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Basically just the title. 5 players in 5e at first level. My party wants to do it for a one-shot but haven't thought much beyond that. They've asked me (the DM) for recommendations on which domains would be a good idea.

Bonus points if you can think of a god they could all share and still have the domains make sense. Looking at a fairly generic fantasy setting, happy to work it around good ideas as needed.

If you have ran a campaign for six months and your players are above level 5, let them acquire griffons! I tried that in my weekly game and it was a great experience. Being able to fly around the kingdom gave my players so much freedom, and some of them really connected with their pets and crafted special armor and Horseshoes of Speed for them, which enhanced their roleplay and character customization options. They still can't feasibly take them into dungeons, so it doesn't really matter for game balancing when we are dungeon crawling, which is the juice of the gameplay challenge of D&D.

In my case, my PCs became high ranking agents of the Zhentarim a received their griffons as a perk when they were level 7, but in a different party you could allow a druid to befriend a group of wild griffons, or a barbarian to save a group of captured griffons from being sent to the City of Brass where they will be forced to pull flying chariots, or a bard to save a bunch of griffons forced to perform in a circus. If you are in Waterdeep, griffons are already quite easy to obtain, so the Lord's Alliance could give them as reward. Up to you! I'm certain your players will be excited with the freedom it will allow them, and I don't think it can do any harm to a game! And let me know if you already did something like that and how it went down in your campaign.

Obviously I know it depends on the DM. But I want to know what to look for besides good reviews. I always thought payed d&d games were a scam. But a few good friends said it was a good option. I just want to know if it would be worth paying for a d&d session every week or just saving the money for lunch at work 😅. I've been struggling to find a actual online campaign that doesn't die within session 3 due to scheduling issues or the DM making it a novel about their own OCs

I need a funny, memorable name for a kobold butler who is currently serving a Gold Dragon. I'm thinking his first name could be Archibald but im lost on what his last name would be.

Hey folks! It's been about a season since the last time I answered all your questions. I had to cancel a game this afternoo, so I thought it might be time once again to ask r/DnD what your questions are about the profession. Here's a quick copy-paste from the last time I posted:

• The vast majority of my work is online, with clients who have been with me for years.

• Most of my campaigns are completed, with an average of ~80 sessions per adventure, all weekly. Many of my clients have been with me through multiple campaigns. My D&D/PF2e games have all been levels 1-20.

• Right now, I am running 8 regular campaigns. They include D&D 5e, PF2e, SF2e, ROOT, Draw Steel, Daggerheart, and Slugblaster. I have run over a dozen other systems successfully in the past. A few are for private groups that reached out to me for bespoke campaigns.

• I also do birthday parties, bachelor parties, etc. But the income from that is negligible.

• I charge $30 per seat per session, although I started 6 years ago at $10 per seat. Table max of 5 players, 3 hours per session.

• It's enough to make a living! This has been my main source of income for over 5 years. I live on my own in a one-bedroom with my partner in an apartment with my own office, go out and eat with friends, even take vacations occasionally. I am Canadian, but I do have many colleages in the US with the same deal.

• There are dozens of us! Dozens! Well, probably more than even that. According to Startplaying, over 500 GMs have run over 1000 games each since the site has been up.

• My client base is relatively diverse, and quite progressive. Most of my players are just people who want to play more games at a level of commitment/consistency you can't get with friends.

• I do know some full-timers that make 6 figures. No streaming or amazing social media gimmick. They just absolutely bust their asses doing 60-80 hour weeks.

What do you got for me this time Reddit? Want to get into the industry yourself? Or do you just want me to tell your DM he's wrong about Bonus Actions?

Context:
I am a relatively new player in a fresh campaign (we’re heading towards session 5 now I believe) with some friends, one of whom is also our DM. We’re all in college and half our party has never played much if at all.

The Issue:
I have a very basic understanding of D&D and have really enjoyed getting to learn more about it. It’s even more fun because I’m getting to learn with some of my best friends.

However, our DM, bless their heart, is beginning to wear on mine and several others’ nerves. They’re a very kind person and we love them so dearly, but sometimes talking with them takes so much energy.

We hadn’t even ended our third session for more than a few days before they texted every player about character ideas for the next campaign. I’m all for being prepared, but that felt very excessive and overwhelming, especially since most of us are juniors/seniors with full class loads and schedules (we’re lucky all of our weekends were clear). Even more so, they are constantly talking about the campaign, even when no one else has brought it up or even WANTS to discuss it.

We began leveling up our characters, and they took it upon themselves to bring up updating character sheets whenever they could, both to me and several others. When one of my friends pushed back and told them that she was very busy with assignments and school and she’d get to it when she could, the DM set up a time “to talk it over” without asking her or even making sure she wanted help. They did this with several people who were just as vocal about wanting a little break from campaign talk.

What makes me even more upset is that my s/o is part of the campaign, but he doesn’t go to our university, so he calls in over discord. He was so excited to be able to play with us and we all were happy to have him.

The DM has essentially communicated to me that they do not want to have to deal with the “inconvenience” of my s/o playing over call, so they’re killing his character off. Now, I’m not sure if this is an agreement he and the DM had, because he’s conveyed to me that he knew about it, but he’s still so disappointed because he doesn’t get to see all of us very often due to work and other obligations, and he just wanted to have a good time with everyone.

As a whole all of us players have communicated the overwhelm and frustration to our DM, but they haven’t been receiving it well. We’re trying to be gracious because this is their first time DMing, and they do an amazing job, but the overbearing and obsessive behavior is growing to be a little much.

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated, as we’re all at our wits end.

EDIT:

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice. Some of it was a bitter pill for me because I get a lot of anxiety when it comes to confrontation/hard conversations. I for sure am overthinking this and will be taking initiative on how to get the ball rolling.

To all the DMs out there, I love and admire the passion and work you all put in and I know that this experience is not malicious or a reflection of you all and the effort you put into making the game enjoyable.

Wish me luck, and once again thank you for your feedback! (:

What would be a feasible way that the wizards tower in Luskan could be destroyed?
My DM stated its an artifact, and cannot be damaged by normal and magic means. And plane shifting it to another dimension is definitely out of the question.

Just wanting to confirm if this is within the rules…

My Arcane Trickster Rogue wants to use short swords on those occasions when he can’t avoid melee. He normally hangs back and uses his shortbow with True Strike.

Is it within the rules (2024) to:

Attack with short sword and Booming Blade as his Action. If he misses, he Disengages as a bonus action and moves behind another player character for safety, ready to try again next turn.

If he hits, he then attacks again as a bonus action (using the light property of the short sword) at Advantage (Vex weapon mastery). If he hits with this attack, he gets sneak attack damage, (due to Advantage) less one die to Disengage and move away behind another player character, to swoop in next turn to attack again (at Advantage).

If he misses with the second attack, he will just have to brace himself for any comeuppance his target may wish to lay on him.

He does not have Duel Wielder feat.

Any comments appreciated.

Hello! I like to make miniature scenes, and am super proud of this one. I carved the lute and staff from basswood, the daggers are coffee stirring sticks. I used an old earring for the sword that I added detailing to and used fabric scraps for the pack and quiver. The fire comes out so it can turn on and off.

Thanks for taking a peak at my little hobby! I’m going to try to sell this and others at a local craft show in November, but this one might get priced ridiculously high so it comes back home with me… hahaha.

I ordered this thing from WOTC in 09/2022. It showed up this Wednesday!!!
I wish I was kidding.
Either way, a group of my students are very excited to start!
I like the intro one shot. It has you searching for a silver bowl more or less and they fight a few goblins to start. However, does anyone have any recommendations on a shorter campaign they loved that would work for 12 year olds?

Dragon punchy boy that I drew a few months ago Not much backstory behind this guy none at all really lol. I think I was just going through subclasses to draw and the one with the dragons always gonna stand out. I put him on a mini stand which is fun but I’ll prolly put more effort into the stand next time I do one of these.
I’m happy with how the dragons and upper body look but I’m whatever about the rest.
Uuuh if you’ve got any ideas for him or some name suggestions let me know below,
Thanks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I’ve always been curious about magic items and whatnot, It’s been on the back of my mind and I just wanted to ask which magic items would be useful for the other members on this sub. Personally my fav magic item is the perfume of bewitching

Hey currently running a duel wielder and running duel scimitars.

Level 5 pallidin

I am in search of a religious sword that was stolen. It is a long sword.

Just wondering if the nick weapon mastery needs to be attributed to my primary hand attack or my secondary weapon?

Hi everyone, I have an unusual request.

When I was 10 years old or so (in the 00s) my father taught me how to play D&D, and let me read his old modules and advantures that he had. Village of Hommlet, Die Vecna, Die!, ect

These modules and books were tragically destroyed in a house fire around 2009 or so. What wasn't burned , got destroyed by water damage from the fire department, so I have no way to access them anymore.

One of the modules that really stands out in my memory was one where the players are in... I think the setting's equivalent of The New World, or a continent that was only recently discovered.

Anyhow, the thing that burned this into my brain was that in the module, the players enter a tavern and encounter a juggler who is juggling three live rats. The juggler tosses the rats to the players as they enter, and if the players manage to catch a rat they get some kind of blessing?

Does anybody know what module this could be? I'm sorry if this is jumbled or vague - it was literally around 23 years ago, I think, and I was a little girl at the time and just the memory of a juggler juggling rats and the players getting a blessing if they catch them has stuck in my mind for literally over 20 years.

EDIT; It is either from ebberon and 3.5 in "Prophecy's Unwitting Servant" where the players encounter a urchin juggling rats, or " The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (Black Box)," which also has someone juggling rats

(Reposting because I got heated and failed the Chill Check horribly. Sorry about that.)

"Don't blame me! My character just does whatever she wants half the time!" Said our Druid after she openly and maliciously tried to abandon our party in an ambush that got our Artificer and Rogue kidnapped by mage cultists.

I didn't PK her right then and there because I played a Lawful Good Fighter, a PSI Warrior to be specific. I was determined to stay the goodiest-goodie-good a goodie-good can be and I was not about to break character.

After ignoring her many pleas for us to come up with a plan, because we either rescue our friends now or they get carted away to parts unknown, we barely saved them in time with the Wizard surprising the cultists with a carpet bomb of fireballs (our Wizard has a dark sense of humor and yelled at the cultists to "Get Nagasaki'd!!") and me smashing the backwheels while the cultists were spooked. Our Druid, despite being mad at us for refusing to listen to her, did participate by turning into a bear and maul the cultists while the Wizard and I freed the Artificer and Rogue and let them get their payback.

We won with a fabulously one-sided fade ran in our favor, but the damage was done and everyone above game was not happy with the Druid. I don't know how our Druid managed to do worse than say "It's what my character would do!" But she did.

I’m trying to make a character thay my players will get attached to and eventually have the character betray them. I’m making a frontline cleric and need help with the character herself as Im very new to being a dm. I have her base stats as I plan to level her up with the party but at an accelerated rate (EX: level 10 while the party is level 5-7)

Could anyone shoot me some advice?

I will be possibly try and DM the Caves of Chaos adventure for a small group of friends (2-3) and am actually having a single trouble, the caves are all accessible from any direction you reach them.

Since most of them are for level 2+ how can I prevent the player from a TPK because they go in unprepared? I don't want to tell them straight-on "no", so am asking for ways to have the Caves unaccessible at the beginning

Recently, I visited a close friend who had a brief stay in our local inpatient psych facility. I brought their Magic cards to them and we had a great time playing, though I am not the biggest Magic fan. I noticed the besides my friend and I, a lot of the patients and staff seemed really excited about this game and joined in to play. Some patients also mentioned that they enjoyed DND. This experience has left me thinking about if it would be feasible to try running DND one shots at my local hospital, as this game has such amazing benefits for mental health.

I have been playing for some years now and have dmed a couple times (though I’d still consider myself a beginne dm). I’d love to know if anyone here has done something similar or works at a hospital and has any advice :)

I may have gotten my character into an unfortunate circumstance.

Our party needs to chart passage through a desert to find an old pharaoh, and slay his zombified form to end an undead plague. Given a current “lockdown” of the city we’re in, due to said plague, we’ve needed to resort to underworld criminals to smuggle us out. It would have cost all of our money to get there, but in my incredible wisdom (+0) and big brain (-2), I proposed an alternative.

This particular criminal enterprise houses elephant sized beetles that fight each other, allowing people to bet and possibly win big. I decided, “let me provide your clientele a show. I beat one of your beetles, you get us there for free” - directed to the lady running the whole show.

My biggest concern, is that I made a terrible choice and my character could be killed. I was told no weapons (which are my arcane focus), and no armor (bringing me to a measly 11ac). My character has 25STR, but that’s all he’s really got going for him when he’s so stripped down. How would you go into this fight?

My current plan is finding a way to flip it over; breaking back legs to make it easier on myself. Any other imaginative ideas?

Hey, guys.

I am sorry if this isn't the right place for this. I am just so overwhelmingly upset about something that happened yesterday.

I have this character I've been playing across multiple campaigns for a very long time (over a year, and he was my very first D&D character).

And even though I play him in multiple settings, I always made sure the campaigns and their timelines would fit together, so it didn't feel unreasonable for him to be where he was. To me, they were all parts of the same story.

I was always extremely careful with him, knowing he would always choose to flee rather than fight, because I wanted him to live no matter what.

And then yesterday I played a lower-level version of him, at a point in his life I had never played before. This was supposed to take place before the other campaigns, so everything I had already played with him was still in his future.

And then, because a friend made a horrible decision, our group had a TPK. It was one of those decisions followed by: "That's what my character would do."

We had talked our way into a cult gathering and were still undercover. Then he drew his swords while we were surrounded. We shouldn't have fought, but he started it. There was nothing my character could do to escape, and we all died.

I am angry, more upset than I should be, probably. It is just a game, after all. But... he was a character who embodied everything I wish I could be sometimes. I loved thinking of him in different scenarios, playing him in any campaign.

But now, to me, it doesn't make sense anymore. He died. Across all those campaigns, in my head. I know, I'm overreacting. I am just venting, really. Sorry if none of this makes sense.

It’s just as the title says. We are nearing the end of my campaign, and the players have been slowly but surely gathering allies to help them defeat the BBEG and his armies.
I’m struggling with the mechanics for this final battle. Picture the Battle of Helm’s Deep in LOTR. Lots of individually skilled PCs and NPCs, large armies trying to break through into the city gates as well as a battle field outside the gates. I am a bit out of my element here, especially since there is 7 players at my table. How do you balance everything properly, without having individual soldiers in both armies rolling for initiative?

We had a mini siege on a beach a few session ago where I played around with some different ideas (including players having smaller groups to command, enemy attacks were on a timer, etc) but the party wasn’t very engaged with it.
Does anyone with large scale battle experience have any advice or sources I could use? Thanks in advance!

So I'm soon to be running a game that I've been working on for a little while now. The only hurdles to get past are session 0, and getting people motivated to create characters. I talk about d&d fairly often around friends now, including the people who are interested in playing in my game. The thing is, I asked my brother and another friend "do you guys think I should set a date for us to do session 0, or do you think you need more time?" To which my brother said "I'm going to be pretty busy for the rest of the year". That's actually a reasonable response, but idk what exactly to take from it. Other than it sounding like he won't be able to commit to plans soon, idk if he wants me to wait or if he just wants me to know he isn't going to prioritize a game right now.

Every post about approaching player problems on this sub has the same answer: talk to your players. I know this, but I still wanna share what I'm thinking. It's hard to approach someone who may not have your interests at heart (or is unable to do so due to responsibilities).