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3.5 and 4.0 had very specific rules about identifying monsters and what you knew about them. Then 5.0 dropped all that. But I noticed 5.5 kind of indirectly brought it back with the Study action - which seems to cover that exact thing, but it costs an action. My group has been using the old...

One advantage Moon druids had in 5.0 was the option to wildshape as a bonus action. All druids wildshaped as an action, but Moon druids could use a bonus action instead. In 5.5, this was changed so that all druids wildshape as a bonus action. But unlike 4.0, actions cannot be converted to bonus...

How's that for a clickbait title? Vicious adds +7 avg damage on a rare weapon with no attunement, and no limits on how often it gives the bonus or how many vicious weapons you can own. That's the same rarity as a +2 weapon, which isn't in the same league, especially since bonuses to hit are so...

This came up in a game and made me realize the rules for attacking things you cannot see are weird. This was discussed a lot for 5.0 but I don't think 5.5 fixed it, and this entire post is specific to 2024 rules: RAW, if you are attacking a target in Magical Darkness (such that darkvision is...

Obviously anyone can play the game however they want and it's all valid. My question is: what is the "typical" amount of magic items you estimate most parties in your experience would have around level 10? Level 15? And Level 20? The 5.5 DMG has a Magic Items Awarded by Level table (p.218) that...

I love the art!!! That's all.

I've never worried about banning spells or splat books before: but this is the first spell that's made me question whether or not it should exist, especially in the campaign we're currently in. (Portho's Portal is from "Book of Ebon Tide.") It is a 4th(!) level spell that creates a...

Looking for advice from folks who are familiar with the adventure. We finished Horde and had a good time; we started Tiamat and I realized that the adventure basically takes for granted that the characters are Good Guys. My players aren't: they're mostly against the cult but they're primarily in...

TL;aint-gonna-read: Anyone know of ANY co-op/RPG, story/character-drive game out there (even a board game) that can cater to 8-10 players? Or is it impossible that a game where at best you get 10% of the interaction time, everyone can remain engaged? A brief history: We've been gaming for over...

We all have our quibbles and pet peeves: there's another thread for that. "This class lost this" or "this mechanic is dumb" or even "this is really confusing" are all important, but solvable / houserule-able issues. Even the second-biggest issue in my mind - which is that the entire playtest...

Spells take as many actions as the types of casting requires, right? (So, S + V is 2 actions, for example - right?) If you're using a 2-handed weapon, you use an "interact" action to ready it, correct? What if you are wielding a 2-handed weapon and want to open a door: which actions do you...

This is not exactly a new problem, especially with this adventure. Here's the context for those who want to read it: (spoilers) The character, who I'll call Creepshow, is a barbarian who has the insanity that he believes he's a werewolf even though he is not, and he is constantly hunting for...

In this thread, I made a rough outline for Curse of Strahd to show the general narrative structure of the story in case it was (reasonably) overwhelming or you'd rather have a more linear plot. It looks like this: Outline Opening Quests I. Intro/hooks a. receive fake burgomaster letter...

There are two excellent play report write ups worth reading here (by GrandDM) and here (by MerricB). In that tradition I thought I'd share my own. The TL;DR version: they actually killed the thing in the basement, thanks to luck and extreme caution! Us: We started CoS with 3 players: a sort...

There's "deadly" (as defined in the DMG for encounter guidelines) and then there's: one or all of your party will absolutely be killed here, baring some extreme circumstances. I started a list in this thread of likely places the party would encounter a TPK in CoS. But as I started to expand...

Using CoS and the party has no wizard; what good is a captured spellbook (other than selling / trading to someone)? You can't make scrolls out of it, right? I'm thinking I may replace the spellbook with different treasure (probably some scrolls).

Disclaimer: I love D&D, our group loves D&D, D&D is great. (Also I am American. Also this post is long and very system-meta.) Issue: While we've always loved D&D, as long-time vets there are other games that we just love more. Not because they have better systems, but we just have more fun...

Strahd is supposed to attack the party early and often. He's the centerpiece of the adventure, and you want his presence to be felt as much as possible - but there's also the danger of seriously jumping the shark. "Attacking the party early and often" goes against millennia of established...

It sounds like a dumb question but the spell's description doesn't say that it's actual daylight. Just a "sphere of light." This is of some concern if fighting a vampire. :)

What thematically appropriate, early spells would you suggest for a sorcerer who wants to be a mage-hunter? I'm talking about spell levels 1-3. Alter Self, for example, seems like a great one, so you can sneak up on your prey. What are others? (The bigger question here being: when you only...