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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.

Hey everyone, looking for some quick opinions on an encounter that nearly wiped our Level 6 party last session (3 out of 5 players died). This is Arc #2 for the rest of the party, but only session #4 for me (we have all played together for years).

We are playing a campaign using the 2014 rules for our characters. However, our DM has started using monster stat blocks from the new 2024 rules. During travel, we were ambushed in a bottleneck environment with zero cover by an Adult Blue Dragon.

Here is how the mechanics played out:

The monster's passive senses were so high that respectable Tier-2 stealth rolls (like a 14~18) were failures. Hiding was mechanically off the table.

It used a new 2024 legendary action to turn invisible at will at the end of most player turns, doing it constantly throughout the fight. Opportunity attacks and spells requiring seeing the creature were off the table.

Battlefield control spells like hypnotic pattern with a spell save DC 14 was easily defeated by the dragon’s +7 wisdom save.

Dragon was dealing 35~50+ damage in a single shot, which is enough to instantly drop our characters from full health.

One single escape route across a river and in a cave. Two players made it. The other remaining 2 were at 0 and 1 HP, the 1 HP pulled the other under the ice in the river to hide.

Failed stealth roll (15) and the lightning breath weapon acted as an AOE because they were under water. 50 points of damage, both died instantly, dragon ate the remains.

During a private chat with the DM, he completely defends the encounter. His argument is that because we had the "Action Economy" advantage (5 players vs. 1 monster), the fight was totally winnable and we just made tactical mistakes.

From my perspective, action economy means nothing when your actions have a near-0% success rate due to invisibility, high AC, high saves, and impossible stealth DCs. It felt less like a game and more like a mathematical prison where we were railroaded into a cutscene.

Worse, it completely stifled roleplay. My character is explicitly written as noble and selfless, loyal to a fault. Because the math was so overtuned, the only way to mechanically survive was to abandon the rest of the party and run. The game forced me to choose between playing my character authentically or meta-gaming to survive.

I put an immense amount of effort into this character's story and lore, and losing them after only four sessions to an un-winnable math equation has left me incredibly frustrated. Am I overreacting here, or is the DM completely miscalculating the math of his own encounter?

TL;DR: DM threw a 2024 Adult Blue Dragon (CR 16) at our 2014 Level 6 party, killing 3 out of 5 players in an open bottleneck. The dragon had a 22 Passive Perception, at-will invisibility, and a 50+ damage breath weapon. The DM claims our 5-v-1 "action economy" made it winnable and blames our tactical mistakes. I feel it was a rigged mathematical prison that forced me to choose between meta-gaming to survive or dying to stay in character. Thoughts?

Meet Bella Evenbrand! The wife of my character from this post. She is an enlisted guard of the Hellriders, a common rank and file soldier, and a Blade Breaker Fighter.

Her greatest feat is somehow getting an officer to fall for her. She has since died, during the fall of Elturel. Her spirit refused to move on though, attaching itself to her wife and replacing her echo. She now fights alongside her; silent but always there.

Happy Pride Month!

Amazing art by Kristina David! u/Specialist-Drink6014

Your victim screams as you raise your sword, cut short like his life. a gasp resonates through the bystanders, punctuated by a few shrill cries of panic and confusion. several people drop their groceries for the day and flee, a mother picking up her toddler and sprinting away. "MURDERER." bellows a man "GUARDS!!" yells another "TO THE BLOCK!", "THERES BEEN A MURDER!", "HANG HIM!", "CUT HIS BALLS OFF!", "SEIZE HIM" the crowd roars in overlapping jeers, somebody hits you in the head with a tomato, splattering you with another shade of crimson. above the crowd you catch a glimpse of a pair of halberds, adorned with the symbol of the guard, likely a pair on patrol, the clanking of their metal approaching is barely audible above din of the mob, and is cut through by a shrill whistle that sends a chill down your spine. a call for reinforcements from the oncoming guard. you spin around looking this way and that, you are in a void, your only companion a corpse (improvise that line as needed based of party position/participation), a wall of angry citizens screaming at you encircles you, they are armed with personal weapons, or whatever is at hand, a woodaxe, a dagger, a hairpin, a cane, a plank. a greataxe. a greataxe? you look up standing stone cold unmoving in the crowds is a Duergar, magically enlarged, his scarred face peering down on you with a look of disgust, unmoving. "FUCK YOU" your head snaps right, a teenager wearing an oversized, well loved, and vintage wizard hat, raises his staff with tears in his rage red face and casts Hold Person (DC 14)

In my experience, they usually just crave consequence free chaos, remember to actually have consequences for their actions.

A Tabaxi rogue could be hiding anywhere.

What's going on here?

• Tamilda is an orphan teen who was, for a time, part of Singing Cricket's adventuring party.
• She and the rest of the cast are attending the wedding of a changeling, the strange creature that replaced night hag Kayra as a baby, whom they recently discovered and befriended. (The poor changeling has her own problems, which will probably get addressed soon.)
• Tamilda has had a few story arcs in the series, and has recently started discovering some things about herself.
• The wedding day story starts a few episodes back. A lot of storylines have split off at this wedding and will eventually come together.

Love and Hex started out as a joke about my D&D campaign and turned into an ongoing rom-com/adventure/occasionally horror story. It's on Webtoon and other platforms. Also r/LoveAndHex. (And there's a book... you can find it on Amazon.)

This was my contribution to a set of Tarot inspired cards that a regular of mine is having made. Each one is meant to depict one of the player characters from their campaign as a card relating to the character. I got the death card featuring Vincent, a soldier and blacksmith inspired by Roman styles and themes. There are a lot of little easter eggs incorperated in the card based on things from the character backstory and campaign lore. I tried to tie the theme of death into it quite heavily with the background/foreground elements. I really enjoyed making this!

Hope you all like it!

Edit: I think I got my answers. Will keep the post up incase others had the same question or wanted to add the discussion. Thank you to those who actually took time to give thoughtful responses and weren't snarky, I really appreciate it!

To elaborate on the title- I have been playing for a good while now, DM for 2 years. Question I have- why do some players insist on playing strange species or character "ideas" that (in my experience) offer little to their gameplay except for occasional flavor and "oh wow you're strange" moments?

I have always wanted to play a PC grounded in the specific tables setting- but so many times have witnessed or have had to even deny a players request to be something extremely strange. I once had a player request to be an Aberration monster, that they explicitly designed to play feature wise- like a changeling, but roleplay wise like a Human that never changes forms...

The characters "story" did not come from their lived experiences, more-so from their inherit existence. To clarify the player KNEW this was Forgotten Realms going in, and knew the campaign would be taking place across The Dalelands and The Sword Coast. A strange case in which this player wanted to have a character struggle with nature vs. nurture, not through an upbringing of violence but by being an incredibly obscure (and powerful) monster from the Aberration list.

Another example is a friend on mine who played a... Polar Bear paladin. Yes a polar bear... for what purpose? Seemingly... none. The stat block was that of a Variant Human, their was no lore about why they were a polar bear at the Witch Light Carnival and there wasn't any unique flavor either- it was literally just a Polar Bear in armor.

I, probably through social ineptitude, cannot wrap my head around why people want to play characters like this... I think for me- creating a grounded character within the world, and using the restrictions of the setting, give you so many tools to make a rich backstory, that has palpable impact on how you roleplay.

For example- in FR, a Halfling farmer who's field was burned down by a Thayan warband. Seeking asylum in the Dalelands, they channeled the frustration from their past to become a barbarian, channeling the powers of the mystical forests that surround them and doing jobs for money, hoping to one day get a shot at taking down those responsible for their parents deaths.

Using locations, factions, backgrounds, I wove a story that impacts the characters moral compass, deep desires, and potential personality. This versus... My Plasmoid whos spells are all goo themed and was unanimously welcomed into society. Idk I may be being a curmudgeon- if I am let me know. I just seek to understand it so I can address it properly at session 0 without sounding like an ass, though if I am being one that I hope to change my thoughts.

TL;DR - Is it too much to ask for players to be grounded in the setting, and why do players want to be wacky one of a kind species with no depth of lore (imo).

Tell me how you interpret desert factions into your world!

I am working on a low fantasy setting. I like to draw, so coming up with visual references for things helps me contextualize my world! Attached is a working image for a faction called The Rose Regency. Atleast, that's their working name. I want their visual identity to feel grounded and believable, and I feel I accomplished that - but worry I am lacking a certain cool factor.

My ideas are in their infancy, and I'd love to hear how you make your desert factions unique and interesting, while still being believable!

I would like honest answers to this question. I'm semi retired and over the past 6 months I've taken up TTRPGs as my main hobby. I play 3-4 games perweek, all online.

Im thinking of playing a female character for a change of pace, but I also think its a bit weird when other men do that. Thoughts?

Hello everyone! ✨ I’m excited to share this commission featuring Althea, a Human Barbarian. Once a fierce Viking raider, her life changed when her young son, Arkyn, vanished during a raid after stowing away on her ship. Refusing to believe he is gone, Althea left behind her husband, village, and former life to search every land, sea, and even other planes in hopes of finding him. 💜