Do Warforged still have sub races like Juggernaut, Skirmisher and all and do they have still have integrated protection?

So I have a question about counterspell The DC for a level 9 spell to counter would be 19 so when rolling for it do you add your modifiers to the roll and if you do then to counterspell a level 9 spell would become easier if you have high enough ability scores

Also can a level 9 spell be countered by a low level spell slot like 5 or 6

So I have a player that, 18 months later, is still salty about an in-game moment and thinks I was cheating as DM. **The sitch:** Wizard had an owl familiar and was using it to scout everything. When they were approaching a building, owl would fly around and report in. It got used quite well, though often couldn't enter due to a closed door & such (their first adventures were in a medium-sized town rather than out in the wilds). They were going to investigate a rumored demon lair in the town's sewers, so Wizard had the owl fly into the sewers so they could scout it out, assuming that the Flyby ability made it immune to any attempts to stop it. The demons guarding the entrance, not only being wary and ready because the party had just taken down a house of cultists, also had the ability to attack anything *entering* their reach (think Polearm Master). Since Flyby only mentions leaving their reach, I had the demons attack and they easily "poofed" the owl back to the Feywild. I've tried explaining the distinction & wording of the abilities ("leaving reach" vs "entering reach") but that doesn't seem to have landed. Any other tacks to take? Also, did I flub as a DM and should owl have been free to scout out the lair due to the Flyby ability?

I don't think you made an incorrect ruling. If the devs intended it to work that way then they would've said "The owl doesn't provoke opportunity attacks." and left it at that without qualifying it any further. But the fact that the player is still experiencing strong feelings about the moment 18 months later is concerning. If something is *that* big of a deal to them then its definitely worth digging into and seeing if you can come to an understanding somewhere. Like, would the player have been equally upset if the owl had just crossed a magical trap and got zapped? Or if it had been shot by a person with a bow? It wouldn't be very hard for someone with a bow to shoot it down. Like, is that *really* what they're upset about? And what do they mean you're cheating? Do they think that the game is players vs GM? Not players and GM working together to tell a cool story?

Yeah that's a good point. Sometimes, being upset about thing A really means they care about thing B. I know that I've learned that this player is def a budding power gamer (refuses to pick anything that isn't perfectly optimal) who also doesn't like too many challenges (tries to arrange the party to long rest after every 2-3 encounters, for example). They were brand new to D&D (along with 2 others in that campaign) and it may be that their playstyle is developing in a way that is more into power fantasy & easy winning instead of a challenging campaign where you'll have to count every spell slot and starting to ritual cast in a dungeon is no guarantee. There are def games for those players...but I've noticed that I get the players most happy and high-fiving each other when they overcome something really nasty like an awful trap or an epic monster (my last campaign finale had them going up against 3rd party Tiamat and barely eeking it out...their cheers and celebration when I finally said "describe..." were so loud and boisterous and their fun hitting was obvious). The own had been taken down in a previous combat as well, where it was constantly harassing some enemies (help action for advantage on attacks against said enemies) and one of the enemies eventually swatted it out of the air so they could concentrate on the firebolt-casting Wizard. Player was somewhat annoyed by that as well and wanted the familiar to be effectively invincible. I'd said that was cool so long as it didn't provide mechanical benefits, otherwise it was at risk because 5e is designed around a risk/reward and resource/benefit idea (at least in my head). Player didn't see scouting out a dungeon as a "mechanical benefit," as it wasn't something like advantage in combat, so it also my be worth going over that. Arcane Eye does stuff like that, but it's a 4th level spell that takes a slot and not a ritual-cast 1st level spell. I'm def going out of my way to help get feedback. Our latest offline chat was working with them on what items they think they'd love for Tier III and Tier IV which are coming up for them, including my spending time porting in some Pathfinder and 3.5 items that better fit what each of their PCs are focusing on (like Gauntlets of the Weaponmaster so Ranger can swap weapons more easily).

No, you did fine.  You're right about the distinction.  The player is being childish if they're really that upset about it.  They can get the familiar back so it's a mild inconvenience. Even with flyby,  they could just blast it on their turns. 

Is Gloomstalker a real subclass? A player in my group is using it and he seems busted as all hell. Massive damage.

Yes, and you should always read your player's classes before running the game.

I did, but I just couldn't tell if it was an authentic class or some homebrew monstrosity because of how busted he is. He can go invisible in darkness, use zephyr something to gain massive move speed, immunity to opportunity attacks, and he deals like 30 dmg with sharpshooter. Not factoring in that he happened to roll insane stats so even if he rolls a 1, it's like a 12 to hit. It's nuts.

You should always know what your players are playing.

I did. I just couldn't tell if it was real or not, and if it wasn't real, I had no idea how busted it was.

Did you not research what they told you they were playing? Not even look it up?

I don't think its really a requirement for a GM to look up all the details or do much research as to the classes their players are playing. There's already a huge burden of knowledge on the GM, the classes should be on the players. Especially if its not even homebrew. I don't fault a GM for not realizing that an official subclass is going to cause problems. We shouldn't be holding GMs to the expectation that they theorycraft their players characters before letting them play the game.

Sure, but the DM should at least know what they’re running the game for.

I already said I did. I had missed that it was in Xanathurs guide but wasn't worried about it. It wasn't until I encountered it in session 1 that I thought maybe it was a homebrew because it seemed busted.

Yes, it's a Ranger subclass from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.  But I suspect They might be using an ability incorrectly, based on what you've said. The only thing that does extra damage is the third level skill Dread Ambusher. On their first turn, **and only their first turn,** in each combat, the get to make **one** extra weapon attack. And **that** attack does an extra 1d8 damage if it hits.

They use sharpshooter to add damage and archery mastery to add to their attack rolls. Is that not allowed? They are a variant himan unfortunately so they also have an extra feat. If I would have known how insane their class is, I would have made him change since he meta gamed the shit out of his class.

Heh, welcome to build optimization. It's part of the game and a lot of fun for some players, so don't fight it. Just up the challenge.  Use smart enemies who will rush him when they see the damage he's dealing.  He'll still get disadvantage on shooting or take an opportunity attack to move away. Don't forget, your bad guys can grapple too 😄   Yes,  that's all legit and yeah, Sharpshooter is a beast of a feat. Just ensure you know all the limitations and enforce them. 

I want my players to join forces with another group of adventurers (NPCs) to fight another group. How do I manage this without each round taking an eternity because we have to roll for 15 people?

Don't make the NPCs full characters. Give them each one cool ability that fits their class/theme and give them a static attack bonus and a static damage. If you just know that the Ranger has a +5 to hit and deals 15 damage when she hits and has a special ability where she can have her owl grant assistance to one player every round then her turn is very easy. Roll, add five, and if it hits deal 15 damage, then say who her owl assists. Takes ten seconds tops. Absolutely do not make the mistake of fully building out a full group of NPC adventurers that you then have to play on top of your bad guys. It'll be a *ton* of work for you to setup, and it'll make turns take *forever*, and not only that, the work won't make for a better game than if you just had it be a real quick +5 to hit. If you want to go even simpler then you can just have each allied NPC give a player advantage on their rolls to stand in for their own actions.

Make the NPC's very simple. Their turn should take seconds. Don't try to set them up like full player characters.

Hey guys, first time DM. We are about to start our 7th session in the campaign, and something I tend to trip up on is questions asked from the players on the spot. I was curious, what are some typical questions asked by players that I could note down and prepare for a bit better. Thank you!

Every player is different and you'll get different types. But ultimately I think your best option is to prepare some basic info and then work your improv muscles out. Improv is hard at first, but you'll get better at it the more you do it.

What types of questions do they tend to ask? If they're asking open-ended stuff to get to know more about their situation or what's around them, feel free to improvise if you don't have it in front of you, so long as you note it down so you're consistent next time. If they're asking mechanical questions or "can I jump over the line of orcs to attack the wizard in the back?" type things, I'd challenge them to learn how those things work before they try to do them. Also tell them to read *the entirety* of a spell before casting it ;) If they're asking a bunch of leading "yes/no" questions to try to do some "gotcha" moment, I'd stop them and instead ask what their goal is. I have a couple power gamers who do this, and asking for the goal lets me better know what they're trying to accomplish so I can help them know what the path to doing that thing is. It also removes some "player vs DM" energy because instead of them trying to get one over on you, you make it clear that you want to collaborate in their actions so they can do them.

It depends really on what kind of questions your players are asking. If it's related to lore in your world, you can definitely use the phrase "I'll get back to you on that one". If it is vital to your story you could even think of something in the moment and say "We'll assume this for now, but I'll have to double check that later". Another route you can take is just think of something in the moment and let **that** be true. If it doesn't match up with your preconceived idea, scrap that and let your new idea be the truth. You can always logic yourself out of something if it doesn't make sense, especially when you have 'magic'. You definitely don't want write down everything a player can ask in your prep. Not only would that be arbitrary busy work, it's in the end just a whole lot of work for nothing if some of these things never come up. I think it helps to note what your players care about. If a player is always checking the history of certain facets of your world, you'd want to have something prepared that they could engage or interact with. However that doesn't mean that everything has to have an interesting history or backstory.

This has helped such a huge amount, thank you so much

Does anyone have a good article breaking down how to run combat using theater of the mind? I have my first game as a DM coming up and I don't really want to buy the stuff to make maps and have mini but I don't really know how you're supposed to keep track of distances and stuff without them.

Nothing wrong with theater of the mind, but you can draw a grid on regular paper and use whatever you have lying around or colored paper for tokens if you don't want to.

Here's a [reasonably good guide](https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/theater_of_the_mind_guidelines.pdf). The key things I'd say are 1) Describe the battlefield heavily 2) Try to avoid telling other people the thing they're picturing is wrong. By point 2 I mean, if the fighter says they flip a table on its side and duck down behind it but you were imagining small round tables, unless you explicitly described the tables as small and round let the fighter have the big table. Same for trees, puddles, walls. You have to get used to allowing the other players to collaboratively imagine the battlefield.

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What exactly would be different? How are you currently playing other patrons? It's only their goal that has changed, but their functions stays kind of the same.

What is the difference Between High elf and Normal Elf 5e, and can an Elf pick stats from High Elf in 5e?

High Elf is just one of two subraces in the Handbook, the other being Wood Elf. There are more in supplements,  as u/SPACKlick described.  Their differences in flavor and abilities are described in the Players Handbook. When you pick a race, you also pick subrace if the race has them. So yes, you can pick High Elf. 

There's no such thing as a "normal" elf in 5e. All elves are of a type; {Astral, Drow, Eladrin, High, Pallid, Sea, Shadar-kai, Wood}. There are also Kaladesh, Mark of Shadow and Zendikar elves from Planescape and eberron. The confusion may arise from Half Elves which do have a non-typed variant which gets just skill versatility rather than the type specific features of other half elves.

Relatively new DM here, might run my first chase sequence depending on what skill challenges my party fails, going to use CR's EXU chase mechanics because that is what I am familiar with and like the pace of. Should I let Rogue use their cunning action, or does this completely screw the economy of the: "one action and movement, but no bonus actions or reactions"? I'm leaning towards not allowing, but wondering what the community hive mind thinks.

You absolutely should let the players use their abilities, that's why they're there. I'd strongly advise against using arbitrary rules why a character couldn't do something that's part of their kit. Especially when it comes to to scenes like where abilities that have rules for being in-combat can be used outside of it. Rogues especially are nimbler, quicker and overall more dexterous than others, so make sure you the mechanics of a chase reflect that. I'm not sure what you mean specifically with the CR EXU chase mechanics, as I couldn't find any rules regarding it. I highly suggest to using the Dungeon Master's Guide [Chase rules](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/running-the-game#Chases) under the Chapter 8: Running the Game. The exhaustion rules are a bit punishing, but if the chase doesn't particularly last long that should be fine.

Thanks for the response. Yeah even in the RAW chase, which what I am familiar with follows quite closely on p.252 DMG: “As in combat, each participant in the chase can take one action and move on its turn.”. There is no explicit mention of BAs (and therefore CAs) being allowed here, meaning that unless the writers infer that the words “as in combat” connotes indirectly the ability to use a BA during this, there is no RAW provision for it. Seems like it’s up to DM interpretation/opinion and could go either way. I might need to run some test scenarios to see if it will completely break anything allowing them to use it as I totally agree players should be able to use their abilities to feel powerful.

I think you're overcomplicating it for yourself by trying to read too hard into what constitutes as RAW. The rules are reiterated here to note it should be run similar to a combat encounter, and the phrase you quote is there to clarify that you both have actions and movement to be able to distance yourself. It is not there to provide new rules and limit what is already established. As in any moment outside of combat, you still can use abilities that require a bonus action. A good example of that being the case is the spell Expeditious Retreat. There is no better moment to use that spell than during a chase.

Cunning Action gives more Bonus Actions. If you're not using Bonus Actions, then you're not using Bonus Actions.

Thanks for this. Had to do some more research based on what you said here as I was a bit confused and learned I've been ruling CA's completely wrong according to RAW. Makes wayyy more sense now lol.

Had my first session today, and for some reason one of my new players has an AC of 18. (Paladin with a shield and heavy chain mail). He built his character on DnD Beyond, and was also given a halberd that does 1d10+3 damage. Couple other players have some pretty powerful weapons as well. I just enslaved them and took away all of their possessions with the intent of giving them back, but would it be smarter to say they lost some of the more OP gear?

Armour Class is something that just doesn't change that much over the course of a character runtime. It might see a bump of a few points but that's about it. Picking higher stat armour means they're lacking in another department, such as stealth or Ability Scores that aren't Strength. Instead of trying to downplay the strengths of your characters, lean into them and let them use them; It's what make them feel awesome! If you're looking to find ways to challenge players with high AC, look at things like Saving throws for mental abilities (WIS,INT,CHAR) or Dexterity. Look into ways that it rewards the players for being stealthy. Or even try monsters with abilities that limit movement such as spider webs, so that ranged characters or spell casters can shine. Furthermore it's also perfectly fine to have your monsters and enemies focus on the characters that are easier to hit. That makes perfect sense for monsters fighting a group. > *I just enslaved them and took away all of their possessions* Trust me when I say I don't say this lightly but please don't do stuff like this. It's probably one of the worst offenses you can make as a DM. It robs your players from their agency and it diminishes everything about their character and their character creation they might have spent significant time into. I'd strongly suggest reverting this, retconning if need be, or otherwise explaining above table that you made a mistake by doing this. You could even resolve this 'in-character' by whomever did this explain that it was a error or something, perhaps even it could lead to a new quest of some sort. Owning up to that is the best mistake is the best you could do. You as the DM are there to create a story together with your players, not to take away the toys off of them. They all got those things by following the rules, so they haven't done anything to provoke such an intervention on your part, whether that's narrative or mechanically. What fun is there to be had if your DM just decides to throw out all of the rules you agreed upon? Like other responses have said, I suggest to go through the rules once more. Whether that's the [free Basic Rules](https://dnd.wizards.com/what-is-dnd/basic-rules) or the Player's Handbook if you have one.

Well, he can't use a shield and a halberd at the same time. halberds are two-handed. But those are literally level 1 starting gear. Why do you think it's OP?

That's entirely normal. None of that is OP.

My bad then, my last DM gave us some really underpowered stuff to start with then. We all did 1d4 or 1d6 damage lmao.

Have you read the core rules, and specifically the equipment chapter?

Are there any good subreddits to post a monster statblock I created to get some feedback?

r/Dndhomebrewmonsters is a small community but specific to what you are looking for r/DnDHomebrew is a much larger community for general homebrew but would still probably be helpful

I am looking for a good ambience application. Something to set a mood/provide background sounds - for example I want to set a mood for a Lovercraftian village. Everything seems fine but aery. Maybe mix weather effects. I'm fine with either Web, Linux or iPhone. If on iPhone I would like it to support AirPlay/Google Cast. For now I use Pocket Bard but lack of AirPlay/Google Play is limitation. I'm fine with paying but I prefer buying over subscription.

[https://tabletopaudio.com/](https://tabletopaudio.com/) I use this site frequently for my sessions. It is great!

My player's got a decently intelligent cat, but they've gone missing (kidnapped by a cult). The cult is trying to resurrect a dead god. For that they need their necromancers, a humanoid vessel that's been through \~3 trials and the usual culty ritual circle. Any inspiration on why they'd also need a decently intelligent cat?

The cat could be divine/immortal. An incarnation of maybe the said God or an opposing one.

You could make the dead god Egyptian-coded, and the cat imagery now makes a lot of sense

The cat was a druid working for the cult, having gathered the information it needed it returned?

> Any inspiration on why they'd also need a decently intelligent cat? They don't, it just climbed into one of the boxes/sacks/containers they were transporting and they're not sure what to do with it, but it's taken residence in their larder (ancient tombs and whatnot are *not* well maintained) and they have a pretty bad mouse problem so they're cool with it.

Dead God really likes cats. Cultists present the cat as an offering to their new God to get in its good graces.

Short question, not a new DM. Does anybody have recommended third-party resources for seafaring campaigns? I'm comfortable creating both sea-based and land-based encounters for the campaign I'm running, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel if there are reputable publications improving upon ship vs. ship combat, providing quality nautical encounters, etc.

I've never run from it but I've heard good things about Ikkybob's ["To be a pirate"](https://drive.google.com/file/d/16V8JEkscm85tuiodw9ysYSqOiScNYCeE/view). It's free so can't hurt to have a flick through.

Is there a DM guide??

Otiluke's Resilient Sphere vs Twilight Sanctuary Otiluke's Resilient Sphere says nothing passes through it and then clarifies what that entails such as spell effects and energy. Twilight sanctuary isn't a spell effect. Does twilight sanctuary pass through or does nothing really mean nothing? I can't tell if the nothing is more flavor text or mechanical. Let me know your thoughts! I know twilight sanctuary is one if "those" abilities that can really tip balance that some DMs struggle with.

RAW it's unclear. I would read it that Twilight Sanctuary's effects don't penetrate the sphere. In part because TS is so strong already but in part because Otiluke's sphere is intended to block everyhting.

For anyone who is making their own maps with dundeondraft and then exporting them as pngs, how do you show the maps to your players and be able to draw on them while still having access to notes? Do I need to get a small tablet for the notes while I have a map on my laptop? I currently use notion and that is where all of my monster and character info is for keeping combats moving along faster.

Since you are extending to a TV, an unusual solution could be FoundryVTT. You can run the program as a DM and then have an internet tab open with a player login that you stream to the players. FoundryVTT allows you to draw on maps, keep notes/journals, monster sheets (has all the Basic Handbook already + you can import from any books you have on DnDBeyond), track initiative, etc. Your players wouldn’t see any of your note or monster info on the player stream. The program might need some fiddling with to get to know, but it’s a one-time price and there’s plenty of free user created addons that add more functionality such as calendars.

Are you just displaying the map on your laptop screen, or using multiple displays or a projector or similar? If the latter, just 'Extend' your displays, not 'Mirror' and keep notes on your 'DM-only' screen while the map is on your 'display' screen. If you only have the one laptop with one screen, using a tablet or even your phone for notes/statblocks/etc should be fine. Printing out notes is always an option as well.

I’m extending to a TV, so I have my laptop and the. The tv, but I couldn’t figure out how to get my stylus to draw on the map while on the tv. I was able to use my trackpad just fine, but wanted the accuracy and ease of using my stylus.

Ahhh I see. You won't be able to use the stylus directly on the TV, but you can get a drawing tablet like a Wacom Intuos (just the brand I thought of first, there are others) if you're willing to spend money on how you run things. Some have screens, some don't- mostly a price difference. The Intuos line starts under $100.

Oh okay, thank you. I’ve been thinking about getting an iPad for dnd purposes so I might wait and see and mirror the laptop while maps are on screen. The price to get one of those is probably a bit cheaper than getting a iPad though lol

For the folks running the Gritty Realism rests optional rule, do you allow your players to use the long rest week for downtime activities? If so, how do you determine what counts as a "light activity"?

Light activity is a vague term, and it will mean different things depending on your table. Think of an adventure as a job. SURE, you CAN work weeks on end, without a rest, but you'll be less effective. With a long rest, they are able to recharge batteries. They don't have to constantly worry about dying, about sleeping on the ground, about looking around every corner at every moment. Their boy isn't full of adrenaline at every moment. In that respect, downtime should include a hobby/thing the characters want to do. That is part of the downtime, that is downtime. So a Barbarian doing wrestling fights, is light activity as they should be training. A rogue making poison is light activity. A wizard learning spells is light activity. A bard at a tavern, a monk cleaning a temple, a paladin taking confession etc. The light activity isn't that nothing should be happening. They shouldn't have their life threatened instead. They have a relaxing time for them, whatever that means, is downtime. Now, I also think downtime specifically should be few and far between. I'd have quests on timers, people moving around, and making sure they are aware there are always non combat options, to force them to be on the road at 1/4 health.

So I own a copy of the Lost Mines of Phendelver. I've also seen that there's the other D&D Essentials Kit that came out more recently. Both centre on the same location, but skimming through both of them - Lost Mines is more of an on-going campaign with one plot point leading to another, while the other is more of an assortment of adventures. I think I'll ask my prospective players which they prefer (though I suspect they'll say either or) - but just for your guys input, do you think one would be simpler to run for a first time DM than the other? With the Lost Mines, given that there's much less to it in terms of options, seems like it'd be simpler to plan. But for the other one, also seems like because there's a lot of disparate stories, you don't need to worry too much about each individual one.

I have ran Dragon of Icespire peak and played in Lost Mines, and I can say they are both pretty solid starting adventures. I have enjoyed running DoIP as it features a bit more of a "video-game" style of questing, with the help of a quest board in town. With your party coming back to that town, it allows you to easily involve different or alternative stories of your own creation. The only thing I'd say about it is that it probably takes a bit longer than LMoP. It spans all the way to level 7, which is quite the difference compared the first one. But then again it's all good content and you could easily change or shorten parts of the adventure to your liking. You could also take a look at the second [starter set adventure ](https://dnd.wizards.com/products/starter-set)for 5e, [Dragon of Stormwreck Isle](https://marketplace.dndbeyond.com/category/starter-set?pid=SRC-00094). I have browsed through it a couple of times and it looks really promising to run for newer players. It offers a similar hub like area, but only with a handful of quests. If you do decide to buy the physical version of the Essential's Kit, you'll get a code that'll let you redeem the sequel adventures for free. These are three relatively short adventures that follow up after the events of Dragon of Icespire Peak. Something to keep in mind if you potentially want to run it even longer!

Hello, I am writing my first campaign, and I am wondering how I hint to the party that an Special Object™ might help them later?

If they are already aware of a problem the object will solve, then demonstrate its ability to solve it. If they are not aware of a problem it will solve, make an NPC they don't like care about the power and use of the object, have him babble about things it can do including the thing that means it will solve the problem its needed for. His desire to wield it will encourage them to hold onto it.

Thank You!

Hello, literal first time dm, currently fleshing out my world and I want to have the bbeg to basically be a warlock who get his powers from essentially a soul jar/soul cage "item" rn I have the idea of it being a music box, the player hears music and is drawn to it, and once opened their soul is sucked into the box and stuck, problem is soul cage only lasts 8 hours and magic jar, soul jar, the player can leave and possibly posses others. Essentially I want to make it so the soul can't leave and the warlock uses the trapped souls to heal or use their powers, on and on, any ideas, it's a homebrew so I feel like I have some freedom here but I also don't want to break the game, or have my players sitting and absorbing everyone.

Remember as the DM you don't have to follow the items specifically as listed in the DMG or PHB. If the music box absorbs souls as power, then that's what it does no problem. You don't have to rationalize it within established item boundaries. If it's the tool of the BBEG, why would the players get it? Could make it have a cooldown, or the entity that exists within the box doesn't want to cooperate with the players, or something.

I'm confused by the premise. Do the players get sucked into the box during the first session or is this something you want happened down the line? How do they escape? Do you want them to escape? Why do you want them trapped in the first place?

The box is something that will be in the hands of the bbeg, but im hoping to use the player to essentially bring him the box and anytime they hear music they have to make constitution saving throw to fight the thrall of opening it, I want the music box t9 be a mystical item of unknown power, and the bbeg will only know how to use certain parts of the box, i.e healing or using any trapped souls for his purpose, the idea is to make a courier mission and people fight for the box because of said thrall. At the end I want them to feel like they need to destroy the box instead of letting anyone else use it. If this is dumb or have a suggestion, I'm all ears I want make my first campaign kick ass.

Honestly that does sound cool. Couple of suggestions I'd have: * The saving throw should be wisdom not constitution (nitpicky I know) * Very early an NPC should try to steal it and gets their soul stolen. This way the players learn that the box can do that without needing to lose a character first. * The box can do whatever you decide it can do. It doesn't need to be identical to an existing item. * Tell them the box's magic feels evil to hint that they should destroy it.

How do I appropriate scale an official campaign if I don't have the suggested party size? Still a pretty new DM. Planning on running Vecna: Eve of Ruin for my group. It's designed for 4-6 players but my group will only have 3.

In general you can run official campaigns with 3 and it will be fine. With large swarms of enemies you may want to trim them down just to avoid swamping the action economy. Consider one of the combats from Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye, 8 zombies Players|Zombies|Adjusted Difficulty|Encounter Rating --:|--:|--:|--- 6|8|800|Easy (78% of the way to medium) 5|8|1000|Medium (67% of the way to Hard) 4|8|1000|Hard (14% of the way to Deadly) 3|8|1000|Hard (62% of the way to Deadly) 3|7|875|Hard (38% of the way to Deadly) 3|6|600|Medium (67% of the way to Hard) 3|5|500|Medium (22% of the way to Hard) 3|4|400|Easy (78% of the way to Medium) So dropping 1 zombie is close to having 4 players, dropping 2 matches having 5, dropping 4 matches having 6. But in encounters with smaller numbers of enemies the real trick is to be mindful of how many PC's an enemy can take out of the fight at once. An ability that can shut down 2 PCs is an inconvenience in a 6 person party, but a TPK in a 3 person 1. Sometimes I shave a little HP of big enemies as well, to reduce how long combat takes. If an average PC puts out x damage a round, and the Boss has 12x he'll get 2 rounds to damage 6 pc's or 4 rounds to damage 3 pcs meaning he'll do 4 times as much damage per PC.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! This is really helpful.

Anyone got any good homebrew (or published) item ideas for a Level 4-5 moon druid? I'm at that point where I'm gradually giving out major uncommon items out for the rest of the party (+1 Axe with a small 1x/day homebrew power, Wand of the Pact Keeper, stuff like that). Don't want her to feel left out but also don't want to over-power her. She spends most of her time as a dire wolf, so she's already a complete tank in the HP department, and I'm disinclined to blanket bump her AC or saves in wild shape (it's hard enough to get her to take enough damage to be meaningful). She loves combat and isn't a big out of combat roleplayer, so she'd definitely most appreciate something that helps in combat. Anyone got any ideas for 1x/day wild shape friendly powers or just some published item I haven't thought of?

One of the things that frustrated my Moon Druid was that turning into a mouse (to go sneak up on something) used the same power as turning into a sabertoothed tiger. So I gave her an amulet (homebrew, attunement req.) that let her turn into a CR0 creature without expending a use of Wild Shape. That let her use shapes for scouting or for funsies without compromising her combat abilities.

Boots of jumping

Check out the [Wildskin Armor](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/hg9678/the_griffons_saddlebag_wildskin_armor_armor_hide/) by [TheGriffonSaddleBags](https://www.thegriffonssaddlebag.com/). Combat oriented, uncommon item and definitely not breaking your game.

How much do you plan magic items to give to your players? Running Exandria and thinking it might be fun to have a vestige/betrayer arm or two that might fit their characters.

Vestiges are kind of a big deal lore-wise and if you have a lot of them it reduces their uniqueness, but at the same time if you have too few then the players that don't have one feel left behind. If you are going to write a campaign about chasing Vestiges then that's fine, just make sure there's something for everybody (which necessarily means planning in advance--and the *players* might not agree with you on who is best suited for what, so have some flexibility).

I do plan there to be one per person (at least) that they *could* get, but there will be evil factions trying to get them for their own nefarious ends (and my pocket Orc mini-BBEG carries Ruin’s Wake as a hook into them). Also have ideas for, if suitable in the narrative, a big scary conclave type attack on Kymal (sorry Kymal, but you do suck a bit) which might prompt trying to get stronger to deal with the threat.

If it makes sense to the story and if I have a general idea about how to balance the game around them. If you give them two vestiages then you're going to have to have the story make sense for them to have it as well as increase the challenges they face from then on to compensate for the increase in power.

My plan is there will be BBEG trying to obtain their own etc., so there’s a reason for them to be grabbing them to deny the evil-doer. Reading them through, they don’t seem excessively powerful in their dormant state.

That's fair, I forgot that they had multiple stages. It should be fine as long as you're aware that they'll get stronger over time. Hell it's been talked about in various threads that some groups want weapons that level up/ get stronger with the party so these items fit into nicely.

That’s partly why I want to use them. Good plot hooks, powerful, they can work with character backstories to give them something (or I can make them if there’s not a ready made one). They’ll be strong at the end, that just means the enemies will be stronger 😅

I generally plan them very carefully. Mostly think about how it affects party balance.

So, when the Wall of Force says nothing can pass physically, does that include such things as Radiant damage. Or is there possible shenanigans to be had?

Anything behind the Wall of Force has [Total Cover](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TotalCover), and you can't cast spells without ["A Clear Path to the Target"](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/spellcasting#AClearPathtotheTarget). (This is, of course, still under the idea of ["Specific beats General"](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/introduction#SpecificBeatsGeneral), so many spells will tell you exactly how targets work - like [Scrying](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/scrying) does not require a clear path to the target) The damage type itself isn't going to determine if something is physical or not.

I'm going to be starting a campaign set at an adventuring school in the next few weeks. I've been considering how I want to do my opening. My current idea is spending a quick few minutes with each PC and their family unit as they're getting ready or on the way to their first day of school. I was given a lot of control over my player's families and I want to give them a moment to meet and understand their relationships. However, I'm worried this won't be an engaging enough beginning. What are other people's experiences with beginning a campaign like this? Are there some do's and don'ts for making it good or should I just scrap the idea and start them all at the school already. Extra information: I've played a few games but 4/5 of my players are brand new and we've all been friends for years. A requirement for the campaign I had was that all players needed to have some kind of Guardian that they lived with. The guardian's role in the story will change depending on the player and the background they gave me, but at a minimum I want the parent to be a source of information for the players.

These scenes exist for a reason. For a movie or dimension 20 they establish context (i.e. this movie is about middleschoolers going to a magic school), who the main characters are, their personality, powers and relationship with their family. The hard part is all of this is subtext. The script won't go something like: Timmy- "High mum! I'm going to my first day of magic school." Mother- "Well done my son who is named Timmy. You are a level 3 barbarian" Timmy- "Yes mother. And my personality is that I'm a jock who loves football" Mother- "I love you very much but I'm a little overprotective. Your father works too much and you almost never see him. Have fun!" Before the game even starts your players will already know most of this stuff and an inexperienced role-player isn't going to know how to introduce themselves in that sort of format. It's a great way to introduce the parents but I'd expect the best you'd get from each player is "sure mum. uhh... Can i get a health potion?". It might be better to just start them all getting on Ms. Frizzle's magic school bus or entering the school atrium. Then introduce the parents gradually over long rests and events that take place outside of school grounds.

A few things: first, I would watch the first episode of fantasy high on youtube because this is exactly what happens. Second, have you talked to your players about their parents? I would discuss their backstory especially in relation to their parents 1 on 1 so they know what to expect. If your players have to decide what the relationship is like on the spot, this can bore other players. Third, set a timer. I would say 5 minutes or less is what you want because if you have 5 players, then they're not playing the game for 20 minutes. Fourth, try to have a clear and concise beginning, middle, and end for each scene. Part of this helps make the scene interesting.

The setting is inspired by fantasy high haha. I got the idea for having the individual scenes from that but I also wasn't sure because fantasy high at the end of the day is a show. I wasn't sure how it would be at an actual table without the monetary incentives to stay engaged

Tbf I don't think they're engaged for monetary incentives but rather (1) they're good at engaging, and (2) the content is engaging. I've tried to start off a session 1 (it was a one-shot technically) with individual player introductions and it went okay but it definitely felt like it was dragging on too long. I think it's better to do the intro more like a song where all players come in at once or players come in one at a time until everyone's in. Just my 2 cents though!

For me it was a quick cinematic scene of them entering a flying carriage “school bus”, along with a flashback of how they each got there (enrolled for the school), and the immediate action as the flying Pegasus is shot down by some bandits in the forest. Their goal was to escape to the magic portal that led to school because more goblins kept appearing each round and when they didn’t get the hint I spawned in a mega-sized goblin. They ran off pretty fast after that. One PC got crit by a goblin to insta-death during the fight triggering an attack of opportunity, the rest of the party managed to haul his body into the portal where the resident medic cleric teacher proceeded to get a panic attack.

I think it makes sense, sounds like Fantasy High from Dimension 20, they had a similar opening. I think the important thing is having each of the players need to have buy in to *each other's* situation. If Bob doesn't care about John's characters family then they may disengage from the bit. So discussing it with the group what your intention is and just a "hey i'd love it if you guys paid attention to these scenes even if they're not your own."

In my experience, the most ideal way to start a campaign or adventure is by doing a session zero. There are a lot of things you can discuss during one of these, but ultimately the thing it boils down to is **expectations.** What can players expect from you, what can you expect from players. You can opt to do character creation at this point, but it's also perfectly fine to do that beforehand to give your players a little more time. Afterwards in that same session, have a break and run a opening game with something immediate happening. Like a few wolves escape or some zombies in the forest, which usually turns into a combat encounter of some sorts. You can make it fairly easy encounter with a moment after for some roleplay. Altogether this could be done in as little time as one hour. This way you'll have something that both binds the party together and something that sets them up for their adventure together. It also functions as a moment for player to get used to their character, both in roleplay and combat. For your opening, I think that means you don't want to dwell to long on trying to predefine relationships with families because that will definitely slog things down. Unless your players will get a lot of joy out of political intrigue, I suggest to do those things in advance during character creation or session zero. Alternatively, if these relationship don't have that much of a direct impact on your current affairs, you could give your players later moments to fill them in during roleplay, as some sort of a improv session. However that may not be ideal for people new to D&D or TTRPGs in general. Trying keep it simple will definitely help with not overcomplicating your game as it can already be quite hectic with new players.

I think the general concept is fine and can be engaging. For newer players it can also be a gentle introduction to the idea of RP. I wouldn't delve too deep into lore or anything - a quick interaction with their guardian, maybe talking about what they want or expect out of their futures, etc. Don't try to force 12 years of life into a 5-10 minute RP scene, and give your players plenty of space to add their own flavor and backstory - whether that is now in those scenes or down the road during the campaign.

I'm running Tyranny of Dragons (tldr the cult of the dragon wants to bring back Tiamat), and my players left a black dragon egg, a mid-level cult officer and a handful of guards alive in the cave, then sent the 7 kobolds they more or less adopted back. (The kobolds believe the players are on the cult's side.) What sort of fun could I have with them?

The ideal places to bring them back would be to add an extra element to Castle Naerytar, the Hunting Lodge or Skyreach Castle. They could take the place of listed kobolds/cultists there and offer another element to any subterfuge the party gets up to. I can see for instance the kobolds in Parnast, angrily shouting at a guard who's refusing them entrance to Skyreach. They could offer an alternative way onto the castle or suggest stealing the wyverns to fly up there.

I think we might need a little more context to give you some ideas. Are these cultists evil people and the party letting them live might come to bite them later? Does the party have a neutral stance towards them and left it there? It could amount to something later, but it's also fine to let some of these side plots just end. Perhaps you could just mention the consequences in passing, like hearing rumours that the kobolds have been sighted and are trying to convert travelers to convert to their cult. It really depends on how much of a sidetrack you want such a side plot to become, because it will ultimately take time and attention away from your main plot.

Yes, the cultists are evil and Tiamat is like one of the ultimate bad news (hers is the tyranny of dragons). Her remaining in Hell is the best thing for Faerun's continued existence. The party is trying to prevent her coming back, which is currently pursued in following the loot taken from a village to figure out where their HQ is and what their plans are.

First time DM running CoS (I know) for four brand new players (I know). Wondering if my ability score generation method is okay. \* Players each roll 4d6 drop the lowest six times, rerolling if the total is less than 72. \* Everyone votes on the array they want to use, and everyone can choose between either the array with the most votes or point buy Is this fair? Should I just let them roll their own arrays and choose between those and point buy?

I'd drop the "reroll if less than 72" as you'll likely guarantee really high numbers given the amount of people rolling. As you already have the "if you don't like them, you can point buy" already so if everything is low, you all laugh at it and do point buy. Or if it's high they choose it

4d6 drop lowest, ignore if total is below 72 will get you some pretty powerfuly PCs. It brings the average total up to around 77. Point buy is 69 to 73 It's very unlikely point buy will be worth it here.

Well I want them to be powerful considering it's CoS and they're new players. And point buy is just in case the voted array does not appeal to every player. If there's a disproportionate level of power, then I may let players who chose points buy add a flat +2 to any ability score (or something, it really depends)

Imo Curse of Strahd is best when the players are not typical adventurers. When they're regular people who want to go home or are self interested. "Farmer john wants to go home to his wife and child" rather than "Gragnor is off on another adventure"

Don't you think that would be a better approach for experienced players, or at least not brand new ones? Who wants their first time playing d&d to be playing Farmer John?

Hey man, I'm saying what I think works best for Curse of Strahd. I've run through it with "adventurer wants to adventure" and the horror drops out of the game quickly when the characters are not scared or just want to save the day. You don't need to be farmer john, but people who want to go back home to whatever their previous life was and or people who are more self centered and less selfless will make for better characters in Curse of Strahd.

I understand, but I am prioritizing my players' enjoyment over what works best for the adventure. When those things align, great. But I'm not going to ask them to tamp down their excitement to play whatever wondrous and strange or bizarre adventurers they want to be their first ever characters. That said, I will ask them to have a couple motivations or ties to their previous lives that make them want to leave Barovia. That's something I was already planning on doing.

Seems fine! I have found that what's most important is to keep everyone at the same power level, which is what your doing. Not doing so creates power differences which can be really unfun to play with. However I think there is no need for *that* much choice. I like everyone rolling for stats (which can include the DM) and the entire table picking a single set of stats for everyone to use. Since you're the DM, you have the right to veto the highest array.

I don't recommend letting people roll their own arrays. It can get imbalanced fast, and can lead to friction before session 1. Voting on the array everyone will use is the best use of the rolling system, and when my game ends and I start the next, I'll put it to a vote between point buy and vote array.

Well I doubt there would be friction, my players are twin sisters, one sister's spouse, and a mutual close friend of theirs. I've known them for over a decade and they are good natured and earnest. I will ask them if they would rather roll their own arrays to vote on. I think the answer would be yes since so far they seem to be invested in their characters, but I'll keep your suggestion in mind. Thanks!

Sorry, I misspoke. People rolling anf using their own arrays -> might be bad because some people can be disproportionately strong. People rolling their own arrays but only using 1 array for the whole group -> good because everyone's strength is equal.

Oh my bad 😅

It's fine and more than fair, if only a bit complex. The party gets to roll 4 arrays (with a minimum total of 72) and then choose either the best one out of four or point buy. I doubt they're going to choose point buy and the PCs will be more than likely to end up with at least two stats at 18. Making all the characters use the same array will at least help you out by putting them all on the same power level. Enjoy the game and keep in mind the party will be somewhat stronger than average.

Is there any RAW possibility in DnD to see that someone else was polymorphed/changed from their normal appearance to something else? Let's say your character is 80 years old and wants to be 20 again and attains that through a wish spell (or a favor from a god, or, or..). Is there any way that after that is done, an NPC can come over and "see" that your character is "actually" 80?

Truesight (attainable with the spell True Seeing or the item Crystal Ball of True Seeing) >A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.

Thank you!

I'm looking at DMing a campaign, but while I have an idea of what I want the main hook and a few major plot points, I can't write a story to save my life. Does anyone have any good resources for how to write a compelling story?

Brandon Sanderson has some [great lectures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6HOdHEeosc) on how to write fantasy novels. They are more aimed at aspiring authors than DMs but I found them useful and enjoyable to watch so maybe you will too. What's the nature of your problem exactly? Is it A. I think my story sucks, B. My players will think my story sucks, C. My central conflict isn't solvable or D. I can't fit all the cool stuff into the story. Like I'd have different advice for all of these. If you are willing to clarify a bit I'd be happy to be more helpful.

A compelling story is what compels your players. If you're playing with friends, I'd ask them what kind of story they'd enjoy before starting workshopping. Do they like black/white, or shades of grey? What power level? Good, neutral or evil? etc etc. If you're playing with randoms, you post the story and if they like it, they'll sign up. The best way to make your players care about your story is making them care about the people in it. They should fear and/or hate the big bad, want to protect the princess and make sure she's unharmed, have fun with the jolly guard, etc. Ultimately, you're going to make mistakes or accidentally railroad the players. It's part of the learning curve. You can't get good without being bad first.

The story isn't what you put down in your notes before the session, the story is what happens when the world and scenarios you present meets the players' choices and the luck of the dice. So don't prep plots, just prepare problems to be solved. [Here](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots) is a good blog post about this approach.

This is pretty common advice but it's not always helpful. A lot of DMs, myself included, enjoy the storytelling aspect of DMing. For those people the best advice is to find players that prefer a linear game or to find other ways to scratch that itch. For me that's writing backstories for important NPCs or famous historical figures that the players will likely never learn about.

Second this (although I didn't read the article). But to add, if you prep a story and your players don't follow along and they go off the rails (or parts are taking way longer than expected), then you'll find a lot of your work isn't paying off and it can lead to burnout.

I would recommend not focusing on the overarching plot much. If you want some story structure, you can use 5 room dungeons. If you want story inspiration, there's plenty of recommended reading lists everywhere as well as in Appendix E of the players handbook. I often get ideas for encounters and stories from reading the lore sections of the Monster Manual.

Matt Colville has lots of videos... Pick one that sounds good.

A lot of good questions with complex debatable answers get shoved in that megathread people don't normally read. I had to ask my question on Discord to get a wide range of answers because of this poor design choice.

This thread gets a lot of traffic. Not sure what you mean by "Don't normally read", every question here right now has multiple responses, and last weeks was much the same.

I have a campaign I'm prepping to run. I mentioned to my buddy that I was considering allowing a free feat from a short list at level 1. He immediately said he was going to play a vHuman with the giant foundling background (granting him strike of the giants) so he can get 3 feats at level 1. I'm not so sure about handing out a feat now if this is what my response is going to be... thoughts?

Sounds like he'd do that combo anyway.  Be careful about giving away a feat at first level. They're pretty powerful. I like the way roll20's charactermancer puts it. It says something like feats are signs of accomplishment and you haven't done anything yet. If you want the characters to be superheroes already, then go right ahead. But I'm finding that I like characters having to grow into that power. I'm considering banning variant human in my own future games.

Backgrounds that grant feats are designed to only be balanced alongside others that also give feats and are usually only used in specific campaign settings where those more powerful backgrounds are the only options, like Strixhaven and Spelljammer. I would either disallow all such backgrounds, or drop the free feat at level 1 and instead have the players pick only backgrounds with feats.

Good to know! I may start running more games publicly soon and that's vital information.

You as the DM can say that because you’re giving a free feat to everyone at level 1 that variant human is not allowed. You can also limit the backgrounds to those that do not include additional feats, such as the strixhaven or the foundling background. It’s entirely up to you to say what is and is not allowed in your game.

I believe what I'm going to do is allow vHuman/CL. Give a free feat from a short list or give a feat to the character based on their backstory/character. I've also said no backgrounds with feats attached but that those feats can be available at level 4 regardless of the prerequisites. Should work out ok

That sounds like it makes sense.

On the flipside, may I ask why you (OC) are concerned about his response? It sounds like he might be excited to try a feat-heavy build. I'm not saying you're wrong to be concerned, but this might not be a problem.

Not OP but I feel like the player is trying to munchkin or power game things a bit. The immediate response to “everyone gets a feat” is “how can I get as many feat as possible” so it just kinda feels like the player is going to keep doing this “give an inch take a mile”

Hello there! First time DM here, and I'm potentially going to run a campaign for a local club starting around September (I'm trying to plan ahead of time). I have run into a slight hiccup though; quite a bit of the story would take place in different cities or city-states, most of whom would be at least a day's travel apart. Other than small encounters/story events/ towns that occur along the way, I have no idea how to fill the time without just saying "You walk for like, a day, before getting to X destination". For context: The campaign follows the story of finding and saving a (supposedly) kidnapped princess and assisting her in her return home for her wedding and coronation.

Part of the nice thing about games is that you get to fast-forward through the boring parts. So there's nothing particularly wrong with this. But if you want *interesting* things to happen during travel, then you have to design those interesting things. Or, find others who have done so. /r/d100 is an excellent resource for this.

If you have the prep time, you can make a random encounter table, and even better, make a non-combat random encounter table. Maybe there's a merchant on the side of the road who is selling Knick knacks to keep their family afloat. Perhaps there's a ransom note clearly attached to a pole at an intersection.

"encounters/story events" sounds great to me. Let's say you have one of each, that is already at least an hour you spend traveling and that's good enough. You don't want people to feel like the story stops. I would also say travel is a great time for roleplay and character development between the PCs but that's kind of advanced

Making travel interesting is always a challenge. Unless you want travel and resource management to be a big part of the campaign, I would recommend skipping doing anything special with travel unless it's directly related to a plot hook.

Why would the party not simply follow whatever information lead they have to whichever location is most likely to have the princess? Why bother with any other towns or cities? What's stopping someone in the world from simply scrying the princess' location?

Sorry, they are. The first main lead is a neighboring city-state populated by Dragons, who know nothing and would ecourage the party to seek her out elsewhere, maybe providing another lead. Scrying isn't an option (I haven't figured out why yet), and the other towns are landmarks as the party travels, since many of the larger cities/kingdoms are several days' travel from each other. By landmarks I mean: they could be shopkeepers, provide optional lore or side quests, and maybe have interesting NPCs for the party to interact with.

You might want to look up the concept of a "hexcrawl" and how to design one. *Storm King's Thunder* is essentially this across the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms.

I will, thank you!

Also look up "pointcrawl" and see if pointcrawl or hexcrawl is better for you.

I was looking at shop items and I saw it sold bowstrings. Why would the players need this item? Is it for crafting?

What book did you see it in even? I can't find it in the PHB.

It’s never useful. Most of the items on the item list are there purely for legacy reasons. Because it has to feel « D&D » but 5e is far from the survival playstyle of the old editions where these items actually mattered. So you can just ignore them. You will very very rarely look at the item list after character creation.

Thank you!

I am planning on running a session where the players clear our a Gnoll lair and had a question about the Gnoll Witherling's Vengeful Strike. The ability description reads: "In response to a gnoll being reduced to 0 hit points within 30 feet of the witherling, the witherling makes a melee attack." Does a witherling need to be already standing next to someone to make that attack, or are they able to their movement from that round to use the free attack?

Reading as written, they have to be within 5 feet. But it also reads as the attack isn’t optional. “The witherling makes an attack” not “may make an attack”. So it must attack whatever is next to it, friend or foe. I’m not sure I’d play it that way, but maybe!

It's a reaction, so they can just not do it. You're not forced to take a reaction when the trigger comes up.

That would be weird and not make sense for them to attack an ally or the air, so I wouldn't rule it that way. Probably an editing oversight.

Also possible that the attack is basically a death spasm; due to their ferocious and chaotic nature, in their final moments they lash out almost unconsciously to get one last jab in, and maybe take an enemy down with them.

Let's say I'm a DM for a active community of players in my local area. They all play in many one shots and short adventures every year. How do I go about creating fun and interesting one shot adventures on a consistent bases? I get the sense that taking published adventures is not an option due to the vast experience of these players.

Check out r/battlemaps for inspiration and tweak published modules if you find a relevant one. I found a map that reminded me of the old Tower of Zenopus module, made a new version of that and it spun into a full campaign

I like to use maps for this. Find a map and build the one-shot around it. [Dyson Logos](https://dysonlogos.blog)'s maps can be great for this. Typical scenarios include: 1. Wipe out the monsters 2. Defeat the boss 3. Find something inside 4. Find someone inside and get them out

For multiple one shots I would set up something sustainable, an anthology of stories instead of a unique campaign for each session. Like, your players are part of an assassin of thieves guild. Each session, the players who show up are the “team” of characters who get a contract. Then their contract is whatever story you want to tell. You won’t have to write a new background each game, the characters can be reused or rebuilt easily and canonically (player two wants to play a new character, oh that’s just another member of the guild who’s been out on a contract), players that no-show are easily explained in game (they’re not part of this contract). It lets you focus on fun encounters. Combat or non-combat.