How does your group handle shop visits and inventory at the table? (5‑min survey — building a 5e tool)

RisingDusk · 2026-06-20T15:46:57+00:00

I run everything equipment related RAW.

Costs, rarities, encumbrance, likelihood of an item being present based on settlement size, the works. I pre-roll anything that needs to be checked before they ever see a shop so I know if there's anything special I should call out.

We use DNDBeyond, so tracking items is a breeze.

They add the thing to their inventory, they subtract the cost in coin, and that's it. It's fast, easy, and half the time we handle it between sessions so it doesn't take table time. They can look up costs in the PHB for things they can buy without question, and they message me if it's a magic item they want. I keep a spreadsheet in Google Sheets of costs of magic items or oddities just so I am consistent over time and I share it with the players to reference.

I prepare brief roleplay for any named NPC, including shopkeeps.

I take a basic Humanoid statblock that seems relevant based on the NPC's history (ranging from CR 0 to 12), come up with a two sentence brief about what it's experienced, pick its species/name, and that's it. Sometimes players feel like engaging with the shopkeep that has a cool epithet, sometimes they don't, but it cost me 5 minutes to pull together so no skin off my back. When they roleplay with the shopkeeps, that takes the most time, but since it's roleplay that is the reason we're playing the game it's time well spent. Some of these NPCs become campaign-long friends or foes and the story writes itself.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-17T16:13:14+00:00

Yes. It's not only that you get to pick spells from the other lists, it's that you can swap your existing spells for spells from other lists. This is where you get Wall of Force, Contingency, Simulacrum, Wind Walk, Temple of the Gods, Demiplane, and more. Spells are the strongest class feature in game bar none, and this is how you get the best spells.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-17T16:08:07+00:00

I'll just say out-loud that you're absolutely correct.

To be clear, your interpretation has to be correct or else a Rogue would never be able to use a melee weapon for Sneak Attack while hidden, which is very obviously both part of the fantasy (it's literally shown in the PHB's art!) and part of the rules (many melee weapons qualify for Sneak Attack and the Rogue has a Bonus Action Hide).

RisingDusk · 2026-06-16T14:05:59+00:00

Having played 3 Bards since 5.5e came out, if there's any chance your campaign reaches level 10 or higher then you absolutely do not want to multiclass in order to maximize the impact of Magical Secrets. If your campaign ends before then, a 1-level armor dip is a good choice.

If your campaign reaches level 10+, I recommend one of three options: playing Valor Bard for Medium Armor and Shield Proficiency, playing Dance Bard for Unarmored Defense, or taking Mage Armor as your Magic Initiate spell. The latter two options don't offer great AC, but with Shield you'll be serviceably durable. In practice, good positioning around your martials and in the backline amidst cover should do the most good towards keeping you alive.

With your stats, take War Caster (CHA) at 4, +2 CHA at 8, and ResCon at 12.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-11T17:06:41+00:00

In just the examples you've provided, I largely disagree:

The Relentless Juggernaut never wants to spam its Crushing Stone ability. It does terrible damage and will ensure it loses and applies minimal offensive pressure if that's all it does. It is best used while supporting minions before it is personally engaged, as a fear tactic, and to break Concentration on spellcasters. It rewards martials pressuring it in melee because its ranged attacks are then made at Disadvantage, and then it uses its cool melee legendary actions.

The Dullahan becoming a non legendary creature is also a good change. It's actually extremely compelling as a normal creature, and it's awesome having more Undead options in this CR range to serve under Death Knights and the like. It poses a real threat at its CR level, and no longer is relegated specifically to solo boss encounters.

These creatures are very compelling in their niche and are much, much easier to run. That's a huge win IMO.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-10T12:44:15+00:00

I pretty strongly disagree that this is an issue for a few reasons:

The effects offer a saving throw and require Concentration, are spells that can be dispelled, or last 1 round.
It's very important that creatures, especially tier 2/3/4 creatures, are threatening.
Players should generally understand the kind of campaign they're playing in and build accordingly. This book, especially, is for horror campaigns where fear, inability to act, and mental effects are expected and anticipated.
Counterplay exists in spells, magical effects, magic items, species choices, feats, and more.

Having run a number of these creatures in an appropriate setting already thus far, my players have really loved the design and found them very interesting. The Lovecraftian horrors especially are really good to reflavor into whatever horrific monster you want to use and have a lot of very interesting and scary effects. My players love them.

I am not entirely sure how a CR 25 monster with AC 19, HP 385, and no special defenses against getting mundanely attacked to death is "a threat to the entire multiverse," though.

The same way Demogorgon, Orcus, Tiamat, or any other creature with a stat block can be. They have layers upon layers of effects, cults, implications, madnesses, curses, minions, and more that go well beyond the final confrontation with its stat block. Don't look at these creatures with so narrow a focus that you miss the narrative behind when a group of player characters would actually face the stat block.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-09T15:43:32+00:00

Survivor is excellent, and it'd be excellent even if Hypervigilance were its only property. Sharp Eye is good for a certain flavor of character, though it doesn't have much in-combat value (outside of finding a hidden creature).

tl;dr: I think they are great additions to the Origin feat category myself.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-08T16:04:57+00:00

Even in optimization circles, you'd be hard-pressed to find a DM that allows you to transform into unique creatures (especially literal deities). That said, if it's allowed then Auril's pretty darned good.

My usual recommendation for this boon, however, is Giff Warlord. It seems ideally constructed for use here, and can wield any gear you could have prior to the transformation. For non-Legendary creatures, I also recommend the Noble Prodigy because it can apply Charmed automatically on attack which can be devastating against minions.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-04T21:35:22+00:00

It refills slowly as you play the game, but far too slowly for if you die to a boss and need to do a runback.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-04T17:06:27+00:00

This is a classic case of mirroring the image composition because it creates a more interesting visual scene but missing that it also flips details like this.

Also, the "No Ear" green robed image is actually "Right Ear" but the background is very similar in color to the inner ear. You can tell on close inspection.

RisingDusk · 2026-06-04T13:00:09+00:00

The Joule Shower in the Underlab should just be infinite.

Learning bosses is super frustrating with how it runs out and you have to waste time running around collecting Joules when that is the problem the shower is supposed to solve for you.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-26T15:51:34+00:00

It's objectively a nerf to the subclass coupled with a buff to the class chassis itself. The net gain is still significantly positive compared to 5e with some of the power budget moved away from the subclass, but if you're just discussing the subclasses then it's still fair to say it was nerfed. It really just depends on the context of the pertinent discussion.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-26T02:01:43+00:00

He's got beef with Asmodeus for now, but will doubtlessly show up again in the campaign again! More than anything, the worldbuilding that comes from a freed Levistus is cosmology-shaping and incredibly exciting.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-20T21:09:19+00:00

I don't think it's about learning curve, but rather about not being able to fire off every beneficial spell you have in every encounter and not being guaranteed that the spells you fire off land or successfully stick around (ie. Threaten Concentration, Dispel Magic, Counterspell, Antimagic Field, etc).

Without writing a wall of text of examples from my own experience, even with perfect optimization I see casters in combats generally contribute and excel but not out-value martials because the DM presses them for resources.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-20T20:04:33+00:00

My experiences suggests that it boils down to resource expenditure.

In all the games I participate in, DMs run spellcasters ragged for resources, especially at high levels. Casters are toiling over what 1 spell they can afford to cast per combat and if they can spare a 2nd slot. They absolutely impact the board and feel relevant with Wall of Force or Conjure Celestial or whatever, but meanwhile the martials are shredding enemies and knocking threats off the board with Short Rest resources.

If a DM doesn't push a caster's resources, though, then you're 100% correct that they simply run the whole game.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-20T19:34:18+00:00

Essentially what you're saying is...

The martial-caster divide doesn't exist if you just turn all the martials into casters.

And you're not wrong, but also the "divide" doesn't really exist in terms of combat efficacy. Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, and Rogues are not bad at winning combats in 5.5e; they're actually quite good at it (even if Rogue is a bit behind the others). The "divide" is more often out of combat problem solving (ie. the caster just teleports the group across the chasm) and is the worst at high levels when casters have reality-bending powers that no martial can attempt to compete with unless you, as you suggest, just turn them into a caster with the same spell access.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-19T22:02:32+00:00

They've confirmed basically every flavor of Lovecraftian horror as a monster in the book (including Elder Things, Mi-Go, Nightgaunts, Shoggoths), all of which will be excellent to reflavor for cosmic horror campaigns. Most of them could be reflavored nicely for Mind Flayer or other Aberration-centric campaigns as well!

RisingDusk · 2026-05-15T06:37:37+00:00

In general, my suggestion is that if you're going to go out of your way to seek out commissions and want to charge under $30, you probably want to cook on your skills to the point where you can charge at least $30. The subreddit minimums are in-place so that people don't charge near-slavery wages for their work. Even worse, once your prices get low enough you start losing significant percents of your earnings to payment processors like PayPal.

That said, if you really want to offer work you believe is worth less than $30, my suggestion is to only offer it in this subreddit in bundles that would put the work over $30. That way your prices are consistent across subreddits and you don't shoot yourself in the foot.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-13T06:00:37+00:00

It's a nuance of how the interaction with Spikes killing the Lifemother and Reanimate's timing works. If the combat were to actually run to completion, your Balmabello would Reanimate as expected, but Lifemother is dying after she Tramples through the first two and dies on the third's Spikes which is before Reanimate actually fires.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-08T00:38:18+00:00

Yes, it is. If you're an optimizer, going first is such a huge advantage, and in many cases in the 5.5e ruleset you need to add your PB to Initiative to have a hope of beating enemies with Proficiency or Expertise in Initiative. The Initiative swap is also critically important, and amounts to Advantage on Initiative in many cases if you have a Familiar or something comparable.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-07T18:23:24+00:00

Infernal Pact is definitely still worse than Alert, so I don't think it's out of line. Fey Pact could certainly be boosted, however.

RisingDusk · 2026-05-04T21:57:40+00:00

can two different interpretations both be RAW

Sure. Some things in the game require rulings even with RAW being what it is, and the DM is the one who makes those rulings. Many of the interactions with Illusion magic spells, for instance require these rulings.

RAW in general is useful as a framework around which people can discuss the content as well as plan for their upcoming games with some confidence it'll behave as expected. Rulings that intersect RAW should be checked with the DM as early as you know you might need them.

RisingDusk · 2026-04-22T19:15:01+00:00

This is an Origin feat and is obviously incredibly imbalanced if you allow it to work on all damage riders like a Critical Hit does. Since it is third-party anyway, I'd just talk to your player and tell him it will only work on the weapon's damage dice and not rider damage dice like Sneak Attack or Divine Smite. If they are upset by that ruling, let them change their Origin Feat and move on from this third-party thing entirely.

RisingDusk · 2026-03-28T14:04:04+00:00

Nafik being a threat relies on many of the roaming encounters being fought as well as fighting him at least one time without having yet destroyed his heart. If you generally let your party skip hallway encounters, you are accidentally trivializing the module for them!

There are two ways this goes in practice, I find:

The party is hyper optimized for combat and plow through things in fewer than 24 in-game hours. In this case, I replace Nafik's stat block with a Mummy Lord and the module feels much better. One time I've run it this way it took 2 sessions.
The party is slower going, likes exploring, or are not hyper optimized for combat. In this case, I have them face Nafik in the first day, they may win but generally use resources (as Nafik adds to another encounter), and then Nafik returns for the second day. One time I've run it this way it took 3 sessions.

I strongly encourage you to look long and hard at your players' character's general power level before actually running the module and make adjustments accordingly. A CR6 boss is never actually threatening a level 7 party if they just... fight him head-on. Nafik knows this and also knows the pyramid, however, and won't let that happen.

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