dnd-discussion

[reef copper]

Its so bad

[undone rain]

Oh good lord no wonder its buried that things busted

[simple cradle]

Which species option from both version of 5e would be the closest to a mul from Dark Sun?

[feral fulcrum]

"Behold your reward for getting to level 20 or beyond! You can Misty step, once!"

"Don't you feel your OVERWHELMING POWER?"

Meanwhile, an Eladrin Sneezes and Misty steps six times, with effects

[eager marsh]

since every boon was DM discretion to give out, and most boons i ever see were given before lv 20 instead as story rewards, it's not much of a level 20+ argument (most games dont get that far)

[reef copper]

My group made it so you can as a reaction teleport 30 ft a proficiency amount of times to completely avoid attacks or just move with the reaction

[feral fulcrum]

I'm like 90% sure it had explict text restricting it to lvl 20 charecters

[errant crag]

I can see a number of these 2014 boons being good if given out as a reward before tiers 3 and 4

Or just as a reward outside of standard character progression in general

[undone rain]

Sure cant wait until a new class comes out and gets a meme that will be done to death like every other class

[eager marsh]

even hardcovers dont follow that logic there's at least three(?) hardcovers with Boons granted well before lv 20. just like hardcovers dont follow the long adventuring day either

[reef copper]

A good bunch are fine but few are on 2024 average

[errant crag]

I suppose it really depends when they're given out

[reef copper]

In my eyes boons are something that usually only triggers at high level due to things like. Gods or greater creatures taking note of you to personaly see through a transformation of your abilities. Or something so rarely found in souls that you basically are a once in a few decades occurrence

[feral fulcrum]

Which is WOTC's general design intent for them, yeah.

[reef copper]

Got a favourite boon?

I think night spirit might be mine

[feral fulcrum]

Boon of Speed, but I'm a speed demon, so your milage may vary

[reef copper]

It doubles your speed right?

[errant crag]

I've never really looked at them in either ruleset because my games never go that high a level

[feral fulcrum]

Increases your speed by 30 feet, and bonus action disengage

Said bonus action also busts you out of grapples automagically

[severe rampart]

Mmm that is also my favorite, though it's the only one I've played with so

[reef copper]

Its funny to combine with the shove ability from the warhammer to push people far away or off buildings and stuff

[severe rampart]

100 ft of movement? Yes please

[reef copper]

Personally im more of a flight and teleport guy myself but i like mobility a lot in all forms

[feral fulcrum]

I reguarly sit at around at 120 feet of movement, but, I'm abusing Ashardalon's stride and Haste for that.

[reef copper]

Then i faced an astral dreadnaught and i lost my mobility 3:

Survived though but my character has unlocked a fear of the astral sea

[feral fulcrum]

I still question why there are Fey Penguins in the Astral sea.

[severe rampart]

Why not? :)

[reef copper]

Huh i did not know of that

[severe rampart]

Silly lil guys

[feral fulcrum]

An even bigger question is why the Cthulu Liches aern't a bigger deal

[hollow stone]

penguins are land creatures... they shouldn't be at sea 100% of the time, no good for them :( they drown

[silk hare]

But have u considered: magic

[uncut zenith]

They’re just an example of the sort of weird whimsical stuff you can encounter in D&D outer space. Like why are there sentient Teddy bears in Star Wars?

[stiff rock]

isn't the astral sea made of like pure magic?

[hollow stone]

can they cast spells?

[sly crest]

Isn’t polar ice just frozen sea?

[silk hare]

No but they might be inherently magical

[hollow stone]

no, those are glaciers

[sly crest]

Well, TIL

[hollow stone]

if they can breathe underwater then it's fine :D i love penguins

i want to make sure the little bird-thing is a safe bird-thing

[wicked mulch]

D&D Question of the Day (D&D Beyond: Playing the Game):

A cleric tries to steel their mind against a nightmare vision. Which ability best matches that save?
A) INT
B) WIS
C) CHA

[silk hare]

Who says they have to breathe at all?

[hollow stone]

most things do

[silk hare]

What is the nightmare inflicted by?

[errant crag]

Wis

[silk hare]

Tbh for a cleric it probably wouldn't have mattered, but e.g. dream forces a specific ST

For the whole "nightmare" part

[wicked mulch]

Fair question. Let's categorize by (a.) the Dream spell, (b.) a complex illusion designed to deceive the character's senses, (c.) poison, disease, or extreme exhaustion, and (d.) sleeping vulnerabilities. What are the rolls, DM?

[silk hare]

A: Wis, B: Int/wis depending on the sense, C:con, D: bit vague but Con/Wis imo

[severe rampart]

Wisdom

A bit late but I like the questions

[fluid orchid]

any news about hexblade warlock ravenloft 2026?

about it's abilities

[rough basalt]

I'd bank on what is in the final UA

Could be drastically different but so far the only drastic changes from UA for subclasses I think to print was 5.5 PDK. Everything else i can think of subclass wise was mostly the same in the final print as in the final UA of it

But otherwise no one knows the full details and is allowed to say anything likely till the early copies are sent out and the NDA is lifted for those that get them

[timber turtle]

What if a DnD campaign was a dating sim

[umbral girder]

Some reason we got giant hamsters in space

[umbral girder]

There is a video game on kickstarter about that I think.

[feral fulcrum]

that was a Boo reference

[umbral girder]

Dating & Dragons I think?

[past crest]

Wouldn't it be Dating and Dungeons

SORRY 😭

[timber turtle]

Dungeons and dating was a too frisky name for them huh

[reef tundra]

My interest has piqued

[past crest]

I mean tbf what's to stop people from charisma-maxxing

[severe rampart]

Tell me more

If I can't romance a gelatinous cube then I don't want it 😔

[timber turtle]

"Dating & Dragons – A Love Quest is a narrative RPG dating sim packed with every fantasy trope you love. Sneak out with the thief, wreak havoc with the warrior, or flirt with the bard. Explore branching adventures with multiple endings and hidden secrets. Roll those dice and watch out for dragons!"

[umbral girder]

Boo came out nearly a decade after Giant Space Hamsters in D&D.

Boo was in fact not the first in D&D, just a famous example.

[severe rampart]

Why can we only pick classes

where's the drow option

I want my drow

[umbral girder]

That’s the Rogue

[storm magnet]

Is there anything that does a massive psionic attack right before dying

[timber turtle]

I guess you only get to date party members

[lyric viper]

Everyone wants the drow.

[umbral girder]

Elves are pretty so that’s fair

[severe rampart]

Sigh, no one wants us nice guys (high elves)

[lyric viper]

Did you know gygax assumed that male drow would be considered unattractive so gave them a 'comeliness' penalty?
Laughs in Salvatore

[severe rampart]

Though, I mean, if it is really a DnD dating sim, you should be able to pick the class, species, and personality

[umbral girder]

They have a trailer and everything.

[fossil shuttle]

They're elves with an ingrained dom energy, can you really blame anyone?

[umbral girder]

It’s heavily based on the Monster Prom series from what I’ve seen

[severe rampart]

I want my tsundere rogue drow

[timber turtle]

It's a visual novel so you probably don't even have a seeable character or gender

[crimson gulch]

3 sessions left and then im off from running games for 2 weeks for a family vacation

[umbral girder]

You will. 4 playable characters.

[short brook]

Playable or romance options?

[umbral girder]

6-ish dateable characters

[fossil shuttle]

And tieflings are supposed to be "mistrusted and reviled". We all saw how that turned out

[short brook]

I can barely remember the trailer tbh lol but it seemed fun

[umbral girder]

The trailer shows 6 you can date and 4 you can play. Like I said it’s based on the Monster Prom series.

[lean wigeon]

all the characters should be tieflings bards i think that would be peak haha peak nat 20 when the bard haha 20 persuasion nat 20

[short brook]

Thats pretty fun

[storm magnet]

Do you guys ever play in 2 campaigns at once?

[short brook]

Yes.

[crimson gulch]

many of my players are in multiple of my campaings yeah

[umbral girder]

Yeah I got like 3 (used to be 4 until last Friday)

[severe rampart]

I'm in 5 campaigns that are all in 3 days

[ebon knoll]

omg YESS FINALLY yaaaay DNDDDDD

[viral kraken]

ya you can beat dnd faster if you multibox it

[storm magnet]

So it’s not overwhelming or anything

[umbral girder]

Nope

Very easy. Barely an inconvenience

[lean wigeon]

i did two campaigns once but it was like a biweekly thing

[severe rampart]

Well it usually goes like
Campaign 1 - Cancels
Campaign 2 - I DM
Campaign 3 - Cancels
Campaign 4 - Cancels
Campaign 5 - Doesn't Cancel

[lyric viper]

I don't think old GG was quite prepared for the amount of LGBTQ+ folk who'd play.

(Although TBF, Teiflings was post Gygax. Folk just kept making tragic edgy species and not expecting them to become fan favs)

[timber turtle]

Why aren't Drow tiny and skinny people anymore?

[ebon knoll]

I have not played DnD with my friends in a while, I kinda miss our goofy session

[severe rampart]

The good thing is I always have some D&D to look forward to

[short brook]

Nah it's definitely not, especially if they're different tones

I wanna be in three tbh but I haven't something yet for a third

[timber turtle]

People are making Drow human sized

[severe rampart]

I quite like the party I DM, so far 6 sessions in, no one missed any sessions, no scheduling conflicts, etc. All the players are well behaved and enjoys the way I DM as well

[lyric viper]

I don't think most folk know that elves in D&D are smol

People tend to go off other media elves.

[viral kraken]

ya i love both the one campaign i dm and the one campaign i play in

[storm magnet]

What playable species has the longest neck

[severe rampart]

I killed two of them and I was a bit worried about how they'd react but it went pretty well and they have their new backup character

[undone rain]

I personally prefer tall and slim elf

[ebon knoll]

Guys I do have a question, is it normal for a druid to use a sickle as a weapon?😭

[lyric viper]

Why does this question concern me 😅

[severe rampart]

Yuan Ti

[lyric viper]

It's one of their traditional ones.

[umbral girder]

Plasmoids

[silk hare]

Or some homebrew minotaur giraffe variant, but id also say base=yuan ti

[timber turtle]

Why?

[delicate owl]

Thri-kreen?

[ebon knoll]

oh wait really? cuz I kinda think of it as cool and would actually make sense for my druid

[undone rain]

Idk i just like it

[severe rampart]

"Pasta Machine!"

[storm magnet]

Long necks are important

[timber turtle]

We call them plasmales now please

[lyric viper]

Neogi

Not that you cna play them, but...

[tender fossil]

Yuan to If you go the snake route

[umbral girder]

Vecna feels like a dude with a long neck. He has the vibes.

[lyric viper]

Kobolds feel like they should in body proportions.

Tortles.

[undone rain]

Hmm i should play a twilight domain

[timber turtle]

DND has giraffe people do they count?

[storm magnet]

Can any species survive having their necks be twisted into a knot? Like a gag thing

[silk hare]

You should

[silk hare]

Plasmoids I reckon

[undone rain]

Its good?

[storm magnet]

That’s funny

[severe rampart]

... what are you planning?

[umbral girder]

Strahd plans

[silk hare]

Yup

[timber turtle]

Naga could

[viral kraken]

next question is like "can Bigby's Grasping Hand tie a neck into a knot?"

[storm magnet]

A goofy long necked kinda character that runs an orphanage and does neck tricks to cheer orphans up

[umbral girder]

It’s ok, just remember temp hp doesn’t stack and Max hp drain enemies (so majority of undead) will be super effective against it.

[severe rampart]

Not with that attitude

[silk hare]

The humble spirit guardians

[umbral girder]

Doesn’t really help

[undone rain]

Alr ill give it a shot. Im making a selune cleric anyway

[silk hare]

I mean hard for them to reach u when and life drain if they die within 1 turn

[storm magnet]

How many neck tricks could someone even do to be entertaining though

[silk hare]

• u can fly

[umbral girder]

Most undead with health drains have fly and a lot of health.

[storm magnet]

Ooo maybe make waves

Make right angles

[viral kraken]

make it wrong angles

[undone rain]

Id play paladin again but ive played em 3 times now its time for the cleric

[red steppe]

you get sleep at T1, armor and shield proficiencies and advantage on initiative

[timber turtle]

Undead is name not for people are not dead but for people who were unned from death?

[severe rampart]

Yum

[undone rain]

Advantage too? Holy crap

[storm magnet]

Would the ability to do neck tricks give an advantage to charisma checks?

[hollow stone]

people who died at one point and then stopped being die

[storm magnet]

In your opinion

[severe rampart]

you gotta declare it like wayy before the encounter

[severe rampart]

Disadvantage.

[viral kraken]

not RaW, ask your dm

[red steppe]

vigilant blessing is good

[severe rampart]

Advantage on Intimidation, Disadvantage on everything else charisma related

[viral kraken]

i would just take proficiency in performance skinned as neck tricks if i really wanted to go that route

[red steppe]

be sure to take Alert to maximize the benefit

[still plover]

-# I hear it's popular with Cardassians.

[storm magnet]

Which kind of dragon breath has the most utility?

Like fire breath can cook food

You could poison drinks or food with poison breath

But fire lets you cauterize wounds

[umbral girder]

Fire to burn your enemies homes down

That Druid grove gotta deal with those forest fires

[viral kraken]

i can't imagine the size of a wound that would need a 90ft cone of fire to cauterize it

[storm magnet]

Can’t you do a smaller size breath

[viral kraken]

not RaW, but dm might allow it

[umbral girder]

You can do a line in 2024

[viral kraken]

really? that's cool!

[storm magnet]

You could boil water!

[umbral girder]

Yeah Dragonborn can choose the shape of their breath attack in 2024

[viral kraken]

could create steam power at that point

then just get some copper, and make electricity

[storm magnet]

Can you make an igloo home with ice breath

Like set up a frame with some sticks and leaves, then freeze it all together

[fossil shuttle]

I tabbed back on to discord and this was the first thing I saw. For a second I thought you meant doing a "line" before I read the rest of the messages.

[storm magnet]

Hmm

Is poison breath a gas or sludge?

[fossil shuttle]

Gas

[umbral girder]

Gas

[fossil shuttle]

A heavier fog, kinda like what Cloudkill makes

[storm magnet]

You could fill up poison canisters for allies to use!

[fair summit]

Probably just up to you really, I don't think it changes anything 😛

Spraying poison like a cobra 😏

[fossil shuttle]

Like replacing the smoke in a smoke grenade?

[storm magnet]

Yeah kinda!

Or just get a glass tube, fill it with gas, and then toss it so it breaks

[severe rampart]

Pepper spray

[storm magnet]

Yeah that can work too!

[severe rampart]

Hm, you know, maybe that would've solved Curse of Strahd

[fossil shuttle]

"I cast Mace"
"Do you mean you attack with your mace?"
"I know what I said"

[storm magnet]

You can gas breath into a building’s ventilation to kill everything inside

And leave documents untouched

Bar the doors and exists

[silk hare]

Might as well see if the gas is flammable

Since "poison" is a broad term

[fossil shuttle]

If you don't need to worry about documents, have someone cast Investiture of flame, walk into a building, and upcast fireball

[silk hare]

Depends on the poison tbh

Paper is still organic, so might get affected depending on the "compound"

Or e.g. settling residue might destroy them

[storm magnet]

Hmm true

[silk hare]

Isn't there a sword dragon too?

Like one that has a sword breath weapon

[storm magnet]

What about making poison cigarettes and passing them around as presents to guards?

[silk hare]

Tbh if the poison is gaseous, might not even do much in that dosage

• who is to say the guards smoke/are allowed to smoke on the job

[storm magnet]

They aren’t but they still wanna relax

[silk hare]

Still.might just not smoke, is smoking even a concept in the setting

[storm magnet]

They got pipes I thought

[silk hare]

Sure, but that's still very different from cigarettes

Simply bc of material constraints probably

[storm magnet]

How so? Just burning something and breathing the fumes

[silk hare]

Well yeah, but u usually have a filter to not die within a couple cigarettes, the material u are burning should be non toxic

[storm magnet]

You can just poison breath into some herbs, ferment it and then put it into pipes

[silk hare]

To not end your life even earlier, how refined are their production techniques for that?

[silk hare]

True, but pipes are kind of a luxury good

[viral kraken]

did cigarettes have filters for most of their existence?

[silk hare]

I doubt a guard has that over just drinking tbh

[storm magnet]

That’s why offering one would be so appealing!

[silk hare]

Mhh good question, I think for the better part of it? Not sure about cigars tho

[silk hare]

Well if u provide the pipe, maybe

[viral kraken]

cigars don't as they are not meant to be deeply inhaled

[silk hare]

But that would seem fishy then

[silk hare]

Ight, I'm not into smoking so thx for the info haha

[still plover]

This is more poisoners kit proficiency than fun things with dragonborn breath.

[viral kraken]

ya i hear that, i only smoked for a couple years before i was like "why?"

[storm magnet]

All it would take is one guard to accept the pile, then he’s hotboxxing the barracks with poison

[silk hare]

Tbh i still get annoyed at people smoking around me, even in public spaces

[storm magnet]

True

[crimson gulch]

you can flavor it how you like

[still plover]

Onset delay is also a factor.

[viral kraken]

ya that is a life-lengthening feeling to have

[crimson gulch]

ditto, im glad they cant do it indoors where im at

[storm magnet]

Can you make a home with ice breath

Or a temporary home at least

[fair summit]

There are no rules for this, so you'd have to ask your DM, and it's up to them
Though using limited resources to make a small little ice hut sounds like a fair use

[silk hare]

Well sure, but they'd figure out quiet fast that sth is wrong woth that supply

[minor cargo]

There's a wikipedia page about ancient ways of smoking. It's pretty interesting and I could imagine fantasy cultures having similar traditions and rituals. ✌️
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_smoking

[silk hare]

Yup same, still annoying to just have to move through a crowd of smokers outdoors imo, but i digress

[storm magnet]

So far the basic applications of heat make fire breath have way more utility

Lightning breath could restart someone’s heart

[silk hare]

Tbh i think you are going to deep here

Bc if u sesrch enough thr "breath domains" and applications start to blend into one another to some degree

+getting too far into physics, chemistry and biology in a fantasy setting is never a good idea

[fair summit]

aye, D&D is not a physics simulator. The DM might let you do some creative stuff, but not necessarily all the time, or with everything

[silk hare]

Case by case basis imo for stuff like that

• rule of cool

[still plover]

This kind of talk is making me feel like such a curmudgeon. Because my default to that would be, "What? No. That's not how that works!"

[fair summit]

I personally let my players know I might let them get some benefit from creative use of their spells or abilities, or just overall doing something fun, but whatever they do will not necessarily work again, so they don't just gain a new feature they can use and abuse at all times 😛

[fair plinth]

What do yall think of the 5.5e ranger compared to the old one

[hollow stone]

tbh realistically it'd shortcircuit their nerves and make the heart electronically inoperable

[still plover]

And then I feel bad because I say the rules should be the start, not the end, and who doesn't want creative and engaged players?

[hot gate]

It's a cool idea for sure, but yeah I would never suggest that this is something that you can "just do". It would be a situational "hey that's a really cool idea" rule of cool thing at the most.

[silk hare]

Its a lot better

[crystal hatch]

me when i cast a lightning chromatic orb at the ocean in a ship combat and the dm let me say it hit all the baddies that were bunched up there

[storm magnet]

Are there fire hoses in DnD

Or some kinda continual water projectile

[silk hare]

Depends on the setting

[crystal hatch]

it also technically would have hit an ally but they made a save to avoid it so I was not punished LOL

[silk hare]

Create water?

[fair summit]

Honestly if my players caught my group of enemies closeby to eachother in an ocean, I'd 100% allow it lol

[crystal hatch]

Half of them had just been knocked overboard so I wanted to do something funny

[silk hare]

Have them explain the principle behind conductiveness and they get advantage

[storm magnet]

You could create water then electrify the stream to create a electricity hose!

[silk hare]

I mean, why not just cast thunderbolt or sth

[storm magnet]

Splash damage!

[silk hare]

Way easier + how are u going to continously electrify sth

[red steppe]

homebrew moment

[storm magnet]

Electric breath!

[silk hare]

Doesn't last that long

[storm magnet]

Oh

[silk hare]

• it would only work if they stand in the water and even then

[hollow stone]

i mean i'm all for creativity but that's more akin to discharging a 9mm handgun in an attempt to push a pin inside a lock

[silk hare]

Its an action, and 1 combat turn is 6 seconds for A,BA and R

[hollow stone]

like yea, you'd push the pin, but you'd also destroy the spring behind it, the pins in front of and behind it, and damage the rest of the structure in such a way it's rendered mechanically inoperable

[storm magnet]

Can you use fire breathing to make it rain

Ig you’d just do that by burning stuff

[fair summit]

Features do what they say they do. anything beyond that is up to the DM

[silk hare]

?

Not how rain works

Like at all

[storm magnet]

I thought lots of burning stuff makes it more likely to rain

[minor cargo]

Again, D&D isn't a physics simulator but...

Yeah, water particles in clouds need "nucleation sites". This can be dust or something. But basically it needs something to start collecting on. It creates a cascading effect and once a "glob" has enough weight, it'll overcome Brownian motion and fall to the ground.

Smoke has a bunch of particles and can speed this up.

You can also do this without particles, but shooting big ol' waves (e.g. sound) into the clouds.

[still plover]

TIL.

[storm magnet]

I learned it from a forest fire thingy

[uncut zenith]

Yeah this is why there are often times rainfall or storms after big forest fires

That said, in the real world, the process can take a while, so it often doesn’t come soon enough to put out the fire

[silk hare]

• u need enough moisture around for the nucleation sites to do sth

[storm magnet]

I’ll just stick to the rules of stuff

[hollow stone]

is there a spell to make it rain?

[minor cargo]

Control weather. ✌️

Wait, there's probably a lower level spell...

[silk hare]

Yeah there is i dont remember the name rn tho

[hollow stone]

there's Acid Rain but the PH is too high, that'd kill my plants

[silk hare]

pH is drow propaganda

[fair summit]

Create or Destroy Water makes a rain in a small area as one of the options

[storm magnet]

Can you filter acid rain

[hollow stone]

i think Control Weather is best for agricultural use

[minor cargo]

Call Lightning lets you control an existing storm...
Sleet Storm summons sleet, not rain...
...yeah...

[atomic kayak]

Yea create water is your best bet for a lil rain

[crystal hatch]

sort of an odd question but if we make our characters in other games can we post those images in #dnd-heroforge-etc

or is it just for those specific softwares

[silk hare]

Define filter

[storm magnet]

Take out the bad stuff and have just water

[idle oar]

We allow art from other tools like picrew and Baldurs Gate 3.

[inner silo]

Can sleet from sleet storm melt into water?

[silk hare]

The bad stuff in acid (or rather the thing that makes it acidic) is just hydrogen, but for purposes of "magic", ig sure

[pliant sapphire]

RAW no

[crystal hatch]

what if i hypothetically had Elden Ring, reshade, and a camera mod

[minor cargo]

I'd rule Purify Food and Drink could do it. Other DMs may not, though. So it'll depend.

[silk hare]

I'd agree tho

[uncut zenith]

The general rule of thumb is that spells only do what they explicitly say they do. Anything else is DM fiat.

[silk hare]

Also yes there's other acids too ik, but that's the ines that are most common/most commonly referred to as "acids"

[idle oar]

As long as it can be seen as clearly and specifically D&D related and does not use AI, that should be fine.

[uncut zenith]

Which isn’t to say I haven’t seen DMs allow those sort of creative spell combos, just that they’re not technically supported RAW

[storm magnet]

Can a revenant be tricked with a fake death of their target?

[uncut zenith]

I’d say no, unless the target was under the effects of magic similar to Feign Death

They are supernaturally aware of the existence of their target, so the target needs to have a supernatural way to bypass it

[storm magnet]

What if they were technically dead in medical terms but they were revived with cpr or something?

[silk hare]

Up to the DM

[storm magnet]

What if you’re the dm

[uncut zenith]

Then you decide

[storm magnet]

No like you guys

I want your opinions

[uncut zenith]

I’d say if they were medically dead but revived, the revenant’s awareness of their target being alive again would persist as well.

[silk hare]

Case by case basis

Depends heavily on the scenario / what i want the party to accomplish and how they pitch the idea

[storm magnet]

So the revenant doesn’t like, disperse the moment their target is dead?

[short gazelle]

Opa

[uncut zenith]

There’s nothing in the new state revenant statblock at least that says they die once they kill their target

[severe rampart]

Usually not

[storm magnet]

Hmm interesting

[minor cargo]

For me personally, when it comes to these types of things that aren't covered by the rules, I think "context is king". What I mean is, for me, it depends on specific game factors.

For the revenant question, I can go either way - so I'm going to make a decision based on what I think is best for the group. If "tricking" a revenant feels fitting for the campaign, heck yeah, that works. Maybe I'll introduce a "mega revanent" for the times the trick is found out.

[silk hare]

Also not in the old one, it just says they are aware of location and if their target dies iirc

[uncut zenith]

I’ve run them that way before, but it’s not technically RAW

[severe rampart]

I don't think anyone runs 100% fully RAW D&D

[storm magnet]

What if their target becomes undead? Like a lich

[silk hare]

They know they died, nothing more id say

[severe rampart]

... huh... that's an... interesting question

[silk hare]

At least 5E

[severe rampart]

what about failed liches?

Actually never thought about it

[storm magnet]

Or vampires

[uncut zenith]

Boneclaws?

[silk hare]

To me it reads as a: they always know the location, whether u define that as soul or physical body is up to u

[severe rampart]

Yeah, the like

[silk hare]

They know when their target dies, they probably still want to get the corpse/ the confirmation they are actually dead tho

Depending on the setting, he would start tracking the targeted to the outer planes and therefore see they revived once they are back in the material plane

If u run death that way that is

[minor cargo]

I think again it comes down the campaign. For example, if Revenants are supposed to follow the spirit of "killing", then they might still chase after a person even if they go through an undead transformation. Likewise, in that same campaign, they might cease going after someone who bumps their head and becomes a total differe person (possibly re-activating if somehow their memories returned and went back to their old ways).

Or maybe it's a "blood" thing. Like they're a horror seeking out a specific person, sniffing out their "life" like a hound. Once they die, they're not valid anymore and their mission is complete.

[storm magnet]

If you lost your memories for a long time and got a ton of new ones, then get the old memories back, can you really be the same person as your old self?

[minor cargo]

That sounds like a great question to explore through gameplay. 😉

[silk hare]

Ship of Theseus, theres no real answer and its subjective

Well not entirely but close enough

[minor cargo]

By the way, I'm not trying to just block your questions. Like I understand wanting to bounce ideas around.

It's just, this space tends to have a tendency to get into arguments over really small details, when in reality, those details are probably best discussed within the context of our games - otherwise they don't really give us much value. If anything, they're just an exercise of pride.

[storm magnet]

Its like if the ship of Theseus turned into a restaurant, and then some people tore off the floorboards and saw the old ship

[inner silo]

Oki, thanks!

[storm magnet]

What if you’re bouncing g ideas around to use in a possible campaign as a dm?

[hot pasture]

Hello everyone! I am new here, never tried to play dnd before but i heard alot of good things, didnt know where to start so i figured joining the discord first, maybe I can either shadow a game or join one? Idk how it works here

[minor cargo]

My suggestion would be to give relevant context then. ;D

[storm magnet]

Ah okay!

[silk hare]

#dm-discussion

[storm magnet]

Also fair

[silk hare]

#dnd-newcomers

[still plover]

I'm liking these. I feel revenants fit in the "unique entity" box with beholders, dragons and liches. Running them out of the book and not thinking further than the statblock is just wrong.

[silk hare]

Id love to run any of those, but my players got almost overhwelmed by 5 twigs and a dryad last time sooo

Its gonna be a long time until then

Or rather, would have gotten overwhelmed if I didn't retcon one of the twigs not being ranged

[cobalt owl]

Any time I see the word revenant I immediately think of DOOM

[vast saddle]

Where can I talk about bleed issues?

Somehow, I feel less prioritized in a D&D server I've joined for admitting that I was bleeding in the middle of their campaign

[hollow stone]

like your character was bleeding? or you, as in like, you irl, were bleeding?

[vast saddle]

More like....this kind of bleeding

The usual term in RPG circles is just bleed, where the character's and player's emotional states become mixed.

[still plover]

Well, you've got my ear. What's up?

[glad ferry]

I mean most characters you make are going to have some essence of you in them when creating them

[undone rain]

I kinda want a walrus race or smth

[glad ferry]

You can always homebrew one

Though that takes a lot of time

[uncut zenith]

I’m personally kinda tired of anthropomorphic species tbh

[silk hare]

There's a bunch of homebrew ones I'm sure

[silk hare]

I mean anything else is just harder to integrate into the confines of the system they have built for so long now

[glad ferry]

It depends on the character for what kind of species I want to use. Im not big on the non humanoid body types as much. Eventually I'll make one. I like the yuan ti. And I've got a character that's part arachnid part eladrind elf. She has 6 spider legs on her back and the eladrin elf body. Spring type

[prisma latch]

Yes, 100% agree

[hollow stone]

it is true, i also tire of anthropomorphs. i yearn for more species that genuinely feel like something else, like something we haven't seen, not more generic humanoids but rather, more interesting things, kind of like thri kreen but something we haven't seen before

[glad ferry]

Maybe they will eventually

[vast saddle]

I still feel really sad for having my worst bleed yesterday

[meager ore]

Hey guys, been a while.
I wish you all a pleasant afternoon!

[glad ferry]

It happens sometimes

[late ridge]

Hey guys, I'm curious, are there any people playing D&D on Roll 20? If so, how do you get maps? I can't find anything free to make them. And honestly, I love being a DM, but I hate looking for maps, I never find what I want.

Are there people in the same situation as me who can help me?

[vast saddle]

As I said in real life, experiencing emotional bleeding from a campaign feels like getting real injuries as a pro wrestler in any pro wrestling promotion

Is this the right analogy?

[minor cargo]

If I can't find a pre-made map, I'll use DungeonDraft. It's a one-time pay application but I enjoy it.

If I'm in a pinch, I'll just draw the map in Roll20 using the line and freehand tools. ✌️

[hollow stone]

there's a guy that exists called Morvold Press who publishes a lot of maps

[silk hare]

Roll20 has a partner that let's u create maps for free

Dungeonscrawl iirc

U just gotta work with the different layers to get the look of want, color objects etc

[late ridge]

Oh thx I'll take a look at that.

The problem with Dungeon Draft is that I really don't want to pay right now. I'm preparing my first campaign, I've only played one game and I'm not sure I'll be a Dungeon Master for long, so...

[silk hare]

Dungeonscrawl

[late ridge]

Is it free?

[silk hare]

Yes

[minor cargo]

Inkarnate I believe has a free editor version, if that works for you.

But again, I might just make the map right in Roll20. It'll lack some bells and whistles, but it'll definitely be charming and functional!

[silk hare]

U can just not use all the tools, same as roll 20

But enough is free to make decent maps with almost no restrictions, just takes a bit to figure out the tools and layouts

[late ridge]

Inkarnate doesn't really have many interesting assets available for free.

[lavish flame]

I would be very happy if there was 1 "Beastguy" species with a handful of options like "aquatic beast" and "avian beast" and "terrestrial beast" and stuff like that. This way, we wouldn't be getting a new animal-person in every book.

[late ridge]

Okay, thanks, I'll try to look into that.

[hollow stone]

i'd be down for that, like each species can be easily reflavored into some animal they're similar to

[uncut zenith]

Yeah, sort of like what we were maybe getting from aardlings

Though those were technically celestials iirc

[valid geyser]

Ehhh. Not super sure. I feel there are animal species that could get unique things, but a generic species would probably invalidate. Alotofthem
I think they just need to be more clever with what they do of the species with lore and flavor features. Allowing animal species with extra thematic jazz, but I can see if that is a little alienating

I liked ardling. Humanoid with animal head had some fun mythological idea stuff, but it did alienate people who wanted aasimar and people who wanted generic beastfolk
I also think a lot of unique ua species just don’t stick because we don’t have art of them. I think if ardlings were depicted with art of their deal there’d be less confusion, but uas don’t have art

[uncut zenith]

We also already have shifter, which is a good beastfolk species. Though it unfortunately doesn’t take aquatic/flying species into account.

[minor cargo]

I agree that Ardlings straddling the themes of "divinely touched" and "bestial" was a poor choice.

But yeah, "beastperson" definitely helps cut on word count haha

[valid geyser]

I’m kinda disappointed what we saw of lupins that they’re just bite attack, proficiency, and howl. I think they could’ve done a lot and give it a magical feature like how 3.5 lupins had abilities that let them detect certain magic with their senses

[storm magnet]

Would you guys say a gibbering mouther is more dangerous than its challenge rating would suggest?

Because of its aoe gibbering

[valid geyser]

I’d say it’s hard to properly fight this thing in melee, yeah

Like. You get in, take difficult terrain to get real close, it bites you, you drop prone no save, and now you have a 25% chance of being able to attack it if you fail it’s save, otherwise you do nothing or get to move only 5 feet out (getting up from prone and moving through terrain)

But otherwise it has low damage. So more or less just a slog to fight unless you have good luck or don’t need to go into melee

[turbid vessel]

I'm a firm believer that some form of beastfolk should've been in the PHB

Even just solely on the account of demand. Look at the art community, people's OCs, storytellers. People with bestial elements are very much wanted

[minor cargo]

Counterpoint, holding it back for PHB2 (hypothetically) is a good way to make sure a ton of people buy it. 👀

[storm magnet]

But the bite can do insane damage no?

[valid geyser]

2d6 damage?

[inner silo]

a greatsword bite?

[turbid vessel]

So the LONG con of long cons. It's a bold business move, we'll see if it pays off lel

[storm magnet]

Isn’t it 5d6?

[feral fulcrum]

Rabbit of Caernobog moment

[feral fulcrum]

You'll get your beastfolk in later splats. If they put everything desired into the PBH, what would they sell you later? They Are running a business.

[valid geyser]

Ah. I was reading the new, nerfed one
Yeah, that’s rather high

But it does have a low to hit

[storm magnet]

The worst scenario is it one shots and absorbs a player, now they can’t be revived

[potent vector]

In 5.5 looking at it, no, it's 2d6. Dang, 5e one was brutal.

[storm magnet]

Oh they nerfed it

I knew it was op

[turbid vessel]

"my beastfolk" lmao

It's MY money beastfolk and I need it NOW

[halcyon bison]

Tabaxi are fun
I go zoom :3

[ripe nimbus]

i don't like a litany of beastfolk races either, i'd rather just a one-stop-shop

[valid geyser]

I remember arguing against phb beastfolk on some flavor thing that in hindsight I think was dumb and I no longer agree with, but I think I just don’t want generic beastfolk since you can do a lot from separating them out, if you actually cared into writing cool stuff about them

[ripe nimbus]

eh in part i think i don't like them because I find that people who play Tabaxi often don't care about Tabaxi's background and lore and history and whatnot and just want Fast Cat™

[valid geyser]

Yeah and I guess I’m speaking as someone in the opposite camp who wants them to do more species that are more than just “guy who looks like a cat and has a claw attack”

[ripe nimbus]

and partly I'm also coming from the perspective of wanting the list of options to not be cluttered

[valid geyser]

But from the state of how wotc writes their books I don’t think they want to give us detailed new species with unique lore

[ripe nimbus]

and not having to buy new books every time a player mentions a different animal they want to play as.

(well, actually i have a "buy your own books" policy for these things. but that's due to wanting to avoid this frustration)

[ripe nimbus]

i think part of the issue is that, frankly, people want the options to be fairly setting-generic because they want to take them into any world. and things like "beastfolk" are fairly setting-generic, but tabaxi, harengon, etc. are very much not.

the more specific and unique the race's lore is the harder it is to translate them outside their original context to new settings without some visible seams

(well actually tabaxi and harengon are maybe bad examples)

(but you know what i mean--I can't play a kalashtar in FR without feeling awkward)

[valid geyser]

But you have the option of ignoring that fluff. Flavor is free and I think a dm will have an easier time ignoring the printed fluff than making new fluff and lore for a species that doesn’t have any

[ripe nimbus]

(which isn't a knock against the kalashtar, it's just kinda a thing you have to consider when designing a new race in a setting book)

[lavish flame]

What would be the best one to include? I'm thinking Lizardfolk or Tabaxi tbh

[meager fractal]

Ardling lol

[turbid vessel]

I guess from a business perspective it's better to make a bunch of different beast folks and release them like slow-drip insulin
But that doesn't mean I have to like it 😭

[valid geyser]

i think eberron species are an interesting comparison. In general, the expectation is that you don't. We wouldn't have gotten a cool species with a cool connection to the setting if there was already a species that was touched by some psionic/aberrant entity.
I value interesting setting specific lore over a generic mechanical template that has no presence in a world

[turbid vessel]

Guess that's just where we differ cause (once I have a grasp of a system) I'm usually the opposite. Give me the cup, I'll fill it with whatever drink I want

[umbral girder]

Ardling would have been a cool lineage for Aasamir

[lavish flame]

Aardling would be a nice addition in a Manual of the Planes type book

[umbral girder]

Since Tieflings have the Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic planes as lineages (Infernal, Cthonic, and Abyssal) we could have done something similar.

So Ardlings being the Chaotic good for the Beastlands

The Lawful of Mt Celestial with the obvious angel type, and IDK for neutral.

[valid geyser]

i guess my idea with this metaphor is like. Give me a cup of coffee that's not all the way full. I can add whatever mix-ins I want. It's more fun than being given an empty cup.

also, i think if handed an empty cup a lot of people are gonna be uninspired and just make black coffee.

[turbid vessel]

If black coffee is someone's jam then that's not my here nor there to police

[minor cargo]

From a business POV, we should be focusing on how to charge the most amount of money for the least amount of coffee. 🤐
Sorry, I'm getting too negative haha. I'll cut that out.

[valid geyser]

yeah not a perfect analogy for my case. It's more just that hypothetically not giving fluff and lore is gonna mean more people are just gonna make boring stuff since the book has less to inspire them.

[minor cargo]

I see what you're saying, and I do agree. That said, I can offer that I personally think this is solved with "high conceptual density". Here's a 5 minute blog post on it from 2016. It's short.

But to be even more succinct, TTRPG text should not be giving us fluff; it should be giving us valuable ideas.

https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/11/conceptual-density-or-what-are-rpg.html

[still plover]

Huzzah!

[turbid vessel]

Daggerheart did it in a way I really enjoy personally, where rather than focusing on giving you an influx of content to use, they give you tools and guidance on making your own ideas and fleshing them out

[valid geyser]

for sure. Something is better than nothing, but something interesting is even better than that

[turbid vessel]

And if you still need examples to choose from, not only are there 5 campaign frames in the core book, there's a list on the first page dedicated to shows, movies and tabletops they took inspiration from when designing the system

[valid geyser]

i think i just figure something is the bare minimum, and wotc books can have trouble providing us with that.

[dim finch]

Hey yall, need some advice on what route I should go. I’m a Shadar Kai Way of astral self monk (lvl5) and I’m thinking about multi classing. So Ik I want to be a fighter but I’m stuck between Battle Master and Echo Knight

[crimson gulch]

I think the provided options in the dnd books are super interesting

The new mechanics on top of 52 years of lore, there's no deeper well to draw from

[silk hare]

Why the multiclass?

What extra features are u looking for ?

If u aren't looking for any in particular, then you shouldn't be multiclassing tbh

[valid geyser]

i think from the conceptual density angle, wotc does at least try with that in the mm25 giving tables for a good few monsters, but a lot of them are single sentences and probably and dont even need to be tables.

[dim finch]

In our party I’m the main one dealing damage while everyone else is more of a support role. I want to deal more damage and just be overall more versatile

[silk hare]

Okay, what kind of versatility? If u want to up your damage, stay a monk

• what is your strength score?

Actually if we xontinue this, let's move to #character-discussion maybe

[valid geyser]

but yeah i think that blog is growing on me. I could see how people might not need a big description of basic monsters if wotc just writes three paragraphs of "trolls do what trolls normally do, dummy."
but at best that feels like it does cut off more chances for them to write cool stuff. Maybe I'm treating it like good ideas are just random and if you write more, you'll get more chances for cool ideas.

[reef tundra]

If we’re talking about optimisation, may I point to #optimization

[silk hare]

How are u doing btw

[reef tundra]

I’ve been doing gooood!

Made a new PC the other day for the first time in ages

[short brook]

how much do y'all care about party composition? I like filling where the party might be weakest

[reef tundra]

They’re my pfp. (Art not mine)

[reef tundra]

I am not an optimiser, I just pick whatever choice I find fun. But occasionally I do think of what role my character fills

[silk hare]

Nice!

[reef tundra]

If we have no healer, I go for a class that can heal

Etc

[silk hare]

Imo hard to answer bc it depends on the experience lvl and what I want to accomplish

Last character i made was a tw cleric meant to be the ultimate support as we would have had 3 people new to the game

Never even got to play him tho 😭

[reef tundra]

Aww rip 😭

[short brook]

I know some people just say it screw it and go like 3 wizards lol

[short brook]

I don't say it out of optimization, just like diverse parties are cooler than multiple of the same, imo anyways

[silk hare]

Yeah, I'll reuse him for some one shot tho at least 😭

All I wanted was some spirit guardians shenanigans and 1D6+ my lvl temp hp for everyone around me every turn man

Like is that too much to ask?

[reef tundra]

Supposedly it’s the most optimal party

[reef tundra]

Agreed

[reef tundra]

He shall return 💪

[short brook]

I think optimization is just a little tone deaf tbh. But i guess someone would want to play a wizard every campaign so good for them

Goes against the very essence of this game, at least the harder you scrutinize it.

[sour fractal]

Hello friends

[short brook]

Hello

[sour fractal]

Wait why is playing a wizard everytime bad

[short brook]

its not, just boring (for me at least)

[frail wasp]

that's a lot of magic missile

[umbral girder]

All them thunder waves

[short brook]

Campaigns last so long why should you be pigeonholed into playing the same thing everytime because it's the best

[sour fractal]

Im in my first campaign and im a wizard 😂

[short brook]

I'm not dissing the wizard, they're dope

[reef tundra]

I think it’s a valid way to play, I just don’t like it when fans of it always try to push it on others

[minor cargo]

It's definitely IMO an idealized way to look at TTRPGs. There's definitely a context-depedent way to go about trying to achieve this. Trolls are a good example - because there are "trolls, a la D&D" and then "trolls, a la Eastern European folktales", and of course "trolls, a la WoW" and stuff like that.

So you kind of have to include a bit of "non-conceptually dense" to keep the game accessible. And then you need to make sure there's enough "dense" stuff that's high quality (limbs can keep moving; they don't need a head to survive) - and balance that with the idea that your MM is probably supposed to be setting agnostic. Oh yeah, and you need to commission art. 😩

[sour fractal]

When I finish this campaign, if I started a new character, I think I want them to be a barbarian

[short brook]

I don't disagree, just hard for me to get behind it.

[reef tundra]

And when they discourage choices just because it’s not the absolute best someone can take

[short brook]

Optimization only exists in a vacuum, things will never go the way you want. That's why I don't like it

On paper wow this is powerful, but you don't run the game you're playing.

[sour fractal]

I missed fire bolt twice in a row in my last session

[inner silo]

is fire shield a good melee spell?

[short brook]

The dice did not want to tell your story lol

[short brook]

It's a deterrent for sure

[sour fractal]

Listen my familiar was hitting every bite though so at least that happened lol

[short brook]

What familiar did ya have?

[inner silo]

i want to mix it with conjure woodland beings, shillelagh and wrath of the sea for a melee druid

[short brook]

It'd be good early, but you don't get extra attack (not to my knowledge) so it might be worse later

[inner silo]

i plan to mitigate that a bit with booming blade which i think will work especially well with the knockback from wrath of the sea

[short brook]

Another problem is the setup could take ya a couple turns

[inner silo]

yeah thats also true. I would probably need to hope to set up at least shillelagh and fire shield beforehand

[short brook]

Just be wary, tis a cool idea for sure

[inner silo]

Alrighty, thanks a lot!

[knotty vine]

Magic

[short brook]

the gathering?

Wait wrong thing

[knotty vine]

Gravity

Time

[inner silo]

graviturgy and chronomancy?

[knotty vine]

The universe calls to me

[short brook]

Thank you sigma

[sour fractal]

Big ahh snake

[feral fulcrum]

It's a good passive thing to have up if you're in Melee, but it's not a Melee spell (As that implies you're making melee attacks with it.) Just a bit of compulsive nitpicking.

[inner silo]

Thanks!

[feral fulcrum]

Though you'd rather have the thing up before getting into fights, because Action Economy

[inner silo]

thankfully its a whole 10 minutes active time

[feral fulcrum]

Yup

[exotic abyss]

My campaign mate just poked a 6ft wide tree trunk to make sure it's not a crocodile

[rugged hawk]

ACKshually, Entropy calls to you. It calls to everyone. Let the heat death take it all.

[feral fulcrum]

It could be worse, he could be hunting dread Gazebos

[rugged hawk]

Or tilting at windmills

[exotic abyss]

A snake just crawled out of the log. It's the size of a crodile

[rugged hawk]

Missed opportunity for Titanaboa

Also reminder that spines are defensive adaptation against being swallowed. So why do Tarrasques have spines?

[lavish flame]

never adapted to get them

[rugged hawk]

No, they did adapt spines. The question is why Tarrasques needed spines. What was swallowing up Tarrasques?!

[feral fulcrum]

Don't try and run evolutionary logic on fantasy creatures

Or else you'll be wondering why exectly Cthulu has a tentcle beard

[lavish flame]

they were made with spines, they didn't adapt anything

[rugged hawk]

That never needed asking, I know why Cthulhu has a tentacle beard. The question that needs asking is what the hells was hunting TARRASQUES that they needed spines?

[feral fulcrum]

Also, there's only ever one Tarrasque, as far as I'm aware anyway.

[frail wasp]

no one has seen two tarrasques in the same room for sure

[feral fulcrum]

Lore Wise it's just...as immortal and permanent as say, the Book of Exalted Deeds.

[rugged hawk]

No one has ever survived to report two tarrasques in the same room.

[lavish flame]

save for the moon Aruun in Doomspace, yeah

[remote wadi]

True Polymorph, perhaps?

[feral fulcrum]

A Fixed existince that can only be put down from anyone from like a Year, to a Century before it gets back up for Round 2. At least as of 5E

Earlier Editions, it just got back up in like six seconds because you didn't Wish for it to stay dead.

[frail wasp]

there's that one starcraft map where like a dozen tarrasques die, but pretty it's the same tarrasque being reincarnated repeatedly

[rugged hawk]

Tarrasque, but every time it dies and returns, it gains immunity to whatever killed it previously.

[hot marlin]

Say it with me kids:
The tarrasque did not evolve, the tarrasque was made. There was no evolutionary pressure to develop spines.

[hot marlin]

So uh... Doomsday from DC?

[rugged hawk]

Oh, already a thing.

[frail wasp]

"immunity to 8 yamato cannons at the same time? What?"

[meager fractal]

Yeah in 2e the tarrasque could regenerate from a drop of blood. You had to reduce it to -30 and then cast wish

[rugged hawk]

👀 Make it regenerate from each spilled drop of its blood.

Like if you hacked a troll into pieces

[knotty vine]

The Tarrasque when it was cr 20

[rugged hawk]

You managed to wound the Tarrasque? Great, now it's bleeding... and more Tarrasques are being formed by its leaking blood.

[green scroll]

Is "Cavern's Glory" a decent name for an area i've been hyping the party up for? It's filled to the brim with caverns and dungeons and a lot of enemies to fight which the party wants an excessive amount of

[frail wasp]

ye

[last dagger]

Hello everyone

[daring stump]

Well! Greetings fella!

[minor cargo]

Yup, and they repeated this in 3.5E!
https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/tarrasque.htm

No form of attack deals lethal damage to the tarrasque. [...]The tarrasque can be slain only by raising its nonlethal damage total to its full normal hit points +10 (or 868 hit points) and using a wish or miracle spell to keep it dead.

I actually was sad that 5E/5.5E didn't keep this little piece in. I personally think it's iconic to the Tarrasque.

[still plover]

I... would rethink that personally, but maybe I have a mind more acclimated to the gutter than your party.

[green scroll]

oh my god that is not at all what it supposed to mean but i hear it now and i cant unhear it

[green scroll]

k what if you disregard the weird thing that comes to mind when you hear it

[minor cargo]

At first, it sounds okay (ignoring the lewd jokes you might make), but then I go "Wait, so does the glory belong to the cavern?" And then I'm stuck thinking about that haha.

How about some of these?

• Cavern of Glory/Glories
• Caves of Glory/Glories
• Labyrinth of Loot
• The Infinite Chambers of Unfound Glory
• [NPC name]'s Pride / Folly

[still plover]

Caverns of Glory, where the brave go to die young.

[last dagger]

hey what's up?

[rugged stone]

hey guys

[daring stump]

Great bud! Just was a part of great session, like first ever session I was part of.. and am having a great day so far, what about you?

[last dagger]

That’s awesome to hear, First sessions always feel special glad it went so well for you. I’m having a pretty good day too, even better now hearing your energy. 😊 Hope the momentum keeps going and the rest of your day is just as great.

[glacial cliff]

How would a fighter subclass that is like a celestial warlock work? Instead of getting to pick your spells. It comes with pre selected thematic spells that deal damage or have a savings throw depending on your strength or dex modifier?

[daring stump]

I am glad to hear that, also that's nice of you to be that positive, I appreciate that, also for sure it felt good and it might even get me throughout whole week(also it's the starting of the week, so we rollin' great)

[glacial cliff]

Actually. Where can I find someone to help me make a subclass for fighter?

[glacial fog]

So is it normal for people to be talking about visuals ? Im new here and im not getting it I've made a couple premade characters for me and my partner to use for a game (through discord) I dont see the need for visuals am I missing something here

[harsh hinge]

You could try #homebrew or look in the likes of Reddit's r/DnDHomebrew!

[halcyon forum]

you mean character art? thats optional

[daring stump]

I am sorry, I would like to help but I myself am Just a new lad, but may I suggest #character-discussion ? I think it is kinda related to that, and the reason I am suggesting it is cause I know that there are fellas that love to help with those kinda things.

[rough basalt]

Just anything to mark a token on a map can be fine for most people that use them

[last dagger]

Haha that’s the best kind of start to the week! I’m really glad it gave you that boost moments like that can seriously carry your mood for days. And you’re right starting the week on such a positive note means you’re already rolling strong. Hope the good vibes keep stacking up and the whole week turns out just as solid

[glacial fog]

Ok thanks guys

[rough basalt]

Tonight I kill another pc, I can feel it

[glacial cliff]

Thank you!

[rough basalt]

it'll be the 2nd random encounter, Ancient White Dragon, max damage breath attack

[daring stump]

I am sure it probably will, I appreciate that and I hope pretty much the same for you, and you are right when you mentioned I am already rolling strong, it's like I am rollin' nat 20s if I am being honest 😂!

[vale sage]

Heyy guyss

[daring stump]

Greetings fella!

[vale sage]

How r u broo

[vale sage]

Can you see my gif in my profile picture

[glacial pulsar]

Is there a feat to feature that makes thrown weapons good?

[daring stump]

I was just mentioning that I am crushing tyfa tho, wbu?

[vale sage]

Just chilling

[daring stump]

Yeah..? What about it?

[daring stump]

Cool

[exotic abyss]

We scared the snake away. I rolled high on chromatic orb and it got scared

[vale sage]

Nothing just making sure that if it's visible or not

[daring stump]

It does

[last dagger]

Haha rollin’ nat 20s already love that, 😂 Keep that streak going you’re definitely on a lucky run. Hope the crits keep coming all week.

[exotic abyss]

The orb was flavoured as an acid frog that jumped onto the snake and fused with it, melting its skin off

Just wanted to put that out 'ere

[daring stump]

It probably will, thanks.

[fair osprey]

Does anyone wanna play dnd with me and and a friend-we’re both newbies😭

[gusty dust]

I have a question I know a little about DnD. My wife is blind but would like to play is there anything visual that would give her issues?

[fair summit]

Lot of text in the abilities / spells (I'm not familiar enough with how much that affects someone unable to see, and if there are readers or memorization required) but otherwise should be good. Theater of the mind is a common way to play!

[harsh hinge]

Ditto Saragon. You don't need maps for combat, but I would think the character sheet might present a challenge.

[gusty dust]

Like I said I know a little that was one of my thoughts

I think her screen reader would do an okay job at that

She got through university so I think she can do this she is just nervous

[inner silo]

what do you think of the faceless background?

[harsh hinge]

Not an unusual reaction! Playing pretend can be viewed as childish, and lots of people have lost the habit of it by the time they're adults. But it can also be really rewarding if you're both willing to try.

[uncut zenith]

Nothing special imo

[inner silo]

by that you mean its aight?

[uncut zenith]

By that I mean I forget it even exists, so it’s not memorable enough for me personally

[gusty dust]

Thank you guys for the info. I totally agree that playing pretend is seen as childish… even if that’s true kids are good at having fun.
I’ll try to get her to join here see if we can find a group from there

[inner silo]

tbh makes sense

its very specific

[uncut zenith]

Yeah it’s the superhero background

[inner silo]

essentially

[uncut zenith]

Which is a little too niche for me to personally allow as a default option

[inner silo]

im thinking of making a yuan ti who likes helping people but adopts a different persona for it because noone really likes or trusts yuan ti

[inner silo]

wdym by default option?

[uncut zenith]

As in I don’t allow it in all of my campaigns

[inner silo]

dam

sounds a bit extreme

but maybe its hard to work with

[errant crag]

What book is this faceless background from

[uncut zenith]

I just don’t like it cuz in my experience, when someone wants to play a “superhero”, they end up wanted to be the main character of the campaign

[uncut zenith]

Descent into Avernus

[errant crag]

Ah

[uncut zenith]

Faceless was explicitly designed to play high fantasy Batman in high fantasy Gotham

[inner silo]

its not necessarily a super hero

[uncut zenith]

They’re literally written as a masked vigilante

[inner silo]

i think i read it wrong the first time, youre right

[errant crag]

It's pretty much the "I adventure under an alter ego and nobody can know my secret identity"

So is superhero-esque in that sense

[strong ivy]

Hello

[strong ivy]

Bruh im literally doing a genre cross over of that XD

Superhero crossed over with Adventure Fantasy

[paper portal]

personally i dont see the point in playing a character thats so similar to my real life /silly

[lavish flame]

Agreed tbh. I wish there were more default Backgrounds (and hope that more show up in future PHB 2 and 3 books) but Faceless does not need to be default. Folk Hero works fine for that sort of Background imo.

[strong ivy]

Oh?

[stray sage]

How would you imagine a grove for a circle of desert Druids?

[livid owl]

An oasis

[lavish flame]

Mobile, atop the back of a Sphinx or 2

[errant crag]

An oasis concealed by a mirage

[proper forum]

Our characters are about to get arrested. Yay...

And it's the cleric's fault. Why did I follow the cleric? My character doesn't even like the cleric.

[rugged hawk]

Time to use your item of boss summon and doom everyone

[proper forum]

Maybe in the next session my character will just admit that the cleric killed the woman, which he really did. She genuinely wouldn't care if the cleric was arrested or not. Maybe only because wouldn't have someone to heal her anymore.

[rugged hawk]

With this treasure I summon...!

[proper forum]

Alternative plan: I summon my daddy (patron)

[raw crypt]

if you get arrested, do you get a phone call

[rugged hawk]

Whatever option dooms the local town is your best spiteful option

[proper forum]

Buddy it's called a message spell

[rugged hawk]

"Go ahead, strike me down. The moment you do, this enemy summoning goes from 'my' problem to 'everyone's' problem."

[proper forum]

...Is what I would say, if my patron wasn't trapped in a volcano and sent ME to set him free

[undone rain]

The cleric? Are they evil or smth

[half igloo]

this may also be a case of inconsistent character building

thats one way to ruin the session for everyone

[proper forum]

Context. We see one of the evil criminals we were fighting earlier appear on the street. Cleric follows her, knowing full well that it's a trap. I shouldn't have followed her, I did it anyway. So there we are, trying to kill her, which was near impossible because she kept spamming misty step. I eventually corner her and am about to capture her, she misty steps again and we see the leader of the evil criminals hugging her. Without hesitation the cleric immediately tries to kill the criminal leader using moonbeam. The criminal leader wasn't even there, it was an illusion, which the moonbeam cleared, revealing who was actually there: the woman who was previously missing. And the cleric just killed. With moonbeam.

[undone rain]

Oh good lord

[proper forum]

In other words, this was a trap and he went straight into it despite knowing that it's a trap

[undone rain]

Dont take this the wrong way but thats kind of rude of him

[proper forum]

I don't even care next session I'm betraying him and confessing his crime and getting him arrested if that means I get off free

I said villain arc now I mean it

[fathom burrow]

Jfc, the amount of JJK and one piece games. 🫩

[proper forum]

Brother this is a D&D server

[fathom burrow]

Exactly

[proper forum]

I feel like I'm reading gibberish

[fathom burrow]

Oh, JJK and One Piece are Animes.

Hope that helped.

[proper forum]

Yes I know what they are but the sentence... idk I don't understand

[undone rain]

I also like horseshoe crabs

[fathom burrow]

Best wishes, find an English dictionary?

[proper forum]

What does jfc mean

That's what's confusing me

[undone rain]

Dont think they can say it without automod blockin

[proper forum]

Oh I get it now

Oh they see too many D&D games based on these animes

Yeah I feel stupid now. How did I not notice.

[fathom burrow]

Yes. Also ya I walked right into an automute rofl

[proper forum]

FYI a friend planned on starting a campaign based on the latter. That never happened.

[blazing wind]

one of my Homebrew bosses has an ability where they can mutate and become immune to the last attack type they had used on them, they can only do it three times though

is this op?

[fathom burrow]

Don’t worry there will be millions more

[proper forum]

To me it sounds like yes

[blazing wind]

does the fact it's a lategame boss change that?

[proper forum]

I'm not exactly sad about it

[proper forum]

Yes it does. A lot.

[fathom burrow]

Isekais. JJK. One Piece. All a dime a dozen.

[undone rain]

Ive definetly seen a few one piece ones

[wary basin]

borgs from startreck

[proper forum]

To be real with you I've never seen a single JJK D&D campaign. But I've seen a million Berserk ones.

[blazing wind]

it's based of the Heirophant Bio-titan from Warhammer 40k

[wary basin]

honestly i like the concept of only one attack per damage type is a fun one

[tawdry sentinel]

Not really. Your martials are probably worst affected but really they probably have access to at least 2 damage types.

[proper forum]

Neuron activated

[blazing wind]

is your name a 40K reference? Sanguinius?

[proper forum]

Correct

[blazing wind]

primarch of my favourite legion

[wary basin]

i would say make an enemy or few and playtest against yourself, make a character that has options of many elements and one that has only a few, and see how long youre able to last

[tawdry sentinel]

I think you could go first hit resistance, second hit immunity, on basically every damage type and it still be fine.

[hollow estuary]

JJK narrator: Surge casting, A Advanced arcane technique where the User uses action surge to channel two spells on one turn, pushing past the normal limits of arcane casting.

No one has ben able to consistently pull off a surge cast more then once a day... with the exception of Elminster aumar, of Course.

[proper forum]

If you don't have a caster in your party they basically have no way of dealing with him since they probably only have access to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning

[blazing wind]

i have a spell caster

[proper forum]

Only one?

[blazing wind]

it's a two people party

[wary basin]

for a boss enemy, my first thought would let a damage type be available until the bosses turn begins, then it becomes immune to that type for the rest of the battle. not limited on how many times you can do it

[blazing wind]

that's what it is

it can do that three times

[proper forum]

Yeah with this information the enemy is definitely OP. I don't know if two people can have access to this many types of damage.

[wary basin]

in that case with only two players, give the players an opportunity to fight a weak enemy with the same abilities and get familiar with that mechanic, that way they are in the mindset of how to kill that thing

[rough basalt]

Dudes making Mahoraga

[blazing wind]

i might have to, it's in a faction of hive-mind-ish creatures so it wouldn't be wierd

[wary basin]

as a failsafe, try to also allow for an opportunity to remove an immunity if you attack the enemy just right

you cut a wire on their armor, you land a crit, you deal over a certain damage threshold, etc. and it resets or removes an immunity

[blazing wind]

the way they will kill it is with a giant gun that does like every type of attack damage and insane amount of damage

[proper forum]

You didn't think this through did you?

[blazing wind]

not really it's my first time

[rough basalt]

Is this just Mahoraga man

[blazing wind]

hence i'm here asking about it

[proper forum]

To me this sounds like a very badly made deus ex machina

[blazing wind]

no, it's based of a heirophant Bio-titan for warhammer

[wary basin]

to those not in the know, what may that be?

[tawdry sentinel]

The first adventure in Heliana's guide to monster hunting has oozes with basically this exact mechanic and it's really not that much of a problem.

They have it so it remembers the last X damage types, and if you go over X it forgets the oldest.

Bigger ooze has a bigger number of things it can remember.

[rough basalt]

That reminds me. I'm gonna make Big Raga as a boss at some point

[blazing wind]

giant alien bug that has two giant poison + acid cannons that is connected to a hive-mind of a nearly unlimited amount of smaller alien bugs that are eternally hungry hunting for more biomass for more growth

[proper forum]

Like "ohh they'll just use this really cool and overpowered weapon to kill the really big and overpowered evemy". But then this feels... scripted. Like the players are just following pre-determined story beats instead of actually playing thr game.

You're making it seem like their choices don't matter.

[blazing wind]

oh

[proper forum]

Actually, more like: you're making it feel like they didn't really defeat the boss. The last-minute plot device did.

[blazing wind]

so how do i fix this?

[wary basin]

allow them to fight it and give them the opportunity to access multiple damage types

[proper forum]

You remove the overpowered weapon, make it immune to only one damage type at a time with no overlap, and have them defeat the enemy themselves with their own abilities.

[minor cargo]

I think what will really level up your encounter is telegraphing. Basically you need to teach the mechanics to your players.

You know how Mario levels kind of introduce new enemies and slowly make it more complicated? Like first here’s a platform that needs a special jump. Then there’s the same platform but with spikes. Then it’s spikes plus an enemy. And so on!

[blazing wind]

is this better gains one immunity and switches what it is based on the most common attack type used agaisnt it

[proper forum]

Yes that's better

[blazing wind]

i'm thinking bout keeping the giant gun but changing it a bit to be optional to use?

like it's one shot before the generators are fried or something?

[wary basin]

fight one small enemy and teach mechanics --> fight a few at a time to understand when to switch things up --> introduce reversal mechanic that removes immunities and let them test it out to get the hang of it --> throw in a puzzle with the damage type restriction --> boss fight thats tougher and harder

[modern knoll]

people ask how can digital dice be cocked? simple, if it's a number I don't like, it's clearly cocked

[proper forum]

Yes, and don't guide them to it. Just have it be in a specific place abd if they happen to see it describe it to them. Think of it as an optional Easter egg rather than a feature.

[blazing wind]

yea that's the plan, it'll be something like a vantage point they can go to get a better shot of it happens to have it in sight?

so it can be missed but also spotted

[proper forum]

Yes, but only if they get up there willingly

[glad ferry]

Whats the best way to hide useful items even if they're simple in looks, yet still have more use. Its in a lawless town that's open to everything. Theres no need for a blackmarkwt there. Anything and everything is buyable and sellable

[blazing wind]

the setting is a giant planetary war that the PCs got dragged into

[agile hemlock]

I am starting a new campaign after a looooong time not doing one

A swashbuckler-semi-steampunk-chanbara-spaghetti Western world

With capital-H Heaven itself looking like 1950s New York City and Hell lookin like Las Vegas

Basically:

gun

[lavish flame]

I'm not exactly certain what you're asking, usually the best way to hide a useful item is by putting it into a container of some kind, like a bag or box.

If you want it to be protected from Divination spells, make that bag/box lined with lead on the inside and it usually can't be magically spied upon.

[glad ferry]

Thats good to know. Its just gonna be having various shops due to allowing anything in the town

Im wanting to place some magical special items there. Just been looking for how to do so. I was also thinking of having a cheap bag of holding with a information card. Its a mimic that can hold a lot of space though needs to be fed its favorite food or it will eat items they stored in it. If its empty then it can turn on the players to eat them or anything around until its satisfied

[uneven coyote]

Wow. No voice channel on this server? I know us gamers have the stereotype of being antisocial but...

[stiff rock]

i can't really think of many things in this server that require voice

[glad ferry]

Most of it is throwing around ideas anyways. Easier to be able to read it this way for figuring out questions and replys

[errant crag]

They don't really want people actually running games on this server, preferring people to find games on this server than run them here

[uneven coyote]

I just wanted to bs about the game, guess I'll look elsewhere

[mighty wharf]

Normally, hidden items would be assumed to be valuable, but in that setting everyone would hide everything. But something hidden and not pillaged that's hidden EXTREMELY well would definitely tell me "this item is valuable/useful". If it was emphatically hidden, but mechanically easy to find would be a really good way to tell players "hey, this is the shit"

[lavish flame]

There used to be a VC, it was unmoderatable and usually devolved into degeneracy quickly. They tried a VC which a Moderator could open and the vc would be accessible for as long as a Mod was in it. That also didn't work out.

[minor cargo]

There used to, but unfortunately the team doesn't really have the resources to moderate it... Like folks can just turn on their camera and show anything and unless you have a mod right there, there's not much you can do to stop it.

[errant crag]

Especially with a server as big as this

[dapper wigeon]

What do yall feel about as a druid going 3 levels into rogue?

[lavish flame]

rapidly approaching 300,000 ppl, yeah

[agile hemlock]

from what perspective?

[minor cargo]

I do think "office hours" were pretty cool. But yeah, it didn't really work out.

[lavish flame]

I feel "why?" about it

[errant crag]

Depends why you're doing it and when you're doing it

[dapper wigeon]

stealthy star druid would be cool for DOTMM

[agile hemlock]

Mechanically? Narratively?

[dapper wigeon]

mainly mechanically

[hollow estuary]

What subclass? (This matters alot)

[lavish flame]

Whats the goal for you doing this, and is it a stronger goal than not doing this and just being a Druid

[dapper wigeon]

stars

[hollow estuary]

For rogue

[mighty wharf]

Like for example, the lead box idea from earlier, except it's buried in the ground, and marked by a common flower. Except to the trained eye, that common flower is actually a copycat species of flower that is super rare and not native to the area, cueing to your players that something is there. Have the player with the highest Nature check roll Nature as if it's a perception check, to see if they recognize the flower.

[agile hemlock]

Well... I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I would say that Ranger synergizes better, and Ranger alone is sort of a way to have the stealth and some druidic powers

[rugged hawk]

Multiclassing gets the foreverbox. Rocks fall, PC dies, do not pass BBEG /s

[lavish flame]

Stealth is a skill, just get Proficiency or grab Skill Expert (Feat) to get Expertise in Stealth

[dapper wigeon]

oh, maybe assassin?

[errant crag]

Killing a PC over multiclassing would be wild

[agile hemlock]

Assassin isn't that great, especially if you mean 2014 5e

[dapper wigeon]

it would be 2024

[hollow estuary]

Swashbuckler would work.

Charging into enemies as a bear to swashbuckle them with claws and get sneak attack?

[rugged hawk]

Honestly would depend on the multiclass. Someone wanna stack Pally, Sorc, and Lock, they've got it coming. /s

[hollow estuary]

Steady aim throw rocks

[errant crag]

No it's not, you don't kill a PC over the options they take if you don't want them to take them then you don't let them

[rugged hawk]

Yes, I know. That's why I was being sarcastic.

[lavish flame]

Wild Shape attacks aren't weapons with the Finesse or Ranged property, so they won't proc Sneak Attack

[agile hemlock]

The tone indicator /s was there

[hollow estuary]

Ah your right.

[agile hemlock]

I always get it confused with /srs because usually no one indicates that

[errant crag]

Multiclassing is best done when you've built the character with the intention of them multiclassing, it tends to kind of fall short when you're doing it with a "You know I think I'll start dipping into another class" as you're levelling up sort of approach. A bad multiclass can really hurt a character.

[agile hemlock]

It's assumed that you are straightforward unless you use a tone indicator

[dapper wigeon]

I havent made the character yet

[rugged hawk]

I typically go for class capstones, so multi isn't an option unless there's no chance of reaching the capstone

And with subclasses now at level 3, you're losing a lot to multi for a subclass bonus

[errant crag]

I don't think I've ever played in a game where we were expected to go to max level, most games I'm in are campaigns that end before 20.

[dapper wigeon]

Its DOTMM so level 20

[lavish flame]

This. A post-hoc multiclass can really ruin a character's adventuring ability relative to their friends. While your party's Wizard is disintegrating stuff, you might just be mediocre at being a Fighter and Sorcerer.

[agile hemlock]

I remember I had a friend who DMed and basically tried to do Mythic levels a la Pathfinder by... allowing you to go up to level 40.

(granted, it never mattered because the games died)

(also, not how Mythic works in PF)

[rugged hawk]

The trick is to Dual Class, not multi Take some fighter for extra attacks, then go sorc or mage

[errant crag]

I made a character that is an Artificer/Cleric multiclass. I can get away with this because the character was made with this intention and expectation, if I just decided to start putting levels in Cleric on my Artificer as I was levelling up he would be a much worse off character.

[errant crag]

There is no dual classing in 5e.

[hollow estuary]

Vengeance paladin and swords bard is a really great multiclass

Conjure Minor Elementals + Nick Weapons + Smite = Your DM Will Cry

[lavish flame]

The real trick is playing Exalted

wait no, Exalted is a different game. I'm thinking of Gestalt

[rugged hawk]

This is why 5e is awful sometimes

[agile hemlock]

I hate to say it, but PF2 does dual-classing as an optional rule. It's usually used when your party is small

[rugged hawk]

Also, we need ECLs and favored classes to make a return for all these nonstandard player races

[barren lodge]

I have a question is it ok not to take dnd seriously and play it from time to time?

[lavish flame]

nah I'm good lmao

I don't want to adjust XP calculations due to my species choice tbh

[idle oar]

That's fine. D&D is a game. Engage with it as much or as little as you want.

[agile hemlock]

Define "not take D&D seriously," because there's a difference between knowing it's just a game and... not respecting the gravity or tone of a game simply because you can't get invested.

[rugged hawk]

You'll take ur ECL +3 and like it, and be level 1 for eight sessions /s

[barren lodge]

First one

[agile hemlock]

Okay, then yeah

[lavish flame]

If you aren't fighting real hobgoblins, what are you even doing

Nah, the game is a game. You're having board game night with your friends, don't lose sight of that.

[barren lodge]

I personally feel like you can play how ever you want like making custom classes like one for all or make a goofy ass race like sayian

[errant crag]

If the rest of your table agrees then yeah you can

[rugged hawk]

Actually, now I'm curious what the ECL would be if you add Wings to a featherkin

Probably depends on whether it's just a Jump bonus or actual Flight

[minor cargo]

Haha I did a charity stream where we played just animals. It was 5E, but we hand waved everything. I played a “halfing” but I was actually a rat (Dwayne The Rat Johnson). Another player was a “tiefling” but again, was just an animal: Megan Fox (a fox). Ratalie Portman and Keanu Beaves were also played.

We played an episode of The Ratchelor and we all knew that even though it was 5E on the box, we absolutely were NOT playing D&D haha. And it was great.

[lavish flame]

What Pink said is the key thing. You can't use your style of play to yuck someone else's yum. If D&D is a silly time to have fun with your friends, avoid joining a table of people that want to live and breathe as their characters do. You'll have a terrible time listening to Accounting Jimmy wax poetic about his character's lineage or whatever. The other players will have a terrible time listening to your character ask to purchase red bulls or whatever.

[mighty wharf]

I enjoy ending encounters. I use things like Hypnotic Pattern, Web, and Suggestion. I will be able to microwave in a few levels. I eventually want to take the Plant Growth+Fear combo to really break combats. I've been criticized for having the "most boring" way of playing.

Not by my party members, but by other users here

My DM hates me, but loves me as a player because I always find some neat broken spell combo that just completely breaks his encounters.

One of my eventual goals is to make a Glyph of Warding book bomb, carried in a bag of holding, and detonated by pulling the book out with Mage Hand. How I will resist the blast of what will potentially be a magic nuke? Rope trick.

But my next plan is to turn the halfling fighter into a T-rex, so they can roar their halfling battle cry at T-rex volume.

[errant crag]

Struggling to think of what official 5e adventure I wanna run my starter set game into

I really need something that's not going to drive me crazy with prep

[stiff rock]

which starter set?

borderlands or stormwreck isle?

[errant crag]

I'm running the Stranger Things Hellfire Club starter set

[lavish flame]

what level does it end at roughly?

[errant crag]

It ends at level 3 and with how that set ends I can pretty feasibly drop them into any official setting on the material plane

[stiff rock]

i'm not actually familiar with what's in the hellfire club set, but phandelver is a popular pick for starter campaigns

[errant crag]

Phandelver is a starter set adventure

[stiff rock]

it's a campaign

[errant crag]

I can't run a starter set into another starter set why does everybody keep suggesting this to me

Do you mean Phandelver and Below?

[stiff rock]

lost mines of phandelver isn't a starter set

it's a campaign

[errant crag]

It's a level 1 to 5 adventure my players are going to be level 3 at the end of this one

[stiff rock]

you can always tweak the campaign's difficulty - i don't know any official modules that begin at level 3

[craggy summit]

I was just about to say that

You could still run phandelver at level 3 and adjust the difficulty accordingly

[stiff rock]

if you're looking to go straight from finishing hellfire club into something else, you'll have a bit of work to do on your part

[reef tundra]

Princes of the Apocalypse starts at level 3 iirc, but I'm not entirely sure. I heard that there was a min-adventure in the module for starting at level 1, but I don't remember it fully

[rough basalt]

I'm liking how my homebrew artifacts are coming along

[stiff rock]

if you just want general recommendations; phandelver, tyranny of dragons and curse of strahd are all good. curse of strahd is prep heavy though

[errant crag]

I'm not doing Lost Mine of Phandelver, I'm not gonna have my players be level 3 for the last two adventures of the Hellfire Club set and then have them be level 3 until they near the end of Phandelver because that would be so many sessions without levelling up

[rough basalt]

They're evolving items like ones from Wildemount and go from Rare equal to Legendary equal.

[reef tundra]

Ooooh I loved those

[stiff rock]

alternatively, level them up as phandelver would suggest bu tjust tweak the difficulty so they finish at level 7-8 rather than 5

[errant crag]

Adjusting a 1-5 adventure to 4-8 would be a lot more extra work than I'd like to do, I'd prefer an adventure I don't need to make major adjustments to like that.

[errant crag]

This one has been on my radar but I hear it has a lot of overworld exploration travel that makes it a drag early on

[reef tundra]

Oh it definitely does. I mean, I don't consider it a drag but it is a slow burn

[rough basalt]

One thing I'm doing for the Goddess of the Underworlds one is in its final form, you can cast True Resurrection for free once in your whole life without repercussions (I have certain revive rules and stuff) basically normal Resurrection spells will make you marked by her followers to be "returned to the cycle" but with this, they're free from that.

[stiff rock]

tyranny of dragons can be started from like almost any point. i can imagine it wouldn't be too much work to have your players begin the campaign at chapter 4 rather than 1. i can't think of much your players will miss starting later

[rough basalt]

Honestly starting ToD later is just a better idea

[stiff rock]

greenest is one of my favourite bits, but yeah it makes sense to just come in at any point

[errant crag]

I'll look into PotA and ToD

I wanted to run Tomb of Annihilation but it apparently takes a whole lot of prep and is a bit of a headache to run

[idle oar]

I do not think PotA is a good adventure - way to messy and a lot of moving back and forth between locations.

[errant crag]

I've heard others say the same

[idle oar]

Wasn't impressed with what I read and chose to run a different adventure instead.

[autumn cloak]

boys im playing a 5e dnd campaign and each session i level up. im playing an echo knight and after crunching some numbers i found out that sometimes using the shove special attack paired with GWM is more convenient than just doing a normal attack (especially with echo knight cause u got even more attacks). what do you think?

[stiff rock]

#optimization might be better if you're discussing damage potential

[autumn cloak]

oh thx

[stiff rock]

but i have no idea how echo knight works

[autumn cloak]

alr

[errant crag]

Anyone know where I can find some reviews of official adventures?

[stiff rock]

"[name of adventure] review" on youtube or google

[errant crag]

I guess

[stiff rock]

or ask folks here

[idle oar]

Could also check #dm-discussion to see what other DMs think in general terms. For more specific details, you could try and see what folks say in#1029833015423143957.

[rough basalt]

ToAs difficulty mainly lies on what kinda players you have imo

[stiff rock]

i've DM'ed through tyranny of dragons so i can give a bit of a review if needed

[rough basalt]

If you got players who can push a narrative themselves and make their own fun, its pretty easy to run compared to other modules

If you got players who need "railroaded", yeah get ready to work your butt off

[errant crag]

So far my players seem to have no problem following the plot of the adventure on the merit of it being the plot of the adventure

But that may change once things open up into more of a campaign

[rough basalt]

ToA is a very fun sandbox to just look to for inspiration as well

One of my favorite lore things they put in was the Dinosaur racing that people bet on like Horse racing in Port Nyanzaru

"Alright i got 10gp on the young t rex"

||its got mechanics for betting and racing too||

[errant crag]

ToA also has advice for starting at a higher level, such as starting at 5. I think it'll be easier for my players to digest if I have them jump from 3 to 5 after the starter set adventures rather than keep them at level 3 until the point that the adventure would normally level them up to 4.

[rough basalt]

Ye its pretty easy to bring in higher level adventurers

The Chult Jungle is basically like an adventurers gathering spot even without the plot pieces.

[lavish flame]

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is normally a 1-5 but trust, it can go to level 8 and be fine. I might even suggest it'll be better at a slightly higher level

[rough basalt]

i actually have a collection of fanmade optional maps for ToA off dmsguild i wanna use again someday

My ToA game was kinda miserable cause I didnt run it the best and the players wouldnt take any hooks

[errant crag]

Another big element of this is that this game is ran in person with 3 hour sessions and I don't know how well (or unwell) ToA would work with that

[rough basalt]

I don't understand

[stiff rock]

3 hours is like the average game time

my waterdeep: dragon heist campaign suffers with one hour weekly slots

[errant crag]

I don't even get out of bed for a 1 hour D&D session

[limber trail]

One hour slots are rough

I've had some particularly elaborate combats that wouldn't resolve in a single session

[stiff rock]

we play over a lunch break between classes so it usually is less than an hour but we've made it shockingly far

just got into chapter 3 where ||everything literally just blows up||

[limber trail]

ah yeah that makes sense

[errant crag]

One of my players has said he would like to play in a Wild Beyond the Witchlight game

How is that adventure?

[limber trail]

I've heard good things from those who manae to really buy into it, especially players who are more into a combat-light game, but someone expecting a crunchier dungeon crawl type game could be left wanting

[stiff rock]

yeah lol

[errant crag]

I am a crunchy dungeon crawl style of DM

[stiff rock]

i've tried to do dungeon crawls but suck at making them

[errant crag]

They're the only part of D&D that I'm good at making myself

[idle oar]

Please keep any adventure spoilers to #1029833015423143957

[mighty wharf]

I will not be going anywhere near you or your dungeons without a ten foot pole

[limber trail]

Wild Beyond the Witchlight seems really cool and if I were more into running modules it'd be pretty high on my to-do list, but also I just prefer homebrew adventures

[errant crag]

Good idea

It might save your life

[ripe nimbus]

doesn’t ToA not have that many POIs?

[stiff rock]

i still really wanna get into a game as a player but i'm luckless

cursed to DM

[limber trail]

Yeah it takes some time & patience

[stiff rock]

it's really tough to know where to look in terms of physical games lol

my lgs runs weekly oneshots that i attend but i'd love to get into a full length campaign

[rough basalt]

it has a sizeable amount. Enough for the sandboxes size imo

[ripe nimbus]

hmm

[rough basalt]

But the POIs are very simple for the most part

[ripe nimbus]

how big are the hexes again

[rough basalt]

3 miles? iirc

[ripe nimbus]

oh

i thought they were bigger

[mighty wharf]

What is a Poi

[ripe nimbus]

generally for 3mi hexes i think a an obvious point of interest and a hidden point of interest every 4 hexes is the sweet spot for the travel to be interesting

[mighty wharf]

Person of interest?

[ripe nimbus]

point of interest

[mighty wharf]

Ohhhh

[gloomy oyster]

Very good. Doing a pre sequel one shot in between the last campaign and the current campaign. And my evil druid retired to a farm.(Character from previous campaign)

[fossil hollow]

Good series

[gloomy oyster]

Probably my first TTRPG character to have an actual goal and backstory other than just adventure and exist

[violet basin]

I love my owlin

Umbran Dusk-Wing exists.

My DM's and their carefully laid plans: explatives.

[errant crag]

My players seem to not want something like Tomb of Annihilation or Dungeon of the Mad Mage that is very lethal/dangerous. Which is understandable, it would be unfortunate for them to get their characters through the starter set and look forward to playing them only to die early on in ToA from a trap or something of the sort.