dnd-discussion

[woven flint]

I support my teammates by killing things :>

[rose wedge]

But generally there's some classes that get slept on but they're all fine. I hear ranger might be the weakest but I don't know what 2024 updates did to them.

[oak grotto]

Yes, that's the whole point of DnD.

[deft mesa]

I’m sorry💔

[umbral girder]

The UA actually had a fun table explaining class groups which I wish was in the PHB.

Warriors with Fighters, Monk, Barbarian
Priests with Clerics, Paladins, Druid
Experts with Artificer, Bard, Ranger, and Rogue
Mages with Wizards, Warlock, Sorcerers

[woven flint]

It's okay!
D&D is indeed a very team focused games

[deft mesa]

Okay!

[jovial shadow]

I don't know if it is the whole point. D&D is not really a team thing, as much as it is Co-op. A difference with a distinction

[woven flint]

...
I mean..
Teams Cooperate

[umbral girder]

That is what Co-op means after all

[oak grotto]

Maybe don't start saying things that will confuse newbies. It's a game that you play with other people. Don't complicate things.

[woven flint]

I don't think its confusing
D&D at its base is a cooperation game
Between Players and Players and Dms

It's a social thing ya know?

[oak grotto]

Was talking to Lich.

[woven flint]

Oh lmao

[jovial shadow]

You shoud take your own advice and don't tell them things that's not true

[rose wedge]

Saying DnD isn't team but Coop is like saying a game isn't singleplayer but "not multiplayer"

Ah it's like that.

[empty thicket]

Welp, the idea is to have a team, at first they can cooperate but later became a whole team. What matter is the process and how you do it for me

[deft mesa]

That’s aura lowk

[jovial shadow]

Heck even Jeremy Crawford said pretty much same thing when he was telling that guy who usually interviews him that D&D isn't PvP it's Co-op. So if it is good enough for the former developer it's good enough for me

[rose wedge]

bro what lol.

[oak grotto]

Gonna be cautious and take Nealen's words to heart. No one talked about PvP and I am not going to bother to continue this.

[woven flint]

I'm the Lord of Goofy :<

[true turtle]

Lord of goofy type shit

[humble cairn]

Can you explain the difference between the two?

[oak grotto]

So uhhhhh what's your uhhhh... Looks at scribbles on hand. Shadow sorcerer character? If you have one.

[robust dragon]

This is really helpful. I'm DMing a group of 6. They have two of the first 3 groups and are missing real arcane casters.

[woven flint]

Thank you, friend 🧐
I think?

[empty thicket]

PvP its fine depending of the context, i had to grapple my Paladin that was cursed and pacify him without killing him.

[umbral girder]

The 2024 PHB Kinda has one.

It’s basically “what can replace a Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric” in the party

[unkempt roost]

DND is collaborative storytelling

[umbral girder]

Considering 3 out of 4 is just “Bard” it doesn’t do it well.

[unkempt roost]

Ad libs with more tools

[robust dragon]

I have a paladin a cursed sword of vengeance. The barbarian always messed with them and threw a carrot at them. I made them roll damage....

[robust dragon]

Facts

[empty thicket]

For now, i just only had to grapple. I was willing to use my punches only and ask if i can try a Knockout attack to him

[robust dragon]

My barbarian has a slightly faster speed and ran like a baby

[empty thicket]

Even whiling to throw my sword away so he wont have access to it if he knock me out

[woven flint]

Just make your own D&D server

With Blackjack.. and Illithids!

[robust dragon]

Counterpoint, but.

[true turtle]

:)

[remote wadi]

Does surprised go away after a hit? Or does it only go away after the surprise round?

[remote wadi]

Actually, forget the DnD server!

[robust dragon]

No surprise in 2024.

[remote wadi]

2014 rules

[jovial shadow]

There is surprise in 2024. It's different

[oak grotto]

Round.

[steady chasm]

They completely got rid of the surprised mechanic in 2024?

[robust dragon]

It set initiative for the round. So only lost after the round.

[woven flint]

Forget D&D, just kill people in real life and say you're questing
(For legal reasons, this is a joke)

[robust dragon]

Gives disadvantage on initiative

[rose wedge]

Good moment for the ptsd meme to post but noooooo

[steady chasm]

Ohhhh ok

[umbral girder]

It’s changed to Disadvantage on initiative for the surprised and Advantage for the Surprisers.

[empty thicket]

you can use Modify memory and surprise them again and again and again.
At some point giving them a heart attack is funnier

[woven flint]

Alas, 10 minutes of casting is 100 rounds of combat

[umbral girder]

Boss monsters can still get a an upper hand (because their modifiers are big) but you still get better odds to get them first

[steady chasm]

How far can you take modify memory?

[woven flint]

Not that far, honestly

[empty thicket]

10 minutes, but the idea is that

Modify after scaring them, repeat. Heart attack strat

[woven flint]

Far enough to be useful, but you're not doing insane government toppling things

[steady chasm]

I mean more like, could I modify their memory to make then forget their own identity?

[empty thicket]

Use it and if you have a druid that can change of animal shapes for more scaring extra points

[woven flint]

No, it's only the past 24 hours you can modify

[steady chasm]

Damn

[empty thicket]

that would be good for some stories, but sadly not

[steady chasm]

Was hoping to give someone amnesia

[woven flint]

Past 24 hours and an event no longer than 10 Minutes.

[empty thicket]

"Have an awkward moment with someone"
MODIFY MEMORY!!

[dusk stump]

yo gngs is there a channel for dm help and balacing

[empty thicket]

You took off your shoes and your sock have a hole and you feel shame to it?
MODIFY MEMORY!!

[woven flint]

#dm-discussion

[dusk stump]

looks like im in the right place

[jovial shadow]

You would think Grappling would give you advantage on your attacks, but you actually have to buy the Grappling Feat to do that.

[steady chasm]

That's annoying

[dusk stump]

yo can any help me?/ give ideas. for a boss i had in mind

[empty thicket]

yeah,what you have in mind?

[steady chasm]

I feel the grappling feat should help you grapple easier

[empty thicket]

no, you know what? MODIFY MEMORY!! RAAHHH!!!
Jk

[dusk stump]

can you vc?

[empty thicket]

Nope.

write it, take your time buddy

[woven flint]

Grappling already gives enemies disadvantage on Attack Rolls against everyone but you and reduces speed to 0, so..
I think having advantage on them as a feat is completely fair

[empty thicket]

we can all help, no one is going to send you 9th level magic missile to you

[lavish flame]

Undead or Fiend. Use some powerful version of them

At lower levels, you might use a Horned Devil or a Boneclaw

[jovial shadow]

Maybe, but they might have their own guys to fight or you might be alone

[empty thicket]

A tarraske that have magic crystals growing up on him, making him able to absorb elements, do thunderwaves and shatter around him and finally cast a fireball that will have the element of the spells it absorbed with absorb element

[woven flint]

Most grapplers rather be hit over their allies anyway imho

That's why you're grabbin' a dude lmao

[dusk stump]

have a party of 4 lv5. there suppose to go bounty hunting for twins named cinder and grail. i had a cool fight in mind. one is fire and one is ice. then like a second phase they meld together as a ice fire elemental. now all that sounds cool. i really dont know how to set up finding them

[stoic haven]

Which of the 2014 ocean or sea-based/flavored subclasses are best at DPR?

[jovial shadow]

Ice fire elemental. Half fire and half is ice. Once side White, the other side fire.

[oak grotto]

Isn't there only one?

[umbral girder]

Nature circle Druid and Fathomless warlock….. and I’m out of ideas

[oak grotto]

It's giving Todoroki from MHA.

[dusk stump]

yeah thats what i had in mind.

[dusk stump]

sadly

[empty thicket]

welp, if both are using such elements, following some path of destruction would be a way to maybe find them out.
In the bounty hunting there must be some info of the last area they were, settling a pattern on their actions so the party can hunt them.
The fire and ice would leave a path behind in one way or another, some trees on fire, some people made into a Popsicle, etc. etc.

can setting them up doing something bad in a village and the party intervene
can just make them just crash with each other in a path, would be funny
Can put them in some sort of hideout where they hide and ambush them

Or can settle a bait for them and the party ambush them

[coarse ravine]

Idk.... Just something about a dm role playing as a cactus... favorite spell speak with plants

[rose wedge]

I'll be getting that on my next level up just from being a Dispater tiefling. Can't wait.

[stoic haven]

Fathomless, Storm Herald Barb, Tempest Cleric, Swashbuckler, Storm sorc, coast druid,

[jovial shadow]

I haven't looked up Detect thoughts, is that the same as ESP?

[coarse ravine]

Yeah but that would ruin the balance... on a short rest you are getting those 5th level slots back. Im not

[rose wedge]

Gonna use detect thoughts on cooldown >:)

[empty thicket]

that is fair, so, its there any rogue in the chat¿?

[rose wedge]

Yes hello.

[empty thicket]

You are horrible in your work. i just found you

[rose wedge]

You're welcome for getting the party cash money.

[dusk stump]

ah that makes so much sense. good thinkinggggg. thanks bro. i prolly also need help balacing the second phase. first phase, cinder is elemental flavored as a human fighter with some spellcasting, grail is ice demon heavily nerf. (because theres not a ice elemental to my knowledge).

[rose wedge]

My team's paladin owes their splint mail to me.

[empty thicket]

na, its a joke i remembered
"its there any rogue in the room?"
Yes, there i am
"you arent too good inyour work buddy"

[rose wedge]

I get it. I'm just being a braggart. Alas, I failed to masquerade some hyena ears as gnoll ears. Coulda had a much bigger payday but rolled like, a 6 on deception T_T

[empty thicket]

can make it just 2 sorcerers that one cast mostly fire spells and anotehr ice spells

[rose wedge]

And I suspect the DM made that alchemist a hag or vampire or something so my level 4 rogue was like "maybe I shouldn't push this" and use my +6 to intimidation. I just took the cash and ran.

[empty thicket]

and give them some swords or smt

or make them use magic weapon and add element to their attacks or smt

Ice with higher AC but lower HP and fire with higher Hp but lower AC

[jovial shadow]

Ha! The answer should be, "check and see if your wallet is there"

[empty thicket]

I already action surged him and obliterated with 3 attacks of 6

[burnt cave]

i hunger for dnd…I haven’t had it…in 3 weeks…

[jovial shadow]

I wonder if a Monk can grapple someone and run across a river or chasm's wall, if they can drop the creature and keep going. As long as they don't stop.

[stoic haven]

Don't need an action to release a grapple I don't think

[stoic haven]

Oof, that sucks

[rose wedge]

My brother and I have this thing where we kinda lose the mood to play all videogames by like, Thursday. (Our sessions are on Saturdays) cos all we want to play by that point in the week is DnD.

[burnt cave]

🫠 imagine me the dm who: while I have been able to add and build more stuff for next session at the same time

[blissful ibex]

Ending a Grapple. A Grappled creature can use its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the grapple’s escape DC, ending the condition on itself on a success. The condition also ends if the grappler has the Incapacitated condition or if the distance between the Grappled target and the grappler exceeds the grapple’s range. In addition, the grappler can release the target at any time (no action required).

[rose wedge]

Thinking about putting some effort in finding a second game but my retail schedule makes that difficult.

[burnt cave]

I feel like spongebob when he first visited Sandy in the Treedome

I NEEEED IIIIIIIT

[empty thicket]

last session i got we had in the end the showing up of a boss, a demon that was the source of the curse in a sword that my paladin was using.

Next week we might have teh session for that, im about to go insane.

[burnt cave]

😭 That sounds so fn cool…

[stoic haven]

Ah, me trying to find the determination to actually make a new character after I retired my warlock and actually stay in one of my campaigns

[burnt cave]

MY BBEG WAS SUPPOSED TO SHOW UP 3 WEEKS AGO😭😭😭😭

[rose wedge]

My brain is a character generator. I have so many.

Probably gonna play my plague doctor (way of mercy monk) at some point.

[umbral girder]

Once when playing a Ranger I managed to teleport into the air to knock a bad guy prone so he fell out of the sky, then teleported to the ground to hit them as they landed (and so I don’t take fall damage)

[stoic haven]

I love D&D and character creation, just the motivation to make a character for this specific campaign is severely lacking

[empty thicket]

I have my action surge, strike of the giant and lucky points ready for just
Put me in front of it
Stare it and stand my ground like a mountain against it, if im not landing at least 12 damage per attack im not satiated
If i get any critic i swear to god im dropping him half HP in one turn.

[stoic haven]

I made wayyyyy too many characters over a summer, so now I feel like I've played them all, but also not

[rose wedge]

I'm not good at making sheets. I have no pages on any but the one I'm actively playing.

[burnt cave]

half of my party fears Sprigonia

The other half wants her dead as a door nail

And one of them is a mole for her

[rose wedge]

DnDBeyond is not helpful and I only have baseline stuff there.

[burnt cave]

SHE NEEDS TO SHOW UP BRO I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE

[empty thicket]

Im getting KO or leaving that Mf that made my paladin suffer half dead so my paladin give him the final blow

[burnt cave]

I wish you luck

Roll big for this humble goblin

[empty thicket]

Im going to show to my companions the max capacity of my character and why i wouldn't have to mind controlled.

[stoic haven]

Sadly, at the end of that summer my dad threw away my notebook with all my characters, because he deemed D&D satanic (it was very interesting)

[rose wedge]

I theorize my dad probably would have preferred DnD over our videogame hobby, cos he saw it as an addiction. Maybe DnD being more analog would have made more sense to him. But I needed friends and not to be as much of an introvert so that never happened.

Can't say much more about him without cussing and getting one minute bans so that's all I'm saying on that 😛

[molten umbra]

@sturdy niche In any case, I wish there was a real 5e thing for some of the older settings like they did with Ravenloft. Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, and Darksun. Something like that. What older setting would you like to be brought back for new?

[sturdy niche]

idk, i am just waiting and giving them time, there are dedicated enough fans that already have made 3rd party 5e adaptations of some of those popular old settings, so i am not gunna want wizards of the coast to rush it, as it will just lead to a subpar product, giving them time to decide to tack and get people on it that care about it to adapt/reimagine it for the modern 5e continuity, will lead to a better product than if we were to try to force them to give us a setting book just cuz we keep demanding it, after all 5e is not over yet, so still who knows how much time left to add or cover things

that said, i am rather interested in kara-tur, even adapted a few things a while back myself via homebrew, but would be nice to get official versions one day, especially for ease of use on things like dnd beyond

[sacred pilot]

Am I misremembering or did this discord not have a channel for buying and selling things?

[fair summit]

Well there's #dnd-advertisements for that sort of stuff, or #paid-looking-for-game for paid games, that's about it

[sacred pilot]

Thanks

[umbral girder]

“He died as he lived. On the floor.” Is an odd thing to say about fall damage. Fun session I had either way.

[unborn lotus]

Which do you guys prefer?
The dungeons or the dragons?

[fringe ledge]

Is ranger still have bad designs in 2024?

[unborn lotus]

It was never bad design, powergamers just like to complain about every tiny imbalance

But it is still probably the weakest martial, though it has had a lot of changes in 2024

I would say if you like Rangers you'll like 2024 ranger, it's bigger and better and has more cool stuff to do

If you didn't like 2014 Ranger the changes probably aren't enough to win you over

[umbral girder]

Tbh Ranger is a lot like Rogue and Bard, has some ok features but they excel at doing multiple roles at the same time

[glass granite]

Yeah. At least in 2024, rangers can do everything, but they don’t specialise in any one thing.

That being said, I wouldn’t call them weak. None of the 2024 classes really are

[fringe ledge]

I see, i just dk what to feel about them making the core class features pivot to Hunter’s Mark 🤣, im quite neutral with ranger 2014, tho it feel like a class you play when you are looking to play something specific

[limber trail]

I don't see it as all that different to making smite central to paladins

[fringe ledge]

Didn’t play paladin as much, so idk that 😢 i thought the smite was secondary and the aura and buff were primary

And divine smite seems unique to paladin, or maybe im wrong

[umbral girder]

The only core features changed to Hunter’s Mark is Favored Enemy

The other 2 Hunter’s Mark features are actually additions to levels that had No class features

And tbh Hunter’s Mark is waaay better than Favored Foe from Tasha’s

Wait I just remembered the Ranger Capstone is now a Hunter’s Mark buff

[fair summit]

Dungeons for they can have many things, even including dragons 😎

[fringe ledge]

Dragons, especially if dm say i can flirt with them

[fringe ledge]

Lv20 upgrade hunter’s mark dmg haha, but idk, feel like maybe you can have concentration on other spells on that level already, but again, play rarely passes level 13 🤣 so take my opinion like a grain of salt

[umbral girder]

Nah it’s still alright

D10 to all you attacks can do some wacky stuff with the right build and buffs

[warm summit]

I don't think capstone abilities matter much because most campaigns don't go on long enough for them to see much use if ever

[umbral girder]

Skill issue because I regularly have campaigns go there

In a few weeks I’ll have a dozen campaigns that reach those levels.

One shots are not included of course.

[warm summit]

I don't really think it's a skill issue, I think that's the experience of most people playing the game, you're almost certainly an outlier

[unborn lotus]

Didn't they decentralise smite a lil bit in 2024? I can't remember the differences anymore lol

[warm summit]

Even truer when you consider how popular multi classing is

[noble basin]

I think it's nice to have something to look forward to though

An actual good feature

[umbral girder]

Smites use a bonus action, divine is now a spell, and concentration has been removed from a lot of them.

They can still be triggered on a hit, and you get 1 free one

[unborn lotus]

I recall the capstone is pretty rough... a bit of a what were they thinking moment 😢 But a level 20 feature doesn't invalidate a whole multifaceted class

[glass granite]

It’s quite bad yeah
But I do agree, that shouldn’t take away from the whole class

[unborn lotus]

brag

[umbral girder]

It really isn’t that hard

[glass granite]

I personally haven’t had a game go anywhere near level 20

[unborn lotus]

Yeah making it a spell felt like it sort of separated it from Paladin a little bit... that might just be how my brain compartmentalises though
Is the spell optional? Or do you get it as a class feature.

[umbral girder]

I run loot and XP RAW in my games.

[umbral girder]

Class feature at level 2

[fringe ledge]

My game so far never reach the end bcs the dm will got hit hard by life and had to stop the campaign 🤣 currently learning how to be a dm and got a friend asking how is ranger in 2024, didn’t meant any offense to ranger 🙏

[umbral girder]

Yeah I been using XP leveling and my groups level up almost every session.

Except at levels 5-10 that is the slowest one.

[unborn lotus]

Yeah I had a 3 year fortnightly campaign from 1 - 8 lol
If you've played a million campaigns to 20 your DM is levelling you too fast... or you're a stranger things kid who plays 10 hours every weekend

[fringe ledge]

So far i read, its like Rogue Fighter and Druid decided to be a throuple and give birth to Hunter Mark. But i dont think thats a good answer hahaha

[unborn lotus]

If they players already keen then the balance doesn't really matter 😄
There's nothing so offensive in the 2024 PHB that I'd be like "don't use that"

[unborn lotus]

That's sort of it, but only in the sense that Paladin is Fighter and Cleric or Warlock is Wizard and Cleric 😛

[glass granite]

Find Traps

[unborn lotus]

It's a reductive way to view it, just think of it as it's own thing - it's the wilderness expert class I'm sure you can think of a million rangers from fiction

[umbral girder]

My players are about to make a million gold in a few sessions so that’s fun.

[unborn lotus]

And it has a bonus optional sub-flavour of being the animal master class - nothing else in D&D fills that niche

[umbral girder]

330,000 gold a session is amusing to reach as a milestone

[unborn lotus]

Have you given them a bastion yet? Or are you about to have 4 full platemail adventurers wielding magical muskets and bribing their way out of every situation

If your players are savvy too much gold is going to make balancing brutttally hard in the near future

[umbral girder]

Nah we aren’t using Bastions.

[umbral girder]

Not really because the monsters they face usually don’t care about the gold they have by being that powerful.

Like Tiamat can just say “I can kill you then take the gold”
Neither Vecna nor Kas will care. Bribes just aren’t as high of a problem.

[fringe ledge]

How do you guys do bastion for your players btw? Do you have it that they need to walk back and forth of their bastion? Or a magical door that can be summon everywhere and led to their personal bastion?

[umbral girder]

I haven’t really used them.

[leaden dock]

so, quick question, i’ve been playing D&D for a few years but i always played by the “#1 rule” which is apparently “make it up” so whenever a player took damage, i just kind of made it up, is there a way to make the players take damage but not fatally if they’re lvl 1-3?

[unborn lotus]

No but they can stock up on unlimited healing potions, the best in-game equipment and a thousand scrolls of fireball

[umbral girder]

Give them healing potions and time to short rest is all you need

[umbral girder]

Yeah and they need actions and bonus actions to use them.

And their damage/healing gets out paced very fast.

[unborn lotus]

There's rules for it - they obviously have to travel if they want to visit themselves, but they can manage a bastion remotely with commands and messages. (the game assumes this is done)

[umbral girder]

Also the shop keepers don’t haven unlimited potions in stock.

[unborn lotus]

The longer they're away the more likely bad stuff happens and I think it gets taken over if you dont visit for a certain period of time

[umbral girder]

And they don’t have infinite time to make scrolls either.

[leaden dock]

thanks guys, sometimes i forget about shops and just give them the potions in like chests or something 😭

[unborn lotus]

Try not making it up and use statblocks 🤣

There's a whole monster manual for this sort of thing

[hot gate]

Apart from arguing that the first rule should be "have fun", yes, sure, the whole reason monsters have different levels of CR is to give pcs of all levels a challenge. Once you understand CR you can either use existing monsters or orient yourself with this table:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wVK4t7fRTwjCXP-XLjG6sur8qLjGa9puFdpbtQXJQmo/edit?tab=t.0

[fringe ledge]

Oouh, this is interesting

[umbral girder]

Usually you can have 5-8 encounters in an adventuring day.

[leaden dock]

right but thing is, say there’s a lvl 1 elf or wtv, they usually have about ≈8 HP, if i make them fight a really easy monster like an orc or a goblin, there’s a chance that depending on what number i roll, the elf could die in one hit

[unborn lotus]

But also if you have a party wizard the bastion is ripe for a teleportation circle

[umbral girder]

D&D’s challenge is mainly attrition of resources after all

[unborn lotus]

It might even be one of the rooms you can add

[umbral girder]

Drain the potions they got, the spell slots, the hit dice, etc.

[bronze wave]

The party when they unlock the chest the holds an active nuke. Make a dex save dc300

[unborn lotus]

The bastion rules are a chapter in the 2024 Dungeon Master Guide 🙂

[leaden dock]

am i the only weirdo who refuses to play by the 2024 version and sticks with the 2014 version no matter what?

[fringe ledge]

Im planning a apocalypse style campaign, and kinda planning on making that all of the player share a bastion and the bastion is the “safe haven” scene for the apocalypse where they manage resources and npcs hahaha

[unborn lotus]

No lmao you're in the majority

[bronze wave]

I’m trying to bait my party rn to go into as much combat as they can before the big encounter. Theres like 2 mini encounters that I have along with a whole sweet mission before a 10 floor bank heist

I’m hoping they go after each one

[bronze wave]

There’s also 0 chance of any long rests

[hot gate]

Given that death saves exist, highly unlikely. You'd need to roll max crit damage on a very low con wizard for this to happen.

[bronze wave]

Nah but 2024 is better

[leaden dock]

i was hoping so 😮‍💨 i don’t wanna take the time to do allat new stuff

[unborn lotus]

And you keep good company, 2014 is a well made edition that could now be considered complete. It has excellent books from the vast majoirty of campaign settings, it's stood the test of time remaining relevant for 10 years.

[umbral girder]

Ambushes and traps are a thing to remember. Also you can cram 2 encounters by having a 2nd one show up as reinforcements near the end if the encounter is too short.

[hot gate]

There are certainly a loud minority of people with that opinion, sure.

[unborn lotus]

You should treasure your 2014 handbooks you can keep playing with them until you die

[hot gate]

And they're not wrong. Play what you like.

[unborn lotus]

But I like 2024 better 😎 I like the modern feel

And I think they fixed a lot

[fringe ledge]

Nope, 2024 is the minority. A lot of people seem adamant to 2014 and refuses to change to 2024 in my experience. My old dm refuses to play on my table when i say i want to be a dm bcs i plan on using 2024 versions

[leaden dock]

i think for my next campaign, i’ll have the final boss be me (the DM), but it’s like a big reveal at the end that their adventure isn’t real and that it’s all a game and to escape they gotta defeat me. omg i’m a genius

[unborn lotus]

And I really treasure my 2024 corebooks the art is so good - it's possibly the sexiest edition, 2024 is the edition I plan to keep playing well into the future, I don't know if Wizard could sell me on 6e yet... but we'll see how I feel in 10 years
Cult of the new

[leaden dock]

i actually (kind of) agree with this, all D&D art is impressive, couldn’t do it in a million years if i tried

[signal scroll]

Yo dose anyone know who this is destiny_997

[unborn lotus]

You can introduce this concept by standing up and punching the closest player in the face. Warn them the doors have been locked in advance and it's a puzzle or combat encounter to escape

[fringe ledge]

Same, i like 2024 bcs it feels more streamlined and non of the classes seems to be an outlier in its own category no matter how weak or strong it is.

[unborn lotus]

Then lay the smackdown

[leaden dock]

LMAOO my current campaign is me (the male DM) and 3 female players, i think id get 3 restraining orders and a bunch of bruises with that approach 😭

[ebon dome]

How is the terrasque's tail attack only able to hit one person

[unborn lotus]

Small tail

[fringe ledge]

Make it into a SAW game, they need to defeat bbeg and solve puzzle if not they die 😭

[leaden dock]

small tail energy lmao

[signal scroll]

I think they blocked me for some reason 🤔

[leaden dock]

i’m taking it all the way, we’re REALLY kidnapping them and putting them in a SAW trap for a D&D game

[lavish flame]

crunch not sweep

[unborn lotus]

Did you annoy them? I feel like if you've been blocked it's time to let it go rather than hunt for answers
Maybe you just said something that rubbed them the wrong way

[meager fractal]

I'm going to go roll some dice

[signal scroll]

Ya fair

[stark tundra]

I want checharones

[unborn lotus]

I hope you roll between 9 and 13 for every roll

[umbral girder]

Most people just get out of the way.

[leaden dock]

what a criminal

[stark tundra]

I hope you roll a nat 20 right before every season then never roll about 11

Above

[leaden dock]

you guys are worse than Dio Brando 😭

[stark tundra]

I can be worse

[signal scroll]

@leaden dock you know ball let go

[ebon dome]

For my next campaign there's a super powerful blood diamond they are supposed to get and for a one shot before the campaign they all make a character for a one shot at level 20 then the one shot will be at where the people are at the end of their journey to hide the diamond and on the last planet (space campaign) there's multiple very deadly enemies (three terasques and three liches who's phyactary will be said terasques) with their sole goal getting the diamond to a specific place so it's power isn't traceable and then im going to murder all of them then make them be under control of the blood diamond and have them be the final boss

[leaden dock]

wait why is that peak

[stark tundra]

I mean technically my campaigns boss is a philosopher stone

[leaden dock]

yall i should add the whole band of Avenged Sevenfold into my campaign. originally i was gonna say this as a joke… but they could use their instruments as weapons… IM A GENIUS PART II

[unborn lotus]

Hey I didn't wish him any bad rolls

[stark tundra]

I did

[unborn lotus]

can't scoff at a 13

[stark tundra]

😁

[leaden dock]

i think i’d RATHER get bad than mediocre 😭

[leaden dock]

“make a DC 14 saving throw”

13

scoff

[unborn lotus]

But modifiers
10 is generally enough to pass most of the things you have proficiency in and fail most of the things you don't

[ebon dome]

Dont forget the random +1 mod you put in there just because it would be funny

[unborn lotus]

The perfect roll

[bronze wave]

I think 13 is a solid roll

[stark tundra]

Anyone wanna hear about my campaign

[bronze wave]

Like if you have any modifiers that’s pretty good

[ebon dome]

I do i do

[bronze wave]

I’d say 11 and below is rough

[leaden dock]

anything above FIFTEEN is solid, 10-14 is alright 5-9 is you’re screwed and 1-4 is flip the table

[stark tundra]

It starts in a tavern but thing is your the food

[ebon dome]

Woahhh

[bronze wave]

1-4 is funny tho

[stark tundra]

I can't decide if giants or vampire

[ebon dome]

Rouge is a forgotten French fry

[bronze wave]

5-11 is just meh I guess

[unborn lotus]

You should head to #dm-world-building or #dm-discussion

[unborn lotus]

it's nasty, the chef spat in it

"This is the whole premise"

oh 'you're'
I get it

[stark tundra]

Yeah

[unborn lotus]

Giants is better because giants are awesome

[stark tundra]

I know the bbeg is basically gonna be senator armst

Armstrong

[ebon dome]

Giants are awesome

[unborn lotus]

also you can make use of Bigby's if you own it - that book is packed with cool things I never use

[stark tundra]

Nano machines son

[unborn lotus]

Though I'm kinda sad about all the old statblocks because they suck compared to the new monster manual 😭
Need to do a lot of cross referencing and redesigning to bring some of those books up to date

[woven flint]

Bigby?
More like
Midby

Just kidding, I really like Bigby, he's a silly lil guy

[lavish flame]

Bigby is, as of 5e, no longer big

[stark tundra]

Yeah

[fringe ledge]

Make a bbeg that have nothing special but one feature.. reverse AC

[lavish flame]

he's just by now

[woven flint]

I find it utterly hilarious the guy obsessed with giants was reincarnated as a Gnome

[stark tundra]

I mean thanks my players are gonna hate me now

[fringe ledge]

Wot 😭

[unborn lotus]

Bigby literally does nothing except be an occasionally mentioned name in older editions, I'm glad they made him insteresting lol

[fringe ledge]

So he’s, smallby now?

[woven flint]

Littleby

Calling Gnomes "Little" Or "Small" MUST be some sort of discrimination smhhh /joking

Gnomeby

[stark tundra]

I mean probably

[unborn lotus]

He got stepped on by a giant and mordenkainen reincarnated him

he came back as a gnome

[stark tundra]

I mean longer lived now

[unborn lotus]

Possibly the most famous gnome in D&D now?

[woven flint]

I think Mordekainen somehow manipulated it to happen that way, I can't prove it but I know his ass is guilty

[stark tundra]

Nah that's still gnomeo

[unborn lotus]

Is that racist? The most famous gnome was not raised a gnome? 🤔
#notlikerealgnomes

[stark tundra]

The most famous navi is a human

[unborn lotus]

gnomes need a representative who actually represents them

[fringe ledge]

In which book does this happen? 🤣 bigby got reincarnated to littleby

[stark tundra]

Avatar reference

[unborn lotus]

From D&D I meant

[unborn lotus]

It's in the lore of Bigby's Guide to Giants and also mentioned in the DMG Lore Glossary

[stark tundra]

Oh I know

[woven flint]

TECHNICALLY
Bigby was reincarnated as a gnome therefore he was reborn as gnome, therefore he was born as a gnome 🧐

checkmate

[stark tundra]

Remember when halflings were called hobbits

[unborn lotus]

A lot of D&D lore is mentioned in passing, it either happens on screen in a campaign or adventure (like Straad stuff) or it's in the sidebars of a guidebook

[unborn lotus]

I said raised on purpose

[warm summit]

Quiet the Tolkien estate will hear you

[unborn lotus]

We haven't had full on D&D novels since the 4e Forgotten Realms days

[woven flint]

who said a real gnome has to be raised by gnomes?
Smh. /teasing

[umbral girder]

What? We had a few last year.

[fringe ledge]

Most of my “book” come in form of foundry module, since that where I mostly played dnd. Couldn’t afford to buy physical book because its a rare thing in my region 😭 so probably missed or haven’t read that part yet

[unborn lotus]

Really?!

Maybe I'm just thinking of a specific series I don't follow that stuff at all

[stark tundra]

They have enough money from the silmarillion

[umbral girder]

The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons, the new Drizzt novel, Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd were all last year.

[fringe ledge]

Bro tease-playing with the whole chat 😳

[umbral girder]

Those are just the ones I know about for 2025

[tame forge]

Drow do a good job of this for dirty Svirfneblin.

[unborn lotus]

Do people play in the settings anymore? I remember people saying those books ruined D&D back in 4e because players were such Drizzt nerds they always knew more about Forgotten Realms than the DMs and expected a perfect replication of the setting 🤣

[woven flint]

Shhhh, stop!!!

[woven flint]

.... What?

[stark tundra]

Remember DND doesn't say much in lore so that way the player can make the game what it is that's the way of gygax

[umbral girder]

Ravenloft and Forgotten realms? Yeah they are likely the most commonly played settings in the game

[unborn lotus]

But you could also say BG3 is a major canon event

[umbral girder]

We just got a new Forgotten realms book pair 2 months ago

[unborn lotus]

Like Karlach is everywhere now

[umbral girder]

Like Source books type of books

[unborn lotus]

I meant specifically from the novels haha published Realms is pretty lore lite compared to the books

[fringe ledge]

They are right? Since wotc kinda go off future books with bg3?

[tame forge]

Drow make sure to keep the deep gnomes in their rightful place.

[stark tundra]

And the grey dwarfs

[umbral girder]

Yeah Drizzt had over a dozen novels after 4e for example

[stark tundra]

Remember drow are the nicest of the under dark races

[unborn lotus]

Yeah I'm suggesting it's status is equivalent to the reference and impact on the community Drizzt used to have

[woven flint]

That is an INSANE statement btw..

[umbral girder]

And both the Fallbacks books too

[tame forge]

Literally the single worst drow to disgrace an otherwise great race.

[unborn lotus]

Again I don't follow them I maybe just got my timeline mixed up. I swear WoTC locked down the lore majorly at one point

[woven flint]

Nathiira, I do want you to realize how you're saying things sounds very strongly 😭

[tame forge]

Look some people are the boot and others are the ones sniffling crying and bleeding beneath it... its just the way of the world. I Don't make the rules. I Just enforce them.

[unborn lotus]

And where we used to have uncontainable librarys of extra-game lore they are a bit more selective what what is released now

maybe I'm just thinking of Ed Greenwood leaving 😛

[warm summit]

Idk I was reading Svirfneblin lore earlier and they didn't seem evil, just not jovial and suspicious of outsiders cause they live in the underdark

[tame forge]

They aren't evil no.

Crafty little thieving shits though for sure.

[umbral girder]

Yeah we have 30 novels (not including comics or middle grade novels) since 2014

We got a Spelljammer book a couple years back too (I need to start that one)

Literally called “Spelljammer”

[woven flint]

I'm honestly baffled lmao

[umbral girder]

Tokii out here feeding the trolls today

[woven flint]

I'm sorry 😭😭

[tame forge]

Where is the love for Quenthil, or Danifae, upstanding honorable drow that everyone should look up to.

[azure jasper]

are you able to chain silvery barbs?
like if I try to charm someone and they succeed, I cast silvery barbs and they succeed again
can I make them roll a 3rd time?

[tame forge]

Praise be to the Yor'thae.

[woven flint]

No

[umbral girder]

No because it takes a reaction and you don’t have more than 1 reaction

[azure jasper]

kk, ty

[umbral girder]

Ooh there was a Dragonlance book in 2024? I need to get my hands on it.

[warm summit]

Saw a great meme about a DM threatening to let an enemy silvery barbs a players death save if they didn't stop abusing it

[noble basin]

I mean that's a valid use?

[umbral girder]

You could just stab the down person.

That’s 2 automatic failed death saves.

[noble basin]

Well this is at reaction speed not action

[woven flint]

Poor Jabal...

[pearl hedge]

that.. will work?

i mean like, yes?

[stoic haven]

Just ban it at that point, if it makes you that upset that the players are using a good spell and wanting to hurt that in play, just get rid of it

Not talking about "you", just mean the dm. Oh wait, it was a meme

[warm summit]

Was a meme, no clue if that actually happened or not but it's funny to remind the players it can happen to them I think

[woven flint]

Howdy, Frolic, welcome to the server :))

[warm summit]

Thanks!

[woven flint]

I'm just registering people as having never seen them before lmao

I typically just act like people have always been here

[warm summit]

Nope I am new! Joined last night. I don't play/run 5e but wanted a place to discuss tabletop outside of my niche with people who wouldn't be playing with me

[woven flint]

You should totally play and like, join us

Join us silly individuals

[warm summit]

Oh I've run and played 5e before I just moved on to other games

[meager fractal]

I rolled three twenties in a row just now. They did not alter much tho. This dm calls for too many checks imo

[tawdry hill]

Hey almost brand new here just trying to get more into dnd. I understand basic concepts and rules just looking for a direction

[warm summit]

Hope you have fun!

[cloud scarab]

Pffff 5e is old news. It's all about 2024 rules

[cloud scarab]

Welcome in! If you need any help with anything dont be afraid to ask any of us

[woven flint]

2024 is still 5e

[hot reef]

Check out #dnd-newcomers they have some good resources

[cloud scarab]

Whaaaaat? Nooooo that silly. 2024 rules make Ranger actually good so CLEARLY its different

[woven flint]

Ah, I see, jokes lmao

I will be blunt though,
Ranger was never BAD as a class, it held up viability as much as other classes, it was just poorly designed

I still feel like rangers lack a defined personality feel, but that's just my opinion

Making hunters mark their entire gimmick and thing lots of things play around it definitely wasn't helpful for interest factor for me 😭

[cloud scarab]

I made a Ranger and the DM let me have a flashbang hunter's mark as part of my backstory

I abused it quite a bit

[stark tundra]

Oh the amount of stuff I absurd because dms let me is nuts

A dm let me play scar from fmab basically I had a one shot grip only thing is I had to hold them in place for a minute

[warm summit]

Last 5e campaign I played my dm hated my circle of the moon druid so bad, he encouraged me to reclass to a genie warlock and lemme have a flying monkey familiar 🙈

[tame forge]

We are playing the Sandy Petersons cthulu mythos campaign. There is hella OP spells and abilities, yet we always feel sooo weak and scared because the enemies and things we have to deal with are also terrifying.

[stark tundra]

Oh yeah basically remember if you can do it so can the dm

[woven flint]

All my characters are fairly reasonable tbh lol

[stark tundra]

Fair enough

[tame forge]

100% plus we are already in a black book campaign.

Which is even more terrifying.

[stark tundra]

Black book forgive me never heard that expression

[random burrow]

hello

[tame forge]

Basically the black book is an expression for the "book" of dm monsters and tools that are wayyyyyy scarier and higher level than a party of whatever level should be facing.

Dm busts out the scary stuff cause PC's are too strong.

[stark tundra]

Oh I have one of those it's called the fafo file

[tame forge]

For instance we awakened a ghostly etherial terrasque on accident.

[harsh comet]

I can’t make a post again but anyone wanna join my dnd campaign I need at least 2 players more

[tame forge]

Not looking forward to that later.

[random burrow]

how often are you guys meeting and where ?

[tame forge]

Yeah FaFo file is same idea as black book.

[harsh comet]

Dm

[random burrow]

heard

[stark tundra]

I'll bite

[tame forge]

Details on game setting?

[harsh comet]

DMs

[tame forge]

Ohhhh im into that.

[tame forge]

No thanks would rather get a quick synopsis first. Before opening dm's

Otherwise im out.

I'm probably a bad fit anyway

[warm summit]

If the players die to a monster that's too strong for them that's on them, they should've had the sense to dip

[tame forge]

All fun and games until you realize the stuff we face can continually stalk us through our dreams and kill playes from the dreamlands.

[wanton wind]

Hey everyone!

[tame forge]

Escape isn't as clean or easy of an option as we would so desperately appreciate.

[tame forge]

Heyo

[stark tundra]

Hello hello

[wanton wind]

How you are

[wanton wind]

HIii

[stark tundra]

How goes it

[wanton wind]

Hope you’re all doing well

[tame forge]

Doing alr almost off work. Been working hard on my Ghoul PC.

[uncut niche]

i have a question about a spell i remember seeing, i think it was roughly level 6-8. you set a certain condition or activates whenever you are knocked out.

[warm summit]

Damn that's why my players keep disappearing

[tame forge]

xD

[hot gate]

You're probably thinking of Contingency

[tame forge]

Also ghost terrasque's are hard to run from.

We are lucky it didn't want to kill us specifically when we woke it.

[wanton wind]

Oh yeah, that’s Contingency—6th level. You set a trigger like getting knocked out and it auto-casts a stored spell.

[tame forge]

Store a summon greater demon spell... I will die... but I will make it EVERYBODIES problem.

[stark tundra]

Ah martyrdom

[rotund crystal]

Hey all is it possible someone could help me.
Im somewhat new to dnd and I want to be a dungeon master but im extremely overwhelmed.

So far what I have planned is
Players get kidnapped by some bandits they get thrown in a prison cell they have to escape. And they can go after the bandit leader through like a quest giver and the main bbeg is home brew which im thinking of making hades
And all of this for my players sake ima do it in minecraft so i kinda gotta build most if not all the stuff.
Can i have some advice or a hald please

[glass granite]

Why would hades want to mess with them?

[stark tundra]

Thanatos makes sense Hades doesn't

[glass granite]

Even Thanatos doesn’t make sense

What could the God of peaceful death want

[rotund crystal]

Hades is the god of the underground last i checked

[stark tundra]

More sense than Hades ya know god of death vs god of the dead

[rotund crystal]

Well the bbeg is up for debate

[glass granite]

Also, is this kidnapping during or after the start of the campaign

[stark tundra]

See yes he is that doesn't mean he is bad guy he's basically a paper pusher

[rotund crystal]

Before

[glass granite]

God of the Afterlife

[rotund crystal]

Ahh

[glass granite]

Then run that through the players and make them give them a reason why they’re captured

Else it’d be kinda weird

[rotund crystal]

Well what i was thinking is. The start of the campaign is in the dungeon.

[glass granite]

Prison starts are a classic

[stark tundra]

Agreed

[rotund crystal]

What would u recommend tho. Coz i am quite lost tbh

[hot gate]

You could over the Preparing a Session section in the rules to give yourself some structure:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024/the-basics#PreparingaSession

[warm summit]

I think making all of this in Minecraft is a lotta extra work you don't really need tbh

[glossy abyss]

Hey! When I did my first session of dnd I was a DM so I feel the worry 😂. I assume you mean that the sessions will be held in Minecraft to account for miniatures and stuff. Really cool concept! You seem to have a basic idea of the story, so what I would do is think of the theme you want it to be, rough and tough? Fantasy? Futuristic? Silly?

If you need it, my DMs are open!

[rotund crystal]

Yeah i think minecraft wize similarying it would help

And im planning of going with a medival theme

[woven flint]

What's more scary?
A Paladin and a Rogue that get along..
Or a Cleric and Warlock that get along?

[glass granite]

Former

[woven flint]

Because I've been the Paladin chill with the Rogue
And
The Cleric chill with the Warlock 💀

My characters aren't very biased, I've realized

[stark tundra]

A cleric and a warlock can have the same deity

[woven flint]

Warlocks don't NEED deities

[stark tundra]

I know

[woven flint]

Their Patron can be literally anything

[stark tundra]

Just anyone with power to give

Moth man

[woven flint]

My Cleric was a follower of Dol Arrah (A Deity of Twilight and Home and Hearth)
And the Warlock was associated with.. some fey I still don't completely know or understand? Lol

That Cleric was a Shifter though, so he's had his fair share of biases in life against him, so he wasn't one to judge

[glossy abyss]

A fighter and monk who dont get along but will really rely on each other in combat

[woven flint]

Oh, My Fighter is actually boyfriends with the Monk in his party lmao

They're.. super gay 😎

Dragonborn Fighter and Kobold Monk

[jovial badger]

if you get dnd beyond on your phone, theres a free book that involves different minecraft mobs if you want stat blocks

[jovial badger]

kobold monk is a funny combination

[woven flint]

He's a Shadow Monk
My fellas a Cavalier Fighter

They both fight incredibly differently but are very in love 😎

[jovial badger]

for monks i imagine strong uppercuts and beating up smaller ppl

and you got a like 3 foot kobold

[woven flint]

Oh, his monk uses a Scimitar

[coarse ravine]

Def headbutting kneecaps

[woven flint]

Lil Kobold Monk with a sword
And my Fighter uses Mauls, Maces and other Blunt-ish weapons lol

[jovial badger]

HHHAHHAHAA

funniest thing ive heard this week 🙂

[woven flint]

The bonkbold

[covert echo]

hey real quick is there a message length limit? i want to start a homebrew campaign but have some questions. i have prepared a message but its kinda a text wall

[warm summit]

Yeah discord has one, think they lowered it a couple years ago too

You also might wanna throw it into DM Discussion

[hot gate]

If you want to make a post in the lfg channels, I'd keep it short and sweet. You can still add more campaign context either in your own server or as a doc for the (potential) players to read.

[silk hare]

also #homebrew might be a good point to start

[covert echo]

okay i'll try there

[jovial badger]

bonk!

[gentle dune]

greetings

[willow spoke]

im making a dnd campaign very similar to how the youtuber magic the noah makes his google slideshow campaigns guys wish me luck on my project

[still plover]

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

[storm linden]

Can rogues, fighters and monks, use scrolls?

[charred timber]

Rogues and fighters

[storm linden]

And monks. Forgot to add that

[pliant sapphire]

Only Eldritch knight fighters, Arcane Trikster Rogues and Thief Rogues (At level 13)

[storm linden]

What if I had magic initiate feat?

[still plover]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/9229085-spell-scroll

If the spell is on your spell list, you can read the scroll and cast its spell without Material components. Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible.

[undone tendon]

Sorry for late reply, I'm fine. wbu?

[sharp acorn]

i’m fine too!!

[undone tendon]

I'm glad you are fine! how's your day is going?

[remote wadi]

...im listening

[night hedge]

Good morning

[brittle granite]

Yo guys I’m making a wizard character and I’m trying to know how many spells of each lvl I can have at lvl 7

I know I have 18 spells total but is there a limit on how many 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th lvl spells I can have?

[oak grotto]

You start with 6 spells in your arsenal at level 1 and each time you level up you get two more spells.

[oak grotto]

You can only choose 4th level spells once you reach level 7 so at most you'd only know 2.

[wanton wind]

There’s no limit per spell level in your spellbook. At level 7 you have 18 spells total, any mix of 1st–4th level as long as you could learn that level at the time.

[oak grotto]

If we're talking about putting spells in your spell after you start, the answer is different. Because then you can transcribe any and all 4th level spells you find on your adventures.

[night hedge]

Wizard character..wow

[wanton wind]

Right — once we’re talking about adding spells later, it changes. You can copy any 4th-level spells you find during play, as long as you can cast 4th-level spells and have the time/gold to transcribe them. There’s no cap on how many you can add that way.

[tame forge]

There is a specific feat for casting rituals iirc. Forget the name tho.

Ritualist or something probably.

[wanton wind]

It lets you learn and cast ritual spells from a ritual book (as long as they have the ritual tag), even if you’re not that class — but you can only cast them as rituals, not using spell slots.

[night hedge]

I’m really new to D&D and still learning how everything works. I don’t know much about spells yet, but I’m enjoying reading this discussion.

[tame forge]

I mean thats the point of getting rituals on a non spellcaster anyways.

[wanton wind]

Don’t worry about not knowing spells yet there are a lot of them, and even experienced players forget details all the time. As you play more, the rules and spell ideas start to click naturally. If anything sounds confusing, feel free to ask; D&D players usually love explaining things.

[tame forge]

Ag they were asking about scrolls not rituals so my response is irrelevant anyways.

To be far a lot of DM's throw away the rule of scrolls being class locked.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, exactly that’s the whole point. Rituals give non-casters useful utility magic without spell slots or being a full caster.

[tame forge]

Kinda defeats the purpose of them in the first place.

[marble lion]

Explaining is my hobby

[hot gate]

Yeah, I play mostly rules as written, but I don't like that particular restriction.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, fair enough if it was about scrolls, then rituals don’t really apply 😅
And yeah, a lot of DMs do ignore class-locking on scrolls, though once you do that they kind of just become “one-use spells” and lose some of their intended balance/identity.

[tame forge]

I def don't... Raw has it's place but there are soo many places where RAW makes completely 0 sense. Or is otherwise overly restrictive to creativity for no real reason.

In the end I don't DM 5e anyways so it's a moot point.

Or D&D at all. 4 years DM'ing now and wont touch D&D with a 20ft pole.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, that’s totally fair. RAW is a baseline, not a straightjacket. If a rule kills creativity or just doesn’t make sense at the table, bending or dropping it is usually the better call. As long as it’s consistent and everyone’s on board, that’s what really matters.

[tame forge]

Love it as a player tho. 🙂

[dim wasp]

what kind of barb r u

axe or axe n shield?

are u hammer barb or what?

[wanton wind]

Depends what you mean
In D&D terms, probably Path of the Totem Warrior or Zealot vibes.

[dim wasp]

uh but what about weaponry wise

a barb using an axe is gonna be funny AF to me

[tame forge]

To be fair as a villain player and monster MC enthusiast D&D and RAW are usually counterproductive as RAW isn't build for villain players and actively hinders it.

[wanton wind]

Weapon-wise?
Usually big two-hander (greataxe) for maximum smash. Shield is fine for tanking, but barbarians really shine when they lean into raw damage and rage.

[tame forge]

Grapple barb's are the best.

No need for weapons. just throttle your enemies like a man.

[wanton wind]

Agreed. RAW is built for PCs, not villains once you run monsters or villain PCs, it often gets in the way more than it helps.

[dim wasp]

if im a ranger im definitely carrying a hook around just for the sake of movement lol

just swing like a godamn monke weeeeee

idk what dnd players call it

[reef copper]

What you playing?

[wanton wind]

Absolutely. Pure hands, pure rage.
Why swing steel when you can just grab, slam, and never let go?

[dim wasp]

trauma

[tame forge]

I DM smaller TTRPG's typically Horror, body horror, and post apocalyptic.

My favorite is Heart: The City Beneath it is set underneath a Drow city. Deep in the earth is something called the Heart. Nobody knows exactly what it is but rumors say it can grant any wish or desire.

The world gets increasingly unstable and weird the closer to the heart you get. Tons of body horror, parasites, mutations, dark magic, insanity ETC.
It is very rules light and pushes creativity. Players can come up with their own spells and use their magic creatively.

There are rules for how to calculate damage and whatnot but beyond that a lot is very open ended.

Which is super fun to see different people's interpretation of magic.

[reef copper]

So no magic system?

[wanton wind]

That sounds awesome. Heart is perfect for body horror—rules-light, reality breaking, and player-made magic fits the tone way better than rigid systems.

[tame forge]

Yeah I tend to enjoy rules light systems the most.

10 Candles is an amazing one for new players. Basically players roll against the DM for rights to narrate a scene.

So everyone can be a mini DM

[reef copper]

I see

[tame forge]

Heart has a magic system for sure, but not anything like D&D.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, that’s a great example. Rules-light games like 10 Candles are perfect for new players—sharing narration makes everyone feel involved, and being a “mini-DM” really pulls people into the story.

[reef copper]

I see. So its basically how spiritual weapon can be anything that can move 30ft and hit a target

[tame forge]

Yeah exactly. That idea is kinda baked into the entire system though.

[reef copper]

Yeah, most weapons are defined mostly due to having a damage type

[worn lagoon]

Ritual caster/wizard is really cool if you want to flavor a sorcerer who has a formal education in arcane magic

[reef copper]

So fireball is a fireball and cant be a shock cloud or blade dance

[oak grotto]

Usually no. But there are ways to make that happen.

[tame forge]

Sort of, but even with flavoring 5e is very very rules heavy and ends up being very restrictive, more so than I am talking about.

[fringe ledge]

I love all of you, and thank you for being alive 🙏 ❤️

Now, can we level up dm?

[wanton wind]

Yeah, that’s the key difference. In 5e you can reflavor things, but you’re still boxed in by the spell’s shape, range, and mechanics. In systems like Heart, the fiction comes first and the rules just support it instead of fencing it in.

Also—Zid’s message is very wholesome 🖤

[oak grotto]

What do you mean?

[tame forge]

A fire mage could use something like fireball, spiritual weapon, summon familiar, or more,at level 1 start of game. kinda whatever you imagine.

[reef copper]

I can see why people would like a system like that. What my group does that is a similar but different solution to making different things with similar restrictions is to introduce more kinds of spells with a understanding that there are a lot more spells in world that in the rules

[hoary totem]

What does "aight bet" mean?

[fringe ledge]

Just a friendly banter joke, because usually player is suspiciously nice to the dm off the table when they want to ask for a level up

[hoary totem]

One of my friends was going to play an enchantment wizard because he wanted to play a wizard but with high charisma while the entire group casually forgot that sorcs cast with charisma. Yesterday he said he wanted to play a dragon. I suggested a draconic sorcerer and he just said aight bet

[oak grotto]

That's what the cool kids say when they actually want to say "alright, got it".

[tame forge]

It's really really cool seeing people really imagine up their own spells. Many many extremely creative and surprising uses I have seen.

Can be overwhelming for people at first though ESP D&D players ironically.

Usually people new to TTRPG's struggle less than vet D&D players.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, that’s very true. D&D trains people to think in menus and permissions, so total freedom can feel paralyzing at first. New TTRPG players don’t have that habit yet, so they often adapt faster and just go with the fiction.

[tame forge]

I am confused by this. Why ritual caster and wizard for a sorc?

[tame forge]

Yeah exactly. 🙂

[oak grotto]

It is however a very slippery slope whenever a new DnD player feels ambitious enough to delve into custom made races, classes and spells. It can only end in a catastrophe unless you're being guided by a highly experienced DM.

[wanton wind]

yess

[fringe ledge]

This. Whenever I run a table for new player, I now introduce them to daggerheart first before dnd. Especially if they aren’t a fan of reading too much.

And if they ask for something more defined, i’ll say, how about we try dnd then

[tame forge]

In D&D yes. In more rules light systems usually they are easier to balance no matter what someone wants to play.

[wanton wind]

That makes a lot of sense. Daggerheart is way more approachable—less reading, more vibes and storytelling. Starting there helps new players learn how to roleplay and think fiction-first before dealing with D&D’s heavier rules.

[tame forge]

I could make a custom monster in 10 mins that is balanced and comepletely thematic.

Or a character can say I wanna play a Undead, Spore Infected rat and I can get them a working race in 5min flat.

[oak grotto]

Yes, but we're talking about newbies here.

[oak grotto]

And in my experience most DnD games aren't extremely easy-going when it comes to rules.

[tame forge]

Correct.

[night hedge]

Thanks, that actually makes me feel a lot better 😅

[fringe ledge]

Plus, it easier to train them flavoring their characters with daggerheart, then move to a more rule-first game like dnd. Most of my new player that often have fun with their characters in dnd are those that i teach from daggerheart

[night hedge]

If you don’t mind me asking, what’s usually the easiest class for a first-time player?

[wanton wind]

I’m glad it helped
You’re doing totally fine, Violeta. Everyone starts somewhere, and there’s no “wrong” pace for learning this stuff.

[tame forge]

Not Wizard... aside from that tbh the best character for a 1st time player is the Character you imagine that sounds fun to play. A person you really want to experience living life as.

[wanton wind]

And yeah, Zid’s approach makes a lot of sense—starting with something like Daggerheart teaches you how to think in character and story first. Once that clicks, moving into a rules-heavy game like D&D feels way less intimidating.

[night hedge]

How did you learn when you first started—by playing or by reading the rules?

[tame forge]

Make a backstory and an idea first of your character that you really really want to play then decide on classes after.

[remote wadi]

Human Fighter

[fringe ledge]

Barbarian if you feeling martial, or Warlock (just pick anything with the word “Eldritch Blast” or “Cantrip” in its description, and you can be edgy as a plus)

[tame forge]

Playing 1st you need to know a bit about rules but that can all be explained at the table pretty quick.

Reading the PHB (players handbook) isnt a bad idea if you like to read.

[night hedge]

I like the idea of playing someone I’d actually enjoy being. I’m still a bit nervous about the rules though

[tame forge]

Can usually pick it up somewhat quick and most tables are happy to help.

[night hedge]

Cool way

[night hedge]

Wow

[tame forge]

What makes you nervous the most. Take a moment and think about it genuinely.

[oak grotto]

I would say that is incorrect. The race you choose doesn't complicate gameplay. You could be a firbolg fighter and it wouldn't be much different.

[night hedge]

I like the idea of Barbarian being simple.
Did you enjoy playing either of them?

[tame forge]

You seem cool. You alr if I shoot a DM? Would love a second head on some finalization ideas for a new char in my 4 year ongoing campaign.

[night hedge]

I would love to read those

[oak grotto]

I have also heard that rogues, monks and barbarians are good choices for beginners.

[night hedge]

Thanks to you as well

[tame forge]

You are thinking too deep about it. D&D will always come down to how much fun you have roleplaying and really being the character.

[night hedge]

Mostly not knowing the rules well and worrying I’ll mess things up for the group.

[oak grotto]

A good DnD group is patient and understanding.

[tame forge]

Spellcasters will always be more complicated to play than martial characters, because managing spells can be a lot.

However there are awesome spells and it's worth learning if you like magic.

Yeah any good group will take it slow and early levels things are pretty chill anyways.

[night hedge]

I tend to overthink rules, but you’re right..having fun with the character matters more.

[night hedge]

I’ll try to just lean into the character and have fun with it😅

[oak grotto]

Personally I enjoy spellcasters more than martial characters. But then again out of the beginner friendly classes the only one that I got a proper grasp on was the rogue.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, you can DM me, no problem—just a heads-up though, I’ve got a 2-day DM limit, so replies might be a bit slow.

[oak grotto]

What can I say? I have too many interesting spellcasters.

[oak grotto]

Never knew that was a thing. 🤔

[tame forge]

DM limit... like you were bad and discord blocked DM amounts? Or like kinda like a sending spell with a word limit I get 2 messages per day to send before you are out.... or like 2 days of talking then insta blacked and ghosted?

Rules unclear. Need a Jeremy Crawford tweet to clarify. Searching reddit now.

[tame forge]

Yeah I agree with this 100%

Magic is the way.

[oak grotto]

The fact that I have never played fighter in my life.

It's just more difficult for me to conjure things such as an interesting fighter or an interesting paladin.

[remote wadi]

Am I wrong?

[wanton wind]

LMAO, Nah nothing dramatic like that. I just mean my DMs are time limited, not quantity limited so we can talk normally, I just might go quiet for up to 2 days sometimes. No ghosting, no Discord jail, promise

[still plover]

I wince, my friend.

[night hedge]

Not really

[remote wadi]

Simple, but effective

[glass granite]

It’s so well known as a classic for a reason

[oak grotto]

It took me a long ass time to think up an interesting paladin concept. I have thought of paladin character that felt interesting to me but they ended up becoming uninteresting to me.

[oak grotto]

It's easy to come up with a character that is interesting. But a character that is interesting and that you want to play? That's not as easy for me.

[still plover]

Arrright, I guess I can get that. The game does have more limited love for the martial side.

[night hedge]

Yea

[oak grotto]

Like I have said being a human doesn't make things easier. You could be an elf, a firbolg or a tabaxi and it wouldn't affect you negatively.

[glass granite]

Human makes things easier in the sense that they don’t really have any features to keep track of

Which is to say, by a minuscule amount compared to a lot of others

[oak grotto]

Funnily enough it's easier for me to make rogues however.

[glass granite]

Ok maybe not minuscule, but it’s minor

[tame forge]

They are tasty too! So If I'm feeling a little peckish I might take a finger or 4... So I for sure encourage human allies.

[glass granite]

…
Stunning Strike, Grapple, shove prone, flurry of blows, get Tf away from me fingies

[still plover]

Perhaps a fighter not solely focused on battlefield prowess, then? Just a casual thought. I may poke at it myself.

[wanton wind]

will keep all fingers tucked safely away. See? Teamwork already paying off.

[oak grotto]

I do have a single fighter in my arsenal. A royal advisor and bastard prince from a foreign kingdom. But that's the only fighter character I have atm.

[wanton wind]

That honestly sounds like a great fighter concept though political baggage, royal drama, and martial skill all in one. Fighters really shine when they’ve got that kind of narrative weight behind them.

[oak grotto]

But yeah, I guess I don't usually enjoy playing characters who are just regular mercenaries and warriors.

[wanton wind]

Yeah, that makes sense. Fighters really come alive when they’ve got something extra going on politics, ideology, weird origins, personal stakes. “Just a merc” is fine, but it’s usually the story hooks that make the character fun to play.

[fringe ledge]

For funsies yes! Tho im more of a magic player hahaha

[oak grotto]

He's meant to be the whole package: charismatic, intelligent, wise and good in battle. However he's not meant for the throne which he is fine with. He is perfectly content acting as ambassador from his own country.

[wanton wind]

That actually sounds like a really solid, well rounded character.
Someone who could rule but actively chooses not to is way more interesting than someone chasing the throne. Being an ambassador fits perfectly charisma, wisdom, and combat skill all get to matter without forcing him into a crown he doesn’t want.

[oak grotto]

I also made him come from a Japanese inspired land because I wanted to try playing a character that wasn't Caucasian.

[wanton wind]

That’s a cool choice, honestly. Drawing from a Japanese inspired culture can add a lot of depth and perspective, especially if you lean into the values, aesthetics, and diplomacy side instead of stereotypes. It fits really well with the ambassador role too.

[marble lion]

Ok but samurai and ninjas are pretty cool too

[quartz hawk]

Oh yeah for sure they are

[oak grotto]

He's a young guy but I imagine he is usually the calm and collected kind of guy. Haven't put a lot of thought into his behavior.

[oak grotto]

I actually made him an archer.

[quartz hawk]

Dunno why but it's kind of reminding me of Hoshido from fire emblem

[oak grotto]

Afraid idk who that is.

[marble lion]

Archery is very on point

Though i prefer swords for sure, and kanabo

[marble lion]

Is it a calm and collected archer?

[oak grotto]

Samurai would have been very fitting for him. But I wanted him to be an archer.

[night hedge]

Great

[quartz hawk]

It's a place in fire emblem but there is archer characters from there 😭

[marble lion]

Samurai trained archery a lot

Ofc you dont need to make a samurai to make an archer

Just saying doing archery is completely in line with that too

[oak grotto]

But I don't want him to be a swordsman. 😅

[quartz hawk]

He doesn't have to be if you don't want him to

[wanton wind]

That totally works. Archery actually fits really well with that vibe calm, disciplined, precise, and diplomatic. Samurai archery is a thing, but you don’t need a sword at all for the concept to land. A composed archer-ambassador feels distinct and intentional, not a compromise.

[oak grotto]

And yes, I know that Samurai fighters don't need to fight with a sword. But I would rather give Samurai fighters a sword. Feels wrong to do otherwise.

I'm happy with him being a Battle Master.

[marble lion]

Yup all good

I was only filling a knowledge gap

[fringe ledge]

tho you dont need to think too hard on it. Just pick whatever ring to you. You'll come aorund to it sooner than you think

[oak grotto]

Idk what his reason for adventuring would be though. I suppose I would leave that up to the DM.

[fringe ledge]

samurai subclass and archery fighting style?

[fringe ledge]

My go-to no.1 backstory: Dead Wife/Husband.. Extra point if you have children

[oak grotto]

Like I have said I am happier with him being a Battle Master.

[night hedge]

I am sure and I will try

[oak grotto]

He is a bit young. And I already have a vengeful and angry widow.

[mossy steeple]

He had a midlife crisis in his previous job

[fringe ledge]

It doesnt need to be edgy like vengeance. Losing someone important to your character can be somwhat a healing journey going on an adventure, learning to let go

[mossy steeple]

Oh, he is young

[oak grotto]

Ehhhh, I already have a few characters who have lost important people.

[marble lion]

Proving yourself is always a good generic one

[mossy steeple]

His dog was killed

[marble lion]

Anything specific needs dm and campaign input

[oak grotto]

That might work best.

[fringe ledge]

A figther who cast out of his family for not being capable wnet on to a journey to prove himself. Always eager. His flaws can be that he always quick to jump into action and reckless

[oak grotto]

Of course. I'm not currently using him. He's just one of the characters I have in the back pocket.

[mossy steeple]

What would be flaws for a retired Lawyer that became an adventurer?

[oak grotto]

He's from a royal family and is loyally working as an ambassador from his country.

[tame forge]

My current character was separated from her sister, when she finally found her again she was dead.

So naturally sister is raised as an unfeeling uncaring undead, and I feed off her corpses memories to relive our lost childhood and learn of her secrets after our seperation (feature of the campaign specific ghoul race I am playing).

Deep emotional bonds are GOD tier storytelling.

Though I don't recommend everyone drag around the corpse of their long dead sister. Paladin players hate that shit for some reason.

[fringe ledge]

I have an artificer who loss his wife in an explosion he cause, unable to accept it, create a Steel Defender that mirror his wife, program it to have his wiffe memory and behavior, and start acting as if his wife is still alive. At first it was a joke bit, but every long rest where we have rp session, i would have him break character here and there hahha. Antonio Spark, or Tony Spark if you will

[oak grotto]

Fair enough. But I already have deeply emotional backstories. I don't want his story to be deeply emotional too.

[tame forge]

Yeah thats totally fair. \

Sorry missed earlier in the convo. Walked away for a sec.

[mossy steeple]

He was sent to retrieve a message/object, and the thing was stolen/lost

[oak grotto]

Could work.

[fringe ledge]

Gobline fighter that only speak one word

or one sentence

[mossy steeple]

I think my question went under the radar here

[oak grotto]

Anyway I might leave that up for the DM. I'm not using him in an upcoming campaign.

[mossy steeple]

Could work, but I would have him be an NPC

[fringe ledge]

Systematic, ALways feel like things should follow the plan?

[tame forge]

I thought playing an illusionist wizard and roleplaying the DM would be hilarious.

JUst make up some NPC that is on the scene and narrate it as the illusion does the thing.

Be completely unwilling to aknowledge or react to people realizing it is an illusion and narrating more.

Eventually with hallucinatory terrrain, miraje arcane, and more you could LITERALLYjust DM the game. On a whim.

[worn lagoon]

I would allow this

But only if it's executed funnily enough

[mossy steeple]

True. I was also thinking about diplomatic and dragging out conflicts/being unable to conclude a conflict without long investigation

[tame forge]

Riiight?

[stark bay]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to the game, played only two times, and I came up with a new character Idea, but I still don't understand the difference between Background Feature and Background Characteristics, when creating custom background. Can someone quickly explain it to me? It's just my character is kinda both of Haunted One (he's not a literal ghost, but it is still pretty much related to him) and Noble. And I can't choose which option where should I put.

[worn lagoon]

I allow rule of funny on my table. Which is if it is funny and not disruptive, anything goes.

[oak grotto]

Right now I am playing a plump loxodon sorceress who was stuck in the Astral Plane for three years and a shadar-kai wizard with a comical lack of common sense. And I will maybe be using my selfish gold digger warlock this Sunday on a new campaign.

[tame forge]

Background characteristics don't do anything except help you imagine the character and how to roleplay them.

[fringe ledge]

Always think twice before doing things and hesistant iff things went haywire(and its dnd, things always go haywire). COuld be a good rp opputunity and have growth

[tame forge]

Background feature is relevant to your actual backstory and gives real in game perks.

[stark bay]

Ohhh. And features?

[stark bay]

Thanks

[stark bay]

Basically I'm creating a lvl 6 wicked Vampire Noble Sorcerer.

[tame forge]

Oh hellll yeah brother. Welcome to the dark side!!!

[worn lagoon]

E.g. my noble gets history and persuasion proficiency from his upbringing alone

[tame forge]

Thats my kind of mans right there ladies and gents.

[stark bay]

Yeah lvl 6 for a new character might be OP, but the character stole reference from is also pretty much OP

[tame forge]

Just depends on the campaign you join. DM decides what level u start.

[worn lagoon]

It depends on the game. I told my players to make lv7 character sheets. Except the kobold, who started at 5 for story reasons.

He caught up at lv8, also for story reasons.

[stark bay]

Can you guess what character have I stole for D&D? (Hint: he's from a movie.)

[worn lagoon]

Yeah

[shell crown]

Hey everyone. Just wondering, how many arcane focus can a wizard carry? And can they attach more than one to a single item?

[fringe ledge]

Mavis from Hotel Transylvania?

[stark bay]

*He

[shell crown]

Alucard

[fringe ledge]

Alucard

[severe rampart]

is it Alucard

[tame forge]

I did that once. Played my child slave after my PC died and the group just kinda kept her. THough they accidently killed me and my brother the other child slave. They got me revived by a cultist with an eldritch ritual buuuut my brother was a gonner. That was some trauma. Started low level and miniscule HP for a bit.

[shell crown]

Wait movie...

[tame forge]

^

[marble lion]

Its mckarthy from the road obviously

[worn lagoon]

"Played my child slave after my pc died" was a shocking sentence lolll

[stark bay]

Nope. Movie, not anime, not even a cartoon, I'd say film

[fringe ledge]

i dont think there is any limit on how much AF you can carry, but i dont also think there any reason mechanically to do so. Of course, if it was a flavor stuff then its a diff matter

[severe rampart]

OH The Wizard whispering things in his mind?

[shell crown]

Nosferatu final answer

[stark bay]

Bruh, no. Nice guess tho

[tame forge]

Drow's gotta Drow.... Was going to treat her well enough... and train her to be an assassin.

[severe rampart]

Obviously it's Dracula from hit movie Hotel Transylvania

[worn lagoon]

Directly projects 3 levels of bard spells into your mind via some forgotten, higher-level equivalent of modify memory

[tame forge]

My drow was a wizard though soo

[fringe ledge]

Its the granfather duhhh

[tame forge]

Pop goes the wizard lol

[severe rampart]

OH so that's why Gan only casted Mage Hand at the tunnel 😭

[worn lagoon]

I don't think eldritch blast would've saved him from that creature

[tame forge]

I made demon friends in the underdark but they lured me deeper in and ambushed us with a whole group of the lil shits.

[severe rampart]

John I am so grateful that you took me into your campaign because the campaign I'm also in is very different from yours 😭

[worn lagoon]

...in a good way, right?

[severe rampart]

...

[stark bay]

Absolutely yes, but I'm making the 2024th film adaptation specifically. For the sake of the Eastern European cultural ambiance. (Since I'm from there myself, and his new image really suits the style of the characters I create. My previous character was literally a bandura-playing bard named Dorofiy Strynenko, inspired of Ukrainian and Polish cultures.)

[worn lagoon]

Right?

[stark bay]

Nuh uh

[severe rampart]

They skinned and took the head of several goblins.

[oak grotto]

A spellcaster can carry as many focuses as they want. They don't benefit from it though.

[fringe ledge]

Oh My, John please take me next into your campaign. 🙏

[worn lagoon]

Be real, you want to do this to that poor unpaid intern kobold

[tame forge]

So I can confirm... when dealing with demons.... use force, bind their will, break them, chain them, abuse them, and turn them on someone else. they aint yo buddies, but they can be used!

[severe rampart]

OKAY, also it was... a little bit less quality than yours

[shell crown]

Aw...

[tame forge]

[worn lagoon]

HAHAHAHA, I WON, IN THEIR FACE

[fringe ledge]

Teach me your way, John DnD 🙇

[shell crown]

Don't hate me for only knowing Nosferatu because of SpongeBob....

[oak grotto]

Idk why you would want to cheese the game by abusing the system though. The fun part is the challenge.

[severe rampart]

The DM didn't read character sheets ahead of time, nor did he set up the VTT, so I'm pretty sure he was improvising

[slate hedge]

I need to start playing DND

[worn lagoon]

Also, for reasons you don't get to know for a while, I need a tongue twister from your language

[marble lion]

Well at least you know the og then

[slate hedge]

But problem is I have no one to play in my country

[severe rampart]

I'll DM it to you

[marble lion]

Play online

[slate hedge]

Since DND isn’t popular where I live

[slate hedge]

Too boringg + my internet is bad

[worn lagoon]

That's pretty normal, it isn't localized everywhere. Online is the main option.

[marble lion]

Fair

[fringe ledge]

hey, same. i mostly play with a group with 13 hours time diffrences online

[indigo turtle]

I get it bro 🙏

[stark bay]

No Problem, I didn't know shi about him myself, until I saw what a peak design they made for him in the new movie.

[slate hedge]

Egypt is different lowkey

[indigo turtle]

Literally I bought all the stuff to play in a campaign or a game and never got to play it because of the fact that I never found a party

[stark bay]

It's a pity I can't even send gifs here bruh

[indigo turtle]

So I have the rule book, book of monsters and all the die that are just collecting dust 😭

[worn lagoon]

Is egyptian internet good enough for VC? That's really the bare minimum to join online DND

[slate hedge]

Idek where to buy the stuff

[fringe ledge]

Took up the mantle of a forever dm and trick your friend into playing by saying "lets have a board game night"

[indigo turtle]

Damn bro

Do yall know if there are any party’s looking for players that are more open to new ones like me cuz im highkey tryna start playing online

[oak grotto]

Online shopping?

[indigo turtle]

I’m intimidated by the looking for players channel 😭

[fringe ledge]

I just saw notif about something eating a gif hgahha

[severe rampart]

#looking-for-players

[severe rampart]

Gotta step out of that comfort zone to really play!

[indigo turtle]

True

[remote wadi]

Is it bad that I want to be in a campaign with a "Run like H E double hockey stick" moment?

[indigo turtle]

But yeah I’m hoping I can play in a campaign soon lol I want to get into something other than drumming

[fringe ledge]

feels like reading matpat script

[loud tendon]

no.. not all encounters go well.. not every creature a party meets is easily defeatable. Sometimes you have to retreat and come back at a higher level or with a stronger strategy.

or the party accidentally picks a fight bigger than they could ever handle..

[severe rampart]

We would've done that if the barbarian hadn't tried to break the legs of the goblin queen.

[remote wadi]

No, not like "We're picking a fight we can't win. Let's get out of here"

[fringe ledge]

sory, misread the mesage. But no, not bad at all. Sometimes encounter arent going well that it can be an oppurtunity for players to do the "live to fight another day" tactic and use everything in their arsenal to run away and slow down eneym for them to escape

[remote wadi]

Like a "You have angered death for the last time. Say your prayers and start running like your life depends on it: it does"

[worn lagoon]

I'm still glad I improvised something to encourage you two goobers to stop trying to kill a poor kobold, thank you for engaging in dialogue after that

I would have let you kill him, but it would have made me slightly sad

[severe rampart]

The thing gave me a fart sword give me a break

[worn lagoon]

He told you it was a prank sword cmon

[severe rampart]

I was gonna "prank" him back

[remote wadi]

To be more specific, not like running from a difficult fight. Like daring death to catch you if it can

Then seeing that it's gonna try and you need to move

[worn lagoon]

Loll

[fringe ledge]

Are you the dm or the players? as dm, you can always hint that the enemy is far ffrom their capability, hint them then running away is an otpion etc. As player, you can discuss with your dm. Im sure most DM is more than happy to accomodate that request

[remote wadi]

Listen to Pizza Tower Lap 3 OST. You'll understand

[severe rampart]

I do get where you're coming from though, the other campaign had me stressing to my other party members

"Please no, you can see they deal twice the damage you deal to them and you're at 1 hp"

[glass granite]

Hm…
I like me odds!

[remote wadi]

That's the closest I can get for explaining what I mean by running

[worn lagoon]

Gan was in this situation in that tunnel, I'm glad he didn't try to fight the thing because I'd have to improvise why he isn't dead & with the party

[severe rampart]

That was an evil old lady, who turned out to be the goblin queen

[glass granite]

Bet

[severe rampart]

alright let me paint the picture, the encounter started and our barbarian is dead, our warlock is unconscious, and our druid is hiding in the corner, so I, the ranger, have to kill every single goblin that was summoned

[burnt cave]

I want to die bro

[remote wadi]

Not like a "Oh, no! We shouldn't have tried to fight this person. Time to retreat!"

But as if every single thing in a 10 mile radius is giving you the death stare like "What have you done...? What evils have you unleashed?" And that's your cue to sprint like a madman and hope you don't fail con saves to keep your bowels and dignity intact

[burnt cave]

So I made this theme for my main villain right

I’m playing around with the pitch changes because I wanted to get the right pitch for when I do her battle theme

…tell me how at +3 semitones it sounds like a Hamilton song😭

🥲 I can’t unhear it. I do not need Lin Manuel Miranda on my god damn ost

[severe rampart]

if it sounds like Hamilton then it sounds good

[burnt cave]

😭 ik but that’s not the vibe-

[severe rampart]

then pick a hamilton song with that vibe

[remote wadi]

Does anyone understand what I mean by this sentiment?

[reef tundra]

What’s the next quest of the campaign after that? The players need to get into the room where it happened?

[burnt cave]

If i wanted it to give musical theatre trust me I would have it be THEATA

[severe rampart]

Yep, when you feel the consequences of your action pile onto your back knowing you shouldn't have done that, and now there's no going back

[burnt cave]

my brain immediately went to Satisfied

My favorite song from Hamilton

[severe rampart]

Personally, I'm helpless

[burnt cave]

Two sides of the same coin lol

[remote wadi]

Or if there is going back

You have exactly 3 second to exit stage left, make peace with whatever deity you believe in, and hope you weren't too late

[severe rampart]

poor guy that's about to be opportunity attacked

[remote wadi]

It's why I mentioned Pizza Tower Lap 3

It's THAT level of "We are SO screwed"

Seriously. Give it a quick listen

[severe rampart]

at the end of the encounter, our barbarian was stable(0hp but no saving throw), i healed up the warlock, and both me and the druid were half dead with no more spell slots

currently I do not know where the campaign is heading but I think we have to kill the goblin queen first, I feel like she's a mini boss

[pure lodge]

hello everyone, I'm here because I have a question, I'm pretty curious about what do you guys think is the best dnd version for narrative fans ? I mean the one with less TTRPG combats

I've read that people really like 3.5, 2 and 4 before 5e, have you tried them and what do you think ?

[sharp acorn]

I’m so tireddd, wby?

[mild zephyr]

yall do i just have the best party for my campaign or have i just had bad experiences before

so to paint the picture, i have a campaign idea that revolves around the ice wall theory, if u don't know what that is.. it basically says that antarctica is actually an ice wall that surrounds our 7 continents and there are 4 gates we can go thru to reach the other side and beyond the wall lies forgotten islands like atlantis n asgard n shit, so now as u could prolly tell its a **multi year long campaign **

people get busy and as a teen dm ive gotta take breaks during finals or busy weeks which ik is very annoying for the players and ive taken a huge break.. like 5 weeks (still on going) and in my past experiences as soon as i took a break that lasted for more than 2 sessions people would get bored and dip out. but these people istg have stuck around for the past 5 weeks and they hvn't even complained or anything

just before the break a player left due to a new job and 2 new ppl took their place and i've had just 1 session with the new guys and honestly i though they would leave (idk if it makes me a bad dm for thinking my players r gonna leave) but they hvn't and its crazy to see that after 5 failed tried with this campaign and it not even being completed 5%.. ive ended up with like my dream party of players, i genuinely love these guys.

so back to the original question... did i just get super lucky with these ppl or very unlucky with the first 5 parties?

and just a side note im writing a book on this... like how the story turns out, and i'd be happy to share it with anyone interested in reading

[idle oar]

5e is probably the best edition for supporting non-combat focussed play although it’s wargame heritage still pokes through. At the very least more tools and support for that kind of play have been provided.

[undone tendon]

Oh why? My day is going good!

[sharp acorn]

I didn’t sleep so well

[dapper cloud]

Get a short rest soon.

[idle oar]

Likely experience has fine tuned your “find good players” detector. Possibly.

[mild zephyr]

holy crap i just dropped a freaking paragraph bomb outta nowhere XD

[mild zephyr]

no its not like i handpicked them out of a few, they were the first ones to come up to join

[idle oar]

Then you did a good job of presenting your D&D game/campaign that attracted the kinds of players that work well for it.

[mild zephyr]

i suppose i did XD

[idle oar]

But that’s great to hear you have a good group to play D&D with - it’s a great experience!

[mild zephyr]

i knoww

there such a fun lot

[dim wasp]

so what sheep familiars are there

or sheep mounts?

[dapper cloud]

None as far as I know. If you ask your DM about it, I don’t think there’s any reason your familiar can’t be a sheep.

[mild zephyr]

sure it won't be the fastest mount or the sharpest tool in the shed but.. its there.

[burnt cave]

holy shit a gible

[dapper cloud]

No it’s not

[burnt cave]

but

but it looks like one-

[boreal forum]

Says it right there, Not Gible

[boreal forum]

Unlimited wool for warmth

[burnt cave]

😔 awe man...

[boreal forum]

Unless it vanishes when the familiar is unsummoned

[dapper cloud]

Don’t make clothes out of it.

[boreal forum]

Which that could be usefull actually

Make a wool rope and unsummon it when someone like an enemy tries chasing you up it

[hollow stone]

i mean sheep DO need to be shaved every so often, otherwise their wool can get matted and moving can be difficult and if they're in the wrong climate they can overheat

[dapper cloud]

I assume that familiars don’t age or grow, and that would go for the fur too.

[boreal forum]

Pretty situational use

[dapper cloud]

Like, you’d still have one coat, but what could you do with just one?

[hollow stone]

blankie :D

[boreal forum]

Not to mention the possibility of it vanishing when the familiar unsummons

[stuck shuttle]

A sheep can be a familiar since it follows the requirements for the Find Familiar spell. As for a mount, it’s not eligible for most characters since they’re Small creatures. Only PCs that can become Tiny can use one as a mount.

[pure lark]

i mean, that assumes the sheep is domestic- wild species generally shed in the spring (although you cant make clothes out of the hair)

[dapper cloud]

Use Enlarge/Reduce to make yourself Tiny, climb onto a sheep, and then go significantly slower than you were previously.

[boreal forum]

In 5th edition they are medium creatures

Just looked

So like a gnome could ride it and get 30 movement

[stuck shuttle]

Which sourcebook are you getting their official statblock from? The only verifiable one I can find is from Storm King’s Thunder, where it is small

[boreal forum]

5th edition srd

Which i learned just now is 3rd party

[idle oar]

No - the SRD is official

[boreal forum]

Oh

[stuck shuttle]

The SRD is official, the website called 5esrd is not

[boreal forum]

Ah

[stuck shuttle]

The source that website lists the statblock sources it as “Familiars and Companions” (2017) by Troll Lord Games, so yeah definitely third party

[stark bay]

Oh my fcking god, there are no Vampire species in D&D?!?! I just realised that, and now I have no idea what to do with it.

[stuck shuttle]

If a player wanted to waste all their spell slots to ride a sheep for minutes at a time I’d question their methods and their madness

[stark bay]

I'm stupid

[mild zephyr]

yeah hello, i got a call mb

[stuck shuttle]

The closest you could get is Dhampir

[mild zephyr]

im not a gible any longer, im a garchomp now :3

[severe rampart]

I've never actually checked out ranger but is it actually insanely good?

[stuck shuttle]

It’s pretty good yeah

[stark bay]

Guys, what do I do? 😭

[stuck shuttle]

Play Dhampir

[severe rampart]

yeah Horde Breaker is insane, I was the MVP of our session

[boreal forum]

So are the planeshift vampires i found official

[stuck shuttle]

The consequences of packing enemies tightly

Plane Shift is also unofficial

[boreal forum]

Alr

[stuck shuttle]

It was made by a WotC employee but that’s distinct from being published by WotC

[severe rampart]

oh my god I forgot to use my savage attacker feat last session

I could've killed the goblins that escaped

[boreal forum]

Daaaang fully evolved

[stark bay]

Damn no shi. There isn't any as well... I got only core cules (+2014 cole rules), 2014 expanded rules, and that's it. DnD beyond has no other stuff. There are only
DRAGONBORN
DWARF
GNOME
GOLIATH
HALFLING
HUMAN
ORC
TIEFLING
HALF-ELF
HALF-ORC
ROCK GNOME
VARIANT AASIMAR
AARAKOCRA
DEEP GNOME
GENASI

[mild zephyr]

yessir

[stuck shuttle]

You’ll be limited to the free options on D&DBeyond unless you have access to the other sourcebooks

[stark bay]

Omg I was halfway creating some peak character and only now I see there isn't even a proper species for him 😭

[remote wadi]

So, I wanted advice on an addition to a homebrew rule
May need to explain the base homebrew rule first

[stuck shuttle]

Either by someone in your campaign sharing the books with you or by using the homebrew creator to add in a species (or lineage in this case) that you have outside access to (e.g. the physical book)