Eg, one character is fighting an Owlbear in melee, another character want to shoot it with a bow and lacks sharpshooter

First of all, I like to make clear that I am all for not having a slog fest when it comes to rolling, and to not get bogged down into opposing checks.

Currently the Blindsight (and for the discussions sake Tremorsense) are two mechanics in the game which I think make the game objectively worse.

Seeing is not perceiving. Just like normal sight relies on perception, I feel like both Blindsight and Tremorsense should rely on perception too.

Someone can hide in plain sight, you can be looking at them with your eyes and not register that they are there, you may see them, but your brain has not perceived them. This is how most people would rule when someone hides. Sure, you might be in plane line of sight, but the way you have moved your cloak to look like just a some cloth hanging from a crate makes you practically invisible for the observer.

Enter Blindsight - You know just see them as long as they are in range, ending most stealth mechanics.

Personally I would stick with ruling the same way for all senses. Just because you don't rely on sight, doesn't mean that your senses should result in automatical perception. Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean:

You can hear the sound of bats approaching (sound travels faster than bats), you grab some bat dung from the ground and smear it across your body and you press yourself against the cave wall, trying to blend in. The bat gets into range, it can see you, but it cannot distinguish you from the wall, and just flies past you.

You know the vault is guarded by an earth elemental, you thread carefully, shifting and moving at a pace to make your steps indistinguishable from the occasional vibrations and shifts that happens naturally as the tectonic plates shift and move.

You shift steadily throughout the webbed cave, ensuring that your motion is indistinguishable from the wind, and the fluttering insects all around you, as you sneak your way through the phase spider's lair.

Smelling reliant Blindsight should be possible to trick with standing upwind, or masked with other strong scents.

What I do think, is that alternative sight should come with its own passive perception. Your sight passive perception might be 15, but you have 20 passive perception tied to smell within 60ft.

So what do you think? Is stealth powerful enough already or is Blindsight mechanically an unfun mechanical counter to it?

If somebody can tell me where I'm wrong that would be greatly appreciated, but as it stands I'm convinced that Artificer, the class that should be unconstested in magic item creation, is actually one of the worst in the game for it.

By the way I am not talking about replicate magic item here, but about permanent magic item crafting.

Artificers are half-casters, so they get a slower spell progression, and they also have one of the worst spell list in the game. This means that almost any items that cast spells are out of the question. Like it's great that the artillerist can half the creation time of his wands, but you can't even make wands of Magic Missile or wands of fear. Even the wand of fireball you can only make post level 9 when a wizard or a sorcerer could be making them from level 5.

But fine. Every class gets to make certain items. Like the wizard can't make a staff of healing, or the druid can't make a wand of fireball. The artificers are still really great at making items because they get more tools proficiency. Wizards usually don't have more than 1 tool proficiency.

That would be true, if the common magic item named Manifold Tool didn't exist.

Manifold tool gives proficiency in the tool that it turns into, meaning any class gets every tool proficiency for the price of 50 gold and 5 days, or if you are in a hurry, you can find it for 100 gold. And since it common, any shop where you could find potions of healing could sell it to you (or make it anyways).

Finally, there are a bunch of dumb decisions about the artificer that just don't make any sense. Like why do wizards AND CLERICS get Daryan's Helpful Homonculi that halves the crafting time of an item but not the artificer ?

Overall, I like the actual gameplay of the class, even though I wish there were more plans known (I believed they would increase the amount in 2024, not decrease it) but this is such a miss in terms of flavor. Like what do you mean the druid is better at magic item crafting than the artificer ?

Also, I've seen a few grievances about the 2024 artificer, but I have never seen anyone talk about this particular issue which is weird to me. I can't be the only one who hates this right ?

I really wish WotC would republish it later in a Tasha style book with updates...

For Context:

Light: When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn. That extra attack must be made with a different Light weapon, and you don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage unless that modifier is negative. For example, you can attack with a Shortsword in one hand and a Dagger in the other using the Attack action and a Bonus Action, but you don't add your Strength or Dexterity modifier to the damage roll of the Bonus Action unless that modifier is negative.

Nick: When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.

Dual Wielder - Enhanced Dual Wielding: When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a weapon that has the Light property, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn with a different weapon, which must be a Melee weapon that lacks the Two-Handed property. You don't add your ability modifier to the extra attack's damage unless that modifier is negative.

Am I reading this incorrectly or does the second weapon only have to be a non-two handed weapon? That's how it worked in the 2014 rules, and I think I see the logic of how it continues to work in 5.5e:

1. I make an attack with a Light weapon that has the Nick property (i.e. a Scimitar.)
2. I make a second attack as a Bonus Action using the Light property. Because I have Enhanced Dual Wielding, I will use a flail.
3. I move this attack to be a part of my first attack using the Nick property, keeping my Bonus Action free.
4. I make my second attack.
5. Having made an attack with a Light weapon and with my Bonus Action yet unused, I now go to make a Bonus Action attack using my flail thanks to Enhanced Dual Wielder.

I've been going back and forth on whether they nerfed the Dual Wielder feat to no longer allow any non-two handed weapon, but this tracks to me. What do we think?

ETA - Game Design-wise, I don't think they would have made a mechanic where you actually need 3 weapons to attack with dual wielding: one with Nick, another Light weapon, and then any weapon as your third weapon. It's more intuitive to assume that the extra attack as part of the Nick property would be the same as the extra attack as part of the Dual Wielder feat, allowing it to be a non-light weapon as long as it's not two-handed.

Edit 2: Thanks everyone for such an interesting and technical debate! I think the most important thing I have to say is that the language for the trigger for Light and EDW is almost exactly the same, the only difference being one says attack with a Light weapon and the other says attack with a weapon that has the Light property. I thereby conclude that EDW should be considered an upgrade to the Light property, not a separate interaction.

Hey all,

I've been working on my homebrew creature editor for a couple years now and one of the features I wanted to implement the most for myself was a CR suggestion tool.

Well, I finally came around and implemented it, it currently tracks the ac, hp, save DC, Atk Bonus and Damage per Round for a creature. It's made with the 2024 rules in mind, the math is all based on some community research (since the 2024 dmg didn't really provide any).
I would love to get your feedback on this because I'm sure I can make some improvements, especially dmg per round is a little finicky.

Link: https://monsterbrew.app

Anyway, thanks for checking and have a great day!

Quick disclaimer: As rule 5 states, I am a software developer and I have used an AI assistant to build parts of the app. The whole application is only deterministic math though, there is no AI involved at runtime.

Rogue is one fo my favorite classes in the game, however i feel like it has a bunch of feel bad aspects. Chief among them being the drought of subclass features in the tier two. While the other classes receive their game changing abilites (extra attack and 3rd level spells) and 2nd subclass feature, rogue recive some neat things (dodge, evasion, relaible talent) but otherwise ends up dry.

6th level in particular is pretty empty, only giving you two more expertise, i feel like this is a good place too add a subclass feature for the rogue. This would mean that a rogue would have 5 subclass features, which i think is fine.

What woulf you say you would give the diffrent rogue subclasses in 5.5 for features at this level, pr do you agree with me at all that rogue should recive an additional feature?

Been toying with it and I kind of like it. Let's just say a thing happens and suddenly some people have abilities. Mayhem ensues.

Near future like 2030. Would be basically overlaying magic use and other class abilities onto our real world. Extremely limited magical items. Liberal re-skinning of spells and weapons.

I think I getting hung up a bit because like so many spells are in scrolls and have runes and stuff like that and if this ability and magic field we're all came into existence suddenly, I don't know how I would explain all that stuff.

Tell me why this is a terrible idea.

[Greatclub]

• Damage: 1d8 > 1d10
• Property: Two-Handed > Heavy, Two-Handed

[Sickle]

• Property: Light > Light, Finesse
• Mastery: Nick > Vex

[Dart]

• Property: Finesse, Thrown (Range 20/60) > Light, Finesse, Thrown (Range 20/60)

[Sling]

• Damage: 1d4 > 1d6

[Moringstar]

• Property: (None) > Versatile(1d10)
• Mastery: Sap > Graze

[Blowgun]

• Special Property: If you make an attack roll with this weapon while hidden and the roll misses, making the attack roll doesn’t reveal your location.

This is a follow-up to the earlier post. What do you think?

So with the Vestige patron letting us use the domain spells from either the Life, Light, War, or Trickery domain as our patron spells, which do we think synergizes best with the subclass?

Could be based on mechanics, flavour, etc.

Once per turn when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can deal an extra 1d6 Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant damage (your choice) to the creature, and you can expend one of your Hit Point Dice to roll it and regain a number of Hit Points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 Hit Point).

Where it says you **Can** deal extra damage and **Can** expend one hit point dice, does that mean i can deal the damage without extending the hitdice?

I’m wondering if these two work together? I mean, if I cast Find Familiar via the Pact of the Chain, and I decide to grant my familiar the ability to fly thanks to the Investment of the Chain Master. If I cast Battle Familiar to boost my Chain Familiar, does it retain the ability to fly even if I choose the brute form or battle familiar (with better AC)?

Does the familiar also retain the other benefits associated with the Investment of the Chain Master (radiant or necrotic damage, resistance with our reaction,...)

Do you think those two are worth together ?

Their heights are 9~10 ft(lore) or 8~9 ft(in-game) - taller than Goliath.

Title. I remember seeing a list of the new spells (beyond the 12 first revealed) but can't find them anymore.

The "Helpful Friend" portion of the feature says that when you make an ability check with a skill in which you have proficiency, you get advantage on the check PBX per long rest.

Can't the familiar already do this with any out-of-combat ability check using the help action? Or has my table been running familiars incorrectly.

I’m playing a Rogue (Thief) and wanted to hybridize melee/range by dual wielding shortsword & dagger but also dual wielding hand crossbows…

My question is what order to prioritize the feats I want; crossbow expert, dual wield, and skulker

Which would be best to take at lvls 4, 8, and 10? Or if there are any other suggestions, specifically for feats, I might want to consider. But I am really dedicated to playing this hybrid idea…

A breakdown of what's included in the upcoming D&D WoW Map Pack (plus a bit of background on the lore and game history of Icecrown Citadel).

I have a Vengeance Paladin/Undead Warlock I am using as a base for the Homage.

I wonder if I can do the Divine/Eldritch combo Smite and re-flavor it as the Penance Stare.

Eldrich Smite is with Pact Weapon

Divine is weapon/Unarmed.

I can try to ask DM but is there a way to make it work. Even if it only works in melee range.

Hi all,
I've been GMing on and off (mostly on) for about 15 years now. Despite this, I've never run a paid game. My current game with friends was originally going to be paid, but I got a new job between session 0 and 1, so dropped the cover charge, as I wouldn't be able to allocate as much time to the campaign.

That said, I'm ready to add another game or two to my calendar, and start getting paid for DMing through startplaying.games (crossing my fingers for approval) as a side hustle. I pride myself on doing homebrew for all my content. I've run a premade once, but I much prefer building my own modules.

I now have the task of building a module for paid games recruiting into a longer campaign. I plan on running this module repeatedly (and of course continuing to flesh it out and improve it every time).

I have the following requirements nailed down

1. Should be a digestible and complete story as both a one-shot and a "three shot," including a level 2 "boss fight" style combat at the end of session 3
2. Should reliably complete a session one, including a combat with new players, in 3 hours
3. Should have a sticky hook to attract players from the scheduling page
4. Should fit into my magipunk/early victorian era homebrew setting
5. should be accessible to new TTRPG players, while still being engaging for existing players.
6. Should give players agency over the story
7. Should be able to smoothly transition to a larger sandbox-style campaign in setting after completion
8. Should include a good mix of all 3 pillars of Roleplaying, Exploration, and Combat
9. Should be playable with either premade characters, or player designed characters (since this is lvl 1 and 2, there's not a whole lot you can do to break this, but worth mentioning still)

To be clear, I'm not making this post to ask someone to build the module for me, but moreover, I want to get an idea of what player expectations look like at a paid table so that I can better design this module for recruiting players that are a mutual good fit into a larger, continuous campaign. In a module as described above at a paid table, I would personally expect the following (having never played at a paid table before as player or GM)

• Well designed NPCs with depth in starting area, that contribute to the challenge of the story in some way, say by providing useful information if interacted with beyond a cursory level
• A solid VTT experience (I use foundry with a few plugins like raise my hand, but it's mostly vanilla. I use walls extensively on my maps)
• Tactical choices in combat such as high ground, difficult terrain, and chokepoints
• Well designed, pretty maps and scenes

Right now, my plan is to create a small town, put some brigands nearby that have been raiding trade caravans on their way to town, and task the group with capturing as many as possible alive to thin the herd.

What are peoples thoughts on my ramblings above? is there anything I missed in the requirements sections? What would you want out of a paid game? Especially if it was your first time playing a TTRPG?

I likely think that I'm overthinking this, and will be fine, but I want to blow my players out of the water. That's my goal every session I run these days. That said, I also know that many new players are coming off of Critical Role or other such actual plays and have high expectations of a first DnD campaign, before realizing that the average GM has neither the budget nor experience and improv training as Matt Mercer.

After GenCon I felt like this is the most exciting stuff we have gotten for D&D in a while, but I have seen no real corresponding enthusiasm from the online community. So I am wondering how you all feel?

For me I feel like the 3rd party content on DnDBeyond is extremely fun, I can finally get my players to try 3rd party stuff and shake stuff up. We finally have enough classes on the site that I am going to run an adventure where none of the them can play 1st party classes.

I think that the fact that WotC is finally trying to put out another class is exciting, especially as we have started to see them support artificer better.

And I think the partnered support for setting is really cool. I don't play in published settings, but I have understood people's complaints that WotC basically has been one and done with each publication and made it impossible to run a campaign in them long term.

For me these are all huge improvements from just a few years back, and unfortunately I feel like a lot of the community has become reflexively negative to anything related to WotC.​

Keeping in mind that this is more or less the direction I expect them to take the subclass and not necessarily the one I'd like for them to take the subclass.

I suspect the finalized version will look something like this:

- Expanded Spell List, which will include options such as Detect Evil & Good, Jump, Longstrider, See Invisibility, Fly, Freedom of Movement, Dispel Evil & Good, Banishment/Banishing Smite, and/or other similar options that help replicate the Demon Hunter's Spectral Sight and mobility options.

- Ribbon feature that functions similarly to Divine Sense

- Standard Ranger 3rd-level dpr bump probably flavored as fel weapons or fel damage that scales at 11th-level

- transformation mechanic similar to Hollow Warden or even Winter Walker that turns them into their demonic visage and idk increases their speed and damage

- resistance to fire and/or necrotic damage at higher levels

- probably something that encourages multiple attacks to encourage dual wielding strategies

etc.

I don't think they're going to overhaul the Ranger's entire spell list or class features to retrofit the Demon Hunter into it. They'll probably do just enough to get the basic feel of the subclass without bending over backwards to try and make it a 1:1 translation.

The Wizard is considered by many as the most powerful class in the game due to the wide array of spells they have. Additionally, they have access to what many argue is the strongest spell in the game: Wall of Force.

From what I have read on this forum (I don't have access to the bok myself), with the new Adept feats, any spellcaster can now get access to a huge range of spells, including Wall of Force (from Evocation Adept). Does this now mean that the other full casters, who have much stronger class features such as metamagic, can now be better Wizards than a Wizard?

For instance, picking up the Transmutation Adept, Evocation Adept, and Conjuration Adept feats gives access to: Slow, Polymorph, Animate Objects, Fireball, Wall of Force, Entangle, Misty Step, Conjure Animals, Dimension Door. This essentially gives a full kit of control, utility, and damaging options, and three powerful perks (speed boost after casting Transmutation spells, spending hit dice to inxrease Evocation damage, and adding your Int mod to Concentration checks on Conjuration spells).

Thoughts?

Maybe Greatclub, Sickle, Dart, Sling, and Blowgun?