I still mostly play with 5E stuff but I occasionally check in on 5.5e

And with my autistic superpowers I noticed there were 3 things that seemed really different.

1) The lack of flavor disclaimers. All of the 5e books had these fun, tongue-in-cheek disclaimers on them.

This is the one from the 5e PHB:

*Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequences of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, “Are you really sure?”*

That's just not a thing anymore.

2) Lack of nuance where some worlds might be different. This is from the 5e PHB:

https://i.imgur.com/m5sfTzi.png

A whole sidebar explaining not every race will be in every world, and how things can be different depending on where you go. Coupled with now every race has a "human equivalent lifespan" and matures all at the same rate. Everything has been homogenized.

Even Greyhawk has aasimar, goliaths, and tieflings, now. It's like they are reaching Bethesda-levels of being terrified of ever telling a player "no."

3) The "inspirational reading" sections of the books and lore bibliographies. In the 5e books, there were things like this:

https://i.imgur.com/4qWuhhB.png

https://i.imgur.com/mYEv0GC.png

It felt like it gave you these ideas that there was more to this universe and there were other places to check. What does 5.5e say?

https://i.imgur.com/vV4fmf9.png

"Baldur's Gate 3, Baldur's Gate 3, Baldur's Gate 3! Astarion! Astarion!" Don't forget Brand Movie, Brand MMO, and other Brand materials! Like they are pushing absolutely nothing but current retail Brand.

I dunno, maybe I'm just a 30 y.o. grognard but I feel like 5.5e is so bland and flavorless. It feels very "consume product." Even moreso when now WotC is locking exclusive class features and monsters behind a monthly subscription service.

Karva is a Gnoll Kensei Monk who uses a blade as her melee weapon and a scabbard on a 20 ft string as her ranged weapon. Since we already taking liberties with the character - her Gnoll-ness is really just a reskinned Swiftstride Shifter. Karva is on a never ending quest for revenge that only seems to grow bigger and bigger as the campaign goes on. Whilst not the smartest tool in the shed, she is also not the quietest tool in the shed. Instead, she opts for raw violent power and quick senses to slice through her ever expanding list of enemies. Don’t mistake her violence for anger though. She abhors rage, seeing it as a weakness, and actively fights the urge to throw hands at every occasion. Art by me.

"IF YOU WANT TO LEARN D&D, READ THIS FIRST"

There are continuous posts asking how to play, how to start, what to do, where to go. That tells me people are missing the help articles already sticky'd. I see these questions asked, they get minimal help, and probably get down voted because people see that the poster made no effort to find answers first.

Maybe they don't know about sticky posts, or it's the first time at this sub, or other reasons. I feel an all-caps and obvious "link for dummies" might get folks to check those out instead of asking the same questions.

​

I'm the DM for a party of 3 people. I made a detective campaign where they're trying to uncover a conspiracy that is fake in the first place.

I've prepared a lot of different ways for them to find clues, with multiple contingencies in case they miss something, and so far they've been able to find and figure out literally everything, even the difficult stuff. I prepared letters, a clue board, a necklace with a hidden piece of paper inside... I really put a lot of effort into this.

They noticed that the handwriting on the letters they're looking for was different on two of them.

(I asked different people to write different letters IRL for immersion, and they actually noticed the difference)

They didn't like the name of one of the people involved, so they searched through the city's chronicles to check whether someone like that actually existed

(Thankfully, I had those prepared)

They literally turned into a dog so they could identify the scents of different people and crime scenes

They noticed inconsistencies in the accounting books

(I made several pages of them specifically so they could get lost in all the numbers)

I know they've discovered secrets about some of the noble families, and they haven't told anyone or confronted anyone because "the time isn't right yet"

They're even hiding some things from me, which is starting to make me paranoid

They have no problem with the campaign and they've assured me that they're genuinely having fun. The campaign isn't over yet, but I honestly don't think I've prepared anything harder than what they've already solved

Do you guys have any advice, methods, or puzzles I could use to make the investigation more complicated?

Edit: I don't want them to lose, I'm not playing against them and as I mentioned, they're happy with the campaign and having fun. I just feel like I haven't given them enough of a challenge

Hi everyone, thanks for reading my post. I hope you don't mind a little against-the-grain opinion this morning. This concerns my own personal preferences as a player, which I don't see reflected in the discourse too often. I've been playing for nearly 3 decades, predominantly as the DM. Please be gentle with me in the comments, I already know most of you will disagree so you don't need to tell me that.

In a nutshell, when I'm playing a PC in a game of D&D, I don't want to contribute to worldbuilding, either directly as the world is brainstormed or indirectly through my character's backstory. In fact I generically don't want my backstory to be "used" in the game. I'm extremely uninterested in that, it always feels contrived and in a sense sort of condescending. I feel that I'm already interested and engaged, so you do not need to make the moon and stars revolve around me. I want to earn my place in the story through action, not hand myself a starring role on a silver platter. Backstory is important to me, but it's important because it's where my character comes from and what they left behind, not because I want the adventure to revolve around it, that sounds like hell.

All this is because the biggest appeal of playing D&D is exploration and discovery. Getting out of one's comfort zone, venturing to the blank spot on the map, bringing only one's wits and essentials, and seeing what is out there to be found. That's what adventure is all about to me. But if I was involved in authoring what's out there, then it's almost completely spoiled. That makes sense, right?

The feeling of leaving one's past behind and exploring the unknown is exhilarating, and it is largely incompatible with "collaborative" worldbuilding and storytelling. I don't get the same thrill of a first encounter with the aloof aaracokra in the mystic mountains if I already knew they were there because I helped the DM design their culture or whatever. I can't get the feeling of setting off into the great unknown when the party's backstories are constantly intruding and getting in the way. It can feel like being stuck in a fishbowl with the same stale stuff swirling around endlessly in circles. At that point, my character is ready to start playing D&D himself, as a form of escape from the dreary backstory chains!

Thanks again for reading. If there's any actionable takeaway here, just be aware that there are people like me. Perhaps you've dealt with a player who is resistant to having their backstory interwoven in the plot, or who doesn't want to contribute to worldbuilding. Well, now you know at least one possible reason why someone might be that way. They probably weren't just being difficult for no reason, they may have been putting up necessary boundaries to preserve their fun. This doesn't mean they'll necessarily be compatible with your table, but you can part ways with mutual understanding which seems preferable to how a lot of rpg stories end. Have a great day and let me know what you think.

I am very green to the game and really want do my part in the research beforehand. If only to understand the basics and etiquette. I don’t feel the impulse to over prepare, but I do want to make sure I respect the pre existing party. I homeschool my high schooler and we have moved across state lines and have struggled finding places to make real friendships (we live way out in the country, so that’s put a new obstacle in place). Also, supplies? The group we are meeting has the polyhedral dice sets for sale. But there wasn’t mention of any other tangible items we need to bring. If this is an exhaustingly common topic, I apologize. I’m pretty new to the actual use of Reddit as well so patience is so very appreciated ♥️

Whether adapting a character from a work of fiction or making one of their own own, I think that something that people should always ask themself is whether their character works as a DnD character, because not all characters do. So my question to you today is, what's something to look out for when writing your character's backstory?

For me, something I think is important to avoid is giving the character a goal that is either too specific or too urgent. A paladin in a high fantasy setting on a quest to rebuild their order after it was wiped out by an evil wizard has no reason to drop everything and join up with the local bard and go kill a dragon, no matter how much the local adventuring guild is paying. A fighter in a post apocalyptic setting on a quest to rescue their kidnapped son from an evil guild of artificers will not take a break from their mission only because another settlement needs their help. For a character to be a good PC, their backstory should allow them to put their personal priorities aside and join the adventure.

So, that was my answer. What's yours?

Edit: Multiple people already mentioned the lone wolf trope. It got its place in this discussion, but there is no need to repeat it from now on.

This is my dnd character Anuur :) Actually he doesn't even have the duplicity spell, this is more like an exploration on his identity crisis because he's a bard but he touched the WRONG cursed object and he'll soon be a warlock too. Also in our current campaign he died but didn't get resurrected, the party are all like wandering souls so it's also a play on that, life and death and the equilibrium of all that

Made this one page comic around a team of three .

Elias Jones a human Tactician fighter , Selene a human life cleric and Zoey a open hand monk, they were contracted to kill a troll and right to its treasures if it had any . Fortunately through teamwork and a bit of luck they slayed the troll and found treasure inside the cave .

One of those treasures was an " Amulet of Dead War God" the cleric examined it in detail turns out if activated the Shade of the dead God will try to possess the wearer and would attack anyone on sight and leave the wearer at 0 HP. But if the wearer can endure a high DC will save can receive the GOD's power for 1D3 rounds.

Our Zoey asks if 'anyone wants this" but they refused citing caution Zoey on the other hand wants to wear it coz it looks cool but the moment she dawned the amulet bam the Shade tries to take control or expresses anger but quickly subsides because the amulet was only worn not activated , hence Zoey relaxing for the moment.

I posted this in the other sub’s weekly discussion thread but I wanted to commiserate more and get other people’s experiences with similar situations, how you cope, etc.

TL;DR: We don’t get to play often enough or for enough time for my liking, and it feels like there’s nothing we can do about that. Anyone experienced this? How did you deal?

To start off, I love my party and my DM. We have a wonderful time together. But…

Our sessions are so short—3 hours, but actually less because someone is always late and we have to spend like 45 minutes chatting because people, including the DM, want to catch up. The last part wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t lead to the sessions only ending up being closer to 2 hours.

And maybe that would be okay, too, except scheduling is getting increasingly difficult. We aim for every 2 weeks, but sometimes it’s every 3 or just once a month because if we have less than half the group available, we don’t have a session (which makes sense). I am literally the only one who is available for every session; part of this is because I’m kind of a recluse and I’m single, so I don’t have other social obligations, and 3 of the other people in the have at least one child, so I can’t really complain about them having family stuff come up (honestly, I’m often embarrassed by the fact that I’m always available and other people have things occupying them).

But it’s incredibly rare to have the whole party there to begin with and our sessions are pretty much timeboxed because of people’s children, partners, social calendar, etc.

We’ve been playing this campaign for almost 3 years now and I really enjoy it. But I just feel like I need more. It’s hard to make progress and if we get into combat, it’s the entire session; if we reach a “natural stopping point” narratively sometimes we’ll even end early.

Our DM is wonderful and I like the people I play with, a lot. I’m just starting to get almost restless. This group (sans me) has been playing together for more than a decade and I was a late add, and sometimes they’ll reminisce about the days when they’d play for 6-8 hours every weekend (before people had busier lives). I’m very envious. :(

I'm considering buying Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, so I wanted to check what I'd be getting before spending $40 on DNDBeyond. I did some research on what the book has, and the Dark Gift Feats confuse me.

The benefits they give are good, but not fantastic, with an insane downside to each one. For most of the Dark Gifts, the side effect activates if you roll a 1 on any D20 Test. That means every skill check, Initiative roll, attack roll, saving throw, etc. With how many times the average player rolls throughout a campaign, it's bound to come up quite a bit. And the effects are insane. Aberrant Anatomy forces the player to make a saving throw to avoid the Stunned condition. Echoing Soul does the same for the Incapacitated condition + half Speed.

So my question is, why would anyone choose to take these as their Origin Feat? Haunted One and Investigator give the option for a different Origin Feat instead of taking a Dark Gift; would anyone pass up on Survivor or Sharp Eye so they can get a minor benefit and risk detrimental side effects via a Dark Gift?

Maybe I'm not seeing the appeal of these Feats. If that's the case, I'd love to be enlightened.

Meet Plexis, a swarmkeeper ranger, & Goostarion, her trusty goose sidekick!

Not my characters ofc, but a tattoo I got to work on for a pretty cool client recently.

I don't get to do a lot of large scale D&D pieces, let alone fantasy portraits (or goose with a wizard hat!).

It took a full day, about 7.5 hours, but we did get to knock it out all in one go. I'm so stoked with how she turned out, I'd love the opportunity to do more stuff like this.

I do some standard character art comissions on the side, but tattoos are my main squeeze, I primarily work with fantasy subject matter.

More tattoos on my Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/skyla.bel?igsi=ZTA4cTdqZ2M2aTdy

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I am still fairly new to DND but I'm a little obsessed with Character creation. People have been telling me I should just become a DM and convert all my PCs into NPCs, but I feel I'm still learning the rules.

So I’m currently in a campaign playing a Rune Knight Fighter (amazing class to play), and we’re getting close to the end of our very first campaign. Our DM has asked if we want to start another campaign afterward and wants us to start getting our characters ready.

I was looking through the classes and came across the Blood Hunter homebrew, and honestly, it looks like a ton of fun. But before I potentially commit to playing the same character for another 8-ish months, I wanted to hear from people who have actually played one. How did you like it? Did you feel like it was worth playing? Did you feel effective both in and out of combat?

A lot of the feedback I’ve come across makes the class sound pretty awful, which surprised me. I’m definitely not a min-maxer by any means, but I do like feeling my character is effective and that I’m contributing to the party.

For those of you who have played a Blood Hunter, what was your experience like? And if you use D&D Beyond, how was your experience with the class there? I use D&D Beyond pretty heavily to keep track of everything on my character sheet, although I still roll physical dice.

We’ll be starting this campaign at level 5, so right now I’m thinking either Order of the Mutant or Order of the Ghostslayer.

Would love to hear from anyone who has actually played one, especially if you took either of those subclasses!

Murphy was a character I created for a Tal’Dorei campaign. In the story, she was meant to be the representative and champion of the Weaver!

Murphy was a Firbolg who aided a group of forest elves for many years. During the Calamity, she became the Weaver's champion. She accepted the role because she would be granted a wish afterward. Her wish was simple: she wanted the ability to have a child.

Overall, she has the personality of a great mother. She cares for everything and everyone with open arms and is deeply understanding, though she can occasionally become unimaginably furious, a rare sight.

So I'm preparing a new campaign for a few friends, some new to tabletop, some veterans.

I decided that I'll start this one with all of them in a prison. I'm aware, as I'm sure they'll be, that normally campaigns like that start with a break out or something like that, but I'm thinking about having them stay a little longer in the prison, bonding with other prisoners before The Plot™ happens, but I'm having trouble imagining a way to make that feel interesting and not boring, or too closed. Can you guys help me with ideas of "quests" or things like that inside a prison that'll make them engage with the plot?

I bought this in 1986 when i started a subscription to Dungeon magazine; hardly expected to have it 40 years later. This was probably about when i tried my hand at being a DM and quite frankly, have enjoyed being a DM ever since. This one sticks out to me as it used the cover dragon, Flame, as well as his volcano lair for a pretty sweet setting. If i remember correctly, the group of PC's ended up killing Flame and taking over his lair and using it as their own base of operations. This was new territory for me since the concept of building up a home base was new to a 13 year old - although I assume today's Minecraft kids would have ideas about it. For us, it was all the Theater of the Mind.

I had this magazine in storage for about a decade at a close friends house. He, my brother and I divided up our gaming accessories and somehow this ended up there. Glad it came back.

Does anyone else have any old Dungeon magazines with any stories to go along with them?

The campaign I've been running for over 2 years has wound down as players have left. I'm down to 2 players of the original 5 now and it feels like I'm mourning.

The story is too involved to bring in new players, so it's really just 2 players down to the finishing line.