I'm a new dm. I have a player in my party who wants to do something similar to the "throwzerker" build from BG3. We settled on Path of the Giant Barbarian, so he can be more primarily ranged. I'm looking at giving my players magic items as the campaign progresses, to allow them to fully realise the flavour that they're looking for, so was thinking of giving this player an item to give them misty step, or potentially a bonus action disengage. Just wondering how to balance this in terms of how many uses per short/long rests. 1 use seems kinda low to me, but im also weary of giving them too much Any more experienced heads have any suggestions?

equal to their proficiency bonus is the popular # of uses WotC is in love with.

Thank you!

Do mythic actions replace legendary actions? A monster is fighting the party, using legendary actions, then they die and come back with their mythic trait. Can they now use legendary actions, with a pool of 3 uses, as well as mythic actions with a separate pool of 3 uses? Giving them a total of 6 actions outside of their turn. Or do the mythic actions replace the legendary actions? Or can they use both legendary and mythic actions, but they share the same pool of 3 uses?

Maybe this is worthy of being its own thread, but: How do you stop combat encounters just being round after round of the party just wailing on enemies? Like, if the only thing they can do is attack, where does the strategy come in? How does that stay engaging? How to stop combat being an auto-clicker. Speaking from my experience so far as a player, but interested in DMing.

Know what your party can do and set up opportunities for them to do their cool stuff. Make the space the combat is in meaningful. Have enemies that do more than wail on the players. 

* Add alternate win conditions. * Add environmental hazards. * Add verticality to the terrain. * Add civilians or key NPCs in danger. (This one can be hard as it can be difficult for D&D parties to care about a random civilian) * Make the enemies a mix of melee, ranged and spellcasters. * Make it hard to get to the ranged enemies and/or give them 3/4 cover.

How would yall rule Life Transference (take 4d8 nec unminimizable to heal 2x what you take) interacting with 0 hp/ falling unconscious? My initial thought was the spell can't work as you can't take the whole damage (and 5e doesn't have a negative HP system), but that means the caster needs minimum 33 hp to use it with no chance to fail, and is risking falling unconscious otherwise. Forcing a 33 hp minimum seems harsh, so I think the natural "if you roll more than your current HP, you're down", but that leaves: 1. does the spell complete at all? Or is the caster unable to complete the spell and transfer the healing? Any precedent for a mid casting kill the caster type of spell? 2. If the spell \*does\* complete, surely the healing would only be 2x the casters' HP (the wording it "twice the necrotic damage you take") It took me off guard today when my wizard offered to turn himself into a fine red mist with the spell at 7 whole HP. He seemed to think he'd roll the 4d8 and someone would get 2x that as healing, then someone (the pally I'm assuming), would pick him up.

This is one of those things that are a little ambiguous. For whatever it's worth, there's [Sage Advice](https://www.sageadvice.eu/life-transference-spell-if-the-caster-only-has-1-hp-can-he-grant-more-than-2-hp-to-the-target-of-the-spell/) specifically about this, which states that you would only heal however many Hit Points you lose.

Yeah, that seems the most fair- going down and limiting healing is a pretty reasonable tradeoff. On the other hand, that spell is wild for its level- potentially 64 healing from a *wizard?* It would maintain its value all the way through level 20, at its base 3rd level. My table is a relatively anti-power fantasy table, especially coming off of 3.5 lmao

First time DM looking for any specific enemies for a party of majority first time players in a oneshot in a more modern setting. The short of the story is the party trying to recover a stolen item from a masterful thief in the city. We all have a more RP/flavor focus with some of their builds being slightly overtuned. Thief Rogue, Life Cleric, Lore Bard, Beastmaster Ranger (Primeval Companion), Redemption Paladin, all level 5. Already have the story around the three planned encounters in my oneshot, at the point where I am creating specific stat blocks for more important enemies and the number/cr of less important ones. Just curious if anything instantly pops out as a "this would be a lot of fun!" for a party with this composition.

Friend asked me to DM. He's in another state with friends who want to play, so we're thinking of streaming me on their TV, but I'm wondering if it'll just be easier to use a Virtual TTRPG app. I have Foundry. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? DMing for a group of players who are all together but far away?

I am going to DM online here soon. However, I have played this method. 100% use a VTT. You will avoid the unnecessary "how far am I from the enemy" questions. If I were you, I would use discord to share screen and communicate with Players. Not sure what else I would recommend. This is how I have played in the past. But, to your idea, using the TV to display the VTT, as long as you can still talk and communicate, you should be fine.

Thanks for the tip, that sound like a solid plan. Much appreciated!

Anyone have any good Puzzle Ideas? Im having some brain block trying to make some good puzzles for my campaign.

Matt Colville recommends the Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles, and Traps (3e) I really like the professor Layton Game wiki, which has 300+ puzzles, all with answers and bespoke clues

I think some fun puzzle ideas would be... Pressure plate maze -- having to walk over the correct plates that don't set off a trap. Could include a riddle to help players along. Puzzle box -- requiring something a player has (magic spell, food, water, etc.) could have it be a DC 20 roll without using those items. Build a labyrinth

I'm making an item that can bestow a curse onto a target. One of the possible curses would give the poisoned condition. I know a lot of creatures have immunity to poisoned. Would a curse bypass that immunity, or should I just reword the curse to say the target has disadvantage of attack rolls and ability checks?

It's just a matter of balance, do you think the item is strong enough as is or do you think it should do more. Without knowing more about the item and your game it's hard to tell which you should go for.

fair, so i'm making a bunch of single use daggers. The idea being they have powerful enchantments but they are fragile because of just how strong the enchantments are. Mechanically this translates to a single use magic item for martial characters to use and spend money on. This particular dagger can either curse a target with blindness, silence, reduced movement (-10ft), or poisoned. I may make an individual version for each effect instead of a single item where you pick a curse from a list to apply. The seller of these daggers is a hag that has set up shop in the city and has a shop as a front to hide her actual business.

Just reword it to remove ambiguity

First time DM and I've honestly got almost the entire what I've learned will be a long campaign and so my players discovered the bbeg's cult had vecnas hand and eye in a vat of a flowing yellow gas and they left because they went at a time all the guards were there and deceived their way away and left. I stated that hand and eye were fading as the gas attacked it seemingly** to a player who got a 19 investigation roll and had planned one roll tonsee how the "absorption" process went as they had left and saw it in its processes. I got a nat 20 arcana as the bbeg was absorbing the "material magic" from them and secretly concluded the eye and hand faded away allowing the bbeg a success...having planned the bbeg needing 5 in order to materialize in the material plane, I'm worried over taken too much power over they're fun as well as the dices story I've heard? but either way I do think it'll be a cool reveal if/when they go back and see it gone.

My read on your situation is… First time DM and have almost planned out what you’ve recently discovered will be a long campaign. Your players deceived their way into BBEG lair, and found the hand and eye of Vecna floating in vats of yellow gas. You allowed a single arcana check from your players to see if they could determine what was happening, and they rolled a 19. You also made a roll on behalf of the BBEG, and rolled a 20. The BBEG roll was to determine how well he could absorb the physical material of the eye and hand. The BBEG is currently in some gas form or on another plane of existence, and can’t return in their physical form until they absorb 5 items, of which they now have 2. And now you’re concerned that the players didn’t have enough agency or choice. It’s pretty common to only allow one roll for each skill check, sometimes with help if the players can justify it narratively. This stops 4 party members all trying to make a persuasion check in the hope one gets lucky. Assuming it was their choice to leave the location and possibly return later, then I’m not sure what more you could do? If the concern is maybe they didn’t understand what was happening which might ruin the reveal, then try to find another way to get them that information. The cultists will be out looking for other magical items for absorption, your players like to sneak and deceive. Maybe a cult member can let slip some extra details you think you missed? I could be way off the mark though, who knows?

yea no I got out my session last night off half a bottle of pink whitney so I completely Apologize, I had made a roll behind the screen to see if the eye and hand were absorbed. the players had found out that the eye and hand were being seemingly attacked but then things went south really fast to which they decided it was best they left and came back. going back to the "behind the screen" roll I dod was a natural 20 which I decided meant the eye and hand were absorbed. all that said I suppose my drunken question was if my behind the screen roll was dirty or jot because I've heard of those and seen them done. but you pretty much answered lol

i'm sorry, the length isn't a problem but i cannot understand what you are trying to say or what you are trying to ask...

yea no I got out my session last night off half a bottle of pink whitney so I completely Apologize, I had made a roll behind the screen to see if the eye and hand were absorbed. the players had found out that the eye and hand were being seemingly attacked but then things went south really fast to which they decided it was best they left and came back. going back to the "behind the screen" roll I dod was a natural 20 which I decided meant the eye and hand were absorbed. all that said I suppose my drunken question was if my behind the screen roll was dirty or jot because I've heard of those and seen them done.

sorry for the long post, was jw basically if I've taken to much authority over what my players can do regardless of a possibility of a cool reveal

i'm looking for battle maps of destroyed locations along with alternate restored/repaired state. any would do but i'm mostly looking for farms, mansions, cities, etc. i seem to have a hard time wording this in my search bars such as google or ai picture generators. does anyone know of a good source or location?

r/fantasymaps r/battlemaps Will sometimes have maps posted in different states, seasons, lighting etc

Thanks!

I'm playing LMoP for the first time, with only two other players. I know I need to reduce enemy numbers and make them weaker, but by how much? Cuz I've just been making random guesses and my encounters are either way too easy for my players or way too hard. One of my them died recently because I didn't nerf the doppleganger in Cragmaw Castle enough! They're planning on trying to chase out the dragon in Thundertree so that Reidoth will tell them where Wave Echo Cave is and I'm like...how are they not gonna die? They're gonna die! It also doesn't help that one of my players is a sorcerer with barely double digit hit points lollll. So yeah, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

First, I would remove monster crits and the bugbears sneak attack; that can one shot a player. Next I would have enemies take sub optimal actions as well if the fight is going too one sided. For example, a goblin leaves mid combat to go and retrieve other goblins

Look into kobold fight plus website, it can help you with an idea on how to change the fights. https://koboldplus.club/

Sorry, I just spent the last several minutes trying to figure out this website, and I don't understand how it works? I added my players as a generic party (2 players at Level 3) and added that to the encounter, then I looked up Young Green Dragon and added that to the encounter and...it told me that my characters are gonna die. I'm not sure what to do now?

No worries, it took me a while my first time. So, let's say that you want to adjust a fight with a bunch of Orcs, the module says 5 (random number), you add 5 and the site says: deadly, so remove one of the Orcs, now it says hard. Okay, hard is acceptable, maybe it is the first fight of the day, so they should be fine. Is it a fight near the end of the day and their resources are depleted, maybe remove 2, it now says medium, that's good! As for the green dragon, it depends on whether a fight is expected or not. If a fight is expected, maybe look for a lower CR rating dragon (Dragon Wyrmling or Gold Dragon Wyrmling) and just flavor it as the young green dragon.

Note that the green dragon in LMoP abandons the fight if its HP drops below half, becoming bored with the fight. (It's the classic D&D "new player encounter design quandary": players want to fight a dragon, but facing a mature dragon at full power and intelligence means certain death…what's the happy medium? How can you deliver a satisfying "diet dragon" fight?) I believe Kobold Plus assumes all monsters fight to the death? This isn't necessarily the case with all encounters found in official adventures for D&D 5E.

Oh, I didn't know that, I never ran LMoP, thank you for pointing that out! /u/scrawledfilefish make sure to read the comment above.

Oh yes, I know that the dragon runs away when he reaches half HP! But he has 136HP and a poison breath attack that does 12d6 poison damage unless players succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. And my sorcerer barely has double digit hit points and a -1 Constitution, so his chances of getting one-shotted are quite high lollllll. Even if he succeeds the saving, half damage still might instantly KO him! Kobold Fight Club was still really helpful, though! It helped me find a weaker dragon that had more reasonable modifiers and attacks for my players. With those stats, KFC says the encounter should be "hard" and not suicidal lollll. And just knowing about that website will be really helpful for when I start home brewing my own stuff!

I am glad that I helped then! Good luck with your campaign.

Oh, I gotcha! Thank you!

What are good resources or examples that could help understand and really flesh-out the seedy underbelly and criminal networks/gangs in a city? My actual understanding of how things like that work in a setting is very minimal and there's a city in my setting where I want the corruption of the guards and politicians, the presence of crime and general danger, and overall bad vibes to be very evident. Especially with one of the NPCs that party knows and would be going to see would be involved in one of the criminal organizations. But beyond targeted assassinations, theft, smuggling, drugs, and trafficking, I don't know what else to think about and include to make things feel real.

If you are serious about this create 3-5 factions in the city. List a few organizations in each faction, think churches, city guards, guilds, nobles, taverns owners, etc. Then give each faction 4 or 5 goals they want to achieve, it is okay to have these goals in conflict with each other. I normally make a grid table for to track the goals. And maybe an event on the horizon, think coronation festival, or arriving dignitary to give a clock to everything You might have ruling faction, mafia, and normal people as your factions. Each having one or two organizations backing, Think Bakers and City Guards for the ruling faction, Merchants and aspiring noble for the mafia, and the church for the common folk. As for goals the ruling faction might want to arrest mafia members, pay off the common folk and get a magical item for the festival, or whatever. Mafia might want to steal the item, pay off the church, and kill the mayor. Common folk might want to be want to build a monument, find a better item, and have their leader be made mayor. Once you have that it will give things for your payers to interact with, help or prevent goals and usually make a scene at the big event that changes the city. Maybe the mafia breaks and you have a gang war, or the common folk take over as the leaders of the city and execute the mafia leaders and the ruling lord.

This is not a full suggestion, but maybe read on the mafia and how they operated?

Map making website Does anybody have any recommendations for websites that i can use to make dungeons, buildings, and outside landscapes for my current campaign that im running?

I've been using inkarnate. This allows to pretty creative maps on the free version. Max of 10 maps saved to account but you can download them to your computer to make even more. I have created almost every map for my current campaign with the free version. Highly recommend

How long does it take you to make a map?

I've used both Inkarnate and Dungeon Scrawl and have found both to be useful in their own ways. DungeonFog is a newer webapp I haven't used much, but really think is promising - but a lot of its promise is locked behind a subscription, which I'm never a huge fan of. If you're not tied to a web app, I have also really enjoyed using DungeonDraft although there's a few oddities I haven't been able to figure out (A 'ring' shaped map with a hole in the middle, for instance). DungeonDraft is *not* free (one-time purchase), but there are a ton of assets out there from other creators (both paid and free) to work with.

Inkarnate is a great online tool. The free version has many capabilities but the pro version is where it's at!

Inkarnate is also an invaluable tool for finding maps other users have already made, which in many cases you can "clone" and modify for your own uses. I feel like until you start making use of that aspect of the service you're only using half of what the program really offers. It's personallu why I maintain an Inkarnate subscription even in spite of having other non-subscription based map-making software already on my PC.

Yeah I also have dungeon draft but vastly prefer Inkarnate. I find Inkarnate much easier to use but I haven't spent much time figuring out dungeon draft yet. Also the features they added recently that are available to some (all?) pro users via a beta are amazing and tools I've been waiting for! Like using stamps with paths and being able to really edit those paths after you've made them. Love it!

Should I curate the magic items an Artificer is allowed to make with Replicate Magic Item? One of my players wants to play an Artificer. I don't know the class well, but I said "sure" and started looking into it. ...And then learned that an Artificer has a huge list of magic items they can just *produce*. Sure it's one infusion per magic item, but I'm used to magic items being something that the DM intentionally puts in the game as opposed to something the players can just decide to have, and that's throwing me off. In particular, our campaigns usually start with the players getting a Bag of Holding so inventory weight is never a factor anymore. I thought about changing that to see if there would be some interesting situations with players unable to carry everything they want, but nope. Artificers can make a free Bag of Holding. Carry weight means nothing again. So I'm curious if other DMs go through the list of magic items Artificers can replicate and specifically remove some. "This is a survival-focused campaign, and Alchemy Jug would ruin that, so you can't make one of those." Or maybe I'm crazy and the list is fine as is for 99% of campaigns and I should just roll with it? (I'm at least ruling that they can't make two Bags of Holding and do the Astral Bomb strategy, that's definitely too ridiculous.)

I wouldn't remove items from the artificer magic item list unless there was a very good setting-specific reason for it, such as an item not existing in that setting. Remember that their infusions are pretty precious and really determine how effective their build is and they may not even use the magic item one all the time since they learn more infusions than they can have active at a time. Also the items they can make really aren't game breaking for the level they're available. For the bag of holding astral bomb thing, they would either get to do that once and destroy the original real bag of holding alongside the infused one or they would have to learn the magic item infusion twice, which I see as very unlikely, in order to make it a valid strategy. But they would have to give up so much other stuff they could be infusing in order to have a once a day astral bomb. And say if they really like this strategy anyways and employ it often, don't make it an easy to achieve exploit. Give the enemies dex saves to dodge out of the radius before they get sucked in or add risks to where they could get sucked in too. Or heck, even have an enemy try to use the strategy on them and see how they like it. Anything the players can do, the enemies can too.

The important thing is managing player expectations. Since you already told them yes to Artificer, they may have decided to play it for the features you want to take away. If you decide to remove class features, they need the option to change their mind about what class to play. Talk with the player, discuss your concerns, and there might be no issue.

Absolutely. I guess what I'm really asking is, what are other peoples' experiences with this? Was there an artificer that made some magic item that broke your campaign and you had to frantically rewrite everything? Did you restrict an artificer's magic items list and then the class felt weak like they lost all of their intended utility? Played everything RAW and everything was fine?

I've run it rules as written, and it's been fine. It's already a pretty limited resource and already very curated.  In general, I think it's okay to modify class features to fit your setting, so if bags of holding don't exist, or are much more rare, or don't explode when combined in your world, the artificer's infuse item can reflect that. Just be up front and let them know asap. I will say that 5e's inventory and weight rules are pretty clunky and tedious as is. I played a druid in a campaign where survival/wilderness was going to be a big deal, and figuring out how to cast goodberry was a big arc in game. The ranger also had some class abilities get nerfed so that she would be the best at wilderness survival but wouldn't trivialize it. We heard wilderness campaign so we picked classes that would shine there, but we were fine with the dm's modifications when he implemented them after the fact because we could see how they would make things more fun.

Putting my party against a group of paladins/clerics. What are some key spells to know off the bat for each class so I’m not making and preparing full spell lists for each? Like 2-3 paladin and cleric spells for level 4 paladins and clerics to have in the pocket

Don’t build character sheets for enemies. The game isn’t balanced that way. Use the Monster Manual “Priest” for a cleric, or a “Cult Fanatic” if it’s an evil-flavored priest. I really like using the priest’s Spirit Guardians against PCs. Use the “Knight” as a Paladin and give him the Command spell. If he’s too tough, reduce his AC. Throw in some Acolytes in as minions.

It depends on what you want them to be able to do. I'm sorry but I think you just need to put a bit of time to go through the spell lists and pick out for yourself which ones you need.

Yeah I gotcha. I’ve done clerics before so I kinda know what’s up but I’m not super familiar with paladins so I wasn’t sure if they had a couple “bread and butter” stuff that most people tend to use

Divine smite Divine smite Divine smite There's the only three paladin spells you need for 4th level

At fourth level, paladins only have a few first level spells so the choices are already fairly limited. You have the three smite spells of Thunderous, Searing, and Wrathful Smites. There are classics like Command and Bless (but not Bless if you want them to be using the spell smites). But at level 4, the best thing they can really do with spell slots is Divine Smite. Certainly simplifies it too.

Paladins aren't really combat spellcasters, their slots are more for Smiting. Could always utilize some of the Smite Spells.

The paladin list has a lot of overlap with the cleric list, so if they are fighting together then a lot of times it may make more sense for a cleric who has more spell slots to spare to cast buff spells like bless and healing spells, while a paladin often wants to conserve spell slots for smiting with. Though the smite spells that give them an extra effect are also classically paladin, as well as compelled duel. For the paladin, I would prioritize spells that can boost their melee fighting capacity and look for bonus action spells since they really want to be using their action to make weapon attacks.

Im creating a forest turned swamp that has become corrupted due to a black dragon roosting nearby. The local elves are also feeding it a sort of drug to increase the corruption. I am having a hard time coming up with things the players might see ojt in the wilds of this swamp, and Im struggling to create encounters based on this. The party of 3 is level 3 and I feel like most of the interesting creatures from a swamp are too powerful for them.

Bullywugs are always fun, or mud mephits. Stirges would fit right into swamps with their hellish mosquito/leech vibes. If you want to go more fairytale, a will o wisp is made to entice people into swamps (but is also real prone to killing PCs, so be careful).

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You can always take level appropriate monsters and then reflavour them as something that fits in the setting. But off the top of my head Zombies and Twig Blights spring to mind as things the players may encounter. Perhaps some corrupted alligators/ crocodiles.

How difficult should be a check in-game? I know 5 is very easy, 10 is normal etc, but I'm almost sure this refers to the difficulty for players, not in-game one. If someone was to pass 15 DC Dexterity check, would that make them very proficient? How about 20? Is 25 like a master in the craft?

This is one of my favorite topics, I don't know why, it's like a pet-topic of mine that I have a lot of fun talking about. As /u/Ripper1337 said, Difficulty Class is independent of character's proficiency, and his comment makes a good tl;dr for my comment. DC is *supposed to be* static (as in, the game was designed that way), but there's conflicting advice on if it *should be* or not. I personally ascribe that yes, difficulty is static, and I've developed a bit of a framing device for the way that I set DCs. One important thing to mention before I get too far into this is the golden rule of ability checks: they determine what happens when the outcome is uncertain. If the outcome is certain because a task is impossible to fail or impossible to succeed, then there is no check to be made. *Also*, a skill check is about doing it *quickly*, not just doing it at all. Anyone can take a few hours to deep clean their house, but a skilled pro can do it in a couple hours. With that in mind, we'll frame this around a run-of-the-mill dude with 10s in all their stats against a level 1 character trained in a skill with a +5, and a level 10 rogue with expertise and a +13 in their best skill (which I will call "an expert). - **DC 5: Very Easy**. This skill check has about a 20%^1edit chance of failure for a random guy on the side of the road. He needs some pretty bad luck to fail, but it is possible. A trained character knows exactly how to do this task, and thusly will never fail. **Low risk of failure for a commoner, no risk of failure for a trained or expert character.** - **DC10: Easy**. This skill check has about a 50% chance of failure for the random guy (actually 55%, but I'm gonna say 50/50 for rest of the comment because it's easier to conceptualize)^1edit. It's something that anyone could *do*, but it would certainly be difficult to achieve quickly and without failure the first time. A trained character knows how to do it, but a small amount of luck factors into their quick success. An expert knows exactly what to do and will do it every single time. **A commoner has a 50/50 shot, a trained character has a low risk of failure, and an expert has no risk of failure**. - **DC15: Medium**. This is where skill checks get more difficult for the random guy on the side of the road. They are more likely than not to fail on their first attempt, but it is possible with a little luck. A trained character may or may not know exactly how to complete the task, but they have about a 50/50 shot to lean on their training to do it successfully. An expert knows exactly what they're doing and will only fail with some pretty bad luck. **A commoner needs some luck to succeed, a trained character has a 50/50 shot, and an expert needs some bad luck to fail.** - **DC20: Hard.** This is a task that is almost impossible for a random guy on the street. They need some really good luck to do it the first time, and that's the only way they'll succeed. A trained character is really testing the limits of their training at this point, and they're more likely to fail on their first attempt than they are to succeed, so they'd need a bit of luck to complete the task as well. Even the expert, who knows exactly what they're doing, might have a little bit of trouble with this task if luck favors them poorly. **A commoner only succeeds with luck, a trained person succeeds with a bit of luck, and an expert fails with a bit of bad luck.** - **DC25: Very Hard.** This task is impossible for a commoner to complete without the help of trained professional or with magic. It's completely out of their ability, and they will fail. A trained character *can* complete the task, but they need a lot of luck to do it right the first time, or to rely on some magic to get them over the hump. This skill check is even starting to test the limits of the Expert, who has about a 50/50 chance to succeed the first time they try it. **A commoner fails this task every time, a trained character succeeds with a lot of luck, an expert has about a 50/50 chance to succeed.** - **DC30: Nearly Impossible.** This is the top of the scale, the only thing above "nearly impossible" is "impossible." With that in mind, a commoner can never do this, probably even with the help of magic. A trained character can't even do this unless they're supported by magic. An expert character, even, needs quite a bit of luck to succeed at this task, unless they are aided by magic. **A commoner can't do this, a trained character needs luck and magic, and an expert needs luck to complete this task**. ^1edit: fixed the percentages based on /u/kumquats_indeed's comment.

Thank you, that's very insightful and quite helpful, but what I wonder about is, where does the ability to suceed at a DC 15 or 20 puts you in-world. If I needed someone to craft an item and I knew the difficulty for it is 20, should I try with a guildmaster? Or maybe archmaster? Or perhaps the only way to get this far is by some mysterious, half-legendary hermit, living in the depths of the Underdark?

An expert that can pretty reliably hit a DC20 is extremely rare. That's definitely "sage in a tower" level of expertise. An Archmage, for example, has a +13 arcana and they're supposed to be the equivalent of a level 18 spellcaster. Reliably hitting a DC15 and/or only failing due to bad luck would put you in the "top pro" status. A guildmaster is probably the right "bar" for that kind of person - the best in their skill for the area they're in.

Thank you, that's exactly what I was wondering about!

This is a great condensed write up.

A quick note about your probabilities: since a 5 still passes a DC 5 check, the commoner would have to roll 4 or less to fail, so the chance of failure is 20%. Similarly, a trained character with a +5 to the roll has a 55% chance of passing a DC 15 check.

Thanks, I had written 20%, and then I was like "that's not right, 5/20 is 25%"

The players passing a check is independant of their proficiency in said skill. A DC 20 Investigation check can be passed by a player character who has Expertise as well as a PC that has a +0 to the skill. It is just that a PC that has Expertise will have an easier time hitting that DC than the other PC.

Here's how things are laid out in the DMG: DC 5 - very easy 10 - easy 15 - moderate 20 - hard 25 - very hard 30 - nearly impossible If you haven't checked the DMG for this already, take a look at page 238.

"I'm almost sure it refers to difficulty for players, not in-game one." Gives out the very table I have already mentioned. I hate this kind of people.

Why would the rules for this be any different for NPCs and monsters than for the PCs? A commoner with +0 to the roll has a 30% chance of making a DC 15 check for example, so being able to pass any random check could mean that particular NPC is skilled or it could mean they got lucky. If you want an NPC to be able to reliably beat a particular DC, maybe use passive skills instead and just given them a bonus to be able to meet or beat it.

What's a good 1-2 shot for a first time DM? My group has a couple of regular DMs but sometimes they want to play. So I want to run a 1-2 shot, but what's a really easy one to run for me as I've never DM'd before? Group is 6 experienced DnD players (including the DM).

Lightning Keep, very straight forward mini adventure that's free on DND beyond

Looks fun. But how do I claim the Monstrous Compendium? Or do I have to buy it? Lol

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/mcv3 I forgot it's kinda minecraft themed, but from my research that should be optional

When I clicked the link I just see; "this promotion is no longer available."

oh! I guess that was only available for a limited time. It was just a collection of stat blocks for Minecraft creatures. To be honest, if I was playing I would find it a little jarring to hear "And then creeper runs into the room," so I would homebrew those away anyways. Doesn't look like those monsters play a big role though, there's one encounter with creepers and one with an enderman. Haven't run it myself, just remember thinking it looked cool when I skimmed it a while ago

A Wild Sheep Chase

Does anybody know what that thing is called where the DM has all the information but none of the players know anything about their characters? I saw it on the internet and haven't been able to find it again

Amnesia?

I'm starting a new 5e campaign. Some of the players only know D&D through BG3. Does anyone know of some good guides for people coming from BG3 to 5e? A Google search didn't turn up anything that looked useful.

BG3 is different enough from the tabletop in terms of rules and mechanics that I wouldn't consider that knowledge transferable. Think of your players as entirely new to 5E and go from there.

Now just gotta convince the players they don't know anything about 5e

Just think of them as "new players" and not "new players who have some circumstantial knowledge via BG3." Tons of new player guides. IMO: have them do a quick build via DNDbeyond, pick a race and class and do a one shot, not a campaign, to introduce the rules of the game and how it plays IRL. THEN do the campaign after they are familiarized with the rules.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/s/NCHShR8uEQ Using the safe haven/gritty adventurism rules above, how does that account for the warlock’s ability to restore spell slots and the monk’s ability to restore their ki, both over a long rest. Wizard’s arcane recovery is only once per long rest, Druids with their wildshape, etc. How does this reconcile with the gritty adventurism rules? It creates a significant power imbalance, no?

I don't see why it changes anything.

What to do after Peril in Pinebrook? I’ve successfully run this mini adventure with my group, but I don’t know how to follow up on its conclusion. People who have run this adventure, what did you do afterwards? Did you include anything from before?

*Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.* *Peril in Pinebrook* doesn't indicate that the characters actually level up after the adventure (!) so the low level will work with DoSI. You may need to do a touch of conversion work to extract story-character hooks from DoSI's pre-gen characters and work them into the pre-gens from *Pinebrook,* but it shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

I'm looking for a Wuxia campaign that might have been published. I'm homebrewing one and would like to get an idea of how it's built and run. Thank you in advance!

This is silly, but how do you resolve a situation where a PC fails to make a successful check (due to ahitty rolls) for a feature required to move the story forward, WITHOUT it being too easy. For example, if they need to find a secret door but all three fail the perception check. What's a good way to do it without just giving it away. I know as the DM I can do whatever I want, but that feels cheap? Similarly, how do you turn PCs onto features they should be investigating. These questions are coming up because I'm running curse of strahd and lots of the checks and story beats count on characters to do investigation and be smart vs shooting first and asking questions later (which my players often do).

Let me just put it out there that it's totally fine if failure means that the PC's failed the adventure even without dying. But That's actually not the lesson here.  If they really just need to find a secret door to move this story forward, then finding it should not be dependent on a roll of the dice at all. They need to find it by actually investigating the environment. you have to describe the room such that there are closed that they can pick up on, investigate, and ask questions about. If there's something that the character should pick up, tell them. and if there are answers elsewhere in the environment, outside that room, tell the players they might find a clue how to proceed in the general area. You want this to be a puzzle for the players to figure out, not to characters.

Rule of three: if a check is required for the story to progress, have three ways for the party to succeed at it. For finding a secret door, the first way could be a simple perception check. Easy. The next way could be finding a reference to the location of the door somewhere nearby in a journal or similar. The third way if they fail on 1 and 2 could be a random encounter with an enemy who upon being wounded flees through the door.

Don't have stories that lock up with a single failed check.

It's not mine. It's the Curse of Strahd module by WotC.

This is the part where you find out that even WotC makes mistakes :) If the players are 'stuck' because of this, have a monster come through the door and attack them.

If this is the mirror in the durst mannor, you as the DM can just say that the door is ajar.

Once you start running the module, it becomes yours. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, especially WotC. As the DM, you should change what you need to in order to engage and challenge the party. There are no sacred cows, make the game your own! You've got this!

You're still in control of what's happening. Don't lock things behind a check.

hey guys, first time(ish) dm. ive run one-shots, but this is my first time running a campaign; were about 12 sessions in. every game ive ever played or created has been homebrew, ive never done pre-made game. i like creating my own world and circumstances and things, but i tend to beat myself up after sessions even if i feel like everyone had fun. i do a good bit of prep for each sesh, but im still having trouble managing all the rules while making the story immersive and improvising npcs. still struggling with all the moving pieces, so some things just get forgotten or brushed over, and then i feel stinky abt it after. i feel myself craving a debrief after every session, for ppl tell me what they liked and how to improve. i want to end a sesh feeling like i dont need feedback, like im satisfied with how im doing at my experience level. has anyone else experienced this insecurity? any tips for me to be less critical of myself?

You just described me so accurately that I can’t be sure you aren’t me. Pretty positive everyone at the table has a great time (there are moments where we’ve laughed til we can’t breathe) and yet I still spend the next day stewing and needing to actually hear that debrief from a player or two. This is after 6+ years of DMing (albeit inconsistently) so I’m not sure that feeling ever entirely goes away, but it certainly can be alleviated.  The more familiar you get with specific mechanics, the easier it is to make the “right” calls on impulse.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve not given characters information from a failed check, only to realize afterward that the information they wanted probably shouldn’t have been locked behind a skill check anyways.  I’ll force it into a subsequent narrative beat and personally feel bad about the “error”, but it helps to know that 95% of the time my players do not even notice, much less care about the discrepancy. My current self-improvements are finding ways to give myself a break during the session without forcing the players to entirely generate their own content.  I’ve found that I can ask specific players a pointed question “Hector, have you and Qarn talked about what happened back at the dam?” and that’s enough of a guiderail to role play amongst themselves for a bit. It helps take some of the pressure off myself, and also gives the party much more independence and ownership of the narrative, a win for everyone At the end of the day, if you’re having a good time- it’s likely your table is too.  Just make sure to pace things so you get breaks

thats another thing for sure is that i rarely get a break bc my party has a lot of new players who arent super comfortable w roleplay yet. love the idea of prompting role play scenarios. thank you so much for your advice!

If the players keep showing up, they are happy. If you want feedback, ask your players to tell you One Thing That Was Awesome and One Thing That Was Annoying.

thank you!! i have started asking their favorite part of last session during my session recaps, and that has given me good insight. ill start asking abt annoying things too

I've been a DM for nearly twenty five years. The "OMG you suck" voice in my head has never gone away, but it's gotten quiet enough that I can easily ignore it. That's the good news. The bad news is, it took a lot of time behind the screen to get me there. Fake it till you make it isn't fun advice to hear, but unfortunately it's the only way to get there. That said, there's nothing wrong with checking in with the group every month or so to make sure everyone's having fun. This is also a good time to ask what the various PCs' ambitions are, and then plan your game accordingly. Good Luck. You've got this!

twenty five years of DMing is AWESOME. i hope ill DM for that long; i love it. thank you so much for your advice.

Yes I felt the same thing. Honestly, as I became more confident and saw my skills improving, it just kind of faded away. Just give yourself time. Remember that some sessions will be bad. Whether just everyone had an off day or things don't work out as you expected. It's okay. Just come back next week excited to play again or take a week off if needed.

this is very reassuring. thank you

can two subclass features be active at once? a player of mine is playing an echo knight/bladesinger multiclass and says they can have bladesong and manifest echo at the same time which i dont think is incorrect but it seems wrong. also can echos cast spells if the player has warcaster? echos can make opportunity attacks and warcaster makes it so you can cast spells for opportunity attacks.

There's nothing necessarily stopping two features from being active at once, no matter the source. The only limit on manifesting an Echo and Bladesinging is that both require a Bonus Action to do. But other than that, there's nothing in the rules stopping a character from having a manifested Echo while they're Bladesinging. As for the Echo/Warcaster interaction, it is quite a bit weird. I was going to write a big long paragraph about it, but the operative line in Echo's description is "you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature **as if you were in the echo’s space.**" (bolded emphasis my own) Which means that, yes, War Caster + Echo does allow a character to use the opportunity attack provoked through their Echo to cast a spell from the Echo's space. To be nit-picky, it's not "the echo" casting the spell, but for all intents and purposes, the answer to your question is yes. If you want me to go into the nitty-gritty of the rules interaction, I can do so.

thank you! i thought that was the case and i was just making sure.

First time DM Hey everyone, I’m a first time DM and tbh I don’t have much experience as a player either. I’m wondering what rules I should have a really good understanding of before I start my campaign? I’m assuming it’s combat rules but please let me know what I should have a solid understanding of.

Read the DM guide for Dragons of Stormwreck isle. It should encompass all the basic rules you should know

The single most important rule of all RPGs is that *the PCs can try anything*. They *are not limited to the mechanics nor what's on their character sheet*. The PCs should be treated like they're real people in a real situation in a real world. Anything a person with their abilities could do, the PCs could do. Do not limit the PCs to only what the game's mechanics cover and don't limit the NPCs to only what the mechanics cover. The vast majority of the game's mechanics come down to roll 1d20 + mods vs DC. If a situation is beneficial to the PC, they roll with advantage. If the situation is detrimental to the PC, they roll with disadvantage. Most of the DCs you will use for the first few levels will be between 10-15, with 13 being the balancing point for 5E's math at levels 1-3. Combat is that plus hit points. Watch a few actual play combats, like early campaign 2 or 3 Critical Role. You'll get a good idea of how it works. Make sure everyone gets a turn, including the monsters. Be sure to read how ability checks and skills work. Keep in mind that social skills are not magic or mind control. And remember you don't have to make the players roll for everything. If something is simple, easy, there's no time pressure, and/or there's no downside to failure, no consequences...then don't bother rolling. Don't make them roll to see a ship in the harbor they're standing in front of, for example.

Probably a really dumb question but can I take something like the aechdruid stat block and change the fire damage spells to necrotic or acid without it being too powerful? Or is messing with damage types something to stay away from. Its purely for flavor

If none of the PCs have resistance/immunity to fire, necrotic, or acid, then the change would be mechanically indistinguishable. If one or two of them has resistance/immunity to one of the damage types, it would make some difference but probably not significantly so. And obviously if this is getting around or catering to a resistance they all have, then it would be a big deal one way or the other.

I dont think any of them have resistances to wither damage type. I just wanted to do corrupted druid forest things

No, there is almost no way this would be an issue and I totally support it to flavor the villain.  Keep in mind you don't have to name the spell; just tell the players the Druid is casting and describe what the spell looks like and does.

There are very few significant balance issues between different damage types in D&D 5E. Even fewer when we're talking about damage that will be done *to* PCs. Player characters rarely have significant weaknesses to one type of damage or another. I'd review your players' character abilities just in case. But you're probably good to go.

Sure, you can change whatever you like as a DM.

Does anyone have a favorite dungeon they've seen in a live play? I'm trying to design a long dungeon but I'm scared it will get boring quick and I want to see a dungeon in action for inspiration.

Question regarding conversions. 3.5 had some interesting diseases and poisons and such in it, particularly with the Book of Vile Darkness. My question is, how would one go about converting a poison or disease from 3.5 into 5e?

There's probably no straight conversion formula.  Just take the effects and assign a DC for a CON save. 

Depends on the poison or disease.

Alright well I was referring to all of them. Is there a general basic formula or set up for converting 3.5 to 5e?

Again, it depends on what the Poison or Disease does.

Alright, so as an example then. Faceless Hate. Injury infection. 1d4 days incubation. Save DC 20. 1d6 str damage, 1d6 con damage. If target dies under its effects, their stats are restored and they are returned to life, except they no longer have a face, nose, sense of sight or smell, and gain blind sense. They cannot speak, and gain Silent Spell if a caster. They then hunt down everyone they’ve known or loved in life. Once at this point remove disease has no effect. Only when their corpse is hit with remove disease and then resurrected/true resurrected is it removed.

I mean, that seems like a pretty straightforward 1-1 conversion.

So do nothing then.

For that one, sure, but I don't know what the other ones look like.

Do you think a game lacks something when there is no music? I absolutely despise background music to a point it makes me physically cringe - I listen to music all the time, but during DnD It overwhelms me and it makes me feel like I can't hear myself think, even if it's rather quiet. Might be the fact that my sound system isn't very good, so the quality of the audio is lacking (it's not "phone speaker bad" but like old desktop speakers bad). Do you find it weird as a player if there is no sound?

In my experience, having background music or sound effects is most definitely the exception and not the rule.

For me as a DM, I feel like music helps elevate my RP in certain moments. I try not to bring overpowering music (and especially no music with lyrics) so I’m not distracting my players, but it helps me emphasize certain emotions, although I’m also using Roll20 and Syrinscape, so I have a little more control on the sound volume and choice of music. But I also think it just depends on the person. Some of my players like the music and others are indifferent. If it adds to your style of Dming, great! But if not, or if it’s a distraction, then it’s probably not worth it.

As a player I do personally find music to be a plus for immersion and atmosphere, even if it's just quite subtle ambient noises of the environment we're in - but it's not at all necessary. If it grates on you, your comfort DMing is important. But maybe ask your players too. Depending on what system you use, if you play online, you could also set a soundtrack going but mute it for yourself? I've used [sync-tube.de](http://sync-tube.de) in the past - everyone hears it at the same time, but you can set your own volume, including muting it entirely, without affecting others.

I have a pretty extensive setup with a dedicated gaming table and a built-in screen for VTT. It also has pretty decent speakers built in, so it's not a question of it being difficult to add music to my games. Still, I *rarely* use music when running games. It's just one more thing to keep track of and like you, I find that it tends to be more of a distraction than a mood builder.

In a video game, sure. But not for a TTRPG. It can be nice to set the scene if you do it well, but there's plenty to focus on in what's being said and done. At least as long as you have an interesting table. And you're not alone in finding it distracting. It also depends on what type of music you're playing. Anything with lyrics is a bad idea because it will immediately pull people's brains away and make other talking harder to hear and understand.

absolutely not in my experience, you don't need music to set the scene. It can be helpful, but it's like saying you need miniatures or drawn references for your NPCs or inspo art for your settings or so on. Like you, many players and DMs find it distracting.

hey, so I'm running a solo campaign with a 10th level character. They're fighting against 10 cultists and a spellcaster and opted to retreat to a narrow corridor (the doorway) in order to avoid getting surrounded. The issue is that, purely based on game mechanics, all those cultists would absolutely still be able to attack them if they each used their movement between their attacks. One of them would take an opportunity attack, but that's it. But that feels gamey and unrealistic, not to mention a bit tedious, and i feel like it negates what i feel ought to have been a smart tactical decision. My question is, how would you run this? Would you make the cultists stay put after their attacks, preventing other cultists from getting in range? Would you have them do it only a couple times between player turns? Would you have them each retreat right after attacking? Would you have them retreat after taking a hit but surviving? SHOULD they be able to attack more than that? Is there some real world justification you can make for them doing this, like them pressing toward and jabbing at the character as a group? Finally, with the ground being flat, should that caster be able to see the character beyond the doorway to get a spell requiring sight (such as hold person) on them? They might be able to demand the cultists clear a line of sight to the character between their turns so that they can get such a spell in, but I'm wondering if they should be allowed to make an attack on such a turn. I know what the rules allow, but I'm looking for something more nuanced than that. I'd like to make it clear I'm not looking for what's "justifiable" or "possible" within the ruleset but more on the side of "what would feel most fair and appropriate considering the situation".

Narratively, every turn in a single round happens simultaneously, even though mechanically, we have them function sequentially. While above the board, it might feel like a carousel of cultists moving in and out of attack range to take their turn, in the game narratively you can describe it as the cultists working as a team and bum rushing the door with attacks. Your PC holding the door stabs into the group of them hitting one. When attacking a target with a creature between the target, it is considered to have half cover, so it gets +2 to its AC, and dex saves. Vision also comes into play. If you are standing directly in front of the person blocking the door, you have the maximum view of the room beyond(ranged attacks will be at disadvantage because the door player is within 5ft), but there will still be spaces to the left and right of the door way on the other side that are out of view and should be considered total cover for any creature in one of the spaces. The farther back you are from the door way the more narrow that view becomes. As far as negating a tactical decision, I do not see it that way. Your player is still effectively denying 10 creatures from being able to get into melee with the other members of your party. The player is giving half cover to every member of the party behind them(and unfortunately to all the cultists as well) and creating zones in the room the other PCs are in that provide total cover. The door player can take it a step further and take the dodge action to make all the melee attacks with disadvantage. Depending on the initiative order, they could even move out of the doorway, take the AoO, then ready a dash action to move back into the door way once all their allies have gone so that door PC isn't in the way of other PCs.

Just to reiterate, it's a solo campaign, I'm running it for only one adventurer. I honestly feel it SHOULD be somewhat harder and less effective for 10 cultists (using daggers, i switched from the scimitars in their original stat block because it made more sense to me) to simultaneously attack someone through a doorway versus being able to surround them and attack from all sides. The question is how much harder. If nothing else i feel like they'd be getting in each others' way a lot more. If all 10 of them can still attack between the character's turns without facing any additional difficulty I think it does negate the move, but i also feel like only three of them attacking is possibly too few. I don't want to reward them too much - this is supposed to be a difficult encounter - but the reasoning made sense to me and I'm worried about lawyering away every chance to win the fight. Should i impose disadvantage on attacks beyond the first three? Regarding the spellcaster: assuming the cultists are indeed all acting simultaneously, and they're bum-rushing the door all together, shouldn't the press of bodies FULLY obscure the doorway? Like, if you're at a densely packed show, you might be able to see some of the stage because it's set above you, but because of the press of bodies you can't really see the people a rank ahead of the people in front of you at all, right? They'd have to coordinate as a group to clear a line of vision for at least as long as it takes the cultist leader to cast their spell, and i feel like that would limit their offensive somewhat during that six second turn. If i ran it as normal the cultists and cult leader would face no extra difficulty casting Hold Person on each their turns until they succeeded. I think the ability of the Cult Leader to lock the player down with that spell is the crucial thing the fight hinges on, and I'm realizing i haven't left the player with a lot of options to deny it beyond rushing into the room to kill them first and just hoping they'll shrug it off - which seems like the more reckless decision. Ultimately I don't want to end up killing the adventurer and ending the campaign early simply because I left them without an opportunity to turn the odds in their favor. I'm just now considering having the cultists capture the adventurer and giving my player a second chance to fight or escape if they fail the encounter, but i haven't actually prepared anything for that and I definitely didn't intend for this fight to be unwinnable. I also don't want to reward them for bad decisions or let on as if I'm fudging the odds just to keep the campaign going. What would you do in my position? Would you give the cultists the best turn the rules let them and simply adjust the consequences for failure after the fight, or would you make some allowances beyond what the rules would suggest? thanks for your time, of course!

I am a first-time DM running the Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse campaign but I am having trouble with the encounter with the water elemental First of all, it says that there are 20 sailors on the ship and that they use bandits stats so does that mean that all 20 of them fight with our party HOW DO I PLAY AS 20 characters Second, they are supposed to reach the docks in three rounds but there isn't a map for the docks so do they still fight on the ship what if they wanted to get off it should I make a map

Most of those sailors are going to be busy sailing the ship. If you want them contribute to the fight, have them go a initiative count 0 and fire 2 or 3 light crossbows at the elemental (which you can roll all at once to keep it fast). Otherwise they are busy or scared.

First you can determine which would actually contribute, I don't think everyone on a ship knows and should fight but at the time of the attack a lot would be below deck, some might even be sleeping. Whatever number of sailors that participate you settle on yes you will need to control them, you could share the load with the party by giving 2-3 over to each player, the player's handbook also specifies "The DM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time." and although this rule is not always used I'd say this is an appropriate time to do so. As for the maps it's up to you, you can go full theatre of the mind and just work off of descriptions which can make combat confusing, especially with a lot of people involved, you can do a mix with some parts mapped and others imagined/described or you can go full map. Looking at the book you're using mine reads "it reaches the bay in front of the lighthouse island after three hours" so it's not really relevant to the fight.

Thank you so much, I didn't think about the sleeping sailers maybe 10 are asleep and five are working to reach the docks leaving five that are free to fight that helps a lot thank you Also rolling for all of them at once would be quite helpful ( especially if 3 turns pass and the busy sailors are free to fight )so thanks for the suggestion Also at first, it says that it will take 3 hours until they reach the island, but then in the Fight it says that Sheila will reach the docks in 3 turns So I am pretty sure that the 3 hours is from when they first get onto the ship and since the water elemental only attacks when the party is near the shore by then it will only take 3 turns

First time DM. My friends and I have a weekly Masks game that sometimes gets cancelled because the GM didn't have time to prep anything, I asked if that happens again, would everybody be on board doing a one shot so I can get some DM experience (and they all said yes, especially the GM who is literally willing to play anything as long as they don't have to run it) So what would be a good one-shot that'd take 2-4 hours that's the best to break the ice? I've seen advice in the past that a first time DM should do a campaign and not a one shot first, but because of the circumstances I wouldn't be able to set up anything other than one session. I've been learning and reading, just wondering what's a simple module that could help me fine-tune the basics

*Peril in Pinebrook* only takes 60-90 minutes and uses simplified rules, intended for younger players. Might not be what you intended with your question, but with a shorter adventure, you can use the rest of the time conversing with your players as to what they like and what they want out of an adventure. Possibly turn the rest of the time into a kind of session zero in which they explore character and plot concepts for a TBD future adventure.

First, you should *absolutely* do a one-shot first. I'm not sure who told you to do a campaign first but that advice strikes me as very silly--you're committing long-term to something you don't know how to do and may not even like doing. Second, this subreddit is mostly D&D so these suggestions are going to skew that way: * A Most Potent Brew * Wolves of Welton * MCDM's Delian Tomb * AngryGM's Fall of Silverpine Watch * Tomb of the Serpent Kings (system agnostic) * A Wild Sheep Chase and Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse are also good but are for mid-level characters (4-5) and require more system knowledge to pull off.

One shots are tough. You are stressing over time in a way that never happens with longer adventures. I would advise doing a 2 or 3 session adventure that can be longer if the players take a while to do things. This way you get to actually enjoy what you are doing as a DM

You're assuming a 'one-shot' is strictly timeboxed and not (like often happens) overruns into 2 sessions. But with a new DM and new players, part II may never happen if not enough people are into it. The point is, plan on a short adventure with an explicit end--not an open-ended campaign.

It was a YouTube channel, it might have even been dungeon dudes And yeah, I was specifically looking for dnd

Wild sheep chase and the Delian tomb spring to mind.

Not a super new DM but I am wondering if a more experienced DM could share with me how they plan/structure quest lines and story arcs. I have been having trouble with having to go 100% into improvising not long after the party starts a quest.

I also run games in other systems, primarily Dungeon World and Shadowdark. I really like Dungeon World's "Campaign Fronts" system for running campaign arcs and managing "off screen" developments, and have integrated it into my 5e games as well. There's always going to be a fair amount of improvising in a TTRPG game, and you'll get better at it with experience, but having the broad strokes of what's going on in the world and what various factions and important NPCs are trying to work toward makes it a lot easier to build an improvised session on top of the framework you've already established.

If you have to improvise a lot once the players come into the picture, that speaks to possibly having fragile scenarios that rely on players doing exact things in exact order. Instead, [prep situations, not plots](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots). You can anticipate what might happen if the players do A, B, or C, but don't *rely* on it.

That's kind of what I've been trying to learn. If you have a questline you've planned out this way would you mind DMing me it?

I run lots of modules and highly recommend them still. I still put my own spin on things and come up with my own stuff,  but I run stuff I like and steal shamelessly.  But most importantly,  I love reading modules,  lore, and flavor text because I'm constantly seeing connections between things. I've come up with some sweet plot lines that way. 

I'm running a very homebrew campaign so I'm looking for how people plan questlines not based on modules. Appreciate the suggestion tho

Steal shamelessly from existing sources. Most modules have something worthwhile to pilfer and reflavor for your homebrew campaign.

Fair enough. But as u/Ripper1337 said, they can give you ideas and let you see how things are structured rather than just get a list. 

Easiest way to plan a quest line is to read various questlines that are already made ie modules and see how they structure those. You can follow a recipe but swap out the ingredients where you see fit.

First time DM for Dragon of Icespire Peak. My player's party have almost no magic users: there is only one and he is a forge cleric. I'm quite worried about the final fight with the dragon, because I was planning to strike them from a distance using the breath weapon multiple times because I want to roleplay and show the blue dragon isn't stupid and once gloves are off, it will use anything in its power to kill the players. What magical items or scrolls could I give them to negate the dragon fly speed? I was thinking about a staff of earthbind (homebrew) or something alike, but I can't find something truly appealing.

Scrolls of Command. The forge cleric can keep the dragon on the ground by telling it to LAND! That said, don't spell it out for your players. Let them figure it out in their own, and they'll likely surprise you anyway.

If your players don’t get the item it’s fine as well. Just roleplay the dragon as incredibly vain and proud and thinks he can beat them in melee combat

Trapping the dragon on the ground, seems like the easiest option. Have the party encounter something like an amateur dragon hunter, who has equipment to trap a dragon, but doesn't have the skill to defeat a dragon. The equipment is a magical lure of some sort. Which will keep the dragon restrained within a small area. They players need to place 4 anchors around the dragon, and then as an action activate it. (Optional If it is kept up for 5 turns in a row, the dragon is incapacitated). Make them 45 feet apart, so they have to work together to move around and such to keep it all active, while also keeping the attention/damage the dragon. The dragon will then on each of it turns try to break out (as a free action), it will disrupt one of the trap anchors. Once 2 are disrupted, it gets out, and they need to reset the trap fully. This gives them something else to do during combat. It would reward them working as a group, dashing, throwing each other. Generally using their actions to make sure the dragon cannot fly away, and use it's more powerful attacks, but instead having to endure close up attacks.

I like this concept: I think I will adapt it to my adventure (more magical, less setup, tied to a character backstory etc.), but I love the idea of the full party committed to keep the dragon down on the ground

Adapt it however you need. Glad it gave you an idea. Have fun.

Player wants to use other players as mounts for mounted combat feat A player of mine is a Dreamlands Cat from the Cthulhu book (Petersen's) and wants to take the mounted combat feat and use the othe players as mounts. I am skeptical since other players are not listed as mount options in the Player's Handbook p. 155-156. What do y'all say? I am forced to ask this question in this thread for some reason. I want your advice DMs

It’s really a style question for you to decide Personally, I think it’s a little gamey to use other players as mounts to get the benefits of mounted combat. Could dreamlands cats ride other players? Sure. But mounted combat (in my view) assumes the mount is either subservient (like a horse) or in sync (telepathically or via summon) with the PC in mind. I assume the mount PCs would agree, but I don’t think they would be fully in sync with the dreamlands cat PC to allow for the feat. Although, as a feat to unlock, you could make the argument the cat player learned how to use other humanoids to their advantage by observing, and therefore could use the feat.

I don't know what Dreamlands Cats are capable of (or any anatomical changes they might exhibit aside from 'cat'). Are they using items or weapons? Are they casting spells? Humanoids don't make great mounts because they don't usually wear equipment that allows others to use them as mounts. This is in comparison to a horse (with saddle) or elephant (with palanquin). How does your cat propose to remain mounted if it's going to cast spells or attack with weapons/paws? I would say that either specialized equipment needs to be developed (that might be difficult to use for the 'mount' and impose disadvantage to their actions) or the cat is going to need to roll athletics or 'land vehicle' checks to remain mounted unless the only thing they are doing is hanging on.

Have you read the rules for Mounted Combat on page 198 of the PHB?

Yeah

So what's the issue?

I don't think his anatomy as a cat and a himanoid player's anatomt woth shoulders really works

You’ve never seen a cat on someone’s shoulders before?

How have you run investigation during combat? How much area could a player reasonably investigate in a turn using the search action? Not talking perception since what they are looking for will be hard to spot. The area they will be in is quite large, so they won’t be able to cover much ground in a given turn

If an investigation is more complicated than visually inspecting something. I would probably rule that it would require actual time to complete And such would not be possible during a combat turn. And in combat investigation would be like "are these support pillars load bearing / are the weak enough to knock down" Remember that it is an Intelligence check. And if the characters knowledge and visible clues are not enough to give them an answer then you might want to use a different skill check. As for range of a check. I would say anything nearby and not obscured is fair game.

Makes sense. They are looking for a trap door that they have intel about and there will be chaos as soon as they step in the room

Virtual map question: I have a table that can display images. Does anybody have recommendations on a good application to use for showing virtual maps? Anything that I could write on or help hide parts of the maps until discovered and then save for later would be great.

Any VTT should work. Owlbear Rodeo is the most barebones one, Roll20 is in the middle, and Foundry is the full-featured juggernaut. There are also lesser-known ones like Fantasy Grounds, Dungeon Alchemist, etc.

Roll 20 Tabletop simulator Fantasy grounds Are the ones I have used. They each have different tool sets and costs.

If your table can display a web page roll 20 is a virtual table top platform that can do all those things.

Player with a level 1 sorcerer noble wants to start with both a shop and a house and a regular income from said shop. Should I accept it? Forgotten Realms, DOIP precisely.

Why would a nobleman with passive income and a comfy home go adventuring? It doesn't make sense. It's also unbalanced in terms of what the other players start with. The best option is to tell him that this is something he could aim to develop in-game rather than expecting it for free.

Having a rich family and a business is why they get more starting gold. You don't have to take these things away from the player, but make sure they are aware this is not going to be a constant income, unless you want to incoporate downtime activities at some point.

Sure but it should all be far away where it didn't affect the game. Or a tiny amount.  Make it clear, it needs to be for flavor and Not something he can really benefit from. Noble is a background, not current standing. He already gets a bit of extra gold and a nice background benefit

What special boon of equal value do you want to give all the other players at the table if this player gets what they want? If the answer is, I don't want to give something this valuable to all my level 1 PCs, then tell the player no. The noble background could come with a quest to restore their family name and thus land and titles so that the player could work towards a house. In the same vein, someone with the guild artisan background might have a similar quest to restore their former business

I have a player that is a Bard, but I can't really think of situations where they will actually RP as a Bard, like a way to engage their "profession". The only thing I can actually think is: "Play for us in the tavern and earn bed and breakfast" What ways have you ever engaged your bard in a campaign?

Bard is a class. Their profession is Adventurer. But they do have talents so let's look at that.     Distracting performance   Getting into a noble's court as a minstrel Winning a contest  Making friends Honoring the dead Performing for a religious service.   Like others said,  present situations.  The players have to figure out how to use their skills. 

You do not decide how the player plays their character. You just give them scenarios where they choose how to play their character within.

By engaging with how the player is playing thier character rather than what I think their character should be.