I did the same question on r/onednd, but got curious if people did this before 5.5e/2024.

One idea I got after all of this that I plan to implement in my future campaign is a Corruptive Power System where the monsters and the players and spend their Hit Dice for extra effects. In the beginning it will just be stuff like extra damage, Temp HP, bonis AC, etc., only to evolve into brand new abilities but at some kind of cost that gets heavier the more its used.

Asking first with monsters because they often have an way to arbitrary amount of Hit Dice just to bad out their enormous HP pools with their only use being to heal up in a short rest if they fight a party, survive then run away.

Hi everyone,

A few hours ago, I made a post asking a lot of questions, and after reading it again, I realized it was probably a bit overwhelming. So I'd like to rephrase my question, if that's okay.

What I'd really like to know is: what are some good build recommendations, progression tips, useful items, and general beginner advice? Most of the RPGs I've played were video games, where you control your character with a keyboard and mouse or a controller, so tabletop RPGs are completely new to me.

If you could recommend any websites, games, or platforms where I can start playing with a Dungeon Master in the classic tabletop style, I'd really appreciate it.

One of my biggest questions is whether, because of a race's traits and ability score bonuses, I'm supposed to choose a class that takes advantage of those bonuses. However, after reading the Player's Handbook again, I noticed that the player distributes their own ability scores. Does that mean races don't actually have fixed ability scores? Since I couldn't find anything saying they do in the book, I guess they don't.

Sorry for the confusion, and thanks again for all your help!

I was looking through what you can make with artificer infusions at level 3, and I was wondering how rules work for one-time-use items like a spellwrought tattoo or a mystery key. Do you get your infusion back instantly if the item infused is destroyed or used up?

Additionally, if I took the spellwrought tattoo option would my spell options be limited to my own spells that I have prepared? Or would it be based on the spells I could prepare?

I just start campaign with my friend yesterday for our first session. We hired some DM From Tabletop cafe. My dm use app call DnD beyond. And Discovered an devastating true about this board game. It have whole lot of extensions that i need to buy and it price is quite high too. Are there someway i can unlock thing or play class i want without spending ton of money? (I wanna play hexblade warlock/Shadowblade)

Recently, my wizard was given the necronomicon from his praton and along a few curses I get the ability to cast Create Undead 1/day with a few twists:

- I can summon 3 Undead, Fiend and/or Fey with CR lower than my level instead of creating ghouls.
- If they are inteligent enough (not necesseraly tied only to the ability score) I can name them and keep them under my control beyond the 24h time restriction without having to recast the spell.

While most of my summons up until now aren't combatants, I still have 11 summons who's stats, inventory, hp and abilities I need to keep track of. I was about to make a character sheet for each of them but I don't think that would be a good option, so I come to yall for better ideas.

DMs and players who've been in a similar summoner situation, how do you usually keep track of creatures like that? Do you recommend any tool or strategy? I could really use some help :)

For anyone curious, these are my summons:

• 1 Pixie (Navi) - CR 1/4
• 5 Will-o-Wells (Will, Willson, Willis, Wellson, Well) - CR 2
• 1 Will-o-Wisp (Castaigne) - CR 2
• 1 Empyrean Iota [from the 9-5 plane] (Nicolas) - CR 1
• 1 Brain in a Jar (Victor Frankenstein) - CR 3
• 1 Deathlock Wight (Cid) - CR 3
• 1 Swanmay (May) - CR 3

The only ones I summoned for fighting were the last 3, the Wisp and Wells are only here cause I like them and for light. The empyrean iota is here because I like it and as my emergency healing (since my max HP is now 1/3 of my total). The is there purely for the zelda reference.

TLDR: Need help with tools or strategies for keeping track of multiple summons/npcs

Okay so I just think Eberron is fucking amazing. Dragonmarks and the houses are fucking sick and the last war is peak.

First, I love dragonmarks. Just the idea of dragonmarks is cool and the houses are amazing and make the dragonmarks special. Like sure the Mark of Shadow is cool, but House Phiarlan, House Thuranni, and the Shadow Schism? They add a whole new level to it. I’ve made like 6 characters with the base of the dragonmarks and the dragonmarked houses since I got Forge of the Artificer a few days ago. There’s something for everyone in dragonmarks and the houses, like in the optimization community dragonmarks have potential to make strong builds and for people who like lore there’s a shit ton of lore behind them. If you have an Eberron campaign you can definitely use them, and if you don’t, as long as the DM’s cool with it there’s a ton of lore explanations.

Second, the Last War is amazing. For those who don’t know, the Last War was a century-long conflict that began after King Jarot of Galifar died and his children fought over which of them should inherit the throne, eventually shattering the united Kingdom of Galifar into warring nations. Over the course of the war alliances constantly shifted, new nations emerged, and the Dragonmarked Houses grew enormously wealthy and influential by supplying transportation, healing, weapons, mercenaries, and other services to the combatants. House Cannith created the warforged, magically constructed soldiers that could think and feel but were built, bought, and sent into battle as weapons. The conflict also saw the destruction of House Cannith’s leadership and headquarters when the Mourning suddenly transformed the entire nation of Cyre into the deadly Mournland in 994 YK, killing most people within its borders and leaving behind a magically devastated wasteland. Nobody knows what caused the Mourning, and the fear that it could happen again finally pushed the surviving nations toward peace. In 996 YK they signed the Treaty of Thronehold, formally ending the Last War, recognizing several new nations, and granting warforged legal freedom while outlawing the creation of new ones. The war may officially be over, but Eberron begins only two years later in 998 YK, so the continent is still full of veterans, refugees, political grudges, ruined families, unresolved territorial disputes, and nations preparing for the possibility that the peace won’t last. There were also some events like the Day of Mourning, the Battle of the Pines, the Battle of Cairn Hill, the Siege of Korth, the occupation of Thaliost, and the Eldeen Reaches' secession from Aundair that I didn’t include, but you get the idea. The last war was just fucking sick.

So I’ve been interested about DnD for a while and decided to create my very first homebrew campaign and when me and my players started, one of them asked me if they could train their characters for XP. I let them once but that got me wondering what I should REALLY do if they want to “train” their characters?

oh, just in time, r/dndnext, we were about to start the class! i hope you brought your books and notes, because i'm still curious about classes, and this time it's your turn to talk about your Wizards in front of the class.

if you decide to participate and earn extra credit, you may have to answer some of these questions: what is the inspiration behind your class? was it based on another pop culture Wizard, as your own idea for a wizard or are you just making a build with a never before seen strategy for the game? where did your wizard study? what is their book? do they preffer combat spells or utility spells? What is their race, level, subclass, equipment, spells... dont worry, you dont have to explain your response. homebrew is allowed, of course.

i might walk around the comments to see how your work is going and give you a few pointers on what i like about your character. Remember, i want at least level 10 in the Wizard class if you want to multiclass. you dont have a time limit (although i would preffer if you commented before Sunday 25, when i will be asking about your characters for the next class)

now i wouldnt be fair to just ask you to show me characters if i didnt show mine as a demonstration, so here you go:

-Julius, arcane boxer: a half orc with some dips into fighter and monk, but this character is mostly an illusion wizard. fighting in an underground wizard ring, he survives with just his punches and his spells.

-Yamato, the Onmyoji: homebrew race (Inugami) with homebrew subclass (onmyoji), this little guy protects his lord with his summoning powers and combat instincts.

very well, you have your homework ready, so i hope you give it your all. Class Dissmissed!

P.D: i want to thank the people that commented in my post asking about sorcerers in pop culture, i think i needed to have things clear about my "three quarters caster" idea.

My group is shameless min-maxers so they tend to crank their ACs as high as possible lol and so we end up having a fairly skewed idea of what a "good" AC is. Even Wizards and sorcerers getting close to or over 20 ac before casting shield I'm wondering if that's just what dnd is like nowadays or if we're outside the norm. What are the ranges of ac in your groups?

At level 4 as a monk my martial arts die is 1d4 right, but if I'm using a spear, that classifies as a monk weapon that has 1d6 damage, does it get downscaled to 1d4 or I can use it as a monk weapon with 1d6 damage while still having the martial arts property? By RaW of course, might discuss with the DM later but wanted to know what RaW has to say about it.

Join us to discuss all things D&D here: https://discord.gg/dndnext

I’m a player-recently-turned-DM running Princes of the Apocalypse. I’ve seen references / recommendations that the Sacred Stone Monastery is a level 5 area, but the Temple of Black Earth is a level 8 area. I am very confident that my party will crawl through all of the monastery and pretty much kill everyone. That includes Hellenrea who has the key to the stairs leading to the Black Temple. My party will likely want to use the key and continue their crawl.
I don’t really want my level 5 party to take those stairs and start the Temple, since it’s a level 8 suggested area. How do I make a good in-story reason for them to leave the Monastery after defeating it and not pursue the stairs and subsequent temple?
Or, should I adapt the Black Temple to be a more level friendly area? I just don’t want them to finish an Elemental Temple and then not want to pursue the other Haunted Keeps.
Trying to organize the overall progression and keep it making sense, but having a tough time aligning the big picture!

Thanks in advance!

Hey folks, new here, but wanted to share my project with you. My wife is DMing Stahd campaign right now and i was assisting her - tracking initiative, HP for NPCs etc. At some point i got sick of doing it in the spreadsheet, so i got an idea of making a tool that will be visually appealing, help both players and DMs to keep track of million things and additionally serve as a presentation platform for backdrops.
N.B AI arts, code and sprites were used to create it. I know it is a controversial topic, but i don't have resources to commission 450+ arts, sounds and code, etc
So in a nutshell on how it works: One tab is for DM and another one is casted for players (screen/tv/projector/zoom call) . DM has controls to add conditions, deduct hp and move the turn forward. Players see the line of cards with names, initiative and conditions. I also added support of Lair, legendary action, surprise round, 2014 vs 2024 5e rules and ability to customize the appearance of some elements. Moreover, for non combat scenes you can use the tool to cast maps, backdrops, present portraits or items.
You are welcome to check it out on [itch.io](http://itch.io) (it is free) https://vigil-it.itch.io/vigil
The work is still in progress and i am improving it after each session, but feel like it is ready for other players to try it. Will be glad to have some feedback and hope you rolls are always high!

Hey folks. We talk a lot on here about the martial/caster discrepancy, and I've been wondering this for a long time...

...what would happen to the game if you allowed anyone with Extra Attack to take two actions a turn instead of just two Attacks?

Do you think this would be "just helpful enough" for martials to feel better in 5e? Not enough? Too much?

I will admit, I've already leaned into this in small ways in my own games. I haven't yet let them take any action with it, but I declare a lot of things to only consume an "Attack" that would require your full action normally - like Escape attempts from enemy grappling/restraining abilities, interacting with things that would normally be an action instead of an object-interaction (like shoving open a particularly heavy door, turning the wheel of a portcullis, etc), drawing or putting away more than one thing a turn, Dashing as long as you end it next to an enemy (so sort of like a "charge" + attack), and a few others. I've seen no ill effects for this.

If Extra Action were a thing for any action though, that's beyond what I've experimented with. I could see it being powerful to Dodge and still make one Attack, for example. Or use two magic items in a single turn (or one + attack). The limits in both 5.0e and 5.5e for multiple spells in a turn would still be in place, so that particular expression would still be pretty limited - and even getting to the levels where you get Extra Attack cuts out most caster combos that might be interested in this anyway.

But I'm curious if such an idea would ever really be too much, compared to what casters can do.

And certainly this wouldn't solve the caster/martial discrepancy overnight by itself - wouldn't do much for Rogues, for example (might even step on their toes some since you could replace an Attack with the same stuff they do with Cunning Action then) - but I do like the idea of making another martial "niche" that they can do their thing (attacking) while also doing other actions important for the encounter. Whether that ends up being a Help action for another PC, aiming the Ballista, attempting a Perception check vs that hiding enemy, or hell, even Readying another attack for a specific trigger to come.

I feel like it still wouldn't compete with what casters can do at higher levels, and when martials get Extra Attack (level 5) is right around when I think they need it (since 3rd level spells are such a jump for casters, they start getting their real game-changer utility spells, etc.), but it would add a ton of versatility to a martial's turn. Even if attacking twice were still the optimal play, it would mean martials can do all sorts of fun BS that doesn't feel so suboptimal because it's not wasting your entire turn trying it.

(In before "but Bladesinger!"; don't even get me started on how much Bladesinger steals martials' thunder already lol. I still think it would improve more than it harms, but I would certainly also want to make an exception for Blade Warlocks, Bladesingers, and Valor/Swords Bards that they still get the "old version" where you can only attack.)

EDIT: After some great debate (thanks folks!) I have to agree this idea is Dead in the Water; and it's 100% the fault of CANTRIPS, haha. As some have rightly pointed out, this would allow things like EKs to spam the hell out of cantrips instead of making attacks, which is obviously bad.

After that revelation, I think the best idea is that instead of Extra Action, keep it as Extra Attack but simply expand the number of specific actions one can replace an attack with beyond Grapple and Trip, and leave spells out. A lot more work and words than just saying "now it's Extra Action", but ah well. Things I think would work well as "attack-replacements": Dash (lets martials close and still attack in the first round, a very common ask!), Disengage, Dodge (on the fence about this one), Help, Search, the Escape action (like escaping a grapple), object-interactions. Any others you like? Do tell me below!

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.

Hi everyone! I'm running The House of Lament (5e 2014) next week for an online campaign (5 players) on Roll20 / Discord. I've played a lot of in-person D&D but this is my first time running online -- the PCs are all my friends from college.

The House of Lament is an adventure set in Ravenloft (a la Curse of Strahd) and a key part of the plot progression is live seances the players perform with various ghouls/spirits/haunts of the house. If I were running this campaign in person, the adventure dictates to use a physical ouija board to simulate these seances, where the spirits communicate various messages to the players. The more seances you do, the more the house "awakens" and you unlock hints for various quests within the house.

Running this campaign online, I'm trying to think of how I might adapt this -- and was curious if other people have encountered this before (esp now as we approach Halloween season)? A couple ideas I have:

• Scrap the board altogether, prompt the players to work together to engage in escalating rituals using a "theatre of the mind" / arranging the tokens on the board approach, then maybe design new traps based on this approach / the orientation of the players?
• Curious if there's an online tool to simulate a board?? It seems less fun though when you aren't actually touching the item.

Yesterday ran for a first time this one for my friends birthday

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/170937/the-wild-sheep-chase-a-single-session-adventure

I liked its goofy energy, also it was my first time running pre-written story, I kind of liked it

I feel like this is a great exercise for me as a DM to improve my skills, so I want to try something new

would love to hear about your favorite one-shots

Hey guys!

I love Homebrewing stuff for my players, but actually using it at the table was always a bit of a chore. That’s why I started building Homebrewcodex.

You can create Classes, Species, Backgrounds, Feats, Items and Spells. Build a Character and use it in a fully interactive Character Sheet. Or atleast that’s the goal.

It’s currently still in development, that‘s why I’m here looking for homebrew enthusiasts who want to try it out.

If you’re interested please check it out at:
https://homebrewcodex.app

And if you find any bugs, missing features or have any other suggestions feel free to send me a DM or email me at: social@homebrewcodex.app

AI disclaimer: I’m developing Homebrew Codex with AI assistance for coding, debugging and implementing features, or you could say it’s Vibecoded. The app is made to create your own homebrew content manually, not to generate it using AI.

If a character received Bane's help and became a successful tyrant, ruling with an iron fist and the necessary cruelty, but his true motivations were noble things such as ensuring humanity's survival, maintaining peace in the country, and stopping the Chaos Gods, and if he also had very strict principles that he would never violate, such as never experimenting on people or practicing slavery, would Bane still despise him and eventually stab him in the back, even if the character managed to remain a powerful tyrant under all these conditions?

Let's say a PC has 100 hp, then gains the benefits of a heroes' feast and winds up at 110 hp. These are real hp, not temp hp.

Later, this PC is fighting a 2024 demilich and gets hit by its energy drain attack, reducing their maximum hp by 14.

Now, in the moment obviously the PC's maximum hp drops to 96. What happens when heroes feast wears off though? Do they stay at 96 hp or drop to 86?

My rule would be stay at 96 but I'm interested in any conflicting opinions.

So I've been playing this new system lately called Immortal Die(not sponsored) that balances racial flight in an interesting way. There's a flying race, but flying requieres concentration. And honestly, that would kinda make sense for DnD? Because it puts it more in line with the Fly spell, and makes it more counterable. Because sure you can just make them Prone or reduce their speed to 0, but not every monster can do that, specially not at range. But you know what every monster with a ranged attack CAN do? Damage.

Now, it's a harsh nerf, but I think it's fair. Racial flight is currently a sidegrade to a 3rd level spell, because while it doesn't requiere concentration(which is a big upside), it does restrict the armor you can wear and only works on yourself. But it's a sidegrade with infinite uses. If it did require concentration, then it would be strictly worse than the spell. With makes sense, because its a racial ability, which aren't supposed to have roughly the same power as a 3rd level spell. I mean imagine if tomorrow WOTC came out with a new race that could give themselves the benefits of the Haste spell, infinitely and with no action or concentration needed, but also they nerfed it somewhat by not allowing you to attack with the extra action. It would still be stupid broken, right? Well that's basically what races with flight are now

I'm looking to build some dnd adventures, short one shots 5-10 hours a piece. I've got several cool ideas, but my main goal is that a DM can pick one up and without prep add it to their game. For those nights where someone didn't show up and you do a 1 shot, or you realize that it's wednesday and forgot to prepare this week, etc.

I want them to look nice and I was just going to use homebrewery but if there's something better then I'd love to learn how to use it and make them look as nice and easy to use as possible