I’m venting bc I’m grumpy.

Recently, I started to notice that my character has had a series of being shut down or left out of things, for no discernible reason. I will preface she’s neither smart or wise, so some of these things started as simply “she didn’t roll very high” which is super fair, but then no one caught her up on anything and folks even clarified that they intentionally didn’t tell her things. But this evolved into basically 1 character in our party (N) getting a ton of super plot relevant information and then keeping it secret between her and one other character while the rest of the party was excluded. We got vague explanations of “she doesn’t trust everyone yet.”

N was very friendly (and at times flirty) with my character and gave me no reason to believe there was friction. My character is very lovable dingus golden retriever. She has no enemies except the party’s enemies. While she’s not very smart, she does understand loyalty and keeping secrets and can follow instructions. There has not been a time where she’s spilled secrets or done something stupid that had negative consequences on anyone but herself. She would jump in front of a sword for anyone in the party.

N also recently had a huge backstory reveal, but again, only to a select few characters, and mine was not included. The following session, N slammed a door in my character’s face while mine was checking on her and making sure she was okay because N was described to be sobbing loudly in her room and no one else wanted to check on her because of still processing her backstory reveal. My character still had no info on the backstory reveal so she just was asking generally what was wrong. N’s player basically said N didn’t want to talk to mine so to stop trying, which was also fair and I respected the player’s boundary and didn’t continue interacting. N’s player continued to hint that she wanted further interaction (“Doesn’t anyone want to check on N? She’s crying” / “You all can still hear N crying loudly in her room”) so I asked if she wanted my character to try again, and she said no, and no one else wanted to interact with her.

I sent a message in our group chat the next day saying I was feeling a little stuck with my character because she seemed to be left out of so much info. DM messaged me privately and asked where I wanted to go with my character. I reiterated that I was feeling kind of stuck because my character basically had zero idea why we were even at the current location, is not up to date on the Party Drama, the current situation with the BBEG, and is getting doors slammed in her face when trying to do things that would help her gain information. DM stated that N doesn’t trust a different character in the party (E) and therefore is going to be distrusting of anyone who interacts with him. E is not hostile at all, but let a tactical secret slip in front of a bad guy on accident toward the beginning of the campaign. The player was driving at the time and genuinely got confused that we were still within earshot of a bad dude, but agreed to proceed and say that E messed up. E is a sheltered teenager with minimal real world experience and is socially awkward, so it made narrative sense and the player was cool with it. No one expressed being genuinely upset, in character or above table. Since this instance, E has been very helpful to the party and I find E’s player to be a fun person to play with.

I messaged N’s player and asked if I could clarify what was up. N’s player confirmed that anyone who interacts with E will never be trusted and information will continue to be withheld. I mentioned that my character isn’t even especially close with E, nor has she personally ever done any of the actions that has made N distrustful. If she’s asked to keep a secret, she never speaks of something again. I also mentioned that my character (and I as her player) were under the impression that she and N were at least friendly so she didn’t realize she was doing anything ‘wrong.’

I did clarify that above table, she was asking me to ignore an entire player for the whole campaign, and she said yes. The DM also confirmed that they were basically trying to ice E’s player out of the campaign by encouraging everyone to just ignore him and using it as a bartering thing where he gives N information and she only tells people who don’t interact with E. I asked why, and DM stated E’s player is too much of a rules lawyer and metagamer (which I haven’t ever noticed, but everyone’s got different pet peeves). I said I didn’t think in-character antagonizing was the way to go for this and was basically told my character’s options were to keep having information withheld from her or to stop speaking to E. This also wasn’t even done well (not that it’s something I would’ve agreed to) because over multiple months of weekly play I genuinely never connected that information was being withheld because my character interacted with E.

I let them know that neither me being excluded or participating in excluding someone else were going to be fun for me, and left the campaign with a message that I didn’t feel my character fit well with the party anymore and wished them well. I’m trying to determine if I message E’s player and let him know or just let them work it out themselves at this point because they’re all adults and I’m no longer involved. In my opinion, issues with a player shouldn’t be resolved by antagonizing a character, and this is all very reminiscent of high school bullying which I don’t want to be a part of. There was never any explanation on why the DM and N’s player wouldn’t just speak to E’s player directly other than because this is how they wanted to resolve it.

Am I absolutely losing it for thinking this was all super petty and wanting no part in it? This all feels like such a toxic dynamic to me. But at the same time, I am sad to leave a group I’ve spent almost a year playing with. I’m a high school teacher, and I have seen how bad isolation and exclusion can get, so it’s not anything I will ever participate in.

TL:DR- I was asked to participate in excluding another character/player because the DM and another player don’t like him and don’t want to address it above table. I said no and left the campaign because the vibes were bad.

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 ❤️

I’ve been looking into all of the other 5E books lately, and I’ve seen a lot of negative stuff about Spelljammer. Anyone wanna clue me in on why?

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

A Long Rest, at least in 5.5e, is defined as a period of 8 hours where at least 6 of those hours are spent sleeping, and the other 2 are spent doing light, non-strenuous activity like eating or talking. Those two hours of light work sound remarkably similar to a Short Rest, a 1-hour period of downtime in which you do non-strenuous activity like eating or talking.

So, this begs the question: can someone use the 2 hours of downtime in a Long Rest to attune to a Magic Item, the same way they would attune to a Magic Item during a Short Rest?

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.

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’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.

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 want to play a cold damage focused caster, but I’m not sure what class or subclass I want to use. I’m aware of subclasses like draconic sorcerer or Evoker Wizard, but I’d rather have something a bit more focused like Storm sorcerer or Circle of storms is with electric and thunder damage, including with the aesthetic and flavor. So do you guys have any cool suggestions from expansions or third party books? Thanks!

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!

I'm drawn to D&D 3x. I wasn't too much of a fan of the optimization side, though I thought it was pretty neat in how flexible, depending on the DM, the options of what you could play were. This is the edition I distinctly remember a lot of monster options also being PC options.

I kind of like the combat. I've played a few 3.x computer games and enjoy the tactical options, especially of what I've seen with Temple of the Elemental Evil.

But I'm feeling 5e might hit more of the right notes for me. But I always come back to 3.x fondly. Could much of this be nostalgia? It was the first D&D system I got to extensively play with others. Or is there something I might be keying in on that you share fondness for as well?

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.

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.

Hello DnD Community. I'm currently DMing a campaign and my party has discovered a key character's secret study and I've done the good ole' Glyph of Warding written in to several pages in a book (but said character has done that to many books in this study.

I wanted some ideas for a puzzle so the players can attempt to escape the room when it locks up after discovering some key information. If the time runs out then all the books are launched from their shelves and the party will... well you get the picture.

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

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. 🫣

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!

Basically:

What creatures get the most benefit from being able to keep the combat within the boundaries of a Dead Magic Zone?

(Reminder for those needing one, basically Permanent Antimagic Field that encompasses howevermuch space)

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.

Just curious really

Quick OOC Explanation: I'm running a D&D campaign with four extremely powerful, fully decked-out level 20 characters, and I'm looking for community suggestions to help build their final boss!

The BBEG can absorb the essence of creatures and characters, gaining their abilities and switching between them during combat. However, he has a limited capacity for abilities based on their level or CR.

I'm looking for anything from ridiculously powerful monsters to low-level characters with interesting or unusual abilities. The most upvoted suggestions will be incorporated into the final boss!

I've written the rest of this post as an in-character recruitment advertisement from the BBEG himself. Enjoy!

VOLUNTEERS WANTED! - For a Completely Safe, Entirely Voluntary, and Absolutely Non-Suspicious Scientific Endeavor!

GREETINGS, WONDERFUL MORTALS, IMMORTALS, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN! Are YOU a mighty warrior? A powerful wizard? An ancient dragon? A horrifying aberration beyond mortal comprehension? A particularly talented goblin?

WELL, HAVE I GOT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU! I am conducting a perfectly harmless experiment involving the collection, preservation, and potential redistribution of certain unique personal qualities! And I need YOU! Yes, YOU! The one reading this! I can see you! HAHAHA! Ahem.

WHO CAN APPLY?

EVERYONE! Adventurers of ANY level! Monsters of ANY Challenge Rating! Dragons, demons, devils, celestials, undead, and miscellaneous horrors! Homebrew abominations and questionable creations! Ordinary creatures with extraordinary talents! That one guy who can do something really weird with a spoon!

POWER IS NOT A REQUIREMENT! I am interested in ALL unique abilities, whether they involve bending reality, destroying kingdoms, teleporting through shadows, or making a mildly inconvenient amount of mayonnaise. Every talent has its uses! Every. Single. One.

WHY ARE WE RECRUITING?

I have an upcoming appointment with four exceptionally powerful, completely decked-out level 20 adventurers who have acquired a frankly unreasonable quantity of magical equipment, abilities, resources, and confidence. They have survived everything placed in front of them so far.

This is unacceptable.

Therefore, I am assembling a diverse collection of useful talents, bizarre tricks, horrifying powers, and deeply inconvenient abilities in preparation for our upcoming... meeting. Think of it as a collaborative community effort! You provide the abilities. They provide the targets. I provide the screaming. For entirely scientific reasons, of course.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING?

Excellent question! Our volunteers will participate in a revolutionary new process that allows me to study and potentially utilize their unique abilities! Think of it as donating to a good cause! Except instead of blood, you're donating something far more interesting!

YOUR ESSENCE!

Don't worry about what that means. The important thing is that your contributions will become part of something MUCH greater than yourselves! Specifically, me. Did I say me? I meant SCIENCE!

HOW TO VOLUNTEER!

Simply leave your character, monster, or creature in the comments below! Please include their name, level or CR, and any interesting abilities they possess. Official creatures and homebrew creations are equally welcome!

And here's the EXCITING part: THE MOST UPVOTED VOLUNTEERS WILL BE SELECTED FOR THE FINAL EXPERIMENT! That's right! Your fellow volunteers get to decide who receives the honor of participating! The more votes you receive, the greater your chances of becoming part of something truly unforgettable!

Remember, I am preparing for four highly optimized, heavily equipped, extremely powerful level 20 adventurers, so terrifying abilities are absolutely welcome. However, raw power is not everything. Strange, clever, annoying, situational, disruptive, or outright ridiculous abilities may be even more valuable. Sometimes you don't need to destroy a hero. Sometimes you just need to make their day considerably worse.

SO SIGN UP TODAY! Your abilities are unique. Your essence is valuable. And I would absolutely LOVE to have you inside me!

...THAT CAME OUT WRONG. Or did it? HAHAHAHAHA!

Signed, Your Totally Trustworthy, Definitely Sane, and Entirely Benevolent Benefactor

P.S. Please stop asking what happened to the previous volunteers. They're still here. Technically.

DISCLAIMER — PLEASE READ BEFORE VOLUNTEERING

By submitting a character, creature, or other entity, you acknowledge and agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. Participation is entirely voluntary until participation has commenced, at which point the definition of "voluntary" may be subject to revision.
2. All submitted entities may be subjected to essence extraction, absorption, assimilation, redistribution, and/or other processes that have not yet been approved by any recognized ethical committee.
3. The Organizer reserves the right to utilize any and all abilities, traits, spells, resistances, immunities, senses, movement types, and other interesting characteristics belonging to selected volunteers.
4. Abilities may be activated, deactivated, or exchanged without prior notice. Due to limited operational capacity, not all acquired abilities can be utilized simultaneously. Capacity requirements will be determined by the volunteer's level or Challenge Rating.
5. Selected abilities are intended for use against a party of four extremely powerful, well-equipped level 20 adventurers. Submissions capable of challenging, disrupting, confusing, inconveniencing, humiliating, or otherwise ruining the day of such individuals are particularly appreciated.
6. Selection will be primarily determined by community upvotes. The Organizer reserves the right to make adjustments for balance, compatibility, dramatic effect, or personal amusement.
7. Volunteers are not required to be powerful. Unusual, creative, entertaining, or exceptionally inconvenient abilities are strongly encouraged.
8. The Organizer accepts no responsibility for loss of physical form, magical abilities, individual identity, free will, consciousness, memories, souls, or any other components traditionally associated with continued existence.
9. Submitted homebrew characters and creatures should include sufficient information for their abilities to be understood and incorporated into the experiment.
10. The Organizer cannot guarantee that any submitted character will survive the experiment, although volunteers are welcome to remain optimistic.
11. This is a fictional Dungeons & Dragons community project. Submitted characters and creatures may be adapted for use in a home tabletop campaign. No actual harm, essence extraction, or soul-related transactions will occur.

BY COMMENTING BELOW, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Additional terms may apply. Terms may change without notice. Complaints may be submitted directly to the Organizer's digestive system. Refunds are unavailable. Resurrection is not guaranteed. The Organizer is not legally responsible for anything that happens to your character, their soul, their descendants, the four adventurers in question, or any nearby furniture.

THANK YOU FOR VOLUNTEERING! We look forward to making you a part of our family. Permanently.

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!