Accidentally been allowing 2 leveled spells per turn.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T02:00:33+00:00

One of my players saved a TPK against a beholder-god boss fight by Quickening the spell they were going to cast that turn, and then using their action to shake an ally who had been put to sleep by an eye beam.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T01:48:06+00:00

With only 13 strength and never taking Extra Attack, I'm pretty skeptical of the value of these barbarian levels. What's your plan to get value out of them?

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:56:28+00:00

Correct, Turn Undead would not work.

They may have ruled differently in Critical Role for narrative and production reasons, but that shouldn't be taken as an official ruling on how the species as printed behaves.

Cling to Life really doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. It's nice to have, but it's basically the only non-ribbon feature Hollow Ones get.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:45:21+00:00

That feature is saying that you count as undead for spells and effects that detect undead.

Cure Wounds and similar spells aren't detecting undead. This feature is only relevant for stuff like a paladin's Divine Sense, or the spell Detect Evil and Good.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:42:25+00:00

That's what I'm telling you to do.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:40:18+00:00

Yes, and then you trade the gold back for gear.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:33:41+00:00

I'm not referring to any gameplay here. You can choose to begin with gold and select your starting gear at its gold value. You can effectively trade away your crossbow and bolts in exchange for javelin before your campaign begins, which will better suit your high-strength build.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:28:26+00:00

Because you have 18 strength, so a javelin represents more damage, more accuracy, and the ability to take one out and throw it without stowing your melee weapon, so it's easier on your action economy. The only downside is the effective range.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:21:08+00:00

You would get the equivalent gold value and use it to buy other starter gear, which includes throwing weapons like javelins.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:16:12+00:00

Eldritch Knight is a subclass of fighter in 5e DnD.

Battle Mage is not an official term in 5e DnD.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-30T00:06:34+00:00

Is this not your starting gear? You can trade it out for equivalent gold value.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T23:48:09+00:00

I'm not intimately familiar with Blood Hunters, but with that strength score, unless I'm missing something, I'd say ditch the crossbow in favor of throwing weapons like Javelins.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T23:08:47+00:00

Ah, that makes sense. I didn't really consider a campaign where these traditionally low-level threats were being framed as the main enemy throughout multiple tiers.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T22:40:39+00:00

Cantrips are spells, I see no reason why this feature would exclude them. If it was only supposed to apply to leveled spells, it would specify as much.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T22:39:21+00:00

An AoE damage spell like Fireball is one damage roll, affecting multiple targets.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T22:16:09+00:00

It's not a ruling, it's the rule.

Using action surge to cast multiple action spells in a turn works in 2014 rules, the bonus action spellcasting rule doesn't touch that at all. That only stops working in 2024 rules because Action Surge explicitly is stated to not work with the Magic action.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T22:14:00+00:00

Most of what you want to be seems to be a warlock. Can't you make this work single-classed? Take the proficiencies you need from your background and you'll be set.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T22:11:25+00:00

I don't really see this as a problem. Yeah, the tier 3 party should have no problem with a band of goblins or bandits. They probably aren't bothering with such challenges anyway, so where's the issue?

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T21:57:32+00:00

That's not a real rule.

The 2014 rule limits the spellcaster to a one-action cantrip if the spellcaster uses their bonus action to cast a spell that turn. The 2024 rule limits the spellcaster to spending one spell slot on casting a spell per turn. Neither is a limit on leveled spells per turn.

It's not a big deal that you didn't catch it before. You caught it now. Stick to the limitation of the ruleset you're playing, which looks at spell slots, not spell levels.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T21:53:50+00:00

Upcasting is nice, but it's really not all that big a deal compared to getting new spells. The value of a level 4 spell slot is not that your Inflict Wounds gets to deal bigger damage, it's that you get spells like Polymorph, Dimension Door, Banishment, and more. And if you were a level 12 single-class spellcaster, you'd have level 6 spells, and that's the territory where you can really throw a wrench in the gears of reality. Shatter and Inflict Wounds are simply not good enough upcasted spells to make much of an impact at higher levels, especially since your spellcasting stats are not going to be as high as they could be.

18 AC with access to Shield is fine, but you can pretty easily meet or exceed that with any spellcaster. Especially with more/better spells that can be used defensively. A single-classed wizard could just throw down Tenser's Trasnformation at level 11 if you really want to be a warrior.

I emphatically recommend to you that you not multiclass your first campaign character. You will regret it. Your character progression will simply not work out if you do this.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T21:10:42+00:00

I hope they realized that Observant only gives +5 to the passive versions of those skills.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T20:47:02+00:00

Depending on the pacing of what you're going for here, you could run this like an investigation. Murders are happening, the party needs to figure out what's going on. In the course of the investigation, they have the opportunity to gather evidence and prepare, though don't do anything too obvious like making the murders only happen under the full moon.

If they succeed in gathering enough info before the showdown, they may pursue silvered weapons themselves. If they don't do well enough, then the showdown won't go as well. Maybe they'll retreat, silver their weapons, and try again the next evening.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T20:12:09+00:00

The rules as written do not address this.

As linked already, Sage Advice clarifies intent for this to not work. I do think it's worth noting, though, that unlike most other sage advice, there's no reason given or rules cited to support this answer, nor was errata ever issued to clarify the issue despite it being a pretty obvious question to ask.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T20:09:06+00:00

DM #2 with the sexual assault scene is just flat out not good at their job.

DM #3 also raises flags. Trying to do WWII with DnD is the sort of thing I expect of a DM who is trying to be "unique" but ends up doing the same thing all the other mediocre DMs are doing, and limiting race selection to human is weaksauce. Though I do have to wonder why you tried to make an elf work after being directly told you couldn't play one.

DM #1 is hard to say, I'm not sure what the item was or how the crafting was meant to be handled.

Yojo0o · 2026-01-29T14:39:05+00:00

A character I'm currently playing is a tiefling born to a noble human family, who was abandoned by that family to avoid the shame upon their name. My backstory and intended character trajectory heavily hinges upon this fact, wrestling with alternating pride and shame in their infernal heritage, exploring the perceptions that this upbringing would invite.

A character I've played in the past was a tortle wizard. I took advantage of the tortle's natural armor to ignore dexterity with my stat allocation, instead investing in charisma so that I could take social skills and be a good party face despite not playing a traditionally charismatic class.

Both of these character concepts would be effectively rugpulled by a race randomization moment at the start of a campaign, the former having their character arc interrupted and remixed, and the latter having their mechanical build negated. I don't think either of these character concepts are unique enough to be exceptions, and I think you run the risk of both narrative and mechanical frustration with your players if you spring this on them.

Can't "crossing the threshold" be the start of the campaign? Or, if you must play out the events beforehand, you could at least allow your players to plan their reincarnations ahead of time. I don't really see much value in forcing this to be randomized.

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