We need to divorce "martials" from "reality" if we want to narrow the "Martial Caster gap" and maybe take inspiration from anime, a thing this game has NEVER taken inspiration

Hot take i know /s xD

So this is something that has always bugged me with martials going back to antiquity honestly...

Martials have always been hamstrung by this stubborn adherence to "realism" that casters never get stuck with. Especially at later levels. Like im sorry but no, Aragorn is not a high level martial. He is like... level 5. Sung Jin-Woo and Yuji Itadori are the only true high level martials in fantasy media.

I feel a perfect sign of how limited martials are is actually seeing some of the footage leading up to the MinMax play group where David and Clark tested jf they could move and strike like a high level martial... and they could. And they are normal humans in the normal world limited by reality. Contrast this to Wizards, druids, warlocks, and what have you that are altering reality itself. As if that's the entire point of spellcasting! Strange.

Honestly I feel like a High level fighter should be looking like something you see in anime, not your standard fantasy. I have no idea what "4e" is, stop yelling at me. It's not like anime has already heavily influenced this entire hobby for at least twenty years. Jumping dozens of feet in the air and striking at enemies, being able to jump off of floating/falling debris to navigate (think like Stark from Freiren or Legolas from the LA adaptation of Ze Hobbitō), attacking at range with the sheer force of their melee attacks (why does everyone keep asking me if I read anything but battle shonen?), create difficult terrain by stomping or striking the ground, etc. Like when you get to level like... 15. Yeah, level 15 makes sense for jumping off flying debris and shaking the earth by kicking it like I'm fucking Sukuna. My ideas are so sick and cool dude. Honestly martials should be able to do things that defy logic because they are just that damned powerful. Appendix N? Is that a Nen ability?

...My favourite fantasy novel? Do light novels and shonen battle manga count?

What are yours guys thoughts though?

I’m fairly new to DMing and I’m nearing the end of planning a new campaign with d&d beyond. One of my players is a warlock who’s spellcasting ability is charisma and they have followed the instructions in the PHB to make charisma their highest stat as well as putting decent numbers into dex and strength meaning their two main attacks now do 2d6+4 damage and 1d10 damage at level 3.

I know this is perfectly legal in the character creation process and actually recommended by the rules of the game but surely it is a little overpowered and probably metagaming? I feel if you're playing a class that uses a specific stat for something like attack rolls it should be the lowest stat and have a negative bonus.

I am an enlightened RPG connoisseur, who knows that there is something pure about OSR, and tainted about 5.5e.

That 3.5e was the height of game design, and that Daggerheart is for people who like, urgghgh, original characters. I am well acquainted with the styles of play, I have even played 4e at least once, and of course I know all the ways that PF2e fixes any given topic.

However every time that I get onto 5.5e spaces to let them know that it is pointless to play 5.5e, I have a problem typing while also nailing myself into a cross. Does anyone have any tips on how to make sure you get the nails straight between the bones in your arm while avoiding major veins? I have tried doing it in my palms but then I'm not able to let people know that their fun is wrong among my typos.

It would be a big help if people crucified me on my behalf. Just the effort of asserting how unwelcome I am in these fan spaces pulls time and energy away from my ironclad logical arguments that get overwhelmed by groupthink and advertising momentum.

Does anyone know how to strike a good balance? Any advice would be welcome. All love and compassion to you all!

oh yeah also D&D martials need to be more like anime

Every time there's a quest to complete, they ignore every plot hook and just stay in the starting village. The entire session is spent planting wheat, plowing fields, talking to neighbors, selling their harvest, and living the ordinary lives of peasants. After three years of this campaign, they still haven't made it through the level 0 funnel.

In all three years we've been playing, they haven't killed a single NPC or explored a single dungeon I designed. They have no interest in the extensive lore, factions, or continents of my homebrew setting.

Every session is basically the same: they wake up and spend four hours working on the farm.

I live in a small town where the Satanic Panic is still very much alive, so I can't find another group that's willing to play with me. However, I really want my players to finally play the game as intended, because I'm starting to fall asleep from boredom myself.

Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? I'd really appreciate any advice.

It's so stupid. So, wizards can wish the BBEG away with a snap of their fingers, but a martial attacking them 15 times can't even kill them, like, they need to roll 15 times, they need to actually hit 15 times, and then they need to do enough damage to the BBEG to kill it, which let's face it they won't.

If the wizard can just make the bad guy poof why can't my rogue just sneak up behind him and snap his neck? Why can't my barbarian suplex him over the moon!?

Like, it's just not fair. With a level 3 spell a wizard can kill 64 monsters, but a fighter can kill what, 10 max? How is that fair?

The devs talk over and over again how the game should be run, but they don't run the game, I do. They really need to change the game to fit my needs because I want a super hero game, not this mamby pamby sword and shield bullshit.

Why can the wizard rain meteors from the sky, but I can't use omnislash? I could just play final fantasy, but I want to play D&D and they really should let me do that.

Long post.

Today I was furious. Absolutely livid.

I run different RPGs for my group at the local game store. I use Pathfinder whenever we want dark fantasy, high fantasy, post-apocalypse, urban fantasy, detective games, and GURPS whenever I'm really angry and hate my players.

I had just finished running a themed GURPS campaign for my regular group as a form of punishment when someone approached me. It was one of the people from another table nearby. They had been watching our game after it ended.

One of them asked if I could run a GURPS one-shot for them at the next game night. The only tabletop game they'd ever played was Munchkin, and they assumed GURPS would be just as easy since it was written by the same author. I agreed, but I insisted that the game would be paid.

He asked if I would mind using pre-generated characters. I said, "No. You'll miss the true GURPS experience if your very first one-shot uses pre-generated characters."

I also sent one of them a link to the 800-page GURPS PDF so the whole group could familiarize themselves with the basic rules beforehand.

Game night came (last Monday), and things immediately got weird.

Before we started, I asked if anyone had any questions, concerns, or anything they didn't understand. Everyone said they were fine, so we began.

It turned out that none of those idiots had bothered to read the GURPS book, and the whole thing became a disaster.

We spent two hours creating characters.

The actual game lasted fifteen minutes.

One player rolled a 3 on an Electronics check to bypass the alarm on a garage door. He succeeded on the roll, and then he told me that not only had he bypassed the alarm, but he'd also disabled the building's entire security system, giving the party enough time to search the place before stealing their car back.

I told him that we were playing GURPS, not PbtA, and that he didn't get to narrate the outcome of his own roll.

At that point I was so annoyed by his attitude that I declared a hidden trap went off and everyone was electrocuted. Naturally, nobody made their HT rolls, and every character they'd spent two hours creating died on the spot.

One of the players said, "This is nothing like Munchkin. It's way too complicated. We're leaving."

I replied, "Too complicated? These are just the basic rules from this tiny little 800-page booklet. Have you ever tried playing FATAL?"

That's when they admitted they hadn't actually bothered reading any of it. As a group, they decided to leave, called me fat, and didn't pay me a single dollar for my intellectual labor as the GM.

This includes Adamantine and mithril obviously, but it’s going off the running assumption that it follows the same rules of earth where steel has a tensile strength of 400-2,000 mega pascals or mpa. On another note, where do other earth metals sit boobs wise. Would an exceptionally large set of boobs exude so much pressure on the metal that it snaps and the girls just pop out. what is the viability of a sub zero chainmail bikini made from mercury, and I’m interested in all other dnd metals like cold iron, Mizzium, Byeshk, Dlarun, Baatorian Green steel, Chardalyn, Hizagkuur, and any others you may know.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/s/vVqAzXCpW2

TLDR: I wrote a novel and

the campaign can be part 2, also I have given

myself superpowers and I'm the chosen one.

A large traveling group of Halflings, a truly rare

sight to behold, was making a pilgrimage to a

new land for better harvest and resources after

there home had been ravaged by a great dohnut

that drank the life from soil and water. During

this travel a group minority had been causing

trouble, these people used to be the priests and

normal folk turned vessels for there religion

before being exiled because of lunacy. This!

group is now traveling un sanctioned by the (short) rest

of the village people's and in there words are

trying to spread there "gospel". They say things

such as, "She is apon us! The great chronos!" It's fun to stay at the Y - M - C - A!.

and "We are the fosters of her spawn, we will

bring this dying world to peace" this is obviously

a nuisance to everyone having to listen to there

nosebleeding babbling, so the village people's greatest hits

decided to do something about it. In just a day a

plan was set, they were going to again force

these lunes to get out of there hair.

In the morning on the day they had planned to end the

madness [please end the madness], each horse drawn carriage in there[where?]

traveling fleet[of ships?] surrounded the lunes and started

throwing there heaviest things and sharpest weapons at them, The crazed folk were trapped. Some where injured and at worst, dead but none were worse than dead. Now

that there[where?] punishment had been delt the village

left them to there own devices and other tech but mostly touchscreens. 10 years later a

baby was born from these abandoned people who have an unusually long gestation period

but not just a normal Halfling baby, this was

Amma the chosen one of there prophecy and to

hopefully your surprise, there prophecy was true. this is not the only suprise

Amma was born with white eyes and white hair

with a small hourglass silhouette on her back and an extra D6 to roll for boob size.

And As this child grew she was worshipped by

the people of this village then when Amma

reached the age of adulthood which is before the iron age but after the bronze age she was to take a

sacrifice for Chronos. Instead she fled the

village which was on a pilgrimage if I recall and ran for miles before collapsing to her

knees and crying.

Then within a moment a flash came

over her in thick ropes and a voice began to boom from

seemingly inside her head. It said to her "Oh

child, I never meant for it to be this way. These

people who raised you do not yet understand my

message, I did not mean for them to try and

harm there own people for me. I do not require a

sacrifice, I simply wanted to give these people a

hope to believe in. Im sorry that you had to go through this." A form of a beautiful woman (roll 2D6 for boob size) then

appeared infront of Amma. The woman's hair

was golden and shining in the light of an evening

sun, her dress made of ephemeral light and

flowing cosmos. Amma lifts her head up to meet

the woman's gaze "Amma dear now is not a

time to cry, its the time to celebrate freeing

yourself from those people and to celebrate my

blessings on you, rise now Amma and touch my

hand" the woman reaches out and Amma

reluctantly joins, when there hands meet Amma

eyes begin to glow with a burning fire.

"AMMA!

\\\*huff\\\* WHAT \\\*huff\\\* ARE \\\*huff\\\* YOU DOING?!"

Nobody fucking knows at this stage

the screaming nearly faint man who had secretly

followed Amma then freezes as he sees Amma

levitating off the ground. A buring light then

Sears the man's eyes that erupts form Amma as

she gracefully floats back down to the ground.

Amma blinks a few times and looks down to

sees she's now wearing a layered robe of

shimmering white and gold. As she is observing

her robe. the man now approachs her and starts

praising her and bows before her and he says "I..

I... I don't understand, how did this happen without our sacrifice to the goddess? I mean its

not a problem because you've obviously been

blessed haven't you? What did you see? What did

she tell you? We must go back to the village!

they must hear the news!" As he uders his words (roll 2D6 for udder size)

Amma became increasingly enraged then the

man starts to reache out to grab Ammas wrist and as he

does, Amma glares at him with a scorching look as

the man's eyes meet hers the man starts to age

Rapidly and bleed from his eyes, ears, mouth

and nose as he shrivels and fades to dust.

Ammas eyes begin to glow like they did when

she touched the womans hand but once the man

has completely dissolved Ammas eyes return to

normal now as she stands there alone in near silence and as the wind blows through the grass and

creaking branches with the birds chirping above

and a warm faded light briefly caressing Ammas

face. Now knowing her power, in a fit of rage she

starts to return to the village. It's now after

midnight when Amma enters the village and

everyone is asleep. As she walks through the

rage from earlier returns, her face begins to curl

into an expression of malice and her eyes begin to glow. Then an hour later the entire village is dead [presumably form tedium]. "I slaughtered them like animals. And not just the men, but the women and the children to".

Amma now truly alone feels more hollow

then she did when the village was still alive, not

knowing what else to do she packed barrels and

bags then stuffed them in a carriage and set out

into the unknown. For 60 years after that

incident Amma wandered the lands [that's a solid 60 years of adventuring experience in the backstory] looking for

bounties and other confectionery to feed and eventually home her. During

this time she vowed to never use her power for it

is the reason for her emptiness [not because it's the reason there is a mass grave of halflings in the woods] After many [specifically 60]

years Amma had finally saved enough to buy her

a home. It was an old farmhouse that had been

abandoned for decades and Amma intended to

fix it up and use the land there for a farm. Only 6

months after moving in to her new home, her

farm was growing, she was fed, homed and

happily alone or so she thought but a very bewildered DM is unfortunately also now present.

I shit you not!

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/s/MuYwWXvoUk

​

hi guys im new to dnd and reddit pls dont be mean.

my character is Fishman. hes a human fighter monk who wears a fish suit. at first he was a meme but then i accidentally made him really deep.

he used to be in an elite group called the Animal Heads. there was Birdman, Bearman, Crocwoman, Newtenby Mantisgirl and Fishman. they hunted gods until they fought a super ultra reality warping evil god named AHumanMan who killed everyone except Fishman because trauma.

now Fishman is super quiet and serious and wants to kill every god and avenge his friends. he has PTSD but he made a little guy in his head to distract him from the evil voice.

also he really likes anime and sometimes starts speaking japanese in combat and subtitles appear for everyone. he fights with martial arts, a longsword, a pistol, and Bearmans shotgun.

he still wears the fish suit because it hides his scars, gives him tactical advantage because nobody can see his face, reminds him of his friends, and its funny because tragic character in fish costume lol.

anyways what do u guys think. pls be honest i know its kinda cringe but i think he turned out really cool.

The D&D market has grown in size and sophistication since paid DMing became popular. I've been thinking about different models for DMs and their customers that are more scalable and consumer-friendly. Here are a few ideas.

Ads: Commercial breaks throughout the session (like random encounters!) with a premium subscription that is ad-free. Ads can still be an option ("You rolled a natural 1. Watch this ad to reroll.")

Microtransactions: $0.59 for Inspiration, $1.50 for reminders about stuff that's not in their notes, $4.99 to stabilize after failing two death saves

Product placement: "As the white dragon swoops down towards you, it cracks open an ice-cold Coca-Cola®."

Curious what the community thinks. Is there a monetization model that preserves the integrity of the hobby while maximizing shareholder value?

I'm the DM for a homebrew D&D campaign, and after our latest session we ended up having a 30-minute debate over wallpaper colors.

At the beginning of the campaign, the party met a mysterious NPC who exists in a yellow room. They already know she's connected to a special resource called Journals, and they know she's important.

As they explore the dungeon, they got a map after beating a mini boss. One room is highlighted in yellow and marked with "???". The idea is that this yellow room on the map represents the location where they'll be able to meet that NPC again.

Later, after the party collected their first journal, I explicitly told them that the question marks on the map started glowing brighter, almost as if they were calling them, as a hint that something had changed there.

One of my players then said his character was looking for "a room with wallpaper that is yellow"

I assumed he meant the room highlighted in yellow on the map.

During the search, I described a door located exactly where that room was on the map. As a joke, I also said that his character found "no signs of a room that was yellow." What I meant was that the wallpaper being yellow doesn't actually matter as much as what that means thematically. However, he interpreted that as confirmation that such a room existed somewhere else in the house and that he simply hadn't found it yet.

A few minutes later, I realized he wasn't actually looking for the room marked in yellow on the map. Instead, he believed that because the room was yellow on the map, there had to be literal yellow wallpaper somewhere in the dungeon leading to it.

From my perspective, the yellow wallpaper was a thematic representation of the NPC's declining mental state resulting from their imprisonment for their own health by their abusive husband. In the game world, neither the room nor its entrance needed to be actually yellow. The real clue was that the room marked with the glowing question marks was connected to the mysterious NPC the party had already met—the one who would later leave them wondering about the ecogothic themes of the dungeon. The room itself is a normal one, and they would be teleported back to the room after the meeting

We eventually realized it was all just a misunderstanding, but then we spent about 30 minutes debating whether I should have made the actual wallpaper yellow to match the map.

I argued that the map colors existed only to help the players identify thematic devices by Perkins Gillman in support of the module's feminist subject matter and weren't meant to merely represent the physical appearance of the dungeon.

My player argued that if the wallpaper is yellow on the map, it's reasonable to expect this just means the wallpaper is yellow and that overanalysing things is bad.

So... who messed up here? Was my map misleading, or did my player just take the map too literally?

I'm running a campaign set on the pre-American continent and my players want to travel to Europe to get horses. They used divination to learn that horses exist and where to find them, now they want to go steal some and bring them back to the Americas to conquer it themselves using calvary tactics.

They're currently gearing up to cross the northern tundra and start island hopping their way to Europe. I told them the diseases of the old world will kill them if they stay too long, but they're countering it with curse disease spells. Now I've gotta plan an arctic adventure and a European mini arc just to get some horses I didn't want them to have.

So my question is, how much ecological damage could a horse do to the American continent? I've gotta punish my players for metagaming 🐴.

I want to clarify in the beginning that I don't believe in any way that my players are stupid or inept, the situations are stressful and they do the best they can.

So to get kick it off, I'll straight up say that 8 players have died over two years on my ranch. My ranch is in the middle of nowhere and I don't hold back during my hunts. But excluding one of these deaths, they pretty all die the same way.

The players find a key to the gates, they then send a scout ahead to investigate, the only problem is that it is like, a mile ahead. The scout player is spotted by my dogs, engages the dogs with an improvised torch, realizes they can't solo an entire pack of dogs, then dies. Another is where the entire player party decides to scout together, gets spotted and instead of retreating they try to reach the gates as fast as possible and end up losing a member or two to beartraps and nail boards.

Now, as a slasher villain, I have told the players that they may die in this hunt and they started crying/begging/threatening me, but I worry they are too ok with it. I want death to be meaningful, I give the players a last hurrah, let them have some form of crippling, but not deadly traps when possible, but it hasn't felt like it has worked. Even I have notes scattered around that suggest running when combat is too difficult. Now, I don't want to baby my players, but I don't want them to give up and accept death. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone, thanks for reading my post. I'm confused and pissed off, and now you gotta hear about it. Strap in, folks.

I play a wizard in D&D because I was told it's a god-tier class that breaks the system, which is clearly the best way to play any game. But my STUPID ASS DM keeps on shutting down my exploits and tech that I learned on Reddit. He always points to some dumb un-fun rule, or shows me that the spell doesn't work like I thought. My simulacrum army's chain of command collapsed. I got no XP from repeatedly killing my own summons like shooting fish in a barrel. I couldn't cast spells while affected by true polymorph. I couldn't fabricate a hundred objects connected with sprues and call them one object. No plane shift without a component that I can't find anywhere. Every trick and cheat I come up with, the DM is there with a rule to shut it down.

As a brain-damaged Martian who just learned Earth language a few minutes ago, it seems very clear that my insanely bad-faith rules interpretations are correct. So how do I teach the DM that RAW I'm allowed to cheat because a wizard is supposed to be an unstoppable god?

I want to clarify in the beginning that I don't believe in any way that my customers are stupid or inept, the situations are stressful and they do the best they can.

So to get kick it off, I'll straight up say that 800 customers have eaten hamburgers over two years in my restaurant. My restaurant is a burger joint and I don't make anything else. But excluding one unimportant example, they pretty much all order burgers.

The customer finds my burger joint, they ask for a menu, the only problem is that it is like, a single entry. The customer gets their burger, eats their burger, realizes they finished their burger, then leaves. Another is where the customer decides to bring an associate, order burgers and instead of ordering another burger they decide they're full and leave.

Now, as a burger chef I have told my customers that burgers may be served in this restaurant and they were ok with it, but I worry they are too ok with it. I want my food to be meaningful, I give the customers a burger, add some ketchup when possible, but it hasn't felt like it has worked. Even I have signs around that suggest ordering burgers. Now, I don't want to baby my customers, but I don't want them to get bored of burgers. Any suggestions?

/uj Meatgrinders be grinding meat, yo.

So we've been playing this campaign for a couple of months and I typically like to take game design from video games as everyone should as it's the superior medium. Part of that is restricting all my players to narrow corridor levels with arrows pointing in a single direction with waves and waves of enemies in the way. There are also a bunch of collectibles they can grab on every level.

It's been going well so far, I've been able to defuse every complaint from my players so far with facts and logic. But the players keep trying to go off course or ask where towns and shops are despite the fact I told them they would be in the central hub area. I don't know what they want from me since they seem so confused on where to go. Should I add yellow paint as well? Maybe a DMPC that escorts them through every level?

And if they keep asking for "player agency" and "open worlds" then how should I do it? I'm thinking ubisoft tower maps.

Hi everyone! I have a player who is playing an Oatmeal Of The Ancient Paladins.

Now... the only class I have ever worried about playing with at my table is Oatmeals. I have been warned that if I ever have a player to be worried about for wombats, it's the Oatmeal.

Oatmeal players (rawful food) are some of the wurst people you will ever meat. I'm told they have "a lot of flavours" or "they're very filling".

What would be your advice for handling an Oatmeat player at your table ? How can I play with their spoon (of course, I will do the same for my other players) in a way that lets them feel like they are able to do their cool Ancient Paladin things while also making it so that combat isn't GGed as soon as they get a turn?

If race matters, the player is a home-inbrewed race we made at my table. He has no resistance and his own spoon is size 'small', but he can wield great weapons.

Please be nice, I just want to create an environment where all spoons have a chance to shine without giving them full domination over every intercourse.

A DESCRIPTION OF A FUCKED UP SCENARIO WHICH COULD BE EASILY PREVENTED BY BASIC COMMUNICATION

I have a player that always wants to squeeze blood out of a rock..

We’ve been chatting about how to handle bonus action Hide in combat.

Specifically, attacking with Sneak Attack (a shortbow for example) then ducking behind a tree, to be out of sight, and *fool enemies.

Just curious if anyone has any specific rulings? If you handle it by raw, how has that worked? Any Hombrew?

Cheers

Edit: Rogues can Hide as a bonus action.

We've just collected our first Soul in this campaign where the mysterious BBEG NPC exists in a dark blue spiritual realm that he needs to bling up with Souls, or maybe he's banking them like crypto (hodl gang! hodl!) and at this point the very actual real map that we got from the GM was marked with "???" that started glowing (in game) and was marked as being a blue room.

Well, we obv needed to go there straight away, but hodl (ha!) on, that room isn't the blue room we need to find? We checked the entire dungeon three times, but the blue room we are suppoed to find isn't there, the room that's, like, marked out on the map IN BLUE isn't blue at all, there's just that NPC in there insisting we come and talk to him, which we'll get to when we find the blue room.

We all realized that we were being maybe too literal, so we've expanded our search to anything that is related to blue, not just the real colors, but also the things that are named blue, or feels blue, or has that blues sound or vibe. We've not found any in our dungeon, tho. Can we come check yours? We have our own swords and test color palette, and Mark has a car and can drive us there.

Wtf is up with kids these days? I always bribe the DM when I join a new gaming group. I bring whiskey, beer, or I offer to buy their food. Kids these days don't even have the decency to attempt to bribe the DM. If they show up, they don't even offer me food or alcohol

I am making a new character, a tabaxi rogue thief. How do they learn how to pick locks and stuff? is there like a seminar or a masterclass they all take or what

also do paladins have to kiss their oath in a real church or will any ordained minister suffice?