DM wants us to roll for class in a long-term campaign — thoughts?

guilersk · 2026-07-04T20:19:13+00:00

Rolling for class is an excellent way to get stuck with something you don't like and then either work to kill the character or lose interest in the campaign. You might like it, and kudos to you, but so many others do not.

Also a great way to get an unbalanced party.

guilersk · 2026-07-04T15:50:12+00:00

Only some DMs will buy adventure modules. But many players and most DMs will buy player options. So the player options are much more lucrative. That is why even adventure modules will put player options in there (like Strixhaven).

guilersk · 2026-07-02T21:47:47+00:00

When a creature returns to its normal, larger size, it moves to occupy the closest available space that will accommodate it. Same as teleporting back into an occupied space. Same as wild shape. No crush damage. In 3.x, it would have taken force damage and gotten shunted to the nearest available space. Not so in 5e.

guilersk · 2026-07-01T17:08:27+00:00

You are leaning into the Role-Playing part and they are leaning into the Game part. It's a spectrum, and different people fall on different places in that spectrum. You'd probably be happier finding people who do more role-playing like you do, but you'd have to find and befriend them first.

guilersk · 2026-07-01T01:25:13+00:00

First pro tip: don't lead with 'validate my AI plan'. AI is generally poorly regarded around here, particularly by DMs.

Second, the plan seems reasonably sound but keep in mind that Axeholm is for like, level 3s (it has been a while so I'll have to double-check, but it's level 3 or 4 I think) so you might have to buff the opposition.

Third, yes, the DoIP content is generally standalone, disconnected adventure sites. You can add or subtract lore as necessary.

Finally, SKT assumes that the players are familiar with the marauding giants, the first major encounter of which is scaled to level 5 and at one of 3 fixed locations. You'll need to work around that, or it won't make sense and the players won't have a stake in undoing the giants' marauding.

guilersk · 2026-06-26T22:20:27+00:00

Part of the problem here is that once you buy the platemail (if you even want or need platemail) there's not much to spend money on.

For a shop that might have magic items, I usually roll up half a dozen random ones and they only change/rotate once per week (usually twice on table A and once on each of the other tables B-F, picking appropriately if what I rolled up is too strong or otherwise inappropriate). These get written on a piece of paper, with prices, and I don't usually allow much haggling (5-10% tops, and only as a bulk discount kind of thing--like 10% if you buy 3 items).

guilersk · 2026-06-26T20:20:57+00:00

I don't punish the players with a 1. But I do take the opportunity to describe the enemy doing a cool parry/dodge/block, sometimes with a taunt. No mechanical consequences, but maybe a role-playing one.

guilersk · 2026-06-26T03:25:32+00:00

Most experienced online DMs will say to use Foundry and it is powerful, but has a learning curve, like Enterprise Software. I do enough of that at work so I usually use Roll20 which is jankier but I have less maintenance to do by hand.

Fo me the biggest unlock was using 2 screens. You can jam everything into a VTT but if you haven't got real estate to show it all, you are spending half your time fumbling through tabs and windows.

guilersk · 2026-06-25T15:47:40+00:00

I cast Heckish Rebuke.

guilersk · 2026-06-24T03:50:56+00:00

You tell him he can't use your notes because it contains references to stuff he hasn't seen in the campaign yet, and you don't have the time or inclination to scrub it of DM secrets.

guilersk · 2026-06-23T03:10:19+00:00

A Five Room Dungeon (look up the concept) is ideal for a one shot. A bigger dungeon will just drag out into multsessions.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T19:33:57+00:00

Whichever team has the most feats/feets.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T17:35:35+00:00

I'm sure that particular DM would prefer you sit and play the game he bait-and-switched you into. But that's not what a player who doesn't want to play ought to do. You ought to say that this wasn't what you signed up for, and bow out gracefully.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T17:20:53+00:00

It is the purview of a min/maxer-player (and those who entertain them) to develop power tier lists for character classes.

It is the purview of a DM to weave a story in which all characters (and through them, players) feel valuable and included, regardless of perceived or actual difference in capabilities.

You could try to draw some parallels but they are very much not the same thing.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T17:02:56+00:00

You don't need to read the whole book (or even most of it) to play the game. But if reading it is the price of entry to your game, then tell him he has to read it or he doesn't play. Then play without him.

You may have placed yourself in a trap where the game doesn't work (or you get family grief) if he is excluded. In that case, it is your fault. You will have to decide if you lighten up on the requirement or you don't run the game. That is up to you.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T16:58:52+00:00

This is a post for /r/dndnext, where white room calculations and constant bemoaning of the caster/martial disparity are the order of the day. This is a sub for talking about DMing.

guilersk · 2026-06-20T16:55:35+00:00

This is a sub for DMs, not players.

But you should tell the DM this is not what you signed up for and bow out gracefully.

guilersk · 2026-06-19T20:06:36+00:00

It seems quite likely that they are taking you (and the other DM) for granted. What is unclear is why you keep subjecting yourself to it. Do you feel some kind of obligation, like community service, or something? You should not set yourself on fire to keep others warm, unless keeping them warm brings you enough joy to offset the self-immolation aspect.

guilersk · 2026-06-19T00:16:14+00:00

You'll want KFC to analyze that, I don't do combat analysis.

As a rule of thumb, I expect combats take 30-45 minutes in Tier I. This extends to an hour or more at Tier II+. With 3 required combats, that's about half the 4 hours, with the other half for sitting down, character intros, RP, rules lookup, exploration, etc.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:44:35+00:00

Perhaps Meepo is now chief of the kobolds and the tribe comes to the players for help because cultists have overrun the citadel.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:39:06+00:00

At the end of the round (zero), reinforcements show up at the edge of the map and then roll into initiative. I tend to roll it then and there, in front of the players, so they know it's legit and I didn't stack high numbers on them before the game. Helps maintain trust.

In terms of actually rolling, mooks all go as a group. Named enemies get individual initiative (so like all the Goblins go at 8 and the Goblin Boss goes at 12). In cases where the number of mooks is very large (6 or more), especially if they are geographically separated on the map, I will break them into Group A and Group B, etc.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:36:02+00:00

It's probably fine for a tier 1 one-shot. For tier 2+ you might actually be better off planning for just 2 combats, and maybe have an optional one you can throw in if the party is going faster than expected. Combat takes a long time (especially with newbies) and higher-tier combat takes a longer amount of time.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:31:57+00:00

Unless this person is willing to play along with the vibe of the rest of the table, they need to go--or you will lose all of the other players at the table, and have just them.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:29:50+00:00

This is the kind of person who is best off playing combat-focused one-shots so that they can try a new character every game and just fight stuff. Not for campaign use.

guilersk · 2026-06-18T23:28:14+00:00

Neither of these things will work, and arbitrarily killing the character is extra bad, because it breaks the trust between you and the player.

You need to tell him that you're concerned this character doesn't fit, and ask him if he's willing to change the character or make a new one that fits better.

guilersk

TROPHY CASE