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Is this balanced? A bard wanted to use this homebrew spell... I think it's a little bit too much damage, but I need help rebalancing
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Involved TTRPG Combat
I just wanted to give my own two cents on "involved" combat encounters in D&D and similar TTRPGs.
Generally give your players the expectations that combats are something to be solved rather than beaten. Communicate that with them clearly in order to create more fulfilling combat that isn't hitting things until no enemies are still alive.
Give combat encounters a goal. I'll list a few examples later, but generally you should think of what an encounter is meant to achieve for the players. Sometimes it's fine if it's just "an obstacle meant to be overcome", but this shouldn't be the only goal.
Consider tipping points, when it becomes clear that victory is certain for the player characters, but the combat could still continue. Create off-ramps for such encounters, where you can have a satisfying narrative way of ending it earlier. Fleeing minions after the leader has been killed is a classic.
Consider the environment. Cover, different types of elevation, and dynamic elements (vehicles, rotating gears, a rushing stream, etc) will make an encounter more engaging. This is more challenging to run theater-of-the-mind than with minitiatures/VTTs, but still doable.
Use different types of enemies in the same encounter. A simple way is to use both ranged and melee attackers, allowing your players with ranged options to pick off the enemies further away, while the melee-based heroes have their own enemies to deal with.
Have enemies with multiple phases. In 5e, enemies with the Mythic trait (mostly found in Mythic Odysseys of Theros and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons) are one example for this, as they gain more abilities the more damage they take. Alternatively consider creating monsters that consist of multiple stat blocks, where defeating certain parts of it changes what it can do and what your players can do to it. E.g. turn Mazaal from The Legend of Zelda - The Minish Cap, into a D&D monster.
I'm not good at making monster stat blocks, but imagine a construct with two hands (each with a distinct stat block) and a head that shoots beams from its eyes. The head has a Tethered trait that makes it invulnerable while the hands (that can grapple your heroes!) are still active. Once the hands are defeated the head starts jumping around like crazy, knocking over the heroes with shockwaves as it hits the ground. That sounds like a very engaging combat encounter to me!
Now when it comes to combat goals, here are a few suggestions:
Ensuring the safety of an escorted NPC or a valuable item that the party is transporting to a different loccation.
Keeping an enemy in a magic circle that allows it to be killed permanently, since it would otherwise just regenerate or be outright invulnerable.
Waiting for reinforcements as hordes of enemies attack the party, placing a timer on the encounter.
Preventing an enemy from reaching a specific spot on the map, such as an altar or a mechanism.
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I think one of the most important skills both new and experienced DMs need is improvising!
It's ok to go off script, especially with a group of players that consistently goes wild when you turn them loose in a town, or on the other side of the spectrum, are too smart and logical to take your narrative bait, which can cause your session to stall.
Having the ability to rework your hours of planning to still fit the new direction on the fly is going to be a lifesaver more times than most people realize when they first put on the DM hat.
Taking a page from the MoTW rulebook, I often make a timeline, or countdown, of events that happen off screen (or on if the players are in the right place) that would take place if the players had never shown up to help at all. These should be very very simple, like for example,
1. Goblins have made a town under the city
2. Food and resources have been disappearing from the city stores
3. A nightly watch is put into action
4. The Night Watch is ambushed from inside the city
5. Goblins have grown desperate and have begun tunneling under houses
6. The goblins have begun a war effort against the city
7. The city is overrun and the goblin population has moved in
These events happen even if the players are present, but not necessarily as part of the direct plot with the characters.
If your sessions are stalling or enough time has passed that it feels appropriate, move a level down the timeline and let the new information prompt your players to continue investigating.
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I always love hearing about other people's D&D games and I was wondering if you had like a method for how you plan out your sessions? In a slump rn myself so looking for some inspo lol
ok so i need to get better at this again (depression made me a way more 'seat of my pants' DM) BUT i basically lay out a "timeline" of main story points the party will eventually hit, and place "questlines" there. Essentially like a tree of quests and their progression in a videogame. This is NOT always detailed by any means but it helps me get a linear view of what's going on. If you run pre-made modules, this is the book stuff. My current game started out this way before I went "I like doing this myself" and went completely off the rails.
Then I go into the main details of the questline. Stuff like where it is, if there's going to be new lore introduced, the actual contents of the quest itself and it's requirements, etc. My players and myself are big on RP, so I also try to always make sure the quest will have interest for Story or Character reasons. If it doesn't directly push the plot in a major way, will it still give the party interesting interactions with each other and npcs? Are there going to be any new threads for some of the game's mysteries?
Then I also ask what in the questline is going to play to the party's habits and strengths. I admit this is WAY looser, and again kind of wraps around into "what would be cool RP for them" - but for example; knowing an encounter with nobles will give our noble-born artificer some additional lore, since he understands the city's politics.
After that, I do sometimes "script" certain lines of NPC dialogue or location and item descriptions. Stuff I'll be narrating that I want to make sure has a certain weight to it, or to flow well. You might not need to do this if you speak succinctly, but I find my brain stutters when trying to describe scenery on the spot, so it usually helps to write it. After that I make the session from there!
For me that usually includes picking out "splash screens" for the conversation backgrounds in our game, drawing new npc portraits if I have the time (it started because some of my players have aphantasia/some former players were new, so I drew PC and NPC portraits to make RP easier to visualize - then it just became the Only Way I Want To Do It Now LOL), and making maps. I use Epic Isometric for my maps, highly recommend. I get most of my splash screens from Art Station, but I have to say obviously that's unwise if you're streaming a game. Same goes for using pre-existing art as character/NPC art -- I know myself and other artists don't care if someone uses our stuff for their home game that no one's ever gonna see. I plan to release some of my portraits in packs one day free of use though.
Here's the RP Backdrop kind of splashscreen I use in R20 (but you can make one in FVTT too, I've done it) and an Epic Iso map I threw together (the party tokens were drawn over Epic Iso assets. If you join their discord people make community edits constantly. I'm currently working on a project to color all the released decor assets)
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My campaign has entered ACT THREEEEEEEEEEE
My players literally kick so much ass and I love them. We are now 75 sessions in. Act 1 took about 50 sessions, Act 2 took about 25- shorter but they were much more involved in the main plot of the campaign and the developments were HUGE. I fully anticipate Act 3 to take at least 70 sessions to get through. The party is splitting with plans to reconvene later so everyone is making a new character to have for the split arc and we’re jumping into the unknown together.
Things are coming together in such an exciting way, the future ofcthe game feels fresh and the bones I have laid out in the past two arcs are strong and allow for tons of flexibility on the part of my players and how they drive the narrative. And I feel like this is possible because I have “broken” some of the tacit rules of DMing. I’m not sure these things work without a group you’ve played with regularly for a long time but I’ll share what I can in hopes that it encourages other DM’s to cut loose a little bit.
1. I did not give them freedom when designing characters. When I proposed this campaign, the idea would be the main cast would all be kids who grew up together. The players and I sat around for multiple session 0’s designing the town these kids grew up in, as well as their families, their connections to each other and so on before they ever even had the chance to choose classes. They only were allowed to write their own backstories for the duration of a 15 year timeskip between the prologue and campaign start. On top of this I gave the players the mandate to make a second, high level character sheet that they couldn’t even name, characters whose purpose would become clear as a story within the story of the campaign. It was a whole lot of effort but it has paid dividends. The character backstories made for the 15 year gap we’re more tied to the world than any I have seen, and the players were more keen to know about the world in turn. The second characters allowed for them to experiment with other builds and feel powerful, while I could use the sessions involving them as a mechanic to reveal lore in a way that made sense, and have the actions of the players shape the narrative consequences their main characters are dealing with.
2. I have not told this story chronologically. As alluded to above, the higher level characters are powerful figures from a forgotten past that the main group is inexorably tied to. While the events of the main campaign have been in order the group has jumped around through time experiencing visions of the past in no discernible order (at first) though a pattern and timeline has emerged. As the group seeks the truth of a forgotten age I needed a way to give them lore they otherwise couldn’t access, this method has allowed for me to tell a story and expand and continue the mystery without lore/info dumping on my players too hard. Every truth or revelation feels earned: as they decipher the clues left behind with the information gained from their visions.
3. I’ve railroaded them when necessary. I’ve been DMing for about a decade now, and I can confidently say there are no hard and fast rules around railroading your players and letting them determine their own path. Imo, the best campaigns allow both the players and the DM to hold the narrative reins in their hands. While the players should always be leading the action, they should not always be leading the direction. It is necessary to give you the DM the time to bury leads, invest them in your villains and NPC’s and ensure they have a stake in the primary conflict outside of their character backstories. Once you have established what the heck is going on and given them some mile posts to achieve then you can let them lead themselves.
4. I’ve allowed and encouraged metagaming. In a campaign where I’m already doing a bunch of weird stuff to affect how the narrative is told and explored, I have happily allowed metagaming at the table and happily answered lore questions and given them information to clarify things I want them to know. My players excitedly discussing theories about my game? Crack, I want to encourage it! I’ve worked hard to craft a cool mystery into the campaign and if they have questions about their clues I want to answer them! I’ve Also ‘Metagamed’ consequences to certain actions, letting the characters fully know the stakes of certain rolls, or given context to a situation so the player can make an informed decision in character. Often they still choose to accept the dramatic irony, seeing how certain decisions will affect things. The degree of openness I’ve brought to the way the story is told has seen rewards again and again with interesting decisions and amazing plays being made that are all the more impactful because the players know the weight of those actions and decisions.
5. I’ve been downright mean. I have been mean as hell when it comes to fighting during the climactic sequences, counterspelling healing, taking out downed characters, ruthlessly using mechanics to my benefit and everytime it makes seeing them succeed by the skin of their teeth worth it. And it reinforces themes I care about and explained during session 0, the world is big and scary and they are a small and new part of it. Dnd campaigns work best when there are stakes. You don’t need to have those stakes be massive and life threatening all the time and not every combat should be a knockdown drag out slug fest, but your villains and antagonists should be smart, effective and fucking powerful. They should challenge or overwhelm your heroes at times. The stakes make those dice rolls and choices valuable.
6. I’ve played with a DM PC since session 1. I love having a DMPC. I know not everyone does, but to me it opens up so many more chances at RP. I can check in on my quiet players in game, I can reward my roleplayer characters with fun RP, and I can share little facets of the world the group might not otherwise get. The DM PC does their best to not take center stage, instead doing their best to let other characters shine and in both combat and RP I’ve found this to be an excellent tool and way to increase my enjoyment and feel connected to the story the way my players experience it.
All this being said, the most important thing I do is talk to my players. Communication is the most important thing in cooperative storytelling and knowing what they want and enjoy out of stories is most important to running a campaign that will see your players coming back for more every week and having a blast doing it.
So yeah, cut loose DM’s! Do that funky weird idea you have, talk about it to your players. Go ham. And play in the way that suits you and your players best! You’ll see dividends
#dnd#dnd tool#dnd advice#dm advice#thoughts#it speaks#ttrpg advice#ttrpg guide#ttrpg#dnd 5e#telling stories#DM tips#Joe writes#eldritch soul campaign
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i know that i have like 5 followers and i also do not have a single goddamn clue as to how tumblr works but i want to share my interests with people and possibly help other people expand on and find new interests as well :)
so… i fucking love dnd. the whole everything, character-creating, the rules and structures behind rolls and making a balanced character/campaign, the cool dice i now have an excuse to buy, but MOST OF ALL- writing mini-campaigns for my friends (which usually ends in me committing a little bit of psychological ware-fare).
im really rather new to this (just finished writing my second mini-campaign and currently three sessions in to a long-running campaign i have a character in) but i can already see how far ive improved from my first campaign to now and how much further i can go in the future with potentially longer campaigns, and im 100% willing to share anything ive learnt or any tips i have regarding campaign-writing. i also wouldnt mind some more experienced players/game masters to provide some tips or important info theyve learnt throughout their time playing/dm-ing that could help me make my campaigns as fun and engaging for my friends as possible so if anyone has been itching for a way to share their knowledge- go WILD!! the more advice the better :)
that is all :D
#dnd#dnd campaign#dnd advice#dnd writing#writing advice#dungeons and dragons#dnd campaign writing#dungeons and dragons tips#dm advice
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dm advice?
hi I’m just starting a curse of strahd campaign and I have all the necessary books and stuff. I’m just curious if there is anything else I should know to get started. I’m playing the role of dm this time around and it’s my first time dming. I’m also playing with a bunch of new players and I want to give my players the best experience possible, I would like to know how I should maneuver my around my role and how to make ravenloft feel authentic to my players. Any advice on the matter would be much appreciated
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eeeeyyy Felix and vitamin ditter worked together to create Felix' first animated dnd tips video! Hoping for them to make more in the future! Go check it out if you want :3 (We're planning to keep em short and fun for y'all)
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I'm gonna be playing my first DnD one shot soon, getting the Player's Handbook in a few days hopefully and want to get started making characters and understanding combat, does anyone have any advice? I'm not gonna be a DM yet I'm very new 😔
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the best piece of dming advice I ever got, which is not mentioned almost at all in most advice videos. this one piece of advise has made me leave tables because dm’s didn’t do this. It is to ALWAYS be your players #1 fan. this doesn’t mean that you make their lives easier, because normally our favorite characters / hero’s go through hell, but it centers your relationship to your players/their characters in a very healthy way that keeps moral and storytelling up at the table. celebrate their successes , revel in those nat 20’s even though it took you three hours to plan for this boss fight and it’s done in 20 minutes, find them and the stories they come with interesting. the most overwhelming part of dming is thinking that you’re the one telling the story, and this takes a lot of the pressure off of you and can also make the story you’re telling 10x better.
#dungeons and dragons#dnd5e#TTRPG#dungeon master#game master#dming advice#dnd advice#running games#dungeon master advice
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Looking for input on a D&D item!!
Context: the Dhampir sorcerer in the party was gifted three small jars of "Blood Honey", from the hives of bees who had been collecting their nectar from a Corpse Flower, thus, the honey is mixed with blood. This mixture also stabilises the blood, so it doesn't congeal and become inedible after time has passed
I want to make these jars more than a simple snack, and have been thinking that they could act as healing potions, or temporary hit points, or something akin to lesser restoration, but also these things seem a little boring/basic
The sorcerer is at level 3, and these are specifically for her to use, so I don't want this to feel too powerful, but also want it to be interesting and have enough incentive that the player wants to use it up
Any further suggestions for the properties of Blood Honey?
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Everyone seemed to like the video on monster creation, so I figured I'd make something on using monsters. The one on encounter design will be my next bigger project, but I realized an overview of the CR system might be a better start. What makes it tick and how a bit of critical thinking can help us improve as DMs. Yes, that thing your literature teacher kept ranting about. Which is not at all influenced by me being a year out from an English Lit/Education degree before finances ripped me out.
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I've long had an issue with everyone's insistence on Experience being the best teacher and tool. Not the tool portion, but the teacher portion. The sink or swim approach does work best for some people, and that's great! but as someone who has almost drowned 6 times I assure you that some of us just sink. For some, you don't learn to improve, you just think you're a failure and eventually stop trying.
Experience means nothing if you don't know how to apply it. Teachers don't just give you info, they (should) teach you how to apply it. Otherwise the useful bits of knowledge just get lost in the flood of decisions and dice rolls. Everyone has a different learning style and approach, and that's wonderful! I hope this is different enough to help some of you who have struggled to make things click.
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How to Play a Force User in 5e?
One aspect of character building for 5e I enjoy is trying to replicate character archetypes that aren't obviously represented by a single (sub-)class into 5e. And Tulok the Barbrarian hasn't helped matters (check out his channel, it's fun).
Anyway, one of my favorite things is Star Wars and naturally I love Force users, and 5e offers a handful of combinations that work really well for it.
So here are some! Note that with most of them the Telekinetic feat is recommended, and the Telepathic feat also often works well.
Intelligence: Psi Warrior Fighter + Wizard
This one is basically ready-made. You get psionic abilities and you unlock really fun stuff as you level. However, since the Psi Warrior uses Intelligence for their features, that means you'll have an easy time multiclassing into wizard!
Both War Magic and Bladesinging are excellent additions. The former is more generic and synergizes well even with medium or heavy armor, while the latter is generally more powerful, but is often restricted lore-wise and pigeonholes you into wearing light armor only. It also works "best" with Psi Warrior if you take less than six levels in wizard, because at that point Bladesinging gives you Extra Attack and that obviously doesn't work with a fighter's Extra Attack (though you'd still gain the ability to use cantrips within your Attack action).
In general this build is bulky and uses magic for versatility, making an excellent frontline warrior. Also if your GM ain't no fan of the psionic subclasses, then Eldritch Knight is also fine.
Intelligence: Bladesinging Wizard + Samurai Fighter
Yes, another fighter + wizard combo, but one with a different flair. This would really lean into Bladesinging and use Samurai Fighter for its excellent Fighting Spirit feature at 3rd level (and Action Surge at 2nd). With Fighting Spirit you can give yourself advantage on attack rolls and gain temporary hit points, very appropriate in the "letting the Force guide you" sense. After that this build would focus itself entirely on wizard levels. Still, the 7th level Samurai feature Elegant Courtier is excellent, and if you only want to take four or five levels in wizard, or don't a redudant Extra Attack, snatch that up, too.
The levels in Samurai enhace the face archetype that a Jedi as intergalatic peacekeepers embody excellently.
This build is likely squishier than the prior one, but still not that squishy. It really depends on the level mix. Also note that Elegant Courtier works based on Wisdom, so that segues into...
Wisdom: Fey Wanderer Ranger + Samurai Fighter
The Fey Wanderer is the best ranger subclass to get the feel of a Force user for sure. Since it heavily focuses on charming foes and resisting charms yourself, it sells the stalwart moral stance of a Jedi and the classic Jedi mind trick quite well. Otherworldly Glamour makes you an excellent party face, and Wisdom feels the most intuitive among the three mental ability scores for a Jedi to prioritize.
For Samurai, just see the section I wrote for the prior entry, it's just really, really good, and those first three fighter levels are just a wonderful addition to any build that can afford them.
This build is also the best way to emulate a Jedi who is very connected to nature, like Kanan Jarrus or Ezra Bridger, since druid has too specific a fantasy to work with that.
Wisdom: Peace/War Cleric + Fey Wanderer Ranger/Samurai Fighter
The cleric also provides an excellent foundation for a Jedi character, and the War Domain and the Peace Domain especially. Both really fit the ideals of Jedi, the former obviously more of a Clone Wars-era Jedi general (or a Sith), while the latter fits the High Republic-era or the old Expanded Universe restored Order really well. Special shoutouts to War's Channel Divinity: Guided Strike and Peace's Implement of Peace features, those really feel appropriate.
Cleric spells work really nicely as Force abilities, and thus work as a great foundation. Now you can easily add either the Fey Wanderer or the Samurai on top of that to either go deeper into the role of a skilled negotiator or a mighty warrior, all while having a fairly easy time with multiclassing.
Charisma: Aberrant Mind/Divine Soul Socerer + Paladin
The sorcerer represents nicely the inherent nature of Force-sensitivity and both the Aberrant Mind and the Divine Soul fulfill the aspects of mental prowess and a special destiny respectively.
The paladin levels meanwhile enhance your melee capabilities, as well as your spellcasting and healing. Virtually any oath works here. Ancients provides a bit of Kanan Jarrus/Ezra Bridger/Bendu vibes, Conquest and Oathbreaker are very Sith, and the others all work for Jedi in general.
Ingnite your lightsaber with your smites, and you'll have a good time. Plus, as a Charisma-based build, you'll make an excellent face, of course.
Charisma: Great Old One Warlock + Paladin (or maybe Bard?)
We've reached the final one! The obligatory warlock-paladin multiclass. A wonderful combination. Now I'm deliberately excluding the Hexblade due to flavor, but the Great Old One is a wonderful patron for a wannabe Jedi to have. For you that patron are, basically, Medichlorians. You are more attune to them than other people (or so you think?), and thus you gain special psychic powers associated with them.
For the paladin aspect, s. the prior build. All of that also applies here.
Addendum: Even bard might be a nice option to add to the Great Old One. Bardic Inspiration can easily be interpreted as using the Force to subtly move or stabilize your allies during an Athletics or Acrobatics check, or as a minor Jedi mind trick in social situations. College of Valor and College of Swords are very good choices for this multiclass build to enhance your melee capabilities.
Addendum: On Monks
I did consider whether monk would work, maybe with the Fey Wanderer Ranger it'd be okay, and then I'd probably go with Way of Mercy but monk is too weird of a class to work well... But the 2024 rules revision monk might be just the trick for that! We'll see what that looks like. In terms of how short rest-reliant monks are, a warlock-monk build would make sense, but since the Playtest 5 warlock was thoroughly rejected, Wisdom-based warlocks will never happen in this game (until we get a proper 6th edition?)...
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So, to whoever may be listening right now
How would you build a 10th level Undead Kobold for DND? Their starting class is Barbarian, but I don’t know what subclass to do nor if I should multi class. Everyone else in the party has really op builds so I’m trying to make it so my lil dude doesn’t drag everyone down
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I hate my charater now.
For context, I play a Fae Druid/Bard named Iris, I had so much fun creating her character and was very proud of her but the problem is in the campaign I'm in while the other players themselves are...fine, with her, their characters berate and ignore her all the time and it's honestly starting to get to me, i think I'm the wrong character for this campaign but I feel too embaresed to ask the dm for help since its their first campaign and the group already overwhelms them enough, iris just doesn't fit at all with this group and is considered useless. What do I do?
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ok i think i need a lil advice, for session 0 i need to kill my players (worry not they will still have their characters) but i havent figure out a way to do so :(( i have 4 players, a ranger/warlock, a ranger, a druid and a paladin
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