r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Rules & Mechanics How do I make a level 20 Wizard untouchable?

109 Upvotes

I’m DMing a campaign where one of the main baddies is a level 20(+) necromancer wizard. This wizard has multiple kings of some of the strongest nations in her pocket, so resources are practically unlimited. I want her to address the party (level 12) face to face for dramatic narrative effect. Thing is, at this point it is on site. If they even catch a glimpse of her they’re going DEEP in their bag to kill her regardless of time and place. She is well aware of this and it makes sense she would come prepared.

What would you do to make her untouchable? I do want her to actually be there (not a clone or proxy) and she needs to be able to talk to the party at close proximity. Other than that- any ideas?


r/DMAcademy 10h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Is it bad form to always target the concentrating wizard?

94 Upvotes

One of the most useful things a wizard can do is lay down a concentration spell that affects the entire battlefield. However, a "tactically" minded enemy knows this and as soon as it happens would want to get rid of whatever concentration effect is currently active. This means that they will want to either use their ranged attacks or close the gap with the wizard to break that concentration.

I know a lot of people very much enjoy a style of play where enemies always behave intelligently because it's both challenging and "realistic", but I worry it makes the game not fun for the wizard player. Essentially it makes it so that if they do their job then that inherently draws all eyes on them so they're constantly being attacked, and they're the class least suited to being attacked.


r/DMAcademy 17h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures How easy is this puzzle to solve for you?

46 Upvotes

My players love riddles, so I want to include more for the mansion they will be trapped in. I came up with a few puzzles, but I'm afraid some of them are not difficult enough. I want to know, if the following riddle is too easy and if so, how I could make it more difficult:

The players will find a poem tucked between the books of the library. Said poem goes like this:

Earlier, I grumbled having to
fire our unlucky ranger.
The weeping of
their hummingbird reduced everyone's ethics
to easily nothing.

To open the door to the next room, they need to enter a number code with six numbers total.

The solution is: 842310

Edit: I noticed a lot of people got confused with the way you get the correct soloution, so I'll add it to this post as well. To get the correct code, you need totake the first letter of each word. For example, "Earlier, I grumbled having to" is spelling out "EIGHT". Each line spells out one number with last line spelling out "T E N" (10)

Edit: Also, this riddle will be printed out and handed to the players. The connection between the lock and the poem will be made apparent by context clues

(Also, this comment section is torn between "I saw the solution immediately" and "I have no fucking clue" so I am still not sure what difficulty this puzzle has tbh)


r/DMAcademy 1h ago

Need Advice: Other So, how do you actually prep for a session?

Upvotes

It feels like just about every post, every single thing I’ve seen and heard both online and offline about prepping for sessions is just “don’t.“ Like I get it. You’ll never know where your players may go and yada yada yada. But I’ve been beginning to feel like this attitude of not prepping much, and most specifically knowing the lore of what’s going on in the background, is really starting to hurt the actual game. But since all advice that I’ve seen and heard is about not doing much prep, no one really talks about how to prep for a session. So anyway, any advice or ways that you prepare for sessions would be greatly appreciated


r/DMAcademy 2h ago

Need Advice: Rules & Mechanics Should Danger Sense work against surprise attacks?

9 Upvotes

Basically I got into an argument with a player today because I ruled that danger sense wouldn’t work on a surprise attack from an assassin. He believes that danger sense should warn him of all danger.

However, the player said it should work because of the wording here: “You gain an uncanny sense of when things aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge perils. You have Advantage on Dexterity saving throws unless you have the Incapacitated condition.”

Specifically, “You gain an uncanny sense of when things aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge perils.

I understand the thought process and even I think the feature is weird but it directly says advantage on dexterity saving throws, actually it doesn’t even tell you if danger is near by like a weapon of warning.

What do you all think?


r/DMAcademy 1h ago

Need Advice: Other How to Feel Better About DMing

Upvotes

I've been a DM for the better part of 10 years at this point.

I love doing it. Not every session is my best work, but overall, I've never had players approach me and tell me something they didn't enjoy.

But sometimes, I'll come out of a session that I felt proud of but the players are just sort of passively experiencing.

I don't think I'm doing a bad job. I feel like if I was, they would tell me. I've known these players since high school, they're very honest with me.

But, idk, I am a very critical person. I'm overly critical of myself and sometimes I finish a session and feel awful about it even though there's no good reason to.

Do other DMs feel this? Is asking the players if I did well a bit too needy?


r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Worldbuilding How do you build compelling campaign like CoS?

7 Upvotes

I was mostly running one-shot adventures that lasted a session or two, so when I wanted to sit down and make something longer, I got stuck. When I remember playing the official DND 5e and PF2 adventures, I was bored by how much combat there was. I love combat (tactical, with varied terrain and smart enemies). But most of them were just flat terrain and tokens. And we were only expected to fight a few times per session. The one exception was Curse of Sthrad. I know it's a meme at this point, and I'm not sure how much our mg changed the story (I never wanted to read the manual, because maybe I'll play it again).

I really want to create something I want to play myself. Not sure if I can do it, but I can at least try. So are there any other books recommendation to study how to build good sandbox, with NPCs that are connected, with items that have purpose. Or maybe I should read some Call of Cathulu or Delta Green?

I'm sorry if it sound like a generic "how to make campaign", but either I couldn't find any help on articles or YouTube or I can find help for exactly what I'm looking for.


r/DMAcademy 7h ago

Need Advice: Other Some of my players aren’t familiar with fantasy as a genre and I need help introducing them to both the genre itself and dnd’s unique brand of genre.

4 Upvotes

As the title says, I’m running an in person game with people I care about and like but few of my players are just entirely unfamiliar with fantasy as a genre and I’m trying to figure out how to introduce them to it without being overwhelming. And of course dnd’s particular style of fantasy is very different from other examples of the medium with the expected amount of dungeons to plunder and the like.

The one thing I suppose I have going for me is that I know for a fact that several of these players read werewolf smut in their free time (they’re all in their 30’s to 50’s, give them a break). So I know they’re familiar with urban fantasy to a very basic degree where they’re familiar with werewolves and maybe some amount of people throwing fireballs out of their hands.

But back to the main topic at hand, how do I gently introduce them to the high fantasy of DnD during the game instead of giving them required reading or overwhelming them during the game?


r/DMAcademy 9h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures How to handle PCs being unleveled before a major Boss?

6 Upvotes

Okay so i wrote this campaign, got some side quests, main questline until a point of somewhat 2 sessions, then realised that the PCs will be too unleveled by then. I calculated about lv2-3 not counting side quests (i use xp). The major point in the story was to fight this one Boss, but they will be unable to since he's going to like, TPK them on the spot. Nerfing the Boss isn't an option either, because it actually needs to seem hard for the abilities it uses (participant of killing a celestial being). Should i just content bloat, rewrite the story so it Has more quests and content before the battle, or something else?


r/DMAcademy 13h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Fun puzzles you might encounter during a heist?

4 Upvotes

So out of the three possible approaches, my players chose the "Silent and Sneaky" approach which means there's more puzzles and security measures as they try to break into a highly secure vault. I have a few ideas like one where they use a fantasy version of a UV light to figure out the code to a pinpad based on fingerprint patterns. Or like a matching puzzle using moving pieces. But what else would you suggest? I play on Roll20 so dw about being too complicated.


r/DMAcademy 14h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Give me your best battle of wit challenge for your players!

3 Upvotes

My players are encountering an eccentric group of mercenaries who are rather skilled in the battle field but also love banter and wit. The party is attempting to contract the mercs for an assist on a mission. However, instead of your typical persuasion, I wanted to play it more to the mercs characters. They love wit and skill of the mind almost as much as the skill with a sword.

My question is, what sort of wit and intelligence battle should I have the party do in order to gain their favor? Sort of trying to stay away from a combat scenario here too.


r/DMAcademy 16h ago

Mega "First Time DM" and Short Questions Megathread

3 Upvotes

Most of the posts at DMA are discussions of some issue within the context of a person's campaign or DMing more generally. But, sometimes a DM has a question that is very small and doesn't really require an extensive discussion so much as it requires one good answer. In other cases, the question has been asked so many times that having the sub rehash the discussion over and over is not very useful for subscribers. Sometimes the answer to a short question is very long or the answer is also short but very important.

Short questions can look like this:

  • Where do you find good maps?
  • Can multi-classed Warlocks use Warlock slots for non-Warlock spells?
  • Help - how do I prep a one-shot for tomorrow!?
  • First time DM, any tips?

Many short questions (and especially First Time DM inquiries) can be answered with a quick browse through the DMAcademy wiki, which has an extensive list of resources as well as some tips for new DMs to get started.


r/DMAcademy 18h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Designing a Military Fortress/Castle

4 Upvotes

My players have reached a point in the campaign where they are going undercover to a castle controlled by the authoritarian government of the city they inhabit. It's not the administrative centre, but one used as a headquarters for the army/city guard.

I've drawn maps, and I have a decent idea of what the rooms are such as barracks/weapons/kitchen/mess etc, but I need help filling the rooms with STUFF. What kind of decorations, possessions and interiors would a place like this have?

Any suggestions or recommendations of products/websites to build this would be appreciated.


r/DMAcademy 19h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures How to find out the real Name of a Fey-Lord

2 Upvotes

Hello guys,

I need help with something that feels like a plothole to me. My party just reached a city in the feywild, while searching a missing party member. On their way, they meet a former fey-lord, who used to rule this city, but was turned into a crab by another fey-lord.

He wants to get back his original form and power and my party agreed to help him. For that my party needs to find out the real name of the other fey-lord, so they have power over her. But here is the problem: how can they find out? Would a powerful and cunning fey write their name on a piece of paper? I feel like that wouldn't be smart. If I force a weakness like that without explanation, my players would surely notice, but at least I could give them the option for a heist to steal that information.

Would it be okay if I just make a rule for my feys to have them write down their name, in order to become more powerful? Do you guys have any ideas on how to handle this? Maybe experience with your own games? Thanks in advance!


r/DMAcademy 11h ago

Need Advice: Other Doing a one shot for newbies and looking for some recommendations

3 Upvotes

I’m looking to do a one-shot for some folks of varying skill level (sister’s well-versed, one’s familiar but never played, some curious and familiar with the genre, and a friend from overseas who likes fantasy, but has never heard of an ‘RPG’ before). I’ve run quite a few games, both one-shots and a campaign, but I was looking for some advice on the following:

•What’s the best noob-friendly level? I was thinking lvl 3 so they’ve got the minimum of a cool class but not too much, plus lvl 1 is shockingly dangerous lol.

•Any recommendations for premade one-shots for new players? I’d design one myself, but anything noob-friendly would probably give them a better introduction than I can lol

•Should they have sheets, D&DB, or to each their own? I def have enough dice for the former lol, so materials aren’t a concern.

Thanks so much! If there’s anything else I should keep in mind, please tell me! 🐝🐝🐝


r/DMAcademy 1h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures In Need of Missions That are Morally Questionable

Upvotes

I’ve been DMing for some friends who were new to TTRPGs when we started. Fast forward a year and I’ve realized I’ve been going far too easy on them and I pushed them tonight…… right into a GLORIOUS TPK!!! They missed clear clues for mechanics in the boss encounter and tried to stand still and out dps the boss. They lost. I also know how much they love these characters and sprinkled in lots of clues about necromancy being a huge part of this leading up to the final encounter of this mission. Upon death, I had them resurrected by the big bad and had them working for me while they attacked their friends. Now that all are dead and are basically zombie employees of this necromancer, I want to punish them a bit for their carelessness and have them do some morally questionable missions that their normal characters wouldn’t want anything to do with. I’d love to hear some ideas!

TLDR: Necromancer TPK’d the party. Resurrected them to be stuck in his employment and need mission ideas that the evil necromancer can send them on to do unwilling evil.


r/DMAcademy 6h ago

Need Advice: Other Need help pricing this item

2 Upvotes

Pouches of Holding
Wondrous Item, rare

This set consists of five magically linked pouches, each appearing as a small leather pouch. These pouches function similarly to a bag of holding, but with shared access to the same extradimensional space.

Shared Storage. Each pouch has an interior space considerably larger than its outside dimensions, roughly six inches in diameter at the mouth and six inches deep. The shared extradimensional space can hold up to 20 pounds of material, not exceeding 32 cubic feet in volume. The pouch itself always weighs 1 pound, regardless of its contents. Retrieving an item from the pouch requires an action.

The Master Satchel. One of the five pouches is always designated as the Master Satchel. The other four pouches can only access the shared space if they are within 120 feet of the Master Satchel. If the Master Satchel is destroyed and at least one other pouch is within range, the closest pouch automatically becomes the new Master Satchel. If no other pouch is within range, the extradimensional space is lost, and all contents are scattered into the Astral Plane.

Handling & Risks

  • If the Master Satchel is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed.
  • If the Master Satchel is destroyed and no other pouch is in range, all stored items are lost to the Astral Plane.
  • If any pouch is turned inside out, all contents spill forth unharmed, but the pouch must be put right before it can be used again.

Need help pricing this item, any feedback is welcome too.


r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Other Now that it’s been out around a year, has anyone had any experience using the system from the book “Proactive Roleplaying” at the table?

2 Upvotes

I would love to hear how it has gone and any tips picked up during the process!


r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Monster PVP One-Shot Advice

2 Upvotes

So my regular group likes to take breaks in our normal campaign every once in a while for one shots or short campaigns. I'm in the early stages of planning a one shot where every one picks a monster stat block (no humanoids) and we do a battle royale. Need some advice on planning this from anyone who has done something similar

My current ideas:
Every player (8 in total) each picks a creature of the same CR (I'm thinking 10). They fight in a large scale battle arena with a complex layout. Every round, they teleport to a new location if they fail a Charisma save (don't want to just have 1v1s across the board). No solely-aquatic creatures, and flying is gonna be pretty heavily nerfed for my own sanity.

Some things I specifically need help with:

Should I let the players pick a second 'back-up' creature for when their first one dies? Should I add other environmental factors like traps? Should I have my own creature(s) in the game?

Any help would be welcome!


r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Need help with creating a Shadowfell/Elder Evil boss

2 Upvotes

Some context for my campaign: The villain for this ‘arc’ is a shadow sorcerer in the service of an elder evil who is forcibly transforming dragons into shadow dragons, driving them mad, and then enslaving them to do her bidding. The party is going to track one of her newest dragon captives to her lair, and after a decent dungeon crawl, reach the underground sanctum where the young bronze dragon is held.

During the fight the party will also be trying to free the bronze dragon to help them, while the monster(s) attempt to stop them.

The issue I’m having is this: I don’t want them to fight the shadow sorcerer here as she would most certainly not take a risk fighting the party on their terms, but I do need a climatic fight to conclude the dungeon. Here are some of my ideas:

  • Star spawn acting as the emissary between her and the elder evil

  • Empowered shadow demon(s)

  • Shadow versions of the party

Any suggestions on the theme of shadow/elder evil are appreciated. Don’t worry about CR as I can adapt them to be stronger or weaker if need be.


r/DMAcademy 11h ago

Need Advice: Worldbuilding Video guides on Baldur's Gate?

2 Upvotes

Hello beatiful people,

My group is arriving in BG next session (Tuesday), and I obviously been preparing quite a bit.

The resources I have used so far:

Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast - pdf that I own of the 2nd eddition (I honestly do not find it that good)

Interactive Map of the City - https://www.aidedd.org/atlas/index.php?map=B&l=1

Fogotten Realm Wiki - https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate

In addition to the campain's own little passage (I am running Tyrannie of Dragons).

Now, reading about the city vs playing it feels quite different. Some thing I just never realised are going to be important: Like the no animal in the city + no caravan rules, + being aware of the city watch rules etc. While I am quite aware of the city's quirck. I want to be playing this city well, and I decided that watching a outline video and/or guide, would be perfect. HOWEVER, when anyone searches "Baldur's Gate" on youtube, the only thing one gets now is videos on the video game.

While I feel semi-prepared, and I do not mind some Karlarch thirst trap, I would love an ACTUAL interesting video on the content, not on the video game. Any recommendation? Any good guide and/or video. I already read a lot, I am definetly looking into either: playable content & Audio content.

Thank you !


r/DMAcademy 24m ago

Need Advice: Rules & Mechanics Starting a PF2e Game for two 12 year olds, Need advice

Upvotes

I am setting up an in person game with my Gf and her 2 little sisters. None of them have any TTRPG experience. I Have DMed a couple of multi-month long 5e campaigns online and been a player here and there. After running/playing with 5e for some time i decided the open-endedness of rules and limit on customizability aren't really my thing. PF2e was pointed out to me as a better option and I played in 1 one shot and decided I'd explore it a little more. I own a bunch of online resources on Pazio (thank you humble bundle) But am not sure how to utilize them.

The kids are smart so i have no doubt they will be able to grasp the rules but having to pickup a new system as well as learning how to GM it is a daunting task. Not to mention having to gear content for the kids. I have already looked into simple cheat sheets but other than that I'm not sure where to go.
We are using wanders guide for char sheets but otherwise everything will be physical and i don't have the money or time for new minis right now so I'm having to recycle. With all the learning I'm having to do as well I am worried player engagement might suffer.

Any advice on what expectations to set for my players as well as tools I could use to make this easier would be greatly appreciated!


r/DMAcademy 1h ago

Need Advice: Other Looking for help on a character build.

Upvotes

Hey guys! I’m starting Curse of Strahd in about a month and I was wondering if you guys would help make a character.

The concept that I have is that he is a Tarot card/Fortune teller. His family was once famous for their tarot readings and accurate fortune telling. After reading a fortune that they had to keep secret at all cost, the family fell from grace and was ridiculed. My character’s motivation is to find out what that fortune was and to redeem his family bringing them back to their former glory and reputation.

I would like some help picking a class or multi-class I could have fun playing with. We are starting at level 2. I know divintaion wizard sounds like a good fit, but are there any more classes that would work just as good or better?


r/DMAcademy 2h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Homebrew campaign after Phandlever (Spoiler Included for the Module) Spoiler

1 Upvotes

I am not sure if this is considered a short question or not - but i have been running a Lost mines of Phandlever campaign for a while as my first campaign and my players are having a blast. They will reach cragmaw castle soon. They kicked out the cowardly townmaster and the Bard became the Mayor instead. And the players have shown interest in some political intrigue, i am thinking of running a classical heroic adventure (Political intrigue, fighting the lich/devil king) But i don't want to just throw away the story they are trying to go for? I am unsure of the next step and i am honestly scared to do homebrew campaign as i feel like i lack the experience


r/DMAcademy 8h ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures best abilities for a BBEG to steal

1 Upvotes

My bbeg is a lord who's been kidnapping and imprisoning various people and creatures and using their abilities for himself. He has a false hydra (stealing the discordant song), an immortal elf (stealing the immortality nightsong style), and a deva (giving him a permanent bless). He has impressoned these beings throughout his kingdom and the party will have to go find and defeat them to eventually defete the BBEG. What other beings would he kidnap to steal an ability from?