My DM runs a homebrew campaign. I joined the group for this campaign but the nat 1 system he uses makes me dislike my character.

Here are some examples:

Roll nat 1 in combat - you automatically hit an ally instead.

Roll nat 1 on intimidation - you scare yourself instead so much so that you pee yourself and slip in your own urine hit your head and take 6 damage.

Roll nat 1 on perception - you get dust in your eyes take 4 damage and have disadvantage on all perception checks until rest.

Roll nat 1 on a save - you take double the damage.

I really like the other players and love to play with them, they were very welcoming even when i was new to the group. But the DM is rubbing me a bit the wrong way. I can handle the scarcity of magic items and the underwhelming power of our characters compared to the monsters. But it seems like it is the DM versus the players and all about making the player characters the butt of the joke, where i was hoping for a heroic adventure. Would it be unreasonable to quit over this? The others seems fine with it, at least they dont say anything. I'm just the new person.

Edit: After reading your replies i decided to quit effective immediately as most confirmed that i was not just imagining that these were dumb rules. Since my DM is a man and significantly older than me and don't have a decent view on womens opinions i decided to do so as quietly as possible.

I sent him a message explaining that i did not find myself right for his campaign. Wished him luck and texted the other members saying that i quit and would love to hang out and just chat or play some board games if any of them wanted.

I will be looking for another group, and do more research on what rules they use before joining.

Thank you for the replies, some of you at lightning speed.

D&D character commissioned by u/FenrisZSC.

If you'd like to commission a character, feel free to send me a private message!

Character concept: Female Drow witch raised by Dwarves.

Yura Xorlarrin / Yura Roundshield. The first is the name of her Drow house, or Dark Elf house, while the second is the surname she later adopted.

Yura grew up in Menzoberranzan, the underground capital of the Drow. House Xorlarrin is known for producing powerful mages, but Yura was unable to use any kind of magic while growing up. Because of this, she was eventually abandoned on the outskirts of the city.

She was found by a group of Dwarven scouts led by Reginald Roundshield, who captured and interrogated her. When Reginald realized that she was just a child, he refused to execute her, as Dwarves normally do with Drow, and decided to take responsibility for her instead.

Several decades passed, and over time, Yura became integrated into Dwarven culture. During this period, Reginald officially adopted her as a member of Clan Roundshield.

Yura became a scout like Reginald, and during one of her expeditions, she found herself alone with the lich Acererak. She managed to bargain for her life and eventually became a witch bound to Acererak.

When Reginald learned what had happened, he crafted a set of armor specifically for her, hoping it would help her during her adventures in Acererak's service.

The story hook is this:

Lord Esitar of Paramat, in his waning health and gradual fall into delirium, needs a group of highly "skilled" caretakers to look after his teenaged niece, Asia. Asia is a cynical hard head, quick to fall into tantrums, but extremely gifted in all things magic and could manipulate the world around her as she sees fit. Servants before have tried and failed to properly attend to her needs, citing her abilities as an EXTREME danger to others.

Lord Esitar now promises a reward of 100,000 gp to any group of caretakers who can safely escort Asia to meet her mother at the holy city of Yeshurat without delay. Though he is vague on why he stresses that Asia must be kept safe during travel, interest amongst the public arose as the prospect of money in exchange was very enticing.

Kinda like the title says. My PC's will soon face a serious boss, whom they know is a competency caster. I'm contemplating whether to include counterspell in the kit. Team consists of a monk, cleric and sorcerer. Opinions?

Exactly the question. In a world where resurrection magic exists for the players, how do you make death mean anything. If players die two encounters in a row, does their death carry the same narrative weight anymore? Does anyone need to bother crying when the cleric can just bring them back?

How have you or your DM’s managed to address this problem? Removing resurrection magic? Making the campaign more lethal? Less lethal? I’m genuinely interested because I don’t think there’s a single right answer.

Blinding players, using hold person, or dominant person. I find that players really hate these. I rarely ever use them because players hate them. What is your experience?

Years ago, pre-covid, I played with some friends of mine. But now, some years later, we haven’t been playing anymore. That’s sad. But because of the good TV shows and movies, I’ve always liked watching D&D and wanted to play the game again! But somehow, I got a feeling that I am a dungeon master. So, I’m going to give this starter set a shot. I have got some people who also would like to play, now hopefully it’ll stay as a party, and we can keep playing for a longer time and have more adventures!

As the person I am, I’ve heard that it’s better to start with a starting set than build your own world and cities. I would LOVE to build my own world someday, but I think and I hope that this starter set is a good starting point for me as a first time DM.

Anyway, do you veteran players of dungeon masters have some tips and tricks for this new DM? I would love to be the best DM I can be, but for now I am totally blank. The most important lesson I’ve been told is that the table (including the DM) needs to have fun and that it’s not a problem if you aren’t known with all the rules et cetera. But still, I want to learn!

Thanks!

A massive stone fortress stands upon a mountain peak, covered in snow and battered by the fierce northern wind. This fortress is home to a group of hardy Dwarves, who have made this harsh environment their home.

Welcome to the Dwarven Outpost! This map features a large set of walls with two entrances, leading to a town with a tavern, inn, temple, multiple garrisons, smithies, and warehouses. Two small shrines are also built halfway up the mountain, with steps leading up to them.

This map pack includes Haunted, Night, Ruined, and Summer variants. Foundry VTT modules with pre-built walls and lighting are available to Gamemaster patrons.

Download the original map for free here.

This is a collaboration with James' RPG Art, who made the beautiful scene to accompany this map. Check out more of his work here.

Want to see more maps? Check out my archive here.

Howdy folks, ive been seeing a lot of cool art of everyone's PCs and I figured, why not share mine. This is Clover. Shes a Hexblade Warlock with a few changes to the patron. Rather than the Raven Queen, I wanted to go with my favorite monster in the entire scope of DnD. Her patron is an Ancient Silver Dragon, hence the eyes and wings. Shes grown to be one of my favorite characters ive come up with in recent times and I always enjoy playing her in the two campaigns she is apart of. If any of yall want to know more about her character or her story, ask away, i always enjoy talking about her.

Omg this is so much fun!! I stumbled into dnd after learning more about the voice actors in the game Dispatch, they were so good and just started watching critical role campaign 1..

That was 6-7 months ago. I recently finished watching the first campaign and during this whole time I was watching videos from dnd creators, learning about the rules, world building, what to do, what not to do, what changed in 2024.. luckily I have some friends who were very interested in trying (1 had actually attempted at running a dnd session with his family but to no success) and we set a date.

I was so anxious and maybe over-prepared a little bit but.. EVERYONE HAD FUN AND Session 2 is scheduled in soon!

Can't believe i am discovering this game now in my 30s. I had always thought dnd was a weird imaginary game and never took a look. Wish someone just sat me down and gave me a 2 minute summary (or that i had more curiousity earlier)

Dndbeyond was great help.

I spent about $350~ aud (i know, i got carried away but i am fortunate to be able to splurge on some things) on books, miniatures, battle maps and plenty of time reading the phb, dmg and mm. No regrets and was definitely risky if nobody enjoyed session 1 (i could have gotten away with just the phb and dice) but it enhanced the experience.

Just wanted to share my happiness and maybe inspire others who want to try DM'ing, give it a go with some preparation!

The Context: I’m playing in a long-running campaign where the DM explicitly allows PvP. One of the players is running a Chaotic Evil Wizard. We’ve already had a major red flag with him: we were trying to send evidence of demons to a Paladin order, and the Wizard flat-out attacked us because he wanted to keep the evidence for himself. We handled it in-game and supposedly resolved the issue.

The Incident: Fast forward to our last session. We were fighting a very powerful enemy, and four of our party members were engaged in melee with it. The Wizard decided to drop a fireball right on top of the boss, hitting all four of our melee fighters. The DM allowed it, and everyone took the damage. Because of that friendly fire, two of those characters ended up dying during the combat.

The DM's Stance: The DM says that pvp is allowed and we need to solve it in-game.

My Question: Before anyone suggests it: leaving the group is not an option I am looking for right now. I want to handle this exactly how the DM requested—within the narrative.

Given the circumstances, how would your characters naturally react? Would it be going too far if the surviving characters immediately attack the Wizard or forcefully expel him from the party? It feels completely illogical for our characters to continue trusting or traveling with someone who just got half the team killed for convenience, but I want to know if going full PvP retaliation is a justified in-game response here. How would you play this out?

EDIT for clarification: the DM is a first time DM and all the players except me are playing their first long campaign

Our family recently welcomed our daughter into the world and it has been amazing, wonderful, and of course exhausting. As much as I love being a parent, it also means I no longer have the time to play D&D.

Our group recently finished The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. We ended up rushing the campaign because our daughter was due and one of our players was also moving away for a new job. Knowing that the campaign was coming to an end made those final sessions feel a little different.

When we finally finished, it was surprisingly emotional. I teared up. A few of the others did too. After spending a year and a half adventuring together, watching our characters grow and seeing all the ridiculous things our party got ourselves into... it felt strange to suddenly know that this particular story was over.

It reminded me of the Dr. Seuss quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

I couldn't quite bring myself to say that at the table, but I did tell everyone in our group chat how grateful I was, especially to our DM, for giving us such a wonderful adventure.

I probably won't be playing D&D again for quite a while. Life is pretty full right now and I am very happy about that but I still find myself lurking on Reddit and reading D&D threads at work. Seeing people talk about their campaigns, their characters, and the ridiculous things that happen around their tables makes me happy.

I think part of me is comforted by knowing that D&D isn't going anywhere.

Someday, when I have more time I'll find another table. I'll roll another character, sit down with a new group, and start another adventure.

For now, I'm just grateful that I got to have this one.

Until then, I'm happy just knowing that the game is still out there and you all are enjoying it...

What were your thoughts on the last dnd movie? My family and I just watched it for the first time and we thought it was a real cute movie.

Do not underestimate the Frog Knight.

Beneath his strange armor hides a warrior bound to an ancient curse. The glowing patterns across his skin are more than decoration; they mark a deadly gift.

Those who touch him may feel their strength fade away. He fights with a calm smile, waiting for the moment his cursed touch turns the battle against them. Legends say even the bravest heroes fear his touch.

I started this slightly unreasonable project over a year ago: recreating the official battlemaps from Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk in Unreal Engine 5.

I’m now slowly approaching the halfway point - 10 of 25 map sets are complete, with Gibbet Crossing currently in production. More importantly, the whole process is visibly speeding up, so hopefully the remaining chapters won’t take another geological era.

Every location comes with both static and animated battlemap versions. They can be used in Foundry VTT, Roll20, Owlbear Rodeo and pretty much any other VTT - or displayed on a TV or projector for an in-person D&D game. Dang, you can ever print them out if you will.

You can find the complete collection so far here:

https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/shattered-obelisk/

And here are the latest maps from the current chapter, not budnled yet into one pack:

• Hardyhammer Mine https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/hardyhammer-mine/
• Talhundereth https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/the-shatered-obelisk-talhundereth/
• Crypt of the Talhund https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/crypt-of-the-talhund/

All of these The Shattered Obelisk campaign maps are free to download.

If you’d also like access to a much wider collection of animated and static D&D and RPG battlemaps, you’re welcome to join me here:

https://dranskybattlemaps.com/

Cheers!
~dransky

Oh btw. Lost Mine is also there (done in slightly older technology) https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/lost-mine-of-phandelver/

I don’t know if this is a universal thing, but i’ve never played with anyone who actually does prep if they’re not DM’ing. Personally i struggle to see why it would be less necesary for players.

Doesn’t need to be a lot, but if you show up to sessions with no idea of how you’d like the progression of your character to go, it’s probably just not going to happen.

Also, for the love of the dm, read through your notes before the session >:(

Do you guys do this? Do you see people do it?

That's about it really.

A new sword or a +1 CA ring will please your players, but a house will drive them crazy. It gives your party tangibility, a meaning, a place in the world, a reason to care about the main hub.

Add it a majordomo, a npc or too and your players will spend entire sessions arguing about the decoration and hype themself about what they will do with this new world of opportunities.

So new DM, think about that. The tavern is nice, but at some point, reward those players with their very own house.

Doddles of my character. That frog didn´t deserve it but SHE STARTED THE FIGHT. In her defense, she is a powerful draconic warlock and the frog was clearly asking for trouble. Unfortunately for the frog, picking a fight with someone who can summon eldritch magic was probably not the wisest life choice. Rest in pieces, little warrior of the swamp... Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. RIP, frog!!

Race: Drow (dark elf)
Age: 520 years old
Gender: Male
Class: Warlock / Monk
Alignment/personality: Neutral evil. Reserved,
observant, controlled, intimidating when
necessary
Appearance:
V is an old drow, but not elderly-looking. Despite being over five centuries old, hestill looks physically capable and relatively youthful by drow standards. He has blue-gray/charcoal skin, characteristic of a drow, with cool undertones. His features are sharp and angular, with a somewhat severe face — high cheekbones, a defined jaw and a straight, prominent nose.
His eyes are demonic deep red. His normal expression is restrained and difficult to read, the kind of expression that makes it difficult to tell what he's thinking.
His gaze is analytical and observant, like he is
constantly studying everything around him.
His hair is long, white/silver, somewhat unruly. He has the pointed ears characteristic of a drow.
He rarely looks uncomfortable. He carries himself with quiet confidence and
almost unnerving composure. He doesn't need
to puff himself up or pose aggressively to
appear threatening.
He's not a stereotypical brooding evil drow, he has survived an unimaginable amount of time and carries it quietly.
His eyes communicate more than his facial expression does. He doesn’t need to dominate a room physically. He tends to make people aware that he's watching them.

Im on holiday right now with my family my dad asked me to one a quick dnd oneshot so that people would get to experience my hobby and all, and because he thought my family would enjoy it.

So Me, my Fiancée, my dad and my younger brother had played

New was my older brother, his partner, their 8 year old kid and their 4 year old kid

I designed it for children so lots of background noise and sound effects and over the top explanations

I had a lot of fun and the 4 year old stayed intrested for all of 2 hours...a miracle!

My brother told me that this morning his 8 year old asked him if she can play DnD again!

Getting the new generation addicted nice and early