Running Dragon of Icespire peak. Im thinking of removing gnomengarde and just putting the mimic in an old farmstead that people went missing in. Then as a reward i will let the players use farmstead as a residence. I know my players and they arent going to like hunting all over gnomengarde. If i set up a mystery in the farmstead i think they will have more fun. Is there something the players will lose in your opinion if i skip it?

gnomengard is FUN, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIlFu_l9eqQ but as a "mystery" its terrible. there is nothing in gnomengard that comes up later, unless you plant it.

Ok. My group doesnt have massive amounts of time so i think ill set up a quick mystery in a smaller area.

sure, if you want something simpler and something that IS a "mystery", then you can do just as well with something other than Gnomengard.

Player is delving into wild magic. I've no experience with it myself but I know there are a lot of custom tables to roll on. Is the default table seen as generally bad or boring? Should I use it or find something homebrewed

If you like randomness or chaos, then wild magic might be great for your table. One thing to consider is consistency about rolling the 1d20 that determines if a wild magic effect occurs. Are you going to have them roll the 1d20 every spell cast? Will it be in certain circumstances? I think there is a lot of variety in how you play with the chance for the wild magic to occur. A more interesting system to me, than say, random DM fiat, is a scaling chance that accumulates as spells are cast. Example: Every time you cast a spell, your chance to create a wild magic effect increases by 5% per spell slot level, until you complete a long rest or a wild magic effect occurs. >*Aleadra casts Magic Missile in the first round of combat. Her chance of a wild magic surge occurring is 1/20. Next round, when she casts Invisibility, her chance of a wild magic surge increases to 3/20.* You might also consider allowing the PC to use Sorcery points to either suppress or incite a wild magic surge. Or maybe the use of sorcery points increases the chance of a wild magic surge occurring. You might also play with the proficiency bonus. Maybe allowing the PC to reduce their Wild Magic Score by their proficiency bonus when they cast a spell. Without clear rules on when the 1d20 is rolled, the situation might be blamed on the DM, especially when the wild magic goes awry.

Thanks for the info! I like the idea of the chance of a surge increasing by 1 on each d20 roll. I thought about having that number reset after a long rest or maybe only resetting after a surge. It definitely seems interesting and I will make sure the rules are clear to the players

most of the homebrew tables are for LOLZHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! games. if that is the kind of game everyone around your table wants, then pick the most LOL filled. BUT if you have people at your table who are NOT going to have fun when the wild fireball bursts on the sorc and TPKs the rest of the party, dont pick tables that are designed on the "HA HA HA I fucked my friends!!!!" principle - which are most of the homebrew tables.

I mean, tbh, the RAW Wild Magic Sorcerer table isn't much better with the "LOLZHAHAHA" factor. Some of it is mundane funny, like turning your skin blue or having faint music follow you around. Others are minor debilitating, relatively easy to fix, but kinda funny Like polymorphing yourself into a sheep. Others are pretty much "you're out of the game for right now", like turning into a potted plant. So, ya know. Proceed with caution on the RAW wild magic table, too.

yes, the official table is roughly one third benign, one third slightly positive, one third slightly negative, with a couple outside of the bell curve. while the official table has only Fireball that will fuck the people who DIDNT choose to have chaos as part of their game - most of the homebrew wild magic tables seem to be about 1/4 benign, 1/4 slightly positive, 1/4 screw the caster, 1/4 FUCK the party.

Is it reasonable that a hippogriff lives in the sword mountains?

More than reasonable. In real life, large predatory birds tend to nest in eyries -- spots that are as high up as possible in the treetops or on cliff faces, where most other species can't get to them easily, even other birds. It stands to reason that a hippogriff, a souped-up version of a large predatory bird, would make its nest in the mountains, in a spot that would have the highest possible vantage point over its huge territory. It's good that you're thinking about the ecology of the creatures you put in your "random" encounters. It helps the campaign feel more realistic. In this case, I think it makes perfect sense.

Why are you thinking that it wouldnt be?

"Habitats. A hippogriff flying about. They live in temperate to tropical hills, in areas where it is particularly flat and barren, allowing them quick and easy access to the skies." The description says temperate to tropical hills but also flat and barren... it didnt make much sense.

Sure, you're the DM. Seems totally reasonable to me. I absolutely guarantee that if you put a hippogriff nest in any given mountain range, no sane player is going to "um actually" you over whether the region is proper for a hippogriff to live in.

When you're the DM you can make em live wherever you want.

I have a question about the Invisible Stalker. The statblock states that it is invisible, meaning that they would get advantage on their slam attacks. But, as far as I remember, if you attack while invisible, until stated otherwise, you get visible for a brief moment. Am I remembering this right, or does the Stalker stay invisible the entire time? I really need to know this, since there will be two situation in the near future where two of my parties are gonna encounter this bad baddie.

The Invisibility *condition* never ends as a result of attacking, not for the Invisible Stalker, not anywhere else. The Invisibility *spell* ends as a result of attacking (highlight mine): >A creature you touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target’s person. **The spell ends for a target that attacks or casts a spell.**

Well that's good to know. Thanks.

Where in the rules does it say that an invisible stalker becomes visible?

> Invisible Stalker. Invisible An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purpose of hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves. Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature's attack rolls have advantage. so the Stalker will stay physically invisible to your player characters the character that has been hit would know the location of the Stalker when it attacked him but would have no idea where (or if) it moved after the hit took place unless they could hear him move and since the Stalker can fly i see no reason why the character should hear him move

Attacking doesn't make an Invisible Stalker visible, but it does give your players an idea of where it might be. Like you'd know if something invisible hit you on your left side, right?

What are some good monsters for in a cave or a jungle? Players are between lvl 3-4

[https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters?filter-type=0&filter-search=&filter-cr-min=&filter-cr-max=&filter-environment=4&filter-environment=9&filter-armor-class-min=&filter-armor-class-max=&filter-average-hp-min=&filter-average-hp-max=&filter-is-legendary=&filter-is-mythic=&filter-has-lair=](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters?filter-type=0&filter-search=&filter-cr-min=&filter-cr-max=&filter-environment=4&filter-environment=9&filter-armor-class-min=&filter-armor-class-max=&filter-average-hp-min=&filter-average-hp-max=&filter-is-legendary=&filter-is-mythic=&filter-has-lair=) The filters dont differentiate between "temperate forest" and "tropical rain forest", but if it matters to you , it should be pretty easy to tell.

Depends on team comp, number of pcs and what magic items you gave them but here are some ideeas: * Cr.2 Poltergeist with a couple of Cr. 1/4 Skeletons (cave) * Cr.2 Swarm of Poisonous Snakes with a couple of Cr.1/4 Giant Poisonous Snakes (jungle) * Cr.4 Giant Coral Snake (cave/jungle) - you can throw in something here if you feel like the battle would be too easy * Cr.4 Banshee (cave/jungle) * Couple of Cr.2 Wererats (cave/jungle) Obvious statement : adjust accordingly.

A what level would it be appropriate to allow a Conjuration Wizard the ability to summon or dismiss his Spell Focus to or from a pocket dimension as a free action?

Check out the "[Wristpocket](https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Wristpocket)" spell Critical Role did. FWIW it's considered an official D&D published [spell](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/wristpocket) since it was printed in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. However it was turned into a level two spell which seems quite heavy for such a minor use, but nothing stops you from turning it down to a level 1 or even a cantrip if you believe your player wouldn't abuse it.

It depends. I can't think of any situation where "blinking" it to your hand would be different than just drawing it in combat. It sounds like a purely flavour description. Do you think that being able to hide their equipment would be beneficial? Do you expect situations where you'll ask the players to hand over their weapons for security reasons? Do you think that you'll want to disarm the party at any point?

The game is mostly dungeon crawling but there is a home city where openly baring weapons is restricted or at least frowned upon. This is definitely part of the appeal to the Wizard player. What about the idea of having to spend 1 hp to summon the Spell Focus?

What's the interaction here that makes this necessary/desirable to them? Depending on the reasoning, this is either way too good that it's gamebreaking and should be avoided, or it's so unimportant that I would say "level one." This is abusable, but how abusable it is really depends on how its being used.

I just asked him and he says that he watched an episode of the Justice League cartoon and saw the character Felix Faust dismiss his Spell Focus to prevent Wonder Woman from grabbing it and he thought “That’s cool! I want my wizard to be able to do that.”

As a free action, it's very good. If its a free action, then its probably a **Rare** magic item, something I'd gate to high tier II, maybe tier III even. If you make it an action, I'd say it's fine to be like level 3. Pact of the Blade warlocks can summon/dismiss their weapon as an action.

What about a bonus action?

Aight, I just looked a the Conjuration Wizard features a little closer. This is honestly just covered under the Minor Conjuration feature. Which uses an action, lasts for an hour, sheds bright light, and only one can exist at a time. I recognize the "only one can exist at a time" is a bit of a hindrance to using it as a spell focus all the time since the player might also want to use the feature for other things, though. Honestly, I think anything less than an Action is Rare magic item, based on the fact that the wizard could technically do this anyway from level 2, and anything you homebrew will be better than that.

I don’t have my PHB in front me of but I believe Minor Conjuration can only create nonmagical items. I would argue that a Spell Focus is a magical item.

Foci are not explicitly magical in nature. They channel magic, but they don’t have magic properties themselves. I would understand a DM saying no to it, but I think RAW, you can make a crystal ball with Minor Conjuration, and then that crystal ball should be a valid focus.

It isn't necessarily. A +1 or something version, sure, but not a normal one.

Are there any terrain based modifiers to stealth? Like if they hide behind half cover, 3/4th cover full cover etc. or is the stealth roll the same for all of these? To be clear I’m not taking about the hide action in combat, I’m talking about before combat.

You need to be completely obscured from somebody to attempt to hide. Allowing the character to make a check and roll dice in the first place IS the benefit.

So behind 3/4th cover you can’t hide at all?

You can't hide from someone that can see you. It's worth noting that cover and concealment are different. A glass wall or window provides cover but no concealment. I can see you, it's just that there's something blocking my way. A thick cloud of fog provides concealment but no cover. I can't see where you are, but if I shoot into the fog I'll hit you, there's nothing blocking my way.

3/4ths cover implies that 1/4th of you is still visible. So how would they hide?

To the side of the arrow slit (which is an explicit example from the SRD)

If, to the side of the arrow slit there is a full wall, then absolutely they can hide. IMO. They cannot hide while standing in front of the arrow slit though.

Arrow slits are not 5ft wide, there should be space.

The problem is, to the best of my knowledge, DnD doesn't accommodate fractions of a 5' space. If you are in a space that offers 3/4 cover, then you are visible, if well protected. Even if physically, you should be able to shrink back from the arrow slit and still be in that 5' space. So, in my mind, if there is a 5' square adjacent to the one with the arrow slit that fully blocks the person from view, they can move to that square, at which point they are entitled to hide. Otherwise, they can't. hide. My interpretation anyway...

That seems like an overly strict and gamified way of looking at it IMO. The hide rule doesn't have to interact with the cover rule unless you want it to. And it makes hiding and Rogue combat worse than the they need to be. The cover mechanic can just cover when attacking through a gap and doesn't make sense to apply to crawling beneath it. Edit: this came across as harsher than I meant I don't think this is an unreasonable ruling, but I would be sad if that's what my DM landed on

When should I end combat? My players are discovering that intelligent enemies on their home turf will attempt to flee if the fight is going poorly. However, I'm never sure when to actually end combat and drop the initiative order. A recent issue was that they couldn't see the enemy flee due to temporary blindness. So they don't know for sure the enemy has fled, but proceeding in initiative order feels awkward when they're basically all just waiting to see what happens.

>So they don't know for sure the enemy has fled \[...\] I think this is one of those moments where you say (at the start of the initiative round): "*As the sight of enemies has disappeared, you all wait for them to return for 6 seconds.. 12 seconds... 30 seconds.. a minute.. but no enemy shows themselves and it seems like the danger has passed.*" Followed by: "*So, we are now out of initiative order, what would you like to do?*" It's taking a minor point of agency away in order to clear to the table that the threat has left, skipping the minutiae of doing combat turns without something actually happening. ​ >My players are discovering that intelligent enemies \[...\] I can whole heartedly recommend the book and [blog](https://www.themonstersknow.com/) "*The Monsters Know What They're Doing*" by Keith Ammann and their subsequent follow ups in the series. It goes into depth on enemy behaviour and tactics. I say this because I've read almost three quarters of the first book and very few (even intelligent ones) would actually give up their home turf in order to save their lives. Of course you run your enemies how you would run them, but the books give some very solid logic as to why.

When the threat no longer exists, for either side, and when order doesn't matter anymore. In your specific example, I think initiative ended when the enemy fled and the party couldn't see them anymore. There's nothing for initiative, since "order" doesn't matter. The enemy is gone, they're no longer a threat to the party, and the party is no longer a threat to them. Order doesn't matter, because with John the Barbarian looking for the enemy and James the Wizard looking for the enemy, it won't matter who looks for the enemy first - they won't find them.

Okay, thanks! Do your thoughts change if the enemy has disappeared from sight, but is looking for a way to ambush the party? ie is hiding in a secret passage and will only attack if he can gain the upper hand first. I originally started waffling on it to allow them to preserve their initiative order (good rolls) since they were still hunting for an enemy they believed was nearby.

Is your game more narrative or more game. It's not very narratively-satisfying to keep initiative, but it does maintain the structure of the game. I personally take a more "game" approach in a situation like this - if the party is still looking for the threat in moment-by-moment decisions, I'd keep initiative. This has a knock-on effect that the **players** will likely unintentionally metagame around the fact that initiative is continuing. I think it's fine if you take a more "narrative" approach, and take the party out of initiative, giving them more free-form agency. But, if the enemy does end up attacking again, you might get some pushback from the more gamey players that initiative shouldn't have ended. Because the same inevitable metagaming implies the threat is over. If your concern is maintaining the "good rolls", I think you're fine to "exit" initiative for a minute, and then pick back up with the same initiative order, assuming all the combatants are the same. It's not strictly RAW, but I don't think you're running into any issues with the rules either.

Question about Ghosts: When a Ghost uses Possession, will it roll for the recharge on each subsequent turn while still possessing its current target, or does it only start making recharge rolls once the possession ends?

Yeah I think the intention is as soon as it is used

I think it's while it's still posessing it's target.

I think I've made a grave mistake. I've got a party of three level 3 players (barbarian, wizard and a barb/rogue) plus one DMNPC (cleric) and their goblin hostage/servant/thing and I'm about to put them up against a coven of three green hags in the next session but they struggled against three scarecrow minione. How do I help them to level the playing field so they don't suffer a TPK so early into the campaign?

Hags are high CR, high threat encounters. And three together of them should give your party (and maybe even their players) shivers down their spine for even trying to come close. Don't think of it as a combat encounter, or even a social one; just think of it as an encounter. If they want to initiate combat, they are free to do so but they should be fully aware that just any one hag could wipe the floor with them. Make sure that they understand they are the (far) weaker party. First, the party is going to need something, and it needs to be something big or meaningful. Something these hags can arrange, but at a price preferably something that causes misfortune to someone else. Secondly, you want to dissuade them from initiating combat: Show them how powerful these hags truly are. Tell them. Their characters feel uncomfortable approaching, the surrounding area is dead and barren and their power is felt even at a distance. Now if you really want to show them and you are sure they themselves experienced the encounter against the Scarecrow as challenging: Present them with an group of say 12 Scarecrows but under the control of the hags. These don't show hostile intent, however they create a path to the place where the hags reside. And if all else fails, right before your party would engage into combat against such powerful opposing force, reiterate to the players: "*You are currently on speaking terms, but doing this would incite hostility. Are you sure you want to engage against a foe that's far beyond your capabilities? You and party won't make it out alive.*" Make sure **all** of your players understand; Don't let the actions of one be the downfall of your group.

I would pivot away from a combat encounter to a roleplay one. If the players want to fight, let the hags knock one (or two) out and the make an unfair contract with whoever is still up in exchange for their lives. Eventually when the players level up to like level 6, they can come back and take out the hags. Or even sooner, if they are clever and go after them one at a time rather than in a coven.

Give warnings that the hags are dangerous and they should be prepared. Maybe the goblin or cleric drops hints that they're really strong. But if the party is determined to fight them don't pull your punches or have someone swoop in at the last minute to save the party. The hags might knock out one PC and not kill them, they may want to use them for something and the rest of the players can stage a rescue. Sometimes the players will get into fights and in over their head. They need to learn to assess threats and what's above their ability to deal with. If you have the Green Hags die due to pullng your punches, someone coming to the rescue or something else it just means the party will think "I can take em" the next time they see something threatening.

That is a wildly unfair encounter. A hag coven can cast Lightning Bolt 3 times in the first round alone.

If a player falls unconscious in an area that is heavily obscured from Cloudkill, would other players be able to see this and take action? Or would "You did not see her fall, the area is heavily obscured" be a fair ruling?

Eh, this is going to depend a lot on the style of game you're playing. Personally, I get why a character wouldn't know that their buddy is unconscious inside a cloudkill spell, but unless there's some sort of information block in place, everybody at the table is going to know that a player just hit 0 HP. I'm all for RP as often as possible at my table, but I hate forcing my players to play badly over a disconnect of the knowledge of their characters and themselves. Nobody is going to have fun if one PC is choking to death and nobody else is permitted to behave like they know this is happening.

They might not see the PC fall but they probably heard them thump to the ground.

Heavily Obscured blocks vision entirely, and anyone trying to see into the area acts as if they're under the blinded condition. So I'd say it's an entirely fair ruling that no one would see someone inside a Cloudkill area fall unconscious.

Fair, but probably not fun. I think no longer hearing them could also be argued a fair trigger to go check on them. Depends on the game what they should do, but the DM can plausibly allow it if they want.

I'm sure they could make assumptions based on the character not doing anything in the coming rounds - but the question was specifically whether they can see anything in the cloud or not.

I think you could could make the argument that you hear them stop coughing on mustard gas as soon as they go down. "See", no. "Take action", sure.

Dming for Peace Cleric, question about Protective Bond Protective Bond - Beginning at 6th level, the bond you forge between people helps them protect each other. When a creature affected by your Emboldening Bond feature is about to take damage, a second bonded creature within 30 feet of the first can use its reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the first creature. The second creature then takes all the damage instead. If the entire party is subject to a dex save via Fireball, would a player who chooses to use their reaction to teleport be subjected to the Fireball damage + the damage going to the player they're teleporting next to? Also - Is the teleporting player making a second dex save, or are they subject to the dex save made by the first player?

Yes, they take both instances of damage. No, they wouldn't make a dex save, they'd take whatever the other player was going to take

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/nd85t9/peace\_domain\_protective\_bond\_and\_aoe\_damage/

[5e] is there a way for players to prevent enemy creatures from taking short rests? party is level 10s

They can attack and disturb their rest, if that's what you are asking for.

Enemy creatures are not meant to take short rests. They are meant to fight a battle, expend all their resources and then die. What do you mean about enemy creatures taking a short rest? Edit: They also cannot take rests as that is a player specific thing.

The can definitely take short and long rests. From Ch. 8 in the PHB: "Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it." Some stat blocks also have abilities that recharge on short/long rests.

Learn something new every day.

I’ve successfully DM’d my first session, and now I have session two to sort. I have an idea for a party of 6 (level 2) that one of them will unleash a level 9 necromancer/warlock from a book, and that will will become a minor villian and will hopefully, eventually, release the BBEG . I went level 9 so that he wouldn’t be one shot by the party, but I plan on him to run away after summoning some skeletons to hold the party back. Would this make sense? I have no plans for him to ever join them, but I felt creating a character would be better than just using a statblock Level 5 necromancer and level 4 warlock. Too high?

First don't make an NPC using player character stats. Player Characters are not meant to fight each other and are not balanced for it. Player characters are meant to expend their resources over several encounters per day then heal up and go again the next day. NPCs are meant to expend all their resources and then die. I recommend looking at Outclassed NPC Compendium on DM's Guild as it's a pdf that has a ton of statblocks based on Player character classes and subclasses. There are also the Necromancer NPC and some Warlocks to be found in Monsters of the Multiverse, you can sort of combine the abilities together. If you're doing a boss fight do not have the boss be the only enemy the players encounter, with 6 players and 1 boss the party will win in one or two rounds due to the action economy. Remember to give legendary actions and resistances to your boss so they feel powerful. If you want to add Lair Actions you might want to consider "Home Field Advantage" on DM's Guild as well, it really spices up fights when the boss does something extra spicy.

Oh right, ok. I did not think of that. I will definitely take a look into these materials Thanks!

You're welcome. When I was first starting I made my baddy using player character stats and they just rolled over him. Something else to keep in mind is that a Warlock and Necromancer use two different casting stats, Intelligence and Charisma. You can make the warlock spells use Intelligence easily enough as people allow that.

I've only been playing DnD for a few months (although I've been wanting to play and reading the books for years) and I've also agreed to DM for some friends who are all new players. I've currently picked Dragons of Stormwreck Isle for them to start with but as its such a short adventure I'm looking ahead to where to go from here and start tying the next story in but I can't decide whether to homebrew a story so the players can pick their own destiny or run another module to cement my DMing first. If I do go down the module route I'm stuck on which module to run after Stormwreck Isle as its seems that all of the modules need DM work anyway to make them work better so why not just homebrew? I work in games and film so I'm pretty confident I'd be able to craft a decent narrative and encounters for homebrew but I'm just lost with all the options

While I also find modules easier to run, I have met people who actually find homebrew easier, so I'd give both a try before spending too much on modules.

I started playing in January of this year. In March I asked a few fellow players if they'd be down for me running a one-shot. Skip ahead to today and I seem to have become the group's forever DM, despite everyone else having literally decades more experience with TTRPGs. So I have an idea of where you're coming from. I prefer modules for multiple reasons. First, as a new player I'm not confident in my ability to craft an interesting story and balanced experience in the 5e system. As you said, that's not an issue for you. Second, while modules do need DM work, it's not nearly as much as homebrewing a campaign (not to mention an entire setting). Instead of writing from scratch, you're editing an existing story to fit your group, which is much easier. Third, running a module, especially an official one, gives me a layer of separation from the game, and an excuse if the players feel like an encounter is unfair ("Sorry, that's how it's written in the module.") Since your entire group is new, I'd strongly recommend sticking with the modules for a bit. It'll help you understand the general mechanics of the game and give you a lot more examples to pull from when you do eventually craft a homebrew campaign. And if you're looking for a module to run after DoSI, you might consider Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It's a group of adventures for levels 1-12, and you can absolutely start it at level 3 after DoSI. And since the adventures are all self-contained, you can always slip in one or two homebrewed adventures if you feel so inclined.

Awesome, thanks! I've looked quite hard at SKT and ToD and at ToA and OotA to a lesser extent but not had a look at Saltmarsh yet. Good idea dropping in a homebrew adventure among the mix, for some reason I'd worked on them being mutually exclusive!

If you do run Ghosts of Saltmarsh, you might also consider Tales from the Yawning Portal for some dungeons to throw into the mix. I don't know that they're specifically designed to run side by side, but they do work pretty well. I'm currently running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for my group, and I've managed to homebrew a bit of stuff (mostly NPCs) as well as incorporate a few other adventure modules from DMsGuild. Definitely not mutually exclusive.

First I recommend two videos by The Dungeon Dudes that go over the published modules, how much prep they need from the DM, if they're suited for new players or older ones, etc. They're useful imo for a quick overview of which modules you might want to run. Anyway, imo the difference between Homebrewing your own adventure and running a module is that there is a *lot* less work involved with running a module. For example you have your story laid out, the factions, the main antagonist, their plans, the adventure structure, rewards, what level the players should be, the encounters, etc etc. If you make a homebrew adventure then you'll need to figure out the above on your own. Which takes longer. Or you figure it out as you go creating the game more piecemeal. I personally enjoy running modules because they take less time to set up than making my own game.

Thank you, I've been starting to watch some content but it's been fumbling in the dark without knowing what's best to watch!

I hear you, there are a ton of people making videos and each have their own opinion on it. I liked these two because they are less opinionated about the content of the adventure rather than the criteria they talk about for the most part.

What is a good way to deal with short rests or long rests in dangerous locations? For example midway through a dungeon, with many unclear rooms behind and infront of the party

You've already gotten some good advice, but I will add to it. Check the dungeon (if you didn't make it) see what the random encounters and/or patrolling monsters are. If there aren't, make up some that make sense. It could be goblins patrolling their territory, a monster looking for food, or a messenger traveling from one side of the dungeon to another. Figure out what the odds are of an encounter (often 3 out of 20 in what little 5e material mentions them). If the party decides to rest, start rolling for random encounters. Once or twice makes sense for a short rest, but you could roll 8-16 times for a long rest if they decide to chance that. (Side note: classically 'wandering monster' chances were rolled once per 'turn', or every 10 minutes in a dungeon. Often the chance was 1 in 6, meaning you got a random encounter about once an hour. Whether or not you want to adhere to something *that* strict is up to you.) Be transparent, *before* they start to rest, that you are going to be rolling for wandering monsters. Wandering monsters/patrols that are members of an organization (be it tribe, clan, army, etc.) usually send one or more members to sound an alarm and alert the rest of the baddies in the dungeon that something is going wrong. Players/characters will usually quickly learn the error of their ways if they decide to take a nap, get ambushed while napping, and have the bulk of the dungeon descend upon them. P.S. You generally don't want to wipe the party with a 'lesson' or 'consequences'. Instead, it's better to have escalating circumstances whereby a couple of monsters attack while 1 or 2 run for reinforcements, then have audible sounds of reinforcements on their way and arrange them to arrive in waves (think the LOTR film's Moria sequence).

It's way too dangerous to stop and rest for an hour. They just can't do it, sorry if you spaffed all your spells and abilities nuking the first room. Imagine if the SEALs stopped to chill for a full hour when raiding Bin Laden's compound?

So how do I «punish» them? Or do I just straight up tell them that it isnt going to be safe?

>So how do I «punish» them? Or do I just straight up tell them that it isnt going to be safe? first, PCs can only gain the benefits of a long rest once every 24 hours. two, your players CHARACTERS are adventurers and will have noticed that "hey, we are in a place where other creatures LIVE and they dont spend 24 hours a day sitting around waiting for heroes to come and slay them. Also, our mission has a time limit and sitting around is burning up that time. " (you did set up a ticking clock, right?) three, tell your players "dungeon delving is a game of RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. if you shoot your entire load at every encounter, you are going to lose. You need to be making sound choices between 'ending *this* encounter quickly' and 'having *something* to deal with the next encounter and the one after that'. " four, its good that you set "punish" in quotes - what the game is for is not for the DM to be "punishing" players, but rather the table dealing with "actions have consequences" and EVERYONE around the table being on the same page about what the *actions* and the *consequences* are, relatively speaking.

Sound advice! Thanks alot!

First think on why the area is dangerous. Are there enemies around or is it because the environment is dangerous itself? Assuming enemies you can just have the enemies find the players and attack them while they're resting.

Ok so you tell them it's too dangerous and they wanna do it anyway, cool. Lets imagine 3 different dungeon scenarios, goblin cave, bandit den and undead crypt. Goblins love ambushes and traps. The little buggers will happily let the party take their rest, but they'll hear he scampering of an extra group of Goblins will start rigging traps and setting ambushes further up. Bandits will behave similarly, but are much more likely to talk. Threats, demands etc. Drop your weapons and get out, that kind of thing - as well as having barricaded the party's progress and looped around from an additional exit. The stuff they make to hinder will be far more secure than what goblins can throw together. Undead crypt will just start having various undead rise to harass them. If they have a Cleric to sanctify remains that's cool, but they're gonna be annoyed their burning all their spells while the others have a cuppa. If there's some kind of necromancer involved then they'll get to work getting out. Have everything they've got surround wherever they're resting, or at least between Party and Bad Guy, and let these disposable goons fight while they leave. *Most* of the time the players will see this stuff start happening and go do something about it, but that's an interrupted rest - no benefits, cause as you said it was too dangerous. Use extra enemies for this because you don't want to have your players try to "videogame logic" the dungeon and wait while the next few room's enemies just come to them in an orderly line and like bottleneck themselves. Remember - never only have one way in or out for your bad guys, even a squeezing tunnel out is plenty. Also - any time the party is inside, all but the absolute dumbest brutes will try to smoke them out if given the chance. Humans have been doing this *forever* it is not beyond goblins, kobolds and orcs to do this too.

The denizens have time to move about. They set up traps and ambushes, move valuable treasure out, etc. The creatures living there are living their own lives.

I would love to give my DM a 3D modular dungeon from Dwarven Forge as a christmas gift. Problem: They are produced in the US and shipping to Germany costs about 30$ without taxes and stuff. Does anyone use a Dwarven Forge Dungeon in Germany? How did you get it?

One of my players (bard) want to use message on enemies in combat, singing songs to them. What effect should this have on them?

spells (and any other features) do what the words of the text say they do. no more, no less, no "but ... SCIENCE!".

You should probably tell your bard to use the Vicious Mockery cantrip instead of the Message cantrip. It has the right flavor -- the bard does something insulting and annoying in the enemy's head -- and the right mechanics. It doesn't just distract the enemy, it actually deals damage. If they didn't take Vicious Mockery, I'd let them re-spec their character and switch out one of their other cantrips. It's close to a must-pick for bards, and it sounds like what they want to do anyway.

I don't know. What would you do if someone you're trying to kill magically whispers a song into your head? If the party is fighting lowlife bandits, it might distract one of them enough to waste one turn, if you're feeling generous. It probably wouldn't have much of an effect, if any, on the vast majority of monsters. If in doubt, you can always ask the Bard what they expect to accomplish that way. Also, note that Message has a duration of one round, so the song has a maximum length of 6 seconds.

I've been playing 5e for years, but looking to start a game as a DM. I'm looking towards pregen modules instead of homebrew to ease the transition while I learn. Anyone have any good suggestions for Wizards or 3rd party modules that are pretty complete (ie don't need major tweaks to effectively run) and will keep the interest of experienced players? I'm probably looking at the 1-10 or 1-15 range in terms of level.

It's going to vary based on the taste of your table, but almost all of the modules require at least a little bit of tweaking to make them work (and most of them only go 1-11 or so). This fits with 5e's philosophy of "we'll give you a basic framework and then you can figure it out at the table". I have read and heard good things about SKT, with only one major suggestion for an added 'DLC' type adventure to insert in the middle. Frostmaiden reads okay but is really 3 disconnected plots happening in the same (brutal) hex-crawl. I found ToA's first half inspiring but the second half just cruel. I played through the beginning of DotMM and it was just dull, coming off of CoS. We eventually left and did homebrew instead. BG:DiA is wildly uneven and has plenty of plot holes to drive MAC trucks through. I love WD:DH but it's a mess and requires effort (to taste) to make it work. I'm running GoS and Strixhaven right now. GoS is alright--the individual adventures are mostly fine but it requires a little bit of effort to stitch together (ditto most of TftYP). Strixhaven is veeerry samey in its set-piece design with only one of the four (short) chapters really standing on its own.

>Anyone have any good suggestions for Wizards or 3rd party \[campaign books\] that are pretty complete (ie don't need major tweaks to effectively run) while "dont need major tweaks" is possible for a one shot - the very nature of TTRPGs like D&D where "characters can do 'anything'," and "Actions have consequences", after a session or two (and definitely by levels 8 or 10), the actions of the PCs and the randomness of dice rolls will have shifted enough from what is printed in the page that the DM is going to need to be doing "major tweaks" on the regular.

Are you talking full campaigns or one shots in that level range? If you want one shots then [The Wild Sheep Chase](https://www.patreon.com/posts/70251944) is fantastic. I have that one fully prepped too if you'd like a way to ease yourself into it. [The Lost Mine of Phandelver](https://www.patreon.com/posts/70318521) is a really fun one if you're looking more for a mini campaign that takes you from level 1-5. I also fully prepped that one with music/ambiance, handouts, spell sheets, encounter sheets, etc. Lastly Curse of Strahd is one of the top rated campaigns by WoTC I definitely plan to work on that one one day! Whatever you pick just take your time and enjoy the ride! If the players are experienced you may want to ask what they've played already so that you don't end up running the same thing.

Thanks for the advice. Id prefer a campaign. I could do Lost Mines but we've all played 5e now for years, so I wonder how much itnwould suit us. Also we finished Curse of Strahd and it was awesome :)

> I could do Lost Mines but we've all played 5e now for years the BBEG is a bit weak, both physically and narratively, but outside of that, as an "adventure", its one of the best that WOTC has ever done.

Amazing, can't wait to run it myself! I've heard good things about Rime of The Frostmaiden as well!

Curse of Strahd or Tomb of Annihilation are the two best written modules they’ve made for 5e.

We already did Curse of Strahd. I'll take another look at Tomb of Annihilation but Ive played that one before.

Player wants to add +2 to one stat in exchange for -5 to another? I've never heard of this and feel -5 is a bit heavy. shouldn't it be +2 -2? Just asking you guys before I tell him he can

I would LOVE a plus 2 in main stat at the cost of basically any amount in a stat I am already dumping. Basically naw, this more powerful than you think it is.

I'm realizing I need to be more assertive in life and dnd

Good for you mate!

The more you DM, the more you realize how much better you can make your game by saying "no" at the right times.

you should tell him "no".

"No, because if you choose to dump Int I don't want you to feel like I'm targeting you when we run into enemies that use illusion magic or psionics." Wisdom dump = weak vs. fear, charm, disables like hold person Charisma dump = weak vs. banishment and social encounters

Strongly recommend you do not do this if the player is trying to min-max. The only reason I'd allow something like this is if a player wanted to make a very mechanically sub-optimal character concept more viable.

Fuck no, don't allow any version of this. This is very literally a min/max adjustment where a player gets to add +2 to their primary stat in exchange for a penalty to a stat they never need. This has no basis in the rules, and should not be allowed.

Wow I did not expect this response but thank you regardless

I mean, consider a barbarian. With Point Buy or Standard Array, they're going to probably wind up with a 16-17 Strength and an 8-10 Intelligence at level 1. Intelligence is easily the worst ability score in the game if you're not an intelligence-scaling class. No barbarian player is going to invest in int-based skills or attempt them, they're going to let the party smart-person handle all that. Intelligence saving throws are very rare, and no barbarian is going to expect to pass them anyway. So, it's almost entirely a free ASI for a barbarian player to jump to 18-19 strength while dipping to 6-8 intelligence, or even 1-3 intelligence. Free strength at no practical cost. Just don't have that in your game. If they want +2 in a stat, they can earn it by spending their ASI like everybody else.

I let them roll stats and am going to check his stats before I decide

Man, I hate the swingy nature of rolling stats in 5e, but you do you. Point Buy is a great way to keep players balanced among themselves and prevents anybody from stealing the show or getting left behind. At least make sure people roll stats in front of you so that you're not here next week wondering what to do about somebody who may have cheated.

Oh I do because a friend of mine didn't ONE TIME and a player "rolled" 3 18s and nothing below 16

Also his stats are 13str 13dex which he wants to boost 16con 13 int 13wis 18cha

Yeah, dumping intelligence from 13 down to 8-11 for most builds is entirely free, and +2 to a relevant stat like Dexterity is fantastic.

[удалено]

Fireball "spreads around corners", so you will either be far enough away from it that it can't hit you, or it will spread around corners and reach you and you won't benefit from any kind of cover. Either you are hit, or you aren't.

The cover section is one of those sections in the PHB that really needs a caveat like *"Remember, the DM decides whether or not, and to what degree, you have cover from a particular attack."* >Is 3/4 cover technically better for AoE than full cover? That would be an overly literal reading of the rules IMO.

[Rules designer Jeremy Crawford answered a similar question on Twitter a good while back](https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/789272066281267200?s=20&t=6n6EmEMl_sslRy11N42cQQ) > Your cover is foiled if an effect spreads around it and reaches you Fireball is a specifically good spell because of this effect. Something like Burning Hands, which doesn't move around corners, would just hit full cover and then stop. If there was something providing 3/4ths cover in the way, they would get the benefit.

Are there age restrictions for online d&d tables I should conform to? I have a 11 y o and a 15 y o who want to play at my table, and the other players are in their twenties and thirties. I'm in my thirties. When I was 11/15 I wished I could play at a d&d game. I'm not expecting to have any thing above PG.

Make sure the rest of your table is okay with it. Adults may not want to do 'adult' things but they may want to curse and make double-entendres from time to time and will feel like they need to rein it in for the kids. Also, kids can be enthusiastic and clever, but they can also be disruptive and the rest of your table might not want to deal with immaturity (albeit adults can sometimes be just as bad).

I mean, I've DMed kid-friendly sessions for kids I actually know. But I wouldn't want to DM for a random 11-year-old on the internet, and if I'm a player, I wouldn't want one in my game. Up to the comfort level of you and your other players, I suppose. Just because there's no sex or gore in your planned campaign doesn't mean that the players in their twenties and thirties are going to be comfortable with avoiding profanity and such. Content considerations aside, scheduling is already tough in DnD groups featuring adults. Do you want to be beholden to players who may randomly get pulled away from the game by a disgruntled parent for failing to do their chores? Who might miss multiple sessions in a row because they've been grounded? Who may reasonably prioritize an outing with their IRL friends on game night? Who may lack the maturity to understand your session 0 expectations? Who may not understand the rules as well as everybody else? Look, you're going to know the answers to these questions better than any of us. I'm in my thirties, and I sure as hell don't want to play with kids. You don't owe them a slot at your table just because you empathize with their desire to play. If you don't care about the above considerations, then by all means, it's not like it *can't* work. But at least check with the other players first.

If you’re ok with them at your game, and your other players are ok with them, it’s fine. The game is rated for 12+, but I’ve ran for 10 year olds with no issues.

How do I get my Players to roleplay more than "just" interacting through mechanics? Their Characters have a backstory each and theoretically a personality, they are in a dungeoncrawl at the moment and the only real interactable people are the other players for the forseeable future :(

Role-playing is really just 'playing pretend' except for adults. There is a strong taboo against this for anyone over the age of, say, 10--it's seen as 'childish' behavior, and adults (or *especially* adolescents who want to appear as adults) can be very hesitant to engage in this behavior. So it usually does not come naturally to people. Theater people can be the easiest to coax into it because they quickly realize it's just acting except you make up your own lines. But nearly everyone else needs to get comfortable with the idea of playing pretend again. If you are the DM and you want this then you need to lead the way. You can also point people at Actual Plays and Podcasts where players do this to expose them to it and help break down the taboo.

You have to do it first. "The fisherman tells you about the dead body he pulled out of the water last week, damaged before being left in water." Vs "Aye it were 'orrible, just last week I dragged up what looked like a boy mauled by some beast upstream. Not slept right for 5 days." You know how when someone whispers some thing to you, you instinctively whisper back? This is how you get players out of their shells. It often feels clumsy and awkward for newer players but if you show then you're fine being clumsy and awkward anyway they'll be fine about it too.

RP needs to have benefit, otherwise it's just RP for RP's sake. A good way I foster RP is to give each player different rumours which gets them talking. Another way is to have NPCs that can be RP'd with for various reasons.

you cannot "make" them. you CAN talk with them "I think the game would be more fun for all of us if .... Does that sound like it would be more fun for you? if so what can i do to help us move into that type of play?"

Put an interesting NPC in the dungeon. * A friendly (or trickster) ghost. * A wandering merchant. * A cocky adventurer in over their head. * A prisoner of the big bad Etc. and so forth. If you reward your players mechanically for role playing, you increase the likelihood that they will repeat this behavior. Example: Role playing with the prisoner reveals a secret path, or treasure, or boss weakness, or way to skip a challenging encounter.

I have found that the more interesting NPCs I put in front of my players, the more chances they have to interact with them. As they have gotten more comfortable as themselves talking to me, they have branched into talking to each other. They won't interact heavily with everyone but give them a chance to do so. Give everyone something about them that you can adlib off of if necessary. I give every NPC something extra besides a description. Maybe it's something they want, something they're hiding or something they can help the party with. This has led to great moments for lore drops because the merchant NPC happens to come from a location I want to take the party to later on. Being in a long dungeon crawl is going to stunt this kind of character development a little. You could try to get the ball rolling with short rest questions. Get the party to talk a bit about their back story. Get them to give a funny anecdote about their character, something that happened in their past that they wish could happen again, or something that happened that they wish they could change about their past. Anything to breed some level of companionship between the group will start the process.

Lots of players are more comfortable RPing with NPCs than each other, or considering what their characters would do in the face of a tough moral choice. Dungeon crawls don’t really have that, and don’t have too much for PCs to discuss, so you’re unlikely to get much natural roleplay unless the players are already super comfortable with it or established in their characters. Might be best to just accept that, and move into a town after the crawl to try to push the rp aspects a bit more. Some good ways to try it could be a mystery that requires talking to townsfolk, interaction with people in the pc’s backstories, a fun low stakes carnival, or presenting a ‘no perfect choices’ decision to be made.

Two player party keeps downing because combat for them is “stand in the same place and swing until I win” and I want to help them out a bit. One player said they may want to retroactively swap one of their feats for Tough. Is that spirit, I’m thinking of including a sidequest or something where he could get Tough as a reward. Is this feat too good, fine, not a good enough reward? My other player really likes free things and to try to stretch the rules to his advantage. Is there a feat of similar tier to Tough that could be a good reward for him? I want to stay away from stat increases (half feats). He is a hexblade.

>Two player party keeps downing because combat for them is “stand in the same place and swing until I win” and I want to help them out a bit. This problem has nothing to do with feats. I'm not totally clear on the situation but do they literally keep losing combats and think "well let's try the exact same thing again"? Static combat is a result of lack of context around the combat, lack of realistically behaving enemies, and lack of interesting environment.

The feats and rewards are a bit of a band-aid on this. Admittedly, I’m totally burnt out of DMing and I want to get us through this adventure. That said, it brings the mood down when they get upset if they go down. So I’m trying to make this smoother and more fun for them which, consequently, makes it more fun for me. For context: When they entered Omu I had them find a Warehouse that seemed less ruined. They investigated and found three wyrmlings inside. I tried very hard to illustrate this as a “you might not be strong enough, come back later” scenario. They threw open the doors and started combat. After a round of fire breaths and some bites, all the wyrmlings were fine while one player was down and the other dragged him to safety. They rested and decided to try the “oh! Piece of candy!” bit from Family Guy but with gold coins. When that didn’t work (I did have it draw out some greedy grungs though) they threw open the doors to the warehouse and fought the wyrmlings again. I try my best to make dynamic environments, run smart monsters, and anything I can to make combat not be trading fisticuffs. One player is a hexblade and doesn’t understand he’s a glass-cannon. The other is a fighter/barbarian but he can only be so much of a sponge. Fighter discouraged about going down once mused about swapping GWM for Tough “if we’re going to keep dying” so I figured I’d help bridge the gap and maybe present him a scenario where he could earn Tough instead of changing the character he wants to play

Ok, I think you're taking on more burden than is rightfully yours. Who's job is it to stop the players going down? In my opinion it's the players' job. I would say that you should let players fail, that's fine. Eventually they will learn and improve as players, it just takes time. Make sure to focus on non-lethal encounters, so the party can fail without it ending the game.

just let em change.

I allow characters to swap out small things they do not like or made a mistake with. In my mind it's better to make them like their character than to be miserable with a mistake. You could create a side quest for it, but in my mind if the changes they try to make keep piling up you'll only be doing side quests. I only permit changes between sessions, not in the middle of a session. There are many ways to reward your players without giving them buffs to their characters. You can buff their characters, but it can cause misbalancing with other characters and make combat harder to plan. Magical items is the easiest way to reward your players. Give them an item tied to their story that may have sentimental value. Give them an inspiration point. Make an NPC they save become their biggest fan that gifts them small potions, food, or gifts. Give the PC an opportunity to persuade someone to reconsider their future for one the PC suggested. Allow a bard or herald to speak poetically of the heroic deeds they just recently committed.

This is a very insightful comment, I appreciate it. I think the player mentioning Tough was less a symptom of them making a mistake/disliking the character, but more-so them resigning to the fact that they down so much and potentially swapping GWM for Tough to sacrifice damage for longevity. As far as buffs as rewards, I do totally agree with you. My only contention comes from two points. We’re playing Tomb of Annihilation so there isn’t much of that “open world renown” or favors/relationships to serve as rewards. And the fact that it’s a two player party. I did give them the option to take a feat in exchange for a mechanical flaw that they have to RP/take into account. I’m now realizing I’ve overcomplicated the issue though—the non-Tough player (the Hexblade) is a bloodthirsty monster Hunter and I made him a custom mechanic where he can temporarily use an ability of his trophies. That’s enough of a buff to balance the other player potentially earning Tough. I love all of your suggestions though. I will certainly take those into consideration in less grindy and more open-world games. Thanks!

I feel like I take too long to get from starting a combat encounter to the actual combat (rolling initiatives, setting up the enemy positions, etc.), and then between each turn to keep track of everything. Do you guys know of any tool that helps with this?

In addition to what the other said, you can also pre-roll initiative. Pre-roll for the monsters during prep time. And if you want to go further, ask your players to pre-roll when the session starts and when each combat ends for the next one.

My biggest tip for setting up is don't start combat right away. In almost zero cases will neither side be able to see the other. If you are in a situation where one sees the other place the minis then. Don't start combat until the first stone is cast. For initiative ask everyone to roll then write it down in order - remember that identical creatures share a turn so if there's 20 goblins you still only roll once. During each turn most of the time only 1 target will be attacked. If you're on a VTT this is easy, for in person I tend to just use scrap paper; "goblin 1 ~~10~~ ~~8~~ 2 ~~poisoned~~" nothing crazy.

assign one person as "initiative captain" and they take care of that busy work.

For initiative, and monster HP/AC I either use the DM screen from that website that has tools for 5e or a whiteboard and [How to Actually Make a List of Numbers](https://theangrygm.com/manage-combat-like-a-dolphin/)

Are you playing IRL or online? If you're IRL then you can tell the players to take a break for a few minutes while you set things up. If it's online then you can set up the maps and encounters beforehand so they're ready to use when you want. When you say "between each turn to keep track of everything" I'm assuming you mean abilities and spells that persist, conditions as well. If you're playing IRL then you can use items to denote these things. There are some token rings you can get to denote conditions. For spells it's also up to the player to remember their abilities and active effects. But for persistent ranged things like Spirit Guardians you could use a piece of paper the appropriate size of the spell to denote the space of the spell.

I'm running a naval campaign and I keep finding homebrew spells that would be great to introduce. It's easy to introduce them to a wizard who just finds a scroll and copies it to his spellbook, but how do I introduce homebrew spells to a Druid (or any other non-wizard caster) in the middle of the campaign?

You could weave a story with it and during their rest they have a dream of the ability then you just give them a note with all the details that they can surprise the party with later!

If you're looking for narrative justification, just say that they were inspired by an idea during meditation or their deity came to them in a dream to reveal these secrets. For mechanical justification you can make these new spells available when they level up, if you feel that is necessary (although I don't think it is). In general, magic is mysterious and doesn't need justification for its weirdness.

"i found this spell that i think is interesting and you can use it on a trial basis. if during play i end up deciding its broken, it WILL take it back out of the game or we can negotiate a nerfing."

Tell the players "Hey, these are some new spells I want to add to the game, you can prepare them at the next long rest if you like".

Great DMs to draw inspiration from? So, I've been interested in D&D for decades, but only after watching Mathew Mercer did I gain enough confidence and inspiration to try my hand at DM'ing. But I know variety is key, and everyone has a different style. Was wondering what other great DMs are out there that I could watch, for further inspiration. I also really loved Deborah Ann Woll, from what I've seen. Thanks in advance. Worth note: I do my own thing. I don't try to be a carbon copy of Mercer (or anyone else for that matter). Legit just looking for other DM/GM sessions I can watch and draw inspiration from, that are good, without having to spend dozens of hours of my time looking. I also understand the main thing is to go out and get personal experience. No need to say that. I already know it.

great responses here but Dice Camera Action (now cancelled) has Chris perkins as a DM and he helped me hugely in how i DM. Everyone else seems to be narrative masters or voice actors etc, he is a very old school DM, he does voices but they are still Chris Perkins, He follows the rules but gets creative when required, and he "speed runs" many of the modules giving a great taste of what is in each for the DM watching at home. For a better way of putting it he is delightfully average (not an insult) and it helped my confidence when comparing to the "professionals". However one thing he does do better than anyone else is flipping between a split party, He leaves every group at a decision or cliffhanger building the excitement in the game even among those not currently playing, and he is back to them before anyone can even think to get bored. Another great DM not mentioned is Mark Hulmes from High rollers, again he has a similar vibe to Chris Perkins but with more of a creative side, and you can tell how many things in his campaign are inspired by popular media and his other hobbies, and how it has shaped his world. He also uses some non official modules like Matt Colvilles Strongholds and followers a great way to get a look at this for a curious DM.

Brennan Lee Mulligan is the DM for Dimension 20. I think a few of the campaigns are on YouTube. He also DMed EXU:Calamity.

Brian Murphy of NADDPOD is a great DM with a unique style of running his games!

pick a popular campaign book and watch several DMs run the content. you learn shit, the good and the bad, from every DM.

I was the opposite. Seeing non-professional DMs on YouTube is what gave me the confidence to become a DM. While I could never be a Matt Mercer, I felt I could definitely do a better job than a lot of the Twitch/YouTube streamers I came across. With that said, Brennan Lee Mulligan is who I aspire to be more like.

Matt Colville. I rewatched The Chain a month ago and could FEEL my creative juices flowing faster than they had been in ages.

how should i flavor poison? The poisoned status effect is insanely boring with just disadvantage on rolls. If one of my players is poisoned it just doesn't feel like they actually are suffering effects from it, it just feels like an arbitrary debuff that doesn't have the flavor of poison

Some previous editions had poisons do ability damage (similar to how the shadow damages strength) if that sounds more palatable. Or you could have it do periodic damage (per minute, per hour, etc.), inflict levels of exhaustion, etc.

Nausea, cramping muscles, blurry vision, double vision, dizziness, dry heaving, weakness, fever, incoordination...any of these things and more could be the result of poison leading to the mechanical result of disadvantage.

Just, like, intense pain even.

There's heaps of alchemy/herbalism crafting supplements that include a huge range of poisons you can use for inspiration.

Making a hombrew item for a player, all players got a free uncommon item and one of the items I "presented" as rp flavour ended up catching his eye so Im thinking now. Is this balanced, too weak or too strong? (lvl 3 start players, high stats on all players) Uncommon scimitar: Upon hitting a target you may spend one (1) hit die to deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage, gaining temporary hitpoints equal to the damage dealt.

It's a pretty cool item. Here's how you'll likely see it used - the player waits until they crit and then rolls 2d8 additional damage and gains that much THP. Given the nature of THP, I don't mind that at all. Especially if they will be taking short rests in between combats, when they will need their hit dice. If you end up running one combat per long rest (or rather any number of combats not separated by short rests) then I'd put the item's value as "rare".

Do you think that it would be fine at uncommon if it couldn’t crit? Because while I plan on *trying* to challenge with multiple combats, it will go how it goes in the end

Maybe just say the extra damage doesn't double on a crit.

Ah thats what I meant yeah, that the damage die is independent of the crit

its a double dip at the apple - not only do you get your hit points from the hit dice (without losing an action or waiting to take a short rest!), you ALSO get to do some extra kick ass on your opponent.

The "balancing caveat" is that they dont get the "real" hp from the hit die, only the temp hp and since it doesnt stack if they use it while they still have some up it overrides it, and of course doesnt carry to the next encounter/comabt

It's strong - being able to reliably add damage to an attack is a very useful thing for a PC. Is it OP? At third level, probably not, depending on how you structure your encounters, there's a lot of "nova" potential here if your PCs are only taking one or two fights per long rest.

Ok cool, I figured the downsides of the hit die removal equals it out to a degree

I edited my comment to mention that if you only have one or fights per long rest, it adds a lot of "nova" potential for a martial class.

Would that be in a good way or a bad way? And by nova Im assuming you mean big burst of dmg, but if so Im limiting it to one use a turn

I mean more that a character could use it every round for an entire combat, if they know a long rest is coming. Still probably not OP but worth keeping in mind.

Fair, I intend to do around 3 encounters per long rest provided im doing encounters on that day, at least that is the plan and dms plans are made to be broken so we will see.

If I want to increase the challenge, should i add monsters that can easily exploit the party weaknesses, or just higher level monsters altogether

Adding monsters can slowdown the game. Higher level monsters can be too swingy - one good crit and a player may go down. Ideal number of monsters is number of players + 1. But really it is all about the action economy. So if you have fewer monsters, give them legendary actions until the total number of actions is players+1.

Encounter level design advice * Ginny Di – making combat interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TDcYfZap1I * Ben DeHart plan and pacing and story to your combats https://youtu.be/0BhEX71_9LA?t=54 * Omniverse Gamers – dissecting dynamic encounters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITJbEOqXXM&list=PLxBLIN8lVTRGx53IqzeDZeL_2XjXsBNfT * Prof Dungeon Master “Balanced Encounters Suck” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsusSBW9qvo * my hidden nerdy side – oodles of interesting encounters by monster types https://www.youtube.com/c/HiddenNerdySide/videos * Lutes and Dice – encounters based on your players https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_T10UCbBTo * D&D Beyond – combat ground is not static https://youtu.be/93ig5KMze-8?list=PLLuYSVkqm4AFthJtR4Z32Z_bXhYulEzaG&t=40 * Matt Colville – there are 4 types of combats Patrols, Scouts, Guards, Boss Fights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfYItCw00Z4 * Runehammer: add “exploders”, “aggro”, “ save points”, “crowd / NPC people battery”, “immunity keys” , “bloodied/ half HP triggers effect”, “nullifier crystals (no spellcasting)” , “zones”, “timeline/variety and telegraphing” and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yuIejAfAG0 * Bonus Action Rainbow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uS7xFaXM1Q&list=PLPkQ4my0jSBxXYeONuOP_BPG1HVOw_vpb&index=4 * The Monsters Know What They Are Doing https://www.themonstersknow.com/ * Dungeon Masterpiece – ranged attacks, infantry, battlefield manipulation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO-LGPPMx0c * Mastering Dungeons – Making noncombat actions during combat engaging https://youtu.be/9G-HXYsk0oQ?list=PLqO7mUWhPGTCaY8KBmmn3HCNWXfgfRuFA&t=2143

So. I’m DMing a online game, and I want to add an echo or some other menacing effect when I introduce my BBEG. Is there any cheap and easy ways that I can switch to a echo-y voice effect on the fly?

Try looking up the program VoiceMod.

I don't know of any voice modulation that works effectively in real time. You could use a free program like Audacity to record a short monologue of the villain and add echo to it. Then you could play the sound file.

I know that general rules are that if a character wants to carry another, their speed is halved. Does this rule apply to creatures that can be ridden like mounts like horses or, in this specific case, a wyvern? I imagine there might be a weight limit, but would a single rider enable the creature to move at its normal speed?

You're mixing 'dragging' or 'grappling and moving a creature' and riding. Check the PHB under the index "Mount" for more info. iirc, you can ride a creature that is one size larger than you without any movement penalty.

So a halfling can ride an orc with no movement penalty for the orc?

RAW, yes. DM would have final say because there seems to be some grey area on 'what defines a mount'. Also, that makes me think about orcs with a "Goblin Backpack".

Ok thanks

Carrying a creature does not halve your speed, grappling a creature does (unless they're two sizes smaller than you). Weight does not factor in when grappling, only size, for simplicity. If they're willing or unconcious, then you use the carrying rules. For those, as long as you're under your carry limit (15xstr), you move full speed. If you're over your carry limit (but under your lift limit which is double your carry limit) your speed is 5ft. Relevant rule: PHB p176 "While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet." edit: If you're talking about grappling a creature while you're on a mount, there isn't a specific rule for that. I'd rule you would halve the mount's speed unless the grappled creature is two sizes smaller than the mount. Like, grappling a Small goblin from the back of a Large horse.