dnd-discussion

[peak pecan]

In the sense that playing a character or running a game is kind of vulnerable, and it can be weird doing that around older folks. Or maybe that’s just me

[barren badger]

(No offense lilith)

[ocean musk]

I think I just need to get in with some experienced players on a couple of games so I can break whatever stupid wall I have in my brain about being cringe lol

[glossy otter]

I mean whilst I do allow +17 in one of my games, I do try to keep it within my age group because I feel it'd be weird if was in a group with any other categories

[twilit ibex]

Depends on the table and themes. I played a mixed age group and we simply all agreed that we would keep the most extreme thing in our game at "course language and alcohol." Nothing above that.

[hardy solstice]

None taken lol

[hardy solstice]

Oh that is true

[peak pecan]

It’s one item; not exactly a massive issue to solve

[barren badger]

I dont think i would play dnd with teenagers without knowing their parents tbh...

[hardy solstice]

Okay our table was extreme.

Only when it made sense

[barren badger]

is there like a board game club at your school?

[rough basalt]

Ah yeah the "cringe wall" it's a formidable foe but once you surpass it, you're entire life gets better tbh not just dnd.

[peak pecan]

I don’t like playing with folks who are older than me just because they have such different schedules from me as a student LOL. If you’ve got work off but I’ve got finals, now I feel like the bad guy for canceling

[lime plume]

There's a local group that plays that I inquired about joining only to find out it was all teenagers playing.

[hardy solstice]

I have to take the school bus back, so I can't go to any

[idle oar]

Mixed ages can work - but it can create weird vibes when most folks at the table may know what having a kid is like and dealing with housing and work obligations but some don't...

[barren badger]

Oof.

[idle oar]

It just depends on the group and what they are willing to accomodate

[grizzled lance]

Yall I got a question

[glossy otter]

That reminds me when our group discussed child characters in dnd, it was mixed

[hot marlin]

You mean, like, playing a child adventurer?

[grizzled lance]

Can Oath breakers lose there power just like any other paladin?

[peak pecan]

Is there any way to speak to folks during say, your lunch period? You can get invites to people’s weekend games that way if that works better for your schedule

[glossy otter]

ye

[hot marlin]

I mean, what sort of irresponsible people would ever allow a child in their party?

[hardy solstice]

I'm playing a 15 year old who's birthday will be a few days after the first night.

[peak pecan]

Yes, if you reswear a formal oath

[idle oar]

Sure. Nothing says they can't.

[barren badger]

No. Oathbreakers are unique

[hardy solstice]

Possibly

[shut lance]

our group is adult only, but those of us who can have donated maps, minis, books and dice to a local library where highschoolers play

we do have a no alcohol rule at the table though

[grizzled lance]

Interesting

[idle oar]

But oath breakers paladin powers typically comes from specifically attacking their previous oath so... it's a bit weird.

[rough basalt]

I have a "no drunk policy"

[hardy solstice]

Lunch period wouldn't work

[twilit ibex]

Alcohol influences alignment. Every time.

[hot marlin]

I'm just having a hard time picturing any group of adventurers allowing an actual child to come fight monsters with them. Like, in a game like Dark Heresy, sure. If a kid was a powerful psyker, an inquisitor would have no issue turning it into a child soldier. But D&D?

[hardy solstice]

I am all for the drinking personally

Even tho my character doesn't drink

[late kernel]

Me! Specifically when it comes to young squires / knight retainers.

[noble turtle]

??? no one is attacking you. unless im completely misreading ur tone 😭😭 which if so im sorry 😭😭

[hardy solstice]

And neither do I

[twilit ibex]

I had to explain that torture was not in fact "okay" when you're Chaotic Good because someone dipped into the red wine too much

[shut lance]

its not that. One of us is a recovering alcoholic. We will use other (light) things

[noble turtle]

^^ makes sense

[hot marlin]

Well yeah but the point of a squire is that he takes care of your horses and helps you put on armor, they don't fight at your side, don't they?

[torpid hound]

What kind of eldritch abomination am I that I just beat FNF Despair but still can't find a D&D group?

[grizzled root]

how interesting...

[hardy solstice]

Okay your restricting gameplay.

That's non immersive

[hot marlin]

So basically you have a party member who is...Barely more than the slave of another party member, and not supposed to fight.

[late kernel]

I was more answering your point, a squire is still "in the party" even if they're not fighting.

[hardy solstice]

I only like it when games are immersive, full of story and role play

[twilit ibex]

I wasn't DM. I was another player trying to explain that torture is in fact not a "good guy" action, lawful or chaotic.

[gusty sleet]

helloo

[noble turtle]

oh me?? thank you!! + not to get super personal but i have diagnosed asd so its super hard to read tone (both irl and not, but especially online 😭😭)

[hot marlin]

Torture can absolutely be lawful. It just can't really be good.

[barren badger]

sometimes adventurers dont choose to go on adventures, they just get dragged in

[hardy solstice]

Yeah this whole idea is making me remember why I quit dnd

[ocean musk]

I just had a spontaneous game yesterday at a bachelor party and the players and DM are all college aged frat bros. Drunk at a bachelor party, never played before.

[hardy solstice]

Just make every character neutral or chaotic neutral and call it a good party

[late kernel]

I don't know. I think it could be Lawful Good if you're doing it for the purposes of saving more lives down the line. It'd be more utilitarian, I suppose.

[peak pecan]

That’s not something that falls under the alignment, and people have hard lines they can say you can’t cross when roleplaying. A common line is torture. Freedom to roleplay is important and so is tone and boundaries

[gusty sleet]

i dont know if its allowed on this discussion thread. but id like to invite some beginner players to join my level 1 stranger things module one shot! more info in the "looking for players" thread

[twilit ibex]

Didn't say I restricted someone's choices. Didn't say it wasn't lawful. I said it wasn't "good".

Never thought "torture isn't a good aligned action" would be controversial

[hot marlin]

While alignment is generally useless and can be safely discarded, the debate about whether or not a character should torture someone should in theory not really use out-of-game ideas.

[noble turtle]

imo its okay as long as rules are established beforehand (ex: hey if ur alignment is good you cant do evil stuff out of the blue) which id say is pretty basic

[shut lance]

we have has evil pcs, but its neutral evil or lawful evil. social contract is to not screw over the partry

[hot marlin]

Personally, I've played a character who would have just stabbed the party member about to torture someone in the back, thrown their corpse in the pig pen and called it a day

[late kernel]

This tbh.

[hardy solstice]

Right, oh so you were reminding them to not massacre

I approve of that in the name of story and roleplay

[rough basalt]

It's less no drinking at all, but not being too drunk to play. Same goes with other stuff that would make you unable to play.

[ocean musk]

I'm not an allignment guy, personally. I think you get way more out of a story by playing the character how you think they are not how they align

[gusty sleet]

or not lol

[hardy solstice]

Fair

[hot marlin]

However the point made is that the drunk person apparently genuinely argued that torture was fine?

[shut lance]

I am playing a chaotic good gnome. But its a baseline. he follows some laws, breaks others. the general gist is ' good' and 'help people'

[hot marlin]

Personally, I would simply never play with anyone who truly held that belief. Or be around them.

[twilit ibex]

Alignment doesn't control your character, it reflects it. If you do good things and obey the law, you are lawful good. Start being evil and acting with no regard for law or order and it may change to neutral evil*

[rough basalt]

Like I'm doing a lot of work for my games. I don't want someone showing up slurring words and slogging the game down.

[late kernel]

I think evil-aligned parties are difficult to run as a DM because they can just refuse stakes.

[twilit ibex]

I don't see how this ruffles feathers so much

[hardy solstice]

Okay cognitive overload

[blazing holly]

Personally, I find alignment to be more useful descriptive than prescriptive

[hardy solstice]

Brb

[peak pecan]

Alignment is a useful abstraction for roleplaying in the way To Hit bonuses are valuable abstractions for combat

[hot marlin]

Anyone can refuse stakes. This is not about good or evil parties. This is about good faith or bad faith playing

[shut lance]

people playing chaotic neutral as being insane just annoys me though

[hot marlin]

Bad faith players will disrupt the game, whether or not they are playing good or evil. Simply stop playing with them

[late kernel]

Yeah, you're right there. Probably just that the types of people who play evil characters are more prone to bad faith playing, at least in my personal experience.

[twilit ibex]

I just find it odd to join a party with a character you built to be a misanthropic loner, or stuff like that.

[feral fulcrum]

I think your issues stems more from your players probably treating D&D more like GTA, then an inherent problem with Evil Aligned charecters

[twilit ibex]

"It's what my character would do!" Is fine, but why choose a character that's going to be a dingus to the rest of the party? Odd choice

[hot marlin]

To be fair: Friction is useful and conflict is the soul of drama

[blazing holly]

yeah, the loner archetype (regardless of alignment) is hard to justify in a party-based activity. It requires some sort of incentive for the loner to be with the party

[hot marlin]

So yes, making a party that will clash on certain topics is often a very good idea

[rough basalt]

As long as they can still work together yeah

[ocean musk]

Yeah there is definitely something about not going too extreme on "what your character would do" to the point where it ruins games, but player conflict can absolutely be okay as long as the players irl are still playing nice

[shut lance]

in our case we are providing alibi and cover story for one who 'removes' problematic people. ala Dexter

[peak pecan]

“It’s what my character would do” is great and all, but it brushes inevitably against “what my players want to do” which should be to play the game. If you don’t want to do that at all, then my table isn’t for you

[twilit ibex]

Oh, conflict and friction are fine. A nonhuman who holds a grudge against humans? Awesome. A "chaotic neutral serial killer" is too much friction

[feral fulcrum]

There is a difference however, between friction and "And how does this sociopathic, chronic back-stabbing lone-wolf lunatic fit in with this group? They don't you say? They stab their fellows party members you say?"

[hot marlin]

This is true and fair

[noble turtle]

speaking of loner archetype … blows dust off character lore book how about forced loner 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔(yes this is an excuse to talk about fishy fishbone)

[ocean musk]

My first character was a fighter with trauma from an evil mage and I had Mage Slayer but there was a wizard in my party that I beefed with but the job getting done is more important

[hot marlin]

Now I do have to say that one D&D video game features the party having a misanthropic backstabbing loner and he's the best companion of that game

Bishop, from Neverwinter Nights 2, is a masterclass in how those characters can actually be used

[shy stirrup]

Character development. Your meme loner PC isn't capable of that.

Astraion was

[rough basalt]

Like I ran a "no kill" paladin but the players didn't mind it cause of how I ran it.

[twilit ibex]

Ever since I realized my niche, I've been loving it. I like to play dopey Human Fighters. Absolute milktoast mechanics with the personality of a golden retriever. It brings a lot of levity to parties. It's fun.

[feral fulcrum]

Astarion wasn't even an anti-social loner.

He was just kind of a selfish, abrasive, smug jerk at times.

[hot marlin]

Bishop however is bad and stays bad until the end of the game. His character development is about doubling down on his worst qualities, to his own regret.

[shy stirrup]

Yea, that example stretches the point but I ran with it anyway.
Character. Development. Try it sometime.

[ocean musk]

My wizard was Evocation school so he had spell shaping and he LOVED dropping fireballs directly on my forehead

[twilit ibex]

He was a good example of a character on the borderline. His character development can "redeem" him or make him worse depending on choices.

[hot marlin]

I'm the only one here who played NWN2, right?

[rough basalt]

My Paladin would encourage non-lethal on humanoids but wouldn't admonish killing in battle as "they're trying to kill us, they made their choice, but I'm making mine as well."

[noble fable]

I will ALWAYS tolerate Astarion slander in my presence

[feral fulcrum]

The only person in existence, yes. /S

[lime plume]

That's kind of how I plan to run my Drow Warlock.

[twilit ibex]

Love nonlethal.

[ocean musk]

My DM made me roll wisdom saves to not panic 😮‍💨

[hot marlin]

Without being faced with anything that causes a fear effect?...

[rough basalt]

And when the Artificer who disliked her views took non-lethal on some humanoids and saved the party despite his seeming not to be the type she let him know that she knew there was some good in him. Rather than focus on the fact he's a killer.

[lean wigeon]

i like to make non-lethal the default in my games

[blazing holly]

I imagine having a fireball coming at your face would be something causing a fear effect

[ocean musk]

It was backstory based, it was kind of a unanimous thing for each of the players to have their traumas impact the story

[twilit ibex]

Love when each individual player has their own flaws to roll against.

[lavish flame]

this is pretty reasonable tbh. I almost find it unrealistic that D&D PCs just kill everybody who fights them instead of incapacitating them.

[hot marlin]

No it's not. I was referring to rules about effects that cause fears. Like a dragon's presence

[rough basalt]

I liked my Paladins flaw. It made for good roleplay I feel.

Her flaw being she knows her "no kill rule" conflicts with her nature and reality.

[twilit ibex]

It's so fun to see them go through character development so you can lift those flaw mechanics. They get so proud of themselves that they don't have to roll to prevent panic attacks and stuff anymore

[rough basalt]

I really wish I got to see that Paladins story through

DM became adversarial

[noble fable]

Yay for out of game personality conflict ruining our opportunity to play dnd...

[ocean musk]

I imagine Fireball to look like flame alchemy from Full Metal Alchemist and that portrayal is HORRIFYING

[noble fable]

Sorry that happened to your group

[lean wigeon]

i also find the lack of consequences rather unrealistic and uninteresting, and i think it's because "killing someone" is not really something players in a game deliberately choose because it's the default

making it so that non-lethal is the default makes it so that killing someone is a commitment, one that forces players into contending with the consequences of murder

[rough basalt]

Well it was an LFG group so that happens quite a bit.

[twilit ibex]

The DM becoming adversarial is like the twisting of the Maiar. Suddenly it's "Say hello to Morgoth and Sauron."

[peak pecan]

I find that frankly kind of uninteresting. Like don’t get me wrong, I enjoy alternative solutions to conflict as much as the next person, but the one thing every hackneyed D&D critic out there gets right is that this is a game about combat.

[lean wigeon]

conflict need not result in death all the time
most reasonable and rational people don't even want to be fighting to the death anyway

[lavish flame]

With stuff like Rust Monsters or Displacer Beasts, automatically killing them makes some more sense. The D&D world thinks of them like we do animals. With stuff like Bandits and Mages, its less understandable. Those were people, and the world viewed them as such. Having to opt into killing instead of opting out of it is neat, I like that.

[lean wigeon]

you can have combat that does not result in death. the two ideas are not at odds with each other

[peak pecan]

Contending with murder is fine if that’s a key theme of your game, but most people build characters for settings that are inured to death as a fact of life.

[shy stirrup]

How so?
How bad?
(clearly bad enough to leave?)

[hot marlin]

Consider the opposite position: If the default is non-lethal, that means that you're portraying a world in which you can reliably shoot arrows into someone and not kill them. Burn them with a fireball and not kill them.

[rough basalt]

10 Ghosts against a level 4 party of 4 and these ghosts could fully use the pc sheets of the players they possessed rather than just the RAW possession

[noble fable]

Then what's wrong with making a setting that breaks away from that norm? Its not so game-breaking or immersion-disrupting to have players consider their actions with a little more weight, no?

[hot marlin]

I fully agree that people should consider non lethal options more often. I also fully agree that only melee attacks should be capable of non-lethally incapacitating someone

[shy stirrup]

Scary

[strong ivy]

Hm

[lean wigeon]

you can also just abstract HP

[hot marlin]

Although I also like that third party book with the arrows that do 1d4 bludgeoning and knock people out non-lethally if they bring someone to zero

[hot marlin]

I fail to see how that is relevant

[peak pecan]

I just think it’s not going to be satisfying resolving these non violent encounters with D&D 5e’s mechanics. This is structurally a different game than what the majority of the rules support

[lean wigeon]

HP is supposed to be an abstract concept anyway
the whole HP = meat points/bodily constitution thing isn't really what it was originally intended for. it's closer to being a measure of "plot armor" and abstracted that way you can get away with taking people out with a fireball non-lethally

[noble fable]

Oof, I'm currently dealing with a DM who's too trigger happy with how he runs combat/social encounters. Its a brutal "one strike and you're out" style of roleplay, where if we as players don't navigate the social situation in the exact way the DM intended, the situation escalates to a 12 out of 10, and the NPC we just angered ends up being a level 20 Warlock

[hot marlin]

I agree but I still cannot see the relevance

Oh wait, didn't see the edit

[shy stirrup]

Well, that escalated quickly

[hot marlin]

So, no. If people are burned with a fireball, this is fire. With the blisters, the destroyed skin, the lungs breathing the smoke.

So while yes, HP are an abstraction, I maintain that the fiction and gameplay are better served by keeping only melee attacks and specific options as able to non-lethally incapacitate

[mighty pulsar]

ph o ;pve that guy

[rough basalt]

My social situations can go hostile but it makes sense

[mighty pulsar]

oh i love that guy* ....

[noble fable]

Yeah, our party met the king and got tasked with using child soldiers to wage a war with a neighboring kingdom. One player character said no, so the king started choke holding people and his butler in the room was rolling +12 to WIS saves against being charmed to de-escalate the situation.

[rough basalt]

Like if you spit in an npc you're currently fightings face while someone else is trying to talk them down.

[noble fable]

So now my character had his arm cut off as compensation for someone mouthing off against child soldiers

[rough basalt]

Oh I don't do limb loss stuff

[blazing holly]

Sounds like its time to start a rebellion

[rough basalt]

In cases where limbs would be lost, that PC is just effectively dead if there's no access to regeneration yet

[shy stirrup]

Yikes

[noble fable]

Fair, but I don't have an issue with the mutilation, I have an issue with the permanent physical consequence in response to opposing an NPC

there was no warning, no way to outplay it, and no way to de-escalate from the situation

[lavish flame]

Idk, I've seen cartoons. I know that it can be entirely within the fiction for fire to knock people out and to not melt their skin. Firebending in Avatar: The Last Airbender doesnt usually lead to smoking corpses, it usually leads to people just being unable to fight. Cyborg's lasers can just incapacitate people instead of obliterating them.

[feral fulcrum]

Well, it both depends heavily on the setting (Prosthetic limbs that are fully functional are a common magic item), and party comp

[rough basalt]

True.

Forgot about prosthetics.

[feral fulcrum]

Because it's either Very Easy to replace a lost limb, or very difficult.

[noble fable]

We also couldn't fight our way out of it, because this DM likes running insanely overpowered NPCs that he thinks are balanced

[rough basalt]

In my world, limb loss stuff would be tied to essentially crimes probably

[shy stirrup]

Fight, or talk your way out of it either

Or bribe, or plead or etc

[rough basalt]

Like one country removes casters ability to use somatic components first in response to magic crime.

[shy stirrup]

All roads lead to the railroad

[blazing holly]

sounds like it's time for a cuppa and a chat

[lavish flame]

It kinda kills me that in the new FR books Prosthetics Limbs are just free. They don't have an associated cost

[shy stirrup]

Unsure if a DM like that would be amenable to a chat

[noble fable]

I already raised a complaint, with the DM in private, but he has yet to get back to me (he canceled the weekly session a day after I messaged him with no explanation)

[crystal tendon]

Hey if you could play any class right now, what would you pick and why?

[crimson gulch]

That's just a sugesstion if you use the shop as written

[noble fable]

I have a cleric character brewing in my brain rn

[blazing holly]

oh dear. Sounds like it might be too late for that cuppa

[livid brook]

ive decided adrenaline rush is probably better for fighter

[crystal tendon]

oh nice ehat kind of cleric are you thinking of do you already have a backstory in mind or are you still figuring it out?

[blazing holly]

ah well, not all groups work out. Move on and try again

[noble fable]

I hope not. I prefer playing to DM-ing, but I don't want to subject any of our group to DM-ing so I can play

[buoyant sparrow]

Paladin, never played that class and i just wanted to be a lawfull good character

[crimson gulch]

When a dm gets defensive like that, its too late the game is over

[lavish flame]

yeah this is my problem

[shy stirrup]

Why are some DM's like that? I honestly dont

[noble fable]

It could be unrelated and just unfortunate coincidence

[lavish flame]

they're free as per the FR book

[crimson gulch]

So? You can charge for them if you want

That's content not rules

[noble fable]

I was thinking of playing a retired battlefield cleric (think combat medic in armies). He's an elf who married a human woman and is grieving her death given that his lifespan far outpaces hers.

[crystal tendon]

That's cool are you usually the type who likes playing the hero in games or is this just something different you wanted to try this time?

[buoyant sparrow]

Normally i play someone neutral, i just wanted to play a hero this once

[blazing holly]

Unfortunately I think I'd have to agree

[feral fulcrum]

hums Short Change Hero

[crystal tendon]

Oh wow thats actually a really touching concept did that idea come from a book movie or something you have experienced yourself or did it just randomly pop into your head?

[noble fable]

Paladins don't have to be good, and their oath isn't inherently religious (the way clerics draw their power from faith)

[buoyant sparrow]

I know, but i wanted to play as one

[lavish flame]

I do not like that they are free in the FR setting and book. I know I could alter that, they're Common Magic Item, they can just use the Buying Magic Items rules. I still don't like it though. I'm not sure where the confusion is coming from.

[buoyant sparrow]

Like that, maybe oath of devotion would be good

[noble fable]

I've been seeing a lot of themes around difference in lifespans causing grief between people (the Frieren anime and the "Journey to the Quest" youtube series are both sources of inspiration for this concept

An elf meets someone with a typical "human length" lifespan, and have to cope with the fact that a person they knew for a mere 80 years had such a profound impact on their life

It hurts in such a good way to wrestle with the concept

[crimson gulch]

I just change things j don't like about settings so things like this that are in the book I only ever considered sugesstions

[jolly canyon]

The

[rough basalt]

Managing to draw up some concepts on how to get my PCs quests for their deities done.

But God I hate mind fog.

[hot marlin]

Oh yeah damn, that's true. Why did they make prosthetic limbs free?

[crystal tendon]

I get what you mean its one of those ideas that stays with you because it feels so human even in a fantasy setting now i am curious are you generally a fan of more emotional stories like frieren or do you enjoy all kinds of fantasy as long as the characters are interesting?

[jolly canyon]

What's the perceived value of those limbs? standard uncommon price or would you sell them for more in game?

[noble fable]

It depends on the story and the characters. A one dimensional story can be redeemed by engaging characters, or a super generic cast with surface level characterization can be carried by amazing story. But as long as the media engages with something in a meaningful way, I'm probably going to give it a chance

[hot marlin]

Well... It needs to be cheaper than the price of getting a regeneration spell.

[feral fulcrum]

Which is immense, because 7th level spellcasters don't grow on trees.

[hot marlin]

But the general rule I go by is that shopkeepers are out there for profit and will charge as much as they can get away with

[crystal tendon]

Thats actually a pretty good way of looking at it it sounds like you have consumed a lot of different stories over the years whats a book game anime or show that has stuck with you the longest and why?

[lavish flame]

Yeah, but you also complain about the things you don't like, right? This is one such scenario for me. I can change it, I plan to (and I'll prolly just use the Buying Magic Items rules, cuz they basically work for me). I'm just groaning and moaning about it.

[hot marlin]

I'm sure quite a few spellcasters of that level have actually been grown on a tree!

Like, a sapient plant being or something

[noble fable]

Generic as hell answer (sue me), but Avatar the Last Airbender. Its been said hundreds of times in dozens of ways by more eloquent people, but that show manages to engage with some SERIOUS topics without feeling heavy handed, but also while doing so in a way that assigns appropriate weight to those topics.

[lean wigeon]

i'd imagine the doylist justification for this is so you can have it as part of your starting equipment

[crimson gulch]

Only when it's a difficult fix, I made a 30 minut video about the edge case rules of 2024 dnd

[lean wigeon]

if ur making a character that has prostheses

[mighty pulsar]

Iis there a way to effectively roleplay one creature as all three beasts if I have an animal like a falcon in mind?

[hot marlin]

That actually makes some sense but it could have been just an aside. Like that it's allowed as starting equipment for free, but needs to be paid if bought during game time

[lavish flame]

I figure its free so that a given character can just start with one without having an equipment/money hit to start the game. I think this could just be suggested as optional starting equipment and still given a price and itd work out fine

[crystal tendon]

Honestly i dont even think thats a generic answer the reason people keep bringing Avatar up is because it actually gives people a lot to talk about out of all the characters who do you think you relate to the most?

[lean wigeon]

that is fair

[lavish flame]

What do you mean by "all three beasts"?

[mighty pulsar]

For the beast master subclass

Beast of the Sky, Land, and Sea

[lavish flame]

You could certainly try, but I'd have a really tough time imagining a falcon via the Beast of the Sea statblock

[mighty pulsar]

yeah true...

[noble fable]

None of them. I have far more in common with the cabbage vendor than I do with the highly motivated, highly traumatized, efficient group of child soldiers with the emotional depth to create a found family dynamic in the middle of a war, with no parental figures. But in all seriousness, probably Zuko. I had super bad temper issues as a kid, and went on a long journey of self-improvement to reach the point where I can safely say that I'm proud of who I ended up as

[obtuse hatch]

Question, if two wizards are have a wizards duel, and someone gets caught in the crossfire. Could that be a good way to create a Wild Magic Sorcerer?

From 2024 description:

Your innate magic stems from the forces of chaos that underlie the order of creation. You or an ancestor might have endured exposure to raw magic, perhaps through a planar portal leading to Limbo or the Elemental Planes. Perhaps you were blessed by a fey being or marked by a demon. Or your magic could be a fluke with no apparent cause. Whatever its source, this magic churns within you, waiting for any outlet.

[noble fable]

It seems like it could work, but even if not, that's such a cool backstory not to make it work anyway

[grand peak]

WHen the Champions Book comes out am looking forward to seeing Swashbuckler and Kensi BUT!!!!!!! if updating Kensi please make class features encourage using thier chosen weapons (MAkbe using Chosen weapons with Bonus action Unarmed attacks / Flurry of Blows. (if possible issue with magic weapon maybe some caviats)

[obtuse hatch]

What's the Champions book?

[grizzled lance]

If you want soldiers or thugs, hire hobgoblins. If you want someone clubbed to death in their sleep, hire bugbears. If you want mean little fools, hire goblins.

[lavish flame]

Now I'm trying to think of something that fits for all three. Something that can swim, walk, and fly. Water birds are prolly out cuz they aren't really... cool. Bugs don't really swim, but they do fly. To some extent, the theme is "you have 3 animals you bounce between using" so having 1 animal cover all 3 territories is tough.

[mighty pulsar]

I'm thinking of just adding like some magical flavor i guess

[crystal tendon]

Thats actually one of the reasons zuko is such a great character growth like that feels earne now I am wondering does that kind of character development influence the way you build DND characters and stories too, or is that something you mostly enjoy as a player?

[lavish flame]

they announced their 2026 roadmap, and the releases have been organized into Seasons. They announced a Season of Champions set for Fall-Winter 2026, but didnt announce what book(s) are part of it.

[hot marlin]

I'm sorry, are you saying that swans and cormorants are not cool?!

What is wrong with you?! /j

[uncut zenith]

There’s speculation that it’s gonna be Dark Sun 5E due to some of the recent UA, but they haven’t announced anything

[jolly canyon]

Pls no swan hate. I can't take that

[lavish flame]

yeah, they're elegant, not cool

[hot marlin]

Oh, I get it. Then you want the antarctica petrel

[ocean parrot]

R I k e s

[livid brook]

someone able to fact check a #optimization thing ?

[hot marlin]

I'll check

[noble fable]

When I build characters, part of making my character is using every part of the character builder. My class, race, and background all play a part in forming my character's personality. My Wizard character is more likely to be patient than my Warlock character, because Wizards get their magic by studying it for their whole lifetime, while Warlocks make the risky choice to trade their soul later for power now. A changeling might be naturally sloppy with their self-care, because they can always just adopt the face of a good looking stranger instead of brushing their actual hair.

[mighty pulsar]

Didn't even know WOTC has roadmaps tbh

[crystal tendon]

I really like that approach it makes characters feel a lot more believable when their class and background actually affect how they think and act have you ever had a campaign where a character ended up developing in a completely different direction than you originally planned?

[noble fable]

Actually no. I try to keep my characters consistent, mostly for continuity's sake. But the biggest thing that helps my characters stay "in character" is that I largely play characters that end up modeled after my own personality

[ocean musk]

Thinking about my old party mate Kenku Rogue who was deathly afraid of snakes... in the jungle.

Our entire campaign was in the densest rainforests and snakes were everywhere.

[crystal tendon]

That actually makes a lot of sense if your characters are built around parts of your own personality i can see why they'd stay consistent out of curiosity whats been your favorite character to play in a campaign so far?

[mighty pulsar]

Is there a way to find new books coming out that are official? I saw the roadmap but I don't see any official books section.

just partnered content 😔

[thorn osprey]

I believe you can just look at the shop and sort by newest

[mighty pulsar]

more ravenloft

[ornate rapids]

the dndbeyond website usually talks a lot about upcoming content to hype it up

[mighty pulsar]

yay....

[noble fable]

I played a 2014 GOOlock woman named Umara, a former slave motivated by revenge against the caste system that exploited her. She escaped into the desert as a teenager, before being rescued by a cult and being inducted into their order, pledging her soul to the ancient entity that the cult worshipped in exchange for the power necessary to take her revenge

[shut lance]

and geese all have 2 levels in barbarian

[crystal tendon]

Thats a pretty awesome concept the former slave turned warlock angle already sounds interesting but the cult and ancient entity part makes me curious what was Umara actually like as a person though was she still focused on revenge throughout the campaign or did she end up changing as the story went on?

[tidal wyvern]

Hello y'all

[noble fable]

Sadly, that campaign fizzled out, so I never got to conclude Umara's story. One day, I'll get another chance, and hopefully, It'll be in 2024 5e, where GOOlock has some fun looking buffs compared to 2014 that I'm eager to try out!

She was an impulsive and passionate person, who felt protective over the helpless and downtrodden, but also felt guarded over her past as an ex-slave

[tulip frost]

eyes the new announcements So is there an Arkenstone magic item? It sounds like an artifact of some importance...

[umbral girder]

Had a silly thought. What if for centuries dark elves didn’t know they had Blue and Purple skinned variants, because their Darkvision just made it all blacks and grays.

So first time a few go to the surface they panic thinking some of them have an allergic reaction.

[crimson gulch]

Ravenloft June, arcana unleashed in September

[dense nacelle]

Is there any reason why there’s no melee version of the elemental adept feat?

[sleek cloud]

For what, ignoring resistance to piercing slashing or bludgeoning?

[dense nacelle]

Nah, for elemental damage

[noble fable]

Isn't Elemental Adept for both ranged and melee?

[dense nacelle]

There’s plenty of ways to get elemental damage on melee attacks, why is ignoring resistance restricted to spellcasting?

[dense nacelle]

Nope, it states specifically “spells you cast that deal x damage type”

[noble fable]

Okay, I thought you meant "melee spells", because it just says "spells"

[dense nacelle]

I mean melee as in taking the attack action

[noble fable]

Why would you want it for melee attacks? Are there really so many ways to get elemental damage on melee hits? Outside of Way of the Elements Monk, what else is there?

[dense nacelle]

Strike of the giants, flame-tongue weapons, Goliath sub-races, and a few other subclasses such as rune knight

[sleek cloud]

Even elements monk can just switch their damage to a different element if they encounter resistance or immunity

[glass granite]

Prolly cuz it’s much more niche

[ornate rapids]

well elemental adept is a mental stat half-feat so it was likely designed around spellcasting

[glass granite]

Every spellcaster can make use of elemental adept, but most martials can’t

[dense nacelle]

I mean yeah, but there’s nothing made for melee, if I’ve built a fighter around dealing fire damage and I encounter a creature that’s resistant I’m just ruined

[ornate rapids]

perhaps an oversight, perhaps just wotc liking casters more
or perhaps they were afraid of letting martials benefit from it with multiattack

[dense nacelle]

Wotc definitely likes casters more

[noble fable]

Also, you don't want martial Elemental Adept. You're not usually rocking a signature damage type unless you're going for a specific type of build, and even if you do have a signature damage type, you're not running into monsters that resist it unless you're specifically aiming to play a build that gets countered by your DM's current campaign idea

Like running a necrotic damage build against vampires

[mighty pulsar]

Arcana unleashed sounds interesting

[dense nacelle]

Eh, it’ll be nice if you’re running a build and then an arc of a campaign puts you in a place around monsters resistant to your main damage type and you can ignore that with your attacks

[glass granite]

In that case, a regular fighter combat with slashing, piercing or bludgeoning damage should be fine

[sleek cloud]

I’d say there isn’t one because making a feat like that would be too dependent on the availability of magic weapons to even fit that sort of build

[glass granite]

Yeah elemental adept simply does not affect most martial characters

[sudden summit]

Hello!

[glass granite]

Wahzzup!

[sudden summit]

Im new to this server is there any specific chat thats for people looking for a DND group?

[sleek cloud]

There is indeed, https://discord.com/channels/516367331358801950/750813601358676008

[sudden summit]

Thanks THE ORB

[glass granite]

You can find more info in #find-a-game

[sleek cloud]

Any time

[woven flint]

Hello, friends

[static nova]

So question.. if a player hits a monster with the push feature from mastery. And there is a table right behind them. How does that work?

[delicate owl]

Who you calling friend, pal?

[woven flint]

Everyone, buddy

[woven flint]

Assuming the table isn't like, bolted down, I guess it also gets pushed when they get pushed into it

[barren badger]

Speak friend and enter

[shell zenith]

I wouldn't think of push as the same thing as thrown, I would say that the creature just hits the table and stops

[woven flint]

Druids are swag

[ocean musk]

I think this is just a rule of cool sort of moment tbh. If its a single shove you can send the target flying over the table, if its like a football push the table can move too, etc kinda just up to DM discretion, I doubt theres a single concrete ruling

[woven flint]

My first long time character was a Wildfire Druid

I went from level 3 to around level 14 or 15 with him

A year and a half of playing that fella

[rain sluice]

maybe they could be pushed off balance, or them hitting the table causes them to be stunned for a moment. personal experience, being shoved into a table bloody hurts when you hit it with your back

[undone rain]

Oath of vengeance is such an edgy subclass and i like it

[woven flint]

Looks at Oath Of Conquest

Stand ready for my arrival, Worm!

[shell zenith]

that's up to the dm, but there's nothing saying that actually happens

[static nova]

Its a massive table.. sort of like a 30-40 foot long table. Like im a council chambers. So its not bolted down or anything, but they are super heavy i assume.

[shell zenith]

I feel like push is mostly for pushing creatures into pits etc

[undone rain]

looks to oathbreakers

"Pathetic"

[woven flint]

Hmmm, I assume its pushed or even broken

[static nova]

Its the push feature from a hammer in 2024 mastery. It says you push a creature up to 10 feet away

[woven flint]

Looks over at Assassin Rogue

"Tch."

[undone rain]

Alr you got me

But atleast oath of vengeance is still considered a moral good subclass and not evil

More anti hero you could say

(Even though some people take paladin too seriously)

[woven flint]

I'm actually making my first Anti-Villain character

Like, ...
Evil fella with noble goals

[barren badger]

What are his noble goals?

[ocean musk]

Yes I know, but there's nothing to say that the push HAS to be a 10 ft push. You can make it a shove and a slide on the feet, have the target roll a dex save or acrobatics to catch themselves from going prone, who cares! Flavor brings the most out of the game imo

[woven flint]

Spoilers for Folks playing Waterdeep with me:
||He wants to take over the biggest criminal empire in Waterdeep to make sure that his people stop being enslaved and forced to work for them||

[barren badger]

Discussion of content in spoilers
||and then disband the criminal empire....right?||

[lime plume]

Wondering if anyone has ever been to GenCon? I'm thinking I'd like to go to it.

[woven flint]

Continued Discussion:
||Haha, that'd be a waste of effort.||

For reference, he's a
||Kuo-Toa||

And he wants to start with the ||Xanathars Guild||

He's also a Druid, which the party does know

[barren badger]

druids are very cool

do you know what kind he'll be?

[woven flint]

He's being introduced in lieu of my Tortle Knowledge Cleric dying

[undone rain]

Some people take paladins too seriously, i get they slay evil but some people just it so seriously they dont know whats moral anymore

[barren badger]

I love tortles

[woven flint]

Rest in Peace, Old Man Artanza

[hot marlin]

Elaborate?

[barren badger]

My tortle druid, Elowen, is just happy to kill orcs

[hot marlin]

To quote a character I once played (and I was quoting a certain graphic novel) "I am happy with the act of killing, my arm extending, connecting, the movement like a dance. The result of killing, the corpse, does not make me happy. Learn to live in the moment."

[woven flint]

My Tortle Cleric's best friend was our Orcish Monk party member, whom accidentally lead him to his death.

[ornate rapids]

I don't like how Tortles have such short lifespans in the lore, despite some tortoises being able to live for centuries.
In my setting I would say they live a lot longer

[barren badger]

Hmm, i dont know if this is terrifying or a good thing

[hot marlin]

Kinda what I was going for

[barren badger]

Elowen HAD been enslaved by orcs for a few years and she keeps getting downed by orcs in combat

[woven flint]

The rest of the party is fuming at him because most of them really loved Artanza and he essentially gave up what was a Wish to save one of their lives

[undone rain]

I heard this one story of a paladin and tiefling cleric. Now my memory isnt 100% up to date but ill explain as far as my knowledge goes. So the paladin player took his character very seriously and was extremely wary if this tiefling cleric player for some reason. The tiefling wasnt evil at all but just because they were a "hellspawn" the paladin decided to just kill the cleric player.

[hot marlin]

I also had "She is not evil, she is just weak. But truth be told, I have come to believe it much worse. In either case, killing her would be a waste. Let her rot in the filfth of her regrets until old age takes her"
About me deciding to spare an NPC

[ocean musk]

God I need to find a new game so bad, this sounds SO fun

[barren badger]

This is such a noble death

[woven flint]

He's in Oghma's hands now, he's probably writing his life story with Denier right now lol

[hot marlin]

Oh so the player was playing a racist murderer?

[woven flint]

That didn't cause his death
But it could've prevented his death had he still had it

[severe rampart]

and the DM just let him?

[undone rain]

Yeah more or less

[undone rain]

Accordingly the dm said he broke his oath and then kicked the guy out of the party

[woven flint]

It was the Temple Card, which gave him a favor to ask of his deity

He requested that our Rogue that had been eaten by ghouls be reincarnated.

Had he still had access to that card, it would've revived him as if under the effects of true resurrection

[severe rampart]

He shouldn't have even let the paladin kill the cleric in the first place

That's a whole different topic about player etiquette and table expectations

was he kicked out of the group or just the in-character party?

[woven flint]

Mind you, regular revivify wouldn't have worked because the ghouls had spent their turns actually eating him after killing him lol

He was bones

[undone rain]

I can assume that the paladin "tried" to kill the cleric and in his head he killed em but im pretty sure in actuality the cleric didnt die

[woven flint]

My Tortle was Power Word: Killed by Manshoon, but the party absolutely slaughtered him..
Though we haven't killed EVERY Manshoon clone.

[undone rain]

Correct. Thats what i mean by some people taking paladins too seriously

Or rather just not knowing what the hell it means to have morals

[hot marlin]

I don't see how that's takings things seriously

[woven flint]

It's weird because a majority of Tieflings go on to become heros to spite their fiendish legacy

[hot marlin]

That's just playing a racist murderer as a disruptive player

[woven flint]

But it's also weird because racism is bad.
If that's not already incredibly obvious lol

[undone rain]

Exactly, just because they have hellish blood dosent mean their evil like zariel. A tiefling can be lawful good and an aasimar can be evil af

[hot marlin]

Oh you can play an evil character, and racism is a good way of making a character evil. A bit cheap, depending on your understanding of how prejudice works

[rough basalt]

I fall asleep whenever I hear a "I'm a Dwarf who hates elves!"

[undone rain]

Yaaaawn

[cerulean monolith]

The issue with using racism as a character flaw is that most people are too stupid or ignorant to play it with the necessary sensibility

[rough basalt]

Gimli clones are so tired.

[cerulean monolith]

Pretend I said that in a kinder way but my point stands

[rough basalt]

And depending on the setting, Dwarves don't even hate Elves collectively

[woven flint]

It's funny because Elves and Dwarves don't even have lore reasons to hate eachother in D&D besides difference in lifestyle like any other species

[ocean musk]

At best a shady racist past that a player is like actively deconstructing could make for some interesting story but man would it require some tact to do in a way that isnt like exploitative

[rough basalt]

It's just a byproduct of people who think DnD is lotr

[barren badger]

I like to play dwarf archaeologists or anthropologists

[undone rain]

Someday im just gonna make a dwarf that loves rocks for the hell of it

His name shall be boulder rockson

[barren badger]

i wonder if there's a way to have an animated rock as a familiar. Like, a little rocky psuedodragon

[severe rampart]

"I know stone!!"

[barren badger]

that's a rock fact!

[severe rampart]

Lmao like those pet rocks people had?

[barren badger]

mmm. Kind of.

I was thinking of the rock spider thing from that new sci fi movie

[rough basalt]

Don't tell "DnD is LotR" people that in FR a famous Dwarf has an adopted Human daughter who married a Drow.

[undone rain]

Its like whenever he sees a rock hes just like "ohhhh im takin that"

[severe rampart]

Lucky dwarf (I don't know anything about the FR lore)

[woven flint]

Now, I did play in a party with an Elf and Dwarf that DID openly hate eachother but were respectful of eachothers talents and craft

[rough basalt]

Fantasy racism just saps energy out of me.

[undone rain]

Ive seen enough of it in skyrim

[barren badger]

How do we feel about fantasy class solidarity?

[cerulean monolith]

I deal with too much racism in my normal life to have it be a major plot point

[rough basalt]

Like even in North Draconia where in my setting where people from the mage country are scrutinized, it's in the background.

[undone rain]

I could see a drow redeeming themselves from being evil and from being racist to other elves and deep gnomes.

[rough basalt]

In an hour the Fighter in my Monday game gets to finally use his lightning resistance.

After 7 irl months.

[woven flint]

Peak

[rough basalt]

Assuming the Blue Dragon breath weapons him. It's a line breath so easy to avoid.

[woven flint]

My Dragonborn Resistance finally matters

[barren badger]

so question. If people are simply curious about someone of a different race and not discriminatory?

Like, say tielfings are exceedingly rare in an area and a person at an inn is legitimately curious about tieflings.

[undone rain]

Man i love redemption for characters

[barren badger]

And they ask the tiefling awkward questions

"So, do the horns come off? Do you have a tail?"

is that fantasy racism?

[woven flint]

Don't their regular attacks do a tiny bit of lightning?

[rough basalt]

True

Speaking of attacks, I got more encounters to build.

[undone rain]

Not really thats just being curious i think as long as theres no ill intention

[woven flint]

Secretly hoping for a skirmish in the air 🔥

Orizontas WILL meet that dragon in the air with his own flight

[lament nebula]

monk rogue multi class is a funny concept to me

their entire gimmicks combined is just punching someone for no reason

[rough basalt]

That's an idea.

[undone rain]

Monks have always been funny to me, especially open hand monks. Yk instead of defeating a dragon while wearing armor and using a weapon they just smack em while running around in robes

[lament nebula]

its just dragon ball and I love it

[undone rain]

Ohhh thats a hilarious idea, instead of hitting they just slap their enemies to death and it works

[lament nebula]

I even based my first character after broly and they were a monk

[undone rain]

Sick

[lament nebula]

and now that I know how multi class works I am going to make a monk/barbarian character and just have him go super Saiyan on rage

[ocean musk]

Honest question, how often have you guys ever actually played with a Wild Magic sorcerer before? Is it too obnoxious for the other players for it to actually be that fun to play?

[rough basalt]

If it's 5e Wild Magic then yeah

[undone rain]

Shame that barbarians cant do magic while raging cuz if you were a four elemental monk then you would have real super saiyan

[lament nebula]

my first campaign had wild magic and I loved it

[rough basalt]

Either you're never gonna use it cause the DM forgets they're supposed to prompt them, or you use Tides of Chaos then roll fireball and tpk your party.

[peak pecan]

Oh great, I just got a new player for my next session and she picked Wild Magic Sorcery

[rough basalt]

A lot of the time it's just the gimmicky pointless options tho

Like being bald for a day

[lament nebula]

yeah but it makes sense for that to in dbs broly broly was going rabid in ssj so if I make a broly character it would make sense

[peak pecan]

She might be going for a “chaos goblin” type character; might have to talk to her more before my next game

[ocean musk]

I think wild magic sounds like such a fun thing because I love a bit of chaos, but I have heard that forcing other players to deal with it kinda sucks

[rough basalt]

In 5.5 it's less joke that burdens the party and more chaotic fun

[feral fulcrum]

It wasn't even an issue on Wild magic Barb, but it was definitely terrible on 2014 Wild Magic Sorceror

[rough basalt]

But 5es is just good for made up stories (when it works out for good) and real stories (when it goes bad) on reddit.

[lament nebula]

my DM has done some of the funniest and weirdest stuff and I love it

[feral fulcrum]

Which was like, 50% "Lol, you rolled something hilariously detrimental."

[ocean musk]

Thats good to know then

[feral fulcrum]

And a tiny % chance of "Okay you just killed the entire party, lol."

[lament nebula]

he gave my newest character (and I assume the other players) a sentient neutral evil sword

[feral fulcrum]

A custom one, or one of the official ones?

[lament nebula]

custom

[rough basalt]

Ye like 50% detrimental 45% nothingburger, and 5% amazing

[undone rain]

Should i play a sorcerer or a wizard next hmmm

[lament nebula]

flip a coin

also when making my new character I wanted to see what warlock had and dear God they have so many spell options

[rough basalt]

Tonight's gonna be a good session.
Lots of combat, chaos and a big fever

[reef tundra]

Once played at a table with TWO wild magic sorcerers. It really depends on the kind of table

But me and my friends? We love chaos. We love wild magic

[shy stirrup]

That must have been...interesting

[ocean musk]

Maybe I just need a game like this lol

[reef tundra]

Heck we even disregarded the usual chances and just rolled a d100 with a 30% chance of it going wild

[lament nebula]

wait is wild magic a sorcerer subclass?

[reef tundra]

Yes

[cerulean monolith]

And Barbarian.

[lament nebula]

I thought y'all were talking about the rng wild magic gimmick

[reef tundra]

There’s also a barbarian subclass about it, but it’s not the same

[cerulean monolith]

That’s based on the WM sorc.

[ocean musk]

Thats part of the subclass

[lament nebula]

ok?

[cerulean monolith]

We’re saying that you’re talking about the same thing. The environmental feature uses the same table as the subclass

[rough basalt]

Wild Magic Barb is less chaos and more just kinda eh

But still wild magic.

[reef tundra]

But yeah, me and my friends love it. But it depends on the table really

Some tables are more chaotic and silly, others are more serious

[rough basalt]

Imo the only "miss" out of the Tashas subs was WM barb

Tho in the right party it could be pretty crazy

[reef tundra]

At one of my tables, a beard made of feathers that explode when you sneeze fits perfectly. At the other… not so much

[reef tundra]

I haven’t tried it yet, so I have no clue

[rough basalt]

It's only like a d6 or a d8 table iirc

[reef tundra]

My soul just died /j

[rough basalt]

It's overly reined in compared to the 2014 WM sorc

It can do some crazy stuff depending on the surge you roll when you rage, but only if you have casters that stay within range of you.

[abstract swan]

Tragically I may be coming to the conclusion that my friend’s DMing is just not good

[shy stirrup]

Oh?

[paper portal]

nah its pretty cool imo :3

[hearty bay]

there's an album cover that always makes me wanna play bard

but idk which kind of bard can do an epic pose and point their guitar to the sky, to parry tiamat's dragon breath

[fossil hollow]

any of them at level 10 or higher

Im fairly sure theres several spells you can grab with Magical Secrets that lets you essentially protect your party from AoEs

[abstract swan]

For example: he just had us spend almost 2 hours in a sandbox just arrived in a city session, between missions. He made me and one other player roleplay an entire weapons shopping experience for like 30 minutes before revealing that everything was really expensive and our characters should already know that our organization’s quartermaster will be providing discounted gear appropriate to our level before the next mission

[noble turtle]

damn 😭😭😭

[abstract swan]

While other people were just chilling back at the barracks not talking for 30 mins

Really more like 45

[coarse carbon]

Tbh, his "revealing" was probably him deciding to give you gear in that moment after also being bored of 45 minutes of shopping, not that he knew he'd give you gear the whole time and wasted 45 minutes for no reason

[noble fable]

We might have the same DM. Our last session was like 6 hours long, and we spent like 3 of them just talking to each other in character while our DM was muted because it was a wagon ride to a town several miles away

[marble mantle]

wdym forced u to rp the shopping

[half igloo]

DND PEOPLE. if Aquan is a language branch of Primordial in dnd... If I know primordial am I basically speaking spain dialect to a cuban hispanic?

I need to know

[blazing holly]

wow, you guys have a serious amount of patience, a DM doing that at any of my old tables would have been swiftly reminded about the value of everybodys time

[fossil hollow]

Essentially?

[ornate rapids]

if you know one dialect of primordial you can understand any of them

with some degree of difficulty maybe, but you can generally understand

[half igloo]

I like campaigns that are basically half or more rp

[half igloo]

YES

[ornate rapids]

those dialects being ignan, aquan, terran, and auran

[marble mantle]

This. I usually ask my players which primordial languange they are fluent in and others can be understood somewhat

[blazing holly]

well, I mean if that's what the players wanted to do, of course, that's a different matter

[half igloo]

I am going to make a deal with my water elemental I trapped in a flask when we defeated it and I wanted to use it against my dm later on

[fossil shuttle]

Anyone wanna help me name a weapon for my character?

[marble mantle]

please

[fossil shuttle]

My character is a Dhampir Undead warlock who uses firearms as spellcasting foci (pact of the blade without the melee restriction). I already have a rifle named Răstigni (Romanian for "Crucify"). I also want to have a pistol for close range but I'm debating what to name it. For the record, my DM has okayed this as we are playing a heavily homebrewed curse of strahd using a lot of 1800's firearms.

[empty thicket]

"Hey strahd, Say hello to my little friend!!"
do 3 surprise attacks x2

[marble mantle]

if it's old firearms, there is a revolver in devil may cry called Blue Rose, I always thought that sounded cool

[fossil hollow]

All that comes to mind is Pignus Palus

[ornate rapids]

Mustrare
romanian for 'reprimand'

[fossil hollow]

Latin for Stake Stake (stake as in pole to drive into the ground, and also stake as in a bet)

[fossil shuttle]

What makes this really funny is that my character is Strahd's son who secretly works for him but also wants to stop him because he wants him to be free and to free everyone else in Barovia

[woven flint]

Just to recall
Attacks have advantage against paralyzed creatures, right? 🤔

[severe rampart]

yeah, and auto crit if the attacker is within 5 ft? iirc

[empty thicket]

like Alucard from Castlevania?

[woven flint]

Time to murder.

[fossil hollow]

shame ur character isnt called Dharts

[empty thicket]

2 nat1
MIBOMBO!!

[fossil shuttle]

Yeah, that's about it

[marble mantle]

if you want an opposite to "Crucify" in romanian u could have a pistol called "laudă" which means praise. Drop a line like "I have to give some praise" then blastem

[fossil shuttle]

I thought about naming it Ghimpe [thorn] but I think I want to save that for a shotgun if I can get one

[reef tundra]

Good to hear

[fossil shuttle]

His name is Vasilii Harker (Harker being his mother's last name, who was a former incarnation of Tatyana way earlier on in the cycle)

[barren pagoda]

Does Warding Bond reduce damage by half to all nearby allies?

[fossil hollow]

Just the target

unfortunately, this isnt the place to do so

[marble mantle]

as a level 1 it would be insane if it was all of them

[hot marlin]

Harker being the name of two of the main characters of Bram Stoker's Dracula

[fossil shuttle]

I think it could be cool if you could upcast and spread the damage across more people

[fossil shuttle]

Exactly, Mina Harker

My characters aren't the uh, most creatively named (one of my favorite characters is the infernal tiefling warlock named Verant Belkin [Vergil+Dante Son of Bel])

[fossil hollow]

Jackpot

[marble mantle]

cool yes but i wonder how many people would have upcasted it only to take damage everytime their party does and then die

[fossil hollow]

i remember when my paladin and fighter had it on each other, with the monsters i was sending, and with the fighter wearing a shield guardian amulet with an actual shield guardian, it was pain to math

[fossil shuttle]

I mean, it reduces the chance if the damage is spread across all the people

[marble mantle]

As a dm i would've done my best to avoid that lmao, sounds messsssyy. "a crow swoops in and grabs your amulet cuz it's shiny, woops"

[fossil hollow]

nah, theyve had the thing since session 2

theyre level 16 now, and that thing has been near death several times, and is now also fully sapient. He views the fighter as his dad now

[half igloo]

if its a pain in the butt just put things in that does damage that it doesnt block

[little stream]

He views the fighter as his dad now

Ah a classic in most things

[marble mantle]

"He views the fighter as his dad now" I love that so much sounds awsome to RP

[half igloo]

My dm is the master of giving us OP stuff he regrets giving us and then bumping up stratagy to balance his mistake

[marble mantle]

wish i had players who were down to play to anything above level 10

[fossil hollow]

They learnt their lesson and stopped using WB. Also the paladin had to leave the campaign after a while 😔

[severe rampart]

Warding Bond seems like the perfect spell for me

[fossil hollow]

The fighter is currently chilling with 400 temp hit points tho

[half igloo]

WHAT

[fossil shuttle]

My DM when we drop a boat on one of our BBEG's 4 levels early and curb stomp him in 3 turns

[severe rampart]

I forgot how crazy strong Tier 3-4 is compared to Tier 2

[half igloo]

WHy dont they want to?

[feral fulcrum]

...how?

[fossil hollow]

Blackrazor, and he killed an Arch Hag with 500~ish HP

[woven flint]

Blackrazor.

[marble mantle]

takes too long, CoS on our current schedule would take up to 1.5 years

[feral fulcrum]

Ah, legendary weapon shennagins

[fossil hollow]

*artifact

[fossil shuttle]

I KNEW IT. I'm sitting here going "probably Blackrazor" and I was RIGHT.

[marble mantle]

tbf WB can't be cast on eachother atleast not in 5.5 idk about 5.0

[feral fulcrum]

close enough for government work

[fossil hollow]

what? No, the paladin casted it on the fighter

[marble mantle]

and did the fighter cast it on him too?

[half igloo]

my campaign is currently going to lvl 13 and will be stretching out for another half a year or more

we are currently lvl 8

[fossil hollow]

where did i say they did

[feral fulcrum]

Two people don't have to cast Warding Bond to have it work

[sudden hollow]

Well dnd just loves ripping my heart out at this point 🤣

[severe rampart]

also WB is only accessible by Paladins and Clerics

[fossil hollow]

The paladin already had an artifact armor that gave him Resistance to all damage but Force anyway

[marble mantle]

ik that i just must've misunderstood "had it on eachother" my bad y'all

[half igloo]

god what are you running

[woven flint]

My Bronze Dragonborn is fighting a Blue Dragon
Finally, my damage resistance matters 😎

[marble mantle]

could be a multiclass

[fossil hollow]

homebrew campaign, i call it Titanic Upheaval

[feral fulcrum]

Dungeons, with Dragons

[fossil hollow]

theyre about to fight two Empyreans next session, if that helps

[strong wave]

Does being metallic make your dragonborn good

[half igloo]

Do you guys use third party books in your campaigns if players have a character in mind that is in anotehr book?

[sudden hollow]

Oh kinda like totem barb lol. But force instead of psychic

And less angy

[marble mantle]

truly most campaigns are "Dungeons, and very rarely sometimes dragons"

[woven flint]

I mean, he's a good person, but Dragonborn types
Metallic, Chromatic and Gem doesn't stick them to alignment types like actual dragons

[feral fulcrum]

It hasn't been very rare in my campaign at all, at least, the second half

[sleek cloud]

I have surprisingly encountered more dragons than dungeons in my current campaign

[severe rampart]

I wonder how many resistances you can get without any magic items or spells, Necrotic and Radiant from Aasimar, Poison and Fire from Pact Seeker background... what else

[sudden hollow]

We fought a dragon at level 4, but havnt heard of one since

[fossil hollow]

a lot of things are classified as dungeons, theyre just not called dungeons

[ornate rapids]

my wizard has become a dragon a few times

[sudden hollow]

Emerald dragon born or kalishtar, totem barbarian. Resist EVERYTHING

[marble mantle]

really? im surprised u guys encounter that many dragons when the MM has so many other goodies

[fossil hollow]

i throw other monsters with dragons

[severe rampart]

oh yeah I forgot to add without being a totem barbarian

[fossil hollow]

i also run around 7 campaigns rn

[half igloo]

race, class, feat, curse, spell. Thats how many off the top of my head

[severe rampart]

or Barbarian

[sudden hollow]

Lol no fun

[shy stirrup]

A dungeon is a style of play, or its a series of encounters in underground rooms

[severe rampart]

because Totem Barbarian is the obvious choice

[feral fulcrum]

We've had a couple dragons in the Wizard City transformed as elves (Glimmport), we've had my Fairy Wizard's dreams haunted by a Red Dragon from neat the start, we had a Gold Dragon Posh Noble Lady lounging around for Tournament, an Ancient Greatwyrm White Dragon we had to kill, and several more dragon related encounters.

[severe rampart]

It's a cheap answer

[hot marlin]

Did I ever mentioned how annoyed I am that there's a brass dragon, a copper dragon and a bronze dragon? Brass and bronze are both alloys of copper.

[half igloo]

So like 4 + all physical damage resistences

[sudden hollow]

I mean, you can stack potions and rings, armors, spells, and racial to get just about everything covered

[severe rampart]

notice I also said no items

[sudden hollow]

But they are different alloys

[half igloo]

mine counted right lol?

[hot marlin]

And there's no tin dragon nor zinc dragon!

[sudden hollow]

Used to be

[hot marlin]

Wait, aren't there? Let me check

[sleek cloud]

Imagine dragons or something

[fossil hollow]

i could have sworn those were in the Ferrous family

[severe rampart]

Necrotic and Radiant from Aasimars iirc, then Pact Seeker gives Fire and Poison, I don't know any feat that can give you resistance

[feral fulcrum]

5E ditched alot of the 'extraneus' dragons

[lavish flame]

Nah, players in my games have to use official content. Most third-party and popular homebrew I've come across has been wildly unbalanced, both too strong and too weak. I try to stick to official stuff for this reason.

[sudden hollow]

Boons

[fossil hollow]

Dragon Cultist general feat

[sudden hollow]

From abberant dragon mark

[feral fulcrum]

Basically anything that's not a straight Chromatic, Mettalic, or Gem Dragon got axed. And for the better I think

[half igloo]

makes sense

[marble mantle]

ammonia and bleach are kinda chill alone but mixed are something horrible so the alloy being different ain't that crazy

[severe rampart]

Cult of The Dragon Initiate?

[sleek cloud]

The answer is shadar-Kai once you hit level 3 and use your blessing of the raven queen teleport

Resistance to all damage

[fossil hollow]

I think so? Whichever the level 4 feat is

[sleek cloud]

Temporarily anyways

[hot marlin]

Sure but the fact that two of the metallics are named after alloys rather than pure metals like the other three annoys me. The fact that those two specific alloys are both alloys of one specific metal that already is represented among the metallics annoys me

It's silly but it breaks the pattern!

[feral fulcrum]

Take it up with Bahamut and Tiamat

[hot marlin]

At least with chromatics, you've got black and white, red, blue and green aaaand... No yellow. Damn

[fossil hollow]

Yellow was a thing, just not in 5e

[marble mantle]

Ok i completely understand and agree, having a weak tin dragon would be cool for lower levels and maybe a genius zinc dragon species

[fossil hollow]

theyre very slow to release more dragons

[lavish flame]

bronze and brass? yeah I always figured there's be some other metal like Steel or Cobalt or something that wouldve gotten rep. Steel used to be around, but even then it wasnt a true Metallic Dragon.

[half igloo]

do we have chunky dragon from that one dnd movie where they had to go inside that mountain?

[woven flint]

Pink Dragons also existed

[fossil hollow]

Steel and Cobalt are true Ferrous dragons iirc

[feral fulcrum]

Themberchaud, and he's a red dragon, and yes he's got a statblock

[half igloo]

lol

[woven flint]

Our beloved

[feral fulcrum]

He's been a thing for ages

[marble mantle]

are fairy dragons pink?

[feral fulcrum]

Fairy Dragons come in many colors

[marble mantle]

or is it faeri*?

[lavish flame]

Was he always so big? I seem to remember that being a D&D Movie-ism that got retroactively made true of the character

[woven flint]

No, like.. full chromatic pink dragons were a thing

[feral fulcrum]

In fact Fairy Dragon colors are detirmined via their age

[feral fulcrum]

He was always fat and big, yes

[marble mantle]

never did I think that I would sit here at 3 am learning about the etymology of dragons in dnd

[feral fulcrum]

He's an extremely well fed, adult dragon. One so morbidly obese he can't fly anymore.

[woven flint]

Themberchaud is kept fed by some deep dwarves/duergar

[feral fulcrum]

Adult Dragons, especially reds, have always been exceptionally large Dragons

[marble mantle]

is this a honor among thieves reference perhaps?

[feral fulcrum]

Not Fat, mind you, just quite big.

[fossil hollow]

he was in a dnd module first before the movie

[marble mantle]

which one? sounds very cool

[lavish flame]

Themberchaud, so yeah. He was in Out of the Abyss first

[marble mantle]

I'm guessing it was an old edition since i've never heard of it

[lavish flame]

He's a Red Dragon who lives in the Underdark. They put him in the 5e Underdark adventure

[marble mantle]

oh damn so they're infamous and in multiple modules

[fossil hollow]

im fairly sure hes just in the one

[lavish flame]

no, Out of the Abyss is the Underdark adventure. He's only in that one afaik

[feral fulcrum]

He is a well known Named Charecter, yeah.

[hot marlin]

He's in one module, two novels, one film, three video games

[lavish flame]

He might get a mention in some sourcebooks too

[hot marlin]

I thiiink he was created in 1999's Drrizt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark

[strong wave]

What's the difference between a fairy and a dragon

[lavish flame]

whats the similarity?

[strong wave]

No the differenc3

[fossil hollow]

what makes them the same in the first place

[strong wave]

No I mean the difference between them

[fossil hollow]

...

i think youre missing my point there

[lavish flame]

nah I'm asking you, what on earth is similar?

[strong wave]

They both fly and they both grant wishes

[fossil hollow]

what dragon you meet grants wishes

[strong wave]

Shenron

[hot marlin]

Neither grants wishes

[fossil hollow]

Who is not a DND dragon

[lavish flame]

fairies and dragons don't grant wishes

[strong wave]

Fairies grant you the wish of forgetting your name

[timber turtle]

Does shadow dagger warlock stop being good past some levels?

[empty thicket]

If a fairy promise you a wish, it mean something bad.

[fossil hollow]

thats not a wish, thats them being thieving fey

[empty thicket]

how so¿?

[lavish flame]

shadow dagger warlock?

[strong wave]

Shadow dagger warlock

[lavish flame]

if you mean Hexblade, yeah its pretty front-heavy so the later features aren't as cool in comparison

[strong wave]

What the heckblade

[timber turtle]

Spell that spawn a shadow dagger in your hand

[empty thicket]

better than the... weirdblade...

[timber turtle]

For stabbing fings

[feral fulcrum]

Hexblade isn't even weird

[empty thicket]

Its a longsword that dont have an edge, is... squishy and wet... is... weird...

And if you use a hammer or a mace, it turn into a hand that grab your enemies, in a weird way

[feral fulcrum]

You mean Shadowblade, which is more of a sword, then a dagger?

[umbral basalt]

Is the blade made of shadows or surrounded by shadows

[strong wave]

Weirdblade sounds op

[empty thicket]

now that i think it of, a Hexblade assassin would be interesting

[timber turtle]

It's called shadow blade oops

[woven flint]

My Dragonborn finally got hit with lightning damage!
FINALLY! YES!!!

Maniacal Laughter

[empty thicket]

You can cast invisibility, you can in other way Snipe the target, use alter self to approach

[feral fulcrum]

M.Bison.YES Gif goes here?

[little stream]

"Another hand has touch the beacon" quest am I seeing

[woven flint]

The party joked about him leaning into the lightning breath and embracing it lol

[rough basalt]

They almost killed the dragon without it fighting back, but now the real fight begins

[fossil hollow]

sending three bone nagas and a green slaad at my level 9 party rn

[strong wave]

What happened

[feral fulcrum]

They got hit with lightning damage.

[woven flint]

He's resistant to lightning damage lol

It finally mattered

[feral fulcrum]

"Finally my racial resistance does something! huzzah!"

[woven flint]

Real

He did an uncharacteristic maniacal laugh

[feral fulcrum]

If it took super long for it to become relavant, that's a bit of a mark off the DM

[fossil hollow]

owch be nice to Sora

[peak pecan]

Destroy them

[fossil hollow]

two more lightning bolts and fireball, coming up

[empty thicket]

mmmmmmm.......An assasssin Warlock would be nice(?)

[lavish flame]

im always happy to see Nagas getting some love

[strong wave]

U should have caught the lightning in your mouth and shot it back

[fossil hollow]

NGL, theyve been one of my favorite mid tier monsters

[jolly canyon]

I read that as green salad

[fossil hollow]

Teh Green Slaad is going to turn into a salad now

[umbral girder]

Hear me out. 5 more /jk

[fossil hollow]

I have a ||Lesser Death Dragon|| after this

[umbral girder]

Add 3 of those

[peak pecan]

Slaads were some of my favorite monsters conceptually when I started DMing; wrote a whole awful homebrew adventure around them

[spare horizon]

Hey im fairly new to DND I have played before. Where should I start?

[peak pecan]

#dnd-newcomers

[ocean musk]

Helped a new player make his first character and he really wanted to play a rogue so I helped him build one and then when we finished his character sheet he said "I heard about a thing called a construct? That sounds so sick how can I make one" Well buddy, at this point? ... multiclassing

[lavish flame]

You should start in #learn-to-play and then once you've gotten your sea legs, head over to #dnd-newcomers for questions or #find-a-game to find a game

[severe rampart]

Could've changed species to warforged

assuming he had access to the book

[lavish flame]

he wants to make one, not be one

[ocean musk]

He's brand new so he only really has the PHB

[lavish flame]

so like... a cool 10+ levels in a full spellcaster to be able to use a Manual of Golems would be needed

[fossil hollow]

theres magic items that exist

[gritty totem]

and homebrew

[ocean musk]

Right but thats all gonna be dependent on the DM, which I also told him!

[lavish flame]

admittedly, I don't think Rogue is really the best choice for "person who makes constructs" I might do a Wizard or Cleric. An Artificer is basically perfect, but thats also more complicated and not in the PHB

[ocean musk]

Right, and like if I had known that BEFORE we made a rogue for an hour I would've told him that lol

[lavish flame]

now, if they wanted "stealthy Assassin" and then after finishing the character asked about the Constructs, thats a whole seperate story

[lavish flame]

ah, thats tough. is it too late to try seeing about another class?

[ocean musk]

He sounds pretty excited and already expressed interest in other classes so I have no doubts that he'll be making other characters from here anyways so it's in his hands now

[marble mantle]

did they want to play as construct or did they want to make constructs

[ocean musk]

He said "make" specifically

[marble mantle]

mutliclass it is, even more reason for him to be excited for level ups

glass half full y'know

[ocean musk]

Also I told him you can always just make real good buddies with a wizard and see what can happen

[marble mantle]

if you're more sandboxy, you could make him a storyline about stealing a construct "controller" for an ill-treated construct but it would have to be balanced depending on his level and effort put into it

yo does anyone know if deck of many things has the potential to ruin curse of strahd, my players would love it but i'm afraid of the consequences

[glass ravine]

I have a question about a stat block/ability for a monster. Should I post that here or somewhere else?

[marble mantle]

maybe DM-discussion?

or dnd-rules

[fossil hollow]

#dnd-rules

[marble mantle]

listen to them idk shit

Lust were u the one playing 7 campaigns?

[fossil hollow]

*Just, but yes

[marble mantle]

oops font made it look like an L, r u dming or a player

[fossil hollow]

DM

[marble mantle]

damn what do you use for notes, obsidian?

[severe rampart]

I don't think they mean they DM 7 campaigns... right?

[marble mantle]

I currently have everything written down by hand but it's getting really hard

[fossil hollow]

I uh. I. Yes. I have old notes on obsidian, but all my notes are mostly on physical notebooks

[fossil hollow]

:)

[marble mantle]

I'm starting to not believe them..

[fossil hollow]

• Dragonlance (DMing RN)
• Titanic Upheaval
• Icewind Dale
• Baldurs Gate
• Waterdeep Menaces
• Tarkir Dragonstorm (soon)
• Orien Trails

[woven flint]

I love having two ways of potentially getting advantage without help from others with my fighter 😩

Last Stand. You have Advantage on attack rolls while Bloodied.
From Purple Dragon Commandant

And

Mounted Strike. While mounted, you have Advantage on attack rolls against any unmounted creature within 5 feet of your mount that is at least one size smaller than the mount.
From Mounted Combatant :3

Feels very Knightley 😎

[marble mantle]

your schedule has to be insane, surely some are play by post or very short sessions

[woven flint]

I'm currently in Last Stand range 👁

[fossil hollow]

Titanic, Baldurs Gate, and Dragonlance are every other week

[marble mantle]

I'm just running CoS personally but about to start another campaign for my sisters friends

[marble mantle]

is titanic upheaval OC? if so is it actually about the titanic

cuz i've asked this before but i really want to run a non-medieval setting but I have no idea where i would start

[fossil hollow]

its homebrew yeah, its about titans like the tarrasque

[marble mantle]

thats sick, had u ran the colussus before tarrasque or nah

[fossil hollow]

God i love the 2024 Green Slaad

[fossil hollow]

I ran a weakened version of the Colossus, it was piloted by the ghost of the paladin's father

[jolly canyon]

Add Eberron pls

[fossil hollow]

hm?

[jolly canyon]

To that list. Unless one of them is eberron?

[fossil hollow]

Orien Trails is Eberron

[jolly canyon]

Oh shnap!!!

[late kernel]

Eberron is the setting, haha.

[jolly canyon]

Idk what Orien Trails is. I apologize but I now want to know what that is

[marble mantle]

yes please add an 8TH campaign let's see ur limit lol

[fossil hollow]

Thats just eh campaign name, its called Orien because thats the Dragonmark House thats in charge of the Lightning Rails

Trails because Oregon Trails reference

[late kernel]

Is that Homebrew?

[fossil hollow]

is what homebrew

[late kernel]

The campaign, or is it a module?

[fossil hollow]

its a homebrew eberron game yeah

[jolly canyon]

Oh nice!! I didn't catch that. I know house orien naturally but I'd dint pick up on the reference. That's such a dope idea. Is it near Droaam Frontier?

[late kernel]

Awe yeah nice! I have a homebrew campaign set in Eberron too.

[fossil hollow]

Theyre going from Sharn to the Mournlands

theyre near the Dagger River

[jolly canyon]

Oh gosh!!! Spoiler for OoW(also I am gonna assume maybe Just knows this) but ||for session one my players went into the Mournlands. It was fun sending lvl 1 players there lol||

[late kernel]

My players are in a homebrew city on the coast of Lake Galifar.

[fossil hollow]

yee, their job is to investigate what caused the Mournlands and restart Cyre

[jolly canyon]

Wow!!! I like that premise

[fossil hollow]

but alas, its only 4 years after the war

[late kernel]

Mine is 200!

Sorry if I'm yapping too much I just like yapping.

[jolly canyon]

My first table is 998 so normal. I think OoW is 997 tho which I don't quite understand why yet but maybe I will

[jolly canyon]

It's eberron I can do this all day

[fossil hollow]

The world of Eberron is filled with magical wonders and trinkets that are present in everyday life, whether its people using spells to power their homes or cook their food, to light up their cities, or even to wage war with one another and create powerful instruments of destruction.

But the Eberron has one thing that stands above even the sentient warforged, or even the gravity defying buildings and walkways that make up Sharn; the lightning rails that take you where you need to go in record time; they can even take you across the continent if required! Built for class, comfort, and convenience lightning rails will take you anywhere you desire.

Which is why House Orien needs YOU to help out in reestablishing the lightning rails to Cyre in the upcoming Orien Cyre-xpedition to help rebuild Cyre and bring it back to its former glory!

[jolly canyon]

Is there an Eberron channel 😅

[fossil hollow]

thats my campaign premise

[lavish flame]

Under absolutely zero circumstances

[late kernel]

I went for an Alt-History approach where some different decisions were made during the Great War.

[woven flint]

Sentry Solos

[lavish flame]

there is an Eberron discord server, which is a pretty cool space

[fossil hollow]

yee

[late kernel]

Basically a weapon of mass destruction made during the Great War misfired and mortally wounded a God.

[fossil hollow]

ill kill your dog again

[marble mantle]

"Which is why House Orien needs YOU" gives strong uncle sam poster vibes

[jolly canyon]

I ask alot of questions there!!

[woven flint]

I'll ask to play a different subclass 😔

[fossil hollow]

I was trying to make it look like a Newspaper ad lmao

[jolly canyon]

Being totally transparent I have no clue what my first tables main goals are. I know I want them to eventually stop Lady Illmarrow but I'm just kinda letting them do whatever while constantly hinting that "btw Emerald Claw are some no good bad stinky people"

[late kernel]

My table is currently trying to kill the Silver Flame...

[fossil hollow]

ive thrown daelkyr, the chamber, emerald claw, and uhhhhhh.... the Dreaming dark at them

[jolly canyon]

Next session they fight a mind flayer cause they're in Khyber. It's the second time they went there cause they apparently like thr atmosphere. So this time ima introduce Dyrnn

[fossil hollow]

sweet

[marble mantle]

who doesn't like a mindflayer fight, 0 moral issues just killem

[fossil hollow]

I think i ended the last session with them waiting to meet a black dragon member of the chamber, but got attacked by a hydra

[jolly canyon]

I don't know what the Chamber is tbh but I think I've seen a discussion on them in the discord

[late kernel]

Gotta love when you get a morally okay enemy to kill.

[noble turtle]

’0 moral issues’ you havent met my character yet 🥹 a good thing btw …….

[fossil hollow]

Theyre a secretive group of dragons who try to manipulate and understand the Draconic Prophecy

[rough basalt]

Tokiis having a real bizarre adventure rn

[fossil hollow]

THIS ISNT THE CAR HORSE

[rough basalt]

He's forgetting he's in a 4 man troupe, attacking allies

[marble mantle]

is your character a very empathetic person or a "good" mindflayer??

[jolly canyon]

Woah!! I need to do my research on them. Thay sounds cool!

[late kernel]

Attacking allies is cringe.

[fossil hollow]

Explaining that they also casually commited war crimes to uphold the prophecy to the players was one hell of a bomb lmao

[empty thicket]

Depend

[jolly canyon]

casual war crimes

[empty thicket]

I had to attack them before, its situtional

[worn solstice]

So i have a question i'm a total noob to DnD but all my coworkers enjoy it. I have a question. If I create a character can I choose my own height or is that reliant on what race I choose?

[late kernel]

Most of the NPCs in my campaign are guilty of some human rights violation. My players know asking people their deal is just risky.

[empty thicket]

Yes and no.
You can kinda chose your weight but think that some races that are bigger than others would weight more too

a goblin wont weight like a normal human

[worn solstice]

Right gotcha. Thanks!

[empty thicket]

And other many, you can always made up some numbers. Normally dont matter

[worn solstice]

Good to know.

[empty thicket]

Still dont make your 2.30mts goliath weight 50kg....

[late kernel]

Float like a butterfly sting like a bee type weight.

[noble turtle]

first one 😭😭

[empty thicket]

Bro is a vegan or smt like that

or have 1 arm and leg less

[feral fulcrum]

And then he came out of the Horse...as a blind Unicorn.

[fossil hollow]

he hurled his thunderbolt?

[timid ember]

guys quick question, if as a monk i want to use a focus point that counts as a bonus action right?

[barren badger]

It depends

What are you doing with it?

[timid ember]

that one feature with the way of the hand that allows u to make 2 attacks

[barren badger]

Flurry of blows?

[timid ember]

but i want to know if is possible to use your full action to attack once, then bonus action to do a unarmed attack and then focus point for 2 extra attacks

[barren badger]

Also 2014 or 2024?

[timid ember]

yea, that one

[timid ember]

2024

[barren badger]

Flurry of Blows. You can expend 1 Focus Point to make two Unarmed Strikes as a Bonus Action.

A bonus action!

[barren badger]

Yes. This is possible

[timid ember]

thats pretty nice

[barren badger]

Yup! It’s also baseline monk. All monks can do it.

(At level 2)

[lavish flame]

Using a focus point does not have an associated action. Certain things you use them on might take up one of your actions. Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, and Patient Defense can all take up your Focus Points.

[timid ember]

i thought that flurry blows were dependant on u chosing the way of the hand thingy

[barren badger]

Nope!

[timid ember]

nice

thanks guys

[umbral girder]

Open hand just gives you extra options with Flurry of Blows

they function like 5.5e’s Weapon Masteries

[barren pagoda]

Is there any cantrip/spell that is moderately epic but also not OP, similar to Toll the Dead but it deals more damage as the enemy weakens over time and then the damage die increases both with spell level/character level (cantrip)?

So say enemy health 80% and up, useless damage
65% and up low damage

45% and up good damage (2d12)

Below 45%, really high damage (2d12 + 1d8) or (2d12+5)

[broken imp]

none that i know of in 5e/5.5e

[valid geyser]

No spells like that, really

Seems tough to balance and to write for because a dm would have to calculate what percentage HP the enemy has

Beyond bloodied which is just half

[rough basalt]

Party survived the city attack that was indirectly a homebrew test

The free grease casts broke the entire encounter

[barren pagoda]

I would really like to introduce a spell where the damage increases as the enemy weakens over the time

And ofc the usual level curve would add additional damage die

I’d be DMing but I was wondering of if such spell can be made

[woven flint]

Grease saved us /silly

[broken imp]

made by u i presume

[rough basalt]

Ye

[broken imp]

yea ofc

[rough basalt]

No level up is hilarious

[broken imp]

set these "benchmarks" like 50% 25% 15% 5% etc

[rough basalt]

t2 xp leveling is so demanding

[sweet flame]

Power word: kill is sort of like this?

[rough basalt]

Tho theyre not far off level 8

[broken imp]

yes kinda, but like not just die under 100 but a percent hp thing

[rough basalt]

t2 xp leveling is so damn slow

And i love it

[severe rampart]

I really wanna run an XP campaign one day lmao

[next solar]

the only spell i can think of that does this is "divine word"

[broken imp]

me really no like XP system

[next solar]

but its not damage, its a control spell

[severe rampart]

It devolves into "Guys, we've come this far... we're just 10k xp away from leveling up..." 🫠

[broken imp]

u should take the rules from ad&d and move it here, but like harder, soulike campaign

[barren badger]

I feel like a mega dungeon would be good for this?

[barren pagoda]

Ah okay. That’s why I asked if a spell already exists. I’d also like to make it such that at enemy full health or even 90% it doesn’t do any damage. But yeah since I’m new I’m more concerned with the balance since idk how much spell damage and such and wanted to ask

I saw someone who said their homebrew barbarian would half all damage to themselves and nearby allies (60 m) by half at level 6, which to me sounded OP so I wanna be sure

[rough basalt]

All my games are XP

[severe rampart]

that's actually the campaign idea I'm planning lmao

[barren pagoda]

Will look it up

[severe rampart]

Monster Hunting using rules from Heliana's

[broken imp]

nah don't worry about balancing this game is already broken enough

[next solar]

well, i would say worry a little, especially if its a spell for the players to use

[narrow moss]

shadows go brrrrrr

[barren pagoda]

Wait really? I thought balance is a whole debate and why homebrew is typically avoided in terms of spell making?

[narrow moss]

dashes as a bonus

[sudden hollow]

Man ima have to feed my spellbook so much gold lol

[broken imp]

yes it is a whole thing but smt like that is not gonna break the game

[narrow moss]

spellbooks are hungy

[barren pagoda]

Alrighty

[broken imp]

if ur players like to optimized they're gonna find a way to use it to break the game sometime or later

[paper portal]

would be cool to have a cantrip that dealt 1d6 and increased by 1d6 every time you hit the same enemy with it or smth

[sudden hollow]

Thats the only thing we could think of for why it is gonna cost 50 gold to learn a spell with no material component cost, no ink cost, ect.

[broken imp]

hmm sound kinda familiar somehow...

[barren badger]

I don’t mind homebrew, but a lot of people write homebrew poorly.

The dungeon masters guide actually has a section on creating spells though. That can help with balance

[narrow moss]

is healthier somehow after the dash

[next solar]

probably add a cap, or else it would be very broken

[broken imp]

yea it would, tho i don't think i'd use it much as 1 shots are Just Better™

[barren badger]

When would it be “wear off”?

[sweet flame]

These numbers are really strong depending on spell level. I can write a balanced one for you though if you can wait 5min. What level do u want?

[sudden hollow]

I have one that does this, just gotta maintain concentration. Either the caster becomes the primary target, or the enemy dies 🤷‍♂️

[broken imp]

delayed blast fireball + circle magic

assuming u hit and the enemy doesn't just move away

[next solar]

well of course a high level spells is stronger then a cantrip

[barren pagoda]

I’m not really that bothered about making strong mechanics. I kind of really love magic tinkering and really enjoy coming up with ideas be it lore or spells

[paper portal]

it kinda sounds like it at first glance but if you think about it i think itd be fine, like for it to be even remotely worth it over fire bolt you'd need to land 3 hits which doesnt happen very often as a caster

[next solar]

i think itd be very good early game, and fall off mid game as with most other cantrips

[sudden hollow]

I also made a revocation for warlocks that let's them hold their eldritch blast by concentrating. The damage stacks each turn for one big hit when released, HOWEVER. If they lose concentration it can go off in their hand.. which can be.. not good

[barren badger]

That’s completely valid!

I think homebrew monsters are a really cool way to express your creativity.

Player options I’m nervous because you’re stuck with them for a while

[narrow moss]

cantrips are for early game or situational stuff, especially at low levels, cuz spell slots

also lighting candles with a wave of a finger is fun

[barren pagoda]

I wanted it as either a level 1 cantrip or level 1 spell that gets stronger and complete by level 10 or 12 max

[barren badger]

Also, it’s fun when the DM gets to use their own homebrew

[narrow moss]

ye

[broken imp]

yea exactly, i love making creative monster that i never use

[sudden hollow]

Cantrips are for entire game at all levels cause spellslots lol. Its why I have scaling ones

[narrow moss]

oh true for sure

i just mean they're always useful in some way

[paper portal]

thats kinda table dependent tbh if you have longer days you'll see a lot more cantrips

[broken imp]

cantrip than, spell scale with spell slot

[narrow moss]

just preventing healing is a big thing

[paper portal]

eldritch blast especially

[blissful ibex]

Sickening Radiance sort of fits the bill if you squint enough

[narrow moss]

it isn't about how high the spell slot is, it's how you use it. Yeah baby yeah

[paper portal]

hi meabhy!

[barren pagoda]

Tbh I’d be really happy to make stuff for others (not just my table) so they can enjoy it as well

Shared happiness and all xD

[severe rampart]

Underestimated how deadly Phandelver and Below is, 3 sessions in, 4 character deaths

[narrow moss]

the goblin fort?

oh wait you said 'and below'

[barren badger]

Maybe it could be an ability that charges up like an ultimate ability from a JRPG.

It only deals a little damage, but every X times you cast it, free fireball!

[narrow moss]

that's the one after Lost Mines isn't it

[sudden hollow]

Heck we go through most of our slots every combat😅. Doesnt help that i only have 2 atm. But the sorcerer and bard are constantly low from spamming their high damage spells. Thankfully combat rarely lasts more than 3 or 4 rounds

[barren badger]

Echo kills so many players….

[narrow moss]

i don't like that someone is named Echo. And kills players.

[barren pagoda]

I actually am unsure since Ik cantrip scales with level while spell scale with spell level, but which would be better, is what idk

[narrow moss]

lol

[severe rampart]

I've only killed three characters in Curse of Strahd (11 sessions in)

[paper portal]

i think your dm needs to give you guys a lesson on spending slots wisely

[severe rampart]

You don't see me complaining that your name is Silas just like my character

[narrow moss]

oh i thought they meant an NPC

[next solar]

yep, although the entirety of lost mines of phandelver is in phandelver and below, barely changed

[sudden hollow]

All modules can be deadly. I have lost a lotttt of my own characters. And accidently killed several pc's from run of the mill stuff

[narrow moss]

lol sorry. XD

[broken imp]

my party has been TPKed like 8 times now, and i'm running waterdeep: dragon heist

[severe rampart]

personally I've never lost a character of mine

I just want to experience it, the realization that I'll never have adventures with this character ever again

[narrow moss]

i don't plan on losing my first guy in my first real attempt at a campaign but crit happens.

[sudden hollow]

He has been... but we have been spending slots to get out of it. Heck I used every slot and ability i had in one turn for a whopping... 33 damage😅 but I did also restrain the enemy

[narrow moss]

sounds like the dm will be lenient for the first few levels at least.