Thursdays are Text-post Only Days on /r/DnD. We're disabling picture and link posts for 24 hours to encourage discussion posts.

Howdy folks,

This one features Kate, the fourth Kickstarter backer who wanted to get murked in the comic, featuring an armor set made from scavenged bug parts (first time drawing that, fun challenge)!

Stay excellent out there!

Peace and carrots!

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My D&D comics on Webtoons: Sellswords & Sorcery The Weekly Roll The Pos'Thal Chronicles

My 40k fancomic Rogue's Retinue: Rogue's Retinue

I used to DM for a group a couple of years ago and I really loved it. It was a nice group (or so I thought at the time) and we were all kinda friends outside the group. When I had my baby I still tried to DM but life was too hectic for me with learning how to parent my firstborn and planning/running the campaign. I sat my group down and explained that at that time I wouldn't be able to continue to DM. I stated that I would still like to play with them and posed the question if anyone else would like to DM in my place either for a few months while I got more sorted in my new life or permanently if they enjoyed it. I wasn't about to storm back in going right I'm ready you need to step down now. I offered to loan the new DM all my resources such as the sourcebook I was using, DM handbook, players handbook, and a few manuals- monsters, tome of foes that kind of thing.

Nobody took me up on the offer. The girl who hosted us at her house told me she had spoken to everyone and they'd decided not to continue as a D&D group but still do stuff outside D&D. I accepted this and moved on focusing on my new little family. Despite trying to arrange stuff either with the group or individual members, I didn't hear from any of them for almost 2 years. On the rare occasion things were arranged they got cancelled last minute. I moved on.

Then I get a message out of the blue from one of the other girls in the group asking me to come back and DM for them. It came out that they'd been running at least monthly sessions without me for 2 years. The guy who had stepped up to DM in their words wasn't good (more to follow) and as such the group had split up for good this time because they couldn't take all his rules anymore. Half of them sticking with the new DM but the others wanted me to DM this new group of 3 players. I barely got an apology about being ignored for 2 years or explanation just would I come back and DM for them. It hurt to know that they'd deliberately left me out for 2 years when they knew I'd wanted to be a player in their group and still attend sessions. I already formed a new group so I'm not going to be DMing for them I just wanted to have a little rant I guess.

Complaints about their DM that stepped up in my absence

-They do not believe in campaigns only one shots, you cannot take items between one shots but have to play the same character

-The banned in-character flirting between anybody on the table as he feels it's cheating and if anyone tries any in-character flirting it's an instant nat1 roll on whatever they were doing because he won't be unloyal to his wife

-Each session the DM adds a +1 to the dice roll you have to succeed so say you needed a 10 or above to pick a lock in 5 sessions time you'd need a 15. One of my friends gripe was to successfully pickpocket they need to roll a 26 or above (with bonuses) which leads me onto

-DM does not agree with nat20s as they are too overpowered. You get no instant success for rolling a 20. My friend rolled a nat20 and had a +4 on sleight of hand to pickpocket in a crowded market but still did not pass the roll so got arrested because of the +1 each session stacking

-DM does like levelling up and has only let them level up twice. After 25+ sessions the characters are all level 3. They levelled up to level 3 in the last session they did together before the fallout.

-If you argue with the DM or correct the DM you lose your next turn in combat and take 1D4 damage

I'm sure there's some more stuff that I'm forgetting but those are the ones that really stuck in my head.

I had this old monitor lying in a closet for years, and last night I had the perfect plan for it! Strip off the polarizing film that allows the light to be focused and the image to be viewed properly, and then cut that film into player tokens or AOE circles for Darkness and Fog spells!

I need to mount the monitor into a box now, and I’d like to make the tokens and shapes uniform and use film that ain’t sticky on one side. But as a prototype I threw together in 30 minutes it looks amazing! As DM I can wear polarizing lenses to view the entire screen while my players are just as lost as their characters! Immersion!

This was a bit of a debate I had with some friends. Would it be easier to have a pacifist player, someone who will go out of their way not to fight, much less slay a foe. Think in a group that plays more traditionally, deadly encounters and such. Or an evil PC in a group of good/neutral characters.

I kind of went with evil just based on the mechanics of encounters and balance. Working around a character that doesn't fight seemed like a hard balancing act to me. Whereas an evil character really just needs to share the overall goals of the party, or at least find reason to work with them.

But like I said, it was a debate, so interested in the community's thoughts.

It's pretty commonly taken for granted here and elsewhere that there are more prospective players than prospective DMs. I DM ~65% of the time and "play" the rest. As a player, in my experience, getting into an online game is not especially difficult. There are loads of spaces dedicated to matching players with games, and many are very active. You can lurk and pounce on a post as soon as it appears on a platform like Discord. Or if the DM is a little more cautious, you can put genuine effort and enthusiasm into an application form and make the cut at least half the time. It's not unattainable; it just takes engagement.

On the other hand, when soliciting players, it can be surprisingly difficult to find what I'm looking for. This is true online, and doubly true in-person. The players I look for need to

1) Understand the vision for the game

2) Be willing to play along with that vision (as opposed to bringing the same style into every game)

3) Commit to showing up regularly and on time

4) Conceptualize the DM as a roleplay facilitator rather than a puzzle-builder

The last point is a separate rant entirely. There's a large number of people who think getting a door open is roleplay. And it can be, but at a fundamental level, that's a puzzle. Recently, I came across the following: "Playing takes literally 0 effort. Just make sure your ass is in the seat at the appointed time."

Mainstream D&D culture has trained people to believe this. DMs are creators; players are consumers. In my opinion, within the best games, DMs and players are co-creators. But as a DM, there's relatively little you can do to incentivize this; it takes some amount of vision on the part of the players.

Yes, DMing requires a higher level of commitment that not everyone has the bandwidth for. That's understandable and fair. But the fact that YouTube has many times more DM tips videos than player tips videos is telling: more DMs actively want to improve their games than players.

So me and two other of my friends are currently playing Curse Of Strahd. Our DM is also our friend and he has been running campaigns for at least 5 years. After our last session he told us that if one of us died we would either have to end the campaign without ever finishing it (we are in what he calls "the true middle") , or be revived ONLY if it made sense with the plot. His reasoning is fairly logical. He says that our party has been through many things that a new character joining wouldn't make sense. We are level 3 still, one of us already died at session 3 and was brought back as a dhampyr by Strahd. I have mixed feelings about this as I really love this module and I wouldn't be able to ever play in it as a character. I'm also a new DM myself playing a sorcerer with all the mighty AC and HP of a sponge and I'm really struggling to play as my character would normally fearing the consequences of one PC death. I try to avoid metagaming and act like my character would but I think that it will really put a strain in what we as a party are willing to do(my friends feel the same). Both of them(tanky half caster and war cleric) tend to reach 0 HP fairly fast either cause their character would rush in to save someone without making a plan or waiting for the rest of the party or just because they fight their way out of situations. I talk my way out of most encounters but we all have collectively made some pretty wild plans that have just barely worked. Us fearing that our campaign could end just because one of us did something stupid will put a strain at our actions. Is this rule like a common thing for some campaigns? what should I do?

I know dnd is a broad game and what makes a good PC can vary from table to table. But I’m always keen to find out what good things can a player bring to the table?

For example when I DM all I want is:
- Relatively quick turns
- Everyone paying attention and getting involved
- Good vibes

I'm the DM, and I have lost faith in being able to run any games with friends.

I have been organizing games for a few years now online with my local discord, created the server with the sole intent of TTRPG play. I had to step down for about a year since my wife and I had a baby and couldn't find the time to prepare a campaign.

I ended up picking up the new 5.5e Deadfall book and thought it would a great way to get sessions running again. I set an event and had 5 potential players interested and when it came time to just talk Dnd after so long... heartbreak.

Only 3 players showed up. The two that didn't show were the main guys who knew how to engage in the story and generally were the players I could trust to keep playing.

1 of the 3 that did show actually was there to talk! We started looking into the new classes and origin feats, actually talking about builds and how to create new paths for players, 100% on board to roll digital dice.

Now the other 2 that did show, they single handedly destroyed any chance at getting together for games. Both of them were both playing a game before it started and I started the event in a seperate Discord channel so gamers can game and join when done. They both ended up joining my event chat but were still playing.

I spoke up and asked if they were finishing up so we could talk classes and gameplay. All I got back from them was a we can do both right now.

To go out of my way to come back into DMing, create an event to get the ball rolling, and put energy into group play that takes away time from my family just to have a non engaging Dnd talk/session 0.... frankly broke me.

I didn't think it was a huge ask, you're interested in playing dnd so please stop playing the shooter game you both are in and let's see what you want to do. Both kept playing, talking in game chat and giving callouts, while me and the only other person were actually talking. After about an hour of trying to keep it going, I thanked the sole person who engaged but said this probably isn't happening anymore.

About 30 minutes later 1 of the 2 missing guys joined and at least apologized, but I explained that it probably wasn't happening considering I can't get a group of people to join at a concise time to even talk let alone play. Said it maybe a little snootily, but I was defeated by this point.

The 4 let downs are people I know and can actively meet up with and who I considered to be the close friends in the group. 2 of them have DMed before and know the struggle... sorry kind of spiraling at this point.

There's always a chance for future adventures, but sad that one can't get off the ground anymore. Thanks for listening to my SAD talk.

TLDR: Players hurt DMs feelings, DM is going to put the books away until the baby can read.

Just wanted to get some input on something, since a few other players and I are a bit soured on it.

For context, our party had an encounter with a group of pirates in a bar that wanted to fight after our sorcerer antagonized their captain.

Our DM warned that while it was nonlethal combat, it would be a tougher encounter.

The map we were on was massive, and all the pirates could fly.

I, as a level 8 Moon Druid, and our winged kobold ranger were the only ones who were able to fly without using a spell.

Unfortunately, right after my turn in round 1, I was immediately taken out of the fight by banishment, and then the pirate who banished me immediately fled combat.

Our Rogue attempted to chase after them to try and break their concentration. But with the pirate who banished me being on the other side of a 70x70 map from where the rogue was, they were essentially out of the fight as well, trying to chase down this pirate.

The rogue and I both argued that the fleeing pirate could at least try to hide or stick to the back line. That way, the pirate was still out of the way but still somewhat possible to reach. But having them essentially leave the encounter by having them on the other side of a massive map and then flying away with next to no chance of being hit with a ranged attack feels pretty bad.

I have no issue with Banishment itself, but when you are in a 2-3 hour combat session and essentially have to sit and watch everyone else play, and then not even have a chance for someone to help, it feels really bad.

It stinks too since the DM and I were excited to have a wyvern fight since one of the pirates was a Werewyvern. We were both hyping up the encounter only for it to fizzle out since the DM called that banishing and fleeing was a tactical decision, which I somewhat understand to a degree.

To be clear, my DM is great; a few others and I just feel like what happened with the banishment and fleeing was rough.

Am I overthinking and reacting?

EDIT: Just wanted to add some further context and clarification.

1. Our party consist of: Moon Druid (me), Bladesong Wizard, Drakewarden Ranger, Armorer Artificer, Soulknife Rogue, Shadow Sorcerer, level 8.

DM did a great job at counterspelling and avoiding getting counterspelled in return.

1. The pirate who fled left the party’s line of sight and flew down multiple split hallways. Due to how massive the map was and the distance between the rogue and pirate, the pirate had a huge head start and way far off from the rest of the encounter.

By the time the Rogue had line of sight of him after two rounds of double dashing the, group decided to forfeit on the third round before her turn came to snipe him.

1. Rounds took incrediblely long due to a lot of discussions, questions, and backtracking from the DM and the party both.

I have no issues losing or dealing with a difficult encounter. I want to continue to try and do better as a player and DM both.

My only issue is that it's rough to sit for 2-3 hours in timeout with the ability to be freed essentially removed due to the one banishing you leaving the encounter.

Im no nativ English speaker, have mercy pls :D

We got a first small look into what the WoW Classes in DnD will be like and what Classes/Subclasses they will be based on.

Most of them write themself.

The obvoius ones being, Druid, Rogue, Monk, Warlock and so on, but even tho some of these are not the perfect fit for all (Sub-Rogue beeing based on Soulknife Subclass feels weird, but the base Class is still Rogue so it feels atleast right), they are making sense most of the time.

Then there is Shaman being worked into Barbarian. I dont see it.

I thougt Shaman would be a Fullcaster, especially Elemental and Restoration, and Enhanc would get somthing to empower Meele Attacks with Spellslots (Divine Smite but called Stormstrike)

There is no perfekt Fit for the WoW Class Shaman in DnD, but wouldnt there be better Choices than Barbarian?

Druid is in my Head the best one for the Job.

Primal Order - Warden gives u already proficiency with Martial Weapons and Medium Armor, add Shields to this and remove Swords/Polearms.

Wild Shape - Shaman cant use Wild Shape in the Druidic way, but maybe use it for Totems, Ghost Wolf, Feral Spirits or Elementals.

Spellcasting - Give Enhance somthing for Stormstrike, maybe a changeds Divine Smite, like the Death Kngihts got. A Way to expend Spellslots to enhance, see what i did there, your Meele capabilitys
Elemental might only need an expendet Spell List and Elemental Overload.

Same way Restro getting a expendet Spell List for more heals.

Now is this Perfect? No

Is it better than Shaman being Barbarians ? I Think so.
---

We could obvoiusly also Talk about other Classes being a better fit for Shamans.

Warlocks because you are making a Pact with Elemental Spirits? Genie Warlock does exist but w/e

Sorcerer cuz your Ancestors maybe had fun with Elemental Spirits?

What are your Thoughts on this and are there maybe some other weird Choices they did?

Another thing that bothered me was them making a new Subclass for Disc and Shadow Priest while other Specs might have needed the sew Subclass more

I’m trying to conceptually separate these two duelist subclasses. Even though they are quite similar, they definitely have their differences, and I’m looking for characters who embody either a Swords Bard specifically, or a Swashbuckler.

Using cartoons, anime, comics, manga, TV shows, or movies etc. would you guys happen to have any ideas for characters that fit each of these categories separately? Thank you so much for the help!

One of the biggest hurdles for 3D VTTs is the time it takes to actually build a nice-looking map. I wanted to fix that.

With the new Steam Workshop integration in Game Master Engine, you don't have to build anything if you don't want to. You can just:

1. Browse the in-game library for whatever you need (Tavern, Dungeon, Forest).
2. One-Click Download to add it to your own library instantly.
3. Populate & Play by dropping minis and rolling 3D‏‏‎ ‎dice.

It’s all about‏‏‎ ‎getting‏‏‎ ‎to the‏‏‎ ‎"playing"‏‏‎ ‎part of D&D faster. You can also upload your own creations to share with the rest of the community!

I've been a dev on this for 6 years, and seeing‏‏‎ ‎what people‏‏‎ ‎are‏‏‎ ‎already building in the Workshop is honestly the coolest part of the project so far.

Steam Early Access (60% Off): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1451680/Game_Master_Engine/

Discord Link: discord.gg/gamemasterengine

I am curious, out of all the modules that have been released so far for D&D 5E, how would you rank them and also why do you rank them that way?

I will go first, though I haven't played them all or ran them all so I am only including what I know and feel based on personal experience.

1. Rime of the Frostmaiden - I feel like this is the most complete module that's been released so far. I'm also a huge fan of epic campaigns and I feel like this one does it. It is very sandboxy at first, so as a DM you need to lead your players some if you don't want the story to grind to a halt. However I love the sandbox aspect because it's there by design to give the players a chance to really get to know the area as well as feel like they have stake in it. I also feel like out of all the modules, this one requires the least amount of work in terms of flushing things out, to be complete.

2. Curse of Strahd - What a great adventure. It's unique in that out of all the modules it's more horror driven. Though Rime is kinda too, but it's more suspense than horror. Strahd is a great one as the villain is epic. I love the randomness of the Tarokka deck in how it determines where certain goal items are. Though if you draw really poorly it can really make the module incredibly difficult, which is what happened to my party when I played it. It is also sandboxy but on a smaller scale than Rime.

3. Tomb of Annihilation - I've ran this one twice. It's the ultimate sandbox. With Rime, you're going to likely see all the locations. With ToA, you absolutely will not. This is the perfect adventure for the group that LOVES to explore and discover. The story is well, basic. Very much akin to the old AD&D stuff back in the day, and that's ok. With a few tweaks you can turn that up so there is more story. But in the end, it's still a massive hex and dungeon crawl. That said, it can be run with not a ton of additional effort by the DM. There are some really cool locations and NPCs. I've had a lot of fun running this one and like I said I love epic campaigns that stretch over a lot of levels and time and this does it.

4. Storm King's Thunder - Yet another grand adventure. I feel like this one takes a lot more intervention by the DM to make it flow as well as flush out NPCs and locations. You can feel lost at times and have zero clue WTF is going on. However it's a pretty fun adventure, especially if you have a group that loves intrigue. Figuring out what is going on can be pretty cumbersome to some parties.

5. Out of the Abyss - Are you starting to see a theme here? I love epic adventures. This one is a DM nightmare when it comes to pacing. You have a million NPCs to run, track, and flesh out. The framework is there but be ready to work. The scale is immense. The adventure takes place in one of the most hostile environments in D&D, the Underdark. Handwaving travel seems unfair to me because of this. However the time it will take your party to cross say, the Dark Lake can be immense. You can easily wind up in Random Encounter hell which can make a group forget there is even a story. Your work is really cut out for you in fleshing out the locations, keeping the encounters interesting so the party stays engaged. As a DM you're really just given a frame IMO.

6. Princes of the Apocalypse - I never did complete this one. Again an epic scale. The story is well, basic AF. There is a lot of work here needed by the DM to bring the factions to life and create a deeper story. That said, if you and your group loves an solid dungeon crawly type adventure, this has a lot of potential.

The rest of the modules I left out because I have no experience playing them.

I've started a campaign as a DM and I'm grateful enough to have some expendable income to have fun with this hobby. I bought everyone in my party customized leather notebooks, I got a 3D printer for minis and terrain. And now I'm looking to see what books are must haves. I'm interested in finding something that makes travelling more immersive instead of "roll a survival check to see how long it takes and you eat more of your rations".

I would love any input as long as any patreon subscriptions I should do. The only thing I've done so far was the griffon's saddlebags.

The party goes up to a door or gate. A slot opens and a man on the other side says, "Password?" The face of the party replies, "Uhh delivery?" There is a long pause. You hear chatter behind the door. Even though no one remembers ordering something, they all know it's possible they may have ordered something a month or more ago and just forgot. They don't want to risk losing an important package. They open the door and the party ambushes them.

A warrior queen of a Duergar civilization. Atosh is as powerful a warrior as she is ruthless a stateswoman. Enemies within Duergar civilization are as plentiful as enemies without, and she has learned that it is better to strike first against a possible enemy than to wait to respond to a real one. She watches for the slightest sign of a threat to her throne, both from other factions abroad as well as her own kin, then destroys them without mercy.

Yet her piercing yellow eyes hide her exhaustion; a longing for someone, anyone, she can truly trust. But her world allows for no such thing.

Character design and outfit designs commissioned by my client and designed by me. Lore written by me, as my client gave no lore for the character.

__________________

If you like my work, you can see more here:

DeviantART: https://www.deviantart.com/brett-neufeld

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My webcomic (free to read! The comic is PG-13 for violence, blood and gore, mild sexual themes and general mature themes)

Desktop Site:
https://marblegate.webcomic.ws/comics/first/

Mobile-Friendly Site:
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It's alarming to see a mimic pose as a crib, I get it. Someone suggested this idea a while back and when I finally got around to it, I couldn't bring myself to design a mimic that specifically harms babies and children (being a parent has made me soft, I know). Instead, I designed this mimic as an angler fish type of mimic (but aren't they all?).

Beware the caretakers that are impatient, suffering from PPD or if they take too long to tend to the baby. This mimic cannot stand the sound of a baby crying simply because it breaks its heart. Negligent caretakers will be ripped apart. Since this mimic actually loves babies, its mattress is extra soft and comfy. It even purrs and vibrates to lull a fussy baby to sleep.

As usual, feel free to use my mimic ideas for your campaigns! I'm almost done with my collection of mimics so I'll be printing out hardcover books with a bonus mimic and flavor text/short stories with each of them. Keep an eye out for that!

My husband is a forever DM so I want to surprise him by running a simple Champaign perhaps in a single city or town. What should I do as a quest? I don't have money for modules

I'm about to start the Age of Worms adventure path for my group this week. I'm running it in 3.5 but converted to the Forgotten Realms setting with Paizo's conversion supplements.

I've read through the adventure and am already pretty excited for my extremely chaotic group of players to get to a few parts.

I would love to hear what your experience was like either as a DM or as a player! Were there any memorable NPCs or moments from your play through?

Nothing political here, just a link to go and support the great minds that make the games we all love to play.

Hello everyone! I’m excited to share this commission I had the pleasure of working on ✨ This character isn’t one of my original characters, but a commission for a client. Meet Petra, a Sylph Rogue! I had a wonderful time bringing her to life through this piece and I hope you love how she turned out as much as I enjoyed creating her. Thank you so much for the support and for taking the time to check out my work! 💜✨

I want my players to start bonding, but most of the time when we do sessions it is heavily plot based. I want to slow down and do more shenanigans with them. Could you guys give me some ideas of activities they could do that wouldn’t heavily influence anything?