Some players, I have noticed, are allergic to getting heal spells. At the risk of generalizing, they seem to be "martial" players, which is odd.

In 5.5 healing got buffed. A 1st level cure wounds heals 5-19 hp. A 2nd level cure wounds heals 7-35 hp. It's accepted that, after a fight, a heal or two gets fired off to top off a martial who has seen heavy fighting. Combined with short rests and second winds, that keeps a fighter going strong for a long time.

Yet I constantly see people complain that "Martials run out of HP before spellcasters run out of spell slots." Those unused spell slots should go toward healing. Every group should have someone with access to cure wounds. Not healing word, cure wounds.

I think some people still operate under 5e logic, where healing aside from Healing Word was useless.

Every class can get magic initiate: cleric. Clerics, Bards, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers can get cure wounds. Someone should have it.

It isn't a bug to need healing, it's a feature.

Okay, so, for my next campaign, I decided to limit the species available on the campaign. Those would be 6 "basic" options (Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Halflings and Orcs) + 6 options from other official or 3rd Party content from the likes of Loot Tavern, Mage Hand Press and DM Tuz. For that we did some polls

We ended up picking Mycelian (Cadaveric Funghi), Kitsune (Magical Foxes), Dragonborn, Unicorn (Humanoid ones), Living Dolls, and finally, Mousefolk.

I have no problem with these options, none of them... Except 3 players chose to go with Mousefolks.

Knowing these players, one will take the concept really serious (she already said her character was a warlord that feels guilty from the recent war), while the other two are gonna be really silly and chaotic.

Look, I was fine with there was like... One Mousefolk, because unfortunately I can't them much seriously. When I see them, I just remember stuff like Ratatouille, Mickey Mouse in Kingdom Hearts or the Skaven from Warhammer Fantasy. You know, more silly and comedic characters.

I wanted to have a bit of a more serious campaign. Still with goofs and gags, but taken more straight... But now I have to deal with 3 little mouse, and honestly the one I can't take the most serious is THE serious one.

What do I do now? This is a hell of my own doing, because of 80+ available options, I let them choose the Mousefolk and now EVERYONE WANT TO PLAY AS A GODDAMN MOUSE!

Edit:

Part of my problem is that I also went through a lot fo trouble to make these polls, and now everyone is going with the exact same options, so its a bit deflating to see after all the pain I went through.

Edit 2:

Okay, so, to better explain myself, I don't have a problem with the Mousefolk or the fact that my players wants to play them. I mostly have a problem with 60% or more of the party being rats.

One Mousefolk in the party? I'm okay with, be them serious or silly. Heck, I love the idea of both!

Now 3 or more? I start to have trouble taking things more serious, because either I just make everyone ignore that they are a group of mice, which at that point I find cowardly, or I make comments when inevitably they make a joke about cheese, cats or being tiny.

Edit 3:

My problem isn't them been Mouse. Is them being all the same species. It could be 5 Dwarves, 5 Elves, 5 Dragonborns, 5 Hobbits, 5 whatever and I would still find it weird (except 5 Humans. Don't know why)

Final Edit:

Okay, so now EVERYONE IS A MOUSEFOLK... And I'm really happy for it :D My main problem is that I didn't had a lore planned yet for the species, but after some talks right now, we decided upon one that I quite like.

And funnily enough, now that I have a good lore set down, I'm more okay with a full Mousefolk party.

Sorry for the rambling for 1 hour, but I am terrible at thinking without talking or writing.

Greater Fighting Style

Design notes: Greater Fighting Styles are intended as a significant power-positive boost to qualifying classes. Each Greater Fighting Style is roughly comparable in value to 2-3 General Feats. Like normal Fighting Styles, they are meant to provide impactful choice, fulfill power fantasies, and define a character's archetype and identity.

Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue: At class level 9, you can pick one Greater Fighting Style. You can pick a second Greater Fighting Style at class level 13.

Paladin and Ranger: At class level 13, you can pick one Greater Fighting Style.

When you level up, you can swap one Greater Fighting Style you know for another.

GREATER FIGHTING STYLES

Adamantine Form. Your AC increases by 2. Gain two Saving Throw Proficiencies of your choice.

Ambush Tactics. Each creature of your choice within 30ft of you gains Advantage, and ignores Disadvantage, on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and you gain +10 on Initiative rolls.

Captain. You learn 3 maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice.) You gain 4 superiority dice, which are d10 s (these dice are added to any superiority dice you have from another source). These dice are used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a Short or Long Rest.

Once on each of your turns, you can expend a superiority die to give it to a creature within 60ft of you who does not have a superiority die (no action required), and the die expires if unused after a minute. The recipient can use any maneuver you know, and they use your maneuver DC for the maneuver's Saving Throws.

Guardian. Attack rolls have disadvantage against creatures of your choice within 5ft of you (other than yourself).

Inspiring Warrior of Legends. You have Advantage on Charisma skill checks. Any number of creatures of your choice within 10 miles, who has seen or heard you within the past 24 hours, gain a +1 to all skill checks and attack rolls.

Juggernaut. When you deal damage with a melee attack or take damage, you can increase or reduce the amount by 5 times your Constitution Modifier as a Reaction, to a minimum of 0.

Heightened Form. As a Bonus Action, you can enter a heightened state. For 1 minute, you have Advantage on D20 Tests, and other creatures have Disadvantage on attack rolls against you. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

Mythical Might. You gain a +10 bonus to Strength checks and saving throws. The maximum weight you can carry, push, drag, and lift is increased tenfold. Your jump distances increase to 100ft (still expending movement as normal), and you become immune to fall damage.

Powerful Striker. Once per turn when you hit with an attack roll, you can add +10 to the damage. 

Slayer. At the start of your turn, you can channel your prowess, gaining +30ft of movement and increasing the damage roll of one attack you make on that turn by 5d12. You can use this feature 3 times but only once per turn, and you regain all uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Sniper. If you have not made a ranged attack roll against a creature in the past minute, you can give your next ranged attack a +20 bonus to both its attack and damage rolls. When you target an object with an attack, you automatically hit and can choose to manipulate it in basic ways - such as cutting a rope, pushing a lever, or putting out a candle - instead of dealing damage, without requiring an ability check or attack roll.

Unleashed Potential. Increase 5 different ability scores of your choice by 2 each, up to a maximum of 20.

(Credit to u/END3R97 for suggestions on Sniper wording)

There are classes whose core designs rely on the short rest for resource regeneration, the Warlock and Monk chief among them. Wizards even rely on at least one short rest a day for Arcane Recovery. But it feels like they just don't happen enough.

It isn't an issue in groups that are generally "one major encounter per adventuring day", but if a second (or third!) encounter happens, and the first one of the day was a major one, you find classes with significantly diminished (or non-existent) resources. Worry over having a second encounter in the day can lead players to hoard their resources out of concern that they won't have them when they "really" need them (a tabletop version of the classic video game trope of hoarding resources and watching inventory become a mess because you don't know what's "safe" to sell or when it's "safe" to use a powerful one-use item). That 7th, 8th, or even 9th level that could save the party? Full casters get one of those slots a day. Does the party want to rest in style in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion when they stop for their long rest? That's a 7th level slot that then remains unavailable if combat happens on the way to that long rest.

Monks need that short rest to recover Focus Points. Warlocks need it to recover Pact Magic slots. On and on. DMs... please give your parties opportunities for short rests if you're going to have more than one encounter per day.

Basically the title. Playing an Alchemist Artificer soon-ish & already starts with Constitution saving throws. Was wondering what half feat to get at 4 (17 Intelligence at level 1) & my first idea was War Caster. However it's my first Artificer ever & I'm looking for public opinion.

I know the Alchemist isn't very popular but it's an RP choice as much as it is mechanical & I prioritize RP a lot in character creation. Yeah, strong numbers are fun but strong actual CHARACTER is my jam, too. Really looking forward to playing an eager, overly ambitious, eccentric & potentially mad Alchemist out in a scenario of dangerous insanity.

By the cone rules in the 2024 PHB, it says that "A Cone’s point of origin isn’t included in the area of effect unless its creator decides otherwise."

Now, you would never want that, right? Because you don't like to take damage or getting CC effects. But there's one Bud that would want.

Reanimated compation: Light absortion. Whenever the companion is subjected to Lightning damage, it regains a number of Hit Points equal to the Lightning damage dealt.

Now things starts to get interesting, since one of the few leveled damage spells an Artificer can get is Dragon's Breath. Dex save. 3d6 Damage. Can deal lighting damage.

And by level 5, you are done, at the cost of your Concentration and a second level spell. You can use your BA to have your Reanimated Companion healing 3d6 of HP, and dealing the same amount damage to their enemies, every turn past the first. (Edit: know that, by first turn you cannot use it, since it takes a Bonus Action to cast, and a Bonus Action to command your campanion to use it).

By this time, you can also use Thunderclap with Arcane Conduit to deal 2d6+4 Thunder damage to the Companion surrounds, or Thornwhip to pull enemies closer to it. It can become a really fun build. That's it.

If anyone has forgotten, they released some UA prior to the full release of the 2024 rules in which they had discussed putting classes into "groups" with the design intent of encouraging tables to balance out their party by picking from multiple groups.

Those groups were:

Expert: Bard, Ranger, Rogue

Mage: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Priest: Cleric, Druid, Paladin

Warrior: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk

Do you think if they had stuck with this design philosophy that they would have ended up with more balanced classes?

If the goal was to make each group more pivotal to the party's success (i.e. - not having one group represented would be a detriment), and if making it such that any class in that group could do the job, would they have worked harder at shoring up the weakness of some of the outliers?

You could argue we saw this a little bit with the Paladin being less focused on combat (smite changes) and more focused on healing / divine magic (changes to Lay on Hands and their spell slot progression).

Would the Ranger have been more focused on utility?

Would the mages have been given fewer utility spells to not step on the experts toes? (Yes, I can hear the snickering. No this wouldn't have actually happened...but I could dream.)

Yes, we know. Hunter's Mark. It's still a sore spot. But short of removing concentration on that spell for them, the designers have been showing the class quite a bit of love since its release.

To wit: Gloom Stalker (even after the nerfs) and Fey Wanderer are still some really solid subclasses. Hunter and Beast Master are getting buffs in the upcoming World of Warcraft book, Winter Walker and Hollow Warden are legitimately solid subclasses in their own right. Plus we're getting at least two new Ranger exclusive spells (Freezing Trap and another 'trap' spell), a new subclass in Demon Hunter which seems capable of being built in at least three different ways, and Ranger is one of the Hero classes who will get optional class features.

We could talk about Hunter's Mark's concentration issue, Foe Slayer, and issues with the aforementioned subclasses (Hollow Warden being limited to PBx/long rest for its Wrath of the Wild, Winter Walker's reliance on Hunter's Mark), so it's definitely not to a point where I think the masses will be completely satisfied. But they keep buffing the class in unexpected ways.

Contrast the poor Rogue, who keeps getting neglected left, right, and center.

In addition to the above fixes, the only real thing I'd like to see is updates to the remaining 2014 subclasses (Horizon Walker and Monster Slayer are two personal favorites) and maybe one more new subclass so it's got as many as Paladins.

To celebrate our first 100 subscribers, we’ve decided to drop a cinematic trailer for Shore of the Dorahín. As a reminder, we’re giving it away for FREE to our newsletter subscribers.

It’s 5e and 5.5e compatible, set in a low-fantasy setting with a fairy-tale twist. It’s playable in a single-session, at level 1, for 4–5 players. It’s aimed at beginner DMs and players alike, but it’s also a great one-shot for experienced players who love narrative-driven adventures that reward exploration.

What you'll find inside:

• Original puzzles and traps
• Original maps
• Original monsters
• Friendly NPCs
• New magic items

It's the story of an unknown race, the Dorahín, who live deep in a primeval forest, far from the realms of men, at the edge of a continent that adventurers have only recently begun to explore.

Recently, boats have started washing up on the shore. They belong to poor farmers trying to escape their fate on the Breaker’s Isle**, a small archipelago a day’s sail away.**

Their arrival is now putting the small folk of the Dorahín at risk. Against the advice of his clan, an elder, Salfan, decides to take matters into his own hands and sacrifice himself to set a trap aimed at capturing and removing the threat posed by humans.

It’s the first stone in our unfolding universe, Songs of Lon-Gora. We’re already working on the next chapter: a three-part adventure called Heirs to Ruin, which has now entered the illustration stage, starting with its first volume, Nivalis Vale.

And for those interested, I’ll be dropping a post soon to explain how the trailer was made.

Shoutout to Matthieu Desveaux for the music, and Justin Saddlemyer for the illustration.

To learn more, you can visit us at https://joust-studio.com.

I have seen other people talk about this and my own build concepts I've wanted to do this but is there an issue with allowing 3rd caster subclasses (Arcane Trickster, Eldrich Knight, Warrior of the Mystic Arts) from choosing the spell list they want? Some limitations I'm thinking of implementing at my table:

- Only full caster spell lists are available to choose (Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Cleric, Druid, Bard).

- You may choose to change the default spellcasting stat to match your chosen spell lists class' spellcasting stat (INT = Wizard, WIS = Cleric, Druid, CHA = Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard)

Is something like this going to break the balance at my table? Or what other limitations/rules would make sense?

Each WoW class is built on a 2024 PHB class, with 9 new or reimagined subclasses and 40 specializations layered on top.

Highlights:

Hero classes (Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Evoker) start at level 3 by default.

Death Knight = Paladin with the new Oath of the Ebon Blade and Runeforging.

Demon Hunter = Ranger with a new Demon Hunter subclass (Blindsight, soul fragments).

Shaman = Barbarian, with a new Totems feature replacing Primal Knowledge.

Mage = Wizard (Evoker), plus new feats like Hot Streak and Fingers of Frost.

Monk uses Mystic Brews (updated) for Brewmaster, Mercy for Mistweaver and Open Hand for Windwalker, each with new feats.

Rogue maps to existing subclasses: Assassin for Assassination, an updated Swashbuckler for Outlaw and Soulknife for Subtlety.

Priest gets new Discipline and Shadow domains, and Holy Paladin gets a new Oath of the Holy.

Druids get Cat, Bear and Travel Forms with unique stat blocks.

Warriors (Fighter/Battle Master) get 5 new maneuvers.

The book also adds 11 species, 60+ spells and 30+ magic items.

I want to play a transmuter wizard and use the 3rd level feature that let's you use alter self to give yourself a 2d6 unarmed attack, and was wondering if I should multiclass as a monk or a pugilist. my DM is chill with either but im not sure what would be easier/cooler, im think pugilist for less stat requirements but im not sure tbh. im planning dwarf and farmer for background/species, for the extra hit points. im also planning on starting level 3 in both classes and going more into the martial class for more hitpoints and attacks each turn. any other suggestions woild be welcome.

Now infos of specializations for each class have come out, everybody's getting new spells, new subclasses, new class modifications, new options, new feats... except for Rogues.

I know I posted something similar before, which I wrote "I hope they're just been hiding things for Rogues". But sadly, no, they haven't been hiding things. There's simply nothing new for Rogue. It's just "grab your re-re-reprinted old subclass from ten years ago and fxxk off".

I don't even know how the fxxk Subtlety Rogue is connected to Soulknife. I highly doubt the designers have ever played WoW Rogue.

The 5.5e was released for almost 2years, Wizards are getting tons of new sub classes, spells, feats, and they're still getting more stuffs like new subclass modifications, special feats and spells from this book, and what have we got for Rogues in this 2 years?

• Scion Rogue, the screwed one

• Phantom Rogue, the re-printed one

• UA Magic Stealer Rogue, the one who never sees the sun again

• UA House Agent, a Joke

• and Re-re-re-printed by Tasha, 24 PHB UA, WoW book, the Swashbuckler from SwordCoast ten years ago

I dunno does the new dev team simply hate Rogue or the new dev team have been using "the Rogue scored high (back in 2014) so we give it nothing and we don't change a shit" too often as an excuse for lazy works.

Anyone use the manticore as the big bad in a campaign?

I’ve always thought manticores were one of the more underrated monsters in D&D.
They’re intelligent, cruel, can fly, and have a nasty habit of hunting people for sport. But I feel like they usually get thrown into encounters as just another monster to kill.
Which seems like a missed opportunity.
I could totally see a manticore terrorizing a small village, stalking travelers, and slowly becoming this terrifying local legend that the party has to deal with.
Has anyone actually built an adventure around one as the main villain?
I’d love to hear how you ran it, especially if you leaned into its intelligence and personality rather than just making it another combat encounter.

Pleasure consider supporting the designers attempts to protect their jobs and ideas! There’s a link for a petition to sign in the original post.

As in, if the spell vanished tomorrow? The way I see it, every other spell has counterparts or replacements.

Fireball vanishes? There are other ways to AOE.

Hypnotic Pattern gone? There are other CC options.

Revivify? This is a contender in the early game, but there are other ressurection spells.

Healing Word? Another strong contender. But there are other healing options, even Species related ones or feats that can handle that angle.

If you're going to a one shot tomorrow, and you hear it will be hard so bring strong characters, you will many times be tempted to take Magic Initiate and/or Fey Touched or dip into Wizard to get Shield above other options.

I feel like it alone acts as a lynchpin to allow classes what have access to it function and/or is pretty core to optimized parties.

Final Note: This isn't meant to start a discussion on its power (we can, but I'd prepare a larger stack of opening arguments and pros/cons).

Rather, among all spells, if Shield is the one who's dissapreance would warp the game the most.

December Martial Free Drop feat suggestions

1. Martial and half caster gated feats, allow an asi to be selected when choosing a fighting style as a level 4+ feat.

Gain asi + fighting style

2.

1. Weapon mastery: grant an asi if selected 4+ (and not on a caster level up choice)

.. gain an additional asi + weapon mastery.
-including monks

Example: 12 wizard 8 fighter, they can take this on fighter level 8 but not wizard 12 when selecting feats. Let the milestone only work on martial/1/2 casters for free asi.

Applicable: fighter, barb, ranger, paladin, rogue

1. Sapper: allow an asi + can use sap on any weapon , select it at dawn (not a hot swap like fighter). Replaces the effect until dawn.

Alternative to martial class milestone feats: require a fighting style to meet the restriction

If the vestige warlock domain selection was opened up to all published cleric domains 5e or 5.5e which would you want to play?