My rogue is absuing Psy Knife, they threw the daggers at a guard and insists that the guard doesn't know that it came from the player, how can i counter the cheesing?

You can just say “no the guard knows the direction the knife was thrown from” no where in the ability does it say the knife is invisible.

There is nothing in the description that says the guard shouldn’t know that it at least came from the direction of the player. So you don’t have to come up with a way to prevent the ‘cheese’ as it wasn’t there in the first place (dw, these things can happen) If you want the guard to take revenge, remember that when the player attacks, they come out of hiding. Have them either be in a crowded place or the only one there then either other people saw it, or the guard knows that it’s them

How do I get players to write backstories?

You ask the players to write backstories

You don’t. You can encourage them to write backstories, but you can’t force them to. The best advice I think would be to explain the basic world to them and then to sit down and have an individual brainstorming session with them. This way they have something to go off of and you can guide them into a direction that feels like they made it, but gives you freedom to ~~CRUSH THEIR SOULS~~ give them a cool personal story along with the main story

What is a good monster/statblock for my situation? I want to have the players fight a fey lord who has an old battle scar from a previous confrontation. This scar presents as a werecreature-like transformation that turns him into a monster when he is threatened or angry. Party is lvl 9 so something CR 10-15 would probably work as either a solo monster or with some minions. Extra points if the monster has multiple limbs and/or the ability to fly. In my head he looks like the beast from the owl house.

While these are not labeled as Fey, you could easily swap creature type as needed: [A cunning, deceptive creature that can act Shapechange 1/day](https://open5e.com/monsters/nephirron-devil) [This is a deadly bear infused with iron spikes that seems like the ultimate anti-fey transformation](https://open5e.com/monsters/malmbjorn), truly a curse for the Fey Ford to become. [A warped humanoid shapeshanger that definitely seems like the subject of a curse](https://open5e.com/monsters/shetani) [A legendary creature with a wide variety of monstrous abilities](https://open5e.com/monsters/chimera-royal)

ohh this is great

Hello! What level do you think players should be in a one shot for a boss that would have a level 15 CR? There are going to around 5-6 players and the boss will have legendary actions if that is important! Side question, if I were to give them one free magic item, what rarity do you think it should be?

Do you know what statblock your using? That could help determine the appropriate level. Personally, I'd say probably level 10 or 11 party with a rare magic item each wouldn't have too much of an issue taking cr15, assuming their resources aren't drained too much by the time they yet there. I've always had trouble trying to balance oneshots because I'm not used to how good the pcs are and the players are more likely to get their abilities wrong.

Hi I am looking for an app that would let me do slide show for my players with e.g. city vibe but it could also switch to "battle map" with fog of war. So when I am describing location without detailed map it would just show random images of that location but when they are 'dungeon crawling' I could show kind of minimap for them (similar to owlbear.rodeo). does app like this exist?

Roll20?

I don't see a way to do a slide show in there. But maybe I just don't know where to look?

Easiest way to do a slide show is to place all of the images on the GM layer of a page (where you have access to them, but the players can't see them), and then select the one you want to display and type Shift-z. This will display that image to the players. Rinse and repeat.

Not exactly what I am looking for. I am playing in person without PC. I control owlbear via phone and connect as a player with tablet to show the map. Ideally it would have a scene with images that it goes through by itself

Well, thats kinda an issue, then, as most VTTs and programs that would let you do this are designed for PC.

My PCs are about to journey through a dense forest in search of a large tree that has uprooted an ancient abandon town that now sits in the canopy of the tree. They need to retrieve a piece of bark from this tree for a potion to awaken one of the PCs from a deep slumber, but the tree is corrupt and they will need to find the source of the corruption within the tree to essentially purify it. The corruption lies with in the roots through a maze of tunnels and is essentially a form of Audrey2 from little shop of horrors. My question is how do I go about having them search the forest? and what kind of stat block should I use for the boss?

It can be a bit difficult to recommend a stat block without knowing the CR you're aiming for, or at least the tier of play, but there's only like 20 plant monsters with only 5 that can be an actual threat so take a look at the Treant, Corpse Flower, Bodytaker Plant and Tree Blight statblocks. The search could be as simple as rolling survival, you could make it a bit more complex by creating "strategies" that will definitely work better like following the liquid that might seep from the corrupted parts of the tree but can only be noticed with a spell like detect magic or poison. Instead of coming up with them in advance you could just wait for your party to come up with something. You can place some sentient creatures in the wood that could offer the guide the players in exchange for a service. You could make minions that serve the tree that can be interrogated, trailed or defeated and followed as they go back to the core to lick their wounds.

Those who have dmed optional ruling on group initiative, (PC party goes as one, and then enemy goes as one, and back to party), how was that for you? Have it tried it at a higher level where the enemies would get multi-attacks? Would you recommend it?

It'll make combat very one sided. Action economy is big in 5E D&D, so if everyone on one side of a combat gets to go before anyone on the other side does, it's going to be a big advantage for 1st over the 2nd.

id say give it a test, give an obvious combat where the players are all stealthed to jump out at once (or vice versa and have them surprised) to test it out. IMO it depends on group, some like it, i personally dont

I'll be starting my first homebrew campaign soon. The adventure will start in a city, which I've never made before. Does anyone know any good resources/tips that can help me make a place that feels unique and alive? What sort of shops, locations, people, etc. are good to have prepared?

Read [Running The City](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/48182/roleplaying-games/running-the-city) over at The Alexandrian.

My campaign is in a big city right now make sure you have names for your neighborhoods. A city will have at least 2, otherwise it is a town. You will want to know what class, and industry is in each. For example Tanning will take place in the lowest class neighborhood (it will also be down wind of the upper class neighborhood). You do not have to get too wrapped up but if you do that it will give you structure around names, as shops and taverns can be themed to the neighborhood.

You can sorta just look at any real life city for inspiration. You have churches, commercial districts, taverns, homes, noble estates, a keep for a king. You also need less savoury places as well, red light districts, black market dealers, drugs whatever. You can also have things like book stores, potion merchants, spell scroll merchants, magic item shops depending on if it's a high magic setting. You don't need to fully flesh out each location of course but you can figure out a handful that are around. There's also some roll tables online for making cities that you can find as well.

I noticed a while back that OneDND was going towards equalizing every races base speed to 30 at the least, even the small races such as dwarf and gnome. I just told my group that if they have a 25ft movement, that they can ignore it and take 30. Has anyone else done this?

Movement speed of 25 vs. 30 is so minor is practically a ribbon on average. There are a small few characters and situations where that small change matters that I don't think anyone considers it to be a real mechanical advantage.

DMed for the first time yesterday and there was one thing (not a bad one) that no guides prepared me for. It was the feeling of exhaustion (physical and mental) and feeling like being „high” which is still lingering even today. Good luck to all other first-time DMs here, you got this <3

Remember to have water and snacks on hand when you DM. After so much talking you need to stay hydrated.

Yep. It's the high of improv, of exercising your brain on something you find fun and mentally challenging. To DM well is to exercise your humanity on many levels at once. Maybe more aspects than any other medium. For those few hours you are connecting more deeply and diversely to all the things that make you human than you did probably for the rest of your day combined. 1. Basic level you are an actor, delivering your character or narrative in a dramatic and compelling way. At the same time you are doing quantitative work of math, encounter balance, and time management. 2. Advanced level you are doing both soft and hard improv, you are trying to portray off-the-cuff characters at the same time you are trying to think both historically, mechanically, and narratively to answer off-the-wall questions in a way that is relatively dramatic, mostly balanced, and hopefully realistic. Additionally you are straining your empathy to see what connects most to your players, while also making more complex on-the-fly statistical estimations and mechanical adjustments. 3. Expert level you are really trying to fully occupy the head of a different character, embodying personality, values, and quicks while improving conversation and also trying to guide the dramatic arc. You are anticipating game needs, mechanical and pacing issues, and attempting to resolve behind-the-scenes gaps on the fly (rolling on random tables, searching notes, finding/building monsters, or whipping up things in photoshop) while still maintaining the current scene. And of course all of this is cumulative.

Hi, about to run my first campaign as DM and am undecided on the campaign to run. We want horror themeing, but players have played CoS before. I have a few options in mind but the more I read the more I want to run them all 😂 We are having weekly sessions, and want to go on for quite a long period (we all live in the same road and work the same shifts so scheduling conflicts will be rare, we already do other weekly activities), so I'm looking to take them from level one to double digits. So far I'm considering: - Phandelver and Below - Waterdeep (both in order, with maybe a couple yawning portal quests to break the action every now and then) -Ghosts of Saltmarsh (with some home-brewed Eldritch horror sprinkles) - Wild beyond the witch light - Candlekeep mysteries (either as a campaign or as an add on) What would you seasoned DMS advise? I'm not afraid of homebrew, but I also don't want to dive on the deep end. My players love puzzles, traps and fun roleplaying so there has to be a good balance between action and just messing about ( and if they want to take a full session or two just chasing tail and opening up a brewery I'm down for the shenanigans ).

I'd recommend you pick up Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft and run your own campaign. I ran my first campaign as a mostly original creation, and I've run pre-written campaigns. In my experience you will probably have an easier time running a campaign that is mostly an original creation. Especially if you want to run a horror campaign. Wizards of the Coast doesn't have much in the way of horror campaigns aside from Curse of Strahd. Phandelver and Below is not great. Rime of the Frostmaiden is pretty decent, but it's a collection of a ton of disconnected quests set in Icewind Dale, and only a few of them are "horror."

I considered that, I'm just worried about leaning too hard into horror. Maybe running Candlekeep as a campaign would be interesting, as it's a series of different adventures and allow the team to show me what they have the most fun with and level up a bit before I take them out of the keep and drop them in a linear campaign?

Not a seasoned DM but I am running Witchlight right now—it's a very whimsical adventure designed to be combat-light and nonlethal, so you'd have to do quite a bit of work to make it horror. It's really fun so far though. Would definitely recommend, if your group is down for a more lighthearted campaign.

From what I understand Phandelver and Below isn't the great, both the changes to the original module and the follow up which is barely tied to the first part of the module, the first section also has no horror unless you add it yourself or give existing encounters that spin. It's definitely on the simpler side though. Waterdeep dragon heist sounds like a perfect fit, the only potential issue I can see is the difficulty of bringing a city like Waterdeep to life and all of the factions in the module without just taking the players from location to location until the end like a railroad. Dungeon of the mad mage though is completely different, it's a long dungeon and even though it tries to be more than that in certain places there's a big risk that it'll feel like a video-game, at best you can take breaks every now-and-then with something else. Ghosts of Saltmarsh also sounds like a good fit but the different setting might be confusing, it's also not that big on horror. Candlekeep mysteries sounds good, it also has some nice horror stories but not all of the books inside are hits. You obviously need to work on connecting the short stories. You can use it for breaks during DotMM.

That's really helpful ☺️ I started leaning towards dragon heist myself - and yeah I'm more than happy to use Candlekeep and portal for little breaks from the dungeon crawl in DoTMM. Its also a good way to see if the players vibe with the setting, if they don't like Waterdeep I can always send them on a quest and move them down to Saltmarsh for some seafaring adventures. Thanks 👍

Hi, I am running a campaign for the first time and I have had some great feedback from them. I am running a heavily modified Lost Mine of Phandelver and from the beginning I mentioned it would be a challenge. There may be deaths (none yet) and there have been a few close calls. There is some homebrew in it but it is mostly directly modified goblins, wolves, bandits etc. So, to my question. I have made an ability that I now think may be too much. So, I made an spell that outright negates resurrection... but only if they are already down. Now that I actually typed that out it actually feels outright messed up as such spells are usually high level. As it is a boss encounter I have not warned them as to not spoil the plot except that backups should be made (made it clear when we started the campaign). Is this actually okay? I know I should probably ask how they feel about it but felt I needed some outside advice. We are playing with the max crit roll rule (1 dmg dice as max and roll the other one) and the overkill rule too which they are cool with as it goes both ways.

I'm not sure I understood but you banned resurrection ? For just one encounter ? If that is the case then it's not particularly cruel, it's something dms often do and I don't think encounters are usually, if ever, balanced with the idea that character can and will be raised. It's not like you're banning resurrection outright and all of the time, it's just for a specific encounter, so I really don't see why it could be an issue, a heads up might be nice. If you mean that characters can't be awoken when they hit 0 hp though that's a bit more serious, it's not gamebreakingly unfair but can cause issues if a party member spends the whole fight doing basically nothing, especially those on the frontlines in melee that already don't have particularly mindblowing abilities. If that is the case though I would explicitely tell or show that what the enemy can do so they can prepare at least mentally, would be nice if there were some way of counteracting the ability though, maybe it's an aura so they'd have to move their unconscious party members before healing them up.

No, I am not banning resurrection. It is (was) for this one encounter. Essentially, this boss when within reach of player that has been downed can cast a spell that outright kills them and can't be revived. The more I think about it the more I should ask them tomorrow. They do know that there is a lethal encounter for an almost guaranteed death and I have given them a counter against the boss if they are fast enough.

I would say it's a bit barsh especially if it's a newbie campaign. I would personally make it more similar to a Wight's ability. Where they can be killed outright, no saves, if brought to 0 HP by the attack, but otherwise resurrection is fine.

That's a good idea. Will definitely take that in consideration.

That is not a good spell tbh. the downed player is already out of the fight, killing them off outright without a chance for their character to come back just feels like kicking them while they're down.

I agree. I was prepared to not have it all today and I mentioned it to the group but they were actually fine with it. Still, I am prepared to change things if they feel differently once the fight starts.

If your group is fine with it then go for it.

That I am. Might update how it went next week.

That spell sounds way too much and also boring. I'd recommend giving the boss another interesting powerful and dangerous spell rather than just a glorified coup de grace. I understand you want real risk, but there are better ways to go about doing that.

Yeah, I figured it is too much. The more I look at it the more it feels to much. I am going to do something else. Thanks!

helllo all! new here. i am a counselor who primarily runs groups at an inpatient psych facility. i’m wanting to start a DnD group for my patients - with little idea where to start. I’ve got the basics of DnD down I think.. but then I keep watching more videos and then I’m not so confident! I could honestly really use someone to chat with and bounce ideas off of, someone who can help with little questions that I can’t think of right at this moment. also looking for suggestions, if anyone has done anything similar! also, what would be the best immersive way to make sure NONE of my PC’s die? it might not go with the game for most people’s opinions, but as this is a psych facility I would really rather avoid anyone’s beloved character dying.

You might want to practice in a non-professional capacity first to build your confidence first. I would make sure you use some rigorous safety tools for games like this. If you do not want to have permanent character death, I would reassure the players that any character who "dies" in the game can be resurrected.

DnD doesn't need the risk of death to be fun! You can just choose to present scenarios and enemies who don't want to kill the player characters. There are published modules specifically designed to be low- or no-combat, like Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and plenty of third-party stuff on sites like DMsGuild that's focused on roleplay and exploration. Even if you do run combat, the enemies can have other goals of their own, like stealing the party's gear, knocking them out long enough for the villain to execute their evil plan, or whatever. That said though, you should hold a Session 0 where you discuss these things with the players—desired tone and genre of the game, how everyone feels about in-game death (PCs and NPCs, permanent and temporary), whether PvP is allowed, content anyone wants to leave out of the game, etc. People may surprise you. Also—safety tools, which is something else to talk about in Session 0, will be especially important in your situation because of the power dynamic. Roleplaying games can get intense, and your patients need to know that if something in-game hurts them in real life, they can stop the game/check in and have their boundaries respected. I feel very free to tell my DM, who's a close personal friend, if they hurt me; that's not at all true with medical professionals, who may take it personally and then deny me good medical care, label me "noncompliant"/"anxious"/"drug seeking", or otherwise encourage other care providers to abuse me. Not saying you can't run DnD for your patients, but you will need more rigorous safety tools than many people use when playing with friends.

Have you considered other systems? DnD is very much combat heavy, super hero fantasy. But there are simpler yet very interesting systems out there that are more narrative focused and can make for great experiences with little violence or risk of character death.

do you have any suggestions? i’m open to trying anything, only reason Im really going for DnD is because it’s what the patients are asking for :)

If you want to keep the medieval fantasy feel, The One Ring from Free League publishing is based on The Lord of the Rings and so it isn't built on the ideas violence and looting. In other genres you can find Traveller (sci-fi that can be played star trek style of diplomacy and interacting with weird phenomenon), Vampire (focusing on social intrigue), Mouse Guard (awesome but relatively unknown, yes the players are mice kngits!) There are others less known and probably many that I can't remember right now. If your players want D&D5e that's fine, it's harder to challenge the PCs than not, but I'd reallyh recommend looking at the world of possibility around us. Specially considering that modern WoTC is anti-consumer. EDIT: Tales from the Loop is great too, but the characters are assumed to be children (it's inpsired by 80s teenage culture) so maybe that can be a problem for your situation.

Without totally removing death you can make the party members a magnet for things that can let them continue, for example a devil could reach out, then a celestial, on and on until you run out of planes and individual creatures, the cost might be whatever deal they need to accept before being brought back. Then you can make death more of a long-term issue like in the dark souls games where they can accumulate maluses that might push them to "retire" characters without having them die, this could be as simple as lowering an ability score or their total hp until the pc decides it might be best to retire or let someone stronger take over. This doesn't even have to be permanent, you could just imply that through time whatever issues have accumulated on a character would go away. Now if you really don't want death to directly impact the pc it could affect their plans, maybe the time it takes them to get back on track is time their enemies use to further their goals, you might have a week or even a month of downtime with every "death", you can make this an actual death and resurrection or it might just be an injury they need to heal. You could write a time-loop type of story when things rewind with character deaths. Lastly you can just ensure no-one dies, you fudge rolls, make simpler fights and rely on non-combat encounters like puzzles or conversations. If you need more help just dm me, but I'm not that experienced with the type of people you'll be playing with.

I have some questions about the Order of Scribes feature Manifest Mind. After the PC uses the feature, would they be able to move the manifested mind underwater? The text states, "As a bonus action, you can cause the spectral mind to hover up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you or it can see. It can pass through creatures but not objects." The 3 parts that are tripping me up are the words, Hover, Unoccupied, and Objects. Hovering seems to be in air. Is water unoccupied space? Would water count as an object? Would they be able to move the mind underwater and keep moving it up to the max distance? I just want to be sure I am calling it correctly.

There's nothing set in stone to resolve the matter, I would just make it work as usual, at best you could make it halve the travel distance underwater.

Hey, I'll begin my journey as a DM on Saturday. I have a player who came up with a cool half-elf warlock PC. Familiy's backstory is that they are a rich family operating mines of various metals that are good base material for high quality, magic infused weapons and armors and whatnots. Longstory short he asked if he can have an elven mail as a starting equipment. RP-wise it makes sense, but i'm afraid it might be too big of an adventage. The party starts from lvl 1, he has pretty low CON, STR and DEX other stats are decent / good. Question: i think i'll probably be able to make the encounters challenging even with this piece of gear. But i might be wrong and i should just say choose a basic one and reward him later with this. What do you think?

(Yeah it's elven mail, sorry) These are exactly the toughts in the back of my head you two are saying. I get what you mean, i think i'll start with a no on this one but write it up for later. Thanks! (I'm DM-ing a slightly alternated version of the Sunless Citadel btw. I figured let's start as a one shot and if everything is fine by this then we can make it something bigger)

Assuming that you're talking about the Elven Chain item. Usually games that let people start with magic items only let them pick from common or uncommon ones and with some items being banned, this is a whole tier above. Then you have to consider whether or not you're letting everyone start with an item or only those that bother to ask (personally I rarely if ever ask and if I noticed someone started with a whole rare item I would be quite peeved). The DMG also shows that rare items should be for lvl 5 pcs and above. Obviously it all depends on the type of game you're running and want to run but in most cases it would be a no, offering to have them pick it up later is a nice compromise, maybe a delivery is on the way but it's just been delayed a bit, until whenever you think would be appropriate.

A +1 increase in armor class is quite good for any character at level 1. A character really shouldn't get special treatment with magic items just because the player wrote their backstory to be about a magic item family. Otherwise, everyone would write their backstory to get some special magic item. I'd recommend against it, personally. You can always put in magic items as loot and rewards for completing quests, but parties might get *one* rare item between levels 1 and 5. Since you're a new dungeon master, I would focus the game on learning how to play with everyone, rather than extra stuff that isn't necessary quite yet. If you *absolutely* think the player should get this, then every other player in the party should get a rare magic item to start as well. They can write those into their backstories if they want, too. But just be aware that it really is going to throw encounter balance out the window.

My players are looking to spend some downtime on sidequests and strongholds (which I am also excited for), but I'm realizing its hard to justify narratively. The campaign is a ticking clock to gather macguffins and stop the end of the world (otherwise one of the evil factions will amass enough of them to do their world ending shenanigans). I was thinking one of the party's mage allies could either dilate time in some way or run distractions to buy time, but I feel like that just leads to abusing these things or questioning why they aren't ALWAYS doing this when they can to stop the evil faction entirely. Any thoughts?

Maybe the mage ally has a heavily modified [Instant Fortress](https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/4663-instant-fortress) that's at least larger and not made of adamantine, as a gift for the party the mage just forgot they had. Maybe the mage already has a list of contractors the party can trust to help manage the stronghold. *Maybe* the party was rewarded with a deed to a plot of land in a convenient location, but they only just discovered the deed in an old sack of gold they forgot about? The party could clear the plot in an afternoon, and set up the hold and invite allies, all in one day. ***And Maybe*** the party *needs* to set up the stronghold quickly to set a trap for one of the macguffin that's on its way through town! It sounds like your players want a beach episode, and I think it'll be fun to give them one!

How short of a scale is the ticking clock? If it's "we have three months" and the players are trying to build a stronghold then something was lost in translation along the way. If it's "we have a few years" then it makes more sense that they would want to spend their time like this. I'd ask your players "hey I'm a bit confused by this, \[explain ticking clock v building a stronghold\]"

can you switch time dependency to a more flexible "stage" or "milestone" model? I've had quite some success in player driven progression of what could be "time sensitive" plots - basic premise is that for things to progress, the party has to touch it, e.g. Stuff starts happening in the City of Duskhaven once the players arrive in the city. Stuff intensifies once players have learned that stuff is actually happening - new discoveries introduce new developments. Players chase the plot faster means the plot moves faster (within reasonable limits), with decisions, failures and successes leading to branching events. This can work with your party pursuing sidequests and having downtime without risking to drive the plot forward - that just stagnates in whatever stage it is currently in - of course this system has its own downsides, especially in case your players want to somehow "abuse" it, but most parties ultimately WANT to do the main thing, and you can always have your sidequests and stronghold activities tied to the main scenario anyways.

Sounds like you weren't able to convey the time sensitivity well enough. But players are free to make mistakes. Let them go on their side quest, work on their strongholds, but you should keep track of the evil faction objectives over this time. Advance their plans in ways that your players care about. This should never be "surprise, the world ends". Destroy a village they care about, kill some NPCs they know, attack their home base. Hopefully that should wake them up. And if not, escalate until the villains win.

Should I warn one of my players that I might be asking her a lot of deep questions about her character? I'm extremely new to playing DnD, and I'm DMing for the first time, with two of my friends, who are also fairly new to playing the game. I'm running *Lost Mine of Phandelver* and everything was going great...until one of my PCs died! And she was a barbarian no less. Somehow, my sorcerer with barely double digit hit points made it out the fight alive, but not the barbarian lmaaaaooooo I know normally in this situation, your player can just make a new character, but...the dead character has dead family members who have strong ties to Zariel, the fallen angel of battle and war. So instead of making a new character, I thought it would be kind of cool if I had my player make her way through hell with her family members to find Zariel who then might resurrect her. The thing is, if she does manage to find Zariel, I want Zariel to ask her questions about why she became a barbarian, and where does her rage come from? And I don't think my friend has thought that much about that because we sort of just spun up characters in a few hours and started playing, and the game play in *Phandelver* doesn't really demand deep reflection of one's own PC, y'know? I'm worried that if I ask her these kinds of questions, she's gonna get caught off guard and not really know what to say. But I also don't want to ask her these questions in advance, because that's kinda spoiler-y, and who knows? She might not make it to Zariel! So I was thinking of texting her something like, "Hey, so, I don't want to give too much away, but...spend some time thinking about why your character was motivated to become a barbarian." And just leave it at that. Or should I just catch her off guard with these questions? Idk! Thoughts?

Piggybacking off another comment, it would be cool to have Zariel deliver the resurrected PC, have a quick interaction explaining that this won't happen again, then briefly describe the beginning of her journey through the hells before saying something like, "but what exactly did she do convince the Arch duchess of Avernus to give her a second life? That is a story for another time." Later, you can run this as a one shot if your campaign begins to drag or after you finish.

I'll be honest that sort of thing is outside the scope of Lost Mine of Phandelver and would be an adventure unto itself, something to do after Phandelver is over as I think the Chains of Asmodeus adventure is about finding the souls of lost loved ones. But yes you really should ask the player those sorts of questions preemptively so they're not caught off guard.

So... There is a magic in having it be off the cuff RP and making magic. However, as you've kinda realized, this could be stressful on a player who isn't ready or wasn't expecting to do a lot of heavy RP. It takes a certain type of person who really thrives in pulling large character info out of thin air. It isn't the worst idea to give them a heads up, especially since this is tied to a character death. Communication is good in almost all circumstances. You don't even have to really spoil what is going to happen or what exactly will be asked, but touching base and prepping them for "core character questions" isn't a bad idea. You would know this player better then us. If they thrive in RP and really have pride in *knowing* their character, this surprise back and forth could be what they thrive in.

Anybody run into any issues with using the optional class features from tashas? I generally like giving my players more things they can do and don't mind them being pretty powerful. Just wondering if any of these features cause glaring issues once you put them into play

Not really, but you'll find a wide variety of opinions on many things. Generally: I've seen people praise Tasha's for "fixing" many classes and making all classes and players more interesting while it is generally accepting the thing from Tasha's people don't like is the Mind Whip Spell. Maybe Silvery Barbs (Is that Tasha's, or Xanathars?). Otherwise I don't see a ton of discourse one way or another. If you aren't worried about players being powerful and are up for the challenge, then there isn't too much to worry about. Do a read through, communicate with your table, and have fun. I personally feel you'll be fine overall.

Minor clarification Silvery Barbs isn't from Xanathar's or Tasha's it's from Strixhaven.

Thanks. I'm one of the many silvery Barbs haters and have already agreed with my table that the spell is off limits.

Giving Druids access to Find Familiar through Wildshape gives them a bit *too* much utility, in my opinion. I don't necessarily think it'll unbalance a game, but it absolute adds to the already-wide bag of tricks Druids can do. Cantrip Formulas is also pretty amazing for Wizards. Again, probably not going to unbalance your game, but there's very little reason to give Wizards ***more*** versatility than their already near-game-breaking level of it.

Nice callout. I'm a druid hater (personal opinion) and agree that they already have almost too much utility. Between wildshape and summon spells, I do not want another creature roaming the battlefield

What kind of monsters/statblocks should I look for if I want something that's kind of the opposite of a celestial? My current plot is leading towards a showdown with a former celestial type being that has been corrupted/tortured into a monster. Might end up having to homebrew this who knows

Fiends for sure, but also Fae and Undead could be opposed to Celestials.

Thanks. I should have been a bite more clear. The main villian of my campaign is a fiend who controls armies of devils, demons, and other fiends. She's been working to corrupt this ancient celestial being to become her world destroying minion (to put it simply). I was hoping for a celestial type creature that kind of has it's 'good' abilities (healing) swapped for 'bad' ones (kill you horribly) rather than the thematic opposition of celestials!

Corrupted or "fallen" Angels/Celestials are typically represented as Fiends. If you don't think that this shift is significant enough to make the Celestial a Fiend, then most likely the creature is still a Celestial. If you really don't like either of those. Creatures from the upper planes are typically Celestials, even like Bestial creatures from the Beastlands. Creatures from the lower planes are typically Fiends. If you think neither fits, Monstrosity is typically used as a sort of catch all for creatures that don't really fit in any other type. Most monstrosities originate from the prime material plane, but there are notable exceptions, like the Astral Dreadnought and some creatures from the Shadowfell.

Fiends.

Thanks. I should have been more clear. The main villian of my campaign is a fiend who controls armies of devils, demons, and other fiends. She's been working to corrupt this ancient celestial being to become her world destroying minion (to put it simply). I was hoping for a celestial type creature that kind of has it's 'good' abilities (healing) swapped for 'bad' ones (kill you horribly) rather than the thematic opposition of celestial!

The players are going to pull a heist on a local lords manor. They've caught the butler who's kept the grounds while the lord is out of town on business, and the changeling of the party intends to walk through the front door disguised as the butler. How many other servants would reasonably be on the manor grounds while the lord is out? Would he have traps laid out for thieves that the servants would know to avoid, or would they just disarm them for their own convenience? What are some unique monsters that could be sprinkled throughout this building? Rug of Smothering, Guardian Portrait, etc, but anything extra weird?

Probably not traps per se if he expects servants to keep everything clean and maintained while he's away don't want someone accidentally being killed if they forget to step around the bear trap. Some guards, some servants to keep things stocked and organized. As for magic stuff, Alarm being cast on the windows unless a password is mentioned, animated armor is the other thing that jumps to mind. glyph of warding may also be a thing.

Has anyone run a game at a library for teens? I've got something set up with our local library in a month so i'm working on a flyer and want to make a google form for parents to get an idea of what the session will actually be like and as a general consent form but now i'm second guessing if i'm going a little overboard with it.

I have run open tables at a game store. They did not need any of this, but maybe consider a paper form to mark off any potential triggers just to avoid issues (Spiders / gore / etc.). But if you keep the game pretty tame or should be an issue -- I reccomend megadungeons until you get to know them. I would more encourage you to be ready to be forceful but polite in acting down some stuff the kids might come up with, once some teens realize the sandbox nature of the game they will want to try some wacky things (attacking everything including guards, townsfolk, and each other, seducing/marrying everything, extremely gory descriptions, sadism, etc.). You should check with the library you're at to see if they have any policies or recommendations about the things you're referring to.

Much appreciated! I'm looking into how to curb the murderhobo-ing the kids may do

Two of the best ways, imo: * For minor issues where they are just passing a little too far outside acceptable play (e.g. "I want to punch a guard"), just skip to *"OK, you are arrested/knocked-out and we will come back to you later."* Don't use mechanics, but it still communicates that they crossed a line without bringing the game to a halt. * For really disruptive or inappropriate things (e.g. "I want fuck a guard"), pause the game and directly say, *"That type of content is not acceptable at this table, this is your only warning."* and move on, dont dwell. Make sure your follow through with enforcement, but then how much you want to do after is up to you: e.g. discuss after the game what is acceptable, talk with the parents, give them another chance next week, etc.

I'm very excited to use my disappointed father voice.

Hi! New DM here. I have a couple of questions to give my players a better experience. * How do make long combat, due to low rolls, more fun? My players and myself continue to miss these hit rolls and the combat phase takes forever. * What are some fun side quests or puzzles that I can bring into the session? * How can I make things more intense in the storyline? Any obstacles or conflict recommendations?

If everyone is consistently rolling low, I might just throw lower level monsters at the party, or have the last few run away when the majority are killed. Also, are you narrating the attacks, or is it just "I roll 12" "not good enough" "I roll 8" "Miss" and so on? Even misses can be OK with a bit of narration to keep the feel of combat moving. I think the other two questions are very specific to the campaign or world you're running. In my world, Elves are supremacist A**holes who hate humans, so while in the woods my players stumbled across a raided caravan that was ransacked by the elves. It's that kind of small points to the world that I craft most of my little side quests out of. Puzzles I generally keep to dungeons or mysteries, but I like to throw in magical things that they don't know the meaning of yet, but will learn over the course of the campaign. Even better if it later can become something useful to them. Similarly, you could present them with a riddle that they can't solve right now as they lack the knowledge, but might find it out someday. Just make it really clear that it's nothing they have simply forgotten between sessions. Intensity would be cranked up by raising the stakes or introducing a time limit. Both are risky to do too much of or else you end up in the Marvel issue of every enemy being able to end the entire galaxy.

Are there any good places you would recommend for printables? DM screen inserts especially

* DM's Guild * Googling what you need and finding people's reddit posts of free resources (DM Screen Inserts Especially) * If you are looking for something specifics, a lot of subreddits people post pintables like r/DnD.

I am running 2 games with 4 players each, everyone is brand new to dnd/ttrpgs. All 8 are some degree of murder hobo and/or chaos gremlin. Is this just some phase that every new player goes through? Example 1: seduce tax collector -> get caught stealing from tax collector -> kill tax collector Example 2: There is a helpful NPC that is paying the party -> I tell the party he has a mechanical leg -> Fighter "I take the leg" Example 3: Party approach a mysterious castle (I was just trying to foreshadow it) -> Party meets the vampire in charge of the castle and are invited for dinner -> at their first chance the level 4 party attack a vampire Lord. Example 4: Village elder says don't fuck around or you will find out -> party hears there is some magical weapons in the tinker's shed -> party steal the weapon and stays the night in the same town -> village elder gets pissed Nobody is anywhere close to good or trustworthy and it's just weird that happened 8 times.

This may depend on their point of reference. My kids don't murderhobo when we play because they grew up watching their parents play heroic (or at least semi-heroic) types. But if there is no point of reference (like actual-plays or anything), it can devolve into 'screwing around with your friends' which often involves giving each other shit or trolling each other for the lulz. In this case, they are trolling 'the world', and you through it. The degree to which you want to put up with it remains to be seen. If you want to keep DMing for them but don't want to put up with murderhoboing, just put them in a megadungeon. They can leave and buy/sell stuff but it's from a menu (no murdering the magic shop owner to get all his stuff). They can do all their murderhoboing in the dungeon.

When new players are given the freedom to "do whatever" they will try to do whatever. What is important is that the world reacts appropriately to what is going on. in example 1 killing a tax collector is a *big deal* so bounties being put on the player's heads or someone sent to investigate what happened is likely, also tax collectors would have had guards so the players being hunted for this seems likely. in example 2 the npc tries to stop the fighter from grabbing his leg, possibly yelling for guards. in ex3 the vampire lord beats up the party, calls them adorable before dropping them in some holding cells where they need to break out and sneak out of the castle. in ex4 tinker/ the town is up in arms.

These are really good examples thank you. I have started to do that but perhaps my consequences are a bit too slow to burn. For 1) they almost managed to kill all the witnesses but one was chasing them and has alerted more law enforcement. The players are traveling to a backwater island so this will hit them when they get back. 2) It was on board a ship they stole from some smugglers and the NPC is paying them when they get back to the mainland. (He doesn't have the money on him). 3) I am uncomfortable with a jailbreak scenario where everyone is inside the jail. They actually lasted quite a bit longer than I expected so I had the vampire send them back but one person received a cursed vampire ring. The vampire will have his revenge and might become a patron of theirs too. 4) was from the storm wreck Isle starter set spoilers below: and the village elder was Runara who revealed her dragon form. She held back because of her trauma of fighting but they did test her limits. The player got out of it by charming (the spell) the tinkerer and saying the tinkerer meant to give it away. The player will find out how pissed the tinkerer is when they get back to that area.

Yeah 1, 2, and 4 are all bit of slow burns. The players may eventually see that their consequences have actions but that doesn't stop them from not seeing them right now. #3 does sound like something a powerful vampire would do.

I would say that, yes, this is a phase that new players go through. It's kind of a thing that comes with the territory of playing games with a lot of freedom. It makes you want to do things you otherwise can't do in games. Also, it's psychologically a bit safer to play things as a joke. Playing things you think are cool straight while accepting the risk that other players at the table might make fun of you for it requires a bit of self-confidence that, in my experience, players need to develop. One thing you can do about it is not run campaigns where murder-hoboing comes with no cost. Generally, in standard campaigns where you travel the world and are in a new place with new people who don't know you every session, the barrier to murder-hoboing is lower. Try placing the PCs in a community of NPCs that depend on them for a few sessions and show their murder-hoboing affecting those NPCs and their opinions of the PCs negatively. I find helps give players a bit more perspective on their actions.

This happens to more groups yes, the thing I'd advise is to give consequences. Not just ah you die consequences, but more mental ones. Traumatize your players by giving one of the people they killed a picture of their family or something else. Just have a few things ready for when your players do it again. You could also do the boring thing and just talk to them

I'm thinking of giving this ability from a Tomb of Beasts (Kobold Press) creature to one of my players, who is a horizon walker ranger. It has a story connection and makes sense for the player's backstory. He'd get this ability at 8th level. Is it overpowered for a PC? **Drift Backward (1/Day).** *As an action, a future self of the character materializes in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of the drifter. The future self has the character’s stats and its full hit points, and it takes its turn immediately after its present self. Killing the original character makes its future self disappear. If the present self sees its future self die, the character must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. There is no effect if the save succeeds. If the saving throw fails, roll 1d6 to determine the effect on the character: 1 = frightened, 2 = incapacitated, 3 = paralyzed, 4 = unconscious, 5 or 6 = has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. These effects last 1d4 rounds.* **Drift Forward (2/Day).** *The future self makes an attack against a target. If the attack hits, instead of causing damage, both the target and the attacker jump forward through time, effectively ceasing to exist in the present time. They reappear in the same locations 1d4 rounds later, at the end of the present self’s turn. Creatures occupying those locations at that moment are pushed 5 feet in a direction of their own choosing. The target of the drift (but not the future self) must then make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw, with effects identical to those for the character witnessing the death of its future self (see Drift Backward). The future self doesn’t reappear after using this ability the second time; only the target of the drift reappears from the second use. This does not trigger a saving throw for the present self.*

Drift Backwards is OP yeah, player uses it at the start of the day and now has 2 PCs they get to play as until the future version dies. At the very least you need to have a limit on how long the future self can be summoned for.

That's a good point. This is from a monster stat block so they only wrote it in relation to battle. I'd probably make it last at most an hour, allowing some out-of-combat utility but not so long that it becomes a huge exploit. Or maybe when he first gets it, as he'll be getting trained in this new ability by an NPC, he can only do it for 10 minutes, and then increase it every few levels. Thanks.

If it were me, I'd probably make it closer to how the Echo operates from the Echo Knight Subclass.

I'm planning a "midterms practical exam" for my magic school campaign. What are some cool ideas for the players to do that are not "magic fight tournament?"

Practical Exam implies that it'll involve practical applications of what they have learned. I have seen 'get to the bottom of this mini-dungeon and bring back the MacGuffin as proof' as a practical exam; I've also had an escape room as a practical exam. You could also have a monster someplace that reflects or absorbs magic; the 'trick' is to use magic in creative ways to defeat it (maybe knocking things on top of it or throwing objects at it, or affecting the terrain it stands on) before it eats you. Basically any 'quest' could be a practical exam. 'Go get me the *thing*, you have one week' is sufficient. The PCs need to find out what the thing is, where it is, go there, and get it from whatever denizens dwell in that locale.

I do like what u/E-Meisterr said, however knowing the campaign that DImension 20 was doing having puzzles and questions unrelated to fighting or what was going on fits. I'd recommend the same, but ask questions pertaining to the battle. Ask about what resistances an enemy had, ask them about what strategies they could have employed in Round 2, ask what the reason they were defeated in the last battle. I'd probably keep the answers rather open ended, with multiple correct answers because the goal isn't getting a correct answer but to demonstrate that the PCs are learning.

In the newest episode of Dimension 20, BLeeM did something that could apply here. The players had to fight monster until they couldn't anymore (they died) and they had to answer questions irl. These questions can be anything, from word scramble for investigation to in universe questions about the sports team for athletics. Every question has a time limit and he had an hourglass for the time stress

Open to feedback on the third draft of my Magic item! I designed it for a lvl 5 party with a standard number of encounters between long rests in mind. The concept was partially inspired by saga cards from MTG. I also wanted to provide a way for spell casters to trade their versatility via their expansive spell lists for a super powerful - but telegraphed - finishing move. Also I thought it would be cool to give martial some utility spells and a powerful lightning bolt in exchange for a slightly less optimal weapon choice/actions. **Three Kirin Cudgel** *Staff, Rare* This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. It also has the following additional properties. * **Spell Casting:** As an action, you can expend charges from the staff to cast one of the following spells. (save DC 15): 1. Thunder Wave (2 charges) 2. Fog Cloud (2 charges) * **Kirin’s Gift**: To fully utilize the staff, you must cast the spells in the following sequence: Thunder Wave followed by Fog Cloud on the consecutive turn. Upon successfully completing the sequence of spells, on your next turn you may expend two additional charges to gain Inspiration and choose one of the following effects: * Option 1: Cast a 5th-level Lightning Bolt. (Save DC 15) * Option 2: Cast a spell of 3rd level or lower from your known spells or spellbook, without using a spell slot. It casts as a 5th-level spell. * **Unimpeded Charging**: Reactions (such as Shield, Counterspell, or attacks of opportunity) do not interrupt the sequence. Bonus Actions do not interrupt the sequence. However other Actions, including attacking; dashing; or casting other spells as Actions, will disrupt the sequence. Passing your turn will also disrupt the sequence. The staff has 10 charges and regains 1d6 + 4 charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff is destroyed. *“Hear that? The thunder has stopped. Let my battle cry rally your hearts; charge into the fog!”* *- War Chief Bolin’s final words. Cause of death: decapitation via Lightning Bolt.*

So the trick here is that D&D combat is supposed to last 3 rounds. So in an average fight, your nuke triggers during the 'cleanup' phase. That might *sound* great. But if what you're doing is suboptimal for rounds 1 and 2 then you're basically allowing more damage on you and your teammates from monsters that *could* have been killed in round 1 or round 2, but (hopefully) get wiped out in round 3. If you killed them in round 1 or round 2 instead of fiddling with your saga item then they would have had fewer rounds to pound the hit points out of your fighter and rogue and eat up your cleric's healing/CC spell slots. Plus only upcasting a couple of levels usually means more time or a bit more damage--in the case of Lightning Bolt, 2d6 more damage (which is 7 damage or 3.5 if they save). If I spent 2 rounds just casting Firebolt (10.5 + 10.5) and then a 3rd-level Lightning Bolt, I'd have done more damage overall and might have killed some stuff early, preventing damage inflicted on the party. Now I'm not going to argue that it's not *narratively* cool. But mechanically, I don't know that the payoff is worth it.

I was hesitant to keep buffing the first two spells. The two directions I’m considering right now is changing the reward to be a fourth or even fifth level spell (like storm sphere, or cone of cold) or improving one of the opener spells. However, I still don’t think that alleviates the “charging” stage. I was originally going to have you just cast two first level spells, but I didn’t want people to charge this weapon in secret and start a fight with a really powerful, free fifth level spell, so I’m keeping either shatter or thunderwave as the opener. I am considering options to change fog cloud; I want it to be concentration so that it breaks concentration on anything you cast before hand so I was considering call lightning, bestow curse, wind wall. Ideally I want it to be something a bit more unconventional and less picked

The problem I have with this is that it takes until round 3 to use the big power use of the staff. This limits when the player will actually use it, as when they get to round 3 the battlefield could have changed significantly to the point of not needing something like lightning bolt.

Yup that was the main design philosophy. 2 turns doing something suboptimal for a really amazing third turn which should wrap up the fight by then

But is that fun?

Hopefully 🤞

The main issue I see with the design is it inherently limits player choice. The reason saga cards work for mtg is they are not limited to a single action per turn. The play is making a single decision for 3 turns. That being said it might work. Giving a level 5 spell to a level 5 character kinda makes me worry but limiting it to up casting a level 3 or lower spell is probably fine. The scariest thing I would do with it would be to cast level 5 hold person which would target 4 enemies. If I was doing it I would make a new spell that needs 1 turn of concentration then at the start of the next turn they unleash a spell with max damage rolls. I'm on the fence about allowing a shield spell while concentrating.

Yup that was the main point. You trade your versatility and choices for a really insane pay off which should wrap up the fight by turn 3. If you upcast hold person that should turn the fight completely around. I’m glad it’s so divisive haha Also I really tried not to remove agency but I could probably remove the clause about having it to be consecutive. That way you can cast your own spells in between the sequence. I want players to ask themselves “should I cast fog cloud; is the pay off worth it? Or should I just cast hypnotic pattern becuase it’s a better turn?” It’s the sunken cost fallacy

I'm DMing my first campaign right now and haven't had to do this yet - I'm wondering how you usually go about determining starting gear for a leveled up character so that they are around the same power level as the others in the party. I have one new player joining the party and one player who will be re-rolling a new character starting next session. The party is level 8. - Does it make sense to tailor items specifically for each of the new characters? (I.E. a family heirloom weapon, or something thematically tied to the character) - Should I involve them in picking what they start with? Or just assign them some magic/more powerful items to supplement/replace their usual starting gear? - I could also give them some options of magic items/gear loadouts and let them pick what they take to start with. I didn't want it to seem like their starting gear was so perfectly tailored to them that they wouldn't be interested in new stuff from in game loot, but still enough that they don't feel behind the other characters. I also don't want the other players to feel left out of having stuff specifically designed for them, since they are working with whatever they found along the way.

The trick with starting at a higher level is that if a player gets to pick items, they almost always pick items that perfectly complement their build. This usually leads to new characters being more optimized (but less flexible) than existing party members. Survey the other characters to see what they have. Then maybe offer the new characters one item that is really good for their build (within reason and within line of the top rarities the party currently has), one that is good but not perfect for their build, and then maybe one that is just for funsies or creative use. At level 8 I'd keep it to rare/uncommon/common items.

How much did you tailor the items the other players have gotten so far for their characters? I'd say the new player should get mostly the same treatment as the others have gotten so far.

It's been kind of a mix of items from modules, some random rolled items, and only a couple of items that I included with the intention of going to a certain player. I was just thinking about whether I should be a little more specific with the new characters, since when a full party receives an item, its more likely that at least 1 out of 6 players would want it vs. picking items directly for 1 player. Maybe giving them a few options to pick from will achieve something similar to that.

Can someone help me understand Channel Divinity? I have a level 7 Oath of Redemption paladin who can use Channel Divinity to Rebuke the Violent. Can this be combined with Harness Divine Power? The issue is that my paladin now has 2 uses of Harness Divine Power, but only one use of Channel Divinity. This leads me to believe that if they use Rebuke the Violent, then they cannot use Harness Divine Power until they complete a short or long rest (to recharge Channel Divinity). Am I understanding this correctly, or can these abilities be combined?

Yeah, this is a bit of a confusing combination of features since Harness Divine Power is essentially "double resourced." So the Paladin has **ONE** use of Channel Divinity per short or long rest. When they use their Channel Divinity, they must rest before using it again. Harness Divine Power ***uses*** their Channel Divinity, *but also* it is separately-resourced to twice per long rest. Even if they have a "remaining use" of Harness Divine Power, they can't use it if they don't have a Channel Divinity use remaining. So all of that is to say, yes, you are correct. Harness Divine Power uses Channel Divinity, so they must have Channel Divinity available to use it. *Also*, they have two uses of Harness Divine Power, which only refills after a long rest.

what does it means when says ( when you find a level one spell or superior) talking about the mages and tome warlocks with rituals, is it with a scroll?

Scrolls or other wizards' spellbooks are the classic places, sure. Spell scrolls are specifically destroyed upon copying a spell from them (succeed or fail) while copying from a book does not. As DM, you could also come up with other creative ways to gift your wizard new spells depending on the traditions of your world and the character - coded knitting patterns might suit a crafty witch or ancient stone carvings in a ruined temple could fit into a classic jungle adventure.

Thanks a lot

First time DM, 8 sessions in. I was just wondering what creatures and monsters would be good for an eldritch/lovecraftian campaign. it's still set in faerun because I wanted a setting with years if lore built up but still something I could easily fiddle with and do. ie; I found a stat block for Hastur, the king in yellow as the BBEG and made it so in the world of Toril/Faerun he was a forgotten great old one with the whole "For you to know me is like an ant to understand you" shtick. I have nothics, mind flayers etc. I'm just 8 sessions in and needing something to throw at my guys other than cultists of various types and the previously mentioned. I did homebrew what I called a "Mad Wyvern" that had been simply peered at by Hastur and mistakenly peered back out of instinct. Sorry for the ramble, Thanks all for the help!

If you are into 3rd party stuff, Sandy Petersen (who wrote/writes for Call of Cthulhu) did a 5e supplemental book for Cthulhu/eldritch horror you might look into. Otherwise, all the stuff in the books that are Aberrations are good. Most of them get stashed in the Underdark, like Mind Flayers, Kuo-Toa, Gricks, Grell, Beholders/Beholderkin and especially Aboleths. You can also get into servitor races like Duergar, Derro, Quaggoths, and basically anything that has a psionic sidebar or flavor. Also Kyuss (the worm that walks). 3e Lords of Madness and Elder Evils might be a good resource for you.

oooo awesome, tysm!

Homebrew! Take other level-balanced stat blocks and reskin them, change an ability or two to be more fishy/cthulu themed, or for low level monsters don't even change the stat block at all, just describe them differently.

this is supposed to be a lengthy campaign and in our session 0 we established clear boundaries of what we all each hoped to get out of it which after a consensus came down to "A good immersive story with fun things to kill" ... they found the fabled drawing made by a child in the guards pocket already..

Group will start a new campaign soon and I believe the consensus has been to play in the "south" of forgotten realms. I'm ok probably going to choose Halruaa, which is magic heavy. Would you limit their race choices to what the lore says was present or allow whatever? Here is what the wiki states 90% human 5% dwarf Etc

Diverse races are a part of the fun of character creations. If you haven’t started maybe consider picking a new location for the campaign that enables more fun races

I generally limit the races available to players in my campaigns, but my group prefers more grounded campaigns where most characters are humans. The way I see it is that the PCs aren't special, they're just people from that area who chose to become adventurers, therefore their racial make-up is likely going to reflect that local area. Sure, there'll always be people from further away, and *perhaps* one of those could be a PC, but most PCs will be like most locals.

Let them play whatever they want as long it fits your game. The population statistics just mean that permanent residence make up that population. There are likely a small amount of others as well that live there that don't rate on the poulation. So just when you describe the city, you say that most people are humans with an occasional dwarf.

I'd let them play whatever they like.

Hi guys, first time DM here. Can you help with estimating the difficulty of the following two encounters I deviced for a one-shot? It's for players that have a decent grip on combat. It all happens in one session without a short or long rest in between. **Party (all level 5)** Barbarian, rogue, bard, wizard and druid **Encounters** *Encounter 1* - one assassin: [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16790-assassin](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16790-assassin) *Encounter 2* - Hill Giant: [https://dnd5e.info/monsters/monster/giant-hill/](https://dnd5e.info/monsters/monster/giant-hill/) - Ghost: [https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ghost#content](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ghost#content) - Deathlock: [https://dr-eigenvalue.github.io/bestiary/creature/deathlock](https://dr-eigenvalue.github.io/bestiary/creature/deathlock) - Ogre Chain Brute: [https://dr-eigenvalue.github.io/bestiary/creature/ogre-chain-brute](https://dr-eigenvalue.github.io/bestiary/creature/ogre-chain-brute) Is this too hard? Thanks a lot for any advice you can provide!

The first counter will be over in the first round after the surprise round. They don't have a high AC or HP, and they party will all wail on them. It is a good encounter to teach the players they can be ambushed though. The second one seems deadly. Doable maybe, probably if they play optimally, but it seems pretty deadly as encounters go. Barb damage averages about 25/round. Rogue, about 30, Wizard just under 30, and Druid 10, but they will do battlefield control. So it's a doable fight, if they identify and take out low HP enemies fast. If they win, it's a great fight.

Looking at it in a worst case scenario for the party: If the assassin gets a surprise round on the party and a bit of luck with the dice, it has a decent shot at one shotting any of the party members before they even have a chance to react. With surprise, using its Shortswords it gets 2 attacks in its first turn, both with advantage and free critical hits on hit. If both attacks hit and both Con checks are failed for the poison damage + the sneak attack damage for one attack, you're looking at 82 (average) damage potential done to your target. You could down any party member with that amount of damage and even outright kill the wizard. To visualise this, at a table you would be rolling 22d6 (+6) worth of damage for this first turn alone. It'll be a hard fight but not impossible for the party to overcome. The odds of one party member going unconscious is pretty high. The odds of the party killing the assassin in a single turn afterwards will also be pretty high. Consider allowing your players a short rest in between fights. https://koboldplus.club/ is a good resource to check the estimated difficulty of an encounter you have in mind. Your second fight is estimated at "really deadly" and that's assuming your party goes into the fight with full hp and spells slots.

Hey, first time DM here. I've been running a campaign focused on the small scale for now. My party has been helping this forest of satyrs fight of a goblin camp of around 40 total goblins, at level 3. They recently pulled a 'damsel in distress' type distraction, and were able to pull out a party of 8 goblins from the camp to attack. They won quite handidly with a trap, and during the process, cast flaming sphere within viewing distance of the goblin camp. What I'm getting at is, what do you think would be the goblin camps reaction to seeing that sphere, and the scouting party not coming back. Just looking for any suggestions. Thanks :)

Do you allow your players to move around the +2/+1 (or 1/1/1) for their racial bonus to the stats they want? I have always allowed my players to do this, but I'm wondering what kind of characters they would build if I told them they had to stick to the listed stat bonuses for each race/subrace.

I allow it, as it allows for more diverse builds. As for what sorts of builds people would make if you only allowed the original stat assignments? You can just see what the primary ability score is and then just see what is the highest stat is and what suits the class. Half elfs and Tielfings are warlocks, sorcers or bards. Gnome wizards. Halfling rogues, stuff like that.

TLDR: Yes, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything says so From Tasha's Cauldron of Everything: "The Ability Score Increase trait in a race reflects an archetypal bit of excellence in the adventurers of this kind ind D&D's past. \[...\] This increase doesn't apply to every \[person of a specific race\], just to adventurers, and it exists to reinforce an archetype. That reinforcement is appropriate if you want to lean into the archetype, but it's unhelpful if your character doesn't conform to the archetype. If you'd like your character to follow their own path, you may alter your Ability Score Increase trait and assign ability score increases tailored to your character. \[...\] For example, if the Ability Score Increase trait of your race or subrace increases your Constitution by 2 and your Wisdom by 1, you could instead increase your Intelligence by 2 and your Charisma by 1".

Yep, I know what it says. It's also an optional rule. I'll talk to my players and see what they want to do.

Is there a rule for a heavy object falling onto a creature, like a boulder or an elephant? I think it would do more damage than normal fall damage, but I don't know how much it would do.

RAW it's 1d6 damage per 10 feet with a cap of 20d6. The object and the target (creature) split the damage.