1) Called shots, dismembering, etc... may be realistically possible, especially with Giant Strength, but can dramatically imbalance the game. If all it takes is a Nat 20 to blind a dragon, or shoot it in the heart, then parties would essentially all consist of Bowfighters Crit-fishing for Instant Kills. Adding things like this as a penalty for falling unconscious, dying, or massive damage is more appropriate as it adds a layer of severity for going against significantly stronger opponents.
2) 5e doesn't specifically have "Falling Object Damage", so calculating damage for dropping boulders is definitely homebrew territory. As a rule of thumb, one could scale fall damage based on size thusly,
Tiny (1d4), Small (1d6), Medium (1d6), Large (1d8), Huge (1d12), Gargantuan (1d20), etc...(Roughly correlating with Hit Die) This would put a 1000lb boulder at "Large", and deal 3d8 (eqv. 4d6) from 30ft.
1000lbs sounds like a lot, but a male American bison weighs between 1,000 - 2,200lbs, so having the boulder deal 10d6 damage from 30ft is very generous.
3) I would need to know more about your character to have an opinion on this. Simply being strong isn't enough to wield something that is oversized. You would probably lose your proficiency bonus and be throwing at disadvantage with a 20ft range increment, unless you were, yourself, a giant.
A strength score of 29 only gives you a Carrying Capacity of 435lbs as a normal humanoid, so the idea of throwing a 1000lb boulder would be pretty unrealistic.
4) Somatic components are explicitly a "one free hand" activity, so yes. However, you can't be wielding anything else in that hand, unless you have the appropriate features.
I'm unsure about the first three, but you only need one free hand to cast spells with somatic components.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew:Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
I would like to point out two things: first, I have the war caster feat. second: I never said I was wearing the shield, I just took it from you to prevent you from using it.
I would like to point out two things: first, I have the war caster feat. second: I never said I was wearing the shield, I just took it from you to prevent you from using it.
yah okay your right but i still want to know the answer
Of the four items here only the semantic components question has a clear RAW answer which is yes, provided you don't have anything else in that hand or meet the requirements to have said item (warcaster, swords bard, etc.), you can cast spells with only one arm. For the others, they are for you and the DM to figure out and may wildly varry based on the style of game you're playing. Below is what I suspect I'd do if you attempted these at my table:
"I tried to rip off a players arm rolled a nat 20 then added nine because of my belt of storm giant strength" - DnD uses abstracted hit points rather than descriptive damage or a wounds system, I'd likely not allow this at all unless I set the specific opponent up where this was an obvious option and had written rules for how it worked ahead of time. Note "how it worked" would likely involve a separate HP pool or the monster to be below half hit points or something not simply that you roll a nat 20.
"The other player dropped 1,000 pounds in boulders on me from 30ft up and only dealt 10d6 damage" - There's no RAW for falling items, a single 1000lb boulder to my mind would kill most PCs with a direct hit, I'd likely offer a relatively easy Dex Save to avoid the brunt of it and have the attacker roll a moderate amount of damage, say target's level + 1 in d6s). But this is again a situation that likely wouldn't happen unless in creating the battlefield I had a plan for it specific to the encounter, most fields of battle simply don't have 1000lb boulders hanging out somewhere where a character is going to be able to drop them 30ft onto an opponent.
"I then use my strength to hurl boulders at the player we used the rock attack from a Storm Giant for this" - You could argue that this has a RAW and that it's an improvised weapon, no prof bonus to the attack, 1d4+str damage but as the intent is clearly this is not a normal thrown rock I'd likely increase the die size or count, give disadvantage on the attack roll and/or lower the range all really depending on the size of the rock in question and only after we'd established that you could actually lift it in the first place (it was noted above that a 29 strength medium-sized character RAW can't lift a 1000lb rock so if that was the specific attempt I'd let you know before any roll that you can't do it).
Of the four items here only the semantic components question has a clear RAW answer which is yes, provided you don't have anything else in that hand or meet the requirements to have said item (warcaster, swords bard, etc.), you can cast spells with only one arm. For the others, they are for you and the DM to figure out and may wildly varry based on the style of game you're playing. Below is what I suspect I'd do if you attempted these at my table:
"I tried to rip off a players arm rolled a nat 20 then added nine because of my belt of storm giant strength" - DnD uses abstracted hit points rather than descriptive damage or a wounds system, I'd likely not allow this at all unless I set the specific opponent up where this was an obvious option and had written rules for how it worked ahead of time. Note "how it worked" would likely involve a separate HP pool or the monster to be below half hit points or something not simply that you roll a nat 20.
"The other player dropped 1,000 pounds in boulders on me from 30ft up and only dealt 10d6 damage" - There's no RAW for falling items, a single 1000lb boulder to my mind would kill most PCs with a direct hit, I'd likely offer a relatively easy Dex Save to avoid the brunt of it and have the attacker roll a moderate amount of damage, say target's level + 1 in d6s). But this is again a situation that likely wouldn't happen unless in creating the battlefield I had a plan for it specific to the encounter, most fields of battle simply don't have 1000lb boulders hanging out somewhere where a character is going to be able to drop them 30ft onto an opponent.
"I then use my strength to hurl boulders at the player we used the rock attack from a Storm Giant for this" - You could argue that this has a RAW and that it's an improvised weapon, no prof bonus to the attack, 1d4+str damage but as the intent is clearly this is not a normal thrown rock I'd likely increase the die size or count, give disadvantage on the attack roll and/or lower the range all really depending on the size of the rock in question and only after we'd established that you could actually lift it in the first place (it was noted above that a 29 strength medium-sized character RAW can't lift a 1000lb rock so if that was the specific attempt I'd let you know before any roll that you can't do it).
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
the way I dropped the rock was with the use of the spell "telekinesis", so that's how that worked
I tried to rip off a players arm rolled a nat 20 then added nine because of my belt of storm giant strength
A player? Like a character being run by another person at the table? D&D is not at all designed for PvP even if all parties are willing, and if they're not then it's just a good way to get kicked from the group. D&D is a team game and requires a lot of understanding and buy-in all around to handle any amount of intra-party conflict.
Tossing around boulders is fine in a high-powered game. Seems logical to me that if you're wearing a belt that grants you the strength of a storm giant, you can do what a storm giant can do. You technically wouldn't have the same leverage and whatnot, but Rule of Cool applies. If I didn't want to allow stuff like that I wouldn't include the belt in the loot I handed out.
I was recently in a battle and tried to pull some moves that were within reason but would never be mentioned in the rules, so I want to discuss it.
I tried to rip off a players arm rolled a nat 20 then added nine because of my belt of storm giant strength
The other player dropped 1,000 pounds in boulders on me from 30ft up and only dealt 10d6 damage
I then use my strength to hurl boulders at the player we used the rock attack from a Storm Giant for this
So I would like to hear what other DM's and Players would think about these moves.
DM call, but it should at least require a grapple first then an improvise action (can't be 1 turn). I'd make it a STR check versus something like constitution score+number of hit dice. Limbs aren't really meant to come off.
There are improvised damage rules in DMG. Id say this falls between 4d10 and 10d10 examples closer to 10d10. Recommended damage varies by level a bit, but about 8d10 sounds right to me.
Improvised weapon. By default it would be 1d4-dex with Range (20/60), this assumes the object can reasonably be wielded as a weapon. If they are large rocks (that can reasonably be thrown by the character), I might make it 1d8+STR with range (10/30).
I was recently in a battle and tried to pull some moves that were within reason but would never be mentioned in the rules, so I want to discuss it.
So I would like to hear what other DM's and Players would think about these moves.
Black Lives Matter
Count as high as you can before Nikoli_Goodfellow Posts!
Extended Signature, The Best Paradox, We all knew it.
I participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with several champions they are all in my extended signature Win Streak: 0 Total Wins: 19 Total Loses: 6
1) Called shots, dismembering, etc... may be realistically possible, especially with Giant Strength, but can dramatically imbalance the game. If all it takes is a Nat 20 to blind a dragon, or shoot it in the heart, then parties would essentially all consist of Bowfighters Crit-fishing for Instant Kills. Adding things like this as a penalty for falling unconscious, dying, or massive damage is more appropriate as it adds a layer of severity for going against significantly stronger opponents.
2) 5e doesn't specifically have "Falling Object Damage", so calculating damage for dropping boulders is definitely homebrew territory. As a rule of thumb, one could scale fall damage based on size thusly,
Tiny (1d4), Small (1d6), Medium (1d6), Large (1d8), Huge (1d12), Gargantuan (1d20), etc...(Roughly correlating with Hit Die) This would put a 1000lb boulder at "Large", and deal 3d8 (eqv. 4d6) from 30ft.
1000lbs sounds like a lot, but a male American bison weighs between 1,000 - 2,200lbs, so having the boulder deal 10d6 damage from 30ft is very generous.
3) I would need to know more about your character to have an opinion on this. Simply being strong isn't enough to wield something that is oversized. You would probably lose your proficiency bonus and be throwing at disadvantage with a 20ft range increment, unless you were, yourself, a giant.
A strength score of 29 only gives you a Carrying Capacity of 435lbs as a normal humanoid, so the idea of throwing a 1000lb boulder would be pretty unrealistic.
4) Somatic components are explicitly a "one free hand" activity, so yes. However, you can't be wielding anything else in that hand, unless you have the appropriate features.
I'm unsure about the first three, but you only need one free hand to cast spells with somatic components.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew: Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
what if you have a shield on that hand
Black Lives Matter
Count as high as you can before Nikoli_Goodfellow Posts!
Extended Signature, The Best Paradox, We all knew it.
I participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with several champions they are all in my extended signature Win Streak: 0 Total Wins: 19 Total Loses: 6
I would like to point out two things: first, I have the war caster feat. second: I never said I was wearing the shield, I just took it from you to prevent you from using it.
ni! (that's a link, click it).
I like spell points.
Please ignore my old homebrew, and for the love of every god out there don't use it.
I (used to, it's kinda dead now) participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with a nameless hero (actually I think I deleted him, whoops).
Having a shield in that hand probably does not comply with "the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures".
The War Caster feat specifically says "You can perform the somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands."
yah okay your right but i still want to know the answer
Black Lives Matter
Count as high as you can before Nikoli_Goodfellow Posts!
Extended Signature, The Best Paradox, We all knew it.
I participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with several champions they are all in my extended signature Win Streak: 0 Total Wins: 19 Total Loses: 6
then yes, you cannot cast while wearing a shield unless you have war caster, or a similar feature.
ni! (that's a link, click it).
I like spell points.
Please ignore my old homebrew, and for the love of every god out there don't use it.
I (used to, it's kinda dead now) participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with a nameless hero (actually I think I deleted him, whoops).
Of the four items here only the semantic components question has a clear RAW answer which is yes, provided you don't have anything else in that hand or meet the requirements to have said item (warcaster, swords bard, etc.), you can cast spells with only one arm. For the others, they are for you and the DM to figure out and may wildly varry based on the style of game you're playing. Below is what I suspect I'd do if you attempted these at my table:
"I tried to rip off a players arm rolled a nat 20 then added nine because of my belt of storm giant strength" - DnD uses abstracted hit points rather than descriptive damage or a wounds system, I'd likely not allow this at all unless I set the specific opponent up where this was an obvious option and had written rules for how it worked ahead of time. Note "how it worked" would likely involve a separate HP pool or the monster to be below half hit points or something not simply that you roll a nat 20.
"The other player dropped 1,000 pounds in boulders on me from 30ft up and only dealt 10d6 damage" - There's no RAW for falling items, a single 1000lb boulder to my mind would kill most PCs with a direct hit, I'd likely offer a relatively easy Dex Save to avoid the brunt of it and have the attacker roll a moderate amount of damage, say target's level + 1 in d6s). But this is again a situation that likely wouldn't happen unless in creating the battlefield I had a plan for it specific to the encounter, most fields of battle simply don't have 1000lb boulders hanging out somewhere where a character is going to be able to drop them 30ft onto an opponent.
"I then use my strength to hurl boulders at the player we used the rock attack from a Storm Giant for this" - You could argue that this has a RAW and that it's an improvised weapon, no prof bonus to the attack, 1d4+str damage but as the intent is clearly this is not a normal thrown rock I'd likely increase the die size or count, give disadvantage on the attack roll and/or lower the range all really depending on the size of the rock in question and only after we'd established that you could actually lift it in the first place (it was noted above that a 29 strength medium-sized character RAW can't lift a 1000lb rock so if that was the specific attempt I'd let you know before any roll that you can't do it).
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
the way I dropped the rock was with the use of the spell "telekinesis", so that's how that worked
ni! (that's a link, click it).
I like spell points.
Please ignore my old homebrew, and for the love of every god out there don't use it.
I (used to, it's kinda dead now) participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with a nameless hero (actually I think I deleted him, whoops).
A player? Like a character being run by another person at the table? D&D is not at all designed for PvP even if all parties are willing, and if they're not then it's just a good way to get kicked from the group. D&D is a team game and requires a lot of understanding and buy-in all around to handle any amount of intra-party conflict.
Tossing around boulders is fine in a high-powered game. Seems logical to me that if you're wearing a belt that grants you the strength of a storm giant, you can do what a storm giant can do. You technically wouldn't have the same leverage and whatnot, but Rule of Cool applies. If I didn't want to allow stuff like that I wouldn't include the belt in the loot I handed out.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
well this was on a pvp thread on this site, so balance or no, we were just fighting for fun.
ni! (that's a link, click it).
I like spell points.
Please ignore my old homebrew, and for the love of every god out there don't use it.
I (used to, it's kinda dead now) participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with a nameless hero (actually I think I deleted him, whoops).