New Player’s Guide is going on hiatus, giving us some space to return to beloved series like Class 101, Spell Spotlight, How to Play Monsters, and to explore new ideas. In the meantime, however, we want to know what D&D questions are burning in your mind, so that we can answer them once we come back. Reply to the comments of this post with ONE question for D&D Beyond’s Lead Writer James Haeck.
We’re looking for questions about Dungeon Master skills, player tips, dungeon design, encounter design, magic item design, monster design, and anything else that will help you be the best DM or player you can be!
When New Player’s Guide returns from hiatus, we’ll have combed through your questions with a particular eye for ones that will benefit the entire D&D Beyond community. We can’t wait to read your questions!
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James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.







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Posted Aug 11, 2020Classes are very wild and different and have so many features that ddb cannot possibly cover it with modifiers, spells, actions
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Posted Aug 11, 2020It's kind of hard, so I hope ddb adds a homebrew creator guide or something. For example I will make the Arcane Trickster(but not the details because this is paid content). Add Spellcasting class feature and write the basic information. Then add "Spell" to the class by clicking it. For Arcane Trickster you would add the cantrip you have to get, so just type the name in the Spell Tab and ignore Spell Levels, Spell Class, Attack type, etc. Then there are the other two cantrips, you would have to add not the Spell Name because it isn't specified, but select the Spell Class and Spell Level(Cantrip) and do it again because there are two.
The other tabs just read it as you go; you should be able to understand it(leave unused tabs blank, like if the spell isn't an attack leave the "Attack Type" blank.)
This is just a small start and I don't know everything so I hope ddb adds homebrew creator guide soon, although I'm getting the hang of it.
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Posted Aug 11, 2020What is the rule for casting a spell without people knowing you're casting it? Like for example casting Tasha's Laughter in a crowded tavern?
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Posted Aug 11, 2020Problem: barbarians can’t cast spells while raging.
Although you could argue that that would let you make the subclass much more powerful, or you could talk with your DM about a house rule that allows you to cast certain spells while raging(sorcerer, paladin, Druid).
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Posted Aug 11, 2020You can’t throw a longsword, unless you use it as an improvised weapon. You can make both melee and thrown weapon attacks in the same turn, as long as you could normally dual-wield the weapons.
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Posted Aug 11, 2020Yes, you can do that(in fact, it is a very powerful character concept). However, if your mount falls, you better have a couple longswords to use, or you are going to have the same fate as your horse.
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Posted Aug 11, 2020Yeah, you would need to give it a ability to bypass that.
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Posted Aug 11, 2020I'd like to see an article on pricing good like potions and magic items not found in the standard equipment listing of the PHB. Some types of breakdown of how DMs should price items along with certain population break downs (Ie, City, Town, Villiage). This seems to be a big struggle I've seen where players want to spend their gold and if a magic or potion shop is available best-practice pricing habits would be a benefit to DMs to have that tool in their back pocket.
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Posted Aug 14, 2020So this is a question that has been bothering me ever since I saw the 6th level spell Tenser's Transformation in Xanathar's Guide and that is if you have a magic item such as a wand or enchanted weapon or scroll can you still activate them when under the influence of Tenser's Transformation?
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Posted Aug 14, 2020How do i play?
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Posted Aug 14, 2020I'd recommend starting by reading the Basic Rules, which you can find under the Sources menu. While you're doing that, you can create your character here on the D&D Beyond website to make keeping track of everything easier. And then, if you need to find a group to play with, check out the Forums. There's a section called Looking for Players and Groups where you can look for a group to join. Lots of groups play online via Discord or through other online methods, so even if you don't know anyone to play with in person or if you can't play in person because of quarantine, there are still options for you.
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Posted Aug 14, 2020Hey, so I'm still curious as to why I have to buy the sourcebook to see what warforged or turtle can do. I understand it for making a character but why can I view them or learn anything about them.
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Posted Aug 14, 2020Because if you could, everyone would just homebrew exact copies and not pay a thing. This way, DDB can actually afford to keep running.
I think.
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Posted Aug 24, 2020I have a custom-made class called the Battlecaster, a rough-cut cross between the sorcerer's innate spells (not sure it that's the best way to describe it), the fighter's martial abilities, and the wizard spell list. I also have four (soon to be five) subclasses for it. It focuses on versatility, and its primary ability scores are dexterity, constitution, and intelligence (not necessarily in that order). Want me to send you the details when I can so you can look it over and refine it? Personally, I think it sounds interesting, but that's just me.
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Posted Aug 29, 2020Just curious as to why this is currently so: In the basic rules for underwater combat, it says that "creatures fully submerged have resistance to fire damage. However, water (and particularly salt and sea water) conduct sound and electricity with ease. Why doesn't the rules have something about that (e.g. vulnerability to thunder and/or lightning damage)?
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Posted Sep 18, 2020M
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Posted Sep 19, 2020Sorry please but after creating my character, i dont know what to do to play the game
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Posted Sep 19, 2020uh.................................... Dndbeyond is not a VTT, it's a tool to keep track of rules, and build characters
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Posted Sep 28, 2020How to be a DM and create a good story that doesn't need the players to follow a specified path?
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Posted Sep 28, 2020Also how to create a good character?