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New monster: Orange Slime. It sounds like a gibbering human, and can cast Confusion once per day. If in trying to break free a victim fails its Wisdom/Will save two times, they behave as if they've had Feeblemind cast on them. It is incredibly toxic, and its touch does 1d10 poison damage, and those touched must make a con/fortitude save or be Poisoned for a day. It is also corrosive, dissolving wood, metal, and democracy, or for that matter any non-totalitarian government. It is just sapient enough to be petty and vengeful, its defining character traits.

Added by a friend: Weaknesses, Women with Cats, kindly Governors, and fmr state attorney generals.

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What, really? Some of the Sidhe are clearly not human, even if they have a partly human shape, and there are similar legends all over the world. Why would anyone argue that?

I mean, I know why, but the brain rot gets on everything, doesn't it?

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On a discussion about how dragons in D&D are "born evil":

"Some people are born with psychosis, born evil, It's an uncomfortable truth we have to confront."

First, that is not the actual definition of psychosis, different people present differently, and even if it was, the statement is so off base.

I swear, shows like CSI and Criminal Minds, along with a number of real crime shows, have done so much damage. No, they weren't born evil. They were born at most with a genetic predisposition to certain personality traits. Maybe an inability to empathize, maybe not being able to see the point of a moral structure. Their experiences can and have cause(d) different outcomes. It is in no way as straightforward as, "Your five-year-old scores highly on our psychosis scale therefore it is inevitable that he is a murderer and there's no cure or treatment for him just being evil."

I hate that this narrative is still going. Genetics is a blueprint. People can and do modify what is built from their genes. "Low empathy"people have chosen to be good people.

I'm hardly a professional, so take with a grain of salt. But actions are what make one evil, not a genetic quirk, and seriously, a baby can't act.

But let me just say, I am unlikely to ever run a game where they may as well kill a baby anything because there's no hope of them being anything but evil as adults.

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You’re a mimic. You were disguised as a chair in a dungeon when an adventurer decided to take you as loot. You’ve actually enjoyed your life ever since as furniture in a jolly tavern. So when some ruffians try to rob the now-elderly adventurer’s business, you finally reveal yourself.

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Feuer-480 from this week's Fascist Punching game. He is a mechanical suit over a random, very loyal Nazi vehicle expert. The person inside is usually expected to not make it back. Has a powerful flamethrower, jet pack, and amazing strength and durability.

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This is a meme I will never be able to understand:

Why do adventurers always have tragic backstories? Because happy, well-adjusted people don't go dragon hunting.

This is simply nonsense. The tragic backstory is a perfectly good way to motivate a character, it's true, but the idea that a happy person would never fight to protect their friends and loved ones is just a great way to end up with a tragic backstory.

That may not fit all games, if you're just adventuring for fame and glory, but there are far more motivations than just those.

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There's this old D&D sketch thing where the dialog goes something like: DM: Beyond the door lies darkness. Player: I shoot the darkness with my bow!

So, I wrote a snippet of a song.

Hello, Darkness, my old friend, Please roll initiative again. I'll roll to hit you with my long bow, And then for damage from the arrow. And the DM has a look that is quite strained. Hurts my brain. And they all sit silent.

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Spirit of the Law by @fleeting-sanity, with thanks.

Basilah Reeves is a former county sheriff, forced out when she refused to enforce an unjust legal system. She took her skills and became a private investigator, trying to protect her community from all who preyed on it, with or without a badge.

Then, the Star came, imbuing her with strange mystical powers. And a wardrobe upgrade. More than ever, she now enforces the Spirit of the Law, and never its letter.

Equipment: Fiery horse with the speed of light, badge that activates the transformation (shades of the Galaxy Rangers), two six shooters that can stun or injure (usually stun), longcoat of flames that responds a bit to mental commands even if only to Look Cool.

Basic Spirit of Vengeance/Ghost Rider style character, with a venue chosen by the players.

I... am the Law.

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Here is a free pdf of the players handbook

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

For all your dnd purposes

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Day 2

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With the Barbie movie coming out, why not a cross-over?  I wonder whether I might write a One-Shot adventure…

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Secret Book Of The Arts

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Egwene al'Vere, the Innkeeper's daughter, novice of the White Tower

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Look, if I say, "Let me make sure, you're going to leave without examining The Thing?" don't blame me when it turns out The Thing is what you need later.

How much of a hint is necessary?

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"I don't want to use necromancy."

Just, a few things. Raise Dead is actually pretty much the perfect "get out of death" card. It can only go back a week, the body has to be intact enough that the person won't die again upon returning. There is no revolving door of death, so a player that is concerned about such things can at least worry less.

And all such spells require consent, unlike Speak With or Animate Dead. The soul has to be willing to come back. It's mostly necromancy because it deals with souls and the dead, but without any of the negative connotations of doing so. Not. A. Single. One. It gives you life, not a semblance of it, and it only does so with your permission, and you are free to do as you like from then on.

Necromancy is a category of spells, neither better nor worse than any other on the Good/Evil chart. It is true that most such spells are on the evil side, but all Healing is going to be Necromancy in the next iteration of the rules, as I understand it. So Cleric of Life that won't do necromantic spells is shit out of luck.

If you're not going to use it on an NPC ally, one that died protecting children and has important information for you, then you'd damn well think about that before raising a PC. In fact, I really think that the gods, seeing their gift spurned, might simply not give you the spell any longer.

You're playing a cleric, and you refuse to cast Raise Dead when you're of a level to? Because "that's what my character would do"? Play a different class.

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I've gotten to the point where I have to shout into the void where my players won't see it.

I keep putting answers, or at least hints, directly in their path. They keep turning away from them.

The Mechadryad, if she had been healed of the damage done to her, could have provided answers. They killed her. Which not only lost what they could have learned, but outright made things worse.

One of the leadership of the elemental forces of the Pact could have, if captured, been coerced into giving them something. Having planned to capture her, that was the point of going there, and having had it demonstrated to them that she would explode with terrible force if killed, they killed her. And she didn't even die, she just went home, so they lost information and didn't even weaken their enemy.

A hoard of sensory stones was captured from one of the actual conspiracy. It has answers, information about the forces aligned against them, and hints about how to solve the End of the World if acted on soon enough. They dumped them in a bag of holding to be examined when they Get Back Home.

They actually have an ally within the Conspiracy when she isn't being controlled by her evil boss. She's contacted them more than once. They have never followed up.

I must not live right.

One of them actually acquired a Wish in a Sword of Luck, said that they might wish for the Sun and the Moon to begin to move again. I said, yes, do that, the result will be positive. They laughed because they thought I was being coy.

*sigh*