...they have the impressive range to make diverse content all the way from top notch, unique, creative and well-balanced features, to hot garbage that even new players take one look at and understand is worthless.

This book is simultaneously what I consider to be the best book WotC has made for 5.5e and also a grim call-back to the imbalance of 5e.

It's like the designers each wrote an in-depth PhD thesis on what makes so much of third-party content so popular and rated so highly, then meticulously applied that to challenge and inspire themselves to make the best content they've made for 5.5e. Then suddenly on the last night before the deadline, they looked at the backlog and realized there were some thing they had forgot to make. So they hurriedly made that motivated solely by getting it done so they could go to bed.

One of the most shocking juxtapositions is Discipline Domain and Shadow Domain. In my opinion, one of the most inspired and well-designed Cleric subclasses in 5.5e (Discipline), and one of the worst design failures we've seen in 5.5e so far (Shadow).

The majority of the book is, in my opinion, amazing. Which just makes it even more surprising to see a few extreme misses.

Hello everyone! I’m making a backup character for a Strixhaven campaign that I’m in. This campaign will also be playing Deadfall once we get done with Strixhaven. What I have so far is that this character will be a College of Valor Bard. My main inspirations for this character are the song Soldier Poet King by the Oh Hellos as well as Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (although I don’t want to completely copy Aragorn’s backstory). I’d like for him to have royal blood but other than that I haven’t really figured out much backstory wise. I know that I definitely want to draw inspiration from the specific lyrics from Soldier Poet King. I figured I’d see what backstory ideas, character conflicts and interesting twists you guys could come up with for this character. I’m excited to see what you come up with! Thanks!

Like sure Fireball is easier to use against a group and hit multiple targets whereas with Lightning Bolt you’re probably just getting 2 guys 90% of the time. But Fireball is basically just throwing a fantasy grenade while Lightning Bolt is a direct attack from me to you, Kamehameha style, “fuck that guy in particular” type of spellcasting.

Starting to get super curious about what's changed and why. A quick google shows that vampiric touch used to actually be good when used by some classes that don't exist any more, and true strike seems to have always been shit until 5.5 made it strong.

What used to be powerful and is now weak, and vice versa?

Hello yall!

I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of days and I’m curious about the general crowd’s thesis is on the way to make Lightning Bolt not just… “Fireball but worse” in most cases.

My thought was to make it deal slightly more damage… but some have said fireball already does too much damage. So what do you guys think?

My friends hosting a nightmare before Christmas inspired two shot and I’m torn between playing a warlock or a sorcerer. Also can’t think of a Halloween flavor for the player character species. I’m thinking of like a cultist vibe or undead flavor (undead patron) but nothing jumps out at me. Any help and idea is appreciated!!

I was recently reminded of the TTRPG design concept of Combat as Sport/War, which is a way to see how a game presents encounter design to the players, its rewards, lethality, balance, etc.

Explaining it a bit more from what I understand (feel free to correct me on anything wrong):

- Combat as Sport means that combat is expected to be part of the main attraction of the game, you are rewarded for fighting monsters in a more or less equal footing and level ups (with XP often being given through fighting) give your even more "paper buttons" to press during fights. A CaS game then test the Players by seeing their in game strategies and character building at work while testing the DMs ability to put a balanced encounter with varied enemies team synergies and map layouts.

- Combat as War means that combat is expected to be most of the time unbalanced towards one side, since it focus more on verisimilitude above all. A mighty dragon's hoard will have a Adult Dragon in it no matter if its a level 1 or 20 party. Combat is more letal and rewards as focused more so beyond fighting itself, like how in old D&D, Gold = XP. Reconnaissance missions, gathering resources, guerrilla tactics, overwhelming numbers, traps and dastardly plans are necessary to survive in CaW games.

In the new Inside Check video (great guy btw, check him out) where they were showing and discussing new WoW spells, i noticed Innervate

5-th lvl Druid spell; Action, 30ft, Verbal component, Instantaneous

"A creature of your choice within range gains a level 4 spell slot. The spell slot vanishes after it is expended or the target finishes a Long Rest. It can use this spell slot to cast any spell it has prepared. In addition, you regain one expended use of Wild Shape."

By itself the spell is already great but there are two ways that came to my mind to push it even further.

1. Simulacrum + Innervate (for example with a bard with magical secrets or with an enspelled item). The duration of the spell is instantaneous, so you should be able to stack it. And simulacrums (simulacrumi?) don't take rests, so it's looking like a great (or probably really strong) alternative to restcasting to utilize unspent spell slots.

2. You could do a 9+9 Warlock-Druid multiclass and it gives you 3 lvl 4 spell slots per short rest. Or you give those slots to your spellcaster buddy.

Both of these interactions can only be available at high tiers of play, but they are really something spicy!

I love the Bladesinger style, but I find "Song of Defense" to be poorly designed—both mechanically (in terms of build viability) and aesthetically. It’s quite dull; burning a spell slot just to reduce incoming damage isn't worth it, and the feature itself is just really uninteresting. How would you go about replacing this ability with something better and more fun?

A couple weeks ago, one of the players at the table cast "conjure animals" and we disagreed on how its damage works. For reference here is part of the spell:

"...when you move on your turn, you can also move the pack up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

Whenever the pack moves within 10 feet of a creature you can see and whenever a creature you can see enters a space within 10 feet of the pack or ends its turn there, you can force that creature to make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed the creature takes 3d10 Slashing damage. A creature makes this save only once per turn."

The player interpreted this as forcing any enemy within 10 feet of the pack at any point along its 30-ft movement path to make a dex save. I assumed the dex save only triggers for enemies within 10 feet of where the pack ends its movement, even though the spell doesn't explicitly say that, because otherwise it seems pretty OP. We played it how he interpreted it at the time but i'm still not sure. Here's an image to show what the interpreted spell looks like: https://imgur.com/a/sFr7Sga

how are you guys interpreting/playing this?

Edit: Thanks all for the feedback. My mistake

so I'm a player who's still newish to dnd, I've played for a few months and know what AC is and all the basics, but I haven't ever played a high level campaign and I'm still a far way away from doing so. I really like multiclassing, and I'm trying to make a kind of mage smith who creates and controls weapons that he both makes real ones and conjures faximiles with magic (think green lantern but if he could hand the stuff he makes to his allies), with spells like shadowblade, magic weapon, etc. I like the concept of a squishy support smith who doesn't really fight just makes weapons for others to use

my current stats are str9/dex14/con10/wis14/int18/crm8
my planned class mix is battlesmith artificer11/wizard5/fighter2/cleric1 and I have an extra level I'm still deciding on where to put
(I originally planned to put it in rogue for expertise but I decided not to because knowledge domain cleric gives me expertise anyways (I originally planned to go forge domain but the ability just wasn't worth the investment so I swapped to lore))

but the problem is with this design I'll have the spell slots of a level 12 caster but only 3rd level spells learned, is that actually viable or do I need to focus heavier in caster and abandon the less crucial things like action surge or expertise to focus more on spell progression

also I don't really like the abilities I get from artificer 5 to 9, but I really love the level 10 and 11 abilities, do I need to just bite the bullet and be a pure artificer until level 10 or do I give up on maxing out artificer to the levels where I like the abilities in exchange for all the more useful and fun abilities that the other classes give me with much lower or no stretch of boring abilities

(note: we are starting at level 5 and I currently plan to go artificer3/wizard2 but I might swap to just artificer 5 if I decide to go all in on maxing out the artificer abilities)

(note2: I haven't made this character yet so these stats aren't set in stone and I don't know what I'll actually roll but I'm pretty sure I'll get at least 1 high stat for intelligence and casting and 2 mid stats that are 12 or more and I can use my racial bonuses to boost to 13 to make me eligible to multiclass into fighter or cleric, and if not I'll just use an ASI to boost it if absolutely needed, and I don't really care about my other 3 stats which is why they're all dump with constitution being the highest because it's important and I don't mind being squishy but I don't want to be too squishy, so my constitution might be higher it's just DEFINITELY not the stat I'm prioritizing the most or 2nd most)

thankyou for any and all help and feedback!

EDIT:
so everyone is saying that multiclassing is really weak in 5e so now I'm considering going pure wizard (probably bladesinger so I can still fight with weapons), with a 3 level dip into artificer for the battlesmith attack with intelligence ability to make combat viable without making strength one of my main stats, will this work or is there also problems with this or something I could do better?
(NOTE: I really love the artificer abilities but I like being a caster more than a half caster and I can do basically all the artificer things with only a 2 or 3 level dip, I just won't have the same level of crafting at high levels and I never planned to get past level 11 artificer anyways so the only thing I'm really sacrificing is cheaper and faster magic items, and spell storing item, and those can be replicated with spell scrolls and with just spending more time and effort

any notes, improvements, or errors in my thinking? (I am still new and don't have actual experience in high level campaigns so I don't really know if there's a better way to do what I'm imagining)

EDIT 2:
the main reason I plan to go all the way to level 3 for artificer is because of the battlesmith ability that lets you use intelligence modifier for attacks with magic items (I think it's called battle ready or smthn if I remember correctly), it seems worth at least 1 level since abilities that let you use a different stat for attacks are so rare at least as far as I know and I've heard that it's a bad idea to depend on multiple high stats, so my plan is to max out intelligence and have dex, con and wis as my mid stats with str and crm as dump stats, if I don't take artificer 3 I'd lose battle ready which would mean needing high dex in addition to high int, which isn't impossible but there are some feats I'm kind of excited about so I'd rather not use up everything on ASI increase

am I missing something and is there another way to do what I'm thinking or am I still really off base?
(thanks for all your helpful comments I'm sure this has saved me from some serious pitfalls already)

I've been working on a revised version of the Champion Fighter subclass for the 2024 rules. My goal is to give the Champion a little more tactical depth and reinforce the Champion's identity as a dashing athletic warrior while also maintaing the class simplicity and begginer friendliness.

Level 3:

Champion's Exploits

You learn specialized combat techniques called maneuvers.

Superiority Dice. You have two Superiority Dice, which are d6s. You gain one additional Superiority Die at Fighter level 7 and another at Fighter level 15. You regain all expended Superiority Dice when you finish a Short or Long Rest.

Champion Maneuvers. You learn the following maneuvers at the indicated Fighter levels:

You can use these maneuvers by expending a Superiority Die, following the rules of each maneuver.

Peerless Athlete

You gain the following benefits:

• Athletic Proficiency. You gain proficiency in either the Athletics or Acrobatics skill. If you already have proficiency in the chosen skill, you instead gain Expertise in it.
• Enhanced Mobility. You gain a Climbing Speed and a Swimming Speed each equal to your walking Speed.
• Combat Readiness. You have Advantage on Initiative rolls.

Improved Critical

Your attack rolls with weapons and Unarmed Strikes score a Critical Hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20.

Whenever you score a Critical Hit, you can move up to half your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Level 7:

Additional Fighting Style

You gain another Fighting Style feat of your choice.

Dashing Champion

Your physical prowess and force of personality make you an imposing presence. Whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Strength or Dexterity modifiers (whichever is higher)

Level 10: Heroic Warrior

The thrill of battle drives you toward victory.

During combat, you can give yourself Heroic Inspiration at the start of your turn.

Additionally, if you already have a heroic inspiration at the start of your turn, you can instead give it to a creature of your choice that can see or hear you

Brutal Critical

Your Critical Hits carry devastating consequences beyond the damage they inflict. Whenever you score a Critical Hit against a creature, choose one of the following effects:

Extra Damage. The target takes extra damage equal to one roll of your weapon's damage die. At Fighter level 18, the extra damage increases to two rolls of that die.

Crippling Pressure. The target has Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes. At Fighter level 18, the target instead automatically fails that saving throw, unless it expends a use of Legendary Resistance to succeed instead.

Sap Life. The target can't regain Hit Points until a Lesser Restoration spell is cast on it. At Fighter level 18, it requires the Greater Restoration spell instead.

Level 15: Superior Critical

Your attack rolls with weapons and Unarmed Strikes score a Critical Hit on a roll of 18–20 on the d20.

Level 18: Survivor

You attain the pinnacle of resilience in battle, giving you the following benefits.

Defy Death. You have Advantage on Death Saving Throws. Moreover, when you roll 18–20 on a Death Saving Throw, you gain the benefit of rolling a 20 on the d20.

Heroic Rally. At the start of each of your turns, you regain Hit Points equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier if you have no more than half your Hit Points remaining and at least 1 Hit Point.

Second Wind Surge. In addition, when you roll Initiative you regain one expended use of second wind

OK, I'm looking for help building out some homebrew right now, would love to see if anybody knows of any existing homebrew or systems that can point me in the right direction.

The idea is that I want to allow a player character to pick up a massive object, like a wagon, and throw it as a super powerful ranged AOE attack. Running with the wagon example, the idea is that the PC is throwing the wagon in order to crush enemies beneath it. I don't want to just do an attack roll because then it doesnt engage with the wagons size enough, nor do I want to engage with the improvised weapon rules at all. But whenever I try to lean into the unique functions of the attack it begins to get too bloated and overcomplicated to use.

The biggest reason im having so much trouble is cus i dont want it to just deal damage. I could just make it an AOE the does some bludgeoning damage, but then what happens to the wagon? Does it just disappear, or break, or just get put aside? No, I want to think up some effect that can literally have enemy creatures get crushed under the wagon, and need to get out from under there. And the hard part is that this attack needs to be adaptable; its not just wagons that the PCs will be throwing, but also boulders, large monsters, trees, barrels, couches, and all sorts of other stuff with a range of sizes. No need to sort out the whole feature here ofc lol, but any pointers could be awesome just to help me stir my creativity

Its a long shot but does anybody have any ideas or resources that could help me build this homebrew?

I’m started my first dnd campaign soon. So i don’t know alot about the rules

I had this idea in my head of a aasimar divine soul sorcerer. While researching about meta magic and how the divine soul sorcerer works i notices that i mabey can heal 3 people in 1 turn at level 3 . From what i look up online it’s possible to do it but i want to be 100% sure it’s allowed .

I thought that i could twin spell healing words and than use my healing hand.

Because healing words is a bonus action i can still use a full action. And healing hands isn’t a spell but a species feature.

My part have 4 people (including me) so if everyone is at death door it’s nice to be able to heal everyone . I know that u can get mass healing words at level 5 . But still thought it’s a nice thing for level 3-4 . + i technically only have to have a level 1 spell available and don’t have to waist a level 3 spell.

It is only a one time use before i have to get a long rest. I just thought it could come in handy.

“Edit we use both 5e and 5.5e , I’m pretty sure for meta magic we use 5e”

Combo Strikes. When you deal damage to a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll for each time you previously hit that creature with a melee attack roll in the same turn.

I wonder how this +1 bonus work exactly? Does it stack by itself? Is it like +0+1+2+3 or +0+1+1+1?

So the whole thing confuses me a bit. From what I understand, Wildspace is like our actual space, just more colorful. No air. The space between planets and stars.

The Astral Plane is outside of that, in it lie different universes and whole planes of existence? Its breathable and you can go where you image you go? You fly throuch sheer willpower?

So what are spelljammers for? Do Githyanki and Illithids battle in Wildspace or in the Astral Plane? How would one travel from the Material Plane to Wildspace/The Astral Plane?

And are there new rules that make it less confusing?

Hey everyone!

I’m planning a D&D oneshot tournament for 6–12 players, and I want to run it with two DMs

However, I don’t just want to split the group into two isolated tables running separate dungeons to share the workload. I want an experience that only 2 DMs working together can pull off.

The hurdle I’m running into is figuring out how two "hosts" can share the stage mechanically. In TV shows, there's usually one main host, but with TTRPGs, having two DMs opens up some wild dynamic-duo possibilities.

Would love to hear your thoughts, tips, or brilliant ideas!

Hey,

I have the Player, DM Guide and Monster Manual from the 2024+ series.

The DM Guide was last to arrive, and compared to the others, the bottom of the rear cover is very rough to the touch. It follows the artwork (The section below 'WEAVE FANTASTIC ADVENTURES') but is jarringly different to the other two books!

Just checking: Is this normal?

It also doesn't have the gold '50' logo compared to the other two.

We have a book reading mechanic in my campaign and our cleric wants to read up on diseases. I know of official diseases but I'm looking for something more interesting/unhinged. Any ideas for funny diseases? Ideally info about how it spreads and what's its effects, how to get rid of it (not just by lesser restoration) Could be extremely rare or common, from monsters or plants, some leftover magic in some locations, anything really. I would also love to use it in game in the future, should be a real hindrance (they are now in the underdark but will return to the surface).