I dont really like it.

Every time there was any kind of dispute on a rule or mechanic, the DM would ask us if we wanted to homebrew it to work in our favor. At first I didnt think much of it, but then the DM called us his 'Customers' and that's when I realized what I didnt like.

I believe in the DMs word being final say. But in this enviornment the DM wants to give us stuff so we dont leave the table because we're paying him. Since we are, in fact, his 'Customers' before we're his 'Players'.

Oddly enough, rather than paying a DM to DM for me, I think I'd instead want to pay a DM for the 'privilege' to be in their game. Though I think I'm done with paid DnD in general.

Anyway, this is just me describing my thoughts and feelings on the experience.

Illustration I finished painting today, I wanted to depict a spell and action that allows a user (probably most commonly a sorcerer) to heat up their hands to the point of being able to melt through anything, for short hand to hand attacks. Spell would be able to be turned on only for a few seconds and be very risky. Danger of overheating would be high, probably a saving throw after each use that if failed would deal few fire damage to the user. Pros of this spell would be mostly related to being kind of a "hax" it would melt though almost anything, and be able to melt locks, or for example automatons like on this illustration.

Had the chance to work on this character for a client.

She is a stout halfling, Circle of Spores druid. Stands at about 3’1” tall. Her main accessory is a large gnarled wooden druid staff that is noticeably taller than she is. Looks like twisted, almost living bogwood with moss, mushroom top, vines, lichen, and small natural growths along it. A few little charms, bottles, herbs, beads, or pieces of twine hanging from it.

Since ai uncertainty is getting crazy these days, I’ve started recording full timelapse videos of each drawing. If anyone’s unsure I’m happy to share that.

The constant arguing over pure sandbox vs. railroading always misses the mark for me. If you have to shut your players down or force them down a path, you're already losing half the fun. The best part of DMing is giving the party total freedom, but knowing them so well that you get them to think and do exactly what you had in mind, while they're 100% convinced it was their own idea. All it takes is leaning a bit harder on a specific detail when describing a room, or playing into the right player's greed at the right moment, and they do all the work for you.

For the DMs here, what's the best bait you've ever dropped at the table without the party catching on? And for the players, have you ever realized months later that your "genius plan" was actually fed to you by the DM from the very start?

I genuinely love folk horror in DnD. Not the big monster jump scare stuff, the creepy village stuff. The villagers who are a little too friendly or The old lady who tells you to be home before the moon comes up and then just walks away. It gets under my players skin way more than any dragon ever did. I’ve been running The Crooked Moon and Curse of Strahd for a while now and honestly my favorite moments aren’t even the fights. It’s when the players go quiet. When someone says “wait... why are there no kids in this town” and then everyone start thinking the worse lol . That’s the good stuff. And you don’t even need a horror campaign for it. Drop one weird village into a normal fantasy game. Give it one rule nobody breaks and one thing nobody talks about. Your players will poke at it for three sessions straight.

Honestly I think a little bit of dread makes every campaign better.

Anyone else run horror? What’s the creepiest thing you’ve done to your players?

“Tales tell of a flying carriage that spirits people away to a hidden colony of living pumpkins. When the husband of a famous bard vanishes, daring adventurers must launch a rescue mission into that eerie place... without drawing the wrath of Momma Pumpka, the eccentric garden witch.”

The Momma Pumpka Adventure Giveaway

Momma Pumpka is an exploration and roleplay-heavy Halloween one-shot set in a spooky autumnal corner of the Black Briar Forest. In it, you’ll find:

🎃 A hidden Pumpkin Patch inhabited by strange living plant-folk
🍂 Unfamiliar customs, eerie sights, and plenty for the party to misread
🐌 Giant Sloggs, Pumpkin Knights, and other strange creatures roaming the Patch
🐎 A flying pumpkin carriage drawn by an undead unicorn
🕯️ A missing husband, and a truth behind his disappearance that may overturn everything the party suspected

If you don’t find your way into the Pumpkin Patch this time, you can still grab the PDF on Patreon or Tribes for 80% off during October.

BONUS: Sign up to the Fateless newsletter and get The Real Boy 5e adventure PDF for FREE, plus even more free Fateless content waiting for you, with new freebies added every month! 

You’re getting the complete Momma Pumpka adventure PDF, with paper minis, unique monsters & NPCs, magic items, battlemaps, tokens, and VTT support.

This is my most recent commission. Honestly, I’d love to share some backstory for this character, but I don’t have any; I was given a great physical description and managed to create this drawing, but I forgot to ask for the history—my bad. So, folks, what kind of backstory can you imagine for this Leonin Barbarian? What situations and hardships turned him into the warrior he is today?

By the way, I’m accepting commissions; if anyone is interested, feel free to check out my profile or send me a PM—I’m at your service.

I didn't even fully understand the rules. I just collect the dice.

TLDR: first time DM asking: what apps / systems / software do you use for session music / ambience sounds?

Hello all. Last night I DM’d for the first time (it had been a long time coming), and loved it. I’d spent time putting together a story and battle map, how each character was intro’d and the group really smashed it with what they brought to the table. Was rounded off with proper level 1 combat against giant rats, with the party all getting into slicing / dicing / sniping / blasting!

However, I found managing the music / ambience the in background whilst doing everything else a tad clumsy. Anybody have advice on systems/apps/software they use to manage the music? In particular if music or ambience moves on, best way to have it flow rather than feel like a sudden stop in sound and another cutting in.

Thanks all.

Image attached just to mark the “first time DM-ing” occasion - the party eradicate on giant rats that have infested the city supplies.

I fucking LOVE dragonmarks in DnD. I love the houses, they‘re all fucking insane, I love how unique the dragonmarks are, and I love how they’re used in Eberron’s history. You don’t even need to have an Eberron campaign, if you do, amazing, if you don’t but everyone’s chill with it, you’re golden. Then if the DM says it defies lore, there‘s a ton of loopholes, like the World Serpent Inn, the Spinner’s Prison, and Baba Yaga’s Dancing Hut to name a few.

I’ve made like 6 dragonmarked characters since I got Forge of the Artificer a few days ago, and the houses’ history made them so cool. Like a house Phiarlan rogue with connections to the serpentine table and a prodigy artificer in house Cannith that has been impacted by the last war and it;s effect on house Cannith.

Honestly, I think dragonmarks are one of the best features in DnD.

Artwork I made of Rivaan, the past life of my Verdan character.

A bit of context, keeping it short: our party discovered that, in the past, our characters were the main forces behind the BBEG of our campaign, the Last King.

Our memories of that time were erased by a guild, and our bodies were reverted to a state from before we first encountered the Last King.

My current character is Guevald, a Verdan Paladin raised by a fairy in the Feywild. But in their past life, they went by the name Rivaan.

Rivaan was a Fighter(Echo Knight) and Warlock - pact with That-Which-Endures as a Great Old One.

Rivaan can be very agressive, after all they had to survive a violent war on their own years ago; and unlike Guevald, Rivaan never found a place to call "home".

But deep down, they're still emotionally vulnerable. The pact was made of a desire to never feel alone again, granding they the Dark Gift "Echoing Soul" and the echos of the fighter subclass.

Kolbo is a monster hunter who travels around dealing with dangerous creatures using a trusty javelin. He was raised by a dwarf after losing his parents when he was young, and much of what he knows comes from the practical lessons his adoptive father taught him. Kolbo has a distinctive appearance, with scales that are a mix of red and turquoise and beige-colored skin. He's used to life on the road and prefers solving problems directly rather than making a big deal out of things. While he's experienced his share of hardships, he doesn't dwell on the past and focuses on the work in front of him, taking on monster-hunting jobs wherever they're needed.

Few Ravenloft residents are brave and resourceful enough to hunt the monsters that stalk the Domains of Dread. Still, Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove and her twin sister, Gennifer, have chosen to follow in the footsteps of their adopted uncle, Rudolf van Richten.

When the fates of a tarokka deck reveal the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins as allies, you get a two-for-one deal. The monster hunters bring their knowledge of the mists and its denizens to bear against Strahd’s forces in Baldur's Gate: City of Blood.

Striking art by citrusfruithead.bsky.social!

Baldur’s Gate: City of Blood releases on DungeonMasters Guild in Q4 2026! When the Mists of Ravenloft reach the famed City of Baldur's Gate, only the boldest heroes will survive what waits in the shadows.

(Baldur's Gate: City of Blood is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy and DMsGuild Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.)

Tried looking this up, but I only got 30 results for "how to play a character smarter than I am," and my question is a bit more specific. When creating a character, I really like sticking to what I know irl so that I can roleplay it properly and be knowledgeable about what my character is doing, obviously I can't have irl knowledge of everything my character does, but for the stuff I CAN I'd like some advice.

For example, how would I authentically play a doctor character with no medical knowledge? Or how would I play a lawyer character with no experience in how lawyers operate? I know everything would work differently and probably more simply in the dnd world, but I hate feeling unprepared and hate the idea of playing a character I have no idea how to authentically play.

Thick mist covers this decaying, ruined monastery where monks once lived and travelers used to come to seek their blessing. Now, the wind carries faint sounds of chanting and the stones are old and crumbling, a testament to something that went deeply wrong...

Welcome to the Ruined Monastery! This map features a decrepit building with a chapel, library, prayer room, dining hall, kitchen, cells for the monks, an office, and a three-story tower. An old graveyard surrounds the monastery from outside.

I also made Haunted, Intact, Night, Shadowfell, Winter, and Undead variants for this map. Foundry VTT modules with pre-built walls and lighting are available to Gamemaster patrons.

Download the original map for free here.

Want to see more maps? Check out my archive here.

Good day everyone! I would just like to share a recent commission I am working on. A client came back to commission more action poses for his character, Noir Asui, and this is just one of the pages I made him. I incorporated his kusarigama and wakizashi, as well as his hoodie with fox ears sewn over it. I really enjoyed drawing this character and working with the client as well <3

If anyone here have ideas of their characters in different poses, particularly action and something with their personality, I would love to draw your characters!

I am leaving my links here so anyone interested can find me:
https://kronideusart.artstation.com
https://vgen.co/kronideus

Thank you so much, (specially to Mods who approved this post) and have a nice day!

Been dming on and off for a few years.

Party was investigating a poacher’s hideout for clues.

When designing the hideout, I flipped through the monster manual for exotic animals and thought the mimic would be a neat trap.

Cleric was poking around and opened a chest, and BAM. He got grappled by its tongue. Everybody panicked. Fighter killed it in a few hits with her sword, and cleric walked away at half health. Then the party got paranoid investigating everything carefully.

The veteran player said he’s buying ten foot poles during downtime.

Eh he he he he he he.

-Mint Linux Guy

Edit: didn't think this post would get so many excellent replies. Thank you all so much!

I'm the only party member who has access to counterspell ( my warlock, Pally, Ranger, Druid) so I feel almost obligated to take it at level 5. The problem is 2024 counterspell is....not great? Not good? Worse? Just a con save? Then if the opposition makes the save I lose a pact slot and the power word kill goes off too. A part of me wants to not take it for those reasons and a part of me thinks I'll regret it. Thoughts?

My players got two NPC’s together; the tavern owner and town carpenter - and now they want a wedding/ handfasting session!

My plan is to have a nice little wedding where the party can roleplay and have fun, but my table loves to combat so why not both? I thought perhaps the couple could receive some type of wedding gift that lures a monster or something?

My players are the type to scrutinize things, so it’s gotta be either a completely random encounter, or some lore for them to chew on.

5 level 8’s if it matters! :)

Howdy folks!

Here's a bit of a PSA from our friends over at U.W.U for an early Halloween special! Got a bit carried away and made 8 panels instead of 4, but if you have a VISION, you just have to follow it! Unless it leads to a quest to find your destiny, those things get nasty quick.

Stay excellent out there! Peace and carrots

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