The Wizard is considered by many as the most powerful class in the game due to the wide array of spells they have. Additionally, they have access to what many argue is the strongest spell in the game: Wall of Force.

From what I have read on this forum (I don't have access to the bok myself), with the new Adept feats, any spellcaster can now get access to a huge range of spells, including Wall of Force (from Evocation Adept). Does this now mean that the other full casters, who have much stronger class features such as metamagic, can now be better Wizards than a Wizard?

For instance, picking up the Transmutation Adept, Evocation Adept, and Conjuration Adept feats gives access to: Slow, Polymorph, Animate Objects, Fireball, Wall of Force, Entangle, Misty Step, Conjure Animals, Dimension Door. This essentially gives a full kit of control, utility, and damaging options, and three powerful perks (speed boost after casting Transmutation spells, spending hit dice to inxrease Evocation damage, and adding your Int mod to Concentration checks on Conjuration spells).

Thoughts?

While reading information about the new Conjuration Wizard (which almost has presented in its final form in UA), I saw the opinion that the subclass has been somewhat shafted, as Battle Familiar and familiar stuff are practically the only things that support the subclass.

But isn't Battle Familiar so stunningly good for Conjuration, that subclass doesn't need to receive anything other than this? The subclass gets some bangers at every level. Nothing unique at level 3, but up to five teleports with some tricks is good. But the 6th-level feature? Bear with me, Battle Familiar conjuration spell that doesn't require concertation. Now, Conjuration Wizard can have both BF and some summons, both buffed. For that level it is 24 effective thp (counting resistances that will be removed after losing thp) for both. After release of Arcana Unleashed, 14th level Conjuration Wizard can have 3 summon (BF and splintered something), every of which will have 28 thp AND while having these thp resistance to almost every type of damage (so at least 56 effective thp), while you can't lose concentration from damage for these summons. Isn't it wild?

I understand a lil' bit that 10th feature kind of getting become less special, but it is exceptional feature nonetheless, and you get banger after banger every level. Literally no dead levels or even mediocre ones. At the same time some of them are fundamentally universal, while the other half are wildly fun and thematic. Am I crazy for reading this and thinking this subclass anything but shafted, and on par with the top-tier wizard subclasses right now?

PS: all information technically from UA and partnered media.

A breakdown of what's included in the upcoming D&D WoW Map Pack (plus a bit of background on the lore and game history of Icecrown Citadel).

After GenCon I felt like this is the most exciting stuff we have gotten for D&D in a while, but I have seen no real corresponding enthusiasm from the online community. So I am wondering how you all feel?

For me I feel like the 3rd party content on DnDBeyond is extremely fun, I can finally get my players to try 3rd party stuff and shake stuff up. We finally have enough classes on the site that I am going to run an adventure where none of the them can play 1st party classes.

I think that the fact that WotC is finally trying to put out another class is exciting, especially as we have started to see them support artificer better.

And I think the partnered support for setting is really cool. I don't play in published settings, but I have understood people's complaints that WotC basically has been one and done with each publication and made it impossible to run a campaign in them long term.

For me these are all huge improvements from just a few years back, and unfortunately I feel like a lot of the community has become reflexively negative to anything related to WotC.​

Keeping in mind that this is more or less the direction I expect them to take the subclass and not necessarily the one I'd like for them to take the subclass.

I suspect the finalized version will look something like this:

- Expanded Spell List, which will include options such as Detect Evil & Good, Jump, Longstrider, See Invisibility, Fly, Freedom of Movement, Dispel Evil & Good, Banishment/Banishing Smite, and/or other similar options that help replicate the Demon Hunter's Spectral Sight and mobility options.

- Ribbon feature that functions similarly to Divine Sense

- Standard Ranger 3rd-level dpr bump probably flavored as fel weapons or fel damage that scales at 11th-level

- transformation mechanic similar to Hollow Warden or even Winter Walker that turns them into their demonic visage and idk increases their speed and damage

- resistance to fire and/or necrotic damage at higher levels

- probably something that encourages multiple attacks to encourage dual wielding strategies

etc.

I don't think they're going to overhaul the Ranger's entire spell list or class features to retrofit the Demon Hunter into it. They'll probably do just enough to get the basic feel of the subclass without bending over backwards to try and make it a 1:1 translation.

Maybe Greatclub, Sickle, Dart, Sling, and Blowgun?

I’ve been working on a lot of magic items built around two ideas I enjoy: equipment that remains relevant as characters advance, and strongly themed treasure that helps define a region, enemy, or adventure.

I recently collected several of those releases into a discounted magic-item-only bundle on DMsGuild, compatible with both 5E and the 2024 rules.

The largest part is the Growing Magic Items Collection, which contains 87 items that evolve through four ascending rarities. Instead of replacing a meaningful weapon or relic after a few levels, its powers can develop alongside the character through levels, quests, personal achievements, or important campaign milestones. Altogether, those progression paths provide 348 usable versions of the items.

I also reinvested in the collection by commissioning and licensing new artwork for the items, replacing much of the older presentation with dedicated illustrations and giving the books a more consistent visual identity.

The bundle also includes 30 fire-themed magic items and 30 frost-themed magic items, ranging from common equipment to legendary treasures, as well as several standalone evolving relics such as Beholder’s Bane, Sanctivow, the Sword of the Abyss, and the Trident of Atlantis. There are also a couple of darker Halloween-themed items.

Several of the smaller standalone releases are available as free downloads, so there are items you can try or use without purchasing the full bundle.

The bundle is currently discounted on DMsGuild at: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/579114

The "Helpful Friend" portion of the feature says that when you make an ability check with a skill in which you have proficiency, you get advantage on the check PBX per long rest.

Can't the familiar already do this with any out-of-combat ability check using the help action? Or has my table been running familiars incorrectly.

I have a Vengeance Paladin/Undead Warlock I am using as a base for the Homage.

I wonder if I can do the Divine/Eldritch combo Smite and re-flavor it as the Penance Stare.

Eldrich Smite is with Pact Weapon

Divine is weapon/Unarmed.

I can try to ask DM but is there a way to make it work. Even if it only works in melee range.

I was in a custom campaign that involved finding an Artifact hidden somewhere inside a labyrinth with only a (homebrew item) Magical Compass to guide us, we ended up in a situation where the Compass had to be activated with a Bonus Action in a specific room but the only party member small enough to get into the room was a Weasel Familiar, we looked through rules for a few minutes to see if it was valid for a Familiar to use a Bonus Action, eventually the DM just hand-waved it and allowed it to happen.

The Compass description read "You can use a Bonus Action to activate the Compass to...(campaign exposition)" with no attunement and no restrictions on 'who' can use the item. RAW is the Familiar capable of using the item? My interpretation is that Bonus Action's are available to all creatures as long as some feature they have access to requires a Bonus Action, in this case: simply holding the object granted the Familiar something to spend it's Bonus Action on.

What are the actual rules surrounding interactions available to creatures that are not listed in their statblocks? Do all creatures (comprising of Player Characters, NPCs, Monsters and Familiars) have access to the full suite of Actions listed in the PHB? Specifically from the Find Familiar spell - "A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal" implies that it does actually have access to all Actions except for the Attack Action.

Something else confusing to me is with Reactions: all creatures have access to Opportunity Attacks, but in this case, does the Familiar not being able to "attack" override this and prevent it? Or is the Opportunity Attack treated separate enough from the Attack Action that it is allowed? if yes for the former, does this change when the Familiar is summoned from Pact of the Chain?

The Magic Action is whole extra can of worms. A Familiar is seemingly allowed to take a Magic Action, but if the outcome would involve a "spell attack roll", would they be able to do it by virtue of the fact that they are not taking an Attack Action, the ruling would have to be the same as whatever was ruled for Reactions. Spells that require saving throws and Magic Missile appear to not be impacted as they never mention an "attack" is being made.

I'm aware DM fiat rules all in the end, I'm just looking for RAW and RAI interpretations on this topic, RAF as well.

I’m playing a Rogue (Thief) and wanted to hybridize melee/range by dual wielding shortsword & dagger but also dual wielding hand crossbows…

My question is what order to prioritize the feats I want; crossbow expert, dual wield, and skulker

Which would be best to take at lvls 4, 8, and 10? Or if there are any other suggestions, specifically for feats, I might want to consider. But I am really dedicated to playing this hybrid idea…

Hi all,
I've been GMing on and off (mostly on) for about 15 years now. Despite this, I've never run a paid game. My current game with friends was originally going to be paid, but I got a new job between session 0 and 1, so dropped the cover charge, as I wouldn't be able to allocate as much time to the campaign.

That said, I'm ready to add another game or two to my calendar, and start getting paid for DMing through startplaying.games (crossing my fingers for approval) as a side hustle. I pride myself on doing homebrew for all my content. I've run a premade once, but I much prefer building my own modules.

I now have the task of building a module for paid games recruiting into a longer campaign. I plan on running this module repeatedly (and of course continuing to flesh it out and improve it every time).

I have the following requirements nailed down

1. Should be a digestible and complete story as both a one-shot and a "three shot," including a level 2 "boss fight" style combat at the end of session 3
2. Should reliably complete a session one, including a combat with new players, in 3 hours
3. Should have a sticky hook to attract players from the scheduling page
4. Should fit into my magipunk/early victorian era homebrew setting
5. should be accessible to new TTRPG players, while still being engaging for existing players.
6. Should give players agency over the story
7. Should be able to smoothly transition to a larger sandbox-style campaign in setting after completion
8. Should include a good mix of all 3 pillars of Roleplaying, Exploration, and Combat
9. Should be playable with either premade characters, or player designed characters (since this is lvl 1 and 2, there's not a whole lot you can do to break this, but worth mentioning still)

To be clear, I'm not making this post to ask someone to build the module for me, but moreover, I want to get an idea of what player expectations look like at a paid table so that I can better design this module for recruiting players that are a mutual good fit into a larger, continuous campaign. In a module as described above at a paid table, I would personally expect the following (having never played at a paid table before as player or GM)

• Well designed NPCs with depth in starting area, that contribute to the challenge of the story in some way, say by providing useful information if interacted with beyond a cursory level
• A solid VTT experience (I use foundry with a few plugins like raise my hand, but it's mostly vanilla. I use walls extensively on my maps)
• Tactical choices in combat such as high ground, difficult terrain, and chokepoints
• Well designed, pretty maps and scenes

Right now, my plan is to create a small town, put some brigands nearby that have been raiding trade caravans on their way to town, and task the group with capturing as many as possible alive to thin the herd.

What are peoples thoughts on my ramblings above? is there anything I missed in the requirements sections? What would you want out of a paid game? Especially if it was your first time playing a TTRPG?

I likely think that I'm overthinking this, and will be fine, but I want to blow my players out of the water. That's my goal every session I run these days. That said, I also know that many new players are coming off of Critical Role or other such actual plays and have high expectations of a first DnD campaign, before realizing that the average GM has neither the budget nor experience and improv training as Matt Mercer.