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[Trekkin]

That is a problem. 

Can dominate creature be used to force a creature that does not itself know a ritual, to perform a ritual that the dominating wizard DOES know?  That was the other suggested means to initiating the process (since Comprehend Languages is SELF.-- The creature must either use it as a potion, or perform the ritual.)

I don't think so, no; Dominate Monster can't force it to do anything it can't do (per the "tries its best" bit of the spell and common sense), and without the Ritual Caster feat or class levels it can't cast rituals. Can NPCs get feats?

[wierd]

The intention here would be more "enhanced familiar", rather than "captured wild creature" though.

It would also be more the "out of combat" form of dominate creature,  with emphasis on the bolded section of the description:

Dominate Monster

You attempt to beguile a creature that you can see within range. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be Charmed by you for the Duration. If you or creatures that are friendly to you are fighting it, it has advantage on the saving throw.

While the creature is Charmed, you have a telepathic link with it as long as the two of you are on the same plane of existence. You can use this telepathic link to issue commands to the creature while you are conscious (no action required), which it does its best to obey. You can specify a simple and general course of action, such as Attack that creature, Run over there, or Fetch that object. If the creature completes the order and doesn't receive further direction from you, it defends and preserves itself to the best of its ability.

You can use your action to take total and precise control of the target. Until the end of your next turn, the creature takes only the actions you choose, and doesn't do anything that you don't allow it to do. During this time, you can also cause the creature to use a reaction, but this requires you to use your own reaction as well.

Each time the target takes damage, it makes a new Wisdom saving throw against the spell. If the saving throw succeeds, the spell ends.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell with a 9th-level spell slot, the Duration is Concentration, up to 8 hours.

If the wizard has total and precise control over the animal, he can puppeteer it through the ritual, theoretically.  Since this is a non-combat round, there shouldnt be any outside interferences.

There ironically COULD be a reasonable basis to get a DM to agree on this:  Take for instance, a person operating under a geas to perform an unsealing ritual, even though they do not understand or know that ritual.  The being that has them ensnared DOES know, and wants them to do the ritual to set it free. (It's a staple trope for releasing evil entities.  This would be a cognate consequence of allowing that kind of control to exist in the world.)

[Hanslanda]

So there's probably no official way to play a psychotically bouncy Deinonychus rogue riding a Trex then? Just enhanced familiar stuff?

[Kagus]

-snip-

Would they be able to perform the verbal/somatic components of the ritual though? And presumably a Sorcerer's sorcery points are an inherent attribute that they as an individual possess, so you probably wouldn't be able to metamagic a subtle casting of it that way around.

So there's probably no official way to play a psychotically bouncy Deinonychus rogue riding a Trex then? Just enhanced familiar stuff?

Well... Moon Druid/Rogue?


EDIT: So there's the spell Glibness, but Xanathar adds the Mastermind subclass which gets a similar permanent ability at level 17. Both of these effects make lie-detecting magic indicate that you're telling the truth, and the Mastermind's ability even specifically states that you cannot be forced by magic to state the truth either.

The question is, then... How easily would you be able to fool a Solar? They have a "Divine Awareness" ability that lets them automatically know if they're being lied to (rather, the writing says "when they hear a lie", but I doubt you'll be allowed to get around that with sign language/writing/telepathy), and presumably they know that they'll know when they're being lied to... Which means that if you lie to them and their buzzer doesn't go off, they should believe that you're telling the truth. I mean, they'd know if you weren't, wouldn't they?

[Mephisto]

So what are we doing now? Teaching animals to speak?

Simple. Have a wild mage blow all slots on Comprehend Languages (or whatever spell you want; I specifically chose one that doesn't really have effects) until they get the "everyone within X range understands Y language" result.

Though now that I'm looking at the table, I don't see that result. Perhaps that was a bit of homebrew or something - I recall after that campaign arc ended that the guy reminded us of his wild magic surge and that, if we didn't realize already, everyone in the party at that time learned to understand Abyssal.

[Trekkin]

If the wizard has total and precise control over the animal, he can puppeteer it through the ritual, theoretically.  Since this is a non-combat round, there shouldnt be any outside interferences.

That's the part that I'm not sure of, because it assumes that being puppeteered through a ritual is enough to cast it -- which, if a character without Ritual Casting cannot cast rituals by mimicing a character who does, seems unlikely to me. Since the feat doesn't say either way, it is I think reasonable to assume that inclusio unius est exclusio alterius since otherwise we'd have fighters casting spells because it doesn't say they can't and so forth, in which case it'd be like trying to Dominate Monster something without wings into flying. It'll do everything it's made to do, but that doesn't guarantee the results.

EDIT: presumably Faustian pacts and such work differently, being rituals that anyone can cast. I'm not sure any exist in 5e, though.

[wierd]

Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?

[Gentlefish]

Okay folks, I'd like some input for a character I'm moving to in a campaign. It's pathfinder (3.5 magic items and spells allowed) with Path of War and Spheres of Power 3PP added ontop of the systems. Spheres of Might are technically available but aren't important for the characters I'm looking at.

For background, we have 4 players, two of whom are differently spec'd paladins. One's a vanilla paladin while the other is the Path of War variant built around morale boosts. I had a knowledge-spec bard (who I'm retiring. I love her too much to kill her.) and the other player was a tiefling warlord who had already died once and has now died a second time due to horrendously bad dice rolls. (Our DM is infamous for high rolling. His dice are balanced, we just think he sacrificed his first child.)

So I'm moving to a healer/support class. Only issue is, I'm torn between two classes/builds.

Spoiler: Herbalist Druid (click to show/hide)

Here's the Sheet!

The build concept here is one of "always be prepared". Magic Item Crafting is necessary, since it's much cheaper than purchasing.

Pros:

• Currently 5 free (1st level CL 1) potions/day during downtime, or 4 plus half-day's work on an item.
• 1 potion a day while travelling (according to rules, can work 2 hours for 1 hours worth of work a day)
• At level 7, can make any level concoction in one minute allowing full item crafting days on downtime, and full crafting during travel
• Access to all 3.5 druid spells for potions.
• Maintains wildshape capabilities
• Spontaneously casts cures

Cons:

• Limited in-combat versatility
• Limited casts per day (mitigated by wands and potions)
• Useless in melee combat, even with wild shape

This build requires me to think ahead and have everything ready, but makes it extremely easy to be ready for anything with as many free potions as I can get. I will need to get a bag of holding, or at least a handy haversack in order to properly hold all the items created.

And since I'm able to craft, the party is able to much more effectively spend their gold on upgrades. Assuming we get some downtime.

Spoiler: Spheres of Power Support (click to show/hide)

Here's the Sheet!

The concept here is definitely one of power multiplication. The two paladins hit plenty hard, it's just making sure they stay alive and can actually hit.

Pros:

• Stupidly effective healing
• Can Treat Deadly wounds in 1 minute rather than an hour, and twice per day per person
• Spheres flexibility lets me dip for AC bonuses and haste
• Magical endurance is through the ceiling compared to traditional system

Cons:

• No ability to prepare potions or craft magic items
• No wildshape
• Extremely squishy

This build requires little to no thought when preparing for the day, but can only do a few things at all in combat situations. Absolutely a healing powerhouse, but suffers greatly for that in lack of flexibility.

I'm honestly leaning towards the first, but the second would be much more capable of making the paladins effective in what they do (swing a big sword).

[Kagus]

Damn, three replies while I was editing my last post... Whoops.

Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?

Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.


EDIT: As for rituals being mimicked by those without the feat, one could presume that a person could (within a reasonably short time) mimic the techniques to deliver more damage after charging a short distance. However, without the feat, they're not able to actually get that +5 damage boost... Feats can therefore be considered an indication of an individual actually understanding the ability well enough to properly replicate it.

[wierd]

-snip-

Would they be able to perform the verbal/somatic components of the ritual though? And presumably a Sorcerer's sorcery points are an inherent attribute that they as an individual possess, so you probably wouldn't be able to metamagic a subtle casting of it that way around.

So there's probably no official way to play a psychotically bouncy Deinonychus rogue riding a Trex then? Just enhanced familiar stuff?

Well... Moon Druid/Rogue?


EDIT: So there's the spell Glibness, but Xanathar adds the Mastermind subclass which gets a similar permanent ability at level 17. Both of these effects make lie-detecting magic indicate that you're telling the truth, and the Mastermind's ability even specifically states that you cannot be forced by magic to state the truth either.

The question is, then... How easily would you be able to fool a Solar? They have a "Divine Awareness" ability that lets them automatically know if they're being lied to (rather, the writing says "when they hear a lie", but I doubt you'll be allowed to get around that with sign language/writing/telepathy), and presumably they know that they'll know when they're being lied to... Which means that if you lie to them and their buzzer doesn't go off, they should believe that you're telling the truth. I mean, they'd know if you weren't, wouldn't they?

This would depend on the creature you are trying to puppeteer I think.  If the somatic component requires a hand gesture, you need a creature with a hand.  If it has a verbal component, it needs to be capable of making human-like sounds. (Say, a parrot, or a raven) 

The spell in question has a verbal, a somatic, and a material component.  So, whatever creature you attempt to puppeteer would need to be able to make human like sounds.  This makes sense anyway, since your goal is to get it to fluently speak a language in the end run anyway.  Without using "awakened creature" straight up, (which outright gives that ability), you would be stuck with creatures that are able to make the physical actions needed to speak, even if they cannot comprehend speech. 

[wierd]

Damn, three replies while I was editing my last post... Whoops.

Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?

Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.

The idea is to polymorph a familiar into said deinonychus. It going to level 0 is just a cost of doing business.  You dont invest any levels or the like into it to begin with.  You find the familiar, bump its CR some how so that it is in the allowable exchange pool with said saurian horror, then do true polymorph.

Once it is permanently transformed, THEN you start investing levels into it.

OR-- you state that this is what happened as the backstory.

[Hanslanda]

Damn, three replies while I was editing my last post... Whoops.

Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?

Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.

Step one: get permanently True Polymorphed into a Deinonychus.
Step two: gain levels in rogue
Step three: Tyrannosaurus mount

[IcyTea31]

The solution for the deinonychus rogue is to have True Polymorph cast on them in their backstory, as then you'll be able to explain where the first level of rogue came from (the same place as everyone else's first class level)

Oh come on you ninja.

[Hanslanda]

Ah so I can just put that in the backstory. And find a DM and game willing to let me be a ludicrous, murderous stealth-dinosaur. I'll figure out the mount after that.

... An armored stealth dinosaur.

[Kagus]

Unfortunately, if you do that, then the DM will point out (...or not...) that the moment it gets hit with a Dispel Magic effect, it will get un-polymorphed back into... Whatever it was before.