101
votes
Accepted
Does an Ooze (Gelatinous Cube) float?
Digging around, I can't find a definitive Monster Manual based answer here. But, there is a little piece from one of the published adventures for D&D 5E.
From Out of the Abyss (Spoilers, ...
- 64.8k
93
votes
Accepted
What crimes would constitute a 'Universal Crime' or a 'Crime against Nature/Existence'?
Multiversal crimes
There are some big, cosmic no-no’s in D&D. Many are impossible or very difficult for a mortal to accomplish (e.g. gods who don’t belong there¹ walking the Material Plane in the ...
- 346k
84
votes
What is the precedent for what happens to a warlock's character levels if their patron dies?
A warlock is defined by a pact with an otherworldly being.
Why would they think that killing the patron ends the pact? Sadly for your warlock, the obligation comes from the pact, not the patron. No ...
- 207k
83
votes
Accepted
What sound does an owlbear make?
Owlbears Screech
In 5e:
An owlbear's screech echoes through dark valleys and
benighted forests, piercing the quiet night to announce
the death of its prey.
4e:
The 4e owlbear has an encounter power ...
- 67.1k
77
votes
Do dragons smell of lilacs?
Disclaimer: This answer was written before the addition of the 5e tag. The content below may not be applicable to that specific edition of D&D.
D&D 3.5's Draconomicon actually has several ...
- 16.1k
77
votes
How did towns mundanely protect themselves against Dragons or bring them to the ground?
Hope the dragon doesn't come
I'm being a little facetious obviously, but in the fiction of Forgotten Realms for most towns (as opposed to a large city) without nearby adventurers the plan for a dragon ...
- 33.3k
70
votes
Accepted
What do Unicorns want?
There's not a lot to go on in official 5E materials, but there's a few clues in the monster description which we can extrapolate from. Note that since the default setting in 5E is Forgotten Realms, ...
- 29.8k
69
votes
Accepted
How would a devil get around using its true name on a contract?
It’s impossible to prove a negative, but I’m rather sure there is nothing official that covers this. To that end, here are all the most likely sources across all of D&D to cover something like ...
- 346k
63
votes
What is a spell slot in-lore, and how does it justify the limits on casting spells?
Spell slots represent the caster's mental limits
D&D 5th edition's Player's Handbook, p. 201, under Spell Slots, describes them thusly:
Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares,...
- 79k
63
votes
What happens if a vampire tries to enter a residence without an invitation?
They cannot enter
You've put in the relevant quotes in your answer, they simply can't enter and that's all the info that 5e has given us. With no details provided by source books, the DM is free to ...
- 124k
62
votes
Accepted
Is there an in-universe reason why each wizard uses different notation in their spellbook?
It’s how real-world alchemists did things
Which is likely something that Gygax—and Vance, assuming Vance’s novels also including writing spells down—would have known.
There are famous alchemists. ...
- 346k
60
votes
Accepted
Do owlbears lay eggs?
Owlbears do indeed lay eggs. One of my personal favourite features of AD&D 2nd Edition is that most every monster entry includes details on their appearance, behaviour, social organization (if any)...
- 243k
59
votes
Is there a guide/reference for possible character hairstyles in D&D Forgotten Realms universe?
You should be more assertive
Can my character have this hairstyle
It is your character, so ultimately it's up to you. If you say she has a ponytail, she does.
female characters usually do not ...
- 65.5k
58
votes
How common is homosexuality in the Forgotten Realms?
What the Player's Handbook says
In Chapter 4, "Personality and Background", the Subsection "Character Details" has a header titled "Sex" that makes the following remarks (emphasis mine):
Sex
...
- 52.3k
54
votes
How common is homosexuality in the Forgotten Realms?
It certainly exists in the Realms, but the sources don't give a reliable sense of how commonplace it is.
In a quote in this article, Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood says that there are gay ...
- 79k
54
votes
Accepted
What makes the Forgotten Realms "forgotten"?
I wondered this before myself, I found that Wikipedia had most of my answers.
The Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world
of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and ...
- 1,936
53
votes
Accepted
When did Warlocks make their first appearance in D&D and how do they differ between editions?
1974, 1990, or 2004, depending
In each of these years, a new option was introduced to D&D that was labeled “warlock.” It wasn’t until 2004 that the warlock was its own class, but 1990 had warlock ...
- 346k
51
votes
Accepted
What is a spell slot in-lore, and how does it justify the limits on casting spells?
As you noted, according to the PHB:
Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares, he or she can cast only a limited number of spells before resting. Manipulating the fabric of magic and ...
- 29k
51
votes
What happens when a metallic dragon and a chromatic dragon mate?
A unique and highly unusual new dragon offspring, who is typically sterile
The D&D 3.5 sourcebook Draconomicon (2003), p.27 asserts that dragons of different types can produce hybrid offspring:
...
- 79k
50
votes
Accepted
What is the precedent for what happens to a warlock's character levels if their patron dies?
Nothing happens, at least in 5e. The Pact only initiates your power; you don't need the Patron after that.
The answer to the question you linked was wrong. Becoming a Warlock is a one-time infusion of ...
- 13.7k
50
votes
Accepted
Is Troll Mitosis possible?
A troll's severed body parts remain 'connected' to the troll. Severed parts die when the troll regenerates them.
I am drawing my information from the 'Variant: Loathsome Limbs' sidebar under the ...
- 13.8k
49
votes
Will this series of events work to drown the Tarrasque?
This question ultimately boils down to this: Can the Tarrasque (even if it has Regeneration) drown?
Yes*
*: Assuming absolutely everything goes precisely as you expect it to.
From the Basic Rules......
- 64.8k
49
votes
Accepted
What in the lore makes Krakens immune to lightning?
Krakens have powers that relate to lightning and storms
The Kraken as described in the 5e Monster Manual has a Lightning Storm ability that can shoot lightning bolts around it. A monster being ...
- 72.8k
48
votes
Accepted
What does the "titan" monster tag mean?
The DMG provides insight: they are divine creations.
The DMG states on page 11 (emphasis not mine):
Quasi-deities have a divine origin, but they don't hear or
answer prayers, grant spells to ...
- 26k
47
votes
Accepted
What are some canon noble houses in 5e?
D&D 5e is a set of rules and bits and pieces of lore ideas, but it has no setting. There are no maps of the “D&D 5e world”, no noble houses — nothing except the bits of background on the races....
- 243k
47
votes
Accepted
What would +1/+2/+3 items be called in game?
They Would Be Called "Magic"
A +1/+2/+3 weapon, shield, armor, ammunition, etc. have historically been referred to as a "magic" version of that item: magic weapon, magic shield, magic arrow, etc. (...
- 12.9k
47
votes
In which editions of D&D have druids been able to Wild Shape into owlbears?
dnd-3.0 Dungeons and Dragons 3.0, with PrC
In 3rd edition, Druid could only Wildshape into Animals*, and Owlbear was a Beast. Counterintuitive, Beasts are separate from Animals just as any other type ...
- 23.6k
46
votes
How can I develop my character's background when I know nothing of the game's lore and want to avoid spoilers?
It's time to talk to your DM. You clearly have ideas about the general shape of your backstory, but you need to know some things that "everyone in the setting knows" and you need names, places and ...
- 16.8k
46
votes
Accepted
How do gelatinous cubes reproduce?
The Forgotten Realms wiki page on gelatinous cubes has the information you are looking for in the "Ecology" section:
Gelatinous cubes reproduced asexually by either dividing themselves into ...
- 278
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible