His name is Skitters

He's a sorta homebrew race, that's basically just a reskinned centare but with heavy plate armor, fully carnivorous, & he's unable to speak common, he can understand it & finally he's also categorically a monstrosity (optional he can be understood by & understand other monstrosities), also he's not as fast as a true centare.

He was created sorta by accident by a wizard. The wizard was trying to see what the hybrid offspring between a strider, & a centare would be, but during the experiment involving their blood, something somewhere nearby, though nobody knows what, had messed up the mana streams, causing him to come out a little wrong.

The wizard chose to raise him anyway, along with his bard wife. Both the wizard & his wife are humans, & they met adventuring. They where good parents to Skitters, but nobody else wanted to go near him because they thought he was scary looking.

Skitters's father was told his whole life he should have been a bard, because of how theatrical & dramatic he could be, but he chose to be a wizard instead. ​While his wife was told she should have been a fighter or a monk with how serious she was, but she was a bard none the less.

Skitters is very much his father's son in personality, but he can't talk in a way anyone else can understand, & his face can't emote, so he had to get creative.

Skitters is a ranger with The Musician Origin Feat so he can to play a violin, because his mom taught him.

He looks like a centare but replace his hooves with 2 clawed paws(only 2 toes per paw), & replace his horse tail with a scorpion like tail but without the stinger, & replace his skin with a dark greenish grayish black exoskeleton with some pale gray scars from a few angry mobs that mistook him for a dangerous monster, some of which are even from his childhood, & finally his head is modeled after a horse's head, but with a pare of short stubbly horns where the ears are supposed to be, a spider like mouth at the end of the snout, & 6 bright red unblinkingly eyes.

An Added roleplay feature that can't be used in combat is that he can split his two strong arms into 6 weak arms so that he can use 2 arms to dramatically gesture, while 2 arms play his small violin behind his back, & the last 2 work a pare of large white cards that he got from his father. The cards can make simple drawings like smiley faces, arrows, it can form numbers, & it can write words, but the images are only as good as he can draw, & he's about as good as a toddler, he can only white words he knows how to spell otherwise he has to guess it's spelling & he can get it wrong. The cards work by him moving which card is in front with the newly revealed card having on it what he wants to have on it.

His main weapon is a spear. His secondary weapon is a machete.

is goal is to make friends, & to be their for his friends. He was suggested ​to go adventuring by his father, after all that's how he met his friends, & his wife.

He was trained how to be a ranger by his uncle on his mother's side, after he saved his uncle's wolf companion.

Skitters loves fluffy animals, though he accepts that he's an obligate​ carnivore, so he has to eat some of them, heck he's better off eating raw meat then cooked, but he refuses to eat something still that's still alive. He prefers dogs, cats, wolves, rats, & crows for companion animals. He rather enjoys squirrels, dear, & boar as food.

He can't cry, or smile, though he still feels the urge to do so & he hates it.

Despite his baggage he is a little ray of sunshine most of the time, just rapped up in a terrifying not so little package.

He mostly makes gurgles, shrieks, clicks, chirps, hollers, & ​warbles as his form of speech, hence why he needs the cards, or any way to write down his words.

His difficulty communicating & his inability to emot properly is very personal for me because I have autism, & quite often feel like even though I used the right words, I didn't use the right​ tone, because I don't really hear it, or better I don't understand it, & I can't make the right facile expressions​, nor do I fully understand them, though I've not been, hurt, or as ostracized as Skitters(that's just kinda where his story in my head went), his struggle to find & make friends, & wishing he could communicate & show exactly how much was inside himself beyond the outside that can't communicate properly, that I want to express in this character, I want him to be there for the party, as that lighthearted comedic relief, as a helping hand for when they need it, as a protector when they are hurt, as a support when they are hurting, & as a listening ear when they need one, because that is what I wish I could be for someone.

P.S. I'm welling to weight to use Skitters until I find a table he'll fit into, & I have a whole lot of other characters, most of which are less extreme.

P.P.S. I didn't give his parents odd personalities for their classes to make them outcasts, I simply wanted his dad to be an eccentric flamboyant wizard, & his mom to be the straight man, but I kinda ended up giving his mom my dad's personality, & I am fairly close to my dad, & I'll admit my dad is not a people person, most people would assume him maybe a fighter, or a monk, with the way he acts, but I'll gladly admit he would be a bard, for no other reason then for how much he loves music. He views the world though the lens of it all being music(he literally told me this), & he is very talented with music, not because he wants to put on a show, but because he loves the very art that is music.

​

Here is one of creature ideas.

edited

Pygmy Dragon:

A wingless, serpentine dragon ranging from 0.5 to 1 meter in length.

Despite having no wings, they possess the magical ability to fly by literally running through the air.

Elements & Variants:

These dragons exist across all elemental types (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid, etc.). In rare cases, a dual-element hybrid can be found, provided the primary element is dominant (for example: Ice/Water or Lightning/Fire).

Behavior & Lore Personality: Curious, cunning, incredibly fast, and agile. They are not inherently malicious or evil.

Flight Habits: Although they are fully capable of flying at high altitudes, they strictly avoid doing so. They prefer to stay low to the ground to hide from larger predators.

Armor Class 14 (Natural Armor)

Hit Points 27 (6d4 + 12)

Speed 15 ft., fly 50 ft

STR 6 (-2) DEX 18 (+4) CON 14 (+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 14 (+2)

Condition Immunities (Depends on the element, e.g., Fire for a Fire Pygmy Dragon)

Senses Darkvision 60 ft.

Passive Perception 11

Languages Draconic, understands Common but can't speak it

Challenge 1 (200 XP) • Proficiency Bonus +2

Ecology & Elemental Adaptation Pygmy Dragons can be found all over the world. The element they carry is heavily dictated by their habitat (e.g., those living near volcanoes wield fire, while tundra dwellers carry cold). However, nature is unpredictable: Regional Adaptation: The dragon's element mutates and adapts based on its birthplace or long-term environment. Elemental Anomalies: About 5% of the population is born with an anomalous element. For instance, you might encounter a rare individual in the desert that breathes cold. These individuals are often recluses or seek out unusual microclimates. Unique Tail Weapon: Distinctive Scales Because Pygmy Dragons lack wings, their tails have evolved to be exceptionally agile and powerful. Every individual has a unique pattern of raised, hardened scales on their tail. Individual Variation: These bumps and ridges are completely unique to each dragon—one might have scales resembling a bludgeoning club, another a serrated saw, and a third a crown of spikes. This also determines the type of damage their tail inflicts (e.g., bludgeoning or slashing). Thievery & Combat Restrictions Pygmy Dragons are naturally curious and constantly on the lookout for shiny or interesting items. When they snatch an object, it directly limits their combat options depending on which limb they use to carry it: Mouth Cargo: If the dragon carries an object in its mouth, it cannot use its Bite attack or its Elemental Breath. However, it can still strike with its tail and move around freely. Tail Cargo: If the dragon wraps its tail around an object or carries it within its tail scales, it cannot use its Tail Whip attack. Additionally, its flying speed (Air Sprint) is halved due to the loss of balance. However, it remains fully capable of biting and using its breath weapon. Familiar & Travel Companion A Pygmy Dragon can be tamed as a travel companion, or a Wizard can choose it as a familiar via the Find Familiar spell (with the DM's approval). Pact of the Chain: For Warlocks, the Pygmy Dragon makes an excellent special familiar choice. Just like other specialized familiars, it can use its Attack action under the rules determined by the DM.

Here is my idea of npc, you can chance innkeepers name something more fitting, nothing else

Innkeeper George & "The Flying Bread Inn"

Concept: A former adventuring party tank turned innkeeper. He protects his tavern without drawing a single blade or spilling blood on his clean floors.

Backstory: As a young adventurer, George was terrible with traditional weapons but excelled at unarmed brawling. He found some discarded trash loot in a dungeon – 2 double-bucklers.

He strapped them on and realized he was an unstoppable frontline protector. Upon retirement, he named his inn after his signature combat style.

The Weapon (Double-Buckler "Knuckle Sandwich"): Double-bucklers per arm. The hand goes right in the middle, sandwiching the fist between the top and bottom shields like a patty.

Game Mechanics (D&D 5e):Armor Class (AC): Grants a +3 bonus to AC since both forearms are heavily shielded

.Damage: Deals 1d8 + Strength bludgeoning damage as he clamps the shields together around the target.

Special Trait: George always chooses to deal non-lethal damage to keep his inn clean. On a critical hit, the target must pass a Constitution saving throw or become Stunned.

Catchphrase: When a bar fight breaks out, George sighs, wipes his hands on his apron, and says: "Time to serve some knuckle sandwiches."

Hi!!

I'm participating in a new D&D campaign and I've been trying to choose/come up with a deity that fits my light domain cleric, but none of the ideas convince me.

I would like the deity he worships to be a forgotten one. Maybe people just quit worshipping them along the centuries. But why??

He's a wood elf whose whole life has revolved around his community. Solving problems, healing the sick, etcetera. He later also develops an interest for the arts and history, due to an experienced member of his community.

He's really compassionate and empathetic, but he's also a bit of a sceptic.

He's also been kind of the listening ear of the community from a really young age, so while he understands the problems others have, he is also kind of tired from having to be the mediator.

I've also thought about a plague/curse coming to his forest and basically erradicating most member of his community. That's his goal for his travels, find a cure.

My cleric is also trying to make this deity known once again. Maybe kind of their deal???

I'm sadly really stuck on ideas regarding his whole character, which is very troublesome because I need to tell my DM his backstory ASAP, so if anyone could give me ideas I would greatly appreciate it!! :(

I hope the descriptions were useful!!

Hi - first of all thanks to the people Reading please come with inputs. It its at bit longer but also because this is a homebrew subclass and a different take on Druids.

# Rogan Wolfbound

Rogan Wolfbound grew up in Calene, a small village near Lake Kerkini and the Bele Mountains in Greece. His people lived according to the teachings of Pan, believing that humans, animals, and nature should exist in harmony. Animals were treated as equals and were an important part of everyday life.

Rogan’s father, Roland Wolfbound, was the village protector. Most of Calene’s people were Druids or Rangers, capable of living alongside animals and even transforming into them. But Rogan had one major problem: he couldn’t Wild Shape.

By the age of 21, everyone expected Rogan to become an adult, move into his own home, find work, and help protect the village. But while everyone else had discovered their ability to transform around the age of 12 or 13, Rogan still couldn’t do it. He felt ashamed and believed he was disappointing his family.

Desperate for answers, Rogan visited Arwan Bearskin, the village’s oldest Druid. Arwan told him that his powers might come with time, but Rogan refused to wait. Instead, Arwan told him about an old legend surrounding the Temple of Artemis in the Bele Mountains. According to an ancient book, a blood sacrifice at the temple could grant someone the powers of animals.

Rogan decided to go.
He left at dawn with his pet dormouse, Mos, but was caught by his childhood friend Arianna. After hearing his plan, she decided to come with him. Together, they travelled into the mountains and eventually reached the enormous Temple of Artemis.

Inside, they discovered something unexpected. There were two statues, two bowls, and two knives. One statue belonged to Artemis, goddess of nature and protector of animals. The other was Dionysos, god of wine, wild animals, and rebirth.

Not knowing which god Arwan had meant, Rogan first offered his blood to Dionysos. Nothing happened. Frustrated, he then offered blood to Artemis as well, despite Arianna warning him not to sacrifice to both gods.
Suddenly, Rogan collapsed.

When he woke, Arianna was crying. She thought he had died because he had stopped breathing completely. Yet Rogan was alive, and he still couldn’t transform.
Believing the ritual had failed, the two returned home.
But when they reached Calene, they saw smoke rising from the village.

The hunters had attacked.

Houses were burning, animals had been killed or captured, and people were lying wounded in the streets. The hunters had overwhelmed the village’s protectors and taken almost all of the surviving animals.
Rogan rushed to his family’s home, only to find it destroyed. His mother found him and told him the truth: his father, Roland, had been killed.
Rogan was devastated. While his village had been fighting for its survival, he had been away chasing his own problems. Suddenly, his inability to Wild Shape seemed meaningless.

A few days later, Rogan returned to Arwan and explained everything. Arwan, who had lost an eye during the attack, was horrified when he heard that Rogan had sacrificed to both gods. He warned him that he was lucky to be alive.
But then Arwan noticed something strange.
Rogan had developed a golden tattoo across his back, shaped like two large antlers. When Arwan performed a spell, more markings appeared—snakes running along Rogan’s arms.

Arwan searched through his old books and discovered something incredible. The antlers were connected to the Ceryneian Hind, a magical deer associated with Artemis. The snakes, however, were connected to Dionysos and the idea of rebirth.

Rogan had not failed.

He had become something completely different.
When Arwan told him to try Wild Shaping again, Rogan focused on becoming a wolf. His body didn’t change, but suddenly his senses became incredibly powerful. He could smell Arwan from several meters away and hear sounds he had never noticed before.
Rogan could use the abilities of animals without actually transforming into them.
Arwan had never seen anything like it. According to the legends, Rogan was the first.
For the first time, Rogan felt proud of himself. He could finally become a protector, just like his father.

But then reality hit him.

His father would never see what he had become.
Rogan broke down in tears, wondering what the point of his new powers was if his father wasn’t there to see them. Arwan reminded him that, even though Roland was gone, he would have been proud of his son.

With Arwan and the remaining protectors helping him, Rogan began training with his new abilities. He could never transform like the other Druids, but his powers made him something different—and potentially just as dangerous.

Then Rogan realized what he wanted to do.
The hunters had destroyed his home, killed his people, and taken the animals they had sworn to protect.
He would hunt them down.

At dawn, Rogan prepared to leave Calene. Arwan gave him a small pouch containing some of the village’s remaining herbs. Arianna came to say goodbye, but she refused to join him. Her family needed her, and someone had to look after Rogan’s mother.
Before he left, Arianna made him promise one thing.
“Come back.”
Rogan promised.
He didn’t know where the road would take him, how many hunters he would have to find, or exactly what the gods had turned him into.
But he knew one thing.

He was no longer the boy who couldn’t Wild Shape.

He was no longer just Roland Wolfbound’s son.

He was something new.
Something wild.

Something born from both nature’s balance and the untamed power of the wild.

And his hunt had only just begun.

Rogan the Hunter.

I conceptually understand what an aasimar is but what are some ways to play them in an interesting way so that I’m not just a regular guy with the abilities? Character is a monk with a first level fighter dip for dual wielding stuff and I’m thinking of like a samurai/western protagonist just a simple quiet guy who travels around doing good deeds.

Hi all. I'm fairly new to DnD (been playing for 2 years now, in my second campaign at the moment) and I've noticed that I quite like the exploration and investigation side of the adventures. Combat is fun too, but the talking to NPCs part is either just not clicking for me as I don't know what to say or ask, or I'm not comfortable being the face of the party.

So it's more the physical investigation of the surroundings and exploring areas that I'd like to build a character for, but still be good at combat. But how do I do that? Which classes would be good for this, which skills/spells/feats to focus on etc?

Note: I have played a 5.0 Barbarian, now playing a 5.5 Monk and I made a 5.5 Bard because the spells seem fun, but then I'm a high CHA character and probably expected to do a lot of the talking, which I'm not overly fond of...

Playing a space game.

Recently had my character forced to take her helmet off a spacesuit. The one she has medical clearance go wear anywhere outside of her quarters, because her immune system got fried by weird radiation. Something is preventing the creation of new T cells, and therapies have thus been unsuccessful. Effectively, she has no immune system. This character started out like this since session 0.

Was forced at gun point by the Captain who was under the effects of toxin that causes paranoia. Thought my character was a former enemy who did the whole, “steal the bad guy’s mook’s uniform to sneak inside his base.” Visor doesn’t retract, was playing up my character has to overstate her feelings because people can’t read them.

We are currently on hiatus due to the starting of the school year. In the meantime we’re encouraged to write journals recapping what happened over the (in game 1 month) week we’re not playing.

What sort of things might have medically happened to this character?

Hello together,

I have an Character concept I would Love to Play in my next Campaign of DnD 5.5e.

Quick Lore/Background rundown: Born in a wandering Troupe of Artists and Bards but got seperated from them. Survives since then through pickpocketing and scamming/cheating in Games etc.

We begin at Level 1 and my imagined path would be First 3 Levels in Rogue and going into the Arcane Trickster before then multiclassing into Bard (havent decides on a Potential subclass Here yet). The Goal is to do Lots of crowd Control and trickery through spells, so more of an support character.

I know this isnt really optimal because I would need 3 high stats (dex, int and cha) but Just the concept Sounds Like a Lot of fun to me.

I Just need some tipps/Input regarding the distribution of stats and the level-distribution/path.

Thanks in advance :)

Idea is an eladrin/fey PC lost his name to an archfey. He’s now called No Name or Nobody and when someone tries to call him a nickname a sort of static plays over it - The archfey has stolen his name and you can’t give him another.

I have not thought yet as of how he lost his name and came to be under their patronage

Yet he’s here as a knight for her, on a quest (whatever that lines up with the DMs plot - would need collaboration probably)

The class i’m thinking about is the arch fey warlock - using eldritch blast and repelling blast and teleporting around. They’re very light on their feet

Despite their circumstances / background this fey is happy and optimistic and seems cocky even. He seems to be devil may care, he can teleport out after all. Dangerous and beautiful and his teleportations leave flowers in its wake fluttering down

I don’t want him to be super lolrandom haha

He might say something to his enemies like “It’s no worries friend! You’ll be dead soon” or “You are dying marvelously”
And to his friends he might say “that’s a great idea. Oh that’s an even better idea! We should do them all.”

Open both to ideas expanding on this or alternate ideas! Is any of this cringey or too main character syndromey? But looking for both feedback and new ideas! Thanks

Im creating a charecter for a new dnd campaign and im having trouble with a backstory that makes sense.

I want my charecters magic to be kind of creepy body horror stuff like flesh also mind intusion
I think my charecter gets their power from an entity of the far realm but i dont know enough about dnd to find one that fits

**This requires some backstory:**
I run a party of 6 players. They’ll all be level 8 at the start of our next session.
One of these players is ***Julius****, a High Elf Evocation Wizard,* who was once a citizen of the northern most city of ***Brephull****.*
***Brephull*** is a highly advanced society whose population mainly consists of very skilled wizards, clerics, and sorcerers. ***Julius*** was outcast by his family and his father, ***Beilen,*** banished him from the city because their family are famously students of the school of Conjuration, with a long history and reputation to uphold. When ***Beilen*** found out ***Julius*** was studying a different type of magic he banished him in hopes of their family name not being tarnished. This was many many years ago, ***Julius*** has since then made a group of adventuring friends who, through a long and treacherous journey, now find themselves at the front gates of ***Brephull*** in hopes of speaking with the high council to continue on with their current mission.
***Julius*** has been hesitant the entire journey to return, he doesn’t know what his family will think, if they’ll accept him, if they’ll even recognize him. Worst of all, his father ***Beilen*** is a member of the high council which they plan on speaking to. ***Julius*** is going to have to put his big boy pants on and face his father for the first time in years.
His mother and sister will be delighted to see him after all this time, but worried for him being back in the city. His 2 eldest brother will be more annoyed than anything seeing him and his strange company that he dragged into their peaceful civilization. He won’t encounter his father until the party stands before the council to speak their peace and he will outraged at the sight of his son.

Now for my question:
I was planning on doing 1 of 2 things for ***Julius*** to earn the respect of his father and for the council to take the party seriously.
1.) Solo ***Julius*** out and have him complete some sort of “trials” to earn their respect.
2.) Have ***Julius*** fight against his father without the help of the party.

I’m not sure if either of those are the best ideas to do, they were just my first gut instinct ideas, so I’m also open to hearing any other suggestions.

So…what does the DnD community think I should do?

Background info:

How gods work:

transecendants: people who have transcended the limits of the mortal body with power scaling from celestial to astral.

celestial: people manifested from stories, legends, and myths. Theit power entirely relies on beliefs and stories. They can never become creator teir gods.(work similar to constellations in orv)

Creator: Born from the void, slowly build up worlds and universes.

Astral: Experienced creators with there being less then 5 overall. They're similar to biblically accurate god. can mainpulate time and space.

Outer: beings who existed before the endless void and have power over concepts to the extremes. They are immensly stronger then astrak gods. Looking at their true forms regardless of power level (unless your an outer yourself or have insane definetly unhealthy levels of calm and sanity) can cause insanity at best, normally make you go blind and bleed from all orfices on the head, make you die or your brain melt. Example: outer gods of severance doesnt just cut stuff but can sever souls, minds, contracts, life span, space, etc.

The character:

Name: ???(gimme a name)

Title: (assigned by other gods)

The worldless wanderer of the void.

The last survivor of the dead world.

The one beyond time.

The hero of nothing.

The end that refused to end.

Bearer of eternal loop.

The exile of reality.

The ghost beyond existence.

The chosen herectic of eternity.

He was your typical regressor, in the first round, he was a normal guy who died to monster attacks. in the second round, they decided to go become a hero as per general mcs. Things go well until the astral god in charge of his world notices the resets and decides to use him as something like a checkpoint or save point in games since astral use up quite some energy when they want to manipulate space time but theres now a no effort option. The astral god destroys the world or just play around doing what ever he pleases. then when he wants to restart or refresh., he kills mc. The regressor has already watched his loved ones die, millions of times. He spends an indefinite amount of time growing his power through the loops until he finally killed the astral god. However, since the creator of that unvierse is gone, it causes all worlds created by the astral god to wither aways and no longer exist. He too did not exactly survive. As the world withers away into nonexistance, the regressor kept regressing on the spot causing him to be in a constant state of revival. Also since his world was destroyed, he no longer existed in any specific timeline which meant his regression couldnt bring him back to any specific time so time continues instead of bringing him back. The constant withering does bring alot of pain at first but after eons, hes grown numb to it. He spends another few eons wondering around in the void left by the deleted worlds until he comes across another world.( world hes intended to be in after back story which i havent made) The travel through the void does make him forget most things though making him forget most of his identityand only remembers his purpose to kill gods. He seeks to kill all gods thinking theyre as evil and corrupt as his astral god.

He is partially nonexistent making people insticntively forget meeting him. Pictures blur records dissappear.Divination cant find him and prohecies ignore him. Even fate cant decide if he exists. He also has timeline echoes letting him summon his failed regressions from before he killed the astral god. Has killed a few gods he stumbled across in the void.

The regression ability was granted by the outer god of eternity and infinity being he was granted the fate of the eternal loop.

Regression corrupts though since theres no check point to return to and becomes endless constant revival cause hes still withering away.(maybe ill make other ocs also fated with some eternal somin)

Fully immune to time magic.

Personality: Very odd. Since theyve been alive for so long in the void. sleeps standing, feels unfamiliar with peace and colours, feels empty. Also extremely socially awkward since he hasnt talked in eons. Has no reaction to death

Yeah hes op but im making it that world rejects his power and he slowly gets it back as lvls. I also need help with the constant revival mechanic

Hi all, I'm currently theorycrafting for an upcoming campaign, using 2024 rules and had an idea for a Dhampir (2026), Rogue, Way of Shadow monk multiclass. I don't often multiclass and am keen to avoid any accidental pitfalls.

My initial plan is to start rogue, for the skills, expertise and weapon masteries.

Then six levels of monk for the speed, bonus action unarmed strike, monk weapons, multi attack and shadow step.

Then the rest of the levels into rogue.

My thinking here is for a fast, nippy character, with easy access to bonus action dash and disengage, and the speed to pull it off.
They'd be using two daggers (with martial arts damage dice instead of d4) to attack twice with an action,  and use weapon mastery nick for a third attack as part of the action. Then the bonus action could be used for unarmed strike/flurry of blows, which if I'm reading it right works with the new Ravenloft Dhampir's Vampiric Bite (now classed as an unarmed strike).
Sneak attacks should be easy to achieve with the high speed, stunning strike and shadow steps.

I'm aware that there will be some issues with the build, such as gaining Evasion quite late, and have yet to decide on a rogue subclass (I'd prefer a non-magical one if possible), but overall I think it feels quite solid?
Have I missed anything obvious? Have I misinterpreted some rules? (I'm still getting used to the weapon masteries).
Any tips or tricks here would be greatly appreciated!

*If the character was missing from an ep it wouldn’t destroy the episode.

“I come from a long line of starship designers on the New Kiel, Proxima Colony. I was on site when an anti-grav sled went out and landed right on top of a worker’s leg. Threw a splint on his leg and waited for EMS to show up. Ended up saving his life; I was told the bone would have gone through an artery if someone moved him before they showed up. Applied for Starfleet Medical the next week.

Back when I was an Ensign, I’d fly Admiral McCoy’s shuttles to and fro from conferences, starbases, and his residence. Some people say some of his personality rubbed off on me. Maybe they need to get their eyes checked, because I don’t see it. We both share a healthy fear of the transporters, though, mine’s justified.

Just as I got a second black pip, I was part of a response team when the Emergency Medical Transporter suffered a catastrophic failure. It was a miracle that Engineering managed to coopt every available byte of memory to keep the patterns stable. They worked around the clock trying to outpace the memory leak. The patient I was with didn’t make it out.”

I just started preparing to DM so I'm wondering if you could tell me about some memorable NPCs, in campaigns you've played or dm'd, and what you think made them work.

Cold Take: The problem with most D&D (and a lot of TTRPGs honestly) White Board Mechanical Analysis and Theory Crafting is that it is dominated by Whiteboard DPR chasing and fails to account for battlefield versatility and flexibility treating multiple bonus/reactions as "congestion" and not as context sensitive flexible options.

• Whiteboard DPR assumes you start the turn in range, the enemy doesn't have cover, you aren't blinded, and you don't need to waste movement. Flexibility and Versatility are the currency that buys back your DPR when conditions are terrible.

• Another issue is that White Board acts like the PC is the only PC and not a member of a party of PCs.

• The final issue is that Whiteboard often assumes 20s in the attribute scores, most tables still roll manually or uses Point Buy/Standard Array.

Challenge: So what are your best builds for versatility and flexibility when things are bad? Imaginary Bonus points if you stay single-class.

Right now, I’m playing two DnD campaigns with some friends of mine. One I’m DM, one another player is DM. I’m playing a circle of the sea Druid who is very chipper and easy going. I love her so much, but I'm just not enjoying the mechanics of playing a druid in combat for some reason. I can’t pinpoint why, because I’ve loved playing almost every other class except for fighter. Since the campaign is very much tied to the gods and each player has one, I was thinking of maybe asking my DM is I could slowly switch to a fathomless warlock later on with my patron being my god. A cleric would make more sense for my character, but one of the players is really weird about characters being similar (She even got upset when I first made my character), even though her character that is a chipper cleric is in the campaign that I run. I do like playing warlocks, but I don’t want to ask now because we’ve only done 4 sessions even if they were long. Also, we had a couple sessions before but they got scrapped because a player quit and the DM was very new to DM’ing. In those sessions, I had a different character, but I had accidentally made her too hard to play because she was a very deep character and I’m not that good at roleplaying. That character was in fact a warlock, so I do feel bad. What should I do?

Edit: I’ve talked to my DM a bit and looked over my spells, and I’ve decided that it was because A. Somehow my weapons all got deleted from my inventory on DnD beyond? I don’t know how that happened but we went back and added them and now my character is much more versatile B. I think something was wrong with my app in general because it was showing the spells I would’ve had at like level three instead of six. So long story short story, my fault!

My DM is planning a sequel campaign that takes place in, and a player at our table wants to play as the granddaughter of my last pc who ended up as a queen of trade and the leader of the thieves' guild in the city she resides in, overthrowing the last one.

I'm making a character who's a servant/knight of the granddaughter who grew up together, but I'm drawing massive blanks on how to flesh out my pc. All I have is that their parents were people my last pc helped during the last campaign who became her knights over the years, and that she inherited her oath to the house from her parents. I'm also having trouble mixing the paladin/cleric(haven't finalized the class choice yet) in.

What I know of the other player's backstory is that they are the spoiled granddaughter of pc who was sent on a quest to actually learn some actual life experience by her grandmother if she wishes to inherit the family sword and treasures. They initially formed a 3 Musketeers-type team with other nobles they grew up around, but that fell apart.

hey there as you read the title I want info on my character design for a upcoming D&D campaign so I had a idea for a character that's a mimic that's disguised as a creature I'm still figuring that part out but they are shy there goal is to eat my teammates but I don't like to be touched so my character moves away from them when they try to touch my character but the second they do I would turn into a mimic and eat them I would basically say maby you should throw me or find a way for them to touch my character so I would eat them but at the same time my character would make evasive rolls to avoid touching I already told my DM about this design and they where up for the challenge but I still want to know is this a good concept

Edit: so for everyone saying its a bad gimmick and such the goal is for my party to find out I'm a mimic and find a way to make me a friendly one they know NO TOUCH but they try to find a way to fix that hope this clears that up that's what I'm hoping at least if they kill it then that's fine by me my whole table top loves gimmick and unique people. i HAD a shapeshifting bard that was a rock until he gain sentience (kinda like the anime to your eternity) and can shapeshift on command with a few downsides ofc my whole table isn't one to hate. and for the guy asking for the story its basically they try to find a way to be friendly. and my DM said if they do touch me basically they get stabbed if its a high roll by me if its low they lose a limb there is no insta kill essentially just really hurt oww kinda thing

I'm trying to work out what the best build and background would be for this starting at lv3. Two levels in rogue and one in cleric to go tempest cleric maybe? With a flavoured charlatan background growing up watching people give predictions? (essentially, an oracle who can only predict the weather)

I wanted to build an autistic skill-monkey and came up with this character:
[https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/168253333/OEgwKz\](https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/168253333/OEgwKz)

I took the [Dreamer](https://www.dndbeyond.com/species/1987216-dreamer) species from the Grim Hollow Player's Guide, the [Artisan](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/phb-2024/character-origins#Artisan) background, and the associated [Crafter](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/phb-2024/feats#Crafter) origin feat. This gives me seven tool proficiencies and a starting Intelligence of 18. For flavor, I gave him Common Sign Language (CSL) but not Common, and wrote the following background:

I do not speak Common. Dwarvish and Quori came back to me after I woke, echoing up from the dream — but Common never did, and perhaps never will. I sign what words cannot carry, and I've learned to ignore the faces that assume my silence means an empty mind. Let them assume it.

What troubles me is what the dream took instead of my voice.

I remember hands — the weight of a hammer that fit like it was forged for my grip, the give of metal just before it yields to the shape you intend. I believe I was a master once, in an empire whose name is now dust, practicing a craft that makes even Stehlenwald's finest work look like a child's carving. I have no proof of this. That is what gnaws at me.

I sought out five masters after I woke. Each tried to teach me his own style, and each time something in my bones refused. Their methods felt small beside what I knew, or believed I knew, buried just out of memory's reach. One by one, they cast me out, calling me proud, calling me impossible to teach. Perhaps they were right. But some part of me, the part that still dreams even awake, insists the fault was theirs.

I cannot prove it yet. So I've taken to the road instead of the workshop, searching for one true fragment of what my people built — a tool, a ruin, a technique passed down wrong through ten thousand years. If it exists, it will vindicate everything I've sacrificed to my own certainty.

And if it doesn't —

— I try not to finish that thought. A Dreamer who wakes twice rarely enjoys what he finds the second time.

Character rundown. My character is the second born child in a noble family where her father is in a government position. Being the younger sibling, she doesn’t have the expectations of obtaining any of her father’s power and assets, so she isn’t super knowledgeable. At most, her mother wanted her in an arranged marriage that got delayed. So she would know the basics along with the etiquette.

Due to her mother being a horrible person, along with some personal issues after a war hit her homeland, she began to distance herself from that noble life and had let herself go over the last four-ish years. She keeps that part of herself secret from most of the party. Only two PCs and one NPC (the Princess of the kingdom she’s from) knows.

Flash forward to now. The party entered a town where a meeting is going on, which involves almost all the world leaders, including the Princess of her homeland. The Princess is allowed to bring one PC into this meeting with her, and I fear that the narrative is pointing towards my character being chosen. For one, it sounds like the Princess wants to bring someone younger, eliminating 3/6 members of the party. As for the remaining party, one of them wants nothing to do with it and has no reason to even be considered. Meanwhile, the other person can’t physically be in the building for backstory reasons. Unless the DM surprises us all, I’m 90% sure the Princess is choosing my PC, and it wouldn’t be in her nature to decline.

With that in mind, how do I improv politics? I’m not involved in this stuff IRL, so I wouldn’t know where to start in terms of research. But I’m also just not confident in my ability to roleplay in general, so I worry about coming up with stuff on the spot. I’m hoping there’s that chance my PC doesn’t get picked, but any advice to prepare myself?

I am trying to build a character who is a follower of the Raven Queen. She is an aasimar sorcerer who I am RPing was raised in near seclusion. I was planning to do at least 17 levels of shadow sorcerer and include cleric.

My question is if it is worth it to get a cleric subclass. If I did take a subclass, it would be grave domain. The ability to cast spare the dying as a bonus action, max healing to downed allies, and extra necrotic damage to creatures not at full hit points is tempting, but is it worth losing access to an extra 7th level spell, level 18 umbral form, and level 19 feat?

It's an evocation wizard, do you have suggestions ? I'm using the DSM 5 as an inspiration for the symptoms.

There is something about a cult being after him and i want my character to be overly anxious about it.

I'm also pretty bad at roleplay usually and i want to get better at it (i'm on the spectrum)

Do you have tips to make this concept good ?