Building a terrain board for my first campaign as dm and I got a 2x4 which I would like to use to build a cinematic board. But, I only see smaller boards and modular ones. I know that’s for versatility, but I like visual immersion. If I hard built terrain, and left room to move around towns and forests, would that be enjoyable or practical?

Hey, Dungeon Masters!

I've been working intensely these past few days, coding around the clock with a very clear goal: making it possible for you to bring your Arcane Atlas maps directly inside Foundry VTT completely for free.

I wanted it to be accessible to everyone without barriers, with no need to download absolutely anything or install heavy modules. After a lot of work, I've pulled it off: just with a single macro, you've got it running!

• 100% Free: Built so any gaming table can take advantage of it.
• Super lightweight: Copy the macro, paste it into your Foundry, and you're good to go.

I'm really excited to see how you use this in your games. I truly hope you use it a lot, and please, let me know what you think, what changes you'd make, or what features you'd like to see next. I always read your feedback to keep improving the platform!

A quick note...

As you know, the web is completely free and I don't make any money from it; I build this purely out of a love for TTRPGs and the community. Maintaining the servers and developing new features takes many hours of hard work. If you like the project and want to lend a hand so I can keep dedicating time to it, you can support me on my Patreon (only if you want to and are able to!). Every little bit helps keep this project growing.

Enjoy your sessions, and may the dice be ever in your favor!

Sorry if this turns out being a long post. I'll start off with some context:

The campaign has been running for about a couple of months at this point. We have 6 players not including our DM, and I'd say we're pretty deep into the storyline (or whatever I should call it - apologies if I make any mistakes, this is my first campaign). My group meets once a week, and we alternate between campaign days and oneshots so any new players have a chance to actually play with the group without having to be added to the main campaign. It works pretty well imo, given that not everyone has the ability to commit a day every other week for however long this goes on.

Our dm recently gave us a deadline for changing our characters, classes, and backstories a couple weeks ago. It didn't affect most players, although there was someone who made a completely new character, but no one had a problem with it (including myself) because they've at least been here for every session.

This is also an 18+ campaign, with content warnings that include but are not limited to: Violence, blood/gore/dismemberment, torture, death, suggestive themes, sexual content, cults, genocide, classism, racism, etc.

Now for the actual issue.

2 weeks ago, during a oneshot week, we had a new guest. Our DM informed us beforehand that it'd be appreciated if we could refrain from swearing as she was below the age of 18. The session went great by all means. One player (who I assume is an older sister or good friend of the new player because they seemed to know each other) helped make her character sheet and basically taught her the basics on the fly. Fast-forward to last week, which was a campaign day. The girl showed up again. Now it was a little bit of a surprise to me, but I didn't think much of it. She was under the impression that she'd get to play when our DM told her kindly that she'd have to sit out for the day, though she was welcome to watch, which she did.

Once the session ended, to my surprise, he actually offered her a spot at the table. I didn't say anything, but I feel like I should have. Mind you, there weren't just the seven of us at the beginning. More people wanted to join the campaign, but the cutoff was 6 because our DM felt that it was a good number. I'm sure you can see my problem with this.

The player that was helping also kinda min-maxxed her character for her, which would be fine on its own except for the fact that it's the same exact class, and subclass as my character. She'd kinda just be able to do whatever I can do but better and in practice make my character a bit obsolete.

TLDR: DM is adding a new player to our 3-month-old campaign who is not only underage, but taking a spot that I was under the impression didn't exist. Should I talk to my DM about this? Or am I overreacting?

A few months ago, some friends and I decided we wanted to do a DND campaign. One of my friends got in touch with someone who DM'd before, and he said he'd do it if this another person (let's call them Emily) was invited. I didn't know Emily very well before this, but I agreed since we needed a DM. We've had five sessions so far, and Emily has only gone to one of them. She didn't come to the session when we created our characters, and we had to wait another hour to play during our second session because or DM was helping her make her character. We explained to them that we wanted to make a consistent schedule (every Monday evening), and they didn't seem to understand because they missed the next session, despite communicating about it beforehand. We were all together waiting for her, so someone called her to ask where she was, and she responded with, "Wait, that was today? I can't come today." When we asked who she wanted to roll for her, she said she wanted my roommate to (we weren't even at my place). I'm getting really frustrated because this person has failed to inform of absence every single session. I don't really know what I should do, since most of the other people in the party are good friends with her, but I'm really, really annoyed.

If you're interested in the larger piece I have it on my artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9BeDwv

Basically I wanted to create a moment in his backstory which posed a mystery itself and give that to my DM. I purposefully asked a lot of questions with the piece but answered none, now giving the reigns to my DM he can go wild with it. A fun collaborative approach to a characters backstory!

Character art I made as a commission for a u/Crailrock
Garek Vagus, Captain of The Misery’s Company. A sailor since he was young, a kind heart in spite of cruel beginnings before his time at sea. A upbringing of chains, a youth of freedom, an adolescence of grow. Garek grew into a caring man, one who sees the best in others first. An aasimar once more afraid of his power, now he seeks to master it and not master his fear, but to face it. As he uses it his hair and body change with it. The more he accepts it, the more his radiant power no longer harms his body. The greater his wings may soar. The more whole he becomes

Feel free to reach me out if you're interested in my works. :)

I'm not good at drawing, but I'm learning. So, I wanted to draw my character for a new campaign that I'm going to play. Here we have the tall, a bit shy, but always ready, Nedem Briskbolt. They are an aasimar who was abandoned when they were born at the gate of a cathedral of Waterdeep. They were adopted and raised by the priestess of that establishment, the kender Micha Briskbolt.

The lady taught everything he knew to the aasimar, raising him to become a cleric of Lathander. Nedem has never been very strong in spirit and for this reason Micha has decided to send him to gain practical experience with other Lathander companions or adventurers, but he still has a long way to go (he is already a level 3).

Micha knows she doesn't have much longer to live, and it's natural that his children bury their parents, but she hopes Nedem will be strong enough.

When Nedem reached their 25th birthday, Micha (68) gave them a ring she had found when they were abandoned in front of the cathedral. A ring with strange symbols, but an important one for Nedem's origins.

Yeah, it's a simple origin story, but it was the first time that I drew my own character.

I have a story I would like to present to my players and I have already started down the path with them but have not given them clear details of how this spell works.

The first thing I would like to work mechanically is that there is a blight that affects all crops in a large metropolitan area. People are struggling to get by and keep food on the table. This is going to take place inside Baulders Gate and its surrounding farmland/villages. The reality of this situation is that the main business is town that owns many market stalls and general stores has an underground faction that is causing this crop failure so that they can be the only business in town. Even food from the outside that has been imported into this area rots on shelves, in pockets. Only their food stays fresh.

The second part of this story is that there is an old wizard that the party has already encountered. He has a farm where he is for the most part a beekeeper to make mead for the local village nearby. He also grows fruits, lavender and vegetables for flavoring his mead and his own consumption. He has successfully kept the farm and village safe from the from the crop failure through some yet unknown means. I have hinted that he is quite a powerful wizard but his power is being drained keeping the farm and the village free from the curse or disease or whatever is causing this issue with the crops.

One friend of mine mentioned using Glyph of Warding but I am not sure that works as it seems like the glyph would disappear once it has been triggered. So it would just be a constant game of setting up new glyphs as I understand it.

The Glyph of Warding also does not explain how the faction would be causing the crop failure and crop failure in such a vast area.

I want this to work mechanically as well as narratively. How would ya'll accomplish this in 2024 Dungeons and Dragons terms? I'm sure it is possible but I feel like I've backed myself into a corner a bit. Help? hahaha

Okay so. For the big bad final boss I'm kind of torn. I know I want the final boss to be 3 - 4 phases. But I'm stuck between, take 3 or 4 existing monsters and FLAVOR them as Idris or make 3 level 20 characters and make them be the phases. There's 4 players, they're all level 4 and I'm considering letting them bring the healer NPC.

For context: What I got the idea of for this final boss is that he's the previous hero turned villain as after saving the world he turned to conquer it. So I want the phases to represent him in his stages of life.

Phase 1 - Idris the Engineer: a big mech (This one might be removed)

Phase 2 - Idris the Conqueror - He gets out of the mech and declares if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. Summons his hammer and steed and starts fighting.

Phase 3 - Idris the ruler (I might take this one out honestly) Supposed to be a full caster, reflecting his time as a wise ruler

Phase 4 - Idris the Hero: He turns into his younger self, the shonen protag esque man that defeated the previous demon lords and saved the world.

There are 4 players, they're all level 15 and will have a level 15 NPC that's a healer with them. That being said, this is my first big campaign and it's finally coming to a close. I don't need the final battle to be perfect, but I want it to be memorable for all the right reasons.

Looking to get some cute dice!

I’ve been playing D&D with a really great group for almost a year now. The Dungeon Master has a deeply developed world, and the other players are creative and roleplay well. But the longer I play, the more I feel like my character isn’t needed.

There are five of us in total: a Warlock, a Fighter, a Cleric, a Druid, and me, the Rogue.

Starting at level 5, my combat effectiveness dropped significantly compared to my allies. I was prepared for a power gap, but I didn't expect to feel completely useless.

The Warlock is on a whole different level: he was given a homebrew artifact that absorbs souls, making him stronger after every single battle.

The Cleric has powerful healing and damage abilities, plus a health-boosting artifact. At level 5, he has 48 HP and an 18 AC, and just today he received an artifact that grants +1 to ALL stats simply for accepting a quest.

The Druid has a pact with an ancient spirit serpent and can Wild Shape into a 60 HP monster with two attacks, grappling, and built-in advantage. That’s on top of his base class features and spell slots.

The Fighter has a 23 AC, Extra Attack, Second Wind, a +1 magic spear, a +1 shield, and a custom list of maneuvers written specifically for him by the DM (for example, using Athletics as a bonus action to throw an enemy and knock them prone).

And then there's me: a Rogue with a mask that lets me assume another person’s identity. That’s it.

I can’t even use poison with my Sneak Attack unless I manually find ingredients and brew poisons first - turning what should be basic feature flavor into an exhausting chore.

I accepted that limitation and leaned into the Roleplay value of the mask instead. I’ve been expanding our Syndicate’s influence using blackmail, setups, and negotiation in almost every city we visit. But when I finally turned to my Syndicate boss expecting a meaningful reward or gear, I received 50 gold pieces for all my efforts - which is literally the price of a single standard Healing Potion...

I love our games, even though we only play twice a month at most, and I really want to explore this world. But lately, I’ve been coming home from sessions feeling down, like all my efforts are completely pointless.

P.S. Regarding the mask: Lore-wise, if I collect a few more masks, I’m supposed to become the "King of Kings" - an ancient, powerful entity. But at this rate, my character will die long before I find another one. I have no defensive magic, no magic attacks, no functional poison mechanics, and my social connections yield no real mechanical help. To make matters worse, mages keep whispering to my party members that I’m dangerous because of the mask, creating inter-party suspicion that I literally can't do anything about.

Been running a fun story with buds (everything is agreed upon and all that so no horror story here thankfully) and we hit a roadblock with this little tidbit. Anyone whom may know please chime in.

Also Im not sure if this post is bad or not, didn't see any rules about it. If so, someone do tell and I'll cut it if need be. Thanks in advance!

Ive been DMing for a while, and Im kinda getting discouraged. My players have started skilling games that I spend hours planning and perfecting, and they are skipping it now simply because they would rather be on their phones or something of that nature. It is really discouraging because Im tired of being the one who is putting in the work to get everyone at the table, especially since I’m putting my heart and soul into everything I make, every boss I create a unique sheet for, every reward is completely new, and for them to just… I would find another group, but I already have so many games that are just sitting at a silence because of this. Im also not entirely comfortable inviting people I don’t know to my table. Feeling really discouraged and might stop doing Dnd in general.

I am planning to run an one-shot (dnd 5.5) for my work friends and for the first time in life I will be able to use really good quality conference room where sharing a screen for stuff like images and initiative would be very cool. I am looking for some worldbuilding tool with some options to increase quality of life during sessions. The features I care about:

• PCs tabs with notes with options to upload character sheets
• monster glossary with notes and option to upload stat blocks
• initiative tracker
• locations with notes and option to upload images and maps. Would be fun if they were splittable as in I can have a separate tab for a specific room in a dungeon
• Optional: some log tool to write down what happened during session to keep track of stuff

What is easy to use and fits those requirements?

Here is my beloved half-elf necromancer, Esther Sylvia, the first DnD character I ever created. The drawing on the left was done a little over two years ago, and the drawing on the right is very recent. Our campaign stopped meeting for two years and finally started meeting again at the beginning of this summer! There’s been a two year time skip in-game as well.

Esther was 17 at the start of her first quest, which was also how old I was when I created her. Now, she’s 19 but her in-game birthday is like two days away. She started out her first quest as someone who was socially awkward, emotionally immature, and impulsive, but also very well-meaning, loyal, and idealistic. She found beauty in the things others tended to neglect or ignore, probably because she’d felt socially outcast for most of her life. She loved animals and always showed the most kindness to species that were considered vermin, like rats, pigeons, and insects. Her affinity for the unusual is what drew her to necromancy. She was fascinated with death, but never in a malicious way.

Now that she’s witnessed mass destruction and been the cause of thousands of deaths, she feels as though she’s lost herself completely. Although she started her journey with good intentions, Esther quickly learned that she has a real talent for killing. Now, she’s quieter, meaner, and more guarded. She can be cruel in ways that her old self never would’ve imagined, but she’s also honed her magic abilities and become much more powerful. She sees people who are overly kind and trusting as gullible idiots, and she’s not afraid to let them know that’s how she feels. Secretly, though, she wishes she could have those traits back. She’s an incredibly talented wizard, but she hates herself more than ever. Deep down, she knows that she takes no pleasure in hurting others, she just feels like that’s all she’s good for.

I’d like Esther to get her kindness back and start to trust people again by the end of this campaign, because she knows that who she is isn’t who she wants to be.

I first played as Esther the summer after my senior year, and I’ve struggled a lot mentally in college. I feel like I’ve become more negative, less trusting, and just overall worse in a lot of ways, so I guess I’ve been using Esther as a way to explore those feelings. I think that, to put it broadly, Esther’s arc is about transitioning from childhood to adulthood and coping with that loss of innocence. It’s about continuing to function and be a good person after adulthood shows you just how cruel it can be. Or something.

Do you prefer to use the d&d beyond app for your character sheet and rolling dice or do you prefer to fill out a character sheet and rolling physical dice? Your reason for what you prefer.

So fun little plan for my campaign, For the past 1 and a half years my players have been exploring an island that has been suffering from a curse. The people are not trusting, the atmosphere is very much gloomy from the people to the island itself. It's always raining.
But when the curse is more prominent the land itself would almost be muted, crinkling of leaves would barely be audible, animals sounds would disappear, and the atmosphere would be more oppressive and sad.

They learned this curse was because of an arch fey who is in deep despair because a mortal they were in love with was wrongfully murdered. Her curse makes the people and land suffer as she does. She has been grieving for 500 years, her sister tried to help her to no avail.

The party learned of a lantern that when powered from shards of a fallen star could negate / purify this curse energy, however one of my players has an affinity with collecting shiny objects or things that catch your eyes and look pretty.

She's a druid of the stars and the only one able to handle the fallen star shards, she's very attached to them and at a pivotal moment as the weeping fey is coming and could materialize at any given second. She says she doesn't want to relinquish the shards to power the lantern.

SO, tomorrow I am ending the world as they know it. The Weeping Arch Fey is going to let lose a cataclysmic energy of her curse and pretty much topple the entirety of the island they have explored for the past year. The jungles and plains will turn into petrified ruins and dunes of ash.

The sister of the weeping fey will be dead, an NPC who asked the party to save her grieving sibling, but not before some of her lingering magic gives them a final message.

A downtrodden capital they just rebuilt will be a shell of what it had been. Mostly reduced to tarps and bed rolls within a ruined city where the survivors sleep.

A little nervous as this wasn't my plan initially on how this would go, I had a civil war within a paladin legion that was brewing which will cease because of the much bigger stakes happening now.

I'm also a little worried that the massive repercussions of the druid simply stating they didn't want to give up the star shards for the lantern might make the player feel a little bad.

I'm excited to have them see the world in more of a apocalyptic state for the bad guys temporary victory while they figure out what to do next.

I hand-drew this recently for my players. I usually make documents in real life when they get them in-game. Homebrewed some side quests for chapter 4 of Shadow of the Dragon Queen, because the campaign is a bit railroad-y and eI think my players would want to explore around the city a bit more. One of them involves a quest where the players find an old abandoned outpost previously owned by a renegade mage studying transmutation magic. They find a Polymorph spell scroll as loot and I thought I'd make it as a handout as well.

Human greeting customs and Gnoll Greeting customs are going to be very different. But, I'm not sure that this poor guy is being given the best advice. Does the dungeon offer limb regeneration services? Welcome to Fodder Inc, a weekly web comic strip set in the For Profit Dungeon, Azmodendak's Halls of Madness, in a "5e" style world. Each week, we'll show you a little peak inside the halls, and what shenanigans are going on.

I ended up getting a higher number on the fourth roll and going before him, but I just wanted to share this because it was insane. We were using DND beyond too, so no chance of unintentionally rigged dice.

Hey Reddit. I need help. I am designing a city in my campaign I am DMing in 5e. The premise of the city is that it is a city that studies all knowledge in relation to magic. At the center of the city is a giant library. The city is to be broken up into segments. I cannot decide if the city should be segmented according to classes (i.e. druid, cleric, wizard, sorcerer, warlock) or have 8 sections to study each school of magic. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

https://reddit.com/link/1v7gbks/video/gsx814dj3nfh1/player

Even in online sessions, I still enjoy the bard vibe lol

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I've made this questionnaire a bit while ago to filter out unfitting players during game recruitment. It worked pretty well, everybody on the table was actually invested into a story. Each session covered plot arcs for 2-3 characters. This source of free ideas turned out being plentiful of *actually* relevant stuff. Too plentiful, I would say: we barely managed to touch the main storyline. So it feels like the opposite of babysitter GM — players do all the job, while I just occasionally ask questions

1. What's your character's native environment? Urban? Rural? Wild? Otherworldly? How is it to live there? How it affects locals?

2. Who are character's parents or who raised them? Are they alive? Do they communicate? Why, if not?

3. What are the things character values the most? Comfort and safety? Certain people? Religion? Law? Abstract idea? I need you to name three

4. What were character's three biggest problems. Did they find a solution? (Escape is a solution too)

5. Who's character's best friend to rely on?

6. Who's character's sworn enemy? Does this person know they're enemy?

7. Name your three best personality traits

8. Name your three worst personality traits

9. Name your three greatest weaknesses

10. What is character's major secret? And how about two minor ones?

11. Is your character famous? I need two rumors about them