Using a freshly-made alt account for this post because I can already feel r/dndcirclejerk having fun with it

So for context, I'm a paid DM that works at a community center. Most of my players are first-timers, which means that I've been their first DM, their introduction to D&D and the one who taugh them the rules.

Side-note: I really don't mind it, this is the coolest job ever.

At the start of tonight's game, one of my players (M, somewhere in his 20's) told me that he joined another campaign recently with friends of his. I was really happy for him, until he told me that he hated his other DM's way of DMing. When I asked how it went, he kept pointing out everything this other DM did differently than me (stuff like calling for checks less often, narration being more railroady and player agency that felt like he was "kept on a leash", to quote him).

I totally get what he was trying to say: he tried someone else's DMing, and he vastly prefers mine. And I accept that compliment, really. But I can't help but to think that maybe I've accidentally set an unreal expectation for him: as I said, I'm litterally paid to run this game, of course I'll go the extra mile on all front for it to be worth the money. That other DM was (likely) running it for free, so expecting the same quality from this DM is unfair.

Now, maybe this DM was actually bad, I'll never know. But judging from what my player told me, they seemed... fine? I guess? No DM is running the same way, and this one was definitelly doing it differently than me. It really feels like I've brewed my own micro-version of the "Mercer effect", and I don't want it to ruin future games for him...how should I approach this situation? Like, obviously I'll talk to him about it, but I'm just unsure on how I'll explain it so it doesn't sound like a lecture.

This is mostly just out of curiosity, because it's something I do that I was curious about people's thoughts on.

So some dragons have breath weapons that extend in a line right? I'll reference the rule below:

> A Line is an area of effect that extends from a point of origin in a straight path along its length and covers an area defined by its width. The effect that creates a Line specifies its length and width.

A Line's point of origin isn't included in the area of effect unless its creator decides otherwise.

Now, I find this a little boring, because it doesn't entirely make sense to me in my head RAW, because the breath effect effectively would always start from the dragon/dragon's head. I find that generally, yes, that makes sense to do....on the ground.

Now what if the dragon is in the air?

What I do, is if the dragon is flying and using its breath weapon that is a line, it can sweep the effect. Reasonably in my head, I always have pictured the breath weapon as a line functioning physically like well, a beam (for simplicity's sake), that extends in the specified area. Now if it's from the sky, that 'sweep' that I mentioned means that the line now functions such that it could be in a horizontal line parallel to the dragon.

Hopefully I've explained this properly, if it's confusing I'll have to draw a picture lol.

Has anyone else thought of this or do this when running dragons?

I hate the false hydra like it was a cool thing ages ago where it wasn't widely known (yes "just dont meta game" is a thing but you still know what it is) but now its just not interesting and the issue of fighting it is just such a pain.

As a player it feels like it forces meta gaming and as a dm it feels like a falling rock its not scary because of the whole you forget who it kills and it just sucks.

Yes this is poorly written its late and I am having a bitch

Its was also only really the cherry on top of some at the table discussions.

Thinkin' back on some past postings has me wondering:

Assuming the difference in real world minutes and seconds is negligible to the point of not being worth mention, do you care whatsoever how many *rounds* combats go on for?

So apparently our group’s sense of humor might be a little questionable. 😂
I recently finished putting together a dedicated D&D room for our party, complete with a custom-built gaming table, Govee smart lighting, and Alexa-controlled music and effects.
Naturally, I decided the first session in the new room needed the most ridiculously over-the-top combat introduction I could come up with.
The result? Lights out, Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” some aggressively questionable trash talk from Alexa, and a room full of grown adults laughing their asses off.
To clarify, this was a one-time gag, not something we sit through every time someone rolls initiative. Our normal combat routine just switches the lights to red and starts the battle playlist.
We’re a group of friends who enjoy D&D, don’t take ourselves too seriously, and occasionally embrace the stupidity. The whole point was to get a laugh, and it definitely delivered.
Anyway, I originally wanted to share the setup and see what other people have done with their D&D spaces. Anyone else running smart lighting, custom tables, sound effects, or other ridiculous additions to their game nights?
Would love to see what everyone else has come up with!

Super specific question, but bear with me.

If a person with scoliosis dies and years later their skeleton gets reanimated by a necromancer, would the skeleton still have a bendy spine?

To my knowledge most skeletons in fantasy are depicted without scoliosis. Why is that? Does the magic fix their condition? What does a necromancy spell like animate dead technicaly affect in Dnd?

Does the magic know what kind of posture the person whose corpse it's cast on had, or does it just assume a standard upright position?

Assuming the skeleton keeps their owner's spinal deformity, does the magic still reanimate them with scoliosis, if someone digs up the corpse and staightens out the spine beforehand? Leaving no trace of the original condition.

What do you guys think? I would love some insight into this because I think this could give undead some extra flavour.

Just came here to say I'm super chuffed about it

Apparently, there is this new Eldritch Invocation in the 5e World of Warcraft book:

Curse of Corruption

Prerequisite: Level 2+ Warlock

When an enemy starts its turn cursed by a Warlock spell you cast (such as Hex), it must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or take Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

Okay, well, Hex lasts for hours and offers no initial saving throw. Instead of having the party fight some big bad boss, the warlock instructs the party to just... leave. Then the warlock tags the major enemy with Hex and runs away, maybe with a Dimension Door if the warlock is level 7+.

As far as I can tell, this works on the CR 30 tarrasque (the usual punching bag), and even more mystically inclined enemies are out of luck if they lack Dispel Magic or Remove Curse, as is the case with the spellcasting CR 24 dragons in the 2025 Monster Manual.

A warlock 2/sorcerer 2 can Subtle Spell this to surreptitiously assassinate people in a town or a city, too.

Here's the 2nd out of 6 members of the party. Frankie is a human punky kinda bard hailing from a homely land, wielding a modified lute he blasts heavy riffs out of. Marked with tattoos on one side and lichtenberg scars on the other, Frankie wouldn't hesitate even to give a piece of his mind raw and unfiltered to the likes of Gods, one of whom he appears (to me who has only been playing for two sessions in this campaign) to have a special connection with. And when it gets to squabbling he fires out wild magic, unpredictable but mad and fun.

Is there a spell that instantly boils water? it's for a joke.

Im trying to plan a larger campaign. They have been sent to a far away island and need to colonize it by subduing all the differnent inhabitants. Its gonna be a sandbox campaign kinda like Keep on the borderlands and west marches style. Is there a perfect map for this or an easy way to make one?
And do you have ideas for what types of people to put there?
Im kinda blank and really need your help with anything you might know about this!

The team was made up of 4 players. The full party has 6 but one of them was sick on the day of the session and the other had to leave briefly mid session. We have a rune knight fighter, an artificer battle smith, a wild magic barbarian, and me a swashbuckler rouge who were doing the dragon encounter. We were facingVenom Fang from Lost Mines of Phandelver Shattered Obelisk. I heard he was pretty infamous for team wiping level 3 parties, and seeing how our team handled previous encounters during the campaign I was a bit nervous. Fortunately our artificer had a plan.

Using a bag of holding that was one of the magic items the player made, our artificer had stored a bunch of weapons we got from previous sessions and noted them down. His plan was to have someone fly to the top of the tower using a potion of flight that we got from the dragon cultist leader, and pour all the weapons onto Venom Fang through the hole, since the tower had no roof. I volunteered and got a stealth roll that beat his passive perception of 17. DM ruled that the Dragon would have to beat a dex dc of twelve to only take half damage from the weapons. Since I rolled high on stealth the dragon did it at disadvantage and failed.

The dragon took 140 damage from all the weapons and our fighter rushed in and finished him off. I haven’t played many DND campaigns, but it was the best moment I’ve experienced so far and it further compels me to play Artificer in my next campaign. Also we leveled up to level 4 after the encounter and looted his horde.

Does the armorer artificers arcane armor count as magical, and how much of it would function in an antimagic field?

It is created by the magic action, and the subclass description says "Craft Magic Armor to Enhance Your Abilities".

In defense of it working in the field, none of the subclass abilities up until level 15 say you do anything magically.

I think that the arcane armor itself is magical, because it is created by the magic action, and ceases to be arcane armor if you die or don any other armor.

Hey everyone,

Besides the maps, I have something different to share today: my Kickstarter The Evil Guide.

Ever had a party of players that wanted to stop saving villages and start subjugate them? That’s what this is built for. It’s a trilogy of books for running campaigns where the players are the villains: building cults, taking over towns, performing rituals and doing everything the BBEG usually does to them.

The Evil Guide: the backbone. A structure with progression over time, so an evil campaign has a real arc instead of “we’re evil now, what do we do?”. It covers everything you need to run cult-themed campaigns.

The Vault of Nightmares: hundreds of new monsters, items and spells, 13 new subclasses, a proper Necromancy mechanic and an expanded Ritual Casting system.

Whispers beneath the Chapel: a ready-to-run campaign as your starting point, so you can begin your first evil session right away.

It works for D&D, and it’s also usable for other TTRPGs.

We’re already funded, so the books are happening. Now is a great time to jump in and join the Cult of Evil.

Want to try before you pledge? There’s a “Test it now” section on the campaign page with parts you can try for free.

The Evil Guide on Kickstarter

I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments. What’s the most evil thing your party has ever done?

Thanks for reading and for all your support.
Birdie

Google got me nowhere, and I'm terrible at mechanical analysis like this, so hopefully someone can help me out. Reposting after my first attempt contained a forbidden link (100% my bad, though I can't find one I know is 100% official/unproblematic, so I'm just not linking to the spell at all).

What's the approximate CR of the spirit summoned by a 3rd level Summon Shadowspawn spell? I've got a room trapped with two Glyph of Warding spells that each contain this spell. I'm currently going through the dungeon calculating the CR of each encounter so I can see where I'm at difficulty-wise, but don't know the CR for these spirits.

I'm guessing it's not high, my gut says maybe 2 or 3? But an approximate number from someone who's better at this than I am would be much appreciated.

I asked a similar question about multi-classing barbarian-monk, and I got a ton of helpful feedback (which I am very grateful for), so now I'm asking a similar question.

Can these two classes be combined to create an enjoyable experience? It doesn't have to be the most hyper-optimized build possible, but does it have its merits?

Upon first glance, I believe this pairing should work better, seeing as they both have tank qualities to them.

I believe this is one of the worst things a player can say; it clearly highlights the low level of play they are bringing to the table.

D&D and most other tabletop roleplaying games (with a few notable exceptions) require group play, where the choices and actions of individual characters must remain coherent. The crucial point is ensuring that a character’s decisions contribute to the narrative progress of the entire group.

This doesn’t mean everyone has to get along perfectly; it can involve internal conflict, debate, and resolution. In fact, the animosity between two characters who eventually find common ground can be far more compelling than simply defeating yet another boss.

But that phrase destroys everything. It leaves no room for interpretation, explanation, or anything constructive. It is nothing more than a stubborn, narrow-minded defense—and often, far too often, it’s a way to dodge accountability for a major, glaring mistake made during the game.

Have you had any experiences with this phrase?

PS: I don’t think I explained myself well.

What has been your experience with this phrase when it’s used to justify the worst kinds of behavior or a character’s inconsistency?

We use the 5.5e the new handbook, we're allowed to homebrew if we discuss it or use otherstuff we find online and modify it, xanthars etc. whatever we're comfortable with. DM is very open he's been playing since the 90's and DMing almost as long.

but our group i dont think is actually playing DnD in anything other than some rules.

We have no map. no minatures. We litterally just get together pull out some character sheets and dice and talk for a bit make some rolls things apparently happen then combat do initiative.

theres no map we have no idea where we are we go in initiative order but like where am in relation to this monster or that person is a common question. i move over there very arbitrarily.

we do have a rule of cool because we almost never pass any skill checks so if you can role play it really well in character and it makes sense we might get a pass.

Ive tried bringing it up many times but im the only one who wants it and with how much work and effort it takes its not fair on the DM i guess or something. that and i guess with how new everyone is to it its too complicated to be doing actual characters and moving.

but considering only the dm and 1 other player isnt family im not leaving the group i tried once before. said i wasnt having fun and never heard the end of it came back.

am i wrong about this? is this what dnd is now?

Just googling around DnD and getting a feel for whats required.

Been 'rabbit in the headlights' with the u'tube noise around Hasbro/Wizards and the race to subscription and digital paid content - is that something I need fret over. ( I am not going down that route )

Was put off buy the volume of books and materials - a veritable library of stuff to think about.

BUT

i gather its a players handbook / xanathars guide level of investment with a pack of generic dice, a pen and paper on the outside of a group ( with patience and understanding characteristics ). No need to digital subscribe anything. No need to go book buying bat sheet mad. As a player.

dm handbook if i get serious and want to play better / understand more / ever go to the darkside and become DM

( in which case the monster book and tasha guide to everything would be essential )

and skimming this reddit - I should read the players guide, do a watch along before a play along ?

anything else I should consider other than avoiding some U Tube channels with 25 minute rant about very little videos ?

( any worth a watch - I gather some long standing content creators 'walked' away )

Hello all! It's my first ever post on Reddit so I'm kinda nervous, but I've just spent the last week creating a Homebrew DnD Class from scratch and I'm very proud of the result so I thought I would share it :))

The class is Shaman, which is a spellcaster class, close to Druids but a little bit more unhinged. Where druids usually aim to live in harmony with nature, Shaman drain their strength from it, like parasites. They have a close relationship with spirits and the dead, which makes them good for necromancy and divination spells. They also have two special features: Totemic Attributes and a Sacrificial Dagger. Totemic Attributes is a little bit different than Wild Shape, because they don't assume the form of their totem animals, but they adopt some of their traits, like AC, hit points, or actions. And the Sacrificial Dagger is a magical weapon that I created specifically for this class, it requires attunement and has the ability to inflict necrotic damages and drain life from targets.

Basically, if I get meta, they have very low hit points and AC because their whole thing is that they get temporary hit points from a lot of different abilities, and they can fight from a distance with their spellcasting and in melee with their sacrificial dagger. Their main abilities are wisdom and charisma, so you can see them as a mix of mainly druid, a little bit of bard and barbarian, with a sprinkle of ranger on top.

I really hope you'll check the google doc out, I'm open to constructive criticism. I'm planning to playtest this class shortly, starting from level 1 and possibly ending at level 20, so I hope I'll get a better idea of this class's flaws afterwards, but in the meantime, I really wanted to get it out there!

I also made a french version of the google doc so if you want the link, just let me know.

(I made the drawing in the google doc link, but I based it off of a reference pose I found on pinterest and I couldn't for the life of me find the artist. The original reference drawing is included in the last page of the google doc and if you know the artist, please let me know!)

Hey everyone,

My new DM is running a full-tactical, optimizer-heavy game and asked us to bring our absolute best combos.

I’m teaming up with my usual DM (he's a 3.5e and Storytellering kind of guy), and we want to run a high-efficiency duo. What are the strongest 2-player character combos or synergies you’ve ever played or seen?

Open to any roles (caster/caster, martial/support, etc.). Drop your favorite powerhouse duos below!

While scrolling something else entirely on Pinterest I came across this piece of art with stats of a Succubus race, my question is if this was played in a game would it actually work?

I know its not exactly art but your rules said I need to put that in the title if I am posting an image so thats what I did.

Also I do not know who actually made this page so I cant give any credit, sorry about all that.

I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts on this.

Question-1: Say you receive a favor from some entity who grants you 12 dnd stat points but you don’t know your own stats. How are you allocating them?

Question-2: You are granted 5 spells from any class list. They can be cantrips all the way to lvl 5. Which ones are you picking considering that you only get a number of spell slots equal to a lvl 10 wizard.

Edit: this is real life btw

I have a lvl 20 One-shot coming up in two weeks and there are two character ideas I am struggling to pick from. We will be using 5.5e, TCE, and XGE. We are allowed to start with 1 legendary magic item, 2 very rare, and 2 rare. Idea 1) Eitri the Artillerist. I have already played a lvl 6 artillerist, and it was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the various loadout combinations with infusions and my cannons. I do want to play a high lvl artillerist at some point to have access to Spark of Genius, two cannons at a time, and all 6 active infusions. Idea 2) Mythologically accurate Odin (though I will name my character one of his other names like High. Just as High, or Third so it's not obvious) roleplay using a College of Lore bard and two raven familiars. Both seem like really fun PC options, but I probably wouldn't have a chance to play another high lvl campaign or one-shot for a while. I was hoping to hear the leans between these concepts from others on this sub.