dnd-discussion

[fallow grotto]

I’ve tried, but all are either full or 18+

[worldly flare]

Yep. Stuff involving Demiplane and Circle casting. Just trying to figure out some stuff with True Polymorph.

[solar crow]

I'm alr. Thinking about campaign stuff for next semester (in a campaign that's running in the D&D club at the community College I go to)

[daring pecan]

Ooh okay

[wide field]

Darn, I’m sorry. Want me to reach out to you if anyone drops out of my group?

[solar crow]

Thinking about next semester stuff and things that happened this semester (fall semester)

[fallow grotto]

If you are fine with that

[worldly flare]

I can go into extreme detail if you so wish.

[daring pecan]

I've been considering hopping on to online sessions of DND but I'm worried they won't be as accepting of a newer player

[wide field]

Yeah totally.

[fallow grotto]

Ty

[wide field]

They usually say if they’re accepting or not.

[daring pecan]

Oh okay cool

I wanna try doing some one shots before I do a longer session

[solar crow]

I love seeing other new players I'm halfway through my first ever campaign rn

One thing I'm definitely looking forward to is our final fight at the end of our campaign. My dm said that fight is gonna take place over 3 sessions (each session is 2 and a half hours long)

[raw ocean]

Tbh just let people know ahead of time and be respectful, you should be fine

[wide field]

That seems like a long amount of time for a fight

[daring pecan]

Okay thank you

[raw ocean]

I hate it when new players try to constantly argue with the DM, like dude just let us teach you the game T-T

[daring pecan]

I've seen that happen unfortunately

[solar crow]

Yeah ik. Idk how it's gonna go obviously. It'll be end of spring semester

[daring pecan]

I smell a tarrasque

[raw ocean]

3 sessions for a fight, either a multi-staged boss or siege battle

[wide field]

I think it’ll just be a few waves.

[fallow grotto]

Is it bad I don’t even know what a tarrasque is?

[daring pecan]

I still want to fight a boss I've only played like 3 one shots

[daring pecan]

Be glad lol

[fossil hollow]

#optimization might be able to help better

np

[solar crow]

Probably multi stage? Idk

[daring pecan]

It's basically a end game player level 20 type boss

[fallow grotto]

Ohhhh ok

[limber trail]

They’re effectively these colossal creatures who occasionally awaken and try to destroy civilizations

Very Godzilla coded

[knotty basin]

Basically godzilla

[fallow grotto]

That’s cool

[limber trail]

They’re pretty cool creatures

They have a solid reputation because they’re the highest CR creature listed in the 2024 monster manual

[crimson gulch]

There are many that are and many that are not, gotta be careful

[daring pecan]

I wanted to ask you the other day actually if you do free dm sessions here?

[crimson gulch]

No my games are 25$ per session and up

[raw ocean]

Chronurgy wizard + reborn is fantastic, I can add a 1d6 to rolls and I have built in silvery barbs as an ability

[daring pecan]

Ah okay not bad tbh

[crimson gulch]

But several of my campaigns I have streamed are up on YouTube

[daring pecan]

Oh sick

[raw ocean]

I've always wondered why custom D&D dice are so uber expensive

I understand metal and glass dice being on the pricy side

But I don't know the process for resin, but it looks simple enough?

[umbral girder]

Materials and access to the tools to make them and shipping and time needs to make them

And of course, profit

[raw ocean]

Understandable, I can see the resin dice with liquid cores and stuff inside of them being more expensive

I think im gonna try to make a set of dice just for fun later

[static trout]

hey so here's a question. how would you rule someone using the creation spell to drop a 5ft cube of platinum (which would weight roughly 160k lbs) on top of a creature/structure from 10 ft above them? from what I read in the falling object rules that would automatically deal the max amount of damage for falling objects which is 20d6 but that sounds a bit insane for a level 5 spell

[upper lintel]

So the voice actors of vox machina are the real dnd players who played the campaign its based on . Thats why its so good then

[glass granite]

From what I know, falling object rules is improvised damage by the DM

[static trout]

I mean yeah but it's hard to argue the sheer amount of damage something would take from a 5ft 83ton cube falling on them. like sure you can fudge anything as the dm but it's kind of hard for me to argue that

[woven flint]

Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat is a dance bard
Why?
He's an Actor that does a lot of fighting and dancing
And he inspires me to cringe

Ponder it

[glass granite]

I’d rule depending on how they used it:
if it’s a climatic moment, the enemy gets a Dex save
If it’s just because they think it’s cheap and really powerful, I wouldn’t allow it at all

The shape water BS also does smt similar

[static trout]

dex save or halved or avoid damage

[glass granite]

Avoid

You either are crushed or you’re not

[glass granite]

But tbh, I personally would go to the latter here

[static trout]

that seems underwhelming for being able to use a 1 minute spell while having to fly and position perfectly. but yeah otherwise the damage is too monumental

[glass granite]

It’s not a combat spell, don’t expect it to do ungodly high amounts of damage

[woven flint]

Fun fact:
The damage depends on how many feet it falls and caps out on
20d6 damage
Also, it's not a physics simulator

[glass granite]

And creation only has a range of 30ft

[static trout]

i mean mechanically I get it but realistically it feels like it's just flipping my players creativity off. like I want them to get creative with spells but I also want to avoid them completely trivializing encounters. trying to find the sweet spot in between

[lime compass]

I agree with this

Also hello everyone. Nice to be here

[fossil hollow]

i reccomend the improvised damage table from the DMG if you allow this

[glass granite]

So if I wanted to cast shape water to create a block of ice over someone’s head, then quicken spell to freeze and drop it, you’d allow it?

[glass granite]

Gooooood morning afternoon evening, Wahzzup!

[woven flint]

"I use creation to create a cube in the air to drop it on their heads"
Doesn't exactly strike me as creative personally, that's the drop an anvil cartoon antics equivalent of an idea
Not to be rude 😭

[lavish flame]

They are also the lead writers, a few of them. Scanlan's VA/player Sam Riegal and Grog's VA/player Travis Willingham wrote a considerable amount of episodes for the show. Some of the other actors have done an episode or 2 as well.

[lime compass]

Not much. Just helping my players make their characters for Curse of Strahd

[lime compass]

Well. I'm not the dm for it, it'll be weird being a player lol

[static trout]

no the creative part would be to do this using a minute long casting time.
btw this is all theoretical, the question I was asked was how would I rule using that spell as a siege weapon to destroy a wall of a fort.
but yeah I'm mostly a player not a DM and we're a table full of chemists and physicists so we do tend to apply real world rules to our games. again I'm trying to find the balance between pure realism and cheesing the game.

[fossil hollow]

Use the Improvised Damage table

[static trout]

wuzzdat?

[glass granite]

Oh a wall of a fort? I’d rule in favour of it. That’s fun.

[fossil hollow]

a table in the DMG that gives you reccomendations for improvising damage

[static trout]

o that's useful thanks a bunch

[static trout]

yeah but like what happens to the guards that are standing on it, what would the extent of damage be etc etc

[crimson gulch]

I would rule that your not hitting anything with a spell with a casting time of 1 minut

[nova lava]

whats the best way to play dnd online? ive been using roll 20 but im wodering if there is just a hands down better in every way alternative. Google says foundry is good is that the best option in yall opinion? or ya got some secret ones?

[trim finch]

how do i know if great weapon master is worth using? i’m a barb so i have reckless attack

[crimson gulch]

Owlbear rodeo

[crimson gulch]

Adding your proficiency bonus to damage is fantastic, I reccomend it

[woven flint]

It's more damage
Damage that also scales

[trim finch]

wait it does that? i thought it was just the +10 damage -5 to hit and then the crit rule

[woven flint]

Oh, you're looking at the 2014 version

[crimson gulch]

Oh I was referencing the improved updated version in the 2024 players handbook

Minus 5 to hit was bad

Only worth it if you had like a belt of Giant strength

[trim finch]

what about with reckless attack for advantage?

[static trout]

it's almost always great for barbs using a 2h weapon. just remember that advantage is equal to about a +3.5 on your roll so all you have to consider is whether your attack with reckless is worth the damage boost you'll get (it almost always is unless for some reason your DM runs a crazy high AC encounters)

[plain stone]

Hello 👋👋👋

[remote wadi]

Thinking on it more, I don't know how my team is holding up the way it does

And 20 minutes after typing that first bit, I am even more concerned

[raw ocean]

What do they got you up against?

[remote wadi]

Less so what we are fighting
Moreso on our team itself

[crimson gulch]

Who you are playing with has a huge impact on the enjoyment of the game for sure

[raw ocean]

Sometimes you just achieve flow state in D&D with the other players

[remote wadi]

So I'm trying to piece together how even with varying encumbrance and 3 party members with easily 17 strength bare minimum can't carry some rations and a waterskin for themselves

[raw ocean]

Do you have a caster?

[crimson gulch]

What? Of corse they can

[remote wadi]

A Mountain Dwarf Cleric, Paladin, and a Fighter

[raw ocean]

Any magic wizard initate backgrounds or multi-class?

[remote wadi]

I thought so too. But apparently, our Cleric is carrying, let me check here

124 pounds

[plain stone]

Hello, is there any DND games that have a free spot? Id love to join, I've been playing for about a month or so but played in a couple games, I can play whatever roll you have for me. I'm also 14.

[crimson gulch]

Oh your reading their sheets? That's poor form

[cursive thorn]

Against server rules to state your age BTW. Just an FYI IIRC

[raw ocean]

Probably just asked the cleric on what they are carrying

[remote wadi]

No. I was told this by our DM

[plain stone]

Oh mb

[raw ocean]

I have a very simple solution for your encumbrance problem

Just buy a horse

[remote wadi]

A horse with what money...?

[raw ocean]

Wait, how broke are yall?

[remote wadi]

Oh. And our Fighter is also encumbered too

[raw ocean]

Do any of yall have access to the wizard spell list, in any way

[remote wadi]

Level 3. And I myself have no money left because I had to spend my last available starting gold on overpriced rations

[remote wadi]

We have an Illusionist Owlin Wizard

[raw ocean]

I thought yall had only three peeps, is this an NPC?

[remote wadi]

We, technically speaking, have about 5-6. Not everyone shows up, though

Yesterday, it was 4 of us. Me, a ranger
Paladin
Fighter
Wizard

[raw ocean]

Alright so with large creatures, it's usually 15 x the strength score right?

Just find familiar a giant fly

And have it carry the stuff

That's 210 pounds off your backs

[crimson gulch]

Boo, that's an exploit for sure, a level one spell should not be better than the rare magic item

[raw ocean]

That's not really a loophole right?

[amber echo]

Hey guys, I have a question: does the Rogue class work as a standalone class, or is it only good when multiclassed?

[raw ocean]

It's just summoning an animal that's good for the job

[remote wadi]

Look, I really don't think my team is exactly the most thoughtful about how they play

[crimson gulch]

That's not an animal that exists anywhere exept for a rare magic item

It's not in the players handbook or monster manual

[raw ocean]

Im just throwing out a suggestion for a creatue to carry their stuff

It can't even fight

[crimson gulch]

It's an explotive loophole to use find familiar for the giant fly, that's a hill I'll die on

[remote wadi]

For starters, 2 of them being close to heavily encumbered is a bad start (they're relegating the 14 Strength Ranger to be the party vending machine for food and water)

[raw ocean]

Cool thanks for your opinion, how about we put our efforts to finding a solution for this guys problem instead?

[crimson gulch]

He's been complaining about this game for a month, I have told him what he needs to do

[raw ocean]

What are your party members even carrying to be this over-encumbered?

[remote wadi]

Don't exactly need a solution. Moreso explaining what is wrong here before I bring this up to both my DM and the party

[raw ocean]

Oh fr?

[remote wadi]

According to the DM
Cleric has...

halberd, maul, chainmail, light crossbow, 43 pound backpack, bolts, clothes

[crimson gulch]

Yeah he needs to leave that game weeks ago, he's not had a good time at all, and has gotten push back when he had talked to the dm

[raw ocean]

And how is this your problem?

[crimson gulch]

And the dm appears to just be running a normal game with encumbrance, and high difficulty encounters

[raw ocean]

Tbh from what im hearing, dude should just let his party members suffer themselves if they wan't to be stubborn

[remote wadi]

In all fairness, the pushback before was me not feeling like I had the same power as the other team. But that was solved when I decided to ditch the fighter MC and do Rogue MC instead

[raw ocean]

Are you over-encumbered?

[remote wadi]

Rounded up, 33/70 carry weight

[raw ocean]

So just let your party members suffer

If they want to make the choice to carry around too much, that's their issue

[surreal lake]

Wait is it normal to use encumbrance for games?

[remote wadi]

Unfortunately, I am not terribly independent yet. Maybe when I start to reach level 6

[crimson gulch]

It's raw to use it, but often ignored

[raw ocean]

So are they requesting that you carry their stuff?

[crimson gulch]

You will never be independent, it's a team game

[blissful cosmos]

How can you ever run a combat encounter on just theatre of the mind ever?

[surreal lake]

Our group is small and all friends, so we just make the inventory somewhat realistic instead of using the rules. Like you wouldn’t be allowed to have a halberd and an axe and a sword, unless all of that is stored in some form of bag

[crimson gulch]

Easily

[raw ocean]

Just do combat and let your players know how far away the monsters are

[remote wadi]

Not exactly

So far, I have been the main one to actually prepare and get rations and water with the starting gold. The only exception is our Fighter, but that's still many other people to worry about (and he isn't exactly blameless)

[raw ocean]

So you are being party nanny, and the other party members aren't being as cooperative?

[remote wadi]

Independent enough that I can work close to, but not constantly with, the team. Should have been more specific

[rough basalt]

Some people can do it very easily

[crimson gulch]

Yeah that's a bad attitude, it's a team game

[raw ocean]

Only time you should be independent is if it's like a character story moment for your character

[rough basalt]

Personally I almost refuse to do totm combat

[remote wadi]

Okay, I'll give a quick list over things to give you an idea

[raw ocean]

Im playing my first pbp campaign and it's pretty simple

[rough basalt]

Unless it's something that's not entirely combat

[crimson gulch]

I have ran several whole campaigns theater of the mind, it's a skill like any other

[rough basalt]

Like a bar brawl or a sparring or something

[crimson gulch]

I have had 100% blind players in some online games that were able to play along just find because my descriptions and game running is that good

[rough basalt]

I physically can't handle much totm.

[remote wadi]

I am close to the only one packing rations and water. And the overpriced ones from the merchant were purchased, but solely by me (RIP 44 gold)

[rough basalt]

I get really bad information overload with too much totm and it renders me unable to dm/play

[plush mica]

The day that I finally learn to play dnd, I can’t wait to be a paladin

[rough basalt]

All you gotta do is just read the how to play rules and your character rules and find a group

[plush mica]

Oh

[raw ocean]

And learn how to keep your mouth zipped sometimes

"But I should be able to get an anti-matter gun!" no

[rough basalt]

Course nobody will expect you to know everything by heart so it's a good idea to keep the rules around till you're comfortable.

Even veterans forget stuff or completely misread or miss stuff.

Hell a lot of dnd online discourse comes from people who either didn't read what their arguing about or forgot.

So avoid doing that too much and you're already golden lol

[remote wadi]

And imagine that you were urged to get a vampire off the roof alive, and each of your team did the following

• Fighter asked you to pick a lock without much explanation, released the vampire from the basement, and instead of accessing the roof from the inside, jumps out the window, grows giant, and still can't grab him and bring him down (vampire is 30 feet off the ground on the roof). Oh yeah, and he could have also teleported up there after that, but never did
• Small Owlin Wizard could fly someone up to the roof and one of us can grapple/shove him off, but proceeds to fly up to melee range of the vampire, cast Witch Bolt, get grappled, gets freed from grapple, and resumes the Witch Bolt
• Paladin tries to test her luck again with the divine smite crit, only being stopped by the fact that throwing javelins from there would be at disadvantage (homebrew rule allows ranged divine smite despite 2014 rules)

[timid current]

sounds like the game's not a good match for you

[crimson gulch]

Yeah your not enjoying the challenge the party the dm

[remote wadi]

I can make this work. I just need a talk with the team that this will not and cannot fly

[timid current]

your expectations and those of the rest of the players are different.

[remote wadi]

I think the challege problem was mostly my own expectations, but I talked that out with the DM

DM himself isn't extremely experienced, but isn't doing that bad either. Also solved by communication

Talking about the party is mostly me going "get a load of this" before I also communicate with them

[echo agate]

when dealing with Roll20's magic initiate feat, it just kinda allows me to pick the feat itself, but i can't see an updated spell list or even a choice between the different casters

[remote wadi]

So, I gave the message to the party

Our Bard and Rogue were not here for a session or 2 out of the 4, but understood and are hopefully keeping it in mind
Our Paladin, Fighter, Cleric, and Wizard have not commented yet

[upper lintel]

Its so good every episode every season has been a 9 out of 10 greatness

[lavish flame]

They're working in a second show as well rn, based on their second campaign. Mighty Nein on prime video. Also super good, if not better

[woven flint]

I'm gonna admit, I only liked Vox Machina as a show when it was taking itself seriously
Not a bad show though

Grog was the best character

[rugged widget]

Hii!!! Ive never played dnd before does anyone know the main basics i should remember (im not good at keepong lots of information for long 😭)

[fossil hollow]

#dnd-newcomers

[rugged widget]

Ops sorry i ment to go there!

[upper lintel]

.pike and grog are the best duo

[crimson gulch]

season 1 of this is nearly all out, its good

[upper lintel]

If you wanna fun easy explain look up the actor celebrity debroah ann explains how to play dnd to Jon bernthal lol she says it in the most simple way possible

[rugged widget]

Ty for the advice ill look that up rn acc!

[upper lintel]

Im still newish learning to but also been using baulder gate 3 the game as another outlet to play dnd .

[rugged widget]

Ooo idk what that is but ill def look into it

[upper lintel]

Its a dnd video game prettty much thats all it is

I could be wrong about this but from what I been learning think about it as improbe acting kinda

[fresh bloom]

In your opinion, if a character wears a mask in a design you created for an RPG, do you need to create a design without the mask as well? Or not?

What if someone removes the character's mask for some reason?

[rugged widget]

It seems so cool i stumbled upon a video about dnd and ive only watched two eps so far however i really like it and im super interested in learning more

[upper lintel]

Yeah its awesome Im more into the lore more then anything just learning about the world .

[crimson gulch]

a verbal description is fine imo

[rugged widget]

Maybe they have another mask under the mask just incase lol

[grave lava]

Had an awesome but short session yesterday of 4-5 hours, my players experienced a tone shift and im quite happy how it went
—-
They were so antsy, acting out full movie scenes with their ocs, arguing(in character), they were SO SO tense and terrified. I was genuinely so pleasantly surprised to see them get so excited and interested in the story. As im a first time DM and have never played D&D except for this specific campaign

Heard them whispering theories and game plans for our next session when we were done too…makes me very proud to hear them so interested in the story

[rough basalt]

4-5 hours? Short? /j
That's great tho, I'm glad your game is going well.

[crimson gulch]

4 to 5 is definitly a longer session, mine are 3 hours

[chilly narwhal]

Naruto lol

[earnest sapphire]

does anyone have spots for a one shot or campaign tomorrow?

[rough basalt]

Mine are 3, up to 4 on occasion

[fossil hollow]

#find-a-game , but i sincerely doubt youre joining anything that last minute

[crimson gulch]

I get last minute joiners quite frequently to my games, but such is the nature of the buisness sometimes

[earnest sapphire]

I saw that one was looking for some a few minutes ago so I hope they answer me

[grave lava]

Only because sessions before this averaged around 9-10 hours lol! I considered that session quite short

[crimson gulch]

9 to 10 hours is wild, I haven't had that much free time since I was a kid

[jovial shadow]

We used to do those numbers back when we were 14 and 15 and didn't have school in the morning.

[grave lava]

Its definitely hard to schedule around lol…our last session was over 6 months ago before this one, i live 2 states from them, ones got college, and the others usually caught up in other schooling. I come over REALLY early for it

[lusty tendon]

guys how do we feel about if i made a reoccuring enemy (similar to a prince zuko) in my campaign, and have it made to be set up like a gloom stalker multiclass including arcane archer?

i just want an outside perspective on this

[rough basalt]

That's crazy

I can't handle more than 4 hours at all

[grave lava]

LOL im just Trying to get all the D&D in i can before my college this spring and i enjoy dming so far and my players are all invested so it goes by easy for us

[rough basalt]

Once I get past 4 hours in a session I crash hard

I just wanna either sleep, eat or lie down

[grave lava]

Haha, my players were eating and lying down at times while we played, so was I, we usually take more breaks but this time i think there were only around 3-4 before theyd rush me back to the table to play more, only stopped because everyone was yawning at 12AM

[lost flicker]

Anyone have any suggestions for solo play books?

I know ginny di posted an ad for the solo adventurers guide or something

I heard somebody talking about mythic last night too

[fervent crown]

does anyone know of any DM's looking for a player for a oneshot on friday or saturday

[jovial shadow]

https://discord.com/channels/516367331358801950/1241960756858060881

https://discord.com/channels/516367331358801950/750813601358676008

[raw ocean]

Any DM’s looking for a player that will constantly question their rulings and bring a character with a pre-written backstory that doesn’t fit their campaign at all, also he’s a power build character (You can hire me for 300$ per session)

Amazing deal guys, I know

[hushed mason]

I appear to have found 2 keepers by using #looking-for-players . 😄 Very pleased with today.

[raw ocean]

lmao

[empty thicket]

sometimes i question myself if people even read....

[cinder timber]

Hello

[alpine plume]

does a save, like burning hands, count as an attack that triggers minor elementals

[frosty canopy]

Save spells arent attacks- attacks specifically require the attacker to make an attack roll.

I know, it’s arbitrary

[alpine plume]

ok thats what i said, but he said that it woulda said "attack roll"

[alpine plume]

and i completely agree that its an attack roll that only triggers

[timid current]

it's not arbitrary, it's a specific choice, because it would be incredible over the top if it weren't

it's not meant to trigger on spells that don't require an attack because there's no counterplay that way

[soft hare]

Hey chat
What is the most inconvenient and most vile thing I can cast at my opponent in a wizard battle

[hushed mason]

Imagine a "glitterdust" spell where the glitter is actual glitter flakes that you can't get off without several baths...

[raw ocean]

Ah yes D&D magic, it’s either mildly inconvenient or it will make you wish you were dead

[empty thicket]

Haste, break concentration

they cant literally take it back, dodge it

[raw ocean]

An illusion of the child and wife they lost during the war, calling out to them.

They may know it’s not real, but it will still affect them.

[empty thicket]

Grab the wizard, place a mirror in front of him and cast Distort value on him. Let his own mind and insecurities drop his hp down.

[raw ocean]

Are we just doing RAW spells or can we make up spells?

I’d probably cast a spell that halves their magical potency unless they announce their spells in a cringy anime voice

[hushed mason]

I suspect they want real spells. But I think a glittery glitterdust would be pretty darn annoying.

[snow agate]

idk probably just any embarassing spell of which there are a plethora

[soft hare]

Y'all are so evil

[lyric idol]

I cast... PASS WITH GLITTERY TRACE

[empty thicket]

Suggestion and suggest him to "eat the book", if success you took down his spellcasting focus and his confidence

or "eat book"

[lyric idol]

I "suggest" they donate their spellbook and arcane focus...to me.

[empty thicket]

it say one sentence or two

"Lend spellbook"

[lyric idol]

"Hand me everything currently on your person."

[empty thicket]

oh wait, that is a sentence, im tired...

[nova trellis]

Phantasmal Force, they imagine a giant lump in the back of their throat.

Like a snail sticking to the top of it and and it never goes down.

[mystic shuttle]

My sister said she wants to play “a magic elf” any ideas on what to recommend her?

[lyric idol]

High elf? Shadar Kai? Theres a lotta magic elves. Elves are magic in general.

[mystic shuttle]

That’s what I said but she kinda just wants me to give her a list of choices that is detailed but also simple. I said “there are lots of magic elves, elves are kinda just magic in general but there are these elves that are like based on the seasons and can teleport, they’re really cool” and she asked if she could be a winter elf

[lyric idol]

So an eladrin but shes winter the entire time.

[tired rampart]

probably just a high elf sorcerer or wizard if they want magic

if you use 2024 you get a few spells too

*from high elf species

[mystic shuttle]

Yeah, that was kinda my idea too, but I don’t want to just make that choice for her and she doesn’t want to be bombarded with information so I think I’ll make like a list or little pitch for all the options that I think might interest her

[hushed mason]

Radical idea: tell your sister that if she really wants to play, she should read through the basic rules on species and classes herself.

It's not your job to spoon feed her. Unless she's a kid. Is she a kid?

[mystic shuttle]

I basically just sent her all info on elves right before coming here and told her “shouldn’t be that much of a problem since you like reading” but I do doubt she’ll actually read any of it

[mystic shuttle]

Junior in high school

[hushed mason]

She's plenty capable of reading, then. If she doesn't, then she's not really interested in playing.

So... I welcomed two new players / introduced two new characters to my table today. I found them after posting here in #looking-for-players . They were great! Very pleased to get some great folks that enjoy / want to try 3.5.

[tired rampart]

i think this is good if it’s for a long term campaign, but if it’s just a one shot or you showing her dnd then she might not be up for reading all that and i think that’s fair.

[hushed mason]

I missed the one-shot part. Fair enough.

[mystic shuttle]

I just think it’s a lot of information for her and numbers she doesn’t understand. Maybe next time we play when she has some experience she’ll be more ready and able to do it herself

It’s meant to be like trying it out over winter break and if it goes well maybe we’ll expand on it.

[hollow stone]

is 3.5 still being printed?

[jagged vigil]

What do we generally think of illness and disease in our heroic adventure fantasy? Fighting in a bog and getting a nasty infection in the leg, a bad sickness going around a ship and having to race to shore before people start dying, hiking through the cold mountains and a PC's runny nose turns to fever. In my mind it's a pretty exciting drama and conflict, but as long as you have a paladin (or really any spellcaster with access to Lesser Restoration) it's kinda hard to sell

[hollow stone]

i mean it's lore accurate and good as a plot motivator (i.e. the BBEG is an illness and the objective is cure it or die) but in terms of actual mechanics i don't think it's like, very fun at all

[hushed mason]

lol, no.

[hollow stone]

yea i know well it's not getting any new content, i was just curious if the books still happen

[hushed mason]

Let's just say that the copyright owner is not vigorously defending their rights. By failing to do so, they've created an environment where it is easy to access all the materials.

[jagged vigil]

That's kinda the issue. Anything that represents the disease could debilitate one or more PCs, making them less able to participate in adventuring. In old school play this might be exciting and dreadful as you turn to run your retainers and hope you can heal your PC. In modern play? It kinda just leads to feeling out

[hushed mason]

In the last adventure module I ran, a city had been under a cloud of disease for two decades. It is an undead "plague" of sorts, spread by ghostly undead, that if contracted, turns the victim into another ghostly undead. It wouldn't have been very fun, but part of the adventure is collecting ingredients that work as a temporary vaccine against the plague. The party may return to the city to investigate the origins of the plague and try to put it to an end. That's an option for them to do if they choose.

(not in the adventure module, mind you, but I've worked something out).

Illness and disease have mechanical consequences in the edition I play. The party battled an otyugh today, and catching a disease from the thing was a major concern for the party members.

[jagged vigil]

I am about to run the end of a dungeon in a clearly disgusting sewer, then the PCs will be getting on a boat. I think a fun conflict on the boat could be the illness, and hoping not to be dead by the time they reach port. However...the party is all level 6 and have a Druid, Bard, and Paladin. Unless the disease is magic, it's kinda just a non-issue

[hollow stone]

i know a game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent where there's a segment about disease, but you just make a vaccine for it to secure you passage through the tunnels the infectious mold blocks

[mystic shuttle]

There are specific diseases in the rules and specific spells that make reference to disease both in giving it and in curing it so it makes sense that it would be a thing that can happen

I think it depends on how serve of a survival experience type thing you’re doing

[hushed mason]

It still uses up resources. And if they get attacked while on the boat, they may be in a specific penalties for fighting while ill.

[raw ocean]

I like the idea alot, as long as it isn't basically guaranteed death 90% of the time

We are not going down the Oregon trail route

[mystic shuttle]

And some healing spells wouldn’t be able to help depending on the stage of disease depending

[hushed mason]

In today's game, someone jumped down into the garbage/slop pit where the otyugh lived (after it was dead), and while they didn't risk catching a disease, they were sickened for 4d4 minutes afterwards, basically knocking them out of the next combat (which was ideal because the player had to leave early).

[raw ocean]

One of my current character's has weave sickness, basically magical cancer

Story wise he lives through digesting some material called Arcanite [condensed mana]

Pretty fun for story and roleplay

[hollow stone]

yea this is what makes diseas hard even as a plot point - yes the lore rate is basically rabies, but like, "you got the bubonic everyone died" is a really bad end to a campaign, so the actual threat of it is a little like, nonexistent

[raw ocean]

Only 2 diseases I would like are ones that don't negatively effect someone but puts a time limit on them so it helps with player urgency, while the second disease I like is just "You did something super stupid lol, you can be weakened for a week"

If I ever run a campaign, ill only give a truly life threatening disease if they do something like on, "are you sure?" levels

Like trying to seduce Talona, the mother of all plagues

or eating a zombie

[hollow stone]

i mean a cool concept would be one that corrodes the senses, like one that makes you hear and see things as it slowly takes hold over the mind to achieve its owns goals of whatever a sentient plague wants

[raw ocean]

Isen't that just the mindflayer worm

wait that's a parasite, not a disease

[hollow stone]

tbh i was thinking something like the cordyceps from The Last of Us

[hushed mason]

It also sounds like the time Mulder and Scully almost got eaten by a mushroom.

(Season 6, ep. 21)

[raw ocean]

Time for me to find another campaign, will it be a hit or miss, who knows?

[Online campaigns are genuinely a gamble]

[hushed mason]

They are. That's why I'm really happy the two folks that joined us today seem like quality peeps.

[raw ocean]

I hope that im considered a quality player, but most of the campaigns I get into just fizzle out

I genuinly shed a tear whenever I have to make a brand new character for every new campaign I join

It's sad but atleast I can make something new

[hushed mason]

I'm happy that I've been able to introduce new people rather than let the campaign fizzle out. We have good attendance.
I totally hear you on the making the new character and then... not getting to do anything with it because the campain dies or needs to die (so you don't stick around long)

[raw ocean]

It is quite sad seeing a DM get discouraged when multiple people leave

Not even their fault most of the time, they just see everyone leave and give up on finding new people

[hollow stone]

yea dms need to have like, a lot of determination to do what DMs do, it's impressive

[raw ocean]

Everyone in this server always says "If you have problems with your DM's way of doing things, tell them immediatly to their face."

I always feel so bad because 90% of the time they don't even know what they are doing

Although in the end you gotta do it

[hushed mason]

Really? In the last two games I left, I feel like that would have been unwelcome critique.

"I don't like that you made us wait 45 minutes for you to show up. Twice."

[hollow stone]

i mean that's just interpersonal skills tbh, that's just "hey if someone's behavior causes you emotional or psychological distress then the easiest thing to at all is tell them and hope they fix it/work out a solution"

[raw ocean]

Ok that's an immediate issue

[hushed mason]

In the other, it was combat without a map. It just doesn't work for me not to have a visual way of seeing the battlefield because there are so many mechanics involved with it.

[raw ocean]

Im talking about like stuff like “Hey man, you have to stop giving them so much leeway with their builds. You’ve got to understand that you’re the DM, and it’s just getting harder and harder for you to build encounters.”

Like stuff that dosen't seem directly as an issue until someone calls it out

[hushed mason]

Ah.

[raw ocean]

Some stuff should be called out instantly as you gave examples too.

I had one DM who had some mental health issues and was really anxious about how the players felt about his game. We also had one player who would constantly pull the ‘well, it says so in the rules, so I can do it’ card.

[hollow stone]

yea full TOTM just isn't a thing that's expectable a platformed person the for tbh, like seeing is being and if i can't see i can't be, right?

[raw ocean]

DM basically booted the dude from the campaign and said he can stay in the server, then the DM changed his mind and wanted to kick him from the server.

[hollow stone]

easier is words but when fighting being somewhere matters

[raw ocean]

Then dude sent a whole message about the DM acting like a child, leading to the whole campaign ending.

Sometimes stuff isn't just a simple "Fix this in your campaign", sadly.

And it gets 10X worth if your playing with pre-established family or friends

[mystic shuttle]

One of my players wants to be a reborn and I think that’s really cool, we’ve brain stormed cool ideas, but I don’t know if like, the “Undead Nature, doesn’t need to eat, doesn’t need to breath, resistance to poison and disease, doesn’t need to sleep instead enters a 4 hour motionless period” I don’t know if All of that together is quite fun or fair

[hushed mason]

Is Reborn a normal species considered to be on-par with other character races?

Is level adjustment a thing in Fifth Edition?

[raw ocean]

its essentially re-skinned warforged from what I know

Im currently playing one and it's not that bad for my DM, I assume

[mystic shuttle]

No, it’s like a secondary or even trimary species, it’s actually considered a lineage now by the new rules available to every species so they’d be like a human reborn fighter or an elf reborn sorcerer

[raw ocean]

So do you have an issue with a specific part of the race, or just the race itself?

[hushed mason]

Is a reborn human fighter equal to a normal human fighter in terms of fairness/balance?

[mystic shuttle]

Primarily just the quadruple stack “undead nature” thing seems I think

[humble cairn]

It's considered something that happened to your character that changed you entirely.

[raw ocean]

How are they stacking undead nature?

[humble cairn]

Reborn is basically as impactful as any other species.

[hushed mason]

Like a template.

[raw ocean]

Is everyone in the party running reborn?

[hollow stone]

no they mean undead nature is doing too many things to be one thing

[humble cairn]

Somewhat, but you lose basically almost every feature you get from your original species.

And you can just start a character as a Reborn of indeterminate origin.

[mystic shuttle]

Not really, they gain an additional proficiency at character creation and 60ft dark vision and don’t need to breath or eat or sleep and are resistant to disease and poison and are effected (very specifically) by the spell turn undead as like a weakness

[humble cairn]

Reborn are not undead by creature category. They are Humanoid.

[raw ocean]

Human but on life support

[humble cairn]

If they were to be republished I feel like they might get the undead tag, since post-'24 they seem to be more willing to use different creature tags. See Warforged getting the Construct tag.

[mystic shuttle]

Doesn’t matter, the rules very specifically describe how they are effected by the spell turn undead and how that works on you specifically

[humble cairn]

What? I just checked and this isn't true.

[raw ocean]

Most of the undead nature stuff isn't even that relevant other than the sleeping part, which elves have too if I remember?

Do they need to eat in this campaign or is that rule being ignored?

[woven flint]

They literally aren't effected by it because Reborn aren't full undead.

[mystic shuttle]

Newest description of them say they can chose to actually be classified as Humanoid Undead or Humanoid Construct and they are actually considered that secondary type as well

[humble cairn]

Where is this from?

[woven flint]

That's.. not the newest one

[jagged vigil]

Okay, Spirit Naga lair disease. I don't want the whole party to contract it, but I don't want one player to be singled out either. Those who touch the water must save against DC 17 or contract The Soulsiphen Poison, a magical disease that takes away WHO YOU ARE!

I want it to affect them once they're on the ship, so maybe a 5 day incubation period, and 5 days every time the disease escalates. I'm thinking the symptoms for the first stage are just brain fog, maybe Disadv. to INT, WIS, CHA Tests? Second stage a Bane effect on all Tests. Third a loss of spell slots, and if they can't cure it by then, they become under the effect of Feeblemind?

Using a Lay on Hands or similar Tier One magic immediately identifies it as a magical disease because the disease pushes back against the magic. As the disease starts to escalate and any party members continue to fail checks against it, they instead have to divert attention to rapidly heading to port, maybe a skill challenge of some sort?

[mystic shuttle]

I will go looking for it right now if I have to

[humble cairn]

This sounds like its' from a playtest, never officially published.

[hollow stone]

it'd be a little neat if Reborn was a background instead of a species, so then you can maintain a mechanical resemblance to what you were

[woven flint]

That's UA Reborn.
Unearthed Arcana isn't officially released material.

The 'Recent' release of Reborn is from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

[mystic shuttle]

My mistake

[woven flint]

It's alright, things happen, friend

Hopefully that saved you a bit of trouble there, though

[glass granite]

I greet the Kitty of Calamity and the Lord of Goofy

[woven flint]

Salutations, my most loyal nugget.

[hollow stone]

oh you got a nickname!!!

[glass granite]

Mhm!

I’ve actually been thinking of changing it to smt festive later today or tmr, then changing it back

[woven flint]

Funnily enough, the Tabaxi in my profile picture was very far from Chaotic despite taking inspiration from the Cheshire Cats design, he was just a very kind and optimistic Grave Cleric

[humble cairn]

I'm just sitting here waiting for a messenger to show up and pick up some documents to take to my lawyer who is handling my immigration stuff getting ignored and not greeted by Nugget.

[raw ocean]

Christmas is so close everyone

[mystic shuttle]

Is that the only difference between the two?

[woven flint]

I'm just an Icon, Ophid, what can I say?
(You're definitely a server Icon in my eyes)

[raw ocean]

My christmas wish is a good long-term campaign where everyone fits the same story wise and the DM dosen't go missing

[glass granite]

Hi just an icon, I’m Nugget

[woven flint]

Van Richten's Reborn doesn't get Dark Vision >:[

[glass granite]

And I agree, primarily cuz a lot of people here have been around longer than me, and Ophid is one of the more active members (at least lately).
So my definition of Icon might be skewed

[woven flint]

I'm just a bozo who tries to keep things at least a little lighthearted 🧐

[glass granite]

And I’m Nugget

[hollow stone]

nobody looked at me so idk if it's a hot take but i think with modern ASIs being Background, Reborn should be a Background too

[mystic shuttle]

I mean, atleast that doesn’t add to the problem of 9/10 people having it lmao

[raw ocean]

Nuh uh

[glass granite]

I disagree, it being a lineage fits

[hushed mason]

It sounds like something I wouldn't want to have to deal with as a DM, tbh.

[hollow stone]

but isn't it a thing that like, Reborn is something that happens to you?

[hushed mason]

(But I'm boring like that.)

[glass granite]

I don’t exactly see how coming back from the dead can affect what stats you have

[woven flint]

Then you'd have to look at
Hexblood and Dhampir as well

New Dhampir having already been released as its own thing it wouldn't make sense of Reborn and Hexblood weren't

[mystic shuttle]

Did they change what backgrounds do and how they work completely in 2024 rules?

[glass granite]

Hi boring like that, I’m Nugget

[humble cairn]

Easiest thing is to just treat it as its own species, which yuo can do. Then it's fine and perfectly balanced like any other species.

[glass granite]

Yup! Instead of using species for additional ASI’s at character creation, it’s from your background now

[mystic shuttle]

Weird

[humble cairn]

Yes, Backgrounds are now normalized to give you your initial ASI, Proficiencies, and an Origin Feat.

[raw ocean]

Firbolg is truly an underrated race

[woven flint]

Hey, Nugget!

You're going into the Tomb of Annihilation for your crimes.

[glass granite]

Ooooo! A nice holiday. Hope the folks there don’t have a bone to pick with me.

[craggy cairn]

🧍‍♂️ ngl I’ve always been curious about tomb of annihlation

[raw ocean]

I have wanted to play it for so long

[lyric idol]

Nah itll be a graveyard smash.

[glass granite]

Are you dead serious?

[woven flint]

I've always wonder why I refer to myself as a fey if they're my least favorite creature type 🤔

Maybe the self-loathing really is that deep

Perhaps I'm just whimsical that way

[lyric idol]

Gravely, serious...

[glass granite]

You refer to yourself as a fey? Are you that much of a trickster maybe?

[woven flint]

I like to think i'm charming...!

[humble cairn]

Why do you dislike that creature type?

[glass granite]

I see what you did there!

[woven flint]

It was unintentional

[woven flint]

I just don't like the vibes lol

Not anything real deep, but none of the fey monsters just... intetest me.. at all lol

[humble cairn]

How do you feel about real life Fae lore?

[woven flint]

My favorites are Constructs and Aberrations

[humble cairn]

Like most cultural inspiration, I feel like D&D only touches the shallower parts of actual Faerie.

[woven flint]

I'm neutral about it

Imma level with ya

I try not to let things outside of the game really effect what I enjoy inside it

[hollow stone]

see i have a thing where i got tired of worrying that people don't trust me, so i elected to simply never lie, and that has brought me to the realization that i am literally just playing by the same rulebook as the fae

[humble cairn]

I try to mix in actual lore when I can, it makes it more enjoyable for me. I do realize I have to make concessions for it being a game, though.

[lyric idol]

If I'm being real I get my fae lore from Harry Dresdin.

[woven flint]

I think wizards are pretty boring and not really cool as a person.

But, I love my Harengon Wizard because besides being a bit if a nerd, he doesn't feel like a typical Wizard, he's very sociable and gentle

[lyric idol]

Which I need to go back and read.

[humble cairn]

Oh yeah Jim Butcher has pretty nice Fae world building.

[lyric idol]

Yesss and it does put a nice little spin on a lot of other supernatural lore. Still have some common tropes and such but it still changes.

[hushed mason]

My fae lore comes from art songs.

Die Lorelei, Die Erlkonig....

[humble cairn]

I love having a nerd in the party to tell us knowledge stuff, you should show off Malaketh's immense intellect more!

[woven flint]

I've always found Fae..
Boring.
Fae, Fiends and Celestials are my least favorite dnd creatures

Aberrations, Elementals and Constructs are probably my top 3

Well..
Between Elementals and Monstrosities

[hollow stone]

i mean i know three things about the fae

• they don't get to say things that aren't true
• if they know your name then they own you i guess????
• bad guests get human trafficked

[lyric idol]

Meh a good story can put an amazing twist on fiends and fae. And kinda celestials. Fiends especially.

[humble cairn]

Fae are .. all surface. The appearance is the thing for Fae. But based on that they build up these huge elaborate schemes of names and titles. It's like if all those petty social hierarchy stuff mattered, because for them it does, in a very real and supernatural way.

[woven flint]

Hmm, I might start considering myself an Aberration from now on

An odd being /silly

[lyric idol]

Thats true. But theres a few fae I find interesting. Like Tue Wild Hunt perchance.

[craggy cairn]

👀 How Wild…

[hushed mason]

I think that Fifth edition has introduced a ton of new lore around Fey. Unless it came in with fourth...

[humble cairn]

They don't tend to lie, but they can spin the truth very well. They don't own you if they know your name, they can just do things very literally, meaning if they ask "May I have your name?" and yuo agree, they take it literally as in they own your name now. They steal babies and if you are rude to them it gives them power over you.

[woven flint]

Out of my top 3 disliked, I'd say I like Celestials the most, sadly very under utilized as enemies for most parties I've been in

[lyric idol]

I dont mind fiends though, because fiends come with the implication theyre gonna take as much as they can. If youre dealing or making a deal with a fiend, yknow what to expect and to cross your ts and dot your i's.

[craggy cairn]

Typically because most celestials are considered to be Good creatures

[humble cairn]

If you learn to play by their games of etiquette, they have to also treat you as a respected guest.

[craggy cairn]

Or at least Lawful

[hushed mason]

It's a good thing new names are free.

[woven flint]

I feel like my Disliking of
Fey, Fiends and Celestials comes from the predictability
You meet a Fiend, it's most likely Evil
You meet a Celestial, it's most likely good
You meet a Fey, it's most likely trying to mess with you.

[craggy cairn]

Send a giant frog to eat the fae

[hollow stone]

me? >~<

[humble cairn]

That's the one thing they probably don't understand about mortals. For them new names are not free. It's something they have to buy in some way.

[craggy cairn]

perhaps

Didn’t even know you were there. Hello

[lyric idol]

For me those type of fae are just fiends or demons with an extra step. Its only when you begin to consider the extra traditions of special bows and all that nonsense that they really distinguish themselves from fiends.

[woven flint]

The best phrog

[lyric idol]

I need to reread The Kingkiller Chronicles. Has Doors Of Stone released yet?

[humble cairn]

Fiends are trying to bargain with you to get something. Fae try to bargain with you because they are made of bargains.

[craggy cairn]

What about the Dark Powers one might find in Curse of Strahd? What do those count as?

[raw ocean]

I remember one time I rage baited a fiend into breaking the rules of a deal HE made, oh my god was that glorious

[humble cairn]

A deliberate mystery.

[craggy cairn]

Real

[humble cairn]

Probably the force of just deserts for beings who have become too evil and emo for reality.

[craggy cairn]

We’re getting close to the end of my Curse of Strahd game. Pretty much all of the party except for my Dragonborn turned evil because of the Dark Powers, but we plan on riding it out

[lavish flame]

They don't get a creature type cuz they're too spooky (and also cuz they aren't killable beings)

[glass granite]

But you Bebe frog, not giant frog

Bebe frog smol in comparison to beeg giant frog

[hushed mason]

Even giant frogs have bebes.

[hollow stone]

i am short...

[craggy cairn]

I have a solution

#dnd-minis message

Electric Blue Giant Toad

Colored like a poison dart frog for some reason

Very big fan of this guy, looking forward to using them in a campaign

[hushed mason]

Does it worship Tsathogga?

[craggy cairn]

It’s a giant toad, what do you think

I don’t know if it’s intelligent enough to be capable of worshipping unless magically attuned to a caster

(In the campaign this guy is intended for, they have a magic spell on them that makes them a normal-sized toad that can be turned off with a code word. Have yet to figure out the code word, but we’re getting there)

[hushed mason]

(My orc sorceress was turned into a toad once. She got better. Her plan, if she didn't get better, was for her raccoon familiar to eat her.)

[hollow stone]

i think it'd be deeply comical for toad curses to be entropic, as in they can't be fully reversed, but you can curse a toad into having a humanoid form, and thus you have the grung

[gaunt steeple]

hi

[glass granite]

Goooood morning afternoon evening, Wahzzup!

[craggy cairn]

Grim

[gaunt steeple]

hi, just hopped in this server to hang out

and maybe potentially needing some feedback

[hushed mason]

Hi hi

[frail epoch]

Good morning chat 👋

[craggy cairn]

Morning

[raw ocean]

It's 2:21AM for me and im procrastinating on putting my laundry away [currently all over my bed]

[humble cairn]

Oh you live in my old time zone!

Oh wait, no maybe one over because of Daylight Savings. Stupid Daylight Savings.

[raw ocean]

I actually live on planet gleep glorp, we have a different time system

We are studying this D&D thing so we can invade easier

[humble cairn]

That's ... the right thing to study, for sure.

[raw ocean]

You think this is a bad gig? You should see the dude studying twitter.

The last 5 twitter guys jumped into the hyper-bolic reactor

[marble lion]

Nice try alien. I know you guys already run twitter

[humble cairn]

Certainly full of memetic hazards, that platform.

[raw ocean]

But fr thought I was actually arguing with someone once and looked at their twitter account

I genuinely needed to bleach my eyes and I blocked them and left the server

[craggy cairn]

That bad? Damn

[raw ocean]

I would describe it, but I would instantly get banned from the server so it's probably time for another topic

100 goblins vs 100 kobolds, who wins?

[hollow stone]

twitter is a place where the same thought is bound around and off of itself, bouncing off and off again, until the original word dissolves into a new, incoherent shape.

[fair summit]

Goblins
Higher CR, more AC, hit points and range options, able to disengage and hide as a bonus action, and no weakness to sunlight so location makes no difference to them

Basically kobolds have nothing going for them in this matchup that sets them apart at all except pack tactics, if they manage to stay next to the goblins who can keep moving away by disengaging 😛

[meager lintel]

I need some help here real quick

Could someone help me come up with an idea for a lawful evil or neutral evil Circle of stars Druid? I think it sounds interesting in concept, but I don’t know how to execute it.

[scenic nexus]

Shadow Druid

They are a Druid Faction that is generally evil

[humble cairn]

"I'm so tired of all you fools ignoring my obvious wisdom, now I'm going to take Fate into my own hands. You'll all see ..."

[scenic nexus]

“Balance is a myth. Where any clan treads, nature struggles.
Unity is a fiction. Men of mere flesh seek only to tame beast and raze flora.
We are thunder, and we are rain. We shatter mankind, and grow new life in its place.”

[fair summit]

Sounds like a good question for #character-discussion 😎

[meager lintel]

Did not realize that existed. Thanks mate.🤘

[fiery nimbus]

Finally i have DnD next week

it's been too long

[lime compass]

How long has it been?

[fiery nimbus]

too long

probably like 3 months

[lime compass]

Wha- I play every weekend

[fiery nimbus]

I made myself a Neutral Evil character for this reasonably good campaign

[lime compass]

Interesting

[fiery nimbus]

Don't expect her to live long though, 10 AC baseline

[lime compass]

Although tbf we play over discord so it's easier

[lime compass]

Damn

Wait is there a channel for talking about character builds specifically?

[fiery nimbus]

#character-discussion

[lime compass]

Ty

[stiff jewel]

Does anyone here use Form-Fillable character sheets on a tablet?

[glass granite]

If we’re talking about making builds as strong as possible, #optimization might be better

[lime compass]

I was only going to waffle about how lwk broken i made my one shot character. I'll talk about it wherever is best suited for it

[golden nymph]

henloo

i was just invited by a friend to play DnD as he'll be DM for the first time, I only played once like in 2017 and I made the boring mistake of making a ranger lol

[glass granite]

Rangers are completely fine

[hot gate]

it's only a mistake if you don't like playing them, which is fair enough.

[golden nymph]

i found it so boring at the time

[fiery nimbus]

Rangers have the most powerful feature in the entire game the martial character can have
||Spellcasting ||

[glass granite]

Ah, fair enough

[golden nymph]

now i might be making another mistake which is getting a druid character

[glass granite]

How so?

[golden nymph]

dunno ive been looking into druids and everyone says theyre the most complicated class, i'll still go with it tho

[knotty pasture]

Its complicated because you aren't meant to use Wild Shape 24/7

[golden nymph]

a nice druid firbolg

[knotty pasture]

Its a sidegrade and using it effectively makes a good Druid

[golden nymph]

whats a sidegrade

[glass granite]

Druids aren’t the simplest class, tbf. But they’re not unlearnable, you got this.
And it means it’s not an upgrade or downgrade

[knotty pasture]

Something that has upsides and downsides

[fiery nimbus]

why not make a Warlock to summon demons

[knotty pasture]

You aren't meant to shapeshift into an animal and stay as one forever the moment you get access to it

[golden nymph]

makes sense, no i planned to stay most of the time as my original shape

[golden nymph]

never looked into warlocks though im not really into summoning things

[craggy cairn]

Undead focus warlock

Also summoning is.. eh, from a gameplay perspective

But it’s brilliant for roleplay if the summon is around

[fiery nimbus]

Warlock is the most flexible class, you can make them whatever you want them to be

[glass granite]

Can you make them unarmed fighters?

[craggy cairn]

Also, high charisma due to it being the spell cast modifier

[golden nymph]

i like the firbolg druid tbh

[knotty pasture]

Make sure to use Wild Shape sometimes too instead of not using it at all

[glass granite]

I like the idea of that too tbh

[knotty pasture]

Done correctly Druid is ridiculously tanky especially for a spellcaster

[craggy cairn]

I’ve scared several commoners with a shadow spawn summon hanging around and it always cracked me up

[lime compass]

Just double checking if a moderator could tell me. What are the rules here about promoting/talking about your own dnd servers?

[knotty pasture]

1/3 of Druid's kit is also summoning stuff btw

[golden nymph]

im still new i dont even own a set of dice, if the group doesnt have a spare set im gonna be rolling with my phone lol

[craggy cairn]

I’d say do it in #dnd-advertisements

[glass granite]

Not a mod, but that’s for #looking-for-community

[golden nymph]

i thought you had to choose between the becoming an animal druid or the summoning animals druid

[craggy cairn]

hmmmmm

[knotty pasture]

No all Druids can summon stuff and transform into an animal baseline

[glass granite]

Opeee

[golden nymph]

oh lol

[knotty pasture]

Just that different subclasses improve different aspects of Druid

[golden nymph]

the circles right?

[knotty pasture]

Yes

[craggy cairn]

Pretty sure moon circle Druid is most focused around wild shape

[glass granite]

For circles, namely moon Druids for wildshape and shepherd Druids for summons

[golden nymph]

i havent had my sesion 0 yet, im looking forward to it

[craggy cairn]

There’s also Spore druid

[glass granite]

That’s my fav

[craggy cairn]

Which is basically a buff/debuff monster from how I understand it

[knotty pasture]

No its summoning a zoo's worth of things to fight for you

[lime compass]

I personally like moon druid

[knotty pasture]

Also you have deceptively good melee and extremely tanky without needing to micromanage between Wild Shape forms

[glass granite]

Spore druid is one of my fav gish

[craggy cairn]

My warlock builds tend to be entirely focused around RP /utility spells and eldritch blast, so. Yeah, I tend to have very simple builds

Agonizing blast + repelling blast + lance of lethargy gaming

[golden nymph]

yea when looking at the circles i just decided moon of course, wanna sneak around i might aswell morph into a small spider or something, idk if you can do that

[glass granite]

The get away from me and stay away build

[craggy cairn]

You can use a familiar for that purpose!

[golden nymph]

i dont know what limits the animals you can transform into

besides the flying and swimming limitations

[glass granite]

?tag new Druid

[cosmic roost]

No tag Druid found in category new.

[craggy cairn]

Unsure if moon clerics can wildshape into small creatures, but I know familiars count and basically act as another set of eyes

[glass granite]

?tag new druid

[cosmic roost]

Druid

Channel nature magic to heal, shape-shift, and control the elements
Druids belong to ancient orders that call on the forces of nature. Harnessing the magic of animals, plants, and the four elements, Druids heal, transform into animals, and wield elemental destruction.

-# Suggested Standard Array assignment
Str. 8 Dex. 12 Con. 14 Int. 13 Wis. 15 Cha. 10

Likes: Nature
Complexity: High
Starting HP: 8 + Con. modifier

[golden nymph]

oh cool

[craggy cairn]

The familiar’s owner can sense what the familiar senses

[glass granite]

You can probably find the limitations here

[craggy cairn]

I’ve used this before with Catherine, my Dragonborn’s Imp familiar, to act as a drone operator

[golden nymph]

oop thanks, whats that DnD Beyond thing? is it like a wiki, or is beyond like a set of rules

[craggy cairn]

DnD Beyond is the official digital website for all things DnD.

[golden nymph]

ooh

[glass granite]

It’s a website that has rules, modules, a place to host games and a character creator

[raw ocean]

To this day I have never touched barbarian, I don’t know why

[craggy cairn]

Character sheets, books (which unfortunately are only specific to the online version when bought for some reason!) and campaign hosting. They also have a VTT

Aka a virtual tabletop

[glass granite]

It’s also the place the bot command on this server lead to

[craggy cairn]

Yes! There’s discord integrations with certain bots for DnD Beyond

[golden nymph]

that is paid content right?

[glass granite]

The books? Yes

[golden nymph]

not the character sheets?

[glass granite]

No, that’s free

[golden nymph]

will prolly need one since i dont wanna carry around a piece of paper

[craggy cairn]

Sheets are free to make, but you can only make so many at a time

[glass granite]

6 iirc

[golden nymph]

well thats 5 more than what i need lol

[craggy cairn]

And also you can only make characters that work with the materials you’ve bought

Basic Rules to start with, for example

[golden nymph]

oh

[craggy cairn]

I personally tend to make my characters with pen and paper and certain websites that unofficially store the rules for character building

[golden nymph]

seems like a firbolg isnt part of the supported species in the website

[glass granite]

It is, but you likely don’t have the book

[golden nymph]

oh lol

yeah i dont own anything dnd related

[craggy cairn]

As mentioned before, you need to own the content in one of the digital books to use it in DnD Beyond

[lime compass]

I used DnD Beyond to scroll through races but just google the race in question to see it's stats. Like for example I'd Google "Firbolg 5e"

[craggy cairn]

I personally dislike the fact that you don’t get a code with the physical copies to use for a digital like how Warhammer does it, but I’m not Wizards of the Coast so I can’t change it

[lime compass]

Same here. Which why I'm refusing to buy the online editions lol

[craggy cairn]

It’s also why I generally prefer pen and paper

[knotty pasture]

I wish there was a fillable excel sheet template that kind of replicates how dndbeyond works

[sinful creek]

there was one time my DM described an npc as a 'dwarven hunter'. We settled for both plausible options

[golden nymph]

oh hey theres a ready to go character sheet pdf thats autofillable as a first google result

very nice

[craggy cairn]

Nice

[golden nymph]

like it lets you type stuff in the boxes

[craggy cairn]

Anyway, uh. Are you playing 5E or 5.5E? (2014 vs 2024 rules)

[hot gate]

The official one lets you do that too. Not sure if it's the same as your result:
https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/br/ph/character-sheet.pdf

[lime compass]

Yeah there's a few character sheet pdfs. I offer my players the option to use whichever they prefer

[golden nymph]

my friend only said fifth edition... im assuming its the newer version

[craggy cairn]

Fair

[golden nymph]

is it too much difference between the two?

[craggy cairn]

There’s small changes, but they’re significant to a degree

[golden nymph]

its a different one but very similar

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/5E_CharacterSheet_Fillable.pdf

[hot gate]

Quite minor, but enough of a difference to lead to confusions if you try to mix them together.

[lime compass]

Ppl play either or?

[golden nymph]

im pretty sure its gonna be a bit of a homebrew mix with my friend, i havent asked him though

[hot gate]

People generally decide on a base ruleset at the very least.

[lime compass]

I lean 5e, but i allow things like 5.5e backgrounds etc

[golden nymph]

did 5c exist? i think i played 5c if it existed back then

[hot gate]

I use 2024 as a base ruleset and since it's backwards compatible allow any extended 2014 rules.

[lime compass]

Fair

[hot gate]

the "e" in 5e refers to "edition" haha

[golden nymph]

nevermind then lmao

[hot gate]

you might have played 0-4e before

[lime compass]

I just dislike how they removed stat bonuses from the races in 2024

[golden nymph]

it was around 2017, im not sure tbh

[hot gate]

there were lots of dnd editions before this current one (which started in 2014)

[golden nymph]

we had to continue playing online and with my parents home it wouldve been really awkward so i just stopped playing

[lime compass]

I play online. It's just easier to get ppl online for me than to play irl

[hot gate]

my dnd playing definitely increased a lot once I had moved out

[golden nymph]

yeah i'd have no problem with playing online at all lol

buuut having my parents overhear me roleplay as a nerd was a bit weird

[tough spear]

Hello

[scenic nexus]

Hey

[tough spear]

How you guys doing today

[golden nymph]

henlo forg

[tough spear]

Omg i literally haven't been able to get my party together in months and half the group are jobless and we all live 8 miles away from each other at most

[golden nymph]

lol

i work a few days a week but its night shift, tough stuff

[tough spear]

Funny enough the only people with a full time job is me and a night shift person and we both always make it

The rest are just lazy and constantly cancel the day of

The most annoying thing everrrr

Is it still child abuse if their character is a kid?

[craggy cairn]

The only absences I’ve had in groups besides my own (which is always for stupid reasons) is always valid

[tough spear]

Lucky

[craggy cairn]

For example, someone had to leave my curse of Strahd group because they had to work on a construction site in a whole other state

And I’ve been late to one session because I slept in of all things

[tough spear]

Yeah no my friends are just idk don't ever respond to me trying to schedule or just never show up the day of or say anything

[craggy cairn]

It can be rough

I’ve found that it depends on how the player thinks of their game

[lime compass]

I'm at work rn 😅. But it's so dead I'm planning next session

[lime compass]

Honestly discord is a god send

[upper lintel]

Is neverwinter nights 2 any good

[tough spear]

It got to a point that i just don't want to schedule anymore cause tell me why i have to text the gc, then text everyone individually, get a response from everyone(3-5 business days) send a reminder text in gc and dms at 3week notice, 1 week, 3 days and the day ahead

[craggy cairn]

One of the things that keeps me ready to go for any DnD session is the fact that my character plays a crucial role in the party. They would be missing that role fill if I wasn’t there, and a narrative hole would pop up if I wasn’t there as well. There’s a responsibility to show up, and that helps me make sure to show up early and ready

[tough spear]

Like it got to a point that we gotta do a roll call an hour before we're supposed to start and usually nobody responds so we don't do it even tho it was already scheduled

[craggy cairn]

If I ended up in a group like that I think I would be on the news

[tough spear]

Yeah except they all are my friends and my only friend group

Btw i'm not even the dm.....

[hot gate]

I've seen that with friend groups that try and move to D&D and it turns out they do want to hang out, but they're not into D&D as much as you are.

[tough spear]

No we all have been into d&d met cause of dnd for most of us and all love dnd

[craggy cairn]

This is going to sound stupid, but. Try finding an existing DnD group, even if they’re total strangers. I met a lot of new people in my Curse of Strahd game that started out as strangers, and they’re awesome

[tough spear]

They're all just spoiled men that still live with their parents and have no sense of responsibility

[lime compass]

With my group we play every Friday and Saturday night. We all need routine in our lives ir we all crumble so it works out

[tough spear]

Yep tried that, what it originally was actually, and slowly detoriated to this

[hot gate]

Yeah, if the game is always at the same time and regularly, it has worked out the best for me.

[lime compass]

Feel free to join my group if you like. Its a big ish table but idm that much

[tough spear]

I tried everything possible they all are just straight up lazy

[craggy cairn]

Can I spectate a session

[tough spear]

The laziest group i've ever been in

[lime compass]

Half of us have adhd or autism. So if you break the routine we are ruined.

[lime compass]

Uhhh can do

[tough spear]

I would love too but i have severe adhd and can't do online dnd

[hot gate]

the ttrpg hobby fr (lovingly)

[tough spear]

Lmfao everyone in my friend group has both or mix and couldn't care less

[craggy cairn]

Stupendous

[tough spear]

God idk what else to do with this group i'm thinking of quitting playing tbh

[lime compass]

Oh ok

[hot gate]

I've met some of my best friends by looking for new groups.

I'd look locally though, not online.

[lime compass]

I'll dm you the link to the server we use if you like

[tough spear]

Yeah i tried some in my area there is actual a whole place for that where mine usually plays

And the couple of times i tried people have been super weird about my age or me being a girl

:/

[craggy cairn]

Sounds great

[hot gate]

Ah that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that

[tough spear]

Idk why it's so hard to find a good group to play with

I thought all of my friends being super into dnd would be perfect

[verbal dagger]

yo where can i find games?

[hot gate]

For what it's worth, I had a similar experience with my first group. Eventually I had to move on.

[lime compass]

I play with my friend group

[hot gate]

Check out #find-a-game

[tough spear]

It's my 5th group😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

Been playing since 7th grade

[hot gate]

bruh

But yeah, sometimes it really takes a while. I would play as many one shots as you can and find the people you click with.

I would not commit to a campaign unless know the people.

[verbal dagger]

can anyone help me create my character?

[tough spear]

Maybe i'll try that before just quitting

[hot gate]

I'd recommend starting by going through the step by step here in the rules and afterwards to #dnd-newcomers for any questions you might have

[lime compass]

I lucked out with my school mates

[hot gate]

People have made the comparison that finding a good dnd group is a bit like dating. You're likely not going to just run into the perfect people and it takes some effort.
I didn't have a regular group until I was invited by someone I played a one shot with and have been playing with them ever since.

[timber turtle]

People play DND?

Aren't you supposed to just read lore alone and day dream the perfect DND group

[proud mural]

That's actually a good idea I might try that I've never been able to find a good group so I've never once finished a campaign 🫩

[hot gate]

I think that's what they called Advanced D&D

[knotty pasture]

Idk I thought dnd is brainstorming about dnd and making character sheets, only to throw it out of the window in a good ol game of bg3 or solasta

[lucid flax]

How are Critical Hits calculated

[halcyon forum]

you double all the dice that are part of that attack

[lucid flax]

Sick, thx

[stuck shuttle]

Certain features can add die that aren’t doubled, such as the Half-Orc’s savage attack, or the Piercer feat.

Such features will normally say that they add die to a critical hit specifically

[late igloo]

Hello! Is there a channel where I can ask for advice in roleplaying certain characters?

[pliant sapphire]

You have #character-discussion 🙂

[late igloo]

Thank you! I initally thought it's for character ideas and creation only. Good to know

[pliant sapphire]

It covers all topics related to character development

[ornate dew]

HI

[idle oar]

Welcome to the official D&D Discord server run by Wizards of the Coast!
If you're new to D&D generally, check out #learn-to-play and #dnd-newcomers
Otherwise check out #channel-guide to see our many channels for specific D&D topics.

[ornate dew]

Thank you, :3 I've been researching a bunch since me and my friend already started our campaign. I was just curious if a server like this existed

I just noticed I wrote secret 💔💔

[idle oar]

Well I'd hope we're not that secret since we're plastered all over D&D's website at DnDBeyond...

But yes we exist 😉

[ornate dew]

JSHDJD honestly I searched up DND discord and you guys were the first to pop up

[proud mural]

Heyo

[ornate dew]

And I'm glad! I'll probably come here to ask whatever questions or talk with everyone

[ornate dew]

Hru? :3

[proud mural]

Chillin I just joined a few hours ago to try and find people to play with bc I haven't played since like middle school lmao trying to set up a character and stuff rn

[idle oar]

If folks are looking for a D&D game to join, check out #find-a-game as it has useful tips and explains how to use our Looking For Game channels

[cosmic roost]

Ready to play Dungeons & Dragons?

Visit #find-a-game for everything you need to start your search, including:

• Instructions for finding a game here on the server (including how to post in our #looking-for channels).
• Suggestions for finding a game outside of this server.
• Basic advice to help you in your hunt.

[proud mural]

Will do thanks 🫡

[idle oar]

As a note we don't host games on our server

[ornate dew]

I just joined as well lmao, I was curious to see the community. I'll probably do the same as you once my campaign finishs. GL with your character!

[ornate dew]

Where do you host them? Js curious

[proud mural]

Thanks have fun with your campaign

[ornate dew]

Ty! :D

[proud mural]

Yup I figured I just wanna find friends in general to just run with it not just play with a group of random people once and never talk again tbh

[ornate dew]

I was wondering if it was wrong with me to build a whole adventure from scratch btw as my first time playing DND (my friend also is new and it's the two of us)

[ornate dew]

Real

[glass granite]

Yo sameeeee

[idle oar]

As we are run by Wizards of the Coast, the company who makes D&D (and Magic the Gathering), we don't host any games as we don't want to be formally responsible for other people's D&D games in that way...

[ornate dew]

I got so excited I just started writing and lowk I kinda based it off Minecraft 😭😭

[glass granite]

I started dnd as a DM of a campaign in a homebrew setting

[hot gate]

It's not wrong, you can do it, but I wouldn't personally recommend it since you're then effectively doing three hard things at the same time: DMing, worldbuilding and adventure design.

[glass granite]

Same, I wouldn’t recommend it either

[hot gate]

It's sort of like learning how to swim by jumping into the deep end

[proud mural]

I mean from what I understand the beauty of dnd is you can do whatever you want it's just not recommended if you wanna actually learn about like... standardized dnd

[ornate dew]

💔💔 I drew the map and world and wrote down the lore in three days lmao

[ornate dew]

But no matter how hard it is it's actually kinda fun ngl

[ornate dew]

I see I see makes sense

[hot gate]

Hey, try it out! I'm mainly saying that to give yourself some slack if it doesn't work perfectly the very first time.

[proud mural]

Sick, DM in the making lmao

[glass granite]

I’d say that’s the beauty of TTRPG’s as a whole more so, but yeah! Though, there are some things that other systems just do better than DnD.

[ornate dew]

Yeah, but honestly me and my friend are having lots of fun so we're happy :D

[hot gate]

Heck yeah

[glass granite]

Keep up the great work!

[ornate dew]

HEHSHS I love torturing her when she rolls bad

TY GUYS :D

[hot gate]

Making other people happy is 90% if why I DM, it's so satisfying.

[ornate dew]

FRR, I also like to lean onto like horror for a bit so it's just so funny seeing my player on edge lmao, I don't put her in a lot of combat situations though is it wrong?

[hot gate]

Not if it works for you. I've had 3 hour sessions without any combat that were really fun.

[glass granite]

Different tables have different styles, if it works for your table low combat is perfectly fine

[hot gate]

D&D happens to have quite a large focus on combat for a ttrpg, but plenty of great narratives come out of roleplaying too.

[ornate dew]

Yeah my last session was like 5 hours bc she was exploring the whole desert I made 😭

Honestly it's mostly bc i didn't understand the combat system at first because I thought the bonuses were like included in whatever you rolled for some reason but I learned it now

I saw a video of these ppl playing smthn called call of Cthulhu

[hot gate]

Oh, yeah that one works quite different than D&D, because you roll under the number on your sheet.

[lucid nest]

anyone else find worldbuilding for dnd boring?

[hot gate]

In D&D you always want to roll at or over a given target number.

[ornate dew]

Yeah I noticed that they also rolled with a 100

[hot gate]

yupyup

D100s do get used in D&D too, but only rarely. Mostly for random tables.

[ornate dew]

It can be boring sometimes 💔💔 that is if you're building for hours without break

[lucid nest]

I haven't even gotten past 5 minutes 🥀

[glass granite]

I don’t, it’s one of the parts I enjoy

[ornate dew]

Fr? I liked call of Cthulhu cuz it also had some sanity thingy and it was insane

[ornate dew]

HELEPP 😭😭 you can build off of something maybe, like inspired by smthn else. I made mine at first inspired by Minecraft and it gave me a kickstart on what I wanted

[hot gate]

Ah yeah that's a big part of that system. D&D also has an optional sanity mechanic, but it's not as fleshed out and integrated into the system due to being optional.

[ornate dew]

It's not very Minecraft rn so yuh

[ornate dew]

Call of Cthulhu looked so fun but I feel like it's better in groups maybe

[hot gate]

It's a big part of why I usually run prewritten stuff. Helps me have a foundation without needing to come up with everything myself.

[ornate dew]

NGL I'm pretty sure the only reason I was able to build my world was because I was daydreaming in class

[proud mural]

A lot of people do but that's why there's people who prefer playing over DMing and viceversa, everyone likes different things/roles, I think worldbuilding is extremely fun

[ornate dew]

Yeah it depends on the person

[hot gate]

But also worldbulding =/= Dming

They are two different albeit related skillsets.

[glass granite]

It’s just often DM’s do more-
Yup

[proud mural]

Well yeah but I figured it usually falls under one of the things DMs focus on am I wrong? I'm not saying that in a passive aggressive way lmao I'm sort of a noob

[ornate dew]

This just reminded me that I still didn't get my players backstory

[hot gate]

If anyone does it, it's usually the DM, sure. But my point was that the entire reason for prewritten adventures is so the DM does not have to be doing worldbuilding to run a game.

[proud mural]

Ahh yeah makes sense

[glass granite]

Which is likely a part of why I’ve never done a module

[proud mural]

I find the idea of modules too limiting, I DMd a module years ago and I was like scared of straying away from it so it felt really linear

But that's probably my own fault I envy good DMs who can balance it all perfectly lmao

[hot gate]

I also separate the two to emphasize how people may be making their own lives more difficult if they want to worldbuild + DM at the same time. It's a recipe for basically double the work.

And I also count adventure design separately, which is another skillset that can be learned.

Because if you have the world, you don't necessarily have an adventure yet.

[proud mural]

Yeah makes sense

[ornate dew]

Honestly this makes sense jsjs. It's hard to balance your time and building the world at the same. For me it's personally because I'm still in highschool and my exams start this thursday

[proud mural]

Finals after christmas? What are they even doing at schools nowadays 💀

[idle oar]

Please remember serevr rules folks and don't share persoanlly identifying information that could help identify you in real life here on our server

[ornate dew]

I have no clue, they're also giving us an one day mid week vacation for like.. ok bro I'll use it to schedule a session LMAO

[remote wadi]

You think Agent 47 would take the proficiency epic boon?

[idle oar]

Also don't post single character posts including of single character react/emojis/stickers as that can disrupt chat and cause issues for our blind/visually impaired users trying to follow a discussion with screenreaders/text to speech tools.

[ornate dew]

Oki mb

[idle oar]

Putting them in line with text is fine or adding it as a react to a post is fine

[remote wadi]

I mean, think of all the things the guy can do with almost no prep time and seems genuinely invested in

Fortune teller, painter, Shaman, chief winemaker, fashion model, real estate agent, celebrity tattoo artist, drummer

[safe zinc]

hello, is anyone availaible to review if my character sheet is done alright? i'm new to dnd and i'm unsure if anythings missing and so on.

[knotty basin]

Sure, post a link

[safe zinc]

could i instead post a pdf?

i sadly don't know how to do the link thingy.

[knotty basin]

No, files can’t be posted here

[tame forge]

Should do this in character discussion channel.

[safe zinc]

oh, my apologies.

[lethal chasm]

I made punch up accidentally, I'm a level 5 monk with 5 levels into fighter with the unarmed fighting style and the subclass champion. I'm also a halfling

[quaint oracle]

where do you play?

[severe rampart]

So it only strikes the weakest spot?

[quaint oracle]

like do you play online?

[lyric viper]

You can play D&D online, yep!

[quaint oracle]

where?

[lyric viper]

You can play in person at game shops or other public spaces, or rope together some friends to play at home, or you can play online through discord or VTTs (Virtual Table Tops).

[quaint oracle]

do you need voice chat for thet?

[lyric viper]

It's usually better to have voice chat, for speed and acting, but it's possible to play by text only.

[quaint oracle]

are you a dm?

[still burrow]

Hi Everyone, i really like playing DND and reach the point of buying stuff, can anyone recommend me random shit to buy to make my game session more enjoyable4 for a player?

I got the usual dice, character, dice tray but just need some ideas of things i can explore!

[lyric viper]

I am occasionally in my own group- if you're looking for a game, check out #find-a-game and look through the LFG channels. You may want to look out for 'text only' or 'PbP (play by post) games if you don't want to use voice.

[lyric viper]

For physical little gifts and things on the table: Nice dice bags, journal books, the books themselves, spellcards or item cards, minis, character art, more dice.

[lost flicker]

hey does anyone know of any good solo play books? i've been looking for something to help me brainstorm for adventures

[hot willow]

Maybe get some dice from Made By Wombat? He has some really cool dice.

[still burrow]

never heard of him leme check it out, payday is here for me so rn im at a lets cash out!

[eager marsh]

Did you mean a regular fantasy fiction book?

[lost flicker]

well if i'd meant that I would have said that now wouldn't I

[eager marsh]

Yea well that’s effectively what you’re asking for

[lost flicker]

there are- literal books that are filled with rolling tables and rules to run a simulated "dm-guided" adventure for solo play

[wet trail]

i love dnd

[lost flicker]

like- for forever DM's who want to play a PC for once, or someone who wants to flesh out their characters backstory

[eager marsh]

First I’m hearing of it. Playing literally by yourself just sounds….depressing

[lost flicker]

like for example, the solo adventurer's guide, i'm just asking if anyone has any more examples of books like that

[lost flicker]

you're allowed to have your opinion, it will not be registered, but you're allowed to have it

[lyric viper]

Solo TTRPGs are pretty common, and honestly very relaxing. D&D has some solo tools made by fans, but isn't the favoured one.

[eager marsh]

The not registered was unnecessary sass but you do you

[knotty basin]

So was calling it depressing

[lyric viper]

There are some older dungeon Magazine solo adventures, some D&D Choose your own adventure books, and I believe some fan made ones on DMsguild.

[eager marsh]

That wasn’t sass at all actually

[lost flicker]

life is so boring without a little unnecessary sass in all fairness but you're right I could have been nicer

okay lets cool it before this turns into a whole thing please

[eager marsh]

No we should definitely escalate until the server explodes. Would make my morning way more entertaining

[lyric viper]

Lets not 😛

[lost flicker]

now that's depressing

[eager marsh]

Damn

[lost flicker]

sorry 😔

[eager marsh]

Hm….my bus is missing

[knotty pasture]

Yknow as edgy as it sounds, I feel like if I were to make a self insert character, it'd be a Banite for sure

[lyric viper]

Unfortunately I'm not sure I can recommend any- I know I've stumbled upon forum threads and reddit posts on tools for solo D&D. AD&D honestly worked really well for it in some ways.

[knotty pasture]

For some reason I'm really sold on the idea of worshipping Bane because he's so damn cool

[severe rampart]

adding in, I think there are some websites that also provide the solo session thing, but I think you can only choose like 3 actions so it doesn't have much freedom

[lost flicker]

i've heard people suggest just like- using the PHB and Xanathar's / Tasha's, but i'm not sure how i'd use it beyond that,

only book i've heard of used explicitely for Solo Play has been the Solo Adventurer's Guide 1 and 2

or- wait no someone last night was talking about another one called Mythic

[eager marsh]

Ah…according to the app my bus was canceled despite the weather being fine. Fun

[eternal karma]

Are component pouches better than nonmagical spellcasting foci?

[lost flicker]

that- is an interesting question actually

[lyric viper]

I think this is the Toolkit I often hear folk talk about: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/252355/the-solo-adventurer-s-toolbox

[lost flicker]

8 years of dming and i'm not actually sure I can explain what the difference is

[lost flicker]

yesyes that's the one i'm talking about

[lyric viper]

Never used it myself, so this is more a 'This is something I know about' rather than a full recommendation.

[lost flicker]

link embed i'm calling mod abuse /j

[severe rampart]

as a newcomer to DnD I like to just listen or watch people talk about very complex things in it and not understand it until I actually get to experience it

[lyric viper]

Either works. I remember there being some very silly RAW at one point that made pouches better, but it's not really how the game actually plays.

Component Pouches allow for a lot more RP I feel.

[quaint oracle]

and how many dice of each do you need?

[lyric viper]

You can get by with a dice app, or 1 of each and just keep rolling the same dice if you need to.

[quaint oracle]

ok

[lyric viper]

You can also use 'bigger dice' to replace smaller ones. Like if you have a d8 but not a d4? Roll the d8 and halve the number.

[severe rampart]

what do you do with odd numbers

[lyric viper]

Round up.
1-2 = 1
3-4 =2 so on.

I have a bag of weird sided dice that rarely ever get used, but hey if we ever get the situation where we have 7 things to pick from and need to RNG it, don't you worry, I've got the perfect die.

[lost flicker]

any caster can use a pouch to explain away an explicit lack of a specific non-valued item- in particular it assumes that any items without a cost in currency required for spells are stored in special components, regardless of if you've explicitly stated having those items in your inventory to begin with

a spellcasting focus just blatantly forgoes non-costed material components, which I believe can also free up a hand for things like somatic components, but not every caster gets a spellcasting focus.. for example, a wizard, warlock, or sorcerer get arcane focuses, but a paladin or cleric would get a holy symbol, and a casting subclass for a normally non-casting class such as the eldritch knight fighter doesn't get access to an arcane focus, meaning it'd need a component pouch or to explicitely have the components on their person

[jovial shadow]

I haven't used physical dice since there has been software applications on the web, including D&D beyond

[eager marsh]

But pretty dice

[lost flicker]

I got a really nice set of Dispel Dice lately

but my dice tower is just too small for the D6 and its- annoying, always gets caught in their sideways

[crimson gulch]

I love using physical dice

[prisma mason]

I just looked why are they so expensive lol god danm

[lost flicker]

because they're gorgeous

[prisma mason]

They are very pretty tho

[lost flicker]

in particular I got the Messmer's Flame set

[lime compass]

I need more dice. I have 9 sets

[prisma mason]

I rlly like the heart of glass

[hot gate]

marketing

[prisma mason]

REAL

If I had to spend some big chunk of change on dice ngl I'd probably get a rlly nice metal set or something

[lime compass]

Honestly unless the dice were phenomenal I'm not spending anymore than like £15 on them

[crimson gulch]

Most of my dice sets have been under 10$ canadian and I got many for 3$

[prisma mason]

Yeah I'd probably be the same I'm looking at fennel and finch rn cuz they got like bone and stone stuff

[lime compass]

Oh nice

[prisma mason]

Actually has anyone ever encountered dice that are like dungeon themed?

Like stone brick style or something similar

[knotty basin]

All dice are dungeon themed if you make fun dungeons

[lost flicker]

how.. big are greatwyrm's

there's this art I find of a red one in fizban's that's so big one of its legs is in the background

and there's this art I found of a blue one where its head is massive but also desaturated like its entire body is in the background

[tidal bough]

Gargantuan but that can cover anything larger than that size

[empty thicket]

welp, imagine that if there were one in a map, doesnt matter how big the map is, you wont be seeing his full body.

and if you do, you are literally in a giant map.

[prisma mason]

I might do a mix of stone and bone dice I think that's be fun

[tired rampart]

i’ve seen stone style dice in a random pack

also undead/skeleton themed dice on some website somewhere

[crimson gulch]

one of my players has dice he spend like 300 bucks on made from fossile mammoth

[empty thicket]

Any advice for an intervention?
We are doing an intervention from using a cursed weapon to the paladin.
He got it and is powerful but its dangerous and have a gruesome trick that no one like it.

[fair summit]

Is this an in-character intervention, where the party is roleplaying, or is this a case of the players not liking the cursed weapon's effect?

Because if it's the latter, you should talk to the player and the DM about it, and the effect on the weapon not being something that's fun for the rest of the players

[empty thicket]

yes, its a roleplay intervention

[distant raft]

if i made a alchemist character would they use a weapon or just throw things like acid or fire bombs?

[empty thicket]

and the effects can be seen and even we commented about it.
The weapon have a special skill that if he gut himself and sacrifice half of his hp, he get a blood golem that mimmick his attacks.
The thing is, its too gruesome and each time the golem look more like him. More detailed.
The bard tried to use Heat metal on it and didnt worked so, that isnt another good hint.

He have his belly all marked with scars (he used the skill like 5 times already)

[tired rampart]

depends on your flavour of alchemist. you could always play a spellcaster but say your spells are potions and elixirs

[empty thicket]

Welp, the closest i can think off like this, is a Plague doctor from Darkest dungeon.
It throw bags and bottles with pestilence, i guess you can flavor some spells and stuff like the bombs.
Unless you want to go full deep and like, search a homebrew one, there must be one without doubt

[distant raft]

ahh ok so just run it past the DM first see if they allow that? that sound swhat i had in mind like a support type character but tinkering with ingrediants for potions

[knotty basin]

I think artificer has an alchemist subclass

[tired rampart]

yeah that could work

[distant raft]

I saw that but couldnt see anything explaining the play style

[empty thicket]

welp, you get spells in first feature, healing word and ray of sickness. You can flavor them like you threw a bag of healing components to your ally and a small bag of poison powder to your enemies.
You have access to alchemist supplies proficiency and other stuff, i think 2024 gave it more uses and made it better but that.
You can like, "change" (Flavor) the idea of some spells but dont modify their effects or how they work

And for making it easier, can use a Sling for throwing the stuff

[distant raft]

great ty mate:] out of interest if you actually threw a vial of acid for example would that count as a spell or does it have its own dmg and numbers?

[empty thicket]

Yes, it have his own stuff but think what i said before.
You can use "acid splash" and say you are using a vial of acid (even if you arent using a real vial, that is one of the problems i expected you to see, prices).

you can change the fantasy of many kind of spells,
Light being a bottle of components that when you shake them they give a strong light
Ray of frost, a lil pouch that have stuff that freeze
Etc. etc.

[distant raft]

thank you so much:]

[empty thicket]

Most stuff in the Arti list can be "fantasized" in other ways

[languid imp]

Does anybody play buldurs gate 3

[loud tendon]

sure.. we even have a whole channel dedicated to it #baldurs-gate-3-spoilers

[ivory holly]

Ahhh am so bored

[languid imp]

Hey thanks!!

[elfin bison]

My DM gave one of us 2 swords that can instantly kill an enemy

I'm not gonna meta so I'm not saying anything to the party, but I am very afraid of what the result of it will be (it turns an enemy into water)

[tidal bough]

Is it going to be one of those things where all the enemies are kept track of and placed into the final boss room?