If I remember correctly, there is a table for mixing potions. Sometimes the effects are permanent, sometimes you just explode. Either way it is always fun.
@@XPtoLevel3 My DM gave my group potions of water breathing to get past a flooded section of a cave. Something similar to that, plus a homebrewed potion of Water Walk, could make for an encounter where they start underwater and have to drink a potion Water Walk to quickly get to the surface. Possibly after being attacked by a water weird. It would still be invisible in the water, but the water would act like ground they can walk on, so at least it has to shoot out of the water to attack. But with the chart, they could end up permanently gaining water walk and trapped because they can't swim out, or they might just explode underwater. Either way, it sounds like fun.
@@XPtoLevel3 Then they shouldn't drink 2 potions together? :D... I would like to play with the potion rules and be an Alchemist Artificer. What random potion mixing incident will we have today?
@@daleanddale That could be amazing, but if you want to use it more than a few times, you will have to homebrew the damage or have resurrection magic on hand. 6d10 force damage to the gut will instantly take out most characters until level 8. I mean, it is only on a 1, but sometimes the dice just decide someone should explode.
I used Mercer’s resurrection rules in my Curse of Strahd game after Strahd murdered the party’s paladin. The warlock straight up threatened the paladin’s god. I called for an intimidation check with a DC of 25, he got a 26. And that’s how the Cthulhu worshipping warlock scared a god into compliance.
Let me just say, I feel like a lot of content creators prefer to focus on more negative aspects of the game, and having this be "rules I like", instead of "rules I don't like", is a really nice change of pace from what I see a lot. Much love, appreciate the content!
It’s also probably because you wouldn’t really want to change rules you like. While a lot of the stuff that says some rules are bad are there so they can be fixed/put into context and such
I really love that Tasha's Cauldron has a section where it encourages players to consider re-flavoring their spells and whatnot to better fit their character. The example they give is a farmer wizard shooting magic missiles that look like chickens, or an Artificer's Cure Wounds being a mechanical spider that sutures injuries. I've always loved doing things like that, so it's cool to see them acknowledge it. I have an eldritch knight who is a skeleton, so I utilize that in his spells. I renamed his Fire Bolt to Burning Bone, and it has him throw a flaming femur or launch his fist at enemies like a rocket punch.
My pyromancer sorlock uses Eldritch Blast as this description. “As you draw heat from the air around you and a low roar rumbles through the area, the flame in your hand gets hotter. Orange. Blue. *White.* As the flames converge, they mix into a cacophony of pure magical force before blasting out of your hand.”
About role playing monsters, there’s a book called The Monsters Know What They’re Doing and it tells you what each creature would do in combat and their tactics and strategies.
I read that and realized that if I gave my enemies tactics they’d absolutely annihilate my players, so I took the advice and used it to better build my encounters and give my enemies tactics without making the players have to try their hardest in every fight.
It makes a huge difference. Although for one of my groups it'll just be a TPK everytime. But it's great for a table who is good at combat and wants a bit of spice.
@@dynestis2875 For sure, it's a free resource and should be used as such. But if you want more tools and tips to use from content creators, best way is to support them in some way to guarantee a few more things you might like in the future :)
I didn't really see myself running any Wildemount games, but you can be sure that I took that Heroic Chronicle and expanded on it because it's such a cool way to flesh out character creation and add some elements of chance where they wouldn't normally be.
Same, zero inclination to run a Wildemount game, but a lot of the rules/ideas/content in those books is amazing and easily adaptable to other settings.
My only problem is that the Fateful Moments mechanical bonuses can get a bit strong, especially since you can get multiple depending on the statblocks of Allies/Rivals. That being said, I still run with Heroic Chronicle but we limit it to one fateful moment.
@@Shalakor They definitely didn't do that, but James Haeck (who wrote the Chronicle for the book) made a conversion of it for Sword Coast games which makes it easy to use for campaigns set there.
A mechanic that I add to “Bringing back the Dead” is called “Never the same”. Basically, when you die and brought back, you can loose entire memories, personally traits and tastes. After a time the character that died starts creating new things that replenish the ones that are lost forever. This can lead to moments like a character that used to hate drows, now is very merciful towards them. And can lead to sad moments like a father completely forgetting about the existence of his daughter or vice-versa.
My haters throw rocks at me and IT hurts. I hope they don't throw The Rock at me because I like him as an actor. GAGAGAGAGA!!! I am funny!!! I am the funniest RUclipsr EVAH! Please agree, dear ner
My favorite Homebrew rule: "While not required, players may gain Inspiration by writing a journal entry before each session of play. Entries can be posted on the Adventure Log (secret entries can be set so only the DM can view). Posting journal entries helps everyone better understand your character and helps the DM better tailor the game to each character. Entries do not need to be in first person, or even in a journal format. For example, you may find it preferable to write about something in your character’s backstory or draw a scene from the previous session etc."
I also award my players inspiration at the start of the session for either crafting or drawing something connected to their character or the story. For example one was playing a dragonborn rogue obsessed with gold, who had covered her claws in molten gold during a session. She crafted herself little "golden" claws to put on her hand. Of course not everyone enjoys crafts or writing journals, but even my barbarian player who "couldn't draw" had a lot of fun drawing his magical weapons, with flaming skulls and so on, which made them even more special to him. The last obstacle is still trying to draw their pet horse named "cheese", since horses are... hard.
One rule that I love is the Tool Proficiency rules in Xanathar's. It's basically a section that tells you what's in each toolkit, different ways you can use your tools to make checks, and examples of things you can use to craft with them. It really takes a part of the game that's often just seen as useless or only for roleplay, and makes it something that can impact a character's decisions.
They had items like "crowbar"s which give advantage on a check in a particular situation, and then just kinda stopped. Tools are weird in the economy of 5e design, and "advantage on these types of checks" that's still based on an ability (preferably also a skill) is the best slot for it. I also just like them because they're combos of items that fit a purpose, in a way that's really useful. Tracking every single inventory knick-knack is so tedious. A bundle of stuff is way better. I don't need to carry "aN iRoN pOt", I have Cook's Utensils which comes with one.
Yeah, I really love them too. Specifically in the campaign with a Phantom Rogue who can swap out a tool or skill proficiency at every long or short rest, that page has gotten bookmarked. The party is struggling to get information from stonework, the high Int characters are either not present or not hitting the DCs, so the low Int character asks for a short rest (only 10 mins in our games) to talk to his ghost friends, and a mason whispers information into their ear. They're still not proficient in all of history, but even with a negative modifier, the DC is now lower and they get to add the proficiency bonus in the roll as even if the mason doesn't know the history of architecture, they can tell now how old the technique is and how much the environment should have eroded the broken parts in two, three, four hundred years, and now they can give an answer. Not all tools are created equal on that list, but it helps a little anyway and definitely helps teach players to ask, "can I add my proficiency bonus to this, from [tool]?", and the DM to say, "you're profient with [tool], so you _also_ know that..."
yes!!!! it’s perfect to read when building an artificer because it helps you figure out how to flavor your spells and things. but it just added so much use to something most people probably skipped over.
@@doing_aok To be fair, not everyone follows The Magic of Artifice textblock to the letter. I prefer my artificers to be explicitly magical. It especially helps in non-Ebberon games when you don't feel obligated to insert nanobots healing wounds or something into a medieval setting, and can just say that you know how to weave magical spells into items or can focus your magic through tools. To be honest, it's no more ridiculous to me that an artificer can just channel magic through lockpicks, needles, hammers, or other tools than for a wizard/druid to channel magic through a wood stick. Just take a look at the official artwork for Arcane Armor; it's covered in runes. An armorer using their armor as a focus is basically casting spells through their armor, as opposed to a wizard's staff. No hidden compartments filled with bombs to "cast" Shatter needed.
One rule I like that's a bit more nitty-gritty mathy is the ruleset for Mob Combat . It basically lets you have mass combat with players that dynamically change to different groups or regular small combats, without spending 30 minutes each round to move NPCs around and roll 60 dice. It takes a bit to learn but when you understand it, it lets you have the players go up against entire platoons without things feeling like they take too long. And if they get one squad down to one or two units, you just immediately shift those few units to normal rules, since they work in conjunction with regular combat rules.
@@experiencingasignificantgr7019 You missed a word. I said "nitty gritty _mathy._" this has nothing to do with your original character or how edgy/cringy you are. This is about numbers and handling game management.
@@jcdenton2187 page 250 of the DMG, it covers mob combat. The idea behind it is, when you have enough units, you can expect a certain percentage of attacks to hit each round that gets more consistent as you go on. So the idea becomes, if you have a LOT of units, you don't roll for them, you just assume that a certain amount of them hit based on AC vs ATK, and they always deal average damage.
Ditto on mob rules. Makes combat easier to run and also still leaves your tank with a challenge, esp. if the GM keeps rolling bad. The rules sadly don't explain how to resolve mob combat under advantage or disadvantage.
In regards to the lingering injury, my DM allowed me, when my sorcerer character was cornered without their gear, to use Subtle Spell and Catapult one of their teeth as ammo in order to defeat the one who cornered him. He then had a missing tooth since we both ruled the max damage from the spell shattered the tooth so he couldn't retrieve it, and it forever showed to the rest of the party the lengths that he is willing to go to.
I always loved the idea of the Vestiges of Divergence. A magic item that is not just powerful, but grows with the character and eventually becomes a legendary or artifact-level item. An item that has to be found, discovered, or won, not just bought in a shop. Much cooler than a +1 sword being replaced by a +2 sword.
I did exactly this! After a grueling dungeon where players had to fight representations of their traumatic past, the goddess of lore in my world blessed their weapons with a homebrew perk, and as they continue through the campaign and have legendary moments, their weapons will continue evolving
100% agree on the blizzard dice. My players and I love it. They encountered a frost giant riding a mammoth in a blizzard, and that was one of the most tense moment of the entire campaign (especially since one of the players put a severe fear of blizzards in their backstory). It's a great idea, executed well. It also mean that having the same encounter twice isn't necessarily a problem, because it might play out very differently in a blizzard.
Of course, it _also_ means that (depending on what a tie means) around half of all random encounters take place during extreme weather. That's a _lot_ of blizzard, which the module's events may or may not excuse. It also means a lot of encounters with other mobs with a death wish, since extreme weather tends towards the deadly; even if the monster has an excuse, the players are still mortal.
Recently a friend of mine told me that she had never experienced D&D 5e just as written without a mass of homebrew, so sometimes it's good to look at the core chassis of the game and try to appreciate what's there.
I think our only "house rule" is that drinking a potion you have in an accessible location on your person is only a bonus action. Feeding it to someone else is still an action.
@@MonkeyJedi99 i always viewed the potion-taking-an-action thing as being more because pulling a cork out of a bottle isn't as easy and seamless as video games and movies make it seam, than it simply being difficult to find in your packs. for it to be a bonus action i would make my players not only keep it super accessible but also commission quick release bottle stoppers, or make them themselves. keep in mind that rounds are 6 seconds long. a bonus action is something one could reasonably say happens in 1-1.5 of those seconds, while the action and movement take up the rest of the time. i doubt you could pull the potion out, unstopper it, and chug the whole thing in one second, unless you had a bandoleer of potions and could flick the cork off with your thumb.
Me when I've thought of 37 different ways to creativly kill my players characters and then remembering im not against the party. God they make it hard to remember that sometimes
"Have you heard of this book called the Dungeon Master Guide?" OH MY GOD SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE DMG! Thank you! The amount that people just throw out the DMG without even reading things outside of the magic item section. Chapter 9 is my favorite thing, because it is loaded with everything that i hear people say, "Man I wish 5e had ____."
I think it stems from the common opinion that you only need the PHB and MM when starting to DM. I gave a look through the other day at a local game shop and honestly was surprised with the wealth of info in it. Definitely want to pick it up soon.
What annoys me is how people shit on the "exploration" pillar of 5e as if it's some anemic unrepresented minor focus that's barely mentioned, when the DMG has a good, proper section that has weather effects with consequences, altitude, climate, navigation and rules on getting lost etc etc. Exploration is a pillar that has to be supported by the DM just like the other pillars do. It'd be like saying combat is anemic because the GM has to roll the dice for the monsters instead of having it be all spelled out to be easy. The rules are there, if you want exploration and wilderness to be a part of your campaign, USE THEM.
@@Rajoovi1 I will say the one aspect of 5e's exploration that bugs me is the food and water tracking. It is very handwavey... just like eat 1 ration and you are good for a whole day. Also scavenging is weak.
@@kid14346 I don't see why it needs to be any more complicated than that personally. Rations are items, that are consumed. If the party does not have them, they take a point of exhaustion for every day without food. The same for water. You can fail foraging. It makes players think about travel time and preparedness in wilderness scenarios. This rule pairs really well in a setting where you are far from civilization and therefore cannot just *buy* some rations at a shop. Say the party needs to navigate some sort of arid lands to get to a dungeon. They can only afford/the local town only has 6 rations and the equivalent water. In a straight line, and if they don't get lost, the dungeon is 3 or days of travel away. Suddenly rolling poorly on survival and becoming lost for several hours can have *dire* consequences. Not doing well on a survival check to forage food once your rations run out means you don't bring back enough food for everyone, say you only manage to scavenge 3 lbs of food for a party of 5. Which 2 don't get to eat that day? There doesn't need to be any more mechanical complexity to create interesting challenges and dire scenarios if the existing mechanics are used in tandem, as they're supposed to be.
@@Rajoovi1 i more of am referring to how like you shobe a ration in your face at the start of the day and are good to go as if you are a robot with a fuel tank and not a living being that requires a steady calorie supply. Also different nutrients based on biology too... Basically I am a nit picking biology nerd...
something small i really appreciate about Van Richten's guide: in the "how to write psychological horror" is they say to steer away from adding mental illness tropes in the game while still giving good examples on how to make a psychological horror game. it's something small but i like it.
@@senpaibos2748 not what they meant. this is referring to mental illness cliches regarding things like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia. all that fun stuff
I thought it was funny how many disclaimers their were in that book about playing " safely," and that the goal is to scare the characters but never the players. there's a whole page about never using a players IRL fears in an encounter. Like bruh, do you know how hard that would be to do on purpose, let alone accidentally? Everyone's so jaded now, most horror movies aren't frightening. Mad respect to the DM who describes a spooky encounter so vividly I get real life chills
@@agentchaos9332 yeah, I like it less as a "not to read" but as a "bewarnned" because there is some really messed up stuff and I genuinely found myself screaming from the stress when I was reading one of the adventures. it was fun, and I'm going to run it.
To me that's actually a big thing. Not leaning on twisting vastly misunderstood disorders for horror doesn't do the disorders justice- using them for the purpose of scaring people and making them on edge- because they are shitty things to deal with day to day and not really a creative and refreshing angle on psychological horror as a whole.
I just want to say that I'm super happy that you're actively being positive about 5e. It seems to be a large part of the community to say "argh 5e bad, WotC not do anything how I like it," when there's really so much great stuff out there. I too recently found that the DMG was way better than people give it credit for, and a lot of the complaints about what 5e doesn't have tends to actually be in there. There's definitely stuff to dislike about it and be disappointed in, but it's just refreshing to see that there are people that still find the good in the game regardless.
5e is easy to use and new players can be brought in relatively easy.... that's the reason I like it. I have tried 4 times to get into 3.5 and bought some old books for it along with having groups that tried to play, it never went past session zero, we were all new to it each time with a slightly different group for each run we tried. They got bored and went home before finishing their characters. I'm not asking to argue about this so read this next part you. Yes you. The one angry typing about how I'm wrong. These are people, I can't control how they react, I wasn't Dm and it was a public setting at a Tabletop cafe. I'm pointing out part of why so many people play 5e. It's simplified and when people try to expand it things get messy because there are so many ways too interpret things. People are stubborn and sometimes refuse to meet you halfway. Hell I tried to get them to play with only a d20 and a character description as a trial rub because I knew the people playing needed to be hooked before you hit them with the huge wall that is da rulez.
I generally prefer simplicity in design, so there were a LOT of 5E things that I really liked. There are a few big areas where I feel it's TOO simple though.
Dude, I was actually so hoping that you would bring up downtime activities in XGtE. My party just got done doing downtime for the 3rd time. Its so fun and so different every time we run it, and it adds such a fun and simple flavor to the game.
The first thing I loved in Xanathar's Guide was the spell Ceremony. It fills in so much of what a cleric would be in a society, as opposed to an adventure.
On the subject of Volo's, I love how Fizban's Treasury gave dragons so many tables and alternative rules! It truly fleshed them out to be epic entities!
"Go to bed on time tonight." That caught me offguard so much, might just follow your advice. :D Thanks for your insight and the positive content. Rambling and ranting may seem easier and more fun, but this was really nice, informative and made me check out things like the heroic chronicle or the downtime mechanic.
The great thing about showing rules you like is that it’s a great resource for home brewing rules. You can take these existing ideas and create new inspired ideas and rules that can add more flavor to the table top rpg experience. I’m gonna look more into these to home brew some other systems I’ve been wanting to make. Thanks for this video!
A tip on managing weather since you mentioned you have trouble with it; completely ignore any rules or mechanics about it. Weather is a tone-setting tool and when played into gives players extra immersion and often changes how they play. It just happens to sometimes have mechanical consequences but that's what Advantage/Disadvantage is here for.
I like to have weather as a slot on an encounter table (roll it once the weather starts, again it stops). For more planned out games or moments 100% just use it as a tone setter.
Weather is also great to corrall players somewhere. I once wanted my players to experience a weird, quirky building - but when traveling they tend to prefer ignoring buildings and caves and just camping on the roadside to more quickly go from point A to B. But if there's a high-wind thunderstorm, well... No camping for you. Gotta seek shelter.
I can't help but imagine a party rolling to help their friend return from the dead, and every heartfelt plea fails, only to have one party member be like, "I'm so sorry I ate your last donut." and the corpse suddenly jumps to its feet, fully revived, and says, "You did what?!?" or something like that. XD It just seems way too fitting for some reason.
Personally my favorite expanded rules are the resurrection rules from Tal’Dorei Reborn. I’ve been using a version of them for years in my games, and it always creates really dramatic scenarios whenever player death occurs. I actually made a video on it myself a few weeks ago!
Thaaank you for giving random tables the credit they deserve! Especially the dmg dungeon and city generators. They are SO good for sparking inspiration or lending a strong foundation for inspiration you might already have.
In combination with the expanded lingering injury table, I also like to use the Massive Damage rule listed at DMG 273. It adds an additional Con save if you take >50% damage in one hit with a variety of short term consequences for failing.
One of my favourite rules/sections in a dnd book is the Draconomicon section of Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. It’s that section in Volo’s you talked about but for each of the True Dragons (chromatic, metallic, gem) as well as some other dragons like Fairie Dragons, Shadow Dragons, Dracoliches, Dragon Turtles, Moonstone Dragons, and Deep Dragons. It goes over (with tables) each stage of life if that specific dragon in what they want, what they’re doing, what their hoard is compiled of, different creatures that they would have as minions/helpers/worshipers, and most of them also have a stock lair map that gives you an idea of what their lair would look like to expand on them. Speaking of lairs it also adds some lair actions and regional effects aside from what was already included with the creature stat sheet. It’s really really really cool and pairs well with my other favourite section in that same book which is the Dragons in Play chapter which is all about creating and developing dragons as unique creatures with everything ranging from quirks, personality traits, additional features, spells, fun stuff called Hidecarved Runes, and different factions that dragon may be apart of and/or lead. All in all Fizban’s is a pretty cool book and if you’re gonna do anything with a dragon I recommend it
I’m super grateful for Star Wars 5e including the Xanathar’s downtime activities. I started a campaign last night for a few friends and they spent a lot of time carousing and gambling (they started in the casino/resort district on Nar Shadaa) and it led to some really amazing role play moments. Good way to get the players to work together and bond as a party outside of questing.
Great vid Jacob but I was truly hoping you would have mentioned Keth Ammann's book; "The Monsters Know What They Are Doing". Though not a 'rule-book', it is an incredible resource for DMs on how to effectively run their "Bad Guys" in confrontations. He adheres directly to the "Monster Manual" for stats, acknowledging you can easily punch up or punch down your beasties abilities dependent on party size and XP/Level. This Gentleman and/or his Editor also did an amazing job collating enemies by Type (i.e. one chapter is dedicated just to Undead, another to Aberrations, one for Devils, etc). Cannot recommend it highly enough.
I love Stibble's Codex. My heart melts when I see that your companion can get you food. I just imagen this adorable little animal setting down a bushel of berries at your feet and looking up at you with big eyes that plead, "I did good, wight?" And I just double over clutching my chest in pain at how fucking adorable that is. Especially when you consider the plant based animals like the Vine Snake that grows fruit themselves. A Vine Snake companion could see that you're hungry and pull off one of their grapes and hand it too you and I just "Heeerk" at how cute it is.
I LOVE the variant rules in books. Like so many people say that 5e is too simple but then there are literally mechanics they can experiment with that makes it much more difficult. Like some people ban flanking or feats, but what they don't know is that when you add more variant rules into the game, they easily balance themselves out. I really wanted to try my hand at them but my only table is a beer and pretzels table that I have to drag by the ear to even RP let alone learn more rules. Variant rules sound so fun and I see how they work.
This is hands-down the best advertisement for theses books. Especially for DMs on a budget, there’s the question of whether a book is really worth it. I’ve never seen a video that’s had me add to my wishlist like this. Nice work!!!
A rule that I use is the brutal critical rule. How it works is fairly simple. When you get a Nat 20 you do the roll with max damage instead of double dice. So let's say your weapon does 1d12 damage, it'd do 1d12+12 damage instead of 2d12
The reason people are talking about "5.5e" and "6e" is because WotC has pulled this trick before. 3.5 was, effectively, a new edition -- sure it had *some* backwards-compatibility with 3e, but there was enough that was different that it was effectively a different beast. Also, as late as a couple weeks before the announcement of 4e, they said there were no plans in the works for 4e, despite the products coming out really feeling like test beds for new mechanics. So excuse me if I take any of WotC's assurances that this new set isn't a new edition with a wheelbarrow of salt. WotC's earned my skepticism.
Yeah, maybe I'm old and jaded but the whole "they wouldn't go to all this trouble to update core rules for a system we're all using just to create a new system in a couple years" gave me 3E/3.5/4E flashbacks.
Oh, i use some interesting rule for resurection. Players also participate in it, but, they asked questions about the dead one. I give them a little table with 4 variants of personality traits of a character, but only one of them is really true, when others are false traits. And the if wrong traits been chosen resurected character gets a full length insanity including new, extended personality trait, based on what has been chosen
On the 6th edition point If they're going to do an update-style development cycle for 5e, they really need to release a 5.5 player's handbook. I'm happy to play 5e, but with all the optional class rules and balance changes in Tasha's it'd be nice to have them in a central book with all the base game options, especially if we can expect more of that sort of thing.
I absolutely love the Aquisitions Incorporated book and the introduction to Business roles and special magical items to make an office based comedy in a fantasy realm
DOWNTIME! I finally convinced my players to try playing with downtime and man is it fun. It encourages a lot of character development for the players forcing them to think about what exactly their characters like to do when they're not adventuring. Super glad that somebody else thinks the same.
The Renown and Piety systems from Ravnica and Theros respectively. Giving us solid progression lines with features that tie into these two scores that were only vaguely explained in the DMG is really amazing, especially with how there's 10 Guild and 15 Gods to give you not only jumping off points for making your own factions and God Boons, but for use as is in and out of the setting.
My favorite rule is rolling for memory checks. I used to just be of the opinion if you wanna remember, take notes. However, I think note taking sometimes pulls you out of the rp fun of it so I will allow memory checks where the dc is 5 + the number of in game days since the memory or info has come to pass. I think it helps keep my players engaged and tbh they seem to remember just as much this way if not more lol
I created a mechanic called “Patron’s Gift” basically when you do something for your patron(Kill a certain guy, help a ritual, destroy a place that opposes your patron, etc) your Patron grants you special gift. They can be: Expanding your spell casting abilities, more invocations and passives for your features. Patrons from a specific monster type can also grant unique powers. A Great Old One will allow to search from a person deep memories and thoughts once per day; A ArchFey will allow you to form the Feywild’s Contract on creatures; A Undead may grant you the Vampire’s Regeneration feature; HexBlade will grant you features such as Action Surge, Favorite Enemy(Or Foe) and Smite.
Definitely going to keep a lot of these in mind for my upcoming campaign. When I started my last campaign, Volo's was the most recent sourcebook - but with it coming to an end, I definitely want to check out some of these options. I'm definitely stealing the Heroic Chronicle for character creation, and the Icewind Dale travel tables will be super useful to nick, considering that I'm running my next campaign in an arid environment. Swap out the monsters with desert stuff and the snowstorm with sandstorm and I'm there!
i personally love the character secrets mechanic from icewind dale, it adds so much to character story arcs. but i'm a bit biased on the encounter tables because we kept running into the white dragon at low levels
Homebrew rule: as a free action, 3 or more characters with shields can “wall up,” increasing their cover by a quarter and granting all members reaction against foes who strike their wall-buddies. This halves their movement speed and it only works from one side, but makes it much easier to hold down hallways or face large groups.
I have something similar, but it’s just a special homebrew shield that they can just use an action to turn into cover, at the cost of them not seeing what happens on the other side. Works better with fewer players
I'd done something semi-similar. Using the dodge action if next to others with shields. My group also houseruled that if two or more characters with the Protection fighting style are adjacent, they grant the bonus with one attack each for free as a shieldwall thing
I believe Reaction Rolls and Morale Checks are very important. Reaction Rolls are used to determine the starting disposition of any NPC, particularly the wandering / random monsters in the wilderness or dungeon. Not all monsters want to fight to the death, and that's where morale checks come in.
@@oz_jonesI’d say sentient things are the only ones that would fight to the death (apart from all the more monstery creatures, I’m talking about like wolves). Animals don’t really sacrifice themselves for a greater goal or for a friend n shit
A real good reminder to look back in previous books a cherry pick some of the great resources we forgot about! (But of course not to read forever and go to bed on time)
D&D adjacent: Campfire scenes. Once per session over a long rest, one PC can tell a story, have a flashback, or share a scene with another member of the party meant to reveal more about their character or their relationship with the party. Target time of five minutes. When the scene or story is over, the other players ask the one who set the scene or shared the story one question apiece. The player that told the story answers those questions and then picks the one that they think revealed the most about their backstory or relationships. Both the PC who told the story and the PC who asked the best question get Inspiration. I think Steven Lumpkin of Roll Play created this, but maybe he got it from elsewhere?
One old homebrew rule I have that also uses the lingering injuries table is that it only applies when anyone dies and faild dc 10 con save (that increased by 2 every time you die again before a long rest). Very similar to yours, but instead of being "too much damage" it was just made because of "roly-poly" experience in a fight in the old bonegrinder - whole team positioning to keep the hags in other floors and fighting only one at a time and quickly healing however gets knocked out back up the same turn like 17 times in a single fight that they weren't suppose to even fight made me do it.
I've got a good feeling the new dnd books are basically dnd 5.5 (like 3.5) and it makes me excited to see what we're gonna get for books! 6e might not ever come, but if it does I'd be happy to welcome it
Van Richten’s guide page 198. Haunted Traps are wonderful. I used Morbid Memory specifically to tell the story in Death House during Curse of Strahd campaign. Revealed the turmoil in the family, key events from the past, laid the lore out in a way that made my playgroup eager to keep the exploring the house to find out what happened to the family next. It was really great.
for a bit horror or just a change of gameplay the Grim Hollow books are good. they got really good Transformation rules that are much better rules for when the player becomes a Lycan, Vampire or other things (atm got a Seraphin and Specter in the game i run) they also give good rules for making Curses more interesting and harder to cure. and also good rules for blackpowder weapons like pistols.
Can't say exactly how many years have passed, and i stil use a lot of things i learned as a new DM reading de DM's Guide, i loved the book and it gave me a lots of inspirations when i started playing the game!
I found it quite refreshing to see and hear a video that actually praises some of the mechanics and aspects of D&D. I know it has its flaws, issues, and what have you, but I try to focus on what's good about it and not just what's not so great. Thank you for taking the time to share this.
"Go to bed on time tonight." It's 4 : 58 am. I am sorry I am disappointing you. I love how enthusiastic you are about tables. I feel the same way about tables in general. I don't own many D&D books because I'm still new to the hobby, but tables are great all the time!
I just bought the lingering injuries rules from the dm lair and I love it. They have a different table for each damage type with different levels of injuries within those tables, so at the beginning you might have small injuries but if you keep getting injuries they add up and can get pretty bad
I must say I totally understand what you mean when you say you love tables, out of fun I made an ancient dragon horde with the help of fizabn's and the DMG and it was so much fun, I made 2 more and decided my campagins next chapter will be focused more on dragons :D Aside from the Stuff from Fizban's (I really like that book) I love the system of Ancestral Weapons from the DM's Guild which lets players make their own magic weapons with personalities and really cool effects on them with a point system, though I don't let my players make their own Magic Weapons but instead use that system to make their weapons and over time upgrade them as they grow closer to their weapon and maybe do as it wishes (as it has it's own personality) , as I found that players are pretty good at optimizing the fun out of their characters and they would often rather take that +2 bonus for their sword and crit with a 19 rather than having it be +1 and able to be thrown like a boomerang, store a spell and have it give you a new proficiency like History
Your reward for being positive is my like and subscription. Pls never stop making random videos that I am always pleasantly surprised to see on my feed.
This is by far my favorite video from you! Thank you so much. I’ve been a little tired of being a forever DM but your recommendations have given me a little spark to keep playing so again THANKS
For the Stibbles companions, I really wish that they pets scaled a bit better. I know they are not supposed to be lower power than an actual party member, but they don't seem to scale to high level very well. For lower levels it's perfectly fine, but if you wanna bring your pets to high or even epic levels... there might be some issues. I have actually run it yet though, so if they do scale at high levels well, someone please correct me. I mainly want this because I think it would be awesome for the party to get a pet at the beginning of the game and have that pet stick with them all the way until the end.
I haven't watched the whole video yet, so if he mentions it, forgive me, but: Sidekick system. I hadn't heard of it before until a month and some change ago, but its designed to give stat buffs and abilities to NPC companions who normally wouldn't get them. Creatures who can't speak a language can only become a "Warrior" sidekick, but it gives some much needed options to them in combat all the same.
@@coreylemon That's true. I was more talking about the RAW for Stibbles though. Although, I could see bonding with your pet to be something that could level them up more. And there could be some more abilites unique to creatures based off of their inherent skills.
A cool homebrew rule my dm does is at the start of the campaign each player gets a magic item that levels up with the player, my newest player has a near unremovable mask, excited to see how it evolves with my character
You don't know how much I needed this. Long time DM and a long time fan of you. I usually send your videos to new players, but this video was great since it helped me think differently about all these books.
Thank you! I found this very helpful - especially the parts about character creation with the Heroic Story thing and Monster Roleplaying! As a DM I cannot stress enough how many times I've had players join the game as 'Hi I'm Steve and these players are all Steven's Bardic Bullies' or something - Character flavor is so important!!!
Getting tips from experienced DMs is literally the best. Great video. Gonna check out that city building tip you just dropped, cuz I haven't opened my DMG in a year or two
Of course there will be a 6th edition. WotC is a business and its good business decision to release a new edition. They already said they are doing this officially, I think in 2023 (so unless they change there mind?). They are marketing it like a 5.5 saying all 5th edition is backwards compatible so it will be pretty similar to 5th (I don't think they will call it 6th). But its definitely happening.
Im prepping to relaunch a favorite homebrew setting of mine and am looking to flesh more of it out so im thrilled each time a rule vid like this comes out where I can see things id love to add or change about the way my DnD plays!
Ok I enjoyed how you pulled the books close to you ready to do story time, I want to play dnd properly and watching your channel as well as many others have helped me.
Idk why, but I love the standard rules for water combat, specifically drowning. The fact that losing your breath is just immediate deaths saves which you can never succeed is the perfect level of terrifying for me
Favorite homebrew rule I saw on reddit
"If your vicious mockery insult makes me laugh out loud, there is no saving throw"
😂 I like that it would make people role play more in combat, fighting a vampire, saying smell worse than their breathe is garlic breathe
Nah, i hate that. Out of character skill should not relate to in character skill
@@xolotltolox7626 That's fair. It's kind of a "know your audience" rule. If your whole party loves that kind of roleplaying, it's great.
As long as there is no punishment for not role-playing, i think it's fine@@xolotltolox7626
If I remember correctly, there is a table for mixing potions. Sometimes the effects are permanent, sometimes you just explode. Either way it is always fun.
Oh that ones fun! Unfortunately my players don’t wanna risk magic items.
@@XPtoLevel3
My DM gave my group potions of water breathing to get past a flooded section of a cave. Something similar to that, plus a homebrewed potion of Water Walk, could make for an encounter where they start underwater and have to drink a potion Water Walk to quickly get to the surface. Possibly after being attacked by a water weird. It would still be invisible in the water, but the water would act like ground they can walk on, so at least it has to shoot out of the water to attack. But with the chart, they could end up permanently gaining water walk and trapped because they can't swim out, or they might just explode underwater. Either way, it sounds like fun.
@@XPtoLevel3 Then they shouldn't drink 2 potions together? :D... I would like to play with the potion rules and be an Alchemist Artificer. What random potion mixing incident will we have today?
@@daleanddale
That could be amazing, but if you want to use it more than a few times, you will have to homebrew the damage or have resurrection magic on hand. 6d10 force damage to the gut will instantly take out most characters until level 8. I mean, it is only on a 1, but sometimes the dice just decide someone should explode.
@@XPtoLevel3 i like the idea that your players don’t do it because they value the potions, rather than their lives
I used Mercer’s resurrection rules in my Curse of Strahd game after Strahd murdered the party’s paladin. The warlock straight up threatened the paladin’s god. I called for an intimidation check with a DC of 25, he got a 26. And that’s how the Cthulhu worshipping warlock scared a god into compliance.
That is such a fucking alpha Chad move. This game sounds fun lol
That sounds more like a DC 30 thing, but rule of cool says that your choice was AWESOME!
I love this, write up what happened and send it to critcrab or allthingsdnd
@@godspeedhero3671 Imo it shouldn't be a DC 30. Like, in 3.5, sure, it should even be a DC 40+, but in D&D 5, DC 25 is *huge*.
Sounds like the god should have smiled him
Let me just say, I feel like a lot of content creators prefer to focus on more negative aspects of the game, and having this be "rules I like", instead of "rules I don't like", is a really nice change of pace from what I see a lot. Much love, appreciate the content!
Well he does have a "Rules I don't like" video but yes, I also appreciate the positive take on the game.
❤️
eh i kinda like rules i dont like better tbh
It’s also probably because you wouldn’t really want to change rules you like. While a lot of the stuff that says some rules are bad are there so they can be fixed/put into context and such
@@1c0nic_player but there are like... hundreds of those xD
I really love that Tasha's Cauldron has a section where it encourages players to consider re-flavoring their spells and whatnot to better fit their character. The example they give is a farmer wizard shooting magic missiles that look like chickens, or an Artificer's Cure Wounds being a mechanical spider that sutures injuries. I've always loved doing things like that, so it's cool to see them acknowledge it. I have an eldritch knight who is a skeleton, so I utilize that in his spells. I renamed his Fire Bolt to Burning Bone, and it has him throw a flaming femur or launch his fist at enemies like a rocket punch.
Yes!! This is what roleplaying is all about. Motherfucking imagination baby.
“Agh my clavicle”
My pyromancer sorlock uses Eldritch Blast as this description.
“As you draw heat from the air around you and a low roar rumbles through the area, the flame in your hand gets hotter. Orange. Blue. *White.* As the flames converge, they mix into a cacophony of pure magical force before blasting out of your hand.”
My Warforged Circle of Wildlife Druid casts Cure Wounds as Cauterize Wounds (not to be confused with Cauterizing Flames, one of his Druid features).
All my DB Sorcerer's spells look like the filaments in a plasma globe because Purple Dragon
About role playing monsters, there’s a book called The Monsters Know What They’re Doing and it tells you what each creature would do in combat and their tactics and strategies.
It’s really helped me out! I always check it when planning encounters with certain monsters
Instead of buying that book you can just read it all for free on the author's blog.
I read that and realized that if I gave my enemies tactics they’d absolutely annihilate my players, so I took the advice and used it to better build my encounters and give my enemies tactics without making the players have to try their hardest in every fight.
It makes a huge difference.
Although for one of my groups it'll just be a TPK everytime.
But it's great for a table who is good at combat and wants a bit of spice.
@@dynestis2875 For sure, it's a free resource and should be used as such. But if you want more tools and tips to use from content creators, best way is to support them in some way to guarantee a few more things you might like in the future :)
I didn't really see myself running any Wildemount games, but you can be sure that I took that Heroic Chronicle and expanded on it because it's such a cool way to flesh out character creation and add some elements of chance where they wouldn't normally be.
Same, zero inclination to run a Wildemount game, but a lot of the rules/ideas/content in those books is amazing and easily adaptable to other settings.
My only problem is that the Fateful Moments mechanical bonuses can get a bit strong, especially since you can get multiple depending on the statblocks of Allies/Rivals. That being said, I still run with Heroic Chronicle but we limit it to one fateful moment.
Yeah! Also, Chronomancy, what a school! The single greatest power of all is chronomancy, don't you know ;)
Didn't even Adventurer's League adapt it? Never played AL, but I remember hearing about that.
@@Shalakor They definitely didn't do that, but James Haeck (who wrote the Chronicle for the book) made a conversion of it for Sword Coast games which makes it easy to use for campaigns set there.
A mechanic that I add to “Bringing back the Dead” is called “Never the same”.
Basically, when you die and brought back, you can loose entire memories, personally traits and tastes. After a time the character that died starts creating new things that replenish the ones that are lost forever. This can lead to moments like a character that used to hate drows, now is very merciful towards them. And can lead to sad moments like a father completely forgetting about the existence of his daughter or vice-versa.
That seems like a really cool mechanic with a lot of story potential. Thanks for sharing it.
I feel like smthn like true resurrection or wish should be exempt
The monster lore section from Volos is great. It was an awesome resource and just plain fun read when I was running hags as a bbeg.
Nerdarchist Dave
My haters throw rocks at me and IT hurts. I hope they don't throw The Rock at me because I like him as an actor. GAGAGAGAGA!!! I am funny!!! I am the funniest RUclipsr EVAH! Please agree, dear ner
Shame they got rid of half of it (not that it really affects people who have bought the book before)
I have literally just read that section because I find it so interesting before I was even planning on running a game.
Did you just sign your RUclips comment?
@@Raven-hh9cj that account has a handful of people behind it, makes sense that they say which one of them actually wrote the comment.
My favorite Homebrew rule:
"While not required, players may gain Inspiration by writing a journal entry before each session of play. Entries can be posted on the Adventure Log (secret entries can be set so only the DM can view). Posting journal entries helps everyone better understand your character and helps the DM better tailor the game to each character. Entries do not need to be in first person, or even in a journal format. For example, you may find it preferable to write about something in your character’s backstory or draw a scene from the previous session etc."
Ah yes homework in exchange for a die...
@@dynestis2875 ah yes, helping out othets is SUCH a chore
@@oz_jones it actually is. Its why most people have to be paid to do it.
That sounds super fun! My players love writing about their characters, I might try this out :)
I also award my players inspiration at the start of the session for either crafting or drawing something connected to their character or the story. For example one was playing a dragonborn rogue obsessed with gold, who had covered her claws in molten gold during a session. She crafted herself little "golden" claws to put on her hand. Of course not everyone enjoys crafts or writing journals, but even my barbarian player who "couldn't draw" had a lot of fun drawing his magical weapons, with flaming skulls and so on, which made them even more special to him. The last obstacle is still trying to draw their pet horse named "cheese", since horses are... hard.
One rule that I love is the Tool Proficiency rules in Xanathar's. It's basically a section that tells you what's in each toolkit, different ways you can use your tools to make checks, and examples of things you can use to craft with them. It really takes a part of the game that's often just seen as useless or only for roleplay, and makes it something that can impact a character's decisions.
They had items like "crowbar"s which give advantage on a check in a particular situation, and then just kinda stopped. Tools are weird in the economy of 5e design, and "advantage on these types of checks" that's still based on an ability (preferably also a skill) is the best slot for it. I also just like them because they're combos of items that fit a purpose, in a way that's really useful. Tracking every single inventory knick-knack is so tedious. A bundle of stuff is way better. I don't need to carry "aN iRoN pOt", I have Cook's Utensils which comes with one.
Yeah, I really love them too. Specifically in the campaign with a Phantom Rogue who can swap out a tool or skill proficiency at every long or short rest, that page has gotten bookmarked. The party is struggling to get information from stonework, the high Int characters are either not present or not hitting the DCs, so the low Int character asks for a short rest (only 10 mins in our games) to talk to his ghost friends, and a mason whispers information into their ear.
They're still not proficient in all of history, but even with a negative modifier, the DC is now lower and they get to add the proficiency bonus in the roll as even if the mason doesn't know the history of architecture, they can tell now how old the technique is and how much the environment should have eroded the broken parts in two, three, four hundred years, and now they can give an answer.
Not all tools are created equal on that list, but it helps a little anyway and definitely helps teach players to ask, "can I add my proficiency bonus to this, from [tool]?", and the DM to say, "you're profient with [tool], so you _also_ know that..."
yes!!!! it’s perfect to read when building an artificer because it helps you figure out how to flavor your spells and things. but it just added so much use to something most people probably skipped over.
Everyone mocked me when my rogue had carpenter tool proficiency. They won't be laughing when I get advantagebon stealth across wooden floors
@@doing_aok To be fair, not everyone follows The Magic of Artifice textblock to the letter. I prefer my artificers to be explicitly magical. It especially helps in non-Ebberon games when you don't feel obligated to insert nanobots healing wounds or something into a medieval setting, and can just say that you know how to weave magical spells into items or can focus your magic through tools.
To be honest, it's no more ridiculous to me that an artificer can just channel magic through lockpicks, needles, hammers, or other tools than for a wizard/druid to channel magic through a wood stick. Just take a look at the official artwork for Arcane Armor; it's covered in runes. An armorer using their armor as a focus is basically casting spells through their armor, as opposed to a wizard's staff. No hidden compartments filled with bombs to "cast" Shatter needed.
One rule I like that's a bit more nitty-gritty mathy is the ruleset for Mob Combat . It basically lets you have mass combat with players that dynamically change to different groups or regular small combats, without spending 30 minutes each round to move NPCs around and roll 60 dice.
It takes a bit to learn but when you understand it, it lets you have the players go up against entire platoons without things feeling like they take too long. And if they get one squad down to one or two units, you just immediately shift those few units to normal rules, since they work in conjunction with regular combat rules.
Where can I find these rules ?
@@bradleyrichard9283 ditto. They sound great
@@experiencingasignificantgr7019 You missed a word.
I said "nitty gritty _mathy._"
this has nothing to do with your original character or how edgy/cringy you are. This is about numbers and handling game management.
@@jcdenton2187 page 250 of the DMG, it covers mob combat. The idea behind it is, when you have enough units, you can expect a certain percentage of attacks to hit each round that gets more consistent as you go on. So the idea becomes, if you have a LOT of units, you don't roll for them, you just assume that a certain amount of them hit based on AC vs ATK, and they always deal average damage.
Ditto on mob rules. Makes combat easier to run and also still leaves your tank with a challenge, esp. if the GM keeps rolling bad. The rules sadly don't explain how to resolve mob combat under advantage or disadvantage.
In regards to the lingering injury, my DM allowed me, when my sorcerer character was cornered without their gear, to use Subtle Spell and Catapult one of their teeth as ammo in order to defeat the one who cornered him. He then had a missing tooth since we both ruled the max damage from the spell shattered the tooth so he couldn't retrieve it, and it forever showed to the rest of the party the lengths that he is willing to go to.
That is metal as fuck
I always loved the idea of the Vestiges of Divergence. A magic item that is not just powerful, but grows with the character and eventually becomes a legendary or artifact-level item. An item that has to be found, discovered, or won, not just bought in a shop. Much cooler than a +1 sword being replaced by a +2 sword.
I did exactly this! After a grueling dungeon where players had to fight representations of their traumatic past, the goddess of lore in my world blessed their weapons with a homebrew perk, and as they continue through the campaign and have legendary moments, their weapons will continue evolving
100% agree on the blizzard dice. My players and I love it. They encountered a frost giant riding a mammoth in a blizzard, and that was one of the most tense moment of the entire campaign (especially since one of the players put a severe fear of blizzards in their backstory). It's a great idea, executed well. It also mean that having the same encounter twice isn't necessarily a problem, because it might play out very differently in a blizzard.
Its also just a good use as a way of modifying a table. You can adapt the idea to nearly any environment.
Of course, it _also_ means that (depending on what a tie means) around half of all random encounters take place during extreme weather. That's a _lot_ of blizzard, which the module's events may or may not excuse. It also means a lot of encounters with other mobs with a death wish, since extreme weather tends towards the deadly; even if the monster has an excuse, the players are still mortal.
Recently a friend of mine told me that she had never experienced D&D 5e just as written without a mass of homebrew, so sometimes it's good to look at the core chassis of the game and try to appreciate what's there.
Yes i primarily use 5e rules and I love them! They honestly work very well for the most part and i just let things slide that I think make more sense
I think our only "house rule" is that drinking a potion you have in an accessible location on your person is only a bonus action.
Feeding it to someone else is still an action.
@@MonkeyJedi99 i always viewed the potion-taking-an-action thing as being more because pulling a cork out of a bottle isn't as easy and seamless as video games and movies make it seam, than it simply being difficult to find in your packs. for it to be a bonus action i would make my players not only keep it super accessible but also commission quick release bottle stoppers, or make them themselves.
keep in mind that rounds are 6 seconds long. a bonus action is something one could reasonably say happens in 1-1.5 of those seconds, while the action and movement take up the rest of the time. i doubt you could pull the potion out, unstopper it, and chug the whole thing in one second, unless you had a bandoleer of potions and could flick the cork off with your thumb.
Rules are the best, especially when I exploit them for my own nefarious means.
Replace rules with people
@@yoni5919 perhaps
Me when I've thought of 37 different ways to creativly kill my players characters and then remembering im not against the party. God they make it hard to remember that sometimes
"Is the Beholder technically prone because he's flying?"
@@DarthAxolotl killing the party is fun to theorize about, but so hard to pull off effectively without making them mad.
"Have you heard of this book called the Dungeon Master Guide?"
OH MY GOD SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE DMG! Thank you! The amount that people just throw out the DMG without even reading things outside of the magic item section. Chapter 9 is my favorite thing, because it is loaded with everything that i hear people say, "Man I wish 5e had ____."
I think it stems from the common opinion that you only need the PHB and MM when starting to DM.
I gave a look through the other day at a local game shop and honestly was surprised with the wealth of info in it. Definitely want to pick it up soon.
What annoys me is how people shit on the "exploration" pillar of 5e as if it's some anemic unrepresented minor focus that's barely mentioned, when the DMG has a good, proper section that has weather effects with consequences, altitude, climate, navigation and rules on getting lost etc etc.
Exploration is a pillar that has to be supported by the DM just like the other pillars do. It'd be like saying combat is anemic because the GM has to roll the dice for the monsters instead of having it be all spelled out to be easy.
The rules are there, if you want exploration and wilderness to be a part of your campaign, USE THEM.
@@Rajoovi1 I will say the one aspect of 5e's exploration that bugs me is the food and water tracking. It is very handwavey... just like eat 1 ration and you are good for a whole day. Also scavenging is weak.
@@kid14346 I don't see why it needs to be any more complicated than that personally. Rations are items, that are consumed. If the party does not have them, they take a point of exhaustion for every day without food. The same for water. You can fail foraging. It makes players think about travel time and preparedness in wilderness scenarios. This rule pairs really well in a setting where you are far from civilization and therefore cannot just *buy* some rations at a shop.
Say the party needs to navigate some sort of arid lands to get to a dungeon. They can only afford/the local town only has 6 rations and the equivalent water. In a straight line, and if they don't get lost, the dungeon is 3 or days of travel away. Suddenly rolling poorly on survival and becoming lost for several hours can have *dire* consequences. Not doing well on a survival check to forage food once your rations run out means you don't bring back enough food for everyone, say you only manage to scavenge 3 lbs of food for a party of 5. Which 2 don't get to eat that day?
There doesn't need to be any more mechanical complexity to create interesting challenges and dire scenarios if the existing mechanics are used in tandem, as they're supposed to be.
@@Rajoovi1 i more of am referring to how like you shobe a ration in your face at the start of the day and are good to go as if you are a robot with a fuel tank and not a living being that requires a steady calorie supply. Also different nutrients based on biology too... Basically I am a nit picking biology nerd...
something small i really appreciate about Van Richten's guide: in the "how to write psychological horror" is they say to steer away from adding mental illness tropes in the game while still giving good examples on how to make a psychological horror game. it's something small but i like it.
But all horror affects the mind...?
@@senpaibos2748 not what they meant. this is referring to mental illness cliches regarding things like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia. all that fun stuff
I thought it was funny how many disclaimers their were in that book about playing " safely," and that the goal is to scare the characters but never the players. there's a whole page about never using a players IRL fears in an encounter. Like bruh, do you know how hard that would be to do on purpose, let alone accidentally? Everyone's so jaded now, most horror movies aren't frightening. Mad respect to the DM who describes a spooky encounter so vividly I get real life chills
@@agentchaos9332 yeah, I like it less as a "not to read" but as a "bewarnned" because there is some really messed up stuff and I genuinely found myself screaming from the stress when I was reading one of the adventures. it was fun, and I'm going to run it.
To me that's actually a big thing. Not leaning on twisting vastly misunderstood disorders for horror doesn't do the disorders justice- using them for the purpose of scaring people and making them on edge- because they are shitty things to deal with day to day and not really a creative and refreshing angle on psychological horror as a whole.
I just want to say that I'm super happy that you're actively being positive about 5e. It seems to be a large part of the community to say "argh 5e bad, WotC not do anything how I like it," when there's really so much great stuff out there.
I too recently found that the DMG was way better than people give it credit for, and a lot of the complaints about what 5e doesn't have tends to actually be in there. There's definitely stuff to dislike about it and be disappointed in, but it's just refreshing to see that there are people that still find the good in the game regardless.
5e is easy to use and new players can be brought in relatively easy.... that's the reason I like it. I have tried 4 times to get into 3.5 and bought some old books for it along with having groups that tried to play, it never went past session zero, we were all new to it each time with a slightly different group for each run we tried. They got bored and went home before finishing their characters. I'm not asking to argue about this so read this next part you. Yes you. The one angry typing about how I'm wrong. These are people, I can't control how they react, I wasn't Dm and it was a public setting at a Tabletop cafe. I'm pointing out part of why so many people play 5e. It's simplified and when people try to expand it things get messy because there are so many ways too interpret things. People are stubborn and sometimes refuse to meet you halfway. Hell I tried to get them to play with only a d20 and a character description as a trial rub because I knew the people playing needed to be hooked before you hit them with the huge wall that is da rulez.
I generally prefer simplicity in design, so there were a LOT of 5E things that I really liked. There are a few big areas where I feel it's TOO simple though.
@@SirJack3 3.5 was IMO peak “gamer’s D&D” (not counting Pathfinder). 5e’s accessibility means being able to find people to play.
Dude, I was actually so hoping that you would bring up downtime activities in XGtE. My party just got done doing downtime for the 3rd time. Its so fun and so different every time we run it, and it adds such a fun and simple flavor to the game.
The first thing I loved in Xanathar's Guide was the spell Ceremony. It fills in so much of what a cleric would be in a society, as opposed to an adventure.
do you guys prefer to resolved downtime before a session starts? or at the end of a session right before everyone goes home?
On the subject of Volo's, I love how Fizban's Treasury gave dragons so many tables and alternative rules! It truly fleshed them out to be epic entities!
Hey Jacob! Best of luck on the baby, you seem like you'd make a great dad.
Thanks :)
You got it right!!!! One D&D is just a revisit of the rules not, a new addition, you were spot on.
The first two minutes of this video aged exceptionally well, now that One D&D is a thing.
He did predict it's vackward compatability
yeah, i remember when it was One D&D.
"Go to bed on time tonight."
That caught me offguard so much, might just follow your advice. :D
Thanks for your insight and the positive content. Rambling and ranting may seem easier and more fun, but this was really nice, informative and made me check out things like the heroic chronicle or the downtime mechanic.
I started watching at 3am, this is one piece of advice that I will not be following.
I literally just layed kids to bet put the last 2mins of this video on and read your comment in the second he said that. 😄
I was cracking up, too. Just finished our game at midnight and was watching some RUclips to settle down for the night...
The great thing about showing rules you like is that it’s a great resource for home brewing rules. You can take these existing ideas and create new inspired ideas and rules that can add more flavor to the table top rpg experience. I’m gonna look more into these to home brew some other systems I’ve been wanting to make. Thanks for this video!
Can I just celebrate out loud how this channel is always just genuinely a DND person sharing useful and funny stuff with other DND persons.
A tip on managing weather since you mentioned you have trouble with it; completely ignore any rules or mechanics about it. Weather is a tone-setting tool and when played into gives players extra immersion and often changes how they play. It just happens to sometimes have mechanical consequences but that's what Advantage/Disadvantage is here for.
Big agree
I like to have weather as a slot on an encounter table (roll it once the weather starts, again it stops). For more planned out games or moments 100% just use it as a tone setter.
Weather is also great to corrall players somewhere.
I once wanted my players to experience a weird, quirky building - but when traveling they tend to prefer ignoring buildings and caves and just camping on the roadside to more quickly go from point A to B.
But if there's a high-wind thunderstorm, well... No camping for you. Gotta seek shelter.
As a kobold player, it always has mechanical consequences, if it ain't raining during the day I'm going back to bed.
I personally find that using rules for certain elements tends to ground those elements
I can't help but imagine a party rolling to help their friend return from the dead, and every heartfelt plea fails, only to have one party member be like, "I'm so sorry I ate your last donut." and the corpse suddenly jumps to its feet, fully revived, and says, "You did what?!?" or something like that. XD It just seems way too fitting for some reason.
Personally my favorite expanded rules are the resurrection rules from Tal’Dorei Reborn. I’ve been using a version of them for years in my games, and it always creates really dramatic scenarios whenever player death occurs. I actually made a video on it myself a few weeks ago!
Nice shameless plug lol
@@ShugoAWay Just didn’t want to type out everything I’d said there here, but thanks lol.
@@QuinnTheGM np
Are you by any chance an Eskimo DM, Quinn?
@@ShugoAWay A man of culture I see
Thaaank you for giving random tables the credit they deserve! Especially the dmg dungeon and city generators. They are SO good for sparking inspiration or lending a strong foundation for inspiration you might already have.
In combination with the expanded lingering injury table, I also like to use the Massive Damage rule listed at DMG 273. It adds an additional Con save if you take >50% damage in one hit with a variety of short term consequences for failing.
One of my favourite rules/sections in a dnd book is the Draconomicon section of Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. It’s that section in Volo’s you talked about but for each of the True Dragons (chromatic, metallic, gem) as well as some other dragons like Fairie Dragons, Shadow Dragons, Dracoliches, Dragon Turtles, Moonstone Dragons, and Deep Dragons. It goes over (with tables) each stage of life if that specific dragon in what they want, what they’re doing, what their hoard is compiled of, different creatures that they would have as minions/helpers/worshipers, and most of them also have a stock lair map that gives you an idea of what their lair would look like to expand on them. Speaking of lairs it also adds some lair actions and regional effects aside from what was already included with the creature stat sheet.
It’s really really really cool and pairs well with my other favourite section in that same book which is the Dragons in Play chapter which is all about creating and developing dragons as unique creatures with everything ranging from quirks, personality traits, additional features, spells, fun stuff called Hidecarved Runes, and different factions that dragon may be apart of and/or lead.
All in all Fizban’s is a pretty cool book and if you’re gonna do anything with a dragon I recommend it
I got Fizban’s book as a gift from a family member. I don’t even DM but it’s still the best thing ever. Dragons are awesome.
@@coolguy7817 Right?? It’s a fantastic book
I’m super grateful for Star Wars 5e including the Xanathar’s downtime activities. I started a campaign last night for a few friends and they spent a lot of time carousing and gambling (they started in the casino/resort district on Nar Shadaa) and it led to some really amazing role play moments. Good way to get the players to work together and bond as a party outside of questing.
Which book is star wars 5e?
Is it better to play than the base star wars ttrpgs?
Great vid Jacob but I was truly hoping you would have mentioned Keth Ammann's book; "The Monsters Know What They Are Doing".
Though not a 'rule-book', it is an incredible resource for DMs on how to effectively run their "Bad Guys" in confrontations.
He adheres directly to the "Monster Manual" for stats, acknowledging you can easily punch up or punch down your beasties abilities dependent on party size and XP/Level.
This Gentleman and/or his Editor also did an amazing job collating enemies by Type (i.e. one chapter is dedicated just to Undead, another to Aberrations, one for Devils, etc).
Cannot recommend it highly enough.
I love Stibble's Codex. My heart melts when I see that your companion can get you food. I just imagen this adorable little animal setting down a bushel of berries at your feet and looking up at you with big eyes that plead, "I did good, wight?" And I just double over clutching my chest in pain at how fucking adorable that is. Especially when you consider the plant based animals like the Vine Snake that grows fruit themselves. A Vine Snake companion could see that you're hungry and pull off one of their grapes and hand it too you and I just "Heeerk" at how cute it is.
I LOVE the variant rules in books. Like so many people say that 5e is too simple but then there are literally mechanics they can experiment with that makes it much more difficult. Like some people ban flanking or feats, but what they don't know is that when you add more variant rules into the game, they easily balance themselves out.
I really wanted to try my hand at them but my only table is a beer and pretzels table that I have to drag by the ear to even RP let alone learn more rules. Variant rules sound so fun and I see how they work.
1:00 watching after one dnd is released makes this hit different. damn this man is a prophet.
This is hands-down the best advertisement for theses books. Especially for DMs on a budget, there’s the question of whether a book is really worth it. I’ve never seen a video that’s had me add to my wishlist like this. Nice work!!!
A rule that I use is the brutal critical rule. How it works is fairly simple. When you get a Nat 20 you do the roll with max damage instead of double dice. So let's say your weapon does 1d12 damage, it'd do 1d12+12 damage instead of 2d12
The reason people are talking about "5.5e" and "6e" is because WotC has pulled this trick before. 3.5 was, effectively, a new edition -- sure it had *some* backwards-compatibility with 3e, but there was enough that was different that it was effectively a different beast. Also, as late as a couple weeks before the announcement of 4e, they said there were no plans in the works for 4e, despite the products coming out really feeling like test beds for new mechanics.
So excuse me if I take any of WotC's assurances that this new set isn't a new edition with a wheelbarrow of salt. WotC's earned my skepticism.
Yeah, maybe I'm old and jaded but the whole "they wouldn't go to all this trouble to update core rules for a system we're all using just to create a new system in a couple years" gave me 3E/3.5/4E flashbacks.
Oh, i use some interesting rule for resurection. Players also participate in it, but, they asked questions about the dead one. I give them a little table with 4 variants of personality traits of a character, but only one of them is really true, when others are false traits. And the if wrong traits been chosen resurected character gets a full length insanity including new, extended personality trait, based on what has been chosen
On the 6th edition point
If they're going to do an update-style development cycle for 5e, they really need to release a 5.5 player's handbook. I'm happy to play 5e, but with all the optional class rules and balance changes in Tasha's it'd be nice to have them in a central book with all the base game options, especially if we can expect more of that sort of thing.
I absolutely love the Aquisitions Incorporated book and the introduction to Business roles and special magical items to make an office based comedy in a fantasy realm
Wow you really called One d&d 5 months in advance, jacob is a time traveller
DOWNTIME! I finally convinced my players to try playing with downtime and man is it fun. It encourages a lot of character development for the players forcing them to think about what exactly their characters like to do when they're not adventuring. Super glad that somebody else thinks the same.
The Renown and Piety systems from Ravnica and Theros respectively. Giving us solid progression lines with features that tie into these two scores that were only vaguely explained in the DMG is really amazing, especially with how there's 10 Guild and 15 Gods to give you not only jumping off points for making your own factions and God Boons, but for use as is in and out of the setting.
My favorite rule is rolling for memory checks. I used to just be of the opinion if you wanna remember, take notes. However, I think note taking sometimes pulls you out of the rp fun of it so I will allow memory checks where the dc is 5 + the number of in game days since the memory or info has come to pass. I think it helps keep my players engaged and tbh they seem to remember just as much this way if not more lol
I created a mechanic called “Patron’s Gift” basically when you do something for your patron(Kill a certain guy, help a ritual, destroy a place that opposes your patron, etc) your Patron grants you special gift. They can be: Expanding your spell casting abilities, more invocations and passives for your features. Patrons from a specific monster type can also grant unique powers. A Great Old One will allow to search from a person deep memories and thoughts once per day; A ArchFey will allow you to form the Feywild’s Contract on creatures; A Undead may grant you the Vampire’s Regeneration feature; HexBlade will grant you features such as Action Surge, Favorite Enemy(Or Foe) and Smite.
This sounds so cool actually it's makin me want to play warlock now
This is similar to the 'Dark Gifts' variant options in Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft. 🧐
4:48 Never have I seen someone put a book away more awkwardly. And I'm SO here for it.
Definitely going to keep a lot of these in mind for my upcoming campaign. When I started my last campaign, Volo's was the most recent sourcebook - but with it coming to an end, I definitely want to check out some of these options. I'm definitely stealing the Heroic Chronicle for character creation, and the Icewind Dale travel tables will be super useful to nick, considering that I'm running my next campaign in an arid environment. Swap out the monsters with desert stuff and the snowstorm with sandstorm and I'm there!
i personally love the character secrets mechanic from icewind dale, it adds so much to character story arcs. but i'm a bit biased on the encounter tables because we kept running into the white dragon at low levels
Homebrew rule: as a free action, 3 or more characters with shields can “wall up,” increasing their cover by a quarter and granting all members reaction against foes who strike their wall-buddies. This halves their movement speed and it only works from one side, but makes it much easier to hold down hallways or face large groups.
I have something similar, but it’s just a special homebrew shield that they can just use an action to turn into cover, at the cost of them not seeing what happens on the other side. Works better with fewer players
I'd done something semi-similar. Using the dodge action if next to others with shields.
My group also houseruled that if two or more characters with the Protection fighting style are adjacent, they grant the bonus with one attack each for free as a shieldwall thing
Dang, you had some spot-on predictions about OneD&D at the start of the vid, nice
I believe Reaction Rolls and Morale Checks are very important. Reaction Rolls are used to determine the starting disposition of any NPC, particularly the wandering / random monsters in the wilderness or dungeon. Not all monsters want to fight to the death, and that's where morale checks come in.
Most sentient things dont
@@oz_jonesI’d say sentient things are the only ones that would fight to the death (apart from all the more monstery creatures, I’m talking about like wolves). Animals don’t really sacrifice themselves for a greater goal or for a friend n shit
“As my group’s forever DM”
Man, trust me. I feel you on that. I’ve been a DM for 4 years now. I haven’t played this game myself since I started.
A real good reminder to look back in previous books a cherry pick some of the great resources we forgot about! (But of course not to read forever and go to bed on time)
Go to bed on time is good advice
Damn, right now instead of sleeping I'm watching Jacobs old video. Gonna go to sleep man, thx
D&D adjacent:
Campfire scenes. Once per session over a long rest, one PC can tell a story, have a flashback, or share a scene with another member of the party meant to reveal more about their character or their relationship with the party. Target time of five minutes. When the scene or story is over, the other players ask the one who set the scene or shared the story one question apiece. The player that told the story answers those questions and then picks the one that they think revealed the most about their backstory or relationships. Both the PC who told the story and the PC who asked the best question get Inspiration. I think Steven Lumpkin of Roll Play created this, but maybe he got it from elsewhere?
Jacob predicted One Dnd
One old homebrew rule I have that also uses the lingering injuries table is that it only applies when anyone dies and faild dc 10 con save (that increased by 2 every time you die again before a long rest).
Very similar to yours, but instead of being "too much damage" it was just made because of "roly-poly" experience in a fight in the old bonegrinder - whole team positioning to keep the hags in other floors and fighting only one at a time and quickly healing however gets knocked out back up the same turn like 17 times in a single fight that they weren't suppose to even fight made me do it.
1:08 my mans knew already
I never realized how GOATed XGTE was, I also love the "Awarding Magic Items" section directly after the downtime section. Thanks Jacob!
I've got a good feeling the new dnd books are basically dnd 5.5 (like 3.5) and it makes me excited to see what we're gonna get for books! 6e might not ever come, but if it does I'd be happy to welcome it
Van Richten’s guide page 198. Haunted Traps are wonderful. I used Morbid Memory specifically to tell the story in Death House during Curse of Strahd campaign. Revealed the turmoil in the family, key events from the past, laid the lore out in a way that made my playgroup eager to keep the exploring the house to find out what happened to the family next. It was really great.
for a bit horror or just a change of gameplay the Grim Hollow books are good.
they got really good Transformation rules that are much better rules for when the player becomes a Lycan, Vampire or other things (atm got a Seraphin and Specter in the game i run)
they also give good rules for making Curses more interesting and harder to cure.
and also good rules for blackpowder weapons like pistols.
Can't say exactly how many years have passed, and i stil use a lot of things i learned as a new DM reading de DM's Guide, i loved the book and it gave me a lots of inspirations when i started playing the game!
1:43 “That one didn’t age so well 😬” -Jon Tron
Not really, he pretty much got it spot on
Ig im Talking about a Little earlier in OneD&Ds release when literally everything was different and they were revoking the open licenses and such.
I found it quite refreshing to see and hear a video that actually praises some of the mechanics and aspects of D&D. I know it has its flaws, issues, and what have you, but I try to focus on what's good about it and not just what's not so great. Thank you for taking the time to share this.
wow you called one dnd
"Go to bed on time tonight." It's 4 : 58 am. I am sorry I am disappointing you.
I love how enthusiastic you are about tables. I feel the same way about tables in general. I don't own many D&D books because I'm still new to the hobby, but tables are great all the time!
I highly recommend the book "The Game masters book on non-player characters" by Ashworth, got it at Target for $17. It's dam good
I just bought the lingering injuries rules from the dm lair and I love it. They have a different table for each damage type with different levels of injuries within those tables, so at the beginning you might have small injuries but if you keep getting injuries they add up and can get pretty bad
I must say I totally understand what you mean when you say you love tables, out of fun I made an ancient dragon horde with the help of fizabn's and the DMG and it was so much fun, I made 2 more and decided my campagins next chapter will be focused more on dragons :D
Aside from the Stuff from Fizban's (I really like that book) I love the system of Ancestral Weapons from the DM's Guild which lets players make their own magic weapons with personalities and really cool effects on them with a point system, though I don't let my players make their own Magic Weapons but instead use that system to make their weapons and over time upgrade them as they grow closer to their weapon and maybe do as it wishes (as it has it's own personality) , as I found that players are pretty good at optimizing the fun out of their characters and they would often rather take that +2 bonus for their sword and crit with a 19 rather than having it be +1 and able to be thrown like a boomerang, store a spell and have it give you a new proficiency like History
Your reward for being positive is my like and subscription. Pls never stop making random videos that I am always pleasantly surprised to see on my feed.
Damn this intro aged really well. Great prediction
This is by far my favorite video from you! Thank you so much. I’ve been a little tired of being a forever DM but your recommendations have given me a little spark to keep playing so again THANKS
For the Stibbles companions, I really wish that they pets scaled a bit better. I know they are not supposed to be lower power than an actual party member, but they don't seem to scale to high level very well. For lower levels it's perfectly fine, but if you wanna bring your pets to high or even epic levels... there might be some issues. I have actually run it yet though, so if they do scale at high levels well, someone please correct me. I mainly want this because I think it would be awesome for the party to get a pet at the beginning of the game and have that pet stick with them all the way until the end.
I haven't watched the whole video yet, so if he mentions it, forgive me, but:
Sidekick system.
I hadn't heard of it before until a month and some change ago, but its designed to give stat buffs and abilities to NPC companions who normally wouldn't get them.
Creatures who can't speak a language can only become a "Warrior" sidekick, but it gives some much needed options to them in combat all the same.
Ok but why would you take your dog with you to fight an arch-demon?
@@heilmodrhinnheimski because its my party's friend from the start and he has laser eyes
@@coreylemon That's true. I was more talking about the RAW for Stibbles though. Although, I could see bonding with your pet to be something that could level them up more. And there could be some more abilites unique to creatures based off of their inherent skills.
@@janus2773 I was gonna say he know Dog-jutsu but that works.
I love Spelljammers. It's got fantasy space travel, it's got multiverse shenanigans, I just adore it.
I come here from the future ,Jacob predicted One DND
A cool homebrew rule my dm does is at the start of the campaign each player gets a magic item that levels up with the player, my newest player has a near unremovable mask, excited to see how it evolves with my character
This man called "one dnd"
Might not count for much, but I really like the positive content (even if it’s not as “algorithmically optimal”)
So here: 🏆
First time watching this literally
Two days after seeing the One DnD drop
......are.........are you a prophet??
You don't know how much I needed this. Long time DM and a long time fan of you. I usually send your videos to new players, but this video was great since it helped me think differently about all these books.
1:09-1:50 Yeah, that aged well
Thank you!
I found this very helpful - especially the parts about character creation with the Heroic Story thing and Monster Roleplaying!
As a DM I cannot stress enough how many times I've had players join the game as 'Hi I'm Steve and these players are all Steven's Bardic Bullies' or something - Character flavor is so important!!!
Shit dude you called it! I mean One D&D or whatever
i DID NOT go to bed on time tonight as I am watching this an hour past my bed time
When their right about future of DnD 5 months before the announcement.
It has been two tears since I watched ten beginning of CR C2, but when you said “regular gnolls,” I immediately thought “regular gnoll, regular gnoll”
He called it. One dnd😂
Getting tips from experienced DMs is literally the best. Great video. Gonna check out that city building tip you just dropped, cuz I haven't opened my DMG in a year or two
Of course there will be a 6th edition. WotC is a business and its good business decision to release a new edition. They already said they are doing this officially, I think in 2023 (so unless they change there mind?). They are marketing it like a 5.5 saying all 5th edition is backwards compatible so it will be pretty similar to 5th (I don't think they will call it 6th). But its definitely happening.
Being a LOOOONG time player you are on the money. RPG's and D&D have always put out new editions. It's called a cash stream.
Im prepping to relaunch a favorite homebrew setting of mine and am looking to flesh more of it out so im thrilled each time a rule vid like this comes out where I can see things id love to add or change about the way my DnD plays!
Damn, that intro came through lol
Ok I enjoyed how you pulled the books close to you ready to do story time, I want to play dnd properly and watching your channel as well as many others have helped me.
You called the updating 5th edition. Good job
Idk why, but I love the standard rules for water combat, specifically drowning. The fact that losing your breath is just immediate deaths saves which you can never succeed is the perfect level of terrifying for me
More positivity here on xp to level 3?? :o