So I’m a big fan of Ravenloft, and have been running/planning to run Curse of Strahd for a long time. Here’s what my thoughts are about giving these dark gifts to players:
1. I like these Dark Gifts, but to me, they feel more like a upside than a downside. In CoS and the modifications many people make to it, Dark Gifts are also there, but they also have a heavy downside to them. Consider making the Dark Gifts more of a balanced good with bad.
2. Amplify the Dark Gifts boons and disadvantages as time goes on and the relationship between player and Dark Gift (maybe the Dark Gift is given be a Dark Power) grows. Make the benifit bigger, but make their dependency on the gift grow as well. Dark Gifts make for great corruption arcs for players.
3. Give them out, not at the start of a campaign, but perhaps as time goes on. Maybe when a player dies, a Dark Power comes and offers them resurrection... at a price. That price is the Dark Gift. Perhaps while exploring, a Symbiotic entity attempts to bond with a player... and if they accept, Boom, Dark Gift. Make it flow naturally into your story, and don’t nessacarily portray them as good things. They are DARK gifts, after all.
I hope this helps! This is how a lot of Ravenloft and CoS DM’s do it. If you want more information about Dark Gifts and the Dark Powers that give them, consider checking out r/CurseofStrahd. MandyMod has an excellent guide on incorporating Dark Powers and Dark Gifts.
I think the OP meant how to give them to your players in dndbeyond, not necessarily how can the characters obtain them. I also do not see a section for dark gifts to be added onto dndbeyond character sheets, which seems strange. So if anyone can point me to the section where the characters can add them to their sheets, please let me know!
I think the OP meant how to give them to your players in dndbeyond, not necessarily how can the characters obtain them. I also do not see a section for dark gifts to be added onto dndbeyond character sheets, which seems strange. So if anyone can point me to the section where the characters can add them to their sheets, please let me know!
this area does not exist the book has only been out for a day none of the content is functional on dnd beyond at all.
I think the OP meant how to give them to your players in dndbeyond, not necessarily how can the characters obtain them. I also do not see a section for dark gifts to be added onto dndbeyond character sheets, which seems strange. So if anyone can point me to the section where the characters can add them to their sheets, please let me know!
this area does not exist the book has only been out for a day none of the content is functional on dnd beyond at all.
Yeah, I saw another post that said they will implement them this year, just don't know when. I'm not sure how much dndbeyond knows in advance of the book's release date. Nor do I know how long it would take to code these things for implementation, but some part of me did expect the dark gifts to be usable upon release, like the race, class, background, and monster options.
Yeah this is a bummer. Was a really cool thing in the new book that you can't easily implement right way. Hopefully they get this added in sooner rather than later.
I suppose you could probably have them use the "other" section of the character sheet notes just to get the Dark Gift details on the sheets somewhere. I threw my Gift into one of the Personal Characteristics spots with relevant information in "other."
Yeah this is a bummer. Was a really cool thing in the new book that you can't easily implement right way. Hopefully they get this added in sooner rather than later.
They're not identical but very similar in function to the Supernatural Gifts in Mythic Oddysseys of Theros. Those have yet to be implemented in the DnD Beyond either. Epic Boons in the DMG, Fiendish boons from maybe Mord's ... those aren't officially in the DnD Beyond toolset as well. I think most folks who use them do as suggested either homebrew feats or put them in notes on the character sheet so they're document. I'm not technically knowledgeable to know if there's a particular reason these sorts of features are challenging to introduce into the toolset. But I think the official language from Dev updates encouraged users to just do work arounds on their own with every gift/boon prior the VRGtoR so I guess that's the precedent.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah this is a bummer. Was a really cool thing in the new book that you can't easily implement right way. Hopefully they get this added in sooner rather than later.
They're not identical but very similar in function to the Supernatural Gifts in Mythic Oddysseys of Theros. Those have yet to be implemented in the DnD Beyond either. Epic Boons in the DMG, Fiendish boons from maybe Mord's ... those aren't officially in the DnD Beyond toolset as well. I think most folks who use them do as suggested either homebrew feats or put them in notes on the character sheet so they're document. I'm not technically knowledgeable to know if there's a particular reason these sorts of features are challenging to introduce into the toolset. But I think the official language from Dev updates encouraged users to just do work arounds on their own with every gift/boon prior the VRGtoR so I guess that's the precedent.
It does seem odd that the devs would say "do it yourself" in the meantime. Like you would think, they would maybe create the feats available to those that have purchased the books with a note saying these will be eventually changed to their own feature in the future at an undetermined time. Just doesn't sit well with me.
Stuff from generic sourcebooks, such as Xanathar's, Volo's, and Tasha's, are much more valuable than setting-specific stuff like Mystic Odysseys of Theros, as the majority of players will use them. Van Rickten's is new, and while not setting specific, it may be very difficult to code, so it hasn't been finished yet.
I'm uncertain about Mord's stuff. It is generic rather than setting specific, and yet it's almost entirely for DM's, and so it can't be counted on to be present in any given game. I'd put it on the back-burner behind the setting specific stuff given the much smaller audience.
Yeah this is a bummer. Was a really cool thing in the new book that you can't easily implement right way. Hopefully they get this added in sooner rather than later.
They're not identical but very similar in function to the Supernatural Gifts in Mythic Oddysseys of Theros. Those have yet to be implemented in the DnD Beyond either. Epic Boons in the DMG, Fiendish boons from maybe Mord's ... those aren't officially in the DnD Beyond toolset as well. I think most folks who use them do as suggested either homebrew feats or put them in notes on the character sheet so they're document. I'm not technically knowledgeable to know if there's a particular reason these sorts of features are challenging to introduce into the toolset. But I think the official language from Dev updates encouraged users to just do work arounds on their own with every gift/boon prior the VRGtoR so I guess that's the precedent.
It does seem odd that the devs would say "do it yourself" in the meantime. Like you would think, they would maybe create the feats available to those that have purchased the books with a note saying these will be eventually changed to their own feature in the future at an undetermined time. Just doesn't sit well with me.
I agree that the work around of just making them feats would seem simple; but I'm guessing since Feats have an "official" status in both 5e as well as DDB, there may be both a technical and license challenge to just name the gifts feats, since feats are elected and gifts are supposed to be I think DM bestowed. I don't know.
Stuff from generic sourcebooks, such as Xanathar's, Volo's, and Tasha's, are much more valuable than setting-specific stuff like Mystic Odysseys of Theros, as the majority of players will use them. Van Rickten's is new, and while not setting specific, it may be very difficult to code, so it hasn't been finished yet.
I'm uncertain about Mord's stuff. It is generic rather than setting specific, and yet it's almost entirely for DM's, and so it can't be counted on to be present in any given game. I'd put it on the back-burner behind the setting specific stuff given the much smaller audience.
I was inspired to look at the product support thread for VRGtR and this was right here in Stormknight's post #1:
DARK GIFTS
We don't currently have a way to model supernatural gifts, charms, blessings & boons.
We understand that Dark Gifts are an important part of the Domains of Dread and that our community is keen to be able to use them on their D&D Beyond characters.
We fully plan to support these (this year) with the Features System, but unfortunately this will not be in place for the launch of this sourcebook.
And for the heck of it, I looked up what might have been said in the support thread for Theros, and there in post 1:
CHARACTER OPTIONS: SUPERNATURAL GIFTS
Supernatural Gifts are a large and diverse set of powers which can be added or removed from characters at anytime. At present, the devs have done a huge amount of work to prepare the groundwork for systems like this one to exist, but this work is still ongoing. For now, Supernatural Gifts cannot be added to the sheet directly.
This thread has a video detailing the creation of homebrew feats, the modifiers can be used to replicate the mechanical functions of these gifts at the present time.
Please remember that Feats which replicate Boons or Blessings (and as such, feats that replicate these gifts) cannot be shared publically, but they can be shared within your own private campaigns.
So it sounds like a boons/gifts system has actually been in progress for a while now and they're optimistic that it'll be rolled out in the year for at least VRGtR. Or whatever they had built for Theros has been scrapped, but they'll be building something out of the features system in the Character Builder for this aspect.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
But no, and I'm sure it will not be any time soon. We are still waiting on features from Tasha's Cauldron to be implemented. It seems like they have a focus on other things like the virtual tabletop. So I imagine America will have a new president by the time dark gifts are implemented.
I just got the new book and it has an amazing concept of "DARK GIFTS", now how do I give that to my players?
So I’m a big fan of Ravenloft, and have been running/planning to run Curse of Strahd for a long time. Here’s what my thoughts are about giving these dark gifts to players:
1. I like these Dark Gifts, but to me, they feel more like a upside than a downside. In CoS and the modifications many people make to it, Dark Gifts are also there, but they also have a heavy downside to them. Consider making the Dark Gifts more of a balanced good with bad.
2. Amplify the Dark Gifts boons and disadvantages as time goes on and the relationship between player and Dark Gift (maybe the Dark Gift is given be a Dark Power) grows. Make the benifit bigger, but make their dependency on the gift grow as well. Dark Gifts make for great corruption arcs for players.
3. Give them out, not at the start of a campaign, but perhaps as time goes on. Maybe when a player dies, a Dark Power comes and offers them resurrection... at a price. That price is the Dark Gift. Perhaps while exploring, a Symbiotic entity attempts to bond with a player... and if they accept, Boom, Dark Gift. Make it flow naturally into your story, and don’t nessacarily portray them as good things. They are DARK gifts, after all.
I hope this helps! This is how a lot of Ravenloft and CoS DM’s do it. If you want more information about Dark Gifts and the Dark Powers that give them, consider checking out r/CurseofStrahd. MandyMod has an excellent guide on incorporating Dark Powers and Dark Gifts.
I think the OP meant how to give them to your players in dndbeyond, not necessarily how can the characters obtain them. I also do not see a section for dark gifts to be added onto dndbeyond character sheets, which seems strange. So if anyone can point me to the section where the characters can add them to their sheets, please let me know!
Published Subclasses
this area does not exist the book has only been out for a day none of the content is functional on dnd beyond at all.
Yeah, I saw another post that said they will implement them this year, just don't know when. I'm not sure how much dndbeyond knows in advance of the book's release date. Nor do I know how long it would take to code these things for implementation, but some part of me did expect the dark gifts to be usable upon release, like the race, class, background, and monster options.
Published Subclasses
Yeah this is a bummer. Was a really cool thing in the new book that you can't easily implement right way. Hopefully they get this added in sooner rather than later.
I suppose you could probably have them use the "other" section of the character sheet notes just to get the Dark Gift details on the sheets somewhere. I threw my Gift into one of the Personal Characteristics spots with relevant information in "other."
I think you could make them into Feats pretty easily.
They're not identical but very similar in function to the Supernatural Gifts in Mythic Oddysseys of Theros. Those have yet to be implemented in the DnD Beyond either. Epic Boons in the DMG, Fiendish boons from maybe Mord's ... those aren't officially in the DnD Beyond toolset as well. I think most folks who use them do as suggested either homebrew feats or put them in notes on the character sheet so they're document. I'm not technically knowledgeable to know if there's a particular reason these sorts of features are challenging to introduce into the toolset. But I think the official language from Dev updates encouraged users to just do work arounds on their own with every gift/boon prior the VRGtoR so I guess that's the precedent.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It does seem odd that the devs would say "do it yourself" in the meantime. Like you would think, they would maybe create the feats available to those that have purchased the books with a note saying these will be eventually changed to their own feature in the future at an undetermined time. Just doesn't sit well with me.
Published Subclasses
Stuff from generic sourcebooks, such as Xanathar's, Volo's, and Tasha's, are much more valuable than setting-specific stuff like Mystic Odysseys of Theros, as the majority of players will use them. Van Rickten's is new, and while not setting specific, it may be very difficult to code, so it hasn't been finished yet.
I'm uncertain about Mord's stuff. It is generic rather than setting specific, and yet it's almost entirely for DM's, and so it can't be counted on to be present in any given game. I'd put it on the back-burner behind the setting specific stuff given the much smaller audience.
<Insert clever signature here>
I agree that the work around of just making them feats would seem simple; but I'm guessing since Feats have an "official" status in both 5e as well as DDB, there may be both a technical and license challenge to just name the gifts feats, since feats are elected and gifts are supposed to be I think DM bestowed. I don't know.
I was inspired to look at the product support thread for VRGtR and this was right here in Stormknight's post #1:
And for the heck of it, I looked up what might have been said in the support thread for Theros, and there in post 1:
So it sounds like a boons/gifts system has actually been in progress for a while now and they're optimistic that it'll be rolled out in the year for at least VRGtR. Or whatever they had built for Theros has been scrapped, but they'll be building something out of the features system in the Character Builder for this aspect.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Do you know if this has been updated yet?
But no, and I'm sure it will not be any time soon. We are still waiting on features from Tasha's Cauldron to be implemented. It seems like they have a focus on other things like the virtual tabletop. So I imagine America will have a new president by the time dark gifts are implemented.
Published Subclasses
Shameful.