New DM, so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question--

I know characters can be cursed, lose limbs, have prosthetics, scars, etc. But what about things like MS, Cerebral Palsy, hemophilia, cleft palate, Downs, etc? Would magical healing and cure disease make them obsolete or would we still see it? I'd like to make a few npcs in my world a bit more inclusive, but I'm not sure how "realistic" it is in a world with magic. Am I overthinking it?

So I’m a DM that’s been running a campaign for over 2 years un D&D 5e. I have one of my players using a path of the depths barbarian who is technically speaking cursed. The curse has him turn into a demon after he goes into rage. And this means that they lose control of themselves. This players plot revolves around being able to control himself and become strong.

As for now how I’ve been ruling it is having them make a wisdom check to avoid loosing control during rage. The DC is based on how many creatures have died in combat.

The problem is, that I feel like I’m punishing them for playing and getting into combat. I don’t know how to rule it for them to have a risk of losing control and becoming a threat to his friends but still allowing them to have fun in combat.

I'm making a bunch of homebrew enemies for a world i'm crafting that i will be using exclusively for all my dnd 5e games going forward. Up until this point i've managed to keep things like passive traits pretty similar to what already exists in the DMG, and those that aren't really there wouldn't have an effect on CR anyway.

However, I recently had an idea for a series of enemies based on one of my kingdoms that have a passive trait that i'm not sure just how much it should effect the CR. I'm thinking the most similar is how resistance effects it. The idea is that these enemies have lower HP but their passive trait caps any damage they take at 5. Additionally, if Dispel magic is cast on them, this trait stops working for 1 minute, allowing full damage against them, the same also applies if they are in an anti-magic zone. The idea being that they can be hard to handle, but if you know how to counter them you can shred them. So I don't know how much this should change Effective HP in terms of figuring out challenge rating, and in general i have no idea how to determine how much a new passive trait should change challenge rating if it isn't similar enough to existing traits.

To be clear upfront, I am asking for advice from people who struggle in a similar way. I am hoping to find coping mechanisms, or tricks to help combat the issue. I know everyone is different, but I'm just hoping to find someone in a similar boat as me.

That being said? I have bipolar and I have two modes.

Mode #1 is that I get really excited to run a game (usually modules). I think about all the ways I can do it, and basically thinking I'm god's gift to this green earth. I obsess and fixate on the game, long before I even invite someone to it. I'm scouring all the material, familiarizing myself with it front to back. I'm gathering resources, making maps, getting NPCs ready. Then I invite everyone, and I'm the biggest hype man. When the game is going and I'm still in this mode, I'm engaging the players in conversations and looking forward to sessions. I've got everything prepared and ready.

Mode #2 is a different story. I look at upcoming sessions with dread. I want to pull away from people in general, in personal life as well as in the context of upcoming games. I think I'm doing a terrible job, and that I was stupid to have even started this. I think I'm stupid for it because I know that I'm flaky, and I know that my excitement will wax and wane. I think of reasons to bail or cancel sessions and dwell on it as the session gets closer, usually eventually acting on it. I think the players aren't having fun and they're only there to humor me. They're playing out of obligation, no matter how much evidence suggests otherwise. And eventually, I'll cancel the game.

In regards to canceling the game, you could say that I could just do one-shots. And I could. But the amount of time between Mode 1 and Mode 2 varies. I could go 3 sessions or I could go 20 sessions till I feel that way.

You could also ask me, "Why are you even DMing in the first place?"

And the answer is because I get excited by whatever idea I'm taken with, and I just run with it. Mode #1 is a powerful motivator. Additionally, lately, I've been extremely interested in systems other than D&D, and unless I take up the initiative to run them, I'll never have the chance to play them with my friends. I have pretty bad social anxiety that crops up with strangers, so joining randos on the internet is pretty difficult.

So I guess... I am looking for advice from people like me, who flakes, flames out and burns out. How do you combat this? How do you cope?

The barbarian of the group got duped by a vendor into buying a smooth stone with a supposed minor magical effect that gives luck at sea. A detect magic spell showed that there was a slight magical aura surrouinding the stone. What comedic effect can i gove this rock thats good for a laugh?

Hi everyone. Ty for all the advice in the previous post I've made, it lead to a decent discussion about the boredom plaguing our table (though not much else).

Today I have a different question. Are there any good tips on helping players engage with the world, as in, roleplay what they would've done in their character's shoes instead of trying to engage with rules, mechanics and DM's patience, disregarding the roleplay entirely?

Because for about 2 months in my campaign, this keeps happening (I am even thinking about commissioning an artist for a comic about it):

Me (DM): Ok, initiative roll is done. Enemies rolled higher, so 2 orcs are moving towards your flanks and make 2 attacks against Cleric and Warlock. The mage in their ranks uses some spell that looks like toxic mist, roll Con, if you lose the saving throw, you are paralyzed for 1 round.

Them (Players): UUUAAAAAAAAAH HOW CAN ORCS ROLL HIGHER INITIATIVE THAN US?! YOU CHEATED! HOW DID THEY KNOW THE ELVES ON OUR FLANKS ARE MAGES AND WHY DIDNT THEY ATTACK THE IRON-CLAD GOLIATH WITH A GIANT TOWER SHIELD IN THE FRONT?! I HAVE CLICKED ON THE ROLL AND ORCS HAVE ADDITIONAL D6 DICE OF DAMAGE, WHY?! ALSO NAME ME THE EXACT NAME OF THIS MIST, AND THE ABILITY ORCS HAVE, I NEED TO READ EVERYTHING ABOUT IT FOR FIVE MINUTES, AND MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND IT RIGHT!

As you can imagine, I am extremely tired of this. I tried hiding all my rolls and never naming the spells as well as changing token images (they keep googling the stat blocks and saying things like "Acolytes dont have this spell in MM!") but it starts to feel like I am punishing them. It also didn't work, because they would rather waste their turns rolling Arcane to identify the spell than do anything else.

At this point, I am on my last legs. Are there any good ways to stop this without just flat out hiding all rolls and banning meta-gaming, or should I just DM for a completely different set of friends?

Hi hi, middling-in-experience DM here; I've mostly played with other game systems but I've run a few 4e and 5e campaigns. I'm starting a campaign with a group of enthusiastic newbies - none of them have done RPGs before but are all very interested. We've picked 5e for a few reasons that I won't bore you with, but enough to say that "use a different game system" isn't particularly useful advice here. For a little context about my style: my goal as a DM is that me and my players collaboratively explore this story together; for example I've got the basic layout of the world and my worldbuilding structure done but the details will be filled in by us all together as we go.

I'm going to help them all through character creation, but I was wondering if you guys have any advice, tactics, or ideas for helping them build a cohesive and collaborative party, for 5e, their first go around? I've often done worldbuilding games with or without the party, but I haven't come across that kind of thing for party building.

One of the difficulties I've had most prominently with D&D, especially with newer players, is that each player has a unique and strong character but the party lacks cohesion. They don't have a great reason for the characters being together, they don't work well together, there's a big mismatch in tone and vibe, or fundamentally the characters don't like each other (even if the players do; I think this can make for very interesting roleplay but is extremely difficult for new players).

Hence, I've framed this more as "party building" than "character creation" and I'm planning to have us all get together first, and then for more in-depth character creation they can do it on their own and I'm happy to meet up with them 1-1 to help. In the past it's usually been the other way around, with players coming to the table for the first time with their fully-created characters and us trying to fit them together. I think swapping this will help, but I'm curious if anyone else has other ideas!

I'm a VTT enthusiast, it's probably obvious, but I'm meeting a problem right now. I want my players to have connections that are seemingly real (although they don't have to be real) and so I want to have some NPCs have faces.

The thing is, I'm kind of running out of good art for my tokens, how do you deal with this situation? Do you usually have a generic token you use for all males/females or maybe 2 per class or something and then give them a face if the players want to keep in touch?

For context, I have a Player at my table who really likes Chromatic Orb, and why not it's a great spell. He often chooses cold damage.

Now I'm planning to throw a Black pudding at the group next session, which are immune to cold damage.

Do I tell him its immune to cold? Or do I say something along the lines of 'The ooze appears unfazed by the attack'

So as above I'm somewhat time poor as I get closer to my exam in Feb, but wanted to start a new campaign with some newbies and my partner - wanted suggestions.

Obviously there is no way to have a minimal prep overall campaign, but it would make life easier if some elements of the prep were done. What I mean is

• campaign that has the plot, baddies, loot, enemies and stat blocks, and factions lined out
• relatively linear campaign

What I'm more then happy to prep

• reading through the modules
• designing around NPCs, baddies' motivations and goals
• integrating back stories.

Essentially what I'm thinking is stuff that I can spend my free time like driving/ at the gym thinking about is perfect, but the stuff that really bogs me down is the maps, finding appropriate baddies etc.

I've read through a lot of reddit posts but they're always 'no prep campaigns' which just isn't a thing and so never goes anywhere.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry this’ll be a bit of a long read.

Recently I made an npc who’s the trusted right hand of the BBEG. Her name is Naadia Moore, she’s a high level half elf warlock who specializes in enchantment and illusion magic. She met the party, staged an attack on herself to meet them and gained their trust after her “rescue”. She travelled with them, secretly gathering information, and once they got to the temple containing a powerful artifact the BBEG was searching for, she murdered one of the party members and made off with the artifact and all the information she gathered. For more background on the BBEG and their goals:

In the campaign, the bbeg is a powerful conjuration wizard who worships a god-like demon lord. He wants to bring his master and his armies into our dimension to take over and reign over our world as a demi god with his loyal cultists. Naadia is a warlock in service to the demon lord assisting him to meet his goals. The artifact is a lodestone which is essentially a fountain of pure magic energy. He needs to collect at least two of the four in existence to open a gateway strong enough to allow his master to pass through.

Now that the background is out of the way, I need ideas for her to continue fucking with the party. I want her to be a “one step ahead” recurring antagonist that really motivates them to hunt her down and puts a little pressure on them. The more psychologically damaging the better lol!

Edit: She can cast disguise self at will, catch glimpses of the future, and make portals to transport herself and allies places.

Portal-potties!

So, I'm running a semi-homebrew/semi-module game right now and have been designing a ton of maps, including different houses/taverns. I like to put bathrooms in them because I'm not a heathen and don't want to draw outhouses, but in a world without central plumbing, and fairly pervasive low magic, what does that look like?

Enter the Portal-potty! This demiplane has a one-way portal on top that only allows organic waste through it. Have your local artificer install this common magic item in your home to show your neighbors how sophisticated and fancy you are!

But where does it all go? Each Portal-potty has its own waste consuming elemental inside! Who doesn't love a shit-golem!! Don't be fooled by knockoff magic items like the Bag of Going, they just fill and fill until their contents rupture the bag, spilling everything into the Astral plane. Think of the Gith, invest in your genuine Portal-potty today!

I have always loved doing a variety of voices for npcs. It is a skill I have spent a lot of time cultivating. In the past I have done many different Irish, Scottish, German, American, Russian, Irish, etc… accents. I have always done research, listened to native speakers and looked for guides to do justice to accents and to avoid caricatured accents. In an upcoming game I had considered using a Jamaican accent for a dwarven warrior, I would have researched and done my best to do an authentic accent. But when I mentioned this to a friend (outside of the game), he seemed aghast at the idea, and said that it would be racist to do the accent and would be cultural appropriation. I am ashamed to admit that I hadn’t considered that. Now I am wondering if it would be completely wrong to do the accent. And if so, have I been cultural appropriating when doing all of the other accents as well? I am not Scottish or Russian, I do not belong to many of the cultural groups that I have been using accents from. I thought it was ok as long as I did mostly subtle accents and did my due diligence to avoid caricatures, have I been completely oblivious, or is it all right as long as I’m not poking fun and doing my best to be accurate?

Hi all

Long time player first time DMing here - running a oneshot which may turn into campaign and my oath of conquest paladin has swore his oath to an evil corporation who basically run a part of the country. He is completely indoctrinated so I’m just brainstorming how to factor in the revelation that the corp is evil and the implications of this for his oath.

Thanks for the support!

Hey guys. I’m really struggling with a party balance issue at the moment. I DM for a group of four that includes a fighter, ranger, bard, and druid at level 11. I have a recurring problem with my druid who says that she feels overwhelmingly underpowered compared to the fighter and ranger in the party after nearly every session. She says combat feels very unfun when the fighter and ranger are pumping out damage numbers in the 30s+ every round while she doesn’t seem to do any damage.

I try to help her strategize and use her spells, class features, and magic items to help her feel like she can compete, but it doesn’t seem to work; and I’m entirely not sure it should. The fighter and ranger are built purely to do damage in combat so it makes sense to me that they should do the most, but that concept does not seem to register to her. I do not know how to help her understand without coming off as condescending or something else bad.

What I am looking for is help figuring out how to deal with this situation. Useful context is that the druid is my girlfriend who has played the game for much less time than myself, which is why everything comes off as condescending to her when to me it feels completely normal.

Thanks team

So im a dm who is currently in the midst of settting up a homebrew world where magic is common to the point where like colleges teach up to level two spells , most commoners can if they set out to use cantrips like prestigitation and such . Its a very magically imbued world . I have thought of this question since i dont see it happen a lot even in high magic settings . Can a npc be pissed off about being charmed , being the target of suggestion or so on (if they pass the dc or i would say a little while after the spell ends if they fail the dc . I just always found the idea odd , why dms dont use the annoyance as its actively fucking with someones mind and invading privacy and taking free will .

Is it just a commonly used rule that most dont know about it or what happens

I have a typical late medieval fantasy world, which is gonna have rare interactions with characters from other multiversus with heavily varying technological levels. I intend for this to be something that has barely been touched on/explored in the campaigns home universe, but I’d like it if my players first interaction with this type of stuff wasn’t some guy coming out of a portal randomly and greeting them. Any ideas? Only thing that comes to mind is how samurai jack did the time portals, with them scattered in significant locations or at the peaks of impressive mountains. Im very open to ideas, anything other than the typical “there are portals sometimes and somewhere.”

For my home campaign, I am going for a highest possible stakes scenario. The adventure is going to culminate with a world ending threat appearing over the horizon. I took inspiration from the 3.5e "Elder Evils" book, using Atropus in particular, a moon sized elder evil that floats around space and eats planets. Alongside them is someone that is very much the real "villain" of the campaign, a woman named Caira who wants to bring to bring about the end of the world through Atropus. Now, one problem I have is Caira's motives for doing this, as they rather nonsensical.

From the book:

“I hate the gods. They took my love, my life, everything I am. I will punish them by taking from them what they most love: life. All your little lives that are so precious to them.” —Caira Xasten, ur-priest

Caira Xasten is a cruel ur-priest, a foul thief of divine energy who bends it to her will. Driven by an insane desire for revenge and emptied of compassion and mercy by the tragedies of her life, she seeks to lift the burden of her grief.

The above is semi fine until now, I could see someone with enough trauma blaming it on the world and lashing out

But then under "Goals" it elaborates

Caira Xasten wants to destroy the world. She doesn’t want power, she wants revenge. Years ago, her lover and colleague was struck down by a falling meteorite. The chances of such an accident were so slim that she blamed the gods. Robbed of a life with the one person she loved more than anything, she went insane and bent all her considerable resources to visiting ruin on those entities she despised. She cares nothing for her own life or for the deaths of those who stand in her way.

They kinda lost me there. So, her lover got killed by a meteor, and she decided a proper response would be to murder the world

I feel like there's a lapse in logic here, especially in a world where coming back from the dead is possible

She's ready to dedicate enough resources to build a cult dedicated to summoning a planet eating elder god...... but not enough to just pay for a revival? She's also an ur-priest, she has cleric powers, if nothing else she could revive him herself.

All this got me thinking of how often we see similar nonsensical justifications for a villain doing something that will absolutely not help with whatever plight they have.

What kind of motive could compel someone to destroy the world?

Ok so I want to one day be a dm and was wondering what types of areas and living arrangements the various races and whatnot would reside in. For example, do kobolds live in caves or out in foresty areas? Do they live in huts, holes in the ground, or do they not have individual housing and just have a single area of territory for them all? Would the houses they have look distinct in some way that players could see them and know "yep kobolds are over there"?

(Also I'm aware it is ultimately up to me and what is fun for the group of what the answer is but I was just wondering about things like this)

As the title says, I’m planning a dnd session set in 1920’s New York.

For context: It’s a heist one-shot, where the party has been sent back in time to correct a paradox (Magic does exist, but is not known about in the 1920s). The party can’t let others know about magic at the risk of creating another paradox. They have to infiltrate a meeting between three mafia dons as they try to negotiate trade deals.

The mafia members also know about magic and are illegally trafficking magical items. (But it is not the cause of the paradox). The paradox is caused by a dragon’s egg that was planted by a changeling in the second basement of the mafia dons mansion. The egg will hatch at midnight releasing a dragon into the world which will reveal magic, causing the paradox.

Where I’m struggling is planning out the second basement, I don’t really want it to be a stereotypical fantasy dungeon style crawl. But I also love riddles and magic incorporated into my dungeons. Any advice would be VERY much appreciated, especially since I need to have this planned by 3:00 pm today!

Both: Male Middle aged for their species Average stats(ST, DEX, etc) for their species Unarmed

Who would win and why?

First time DM. Converting a PC into a wave encounter. First wave consists of the minions summoned by a level 11 Shadow/Hexblade Sorlock (Sorc 6, Lock 5). Second wave is the Sorlock herself. I would like input on when would be the earliest I could pit a fairly optimized (for damage) party of 4 against this encounter to be very difficult, but beatable.

Wave 1 consists of:

• 1 Pact of the Chain Imp Familiar (CR1*)
• 3 Hounds of Ill Omen (CR 1) (Would be summoned on rounds 1, 2 and 4 all targeting 1 PC each)
• 1 Shadow Spirit via Summon Shadowspawn spell (No CR listed)

*Pact of the Chain Imp Familiar

Baseline Imp has a CR of 1. This Pact Imp would have resistance to everything (reaction from IotCM invocation), improved armor class (16 from casting mage armor on it), improved damage (Inflict Wounds at up to 3rd level [5d10, 27.5 avg] via Sorlock's action). Is that enough to boost it to CR2?

All in all about 135 hp to chip through over 5 separate and staggered bodies to complete this first wave. What difficulty would you consider this first wave?

Second Wave

Sorlock Level 11 (restricted to melee only)

Avg health 84, +8 to hit 1d8 bludgeoning (Warhammer).

Spells available: Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade (both scaled to character level 11), Hellish Rebuke, Misty Step, Invisibility, Spirit Shroud.

I believe the Sorlock averages out at about CR8. Does that seem correct? Fighting her immediately after fighting the minions maybe boost this to a CR9? My players' PCs generally punch above their weight class for CR, but would it be too crazy to have them fight this at level 7? 8?

Thanks for the input! If you're interested in the full stat block it is "Legion of One" on D&D Beyond Homebrew monsters. Made a few mistakes before uploading though, so its not exactly how I wanted it.

If you were to run an adventure with one fantasy race as the PC option, and in/around that one race's society, which would you pick?

A bit of background: I've been DM'ing what is meant to be a longer campaign for about 3 months now. After each session I have my players message me and rate the session on a 1-10 scale while also adding tips. While they are having fun the main issue that they cite when ratings are sub par is that they "weren't engaged" among other similar things. Often they cite other side discussions amongst players and a general issue of staying interested and on task. I want to be able to keep my players interested and make this a memorable campaign as once me along with the other half of my party leave for college in a few months it will be the last time we all can regularly play D&D together.

If I can get some tips on keeping engagement and limiting side conversations from some veteran dms I would be very appreciative. Thanks!

One of my players is playing a Rune Knight, so I went ahead and read the Fire rune. The rune says it doubles your proficiency for any check that uses a tool you are proficient with. Now, my player has no plans to multiclass into a Rogue, but I immediately thought about it. The Rogue’s Expertise feature lets them double their proficiency with Thieves tools.

Hypothetically, if someone was a Rogue X/Rune Knight 3, what would their bonus for thieves tools look like? Do they not stack (like how AC works)? Does it just multiply the proficiency bonus by 4? Does it double it again after expertise?

I’m not worried about it in my current campaign but I want to be sure in case my players figure this out.

Howdy there folks! I understand this might be a long and confusing post, so I'll do my best to simplify it for readability. I'm relatively new to posting on Reddit, so please forgive me if I overlook something obvious.

As a GM, I'm very inexperienced, this is my first time actually running a table, but I'm fortunate to have a table with three of my best friends who are incredibly supportive. I've had negative experiences with previous groups, but I couldn't ask for better pals and tablemates now. I've been planning to run my own DnD campaign for about two years, and finally, the opportunity has arrived with the right group. My campaign is a blend of my friends' and my favorite fantasy elements, drawing inspiration from games like Divinity Original Sin, LOTR, TES Oblivion, and more.

Currently, I'm running a campaign based on a failed Out of the Abyss storyline. In Out of the Abyss, a party ventures into the Abyss to defeat a powerful antagonist who has united the Abyssal plane and threatens to invade the mortal plane. However, in my campaign, I'm exploring the question of what would happen if those adventurers failed to stop the invasion.

To get to the main point, I have a central plot revolving around a looming demonic invasion. The player party consists of chosen adventurers who have been marked with the "Godbrand," a magical mark that signifies they have been chosen by the Gods themselves to combat the imminent storm. However, the players are still unaware of their true purpose and the reasons behind their selection. The Gods have yet to communicate with them directly, leaving them in the dark about their destiny.
My challenge lies in gradually introducing elements related to the demonic invasion without it happening outright. I want the players to become slowly aware of the impending threat and face off against smaller encounters as they progress in levels. Eventually, the full extent of the invasion will be revealed, but I want to build up to that climactic moment.

My question is, how do I do this? How do I slowly build to this incoming danger without it arriving? I'm currently working on some bandits who've been unified under one banner by a Demon (disguised) in order to weaken a Kingdom ahead of the invasion, but how do I have the players reveal to this slowly without their just being a random demon at the head of a horde of bandits?

Forgive me if this is long-winded, and or confusing, there's a myriad of things I'm trying to compress, so I don't have too much word vomit, but I feel as though that's passed a bit..

TLDR: A Demonic invasion is coming, and I need help revealing that to the party without it outright happening. Elements of the Abyss are working in the shadows to destabilize the mortal plane, but what exactly are those actions they're undertaking, and how do I clue the party in without spilling the entire plot?

Thank you lot for your time, please if you have any questions feel free to ask!

So I'm running SKT and they have a nicely detailed random encounter table for day time travel, but I also really wanted something for the nighttime while the party are trying to safely rest. So I made this!
I added a few unique ideas/suggestions I'd seen around the internet while also creating a few of my own. I had my own party in mind for this (4 x Lv. 6) but I'm hoping it's universal enough to adapt for any party!

I couldn't crosspost the original formatted post because this subreddit doesn't allow pictures in their posts. You can view the original post with formatting over at UnearthedArcana.

Otherwise, the table with explanations for each encounter can be viewed here from Google Drive as a PDF, and a picture of the excel table with all the possibility calculations can be viewed here from Google Drive too.

Feel free to use and let me know what you think :)

Context:

I'm running a combat soon where the bbeg has a sword. A rather nice sword if I do say so myself. There's only one character at my table that uses a sword. So if they kill the baddie and take the sword, its clear who gets it. That was not my intention in creating the sword -- I was just making something fun and flavorful for an enemy to use.

I also have a player at the table planning to multiclass into Wizard and there is a spellbook available in this sequence as well. So that's two items that are more or less perfect fits for 2/5 of my players.

So now I feel obligated to give other items to the bbeg and/or to be in the dungeon's total loot so that everyone gets something.

Should I fight the urge to make/include loot that is "clearly" meant for each of the party members? Or is it fine to just give one or two charactera something cool at a time? Should I do something to make everyone feel like they got something even if its not specific for everyone?

Thanks!

I’m getting battles ready for my campaigns and I have some questions regarding one of the quests.

So party is asked to investigate a seemingly normal house. They go in and everything seems normal. They soon discover that every-single object in that house is a mimic.

How would I got about this or describe this??

Hi there,
Looking for homebrew help with interesting potential ingredients for a potion which when drunk would slowly transform a creature into a construct.
Thanks in advance.