141
votes
Accepted
Why does dandwiki have a poor reputation?
There are really two problems:
Zero quality control. Anyone can add anything they want, and since there is no vetting, the overwhelming majority of it is bad. This becomes a vicious circle where the ...
- 357k
98
votes
Backtracking from multiclassing with consequences
This is too harsh
Your player is unhappy because her character is weaker than the other characters.
You're trying to fix this by weakening her character further.
Here is how I handle this
When I run ...
- 90.5k
88
votes
Accepted
What are the dangers of renaming spells and changing their flavour, without changing mechanics at all?
You'll be fine
As the DM, you retain full control over the whole game world, including what spells are available and what they do. All you have to do is be honest and upfront with what rules you're ...
- 16.1k
86
votes
Accepted
How powerful would an always-on Truesight ability be for a PC?
That's a 20th level epic boon (so very powerful)
The power of a permanent truesight effect would be situational. If you measure 'power' by raw combat ability, then unless you're fighting invisible ...
- 14.1k
83
votes
Accepted
How to balance “one” PC that is two weaker characters combined?
Just use a regular multiclass character treated narratively as two characters.
I've tried the same thing you're describing (two characters in one) at my table before as a party-controlled NPC ...
- 30.3k
72
votes
Accepted
Is it okay for the DM to create their own world, races, classes, and abilities?
The official texts encourage it.
The official books, especially the DMG, explicitly encourage homebrewing. While the other answers give some nice perspectives, it's worth pointing out that it's ...
- 63.7k
72
votes
Bounty Boards: How to make them fair and make sense
Don´t make it fair.
No, really. If you balance everything to be fair and equal, you take away the entire challenge of figuring out which contract is most lucrative, or which is the easiest money, or ...
- 81.7k
71
votes
Accepted
How would I stat a creature to be immune to everything but the Magic Missile spell? (just for fun)
Based on the wording used for the Rakshasa's Limited Magic Immunity and the Helmed Horror's Spell Immunity, it fits the template text of the rules to just write a feature that explicitly states the ...
- 30.3k
62
votes
Is this homebrew CR 12 monster too difficult an encounter for two level 4 characters?
Absent Extenuating Circumstances, Yes
According to Kobold Fight Club, which gets its information from the DMG, a party of two level 4 characters would consider 250xp worth of monsters Easy, 500xp ...
- 831
60
votes
Is this homebrew CR 12 monster too difficult an encounter for two level 4 characters?
Try it yourself
If you have a copy of their character sheets, run the encounter by yourself a few times playing both sides. You should get a decent idea about how outmatched the PCs might be.
- 26.2k
58
votes
Trouble determining CR or difficulty for homebrew creatures
Regarding your disclaimer:
I don't exactly know what you mean by "won't fit with the campaign", but one of a DM's strongest tools is the reskin. Take the stat block from a monster in one of ...
- 77.8k
54
votes
Accepted
How are spells made permanent in 5e?
Make it a Downtime Activity
More on less on par with Crafting a Magic Item.
This is how I approach permanency in the Eberron game that I run, and my players have been happy with it so far.
The initial ...
- 66.1k
54
votes
What is homebrew? Should I use it in normal games?
Homebrew is beer or other alcoholic beverages brewed at home as opposed to those brewed commercially and bought at a shop.
By analogy, homebrew is any major addition to or omission from the official ...
- 214k
52
votes
Accepted
Would it be unbalanced for Dex-based Fighters to choose proficiency in Dex saving throws instead of Str saving throws?
Yes, it would be unbalanced. Dex, Con, and Wis are the major saving throw types, of which each class has one. Str, Int, and Cha are minor saving throws, which don't come up as often.
Str saving throws ...
- 1,542
50
votes
Why does dandwiki have a poor reputation?
It contains lots of homebrew.
The site hosts pages and pages of homebrew races, classes, feats, spells, etc. Far, far more than the amount of official content on the site. Take a look at the list ...
- 12.8k
49
votes
Accepted
What are the ramifications of creating a homebrew world without an Astral Plane?
Only the following elements in the core rulebooks use the Astral Plane
While it's impossible to list every possible Astral Plane interaction in D&D, the list of things in the three core rulebooks ...
- 83.9k
46
votes
Accepted
How do I prevent a homebrew Grappling Hook feature from trivializing Tomb of Annihilation?
Your player won't perfectly negate these threats
Yes, your player's PC has an ability that could perfectly negate these traps. However, your player doesn't have perfect knowledge of these traps and ...
- 244k
46
votes
How do I prevent a homebrew Grappling Hook feature from trivializing Tomb of Annihilation?
Tomb Dwarves.
The hook trivializes many of the traps, yes.
The party is not alone in the tomb. Withers can scry the party's movements, direct tomb dwarves and communicate with other legendary monsters,...
- 102k
46
votes
What is homebrew? Should I use it in normal games?
What is 'Homebrew'?
Homebrew material is fan-made content designed to supplement first-party material.
It is distinguished from house rules by being game content rather than game rules. For example, ...
- 67.8k
46
votes
Accepted
What are some monsters or spells that could trap NPCs for a long time without killing them?
Petrification monsters
The Petrified condition states:
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone)...
- 129k
43
votes
Accepted
Would the following curse be too detrimental, too beneficial, or just right for a combat-focused campaign?
This punishes player fun more than character mechanics
Dependant on the AC of your enemies this curse is either a massive buff due to never missing, or a massive penalty due to never hitting. Either ...
- 31.1k
41
votes
How unbalanced would a feat that allowed access to other spell lists be?
Far, far too powerful.
Normally, the way to do this is to take a level in the other class, with all the trade-offs involved and only getting the low-level spells until more levels are taken.
This ...
- 244k
41
votes
How would I stat a creature to be immune to everything but the Magic Missile spell? (just for fun)
There's always going to be some clever exception if you try to phrase it negatively like that. This is D&D, not a limited computer program. If you want something fancier than "immune to ...
- 30k
41
votes
Accepted
Why shouldn't one make changes to concentration in homebrew?
I wouldn't say that "all changes to concentration are inherently overpowered", but I would say that all changes to concentration are inherently suspect. You'll need to playtest the heck out ...
- 77.8k
40
votes
How are spells made permanent in 5e?
Challenging the frame; 5e has an App for this
Based on the question, the discussions in chat, and your reservations with what wish and some other tools can do, I recommend that you not try to ...
- 144k
40
votes
How are spells made permanent in 5e?
This is how 3.5 broke
We even had a term for it: CoDzilla
The fundamental premise of such builds was that they were powerful because they could stack an insane number of magical buffs on top of each ...
- 7,194
40
votes
Accepted
Create the most broken race that is 'balanced' according to Detect Balance
Offsetting Vulnerability and Resistance traits allows you to start with -236 points for almost no net effect.
Rather than submit an actual build here, I will sketch the start of a build upon which you ...
- 153k
39
votes
Accepted
Can I stop this homebrewed Lucky Coin ability from being exploited?
Abuses of this will center on avoiding disadvantage on rolls that are important to the current situation. In particular, there's no time limit on this, so the player could just use it out of combat ...
- 5,173
39
votes
Accepted
Is there anything that can bypass temporary hit points?
To my knowledge, no attack bypasses temporary hit points when dealing damage. However, some spells have effects based on the targets' hit points, and cannot be countered by having temporary hit points....
- 54.1k
38
votes
Why shouldn't one make changes to concentration in homebrew?
It potentially affects every concentration spell...
...and how that interacts with every concentration spell, and how that interacts with every concentration spell, etc.
There are currently 237 ...
- 19.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible