A long stone bridge stretches across a ravine, with deep water flowing underneath. A small but well-fortified set of towers and walls stand on the middle of the bridge. As this bridge is one of the only roads through the mountain, it is of vital importance to the kingdom and its ruler will make sure it is well defended.

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Hi everyone! I don't usually post, but there's a situation at our gaming table that's become rather unpleasant. I'll use fake names, although I don't think anyone I know uses Reddit.

There are five of us: the DM and four players (I'm one of the players). We've been playing together for a couple of years now, and until recently, we've always gotten along well despite our different playstyles.

I'm the kind of player who enjoys roleplay, but I also have a good understanding of the rules and the rulebooks, even though I tend to favor the rule of cool. I also enjoy playing strategically.

Then there's Terry, who started out playing characters along the lines of Grog from Vox Machina, but has gradually become more and more interested in roleplay and combat tactics.

Then there's Peter, a professional min-maxer. He has a document listing his character's combat tactics, and it takes him forever to level up because he has to consider every possible scenario. (thanks the gods we do that in downtime)

And then there's Josh. Josh started out not having the slightest clue what he was doing, but at least he made some effort during roleplay moments (more or less). Then he got involved with a strange crowd, changed his lifestyle, started getting drunk and doing other stuff, and his attitude at the table changed dramatically.

He doesn't care about the game anymore. He gets distracted during sessions and distracts everyone else, never knows where we are or why we're there, ruins the flow of the narrative, etc., etc. In short, he's *that guy*.

Our DM and the rest of us have tried talking to him, but nothing has come of it. He improves for one session, then goes right back to his old behavior.

I don't care what he does in his private life, but the other night he openly stated, "I don't give a fuck about this, I only come here so I don't do drugs" and my jaw practically hit the floor.

There was complete silence for five seconds, and then we all pretended he hadn't even said anything and carried on. But this is getting exhausting. I don't want him at our sessions anymore. I don't think his behavior is fair to the rest of us, especially our DM.

The problem is that the DM keeps hesitating to talk to him about it. I don't know why, considering the rest of us players are pretty much on the same page about this, but we can't exactly force the DM to do something they're not comfortable doing. So, what do you think we should do? Would I be overstepping if I took matters into my own hands and told Josh not to come back for the next session?

Tl;dr: One player at our table has become completely disengaged, constantly disrupting sessions and openly admitted that he only comes to D&D to avoid doing drugs. We've tried talking to him, but nothing changes, and our DM is reluctant to confront him despite the rest of us agreeing that this can't continue. Would I be overstepping if I took matters into my own hands and told him not to come back?

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Final member of the party. Cohle Blight. A grizzled detective (Quaestor in the setting) with a shady past. Part of a task force geared to solve crimes of an arcane persuasion. Blight’s natural predisposition for undercover work gives him endless opportunities to feed his vices. Drugs, alcohol, gambling. The evidence locker is always a little light when he’s not undercover.

Unnaturally charismatic and with a preternatural understanding of the arcane, Blight is adrift on the tides of fate. Unsure of his ultimate mooring.

Mechanically he’s a wild magic sorcerer. Aesthetically I took obvious inspiration from True Detective and John Constantine.

Nightward Charm
Wondrous item, Rare (requires attunement)

The singers of the Still Hour used to hang these over the beds of the fevered and the frightened to catch nightmares before they could take hold. They are crafted from deer horn, twisted root, white string, and all kinds of knickknacks hanging from them. Travelers swear that the painted eye at the center is always a shade darker by morning, as if it had watched and swallowed whatever nightmare its owner was spared. Some even mysteriously wake up knowing secrets about a familiar person, place, or object...

Which of your characters needs a good night’s sleep?

Theophilus first joined forces with Amira back at level 1 in a quest to save Phandalin from the terrible Black Spider. Later, Amira fully converted to the faith of Cyric and master and apprentice moved to the city of Neverwinter and joined the Zhentarim there. After being backstabbed by the very agents who had recruited them, Sargon and his party undertake a jailbreak mission that ends up with the defeat of all three Zhentarim agents who looked over Neverwinter. The party took over their business and were eventually invited to visit the headquarters in Darkhold, where they met the higher ups and received a suicide mission as the ultimate test: venture into the Outer Plane of Arcadia, assault the Marble Tower and kill its guardians at the top: a Planetar and an Adult Gold Dragon.
Recently, Sargon disposed of the disguise of Theophilus by creating a series of well crafted illusions that lead the people of Neverwinter to believe he died as martyr in a recent battle, and assumed a new identity that is yet to be revealed in a new character board...

Had a idea for the party to save a band of new adventurers and eventually that party begins to emulate them/impersonate them. How would I go about this ? I already picked out some races that are similar but not the same as the party. Any advice is appreciated.

I haven't played DnD in a very long time, and only played a little (long story, would rather not get into it), but I've been wanting to give it another try. I've drafted out a few characters, or at least their designs and basic concepts, and figured I'd show them off because why not.

From left to right:

• Miyashita Hikaru (homebrewed Kitsune race) from DnD wiki with accompanying Fox Spirit) class): Cowardly chaotic neutral who would rather run and save his own hide than fight, goes day-by-day morphing into fox form to steal whatever fits in his mouth. His spell list is fire-based or spells that can assist with survival.
• Ewan Delmyra (human Feylost sorcerer who uses a small lyre as an arcane focus): Playful trickster wanderer who was marked by a fey as a child (the glowing mark on his cheek), granting him incredible powers. Poses as a wandering minstrel and looks like a bard...right until he uses Fireball.
• Kara (homebrewed Sunscorched Startouched bandit): Abandoned son of a Startouched noble who was born under a solar eclipse, he was cast down a river in a basket and found by a bandit group called the Vulfang, composed of outsiders and the dregs of society who were cast out for being born "wrong".
• Sardar Amakiir (centaur Fey Wanderer ranger): A forest spirit in the form of a centaur who protects the forests he calls home from encroaching danger while guiding lost travelers to safety.

I bought the obijima book and was really enjoying the subclasses there. I'm particularly enamoured by the circle of petals Druid. I also bought crooked moon and was loving the idea of playing a sinner rogue.

Im quite new in the DnD area and most stuff I do is homemade and pretty simple, but I currently have no gang to play with

Could I play a solo campaign or is it totally needed to have one more player

TL/DR: Haven't played in a long time, and working towards starting up a family game with my wife and 2 sons (13 & 9). Looking for tips to make it a success!

I haven't played a tabletop RPG in about 30 years, but as a kid I played quite a bit of D&D and other RPGs (especially loved Dark Sun and Star Frontiers). My older brother was usually our DM, and I have great memories of him drawing maps on printer paper and us moving little homemade characters around as we explored.

Now I'm hoping to introduce my own family to D&D, and I'd love some advice from people who've run family games, especially with kids of different ages.

The party:

• Me (Dad/DM): Haven't played in decades, but I'm excited to get back into it. I'm reading through the rules, running mock encounters, and trying to relearn everything. It's a little overwhelming, but I remember that once you actually start playing, things tend to click.
• Son #1 (13): Has wanted to play D&D for years, but between sports and other commitments hasn't had much opportunity. He's excited about the idea of a family campaign.
• Son #2 (9): Very curious about it and likes the idea of finding treasure, fighting monsters, exploration, and being part of a story. He's great at math, loves reading, and plays the Pokémon TCG, so he's comfortable with fairly complicated rules and mechanics. We played Hero Kids when he was younger and he loved it.
• Wife: Let's just say D&D wasn't exactly her crowd in high school. She's willing to give it a shot though, particularly because it's something we can all do together that doesn't involve a screen.

Question 1: Which starter set?

I already own the original 5e Starter Set with Lost Mine of Phandelver (the green dragon box), which I bought years ago when my older son first expressed interest. I see the newer Heroes of the Borderlands set with its maps, tokens, cards, and other physical components. I'm wondering if that might be a better introduction for this particular group? The visual and tactile elements seem like they'd be especially engaging for my younger son and possibly make things more approachable for my wife.

Has anyone played both? Is Heroes of the Borderlands worth buying for a family of beginners, or should we stick with what we have?

Question 2: Keeping the family engaged (and preventing sibling warfare)

This is probably my biggest concern.

My boys generally get along, but the older one can get frustrated with his little brother's more chaotic ideas and enthusiasm. I've tried explaining to him that some of the best stories have a lovable, slightly unpredictable sidekick whose crazy ideas sometimes save the day. That's his little brother!

But I can easily imagine disagreements about what the party should do, who gets the treasure, or someone making a decision that the other person thinks is ridiculous.

For those who've DMed for siblings or families, how do you handle this? Any good ground rules or tricks for encouraging cooperation without stifling creativity?

I'm also interested in how to engage a spouse who isn't naturally drawn to fantasy games (like she still hasn't seen LotR). I'm hoping once she experiences the storytelling and problem-solving aspects, she'll find something to enjoy.

Question 3: How much should I prepare as a returning DM?

Right now I'm reading the rules, practicing combat encounters, and planning to read far enough ahead in the adventure that I understand the story and can guide things without constantly consulting the book. My instinct is to prioritize keeping the story moving over getting every rule exactly right, especially for the younger player. If something creative sounds fun and reasonable, I'd rather make a ruling and keep going than spend ten minutes looking something up.

Is that the right approach? What do you wish you'd known before DMing your first few sessions?

Question 4: Any must-have accessories or books?

I know the starter set should technically be enough, but are there any accessories, books, maps or other things that genuinely make running a beginner game easier or more fun? I'm not looking to spend hundreds of dollars before we even start, but I'm not opposed to buying something that makes the experience better.

Ultimately, my goal is pretty simple: Get the family around the table on a regular basis, tell a fun story together, roll some dice, kill some monsters, find some treasure, and hopefully establish a regular family game night.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's done something similar. What worked? What didn't? And what would you do differently?

Thanks!

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This isn’t for anything serious, unless someone is inspired to run it in a Halloween one-shot.

Description: in a multiverse of endless horrors, not every one of them is going to be a winner. Warlocks who engage in a pact with David S. Pumpkins will find themselves frequently on the receiving end of questions like “who?” or “ok but why is HE your patron.” the answer is simple, he’s David S. Pumpkins, and he’s doing his own thing.

David S. Pumpkins warlock patron

Lvl 3: I’m gonna scare the hell out of you. As a bonus action choose one creature that can see and hear you within 60ft. Make a performance check contested by target’s Insight. On a success against them the target can either move, take an action, or take a BA on their next turn, not all three. Use this feature CHA times/long rest.

Lvl 3: Pumpkin Spells (not sure what to put here besides “Raise dead”)

Lvl 3: MY OWN THANG! You gain expertise in the performance skill. You learn one Druid cantrip of your choice and add it to your list of cantrips known.

Lvl 6: The Skeletons are part of it. When you cast “Raise Dead” you do not need to target pre-existing bones or corpses. You can instead summon two Skeletons from the DMG. They spawn with extra temp HP equal to your Warlock level and proficiency in Performance. If one or both of these skeletons are within 10ft of you, you gain advantage on performance checks.

You can also confer this benefit on up to two skeletons you summon by targeting existing bones.

Lvl 10: IM CRAAAAZY…for David S Pumpkins! You can cast Otto’s irresistible dance. You can modify the spell to not require concentration. The spell lasts until the end of the creature’s next turn unless it ends its turn within 10 ft of you or one of your “Part of It” skeletons, in which case the spell can last until its full duration. You can cast the spell this way once per long rest, you can also cast it again by expending any uses of your Mystic Arcanum to cast this spell instead.

Lvl 14: Any QUESTIONS?!? 

When you roll initiative and have no uses of “Scare the Hell out of you” remaining, you regain one use.

As a magic action when a creature fails the check versus your “Scare the hell out of you” ability, you can magically teleport behind them and utter an inane question. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. An a failed save they become frightened of you for 1 min (repeat the save if out of line of sight with you at the end of their turn) and take 6d6 psychic damage.

Heavensfall is a sacred warhammer designed to grow in power alongside its wielder, evolving into a relic capable of unleashing devastating radiant magic.

Forged to hunt fiends and undead, its divine power can prevent slain enemies from returning to life, while its most powerful form grants access to an arsenal of holy spells.

I wanted to create something that could accompany a paladin or cleric throughout an entire campaign, gradually becoming a true instrument of divine judgment.

This entry comes from my compendium for D&D5E and 5.5E: The Vault of Ascending Items! This manual features:

• 50 Ascending Items, including a series of rules, guidelines, and balance considerations are included within the compendium to scale these items depending on the intended power level of your campaign;
• 12 Premade Ascension Quests, each meant to be used to ascend the items within the compendium or to be employed as additional quests and short adventures to include within your games;
• 30 New Creatures and Monsters, all used within the quests included in the manual or summoned by certain Ascending Items. All these creatures are multi-tiered, offering varied levels of challenge and complexity to shape your quests and encounters;
• A Table with 100 Additional Ascending Items Concepts, providing the name and a brief overview for each without providing mechanical rules. This is designed to provide GMs with ideas to create their own scaling items without having to come up with new concepts on their own.

The compendium just received a v2.0 update, featuring brand-new artwork and illustrations, expanded compatibility with both 5E and 5.5E, balance adjustments, several new spells, general layout improvements, and more! or the occasion, you can find it discounted either on DriveThruRPG or my Patreon, alongside a vast collection of previews for this and all my other titles! I'm currently working on updated version of all my older manuals, so there's a lot to uncover.

You can also find this manual (and many more) discounted on my 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E Kickstarter! This project brings weapons, treasures, and relics from Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, Mesoamerican, and many other mythologies to 5E and 5.5E, including scaling items that grow alongside your characters. If you’d like to bring a piece of these legends to your table, check out the campaign!

I like the Trap the Soul spell, and really want to use it, but I'm not sure how to translate it into 5e. If any of you guys have experience translating 3.5e spells into 5e, what changes should I make, and where should I start?

im currently working as a mentor/teacher for jr. High and Highschool students and were looking to expand the program by bringing In dungeons and dragons. lots of the kids in the program have some form of high functioning special needs or experience a little bit of social anxiety. im hoping to create a child friendly expierience that also aligns with the mission of my program of helping these kids come out of their shells but as well give them experience that helps them with real world problem solving skills. I want to give them encounters that push them to think a little outside the box of thier normal lives and help these kids long term. any ideas on encounters or just advice in general? thank you so much!

The Premise

Me and a few others decided to hold this game's feet to the fire and see if this stuff really works: the "challenge rating" guidelines from the Monster Manual and the "adventuring day" guidelines from the Dungeon Master's Guide.

For those unaware, Challenge Rating is defined the Monster Manual as:

An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat a monster that has a challenge rating equal to its level without suffering any deaths. For example, a party of four 3rd-level characters should find a monster with a challenge rating of 3 to be a worthy challenge, but not a deadly one.

And the adventuring day guidelines from the Dungeon Master's Guide:

Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six to eight medium or hard encounters in a day. If the adventure has more easy encounters, the adventurers can get through more. If it has more deadly encounters, they can handle fewer.

and

In general, over the course of a full adventuring day, the party will likely need to take two short rests, about one-third and two-thirds of the way through the day.

We also keep in mind the “Adjusting XP for multiple monsters” guidelines from the DMG.

The Party

The characters chosen for this endeavor were intended to be the most classic characters, and ones that will perform the most consistently in each encounter.

Hill Dwarf Fighter: Champion

Lightfoot Halfling Rogue: Thief

High Elf Wizard: School of Evocation

Human Cleric: Life Domain

Not going to go into too much detail about the classes but you can assume we picked the most "basic" and strongest spells and options. I.e., Wizard had Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep, Misty Step, Fireball, etc. and Cleric had Bless, Healing Word, Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, etc.

No feats, no multiclassing, and no magic items outside of basic +X weapons and armor and potions of healing. We gave ourselves little treasure "hoards" using the Tiers of Play as a guideline from the Dungeon Master's Guide. 500 gp plus 1d10 × 25 gp, one uncommon magic item, normal starting equipment at 5th level; 5,000 gp plus 1d10 × 250 gp, three uncommon magic items, one rare item, normal starting equipment at 11th level; and 20,000 gp plus 1d10 × 250 gp, three uncommon magic items, two rare items, one very rare item, normal starting equipment at 17th level.

The fights all took place in a vacuum 20x20 (or 100 ft by 100 ft) room with both parties rolling initiative about 40 ft apart from the other. We let our characters be surprised if an enemy's "passive" Stealth was higher than our individual characters' passive Perceptions. We just assumed our party wouldn't really surprise anyone because of our two heavy armor wearers and the Cleric always having Light up.

Challenge Rating 4

Encounter 1: One Flameskull

Wizard loudly announces he casts Mage Armor as soon as wakes up and before we enter the theoretical dungeon to fight this thing. DM says “okay, now make a Dexterity saving throw” as the party takes their first Fireball. Fighter and Cleric fail but both stay up, even after taking 33 fire damage to the face. Flameskull is low so the Wizard casts Magic Missile. Flameskull Shields. Flameskull throws a Magic Missile back at the Wizard who now goes to 0. Cleric picks him up, and Rogue finishes the Flameskull off.

Encounter 2: One Lamia

Honestly kind of underwhelming? The Fighter and Cleric had too much AC for this thing to hit them with much. Fight only lasted 3 rounds so it never really got to do anything with the Intoxicating Touch. Party opts to short rest just because they’re missing hit points but otherwise nobody feels like they’re dying.

Encounter 3: Gnoll Fang of Yeenoughu

Cleric got downed, then used its Rampage to go after the Wizard, but was otherwise dealt with without much worry. Cleric starts next fight at 1 hp.

Encounter 4: Three Specters

Specters win initiative and fuck up the Wizard and Rogue. Cleric dodges the hit. Cleric tries to Turn Undead knowing these fuckers can suck our max HP. They all fail so the party starts preparing and then the Rogue takes a shot, which the Specter resists the non-magical attack, then it immediately attacks the Wizard again. Wizard Shields. Other two Specters fly away and we ready up for their return. Basically everyone avoids getting hit or casts Shield because we don’t want to risk the max HP reduction. Surprisingly not too hard but we do take our last short rest.

Encounter 5: Two Mimics

We are surprised, except for the Rogue. Wizard casts Web, they both get stuck. They break out, but we are far enough away it’s a sad fight and they both just get kited until they die.

Encounter 6: Two Lizardfolk, One Lizardfolk Shaman

Wizard casts Web, they all succeed the first roll. One gets grabbed when he starts his turn, the other only has enough movement to get to the Fighter, much to the Fighter’s delight. Everyone is expecting an easy win now. Shaman is restrained by Web, but casts Conjure Animals and summons eight velociraptors, which roll initiative at the top of the round. This fight has just changed dramatically.

Fighter decides to Dash with his action, and takes seven opportunity attacks in the process. Runs to the Shaman, and Action Surges, and kills the Shaman, and the raptors disappear. We clean up the remaining lizardfolk and we all agree Fighter was the hero of that fight. Wizard and Cleric say they have enough spell slots they could probably do one more fight so we press on.

Encounter 7: 10 Blink Dogs

Dogs surprise everyone but the Rogue, again. They teleport to us and start biting. By some miracle they miss most of their attacks. This was probably the most boring fight we’ve had. It was like 11 rounds of just attack, miss, magic missile, sneak attack, repeat. Fighter went down once but after one healing word he never did again.

Conclusion

Nobody died, and almost nobody went down despite the party getting our first fireball to the face. Wizard started doing a lot more. I really don’t have much to say about this except every encounter was either “holy shit, it’s go time” or just a slog. The Flameskull and the Lizardfolk were scary but almost everything else it was like routine to deal with them. Web seems a bit too good, much like back when we did CR 1 and Sleep was too good. What I can say though is everyone was so fucking important. The Rogue’s consistent damage, the Fighter’s AC and action surge, the Cleric’s healing, the Wizard’s area control. Everyone was doing their part so fucking well this time. Like the necessary teamwork was really starting to show at this point. Otherwise I think we can confirm that Challenge Rating and Adventuring Days works up to 4th level.

Hello!!! I'm making a Goliath character for a campaign and I'm having a hard time coming up with a nickname I like for him.
He's from a Goliath pirate crew who have corrupted ideas about what it means to be weak/strong. The crew singles out the member they perceive to be the weakest link, and during my Goliath's time on the ship, that was him. The best I've come up with so far is Brittlewilled, which doesn't feel specific or mean enough.

Some contextual info:
- My goliath forged most of the weapons for this group
- His brother is the captain and chooses the nicknames (they're also opposites on the weak/strong spectrum)
- The crew outright despises magic and thinks it's cheating
- My goliath leaves the crew/is exiled after siding with a magic user the crew has beef with (and they perceive it as siding with weakness)
- Leaving the crew also involved him forging a special weapon for the magic user to use against them

Any ideas would be super appreciated!!

To start us off, I played a joke character of an elderly lady who was a retired bard looking to spend her last few years touring the continent. When the campaign ended I realised that I enjoyed playing with that character as much as the rest of the party did. So in our next campaign I decided to have them reincarnated as an entirely 'new' character due to some warlock-y shenanigans. Then I could have them start back at level one with no problems. So how do you guys get your previous characters to come back?

Hi everyone!I’m working on a set of D&D emotes,and this paladin’s sword is one of them!This is my first time animating my pixel art.I kept it simple with just two frames ,since I want it to work as a small emote.I chose a pink background to give it a cute and playful feel.And I will show more emotes soon with different classes .What do you think?Does it feel like a paladin’s weapon,and the golden sparkles are easy to read at a small size?I’d love to hear your thoughts 😉

As promised, I am sharing volume two of the library of new magical items I have been working on. The linked PDF contains twenty new items; some are combat-oriented, some are utility items, others are more for roleplay or world building.

All of these items are designed for my own campaign setting of Audalis, but can be easily dropped into any world or game.

This document includes three Anathari devices - the Anathari are an ancient lost empire in my world. Their magic works differently than contemporary magic, and may include elements of lost technology, as well. Generally speaking, these are more "quality of life" items as opposed to flaming swords or wands of power, although there are exceptions.

I hope that you enjoy!

https://www.rdinn.net/downloads/Audalis_Magical_Treasures_Volume_II.pdf

I will share volume three sometime soon.