r/onednd

When the game first came out, there were a lot of people talking about just using custom backgrounds to let people pick and choose which ASIs and which feats they took with backgrounds. I am curious where everyone shook out now that the dust has settled.

What does your group do?

Oh man I am excited to see Deadfall!

The World of Warcraft announcement got me thinking about the larger direction D&D seems to be taking with Universes Beyond.

Personally, WoW is actually an easy sell for me. I’ve played both WoW and D&D for a long time, and Azeroth already has so many things that translate naturally into D&D: dungeons, raids, classes, races, monsters, factions, magic items, and huge fantasy villains.

I genuinely want to play with that book.

And I can also see the appeal of something like Star Wars. Even if I would probably keep it separate from a normal fantasy campaign, the idea of using the D&D ruleset to run a completely different universe could be really fun.

What I’m less sure about is what happens if Universes Beyond becomes a major part of the release schedule rather than an occasional experiment.

At my table, I already tend to decide pretty carefully which books and character options belong in a campaign. If I am running Forgotten Realms, I probably do not want someone simply showing up with a Worgen Demon Hunter because the option technically exists on D&D Beyond.

But at the same time, that is one of the big differences between D&D and something like a card game. Nothing forces me to mix those settings. A World of Warcraft campaign can stay in Azeroth, a Star Wars campaign can stay in its own universe, and my normal D&D campaign never has to interact with either of them.

So part of me thinks crossovers could actually work extremely well for D&D.

My only concern would be if licensed settings started taking up so much of the release schedule that traditional D&D settings and completely original material received less attention.

Where do you land on it?

Are you excited about D&D Universes Beyond?

Would you use crossover character options in a normal 5.5e campaign, or keep each setting separate?

What other universe would you actually want to see adapted?

And at what point, if any, would crossover releases become too much?

Hide Action

When you take the Hide Action, choose one of the following options. Both options require you to make a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check. Record the result; creatures that might detect you compare their Wisdom (Perception) Checks against it when necessary.

Become Invisible. You try to vanish from sight while only Lightly Obscured or while positioned behind Half or Three-Quarters Cover.

• If you are not behind Three-Quarters Cover, you have Disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) Check. At the DM’s discretion, taking additional measures to improve your concealment — such as dropping Prone or otherwise enhancing cover — can negate this Disadvantage.
• On a successful check, you become Invisible to all creatures that fail to meet or exceed your Stealth result with their (passive) Perception checks.
• You are no longer Invisible, are no longer obscured or behind cover towards a creature.

Become Hidden. If you are already Invisible, you can use the Hide Action to become Hidden, hiding your presence and location from other creatures.

• While Hidden from creatures, they are unaware of your presence and location.
• At the DM’s discretion, certain activities can break the Hidden condition and reveal your presence. Examples include: Making an Attack, Casting a Spell, speaking loudly, or moving in a way that gives away your position. If this occurs, other creatures may immediately know your location, even if you remain Invisible.

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Invisible [Condition]

While you have the Invisible condition, you experience the following effects.

Unseen. You aren’t affected by any effect that requires its target to be seen. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is also concealed.

Attacks Affected. Attack Rolls against you have Disadvantage, and your Attack Rolls have Advantage.

Circumventing the Condition. If a creature uses Special Senses to "see" (e.g. using Blindsight), you don't gain the benefits of this Condition against that creature.

Ending the Condition. The Feature, Spell, or rule that granted you the Invisible Condition also states how and when the Condition ends on you.

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Hidden [Condition]

While you have the Invisible Condition, you can also try to fully hide your location. While Hidden, you experience the following effects.

Surprise. If you’re Hidden when you roll Initiative, you have Advantage on the roll.

Unknown Location. Other creatures cannot descern your location. If previously alerted, they might still suspect your presence.

Circumventing the Condition. Creatures can use Special Senses (e.g. Tremorsense) to prevent you from being Hidden from them.

Ending the Condition. You stop being Hidden immediately after any of the following occurs: you make a sound louder than a whisper, an enemy can see you, you make an Attack Roll, or you cast a Spell with a Verbal Component.

Tasha's and Xanathar's "of Everything" books came with a lot of good supplemental material. They became the first books people would recommend to aquire after someone had already got the core rulebooks. Many things from those books got rolled into the 5.5e core rulebooks. 5th edition rolled out in 2014 and those books followed in 2017 and 2020 respectively. At first I was hopeful the three year mark for 5.5e would yield a similar book in 2027 but it seems WotC is shifting supplemental book to focus on a variety of settings and thematic seasons. Which has a strengths and weaknesses in my opinion.

Yet I am curious (especially for those who have been playing longer than I) what is 5.5e "missing" that a book like this could provide? Classes, subclasses, playable species, spells, feats, backgrounds, monsters?

For species I feel like updating Aaracroka or maybe exploring the Ardlings again would be cool. Genasi could use a 5.5e update. Kobolds and Gith are sorely being ignored atm.

For subclasses we still don't have 5.5e Oathbreaker. Martials of course are being ignored overall right now. I think Ranger and Barbarian in specific could use some love. And I will always beg and plead WotC to finally give us a dragon patron option for Warlock.

My character for curse of Strahd is going to be a fighter with the wayfarer background. After 1st level I will be going monk the rest of the way and taking warrior of mercy at monk 3 (character level 4). I like the abilities of aasimar with the healing ability and the limited flight that my table calls “super sayain mode”. But I’m not exactly sure how to rp an aasimar and what how to make them different than just a human.

Oh yeah DM prep!!!

Hi everyone!

Following on the heels of the D&D Beyond announcements at Gen Con (watch the 2027 Vision Keynote if you missed those!), we're taking a deeper dive into those announcements and providing an update to the D&D Beyond Roadmap.

We also have a DDB article for those of you who prefer to read a thing: Mid-Year Update: DDB's 2026 Development Roadmap

The dmg has several way of dividing your time for prep but its not talked about often. So dm's, how long on average so you spend prepping for session and what tools or methods do you use for prepping.

Something I've been thinking about is how to handle Horde and Alliance characters in the same party.

Back in older WoW, the faction divide was much stricter. Playing together across factions simply wasn't really a thing, and depending on when your campaign is set, having an Orc, Human, Forsaken, and Night Elf casually adventuring together could feel very strange from a lore perspective.

Modern WoW is obviously much more flexible about this, with the factions cooperating far more often and cross-faction gameplay becoming increasingly normal.

Of course, the era your campaign takes place in makes a huge difference. A campaign set during the Third War or early WoW might justify much stronger restrictions than one set in the current timeline.

I'm not sure yet how strict I'd want to be. Part of me likes preserving that faction identity and making Horde vs. Alliance actually matter, but at the same time I don't really want to tell someone they can't play the character they're excited about just because another player picked the opposite faction.

How are you planning to handle it in your campaign?

View Poll

Still a relatively new DM; I was running a self-made world campaign for my friends before we had to take a break while some of the players were becoming first-time parents.

I'm thinking of starting back up with the players who are still available by running Deadfall when it releases. Since I'm used to homebrewing, and this adventure is coming straight from a book, I'm not sure how much time I need to give myself to prep. How much of the adventure is usually ready to go "out of the box" versus how much will I need to figure out on my own?

Is it worth using my first session to build out everyone's characters together (first time building high level characters, 2nd characters built ever) or just do like discord calls/house visits throughout the week to help each player build their character (I imagine this will take a while since they've never played a level 11 character)

I was wondering what the opinions would be if the 5.5e Pact of the Chain invocation provided the Familiar Friend feat or Investment of the chain Master including Battle Familiar as a 1/per day spell requiring no spell slots.

Just something so there is more benefit with Pact of the Chain and the new familiar feats/spell.

Is there any reasonable inclusion you would think would be fun without being game breaking?

Emphasis on "a familiar can't attack but it can take other actions as normal".

Pact of the chain gives you the ability to renounce or command to give specific action in a specific timeframe like renounce my attack so they can attack.

Reading at this it doesn't seem they can do attacks of opportunity from my glance because they're not given the command to do so.

Can you confirm this?

Listen. I gotta be honest. If they really want us to use Vampiric Touch, they just gotta buff the spell. Simple as that.

Grave Cleric has that as well. Thematic? Not even that I would argue, since the steward of dead is not about leeching life. What is thematic for Grave Cleric is spirit guardians and that's a better spell to be fair.

They tried to jam it inside Undead Warlock and people rightfully complained because we never use it. So we got Summon Undead instead, which is healthier.

I believe many of us wanted to use Animate Dead on other classes.

You may be replying that animate dead is a problematic spell and I tend to agree BUT it's the thematic necromancy spell after all. Vampiric Touch is just ass.

If you wanna be contrarian just for the hell of it, at least use the spell. Cause right now it's just easier to cast anything else like Blur or Mirror Image and spam a cantrip instead if you're really dead set on Survivability

Listen, let's be real, Vampiric Touch is just even worse than Flame Blade and people still are not using Flame Blade not even on Sorcerer.

I understand that this way you can use Vampiric Touch on Sorcerer and attack with advantage. Is it better ? A tiny bit for sure but to be fair not even Bladesingers are using Vampiric Touch

Listen , if you really wanna give out temporary hp, there is Heroism and with a third level you can target 3 creatures. Still people are not using third level Heroism

3d6 is just 10.5 damage average which in turn is 5 temporary hp. Heroism at that level would give out at least 4 but it's on 3 targets and it doesn't require to land a hit in order to refresh it. Is your bard upcasting heroism? No it isn't unless you wanna Fear protection, which is strong.

My point is that Vampiric comes at a level where the base damage of the spell is not really that much better than a cantrip and the 5 on average temporary hp are not worth a third level spell when there are better protections.

Vampiric touch to be fair doesn't need huge buffs to be playable, just a tiny amount to make it worth your while.

I firmly believe people take this feat mainly for Raise Dead on who can't cast it.

I've been thinking a lot more about the Mislead spell and the debate over Invisibility in recent years. I had a chat with one of my players and dove back into the rulebook. It left me convinced that passive skill checks should be much more involved when detecting Illusion magic. I've personally been trying to use passive skill checks more at my table to cut down on requesting rolls. Mislead is really confusing because everyone is conditioned at most tables to roll a lot. The designers likely (i.e. hopefully) assume when creating these types of spells that the DM would make more use of passive ability DCs.

Invisibility is notorious for being a poorly written spell. The language in the spell's description is so vague that it's probably the most unintentionally houseruled spell in the game. Learning how to properly utilize it requires making use of passive skill checks.

First... what does the Invisibility spell actually do?

The Invisibility spell grants the invisible condition by applying the concealed effect to a creature. The creature remains under the concealed effect until the spell ends.

But isn't that the same as taking the Hide action?

No. The Invisibility spell does not make a creature hidden. However, both the Invisibility spell and taking the Hide action grant the concealed effect.

Ok... so when is a creature hidden? What is the concealed effect?

A creature can take the Hide action to gain the concealed effect by becoming hidden. Successfully taking the Hide action requires 1) being outside the observer's line of sight and 2) making a Stealth check (DC 15) while either being heavily obscured or having three quarters or full cover. Successfully taking this action grants the creature the concealed effect which applies the invisible condition. The creature is now hidden.

The Invisibility spell does not automatically make a creature Hidden because it has not taken the Hide action. The Invisibility spell instead applies the concealed effect automatically to give a creature the invisible condition.

Now that we know the difference, let's break it down.

• the invisible condition prevents a creature from being perceived by sight (with exceptions)
• the concealed effect grants a creature the invisible condition
• a creature can gain the concealed effect by casting the Invisibility spell on itself or taking the Hide action

Casting the Invisibility spell or successfully using taking the Hide action grants a creature the invisible condition because both apply the concealed effect to the creature.

Time to compare magical vs. non-magical invisibility. The keyword to pay attention to here is creature. The Invisibility spell, the invisible condition, the Hide action, and the concealed effect all only apply to perception checks made against the creature by sight. They do not apply to sound created by the creature.

A non-magically invisible creature loses the concealed effect when it is no longer hidden. It is no longer hidden when any of the following occur: when perceived or detected either through sight or sound ("louder than a whisper"), or leaving cover/obscurement.

A magically invisible creature always has the concealed effect active unless it is seen (by Truesight, Blindsight, or a similar effect) or the spell ends. This means that a magically invisible creature retains the concealed effect even when it is perceived or detected through sound.]

Here's where passive skill checks come into play when using the Invisibility spell.

An observer may take the Search action to detect creatures or objects that are hidden (including a creature with the concealed effect active) by utilizing perception. Although a magically invisible creature remains concealed from sight while moving, the sound of its movement is not concealed because the concealed effect only applies to the creature.

A magically invisible creature must make a Stealth check without advantage when attempting to move if it wants its movement to not be detected (i.e. perceived) by an observer. The magically invisible creature would make this check against the observer's Passive Perception DC to conceal its movement from detection. If the creature is successful, the observer does not detect that the creature has moved unless it somehow becomes visible to the observer. However, even if the creature fails to conceal its movement, it still remains concealed from the observer's sight. The observer would not know the creature's new location. It would only know that the creature moved and the direction of the creature's movement. If a creature conceals its movement while remaining invisible to the observer, then the observer cannot perceive the creature or its location without first detecting that it has moved.

All of this means that an observer using perception to locate a magically invisible creature must 1) rely on its Passive perception to detect that the creature has moved and 2) utilize the Search action on its turn to perform a Perception check. The observer would make the perception check at disadvantage against the invisible creature's most recent stealth roll if the check against the observer's Passive perception was a success. However, even if the observer makes a successful Perception check with the Search action to detect a magically invisible creature, it can only perceive its current location based on its most recent movement. The observer can perceive the creature but it still can't see it as long as the Invisibility spell is active (maintaining the concealed effect).

[Note: A hidden, non-magically invisible creature can move while remaining hidden only if the creature remains concealed while moving. It would still need to roll a Stealth check without advantage against the observer's Passive Perception DC when attempting to move to conceal its movement from detection and then take the Hide action again to maintain the concealed effect at the end of its turn.]

Now let's discuss the Mislead spell and why knowing all this almost makes it coherent.

A creature casting Mislead would still need to make a successful Stealth check against the observer's Passive Perception DC if it moves after creating the duplicate.

Simple, right? Well, here's were it gets technical: if the creature fails the Stealth check, the observer detects movement... but from what? where? The observer still has to reconcile what it hears with the illusion that it can see. The observer should have to resolve this before choosing his next course of action. Seeing through an illusion usually requires an Intelligence (Investigation) check. However... (just like the Invisibility spell) there's no language for this in the Mislead spell's description. Ok, so let's resolve this using a passive Investigation check. Well, monsters in the MM don't have passive Investigation listed in their stat blocks. This leads me to believe that the spell is mainly for DM use.

Yes. You can easily calculate (or assign) a Passive Investigation DC for a monster. But it's more fun for the player if the creature rolls a raw contested Intelligence check against a Deception or Arcana roll made by the player to determine if the duplicate is convincing enough to conceal the player's movement from detection. If the monster succeeds at both rolls, it sees through the illusion, knows that the player has moved, AND knows the direction of the player's movement. If the monster fails the Intelligence roll, it still hasn't detected that the creature has moved. It should then either interact with the duplicate or take the Study action on its turn to determine if the duplicate is an illusion.

So... Mislead is actually decent spell for a player to cast when fleeing (especially from multiple enemies) since it can compensate for a failed Stealth check to ensure their movement is undetected. It's just a huge pain to adjudicate because of the unclear language, the number of conditions involved, how they interact, understanding what checks are triggered, and determining the source of the triggers.

Its always insightfull to hear, how other build characters and which spells they value, and why -so, this is MY tool-box of permanent spells, whats yours? Which do you never go without?

Cantrip:

Chill Touch (to stop enemy reg.)

Fire Bolt, long range, potential damage

Light

Mage hand

Message

Minor Illusion (i'm an illusionist

Prestidigitation

1st lvl:

Shield, sleep, mage armor, (which I change to Magic Missile after a short rest)

Featherfall

2 lvl:

Invisibility

Misty Step

Phantasmal Force

Shatter

(sometimes suggestion or mirror image)

3rd lvl:

Fireball,
Hypnotic Pattern
Leo's tiny hut
Major image

Counterspell.

Edit: I am a Wizard player so super happy about this book giving so much love to Wizards

Especially the Conjuration and Evocation adept ones are straight up bonkers. Conjuration gives Misty Step, Entangle, Dimension Door, Conjure Animals and Conjure Elemental (no free casting bur oto preapare) and gives a bonus to your concentration checks you equal to thr ability score you increased with this feat if you are concentrating on a conjuration spell. This one is actually not that broken and tailor made for Conjuration and Shephard druids. Also good for clerics who wants mobility. This feat is %80 of the time better than fey touched or war caster.

Evocation adept straight up gives you acces to spells like WALL OF FORCE, fireball, shatter etc.(And a side bonus which is nothing crazy)The wizard exclusive spell that makes them keep up on combat side against classes like sorcerers or warlocks. A sorcerer taking this feat would be just better at everything else except utility.

Other schools are fine maybe except for Transmutation. I actually really like enchantment and illusion ones cuz they give super cool spells and makes you able to ignore components on enchantment/illusion spells (ofc u cant ignore costly material components). Which actually gives Bards/Wizards who lean onto those schools a really good way to use them more subtle. I will def take thr illusion one on my Illusionist wizard one day.

A wizard taking these spell school adept feats benefit the most tho cuz they can learn other options when they learn new spells from level up and they get to prepare significantly more spells each day. Especially the Divination Adept feat makes you able to grant adv/disadv on demand once per long rest BUT this recharges if you cast a divination spell. Divination School Wizards are keep winning...

My biggest complain is that WOTC gives casters this versatility and bonker feats but thinks giving rogues a fighting style is too op oder giving Martial Afept feat more superiority dices would make them too strong and steal "Battle Master's" identity. Like these new adept feats doesnt steal Wizard's identity. IK this game isnt meant to be balanced and this is an "Arcane" book but im talking about general WOTC design behaviour hier.

TL/DR: New feats didnt help closing the divide between martials and casters and made Sorcerers and Wizards a lot more powerful

So it’s probably not a controversial thing to say that your choice of cantrip matters a whole lot for the Mystic Monk, given it’s your main source of boosted damage and other effects come lvl 6.

But you only get 2 of them to start and 3 at lvl 10, so you have to make them count.

What are you choosing?

I’m going for the Cold Caster/Mind Sliver Stunning Fist combo, so mine at lvl 10 are:

Mind Sliver (naturally)
Ray of Frost (ranged option and so I can pick a utility option with my not-sorceror cantrip from Cold Caster)
Bladeward at lvl 10
Minor Illusion or Mage Hand from my not Sorcerer Cantrip from Cold Caster

I decided not to go with any of the blade or strike cantrips because it is still iffy if unarmed strike qualifies for any of those.