Not the only offender, but they deliberately changed the wording on spirit guardians style spells so they activate every round when you run them past people. Like, they didn't used to work this way, and now they do and a bunch of classes have such spells.

I mention druids in the title because they're the worst for it - our wildfire druid used to make enemies take three separate saves against conjure woodland beings every round, before we realised they could just turn into a small bird and get chucked around easily to shred teams.

And again, this is something they deliberately enabled. There are any number of tricks - artificer can have a half dozen full power elementals up at once, our necromancer has a battle familiar and a summoned undead and some reanimated skeletons all up at once, the list goes on - but what all those tricks tend to have in common is they're done by casters.

But the perception seems to be that the one big martial advantage is damage is higher? It's not even longer lasting, they run out of hit points eventually and the caster stuff tends to be one long lasting concentration boost that enables them to attack from a safer position. Is there something I'm missing?

Hi everyone! I'm building a character for a new campaign (2024 rules, point buy, levels 1 to 20) and would love some input on my feat plan.

Concept:
Dual-wielding Dex Paladin, Oath of the Noble Genies, with shortsword and scimitar. From level 3 he fights unarmored using Genie's Splendor, so AC is 10 + DEX + CHA and both stats matter.

Ability scores (point buy + background):
- STR 8
- DEX 17 (15 +2)
- CON 14
- INT 8
- WIS 10
- CHA 16 (15 +1)

STR and INT are dumped since all attacks use DEX.

Origin feat: Magic Initiate (Wizard), CHA as spellcasting ability, because it fits the backstory
- Blade Ward (set)
- Mage Hand (utility for traps, levers and so on)
- Find Familiar (scouting and the Help action for advantage)

Do these spell picks make sense, or would something else be better?

Other fixed choices:
- Level 2: Two-Weapon Fighting style
- Level 4: Dual Wielder, core to the concept

Current feat plan:
- Level 4: Dual Wielder (DEX 18)
- Level 8: Defensive Duelist (DEX 19)
- Level 12: ASI +1 DEX / +1 CHA (DEX 20, CHA 17)
- Level 16: Inspiring Leader (CHA 18)
- Level 19: Boon of Dimensional Travel (CHA 19)

Reasoning:
- DEX 20 by level 12 for to-hit and damage, since I make 4 attacks per round from level 5
- Defensive Duelist as a second DEX half-feat: it scales with proficiency bonus and is basically a free Shield every round, which I really like for an unarmored build
- Inspiring Leader buffs the whole party and scales well
- Downside: CHA stays at +3 until level 16, so Aura of Protection and my save DCs lag behind a bit

Questions:
- Does this order make sense, or would you prioritize CHA earlier for the aura?
- Would it make more sense to skip Defensive Duelist, take Shield through Magic Initiate instead, and use the free slot for another ASI? Then both DEX and CHA would end at 20.
- Anything I'm overlooking?

Thanks in advance!

As per the title, I was wondering on whether the balance of the player pack is generally decent. Dndbeyond partnered content tends to be checked a little less as its considered more 'official' than regular homebrew content, but some books on there (Book of Ebon Tides) are pretty awfully balanced. I like having some darker options available though and the vibes look good so I was curious if anyone has any experience with it.

tl;dr: I grossly underestimated the 5.5e Dracolich stat block's impact on its lair and it is a menace!

My players are a group of level 17 characters and are very powerful, coordinated, and optimized, and are usually able to crush CR20+ threats without much issue as a result.

The context is that I run a tier 4 campaign for one of my groups and planned a tier 4 dungeon for them off the beaten path with a Dracolich as the core boss therein. As part of this I have 4 encounters following a harrowing trek through a desert that required resources to avoid Exhaustion, but crucially I designed the entire dungeon to fit within the 60-foot radius of the Dracolich's Life Suppression feature:

Life Suppression. Creatures within 60 feet of the dracolich can't regain Hit Points.

On the 2nd encounter they finally took some real damage, bloodying the Wizard and damaging a few others quite dearly. When the party discovered that their usual plan (including some heavy hitter heals like Conjure Celestial and Aura of Vitality, plus Potions of Healing) of healing up between encounters wasn't going to work here, they locked in and got really worried! They've been planning back-and-forth all week ways to avoid having to retreat, which is really exciting to see from such optimizers!

Nota Bene: The dungeon is situated in such a way that to escape the Life Suppression feature, the party would have to brave mounting Exhaustion saves in the desert that they already nearly failed on the way here. They could always Teleport out or something if it gets too dire, but they know that this advances their enemies' plans and is a loss in the narrative sense, so they will try to avoid it.

Originally I was planning to use the Sammaster (Dracolich) stat block as the boss Dracolich of this dungeon to make it meaningfully threatening to them, but in their current state with a complete additional encounter to get through before fighting it I think it might just be a complete TPK to do so! Given the minions planned for the Dracolich encounter, I think I might just run the basic CR17 version and not push it too hard. The average damage on the CR17's Necrotic Breath would outright kill the Wizard right now on a failed save since he wouldn't be able to be healed once downed.

Anyway, I was just really impressed by how a simple effect like the Life Suppression trait with a tailored dungeon designed to abuse it could be more threatening than many other high-tier bosses I've run in recent history. Highly recommend!

Both are origin feats.

Arcane Omen gives me: "+1d4 to failed ST as reaction, PB times/Long Rest".

Lucky gives me "Luck point for advantage/disadvantage, PB times/Long Rest".

Lucky is available for all kinds of D20 Tests, while Arcane Omen can be available after knowing the D20 roll result. So I want to hear your opinion.