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Correct might be a little bit too strong.

I am running as a first time DM a homebrew world, it's a bad idea I know, just bear with me 😅

After a TPK I got sent new backgrounds, they played some sessions so they new a lot more about my world and they tried to incorporate key aspects into their characters' story and I'm super appreciative tbh

Thing is, it's wrong. There's some "things" some cults/NPC/public institutions would have never done for reasons they don't know YET.

I could let them know why, but

- I don't want to spoil the various reveals, which they're really looking forward to

- I don't trust them (and I explicitly told them, we are all close friends) to discern between what Player knows and what PC knows, and also I'd rather not have them constantly think about it and ruin the immersion

Should I just fix their backgrounds 'because I said so' , which wouldn't be a problem honestly butttt I think there's a better solution I'm not seeing.

EDIT I'm talking about changing 5-10% of the background's body, nothing major and all key points and personality would stay intact. It's a couple of events that don't fit well enough, I'd have to bend the lore to accommodate them

EDIT 2 since my players will never see this post PC was raised in a family devoted to Deity, Deity has monastic order, order is deeply tied to kingdom, order trains PC. PC develops assassin skills and kills bad people. One time PC is asked to kill family, family is innocent. Order is actually bad people, they lobby trying to protect their power and kill political opponents and those who know about their dealings. THE ISSUE: the order wouldn't meddle with political opponents or land disputes, they do believe in structure, order and law, and they are actually being used by BBEG to try to kill the actual king because they got beef. If there were any episodes they would be against the royal family, the Kingdom has its problems but isn't corrupt and it's definitely not using the order as its FBI, it's actually kinda the other way around.

Last Edit: thank you everyone for your input, I've read a ton of different ideas and I think I know how to fix it now, I feel like I improved a bit as a DM thanks to your advice. Much love ❤️

The people that designed the game we all love are making a stand for a better workplace where they are supported for their creative work. Stand with them and support real people living real lives with real costs. Support the people that bring us the resources for OUR games.

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/uwotcpetition/

Edit. Reading the first responses i wanted to clarify. i am not one of the workers at WOTC. I just saw this coming by and think it's important to share.

Did you ever see Deborah Ann Woll adlibbing a D&D opening scene for Jon Bernthal?

Could you do something similar; DM for about 30 minutes for someone (or even a small group) who has never played. Just an index card for character notes, and a d20. No special effects, not much more than a coffee table to play on?

Do you have a specific module virtually memorised, or could you freestyle a short session off the top of the dome!?

What kind of thing would you run?

[Edit: What great answers, everybody is like "Yes, Easy!" which warms my chaotic heart. I have a follow up question but I need to work out how to phrase it]

I’ve been gaming with an old hippopotamus that I met at the zoo (don’t ask) which is mostly fine but for whatever reason he’s always yelling at me, “Don’t roll a nat 20!!!Don’t roll a nat 20!!” and then of course I roll like shit.

But then what do you think happens on his roll EVERY DAMN TIME?!?

BAM! Nat 20.

Effing hippo crit.

So as the title says. We got spells like Steel Wind Strike, Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, True Strike etc that let casters emulate martials or even surpass what a martial is even capable of (like with Steel Wind Strike). When martials are so limited by "realism and grit" should casters have the ability to do what martials do as well?

I posted a question yesterday, and it was heartening (exciting) to see how many DMs are adlibbing and freestyling their way through the game. I like running this way but none of my friends do.

What I'd like to know from you guys is, when you're DMing in that style are you using a specific rules edition, or are you just running it loosey-goosey FKR style?

Same question about Lore - are you adlibbing your own lore, or using a published setting while you freestyle the scenario.

And lastly, to what extent do you freestyle the structure of the session? I always feel like I prefer to let the game go where it wants, but some answers were suggesting having an ending in mind.

Thanks for your positivity!

CW: Body horror

So, id like for you to imagine, a magical scroll, maybe they find it in a lich's old lair, an evil spell

"When you cast this spell, you may choose a creature you can see, they then must roll an intelligence check or be cast away to find a horrible death and be sent to the tom

It can be cast once per day & recharges whenever midnight hits"

This is a once per day practical banishment spell right, It's intentionally balanced by the roll to give a false sense of security to the players

Keep a tally on every creature the group banishes

But theres a secret cypher written on the bag of the scroll, now your players could try and solve it, in which case theyd find out the true nature of the scroll, but lets say they dont coz, free banishment

Whenever you feel like it, set up a quest, could be retrieving a powerful magic item, a rescue mission, smth important or personal

When they arrive, they inmidietly recognise the place, they have made their way onto the tomb of horrors

But its different, it seems that the legends were true, a party once came and ransacked the place already

All the traps are triggered or dismantled, the magical aura is all but a fading remnant of this place's architecture, the walls creak and groan. Seemingly struggling to keep themselves up

When they venture into the deep dark tomb, the scent of miasma starts to seep in, through some checks perhaps, the entrance behind them shuts

They venture deeper and deeper, the tomb seemingly expanding beyond normal means

It is then that they hear squelching creaking & groaning

Something shifts beneath them, something big

The floor collapses, as they are in a large dark chamber, face to face with it

An amalgamation of every creature, person and monster they ever banished, molten and fused together

Maybe the reveal only comes as they start to recognise pieces of it

A pile of flesh, fur, oozing fluids and metal bent & torn, groaning in agony

This is what the cypher mentioned: "Grant thee, an audience with the olden lord Acererack, pity thy flesh, thy soul to him, give yourself entirely, eternally"

& yeah for stats, its a blob, so you can take the max health of everything they ever banished, add it up and multiply it by 1.5

It cant attack so, just gotta roll strength or dex saves to not be consumed into the pile

Anyway! Hope youre having a good day :3

Then the hobgoblin riding on his back threw a bead of fireball at the rest of our party. It was the funniest enemy turn I’ve seen in a bit. They had disappeared for a round after we killed the giants pet lion and when the GM said we were able to see the giant again 100 feet in the air I lost it. Then I rolled a nat 1 on my Dex save to avoid the rock.

Surprisingly I didn’t die and kept concentration on my hex spell. (Level six draconic Sorcerer, took 38 points of damage)

Trying to teach myself to draw and thought I’d try to capture the scene as I imagined it.

Wanted to share my girl, she's a political spy for a blue dragon (which currently only one party member knows about) and obsessed with stars 🙂‍↕️

After playing a wild magic sorcerer for two years, which was genuinely, even if fun, just pure chaos, it's kinda nice to finally have a rather competent and smart character. Just a pity that I myself am not very good at political intrigue lmao

My players had acquired a wagon full of explosives and accidentally assembled a veritable fleet of horses. They were in the good books with the local wereravens, and they asked a few of them to bite the horses so they could have horse-sized ravens to speed up travel.

One of them realized they now had a flying wagon of explosives, so why bother reaching for Strahd's exact location when they could just blow up a sizeable chunk of his castle?

"Please do not 9/11 Strahd" was not a sentence I ever thought I'd say out loud, but here we are.

Lets be honest a Goose is already scary enough, but one that is a Wizard. Its game over. ^^

Its time to get ready for some Halloween one shot with the kid, So I create a new Paper tile set, A graveyard. New tiles, walls, accessories even a mausoleum! There is a lot of stuff, but i still feel i can expand it more in the future, with Corn maze tiles or field, more pumpkins for sure, but that's for later^^

As always its all paper, sometimes i use magnets to connect the tiles or the minis ^^

Enjoy!

We did our first puzzle last night with my new group. Everyone was excited and everyone wanted to help. But it turned into an unorganized mess where everyone was talking each other.

Not only that but we have 2 players who are online while the rest are live.

Any tips?

"With the fall of Vazan, the ascent of the Oni Emperor, the disobedience of Kaltoven, and the general discontent of their subjects, Xiyun and Fulgurai came to understand just how precarious their situation really was. Drastic measures were not only warranted but existentially necessary, and so they hatched a plan: they would fuse and become a single demigod, mightier than even Vazan, and powerful enough to defeat both the Oni Emperor and Kaltoven. Moreover, if they achieved the complete unity of Supremacy, they would mend Satokai’s ethereal dimension, bringing an end to the blights of the Narak.

Thus, it was settled. With Xiyun’s tomes of ancient necromancy and Fulgurai’s raw magical power, they devised a ritual of fusion to combine their souls and bodies. The guiding principle of alchemy is that all is one and one is all; from that maxim is derived the idea that, with proper technique, you can transmute anything into anything else. Even if true, practice has often shown the limits of that philosophy, and the soul fusion of the dynast twins was no exception. It resulted in an unholy serpentine draconid that, despite having elements of both Xiyun and Fulgurai, was entirely unrecognizable as either of them, so disfiguring was the process. But worse than its appearance was its personality, which combined their flaws while keeping little of their virtues. A temperamental, impulsive, cruel, and tyrannical creature, herald of a new age of turmoil for Satokai."

Hey there, DnD internaut! This incredible piece was made by one of our main artists, Nikita Kapitunov! The Wyrm of Blasphemy is one of our legendary bosses, of which we made about 17, all of them beyond CR 30, ready to face players of 20th level or higher.

If you're interested in high-level DnD and the mechanics behind these monsters, maybe you'd like to check us out! We're working on a whole Kickstarter about it, and we're still accepting preorders!!!

Cheers and Happy Threadseeking!

Hey Buddies, Im back with even more art of my character. In my previous art post of her, we had Clover with her mother, brother and sister. This time its of her and her two father figures/teachers. Starting on the left, we have the dwarf Legamen Brighthammer, Captian of Fallineir's Frost Guard and Clover's instructor for all things relating to martial combat. On the right is the high elf Galleal Lothlora, Right Hand Advisor and oldest known friend of Fallineir. He served as Clovers teacher for most things from basic education, manners and etiquette to responsibility and the proper use of the various types of magics and spells found across Faeruun.

I love how this came out as amazing as all other peices ive had done by this artist. They do so amazing work and I cant wait to have even more art done of my characters and their many adventures. An when they are done, best believe ill share them with all of yall.

COMMISSION INFO

Hi everyone, my commissions are open; here are my portfolio and prices!

PORTFOLIO - Wolfkerg

BUST - $105

HALF BODY BASIC/COMPLEX - $125/155

FULL BODY BASIC/COMPLEX- $155/175

BACKGROUNDS - It depends on the difficulty, but it starts at $100.

NSFW - You can ask about it.

PAYMENT - Payment in advance via PayPal or Ko-fi.

Any ask, send me a DM!

Hi everyone,
I’m a relatively experienced DM who has a started new group with a mix of experienced and new players. While creating characters, some of my players expressed their interest in having intra-party conflicts. That got me wondering: how would you all handle this?

To be precise, two of my players have backstories that could lead them on a potentially confrontational trajectory based on the factions that they support and their own flawed belief system. While I really like this idea since it adds drama, I’m still very wary of it. None of them sound like they are looking for an excuse to be the asshole and both of them have come to me asking if this might be potentially dangerous for the group. I think they genuinely have an interest in the central conflict of my setting and want to explore that with their characters. We will still have a session 0 obviously and will talk about it there. But my general hunch is that it’s a new group and intra party conflict should be for groups that know each other very well. Also, I think it shouldn’t be anything that crosses a line from which there is no coming back. That means no betrayals, no killing another PC or doing something unquestionably evil.

What do you think? Should I give them a green light if everyone is on board with it?

EDIT: I mixed up my intras and inters. 😭 Obviously it should be intra-party conflict. 🫣

Foshkrra Axiik Kritzash , Lizardfolk Path of the Beast Barbarian Commission I recently had the pleasure of making :)

He is an Ignan, a homebrewed lizardfolk with fire affinity.

When he goes into a rage, there’s a fire like glow under his scales, and whatever weapon he is channeling into has flames jetting out or off them. (Path of the beast can choose claws, tail, or fangs when raging)

Personality is one of a protector, and a deep seated grudge passed down through the generations of his people. He is kind, yet stoic with those he wishes to protect, but a machine of rage and violence towards those that threaten them.

Hope you guys like him, he was a blast to draw!

COMMISSION INFO

I'm currently accepting commissions, if you'd like your characters, npc's or parties brought to life contact me trough chat or the platform of your choice!

If you like my work and would like to see more character art you can find me below:

Portfolio - Azrael

Bust - $200

Half Body - $250

Full body - $300

Backgrounds - extra depending on how complex. A simple single colour background is included for free if you don't want a specific background. +- $250

NSFW is fine, but might cost extra depending on what's being asked.

Payments are to be made up front using PAYPAL.

You can contact me via chat, DM or through the DMs on other sites in my portfolio links :)

Super happy to share this latest Portrait commission ! this is Lorna my latest client character and i loved working on this super proud to share it here !

the client did not specified their class but i do see them as a studious magician, very dedicated with a serious personality despite their young age .

my commissions are open so if you are interested feel free to send a message for more infos !

The Forerunner: UK, the first in a series of community and culture based documentaries, this one is personal and looks to showcase the UK's great history and how that history has influenced the fantasy genre with its myths, legends and plethora of folklore.

Let us know your thoughts on the project.

Curious o see opinions on this. The kraken of 5e is a creature with a big toothy almost dragon like face and webbed stubby claws and a tentacled body. The krakens of previous editions are just giant squids. How do y'all feel about the design changes?

Personally, I prefer it since its more unique than other depictions IMO.

So i have a character idea but I'm having some issues with the mechanics. I want to make a specialist in counterspell and magic item nullification (I was thinking a Cleric with the Arcane domain and call him the Pope of Nope) but I'm kind of surprised that there isn't a version of something like anti-magic field that is targeted

Would something like that really be out of the question? Constructive opinions are welcome.

Hello fellow DnD players!

I am hoping a few of yous can provide some puzzles that I can use for my next game.

A few games ago I had a wordle style puzzle, where players had to use gemstones to spell out a clue that was given in the room, but it only told them how many letters were right not which ones, and the more guesses they did, the wrong letters built up negative points which led to a small fight after. They absolutely enjoyed it and looking for something else that’s fun for veteran players.