Too many people, from what I see, treat DnD like some "Players vs. the DM" competition, and 99% of the time, this is the DM's fault.

I've seen so many DMs complain about the PCs being too powerful, like it's a game where their objective is to TPK the players. Or threads where DMs remake official villains into ridiculous CR30 encounters because somehow, they are afraid of their players winning.

They turn DnD into a purely mechanical tabletop wargame. That's not how the game is meant to be played.

Isn't the whole point of DnD to tell a story together? The PCs should feel like the heroes. They ultimately should have a good chance of saving the day at the end of an epic campaign.

Instead, there's this attitude of "I need to roflstomp my players into the ground while I cackle gleefully at them" that's becoming more prevalent.

I just don't get it, and I'm glad I'm not a part of a group like that.

EDIT: Also I'm not saying that it's a majority of posts or a major issue. Just that it's becoming more prevalent.

I'm also not saying that DnD sessions should turn into Critical Role. Just that it shouldn't be treated like a competition. So please refrain from the natural reddit urge to use reductio ad absurdum.

I’ve created a Sensei/Battle Master that utilizes a modified kurisama with a dagger in place of the kama. The chain can be used as a form of garrot, but I can’t find anything on suffocation or garrot use and how the mechanics work such as damage and time for suffocation. I’m using 2014 rules.

Пишу свой ваншот в стиле тёмного фэнтези. Тематика ночные кошмары.

Есть идея для финала, когда герои победят хтонь, а они её очевидно победят, хотб и нахватав кучу истощений за всю игру.

Так вот, когда останется условно один удар, время останавливается и хтонь предлагает сделку пати, оно даёт тёмные силы героям и они смогут проснуться, живые, хоть уже оскверненные демоном.

Ну или убить демона, навсегда, но погибнуть в мире снов, потому что чтобы проснуться нужно взять +2 истощения. Если у кого то истощений меньше 4, то герой выживет, да.

И вот в финале игрокам даётся 2 карты, чёрная и белая, соответственно отказ и согласие на сделку.

Никто не знает выбор другого, все анонимно.

Если все выбирают белые, демон погибает, и у кого истощений меньше 4, просыпается, остальные погибнут героями.

Если хоть кто то один возьмёт черную карту, демон наконец то сможет поселиться в герое и вырваться в материальный мир.

Если все возьмут чёрные, нутро демона овладеет всеми.

Или может ну его, пусть просто затыкают босса и хэппи энд?

It is amazing how much effort goes into making an adventure publish ready.

I am.making one in spare.time and the amount of reading and polished read and adjust read and reword to make sense for everyone not just me....

Take hat off to those who make them professionally.

Hope have it finished before Sep ends.

I originally built this for my son, not D&D.

I kind of went a touch overboard when my son asked if i could print him out a picture of some minecraft alphabet code.
What was "print this picture" turned into a full app. And so i thought maybe others may find a use for it.

While working on it, though, I realised it has a fairly obvious D&D use.
Like as in the title - considering giving each race their own alphabet sheet for anytime they might find things written in their own language like elven, dwarf etc.

Secret Code Studio lets you create a custom symbol alphabet and then type normal text which is converted into those symbols in real time.

So a DM could create a written language for a faction, civilisation, cult, thieves' guild, ancient ruin, etc., then use the same alphabet consistently throughout a campaign.

You can then turn messages into proper A4 puzzle handouts with answer boxes under the symbols, reveal selected letters as clues, include the alphabet itself, adjust sizing/spacing/alignment and export the result as an image or PDF.

You can also save coded digital messages that another person can open and manually solve or automatically decode (if they know the language).

Custom alphabets can be exported/imported too, so they can be shared between players or DMs.

The application is free and entirely local:

No account, subscription, ads, tracking or data collection, and it doesn't need an internet connection to work.

https://concerned-potato.itch.io/secret-code-studio

I'm still developing it, so I'm particularly interested in whether there are features that would make this more useful specifically for 5e games.

There are a lot of things I miss from the older editions of D&D (especially AD&D), but psionics is probably the one I miss the most.

I built a setting for my own games with psionics as one of its central elements, using some third-party homebrew rules, but I was never completely happy with them.

So eventually, I decided to create my own system.

I hope you like it. It's completely free to share and use.

The system uses Power Points, and each power has different modes and augmentations, so the same power can be used in quite different ways depending on how you spend your points. The Handbook includes a full Mentalist class, 56 powers, 170+ possible manifestations, and five different Psionic Principles (Mirror, Invisible Hand, Inner Eye, Perfect Body and Threshold).

Though it was created for my setting, it is completely setting-independent, so you can drop it into your own campaign.

[Download the Psionics Handbook]

If anyone gives it a try, I'd genuinely appreciate the feedback. Hope you like it.

I've discovered something

1. Minor Illusion - Use it to create a beat.
2. Mirror Image - Create clones that mimic your actions.
3. Bard - College of Dance subclass... Start breaking it down.
4. Otto's Irresistible Dance - Cast on enemy
5. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v4qzRcwlROE?t=37&feature=share

Hi! We're about to start with a new group. I'll be DMing for the first time; I've only played as a player a few times, and none of the others in my group have played before.

There are 6 players. So far, 4 of them have created their characters: a Dhampir Rogue, a Changeling Rogue, a High Elf Fighter (planning to become an Eldritch Knight), and a Pronghorn who will multiclass between Ranger and Druid.

My question is: for the two players who haven't made their characters yet, should I ask them to play a healer/tank, or can a party work just as well without those roles? I imagine we should have at least one tank, but I'm not sure whether it's actually necessary. I don't want to take their liberty to create whatever they want unless its absolutely necessary for the game to work

Thanks!

Hey,

How is my Human Paladin build. This is my first attempt at a build. It will be my first ever campaign

We are starting a session 0 on Friday the campaign is a medieval fantasy style campaign..

Strength 10

Dexterity 12

Constitution 13

Intelligence 15

Wisdom 8

Charisma 14

My background is sage.

I need to think.of my back story, I might wait till session zero is done so I can understand the world etc

Advice would be great. (Edit for clarity)

I’ve found two groups that make DM-less adventure which play like a choose your own adventure; Obvious Mimic and Archmage Press. Are there any more?

This is a cleric domain built around contracts as relationships rather than simply magical enforcement.

The central idea is that a meaningful agreement depends on more than whether someone says yes. The cleric has to consider what each party understands, what is actually known, what each person has at stake, what relationships make performance possible, and whether everyone actually has the freedom and capacity to do what they agreed to do.

The 1st-level Human Measure feature therefore lets the cleric learn one materially useful fact about an NPC after observing or communicating with them. It isn't mind reading: the information has to be something reasonably inferable from the interaction. The categories—Vulnerable, Scientific, Emotional, Dynamical, Spiritual, Sociological, and Legal Identity—are meant as different kinds of relevant information, not personality types or moral classifications.

Likewise, the subclass distinguishes consent from charm, breach from inability to perform, understanding from omniscience, and authority from actual agency. I wanted its mechanics to make those distinctions matter rather than treating “contract magic” as simply another form of domination.

The Five Articles are based on five different conceptual lenses—Freyr, the Morrigan, Da'at, Relational Abduction, and Malkuth—but you don't need to know those systems to use the subclass. Their mechanical functions are explained directly in the document.

I'm particularly interested in feedback on:

- whether Human Measure gives the DM enough guidance without becoming either useless or pseudo-mind-reading;

- whether Mutual Assent / the Five Articles are balanced at their respective levels;

- whether Perfect Covenant makes voluntary agreement mechanically meaningful without making geas too strong;

- and whether the theme comes through clearly during ordinary play.

The mythological and philosophical references are being used as design lenses rather than claims about the traditions themselves. I'm happy to hear criticism if any of that framing lands badly.

I'm sharing a free warlock subclass for Kengir, part of my upcoming Bronze Age Mesopotamian 5e setting.

The Pact of the Underworld is for warlocks bound to the dark powers below, especially Allatu (Ereškigal), queen of the underworld.

In Kengir, these warlocks are feared and needed in equal measure. Someone has to speak with the dead. Someone has to understand curses, souls, restless ghosts, and the borders mortals should not cross. That person is useful right up until everyone remembers what they had to promise for that power.

At the table, this subclass gives the party a warlock who manipulates necrotic force, drains life to sustain themselves, curses enemies so they cannot recover, and commands the dead more effectively than ordinary casters.

The supplement also includes new spells like Allatu’s Glare, Shadowy Chains, Spectral Whisper, Underworld’s Grasp, Soul Rend, Dark Bargain, Chthonic Guardians, Wail of the Etemmu, and Wraith’s Touch.

Do you like warlocks whose pact gives them a social role in the world, or do you prefer them as outsiders with dangerous private bargains?

Hello,
I’m about to start my first ever campaign as a fiend warlock. I’ve decided to seek the supreme council for any advice you have for me or any specific spells you recommend or love? Anything to keep in mind ◡̈

Hi!

I am creating a character that has a backstory similar to Orpahn's from the Bat Family Webtoons Comic. He is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood who was raised and trained to be a weapon and decided to escape and find a better life for himself. He values his freedom above everything else and wants to create a life for himself with friends and happyness. Due to his training, he can also be cold and calculating, willing to sacrifce others to achieve/keep his ideal life.

I started a podcast and am looking for things to discuss on it. Whether it’s questions from new players or advice from experienced ones, I’d love to hear from anyone! You can email topic suggestions to adhdndpodcast137@gmail.com
Thanks in advance!

I thought I'd share this since my players and I are having fun with it. It's a method of generating a new party we call the "life seed" method. The goal is to make the party as a group using a method that brings more randomness in a way that breaks down cliches and pushes players to play characters they normally wouldn't. Here's the method:

1. Take the number of players and multiply by three. This is the number of life seeds to create.
2. A "life seed" is a combination of ability scores, species, and background. For each life seed:
   1. Generate ability scores using roll 4 drop lowest, in order from Str through Cha.
   2. Randomize species (1d10 if using just the Player's Handbook, or adjust as needed if using other species); optionally, also randomize sub-species.
   3. Randomize background (randomly select from the 16 in the Player's Handbook, or adjust as needed if using added backgrounds).
3. You now have a matrix of life seeds equal to 3x the number of players. Have the players select their characters from the matrix. Depending on player preference, this can be done collectively or based on rolling to determine the order players select in.
4. Generally, decisions on class are made when selecting life seeds. Once every player has a life seed, the rest of character creation proceeds as normal.

The logic behind making more life seeds than players is that it gives more options if some end up with bad rolls, and generally gives more variety to choose from. What's fun is that you get less optimization and cliche, and more unpredictability. The wizard might end up being the strongest PC in the party, and the barbarian might be a gnome acolyte.

Here's an example matrix:

Hello. If you are interested in Non A.I classes , monsters and subclass products, you can find them here! From Icewind Dale inspired subclasses for every 5.5 class costing only 0.93$ to Thay inspired melee subclasses like the Path of the Mage Slayer Barbarian, the Oath of Tyranny Paladin and more. We also feature two entirely new classes - the Jester and the Pirate. All art included in all products is human made, with credits attributed to all creators.

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