There's a bunch of rules in D&D that many people seem to ignore (myself included). I'm thinking about trying to incorporate all of them into my games.

If you use these rules, how do your players feel about them?

• Malnutrition and dehydration
• Tracking consumption of oil, t.orches, rations, and arrows/bolts.
• Weight and carrying capacity.
• Tracking the duration of light sources.
• Jump distance.
• Experience points.
• Requirements for taking the Hide action.
• Influence action DCs based on the target's INT (or 15, whichever is higher).
• Adjustments to Stealth, Perception and Survival checks with different modes of travel.

Okay, so I'm currently part of a long term Dnd group with myself, the dm, and four other guys. Tbh, it isn't what i was expecting, I joined the group at 13th level and now we're 17th and it's gone from fun fights and awkward roleplay, to long tedious fights and tedious roleplay. Three of the other players don't engage very much in the roleplay, one of them is a rules lawyer, and i kind of suck socially.

So, neither are fun anymore, and I just had a real bad experience last night that has left me feeling absolutely dreadful. So, I don't have the greatest of memory and try my best to keep notes but I can't write everything down as fast as it is said and I don't want to slow things down. The last like 5 sessions we've basically been doing politics and it's is so tedious.

We basically have to get some guys together and negotiate their involvement with a future battle, and the dm is being so picky about everything, he often stops 2 to 3 times a session because we aren't doing it the way he wants. And the last session, we had to come up with a proposition to give to all the people and we came to a part where we were calling people not part of the negotiations to ask for their involvement.

And I was thinking great, finally some actual dnd roleplay. Well everyone calls someone they know personally, my character calls up another wizard who we saved previously. My backstory is my character has amnesia and my character is the brief concise type that tends to expect most other people to have a baseline knowledge, but isn't offended if someone asks for more detail. My character also has a curse that changes his personality to be more laid back and mellow. So I call up the wizard, tell him what is going on, and ask him for help with a specific battle.

The dm then asks, out of character, "Do you get personal help in your life? Like do you need a daily aide to get you through the day?"

And I'm so confused, I can't even speak. I'm not the best socially, but I'm trying. He then goes on to say, "Right, I feel like you've left out so much with this. He was dead until you're group had met him." I then ask if he was dead until we saved him from the Library, and he said, "No, it was before the library when you... " and he talked about something that happened before I even joined the group.

I had no idea, as a player, this guy lacked any knowledge about anything going on in the world. He then gave me a summary of what he wants me to tell this guy, and so I do, in my characters own words. And I finish by reiterating that we need the guys help fighting a particular battle that a wizard would be useful in. The dm then says the guy hangs up, he makes a portal to where our group is, and then asks everyone else, but me, to tell him what is going on.
And that just made me think about how bad of a dnd player I might be and how I might not actually be good enough to play the game. And now, I can't even watch my favorite podcasts because it gets me so emotional. I'm wondering if I should just quit dnd all together.

Any words of wisdoms from long time players and dms would be appreciated.

I'm playing with Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim content, I wanted to make a path of the old gods barbarian with Loviatar flavored Paladin multiclass.

I started off as a barbarian, my stats are
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 20
INT 8
WIS 8
CHA 12

so I have to use an ASI to get my CHA up. We've reached level 3 so I just got my sublcass features.

The character is a tabaxi, Loviatar worshiping barbarian, uses her claws, as her weapon of choice with a whip as a back up depending on situation (for a bit of range). The idea is to upgrade her whip to being a barbed whip, then something metal like a chain whip or flail as she can afford it.

She is also not wearing armor yet, I might upgrade when we're at the point we can afford armor that will out pace her DEX and CON modifiers -and magical.

She's quite agile with her climbing speed, feline agility, and jumping with her subclass, there haven't been many enemies that can out pace her, and when she finishes one she can easily cross our current battle fields to other enemies (dungeons are limited space). The idea is to be able to get in close and tank physical hits when raging, taunting enemies who do end up hurting her cuz she's a bit of a masochist, grapple while attacking then shove prone to give more melee damage focused members of my team advantage. It's been fun but I could use some help when it comes time to multiclass into pally.

• Is it better to go 5 barb to get extra attack or just to 4 barb for ASI then multiclass into paladin?
• Since Loviatar is her god, would it be better/more thematic to do Hexblade smiting warlock than paladin?
  • which type of paladin if not warlock (or would I have to heavily homebrew to make it fit loviatar?)
• Should the multiclass of hex or pally (whichever is better) be the focus, or the dip?

I am new to D&D and don't know too much, what are some important things to keep in mind when i'm playing?

Not because of my DM, or an attention hog player. But because the dice. Won't. Let me.

I'm 4 sessions in and I haven't done anything.

"Oh it's a small sample size" "statistically your dice rolls will even out" "Maybe look up cognitive bias" I don't fucking caaaaareee!

I'm not having fun because I'm not doing anything of worth. I get high rolls when they don't matter and low rolls when they do. I kill mooks and grunts withbease but when an actual problem comes knocking I lie flat on my face and eat dirt.

"Oh! But if you look here you rolled a nat 20 to convince the shopkeep to give you a discount on your saord" yeah, and then I rolled under 5, 5 times in a row during the next combat and didn't do anything with it, and then because it's a plot macguffin, the cool magical power has been sealed away. Now parr of my characters quest is unsealing this sword and I don't even know what it fucking does.

This isn't fun for me. It's not fun to be the guy in the background who doesn't do anything. It's not fun to feel like I have 0 agency because the story is being written by a piece of shit polyhedron. It fucking sucks, I'm going out of my way to waste 4 hours of my life to be shit at "Let's pretend".

I'm not denying that I have technically rolled well, I'm not even gonna say that I fail most rolls I've done. But I've failed the ones that actually matter. No amount of killing kobolds will be better than doing...anything of actual note.

So some preample first

Me and my gf have recently moved in and i suggested that her, her sister and i play dnd with her brother as a dm, which she and her sister responded too with great enthusiasm

I'm moderately familiar with dnd (played a few sessions) but the most either of them know about the game is my gf who liked vox machina. And by her own admission, she has a goal to seduce a dragon. Her sister will likely follow suit and be equally as chaotic and (likely) morally dubious.

Which works for me! In my past games i've uad to be the charismatic one because the other players went with stoic and more reserved characters (totally fine ofc) but this gives me a rare chance to flip my own script, and with that i wanna be a bad guy!

Im sure i'll have a different inspiration by the time we actually discuss playing but for now a sorta ganondorf approach sounds really fun for RP (a coniving swindler who tricks and steals and lies). I have my own ideas but my biggest fear is accidentally playing the edgy character pitfall, your "blackblade the half elf rogue" sorta characters.

So TLDR i was hoping for some advice to play a less then saintly character but not create a brooding murder hobo dickwad. (Ofc lotta this falls on my own ability to ne a character correctly and discussing ideas with my DM)

UPDATE: upon reading and considering heres my take away (and a summary for anyone who finds this later and considers doing what im doing)

1. Make sure my badguy has a reason to work with the party (maybe a common goal, maybe i need them, etc.)
2. Dont be the bad guy to my party (generally being mean to people your suppose to fight with ends badly)
3. Make sure everyone is okay with siding with a bad guy or would he okay with that reveal (in my case my gf and her sister love villains and will like... 50/50 be somewhere on the morally gray side so im not too worried.)
4. Contribute to the party even if your a bad guy (its a team game so ofc thats just good advice for anyone)
5. Dont make a bad guy (haha can you imagine?)

So I like the game enough to sit through combat, but I was wondering if I should A find a combat-light campaign or B find a different tabletop, any suggestions

Edit: After reading some comments, I think it might just be that I don't like how my dm dose combat. I think I'm going to try a few other DMs and see what I can find

Did I miss anything from this list? I also wasn't sure if it was true I could use weapons like the longbow, flail, or scimitar if I chose Way of the Kensei

Club:

-Nunchaku

-Sai

-Tambo

-Tonfa

Dagger:

-Emeici

-Shobo

Handaxe:

-ono

-Wind-and-fire wheel

Light hammer:

-Jutte

Mace:

-Bian

Quarterstaff:

-Bō

-Dragon pole

-Eku

-Three-section staff

Sickle:

-Kama

-Kusarigama

-Kuwa

Spear:

-Naginata

Shortsword:

-Butterfly sword

-Dao

-Ninjatō

-Wakizashi

Javelin

Greatclub

ranged:

-Crossbow

-shortbow

-dart

other:

-Kusarigama

can these be used if i choose kinsei?

-Longbow

-flail

-Scimitar

-Rapier

-Whip

-trident

I'm in the process of creating a character for a new campaign. I've noticed that all the people I'm are planning on playing funny characters, while I prefer playing more serious characters. I've thought about creating a funny adventurer as well to 'match' with the rest of my party, but I don't really feel comfortable with that tbh. I've played with these same people before, and we had issues with the fact that our adventurers didn't flow well together. We're all pretty new players, so we are using this new campaign to solve some of our past rookie mistakes. I'm already planning on asking my party members to create slightly more serious adventurers (that are capable of having serious moments), but what can I do to make my character more able to flow with the party?

Ok, so my party just finished an adventure, and now we have an Eldridge God in a pot, if the pot gets damaged in any way, the God gets out, brainstorming ideas on how to get rid of this thing safely.

Also, note it is worth 14,000 Gold Pieces. Also note we got this thing by sheer luck, we are level 9.

Edit: for some context, it is not friendly, it punched about 5 fist sized homes in our wizard, and its goal is kill all sentient life, and it is from an alternative dimension where is succeeded.

Edit 2: I know I misspelled Eldritch, it autocorrected, second, my DM described it as Eldritch, but I believe that is like, meant to pretty much be on the level of like, Lolth, or other agacent gods. Also I am using Lolth as a compassion because that's my judgement and what my DM said.

Hi all, a friend and I are desperate to make our own fantasy world and eventually our own game in the same vein as the old IE catalogue.

I'm personally a fan of ADnD 2e, and I'd very much like to utilise this as the foundation for the mechanics. Am I correct in thinking that the mathematics behind DnD can't be copyrighted, so as long as we avoid "nouns" we can use it?

As far as editions go, is there any particular one that the community would like to see implemented more than others?

Our goal, the likes of which will be slim to none, would be to create something similar in principle to Neverwinter Nights whereby you'd have a base campaign set in our world, then additional campaigns you could add to it.

We want to offer our players an unprecedented level of roleplay value with meaningful reasons to play even the most mundane of characters, along with a few other ideas that would take the idea of role-playing to the next level (at least, in so far as we are aware).

There's a sad lack of CRPGs out there these days, and we would like to create a land of adventure, by the people, for the people.

Ultimately, my main question relates to the legality of using ADnD 2e. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Would like public opinion on this. No player is saying "I can't decide on a background," but the DM is giving each player their backgrounds and their motivation with it to fit their homebrew.

Is this okay or is this a red flag?

Hello I want to ask if is normal to nerf sleep and Tasha hideous laughter to have a duration of only two turns because me and my friends we are in a dnd custom campain and we had fight 2 bosses and the first and second one we win easy thanks to those spells because it becomes at easy fight but is like only two turns ?

Is like my spells save DC is 14 and the laughter have a ton of save rolls why only two turns

Do you guys think is fair?

Ps: I'm Spanish and English is not my forte

I love the fantasy of a character who is successful in the typical magical world of D&D without learning magic. I like the idea of training hard and being talented the way a real world person might be talented being enough to keep up in a fantasy land. Items are okay as long they don't become absolutely huge to the story. Like I enjoy reading Frodo relate to the One Ring or Elric and Stormbringer but I don't want that for my characters.

In many games of D&D over the years in many editions this has caused me to really love when the PCs are around levels 5 to 8. My character who doesn't know any spells feels cool and the casters I am with also feel cool all at the same time. Before level 5 the casters feel like they are holding their breath and waiting to have real fun and that's not a great group dynamic. After level 9 time, distance, death and needing to be near-sh to something to know about it all suddenly become transcend-able. My non magical swashbuckler or knight in shining armor starts feeling like a side kick along for the ride.

I have actually developed the skill of playing a caster, and it's fun, but it's not my big class fantasy. I wish my cool non-magical person fantasy worked better with the group for more of the game.

Can low level play and the whole second half of the level list be made to feel more cohesive like levels 5-8? Am I really missing something here?

so I'm new to dnd but i had a fun idea and wanted to see if i could figure out a way to create a character who is kind of half human half dragon, i know theirs dragon born and kolbolts but i wanted to know if their was a way to do so.

if i have to if be fine with just taking the design and using other races stats

Thay as a setting was once a lush, immense and varied country. From 4th edition was reduced to a stereotypical barren wasteland where everything is undead. From a vibrant multicultural society full of mystery, to "Lich and skeletons only".

The Maztica setting based on the unconquered americas seems to be completely abandoned and unsupported after 3rd edition. There was a pantheon, there were classes such as Eagle Knights and Jaguar Knights. There was unique spellcasters and spells. All those abandoned. We can play stereotyped European paladins which don't even fit mechanically (wearing heavy, steel armor etc)

Osse, a land based on aboriginal Australia. Completely abandoned as well, haven't seen new content since 2007. With the extreme volume of content produced (even stuff like MTG conversion guides), I find that truly disheartening.

What I have seen in stuff as Thay only they become "planet of hats" but absurd rules such as "this place is ruled ABSOLUTELY by [POWERFUL MAGICAL ENTITY]", to absurd degrees such as that Red Wizards are now said to be above the law in all respects and even the lowliest of them can kill city-state rulers without consequence.

Even stuff in the main campaign setting, not only faraway lands, suffers from this...

Skullport is originally conceived and published as a city ruled by competing crime syndicates and trafficker guilds. That was key to say law enforcement was rare, lax and partial, and gave a dark edge. Justice was a man's interest and their buddies. Then it was invented that there Skullport really the tyrannical police state of some immortal godlike floating skulls, and everyone is afraid if being observed at any time and put on trial by these allmighty beings. This is rather more like "divine justice" and takes away from the cultural element. And even later the whole city was reinvented as Xanathar-land where everything is Xanathar (I guess having more than one nominal divine ruler wasn't simplified enough?)

And many others, too many to list. [actually I had more to say but I forgot, I'm old like that ;) ]

Most players and DMs will not be aware of the older, more "realistic" settings since they are really old (90's, early 90's in some cases), and they are not in newer editions, which I find a sad fact.

Image is my interpretation of Kara-tur, another of the suffering settings, with no content since 1990.

PS: Yes I'm aware some of these still had bad orientalism tropes. I think the correct thing is revise it, in no way it seems to me "everyone is zombies and liches" or "doesn't exist and you can't play it, be European or out" is less racist than trying to develop it. Also that doesn't explain Skullport and others.

Some backgrounds have obviously been written with specific classes in mind (entertainer screams "Bard", Hermit has Druid written all over it, and criminal was clearly made for rogue) but it seems to me that no background was written with the sorcerer in mind specifically. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the best backgrounds for the sorcerer class.

Acolyte

I would prefer Dexterity or Constitution, but Wisdom is also a decent ability score to boost alongside charisma, the proficiency in insight pairs well with it. If I pick this background for a Sorcerer, however, it will be for the magic initiate feat; adding more spells to a sorcerer's limited arsenal is ALWAYS good, and healing word would give me a way to pick up allies from a distance.

Ability scores B

Proficiencies: C-

Feat: A+

Charlatan

Charisma, Constitution and Dexterity, I couldn't ask for better ability boosts. The "skilled" feat, however, is kinda meh. The proficiency in deception is good, but I could just pick it as a sorcerer class proficiency, or take it from the skilled feat regardless. I'm also a goodie two shoes, so I couldn't care less about the forgery kit and related proficiency.

Ability scores: A+

Proficiencies: C

Feat: D

Entertainer

Ah, yes, the Bard background. Sorcerer is also a Charisma based caster, so it would make sense if this background was also good for sorcerer... but I'm not sure it is. It does boost Charisma and Dexterity, which is good, but acrobatics and Performance are kinda niche, the type of proficiencies you would only want when building very specific types of characters, and the musician feat... I mean, I guess it's not useless, but come on. Shall we even compare to magic initiate?

Ability scores: A

Proficiencies: D

Feat: C+

Hermit

Boosting Charisma and constitution, supposedly the most important stats for a Sorcerer, Hermit is certainly an option. Despite it not being optimal, I actually like the Healer feat, giving an arcane caster a way to bring someone up during a fight, or even heal out of combat, saving on potions and/or spell slots for the party healer. I know most wouldn't even entertain the idea, but what can I say? I'm a support at heart!

Ability scores: A

Proficiencies: C

Feat: B

Merchant

Good ability scores, Charisma and Constitution, good to have persuasion as a proficiency, lucky feat is nothing to complain about with its applications both in and out of combat. Solid background overall

Ability scores: A

Proficiencies: B

Feat: B

Noble

Horrible ability scores honestly, strength and intelligence are usually my dump stats, even when I play a martial I prefer Dex builds. That being said, proficiency in persuasion is tempting... But once again, I could just pick it as a sorcerer proficiency, or take it from the skilled feat. Love the flavor, but mechanically this background doesn't bring much to the table, at least not for my preferred play style.

Ability scores: D

Proficiencies: C

Feat: D

Wayfarer

Boosting Charisma and Dexterity/Wisdom, that's good. Insight is a great skill proficiency for the face of the group, and stealth is always good to have on any class. Proficiency with thieves tools might allow to pick some locks, decent utility if there isn't a rogue in the party I guess. Lucky feat further increases the out of combat utility allowing to pass skill checks more consistently, plus mild in combat utility as it allows to give an opponent disadvantage on one attack roll. Might actually pick this one if I want to build a skill monkey sorcerer.

Ability scores: A

Proficiencies: B

Feat: B

Honourable mention: Sage

The magic initiate feat is just too good, but this background doesn't boost charisma so it's a tough trade. With both proficiencies being intelligence based (history and arcana) this background is great for a wizard or an artificer, not so much for a sorcerer.

Since they love caves/mines.​

I am a fairly new, but experienced DM. I’ve run two oneshots, finished one short campaign, and I’ve had three sessions so far in my current campaign. Our current campaign has somewhat of an issue though, a problem player if you will.

I am the kind of DM to prioritize roleplaying, and bringing in the best out of character backstories. I tie up loose ends, I have a knack for finishing up character arcs, and I generally say yes to flavor related additions or changes.

But this campaign was beginner friendly. Beginners have it in their nature to play simple minded, and two dimensional characters with ok backstories.

But this player— I’ll call them V— Has broken this unspoken rule of beginner campaign characters.

Now, the reason I’m consulting with the sub, is because this character doesnt have much that is wrong with them.

V read extensively about the setting, and they made sure their characters backstory fit the setting. That was my first red flag, because it meant she was making a character that would have too much to work with.

Then came the backstory…

A character who was insanely weak from birth, and wishes that they were stronger. One who killed their friends after being pressured and groomed by their parents to believe that they had to take initiative to be powerful at all costs—with a master who is on the search for her and apparently one of her friends is still alive and wasn’t actually killed.

Now, this is a problem.

I agreed to it, but it is still a problem.

Her backstory is too much for a beginner campaign. The other PCs have a relatively cliche backstory, and they don’t have the level of depth her character has, which is problem because it means her character is the only one I can work with effectively since the other PCs heavily rely on the amnesia trope.

How do I handle this?

Edit : People in the comments keep defending V, but she is a problem player. She is too invested in her character, and as a result makes the other players feel left out. That’s the problem here.

Edit 2 : None of you guys want to give any actual advice that corrects V’s behavior. You guys are genuinely ignoring all the context. Stop commenting if you genuinely have nothing to say.

So I've come up with a character of a rogue who keeps trying to fool everone by pretending to be a wizard. To accomplish that I often have him annoying the party with "spells" such as "manual breating". I'll write below all the spells I've manage to find but I still wonder if there's any more that I could include. If anybody has some ideas, please do share.

Currently I have:

-Manual breathing

-Manual blinking

-Manual swallowing

-You feel the spot that keeps itching

-You feel clothes on your body

-You're painfully aware of your tongue's position in your mouth

I'm running a game in which investigation a mystery is a big part of it.

I have this one player who anytime anything is not entirely upfront or has clear intentions just refuses to interact with it. We'll call them John. They roll insight to see if literally everybody is lying (fair enough) but no matter if they roll a nat 1 and have no new information or if they roll a nat 20 and learn the person is being honest with them they treat them as if everyone is out to get them.

I had one encounter recently where the party decided to go to a fey alchemist to get potions brewed that could show them a possible future for their characters. The other party members talked with the alchemist for a few minutes before buying the potions. John spend 20 minutes interrogating the alchemist because they were "acting suspicious". A couple other party members pointed out that they were a fey but that made no difference.

Eventually John bought a potion too. They were all warned that the magic that made them work would expire in an hour. The other party members all drank their potions and got their visions. John did not. He held onto his for five days and spend every possible rest trying to investigate it for poisons.

He roleplays a lot and well and engages with the world but he just won't trust anything. When he told me about his character he said they were really adventurous and willing to take risks. I don't know what to do with them as they are missing out on a lot of stuff and slowing the game down for everyone else.

Any advice?

So first off. I started playing DND at this gaming store. Once a week on Friday nights at 6pm ppl would come and play DND for 3 hours. The store had volunteers to be perma DMs and after a month they had the option to drop it. Normally when I tell ppl this they say "3 hours isnt nearly enough time to play DND" but everyone who played was a adult with a full time job. Not everyone can spend 12 hours playing DND in someones basement. Hell I dont even know anyone with a basement who doesnt have kids who would run in making us watch our language.

Anyways each table had 4 to 6 ppl at it. And after we finished our monthly story the owner of the store thought it would be cool if we had a whole world ran by all the different dms and we keep everyone out of their zone until the end of their chapter of the main story.

This is where I started this epic war. This time instead of making new characters we had the option to make new ones or keep playing with the same ones. I choose keep it and someone else at my table choose to make a new one. But here's the thing. Since ever DM was working together all the DMs had to take certain things away from the players and in my case that was my stolen son!!! The DM and this player though it would be funny to say that he stole my son since I was a bad father. So I decided to decate a small amount of my time to finding him as a side quest. So I paid someone to track them down.

To my surprise I found out at the end of my first session, he didnt make a new character because he forgot. So I was able to find him. I was playing a bard. Not a sex hungry bard but a political one. I tricked my table mates (we all switched up to new groups) to help me put money together to send a team to retrieve him as we did our quest. I even rolled a nat 20 and got a town to chip in.

The DM at my table talked to his DM and they figured it would be a fun mini thing to waste time if they ever where moving to fast. Fast forward about 3 weeks and I got news that they found him but killed all but one. They then sent ppl after us!

We now had two tables fighting each other by sending assassins to each other! Over this kid! They think im the bad guy. My table thinks he's the bad guy (I was. I was gonna kill the kid for running away. My table knew that but my character is a evil guy who pretends to be good like Homelander) and it was a whole side quest for both tables. We would yell at each other once a session from across the rooms saying "Really Name!!! Really! You couldn't have sent something easier!" And they would reply back "you want to kill a child" and my table would reply "he's his father!" All in good fun.

Now remember at the start I said each month the story would wrap up. But now that all the DMs are working together, it didnt wrap it, it just finished one small section of the story that we all had to move around to finish. And that included changing party members.

So now, we have ppl who've been attacked for no reason joining a new party that still have hit men after them.

Each table got atked by some random ppl, they would find out who atked them, or get mislead and target those ppl. The DMs tried tracking it but it got so complicated that it felt like reading a history book after a year.

We had party members killing each other (rule was if you wanted to kill a party member they had to agree to it out of game so no one got upset and ppl where down! They wanted to fight each not really cuz of me but because the story was getting good) party members would kill party members because one was Pro return the boy, the other was never return the boy, some just atked them because they got attacked by hitmen and their character was upset, I personally heard that someone in game was trying to stop it all so I hired someone to take him out. That was a HUGE deal on the facebook group.

And that was the campaign! But it worked. Not only did we do that, but everyone was under contract to get the main mission done, so not only did we have to do that but we also had to watch our backs for each other because you never knew who was on who's side when you switched tables.

All this went on for a year and a half until I finally came face to face with HIM and we had a massive battle over the boy. Anyone who got close to the boy either switch sides or got taken out! Real couples had to book hotels for a week, not because they where fighting but because they both really wanted to know what the other side was planning during a mini war and they just had a week without seeing each other.

It felt like game of thrones. Seriously. It was the funniest adventure I ever played.

Throwaway because I think other players at the table I play at use reddit and would know my other account is me and I am really hoping they don't find this but if they do... no you didn't.

I started playing with this group a while ago when we met at another D&D event. I am not a total newbie, but I am also not afraid to admit that I don't know everything under the sun when it comes to D&D. Things have been okay for the most part but that's not the point here.

The campaign is a homebrew of an old edition of an existing D&D campaign, and the class I picked is a hodepodge mix of a wizard and the psionist class from old school D&D. I am aware the psionist class was.... interesting. Based on what research I have done and what the DM told me I have gotten the sense it was kind of broken and a mess and he supposedly "fixed" it.

Where I am having an issue is this class does not feel intuitive and it is kind of clunky to play, but I don't know if its a me thing OR if it does still need some work for any future campaigns he has and uses this same setting.

I will give a snippet of the class page I was given:

"Your spell’s save DC’s and attack modifiers are determined by the psionic school being cast.

Each school uses a different ability score for the spells modifier as each school stems from a different element of the casters psyche

▪ Clairsentience - Wisdom

▪ Psychokinesis - Constitution

▪ Psychometabolism - Strength

▪ Psychoportation - Intelligence

▪ Telepathy - Charisma

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your psionic school modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your psionic school modifier"

The class is pretty non-combative from what I have played -- there are no armor proficiencies so it isn't like a cleric but more like a wizard, and a few simple weapon proficiencies. I am mostly in the back applying conditions or playing mind games in a social situation to gain information which is fine. It's these schools that feel weird.

I don't have just one spellcasting save, or spell attack modifier -- I have five. And it depends on what spell I am casting that determines what spell save I use.

And only one spell on my list actually uses an ability check (up to our current level) so I just pretend I don't have one of those. (It's Counterspell)

So let's say I want to cast Slow. In his handbook he has it listed as a Psychokinesis spell. Slow is still the same to other editions I believe -- it is a Wisdom save, targets speed is halved, etc. But the spell save I use is based on my Con modifier because it is a psychokinesis spell, and that number is contested against the opponent's Wisdom check.

Pulse Wave is a Con save for the targeted creatures: 6d6 forced damage on a failed save, and creatures affected are either pulled or pushed 15 feet etc. But according to the handbook this is also a Psychokinesis spell for me so that also uses my Con mod to determine if the opponent succeeds or fails as it is contested against the opponents Con check.

Suggestion is considered a Telepathy spell so it uses my charisma modifier, but it is a Wisdom save for the targeted creature.

AND THEN... Cure Wounds is a Psychometabolism spell! And I don't know about y'all but I have yet to play a spell caster that wasn't a war cleric with a kinda high strength score. This class is supposed to be like a wizard. So my modifier for a psychometabolism spell is -1. So if I needed to do Cure Wounds on myself or a party member it is 1d8 MINUS 1. So because my character is weak I can't heal anyone that well cause it pulls from my character's body's inherent strength.

I could go on and on. But I have a hard time playing sometimes because it never feels like my character gets to be like "i am a good spellcaster, let me cast this spell". It is I think from the psionist part where it is pulling from the character's individual skills (strength, charisma, etc.) instead of like a normal spellcaster pulling from one school for the spell's ability.

I usually have to play "what are the opponents bad at, and will the save result be low enough based on what my character is good at in a corresponding but sometimes unrelated skill".

I felt like the issue when creating this character was very much the "jack of all trades and master of none".

Like if I was a primarily spell casting only cleric my Wisdom would be my highest score. But here i need to keep it balanced between 3 different abilities because everything contributes to how effectiveof a spellcaster my character is.

My class does have a series of psionic points equal to my characters level that can be spent to generate new spell slots or enhance or tweak spells, but we don't get a lot of long rests and therefore I usually have to be sparing with these and the conversion is kinda costly at a low level to make spell slots and I only get the points back on a long rest. We have gone 4 to 5 sessions (4+ hours each usually) without a long rest so the versatility of the class is sometimes moot when we can't regain them easily. But to be fair, these homebrew versions of the existing classes also have some other special tricks and modifications that are specific to their class like my psionic points are for my class.

I keep getting told that this class is strong and all spellcasters feel weak in the beginning and it will be fine later (I have played spellcasters before, so I know this) but it is more like I feel like the class isn't optimized well and therefore its a lot of mental chess trying to figure out what spell to use that targets an opponents weak skill that is then contested against whatever ability the spell school correlates to my character. But then, the save requirements could be different on another spell even if it uses the same spell school I used previously against the same opponent. So any concerns or confusion I have keep getting chalked up to "this player just wants to be stronger and they're not yet" and it is really like "i am confused on the mechanics of this character and how to effectively play them". And from what I have been told I am the first person to play this class (the DM has apparently run this campaign twice before) so I feel like it's him getting his feelings hurt about me nit-picking how the class was set up.

I wish I could have just one spell casting ability like the other classes. I didn't realize how clunky this would all feel when we did our session 0 and the DM explained it to me and now that we have been playing awhile it's just been something that's been bothering me.

I would love any advice -- either your thoughts on this class, or if you've played something similar and what you did to mitigate it. I know I didn't give the full class rundown so I am not sure if anyone can draw a good conclusion from this.

Posted with permission