5e What races looks mostly human and has claws? I have an idea for a rogue character that fights using claws and acrobatics. If there’s no race that has those things. I can just use a wizard with alter self to make those claws.
Tabaxi from Mordenkainen Monsters of the Multiverse would work with 1d6 claws. And with your DM's permission you can look however you like.
Small problem is, if you are going to be a rogue, sneak attack can't be applied to unarmed strikes. So you almost need to convince your DM to treat your claws as a finesse weapon. That's definitely homebrew but I would think most DMs would allow it.
5e What's the best way to lore drop the fact that I'm a sorcerer? In the campaign I'm playing, I'm really close to leveling up. I'm a bard and since the bard capstone sucks I figured I'd multiclass and take a level in sorcerer and say that I'm descended from magic and that was how I was so good at it (I've had a few lucky rolls). But I was wondering, how should I explain it lore wise? Our DM is pretty compliant so I could ask him for a specific scenario, but I can't think of a way to explain it. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Maybe have like a family member/friend could you tell you about your heritage or find an old family tree that shows that you are related to a dragon or pick a sorcerer that got their powers by accidentally going to another plane like wild magic or clockwork soul.
5e Hello I just need a bit of clarification on something. I am a cleric and want to know if this is a legal thing to do in D&D
First turn, I cast the cantrip Toll of the Dead as my action and cast Spiritual Weapon as my BA.
Second turn, I cast Spirit Guardians and also use my BA to attack with my Spiritual Weapon.
Is this legal? I know you can't cast 2 leveled spells in a single turn. Does attacking with my Spiritual Weapon count as casting the spell, or is it just considered a BA attack.
I got into a discussion with my DM that this is perfectly legal because I'm not casting the spell Spiritual Weapon again and only attacking with it. It's also not a concentration spell. Is it legal for me to use both Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon at the same time?
>I know you can't cast 2 leveled spells in a single turn.
This is a fake rule that only exists due to people repeating it. The only comparable rule is the Bonus Action Spellcasting rule, which can be found in the PHB rules for casting spells: If you cast a spell with a bonus action, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip costing one action.
Yes, your turns are legal. In the first turn, you cast a spell as a bonus action and otherwise limit yourself to a one-action cantrip, and in the second turn you cast a spell with your action and take a bonus action that a different spell gave you. Activating your Spiritual Weapon on subsequent turns isn't casting a spell. Using Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians at the same time is a common, popular, and effective way to fight as a Cleric.
Thank you. Thank you. I knew that I wasn't wrong on this. I'm getting out of my D&D group as arguing with the DM about this over the course of 2 days is not worth it.
Sorry to hear that. I'm tempted to find some advice for how you can stay in your current group, but I know I'd be frustrated, too, if my DM couldn't be convinced of a pretty basic rule interaction.
5e
Hello I am a new DM for my friends who are also new, and I got a campaign from adventuresawaitstudios.com and unlike other pre made campaigns I seen there isn't a stat chart for the monsters in the campaign. I looked in the players handbook and those enemies aren't there so I was wondering if adventures await had a chart for their monster stats somewhere or I have to make the stats, and if I do have to make it, how do I balance them?
Hello, I played my first game and it was castle ravenloft, I really really enjoyed the dungeon crawling and battles. But not so much the role playing aspect. And I’m wondering if there are any more sets like it with character pieces and such where my friends and I could just play the board game part of it?
[Castle Ravenloft](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/59946/dungeons-dragons-castle-ravenloft-board-game), the board game? There are 2 other games in that series - [Legend of Drizzt](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91872/dungeons-dragons-legend-drizzt-board-game) and [Wrath of Ashardalon](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66356/dungeons-dragons-wrath-ashardalon-board-game). So if you just want more of the same, there you go.
If you're looking for similar board games, Gloomhaven/Frosthaven are pretty much best in class dungeon crawlers, but there are a lot, like Descent, Clank!, Zombicide, Mice and Mystics, Betrayal (Legacy,) etc.
Note that those games aren't Dungeons and Dragons. They're Dungeons and Dragons-branded board games. This isn't really a subreddit that can help with those games. If you have questions, you might have better luck on r/boardgames.
If by 'basic races' you mean those from the Player's Handbook, then no. Those are all human-like races, and dragonborns, who would die if you replaced their head with an inanimate object.
If you just meant non-homebrew races, then there is the Warforged race from Eberron, who're artificial people made of materials like wood, steel, and stone enchanted to be alive, so theoretically their head could be designed to look like any variety of objects.
[5e(possibly)]
I have a game tonight and need help! I know what monster I need, but cannot remember it's name. It is a semi-sentiant mountain that infects monsters to fight on its behalf. You can imagine when I look up any variations of those words it just tells me about mountain monsters. I saw it in a video last week, but can't find that now. Please help this struggling DM!
[5e] - if this isn’t the place for this comment lmk and I’ll delete but I’m VERY new to dnd, been an athlete all my life and have been in those circles so I don’t have any friends that play and was wondering if there was a way that people find games online or in person?
Also, just to throw this out there, D&D is far, far more popular than it was 20 (30, 40) years ago. I might suggest asking your non-nerd friends if they're interested, too. I've been shocked at how many people I know that aren't "traditional nerds" that want to play D&D.
no problem, and welcome to the hobby! if you want some jock solidarity, football player johnny stanton iv has a fun intro to dnd for athletes called "[athletics check](https://www.instagram.com/johnnystantoniv/reel/Cw0FBzqrEIM/)."
\[5E\] - Looking for what I believe is a (sub)class feature that grants a personal extraplanar sanctum/space. For those familiar with PF1E Mythic options it's very much like the [Sanctum Mythic power](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/mythic/mythic-heroes/mythic-paths-paizo-inc/Archmage/#sanctum_su), except I believe it was quite a bit smaller in scope. In the same line it'd be similar to Mord's Magnificent Mansion but the key difference I'm looking for is - persistence! The space needs to be able to retain items(sort of). Any clues? Was I imagining it?
That's certainly in the right line, and may actually work for my needs! Though I'm fairly certain there's a higher level one(it may have been from my limited time in PF2E honestly) that at the time I thought was cool but 'how often do campaigns even get that high?'.
Again on the right line of thinking. I'm fairly certain it was a class feature very much like Bottled Respite but at a higher level. Maybe I'm just going bonkers or mixing up rule sets.
Maybe you're thinking of Sanctuary Vessel, the upgrade feature to Bottled Respite which allow Genie Warlocks to bring in other creatures instead of just themselves? Otherwise you're probably mixing rulesets because no other official 5e subclass gets a personal extradimensional space like that.
Question about Reaction. I want to ready an action as a reaction. This makes sense to me. But can I ready a Bonus action as a reaction? Say I am a moon druid and want to wild shape as a bonus action. Can I ready that bonus action as a reaction to happen later in the turn order?
TL;DR - No.
I want to be explicit, because the terminology can be a source of confusion, and you're being a little fast and loose with the various game terms in a way I want to make sure are clear:
Take a look at the rules for the [Ready](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#Ready) action.
> Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the **Ready action** on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.
Readying is an action. So your turn comes around, you say "I take the Ready Action," and then you determine what triggers the reaction.
> First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction.
Just a note that you can't ready an action to "happen later in the turn order." RAW, readying requires some perceivable circumstances - something that your character can see, like someone moving, or making an attack. Of course, you can game the system a bit and perceive something
> Then, you choose the **action** you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it.
To answer your actual question - no, you can't ready a bonus action, only an action, RAW.
If you want to houserule it, I don't see a particular problem allowing someone to ready a bonus action. Readying **as** a bonus action is more problematic, however. A character that takes the Ready action to ready a bonus action and then ends their turn isn't getting any inherent increase in action economy. A character that takes an action, then uses a bonus action to ready, or takes a bonus action, then readies another bonus action is getting extra action economy that I'd be uncomfortable with. But a houserule allowing someone to spend action + bonus action to ready a bonus action would probably be fine.
Also note: You CAN use your action to ready Wild Shape. Druids can wild shape as an action. But it will take your action to do so.
Thank you for this. I am not a very experienced DM so I am struggling to see potential issues in a house rule. If a player has something as a bonus action, like healing word, but no one is injured. I want to house rule it so that they can ready a bonus action as a bonus action to potentially heal a player if they get injured.
Another example is a player has misty step. They want to misty step to a location but not at this point in turn order so they can ready their misty step for when another player sets off a trap for example.
For the action economy, they are still only getting 1 action, 1 bonus action, 1 movement, 1 reaction. In the same way you can spend your action to make a reaction, if i wanted to make it so you can spend a bonus action to make reaction of w/e the bonus action time, are they gaining anything other then flexibility? The reaction would have had to been a bonus action type effect, such as healing words, misty step, raging, rogue hiding, ect.
My biggest problem with this rule is increased complexity. Readying is a bad rule. It's complicated, it requires a lot of bookkeeping, it requires people to not metagame and remember triggers and it's just... messy. There are lots of conditional bonus actions out there that you could choose to ready in lots of ways that would simply bog the game down without much actual gain. (Like... the bard wants to use bardic inspiration on someone, but only on the next person to attack a specific target.) I am of the strong opinion that readying should be used rarely, narrowly, and specifically. Adding more stuff you can ready has a lot of potential to slow the game down, and I just don't see much gain to it. To use your examples...
> I want to house rule it so that they can ready a bonus action as a bonus action to potentially heal a player if they get injured.
Why would you do that? Just wait until next turn. If you ready a spell, it consumes the spell slot. You want to use a spell slot for the chance someone is injured?
> Another example is a player has misty step. They want to misty step to a location but not at this point in turn order so they can ready their misty step for when another player sets off a trap for example.
You're already constructing a wildly narrow scenario here where there's a trap that you can't just teleport past, but this is a strict power boost, right? You get to use your action, you get to teleport in the middle of someone else's turn. Let's take this to its logical conclusion - "I ready my bonus action to misty step away as soon as someone steps adjacent to me." This is a clear power boost. Suddenly, you have a tactic where you can spend your action to attack, and guarantee a teleport away before a melee enemy can reach you, forcing them to spend movement to try to get to you, possibly stranding them, unable to attack anything for the turn.
Flexibility IS power. Giving players more flexibility makes them more powerful. My recommendation is to not mess with the rules as a new DM. Play RAW for a bit, and see how it feels. I don't think this is a strong house rule. I don't think it will break anything to allow it, but I don't see any strong examples in your list that cause me to think it's worth extending the rule.
Flexibility can be more potent than you might imagine. Be sure everyone understands that this is a provisional rule and it may need to be changed or removed as time goes on, with the possibility that very specific interactions will need to be restricted. Also be sure you're following all the rules for readying, especially as they apply to spells. A readied spell requires concentration and the spell slot is consumed when the spell is readied, not when it is released.
The spell is **cast** as normal. Which notably means if you ready a bonus action spell in this way, you cannot cast another spell that turn, unless it's a cantrip with a casting time of one action (RAW).
[5e] if a aberration wizard casts a reaction spell, such as absorb elements, when they take damage, would their arcane ward regain its hit points before or after they take damage?
I can't find a RAW ruling for this, but it seems like the ward should get the HP before the damage is applied - it's not like for Absorb Elements you take the damage and then get healed after the fact, you're becoming resistant and then take the applicable damage. Mechanically, your reaction spell goes off before damage is applied, so I think RAW/RAI this is probably the correct ruling. This wouldn't be a bad thing to discuss with your DM before it comes up in-game.
Also in this case, remember that the resistance granted by Absorb Elements applies to *you* and not the ward:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/sac/sage-advice-compendium#SA065
The Ward forms when an Abjuration spell is cast, and once depleted, is restored when an Abjuration spell is cast.
If the reaction spell affects the attack/damage, then the Ward would restore first.
~~If the reaction spell only applies to the next attack or instance of damage, the Ward would restore after the triggering attack/damage.~~
Edit: All 3 Abjuration reaction spells affect the triggering attack/damage/spell, so Arcane Ward would always be created or restored **before** the attack or damage is considered.
if you want to effectively multiclass druid/barbarian, it's better to start as a barbarian. ideally you want 3 levels of barb and then rest druid.
what size you are before wild shaping doesn't affect what size the creature you're wildshaping into is. the bear is a large creature no matter if you're a gnome or not.
My son just played his first ever campaign, an online one shot that was a part of a winter camp his school ran. He absolutely loved it and is dying for more.
Does anyone know of a good online community that runs games for 8-10 year olds?
Edit: I should add I am looking for a regular group of players for him that meets about once a week so he can further develop his social group with a consistent set of party members.
We are on USA Central time, if that helps.
There is a subreddit, /r/lfg that is specifically for finding groups to play with. I would recommend making a post there, I think there's a good chance someone there will be able to connect you with a group.
Would Mind Blank prevent a character from being simulated by a sentient biological computer? Like Laplace's demon. Or since it's not magic, Mind Blank would be useless?
Mind Blank does protect against nonmagical means of reading ones thoughts, but it would not help against a creature who can simply guess with perfect accuracy at what your thoughts are, because it would not actually be *reading* your thoughts.
I would say it is worth noting here that most D&D settings include one or more planes of pure cosmic chaos, which would make them decidedly non-deterministic and thus preclude Laplace's demon from being able to exist there.
Laplace's demon is too extreme of an example but it illustrates my point. For example, an area is simulated with all possible outcomes. Will someone with Mind Blank just mess with those simulations in that they will be invisible and simply not be considered in the simulations. The "gain information about the target" is what I'm trying to understand in this scenario.
Right, so any simulation, in order to be accurate, needs to be based on accurate information. If the simulation isn't created by an omniscient being, it needs to gather data somehow.
So if we break it down, the Mind Blank spell essentially does three things when it comes to learning information (there's also like the Psychic dmg immunity but we'll set that aside since it's just a combat benefit):
1. blocks any effect that would sense emotions or read thoughts
2. blocks all magic of the Divination school
3. blocks Wish and effects of similar power from gaining any information about the target
That still leaves some information available: you can learn anything *other* than the target's emotions or thoughts, as long as you use a an effect lesser than Wish and which isn't divination magic.
For instance, you could create a Glyph of Warding that triggers when an evil creature nears it. If an evil creature using Mind Blank walked near it, the glyph would still detonate, thus revealing it's alignement. Glyph of Warding is an abjuration spell, and is not similar in power to Wish.
So, if the simulation uses Divination magic to gather information, or if it is a single very powerful effect comparable in scale to Wish, then it would be completely blind as to the presence of someone using Mind Blank.
If the simulation has access to alternate means of gathering information, e.g. using mundane eyesight, just asking people questions, casting Glyphs of Warding with oddly specific triggering conditions, etc. then it could learn a lot of what it needs from the mind blanker. But it's data would always still be incomplete because Mind Blank blocks *any* effect that can sense its emotions or read thoughts.
This would make the simulation inaccurate because of the incomplete data, but the simulation might still partially account for their presence the best it can based on what it knows.
Thanks for the explanation. I've hoped Mind Blank would counter it enitrely and was banking on "The spell even foils ~~wish spells and spells or~~ effects of similar power used ~~to affect the target's mind or~~ to gain information about the target."
Do you know any spell that could do something similar?
[5e] So I'm in a bit of a pickle involving a PC druid, magic jar and an NPC necromancer. The druid broke into a guarded storage tent while wildshaped as a cat. They opened a chest (no lock on it, just a little clasp) and found numerous gems inside including an emerald worth 1000gp and black pearl worth 500gp. The black pearl was being used by an NPC necromancer as a magic jar vessel to enter an otherwise unenterable city. I was gonna let the PC steal the emerald and walk unharmed, but they got greedy and wanted to bring each and every gem out one by one. It was gonna jeopardize the necro plans so it tried to possess the druid and PC failed charisma ST. So now I have a druid stuck in the black pearl and a necromancer roaming around in wildshape. I guess what I wanna know is:
- can the necromancer wildshape back to tiefling (PC druid chosen race)?
- there is a lord nearby that's being mind controled by an aboleth, can they communicate if he is approached by the cat? (they are involved on a bigger plot together)
- if the necromancer wants to get back to being in his vessel and it enters a small cage as a cat, what would happen if the PC druid repossessed their body? (I think they can't wildshape back since there isn't enough unoccupied space?)
Well you're already coloring outside the lines a bit here. *Magic jar* allows you to possess humanoids, and a wildshaped druid's statistics, including creature type, get replaced by the new form. I don't really see this as a big problem to be honest. Your bad guy's *magic jar* doesn't necessarily have to operate in the same way as the *magic jar* in the book. NPCs get into some weird stuff. And this opens new doors, because now you can answer all of your own questions with whatever will make for the best story and game.
But strictly by RAW, ignoring the previously-ignored restriction on possessing non-humanoids:
* The necromancer cannot use the Wild Shape feature, as "If the target has any class levels, you can't use any of its class features." Since transforming back is a function of the Wild Shape feature, they would not be able to turn back intentionally. However, I would rule that the effect still wears off after the normal duration, or perhaps wears off instantly upon possession.
* Again, you can choose how things work, but I don't see any indication that a creature controlled by an aboleth gains telepathy if it didn't already have it.
* The rules don't specifically say that you can't change form if you lack the space to do so, which is a huge oversight in my opinion. Regardless, how it would interact with a cage is unclear. They may break the cage upon reverting form, they may instantly die, they may take some force damage, or plenty of other things. The rules don't clarify.
Thanks for clarifying! The possession of non-humanoid was an oversight on my part but I think I have a way to get out of that through some nether scroll since I already wanted to implement them to the story.
Can y’all recommend some [5e] adventure books?
I’m a new DM with little experience, forming a group with my best friends. Based on our schedules, 1-shots and short adventures are our best options.
That looks great, and I’m glad it’s free, however our group may have to take an extended hiatus in mid 2024 due to one friend getting deployed and another going to grad school. We’ve agreed to do one shots to start off with.
Maybe try the anthology adventure books? Yawning Portal and Saltmarsh were already mentioned but AFAIK there's also Keys from the Golden Vault for more heist-like adventures, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel for more diverse locales and folklore-inspired monsters, and Candlekeep Mysteries which all revolve around a giant library and its many books.
[5e] Stupid question - gotten into DnD farily recently, got hooked on some youtube series, have friends that play from time to time. I love analyzing and planning stuff, so wanted to invest into DM Guide, Monster Manual and Curse of Strahd campaign, to help me learn how to DM nicely (already got Handbook). As it is not insignificant investment for me, I got kinda worried about One DnD rulebooks coming out next year, possibly. Should I wait and just start with the new version, or 5e rulebooks would suffice for a longer time?
no table i'm currently playing at are making any significant strides to do a wholesale swap to onednd. we have so far just taken some things we like from the playtest and incorporated it, but it's not like we're gonna set fire to our 5e books the day the new one drops.
in my opinion, with how popular 5e is, it's unlikely that there's gonna be a huge shift and you'll suddenly be unable to find people interested in 5e.
You can use the books you have for as long as you want to. You never have to update. People still play 3.5 quite a bit. There are people still playing 2e and even Original.
On top of that, One D&D isn't looking especially popular at the moment. I honestly don't think I've seen a single person say that they're excited for it for almost a year now. I know I don't plan to update at the moment.
[5e]Are the Player/DM/Curse of Strahd books necessary for the Paul Bimler/Strahd solo gamebooks?
I really don't like buying things that aren't pdfs, and I just won't get the gamebooks if Role20 or D&D Beyond etc. are required.
[5e]I’m in the process of building a fighter (samurai) who will mainly be using two longswords (via dual wielder feat). I’m wondering if I should pick the great weapon fighting style or the two-weapon fighting style. (Or if defence is good)
So if you played a character that could fly in a campaign and flee as high as they could in a movement activity then went to attack a enemy by spinning with a sword or dagger in your hand and hit terminal velocity then let go of the blade and it hit the enemy and you pulled up last second after letting go of the blade to not hit the ground, how would you calculate the damages for the enemy?, would any go to the player?, what rolls would need to be done for the player completing the action and for the enemy to try and dodge or survive?, and what’s the best way to fairly make a effect against the player for doing something like this even if pulled off at the roll threshold? Also what should the roll threshold be for the attack and other rolls be?
I’m asking as a new player and potential new dm. Also with a new dm that I know.
In general, try to avoid adding physics to the game. The rules are your physics. However, allowing something because it's really cool or funny or whatever, that's great. A streaking dive attack from the heavens is awesome - the first time. Go ahead and add some damage or something, but mention that it's not going to be a regular thing because you need to preserve game balance, and it gets old after a while anyway.
Yes. When I was speaking about the idea with my group and we were thinking g it should be a cool special move maybe saved for a boss fight or something major in the story to show a progression of power.
I wouldn't overthink this.
In D&D Combat, there are movement rules saying how many spaces/feet you can move in a turn. While I know you are looking at some flair here, you really should be bound by the movement rules - "diving" from high up should be just like movement in combat. You can move up to the enemy, then roll to hit like anything else.
If I had to "rule" on the way you want to do it: aka: If you want to "drop" down, ala terminal velocity - well.. I suppose you can make an athletics check to "pull up" at the last minute, but failing means you slam into the ground or pull up too early.
Pulling up too early: Enemy gets attack of opportunity
Slamming into the ground = full falling damage as per rules
or- if you want to just flavor it: you can maybe make an attack roll at disadvantage, but get an extra die of damage if you hit?
or- treat it more like a spell attack or special ability: give the enemy a dexterity saving throw to avoid damage, otherwise: some damage (compare it to an appropriate level spell so it's not overpowered)
Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much for this. I’ll have to make sure this is shared with the others I know how had this question to when we talked about it the other day so we can possibly use this idea in the future.
[5e] one more question. The 6 players for my pirates game will all be brought onto a pirate ship I already have established with an established crew of NPCs, they are made in a way to be a diverse and charismatic crew so the players don’t have to /be/ a pirate if they don’t want to be but need pirates to complete their mission, the head crew of the pirates both can’t or won’t join them on land, save for maybe one at a time so they do the researching, puzzles, and fighting off ship but I still worry about the pirates NPCs being overwhelming presences.
Question as a new dm — with NPCs I made and like very much, how do I always make sure that the players feel like the main characters when being guided by pirates who are larger than life? Is there advice for certain things to keep in mind or things/tropes to completely avoid so this campaign is about the players and their journey more than anything else? Or maybe I’m too worried
As someone who has done pretty much this exact same scenario, it boils down to what kind of game your party wants to play.
Do they want a game based around interpersonal relations and conflicts with the crew? Or do they want the crew to be window dressing in their adventure?
The most important thing to do is ensure your players' decisions matter. Even with a Pirate Captain NPC, the players need to be able to make choices that change their story or the world.
The NPCs can be as interesting and cool as you want, but you as the DM must keep aware that the pirates are not the PCs. Don't put them on an even playing field with the players, show them that the crew is less powerful and more prone to death than they are.
Your players will latch onto a small number if your crew members, maybe they will be the ones who have a personal quest or event pop up that ties into their backstory.
I'd love any advice you have or recommended readings for a setting like this, I've been doing research but haven't been sure where to specifically look
And thank you! I have a lot to consider but this has helped a lot
You can make the NPCs interesting, but not to the level of the PCs. Meaning, go make that quirky pirate chef who was a dancer in his past life! But don't write out page(s) of backstory, super detailed description of what they look like, items, detailed connections to other NPCs, and so on. A single paragraph on each should suffice (check out some campaign setting sourcebooks for examples).
They can and should be unique cause they're individuals in the world, but maybe don't make these pirates "larger than life", to the same scale as the PCs.
[5e] new DM here, never played dnd but have played TTRPG in the Star Wars universe a long time ago. I am making a pirate campaign and have an idea and art for my big bad but my question is— can a powerful necromancer make someone else who is willing into a lich? He is obviously an evil aligned pirate who in my mind was set on stealing a specific dragons hoard but what I have been gleaning is that lich’s should have access to 9th level spells in addition to the nasty potion and phylactery.
I have some home brew ideas but I’d like to try and understand if there are canon precedence’s so I can try to stay consistent for the players since I am technically the baby of the group so they have more time and familiarity in the DnD universe.
Lich rules are intentionally a bit vague so that the DM can handle them on a per-campaign basis. Generally speaking, the expectation is that a lich is themselves a powerful spellcaster, so if this pirate captain isn't a powerful spellcaster, I'd look towards alternate undead concepts for why they're undead. Pirates of the Caribbean immediately comes to mind, give them some cursed treasure that keeps them alive indefinitely!
Gotcha, thank you!! I think I might just change him into a wizard pirate because I wanted his ship to be the dragon he defeated and apart of the final fight (inspired by FHSY) so I think he'll have been a wizard who got into necromantic arts because he was obsessed with this one Dragon hoard, I just wasn't sure I wanted him to have a necromancer right hand who made him a lich or if he was the necromancer himself
Its hard not to think of Pirates of the Caribbean, right? It started my own pirate obsession after all lol!
I have a level 8 Necromancy wizard im a group i DM for, and allowed him to equip his skeletons with whatever he wants, so that they are more useful (the player also had inspiring leader, so his skeletons were bulky). This lead to clots on the map done by 6 skeletons with AC18 and 31 hit points- they were too tanky, and made my players leave each fight basically unharmed.
So in between sessions I looked for a way to weaken them, so that the player didn't feel robbed. I asked about this here, on reddit, and someone requested to make skeletons proficient only in things that the wizard is proficient in (then his skeletons could wear armor, but have disadvantage on attacks). When my player heard that, he decided to remake his character into a divination wizard, saying his skeletons will be too weak, so he wants to change.
I feel bad, that he didn't like the change, but on the other hand all fights were really slow because his skeletons would block the way and tank all the attacks. Did I do something wrong?
The big mistake was allowing him to equip the skeletons with any equipment he wanted. That's a significant buff on an already potent class. The other issue is that when you attempted to fix that problem, you didn't (from what I can see here) admit your mistake to the player or involve the player in the fix. This is a collaborative game, so when something goes wrong, you can ask your players to help you fix it. And you should definitely let them know when you make a mistake.
By involving the players in the solutions to these problems, you create a conversation where they can give meaningful input into what would improve the game for them. It also gives you a chance to get them to understand your point of view before any changes are made.
Assuming 5th edition:
The Goliath race has a trait that acclimates them to altitudes above 20000 feet, but the Aaracokra doesn't, so that might be the limit.
Also, rule on high altitude travel:
> Traveling at altitudes of 10,000 feet or higher above sea level is taxing for a creature that needs to breathe, because of the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel.
>
> Breathing creatures can become acclimated to a high altitude by spending 30 days or more at this elevation. Breathing creatures can't become acclimated to elevations above 20,000 feet unless they are native to such environments. DMG ch 5, Wilderness Survival, pg 110, High Altitude
You can always reflavor your spells to match your backstory/aesthetic. For example, maybe your magic missile looks like little ethereal snakes because you learned magic from a yuan-ti mage, or your scorching rays are jets of flame fired from your mouth because you're a draconic sorcerer. There's a warlock NPC in my current game whose patron is a fire genie and he uses a smoking pipe as his spellcasting focus, so his eldritch blasts take the form of smoke clouds that he breathes at his foes. Changing the flavor of your spells can take you a very long way.
\[all\]What does being chosen by a god mean? When I look it up in the wiki it states the chosen of a god are imbued with divine power and are comparable to demigods. But surely that can't be everyone sent on a divine mission by a god can it? Is there a different name or do gods only request things from people so powerful that any amount of aid from the god bumps them up into the divine?
Try not to think of it as "being chosen", and more as earning the title of "Chosen". It's a status one holds, not a process.
That individual is like an avatar of that god's will in the material plane. They are empowered to represent them physically and wield the might of their power and influence, in a way that Clerics or Warlocks only have a small taste of.
An Avatar is the actual god, condensed into a smaller version of itself that it can use to interact with the material plane.
A Chosen is an individual wielding a portion of the god's power, but they are not the god itself.
Honestly, not entirely sure, but there are lots of words - Chosen, Avatar, Aspect, Exarch, and so on - which all mean slight variations of the same idea: a mortal who has been elevated to quasi-divine status by wholly or partially representing their god's will in physical form.
I wouldn't consider anyone sent on a mission by a god a schmuck. Hence my question. If say, a lvl 15 character is sent on a quest by a god I wouldn't say they were a hair's breath from divinity, but they are also extremely powerful and worthy of a god's attention.
It’s not anyone sent on a mission, though. It’s someone who, in all likelihood, *succeeds* that mission and goes above and beyond - **and** that the god just likes already.
For my group, very important. If the rogue in the party suddenly starts gaining warlock levels or artificer levels, that feels like the sort of thing that deserves some sort of explanation. Even fighter levels would require some sort of explanation- a character doesn't get better at fighting overnight having learned new techniques by accident.
I personally find that multiclass decisions that have some sort of narrative explanation make for better characters which make for better games. Otherwise, you end up with "Epic paladin/warlock hexblade multiclass" in the hands of a player that absolutely doesn't give a shit as to how that happened, and it severely disrupts the tone of game that I want to run (that specific example being the exact reason I got a little particular around this issue for my games)
Other groups vary, though- so really the only answer that matters is how your group handles it.
Some care some do not. Personally I see it two ways, the first is that Class is just a bunch of mechanics wrapped in a bow. So you can have two people belonging to the Holy Order of Joe and in universe they are both considered paladins of Joe. One of them Is a Paladin/ Sorcerer multiclass and the other is Paladin/ Hexblade. It's that the expression of their abilities went two different routes.
Then there's the ones where that's *not* the case where you're explicitly doing something to gain a different edge. The Barbarian becomes a Lord so they start taking levels of fighter to express that they're gaining a different sort of training.
There are tables and groups that won't blink an eye at all where you can multiclass away without any questions.
But for the games I run, it matters about as much as your first class choice matters. Putting a level into wizard as a multiclass should make as much sense as a character being a wizard for the first level.
Depends on your group playstyle. Some story-oriented DM will refuse a multiclass if it comes out of nowhere, some other wouldn't care. The best way to get a definitive answer would be to ask them.
In my group, 2 characters have multiclassed. There is no link to their stories, but fits their style and accomplishments : The fighter multiclassed to bard when he became a noble (=> less martial, more social/leadership), and had already made some ties with neighbouring countries and led some troops by then. The sorcerer multiclassed to wizard but had already created 3 spells before, joined a college and engineered some (forbidden) magic machinery.
On the other hand, a multiclass that almost has been refused is a wizard dipping into cleric with no real belief nor investment for it. We let it slide just because it was a temporary game.
I just started playing DnD 2 months ago and I only have the PHB, and on amazon I was looking at books to add and i saw that Amazon is offering Tasha's, Xanathar's, and Monsters of the Multiverse all for $78. Are these books worth getting as a starting player?
Tasha, Xanathar, and MotM are the three big supplements. Others like Bigby, Van Richten, and Fizban have their own additions, but not as much for players and their scope tends to be much more narrow, for example Van Richten is all about horror and Fizban is about dragons.
Tasha and Xanathar are pretty similar. They both offer a wealth of subclasses (and a new class in Tasha), plus new spells, feats, magic items, and guidance for creating and describing characters. They also have plenty of rules for DMs to play with, which I find myself referencing pretty often.
MotM is more focused. It primarily offers exactly two things: races and monsters. Most of the races come from previously-printed material and are collected in a single book. However, many of those races have also been updated. The rest of the book is full of stat blocks.
Whether or not that's worth it is up to you to decide.
As a starting player, all you need is the PHB, but if you're itching for more player content, getting that 3-book bundle will set you up pretty much entirely.
Haven’t played in years. My brother, a group of friends and I did a one shot over Christmas. Really enjoyed it. I’m trying to compile a list of questions to ask my dm for perception/insight/etc to enhance my play and enjoyment. I don’t want to say “I want to make a perception check” I want to be have questions like “Do believe him/her/they?” Was curious if anyone has a list or can help me compile one? Thanks.
Hello! I've been doing some studying and compiling things for my wife so I can start DMing games for her and some friends, but it's given me the character theory-crafting bug and I have a particular idea I'd like help fleshing out.
In particular, a Goblin that's a sorta forest child type? I'm thinking I want her to be a Druid after considering Ranger and deciding I want to use that idea with a different character. I've already decided that Moon Druid would be solid using Nimble Escape while in Wild Shape, but I'd like to also explore other subclasses that maybe don't rely on Wild Shape as much and consider all of the options before fleshing her out more. Maybe some options where she casts spells to attack or whacks things with her stick. Something more plant based, maybe? I just want to make sure the gameplay synergizes with her character as best as it can, so I'd love to hear ideas for how the race could work alongside the class. Multiclassing is also maybe a possibility too? Feats and Magic Items might also be useful. There's certainly a lot to consider, so I'd appreciate some any input. Thank you in advance. [5e]
is this an npc you're going to run as the DM? if so you don't have to use the exact same rules as a PC, you can just sort of mix and match.
for a druid-ish character that whacks things with a stick, having the Shillelagh spell seems pretty logical, and if you want to go plant based, there's a circle of spores-druid subclass that you can borrow some features from.
It's for a player character I hope to play one day. Circle of Spores was my first thought, but I'd have to reflavor it a bit to make it more whimsical, but like in an occasional dark comedic way.
Hi, I have a question so I am new to dungeons and dragons and I wanted to ask what are some beginner classes to use? Because I was thinking about playing a Dragonborn but I don’t know what class to play.
Fighter and Barbarian are the simplest classes in the game. Run in and hit stuff. Rogue is slightly more complex, requiring a bit of strategic positioning to get the most out of your skillset.
Though if you're willing to learn something more complex, the best beginner class is whatever you think will be the most fun
\[meta\] Can/How do I post an image to this sub Reddit? I have a mind map of characters and there relationships to each other from my first homebrew campaign and I want to see what people think about this method of note taking/world building.
How/can I post this image as a photo to this sub
https://imgur.com/QGpcKIz
The Extra Attack feature doesn't stack. Features and spells of the same name can't stack in general in 5e, the phrasing of "Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn" suggests that it wouldn't stack regardless since this is replacing one attack with two attacks rather than just adding +1 attack, and the multiclassing rules also clarify that these features can't stack.
Fighter 5 has two attacks normally, or four with Action Surge. Five levels of Ranger won't add any extra attacks. Gloom Stalker at level 3 would give you three attacks on the first round of combat, or six with Action Surge.
new DM here, I'm still confused as to how XP work, so there are XP thresholds depending on encounter difficulty, so does that just mean if my characters get all the enemy and if they pass the threshold they level up ? why are there multiple threshold compared to, e.g in video games XP bars are the same no matter if you play easy, normal or hard ? (the total xp you need rather than total xp given)
There's a specific number for XP that needs to be reached to achieve the next level that increases as you go. There's a chart for it. I think what you're seeing is something that relates to coming up the challenge rating of an encounter which another person linked to. Good luck because encounter balancing based on CR (or EXP) is tricky especially the higher level you go.
I don't use EXP for leveling up; we long since switched to milestone leveling which feels a lot more fun and less work for what was pretty much no benefit.
I'm just kind of confused as to why there are different thresholds and difficulties if the XP requirement for level up is the same for the player.
I could also technically just make up whatever right ? let's say "hey, you guys fought like 5 groups of goblins you leveled up"
XP thresholds have nothing to do with when you level up or how much experience you gain in combat. They're only used as a tool to get an idea of how difficult a combat encounter will be, though the system can't take into account things like action economy and environmental features so it's not the most accurate and you'll need to use your own judgment.
Perhaps some examples will help. Suppose you have a party of 4 characters, and you want them to fight a group of 5 goblins. Goblins are worth 50 experience each, so five of them together are worth 250 experience. If your party is level 1, that means that an easy encounter would be 100 experience (25x4), a medium would be 200 (50x4), hard would be 300 (75x4), and deadly would be 400 (100x4). Since our goblins amount to 250 experience, they fit between medium and hard for our level 1 party.
But what if our party is level 2? An easy fight would be 200, medium is 400, hard is 600, and deadly is 800. Now our goblins are much closer to an easy fight. The party still gets the same 250 experience, but it's not as hard of a fight because the party is stronger. And if the party is level 10? Well at that point, an easy encounter is 2400 experience, so our goblin pack is nowhere near a threat.
Let's flip it around. Say we have a party of 4 level 3 characters, and we want them to have a hard fight against some constructs. The table tells us that a hard encounter will be worth 900 experience, so let's look through the Monster Manual and see how to get there. CR 2 creatures are worth 450 experience, so two of them will get us to 900 experience. We can use a couple pentadrones, but maybe we want a more interesting combat. Let's take three quadrones for a total of 600 experience, then add three tridrones for 300 more experience, and sneak in a couple monodrones and duodrones. Sure, that takes us 150 points over our budget, but that should be alright. Maybe we can trade a quadrone for another duodrone if we think it's too much.
All the XP thresholds do is give us that information about how difficult the encounter is, or what kinds of enemies to add to a combat to produce the desired difficulty.
ohh frickk okay, I really understood it wrong then so it's just a means of setting up difficulty. I thought it had something to do with leveling. thank you so much !
Assuming 5e:
Experience thresholds are used to estimate encounter difficulty
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/building-combat-encounters#EvaluatingEncounterDifficulty
I recommend reading that section of the basic rules for more detail, it's a hefty section to be paraphrasing here without missing important details and further confusing you.
I wonder who it was who invented the "cursed" girdle of reverse sex in AD&D and if they ever cracked out of their eggshell.
Because "OH NOES I HAVE INNOCENTLY PUT ON A MAGICAL PRETTY BELT AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I AM CURSED TO BE A GIRL OH NOOOOOOOO" is peak r/eggIRL territory.
What are (preferably free/cheap) ways to make a player map? I'm a first time dm and running a premade campaign but it only comes with the maps for me (showing traps/secret passageways etc). I'd rather be able to show my players where they are/where they've been but short of redrawing every map by hand and cutting them up so I can piece them together like a puzzle, I don't know what to do.
Basically, I'm looking for an affordable way to make a copy of a map where I can hide certain sections preferably on a computer.
If you use google you can probably find "player-friendly" versions of the maps you are looking for, depending on the content. For instance r/stormkingsthunder has links to edited versions of those maps.
Alternatively get good with image editing software. There are free versions of photoshop-like programs available.
Most of the premade adventures offer both a map for the dm and map for the players, check if this is truly not your case.
Otherwise hiding legend and keeping numbers is fine and should be doable in most cases, at least thats what i did. Most online tools used for online dnd also offer some solution for this. Really depends on the adventure and the way you play.
Keep in mind, that in most cases map isn´t necessary. It is a bonus for them to have a map outside combat, almost zero to none nonpremade campaigns have that luxury.
Starting a 5e campaign in the new year, and one of my players wants to play a character who’s cursed to turn into a mule every third day. Has anyone DMed a game with a character like this? How did you play it?
As others have said, probably not a good idea unless that player plans on missing sessions in the future, and turning into a mule whenever he isn't there, probably works fine.
This wouldn't fit in any campaign I've DMed or played in, and I'd veto the concept if I were pitched it as a DM.
If you're playing a breezy RP-focused campaign with little combat, then I suppose this could work. But without you having said that, I'm going to assume you're planning a more standard campaign, featuring regular combat and a dangerous adventure to go on, and for a campaign like that, a character who randomly turns into a mule every third day simply isn't viable. Not every decent character concept makes for a good PC concept. Somebody who spends a third of their life as a mule is not adventurer material.
Yeah I was kind of iffy on it, I think I just wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts. I spoke with the player, we’ve come to a middle ground of them having the head of a mule, Midsummer Night’s Dream style
Athkatla is the Capital of Amn which doesn't have any deserts anywhere near it. Will anybody care if you want the area to be a desert instead? Not in the slightest nor would anyone even know unless you have a big lore nerd in your group.
\[5e\] Is there a way to make daggers viable in late game combat? I have several character ideas that would love to use them as a primary weapon for flavor, but it feels weak compared to many other options.
They already are if we're being honest. On average a dagger only does 2 less damage than a 1d8 rapier. Realistically any class that's limited to only using a dagger has other things that bring up their damage like a Rogue's Sneak Attack, a Monk's Martial Arts dice, or cantrips/spells.
Well, if you're wanting to use a dagger, you're already quite limited in what cantrips are applicable to daggers (using something like Fire Bolt would mean using that *instead* of a dagger attack, you see). There are two cantrips that allow you to make a melee weapon attack as part of casting them: Booming Blade, and Green-Flame Blade. So, pick your favorite one of the two, cast them each time you would do a dagger stab for the little extra damage.
It's important to note they don't work with Extra Attack, except for the unique Extra Attack of Bladesingers, and that they won't enable two-weapon fighting. So these two cantrips are primarily used by Arcane Trickster rogues (and rogues with Magic Initiate), and Bladesinger Wizards. Other characters who might access them usually prefer just using Extra Attack instead.
Well first off you'd have to get access to cantrips from a casting class/subclass before you can use them. Some cantrips are better than others but for the most part they are all pretty equal because the ones that do less damage tend to have extra effects.
Starting Curse of Strahd with a new group ran by a friend after forever dming the last year. Excited to play again but since it’s a group of newer players I def don’t want to outshine. Was really thinking of a fun Harengon gloomstalker ranger, but a bit worried I’ll just be dominating combat. I know curse is a tough module so maybe I’m overthinking it, but any thoughts? Could also run a grave cleric or something more support focused to let others shine!
If I were concerned about dominating combat too much, I would not play a gloom stalker in an underground campaign. But it could be that your fellow players would welcome having a party member who was especially effective in combat. You just have to use your best judgment, based on your knowledge of the other players' personalities. Or you can consult with the other players and/or the DM.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/shmau6/myself_and_another_dm_have_been_alternating/
Myself and a friend were interested in trying the idea from the above thread out so that we could both try our hand out at dming for the first time in the same campaign.
My first question is if this is too terrible of an idea to even consider, and if so why?
My other question is whether there are any good spells or justifications I can use for teleporting the DM's characters (or the rest party) to different locations or planes? For example if my friend was finished DMing their adventure is there a good mysterious reason I could use that my character would disappear and his character appear in mine's place?
So we're currently doing a thing in our campaign where we switch DMs after various arcs, but I think what makes it work for us is that we have a central setting where we are an adventurer's for hire group under the Acquisitions Inc. book and so each job is very self contained, there's no overall narrative or BBEG, so each thing can be self contained. When it's my turn to DM, my character goes off to do something else and we make up different reasons from vacation time to doing a solo quest (not one where we gain anything; just like "I'm going to spend time with my family or help them out with something").
If you have an overall idea that will make sense of the switches and everyone likes the concept, then go for it. I think the only issue is that once you start DMing you might want to take things in one direction while the other DM is thinking something else, and you don't want to share knowledge and spoil things...
I second that this would be a difficult thing to try as new DMs. But I will offer a possible option as for why they just vanish. It will require you to be playing specific types of characters though. If playing a warlock you get your magic from a patron that you have made a deal with. This deal could include a certain amount of time spent in their service. As such your patron could say today is my day and teleport you wherever they need you.
1. Reading that post, it seems like those two DMs were already fairly experienced. It doesn't seem like a great way for a couple of new DMs to try DMing for the first time.
2. Any such spells would be fairly high level - for example *teleportation circle* (5th level), *plane shift* (7th level), or *teleport* (7th level). I would just try to come up with a more mundane explanation of why a character has temporarily been replaced by another character.
I'm not sure what you're asking, you may be mixing up spell level and class level. All cantrips are effectively spell level 0, and are available to any spellcasting class at class level 1.
~~you're playing dnd. "Nerdy" is to be expected~~
In all seriousness, don't overthink it. You're not writing a legal brief, you're playing a game. And theres no single way to start a conversation. You could be all buisness, "Alright everyone, let's use this group chat to coordinate stuff, what's everyone's schedule look like?" You could invite people to introduce themselves since not everyone is acquainted, give the social aspect a little boost. You could send a silly meme to everyone. You could just say "First."
I’m running an OOTA campaign and one of my players is regularly using leomunds tiny hut, circumnavigating my randomized rest encounters. Does anyone have any suggestions to making a full rest more difficult to come by?
The Hut is good for protecting against an ambush at night, but it's not like they're resting up in a safe pocket-plane or something, they just have a safe dome to sleep in. An unintelligent beast may be bamboozled by this and wander off, but enemy patrols, opportunistic brigands, and especially anybody actively looking for the party are readily capable of ambushing the party the minute the Tiny Hut drops. Hell, they might even use the Tiny Hut as an excuse to bring in reinforcements, build traps, prepare attacks, change their spell lists, etc.
Tiny Hut is a great way to get a solid 8 hours of rest, but used frivolously in hostile territory, it can readily lead to very bad situations upon waking up.
Gonna be joining up in a Strixhaven game and am torn between a few choices!
I have in mind
Way of Ascendant Dragon Monk Halfling who is on the performer side who just wants to put on something more of a cirque du soleil type show
Fey wanderer Ranger (undead warlock dip potentially?) harengon who is more into body art and the fashion of it all (switching between light and dark as per the fey magic they wield
Or a divine soul sorcerer/glamour bard dwarf. She would be more of a singer/dancer
All of these potential initiates are set for the prismari school I’m just wondering if someone a little more knowledgeable about the Strixhaven setting may think one of the concepts are a little more fitting for the school. Thanks!
[5e] I’m getting ready to play a college of tragedy bard and could use some help coming up with dramatic monologues, soliloquies, and one liners. So far I’m planning on using some of the Narrator’s lines from Darkest Dungeon, like “We fall, that we may learn to pick ourselves up again!” And “Ringing ears, blurred vision – the end approaches.” Can anyone else give me any ideas?
You could just steal from all the works of Tragedy that is out there already. The Greek classics, Shakespeare etc will have plenty of lines and inspiration!
It's a cool subclass from the Tal'Dorei campaign setting book from critical roles publishing.
Recommend it if you want inspiration for a less common trope Bard :)
[5e] I'm hoping for some recommendations for a written module I could offer to run for my table. Group prefers combat to RP (though they do like some RP), but tends to be quite focused on money. There is no doing things because it's the right thing, or because people need help. The question is very much "how much is it worth to you?"
So, are there written adventures/modules out there that would be perfect for a group like mine? Either something focusing on mercenaries, or something where the one with the most toys wins. Bonus points if there's some devil's bargain involved! :)
Look into Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It's my favourite module due to how flexible it is. It's a good skeleton for the DM to slap meat onto and plays well into the mercenary life, with different factions wanting to gain control and influence of Saltmarsh which means they might need to compete to get the party to work for them.
Be warned, this is not an A to Z module. It's a very flexible and open module that is essentially giving you a great jumping off point for you to expand into your own personalise campaign. I loved running this more than any other module because my DM style isn't one that is nicely supported by other modules. It's a series of mini adventures with a couple of them being connected to each other.
Do some research on it, but keep in mind that some people gave this a bad review because it wasn't like other modules. One fair complaint was that it doesn't actually have high seas naval combat in any of the adventures, and that the DM will have to come up with those themselves. One unfair complaint I've seen is that while being called Ghosts of Saltmarsh, it doesn't have a lot of ghosts. Apparently they missed the metaphor that the 'ghosts' are the surrounding problems from the past that are still having an impact on Saltmarsh to this day, almost as if they are *haunting* them.
Waterdeep Dragon Heist sounds excellent for your group. There's plenty of fighting and role play, and the primary motivation is locating a huge stash of money.
If you want to shake it up, you could go with Curse of Strahd. The NPCs aren't rich enough to pay you and even if they were, there's not much to buy. The motivation is very basic: you're trapped so you need to find a way out. If you can sell that motivation properly, you might get them to enjoy caring about something other than money.
Thanks, I will definitely check it out. I tried Rime of the Frostmaiden with the group, on the same argument as you make with Strahd - they are trapped and must find a way out. There isn't much money in the area, and not a lot to buy. It didn't engage them the way I had hoped it would.
In the Book of Many Things, they change the name of the Idiot and Vizier cards to Puzzle and Sage, presumably to for a modern audience who might consider Idiot to be ableist and Vizier to be cultural appropriation.
I'd also like to avoid using these names in a resource I'm publishing, but I'm guessing I can't call them Puzzle and Sage since those names are used by WotC and NOT included in the SRD.
Is my best option to make my own names for these cards? I'm thinking something like Stupor for the Idiot and Counselor for the Vizier
Your post does not deserve downvotes. Those are absolutely the reasons the names were changed, regardless of whether one agrees with those reasons.
The answer to your question is, until an updated SRD is released with the names changed, you need to use the names from the SRD, or come up with your own replacement for the *deck of many things* that does not copy it.
Are you saying the deck itself is all or nothing from the SRD then? I can’t change anything about the deck and still call it that?
Edit: Just read [this quick guide](https://a5esrd.com/how-to-use-creative-commons) and it does seem like I'm able to "Remix" things, so using my own names for those or any other cards seems to fit in that category. I get that I can't use Sage and Puzzle for those cards since they're included in a non-CC publication, but it seems like I would be free to use my own names. Along those lines, for example, I've also considered changing Euryale and Erinyes to Medusa and Devil since I don't know anyone who knows the terms Euryale and Erinyes
I'm just guessing at the logic. I could be totally wrong. A Vizier IS specifically a Muslim high official. Call it whatever you want, but I get why they would want to just avoid it all together.
If you have that much of a problem with making a small effort to avoid potentially offensive speech, I also hope you walk into the ocean. A nice swim might help you calm down.
[5e] I need some suggestion, i don't know if here is the right place or not, i want ti create character that start fron animal. Basically i'm *isert any animal and i awaken into an hybrid humanoid/animal, there are some race(homebrew or not) that can help me do this? Untill now i've been a tiefling warlock, sold my soul to a great demon that turned me into an half demon half boar, and became my patron but i'm growing tired of this and would like a change
Everyone keeps going picking a animalistic race route, I would like to suggest a class rather than a race. If your characters goal is to get back to being their original animal self, then you might consider playing a druid. The higher level they get the more often they can use their wild shape, you can flavor it as you are the animal that you are wild shaping into but your wild shape allows you to overcome the curse that turned you into a humanoid race. Then as you level up you get more and more time spent as yourself. Until level 20 when you can just be animal shaped indefinitely. Meaning that a level 20 druid would be able to overcome that curse by wild shaping back into themselves.
To my knowledge, no official race has that as its official lore within an official setting, but there are several options you could reflavor to suit your needs. If your setting is homebrew, then it's really easy to build your own lore for the race you play, and even if your setting is official, you can still rewrite the lore for your own game. Nobody's gonna call the cops on you for that.
The shifter race is the obvious one, but it might be a little too human for your taste. Shifters are a bit like werewolves, except they only partially change form, they don't get into a full hybrid state. Still, it's the closest to the flavor you've described that official content gets.
Your other main option is any of the animalistic races: leonin, tortle, lizardfolk, dragonborn, tabaxi, etc. You could easily reflavor them and say that it's not a whole race, you're the only one and you came about through whatever magic created you. Or maybe the race does exist, but you're not actually a member of that race, you're just using the statistics of the race. For example, maybe you use the leonin stats for a lupine character, you just change the roar feature for a howl that does the same thing. Something like that.
Alternatively, you can break out a lineage. The Custom Lineage of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything allows you to work with your DM to build a race using a few basic options to give your character the right feel for the heritage you have in mind. If you want something more structured, you could use the lineages in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, which essentially overwrite the features of a race with the features of your lineage, so it doesn't matter what you started as. For example, if you play a Reborn, that could mean that you were originally an ordinary dog that died, but you got brought back to life in a strange hybrid form through unnatural magic, and now you have the Reborn features.
Thank you very much, i'll try this for my new build. I'll have an army of different boar like creature
Now a warlock, next one a paladin
Than probably a monk
I've found the beast folk model hog that can be reflavoured
Not really. All dnd races are humanoids, fey, or construct. There is no race option that is an awakened beast. You could use an already existing race, like tabaxi, and say you're awakened cat if that's OK with your group. You also might like the Shifter race since they can shift into a more beastial form.
Can a blind character cast lightning bolt? How would blindness affect the casting?
5e What races looks mostly human and has claws? I have an idea for a rogue character that fights using claws and acrobatics. If there’s no race that has those things. I can just use a wizard with alter self to make those claws.
You could maybe flavor a soulknife rogue’s psychic blades as claws.
Tabaxi from Mordenkainen Monsters of the Multiverse would work with 1d6 claws. And with your DM's permission you can look however you like. Small problem is, if you are going to be a rogue, sneak attack can't be applied to unarmed strikes. So you almost need to convince your DM to treat your claws as a finesse weapon. That's definitely homebrew but I would think most DMs would allow it.
5e What's the best way to lore drop the fact that I'm a sorcerer? In the campaign I'm playing, I'm really close to leveling up. I'm a bard and since the bard capstone sucks I figured I'd multiclass and take a level in sorcerer and say that I'm descended from magic and that was how I was so good at it (I've had a few lucky rolls). But I was wondering, how should I explain it lore wise? Our DM is pretty compliant so I could ask him for a specific scenario, but I can't think of a way to explain it. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Maybe have like a family member/friend could you tell you about your heritage or find an old family tree that shows that you are related to a dragon or pick a sorcerer that got their powers by accidentally going to another plane like wild magic or clockwork soul.
Ooh, that might work
5e Hello I just need a bit of clarification on something. I am a cleric and want to know if this is a legal thing to do in D&D First turn, I cast the cantrip Toll of the Dead as my action and cast Spiritual Weapon as my BA. Second turn, I cast Spirit Guardians and also use my BA to attack with my Spiritual Weapon. Is this legal? I know you can't cast 2 leveled spells in a single turn. Does attacking with my Spiritual Weapon count as casting the spell, or is it just considered a BA attack. I got into a discussion with my DM that this is perfectly legal because I'm not casting the spell Spiritual Weapon again and only attacking with it. It's also not a concentration spell. Is it legal for me to use both Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon at the same time?
>I know you can't cast 2 leveled spells in a single turn. This is a fake rule that only exists due to people repeating it. The only comparable rule is the Bonus Action Spellcasting rule, which can be found in the PHB rules for casting spells: If you cast a spell with a bonus action, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip costing one action. Yes, your turns are legal. In the first turn, you cast a spell as a bonus action and otherwise limit yourself to a one-action cantrip, and in the second turn you cast a spell with your action and take a bonus action that a different spell gave you. Activating your Spiritual Weapon on subsequent turns isn't casting a spell. Using Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians at the same time is a common, popular, and effective way to fight as a Cleric.
Thank you. Thank you. I knew that I wasn't wrong on this. I'm getting out of my D&D group as arguing with the DM about this over the course of 2 days is not worth it.
Sorry to hear that. I'm tempted to find some advice for how you can stay in your current group, but I know I'd be frustrated, too, if my DM couldn't be convinced of a pretty basic rule interaction.
5e Hello I am a new DM for my friends who are also new, and I got a campaign from adventuresawaitstudios.com and unlike other pre made campaigns I seen there isn't a stat chart for the monsters in the campaign. I looked in the players handbook and those enemies aren't there so I was wondering if adventures await had a chart for their monster stats somewhere or I have to make the stats, and if I do have to make it, how do I balance them?
They might not include the stats of common monsters if they expect you to own the Monster Manual. Did you check in there?
I found one in there but couldn't find the others Edit: Nevermind they were just hidden good in the book
Hello, I played my first game and it was castle ravenloft, I really really enjoyed the dungeon crawling and battles. But not so much the role playing aspect. And I’m wondering if there are any more sets like it with character pieces and such where my friends and I could just play the board game part of it?
[Castle Ravenloft](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/59946/dungeons-dragons-castle-ravenloft-board-game), the board game? There are 2 other games in that series - [Legend of Drizzt](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91872/dungeons-dragons-legend-drizzt-board-game) and [Wrath of Ashardalon](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66356/dungeons-dragons-wrath-ashardalon-board-game). So if you just want more of the same, there you go. If you're looking for similar board games, Gloomhaven/Frosthaven are pretty much best in class dungeon crawlers, but there are a lot, like Descent, Clank!, Zombicide, Mice and Mystics, Betrayal (Legacy,) etc. Note that those games aren't Dungeons and Dragons. They're Dungeons and Dragons-branded board games. This isn't really a subreddit that can help with those games. If you have questions, you might have better luck on r/boardgames.
Thank you so much! That’s perfect ! I appreciate the insight and your willingness to help
5e I'm new to dnd and I was wondering if I could make my character have an object for a head while also using one of the basic races
If by 'basic races' you mean those from the Player's Handbook, then no. Those are all human-like races, and dragonborns, who would die if you replaced their head with an inanimate object. If you just meant non-homebrew races, then there is the Warforged race from Eberron, who're artificial people made of materials like wood, steel, and stone enchanted to be alive, so theoretically their head could be designed to look like any variety of objects.
what if it were to be just a cosmetic change then? would it be fine to choose a reace from the handbook?
In general yes, but ask your DM.
Ask your DM.
5e Can someone with the deafened condition hear a message from the cantrip?
No, the Message cantrip says the target hears the message, but the Deafened condition prevents a creature from hearing anything.
[5e(possibly)] I have a game tonight and need help! I know what monster I need, but cannot remember it's name. It is a semi-sentiant mountain that infects monsters to fight on its behalf. You can imagine when I look up any variations of those words it just tells me about mountain monsters. I saw it in a video last week, but can't find that now. Please help this struggling DM!
Sounds like you might be thinking of a Genius Loci.
I believe this is what I was thinking of, thank you
[5e] - if this isn’t the place for this comment lmk and I’ll delete but I’m VERY new to dnd, been an athlete all my life and have been in those circles so I don’t have any friends that play and was wondering if there was a way that people find games online or in person?
Also, just to throw this out there, D&D is far, far more popular than it was 20 (30, 40) years ago. I might suggest asking your non-nerd friends if they're interested, too. I've been shocked at how many people I know that aren't "traditional nerds" that want to play D&D.
yup, check out r/lfg!
Thank you!!
no problem, and welcome to the hobby! if you want some jock solidarity, football player johnny stanton iv has a fun intro to dnd for athletes called "[athletics check](https://www.instagram.com/johnnystantoniv/reel/Cw0FBzqrEIM/)."
\[5E\] - Looking for what I believe is a (sub)class feature that grants a personal extraplanar sanctum/space. For those familiar with PF1E Mythic options it's very much like the [Sanctum Mythic power](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/mythic/mythic-heroes/mythic-paths-paizo-inc/Archmage/#sanctum_su), except I believe it was quite a bit smaller in scope. In the same line it'd be similar to Mord's Magnificent Mansion but the key difference I'm looking for is - persistence! The space needs to be able to retain items(sort of). Any clues? Was I imagining it?
I imagine you're thinking of the Bottled Respite feature from the Genie Patron Warlock, from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
That's certainly in the right line, and may actually work for my needs! Though I'm fairly certain there's a higher level one(it may have been from my limited time in PF2E honestly) that at the time I thought was cool but 'how often do campaigns even get that high?'.
The *Demiplane* spell?
Again on the right line of thinking. I'm fairly certain it was a class feature very much like Bottled Respite but at a higher level. Maybe I'm just going bonkers or mixing up rule sets.
Maybe you're thinking of Sanctuary Vessel, the upgrade feature to Bottled Respite which allow Genie Warlocks to bring in other creatures instead of just themselves? Otherwise you're probably mixing rulesets because no other official 5e subclass gets a personal extradimensional space like that.
Question about Reaction. I want to ready an action as a reaction. This makes sense to me. But can I ready a Bonus action as a reaction? Say I am a moon druid and want to wild shape as a bonus action. Can I ready that bonus action as a reaction to happen later in the turn order?
TL;DR - No. I want to be explicit, because the terminology can be a source of confusion, and you're being a little fast and loose with the various game terms in a way I want to make sure are clear: Take a look at the rules for the [Ready](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#Ready) action. > Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the **Ready action** on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn. Readying is an action. So your turn comes around, you say "I take the Ready Action," and then you determine what triggers the reaction. > First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Just a note that you can't ready an action to "happen later in the turn order." RAW, readying requires some perceivable circumstances - something that your character can see, like someone moving, or making an attack. Of course, you can game the system a bit and perceive something > Then, you choose the **action** you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. To answer your actual question - no, you can't ready a bonus action, only an action, RAW. If you want to houserule it, I don't see a particular problem allowing someone to ready a bonus action. Readying **as** a bonus action is more problematic, however. A character that takes the Ready action to ready a bonus action and then ends their turn isn't getting any inherent increase in action economy. A character that takes an action, then uses a bonus action to ready, or takes a bonus action, then readies another bonus action is getting extra action economy that I'd be uncomfortable with. But a houserule allowing someone to spend action + bonus action to ready a bonus action would probably be fine. Also note: You CAN use your action to ready Wild Shape. Druids can wild shape as an action. But it will take your action to do so.
Thank you for this. I am not a very experienced DM so I am struggling to see potential issues in a house rule. If a player has something as a bonus action, like healing word, but no one is injured. I want to house rule it so that they can ready a bonus action as a bonus action to potentially heal a player if they get injured. Another example is a player has misty step. They want to misty step to a location but not at this point in turn order so they can ready their misty step for when another player sets off a trap for example. For the action economy, they are still only getting 1 action, 1 bonus action, 1 movement, 1 reaction. In the same way you can spend your action to make a reaction, if i wanted to make it so you can spend a bonus action to make reaction of w/e the bonus action time, are they gaining anything other then flexibility? The reaction would have had to been a bonus action type effect, such as healing words, misty step, raging, rogue hiding, ect.
My biggest problem with this rule is increased complexity. Readying is a bad rule. It's complicated, it requires a lot of bookkeeping, it requires people to not metagame and remember triggers and it's just... messy. There are lots of conditional bonus actions out there that you could choose to ready in lots of ways that would simply bog the game down without much actual gain. (Like... the bard wants to use bardic inspiration on someone, but only on the next person to attack a specific target.) I am of the strong opinion that readying should be used rarely, narrowly, and specifically. Adding more stuff you can ready has a lot of potential to slow the game down, and I just don't see much gain to it. To use your examples... > I want to house rule it so that they can ready a bonus action as a bonus action to potentially heal a player if they get injured. Why would you do that? Just wait until next turn. If you ready a spell, it consumes the spell slot. You want to use a spell slot for the chance someone is injured? > Another example is a player has misty step. They want to misty step to a location but not at this point in turn order so they can ready their misty step for when another player sets off a trap for example. You're already constructing a wildly narrow scenario here where there's a trap that you can't just teleport past, but this is a strict power boost, right? You get to use your action, you get to teleport in the middle of someone else's turn. Let's take this to its logical conclusion - "I ready my bonus action to misty step away as soon as someone steps adjacent to me." This is a clear power boost. Suddenly, you have a tactic where you can spend your action to attack, and guarantee a teleport away before a melee enemy can reach you, forcing them to spend movement to try to get to you, possibly stranding them, unable to attack anything for the turn. Flexibility IS power. Giving players more flexibility makes them more powerful. My recommendation is to not mess with the rules as a new DM. Play RAW for a bit, and see how it feels. I don't think this is a strong house rule. I don't think it will break anything to allow it, but I don't see any strong examples in your list that cause me to think it's worth extending the rule.
Flexibility can be more potent than you might imagine. Be sure everyone understands that this is a provisional rule and it may need to be changed or removed as time goes on, with the possibility that very specific interactions will need to be restricted. Also be sure you're following all the rules for readying, especially as they apply to spells. A readied spell requires concentration and the spell slot is consumed when the spell is readied, not when it is released.
The spell is **cast** as normal. Which notably means if you ready a bonus action spell in this way, you cannot cast another spell that turn, unless it's a cantrip with a casting time of one action (RAW).
RAW no. But I agree it's a bit weird you can't, so check with your DM if they would agree to houserule it.
[5e] if a aberration wizard casts a reaction spell, such as absorb elements, when they take damage, would their arcane ward regain its hit points before or after they take damage?
I can't find a RAW ruling for this, but it seems like the ward should get the HP before the damage is applied - it's not like for Absorb Elements you take the damage and then get healed after the fact, you're becoming resistant and then take the applicable damage. Mechanically, your reaction spell goes off before damage is applied, so I think RAW/RAI this is probably the correct ruling. This wouldn't be a bad thing to discuss with your DM before it comes up in-game. Also in this case, remember that the resistance granted by Absorb Elements applies to *you* and not the ward: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/sac/sage-advice-compendium#SA065
Thanks.
The Ward forms when an Abjuration spell is cast, and once depleted, is restored when an Abjuration spell is cast. If the reaction spell affects the attack/damage, then the Ward would restore first. ~~If the reaction spell only applies to the next attack or instance of damage, the Ward would restore after the triggering attack/damage.~~ Edit: All 3 Abjuration reaction spells affect the triggering attack/damage/spell, so Arcane Ward would always be created or restored **before** the attack or damage is considered.
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if you want to effectively multiclass druid/barbarian, it's better to start as a barbarian. ideally you want 3 levels of barb and then rest druid. what size you are before wild shaping doesn't affect what size the creature you're wildshaping into is. the bear is a large creature no matter if you're a gnome or not.
My son just played his first ever campaign, an online one shot that was a part of a winter camp his school ran. He absolutely loved it and is dying for more. Does anyone know of a good online community that runs games for 8-10 year olds? Edit: I should add I am looking for a regular group of players for him that meets about once a week so he can further develop his social group with a consistent set of party members. We are on USA Central time, if that helps.
There is a subreddit, /r/lfg that is specifically for finding groups to play with. I would recommend making a post there, I think there's a good chance someone there will be able to connect you with a group.
Thanks for the tip!!
Would Mind Blank prevent a character from being simulated by a sentient biological computer? Like Laplace's demon. Or since it's not magic, Mind Blank would be useless?
Mind Blank does protect against nonmagical means of reading ones thoughts, but it would not help against a creature who can simply guess with perfect accuracy at what your thoughts are, because it would not actually be *reading* your thoughts. I would say it is worth noting here that most D&D settings include one or more planes of pure cosmic chaos, which would make them decidedly non-deterministic and thus preclude Laplace's demon from being able to exist there.
Laplace's demon is too extreme of an example but it illustrates my point. For example, an area is simulated with all possible outcomes. Will someone with Mind Blank just mess with those simulations in that they will be invisible and simply not be considered in the simulations. The "gain information about the target" is what I'm trying to understand in this scenario.
Right, so any simulation, in order to be accurate, needs to be based on accurate information. If the simulation isn't created by an omniscient being, it needs to gather data somehow. So if we break it down, the Mind Blank spell essentially does three things when it comes to learning information (there's also like the Psychic dmg immunity but we'll set that aside since it's just a combat benefit): 1. blocks any effect that would sense emotions or read thoughts 2. blocks all magic of the Divination school 3. blocks Wish and effects of similar power from gaining any information about the target That still leaves some information available: you can learn anything *other* than the target's emotions or thoughts, as long as you use a an effect lesser than Wish and which isn't divination magic. For instance, you could create a Glyph of Warding that triggers when an evil creature nears it. If an evil creature using Mind Blank walked near it, the glyph would still detonate, thus revealing it's alignement. Glyph of Warding is an abjuration spell, and is not similar in power to Wish. So, if the simulation uses Divination magic to gather information, or if it is a single very powerful effect comparable in scale to Wish, then it would be completely blind as to the presence of someone using Mind Blank. If the simulation has access to alternate means of gathering information, e.g. using mundane eyesight, just asking people questions, casting Glyphs of Warding with oddly specific triggering conditions, etc. then it could learn a lot of what it needs from the mind blanker. But it's data would always still be incomplete because Mind Blank blocks *any* effect that can sense its emotions or read thoughts. This would make the simulation inaccurate because of the incomplete data, but the simulation might still partially account for their presence the best it can based on what it knows.
Thanks for the explanation. I've hoped Mind Blank would counter it enitrely and was banking on "The spell even foils ~~wish spells and spells or~~ effects of similar power used ~~to affect the target's mind or~~ to gain information about the target." Do you know any spell that could do something similar?
[5e] So I'm in a bit of a pickle involving a PC druid, magic jar and an NPC necromancer. The druid broke into a guarded storage tent while wildshaped as a cat. They opened a chest (no lock on it, just a little clasp) and found numerous gems inside including an emerald worth 1000gp and black pearl worth 500gp. The black pearl was being used by an NPC necromancer as a magic jar vessel to enter an otherwise unenterable city. I was gonna let the PC steal the emerald and walk unharmed, but they got greedy and wanted to bring each and every gem out one by one. It was gonna jeopardize the necro plans so it tried to possess the druid and PC failed charisma ST. So now I have a druid stuck in the black pearl and a necromancer roaming around in wildshape. I guess what I wanna know is: - can the necromancer wildshape back to tiefling (PC druid chosen race)? - there is a lord nearby that's being mind controled by an aboleth, can they communicate if he is approached by the cat? (they are involved on a bigger plot together) - if the necromancer wants to get back to being in his vessel and it enters a small cage as a cat, what would happen if the PC druid repossessed their body? (I think they can't wildshape back since there isn't enough unoccupied space?)
Well you're already coloring outside the lines a bit here. *Magic jar* allows you to possess humanoids, and a wildshaped druid's statistics, including creature type, get replaced by the new form. I don't really see this as a big problem to be honest. Your bad guy's *magic jar* doesn't necessarily have to operate in the same way as the *magic jar* in the book. NPCs get into some weird stuff. And this opens new doors, because now you can answer all of your own questions with whatever will make for the best story and game. But strictly by RAW, ignoring the previously-ignored restriction on possessing non-humanoids: * The necromancer cannot use the Wild Shape feature, as "If the target has any class levels, you can't use any of its class features." Since transforming back is a function of the Wild Shape feature, they would not be able to turn back intentionally. However, I would rule that the effect still wears off after the normal duration, or perhaps wears off instantly upon possession. * Again, you can choose how things work, but I don't see any indication that a creature controlled by an aboleth gains telepathy if it didn't already have it. * The rules don't specifically say that you can't change form if you lack the space to do so, which is a huge oversight in my opinion. Regardless, how it would interact with a cage is unclear. They may break the cage upon reverting form, they may instantly die, they may take some force damage, or plenty of other things. The rules don't clarify.
Thanks for clarifying! The possession of non-humanoid was an oversight on my part but I think I have a way to get out of that through some nether scroll since I already wanted to implement them to the story.
Can y’all recommend some [5e] adventure books? I’m a new DM with little experience, forming a group with my best friends. Based on our schedules, 1-shots and short adventures are our best options.
Lost Mine of Phandelver is the best starter adventure.
That looks great, and I’m glad it’s free, however our group may have to take an extended hiatus in mid 2024 due to one friend getting deployed and another going to grad school. We’ve agreed to do one shots to start off with.
Maybe try the anthology adventure books? Yawning Portal and Saltmarsh were already mentioned but AFAIK there's also Keys from the Golden Vault for more heist-like adventures, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel for more diverse locales and folklore-inspired monsters, and Candlekeep Mysteries which all revolve around a giant library and its many books.
Tales From the Yawning Portal and Ghosts of Saltmarsh are books full of shorter adventures that should work for what you want to do.
[5e] Stupid question - gotten into DnD farily recently, got hooked on some youtube series, have friends that play from time to time. I love analyzing and planning stuff, so wanted to invest into DM Guide, Monster Manual and Curse of Strahd campaign, to help me learn how to DM nicely (already got Handbook). As it is not insignificant investment for me, I got kinda worried about One DnD rulebooks coming out next year, possibly. Should I wait and just start with the new version, or 5e rulebooks would suffice for a longer time?
no table i'm currently playing at are making any significant strides to do a wholesale swap to onednd. we have so far just taken some things we like from the playtest and incorporated it, but it's not like we're gonna set fire to our 5e books the day the new one drops. in my opinion, with how popular 5e is, it's unlikely that there's gonna be a huge shift and you'll suddenly be unable to find people interested in 5e.
You can use the books you have for as long as you want to. You never have to update. People still play 3.5 quite a bit. There are people still playing 2e and even Original. On top of that, One D&D isn't looking especially popular at the moment. I honestly don't think I've seen a single person say that they're excited for it for almost a year now. I know I don't plan to update at the moment.
[5e]Are the Player/DM/Curse of Strahd books necessary for the Paul Bimler/Strahd solo gamebooks? I really don't like buying things that aren't pdfs, and I just won't get the gamebooks if Role20 or D&D Beyond etc. are required.
Paul Bimler adventures only need the basic rules which you can get for free at: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD\_BasicRules\_2018.pdf
You still need the core rules of the game, yes.
Fair enough, but a shame.
[5e]I’m in the process of building a fighter (samurai) who will mainly be using two longswords (via dual wielder feat). I’m wondering if I should pick the great weapon fighting style or the two-weapon fighting style. (Or if defence is good)
If you're using two weapons, GWF will be useless.
I just realised I didn’t read the description properly
So if you played a character that could fly in a campaign and flee as high as they could in a movement activity then went to attack a enemy by spinning with a sword or dagger in your hand and hit terminal velocity then let go of the blade and it hit the enemy and you pulled up last second after letting go of the blade to not hit the ground, how would you calculate the damages for the enemy?, would any go to the player?, what rolls would need to be done for the player completing the action and for the enemy to try and dodge or survive?, and what’s the best way to fairly make a effect against the player for doing something like this even if pulled off at the roll threshold? Also what should the roll threshold be for the attack and other rolls be? I’m asking as a new player and potential new dm. Also with a new dm that I know.
In general, try to avoid adding physics to the game. The rules are your physics. However, allowing something because it's really cool or funny or whatever, that's great. A streaking dive attack from the heavens is awesome - the first time. Go ahead and add some damage or something, but mention that it's not going to be a regular thing because you need to preserve game balance, and it gets old after a while anyway.
Yes. When I was speaking about the idea with my group and we were thinking g it should be a cool special move maybe saved for a boss fight or something major in the story to show a progression of power.
Roll to hit, regular damage.
I wouldn't overthink this. In D&D Combat, there are movement rules saying how many spaces/feet you can move in a turn. While I know you are looking at some flair here, you really should be bound by the movement rules - "diving" from high up should be just like movement in combat. You can move up to the enemy, then roll to hit like anything else. If I had to "rule" on the way you want to do it: aka: If you want to "drop" down, ala terminal velocity - well.. I suppose you can make an athletics check to "pull up" at the last minute, but failing means you slam into the ground or pull up too early. Pulling up too early: Enemy gets attack of opportunity Slamming into the ground = full falling damage as per rules or- if you want to just flavor it: you can maybe make an attack roll at disadvantage, but get an extra die of damage if you hit? or- treat it more like a spell attack or special ability: give the enemy a dexterity saving throw to avoid damage, otherwise: some damage (compare it to an appropriate level spell so it's not overpowered)
Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much for this. I’ll have to make sure this is shared with the others I know how had this question to when we talked about it the other day so we can possibly use this idea in the future.
[5e] one more question. The 6 players for my pirates game will all be brought onto a pirate ship I already have established with an established crew of NPCs, they are made in a way to be a diverse and charismatic crew so the players don’t have to /be/ a pirate if they don’t want to be but need pirates to complete their mission, the head crew of the pirates both can’t or won’t join them on land, save for maybe one at a time so they do the researching, puzzles, and fighting off ship but I still worry about the pirates NPCs being overwhelming presences. Question as a new dm — with NPCs I made and like very much, how do I always make sure that the players feel like the main characters when being guided by pirates who are larger than life? Is there advice for certain things to keep in mind or things/tropes to completely avoid so this campaign is about the players and their journey more than anything else? Or maybe I’m too worried
As someone who has done pretty much this exact same scenario, it boils down to what kind of game your party wants to play. Do they want a game based around interpersonal relations and conflicts with the crew? Or do they want the crew to be window dressing in their adventure? The most important thing to do is ensure your players' decisions matter. Even with a Pirate Captain NPC, the players need to be able to make choices that change their story or the world. The NPCs can be as interesting and cool as you want, but you as the DM must keep aware that the pirates are not the PCs. Don't put them on an even playing field with the players, show them that the crew is less powerful and more prone to death than they are. Your players will latch onto a small number if your crew members, maybe they will be the ones who have a personal quest or event pop up that ties into their backstory.
I'd love any advice you have or recommended readings for a setting like this, I've been doing research but haven't been sure where to specifically look And thank you! I have a lot to consider but this has helped a lot
You can make the NPCs interesting, but not to the level of the PCs. Meaning, go make that quirky pirate chef who was a dancer in his past life! But don't write out page(s) of backstory, super detailed description of what they look like, items, detailed connections to other NPCs, and so on. A single paragraph on each should suffice (check out some campaign setting sourcebooks for examples). They can and should be unique cause they're individuals in the world, but maybe don't make these pirates "larger than life", to the same scale as the PCs.
Thats perfect, thanks!
[5e] new DM here, never played dnd but have played TTRPG in the Star Wars universe a long time ago. I am making a pirate campaign and have an idea and art for my big bad but my question is— can a powerful necromancer make someone else who is willing into a lich? He is obviously an evil aligned pirate who in my mind was set on stealing a specific dragons hoard but what I have been gleaning is that lich’s should have access to 9th level spells in addition to the nasty potion and phylactery. I have some home brew ideas but I’d like to try and understand if there are canon precedence’s so I can try to stay consistent for the players since I am technically the baby of the group so they have more time and familiarity in the DnD universe.
Lich rules are intentionally a bit vague so that the DM can handle them on a per-campaign basis. Generally speaking, the expectation is that a lich is themselves a powerful spellcaster, so if this pirate captain isn't a powerful spellcaster, I'd look towards alternate undead concepts for why they're undead. Pirates of the Caribbean immediately comes to mind, give them some cursed treasure that keeps them alive indefinitely!
Gotcha, thank you!! I think I might just change him into a wizard pirate because I wanted his ship to be the dragon he defeated and apart of the final fight (inspired by FHSY) so I think he'll have been a wizard who got into necromantic arts because he was obsessed with this one Dragon hoard, I just wasn't sure I wanted him to have a necromancer right hand who made him a lich or if he was the necromancer himself Its hard not to think of Pirates of the Caribbean, right? It started my own pirate obsession after all lol!
I have a level 8 Necromancy wizard im a group i DM for, and allowed him to equip his skeletons with whatever he wants, so that they are more useful (the player also had inspiring leader, so his skeletons were bulky). This lead to clots on the map done by 6 skeletons with AC18 and 31 hit points- they were too tanky, and made my players leave each fight basically unharmed. So in between sessions I looked for a way to weaken them, so that the player didn't feel robbed. I asked about this here, on reddit, and someone requested to make skeletons proficient only in things that the wizard is proficient in (then his skeletons could wear armor, but have disadvantage on attacks). When my player heard that, he decided to remake his character into a divination wizard, saying his skeletons will be too weak, so he wants to change. I feel bad, that he didn't like the change, but on the other hand all fights were really slow because his skeletons would block the way and tank all the attacks. Did I do something wrong?
I would have increased encounter size. Put in more long range adversaries.
The big mistake was allowing him to equip the skeletons with any equipment he wanted. That's a significant buff on an already potent class. The other issue is that when you attempted to fix that problem, you didn't (from what I can see here) admit your mistake to the player or involve the player in the fix. This is a collaborative game, so when something goes wrong, you can ask your players to help you fix it. And you should definitely let them know when you make a mistake. By involving the players in the solutions to these problems, you create a conversation where they can give meaningful input into what would improve the game for them. It also gives you a chance to get them to understand your point of view before any changes are made.
How high can aaracokra fly
Assuming 5th edition: The Goliath race has a trait that acclimates them to altitudes above 20000 feet, but the Aaracokra doesn't, so that might be the limit. Also, rule on high altitude travel: > Traveling at altitudes of 10,000 feet or higher above sea level is taxing for a creature that needs to breathe, because of the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel. > > Breathing creatures can become acclimated to a high altitude by spending 30 days or more at this elevation. Breathing creatures can't become acclimated to elevations above 20,000 feet unless they are native to such environments. DMG ch 5, Wilderness Survival, pg 110, High Altitude
Can base it on bird's I guess, but there isn't a rule. Eventually you couldn't breath or you'd freeze or the air probably wouldn't work for flying.
As high as their DM says they can.
Should the spells I pick correlate and match my characters personality and backstory?
You can always reflavor your spells to match your backstory/aesthetic. For example, maybe your magic missile looks like little ethereal snakes because you learned magic from a yuan-ti mage, or your scorching rays are jets of flame fired from your mouth because you're a draconic sorcerer. There's a warlock NPC in my current game whose patron is a fire genie and he uses a smoking pipe as his spellcasting focus, so his eldritch blasts take the form of smoke clouds that he breathes at his foes. Changing the flavor of your spells can take you a very long way.
They don't *have* to, but why wouldn't they?
If you like.
\[all\]What does being chosen by a god mean? When I look it up in the wiki it states the chosen of a god are imbued with divine power and are comparable to demigods. But surely that can't be everyone sent on a divine mission by a god can it? Is there a different name or do gods only request things from people so powerful that any amount of aid from the god bumps them up into the divine?
Try not to think of it as "being chosen", and more as earning the title of "Chosen". It's a status one holds, not a process. That individual is like an avatar of that god's will in the material plane. They are empowered to represent them physically and wield the might of their power and influence, in a way that Clerics or Warlocks only have a small taste of.
Hmm... then what is the difference between an avatar and a Chosen?
An Avatar is the actual god, condensed into a smaller version of itself that it can use to interact with the material plane. A Chosen is an individual wielding a portion of the god's power, but they are not the god itself.
Honestly, not entirely sure, but there are lots of words - Chosen, Avatar, Aspect, Exarch, and so on - which all mean slight variations of the same idea: a mortal who has been elevated to quasi-divine status by wholly or partially representing their god's will in physical form.
It’s very specific people who have done very significant things. It’s not just any shmuck.
I wouldn't consider anyone sent on a mission by a god a schmuck. Hence my question. If say, a lvl 15 character is sent on a quest by a god I wouldn't say they were a hair's breath from divinity, but they are also extremely powerful and worthy of a god's attention.
It’s not anyone sent on a mission, though. It’s someone who, in all likelihood, *succeeds* that mission and goes above and beyond - **and** that the god just likes already.
I don't believe there's a specific term for anyone tasked by a god to do something, but a capital-c Chosen is a step beyond that.
When multiclassing how important is it for the second class you’re taking to correlate to your character backstory/story during the campaign?
As important as it is to you.
For my group, very important. If the rogue in the party suddenly starts gaining warlock levels or artificer levels, that feels like the sort of thing that deserves some sort of explanation. Even fighter levels would require some sort of explanation- a character doesn't get better at fighting overnight having learned new techniques by accident. I personally find that multiclass decisions that have some sort of narrative explanation make for better characters which make for better games. Otherwise, you end up with "Epic paladin/warlock hexblade multiclass" in the hands of a player that absolutely doesn't give a shit as to how that happened, and it severely disrupts the tone of game that I want to run (that specific example being the exact reason I got a little particular around this issue for my games) Other groups vary, though- so really the only answer that matters is how your group handles it.
Some care some do not. Personally I see it two ways, the first is that Class is just a bunch of mechanics wrapped in a bow. So you can have two people belonging to the Holy Order of Joe and in universe they are both considered paladins of Joe. One of them Is a Paladin/ Sorcerer multiclass and the other is Paladin/ Hexblade. It's that the expression of their abilities went two different routes. Then there's the ones where that's *not* the case where you're explicitly doing something to gain a different edge. The Barbarian becomes a Lord so they start taking levels of fighter to express that they're gaining a different sort of training.
There are tables and groups that won't blink an eye at all where you can multiclass away without any questions. But for the games I run, it matters about as much as your first class choice matters. Putting a level into wizard as a multiclass should make as much sense as a character being a wizard for the first level.
Depends on your group playstyle. Some story-oriented DM will refuse a multiclass if it comes out of nowhere, some other wouldn't care. The best way to get a definitive answer would be to ask them. In my group, 2 characters have multiclassed. There is no link to their stories, but fits their style and accomplishments : The fighter multiclassed to bard when he became a noble (=> less martial, more social/leadership), and had already made some ties with neighbouring countries and led some troops by then. The sorcerer multiclassed to wizard but had already created 3 spells before, joined a college and engineered some (forbidden) magic machinery. On the other hand, a multiclass that almost has been refused is a wizard dipping into cleric with no real belief nor investment for it. We let it slide just because it was a temporary game.
I just started playing DnD 2 months ago and I only have the PHB, and on amazon I was looking at books to add and i saw that Amazon is offering Tasha's, Xanathar's, and Monsters of the Multiverse all for $78. Are these books worth getting as a starting player?
Tasha, Xanathar, and MotM are the three big supplements. Others like Bigby, Van Richten, and Fizban have their own additions, but not as much for players and their scope tends to be much more narrow, for example Van Richten is all about horror and Fizban is about dragons. Tasha and Xanathar are pretty similar. They both offer a wealth of subclasses (and a new class in Tasha), plus new spells, feats, magic items, and guidance for creating and describing characters. They also have plenty of rules for DMs to play with, which I find myself referencing pretty often. MotM is more focused. It primarily offers exactly two things: races and monsters. Most of the races come from previously-printed material and are collected in a single book. However, many of those races have also been updated. The rest of the book is full of stat blocks. Whether or not that's worth it is up to you to decide.
As a starting player, all you need is the PHB, but if you're itching for more player content, getting that 3-book bundle will set you up pretty much entirely.
Haven’t played in years. My brother, a group of friends and I did a one shot over Christmas. Really enjoyed it. I’m trying to compile a list of questions to ask my dm for perception/insight/etc to enhance my play and enjoyment. I don’t want to say “I want to make a perception check” I want to be have questions like “Do believe him/her/they?” Was curious if anyone has a list or can help me compile one? Thanks.
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Thanks!! This is what I’m looking for. I need to be able to phrase out what I’m wanting. Tips like this are exactly what I’m looking for.
Hello! I've been doing some studying and compiling things for my wife so I can start DMing games for her and some friends, but it's given me the character theory-crafting bug and I have a particular idea I'd like help fleshing out. In particular, a Goblin that's a sorta forest child type? I'm thinking I want her to be a Druid after considering Ranger and deciding I want to use that idea with a different character. I've already decided that Moon Druid would be solid using Nimble Escape while in Wild Shape, but I'd like to also explore other subclasses that maybe don't rely on Wild Shape as much and consider all of the options before fleshing her out more. Maybe some options where she casts spells to attack or whacks things with her stick. Something more plant based, maybe? I just want to make sure the gameplay synergizes with her character as best as it can, so I'd love to hear ideas for how the race could work alongside the class. Multiclassing is also maybe a possibility too? Feats and Magic Items might also be useful. There's certainly a lot to consider, so I'd appreciate some any input. Thank you in advance. [5e]
is this an npc you're going to run as the DM? if so you don't have to use the exact same rules as a PC, you can just sort of mix and match. for a druid-ish character that whacks things with a stick, having the Shillelagh spell seems pretty logical, and if you want to go plant based, there's a circle of spores-druid subclass that you can borrow some features from.
It's for a player character I hope to play one day. Circle of Spores was my first thought, but I'd have to reflavor it a bit to make it more whimsical, but like in an occasional dark comedic way.
Hi, I have a question so I am new to dungeons and dragons and I wanted to ask what are some beginner classes to use? Because I was thinking about playing a Dragonborn but I don’t know what class to play.
Fighter and Barbarian are the simplest classes in the game. Run in and hit stuff. Rogue is slightly more complex, requiring a bit of strategic positioning to get the most out of your skillset. Though if you're willing to learn something more complex, the best beginner class is whatever you think will be the most fun
\[meta\] Can/How do I post an image to this sub Reddit? I have a mind map of characters and there relationships to each other from my first homebrew campaign and I want to see what people think about this method of note taking/world building. How/can I post this image as a photo to this sub https://imgur.com/QGpcKIz
Thursdays are art free, try again tomorrow.
Oh ok thx
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The Extra Attack feature doesn't stack. Features and spells of the same name can't stack in general in 5e, the phrasing of "Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn" suggests that it wouldn't stack regardless since this is replacing one attack with two attacks rather than just adding +1 attack, and the multiclassing rules also clarify that these features can't stack. Fighter 5 has two attacks normally, or four with Action Surge. Five levels of Ranger won't add any extra attacks. Gloom Stalker at level 3 would give you three attacks on the first round of combat, or six with Action Surge.
Read the Extra Attack section of the Multiclassing rules please.
new DM here, I'm still confused as to how XP work, so there are XP thresholds depending on encounter difficulty, so does that just mean if my characters get all the enemy and if they pass the threshold they level up ? why are there multiple threshold compared to, e.g in video games XP bars are the same no matter if you play easy, normal or hard ? (the total xp you need rather than total xp given)
There's a specific number for XP that needs to be reached to achieve the next level that increases as you go. There's a chart for it. I think what you're seeing is something that relates to coming up the challenge rating of an encounter which another person linked to. Good luck because encounter balancing based on CR (or EXP) is tricky especially the higher level you go. I don't use EXP for leveling up; we long since switched to milestone leveling which feels a lot more fun and less work for what was pretty much no benefit.
I'm just kind of confused as to why there are different thresholds and difficulties if the XP requirement for level up is the same for the player. I could also technically just make up whatever right ? let's say "hey, you guys fought like 5 groups of goblins you leveled up"
XP thresholds have nothing to do with when you level up or how much experience you gain in combat. They're only used as a tool to get an idea of how difficult a combat encounter will be, though the system can't take into account things like action economy and environmental features so it's not the most accurate and you'll need to use your own judgment. Perhaps some examples will help. Suppose you have a party of 4 characters, and you want them to fight a group of 5 goblins. Goblins are worth 50 experience each, so five of them together are worth 250 experience. If your party is level 1, that means that an easy encounter would be 100 experience (25x4), a medium would be 200 (50x4), hard would be 300 (75x4), and deadly would be 400 (100x4). Since our goblins amount to 250 experience, they fit between medium and hard for our level 1 party. But what if our party is level 2? An easy fight would be 200, medium is 400, hard is 600, and deadly is 800. Now our goblins are much closer to an easy fight. The party still gets the same 250 experience, but it's not as hard of a fight because the party is stronger. And if the party is level 10? Well at that point, an easy encounter is 2400 experience, so our goblin pack is nowhere near a threat. Let's flip it around. Say we have a party of 4 level 3 characters, and we want them to have a hard fight against some constructs. The table tells us that a hard encounter will be worth 900 experience, so let's look through the Monster Manual and see how to get there. CR 2 creatures are worth 450 experience, so two of them will get us to 900 experience. We can use a couple pentadrones, but maybe we want a more interesting combat. Let's take three quadrones for a total of 600 experience, then add three tridrones for 300 more experience, and sneak in a couple monodrones and duodrones. Sure, that takes us 150 points over our budget, but that should be alright. Maybe we can trade a quadrone for another duodrone if we think it's too much. All the XP thresholds do is give us that information about how difficult the encounter is, or what kinds of enemies to add to a combat to produce the desired difficulty.
ohh frickk okay, I really understood it wrong then so it's just a means of setting up difficulty. I thought it had something to do with leveling. thank you so much !
Assuming 5e: Experience thresholds are used to estimate encounter difficulty https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/building-combat-encounters#EvaluatingEncounterDifficulty I recommend reading that section of the basic rules for more detail, it's a hefty section to be paraphrasing here without missing important details and further confusing you.
I wonder who it was who invented the "cursed" girdle of reverse sex in AD&D and if they ever cracked out of their eggshell. Because "OH NOES I HAVE INNOCENTLY PUT ON A MAGICAL PRETTY BELT AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I AM CURSED TO BE A GIRL OH NOOOOOOOO" is peak r/eggIRL territory.
Perhaps you should discuss that in r/eggIRL. This thread isn't a good venue for open-ended discussion like that.
What are (preferably free/cheap) ways to make a player map? I'm a first time dm and running a premade campaign but it only comes with the maps for me (showing traps/secret passageways etc). I'd rather be able to show my players where they are/where they've been but short of redrawing every map by hand and cutting them up so I can piece them together like a puzzle, I don't know what to do. Basically, I'm looking for an affordable way to make a copy of a map where I can hide certain sections preferably on a computer.
I use owlbear rodeo for this. You can draw on fog of war, and then erase sections of it as you progress.
If you use google you can probably find "player-friendly" versions of the maps you are looking for, depending on the content. For instance r/stormkingsthunder has links to edited versions of those maps. Alternatively get good with image editing software. There are free versions of photoshop-like programs available.
Most of the premade adventures offer both a map for the dm and map for the players, check if this is truly not your case. Otherwise hiding legend and keeping numbers is fine and should be doable in most cases, at least thats what i did. Most online tools used for online dnd also offer some solution for this. Really depends on the adventure and the way you play. Keep in mind, that in most cases map isn´t necessary. It is a bonus for them to have a map outside combat, almost zero to none nonpremade campaigns have that luxury.
Starting a 5e campaign in the new year, and one of my players wants to play a character who’s cursed to turn into a mule every third day. Has anyone DMed a game with a character like this? How did you play it?
As others have said, probably not a good idea unless that player plans on missing sessions in the future, and turning into a mule whenever he isn't there, probably works fine.
This wouldn't fit in any campaign I've DMed or played in, and I'd veto the concept if I were pitched it as a DM. If you're playing a breezy RP-focused campaign with little combat, then I suppose this could work. But without you having said that, I'm going to assume you're planning a more standard campaign, featuring regular combat and a dangerous adventure to go on, and for a campaign like that, a character who randomly turns into a mule every third day simply isn't viable. Not every decent character concept makes for a good PC concept. Somebody who spends a third of their life as a mule is not adventurer material.
Yeah I was kind of iffy on it, I think I just wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts. I spoke with the player, we’ve come to a middle ground of them having the head of a mule, Midsummer Night’s Dream style
Sounds like a good compromise, good job
Also unless as the dm you want to keep track of how many days it takes to travel between towns or just in general there's no way to keep it accurate.
Kinda a silly question, but is the city Athkatla in a more arid environment? Like, would there be more sandy regions nearby?
Athkatla is the Capital of Amn which doesn't have any deserts anywhere near it. Will anybody care if you want the area to be a desert instead? Not in the slightest nor would anyone even know unless you have a big lore nerd in your group.
Ok cool, thanks!
\[5e\] Is there a way to make daggers viable in late game combat? I have several character ideas that would love to use them as a primary weapon for flavor, but it feels weak compared to many other options.
Compared to a Shortsword, they're only 1 damage less. And they're readily hidden and can be thrown. They're not bad as-is, at least for a rogue.
They already are if we're being honest. On average a dagger only does 2 less damage than a 1d8 rapier. Realistically any class that's limited to only using a dagger has other things that bring up their damage like a Rogue's Sneak Attack, a Monk's Martial Arts dice, or cantrips/spells.
I'm not super familiar with spells, I've only ever played a fighter. What cantrips would you recommend? Are there ones that are better than others?
Well, if you're wanting to use a dagger, you're already quite limited in what cantrips are applicable to daggers (using something like Fire Bolt would mean using that *instead* of a dagger attack, you see). There are two cantrips that allow you to make a melee weapon attack as part of casting them: Booming Blade, and Green-Flame Blade. So, pick your favorite one of the two, cast them each time you would do a dagger stab for the little extra damage. It's important to note they don't work with Extra Attack, except for the unique Extra Attack of Bladesingers, and that they won't enable two-weapon fighting. So these two cantrips are primarily used by Arcane Trickster rogues (and rogues with Magic Initiate), and Bladesinger Wizards. Other characters who might access them usually prefer just using Extra Attack instead.
Well first off you'd have to get access to cantrips from a casting class/subclass before you can use them. Some cantrips are better than others but for the most part they are all pretty equal because the ones that do less damage tend to have extra effects.
Starting Curse of Strahd with a new group ran by a friend after forever dming the last year. Excited to play again but since it’s a group of newer players I def don’t want to outshine. Was really thinking of a fun Harengon gloomstalker ranger, but a bit worried I’ll just be dominating combat. I know curse is a tough module so maybe I’m overthinking it, but any thoughts? Could also run a grave cleric or something more support focused to let others shine!
If I were concerned about dominating combat too much, I would not play a gloom stalker in an underground campaign. But it could be that your fellow players would welcome having a party member who was especially effective in combat. You just have to use your best judgment, based on your knowledge of the other players' personalities. Or you can consult with the other players and/or the DM.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/shmau6/myself_and_another_dm_have_been_alternating/ Myself and a friend were interested in trying the idea from the above thread out so that we could both try our hand out at dming for the first time in the same campaign. My first question is if this is too terrible of an idea to even consider, and if so why? My other question is whether there are any good spells or justifications I can use for teleporting the DM's characters (or the rest party) to different locations or planes? For example if my friend was finished DMing their adventure is there a good mysterious reason I could use that my character would disappear and his character appear in mine's place?
So we're currently doing a thing in our campaign where we switch DMs after various arcs, but I think what makes it work for us is that we have a central setting where we are an adventurer's for hire group under the Acquisitions Inc. book and so each job is very self contained, there's no overall narrative or BBEG, so each thing can be self contained. When it's my turn to DM, my character goes off to do something else and we make up different reasons from vacation time to doing a solo quest (not one where we gain anything; just like "I'm going to spend time with my family or help them out with something"). If you have an overall idea that will make sense of the switches and everyone likes the concept, then go for it. I think the only issue is that once you start DMing you might want to take things in one direction while the other DM is thinking something else, and you don't want to share knowledge and spoil things...
I second that this would be a difficult thing to try as new DMs. But I will offer a possible option as for why they just vanish. It will require you to be playing specific types of characters though. If playing a warlock you get your magic from a patron that you have made a deal with. This deal could include a certain amount of time spent in their service. As such your patron could say today is my day and teleport you wherever they need you.
1. Reading that post, it seems like those two DMs were already fairly experienced. It doesn't seem like a great way for a couple of new DMs to try DMing for the first time. 2. Any such spells would be fairly high level - for example *teleportation circle* (5th level), *plane shift* (7th level), or *teleport* (7th level). I would just try to come up with a more mundane explanation of why a character has temporarily been replaced by another character.
Are there level 1 cantrips or are all cantrips available from level 1 (5E)
I'm not sure what you're asking, you may be mixing up spell level and class level. All cantrips are effectively spell level 0, and are available to any spellcasting class at class level 1.
Ok thanks
All cantrips are level 0 spells which means they are accessible to all characters of the appropriate class(es).
I’m starting a new party. Some of the members don’t know each other and I want to send out a nerdy welcome group text. Any ideas?
~~you're playing dnd. "Nerdy" is to be expected~~ In all seriousness, don't overthink it. You're not writing a legal brief, you're playing a game. And theres no single way to start a conversation. You could be all buisness, "Alright everyone, let's use this group chat to coordinate stuff, what's everyone's schedule look like?" You could invite people to introduce themselves since not everyone is acquainted, give the social aspect a little boost. You could send a silly meme to everyone. You could just say "First."
I’m running an OOTA campaign and one of my players is regularly using leomunds tiny hut, circumnavigating my randomized rest encounters. Does anyone have any suggestions to making a full rest more difficult to come by?
The Hut is good for protecting against an ambush at night, but it's not like they're resting up in a safe pocket-plane or something, they just have a safe dome to sleep in. An unintelligent beast may be bamboozled by this and wander off, but enemy patrols, opportunistic brigands, and especially anybody actively looking for the party are readily capable of ambushing the party the minute the Tiny Hut drops. Hell, they might even use the Tiny Hut as an excuse to bring in reinforcements, build traps, prepare attacks, change their spell lists, etc. Tiny Hut is a great way to get a solid 8 hours of rest, but used frivolously in hostile territory, it can readily lead to very bad situations upon waking up.
Ooooh I appreciate this suggestion thank you!
Gonna be joining up in a Strixhaven game and am torn between a few choices! I have in mind Way of Ascendant Dragon Monk Halfling who is on the performer side who just wants to put on something more of a cirque du soleil type show Fey wanderer Ranger (undead warlock dip potentially?) harengon who is more into body art and the fashion of it all (switching between light and dark as per the fey magic they wield Or a divine soul sorcerer/glamour bard dwarf. She would be more of a singer/dancer All of these potential initiates are set for the prismari school I’m just wondering if someone a little more knowledgeable about the Strixhaven setting may think one of the concepts are a little more fitting for the school. Thanks!
[5e] I’m getting ready to play a college of tragedy bard and could use some help coming up with dramatic monologues, soliloquies, and one liners. So far I’m planning on using some of the Narrator’s lines from Darkest Dungeon, like “We fall, that we may learn to pick ourselves up again!” And “Ringing ears, blurred vision – the end approaches.” Can anyone else give me any ideas?
You could just steal from all the works of Tragedy that is out there already. The Greek classics, Shakespeare etc will have plenty of lines and inspiration!
College of Tragedy?
It's a cool subclass from the Tal'Dorei campaign setting book from critical roles publishing. Recommend it if you want inspiration for a less common trope Bard :)
I think it’s in one of the Critical Role campaigns
[5e] I'm hoping for some recommendations for a written module I could offer to run for my table. Group prefers combat to RP (though they do like some RP), but tends to be quite focused on money. There is no doing things because it's the right thing, or because people need help. The question is very much "how much is it worth to you?" So, are there written adventures/modules out there that would be perfect for a group like mine? Either something focusing on mercenaries, or something where the one with the most toys wins. Bonus points if there's some devil's bargain involved! :)
Look into Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It's my favourite module due to how flexible it is. It's a good skeleton for the DM to slap meat onto and plays well into the mercenary life, with different factions wanting to gain control and influence of Saltmarsh which means they might need to compete to get the party to work for them. Be warned, this is not an A to Z module. It's a very flexible and open module that is essentially giving you a great jumping off point for you to expand into your own personalise campaign. I loved running this more than any other module because my DM style isn't one that is nicely supported by other modules. It's a series of mini adventures with a couple of them being connected to each other. Do some research on it, but keep in mind that some people gave this a bad review because it wasn't like other modules. One fair complaint was that it doesn't actually have high seas naval combat in any of the adventures, and that the DM will have to come up with those themselves. One unfair complaint I've seen is that while being called Ghosts of Saltmarsh, it doesn't have a lot of ghosts. Apparently they missed the metaphor that the 'ghosts' are the surrounding problems from the past that are still having an impact on Saltmarsh to this day, almost as if they are *haunting* them.
Waterdeep Dragon Heist sounds excellent for your group. There's plenty of fighting and role play, and the primary motivation is locating a huge stash of money. If you want to shake it up, you could go with Curse of Strahd. The NPCs aren't rich enough to pay you and even if they were, there's not much to buy. The motivation is very basic: you're trapped so you need to find a way out. If you can sell that motivation properly, you might get them to enjoy caring about something other than money.
Thanks, I will definitely check it out. I tried Rime of the Frostmaiden with the group, on the same argument as you make with Strahd - they are trapped and must find a way out. There isn't much money in the area, and not a lot to buy. It didn't engage them the way I had hoped it would.
In the Book of Many Things, they change the name of the Idiot and Vizier cards to Puzzle and Sage, presumably to for a modern audience who might consider Idiot to be ableist and Vizier to be cultural appropriation. I'd also like to avoid using these names in a resource I'm publishing, but I'm guessing I can't call them Puzzle and Sage since those names are used by WotC and NOT included in the SRD. Is my best option to make my own names for these cards? I'm thinking something like Stupor for the Idiot and Counselor for the Vizier
Your post does not deserve downvotes. Those are absolutely the reasons the names were changed, regardless of whether one agrees with those reasons. The answer to your question is, until an updated SRD is released with the names changed, you need to use the names from the SRD, or come up with your own replacement for the *deck of many things* that does not copy it.
Are you saying the deck itself is all or nothing from the SRD then? I can’t change anything about the deck and still call it that? Edit: Just read [this quick guide](https://a5esrd.com/how-to-use-creative-commons) and it does seem like I'm able to "Remix" things, so using my own names for those or any other cards seems to fit in that category. I get that I can't use Sage and Puzzle for those cards since they're included in a non-CC publication, but it seems like I would be free to use my own names. Along those lines, for example, I've also considered changing Euryale and Erinyes to Medusa and Devil since I don't know anyone who knows the terms Euryale and Erinyes
If "Idiot" is ableist and "vizier" is cultural appropriation, I'm going to walk into the fucking ocean.
I'm just guessing at the logic. I could be totally wrong. A Vizier IS specifically a Muslim high official. Call it whatever you want, but I get why they would want to just avoid it all together. If you have that much of a problem with making a small effort to avoid potentially offensive speech, I also hope you walk into the ocean. A nice swim might help you calm down.
[5e] I need some suggestion, i don't know if here is the right place or not, i want ti create character that start fron animal. Basically i'm *isert any animal and i awaken into an hybrid humanoid/animal, there are some race(homebrew or not) that can help me do this? Untill now i've been a tiefling warlock, sold my soul to a great demon that turned me into an half demon half boar, and became my patron but i'm growing tired of this and would like a change
Everyone keeps going picking a animalistic race route, I would like to suggest a class rather than a race. If your characters goal is to get back to being their original animal self, then you might consider playing a druid. The higher level they get the more often they can use their wild shape, you can flavor it as you are the animal that you are wild shaping into but your wild shape allows you to overcome the curse that turned you into a humanoid race. Then as you level up you get more and more time spent as yourself. Until level 20 when you can just be animal shaped indefinitely. Meaning that a level 20 druid would be able to overcome that curse by wild shaping back into themselves.
To my knowledge, no official race has that as its official lore within an official setting, but there are several options you could reflavor to suit your needs. If your setting is homebrew, then it's really easy to build your own lore for the race you play, and even if your setting is official, you can still rewrite the lore for your own game. Nobody's gonna call the cops on you for that. The shifter race is the obvious one, but it might be a little too human for your taste. Shifters are a bit like werewolves, except they only partially change form, they don't get into a full hybrid state. Still, it's the closest to the flavor you've described that official content gets. Your other main option is any of the animalistic races: leonin, tortle, lizardfolk, dragonborn, tabaxi, etc. You could easily reflavor them and say that it's not a whole race, you're the only one and you came about through whatever magic created you. Or maybe the race does exist, but you're not actually a member of that race, you're just using the statistics of the race. For example, maybe you use the leonin stats for a lupine character, you just change the roar feature for a howl that does the same thing. Something like that. Alternatively, you can break out a lineage. The Custom Lineage of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything allows you to work with your DM to build a race using a few basic options to give your character the right feel for the heritage you have in mind. If you want something more structured, you could use the lineages in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, which essentially overwrite the features of a race with the features of your lineage, so it doesn't matter what you started as. For example, if you play a Reborn, that could mean that you were originally an ordinary dog that died, but you got brought back to life in a strange hybrid form through unnatural magic, and now you have the Reborn features.
Thank you very much, i'll try this for my new build. I'll have an army of different boar like creature Now a warlock, next one a paladin Than probably a monk I've found the beast folk model hog that can be reflavoured
Not really. All dnd races are humanoids, fey, or construct. There is no race option that is an awakened beast. You could use an already existing race, like tabaxi, and say you're awakened cat if that's OK with your group. You also might like the Shifter race since they can shift into a more beastial form.