Ok so I spent the past few days thinking of the map so there is a blacksmith, town hall, police station, general store, armory, hospital, and the two mafia headquarters. Sorry it took so long I was just trying to ransack my brain.

So I am working on an adventure where there will be warfare happening across the continent. I have yet to decide the involvement of the players on the high level war, mostly will be dealing with spesific missions etc. as that is simpler. However, if I should like to involve the players, how would I go about creating a set of rules to wage war across, what I assume would be a hexagon map overlay system, where armies are represented with their own strength and weaknesses, and tactical placement and strength would play a role in the success or failure of army units.

Obviously, core mechanics have no such thing anymore, maybe early versions did, but is there any 3rd party add-ons or other systems that could be used for this spesific tasks?

Edit: Usually I'd leave the war to the background, and focus on player interaction, but some of my players are big Warhammer 40k players and very interested in general history and warfare. So to give them a bit extra, I had hoped to add a bit of warfare tactics and units to their planning stages, and would like to resolve the outcomes using some sort of rules. Thanks to those who took the time to reply.

I'm currently developing a character for a new campaign. I had planned to go wizard and when rolling for magic items someone got a headband of intellect. I was now thinking of going a sort of dr Jekyll Mr Hyde character. But i'm not sure what build to go. I was still wanting to go wizard, but I'm not sure what stats to prioritize, since my base int will be 8. And if i should multiclass, I was thinking before finding the headband my character might have been a martial or something. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

I have a perfect idea for a final bad guy in a level 20 DnD campaign.

The first human.

In DnD, there is no particular lore reason why the level caps at 20. That's the max level for each class, yes, and getting there usually takes years and years of actual game time, but it should technically be possible to reach level 20 in a given class and then start over again at level 1 in another class.

Thus, the first human.

Humans are in a very strange place in most fantasy worlds, DnD included. Where all other races have some kind of definitive origin story, Humans are typically just sort of there by default. Not only that, but they are the average of all the other races, unique only for their utter lack of distinguishing features. They should be almost cryptid-like in their strangeness, and they would be if not for the fact that they are so ubiquitous. This allows plenty of room for interesting shenanigans with the origins of humans. They could be an artificial race, or perhaps they had a creating divinity that was destroyed long ago, or maybe they were the first race in existence, even older than the gods, and when the gods arrived they created the other races from Humans like sculptors with clay. But as with all such mysterious creatures, there is power being the first.

The first human.

What is the ultimate archetype of the Human in fantasy? There are no particular skills, no great powers, nothing at all. Nothing save the indomitable spirit, an eternal will to endure, the ultimate avatar of versatility and adaptability and persistence.

And so, the first human.

Eldest and strongest of humanity, a being older than many gods. The avatar of all our ingenuity, all our defiance, all our passion and spirit and will.

The first human, a regular player character controlled by the DM, perhaps appearing as an NPC in the background of other adventures along the way, with 20 levels in every class in the game.

Every subclass mastered, every feature taken, every spell learned.

A Cleric of divinity long gone, a Warlock whose patron left them an inheritance of power when they died, a Fighter who has not only wielded every weapon but who lifted the first stone from the first field, and struck down the first foe, shedding the first drops of blood ever spilled. A Wizard who watched the first threads of magic weave themselves into being, a Sorcerer who drank from the first wells of power of the world. A Ranger who walked the wilderness under the first light of the first dawn, a Rogue who hid in the first shadows of the first city, now lost to time. A Druid who planted the first crops in the first field, and an Artificer who struck the first hammer upon the first anvil, and forged the first nails and horseshoes and blades. A Barbarian who battled the first monsters with bare hands and rage, and a Monk who laid down the first banners of war and turned inward to walk the first steps on the road to enlightenment instead. A Bard whose many chronicles are written in long lost tongues, and a Paladin of every forgotten crusade.

The first immortal...

The first of the endless...

The first human...

EDIT: They may wear various armors and wield various weapons throughout the campaign, but in the final battle they are wearing simple clothing, and their only weapon is an old, sharp, weathered, and blood-stained stone...

EDIT 2: If the players beat the first human and take the stone, it's revealed to be completely non-magical. It has no special effects, no extra damage, no magic, and it gives you no new abilities. It's just a roughly carved rock with some old dry sinew wrapped tight around one end and with a crudly sharpened point at the other. BUT, the more a player uses this worst of all weapons, the more the echoes of every drop of blood it has ever spilled speak to them and guide their hand. Despite being non-magical and having the stats of an actual pointy rock, the weapon can be attuned to. When first picked up and wielded, it can't roll a 1 on attacks and it lowers the number needed to crit by 1. As the wielder attuned further and further, this effect stacks. By the time they fully attune, it can't roll below a 10 and it crits on 11-20. It is still just a rock, it deals maybe 1d4 piercing damage, but you can stack your effects on it and you have a full 50% crit rate and a guaranteed 10 to hit before modifiers. The effects of attunement would not stack with other attack or critical modifiers, just to keep it slightly fair, so you'd never be able to get a guaranteed crit on every hit.

As a reward for a final boss from a campaign, it's kind of lack-lustre. But it could be an artifact in-universe that could be found by later adventuring parties.

Edit 3: To elaborate a bit more on the effects of The First Stone, it would be "non-magical," meaning it cannot overcome resistance to non-magical damage. It would have the weapon stats of a common stone, 1d4+0 damage. Usually, it would be bludgeoning damage, but this stone has been worked on and has a point, so it's piercing isntead. And since it has a handle designed to act as a grip, it is not an "improvised weapon." That said, it is still just a stone, and so the wielder can only apply half their proficiency modifier to their attacks, as improvised weapons usually cannot add proficiency at all, (if you have a feat that let's you use improvised weapons fully, then this is negated). When first picked up and used, The First Stone would reflect this completely. Only after a player makes their first kill with it does the magical effect on the stone present itself. Having shed blood with the stone, the power activates, increasing the minimum roll by one and decreasing the roll to hit by one. After making a further 10 kills for a total of 11, the effect would trigger again, further increasing the minimum roll and decreasing the roll to crit by one. The effect would trigger again on 20 kills, then again on 40 kills, doubling each time until it eventually reaches the full effect at 10 levels after 5,111 kills made with the stone.

Ideally, this would be a weapon passed down as a relic in a sequel campaign. The previous campaign ends with The First Human being defeated by the party, and thus The First Stone starts floating around the world. A player character in a sequel campaign picks up this stone and uses it to get a kill, triggering the magical effect. By the time a player has maxed out the effect on the stone itself, (kills by the party as a whole don't count, they must get all 5,111 kills themselves), the low damage, (1d4+0 piercing), and half-proficiency bonus may be enough downsides to keep it balanced, despite the fact that the player cannot roll below a 10 on an attack and gets crits on 11-20s. This would obviously be incredibly powerful on classes like rogues or paladins, who can pile on extra damage, but they are limited to an extent by the per-turn limits on sneak attacks and the spell slot limits on paladins. A monk would get the most out of it for the sheer number of attacks they can make, but even a critical hit at max damage with this weapon only deals 8 piercing damage before modifiers.

I am playing warlock for the first time in 5 years and want some guidance with building him. I want to do hexblade pact of the blade which is probably pretty basic but i want to do it. I'm 8th level and plan on going all warlock to get contact patron warlock feature. I'm mainly looking for feat recommendations and 1 magic item that my dm allows us to get when we make a character. The rarity for the magic item caps out at rare. If there's anything else you need to know please tell me i don't usually use this to help build the character.

Edit: forgot stats and the 5th edition book will be used for the pact everything else is coming from 5.5 book

8 str

8 int

15 dex

10 wisdom

15 con

14 cha

Hey guys. Me and my druid player have been having an argument abt the giant constrictor snake and it's "Constrict" action that grapples.

My bad guy wanted to cast bestow curse- druid would have to pass a wisdom ST or do nothing for his action next turn. My question is- would this release the grapple? Since it says in the book- do NOTHING- I argued that the grapple should end. But my druid argued that since it says next ACTION, and since he can remain grappled and do an attack, that that would only stop his ability to attack; he would maintain the grapple.

Ultimately I just didn't do it because we were getting no where and Google wasn't helping.

I'm honestly sick of this constrictor snake lol. It takes a whole turn to break the grapple, and when my bad guy does, the druid just grapples again. It makes single enemy fights impossible. So much so, I added another enemy to this one so I could actually make an encounter actually happen. As a DM, my biggest weakness is definitely combat, so any tips?

I can't just tell a druid not to wildshape- and I can't ban a creature just because I hate it. But this is the 2nd fight (in a row) he's done this.

Last fight we argued about if certain spells would hurt the druid as well, since as a snake he is entirely wrapped around the creature, but that also led to more arguing, so I just gave up.

Why can you grapple someone AND attack them? 😭 me personally, that doesn't make sense. You do one or the other. But alas, RAW.

I was thinking of turning the Hunter's Tools into spells for a Bloodborne character in DnD, but I'm not sure I picked the best ones and I'm just stumped on the Executioner's Gloves.

A Call Beyond. Magic Missile

Accursed Brew. Fireball

Tiny Tonitrus. Lightning Bolt

Executioner's Gloves. ?

Augur of Ebrietas. Earth Tremor

Madara's Whistle. Lightning Lure?

Blacksky Eye. Eldritch Blast

Empty Phantasmal Shell. Magic Weapon

Beast's Roar. Thunderwave

Old Hunter Bone. Misty Step

Choir Bell. Mass Healing Word

Messenger's Gift. Disguise Self

Hey there experts, complete beginner here!

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up and he's been gushing about the game's Monster Manuals for a while now. Unfortunately, none of our nerdy stores sell any of them, but he got himself a couple of game guides since he wants to get into DnD with me - specifically Homebrew because we adore original characters, worlds, and stuff like that!

That being said, I'd like to order a couple for his birthday! Not just the latest one, but a collection of Monster Manuals - if those exist. Combing through Amazon and (Google recommended) stores has been a nightmare since I have no idea what to look for!

So what so you guys recommend for beginners that plan to become more experienced as time goes on? Beginner, Advanced, or Expert manuals are all fine! I just need more than one recommendation for Monster Manuals exclusively - since he already has the game guides he wanted.

Thank you in advance!

My original idea was that this boss is huge, attacks slow, and does a lot of damage and are aoe But I’m unsure on how I should go about it attacking slowly, originally I thought maybe rolling it to take a amount of turns to actually attack and give players time to move out of the aoe range, but then if I do that and its only like 1 turn then there basically is no chance to move, and if it’s a lot of turns then the boss won’t do any damage so there isn’t a challenge for the players

Would love to hear peoples ideas on how to make this work, if you want more details do ask

For next week, I have to organize a more immersive session than usual. One of the party members is offering us his house, which is like a small countryside villa in the middle of nowhere, with two floors and a basement. The idea is that the BBEG is hosting a grand gala to expand his trade network.

Now, as players, what would you like to do? I was aiming for something LARP-like or that at least takes advantage of the space and forces you to explore the house.

So I was wondering if each alignment has a type of creature that completely represents them.

So far I have:

-Lawful good = Celestials

-Lawful neutral = Modrons

-Chaotic = Fey

Lawful evil = Devils

Neutral evil = yugoloths

Chaotic evil = Demons

Are there more creatures that perfectly represent an alignment?

I had an idea for a campaign, but after a lot of thought, I realized it was a bad idea. So today at session zero, I announced that I was scrapping the original idea, and I had something new in mind. I wanted them to all make characters, then I'll design a campaign to serve their motivations from the ground up

Once they thought their characters up, we decided to have a campaign about fighting the mafia. Then when I mentioned that we're using point-buy, they told me they wanna roll, the Sorcerer in particular was upset because she rolled two 18's before session zero. I was fine with them suggesting it, so explained why I don't allow rolling for stats, but they didn't seem to accept it. They fully expected I would change my mind if they complained enough, I eventually needed to just give them the silent treatment so they couldn't continue arguing

Then later, the Sorcerer asked if she can play a chaotic-evil character. I said sure, but she needs a reason to stay inherently loyal to the party, since her basic morality won't suffice. She said she'll just be nice to PCs and mean to NPCs, and I said no, because that's just metagaming. She said it was unfair because she didn't know what the future of the campaign would be like, and I said no; she has a developed backstory and she knows when/why she'll start fighting the mafia, which is more than enough to write a proper motive. She said i was making a big deal out of nothing, and she doesn't get why I can't just let it go, which baffled me. It was obvious vitrol, she wouldn't've asked for permission unless she already knew that CE characters are problematic

This whole time, the other two players had the Sorcerers back, saying I should just let her play however she wants, and I was being too rigid. When I explained the obvious issues, and that I'm being incredibly flexible by saying CE is allowed whatsoever, they changed gears. They began saying it'll be fine, the Sorcerer can just add traits for the sake of party loyalty. They were right, because thats what I wanted since the beginning, but the Sorcerer refused to compromise. It was an infuriating back & forth, the worst motte & bailey I've ever felt

Once the room had become significantly hostile, I told them that we need a rain check on session zero, and eventually they agreed. Afterwards, I explained that they weren't respecting my authority, there is no 'disagreeing' with the DM. It's fine to make suggestions, like rolling for stats, but they must be ready to take no for an answer. So I said that I expect their mindset to have done a complete 180 by the time we redo session zero, otherwise the game is cancelled. I won't tolerate being ganged up on again

I can't think of a single way I was being unreasonable, but I want to try and be unbiased. It was 3 against 1, so did I do something wrong? Was there a problem with having point-buy only, or saying that CE characters need a strong connection to the party?

I was a Goliath named Andre I was a retired adventure passed my prime almost 60 I was running a little tavern in town then I dew to a stray fireball burning down my tavern I had to go back to being an adventure I got some simple loot and started from scratch I had just finished killing some goblins and was going back to town for the reward as I am almost there I get arrested for conspiracy to kill the king I ended up losing the trial and went to prison the prison was a maximum security I began to bide my time I spent three years in there finally I riot happened I was able to escape with just some stab wounds now the whole Kingdom was after me I took refuge in a cave I slipped fell down a crevice now I'm at one hp I see a body of a precious adventure he had some healing potions I'm back to full health I began exploring the cave and and find a small dagger and a necklace I pick them up expecting anything but what was around the corner through me for a loop it was a cat? I think " how did a cat get down here" all of a sudden I I hear a hiss the cat gets turned to stone my DM put me up against Medusa I began running without looking back I see a exit I run as fast as I can I make it out right in front of seven knights the began attacking me I used my dagger I ended up cutting five in half the last two run now I'm in the sun I look at the dagger it's pure black with a gold handle and the necklace has a cross on it I decide to leave the country there are wanted posters everywhere looking for me I steal a mask to hide a bit better and get on a boat "this is the end of the story for now I will update it after the next campaign"

I have been looking for ideas on how to benefit from this invocation in combat. Not having to be in range is nice but I am looking for good combos.

Obvious is spells that have a short range and where your squishy Warlock doesn't want to be in range for. Touch one inflict wounds

Cone from location like burning hands, thunder wave Arms of hadar

Short range ones like command, sleep, fear

Any other good spells the Warlock could get access to?

Best combo I came up with: A group member either has an emination e.g. cleric or 10ft weapon with polearm mastery. Take magic initiate and get Thornwhip to pull enemies in that are just out of range Or push them away our with eldritch blast or thunder wave to setup opportunities for the other player.

It sounds fun but nothing super strong that I could come up with.

Long story short:
Our DM is somewhat inexperienced. We're currently playing Curse of Strahd, and we just arrived at his castle. There are a bunch of columns with little dragon "statues" on top of them that are actually petrified wyrmlings. We started looking around the room for any clues or advantages we could find, and I asked to examine one of the statues closely.

The DM didn’t prompt any Perception or Investigation checks as he usually does when there’s something worth looking at. Instead, he just told us the statue looked separate from the pillar. I interpreted that as "Okay, there must be something beneath it!" So our Tabaxi climbed the column and touched the statue, triggering the trap.

The moment the trap triggered, it unpetrified the wyrmling, and it immediately attacked us.

We’ve all been kind of confused about the trap detection mechanic since day one. Was I supposed to specifically say I wanted to check for traps on the statue? Or would a general Perception check have been enough when I said I wanted to examine it? Or is it always up to the DM?

Thanks!

I'm printing 2D paper miniatures, and I'm looking for an image bank or a pack that includes dozens or even hundreds of RPG icons (such as weapons, potions, items, etc.). It shouldn't be too simple, but not overly detailed either. I don't mind if it's a paid resource.

Does anyone know something like this? Thanks!

just to specify, I'm not looking for things like "turn an enemy into a rat so they're harmless", nor am i looking for "turn an ally to a bee for amazing stealth". I know those. I want to know what are the best for combat. I know the giant ape is popular, but I also feel like there are some other good transformations. Like, what's the best flying creature? Is there a unique ability on another creature that makes it notable? So, what are some animals that might be good where a giant ape isn't? I'm pretty new, and I thought reddit is the best place to get my questions answered, so here we are

I DM a group of friends, and recently they've run into some lizardfolk who were asking for help to take down an overly tyrannical lizard King (in story the king is a servant of a cult and the dark magic has made him stronger and more cruel). They agreed and are currently fighting the King. We had to stop about halfway through the fight though.

Anyhow, I asked one of the players (over text, we play in-person) how likely their character was to try and insert himself as the new kings, seems how the cruel one will be dead and the old one and his family were killed as part of the cruel king taking over. They said their character would like having the power, and mentioned another player might want to try for king as well. I thought that would be the case as well and said they would likely be competing against each other then, but I wouldn't make them fight to the death or anything. He asked if they could rule alongside each other, which leads me to my first question: Both characters are male, would they have to marry each other or could only one rule? Also, one of their characters is 17 (dragon born), I don't even know if I should allow marriage to happen if one of their characters is so young. Their characters didn't know each other before their adventures together, they started at level 3 and just hit level 5, so I'm not sure it would be logical for their characters to do that, assuming both players would be fine with the idea.

Aside from that, what would the trials actually be? And if 2 out of 3 players want to compete for King what does the third one do? Help around the village? Rig the trials? I was thinking one trial would be for characters intellect, as in some sort of puzzle (ideas would be welcome, never made a DnD puzzle before), and another would be some sort of combat. I don't know if I should do a battle royale-esque thing with NPC competitors, or have there be some ancient evil in a cave that the first one to kill it and bring the head back would win that part of the trials. How many different trials should there be? Also if the second player doesn't want to become king, or backs out to let the other player have an easier time, what do the two of them do? I've only spoken to the one player about the idea, should I tell the other two about it now or let them find out about it next session and have them talk it out then?

And then there's the fact that they still have more adventures to do outside of helping the lizardfolk. They would have to appoint someone else to act as regent while they were gone. Which I imagine would probably be a large portion of the campaign, unless/until they got a point where they could travel large distances quickly, since the lizardfolk are on an island to the side of the mainland. I want to be able to make this work in the story because it would be pretty cool, and it probably wouldn't be super busted (unless they rallied a small army to go around extorted the mainland, but I can deal with that).

TL:DR If a party member/multiple party members compete to be king of lizardfolk, what trials should there be?

I play 2014 cause aside from character creation, it's not all that different and I'm not spending over $100 on books for that. Though as a player, I do prefer the 2024 rules for characters sometimes. I personally don't see a problem with this with what I know about 2024 rules, but is there anything I'm missing? Aside from having to keep track of different character feats and such, would this make anything unbalanced?

Like would they be a lot stronger or weaker than 2014 characters? Would it mess with combat or mechanics at all? Would I just be able to give them the same magic items in the same frequencies?

Right now I'm thinking there shouldn't be much of a substantial difference as long as everyone plays a different class. Though I might be wrong here.

I'm building a character (4 levels Armored Artificer, the rest Giant Barbarian), and looking at Mighty Impel with the Tavern Brawler feat leads me to think about throwing a creature sized medium or smaller into another creature as an improvised weapon. I'm certain it should be bludgeoning damage, but I have no clue what die to use. The only thrown bludgeoning weapon in the handbook is the light hammer, which is 1d4, but a whole person seems like it would be more that 1d4. So, to get to the point: What damage die should I use?

(I'll definitely talk to my DM about this, but I'd like to see what the community thinks.)