Starting my first ever D&D session next week...

[Yavin4MFC]

Paladins can be fun, and especially challenging at times. One of the things though is the makeup of the party and if there are any evil characters in the group. That will cause a bit of playable conflict with the paladin.

Problem is tho that my Paladin is essentially post-theist and doesn't truly believe in oaths. But apparently that breaks D&D's world rules. I'm finding it surprisingly restrictive. Why does a true good/evil scale even exist? Because game rules, mostly.

 

[DJ_Pioneer]

Problem is tho that my Paladin is essentially post-theist and doesn't truly believe in oaths. But apparently that breaks D&D's world rules. I'm finding it surprisingly restrictive. Why does a true good/evil scale even exist? Because game rules, mostly.

You could make an oath breaker paladin.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Problem is tho that my Paladin is essentially post-theist and doesn't truly believe in oaths. But apparently that breaks D&D's world rules. I'm finding it surprisingly restrictive. Why does a true good/evil scale even exist? Because game rules, mostly.

Then it really shouldn't have been a paladin in the first place due to the nature of a paladin and his/her ties to their deity. I'd say play the character as-is, and see what happens. this will give you some game experience, and you can see how others play theirs.

One of the reasons for hard set rules on characters is that they are progressively linear in terms of stats, abilities, etc. They are "specialists" if you will of their class, and they require continued training. One of the hardest parts is to allow for dynamic characters with no dedication to one particular class/skillset. The rules to write for that would be incredibly difficult to do initially, as well as on-going. The closest you could do for this is perhaps change your paladin to a regular fighter and look at multi-classing him. Provided stats are high enough in other skills. For example, he could be a fighter/thief/mage or something along the lines. But, it can be a very slow progress, and you will "fall behind" the other characters you will have to split the XP across all classes then. But, they are fun to play.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

You could make an oath breaker paladin.

But it's not oath breaking and it's not evil...

It just doesn't fit the D&D world and rules. I should have prepared better.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

Then it really shouldn't have been a paladin in the first place due to the nature of a paladin and his/her ties to their deity. I'd say play the character as-is, and see what happens. this will give you some game experience, and you can see how others play theirs.

One of the reasons for hard set rules on characters is that they are progressively linear in terms of stats, abilities, etc. They are "specialists" if you will of their class, and they require continued training. One of the hardest parts is to allow for dynamic characters with no dedication to one particular class/skillset. The rules to write for that would be incredibly difficult to do initially, as well as on-going. The closest you could do for this is perhaps change your paladin to a regular fighter and look at multi-classing him. Provided stats are high enough in other skills. For example, he could be a fighter/thief/mage or something along the lines. But, it can be a very slow progress, and you will "fall behind" the other characters you will have to split the XP across all classes then. But, they are fun to play.

From what I know of 5E, no deity need be involved, just an oath to "something", and that the oath is the source of power. Tho I could basically just say that deities are useful but aren't "deities".

 

[Deleted member 37064]

From what I know of 5E, no deity need be involved, just an oath to "something", and that the oath is the source of power. Tho I could basically just say that deities are useful but aren't "deities".

Interesting. Though, I'll admit I know nothing of 5E so could very well be.

 

[penfold_43]

We spent several hours rolling characters. Despite having the player's handbook, I had to have someone basically hold my hand rolling my character and filling out the sheet.

I returned to D&D for the first time since university last year and joined a group starting a 5e campaign. I bought a PHB which I read before the character creation session and still I needed a fair bit of help with the 5e character sheet as well, so I wouldn't stress about that too much. There will be a lot more learning to come when you start playing, with difficulty checks (DCs), actions, bonus actions, reactions etc. Took me several sessions before I was really comfortable with everything and we've been playing the campaign for months now, but still have to dive into the rulebooks on occasion for clarification.

When I was originally playing it was just "AD&D", there were no editions, which gives you an idea how long ago, and things have changed a greart deal since (no more THAC0, for one thing)

Regarding character choice, the sacred oath (at level 3) is central to the Paladin character, so it's not really a suitable class if you want to play a character that doesn't stand by their given word. If you want swords and magic, perhaps a fighter that takes the Eldritch Knight archetype at level three might be an alternative.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

I returned to D&D for the first time since university last year and joined a group starting a 5e campaign. I bought a PHB which I read before the character creation session and still I needed a fair bit of help with the 5e character sheet as well, so I wouldn't stress about that too much. There will be a lot more learning to come when you start playing, with difficulty checks (DCs), actions, bonus actions, reactions etc. Took me several sessions before I was really comfortable with everything and we've been playing the campaign for months now, but still have to dive into the rulebooks on occasion for clarification.

When I was originally playing it was just "AD&D", there were no editions, which gives you an idea how long ago, and things have changed a greart deal since (no more THAC0, for one thing)

Regarding character choice, the sacred oath (at level 3) is central to the Paladin character, so it's not really a suitable class if you want to play a character that doesn't stand by their given word. If you want swords and magic, perhaps a fighter that takes the Eldritch Knight archetype at level three might be an alternative.

How about swords, magic, and a crossbow?

 

[SaffronBurke]

I just wanted someone who used swords and magic

In that case, alternate classes (and sub-classes) you may prefer over paladin:

Bard - not a usually a front-line fighter, but supports the party with spells as well as using weapons.

Fighter: Eldritch Knight - you don't take the sub-class until 3rd level, but fighters are pretty powerful and Eldritch Knight uses magic similar to that of a wizard

Rogue: Arcane Trickster - again, you don't sub-class until 3rd level, and you're going to be using wizard spells. A rogue gets their sneak attack bonus on finesse weapons, such as rapiers, as well as on ranged weapons, so you can really deal some damage both physically and magically.



These are just the options in the core book, there are many other supplemental books with even more subclasses of the existing classes. Your DM may prefer that you stick to the core book, which is understandable. Another option is multi-classing, where you level up as, say, a fighter for a few levels, and then start taking levels in, perhaps, sorcerer.


I just ran out to the living room to get my PHB and look stuff up for a forum post, consider me obsessed with D&D. My roommate and I both get over-excited and recommend classes till people's ears fall off. Feel free to either disregard me completely or ask me more questions, I'm ears-deep in two different 5e campaigns at the moment, so I can make recommendations of what I've seen of various classes in action.

 

[DJ_Pioneer]

I just ran out to the living room to get my PHB and look stuff up for a forum post, consider me obsessed with D&D. My roommate and I both get over-excited and recommend classes till people's ears fall off.

I am kinda like that too, I have spent way too much time pondering this. Perhaps a pact of the blade warlock would be another cool option.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I returned to D&D for the first time since university last year and joined a group starting a 5e campaign. I bought a PHB which I read before the character creation session and still I needed a fair bit of help with the 5e character sheet as well, so I wouldn't stress about that too much. There will be a lot more learning to come when you start playing, with difficulty checks (DCs), actions, bonus actions, reactions etc. Took me several sessions before I was really comfortable with everything and we've been playing the campaign for months now, but still have to dive into the rulebooks on occasion for clarification.

When I was originally playing it was just "AD&D", there were no editions, which gives you an idea how long ago, and things have changed a greart deal since (no more THAC0, for one thing)

Regarding character choice, the sacred oath (at level 3) is central to the Paladin character, so it's not really a suitable class if you want to play a character that doesn't stand by their given word. If you want swords and magic, perhaps a fighter that takes the Eldritch Knight archetype at level three might be an alternative.

It's definitely not a game with an easy starting curve.... Even in the original brown books it wasn't.

And, no THAC0 anymore? WTF? I know, I know... They replaced it with something suposedly better. But, I loved THAC0...

 

[Yavin4MFC]

It's definitely not a game with an easy starting curve.... Even in the original brown books it wasn't.

And, no THAC0 anymore? WTF? I know, I know... They replaced it with something suposedly better. But, I loved THAC0...

I'm just glad it's not the Baldur's Gate system.

Time to cast magic! Pew!

Now I need to sleep for 12 hours.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I'm just glad it's not the Baldur's Gate system.

Time to cast magic! Pew!

Now I need to sleep for 12 hours.

Nothing wrong with that. Using magic drains a person, much like physical exhertion.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

Nothing wrong with that. Using magic drains a person, much like physical exhertion.

I get that. But it's not a fantasy system I would want to play in or have much interest in. Being able to cast magic at will, lightning bolts everywhere, that sounds like a lot of fun.

Somewhere out there is this mystical fantasy system or book or series of tropes that most fantasy fans hate but that I've never actually discovered to exist, and I really want it, lol.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I get that. But it's not a fantasy system I would want to play in or have much interest in. Being able to cast magic at will, lightning bolts everywhere, that sounds like a lot of fun.

Somewhere out there is this mystical fantasy system or book or series of tropes that most fantasy fans hate but that I've never actually discovered to exist, and I really want it, lol.

You sound more like someone who'd rather play video games of endless/unlimited resources and mana/health regen than to play in an RPG realm where it accounts more for non-action times just as action.

I'm not saying this in a bad way, just seems like you're more accustomed to the way video games are designed to be fast and nearly continuous action with little down time. Part of playing in character of an RPG is to also develop the character outside of just combat like situations. RPG's are meant to be more along the lines of character development, personal interaction, etc. mixed in with combat and action.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

You sound more like someone who'd rather play video games of endless/unlimited resources and mana/health regen than to play in an RPG realm where it accounts more for non-action times just as action.

I'm not saying this in a bad way, just seems like you're more accustomed to the way video games are designed to be fast and nearly continuous action with little down time. Part of playing in character of an RPG is to also develop the character outside of just combat like situations. RPG's are meant to be more along the lines of character development, personal interaction, etc. mixed in with combat and action.

Perhaps. But I don't see why there is a divide. A Jedi in a Star Wars RPG wouldn't have a limited pool of Force abilities...or shouldn't, imo. The Force isn't a finite set number of actions per day. A wizard in a Harry Potter game wouldn't be able to use their wand 3x a day, and then have to pull out a sword. I don't see why a D&D type fantasy setting would have similar restrictions.

Not endless, not unlimited. But practical. Cooldowns. Potions required. Something beyond "and now we sleep for 8 hours to repeat the one action I'm capable of doing". lol

 

[DJ_Pioneer]

Perhaps. But I don't see why there is a divide. A Jedi in a Star Wars RPG wouldn't have a limited pool of Force abilities...or shouldn't, imo. The Force isn't a finite set number of actions per day. A wizard in a Harry Potter game wouldn't be able to use their wand 3x a day, and then have to pull out a sword. I don't see why a D&D type fantasy setting would have similar restrictions.

Not endless, not unlimited. But practical. Cooldowns. Potions required. Something beyond "and now we sleep for 8 hours to repeat the one action I'm capable of doing". lol

It is because of balance reasons and the fact that it would be hard for the DM to keep track of cool down timers for spells. Try and create a combat encounter where you have 5 low level player characters fighting a group of 6 enemies and you will see that it is not easy to keep track of everything as it is and it becomes harder at higher levels when you have even more spells and effects to take into consideration.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

Super belated update.

We had our (first) game session! I missed the true first one due to work, but made it to the second one, and apparently the party was about half the same, half new, so it all worked out. Turns out my paladin is really good at throwing javelins but utterly sucks at stealth, tho made one good roll avoiding a snare...only to fall down a hole. More than half the party I'm in at playing rogues, so there's a lot of 'let the halfling rogue do it', but we made it through a cave, killed a bunch of goblins and wolves and some manbeast/giant furry orc thing, I forget it's name, got a bunch of gold, made it to level 2, and got back to the village to save/resume our next session in two weeks.

Paladin is ok. I'm playing him loosely chaotic goodish. So far, ok. Most confirmed kills in the group at least, and the healing hands came in handy because some rogues can't hit shit. I'll stick with the character since it's my first time playing, though already leaning Oathbreaker long term.

Also, decided on a name: Ohmsford.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Great to hear an update, and that you're enjoying it.

I found out one of my coworkers has a 5E game going on. He's of similar age, and started playing nearly the same time as I did.

 

[penfold_43]

More than half the party I'm in at playing rogues

Sneak attack for the win! Rogues get some cool stuff early on.

My group has been playing the same module since something like May last year and we meet once a week (with occasional skipped weeks if too many absent). We might be the slowest group in the history of D&D