Hot RPG Questions

The Amulet of Betrayal from Chains of Asmodeus says You can use a bonus action to move one of the following conditions from yourself to an ally within 60 feet of you: blinded, deafened, frightened, poisoned, stunned, exhaustion. When transferring exhaustion, move all your exhaustion levels. If t...

I'm going to be running a shadow dragon in a game soon and after reading this question, Are negative levels necessarily energy drain? I became confused about how negative levels and negative energy would affect a shadow dragon since it's not undead, yet it bestows negative levels with it's breath...

We're players in a homebrew campaign, and have recently knocked out some sort of wizard that can use spells such as fly, fireball, shield and misty step. We've tied him up and put something in his mouth so he can't speak. Unfortunately we also want to interrogate him, for which he needs to be abl...

The Corpse Orgy has an ability called Pain Shriek. If another Corpse Orgy is within range, does it take damage? They are smart enough to avoid damaging each other, so before I run the encounter, I want to know if they would hold off on Pain Shrieking in each others' presence. Here is the descript...

Daern's Instant Fortress is a rare magic item from the Dungeon Master's Guide (p. 160): You can use an action to place this 1-inch metal cube on the ground and speak its command word. The cube rapidly grows into a fortress that remains until you use an action to speak the command word that dismi...

I have a Lizardfolk character who was originally a human who got sick from a fungi infestation, who went to a Necromancer who murdered them and resurrected them in a Lizardfolk's body. I read the Reborn trait rules and thought this would fall under the "You were magically resurrected but somethin...

I have a question about the magic effects inherent in light and darkness in d&d 5. Within an area subject to Darkness (spell level 2) if I wield a sword that magically emits light, the light is not affected by the spell. My question is what happens if have a magical effect of Darkness versus a ma...

In D&D 5e (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything), if I hit a creature and use the Favored Foe feature to mark it and deal additional damage, would I be able to stop concentrating on the initial mark and then use Favored Foe again to mark the same creature, dealing the additional damage once more, if I ...

I feel stuck as a character between a choice of my party or the villain. I know that I want to help the party, but my character is loyal to this person (who they had no idea of where they were) who wants him to complete a task opposite to that of the party. Basically my party needs to deliver an ...

I'm a new GM with new players and we are having some friction in our game that I would like some ideas for reducing. We have finished Lost Mines of Phandevler, tried a side quest that didn't go well, and are on to Shattered Obelisk next. I would summarize the problem as the characters are not a...

I have been hearing players around me saying that "after lv.10, you should move from AC to missing chances and the stuff that won't let people target you (e.g. total concealment or total cover)". That actually make sense, since a Cloak of Displacement, Major can easily make the missing chance be ...

I can't get some doubts off my mind. Do divine scrolls in D&D 5e exist? It seems that a cleric can read the scroll only when the spell is in common with an arcane class that can create it. Am I wrong? Can a cleric create a Guiding Bolt scroll, for example?

I'm specifically interested in whether Paragon Surge spell can be used after Half-Elf (or a Custom Humanoid race with both Human and Elf Subtypes) became Undead (for example by transforming into a Lich). In the similar matter, I'm interested whether Custom Race with Undead Type can add those Subt...

The summoner in our party has an eidolon with a 1d6 (fatal d10) primary attack. Primary Attack: Choose from the following statistics for the more flexible primary attack. 1d8 damage (disarm, nonlethal, shove, or trip) 1d6 damage (fatal d10) 1d6 damage (forceful and sweep) 1d6 damage (deadly d8 ...

The Cartomancer feat includes the Hidden Ace feature (The Book of Many Things, p. 49), which lets you imbue a spell into a card and later cast it. Of course, there’s dissension about whether or not the feat uses the spell slot (and if so, when). But I used it for the first time recently; I imbue...

It's been almost two decades since I last played D&D, so my memories of it are slightly fuzzy. I know that third edition allowed clerics to follow an ideal rather than a god, and still get spells and be able to turn (or command) undead, but I also remember it as something that could only be done ...

Let's suppose a spellcaster casts the Tsunami spell 100 feet above the ground. The spell description says that it originates at a point in range (sight) and does not say that it needs to be supported. Suppose that a flying creature, able to fly by the fly spell, is caught by the wave. What would...

A target that is held shut by a mundane lock or that is stuck or barred becomes unlocked, unstuck, or unbarred. If the object has multiple locks, only one of them is unlocked. If you choose a target that is held shut with arcane lock, that spell is suppressed for 10 minutes, during which time th...

In Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, there is a rare magic item called the Lyre of Building, which allows you to cast Mending as an action. Normally, it has a casting time of 1 minute, so this (if nothing else) allows you to mend things ten times as fast. However, I'm wondering if there are situati...

I would like to understand the impact of the feat Enlarge Spell on spells such as: Laogzed's Breath Level: Clr 3, Sor/Wiz 3 Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Area: Cone Duration: Instantaneous As stinking cloud, except as noted above and that the nauseating vapors persist for 10 rounds. H...

The Phoenix, found in Monsters of the Multiverse, gets a legendary action called Swoop, which reads: The phoenix moves up to its speed and makes one Fiery Talons attack. The phoenix's flying speed is 120. Can it take the Swoop legendary action and fly 60 feet to its enemy, attack, and then fly ...

I was recently involved in an argument in a dnd subreddit where I was told repeatedly that I do not understand what a dnd cleric is. I have always understood clerics to be priests of some kind (although not all priests need to be clerics), but that view was not shared in that community. So I gues...

Can Hold Person effect an Eladrin? (5th edition) The spell specifically targets "humanoids". The stat block for an Eladrin says they are officially classified as "Fey (elf)". Fey is a fey, and Elf is a humanoid. I saw that someone posted somewhere: Elf is a tag, not a creature type. Eladrin are ...

Regarding the Divine Defiance feat from Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (p. 83), the text states: You can spend one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts as an immediate action to counter a spell or spelllike effect. For example, if an evil cleric targets Jozan with a hold person s...

I'm DMing for a group with a Pact of the Chain Genie Warlock in it, and he has Voice of the Chain Master. There was this one time when the party was investigating a nobleman's office and half of them got stuck inside when he showed up. The Warlock was one of the members that had already escaped. ...

Do Custom Races made with RP Race Builder get Favored Class Bonuses? And if yes, how does one design them? I can't find anything in that regard and even something as basic as +1 HP per level would be a major bonus for my casters (PC and Cohort). Preferably I'm looking for an official RAW answer, ...

Do any divination spells allow you to find out the sigil sequence of a teleportation circle? (For example, the sigil sequence of the circle closest to a specific destination?)

Leshys have the Plant trait instead of Humanoid. Dhampirs do not explicitly require Humanoid, but the text talks about things plants usually do not have: Some dhampirs are the child of one mortal and one vampiric parent, while others are born to those who were turned into vampires while pregnant...

I'm a fairly new GM, this coming Saturday is going to be about my 4th session, I think, and I'm playing a 5e reskin of a video game with a good group online via Discord. So far the roleplaying (outside of some narrative problems I'm still learning to navigate) is going well; my players seem inves...

I see in Pathfinder there's a saying "having a temporary bonus for over 24 hours makes it a permanent bonus", which means your headband of intellect won't bring you extra spell slots in the first 24 hours or if you remove it before you sleep. (Guess people would start wearing it when they find th...

I was thinking of running a campaign where the party runs into a group of revolutionaries who do not have access to any arch-mages (who let’s be frank embody the power structures they like to see toppled) try to MacGuyver their way to overthrow the powerful by using RAW magical items available on...

I know that raising your Constitution modifier increases your maximum health. However, the Tough feat also does this, but gives twice as much health. What other benefits does a +2 to Con give, and when does that make it a better choice?

A streamer I found was talking about the P2E Reading Ring, which is designed to give blind characters a way to read in-game. That got me wondering: How would one go about making a combat-viable PC who is blind? I'm thinking like the blind master in Circle of Iron, or perhaps even Daredevil. I'm a...

Does the SRD of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition now allow the use of some iconic monsters like Beholders and Illithids (Mind Flayer), since the SRD is now under CC license? Or they are still protected? Can these monsters be used if the CC-licensed SRD is used?

I once heard of a D&D 5th edition group who played using various house rules. One such rule was as follows: As a bonus action, a spellcaster may cast any cantrip, 1st level spell, or 2nd level spell. You may do this even if you also cast a spell using your action on the same turn. For example, ...

This is a bit of a convoluted question with several parts that didn't fit in the title. The Telepathic feat gives +1 in either Int, Wis or Cha to a maximum of 20. There is no question here, one cannot exceed an attribute of 20, that's clear. However, the Telepathic feat also enables the once-pe...

I hope someone can give me a good tip for my question: In my campaign is a NPC, a important NPC. But for the story it should die. I wanna do this in a big fight (the NPC help the heros). I always work with dices (attack, secure and so on). What to do when the NPC is alive and the fight goes to th...

I'm curious about casting the Maze spell in the city of Sigil.... In Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse – Sigil and the Outlands, the "Alterations to Magic" section states: Banishment. Effects that banish a target from Sigil treat the target as if Sigil were its home plane. However, the M...

The Battle Master fighter's Precision Attack maneuver states the following (PHB, p. 74): When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of th...

A common thing in superhero rpgs is that they're designed for all characters to be within a specific power range, mainly for balance purposes and not having to deal with absurd situations like Aunt May being able to beat the Juggernaut in an arm-wrestling contest. Common categories are low-level,...

I chose the 1st-level feat Musician for my bard that I'm going to play in the campaign I'm starting. This feat is from the One D&D playtest, and reads like this: Musician Instrument Training. You gain Tool Proficiency with three Musical Instruments of your choice. Inspiring Song. As you finish...

According to the Player's Handbook: A skilled (but not exceptional) artisan can earn one gold piece a day. I'd assume that this describes PCs who are proficient with a type of artisan's tools. However, according to the crafting rules in the Player's Handbook: For each day you spend crafting, y...

The level 10 Fighter talent "Improved Knockdown" says "you automatically apply the critical success effect of a Trip", and the level 4 Rogue talent "The Harder They Fall" says "When you successfully Trip a flat-footed foe, your target takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage. On a critical success, the targe...

I've been looking at combat maneuvers recently, and I'm a bit confused when superiority dice are added to the roll. It says the following under the class feature of the Battle Master archetype, Superiority Dice: A superiority die is expended when you use it. I understand it in the case of some ...

If this is possible, it allows an exploit: destabilize, wait for death save. Success -> wait another turn Failure/Critical Failure -> Cleric casts Spare the Dying, then destabilize again Critical Success -> Character is awake at 1 hp

Using nonmagical senses, is it possible to tell: When a creature succeeds (or fails) a death save How many successes/failures a creature has

I'm creating a D&D character on https://levi-blodgett.github.io/dnd-char-generator/. I'm not sure what to put in the 'inspiration' box. I don't understand how your inspiration for your quest could fit in such a small box. Any ideas?

Say you make a melee attack, would your character reasonably be able to tell what a good hit is versus a mediocre one? One that hits for maximum damage, or even a critical hit, versus a minimum value damage roll. I know as a player your damage is known to you and can be altered after the fact wit...

I thought I would ask a different take on a question that seems to be asked often here (I need an adventure for level x) What I am looking for is a webpage or book or any kind of guide that has a list of official sources and the recommended level(s) to play through the adventure. I understand the...

The Devourer monster from Monsters of the Multiverse has an ability called Soul Rend. The abilities does the following: Soul Rend (Recharge 6). The devourer creates a vortex of life-draining energy in a 20-foot radius centered on itself. Each creature in that area must make a DC 18 Constitution ...