dnd-discussion

[glad ferry]

A later on fun beginning to start a new chapter is an elderbrain dragon breaths its breath on the town and now mindflauers are left in the civilians places

[rough basalt]

So you can teach players a good lesson.

[short brook]

have y'all seen the mini mind flayers they're so funny

[umbral girder]

Well it's multiattack doesn't stun

Its only the Mind Blast that stuns

The arcane tentacles instead teleport the person they hit

[severe rampart]

Sora, I'm trying to remember something you said, giving bosses Domain Expansions(?)

[rough basalt]

Ah I see.
You had wotc errata it in the minute it took me to check.

Well played.

[glad ferry]

Clorota

[umbral girder]

Let me check if my first printing of the MM had it

[rough basalt]

Guess I got it mixed with regular flayer.

Probably always been teleport and misremembered

[umbral girder]

Ah the old one did stun but didn't have multiattack

[glad ferry]

A colony of mindflayers without an elder brain would be an interesting concept

[rough basalt]

They exist

[umbral girder]

They grow a new elder brain usually

[short brook]

Do you guys have a favorite out of your players

[fossil hollow]

realizing im about to run 8 campaigns

[short brook]

8???

[rough basalt]

Not in particular.

I do favor players who just take hooks I throw at them tho.

[fossil hollow]

we dont talk about the f word when it comes to players

[rough basalt]

Nothing I hate more than players who refuse to interact with the game.

[short brook]

Hehe

[severe rampart]

wait what

[short brook]

Depends on how wide the hooks are, sometimes I feel a little dense

[glad ferry]

The lesson that happened is the 2 players ended up coincidentally dying due to events that weren't planned

[umbral girder]

frankenstein

[rough basalt]

Unarmed halfling man being beaten to death by a thug in broad daylight in front of his family

[short brook]

Thats crazy work.

In front of his family 😭

[rough basalt]

Players said "it's probably part of their culture"

[woven flint]

It's totally me

[rough basalt]

And let him get beat to death.

[woven flint]

I'm the favorite

[short brook]

Thats actually kind of nuts, are they heroic adventurers??

[severe rampart]

Not really, I appreciate them all equally, I divided my appreciation into 5 quadrants, each quadrant has 20 appreciation points, if one of them ever gets 100 appreciation points, I might toss them a magic item /j

[rough basalt]

The first day they were in the city half of them immediately went to their rooms around noon and wouldn't leave till next morning either.

[fossil hollow]

• Titanic Upheaval
• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
• Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
• Waterdeep Legends Menaces
• Tales of Alltherisheim
• Terrors of Icewind Dale (potentially)
• Orien Trails

[rough basalt]

No they weren't adventurers.

[fossil hollow]

wait im missing one

[glad ferry]

Let's just say 3 nat 1s led to them being dragged to hell. Only one made it out by sheer luck of a nat20 and help from a close companion and their relationship to them

[crimson gulch]

Lol menaces

[rough basalt]

They were npcs.

[fossil hollow]

oh no, just 7 campaigns

[feral fulcrum]

They sound like Pod People.

[rough basalt]

They'd only do stuff if I actually forced them.

[short brook]

Pod people is a funny term

[fossil hollow]

they chose to be menaces in the first session

[woven flint]

Waterdeep Menaces is probably the best named campaign you have tbh lol

[severe rampart]

How? 😭

[rough basalt]

And any time they faced any difficulty they groaned and sighed.

[glad ferry]

When they dont do stuff it only it's the difficulty

[woven flint]

THEY did
I was tryna be a fella

[fossil hollow]

half of them are modules

[short brook]

That sounds not fun, for the dm at all. I'm sorry for your loss

[glad ferry]

Just throw something at them that forces them to do stuff or realize they have to

[woven flint]

I'm lopped in with the menaces

[fossil hollow]

i could not run more than 3 homebrew campaigns i thinks

[rough basalt]

Yep that's when I added "won't do anything" to my boot list

[short brook]

Man if I saw a person get beat at least throw a rock or something and run

[severe rampart]

or perhaps, the menaces are trapped with you

[rough basalt]

And also "angry when dm doesn't dm the way I do or my other dms do"

[woven flint]

Sora, I'm so mad!1!!111!!!1
Why don't you dm like
MATT MERCER!?!1!?1! /joking

[short brook]

I'm lucky to say i haven't had a bad dm, or I have low expectations

[severe rampart]

quite lucky

I have had some... not so fun DMs

[rough basalt]

I've had quite a few

Honestly have had few DMs I could have fun with.

[short brook]

Yeah, i'm in a home game with a couple friends and it's a little rail-roady but I can't blame the guy because he hasn't DMed in years

[rough basalt]

Ti and Nealen being two of the few.

[short brook]

It's still fun at the end of the day as well, which is what matters

[fossil hollow]

awww

[rough basalt]

A lot of my DMs would just have royally bad homebrew that made the game either very funny or very miserable.

[severe rampart]

Had some very amazing DMs as well, being in their games was inspiring, amazing quality and kept me engaged all throughout it

[rough basalt]

There were the DMs that would never run sessions whether that was if 1 person cancelled they wouldn't run or they would "not have enough time to prep" for several weeks in a row.

That 1 person cancelled one was egregious cause it was a 6 PC party, and the cancellers would cancel to watch Dim20

[severe rampart]

shudders yeesh...

[umbral girder]

It isn’t hard to make a session in 30 minutes

[short brook]

Thats... insane

You have a game right in front of you man, play the game

[severe rampart]

They just love the idea of playing DnD, not actually playing it

[rough basalt]

I could tell the DM didn't wanna cancel, but didn't have the backbone to just run regardless.

[umbral girder]

Wouldn’t be that hard to read the page of a monster than make an adventure off of it

[rough basalt]

So I never held it against her. Just really didn't like the people canceling playing DnD to watch DnD they could watch later.

[short brook]

the episode is not going anywhere, why 😭

[rough basalt]

Guess the game was there to pass the time until a new season or something

Game ended cause DMs schedule got changed and nothing else worked cause "I watch other liveplays"

[short brook]

I don't consider myself an amazing player, but you gotta at least put some effort. The DM has done oodles of legwork for you to enjoy yourself. It's not hard to engage with what's being told

[glad ferry]

What I've learned from the player side as well as seeing from dm perspective. The dice, and characters choices decide how everytbing goes

[rough basalt]

My take is it depends on the game.

Linear games you can afford to just hop on the minecart and enjoy the ride.

[short brook]

Linear games are their own brand of fun. I struggle at sandbox-ish games

[rough basalt]

But Sandbox games, players need to be much more engaging.

[glad ferry]

I love the sandbox games

[rough basalt]

Realistically the best way for a Sandbox game to succeed is to have at least one player who will take the initiative

[short brook]

I'd love to try my hand at another sandbox game, but I haven't gotten the chance

[rough basalt]

Cause passive players more often than not will just follow what they do.

[umbral girder]

Personally I like sandbox games that still have 1 primary goal

[rough basalt]

Like ToA.

[umbral girder]

Like Breath of the Wild is very sandbox but makes sure there is 1 big goal you work towards.

Another example being Lord of the Rings too

[rough basalt]

It's a sandbox but the 1 primary goal is ||end the death curse||

[short brook]

Makes sense, the most recent one i played was RotFM

[rough basalt]

Frostmaiden is pretty sandboxy

At least the first half

[glad ferry]

One big goal with little things that can help you along the way

[coral olive]

Can someone help me in optimization

[short brook]

Yeah, it was cool, but I definitely struggled as a player

[glad ferry]

To where there can be some side quest and maybe items to lead you back onto the path

[rough basalt]

Curse of Strahd being another sandbox like it.

Your primary goal is getting home.

[fossil hollow]

#optimization

[rough basalt]

How you reach that point is up to you

[coral olive]

Yay

[rough basalt]

It's partially why I think CoS has the most horror stories.

[glad ferry]

Just be a werewolf in straud

[short brook]

CoS was another one i played, peak. I love the overarching doom of strahd

[rough basalt]

Cause the reality is, a noticeable large amount of DnD players lack the ability to use their player agency.

And in a sandbox you need to use your agency to make meaningful progress

Like if you ask "what does your character do during this?" They just stare at you.

Then eventually say "nothing." Something that's effectively nothing. Or "uhhhh"

[short brook]

I like that question, just wish I was a bit more thoughtful

[rough basalt]

Which the something that's effectively nothing I can work with

[glad ferry]

I love game developing delimmas. Skyrim as an example. Stormcloaks or the imperial. Kill or let paathronax live

[rough basalt]

Like "cleaning my blade" aight you're doing that nice.

[short brook]

Saying nothing is a little weird, If I can't find something interest to say i'd give the mundane action at least

Go to a tavern or something man, engage with the locals

[rough basalt]

Even if there's no mechanics attached depending on what it is, I'll reward it.

[glad ferry]

I love the taverns or places where gossip is. You find some fun gimmicks there

[short brook]

Ah man, this makes me want to play a sandbox game again

[rough basalt]

Places where npcs gather can be a boon of adventure hooks for dms to toss out

[short brook]

There's a lot of fun to be had, since there isn't always a sense of urgency on sandbox. Urgency comes with an objective

[glad ferry]

Problem is. When I play my head goes through what my current character is doing and in te background how others would react

And some mini quest aid the main goal

Or harm it

[glad ferry]

I prefer sandbox to linear

[short brook]

Idk, I think they both have merit, can't really put one over the other

[glad ferry]

They do. There are somw very fun linear ones to. I like those for testing new classes

[hollow notch]

i need a name for a drake companion

[glad ferry]

What kind of drake is it

[hollow notch]

rangers drake

[feral fulcrum]

Those are really not Dilemas. It's "Support the racist idiots who think they can Solo no less then two Empires at once. Or you know, join the side that has an actual chance lol." And "Kill this wise and regretful Dragon who's been repenting longer then the Blades have existed as an Orgnization or else we're not going to help you." So, not really great examples to be honest. But that's mostly just bad Bethesda writing.

[lethal flare]

places to start dnd campaigns that aren't a tavern?

[feral fulcrum]

On the way to a destination as part of a Caravan.

[fossil hollow]

in the middle of a kaiju fight

[lethal flare]

this might be a stupid question, but what is that?

[fossil hollow]

kaiju is like, godzilla or king kong

giant monster in japanese

[lethal flare]

oh shit that is sick

[feral fulcrum]

Mothra woke up angry.

[fossil hollow]

i read that as mythra for some reason and i was like: thats her natural state of being

[lethal flare]

the campaign im trying to plan right now is 1. my second campaign ever and 2. a pirate/underwater campaign so I think maybe I could do kraken fights? or maybe two ships fighting and they happen to be on either of them

[umbral girder]

A mimic shaped like a tavern.

This is a boss fight

[lethal flare]

LOL

[shadow fulcrum]

Put in vampirates

[lavish flame]

"In media res" is always good. Start right in the action! "You slam a portcullis down, stopping the dozens of Lizardfolk chasing you down a staircase, you're in the second level of the Temple of Elemental Evil, what do you do?" kicks your players into high gear and gets them ready

[lethal flare]

interesting

thank you guys these are all really good ideas

[fossil hollow]

i now need my fix of ixalan, thanks

[lethal flare]

I was actually debating whether or not vampires/dhampirs would be allowed

[feral fulcrum]

Strictly speaking that's more of a Spelljammer thing.

[umbral girder]

There is a rotting skeleton corpse at a table

[fossil hollow]

oh. well, i still want my vampire conquistadors

[umbral girder]

The bar keep says "Oh he's waiting for someone" if anyone asks

All interactions with the skeleton show its dead.

Next time the party arrive its gone.

[fossil hollow]

nobody epects the daywalker inquisition

[feral fulcrum]

Nobody expects Ixalan to have been a magic Dyson Sphere.

[shadow fulcrum]

Vampirates are cool same with orcsairs

[fast latch]

A ship
An apartment
In the middle of combat
Ask Reddit

[umbral girder]

Jurrasic Park

[woven flint]

Rave Party

[umbral girder]

A fancy ballroom

[atomic moat]

Instead of having quests given by sketchy old men sitting in taverns, just have an adventurers guild, where a guildmaster assigns you a bounty or quest along with the rest of the party members to work together. Party members may not like it but that's the rules and they'll have to get along to get the reward.

[umbral girder]

a Graveyard

[feral fulcrum]

If you reenact the opening to Skyrim, you deserve to be flogged by your group.

[umbral girder]

In Sora's game and I was playing a thief and he asked the party "Why are you in this graveyard right now?".
My answer was "Grave robbing"

[fast latch]

A Kraken might be too powerful for the start of a campaign

If it’s attacking a town, that’d be fine since towns aren’t on the water

If it’s a ship, you might just TPK in the first session

[lethal flare]

an honest man

[umbral girder]

Yeah what kind of campaign starts with a dragon attack on the town? Hahaha
Hides my campaign

[lethal flare]

you're right

[fossil hollow]

laketown be like:

[feral fulcrum]

I was thinking more the "You start tied up on a cart, on the way to a lovely execution, starring you!"

[ruby spire]

not in a cell lol

[dim kernel]

Yeah you’re 100% right here. A kraken early on is basically a welcome to the campaign everyone dies moment

[feral fulcrum]

"Hey you, you're finally awake, caught trying to cross the border, right?"

[lethal flare]

my boyfriend dm'd an evil campaign and we started in cells on a blimp airship and our first task was to break out. I'd argue that was pretty fun, but because this isn't an evil campaign idk how good of an idea it is here

[fossil hollow]

or a set piece/environmental hazard

normalize monsters as environmental hazards!

[ruby spire]

ive started multiple campaigns being imprisoned without my gear and i find it to be not fun at all

[lethal flare]

yeah it does prolly get old after a while. fair fair

[cursive fjord]

Man i cannot decide what weapon to use for my character

[lethal flare]

what class and race?

[umbral girder]

Shortsword, Longsword, and a Greatsword

[cursive fjord]

Its a Doctor and Human be becoming a Scarecrow

I can choose any melee weapon I want

[lethal flare]

needle daggers

[cursive fjord]

I was thinking about Sythe, but not sure

[lethal flare]

oh that's sick too

sick.....le

[feral fulcrum]

Scythes are probably closer to one of the polearms actually.

[cursive fjord]

Scythe are Glaives mechinally

[empty thicket]

Scythes are... not so good weapons...

[cursive fjord]

Just like Katana=Longsword

[ruby spire]

scythes are mechanically awful but so cool when it comes to flavor

[fossil hollow]

youre not stopping me from playing my ffxiv reaper

[feral fulcrum]

I like my pointy sticks and Greatswords

Spears, Lances, Giant Slabs of Metal that go CLANG

[lethal flare]

only party poopers dog on scythes for being impractical

[rough basalt]

Reminds me Ima put Scythes as weapons in my world.

[woven flint]

Scythes aren't good
Scythes are Glaives Mechanically

Two very conflicting statements imho

[rough basalt]

Oh so Glaives are the one you can reflavor for scythes?

[short brook]

Glaives are cracked

[woven flint]

Yeah

[ruby spire]

i think dogging on them for being impractical is fine as long as you recognize theyre just as valid for a character based on cool factor alone

[rough basalt]

Makes sense, they have Graze don't they?

That's the mastery I think would fit a Scythe too

[woven flint]

Nope, they get graze, sadly

[short brook]

Glaives historically are scythes originally

[ruby spire]

glaives are the most crackable d&d weapon

[lethal flare]

😭

[short brook]

😦 wait

[woven flint]

But, Graze is still a pretty decent mastery if you have Great Weapon Master

hell, they're good for being a reach weapon in general

[rough basalt]

Yeah I said Graze lol

[ruby spire]

i’m just saying if a glaive was a person they would be really hot

[short brook]

They're the only heavy pole arm right?

[woven flint]

OH, I thought you said Cleave lol

[umbral girder]

What about Graze for GWM?

[woven flint]

thats what I said smh

[rough basalt]

Cleave could be fun for a scythe tho

[feral fulcrum]

There's an echo in here

[ruby spire]

pikes and halberds are staring daggers

[eager marsh]

GWM doesn’t interact with Graze

[umbral girder]

Like what does GWM do for Graze?

[eager marsh]

Nothing

[short brook]

Pikes are big so true, and figured about halberd but wasn't sure

[umbral girder]

Because they don’t have anything that align besides a bonus action attack

[woven flint]

Oh shit, its when you hit smh

My fault, don't crucify me, damn /silly

[umbral girder]

Yep.

[rough basalt]

Ye Graze is just your ability mod

Still good tho

Can't knock free damage

[eager marsh]

Graze damage can’t be boosted by anything but Rage damage because that’s the only damage bonus that doesn’t rely on ‘hitting’ that I can think of and even then Graze is only ‘okay’

[short brook]

Graze is cool flavoring

[umbral girder]

Fun fact Cleave says you don’t get to add your ability mod to the damage.

Nothing about modifiers that aren’t related to Ability mods.

[rough basalt]

I think all masteries are pretty good in some way

[short brook]

I'm glad masteries are a thing in general, wish they got stronger though

[rough basalt]

I think if they scaled like cantrips we may as well just play 4e lol

[umbral girder]

I love that an Eldritch knight can give someone a -30ft to speed

[short brook]

All roads lead back to 4e

[rough basalt]

The promised land.

[eager marsh]

While already in melee at lv 11+ (or 5+ with action surge) but you’re already still in melee anyways

[knotty vine]

jane

your aerly

[short brook]

Good song

[umbral girder]

My favorite part of having a Battlemaster fighter

[fathom gate]

I cast minor illusion

[severe rampart]

been watching "How to create interesting bosses" videos, and, I gotta say, the advice? very split, "Use your Legendary Resistances" "Don't give them Legendary Resistances, it will make the PC feel like they wasted their turn", etc.

[umbral girder]

Monsters usually got magic resistance for a ton of advantage on saves against spells.

But got nothing for Masteries or Maneuvers

[rough basalt]

That's when I click off those vids

[umbral girder]

Easy do what Flee, Mortals does

Give a debuff when they use their Legendary resistances

[severe rampart]

Yeah I think... I'm gonna do it my way

[umbral girder]

Like maybe a dragon’s scale gets blown off lowering their AC to do a LR

[knotty vine]

What debuff what does it do?

[severe rampart]

Definitely interesting

[rough basalt]

Serious hard hitting debuffs

[short brook]

Yeah, thats an awesome idea.

[knotty vine]

how hard

[umbral girder]

Or a Mummy Lord has to remove a curse it placed to do an LR

[rough basalt]

Like -10 to AC, no hit bonus, no movement speed

[umbral girder]

Oh god

[severe rampart]

8th level caster (Bard) (+ minions) vs Level 5 Party, should be fair

[knotty vine]

I wouldnt do all that

[rough basalt]

I think players have it easy enough.

[knotty vine]

pretty much making your monster paralyzed

minus the auto crits

[rough basalt]

Especially with how easy it is to burn through legendary resistances in 5.5e

[severe rampart]

gotta walk a fine line of "this was an amazing boss" vs "this is bs"

[knotty vine]

Legendary resistance is there for a reason

[rough basalt]

Flee Mortals was made in 5e14 where burning LRs wasn't nearly as easy.

[knotty vine]

Yeah

[rough basalt]

Now PCs can burn all of a monsters LRs in less than a single round

[severe rampart]

Bard playing in a Cathedral... what kinda Lair Actions can I even put...

[knotty vine]

Lets larp

Lair actions were semi removed in 5e

[severe rampart]

"Just this once, okay?"

[umbral girder]

I once played a Paladin in 2024 who burned all 3 of a monster's legendary resistances on his turn

[knotty vine]

at least those that effect players

that kinda made me sad

[rough basalt]

Yeah LRs are hardly an obstacle now.

[chrome aurora]

What is your guys favorite and least favorite constructs?

[severe rampart]

Hard to say... I like Flesh Golems

[rough basalt]

I don't think monsters need to be rendered inert for using them.

And removing them entirely is just ridiculous. Cause their "replacement" is just LRs with extra steps.

[knotty vine]

Monsters are suppose to be more deadly

[umbral girder]

I had players do a triple counter spell on Acererak when he did a Power Word Kill

[severe rampart]

Three way domain expansion

[rough basalt]

Then poor dude couldn't fight anymore cause he had the 5 LR debuff.

Which is disadvantage on all d20 tests, 1s in all stats.

[fiery nimbus]

alright so they dropped the pretense of 2024 not being 5,5...

[reef tundra]

Least favourite are modrons, and my favourite is the lord of blades

[severe rampart]

oh yeah... every time I look at art of modrons I just shudder

[knotty vine]

Some monsters even got more legendary resistance

[reef tundra]

Favourite in the MM is iron golems

[umbral girder]

The visual of 3 powerful mages needing to work together to stop Acererak was very cool

[rough basalt]

Couldn't of had that without Legendary Resistances.

[severe rampart]

I guess I could ask, what were your favorite boss fight mechanics in D&D?

[umbral girder]

Speaking of Modrons I need to figure out a use for them in my campaigns.

[knotty vine]

I still want a vecna statblock in 5.5e

[rough basalt]

Mythic Actions.

[knotty vine]

Same here

[left oar]

I mean a warforged would count as a construct right?

[rough basalt]

It's one of the things Perks and Craw abandoned that I really liked.

So I still use them

[knotty vine]

Mythic actions/Second phase boss fights should have stayed

[severe rampart]

So Second Phases?

[rough basalt]

Yep

[knotty vine]

More big bosses should have got them

[rough basalt]

Instead we got Vecna who doesn't have legendary actions

[severe rampart]

right, trying to find a way to do that since this Bard will be fighting inside of a Cathedral

[knotty vine]

"he got 3 reations at least"

that makes him worse

back in my day we had god vecna and he threatened the lady of pain!

[rough basalt]

It sucks that Vecna was the most notable case of "I don't wanna work at wotc anymore replace me" products.

[knotty vine]

Theres qutie a few of those in 5.5e

demogorgon Tasha Some of the sliver hands

[rough basalt]

It's hilarious how we went from Vecna Eve of WotCs ruin to Goated Delves and Goated Realms

[knotty vine]

Most iof the demon lords were just utterly forgotten about

[rough basalt]

Hoping for some good new statblocks for the demon lords in Lolth Presents: The Monsters in MY Multiverse

[umbral girder]

Vecna Presents: “How things could have been if you let me win” /jk

[lavish flame]

real

[rough basalt]

Vecna to WotC: "it would be so awesome! It would be so cool!"

[knotty vine]

You take 8d10 psychic damage when you become attuned to the artifact.

[severe rampart]

I hate that I understand this reference

[rough basalt]

I will give Eve of Ruin a few things tho

[left oar]

so...... I am doing my first proper campaign as a DM, we are doing icespire from the 2014 starter pack and things have been going well overall but we have not really had many people using spells tied to lengths of time and I know they will be a topic soon, specifically the shorter time ones like 10 mins, how do people usually handle that sort of thing? like especially in combat?

[rough basalt]

It has a ||Spelljammer|| chapter.
The alt cover is really nice.
It's one of many bad dnd modules that's made good with a good dm.

[left oar]

like I know some spells even go lower than that

[rough basalt]

A round in combat is 6 seconds.

[fossil hollow]

a round (everyone taking their turns) is 6 seconds

[lavish flame]

both covers r really good imo

[fossil hollow]

a minute is 10 rounds of combat

[rough basalt]

So a 1 minute spell lasts 10 rounds.

[knotty vine]

Each time you become attuned to the artifact, you age 3d10 years. You must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or die from the shock

I really love the Major Detrimental Properties table

[rough basalt]

The artifact generation tables are pretty fun.

[left oar]

I guess 1 minute spells would be most of my concern as most combat doesn't even last that long huh...

[rough basalt]

Nope

[knotty vine]

I do wish artifacts in general were more useed

[rough basalt]

Most combats last from 2 to 3 turns up to 5 on average.

[lavish flame]

They use time for in-world-fiction reasons, but 1 Minute long spells basically just mean "it lasts for a fight and ends when the fight ends" and 10 Minute long spells basically mean "it lasts for a fight or two, but not usually more than that"

[rough basalt]

Some can go on longer but never long enough for a 10 minute or longer spell to run out.

[knotty vine]

I like making builds that end combat as fast as possible or that just buff the ever living FU out of everyone

aka peace cleric/bless

[rough basalt]

Buffers are fun to play.

[knotty vine]

Cleric/wizard dip is the only reason id still wanna do a 2014 builds

[left oar]

honestly the 10 minute ones would kind of concern me a lot outside of combat I guess at that point? but I guess there is no way to learn other than by dealing with things X/

[knotty vine]

cause its up there in terms of strength

[rough basalt]

Long lasting spells aren't much of an issue

You can guess that if a party spends a short rest any spell that lasts up to an hour is over.

[knotty vine]

me casting spells that last 8 hours

[rough basalt]

Those ones are a bit more awkward but I also use a calendar module in foundry that tracks time.

[left oar]

I am mainly familiar with 2014 content and my players are using 2024 sheets so that has been a bit stressful tbh, like the changes are a lot more than I thought, like one of my players is running a ranger and imo it is way better but also I have had to read a lot of stuff over again because it doesn't work like I remember, also stuff like wild shape for druids etc

[knotty vine]

Lets larp

Didnt all shapechanging get changes like that

[lavish flame]

outside of combat, time flows weirdly, you aren't meant to keep track of rounds and stuff. I always assume doing things like Ability Checks takes up a considerable amount of time. Like an Investigation/Perception roll takes like a Minute or more in my mind.

[knotty vine]

Everything gives temp hp now

[left oar]

idk but it legit sent me into pausing combat to read up and try and understand the hp change XD

[knotty vine]

you and your wild shape hp are shared

[rough basalt]

You'll get it down. It's not a very massive changeup

[knotty vine]

pretty simple

Its the main reason I dont play druid anymore

[lavish flame]

yeah, in that case its a Temp HP buff, but then ur actual health still matters. Druids no longer have multiple health bars like a boss monster in a video game

[rough basalt]

It's the main reason why I wanna play more druid

[left oar]

yeah just small stuff like that leading to me going in thinking things work a certain way and then they don't X/

[knotty vine]

Give me 4 billion hp

[left oar]

I do feel a bit sad that they didn't bring over artificers to 5.5 yet though... unless they did and I just have not heard about it yet

and by a bit I mean a lot

[knotty vine]

They did

[short brook]

ya

[knotty vine]

Its just in a diff book

[left oar]

D: oh really? I guess I have been tuned out for a while

[short brook]

forge of the artificer i believe

[knotty vine]

that one

Sadly no Tasha's for 2024

[lavish flame]

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer came out a few months ago, it had a 5.5 update for Artificer with an additional subclass: Cartographer

[knotty vine]

And I doubt itll be reprinted

[umbral girder]

Yeah been 5 months since it came out

[rough basalt]

Why would Tashas be reprinted already

[left oar]

D: did they also re do warforged?! I love MTG so I am about to check this out XD

[umbral girder]

Yep

[lavish flame]

yup, they're Constructs now

[knotty vine]

It was always weird that warforged have construt nature but were still humanoids

[keen hemlock]

Heroforge is a lifesend, I usually suck at describing my npcs well im glad it exist

It should get some type of offical sponsor by wotc its sweet

[lavish flame]

also Eberron: Forge has 5.5 Half-Elves (Khorovar), Kalashtar became Aberrations, Shifter was... unchanged from MMM

[rough basalt]

It's cause old wotc wanted to keep PC species mostly humanoid.

[knotty vine]

2014 was deathly scared of making PC races non humanoid

[umbral girder]

Kalashtar are Aberrations now too right?

[lavish flame]

yup

[knotty vine]

Yeah for a good reason

[rough basalt]

Making a few Fey was as ambitious as they'd get.

[keen hemlock]

They sacrificed the non humanoids for awesome combat mechanics

[lavish flame]

I kinda really like nuWOTC

[keen hemlock]

2014 is so good for combat rules
Anything else?
Ehhhhhh

[rough basalt]

What combat mechanics

They abandoned all the interesting ones and tried to abandon the rest of them.

[knotty vine]

I do like some combat mechanies like giving certain monsters weaknesses

[keen hemlock]

Classes were more fun in 2014 especially martials

[rough basalt]

What

[short brook]

Eh... no

[umbral girder]

Big no

[knotty vine]

Like the froghemoth

[lavish flame]

of all of the takes, that is the wildest ive ever heard

[short brook]

They literally have less features than the ones in 24

[keen hemlock]

I still mourn free anti poison on paladin every day like a lost family member

[rough basalt]

Me too.
I like that they were like "DnD has awesome settings. We should use them." And contacted Tracy Hickman and Luke Gygax for more Greyhawk and Dragonlance.

[knotty vine]

This is what i do when i throw a higher cr creature at a lower level party
Shock Susceptibility. If the froghemoth takes lightning damage, it suffers two effects until the end of its next turn: its speed is halved, and it has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.

[left oar]

I mean I am far from afraid of just admitting I prefer 2014 rules because I know them way better X/

[lavish flame]

Like 2024 has its faults, don't get me wrong, but Martials in 2024 are like strictly better we gotta get real

[knotty vine]

neither 2014 or 2024 is better then one another

[rough basalt]

Meanwhile the old dudes watching as WotC doesn't just focus on setting agnostic nothing burgers going "noooo!"

[keen hemlock]

Oh definitely not 2024 is significantly better in every way

Combat is just more fun in '14

[rough basalt]

Yeah no.

[short brook]

how?

[knotty vine]

The best book is whatever the game needs

[fossil hollow]

eh

[keen hemlock]

They also have pretty decent new stuff, I like the new batch of evil subclasses

[cedar bane]

weapon masteries alone make martials more fun

[short brook]

Like look at 14 Monk vs 24. These guys are not in the same realm

[keen hemlock]

I didn't really care for anything outside of that and djinn paladin

[fossil hollow]

ive had more fun with 24 monsters than 14 monsters

[rough basalt]

Combat in '14 was a mess and had loads of issues.

[knotty vine]

14 monk was the worst class in 5e

[rough basalt]

Yeah I hated dming '14 it was so damn boring as a dm.

[keen hemlock]

Ranger worse

[umbral girder]

Not really

[knotty vine]

and the monsters were just weaker

[keen hemlock]

#buffranger

[rough basalt]

Rangers not worse lol

[short brook]

no way they were worse than Monk lol

[knotty vine]

Nope even ranger was better then monk

[fossil hollow]

in 2014 ranger waaas a lot more powerful

[rough basalt]

It's literally Tashas without the bad features.

[cedar bane]

the fun part about the rules is you can just pick and choose which ones you like from each version

[knotty vine]

cause glom stalk

[short brook]

If we're pushing an agenda, I concur though

[cedar bane]

it was definitely better but far more situational

[keen hemlock]

Oh yea I forgot about the only good ranger subclass

[feral fulcrum]

Tasha's Ranger was quite good.

[cedar bane]

i love 2014 ranger theming

[fossil hollow]

ignore favored x and its still fine

[left oar]

although from what I have seen I kind of feel like 2024 classes overall seem.... stronger? or more dynamic/easier to pilot in broader setups leaving them feeling stronger? like I honestly feel like my players are doing way better in the sessions compared to if they had been using 2014 rules? like I have played this campaign as a player with 2014 rules and idk it is just a feeling I have had

[keen hemlock]

Im glad you understand, ranger is completely fine and is in a good spot but im pushing agenda so

[rough basalt]

Then they made it Tashas in 2024 but better.

[keen hemlock]

#buffranger

[umbral girder]

2024 did a good job and making everyone able to do things on their turn

[feral fulcrum]

And it had multiple good Subclasses

[dense nacelle]

Trying (and failing) to find an irl dnd campaign rn aughhhh

[lavish flame]

idk i do remember feeling stronger/cooler/better when I switched from Ranger to Monk

[rough basalt]

Like HM in 2024 is just a better version of Favored Foe from Tashas ranger.

[cedar bane]

yeah but thats ignoring their core mechanic. its like saying "oh ignore metamagic on a sorcerer and its good (if metamagic was bad)"

[knotty vine]

Honeslt gloam ranger was way better then anything ranger could do

[short brook]

Barbarians being able to use rage out of combat will be my favorite upgrade

[umbral girder]

By a very big landslide HM is better than Favored Foe

[fossil hollow]

it was a ribbon feature

[left oar]

yeah like the ranger class seems way better in 2024

[short brook]

I can use strength to stealth, like come on

[fossil hollow]

your core mechanic is martial stuff + spellcasting

[knotty vine]

Ranger is still meh

[lavish flame]

by and large, 5.5 classes are stronger than 5e classes. to compensate for this, monsters are terrifying in 5.5

[wicked mulch]

D&D Weekend Thought Exercise – Weekly News Wrap-Up – AI Energy Demand

Reuters reported on April 10, 2026 that major tech companies were putting financial weight behind next-generation nuclear power because AI demand is driving huge energy needs; Reuters also reported investor pressure on Amazon, Microsoft, and Google over the water and power use of U.S. data centers.

Question: In D&D, if a city suddenly had access to powerful new magic or intelligence that could transform society but required enormous energy and resources, who should decide whether that power is worth the cost?

[fossil hollow]

oh boy

[fossil hollow]

see netheril

[cedar bane]

thats not really a unique mechanic if other classes get the same things

[cedar bane]

more specifically, dont see them

[rough basalt]

Netheril which was destroying the world with magic pollution which made the Phaerimm start wiping them out

[fossil hollow]

wizard, cleric, sorceror, warlock, druid whose core mechanic is spellcasting

[rough basalt]

Till Karsus used boogie woogie

And finished his empire off

[cedar bane]

i meant unique

[fossil hollow]

actually, no, it was the phaerimm who cause the arounach desert

[fossil hollow]

thats different from core...

[knotty vine]

What do you mean unique?

[rough basalt]

Well the desert but the Netherese flying cities were causing enviromental damage on toril in general with their magic pollution

[left oar]

yeah that is what I thought, like my players are using them in a 2014 campaign and shredding through combat that should really have challenged them by older standards.... like I have been upping the threat more and more but like at first I would have a player or two functionally do nothing before it ended

[fossil hollow]

yeah, and it was the phaerimm who caused it to go faster, if not cast the thing in the first place.

[knotty vine]

2014 lovers when i use the conjure animals spell for the 3rd time today

[rough basalt]

Well maybe those mages shouldve used green energy magic

[keen hemlock]

Only thing about 2024 thats really super interesting to me, is the fact they have paladin a djinn subclass, I really hope this means we can get a djinn cleric

[left oar]

they have been happy overall but like I feel like if I don't/didn't increase the challange certain people would just feel left out so it has been a concern

[rough basalt]

maybe learn to recycle your foci

[keen hemlock]

Djinn is just the most fun faith related thing to me, who doesnt love genies

[knotty vine]

People that love 2014 always ignore the faults of 2014 aka any conjure spell

[errant crag]

Genies are super fun

[rough basalt]

2024 is the only reason im still playing dnd tbh

[knotty vine]

Lets slow down combat:

[rough basalt]

2014 was just boring to dm, and miserable as a player cause if i wanted some level power i had to play select things and if i played for fun id be a side character

[short brook]

Theres only a few things I don't like from 24

[knotty vine]

I summon 8 cows above the big bad

[short brook]

But compared to the things I like its manageable

[lavish flame]

make sure you update ur adventure's monsters too, 5.5 adventurers need the tougher monsters. At higher levels, most monsters just inflict Conditions onto a PC, and some of them are shut-downs. Cloud Giant was a big one when the 2024 MM released, they have a ranged attack that Incapacitates.

[rough basalt]

Its kinda like 3e vs 3.5e

but instead of 3 years of 5e we had 10 years of it

[knotty vine]

yeah cause a lot of monsters in 2014 are just weaker

[rough basalt]

cause Stranger Things, and CR started "saving" it

[knotty vine]

I strangers things rep went way down ngl

[woven flint]

For barely any damage lol

[short brook]

i'm assuming BG3 was a big boon for dnd also

[rough basalt]

Ye the writers forgot what they were writing about

[rough basalt]

BG3 was basically the "fix" to the damage they did with the OGL shenanigans

[lavish flame]

yeah that was definitely a boost

but tbh, I think by BG3's release, they were already talking about 5.5

[short brook]

I wasn't playing at the time so i wasn't sure of the impact

[lavish flame]

so much so that ppl thought BG3 was gonna be our first test drive of the 5.5 rules

[feral fulcrum]

And by 'Fix' it means an influx of people who didn't know

[rough basalt]

Yeah they knew with all the new people coming in, the old books needed fixed

[knotty vine]

nah main thing you could do was conjure animals to summon 8 raptors

[feral fulcrum]

Which is silly since it was in development ages before 5.5 publically was.

[rough basalt]

Cause theyre filled with designs they abandoned

The wrong monster math

[knotty vine]

shepard druid in shambles rn

[rough basalt]

Then they were testing removing legendary creatures at the time

[knotty vine]

WHAT ah hell nah

[left oar]

honestly I had been going out of my way sticking to the 2014 ones because I didn't know enough about changed but knowing this now I will be.... also looking over the new artificers and I hop they kept the armorer but have yet to see it X/

[rough basalt]

Ye the "3 reactions" period started in 2023 iirc

BoMT is the only book of the last couple years of BadTCs reign with legendary actions and stuff

[lavish flame]

all the Tasha's subclasses got a 5.5 update

[rough basalt]

The ones that needed some minor changes anyway

Like Mercy Monk got a minor buff, stars did too

[feral fulcrum]

Not strictly true. Rune Knight definitely hasn't been touched yet

[rough basalt]

They didnt reprint the ones that were already perfect

[left oar]

honestly Tasha's was my favourite expansion along with Ebbaron

[rough basalt]

One thing they shouldve reprinted was the Gunner feat

cause they changed firearms to Martial Weapons but didnt change Sharpshooter to work with them since they didnt reprint Gunner

[lavish flame]

this was in reply to a statement about the Armorer Artificer and was meant with that context in mind

[rough basalt]

And its the only Tashas feat they didnt reprint that wasnt gonna be reprinted anyways due to the design changes

So poor 5.5 gun users have to carry several firearms

[feral fulcrum]

Sharpshooter covers that in 2024. It would have been entirely redundant?

[rough basalt]

It does?

[fossil hollow]

Loading property

[left oar]

ah I heard that also applies to hand crossbow users who want to min max their builds... like swapping hand crossbows out being the best setup?

[rough basalt]

yeah the loading property

[feral fulcrum]

Yes. It covers All Ranged Weapons.

[rough basalt]

So you need as many pistols as you have attacks

Since they didnt reprint it

[knotty vine]

2024 sharpshooter doesnt

[short brook]

Berserker Barbarian i think might have gotten the biggest upgrade in 5.5

Losing the bad exhaustion mechanic

[fossil hollow]

Monk class be like:

[lavish flame]

I can't imagine why hand crossbows would be better to do this with than a gun tbh

[rough basalt]

The fighter with 8 Muskets on his back

[knotty vine]

Firing in Melee. Being within 5 feet of an enemy doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your attack rolls with Ranged weapons.

[feral fulcrum]

The only thing Sharpshooter doesn't do, that Gunner Feat did, is the loading property. Otherwise they're one-to-one except Sharpshooter aplies to all ranged weapons.

[left oar]

ah I didn't mean over guns but I meant for a hand crossbow build it being best to have as many as you have attacks for

[rough basalt]

Ye which since Guns have the loading property you need as many Guns as you do attacks

[knotty vine]

it depends

RAW loading and reloading are two diff things

[rough basalt]

Since Gunner wasnt reprinted, unless you have an artificer enchant your gun

[feral fulcrum]

And self-loading enchanted weapons are not exactly rare so...I don't see it as a problem.

And if you really, really, really, absolutely, positively have to have it instantly...be an Artificer.

[rough basalt]

Those are only in eberron tho right?

[left oar]

p sure for hand crossbows the same loading mechanic is why people say 2024 having multiple like a pirate is ideal

[feral fulcrum]

lmao no, every setting has weapons that ignore loading properties by creating their own ammo.

[knotty vine]

Crossbows and weapons from the Renaissance Items are loading weapons

morden fire arms have the reloading

[fossil hollow]

Topaz Annihilator, Lucent Destroyer are the only other magic guns that i can remember that make their own ammo

[rough basalt]

I dont think they're in the 5.5e dmg is what I mean

[halcyon forum]

repeating weapons are from the eberron book but there is nothing about them inherently tied to the setting

[knotty vine]

True

[rough basalt]

I think you're intended to spend 12k gold on 8 Muskets so you can just double musket

[knotty vine]

Through that brings of the question if you are facing a Pirate caption does she need to reload?

[rough basalt]

Nah monsters got the gunner feat reprinted for them

[halcyon forum]

monsters do the amount of attacks the block says they do

[rough basalt]

To me it just seems like an oversight

[halcyon forum]

regardless of player limitations

[fossil hollow]

Monsters do not need to follow the property since Multiattack overrides that

[knotty vine]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/4904838-pirate-captain

[rough basalt]

they put all the Tashas feats in the PHB except the stuff that they took away in general like robbing some casters spells and abilities

[halcyon forum]

if you like, you can imagine the captain has the feat or a ton loaded pistols

[rough basalt]

With one exception being Gunner

[left oar]

oh wow I already like a some of the changes I am seeing to artificer.....

[rough basalt]

Then they put the firearms into the PHB as core weapons with martial proficiency, but no way to ignore loading then repeated enchantment weapons in eberron which might make a dm go "well thats eberron you dont get those here."

[knotty vine]

I still think its funny that one devil can now just cast 2 fireballs as apart of the same action

"oh you counter spelled the first now what about the second"

[short brook]

madara

[halcyon forum]

its kinda weird how guns are just worse in 5.5e than crossbows or longbows

[knotty vine]

The pit fiend

[fossil hollow]

yeah, i nailed the neighbor's dog instead of the ruffian down teh staircase

[rough basalt]

Ye they made them core but made them worse

[knotty vine]

It stills very funny that some monsters can cast two spells

[fossil hollow]

i dont recall monsters who can use Spellcasting twice

[halcyon forum]

like, I get that early guns should have some sort of trade-off, but without the ability to ignore loading and no gun being heavy, they are just not worth it

[rough basalt]

It was Perks and Craws last hail mary to anger me purely out of spite

[fossil hollow]

unless you mean action + BA

[knotty vine]

Hellfire Spellcasting (Recharge 4–6). The pit fiend casts Fireball (level 5 version) twice, requiring no Material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 21). It can replace one Fireball with Hold Monster (level 7 version) or Wall of Fire.

two spells

[fossil hollow]

oh my god

[knotty vine]

so tell me do you counter the fireball or the hold monster

[rough basalt]

Mightve did it to avoid "guns dont belong in muh medieval fantasy" people from complaining

By making them not worth using at all

[halcyon forum]

I felt like pistols and muskets were in a good spot after tashas

[rough basalt]

Ignoring that the fact a Musket is 1500gp is what should be the balancing aspect over its slightly less damage crossbow cousin

And a Pistol is 400gp

[knotty vine]

a musket was just a ranged battle axe was it not?

[rough basalt]

Ranged greataxe

[knotty vine]

in terms of damage I mean

[rough basalt]

its a d12

[knotty vine]

Greataxe yeah

[rough basalt]

Well fortunately the two Gun haters are gone so hopefully someday theyll be given the love they deserve

[wintry spindle]

what about three guns?

[fossil hollow]

The Three musketeers

[short brook]

Idk how a gun is inconceivable, its not like they're automatics lol

[knotty vine]

you stole what I was gonna say

[rough basalt]

A lot of people think dnd is LotR or game of thrones

[wintry spindle]

you just do what edward kenway does in AC 4 just have a bunch on you and then just swtich between them

[rough basalt]

And not a renaissance era isekai where a modern man makes a musket and an airship

Me when I pay 12k gold for 8 muskets so i can use my action surge

[glad ferry]

Start them in a forest or maybe a reason they all end up somewhere. Maybe they were all targets to be killed an now being used to gain their freedom

[short brook]

Its like that Looney toons gif

[rough basalt]

or 3200GP for 8 Pistols

[wintry spindle]

I think it would be pretty cool tbh. "Do you have a loadin feat" nah i just switch between weapons that are loaded ez

[rough basalt]

I think thats what they intend

"you wanna use guns? gotta spend the whole campaign saving up for enough of them."

[wintry spindle]

weird thing is in 5.5 pirates come with guns so you can just loot one

[knotty vine]

True

[rough basalt]

if the dm remembers to give the loot enemies drop

And if the dm realizes dnd is renaissance high fantasy generally so guns exist and not "historical fantasy"

[wintry spindle]

There used to be a rule that "stuff enemies wear is not as good quality"

in case you run into an enemy with plate armor

[knotty vine]

sometimes Ill be real sometimes ill listen to my players aka asking "can i get an item that does this" i listen

[rough basalt]

I think the loot they have on the statblock is what they have thats still usable

[wintry spindle]

I think it's fair as long you don't start hoarding every item they carry

but thats more my go to "you can use it but selling it wont be the purchase price"

[rough basalt]

Like Bandit Captains, the Pistol they carry is whats still usable after a fight

[knotty vine]

from 4d10 to 1d10 👅

[rough basalt]

yeah even after they're gone they still hurt us by making guns useless before they left

[fiery nimbus]

DM agreed to let me play Merfolk under a condition i sing 1 song every 5 sessions

[knotty vine]

wait no i was thinking of the admiral

[fiery nimbus]

they did that to themselves

[knotty vine]

there pistil does 4d10+6

but yeah the stat block does have a "gear" tab
Skills Acrobatics +10, Athletics +6, Perception +6
Gear Pistol, Scimitar
Senses Passive Perception 16
Languages Common plus one other language
CR 12 (XP 8,400; PB +4)

[rough basalt]

I think the Gear tab is what the "Individual" treasure type is

But i probably missed something

Generally i take that tab as whats left usable

[knotty vine]

I wish more humanoids had that

I killed one of my wizard players with a pirate admiral crit once

was brutal

[fossil hollow]

Monsters have proficiency with their equipment. If a monster has equipment that can be given away or retrieved, the items are listed in the Gear entry. The monster’s stat block might include special flourishes that happen when the monster uses an item, and the stat block might ignore Player’s Handbook rules for that item. When used by someone else, a retrievable item uses its Player’s Handbook rules, ignoring any special flourishes in the stat block.

[knotty vine]

she shot him in the head doing 70 damage to his max 60

crunchy crits are not for the faint of hard

[fiery nimbus]

i usually reserve myself to just killing their characters

[storm magnet]

Does standing up after being knocked down take an action

[knotty vine]

no?

[empty thicket]

take your movement

[halcyon bison]

no, it just takes half your movement I belive

[storm magnet]

Oh my dm told me it took my action

[empty thicket]

could be wrong or it could be like that in his campaign.
Anyone can make mistakes

[storm magnet]

That’s true

[knotty vine]

she did a lot of damage and then shot him twice while he was on the ground

[fiery nimbus]

that does not excuse killing a player for immersion sake, you were supposed to kill their character

[knotty vine]

you die in the game you die in real life

[fossil hollow]

why are we playing SAO

[woven flint]

Its typically half movement speed
Taking an action to stand is ROUGH and maybe you should talk to your dm about it

[knotty vine]

I prefer gun gale

[empty thicket]

You are the character, if you die you face Death Itself

[knotty vine]

You have to fight the avatar of death

you win you get a free revive

[empty thicket]

i wish, but my dm dont let me challenget it

[knotty vine]

I might do that in my games now

[nocturne schooner]

do people ever share their map?

[knotty vine]

The first time you die you get to fight the avatar of death if you win you get a free revive

[nocturne schooner]

is there like a channel where people share it

[fossil hollow]

i dont see why you wouldnt share a map if you made one

ooh, #dnd-maps

[nocturne schooner]

thanks

[empty thicket]

na, after some time and after X event, so its kinda justified you got death attention and will let you challenge it

and you will want to hold more that high lvl character than anything else

[knotty vine]

true it is pretty hard to fight it with it having 20 but its hp is half the hitpoints of the summoner so

so if you spawn it at level 1 and get really lucky you one shot it with a sword

[empty thicket]

the thing is, i would like it to be a challenge too.
Give an aspect to death and make it feel powerful

[knotty vine]

It is a punishment from the deck

[empty thicket]

And the mere fact that is fighting you is because you amuse it or smt like that or for that "help" you did before

[empty thicket]

a what?

[knotty vine]

deck of many things

Medium Undead, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 20
Hit Points 1 (1d4)
Speed 60 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)
Damage Immunities Necrotic, Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Unconscious

[empty thicket]

oh, i was thinking of making some sort of homebrew (or find some chart for it in another book because i would be surprised if anyone didnt thought of making death an enemy to fight it)

[knotty vine]

No its offical

[mighty wharf]

Should I tell my DM my character's weakness or nah?

[knotty vine]

are they lore weaknesses or

[turbid vessel]

Are we talking a mechanical weakness or something you want to include flavorwise

[fossil hollow]

This is why i used the Grim Champions

[mighty wharf]

Mechanical. He's just struggling to make the encounters actually difficult for me.

[knotty vine]

that also works but i want the player to stand a chance lol

[knotty vine]

I guess

[fossil hollow]

they drew the deck, they got the deck

[knotty vine]

fair

[mighty wharf]

Idk though maybe he just doesn't like my character as a DM. I'm a chaotic good wizard so Chronos is generally a good guy but MAN does he play dirty when it comes to combats.

[knotty vine]

its always fun when i tell me level 10 fighter to roll a wisdom save i know he doesnt have mage slayer

[empty thicket]

yeah, something like this.
A challenge but not impossible

[fossil hollow]

CR 15 isnt too high

[mighty wharf]

See that's why I took Lucky over Warcaster. While warcaster is good for maintaining concentration, Lucky is better for saving throws and I can just keep my distance for the most part to avoid being damaged altogether.

[mighty wharf]

And if damage does get through I can reroll my concentration save

[knotty vine]

For saving throws I just do peace cleric+bless

[mighty wharf]

1 level of peace cleric?

[knotty vine]

so now you can add 2d4 and advantage

[mighty wharf]

That does seem pretty good. I do have a Paladin PM with bless. Maybe I'll ask them for bless

[storm magnet]

If I have a war hammer, and I use the push ability to knock a monster away, does that give the whole party an attack of oppurtunity?

[fossil hollow]

no

[knotty vine]

forced movement does provoke Oppurtiny attacks

[fossil hollow]

Forced movement doesnt provoke OA

[mighty wharf]

Where is advantage coming from?

[knotty vine]

lucky

[mighty wharf]

Oh.

[quaint hound]

Yall why can a misquito fly but a fly can't misquito

[knotty vine]

Very hard to fail a saving throw

[storm magnet]

It does or doesn't?

[mighty wharf]

My DM is playing with 2014 rules so I have gotten out of the mindset of thinking it's advantage.

[storm magnet]

I got two different answers!

[knotty vine]

It doesnt

[storm magnet]

Ah okay, sadge

[knotty vine]

Where did you get the other anwser?

[storm magnet]

I think you forgot to add n't

[mighty wharf]

Yeah

[knotty vine]

oh

[storm magnet]

I thought I could do a giga brain play

[mighty wharf]

I'm getting the urge to DM. I so badly want to make a homebrew encounter with the 4 horseman

[velvet locust]

Hellooooo

[velvet locust]

That sounds sick asf

[storm magnet]

If a creature sucessfully saves against a Dragonborn's breath, does that create attacks of oppurtunity?

Since they like, dodged it?

[feral fulcrum]

No

[knotty vine]

No?

[fossil hollow]

Why would it

You might want to read the OA rules

[knotty vine]

Your still in the same space

[storm magnet]

Idk I thought saves meant they moved out of the way

[fossil hollow]

Again, might wanna read the OA rules

[knotty vine]

No your still in the same spot

[feral fulcrum]

Movement is Movement, Saves are Saves. Saves May involve the FLAVOR or them dodging out of the way, but Mechanically they don't budge an inch

and thus, do not trigger AOO

[storm magnet]

Ah okay, got confused by the flavor

[knotty vine]

level 7 rogue/monk staring dead on as they take no damgea from a fireball

[glad arch]

Just make sure death always sounds like theyre speaking in caps lock

[feral fulcrum]

There's a distinct disconnect between the Flavor/Fluff of a thing, and what Mechanically is going on.

[knotty vine]

That one person who couldnt understand what an anti magic zone was comes to mind 😭

[glad ferry]

What's so hard about understanding that?

[storm magnet]

Would OA rules be in my handbook?

[woven flint]

Yes :>

[glad arch]

Tbf some stuff can be confusing whether its countered by amf or noy

[knotty vine]

He was saying that a dragon fire breath wouldnt work in a anti magic zone because some random lore \

even tho it would

[glad ferry]

Dragon breath isn't magic

[knotty vine]

Or dead magic zone I mean

[fossil hollow]

why would it not be

[feral fulcrum]

Well, it can be magic.

[knotty vine]

In one of the books it says it kinda is

[mighty wharf]

I know that sounds cliche but hear me out it's ALL about the execution and is cliche for a reason.

For my original ideas, I have a beholder that uses sonar based blindsight instead of regular vision. Imagine their terror when I say "You use Fog Cloud. But the Beholder can still see you..."

[feral fulcrum]

Dragon's are distinctly potent magical creatures.

[knotty vine]

It was saying that a dragons breath was connected to the weave

or a beholders flight

[austere root]

It's not arcane or divine magic, but it's still magic that's kereska's business

[glad ferry]

Ah

[woven flint]

Breath Weapons aren't consider magical effects regardless

[feral fulcrum]

The problem with those arguments is that Dragons, functionally, are there own walking sources of power.

[austere root]

the draconic goddess of magic gave the dragons their breaths

[feral fulcrum]

And so don't...turn off, if you fling anti-magic at them.

[austere root]

or something like that, idr the details

[knotty vine]

The Weave is an essential element of the universe, running through everything in unseen threads. Some creatures, objects, and locations have deep, intrinsic ties to the Weave and can perform extraordinary feats that come naturally to them (a beholder's flight, a vampire's charming gaze, a dragon's breath weapon, and so forth).
(...)

[glad ferry]

What about an anti magic zone with a beholder?

[mighty wharf]

Dragon breaths don't say magical in the description of the attack so they're not magical 🗿

[knotty vine]

Again this was someone mixxing up lore and mechs

in lore a dragons breath weapon is "magical"

[woven flint]

2024 Adult Red Dragon:
"Fire Breath (Recharge 5–6). Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 21, each creature in a 60-foot Cone. Failure: 59 (17d6) Fire damage. Success: Half damage."

2014 Adult Red Dragon:
"Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6): The dragon exhales fire in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking 63 (18d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one."

If the statblock doesn't say it works as a magical effect, it doesn't work like magic.

[glad ferry]

I always just thought it was an inherited skill

[knotty vine]

Just liek a beholders flight or a vampire charming gaze

[fossil hollow]

In world, its slightly and inherently magical yes

Dragon breath had an inherently magical nature to it.[6][13] Some believed that the magic permeating the Prime Material plane empowered it.[13] Others believed that the different species of chromatics,[6][14] as well as metallics,[6] were each imbued with elemental magic and their breath weapon was a manifestation of that elemental energy.

[knotty vine]

but mechs wise it isnt

[feral fulcrum]

That's poor logic to use however, since there's plenty of Definitely magical effects that don't say anything about magic in their text (Because WOTC hates Text Bloat, except for when they don't. LOOKING AT YOU 2024 WISH)

[storm magnet]

If you charm/taunt an enemy, and they walk towards you and away from an ally, does that provoke an OA? That's not "forced," movement right?

[fossil hollow]

...

[glad ferry]

The other thing I've always found interest about dragons is how their layers and environments change into the nature over time if they stay long enough

[knotty vine]

I mean i doubt an enemy would just walk away from you willing

through there is a spell that does cause forced movement using there movement

[mighty wharf]

Fear

[knotty vine]

no

[feral fulcrum]

If you're like, Commanding them to do something, counts as Forced Movement, if they're going it of their own free will, not Forced Movement.

[knotty vine]

Dissonant Whispers

[storm magnet]

So a taunt works but not a charm

[glad ferry]

Just as the pc can choose to move away from an enemy and take the damage from reactions or remain snd not take it

[fossil hollow]

Dissonant Whispers and Command would trigger OA

[woven flint]

Dissonant Whispers notably, is a thing that can make a creature use its movement that ISN'T Forced movement

[feral fulcrum]

Correct.

[knotty vine]

it uses its reaction and movement to run away

[fossil hollow]

OAs work if you use an action or movement to move

[woven flint]

Yeah, nothing in Dissonant Whispers or Command say the movement is forced and doesn't provoke oppritunity attacks

Most forced movement effects will state it.

[glad ferry]

Charm creates a temporary ally. Each time they're hit they have a chance to break free from it

[austere root]

They absolutely do, and that's the most fun thing about them

[feral fulcrum]

The point, was that Generally, Charm effects = Forced movement :V

[knotty vine]

they use there reaction to move so it checks

[fossil hollow]

You can make an Opportunity Attack when a creature that you can see leaves your reach using its action, its Bonus Action, its Reaction, or one of its speeds.

[woven flint]

And you picked an example that isn't forced movement 🤔

[knotty vine]

jackpotttt

[fossil hollow]

not inherently

[feral fulcrum]

Whatever goats your float my guy.

[storm magnet]

That's weird to me because within universe, someone who is charmed and someone who is taunted is the same, just mechcanically different. But DnD isn't suopposed to be a perfect simulator anyway

[fossil hollow]

Sorry for trying to correct ig

[fossil hollow]

Taunted isnt a thing except for Kender's Taunt

[feral fulcrum]

Yeah there's no mechanics for Taunting, even Compelled Duel isn't even a taunt

[storm magnet]

Oh

[glad ferry]

Or is it only on the characters turns that they have a chance to roll a wisdom saving throw to break the effect. Im assuming spell dependent

[feral fulcrum]

Compelled Duel is hilariously bad, and only good for maybe preventing a guy form just...walking out of combat. That's about it.

[cedar bane]

Usually taunts in dnd are the creature having disadvantage on attack rolls on targets that aren't the tauntee

[glad ferry]

Never realized there wasn't a taunt

[feral fulcrum]

And wouldn't prevent them just...Teleporting, only walking.

[cedar bane]

The aura of it though is unmatched

[storm magnet]

So really the only way to "taunt," usually is to just insult and hope the DM gives you a favorable outcome via enraging the opponent?

[feral fulcrum]

Yurp

[cedar bane]

Most dms would allow using the influence action to taunt

Though there are some spells and features which encourage the enemy to attack you

Doesn't mean they will

[woven flint]

Crown Paladin does compelled duel better than the spell does lol
"Champion Challenge. As a bonus action, you issue a challenge that compels other creatures to do battle with you. Each creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature can't willingly move more than 30 feet away from you. This effect ends on the creature if you are incapacitated or die or if the creature is more than 30 feet away from you."
Its also more than one fella

[cedar bane]

Crown paladin stays winning

[woven flint]

Crown Paladins are badass, lets be real

[storm magnet]

What about abilities that make the opponent fear you and thus move away? Like that one paladin spell that works on only fiends and stuff

[fossil hollow]

read

[cedar bane]

Anything that applies the fear condition

Which is a lot

[storm magnet]

I read it, really! Even read the handbook

[stiff rock]

what's the general time range for an undead (like a lich or similar undying undead) to reform after being killed?

[storm magnet]

Turn the Undead

[fossil hollow]

Liches do 1d10 days iirc

others are dependant on how they die and what they turn into

[stiff rock]

do mummy lords reform, or are they down-and-out?

[fossil hollow]

vampire killed you? You need to be drained and buried, with the next night being your rebirth as a spawn

[fossil hollow]

they reform if their heart is alive

[stiff rock]

ah alright, thank you

[cedar bane]

What about a vampire mummy lord lich

Do they cancel out or work together

[storm magnet]

Would you guys say a cold enviorment typically invites higher level enemies than other enviroments?

[fossil hollow]

Youre getting smited to hell and back

[cedar bane]

Harsher climates usually mean sturdier beasts

[cedar bane]

I'll be back in 1d10 days just you wait

[fossil hollow]

also smaller beasties

[fast latch]

What if there was a Feat that let you Opportunity Attack on Forced Movement?

[cedar bane]

True, most things will adapt

[woven flint]

Small Beasts can be meancing
Looks at the humble Honey Badger

[storm magnet]

Do swamps or caves have more dangerous creatures on average?

[fossil hollow]

Foxes, some rodents exist in cold areas

[elder tree]

i made a fatal mistake of asking the party to do something a week prior to the session

one person did it.

[cedar bane]

I'd say swamps?

[cedar bane]

The humble cr30 stoat

[fast latch]

In real life, swamps, in DnD, caves

Caves have Mind Flayers and Beholders

[cedar bane]

What was it?

[woven flint]

Umber Hulks love Caves
And they can borrow through solid stone

[storm magnet]

Really?! Any old cave can have extraterrestrial threats?

[cedar bane]

Do we consider the underdark a cave in this?

[elder tree]

I asked them what their characters would be doing in the 1 week they had to prepare for a town to be attacked by a horde of monsters. the one person who responded just monologued the entire time

[fossil hollow]

Umberhulks are not extraterrestrial

[cedar bane]

God forbid they gave homes

[storm magnet]

Mind Flayers are right?

[woven flint]

I know

I was mentioning it before DUI, at least, my message appeared before theirs on my screen

Umber Hulks should be used more

[cedar bane]

Have a discussion with everyone and make it clear the expected amount of work for them to put in, and let the monologue guy to tune it down a little

[feral fulcrum]

It's nothing but caves, so, I'd dare say yes?

[fossil hollow]

im saying that to DUI

[cedar bane]

Actually that is an interesting question, what ecosystem is the most dangerous in dnd?

[fossil hollow]

Either the Underdark or Abyss

[feral fulcrum]

Look, eldritch beings from beyond the Material Plane don't Care where they show up, only that you're tasty and delicious.

[fossil hollow]

Abyss, Carceri, Nine Hells, a lot of the lower planes in general

[cedar bane]

True, the other planes win by a landslide

[storm magnet]

Can't mountains have those super strong giants with ice/lightning powers?

[fossil hollow]

Storm Giants love remote areas

[feral fulcrum]

You an find anything anywhere, it's entirely DM dependent.

[cedar bane]

I don't think the mountain is gonna stop them

[storm magnet]

No I mean like as a habitat

[fossil hollow]

Some storm giants go out of their way to find the highest mountains to ponder and meditate

Tibetan Monk style

[feral fulcrum]

Location data on various monsters is just Usually where it's apropriate for them to show up, their preffered habitats etc etc.

[cedar bane]

Monk storm giant with flurry of blows and step of the wind

[storm magnet]

I have very little knowledge but I imagined Storm Giants are stronger than most things even in outer planes

[fossil hollow]

theyre only CR 13

Stronger than a Mind Flayer sure, but not invincible against all threats from the outer planes

[feral fulcrum]

You'd be quite wrong, because there are enormously scary things in the Outer Planes

[fossil hollow]

Hell, most adult dragons are stronger than them

[fast latch]

I… think so? It does have a lot of caves

[fossil hollow]

theyre especially weak against Blue Dragons, since they deal so much lightning damage

[cedar bane]

Never going to the far realm again

[feral fulcrum]

A Storm Giant isn't gonna tussle with Cthulu and win

[fossil hollow]

thats how you end up with that Kraken storm giant

[cedar bane]

I don't know, it's a really big guy

[cedar bane]

Storm giant riding a kraken

[fossil hollow]

only 25-30 feet tall

[fossil hollow]

Krakens hate them

[feral fulcrum]

And there are equally if not Bigger 'Guys' in the Outer Planes

[timber bear]

is there anyone who knows how 3.5e works, who could help me build my first char in a dc call?

[feral fulcrum]

The Astral Dreadnaught would like to know your location

[fossil hollow]

remember, Krakens are sapeitnt and intelligent

[cedar bane]

Hey thays pretty big

[fast latch]

Cthulhu is like

Bigger than two Tarrasques

[cedar bane]

I'm sure if they talked it out they'd be best friends

[feral fulcrum]

Click click giant crab claws the size of huge ships

[fossil hollow]

ctuhullu is s big as he needs to be, because hes an Great Old One

theyre beyond our understanding of physics

[cedar bane]

100 storm giants vs cthulu

Storm giant ladder

[feral fulcrum]

Cthulu wins.

[fossil hollow]

... i dunno, theres 100 giants

[cedar bane]

That's a lot of giants

Think about it

[feral fulcrum]

Great Old One's are functionally Equivalant to gods for the "You can't take him in a fight."

[fossil hollow]

1 billion lions joke aside, there are statblocks for giants who are corrupted by krakens

[storm magnet]

What about enough storm giants to create a universe collapsing black hole

[cedar bane]

Oh wait that's awesome

[fossil hollow]

Also a powerful storm giant was once kidnapped by a kraken's cult

[feral fulcrum]

Jokes on you, DND doesn't run our physics, therfore no black hole, therefore Cthulu Wins Again

[storm magnet]

Dang

[cedar bane]

Guys the kraken won't be able to do much to us on this island!

The humble 42 Storm giants its corrupted:

[cedar bane]

You'd need at least 101

[fossil hollow]

thats how you get a woman who hates dalmati- i mean giants who wants to turn them into clothes

[storm magnet]

Is there anything from the normal planes that can be teleported into the outter planes and do a lot of damage?

[fossil hollow]

what

[storm magnet]

Idk

[fossil hollow]

oh, Tarrasque

[errant crag]

101 giants would make a lot of clothes

[cedar bane]

A cloud giants hair would make for some rather nice fluff

[cedar bane]

I mean something very big

[lavish flame]

Dragons would probably hurt a lot of the other planes' denizens

[cedar bane]

Preferably angry

[fossil hollow]

Tarrasque

[cedar bane]

Always bet on tarrasque

[fossil hollow]

unless you have a flying fighter with a lot of patience and a +1 longbow

[cedar bane]

Solution? Two tarrasques

[fossil hollow]

just need more arrows and time

also, what the hell is it with these bots lately????

[cedar bane]

Wait could someone therotically cast fly on a tarrasque?

[fossil hollow]

yeah

[cedar bane]

They keep trying to summon cthulu or something

[storm magnet]

Is Jormungander in DND

[cedar bane]

I have a brilliant and potentially very funny idea

[fossil hollow]

Does it rhyme with grug?

[cedar bane]

I don't think so?

[storm magnet]

He'd mess up the outer planes if he's real

[blissful dragon]

their is a bean wyrm in a magic the gathering themed dnd monster pack dlc on beyond thats pretty close

[cedar bane]

Flying tarrasque sure does

[fossil hollow]

The World Serpent isnt in dnd no

AGAIN?!?!?!?!

[cedar bane]

Its the world serpent trying to get in

[blissful dragon]

Monstrous Compendium Vol. Four: Eldraine Creatures Beanstalk Wurm is what you want if your wanting a wolld seperent like monster

[storm magnet]

Woah that's cool

[fiery nimbus]

So, what is the intented gameplay behind Arteficer Cartographer

[blissful dragon]

support

[fossil hollow]

support, teleporting, point and click adventure

[fiery nimbus]

Well yes the increased mobility im assuming will be useful for support, but arteficer spell list is kind of...

[blissful dragon]

like its supports skills let it easily heal or apply buff effect to the people it creates maps for

[fossil hollow]

Arti is support and utility. Cartographer leans heavily into that

[fiery nimbus]

did they add more spells that support that kind of gameplay?

[fossil hollow]

3 Faerie Fire, Guiding Bolt, Healing Word
5 Locate Object, Mind Spike
9 Call Lightning, Clairvoyance
13 Banishment, Locate Creature
17 Scrying, Teleportation Circle

[fiery nimbus]

hmm, frankly i don't know what i wanted anymore

Wait, i can finally learn Vortex Warp

[crimson gulch]

Sure it is, all of Norse myth is

[fossil hollow]

fair enough, forgot Tyr is the same as he was in our world, but he (World Serpent) not like, mentioned all too much, interestingly. The Olympians got more presence than he does

[mild lodge]

Ok so

thoughts on mimics that are like everyday objects you HAVE to use eventually?

like bin mimic, toilet mimic etc

:D

[fossil hollow]

thats their reccomended and most common use

[mild lodge]

matchstick mimic

🔥

[errant crag]

Should I take Unseen Servant or Alarm

With Ritual Caster

[knotty vine]

I still think zone of truth is very weird

[glad arch]

Why so? I took it last level up but havent got to use it yet

[knotty vine]

How does it know what is and isnt true

[glad arch]

Its what the speaker believes to be true

[knotty vine]

and that could be a lie no?

[glad arch]

Yes

[feral fulcrum]

Magic.

[knotty vine]

example being if I in my heart of hearts really believed that the dnd earth was flat would the zone force me to till your truth or my own

[glad arch]

If e.g. the rogue killed the mayor but you dont know that. When asked did the rogue do it you can say no

[glad arch]

You would be allowed to say the earth is flat

[pearl hedge]

i finally pulled off ready action correctly!! but our campaign ended 🙁

[knotty vine]

The same thing could apply to almost anything

[glad arch]

Correct

[knotty vine]

If i stab someone and truely believe I didnt stab them zone would think I was telling a truth

[glad arch]

If your mind got wiped of you stabbing them then yes that is the truth in your mind

Its not the truth you have to say, its your truth

If zone of truth was absolute you could ask any question to someone in there and youd be able to get a correct answer

'Where is x right now' to a random peasant would let you know where that person is. 'How do i kill x' to a talking bird could give you some weakness to tiamat. Ext

[arctic oak]

What did I walk in on?

[knotty vine]

How stupid the zone of truth spell is

[glad arch]

Zone of truth, no more lies from now on