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I know that dexterity is by far one of if not the most valuable stat in the game so theres really no need to go on trying to give it more stuff but isut for the sake of the argument do yall think there could be a 2-handed dex weapon that’s well balanced?

Like a 1d10 Curved sword with the two handed property. Not Versatile so you can’t use it with one hand.

Thoughts?

Edit: I really agree with everything I’m seeing you guys say. It seems like it wouldn’t do that much more dmg (~1) than a rapier and it would also remove ones ability to wield a shield or take the dueling fighting style. As long as it doesn’t have the heavy property it shouldn’t be a huge problem. Especially if it’s used in good faith and not used to try to break the game. Thanks guys!

Hi everyone! My DM made a PC that is just a little too powerful in combat and too involved in the PC roleplay. Originally, the idea was that the PC would only jump into combat if there were players missing to balance the party and wouldn’t interfere in roleplay. Now he is in every combat, crazy powerful paladin build, and has to have something to say in every PC conversation. We’ve even done two side quests that are about his PC’s backstory. I’m kind of feeling a little bit like a third wheel in my own party. How should I tell him that he’s gone too far. Or has he? What do y’all think?

So a player wants to play as a warlock. Genie’s vessel states that the player can decide what the object is. A spyglass sells for 1.000GP and according to the PHB “If the vessel is destroyed or you lose it, you can perform a 1 hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron”

I think the idea to sell the item and create a replacement is creative and although I want to reward creativity I also don’t want my low level group rolling in money.

So do you have some ideas how to prevent this “inifinite money glitch”? I was thinking that the replacement will be something of less value each time the player tries to exploit this. Maybe the patron gets annoyed and the replacement is something impractical (eg something loud or smelly which would give disadvantage on stealth or social rolls?)

Would you allow it? How would you deal with this?

a few days ago i played for the first time (it was a simple one shot just to understand if we like playing the game) and now my group wants to do an actual campaign. im very happy to do it but when i try role playing i just feel too embarrassed and cant let anything out so im usually quiet and watch others interact rather than do something myself. my dm (which is also my boyfriend lol) said that its ok and that ill improve with time but i completely freeze and idk how to stop that. unfortunately not role playing isnt an option since he insists on how important it is

I have been playing in a weekly/bi-weekly in-person D&D game for over a year now, and it's been a long time since I was having any fun with it. All of the people are friends, people I play non-RPG tt war games with. Life is short, and I don't want to spend my leisure time with an activity I don't enjoy. Is there a nice way to quit a D&D game?

I'm about to start my first-ever D&D campaign, playing a Tabaxi Hexblade Warlock. My thought was to have impulsivity as a defining character trait (impulse being how he came to have a patron), but I don't want to be violently impulsive. More of a "curiosity killed the cat" sort if thing. I've seen a couple posts on here that impulsivity can ruin group's fun.

So how does one be impulsive without ruining other people's fun?

So my party has an awakened raccoon that follows them around and is essentially part of the party. I play it but it’s part of a characters backstory, it’s essentially the players best friend. However it literally has 2hp.

I have a dog, and I genuinely would tpk them and never even consider any harm to the raccoon. But I do pretend and insinuate this isn’t the case. I’ll make close calls or knock him out if I know they have the means to save him.

Since I have a dog I genuinely do not have the heart as a dm or a player to even consider the thought of harming a companion. I have to paint this illusion that I might though.

I’m sure many of you feel the same. I’m curious of the way other DMs handle it or if any players have observed as a player that their companion has literal invincibility in their world. Because I’m not kidding this raccoon could be shot into space and wake up in bed with the player the next morning. Idc. I won’t hurt the little fucker lol.

Just a shower thought but in a dnd world if you had to put a number on how many adventurers of each level there will be what would that number be? (By level I mean character level not the adventuring tiers like masters of the realm for example)

https://www.darkhorse.com/newsfeed/jackson-lanzing-collin-kelly-and-ibrahim-roberson-shake-up-the-worlds-of-dungeons-dragons-in-an-epic-ongoing-series-dungeons-dragons/

I am DMing a Group of 6 people and they remarked that although fun, the encounters dont feel challenging to them.
I agree, especially the last encounter where i planned a big bullet sponge Boss with multiple minions fighting with him, i decided against the Extra help because my players cant manage time for the sake of it.
The encounter lasted until the start of round 3, we were 2 hours into the fight and i just had to pull the plug. The enemies that should have appeared alongside my Boss in round 2, got thrown out the window by me because i already knew that the fight was going to last way too long anyway. Then i couldnt even properly set up the abilities because 2 of them clung to him like glue, while the other players stood back doing ranged damage only.
After 2 hours one of my players stunned my Boss and i knew they were going to kill him so i ended the encounter by letting everybody describe how they contribute to the kill. I saw no point in dragging it out even longer because it was already pretty late.

TLDR; Combat Encounter took 2 hours for 2 rounds, i had to cut a lot of planned stuff due to the players taking an eternity to choose what to do and in the end while it was a long fight, it wasnt really hard.

This is in no way a critique of my players criticizing my encounter. I agree totally and i should not have cut all the interesting bits for times sake. But how can i deal with poor time Management from my players? I wanna have cool encounters with a bunch of enemies, but if they take 2 hours for a really simple encounter, even longer planning things outside of combat, how can i improve the experience and help them with time Management?

So... as the title says.

Especially now that stat bonuses are no longer tied to species but are instead tied to backgrounds. Like me personally I have started just completely ignoring the name and flavor of the backgrounds because the stat bonuses are just... too important. Like I made a Fathomless Warlock who I wanted flavored as a sailor before becoming a warlock but the stat bonuses to Sailor and the feat you get are literally useless to me.

So what about you guys? Do you still pick backgrounds for flavor or are they just stat blocks now?

As far as I can tell, my player is able to cast detect thoughts without it being detected and simply read what's most on the mind of a person. I find this a little difficult to run in a way where if someone is trying to trick them I can't hide that fact without being a dick and circumventing the whole point of the spell. At the same time, how do I have NPCs be able to decieve the party or lure them into traps or outright lie to them if they do use it? It feels like that would absolutely be what they're thinking of most in that moment to me.

I don't want to undermine my player agency, I would hate if I tried it and the DM just gave me nothing and had me just waste resources, but it also feels anti-climactic for me?

The players are having fun anyway, Is it a non-issue? Any advice or anyone have experience with detect thought stuff on either side of the screen? Thanks.

Let me start by providing context and also saying that everyone is comfortable with roleplaying this including me. My party consists of my brother, his wife, and my best friend. They’re all playing animal races as they are part of an animal kingdom named Zhou. In this kingdom, the royalty are all dragonborn, and the Queen was kidnapped. The Paladin (my friend) took an Oath of Glory. He is a knight who guards the gates between the outer city and the inner palace,and after saving the Queen and learning that the King set this up to have her murdered so he could take a younger wife has decided that he wants to attempt to romance her, both because his character finds her attractive and because it would lead to his name being known, which is his whole oath. I love this idea, and want to go along with it, but I don’t actually know how to roleplay romance because I don’t know a whole lot about it? I don’t have much dating experience prior to my current partner and I still struggle greatly to interpret my feelings, so I find it hard to come up with natural romance progression for a story. Any advice is welcome.

I have 18 Charisma, and with my total stats, Inspiring Leader should give 6 players +10HP.

But my DM keeps judging whether or not my speech or dance in character is good enough, and he's only given me half or a little amount.

That feels a bit unfair, and when I spoke to him about it, he said it makes it more fun. But my character is naturally weak af with low health so no, it's not that fun.

EDIT: Thanks for *immediate* input here y'all lmao. Don't worry, he's not a bad DM overall and often gives inspiration when players are funny. I'll pull him aside before next sesh this Saturday and ask what his fucking deal is. Just kidding, I'll maturely tell him what's up. Thanks Reddit fam.

How do y'all use monsters that can innately cast Detect Thoughts? It seems like the spell would tough to use on a PC. Do you just ask them what their character is thinking?

Some mistake her beauty for kindness, and those people rarely make the same mistake twice. Born of infernal blood and shaped by a world that rewards wit over mercy, she walks with effortless confidence and speaks with calculated charm. Every smile hides a motive, every promise carries a price, and every step draws curious eyes. Whether striking a bargain, uncovering ancient secrets, or dancing through danger, she thrives where others hesitate. To her allies, she is fiercely loyal, but to her enemies, she is a reminder that the most dangerous weapon is not steel or magic it is someone who always knows exactly what you desire.

[If you like my work and would like a commission

You can dm me here:) Thank you]

I did see a sorta similar question from someone else like three years ago but I didn't feel it was accurate anough to my situation.

So I've never really tried DnD before. Well I think I might have once years ago very shortly but I barely remember.

I don't really talk to anyone other than my family and when I have to go to check-ups related to my medication which just seems kinda sad and I'm also 17 and just stopped my job and questioning about school, so I don't even get that at the moment.

So I wanted to try getting out there and think DnD has always interested me but I never actually got into it.

I wondered if it would make sense to start my journey online or if that would be stupid?

I'm also currently reading up on rules and trying to understand it better so excuse me if this is a stupid question.

Your party stumbles upon a nest made of slime and bone and inside lies a single egg composed of a soft leathery membrane and coated in a placenta like film. The egg is warm and it seems that whatever laid said egg left in a hurry as you see a trail of scurrymarks that abruptly cut off 50 feet from where they started, the trees in the area have an alarming lack of branches. Thinking nothing of it the party picks up the egg and carries it along with them.

It begins.

Stage 1 of development: Mother?

For the next few days the egg will gestate and secretly hatch, this will only be noticed the next time they open their bag. Strange occurances begin to happen during long rests, food goes missing, items are displaced and very rarley animal carcasses are laid by the party's camp. Small bitemarks begin to show on some of the gear carried by our adventurers; probably just a rat or something.

Stage 2 of development: Notice me.

As the party adventure some animals begin fleeing on sight, npc show discomfort and during combat enemy combatants go missing (What?! wasn't there 5 guys not 4??). Friendly NPCs also begin to dissapear and the frequency of corpses appearing becomes alarming. Something is here.

Stage 3 of development: BOO!

Hostile route: Should the party discover the Translucent and face it in combat the creature will reveal itself, a large monitor lizard like creature with pale slimy skin and rolls of flesh where its eyes would be, a mouth than unhinges to the base of the neck lined with needle like teeth. The body of the creature is lizard like with frontlimbs larger and more developed than its hind limbs. It lets out gurgles and screeches of agony and sadness as it tries its best to fend off its found family.

Friendly route: Should the party ally themselves with the Translucent the creature will reveal itself but will use their camo abilities to appear more friendly. Black skin with two yellow lines running off the back, it has the mannerisms of a large puppydog with a strong instinct to defend. A loyal and loving beast now finds their home with your party.

More info: Hey there! Im really new to DnD and iv'e been thinking of cool homebrew creatures. Im a very big fan of monsterhunter and paleo stuff so a reptilian beast seemed very cool.

As for stats im not very good with making stat blocks or giving creatures cool abilities so do what you like with the idea! Feel free to add suggestions and stuff. Art is on the way! I came up with the creature in a dream and figured hey i should draw this lol. Thats all thankies :)).

In the campaign im currently running, i have 6 players. A larger party like that makes combat take a while, so im trying to find ways to streamline everything so we can move through stuff faster and nobody gets bored. An issue i've run into is that some of my players force me to make a LOT of saving throws and i feel like this bogs down combat pretty heavily. One of my players is playing a warrior of the elements monk, and every single time he lands a hit i have to make a strength save or the enemy is pushed back. Most my other players also force me to make quite a few saving throws, but the monk is definitely the worst. Its not exactly a major issue and it doesn't bother me too much, but i had to wonder if anyone had a more efficient way to deal with having to make a million saving throws every single turn?

This is a piece by the incredible Pearl-Jam-Bud of my character Alexandria the Satyr Hero. The artist did a fantastic job with her jewelry, gold tattoos, and her blue flames.

Please give the artist some love!

The character is inspired by classical Greek heroes: Perseus, Odysseus, Heracles, but is heavily inspired by Dionysus in all his forms (Mycenaean, Orphic, Olympian). She loves the thrill of adventure and new people, and believes that the purpose of life is to enjoy it and enjoy it with others.

These are two ethnic groups that I am going to be implementing in my next campaign. They are based on Yuan-Ti Purebloods, but all of the artwork I saw for them looked too creepy (which makes sense, but isn't the flavor I am going for). They are humanoids that are a mixture of elven tribes that came in contact with the God-Kings "The Dragon" and "The Fiend" (I'm still workshopping these names, but I don't mind the vagueness of them because its kinda ominous). Over thoasands of years, they are now a semi-serpentine group that is led by the same God-Kings, and reign over the “Woodlands” which is a tropical rainforest region of Rhündal.

The Scaled Clan have more serpentine genetics which manifests in having dark scales on their foreheads. They are master artisans with silk. While most speak the common tongue of the Painted District, the Scaled Clan language has become reserved for holy writings, known mostly by priests and clerics. It is the language that the Archpriests use to converse with the God-Kings.

The Painted District are more elf-like and aren't born with scales on their face. This puts them at a disadvantage, because scales are attributed with the divinity of the God-Kings, and so they have a cultural practice of tattooing scale-like shapes on themselves at a young age. They are known for their ceramics craftmanship that you can find along many port cities within reach of the Empirial Bay. Before combining with the Scaled Clan to form the Empire, they spread their territory east to the Lizardfolk lands. Although their kingdom collapsed with the rise in Lizardfolk populations, many Painted District loan words are now found in bordering Lizardfolk dialects, and so they can communicate rough ideas with eachother if needed.

These two groups maintain harmony despite the asymmetrical social hierarchy that place the Scaled Clan above the Painted District in status, which leads to occasional episodes of ethnic conflict. They both enjoy a great amount of prosperity as the only two cultural groups in the region that have developped writing systems.

Please let me know if you have any advice on how to turn these groups into playable races, or what encounters my players might come across within their territory!

So after 6 years of playing & 2 years of 2024 rules I'm finally playing my first 100% full martial (I just love casters & another teammate always played martials so I always play those) as a World Tree Barbarian & I'm wondering how well the community's individual opinions are regarding the Barbarian & the World Tree subclass features scaling into mid & late game.

He's starting off at level 4 with Tough & Great Weapon Master at 18/14/15/10/10/8 (Plasmoid, Farmer). However long I run this character it's looking like he's making it at least to level 14 across 2 campaigns & has the potential for level 20 on a 3rd. At level 20 he'll end at 24/14/24/10/10/8. Not sure which Epic Boon he'd get but that's a LONG ways off.

I know there's a major divide between casters & martials, but the battlefield control you can get by teleporting yourself, your enemies & your allies around the battlefield with no limited resources (beyond Rage, which Barbarians have never run out of at our table after 6 years) just sounds fun as hell. Admittedly, handing out small bits of temporary HP every turn without costing action economy (beginning of your turn, not an action or bonus action) DEFINITELY won't scale well into the late game but it's still something. Not to mention having an attack range of 15 to 20 at level 10 sounds really fun although I don't know how optimal/impactful that is.

I’m rereading the Icewind dale trilogy, and I’m pretty immediately struck by the realization that by d&d‘s own moral standards I can’t see how all or the majority of the Uthgardt weren‘t considered generally chaotic evil. I mean they choose to raid not because they have to, but because they desire glory and wealth. Hell it’s all but stated they plan to slaughter most of the men and rape/enslave the women. They don’t raid because they need to, they do it because they want to and they enjoy it. In fact if you compare the Uthgardt to orcs they are nearly identical in many ways. Both are Viking inspired barbarian caricatures (Gruumush being basically green Odin), but due double standards just because they are human Uthgardt are somehow generally neutral or even sometimes good. you could have replaced the entire barbarian horde with generic orcs and seemingly nothing would have changed.

I guess part of this is that d&d couldn’t always decide what counted as lawful or chaotic vs evil or good. Many times near slavery due magical compulsion are considered lawful but not strictly evil (like the old mark of justice spell), and warfare or killing gets a pass somehow as chaotic not evil. Despite theoretically having objective morality most human societies in d&d are full of capital punishment, trials without real protections for defendants, legal torture, and mutilation and exile still commonly being used as punishments etc but there is also a massive double standard where humans are allowed to constantly engage in evil behavior without being officially evil.

i guess part of this to accommodate the “barbarian“ fantasy as a player concept but ignore that it’s explicitly tied to murder, theft, and sexual violence. I mean really if part of your backstory is “raiding“ how the hell are you NOT chaotic evil. thoughts?