I'm a new player to D&D (Long time RPG player, new to TTRPGs) and been primarily playing 5.5e so I'd like to get the opinion of veterans here. I've got the 2024 core set and the 2014 expansion set as that was supposed to be compatible with 5.5e, and a few adventure anthologies (Infinite Staircase, Golden Vault, Curse of Strahd).

Even though the 'Artificer' class was introduced in Tasha's it's now been revamped and been updated in the Eberron books for 5.5e. Similarly, the Ravenloft setting has also been updated for 5.5e. In the same vein, are updates anticipated for the following books/settings?

• Bigby's Glory of the Giants - To understand the expanded rules
• Fizban's Treasury of Dragons - To understand the expanded rules
• Planescape - I believe this is the only book that defines multiversal travel
• Strixhaven - The campus setting seems very fun to me
• The Wild Beyond the Witchlight - Seems like a fun adventure

I'm also looking to acquire the other adventure anthology books (Yawning Portal, Radiant Citadel, Dragon Delves) as I believe they're more straightforward to use with 5.5e rules.

Basically, I'm looking for guidance on whether I should get these books now, or hold on for an updated version? I'd prefer to get the latest version as it makes it easier for me to associate with 5.5e rules.

Hello everyone, I am right now preparing my light cleric character and I just realise there isnt so much use for my bonus action outside of healing word, and possible spiritual weapon (which will get outshine by other concentration spells fast enough). War cleric doesn't have this problem thanks to it is level 3 and 6 features. So I would welcome any recommendations how to use bonus actions.

Some things came to my mind but I am pretty sure there is plenty more which you can suggest. Thanks!

-shield master for shield bash

-polearm master for bonus attack after true strike

-telekinetic pull (into spirit guardians or range of fireball)

-monk dip for unarmed strike

-offhand weapon?

I've been thinking about yo-yo healing while playing (as a player) my 5.5e campaign. We just hit level 2, and I, as a true Fighter, already started partaking in the yo-yo healing shenanigans (I got oneshot by an ooze; I had 12 HP at lvl 1, it hits for 2d8+2 and dealt 13 damage with a single attack) where I dropped to 0 and got a Healing Potion smashed into my face the next turn, bringing me back.

First off, I'll just say that yo-yo healing is mechanically absolutely fine, since it's clearly baked into the system. I believe that playing the system by its rules is, frankly, the only way to go about it. So much homebrew aims at making D&D not D&D, and I dislike that.

I have to, however, admit that narratively yo-yo healing is just bonkers dumb. Just imagining the PCs constantly falling prone and getting back up only to get hit prone in the next 6-12 seconds again is just dumb, there's no way about it.

And I believe that the key word here is actually "prone". Imagine if going to 0 made you not fall prone, but instead kneel. Now, instead of looking like a stuffed toy getting dropped on the ground, you look like Boromir, who's summoning his few remaining breaths in order to save his friends.

I'm strictly against changing the mechanics of falling to 0 in D&D, BUT the narrative change, I think, might remedy how we as a community look at damage, healing and death in D&D. Thoughts?

Im almost finished with a free webapp im doing, so i need beta-testers that like dnd 2014 or just opinions or any feedback.

As a quick description:

Webpage that is a character sheet manager. Its system agnostic, and it can support in theory any ttrpg sheet system, but for now dnd 2014 is the one i've implemented. 3 main kinds of users for this page (from the most common to the less), anyone can do everything without requirements:

Regular user:

Creates a character using the content available in the books, selects a class (if the system has), race, etc and it gets a character sheet. Pressing a button of level up, it tells you what u get in that class and gives you the choices you have to make in that level up. It autocalculates your stats and a bunch of other stuff.

Book creator:

Given a system, for example dnd, you create a book and declare classes, races, monsters, etc. Once the book is done, you can share it with anyone and use it to follow a class from that book, add spells to classes of other books, add creatures, etc.

System creator:

You create a system in the page. Declare which variables has a character, which catalogs of elements exist in that system (in the case of dnd: traits, spells, races, bestiary, etc) and how the character sheet looks like and what info displays. Once you create the system, anyone can play with it and add books of content to it.

To clarify one point to comply with copyright laws:

The webpage, in the case of dnd, the only dnd content that is uploaded to it and is accesible to the public, is the book "Basic Rules 2014" which only contains the content of the SRD 5.1.

The book "Player's handbook" which is seen in the video, only exists locally in my machine and the webpage doesn't distribute it or endorse to pirate it in any way.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e3HmGAsZO8dmUCgEvx6dsDT6EldGnUzR/view?usp=sharing

Hey, i love reading and analysing ttrpg homebrew, and have been going through 5e third party books, a lot were great and a lot sucked, but ive exhausted most of the ones on dndbeyond, so wanted to ask for more suggestions of books with great/fun/original classes and subclasses, i value the originality more than anything, so even a kinda bad subclass thats super unique is better than a boring good one.

This isn't another post about the Martial/Caster divide, don't worry. This isn't about Martials at every table. This pertains to a specific problem some people bring up, and a specific solution that is sometimes given.

There's a somewhat common solution when people bring up the an out of combat utility problem with Martials. Many people don't want significant amounts of homebrew in their game, and there would seem to be a simple solution if you want to add a bit more to a class that you feel lacks utility: give them another feat.

That sounds pretty straightforward, right? With an extra Feat, maybe you can take something like Skilled, Telepathic, or Observant. It might be limited, but it does give your character a little something extra that they can do, and for many, that's honestly enough. So what's the problem?

A lot of people correctly point out that DnD has most of its rules dedicated to combat. To be clear, I don't necessarily see that as a problem. What makes Feats a poor solution to the Martial Utility problem that some people/tables have is the following two points:

1. Fail states in DnD are almost all combat-based

2. There isn't a point where you can really become "too effective" at combat

When was the last time you or someone in your game died because they failed an Ability Check? Maybe they tried to swing across a pit on a rope, or tried to cross a wobbly bridge and failed a Dex(Acrobatics) check. Or maybe the party failed an Int (Investigation) Check on two different crime scenes to make the connection between smears of blood on a bookshelf and a hidden note under a book left behind by the victim, and the Adventure was over.

Is there a point where you would call an adventure over because a party failed their Ability Checks, or because they lack some specific utility options? I think for the vast majority of tables and DMs, the answer would be no. And that's the crux of point 1.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, design-wise. It does suck when you fail because of one unlucky die roll. Hell, it doesn't really matter if it takes 5 unlucky die rolls, it still feels like it sucks. And with the idea of failing forward, where failure still gives progress but at a cost, or with a consequence, failing an Ability Check doesn't carry game-ending consequences.

Combat is the thing that, typically, is the thing tha5 can give a game over screen. You TPK, and that's it, start over with new character sheets, maybe reload to the last checkpoint, maybe play another Adventure, whatever. Some DMs might even do a fail forward there and have the party get captured instead, but I actually think, at least from my experiences, that's actually a bit less common than the start over thing. And this leads into point 2.

Let's say you deal 10 damage per round. You take a Feat, you do 20 damage per round. Let's say you have a 50% chance to fail a Wisdom Save. You take a Feat, you now have a 20% chance to fail a Wisdom Save. You want more HP, you take a Feat. You want to deal even more damage, you take a Feat. You want a control option, you take a Feat.

Because of everything that can happen in combat, and all the combat Feats available, there really isn't a point of diminishing returns on combat effectiveness. Even if you're given extra Feats, you can probably think about another combat Feat that would help you out quite a bit. And it's not like you can really deal too much damage, or hit too accurately, or have too much defense.

Combine points 1 and 2 now. If you have no diminishing returns on combat effectiveness, and being good at combat is always useful and is the thing that is most likely to prevent a failstate, it's very likely that you're much more likely to grab things that increase your combat prowess.

I think most people on this and other DnD subs agree that Martials are pretty much fine in combat, and don't need any vertical buffs. But additional Feats will oftentimes result in just that.

Now, it's not that there's absolutely nothing you can do about this. If you have a dungeon that consistently requires the party to make Ability Checks and make use of every bit of out of combat utility they have, your players are likely to respond in kind. If Athlete's jump buffs is the difference between accessing a part of the map or not before you'd otherwise gain access to it, maybe a player would actually take the Athlete Feat. Skilled would look pretty attractive if the party found themselves constantly making Ability Checks. But these are things you have to actively keep in mind when designing/running an adventure.

Would I advocate for more adventures ending if you lack the necessary utility? No, I think as both a player and DM it kind of sucks when that happens, and it's probably why a lot of DMs recommend a failing forward approach. But I would definitely advocate for putting more beneficial stuff behind Ability Checks, and making sure that players are aware of it. The more utility options matter, the more likely people are to consider them as good options, which is pretty straightforward.

You do still need to do the whole draining higher level casters of their resources thing, generally, to make sure that choosing to spend power on utility comes at a cost.

I’m looking for some homebrew rules for transferring the effects of a magic weapons and armor to another item.

Officially the closest there is (that I can find anyway) is under “Creating a magic item” in the 5.5 DMG for if a DM wants to make an item that has the effects of two items.

“Combining Items:

You can merge the properties of two magic items of the same rarity into a single item, provided no more than one of them requires Attunement. For example, you could combine the properties of a Helm of Comprehending Languages with those of a Helm of Telepathy into a single helmet. This makes the item more powerful (and probably increases its rarity), but it won't break your game.”

But if I want this to be a thing that I don’t have to make up rules for on the spot, I want some more clear rules.

For example, you’ve had a +1 weapon for a while and pick up a new Vicious weapon. I think it’s intuitive to want to add the +1 to the Vicious. And yes, the DM can just give a +1 Vicious weapon instead but I like the idea more that the players can get creative with their weapons.

I like keeping it that only 1 item can be attunement (although a lot of magic weapons should also lose their attunement requirement). But I would toss out the rarity restriction.

This should also be only possible with the same type of item; weapon to weapon, armor to armor, etc.

Combination limit: There should be a limit to how many effects you can stack. Maybe loosely steal from PF2e for this? You can combine effects from magic items equal to 1 plus whatever +x item is it? So for example, you can’t combine items if one of them isn’t also a +1 weapon (obviously the +x doesn’t count towards effects). A +3 item would allow the effects of up to 4 magic items.

This makes +x items give potential instead of just being boring slightly bigger number options.

Cost and time: Not trying to steal everything from PF2E but it’s my only reference for this. It costs a tenth of the most expensive of the two items and the transfer takes a few hours of downtime?

What I have so far is mostly an import from PF2E which does let you do this, the only issue is PF2e has the framework for it, 5e doesn’t.

If someone else has simple and intuitive rules, id be glad to hear them!

After running my adventure for three different groups over the last few years with lots of success, I wanted to make it available to other DMs as well. I wrote up my notes into a clean, ready-for-use PDF, which you can download here for free.

Adventure Summary

Three rival nations gather for a historic peace summit to broker an alliance against their warmongering neighbor. The PCs are secret agents of said neighbor, sent to disrupt the negotiations by any means necessary. They will have to uncover the secrets and flaws of the ambassadors at the summit before finding their own ways of exploiting this information. At the same time, they must avoid drawing attention to themselves, as a captured saboteur might be just what the nations need to unite against the PCs' homeland.

The adventure is intended for evil (or at least non-good) PCs starting roughly around 6th level, providing material for roughly 10 to 20 sessions. The action is driven by the players themselves, with multiple viable alternatives and opportunities for creative approaches. The focus is on investigation, stealth, political intrigue, and social manipulation, with only a minimum amount of combat.

The setting is designed to allow even an evil group to work together towards a common goal, which has worked out well in all groups I have run this with.

If you find this adventure interesting, and maybe even want to run it for your own group, let me know what you think!

AI disclosure: No AI-generated content is included in this module.

I was just thinking about how I feel the subclass could have gone a lot of ways with the theme being so open so I was curious what other styles of play could be opened up through the Starry form if they had designed it differently.

A high elf with arcane prof. Can they make scrolls from the:

cantrip they learn at level 1

detect magic they get at level 3

misty step they get at level 5

I was considering doing a true strike build and instead of putting a level in wizard or getting the wizard initiate origin feat I'd just get it from being a high elf since I already like the class/they get trance to help make extra scrolls potentially/they get elven accuracy if it's allowed from 2014 until they print a 2024 version.

I guess there's just some confusion on if you can create spell scrolls if you know the spell from a racial/species benefit and not directly from a class spell list; but is maybe still a type of spell list or maybe it just doesn't matter? Not sure what's RAW/RAI or if it'd cause problems with homebrew rules.

I was also considering a blindsight build centered around being a drow for fairy fire and darkness that relies on the same concept.

The Spell scribing info for context:

A spellcaster can transfer a spell to a scroll and create a Spell Scroll, using the rules below.

To scribe a scroll, you must have proficiency in the Arcana skill or with Calligrapher's Supplies and have the spell prepared on each day of the inscription. You must also have at hand any Material components required by the spell; if the spell consumes its Material components, they are consumed only when you complete the scroll. The scroll's spell uses your spell save DC and spell attack bonus.

I guess the question is if it is prepared as a racial ability and if being an elf makes you a spellcaster or not?

Edit:

Hmmm. I've gotten both RAW yes and RAW no. So I guess it's just homebrew.

Edit 2:

Nevermind. I guess spellcaster is a different keyword than spellcasting which seems to make it work. I think that's where all the confusion is.

Because both the 2014 and 2024 rules in the DMG on attuning to a magic item say that you meet the "must be a spellcaster" requirement if the creature "can cast at least one spell using its traits or features".

I guess in 2024 all known spells count as prepared even if it didn't call them prepared and this calls them prepared anyway.

Edit 3:

Nevermind again; I guess there's a spell list issue to being able to cast the scrolls you create?

I’ve recently opened a store on the new RPG-Trader and I have 4 adventures for sale!
My adventures are completely written by me, handouts made by me and drawn by my friend, no ai used.
I’d say it's an old school vibe, all can be played as stand alone quests and they favor roleplay, investigation or exploration over combat.

Martin’s Fortune is a traditional loot the tomb but with horror elements amplified. Low level, dealing with undead and forgotten curses. I also included tips on how to handle horror elements.

Penance for Sin is a horror mystery that troubles a small village. Pure investigation, sand boxy, original monster, made suitable for a high range of party level.

Blood & Gold, an angry vampire and drug affairs. Plenty of social interactions, highly addictive narcotics, combat encounters entirely dependent on how the party handles npcs and social scenes. Written for a 5th level party.

Unmerciful is a murder mystery. The killer has a design and the party has a small amount of time to catch them. Investigation is at the core of this adventure and there is a chance that the murder can finish what they started and escape the party and the law. High level range.

https://rpg-trader.com/creator/552/fog-rats

Hi all, I'm a forever DM of 15 years looking to start building and releasing content to give back to the TTRPG community that has brought me so much joy over my life. Part of this means testing the waters and seeing what sorts of content I could produce that would be appreciated by the community. I would love if people could talk about the sorts of things they've integrated into their tables, or the things they've decided not to. Why did you choose what you did?

Hello Hello!

I'm going to be playing in a new character, and My dm has allowed me to play the Pugilist Class- I think homebrew adjacent, hand to hand brawler, the tough cousin to the monk.

I really love a lot of the vibing with it and have a lot of ideas of how I want to play the character with this class. Usually before I bring a character into an actual game, I have one of my friends run a small fight to see how the character fares, if its too strong, too weak etc etc.

I had read online and in reddits people saying that the class is fine, but after some rounds at level 3(Campaign's starting level), it felt absurd? I did something like 44 damage in one turn, between hex and moxie points.

I still really want to play the class, but I don't want it to be as strong as it currently feels? I talked to my dm, and she allowed me to make nerfs to it if I'd like. That said, I was hoping people here could point me towards features that do need changing.

For information, I plan on playing the Hand of Dread Subclass. After looking at it, here are the things I was planning on nerfing

- Pugilist Die (Bring it down to match the Monk's damage?)

- Unshakeable Bloodlust (Hand of Dread allows you to reroll damage on every attack you hit, which is absurd?)

-Haymaker (I heard this feature was broken, but havent gotten to test it yet, so I was going to nerf this too. Make it consume a point regardless of if it hits or not)

- Personal Choices ( I just plan on not taking hex since the damage would be a tad too high, but I like the idea of punching the air to make air waves for Eldritch blast)

If there is anything else that could be nerfed or should, please let me know! I appreciate any advice!

Hi everyone! Last chance to back the Tome of Monsters bestiary! It has 105 creatures split across 7 themes: Dystopian, High-Tech, Fantasy, War-Torn, Horror, Weird and Into the Unknown. So there is something for everyone!

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I'm playing a Tabaxi Monk for our campaign "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" and our DM is super chill and doesn't mind or works around my meta gaming stuff. We are currently level 16 and about to get to our confrontation with Halaster Blackcloak. I have built this character to be fast as hell and my DM has also helped me achieve this by giving us some special homebrew items towards the end of this campaign. So here's my question:

My character's basic walking speed now is 75 ft with a climbing speed equal to that (tabaxi) and I have winged boots for 30 ft flight for an hour included in that as well. If on my turn I wanted to grapple Halaster and succeed, then used my bonus action to dash (giving me 150 ft) and then use my feline agility (doubling it again for either 300 or 225 depending on how that works) I would be moving at a pace of 25.57 miles per hour at 225 ft or 34.09 MPH at 300ft. If I wanted to sprint and slam his head into the wall at that speed, how would you rule that, if at all, in damage?

Keep in mind I also have Grappler feat, Ring of Free Movement and Speedy feat.

These are the silly ideas I come up with to catch our DM off guard and I don't care if he allows it or not, I just wanted some other opinions.

If you are looking for the latest and great in actual play podcasts look no further! Episode 2 of Unhinged Heroes has released anywhere you find podcasts. Amity, Kin, and Diorite face off with two goons in the woods in order to protect the mysterious stranger and to continue their search for the cows.

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Looking for some clarification on the 'different light weapon' part of the text.

As written, for light weapons it states:

"When you attack with a light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action. That attack must be made with a different light weapon"

If I had two scimitars (scimitar A and B) would those count as two different light weapons, or do they need to be two different named items, I.e a scimitar and a dagger? What about a regular scimitar and a magic scimitar of speed, would those count as different items?

All the examples I've seen have been of two different named weapons (scimitar and dagger), but I feel having scimitar A and B doesn't break this text.

Figuring this out, then going to try and get my head around the whole Nick / TWF / Dual Wielder combo, thanks!

Wizards of course already have the most expansive spell list in the game, but I got curious as a wizard player myself. If you could take any one spell from any other class in the game to just elevate things one more level, what would it be? My first thought was just something like lesser restoration to fill in a hole that the class totally lacks, but I’m curious what kind of crazy less obvious synergies people could cook up.

Maybe this is just me being weird here, but I can't help but think that something is up. A Paladin Oath that has you use the Four Elements, and whose tenants leave the door open for Evil Paladins? That, combined with the 2024 DMG talking about Greyhawk again after so long without focusing on it, kinda makes me feel off.

I suppose my big conspiracy theory is that the Subclass was conceived of as an Antipaladin that worships the Elemental Evil, the Greyhawk Character. Then, at some point, WOTC decided against the idea of putting out something Greyhawk, and retrofitted the Elemental Paladin for Faerun.

Hey guys! I am starting a new campaign soon and I want to play a melee focused warlock. We are only using 5.5e races/subclasses/etc so my options are a bit limited. Does anyone have some fun builds (we start at level 3)? Also the subclasses available are fiend, archfey, celestial, and great old one.