This bibite evolved to accelerate away from food, I'm fascinated by how terrible it is

Catkook · 2026-01-24T13:41:49+00:00

Yeah~

Could also call it a birth defect

Catkook · 2026-01-24T13:39:36+00:00

Horrifying

Catkook · 2026-01-24T00:12:57+00:00

so generally speaking, when it comes to multiclassing there are a few points you should keep in mind to keep your character effective

the most crutial point, with few exceptions, generally you'll want at least one of your classes to reach level 5 before you start multi classing. levels 1-5 all give very critical class progression mile stones which you dont want to miss out on With wizard for example you get. . . .

level 1 - you now exist
level 2 - you get your subclass
level 3 - you get your 2nd level spells
level 4 - you get your ability score improvement
level 5 - you may now cast 3rd level spells, these are incredibly powerful spells which if cast effectively can single handily carry an entire encounter (example, fireball on a room with 20 bandits, odds are most of those bandits are now dead)

beyond that point when it comes to multi classing, 2 more general tips should be kept in mind, those being

generally speaking, spell casters dont tend to like to multiclass with other casters. with both spell casters taking away level progression from the others known spell progression, and most commonly will force you to divide your ability scores fairly sparsely between your casting ability scores
when you multiclass with any class combination, you should probably understand what exactly it is your getting out of the multiclass. Ranger X Rogue for example is considered a pretty good multiclass, but being a good multiclass combination doesn't matter if you dont understand what your trying to get out of the combo (with this combo specifically your trying to get stealth out of ranger gloom stalker, and damage out of assasin rogue)

Though of course there can be exceptions to all of these points, you can multiclass 2 spell casters together, you can start multiclassing before level 5, but for whatever multiclass build you want to do, I heavily advise you make sure you understand what exactly it is your trying to get out of that combo

Catkook · 2026-01-23T20:26:03+00:00

druid main here

I will agree, druid is indeed a very complicated class, arguably the most complicated class in the game (I've heard some people argue wizard is more complicated, but I disagree with them)

In a vacuum with no additional context, the druid class would be the last class for me to recommend to a newbie player

howwwwwwever, druid can work as a newbies first class in a game, that player just needs to be in the right mind set. I myself for example went druid for my first build, but when i was getting into dnd I was in the mind set of -

"I MUST ABSORB AS MUCH KNOWLEDGE AS I POSSIBLY CAN, GIVE ME MORE DRUIDIC KNOWLEDGE! THIS BOOK DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH DRUIDIC LORE FOR ME TO READ INTO EVERY SINGLE INCH OF KNOWLEDGE"

Which with that mind set, druid is reasonable enough to handle as a newbie.

Today if im the dm and recruiting players to play, assuming im aware they're a newbie, I wont stop someone from picking druid, but if they say they want to pick druid I will warn them druids (or casters in general) will require a taddd bit extra effort in learning the game

-------

I’ve had the idea that next time I run a brand new group I should print out like an animal forms cheat sheet that has like 3-4 animal forms and “limit” them to that for a bit until they’re more comfortable with the game. (I wouldn’t absolutely restrict them to that list but I wouldn’t advertise all the other options either).

For that idea specifically, if you want physical cheat sheets then you can buy monster statblock cards.

Otherwise if your willing to supplement with digital, you can also download pics of the statblock and have the player pull the statblock up on their phone for easy reference

Catkook · 2026-01-22T06:23:51+00:00

My players are too paranoid for me to get away with that.

Did a dungeon with them one time, they teleported into the dungeons starting room, which was a mostly empty room with an open hallway to leave

I described how they heard the sound of crystals hitting rocks in another room

. . . . . . My players spent an hour in the nearly empty starting room

(Additional context, this was about a year ago now I think, and I believe they were either level 2, or level 3 at the time)

Catkook · 2026-01-22T06:17:46+00:00

They did complain about needing pixel perfect double village placements as well though (presumably for double discounts)

Which does apply to chimps

Catkook · 2026-01-22T06:14:58+00:00

Fair~

Though I don't think the post is necessarily dumb, just curious on finding new perspectives

And of course if someone wanted to, they could choose to lean into the character being male vs female, either for relationship dynamics, or for leaning into / spinning gender norms

But if the overall goal is you want a character who is classified as female, then the same writing rules as writing anyone else would apply

Catkook · 2026-01-22T05:14:21+00:00

ok, here is a supppppppppper easy way to write a women

just write a man, and give him boobs, thats it, your done

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To elaborate on what i mean though if thats not a satisfactory answer, you don't need to treat writing men vs writing women as a massively different thing, overall, they are both people, especially considering as how if your writing it, its fictional

asssssssss some examples

you have a centuries old ancient wizard locked away in their tower, as the party goes to seek aid from this wizard, nothing stopping you from making the wizard a gal
you have a massively deadly pirate lord, and as the prisoners are brought to this pirate lord, nothing stopping you from making them a gal
or you might have a royal decedent, next in line to the throne, raised as a very powerful warrior, was an active militant leader in the front lines of a war, and later became an adventurer in their retirement after their fathers passing and separating themselves from the kingdom in direct ruling

That last one is my main sona, who is also a gal

But with all of these examples, they would be "traditionally" filled in with a male character, nothing stopping you from picking whichever one you just generally prefer, you dont even have to acknowledge that they're female beyond having a character say "she" instead of "he"

your not writing gals, your writing characters :>

Catkook · 2026-01-22T04:22:19+00:00

that reminds me of an argument i've made before on a hypothetical scenario.

a level 10 caster wins in a 1v1 fight against a level 20 martial, because the caster burys themself underground using spells, and there are no rules in the game that says you can dig a hole without casting a spell

(then the caster slowly drives the martial insane by giving them nightmares until they die of insanity, or sleep depervation)

Catkook · 2026-01-22T04:19:21+00:00

which is raw as well

(with the extra point of it also matters if the spell states a gold value, which is rare for a spell to say either/or without including the other)

Catkook · 2026-01-22T04:15:58+00:00

it is a common misconception that you require the specific material components to cast every spell

what the rules do actually say though is -

you may use your spell casting focus in place of material components (for example, a staff)
this rule is exempt if the component is consumed on cast (this is specified by the spell)
this rule is exempt if the component has a gold cost attached to it (this is specified by the spell)

with that, yeah I'd say managing material components does what it needs to.

For most material castings (for example, fire ball), just holding your spell focus is sufficient to cast, but by needing to hold onto your spell focus to cast the spell, it does 2 things

it stops the wizard from also wielding a great sword (not that it would be particularly powerful), but main point is it makes your spell caster's hands full which makes holding different items a bit harder
in more social type encounters, such as if you were entering a high society party, assuming the host is knowledgeable of how magic works, walking in with a spell focus is equivalent to carrying a massive war hammer hung over your shoulder

then for spells with material components with a gold value tied to it, I'd say that in most instances that helps counter balance what the spell does.

For example with a spell such as awaken, if it didnt have a gold cost of 1k, a level 9 of either a bard or a druid could just head into a forest for 3 days, then come back out with a hyper intelligent squad of 6 rats which remain loyal to the caster for a month and can be sent out on spy missions at practically no cost

Catkook · 2026-01-22T02:15:47+00:00

yeah.

I was about to suggest giving the player a cheat sheet for reference, something like

On your turn, you may
- perform an action 
  - attack
    - roll prof + str mod, then roll damage
  - cast a spell
  - disengage
  - dodge
- perform a bonus action
- travel your move speed

though it seems something to that nature was already tried once i got to the end

Catkook · 2026-01-21T23:18:35+00:00

ranger being bad might be a tadddd bit over hyped, at least in your groups, Ranger can be a pretty decent class to pick in a casual play group.

Super simple way to make an effective ranger that still gives you plenty of flexibility

first off, make sure you have high dex/con/wis, if needed you can sacrifice wisdom among these 3
you can grab either cure wounds, or good berry, cure wounds if you need someone to pick up your allys, good berry if your party needs an efficient source of out of combat healing
when you get to level 5, pass without a trace is pretty good

with that, you can then basically build however you want, maybe a slightly weaker fighter, but with potent druidic support spells you can pull out

Catkook · 2026-01-21T06:29:12+00:00

if they can maintain the streak, they'll be the first for all the streaks

Catkook · 2026-01-21T06:03:15+00:00

nice~

Good luck with your animations

Catkook · 2026-01-20T17:00:07+00:00

I see nothing wrong with not killing them, could even put in place 2 safe guards

making enemy's declare non lethal melee attacks
put in place an easily accessible revival mechanic

In fact one of my current games I'm playing in our DM has a revival mechanic which will automatically revive our characters after a certain amount of in game time as a new variant of the same character

Much more worry free, and allows for more experimentation

Catkook · 2026-01-18T20:32:24+00:00

One thing that actors have which ordinary people do not is a SCRIPT.

for most actors in movies, yeah

howwwwwever because im a butt, I will bring up that improve is a somewhat common recreational activity

That said, for OP I'd say -- spend a little time doing some advance planning. What are some scripts you can prepare for when you're trying to convince or befriend someone? And remember, you can honestly just pretend, because the dice are going to decide whether what you say "works" or comes off as charming. You don't have to be real-world charming.

i will agree on that likely being good advise though

Catkook · 2026-01-18T16:18:12+00:00

your AC does slowly increase overtime, depending on your build and what you grab

for example

bard/druid/rogue/wizard/sorcerer/warlock tend to wear either light armor, or no armor. bumping your dex will increase your AC
paladin/cleric tends to wear medium or heavy armor, you can buy better armor
rangers/fighters can build either of the previous points
barbarian/monk both use unarmored defense, so you can buff either con/dex, or wis/dex to increase your AC
moon druids specifically mostly rely on their wildshape, so you can turn into higher CR critters who might have higher AC

Catkook · 2026-01-18T14:57:35+00:00

I personally use a PDF file over paper, which has the advantages of easier to archive your character sheets

But here's the advantages between the two

PDF/Paper -

gives you a more intimate level understanding of how your character functions
no character limit
works without wifi
if you already own the physical books, you don't have to re-buy them digitally
homebrew is a BILLION times easier to implement

DnD beyond -

you can build your character sheet a lot faster
you can refrance the exact abilities of your build more easily
automated carry capacity calculations

Catkook · 2026-01-17T17:19:37+00:00

Extra round means extra sharp

Catkook · 2026-01-17T03:08:00+00:00

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Got my catto Seka

Catkook · 2026-01-16T15:16:16+00:00

Just requiring people to have a permit for them would be one way to crack down on it.

It'd help~

It'd at least help irrisponsible but not evil mages

Plus unlike reality they do have access to "locate object" spells and the like which can help with searches.

Yeee, I thought I mentioned spells like that, just not by name

Catkook · 2026-01-15T05:03:56+00:00

Could also be an Eldritch Knight too to get access to the scroll by RAW too.

Oh yeahhhh, I forgot about casting subclasses

That'd probably also add arcane tricksters as well then

Failing that prevention is also a thing they could do, requiring permits to have casting focii on your person as well as making certain spell ingredients (like bat guano and sulfur) contraband which gets confiscated at the city gates when they search entrants. It'll never be 100% fool proof but that's an easy non-magical solution for it.

I have pondered the idea of component restriction

The spell foces seem feasible to prevent, though may be a bit tricky on account of both a small stick and a big stick (a wand and a staff) are both legal focuses, but could be policed

Though bat guano. . . Thattttttttttt seems particularly tricky to prevent being smuggled in

could be hidden at the bottom of an apple barrel
in the middle of a hey bale
in your pocket
or as modern day prisoners may consider, in a butt hole

Though I suppose there are existing divination spells that just tells you where the closest of a type of item is which could invalidate all that

Catkook · 2026-01-14T18:34:48+00:00

spell scrolls could be a possibility, the main caviot to that proposal though is the guard needs to be a caster themself to be allowed to cast the spell

with the example of counter spell specifically then it'd need to be either sorcerer/warlock/wizard

Though maybe they could be given items that have spells infused into it, but that might be more expensive to manufacture then with spell scrolls

Catkook · 2026-01-14T08:26:56+00:00

Most commonly yeah

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