Like yes. You sign a contract or make a pact with someone really powerful but. How do you find that being?

Do you just go into the Woods until you find a Mushroom Circle?

Or do you scream into the World I want to sell my soul for magical powers. And then a Fiend pops up behind you.

Hi everyone :)
I'm looking to create a memorable name for my BBEG but I'm not sure if I should stick with what I have or change it. So my BBEG was a star created by my world's star deity. This star deity created these stars in an attempt to create other deities. So the ones the players see in the skies are failed creations by this deity.
My BBEG is supposed to be one of the stars while fell and caused a plague blah blah.
Anyways, since It technically didn't get fully created by the deity and willed Itself to life, I had been calling It the "Uncreated One".
I've just been creatively stuck. I want a cooler name that elicits a "wow" or a feeling of "we are so fucked" from my players but I just... can't think of anything.

Does anyone have any cool name suggestiions or do you think that's fine as is ? 😭 Thank you

2014 edition.
So my warforged player lost his arm when he died to a treasure mimic (I believe there is still a thread here about it) and now they went to the duergar foundry where because of some plot related stuff the head blacksmith decided to not only fix his arm but to upgrade it.

I wanted to share the item I made as I want feedback and general feel of how it would feel if you were to use it as a player. Its important to note that my campaign is NOT running 6 combats per long rest (who does, that's insane!), its in its absolute maximum 2. My group enjoys narration and rp much more.

I also changed how the vulnerability worked so instead of multiplying the damage by x2 it is instead x1.5

It's also semi important to note that the character gave away the Flame tongue longsword for the cost of repairing and upgrading his arm. (He was willing to part it simply to fix his arm)

------

So, without further ado, here is my Magmatic Crystal Arm:

Wondrous item (prosthetic limb), rare (requires attunement by the creature it is attached to)

Forged by duergar smith, this prosthetic arm is powered by a magical magmatic crystal. The crystal draws energy from the place of its creation through an unbreakable connection. Although this connection is inexhaustible, it cannot continuously sustain the crystal's maximum output.

The crystal naturally regains its power over the course of 1 minute. However, in the heat of battle it may recover more quickly.

The hand is always pleasantly warm to the touch.

Core Ignition (Recharge 5–6).

As an action, or in place of one of your attacks as part of the Attack action, you ignite the crystal's core. Until the end of your next turn:

Your weapon attacks deal an additional 2d6 fire damage.
You gain resistance to fire damage as well as cold vulnerability.
The arm sheds bright light in a 40-foot radius and dim light for an additional 40 feet.

After using this feature, it becomes expended. At the start of each of your turns, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, the crystal regains its charge.

Sacrificial Recharge

If the crystal has not regained its charge, a creature attuned to the arm can force the crystal to recharge by sacrificing a portion of its own vitality. The creature gains one level of exhaustion, and the crystal immediately regains its charge.

Fire Bolt

The arm can project a bolt of magical flame.

You can cast Fire Bolt (2d10 fire damage), using Dexterity as your spellcasting ability for the attack roll as well as adding your Constitution modifier to damage.

Hiya! I'm a new DM, and I run a game for 5 players, one of which is an artificer. They tend to sit on the back-bench in both combat and RP scenarios, how would I get them out of their shell in terms of game mechanics?
They chose the artificer class as they want to embody the fantasy of being a scavenger-type character, who searches ruins for strange bits of old technology they can rework into various mechanisms. How can this be tied into mechanics in a fun way?

They tend to open up out of their shell when directly questioned about backstory stuff too.

Edit: I've spoken to the player out-of-game about getting involved more, but I'm looking for specifically in-game gameplay things I can prompt.

I have never been a GM. i am quite familiar with the game, but i want to know tips&tricks, if manuals are necessary, and how to organize sessions based on what PCs decide to do. thank you so much!

And i'm not even talking about the "fertilizer" use, which could be a serious way to curry favor towards a community or a king etc.

The instant version overgrows a 100-foot radius of plants, which is huge, but you can also exclude one or more parts of the zone from becoming overgrown. Need to slow an incoming foot army ? Need to prevent attackers from escaping you ? Need to provide some flammable material or wood to prepare better for a siege or whatever ? I know it's 3rd level but really i love this spell so much.

My Archfey Warlock just made good use of this spell when we were protecting a city from a siege. Kobolds started climbing the cliff atop which the city lies, and i used plant growth the slow their progression, allowing the guards and our martials to skewer them on arrows, and our draconic sorcerer to burn them better now that they were hindered by the overgrown vegetation. Maybe it's because i cast all my spells at highest level, but yeah i love this one.

So, I'm not new, but I'm having a hard time with this.

In 3.5, there was a feat called "Ring the Golden Bell."

-A number of times per day equal to 1 + your Wisdom bonus, you may deal unarmed strike damage with a successful ranged attack. This attack has a range increment equal to 5 feet + 5 feet per point of Wisdom bonus. Normal cover modifiers apply. This attack can deliver any effect your unarmed strike can normally deliver, such as a stunning attack due to the Stunning Fist feat.

I imagine the only thing allowing Ranged Unarmed attacks would be homebrew, but it's there anything that is even close?

To me the best was the monk! It's really perfect comparing what was for examples;

• Starts with d6 instead of d4 for martial arts.
• No need to take normal attack to use bonus action attack or flurry of blows! (a very huge upgrade)
• Deflect attacks now any physical attack either if melee or ranged which is super flavorful and at higher level you can do with energy attacks too!
• Uncanny metabolism also fix a few problem like you can burn up ki/focus points now and regain them easily.

The worst? well the ranger!

Even if there are clear upgrades still i feel its lackluster with a no good identity or exclusive ceature/speciality!

• Depending too much on Hunter's mark!
• Hunter's mark still takes your concentration and by that clash with other cocnentration spells which reduce tactical thinking and you just think over more damage.
• Some of other spells still bad... lightning arrow become even worse... (Hail of thorns now actually good at least but still...)

Im a DM who tries not to use AI. My players don't take notes and when I finish a session I find it difficult to write down all the names, locations, details, etc. id love to use those LLMs that summarize it all for me, but I don't feel good about that. Is there anything else that can help me out? Even just a transcription that can handle the three hour session and multiple people in person. That way I can at least look back on it later when I'm more energized to do the notes.

Every fanfic author knows this moment:
You start writing Chapter 47.
Then you realize:
- You forgot your OC’s birthday.
- You can’t remember when two characters first met.
- Your timeline contradicts Chapter 8.
- You have 37 Google Docs, 12 notes, and one mysterious text file called “LORE_FINAL_v7_REAL.docx”.
That’s why You should consider using The World Architect.
Instead of treating your story like a document, it treats it like a world.
Keep track of:
✓ Characters and relationships
✓ Locations and lore
✓ Timelines and events
✓ Magic systems and factions
✓ Canon facts and headcanon additions
✓ Creation of interactive maps
Whether you’re writing a 20k one-shot or a 1-million-word epic that rewrites an entire universe, everything stays connected and searchable.
Less time hunting through notes.
More time writing.
(Promotion allowed by mods)

I dont get it. Why is it apparantly one of the strongest in entire game.

Its a Monk that heals for Ki Points. Or "Monk smite".

But like. Other subclasses also are good why is this Better?

So I'm planning an adventure in which the players have expressed interest in making a deal with a devil. OK, cool, I'm on board with this, sounds like a good hook. 'Deal with the devil' is a classic storytelling trope and I've not really done much with it previously as a DM, so I'm game for this. So I went and had a look at the devil statblocks in the Monster Manual, and, um... I guess I don't really understand why anyone would do this?

The devils presented in the Monster Manual (bearded devil, erinyes, bone devil, etc) are generally presented as combat beasts and not much else. None of them seem to have any abilities that suggest that making any kind of deal or contract with them would really benefit anyone. They can't grant wishes like a Genie can, they can't provide beneficial spellcasting, so most devils don't really offer anything that a regular human mercenary couldn't. Unless the deal you want to strike with a devil is "Please go hit that guy with a sword", it's a little unclear what you'd potentially ask them for. And frankly, that seems like not a lot to ask for if your immortal soul is going to be on the line.

I wondered if maybe they're meant to be more tricksters, luring mortals into making bargains that don't really benefit them, but again nothing in the statblock really suggests this. None of the devils in the MM have shapeshifting, charm person, suggestion, hell most of them have decidedly mid Charisma and generally aren't proficient in Persuasion or Deception. Compared to the Lamia, which has a bunch of innate spellcasting to help deceive adventurers it interacts with, Devils have got basically nothing.

Most of them don't even have a way to travel to the material plane under their own power.

After all this reading I'm just really confused what a player would ask a devil for that they couldn't just get by asking any random sellsword, especially anything that justifies the incredible risk of putting your soul up as collateral. Am I missing something? Is the whole 'signing a fiendish contract' thing not actually associated with devils? Any advice is appreciated because I love the idea of doing this, but it kind of seems like I'm just going to have to homebrew a whole new bunch of devils or abilities for it to make any sense.

I'm looking into becoming a DM, and while I'm testing out a one-shot I've made in a few weeks, I figured doing a module campaign would be a good way to ease myself into longer-term DMing. (Rather than jumping headfirst into a homebrew campaign and either getting burnt out or having it fizzle out after a few months.)

Ideally the module would last somewhere between 3-6 months, but I'm willing to hear pitches for stuff outside that range if it's a really good module.

Not Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. I'm in a campaign of that as a player currently, and wouldn't want to DM it.

Last session the party was hunting for a treasure and at a certain point they had to cross a river by boat. Not wanting to ditch the cart they had, in risk of having to leave some of the treasure behind when they did find it, they started to ask me if they could build an amphibious cart using parts from theirs and a boat nearby.

Now, they were technically racing against a rival party so i just told them they didn't have the time, but if they did would you have let them? Is salvaging a rowing boat and a cart enough to be able to build an amphibious cart, or would you say they first had to be in an actual workshop with proper materials to even begin to try?

Hi guys,

I have a question. I've only played a little bit of D&D so far—one full campaign and about five one-shots—but I've really started thinking about becoming a DM.

I asked two experienced DMs for advice on how to get started, and both of them basically told me, "Don't. Just stay a player and enjoy the game, because once you become a DM, you'll never get to play again."

Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of that answer, so I wanted to ask the community instead.

For those of you who became DMs, what was the experience like? What challenges did you face when starting out? Is there anything you wish you had known beforehand? Do you have any tips for a new DM who doesn't have a lot of experience yet?

I'd love to hear both the good and the bad sides of DMing so I can decide if it's something I want to pursue.

So, I don't make it a secret that I am not a big fan of how Battlemaster's superiority dive are distributed. Particularly in 5.5e a lot of wind is taken out of the BM's sail with masteries often making some maneuvers obsolete, and GWM no longer synergizing with means of increasing hit probability.

I think 5.5e made an obvious, but nevertheless beneficial change to BM's Relentless, effectively giving BM an extra d8 superiority die every turn. My problem with it is that it comes way too late. I don't want to wait until level 15 to feel like a true master of battles.

At the same time many people, including me, have expressed that what they're truly looking for in Battlemaster is not the extra damage, but the effects of the maneuvers. Problem is, several of the maneuvers rely on the dice as "fuel" to even do anything.

I firmly believe WotC was hesitant to make Relentless a more core feature of Battlemaster specifically because the guaranteed 1d8 damage bonus every turn is too much in their eyes. Which, to be honest, is a valid concern, to some extent.

So here's my idea how to get around that, without breaking the game.

Let's make maneuvers powerable by damage modifiers.

Let me put it formally:

You can perform any of the maneuvers without consuming superiority dice by foregoing the damage modifier for your next attack roll that hits. Your damage modifier for that attack then takes the place of the superiority dice in the maneuver.

I would also extend this to any maneuvers gained through feats of fighting styles.

Mind you - this puts these maneuvers about on equal footing with cantrips - no modifier added, but had additional effects.

What do you think?

Note: I do think this should be limited to 5.5e. GWM + precision attack every turn is a bit too much.

Hi, everyone! i come asking not for advice, but to satiate my curiosity. i want to know ¿what barbarian characters have you made or plan on making? no judging, just listening, you can have homebrew, you can talk about stats, you can talk about backstory...

a few examples, to break the ice:

-Miver Gota: a wood gnome barbarian, with the path of the totemic spirit (boar). think monkey dn luffy, but shorter than 4 feet tall, with freckles and ginger spiky hair. also, he rides a boar.

-Taurus, the fire storm herald: he isnt really a minotaur, just a bull onder the true polimorph spell. seeks vengeance against the humans that ate his familly and trapped him to participate in gladiatorial fights.

It's still a bit of a blank slate concept, I looked first at what I think would be a fun mechanically to play and settled on storm sorcerer air genasi. Just feels like that enhances the storm sorcerer's toolkit nicely.

I've not fully decided on gender yet, though am leaning towards a woman. I was thinking someone initially human who became an air genasi after being struck by lightning three times in one day. (first time unharmed, second time killed, third time revived as an air genasi.)

I haven't decided yet if they already where a sorcerer before then, knowing some magic but not aware of their own sorcerous origin yet.

But I wouldn't want them to feel like some sort of super hero, and I'd certainly want to make them very different from Storm, or other well known lightning/storm wielders.

So I'm considering that being hit by lightning several times in a day could have left them a little crazy. Not insane, I do intend them to be a functional party member. But certainly one with some quirks. The kind which won't get tiresome after a few sessions.

One possibility I am toying with is them misremembering who they where before struck by lightning. Like they are 100% convinced of it. I'd write the background they believe they have, I'd tell the DM it's not true, and they'd get to come up with what it actually is.

Though I'd need an interesting fake background for that which could lead to fun roleplay without getting tiresome.

I am open to other suggestions and thoughts though, about how they could be a bit crazy.

Another thing I am considering is rolling a dice every time they wake up to see if they're in a positive or negative mood, their mood being changeable as the weather but still within reason. Like roll a D20 for it, 1-10 is negative and 11-20 is positive. With a 1 putting them in a really foul mood and a 20 in a super good mood. But in the 2-19 range it would be more subtle. More like them approaching what happens during the day with a glass half full or glass half empty vibe.