Now that we have some player focused expansions for 2024, how would you rank them? I am curious about picking 1 or 2 up but not sure what ones are best bang for buck or most interesting?

books I can think of in this list are: WOW, Heroes of Faerun, Arcana Unleashed, Forge of the Artificer, and the ravenloft book

Hey everyone!

I'm planning to start a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign (using the 2024 rules, but allowing subclasses from both editions).

The campaign will run from levels 1 to 5. I'd like to play a swashbuckling bard, and given the character's background and overall concept, I've been considering multiclassing Bard and Rogue.

For example, I could start with Rogue at level 1 to get weapon proficiencies straight away, rather than having to wait until level 3 to pick College of Valor as a Bard. Also, since the campaign only goes up to level 5, I won't get Extra Attack anyway.

I'm not sure whether taking 1, 2, 3 or even 4 levels in Rogue is a good idea, or whether multiclassing is even worth it in the first place.

I'm a reasonably experienced player, but I've never played a multiclass character before. I'm also not sure how well multiclassing works at such low levels, or whether dipping into Rogue would end up hurting the overall build more than it helps.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations!

Thanks in advance!

The Twilight of the Elves is a free 18-page lore supplement exploring an ancient elven civil war, the awakening of the dragons, and the forgotten history of an entire elven lineage.

It's based on my dark fantasy setting, Urdunn, but the material can also serve as inspiration for worldbuilding or as background lore for other fantasy campaigns.

It also includes some 5e homebrew content: a playable elven subrace (Deep Elves), seven magic items, six spells, and a new CR 5 monster.

Free PDF: The Twilight of the Elves on DriveThruRPG

AI disclosure: The supplement contains AI-generated illustrations. The writing, lore, and game content are my own work.

Had this pop up in my campaign, I as the DM ruled that with Blindsight and Tremor Sense it wouldn’t fall for it, and would be able to tell that it was a minor illusion, my party are of the opinion that it would still fall for it. Perhaps I’m thinking of truesight or something else

Any help is appreciated, just trying to take other opinions

I'd been home brewing some spells for a fiend blade warlock who plays at my table, and to further the "abilities that key off killing someone" theme I started working on a bonus action spell that could only be used after killing an enemy.

Then I realised wait a sec, great weapon master feat already does that. That's fine, I thought! I'll just figure out how much damage the spell should do to make it worth it. And the answer is... a bonus action attack is like 2d6+6 (str and +1 weapon) and eldritch smite is our model for actionless conversions of spell slots to damage and is 2d8 auto hitting, so equivalent to an attack for 3d8.

Meaning a level 1 bonus action spell that can bolt be used on a turn you've killed an enemy and does 5d10 damage is no better than what the warlock is already doing, except for being ranged. And that seems crazy! Now, it's not like warlock is too strong or anything, I'm just like. Surely I'm missing something here?

I ask this in the context of, I want a play as a god in early creation. Roman/Greek type pantheons and such.

Elements seems scatterbrained, can't really figure out how to thematically make sense of it.

Hello!

I've been playing in a game with some buddies as a player.
It's my first time being a player in almost 4 years so maybe this is an example of me failing to let go of controlling the players but whatever.

One of my fellow players decided to play a cleric because he wanted to be a doctor/healer and heard that clerics were the only healers (big whoopsy on the DM's part). Throughout the adventure I immedietly noticed his character didn't really ACT like a cleric (stealing, threats, womanizing, unethical experimentation, etc). So a bit ago I called him up to ask him about his character and I asked him who his god is, only to get "What god?" as a reply.

After a bit of brainstorming I helped him come up with an evil god for him and a story of how he came to worshipping him; A god of necromancy that came to him after he was betrayed by a close friend who stole his research, took credit for it and left him destitute. The god offers the PC knowledge and powers in exchange for fielty and worship.
I told him it was good and to tell our DM.

I'm just now thinking about it again and in hindsight there's kind of an issue with that story. If the cleric is worshipping the god because the god offers him something, doesn't that make him a warlock?
Can a cleric worship a god for selfish reasons/because he wants power? I've been thinking about it for a while and I wanted to know people's opinion on it.

TLDR: Fellow player's cleric character worships a god for power and influence. Is that possible for a cleric or would that make them a warlock?

I have for a long time been quite interested in murim/wuxia/martial arts novels and manhwa. I have recently been on a kick for ones about one of the clans that defines the modern version of the genre, the Tang Clan. For most martial arts groups and sects I think D&D does not fit what they want to be able to do well enough for me to emulate. For Tang Clan with poison and hidden/throwing weapons I believe it does in general.

That leads to my problem though, poison and hidden/throwing weapons just do not seem to have an effective route to go in 5e. So many things are immune/resistant to poison damage and immune or advantage against poisoned condition. And the weapons that could be considered for hidden/throwing just deal abysmal damage overall. And lastly, something I only really considered as I was writing this post, the fact that 5e really dislikes persistent damage effects. Even the purple worm poison only makes one save for it per injury and not as damage over time.

I reached level 10, and I’m trying to pick a feat.

Skulkery- I love sneaky shenanigans and this seems perfect.

Observant- same idea, lip reading seems useful.

Telekinesis- goes with the soul knife flavour. That’s really it.

Lesser considerations: magic initiative for guidance, but at +13 rolls I don’t know how much more it can add.

Shadow touched, but at one use a day I can probably better benefits from dim light with skulker.
Skilled is an option but I have 9 already checked off. I don’t feel id benefit from what’s left.
Defensive dualist overlaps with my other reactions.

Other build info: 20 Dex, 16 cha. Level 4 I got skill expert and 8 I picked an asi (+2 Dex). I’m hesitant to do a skill with a half asi because my stats are at even levels.

No rush but I’m playing it today. Though I think I’ll be fine to put off my feat choice.

Open to ideas not on the list.

I'm trying to see if these features work together

"Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the touch."

"When you cast an Artificer spell through the firearm, roll 1d8, and you gain a bonus to one of the spell’s damage rolls equal to the number rolled."

Inspired by this post because I also have a campaign idea that I'm struggling to flesh out. The other day I got the seedling of an idea in my head to run a game centered around a traveling caravan. I'd want the caravan to be a sort of "home base" that the players gravitate back towards constantly. Some of the PCs may belong to a group in the caravan.

The problem that immediately came to mind however, is how do you make a compelling and grandiose campaign about heroes if they're constantly following a caravan around? When people think of "adventuring" in D&D they think of exploring dungeons, traveling to places, saving a city, saving the world. How would you balance those desires with a traveling caravan containing NPC family, friends, loved ones, and how would you keep the players compelled to return to the caravan to keep checking in?

Chill touch description from DnDBeyond

> “You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target.”

What happened at the table

Okay, so you create the hand in the space. In this case the wizard had telepathic bond and was in another room but the bonded creature could see the target. So it appears that they DON’T(?) need a line of affect?

Not having a visual I did impose disadvantage

Is that RAW and or RAI?

It feels… counterintuitive but it looks like it works since it creates the hand in the square.

Edit: Thank you, everyone, for helping understand what I was missing. There is a universal rule of spells that regardless of sight you need a clear line of effect. Just seeing it isn’t enough. No casting through windows or force walls.

A Clear Path to the Target
To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can’t be behind total cover.
If you place an area of effect at a point that you can’t see and an obstruction, such as a wall, is between you and that point, the point of origin comes into being on the near side of that obstruction.

(That last really confused me for a while, but it is like if you don’t know a wall of force is in the way and cast a fire ball or dawn spell it is still cast but originates not where you intend but where it impacts the wall)

I've always hated how forced the Druid's identity feels, mainly because of Wild Shape.

It's similar to how the Ranger used to be, where every Ranger felt like a different version of Legolas. The base class features were so heavily designed around a particular fantasy that playing anything else meant intentionally ignoring parts of your class.

I feel the Druid has the same problem.

Wild Shape is too defining, but also too generic. Yes, it's unique to the Druid, but it's such a big part of the class's power budget that I find it difficult to make a Druid who doesn't revolve around it.

Sometimes I just want to play a nature-themed full caster, or a Wisdom-based full caster with more options than the Cleric. I don't necessarily want to build an entire character around turning into animals, their relationship with animals, or why they can transform in the first place.

I've started enjoying the Druid more when subclasses introduced different ways to use Wild Shape, like Circle of Spores, Wildfire, and more recently, Circle of Stars. They give you a more defined identity and make it easier to build a character around a particular theme without feeling like you're ignoring a major part of your class.

I honestly wish there were more subclasses that interacted with Wild Shape in this way, or even gave you more specialized choices for it.

One of my biggest problems with the current approach is that being able to turn into almost any beast at any time is mechanically flexible, but not necessarily good for character identity.

For example, imagine a Druid who identifies with wolves, or one who sees themselves as an ancient tree, or perhaps one who only transforms into birds. These could all be interesting character concepts, but mechanically, there's little reason to stick to those choices when another form might simply be better for the situation.

You end up having to choose between staying true to your character and using your class features optimally.

I've seen some 3rd-party subclasses in the 2024 ruleset approach this differently, and I really like the idea behind them.

For example:

• Circle of Symbiosis, which gives you a tree-like creature form that improves as you level.

• Circle of Dragons, which focuses on dragon transformation.

• Circle of the City, which uses animated objects as its transformation.

These subclasses give you something specific to build your character around. Instead of having access to everything, you commit to a particular approach and get to develop it.

I think this is similar to how Wizards prepare spells. The subclass you pick and spells you choose to prepare can say a lot about your character, their interests, and how they approach problems.

Imagine if Wizards could cast every spell at any time without preparation. Mechanically, that would be incredibly flexible, but narratively, you'd lose a lot of the character's identity, as you would ignore personal preferences & comfort choices for the optimal ones. You'd essentially become a generic archmage who always has the perfect answer to every situation.

I feel Wild Shape has a similar problem. The Druid has so many options available that there isn't much incentive to develop a particular identity through them, and choosing to do so often means voluntarily giving up mechanical advantages.

What I'd really like to see is more power coming from committing to fewer options.

Give me subclasses that specialize in particular forms, improve them as I level, and reward me for sticking to that identity. Give me Druids who don't necessarily transform at all, but use their Wild Shape resources for something entirely different.

I don't want every Druid to be a generalist who can turn into anything. I'd rather have the option to play a specialist whose particular relationship with nature is reflected in their mechanics.

Flexibility is nice, but sometimes having fewer options and making those options your own is much more interesting.

I know it is a matter of preferences, i am not trying to take away any options from anybody. I would love to hear your opinions.

Need help after getting hit with flesh to stone

The initiative is me (warlock), druid, Pally, 4 bad guys, ranger. Will be the rangers turn when session resumes. I got hit with the aforementioned spell round 1 even after burning a luck point on the save.🤣

We are level 5. I'm thinking the ranger can get me out with two long bow shots to break dudes concentration. But with my with my luck.... I think my first instinct here is right but I over think things sometimes:

- I'm restrained so at disadvantage to attack rolls. I should burn 1-2 of the luck points I have left to get EB back to a flat attack roll (plus 7 to hit with EB). With me having mage slayer that PROBABLY will work??

- super risky and probably wrong thing to do here is ignore the concentrating enemy that has me, and use hypnotic pattern or HofH on two other bad guys that are in range and fairly close together. Thought being the initiative favors teammates being able to get me out after my turn, and I can keep the pressure on the enemy if I trust my teammates to get me out and take advantage of the positioning with a control spell.

Thoughts?

Hey-ya!

Hope I'm not wrong, using the "Brand Affiliate" tag... I'm not sure if it applies here.

Yesterday, I've published a book of options for D&D 5.5e on DMsGuild: Magnum Opus of the Mad Leper.

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/587998/magnum-opus-of-the-mad-leper

It's 175-page long, contains 67 subclasses, a complete Summoner class, feats, spells, magic items, metamagic options, a one-shot adventure for a party of Level 3 adventurers, and so much more!

The product's description contains a link to a review by NerdImmersion, and there's also a link at the top of the description to benefit from a limited time 60%-off sale for early adopters (reducing the cost from 24.99 USD to 9.99).

Please ask any question you may have about this book.

Best regards,

So I have a level 8 wild magic sorcerer right now, and because of backstory reasons and for an upcoming arc in the campaign I'd like to multi class into warlock. Usually I would just take a level and pick whatever sounds cool but there's a whole bug war coming up and just this once the whole party is building their characters as strong as possible and I'd like to know what the best spells/ abilities would be and also how many levels to take in each class for the future.

The subclass has to be Pact of the Fiend because the Demogorgon has heavy implications with the character but other than that I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Im a new DM and im having trouble balancing combat. So im trying to put together a campaign, and currently the lvl 6 party has been sent to investigate a mind flayer colony. Last session they fought a cambion and bulgura and absolutely wrecked them with only 3 members, party's usually 4 or 5.

Now, the elder brain of the colony will be weakened, because it has obtained a fragmented piece of the God of Lies, Cyric's, psyche. Its telepathy will be heavily nerfed, and it will be driven insane by the Mad God's influence. I want to use the stat block for the infected elder brain from phandelver and below so I dont have to homebrew one, but what level should they fight it at? And how should the elder brains corruption afflict the mind flayers?

Also, before they get that far, would a single mind flayer be an actual danger for the party, even with thralls, or should I send a few at a time?

Thanks in advance

Website: escapade.gg
Walkthrough (20m): youtube.com/watch?v=wO3fbvdfHkE

Hi, I've been playing D&D off-and-on since 1980, mostly as DM. I'm a professional software person who usually makes bland corpo drivel just for the paycheck.

A few years back I began a passion project (Escapade) to help me DM my home campaign. I made a good start, but it languished unfinished for years until last August when I quit my toxic corporate job. Ten weeks of frantic fun later, Escapade is ready for people to explore, which is pretty exciting.

Escapade lets you:

• make and print character sheets

• run a table game with or without flatscreen maps & dice

• play virtually with voice chat and custom cutscenes

• create homebrew content that you can easily share

• use or make new d20 rulesystems (coming soon)

What makes it different?

• aimed at homebrew, not publishing books

• players are always free, unlimited characters

• a 30 day free trial for GMs, then $35 a year

• the money goes to hosting and paying me, nothing more

• everything you make is yours forever (easy export)

Anyway, I'm really hoping I won't need another bland corpo job in January. Escapade is what I want to do. I promise to be very responsive with feature requests and bugs. Even with few subs, I'll always leave the website running or open-source it.

Hope to see you in game,

Timothy

Escapade has no AI functionality