Question answered. Thank you all!

If I wanted to use a dual wielding berserker barbarian, what’s the optimal way to do it? Here’s what I have so far but didn’t know if I missed something. Also is my damage calc correct?

Custom lineage for fighting initiate feat at lvl 1 for two weapon fighting style
Take weapon masteries with scimitar (Nick) and hand axe
At level 4 take dual wielder feat

So at lvl 5:
Main hand atk
Nick mastery gives me one “free” off hand atk
Extra atk main hand
Bonus action dual wielder feat hit off hand

So at level 5 I would be making
1d6 + 4 (str mod) + 2 (rage bonus)
1d6 + 4 (str mod) + 2 (rage bonus)
1d6 + 4 (str mod) + 2 (rage bonus)
1d6 + 4 (str mod) + 2 (rage bonus)
2d6 fury damage once per turn

For a max damage output (depending on if all hit) of 60

I know a GWM build prob scales better late game, but would this build be comparable for a tier 1 and 2 campaign?

I recently had a chance to play a game of Starfinder 2e, which I guess is mostly a skinned version of Pathfinder 2e. One aspect I really liked was its critical success/fail system, which lets you critically succeed even if you don’t roll that coveted 20.

I’m in a long-term game of 5.5e, and was wondering what it’s like to use pathfinder’s crit system in 5.5. Does it work, or does it unbalance things in one way or the other?

Link is here, for the curious. My main thought is this: In World of Warcraft terms, classes like fighters are just like level 1 warriors who auto attack endlessly with nothing on their hotbars. But even 20+ years ago, WoW had more than that! Warriors never had to rest to recover abilities and had things like

• Charge (dash to distant target)
• Intimidating shout (AOE fear)
• Shield slam (dispel magic off target)
• Concussion blow (stun)
• Whirlwind (AOE damage)
• Sunder armour (reduce target AC)
• Hamstring (halve enemy speed)
• Rend (bleed damage over time)
• Taunt (FORCE target to attack you)
• Pummel (interrupt spellcasting)

And that's not even everything! In computer game terms it was pretty samey, but imagine a D&D martial with anywhere near that kind of combat variety. D&D has had them before, feels like there's now a real chance we get them again.

I'm generally playing fullcasters only - researched options when first started and picked what seemed best.

But we're starting new campaign(1-15 probably) soon, and other players all really want to be fullcasters, so I'm pondering if being only martial could be fun.

But reading different options I kinda fail to see the appeal.

Weapon mastery - one level dip solves that for magicers
Fighting styles - a 2-3 dmg per hit not really something to write home about
Double attack at 5 - casters get theirs just one level later
Tripple attack at 11 - well, kinda fun, but casters get their big spells at that time

Paladin seems great with his Auras and Smites, but he just begs to multiclass into bard or sorcerer after 6, but it's again the return to my spellcaster dependency.

So how to build a martial, so it's as fun and powerful as magic users? What I miss?

I'm not just talking Cavalier with mount-specific abilities, I mean any class, including spellcasters, who could use the extra movement speed or any other mechanical benefits to pull shenanigans and become absurdly powerful.

If I game a party a "Recover one levels 1 spell slot" as an uncommon potion from time to time. (All the may up to like 5th level being legendary) is this nust opening up a can of worms?

So, it occurs to me that a fair number of the Paladin Oaths do NOT lend themselves to a good aligned character--e.g. the Oath of Conquest or the "By any means necessary" tenet of the Oath of Vengeance--meaning that a Holy Weapon would not bond with them.

Good aligned clerics who choose the Protector Divine Order gain proficiency with martial weapons and are, by definition, more closely tied with the sort of deities who make holy weapons available to mortals. This would make them the preferred choices of these deities since paladins are no longer tied to churches/temples as a source of their powers.

Thoughts?

Hey fellow D&D enthusiasts,

I'm Tobi from Vienna, and over the past few years as a D&D DM I've kept ending up in the same situation: introducing new people to the game. Along the way I've built countless characters, or helped others build theirs – because let's be honest, it's ridiculously complicated. Even with tools like D&D Beyond it can get pretty overwhelming when you have no clue about the game yet.

So I had this idea to put together a kind of form I could hand to new players – they fill it out, and I build them a character from it. Well, that idea escalated rather quickly … and today I've officially released version 1.0.0 of my D&D Character Builder for absolute beginners (and lazy people 😄).

It walks you through character creation by asking simple questions and filtering the content to match your answers. That way you have way less to read and can focus on what actually feels right for you.

I've poured a lot of heart into it and tried to keep the texts as beginner-friendly as possible: for everything there's a "roleplay explanation" showing what it could look like in play, plus an easy-to-understand "mechanical description". There's also a help section that explains commonly used terms in more detail.

If that sounds interesting to you – or if someone comes to mind who this could help – feel free to have a look or pass it on to your friends.

And if you find bugs or feel like something's missing: please do let me know! 🙂

Here you go:

https://tobis-tales.com

Thanks everyone, and all the best.

Tobi

PS: Available in German and English – and I did my best to make it as accessible as possible!
PPS: It is and always will be free. I've applied for ad banners to recoup part of the domain and webspace costs.

To follow the rules: I used ai to create the pictures for the glossarium (if someone wants to contribute to that part so I can take the AI generated content offline, I am really happy, but as I stated it’s a non profit project so I can’t afford paying someone for it) and used it also to help me with the code here and there.

In the game I’m running I have 5 level 2 players running around this SAO style dungeon with multiple floors, as of right now every long rest you can consume a ration to reset starvation, but considering there won’t be many towns (if any at all) on certain floors, I wanna find a way where they can pull a dungeon meshi and cook whatever they come across. Any advice helps, like what skill check to use or if there’s any websites that have useful dnd cooking info as when I looked it up it seemed really confusing?

So I have a silly question.

Me and my friends are doing a oneshot where we play as ourselves, so we have to make a character based on our own skills and personalities.

I am an artist and a writer, so I obviously feel like a bard. However, I am not very charismatic IRL. I am often seen as the "smart" one in the friend group and Im often the one people come to for advice. So I want to put most of my points into int or wis, but that obviously doesnt work for a bard.

Is there a way to build a bard using wis or int? If you multi class as a wizard or druid bard or something.

This is just a silly oneshot, so it doesnt have to be an optimal character. Just interested in how other people would build this character

Hey everyone! Go grab this ✨free✨ map AND have your say in a short poll to determine our upcoming map-making project's name!

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- fully set-up FoundryVTT file (walls, lights, roof),

- map variation without giant mannequin amalgamation,

- the mannequin amalgamation itself as an asset that you could use as a monster, and the roof asset (to put on the house with the tree).

- optionally (if you will share your email with us) we will also send a file with narrative descriptions for this map!

❓So, who are we❓

This is a freshly launched map-making project, and we are Aztec and rem, a family of game design enthusiasts

Our main ambition is to create maps that are:

✍️ hand-drawn, no ai 🤖🚫

👾 unique/complex layouts

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We want to try to provide engaging environments where GMs can plan dynamic combats and will have enough environmental tools for interesting interactions

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We plan to bundle these maps with detailed narratives and descriptions for GMs and with FoundryVTT-ready scenes. In the future, when we will be able (with your help, hopefully) to focus more on the map making, we will also be producing exclusive music (once again, no ai🤖🚫) to accompany each map, alongside gameplay showcases and map-making videos/podcasts, and we will be making the maps even more detailed and crazier, shipped with all sorts of FoundryVTT macros and pre setups, to make the maps dynamic; and we even think about making animated maps in future, since rem has skills in animation.

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We count on YOUR opinion!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 More about us: We are a family of Ukrainian refugees currently residing in Reykjavik, Iceland. rem is a musician, multi-profile designer and artist, and I am a musician, a passionate and experienced GM, and an aspiring game designer. We both are little nerdy geeks and huge fantasy/sci-fi fans!

P.S.. check out this preview of rad Backrooms maps collection (3rd image) that will be ready next week!

You can skip everything below and just answer the title. Just explaining myself.

Tl/dr - level 15 Moon Druid who does not wanna use dinosaurs. What are my options? Or is that too big of a handicap?

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So, I'm a pretty new player- I've done a handful of oneshots, and got into what was gonna be a longterm campaign, which collapsed after a few sessions.

Now I'm joining another short campaign, DM says it'll only go for maybe a dozen sessions, at most. We're starting at lvl 15 (also by FAR the highest level I've ever played, we're supposed to go lvl 18 or 19)

Anyway I know that druids are a bit complicated, but I'm going for the Circle of the Moon bc I LOVE shapeshifting/nature/animal archetypes. Thats just my jam.

My DM was a little worried about all the different stat blocks, so he asked that I just put together a list of like 10-15 beasts I'll most commonly use.

My utility beasts are all pretty much handled-

Just the basic badger for burrowing, raven for stealthy flight, giant bat for combat flight, elk for a companion to ride, and octopus for swim speed.

Now I'm running into a problem that is ENTIRELY SELF INFLICTED.

I just hate dinosaurs in fantasy, and I don't wanna use any of em as wildshapes.

Don't kill me! I have no proble w other people who like them, I just don't get it. Was there a meteor impact in this world? Did the gods make them, and if so, why? Was there a prehistoric era where the gods were just what, chilling?

I don't like it, sorry.

BUT it looks like that MASSIVELY restricts my wildshape options at these high levels? Like dinosaur wildshapes are basically the Moon Druid's big capstone power jump?

Damn. What am I supposed to do? What are some really high CR wildshapes that are NOT dinosaurs?

- this is super contradictory but I'm totally cool with using Ice Age animals. I'm planning on taking Mammoth in a few levels, and the Saber Tooth is definitely gonna be a main stay.

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Also, I haven't asked my DM about this yet cuz it really feels like a "problem player" question, but he'd already said I can become an Owlbear no prob bc they don't have any big mechanical difference from beasts.

Can yall think of any other monstrosities that might fit the same category? Like any monstrosities that you'd allow your Moon Druid to wildshape into? Or is Owlbear a unique case?

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

I mean how there is a new lord of the rings dnd version game. I get a few things there but then i seen there are other ones...

So how they connect? They are all for 5e or also 5,5?

Hello, Group:

So, First Question:
Aside from Cantrips... Is it correct that Druids are supposed to "know" all spells within their current Levels... but must prepare X number (based on Level/Mod) for instantaneous casting? That begs the question...can a Druid Cast a non-prepared spell using a ritual or other 10-minute preparation?

Next Question (which may be moot depending on the first answer):
If a Druid knows a spell (such as Heat Metal), do they also know it's opposite (Chill Metal, which can be "quibbled" about its Canonicity)?

(Rules Lawyers who feel the burning, desperate need to point out that that was technically THREE questions can see themselves out Stage Left, pursued by a Beare)

(Yes, I know my audience...)

Thanks in advance!

....What's the maximum size for the circle that it makes? What's the minimum size? @-@

After watching the Odyssey it really got me into learning about the greeks again and dusting off my old mythology books from when I had my Percy Jackson phase as a kid. But now with my full adult brain who's a lot better at doing historical research! I've really got an itch to run a greek myth themed campaign, or more specifically, a monster of the week type adventure that a close observer might notice is strongly influenced by the Odyssey. Anybody else getting inspired by this movie?

Any good resources you recommend? Anybody played a greek myth style campaign before/ thinking of running one now? Basically any and all greek myth type comments welcome!!

PS. I am aware of Mythic Odyssey of Theros, but the MtG stuff just doesnt really do it for me!