From Arcana unleashed. It’s legendary and requires attunement to do this:

“By using a command word while holding this pearl, you can cast the [Teleport](ddb://spells/2619163) spell from it. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.”

When the rare helm of teleportation gives 3 uses lol

It just unlocked 2 minutes ago. Have fun!

I'm playing EK and at lv13 I want to cast Haste on myself and then replace the one attack from the Attack action from Haste with True Strike thanks to War Magic... however Haste does specify "one attack only": fairness is rule and rule is power, how do you rule?

Okay this is fun! I hope we get more of these story articles on Beyond!

Specifically the spider gets a ranged ability called web bolt.

Web Bolt (Spider Only). Ranged Attack Roll: Bonus equals your spell attack modifier, range 60 ft. Hit: 1d10 + 3 plus the spell’s level Bludgeoning damage, and the target’s Speed is reduced to 0 until the start of the insect’s next turn.

This has no save the spider makes multiple attacks 2-4 per round and if they hit a flying target is simply turned to a falling target (unless they have hover).

If they are knocked prone from falling they also cannot get up on their turn.

Encounterra’s back! https://encounterra.com

It’s been over two years since the alpha version of Encounterra was released—and then had to be taken down a couple of months later due to infrastructure costs.

But now it’s back and better than ever! First, I had to rewrite what I had in C++ for improved performance, and then extend it with many more classes, monsters, and features.

Right now, Encounterra can run full combat simulations using all SRD classes and monsters. And by full, I mean with maps, vision geometry, spell geometry…the lot.

Basically, it takes no shortcuts and makes no simplifications to the rules or abilities. If an ability is implemented, the combatant can actually use it.

Here’s a list of features:

• Great decision-making—complete legal action sequences are evaluated, including movement and positioning, AoEs, AoOs, and more
• Resource- and action-economy awareness
• A Monte Carlo-first approach—you simulate a statistically significant number of iterations of the same matchup, then choose any iteration to watch as an animated replay
• Full combat logs available for download
• Precise multi-attack sequence definitions that are taken into account during action planning
• Effective cooperation between allies—they can buff or heal each other, but only when it’s the optimal thing to do
• Fully implemented abilities, without shortcuts or simplifications (although some design decisions still apply, such as deciding what Charm Person is supposed to accomplish in combat)
• Combatant customization
• Custom combatant creation
• Pre-casts such as Mage Armor and Death Ward
• The option for any combatant to begin hidden or surprised
• A wide range of reactions
• Encounter chaining to model an entire adventuring day, with optional short rests and resource-recovery abilities between encounters
• Day/night and vision mechanics
• Line-of-sight and hiding mechanics—especially relevant for Cunning Action: Hide and Sneak Attack sequences
• A special burrowing layer
• Underwater combat
• Simplified flight mechanics (Ok, possibly the only notable simplification)
• Forced movement
• Full implementation of persistent AoE effects
• Concentration mechanics
• Difficult terrain incorporated into action planning
• Optional starting resource depletion
• Full summoning mechanics
• Kobold Fight Club-like encounter generation
• Example encounters
• Swarms that can share a square with other combatants
• No registration required, although registering provides some benefits, such as saving your party to the cloud and keeping a simulation history
• It’s free! - though donations are most welcome to offset infrastructure costs

And more—you might be surprised by some of the things the action planning takes into account.

If it wasn’t clear by now, the smart decision-making is something I’d really like to highlight. IMHO, it’s what makes or breaks a D&D combat simulator. If the combatants can’t make tactically sound decisions, the results aren’t worth much. Similarly, if key spells or abilities are simplified, the value of the simulation suffers again.

That’s why I’ve spent pretty much two years perfecting it and I'm committed to keep improving it and to keep adding new features.

Disclaimer: Even though years of human-engineering went into the project, AI-assisted coding was still used in the later stages of development, especially to scale the roster of monsters and to generate the art assets!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it—and if you do, please share it with your nerdy friends.

When Tasha's released the new style of summon spells a couple of them got overlooked or ranked lower because they dealt non magical damage:

• Summon Construct
• Summon Elemental
• Summon Beast
• Giant Insect
• Summon shadow spawn (not reprinted)

And now also some of the two other summon spells coming in the new book (summon dinosaur and summon plant). Summon beast was a little less overlooked because it is such a low level spell.

However with the new monster design for 5.5e it seems wizards have completely done away with magical vs non magical damage apart from some very edge cases like the rakshasa.

This means that unless the monster is for example specifically resistant to bludgeoning damage, there is no disadvantage to summoning Construct.

Just wanted to remind people that in terms of DPR and putting another body on the field especially with the conjuration wizard coming out these are all pretty good spells.

Summon construct has really good AC and HP for example

Now I also wanted to go over a silly thing that clerics can do. Conjuration adept is very good for clerics because it gives them Wisdom bonus to concentration checks which is awesome for spirit Guardians but it also gives them access to summon Elemental which alongside summon celestial gives them very good options every single day to use divine intervention with planar binding to essentially turn themselves into a pet class. Arcana clerics can push this even further since eventually they can get access to simulacrum

The epic boon that allows you to cast a 7th level spell or lower, you can make a simulacrum. Then, you and it can use your 8th level slots on a summon spell and then divine intervention on planar binding. The. Use your 7th level slots on another summon and use wish for another round of planar binding. Now you have 4 summons that stick around without concentration for a day. Basically this combo uses 7th 8th and 9th spell slot + epic boon and divine intervention to get 4 concentration free "fighters" that you can control.

I was talking with someone online about why Rogues tend to fall off a good bit in combat this morning as part of their opinion on why Reliable Talent wasn't a fun feature and how it could be made more fun by being limited use. (Edit: DM Timothy Hot Take on Reliable Talent is the video.)

As I was giving my viewpoint and some numbers, the hindsight of what could have been hit me. Cunning Strike really had the potential to be more than it is, maybe becoming the highlighted feature of being a Rogue. There isn't a reason that it needed to cost damage dice. Rogues get one big bang hit per turn. They could have easily made Cunning Strike limited to when you deal Sneak Attack damage, then just provided a more varied list to choose from in the base Rogue subclass.

Some examples:

• Find the Weakness - Allies have Advantage on the target of your Sneak Attack damage until the start of your next turn. - Not dissimilar to Shining Smite, just shorter duration due to no concentration. In a way, a damage boost as it might turn allied misses into hits.
• A Painful Death - If you kill a target with this Sneak Attack, you can choose to have enemies within 10' of the target roll a Wisdom Saving Throw (DC based on Dexterity Modifier) or become Frightened of you until the start of your next turn. - This one relies on you getting the kill, but also provides a benefit for taking the risk of overkilling a target instead of just softening up a different target.
• Hobbled - On delivering Sneak Attack damage, the target must make a Dexterity Saving throw (DC based on Dexterity) or lose half of its movement. - This could be potentially crippling and maybe even too strong when combined with the Slow weapon mastery from a bow or another ally knocking an enemy prone.
• Critical Blow - Increase your Sneak Attack damage die by one at levels 5, 11, and 17. - A way to help Rogues keep up with damage scaling a bit better, at the cost of leaving behind their group aid options. This makes choosing a different option about trading which carrot you get which feels better than taking a stick to get a carrot which is how Cunning Strikes operate now. Perhaps this scales only if you are hitting those higher levels as a Rogue, preventing the Rogue from being too good of a 5 level multiclass.
• Leading Strike - When you hit an enemy with Sneak Attack Damage, they have Disadvantage on attacks against you until the start of your next turn. - A more defensive option for when the Rogue gets cornered but needs to hold their ground.

There could be a number of options like these created, and more for specific subclasses. Maybe some coming online at late levels, like a Stun option on a saving throw at level 15 which wouldn't be any more powerful than having a Monk in the party by that level. Or a subclass that imposed the Slow condition on a saving throw for a turn. There are a lot of possibilities that would allow the Rogue to shine in martial combat in a very different way than other classes.

Simply having potent rider effects on the single target, relatively high damage hit could have been a really fun and varied calling card of the Rogue. There's a lot of design space there that would have made them feel unique and valuable in combat even if, damage wise, they weren't the top end performers.

I'm not really looking for anything from this, it was just a line of thought that was an interesting "What could have been." had they taken the solid idea that they started with and not been afraid to really run with it.

A level 9+ sorcerer can convert sorcery points into 5th level spells at a cost of 7 sorcery points and convert spell slots to sorcery points 1:1.

As a divination wizard at level 6, when you cast a divination spell you can regain a lower level spell slot max 5th level.

Now in Arcana Unleashed there is a divination spell called Mordenkainen Lucubation.

This allows you to regain 2 second level slots. Because it is a divination spell you can also regain a 4th level spell.

This means you can use a 5th level spell to make 8 spell levels. If these are converted to sorcery points you get 1 additional sorcery point.

This means that at the start of the day you can turn 1 forth and 2 second level slots into sorcery points, turn these into a 5th level spell, cast Lucubation and repeat. For every 7 times you do this you gain an extra 5th level spell slot.

Since Lucubation takes an action, turning spells into points takes no action and turning points into spell slots costs a bonus action so this means that every 8 rounds you can get a 5th level slot more than when you started. That's 48 seconds. So in one hour you can make 75 spell 5th level spell slots.

As an elf you can do a long rest in 4 hours leaving you 4 hours to make new spell slots. You can easily get 300 spell slots using this method without touching your other spell slots.

My players are going to love looking through this book!

It feels like Christmas today... three new books to explore!!!

Can you use Planar Binding on the spirit summoned by the Conjure spells? EG Conjure Fey, Conjure Elemental, etc

Mechanically they don’t seem to actually summon a creature with a statblock or a type, but they’re described as conjuring a “spirit” from their respective planes

And if they can, how would you run that with no statblock?

Is I cast true strike using a light weapon as an action, can I then attack with another light weapon as a bonus action by duel wielding?

Hello everyone!

A recent post here counting the official subclasses available for 5.5e got me curious, especially now that the complete 2026 book release schedule is known and the subclasses from WoW book are revealed.

I decided to continue that discussion by counting every released and announced subclass through the end of 2026. The article breaks down all 85 subclasses by class and sourcebook, then looks at how many are genuinely new concepts and how many are revised versions of subclasses from earlier fifth edition books.

Some interesting stats:

• Wizard has the most subclasses with 9, but none of them are "new". They’re all "updated" subclasses from 5e!
• Druid still hasn’t gotten any subclasses outside of the PHB **(**I was hoping that would change with the WoW book).
• Barbarian got lucky and will get 2 subclasses in the upcoming WoW book (1 new and 1 updated).

Hope you find this breakdown as interesting as I did! It really makes you wonder why some classes get more attention than others. Does D&D have data on which classes are played more or are more popular? Maybe there’s no release strategy and it’s just a vibe thing lol. What do you think?

Thanks all

*Edit: Thank you so much, everyone, for taking the time to read and discuss my post. I honestly never expected so many people to see it, and I’ve really enjoyed reading all your comments. It makes me want to write something else and share it with you all!

Bilnk and Etherealness.

Both send you to the ethereal plane.

Essentially teleporting you.

Blink is Transmutation. Etherealness is Conjuration... WHY?!

Skip to the final chapter where he describes the create your own upgrades section.

Critically, only certain types of items are possible. Weapons, armors, staffs with attunement already. No just slapping on effects to ring of protection. Only a few attunement armors exist, so this mostly upgrades to weapons including staffs.

Very few items qualify for the complex upgrade system.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items?filter-type=0&filter-type=1&filter-type=7&filter-type=9&filter-search=&filter-rarity=2&filter-rarity=3&filter-rarity=4&filter-requires-attunement=t&filter-effect-type=&filter-effect-subtype=&filter-has-charges=&filter-source=146&filter-partnered-content=f

However, many of these are interesting items that work great in lower tiers of play but certainly are outclassed by tier 4.

The new system allows for stapling on more effects to those lower tier items to make them possible choices in max level play.

Sadly most of effects on the table are just cast a spell at a fixed DC. Those wont scale. The utility effects and spells are nice however.

It certainly a different system than other upgrade systems.

College of Dance seems like an extremely Mad Subclass. Thanks to it Level 3 Features:

Unarmored Defense. Your base Armor Class equals 10 plus your Dexterity and Charisma modifiers.

Agile Strikes. When you expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration as part of an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction, you can make one Unarmed Strike as part of that action, Bonus Action, or Reaction.

Bardic Damage. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack rolls of your Unarmed Strikes. When you deal damage with an Unarmed Strike, you can deal Bludgeoning damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Dexterity modifier, instead of the strike's normal damage. This roll doesn't expend the die.

College of Dance happens to be strongly leaned towards dextery, but at the same time, if he gets his Dextery to 16 and Charism to 17, he Con Goes to 14, wich is not great for any Caster (wich relies on concentration), especially one that plans to go melee and makes use of the subclass features.

Anyway, if you plan to do a melee Bard, Valor Bard can get a higher AC, and at the same time be SAD, either towards Shillelagh or a Dip in Sorcerer, two methods that doesn't work with your fists and Legs that Swords Bard should use.

All that said, how can i make a good use to Dance Bard Features, especially Unarmored Defense and Agile Strikes, in a class that seems so MAD.

Ps: i can already expect comments like "just play as any other bard", but before commenting that, consider that if i wanted to play as any other bard, i would play with any other bard, and not a bard so unique as College of Dance Bard.

Arcana Unleashed gives us some new Feats that allow to cast spells without components, most important Spell Subterfuge and Enchantment Adept. But the Great Old One Warlock and any Sorcerer with Subtle Spell Metamagic also allow this. How would this combine with spells like Command and Suggestion while being Invisible through the Hide Action?

The Command spell just states that you speak a one word command, not that the target has to hear it. If you just whisper it, you could maintain being hidden/Invisible. Suggestion is a bit different, as it states that the creature has to hear and understand the suggestion, and thus it would break the Invisible Condition, except if you would, for example, whisper it into its ear or you would use some form of telepathic speech.

Am I correct in my assumption in how these two spells work?

No, before we go too far, I want to say that I don’t want class bloat. 3.5 had a massive problem with that way back in the day. However, there are a lot of class fantasies that have yet to be fully realized within 5.5e. The Summoner, The Shaman, The Warlord, etc. And we can take examples from other TTRPG’s that are able to have more classes and still retain the identity of all of them.

However, whenever a new class is even suggested, a large subset of the community pops up and says “why isn’t this just a wizard or fighter?”. Shoot, there are people right now that don’t understand why half the classes we do have exist. Into me the entire thought is quite reductionist.

One that often gets this is the Barbarian. Why isn’t it just a Fighter subclass. And I don’t understand why this thought process doesn’t just go beyond the answer of “the fantasy is better achieved if it’s its own class.”

If the barbarian becomes a fighter, there is no world tree. There is no Zealot. There is no wild heart. The over a dozen class features of the barbarian must be shoved into the five sub class features that a fighter gets. You can make it work, but it would, to me, be a much more anemic version of what was had before.

People have told me why, but I just don’t agree with it.

I tried to compile a list of all sources of player character damage resistance in 5.5e after being unable to find one. This list does not include sources of damage resistance for your familiar. It also priorities passive sources of resistance from character options rather than from spells or items (e.g. the spells included are mostly from the Player's Handbook). I do not have copies of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within or Arcana Unleashed, so I may have missed something from those books.

I'm sharing this list in hopes that it is useful to others. If there is anything missing you can leave a comment about it below :)

PLAYER'S HANDBOOK

CLASSES

Barbarian

• Level 1: Rage
  • Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing
• Path of the Wild Heart
  • Level 3: Rage of the Wilds
    • Bear: Resistance to every damage type except Force, Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant while raging
• Path of the Zealot
  • Level 14: Rage of the Gods
    • Resistance to Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant

Cleric - War Domain

• Level 17: Avatar of Battle
  • Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing

Druid

• Circle of the Land
  • Level 10: Nature's Ward
    • Resistance to damage type associated with current land choice (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison)
• Circle of the Sea
  • Level 10: Stormborn
    • Resistance to Cold, Lightning, and Thunder
• Circle of Stars
  • Level 14: Full of Stars
    • Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing

Fighter - Psi Warrior

• Level 10: Guarded Mind
  • Resistance to Psychic

Monk

• Level 18: Superior Defense
  • Resistance to all damage expect Force
• Warrior of the Elements
  • Level 17: Elemental Epitome
    • Resistance to one of your choice at the start of your turn (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder)

Paladin - Oath of the Ancients

• Level 7: Aura of Warding
  • Resistance to Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant while in your Aura of Protection

Ranger - Hunter

• Level 15: Superior Hunter's Defense
• Resistance to damage type taken as a reaction until the end of the current turn

Sorcerer

• Aberrant Mind
  • Level 6: Psychic Defenses
    • Resistance to Psychic
• Draconic Sorcery
  • Level 6: Elemental Affinity
    • Resistance to one of your choice (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison)
• Wild Magic Sorcerer
  • Wild Mage Surge possible effect: Resistance to all damage for the next minute

Warlock

• Celestial Patron
  • Level 6: Radiant Soul
    • Resistance to Radiant
• Fiend Patron
  • Level 10: Fiendish Resilience
    • Resistance to one damage type (not Force) chosen every Long Rest
• Great Old One
  • Level 10: Thought Shield
    • Resistance to Psychic

Wizard - Abjurer

• Level 14: Spell Resistance
  • Resistance to damage of spells

SPECIES

• Aasimar
  • Celestial Resistance: Resistance to Necrotic and Radiant
• Dragonborn
  • Damage Resistance: Resistance to damage type of Draconic Ancestry (Acid, Fire, Lightning, Cold, Poison)
• Dwarf
  • Dwarven Resilience: Resistance to Poison
• Tiefling
  • Fiendish Legacy: Resistance to Poison, Necrotic, or Fire

FEATS

• Boon of Energy Resistance
  • Energy Resistances: Resistance to two of your choice (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, or Thunder)
• Boon of the Night Spirit
  • Shadowy Form: Resistance to all damage expect Psychic and Radiant while within Dim Light or Darkness

SPELLS

• Aura of Purity
  • Resistance to Poison
• Aura of Life
  • Resistance to Necrotic
• Feign Death
  • Resistance to all damage except Psychic
• Fire Shield
  • Resistance to your choice of Fire or Cold
• Fount of Moonlight
  • Resistance to Radiant
• Gaseous Form
  • Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing
• Protection from Energy
  • Resistance to one of your choice: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder
• Protection from Poison
  • Resistance to Poison
• Stoneskin
  • Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing
• Wish
  • Resistance: Resistance to one damage type of your choice to ten creatures permanently

FORGOTTEN REALMS: HEROES OF FAERUN

CLASSES

Paladin - Oath of the Noble Genies

• Level 3: Elemental Strike
  • Djinni's Escape: Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing while in semi-incorporeal form
• Level 7: Aura of Elemental Shielding
  • Resistance to one of your choice at the start of your turn while in your Aura of Protection (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder)

Ranger - Winter Walker

• Level 3: Frigid Explorer
  • Resistance to Cold

Rogue - Scion of the Three

• Level 3: Dread Allegiance
  • Resistance to one of your choice (Psychic, Poison, or Necrotic)

FEATS

• Boon of Desperate Resilience
  • Resistance to every damage type while bloodied
• Boon of the Furious Storm
  • Resistance to Lightning and Thunder, becomes Immunity when bloodied
• Dragonscarred
  • Resistance to one type of your choice (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison)

SPELLS

• Alustriel's Mooncloak
  • Resistance to Cold, Lightning, and Radiant

EBERRON: FORGE OF THE ARTIFICER

CLASSES

Artificer - Alchemist

• Level 15: Chemical Mastery
  • Chemical Resistance: Resistance to Acid and Poison

SPECIES

• Kalashar
  • Mental Discipline: Resistance to Psychic
• Warforged
  • Construct Resilience: Resistance to Poison

RAVENLOFT: THE HORRORS WITHIN

CLASSES

Sorcerer - Shadow Sorcery

• Level 18: Umbral Form
  • Shadow Resilience: Resistance to all except Force and Radiant while in shadowy form

Warlock - Undead Patron

• Level 10: Necrotic Husk
  • Necrotic Resistance: Resistance to Necrotic, becomes Immunity to Necrotic while in Form of Dread

SPECIES

• Dhampir
  • Trace of Undeath: Resistance to Necrotic
• Reborn
  • Strange Endurance: Resistance to one of your choice (Cold, Necrotic, or Poison)

ARCANA UNLEASHED

CLASSES

Wizard - Necromancer

• Level 3: Necromancy Spellbook
  • Resistance to Necrotic

FEATS

• Portal Jumper
  • Otherworldly Resistance: Resistance to one your choice (Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant)
• Spell Resistant
  • Magical Resistance: Resistance to one of your choice (Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant, or Thunder)

At Level 5, the Arcane Conduit modification allows you to “cast spells as though you were in the companion's space”.
Does this mean you could cast True Strike through your companion? Since your companion can be any shape, it could also hold the same kind of weapon as you, in case the lack of weapon is the issue.

Assuming it works, a more powerful option would be the old Booming and Green flame blade cantrips. Since they are evocation artificer cantrips, you could add one roll of your intelligence modifier to the damage, as part of the same Arcane Modifications feature.

And if all of that somehow works, maybe you could use your bonus action to cast Wrathful Smite through the companion (obtained through Shadow Touched). Then your companion automatically dodges since you never commanded it, you just used it as a conduit.

I'm debating on my level 8 feat and I thought I'd consider the new Arcana Unleashed Feats. This is pretty basic, but which of the new Spell School Adept feats provide the biggest boost for bards?

I'm personally considering enchantment because of the almost always on subtle spell for enchantment spells; I can look at a monster and dominate it.

Evocation is obviously a draw for the damage spells that I dont have, and wall of force. I'm only considering it because my dm said our campaign relies on someone doing fire damage and I'm the only person who could potentially do that, but I dont want to change my build because the dm needs a fire blaster.

Illusion also looks fun, but illusions don't really work well at my table, the dm just struggles to roleplay characters failing to recognize an illusion that he knows isnt real.

The others don't really fit my character, like I'm not going to start being a necromancer. The only transmutation I really do is shapeshifting, I dont really concentrate on conjugation and divination. The draw for abjuration is access to banishment instead of using a magical secret on it, but the temp hp is upon casting. If it were on continued concentration I might consider it.

I'm trying to make a decision for myself but I'd just like to hear thoughts on these feats when lore bards have magical secrets, especially when compared to war caster, skill expert, fey touched, etc. I'm rarely touched in combat which is why I'm not really considering war caster or resilient con.

Let's check out this adventure!