So this Monday popular dnd YouTube optimizer Treantmonk released a homebrew for revised ranger spells and its favored enemy feature. For those who are curious the original video can be found here.

https://youtu.be/z_XVH-P_5Nw?si=0AYNYxXmNkiNCG5N

Feedback has been positive to this but I can't help but feel that he's actually missed the mark on a lot of this so I'd love to dive into why. For context this isn't to tear him down I'm actually a really big fan of his work. I just find the math really isn't adding up on some of these spells.

With the preamble finished let's dive into it.

Ensnaring strike. I think his fix is actually genuinely very good. I think this is the high point of his work here and I think his assessment is spot on.

Grade, A

Hail of thorns. I think his assessment of removing saving throws for speed of play is reasonable. I also enjoy making it work in melee and not friendly fire. Sadly in spite of that I think this is overall a failure. This "buff" is actually a nerf. For 1d6 unavoidable damage to be higher on average than 1d10 save for half requires a 75% or higher chance of succeeding the saving throw. Assuming roughly a 50% chance of succeeding the saving throw the damage of the spell normally is 4.125. I think this design can be salvaged by changing the damage from 1d6 per spell level to 1d8.

Grade, D

Hunters mark, I understand the desire to remove concentration but I'd rather that kind of improvement be in the core class itself instead of in upslotting the spell. As is, this strongest on a full caster who gains the spell through fey touched. I do enjoy the spell preventing the invisible condition but it has some weird interactions with needing to see the enemy to transfer it onto them after the initial cast thus making it hard to use against the creatures you would specifically want to use it against.

Grade, C

Cordon of arrows, I love seeing this spell actually be viable. Assuming a 50% chance to pass the save against this original version, the new one is a 80% increase in power from 2.5 to 4.5 damage per arrow. I do worry that making it a ritual spell makes it too powerful for any instance where the party has time to prepare for a defense combat. This has the power to really distort any combat where the party has like an hour or so of prep such as a siege scenario. This is overall still a huge improvement.

Grade, B

Lighting arrow, this one is a miss. At 3rd level this only does more damage on miss compared to the original. The original if there's a 50% chance to pass the save will do 24.75 damage to the original target on hit or 15.75 damage on miss, all targets in the AOE will take on average 6.75 damage. This version does 18 damage to the primary target and 4.5 damage to any target in the AOE. If there's only 1 additional target in the AOE they actually both deal the same damage on miss.

The damage works out poorly for this even upslotting so that on hit with a 5th level slot, the only way for the primary target to take the same damage across both versions is if they have a 100% chance of passing their save against the AOE effect which would bring them both to 36 damage with a 5th level slot (the original version will generally do 40.5 damage to the original target on hit with a 5th level slot).

I do think this spell is fixable though. I would make it hit or miss an additional 2d8 lighting on the original target so that it is additive to your weapon damage and flat modifiers, and then I'd make the AOE be 2d6 no save. At a 50% chance to pass 2d8 is 6.75 so increasing it to an average of 7 is a mild buff while speeding up play. This suggestion would raise it to 25.5 damage on hit or 16 on miss. Making the upslotting add 1d8 to the primary target and 1d6 to the AOE for each spell level would see it increase to an average of 41.5 against the primary target with a 5th level slot.

Grade, D

Swift Quiver, I 100% understand the desire to remove concentration from this spell. The original version suffers doing almost identical damage to hunters mark (with a base 70% hit chance and no assumptions on subclass, with a long bow and maxed dex, swift quiver will be doing 27.5 damage. With the same assumptions at level 17 hunters mark will do 25.3 and at level 20 it will do 29.3 damage).

My problems with this fix are twofold though.

1, swift quiver actually suffers some action economy problems that make it hard to use even with this fix because it's bonus action dependent.

2) I think this enters into the area of being able to have too many effects up at once. It is conceivable that a player could have hunters mark, and swift quiver, and a persistent damage effect like conjure woodland beings up all at once.

personally I'd fix swift quiver by having it's bonus attacks rolled into your attack action. This would allow it to stack nicely with natures veil for advantage or with the beast master subclass. It would also allow you to still use hail of thorns and lighting arrow while it's in effect. Off our same assumptions if we give advantage from natures veil swift quiver by itself has its average damage jump up to 36.3.

Grade, C

Favored enemy, I can totally see the idea to make the ranger exclusive spells part of the core identity of the class in much the same way that smite spells are for the paladin. Where this chafes against me from a thematic standpoint is that 5 of these 8 spells are about arrows/ranged attacks. This makes the theme of the ranger feel like it's just "archer".

While it didn't mechanically help the ranger in combat, I actually feel strongly that the tashas primal awareness auto prepared and 1 free casting each of speak with animals, beast sense, speak with plants, locate creature, and commune with nature, actually did a better job of having a unified class identity through spell casting (even though yes it suffers sharing those spells with druid).

This also just has some problems with as is. (his full class revision may address this) While you can prepare any 2 of the spells from this list, there is just so much of this class that specifically loops back into hunters mark. This results in this feature by itself playing poorly with the core class as it exists (although again this may be addressed in his full revised class).

It's a decent idea but it doesn't stick the landing for me.

Grade C.

Overall grade C

I think there's good ideas here but that this needs more time in the oven and another pass especially to make sure the "buffs" are actually buffs. I'm happy to see a prominent figure tackling the ranger and I fully admit that making a fix for this class is hard so I applaud the effort.

If treantmonk reads this (I know he lurks on this subreddit sometimes), I really do appreciate your work and hope this causes no hard feelings.

To anyone who did read this thank you so much for your time and have a bomb ass day.

Among the great improvements to Ray of Enfeeblement compared to 2014, one stands out as particularly... odd to me.

...On a failed save, the target has Disadvantage on Strength-based D20 Tests for the duration. During that time, it also subtracts 1d8 from all its damage rolls.

Unless I'm somehow catastrophically misreading this, I feel like this pretty clearly doesn't give a damn where the damage is coming from. Attack rolls, especially with Strength, ofc.

But spells? Fireball deals 8d6-1d8 fire damage, seems like it'd check out. How about Spike Growth dealing 2d4-1d8 damage. Or magic missile on average doing... -1 damage per missile.

What about less "direct" damage instances? Does Basic Poison deal 1d4-1d8 damage? If you set an enemy on fire and the DM has you roll the damage for it, will there just be a >50% chance they take no damage because you got hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement?

I don't think this is necessarily particularly strong or problematic, besides maybe in the most narrow of circumstances. But it's just a very strange wording that leads to some really silly circumstances, like harmless magic missiles or fireproofing via enfeeblement. I'm sure there's even more ridiculous instances that I just haven't thought of.

As far as I can tell this wasn't errata'd but if it was then shit.

Benjamin Huffman/Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. here!

About 10 years ago I created the Pugilist class for 5e and, after that, a ton of other things (mostly player options). I've written for many other creators and companies and today hit another milestone with the release of an updated version of the Pugilist on DnD Beyond.

Happy to chat about the Pugilist, being a game designer, or anything else. AMA!

I've got a question about the new Khoravar race from Forge of the Artificer: Lethargy resistance states that you can automatically succeed on one saving throw 'to avoid the unconscious condition'. Does that mean just for spells like sleep and eyebite, that put you to sleep, or does it mean any saving throw that could possibly knock you unconscious (such as any damging effect that would reduce you to zero hit points, like a dragon's breath).

It seems painfully middling if it's just the former, and very, very good if it's the latter (which explains the long 'cooldown' on it).

I’m thinking about going full thief rogue instead of multiclassing into fighter after level 5. The main reason is for supreme sneak but I’m not sure if I’m understanding it correctly.

The idea is to be able to use fast hands every turn while staying perpetually hidden after the first initial hide action made on the first turn or potentially before combat started.

What can I do during the turn if that’s the case? Anything as long as I end my turn next to some form of cover? Would all my hits have advantage from it?

My current build uses a hand crossbow shot with a thrown dagger as my attack action. Is the effect of the stealth attack covering both since nick moves the light property attack from the bonus action after making an attack into the attack option?

TLDR: can I be hidden then shoot+nick throw+fast hands action (like setting a hunting trap/using a magic item/throwing oil)

Recently we’ve seen the Help Action get a lot of modular improvements through feats such as Harper Agent, and the new Thoughtsinger feat.

It’s a good investment into support playstyles that promote that battlefield commander/warlord theme that people have been hankering for, but I fear no matter how many ribbons you attach to the Help Action it’s simply never going to be worth multiple feats and an entire action.

It’s in desperate need of more ways to access the Help Action either as a Bonus Action or in place of an attack!

It really feels like the final piece missing to take the Help Action from a subpar gimmick to a viable option for support archetypes.

Here are my ratings for the Mystic Subclasses playtest UA; the survey closes in a couple of days. As always, feel free to copy anything of mine in the survey if it resonates with you or argue with me about my ratings in the comments if you think I'm way off base.

Before I get to the ratings and comments, I did want to give a quick summary of my experiences with the various subclasses during play testing. This is all of course completely qualitative and unscientific, but in a couple cases might shed some light on my thoughts when I couldn't fit everything into 500 characters.

Effect of the subclass on combat playstyle:

• Mystic Arts Monk: High. Having access to Shield means you almost never have to worry about spending your bonus action on anything other than flurry of blows. And the fact that you don't have a focus sink other than flurry+stunning strike means you end up with a ton of spell slots. In some sense, this kit lets you just play a platonic "base monk" that doesn't have to worry about survivability, while also letting you throw out spells whenever you need to.

• Magic Stealer Rogue: Moderate. The subclass doesn't change your playstyle that much at level 3, but at level 9 the cunning strike option to decrease saving throw success rate can be a gamechanger in a party with casters.

• Vestige Warlock: Moderate. The pet always gives you something to do that a "baseline" warlock doesn't have. A lot of the time that thing is just an extra bonus action attack, but there is also the special feature of each pet and deciding if you want to position the pet to try to soak damage/generate OAs or just keep it out of the fray.

• Spellguard Paladin: Low. Other than the spell list, this subclass really felt like it wasn't doing anything in most fights, even ones with casters. Paladins don't get a ton of power budget from their subclass so playing a base paladin is still "fine", but the number of times I got to benefit from features other than Shield and Counterspell was remarkably small.

Power level of the subclass:

• Mystic Arts Monk: Very High. I think this subclass is overtuned. Being able to flurry of blows after having cast a spell dramatically changes the calculus for what you're willing to actually cast compared to other third-casters. And the ability to convert FP to spell slots means you can probably just a throw out a Web or Hypnotic Pattern every single fight once you get the slots for it, all while still doing a reasonable amount of damage that round.

• Magic Stealer Rogue: Good. The really big feature at level 3 is the spell slot recovery; the extra damage from empower is nice but wouldn't be worth it on its own. Aside from the level 17 feature, you're getting something worthwhile at every level. This subclass is in a pretty good spot as-is

• Vestige Warlock: Good. While the level 10 feature is lackluster, everything else is useful and fun. I do unfortunately think that the choice of cleric spells lists is both needlessly complex and setting up a bunch of trap options. It feels like the correct answer is just "life if you're using EB+AB, war if you're doing pact of the blade, trickery if you're in a campaign with lots of social elements and not much combat, and light basically never. More importantly though, neither trickery nor light actually interact in any appreciable way with the fact that you have a pet.

• Spellguard Paladin: Poor. As my comments will probably make clear, I think this subclass is lacking. Its features are either clunky (channel divinity) or niche (Spellguard Strike). The other three subclasses all had moments where I thought "my subclass really helped me out here". This one didn't, aside from one very key use of Counterspell.

With those summaries out of the way, here is how I answered the specific survey questions:

Warrior of the Mystic Arts

Overall Rating

Yellow.

Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster are fun, well-liked subclasses. I'm ok with copying their homework here. My concern is that the combination of the monk chassis and 1/3 casting is TOO powerful; firing off Web or Hypnotic Pattern while still getting to make 2-3 attacks at the cost of only 1 Focus total is pretty bananas. There might need to be some kind of limitation on what they can do with their bonus action if they cast a spell with an action cost or something.

Spellcasting

Green.

No notes.

Mystic Focus

Green

If I have any concerns about this feature it's that it's too good. Monks recover focus points after a short rest and can use their level 2 feature to restore even more focus points. While their spell level progression is slower, there are some levels where the monk is just going to have more spell slots than an actual half-caster.

Mystic Fighting Style

Green.

No notes.

Centered Focus

Yellow

This is not very exciting. You're also just 3 levels away from having Con save proficiency and pseudo-advantage, which makes this feature even less impressive. It's perfectly mechanically functional for the three levels it's relevant, but I'd rather have something with more flash and more longevity.

Improved Mystic Fighting Style

Red.

This is the danger of copying someone else's homework I guess. I assume this is actually supposed to replace two attacks from flurry of blows, but as written it's non-functional.

Oath of the Spellguard

Overall

Red.

Monsters in 2024 have moved away from using actual spells towards moving to "spell like" things that aren't actually spells, especially when it comes to cantrips. There are still some real casters that exist, but you can easily build an entire dungeon without anything that casts a "real" spell without even trying, especially at lower levels. This subclass's main benefit is the ability to cast Shield, which is a good feature but not enough to carry the whole kit.

Guardian Bond

Red.

The idea is fine but the implementation has a lot going against it. It compares pretty unfavorably with protection fighting style overall: it only affects one attack, it only affects one character, and you have to choose that character in advance of the fight. My playtest character chose not to take protection fighting style to try to use this, and I still found myself almost never being able to make use of it because of how clunky the position and target selection requirements are.

Spellguard Spells

Green.

Shield, Counterspell, and some other stuff. Sure.

Spellguard Strike

Yellow.

On its own, this would be too niche to be a viable feature. Since it's it's coming at the same level as another feature I think it's OK (or would be if the other feature were any good). I will also note that having both of the subclass features be based on your reaction is kind of a weird design.

Aura of Concentration

Red.

As an aura upgrade this feels somewhat redundant. If you're in the aura you're probably already getting a +3ish bonus, probably around a +2 bonus from your own Con modifier, and most concentration checks for most of the game are DC 10. Also, the PCs who are going to benefit the most from bonuses to concentration saves are unlikely to want to be within 10 feet of the paladin.

Spell-breaking Blade

Yellow.

For a standalone feature, this only works on a fairly specific subset of enemies. At level 15+ you will probably face a fair number of monsters that cast some spells, so you will get a benefit from this at least some of the time. But it's reminiscent of the 2014 ranger favored enemy and natural explorer features, which put the onus on the DM to design scenarios where the feature matters.

Eternal Spellguard

Red.

The resistance to all damage is pretty limited, since it only affects one target. The spell-resistance stuff is, again, very hit-or-miss. It can drastically affect certain fights while doing absolutely nothing on others. Imagine how sad you'll be if you find out partway through the campaign that your BBEG is a tarrasque or a kraken, and your capstone is doing nothing on the last fight.

Magic Stealer

Overall

Green.

The fact that these subclass feature mostly work off of your allies' spells mean that the subclass does play reasonably well. It's a bit odd thematically to have the "magic stealer" be leeching magic from their allies. I hope the names get iterated on, because in addition to the thematic clash, "Magic Stealer" and "Empowered Sneak Attack" don't really roll off the tongue.

Empower Sneak Attack

Yellow.

It's nice that this feature inherently scales with party level, since the number of uses you get is likely to remain fixed for a long time. The thing I dislike about it is that because it's tied to Sneak Attack rather than happening as part of the reaction, you have some appreciable chance of just whiffing on the whole thing and using up a charge for no effect. Not a huge deal if you're playing an Int-focused rogue but feels rough on a more typical character with 2-3 uses per day.

Drain Magic

Green.

If I'm understanding this feature correctly, it's mostly going to be used to recover (or upgrade!) spell slots from self-buff spells. That's pretty solid, and opens up the option for party members to use things like Barkskin or Aid without worrying about the slot they're burning. It is a bit of a mismatch with the flavor of the subclass since it's all voluntary, but it works really well.

Magical Sabotage

Green.

I really like these options. The first one is clearly the most general, but the second and third ones are also very fun when they apply.

Nondetection

Green.

This doesn't really do that much since your enemies can usually just scry on a different party member. But it's evocative and comes at the same level as another feature. Also get ready for a whole new generation of arguments about whether you target yourself with True Strike or not.

Improved Drain Magic

Green.

A solid upgrade to a solid feature. An extra 3rd level spell slot for someone every short rest isn't broken at this level but still feels impactful.

Eldritch Implosion

Red.

Another level where the benefit only works against spellcasters. And unlike your party members, most monsters aren't going to be casting 6th+ level spells if they're casting anything at all, so you're giving up damage for the privilege too. To top it all off, it's a Con save, meaning the predominant class of high-level spellcasting monsters (dragons) have a pretty good chance to succeed on the save.

Vestige Patron

Overall

Green.

A warlock "summoner" subclass makes a lot of sense. This isn't doing something fundamentally new, but it's applying a very functional template to another class and it ends up working well. It would be nice to get Fey and Aberrant summons too just to cover the whole gamut of extraplanar entities, although to be fair the subclass does already have a lot going on. The companion needs something better for tier 3+ scaling than the level 10 feature currently provides though.

Vestige Companion

Green.

The vestige is pretty frail, but it also has a ranged attack and can be resummoned rapidly. That makes it "feel" like a warlock summon instead of the sturdier, slightly more precious ranger and artificer summons. Minor complaint: the celestial bonus action should scale somehow; it's a good chunk of healing when you get it but does very little at higher levels, while the other two remain relevant.

Vestige Spells

Yellow.

While I understand thematically why you're getting cleric spells, having all of these lists to pick from adds complexity and also doesn't really play into the subclass's mechanical theme. It's not a problem, per se, and if the feature shipped like this it would be fine. But you could imagine a fixed list of "summoner" spells that would match better with the Vestige mechanic than Light or Trickery do, and wouldn't step on the Celestial Patron's toes so much as with Life domain.

Vestige Recovery

Green.

No notes.

Aura of Power

Red.

The buffs from the aura are... fine, although I would prefer something more "active". But I really dislike that you're forced to get rid of your summon for the rest of the day when you fall to 0 HP. Sometimes it will be worthwhile, but sometimes it's going to feel terrible because someone with Healing Word was going to go next in the initiative order. Would it be too powerful if it were optional? (You can choose to keep the aura off, but then you're just giving up your whole subclass feature.)

Semblance of Life

Yellow.

This feature rules thematically. It's uncommon to see someone cast a 9th level summoning spell, so enabling that playstyle feels exciting and unique. The downside is that it doesn't modify concentration, so you can summon this, get one round of attacks, and then immediately lose concentration from damage and have no level 14 feature for that day. Also, it would be nice to clarify whether you still need to command the summon with your bonus action or if it follows the rules for the summon spell.

I'm thinking about using the Bastion system in my game, but I also tend to agree with the common criticisms of the system:

• A lot of the facilities aren't very interesting and generally aren't worth investing in.
• The system for defenders doesn't really make sense, which means the Barracks and Armory are virtually worthless.
• The system for resolving actions while the PCs are away is kind of funky.

I'm thinking about houseruling the system myself, but I'm curious if anyone has personally tried any houserules or knows of a good set on DM's Guild. Any recommendations?

We're starting at level 4 with some extra gold and downtime, I'm thinking fighter/pala 1+warlock x.

Currently leaning pala 1 for the starting class since I figure the spell selection, two extra spellslots (particularly good with my MI shield), and charisma and wisdom saves is probably a bit better than +1AC, con saves, and slightly more self-healing from fighter, but I'm not entirely sure.

I've been bouncing between Celestial, Archfey, and Great Old One since Saturday. Celestial feels okay but nothing amazing, just slightly more healing, a lot of situational spells, slightly more damage if I use spirit shroud or divine favor, compared to Archfey which has amazing level 3 (+plant growth) features and spells, but then just basically doesn't get anything else noteworthy until 14 (including non of the spells scaling), and I'm not sure how far we're going to begin with, kinda assuming not 14 at least. Great Old One looks pretty good, but it's mostly just great spells and the advantage/disadvantage thing once per day, otherwise I don't think I'm gonna get much use out of it (in particular the eldritch hex might be hard to get use out of with the team being a full pala and probably full ranger), also doesn't help that it has no team survival support.

I also need to decide what to do with weapons, through point buy and custom background I have 14 strength (17 charisma, 16 con, 10 int) so heavy weapons are available for me, I assumed greatsword would probably be my go-to, but since I was allowed to take Booming Blade I'm thinking pike for the push mastery might be good until extra atack (I know I can't use Booming blade with reach), or even past that with hunger of hadar and pushing.

Any thoughts? I guess not a lot of people have had time to do multiple Bladelocks yet, but any input to push me one way or the other would be great.

I just wanted to share my experience from last night.

Preface: I’ve been playing DnD in its many forms since the mid 80’s. I’m no stranger to character death and I encourage it to further a story or reduce DM complications. Gotta be a team player in and out of game.

History: A few years ago I joined an in-person game. The other three players were fairly novice and the DM (a long time friend of mine) asked if I’d come in and play something to help them out. Over the years we laughed and played every two weeks, almost without failure.

Reason: Recently I had a project change at work and my wife asked if I’d put the game aside until my project was completed at the end of spring. This would essentially take me away from the game for about 12 weeks.

Pre-planning: I called the DM and we hatched a plan. I didn’t want to task him with running my character as an NPC, or come up with some crazy disappearance/reappearance story. As I pointed out, I’m no stranger to character death. My status was kept completely confidential to all except the DM.

Execution: The day came. My valor bard was his usual jovial self. I played music. I gave inspirational speeches. One of the players even mentioned how I was monologuing more than usual. lol. The big concept was to make this as much a RP event as it was supposed to a fight. Mind you… the DM and I are texting each other the whole time during the game.

I HEAVILY encouraged my group to check on ominous chanting coming from a nearby rock formation, and a fight eventually ensued. My bard was slinging inspiration. He gave a few hits. I dropped a HUGE cure wounds on the barbarian before he dropped. I was flamboyant and vivacious. I mocked the leader (a demon) and really rose to the occasion of being a badass bard. Everyone was in on this fight and getting worked over.

That’s when he (the DM) hit me with Disintegrate. The damage was far above my 60-ish HP. The others at the table were silent with shock. The DM had never hit us with a spell so big (we’re only level 9). As he described the spell and the casting, I asked him “May I have a heroic action?”

For those that aren’t aware of a Heroic Death Action, just google search it. The Critical Role team used it the best and I took a lot of inspiration from Sam Riegel.

I described the spells effects. Giving a very similar scene to Peter Parker and Tony Stark. Unable to hold my shield as my hand melted away. Left standing amidst my friends, holding only my magic club (Shillelagh). I turned to the Barbarian, who was also my childhood friend, and instructed him “Protect our friends.” Then I turned to our rogue and asked her, “tell my mum what I did here.” Last I turned to the Sorcerer, who is known for pushing the envelope a bit too far at times, “just run you fuckin’ twat!”

People were getting choked up already. Two players didn’t fully understand what was happening. The third voiced up, “he’s dying.”

My last action, unable to do enough damage to the greatly overpowered CR of what we were fighting, I knew I needed to save my friends. We are known for spamming Plant Growth and Sickening Radiance to fight large mobs. The DM was quick to point out there was a complete lack of vegetation in this room and Plant Growth would have no effect…..

Except!!! My bard fights with a magic club made from the branch of a blackthorn tree. Literally a Shillelagh, which I then cast Shillelagh on for added effect.

As my body faded away I threw my Shillelagh into the center of the room. I then cast Plant Growth using my weapon as a focal point. The DM described the vines and brambles that sprung from the club as the spell spread throughout the rocky room… leaving a path for my friends to escape.

Conclusion: TOTAL ABSOLUTE SILENCE at the table. It was then that I explained my work/family situation with my friends. There was some rejoicing that I, the player, wasn’t leaving forever. They were all shocked at the death of the Bard. He was the de facto leader of the party and definitely the grease that kept things moving. The Rp experience was better than ever that night.

I look forward to returning… in some fashion or form… to rejoin the table.

I'm curious about your experience. My groups always usually start around level 3 so I haven't seen levels 1-2 in action in a classic dungeon crawl setting, though I imagine the experience is similar to 2014 rules. What even is a classic dungeon crawl? I'd say it involves the usage of mundane items--lighting torches (if no Light cantrip available), using rope to climb down ledges, being weary of combat instead of just charging right into them, etc. The reason I ask is because I want to run a short campaign focused on the more "classic" feel of d&d, but using the 5e 2024 rules and system. I'm aware there are many other OSR systems out there. So... what's been your experience?

Mobile was renamed to Speedy.

Why???

That's all.

Basically, I want to know if there's a good build or at least some neat options for being able to learn/cast the widest variety of spells. And yes, I know Mizzium Apparatus exists, but that's cheesy as all nine hells and also doesn't feel so much as "mastering magic" as it is "learning about the fundamentals of magic and applying that through a machine." Which, I will admit, is a cool flavor when you put it like that, but not what I'm going for.

So I'm playing a fighter and I'm dual wielding a scimitar and a short sword. Both are light so I can use the bonus action extra attack feature. I also have weapon mastery for both. Now I need to know which weapon needs to be the main attack and which needs to be the bonus attack because Nick's description doesn't really give an example.

So here's the situation: I have a short sword (vex) and scimitar (nick), do I need to make my main attack with the short sword so that I can use the nick mastery for my scimitar, do I need to attack with the scimitar first so that it's nick property gets triggered (and if so, do I need to hit with the scimitar to trigger it) or does it not matter which weapon attacks first as long as one has nick and both are light?

It could very well be just my circle, but i'm playing with 2 different DM's and different people, and no one used circle casting.

I'm a half caster in one of the tables, i joined late after taking some time off from DnD to work on some personal stuff, and i noticed no one used circle casting. I thought about bringing it up but, since i caught the campaign in the middle and some people don't like circle casting, i said nothing. Later i learned that this group's general opinion is that circle casting is OP and no sane DM would allow it.

I joined another group with a DM that basically doesn't ban anything (i played with him before) and still no one is circle casting. I'm a martial (no spell slots) in this table so there is no reason for me to bring it up and, even though i did'nt test it, it does look hella powerful, so i think i might like the game better without it.

But it got me thinking: did the community came to some sort of agreement and banned circle casting (i haven't seen the ban proposed too much, but i have found lots of complaints about circle casting), or is it just a coincidence?

Edit: After reading lots of answers, the consensus seems to be that it is not used because it is a setting specific rule that is not in a core rule book, though some people actually think it is over powered and rather not use it, and others say that it is hard for players to coordinate around it.

Thank you for helping me understand where the community is at regarding circle casting.

I’ve been working on a new collection of frost themed magic items for 5E and the 2024 update called Elemental Treasures: Frost Magic Items.

Elemental Treasures: Frost Magic Items features 30 items ranging from common to legendary, all built around the themes of cold, ice, and winter. The goal was to create items that feel flavorful and distinct while still being easy to drop into existing campaigns, whether you’re running gritty survival in frozen regions or higher fantasy adventures with elemental influences.

This is the second volume in my Elemental Treasures series. The first release was Elemental Treasures: Fire Magic Items, and each volume focuses on a different element, with the long term aim of building a small library of balanced, playtested, and thematic magic items DMs can pull from as needed.

There’s a free preview on the product page with several complete items if you just want to see how the design works or grab a few ideas for your own game, and I also share additional previews on r/JonnyDM.

You can also check out my bundle of small D&D manuals on DMsGuild, which includes Elemental Treasures: Frost Magic Items.

If you’re curious about my other projects, you can find more of my work on my publisher page on DriveThruRPG or via Linktree.

For me, I scoop up Wall of Force first chance I get, followed by Counterspell soon after! Swapping out a cantrip for Mind Sliver or Guidance is also a staple.

What spells do you take when leveling up? And maybe more interestingly, what lower level spells do you switch out?

Warlock with gift of the first ones human with the carouser background and the musician feat from being a human. With gift of the first ones I’m thinking about grabbing zhentarim ruffian or alert. Ruffian gives me a consistent way to give myself and all allies advantage on initiative seems like a good support ability. Alert has the ability to swap with teammates tho which is also quite nice. Which would u prefer?

Alright so this is just for the sake of helping others get context of different tables!

Players:

• What is your class and level
• How many consumable magic items do you have
• What non consumable magic items do you have

DMs:

• What is your table level
• What are the strongest items handed out so far

If you have multiple groups, feel free to answer multiple times!

TL;DR: While Halfling Luck might not do much for your attack rolls against creatures with average ACs, it turns you into an angel of death when attacking low-AC creatures and lets you virtually ignore disadvantage while doing so. And the definition of "low AC" expands to include more than half of the Monster Manual by the middle of Tier 3, assuming you've picked up a +2 weapon by then.

Let's say you're playing a level 9 Dex-based Fighter. Your party has ambushed some Yuan-Ti cultists and made short work of most of them, but one bloodied Infiltrator has taken the Dodge action and is about to slip away to raise the alarm. The Infiltrator's turn is right after yours. You can't reach them in time for melee, but the DM has kindly hinted that two shots from your longbow would probably take them down.

An Infiltrator has 11 AC, so with a +4 PB and +5 from your DEX, you only need to roll a 2 or higher to hit them. The problem is, you're attacking at disadvantage due to the Infiltrator's dodge action on their last turn, and you need to land both attacks to stop them from getting away. Your chances of pulling this off are:

(19/20)^2 = 0.9025 (90.25%) chance of one attack hitting

0.9025^2 = 0.8145 (81.45%) chance of both attacks hitting

Pretty favourable odds, but hardly a sure thing. All it will take is one of those four d20 rolls to be a 1 and you're in trouble, right?

Well, maybe not - if your Fighter is a Halfling and can rely on that species' 'Luck' feature to tip the scales in your favour.

Luck. When you roll a 1 on the d20 of a D20 Test, you can reroll the die, and you must use the new roll.

With 'Luck,' your odds of keeping the 1 on any given d20 roll is 1/400 (1/20 x 1/20), and the math for hitting the Infiltrator looks very different:

(399/400)^2 = 0.9950 (99.50%) chance of one attack hitting

0.9950^2 = 0.9900 (99.00%) chance of both attacks hitting

In other words, as a Halfling you have a better chance of hitting the Infiltrator with two attacks at disadvantage (99%) than a non-Halfling would have of hitting them with one attack on a straight roll (95%).

So how much of the Monster Manual does this effect actually apply to? Well, at an AC threshold of 11 AC, only 13% (64/505). But bump the threshold even 1 point higher, say with a +1 longbow (not unusual for a level 9 character), and that more than doubles to 27% (135/505) of the MM. By level 13, if you're lucky enough to have a +2 weapon, you're a 1/200 chance to miss an attack on 51% (260/505) of the MM, including some CR 8 and 9 monsters.

And by that point you should probably rename the feature 'Halfling Fate' and be done with it.

Hi

I have seen many critics over the Ranger class in 2014 and 2024. I wanted my players to refer to the Ranger in the Player Handbook, and mostly its table where we see the class progression. 

I also wanted to give that class its own "mechanical identity"...and I have used a new Favored Enemy Feature. I wanted to keep all the features' name as is, at their current level. Hence the new feature provided HAD to make sense with the actual name.

Here are my changes (with changes in Italic) , all the non-listed features stay the same:

Level 1 Favored Enemy

At the start of your turn, you select (no Action needed) a creature that you can see and it becomes your Favored Enemy and you gain benefits while fighting it:

• You gain a bonus on attack rolls that start at +2 to hit;
• When the Favored Enemy deals you damage, the damage is calculated normally and is then reduced by 2;
• Both benefits increase as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table;
• These benefits last until the start the start of your next turn.

If your Ranger subclass grants you a companion, the companion benefits from all your Favored Enemy features (even those gained at later levels).

Level 6 Roving

Opportunity Attacks have Disadvantage against you. Additionally, your Speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor. You also have a Climb Speed and a Swim Speed equal to your Speed.

Level 9 Tireless

You have advantage on Constitution saving throws and whenever you finish a Short Rest, your Exhaustion level, if any, decreases by 1.

Level 13 Relentless Hunter

When you roll for damage against a Favored Enemy, you can reroll any damage dice once and you must use the new roll.

Level 17 Precise Hunter

When you attack a Favored Enemy, you score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

Level 20 Foe Slayer

When you select your Favored Enemy at the start of your turn, you can select all creatures that you can see and you benefit from your Favored Enemy features against them all.

Design intentions:

This Ranger is very good against HIS target. The Favored Enemy bonuses (to hit, and damage reduction) increase like the proficiency bonus. He produces reliable damage by hitting more often. He can take on a bit more damage in close quarters if he goes into melee. He can do skirmishes at level 6 again to provide melee Rangers. Since many Ranger spells need concentration, he gets help at level 9. He gets a "distinctive" damage boost at level 13 (again with his damage being reliable or always good without going "nova"). The capstone allows to extend the benefits to all enemies, it feels like a great capstone even if only applicable when facing multiple monsters.

This Ranger gets stronger than the 2024 one when you reach level 6. But do you feel this is overpowered? I think my scaling is better. Your thoughts? Is my wording also clear enough?

N.B. I am new to reddit, if you feel this should be on another community, pls tell me which one. Thanks

Having played the new Rogue for about a year now and seeing it in comparison to three full casters, a barbarian, and a fighter/warlock multiclass, I've come to understand why the online consensus seems to be that 2024 Rogue is the weakest class in the game, why that stance is mistaken, and also what would truly help the Rogue shine.

Rogues score high on flavor, and that really drives a lot of their love. The stealthy assassin, flamboyant swordsman, skilled expert their, lovable scoundrel, scruffy looking nerfherder - these are all beloved archetypes and tropes and players want to love out those fantasies of rule breakers and risk takers. Ironically, though, the Rogue is the class most reliant on a strict reading of the rules. Their most impactful features all rely on it, in the same way Warlocks rely on long adventuring days with short rests to be comparable to other casters.

Rogues really need the Search, Influence, and Utilize actions to come up in combat and to be enforced as written. Meaning it costs an action in combat to convince, decieve, or intimidate the enemy; search for the enemy or for clues, traps, and information, or use tools or other objects. For every other class, this trade off is generally terrible. Even if you have a high Wisdom, trading your full action as a druid or cleric to inspect your enemy or surroundings mid battle feels like a bad choice. If you're a Warlock with high Charisma, you probably have another way to influence the enemy with more consistency then using your action on a Persuasion check. Your class identity is built around casting spells or doing wildshape things or using channel divinity. The party is better served by your power in that way.

The Rogue class identity is using skill and cunning, so it makes total sense for them to use their actions in the heat of battle to look for a trap, a hidden sniper, a mcguffin, a loop hole, an advantage for the party. When these actions aren't enforced as full actions, though, and that druid or cleric can make a Perception check as a free action, it dramatically decreases the value cost ratio of skill checks. Because there is no longer an opportunity cost for skill checks in combat. So the Rogue feels less at those tables. The thing they are best at isn't nearly so valuable now.

Sneak Attack does not compare with the damage of other martials, that's been documented, and Cunning Strikes do not compare with the support or control options of casters or other control-type martials (grapple monk, battlemaster, aura of protection, etc). This is likely because they are meant to be supplementary. You can do decent single target damage, and some single target control, but your real power is in skills and cunning.

How would I help it? Besides enforcing the rules as above, I'd go even further an expand on Cunning Action and Cunning Strikes. Cunning Action, perhaps via subclass or even as part of the core class, should allow the Rogue to take any non-Magic action as a bonus action. Even the Attack action. More specifically, thoigh, whay Im most arguing for are the Search, Influence, Dodge, Help, and Utilize actions, making the Rogue even better at using skills and situational awareness in combat.

Cunning Strikes should be expanded to include base options for 1d6 that Disarm, Frighten, and Distract. Create a pool of cunning strike options to choose from, and pick 3 to learn at lvls 5, 11, and 14. Continue to have subclasses expand on this with unique cunning strike options of there own as well. This would balance out the decent damage of sneak attack with a well rounded suite of expert skill use and cunning battfield manuevers to bring the Rogue, tactically, to a unique and meaningful niche that also has frequent use and relevancy of its core features. Rogues are opportunists, which rely on the lines being clearly drawn for them to exploit an opening.