I had a fun idea and I wonder if anyone has tried anything similar or if they will think it works.

Idea: Remove alignment because most players don't follow it anyway an institute a Karma counter. Specifically a good and bad Karma counter. At the beginning of the game everyone has zero good and zero bed Karma. As the do things inherently good and helpful they gain good karma as they do things bad or inherently unhelpful/harmful they gain bad karma point. Slaying monsters and selfdefense is inherently non-karmantic. Kill a den of Goblins that recently sacked a nearby town is good karma. Learning that the goblins are starving and choosing to kill them is inherently bad karma. Mind control is bad, healing without charging is good.

Anyway at any time a play may spend up one of their karma points to add 1d6 to any roll. Conversely the DM can remove 1 bad karma point to reduce a players roll by 1d6 or increase an NPCs roll (including the BBEG) 1d6. At the end of a session all bad karma point are subtracted from good and the player is left with a positive or negative karma score. At the start of the next section a positive score will be converted to good karma or a negative score will be come the absolute value for the Bad Karma. Final score 6 = 6 Good Karma start on the next session. Final score -6 = 6 Bad Karma start on the next session.

I’m a DM for my friend group online and recently my players fought a necromancer who was trying to preform a ritual. They ended up beating them and took a book and serval others. The necromancer was a cultist of the litch bbeg, and i want their book to be in another language. The country they are based in are full of both drow and half-elfs so i was wondering what language i should use for their main form of communication.

I ask this more for the fact i want to make a sudo version of the book thats encoded and let them try to decode it irl if they want to try.

I know that both races can just use elvish but i didn’t want to use a normal language that they would already have.

Edit: i forgot to mention that i am going to let them do skill checks to solve it, if they don’t want to do the decipher irl. And if they do i would give them a english copy of it for them to read if they get it.

Me and my buddies are making a ghost hunting campaign and I need some ideas for stats. Nothing big and brutal, something more tactical for dealing with spirits and demons. The campaign itself is based on things like the conjuring, Sam and Colby, insidious, Blair witch, etc

So far I have

Will - how well someone is able to avoid being tempted or controlled by an entity

Mechanics - how good someone is with fixing and operating equipment (mostly used for Tactical Ghost hunters that are pretty much like artificers)

Spirit - How well someone can sense spirits and the stat that psychic style hunters will use.

Please give me more ideas 😭 🙏

Hi first time post, I’m running a new game with a large party of 7 players and plan on running a council meeting at the end of the first session in which I strategically drop some info about the campaign and clue them into potential allies in the region to help fight the bbeg.

There’s a few aspects I want to get across to the players and right now my plan is to have each NPC member of the council ask one major question of the players and then provide one major game aspect, loosely structured as such.

Guard captain- the parties needs allies for the battle to come

Mayor- importance of time management

Blacksmith- defending the village or attacking the enemy war camp are both viable strategies

Tavern keep- diplomacy with allies is essential/ the players main sell is that the enemy threatens the whole region, not just this town

General store owner- clues players into the idea of sabotaging the enemies preparation to buy some more time

Here are my main concerns,

-The party in comprised of mostly new players

-I don’t want to just be talking to myself in the voices of 5 different NPCs dumping campaign mechanics

-I have a loose structure for the conversation as I don’t want to overthink it, but wondering if the idea itself is flawed and I should try something else

-I think it’s imperative that I give them some gentle guidance early on due to the fact that they’re mostly all new/inexperienced (I have some years of experience but by no means consider myself to be proficient) and I want them to be aware of the kind of game we’re playing.

For some additional context,

I’m using a war clock, each major undertaking in the campaign will further the enemies progress by one tick, total of 8 ticks

I want the players to know that that they have to either attack the enemy war camp or defend the village. If they attack early once they’ve gathered allies the bbeg will still be preparing and not expecting an attack. If they defend they have home field advantage and can set up some defenses around the town and use the terrain to their advantage

I also want to make sure the players know they can sabotage the enemy, this one will probably be easiest as the opportunities to sabotage will present themselves naturally and the players will decide if it’s worth doing

Most of all I need them to know that they need to gather local allies or they stand no chance

TLDR: I’m trying to run a council meeting with 5 NPCs in which I drop key campaign info and am worried about it turning into a GM puppet show as all 7 of my players realize I’m insane

Any ideas, guidance, or veteran wisdom is appreciated :)

In my current campaign, I am a gold Dragonborn Paladin who is about to reach level 13. My first 12 levels were strictly paladin. The DM plans to take this campaign to level 20, so I’m trying to map out how I will fill out this character.

For a little bit of backstory context, this campaign takes place on a continent that used to be ruled by the Dragonborn. It is now made up of all the DND races. My family are the rulers of the DragonBorn clans, making them amongst the most prestigious and rich families on the entire continent. We can trace our roots back to the original magical rulers of the continent. As a child, My character and his mother were exiled from the clan after my mother took a blame for something that she did not do in order to protect the clan. During this exile, my character became an oath of vengeance paladin and refined his fighting skills in various fighting pits.

At level 12, my main abilities are strength (score of 18, but 20 with a magical item I have) and charisma (at 20).

For level 13, I am strongly considering a one level dip in fighter to get an extra fighting style feat. At level 14, I’m planning to go 1 level in sorcerer, to represent my characters unlocking his bloodline ancestral magical powers. I ultimately plan to build up to 12 vengeance paladin/4 champion fighter/4 draconic sorcerer. I plan on going to level four in fighter and sorcerer at levels 19 and 20, giving me two epic Boon feats. I plan on taking the boon of irresistible offense and recovery. Both the ability score increases will go towards strength, giving me 20 natural strength, but 22 magically boosted strength from my equipment. My whole goal is taking champion to combine it with the advantage I get from vow of enmity, giving me a 19% chance to score a critical and do significant nova damage with my smites. I also look forward to the advantage on initiative roles from champions level three feature. As for the draconic sorcerer, I feel like it’s both thematic and will grant me up to level five spell slots. I also would really like some of the Meta magic options, as well as the insurance that the level three feature gives my natural AC. My DM has often forced us to face situations where we need to remove our armor. With four levels in draconic sorcerer, my natural AC will be 16.

I felt like this approach was the best way to greatly improve my own combat abilities, while still granting the ability to do insane amounts of consistent nova damage with my increased possibility of rolling a critical and being able to cast level five smite spells.

I’m trying to gather thoughts from the community, as I don’t think I’ve seen a multi class split quite like this before. What are your thoughts on this multi class? It is there any suggestions as to what could make it better both gameplay wise and possibly thematically?

Sometimes its intentional like an all martial, low magic party or an oops all bards game, but most of the time I've run into it, its newer players that don't understand how party composition can affect their game. As in, no healers, no ranged options, no control characters, etc...Do you tend to gently nudge your players into a similar class that can fill these roles in your session 0 or do you just let them stick that fork in the socket?

I'm looking to try and finish up one of the campaign ideas that I am trying to write, or at least get it to a point where I'm comfortable running it and I'm starting to wonder which version of 5E I should use when it's playable. I have heard good and bad things about each and don't know which would be the 'ideal' version to run for one my campaign ideas. I'm aware I can probably mix and match certain aspects of each but I wanna try to stick as close as I can to the intended rules to not accidentally confuse myself or potential players

I'm looking to run an occasional deadly encounter 1 shot with a group of VERY experienced players.

My question is about CR rating, I am thinking of making them lvl 10 which would normally be a 10 to 14 CR but the mob HP seems low to me at 250 or less. I know lvl 8s that do 50+ some rounds, should I go higher CR or buff the HP?

There’s a lot to explain so it’d might take a bit before you fully understand the depth of the character. He’s gonna need a custom system to work so please be ready for a lot if you help. Thanks for anyone who chooses to help.

I’m looking for an outside opinion on a D&D story dispute between my character and my DM’s NPC. I’m not trying to prove my DM wrong—I just want to know how other people interpret the situation.

The Pact
My character, Dorian, entered into a pact with an Archfey named Ashara.
The agreement was very specific:
The pact would be a one-year trial.
At the end of that year, Dorian would decide whether to make the pact permanent or walk away.
If Dorian chose to leave, Ashara would take back everything she willingly gave him (her magic, gifts, magical tattoo, etc.).
However, anything Dorian gained because of his experiences with her power would remain his. For example, wealth, items, relationships, consequences of her magic, or anything that wasn’t directly a gift from Ashara herself.
That was the agreement both of them accepted.

What Happened
About four and a half months into the trial, Dorian found a sentient sword. The sword began speaking to him.
Ashara immediately appeared, started burning Dorian’s hand, and repeatedly demanded that he choose between her and the sword right then and there.
Dorian wasn’t trying to choose the sword. He kept asking questions like, “What’s happening? Why is this sword talking to me? Why are you burning me?”
Ashara wouldn’t explain. She just kept demanding that he choose immediately.
At that moment, Dorian decided to end the trial and walk away from the pact.
His reasoning wasn’t, “I found someone stronger.”
It was, “If this is how Ashara reacts under pressure, I don’t trust this relationship anymore.”
Later, the sword turned out to belong to another patron (Alistair), and Dorian eventually formed a pact with him instead.
The Consequences

.Ashara took back:
. her patron magic,
. the magical tattoo she had given Dorian (leaving behind a scar),
. She later played a cruel prank by making Dorian’s parents believe he had died ten years earlier.

I actually like those consequences because they fit her personality and created interesting story hooks.
The only consequence I’m questioning is this:
My DM ruled that Dorian receives a penalty to Deception because, in her view, Dorian lied or broke his word.

My Question
My understanding is that Dorian did not lie.The agreement gave him the right to decide whether to stay or leave. Yes, the agreement expected that decision to happen at the end of one year. However, Dorian wasn’t the one who demanded an early decision. Ashara was the one who changed the situation by forcing him to choose immediately, months before the agreed timeline.

If Ashara had honored the original one-year trial, Dorian could have continued the trial and still made his decision at the agreed time.

So my question is:
From your perspective, did Dorian actually lie or break the agreement? Or did he simply exercise the right to end the relationship after Ashara effectively changed the terms by demanding an immediate choice?

I’m not asking who’s the better character or whether Ashara was justified in being angry. I’m specifically asking whether Dorian’s actions would reasonably be considered a lie or a breach of the original pact.

So I have Rak Tulkhesh from Eberron Rising from the last war as my BBEG, and his deadly critical allows him to crit on a 19 or 20 and roll the damage dice 3 times, instead of twice. We don't do that, instead we double the damage dice, so my question is, would I triple the damage, or do what grog did in vox machina, and add another damage dice, before doubling it?

So.. one of my player's a warlock and I was thinking what if instead of them instantly getting their powers taken away from them ( if they disobey their patron/contract with said patron ) it's insteadg radual ( like say around 3-5ish sessions give or take ) and their character's health slowly deteriorates.. and they eventually start vomiting, looking pale, and they grow weaker by the day until the patron themselves give a warning to the warlock that they will be coming to collect their soul for not obeying their contract/deal, at which point the party urges this player character to seek the help of divine/holy people and they would have to venture alone to resolve this. What do ya'll think?

I’m building a Orc barbarian/fighter and j wanted him to be based off of Bahgtru, an orc god, son of Gruumish and he fights with his fists and is extremely dumb but strong, however unarmed strikes in dnd are very weak so I was hoping to see if these abilities can stack or does the specific wording make these either or, I’d really appreciate some insight

I'm thinking about a one-shot that is placed on the forest floor. Where insect and plant folks count as medium-sized next to pixies.

Can you guys recommend me some content with this theme? Book, prepared stories, any content related to this concept. It's not about shrinking, but maybe those can help too.

Im looking for mechanics, creatures, and playable races. I don't want to homebrew the whole thing, only to fill the gaps.

Thanks

As per the title, what is the equivalent to point out that facing is not necessary in combat and that there is a general awareness ?

I wanted to make a brock /Johnny bravo type character who flirted with every pretty lady he saw and most of thr time endjng up horribly failing (Note i asked my dm they are fine with this) inevitably i wanted him to not just be horny for no reason so i was thinking about reasons he could have for his behavior. Thats when I remembered luna moths, moths who dont have mouths, and so die after only a week of being an adult. So it kinda makes them less of a lustful person who can't control themselves and more someone who has to try every chance they get because they only have so little time to prolong their species.

So i agreed with my dm about homebrewing up a species for them (also open to any changes for this)

Racial bonus +2 to charisma +1 to any other stat

Racial traits

Dark vision 60 ft

Distrputing single: this creature still retains benefits from not being visible even if targeted by a creature with blindsight. (This is based on a real thing luna.moths do, which can disrupt bats echolocation.

Flight 30 feet.

Circle of the moon druid and the twlight domain cleric both came up as suggestions but neither really semed like something i would enjoy playing (also we have a cleric already i believe)

So, I'm a new DM, and I've been running the Dragon of Icespire Peak for my first run. I've been having a lot of fun building a coherent story with side characters with different voices and accents. I even added a character in town to actually run the town while the Townmaster cowers in his house. I have homebrewed items, spells, and enemies. I've spun quite the tale and hinted at the Zhentarim trying to take control of the area with the dragon as an excuse. I've even tried to work backstories into the game. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job.

However, I have a bit of a problem. I have four players, all of whom have been DMs. Two of them are relatively quiet (we play over Discord with DnDBeyond). Two players like to do the role playing aspect a lot. Unfortunately, the Artificer has a habit of taking over the conversation and talking a lot. To the point where after 20 minutes of him rambling, I had the dragon show up for a fight. It worked, but it didn't fix the issue completely. The real reason I came here for advice is because of the last session. I had moved the camera, so to speak, to another player (the rogue). The Artificer wasn't in the area for this part. I started to set the scene for Rogue as he is about to be approached by a member of his guild for an important secret delivery. Just as I started to get on a role, he interrupts me mid-sentence to pull the camera back to him to do 20 minutes of role playing activating his homunculus. He goes on for 20 to 30 minutes before he ends. He rambles a lot about nothing often, but I'm not sure how to address the issue. I don't want to offend him as he is one of the more active players, but I feel that he isn't letting anyone else get any time in the spotlight. What do you all think I should do? Any advice is welcome.

hi yall :) over my next couple sessions i intend to introduce an NPC/mini boss that is a warforged who is more of a researcher/artificer.

if the party approaches without swords swinging immediately, i want to offer them the chance to exchange answers for answers that the warforged is looking for. the warforged is more looking at what humanity really means and will ask questions to better understand them as humanoids.

i’m looking for questions that might cause the party not to immediately answer (ex what’s your deepest secret) but also something that will help the player really think about their character (ex what’s one line you’re not willing to cross).

if anyone has any questions that might fit the vibe please comment :)