What works at your table?
While exploration is one of the Three Pillars of Adventure in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, the rules provided in the core rulebooks are more abstract than mechanical. Those rules are now on the horizon. Here's news, analysis, and development of 5th Edition Travel rules.
Back in September of 2017, D&D released the Tortle Package on the DM's Guild in conjunction with the Extra Life event to raise money for Children's Miracle Network. Included in this class was a mechanic called Shell Defense. It's broken. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Like many things in D&D, it is situationally good. That in … Continue reading Tortle Shell Defense is Broken
When a DM decides to give their players a Level 1 Feat, it's likely to offset the mechanical allure of the Variant Human, and encourage a more diverse cast. Therefore, it's helpful to know what kind of sway Variant Human's mechanics provide before deciding to use such a rule. With over 400 survey responses, here's the … Continue reading Variant Human Feat Impact
Managing character death in Dungeons & Dragons presents different challenges at low and high levels. Success lies in balancing narrative ambitions with mechanical costs. Low Levels The Problem: at low levels, death feels mundane. A low-level character can easily fall to a critical hit or even just a strong roll by the DM. Scores of … Continue reading Dealing with Death
Dungeons & Dragons players are choosing Humans to realize their character concept, when they really want to be playing other races. A study by FiveThirtyEight showed that Humans are by far the most common racial selection, based a sample of online characters made on the online platform D&D Beyond during its first month. This phenomenon can be … Continue reading Should Everyone Get a Feat at Level 1?
What have D&D designers said about the Mystic? In his recent Reddit AMA, Dungeons and Dragon's Creative Director Mike Mearls indicated (4x) that the Mystic needs a conceptual rebuild: "...mystic depends on a deeper revision to give it a clearer identity, driven by settings like Dark Sun and what it would need." "Moving the mystic … Continue reading The Dark Sun Mystic
Homebrew Spellcaster Template Click the link for a spellcaster template prefilled with spell progression, spell known ranges, cantrip known ranges, ability score improvements, "dead levels" for new spell level access, and the full Class Features and Spellcasting text in fillable format. Click "Source" in the top-right to add your own info, then copy it to … Continue reading Building a Homebrew Spellcaster
Players love rolling dice. A DM who inspires their players to take advantage of the environment to have more fun is doing a good job. The simplest implementation is using the "high ground" to gain advantage. Here are some different guidelines for granting "high ground" advantage in combat.
Various skills, tools, spells, and abilities in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons enable characters to hide in plain sight. Employing techniques to guise a character's voice, change their appearance, or create writings can be invaluable to their survival. Wielding this power is up to you: Do you want to slip past the tavern bouncer to … Continue reading Hiding in Plain Sight
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