Wyll are Paladinlock or Bardlock because of their matching stats, or Beast Master Ranger 11 Fighter 1 for a very strong wolf.

[rosymourning]

The Eldritch Druid - a Jaheira build

"War is an old woman's game."

Jaheira is a Circle of the Land Druid and Eldritch Knight Fighter, relying on spells and swords to get the job done. The High Harper can certainly hold her own.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

We’re leaning heavy into the build disclaimer I mention at the end of all my posts with this one. My priorities with this build are to get as close as I can to Jaheira’s original character… which was designed for 2e DnD and is basically nonfunctional in 5e. The best, most optimized multiclasses with Druid and Fighter all use the Circle of Spores subclass, but I will very much not be doing that (more on that in the Lore section at the end). Basically, this build is objectively not very good, but it feels right and that’s what I care most about.

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 7 Circle of the Land Druid, Level 5 Eldritch Knight Fighter

Jaheira’s (default) stats: STR 10 / DEX 14 / CON 14 / INT 8 / WIS 17 / CHA 12

Level 1 - Fighter Level 1

Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting

Level 2 - Fighter Level 2

Action Surge [nice]

Level 3 - Fighter (Eldritch Knight) Level 3

Cantrips: Ray of Frost and Shocking Grasp

1st Level Spells: Shield, Magic Missile, and Longstrider [these will use INT as the spellcasting modifier, so make sure not to pick something that uses the spellcasting modifier]

Level 4 - Fighter (Eldritch Knight) Level 4

Feat: ASI+ DEX>16

1st Level Spells: Burning Hands

Level 5 - Fighter (Eldritch Knight) Level 5

Extra Attack [now we’re at two main hand attacks and an off hand attack]

Level 6 - Druid Level 1

Cantrips: Guidance and Thorn Whip

1st Level Spells

Level 7 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 2

Wild Shape

Cantrips: add Resistance

Level 8 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 3

2nd Level Spells [would recommend Spike Growth]

Land Type: Coast

Level 9 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 4

Feat: Alert

Cantrips: add Produce Flame

Level 10 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 5

Wild Strike [aka Extra Attack but for Wild Shape]

3rd Level Spells [Plant Growth is my favorite]

Land Type: Coast

Level 11 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 6

Wild Shape: Panther [Jaheira famously loves turning into a Panther]

Level 12 - Druid (Circle of the Land) Level 7

4th Level Spells [the levels in Eldritch Knight will mean a total spellcaster level of 8, fyi]

Items

Armor - Armour of Agility (3 Stormshore Armoury) or Sharpened Snare Cuirass (2 Moonrise Towers) [pick which you think looks the coolest - one leans more into fighter aesthetic, and one more into druid aesthetic. they both have the Exotic Material property, and the other bonuses aren’t central to the build]

Melee Weapon -

Belm (3 Jaheira’s Basement) [this weapon is from previous games, fyi]

Sylvan Scimitar (2 Jaheira) [she’s already holding it!]

Ranged Weapon - Spellthief (1 Emerald Grove) [ok don’t judge me - obviously, this is a weak pick, but I tend not to stack my most powerful items on Jaheira… :/ sorry!]

Amulet - Khalid's Gift (3 Jaheira’s Basement)

Helmet - Helmet of Arcane Acuity (2 Mason Guild’s Basement) [this is not an Arcane Acuity build, so if you want to put it on another party member, do it — it’s not essential to the build at all. another option that will help the Eldritch Knight spells using INT is the Warped Headband of Intellect (1 Blighted Village). I also like the vibe of Scabby Pugilist Circlet (3 Rivington) and Browbeaten Circlet (2 Moonrise Towers) for Jaheira]

Ring 1 - Ring of Elemental Infusion (1 Crèche Y'llek)

Ring 2 - Explorer’s Ring (1 Dread Hollow) [not a great pick, but seems like the type of thing Jaheira would like]

Gloves - Unwanted Masterwork Gauntlets (3 Forge of the Nine) [something about these gauntlets feels SO Jaheira to me, I can’t get over it]

Boots - Boots of Elemental Momentum (1 Rosymorn Monastery Trail) or Boots of Genial Striding (1 Myconid Colony) [again, a fighter aesthetic option and a druid aesthetic option - I’m partial to the druid!]

Cloak - Vivacious Cloak (2 Grand Mausoleum)

Lore and Flavor

Jaheira is one of the most recognizable characters from previous games of Baldur’s Gate. ln the decades in real life and century in game, she has changed a lot in BG3 — and so has Dungeons & Dragons as a whole.

Multiclassing in DnD 2e is a whole different ballgame than multiclassing in 5e. Without diving into too many 2e mechanics, it was essentially possible to be fully leveling both classes at once, without missing much when compared to monoclass characters. These mechanics made Jaheira’s Fighter/Druid multiclass not only functional, but strong.

In 5e, multiclassing necessitates foregoing powerful abilities, and so multiclass builds that shine are the ones with high levels of synergy — which Fighter and Druid do not have. And yes, I recognize that Circle of Spores Druid functions better in melee than Circle of Land or Circle of Moon, but absolutely no line of dialogue from Jaheira from the past, present, or future would suggest that she should be a Circle of Spores Druid, and I cannot accept using that subclass. So we’re left with a disappointing lack of synergy.

At the risk of undervaluing Jaheira and getting way too meta, there is an argument to be made that her sticking with a build that is outdated and underutilized makes character sense, given her age and years spent as a high-profile adventurer.

Eldritch Knight might seem like an odd choice, given how strong Battle Master is. To be completely honest, adding Manoeuvres into Jaheira’s repertoire makes a lot of sense, given her background as a leader and commander. The reason I went with Eldritch Knight was basically just to have access to utility spells that would help plug the gap for a few of this build’s main weaknesses. If you wanted to use Battle Master instead, very little of the rest of the build would change. Also, I never played 2e so I might be wrong, but my understanding is that subclasses are a more recent creation, so there isn’t an obvious answer regardless.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[prince-of-the-comet]

Baldur's Gate 3 Builds: Deadeye

You don't need complicated multiclasses, respecs, and rare hand crossbows to make a good archer in Baldur's Gate 3. For a simple, solid, versatile, damage dealer for all occasions, look no further than the trusty Dexterity-based fighter.

(Confused by the terminology? Start here!)

Suggested Race: Any Medium. Sorry halfling and gnome-lovers: Small characters have disadvantage on attacks with heavy weapons in 5th edition, including both longbows and heavy crossbows.

Starting Class: Fighter

Final Level Distribution: Fighter 12 (Battlemaster or Champion)

Minimum Level Distribution: Fighter 5.

Recommended Statistics:

Strength: Low or higher. You're a fighter. You're going to want to wear exotic medium armor, so you're going to need to be at least strong enough to carry it. Other than that, there's enough finesse weapons around that you don't actually need to worry about it. 10 is fine, more is ok.

Dexterity: Dependent. You're an archer. Dexterity makes your build go.

Constitution: Medium or higher. No one can actually dump Constitution, but ideally you've got someone else on the frontline.

Intelligence: Dump. You're not an eldritch knight.

Wisdom: Low or higher. Your abilities don't run off of it, but it only takes one nasty dominate person to make you really wish fighters were better at Wisdom saves.

Charisma: Dump. You're not a paladin either.

Example starting stats:

Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 10.

Recommended Level Progression:

1-12: Fighter.

It's simple, it's solid, it's three attacks per round, four feats, and the fighting style you need. You don't need to mess with it.

Variants:

Ranger 12 (Gloom Stalker). Ranger's really the only other class that works for this, with the Archery fighting style and Ensnaring Strike for plentiful advantage. Take Bounty Hunter early and stay a Gloomstalker for all 12 levels to get Stalker's Flurry.

A free do-over if you miss isn't quite as good as a full third attack, but it's the next best thing.

Detailed Level Progression:

1: Fighter 1. Grab the archery fighting style. You're an archer, may as well commit to the bit. Grab a light crossbow on the nautiloid - it will hold you over until you get something better. We'll go over what something better is in the next section.

4: Fighter 4. You're still a fighter. Take Sharpshooter. This is the linchpin of every archery build. Sharpshooter gives you the option to take a -5 penalty to attack and in exchange gain +10 to damage with ranged weapons. You're going to want to use this - but not all the time. Why?

Statistics Interlude (or, 10d6 isn't 60 damage)

How much damage can a level 12 rogue expect to do with Sneak Attack? Well, they've got 6d6 sneak attack. So it looks like 36 damage (6x6=36). But unless you're extraordinarily lucky, you're not going to roll all 6s. Given that you have equal probability of rolling every value on a d6, the expected result is actually (1+2+3+4+5+6)/6 = 3.5 damage. Or, more simply:

The expected roll on a die is equal to (1+die sides)/2

This also means every flat +1 to damage is equivalent to increasing your die by one size (1d6 >> 1d8, 1d8 >> 1d10, etc.)

Sharpshooter, adding a flat 10 damage, is close to 3d6. You've almost snuck 5 levels of rogue into 4 levels of fighter, a pretty impressive magic trick with just a minor snag:

A -5 penalty to attack is approximately equivalent to disadvantage.

As an example, let's take a flat DC10 roll with no bonuses. You've got a 50% chance of succeeding. (10/20)

However, if you need to roll twice and both of those rolls need to come up 10 or better, suddenly you've got just a 25% chance of succeeding (10/20 * 10/20 = 100/400 = 1/4). Just as if the check had suddenly become DC15. It's a little different at high or low values (Disadvantage on a DC5 check ends up more like DC11 than DC10), but it's close enough for a rule of thumb.

And the problem is, if we miss, we deal no damage at all.

So to calculate expected damage per attack for a weapon, we need to multiply our expected damage by the odds we hit at all (subtract -25% from those odds, if you've flipped Sharpshooter on.) If you're dealing enough damage with each hit, or if your chance to hit is bad enough, at some point, you lose more expected damage to missing than you gain by adding not-quite-3d6.

And if you're really insane, you can make it into a chart:

This is modeled on a fairly mild mid-level longbow build with some kind of damage rider (ex: Malefic Band) The more damage per attack, the higher the crossover point (where Sharpshooter starts to become worth it) actually is. Note that the Sharpshooter crossover point is higher with advantage - that -5 penalty is a much sharper opportunity cost when it applies to both rolls!

In general:

If you've got at least a 60% chance to hit with a normal attack, use Sharpshooter.

If you've got advantage, turn Sharpshooter off unless you've got at least a 75% chance to hit! Any dice-based riders you can put on will be better. Battlemasters should use maneuvers, for instance.

To offset Sharpshooter penalties, we want flat bonuses. Every +1 and +2 you can scrape up is worth it.

Ok! Statistics over. Back to leveling.

Fighter 6, 8, and 11: Things to pick up at these levels: Dexterity (consider the Athlete feat if you're at an odd Dex), Dexterity, and Extra Attack (2nd edition).

Fighter 12: You've finally got a spare feat! Good stuff includes Crossbow Master (if you're committed to that lifestyle), Alert (to decrease Time To Arrows), and Magic Initiate: Ranger or Warlock.

Items of interest:

We're only really interested in two things for this build:

Increasing our flat to-hit. Every point we can get to offset the Sharpshooter penalty helps.

Big heavy ranged weapons. The bigger, the better.

Hitting Better:

The Sparkle Hands - Forest. Pairs with the Joltshooter for situational advantage against anything wearing metal armor, which is quite a few enemies. This is a rare case where advantage is worth pursuing just because it's available so early and without any action cost.

Marksmanship Hat - Moonrise Towers. Flat +1 to hit, and look dapper doing it.

Horns of the Berserker - Wyrm's Crossing. A situational +2 to hit, if you're confident in your ability to hit. Turn off Sharpshooter just long enough to draw blood, then turn it on and hit even harder.

Legacy of the Masters - Lower City. The only thing better than a flat +1 to hit is a flat +2 to hit.

Circlet of Hunting. Specific to rangers and characters with Magic Initiate, but the +1d4 is just a touch better than Horns of the Berserker, and doesn't hurt you if you roll badly.

Big Heavy Ranged Weapons:

The Joltshooter - Waukeen's Rest. This is a solid longbow for most of the game, accessible as early as level 2-3. Pairs well with the Sparkle Hands. Unless you've also got at least 14 Strength, the bursting electricity damage will be more effective than the Titanstring Bow.

Harold - Zhentarim Hideout. For a more support-oriented character, a Harold-wielding archer is the perfect counterpart to a save-or-suck caster.

The Dead Shot - Lower City. Sharpshooter's perfect match, this bow doubles your proficiency bonus, effectively granting a +4 to hit so long as you avoid having true disadvantage. This is my favorite bow to use with this build, just be prepared to drop a lot of coin to get it.

Hellfire Engine Crossbow - Steel Watch Foundry. Though once again, support-oriented or hybrid characters might prefer a big crossbow. Being able to reposition allies and enemies alike is a useful skill, particularly since creatures moved by another force don't provoke attacks of opportunity.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Zandrel - CR4 Aberration

Weird coincidences are common when a Zandrel is near.

Artwork by Kez Laczin on ArtStation, official art from Numenera, copyright Monte Cook Games.

The zandrel is a monster originally designed for the Numenera tabletop RPG, a scifi game with some of the most insane and outrageous monster concepts of any game out there. Unfortunately, the actual combat mechanics for said monsters are very lacking in rules, mostly just leaving it up to the game master to decide how to mechanically represent what the bestiary's lore says they can do.

Monte Cook Games did release a D&D 5e book full of 5e stat blocks for their Numenera monsters, but the zandrel in that book is still basically just all fluff and no mechanics. It gets advantage on all d20 rolls and is otherwise just a CR4 bird. With this Pathfinder version, I hoped to give it some real gameplay at the table, both before and during combat.

A zandrel is an aerial predator that has amazing vision and hunts by either day or night. It can glide on updrafts in the air for days or possibly months at a time before it must descend to rest or hunt again. It can usually rise so high that it is essentially invisible to creatures on the ground, though its eyesight is so keen that it can clearly see anything that moves on the surface even when it's miles high. RAW, seeing a creature flying half a mile above you in plain sight is a DC 264 Perception check, so when I say "essentially invisible" that's actually quite an understatement.

A zandrel often hunts by choosing a target, following it for hours or days while flying high in the air overhead, and waiting for the ultra-likely random encounters or some crazy stuff from its Improbable Events table to wear the target down before swooping down to attack in the middle of one such event. It has no special knowledge of what events will occur.

If you're not using random encounters, and are instead hand-choosing or fudging when and where your encounters take place, I would suggest having a wild animal or a group of bandits or a PC's long-lost sister or something else that feels "random" attack the PCs just before the zandrel does, to get the same feel. Alternately you can just wait until the Improbable Events table hits them with something nasty.

The way this creature interacts with random encounters will be interesting to certain kinds of GMs and not others. I wanted to include that, but I also tried to make the rest of its abilities interesting enough that it still felt like a cool monster even if you're not using that aspect of it. It's still much more GM-fiat-reliant than a typical Pathfinder monster - Pathfinder is a game where abilities normally have very specific and well-defined effects, and this is a monster that can cause almost anything to happen. It's a good monster to use if you enjoy improv in your games.

GMs should feel free to customize the Improbable Events table to their liking. If you want absolute chaos instead of just highly unlikely coincidences, you could have certain results on this table create a wild magic surge or even cause the GM to roll on the d10000 net libram of random magical effects.

This is a commissioned monster.

Zandrel - CR 4

Descending from overhead is a large, vaguely birdlike creature with a wicked beak, red and black feathers that end with barbs and spikes, and legs that feature cruel talons. Tiny glowing white motes of light drift in the air around it.

XP 1,200 N Large aberration Init +3 Senses blindsight 30 ft., long-distance vision, see in darkness; Perception +17 Aura improbability field (1 mile)

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, –1 size) hp 39 (6d8+12) Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +8 Immune poison

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (good) Melee 2 talons +7 (1d6+3 plus grab) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks constrict (talon, 1d6+3 plus poison), flash of misfortune, swoop down

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 11 Base Atk +4; CMB +7 (+11 grapple); CMD 20 Feats Endurance, Flyby Attack, Weapon Focus (talon) Skills Fly +11, Perception +17, Stealth +3, Survival +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Survival SQ improbability field, improbable events

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Flash of Misfortune (Su) As an immediate action, when a creature other than itself within 100 ft. makes a d20 roll, a zandrel can force it to roll twice. The zandrel chooses which die result is used.

Improbability Field (Ex) Within 1 mile of a zandrel, whenever a creature rolls on a d100 table or similar large table of random results, including random encounter tables, the GM should roll 5 times and choose the most interesting result. This does not apply to the zandrel's own Improbable Events table.

Additionally, within 1 mile of a zandrel, whenever a creature rolls to determine if it runs into a random encounter, the GM should roll 5 times. A random encounter occurs if any die roll results in a random encounter.

Improbable Events (Ex) Once per hour, the zandrel can roll on the following table, causing one of the following effects to happen after a 1d10 x 5 minute delay:

1-20: Abnormal weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 21-30: Storm weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 31-40: Powerful storm weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 41-50: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile encounters one of the previous 10 enemy groups fought by that creature, chosen at random (reroll any option that is impossible). 51-53: Lightning strikes a random creature or object, or a creature or object of the GM's choice, within 1 mile, dealing 5d6 electricity damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves). 54-56: Lightning strikes creature or object of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile, dealing 5d6 electricity damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves). 57-58: A meteorite falls from space and strikes a space of the GM's choice within 1 mile, creating a 20 ft. radius crater and dealing 5d6 bludgeoning damage to creatures and objects in that area, ignoring hardness less than 20. A DC 13 Reflex save halves the damage, and all creatures within 1 mile of the zandrel that can see the sky receive a DC 20 Perception check to notice the meteorite falling 1 round before it lands, and those that see it can make a DC 20 Knowledge (geography) check to determine where it will land. The meteorite contains 200 GP worth of adamantine. 59-60: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile, and everything else within the stampede's area, is trampled by a 20-ft.-wide stampede of wild animals moving in a straight line, and takes 4d6+9 bludgeoning damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves), as described in the summon stampede spell. 61-65: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile steps on a concealed bear trap that was left behind. 66-99: Nothing 100: A random creature, or a creature of the GM's choice, within 1 mile, locates a treasure trove containing 1d10 x 500 gp worth of mundane treasure.

Long-Distance Vision (Ex) When making sight-based Perception checks and other sight-based skill checks that take the same penalty for distance, instead of the normal -1 penalty per 10 feet, a zandrel only takes a -1 penalty per 1000 feet.

Poison (Ex) Constrict—injury; save Fortitude DC 15; frequency instantaneous; effect overwhelmed for 1 round; cure N/A. This poison is applied each round that the constrict damage is dealt, and does not continue afterwards.

An overwhelmed creature is staggered and cannot concentrate. If an overwhelmed creature attacks or casts a spell, it falls prone and becomes helpless until the beginning of its next turn after doing so. Effects that would remove or prevent the paralyzed or nauseated conditions also remove or prevent the overwhelmed condition.

Swoop Down (Ex) As a full-round action while flying or falling, a zandrel can fly downwards at a speed of up to 800 ft. per round (the speed of a falling object), and make a talon attack against a target at the end of its fall, ending its movement flying at ground level without taking falling damage or requiring a Fly check. This counts as a charge, giving the zandrel a +2 bonus to attack on the charge and -2 AC for one round afterwards. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

[nightshadedawn]

What does it say about me that most of the characters I play as are guys?

I mean, okay, look, first ever D&D character I made? Erevan Mastacia. A high elf that ended up as apart of some guy's harem. One of the kids of a friend he made in the harem goes missing. This is practically his kid too so he runs away to go after her and find her.

D&D character I just made? Probably going to end up an NPC in a campaign because I can't for the life of me be a player I have to DM, but regardless. Beilamin "Bell" Oakheel. An acolyte of the Sun Warrior (goddess of knowledge, war, and motherhood, part of the pantheon on the campaign I've been running for years). Gets kicked out of his Sanctuary after being accused of heresy. This man, this beautiful man, looks like a fucking wizard with wizard robes and everything, but he is a barbarian. (16 INT, 13 STR) He can't talk to people for shit. (8 CHA) I love him so much rn.

But like, I play the Sims too, you know? To this day, my favorite family was this gay couple and their daughter. I made them divorce day 1 because I needed that drama for storyline purposes, and I continued to play with the trans dad Mihail. (The other dad had a crazy story without my help, he had children with 4 or 5 different women) Mihail went on to have kids with Santa. It was beautiul.

And like, I played this visual novel, Red Embrace: Hollywood. (I don't recommend it unless you are okay with not getting a happy ending, because they do not exist in this game.) Anyway, I got so feral over the character I made, Simon Whitethorne, that I made an entire lore and new world for him. He's trans, for starters, and was kicked out of his family for being so, leaving him destitute and struggling. Had two kids before he got turned, Estelle and Ashton, and almost died getting an illegal abortion because he couldn't afford a third. Got a vampire boyfriend (the one who turned him) but broke up because he wouldn't abandon his two young, human children and refused to turn them because of how young they were. Gets involved with Neoma, a recently turned vampire, and Blu, an ancient vampire who's taken on so many names, faces, and identities that they no longer remember who they were. Simon. Makes. Me. Feral. He's just so sweet and soft and human even after he gets turned. And he's also a bundle of anxiety. This is the character I make and play as in most other visual novels and interactive fiction.

I feel like this shit says something about me but I'm not... sure... what. (And I am legitimately confused because I've done the introspection. Some days I'd like to be more masculine, but I've also gotten very comfortable being feminine or not ahearing to either. I have no idea what's going on.)

[paperanddice]

Elemental Locus

Elemental loci are living spirits that embody a whole section of the world. Truly immortal, even destroying its body simply lays it dormant for a time, up to several centuries, before it simply re-inhabits another section of land and returns. They may be suppressed for a time as natural Icons lay low and Icons of civilization hold great power, but with the return of the High Druid those elemental loci which have been dormant for some time are waking up again, and may unleash nature's wrath upon a world that seeks to abuse and strip mine itself of all beauty and resources.

An elemental locus' form is the land itself. Most often stone comprises a good portion of their body, though forests, coastlines, and even the air itself may be animated into action. Often one of them can lay in rest while an entire city grows around it, only waking up when prompted by an especially egregious act against nature, such as mass pollution or escalating resource depletion. When the entire hillside rises up to fight you, few can withstand it.

Inspired by the Tome of Beasts 1. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

Pathfinder 2e

Elemental Locus Creature 17 Rare, Gargantuan, Elemental Perception +28; darkvision, tremorsense 120 feet Skills Athletics +34, Nature +27, Survival +27 Str +9, Dex -5, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +0 Embody Terrain Each elemental locus is bound to a region of land up to a hundred square miles. It takes on the elemental nature of that region of land. Select three elements from air, earth, fire, metal, water, and wood. The elemental locus gains the traits matching this choice, and learns the language matching those elements. Massive The elemental locus takes up a 60-foot by 60-foot space. It ignores difficult terrain, and treats greater difficult terrain as difficult terrain. Huge and smaller creatures can end their movement in the elemental locus' space, and vice versa AC 37; Fort +32, Ref +23, Will +27; +2 status to all saves vs. primal HP 385; Immunities bleed, paralyzed, poison, sleep; Resistances physical 15 (except adamantine) Immortal (primal) When the elemental locus is destroyed, it re-forms 25 weeks later, fully healed. Speed 15 feet Melee ridge +32 (reach 15 feet, magical), Damage 3d12+19 bludgeoning Ranged rock +32 (brutal, magical, range increment 120 feet), Damage 3d6+19 bludgeoning Giant Slam [2 actions] The elemental locus makes a single ridge Strike and compares the attack roll result to the AC of all creatures within a 15 foot cube anywhere within its reach. This counts as two attacks for the elemental locus' multiple attack penalty. Natural Formation [1 action] (concentrate) Until the next time it acts, the elemental locus appears to be a natural terrain feature. It has an automatic result of 52 on Deception checks and DCs to pass as a section of terrain Spawn Elemental [1 action] (concentrate, primal, summon) The elemental locus loses 110 hp, and it summons one creature with the elemental trait, at least one trait that matches a choice from the elemental locus' Embody Terrain, and is level 13 or lower. This summoned elemental remains for 24 hours, or until the elemental locus dismisses it as an action with the concentrate trait. This action also gains the trait matching the choice from Embody Terrain. Throw Rock [1 action]

13th Age

Elemental Locus Triple-Strength 12th level wrecker [elemental] Initiative: +13 Swinging Ridge +17 vs. AC (3 attacks) – 90 damage. Natural 14+: The target pops free from the elemental locus. Natural 18+: The target is also stunned until the end of its next turn. R: Hurdled Stone +17 vs. AC (1d3 nearby or far-away enemies in a group) – 90 damage. Crushing Avalanche +17 vs. PD (1d4 nearby enemies) – 140 damage. Natural Even Hit: The target is stuck (save ends). Limited Use: The elemental locus can only use this attack when the escalation die is even. Spawn Elemental: If the elemental locus takes 200 damage from a single source, it calves off an elemental. It summons an air, earth, fire, or water elemental (choose at random, see below). The summoned elemental appears next to the elemental locus and enters initiative after the next two creatures have taken their turn. Resist Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning 18+. AC 27 PD 27 MD 21 HP 1300 Level 12 Elemental Slam +17 vs. AC – 60 damage. Elemental Type: Each elemental type that the elemental locus spawns has its own additional ability: Air: The elemental has the flight ability and has a +5 bonus to disengage checks. Earth: The elemental gains a +2 bonus to AC and PD. Fire: The elemental deals fire damage with its slams and deals 10 ongoing fire damage. Water: The elemental has the swim ability, and has a +2 bonus to saves. Resist Weapon Damage 14+. AC 27 PD 25 MD 22 HP 100

[kanohirren]

How to Make Etho in DnD

I’ll go level by level and explain the reasoning behind my decisions and how I think it fits them in character. This build assumes starting at level 8 but includes notes on differences if you start at level 1 and progress to 8. This isn't intended as a guide on how to play dnd, just how to build this character.

Class: Artificer (Battle Smith) 5, Rogue (Inquisitive) 3

Race: Human (Variant) or regular Human if you don’t use feats.

Base Ability Scores:

Str 8 (-1)

Dex 14, (+2)

Con 10 (+0)

Int 15 (+2) +1 from race = 16 (+3)

Wis 13 (+1) +1 from race = 14 (+2)

Cha 12 (+1)

Background: Mercenary Veteran

Etho was an especially interesting character to build. I wanted to make sure to incorporate his redstone prowess (hence the artificer) but also acknowledge that he is very good at the social aspect of games and very good at sneaking around (hence the rogue). I opted to give him high intelligence as that is the main stat of the Artificer, but also gave him decent Dexterity. I also gave him decent Wisdom and Charisma due to him being so good in social situations, but unfortunately he’s a bit washed up at melee combat, so he has low strength and constitution.

Before getting into the classes, let’s start with the variant human race features:

Feat: Fighting Initiate, choose the Archery fighting style for a +2 bonus to your ranged attack rolls (leading to more consistent damage) (Etho bow skills baybee)

Skill proficiency: choose History (because Etho’s been around a long time, his knowledge of Minecraft or whatever world this takes place in is unmatched)

And the Mercenary Veteran background features:

Skill proficiencies: Athletics and Persuasion

Mercenary Life: You can identify other mercenary factions and find mercenary work. (I considered the Hermit background but ended up going with this one instead.)

At 1st level, we take a level in Rogue. This grants us:

Proficiency in light armour

Proficiency in simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords

Proficiency in thieves’ tools

Proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws.

Skill proficiencies: Insight, Perception, Stealth and Investigation (chosen with Etho’s skills at reading people and assessing situations in mind)

Expertise in two proficient skills: Insight and Stealth

Sneak attack: an extra 1d6 damage on enemies if you have advantage on the attack or if an enemy of your target is within 5 ft. of them (doesn’t activate if you have disadvantage).

Thieves’ Cant: Some sort of secret code. Maybe only understood by other Canadians (What’s the deal with bathroom p-)

Starting as a rogue instead of artificer gives you access to better saving throws and more skill proficiencies. The tradeoff is delaying your power spike at level 5. If you’re starting below level 6, you could start artificer instead and only multiclass into rogue after at least five levels in artificer, but this leads to a slightly different build.

At 2nd level, we take our first level in Artificer. This grants us:

Proficiency in medium armour and shields

Proficiency in tinkers tools and one other artisan tool of your choice (suggested alchemist’s supplies, you’ll get smith’s tools later)

Magical Tinkering: A fun little device you can make that lets you either make a little bit of light, record a message, play a sound or make a small image. You could use this to play intimidating boogeyman music or secretly pass information.

Two Cantrips: Mending (useful for repairing tools and also really helpful for later class features, Create Bonfire (flint and steel)

1st level spells (reflavoured to be technology): Artificers are prepared casters, meaning they can swap out their spells after a long rest. At level 1 with 16 Intelligence, you can have 3 prepared spells. My suggested spells are: Alarm (redstone trap with a tripwire), Feather Fall (he’s gotten pretty good at mlg water buckets) and Absorb Elements (just a solid defensive spell)

Artificers are pretty loaded at lvl 1 in terms of utility but aren’t super strong in the damage department yet. Without any damaging spells, your main source of damage would be using a shortbow and getting sneak attack damage off. Tinkering and technological side of the class feel perfect for Etho and most of the other Redstoners on the list.

At 3rd level, we take a second level in Artificer. This grants us:

Four Infusions known: useful feature that lets you enchant items. Though you can choose four options, only two of them can be active at a time. Choose Repeating Shot, Replicate Magic Item, Enhanced Weapon and Enhanced Defense

Two Infused Items: Take Repeating Shot and infuse a shortbow to give it +1 to your attack and damage rolls. Also take Replicate Magic Item, one of the most versatile infusions that lets you create a magic item from a list that can be useful in almost every situation. Go-to is Rope of Climbing because it’s the closest to ladders (ayy, he goes up he goes down).

One more prepared spell: Suggested Identify (always a useful spell)

The infused items are how I imagine Etho upgrading his weapons using redstone. Adding some sort of aim assist to his bow or making night vision goggles using redstone, that sort of thing just feels Etho to me. With a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage from Repeating Shot infusion, your lower stat in dexterity is somewhat made up for and should suffice until level 3.

At 4th level, we take a third level in Artificer. This grants us:

The Right Tool for the Right Job: handy feature that lets you create any type of tools you might need.

Artificer Subclass: Battle Smith

Battle Smith grants you some very useful things.

Proficiency in smith’s tools

Extra prepared spells: Heroism and Shield

Battle Ready: Proficiency in Martial Weapons and when you attack with a magic weapon, you can use Intelligence instead of strength or dexterity. Super important because now we can upgrade to a longbow instead of a shortbow and use our higher intelligence stat instead of dexterity to deal more damage with our longbow.

Steel Defender: A little robot friend that can aid you in combat. As sneak attack doesn’t require a creature, just an enemy, your Steel Defender can in fact provide sneak attack. The downside is that it takes its turn after yours, not before, so some planning might be required. If you don’t need your bonus action for anything else, it can also attack people so that can alleviate the lack of an extra attack at level 5 if you’re starting below level 6. Unfortunately, Rogues make use of their bonus actions very often so it might just be a sneak attack provider. On the bright side, you can restore its health using the Mending cantrip.

Now here’s where things get interesting. Now Etho gets to use his Intelligence for his bow attacks, which optimizes the build a little in terms of stats. With a 16 in intelligence, you have a +3 modifier. Your ranged attacks will start being very consistent. +3 from intelligence, +2 from archery fighting style, +2 from proficiency bonus, that’s a +7 to hit, which is really good at this early of a level.

I also think it’s just very Etho to use intelligence-based attacks.

At 5th level, we take a fourth level in Artificer. This grants us:

Ability Score Improvement OR Feat: Etho doesn’t really need another feat at this point, so we take a +2 to our Intelligence, bumping it up to 18 (+4), which not only affects our number of artificer spells we can have prepared but also makes the longbow even better!

More prepared spells: Now that we have 4 levels in artificer and a +4 intelligence modifier, we can have 6 total prepared spells. If we count the previous suggested ones, we can have two more. Suggested: Disguise Self (he’s a cheeky boy) and Sanctuary (when he doesn’t want trouble).

The increase to intelligence is very helpful here, and if you’ve started below level 6 the extra consistency should slightly make up for the lack of extra attack until you get it next level. With your proficiency bonus now being +3, your attack rolls will be 4 (int) + 3 (prof. b) + 2 (archery) +1 (infusion) for a total of +10 to hit. You won’t miss very often.

At 6th level, we take a fifth level in Artificer. This grants us:

Subclass feature: Extra Attack

2nd level spells: Suggested: replace a 1st level spell with Invisibility (Etho likes to snoop around) flavour this as like camouflage technology or something.

This is where the build starts to really pick up. Intelligence based attacks means that you’re not suffering from lack of building dexterity because sneak attack only requires ranged or finesse weapons. The stat used doesn’t matter. With two attacks, you both double your damage output on your longbow itself (with EXTREMELY consistent attack rolls at a +10 to hit) and give yourself two chances to land that sneak attack damage (which is still only a d6 for now but that will soon change).

At 7th level, we take a second level in Rogue. This grants us:

Cunning Action: you can dash, disengage or hide as a bonus action.

Not much to say here other than that cunning action is extremely useful. With the ability to hide as a bonus action, you can grant yourself advantage consistently, meaning you no longer need to rely on your Steel Defender or party members to provide sneak attack. This also means you will pretty much never miss your first shot, because with advantage, you will on average be rolling at about +15 to hit (advantage statistically provides roughly a +5 bonus on average on top of your already high +10).

At 8th level, we take a third level in Rogue. This grants us:

Subclass: Inquisitive

Inquisitive grants:

Ear for Deceit: This is why we chose Expertise in Insight. With this feature, you can never roll below an 8 for Insight. With Expertise and a +2 wisdom modifier, that gives you a +8 bonus to your insight rolls, meaning your minimum insight roll is 16 every time. Sure, a high deception character could probably roll higher than that, but the important part is the consistency as well as the synergy with one of the other Inquisitive features.

Eye for Detail: You can use a bonus action to try to spot a hidden creature or search for clues. Not terribly useful outside of combat, but also very situational in combat.

Insightful Fighting: You can use a bonus action to use Insight vs the target’s Deception. If you roll higher, you can use sneak attack on them for 1 minute without needing advantage. Again, the high consistent Insight rolls will be extremely useful here.

I was facing a dilemma between Swashbuckler and Inquisitive for Etho. Swashbuckler is a bit better in combat with the ability to avoid opportunity attacks and the ability to get sneak attacks without spending a bonus action (all you need is for your target to be isolated) but the Inquisitive abilities just said “Etho” way more to me. The ability to just never roll low on Insight and the whole “figuring out a weakness” and investigative nature of the subclass just felt far more fitting to me, even if it is less optimal.

Summary:

Final Stats:

Str 8 (-1)

Dex 14, (+2)

Con 10 (+0)

Int 18 (+4)

Wis 14 (+2)

Cha 12 (+1)

Feat: Fighting Initiate (Archery)

Sneak Attack (2d6)

Minimum Insight roll of 16.

Two Attacks

Longbow attack: +4 (int) +3 (prof. bonus) +2 (archery) +1 (infusion) = +10 to hit, 1d8 + 5 piercing dmg.

Artificer Infusions: Enhanced Defense, Repeating Shot, Enhanced Weapon, Replicate Magic Item (Rope of Climbing)

Cantrips: Mending, Create Bonfire

1st and 2nd lvl spells: prepare up to 6.

And that’s it for Etho! This one was super interesting to make, because there are so many aspects of Etho that make him who he is, and it was really making him a multiclass combo that’s less common but also works well. If anyone has any suggestions or feedback, I’d love to read them! ^^

[circlique]

I drew a reference for my current DND character, but if today's session goes poorly it may end up being a tribute instead rip.

Vincent La Cour | he/him | Aromantic/Pansexual | High Elf | Bard | Chaotic Neutral

STR 8 | DEX 16 | CON 12 | INT 11 | WIS 13 | CHA 16

Feat: Actor - Advantage on performance and deception checks when trying to pass as a different person. Can imitate voices. Background: An elven noble whose sole goal is to gain power among his peers through their love and adoration. To do this, he has decided he will become the most famous actor in the land. He is extremely comfortable in his own skin and slips into any role with ease. His persona has so overtaken his personality that it borders on delusion, with him being so self-absorbed that he regards his fellow party members as his "co-stars" and has assigned them roles and arcs ("This is the peak of your redemption arc!", "You're my manager, tell them to go away."), and mostly just keeps them around for his own benefit after his old acting troupe ditched him. He has focused most of his magic towards changing his appearance and creating practical effects (including pyrotechnics) for his performances---and for forcing others to be a part of them when uncooperative. He is mostly viewed as harmless and an annoyance by others, but can be a real menace when he wants to.

*Side note: He was originally conceived as a very flamboyant vampire to be a villain in a one shot I was planning, but the one shot never happened, so I decided to play him pre-vampire for this campaign.

Current Spell List:

-Firebolt -Minor Illusion -Prestidigation -Vicious Mockery -Bane -Charm Person -Disguise Self -Cure Wounds -Dissonant Whispers -Cloud of Daggers (flavored as Cloud of Petals, same effect) -Greater Invisibility -Hold Person -Phantasmal Force -Hypnotic Pattern -Vampiric Touch -Fireball

And the unused vampire recolor!

[madwomansapologist]

since bg3 really said "fuck you, wyll ravengard" (like in my others two playthroughs i also saw how he was treated poorly but damn now that i'm romacing him it's even more clear that he simply has no new scenes, no dialogues, nothing at all. i have the highest rate with him since early in act one and i still had no new interaction) i created a new tav

remember when i said i would make Lenore, the cleric with the tower in the Underdark? well, there she is!

she's a cleric of nature, follower of mystra, high elve and a outlander. str 8, dex 10, con 14, int 12, wis 17, cha 14. i'm counting with the hag to put have her wis at 20 by level 9 or something.

if y'all explored the Underdark, we can learn A LOT about Lenore. with some conversations we know she was reclused, only cared for her studies about sussur bark, and decided not to join the sob to focus on it. with some letters, we discovered her lover went out of the tower and never came back, and it's implicity stated she was killed because her belongings were in a really dangerous area. in her diaries we discover she was a really sad and lonely person, and that decided to travel alone to baldur's gate in hope of having a better life. it isn't explained if she got there or if she was killed by a monster during her journey.

since i liked a lot how the game just put a lot of her storie on the whole map for the Underdark, she quickly became one of my favorite pen pal stories, all together with M and the hag. so i decided to create her and give Lenore the happy ending she deserves!

i know it seems more natural to make her a drow, but i think by making her a high elve it will be even more apparent how alone she was there. and also to make her a sage, but i like to imagine she chose to go to the underdark for her studies and i think that this means a lot more than her academic sucess since one of her last decisions was to leave it all behind and go to baldur's gate.

since i think she is really shy and introspective, i gave her no tattoos or huge acessories. still, her eye shadow is purple-ish and she uses lipstick, because i also thinks she cares a lot about being able to control her appearence. she is blonde, not white like Daphne/Astarion/Shadowheart but more in a golden tone, but dry her hair purple because her love for Mystra moved her. she hated it. she is a milimeter away from cutting her own bangs.

since her story seem to happen a few years before the act 1, i imagine she's 50ish. she has wrinkles and a bit of grays. her cool scar is because a huge book fell on her nose while she studied.

she was on her way out of the Underdark when the nautiloid kidnapped her. she will probably romance Karlach, i think her joy will feat her sadness pretty well.

also her guardian is Daphne, but i forgot to print it

[jb-nonsense]

My Baldur's Gate 3 Character Information

Below cut is the various Characters I have made for Baldur's Gate 3, whether they are central to my canon, a romance run character, or a side/background character to support the central characters. This list is subject to fluctuation based on revisions to my storyline set up.

Tavs and Durge

Name: Durante Faust Age: 28 Species: Tiefling Class: Warlock (Archfey) Stats: STR: 10 DEX: 13 CON: 14 INT: 11 WIS: 10 CHA: 17 Height: 5'11" | 1.8 M Build: He's got sculpted arms due to his work as an artisan, and while a bit on the leaner side, has a bit of a belly and not so toned torso. Hair: Black, tight curls in long dreadlocks with streaks of blue. Also has a full heard. Eyes: Bright, light blue on black sclera under a heavy brow Skin tone: A medium violet tone, rich and saturated Other features: Has blue, corkscrew style horns and a scar on the right side of his lips, with piercings on his ears. Family: Family is unknown, refuses to talk about them Romance(?): Lae'zel planned, subject to change Friends: Talilah Bluethorn, Tavinkas, Gwenifar van Hol, Astarion Ancunin, Wyll Ravengard, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Karlach Cliffgate, Halsin, and others Enemies: Absolutists Personality: He refuses to have a care in the world, preferring to enjoy himself and have fun. He isn't keen on being responsible for others, but he also doesn't like being cruel to the undeserving. He seeks pleasures and thrills as a way to forget something he doesn't want to remember. Backstory summary: Trained as an artisan, specializing in stone work, Durante made his way from a backwater rough and tumble village to being sought after for his near life like work. But everything eventually comes to an end, an end he doesn't like discussing and what bought him to make a deal with an archfey. He was on the road to Waterdeep to look for work when he was captured.

Name: Gwenifar van Hol Age: 32 Species: Human Class: Life Cleric of Ilmater Stats: STR: 11 DEX: 12 CON: 10 INT: 14 WIS: 16 CHA: 13 Height: 5'6" | 1.68 M Build: Good muscle build beneath a bit of fat layer, but in generally decent shape as a cleric. Hair: Red-gold, with some curl to it, long to mid back length. Keeps half pulled back post of the time Eyes: Blue and round Skin tone: light, pinkish human tone Other features: has freckles on her cheeks but most predominantly on her shoulders Family: A mother named Elena, an older sister named Dana, and a grandmother named Gena. Romance(?): Gale Dekarios Friends: Talilah Bluethorn, Tavinkas, Durante Faust, Astarion Ancunin, Wyll Ravengard, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Karlach Cliffgate, Halsin, and others Enemies: Absolutists, Klaudius Sarrick Personality: Curious and with a drive to do what's good and to help others. She has a strong sense of duty and moral compass. She worries about missing out on things, though, sometimes, so has to have control on her impulses. She has a dangerous righteous fury, though, when someone is sadistically cruel to someone. Backstory summary: Gwenifar is the younger of two daughters. When her older sister became ill when they were preteens, Gwenifar went to every temple and prayed to the gods to help heal her sister. Ilmater was the one who answered and offered a deal: suffer in her sister's place. Gwenifar, being around 11 years, agreed to it and around 10 years as a shut in. She studied, did art and music to alleviate it. When she was well, her sister had moved on with her life with a husband and children. Trying to figure out her own steps, Gwenifar decided after missing so much, to dedicate herself to Ilmater as a cleric to help others. She was doing charity work in Baldur's Gate when she was taken.

Name: Talilah Bluethorn Age: 136 Species: High Elf (half sun and half moon) Class: Bard Stats: STR: 9 DEX: 16 CON: 13 INT: 12 WIS: 12 CHA: 15 Height: 5'3" | 1.6 M Build: Thin, gymnast build from her work as an aerial silk acrobat Hair: Bright red, long with a little wave to it, usually keeps on side braided Eyes: Dark blue and wide and round Skin tone: Light-medium golden hued, a slight hint of a blue undertone from her mother's heritage Other features: has sparse freckles and a rose tattoo on the left side of her neck Family: A mother named Kyrirthlila Bluethorn, and her father's name isn't known to her, she just knows he's a sun elf nobleman (Arakhivaen Saliriador) Romance(?): Astarion Ancunin Friends: Gwenifar van Hol, Tavinkas, Durante Faust, Gale Dekarios, Wyll Ravengard, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Karlach Cliffgate, Halsin, and others Enemies: Absolutists, lord I need to name Personality: A spitfire with an enjoyment for heroic tales, not much can keep Talilah down. She's ever the optimist, refusing to let anything heavy pull her down. She's a bit impulsive, which can cause problems, but she's decent at planning when she sits down and tries. She has a strong personality and can command an entire room's attention of she desires it. She's not against a little cruelty and mockery to those who deserve it, though. Backstory summary: Talilah was born from the affair of a sun elf nobleman and a moon elf performer/thief. Her mother had left the lands her father lived in when she learned she was pregnant, and despite her attempts to notify him, he never responded to her letters. Deciding to just raise Talilah on her own, she taught her the trade of the performing troupe: entertain the corrupt well-to-do and steal from the blind to give back to those who truly need it. Talilah excelled and being half sun-elf, she earned attention due to the rarity of a golden elf. She learned the aerial silks as well, playing the distraction for her mother and the others to work. Yet all things come to an end and that happened in Baldur's Gate. Her troupe captured, the nobleman gave her a deal; work for him and he wouldn't have the troupe executed. Talilah was kidnapped while heading to a job for the nobleman.

Name: Tavinkas Age: Believed to be in his 70s Species: Half wood elf Class: Sorcerer Stats: STR: 8 DEX: 13 CON: 15 INT: 12 WIS: 10 CHA: 17 Height: 6"1" | 1.86 M Build: Lean, not overly muscular but you can see some definition in certain lighting Hair: Shaved on the sides, black with gray in it, pulled back into a braid. Also has facial hair styled in a circle beard. Eyes: His right eye is a bright, enchanting green and his left eye is blood red on black. Skin tone: Darker medium tone with a ruddy undertone to it Other features: Has green scales around his eyes from his draconic heritage, as well as a swirling black marking coming from his red eye. Has skull earrings. Family: Unknown to him, but a pure bhaalspawn Romance(?): Wyll Ravengard planned, subject to change Friends: Gwenifar van Hol, Talilah Bluethorn, Durante Faust, Gale Dekarios, Wyll Ravengard, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Karlach Cliffgate, Halsin, and others Enemies: Absolutists Personality: Tavinkas suffers from a duality of person. At the basis, he's calculating, thoughtful, and careful. He thinks things through as best he can before he puts them into action. He's charming without even trying to be. Yet the duality is between the darkness clawing at him, demanding he enjoy other's suffering and death, and then the small, broken part of him that wants to be more, be better, and do what's right. Backstory summary: TBA as I play more of the game with him

Side Characters

Name: Arakhivaen Saliriador Age: 357 Species: High Elf (Sun) Class: Paladin Stats: STR: 17 DEX: 12 CON: 13 INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 14 Height: 6'0" | 1.83 M Build: Muscular, with broad shoulders and a triangular torso Hair: Bright red with copper highlights curls, kept shorter but not too short Eyes: Green, slender with a confident glint Skin tone: A warm medium bronze with a gold hue to it Other features: Has various scars from battles Family: Talilah Bluethorn (daughter), A mother, at least one younger sibling, WIP Romance(?): Kyrirthlila Bluethorn (previously), Halsin (possibly) Friends: To be developed Enemies: Lolth sworn drow Backstory summary: Arakhivaen is the eldest child of a prominent sun elf family, who have considerable power in Evermeet. Wishing to further his family's reach, he traveled to Evereska, becoming a respected commander of the guard. In this time, he met a traveling entertaining troupe and began a decades long affair with moon elf performer. The affair ended, though, in 1356 DR when the elves were called back to Evermeet and Arakhivaen heeded the order while Kyrirthlila did not. Arakhivaen has served dutifully ever since, yet in recent years, has returned to Evereska to try to bridge the connection of the elves and Faerun again.

Name: Klaudius Sarrick Age: 47 Species: Human Class: Fighter in game, cleric of Loviatar in my mind Stats: STR: 13 DEX: 13 CON: 15 INT: 11 WIS: 12 CHA: 13 Height: 5'10" | 1.78 M Build: Slim, spindly but with muscle built from years of his service to his goddess Hair: shaved at the sides, but long and pulled back black with gray streaks. Has a mustache and goatee Eyes: a steely bright gray Skin tone: Pale, pasty human skin tone Other features: Has quite a bit of scars from serving Loviatar, as well as one large nasty gash of a scar on his right cheek, as well as piercings. His jaw is lined with jagged tattoos with one point going down his throat like a dagger Family: Unknown Romance(?): None (may use him to run Minthara's) Friends: His allies are the church of Loviatar and Bane Enemies: Ilmatari, followers of the Triad Backstory summary: A young man who's family held influence and secretly was a part of Loviatar's church. Klaudius grew up with the concept of giving his goddess pain, eventually surpassing his parents' own skills. He proved himself quite gifted in the art of giving pain, to the point he eventually became the head of the Loviatar church in Baldur's Gate. His desire was to spread pain throughout the city, but in a psychological manner. He soon found his attempts being stopped by an Ilmatari cleric and took an interest in her, enjoying the game. Allying with Bane's chosen, a deal was struck but it seems it's not working exactly as planned.

Name: Kyrirthlila Bluethorn Age: 349 Species: High Elf (Moon) Class: Rogue Stats: STR: 8 DEX: 17 CON: 14 INT: 13 WIS: 13 CHA: 10 Height: 5'5" | 1.65 M Build: Has curves, but muscle underneath them and still a ghost of her athletic build from before, but slender enough to sneak into places to steal Hair: A deep royal blue, kept long and in various updos and out of her way, only let down when she plays it for distraction Eyes: A deep blue, but with mischief glimmering in them Skin tone: Pale with a cool almost blue undertone Other features: None to think of Family: Talilah Bluethorn (daughter), various need to name Romance(?): Arakhivaen Saliriador (former), Halsin (possibly) Friends: Her entertaining troupe Enemies: lord I need to name Backstory summary: Kyrirthlila was born in a forgotten backwater moon elf village. She was determined to make something of herself, and after traveling, found herself disgusted by how nobles would abuse their power. She and her friends then planned a great con—an entertaining troupe that would entertain the rich then steal from them, sharing their ill-gotten gains with those in need. It went well for a few years, until meeting a sun elf noble near Evereska. The pair began their affair, taking decades as elves do, but when he was called back to Evermeet, Kyrirthlila remained in Faerun. Only to realize she was pregnant with his child. Every letter she sent was never replied to, so Kyrirthlila raised her daughter in their troupe. Her daughter was a skilled performer so she allowed her to have the spotlight while she worked the shadows. It all worked well until Baldur's Gate, when a noble caught them. He locked up the others but had Talilah work for him until she vanished. Now Kyrirthlila needs to figure out how to get herself and the others out and soon.

[rpg-wonderland]

On the Merits of Roll-in-Order

I've never been a fan of 'roll stats, then assign them in any order'. To me, that only adds the worst type of randomness.

Randomness during character creation comes in two flavors - making characters more varied, or making them more powerful.

For a simple example: imagine during character creation, you rolled on a table to get a random unique power. That's interesting; it makes characters different. Powers might be overall more or less useful of course, but hopefully they are close enough in utility/power that all options are something interesting to have.

Contrast the idea of a point-buy system where you roll for how many points you get. That rarely adds anything interesting to the game; some players will simply be more fortunate than others with no counterpoint.

Rolling stats then assigning them however you want is closer to the latter than anything else. If your idea is to play a fighter, you'll assign the stats in str-con-dex-wis-int-cha order (or whatever order fits your concept), and the only thing the dice are doing is determining how strong or weak your character is.

In a roll-in-order system, characters might end with unusual combinations of stats. If you have high INT and CHA, you might make an unusually charismatic wizard, while high DEX and WIS might make a dextrous cleric or a very wise thief (or, of course, you can ignore your high stats and play an even more unusual concept).

This means roll-in-order actually makes more varied, interesting characters, that you might not play otherwise, instead of simply playing the same cookie-cutter characters over and over, with the only different being whether you've managed 14 or 15 strength this time.

All that said, I am sympathetic to the idea that someone who really wants to play a magic-user ought to be able to play a magic-user.

For that, I like the idea of allowing the player one stat swap - for example, swapping STR for INT. This might be a universal bonus, or something unique to humans.

[cagemasterfantasy]

DND Monsters: Astral Dreadnaught

From: Vecna: Eve of Ruin, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

Gargantuan Monstrosity (Titan), Unaligned

AC 20 (natural armor)

HP 297 (17d20 + 119)

Speed 15 ft., Fly 80 ft. (hover)

Str 28 +9 Dex 7 -2 Con 25 +7 Int 5 -3 Wis 14 +2 Cha 18 +4

Saves Dex +5 Wis +9

Skills Perception +9

Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks

Cannot Be Charmed, Exhausted, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Stunned

Senses Darkvision 120 ft.

CR 21

Traits

Antimagic Cone. The astral dreadnought's opened eye creates an area of antimagic, as in the antimagic field spell, in a 150-foot cone. At the start of each of its turns, the dreadnought decides which way the cone faces. The cone doesn't function while the dreadnought's eye is closed or while the dreadnought is blinded.

Astral Entity. The astral dreadnought can't leave the Astral Plane, nor can it be banished or otherwise transported out of the Astral Plane.

Demiplanar Donjon. Any creature or object that the astral dreadnought swallows is transported to a demiplane that can be entered by no other means except a wish spell or this creature's Donjon Visit ability. A creature can leave the demiplane only by using magic that enables planar travel, such as the plane shift spell. The demiplane resembles a stone cave roughly 1,000 feet in diameter with a ceiling 100 feet high. Like a stomach, it contains the remains of the dreadnought's past meals.

The dreadnought can't be harmed from within the demiplane. If the dreadnought dies, the demiplane disappears, and everything inside it appears around the corpse. The demiplane is otherwise indestructible.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the astral dreadnought fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Weapons. An astral dreadnought's weapon attacks are magical.

Sever Silver Cord. If the astral dreadnought scores a critical hit against a creature traveling through the Astral Plane by means of the astral projection spell, the dreadnought can cut the target's silver cord instead of dealing damage.

Actions

Multiattack. The astral dreadnought makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (5d10 + 9) piercing damage. If the target is a creature of Huge size or smaller and this damage reduces it to 0 hit points or it is incapacitated, the astral dreadnought swallows it. The swallowed target, along with everything it is wearing and carrying, appears in an unoccupied space on the floor of the astral dreadnought's Demiplanar Donjon.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d6 + 9) slashing damage.

Legendary Actions

Legendary Action Uses: 3. Immediately after another creature's turn, The astral dreadnought can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The astral dreadnought regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns.

Claw. The astral dreadnought makes one claw attack.

Donjon Visit (Costs 2 Actions). One creature that is Huge or smaller that the astral dreadnought can see within 60 feet of it must succeed on a DC 19 Charisma saving throw or be magically teleported to an unoccupied space on the floor of the astral dreadnought's Demiplanar Donjon. At the end of the target's next turn, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied.

Psychic Projection (Costs 3 Actions). Each creature within 60 feet of the astral dreadnought must make a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw, taking 15 (2d10 + 4) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Monsters of the Multiverse

Psychic Projection now deals 4d10 +4 Psychic damage. Everything else remains the same