No u.

I like the idea. I kind of hate when one of my characters starts to rely on a magic item. Sometimes it's fun, but if it's a heavy hitting item, I think you're right. You have some good incite.

I agree that Stealth is the hard one to flavor for Primal Knowledge. I suppose it would make sense if you were trying to hang from walls or ceilings? I think the idea is that you're stalking like a tiger on the prowl, but that still doesn't really scream Strength to me, so I don't know. I don't see any reason why Brutal Strikes wouldn't stack with the Push mastery! It's gonna be pretty fun throwing people around. On the whole, I think the Barbarian changes are awesome! Class is definitely a little better than it was. My controversial(?) stance is that I don't like the execution of Brutal Strikes. This approach of giving you something new, but only by taking away something you already had feels kind of lame to me. Why do you have to forgo one for the other? I suppose it's attempting to give you a new, interesting choice to make on your turns, but it really just feels like losing out to me. Before, I always used Reckless Attack for advantage and I had the nice (if insignificant) bonus of an extra die on crits. Now, if I want to always use Reckless Attack for advantage, level 9 is a completely dead feature. The same philosophy appears with other new features in the PHB (namely Cunning Strike for Rogues and Tactical Mind for Fighters). These may bear out to be better features overall, but I still don't like the approach. Not going to stop me from getting the books though!

See. I would actually disagree. I have been DMing a high level campaign and the party has been level 16-17 for about a year now and we will go multiple sessions and never see combat as they all just roleplay constantly. High level DnD does work but it takes more effort on the DMs part to challenge the players. But it still absolutely can work

RE2 also my favorite, but I think RE7 was the scariest

Kitty cat! His love for you will say more about your quality of character than anything :^) Comparing the 4 phases of DND to RE1-4 is the most ridiculous comparison ever, and it's so TRUUUEEEE RE1 gameplay is flipping keys over to memorize symbols and finding cryptic clues in letters. And RE1's big bad is a zombie that hit the gym too hard and has a cool anime dash. RE4 is taking on hoardes & hoardes of baddies while killing lake-sized monsters that could swallow buildings whole & massive trolls straight outta LoTR. And the big baddy is literally Godzilla like you said. The power scaling gets ridiculous Story wise it works too. RE1 is doing a lot of establishing of story, you're learning about things. And then finally at RE4, backstories related to Leon come back to try and kill him.

Yo Mother and I are listening. We are very impressed. Get rid of the cats. They are distraction anyway Remember you are an orthodox Jew Remember Sabbath. Rabbi

Yo Mother and I are listening. We are very impressed. Get rid of the cats. They are distraction anyway Remember you are an Orthodox Jew Remember the Sabbath. Rabbi

Shadow Sorcerer looks super fun and I've always wanted to play one. I think they can be thematic as hell.

I don't have a lot of practical experience with Counterspell with either version of the rules. I get why a DM would want to have a player make the decision to cast Counterspell blind, possibly having them waste it on a cantrip. That being said, if they pulled that on me as a player, the next time I cast a spell, I'd be like "I'm casting a spell". If the DM asked which one, I'd say "is he countering it?" and make him declare before I said what spell I cast. If he got stinky about it I'd say I'll write it down before he answers so that he knows I'm not changing my mind based on his answer, but I'd also demand he does the same. I don't see why a DM gets to metagame like that if he's going to explicitly deny the players that information. As for the roll-off, it reminds me of some similar 3E mechanics. I think it'd be fun to have the roll be d20 + spell level + casting mod. It takes your talent and the spell power into account, but the raw d20 roll will be bigger (on average) than the total mods. Also, I love the use of the OG MTG Counterspell art in the thumbnail.

This makes a good amount of sense. It's too bad WotC never made a simple "fighter like" caster class that didn't have a lot of decisions at build time and was easy to play. But yeah, just having a fighter and playing is probably a pretty quick to learn to play.

Anybody: I want to cast… Blue player: How about no

Thank you for the great wonderful wisdom. I always like hearing you explain the depth of things that I don’t. God bless you. Remember this is the feast of tabernacles keep all the commandments and thank you for your ability to explain it. Have a great holiday Son.

So something that people think will happen, but we won't know 100% until the Monster Manual comes out: It seems like NPC casters might not use spell slots anymore. NPC casters might be getting spells/day instead. If that turns out to be true, that means NPC casters won't actually get their countered spell slot back because they wouldn't be using spell slots. Hopefully that's actually what's happening, because that means Counterspell would actually be stronger VS NPC casters.

For the darkness issue, i think the "gentler" obscuring/defensive alternatives can be fog cloud and silent image, even pyrotechnics

I'm a long time monk player and you're spot on. Though your argument about it being mad is the same thing i say about the psi warrior

Dust Mephit maybe?

I feel your thoughts sum up exactly how I feel on it. Players are "supposed" to win most encounters, so when they use it, it feels fun for them. As you said, it feels VERY different when a DM uses it against a player. Especially if it results in a major loss. I don't have the campaign setting book with the spell and I add campaign-specific stuff into my games on a case-by-case basis. When someone asked about it, I initially said no. They pushed back, and the first thing I asked is how they'll feel when I have the NPCs use it against them. Sitting on both sides of the DM screen can be helpful sometimes.

One level order domain cleric. Then go circle of land druid. Chill in the back and cast spells on a barbarian or fighter, someone who hits hard but lacks reactions. All your buffs and heals trigger a slap with a raging barb.

I've been playing almost as long as you. I haven't had a major character death, but I did recently ask two people in my party if they'd be ok with me killing them off >.> It was a Dungeon of the Mad Mage meatgrinder. There was a group of goblins with a dwarf prisoner they liked torturing. We asked how to free the dwarf, but they said they would only give up the dwarf if they got another dwarf in return to keep torturing. Now, the only dwarf we had seen yet was our own dwarf wizard party member. I had a suspicion I might get something really cool for freeing the dwarf, so I considered capturing my party member. And I probably would have had to kill a second party member who was their friend, cause there's no way they'd go along with it. But instead of just doing it, I asked out of character. And they SCOFFED at the suggestion. They immediately said they'd make revenge characters to come after me, so I never did it

I have never seen anyone in any of my games pick a life cleric, and I am the only player I know who picks Echo Knight, so perhaps it's more about circles people move in, and how they play the game. Or maybe I'm just lucky and get to play with people who make characters based on...well, the character and play, rather than White Background Spreadsheets. Especially when it comes to "Objectively Superior" picks, which often are anything but due to all the weird hoops and caveats you have to make for the "objective" superiority.

Unfortunately the cool ability of just teleporting almost anywhere you don’t get till level 14 with shadow sorcerer.

How to use darkness: Step 1 - find an enemy that doesn’t rely on sight. Step 2 - wait till your party is fighting in close combat with said enemy Step 3 - cast “darkness” Step 4 - drink a pina colada as chaos ensues

The darkness spell is honestly kind of a retreat spell. It really doesn't do anything except obscure vision for everyone

Half Elf Str 8 Int 11 Cha 12 (+2) = 14 Wis 13 Con 15 (+1) = 16 Dex 15 (+1) = 16 Draconic Sorcerer AC 16 (subclass + dex bonus) 10 HP @ first level, 8HP/ level afterwards Cantrips - 2 of Firebolt, Chill Touch, Ray of Frost - 2 of Mage Hand, Message, Prestidig Spells - Shield - choose 1 4th level - ASI Cha +2 (16) - damage or utility cantrip from above

I would recommend putting 15 in Cha and Dex and 13 in Con, and do the +1 +1 +1 array from customize your origin if you play with that, I usually feel like you don't need a +3 in Con even with a low hit dice class and the bump in the AC makes you more survivable than the Con bonus to HP. At level 1 I usually like Sleep and Mage Armor and take Shield at level 2. The "optimizer" thing to do is to multiclass into Hexblade but that leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth. The Tortle idea is also good though! Edit: The Shadow Sorcerer really comes into it's own at level 6, Hound of Ill Omen is a pretty strong feature, the early game is a little tough but it becomes a pretty decent subclass as the game goes.

treantmonk is a good source for anything dnd, but you should try to get a sense of what the rest of the team is at to avoid optimizing more than your companions going for a non tasha subclass kinda hurts tho, the free spells really really REALLY help shadow does help you with save spells at 6, so you might want to think about getting fear or tasha's laughter or stuff, also sleep is incredibly good at low levels as far as feats go, fey touched is also very good, +1cha and 2more spells your metamagic selection is going to be very important and it will guide your spell selection, if you want to support and stealth then twinned and subtle are standouts

Treantmonk has a good guide for shadow sorcerer.

Never make that high pitch voice again lmao

imo the older subclasses are kindof meh in most cases and i usualy have 2 ways of makeing character concepts and its usualy around 50% 50% so far 1:pick a class(es)/subclass(es) that seem interesting and then make a backstory/flavor for it 2: make a concept and then pick class/subclass around it but like i do tend to pick more interesting subclasses (usualy the newer ones) since they just have some of the coolest features i mean sure arcane trickster is cool but what about a slime that creats daggers out of its own body(soulknife rogue plasmoid )

You are an amazing young man continue up make sure you tell no lies and tell him that you are an orthodox. You keep all the commandments.😊

My first character was a Ranger and I think they are the perfect choice. (I am probably biased though) if you plan to play in the campaign for a little while i say pick a ranger because at level one they are basically a fighter. You get a couple sessions to learn the ropes then you get some spell casting later and there's more room to grow and learn more aspects of the game. Also at lvl 3 pick tashas beast master or the 2024 version if thats what your playing and get a cool animal sidekick for unlimited fun.

If you’re meeting at the table, I would advice bringing at least a pencil, a blank sheet of paper, and some snacks for everybody!

Hey Adam! I’ve played in games that charge $25 a session and games that charged $5-$10 a session. I 100% agree with you that the DM’s that charge more are usually doing it as a career and they usually lack in prep or love for the game. Players that charge less seem to be doing it more as a hobby around their full time job (me included, so I may be bias) and actually love playing the game and playing with people. We both experienced together that one DM running the Asmodeus module who was reading it as they went 🤣

This is why i use homebrew subclasses, way more fun

Pretty simple: if you charge for your game, but you arent credited as a writer in the DMG, Ill never give you money

Mow!

In my opinion the lack of diversity in subclasses in 5e is a direct result of bad DMing. As a DM you have to REWARD people for taking suboptimal subclasses. You have give subclasses the spotlight in ways that are rewarding to the player. This means you need to MODIFY encounters to specifically give opportunities for the player to step into the spotlight. This takes work and most people are unwilling to change encouters especially in a printed adventure. If your party doesnt have proficiency in thieves tools you should never encounter a trap that requires your party to have proficiency in thieves tool. DM is there to tell a story that is fitted to the party at the table, not the party the printed adventure was playtested with.

Me who feels singled out because I play Light cleric, Oath of redemption paladin, Dragon monk and Drakewarden ranger.

I’m ready to hear the rest bro. I’m looking for the follow up video.

As someone who has (not full time) been a paid GM I find myself agreeing with most of what you have to say here. Especially the Horror story about the cancellation fee, that’s maddening. As I see it in regards to pricing, there’s a bit of a bell curve issue at hand. People charging $10 are closer to hobbyist players, usually using that for their games as a supplement for the things they otherwise wanted to get but couldn’t justify. For those charging the 15-20 you’re describing, many of them who are doing so as a job are overworked due to the sheer number of games one needs to run at that rate to make a sustainable wage. Personally, I charge a good bit more than $20, but in exchange I also easily spend nearly $100 on maps, tokens, etc a month via Patreon and other such things. I run entirely homebrew settings and incorporate as much as I can from the players as I can (I ain’t perfect but try to keep communication open and clear), have ~3k musical tracks nearly memorized for use in my games, and (when able to, because I like to pay artists well for their work) commission art for NPCs deities, etc. On average I probably put in as many hours if not more per hour ran of my games, and the costs for players there is to ensure that I can justify that time without burning myself out like those charging 15-20 are. I also don’t run on roll20, as I prefer the automation of Foundry personally even if occasionally I have to fix something that requires a bit more technical know how to handle. Importantly though, I also tend to run over the “scheduled” time for a game if I can help it, sometimes by an hour or more on average depending on the time slot because I’m enjoying the game or want to make sure the players are satisfied with the session’s ending point. Right now I’m actually toying with the idea of transitioning to a more full time Pro-GMing thing (job market sucks in my field rn) and am moderately worried about some of the issues you described in the video, especially since I know how hard it is out there for people, and I want to give good value for what I charge. I’m making several “modules” of sorts (far less linear, or in one case with ~50 custom classes with fully fleshed out skill trees and a full setting built to house the madness I’ve concocted, amongst other home brewed additions/overhauls to 5e) to at least give me an “easier” time keeping up with it all if I do go that route. Hell I’ve got the musical scores and the likes already sorted for them all, just the intensive amounts of writing, statblocks, etc is what’s really slowing me down there. TLDR: I’ve been a pro-GM, I sympathize with many of the issues discussed in the video, think there’s a bit of bell curving to the quality Paid GMs offer (always exceptions to the general rule) and I throw a lot of what I get from my paid games back into my own games along with tons of effort. For reference, my rate is over $20 per player, but roughly speaking the hourly is around half what I charge per player with my prep included for a normal party of 4 (I use a flat rate for pre-made groups of 4-5 players), and for any given session I tend to run a bit over the “scheduled” time by a good bit of I can help it, which I don’t factor into the above since I count that as me having fun with the players.

Maybe no one in your group wants to be bound by a Paladin's code

The biggest advice I can give is tell your dm what youre planning ahead of time. Dont ever try and surprise them cuz they are on your side. This seems like common knowledge but it genuinely took me like a year or 2 to figure it out

My only issue with monk is they have to pay a resource to dash or disengage as a bonus action when rogues get it for free

On the note of clerics: Peace Cleric is also an excellent healer, and very versatile. I'm really loving Order Cleric, for those who enjoy more of an enchanter/blaster cleric. (Not all subclasses of Cleric give heavy armor proficiency, but they all get Medium at least). Circle of Dreams druid is also very healy/support focused. Not too imaginative, imo, but it does what is needs to do well. If it were between Dreams druid or Twilight cleric, I'd go Twilight (which is also a very overplayed subclass, possibly on par with life cleric). -Moon Druids are very overplayed because of the temp HP bonus and the ability to have class abilities and features included while in animal forms. So, Druid/Barbarian is a very over-played combination. -Paladins are probably one of the most played classes actually. Or at least that I've experienced. Every martial likes to sprinkle in divine smite for only a 2 level dip, or if single class, auras cans be really beneficial. It was clear Paladins got a lot of love from the creators. Vengeance subclass seems to be the winner there. Devotion or Ancients probably next most overplayed because of magic resistance and such. -Horizon walker Ranger is great for rp, but is backloaded...which is why it's not so popular. But, given a mid/high level campaign with the flavor of extraplanar travels, and it's amazing! Lately, I've seen way too many Drakewardens. It's flavorful, fun, and well-balanced, but I would like to see more variety. Just my observations/notes. And 20 minute videos are great! I can put it on, and create maps/coordinate d&d stuff at the same time. :D

When things become popular enough they become corporatized, industrialized, and so ruined. This is just a symptom of something that was once done intrinsically, purely out of passion, and done with people you cared about(preferably, not that there aren't plenty of horror stories through the decades), growing into something done to extract something extrinsic.

I dont think charging online is very ethical. In my mind, dnd is not a job and the less it is about the money, the better the game will be. Ive never charged for a game, but if I were to, I would only charge 10 dollars a session MAX, and that money would be intended to go towards minis, paint, rulebooks for the group to use, commissioned art, and even food for the group. A good majority of these are in person only. What can you really get out of online payments except maybe a sound effects program or a custom token. Dnd is at its best as a labor of love, but if you're going to charge for it. Do it for the right reasons

This just appeared on my feed and it was a good video to watch. I, myself, am a paid DM. I do it to pay bills but I also have another job but this was an interesting watch for me as I feel guilty of a few things here but not most. For myself, I charge $10 for module games as I'm not too comfortable with them, the exception is Wild Beyond the Witchlight as I've ran it a few times and am quite comfortable with it so I charge $13. I also charge $15 to make a homebrew for the players. I run also have one game that is $20 because it's a homebrew world I've ran many times and I've poured a lot of time and effort into it to polish it and make it an excellent experience. Now for me, music is the last thing I do, mainly because when I played D&D, I turn it off so sometimes I'll forget it. I use AI art generators to help me make NPC art from time to time and simple token maker. Where my worth comes in is the time outside the game. I will spend maybe 3-5 hours a week outside the game just talking to the players, receiving feedback, talking about their characters, how their backstories or goals line up with what is happening with the story. Making my own maps on Inkarnet for homebrew games and games I've polished a bit more so players have something to look at. Creating custom monsters and items for player to have a fresh feel. For modules, I always try to expand on areas or create more sidequests to give players more options than what is presented. I also limit the amount of games I run to 7 in a week so I have time to prep all the games. While we are playing, I make notes, so when I'm preparing, I can clearly remember everything and plan a great session accordingly. If I have free time between preparing music (when I get to it), making sure their are player handouts, NPC notes, items (with pictures if they are lucky), I'm watching Roll20 Macro videos so I can try to enrich the player's experience even further. I have heard horror stories of the more expensive DMs and I do my best to make sure that is not me. I'd say for the 3-4 hours one group enjoys in a week. I probably put 5-10 hours a week into that game. I am glad you see the effort as part of the cost as well as many players only see the price for the time they play. They don't look behind the screen. Again, other DMs do things differently but I wanted to share my thoughts as paid DM myself. Keep up the great work!

Because he apparently found a sucker willing to pay

I am learning so much by watching your videos