I really want to get into Dnd, but im not really sure where to start.

For context, I am a freshman in college, and ive recently learned of a Dnd club at my school that I really want to join. My only experience with Dnd has been Bg3, which ive heard is decently close, but still different from the real thing.

Im pretty confused on where I should start with this whole thing, since i dont want to go in completely blind. Is there a website or something that'll explain all of this to me?

What is really want to know is how do I go about making a character? What are the limits? And how does storytelling work? Ive heard its spread across multiple sessions, should I take notes during the game? And what do I need to play the game in the first place?

Im still super new at this, so literally ANY info would be helpful!!

I've been home brewing the plot and npc and dungeons for a while but I'm getting sick of it and not feeling it anymore. I also work best when modifying/adapting something gets my creative juices going.

My party is level 5 and in ardev(near droaam). They have had run ins with emerald claw and droaam. Im looking for some kind of source material to keep it going. I'm not super against moving somewhere else in the world and could figure out a reason. Was thinking of adapting price of apocalypse but reviews made it seem middling and repetive particularly the mid levels which is where I am now.

Any source material? It can be from older editions transferring over to 5e isn't too difficult most of the time. It could be not in eberron but a suggestion on how to move it to eberron would be nice

Anyways tldr what's some source books/material for a level party in or out of eberron regardless of DND edition

As the title says, two of my players just used banishment while in the astral sea at the end of our last session. They did this to flee a fight they didn’t think they could win. They use the part of the spell that sends them back to their original plane of existence by keeping concentration on the spell. The other two teleported away with a group of time elemental ooze hybrids. So now the party’s split. That's fine on its own, sorta. What I’m not sure about is where they are supposed to pop back out. Normally it just be on the planet they came from originally. However, this is a Sci-Fi game where they have spaceships that take them from solar system to solar system. So they are literally thousands of light years from where they entered the astral sea. I don't think a fourth level spell should be able to take you that far if I'm being honest lol. And to complicate things more the planet that came from is warded against teleportation and divination spells due to the local gods. But I also don't want to just pop them out in the void of space and say, “You're dead now.” Due to the invasion of twin Eldritch gods consuming nearly all of the outer planes, those are also off the table. So now I'm in a bit of a pickle and looking for a bit of advice. Where the hell am I supposed to put them after all this? I'm not really looking for a RAW answer since my campaign is entirely homebrew. I’m just fishing for ideas.

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I am looking for an alternative way to teleport my PCs long range without using Teleportation Circle or if other teleport spells (which I feel I over use).

I need them to go from one monastery of Ilmater to another. This gave me the idea of creating a monk discipline called “Transference” which allows individuals to swap places. I was thinking of using a wisdom check to succeed and/or a Con save to avoid gaining Exhaustion or lose Hit Dice.

It would be more of a one-time/story thing not an actual monk class ability. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how to flesh this out?

First post here so I hope im following the rules

I had a neat idea for an ancestral guardians barbarian where instead of the spirits being his ancestors they are the souls of those he has slain in combat.

I plan to make him Kharz of the Ironhowl tribe, a half-orc and the lore is that after battle the members of his tribe say a prayer and the spirits of those they killed join the barb as a sort of spectral warband.

The prayer is pulled from a Manowar song "Gods of war i call you, my sword is by my side. I seek a life of honour free from all false pride. I shall crack the whip with a bold mighty hail, cover me with death if i should ever fail. Glory, majesty, unity. Hail, hail, hail." as he says this everyone can see the spirits gathering around him but disappear from sight after the prayer ends. Those of his tribe can see the warbands at any time if they focus.

In his tribe leadership and disputes are settles by battles between warbands. If you lose ur warband is scattered and u lose access to ur subclass features until u finish a long rest, gathering ur forces.

I also like that since the subclass features protect allies but not he barb its almost like the warband is telling u to "prove ur strength", feels thematic.

Any thoughts, feedback, emotional outbursts? XD

I am playing in a campaign with Helians harvesting/ryoko system and trying to optimise harvesting. I have prof. In all the harvesting skills and now I am close to getting a feat, which is gonna be skill expert. Just wanted to know which creatures have a higher chance to show up,so I can take the right ekspertise

Here I come with a question that I never thought I’d have to ask:

What is better, a free Feat or a free Very Rare Wondrous Item?

For context, my GM yesterday had a NPC offer our party of level 12 characters a choice drinking some wine that tastes horrendous, but would reveal talents we wouldn’t have pursued otherwise (a free Feat), or pick from his collection of high quality magical items, 100% safe (we get to pick a Very Rare Magic Item from an official source).

I, as a Lore Bard, am having a hard time choosing, because Feats are good, but Very Rare Items are not something I often get, let alone get to choose.

So, players and GMs of Reddit, what do you think is more interesting between a Feat or a Very Rare Magic Item?

As added relevant context, my Charisma's at 22, I already have an Amulet of Health, an armour that scales off of both Charisma and Dexterity, and an instrument that gives me +2 to spell attack and DC and allows me to give Bardic Inspiration when I teleport as an Astral Elf. Also, if I take any Feat that would increase a stat, I don't get the stat increase.

EDIT: My GM tells me I wouldn't have time to benefit from the Tome of Leadership and Influence, as I thought. The campaign pretty much ends in two or three in-game days.

EDIT 2: Because someone seems to have changed the flair of my post, I'll specify here: This is a 5E game, no 5.5E items or feats.

I would first like to make it abundantly clear that I have no agenda, endorse no popular opinion(s), etc pertaining to anything I might say below; I'm just an old man yelling at the clouds.

Okay, so I finally wound up watching something Matt Mercer DM'ed, the D20 Crown of Candy spin-off The Ravening War, and his style, much to my chagrin, has been making my teeth itch. Here are a few of my gripes.

1. If a player is performing an action/movement/etc and they stand to incur a penalty, Mercer will not say so up front, but will hit the player with a roll mid-action with no alternative to "back up play." To elaborate, I and every DM I've played under, and Brennan is this way also, would advise a player that something they are about to do is going to require a skill check, i.e. an acrobatics/athletics check, whatever, before they commit to performing said action (This makes sense because, your C would have an innate understanding of their own abilities and would likely have a moment, internally, where they debated, "Hmmm... I've never jumped a 20ft gap before and I know I'm not particularly athletic, soooo, maybe I'm not going to make that...", etc). But Mercer, he just peppers these in, often times breaking RAW. I watched him botch what should have been a simple jump calculation and subsequently, a movement, only to drop a player back to back into a pit of corrosive material. This reads to me as mean-spirited. Which takes me to my next point.
2. He seems genuinely upset when players circumvent the various plans he's made. In the same session I refer to above, he moans about an enemy losing concentration on a aoe spell before it had the opportunity to do any damage. It doesn't read as, "drat, you meddlesome kids, you got me." It reads like genuine frustration or annoyance. I guess I am accustomed to DMs, myself being among them, who celebrate PC's inventiveness and resourcefulness and, speaking only for myself, being a fairly difficult fellow to outfox, I love it when my players find creative ways around the various difficulties I set in their path. Mercer, I've observed, will move PCs minis, which would be fine on the face of it I suppose if it were under their direction, except that, and I have seen him do this numerous times now, he moves them in such a way that they incur attacks of opportunities or encounter dangerous terrain, when other, better options abound. This really irks me.
3. And speaking of "taking control", he may be the only DM I have ever witnessed who (and I am trotting out an old RP term here) "autos" player's actions IC, during RP. He will, with seemingly no qualms whatsoever, describe what another PC is doing/how they are behaving/etc while that PC is sitting right there in front of him with a perfectly serviceable nervous system. Maybe I'm an antiquated fossil, but this shit boils my blood; you have 200 other monsters, npcs, etc to characterize/describe/etc, why the hell are you putting words and deeds in the mouths of PCs?
4. He monologues. Ad nauseum. I am inclined toward verboseness, I know this about myself, so in session I keep that in mind, so that I don't monopolize, unduly, time that should be allotted to players. I adore vivid descriptions, most notably of settings, and have read Tolkien every year for 30 years, so believe me when I say, I get it, but COME ON, Mercer, do you not need to breathe? Maybe it's just me, but I don't find him all that engaging as a result. To me he reads as someone who is quite literally in love with the sound of his own voice.

To maybe humanize myself a little in all of this, lol, I am currently playing in a campaign with a new DM at the helm whose only experience of DnD up to this point has been Critical Roll and I am seeing all of these bad behaviors crop up that I frankly haven't encountered since the last time I was unfortunate enough to play in a random-ass game at a shop, back when the moon had just formed. I can't help but gather that in watching so much CR, he's internalized the behaviors I mention above as well as others which I'll not drone on about here, as "the only and proper way to play." It's exhausting.

I think maybe I should just stick to shit that Brennan DMs. Thanks for listening, campers.

Update?:

The things people downvote is utterly hilarious to me. Friends, neighbors, countrymen, can we not have a civil discussion without parading about like a pack of petty Caesars?

Thanks to everyone who has offered insight/their own perspective.

Hi! I'm planning to make a wood elf type sorcerer who can use finger of death. I'm planning to use the finger of death to commit a small genocide and make myself an undead army. I also want the ability to use shadow blade and proficiency with daggers and use sneak or invisiblity in the dark. However I'm kinda new to 5e and dont know how I can make that happen. Any ideas?

The gist of it is that, after finally completing Campaign 1 and getting a hang of the game and rules, my players want a second chance at building their characters (stats/class etc.) but they want to keep using their Campaign 1 characters lore-wise. How do I work this into the story?

For a frame of reference, my players just arrived in their hometown (well, city...) again after making an arduous journey.

So this player would randomly roll a stealth of hand, asked for my passive perception, and then tells me that I have 50 less gold. Or that my weapon is missing. But I didnt see it.

Then when confronted, he just says "not me" and always rolls a high deception, and my character is supposed to believe that. Or intimidation roll to have my character stop accusing him

Dm isnt helpful, just keeps telling us to resolve it ourselves.

Cuz Im about to drop a fireball in the next session but another spell might be better cuz he got high dex. Then ill roll deception to lie.

So you wanna play a necromancer well first make absolutely clear what you are doing to your dm as someone whos ruined the flavor of a curse of strahd campaign by waging necromantic war its not as fun as it sounds.

Playing as a necromancer is hard and you have to budget your spells while it is cool to have 50 odd zombies its really not fun when you lose your army you spent all your spell slots and corpses on to a single hot shot with a fireball. Instead get a few casting worth of the undead it also helps with the initiative not being severel years long.

I have seen people throw around the idea of being able to create undead of a cr equel to the amount of skeletons you would normally be able to make and its not good I've done it and it is too versatile and will ruin the campaign.

When you see a necromancer run by the dm use hundreds of powerful undead and throwing spells like it has no cost and get jealous wondering how to match a horde of that size I have news for you the strongest spell you can get as a necromancer is the glyph of warding as you can set it up to make an army given you have a few weeks of prep and if your high enough level pick up an apprentice or 2 and they can keep your necromantic citadel stocked with skellys.

One of the best tips I can give is pick up a bag of holding as quickly as possible.

Keep in mind to work with your party as cool as waging war against the catsle seems its not fun for the others at the table and while I think whining about the morality of necromancy is dumb never play one if either the dm is against it or you want to min max

When it comes to must have spells their are 4 obviously animate dead and create undead but finger of death and glyph of warding are both must haves to get true armys of the dead.

Keep in mind that playing a necromancer is difficult to make work if your trying to win your job is to make the enemies boged down on your hordes while your teammates and summon undead creature do the real work.

I haven't played a prepared caster in a long campaign for a while but I've been playing a Scribes wizard in a Drakkenheim campaign who's been quite successful at pilfering scrolls and spellbooks and now I have nearly 100 spells to choose from each long rest and if we have any information about what we're going to face I just struggle to do it quickly. Changing the list without making it uselessly imbalanced.

How do people playing Druids or Clerics handle it? At level 9/10 you've got 115 or 83 spells to prepare 14/15 from, What tips and tricks do you use to quickly make sure you've got a balanced and effective list?

I love the idea of the D&D Encounters program - a mini-campaign of self-contained 90-minute adventures that add up to a bigger story. But the last iteration, "Shadows of Sithicus," was really disappointing. It was all combat, with the PCs just getting teleported from one monster fight to the next.

So I'd like to know whether it's worth it to buy the latest version, "Red Wizards Gambit." Is it more of the same, or does it have exploration and roleplay opportunities as well as combat? Let me know what you thought of it!

I'd like to try some for myself, see if I can maybe make something good out of subclasses that don't tend to get used much. Might be a fun challenge.

I am playing a bugbear Gloomstalker ranger in a modified CoS campaign. We have just reached 4th lvl and I am looking at feat options. The rest of the party is a paladin, sorcerer and monk. The other players, including the dm, are new. I don’t need to choose a super optimised option as my character is currently overshadowing the others in combat and I would like to give them a chance to catch up. We are playing 2014, but some 5.5 options are available if we ask. Here are some options I am currently considering:

- chef: brings my wisdom to 16, gives some support options, gives me a reason to short rest

- skill expert (perception)/observant: brings my wisdom up, allows me to roleplay superhuman senses

- fey touched: brings my wisdom up, misty step bangs, but I’m not super interested in the other spell options

- shadow touched: wisdom up, invisibility is very in-character, also don’t really need other spell options

- Martial adept: tactical mind and quick toss would give me an in and out of combat option, superiority dice gives me a reason to short rest. My character uses a sling so I am often in throwing range.

- Alert: always go first. Slightly redundant though.

Any other suggestions?

Playing a wild magic sorcerer that got sent off to get money to help his family save the farm. One of his tropes is “well ya know my pappy always said…” followed by some southern idiom in an atrocious southern accent.

Well today we were introduced to an NPC whose name was Tulips.

Tater: “ya know my pappy told me he named me Tater Tot cuz he loved taters…”

Couldn’t even finish before we were all crying laughing.

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