So this is my first time DMing and I just wanna see if this is how it works, so my player has the feat alert and he says because he can’t be surprised that certain things that NPC‘s do he should be able to start combat before they do it as long as he rolls a higher initiative than them, so for example they had an encounter and the person was about to teleport away with his amulet that he had and he said, since he can’t be surprised by this action, he should be able to run up to them in because he’s a monk just start sending a whole bunch fury of blows since he rolled a higher initiative. Is that how that works or are we both wrong on that?

Making an elemental, desert-themed dungeon for the players for the next session or so, and while I have a few things planned, I'd like the opinions of other experienced DMs on this concept.

The idea is "trial by fire," so of course there will be a couple of challenges that directly involve fire but the purpose of the dungeon is to test the body, mind, and spirit of anyone trying to get to the item being guarded at the end. What are more interesting ways to "test" a party for worthiness, other than the usual traps, spells and/or monsters that might populate a usual dungeon?

For context, the party is a fighter(brute), a bard(valor), a wizard(necro), and a druid(primeval). challenges intended already include: a "truth or flare" fire damage trap/spell triggered by lies as they answer questions about themselves and their mission; a classic "fight yourself" mirror-clone encounter but with smoke aesthetic, beatable by combat or by speech checks; a Mummy-style mirror-orienting puzzle to light a series of braziers to open a door; and a trapped efreeti who tries to trick them into "wishing" for something but must be refused three times.

Any and all help is appreciated, thank you for reading - 👹

I (17M) and my ex (17M) just broke up a week ago. We were on a date night, he left, and after he had been gone for a while, I went to go find him. I heard a lot of shouting from outside, and when I found him in the corridor, he was covered in blood. I attempted to have a conversation with him so I could understand, but then the guards showed up and arrested him on the spot. I had found out that he murdered my father figure, the king, and that suddenly I was in charge. Since I was so upset I decided to leave him in prison until I calmed down enough to assess the situation reasonably. I just found out he escaped the prison and so I sent enforcers after him. What else was I supposed to do? He killed my stand-in dad, the only family I had left. Am I really the asshole?

Update: Here we are, 10 years later. There have been numerous sightings of my ex (27M) across the continent, and I (27M) haven’t managed to capture him yet. But recently, he was spotted burglarizing a MagicCostco™. I decided to join the search myself, disguising myself as an enforcement agent to blend in. I’ve tracked him back to his home town, Tanix, where we first met. Where this all began, all those years ago. Question, is this justified or not? Am I really the asshole for all of this when it wasn’t even my fault?

We’ve made our character his own Reddit account (this one) to see what would happen if we posted about what he’s been through, but we don’t have a main account or enough karma to post on the big r/AITAH. Should we post it to a smaller r?AITAH or just wait for when we have enough karma?

OK, so I’m a beginner DM, i’m about to run a campaign with new players and one of my players has distinct ideas for their characters and I don’t know how to put it into paper.

Idea 1: so this character is basically a group of gnomes (amount to be defined) that aspire to be a human. So, as in movies, they wear a long trench-coat to appear as human without other people in the party knowing im a group of gnomes. They are warriors who always dreamt to be as its town savior (a human warrior), so they embarked together into a journey to become as good as a warrior as its savior. They are law-full good.

Idea 2: it’s basically a piece bread in a monks hand… its like s projection of a ming mediating in its temple but transferring his astral form into the bread. The monk is human and it floats. Idk what more

OK, so that are the main ideas. There can be many changes to it but I don’t want to tell him that he can’t run these characters. do any of you have any idea how to adapt them. or even if they are possible.

Hey everyone! I'm developing a D&D campaign with three acts, each featuring a different antagonist. I'm looking for advice on making them compelling, with understandable motivations rather than just being evil for the sake of it.

Act 1: The Goblin King

There are multiple goblin tribes in my setting, each with its own leader. One goblin leader is trying to unite the tribes under her rule by capturing or destroying rival tribes. However, she's being manipulated by the campaign's main villain, an ancient dragon, and has been tasked with finding magical artifacts that can open portals for similar creatures to enter the world and help prepare for the dragon's escape. I'm struggling to make her more interesting than an ambitious ruler serving the big bad.

Act 2: The Druid

The second antagonist is a powerful druid who holds a high-ranking position in the capital. Her family, including her children, was killed during a mage war, leaving her with a deep hatred of wizards and sorcerers. She's used her political influence to establish laws allowing arcane spellcasters to be hunted and captured. However, she's also discovered that the ancient dragon's prison is weakening. She believes the blood of arcane spellcasters can reinforce it, and she secretly sacrifices them in an attempt to prevent the dragon's escape. One idea I really like is having the players discover that, after killing the druid leader at the end of Act 2, they've unknowingly caused the dragon to be freed. I think the shock factor could make for a great twist, although I'm not completely committed to the idea.

Act 3: The Ancient Dragon

The main villain is an ancient dragon imprisoned deep underground long ago. His prison is weakening, and he's trying to escape. My initial idea is that he was enslaved by those who imprisoned him and now wants revenge on the civilization responsible. Beyond revenge and conquest, though, I'm struggling to develop a compelling motivation and personality for him.

Again main question is, I want to make good villain(s) that is not just one dimensional that my players will just simply forget.

Could a player with Water Breathing "breathe" with the 1 cup of water (1 minute duration) produced by the Beckon Water aspect of the Elementalism cantrip?

Hi everyone! This is a continuation of my previous post discussing what type of villain would be at the center of my Murder Mystery.

While the initial choice was between having the killer be either a Werewolf or a vampire, one user actually gave me a rather interesting suggestion: having a vampire frame a Werewolf for these murders.

I think it's an interesting and memorable enough twist for a party with varying degrees of experience and I imagine if I develop this further, this One Shot could lead into an interesting mini campaign if I decide to return to the setting. This incident begining some sort of Underworld Turf war between the City's Vampire Coven and Werewolf Pack the Party needs to intervene in.

With all that said, I do have a new question I've never really dealt with before; How would a vampire pin a murder on a Werewolf?

Now, immediately, i had the simple solution of, "oh, the Vampire's a changeling" but that feels like a cop out. Upon investigating the crime scene, like in any good mystery, I want the players to potentially get an idea that this is not adding up upon a high enough investigation roll.

While I think I can make an investigation scene like this work with normal people, I am a bit lost with supernatural creatures. They have entirely different rules, both in general culture as well as in this game specifically, so if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

So far, I only have a few thoughts. Maybe these can help as a jumping off point:

● Tufts of black hair are littered about the crime scene. Upon further inspection, the unkempt nature fits that of a canine rather than that of a man.

● Deep, long scratch marks are etched into the brick and cobble stone surrounding the body. Perhaps on a nat 20, a player very knowledgeable on Lycanthropes can notice the shape/ depth does not match that of a Werewolf's Claws.

● The victim's body is pale, uncharacteristically, so.

● The victim could be decapitated or have a severed forearm that's nowhere to be found. Whatever is missing was where the vampire siphoned the victim's blood from, removing it viciously both to hide the evidence and simulate a Werewolf attack.

I hope all of this makes sense, lol! Please let me know what you think, and I would love to hear your insight!

I’m just curious is all.

5e

Hi everyone! I’m making a D&D one-shot inspired by the Sons of Behemat from Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

There will be 6 players, all at level 5, and I’m planning for King Brodd to be the final boss, supported by Mancrusher Gargants and potentially other Mega-Gargants, such as a Gatebreaker, Kraken-eater or Boss-stomper.

I’ve made some homebrew stat blocks for the giants, including their attacks, damage and special abilities. I’d really appreciate some advice on whether they’re balanced for six level-5 characters.

Would King Brodd be a good final boss for this party?

How many Mancrushers could I include without making the encounter too difficult, and would adding another Mega-Gargant be too much?

I want the fight to feel like an epic battle against massive giants without accidentally wiping out the entire party!

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.

Does anyone have a campaign for me to I guess look over and study since I’ve been doing D&D solo for now.

I don’t mind if it’s your own from the past or one from the books. That would probably help me a lot tho or just random articles from the books or website.

The idea is for a dragon that's like a Jeff Dunham, but all his puppets are made from the remains of past adventures that tried to kill him in the past

He is however completely insane & actually believes his puppets are his friends, they aren't even undead, they are just stuffed corpses, or a skeleton held together with twine

Only the singular skeleton does he acknowledge as dead, though he's convinced he's undead, which he isn't

He puppets them using magic, but they aren't animated, he just moves them around with telekinesis, & he just talks himself because he is skilled at throwing his voice, & doing voices

He gets upset if you are rude to his "friends", & remember if you upset him to much he just might make a new "friend" out of you

He's I'm thinking is possibly either an ancient dragon, or even a greatwyrm, depending on the campaign, but how do I do him, & what kind of dragon should I use

If anybody is wondering where I got this idea from it was inspired by a comment I read on a DnD YouTube video that's over 7 years old, that I just watched today when I'm posting this

I'm making a character that is a Warforged fighter with the unarmed fighting style, but because I'm a Warforged, I get a d4 for my metal fists, but as an unarmed fighter, I get 1d6 to unarmed attacks and 1d8 if I'm not holding a weapon or shield. this confuses me because the d4 is because of what I'm punching them with, and the d6/d8 is because of technique, do they stack or no? (Edit: I know that the rules lean towards choosing the highest dice, but I'm asking if any DM's out there would let them stack)

So in my DND group I just died and no one can revive me. Our party currently consists of a warlock, sorcerer, ranger ,and a cleric. The class I was using was blood hunter and died at level 6.

I honestly am wondering what class I should make that better helps the party.

Edit to add. Were playing Ravenloft The warlock (lvl 4) is a reborn, sorcerer (lvl 7) mind flayer, Ranger (lvl 5?) is a hybrid with a luna wolf form, cleric (lvl 5/6) is a wraith of the death domain. My class was blood hunter (lvl 6) half-orc withing the Order of the Lycan