dnd-discussion

[fossil hollow]

i wonder if its time...

[vernal vale]

Lowk need to find some motivations for my backup characters

[tame estuary]

it's always time

his characters are always looking for a place to die

[vernal vale]

Why?? I cry myself to sleep whenever mine get remotely close to death 😭

[woven flint]

He was a Dhampir Moon Druid.
He was born out of Wedlock to a noble mother and was abandoned to die in the forest as a young boy.
But instead of being devoured by the cruelty of the wilds, Malar, the Beast King cultivated his hatred for mankind and society, he was offered a place amongst the beasts and turned into a Dhampir by Malar as a gift.
He wants to collapse society and it's advancements to make them live as the beast they're supposedly "above"

[vernal vale]

Shit singlehandedly raising my blood pressure

[vernal owl]

I haven't had a pc die yet.. theyve come VERY close to dying tho

I start to panic the moment i start making death saving throws

[hollow estuary]

My DM let me use from the DMG as my hexblade patron, as a result my motivation is to essentially let blackrazor eat the soul of a archomental to see what it tastes like. Were playing PoTA.

[fossil hollow]

indeed it is

[dim flicker]

good evening dnd-discussion nation

[woven flint]

Being Chaotic Evil but having sense to make and have allies was fun

[fossil hollow]

we're a nation? can we revolt?

[barren badger]

Good night friends, please remember to stay hydrated.

[hollow estuary]

So basically me and blackrazor are like travelling food critics that kill people and rate the taste of their souls

[vernal owl]

Ooo that's pretty cool, and the motivation makes sense.. did you end up playing with him? Did he fulfill his goals?

[dim flicker]

sshh! not too loud

[hollow estuary]

" This soul has a nice spicy flavor, no wonder--they did fight really hard. " - Blackrazor once.

[woven flint]

I left the campaign after a slight falling out with the dm for matters above table

But the former dm and I are kinda friends now

[dim flicker]

i love that a lot, big fan of sentient weapons

[woven flint]

It wasn't anything that was their fault, I was just in a bad headspace lol

But, I'd love to play him again eventually

[hollow estuary]

wereraven lycanthropy still works with 2024 rules

[vernal vale]

Same but I haven't done any reallllyyyy bad death saves, closest I've gotten was a down where I saved them all

[hollow estuary]

you dont lose your character and get 10 hp regen per turn

[rough basalt]

Well I told one of my prospective games my current problem and asked them for help to get our adventure made.

We'll see what happens.

[hollow estuary]

Im actually playing a wereraven right now, and basically how my Regen works is just as stated, except I dont roll death saves.

Instead its pretty simple, if im at 0 hp and on my next turn I dont regenerate I die.

[sinful crater]

I also want this type of dm uhm you are so lucky

[hollow estuary]

which means if im unconsious and you blast me with a cantrip im kinda screwed

[vernal vale]

Wait how do you get to that?

That seems really nice

Unless they have bone chill :(

[hollow estuary]

Lycanthropy rules

Shapechanger. The wereraven can use its action to polymorph into a raven-humanoid hybrid or into a raven, or back into its human form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its human form if it dies.

Mimicry. The wereraven can mimic simple sounds it has heard, such as a person whispering, a baby crying, or an animal chittering. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check.

Regeneration. The wereraven regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the wereraven takes damage from a silvered weapon or a spell, this trait doesn't function at the start of the wereraven's next turn. The wereraven dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

[vernal vale]

Snatch that for a future character >:)

[severe rampart]

huh, you can actually play wereravens?

[hollow estuary]

Yep, its in the rules

Im playing a wereraven shadar kai hexblade mark of shadow warlock

our DM allows dragonmarks outside of ebberon

which is cool ig.

[severe rampart]

Lucky.

... 🥲

[vernal vale]

Which books can I find those in btw?

[severe rampart]

It doesn't mean you can pick the wereraven species, any species can be a wereraven

[fossil hollow]

wereraven lycanthropy is in ravenloft

[hollow estuary]

theirs ben multiple times where ive gotten into a encounter where the people fighting my character had no way of killing me in any way whatsoever so I just like deadass hit sick dances for 3 rounds before slaughtering them

[severe rampart]

you just gotta remember the rules

[vernal vale]

Ah thanks

[fossil hollow]

that said, wereravens are extremly pick about who they infect

[severe rampart]

My dream (Bard)

[fossil hollow]

theyre lawful good

[hollow estuary]

❌ they dont have a set allignment

Medium Humanoid (Human, Shapechanger) (Allignment normally goes here)
AC 12
Initiative +2 (12)
HP 31 (7d8)
Speed 30 ft. (fly 50 ft. in raven and hybrid forms)

[fossil hollow]

if they ask you if youre willing that means youve proven to them that you can be trusted

[flint ledge]

Okay not strong, that's not the word it just seems they already have tons of quality of life features so I never really see the need for them to have darkvision. Which is what I was initially trying to say

[severe rampart]

I forget though, was there any rules about genetic lycanthropy? does it have to be two parents are lycanthropes or only one? what happens if they're both lycanthropes but different animals

[severe rampart]

you get a platypus, that's what

[vernal vale]

My chaotic evil elf grabbed one by the throat and forced it to bite him lmao

[severe rampart]

Oh thanks Echo

[fossil hollow]

oh forgot ravenloft didnt put alignment. in ||cos|| they are listed as lg

[flint ledge]

One parent gets you a shifter no?

[hollow estuary]

right do you have me blocked or ignored? I cant ✅ react you

[severe rampart]

No problem Echo

[cobalt owl]

Elite

[flint ledge]

I think think there's an Echo in here

[cobalt owl]

I agree

[fossil hollow]

being known formerly as skeleton, is that you?

[cobalt owl]

I guess

[severe rampart]

though I do wonder, if a Lycanthrope (Raven) and a Lycanthrope (Wolf) had a kid, what type of lycanthrope would it be?

[hollow estuary]

pretty much I became a wereraven because when I swore loyalty to the raven queen I was forced to be cursed to serve her in the form of lycanthropy

[fossil hollow]

iirc, it can be either one, if the kid inherits lycanthropy

[vernal vale]

Idk a crab or something

[severe rampart]

Need that

[flint ledge]

Are there even lycanthrope ravens?

[severe rampart]

Wereravens, yes

[flint ledge]

Are they from MotM?

[vernal vale]

Omg no wait I need a werecrab now

That'd be so peak

[fossil hollow]

ravenloft

[hollow estuary]

Im gonna be real, the downside is my player character is under the control of the DM like 1/4th of the time due to how many masters I serve LOL.

Player agency is a real issue for aelius 😂

[flint ledge]

Ah I see

[severe rampart]

is that name perhaps inspired by Aeolus

[hollow estuary]

Its ment to be Ironic as Aelius means sunlight

and hes a edgelord soul eater from the shadowfell

[vernal vale]

We love edgelord characters played by non-edgelords

[little stream]

Sure earth looking ah

[severe rampart]

Feels great to play a naive character

then again I did get my character emotionally manipulated by muscle squirrels.

[flint ledge]

Still have no idea what the prerequisites for a creature to have its own lycanthropy subtype are

[hollow estuary]

I mean I can list like atleast 50 different ways he gets possessed by someone.

Like for example if I am charmed or frightened, blackrazor goes " Alright then, Ill do this myself " takes over my body, and just goes nuts anyway.

and I just have to roleplay according to the swords dark wishes

[severe rampart]

the prerequisite is that the DM wants it

[flint ledge]

Makes sense

Wereshark time

[hollow estuary]

holy shit that sounds so cool

wereshark? Oh my god bro dude what

Im investing in that shit

[vernal vale]

I still think my werecrab is awesomer, 20 natural AC fr

[fossil hollow]

weresharks were a thing in older editions

[hollow estuary]

✅

yeah wish they still were

but yeah pretty much my weaknesses are cantrips

if you hit me with one im not gonna regenerate

and if I am unconsious and dont regenerate, welp. Im dead

essentially if I regenerate while unconsious I revive with 10 hp, and if not I die.

[vernal vale]

Is it all cantrips that stop ur healing?

[hollow estuary]

if I take damage from any spell or a silvered weapon.

[vernal vale]

Ah ok

[hollow estuary]

though you could argue moon touched weapons work too

I would agree with that.

[vernal vale]

Nah moontouched should turn you into a super were-creature because like the moon is what turns you into a were thing yk

lmao

[hollow estuary]

riight right I suppose yeah

doubles regen 😂

[vernal vale]

10x everything you have. That mimicry save? 100 wisdom DC

[hollow estuary]

No way!!!

+99 to hit with blackrazor

eldritch kamehameha

[little stream]

I'm trying to remember my damdest on effect of silver weapons, aside monsters. Does it affect Fey, demi or hell even Gods?

[vernal vale]

Only monsters I'm pretty sure

[hollow estuary]

Oh speaking of fey, my creature type is also fey

[vernal vale]

My current character is respecing into Warlock/Sorcerer, he's about to become an eldritch minigun

Haste himself + speed potion and just wreak havoc

[hollow estuary]

which means im immune to the effects of:

1st Level: Charm Person, Friends

2nd Level: Calm Emotions, Crown of Madness, Hold Person

3rd Level: Animate Dead5th Level: Dominate Person, Reincarnate

6th Level: Magic Jar

7th Level: Simulacrum

[flint ledge]

A lot of things were a thing in older editions. Like the basilisk dragon (RIP)

[vernal vale]

Isn't friends a cantrip?

[hollow estuary]

yeah it only targets humanoids

[vernal vale]

huh

[hollow estuary]

and it dosent deal damage

[vernal vale]

Yea ik

[hollow estuary]

I used a cantrip as a example

if you were to firebolt me while im unconsious then Im gonna die

unless a friend casts healing word or potions me

[little stream]

That would take the fun out of it

[vernal vale]

Gonna use it every other convo with my respec

[hollow estuary]

Wait I miscatagorized friends as 1rst level didnt i

I misunderstood the issue sorry

[vernal vale]

Yea that's why I asked lmao

[hollow estuary]

loll

yeah yeah pretty much

also thats a really great reason to be a faerie or warforged

immunity to all those cheap ahh level 2 instant end fight spells

[vernal vale]

I love hold person

[hollow estuary]

hold person 🤑 🤑 🤑 🤑 🤑

🤑

[vernal vale]

Used it to kill our barbarian in an out of cannon fight

[hollow estuary]

My dm does coupe de grace

meaning if someone is totally helpless (paralyzed or unconsious) you can take a full action to kill them

[pine herald]

Guys is #character-discussion the correct channel to ask people what they do with their character after the campaign or am I in the wrong place

[flint ledge]

Hold person is such a fun spell... Definitely doesn't limit enemy selection...

[hollow estuary]

or two if their petrified

which means yes if you fail two saves against hold person you probably are gonna die

[vernal vale]

I love casting Hold Person at like 6th level and letting the fighter/barb destroy the enemies lol

[hollow estuary]

Very much would work

a 20th level fighter could coupe de grace like four guys

or if thats a bit much you could say the barbarian could do two

cuz two rapid skull smash

[vernal vale]

The humble haste making the fighter do 5

[hollow estuary]

nevermind Im wrong

[vernal vale]

Monks could prob also go crazy with that home rule

[hollow estuary]

it takes a full action to just kill someone outright

[limber trail]

you know who really loves hold person? rogues. Advantage and a guaranteed crit - damage goes brr.

[hollow estuary]

Stunned dosent meet the req, basically if a condition says hits within 5 feet are auto crits you can then choose to just kill them outright as a action while in melee range.

[vernal vale]

Yea but we may or may not have executed the rogue a couple sessions ago lmao

[limber trail]

lmao

[vernal vale]

Yea I know but I meant with how many attacks they get

[hollow estuary]

Right im saying you forgo your remaining attacks

[severe rampart]

thinking about introducing the Deck of Many Things into my game...

[vernal vale]

Cause he kinda like bombed a city

[hollow estuary]

so instead of making 5 attacks you instead make one and if it hits they die

[vernal vale]

And we really didn't need that

[hollow estuary]

God your rogue SUCKS 😭

The whole point of a rogue is to get away with things

[vernal vale]

Ohh that seems kinda not worth it lol

[hollow estuary]

well it sorta is

[minor meteor]

Hello guys I'm new to DND

[limber trail]

Why do you think that?

I ask that because I've played with the deck of many things firsthand and I would not say it did that much to make the game more fun. It was definitely content but it's lasting impacts weren't that fun imo.

[hollow estuary]

say the boss has 300 hp left but no leg resistences, you hold person them, and then on your next turn you walk up to them and punch their head off.'

[limber trail]

Well monks make some attacks as a bonus action which they can still do, if my understanding of the rule is correct

[vernal vale]

Fair

[severe rampart]

That's why I'm thinking about it, would it be worth it? I think not, but it would be interesting

[hollow estuary]

Like theirs some exceptions for creatures of collosal scale

[flint ledge]

Do you love chaos and gambling?

[limber trail]

I think a much more fun way to run the deck of many things is to write an adventure about it.

[vernal vale]

Yea there's a reason I snapped his neck¯_(ツ)_/¯

[hollow estuary]

like for example you cant coupe de grace a storm giant as a medium creature

[flint ledge]

If so the deck of many things is for you!

[little stream]

Not echo but I do love red flags if that counts

[hollow estuary]

god what build did they play? was it atleast good?

[severe rampart]

I play Wild Magic Sorcerer

[vernal vale]

No

[hollow estuary]

HOW

[minor meteor]

How do we play dnd

[severe rampart]

Yes... that's right... hm.

[hollow estuary]

IM CRYING 😭 a badly built rogue??!

MY EYES 💀

[vernal vale]

It was some batsh*t insane homebrew

[flint ledge]

I believe that is in fact a separate issue!

[vernal vale]

He still lost to the suboptimal death domain chad that is my character

[severe rampart]

The urge to host a third campaign, man

[flint ledge]

Then it sounds like a fun time to mess with your players

[limber trail]

a deck of many things one shot / three shot is so much fun, but imo a lot of the rewarding options end up feeling kinda unearned and a lot of the punishing options are just like "ok, character over". Which is awesome in a campaign where characters maybe don't matter that much, but imo it was kinda just ehh in the game I played...

[vernal vale]

I really want to make a wild magic sorc inspired by Jester from Mighty Nein

[severe rampart]

three shot where the premise is that the villains are slowly harnesting the power of the deck of many things and the adventurers must stop them

[flint ledge]

Alternatively you can give them a genie lamp

[limber trail]

final boss where as an action on a recharge of 5-6 they can force everyone to draw a card from the deck of many things

[severe rampart]

oh my

[hollow estuary]

Frick this twin - Sun Tzu

[humble cairn]

Agreed. In my current campaign we just had a player make an entirely new character because of the Deck of Many, and it wasn't even the Void or Donjon, it was Talons, which makes all your gear disappear.

[vernal vale]

Yea again, reason he's in a ditch right now with his head turned a whole 180 degrees

[hollow estuary]

A wereraven rogue would be really good

imma build one.

just for fun, lets see how it turns out

[limber trail]

In a campaign I play in a player drew the sage halfway through, asked what the remaining cards in the deck were, and just had a familiar draw the bad cards, divying all of the good cards to the most effective player. That kinda ruined the fun.

[severe rampart]

The fully realized Rogue is one who has friends

AKA Enablers

Commander's Strike Battlemaster so you can sneak attack twice a round

[hollow estuary]

Boots of SandS are really great

springing and striding.

by spending 10 feet of movement you can fling yourself 30 feet forward

[vernal vale]

Bro I'm not gonna survive this math period

[humble cairn]

In our game that same tactic was only allowed to divine the next card, which was then distributed to a minion.

[limber trail]

That's fair. If I ever ran it I'd have the stipulation that the card can divine information about anything other than the deck of many things.

[vernal vale]

I own a physical deck of many things, it's so cool

[lavish flame]

idk who told you that filling your boots with sand will make you faster, but you're getting Ea-Nasir'd

[hollow estuary]

No way!

its like.. springy sand. boing boing

[humble cairn]

Write a tablet about it.

[hollow estuary]

Interesting Fact: It takes exactly 370,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dying ants to contain a supernova.

[severe rampart]

you forgot to carry the 1

[hot reef]

Planning to do a corpse swap, need to recreate a corpse (body left with NPCs for 1h, the PCs think it’ll be Raise Dead, then NPCs will say it failed and return the fake). What options are there to accomplish this?

[flint ledge]

I don't even know what number that is

[hollow estuary]

370,000 billion billion billion

[marble hazel]

isnt it easier to say 370 duodecillion?

[hot reef]

Any cheaper options than Creation?

[flint ledge]

What are we even supposed to do with that info

[hollow estuary]

stop a supernova ig

[placid iron]

Supernova? where?

[marble hazel]

of which star?

and size?

[little stream]

Where?

[lavish flame]

hmm. depending on the level of search (like will the PCs be able to interact with the bodies?), you could do a classic Prison Break movie's pillow body double. Wax statues could be fun, idk.

I think Creation or Fabricate are your best bet for spells. And they're kinda high level so it might break verisimilitude.

[flint ledge]

You're all impossible

[placid iron]

thank you

[hollow estuary]

a Supernova that releases exactly 10^44 joules

[marble hazel]

thanks i try my best

[marble hazel]

makes sense

[hollow estuary]

with that info you can gather 370 duodecillion dying ants to stop a supernova that releases exactly 10^44 joules of energy

this happends all the time trust me

[marble hazel]

what if you add one more ant then how many joules would there be more of to be held back?

[marble hazel]

i believe that

[hollow estuary]

Energy of all the ants is 2.7 x 10^11 Joules

if we add one more ant we get 2.7000000000027 x 10^11 Joules

[marble hazel]

ahh yes

[last orchid]

bruh

[fossil hollow]

uh oh, two of my players discussing domt shenanigans from my games

[limber trail]

uh oh

[hot gate]

I'm only surprised that you are surprised

[olive storm]

We had session one of Curse of Strahd today! It was really fun!

[severe rampart]

Did it use the Durst Manor?

[olive storm]

Yes. Our GM has modified it to be less "one character must die."

[severe rampart]

it's never been like that, you can just ||run||

[little stream]

How to ||run|| when GM says ||you're it||

[signal halo]

Hello, I have a problem as a player. I cheat in games. And honestly, it bothers me and I try not to do it, but it's really hard for me and in the end it always overwhelms me. I've been cheating since childhood and it's gradually become almost an obsession. I feel like it's controlling me. I need advice on what to do about it. Currently, the only thing that stops me is when there's simply no way to cheat or it would be too risky. Either when we have some system that rolls and counts rolls and everything for me or live at the table among others. But even here, I often cheat only inconspicuously. I don't reduce my Spell slots after casting a spell, I take less HP when I get hit, etc. I need advice on how to stop it. Oh, and please keep the advice like "just stop lol" to yourself. It's not that easy to stop.

[crystal star]

honestly? you probably need a therapist. but failing that, you can work with the DM (or another player) to both keep track of your stats and rolls, to ensure that the numbers all line up

[sharp river]

Does 5.5e still alows you to change which stat is used for skill checks, e.g. Charisma (Acrobatics)? Was reading barbarian's Primal Knowledge and was curious why such feature is necessary

[still plover]

Yes: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024/playing-the-game#DeterminingSkills

[lavish flame]

could be an opportunity to look inwards and try to decipher what you want vs what you're getting out of the whole D&D experience. Clearly aspects of the game are running against what you'd like to do. Think on where your enjoyment lies, consider where your party+DM's enjoyment comes from. Kinda... meditate on it i guess.

[signal halo]

Hmm Okay maybe i can try therapist and working with DM/Players.

[humble cairn]

Do you know why you feel like doing this?

[sharp river]

Nice, im guessing this feature mostly give the player the option to do so instead of hoping their DM does huh

[humble cairn]

No, it's entirely up to a DM to allow this.

[sharp river]

Oh mb i meant barb's Primal Knowledge

[humble cairn]

Unless you're talking about the Barbarian feature, in which case yes, that allows the player to choose to do the replacement.

[crystal star]

this is a good point. D&D is a game about giving in to the chaos of dice, and accepting that sometimes, you're gonna get screwed over by bad rolls. and that isnt for everyone. contrary to popular belief, there are other tabletops than dnd

you probably want something a lot less chance based

[signal halo]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. It's been building up in me since childhood. I feel like it's like someone is addicted to gambling. I don't know why I do it and I can't stop. To some extent, the adrenaline rush of cheating gives me a reason to do it. Plus, I guess I don't like it when I fail (but honestly, it's just an excuse and I don't really mind that much).

[sharp river]

If you feel like the compulsion has spread towards other things outside of games then going to a therapist might be a better move

[crystal star]

wasn't there a game that celebrated cheating? munchkin or something?

while you work on the therapy you could look into that kind of game 🤭 sounds like fun tbh

[sharp river]

I know theres a cheating monopoly

[signal halo]

It's only a problem in games. Otherwise, paradoxically, I'm a pretty honest and straightforward person.

[still plover]

You can always put it to the DM that you'd like to try using a different ability score for a roll, but it's their choice whether or not you can without a specific feature.

[signal halo]

I played those games. It was fun but I had no reason to cheat because as I say the reason I cheat is the adrenaline that someone might catch me and I try to make sure they don't catch me. In those games I might get caught but it's not a real problem.

[crystal star]

Iirc the rule was that cheating was okay if you got away with it. like, people could challenge you if they thought you did to stop you and give a penalty. i dont fully remember though :P

[sharp river]

Have other player/DM ever find out when you did cheat?

[signal halo]

Very rarely

[sharp river]

What happened in the rare case they did?

[signal halo]

They usually talked to me and I stopped cheating in that group. The "fun" part is when there's a chance they'll catch me but they don't. When they do, I feel bad about myself and I don't want to ruin my relationship with them any more.

[remote wadi]

There was a chess game iirc

[worldly yoke]

Yeah, that makes sense. I get why people like the randomness, but sometimes it’s nicer to have more control. Do you know any games that don’t rely so much on dice?

[sharp river]

Would you say your fun is worth the damaged relationship between you and the table?

[signal halo]

Well it isnt. Thats the reason why i want to stop cheating. But it is not that easy. I try to stop lot of a times but it is like obsesion. It controls me.

[sharp river]

What have you tried so far to stop? And why do you think its not working?

[signal halo]

So far, I’ve tried to simply talk myself out of doing it. But I think the reason it doesn’t work is that it’s deeply ingrained in me. I’ve been developing this bad habit since childhood. It’s an integral part of who I am. Even when I try to suppress it, it ends up taking control of me.

[hot gate]

You could try rolling so that others see the result as well. So, along the lines of giving yourself no opening.

[signal halo]

But I want to try something other than just trying to convince myself or force myself to stop, precisely because that doesn’t work. That’s why I’m writing here—I’m interested in your ideas and advice on how to stop.

[marble lion]

what i find interesting is that to me, dnd isnt a game like other games
other games are about winning
dnd is storytelling

[signal halo]

Yeah, it works. The only time I don't cheat is when I don't have the chance or when it would be too risky.

[marble lion]

i have no idea how to fix the whole issue, but i could imagine this working as a way to stop the cheating in dnd

what kinds of tables do you play at?
are they very game-win oriented?

you could try a table where failing isnt a loss but rather just an alternative path of the story

[sharp river]

In that case, perhaps having other person that looks out for you could be helpful? Maybe be open to other player/DM in your table to help you combat this issue and fight the compulsion, some kind of support system

[marble lion]

asking for that support is impossible if it obstructs cheating

[crystal star]

shadow of the demon lord, worlds without number, 13th age

[marble lion]

obviously its a good thing to get support
but setting up a hard controller is already a big step into the process

[hot gate]

Great, so you could try to maximize such things, so you and others can check yourself.

[marble lion]

its like an alcoholic letting someone else control his drinking
by that time, the alcoholic already developed the necessary will to make the mental step of "and now i cant anymore"

[signal halo]

I got into this bad habit of cheating when I was a kid, in games that were all about winning. But then it carried over into games that aren’t like that. Like I said, it started when I was a kid because I just didn’t want to lose, but it turned into a bad habit and an obsession where it’s no longer about winning—it’s about the adrenaline.

[worldly yoke]

Yeah, good picks. They still use dice but they are more controlled than D&D, so results feel less random

[signal halo]

Hmm good idea.

[marble lion]

do you think you could do that?
have a person know you cheat and actively control you?

to me that sounds like a step hard to make because its basically stopping the cheating right there

[signal halo]

The hardest part will be admitting to one of my friends that I'm cheating.

[marble lion]

are you sure it wont be that making the step will reject the cheating?

[crystal star]

came at them with the same vulnerability you came to us and it should be okay. one on one with the DM

[marble lion]

asking someone else to make you stop is barely different from just stopping yourself

coming here was different because we cant enforce it in your games

its why its much easier to talk at anonymous circles
there is no "if i do this, thats the end" thought process involved

you can tell us all you want and still cheat later

if you involve a table mate, you are making an active stop. i hope you can do it

i guess im saying its hardly different from the advice you rejected
"just stop"

[signal halo]

I honestly think it would help, but I also think it’s going to be really, really hard to bring myself to do it. I’d have to admit that I’m cheating, and at the same time, my body will resist because I’ll be depriving it of that adrenaline

[marble lion]

by making someone else control you, you are basically doing exactly that. youre stopping

[crystal star]

he wants to stop he just needs help. thats the whole idea man

[marble lion]

yeah of course

but its still the same thing

if you give up your cheating at that table by telling someone about it, you are literally stopping your cheating

[crystal star]

no, because he will have help.

[signal halo]

Yeah thats true. And here i am like anonymus.

[marble lion]

you cross a threshold

maintaining it is easier though. that is true

but thats also why its so much harder to go for help, than it is to stop yourself

you know that if you stop on your own, in secret, you can always go back

its like deciding to diet from today on
its easy because i can just change my mind

if i go to someone who has a lot of sway in my life and tell them "hold me to my diet", thats a big step
im setting up a system that prevents backing out

your brain will know this and try to stop you from setting it up

i do hope you do that though. it is an effective way of fixing things

[signal halo]

Yeah, but honestly, I don't want to do that. That's exactly what I want to avoid. It's a bad habit I really don't want to have. It actually ruins the fun of the game for me and for everyone else. I need to find a way to bring this up with someone at the table.

[marble lion]

on the bright side, there is another adrenaline high you can look forward to

the adrenaline from actually getting lucky

i think its a very good thing to remind yourself of the benefits after you changed

[signal halo]

But it's hard, I agree.

[marble lion]

instead of thinking "diet sucks i cant eat nice" i think of how amazing i will feel looking in a mirror

the seratonin i get just from imagining that makes dieting way easier

[signal halo]

I'm trying. But as I said, it's deeply ingrained in me. It's not just a matter of determination. It's like trying to change a lifelong habit that's deeply ingrained in your personality.

[marble lion]

"just a matter of determination"

determination is the most difficult thing in life

overcoming exactly what youre describing

[signal halo]

Well it its but what i mean is that in my case it is harder then in normal cases like trying to lose some weight (Although, to be honest, even that is pretty hard.)

[deep root]

Hey all! I apologize for interrupting. First time posting. Just got an opportunity to play instead of DM for once, shocker I know. I was wondering: at higher levels is Ranger a solid choice mechanically? I got invited to a one-shot and the starting level is 14.

[marble lion]

losing weight is one of the hardest things in life

so many studies show just how miserably difficult and fruitless meaningful weightloss is for people

[flint ledge]

You mean for 2014 or 2024? Although my answer is about the same. Ranger is a completely fine class to play regardless

[marble lion]

food is ingrained in us through all of existence of any living being so its understandable

we arent trained to "not eat" when we can or want

id say its probably about the same difficulty for someone who struggles with it as this cheating thing is for you

[humble cairn]

I'm playing a level 14+ Ranger right now and I'm having a lot of fun. You have a very nice set of tools and as long as you look at all your tools and not just one narrow aspect of it Ranger is great!

[deep root]

5.5e

[signal halo]

As I said, that’s hard too (I know from experience). But this seems harder to me—and at the same time more important. Being overweight is something that limits only me. Cheating limits others

[marble lion]

after all, theyve been eating since childhood too ;)

i get you

[flint ledge]

Just as a basis it's completely fine and pretty great to play. If you're big into optimizing #optimization might be able to tell you details

[deep root]

heck yeah, I've had this character sitting on the shelf for a while now. I'm excited to play on the other side of the screen for once 😂

[flint ledge]

But if you're in a regular old dnd game you should be fine without thinking too much of it

[signal halo]

That's true. It's probably similar, but when it comes to cheating, I see a stronger reason to change it. As I said, by being overweight, I'm only limiting myself. By cheating, I'm limiting others and myself as well, because I feel bad about myself.

[humble cairn]

What are you looking to do with your Ranger character?

[deep root]

I appreciate you! I'm not too worried about optimization but I will take a gander at the internet to see the "meta". I like the roleplay aspect more than anything and the DM I have is the same mindset. I just wanted to know if it was decent mechanically with out it feeling too clunky.

Maximize action economy while also provide guidance (not the spell) during exploration and story telling.

[humble cairn]

I can tell you that on my Beast Master I am constantly using all of my Action Economy to good effect. I feel like I'm playing a character and a half.

[deep root]

dang, so is it too much?

[humble cairn]

I don't think every subclass has quite the action economy of the Beast Master, though.

[humble cairn]

I mean not for me, I find it very cool and rewarding.

[humble cairn]

What subclass are you looking into?

[deep root]

I'm running hunter

it seems 'easier', I'm not sure if thats the right word for it but I wanted a sanity check before I hit the send it button and commit to a game.

[humble cairn]

Ok so definitely not as intensive as running a whole other creature with your Bonus Action.

[humble cairn]

The Hunter subclass is the most martial weapons focused of the subclasses. Don't get me wrong, all Rangers are great at weapons, but Hunter just focuses on doing that a bit better.

You're still a half caster, though, so don't ignore that. Also don't get trapped into thinking that you need to have Hunter's Mark up at all times.

[deep root]

I've payed close attention to my spell list. Its a decent handful at level 14 too which is cool.

[humble cairn]

It's a very versatile spell list, with tools for just about every role (Damage, Utility, Control, Support).

[deep root]

its awesome, and having that variety opens up so many avenues of play. I have water walking as a 3rd level ritual and the opportunities are awesome in my mind. I'm excited.

[humble cairn]

What kind of weapons were you thinking of using?

[deep root]

So I'm a bit of a chuncky dude, 91lbs of gear. I've got a scimitar, longbow, and musket. 20 arrows in a quiver, and 20 bullets for the musket. Its my first time playing with a firearm in game so that'll take some getting used to.

[humble cairn]

You thinking to lean more towards melee or ranged weapons?

[hot marlin]

Longbow and musket?

I'm not sure it's worth having both

[deep root]

I'm leaning more towards ranged

[humble cairn]

This sounds like beginning gear, since you're starting at level 14 is the DM giving you any more gear than this? Any magical items?

[deep root]

I was given the option and I thought it sounded cool. In the world its considered a rare weapon, think Longsword for a knight. Pretty expensive, and if it breaks... I would either need to find a specialist and pay a ton of money or attempt to fix it myself which would be at disadvantage with out the proper training. The rifle was a hand-me-down so the homebrew nerf that sounded cool was rolling a d100 or d20 for a misfire.

[deep root]

The scimitar is a Vicious variant but everything else is common rarity

[humble cairn]

The longbow and the musket have the same Mastery. Why does the musket need a homebrewed flaw?

[humble cairn]

That is a very nice weapon, any way you could have asked for one of your ranged weapons to be Vicious instead?

[deep root]

World building. I'm not too worried about it. I trust the process lol

[humble cairn]

If you have a Vicious Weapon, that's kind of the weapon you want to be using.

[hot marlin]

If you're intent on using the musket, I would really recommend getting proficiency into whatever tool would allow you to do the reparis yourself

That way if it breaks in the middle of an adventure, you may repair it yourself. Might even take just a long rest or a short rest

[deep root]

I can ask for sure. That brings up a good point but I'll save it for #optimization

[deep root]

I'm not sure how I would write that in. My character is a man-at-arms for Cormyr who started as a stable hand and moved onto basic training to become a guard.

[humble cairn]

The tool that officially can craft a musket is Tinker's Tools, fyi: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024/equipment#TinkersTools50GP

[glass granite]

I wonder if Mending would be enough

[tame estuary]

If the DM is bringing up the idea, they'll make sure it actually works and you won't drop it after 3 sessions

[humble cairn]

Tinkers Tools can also make a bunch of other useful stuff.

[tame estuary]

You can also just not deal with homebrew and use a bow

Or crossbow

[humble cairn]

Just a note, muskets are not homebrew, they are official in the 2024 rules. It just seems that this specific musket has a homebrewed flaw.

[deep root]

Originally I only had the bow and scimitar, also there is a mechanic for firearms in 5.5e. Thats new-ish for me

[glass granite]

I thought that mechanic was also in 2014

Guns have existed for a while

[humble cairn]

Firearms did exist in 2014, but they were in the DMG, not the PHB.

[tame estuary]

I don't even understand where this idea of gun jamming comes from

[glass granite]

Ah that tracks

[tame estuary]

Do maintanance on it everyday?

[humble cairn]

Anyway that's getting in the weeds about a homebrew mechanic.

[deep root]

yeah, I'm not against it

[steel oak]

Hi

[humble cairn]

What books is your DM allowing you to pull features from?

[deep root]

Thats a cool idea, roughing it out in the wilderness and having to clean and take care of your equipment using skill checks

[deep root]

All the ones I currently own: PHB, DMG, XgtE, CoS, RtcR

plus the free ones on ddb

[humble cairn]

Ahh good Zephyr Strike is in Xanathar's.

If you're mainly wanting to use your ranged weapons, it's good to be able to get safely out of reach of enemies. Ashardalon's Stride is also good for that.

Oh but that's in Fizban's.

[deep root]

Still building my library. I have some 3.5 books lying around here somewhere

[undone rain]

Im now in love with open hand monks

[deep root]

how many attacks can you make? 😎

[undone rain]

Quite a few

Dont get me started on how fast they are

[sterile pier]

.

I am not a fan of green. I hate it.

[lethal otter]

is there a channel for other ttrpg's in this server. Or is it purely dnd

[normal junco]

I'd think mainly D&D. There might be a little wiggle room for D&D adjacent, like Nimble5e and Tales of the Valiant, to a very tiny extent. But for the most part it's nearly exclusively D&D. And at that almost exclusively WotC's 5.5e with some 5e as legacy (and third party stuff on DNDBeyond).

Like, this is Hasbro/WotC's official Discord server for D&D. So it's expected the focus would be their own D&D stuff.

[turbid vessel]

There's a general #non-dnd-topics channel, I've seen other tabletop games get discussed there before

[flint ledge]

Purely dnd although you could talk about it in #non-dnd-topics

[lethal otter]

Aight

[flint ledge]

Dang it the raccoon was faster

[lyric viper]

This server is for D&D, with discussions focused on other TTRPGs going in #non-dnd-topics .
For the purposes of this server, D&D is a game that is playable using official books labelled such as published by TSR or WotC (So Pathfinder, Urban Aracana, Star Wars The Roleplaying game or Starwars 5e would not be D&D).

Third party content would be #third-party if wanting to focus on that.

[lethal otter]

Aihgt, thanks a lot miss lich

[sterile sierra]

Hi

[ripe pilot]

Hello! Can someone make an optimised char sheet for me? Dm me if u can help

[still plover]

What level are you looking for?

[ripe pilot]

Lvl 12 char,7 genie pally/5 draco sorc.UA,so splendor and res stack

[still plover]

You'll be wanting #optimization for that.

[ripe pilot]

Ok thx!

[still plover]

Howdy. What's on your mind?

[sterile sierra]

Looking to play a true merfolk

[still plover]

Interesting. Wouldn't that mean the campaign would have to be ocean-based, though? Or do they have something for work on land?

[sterile sierra]

With a ritual work on land

[still plover]

Ah, right! What sourcebook is that from?

[sterile sierra]

I dunno, but looking for PotC style bookk to play dnd

[twilit sail]

Let us talk odnd

Earlier last year i was playing an odnd game called Macchiato Monsters

You get to make up your spells and martial abilities

I played a golem named Greg. He jumped a college girl and beat her to death with a metal object and died at the end of the campaign fulfilling his character arc

[sterile sierra]

I want a Cove campaign

[sly crest]

Macchiato Monsters? Sounds like it costs 15 dollars at Starbucks

[twilit sail]

Its can just download the pdf onlime for free

[sly crest]

Was making a joke about the title

[twilit sail]

Ono wait is 12 dollars

I had fun

Most od the fun comes from rp

[sterile sierra]

[lyric viper]

Macchiato Monsters would not be D&D

So would be a topic for #non-dnd-topics

[twilit sail]

Odnd isnt dnd?

Ig its not made by wotc

[lyric viper]

Macchiato Monsters is not Original D&D

It's OSR based.

[twilit sail]

Mb

[sly crest]

Can you even drink coffee in it?

[twilit sail]

Shush

[lyric viper]

Folk, if wanting to continue this, #non-dnd-topics

Original D&D (1974) would also be a perfect topic for #dnd-elder-editions

[frosty sequoia]

How many people remember "Chainmail," the predecessor to D&D, which I played?

[lyric viper]

Folk in that channel certainly know of it, and if any played Oe then they'll have to have known some Chainmail rules to make it work.
Although to be overly pedantic Chainmail itself would also not be D&D, even the fantasy supplement, although it's an interesting topic as a precursor to D&D (and kind of hard to avoid discussing if discussing Oe because you need to rely on it for rules).

[undone rain]

Would be funny if we called dnd, dad. So you can say "im gonna play some dad"

[paper portal]

i think thats why we dont call it that lol

[undone rain]

Ik lol

But its a fun thought

[empty thicket]

"Come and test our Macchiato monster, It will scare you with our special mix of beans and if you ask it in his latte version you will see a cool skull drew on teh foam"
That or a homebrew elemental of water made into coffee

with some biscuits golems

[sly crest]

mmm, biscuits...

[flint ledge]

"Dad, I'm gonna go out to play some Dad"

[undone rain]

Exactly lmao

[lyric viper]

Advanced Dad vs Basic Dad

[undone rain]

Dad 5th edition

[empty thicket]

Basic dad = Chose proficiency with X tools and this set of skills
Advanced Dad = Get proficiency and expertise in this skills and with almost all the tools

[mystic crystal]

So I was playing some Dad and my daddy master punished the table because I rolled a nat one and it was a crit fail

[undone rain]

Now with extra dad jokes

[thorn osprey]

The best DM is now the best Daddy

[undone rain]

Level 20 dad=able to tell the weather when your knee aches

[mystic crystal]

The straightest lines in the grass after mowing

[mystic crystal]

So I need to get my DM a Father’s Day card?

[empty thicket]

no no, dad is a feat like a Dragon mark

[thorn osprey]

Yes(you all are the DMs children)

[empty thicket]

the requirement is obtaining the stat "Kids" and "wife"

[undone rain]

But you get the curse of looking at the neighbours yard for an hour everyday in envy

[mystic crystal]

I’m getting my dm a shirt that says “I’m not the birth dad, I’m the dad that stepped up”

[undone rain]

You can play as a paladad

[empty thicket]

the only bad part of the dad feat is that sometimes you must do a wisdom save for avoiding to do a cringe dad joke

[undone rain]

You have to do it once per long rest

[wicked mulch]

D&D Question of the Day (D&D Beyond: Character Classes):

True or False: Choosing your class is described as the most important decision in creating a character because it informs many later choices.

[still plover]

Compared to species and background, sure.

[mystic crystal]

Magic item:

White new balances

+30 movement speed, able to solve any problem with YouTube and tools you “borrow” from your neighbors and forget to return.

You also are able to cast Legends lore once a long rest for increased knowledge of any obscure historical fact

And able to cast heros feast (barbecuing) with out extending a spell slot

Curse:
This is item cursed with you hear a opportunity you must make a poorly times dad joke or suffer 1d6 psychic damage

Also anyone using the help action to hold a flashlight is unable to keep it steady

[empty thicket]

Yes, some classes even help you to determinate background too

Aka, paladin, cleric and warlock.

[undone rain]

Absoloute cinema

[mystic crystal]

Thank you, my homebrew class is at 8

[twilit sail]

I would say so yeah

Unless youre one of those players who doesnt care at all abt stats or abilities and dumps con bc its funny

[lusty tendon]

Idk about you guys, but what do you think on my DM’s homebrew where you could move 5 feet away from the person without them having an opportunity attack, but if you moved further than that then it would allow for the opportunity to attack

Personally, I think this is a little odd because they didn’t know about Lances

[woven flint]

What?
Isn't that just..
How opportunity attacks work?

[mystic crystal]

I don’t think that’s homebrew? As long as you don’t move out of melee range you don’t get a AOO?

[lusty tendon]

No as in freely move 5ft away without having opportunity aka out of range

[woven flint]

Typically..
It's when you leave a creatures reach
Most creatures have a reach of 5 feet

[crimson gulch]

So like the 5 foot step In 3e?

[fair plinth]

I dont see how that makes a big difference, most of the time when you move 5 feet away you are probably going to continue to move away and provoke the attack anyway

[last flume]

Why do you wanna include that homebrew? Ehrm put it #homebrew

[woven flint]

^^^

[minor cargo]

It sounds like they're trying to replicate the "5 foot step" (colloquial name) from 3.5E.

But in 3.5E, your 5-foot step was your entire move action. (...I think)

[lusty tendon]

Yeah thats what i thought as well tbh but he was very adamant on that

again in his ruling lances are the best weapon especially if optimized, didnt know if that effects other things like how casters can now attack without having disadvantage when right next to an opponent

[lusty tendon]

Just talking about my dm’s homebrew for combat and its odd mechanical issues

[last flume]

I see

[dusty socket]

Hey so when new spells are incoming to the dnd 2024?

[craggy summit]

Whenever they release a new book

[rough basalt]

Arcana Unleashed I theorize will have the XGE spell reprints in it

[dusty socket]

i hope they gonna give rangers more spells

[minor cargo]

You'll probably see some in Horrors Within, in the next month or so.

Arcana Unleashed looks like it has a release date of September this year.

[frosty sequoia]

why not just play a magic user class?

they get lots of spells.

[dusty socket]

because half-casters are also hungry

[empty thicket]

The middle kid for being the middle kid must not receive love too?

[mystic crystal]

When starting a new campaign as a player do you guys pick your class right away or do you wait until everyone else picks theirs and fill in where needed?

[viral kraken]

i like to fill

[frosty sequoia]

I always play a LE Rogue. So doesn't matter what anyone else takes.

[weak scarab]

Any ideas on what is IN the survivalist kit from the Dr Drolins Dictionary of Dinosaurs?

[reef tundra]

Same here, I like to fill roles that aren’t filled

[still plover]

Eh, depends. Sometimes the pitch alone will spark an idea. Sometimes I'll have a notion already in mind when I come to the table, in some state or another of preparedness.

On balance, I think I've got to say actually making a character at the table is the rarest for me, but it can be the most rewarding when everyone's doing it at the same time.

[reef tundra]

Fortunately I have played all core 12 classes at least once so I know how to play all of them well

[rough basalt]

i usually choose but then fill cause my choice is usually taken or there'd be too much overlap

[twilit shell]

I usually wait to try and prevent overlap. I don't care but enough people do that ill just play a dif char concept

[shy stirrup]

Speaking only for myself as a player, I tend to favour the "fill in" approach, unless I happen to have a very strong character conception that I want to use or try out

[mystic crystal]

I want to do that but monk,bard and sorcerer don’t really seem that interesting.

Forgive me to all the monk, bard, sorc mains in here

[reef tundra]

Ah do not worry, I respect your opinion

-# I will slay you /j

Although fr, not every class will appeal to every player. It’s okay to not like a class

[paper portal]

only class i actively dislike is bard tbh

[mystic crystal]

I also have ADHD so 9/10 times in my brain I’ve gotten what I wanted and I want to make as new character lol

[reef tundra]

There is no class I dislike. Heck, I like even most of the homebrew classes I’ve seen and tried

[still plover]

I think plain monk rivals battlemaster in tactical use, personally.

[reef tundra]

I know another optimiser who glazes bards constantly, like holy hell she will not shut up about “how great bard is”

[mystic crystal]

Unpopular opinion one of my favorite class/subclasses is beast master ranger lol

[reef tundra]

I should make you two meet. And fight

[paper portal]

arguably the worst full caster lol

[shy stirrup]

I think Battlemaster has the edge there, but this could be my Fighter bias talking

[paper portal]

I would win 😇

[frosty sequoia]

But it's always the LE Rogue that saves the campaign.

[reef tundra]

Hell yes, screw popular. Beast master ranger is a great choice

[paper portal]

2014 phb or tashas

[woven flint]

Tonight, my Drow Warlock and his party invade Lolths domain

[mystic crystal]

What’s LE?

[knotty vine]

The only thing bard lacks is damage ngl unless it plays valor

[reef tundra]

Do not fear going against the grain, follow your heart

[woven flint]

The demon web pits!!!

[frosty sequoia]

Lawful Evil.

[mystic crystal]

2014 is my only experience

[shy stirrup]

Lawful Evil

[reef tundra]

WOOOO

[mystic crystal]

Ope that’s what I thought

[still plover]

I have yet to do a bard. Just not down with the music part. Got an archaeologist in mind that uses Words of Power, yet to play it.

[reef tundra]

I love the demon web pits

I played bard thrice and I love all three bards.

[paper portal]

my issue is just how unuseful they are in combat before magical secrets

[still plover]

Ophid would be with you there, I think.

[woven flint]

We got a favor from Graz'zt with our connection with Tasha, so, hopefully he'll help us kick Lolths ass

[reef tundra]

Oh hell yes

[still plover]

They're not big hitters, they're support. Their role is to make others shine in combat.

[reef tundra]

Optimisers really are good ragebaiters

[woven flint]

My Warlock hates Demonkind, but he's making an exception for Graz'zt just this once

[mystic crystal]

“My gloomstalker/assassin rouge is the best to ever do it”

[still plover]

If that's not your thing it's totally fine, but it's hard to say they're no good at what they're designed for.

[frosty sequoia]

that must be seriously deadly makeup!

[woven flint]

The fun part is that Tasha gave us a hand mirror in which we can talk to Graz'zt with.

She literally only did this because I gave her the Book of Vile Darkness..
But, she also gave me Lolths true name, so she'll be significantly weakened when we fight her

[still plover]

They do get proficiency in disguise kits, don't they?

[frosty sequoia]

I dunno. I've never used rouge.

[reef tundra]

You got to meet my wife in a campaign?! /j

[mystic crystal]

“Yeah wittelwey, I’m a demon prince who’s set out to marrwy the pwincess of da welhem, she will be my bwide”

[woven flint]

I literally just said we got favor with Graz'zt through our connection with Tasha 😭

[reef tundra]

I am tripping my b

I remember you said that now

[woven flint]

My Warlock is also a "disciple" of Alustriel

We hang out with her in Sigil

[reef tundra]

I’m not as jazzed about Alistriel :(

[last flume]

Not to mention they're the best at skill checks and helping others at those + being a charisma caster + having innate expertise to be the best face.
The Subclasses are all varied and very fun

[reef tundra]

I mean she’s nice don’t get me wrong but she didn’t live in hades

[woven flint]

Yeah, Tonights gonna be a hell of a night.

My Drow fella has to face what he's been running away from for the greater the multiverse.

I've gotta complete my Bargain with Kas.

My party members and I are gonna have to negotiate terms of a contract with Graz'zt despite having his favor.

Our Rogue is gonna prove herself so she doesn't have to be a Scion of Bane anymore

Our Artificer gets to expand his multiversal map.

And we're recruiting some allies to go to the abyss with us

[reef tundra]

You’re meeting up with Kas? Woowwww /j

[woven flint]

I already have

[reef tundra]

Jokes aside this campaign sounds genuinely peak

[woven flint]

Oh! I also got a Drow Questing Knight from drawing from the Deck of Many Things!

He's my friend now

My dm and I determined that he was a Paladin of Elistraee whose name was lost to time

[woven flint]

Peak.

And I'm prepared to die fighting for the Freedom of my fellow Drow 😎

[hollow estuary]

Hell yeah

Okay guys, what is the best way to be able to swim in lava without consequences.

I need to know

[humble cairn]

Immunity to fire damage?

[hollow estuary]

Ofc, how do I get this.

[sacred bone]

chromatic dragonborn from Fizban's if thats allowed

[crimson gulch]

Fire immunity and a swim and burrow speed

[sacred bone]

Tasha's Otherworldly Guise i think does it too

[crimson gulch]

True polymorph into red dragon

[sacred bone]

Investiture of Flame

[hollow estuary]

im theorizing with my friends about what would happen if we got isekaied into DND with all out meta knowledge like how well would we do, and Im trying to bring up the point of the axe of the dwarvish lords.

Im pretty much pointing out that some early edition DND lore says the axe of the dwarvish lords is inside of mount hotenow.

[woven flint]

Could also hope to draw the Elemental card from the DOMT and get fire immunity from there lol

[hollow estuary]

so like bringing up the point you could maybe swim down inside of mount hotenow to grab it]

[woven flint]

Investiture of Flame (spell)
Also gives you fire immunity

[crimson gulch]

And air bubble so you don't suffocate

[hollow estuary]

yeah once you get it could you teleport out with it?

Travel the Depths. You can take a Magic action to touch the axe to a fixed piece of dwarven stonework and cast Teleport from the axe. If your intended destination is underground, there is no chance of a mishap or arriving somewhere unexpected. You can’t use this property again until 3 days have passed.

Or would you have to climb

[humble cairn]

Does this require attunement?

[hollow estuary]

Shii..

yeah its a artifact it does

so youde also need to climb with one hand

because you cant hurl it yet

[hollow estuary]

LOL, that would be difficult

if you find a DOMT its best to sell it in my opinion

[crimson gulch]

I love the deck of many things, I put it in every campaign

[woven flint]

Frankly, the two worse things that could happen to you are Donjon and Talon

[twilit sail]

Isnt it super lethal

[crimson gulch]

Yes, just like every part of my games

[twilit sail]

You monster

[woven flint]

If you're high level, not really but it can be

[hollow estuary]

If counterspell worked on the cards I can just imagine like people hiring entire circles of wizards to cast counterspell on you.

" DONJON! DONJON! COUNTERSPELL NOW NOW! "

the wizards cast counterspell

" That was close. "

[woven flint]

Well, it doesn't because its not spellcasting :p

It's literally altering reality

[twilit sail]

Doesnt magic alter reality

[woven flint]

The worst card I've ever drawn on ANY character was the Rogue Card

[hollow estuary]

yeah so ide suppose you'de need to be in the presence of a diety. as dietys can choose to prevent teleporation effects (donjon)

[woven flint]

Yes and No

[woven flint]

Which is pretty tame

[twilit sail]

Isnt the worst one the alignment one

[woven flint]

Not really

[hollow estuary]

in AL yes

cuz you cant play a evil char

[woven flint]

Especially for a guy like me who plays neutral characters :p

[twilit sail]

The one that banishes your char to the shadow realm?

[woven flint]

Donjon

[hollow estuary]

Silvered Moon Touched (or for short SMT) weapons sound badass

Expecially in 2024

[crimson gulch]

I have so many players in the void that I ran a one shot where the party tried to rescue a batch of them.

That was a tpk

[woven flint]

Rule of thumb:

If you like your character or just don't want anything bad to happen to the

Just don't draw from the deck
You literally can't be forced to

But Rule of thumb 2:
Don't be a coward

[dapper pendant]

hey can someone help me with the dndb homebrew maker? im trying to make a weapon that just lets its user use zephyr strike once per long rest. i have to do it in a weird way where the button on the character sheet is "1c" rather than "use." is there a way to fix this

[woven flint]

I have a dm who likes the DOMT and every campaign its been in, I've consistently drawn at least ONE card

[hollow estuary]

Speaking of donjon it imprisonment will one shot the tarrasque

*inprisonment will

[twilit sail]

Deck of many things but i replace all the cards with the void and dont tell my players

[woven flint]

Donjon only works on creatures that draw it

Good luck getting a Tarrasque to draw from the deck.

[hollow estuary]

right i ment inprisonment

[last flume]

You ask it very politely

[dapper pendant]

the box that instantly kills you

[woven flint]

The trick with the Deck of Many Things is don't be greedy imho

I've pretty much always only drawn once and it hasn't really let me down yet lol

[hollow estuary]

aaaand im out 💀

[twilit sail]

The Void

[woven flint]

Worst I've drawn is the Rogue :]

Someone just really hates me and I remain unbothered

[twilit sail]

That sounds like a normal session

If you dont make a bunch of random npcs hate you are you even playing dnd

[hollow estuary]

Yo lycanthrope characters get multiattacks.

thats cool, just realized that

[woven flint]

Yeah?
Because i try to be a normal and non-disruptuve player

There are definitely some people that'd hate some pf my npcs in ganes for good reason

(A lot of people Probably hate my Bugbear Ranger because he's a Zhentarim Hitman and kills people for a living, but he's not an EVIL person, he only does contracts on people he feels deserves it)

[vernal owl]

You should draw it at least six or seven times

[woven flint]

...

[twilit sail]

i mean you dont need to be running a jerk chaotic stupid char to get npcs to hate you

[vernal owl]

Sorry 💔💔💔

[lilac plover]

I’m so scared of going and trying to find a game here

Like on this server

[warm meadow]

Makes sense tbh werewolves without multiattack feel kinda underwhelming

[minor cargo]

How come? Not sure if we can help, but maybe we can at least dig out a bit about what's giving you a bit of anxiety?

[dapper pendant]

COWARRRD

[woven flint]

A coward wouldn't draw at all.

[dapper pendant]

A coward would fool himself into thinking he was being reasonable while still engaging in cowardice. Two cards. Minimum.

[twilit sail]

i heaard that if you join an online dnd game, a woman with long knee length black hair and a white dress will come out of your computer screen and kill you

[woven flint]

Greed is more foolish.
You want more but end up losing everything.

[dapper pendant]

its not greed buddy its LET IT RIIIDE

[vernal owl]

Just draw a number of cards equal to your character level

[wanton crystal]

you can always try joining a session

[woven flint]

Drawing once from the deck is a good gamble already

If I drew more, Its because I'd be fine with having to come up with another character
And sometimes I can't be assed

I don't mind losing my characters, I just don't feel like making more sometimes

[next solar]

i have the opposite problem. i have too many characters that will never get played because i am only playing in 1 table, and half of the time im dming anyways

[woven flint]

I also don't wanna not have a character to play for majority or the rest of a session

[empty thicket]

i can only imagine
Random demon in X random spot after i drew a card in another plane:
"Damn, now i hate this guy. Im going to hunt him."

[woven flint]

I have plenty of character ideas

I just don't wanna use them on any campaigns I'm in atm

[next solar]

understandable

[twilit sail]

understandable

[woven flint]

understandable

[empty thicket]

understandable

[turbid vessel]

My issue (sometimes) with making characters is that I get invested in making really specific story beats and backstory stuff, when I know that being as general as possible is a lot better for characters made in advance

[hollow stone]

the trick is to grab the entire deck and simultaneously draw every card at the same time

[turbid vessel]

Get the rough broad strokes down, and then you can specify with campaign details when the time comes

[warm meadow]

I get you, one draw is already enough fun. Extra draws only if you're okay with the workload of making new characters

[next solar]

i mainly make character as backup for the current one i am on

[woven flint]

Play 100 card pick up with the deck of many things

[next solar]

but my character has stayed alive for 2 years so i never get to play them

and the campaign is ending this saturday so to the trash folder they go

[willow fern]

Hello everyone

[wanton crystal]

hello

[knotty vine]

I have a quesiton?

does Time Ravage work on cretures that dont age?

[barren badger]

Are there creatures that don’t age?

[last flume]

Constructs?

[knotty vine]

Plenty

Undeads elements constrcuts are a few that come to mind

[last flume]

Doubt, it mentions dying of old age

-# +some creatures are immune to magic that alters their age but that's something different

[barren badger]

Age. Constructs are created in their mature forms and remain that way indefinitely, eventually breaking down after many centuries.

They do break down though

[knotty vine]

If the save fails, the target also ages to the point where it has only 30 days left before it dies of old age. In this aged state, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws, and its walking speed is halved.

[last flume]

Yeah? :>

It doesn't mention constructs or undead being unaffected so it would work. I'm pretty sure other spells/magical affects mention that but this doesn't so yeah...

...I guess 😮‍💨

[knotty vine]

The undying lich getting aged forward 40 billion years

[warm meadow]

If a creature doesn't naturally age (or is immune to aging)

The spell's aging effect usually wouldn’t apply to it.
However, the damage (10d12 necrotic) would still apply.
And ultimately, DM discretion is important

[next solar]

the spell never states that it doesnt work on creatures that cannot age, however it does seem pretty contracdictory

[last flume]

Specific over general

it works on everything that doesn't have a little mention saying that it won't be affected by magical aging

[knotty vine]

Dnd does cut non magical aging and magical aging as two diffrent things

[last flume]

You'd be surprised how little extra time liches get (at least with their sanity).
It really is a loss loss scenario becoming a Lich in the end

[knotty vine]

In this case it would be magical

[twilit sail]

are good liches still a thing (archliches)

[knotty vine]

theres only 1 arch lich

[barren badger]

i think liches can be good, but the process to become a lich is evil

[knotty vine]

Oh wait thats a new thing

thats a 4e thing it seems

[twilit sail]

archliches have a different ritual

[knotty vine]

4e 3e 2e

I wonder why 5e removed them

Wait so what the hell is Vecna then

[barren badger]

oh interesting

[warm meadow]

Yeah, they're treated differently in concept, but magical aging is still mostly DM/spell dependent

[last flume]

Your ordinary lich is mega evil, they have regularly consume souls which could have gotten to the afterlife.
To want to become a lich itself means you have to be evil and paranoid in the first place.

[knotty vine]

Huh weird

Archliches did not create phylacteries as did normal liches, and instead used practical magic items that could serve as more than just a repository for their souls, typically taking the form of a small spellbook. If this item was destroyed, so too was the archlich.[4]

The first step in achieving archlichdom was to create the item that would house their soul. It then required them to brew a special potion, which had to be augmented with the spells animate dead, chill touch, contingency, pass without trace, permanency, teleport, trap the soul, and wraithform.[4]

[next solar]

if there is an ethical way to harvest souls, would the lich be "good"

[knotty vine]

becoming an arch lich sounds a millon times easier then becoming a nornal one

[last flume]

There is no ethical way to harvest souls
When you go to the afterlive you are your soul, but you mostly don't remember the live you had lived while you were alive.
But that's still you, you're the soul. Being consumed by the lich means an eternity in heaven/hell is being taken from you.

[knotty vine]

The prospective archlich then had to drink the potion while holding the created item—which was to be at least partially covered in the spellcaster's blood—while a secret spell was cast. This rite carried a small chance (less than one-in-ten) of possibly killing the prospective archlich and ruining the process. Otherwise, it put the drinker into a deathlike slumber for four to sixteen minutes. If the sleeper survived, they would wake up as an archlich. At that point, only divine intervention could reverse the transformation.[4]

[still plover]

Figure that first bit and we'll come back to you.

[knotty vine]

but again arch liches arent a thing in 5e anymore for whatever reason

and that title was given to our boy Vecna the Archlich

[twilit sail]

vecna is evil tho so he cant be an archlich right

[knotty vine]

5e and 4e lore is diffrent

[reef tundra]

My darling husband is indeed an arch Lich

[knotty vine]

Archlichs in the context you are speaking of were 2e and 4e exluseive it seems

[still plover]

I like how this potion of transformation seems to specify it takes 4d4 minutes to complete the process. What relevance is that? Who's counting minutes there?

[knotty vine]

Idk

[warm meadow]

In D&D, becoming a lich is already nightmare-level difficult, and the idea of an arch lich is usually even more advanced and powerful, not an easier version

[severe rampart]

Just equipped Cursed Armor and lived

[barren badger]

whats the lich thats just a skull?

[knotty vine]

Your missing the context

[barren badger]

Demi lich?

[last flume]

Demi-Lich

[knotty vine]

An arch lich is a "good" lich

from 4e

and 2e

not an Archlich like we know in 5e

[last flume]

Pretty sure Demi-Lich's are stronger then normal ones even though they are called Demi-

[reef tundra]

They’re not stronger but they’re close

[knotty vine]

It takes a wish spell to kill a demilich

[uncut zenith]

Demiliches aren’t stronger

[reef tundra]

CR 18 while regular liches are CR 21

[knotty vine]

Just more annoying to kill but not stronger

[last flume]

:0 oh okay

[reef tundra]

Holy hell

[uncut zenith]

Demiliches are literally liches in a weakened state

[reef tundra]

I really thought Demi liches would be much weaker than CR 18 based on their lore

[knotty vine]

Yet it takes more to kill them which is really dumb

[last flume]

"Despite the name, a demilich was not a lesser lich, but rather a lich who had evolved beyond a need for its undead body.[3]"

I was going of that :")

[still plover]

Running a lich out of the book is a choice, that's all I'll say.

[severe rampart]

10d10+45 damage, only took 85 and succeeded the save reducing it to 42 (alive with 4 hp) (would've instantly died if I didn't survive)

[knotty vine]

Undead Restoration. If the demilich is destroyed, it reforms and regains all its Hit Points in 1d10 days unless a Wish spell is cast on its remains.

[turbid vessel]

that'd be a great campaign bit
a demilich who doesnt attack the party but keeps coming back to bother and annoy them

[knotty vine]

Its why I was so annoyed when I checked the revenant stat block

[barren badger]

being a demilich does not sound fun. It's just a skull

[knotty vine]

Being the strongest tiny creature does sound fun

[warm meadow]

I get what you mean, but ‘arch lich’ isn't actually an easier route in D&D lore. It's more like a lich that has gone even further in power, not a simpler version

[knotty vine]

I just legit read out how easy it was compared to a normal lich

[last flume]

Becoming a lich is already nigh impossible for even the strongest of Wizards and you need to make pacts with dark entities to even try to get the knowledge for it

[knotty vine]

Step 1 make a magic item to just hold your soul
Step 2 make this strange potion and drink it
Step 3 survive the potion

[uncut zenith]

You also have to commit some horrible atrocities

[knotty vine]

Compared to the millions you have to kill to become a normal lich sounds a lot easier

[uncut zenith]

Historically, liches have to commit some serious crimes against humanity in order for the ritual to work

[knotty vine]

Thats a normal lich not an arch lich

There was more than one way to become a lich,[42] and to some extent the process was unique to the individual,[12] but as a rule all methods were secret and dangerous rites than involved the costly and complex crafting of a phylactery[1][4][12] and the brewing and drinking of a toxic mixture made with the blood of an innocent,

[warm meadow]

I get you, but that’s probably just how it was described there. In actual D&D terms, a lich is already the base transformation. There's, no simpler version like arch lich

[knotty vine]

It legit has a diffrent process WDYM

[molten glade]

Theoretically, do yall think a solar dragon could survive in the positive material plane
They're immune to radiant and being blinded so I could kinda see it

[knotty vine]

Maybe because the book is older and its from 4e it doesnt go into the rituals and what not but still

[barren badger]

Archliches did not create phylacteries as did normal liches, and instead used practical magic items that could serve as more than just a repository for their souls, typically taking the form of a small spellbook. If this item was destroyed, so too was the archlich

[vernal owl]

The spell's casting can be outsourced too iirc 😭😭 saw it in a youtube short tho so idk how true that is

[barren badger]

it's a different process

[still plover]

Sounds legit.

[knotty vine]

its an entirely diffrent process

[mighty pulsar]

Are there any more combat focused bard subclasses outside of the dancer one? (5.5E)

[knotty vine]

Valor

Swords

[barren badger]

do you mean melee? or just subclassess that do well in combat?

[mighty pulsar]

I want to be able to attack as well as cast spells

I use swords normally but i dont think its compatible with 5.5e anymore?

[molten glade]

Could be a cool endgame goal for a wizard in a plane travelling campaign, go into wildspace to see a solar dragon so you can then use it for shapechange later

[knotty vine]

There rage baiting at this point

[barren badger]

you can use swords with 2024

why would it not be compatible?

[mighty pulsar]

I just thought you couldn't use it... idk 😭

[warm meadow]

The exact method of becoming a lich varies, but every path is brutal, forbidden and extremely risky, especially because of the phylactery and the soulbinding process

[knotty vine]

but arch lich is legit not that through

[turbid vessel]

ever check out College of Valor? they brought it to the 2024 handbook and gave it some updates, it's pretty neat. you can use a weapon as a spellcasting focus!

[molten glade]

I mean, there's nothing in the positive material plane besides infinite radiant energy, but it'd be a hell of a thing to brag about, going where no mortal has gone before and living to tell the tale

[knotty vine]

Archlich
While the overwhelming majority of liches were evil, an archlich was a spellcaster who sought undeath to pursue noble goals, and chose to do so by pursuing a somewhat different form of lichdom

Somewhat is an understatement

[still plover]

Yeah, sure! Escort a rich tourist around the most dangerous corners of creation, get home and part ways, hear about some "Celestial Chimera" wreaking havoc on the news.

[knotty vine]

Theres a lich bard

called a Coronach

[still plover]

Eh. I hear their shows are dead.

[vernal owl]

Brook from one piece omg

[knotty vine]

Good one

[molten glade]

Maybe a better idea for that would be true polymorph on self, if that's allowed, and waiting for the hour to pass, then you go into the pmp through whatever means

[still plover]

There's no soul in their performance either.

[warm meadow]

Yeah, they’re probably just doing it to get a reaction at this point

[still plover]

They keep coming back, though...

[barren badger]

[molten glade]

Cause shapechange needs concentration, and the only way to reliably go to the pmp is gate, which also requires concentration

[knotty vine]

Gate needs concentration?

[molten glade]

To keep it open, right

[knotty vine]

People always say you cant dispell a punch when you can

[still plover]

Do it in a 'jammer. Wrap that thing in magically reflective tinfoil. You're safe unless it's breached, then you bake.

[knotty vine]

Well isnt this interesting

[still plover]

Don't upset the natives!

[molten glade]

What kind of magic items even are there that could provide immunity to radiant

[barren badger]

completely unrelated. We have the spell dispel magic, what would a spell called dispel non-magic do? Could you use it to dispel a fist?

[warm meadow]

For clearing the GATE or any competitive exam, concentration is very important because:

The concepts are deep
It requires regular practice and revision
And distractions can easily break your focus

[knotty vine]

Its just needs a con save

[hard thistle]

🧀

[knotty vine]

Rare artifcter player

[still plover]

Sphere of invulnerability, force wall, heck, I've got one: shield. It's counterspell for swords, fists, arrows and more.

[hard thistle]

I may not know how to properly pronounce artificer, but I know it ain't that lol

[knotty vine]

I cant either

[still plover]

Art ifi ser.

[warm meadow]

Lol yeah, it's just a CON save, nothing too crazy

[knotty vine]

Art ifi cer

My accent wont let me say it the right way

[knotty vine]

the humble war caster

[still plover]

Comes from artifice, for cunning or ingenuity.

[knotty vine]

How cunning

[warm meadow]

Lol, same saying ‘artificer is a bit tricky

[river vector]

I'm going to have BBEG unleash dark power in the final fight, only for this power to destroy him and take over as BBEG if players want to continue after his death. Has anyone been in a campaign where something like this happened? Did you enjoy it?

[hot gate]

I did that as a "stage 2" for a bbeg fight yeah, was fun

If you think your players can handle it, by all means

[warm meadow]

Respect the humble war caster

[woven flint]

I'm pulling up on Lolth in the Demon Web Pits today and she's not even the main antagonist of the campaign 😔

[knotty vine]

ToD is the only one I can think of because our dm swapped out tiamat for the Aspect of tiamat

[last flume]

Disintegrate xD

[woven flint]

Shield

[umbral girder]

Will this be a “boss fight” or a “get the heck out of here” we wonder

It’s only a goddess after all right? : )

[woven flint]

Its all been leading up to this for Sovis personally

The others can run, but he chooses death

Its one of those
"I hate you and everything you stand for, lets DIE, Spider-[Redacted]"

[twilit sail]

tiamat's cousin in law

[woven flint]

I've been waiting for this ever since pretty much the start of the campaign

[twilit sail]

dnd campaign where the bbeg is your disapproving father in law and youre about to start you wedding

[umbral girder]

Out of the Abyss

Although that’s more “disapproving mother in law”

[woven flint]

Tiamat is a Devil
She can be reasoned with

Lolths entire shtick is insanity and chaos

[twilit sail]

"When are you going to get a job? You can't raise a family wandering around the continent and murdering mosnters!"

[hollow stone]

oh hey my group got like a third of the way through that campaign

we dropped it because we didn't like how being "good" in that campaign didn't involve liberating the slaves and overthrowing the governments that keep slaves

[lavish flame]

aw man thatd be so sick

[umbral girder]

Odd because the module does encourage that as Good

[reef tundra]

Is Tiamat a fiend or a dragon?

Which creature type takes priority?

[lavish flame]

Tiamat is a Fiend

[umbral girder]

She swaps between the two

[lavish flame]

now, the Aspect of Tiamat is a Dragon (Chromatic) so its a tossup really

[umbral girder]

The "I do what I want" dragon

[reef tundra]

I see

[warm meadow]

Tiamat is primarily a dragon, specifically a deity dragon, not a fiend. In D&D, creature type usually defaults to whatever is listed first in the stat block, so dragon takes priority

[umbral girder]

"Are you a dragon or a fiend?"
"I am Tiamat"
"What's in your pants?"
"Tyranny"

[umbral girder]

She gots 2 stat blocks and they list fiend for one and dragon for other

[lavish flame]

yeah thats what I was going off kf

[knotty vine]

why didnt anybody tell me that Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft came out to early access

[lavish flame]

Personally, I think its kinda cooler if she's a Fiend

[hard thistle]

Just treat her like both.

Problem solved.

[umbral girder]

Why would they? That came out several years ago.

[lavish flame]

Van Richten's released years ago where have you been

[knotty vine]

Wait im tweaking

[lavish flame]

Ravenloft: Horrors Within is in early access on June 2nd i thought

[knotty vine]

They gave the dhampier character art

[reef tundra]

I’ve never ran her present so I’ve never had to pick one or the other

[knotty vine]

weird

[reef tundra]

The think the closest I got to meeting Tiamat at the table was when I got permission to play Windfall, the champion of Tiamat in a oneshot

I should really run a FR campaign soon

My bane campaign should give me the opportunity

[glossy otter]

Ngl it feels ironic reading Bane after looking back through so much batman content

[minor cargo]

Just do both. Place a hand on a victim of Bane and ask "Do you feel in charge?"

[glossy otter]

Ngl I did consider taking inspiration from Arkham Knight's version of Scarecrow. I know it wasn't a popular game but I did like it's interpretation of him

[peak pecan]

He was born into tyranny, molded by it. He didn’t know peace until he slew Jergal and by then it was blinding

[umbral girder]

I am playing a Cleric of Bane in a game

Order Domain naturally

[reef tundra]

I wanna cast Bane on Bane

For no reason other than kicks

[stray atlas]

I still wonder where Ao was in the plot of bg3

if Jergal wasn't sent to the party by him I mean

[reef tundra]

Watching, chilling, kicking his feet back, the usual

[peak pecan]

Where he always is; Overgodding it up

[stray atlas]

3 gods trying to conquer an entire plane seems like something he'd get involved with

[reef tundra]

I gleefully scrapped the concept of overgods when making my setting bc tbh I just don’t like them

[stray atlas]

especially considering that them doing so affected like

90% of the other deities

[reef tundra]

You are pretty much forced to make them neutral or evil or otherwise it always opens up plot holes

Or you go the crazy power scaling route and say that something is so powerful that it’s occupying them and justifying why they never help

[umbral girder]

Chilling in his room.

[stray atlas]

I mean in my campaign Ao is gonna appear depending on how the players handle the final boss

[umbral girder]

Knowing that the final boss is not gonna be an issue to any of the gods realistically.

[stray atlas]

if they destroy something in the arena instead of attacking the final boss, Ao will intervene and be very angry at the final boss

[twilit sail]

the final boss is that retail worker one of the party members mistreated at a restaurant in session 1

[reef tundra]

Idk, I just find Ao and overgods in general really boring

[lavish flame]

taking up pottery classes, you know how gods do

[warm meadow]

Okay, that’s actually hilarious, tyrant energy confirmed

[buoyant oar]

Lord Ao does not interfere unless he absolutely has too

He is a plot device for gods. Not for mortals. His short lived cult gains no spells nor magical powers. Their religious zealotry in something so silent and unacknowledging was remarked as being very dangerous.

So I printed out the text block for my personal FR guide I have been working on the last several years to do line editing.

Its 756 pages....

[wet valve]

I will never understand it when a DM puts characters in a position where the characters are prisoners with no options.. but just keeps asking what the characters are going to do instead of moving time forward. Then acts surprised when no one comes up with any way to escape... or Players who get upset when they come up with really unbelievable and unreasonable solutions, and decide that one character can do something when that Player states that their character can NOT do it, but the DM decides to override the Player about what his character can NOT do.

[lilac plover]

Isn’t there always an option? Like I don’t know… trick or seduce the guard?

[wet valve]

No... there is not always a solution. Sometimes the enemies actually completely chain up the PCs.

[twilit shell]

I have had to explicitly ask my DM before "What do you expect us to do here? It feels like there aren't any options but it seems like you want us to accomplish something." in a politer way than that ideally lol. Sometimes the idea is super obvious in their eyes but its something that doesn't really make sense externally, like old point and click adventure games with weird solutions

[mystic crystal]

Love when my dm puts me in a impossible situation and gets mad at the players because we don’t have a solution lol

[lavish flame]

The "prison break" trap is a tough one. In my experience, DMs like to remove equipment and maybe even special abilities, and sometimes even the character sheets get hidden from the players.

In my mind, the best Prison Break scenario for D&D involves just giving the players an NPC who has some skeletal escape plan, and then let the players fill in gaps with their capabilities. Also, give them some more equipment! Let them Sleight of Hand to keep larger stuff, let your Rogue keep their Thieves' Tools tucked away about their person! Throw a Ball-and-Chain on their leg that works like a Flail. Just having stuff, anything to work with is already a godsend.

[lilac plover]

Hey also can someone help me tell which one would suite better because I quite frankly don’t care about it, BUT, I have this tri kreen ant queen character who is extremely wise, intelligent and charismatic, but ultra weak and one pinch or cough can send her to her grave, and I’m not sure what class should I give her, because I have everything and we start the campaign on Thursday and I still haven’t chosen whether she is like a singing bard, a support who sings opera to buff her two companions, an artificer who uses her immense wisdom and intelligence to construct herself soldier out of sticks, a wizard necromancer who revives her dead workers or at least their spirits and fights with them(I’m not sure how wizard class works because I tried to read and I didn’t understand anything there) or something else. I want her to do magic and everything but I’m not sure which type…either buff or have soldiers BUT BOTH SUIT HER

[minor cargo]

I have a lot of success when mapping a "prison escape" to a dungeon (e.g. 5 room dungeon). But I think designing like that (when you think of a prison escape) is a little unintuitive.

[severe rampart]

What would be fun circle magic to use against PCs?

[craggy summit]

In a situation like that, pick what class sounds most appealing to you yourself, then make your character around that class 😌 you can be a bard and still incorporate the wisdom and intelligence for example

[lavish flame]

Buff + Have Soldiers sounds like a Bard to me, tbh. I don't know if they can summon stuff, but they definitely do buffs.

[twilit shell]

Reanimating a dead god

[craggy summit]

Maybe a hold person? 🤔

[crimson gulch]

Extended delayed blast fireball that's been cooking for the full duration

[lilac plover]

It’s just all of them suit her and I quite literally don’t care which one

[severe rampart]

Hm, how so?

[lilac plover]

Probably not but that’s the thing she either buffs or summons, both of them suit her because she doesn’t fight directly + she is extremely bossy so she will obviously learn how to create things that will obey her

[craggy summit]

The only thing I can think of, if you have no preference on what class to play. Is to see what everyone else is playing and pick something to help the team

[lilac plover]

Probably yeah

[craggy summit]

Assuming the rules allow it, because I'm not the most familiar with circle casting

An evil cult in the basement of a room/dungeon the party is exploring is doing a circle magic hold person, and it could either be extended and someone is stuck for about an hour. Or the range is expanded and it's like a mini EMP bomb

[severe rampart]

You can do Augment, Distribute, Expand, Prolong, Safeguard, and Supplant with Circle Magic

Distributed Hold Person could be fun

[craggy summit]

That could be very cool in a fight actually 👀

[wet valve]

I don't mind a scenario that makes sense.
Our DM suddenly, inexplicably, put us into a 'you are tied up and pretending to be prisoners' scenario and we were all of a sudden in the middle of an enemy camp, being led by a guard we had talked into helping us. Then he just moved the plot forward to the guard getting killed, and we were manacled standing up in a tent while having been robbed of everything.

And for the last few hours the rest of the group has been trying to come up with really ridiculous solutions. They got mad at me because one who had a dagger secreted in his boot wanted to use his foot to grab a dagger with his foot and fling it over to my character and have me catch it and somehow then use my Thieve's Tools proficiency to pick my manacles' lock with said dagger.. (Facepalm) And they got mad when I said that my character could not do any of that... And the DM says we could roll to try and I said "ummm no". Because it's beyond ridiculous.

To be honest my train of thoughts are still at why and how are we here and why would we have allowed this stupid scenario in the first place?

[fickle heart]

Honestly, one thing I've grown a fondness for is "unwinnable situations" like these (without the context in your second message), in the sense that I think it works well to cultivate behavior of PCs "losing" sometimes and that being okay.

[unkempt iris]

[wet valve]

I don't mind unwinnable situations... IF they make sense... and if people don't start telling me that my PC can do what I absolutely state the character can not do.

[twilit shell]

^ Yeah unwinnable is one thing, getting cutscened like in the average action game where you suddenly lose all your strength and power the moment the camera rolls is rough lol

[fair plinth]

So in a party of two, it would make sense to make enemy encounters small right? But how can one make a small combat interesting when there arent as many pieces to do tactics, side goals, etc with?

[twilit shell]

Hirelings

[craggy summit]

You could give the PC's a NPC companion maybe?

[twilit shell]

Environmental concerns and hazards is one of the most direct ways that isn't just adding NPC combatants. Combat is best when it isn't static. Definitely more of a workload to prep as the DM but it can be worth it.

[fair plinth]

Maybe, but i dont want to make a dmpc
Maybe hirelings yea but i dont think i have that book

[craggy summit]

Also sometimes it's the quantity of enemies rather then the quality of enemies that can add a challenge

Like 5 to 7 goblins on a small party. They won't do much damage, but there's a handful of them which can make it pretty fun, I'd say

[buoyant oar]

If I ever turn on a "cutscene" it's always towards an NPC and I have always vetted PCs don't have tools to stop it.

[twilit shell]

Make your players be in charge of it, don't expand your workload

[wet valve]

You don't need to make a true DmPC. You can give them a decent animal companion. You could simply take any Humanoid, such as a Tough, and allow the party to hire them. You can state that they are just a guard, etc and even let the Players handle the NPC. You can then use the character to relay information from time to time. You don't need the sidekick rules.

You can also add in Guides or helpful NPCs that are not permanent... like what happens on TV shows where 1-2 heroes travel around and keep meeting capable NPCs.

[barren badger]

Tasha's cauldron of everything has neat instructions for sidekicks

[mystic crystal]

DMPC’s make me annoyed, they either have to much or too little information

[barren badger]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/tcoe/dungeon-masters-tools#Sidekicks

i've used them before and they actually work out well

[still plover]

Here's what I said the other day:

• Don't say DMPC. Say companion or sidekick.
• They speak when spoken to.
• They don't contribute ideas or make their own decisions.
• They go with the party's lead.

Basically, you make the sheet but the players get to push them around. Otherwise you're running the risk of main character action in a game where you're meant to be the host, not the star.

[hollow stone]

i've seen one DM, when the companion gets into combat, just put them in control of a party member

[mystic crystal]

Idk about you all but I get nothing done at work the second half of the day during D&D day

[lone gazelle]

what's the best archetip for a thief?

[barren badger]

archetip?

[lone gazelle]

subclass.... sorry i'm italian

[mystic crystal]

Build 🤨

[lone gazelle]

the thig you unlock at the 3rd level

[last flume]

Thief is a Rogue subclass

[hollow stone]

Thief itself is an archetype lol

[lone gazelle]

ooopsssssss for a rogue

?

[hollow stone]

i do enjoy Thief tbh

[lone gazelle]

what do you think about assassin? is it good??

[hollow stone]

i mean it's alright

[lone gazelle]

ok thanks

[hollow stone]

np :D

[lone gazelle]

have you already played the strad von zarovic adventure?

[hollow stone]

nope :D

[uncut zenith]

The new 2024 Assassin is pretty solid

The 2014 one was not great imo

[lone gazelle]

ok thx

[earnest skiff]

hii

[lone gazelle]

hii

[buoyant oar]

I have been accused of DMPCing more than once by players over the years.

They never solve things for the players but are there to bounce ideas off and help them reach the answer on their own. My NPCs have their own goals and motivations beyond what the party wants. But that is because I am trying to make the world feel alive and characters to have more than 1 or 2 dimensions.

[lone gazelle]

what's DMpcing?