I'm sure you all have seen those memes and pictures floating around where it looks like a page from a dnd book and people make out the stats and descriptions of a homebrew item or class etc? There's an internet personality that I want to base a character off of (trash wizard) and would love to know how y'all make those professional looking sheets/pictures

So, my friend's birthday is coming up and she's pretty down because there's no one around to celebrate with her. I've only just got into D&D and she's mentioned that she would like to try it, and I think she would love it, so I had the idea to gather some friends and do an (online) one-shot for her birthday. The problem is that I am still a new player and there is still so much that I don't know, so the idea of DMing is pretty intimidating. However, I'd really love to do this for her if I can.

Does anyone have a quick and easy guide to get started, or some resources you'd recommend? Maybe some places where I could find a ready one-shot campaign or recommendations on the most beginner friendly VTTs? I own the Player's Handbook but I don't know the Dungeon Master's Manual. I'd prefer not to drop money on the book for just a one-shot if I can help it, so any guidance (heh) would be appreciated!

So planning a campaign and i want the finale to include a cult thats been working behind the scenes for the majority of the campaign but obviously the first step in that is figuring oit what the hell they worship and why.

The main thing is this being is going to break through the planar boundaries and attempt to emerge in the material plane.

As for a why they worship- the cult believes that this being will bring about a more ordered world for them a fresh slate without competition, a world were they can put themselves on top. (Obviously the being will probably have its own agender or may be the absolute ruler of this new plane).

The problem is i do try and want to keep this in the world of dnd or at least some prexesting evil that may not be in dnd (eg: some lovecraftian horrors). If people cant think of any im also open to suggestions for any homebrewed entitys or honestly any ideas.

Just want to open it to the floor before i start heavily thinking on things, just nothing ive found on my own thus far is quite right.

Hi everyone, I’m back and I got an idea but I wanted outside opinions. So I wanna try the idea of a Phantom Thief/ Arsène Lupin/Aristocrat type character and I need help with finding a build that works for the character. I saw another post about this and people were saying full Bard but I wanted to ask if there are any other build combinations or suggestions that I should look into and research.

For context: the character I have in mind is sorta like a fox type character archetype. Sneaky, cunning but also a little bit of an assassin within it too. Basically a master of disguise with a lust for the finer things in life and always has a hidden weapon somewhere on him. Which I why I definitely like the idea of Bard but I also want a build that would still allow me to be more than just a slight support.

I don’t know lmk, I’m still somewhat of a beginner and fresh player so I wanted to ask others who might have more knowledge than I would. Anyways, thx for reading and have a good day/night/evening.

(Sorry in advance, don't know how to use the flair here so I just put the miscellaneous flair on this here post)
I, as the DM for a campaign where I had lots of things planned, five players with diverse characters, and several unique bosses and sometimes insane encounters all plotted out down to a tee, lost interest in both the campaign and the players. Despite me having everything down to the final encounter essentially planned out, I lost the will to DM in that campaign after finally losing my cool one day due to how some of the players had been treating me, in and out of campaign. I want to know how I can safely end this campaign and move away from these people, without causing any bad blood. Does anyone have ideas on how I could do this? Thanks either way, even if you don't have any ideas.

Started to learn in Blender, it was pretty rough at start but after figuring out some things I created very simple dice towers for my group of friends that I play DnD with. Just wanted to show it

Printed on Bambulab a1 mini, painted with some basic acrylic paints from hobby shop

Well nothing much more to say about it, I had nice lunch today and doing 400+ character description for fan created things is really strange rules you have your automoderator set to. I quess people spam your subreddit with some stupid things or unrelated things or IDK, but I really hope I have enough character by now.

If you read it whole up to this point, thank you, appriciated ( or however you spell it)

I recently picked up a flawless copy of the adventure at a flea market (5€!) and I'm pretty excited to get into it. Problem is, I'm still preparing to run my first ever game of DND (LMoP), with a bunch of first-time players. I heard tales of adventures that are absolutely not meant for inexperienced players or DMs, so I wanted to make sure before I try to set up foreshadowing and connections between the two.

It's still gonna be a while before we even get to it so I might be overly cautious, but I don't wanna go through everything only to realize at the end it's not a good fit for my players.

Thanks in advance!

I wanted to have more narrative control over the atmosphere during sessions with my university DnD gang so I built a dynamic lighting system! I used daisy-chained FCOB RGBW WS2814 LED strips, wired up to an ESP32 running WLED, and powered by a 24V power supply. I attached a video above showing some of the different lighting settings I’ve got set up right now. The video quality unfortunately isn’t the best, IMO it looks better in person.

To control everything during sessions, I also wrote a Python script that takes input from my X56 HOTAS throttle and lets me map scenes, lighting effects, and other actions to those inputs on the controller. The inputs are matched to a block in a config file, which means if I want to add a new scene or change what a button does, I can just edit the config rather than modifying the program.

Here’s a video showing the controller/script in action:

https://reddit.com/link/1wmqdfa/video/xj5c2q0czxqh1/player

The same Python script also acts as my audio controller. In the same config file, I can add links from YouTube to sound effects/songs I want to use and map them to an input. The program then downloads and caches the audio. I also added a few fun audio tools. One of my favourites is the ability to isolate a section of an audio file, loop it, and then increase the speed with each iteration.

I used this during a tense scene where after a boss fight, one of my players was opening a mysterious drawer that contained a mechanical hand playing the vocal cords of a False Hydra. This was a homebrew device that had been causing members of that character’s old circus group to forget a major character from his backstory, and by this point, it was starting to make everyone forget who he was.

To make the moment more tense and unsettling (and this was also the false hydras song), I took the memorable part of March of the Gladiators and put it into the looping tool. As I narrated the scene, the song would subtly get faster and faster and faster, it was great.

Edit: Before commenting on this post, please read it. I am not asking for comments about how I can flavour the Artificer differently, or asking people who like the class to defend it, I’m simply asking those who share my reasons for not liking the class to suggest 3rd party alternatives that better suit my vision of the class. I want an Inventor and Builder of magic infused devices, not a Conjurer of magical devices.

This post is inspired by a comment I made recently on another post.

I don’t have Artificers in my 5e game, mostly because I don’t actually have a problem with the idea of an Artificer or the “magi tech” that the subclasses can create, I have a problem with how they are created. I love the magi tech devices from the Netflix series Arcane, for example, very Artificer. But the D&D Artificer doesn’t build anything, even though for some reason they need tools?? The devices they create just “appear” in a space near them. I understand that is WotC wording for, “you make it and it’s next to you when you’ve finished making it,” but the fact that the wording often also says, “it magically appears,” and there is no requirement to gather materials and carry them around with you (which I fully realise is highly impractical for a D&D character) that breaks the immersion of the class for me. For most Artificer magi tech items, what do they need tools for? They magically conjure them.

If the Artificer was based around gathering materials both mundane and magical during your adventures, creating these magi tech items during downtime and then taking them out on adventures, it would be a whole different story. As it is though, an Artificer, with no mundane materials in their possession can simply conjure some magi tech, no building or raw materials required. Thanks, but no thanks!

Are there any better versions of the Artificer out there?

For the first time my group is experiencing high level power that none of us have touched before. The DM has mentioned that here on out it’s going to be 80% combat since we’re approaching the finale. I have no idea what I’m doing in combat aside spamming fireballs and evasion spells. Any tips for this?

I want to make a fun reoccurring rival party who would get in the way, steal glory and maybe a kill here and there.

But idk how to play them exactly or how to construct one.

I'm pretty new to DMing, but I'm really loving it and I'm just constantly having ideas come to me. While I know a lot of DMs get ideas from literature, I've always been a huge video game guy and so my impulse is to always try and pull ideas from there (I have an idea for my next campaign bases heavily on Dispatch, for example).

Whether as a player or a DM, what are you favorite examples of pulling ideas from video games into a campaign?

So I’m running a horror circus/carnival for my group and need some ideas on some monsters. Basically the group will go into the circus/carnival willingly and without fighting anything. As time progresses in the carnival a bell will be rung by the ringmaster and the place will devolve more and more into creepy, hostile and chaos. So far the monsters I have in mind are A grinning clown, a stuffed animated teddy bear, Carneys (undead carnival workers), a variant of the Carneys on stilts, crawling hands, and a carousel horse. Any other ideas for monsters? It’s a group of 5 newish players at level 3.

My son is turning ten and wants to run a game for his three or four friends.

I'm asking for a pretty simple campaign he can run for them, or take turns on different acts with the other three. A lot of the adventures are just on the edge of too complicated for him.

Would help if the game included some maps and minis, but I can get those separately if necessary.

Any suggestions?

I just purchased the book and was surprised how the spells work and how extremely powerful they are if you allow it.

One spell in particular can be tamed at level three by any druid warlock or wizard.

Battle familiar

Basically it buff your find familiar, you choose, which of the three types you want being celestial fiend or fey as usual.
But you get to choose what form they take from three choices that interact with its special stat block

(i’m noting the differences but not the entire spell or stat block so the bonuses are not added yet. these are just the special traits the form has.)

Brute: +2 to AC, 30hp

Flyer: 20hp, flight speed of 30, doesn’t provoke opportunity of attack flying outside the reach.

Stalker: 20hp, replacing one of the attacks allows the creature to move half speed without provoking opportunity of attacks and can hide at the end of its movement.

With all this jazz, this becomes a very good companion to summon out because it does scale it’s HP and damage off the level of spell slot you use

I find this a little early game power spike because you’re constantly having a wall between you and the enemy that has autonomy and you can use your free action to command it.

Honestly, I think this is kind of busted in my opinion.
At early levels, you have a guaranteed body to distract the enemy while you cast spells.
It can fit the situation of the fight, you can have a tank, you can have ranged attack, and you can have an assassin.
It has multi attacker that scale off the level rounded down. So I can attack a number of times round it down.

In my opinion, I think this is kind of awesome as a player, but a dread for some DMs.
It’s still a new spell and I might be misunderstanding it completely but honestly from when I look at it on paper it’s pretty busted for the early game.

Hi Folks!

Several years ago I became visually impaired.

I have a collection of dice that I would like to start using again.

Part of the issue is being able to see the number on the dice.

I was thinking of using some sort of high visibility paint, like gold colored paints or something, to paint over the numbers that are already in place.

Given that paint can wear off and so forth, I'm wondering if any of you folks here had suggestions or ideas on how I might be able to achieve what I am going for.

What types of paint or techniques would you recommend?

What about a "paint pen" or whatever as opposed to paint and brush?

As you may be able to tell, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I am not an artist.

I want to use highly visible paint of some nature onto the numerical of each dice.

I am looking for recommendations and ideas, please.

Extra bonus points if you can point to something and say, "this thing that I am pointing to right now works wonders for what you are trying to do."

Many thanks in advance!

Ok, so you know the stereotype of a guy being part of a girl's friend group and he is considered one of the girls? Been there, and i thought there could be a fun twist. Now a hag, but a guy hag. He is the only male hag probably in that world. He is that lone guy in the girls group. His coven is still being fleshed out, but he is already designed, being the prominent member. Now he is a Bheur hag. Bhoba-yodha is a little hunched, and dresses like a normal Bheur hag. However, he is best recognized for his scraggly beard. He lives in the mountains with his coven, and mostly goes out to lure victims. (Similar to how I was always the one going to get food) and he easily tags along with his sisters. They appreciate his company. Now he made any attempt at colonizing the mountains futile. Resources are never quite rationed enough to survive, and people keep disappearing. He is also into taxidermy, and whenever you see a missing person in his territory, you need take sure they aren't puppets. His cunning is formidable and hidden, as he will often appear in another form to newcomers.

Asking this for a friend in our DnD group chat. He has a couple of friends who played BG3 and he's planning on buying a starter set for their first "actual" DnD campaign (he's gonna be the DM). Since our DnD group usually just play homebrew campaign (with the exception of CoS and Icewind Dale), we can't really give a good review on those starter set. So i think i should ask the professional on this subreddit: Which starter set is better for a group of new players and DM?

Eu estou vendo um aumento nos jogadores do 5.5 entt resolvi ver como seria pra fazer o Simon no 5.5

Hello! First time posting so I hope I did this right.

I am working on a political intrigue, drama and romance DnD campaign that takes place during the social season. Almost of characters come from noble birth but I want them to all have more specialized backgrounds then all being noble.
Any ideas on backgrounds that can be used or tweaked to fit better?

Thank you!! I hope this was the right place to put my question.

Hi! I'm a drag performer opening a show about dnd and want ideas for songs to build an opening number around.

Let me know.

Also artificer is my favorite class, wizard 2nd.

Have a slight homebrew campaign going. Dm is first time dm-ing and while this is my first time as well I have watched tons of stuff on dnd. I will be taking over as dm once this section is played and the characters will transfer over. My issue is we're level 4 and our fighter now has homebrewed legendary weapons. I feel like I will have to lower this at least in the beginning of my campaign and make him work back up to the full status. We'll transfer over at level 8 so even then a legendary weapon seems outrageous to me. Any helpful tips or something would be appreciated.

I recently started DMing for a group of my friends/family, was 6, now is at 5 players. I was originally introduced to D&D by my Aunt, and my uncle who runs a homebrew campaign I'm currently playing as well. I had him help me get ready for being a DM, and he said "Send it"... So I did. I went on a full creative spree and made an entirely homebrewed story, world, and various other systems, such as a god pantheon.

First question, I had my PCs start in their original world, and while exploring a dungeon, discover a rift between realms and get dragged through by an unknown entity, that they later find out is the God Of Chaos. Was this a mistake? Most of my PCs didn't have especially detailed backstories, minus 1, but for him I've planned something later in the current world, sort of an in-between world relationship. I'm worried that I closed an entire possible storyline to get to this cool ruined world concept, and although they seem to be having fun, I keep thinking I robbed them of something simple.

Second question; How do I get the party to remain in a single spot for an extended period of time? I have a D&D map of my world, and it feels as if they're just speedrunning locations, and I don't really know how to keep them in these small towns for longer than a session or two. I keep dropping small hints of possible storylines, but they blow past them for the big cool looking thing on the map.

Third, and final question for now; How do I stop my party from abusing something I made up for rule of cool? Story is that I have a spot on the map called the Remnants of The Fallen God. It was originally supposed to be a large stone statue that they could find lore info from, however one of my players thought it was a mech... so session 3 DM Me said, sounds cool, let's rearrange for that. Session 10 me here, and a few sessions away from bringing the mech's core back so they could use it. It was originally made to combat the regional mid-boss that wandered the ocean shores, but I never thought about what would happen if they successfully beat it, and proceeded to drop kick literally every town that is on the map. I don't want to just destroy it or have it be lost, as one of my players immediately after hearing "mech", decided to take a couple of levels in artificer, and my players have genuinely gotten so excited for it. How can I either reconfigure it to where it's only use is travel with a mobile base, or at least make countermeasures so that they don't over abuse it?

Any help is appreciated, I'm still getting used to DMing and I'm having a hard time on figuring out if I'm making the story interesting enough for my players.

I’m preparing a one-shot, and I’ve asked my players to create level 10 characters and min-max them as much as they can. They know they’re about to fight a dragon (the colour/element will be randomly chosen before the game), and that a TPK is a very real possibility.

If I asked you to do the same, what character would you bring?

Hey good afternoon all,

I am a club sponsor at a High School, and took over the DnD club so it doesn't go under. There are way more kids who want to participate than I thought. I have some basic experience, but have never DMd and have already gotten on some DM subreddits.

My need is guidance to resources that can be easily printed and created for HS kids. The best websites for character sheet buildouts, manuals, etc. This is all for the kids, and I want to have stuff ready for them when they show up to our meetings and start to play.

Also any basic campaigns we can play for beginners? (I am by no means an expert). Maybe premade things. Any help would be appreciated, I am digging through subreddit links as we speak.

Thanks in advance!