5Es answer to Oath of Enmity?

[Fenrazer]

So I have been playing 5e after a recent shift from 4e (which I greatly prefer) and this new system is just insanely difficult for me so far. I've always had terrible fortune, and its why I usually prefer games that have more than a single dice to roll, like WOD or SR4, but the only local game I can really find is a D&D game, so I'm stuck with this game for now.

Now where it's a huge problem, is I am just an unlucky person. I will boggle the mind of most with how often I roll poorly. When I first began 4e, we had been playing close to ten months, and almost every Sunday during that time period, before I landed an opportunity attack. Doesnt sound that bad, but every single time the number was a three. I could have made money off of the regularity of this occurrence. In addition to that, I roll an unusual number of 1s on my other rolls. We gamed today, and I got 9 natural 1s in game (just testing my luck I just spammed a plethora of rolls with several d20s and got 14 natural 1s out of 20 rolls of three D20s), and that was out of very few rolls throughout the day, as we did mostly an investigation mission. When we played two thursdays ago, I had a stack of four different random things that happened to me for rolling natural ones: I blasted my throat, was blinded, hit an ally, etc ad nauseum. In addition, my DM wont really let us take the average HP when we level, and three straight levels I've rolled a 1 on HP.

So to the point: The main reason I did so very well in 4e was because I went with Avenger, and used my Oath of Enmity feature, and I'd say 3 out of 5 of my first rolls would be 3 or less with the other two being less than ten on average. With the reroll, I would score over 12 every time almost. I rarely, if ever, missed with my second swing. I actually became a force of nature, having a Bugbear Avenger with an Oversized Fullblade, and so I finally FINALLY had a system that worked, and then we go and switch to 5e, where I'm back to a state of being where I stand statistics on their heads.

My DM is actually a statistician, and has said most times that I bring up the fact that I'll be level 9 with 17HP, that there is just no way that I will consistently roll 1s on my HP, and I'm just dying DYING for us to get to that point so that I can just say I told you so. That is how unlucky I am...

So therein is my question: So that I dont have to wait for the next two years of suffering through a game I cant stand just to show that I am right, and so that I can get back to enjoying the game, is there anything at all like Oath of Enmity? I dont want to have to flank my enemies every time, and especially since I'm currently a ranged fighter with a diminutive sum of HP hiding behind an AC of 12...

Jeez someone please point me in the right direction...

[Giant2005]

I'm not sure what exactly you are asking for, but it sounds like you are asking how to consistently get advantage on your ranged attacks.
There are lots of ways of getting advantage consistently (Mounted Combat, Reckless Attack, Invoke Duplicity) but none of them apply to ranged attacks. The best you could hope for is being a class that only uses 1 attack per action (Rogue) and getting advantage via having a Familiar that uses the help action. You could also multiclass 3 levels of Warlock for Devil's Sight (And Fiendish Vigor which would greatly help your issue of having very few hit points) and the Darkness spell, which would also amount to consistent advantage (a the expense of an action to cast Darkness with).

Although it seems to me like you just want to be a Halfling. Halflings have the ability to reroll 1s and that is an immensely powerful ability in any game where the DM gives you detrimental penalties upon rolling a 1.

[Axorfett12]

If you liked the Oath of Enmity feature of the avenger, take a look at the Oath of Vengeance subclass of paladin. They have a channel divinity option called "Vow of Enmity". It is mechanically identical to the avenger feature of 4e.

In regards to your wheaton curse, my condolences. I will second the halfling recommendation. Reroll are your friend. Also take a look at the lucky feat and the Divination wizard school.

[Lappy9001]

I'm going to propose something else.

How about not rolling dice at all? Ditch playing a fighter and instead go for a caster with a bunch of saving throw spells so others will be the ones rolling the dice. Play a halfling (probably a Stout; extra Constitution to help with your HP and Advantage if you get poisoned) and make use of your Lucky racial trait, and pick up the Lucky feat ASAP. If you have room for additional feats in your build, pick up Toughness, Durable, and Resilient too to further pad out your HP and give you an extra saving throw (or two!).

If your DM isn't allowing feats, stick with that halfling caster. If you have to stay a martial class for whatever reason, give yourself as many tools as you can manage to keep you from rolling dice. I don't know if you've picked your archetype yet, but Battle Master might help you out, or Eldritch Knight with careful spell selection. Same thing goes for the feats, if you're able.

Edit: Also, if your DM isn't using Inspiration, make sure that he is. If they're going to flat-out refuse to cut you slack with HP the least they can do is give you that d6 when you role play your bond/ideal/flaw. Have your party members help out too with buffs, especially if there is a bard in your group.

[djreynolds]

Oath of devotion, channel divinity, sacred weapon works on any weapon, just add your charisma to hit

[Corran]

Hmmm, change character and go with a caster that uses spells that force the enemies to make saves, instead of you rolling attack dice. Edit: Ninja'ed...!

Or play a rogue, and use cunning action to hide before attacking, so that you will roll your first attack roll with advantage. Maybe a halfling rogue, so that you can hide even behind your ow allies. Or get a familiar and have it take the help action so that you roll with advantage. Take the lucky feat too.

Take a look at the diviner, portent is a nice ability.

[DiceDiceBaby]

Okay, so I once decided to create a D&D character whose entire concept revolves around being the luckiest person on the table a.k.a. being under the constant influence of Felix Felicis (http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Felix_Felicis) (or Liquid Luck), a Harry Potter potion which makes the drinker insanely lucky for a short period of time.

Others have mentioned these as ideas, but if you want a lucky, always-rerolling character to beat your dice curse, here's something to munch on.

Race (pick one):

Halfling or Zendikar Kor - Obviously for the "Lucky" feature (allows you to reroll any 1's you make and use the following roll). While the Zenidkar Kor may not be allowed by your average DM, the Halfling is in the Player Handbook. I don't see any DM refusing you that.
Variant Human - If your DM allows you to take the "Lucky" feat (see below).

Class (pick one, the others have mentioned the first two, but if you feel adventurous, or if you start at higher levels, you might want the others):

Oath of Vengeance Paladin - For the Vow of Emnity that grants advantage on every roll against a single opponent.
Diviner Wizard - For the Protent ability that will ensure you can succeed (or make someone fail) in two rolls a day.
Wild Magic Sorcerer - For Tides of Chaos that allows you to reroll practically anything, and the gambler who likes Wild Magic. Maybe not advisable for you, if you feel your luck with the percentile dice is as bad if not worse than with your d20. Still, if you want to turn your bad luck into something hilarious, wait until you unwillingly cast Fireball to wipe the whole party! Isn't too bad at higher levels though. If the DM forbids Wild Magic, you can use Tides of Chaos with impunity!
College of Satire Bard - They have various abilities to get out of unlucky situations and rearrange their fate. If your DM is your friend, and allows Unearthed Arcana options, you might like this.
Any high-level Rogue - For the various stroke of luck rerolls that happen as the class gets to higher levels. Pick this if you like sneaking around with advantage from hiding and Sneak Attack and/or are beginning a high level campaign. But I don't advise this unless you aren't allowed to multiclass and have to begin at level 20 with that ahem... horrid... capstone.

Feats:

Lucky - Take this feat if you really want the ability to reroll three d20s every short rest. Take this feat even if you don't! It's such a great feat that some DMs (including my playgroup) deliberately ban on the table though, so you may want to ask first.
Observant or Alert - If the Lucky Feat is banned, these two feats reduce the probability of being snuck up on, and also increase the likelihood of not going last when a battle is about to happen by increasing initiative and knowing when a battle may happen.

Background:

Outlander - Unlike other background features, this is deadly reliable; you'll never lose your way, and can always have enough food to feed yourself and your party. Being proficient in Athletics and Survival doesn't hurt either.

Others:

Inspiration - A lot of DMs hate this (and my table doesn't use it), but if you like to roleplay, or your DM plays by the rulebook, you can use this rule to your ahem... advantage.

In summary (and what I suggest for you):

You'll want a Halfling or Variant Human Vengeance Paladin Outlander (if you can spare two levels to multiclass, take two levels in Wizard for the Divination Arcane Tradition) named Felix Fortuna with the Lucky Feat. Your Paladin/Wizard has sworn vengeance against those who are "more fortunate" than others. It is your life's mission to bring those who are well off down low to help the "less fortunate". Roleplay your frustration at those luckier than you and earn a lot of inspiration points from your DM to allow you to reroll every single time. Spend your downtime carousing and worship a D&D god or goddess of luck and good fortune for even more RP fun.

You should be rerolling your dice at least 5 times (three from Lucky Feat and two from Portent), and this can go up to 20 times per session (factoring in advantage, inspiration, and dice from Lucky Halfling rerolls).

May the odds be ever in your favor!

[MrStabby]

Well as a serious answer - ignore it.

Future rolls are independent of previous bad rolls. The expected distribution of future results is not influenced by how unlucky you have been in your past. Play the character you want to play and you should expect average luck from now into the future.

It is frustrating to have highly unkikely strings of bad luck, but that furstration is s sunk cost. In the future when you are getting average luck and have forefitted the character you wanted to play for fear of bad luck you may find it more frustrating that you are not playing the character you really wanted to.

The exception is if you have discovered that you care more about consistent effect than average effect. You CAN build for consistency rather than average power, and there isn't anything wrong with this if you prefer the idea of doing 6+/-1 damge per turn to doing 10+/-10 damage per turn.

[Pope Scarface]

If you have 'bad dice luck' then you should like 5E, because roll-twice-and-take-the-better is a core mechanic that pops up all over the place.

That you have to roll for HP sucks, but that is your DM being a jerk, and not a fault with the system.

If you are making a new character, I'd recommend a halfling divination wizard, but if you prefer melee martial builds, you might go with Barbarian for Reckless Attack, to always have advantage when you don't have it from something else. No solution to crap HP from having to roll for HP though.

[Kish]

My DM is actually a statistician, and has said most times that I bring up the fact that I'll be level 9 with 17HP, and I'm just dying DYING for us to get to that point so that I can just say I told you so.
I think there is at least one word missing from that sentence.

[ad_hoc]

Now where it's a huge problem, is I am just an unlucky person.

This is simply untrue.

Magic only exists in D&D, not real life.

Cognitive biases, however, are real.

[Fenrazer]

I think there is at least one word missing from that sentence.

Fixed. Thanks.

[BigONotation]

Why not just buy new dice?

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

Why not just buy new dice?
Or stop blaming random chance for a disgusting conglomerate of DM error and player bias.....

[Telwar]

Or stop blaming random chance for a disgusting conglomerate of DM error and player bias.....

Or spend a few dollars finding properly-balanced dice.

Not only is it an easy fix to try first, but there's a very, very good chance it is the crap-awful dice.

I have one d20 that consistently rolls in the mid-teens. Which is nice, but it meant I almost never crit, even on my 4e Avenger using a Jagged weapon (and before you accuse me of bias, this was noted by the rest of my group). I only started critting at a reasonable level once I picked up new dice.

Another time, one of my group liked these huuuuge d20s. Loved them, and rolled like crap. He rolled so damn bad, it was risking us getting killed. Finally, in a fit of exasperation, I gave him some of my dice, and his first roll with those was a crit. Even better, he ran a game I wasn't in. Two weeks later, I come into the game where we're both players, and the rest of the group glares at me and threatens to throw me off the balcony...because he had gotten used to his awful die rolling, and adjusted his encounters to suit, and now that he was rolling decent dice, he nearly killed the party accidentally. I mean, seriously man, they were *mad*.

And if it doesn't work, well, you have new dice. And then try rolling them in a die cup for even more fair rolls.

[Fenrazer]

I've used a plethora of d20s. I am one of the stereotypes that has a crown royal bag that is packed with them. I dont think it's a matter of poorly weighted dice.

I'm not saying that there is some magical force messing with my rolls, so those that are acting like I am can just stop their crap now. All I'm saying is, so far I've denied statistics and turned them on their head. I mean, when I roll a 3 on every opportunity attack, 2-3 times a game, on a weekly basis, for nearly ten months before there is a change in the trend...I'm just saying that I have had poor turnout, and I'm tired of waiting for something to change.

For those that are contributing to the forum with game mechanics, classes, etc, I really appreciate you guys. Thanks for not accusing me of thinking magic is out to get me. You're great.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

Fair point OP, but I still believe a dice/attitude change would help (especially for health).

I don't know if you only want to play martials but you could try running a caster. If you choose utility, battlefield control, and AoE spells you would be a lot less dependent on your own dice rolls (put the DM in the hot seat). You could also try a minute amount of minionmancy (or larger amount if your table is cool with it) to gain advantage for your old friends, and newly resurrected old friends. If there are other melee characters in the party go flanksies as much as possible to get more rolls, and if another character in the party can do minonmnacy get advantage that way.

Long story short, give yourself advantage as much as possible or play mage.

Also, the DM rolls for your minions so if there is some unexplainable phenomenon causing you to roll low you can avoid it. (Possibly the funniest reason to ever use minionmancy :) )

[BW022]

Statistics say nothing you did in the past has any effect on dice rolls in the future.

New dice are the obvious start.

Next, chances are any bad luck is simply a faulty perception or bias. Folks remember bad rolls often more than good rolls. It is highly unlikely someone is recording every roll you made and then doing a standard deviation calculation on the results. However... if you think you are statistically unlucky... easy way is to ask your DM to reverse die rolls. Roll 21-d20... a 5 is 16, a 2 is a 19, etc.

Finally... there are lots of classes and build which do not require rolling much. As others have said... play a caster who uses spells with saves, buffs, healer, etc. A healing bard, an illusionist, or a defensive cleric. Heck, go defensive every round.

[ad_hoc]

Thanks for not accusing me of thinking magic is out to get me. You're great.

You said it, not me.

You literally said that you are an unlucky person.

This is not how the world works. This is magical thinking.

Seriously, we're trying to help you. I'm a semi-professional poker player. I've seen variance. Real variance. Orders of magnitude greater than what you are talking about. There is a reason why many players think that poker sites are rigged against them. They are wrong and are bad players. You are not alone in your thinking that the dice are against you, but that doesn't make you right.

[Malifice]

Fixed. Thanks.

Vengance Paladins (Avengers) get Oath of Enmity at 3rd level. It does what you want it to do (grants advantage -so you roll twice take the highest roll).

Play a Vuman. Select Lucky as your feat at 1st level (re-roll 3/day).

Also roleplay your backside off. The more roleplaying you do, the more times you will be awarded 'inspiration'. You spend inspiration to get yourself advantage (roll twice, take the highest) on any roll you want.

Between the above, and the fact Paladins get access to Bless (+1d4 to every attack roll and save) Luck shouldnt matter any more for you at all.

I mean if you still cant hit with roll 3d20 (take the highest) plus mods plus +1d4, I cant help you any further.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

My DM is actually a statistician, and has said most times that I bring up the fact that I'll be level 9 with 17HP, that there is just no way that I will consistently roll 1s on my HP, and I'm just dying DYING for us to get to that point so that I can just say I told you so. That is how unlucky I am...

You do realise you can take average HP, right? And I'd always recommend doing so, no matter what your luck is like.

[Telwar]

I'm still recommending picking up new dice, and maybe using a dice cup. After all, who can't use more dice? :smallsmile:

But assuming you do have a staggering field of bad luck surrounding you...

Oath of Vengeance paladin has been touched on. It's not a *bad* fit for the 4e Avenger, having relatively ridiculously high AC potential and good damage from pumping out Smites. The Oath of Enmity channel divinity is limited to one opponent, though.

I don't agree on the casters. A lot of their spells still make attacks, and it's nearly impossible to give people disadvantage on saves, relative to the "comparative" ease of getting advantage on attack rolls.

If the DM lets you dig into UA content, there's the Scout and Cavalier fighter subclasses (link below), which can add their superiority dice to attacks. It's 4 per short rest, but it's absolutely under your control, too, whereas Advantage ususally isn't, so you can save it for bad rolls. I'm not sure if the Battlemaster has that as an option for its superiority dice.

It's also worth noting that, while there are FAR fewer resources available for players to improve their accuracy in 5e as opposed to 4e, once you max your attack stat, and as you go up in level, your attacks will be more likely to hit, since monster AC isn't terribly high (most undead is somewhere around AC 12 or so I hear).

And the June UA had those "experimental" +1 to attack feats that you might could use, again assuming the DM lets you.


And if you're still rolling 2s, 3s, and 4s when you need a 5 to hit...well, that's time for some dice discipline. Find a hammer and execute the bad d20 as an example to the others. :smallbiggrin:

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/04_UA_Classics_Revisited.pdf

[Lappy9001]

For those that are contributing to the forum with game mechanics, classes, etc, I really appreciate you guys. Thanks for not accusing me of thinking magic is out to get me. You're great.You're welcome. I had a similar thread way back and most of the replies were people being generally unhelpful. I hope some of the replies help you out.


You do realise you can take average HP, right? And I'd always recommend doing so, no matter what your luck is like.OP said their DM wasn't allowing them to take average HP.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

You're welcome. I had a similar thread way back and most of the replies were people being generally unhelpful. I hope some of the replies help you out.

This didn't really help OP :smalltongue:

Also I really do think casters would be a good option. At the very least you use damage spells like magic missle, thunderwave, flaming sphere, FIREBALL, and others that will always do something. That is just some of the decent 1st-3rd level damage spells, past that level, battlefield control becomes very effective and guaranteed to hurt the enemies.

You could also play totem bear barbarian and always reckless attack, and ALWAYS have advantage! As long as you ignore the hordes of nameless goons with advantage there is no downside.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

OP said their DM wasn't allowing them to take average HP.

...Oops. Try and get him to let you do that then, because that's just a really bad idea generally. Also, try and get him to ease up on the ridiculous fumble rules.

[Fenrazer]

You said it, not me.

You literally said that you are an unlucky person.



I referred to myself as an unlucky person, referring to all of the misfortune I've had so far. Obviously I've rolled a twenty here and there, but people that are fully science believing people, who do not believe in a shred of magic in any form, can still fully say to a person who lost their arse in a game, that they were "unlucky", referring to what happened, and without meaning what is destined to happen. I'm grateful that you would like to help, but saying Im treating this as a magical scenario is just a strawman fallacy. In general, referring to the rolls, I have been unfortunate in the great majority of them. If there is a term that you'd find acceptable, then please let me know, but otherwise, since it apparently needs explained, assume that when I say unlucky, I am referring to the frequency of poor rolls that I have had in the past, and not referring to some magical force.

I really loathe having to reword everything for nitpicking when everybody already knows what I mean.


...Oops. Try and get him to let you do that then, because that's just a really bad idea generally. Also, try and get him to ease up on the ridiculous fumble rules.

He gave us a few options. He said we could do that, OR we could keep it the same (rolling) and we get to roll hit dice during the game to restore HP, and if we chose the latter, we could divide our dice in half (D8 becomes 2D4). Since we have two barbarians, and everybody else already has a satisfactory amount of HP, I just didnt bother to contest it, because they would lose out on the ability to self heal in game. It wont really benefit me, since nearly everything one shots my paltry sum of HP, but at least they could self heal.

IOW, after much of my complaining he gave me the option to have exactly what I need to keep breathing, at the cost of the rest of the team. ;-)

[ad_hoc]

I really loathe having to reword everything for nitpicking when everybody already knows what I mean.


So you believe you are just as likely to roll well as roll poorly in the future?

Because that hasn't come across to me or most other people it seems.

[georgie_leech]

So you believe you are just as likely to roll well as roll poorly in the future?

Because that hasn't come across to me or most other people it seems.

Or... 'Hey, I've had some rotten luck with rolls and it frustrates me. I remember an old class that let you roll lots of dice that was basically Advantage, which makes long strings of bad dice rolls less likely. Is there anything in 5e that let's me do that?' And what followed was a discussion wherein such options were discussed, along with some venting about the particular strings of unfortunate rolls that were so frustrating.

Like, I don't need magical thinking to know that critically missing 5 attacks in a row (seriously) is a very frustrating event.

[Sir cryosin]

If your rolls are Thay bad. (I know this is something you shouldn't tell people to bo but just hear me out on this.) Lie about your rolls take the average for your hp it's not making you op. Find a pair of weighted dice.
The Wheaton curse is a serious thing. And I'm sorry you have it.

So now that's all done here is some builds that can help with out cheating.
1: Rogue: Fighter lv1 then rest swashbuckler. This get you heavy armor and advantage on your attack. Feats for this build will be tought,shield master, and lucky if you can. Any other rogue will be good just pump your dex as high you can get then take expertise in stealth.

2: Barbarian: a Barbarians get reckless attack to alow you to roll with advantage. Nor only that they have a d12 hit dice and when raging damage is half.

3: Fighter: a eldritch knight is a nice one you will have some of the highest ac with a s&b set up. You want to grad the feat shield master so your rolling with advantage. By knocking them on there butt. get proficient in athletics.

But seriously I would just advise you to take average on your hp it's not fair if a lv 20 character has 120 hp. A Lv20 wizard max hp is 220.