ThinkDM

Mighty Impel

If Fastball Special were turned into a general mechanic, here's how I'd change the Giant Barbarian's Mighty Impel.

What do you think about this change? How would you do it?

Fastball Special

On May 23, 2022, Wizards of the Coast released the Giant Options Unearthed Arcana (UA), featuring the Path of the Giant Barbarian. This fun subclass contains a mass of giant-flavored options, including ...

Kender Aces

Yesterday, D&D released their first Unearthed Arcana in months. The Heroes of Krynn UA centers on the Dragonlance setting.

Among the character options is the oft-maligned Kender race, ...

Live Tonight with ZipperonDisney to Talk About Monks

The ThinkDM Monk

Hi Folks!

The other night I was laying in bed and I had a "eureka!" moment about how to address some of the monk's pain points. I got up at 3 AM and put this reworked monk class together. After some workshopping with other designers, I am happy to present the rework of the core class. 2022-03-07 22:23:31 +0000 UTC View Post

The ThinkDM Monk

Hi Folks!

The other night I was laying in bed and I had a "eureka!" moment about how to address some of the monk's pain points. I got up at 3 AM and put this reworked monk class together. After some workshopping with other designers, I am happy to present the rework of the core class. This ...

Moonbeam

Are you familiar with the moonbeam spell? There's several like it: blade barrier, cloudkill, cloud of daggers, Evard's black tentacles, forbiddance, sleet storm, spirit guardians. What do they all have in common? They all share tricky little mechanic, underlined in red below:

Adjusted Damage for Moonbeam-Style Spells

This chart shows proposed adjusted damage values for spells that use the Moonbeam mechanic. The adjusted damage factors in the spell forcing a save when it is cast or moved onto a creature's space. The proposed damage numbers are provided for no saving throw (automatic damage), half damage on a s...

The Drax Technique

At the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the guardians are fighting a massive interdimensional monster, The Abilisk. Since they seemingly can't damage from outside, Drax jumps in its mouth. Ultimately, this didn't work (though Drax thought it did).

But, does it work in D&D?

Revised XP Table

Is D&D's "XP Valley" Killing Campaigns?

A sneaky system design quirk may contribute to D&D campaigns fizzling out before they reach high level.

Is D&D a Low-Level Game?

Prevailing wisdom says that most 5th Edition D&D is played at the lowest levels.

Folks have plenty of reasons to feel this way:

D&...

5th Edition Rate of Leveling

I had gotten the feeling that XP-using parties leveled faster in higher tiers. The math seems to support this. Here's a chart I'm working on for this week's article. Cheers!

Beastmaster Character Sheet

Download links for our custom character sheet for MCDM's Beastmaster.

Rolling Damage

Do you roll or use static damage in your D&D game?

5th Edition stat blocks list damage as a flat number, with rolled damage in parentheses:

If you deal damage, you must do one of t...

D&D Contest, Week 2: Villain

Hey folks!

Wizards of the Coast is currently running a contest to crown the best dungeon master. This contest will offer a series of submission guidelines over a number of weeks. This culminates in a streamed actual play presentation. The winner gets a bunch of D&D swag.

The probl...

Flanking Damage Dice Examples

In this system, you get extra damage dice added to your attack depending on how many allies and enemies the target has adjacent:

* Adjacent allies: +1d6

* Flanking allies: +2d6

* Adjacent enemies: -1d6

Template and examples in the attached images.

Mercer's Exandria Unlimited Character Taps New Best Spellcaster Race

Matt Mercer is playing a Mountain Dwarf Divine Soul Sorcerer in Exandria Unlimited, the latest series from the folks at Critical Role. Having handed the DM's chair to Aabria Iyengar for this series, Matt finds himself in the player's chair with a very clever mechanical build.

The k...

Swapping Spell Damage Types

Here's a PDF of the rules on swapping spell damage types, which includes the damage type classifications, rules for swapping damage type, and another interesting application of damage class!

D&D Contest, Week 1: It's a Trap!

Hey folks!

Wizards of the Coast is currently running a contest to crown the best dungeon master. This contest will offer a series of submission guidelines over a number of weeks. This culminates in a streamed actual play presentation. The winner gets a bunch of D&D swag.

The probl...

Identifying Magic Items

D&D 5th Edition allows you to identify an item by spending one hour studying it. During the typical D&D adventuring cycle, the party will take a short rest after discovering a magic item, at which time the character can identify a magic item they've obtained.

Design Dials

Hey thinkers!

I  was inspired by Matt Colville's recent Game Design 101 video. Matt laid  out the three core steps of his design process. In the video, he  mentions something called "dials"--a term I've also used in past design  discussions.

Today, we're diving a &...

mXc Traps

Today we feature five traps/challenges inspired by Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (mXc), a show which uses repurposed footage of Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle. Adjust the flavor of the traps to fit your dungeon. Adjust the damage of the traps as appropriate for the party and situation.<...

Critical Fumble Table

For those who insist...

Critical Fumble Fix

We talked about critical fumbles last week while covering the Gunslinger's Misfire mechanic. While I stand by the conclusion that you shouldn't build a (sub)class around a critical fumble mechanic, there may be a s...

What do the new Adventurer's League changes mean for flying PCs?

Characters that obtain racial flying features have been hounding DMs since early in 5th Edition. The flying Aarakocra race was introduced in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion released ...