Invisible Stalker

You are the nightmare in the dark, an unseen force of paranoia and terror. Your victims don’t just fear you, they dread the moment you strike again.

Level 3: Tormenting Paranoia

When you strike from the shadows, your prey is left in a state of panic, unable to act decisively.

When you hit a creature with Sneak Attack, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier).

On a failure, the creature becomes paranoid for 1 minute. While paranoid, it can only take one of the following per turn: Action, Bonus Action, or Movement (its choice).

Each time you hit the paranoid creature, you roll one additional Sneak Attack die (stacking) until you attack a different creature.

You can have only one creature paranoid at a time. If you attack a new target, the paranoia ends on the previous one.

The creature can attempt to end the paranoia by taking the Search action, making a Wisdom (Perception) check against your Stealth DC.

Level 3: Prey Stalker

You can vanish from sight even in plain view, making escape nearly impossible for your foes.

You can use the Hide action even while in plain sight, as long as you are in dim light or darkness. You do not need heavy obscurity or cover.

When you roll initiative, you can immediately take the Hide action (no action required).

Level 9: Terror of the Unseen

Your presence unsettles even the bravest souls, turning their own senses against them.

Creatures paranoid by you have disadvantage on saving throws against being Frightened.

If a creature is immune to the Frightened condition, it instead only has advantage on the saving throw when resisting your fear-based effects.

If a paranoid creature cannot see you at the start of its turn, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become Frightened of you until the start of its next turn.

Even if the creature cannot see you, it still has disadvantage on attack rolls due to its fear.

Level 13: Vanishing Phantom

Your mastery of stealth allows you to become a near-mythical entity, even to those who should see through deception.

You are immune to Divination spells of 5th level or lower,unless you want to be affected by them.

You can hide in plain sight without needing dim light or darkness.

While you are Invisible, creatures with Truesight or Blindsight perceive only a shifting mirage of your form.

You can Sneak Attack Truesight and Blindsight creatures as if you were unseen.

Level 17: True Nightmare

You are the embodiment of terror, a living nightmare from which there is no escape.

When you hit a paranoid creature with Sneak Attack, it must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier).

On a failure, the creature is Frightened of you for 1 minute and cannot take Reactions for the duration.

While Frightened this way, the creature takes psychic damage equal to half your Sneak Attack dice at the start of its turns.

The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

When a paranoid creature fails its save against this feature, you can immediately take the Hide action (no action required).

College of the Power Word

The College of the Power Word traces its roots to the most ancient form of magic,the Tongue of the Weave. Bards of this college do not merely perform; their words shape the world, bending reality and will alike. Whether through sheer authority or remnants of a long forgotten magic, their voices command both admiration and fear.

Level 3: Compelling Speech

Your words carry an undeniable force, able to inspire awe or paralyze with fear even in those who would resist.

When you use your Bardic Inspiration, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

This ability ignores immunity to the Frightened condition, though creatures normally immune to it have advantage on their saving throw.

Level 3: Voice of the Weave

Your voice carries an echo of the Weave’s ancient power, making your words impossible to ignore.

You learn the Thaumaturgy cantrip if you don’t already know it.

When you make a Charisma (Persuasion), Charisma (Intimidation), or Charisma (Deception) check, you can expend a use of Bardic Inspiration to weave subtle magic into your words. When you do, choose one of the following effects:

Undeniable Command: The target cannot refuse to hear you out, even if it would normally dismiss you. If your check succeeds, it becomes more inclined to comply, though not necessarily against its core beliefs or interests.

Weaving Lies: Your deception becomes nearly imperceptible. Creatures attempting to see through your lie make their Insight check with disadvantage for the next 10 minutes.

Authoritative Presence: For 10 minutes, creatures that can hear and understand you instinctively regard you as a figure of importance, treating you with the respect due to an authority figure in the given situation.

Level 6: Power Word Command

You have learned to shape your words into irresistible commands.

You always have the Command spell prepared.

You can cast Command once without expending a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

When you cast Command, you can impose disadvantage on the saving throw, but you can only do this once per creature per long rest.

Level 14: Tongue of the Weave

You have achieved mastery over the Tongue of the Weave, unlocking words of incredible power.

You automatically learn Power Word Fortify, Power Word Pain, and Power Word Stun when you gain the ability to cast them.

These spells are always prepared for you.

When you cast one of these spells, you can choose a second creature within 10 feet of the original target. That creature is also affected by the spell.

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Hey there!

I always liked the idea of the Phoenix Sorcery Subclass from the old Unearthed Arcana and was pretty disappointed it never got printed in any rulebook. And since I saw the Innate Sorcery feature of the 2024 Sorcerer, I had the idea of having Mantle of Flame just be an extension of Innate Sorcery. I recently got around writing my ideas for a 2024 version of this subclass down and playtesting my ideas a bit.
So far I playtested the subclass from level 5-7 and in a One-Shot at level 20, and it was really fun to play.
It's first time I put out my homebrew onto the internet - I hope I got all the crediting right.
Feedback is welcome.

Mark of the Assassin

Once you set your sights on a target, their fate is sealed. You are the unseen executioner, a master of the hunt who strikes without warning and leaves no escape. With supernatural precision, you track your quarry, moving like a shadow and striking like death itself.

Level 3: Executioner’s Mark

Your attacks carry the weight of inevitability.

When you hit a creature affected by your Hunter’s Mark, you deal extra damage of the weapon's type equal to your Ranger level once per turn.

Level 3: Whisper of the Mark

Your bond with your prey transcends distance, allowing you to glimpse their world.

You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks against a creature affected by your Hunter’s Mark.

You can focus on the marked creature for 1 minute, gaining brief flashes of its surroundings. During this time, you hear faint sounds as if you were within 30 feet of it and catch glimpses of its location.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Level 7: Killer Focus

Your instincts sharpen in the face of danger, allowing you to turn the tide in an instant.

When a creature hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to force it to reroll. If the rerolled attack misses, you can immediately make a weapon attack against a creature affected by your Hunter’s Mark.

Whether the attack hits or misses, you can move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Level 11: Assassin’s Mark

Your mark is no longer bound by magic—it is an omen of death.

Your Hunter’s Mark spell no longer requires concentration and is no longer considered a magical effect. However, you can have only one active Hunter’s Mark at a time.

When a creature affected by your Hunter’s Mark drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to immediately mark another creature within 30 feet of you.

Level 15: Presence of the Reaper

Your very presence saps the will of your prey, leaving them powerless to flee or fight back.

A creature affected by your Hunter’s Mark suffers the following effects:

It has disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

Its speed is halved.

It cannot take the Dash or Disengage actions.

When you hit it with a weapon attack, it takes extra psychic damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).

If it attempts to teleport, fly, or magically escape (such as via Misty Step or Plane Shift), it must first make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the attempt fails, and the creature takes psychic damage equal to your Ranger level.

A werewolf stalks the night in the remote island village of Kennel Cove… Can your party stop the beast before it’s too late?

Find out in the first adventure on my new D&D YouTube show, One Shot Wonderland!

This is a free, ready-to-play one-shot! Perfect if you need a last-minute session. Just watch the video, grab the fully illustrated PDF, and you’re set to play tonight!

🔗 Watch the adventure & download the PDF here:
https://youtu.be/BZAuA8Q035U?si=L1sDu1ARtvaQ2e45

This channel is my first independent project after years in the German games media (GameStar, M! Games). I'd love to hear your thoughts on the first episode! Let me know what you think, and if you enjoy it, a sub would mean the world to me. 😊

The illustrations are by the wonderful u/cuveika. You might wanna check out her art too!

Happy adventuring! ⚔️🐺

I made a new Warlock patron called The Slime. It has an odd theme for sure, but it was intended to fit a niche that I think most other Warlocks currently don't focus on - which is being a bit of a skill monkey and more survivable. The idea came to me when I realized that many Warlocks are often locked into either being JUST Charisma based skills or taking some INT based skills at character creation but never really having much of a need for INT. I think this might be able to add something to the current meta?

Could you let me know what you think?

The Slime

Your patron is a sentient ooze seeking to influence the world around it. Whether it hungers for new meals or seeks treasures from afar, your service to this entity has provided you with the bizarre physiology of gelatinous beings and magic that makes you part of the collective hivemind. Your patron may be an alchemical horror like the Sulfurous Sovereign, an Elder Oblex that has snatched a shard of divinity, a strange being from beyond the stars, or even a personification of a deity of freedom or knowledge.

Level 3: Slime Spells

The magic of your patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Slime Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

Slime Spells

Level Spells

3 Alter Self, Enhance Ability, Grease, Guidance, Tasha’s Caustic Brew, 

5 Erupting Earth, Slow

7 Freedom of Movement, Vitriolic Sphere

9 Legend Lore, Skill Empowerment

Acid Reflux

3rd-level Slime feature

You have learned how to regurgitate the slime stored in your body to better defend yourself in battle. Whenever you cast a warlock spell or use a warlock invocation that designates a damage type, you can change the damage to Acid.

Help of the Hive Mind

3rd-level Slime feature

You have become more adept at tapping into the sea of consciousness that makes up your patron. Whenever you make an Intelligence check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1). Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can choose one skill, language, or tool proficiency that you lack and gain it. You lose this proficiency when you use this feature to choose a different proficiency that you lack.

Corrosive Constitution

6th-level Slime feature

You have developed an anatomy that more closely resembles your patron’s. You gain resistance to Acid damage. You have Advantage on any ability check you make to end the Grappled condition. Whenever a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack roll, or starts its turn in physical contact with you, your skin can scour its flesh. You can choose to have the creature take Acid damage equal to your Charisma modifier. 

Malleable Mastery

10th-level Slime feature 

When you or an ally you can see within 30 feet of you fails an ability check or saving throw, you can use your reaction to bolster the roll by ceding your knowledge to the hive mind for its gifts. When you take this reaction, choose one of the following options: 

Skillful: You temporarily lose proficiency in a skill of your choice and the target may gain proficiency in the check if they have none, or expertise if they already have proficiency. 

Resilience: You temporarily lose this proficiency in a saving throw of your choice and the target gains proficiency in the triggering saving throw. 

This effect lasts until the end of your next turn. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and you regain all uses when you finish a long rest. 

One With The Ooze

14th-level Slime feature 

You can change your form to replicate the resilience of your patron. As a bonus action, you can transform your body into a gelatinous, slithering mass. Despite this change in shape, you retain all of your other game statistics. Your gear magically dissolves into the ooze, but you lose the ability to activate any items. You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or feats and can use them if this form is capable of doing so. While in this state, you gain the following benefits: 

Greasy Guile. You have immunity to Acid damage. You can move through an opening as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing. You gain immunity to the deafened, petrified, and prone conditions. 

Blindsight. You have blindsight with a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see invisible creatures, unless they successfully hide from you. 

Spellslime. You can cast spells in this form. When you cast any of your Slime spells, they do not require verbal or material components. Additionally, whenever you cause Acid damage from a spell or Warlock feature, you can add your Charisma modifier to that damage. 

This form lasts for 10 minutes. It ends early if you fall unconscious or you choose to revert your form as a free action. If you revert while in a space too small to sustain your normal form, you are pushed to the nearest unoccupied space. 

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. 

I have a weapon - it's kind of a gag - that I would like to flesh out a bit. I'm looking for additional entries to the table below, the more ridiculous the better. I'd like more entries to blunt the effects at the extreme edges of the scale, so that there's less than a one-in-six chance of the disco ball or the stone giant's rock. I'm looking for an average damage around 1d10.

C'mon. Hit me. Make it spicy.

Yondalla’s Trebuchet
Weapon (hoopak), uncommon

A hoopak is a livadi halfling weapon, a staff-sling that resembles a lacrosse stick. Only the livadi use them extensively, though anyone proficient with a sling can learn to use one with a few days of practice. The priests of Yondalla guard their temples with “Yondalla’s Trebuchet,” magical versions of the hoopak.

You have a +1 bonus to hit Huge or Gargantuan creatures with this weapon. The hoopak has three charges. After you hit a creature with a sling bullet, you can expend a charge as a Bonus Action to transform the bullet on impact. Roll a d6 on the table below to determine what the bullet becomes and its damage. The transformed bullet vanishes at the start of your next turn. The hoopak regains expended charges each day at dawn.

1: A honey cream pie. 1 bludgeoning damage, and the target has disadvantage on attacks until your next turn begins.

2: A mirrored disco ball. 1 radiant damage, and everyone within 10 feet of the target must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or begin dancing per otto’s irresistible dance until your next turn starts.

3: A frying pan, chair, cooked chicken or other improvised weapon. 1d4 bludgeoning damage.

4: A marble bust of you. 2d4 bludgeoning damage.

5: A medium-sized cow. 3d8 bludgeoning damage. The cow is uninjured but irate.

6: A stone giant’s rock. 4d10 bludgeoning damage.

Arcane Patron

You have been touched by raw magic itself in the moment you needed most, your senses forever altered. You do not merely perceive the world,you see its threads, its hidden flows of arcane power. Every spell, every enchantment, and every supernatural force is laid bare before you. You didn’t make a deal with a being,you are the pact itself.

Level 3: Eyes of the Arcane

Your vision transcends mortal sight, revealing the hidden currents of magic.

You can see invisible creatures and objects within 30 feet, provided they are magical in nature (such as an invisible creature under Greater Invisibility or a hidden magic item).

You can see the auras of magical effects and enchantments on creatures and objects. This functions like Detect Magic, but is always active and does not require concentration.

When you see a creature cast a spell within 30 feet, you immediately learn what spell it is and what school of magic it belongs to.

Your sight allows you to read magical scripts and glyphs at a glance, even if they require Comprehend Languages or Identify. You cannot be fooled by illusory script or false enchantments.

Arcane Infusion: Your innate connection to magic allows you to influence spells as you cast them.

When you cast a Warlock spell that requires an attack roll or forces a creature to make a saving throw, you can channel the magic through your Arcane Sight:

Spell Attack: You gain advantage on the attack roll.

Saving Throw Spell: Choose one target of the spell. That creature has disadvantage on its saving throw.

The target of the spell also takes extra force damage equal to your proficiency bonus.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once) per long rest.

Level 3: Arcane Spells

The magic of your Arcane pact ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Arcane Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared. Moreover,this spells don't require material components for you.

3: Guiding Bolt,Identify,Misty Step,Invisibility. 5:Counterspell,Dispel Magic. 7:Greater Invisibilty,Arcane Eye. 9:Wall of Force,Scrying.

Level 6: Piercing Gaze

Your eyes now strip away not just illusions, but magic itself.

Disrupting Gaze:

When a creature you can see within 60 feet casts a spell, you can use your reaction to attempt to disrupt its magic. The caster must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC.

On a failure: The spell has disadvantage on attack rolls and creatures have advantage on saving throws against it.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest.

Detect Weakness:

When you hit a creature with an attack or deal damage with a Warlock spell, you can strip away its magical defenses. Until the end of your next turn, the target loses any resistances or immunities to damage or conditions for the next spell you cast. You can use this feature only once per short rest.

Level 10: Arcane Sight

Your ability to perceive magic has reached a supernatural level, letting you see through time and space.

You can now see into the Ethereal Plane within 60 feet.

Magical darkness, fog, and other obscurement do not block your vision. You can see through illusions and phantasmal effects as if they were transparent.

When you look at a creature within 60 feet, you instinctively know whether they have spellcasting or magical abilities, and you immediately know their highest-level spell slot or innate magical ability.

When you take a long rest, you can focus your vision on a specific place, person, or magical event you have encountered before. If it was affected by magic within the last 24 hours, you receive a vision or premonition about what occurred, as if glimpsing the residual echoes of the spell.

You can use your bonus action to focus your sight on one creature within 60 feet,the target must make a Wisdom saving throw or or suffer the following effects unntil the end of your next turn:

That creature cannot turn invisible, teleport, or become ethereal,its concentration on spells have disadvantage,and his speed is halved,as it feels an unnatural pressure weighing down on him.

Level 14: Wellspring Revelation

Your sight now reaches beyond mortal understanding, unraveling all magic in your presence.

As an action, you can unleash your true vision in a 60-foot radius,making Illusions and magical disguises instantly reveal,and forcing any creature that is invisible or ethereal back into the Material Plane.

Each creature of your choice in range to make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC.

On a failure: The creatures are Blinded for 1 minute or until they succeed a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of their turns.

Moreover if the creatures are spellcasters or have innate magical abilities,they also receive the following effects:

Spellcasters: Immediately lose their current highest-level spell slot,or can take force damage equal to five times their highest spell slot level. A spellcaster that has no spell slot remaining must take the damage.

Magical Creatures: Their innate magical abilities cannot be used for 1 minute,or until they succeed the Constitution saving throw at the end of each of their turn.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a 5th-level Warlock spell slot to use it again.

So I got made the DM for my brother and 5 friends and almost none of us has very much experience

I like the idea of making the story up as we go so we're gonna be trying a homebrew campaign with 5e rules.

The cast is

Two wizards

A druid

A paladin

A fighter

A bard

The starting setting is a mostly human island kingdom where our players are tasked with stealing a prized artifact by a noble who wants to overthrow the corrupt monarchy and they will eventually get carried on other adventures like navigation of a permanent maelstrom while trying to fight a hostile giant water kobold called the Klabautermonster

For the island boss fight of stealing the artifact, I was thinking of having the artifact in hollow 30 ft by 30 ft pillar a 300 sq ft circular room defended by a human guard captain and four guard henchmen.

The guard captain will have a sword called Excalibur which can [Pierce armor more effectively - how would something like this actually work re: game stats?] and two of his henchman will be armed with crossbows and two with swords. The catch is that inside the center pillar where the artifact is, there is a device called a spell jammer which blocks spells within a 30 ft radius (this was obtained by the monarchy from a sentient Rabbit NPC in the model of a hare from Redwall introduced later)

Does this fight sound too tough? What stats should the guard captain and his henchmen have relative to the player characters in a way that makes it challenging without being impossible?

One of my players is playing a northern mockingbird-based character of my homebrew version of the Aarakocra race. I let my avian players have 1 or 2 custom racial features or abilities based on which bird species they pick. This character already has expertise on deception check when using her voice to trick targets. I'm thinking of letting her have the "wing flash" abilities that IRL mockingbirds have.

When foraging on the ground, northern mockingbirds will flash the white undersides of their wings to startle flying/jumping insects off the ground, so that the bird can eat them.

In game, I'm thinking this could be a reaction for when an enemy is targeting the character with a melee/ranged attack, and if the attacker fails a wisdom save, they'll lose 1d4 from their attack roll. What I'm concerned about is how often she'll be able to do this. Logically, there shouldn't be any limit to how often she can do this per long rest, but then it'll be OP if she can do it every turn. Here are my ideas:

- Limit # per long rest (not ideal)

- Only effective within or past a certain range of distance

- Only effective while wearing light or no armor (wings can't open otherwise)

Do you guys have any idea how to balance this?

Speed of Sound

6th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 bonus action Range: Self Components: V Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You tap into the pure essence of speed, moving so fast that the world around you slows to a crawl. Until the spell ends, you gain the following benefits:

Your speed is tripled.

You gain a +3 bonus to AC.

You gain advantage on Dexterity saving throws.

You can take one additional action on each of your turns. This action can be used to Attack (one weapon or unarmed strike), Dash, Disengage, or Use an Object.

You can move across vertical surfaces and across liquids without falling during your movement.

Afterimage Surge:

Your extreme speed leaves behind phantom echoes of yourself. When you cast this spell, you immediately gain one afterimage, and at the start of each of your turns, you generate another (up to a maximum of 3). These afterimages last until the spell ends and can be used in the following ways:

Blurred Assault: When you take the Attack action, you can consume one afterimage to make one additional attack as part of the same action.

Speed Mirage: When an enemy declares an attack against you but before they roll, you can consume one afterimage to create a temporary illusion of yourself in a different location. The attacker must make a Wisdom saving throw against your save DC:

On a failure: The attack automatically misses as they strike the illusion.

On a success: The attack is made normally.

Backlash Effect:

When the spell ends, you must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or suffer a speed lag, making it hard to adjust back to normal motion. On a failure:

Your speed is halved until the end of your next turn.

You cannot take reactions until the end of your next turn.

"Mystra herself has chosen no friend nor enemy, she has called upon the Realms most daring. A growing threat must be faced, a dance with the mighty Imvaernarhro of the Star Mounts."

The following is a snippet from an upcoming homebrew Forgotten Tales: Legends of the Realms, a DM's toolbox for encounters, mechanics, items, locations and more. Converted from Power of Faerun, a supplement to the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons.

https://preview.redd.it/dcng0l2kvbge1.jpg?width=2479&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13f47b814dff3860a1a0c0242a3a3c4a297108b0

https://preview.redd.it/g2uavkjkvbge1.jpg?width=2479&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17cd7820282719b54d5608aa2192bcd3d85e784b

https://preview.redd.it/7qmzz1xkvbge1.jpg?width=2479&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ec1acec67b74bfba471ec91fa633c4b51874426

I finally got around to revisiting this and making a few adjustments. It's been -30°C in my local area, and the icicles have not stopped growing, so this Icicle Archetype for the Rogue class still feels on theme for me!

The biggest changes were a buff to AoA, with a slowing aura, and some improvement to Piercing Shards by making it only effect creatures of your choice, thus allowing melee and ranged builds. Let me know if you'd play an Icicle Rogue!

You can find my first draft of this subclass posted here, and the art credit remains the same. Here is a Homebrewery link, too, for those who want it as a pdf.

I really enjoy this concept, and something about the Wisdom-based, spell-using Rogue (that's not just a Ranger somehow) feels neat to me. I would definitely enjoy a take on Arcane Trickster that uses Wisdom and the Druid spell list, which is why I made one! Let me know of you'd be interested to see that.

As always, there's always room for improvement, and all constructive criticism is welcome!