dnd-discussion

[odd valley]

my characters hidden in a tree watching new characters talk lmao

[feral fulcrum]

That reminds me, I had a bottle of infinite rice wine, provided the eternally drunk Pixie was kept in the bottle. I eventually got around to making a booze aquarium for said Pixie.

[junior jasper]

Is it bad that I refused to play a campaign that my dad was running because it was written entirely with AI?

[plush ermine]

How did u know it was all ai?

[junior jasper]

He told me. I watched him using ChatGPT for even the most broad of details.

[errant crag]

Chat what are we talking about

[crimson gulch]

No, you need to be honest about these things

[errant crag]

You should go no contact with your dad and never talk to him again

[junior jasper]

Thank you everyone.

[crimson gulch]

I just log into chat gpt once a day or so to bulley it and make lists of why it's terrible, that's the ideal use right now

[junior jasper]

No, I’m just mad at him.

[errant crag]

Probably for the better

He is your dad after all

[crimson gulch]

I'm not worried about ai use for creative things, the bubble is popping and it's gonna crash soon

[junior jasper]

Also, apparently I’m going to start being paid by the DM of the current group that I’m playing a divine soul sorcerer in. Apparently the fact that I can draw better than AI and that I have time to draw makes my art worth being paid for.

[crimson gulch]

Nice! Artist are worth it

[junior jasper]

Hopefully, but I don’t want to play a campaign written with AI.

[frail wasp]

we call it slop ... just dont like to play slop

[errant crag]

I miss human made slop

[crimson gulch]

I commissioned my first art for a campaign recently

[errant crag]

I feel like I'm losing my edge as the DM

Like I'm not cool and hip anymore

[normal junco]

well, the next time you have spider related combat, leap up and hose down your players with silly string as you scream "Roll for initiative!"

[plush ermine]

Tbh, keep up w popular games and anime and u will have a decent source of inspiration. But ik u dont like rip offs so its gonna be a little hard to find a balance of inspiration vs ripoffs

[errant crag]

I can break out my shoebox full of spider eggs and pour it onto the battle mat and shout "Minis!!!"

[fossil hollow]

fear

[plush ermine]

Jjk and culling games have been pretty interesting. I also got inspired by destiny for a pvevp gambit game that also uses tarot cards to determine enemies, boss and final arena

[errant crag]

Immersion!

[normal junco]

reskin the entirety of the My Little Pony Movie as a campaign and see how long it takes the players to figure it out.

its weird how much that movie is literally a d&d campaign with singing ponies shoehorned in, you can actually tell when rolls happen and when there's a fail

[errant crag]

I wonder if I can buy boxes of live spiders anywhere

[strong gazelle]

Also, maybe don't be afraid to bend rules a bit! If you want to add a magic item that's very powerful, like a Bag of Beans, you could do something like a druid uses all of them to make a single beanstalk, or they are stolen or something.

Idk ran out of ideas

[errant crag]

I can get a 6 pack of living Wolf Spiders for $50!

[strong gazelle]

NO. BAD.

I personally used the legend of Zelda as inspiration for magic items

The different abilities are fun

[normal junco]

do you have them hold up their new item while you say "do do-do DOOO!"?

[strong gazelle]

LOL no, I use the runes/arm abilities in totk or botw

I made a "band of ascension" that they can use to move through materials like it were a liquid that they could swim through

Only upward tho

[west pewter]

What are some good flaws for a fiery tiefling

[frail wasp]

weak to cheesecake

[west pewter]

Perfect

[umbral girder]

Nah make it weak to custards

Because Custard is the 15th damage type in DnD

[frail wasp]

real

[civic bramble]

Does Battlemaster multiclass well with other martials?

[umbral girder]

Usually

[civic bramble]

I took some fighter levels up to 3 for Zealot Barb and it just felt busted.

[umbral girder]

Fighter and Rogue are two classes that Multiclass really good

[frail wasp]

i've seen 2 levels of fighter work well, more than that less so

[umbral girder]

So I can believe it

[civic bramble]

Why those two?

[frail wasp]

action surge and cunning action

[errant crag]

Fighter and Barbarian compliment each other like chocolate and peanut butter

[umbral girder]

Action surge, 2nd wind, every weapon and armor from fighter

[errant crag]

Mmmmh Heavy Crossbow Rogue

[umbral girder]

Bonus skill, bonus expertise, Cunning action, some times sneak attack for Rogue

Add weapon masteries (and fighting style) they are just very good dips

Also in terms of stat minimus it’s really easy to get

[errant crag]

I feel like Ranger is a really solid dip in 2024

If you're not already concentrating on anything

[umbral girder]

Yeah two hunters marks, martial weapons, medium armor and shields, fighting style, spell slots and spells, languages and expertise, and two free Hunter’s Marks

Also a bonus skill.

[civic bramble]

I just was never expecting Battlemaster specifically to fit that well.

[errant crag]

Wish I could play as Hadozee without people judging me over it

[civic bramble]

I have a feeling the why is a long story.

[strong wave]

What's a hadozee

[umbral girder]

A flying monkey race

[normal canyon]

A monkey with skin flaps

[umbral girder]

With some, let’s just say “yikes” lore

And it’s a recent one too

[grizzled lance]

Action surge

[scenic valley]

I need feedback

So a bunch of adventures (the players rest at a tavern right after a long journey (thay do improve bar things until thay meet forexinstare who starts talking about dragon sittings and then everyone gos black mid sentinc (thay dont know this yet but the hole tavern gets swallowed buy a dragon thay wake up in a dragons stomach ware thay have to jump a pit of acid and then find the dragon hart wich is super fragile but will like nuke explode at the slightest damage (improve them finding a way to withstand/block the blast) then thay end up free falling ware thay land in thare own way then thay see a village that forexinstare says that's ware she grew up we go thare and we see its being attacked by ice elementals thay are thanked and taking to the mayor and that's it so far

[errant crag]

Would probably be the only instance where I'm fine with them being reprinted with all the lore being scrapped

[gusty charm]

What’s up with the lore? If I may ask

[lavish flame]

Hadozee were gliding ape-people in the spelljammer setting. Their lore was basocally "We were apes, then a wizard gave us sentience and enslaved us. Then another wizard set us free."

So like the Hadozee were ape people that were enslaved and werent even agents in their own emancipation. They had to be given freedom by a member of some other species. It rubbed people the wrong way

[gusty charm]

Hmmmmmmm

Thanks for sharing!

[rough basalt]

Yeah Spelljammer was one of their worst recent products and this was one of the big reasons why

[umbral girder]

Also the lack of, well mostly everything you’d have in a setting

[rough basalt]

They were just lazy in everything to the point they were too lazy to think a species being made sentient then enslaved then freed by another wizard wouldn't be wrong.

[umbral girder]

It’s a setting with no setting

Just “look at these boats!”

[rough basalt]

Was when WotC was in peak "you shouldn't criticize us. Just consume and wait for new stuff to consume." Of 5e

[gusty charm]

Guys careful I think they’re listening

[rough basalt]

Nah we say this like several times a week

[gusty charm]

Lmao

[rough basalt]

It's on the weekly check list

It's an important communal event to make sure new people know and old don't forget that Spelljammer 5e was the worst official 5e product of the 2020s.

[errant crag]

Huh. I expected it to be worse given how people regard it

[rough basalt]

It's competition being Vecna Eve of Ruin.

[errant crag]

I mean that's bad for sure

But I expected it to be way worse

Like really really bad

[oak grotto]

Honestly the hadozee thing wasn't that bad but whatever.

[rough basalt]

Vecna didn't get the writing and dev resources it needed due to most of WotC focusing on hallowed be their name, the glorious 5.5e corebooks.

So it's the worst adventure book of the 2020s

[errant crag]

Wish they'd suck it up and give us high difficulty adventures

Give me the official meat grinder adventure

[rough basalt]

Light of Xarxys would take it but I lump it with Spelljammer 5e since it's in the box set.

[fickle heart]

It was quite a bit worse than that, to be fair.

[rough basalt]

2020s so far has had pretty good adventures

Other than Vecna and Light of Xarxys

[lavish flame]

yeah, I've made a long and short of it. There's some notes to hit about colonialism and the idea of "enlightening" lesser beings that hits areas reminiscent of the "White Man's Burden" that I didn't get into.

[rough basalt]

Like Witchlights good, Icewind Dale is great. Candlekeep is decent, if a bit misleading title. Radiant Citadel is good. Golden Vault is good. Phandelver expanded is good. Netherdeep is good. Dragonlance I have qualms with, but is good and does a good job of showing how to run a war adventure.

[lavish flame]

Golden Vault is surprisingly good, given how quickly and silently I felt it came and went

[rough basalt]

Quests from the Infinite Staircase is nearly flawless since its all ODnD adventures.

[umbral girder]

Icewind Dale known as Icewind Peak

[rough basalt]

Quests only has 1 major flaw and it's that it ends.

[lavish flame]

I've stolen Party at Paliset Hall for a "The Prince is getting maried, be bodyguards" adventure and I cannot wait for it

[rough basalt]

I think why Quests was so good is cause they didn't change anything.

Other than update certain specific monsters to 5e

[peak pecan]

What’s the consensus on the handful of 5.5 adventures?

[rough basalt]

They're good.

[peak pecan]

Good to know

[rough basalt]

Stuff for dnd since the 2024 PHB dropped has been too good for DnDtube to thrive anymore hilariously

Quite a few dndtubers have quit or gone on hiatus cause wotc hasn't made any major screwups since Vecna so there isn't any new algorithm favoring content to be made.

[umbral girder]

Yeah I love them

[peak pecan]

That’s one of my favorite Golden Vault quests; some of the mid level ones started to feel samey in my opinion

[rough basalt]

Ye some adventures got some minor issues but overall it's a pretty solid anthology

[umbral girder]

Fights feel more challenging and I love the One page adventure format because it makes doing one shots super easy

[peak pecan]

Trying to set my party up to do either Axe from the Grave or Heart of Ashes; those are my two favorite adventures

[buoyant oar]

And Quests updated one of the first FR Adventures ever released.

[peak pecan]

But I also dropped hints towards When A Star Falls, so we’ll see which bait they take

[rough basalt]

Ye I love the one page adventures in Adventures in Faerun

They're easy one shots while being easy side quests you can slot into FR games and even adventure template overall you can build off of

[lavish flame]

Dragon Delves is a great one shot book, its probably not great played as a campaign though. The adventures from Adventures in Faerun are all very slim, but workable. I like them a lot. Heroes of the Borderlands is peao because Keep on the Borderlands was peak.

5.5 has been very fruitful imo

[rough basalt]

Like I ran "The Flying Fortress" which involves the Cult of the Dragon.

So if you're doing a Cult of the Dragon quest or adventure you can just slot that in as part of it.

But I ran it as a one shot and it was pretty solid too

[peak pecan]

Yeah, there is no connective tissue at all between the Dragon Delves adventures

[rough basalt]

Other than the 1 hour spent on tech difficulties

[gusty charm]

Is it really D&D without that?

[buoyant oar]

Yep the only real misstep in 5.5e imo was Lorwyn First Light. It felt so tacked on to FR's release.

[rough basalt]

Ye

MTG probably slipped it in while Dan Ayoub wasn't looking

[woven flint]

My Cleric now has Proficiency in 4 saving throws 😎

[lavish flame]

Yup, they're all written for like 1-2 sessions of play. They say as much in the adventure intros

[woven flint]

He's almost a mini-momk

[storm magnet]

If an enemy is blinded, it takes a few steps back out of confusion, Does that open up an attack of opportunity

[rough basalt]

I'm looking forward to whenever we get the first dedicated adventure for 5.5e

But I like that they're focusing a lot on settings and more unique character options atm.

[lavish flame]

yeah

[peak pecan]

That Forgotten Realms book later this year seems promising then

[buoyant oar]

I remember them teasing a Lorwyn setting guide about a year ago. And then they revealed that FR would have 3 DLCs and one was a secret. When it was revealed to be Lorwyn I was like.

Hmmm. Someone canceled this project

[lavish flame]

same lol

[valid geyser]

also there was just, false advertising since they said itd connect to the moonshae isles and it didnt

[lavish flame]

someone couldnt get the team to sign off on this being a first party product

[umbral girder]

Netheril’s Fall too seems to be a canceled Eve of Ruin plot line

[buoyant oar]

It connected to the Moonshaes in the announcement blog and that was it.

[peak pecan]

That’s technically true; you’re supposed to treat it like a Domain of Delight, I think?

[lavish flame]

yup

[peak pecan]

That makes sense; I was wondering why that was one of the FR DLCs besides “vague BG3 cross promo”

[buoyant oar]

It is true. But it ment like Lorwyn's actual content makes no FR mention or connection

[rough basalt]

Compared to their predecessors they're off to a pretty good start anyhow

[buoyant oar]

That is true

[rough basalt]

1 bad product vs several until CoS.

[umbral girder]

Also in an interview it was said the plan for Eve of Ruin to happen with time travel and Netheril

[valid geyser]

i dont hate netherils fall, but a lot of it is just copy and pasted from a 2e book

[lavish flame]

I remember when that first dropped, MTG people were very upset that it was just a Domain of Delight. Something about MTG cosmology.

[umbral girder]

But things didn’t go as planned

[rough basalt]

I think right now they're focused on establishing they're not their predecessors

[peak pecan]

I thought that had to do with the obelisk plot they ended up dropping into Phandelver & Below

Man, that book was a hodgepodge

[buoyant oar]

The idea of digital DLC Supplements and web enhancements are a good idea. The first being the expansions to the Essentials Kit.

They just need to be relevant.

[rough basalt]

Since their predecessors said "Setting Guides are wrong and should never be done" until Keith Baker said "nah it will happen" and the one good setting guide came out.

[umbral girder]

That was meant to set up Eve of Ruin as well

[peak pecan]

Coulda fooled me

[umbral girder]

It was a Next step part

Even said so in the book it was for Vecna’s plan

[buoyant oar]

The obelisks tied to ancient Netheril and vecna in Rime of the Frost maiden

[lavish flame]

I kinda thought Phandelver amd Below was meant to be the finale of the Obelisk metaplot, and Vecna Eve of Ruin was just them freestyling

[umbral girder]

No Phandelvar specifically stated it was the obelisks were now in Vecna’s control.

[rough basalt]

Nah Vecna was just them fumbling the bag and basically making a half-baked greatest hits saga.

[buoyant oar]

It was some Game of Thrones Season 8 level writing there 😉

[rough basalt]

If it were like they initially intended it may have not been the contender to beat Spelljammer of worst product of the 2020s.

[umbral girder]

Personally I think a new retcon could have it be that Vecna has the Obelisks as a back up plan to get his godhood back.

[peak pecan]

Speaking of Spelljammer, did anyone ever explain why there was so much Dark Sun content but the adventure never goes there?

[umbral girder]

Old Guard said there is no going to Dark Sun.

[rough basalt]

Cause one producer, Perkins and Crawford hated dark sun and never wanted to see it.

[peak pecan]

Yeah, correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think he’s a deity on Toril

[umbral girder]

Interloper god

He is a type of god that meddles in multiple worlds

Like Bahamut and Tiamat

[rough basalt]

The one producer was one of the OGL crisis people so he did quite a bit of damage in his reign of terror.

[buoyant oar]

Well I get why. They couldn't go six months with out controversy. When you can't avoid stepping on rakes. "Slavery the Setting" should not be done.

[peak pecan]

Huh, that’s interesting to hear

[rough basalt]

I could tell he was probably defeated after the OGL stuff failed.

He left before they released Vecna.

[buoyant oar]

So tbh. I am Glad they didn't do Dark Sun.

[peak pecan]

But then how did monsters like the Brohg end up in Light of Xaryxis?

[rough basalt]

Slipped in by heroes

Ones who stood against the tyranny of Crawperk /j

[peak pecan]

I believe it’s Perkcraw /j

[lavish flame]

For a minute there, we almost went to Athasspace in that adventure

[rough basalt]

Athasspace being Dark Suns solar system.

[lavish flame]

Doomspace was originally called Athasspace, we saw this in a community post that got taken down within the day. It was showing off the star-system map

[peak pecan]

I remember that part

[rough basalt]

The guy who said "no 5e Dark Sun" iirc was also heavily involved in why spelljammer was the way it was

[lavish flame]

I think it featured Realmspace, Krynnspace, and Athasspace

[lavish flame]

this is beginning to sound like a mythologized boogeyman in the WOTC studio

[umbral girder]

It’s a miracle Dark Sun got mentioned in both DMGs

Also in Princes of the Apocalypse

[peak pecan]

Or whatever the opposite of a miracle is

[buoyant oar]

I acknowledge that Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford had a very hard job and they were given a Herculean task for 5e.

They made the game more accessible than ever. And that's a good thing. But uhh. Their opinions on lore in established settings and anything deeper than broad sandbox Storytelling should be taken with a grain of salt.

[rough basalt]

He was truly the boogeyman. A Spy sent by Paizo to bring WotC to the Eve of Ruin.

[peak pecan]

Can anyone explain why Bigby’s Glory of the Giants was so undercooked compared to Fizban’s? Or was it just less developed because it was the end of 5e’s life?

[rough basalt]

Nah but I double checked and his involvement was explaining how the Hadooze situation occurred.

[peak pecan]

Man, that book was a letdown

[rough basalt]

The content in the 2020s was very hit or miss

[buoyant oar]

Design time at this point was being split between old 5e and 5.5e core revamp

[peak pecan]

You can say that again

[rough basalt]

Bigbys also had one of the WotC contracted artists put AI in it.

[buoyant oar]

Why put a lot of effort into the mechanics if those mechanics are getting a total rework in less than 2 years

[peak pecan]

Yeah, I remember that; they had to update all the digital copies a month after release

[rough basalt]

Also it kinda had a bit of setting to it and we know what settings were to the old guard which was "boo settings. Boo"

[peak pecan]

You mean the Giant enclaves? Thats hardly a setting

[buoyant oar]

"Ghosts of Saltmarsh is a setting agnostic adventure"

[rough basalt]

Agnostic Adventure.
Look inside
Saltmarsh region on Oerth.

[buoyant oar]

"Setting agnostic" you have been banned from playing DnD

[errant crag]

The book gives advice for putting the city of Saltmarsh in other settings

[peak pecan]

Look at cover, more like

[limber trail]

Every adventure is setting agnostic with enough renaming

(Maybe not every adventure)

[umbral girder]

Literally the back of Princes of the Apocalypse

[buoyant oar]

Yes the book gives examples of running it in other settings but most adventures do that

[rough basalt]

Me when I put a city of Oerthans in Forgotten Realms.

[peak pecan]

But all the setting stuff is initially predicated on the Greyhawk base. It’s like saying the Dragonlance book’s agnostic because you can file off the serial numbers.

[errant crag]

I don't think it's like that

[umbral girder]

It even shows how to do it in Dark Sun.

[rough basalt]

Dragonlance book was mostly to sell a board game that was meant to be used to play with it.

[peak pecan]

The disputes in the town are predicated on local affiliations to Greyhawk factions. If the advice given in the book is just to change the names of parties involved to play these adventures on any world, all adventures are setting agnostic by that metric

[rough basalt]

I wonder the pain the old guard went through when they saw Dan Ayoub say "A new Dragonlance novel is coming"

[buoyant oar]

I am just glad Weis and Hickman get to write Dragonlance again. I think WotC corp and Ed will probably never mend and that makes me said.

[lavish flame]

I'm honestly not certain what u mean. They're kinda identical book to me

[buoyant oar]

I would have loved a conclusion to the Chosen Heirs series.

[rough basalt]

Ye new team can try, but the people ever since the late 2000s have treated him like he didn't matter.

[buoyant oar]

It's clear the design team loves Ed. But according to Ed the movie makers were expressly told to not consult him.

[peak pecan]

Fizban just had a lot more meat on the bones. Better described monsters, more plot hooks for all the types of dragons, ideas on how to incorporate them into your setting. Bigby’s just kind of tries to crib off Fizban’s homework and gets a B- instead of an A

[errant crag]

Bro what are you on about the only factions in the town are specific to the town, you can replace Keoland and King Scotti with any other nation and any other warmongering King. Replace the Faithful Quartermasters of Iuz with almost any other generic group of craftsfolk and they fit just fine.

[buoyant oar]

It feels like most of his public communication with WotC is about specific NDAs getting lapsed so he can talk about more.

[rough basalt]

I'm just glad certain people at WotC are gone now

The quality uptrend is no doubt related.

[buoyant oar]

Soon the stain of the Spellplague shall be cleansed

[peak pecan]

“What are you on about, the only factions in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist are specific to Waterdeep. You can replace Force Grey with any city guard and they fit just fine” that’s what your argument sounds like hastily applied to another adventure

[rough basalt]

Ye the sins that were committed in the Age of Cordell are finally being mended.

The Sins of the Mearls were considerably easier to fix.

[errant crag]

I'm literally right though, the Loyalists and Traditionalists are not factions that exist outside of Saltmarsh. They are specifically just where the townsfolk fall politically

[buoyant oar]

The Age of Perkins is over. The Age of Tondro has come

[errant crag]

It's not this hard to change the name of something

[rough basalt]

I wouldn't wanna be the "no dark sun" guy if come August they confirm dark sun 5e

[peak pecan]

That’s not the point: when people say things are setting agnostic they mean they never had settings to begin with or are already made generic for your table. Dragon Delves is a mostly setting agnostic book. Candlekeep Mysteries isn’t. Saltmarsh was promoted as agnostic and wasn’t.

[buoyant oar]

Tbh I am still full of trepidation with Dark Sun. It's a setting that has to change to be palatable in today's world and change is never pretty.

[lavish flame]

What were some highlights of Perkins time at WOTC? He's been doing this since 3.5 afaik

[rough basalt]

I think they just gotta use the 4e Dark Sun guide as a base.

2e Dark Sun was the "Slavery is bad but you can't do anything about it so may as well join them."

[peak pecan]

Yeah; I feel like a 5.5e Dark Sun would be kind of rendered generic; it’s very much a product of its time and has to be carefully remade.

[rough basalt]

I think they might surprise us.

Cause a setting if they market it as rising up against tyrants, killing Slavers and overthrowing tyranny would be something a lot of people would like.

Which was more or less what 4e Dark Sun was and it was considered the best 4e setting guide.

[errant crag]

Most of the individual adventures within Ghosts of Saltmarsh have nothing to do with the fact it's set in Greyhawk, you can have the first adventure be in any spooky mansion on the coast. You can have the second one be in any swamp inhabited by Lizardfolk. The book itself treats Saltmarsh as a setting to run in your game in, but the adventures themselves within are setting agnostic.

[rough basalt]

Largely due to Cordell ruining the Forgotten Realms and Nentir Vale being legit nothing, but they did some good changes.

[buoyant oar]

5e being as accessible has it has been. Curse of Strahd, the golden age of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, ice wind Dale rime of the frost maiden, and the pioneering of actual play with Acq Inc, and Dice Camera Action

[lavish flame]

Icewind Dale would be my contender. That one feels like Perkins was just pouring everything he loved into an adventure

[rough basalt]

That's probably why Icewind Dale is so good

When someone pours their love into a creation, it does make it better even tho some people would disagree.

[buoyant oar]

He also wrote make 3.5 Eberron adventures and he wrote the 2e book Warriors of Heaven

[errant crag]

Here's how you handle Dark Sun in 5e: You plaster a giant ⚠️ !!Trigger Warning!! ⚠️ on the first page of the book and then just let it be Dark Sun and let adults decide what tone of content they spend their money on and choose to participate in

[buoyant oar]

But you see. I need to market the book. And children might see the ads.

[rough basalt]

How they handle advertising it will be somethihg

Cause they have comfy funny ads for CoS and DiA

[hearty bay]

Size affecting damage dice was honestly one of the best homebrew things my dm could've allowed for me

[errant crag]

The only books I've ever seen any advertising for in any capacity were the Book of Many Things and Eve of Ruin

[flint ledge]

Was dark sun even confirmed?

[hearty bay]

My barbarian gets blasted by all sides, but at least he can bring some pain back

[rough basalt]

All but in actuality.

[woven flint]

I'm dying inside because my knowledge Cleric has 67 hit points now

[buoyant oar]

I have noticed the more unique the advertising for a release the less they have for it.

Neil Newbon as Vecna narrating a CGI trailer that has nothing to do with Eve of Ruin.

A space shanty and full on awesome. A-tier albums spelljams for Spelljammer

[rough basalt]

After Crawford left WotC they released an explicitly Dark Sun 5e UA. Then two months after it was received well they renewed the Dark Sun IP which expired in early 2024

[peak pecan]

I get ads for all of them since Bigby’s; think Beyond has identified me as someone with ample money to waste lol

[rough basalt]

And they're being quiet about the last book of this year

Which I would be if it was Dark Sun

[errant crag]

Do they only advertise on DDB because that's the only place I ever hear about having advertising for D&D books

[rough basalt]

I'd hope for good communal feedback from Ravenloft to whether the storm that would come of announcing Dark Sun 5e.

[buoyant oar]

I found the Dungeon Masters actual play has a 45 song soundtrack. Plz advertise this more

[peak pecan]

I get pop ups on YouTube and other sites

[errant crag]

I get Roll20 ads on YouTube for the occasional D&D book but that's about it

[rough basalt]

Cause DnDtubers who quit or are currently on hiatus will come back and make clickbait vids saying "WOTC Supports Slavery?!" And arrows pointing to Perkins even tho he doesn't work there anymore.

[buoyant oar]

And there was the 50th anniversary Adventure through the Forgotten Realms album. Where are the articles DDB?

[rough basalt]

And people who don't actually pay attention to dnd ads will get them cause of how algorithm works and think WotC actually supports Slavery cause an unfortunate lot of people believe what they see first and don't actually look into it.

[errant crag]

I don't think any person capable of reading that click bait title would think WotC supports slavery

[rough basalt]

Most 5e players can't read

[errant crag]

That's objectively not true

[rough basalt]

It's like at least majority yeah

Not all but common.

[buoyant oar]

Take a person you believe of median intelligence and understand that half of the people are dumber than that

[viral kraken]

ya a whopping quarter of americans cannot read at a 6th grade level

[errant crag]

You unironically believe that the majority of 5e players can't read

[rough basalt]

Yes

[steady sentinel]

Oh they have the same reading capacity as Yu-Gi-Oh players lol

[buoyant oar]

For me it's not can't. It's won't.

[errant crag]

That's ridiculous

Won't I can believe

[rough basalt]

Won't is probably more likely

[buoyant oar]

And tbh won't is imo just as bad as can't. If not worse.

Lacking ability is one thing. Having the ability and refusing is a whole other thing.

[errant crag]

I know you're not being serious because the assertion that the majority of D&D players literally cannot read is unironically the most ridiculous thing I've read in years

[rough basalt]

Like a staggering amount of players pretty much rely solely on the dm to remember all the rules for them.

Cause they either can't or refuse to learn them.

[errant crag]

Those DMs should stop entertaining those players then

[fathom hearth]

Those players are usually the consistent ones

[buoyant oar]

I had a player read out the spell fireball at the table and then ask if the spell did fire damage.

[rough basalt]

It's actually a pretty common reason I find with other system dms who stopped dming 5e. They were tired of players not reading the rules.

[steady sentinel]

Unfortunately I have met some players on my travels on server and most players can't read, myself included since I'm busy reading spells and other stuff lmao

[errant crag]

I've never had this issue with any of my players. I've had players misremember the rules but just actually refuse to learn them, no.

[buoyant oar]

Skyrim level up sound

Reading Comprehension: 0

[rough basalt]

Other systems have people who don't read the rules but it's easier to kick them out cause you can't run the game for them like you can run 5e for lazy players.

[errant crag]

It's not hard to kick people out at all

[raw crypt]

so as a player, reading the rules and spell descriptions... I'm in the minority???

[errant crag]

"Hey you're out don't come back"
Bam easy, barely an inconvenience

[rough basalt]

Yep

[errant crag]

No you're not

They're being hyperbolic

[buoyant oar]

Yeah I track the things the games tell me to track, ammo, rations, encumbrance. I have had players straight up attempts to refuse this.

[errant crag]

To the detriment of the discussion

[woven flint]

I also read the rules
I have like..
5 or 6 times lol

[rough basalt]

I'd argue at least 60% of players probably won't read anything.

[steady sentinel]

Either way I hear Darksun and I'm excited since it's one of my favorite settings

[raw crypt]

though tbf I'm better at playing dnd for the mechanics and worse at the rp

[buoyant oar]

With DDB yea I would buy that. The character creator while good for experienced players for a long time was not good for new players

[rough basalt]

DnD players are like the JJK fans of tabletop games. They're well known for illiteracy and they don't exactly help the case they're not.

If you're like me and have too much time on your hands so you end up in Reddits and FB groups.

[errant crag]

I get we're exaggerating for the haha funnies but asserting that the majority of 5e players unironically are incapable of reading is a ridiculous claim to make.

[woven flint]

Tbh, I've seen people who have read the rules and comprehend them also still say stupid things about them.

[buoyant oar]

It didn't help our game to consistently refer to funny videos to learn how to play.

[rough basalt]

Yeah a lot of people "learned how to play" from DnDshorts shorts and One Shot Questers

[buoyant oar]

Guys stop sending new people to jocat. Stop it. Plz

[frail wasp]

yes, but, maybe to reframe it another way, the average player is not amused by the proposal that they need to read a 350+ page book in order to properly play a game

[buoyant oar]

He admits it. It's a crap guide to dnd

[woven flint]

I read the classes and rules and spells until I got tired of looking at them to make sure I understood everything and could help people if they needed

[rough basalt]

Thing is they only need to read like a dozen pages tops

[steady sentinel]

At least DnDshorts knows what they're talking about unlike OSQ lmao

[rough basalt]

Just asking them to read one page is often too much for thme.

[past blaze]

or that other guy who constantly makes entire bits on false premises and says "yeah they're wrong but it's content"
it's just, ugugghghg

[buoyant oar]

DND shorts regularly talks out of his posterior

[woven flint]

I don't even watch D&D content...
I watch Pathfinder content 💀

[errant crag]

Your unwillingness to get better players is not the same as most players being bad

[rough basalt]

If you wanna learn how to play dnd on YT. You find some dude with only like 200 views on a vid.

[gusty charm]

My most opinionated players were always the least educated…

[rough basalt]

Cause they didn't say enough nonsense to get the algorithm to hook on.

[near karma]

I don't understand how OSQ got big in the first place

Does anyone actually find "wizard dies to 1d4 damage", "ranger bad", paladin twerking, the same evil king skits, etc funny?

[rough basalt]

Algorithms

[buoyant oar]

Damn, Pathfinder even fixed DND YouTube how will 5e recover from this

[rough basalt]

Also he made it big during Covid when DnD had an explosion due to people being stuck inside

[raw crypt]

the entirety of osq's content was derived from the pandemic iirc

[errant crag]

The only good D&D short form content I ever see is from ZachTheBold and those are usually more just humorous skits than "try this funny thing that is actually mechanically possible"

[past blaze]

there's one funny bit though
the death potion

[steady sentinel]

I used to watch him just for background noise and somethings he was funny but now I don't even bother with him lmao

[woven flint]

No.
What's funny is how pathetically he keeps throwing out the same jokes to hopefully get attention AND STILL gets attention.

[rough basalt]

Yeah ZachtheBold makes it clear his shorts aren't meant to be "educational."

[flint ledge]

I think for about 5 minutes before I got into dnd and first discovered it. Now it's just the same 5 jokes repeated a billion times over

[oak grotto]

I genuinely liked him. However I think the jokes just got boring eventually.

[errant crag]

Hot broccoli and cheddar soup like boiling hot

[steady sentinel]

Monkeydm is another one I watch for ideas

[hot reef]

iirc his jokes aren't even that accurate (OSQ)

[buoyant oar]

Then OSQ raged over an actual play

[rough basalt]

Wizard 1d4 hit die dying to anything can be funny

When you see it in play yourself

[errant crag]

Like during the actual play?

[rough basalt]

Not as a constant skit.

[raw crypt]

that was... something to watch happen live, to say the least

[woven flint]

OSQ feels like a LARPER honestly.

[umbral girder]

He wasn’t part of it

[rough basalt]

Nah he made a click bait expose on a new liveplay with a bunch of misinformation then sent them his resume.

[oak grotto]

This is the first time I am hearing this.

[umbral girder]

In fact he’s never even played D&D

[rough basalt]

He is a larper

[near karma]

no, he got mad that people played DnD and filmed it and that they were more successful than he is. Then he begged them to hire him twice

[buoyant oar]

No he wasn't a part of it and did a 20+ minute tear down of it that legit felt like a call for help

[rough basalt]

He's never played dnd outside of something for the camera.

[near karma]

He is

[raw crypt]

dude literally sent them a google powerpoint about how they should paywall it

[errant crag]

Weird

[rough basalt]

His wife told him to make DnD shorts when the pandemic hit

[woven flint]

We blame his wife

[rough basalt]

And told him all the stereotypes

[woven flint]

CURSE YOU, OSQ WIFE!

[rough basalt]

The woman who sold the DnD world

[buoyant oar]

We support women's rights and women's wrongs

[near karma]

his wife actually plays DnD btw

OSQ doesn't

[rough basalt]

Yeah she does actually play

[raw crypt]

equal rights, equal fights?

[woven flint]

I'm gonna make a whole ass
"CURSE YOU, BAYLE!"
speech about OSQ

[past blaze]

and it honestly shows
it's a regurgitation of the most stereotype-derived jokes done to death over years and years.
But since it's done in an even less contextually informed manner, from someone who never actually played and just went to regurgitating jokes, it just makes it even more generic and inaccurate

[rough basalt]

I will say even tho DnDshorts constantly talks out his behind, he's done some good stuff with his channel.

The charities stuff he's been involved in and started up primarily.

[errant crag]

I don't think any of these bad D&D YouTubers are bad people from what I've seen

[past blaze]

Weren't they also part of making Ryoko's Guide? Elements of it have actually seen some use in the group I'm in

[rough basalt]

Yep

[steady sentinel]

Mhm

[buoyant oar]

After his DND timeline video I'm convinced grok writes his scripts. If he helps people good for him but I just can't consume his content.

[past blaze]

yeah it's just... a lot of the time the job can be really badly done

[rough basalt]

OSQ according to his co-workers is actually a pretty horrible dude.

[near karma]

OSQ arguably because of the hateful crashout, gatekeeping, and drama farming

[rough basalt]

Like he was "quitting dndtube" for improv stageplay

[near karma]

oh yeah I forgot about how he treated his coworkers 💀

[rough basalt]

And he abandoned his stage partner mid-tour among other just harsh treatment towards others he's worked with

[buoyant oar]

He has been awarded one yike from me.

[woven flint]

Figures the guy who'd whine and complain about people playing the game for the first time not being good at the game when he doesn't even PLAY IT HIMSELF!

[past blaze]

A Singular Yike

[rough basalt]

He probably thought he had a community that'd stand by that fake expose

[steady sentinel]

Another DND tuber I used to watch was Tulok the barbarian which for builds though some are bad lmao

[woven flint]

To the boiler room of the hells with him!!!

[rough basalt]

But all the comments were like "Bro. This is just dumb. What's wrong with you?"

[raw crypt]

honestly I need to find some dnd tubers that offer ideas on builds that double down on a really stupid concept

[errant crag]

Is that the guy who also does Elden Ring content

[past blaze]

except the only community that had been fostered wasn't actually invested in D&D properly, since they either quickly grow out of it for the inaccuracies and poor attempts at humour, or they aren't interested in D&D enough to care about the attempt at drama

[steady sentinel]

Yup

[buoyant oar]

Meanwhile Matt Colville's Running the Game Series spawned some of the better 5e third party content, an amazing Zine run. Three 3rd party classes and then made his own successful system and vtt all while losing a bunch of weight.

[errant crag]

I used to watch him until he started unnecessarily plugging political takes into every video when it's not relevant to the video whatsoever

I don't care if you're saying things I agree with I don't want politics in everything

[rough basalt]

There's one creator I can't remember his name but he's bald with no facial hair and he's middle aged I think. And he makes clickbait shorts that "break the game" that he stands by as being RAW.

[raw crypt]

treant?

[errant crag]

I saw two of those recently and was super annoyed by the tone of them

They just feel super pretentious

[steady sentinel]

Ah understandable. I stopped after he stopped making characters

[rough basalt]

I once commented on one saying "yeah this doesn't work, ya know that right?" And dude was like "Maybe read again?" With a smile emoji.

[near karma]

I know exactly who you're talking about but I don't remember his name

[buoyant oar]

MCDM and Dungeon Dudes, got in, made it and thrived.

Of DnDTubers those are the only huge successes of that scale

[errant crag]

Wait no I saw someone different it wasn't treantmonk

[past blaze]

yeah I've heard nothing bad about Dungeon Dudes thankfully

[near karma]

different guy but that's another bald dnd youtuber

tm doesn't make clickbaity shorts

[rough basalt]

Dungeon Dudes is fun to put on.

[flint ledge]

You mean that "hold on DM" guy?

[steady sentinel]

Oh I also remember d4: D&D Deep Dive, I used his healer build and it's pretty good

[raw crypt]

yeah I was unsure, that's the only bald dude w/o facial hair I can think of

[rough basalt]

Maybe. I told YouTube to stop recommending me him so I haven't seen him in awhile.

[flint ledge]

Or uhhh which other of the like 12 bald with no facial hair dnd creators do you mean

[fossil skiff]

Quick question for you folks, how does one enable content sharing on the new dnd beyond layout? I cant seem to find it in the campaign menu

[past blaze]

They feel like they are just two people that like D&D and discuss it, without such a focus on "making it in the algorithm" or anything flashy, it's basically just two people reading out the topic's script and maybe a tierlist or an advice checklist

[raw crypt]

ngl I use that dude to sleep

[woven flint]

DnDtube is full of
G&G ...
Grifters & Goons

[buoyant oar]

I'd argue Xp2lvl3 is getting there but these days all I see are reddit reaction vids

[rough basalt]

XP still has some decent content concerning live play stuff at least

[umbral girder]

He has a neat format with his actual plays

[past blaze]

also aren't Dungeon Dudes the personalities behind stuff like Drakkenheim? Because Drakkenheim stuff also sees decent use in my group

[steady sentinel]

Also I used to watch DnD Builds until he used nasty AI slop for thumbnails

[rough basalt]

He has like two sides of content creator.
Dude whose pretty good watch and getting the clickstuber.

[errant crag]

Level 20 DM?

[rough basalt]

Naybe

[buoyant oar]

Grifting?

You mean Dungeons and Discourse's 57 hour video about how WotC is OVER is for views and attention?? /s

[rough basalt]

Yeah Level20 DM that's it

[umbral girder]

My personal favorite DnD YouTuber is GinnyDi.

[meager fractal]

Stoked for more dark sun

[woven flint]

Chuckled

[flint ledge]

Okay that is who I meant yeah

[past blaze]

GinnyDi also seems like a person who just really enjoys playing the roleplay game, in a genuine manner

[rough basalt]

Ginny sometimes makes some clickbait but she's openly admitted she'll do it sometimes cause of Algorithms.

So she's got my respect too

Creators who openly admit they gotta appeal to the dumb algorithms sometimes get my respect cause algorithms favoring hyperbolic, misinformation and screaming at the camera in shorts is not exactly a secret thing.

[buoyant oar]

My favorite videos to listen to are Jim Murphy, really old guy with a lot of insight in running games over 50 years. Dude was an inspiration for Matt Colville's Running. Style

[errant crag]

I blame XP to Level 3 for making everybody think Tomb of Horrors is an unforgivably bad dungeon

[rough basalt]

Like how twitter algorithms favor Selfies where the phone is covering the takers face.

[past blaze]

But to me one of the most annoying 'creators' is one among many of the "here's this gamebreaking scenario you can totally do! with three multiclasses and two specific magic items and completely ignoring half of these foundational rules"
and I forget the name, like... "mura" in there or something? It's been like over 2 years since I've seen any of that awful misinfo

[errant crag]

He literally ran it wrong

[near karma]

never heard of them

[rough basalt]

Pack Tactics recently made a video that felt like it was time for rent

[past blaze]

not to mention "topic heat" so if anyone takes time to make a video good or informed they're late to the party

[near karma]

glad I haven't if they use AI

[errant crag]

I'm really dislike this one

[peak pecan]

I’m not a big fan of Pointy Hat

[umbral girder]

Same

[rough basalt]

Was your usual "martials suck in dnd" once per month vid

[errant crag]

All Pack Tactic's videos are balancing hot takes based on white room math devoid of the context that is found in a D&D game

[buoyant oar]

I despise DND content creators who use AI.

I use Foundry and had to unsubscribe from BaileyWiki because he uses so much AI

[rough basalt]

Ah yeah I saw that recently

[steady sentinel]

Yeah they used to make their own until one day they said: "Hey gonna try out some thumbnails with ai. Which one do you guys like" lmao

[meager fractal]

I love that guy

[peak pecan]

It just feels like he’s everywhere now; he’s in so many collabs and I never found his advice that useful or interesting

[flint ledge]

Foundry recently updated their AI policy to not allow AI on the marketplace anymore which is a W

[buoyant oar]

There was one video of a guy in a suit doing the geopolitics of Faerûn. He admits he is doing it just off the map and vibes in the video but he proceeds to get so many details just wrong.

[rough basalt]

I know plenty of Shadowdark creators weren't happy with that change in policy

[peak pecan]

Baron DeRopp?

[rough basalt]

Shadowdark unfortunately has a major AI problem

Cause the creator is a fence sitter who doesn't wanna cause any issues

[steady sentinel]

But speaking of old guys if I remember right Nerdachy was a interesting fellow who help me out for which wizard to make

[buoyant oar]

Dungeon Masterpiece his name was I think

[near karma]

the last video from pointy hat I watched was his fixing druid video where he said that level / 3 was too hard to calculate for moon druid 💀

[buoyant oar]

I still follow nerdarchy

[woven flint]

I beg your finest pardon?

[rough basalt]

Mystic DM is one of the only ones I watch nowadays

[peak pecan]

That’s the channel name, yeah

[rough basalt]

I'm not a big fan of some of his videos, but most of them are pretty good and inspired a lot of my current stuff.

[umbral girder]

Mystic DM the “this thing is missing from D&D” hides the DMG guy

[buoyant oar]

WebDM will come back one day right?

-# right?

[rough basalt]

If I need someone to rave like a madman in my ear and interrupt it for like a minute of normal speech before back to raving I throw on ZachtheBold.

[umbral girder]

Or making Xp vs Milestone video and made his own new progression system.

Which was just DMG milestone again.

[rough basalt]

He makes good vids but his vlogs feel like someone who witnessed an eldritch horror and lost their minds which is hilarious.

[steady sentinel]

Runesmith.... Haven't watch them in awhile

[meager fractal]

I like DM Timothy tbh

Has great videos on dm tactics and ideas

[buoyant oar]

Runesmith started with XP to level 3 and then ventured out on his own

[peak pecan]

Runesmith feels like all his recent work has been to pay bills

[rough basalt]

Yeah I ignore any of his videos that involve official mechanics.

[umbral girder]

Runesmith’s videos do feel like he is exploring more of DnD

[meager fractal]

Sly Flourish is also a good guy and makes great videos

[buoyant oar]

For me currently Jorphdan and AJ Pickett are the best lore videos. Though I suspect Pickett is using AI which is sad

[near karma]

I've only seen his videos on tanking and healing which weren't very good

Well the video quality itself was good, it's just that the arguments and points were kind of nonsense

maybe his other stuff is better

[woven flint]

I just don't watch D&Dtubers

The Tokii does not concern himself with D&D content, for he plays the game very often

[meager fractal]

He did a cool one about hags recently

[buoyant oar]

Is that why you watch Pathfinder content? Can't find a game

[rough basalt]

Regarding AI in dnd, Dungeon Alchemist is probably the only ethical use of it I've seen.

[errant crag]

I like ZachTheBold's videos they're usually pretty humorous. I like his Guidance short.

[rough basalt]

Since their AI is literally just like a Sims room builder not an LLM.

[steady sentinel]

True

[woven flint]

Eh, kinda?
I just mess with Narrative Declaration as a group heavy.
Their Rottgrind Campaign is pretty damn good

[rough basalt]

Tokii needs to join me and Nealen for pathfinder

So he can help us find the path

I'm directionally challenged.

[woven flint]

I've played Starfinder and Pathfinder at least once lmao

[flint ledge]

Dang I gotta continue watching rotgrind, I keep forgetting to continue watching it

[umbral girder]

Fun fact Pathfinder was a subclass for Rangers in D&D 4e

[buoyant oar]

Dungeon Alchemist is the GOAT DnD map maker. Pair with Dungeon Draft, some chicken and a couple of hours.
And baby you got a stew going

[steady sentinel]

Zee Bashew I like his animate spell book, favorite one has to be clone

[odd valley]

i love zach the bold!

[rough basalt]

Yeah I love Dungeondraft and Dungeon Alchemist now.

[flint ledge]

What do you use for like World maps, etc

[meager fractal]

Jorphdan the PH is silent is doing a good series on dark sun lore currently

[past blaze]

I remembered that one I really didn't like
hamasamakun
always with an entire video premised on an actual blatant falsehood, like to the degree of not mentioning something targets a creature or can only be used a limited amount of times or that something requires a save

[rough basalt]

Oo might need to throw that on.

[rough basalt]

I use inkarnate for my world/city/town maps personally

[buoyant oar]

I draw my maps in Photoshop with realistic height map terrain data. And then I use Gaea and world machine to plot rivers and basins.

[woven flint]

My first Pathfinder character was an Inventor.
He was a Ysoki (Ratfolk) and had a Robot named S.A.K.R (Super Ass-Kicking Robot)
And we changed his class to Mechanic when the playtest dropped because he was a Starfinder character and it fit more lol

[rough basalt]

I'm gonna be starting a PF game on Wednesdays soon

[flint ledge]

I just use inkarnate generally, my only issue is it's so much effort to make things look good that I'm basically never happy with my result

[peak pecan]

XP shifted really heavily to being mostly reaction/challenge content with a few skits in the past few years

[rough basalt]

It's part of why I canceled my Wednesday dnd game

[woven flint]

Yes, I'm aware I could've named S.A.K.R "S.K.A.R" but it was too edgy for what I was going for with my character lol

[rough basalt]

Mostly I didn't have the passion anymore, but partially cause that passion went towards wanting to run Pathfinder or another system than 5e

[errant crag]

He's the Tim Robinson of D&D content

[peak pecan]

Neat; starting up an OSE game myself once summer starts

[buoyant oar]

I recommend new people watch WASD20's map making series. And use a program like Campaign Cartographer or wonder draft

[meager fractal]

I'm doing two pf2 games. One on Thursdays and one on Saturdays.

[rough basalt]

I've gandered at Wonderdraft

[woven flint]

And then another Pathfinder Character I played was Rakeka, a Goloma Half-Orc Druid.

[errant crag]

I have Dungeon Draft but I hate that it has so little assets at base and that I need to buy assets because there are so few online ones for free it feels like a scam

[meager fractal]

I have a guardian in each and that's a well made martial class.

[buoyant oar]

Right now I run 4 games.

One paid Game set in Rashemen

One paid Game set in Zakhara

One free Game set in Kara-Tur

One West Marches set in Tethyr/Calimshan

[steady sentinel]

Honestly though for Darksun I hope they keep the dragon transformation where you break your mind if failed

[rough basalt]

Rn my one game is a free one set in my setting on the continent of Draconia.

[past blaze]

I think it's genuinely impossible to find any perpetuated idea from him that is actually true or accurate

[rough basalt]

Rn the party is in the tundra in a blizzard after they killed an adult white dragon

[odd valley]

i dislike that dude, he just annoys me

[buoyant oar]

This is why I like dungeon alchemist it has free steam workshop integration

[rough basalt]

But my next 5e game is called "Haunts from the Hallows" at least that's its running name and its gonna be in a Domain of Dread of my making that comes from my homebrew setting

[odd valley]

and he also spouts like a whale from his behind like you mentioned

[steady sentinel]

Tbh I never heard of him

[rough basalt]

Which is loosely gonna connect my world to the dnd multiverse

[past blaze]

count yourself lucky

[odd valley]

good

[meager fractal]

Should I search them up?

[rough basalt]

Not enough that Alustriel can go tanning in my magic country but enough that I can use all of my content lol

[buoyant oar]

After seeing the Augr's scifi nexus for foundry I am deciding if my next game will be Spelljammer or SW5e

[woven flint]

I'm in.. well..
Let me just list my active characters.

Orizontas (Dragonborn Fighter)
Sovis (Drow Warlock)
Bogey (Bugbear Ranger)
Artanza (Tortle Cleric)
Pistachio (Firbolg Bard)
Sentry (Warforged Pugilist)
Rivilus (Triton Paladin)
Gustav (Air Genasi Artificer)

[odd valley]

who, the hamasamakun dude

[woven flint]

I may enjoy the hobby a bit too much.

[meager fractal]

Yeah I know that guy from tiktok.

[steady sentinel]

Honestly I'll be down for Pathfinder though playing the awaken animal with Magnus I think it was (where you can do elements monk) is funny

[odd valley]

search him at your own risk, just know that everything he says is most definitely a falsehood

[near karma]

oh I remember him💀
didn't he steal shorts from other creators word for word

[odd valley]

probably

[near karma]

(his shorts also just suck)

[odd valley]

it was so boring and each short was genuinely just bro talking to the camera, though i would say he was almost yelling in them

[woven flint]

My idea for my next Pathfinder character if i ever play another Campaign of it is gonna be a Kholo/Gnoll Guardian as I love that class to death thematically

[rough basalt]

Whatever you have on wednesdays, it could be this instead /j

Nah but after monday concludes ill probably try and run a long term PF game in that time slot

[flint ledge]

Tbh sometimes I do use the homebrew monsters of creators simply cause I think they can be fun

[woven flint]

Ah shit, lemme tell ya
It'd be hard for me to choose between my Bugbear Ranger and a Gnolm Gaurdian lmao

[meager fractal]

It's hard. Pf2 has so many spells that make dms go "it allows you to do what?"

[rough basalt]

Nah, just wait another 10 months until monday concludes

[woven flint]

Oh, does anyone know the dude that converts monsters from older editions to 5th Edition?
I lovev that guy

[flint ledge]

I think he's dungeon dad?

[steady sentinel]

Dungeon Dad

[woven flint]

His content is pretty interesting and he does a lot of research from what I can see
He's even interviewed people who made the monsters on occasion

[flint ledge]

Yeah, I am planning to use his implementation of the Orium Dragon in my campaign

[rough basalt]

I think Monday game will probably conclude this year if there's no hiatus

[woven flint]

I lied about not watching D&Dtubers, but he's the only one with a personality I can stand and do watch

[steady sentinel]

Lmao

[woven flint]

Dungeon Dad is like a diamond in the rough for D&Dtube imho

I'll fight anyone on this

[flint ledge]

There's definitely some other gems

[woven flint]

Yeah, there is, but he's one of few

[steady sentinel]

I also enjoy All Things DnD for the stories

[woven flint]

I haven't watched him In like.. 2 years, I should pick him up again, I've just been busy lol

My favorite conversation of his was the Uvudaam

[flint ledge]

Jess Jackdaw is also so cool but they stopped making videos unfortunately

They're also an artist for Heliana's if I'm not wrong

[steady sentinel]

Do note not all videos but mostly the grey necromancer who kept being neutral all throughout the campaign

[steady sentinel]

Oh yeah, that's unfortunate I like they're videos

Hopefully they don't change too much of the setting for more softer tones we'll put it like that lmao

[odd valley]

since we’re on the topic of content creators, what do you think of xp to level 3?

[errant crag]

I think he's fine

Inoffensive. Most egregious thing he's done for me is convince people that Tomb of Horrors is irredeemably bad.

[flint ledge]

Don't have much of an opinion on him he's got some fine opinions but I haven't watched him much really

He does make fun of Vecna's statblock though which I think is funny

[steady sentinel]

Used to but eh. Did like his Pathfinder video

[rough basalt]

Ye its pretty easy to make fun of

[oak grotto]

I have noticed that he's been moving to reaction stuff which isn't the greatest type of content imo.

[errant crag]

He's been doing a lot of horror stories lately

[odd valley]

yeah i stopped watching around that time

[errant crag]

I used to watch CritCrab videos until I noticed a blatant and glaring pattern to almost all of the D&D horror stories he would read

[steady sentinel]

Same

[velvet knot]

interesting.

[errant crag]

Said pattern being:
Problem player does problem behavior
Everybody is unhappy, nobody says anything
Game blows up after session upon session of people continuing to not say anything

[lavish flame]

He's been like... running out of content ideas since the How To Play videos tbh. I like him fine enough, but it feels phoned-in to me these days.

[steady sentinel]

How about Zigmenthotep?

[errant crag]

Doesn't he just do the videos going through character creation for different systems

[lavish flame]

that a youtuber or an Elder One?

[errant crag]

I find that content completely inoffensive

[oak grotto]

Ah yes, the kuo-toa goddess.

[lavish flame]

Xp to Level 3? Nah he mostly does skits these days

[steady sentinel]

Yup

[errant crag]

No, I meant Zig

[lavish flame]

yeah that seems totally fine to me. I might even say thats good to do

[errant crag]

Its not even really like "How to make character for X system" and more just documenting himself doing it

[steady sentinel]

I like to watch him due to the history of the old and new games like Gamma World. Bunnies and Burrows. Tunnel and trolls etc

[errant crag]

I really wanna try older editions but i struggle to find an active community for them

[flint ledge]

Personally the one Edition I'd want to try is 3.5e

[steady sentinel]

Same, 3.5 for me due to wanting to witness ranger in that time

[errant crag]

I wanna try AD&D/2e

[steady sentinel]

Though for lore, 4e since they got some nice hidden gems

[errant crag]

I wanna do crunchy deadly dungeon crawls

I wanna run Tomb of Horrors again low-key

[plucky sentinel]

Has anyone proven that the phoenix bird is the same bird after it burns and hatches? What if thats just how they lay thier eggs?

[lavish flame]

The only ones I wouldnt want to try are 1e and OD&D. 2e, 3.5, and 4e all appeal to me in different ways

[errant crag]

You mean Dungeons and Dragons Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures?

[lavish flame]

yeah thats the one. I just can't pitch my friends "D&DRfFMWCPwPaPaMF Night"

[errant crag]

An original white box set for that goes for around $2000 it seems

More like $1200 actually

[flint ledge]

1200?

[errant crag]

Yeah something like that

But it's also the very first edition of D&D ever so

Basically an antique

[lofty rock]

I have the whole original dnd box set in near mint condition it goes for 4-9k

Mines the wood grain one though

[errant crag]

Gonna need to have the difficult conversation with my starter set players

The conversation about how I am not the type of DM to run the sort of campaign they want after the starter set is over

[past blaze]

I had to go down a rabbit hole of remembering something awful - so the thing I hate most about "dndtubing" is when someone goes "hey here's a crazy wacky idea!" and it just blatantly doesn't work
So here's two of the more egregious examples
infecting a Centaur with Lycanthropy. Centaurs are not Humanoids, neither 2014 or 2024 support this
College of Creation bard, creating a Corpse because it's an object (debated), and using a resurrection spell. But there's no spirit. Also, you can't "make an army" of them because they vanish in an amount of hours. Not even a CR 30 NPC with that feature as written would have one lasting 10 hours.

[oak grotto]

Honestly a centaur with lycanthropy would be interesting. Sure, they're technically fey but they are a playable race so I think it'd be fair to look the other way. Also they look pretty humanoid too.

Turning an autognome or a plasmoid into a lycanthrope would be a different story as it would be too weird.

[flint ledge]

I don't think you can call someone with half horse for a body humanoid in any way

[errant crag]

I always find the visual idea of a Centaur Druid turning into a Horse hilarious

Like their upper body just turns into a head

[past blaze]

It's also just

in no portrayal has a Centaur had the Humanoid type
and in neither subedition of 5e has werewolf lycanthropy been able to go on non-Humanoid type creatures

[errant crag]

Strict downgrade

[past blaze]

And also blood hunter's specific person-specific lore and mechanics is not prescriptive for all variants of lycanthropy on all species in all settings of D&D

[prime pewter]

Ima pitch an area to my dm: the Underswamp. It's the underdark version of an ancient bog

[oak grotto]

I suppose you could say the same about minotaurs and tabaxi.

[flint ledge]

Speaking of lycanthropy, what are the prerequisites for something to get it's subtype of lycanthropy given we have werewolves wererats. Can you have werebats?

[errant crag]

Those are both humanoid though aren't they

[prime pewter]

Full of massive, gnarled roots twisting from above

[oak grotto]

I really like the idea of a human werewolf looking distinctively different from a gnome werewolf.

[errant crag]

Our barbarian in CoS caught lycanthropy and I don't like that the DM is ruling it where his strength is replaced by the werewolf's lower strength score when he transforms that just makes no sense to me

I would think a bigger stronger guy would make a bigger stronger werewolf

[oak grotto]

Tiefling werewolves would keep their horns, shifter werewolves look scarier and more bestial, elf werewolves would be slightly slender and have slightly pointier ears, etc...

[flint ledge]

And since heroes of Faerun there's also werewyverns so lycanthropy isn't even restricted to strictly beasts

[past blaze]

Ok this infuriates me
Legacy:

The character gains a Strength of 15 if his or her score isn’t already higher,
'24:
The target is cursed. If the cursed target drops to 0 Hit Points, it instead becomes a Werewolf under the DM’s control
so clearly using legacy's lycanthropy rules which don't reduce it if it is already higher

[errant crag]

Apparently he homebrewed something

[past blaze]

to be actively worse, which is infuriating, it's a conscious decision to force something that negatively impacts the character more than the original rule

[lavish flame]

Lycanthropy in 5.5 is real weird

I ran a Werewolf fight, and afterword (cuz nobody caught the curse) I just explained how it worked. Everyone was pretty confused about the whole "get knocked out first" part of it, cuz that isn't traditionally part of the fiction afaik.

[errant crag]

I think I need to try older editions at this point

WotC seems afraid of adding more mechanical depth to the game

[rough basalt]

I don't think it's fear I think it's design intent.

[errant crag]

It's more cathartic to me to act like they're afraid

[oak grotto]

Who do you guys think is the least charismatic class? Stereotypically.

[rough basalt]

Tbh I don't think them reverting to DnD being crunchy again would change much.

The people it'd effect the most already ignore the existing rules.

[balmy lily]

How would y'all quantify the essence of "humanity" in D&D
In like, a mechanical sens3

[balmy lily]

Monk?

[polar path]

Barbarian

[rough basalt]

I'd say Fighter

[errant crag]

Ranger

[balmy lily]

Wizard could also be on there

[errant crag]

Barbarians usually have intimidation

[rough basalt]

They're weapon nerds.
They'd talk their dates ears off about swords.

[oak grotto]

Personally I think druids. Typical dude who lived in the woods all their life and has no idea how social cues work.

[polar path]

Wouldnt say thats exactly charismatic making someone so scared of you that they do what you want

[balmy lily]

Any MAD class that don't need charisma to function mechanically would most technically fit that

[rough basalt]

Druids usually live with other Druids and woodland peoples iirc.

No social cues for urban society tho definitely lol

[oak grotto]

What about rangers?

[rough basalt]

Rangers I'd say are probably not so.

[lavish flame]

I figure a Wizard would probably be a bad conversationalist. They're know-it-alls who spend their free time studying and writing and transcribing instead of socializing.

[oak grotto]

There's the Fey ranger but they're the single exception.

[rough basalt]

The most famous "Ranger" took his bros ex after saying "man you're stuck in the abyss? That's crazy. Thoughts and prayers."

[errant crag]

It is objectively charisma intimidation is a charisma skill

[balmy lily]

How would y'all quantify the essence of "humanity" in D&D
In like, a mechanical sense

[rough basalt]

I can't think of anything.

[balmy lily]

Fair, fair

It is kind of a tough question lol

[lavish flame]

I'm not sure I could quantify humanity in any context

[rough basalt]

I'm kinda getting the idea they're thinking of humanity from dark souls.

Where if you keep losing it eventually you lose everything about yourself and become a mindless human shaped animal.

Or other forms of irreversible madness

[lavish flame]

Oh, that gets even muddier then, cuz there's a thick gray area where stuff goes from "Monster" to "A Sapient Being" that isn't strongly defined

[balmy lily]

That is in fact exactly the thing I am attempting to carry iver

[rough basalt]

Which gets muddy cause the reason people go hollow in Dark Souls is often because they lose their will to fight.

[balmy lily]

But instead of that it becomes the essence of whether you are still yourself

[lavish flame]

Yeah, I might just say "Your will to live" which is nebulous as hell

[balmy lily]

:D

[lavish flame]

and like surely animals also have a will to live so

[rough basalt]

Like Solaire in Dark Souls 1 is one of the happiest people in a Souls game at the start but as you progress his story and he loses hope eventually he ends up in a horrid fate from losing all will to go on.

Pretty much the staple theme for those games

There's nothing that can be done, everything will just be a repeat of pain and suffering until you lose it completely

[balmy lily]

I need that type a sense but instead for will to live it should be losing your sense of being you

Through some whack ah soul stuff

And body morph things

[past blaze]

I don't think you can mechanically codify "your will to go on"

[rough basalt]

Not really

[balmy lily]

Is there nothin that would kinda quantify as mental resilience? Kinda like whats closest to mental constitution?

[past blaze]

IMO Charisma

[lavish flame]

I think I agree

[rough basalt]

Charisma in DnD is your force of will yeah

[past blaze]

since sapping at your intelligence, ability to recollect or compute, or your Wisdom with by proxy your perception and survival skills, neither of those make sense

But Charisma is the most nebulous one, and kinda more 'spiritual' as it also resists possession and planar teleports

[rough basalt]

Madness tables exist but they're not really "lose your will to live entirely"

[past blaze]

as well as Vargouilles or whatever

[rough basalt]

But more goofy and kinda stupid stuff.

[errant crag]

Most things that affect your very being are charisma saves

Stuff like avoiding being banished or polymorphed and stuff like that

[rough basalt]

Like one indefinite flaw of madness in 5e is you really like killing people.

[past blaze]

and typically when something loses its soul or whatever, its being of what it was, it has a low charisma score

[lavish flame]

I still think "avoid banishment with Charisma" is weird

[errant crag]

Darn my CoS character has no soul and she has 20 Charisma

[past blaze]

a zombie at 5 charisma, a skeleton at also 5 charisma

[lavish flame]

Str, Int, and Cha saves' mere presence make me want Fortitude, Willpower, and Reflex saves

[rough basalt]

4e fixes this

[severe rampart]

Isn't this Pathfinder😭

[rough basalt]

But yeah trying to make stuff like Dark Souls work in dnd will take a lot of work yourself and won't work out well.

[lavish flame]

there's like 3 different systems I know that use it

D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, PF1/2

[rough basalt]

Yep

[balmy lily]

Those would go hard

But Charisma makes sense, yeah

[lavish flame]

actually, lets bring back Saves Vs Rods and Save vs Breath Attack. thats the future

[balmy lily]

I think I'll use that then

[frail wasp]

mmm, peak design

[balmy lily]

Thank you

[rough basalt]

Using the vibes of Fromsoft games can work well but trying to use their mechanics will be painful.

[balmy lily]

I gotta be honest the thing I was referencin wasn't fromsoft

Its Cyberpunk

B)

[rough basalt]

Ah.

Well same kinda deal in it being a pain to use in dnd.

Cause adventurers getting more powerful doesn't involve mutilating their forms with cybernetics to the point where the question of them being a "machine or a person" can affect their mind.

[balmy lily]

Yeah

[rough basalt]

Now you can play some kind of character arc of someone growing detached from their humanity as a campaign goes on, but in general, dnd adventurers are generally not right in the head by our standards.

[balmy lily]

Oh if you go hard enough it can

[rare mirage]

o/

[balmy lily]

Sup

[rare mirage]

Im Trying to figure this out and im getting so confused

[rough basalt]

Like DnD adventurers will roll into a town, slaughter like 20 people just for hassling the local shopkeeper

[rare mirage]

Oh

[balmy lily]

And itll become less so a lack of willing to live and moreso losing control to the cybernetics you implanted

[severe rampart]

Well, no, that's murderhobo activity

a bit exaggerated but not without a bit of truth

[rough basalt]

Nah, that's slaughtering the "Bandits terrorizing the town"

[rough basalt]

Yep. Unless you lack feelings already.

Example being Adam Smasher. He was already a collection of the worst flaws a human can have before he went full borg so nothing changed other than his body cause he had no "humanity" to be influenced by all the changes.

[balmy lily]

He was a diagnosed sociopath with not a single shred of humanity in him

Empathy, feelings, whats that

[rough basalt]

Adam Smasher when his defenses get taken down and a netrunner uploads the Empathy patch to his firmware.

[balmy lily]

D:

Adam, Nicer?

[rough basalt]

The Legend of Night City, Adam Helper.

[balmy lily]

Adam, Holctr?

[rough basalt]

Known on the streets as the King of Kindness

[balmy lily]

Thats so much better

Yeah but if ya go that far you will lose your character to the overlord (DM)

Thata the cost of losing all your humanity and goin full borg!

Or smtn

But then with soul weapons and mutations

[tame kelp]

Gosh I felt so jealous of someone I hate. He have Inkarnate subscription.

and you know what? Inkarnate is like the best dnd mapmaker.

[polar bane]

What's with all the dungeon masters saying "new dnd players welcome" and then when they find out you are new, they immediately chang their mind? lol

some kind of performative "we allow everyone in" or smth? Just be honest and don't waste people's time and your own time bro

[oak grotto]

Human beings can be very weird sometimes unfortunately.

[severe rampart]

never heard about that at all, sorry that you had to experience that

admittedly, I do get why some don't like newer players, but I'd never turn away anyone just for being new

[polar bane]

I dont have a problem with being turned away because I'm new

[hot gate]

Yeah, sorry that happened to you.

It could be worth considering how people can have different interpretations of who they would consider new. I do make an internal difference between "I have never played the game" and "I have never read any rules", for example.

[polar bane]

we talk about house rules, game rules, server rules, campaign lore, this rule and that rule but then as they find out I'm new, they are like "oh, you are new new". Wtf does that mean? I'm new. New to DnD means new to dnd

[severe rampart]

but you do know the game rules, etc.?

[hybrid silo]

I may be new but i am addicted to the concept of lore and magic within dnd.

Also hello

[severe rampart]

The only lore I get is from the NERDS in this server talking about them /j they're very cool people

Kelemvor this and Lady of Pain that

[light sequoia]

Hi guys

[fair summit]

There's a drastic difference between "haven't played -new" and "haven't read the rules -new", which is the only part about someone advertising a game for new players I could see acting like this

But yeah also there are just weird people with no logic to things, in which case bullet dodged honestly

[hybrid silo]

Well so much yet to learn, but as the saying goes. You wouldn't know unless you understand it fully.

[severe rampart]

I've no active interest in the lore of D&D

at most I research deities for when I play clerics, paladins, etc.

[hybrid silo]

Ah

[severe rampart]

Chauntea, Bahamut, etc.

[hot gate]

It does seem strange that you were all the way there talking about the game just for them to suddenly turn around like that.

[hybrid silo]

I just chose the paladin role because i can cheat death.

[severe rampart]

Usually that's Zealot Barb

[hybrid silo]

Dunno that yet

[severe rampart]

Wait I've never heard of Paladins cheating death?

[glad arch]

Ancients ig

[hybrid silo]

And also, so much potential with what i can do with control

[severe rampart]

Do they get that feature?

I'm playing an Ancients Paladin rn

[glad arch]

Biological immortality at a certain level iirc

[hybrid silo]

Revivify and Dead raising such.

Almost sounds like a necromancer.

[hot gate]

Well that's for other people

[severe rampart]

Oh undying sentinel

It's not "cheating death" moreso extending your lifespan

[hybrid silo]

Would be better to raise your own army than relying on your party

[severe rampart]

No... familiars in D&D are...

they're okay, but not as good as party members

[hybrid silo]

Noooo, my only advantage of controlling every population in the area.

[oak grotto]

Necromancers can't control hordes of undead.

[hybrid silo]

Ig it's different from the novels I've read.

[oak grotto]

Not when you are a player.

[hybrid silo]

Seems fair enough.

[severe rampart]

Initiative would be bloated asl

[oak grotto]

Besides no one would ever want to team up with a guy who just has his minions do everything and always wins by a large margin.

[hybrid silo]

Solo leveling be like

[hot gate]

Hey there are single player ttrpgs out there if that's your jam 😄

D&D is very team focused though

[cobalt owl]

New Monk seems to be pretty decent

[hybrid silo]

I'm aware, I'm just messin

[hot gate]

'24 monk? it's great

[oak grotto]

Solo games aren't as common as you might think. They exist but they're not the norm.

[cobalt owl]

From the UA

[hot gate]

Oh, new playtest subclass? Haven't looked at the pdf yet.

[cobalt owl]

Lamo

[hybrid silo]

Ik², i chose the paladin role as a support anyways—can't do much with just myself.

[oak grotto]

Paladins are better at dealing damage than you think.

But yes, I have heard they're good at support.

[cobalt owl]

They were so better they got their smite force limited

Some DMs have had the "Paladin 1 shot the boss" thing

[hybrid silo]

I put mine on intelligence and charisma- especially spells with healing properties and buffs

[cobalt owl]

Their fault for not having a bit of extra "emergency health"

[hybrid silo]

My guy's background grew up in a church.

[oak grotto]

Paladins don't need Intelligence. But I won't argue against wanting to give your character a high stat in something that's not as useful. I get it.

[oak grotto]

Pretty normal. Lots of us have played as clerics that belonged to a church.

[hybrid silo]

Buh i didn't know

[oak grotto]

Heck, I wanna play as a high priest of Lathander that's a sorcerer one day.

[hybrid silo]

I thought it boosts health regeneration, damn I'ma change it

[feral fulcrum]

The only way a Paladin would be one-shotting bosses by themselves is if they somehow rolled a bunch of crits, and had buffs like Potions of Giant Size, and proabbyl did around max damage. Or the DM gave their 'boss' basically nothing for HP.

[oak grotto]

Paladins only need Strength and Charisma. Dexterity instead of Strength depending on the weapons you want to use.

Constitution is useful for everyone as it is what dictates how many hits you can take.

[oak grotto]

Health regen is not a thing. I recommend taking a look at the rules if you have not already.

[severe rampart]

Natural Regen in D&D sucks

Basically while unconscious, if you're stable and you have 0 hp it takes a few hours for you to regain one hp, if I remember correctly

[hybrid silo]

Bruh, you're basically on a whim atp.

[severe rampart]

I mean, usually you'd have your other party members to heal you up.

But in a scenario with no healing, no potions, etc. Yeah

[oak grotto]

The only HP that you can regain is from resting, potions and your party healer (if you have one).

[severe rampart]

I'm the only healer in my party 😭

[feral fulcrum]

Hand out healing potions, boom, now everyone's a healer

[oak grotto]

That's usually enough.

[severe rampart]

Ancients Paladin with Cure Wounds from MI and Lay on Hands

[feral fulcrum]

The only hitpoint that matters is the last one.~

[severe rampart]

I said to my DM "Do your worst" and I got hit with nearly maximum damage

I should stop saying that, the other time I said that I got my mind broken by an Adult Gem Dragon, 40 points of psychic damage

[oak grotto]

The healer in one of my parties is just a ranger with the Healer feat. And on my build your town game the only healer is gonna leave and is being replaced by a paladin.

[hot gate]

"I didn't hear no bell"

[severe rampart]

Indeed

I hate having low dexterity though, my initiative score 😭

I said I didn't want Alert... I should've taken Alert

[limber trail]

Alert is so good

[severe rampart]

I still would've been at the bottom of initiative order with Alert

[limber trail]

I haven’t had an initiative less than 15 in months

[severe rampart]

I'm not gonna ask my party members "hey, can we swap initiatives? I decided to play a paladin so you pay the price"

[limber trail]

I pretty much only ever swap to bring someone important up to a good initiative

Like letting the wizard cast a high level fireball early on

[severe rampart]

I am not paladin maxxing

At least I smite on my shovel once

[limber trail]

Being a paladin means you need to sometimes accept you’re gonna hit hard but you’re gonna hit last

[severe rampart]

Unfortunate

I can't wait to get Great Weapon Master and just go ham

[rotund agate]

Anyone home?

I wish dnd had more lore to it

Class wise

Like I wish there was more lore to how each class was formed, who was the first in that class, how they began, etc

Like who was the first ever Paladin?

That type of stuff

[still plover]

Classes are a bundle of features for players. They're not an in-world thing.

[errant crag]

Except for Wizards

[rotund agate]

Not an in world thing? People are literally labelled as sorcerers, warlocks and paladins

[errant crag]

Well you can functionally be a wizard stat wise and not actually be a wizard in world

[still plover]

And everyone knows labels define people.

But I digress. Perhaps the FR wiki has some information?

[errant crag]

They are usually things that people can be but they're not usually treated like inherent factions or anything like that

[rotund agate]

So a sorcerer isn’t a sorcerer? Are we deadass

[hot gate]

It depends, right? Some classes are more "prone" to categorization, others less so.

[errant crag]

Like a Barbarian is not likely to introduce themself as a Barbarian

A Fighter isn't usually going to say that they're a Fighter

[rotund agate]

But monks will

[errant crag]

Not always

Some might

[still plover]

Monks are dumb. /hj

[hot gate]

Not necessarily. Could call themselves a fighter too.

[rotund agate]

I guess warlocks are wizards now

[errant crag]

I don't think I've ever played a Ranger that would call themselves a Ranger

[hot gate]

I think you're missing the point we're trying to make.

[still plover]

My warlock's an arcanist.

[errant crag]

My Wizard is an archivist first and is in the technical sense of the word a wizard

[lethal bobcat]

I just got to the new Artificer book proper (I'm poor so I can only read so much) and smh the armorer Artificer doesn't give the ability to use 2 shields for +4 and shoot them like Bayblades for long-range Slashing damage

What's the point?

[errant crag]

He knows how to do magic because of its studies but its not why he pursues them

But there also are characters in the lore like Mordenkainen or Elminster who are wizards and would likely refer to themselves as such

[hot gate]

I think wizards are also one of the classes that has a solid in-world presence as the name. But very few "bards" will suddely gain the ability to cast spells.

[still plover]

But yeah, hit the wiki, do some digging, check the references.

[lethal bobcat]

I feel like most classes will happily use their class name. Alternatively, most characters can use the Background's name instead. Lore-wise, I'd argue Sorcerer gets a free family tree and Druid gets a free Backstory but even Wizard PCs and Monsters often didn't go to a wizarding school for 20 years.

The fun part starts when your Druid calls itself a ranger of the forest and your Barbarian is a fighter but I think it's quite spot-on?

[hot gate]

I've found that while players on a meta level rely heavily on class names and what that means, in-world it almost never comes up. Someone might be referred to as "oh, you have a mighty control of magic" or "you're very strong", but not much more.

[flint ledge]

No fighter is gonna introduce themselves as a fighter.

Nor will a barbarian or ranger be directly referred to as their class names

[lethal bobcat]

I feel like even pulp movies used that as a name often enough so I doubt it's impossible?

[hot gate]

Yeah, I wouldn't go for "never"

[lethal bobcat]

Barbarian is a strong case tho. Ranger however would be weird if that wasn't a job title it wouldn't be proud of

[hot gate]

something something Aragorn

[feral fulcrum]

There is, however, alot of reasons to introduce yourself as your subclass, depending on the subclass itself. More then a few are, well, actual groups in various settings.

[prime pewter]

Yall I caved and am finally giving elves a try

[lethal bobcat]

Oh I just realised that some fighting styles and subclasses are also easy job titles. Like if you wanna be edgy being a hunter and assassin, or if you want to give a full backstory like "I'm a Paladin who gave my oath to <insert something settings-specific here>"

[prime pewter]

Idk if this applies to warlocks tho

[lethal bobcat]

Still nothing against being an aspiring bard or edgy rogue though

[prime pewter]

Bc like

[still plover]

But in answer to your original query, #dnd-lore could give some more specific direction.

[lethal bobcat]

Farmer Totem Barbarian is least likely to use any of its meta titles I think personally

[still plover]

You ask Nyra what she is, she says she's a monster hunter. Character sheet says totem barbarian.

[lethal bobcat]

Ye

That's easily the class your character isn't gonna mention like that

[oblique pawn]

Can I please ask what your pfp is

[lethal bobcat]

G Man

[past blaze]

G-Man from Half Life 2 specifically

[still plover]

And Zola says they're a delight for the eyes, ears and most any other part you care to name. But swashbuckler, eh, not really a stretch.

[feral fulcrum]

Dnd, Mr. Freeeeeeeman.

[oblique pawn]

G man looks extra scary in their pfp 😭

[past blaze]

yeah, 'class names' aren't exactly prescriptive.
Plenty of NPC statblocks will have unique traits not accessible for player characters, and certain player character accessible features never appear in NPC statblocks

[lethal bobcat]

It's at the start where the flashes make his head just white

[feral fulcrum]

Time, Mr. Freeman, is it really that...time, again? Roll iniative.

[oblique pawn]

I haven't played half life in a while maybe i forgot 😭 thanks for reminding me sweetie

[still plover]

I did a little filter work on the original image.

[oblique pawn]

Oh God

[past blaze]

The right roll in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world...

[lethal bobcat]

STOP MAKING BANGER COMMENTS

[past blaze]

Honestly, the G-Man is such stellar work in the writing, framing, voice acting, it's got that immaterial itch to it that makes me want to emulate even a fraction of how it felt
Quotes like "Prepare for unforeseen consequences." are absolutely iconic... And I'm a sucker for the strange esoteric godlike creature with machinations beyond comprehension

And the extremely limited droplets of information just raise more questions while answering none, it's so mysterious and enthralls one's curiosity

[still plover]

(Also Clear Skies used the G-Man model as Mr Smith, which is a neat coincidence)

[storm magnet]

What’s a good monster for underwater combat

[still plover]

Shark?

[storm magnet]

In a scenario where the players have magic that let them walk/breathe/fight normally underwater

What about a kelpie

Idk if DnD has Kelpies

[still plover]

Pretty sure it does.

What's the setup to the fight? Why would one or more kelpie want to fight the party?

[feral fulcrum]

Merfolk

[craggy needle]

Good day, everyone!
Could you please share your experiences of how—using interesting or creative methods—you managed to have a Warlock and a Paladin coexist in the same party with positive outcomes?
I’d really appreciate both comments and longer stories in private messages. TY

[glad arch]

Why would they not?

Both players presumibly are neutral/good or evil so why would thet clash

[idle oar]

Warlocks are not inherently evil and paladins aren't inherently good and for most D&D adventuring parties, there is a bigger issue at hand the group must deal with (e.g. put their differences aside and handle the bigger problem)

[hot gate]

I think one way to think about it is that classes don't have inherent values - you (the player) assign those values.

You might say "wait but paladin does have values in their oaths" to which I would ask you if you have never seen a paladin just accidentally looking away while another party member did something against their oath?

So if the players are on the same wavelength, which you can establish as part of a session 0, you'll likely be fine.

[storm magnet]

My paladin would get along well any alignment of warlock

[past blaze]

also, each oath will have different values, and perhaps the tenets of certain oaths aren't so blindly dogmatic in the given scenario

[still plover]

Character creation as a group in Session Zero is my short answer.

[past blaze]

basically making sure that two people about to make certain polarized characters don't go too hard and make each other unable to be in the same party as those characters

[storm magnet]

How would you guys role play/character create a paladin that only picked up that class/occupation as a hobby or as a result of immediate circumstances

[past blaze]

a result of immediate circumstances is actually suggested for oath of vengeance, iirc

[storm magnet]

I was thinking they’d be scrawny and lower on strength

[past blaze]

dexadins somewhat exist

[glad arch]

Make a deal with the hexblade

[storm magnet]

Because they didn’t go through proper conditioning training

[glad arch]

Half plate + dex weapon works

[storm magnet]

What about a paladin with wizard like characteristics?

[past blaze]

define wizardlike characteristics

[storm magnet]

Hmm like they study magic and cast magic from tomes

[past blaze]

Well, mechanically that doesn't line up with paladin so much, moreso wizard (or perhaps an Eldritch Knight fighter)
but they could still have elements of it

[still plover]

During their early years in the Academy, Dui looked forward to a life of magical research and study but all that changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Drafted into battle they saw their tutors and classmates fall one by one while their own magic did nothing, until the invaders were finally repelled. Taking up a blade, Dui swore vengeance.

[past blaze]

Studying stories of potentially relevant religious lore, stories of cultural relevance, stories of mythos, and their oath and the circumstances surrounding it could influence things

[storm magnet]

What if the character was like

Snooty and looked down on muscle brained paladins as a result of being abused by a local group of them thatd past by or work as high ranking military( Sage background). So they became a paladin to mock the occupation in a sense, thinking it’d be easy. But grow to appreciate the deeper faith the role enlightens one to have

[wise moth]

I had a group where the paladins were twin brothers. Meanwhile their patrons were bitter rivals. It kinda just played like a sitcom where the patrons act like divorced parents with their own favorite child

[errant crag]

My favorite paladin I played was far too focused on being GLORIOUS himself to care what the Warlock was doing

[bright edge]

Is there a way to find a group to join and play with? It's hard to find one.

[past blaze]

I don't think someone intending to mock the moniker of paladins would end up gaining the powers bestowed by devotion to an oath

[wise moth]

It would be a cool backstory to have the paladin be someone who swore vengeance on someone in the heat of the moment and have a god answer their prayers or something. You can go a lot of ways with that

[wise moth]

It should be in #looking-for-players

[past blaze]

Perhaps if the character bellowed to the heavens for a god to destroy their enemies

[bright edge]

Thanks bro 👍

[wise moth]

No problem. Good luck hunting!

[storm magnet]

Hmmm, what if a god saw fit to humble the previous Sage in their endeavor to tarnish the role of a paladin?