D&D envelops a large amount of lore and game mechanics. Many of these are common and used by all, while others are more scarce. Thieves' cant and druidic are listed on the character sheets of every rogue and druid and remain largely unused or are treated as some passé niche.
What other mechanics do you think are overlooked or underused?
Deflect Missiles. Pretty much at the very level you get it, all the ranged attacks you'll be taking from then on are spells, spell-like abilities, or gigantic rocks the size of your body. And while technically you can use it on that last one, you'll often see it ruled that you can't throw it back, for believability reasons.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
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I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
It that in game it wouldn't be used, but I feel like campaigns where I have been a player no one takes the time actually incorporate it into the table play beyond "My character says XYZ in theives cant and no one else understands it."
So again, not that in game it doesn't exist, but that above table it doesn't get used to it's full potential.
Component pouches. As far as I'm aware, 90% of spellcasters uses focuses.
100% true. I personally use a focus because who wants to spend the time gathering all the things to fill it up? And the coin to replenish it? My bard just whips out her lute and the magic flows forth!
Only because most campaigns seemingly ignore the entire exploration, travel, survival leg of the game. Now I’ll grant that that happens but it’s a shame. When the campaign actually includes the leg the PHB ranger features become very important.
maybe its just me but I prefer component pouches to Foci
Deflect Missiles. Pretty much at the very level you get it, all the ranged attacks you'll be taking from then on are spells, spell-like abilities, or gigantic rocks the size of your body. And while technically you can use it on that last one, you'll often see it ruled that you can't throw it back, for believability reasons.
There are a few spells that I think are leftover from previous editions that are not useful in the current edition. The True Strike cantrip for example. I can see where in previous editions (like if I think back to my AD&D days) where it would have been almost crucial, but as initiative and other things have changed, the spell has stuck around but become all but useless.
As far as Ranger class features, the optional rules are better, but a lot of it comes down to how each table runs the game, the type of campaign, and whether or not the DM incorporates the necessary elements to make it useful. Ranger is still one of my favorite classes.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
They just are. It's like this:
1 - Nobody else in the party can use it, so you only use it externally.
2 - Externally, only rogues/druids use it, and those are uncommon at best.
3 - To use it for anything meaningful would require, basically, content-locking in a really specific way. Maybe there's a secret path to the destination marked only by druidic signs -- alright, they get a shortcut. How often do you think you as the DM can repeat that trick?
I'm speculating explanations for my lived experience, not trying to extrapolate how the features would be used based on their text. And in that light, I mean, they're just situational features. It makes sense that their usage would be limited.
I've never seen anything in a WotC adventure that references thieves' cant or druidic. Unless I'm forgetting. That's a different issue, but still.
I've tried to integrate Thieves' Cant into my game, even though none of my players are playing as Rogues. Mostly I just have it as flavor for when the party interacts with the Zhentarim... two of the characters have insanely high Passive Perception... one by taking the Observant Feat, the other from the new Ranger options getting essentially expertise with Perception, so they're able to pick up when the thieves they occasionally need to work with are communicating either through non-verbal hand gestures or if they seem to be speaking nonsense to each other.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
It that in game it wouldn't be used, but I feel like campaigns where I have been a player no one takes the time actually incorporate it into the table play beyond "My character says XYZ in theives cant and no one else understands it."
So again, not that in game it doesn't exist, but that above table it doesn't get used to it's full potential.
I don't understand how they couldn't be used all the time in games, genuinely, I know I for sure make heavy use of them in mine. No one dedicates time and energy to coming up with and dispersing a whole secret code/language out into the world for it not to be used.
Every single rogue knows a language that no one else knows. That no one else can know. That markings can be hidden in plain sight and only other rogues know the meaning of? How. Seriously. How can that not be a huge tool for the rogue to use in any civilized area. There would be clear markers all over town. Where to fence goods. Where a hideouts are located. Where to buy illegal goods. Where to hire assassins. Rogues would, should, and could just passively know this stuff like there are billboards advertising it. Because for rogues, there are. If you're a rogue in a city, you simply just know where the specific type of trouble you're looking for is located after a stroll down main street.
Same/similar for druids. Out in the wilderness druids can leave hidden messages for one another. Why would they not? They can leave territory markers. Alerts about the local creatures, dangers, monsters, points of interest. Druid would just occasionally pass by messages left by other druids and have little data drops about the locality.
These are huge narrative tools at your disposal I cannot fathom not using them all the time.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I've tried to integrate Thieves' Cant into my game, even though none of my players are playing as Rogues. Mostly I just have it as flavor for when the party interacts with the Zhentarim... two of the characters have insanely high Passive Perception... one by taking the Observant Feat, the other from the new Ranger options getting essentially expertise with Perception, so they're able to pick up when the thieves they occasionally need to work with are communicating either through non-verbal hand gestures or if they seem to be speaking nonsense to each other.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
It that in game it wouldn't be used, but I feel like campaigns where I have been a player no one takes the time actually incorporate it into the table play beyond "My character says XYZ in theives cant and no one else understands it."
So again, not that in game it doesn't exist, but that above table it doesn't get used to it's full potential.
I don't understand how they couldn't be used all the time in games, genuinely, I know I for sure make heavy use of them in mine. No one dedicates time and energy to coming up with and dispersing a whole secret code/language out into the world for it not to be used.
Every single rogue knows a language that no one else knows. That no one else can know. That markings can be hidden in plain sight and only other rogues know the meaning of? How. Seriously. How can that not be a huge tool for the rogue to use in any civilized area. There would be clear markers all over town. Where to fence goods. Where a hideouts are located. Where to buy illegal goods. Where to hire assassins. Rogues would, should, and could just passively know this stuff like there are billboards advertising it. Because for rogues, there are. If you're a rogue in a city, you simply just know where the specific type of trouble you're looking for is located after a stroll down main street.
Same/similar for druids. Out in the wilderness druids can leave hidden messages for one another. Why would they not? They can leave territory markers. Alerts about the local creatures, dangers, monsters, points of interest. Druid would just occasionally pass by messages left by other druids and have little data drops about the locality.
These are huge narrative tools at your disposal I cannot fathom not using them all the time.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
They just are. It's like this:
1 - Nobody else in the party can use it, so you only use it externally.
2 - Externally, only rogues/druids use it, and those are uncommon at best.
3 - To use it for anything meaningful would require, basically, content-locking in a really specific way. Maybe there's a secret path to the destination marked only by druidic signs -- alright, they get a shortcut. How often do you think you as the DM can repeat that trick?
I'm speculating explanations for my lived experience, not trying to extrapolate how the features would be used based on their text. And in that light, I mean, they're just situational features. It makes sense that their usage would be limited.
I've never seen anything in a WotC adventure that references thieves' cant or druidic. Unless I'm forgetting. That's a different issue, but still.
So here are my thoughts on Thieves Cant.
First, it's a real thing, or at least it used to be. Thieves Cant. Second, I try to use it in games I DM, yeah it's almost entirely flavor, but it makes it fun.
There are several ways I have done this, using 3rd party resources. A shout out to those who made my life easier by creating these. Gene's Guide, Kingsmill, Monarchs Factory. I have also researched similar things to incorporate this. Using hobo symbol-inspired runes (graffiti?) (See links), my rogues can ask to do a preception check and on a success (I hand them a slip of paper (or text message, DM, etc.)) with a symbol from an agreed-upon cheatsheet that can give them useful information. They get a copy of the sheet before the campaign, and they can then reference it for information. Seems to work well. If you're looking to use it in your games, it can be done in a way that makes the rogue feel important, doesn't slow gameplay, and adds to the narrative. I have considered doing something similar for druids, but haven't had the opportunity yet.
As far as its canon use, there is some use, but not tons. Gygax (all hail) had a lot of it when TSR was in charge, and WoTC has done some, but as stated in other posts, it can be somewhat situational and difficult to incorporate into table play.
Aside from Thieves Cant, I originally posted to see if there were other game mechanics I should/could try to incorporate into my games. I understand that as the DM I control my table, and not everything has to be used. I was just wondering if there were other tools I can use to make my games unique and interesting.
Golly, the examples on the wiki are just terrible. They stick out like a sore thumb, and what's more, you can basically guess what half of them mean even without any context clues. It's my understanding that real world cant has often been pretty weird by comparison, with words that only half-rhyme with words that only half-count as slang for the thing you're actually saying. Anyway, I digress.
There's actually a rule for how high your character can reach with his hands if he jumps, and it scales based on his height. Did you know your height can be altered by the Wild Magic Surge table? There's a maximum height recommendation for every race, but you can be taller if you want to. I believe the tallest Medium creature on the books is the goliath, averaging 7'6" just like the firbolg. I'm not seeing any above 8', so maybe that's the limit before you become Large.
That's all I've got right now for oddball rules. I wouldn't say that's an *underused* rule, because it's extremely niche and kind of pointless, but you could contrive to make use of it if you were so inclined.
There's actually a rule for how high your character can reach with his hands if he jumps, and it scales based on his height. Did you know your height can be altered by the Wild Magic Surge table? There's a maximum height recommendation for every race, but you can be taller if you want to. I believe the tallest Medium creature on the books is the goliath, averaging 7'6" just like the firbolg. I'm not seeing any above 8', so maybe that's the limit before you become Large.
Yeah jump rules seem really situational, not only for height but there are rules for jumping distances too. Theses seem to go by the way side in a magical world where you can teleport (i live me some Misty Step!)
The problem with things like Thieves Cant and Druidic are that they have binary impacts.
Your party comes across a sign written in druidic.
Do you have a druid in your party?
If yes, the DM is giving you information.
If no, the DM may as well not have bothered putting it into the game, unless you're going to bother going to find a druid to tell you what it means. If this is super important, it can be used as a one-off plot item, and not again or it becomes repetitive.
This creates a situation where information that can be gleaned from these skills has to be marginally helpful at best. Moreover, for all homebrew campaigns the DM knows up front whether or not the party will be able to translate it. There is simply no point in putting in clues or other information in languages that the players simply don't have the ability to understand - why spend the time?
The same issues come up with any ability where you can ask the question "Does the party have this ability? If yes, it may as well be in common. If no, it may as well not be in the game."
The problem with things like Thieves Cant and Druidic are that they have binary impacts.
Your party comes across a sign written in druidic.
Do you have a druid in your party?
If yes, the DM is giving you information.
If no, the DM may as well not have bothered putting it into the game, unless you're going to bother going to find a druid to tell you what it means. If this is super important, it can be used as a one-off plot item, and not again or it becomes repetitive.
This creates a situation where information that can be gleaned from these skills has to be marginally helpful at best. Moreover, for all homebrew campaigns the DM knows up front whether or not the party will be able to translate it. There is simply no point in putting in clues or other information in languages that the players simply don't have the ability to understand - why spend the time?
The same issues come up with any ability where you can ask the question "Does the party have this ability? If yes, it may as well be in common. If no, it may as well not be in the game."
If a party member is able to cast Comprehend Languages then they can read the Druidic sign, so long as they're able to get close enough to touch it. This can make things interesting if the sign is hard to reach physically.
A sign in a language nobody can read can give flavor to a dungeon. Someone in the party might be able to guess what the language is based on the writing system or style it uses, even if they can't read what it says; that's helpful to know if the party otherwise has no idea what sort of people might have been there. The sign might have an image along with the text to give some sense of what the sign is for, like with many modern-day warning signs.
Basically, even if someone can't read the language a sign is written in, it's possible to gain some useful knowledge. Or be spooked that there's a sign - someone left it for a reason. What does it say? is it a warning? Should we be on our guard?
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The problem with things like Thieves Cant and Druidic are that they have binary impacts.
They don't need to.
Your party comes across a sign written in druidic.
Do you have a druid in your party?
If yes, the DM is giving you information.
If no, the DM may as well not have bothered putting it into the game, unless you're going to bother going to find a druid to tell you what it means. If this is super important, it can be used as a one-off plot item, and not again or it becomes repetitive.
Well, first off it wouldn't need to be a "sign". Druidic isn't like regular languages. It'd be some sort of arrangement of natural materials that can be read/has meaning. Most people might not even notice it was even there. The whole point is for druids to quickly leave messages out in the wild and for only druids to see and immediately understand the secret messages. So if you're in a party without a druid you probably won't even know the messages are there, unless you have a particularly perceptive member of the party.
But that doesn't mean druidic isn't important, or that having these things in the world isn't important, even if the group doesn't have a druid. Part of the beauty of D&D is the ability to create a living world for your players to explore. It should have things going on that doesn't specifically revolve around them.
This creates a situation where information that can be gleaned from these skills has to be marginally helpful at best. Moreover, for all homebrew campaigns the DM knows up front whether or not the party will be able to translate it. There is simply no point in putting in clues or other information in languages that the players simply don't have the ability to understand - why spend the time?
I honestly can't understand this sentiment. I put secret rooms in dungeons knowing full well the party may never discover them. I've created entire battlemaps and encounters that never came to fruition because someone rolled a high persuasion check instead. That's how DMing goes. You need to prepare for things that may very well never happen. Why spend the time creating a fleshed out world for your players to explore? Because that's the hobby we presumably enjoy spending time on.
The same issues come up with any ability where you can ask the question "Does the party have this ability? If yes, it may as well be in common. If no, it may as well not be in the game."
This is fundamentally bad advice. You got a guy in the party who knows abyssal so now why have cultists write in that language? Just use common. The letter of invitation to the elven court? Just use common since the half-elf in the party knows elven?? What are you even saying.
Also, and again, I have to stress it is hugely important to consider what NPCs know and how they react to stuff. Maybe the scrawled abyssal message written in blood that none of the villagers can read but your party's wizard can, indeed, read is maybe important distinction to make. Having it written in common even though you know your party can read it means that every NPC can read it too.
The same goes doubly for thieves cant and druidic. They're things that specific NPCs can use to send messages to only and specifically their target audience. Other rogues or druids. Messages they don't want others to have. If you got a rogue player it is perfectly okay and probably a good thing to let them freely know where the underground stuff goes on in town. That's part of their whole schtick and if leaning on thieves cant helps you make them shine at their job, alls the better.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I honestly can't understand this sentiment. I put secret rooms in dungeons knowing full well the party may never discover them. I've created entire battlemaps and encounters that never came to fruition because someone rolled a high persuasion check instead. That's how DMing goes. You need to prepare for things that may very well never happen. Why spend the time creating a fleshed out world for your players to explore? Because that's the hobby we presumably enjoy spending time on.
I feel like this is 100% what DMing is about. It is done for the love of the game, the fondness for creation and creativity, and for the potential that it can be something amazing and memorable for our players. Are there things they never find? Yes. Are they cunning enough to outsmart the bad guys and dodge all the traps? Sometimes more often than we like. But that is the beauty of the game.
I can't think of how many times I've egged my players on just so something I prepared doesn't go to waste. Like, they're finished in the Haunted House they've been in and they killed the main ghost and are planning to leave and I'm just like, "Oh uh... give me a Perception Check... oh, only an 11? Err... yeah, it's pretty easy to see. You notice a scrape on the floor in front of that wall, do you want to investigate it?" Just so the secret room I put behind a spooky picture that has some treasure or plot token I was expecting them to find. Invariably, the party instead latches onto something incongruous that I just included as flavor and now suddenly it's the most important thing in the game.
I can't think of how many times I've egged my players on just so something I prepared doesn't go to waste. Like, they're finished in the Haunted House they've been in and they killed the main ghost and are planning to leave and I'm just like, "Oh uh... give me a Perception Check... oh, only an 11? Err... yeah, it's pretty easy to see. You notice a scrape on the floor in front of that wall, do you want to investigate it?" Just so the secret room I put behind a spooky picture that has some treasure or plot token I was expecting them to find. Invariably, the party instead latches onto something incongruous that I just included as flavor and now suddenly it's the most important thing in the game.
With my current group that isn't an issue, all they want to do explore. 😂
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Forgotten mechanics:
D&D envelops a large amount of lore and game mechanics. Many of these are common and used by all, while others are more scarce. Thieves' cant and druidic are listed on the character sheets of every rogue and druid and remain largely unused or are treated as some passé niche.
What other mechanics do you think are overlooked or underused?
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
Deflect Missiles. Pretty much at the very level you get it, all the ranged attacks you'll be taking from then on are spells, spell-like abilities, or gigantic rocks the size of your body. And while technically you can use it on that last one, you'll often see it ruled that you can't throw it back, for believability reasons.
Most of the Ranger default class features.
Why would thieves cant and druidic be "largely unused"?? If you had secret languages they'd be absolutely used, all the time too. Why would organizations spend the time and energy necessary to create a whole language, and carefully guard it's meaning, if they never planned to use it??? Rogues would use thieves cant all the time. Druids, too, would use their secret language all the time. It'd be a staple of how they communicate with one another.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Component pouches. As far as I'm aware, 90% of spellcasters uses focuses.
It that in game it wouldn't be used, but I feel like campaigns where I have been a player no one takes the time actually incorporate it into the table play beyond "My character says XYZ in theives cant and no one else understands it."
So again, not that in game it doesn't exist, but that above table it doesn't get used to it's full potential.
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
100% true. I personally use a focus because who wants to spend the time gathering all the things to fill it up? And the coin to replenish it? My bard just whips out her lute and the magic flows forth!
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
Only because most campaigns seemingly ignore the entire exploration, travel, survival leg of the game. Now I’ll grant that that happens but it’s a shame. When the campaign actually includes the leg the PHB ranger features become very important.
maybe its just me but I prefer component pouches to Foci
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
There are a few spells that I think are leftover from previous editions that are not useful in the current edition. The True Strike cantrip for example. I can see where in previous editions (like if I think back to my AD&D days) where it would have been almost crucial, but as initiative and other things have changed, the spell has stuck around but become all but useless.
As far as Ranger class features, the optional rules are better, but a lot of it comes down to how each table runs the game, the type of campaign, and whether or not the DM incorporates the necessary elements to make it useful. Ranger is still one of my favorite classes.
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
They just are. It's like this:
1 - Nobody else in the party can use it, so you only use it externally.
2 - Externally, only rogues/druids use it, and those are uncommon at best.
3 - To use it for anything meaningful would require, basically, content-locking in a really specific way. Maybe there's a secret path to the destination marked only by druidic signs -- alright, they get a shortcut. How often do you think you as the DM can repeat that trick?
I'm speculating explanations for my lived experience, not trying to extrapolate how the features would be used based on their text. And in that light, I mean, they're just situational features. It makes sense that their usage would be limited.
I've never seen anything in a WotC adventure that references thieves' cant or druidic. Unless I'm forgetting. That's a different issue, but still.
I've tried to integrate Thieves' Cant into my game, even though none of my players are playing as Rogues. Mostly I just have it as flavor for when the party interacts with the Zhentarim... two of the characters have insanely high Passive Perception... one by taking the Observant Feat, the other from the new Ranger options getting essentially expertise with Perception, so they're able to pick up when the thieves they occasionally need to work with are communicating either through non-verbal hand gestures or if they seem to be speaking nonsense to each other.
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I don't understand how they couldn't be used all the time in games, genuinely, I know I for sure make heavy use of them in mine. No one dedicates time and energy to coming up with and dispersing a whole secret code/language out into the world for it not to be used.
Every single rogue knows a language that no one else knows. That no one else can know. That markings can be hidden in plain sight and only other rogues know the meaning of? How. Seriously. How can that not be a huge tool for the rogue to use in any civilized area. There would be clear markers all over town. Where to fence goods. Where a hideouts are located. Where to buy illegal goods. Where to hire assassins. Rogues would, should, and could just passively know this stuff like there are billboards advertising it. Because for rogues, there are. If you're a rogue in a city, you simply just know where the specific type of trouble you're looking for is located after a stroll down main street.
Same/similar for druids. Out in the wilderness druids can leave hidden messages for one another. Why would they not? They can leave territory markers. Alerts about the local creatures, dangers, monsters, points of interest. Druid would just occasionally pass by messages left by other druids and have little data drops about the locality.
These are huge narrative tools at your disposal I cannot fathom not using them all the time.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
So here are my thoughts on Thieves Cant.
First, it's a real thing, or at least it used to be. Thieves Cant. Second, I try to use it in games I DM, yeah it's almost entirely flavor, but it makes it fun.
There are several ways I have done this, using 3rd party resources. A shout out to those who made my life easier by creating these. Gene's Guide, Kingsmill, Monarchs Factory. I have also researched similar things to incorporate this. Using hobo symbol-inspired runes (graffiti?) (See links), my rogues can ask to do a preception check and on a success (I hand them a slip of paper (or text message, DM, etc.)) with a symbol from an agreed-upon cheatsheet that can give them useful information. They get a copy of the sheet before the campaign, and they can then reference it for information. Seems to work well. If you're looking to use it in your games, it can be done in a way that makes the rogue feel important, doesn't slow gameplay, and adds to the narrative. I have considered doing something similar for druids, but haven't had the opportunity yet.
As far as its canon use, there is some use, but not tons. Gygax (all hail) had a lot of it when TSR was in charge, and WoTC has done some, but as stated in other posts, it can be somewhat situational and difficult to incorporate into table play.
Aside from Thieves Cant, I originally posted to see if there were other game mechanics I should/could try to incorporate into my games. I understand that as the DM I control my table, and not everything has to be used. I was just wondering if there were other tools I can use to make my games unique and interesting.
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
Golly, the examples on the wiki are just terrible. They stick out like a sore thumb, and what's more, you can basically guess what half of them mean even without any context clues. It's my understanding that real world cant has often been pretty weird by comparison, with words that only half-rhyme with words that only half-count as slang for the thing you're actually saying. Anyway, I digress.
There's actually a rule for how high your character can reach with his hands if he jumps, and it scales based on his height. Did you know your height can be altered by the Wild Magic Surge table? There's a maximum height recommendation for every race, but you can be taller if you want to. I believe the tallest Medium creature on the books is the goliath, averaging 7'6" just like the firbolg. I'm not seeing any above 8', so maybe that's the limit before you become Large.
That's all I've got right now for oddball rules. I wouldn't say that's an *underused* rule, because it's extremely niche and kind of pointless, but you could contrive to make use of it if you were so inclined.
Yeah jump rules seem really situational, not only for height but there are rules for jumping distances too. Theses seem to go by the way side in a magical world where you can teleport (i live me some Misty Step!)
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
The problem with things like Thieves Cant and Druidic are that they have binary impacts.
This creates a situation where information that can be gleaned from these skills has to be marginally helpful at best. Moreover, for all homebrew campaigns the DM knows up front whether or not the party will be able to translate it. There is simply no point in putting in clues or other information in languages that the players simply don't have the ability to understand - why spend the time?
The same issues come up with any ability where you can ask the question "Does the party have this ability? If yes, it may as well be in common. If no, it may as well not be in the game."
If a party member is able to cast Comprehend Languages then they can read the Druidic sign, so long as they're able to get close enough to touch it. This can make things interesting if the sign is hard to reach physically.
A sign in a language nobody can read can give flavor to a dungeon. Someone in the party might be able to guess what the language is based on the writing system or style it uses, even if they can't read what it says; that's helpful to know if the party otherwise has no idea what sort of people might have been there. The sign might have an image along with the text to give some sense of what the sign is for, like with many modern-day warning signs.
Basically, even if someone can't read the language a sign is written in, it's possible to gain some useful knowledge. Or be spooked that there's a sign - someone left it for a reason. What does it say? is it a warning? Should we be on our guard?
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They don't need to.
Well, first off it wouldn't need to be a "sign". Druidic isn't like regular languages. It'd be some sort of arrangement of natural materials that can be read/has meaning. Most people might not even notice it was even there. The whole point is for druids to quickly leave messages out in the wild and for only druids to see and immediately understand the secret messages. So if you're in a party without a druid you probably won't even know the messages are there, unless you have a particularly perceptive member of the party.
But that doesn't mean druidic isn't important, or that having these things in the world isn't important, even if the group doesn't have a druid. Part of the beauty of D&D is the ability to create a living world for your players to explore. It should have things going on that doesn't specifically revolve around them.
I honestly can't understand this sentiment. I put secret rooms in dungeons knowing full well the party may never discover them. I've created entire battlemaps and encounters that never came to fruition because someone rolled a high persuasion check instead. That's how DMing goes. You need to prepare for things that may very well never happen. Why spend the time creating a fleshed out world for your players to explore? Because that's the hobby we presumably enjoy spending time on.
This is fundamentally bad advice. You got a guy in the party who knows abyssal so now why have cultists write in that language? Just use common. The letter of invitation to the elven court? Just use common since the half-elf in the party knows elven?? What are you even saying.
Also, and again, I have to stress it is hugely important to consider what NPCs know and how they react to stuff. Maybe the scrawled abyssal message written in blood that none of the villagers can read but your party's wizard can, indeed, read is maybe important distinction to make. Having it written in common even though you know your party can read it means that every NPC can read it too.
The same goes doubly for thieves cant and druidic. They're things that specific NPCs can use to send messages to only and specifically their target audience. Other rogues or druids. Messages they don't want others to have. If you got a rogue player it is perfectly okay and probably a good thing to let them freely know where the underground stuff goes on in town. That's part of their whole schtick and if leaning on thieves cant helps you make them shine at their job, alls the better.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I feel like this is 100% what DMing is about. It is done for the love of the game, the fondness for creation and creativity, and for the potential that it can be something amazing and memorable for our players. Are there things they never find? Yes. Are they cunning enough to outsmart the bad guys and dodge all the traps? Sometimes more often than we like. But that is the beauty of the game.
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
I can't think of how many times I've egged my players on just so something I prepared doesn't go to waste. Like, they're finished in the Haunted House they've been in and they killed the main ghost and are planning to leave and I'm just like, "Oh uh... give me a Perception Check... oh, only an 11? Err... yeah, it's pretty easy to see. You notice a scrape on the floor in front of that wall, do you want to investigate it?" Just so the secret room I put behind a spooky picture that has some treasure or plot token I was expecting them to find. Invariably, the party instead latches onto something incongruous that I just included as flavor and now suddenly it's the most important thing in the game.
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With my current group that isn't an issue, all they want to do explore. 😂
~ May all your rolls Crit ~