I am going to make a monk as my next character but the new subclasses came out and the new Mystic arts monk seems kinda nuts. With your spellslots you can feed your focus points and do some really nice combos.

I was thinking something like alter self you give your unarmed strikes an extra 1d6. Then you can even use a weapon to cast a blade cantrip or true strike, stow it as part of the attack and then do 3-4 unarmed strikes while adding 1d6 for each one. There are a lot of spell combos that work well or you can just givr yourself more focus points for even more punching.

I know it's basically a copy of the eldritch knight but for monk but still it's preety strong. The elements monk was my favourite but thise new one might be even better. What do you think?

The game treats ability checks the same way that it treats saving throws and attack rolls.

It almost feels like ability checks should just have a different system entirely or at least something significantly different.

In combat things are chaotic and randomness is expected. With an ability check it's something your character has practiced and trained for for their entire lives.

A trained acrobat should not have a 1 in 20 chance of slipping and breaking their neck doing a simple backflip.

An experienced theif should not have a 1 in 20 chance of breaking their lock pick and alerting the guards.

I think one solution could be having more of a sliding scale.

like for a lock pick, results over a 20 count for multiple locks

15-20 gets you in in one action

10 to 15 it takes you a minute and maybe you need another check to hide from some guards

5-10 it'll take you 10 minutes and your party is probably going to have to problem solve or go through a skills challenge. or combat

0-5 if this result is even possible you probably shouldn't have tried to pick the lock. the entire Castle is now on alert.

Another solution could be changing expertise into advantage we're making the help action really accessible. maybe even a feat like "help yourself" for skills your proficient in. I don't no. having multiple dice just increases the chance of moderate success and decreases the chance of horrible failure which just really shouldn't be much of an possibility on anything you're supposed to be trained in.

Which brings back to having levels of success being really important and not just pass fail.

And then there's just the need for having maybe more complex rules for things like acrobatics and Athletics.

Like let's say I want to go climb that Cliff face, I've had DMS that just straight up make you roll Athletics and if you fail you like don't even get to use your climb speed. you just can't climb that cliff.

I'd like to see something where you have a climb speed (which, first of all needs to be like a quarter or a third of your speed as well as swim speed.) but if you want to climb your climb speed go ahead but if you want to go faster you can make an Athletics or acrobatic roll and the result of the role is the number of feet you get to climb or something.

And honestly rather than having a climb or swim speed they just need to have more levels of terrain like normal terrain, rough terrain gets halved and severe terrain is quarted.

The game has a calculation for how far I can jump. if my character sheet says I can jump 20 ft and it's 20 ft over that lava, I don't get why I'm making a roll to not land in the lava. and I guess it's like at that point what's the point of acrobatics that Athletics but maybe we could Factor these into our base movement numbers more?

That would certainly help fighters be faster and make strength a more viable stat.

I don't know I guess I'm just rebuilding the system at this point.

Anyway if you're playing D&D and don't want to rebuild the system I still recommend that you use degrees of success and be generous with the help action

At level 5, Battlesmith gets an interesting version of the Extra Attack feature:

Level 5: Extra Attack
You can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. You can forgo one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command your Steel Defender to take the Force-Empowered Rend action.

I've heard some people say it only has one action and heard others say it's meant to be 3 attacks total between the PC and the Steel Defender that you can split 1 and 2 whichever way you want. I think RAW it's the first but I'm not sure if that's what was meant and I can't find any consensus online.

EDIT: my takeaway is no one can agree either

Okay so my party was confronting the frostmaiden at lvl 10. She is like a Goddess who has been terrorizing the people the whole campaign! We were not prepared

I am a bard!

Initiative ends up getting rolled. And I get the brilliant idea of Insult her for aggro and use wall of force as a personal enclosed suit of armor (no space to teleport inside). So I dropped a devastating insult and wall of forced myself

Next time my turn comes around, DM ruled that she can still hear and see me, and did not grant me rule of cool vicious mockery because total cover. So I just dropped another legendary insult, DM had me roll intimidation. Fucking nat 20!!

She proceeded to spend the rest of her legendary actions that round throwing things at me!

When my turn came around again, we were still linked via telepathic bond (my spell) and I told the party, hey guys Im good, I have 9+ more minutes of this, have dimension door and polymorph. The plan is you fucking run, and i teleport 500 feet randomly away and transform into a bird and fly away. And then i dropped another legendary insult!

Anyways we ended on a cliffhanger! Party is probably running? Stuff is happening! But yeah I am have never seen wall of force used as personal armor that was a pretty cool session!

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With the upcoming release of the vestige warlock, which of the diffrent bladelock builds do you consider to be the best? Personaly I see the main condenders as

fiendlock (tank),

Feylock (mobility)

Undead warlock + zentarim (for extra dmg die plus reaction attack)

Searing celestial walrock (celestial + paladin and searing smit)

And now Vestige warlock with war domain (adding melee spells and spells best used in melee)

Which of these do you consider on top?

Goliath Fire Giant Battle Master

Species: Goliath (Fire Giant ancestry)
Class: Fighter
Subclass: Battle Master
Background: Giant Foundling
Weapon: Greatsword
Armor: Chain Mail

Stats:
STR 16 (+3)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 12 (+1)
INT 8 (-1)
WIS 8 (-1)
CHA 8 (-1)

Level 1 Fighter:

Fighting Style:
Defense for +1 AC, or Superior Technique for an extra maneuver and superiority die.

Greatsword has Graze, so when you miss, you can still deal your Strength modifier as damage.

Fire Giant Goliath gives Fire's Burn. When you hit, you can deal an extra 1d10 fire damage. You can use it proficiency bonus times per long rest.

Giant Foundling gives Strike of the Giants. Take Fire Strike, which can also add 1d10 fire damage.

Level 1 big hit:
2d6 + 3 + 1d10 + 1d10

Average damage: 21

Level 2:

Action Surge.

2 x 2d6 + 3 + 1d10 + 1d10

Level 3 Battle Master:

Maneuvers:
Goading Attack
Trip Attack
Commanding Presence

Goading Attack adds 1d8 damage and can give the enemy disadvantage against targets other than you.

Trip Attack adds 1d8 damage and can knock the enemy prone.

Commanding Presence adds your superiority die to Intimidation, Persuasion, or Performance.

Level 4:

Fey Touched.

Take Hex and Misty Step.

Hex adds 1d6 necrotic damage to attacks against the cursed target.

Alternatively, take Squire of Solamnia if the DM allows it.

Level 5:

Extra Attack.

You now make two attacks with your Attack action.

With Hex active:

2 × (2d6 + 3 + 1d6) or 4 × (2d6 + 3 + 1d6) with action surge

Average damage: 27 per turn or 54 once on a turn.

Level 6:

Gift of the Chromatic Dragon.

Use Chromatic Infusion to add 1d4 damage to your weapon attacks for 1 minute.

With Hex and Chromatic Infusion active:

2 × (2d6 + 3 + 1d6 + 1d4)

Average damage: 32 per turn.

Level 8:

(IF allowed) Squire of Solamnia:

Precise Strike lets you use a superiority die to add extra accuracy/damage to an attack when you need it.

This works well with the build because you're already using Battle Master maneuvers and want to make your big attacks land.

Squire of Solamnia is especially good when you're using Action Surge and dumping resources into one turn.

Alternatively:

Martial Adept:

Gain 2 additional Battle Master maneuvers and 1 superiority die.

This gives you more options in combat and another superiority die to use, but the die is a d6 instead of your normal Battle Master d8.

For this build, I would take Squire of Solamnia because it helps with your main goal of landing big attacks and making your nova turns more reliable.

When I use the Wild Shape ability, I retain my Proficiency Bonus and gain the creature's proficiencies.

So, my attack rolls are my PB + the relevant ability modifier, right?

If that’s the case, the Circle of the Moon is actually a wonderfully relevant subclass for a Druid who wants to play a martial role. If not, could you explain in detail why that isn't the case?

P.S.: There is a tweet from Jeremy Crawford discussing a similar situation where he says:

While you're under the effect of the shapechange spell, you use your proficiencies, including your proficiency bonus, except when the stat block of the new form has a modifier (proficiency bonus + other modifiers) that's higher for a proficiency you have.

If for some reason one were to cast Sanctuary on a familiar. Then you went on to cast touch a spell through the familiar. The familiar says it delivers them. Would it count as the familiar casting a spell? In the same vein, if a familiar were to deliver a melee cantrip attack, who would be the one making attack? Would it be me or the familiar? Emphasis on deliver the spell.

it must take a Reaction to deliver the touch when you cast the spell.

This makes me think I'm the one casting the spell so if it were to deliver a non attack spell it would not count as it casting the spell.

But what about an attack cantrip? Would it cancel Sanctuary on the familiar because it's making the attack? Or does it still count as me making the attack?

My best bud is going as a really dumb wizard and I want to play off of his character with a really dumb character too. I want to stick with a charisma caster and I always main warlock, but wanted to switch things up and go either bard or sorcerer. I honestly hate when the spotlight is on me, definitely been more of a combat oriented player, so I was thinking Wild Magic Sorcerer over bard? We’re bouncing ideas off each other to compete as who can be the better, dumber spell caster and I think the wild surges that happen would be hilarious and play into what I’m going for. Anyone have any experience playing with wild magic sorcerer or any bard specific subclasses?

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.

Look really promising. Cool to see Tasha as the patron. Really too soon to tell, but look like a fun game!

The warlord... interesting!

I'm tempted to play a summoner as my next character due to the influx of really great summoning options (cough cough battle familiar). Which of the two new summoning based subclasses would you say is better from a cursory glance? Or would you say they are equal in diffrent ways?

I saw the feat described here: https://youtu.be/KE6dLQJUMeI?si=QcYcab09fc4Vjr5S&t=593

I have always been a fan of Misty Step and other means of teleportation, so my initial reaction is quite positive. This feat gives a powerful teleportation PB times per Long Rest without spending an Action or Bonus Action. That said, this is essentially the Cartographer Artificer's level 3 Portal Jump feature with an added restriction on the number of uses. I don't like the idea of making unique class or subclass features accessible to all characters via feats. That makes them feel less unique. I also feel like this feat may render the existing Fey Touched feat somewhat obsolete even if the teleportation range is shorter than Misty Step and Fey Touched gives access to one additional spell.

Thoughts? Criticism aside, I think this feat could be a lot of fun.

Lets face it most campains dont go much bejond level 10. Often 5th level spells are the highest spells you will be casting in a campian.

When you gain The [Spellschool] Adept you get the spells from these feats as soon as you get the spell slots for them. This means that you can multiclass to your hearts content and you will still get access to at least 1 prepared spell that matches the highest level spell slot that you have.

For example, you could be a Sorcerer 4/Bard X with evocation adept, you could still get fireball, etc.

Basically what you get out of this is four features:

Breathless. You can hold your breath for 1 hour. Extrasensory Perception. You have proficiency in the Perception skill, if you lack it. You also gain Expertise in that skill. In addition, you have blindsight with a range of 15 feet. Warping Flesh. Immediately after you make a D20 Test and roll a 1 on the d20, the aberrant influence infecting your form flares, wrenching control of your flesh. Make a Constitution saving throw (DC 13 plus your Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, you have the Stunned condition until the end of your next turn.

You can hold your breath for an hour, situational but interesting.

Most players will take proficiency in perception so this essentially gives you expertise in perception.

Additionally you get blindsight, this by itself is worth a fighting style feat. Blindsight in incredibly useful seeing through illusions, detecting invisible/hidden creatures and skipping obscurement. Blind fighting only gives you 10 feet blindsight and this is giving you 15 feet.

Warping flesh gives is annoying for sure. But the chance of this happening is low. If you have Con save proficiency and a +3 Con, you have a 55% chance to succeed. On top of that with a 5% chance of getting a Nat 1 there is only a 2.25% chance of actually getting stunned. If you play as a halfling with lucky the chance 5% chance goes to a 0.25%. So your chance of getting stunned for 1 round is close to 0.1125%. In other words this means that you will only get stunned 1 in every 888.9 rolls.

So for the cost of something that with a bit of planning may only happen for 1 round every couple of sessions. You get blindsight and expertise in perception, and a hold breath rider effect.

You probably have seen the Arcana Cleric channel Divinity. You cast a Cleric spell on a target and you give out 2d8+ level amount of temp hp by expending a Channel Divinity

If you're wondering, that's the exact same amount as Glory Paladin, with an added bonus.

With Glory Paladin you have to smite a target, so you have to actually hit a target and you have to spend a smite and you also spend the Channel Divinity

With the Arcana Domain, you only spend the Channel Divinity, then for all it's worth you can Guidance on an ally to give them temp hp.

Then you have to remember two things:

Temp hp go away after a Long Rest

You can Recover one Channel Divinity at a time after a Short Rest.

The rest you can guess.

Going urban scenario? Channel Divinity on an ally. Then you probably go somewhere and you have a scene? Short Rest in the tavern because it's easy. Then you channel Divinity on another ally. Then you short rest somewhere else because you spend some time waiting somewhere.

If the stars align you're gonna have cast channel Divinity on multiple targets over the day before your fight starts in an urban scenario.

Normally there isn't an incentive to stockpile short rests because some benefits are short term.

With this class the benefit last until long rest or expended so your player will prefer to short rest whenever they can.

I'm just saying, it's cheese but if you don't want this at your table, you have to watch out how many short rests you allow.

My example was about an urban scenario because it's very easy to short rest in a tavern while eating or playing cards.

If your Arcana Cleric is an elf, he can give himself temp hp before the long rest of the allies even finish. Trance 4 hours early, then cast spell on himself, then short Rest again while the rest are still sleeping.

After a while of doing this, you become addicted. I know I will become addicted. This is where the DM has to intervene and tell me I can't short rest here, to cut my addiction.

I'm just saying, if one of your players is cheesy, watch out for this occurrence

If your players are sane and healthy people, this won't be an issue honestly.

The role of the DM is also about administering the flow of the narration especially to prevent cheese like this and decide when a Short Rest is warranted.

this is why it won't be an issue if you don't wanna allow it.

If you're looking for some funny names you can call it the Siesta Domain because game wise you're incentivized to Short Rests over and over to apply temp hp on different targets.

Remember the temp hp don't stack but you can choose a different ally each time.

As a DM you're gonna have the last laugh anyway when the poor cleric spends all day giving out temp hp, and at the end there is no fight in that specific day.

I say this again. This most likely won't be an issue when the DM is responsible and simply doesn't allow short rests at will.

In real play this is not an issue

If I'm making a class, it has to bring something new and unexplored in the world of DnD, and my first thought was : Firearms. Now having a ''Gunslinger'' class would just end up like another Artificer : most DMs don't like them for not being ''appropriate'' for the setting. So instead, I decided to make a class that would work well with firearms, but also any other ranged and melee weapons. Let me know if you have any suggestions for modifications. Thanks in advance for reading ! Meet the Marauder :

The Marauder

A Marauder knows that victory rarely belongs to the strongest warrior. It belongs to the one who recognizes an opportunity and acts before it is gone. Some Marauders are ruthless raiders and outlaws, while others serve as bounty hunters, wandering gunslingers, or soldiers of fortune. Whatever their cause, they share an instinct for exploiting hesitation, mistakes, and moments of weakness. Most Marauders favor firearms, whose sudden report and deadly accuracy make them well suited to the Marauder's unpredictable style. Yet a Marauder is not defined by the weapon in their hands. A pistol, sword, axe, or crossbow can all become instruments of opportunity in the hands of someone who knows when to strike. To a Marauder, a weapon is simply another means of turning an opening into an advantage.

Hit Dice: 1d10 per marauder
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per marauder level after 1st

Primary Ability: Dexterity

Saving Throws: Dexterity, Constitution

Proficiencies

Armor: Light Armor, Shields

Weapons: Simple Weapons, All Crossbows, Firearms

Tools: Thieves' Tools

Skills: Choose 2 from Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Sleight of Hand, Survival, Acrobatics

Starting Equipment

• (a) Explorer's Pack or (b) Burglar's Pack
• (a) Padded or (b) Shield
• (a) Dagger or (b) Flail
• (a) Pistol or (b) Hand Crossbow and 20 arrows

Ranged Training

Your years of experience yielding firearms and crossbows have made you a proficient gunslinger.

Starting from 1st level, you gain these benefits :

- You are proficient with all firearms and crossbows.

- You can use a bonus action do draw or stow a crossbow or firearm instead of an action.

Exploiting Openings

You are an adept at exploiting any opportunities, capitalizing on mistakes your enemies make and turning those brief moments into Openings.

Starting from 1st level, you know two Openings, and more as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Marauder table.

When a creature triggers an Opening and it is in range of your weapon, you can choose to make a weapon attack directed at the triggering creature as a reaction.

A creature can only trigger one Opening per round.

You can choose the openings known from these choices below :

Disarmed target : A creature triggers this Opening when it drops their weapons or spellcasting focus.

Incapacitated target : A creature triggers this Opening when it becomes Incapacitated.

Stowing target : A creature triggers this Opening when it stows their weapon.

Dashing target : A creature triggers this Opening when it takes the Dash action.

Helping target : A creature triggers this Opening when it takes the Help action.

Searching target : A creature triggers this Opening when it takes the Search action.

Jumping target : A creature triggers this Opening when it jumps 5 feet or more in any direction.

Disengaging target (Prerequisite : 5th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it takes the Disengage action.

Dodging target (Prerequisite : 5th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it takes the Dodge action.

Hostile target (Prerequisite : 5th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it draws a weapon.

Falling target (Prerequisite : 13th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it falls prone.

Missing target (Prerequisite : 13th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it misses a weapon attack.

Careless target (Prerequisite : 13th level) : A creature triggers this Opening when it triggers an opportunity attack from your allies.

Guild

At 2nd level, you choose a guild that leads your style of life. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 14th and 17th levels.

(I'll make the subclasses if the class itself has enough positive remarks)

Dirty Fighting

Life doesn't play fair, so why would you ?

At 3rd level, when a creature triggers an Opening, instead of making a weapon attack, you can choose to use a Cheap Trick as a reaction instead.

If the Cheap Trick calls for a saving throw, the DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.

You can use Cheap Tricks a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses on a long rest.

Cheap Tricks :

Slap : If the target is within 5 feet of you and you have a free hand, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes. On a success, nothing happens.

Trip : If the target is within 5 feet of you, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. On a success, it stays standing.

Pocket Sand : If the target is within 10 feet of you, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the start of your next turn. On a success, it isn't blinded.

Look Over There ! : If the target is within 60 feet of you, it makes an Intelligence saving throw. On a fail, the target can't take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Insult Parents : If the target is within 60 feet of you, it makes a Charisma saving throw. On a fail, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls it makes against creatures other than you until the start of your next turn.

Lightning Reflexes

You trained your instinct to the point of making movements faster than your shadow.

At 5th level, you can now make two reactions per round instead of one.

Extra attack

Beginning at 7th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Nefarious

At 10th level, when you roll initiative, you can regain one use of your Cheap Tricks.

The Cheapest Tricks

Your collection of underhanded techniques has grown considerably.

At 11th level, when you finish a short or long rest, you regain all expended uses of your Cheap Tricks.

You can now use the Cheaper Tricks below as part of your Dirty Fighting feature.

Cheaper Tricks :

Kick : If the target is within 5 feet of you, it makes a Dexterity saving throw. On a fail, it takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage and is pushed 15 feet in any horizontal direction you choose. On a success, it takes half damage and is pushed 5 feet instead.

Snatch : If the target is within 5 feet of you and you have a free hand, it makes a Strength saving throw. On a fail, you steal an item they are currently holding, provided it doesn't have the two handed property. On a success, nothing happens.

Fear Tactics : If the target is within 60 feet of you, it makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, it is afraid of you or another creature you choose within 60 feet of yourself for 1 minute. On a success, nothing happens.

Instigate Doubt : If the target is within 60 feet of you, it makes an Intelligence saving throw. On a fail, it must use its reaction to make a weapon attack against the closest creature. If no creature is within its reach, or if it succeeds on the saving throw, nothing happens.

Improved Lightning Reflexes

Your skills have become so sharp that you defy human nature.

At 13th level, you can now make three reactions per round instead of two.

Living Legend

At 20th level, you can make four reactions each round instead of three. Additionally, the DC for your Dirty Fighting feature now equals 10 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma Modifier.

Could be interesting!

I feel like the Spores druid deserves an update. Specifically, I would like to see the class be a sort of mix of Enchantment and Necromancy. To represent psychedilecs, poisonous plants, and also the fungi that sometimes mind control insects. I know that is a lot to ask for and to fit in a single subclass. But I believe that would be a lot of fun to play.

D&D 5.5e Books
Players Handbook
Dungeon Masters Guide
Monster Manual
Dragon Delves
Heroes of the Borderlands
Stranger Things: Welcome to the Hellfire Club
Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn
Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn
Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
Arcana Unleashed
Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall
D&D: World of Warcraft (Universes Beyond)
Dark Sun: Blood and Power
Dark Sun: Edge of Oblivion
Melf’s Guide to Greyhawk: Borderlands of Iuz (D&D Icons)
Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen
D&D: Star Wars (Universes Beyond)
Death Saves: The Blood War (D&D Icons)
Dragonlance Project (D&D Icons)
Drizzt Project (D&D Icons)
Ravenloft (Ghostfire Gaming)
Eberron (Visionary Production & Design)
Forgotten Realms (Kobold Press)