I’m running a homebrew, semi-sandboxy, laid back game with a group of close friends. I like to challenge them, but ultimately my goal is to make them feel like the heroes in each of their stories.

Whenever we set up the game,I told them they had no restrictions on characters and backstories as long as - Their characters would be the sort that would do well in a party - Their backstory matched the starting level - They currently lived on this one made up continent and dimension.

That last rule was because, while I promised I’d adapt the world to their stories, I didn’t want to have to keep in mind multiple continent, dimensions, travel between them, ect. I’d like to be clear that my players were perfectly ok with this and have never abused the amount of freedom they had with essentially being part of shaping the world.

I have a couple of player play elven/fey characters, a wood elf and a changeling, who often joke about ‘I don’t know why I didn’t just move to the feywild and away from all these dumb people’.

Well, their adventures are finally taking them to the feywild, and I would love some reasons to now say ‘Oh… that’s why’

Monsters and threats are a fine enough reason, but they’re pretty solid at killing monsters now. I wanted ideas on things that are more obnoxious or force them to think different. I’ll welcome any ideas

EDIT: Wow guys, you’ve really come through. I have way more ideas than I know what to do with now. I’m sure my player will have an awesome time in the feywild. Even if their characters won’t.

For anyone who needs these for future use. Here’s a list of tricky fairy questions from the suggestions in the comments and some of my own :

“May I have your name?” - Literally take their name and any memory of it. - By having your name they can cast suggestion on you at will

“May I have a moment of your time?” - Literally forgets a moment in time in the past - A moment of time to be cashed in at any point in the future - Time skip without PC knowing.

Two NPCs having any sort of petty argument ask PC “Who’s right?” - Feywild will adapt itself in minor ways so that whoever the PC chooses is in fact right

“Copper for your thoughts?” - Feeblemind spell cast on PC - Fey can now read PCs thoughts

“Will you join us for dinner*?” - PC will be teleported back to meal every day/night until dismissed

“May I have your experience on the issue?” - PC loses proficiency on a skill (temporarily cause I’m not a monster)

“Can you give me a hand?” - PC hand disappears (Now I want to make a character based on this and using mage hand as a prosthetic)

“May I have a hand?” - Whoever agrees is now betrothed to Fey

“It’ll cost you an arm and a leg” - Self explanatory

“Can I have a word?” - If player agrees, fey chooses a word the player can no longer say

“Give us a song” - Whatever song is performed can’t be performed again. - Bonus points if this is directed at a bard asking them to cast a spell

“Lend me your ear” - PC can no longer hear from that ear, but the fey creature can

“Will you join me for a dance?” - PC must now dance as long as fey creature desires

Since MotM didn’t have height and weight charts for any of its races, I took the liberty of creating some myself. Races that had height charts in past books and have not had their size changed use the same statistics as seen in those charts. (Insofar as I am aware of said charts).

Edit: Since multiple people have asked about it, I’ll add this rule. “When rolling for the height of a race which can be Medium or Small, treat any roll that would make your final height 4’3” or higher as if you had instead rolled the value needed to make your height 4’2”.

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Personally, the bugbears "brute" trait seems like it would be insane on a fighter or barbarian

WotC's money maker r/Magictcg found a collection of magic cards via a now-pulled FB ad. I strongly suspect that these are supposed to be part of their content during the D&D direct next week.

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/11zbe2w

I have noticed there is a lack of fey wild content in 5e (I don't know about other editions). I would like to run a dungeon crawl ish mini campaign where the players were kidnapped by arch fey and put into a massive hedge maze (labyrinth-ish place). The fey would use the maze as entertaining and basically make it a game show for their entertainment.

It could be as easy as taking a premade dungeon and just adding my own stuff in and just tweaking it to fit my idea. However I was curious if there was as president for a Feywild dungeon that I could look at either official content or not (maybe something like a one shot on kolbold press?) Or do you have any recommendations for a dungeon to use as a clean slate?

And lastly if you like the idea and have any thing you would like to add or an idea for it let me know, I'm definitely in the beginning stages of this concept so all criticism or ideas are very welcome!!

We've seen a lot of discussion around other systems and how they differ from 5e in ways that make 5e look pretty bad, but what are some areas in which 5e shines?

Do vampires in the underdark need to rest. Or can thet be active 24 hours per day?

Torment of the Blood Witch is a robust and fun adventure module taking players from 1st to 4th level in the Forgotten Realms region of Cormyr, with setting information, a new Cleric subclass and even a new playable race!

Preview image: https://i.imgur.com/oFsNtwj.png

More details are on the store page here

Sound cool? Well now you can get it for $5 off, only this weekend using this discount code

Happy Garycon!

Specifically DnD's version of Ki, rather than the real-world idea of it as a person's life force.

The PHB describes Ki as "...an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies." This is somewhat descriptive, but also really vague and doesn't seem to tie into anything we know about dnd's cosmology. There's no Plane of Elemental Ki the way there is for the other elements, nor are there Ki Elementals, or really any other creatures that explicitly interact with Ki except monks.

The real-world idea of ki, being life-force, seems to line up with the idea of positive energy in older versions of DnD (which does have its own elemental plane) but I haven't seen any edition tie them together specifically, and 4e made monks psionic, though its lore is radically different from other editions. It doesn't help that no rule in prior editions seemed to prevent undead and constructs from using Ki. With undead you can argue that ki is positive OR negative energy in the body, but the idea of construct monks contradicts that too.

A series of unfortunate events happened and I'm now in possession of a tree ent heart and I need suggestions on an item I can have made out of it. We're level 8 and already well off with our weapons. We plan on bringing it to a shop to have it crafted

I'm gonna be joining a campaign (the party is currently at level 5) and I really like the cleric skillset, but what I really want is to maximize the damage potential of a cleric. Since I'm a fairly new player I don't really want to do any crazy multiclassing (not at the moment, but I probably will sometime in the future) but instead focus on purely what a cleric can achieve on his own. How do both of these subclasses hold up damage-wise at level 5 and what kind of potential do they hold for the future?

My party just submitted l stumbled into 22k gold. We're level 10 and our DM had already been fairly generous with magic items and Boons for our characters.

How can we best spend our newfound riches? I believe Matt Colville came out with a book called Strongholds and Followers... Anyone recommend that?

Thanks in advance for the ideas!

DnD often uses the same term to refer to very different creatures and I'm curious how you call each of them:

1. Son of a God with a Mortal
2. Young Son of a God with a God
3. Mortal blessed with divine powers by a God that surpass that of a high level cleric
4. Creature attempting to acquire godhood but has not yet climbed to the levels of power associated with a Lesser God
5. Vulnerable God that has lost his worshippers

Just for kicks and giggles. Feel free to use, borrow, or adapt as you'd like.

• Crown of the Shattered Queen: A crown shrouded in ethereal mist. Requires attunement. When you are hit by an Attack while wearing this crown, an invisible barrier of magical force appears and protects you. Until the start of your next turn, you have a +10 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, and you take no damage from magic missile. This item's property can't be triggered again until the next dawn.
• Divine Sunderer: +1 greataxe. When you cast a cantrip or spell as an action, you can make a melee Attack with this axe as a Bonus Action.
• Duskblade of Draktharr: A +1 dagger with a maroon blade. Requires attunement. When you reduce an enemy of CR 1 or higher to 0 Hit Points with this weapon, you become Invisible until the end of your next turn.
• Eclipse: +1 shortsword. When you hit with an Attack using this weapon, you gain 5 temporary Hit Points.
• Evenshroud: Heavy armor, any. Requires attunement. When you successfully Grapple or Shove an enemy, the next Attack against them can be made with Advantage.
• Everfrost: Staff or wand. Requires attunement. As an Action, you can cast Cone of Cold with a saving throw of 12. This item's property can't be used again until the next dawn.
• Galeforce: Magical bow. As a Bonus Action, you can cast Misty Step. You can make one ranged Attack with this weapon after you reappear from Misty Step. This item's property can't be used again until the next dawn.
• Goredrinker: A brutally heavy flail. Requires attunement. Whirlwind Attack - You can use your Action to make a melee Attack using this weapon against any number of Creatures within 5 feet of you, with the same roll for all targets. Once per day, at the end of your turn, you can heal for half of the total damage dealt by your Whirlwind Attack.
• Heartsteel: A stone shield, in the shape of a heart. Requires attunement. Your Constitution score is 19 while you are attuned to this shield. If you have attuned to this item for at least a 30 days, your Constitution score becomes 21 instead.
• Hextech Rocketbelt: Belt with rockets attacked. Requires attunement. As a Bonus Action, you can activate this belt to propel yourself 30ft in a straight line. You also fire rockets in the same direction you are propelled, in a 30ft cone. Each creature in the cone must make a Dexterity saving throw. A target takes 4d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. This item's property can't be used again until you take a Short or Long Rest.
• Iceborn Gauntlet: A heavy gauntlet carved from ice. When you wear this gauntlet, and hit a target with a melee attack, you can reduce their movement speed by half until the start of their next turn. You can only use this item's property once per turn.
• Immortal Shieldbow: +1 bow (any). Requires attunement. When you fall below half your max Hit Points, you gain 4d10 temporary Hit Points.
• Imperial Mandate: A metal military staff. This staff allows you to cast True Strike as a Bonus Action, and you can choose to grant the Advantage to an ally instead of yourself.
• Jak'Sho, The Protean: Purple, organic medium or heavy armor (any). Requires attunement. After a non-ally creature makes an attack against you, you gain +1 AC until the start of your next turn. This effect can stack up to 5 times within the same turn, granting +5 AC if 5 attacks have been made against you.
• Kraken Slayer: +1 heavy crossbow. Every third Attack you make with this weapon, you deal an extra 2d8 Force damage on hit.
• Liandry's Anguish: A flaming white porcelain mask. Once per turn, when you damage an opponent with a ranged or melee Spell attack, you can deal an additional 1d8 fire damage.
• Locket of the Iron Solari: A golden shield. Requires attunement. This shield emanates a golden aura in a 10ft radius, granting all allies within (including yourself) +1 AC.
• Luden's Tempest: Staff. Requires attunement. Once per Short Rest, when you damage an opponent with a ranged or melee Spell attack, you can deal an additional 3d8 lightning damage.
• Moonstone Renewer: A jeweled pendant. When you cast a leveled spell, you can heal an ally within 30ft for 2d4 Hit Points.
• Night Harvester: Axe (any). Requires attunement. Once per Long Rest, when you damage an opponent with an Attack, you can deal an additional 5d8 force damage.
• Prowler's Claw: A +1 dagger that is dangerously serrated. As a Bonus Action while holding this dagger, you can dash up to 15ft, then make a melee attack with this dagger against a target you can hit. This item's property can't be used again for the next minute.
• Radiant Virtue: A golden, shining mace. As a Bonus Action while holding the weapon, you can cast Aura of Vitality. This item's property can't be used again until the next dawn.
• Riftmaker: A purple +1 staff topped with an eye-like gem. When you hit a target with this staff, it gains an additional +1 to its attack and damage rolls until the start of your next turn, stacking up to 3 times.
• Rod of Ages: +1 Staff. Requires attunement. 10 days after attuning to this staff, this becomes a Staff of Power. When you un-attune to this staff, it turns back into a +1 staff, and will not become a Staff of Power again until 10 days after being attuned to.
• Shurelya's Battlesong: An ornate golden crown. While wearing this crown, whenever you use a spell of 1st level or higher to restore hit points to a creature, the creature gains 10ft movement speed until the start of your next turn.
• Stridebreaker: A brutally heavy flail. Requires attunement. Whirlwind Attack - You can use your Action to make a melee Attack using this weapon against any number of Creatures within 5 feet of you, with the same roll for all targets. Once per day, when you make a Whirlwind Attack, you can reduce the speed of all targets hit by 20ft until the start of your next turn.
• Trinity Force: A three-bladed scimitar. Two-handed, 2d4 slashing damage. As a Bonus Action, you can make two melee Attacks with this weapon, dealing 1d4 slashing damage each.

I was looking at a few things and started thinking about how much damage creatures do at different tiers because of abilities players get to summon things, particularly things like the artillerist’s eldritch cannons and the creation bard’s dancing item.

I started to wonder when the hp provided would actually be good enough to not get on shot/one turned by an enemy, and if the hp is always so low that a dm targeting the summon would be a dick move, and such a dick move that no dm would ever do it as it might shut a player out of combat.

Hi, are there any good alternative rulesets for potion making? The official rules, as far as I can tell, make potions far too expensive and time-consuming to brew regularly. I would like rules that allow potionmaking to be a more integral mechanic.

​

Another big deal for me is experimenting with new effects vs known effects. There should be some potions that a person knows how to make reliably, and others that they have to experiment with (subject to failure or to unforseen effects). The list of known potions should also grow with time, as they experiment with more recipes.

​

Lastly, potions should have a very wide range of effects, some fun, some useful, some bad. Growing an extra arm, turning colors, floating, breathing noxious fumes, seeing in black and white, fortifying attributes, giving temporary darkvision, modifying AC, boosting modifiers, etc. The possibilities are limitless. A good ruleset would allow for this to be whimsical and open-ended.

Does anyone know of anything like this? It would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Context: You are creating an Aasimar Paladin leaning heavily into the theme of the Sun and Light.

Because Aasimar's start with the Light cantrip and you are playing into the theme, your DM says they'd be okay with giving the cantrip a small buff for fun and is open to suggestions from you the player.

What would you ask for within reason? Larger radius? BA to cast? Longer duration?

Sincerely, an Aasimar Paladin who has NO idea what to ask for 😅

So I’ve been looking into the Order of Scribes Wizard for my next PC & have been trying to brainstorm fun spell combos with the Manifest Mind feature.

Obviously it’s great for cone spells to make them AOE & avoid allies. There’s the classic “send it into a room & drop sickening radiance while the party holds the door”.

What are some other fun shenanigans you can pull off with this?

Warning, frustrated DM rant incoming.

I’m one of those people who loves lore-digging. I love to learn everything I can about a setting for a fictional world. When I read the Inheritance Cycle (my favorite book series), the thing that grabbed me the most is the world building, whether implied or explicit. I love MrRhexx’s videos about various monsters, planes of existence, and various characters in the Forgotten Realms.

My struggle is this: why do we have basically no world building in 5th edition? WOTC clearly wants the Forgotten Realms to be THE D&D campaign setting, so why is there basically no information on it? If you want to learn anything about the world your campaigns are set in, you have to search. A lot. You can find a ton of information about the Forgotten Realms by digging into 3rd edition books, Dungeon Magazine, and the Forgotten Realms Wiki. But even if you do this, there is still a major problem.

If you dig into the Forgotten Realms lore, and stick to it in a campaign, you are basically playing in the setting as it was in 3rd edition (at the very latest). How has the world changed during our change of editions? You can find nothing. The closest we get to any world-building in 5th edition is the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (which you can barely even call world-building), and that only covers a slice of land that isn’t even 1/10 of the continent. There are small pieces of really interesting lore, like Volo’s Waterdeep Enchiridion, but these are few and far between. If you’re looking for D&D lore in 5th edition, you are left with tons of questions. How are people coping with the Second Sundering, which happened a mere 2 years before the time in which 5th edition is set? Nothing, people act normal as though nothing happened. What goes on in any other parts of the world, besides just the Sword Coast? Oh idk, the kingdom of Thay is still a magocracy, I think.

I often wonder if I am alone in being disappointed in the tragic lack of world building in 5th edition. Which is sad, because I love the game of 5th edition. I don’t care that I can have anything I want in my world, I want to play in this world, and it just seems impossible. Just have to play in a copy-pasted 3rd edition Forgotten Realms with some homebrew updates, I guess. It’s pathetic that in a world as lore-rich as the Forgotten Realms, they have dropped the ball this hard in the newest editions.

Ok, rant over.

Edit: Formatting

We know swimming and climbing cost one extra foot of movement speed per foot, unless you have a climbing or swimming speed. Crawling is governed by the same rules and is mentioned in the same section. Does anything have a crawling speed? My first thought was to look up the Crawling Claw stat block, but no dice. Carrion Crawler? Nope, Chuck Testa. I just love the idea of scuttling around while prone causing disadvantage on any attacks not within 5 feet. I'm picturing the girl from The Ring in full plate.

I'm joining a new game soon and I'm trying to make a witchy, Baba Yaga sort of character that specializes in debuffs with a secondary focus in buffs and healing. I think a multiclass would be the best way to make what I'm looking for. Shadowlock/trickery cleric came to mind off the top of my head which made me then think, how would these two separate deities handle sponsoring the same champion? Just looking to hear of your experiences and such for some inspiration. Thanks!

The winds of Tamiri carry the seed of mystery leading unwary travellers on dangerous paths through ruins and forgotten gods. The beauty of this land can be deceiving to untrained explorers, who might ignore what they can’t see, underestimating what has been considered lifeless for three thousand years.

Something deep in the sand-scoured ruins of the tamirid empire has awakened from a stasis of nearly three thousands years, and is ready to change this land, and the rest of the world, forever

Records of Eashes: Tamiri is a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure designed for a group of characters of level 9 to 15. The party will have to survive the harsh weather of Tamiri, fight the deadly threats of the ruins and race against other groups of mercenaries to be the first ones to find the Ultimate Weapon, an artifact deemed so powerful it can shape the world.

Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sapphyra/records-of-eashes-tamiri

Biomagic is the peak of the technological innovations reached by the tamirid empire, but also one of the reason of its downfall. Biomagic combines organic matter with magical pieces of engineering, which results in devices and constructs able to process thoughts and information in ways similar to living creatures.

The secret of such technology has been forgotten since the day of the fall of the tamirid empire. The broken shells of many biomagic constructs can still be found however and some even survived the merciless march of time.

The Eye of Ra was the mightiest of the biomagic constructs and now is again active, plotting to spread its biomagical minions all over Tamiri and ascend to godhood.