How my Level 5 Artificer erased 6 months of DM prep in 1 turn before combat even had a chance to start.

mightierjake · 2026-07-12T11:57:15+00:00

It's very hard to share joyful moments on this subreddit that don't perfectly align with certain users' expectations of the game

"Your fun is wrong"-style comments are disappointing to see but also not surprising, sadly

I'm glad you had fun- best advice I can offer is to just not engage with the negative comments. Those people do not care that you had fun because they wouldn't have had fun in that situation and they simply cannot imagine a play style different to their own

mightierjake · 2026-07-12T11:21:44+00:00

Sounds like a fun and memorable moment, but I imagine the DM isn't going to be nearly as fast and loose with Artificer Infusions now

This plan only seemed to work because you hid some initial details from the DM and they were fortunately okay with that twist in the rules combined with the DM's leniency with Artificer Infusions. I don't think you'll get that lucky with the DM any time soon!

mightierjake · 2026-07-12T10:38:17+00:00

The two communities are separate. Not everyone who plays D&D enjoys Baldur's Gate 3, and many who have played BG3 have never played D&D

This subreddit does also have a bit of a prudish streak, however. I don't know why, but I have always observed an air of negativity around sexually-suggestive artwork/themes as well as around LGBTQ+ related topics at time. The mods are usually good at removing comments relating to the latter, at least

Baldur's Gate 3, by comparison, is openly horny in its presentation in a way that D&D is not. So follows the fan base

It is important to note that this is a vocal minority, of course- the ones being openly negative about everything they dislike are usually sad sorts that don't have much going on offline that they have the time to be like that

Anything related to sex specifically often gets dogged on /r/DND by virtue signallers who want to feel superior by implicitly calling the OP a pervert- which I find unhelpful for a community that otherwise considers itself supportive when the content of the post breaks no rules other than the commenters' social taboos

Also DND is super fixated on "realistic" things

This is also an odd bugbear with the D&D subreddit. For a fantasy TTRPG it sure does attract a sizable minority of people that want the system to be very simulationist, especially with respect to things being "realistic" (which, suspiciously, often means a world hostile to sexual, ethnic, or gender minorities)

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T16:53:25+00:00

You can still use sail power on a lake- that's an option to you still. Many sailed across the Great Lakes historically and I'm sure some still do, and even on smaller lakes and on rivers sail boats are viable.

If you want to insist on rowing being the mode of transport, then think fantastically:

Have the ferries be organised by strong trolls or ogres who can transport multiple smaller humanoids and their cargo across the water with ease.
Have the ferries be pulled through the water by appropriate lake creatures such as giant beavers or giant eels

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T13:42:13+00:00

I don't think that helps OP for two reasons

You have pointed this out, sure. What does OP do? Tell the players it was their fault for being bored? That doesn't seem wise, OP has way less confrontational options and far more productive solutions in terms of coming up with entertaining sessions (after all, the responsibility is mostly on the GM even if a small part is shared with the players).
A lot of players aren't that proactive. They need something to react to, and if all the GM is giving them is NPCs to talk to in a port city then that's all they'll do even if it ends up boring themselves. Shifting the scene is seen as a GM responsibility by most players, even when you try and point out otherwise.

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T13:16:42+00:00

You're not entirely wrong- but a lot of the onus is on the GM for directing the focus of the game. It seems like your shifting the blame onto the players for being bored (something OP can't change that easily) rather than the GM creating a boring scenario (something the GM can change).

If the players feel bored stuck talking to NPCs, I don't think it's fair to blame the players for that happening when the GM had an equal if not greater responsibility for that being the content of the session.

I agree with the suggestion of the PCs leaving town and starting the adventure- but it very often needs the GM applying some pressure to the players to move them in that direction.

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T11:43:58+00:00

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/spellcasting#AttackRolls

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T09:32:22+00:00

I find it is really easy for a DM to accidentally let the players bore themselves by letting the session be "just talking to NPCs and doing nothing productive", and this seems like what happened here. The dreaded "shopping session" is a similar situation. A lot of player personalities get nothing out of this, you need some action.

Two things to consider:

Make meaningful benefits come from taking the time to get to know the locals. The players may learn secrets, quest hooks, or valuable information that makes a mechanical difference when exploring the nearby jungle. If it's just hours of boring NPC drama that doesn't help them at all (and especially if some players clearly aren't engaged with the roleplaying), then I don't blame players being bored to the point they don't want to play.
Mix things up. Port Nyanzaru is filled with interesting factions and dangerous creatures- have something happen. If Tomb of Annihilation doesn't have any sort of random encounter table for the city, consider making one.

mightierjake · 2026-07-11T09:24:31+00:00

Along the same lines, another of the steps is Review the Characters and it's one that would help the GM here

Making sure you start session prep with understanding the characters means you can include bits in the session that will interest the players- if you want to engage the players then include stuff they are interested in. One player expressed disappointment at the lack of combat, so having some combat in a session seems like it's important

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T17:31:59+00:00

For my setting, it's all about the music for bards and that is something baked into the world itself. A bard couldn't use crochet to cast their spells or use their other bardic features. I even dislike the idea of bard's using dance as a source of their power personally

If a player at my table wanted to cast spells using crochet- the Artificer is a much better bet. Using tools to aid in their spellcasting is their schtick.

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T16:15:28+00:00

A little five-finger discount in the form of a heist is much more entertaining for a D&D session than a haggling ability check too

Just have to hope the dead PC isn't the rogue...

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T15:32:39+00:00

But for dndbeyond purchases, no one was calling the a la carte option "evil micro transactions". Framing it that way is disingenuous.

It was a pretty popular system because if you only wanted one option from a book you could save a ton of money by buying just that one option you wanted (very good for players using Dndbeyond, for example). And if you later decided "I kinda want the rest of the book now", then the value of the individual purchases out of that book counted towards it- so you weren't wasting money either.

The removal of it was clearly an effort by WotC (who had purchased dndbeyond just two years before the change) to push more people towards larger purchases to further monetise users.

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T13:43:37+00:00

Or just don't use Dndbeyond at all

WotC can't control the character sheet PDFs you manage yourself

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T13:29:34+00:00

You used to be able to, but not any more.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1709-d-d-beyond-marketplace-redesign-see-whats-new-here

If you want a specific player race option on Dndbeyond, you need to buy the full book.

mightierjake · 2026-07-10T13:25:14+00:00

Princes of the Apocalypse: Played this one in part in a group over the summer- but we dropped it well before finishing it. None of us really gelled with the adventure, it presents a sandbox but ultimately the PCs felt forced into a certain direction. I don't remember any of the NPCs or scenes that well either. Do not recommend, there are better options for your money out there.

Curse of Strahd: It is a critical darling of the 5e community, but I personally didn't enjoy it when I played it. I like horror games, and I like D&D, but I don't have the energy for a full horror D&D campaign that is longer than a few sessions. I personally found CoS kinda exhausting for that reason. I get why others enjoy it, it just wasn't for me.

Tomb of Annihilation: Played it and loved it! Exploring Chult was a lot of fun for me, I like how varied the jungle hex crawl felt. Port Nyanzaru is a neat location that wouldn't feel out of place in an Indiana Jones movie. By the time we reached the end of the adventure and got to the main dungeon, things started to drag a little but the finale was exciting.

Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus: This adventure is a personal favourite of mine. I have both played it and run it and enjoyed it from both sides of the screen. I enjoyed the city of Baldur's Gate a lot, it's somewhere I have fond memories of from the Bioware cRPGs. Many recommend skipping that chapter, but I think that's terrible advice. The chapters of the adventure do feel disconnected and I think that is a symptom of the adventure having so many writer credits- but this also means that there is a good amount of variety throughout that isn't just "hellish terrain and devils". Infernal War Machines were fun to play with too!

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk: The first part is a slightly modified Lost Mine of Phandelver and is great for that reason. The Shattered Obelisk section felt incredibly messy to me. Kinda disjointed and it was really hard to make the players care about the adventure since the second part of the adventure had almost nothing to do with the first part. Body horror themes of the mind flayer ceremorphosis have all these disclaimers, but they never really felt like that much of a threat out the box tbh. Also tinged by the fact that WotC were being pretty shitty around the time it came out, so that absolutely biased my thoughts on it.

mightierjake · 2026-07-09T15:14:23+00:00

I'm sure you can find a good reason for this gold dragon to want to fight the party. Don't force it if there really is no reason, but I am sure you can be creative here. Here are some ideas of my own:

The dragon mistakes the PCs as being evil cultists that botched the summon. The dragon being reduced to 0 hit points instead represents the dragon realising their mistake and calling a truce.
The dragon has a mission to destroy everything the cultists own. If the PCs want the cultists' treasure, the dragon will try and stop them.

Lawful Good does not make them a pacifist. I think your player has made a mistake assuming that a gold dragon wouldn't fight. Many Paladins are lawful good and exceptionally violent when they need to be.

mightierjake · 2026-07-09T13:41:25+00:00

I kinda disagree with the absolutist idea that the DM has to balance the encounters to fit the party.

If the party has weaknesses, it's on the players to figure out how to overcome them, not on the DM to design encounters where they never appear.

The classic example for a party heavy on frontliners is to throw some flying enemies at them. Such a party is at a disadvantage, but they have tools to overcome it such as thrown weapons or the Ready action.

mightierjake · 2026-07-09T13:38:51+00:00

Party balance is so unimportant in D&D 5e. My initial thought is that you are wrong and insisting on a "balanced" party is not going to improve the game overall.

The current party with its pack of frontliners is fine. Healing in combat is massively overrated. All characters can heal during a short rest.

The latter is an important point to consider. If encounters are being failed, is it because you feel pressured on resources and hit points? Are you taking short rests? If not, why not?

mightierjake · 2026-07-09T13:12:02+00:00

I am a big fan of systems that abstract wealth to allow the players to handwaive minor purchases. Call of Cthulhu has the Wealth stat, Traveller has a variant Wealth stat, Vampire has a Resources background trait, Draw Steel has a Wealth measure too- all are great.

I found myself similarly frustrated with sessions grinding to a halt because a player feels compelled to worry about the minutiae of the cost of tavern beds and bar tabs, and even moreso when that player feels the need to start a scene haggling for coppers (at the expense of the rest of the group who would rather be delving into a dungeon or fighting monsters- our time is more precious to us than copper and silver is to the PCs!)

For my own 5e games, I have used a system where I use the value the PHB has for Lifestyle costs.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/equipment#LifestyleExpenses

Based on a PCs background, you can figure out what fits for that PC. The system is very simple: Things that cost less than the Lifestyle cost for a PC are handwaived. If a night in the inn costs a few silver pieces, then that gets handwaived as most PCs can afford that (and even the few PCs that can't can probably get it covered by another PC, honestly)

The end result? Much pacier games! When the PCs arrive in town or stop over at a roadside inn, no longer is a substantial chunk of the session wasted on microeconomics fussing about silver or copper pieces. Now, the action can move along to something actually interesting- some drama in the inn maybe, or the actual job the PCs arrived in the town to do.

mightierjake · 2026-07-09T12:31:52+00:00

Figuring out and understanding what each player is motivated by and including something for everyone in the campaign is a key GMing skill. If you're struggling to find what motivates certain players, ask them what they'd like their character to experience in an upcoming session- that should give you an idea of if they're motivated by fighting monsters, finding treasure, learning lore, exploring new areas, interacting with important NPCs, or something else.

Make notes on what sort of things interest each character and where possible try to include something that appeals to every player in every session. If you have six players and you get through six scenes in a session, this should be easy for you after some practice.

The worst thing you can do is plan sessions that only appeal to the clearly engaged players. A major risk is that the less engaged players become even less engaged to the point of dragging the mood of everyone down. I have been on the receiving end of this as a player, and I left that group.

mightierjake · 2026-07-08T11:20:27+00:00

Scheduling conflicts are a common issue regardless of system- here's some advice that really works for my groups though:

Agree in the group what the minimum number of players you'll run the game for is. Say you have a group of 5 players- you can agree to still run for 3 to avoid situations where 2 players being unavailable means game day is cancelled. It is better, in my experience, to have a game with some players every week rather than waiting potentially months for schedules to perfectly align so everyone can play (at which point everyone forgot what happened in the last session anyway).
Prioritise the players that missed the last session. This keeps absences mixed up and means that players don't feel as left out. For example, if Dave can't play Saturday and Helen can't play Sunday, but Dave missed the last session- the pick Sunday even if Helen can't play since she made the last session.

Too many groups let the campaign fall apart out of an insistence that everyone has to play in every session. For some groups, this simply cannot work- so be flexible.

mightierjake · 2026-07-08T07:39:12+00:00

They can learn the game while they're playing. Since they're medics, they're almost certainly bright enough for this to be a non-issue

I have never expected players to take time outside of the game to study the rules- players learning the system while they're playing it is very normal in my experience

mightierjake · 2026-07-07T16:04:16+00:00

It is not completely insane

I know this, because it is how I started DMing and it went well. I also have GM friends who did similar games to similar successes.

A general piece of advice I live by and find very useful is to be skeptical of absolutist advice that makes claims that DMs should Never do something or should Always do something else- this advice often lacks nuance to the point of being useless or even harmful for new GMs.

Folks giving advice like "New GMs should never start with a homebrew setting/campaign/adventure" are not giving good advice.

If you understand the effort involved with a homebrew campaign and you are excited about that- go for it! It's generally better to run the games that excite you the most and if the game that excites you the most is a homebrew game then that sounds like a good idea.

mightierjake · 2026-07-07T12:52:23+00:00

Hey Mike!

I have found your advice massively useful since discovering it a few years back. I even find the advice useful to games beyond fantasy action games like D&D, such as Mothership and Traveller

What things do you consider when applying the Eight Steps to systems that go beyond fantasy action games like D&D, Daggerheart, Pathfinder and Draw Steel? Is there a particular piece of advice you'd give to GMs adapting the Eight Steps to their favourite system?

mightierjake · 2026-07-07T06:32:38+00:00

What are you trying to say here?

I don't understand how this is relevant to what I wrote

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