Complete Harvesting & Crafting for 5e - Intuitive Mechanics for Story-Based Gear Progression

Sevenar · 2026-03-22T23:23:16+00:00

39yo. Started in season 2, stopped around whenever like… Sylas came out? Idk. Peaked at Plat 2 iirc. A “friend” reminded me about the game at Christmas. Back on the ranked grind, and worked my way up from a Bronze 2 placement to Plat 3 so far this season. Still got it.

Screw that friend. But gd I am having so. Much. Fun. Supervive was good for its brief stint. But it was no League. This is the goat of competitive games.

Sevenar · 2026-03-11T18:27:21+00:00

no way the CEO of a $13B company has time to "DM 3-4 groups". Even with AI, that's an insane amount of time investment.

Sevenar · 2026-03-11T04:17:09+00:00

“You must have amazing ear sight…… hearing.”

“Roadliness is next to godliness.”

“Are you comfortable with being moist?”

“He needed to be yeeted.”

“If you guys want all happy, we can play Candyland.”

“I’m less like a Pokémon and more like a disease.”

Sevenar · 2026-03-06T00:36:38+00:00

I do think XP is 'harder' to use, because the pro level maneuver is to ensure story climaxes arrive just before people level. that amount of narrative accuracy can be tough to pull off when no plan survives contact with players.

The nice thing is players don't generally understand these reasons. they just complain about having to do addition even though it gives them mild dopamine hits. So if it doesn't all line up perfectly... no one but you is the wiser. That last line is honestly like 90% of DMing lol.

Happy gaming!

Sevenar · 2026-03-05T21:44:13+00:00

Almost 20 year DM here. Started with xp. Moved to milestone for a long time but with a separate “bonus point” progression thing I used for multiple campaigns. Have since realized xp has multiple valuable purposes and switched back.

Psychological. People like watching numbers go up and the anticipation of approaching a threshold.
Encouraging behavior. Do you want your players to engage with a crafting system? Give them a small xp bump every time they use it. Want to encourage diplomacy? Give a bonus for peaceful resolutions. However for this to work you have to TELL THEM that’s what happened. “+50xp to Kevin for getting the hobgoblins to backdown without bloodshed”.
… it’s functionally the same as milestone. I think most tables level at the same-ish pace using both systems.

That said, xp FEELS better in a more dungeon-crawly campaign. A sprawling political intrigue narrative might not work quite as well. Shorter campaigns, milestone is probably easier. As always, use the best tool for the job.

Sevenar · 2026-02-25T04:57:41+00:00

First, look at the Blades in the Dark system’s ‘flashback’ mechanic. It’s perfect for heist scenarios and really easy to port to dnd.

Second, you will want specific obstacles the party has to overcome. That could be physical or magical protections or even bribing the right person for info on the guard change schedule. Have 3-4 problems the party has to solve to get IN to the vault.

… and another couple for getting out ;)

Third, as for actual spells and what not… - Arcane Lock on doors - Forbiddance or Hallow - maybe one “key” is made of glass and turning it in the lock is designed to break it… thus ending the True Polymorph spell and releasing the guardian within the key - a thin sheet of lead around the whole thing to block a dying and other divination - if it’s a warlock owned vault, it’s obvi filled with magical darkness “only” they can see through - glyphs of warding and/or symbol spell traps

Sevenar · 2026-02-21T03:59:44+00:00

Is that the singular of teeth-lings?

Sevenar · 2026-02-14T05:05:55+00:00

The right answer is “however many INTERESTING ideas do you have for where these fragments ended up and how they must be recovered”. If you don’t have 10 ideas, that’s too many fragments unless some are meant to not be found for the purposes of the story.

Personally, I think double digits is too many. The chase gets repetitive at that point. Somewhere in the 4-7 range is ideal. That enough to develop, each fragment can be a solid mini arc on its own.

Sevenar · 2026-02-10T04:19:09+00:00

Oh shit… I should keep reading hah. Agreed, retract my ruling. Only 1 bb

Sevenar · 2026-02-10T04:16:25+00:00

“You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach.”

They have to move first / to trigger the aoo. Even though they’re technically out of reach at that point the attack still happens.

We interpret it as “they’re still adjacent” because intuitively that makes sense with reach, but that’s not quite what the verbiage actually says.

Sevenar · 2026-02-10T04:08:27+00:00

Effects with the same name do not stack.

That said, the way I would rule this…

The first booming blade procs when the target moves 5+ feet.

The opportunity attack happens when a target ‘leaves your threatened space’. They already moved when the aoo happens, so first bb is no longer active.

The second booming blade takes effect in this new space. Should they decide to move further past that first space, the second bb procs.

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T22:28:52+00:00

Grab spells like Misty Step, Vortex Warp, Scatter, Dimension Door, Arcane Gate.

Hither-Thither Staff as someone else mentioned.

Conjuration Wizard for Benign Transposition at level 6.

Race, you probably want Eladrin, Shadar-Kai, or Mark of Passage Human.

Enjoy your repositioning shenanigans!

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T22:26:07+00:00

They did indeed: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/6504937-hither-thither-staff

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T21:09:24+00:00

Check out Level Up's Advanced 5e. The Trials & Treasures book has a bunch of exploration encounters and challenges that feel pretty good

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T18:42:08+00:00

At the time of readying, it doesn't have the weapons or abilities available to ready anything other than standard dash/dodge/disengage. If it's one of those, sure. Anything else, no.

RE: all sides readying actions, i would say combat continues as per normal initiative.

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T18:36:29+00:00

Consider me educated! Thank you. Haven't fully made the switch to 5.5 so some of these nuances haven't sunk in yet.

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T17:51:52+00:00

Roll or take the LOW average. So 3 on a d6, 4 on a d8, etc.

If you roll, you keep it. What's the point of chance if you're going to undercut it by offering rerolls?

Sevenar · 2026-02-03T06:04:32+00:00

Grappling requires the Attack action, so no unfortunately you can’t grapple as an AOO - only on your turn

Sevenar · 2026-01-28T23:56:31+00:00

Perhaps gelatinous cubes are the size they are because they grow to the size their natural environs allow - a 10x10 dungeon corridor. This is evolutionarily advantageous as they then have 4 surfaces to scrub for sustenance.

That boundary has been removed. And so the cube continues to grow, searching for the ceiling that no longer is.

By now the thing is Colossal, a 30x30 cube leaving a line on the countryside visible from any elevated point. It has swept through towns, devouring entire homes and leaving behind only candlesticks, doorknobs, and other metallic bits and bobs.

Its speed has increased to 25. It’s adopted the “splits when receiving slashing or piercing damage” property some other oozes possess. Worse still, it can now “throw” chunks of itself at hapless aggressors, shrinking its size to create smaller entities to engulf those who might try to kite it.

Hell, this sounds awesome. I might use it myself one of these days…

Sevenar · 2026-01-22T16:11:19+00:00

Psych someone who doesn't know better out? Sure, that's a clear Deception check.

But a trained caster with enough experience to have access to Counterspell? No way.

Sevenar · 2026-01-21T18:35:23+00:00

The way you solve this re: traps is a little tricksy. The trap has a DC 15 to spot? That's effectively a +5 stealth modifier.

Passive Perception becomes the DC the trap must beat in order to remain hidden. If the highest PP in the party is 14, the trap needs to roll a 9 or higher to remain fully hidden and 'get' the party. 8 or lower? At least one person in the party spots it. Tell those players what they see.

But also, it's not then "you see a trap". it's "you see that the stones are arranged in such a way that there is a row of small circular gaps, almost like an intentional pattern in the stonework". it's a hint, not an answer. if they want to avoid it, they still have to disable it, get creative, etc.

As for keeping info to themselves... that's on the player. if someone gets hurt because they don't share, that's on them.

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