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Ah, travelers! We don't get many such as you in these parts, not since the Marquis' men took control of the pass. I suppose you're wondering why you can't post images or links on this Fifthday?

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

We originally began this trial about six months ago and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've personally enjoyed a lot of the conversations that have sprung up on these days (and a smarter mod would have bookmarked some of them to use as examples* in this post).

As of now we're planning on keeping the experiment running indefinitely. We're always looking for feedback, so please let us know of your experience. Have you been enamored with a discussion post that arose one Thursday? Have you mourned having to wait one more day to see your comic update? We welcome all takes.

The switch is still happening manually, so it will happen around about midnight Eastern US time. If anyone is aware of a way to automate the process, please message the mods.

Perhaps you could discuss this...we've heard tale of a path through the eastern ridge. If such a trail exists we could circumvent the Marquis' blockade and supply this rebellion. Won't you help us, strangers!?

* The first Thursday after making this post, someone posts the most classic question imaginable. This is what it's all about.

I've seen dozens of tables where the DM will ask some variation of "how do you slay it?" when a PC drops a bad guy to 0hp. Those moments tend to be the ones where I see players get excited, because they get to express something about their character in a generally cool or fun way. So after 6 years of forever DMing for 3 different groups, I decided to test out some new ways to incorporate opportunities for players to express how their character does a thing.

My attempts have been pretty hit or miss, with the exception of asking characters how they dodge/block/or tank a hit. It has been a ton of fun as a DM listening to the players describe how their high AC paladin doesn't flinch after taking 6 hits to the plate, or how the monk effortlessly moves out of the way when the boss swings and misses with their club. I usually limit the question to when multiple attacks miss the character's AC (for expediency and novelty), and the feedback so far has been great.

Does anyone else have things you do at your tables to encourage character expression?

Hey everyone!

I'm a new DM running D&D 2024, and I have a question about one of my players, who's playing a level 2 Druid.

His character is heavily focused on reptiles, and I've been looking into what he can transform into. Honestly, some of the numbers seem crazy to me.

Last session, he transformed into a Giant Venomous Snake, and I was shocked by the damage.

Another time, he transformed into a Giant Constrictor Snake, using:

Constrict: +6 to hit, 2d8 + 4 bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16). While grappled, the target is restrained.

That seems incredibly strong for a level 2 character, especially since he gets the animal form's HP to tank damage.

We looked at the damage together during the session and found conflicting information, so I let it happen at the time.

My questions:

• Can a level 2 Druid actually transform into these snakes in D&D 2024?
• Are the stats and damage from the monster stat blocks correct?
• What are the actual limitations on Wild Shape at this level?
• Can he exclusively choose reptile forms?
• How do you handle unlocking new forms through RP?
• His ultimate goal is to transform into a dragon. Any advice on handling that progression?

I'm not looking to nerf my player. I just want to understand the rules properly and make sure I'm not allowing things that shouldn't be possible at level 2.

Any reliable sources or advice from experienced DMs would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks! 🙏

There is a Bonus Action named Steady Aim, and it says it says "As a Bonus Action, you give yourself Advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this feature only if you haven’t moved during this turn, and after you use it, your Speed is 0 until the end of the current turn."

So we get advantage by giving up our movement.

AND

Sneak Attack damage ability says "You know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe’s distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack roll if you have Advantage on the roll and the attack uses a Finesse or a Ranged weapon. The extra damage’s type is the same as the weapon’s type."

So it can be done with any attack with advantage.

SO

Does this mean we can give ourselves a free Sneak Attack on an enemy without an ally attacking them from melee or us hiding from them?

The spell itself seems pretty fine/balanced, and its roleplay-wise also great in terms of it fits her character and her background, I'm just wondering if its okay to allow my players to homebrew their own spells/equipments and if thats a slippery slope.

Here's the spell btw:
Minds That Meld

3rd-level Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

All alive were born of a Single Consciousness. You reach into the minds of nearby creatures and temporarily return them to the cosmic awareness, intertwining their senses.

Choose a point you can see within range. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of that point must make a Wisdom saving throw.

Melded Enemies

On a failed save, a creature becomes Melded for the duration.

While Melded, the creature involuntarily receives fragments of the sensory experiences of every other Melded creature. It hears sounds that its allies hear, sees flashes from their perspectives, and feels sensations that do not belong to it.

A Melded creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Additionally, whenever a Melded creature makes an attack roll or casts a spell that targets a creature, it must roll a d4. On a 1, the creature must choose a different legal target, if one is available.

At the end of each of its turns, a Melded creature can repeat the Wisdom saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Sympathetic Meld

Alternatively, you can cast this spell targeting one willing creature within 30 feet.

For the duration, you and the willing creature share your senses. Whenever either of you makes an attack roll or ability check, you can choose to have advantage or disadvantage on the roll.

When one of you chooses advantage, the other creature receives disadvantage on its next attack roll or ability check before the end of its next turn.

The two of you cannot benefit from both advantage and disadvantage on the same roll.

The spell ends for both creatures if either creature moves more than 60 feet from the other.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you can target one additional willing creature with Sympathetic Meld for each slot level above 3rd.

For a little bit of context I'm a baby dnd player, i have only played a one shot once with an experimented dm who was showing people how to play in dnd. Since then i've been trying lightheartedly to find people to play dnd with. A week or so ago i joined a discord server and a person messaged me in private asking if i was intrested in joining a campaign (which is a big yes, very much so.)

But something feels weird. The player who asked me told me that it was a free campaign and that the only thing to pay for was the artist to draw our characters (which is entirely valid). She asked me to contact the dm, which i did. I explained that it would be my actual first campaign and that i might need help with creating a character and have a lot of questions and the dm was chill about it.

But it felt odd when he almost immediately asked about the payment for the artist. He gave me a few example pictures and the art is nice and all (not exactly my jam but it's okay) and when i mentioned that i wouldn't be able to pay much this month (and that i didn't have much money right now) he already went on about instalments to pay now and i had to explain that i get payed monthly and not weekly. The commission for the artist is 30$ as insurance and 69$ later when the commission is done. I'm not exactly fond of the art but it's the dm's campaign so he can choose who he wants especially since it's to be coherent in the art style for everyone.

It only feels odd now for me because he doesn't answer my messages at all. In the mornings i don't expect answers since we're in different time zones but i had a question for my character creation (because i've been doing research on the internet) and he hasn't been answering at all for a few days. I feel like it's kinda weird especially with the fact that he isn't on the server i met his friend in..

Since i'm new to dnd and all i don't know if it's normal or not and honestly i'm getting a little scared since i don't know those people. I haven't talked with them before i was asked about the campaign in private messages out of the discord server i joined.

Sorry about this long message, i'm just anxious and i hoped more experienced people here might be able to help me.

Edit : thank you everyone for the help and telling me that it is a scam, i didn't know about it at all since i'm new to dnd and ttrpg's. I blocked both people and reported the profiles thanks so much for confirming my fears before i did anything dumb (i'm very lucky to not have had any money this month for fun stuff, it helped me avoid bieng scammed)

I recently ran my first ever session as a DM and during that session I accidentally placed a building that was supposed to have a secret basement on a „floating market” that just consists of a bunch of huge wooden rafts tied together and floating on water at the coastline with some market stands on it. The problems here are A: An actual building is way too heavy for the floating market and B: it’s impossible to have a basement when the building is on a raft on the water. I can’t just move the building because I had an npc show my players the location of the building on a map. How tf do I fix this?

Edit: I really didn’t expect this many responses and there’s so many great ideas! Thank you all so much, this community is so nice

Hello everyone. Everyone has a story to share and I don't feel like mine is all that wow in any way, but maybe for someone else it'll inspire you.

I've always loved storytelling, whether through shows, movies, playing with toys as a kid, imagining I was a hero saving the day, getting lost in games for hours, or becoming immersed in different characters.

For a while, I was in college studying videography. Then some unfortunate things happened, and I was told I was going to die while in a room in the ER. I had over 40 DVTs and fell into a black pit of despair. I had also lost a friend, my sister, and my mother all within two years of this happening.

What felt like three days was actually two weeks during that procedure.

I woke up...and, lo and behold, I had survived.

I wasn't sure what I'd ever do with my life again. Shame, regret, and depression owned me.

I constantly went to sleep hoping I simply wouldn't wake up one day.

I wasn't sure what any of it meant at the time. I found myself barely able to function afterward. I had lost everything(dream job, my business, finances shattered). I was only 22 years old, but I was also about $450,000 in debt because of the procedures that had saved my life. I lost my business before finally getting medically cleared and eventually filing for medical bankruptcy. This resolved the debt and I was back at square one.

My family and I were in a dark place in general. I was single at the time and had simply given up. I often blamed myself for my sister and mother's death. Felt like I ignored their cries for help and was stupid and young. If I had been more empathetic and open they'd still be here today. I still hold onto to that regret. There's no amount of therapy that will remove that wound.

About a year later, I just wanted to write. I was pretty much a mess, locked away in a room. My sister let me stay with her off and on for years, and I just started writing.

Years later, I found myself with four self-published space opera books(yes, self-published; I know not impressive), six spin-offs I never published, and around twenty more drafts across that series and several others I wanted to write.

I'm terrible at marketing and I pretty much had zero chance of ever becoming a full-time writer. My books were, as they say, dead on arrival.

Later, I kept getting into conversations with this woman through the game Destiny. We would talk from time to time about games, writing, and life. Eventually...after some time...I told her how I felt, expecting that to just fade and fall apart as well.

To my utter surprise, this woman was actually interested in the biggest loser in the world. "she'd kill me if she saw me talking about myself this way" but I think other men get it...that strive to be something...someone...not being a burden or a fuck up to your family and those around you. But anyway...

Fast forward to today.

We've been married for nearly ten years, and we have a child on the way(After being told we had less than 5% chance of ever having kids).

Now for the D&D part of this story.

My nephew got me into D&D years ago, and I found it addicting. After a while, I decided to try DMing. What was supposed to be a one-time campaign turned into two...then three...and now I'm prepping for campaigns #13 through #17 for 2027 as they are filling up with players.

After my sixth campaign, my friends and players, about ten of them at the time, told me I should seriously consider doing it professionally.

I laughed at the ridiculous thought of it.

Just like writing, I thought it wasn't possible. Why would anyone want to pay me to DM for them? It sounded absurd.

They gave me their reasons, and eventually I took a leap of faith after about a year and a half of them talking to me to do it.

About two years ago, I ran my first paid game for $10 a player.

I remember thinking, "This is probably stupid and no one is going to like what I do, the community, or enjoy it at all."

Yet more and more people kept showing up.

Players kept coming back and prices increased this year.

Now, two years later, I have a community that believes in me, believes in this world, and believes in what I can create as well as trust their fellow members to do the same for not only me but for each other.

This will be the first year that I'll consistently be running a minimum of five campaigns a week with five players each, and the same is already planned for 2027.

After being completely honest with the community because transparency is key, nearly all thirty players at the time (twenty-eight, I think) showed up for a three-hour feedback discussion.

That alone surprised me.

They were supportive of all of it. They praised what I was building, be it the world, community, the homebrew elements, all of it. What surprised me the most was when I told them. "Hey...all of you know I'm considering doing this full time to do more, give more, be more for Tetara. Am I charging too much, not enough?"

Every single one of them said...I wasn't charging enough.

I raised my prices by nearly 55% for next year, and they're happy to pay it, and some want to pay for their friends to play.

Because of that increase, we were able to "hire" two artists who will begin creating commissioned artwork to give Tetara its own distinct visual identity starting in 2027 as well as include their own character artwork.

Now I have at least ten years of content planned for this collaborative homebrew world that we're all building together and could very well lead to another decade of it.

It's a weird feeling.

My wife tells me every few months, especially when I'm doubting myself or convincing myself it's all a lie, that I was meant for this.

She says she can see and feel it in the community, in the chats, when I'm working late at night. She thinks its something special. She knows I wanted to be a writer, but she's convinced this is what I was meant to do.

My players have been nothing short of amazing. They're some pretty damn good roleplayers in this community, and they too want to see me succeed and go full-time.

Now I'm working on developing more; we're going to start recording sessions, creating social media content, and I'm debating about quitting my other job to do this.

I average 5-6 hours a session 5 times a week and not including building my own maps, hours of writing deep storylines, world content, player overlapping stories etc., easily pushing 50 hours a week.

But...it is a scary thought...to dive into it...to go full time...I'd probably crank it up to 6-7 campaigns weekly if I did...but I don't know yet.

But...

I do feel it guys.

I feel like I can take what I've built and continue making it better.

Always improving.

Always making it more immersive.

Am I crazy?

With a certain two-letter word advancing, feeling like it's taking over everything and saturating every market. Can I compete against it? Will people even want real DMs in the near future?

Do I choose to believe this is my calling anyway? To keep telling stories, not only mine, but theirs. To build a shared world that players help shape, one that keeps growing as people come and go, all moving toward an ending that could take decades to reach.

Can it really become something special Or am I just nuts for believing it's actually happening?

Most of the time...

I choose to believe yes.

If people like Matthew Mercer, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Chris Perkins, Aabria Iyengar, Matt Colville, Anthony Burch, and Jasmine Bhullar can chase their dream...

Why can't some guy from the Midwest chase his too?

I don't want to be them.

I'm not trying to compare myself to them because "a great DM" is all about perspective anyway.

Personally, I don't think I'm great by any means.

So...

Why not chase the dream?

I just want to live a life centered around storytelling.

I want people to become part of this shared world, to grow with it, and to want to be part of it in whatever way they choose.

Even if it's only me and these thirty players...That's still a success story.

This is the internet, and I know people have strong opinions about paid DMs in general.

To think I won't be criticized would be foolish.

But I guess what I'm really trying to say is this:

If there's something you're passionate about whether it's D&D or something completely different and you genuinely want to pursue it...

Do it.

I was fortunate enough to find dozens of people who are still with me today, still playing these games, still pushing me to do more, strive for more, and believe that this world can continue to grow.

Sometimes all it takes is taking that first leap of faith.

Not sure where to ask this but i thought it may be unqiue to hear what others have seen or done during a game at level 1 that may be funny, cool, or whatever as long as everyone enjoyed it in the end.

Hey! I am just venting but any advice welcome.

I have this player on my current campaign (6 players on total) who is challenging in a bad way. We are all pretty new to dnd but he is the only one who doesn't make any effort in roleplaying his character. He spends most of his time cracking out of character jokes -which nobody laughs with. As of today I asked him and he told me that he also has read a bunch of spoilers and I'm sure he os hiding the extend. What he did today though is what brings me here. I don't want to go into details but what he pitched to me as an idea for his character was basically him trying to control the narrative of the story and save his character from dying in a deus ex Machina way thought of by him, executed by me. Also he didn't admit that was his goal when I confronted him and he also told le that of his character dies that's it for the campaign. When i asked hom what he meant by that he took it all back as a joke. I know that me not going into details doesn't giveich to go on but I would highly appreciate any advice and perspectives.

It's important for me to note that besides my frustrationy biggest fear in this is that his stupid character dies and he gets so worked up that he spoils something for everyone else. And I've worked so hard with the narrative in my game i would be heartbroken.

Thanks

Not many run into a monk from The Two Stone Monastery. But they always leave a lasting impression.

The Two Stones was founded on two principles:
1) Growth and self-actualization comes from the soul, not the gods.
2) Pain grants us power. Power comes from pain. We use this pain for the betterment of ourselves and others.

Based on these two principles, monks of The Two Stones travel the lands, searching for areas where imbalance is detected. The level of assistance can be as simple as working with farmers during a food shortage or as difficult as guiding the community in matter's of state. Frequently, they will work against the church or cults who are active in the area, since they are antithetical to the monk's core beliefs. Whatever choices they make, they tend to leave the area better than when they found it.

Sybil was once a student of the Two Stones but left before graduation. The level of difficultly, and the risk of death or disfigurement from the graduation trial, proved too much for them. They left to travel alone. Currently, they works as a courier. Delivering mail and packages to area's where mail cannot be easily sent to. Sybil still consider themselves a practicing member of The Two Stones, but is a lot more grounded to communities and people compared to her brother's and sisters. Rather than focus on the big picture, she tends to work more on individuals. Helping them overcome pain or self imposed obstacles. Her work tends to send her to isolated areas where communities might be in need of a local therapist.