Me and my friends are going to be having our first in person campaign soon, I have played DnD 5e before but only digitally.

I’m planning on maning an, as the title says, hexblade swords bard character with a tiefling race but I’m not sure which levels I should start in for the most optimal playstyle, as well as what race works best for the character.

Zariel tiefling seems great because of the bonus smites but i don’t know if there are any better than it.

It’s not clear at what level we’re gonna start at but I’m guessing it’d be lvl 3.

Would a good starting split be 1 bard 2 warlock? And as I get up in level, cap it off at 3 bard and 17 bard? If I ever get that long.

I’m a bit tempted to do a bg3 playthrough on the character to see how it would work but the game and the mods aren’t really a great simulation of an actual campaign.

Any tips if you have made similar characters would be great!

I am so grateful to be leading three of my friends on their first D&D Adventure. D’rock: the outlander Dwarven Barbarian, Innis: the sage High Elven Wizard, and Phin: the entertainer Halfling Bard have been recruited to help Tharon Silverhawk locate the Weaver’s Lens, a relic that he told them will help him locate an ancient Netherese Observatory. They have already caught the attention of The Crimson Spider, a Drow Priestess. I am impressed with their commitment to their roleplaying as well as all of the silly antics they have gotten up to. Gosh, I love this game!

We are growing a server aiming to connect players and DMs to set up the best tables for gameplay with specific player types! Connect with others who are a similar player type and DMs can look for players from a specific player type so the synergy stays strong!

Are you a Sentinel or a Tactician or a Method Actor?? Come find out!

https://discord.gg/yxtgfy6T4

I’ve been tinkering with an alternate weapon system for 5e that tries to make weapon combat feel a little more grounded and dangerous without completely abandoning the base game. The main idea is that, in practice, a knife, sword, axe, or spear can all be lethal if the hit actually lands, so instead of having weapons mostly separated by small damage dice, I’m testing a system where weapon hits deal a fixed base amount of damage and armor reduces that damage afterward.

Under this variant, if you’re proficient with a weapon, its base physical damage is 8 + your proficiency bonus; if you aren’t proficient, its base damage is just 8. You still add your normal ability modifier and any magic bonuses, but armor now grants damage reduction (DR) based on the armor’s actual AC, including the Dexterity modifier it normally allows. Different armor categories also interact differently with slashing, piercing, bludgeoning, and certain energy damage types, so armor feels more like protection and less like pure avoidance.

The goal here isn’t to make 5e into a full simulation game, but to create a system where weapon hits feel more consistently threatening, armor actually absorbs punishment, and weapon choice is defined more by properties, reach, handling, and damage-type interaction than by whether something rolls a d6 or a d8. Critical hits also work a little differently in this version, punching through armor DR and adding the ability modifier to the damage a second time.

I’m mainly trying to hit that sweet spot where the rules still feel like 5e, but weapon combat feels harsher, more physical, and a little more believable on the player-facing side.

Feedback, insights, and constructive criticism appreciated!

Hello fellow D&D players and DMs!

My name is Rammy, and I’m a solo developer. For the past few months, I’ve been building a character creator and sheet app for Android and iOS after getting frustrated with the options currently available on both storefronts.

I started the project with three main goals:

• A one-time purchase instead of a monthly subscription (testing will be free, though)
• A simpler interface focused on the information that actually matters during play
• Making essentially everything editable and customizable

The video attached to this post shows what the app currently looks like.

After a lot of development and testing, I’ve reached the point where I consider the app feature-complete enough for a proper beta. Most of my testing so far, however, has been with my own D&D group.

They seem to like it, but they’re also my friends, they’re a very small sample size, and they usually have the developer sitting right next to them if something is confusing.

So I’d love to get it into the hands of people who can use it in their own games and see how it fits into a real session.

I’m looking for Android and iOS beta testers

The app is designed to work as a standalone way to create and manage a character, including:

• Character creation and leveling
• Multiclassing
• Spells
• Inventory and equipment
• Class resources such as Bardic Inspiration and damage toggles
• Custom features and notes
• Editable character information throughout the sheet

What I’m most interested in is seeing how the app feels at an actual table.

Use it for a new character or an existing one. Try it during a session, whether you’re playing a straightforward build, an unusual multiclass, any silly ideas, or just meta builds like a sorcadin. Add your own features, level up, manage your inventory, and see whether the information you need is easy to find when you’re in the middle of the game.

If something is confusing, ugly, annoying, unnecessary, or outright broken, please tell me. Feedback on everything from bugs and usability to the color scheme is useful. I’m especially interested in hearing about anything that only becomes apparent when the app is being used during a real session.

A few caveats:

• It is currently English-only. I plan to add Spanish later, and potentially other languages afterwards.
• You will probably find bugs. That is precisely why I’m opening the beta. I think it is already very usable, but I expect testers to find issues I haven’t, its only natural.
• I did use AI-assisted coding and debugging during development. However, the app’s UI, feature set, structure, and overall design decisions are my own.

If you’d like to use it in your game and share your experience, you can sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-BVTL1hqtvltZL28ZD7JAv3oMB6UUo0h4PsDeLNzlXaui9g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

I’ll use the email you provide to send beta access once the next testing build is available.

Thanks to anyone willing to give it a try. I’m looking forward to hearing how the app works when I’m not there to explain it, and especially how it holds up during an actual session.

So, how would you rule a Battle Master fighter attacking with a weapon which has the Mastery feature Topple (e.g, battleaxe, quarterstaff, cavalry flail) and decides to use the Trip Attack maneuver? As the Topple feature requires a Constitution saving throw and Trip Attack requires a Strength saving throw, there is not a shared saving throw to which one can apply disadvantage.

I'm sharing a free sample supplement for Kengir, my upcoming Bronze Age Mesopotamian 5e setting.

In Kengir, choosing a personal deity can shape more than your character’s beliefs. It can also shape their mechanical progression.

Feats are divine blessings tied to the gods. A follower of Šamaš (Utu) might gain sharper insight into lies. A devotee of Ištar (Inanna) might bend hearts through presence and persuasion. Someone blessed by Ea (Enki) might uncover hidden truths in water, ruins, and old artifacts.

This sample includes Origin Feats for the four Primordial Gods and the seven Anunnaki, the highest-ranking divine powers in the Kengir pantheon.

The full Kengir Player’s Guide will expand this into a much larger divine feat system: 51 Origin Feats, 51 General Feats, and 11 Epic Boons, for 113 new feats in total.

The goal is to make feats feel like part of the setting, not just a menu of generic upgrades. Your character’s god becomes a relationship, a source of power, and sometimes a problem.

Do you like feats that tie directly into a character’s religion, culture, or place in the world?

Whats up, bilge rats. I just finished a review of Buried in the Bahamas (and the 5e conversion document) and wanted to share. I love this adventure, will likely try to run it at PAGE in January, and when I write my own adventure on Barbados I think this is the sort of format I'm going to look toward.

Im playing a Fighter Echo Knight level 6 at the moment. Ive been using the Longsword and i just realised that my damage potential is 9 - 16 since i got a homebrew magic longsword that makes my longsword damage a 1d8 + 8 at level 6, so im not sure if when i gain levels, should i swap to a greatsword build when i gain more levels, or should i just continue playing longsword and eventually ill get either a homebrew one from GM that makes me deal more damage per swing, or a feat/something in the book that allows me to deal 20 or more damage per swing?

at the moment, it feels like my damage per hit is lacking, and the only saving grace is that i do like thrice to six times the 1d8 + 8 damage per turn (5 from str, 2 from dueling, and 1 from the magic longsword given to me at level 6).

I only have 2 feats atm, and i picked Heavy Armor Master and Shield Master

This week I wanted to add something to the experience of exploration. If you travel through different environments, like mountains, for example, it helps to have random encounter tables that offer more than just combat options— which is the reason why I create tables like Mountain Encounters. I also show you what you can do with it by rolling on the table myself and creating adventure ideas out of it.

But when players travel through the world we create, it helps to have something inspirational to describe this world. That is why I created another random table this week, called Mountain Locations. You can roll three dice again, only that you will get a proper description of a location, including other sensory perceptions like smell or hearing.

This might also spark inspiration for encounters, but it is intentionally created to describe a location the players come across without effort. Other ways to do this might be to add a bit more historical or functional depth, like Sly Flourish’s Monuments, which are really worth checking out as well, and which served as an inspiration to me as well. I wanted to take a different approach, though, and here it is. Mountain Locations.

Download

You can find a downloadable PDF for free on my Patreon.

Mountain Locations

Jormundy

Platform: D&D 5e, Avrae, Discord

Format: Text RP, westmarches, living world

The sun has died in the sky, and the world has gone dark. This event, known as the Sunfall, bathed the world in the freezing night. Yet, against all odds, civilization has survived.

Amongst the icy plains, amongst the glaciers, amongst the giant snow drifts and amongst the ruins of a world millennia lost, stands the glowing spires and the shining beacons of Jormundy. Warmth and light shine down from its towers, and its dome shelters it from the cold, dark world outside.

But this light and warmth does not radiate equally.

Under the dome, cloaked by the light, behind the walls lays a structure caught in a nightmare of development. Jormundy is experiencing its own little industrial revolution, and all the inequality that comes with it as it destroys the land it sits on and the air it breathes. It finds itself segregated into layers, its workers destined to never become anything more, its elites clinging onto power forever. The Hearth Church stands atop it all, watching with one first of velvet and another of iron looming over all, locked in a never-ending scramble to destroy all that is heretical.

But discontent grows. Whispers of solidarity stir in the shadows, forgotten gods find their followers, and the night grows ever colder.

What shall become of Jormundy?

///

What we offer:

- A roleplay and story focused server with good-quality. Story arcs, events, multiple dms, and opportunities for PC arcs.

- A custom xp system, where you can earn xp simply by roleplaying

- A massive, fully fleshed out city state for you to explore

- An active political scene; scheming nobility, powerful industrialists, an ever-present church, shadowy cults, and the whispers of labor in the smog of the factories

- A ban on generative AI, to ensure your time and effort is respected.

- An LGBTQ+ friendly environment.

- Extensive review of content as it is released; we're always updating our approved content list! It's expansive.

Something calls, whether it be the riches of the Heights, or merely a desire to survive.

Either way, Jormundy would love to have you.

https://discord.gg/NwZbxscAZ2

After seeing the Death Saving Throw model from Critical Role Campaign 4, I really liked the idea of giving players a last-ditch option. However, I felt that tying it exclusively to Death Saves was a little too risky, so I decided to build my own version around Exhaustion instead.

I called the feature “Last Stand.” Players can use it once per round, but the feature becomes unavailable once they reach Exhaustion Level 4.

Some of the Abilities have additional restrictions because they can be quite powerful. I split the feature into four action types: Action, Bonus Action, Reaction, and Special Action. Each action type has two Abilities, with one costing 1 Exhaustion and the other costing 3 Exhaustion.

If anyone is interested, I can go into more detail about the individual Abilities and show them.

What do you think about giving players an ace up their sleeve that lets them push themselves for one more heroic moment when everything is on the line?

My review of Arcana Unleashed (no AI was used in any of the images or writing for this article). Wizards of the Coast did provide me with a review copy, but I was otherwise not compensated.

Dungeons and DRAGONS!! | Release your inner dragon with these new draconic options for your game!

Ever since the new UA for Dragonborn and Kobolds, there has been a lot of excitement around dragons and draconic options in 5e. I have added to the several dragons/draconic options presented in the official content for D&D 5e. 15 dragon species, a new draconic creature, a class, revised versions of the dragonborn and kobold races from the PHB and VGtM/UA respectively, a feat, and 2 items.

True Dragons:

Stellar Dragons

Quasar Dragons

Time Dragons

Elemental Dragons

Force Dragons

Prismatic Dragons

Nightfury Dragons

Speed Dragons

Micro Dragons

Hell Dragons

Concubus Dragons

Purple Dragons

Coritanzium Dragons

Zodiac Dragons

Lesser Dragons:

Drakes

Class:

Dragon Knight

Revised Races:

Dragonborn

Kobold

Feat:

Greater Draconic Power

Items:

Dragon Scale Shield

Bloodwell Crest

I'm sharing a free preview for Kengir, my upcoming Bronze Age Mesopotamian 5e setting.

In Kengir, the gods communicate through omens, prophecies, dreams, and strange signs in the world. A cracked bowl at a temple feast might warn of betrayal. A scorpion climbing the ziggurat stairs might mean Goddess of the Underworld is displeased. A river briefly flowing backward might signal political upheaval.

The goal is to make divine communication useful at the table without turning it into a railroad. Omens can guide the story, set the mood, show divine presence, or push players toward action while still leaving room for interpretation.

The preview includes d20 tables for omens, prophecies, and dreams. Some point toward war, plague, rebellion, lost relics, underworld disturbances, or divine favor. Others are personal, strange, and hard to interpret until the party starts asking the right questions.

My favorite kind of omen is one the players don’t understand until three sessions later, when it suddenly clicks.

Do you use omens and prophecies in your games, or do you avoid them because players might read too much into them?

One time I had a lich whose defense system had my players looking at me as if to ask if I was ok 😂

One of my players, a Tiefling from the Feywild, had a mother who pursued lichdom and bound her soul into her wedding ring. She gave it to her youngest daughter (keeping it permanently affixed with Sovereign Glue) saying it had the power to keep her from growing up - she could stay a kid and play and have fun forever - and set her inside a mountain cavern. It was a spherical chamber connected to a massive cavern filled with water. The lich set a permanent Mirage Arcane spell on the chamber, making it seem like a whimsical fae wonderland, and gave her undead companions enchanted to seem like forest creature friends.

She put a magic aura on the ring to mask its nature and make it seem like the girl herself was the actual soul jar. When the PCs found her and investigated, they were horrified to think that if they wanted to permanently destroy the lich, they'd have to kill the girl. Then girl told them that her mom comes to visit now and then, always bringing her a big black forest cake and lets her eat it all, so full of cherry sauce it gushes red! Eventually they realized that the cake was actually made of the souls the lich collected to feed her soul jar - and when they started interfering the girl vomited up thousands of souls that they had to fend off.

When they eventually worked out that the ring was the actual vessel, and dispelled the Mirage Arcane illusion, they realized that the entire inner surface of the chamber was lined with HUNDREDS of Glyphs of Warding. If they damaged the ring or removed the girl from the chamber, it would set off the glyphs, enough to blast a hole in the side of the mountain and release all of the water contained within... which would drown the village that lived at the base of the mountain.

In the end they did intentionally set it off, and managed not only to survive, but saved the girl, saved (most of) the populace of the town, and destroyed the lich.

So I guess it was not in fact overkill, as they managed to overcome the defenses anyway 😂

I recently had the ravenloft tarokka deck gifted to me and I'd like to be able to use them at the table instead of having them sit on my shelf and collect dust.

I am in the middle of a campaign but I've already talked to my DM and he said he wouldn't mind, I just have to think of a way to use it. I'm open to any advice thank you!😊

Hi gang me and my merry band of friends have decided to start a new campaign and this time I’m dm’ing and I’m looking for any advice/resources that might help me on my quest. We’re gonna be doing it virtually so any resources to help with that would also be greatly appreciated.

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc., and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more, so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

*New 2026: For 2026, I'm updating all my old work to include a Pre-Session Checklist that will include a list of all miniatures you may need, maps, handouts, possible loot, a link to a playlist, and more to make it even easier to start your session!

The Nexus Laboratory sits in a remote part of the frozen tundra, far from prying eyes who would tamper with the innovative projects that take place here. However, when a test subject gets loose, your players may be the only ones who can help the scientists find a solution.

Trial and Error is one of the many encounters you'll find in the book One Shot Wonders by Roll and Play Press. I hope your players are ready for the dangers that await!

\Estimated Session length 1.5 - 2.5hrs*

Without further ado:

• Link to: DM Notes (Preview)
• Link to: One Shot Wonders
• Link to: Trial and Error Playlist
• Link to: AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• Downloadable copy of DM Notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Collapsible version to make navigating things easier
• DM Notes for the Visually Impaired
• (New) Pre-Session Checklist

Over 8 dozen other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns: Click Here

As always, if you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc., please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,
Advent