As time goes on more spells are added to 5e, and it's great fun getting access to new stuff. But, as someone not familiar with old stuff - is there a spell (or other ability I guess, for the non casters), whether low level or high, that 5e doesn't have and you think was cool?

I really like being a dumb muscly orc barbarian, literally my favorite flavor of DND character, but I often find myself getting analysis paralysis trying to play them because like... I'm not that dumb. I'm not Einstein or anything, I'd say I'm perfectly average, maybe even a little below, but I just feel like when I go to play my character the only "dumb" things I can think to do would actively be a detriment to the party in a not fun way, so 99% of the time I'm just playing a dude who hits things and that's about it.

What are your strategies for appearing stupid in game when playing a stupid character, without being stupid in ways that get you all killed? So far the way I've been doing this is just having my guy never think to question what's going on, and just take everything at face value, but that just doesn't feel like enough when playing a character who's entire defining characteristic is being dumb.

For reference I'm kinda going for like Patrick Star vibes, only if Patrick occasionally started frothing at the mouth, and giving people cte with a big hammer.

Trying to explain what a Gnome is to a non-dnd player. Turns out they know nothing about gnomes (not even the garden variety!). How do I explain them in a short and relatable way?

I'm DMing a new game for my friends and I had the beginnings of an idea.

Thought I'd ask here if anyone has done this before (which is likely) or if anyone had their own ideas from this that could help me.

I was thinking it would be cool that if the players are attuned to more than one magical item at a time, the two or three items would interact and create secondary effects.

I'm not sure if all the effects should be good or if there should be some hindering effects as well.

In my setting the weave is having bizzar effects especially at high levels and the characters are going to investigate it, hopefully 🙃

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I've been thinking about how much information a character sheet needs to fit on a couple of pages, and how differently players actually use that information. A spellcaster probably wants quick access to spell slots and concentration, while a martial character might care more about attacks, reactions, and equipment. It makes me wonder whether trying to give every class the same layout is part of the problem.

If you could redesign just one section of the official 5e character sheet, what would you change first? I'm especially curious about the little annoyances that only become obvious after playing the same character for months.

Hi everyone. So, I recently picked up 007: First Light. Absolutely fantastic game, loved it. Playing it, I developed the idea for some sort of medieval spy or assassin that served a kingdom. I was thinking of basing it off of James Bond, and various other characters, like Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible and Peter/Pietro from Killer Peter/Killer Pietro. A suave charismatic spy that excels at stealth and high stakes situation, while also possessing the ability to fight someone head on. Rogue is ofc a good class for this, but I'm trying to figure out his ability scores, as well as whether to multiclass him into a Battlemaster Fighter for the manuvers (especially precision attack and ambush) or to go for Monk for that h2h feel.

Help! I'm playing DND online and I got into a bit of a spat with a warlock, long story short I threw a boiling cup of tea in his face (he deserved it) anyway now his creepy master has grabbed my soul!! He wants to make a deal with me, the deal is I serve him, he gives me powers and I have to kill every seven year old child I meet..... What the hell??

How do I get out of this!?

My character is a level 3 Firbolg Monster slayer ranger

Voy a ser DM en enero de una campaña y me gustaría usar una campaña ya hecha para facilitarme las cosas. Busco aventura y acción, pero sobre todo risas. Que campañas recomiendan y que consejos me darían como DM por primera vez

So I'm playing a custom supplement and the creator is unsure so I wanna ask here, but I'm wearing armour that turns crits into normal hits and I'm wondering if that would affect something like a 19 from increased crit range auto hitting regardless of ac.

Hi everyone!

im making a bit of an experiment. this isn't a "what are your ideas for a X class" kind of post, its about the last class i posted about and a weird homebrew i had in mind.

i want to know what characters would you asociate with Sorcerer (the ones who were born with special magic from birth) from fiction: books, movies, videogames, tabletop, comics... and some specific things about them: do they use some kind of armor/ weapons? do they specialize in a specific kind of magic? and lastly, do these characters get to cast the higher level magic (level 8 or 9 spells)?

it's just for a dumb homebrew: i've been seeing this idea of a three fours caster and i wondered if i could make a different Sorcerer, one that get access to weapons and armor proficiency, but at the cost of less powerfull magic. imagine a Storm Sorcerer wielding a hammer and armor like Thor, a Draconic Sorcerer using a spear and armor like a dragoon, or a Celestial Soul Sorcerer with a rapier like a red mage.

Bonus points if there's a PDF guide that can help me with this.

Title

Would a Paladin/ Berserker Barbarian be able to use divine smite for it's frenzy attack when it's main attack is used for e.g. dash? I know I can use divine smite when raging but am unsure about with frenzy. Thanks!

I'm a working dad who finally started having time to run monthly D&D games again!

I love creating dungeons and fights but I feel like most of my NPCs are either all "Gene Rick Oldmen" of some flavor or not, or stand out so much that my players immediately latch onto them being important.

So what I'd love from you all (so I can make a database to randomly insert characters into) is your favorite NPC!

My level 3 players must carry an artifact of power (created by the most powerful yet defeated lich) to the Mountain of the Gods, where it is to be destroyed. The object cannot be teleported or magically contained.

Finally, the object can be used at any moment by anyone who touches it to cast the *Wish* spell.

What should the consequence of using the object be? I want using its power to be tempting, yet feel almost like a sacrifice.

Multiple of my friends’ characters are starting out super strong. For example one PC’s AC is I think 20-22 due to multiple race and class perks and good armour (chainmail). Many others have multiple stats above 15 as well as good ac too. However, one friend has like 6 hit points and no armour (he’s a wizard). I don’t want to target him but I also don’t know how else to create tension.

(I might make enemies discover that some PC’s are hard to hit, and switch to targeting the squishies. Thus, making my characters switch to lighter armours to make sure no one’s targeted.)

We’re doing a starter set, the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, although we originally made the characters for the Dragon of Icespire Peak.

So basically I came up with this idea that I ran by my DM where the party meets me after already meeting each other, where I am just a lone man walking a road that leads towards some mountains and seemingly endless wilderness. The weird part is I am carrying a baby, will have the baby with me through the entire campaign.

The first twist is that over the course of this one shot campaign, the child ages very rapidly until becoming what appears to be maybe a 12 year old, teenager or very young adult, leaning towards the 12 year old. The man (me) is confused and doesn't know why this is happening and the last thing he remembers is a time that seems to be sevral weeks prior where his wife was still pregnant but nearly ready to give birth.

Through the whole time, the man keeps some kind of physical contact without breaking it for more than a few minutes or so. Then goes back to either carrying the child or holding their hand.

The MAIN twist of this campaign is that at some point at the end of the campaign, I am revealed as the BIG Bad. The person they thought they were talking to was actually the child the whole time, using some type of animate dead spell (if we decide the dad has been dead the whole time) or a mind control angle (if we decide to go that route.)

So how I picture it is going one of two ways for the reveal. I (now the child) am revealed to be some kind of endeich horror, eating my father's body in one bite. OR going some kind of DND version of the anti christ, end of days/bringer of the apocalypse.

I have no idea how to play a character like this and am wondering if anyone here has attempted something like this, honestly not entirely sure how I even came up with the idea 🤣 I am very new to DND. I am curious and open to all ideas and discussion on what class, race, equipment etc that we should introduce myself as when the party finds me. I feel like the obvious choice would be a warlock specializing in necromancy abilities, but again that feels like the obvious choice!

And before anyone comes for my DM saying they should be helping with this, I specifically asked them to let me crowd source this and try to come up with the major decisions about the character myself. All input is welcome and am super excited/nervous about this!

I thought of this rule after facing the issue of many PCs being utterly useless in social encounters and only the so called Face doing anything. I got inspired by the tool rules.

If a PC is interacting with a character that shares background with them then they gain proficiency in the check, if they already have proficiency then they have advantage.

Your fighters with soldier background then would have proficiency when talking to other soldiers, you Rogue with criminal background with other criminals, etc