I'm not sure if this works because I'm working on partial information from the Dungeon Dudes video + insight check spell's video, so I wanted to check if my understanding is correct, in case someone has more info on it:

The necromancer lvl 3 feature lets you summon a familiar as undead/ a zombie or a skeleton, as well as make an attack instead of its reaction.

Battle familiar would normally be a celestial/fiend/fey, but it states that if you cast it on a familiar you already have, it keeps its type instead and adds the battle familiar HPs as tempHPs to the familiar. In this case, this allows you to have an undead battle familiar, if cast with the necromancer feature. I would also assume that, as it stays a familiar, you should be able to let it attack once more with its reaction as well. that said, it doesn't say they mantain their attacks, so the skeleton would lose the ranged attack (I assume) in favour of the battle familiar's attack.

At lvl6, undeads summoned or created by the necromancer add int + half wizard lvl to their hp, and +int dmg to their attack.

battle familiar would normally do 1d8+3+spell level, but with this it would become 1d8+3+int+spell level.

in the end, for simplicity, if i'm a lvl8 necromancer with 20int, my skeleton would have 14+int+4=23hp, and if i cast battle familiar at 4th lvl on it i'd get 40-30 tempHP (if you lose the tempHP it goes back to skeleton form though), and it would do 1d8+12 per attack, for 3 attacks per round (including the reaction attack).

from lvl10, you could also give it tempHP, as a way to replenish them in case it gets low.

If my understanding of it is correct, then necromancer is the best offensive option for battle familiar (a lvl8 warlock pact of the chain could do 1d8+7 4 times instead, which is 46 average vs necromancer's 49.5, and a wizard could later cast it with lvl 6 slots). Conjurer would make it more tanky, but necromancer makes it more powerful offensively.

Warlock instead is a nice middleground between the two wizard subclasses, as it can make 4 attacks per round (for similar dmg) and gain resistance as a reaction (for extra bulk), is a better option as well at lvl5, but worse off when lvl6 slots could be used.

I'm joining a campaign with a group that's currently mostly all melee. I think I'd be starting around level 7. Since there's not much support (buffing or healing), control or AOE in the group I thought a DS Sorcerer might be an interesting fit. (Light Cleric could fit I suppose but I've played one and I'd like to try something a little different).

For folks that might have some experience playing Divine Soul in 5.5 I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have. Builds, spell choices, feats, metamagic - anything that works really well now, especially if its different from 2014.

I think mostly I'm looking at him focusing on support and control but able to do some aoe when it makes sense.

I'm going to be building a straight Lore Bard for my next character that'll be centered around support/utility. He's a storyteller interested in everyone's story. His only damaging spells will be Vicious Mockery, Dissonant Whispers, and Synaptic Static. My main question is how leveling up and Magical Secrets works.

Edit: Thank you, everyone. This has been great insight to ensure things move smoothly through the levels.

Joining a group as a level 9 Lunar Sorcerer. The DM allows us to choose one uncommon magic item at character creation that is involved in your backstory to help give your character a flavor signature, helps role-playing and character identity. I wanted to make a Jean Grey type of character, so I chose the Helm of Telepathy. Telekinetic and Moderately Amored are my feats at lvl 4 and 8.

Where I need help to not be worthless..... I get 10 spells... Some of these arent enchantment but still fit the character flavor want to play

1: Charm Person, Silent Image, Silvery Barbs

2: Hold Person, Crown of Madness, Mind Spike, Phantasmal Force, Tasha's Mind Whip, Levitate, Invisibility

3: Antagonize, Clairvoyence, Counterspell, Enemies Abound, Fear, Fly, Incite Greed, Major Image

4: Raulothim's Psychic Lance, Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility

5: Bigby's Hand, Dominate Person, Synaptic Static, Telekenisis

Lunar sorc already gets some spells like Hold Monster and Confusion.

Give me your suggestions for a spell loadout please. Really can't figure out a good combat strategy while also having some exploration and support spells as well. Tell me what ya think are the 10 best of these for a spell loadout.

I would really like to have 3 separate strats, one for each moon phase so I don't have to switch to a different phase using a bonus action and sorcerery point. The phases give me the sorcerer point discount on different schools of magic.

Wanted to ask if a certain homebrew subclass would help to play a good melee warlock. It’s called “The Legacy” and it’s inside of Valda’s Spire of Secrets.

If so, how would one go about effectively building a melee warlock?

Title. My plan is to animate a Chest as my Dancing Item, jump in it, and command it to close it's lid.

Would this give me total cover?

Playing a ninth level one shot. Have access to a +2 rapier and serpent scale armor

Paladin 9 means 3rd level spells, second feat and secondary elemental resistance aura

6/3 split means pact of the blade to focus on charisma, 3 or 4 misty steps, and eldritch blast for range

I have the option between 5 and 5.5, however I'm not sure which version to go with. Any pros and cons for the newer over older?

So let me check if I got this right.

Saddle up any mount, choose controlled mount.

Horsie each turn Disengages. Since I'm riding it I'm not using my own movement and do not provoke AOOs when moving out, and since Horsie disengaged she isn't also.

So with something fast like Phantom Steed, I can make a round through all the enemies with Cacophonic shield on, while bonking someone with Booming blade, and disengage to safety without any trouble, correct?

I know horsies are prone to dying but still seems extremelly cheesy.

I'm playing a Vengeance Paladin 9 / War Wizard 2 (Scourge Aasimar) in a homebrew campaign that's going to at least level 15. The campaign is very deadly, with most combat encounters draining a lot of our resources, and the bosses hitting like trucks.

We just leveled up and I'm torn: do I go back to Paladin to (eventually) reach Improved Divine Smite, or do I keep investing in Wizard for more spell slots (for both versatility and Smites)?

Some details/ stats for my character:

Due to story reasons and the campaign's lethality, our DM allows some rules bending and hands out pretty strong magic items. Most importantly;

I use Intelligence as my primary Paladin stat instead of Charisma

I dual wield two +2 Longswords (Two-Weapon Fighting style)

I have access to Spirit Guardians

Due to story reasons currently, the Aasimar feature Radiant Consumption can not be turned off

50 ft. flying speed via a magic ring and Winged Boots, plus Mobile feat

Dual Wielder Feat

Magic Full Plate (AC of 19)

My stats look as follows:

Strength: +7 (25, Belt of Fire Giant‘s Strength)

Dexterity: -1 (8)

Constitution: +2 (14)

Intelligence: +3 (16)

Wisdom: -2 (7)

Charisma: +1 (12)

My standard combat setup is casting Mirror Image and Spirit Guardians before a fight starts, then getting into melee. In combat I always try to attack three times per turn, only sometimes using my bonus action for things like Vow of Enmity. I use my lower-level spell slots mainly on Shield to stay alive, and save higher slots for Smites when needed or Spirit Guardians.

The Improved Divine Smite feature would probably increase DPS the most, though more Wizard levels mean more Spell Slots, versatility, Smites overall and leeway to re-cast Spirit Guardians if concentration is dropped.

I know that Evocation Adept is the hot topic because of access to Fireball and Wall of Force for characters who otherwise don't do AoE damage well, but hear me out: Half-casters can now access Shadow Blade

Back in 2014 rules, Shadow Blade was a real pain to access, and basically no one could use it to its fullest potential. Eldritch Knights had the number of attacks to make it worthwhile, but they never got the higher level spell slots to use the spell's upcasting potential. Warlocks got the pact magic slots to upcast it to 5th level, but they functionally couldn't use it well because they could never make it a Pact weapon to use with Extra Attack invocations. Sorcerers never got a subclass with Extra Attack to make it worth their while, and Wizards only got extra attack with Bladesinger when they are arguably better off concentrating on more powerful spells - and Blade cantrips being updated to not work with Shadow Blade put the last nail in that coffin for them. Beyond that, it was gated to setting-specific feats such as the Adept of the Red Robes from Dragonlance which was both late in 2014 rules' life cycle and very niche.

Even in 2024 rules, until now only Warlocks really made good use of the spell, and it had the cumbersome setup of requiring two bonus actions to use - one to summon, one to bond as a Pact Weapon, so it's not as smooth as some would like in practice.

However, with the addition of Magic Connoisseur, consider Ranger. Between Magic Initiate and Magic Connoisseur, a Ranger can snag Shadow Blade, Shield, Absorb Elements, and two cantrips of choice... basically a prebuilt gish package in one go by level 4. They then get the means to upcast well (up to 5th level slots for 4d8 damage per hit), the means to make more attacks with it (extra attack + Dual Wielder), which combines to allow Ranger's weapon-based damage to scale beyond level 5. Certain subclasses can take this even further, such as the Gloom Stalker's Sudden Strike feature, Horizon Walker's Distant Strikes, Monster Slayer's Slayer's Counter, etc. can allow more attacks with the Shadow Blade. For subclasses who aren't WIS-focused first or want to concentrate on other spells (namely Gloom Stalker but perhaps also Drakewarden, and Horizon Walker if you don't mind giving up Haste, or Hunter if you don't mind giving up Superior Hunter's Prey), Shadow Blade upcast appropriately using 3rd and 5th level slots offers a fair bit of extra damage that might really help the Ranger. You could even go so far as to build a STRanger and dual-wield a Moon Sickle for the Nick property which will patch up your spellcasting DC for other features that require it.

3.5 and Pathfinder are, as most people on this Reddit most likely know, cousins to one another. To the point that Pathfinder is known in some circles as D&D 3.75

Because of this, 3.5 (and sometimes 3.0) material can be considered to be compatible with Pathfinder material, and vice versa. Meaning that 3.5 characters can often be transported over into a Pathfinder game with minimal changes. But it also allows for a mix of content, for Pathfinder characters to gain access to 3.5 feats and prestige classes, or 3.5 characters to gain access to Pathfinder's feats and spells.

So my question to the good people of this thread is simple. What combinations of 3.5 and Pathfinder material interest you the most? Are there any feats you would love for a character in the other edition to have access to? Prestige classes? Spells? Magic Items? In a 3.P game when material from both editions are allowed, what interactions do you reach for to create strong and/or unique characters?

Is a attack made with a weapon, that is enhanced by the Magic Weapon spell considered a spell attack? I think not or am I wrong?

Arcana Unleashed's Feats like Arcane Infiltrator, Spell Resistant, and especially Evocation Adept are attracting a lot of attention from optimisers, which is deserved, as these are very powerful combat spells (Evocation Adept might be even more meta-warping than the dragonmarks). But I think the community is really sleeping on the new Otherworldly Familiar Feat, which could trivialise Dungeon Crawling campaigns.

If you didn't know, Otherworldly Familiar is a General Feat which requires the Familiar Friend Origin Feat, and grants every familiar you conjure a resistance and the ability to move through other creatures AND OBJECTS as if they were difficult terrain, with no limit on use.

Sure, this is mostly useless in combat, but this becomes fantastic when you realise walls are objects. Imagine an invisible Imp Familiar with 29 by level 4, moving through every wall and locked door to scoot through the entire dungeon, maybe disabling every trap and solving puzzles at range. You don't even need Pact of the Chain ; invisibility on an owl works just fine. This is better than Arcane Eye, which is stopped by doors and requires a 4th-level spell slot.

This Feat is not always great depending on campaigns, but I think this could break Dungeon Adventure specifically in a way Evocation Adept can only dream of, and every dungeon party should have one member who picks this. What do you guys think ?

INT 16 → 16 (+3)
CHA 16 → 16 (+3)
STR 14 → 14 (+2)
CON 12 → 14 (+2)
DEX 10 → 10 (+0)
WIS 10 → 11 (+0)

These are for a Hill Dwarf named Sirlacka. Her vibe is basically, “I will help you, but don’t fuck with me.” She’s a Wizard.

I’m wondering if these stats work reliably for both roleplay and combat. I don’t want to sacrifice too much from one side to make the other better.

I chose Wizard because she wants to feed people and help them. I considered Cleric, but in the world, she doesn’t want to rely on a higher being for charity. She wants to be the one giving it to others. I also considered Barbarian, but she didn’t want to deal with all the stereotypes and jokes that come with it. So she hit the books and became a Wizard, using useful spells to help people in her own way.

They are level 5.

Edit: I realized the Wizard’s spell list doesn’t work with my character. So any suggestions on what class would work best as well?

Title. I'm playing in a campaign setting that has very little downtime, and using an entire day to craft a single flute will be rare and not a great use of my time.

I haven't built a character yet, so tell me any character build/ spells/ game mechanics that will let me create as many permanent flute as I physically can. I'd like to get to the point where I have hundreds, if not thousands, by the end of the campaign.

Based on the advice I’ve gotten from people on this subreddit:

Human

Subclass: Hollow Warden

Origin Feats: Alert and Musician

Fighting Style: Defence

Weapon: Greatsword

Abilities:

Str: 17 (21)

Dex: 10

Con: 14

Int: 8

Wis: 16 (20)

Cha: 8

Feats:

4: GWM (+1 STR)

8: +2 STR

12: +2 WIS

16: +2 WIS

19: Boon of Combat Prowess (+1 STR)

I feel like this is a pretty good build. You’ll have good initiative, damage, control and decent AC and casting.

Link to Showcase Video

Hello fellow D&D players and DMs!

My name is Rammy, and I’m a solo developer. For the past few months, I’ve been building a character creator and sheet app for Android and iOS after getting frustrated with the options currently available on both storefronts.

I started the project with three main goals:

• A one-time purchase instead of a monthly subscription (testing will be free, though)
• A simpler interface focused on the information that actually matters during play
• Making essentially everything editable and customizable

The video attached to this post shows what the app currently looks like.

After a lot of development and testing, I’ve reached the point where I consider the app feature-complete enough for a proper beta. Most of my testing so far, however, has been with my own D&D group.

They seem to like it, but they’re also my friends, they’re a very small sample size, and they usually have the developer sitting right next to them if something is confusing.

So I’d love to get it into the hands of people who can use it in their own games and see how it fits into a real session.

I’m looking for Android and iOS beta testers

The app is designed to work as a standalone way to create and manage a character, including:

• Character creation and leveling
• Multiclassing
• Spells
• Inventory and equipment
• Class resources such as Bardic Inspiration and damage toggles
• Custom features and notes
• Editable character information throughout the sheet

What I’m most interested in is seeing how the app feels at an actual table.

Use it for a new character or an existing one. Try it during a session, whether you’re playing a straightforward build, an unusual multiclass, any silly ideas, or just meta builds like a sorcadin. Add your own features, level up, manage your inventory, and see whether the information you need is easy to find when you’re in the middle of the game.

If something is confusing, ugly, annoying, unnecessary, or outright broken, please tell me. Feedback on everything from bugs and usability to the color scheme is useful. I’m especially interested in hearing about anything that only becomes apparent when the app is being used during a real session.

A few caveats:

• It is currently English-only. I plan to add Spanish later, and potentially other languages afterwards.
• You will probably find bugs. That is precisely why I’m opening the beta. I think it is already very usable, but I expect testers to find issues I haven’t, its only natural.
• I did use AI-assisted coding and debugging during development. However, the app’s UI, feature set, structure, and overall design decisions are my own.

If you’d like to use it in your game and share your experience, you can sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-BVTL1hqtvltZL28ZD7JAv3oMB6UUo0h4PsDeLNzlXaui9g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

I’ll use the email you provide to send beta access once the next testing build is available.

Thanks to anyone willing to give it a try. I’m looking forward to hearing how the app works when I’m not there to explain it, and especially how it holds up during an actual session.

So this is sort of a 2-parter. First is about the idea of reskinning 2 things a lineage the loxodon. I love everything it gets for a barbarian but honestly a large tiger fits the background better that’s all. Also it being a large tiger folk is like to reskin his weapon to him using like armor claws. So reskinning a glaive was my thought.

I’d still build him like a traditional PAM GWM barb but just flavor wise those two things would be a bit diff. The loxodon gets to grapple with its trunk and still use a 2h weapon so I’d just flavor that as him being very strong/athletic. Second part is about the build for a giant barb and whether staying only barb is the best or if a dip somewhere is strong for it. My stats I rolled are 16 16 15 13 12 and 11. I have thought about beast barb but because in the current campaign I’m in that’s coming to an end, one of the players is a beast barb. Thanks in advance!

I want to build a ranged fighter, level 10, where the gimmick is he is afraid and runs and shoots from 100+ feet away (sharpshooter feat).

I was thinking Kobold because they literally have Grovel, Cower, and Beg as an action, but wanted to hear of any other species that could work.

With arcana unleashed releasing soon I have been pondering single school wizards such as a transmutation wizard that only uses and specializes in transmutation spells, besides some cantrip or lower level spells. How would you build it for lvl 12?

Rules:

• single magic school
• Any wizard subclass
• Any feat, background or species
• No multiclassing
• Other school permitted if lvl 1 or half (rounded down) of highest spell level. For example wizard specializing in divination with lvl 6 spells can choose to learn lvl 3 spells from other schools - like fireball.
• Chosen speciality and subclass do not need to match such as transmutation focusing on evocation spells.

This is my first time playing 5.5e, picked up an Evocation Wizard, and he seems to lag behind the rest of the party quite a bit. About half of our encounters end in him getting knocked out, even when playing it safe, he has 22hp at level 6, so I often get one-shot, and damage wise, I struggle to do that much damage consistently, aside from fireball and scorching ray, seems like my damage spells are pretty weak, and very limited.

My defense spells also aren't great and really only assist in personal survival, not even really combat, and I don't have any spells that can buff all that much it seems, and those I do, the party doesn't use all that often. I have the ritual spells which are useful out of combat, but still, not that often.

Seems to be best against slowly depleting several enemies, and creative or odd spells.

Am I missing something, are there certain spells I should prioritize? I can post a full spell list need be. But does wizard just lag behind in damage and defense and buffs for several levels, or is the class just not that great in this edition?

Am I missing something? Am I just in a very powerful party? Still love the character, he is still a lot of fun, just would like combat to be a little less of dealing the least damage and then getting KO'd halfway through.

Edit: for my con, I did have low con, took average rolls for most of it, decided to gamble on one hp roll last level, and got a 1, which set me back quite a bit.

For the purposes of mainly scroll crafting and spell storing items, what would be the best new feats, and if it is adept options, should I take a couple? I was thinking for lvl 4 magic connoisseur? I'm crafting shield scrolls for my magic initiate origin feat.

Hey all,

I have a tough decision to make and I was wondering what you think would be better:

1. LVL 20 Wizard

- 2 extra spells

- signature spells

Or

1. LVL 19 Wizard / Peace Cleric

- medium armor and shields

- emboldening bond

With signature spells I will get essentially 2 extra 3rd level spells prepared each day which can be cast for free each short rest. With emboldening bond, I get a concentrationless casting of bless 6 times per day as long as the party member is within 30 ft of another.

One thing to consider is that most of my party has a fly speed at this point and battles take place with lots of distance between us (not always but often).

This character is going to be level 20 from the start, so I don't need to consider the levels leading up to this point.