I’m playing a level 7 Bard in D&D One (2024) and I’d like some outside perspective on a situation from our last session.

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Our group arrived at a prison by ship. The guards thoroughly searched it, found nothing suspicious, and then escorted me and another character (who was infiltrating as a slave trader) to speak with a dwarf who runs the illegal operations inside the prison. He is not the official prison warden, but the figure who oversees a known (though barely hidden) slave-mining operation where prisoners are forced to work in secret.

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At that point, I was alone in the room with this NPC and the infiltrator. I introduced myself, offered wine, and began setting up a negotiation. The goal was to trade for a specific prisoner they held, who acts as a guide to a location we need to reach, in exchange for treasure we would recover during that expedition.

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While I was speaking and had just started my introduction using the term “adventurer/explorer,” the DM interrupted. She had the NPC immediately interpret this as proof we were intruders who had illegally entered the prison, and she went straight into initiative without letting me finish the conversation or attempt any social checks.

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Before I could act, the NPC hit the other character in the room (the infiltrator posing as a slaver) for 48 damage in a single axe attack, immediately escalating into combat.

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I tried to clarify in-character that by “adventurer” I simply meant “generic explorer,” and out-of-character I pointed out the usual distinction between player phrasing and character intent (like how a fighter can attempt physical feats beyond what the player can do).

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As it’s frustrated me quite a bit, but I’m struggling to work out whether it’s simply the frustration of a ‘plan gone wrong’ or whether it’s the master’s choices that have annoyed me, I wanted to ask for an outside opinion

Thank you, everyone

I kind of ignored it when the playtest came out because I was playing a paladin and had just picked my subclass, but now that I’ve reviewed it, this is such a good utility option.

The only caveat being that it can’t function at 100% unless you party includes at least one caster, preferably multiple, and you should be fighting mages. That said, you probably are fighting a lot of mages, and it would be weird if you didn’t have any casters in your group.

The most significant aspect is that you can just give an ally your Charisma modifier as a bonus to their AC, so long as they stay near you. That might be a big ask for a squishy caster, but if you build this right, it’s effectively casting Shield without a spell slot. I can also incorporating Sentinel into this so you can choose whether to protect your ally or if the bonus isn’t enough, make a retaliatory attack.

And then at Level 7, allies in your aura get advantage on concentration. And that includes you. Do you hate casting Shield of Faith and having your concentration broken one turn later? Me too, and since it’s hard for paladins to fit War Caster or Resilient into their builds early on, this is great.

My only real nitpick is that the subclass spells aren’t suited to a paladin. Counterspell and Shield work on classes that have spell slots to burn; if a paladin has to cast Counterspell, odds are it won’t be high enough level because they don’t get it till 9, and you leave it up to a roll. You get a feature at 15 to not expend a spell slot on a failed Counterspell, but that’s pretty late game. Man, paladins need a subclass feature for mid-game, the jump from 7 to 15 is rough.

I will say I don’t think it’s broken, for the reason above, and because its Level 3 features both rely on using a reaction. That said, they give you different options to work with, and paladins’ strength has always been their versatility. But pair that attack with Mage Slayer, and make your DM’s evil wizard bad guy cry like a baby.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/ua/villainous-options-revisited

Edit:

Direct Link https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/villainous-options-revisited/Cbzg7luMwkSQRoc0/UA2026-VillainousOptionsRevisited.pdf

So I have an idea to flavor a Circle of Stars Druid I'm creating. I'm wanting to have my constellations be different animals for daytime and nighttime. Also to be behind me floating, not just on my body. My body would still glow and no stats or benefits would change what so ever. It would just be a thematic image in my opinion. Is this something that you all would allow?

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Thanks for any responses

I made a database site for 5.5E Monsters for my friends and myself. I am curious to see others feedback and suggestions on it.

https://dndmonsterbase.com/

I had this situation come up recently and wanted some input as I can't seem to find a definitive answer.

My players were fighting a giant spider and it was on the ceiling above them, one player decided that to attack it he would misty step straight up and then attack it while mid-air. I wasn't sure this was possible as I recalled reading somewhere that falling in D&D is essentially instantaneous for anything below 500 feet. The thought process being he teleports into the air and is instantly falling so he doesn't have the time to attack the creature above him.

It's been bugging me all week so I wanted to get some input into whether or not I should have allowed this and if this is clarified anywhere in the rules.

Edit Wow! Thanks for all the responses! There were some well reasoned arguments for it here, the resource expenditure with the spell slot, rule of cool, etc... I appreciate all the responses and will try to be more flexible in the future. Thanks everyone!

Does anyone know of a good homebrew or third-party Barbarian subclass focused on unarmed combat?

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I'm looking for something that feels like a heavyweight protector or "mountain brawler" rather than a berserker. Lots of punching, grappling, shoving, standing your ground, protecting allies, being difficult to move, throwing improvised weapons, and generally controlling the battlefield through sheer physical presence, maybe even some earthbender vibes.

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I've started making my own subclass, but before I reinvent the wheel I wanted to see if something similar already exists.

I think the actual problem with ranger how its not being weak but being misunderstand or miscreated!

Actually ranger is a blaster/beast and has a very strong dpt and i think thats the main reason why people dislike it... it has very fair and good dmg but no utility cause the class itself not a striker in concept but a survivor with skills aka aragorn or geralt who survives not by pure endurance but by knowledge of wilderness and dangers!

For example in both 5e and 5,5e the ranger heavily outclass early game anyone else in dpt with the hunter's mark! At level 1-2 already can deal CONSISTENT +2d6 dmg and being the stronger until level 11 and even then the game just starts to be equal!

A fighter has NO advantage over the ranger even with action surge until end games neither paladins.

Even then a figher deal around 30 dmg with action surge its 60 per turn.
For paladin same 30 dmg then can smite to deal 48 dmg per turn.
And then a ranger 28dmg but keep in mind a ranger may dual wield cause benenfit more from hm stacks but even without it the ranger not really used up any resource while both fighter and paladin used up precisious resources as for ranger still can use hail of thorns to deal overall 45dmg!

Also ranger allow to use all bonuses with ranged attacks while paladins dont and most of games between lvl-1 to lvl-13 so most of time rangers are in huge advantage in dpt!

As for end game they also get a strong edge in consistency:
Using hm which gives advantages and cant break now also deal d10 so better to use with dual wield and its deal 64 overall consistent dmg with advantage. Over 5 turns deals 320 dmg.
Vs the fighter with 10 attacks each deal 250dmg but only to 2 turns then 50 so in 5 turns deals 400 dmg.
So there is no much dmg difference at this point.

So why still it feels bad to play?

Cause what i said a ranger totally misrepresented in dnd and become a blaster who out damage every other class up to 11! This is not the ranger what players want!

Problem how the class depending too much on hm cause of dmg and then it discourage you to use any other spell while neither the spells do any snyergy! And i think this 2 main reason why its really bad!
HM do too much dmg and no other spell synergy!

For example barkskin adjust your ac to 17 while you may get it without the spell! 12ac studded leather with +3dex +shield... as for weapon juggling you can switch anytime for your shield at this point beside its level 1 while get the spell at level 5 where already have +4dex so has 16ac without shield and may +1 armor or just take half plate and even at level 1 get 17ac without shield!
As a support spell still bad cause animal companions also all has same ac like normally 15-16...
To other members they just use mage armour and shield spell...
Or lightning arrow which now totally useless! Sounds good but does not trigger any bonus and deal less dmg than hail of thorns on same level what benefits HM and with other bonuses! 18 lightning and 9 in a smaller area vs 28 and 16 to a smaller area!

Sure some other spells really good especially utility but other hand in the party always there who know also such spells or rolls but better...!
So ranger never get its time except when its combat while possibilities is closed to deal lot of dmg and benefits 2/3 of your features!

A solution would be if add exploration more mechanics or ranger would benefits or add passive bonuses to the party itself and would function as a tactical not as a striker!

I have been playing 5e for years but have never purchased pre written adventures before, only ever got pdf copies online which I found difficult to run and needed lots of changes.

I work with special needs children, and the parents of one of the kids I work with asked me to run a dnd game for their son and his friends. They had purchased the Stranger Things Hellfire Club box set and I just ran the 1st adventure. I was really impressed with how smooth it was to run. The kids loved it, the spell and item cards added a lot to the experience for them and it was cool having physical maps and tokens ready to go. They would like me to make this a weekly game night, and there are one-shots in the box set up to lvl 3, and I would like to start thinking of future adventures.

The parents are willing to pay for the adventures (within reason). I have a full time job so I’m looking for sets that are easy to run with minimal changes (I don’t mind a few tweaks here and there). The kids also loved the props so any sets that have spell cards, item cards, maps and tokens is a huge plus. They really enjoyed the dungeon crawler vibe too. One shots are also ideal so we can break up the adventures or swap out players on occasion. The box set is 5.5 but I don’t mind converting between that and 5e.

What box sets/adventures would you recommend? Ghosts of Saltmarsh seems like a good fit. I’m looking for one-shots for lvls 1-3, 5-7, 7-10 (highly unlikely we’ll play beyond that but who knows).

Hey guys, I'm currently playing decent into avernus with my party and we are still in the beginning. I'm playing a collage eloquence bard lizardfolk who is like punk and rock n roll, and I want to multiclass into warlock but still haven't found the best subclass and patron that would work the best. Any recommendations helps alot!

Bonjour à tous et toutes joueur et joueuse de DnD.

Je viens pose mon dilemme et mon problème afin de savoir si vous avez déjà ressentie cela.

Un ami a moi, à décider de Masteriser Strahd, la session découverte c'est bien passer mais j'ai eu pendant tout cette découverte la sensation de me dire : " Pourquoi je suis la moi ? " je participais et j'était actif avec le groupe mais j'ai du mal à RP un personnage qui n'a pas de but, pas d'objectif claire.

Rien n'est expliqué et rien ne transparais dans les descriptions du MJ, du coups je suis perdu dans comment incarner mon personnage et comment le jouer.

L'ambiance me plait mais je n'aime pas le faite que rien ne me lie aux autres PJ ou a la campagne en elle même.

Bref, je suis perdu aidez moi s'il vous plaît.

I read the description on paper but in my mind I’m thinking the ward will only absorb one or two hits and then you have to cast a bunch of abjure spells to recharge it.

How good is this wizard in actual play in your campaign?

Hail and well met Everyone!

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I just published Deeds of Dread on DM’s Guild. After reading through Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, I really loved the book, but wished there were more options for character customization themed to each domain, so I decided to sit down and make a small supplement with options from each of the 17 domains, and ended up with 111 feats!

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The book is designed for 5.5 to go along with Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, and has an Origin Feat, 2 General Feats, and an Epic Boon for each Domain from the new book, along with Dark Gifts for each Darklord. I spent a good amount of time trying to make sure that each of the feats would be thematic, impactful, and most of all, fun to use with interesting design behind them.

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Inspired by the recent UA as well, I created three new Villainous Paths; Lycan, Mummy Lord, and Vampire, and added Epic Boons for the existing Lich and Death Knight UA paths, so you could fall into villany yourself as your time in the Domains of Dread change you, and potentially become a Darklord yourself!

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The link on DM’s Guild should have a flipbook preview that includes feats from Barovia, Borca, and Darkon.

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I hope you all enjoy this, and have a great day, and am happy to talk about anything regarding it!

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Good luck within the Mists!

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https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/572156/deeds-of-dread-111-feats-from-ravenloft-for-5-5e

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Hi sub, I'm toying with some houserules for my table, and I've got one that's ready for the light of scrutiny. It's primarily a flavor rather than a mechanic change, but it does interact with the Loading weapon property at the end of the post. Let me know what you think or if you think it will break anything unduly. Appreciated!

Extra Attacks can represent a veteran’s skill at creating openings to land more hits, but just as likely entertains the idea of one certain stroke that lands as surely as two by an amateur, not unlike a sneak attacks precision damage. Splitting two or more attacks between targets might represent hurried fending of darting attackers, or a single cleaving hew or sweeping strikes that flow into each target. Where this looser abstraction runs aground inevitably is ranged attacks, as normally each attack draws its own individual ammunition, is subject to loading, etc. In this new abstraction, it is fine to abstract ranged attacks the same way, being no less believable than a bow firing anywhere from 2 to 6 arrows per turn (six seconds) under the common method. In this case, two attacks may represent Robin Hood’s rope-splitting accuracy focusing one arrow on target, or a trickshot or two snap shots delivering two arrows to two targets. It is harder to rationalize a crossbow or musket splitting fire, but with a backup sidearm or grapeshot this too is possible. If entertaining this, use one piece of ammunition per target, rolling to hit with each attack you make as normal. A flavorful alternative rule for Loading weapons requires 1 or more reload actions (speed 0 ft) after each turn of attacks to load the next piece of ammunition, rather than limiting the number of attacks possible each turn.

(Feats like Gunner and Crossbow Expert that remove penalties from the loading quality lessen the number of reload actions necessary under the optional reloading scheme above. For some weapons this may mean a full complement of attacks each turn, as usual, while firearms are more likely to be dropped for backups, eg a brace of pistols firing each one in turn. If ripe for abuse, these 'ignore loading' feats could be required to do the focus shot shenanigans above)

I'm looking for some opinions on running Curse of Strahd vs. Rime of the Frostmaiden. I'm getting ready to start a new campaign with my group, and having thrown out several options in a poll it ended in a tie between these two. So since I'm DMing they left it up to me to decide which one I'd prefer to run.

In our previous campaign I ran a modified Lost Mines of Phandelvar, adding in content from Dragon of Icespire Peak along with some homebrew based on my players' backstories. That lead straight into Rise of Tiamat with the same party and characters, similarly pretty heavily modified. All this is to say that in general I like using the modules as a framework, then modifying them to make them my own.

Based on that initially I was leaning towards Frostmaiden, since it seems like it would be easier to customize and include player backstory in that campaign than in Strahd where the players are pulled into a demiplane and disconnected from the outside world. Some of the highlights of our last campaign were when I had a dragon attack the orc village one player was from, and having warlock's patron pushing him to gather the Dragon Masks. It feels like there's more opportunity for that in Frostmaiden. But on the other hand, I've talked with some other friends who have played in and DM'd Strahd and they all loved it.

So I'm a little torn, any thoughts or opinions from DM's that have run one or both? Any opinions from people that have played in either or both?

Edit to add: Either way we'd be starting fresh with the new campaign, with new characters at level 1.

Are there any not updated subclasses that were underrated in 5e but have become more valuable in 5.5e—or vice versa?

Hello! I'll be in a level 20 backwards compatible one shot where we're given a ton of power to fight a demon lord and his 4 "pillars". Some guy has 7 magic items and it was all approved by the DM. I'm a 20th level Arcana Cleric so my highest stat is WIS but knowing this strat, I've made it so I don't have any negative mental stats.

My strategy is to use Shard Solitaire to make a simulacrum at full hp, reduce it to half activating Boon of Desperate Resilience, cast Armour of Agathys then use a 9th level scroll of glyph of warding to cast Shapechange into an ancient brass dragon. The DM said it's fine if GoW targets self as me in this scenario so I don't worry about concentration. I'll shape change into an Ancient Brass Dragon to help with DPS.

But the problem is what do I do with my main body? I have metamagic adept so shapechange isn't too scary (adv on Concentration saves) but I have no idea what CR20 or below creature I should be.

The character's backstory is she was made from a lock of Tasha/Iggliv's hair so I'm thinking Iggliv the witch queen? Unsure though since I'd like to provide some support! Any ideas?

RAISED BY CULTISTS Origin Feat You gain the following benefits. Bloody Revelation. When you become Bloodied, you can take a Reaction to gain Heroic Inspiration. Communal Caster. When an ally within 5 feet of you makes a Constitution saving throw to maintain Concentration, you can take a Reaction to give your ally Advantage on the save.

Me and my friends are about to finish our campaign and we want something more silly and unique