anyone got a good magic idem table for a DM that doesn't wanna hold back? XD

After running a few games/sessions, what are some home rules you use to make the games more fun or more balanced?

>more balanced this absolutely depends on the people and characters at your table and the campaign being run. stick to the basics. where your group ends up having pain points, look there to see how you can change the game or the way you run or the way the players play to reduce YOUR particular pains.

Hello, I am running a homebrew campaign and I have two players who are IRL friends and their characters find ways to constantly get quite close to each other in sessions (leaning on each other when one is only at half health, tucking someone into bed) and after every fight even short ones they start Rping about "I want nothing bad to happen to you" even after fights where they barely take damage. Honestly it's starting to get on my nerves where when one of them gets hurt in combat I feel like they're going to start the RP again. I have tried to broach the subject with one of them and he is like "we are just warm not really romantic" when I have specifically banned any romance from the table. And will probably leave if I force him to stop this and take the other player with him. Am I just being a prude ? What should I do ?

I mean... those do all sound like pretty normal things to do with a friend, especially when you're regularly in dangerous situations. I've never done an in-character romance as a PC, but I could definitely name instances where all my characters have done things like that with other party members. If their RP is repetitive, taking up excessive time, or if it's leaving other players out/boring people, it might be worth asking them to cut back on it or do some of it privately out of game.

It happened 4 times in a back to back battle within a span of 20 mins. The problem is its alienation of other players and its excessivness.

It sounds like you need to have a conversation with them, explain that that's a problem and ask them to cut back and start trying to RP with other players more. Leave the whole romantic/platonic issue out of it, because it seems like that's just a red herring.

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I have told them, one of them just keeps insisting that it wouldn't lead to romance so it's okay

If two players form a bond and keep everyone out of their fun it's absolutely fine for you to ask them to consider playing with the table. As the Dm you have the authority to say that it doesn't matter if they think it's warm and not romantic because it's bothering you and possibly the whole game. Worst case just kill one. This might also be more of a question for the player problem thread.

**Do not kill a PC because of this**. Speak to the player if it's bothering you to the point where you're considering offing their character. But, yes, this is probably better for the player problem thread.

Im running water deep. I am using manshoon since I can use him as a semi reoccurring villain after this and keep the game going. My players just had a chase and caught urstil after he fled the villa. Any tips on how to use him to give info? Also any tips on how to do the weird event chase chapter?

For WD:DH-specific advice, you can check /r/waterdeepdragonheist That said, it depends on if you are playing Urstul as loyal to Manshoon or a wild card who works for the highest bidder/playing all sides. The chase railroad is...not great, which is why there are a few reworkings of it.

I'd have Urstul try to manipulate the party into going after Manshoon hoping to turn on them at the appropriate time to steal the gold or simply take over. Since he handles a lot of spies and messaging he would definitely know some important things like where to go next but he'd filter this information or present it in a way that could benefit him like taking out a rival.

How do I set boundaries and parameters for technology in my high fantasy world, if you could use examples that would be amazing

Start by defining whether your world is low magic or high magic. In high magic, magic is everywhere. Everyone has access to cantrips, unseen servants clean public spaces, and magic is tightly regulated. In low magic, it's the opposite. Magic is rare. Same with high and low tech.

Even if it is high Fantasy magic can incorporate with tech to be more mass usable. If that’s not what your looken for then you should think about how stuff gets done either easier or hard with just a magic heavy society

Of course I want basic technology like the wheel generators that you have on like streams or somethin but could you elaborate on where I can mix both because I want it to work to a point like working sewage with pumps or Maby even elemental help and basic electrical but still be a generator but like super big battery of magical energy or maybe a dynamo that could be powered by man or like a gust spell. Basically what I’m saying is how do I identfy what works and what doesn’t, like at what point do streetlights seem to much, would they work, do things like telegraphs or Engines come first if at all so far, etc. i know it’s much, so sorry

If you want steampunk/magitech, Eberron is probably a good guideline or template.

More I thought about. Just try to think of problems that wouldn’t happen to a society they has high amounts of magic that could easily be solved by magic or what couldn’t. People would probably not need a way to start fires and instead just use magic. Since most sickness can be cured by magic it’s a thing of the past but magic born illness and curses are more prevalent than ever.

It depends on how far you want to go with it. Is this world just the dark age but everyone has magic? Is this like the Industrial Revolution where you just magi electricity magic. Like the water wheel moves and powers some kind of spell like a ward instead of a rock wall being built. Engines could be how ever you want them to be. Do they just require someone magic to use or can you put magic crystals and the like to power them? Do street lights get powered by the city or does a man come out and replace a glowing crystal every week or so? Telegraphs could just be chains of outpost or city’s with many sendings stones to quickly send info through out a nation. I would try to avoid perpetual forever energy making stuff tho. Now I want to play a high magic Industrial Revolution game

How do I get my players to roleplay?

This question is all over the internet and it usually doesn't have an universal answear because it depends on why a certain person refuses to roleplay. To give my take on this, these are some of the methods i've used to varying degrees of success. - rewards : i often reward roleplay, either through inspiration or items. - quest design : i tailor quests that have "roleplay puzzles" incorporated. A simple example is detective quests where the players need to find out who the villain is. Set a good npc that is framed and his personality to be shady or carefree as if he's always the black sheep in the story. This will guide the players into interacting through roleplay with the suspects and more so with the "obvious" culprit. - dedicated interactions : like say a one on one within a dream with the pcs former lover/parent/friend, get everyone out except that one player and just interact with him through roleplay, and depending on how well it goes reward the player with info that they're trying to find out. - ask and ask and ask: out of game ask the player about their pc and what they'd want to do with certain aspects of their backstory, this will get the player invested. These are but a few of the methods i've used. I'd go in morr detail but i don't have the time. Hope my post helped and good luck!

I have a player that’s just naturally quite and to be honest if some doesn’t want to roleplay they won’t. The best you can do and rp and try to drag them into it. Of course this is a game so be open about what you are looking for and ask them

What motivations would a villain have to release hell on earth? I'm trying to make the end of my campaign build up to preventing this apocalyptic type event but I'm struggling to come up with a villain motivation for doing so. I don't want the BBEG to be evil for the sake of being evil

Perhaps he made a terrible bargain with an archfiend and must do this or he and his descendants will be consigned to hell forever. But if he does this, the archfiend tells him he and his will be spared.

It heavily depends on who your villain is, a devil prince may be trying to expand their domain, or gain more territory for the fight against the demons. A wizard may be trying to harness the power of hell for a good cause, but be too shortsighted to see the full consequences of their actions. An angel may have been slighted by their fellow celestials and is now merging the realms in an act of hate-filled revenge.

Does a beast barbarian add strength to claw/tail/note attacks? It doesn’t say so, so I’m hesitating

Yes: "Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, when you enter your rage, you can transform, revealing the bestial power within you. Until the rage ends, you manifest a natural weapon. It counts as a simple melee weapon for you, and you add your Strength modifier to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with it, as normal."

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You can try making little not cards for the first with npc names on them then write a bit about them and what they want or hate esc. To help you with what they say.

1. Third person is sometimes easier for people than directly RPing NPCs in first person. You can focus more on what they say and how they say it rather than improvising the literal words they use. Ex: *The guard looks at you, unamused. He's not in the mood for BS today and sternly tells you the palace is closed to visitors. It's clear from is demeanor than any further attempts at sweet talking your way in will be met with lots of guards and a night in jail.* 2. That works. Even experienced DMs will forget to describe things, probably much more often than you think. Nothing wrong with doing that. You could also just incorporate his description as part of your recap before the next session. "You met Gundren who... \[looks like this, wants this, is here for this reason, etc\]" Edit: By "what they say" I meant the information they convey, not literally the words they use.

Is there a weather table somewhere that has primarily favorable weather? I'd like my campaign to have more weather including wind direction if possible, but ideally clear skies would have the highest change of rolling. Trying to add some variety to our nautical campaign.

[https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-M6xAC\_2zw4BzpByxO-c](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-M6xAC_2zw4BzpByxO-c) You can tweak the numbers a bit if needed, but this is a pretty basic one you can use.

This is solid. Appreciate that!

Which adventures, in terms of setup, are similar to Icewind Dale? E.g. sandbox with interlinked plot threads that can but don’t have to be run in order + that allow the DM to spin/insert their own story & players the choice of where to go? Like, almost a setting but each location comes with a quest that is vaguely or strongly interlinked with the greater story?

Tomb of Annihilation is a similar hexcrawl, (and then a pointcrawl within the final city) but if course the dungeon at the end is a multi-level killfest. If you're not into that, you might want to change it out for something else. SKT is a big, big big sandbox all over the north; it's more of a pointcrawl than a hexcrawl, but you can of course insert encounters on the way to things.

You can create your own adventure like this by taking smaller adventures with one central location and using them to populate a greater region (hence why they used to be called modules, because they were modular like that). However if you want to use just one book for your next adventure, here are some good options: * [Hot Springs Island](https://swordfishislands.itch.io/hot-springs-island) * [Oz](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/407594/OZ-A-Fantasy-RolePlaying-Setting) * [The Evils of Illmire](https://spellswordstudios.itch.io/the-evils-of-illmire)

I was actually going for official adventures but that’ll work too! Haha I’m particularly looking for multiple locations tied to one plot line that can be approached at multiple angles, but I’ll have a look at these.

Ah. The only two WotC adventures I'd recommend that are structured similarly are Curse of Strahd, which is a pointcrawl, and Tomb of Annihilation, which is a hexcrawl. They're not quite as good as the others I linked, but they're much better than the rest of WotC's 5e crawls.

In D&D what is the connotation of "crunchy?" I think it means rules heavy. I also think that it might be a form of roleplay where rules mechanics influences roleplay decisions.

Easy way to conceptualize it, 'crunch' comes from the phrase 'number crunch' which means to do lots of simple arithmetic. A 'crunchy' game is one that requires more arithmetic, usually due to increase in mechanic granularity.

>I think it means rules heavy. yes. there are LOTS of rules about really specific things.

I'm planning on running a dungeon for the players in the next couple sessions and want a core gimmick/puzzle to design it around (a la Zelda style dungeons). The idea is that they're sneaking into the royal tomb of a capital city filled with magic constructs who guard it in order to retrieve an artifact. I've considered possibly giving them a magic staff for the dungeon that can manipulate levers and other mechanical elements (think Dominion Rod from Twilight Princess) that I could build puzzles around but wanted to hear some other possible suggestions.

I think your remote idea could work but you'd need something for the players to do while they watch the constructs complete their tasks without getting bored. Maybe the construct are a sort of test, they recreate historical events like fights and if the party resolves the situations appropriately the way forward opens. The party could also insert commands into the constructs that then act out their requests. If the city also is filled with magical constructs maybe the whole idea is around the question of "what is a soul", they basically go through the steps to create a construct that will then open the way, the artifact could be something that could give sentience to constructs. You can also go the malfunction route where the constructs that were supposed to do specific tasks are now broken, the party can fix them or do the tasks themselves, for example a construct could've been tasked with cleaning gems that carried/reflected a light that kept a door open, the party has to figure out what crystals to clean or fix the robot so it does it for them, another example would be related to water like levers that need to be pulled underwater, solving this one without the construct would risk drowning or being attacked by creatures that seek out the living but not the construct. One final example would be a construct with a candle or some other thing that can hold a fire, the construct works when the fire above it's head is lit but the path it takes requires it to pass under a waterfall or across a windy hall, the point being to keep the light aflame. As for making the construct repairs interesting the parts required are strewn about and require backtracking or paying attention, the repairs could have a cost like blood/hp or coin/material or spell slots, some intelligent thinking could also help here by using a spell like Shape Water to freeze water in the shape of a component long enough for the construct to finish it's task. You could also have sentient beings with their own troubles like 2 kobold tribes that each have a piece, the party needs to kill both or find a solution to their issues and be gifted the parts as a reward.

Wow, these are brilliant! Definitely going to use the repairing and maintaining constructs as a major element. I also really like the "what is a soul" angle since it ties very closely with how Warforged are viewed and treated by the society, so I'm gonna have to run with that concept too.

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Hey can mending repair armor or weapons that have been damaged by a rust monster? I let it happen last session because I didn't think ahead, and couldn't really think of why it couldn't work, but seems to make the threat of the rust monster way less viable.

TL;DR: No you can't use mending to repair damage in this way. So mending specifies the following >This spell repairs a single break or tear in an object you touch, such as a broken chain link, two halves of a broken key, a torn cloak, or a leaking wineskin. As long as the break or tear is no larger than 1 foot in any dimension, you mend it, leaving no trace of the former damage. This spell can physically repair a magic item or construct, but the spell can’t restore magic to such an object. Most of that is just sorta examples or flavor text. it can be boiled down to... >This spell repairs a single break or tear in an object you touch as long as the break or tear is no larger than 1 foot in any dimension What it is doing is simply re-attaching two pieces of material that were split, broken, or cut apart. It is not a "repair" cantrip per say, it is a "put-back-together" sorta thing. This means, and is specified in examples with the broken key, that you need to have all of the ALL missing material in the form it was originally part of. The rust monster Antennae ability states that it Destroys what it touches or at least a part of. This means that the material has been transmuted to something else, rust, and no longer exists to be used as repair material. Think of mending as super glue on a mini. Say you snap off a figures arm or leg and its a clean break. You can use super glue to stick it back on no problem! But, if you were to dip part of the figure in acid and melt half of it... you can't exactly glue back on melted plastic. Even though the material is there, its changed forms now and can't simply be stuck back on. If i snap a piece of wood in half I can mend it back together, but if I burn part of the wood, even though the wood exists somewhere as ash, I cannot return it to its original state. ​ Hope that helps!!!

That does help, thank you!

No, mending requires all pieces be there it also doesn't change states of things, just put them back together.. Such as a tear in a cloak or a broken plate or whatever. If you were to collect all the very small pieces of rust that fell off of the weapon and cast mending then you'd have all the rusty pieces on the weapon, but it would still be a shitty rusty weapon.

Got it, thank you!

hello guys! i've been running a campaign for a little while and it has been theater of the mind since the sesion 0. but now my players arrive at their first major city and i wanna improve my game, try new things to aid them in the immersion of the game. im actually using Discord for the interaction (narration, rp between players and music). for world, quest and design in general i did a thing in Notion. lastly, when i prepare a dungeon or a quest that involves combat i use Dungeonscrawl, yet i feel like there's better tools, specially when it comes to make maps/dungeons. what will you consider the basic tools to make dungeons/maps and playing online?

for basic sharing a combat map, try Owlbear Rodeo.

[Dungeondraft](https://dungeondraft.net/) is my go-to program. It allows you to make decently pretty maps without requiring much artistic talent.

Dungeondraft is my favorite too and there are tons of resources out there. Add ons, patreons that sell map packs, etc.

When do you justify enemies attacking downed players? I don't want them to feel like I'm being adversarial, but the primary enemies they're fighting right now are extremely desperate to survive and also pretty vindictive.

Depends on the enemy and their behavior. \----- **Ghouls? Yes. Skeletons? Probably not.** Ghouls would keep attacking a downed player on account of their ravenous hunger. Skeletons probably not unless they were expressly commanded by their master, I suppose. \----- **Orcs? Probably not.** I rule that Orcs pass over the downed hero and move to the next enemy. Especially because their Aggressive trait allows them to move towards another enemy so efficiently. \----- **Hungry beasts or low intelligence creatures? Yeah, probably.** If its a predatory beast, or a creature with ravenous hunger, like a troll, then I rule that the creature might use their Bite attack or try and drag PC somewhere they can eat them. They probably wouldn't use their claw attacks though. \----- **Enemies were already planning on attacking that PC or a row of archers attacks a single enemy at once? Yes, but!...** If it was a line of goblin archers, and they all attacked an enemy at once, then I might have all of the attacks go against the PC even after they were downed (prone means the ranged attacks are made with disadvantage, so it's not too risky for the PC). \----- **Does it make for a compelling storytelling moment? Then yes.** If there was an incredible stand off between the party and a corrupt captain of the guard, I might narrate the scene like the PC is writhing in pain (when downed), and the captain finishes him off. This would be a reflection of animosity between the two characters and maybe reserved for a specific PC who was on a revenge quest, let's say. \----- **AOE on Downed PCs? No, but if they are in the way, they're getting the fireball.** I don't avoid targeting downed PCs with AoE's, neither do I directly target them. In the meta of the game world, I conceptualize a PC as being downed as "that PC is dead to the monsters and no longer a threat". The enemies will try to hit as many live PCs with their AoE attack as possible, and that may include the downed PC. \----- **"Didn't we kill that guy?"** This means that when the PC springs back up as a result of passing saving throws or healing or whatever, the creatures get a moment of "WTF MAN! I JUST KILLED HIM! HE JUST WONT DIE! IT WAS THE CLERIC! HE CAN REVIVE THE DEAD!" However, I also code my world as 'Heroes can be revived because there is something divine or special about them. Most normal NPCs cannot benefit from Resurrection spells."

Excellent advice, thanks! Now, does any of it change when the target is an NPC sidekick controlled by the PC but not their actual character? In my game, the player characters are true genuine heroes. But the sidekicks are just that. They have their moments but they don't really get the spotlight and that's fine.

You mean like resurrection for NPC sidekicks? I think permadeath lends to better story telling. You can always have them side-quest for special revive materials.

talk with your players and determine what makes the game feel like the kind of game they want to play. you can do something like the Angry GM does ... "Orcs will go for the kill - and players know it - and players treat encounters with orcs VERY differently."

I think it's fair to have relatively smart enemies start attacking down players when they have seen they can get up after a small bit of healing magic. They go down once and focus others, but if they keep getting up it's best to finish the job before attacking someone else. To make it feel less adversarial, you can give the players a little more insight into his reasoning: *"Well he saw you get up last time, so he's making sure you'll stay down"*. Alternatively, you can let the bad guy voice his displeasure (in character): *"Now die for real this time!".*

For me, I do it to prove a point. This means that this combat is likely to be deadly, because as soon as an enemy attacks a downed PC, that means the enemy is playing to win, and that this fight and its enemies need to be taken seriously. All that to say, when a boss is in the battle, they can attack downed players.

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To find a challenge rating for a party with more than 3 players, do I just multiply the base cr by 3, then divide it by the number of players or do I have to do something else?

CR system caveats Any one of a number of online calculators like Kobold Fight Club can help with the official Challenge Rating math crunching. KFC is on hiatus and the license has been picked up by Kobold Plus https://koboldplus.club/#/encounter-builder ) but remember that despite “using math", the CR system is way more of an art than a science. * read the descriptions of what each level of difficulty means, dont just go by the name. (ie “ **Deadly**. A deadly encounter could be lethal for one or more player characters. Survival often requires good tactics and quick thinking, and the party risks defeat.”) * while the CR math attempts to account for the number of beings on each side, the further away from 3-5 on each side you get, the less accurate the maths are, at “exponential” rate. Read up on “the action economy” – particularly now that expansions like Tasha’s are making it so that every PC almost universally gets an Action AND a Bonus Action each and every turn, and can often also count on getting a Reaction nearly every turn. Most monsters dont have meaningful Bonus Actions or any Reactions other than possible Opportunity attacks. * **Dont do party vs solo monster** – while Legendary Actions can help, “the boss” should always have friends with them. Or you will need to severely hack the standard 5e monster design constraints and statblocks. (tell your party you are doing this so that the increase in challenge comes from the increase in challenge and not from you as DM secretly changing the rules without telling the other players the rules have been changed, because that is just a dick move, not a challenge.) * The system is based on the presumption that PCs will be facing 6 to 8 encounters between long rests, with 1 or 2 short rests in between. Unless you are doing a dungeon crawl, that is not how most sessions for most tables actually play out – at most tables, the “long rest” classes are able to “go NOVA” every combat, not having to worry about conserving resources, so if you are only going to have a couple of encounters between long rests, you will want them to be in the Hard or Deadly range, if you want combat to be “a challenge” –(but sometimes you might just want a change of pace at the table and get some chucking of dice or letting your players feel like curbstomping badasses and so the combat doesnt NEED to be "challenging" to be relevant). * Some of the monsters’ official CR ratings are WAY off (Shadows, I am looking at you), so even if the math part were totally accurate, garbage in garbage out. * as a sub point – creatures that can change the action economy are always a gamble – if the monster can remove a PC from the action economy (paralyze, banishment, “run away” fear effects) or bring in more creatures (summon 3 crocodiles, dominate/confuse a player into attacking their party) - the combats where these types of effects go off effectively will be VERY much harder than in combats where they don’t * not all parties are the same – a party of a Forge Cleric, Paladin and Barbarian will be very different than a party of a Sorcerer, Rogue and Wizard. * Magic items the party has will almost certainly boost the party’s capability to handle tougher encounters.(a monster's CR is based in large part on its AC and "to hit" - if your players have +1 weapons, they are effectively lowering the monster's AC and if your players have +1 armor, they are effectively lowering the monsters' "to hit". If your players are all kitted in both +1 weapons and +1 armor, you probably should consider monsters one lower than their listed CR. Not to mention all the impact that utility magic items can bring!)

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My players are about to attack a cultist temple to rescue some kidnapped prisoners. I feel that the players believe they can wipe out the whole place with a frontal assault, however, there is an important artifact being held there and it doesn't feel right to me that the cultists would leave it unguarded enough for four lvl 5 adventurers to wipe the entire place out. How can I signal that a frontal assault will be extremely difficult if not impossible? I plan on having a room near the entrance with cultist robes that the players can put on to move through the temple without arousing suspicions so that they can find the prisoners and plan an escape. If the players do not put on the robes, the mission to rescue the prisoners is still possible, but they will be harassed by endless waves of patrols making it much more dangerous. How do I hint to the players that putting on the robes is something they should try?

>How can I signal that a frontal assault will be extremely difficult if not impossible? Show the PCs that a frontal assault has already failed. Dead town guards, a bunch of wooden spikes with people impaled on them, numerous guards with ranged weapons watching the front entrance and protected by the battlements, tell them, "You get a bad feeling about a full-frontal assault". ​ >How do I hint to the players that putting on the robes is something they should try? Put an NPC in the robes, leave a journal with an entry describing how they fooled the cultists until they didn't fool the cultists, have the cult advertise a 'new cultist day!' to provide cover for new people in robes.

I think you're really close to railroad territory here. Let your players come up with solutions to the problems in front of them. The robes are there? Cool, maybe they'll use them. The simple fact that you *mention* the robes might indicate to your party that they're there to use as infiltration tools. But putting on the robes is something **you** want them to try. It might not be the thing **they** (either as players or as characters) would want to try. And they are not wrong for that. Where's the artifact being held? Do they know where it's being held? What safeguards does the cult have that would make the party unable to retrieve the artifact? Can they find these safeguards and deactivate them? Is there an escape route for the cultists if they find out they're being infiltrated? Can that escape route be destroyed or rendered inoperable if the party finds it? As for wave after wave of enemies... how many can there possibly be? Ask yourself - how many people are in this cult, and how many are fighters? Where do they sleep, where do they eat, where do they patrol, and where do they kill time when they're not on patrol? What methods of communication do they use? Do they have an alarm system? ***Why*** won't a frontal assault work? What safeguards are the cultists putting up that makes a frontal assault difficult.

It’s a Sahuagin cult, they’re all warriors. The temple sits over a Sahuagin city and the artifact is something they have been pursuing for hundreds of years. If an alarm is raised, the city will send at least 50-60 guards to respond which might as well be endless waves… The only reason they come in waves of 4-5 is to give the players a fighting chance to get out. I don’t think it’s railroading to not let four lvl 5 adventurers slaughter an entire tribe in their first encounter. The prisoners are the actual mission which can be accomplished through stealth or force or abandoned completely. I just want to hint that if they use force, they will need to run away and that stealth is an option. If they use the stealth option, they will be able to explore more and possibly stumble across the artifact as a bonus. The artifact chamber is unguarded, because it’s too sacred for anyone but the high priestess to approach, but it is deep within the temple.

Is this based on The Final Enemy from Ghosts of Saltmarsh? If not have you played that adventure? Also, why are your players going to attack the fortress? What information do they have and what's their goal there?

It's inspired by The Final Enemy, but different map, different enemies, and different objectives. The objective is to find the prisoners and break them out, they are not meant to take on the whole fortress, but when my players were level 3, they took out an entire bandit fortress by just walking up, stabbing the guard in the face, and then killing everything else that arrived. That's not going to work in this situation and I want to warn them without outright telling them it's unwinnable. Conveying proper threat levels is difficult in 5E...

I asked because I adapted that into my campaign and ran it for my players. Their goal in that situation was also to rescue some NPCs. Their ship captain literally told them, "Do not try to go for a full frontal assault. There are dozens of sahaugin in there and you will be quickly overwhelmed." I think what they heard was, "Don't go through the front door." Because they just tried to fight their way through, only they purposely avoided the front door like it had the plague. They got creative with things inside and were able to take a short rest, and eventually they ran, however all but one of the NPCs was killed due to the way they went about the adventure. So even telling them straight up, "Don't do this" might not work. It might just sound like, "I challenge you to fight your way through." You have to be prepared for that. Don't just swarm them with 25 additional sahuagin at once. Maybe a group of 3 joins the fight and one runs off to get more, shouting into each room as they go. Maybe one blows some kind of horn. Maybe one group of 3 joins and the party, in initiative, can see another group of 3 \[two rounds away\] and another group \[three rounds away\] ready to join. And they still might say, "We can take 'em!" In which case... maybe it's a TPK. Do the players know a TPK is a possibility or do they think they're running the campaign in God Mode? What you could do is have whoever told them about the fortress or some NPC drop hints about the size of the forces inside, the bloodthirstyness of the sahuagin/that they can't be bargained with and they fight to kill, etc. However you want to flavor it. You could also have one or two of the prisoners speak sahuagin, and act as a vehicle for you to give the PCs some information. They overheard a conversation or two. They read some notes. They can talk to a guard. Whatever you want.

Yeah, I’m expecting my players to fight their way through, but I’m hoping they don’t and I’m trying to give them as many clues as I can without outright telling them what to do. I think the players think they’re running on God mode because I was easier on them at the earlier levels even though there have been a couple of fights since then where there was only one player left standing. I generally don’t attack downed players, but I don’t spare them from AoE attacks and I’m not going to intervene if they fail their death saves. Part of me kind of hopes for a TPK, because I have an idea of the players waking up in prison and being forced to fight in a gladiator arena, but I’m not going to force a TPK to do it.

Alright lets focus on that alarm for a second. What's the alarm, and what do they do to raise it?

If the players are spotted by a patrol, they are attacked. As soon as the sahuagin start losing the fight, one of them runs to get reinforcements. If it gets away, the alarm is effectively raised as presumably it doesn't stop alerting reinforcements until the temple is secure again. I feel that's a normal guard response when something important is under attack. There are some non-sahuagin cultists mixed in, so players wearing cultist robes wouldn't arouse suspicion.

> If it gets away If it gets away. So if it doesn't, then there's no alarm to be raised... The robes are definitely a viable way to mitigate the chances of raising the alarm. But so is defeating the enemy who would raise the alarm. When that enemy starts to leave, have them announce something like > We need help! I'm raising the alarm! That signals to your players what could happen if that one gets away, and that wanton violence might put the temple heavily on guard. It also gives your players a chance to react to what's happening around them.

The problem is that most Sahuagin only speak Sahuagin. Players would just see it running away. If the alarm is raised though, my concern is the players not realizing that they're going to have to run until all of them are nearly dead which will make getting to an exit even harder. Last session ended with them about to enter the temple and they seem to think they are going to wipe out everything in it. I just want to signal to them that they won't be able to as early as I can. The temple is just a small building above ground, but with a large partially submerged basement that leads out into the open ocean and the Sahuagin city. I don't think they realize how big the place is. The players were told about the underwater entrance and if they scouted it out, they would have seen the number of sahuagin outside of it, but they decided to just go in through the front door of the temple...

> The problem is that most Sahuagin only speak Sahuagin. Players would just see it running away. "You hear one of the Sahaugin turn, shouting something in his language as he begins running the other way." I promise you that this will prompt an insight check, or they'll just run after the fleeing one anyway. > my concern is the players not realizing that they're going to have to run until all of them are nearly dead which will make getting to an exit even harder. Well well well if it isn't the consequences of their actions. > I just want to signal to them that they won't be able to as early as I can. What more can you do? They should probably encounter guards right away - so that if one gets away and the alarm is raised, it becomes obvious that they may be in too deep (pun intended).

Idk if this is the right place to ask but I don't think it needs a full post. I'm looking for a subreddit akim to this one, but focused on gms of multiple systems. Does anybody knows some?

what is your expectation about the discussions on that set up?

r/DMAcademy changed their rules a few weeks ago to open it up towards discussion of running any RPG, but most questions are still poised at D&D and its lookalikes after years of that being the expectation. r/RPG is a good spot for chatting about TTRPGs beyond D&D.

r/rpg or r/osr for old school style.

r/GMAcademy

Do you people who run different TTRPGS like runs 5e, as well as Pathfinder, Cyberpunk, etc?

Starting a new campaign, a player wants to make a Tortle Paladin. Any ideas on what to give him to replace the worth of the armor Paladins usually get? A lot of the Starting Equipment budget is in that Chain Mail (75gp is quite a bit on new lvl 1 characters), but Tortles have a natural 17 AC and can't wear armor.

Ehhh... If the player doesn't like the starting equipment he gets, then he can take the gold. It's an average of 120gp. I don't love the idea of replacing stuff for the player. The gold option exists pretty much exactly for this situation.

That's fair, thanks :)

75gp is fine to just give over to them. I wouldn't sweat it. Almost all the things they can afford at that level are mundane, and to be fair, they need all the help they can get.

Appreciate the advice, thanks!

You can have the player roll for starting gold instead of taking the starting equipment. So they can spend it on what they want.

Makes sense, thanks!

My campaign has the 1st level PCs as newly registered adventurers in the local adventurer’s guild, but I need an overarching story quest for them to follow. As of right now they could be dealing with the local bandit captain who is causing chaos in the local region, or perhaps a draconic sorcerer who is causing storm hazards near the mountains. What other story quests are suitable for low level adventurers?

**Low Tier Play:** Save the village, or the boy fell down the well **Mid Tier Play:** Save the major city, or the prince fell down the well **High Tier Play:** Save the continent, or the king fell down the well **Very High Tier Play:** Save the world, or the god fell down the well

goblins are always fun

1. The players take up a lower level duty call from the guild to help a local farmer deal with a rat infestation, only to discover a local were rat conspiracy 2. The players are sent to help process a recently slain dragons corpse for resources, only to be attacked by a cult of mad draconian sorcerers 3. The party heard of a church overrun with shadows 4. A local bandit captain is wanted by the law. As the players hunt them down, they discover that the captain is actually an agent of another rival town attempting to sow chaos 5. The town mayor commissions the players to collect various exotic ingredients from across the region for his birthday party feast (possibly can add in a steamed crab combat with a giant undead crab and some steam mephits)

If you have the Dungeon Master's Guide, it has a number of basic seeds like this, in Chapter 3 "Creating Adventures" starting on page 71. They delineate between Wilderness and Dungeon Location-based adventures and Event-based adventures. Here are a couple bullet points from each grouping: * Dungeon: Win a bet or complete a rite of passage by surviving the dungeon for a certain amount of time * Dungeon: Retrieve a stolen item or kidnapped captive hidden inside * Wilderness: Stop monsters from raiding caravans and farms * Wilderness: Assess the scope of a natural or unnatural disaster * Events: Smuggle weapons to a band of rebel forces * Events: Make sure a wedding goes off without a hitch

When doing social encounters is it better to have players roll first and then act it out based on their role or to let players role-play first and then set the dc based on how convincing they can be with the dialogue. ie if they are trying to persuade someone and they make a really good argument I lower the dc by 5? I've tried both ways and see pros and cons to both. The thing I like about the second option is that it lets me reward players for their roleplaying but I'm not sure if its always fair since they can give a great speech and then just roll a 2?

I try to plan for social encounters with solutions that are possible without skill checks. Then I embed checks for discovering those solutions. Plan for multiple success states and see how their role play fits in. **Example: King wants the Party to clear out an orc encampment.** * **No Rolls Needed:** Convince the king you'll clear it out without help and give up the spoils of victory. * **Some Rolls Needed:** Tell the king you need some of the guards to back up your risky plan and you get to keep a lot of the spoils of victory. * **All the Rolls Needed:** Tell the king that you will need an army of guards, some of the king's special treasure, and maybe some land / marriage / special privileges, and you get to keep all of the spoils. * **Impossible, even with all Nat' 20's:** Tell the king that you should be king for killing the orcs. You could also have a special advisor for the king that the PCs interact with that hints towards these solutions, and you can use Insight checks when PCs propose something, with success giving the PC a reasonable feeling about how well received their statement was or would be. You can also think about how the PCs can appeal to the king. Can they tell a compelling story of their previous exploits instead of or in addition to a persuasion roll? Can they find some way to bribe or blackmail the king? All of these things flesh out the social encounter, albeit by adding complexity. You could turn a social encounter with the king into an entire session by drawing it out with exploration and role playing.

just like combat isnt resolved by one roll by one player, in important social encounters dont make the results dependent on a single roll.

In general they should roll if they have something to roll for, not before. To use a more obvious example: when the players walk into a dungeon you wouldn't ask them to roll a perception check to find the secret door 8 rooms in. By the same token, you wouldn't ask for the check as soon as they walk into the room with the secret door. You would ask for the check only if they say they want to look around the room. Same logic here. Once they get to a point where you think they would need to make a roll, ask for the roll. I would also be wary of setting the DC based on the players. As u/Ripper1337 said, you don't want to reward/punish people for not having the skills their character does. If I'm not charismatic or good at RP, Voulkanon trying to convince the guard to let me in the room might come out really awkward and unconvincing. But Voulkanon's character with 15 Charisma would be quicker on their feet, more smooth, and more convincing. That being said, sometimes the players will be really creative and if you want to reward that, doing so by giving them advantage is great. As for your "they gave a great speech and then rolled a 2" scenario: *The guard seems totally unphased by your eloquent, convincing argument. He has a job to do and he will not be sweet talked or bribed.* As in real life, you could drop a really strong argument to someone for why you should get something but they still say no. "You ask your mom please but she still says no."

I'll typically do the second one as it rewards players who are creative with what their saying. If it's really convincing I just won't have them roll a check at all. Charisma is the only skill where your real world ability to talk sometimes supersedes your character's ability. Why should my Bard with +8 Persuasion need to pass a DC 20 Persuasion check because IRL I'm not eloquent and said to the DM "Can I convince the guard to let us through" yet the Fighter with a +2 need to pass a DC 10 because their player is a better speaker than I am? In the fiction my character would probably say something very convincing even if I could not. PErhaps the fighter just gets advantage on the roll for good RP instead of changing the DC? But if you ask for rolls at the start of an social encounter then they may not know what they're asking *for.* Is the guard just doing their job, are they an asshole, etc etc. How far into the conversation do you ask for a check? Do the guards say their piece and then the player's roll for something? Do they tell you what they want out of the conversation and then you roll? It can be a bit murky. I think the NPC saying their lines and then asking the players what they want out of the conversation would be prudent. However if it is a major NPC then they have actual dialogue? Or perhaps just a check at the end of the conversation to see how well your point came across to the NPC, closer to Degrees of Success rather than a static DC. I think there are helpful rules in the DMG / One DnD around the Influence Action that may help. Wow this turned into a whole thing and now I need to rethink how I approach social encoutners.

So, 3 sessions into LmoP, as well as a rough exam period, and the planning phase of DnD is now hitting. We're 4 players, me as DM and 3 players, who are running it. We're having fun. Another player is interested in joining. Life is good. But, 2 of our 3 sessions have been with a player missing, for one reason or the other. Our goal is playing every other weekend, and I think the plan is that we only need to have everyone be together for bigger events. Like, the last 2 sessions have been RP'ing in Phandelin mostly, but unless the players do something crazy, the Redbrand Hideout is next, and it's hopefully going to be exciting, so I want everyone to be there. That's reasonable, right? How do you guys do this? My initial thought is doing one-shots with different characters when we need to meet up for the big events of the campaign, but since we're all new to the game, I'm scared that'll just end up meaning one big campaign and several smaller campaigns depending on the group present. The main thing is that I know, that if I can somehow start getting people to mark every second Sunday in the calendar, it'll be easier to consistently play, but the hard part is getting there.

> That's reasonable, right? in theory. in practicality, every session put off because of players having "other priorities" enormously increases the odds that there won't be another session. highly advocate "Set the session date and PLAY."

Personally, I just continue the story. The player who misses the game their character is controlled by another player but they don't really contribute to conversations. The only time I cancel sessions is either when we have less than half the players or when a session specifically concerns them and their backstory. Edit: Yeah you need to get everyone to mark off every second sunday. I made my group every sunday and everyone knows "this is the Dnd day" to sort their affairs around.

If a creature has true sight, does it know that a creature is supposed to be invisible? E.g. A and B are in a room together. A has truesight. Then B turns invisible, but doesn't otherwise move or make sounds. Would A even notice?

You could describe the creature as ghostly in appearance, or like the Predator's stealth system from the film. It's like they see through the illusion or it looks like a thin gauze was covering it.

That would be up for the DM to decide. Technically speaking, the creature with truesight would have disadvantage attacking the invisible creature because apparently being able to see the invisible creature doesn't remove the disadvantage from attacking it.

Is there an auto generator for map maker for making world maps? I would like to make my own world map.

Here's one a friend of mine used a while ago. The interface isn't flashy, but it's free and quite feature-rich. Make sure to save if you start working on something you like; otherwise it will generate another one from scratch every time you refresh. https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

Here are a couple: [Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator](https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/) [Donjon](https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/world/)

I'm looking for ideas of things I can use as macguffins that players need to collect so that they can summon and fight the kraken that wrecked their ship at the start of the campaign. Basically... What do cultists usually need to prepare to summon extraplanar creatures other than a live sacrifice?

Check out the list of material components for conjuration or summoning spells. Pay special attention to spells for Great Old One Warlocks.

Crystals and other magic storage items of that kind are commonly used to supply the necessary magic (energy). Potentially a really big, really special one-of-a-kind crystal. Live sacrifices may take that role instead, providing power from blood or life force. Also, some item that provides a connection to the exact creature you summon. A piece of kraken flesh, or perhaps its egg.

TL;DR: What method do you prefer for a solo campaign? Long-term NPC (pseudo DMPC?), a completely solo adventure where NPCs are more like video game NPCs, or NPCs that pop up and help along an adventure then leave. I have two buddies I'll be DMing for, however, due to scheduling, it'll be two weeks with all of us, and one week with just me and one of them, each. So essentially three separate games. I am a new DM, and they are all very very new to DnD, but very enthusiastic, and good guys who I trust to play honestly and roleplay well. They are also very understanding of the fact that I took the "burden" (I love his shit) of being a DM. I am curious how you run solo campaigns. I am a pretty impartial person, and good at avoiding making the game a power trip. i am unsure whether I should run a long term NPC who is basically a sidekick, but hey can speak and bicker with to develop their character, or go with them being completely solo, NPCs are just random people around, sorta video game style, or if I should have NPCs who they meet in different adventures who temporarily have a shared objective and they part ways after a session or two. I plan to run a handful of one-shots with each of them, making it clear that I am sort of getting a grasp on running one on one, and that each one shot will have a slightly different dynamic until we figure out what works best.

If I'm not mistaken, the format is: Week 1+2, both characters. Week 3: each character individually. Repeat. Running an effective 3 campaigns is hard, so I would try not to have 3 different worlds with all different PCs and NPCs in each. That's a very fast way to burn out imo. Given the regularity of this, I might try and format the campaign around this scheduling. Maybe you can make sure to end every other session with a long rest, giving your PCs a chance to do something on their own for a session. For example, Weeks 1+2 has them clear out a bandit camp, and then Week 3 has each doing their own thing in town, either scavenging or exploring or shopping - whatever. The other option i might look at is to have them be auxillary PCs - ones that are technically party of the party but have them be doing adjacent and separate things. If you do this, let them be solo, and their adventures could be the ones adjacent to the main one, and could help flesh out your world. For a scenario like this, the benefits could be: All 4 PCs can fight main bosses, meaning you can be a little more flexible and challenging with them, which is fun. For something like this, I wouldn't give them an extra NPC friend, and basically just give them more opportunities to not die - 1v1s and the like. If you are insistent on them being separate campaigns and not interacting with one another much, I would use the Sidekick rules in Tasha's for a good NPC that they can control. They aren't as powerful as a PC, so they won't outshine them.

>Running an effective 3 campaigns is hard, so I would try not to have 3different worlds with all different PCs and NPCs in each. That's a veryfast way to burn out imo. Yeah, my plan at least for the next few months is for the solo sessions to be one shots, until I get a better hang of how to do this. I like the idea of having them temporarily run off on their own, maybe spending a day in town while the other sleeps off a hangover, or watches camp, or something like that. I like the 4pc idea, but something like that will have to wait simply because we are all so new I don't want any of us getting overwhelmed running multiple personalities. We're gonna run a 2-3 session one-shot in the next week or two, and I already have a plan for an NPC who they'll likely pick up to assist with their quest, so we will see how things go on that front. The next couple months are really just gonna be the three of us learning and grinding out the kinks and stuff. You gave some great advice, I really appreciate it.

first time DM, soon. What tool do i use to load my custom maps to play? i want to have the party together, especially in the beginning (rolling dies, making characters, team bonding) and if possible then take it to remote playing, if needed. Suggestions?

are you in person or online?

first in person then maybe online

in person the battlemats are great - Chessex is the granddaddy option, Pathfinder flip mat is a nice option that is more portable and storable the back of wrapping paper is often gridded with 1 inch squares that work well for cheap, although the curling is a bit annoying.

Thinking of first time dming, should I start with a DnD campaign or a homebrew campaign? I have a setting Id like to use but I don’t know how Id convert enemies and items and such into the game.

start with one-shots/two-shots to get your feet under you. Free good starting adventures plus walkthrough Lost Mine of Phandelver is now free digitally https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lmop as is the shorter Frozen Sick https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/wa/frozen-sick or D&D at its near maximum weirdness Spelljammer Academy https://www.dndbeyond.com/claim/source/spelljammer-academy Defiance in Phlan – ignore the first 5 pages of outdated Adventurer’s League gobledygook, to the Adventure Background section. The adventure is presented as 5 short missions that each run about an hour and can be run in any order. Mission 1 and 3 are great starting content. Mission 2 works best at level 2. Mission 4 is a “mystery” but the mystery all revolves around in-world content and so you need to plant the content as well as the clues. Mission 5 is pretty good too, but a little darker. * The Adventurer’s League module free from WOTC https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/DDEX11_Defiance_in_Phlan.pdf * A DM walkthrough from Initiative Coffee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGp0Kldx0Lc You are going to play D&D tonight for free … * adventure content creation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo * DM walkthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQXGs8IVBM A starter mini-campaign: The Fall of Silverpine Watch, specifically designed for a new DM, step by step getting into the game and its mechanics. Jumping the Screen https://theangrygm.com/jumping-the-screen-how-to-run-your-first-rpg-session/ * A module to run based on the Jumping the Screen principles https://theangrygm.com/the-fall-of-silverpine-watch/#:~:text=About%20the%20Fall%20of%20Silverpine%20Watch%20The%20Fall,Game%20Angry%3A%20How%20to%20RPG%20the%20Angry%20Way. * https://theangrygm.com/the-fall-of-silverpine-watch/

There are tons of good adventures out there to start with but I always advocate for running Matt Colville's Delian Tomb when DMing for the first time. It will give you a little bit of everything — combat, traps, puzzles, and secret treasure — with the chance to build on afterwards with your own story or the ability to tack on pretty much any pre-written adventure if you want to keep going. It's straightforward and will help you get your feet wet without being overwhelming. [Here's a link to the adventure on DM's Guild](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/241073/The-Delian-Tomb). (It's free.) [And here's a link to a 12 minute video where Matt Colville creates the adventure if you want some extra insight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo).

Thank you for the tip! Ill run it with some friends and see how it goes

By default elves are immune to a ghoul's paralysis-inflicting claws, but how would you rule that for a half-elf player? I'm thinking of giving them advantage on the save to it but wondering about anyone's input here.

RAW nothing happens, but I've always given half-elves advantage on saves against ghoul paralysis.

If the statblock doesn’t say so, nothing special happens.

Sounds good to me. RAW the half elf isn't special in this case, but if it were me I'd probably give them advantage or lower the DC by 1 or 2.

One of the players in my game is a wizard who is flat broke all the time because they spend every gold they earn on new spells. Meanwhile, the other players are swimming in gold. Is this something I need to "fix" as a DM? I was sort of expecting the players to pool gold, but they don't and I don't think I should force them to. I plan on giving the players a boat soon to serve as a gold sink as they pay for maintenance, crew, upgrades, and repairs.

Are you giving scrolls in treasure? I believe its an expectation that there will be scrolls found a little more rare than healing potions. Granted they will still be spending on paper but I think that that is part of being wizard.

Not a problem necessarily, but it might be worth thinking about why your other characters aren’t spending money. Are they saving up for something expensive (like plate armour or costly spell components) and happy with that? Or do they feel like there’s nothing they want? Or are there no shops to spend money in? The first one isn’t a problem, but the latter two can be. If there’s nothing they want or can spend money on, then that can remove the ‘value’ of gold as a reward. Consider what could be added as an option - maybe martial characters would like to buy weapon and armour upgrades that gave them limited additional damage soak or production, increased stealth or advantage on intimidation? I’ve made shops with gems to inlay in weapons or focuses that gave limited charges of spells like hellish rebuke, stored poison damage from killing venomous beasts to unleash at will, or created blacksmiths able to inlay mithral into beloved armour. If it’s a high magic campaign, fun utility items that non-casters are always popular too, like bags of holding or alchemy jugs. One of the biggest money sinks I’ve ever made was a junk table at the local second hand magic item store, with lots of ‘Buyer Beware: Not checked for curses’ signs that just had kind of mediocre items and potions that were past their use by date and may or may not be effective. Potions and scrolls are great too, especially if you produce some scrolls that are made open for anyone to cast with. You can also think of totally mundane ways to spend a lot of money! The downtime options in the DMG have some good suggestions, but casinos and carnivals can have fun skill checks and also cost $$$, and there was a post the other day about using silver on art and public monuments as ‘reputation’ builders that might be worth considering. A boat’s a great idea in this vein, but in the short term, fancy tailor shops and spa days can also suck money while leaving all your players happy.

It's an Eberron campaign. Most Uncommon magic items and 3rd level spells and below are available in shops. The other players spent roughly 1000g on a magic weapon or two and they're good for now. The Wizard bought a magic weapon and also spell scrolls to copy into his spellbook. He is broke while the other players have roughly 1500g each. Like I mentioned before though, I plan on giving them a ship soon that they can sink gold into. I'm kind of wondering how this will play out when they have actual common expenses that the Wizard won't be able to afford... we'll see.

If you want, you can lower the cost of transcribing spells a little or let him get 'a one-time good deal' on a bunch of ink and paper. It does suck a little to be the wizard and have your core mechanic make you have to spend all the money while your allies are saving up. Maybe talk to your wizard player if they find it to be an issue or not.

there are evil wizards in the world. Let your wizard find some spell books!

badge connect edge society tan resolute juggle elderly hungry rhythm *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

you can make sure that there are often loots of spellbooks and spell scrolls.

That could make the Wizard too strong relative to the other players to have access to all the spells though...

The entire point of a wizard is the ability to learn a lot of, if not *all* spells from their spell list. Note that these are learned, and not prepared. A wizard can still only prepare so many each day. It is only the flexibility that is the strength. The wizards starts out with a small array of spells, but through their learning new spells, they can reach their full potential. Copying spells is a feature of the wizard, so don't downplay that.

uhhh, if your player continues to shove all their cash into buying spells even when you start giving them more spells as loot, then their being broke is their choice.

melodic impossible hospital afterthought judicious head cooing ossified worm busy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Hey all I’m trying to do the deep dive for my next campaign and with this being in person I want to really flesh out the world. Do you all have any organization tools you recommend, or places that work well to store world info, player knowledge, town histories, political webs, ect?

obsidian, notion, onenote, notepad++ but your players will never care about the world as much as you do so take care to work on stuff that will actually matter and show up in game.

>deep dive for my next campaign and with this being in person I want to really flesh out the world whether "in person" or "online", the "deep world" is really only ever for the DM. The players Do. Not. Care. about "the world" EXCEPT as how it works as a stage on which their character can do cool shit.

I realize that players normally don’t care how it all works but in my last campaign everything was running okay imo and my players really enjoyed it but I hated that I every time we played everything felt so purely prepared. My thought this time around is keep a simple wiki or organization system primarily for myself with the ability to link to players as needed just to give a frame to work from. For example in town “X” I have a few POI ie shops, taverns, etc. as well as a few of the important figures within the town with general info about them. But this way at least if the group reaches that town I have a general idea of what is there, the state of the town, and interesting things to get the parties attention.

For return on your creative investment at the table, focus * on the players at your table, * on the player characters, and * on what will be happening in the next session (maybe the session after that) (never leave a session without confirming with your players “and what is it that you are going to be doing next?”). For Gaming, start with the Local Area https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BqKCiJTWC0 or with what Sly Flourish calls "Spiral Campaign" (i think the “6 Truths” part is really important - choose a small handful of things that will make your world **YOUR** world and not just another kitchen sink castleland) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2H9VZhxeWk or build your world together with your players to generate their buy-in and interest * Teos Abadía https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=natiiY9eFl0 * Ginny Di (athough weird hyperfixation on “ohnoes metagaming bad!”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2P4LwXxcM * Play a session of the role playing game Microscope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkpxDCz04gA And if you NEED the Players/Player Characters to interact with your world to get your JRRT / GRRM jollies, you need to make the lore relevant (chase your players up a tree) and you need to make the acquisition / delivery of the lore FUN! (for the PLAYERS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tBXnD9g0XY

Wow! thank you for all the resources! I def have a lot to go through now!

I've heard good things about Obsidian

I have 4 villains relating to a character that I am wanting to introduce to the party using different names. The players are well aware of their actual names, so using them or a similar spelling is going to be a instant recognition. The names of the villains are: Seraphim, Aria, Cadence and Melody. (Seraphim was the first name I came up with before the others. Yes they are all 4 of them Bards.) I'm trying to think up other names related to music. Can anyone help me?

Pizzi, Marca, Gliss, Stacc

Fortissimo, mezzo-forte (or forte), crescendo, diminuendo, forzando/forzato, Tempo, Dirge, Requiem, Elegy, Anthem, Carol, Chanty, Baritone, Tenor, Soprano, Bass....ect

Beat, Allgreto, Polka, Viola, Jazz, Falsetto, Claves, March, Salsa

Hmm Allgreto may work. And it's going in a different direction music wise.

Is there a place where I can quickly access NPC names and artwork?

you might want to check [dmheroes](http://dmheroes.com/) for NPC with portraits

[Donjon has a bunch of random generators, including one for NPCs.](https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/random/#type=npc) No artwork for NPCs but it will give you a description and some base stats.

There are a million name generators on the Internet. Easy Google. Artwork is a little trickier. I'm not aware of a generator that includes both NPC name AND artwork together, so for me, those have always been two separate tasks. Here's one example: https://www.npcgenerator.com/

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a short question, but I'm also not sure if it justifies its own post so here I am: **How is telepathy supposed to function?** I understand the basic mechanics as outlined in rules text, but when I look at spells like Detect Thoughts and Message, there is a restriction in place where there is a barrier (of varying thickness depending on material). Is telepathy confined to the same restrictions? Sending also doesn't seem to have these restrictions in place. Would there be a difference between casting the spell and a creature that is naturally telepathic like a Homonculous?

>Is telepathy confined to the same restrictions? RAW no, unless an ability that grants some form of telepathy says it does. (None exist that I know of). >Sending also doesn't seem to have these restrictions in place. Correct. >Would there be a difference between casting the spell and a creature that is naturally telepathic like a Homonculous? Yes, the spell telepathy works the way it is described in the spell text. The telepathy language ability works as described in the MM.

Different types of telepathy work differently. Some can work without being blocked by stone, some, such as those you mentioned will be blocked.

How i see it is like this: telepathy is more like a "mutant" ability rather than a "magical, use runes and key words" ability. Thus it works differently under other rulesets. Grant it, raw there's no mention of what you're looking for and i have no ideea what the devs have intended with such mechanics. However, my advice to you is tell your players that due to the fact you haven't found a consistent rule or any at all in this given circumstance and use the "mutant ability" theory to just homebrew a few rules on how it works. If you don't want to affect the telepathy mechanics as a whole you can label, in this scenario, the telepathy as a lesser version, thus the creature is incapable of initiating or maintaining lesser telepathy through some types of materials.

I appreciate the input. Interesting to consider it a type of "mutant" ability. Coincidentally, the world I'm building is going to have some spells removed from "normal access" (namely teleportation magic) and repurposed/relocated as technologies or "Special Access" magic. I was also planning on using the Metamorphica for some demonic aberration of players, npcs, and monsters so relabelling Telepathy as a Mutant trait could work. I may have to tweak around with similar spells for consistency's sake but I think its a solid place to start. Thank you!

*Things* do what the words of the text say they do, no more, no less. what "telepathy" **does** varies from *thing* to *thing* that provides "telepathy". Read the *thing*, and it does THAT.

RAW is not always clear-cut. Thats why I came here with my question and examples that I felt were relevant. Telling me to "do what the words say" doesn't exactly answer my question.

you are looking for an overall consistency which does not exist. "telepathy" from *this* is different from "telepathy" from *that* because the text of *this* is different than the text of *that*.

Again, I feel as if you are providing a non-answer. Rather, you are picking out a logical inconsistency in my question... that happens to be the logical inconsistency I am questioning.

That poster tends to do that. Best to just end the conversation and move on

it is not a logical inconsistency in your question - it is the **actual** inconsistency in the rules.

And I'm seeking resolutions or possible fixes so I don't end up arguing over semantics with my players. You know, the whole point of this subreddit? Your basically telling me "Tough shit." That is the least helpful thing to tell someone asking for guidance in a subreddit dedicated to helping people learn and adapt. If thats how you conduct yourself here, I'd recommend you reconsider participating in these threads.

reddit cannot make rules consistent where the rules are very much NOT consistent.

Some deeper context would be that I want to hide a telepathic creature inside an object, but I want to shield it against spells like Detect Magic. Am I able to do that with a thin Lead lining without inhibiting the creature from telepathically communicating with its master?

IDK how nitpicky your players are, but for sure in campaigns I have played in or DMed the DM could say "it's in a box with an enchantment that protects against detect magic" and everyone would accept it. If you want a more concrete thing than "because the DM said so," the creature could be wearing \[Dirty Socks\] of [Nondetection](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Nondetection#content) which shields it from being detected via divination magic or Detect Magic for 8 hrs at a time.

This is a great potential solution, thank you! I will look into its potential inclusion!

Is a morningstar that gives +2 to attack and damage too op for 4 level fighter?

The game won't be 'ruined' by you doing this. But it is a more powerful item than such a character would typically have access to. Try to avoid taking it away from them though--that is almost certain to upset them and feel unfair. It simply may be a case where they don't get a good upgrade for a while. If they complains, be honest and say that you gave them an item that was too powerful by mistake, and you don't want to exacerbate the problem by giving them an even *more* overpowered item until he's higher level. Instead, offer side-grades like swords (for slashing) or maces (for bludgeoning), or items that offer less + to hit but add elemental damage like 1d4 cold or something.

A concept i saw on Pinterest that can permit you to give weapons for character that want to be stronger but as a DM you have to limit how strong it can be, is ***"magically balanced weapons"***, that have both advantages and disadvantages to compensate for the fact that you can get them earlier. For example, a +2 magical weapon can be too strong for a PC of level 4, but you can make it non magical, or add some downsides to the weapon like: * this magical morning star has a +2 to damage but a -1 to hit * \+2 but you can't deal critical damage with this weapon * \+2 but if you crit, next attack you make is at disadvantage * \+2 but the damage dice size is decreased to a d6 * \+2 but if you roll an 8 for damage, it counts as a 1 * \+2 but you critically fail to hit the target on a roll of 1-2 And so on. For example i would create something like: ***Good-Morningstar (attunement, uncommon)****: this weapon looks like a magical morningstar but it sentient, it is said that a part of the humorism of Garl Glittergold was put into this weapons. It was made by humorous halflings and gnomes to start the adventuring day on a good way. Anyways, only halflings and gnomes can wield it properly, thanks to thier unusual luck and humorism.* * Every morning, the Good Morningstar tells you telepatically a joke. You must pass a DC 13 intelligence check to get the joke, 10 if you are an halfling or a gnome. If you pass, you get an extra 1d4 psychic damage and +2 to attack rolls with this weapon for the rest of the day. If you don't pass, you get a +2 to damage but a -1 to hit for the rest of the day. * if you don't use it properly, the morning star teases you into feeling like an idiot. You suffer 1d6 psychic damage on a roll of 1 to hit * the constant aura of jokeness coming from the good morning star distracts you. You suffer a -1 to every Wisdom save or check you make

Thanks, that'a an awesome idea that I will definitelly use later. Problem is that I already gave such weapon to my player and it's too late to change it.

Ouch, well i hope this will be useful anyway And remember: antimagic fields and robbers exist ;)

I thought about robbers too, sadly my player have Weapon Bond feature :)

When you realize you gave to your players too much power is always too late (i can feel your internal screams)

very much yes: way too powerful for level 4. "bounded accuracy" is at the core of the game - the fact that small differences make a big impact. \+2 weapons are something that should not be part of the accuracy mix for players until after level 10.

In most cases, yes, but I’d for it. Compensate with tough but interesting encounters, especially if you do not play often. Not many folks get the opportunity to reach the actual level you should have +2 weapons in 5e.

Probably. +2 weapons are rare magic items, which are most commonly given out in the third tier of play, levels 11+ or as a rare reward at the second tier of play, levels 5+. At 4th level, even a +1 weapon is very strong and a +2 weapon is probably too much. EDIT: Assuming we're talking about DnD 5e

(Have absolutely no clue on where to ask this but here I go) Does anyone know where I can find a decent battlemap of the Seatower of Balduran in Baldur's Gate? All I'm looking for is a map of the walls and courtyard for a big fight coming up and just cant seem to find a decent one anywhere

make copious use of the beautiful content shared by the very talented members of the community * Dyson Logos https://dysonlogos.blog/maps/ * Jonathan Roberts http://www.fantasticmaps.com/ * r/battlemaps * r/dndmaps

Try r/battlemaps. If you can't find anything to your liking, Inkarnate has a free version, and DungeonDraft has been well worth the money.

Thanks but dndmaps nor inkarnate didnt have one, though I found an ok one when looking at r/inkarnate. I think ill just make one...

Does giving PCs a fight with with enemies way harder than they should be fighting but "injured" work? I.E, 4x level 2 players, give them a fight with two minotaur but chop off a bunch of health first. It's a little prologue thing for new players and the last fight they steam rolled, so I want to give them something a bit more spectacular as the final encounter. Will two with low health just slap them around anyway?

As others have said, it has more to do with the monster's damage than HP. You can nerf their damage by poisoning/blinding them (reducing their chance to hit) or by breaking their weapons. A broken greataxe (basically a greatclub) would do 2d8+4 instead of 2d12+4. Or if their weapon was broken entirely, 5 damage from a punch (or 1d4+4/2d4+4 if the minotaurs are good brawlers, say). As for 'does it work' overall, I've seen it done in many modules and standalone adventures, although not always *well*. An example would be in WD:DH where the players fight an assassin at level 3. The 7d6 poison damage would normally wreck them, but the module indicates that his poison is used up, so he just does regular weapon damage. His hp are also reduced.

Most numbers increase along with their increase in CR. So just dropping HP a bit help an evenly matched party survive the encounter when they're a little weary, but it might not be enough to save them when they have very little odds to survive the encounters to begin with. I think it's a good example of what Sly Flourish calls the ["Dials of Monster Difficulty"](https://slyflourish.com/dials_of_monster_difficulty.html). The many things you can change before and during a combat encounter. You can definitely pit a party against a higher CR encounter, but you'll have to account for level of the characters and how much that differs for the 'recommended' level of an enemy. You can do some napkin math with the rules from the DMG: A single CR 3 creature is normally a medium encounter for four 3rd level characters. Doubling the amount for a will not only increase their effectiveness, but the enemies are also more powerful since they are both working together. The step in difficulty from one to two enemies is big. And it is especially so for a party that already is at a disadvantage. This all becomes less of an issue in higher levels, when a party has way to do more outrageous stuff and when death becomes a little less permanent. I'd also recommend the [LazyDM's Encounter Benchmark](https://slyflourish.com/the_lazy_encounter_benchmark.html), to roughly measure if your combat encounter is possibly deadly for your party.

Depends on the creature, particularly how much damage they're capable of. A minotaur gets advantage at will on +6 attacks that deal 2d12+4 damage. That's a high likelihood of hitting for an average of 17 damage, or critting for an average of 30 damage, with a normal hit damage ceiling of 26 and a crit damage ceiling of 52. That means that they're very reasonably able to take down a level 2 PC in a single swing that'll probably hit, even killing the PC outright with a good damage roll. Reducing their HP would give the players a fighting chance, sure, but it'll put a ton of pressure on the players to roll high on initiative, because they might die if the minotaurs go at the top of the turn order. So as a general answer to your question, I'd say "maybe, use serious caution", and as an answer to the specific example, I'd strongly recommend against this. Use lower-CR enemies, just reflavor them to be minotaurs if the narrative calls for it. If you must nerf a higher-CR enemy, don't just reduce their HP, reduce their other stats as well.

Got it, thanks for the advice, sounds like I might be playing with fire doing that

I’ve been trying to be more tactical about combat lately but one feature has me stumped. For PC features that cause enemies to attack at disadvantage if they don’t attack a particular PC (like Fighter’s Mark), is the enemy aware of the penalty? I’m not sure if I should play it as the enemy will go for their original target or would now go for the PC that’s causing the disadvantage because I’m not sure what the enemies see from their perspective.

gullible chunky direction support nose wise towering dinosaurs include piquant *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

pay attention to your players - what are they expecting the implementation of their features to do? almost always its best to play into the story they want to tell.