Comments/suggestions on Jester's rules (5e)

[Svend]

I guess my main concern is that in MM i feel ghosts are a bit meh...
Spectre CR1
Poltergeist CR2
Ghost CR4
Banshee CR4
Wraith CR5

So maybe we just need some examples on some more badass ghosts
Of course I see the reasoning for customizing the BBGs.

[alhoon]

That "CR4" banshee has a scream that can down a 15th lvl character...

IMO, the banshee is NOT CR4. It's CR4+. A party of 4 15th lvl characters facing 3 banshees coming out of the walls could well be TPK. That's a deadly encounter

[Skyrock]

I'm more included to just have different powers you can add to the standard ghost, or use to replace the abilities of the standard ghost.
For example, see the specter on page 279 of the Monster Manual and its variant, the Poltergeist.

I agree strongly.

It is also important to recall that monsters in 5e have a much broader "sweet spot" of level range due to bounded accuracy, making a lot of variants of the same monster only different by difficulty much less necessary.

That "CR4" banshee has a scream that can down a 15th lvl character...

IMO, the banshee is NOT CR4. It's CR4+. A party of 4 15th lvl characters facing 3 banshees coming out of the walls could well be TPK. That's a deadly encounter

>implying that CR ever was accurate in any of the last 3 editions of D&D

I view CR more as a rough gauge of power than as an accurate stat. (But I don't care strongly about balance either.)

[alhoon]

I never implied that CR was accurate in earlier editions.

[alhoon]

Added the Ebon Fold in the non player characters.
Since the first two adventures of the Grim Harvest are based on the permanent energy drain nature of the Death Shards, I made sure that they steal a bit of power.
Since the Grim Harvest also worked under the assumption that commoners were 0-level, hence they couldn't feed the Crystal Skulls, I made a requirement for minimum level (or CR) for the permanent drain to give a realistic reason of why the Ebon Fold targets the PCs and the newcomer adventurers instead of just draining random people in their houses.

[alhoon]

I added Jacqueline Renier, "translating her" from Gaz III (and changing her alignment from chaotic, to neutral evil).
I remained faithful to gaz III, even keeping that weird love potion she carries.

Question: Rat Empathy as written in Gaz III says that all rats in Richemulot are under her influence. That would mean ... nobody and I mean nobody could magically affect rats in Richemulot. Not wizards, not the Reniers, not Louise herself, whether Jacqueline is there or 3 cities away.

Should I leave it as such, crippling wererats etc or should I change it to "potentially every rat" to make room for people to be able to charm a random sewer rat when Jaqueline has no need for that rat, but every rat in her presence (even the magically summoned ones) are under her direct influence?

Question 2: Should Jacqueline be able to use her legendary resistance against her chemical bane? (at the time I stopped her from being able to use it; if anyone figures THAT out, they should be able to take her)

[Skyrock]

Re-watching Brides of Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula got me recently thinking about the "Cult of Vampirism" in the Hammer films as a potential warlock pact that could fit into RL. Anyone interested in a write-up?

Question: Rat Empathy as written in Gaz III says that all rats in Richemulot are under her influence.

Riffing off the general setting rules on beast-controlling spells in Ravenloft, I think it means that all rats in Richemulot are potentially under Jacqueline's control. She probably won't mind or even notice if some random wererat or her sister uses some rats for their own unrelated purposes, but she will wrest control away when it comes to her attention and when doing so is in her interest.

(Else, there would be hardly interesting wererat adventures in Richemulot that don't involve Jackie. When in doubt always go by the interpretation that makes for the more interesting game.)

Question 2: Should Jacqueline be able to use her legendary resistance against her chemical bane? (at the time I stopped her from being able to use it; if anyone figures THAT out, they should be able to take her)

Given that is a bane specific to her stat block that the writers specifically put in, I think it would be silly and defeating the purpose to make her resistant to it. Specific rulings break general rules.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I added Jacqueline Renier, "translating her" from Gaz III (and changing her alignment from chaotic, to neutral evil).
(She doesn't have an emoticon, so I used Gabby's instead).

Yes she does.

[alhoon]

Riffing off the general setting rules on beast-controlling spells in Ravenloft, I think it means that all rats in Richemulot are potentially under Jacqueline's control.
...
Else, there would be hardly interesting wererat adventures in Richemulot that don't involve Jackie.

Given that is a bane specific to her stat block that the writers specifically put in, I think it would be silly and defeating the purpose to make her resistant to it. Specific rulings break general rules.

Agree 100% in both

Thanks Dion

[Jester of the FoS]

A note on the ebon fold and Jaqueline: sneak attack is once per turn, not once per round. It's a subtle difference, which mean if they get an off-turn attack (such as from an Opportunity Attack) they can apply their sneak damage.

Another idea for Jaqueline: what if her chemical bane suppressed her legendary resistance? So if you dose her, it makes her easier to defeat in combat, even if she saves. Plus that removes the "will it apply?" problem.

Meanwhile, I added a couple golems as I continue to progress down the alphabet.

[alhoon]

Meh... I actually think that you CANNOT use sneak on opportunity attacks.

[Jester of the FoS]

Meh... I actually think that you CANNOT use sneak on opportunity attacks.

Check again. You can do it once per turn so long as you have advantage or an ally within 5 feet. Turn not round.
So if an enemy moves and you get a reaction attack (such as a readied action or OA) you can deal sneak.

[alhoon]

But AOs are attacks OUTSIDE your turn I think. Regardless of what "1/turn" means, that's what the MManual uses, so that's what I'll use. I'll correct those entries.

In any case, the Ebon Fold don't have sneak attack. They have backstab: Getting advantage to hit a target and do their way-more-dangerous energy drain.

[Jester of the FoS]

But AOs are attacks OUTSIDE your turn I think.

Exactly. Your turn ended and it's the next creature's turn. You could theoretically sneak attack as many times as turns.

[alhoon]

Added some wererats.
Jester, please check what I did, especially with the trigger for the infected wererat.