Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Subclasses: Sorcerer, Warlock & Wizard

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything includes new subclasses for DMs and players to explore! They include the following:

Sorcerer Subclasses: Aberrant Mind & Clockwork Sorcerer
Warlock Subclasses: Fathomless Deep & Genie
Wizard Subclasses: Bladesong & Scribe

Each of these has features, spells and abilities that set them part. Here is what players and DMs need to understand about these subclasses BEFORE you start playing!

If you want to explore these yourself, you will need a copy of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. You can pick one up from our local partner, Noble Knights Gaming (support local!)

This is an extensive commentary on each subclass, if you want to skip to a specific part of the article, just use the links below!

Sorcerer Subclasses

Aberrant Mind

Aberrant Mind Sorcerers are the mutants and gifted children of the D&D world, able to bend the minds of others to their will.

At 1st level, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains Psionic Spells and Telepathic Speech.

The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains additional spells that don’t count against their spell limit and are counted as Sorcerer spells. All are gained at the following levels on the left and are as follows:

Level Spells

1st Arms of Hadar, dissonant whispers, mind sliver

3rd Calm emotions, detect thoughts

5th Hunger of Hadar, sending

7th Evard’s black tentacles, summon aberration

9th Rary’s telepathic bond, telekinesis

When the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains another level in Sorcerer, it can replace one spell from the Psionic Spells with another spell of the same level so long as it is a divination or enchantment spell from Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard.

Telepathic speech

Telepathic speech allows the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer can link its mind with another. The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer chooses one creature within 30 ft. as a bonus action and the two of them can speak telepathically with each other while the two are within a number of miles of each other equal to the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer’s Charisma Modifier. They must share a language to understand one another.

The telepathic connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer’s level. It ends early if the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is incapacitated, dies, or if the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer uses this ability to connect to another creature.

At 6th level, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains Psionic Sorcery and Psychic Defenses.

Psionic Sorcery

Psionic Sorcery means that when the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer casts a spell of 1st or higher from the Psionic Spells feature, it can cast it by using the spell slot as normal or by spending sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. When casting the spell this way, the spell requires no verbal components, somatic components, or non-consumable material components.

Psychic Defenses

Psychic Defenses gives the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saving throws against charmed or frightened.

Revelation in Flesh

At 14th level, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains Revelation in Flesh. This feature allows the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to spend Sorcery points as a bonus action to gain otherworldly enhancements to their body for 10 minutes. For each point the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer spends, they may choose a benefit below.

The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer can see all invisible creatures within 60 ft. so long as they aren’t behind total cover
The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains flying speed equal to its walking speed as well as the ability to hover.
The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains a swimming speed twice that of their walking speed and can breathe underwater
The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, as well as everything it is carrying and wearing, becomes amorphous and can squeeze through any space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing and spend 5 ft. to escape any non-magical restraints or grappling

Warping Implosion

At 18th level, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gains Warping Implosion. The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer can take an action to teleport to an unoccupied space within 120 ft. and force every creature within 30 ft. of its original location to make a Strength saving throw.

On a failure, each creature takes 3d10 force damage and is pulled straight towards the original space, ending as close to the space as possible. On a success, they take half damage and do not move. This ability can be used once per long rest unless reactivated at the cost of 5 sorcery points.

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Understanding the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer

The Psionic Spells feature goes a long way to expand the generally narrow Sorcerer spell list with 10 extra spells and allows it to swap into certain schools of Warlock and Wizard. Limiting to Divination and Enchantment solidly defines this class by its ability to gather hidden knowledge and manipulate others. The Sorcerer is particularly good at this since it can use Metamagic to significantly boost its chances of succeeding on important saves.

Telepathic Speech is a situational ability that is best used when trying to play keep-away with information. Planning ambushes in broad daylight by covertly communicating with teammates is a boon as well as allowing the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to harass an individual across a distance without using a spell. Talk about living in someone’s head rent-free.

It can be used in situations when the party plans to split up, perhaps to pursue different side quests in town, but still need to coordinate with each other. This can also be used if the Rogue wants to scout ahead, but isn’t sure it will be able to sneak back and can instead radio back with the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer.

Psionic Sorcery is a much cheaper and action efficient way to use the Psionic spells. The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer does not even have to convert the Sorcery Points into spell slots, saving or two points per casting vs a converted slot. It isn’t the same as at-will casting, but it does make sorcery points another well to draw from rather than a nebulous mass of energy that always needs to be converted or used for very specific abilities.

The lack of components allows the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to use their spells even within a Silence spell effect or if their hands are bound. This also de facto allows them to cast spells in public situations without being detected unless someone is specifically looking for spells, like with Detect Magic.

Psychic Defenses is a simple ability that emphasizes the theme of the subclass. Resistance to Psychic damage will not come up often, but it is much more likely against otherworldly threats. The advantage against charmed/frightened saving throws will definitely come up intermittently, but largely allows the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to feel like they are a master of mind powers who has little to fear from other manipulators.

Revelation in Flesh is a mass of often glossed over features. The mobility options for flying and swimming are helpful and the most likely to get used. Seeing invisible things is one of those abilities that Arcane casters normally think about taking, but it doesn’t come up enough often to warrant a place on a spell list.

The gaining amorphous anatomy is the most unsettling out of the bunch, being able to turn into something like Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man and ooze through restraints and barriers. While situational, Revelation in Flesh provides a weirdness factor this subclass needed.

Warping Implosion is a bailout option with some zoning effects and damage attached. This pairs well with a quickened spell, allowing the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to pull everyone into a clump and cast Evard’s Black Tentacles at a safe distance on one turn.

The default list of spells for the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer focuses a lot on battlefield control. Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, and Evard’s Black Tentacles all section off parts of the battlefield as no-go zones. Sending and Rary’s Telepathic bond are more about team coordination. Calm Emotions and Detect Thoughts are for roleplay and conflict resolution. Dissonant Whispers and Telekinesis are about moving the enemy into a dangerous position. Summon Aberration is a thematic punching machine, dealing damage in a few different ways depending on the summon.

When an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer joins a DMs table, the DM should prepare for a Sorcerer keyed into information gathering and making a mess of the battlefield. There will be a lot of AoE effects in play with the default spell list, let alone if they take spells like Fireball.

The party will have access to much better communication methods than players normally think to build and will be able to share urgent information quickly. In terms of combat, the best way to prepare for this subclass is to consider what kind of saving throws the creatures the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer will be facing. Many of their subclass spells are dependent on Wisdom and Strength saving throws. Not many creatures have both, so that should help the DM determine the likelihood of successful actions the Sorcerer may take over the course of the combat.

Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

Clockwork Soul Sorcerers are perfect for steampunk enthusiasts and players who think their teammate should always have a fair chance at succeeding.

At 1st level, the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer gains Clockwork Magic and Restore Balance.

Clockwork Magic means that the Clockwork Sorcerer gains additional spells that don’t count against their spell limit and are counted as Sorcerer spells. All are gained at the following levels on the left and are as follows:

Clockwork Spells

Level Spells

1st alarm, protection from evil and good

3rd aid, lesser restoration

5th dispel magic, protection from energy

7th freedom of movement, summon construct

9th greater restoration, wall of force

When the Clockwork Sorcerer gains another level in Sorcerer, it can replace one spell from the Clockwork Spells table with another spell of the same level so long as it is an abjuration or transmutation spell from Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard.

Restore Balance

Restore Balance allows the Clockwork Sorcerer to use its reaction on a creature within 60 ft. who is rolling a d20 and negate advantage or disadvantage on the roll. The Clockwork Sorcerer can use this feature a number of times equal to its proficiency bonus every long rest.

Bastion of Law

At 6th level, the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer gains Bastion of Law. As an action, the Clockwork Sorcerer can use 1-5 Sorcery points to create a magical ward that protects either itself or another creature it can see within 30 ft. that lasts until a long rest or until this feature is used again.

This ward provides a number of d8s equal to the number of Sorcery Points used to create it. When the creature affected by the ward takes damage, it can expend a number of those dice, roll them, and reduce the total damage done by the total.

Trance of Order

At 14th level, the Clockwork Sorcerer gains Trance of Order. This allows the Clockwork Sorcerer to enter a state of prediction and calculation for 1 minute as a bonus action. For that duration, attacks against the Clockwork Sorcerer cannot have advantage and any time the Clockwork Sorcerer makes an attack roll, ability, check, or saving throw, a d20 roll under 9 counts as a 10 before modifiers. This state can only be used once per long rest unless reactivated with 5 Sorcery Points.

Clockwork Cavalcade

At 18th level, the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer gains Clockwork Cavalcade. As an action, the Clockwork Sorcerer can create a magical 30 ft. cube around them with spirits of law from Mechanus. The following effects activate during this action:

The spirits supply 100 hit points of healing that the Clockwork Sorcerer can divide up among any of the creatures within the cube
Any damaged objects totally inside the cube are completely repaired instantly
The Clockwork Sorcerer can choose any number of creatures and objects then every spell of 6th level or lower affecting them

This ability can be used once per long rest unless reactivated using 7 sorcery points.

Understanding the Clockwork Sorcerer

Clockwork Sorcerers like predictable, replicable methods. The Restore Order feature allows them to eliminate an enemy’s advantage on attack rolls and remove a disadvantage from an ally. If the Clockwork Sorcerer shares this ability with the party, they are sure to become a favorite quickly.

When an ally gets Poisoned or Blinded, the Clockwork Sorcerer makes that much more manageable by giving them at least one attack roll free of penalty. At later levels, this is especially important as the Clockwork Sorcerer can undercut an enemy’s frustrating Magic Resist and flatten their chances of succeeding on a saving throw.

Bastion of Law needs some time to ramp up since, at 6th level, it can feel like choosing between having Sorcery points and having an extra layer of protection. It does not require a reaction to use, fortunately, so it will not interrupt the Restore Balance feature. This feature is going to be best used as either an additional layer of protection for the Clockwork Sorcerer when going into an unknown situation or to armor another player character when everyone knows they are about to get hit hard.

Trance of Order is a solid feature that can be deployed during the most serious combat of the day. It makes the Clockwork Sorcerer run, while a little on the nose, like clockwork. Its chances of success are much higher when many of the negative possibilities are just taken out wholesale. For the Clockwork Sorcerer to get the most mileage out of this ability, it would be prudent to take an attack roll spell and gauge the enemy’s AC by watching allies attack it or by feeling it out with a cantrip.

Clockwork Cavalcade is for when combat has gone off the rails against the party and they need a powerplay to get them competitive again. It isn’t a full reset for the party, but it goes to great lengths to put everyone back into service. Restoring health en masse allows the Clockwork Sorcerer to put everyone in range back on their feet and give extra health to those getting hit the hardest.

Restoring broken structures is mostly thematic, but could potentially fix armor and repair buildings to provide cover. Ending the spells of the Sorcerer’s choice is where they can turn off an enemy’s game-changing spells like Dominate Person, Mass Suggestion, Eyebite, and Greater Invisibility. This ability is a rallying maneuver the whole party will need to take advantage of.

The Clockwork Magic base spell list is a lot of debuff treatments and defensive spells. Alarm, Aid, Protection from Energy, and Protection from Evil and Good are preventative measures usually deployed before combat or on the first round. Greater/Lesser Restoration, Dispel Magic, and Freedom of Movement work to put people back in fighting form. Summon Construct is an ally to beat enemies and Wall of Force is effectively a combat pause button when given the right placement.

These spells are able to be swapped out for other Abjuration and Transmutation spells (including Wizard and Warlock) which squarely places them in either defense or buff/debuff territory. Excellent choices for these include Shield, Enlarge/Reduce, Counterspell, Haste, Slow, Banishment, Animate Objects, and Telekinesis.

DMs should prepare for a Clockwork Sorcerer by considering the conditions different creatures use against a D&D party. Some DMs feel guilty when poisoning a player character or paralyzing them to get crit on. The Clockwork Sorcerer is a gift to DMs in some ways, freeing up more damaging conditions to be used on players who are guaranteed to be able to counterplay them.

DMs would also do well to be patient when the player uses its Restore Order feature at seeming inopportune times and consider how that might change story moments if they involve rolling a d20 or results (to resist mind control or thwart an assassination attempt, for example). Trance of Order will also be a big moment for the player, meaning that when an enemy has a low AC or low saving throws, they effectively have no fear of missing or failing. However, with the exception of Paladins and Monks, no class is good at every saving throw. There are bound to be chinks in that armor.

Warlock Subclasses

Fathomless

More Cthulhu-man than Aquaman, the Fathomless Warlock brings the power of the cold, eldritch trench to every session!

At 1st level, the Fathomless Warlock gains an Expanded Spell List, Tentacle of the Deep, and Gift of the Sea.

Per the Expanded Spell List, the following spells are added to the Warlock’s spell list and can be chosen at the appropriate Warlock level. The spell level is on the left and the spells are on the right:

Level Spells

1st create or destroy water, thunderwave

2nd gust of wind, silence

3rd lightning bolt, sleet storm

4th control water, summon elemental (water only)

5th Bigby’s hand (which appears as a tentacle), cone of cold

Tentacle of the Deeps

Tentacle of the Deeps allows the Fathomless to summon a spectral tentacle that is 10 ft. long at a point they can see within 60 ft. as a bonus action. The tentacle lasts for a minute or until the Fathomless Warlock summons one in a different location.

Once created, it can immediately make a melee spell attack against one creature within 10 ft. If it hits, the target takes 1d8 cold damage and its speed is reduced by 10 ft. until the start of the Fathomless warlock’s next turn. The tentacle’s damage increases by another d8 at 10th level.

This tentacle can move 30 ft. and repeat the attack as a bonus action for the duration. The number of times the Fathomless Warlock can summon these tentacles is equal to its proficiency bonus every long rest.

Gift of the Sea

Gift of the Sea provides the Fathomelss Warlock a swimming speed of 40 ft. and the ability to breathe underwater.

At 6th level, the Fathomless Warlock gains Oceanic Soul and Guardian Coil.

Oceanic Soul

Oceanic Soul provides resistance to cold damage and while the Fathomless Warlock and any other creature are fully submerged in water they can communicate through any speech and fully understand one another.

Guardian Coil

Guardian Coil means that when the Fathomless Warlock sees one creature take damage while within 10 ft. of the tentacle (self-included), it can use its reaction to reduce the damage by 1d8. This ability can reduce the damage by 2d8 at 10th level.

Grasping Tentacles

At 10th level, the Fathomless Warlock gains Grasping Tentacles. The Warlock now knows the spell Evard’s Black Tentacles. It counts as a Warlock spell, but not against the Warlock’s spell limit. It can be cast without a spell slot once per short or long rest.

Whenever the Fathomless Warlock casts this spell, its patron modifies the spell’s casting so that damage cannot break the Fathomless Warlock’s concentration and the Fathomless Warlock also gains temporary hit points equal to its Warlock level.

Fathomless Plunge

At 14th level, the Fathomless Warlock gains Fathomless Plunge. As an action, the Fathomless Warlock can teleport itself and five other willing creatures it can see within 30 ft. In a mess of tentacles, all of the selected targets vanish and reappear 1 mile away in or around a 30 ft. radius of a body of water (the size of a pond or bigger) that the Fathomless Warlock has seen before. This ability can be used once per short or long rest.

Understanding the Fathomless Warlock

The Fathomless Warlock takes some time to spin up in terms of damage dealing but has utility the whole way.

The Tentacle of the Deep, by 6th level, ensures that the Fathomless Warlock will always have something to do with its bonus action and reaction.

Because of the restrictions on spell slots the Warlock has, the Eldritch Blast is the beginning and end of the average Warlock’s turn. The Fathomless Warlock may not be dealing a ton of damage or reducing a lot of damage with its Tentacle of the Deep, but it also has very few restrictions about how many times it can deal damage or reduce damage.

Gift of the Sea and Oceanic soul are mostly thematic extensions of the Fathomless Warlock but are absolutely essential for a seafaring campaign like Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Oceanic Soul in particular provides some utility benefit, allowing the Warlock the powers of Comprehend Languages without a spell slot.

Grasping Tentacles provides bonus temporary hit points and a free but limited spell slot for the Fathomless Warlock which all Warlocks covet. Given that it comes back on a short rest like the rest of the Warlock spell slots, there is no reason not to use this every combat.

Fathomless Plunge is an escape-hatch ability for a party that is running for their lives or is desperately tired of a dungeon they’ve been exploring. This ability will work better for Fathomless Warlocks that have explored the area they are adventuring in and allowing them to do so will be foundational to them as a subclass.

For DMs, the Fathomless Warlock’s tactics should be fairly predictable. In the average combat, they will likely cast an area of effect control spell, like Arms of Hadar or Evard’s Black Tentacles, then summon their Tentacle of the Deep. From there, they will likely use the Tentacle of the Deep and Eldritch Blast (possibly paired with Repelling Blast or Grasp of Hadar invocations) to work single targets, only using spell slots for Thunderwave/Lighting Bolt/Cone of Cold for enemies that will take too long to wear down using the normal methods.

Opportunities for the Fathomless Warlock to shine will include sea travel and exploration. Their ability to communicate with any submerged creature makes it ideal as a translator for fish or aquatic hostile creatures.

Making maps available to the Fathomless Warlock by 14th level is essential for its Fathomless Plunge, so methods of navigation should be built into any campaign that will include the Fathomless Warlock.

Genie

Geni Warlocks have a stronger connection to their Patron than any other Warlock and can do more than cast spells; they can make wishes come true!

At 1st level, the Genie Warlock gains an Expanded Spell List and Genie’s Vessel.

Per the Expanded Spell List, the following spells are added to the Warlock’s spell list and can be chosen at the appropriate Warlock level. In the Genie Warlock’s case specifically, they receive spells for choosing the Genie as their patron as well as optional spells for their specific Genie type detailed below.

Spell Level	Genie Spells	Dao Spells	Djinni Spells	Efreeti Spells	Marid Spells
1st	detect evil and good	sanctuary	thunderwave	burning hands	fog cloud
2nd	phantasmal force	spike growth	gust of wind	scorching ray	blur
3rd	create food and water	meld into stone	wind wall	fireball	sleet storm
4th	phantasmal killer	stone shape	greater invisibility	fire shield	control water
5th	creation	wall of stone	flame strike	flame strike	cone of cold
9th	Wish	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Genie’s Vessel

Genie’s Vessel is a feature that provides a small vessel of the Genie’s power such as a bottle, lamp, or an urn. This item must be tiny and can be used as a spellcasting focus for Warlock spells. It’s AC is equal to the Genie Warlock’s DC and it’s hit points are equal to the Warlock’s proficiency bonus + levels in Warlock. It is immune to poison and psychic damage. If it is destroyed, the Genie Warlock can perform a one-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from the patron and can be performed as part of a short or long rest. The vessel disappears if the Genie Warlock dies.

While holding it, the Genie Warlock gains two sub-features: Bottled Respite and Genie’s Wrath.

Bottled Respite

Bottled Respite allows the Genie Warlock to disappear and enter the vessel which remains in the space the Genie Warlock left. The interior of the vessel is an extradimensional location in the shape of a 20-foot-radius cylinder, 20 feet high, and resembles the Genie Warlock’s vessel’s design. The interior does include comfortable furnishings and temperature.

While inside the vessel, the Genie Warlock can hear everything outside it as if it was still in the space it left. The Genie Warlock can remain in the vessel a number of hours equal to twice its proficiency bonus. It can use a bonus action to leave the vessel early and is forcibly ejected if the vessel is destroyed or if the Genie Warlock dies.

When exiting, the Genie Warlock appears in the unoccupied space closest to the vessel. Objects can be left inside the vessel and can be brought out by breaking the vessel where they will appear harmlessly around the space the vessel was broken. Once the Genie Warlock has entered the vessel, it can’t enter it again until it finishes a long rest.

Genie’s Wrath

Genie’s Wrath allows the Genie Warlock to deal extra damage when it hits with an attack roll equal to its proficiency bonus. The damage type for this bonus is determined by the Genie type the Warlock is working with.

Genie Type	Geni’s Wrath Damage Type
Dao	Bludgeoning
Djinni	Thunder
Efereeti	Fire
Marid	Cold

Elemental Gift

At 6th level, the Genie Warlock gains Elemental Gift. At this level, the Genie Warlock becomes resistant to damage of a type based on their Genie Type. This damage resistance is the same type they deal with their Genie’s Wrath feature.

Also, the Genie Warlock can use a bonus action to give itself a flying speed of 30 ft. for 10 minutes which includes the ability to hover. This ability can be used a number of times equal to the Genie Warlock’s proficiency bonus every long rest.

Sanctuary Vessel

At 10th level, the Genie Warlock gains Sanctuary Vessel. When the Genie Warlock enters its vessel via Bottled Respite, it can choose up to 5 willing creatures within 30 ft. to come inside with it.

All residents of the vessel (Genie Warlock included) who stay inside for 10 minutes receive the benefits of a short rest and can add the Genie Warlock’s proficiency bonus to all Hit Dice rolled to restore health as part of the short rest.

The Genie Warlock can also use a bonus action to eject any number of creatures from the vessel. All occupants are ejected if the Genie Warlock dies or the vessel is destroyed.

Limited Wish

At 14th level, the Genie Warlock gains Limited Wish. As an action, the Genie Warlock can speak its desire to the Genie’s Vessel and call upon the power of its patron to request the effect of one spell that is 6th level or lower and can be cast as 1 action. The spell can be from any player class and the Genie Warlock doesn’t need to meet the requirements of the spell including components that require a gold cost.

Understanding the Genie Warlock

Complications on the Genie Warlock are front-loaded. Once the Genie subtype is chosen and the correct version of the spell lists are added, we start to see general trends. The standard Genie spells are focused on illusions and short-term provisions, with the exception of Wish which can do almost anything and Detect Evil and Good which is a simple detection ability. The rest will be faster to explain in a bulleted list.

Dao: lots of defense, with some environment shaping abilities
Djinni: three crowd control spells with Greater Invisibility for safety and a destructive capstone of Flame Strike
Eferetti: damage spells, with Fire Shield being the closest thing to defense (it’s kind of like Fiend Warlock 2.0)
Marid: two smoke screens, one defense, one environmental control spell, and the destructive capstone Cone of Cold

How the subclass feels will depend largely on the Genie subtype because of the wild differences in supplementary spell lists. For the sake of this article, we will focus on the Genie Warlock’s main features so as to not try to examine each possible permutation.

The Genie’s Wrath is a pinch of extra damage with one damage roll that scales. Bottled Respite and its upgraded version Sanctuary Vessel are the meat and potatoes of this subclass. Being able to take a short rest inside abject safety at 1st level is mighty helpful. It also works as a safe storage space for anything the party may need so long as it can be worn or carried.

For evil parties, sorry, you’ll need to really work to get a dead body into the vessel. This ability will likely lead to some of the hijinks that DMs may experience if they add a bag of holding to the party’s inventory. It’s a great infiltration ability. If the players need to get into a castle, they can sneak the Genie Warlock inside easily the vessel as part of a visiting noble’s possessions. Alternatively, if the Genie Warlock needs a place to hide, they can mostly bury the vessel in the ground and slip inside while the enemies aren’t looking. It is an ability that straddles roleplay focus and utility focus, but should always be entertaining to watch.

The resistances from Elemental Gift range from ok (like the Efritti’s and the Marid’s) to good (like the Djinni’s) to great (like the Dao’s). The interesting balancing here is the more helpful the element is on Genie’s Wrath, the less helpful it is to have as a resistance on the player character and vice versa (with the exception of the Dao, it’s just awesome like that). The flight provided by the Elemental Gift is excellent and provides the Genie Warlock a degree of safety it would normally have to cast a spell to achieve.

Limited Wish is where the line between Warlock and Patron starts to blurr a little bit. Being able to pull a Patron’s power into a fight without any material cost or bargaining is a solid power. No spell list requirement means that resurrection, warping minds, party teleportation, capturing souls, and hundreds of different ways to deal damage are now available. Its recharge time is notable as there only one exactly like in the Scribe Wizard subclass. With a max cap of four days and a minimum of one, this is an ability well suited to long-running campaigns or one-shots.

DMs preparing for a Genie Warlock should carefully think through the relationship between Patron and Warlock. Understanding how the Warlock interacts with the Patron allows the player to work its way up to ordering wishes a la carte and should be built up over a long period of time.

At lower levels, the Genie Warlock will likely focus on roleplay and using the vessel to its fullest. At the mid-level, they will be able to float and will need either another flying creature or ranged attackers to counter them. At high levels, they will most likely have a solid damage spell of some kind and will always have a wild card in their back pocket with their Limited Wish.

Wizard Subclasses

Bladesinging

The Bladesinging Wizard joins the selective “full casters who gets to hit things with a melee attacks effectively” club.

At 2nd level, the Bladesinging Wizard gains Training in War and Song and Bladesong. Training in War and Song provides proficiency with light armor, the Performance skill, and one type of one-handed melee weapon of the Bladesinging Wizard’s choice.

Bladesong allows the Bladesinging Wizard to invoke a special magical technique so long as they aren’t wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or a shield. This can be activated as a bonus action and ends after one minute or if the Bladesinging Wizard puts on medium/heavy armor, uses two hands to make an attack with a weapon, or ends decides to end it with no action required.

Bladesong

Bladesong provides the following benefits:

Their AC increases by their Intelligence modifier
Walking speed increases by 10 ft.
Advantage on acrobatics checks
Bonus to concentration checks equal to intelligence modifier

This feature can be used a number of times equal to the Bladesinging Wizard’s proficiency modifier every long rest.

Extra Attack

At 6th level, the Bladesinging Wizard gains Extra Attack. When taking the attack action, the Bladesinging Wizard can make two attacks or one attack and cast one cantrip.

Song of Defense

At 10th level, the Bladesinging Wizard gains Song of Defense. When the Bladesinging Wizard is in Bladesong and takes damage, it can use its reaction to expend a spell slot and reduce the damage by an amount equal to x5 the spell slot’s level.

At 14th level, the Bladesinging Wizard gains Song of Victory. The Bladesinging Wizard now adds its Intelligence modifier to melee weapon damage rolls while in Bladesong.

Understanding the Bladesong Wizard

Originally introduced in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, Bladesinging is one of the most simple Wizard classes. Based on its extremely specific weapon and armor requirements, the Wizards of the coast have a definite playstyle in mind.

It will function best when using spells like Blur, Shield, and Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade in conjunction to boost the generally diminutive melee fighting capability of a Wizard to something like that of a Fighter. It has light armor and the requirement of a one-handed melee weapon means this subclass heavily favors dexterity.

Skirmishing is the name of the game, plain and simple. The Bladesinger should skirmish a lot. It gets in, hits solidly with two hits at 6th level, then either uses its extraordinarily high AC to escape an attack of opportunity or teleports out with something like Misty Step.

DMs should prepare for a Bladesinging Wizard by considering what spells they might take and what scrolls will be present in the campaign for them to find. In addition to the spells already mentioned, Haste and much later Tenser’s Transformation would be gargantuan boosts in power to a Bladesinger.

In terms of limits, the Bladesinger Wizard will have incredible AC, but will still have weaknesses when clashing with saving throws and they will always only have one reaction no matter their level. In terms of flavor, the Bladesinger lends itself to music and leitmotifs to DMs should always ask their players what the Bladesong sounds like. From a soft falsetto to guttural death metal, players always have interesting ideas.

Order of Scribes

One of the most reading-intensive Wizard subclasses for both player and character, this is for Wizards who thought every spell in D&D looked good and couldn’t commit to just one school.

At 2nd level, the Scribe Wizard gains Wizardly Quill and Awakened Spellbook.

Wizardly Quill

Wizardly Quill lets the Scribe Wizard summon a tiny quill in a free hand as a bonus action with the following properties.

It does not require ink and produces whatever color the Scribe Wizard wishes
The time needed to copy a spell into the Scribe Wizard’s spellbook equals 2 minutes per spell level if the quill is used in the transcription
Anything written by the quill can be erased as a bonus action by waving the feather of the quill over it as a bonus action as long as the text is within 5 ft.

The quill disappears if the Scribe Wizard creates another one or if the Scribe Wizard dies.

Awakened Spellbook

Awakened Spellbook provides the Scribe Wizard’s spellbook a measure of intelligence and consciousness. While holding being held, the Awakened Spellbook provides the Scribe Wizard the following benefits.

It can be used as a spellcasting focus for Wizard spells
When casting a Wizard spell with a spell slot, the Scribe Wizard can temporarily replace the spell’s damage type with a type that appears in another spell in the spellbook, which alters the spell for this casting only. The spell the damage type comes from must be of the same level as the spell slot being used.
When ritual casting, the Wizard can use the spell’s normal casting time rather than add 10 minutes to qualify it as a ritual once per long rest.

If destroyed or separated from the Scribe Wizard, the Awakened Spellbook can be replaced over the course of a short rest using the Wizardly Quill to inscribe arcane sigils in a blank book or a magic spellbook to which the Scribe Wizard is attuned. Once the rest ends, the spellbook transforms into an Awakened spellbook with all its original spells included. The previous Awakened Spellbook has all the spells stripped away from it in this process, leaving it blank.

Manifest Mind

At 6th level, the Scribe Wizard gains Manifest Mind. As a bonus action while the Awakened Spellbook is on the Scribe Wizard’s person, it can cause the mind of its spellbook to manifest as a Tiny spectral object hovering in an unoccupied space within 60 ft. as chosen by the Scribe Wizard. The manifested mind is intangible, doesn’t occupy space, and sheds dim-light in a 10 ft. radius. The Scribe Wizard chooses its appearance, but it frequently appears as a spectral book, a wall of text, or an expert from the Scribe Wizard’s past.

The manifested mind can hear, see, and has darkvision out to 60 ft. The manifested mind can share what it sees with the Scribe Wizard no action required.

The Scribe Wizard can cast spells through the manifested mind’s space using its senses a number of times equal to its proficiency bonus every long rest.

The Scribe Wizard can move the manifested mind 30 ft. a bonus action through creatures but not objects to an unoccupied space.

The manifested mind dissipates if it is further than 300 ft. from the Scribe Wizard, is affected by Dispel Magic, if the Awakened Spellbook is destroyed, if the Scribe Wizard dies, or if the Scribe Wizard dismisses it as a bonus action.

This ability can be used once per long rest unless reactivated with a spell slot of any level.

Master Scrivener

At 10th level, the Scribe Wizard gains Master Scrivener. Using this ability, the Scribe Wizard can create one magic scroll of a spell from its Awakened spellbook by inscribing runes with its Wizardly Quill to a blank piece of paper once per long rest. The Awakened Spellbook must be within 5 ft. of the Scribe Wizard to do this.

The spell must be 1st or 2nd level and have a casting time of 1 action. When made into a scroll by this feature, the spell counts as one level higher than its base level and can be cast as an action. The scroll is only readable/usable by the Scribe Wizard and vanishes when cast or on the next long rest.

Also, the amount of time required to craft a spell scroll (see DMG pg. 284) is halved for the Scribe Wizard so long as they use their Wizardly Quill.

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One with the Word

At 14th level, the Scribe Wizard gains One with the Word. While the Awakened Spellbook is on the Scribe Wizard’s person, the Scribe Wizard has advantage on Arcana checks.

Also, when the Scribe Wizard takes damage while the manifest mind ability is active, the Scribe Wizard can use its reaction to dismiss the manifested mind and use the leftover magic to block the damage. When this is done, the Scribe Wizard must roll 3d6 and the Awakened Spellbook temporarily loses spells of the Scribe Wizard’s choice that have a combined spell level equal to or higher than the result of the 3d6. For instance, if the Wizard rolls a 15, it could sacrifice three 5th level spells, a 7th level spell and an 8th level spell, or any other combination. If there aren’t enough spells in the Awakened Spellbook to cover the cost, the Scribe Wizard drops to 0 hit points. This damage mitigation ability can be once per long rest.

This loss of spells is a lasting but not completely permanent consequence. The Scribe Wizard must wait 1d6 long rests before it can cast the lost spells even if it finds them in another scroll or spellbook. At the end of those rests, the spells reappear in the Awakened Spellbook.

Understanding the Scribe Wizard

DMs need to brace for this one as it one of the most logistically complicated subclasses in the game. Simply put, this subclass tries to take everything the Wizard does and takes it to the next level.

Wizardly Quill and Awakened Spellbook together mean that the Wizard has a much easier time learning new spells of any kind, can cast any ritual quickly once a day, and they have effectively cannot lose their spellbook with all their knowledge permanently, and swap out the damage type of a spell they are casting with another so long as they another spell in their spellbook with that damage type. That last one is probably the signature feature of this subclass and will require the most policing.

It might seem like micromanaging, but the player must understand they must have a matching spell level to swap out damage on a spell. It is the balancing mechanic. Otherwise, the Scribe Wizard is essentially doing full damage to everything it fights for the entire campaign and won’t struggle alongside the other players. It is not fun when one player character is leaps and bounds stronger than the others.

Manifest Mind acts as a sort of upgraded familiar that extends the range of the Scribe Wizard’s spells. Master Scrivener in effect provides the Scribe Wizard an extra 2nd or 3rd level slot of a 1st or 2nd level spell. This effectively saves them a spell slot and allows them to double up on spells they might not generally, like Invisibility or Hold Person, or damage boost a minor spell.

One with the Word is where things get complicated again. The basic math behind this one is to sacrifice a number of written spells equal to a random chance in order to cancel damage. That idea is a pinch odd because there is a random probability thrown in because the designers of the game were fully aware how hard it is to be a Wizard that doesn’t know any spells and this is their way of avoiding crippling the Scribe Wizard.

However, there is a further complication if this ability is used a few days in a row and the number of spells known goes down significantly. Should the previously mentioned condition be met, if the Scribe Wizard tries to use this ability without enough spells to meet the requirement, the Scribe Wizard drops to 0 hit points. This is a strange, foreign penalty nowhere else in D&D.

Normally, when a player doesn’t have enough resources to use a feature, it simply fails and doesn’t punish the player for trying. Read as written, that is how this ability works though. However, brutalizing a Scribe Wizard until their One with Word fails is a challenge even hard core DMs would have to actively be trying for. At 14th, going only by the two spells Wizards gain by leveling up each time, they will have 56 combined spell levels that the 3d6 has to run through. That will require high rolls on both the 3d6 and on the long rest spell book recovery time in order to exhaust this ability.

In addition to the previously mentioned concern for DMs, they should also ask their players keep a list of all the spells lost and be sure to track days in the campaign on a calendar when One with the Word activates. Also, make sure any player at your table is fully aware of how that impacts their character. This might backfire spectacularly if the player deletes spells they have prepared mid-combat and are left without the spells they desperately need.

Navigating New Resources

New resources are always fun to browse! Players and DMs alike get excited for new possibilities. However, understanding all the nuanises of these subclasses can be tricky.

Be sure to check out all our articles on Tasha’s Subclasses to give you the guidance you need to use these resources with confidence!

Until next time, my friends,

May your game have advantage!

-Halfling Hannah

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10 Dungeon Master Take-Aways from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has dozens of Dungeon Master tools and all of them demand immediate attention. In the interest of making every DM’s life a little easier, we at Halfling Hobbies are highlighting some of the most important tools you need to know and even a few that might have slipped past you. If you need to purchase a copy, make sure to support local by purchasing it from our partner, Noble Knight Games. Click this link to purchase it!

Players can have more customization than ever

Customizable Origin is here. It’s official D&D canon that you can change the statistic pluses a race provides. The numbers have to stay the same, for example, a Half-Orc still can only gain a +2 to one stat even if it isn’t Strength anymore. The Wizards of the Coast recommend this option heartily if your player is taking an approach that goes against the normal archetype of the race. For example, the Rogue Half-Orc probably needs the bump in Dexterity more than strength. In a truly fascinating turn of events, Wizards of the Coast has also offered a far more piecemeal approach to race building with Custom Lineage, separate from the above-mentioned feature. Custom Lineage lets the player and the DM work together to essentially build a new race in the mold of the Variant Human from the Player’s Handbook. For brevity’s sake, the Variant Human allows a player to play a Human with one feat at level 1 as well as gain one tool proficiency, +1 to two different statistics, and one language of their choice. What they offer in this book is similar, but it isn’t limited to humans anymore. If you want to dump all the standard features for a Halfling and give them a feat, +2 to any statistic, and a limited number of proficiencies, you definitely can. They even have rules for customizing weapons and skill proficiencies that come with races like Elves and Dwarves That’s not even getting into the 20+ subclasses, Martial Versatility, Cantrip Versatility, the ability to change subclasses, and the tsunami of individual spell options for players; each of which will have their own articles.

Battle Master Fighters receive some much-needed love

With new seven new Maneuvers and some guides to help new players build their characters, there is not a better time to be a Battle Master Fighter. The Battle Master subclass of Fighter is considered one of the most versatile and adaptable subclasses in the game and that continues here. With new Reaction and Bonus action attacks, redirects, and grappling, the Battle Master is competitive with spell casters in raw options per turn. There also seems to be an effort to make this subclass more interesting in roleplay while still being less dependent on ability scores. One of the Maneuvers bump social Charisma checks, one bumps Intelligence and Wisdom checks to gather information with Investigation and Insight, and one allows you to bump your Stealth checks. Even with only one decent score and a handful of proficiencies, a player could use these new Maneuvers to stretch a Battle Master to fill another role if there’s a gap in the party’s build. The builds they provide are good building blocks for new players trying to navigate the million or so options. Varying from hard hitters, to support roles, to ranged strikers, to the gimmicky but mostly viable fist-fighter build called the Pugilist, this is a good place to start someone with no experience in the game.

Tasha’s Cauldron is bubbling over with artifacts, new magic items, and magical tattoos

The relatively small amount of artifacts found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide is fully supplemented here. From Baba Yaga’s Mortar and Pestle to the Demonicon of Iggwilv (another name for Tasha) to the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar, DMs can base entire campaigns around any one of these effect-dense and lore rich artifacts. Many class-specific items join us with the release of this book. The standouts among these include Shards for Sorcerers and Spellbooks for Wizards. The Shards each activate a special effect when a meta-magic is used and they all originate from one of the other planes in D&D besides the Material Plane. Many spellbooks for Wizards are available with ready-made spells prepared for the Wizard upon attunement and each focuses on assisting a different school of magic. The magical tattoos are a hybridization between racial abilities and magical items, and not just because they generally require attunement. The abilities provided fill very specific needs that players might have like tremendously improving armor class, a melee buff, advantage on stealth checks, or an area-of-effect attack. For DMs who want to make sure that a magical ability goes to only the player it is intended for, these are a great answer.

The Sidekicks system will take the work out of leveling up NPCs

If your players have ever had a long-running friendly NPC in your campaign or a pet that survived too many battles to stay the same stat block, the Sidekick upgrade system is what you need. The logic is as follows: as the players level up and have a regular ally or tag-a-long they drag with them everywhere, the Sidekick should level up with them. Broadly speaking, the three Sidekick classes are stripped-down versions of player classes. The Spellcaster can be made in the mold of a Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Bard, or Warlock. It also casts spells using whatever spell casting stat is highest. The Expert (the Rogue class) focusing on helping players hit their targets, avoiding getting killed, and can perform even high-level skill checks. The Warrior gets to soak up damage and attack more times per turn. Each one of their ability sets is designed to provide a gentle incline in terms of power, while always making sure the players are flashier and more powerful in almost every way. These upgrades are restricted to creatures with a ½ Challenge Rating, so players cannot upgrade a spellcasting friend who’s already able to cast 5th level spells. This works better for long-running allies rather than fast friends, who should already have these levels if they are anticipated to make frequent appearances. This also works great for one-off NPCs, such as the one in my eBook, NPCs for RPGs. You can get 25 interesting and ready to use NPCs, complete with artwork, backstories and side quest for less than .40 cents each! Check out my eBook here!

Puzzles for players come premade, with handouts!

For the DMs that enjoy brain teasers, this book comes with puzzles pre-made. Most are number puzzles or ciphers, but there are a few situational puzzles that might be solved through the creative application of spells or abilities rather than the obvious solution. Explicit instructions are laid out for the DM so they can walk through the steps without having to improvise much on the fly. However, several options are available for customization to make the puzzles easier and harder based on the player’s and character’s knowledge. The book also goes on to stress the need to use the knowledge that either the player or character has. The thinking goes that the objective of the puzzles is to get the players to work together and while roleplay is important but should not detract from the ability of the party to work together. It does provide skill checks that players can roll to gain additional hints or information that informs the puzzle. The three difficulties of the puzzles (easy, medium, and hard) are informed by the number of hints that the writers of Tasha’s think the players may need.

Wizards of the Coast consolidates elements from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, Eberron, and more

Wizards of the Coast is working to make it less expensive to get into this game, by pulling elements from expansions and non-essential books into one mainline core book. Included from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide are the spells Lightning Lure, Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade, and Sword Burst. The artificer, the new class released in the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron, appears with new subclasses and optional upgrades. The subclass for Bards known as the College of Eloquence from the Mythical Guide to Theros and the Bladesinging subclass for Wizard from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide also are included.

Summoning spirits is a really big deal now

Summoning existed in older editions of D&D but was greatly reduced for 5e due to the known problem of outnumbering your enemy 3-to-1. The solution Tasha’s provides is the ability to summon a single creature from another plane with highly thematic abilities and game statistics that are scalable. There isn’t one specific spell that covers all of this, but several individual spells for different creature types including Aberrations, Beasts, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, Fiends, Undead, and more. Each creature from a different plane has distinct abilities and fighting styles. Some are scrappy and some are based around support, but they all hit reasonably hard. The Armor Class, Hit Points, damage, and Attack Rolls all scale based level of the spell cast and the level of the player/NPC. All of the spells are concentration and all have specific material components worth a certain amount of gold, so tell your players to keep their eyes peeled for good components.

Ranger 2.0 is now live! (It’s really more like 5.0 or 6.0, but who knows anymore)

The Ranger needs special attention in the book of new class features specifically because the changes are not ability augments or additions, but full replacements. The Natural Explorer ability is replaced with Deft Explorer which gives expertise and 1st level and new abilities like a movement increase at 6th and a temporary health ability 10th level. Favored Foe, which used to focus on creature type, has been replaced by a new Hunter’s Mark-like ability that activates on a hit and scales with player level but requires concentration. The 3rd Level ability Primeval Awareness and the 10th Level ability Hide in Plain Sight have been replaced by a series of once a day spells and the ability to turn invisible as a bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus respectively. In addition to all of that, the Ranger spell list has been expanded and it has gained the new fighting styles presented in Tasha’s. The Ranger has been experimented with extensively over the last few years, not just by players but also by the Wizards of the Coast in various playtest PDFs released to fans, and has been seen as a failure to launch. Many players have been frustrated by its seeming lack of a role and unimpressive performance at mid-to-high levels.

Players negotiating with monsters just got a heck of a lot easier

Provided in the “Parlaying with Monsters” section, each type of creature is given a table of desires the DM can roll on to set the monster’s immediate objective. Once an objective is established in the mind of the DM, they can introduce that idea to the players through recommended checks provided in Tasha’s. The basic rule of thumb to determine a creature’s motives are Arcana or Religion for otherworldly creatures and History or Nature for creatures that live on the Material Plane, but you’ll have to buy the book for the specifics.

Every single part of this book is optional

It is easy to gloss over but on page 4, before the content even begins, it says in plain text: “Everything in this book is optional. Each group, guided by the DM, decides which of these options, if any, to incorporate into a campaign.” If you are a DM, new or old, and you’re either intimidated by them or they violate the delicate balance of your table, you are under no obligation to use the new rules. Remember, the DM is the ultimate adjudicator of the rules at their table, and it’s their job to make provide an environment where everyone can have fun. If you use parts of them and ignore the rest, that’s just as valid as using all of them or none of them. That’s the fun of D&D. It is what you make it! Until next time, May your game, have advantage my friends! -Halfling Hannah

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Every Condition and How to Use Them in D&D 5e

What are Conditions in 5e?

5e’s Conditions are circumstances or effects that change the abilities of a creature, usually negatively. The most common Conditions include: Grappled, Prone, Paralyzed, Frightened, and Incapacitated.

Some are simple, like being Deafened, and some have multiple layers, like Exhaustion; but a good grasp on how they all work and how to use them brings an extra layer of richness to both combat and roleplay. Here’s your comprehensive guide to every condition in 5e!

Because this article is massive, I have create links to each section of the article below. Click the condition you are looking for to skip directly to that section, or just keep scrolling to browse all conditions in D&D 5e.

Blinded

Exhaustion

Incapacitated

Petrified

Restrained

Tips and Tricks for Using Conditions

Charmed

Frightened

Invisible

Poisoned

Stunned

Deafened

Grappled

Paralyzed

Prone

Unconscious

Blinded

A blinded creature can’t see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s Attack rolls have disadvantage

Common Causes: Spells like Blindness/Deafness and Darkness, an area being Heavily Obscured (like dense fog or a pitch-black night), Mummy Lords, and Gibbering Mouthers

Why it matters to players: If you want to debilitate an enemy spellcaster quickly, this is a good blanket response. While a martial can still take attacks at disadvantage at things they might be able to hear, smell, or bump into; many spells have a line of sight requirement. Besides sight-based checks, your other ability checks are unaffected unless your DM rules otherwise. You can still Dodge to make attack rolls against you flat or try wrestling with your enemy with a Grapple check.

Why it matters to DMs: This is a key condition to remember when building an environment. Many creatures have Blindsight, Tremorsense, or Dark vision to help them cope with dark areas. If you have remarkably effective PCs you’re trying to balance an encounter against, make sure your NPCs and monsters take advantage of the shadows and the dark of night to gain an edge in combat.

Charmed

A charmed creature can’t Attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful Abilities or magical Effects.
The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.

Common Causes: Spells like Charm Person, Dryads, Lamias, Vampires, and Bards as a whole

Why it matters to players: Being charmed is not the same as being dominated outright. The charmer does not have license to do whatever they want to the charmed and can’t expect total obedience. It is also worth noting, the Charmed condition does not mean they have to like you. Threats are also a social tactic. Many DMs might also rule that Insight is a social ability check, making Charm effects a viable option if Zone of Truth or Truth Serum are not available.

Advantage on social ability checks and the inability of the charmed to attack means its best deployed before combat or when a party is attempting to stop a fight.

Many charm abilities build off the base of the Charmed effect and add additional riders and terms. For example, the Charm Person specifies that the spell fails if the Charmer or their friends attack the Charmed. Crafty players might hide their allegiances to one another and pretend to be strangers for an attack on a Charmed target without breaking the effect, assuming the DM agrees to the plan.

Why it matters to DMs: Breaking up the party with a Charm effect is not only interesting on a combat level but deeply challenging on a social level. Particularly interesting is when it happens in a social situation and suddenly one of the characters seems smitten and confused then acts in a way they never would before.

How do the other players react? If the group leader is agreeing with the enemy, how does the party behave? If the Barbarian refuses to attack a target and its rage expires, it’s suddenly a much easier target.

Creatures with the Fey Ancestry trait will have advantage against these saves.

Deafened

A deafened creature can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.

Common Causes: the spell Blindness/Deafness and Silence, loud explosions, Horn of Blasting, and Androsphinxes

Why it matters to players: This is the most situational of the Conditions. The two most obvious uses are using the spell Blindness/Deafness to walk past a guard dog or to ensure a sleeping target has no way of knowing an attack is coming. A lesser-known use for it would be for subterranean creatures that rely on echolocation to find their targets. This will blind them effectively, making them a much easier target.

Why it matters to DMs: For direct combat application, deafening players can make it much harder for them to communicate and lead to a game of charades mid-combat.

If they are deafened coming into a room by a loud explosion, it may set them up for an ambush as well. If a player is deafened for a while, this could be a mystery plot hook where they observe a conversation but have no knowledge of its contents.

Exhaustion

Disadvantage on Ability Checks
Speed halved
Disadvantage on Attack rolls and Saving Throws
Hit point maximum halved
Speed reduced to 0
Death

If an already exhausted creature suffers another Effect that causes exhaustion, its current level of exhaustion increases by the amount specified in the effect’s description.
A creature suffers the Effect of its current level of exhaustion as well as all lower levels. For example, a creature suffering level 2 exhaustion has its speed halved and has disadvantage on Ability Checks.
An Effect that removes exhaustion reduces its level as specified in the effect’s description, with all exhaustion Effects ending if a creature’s exhaustion level is reduced below 1.
Finishing a Long Rest reduces a creature’s exhaustion level by 1, provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink.

We will provide an at a glance overview, but for a full breakdown of this layered condition check out this article or this video.

Common Causes: Non-stop adventure, horrible weather effects, Frenzy Barbarians,

Why it matters to players: Being exhausted is bad. There are no two ways about it. This is bad, gets worse in a hurry, and is a slow recovery. If you are suffering from three points of Exhaustion, your player character needs to go to the hospital. The only thing besides a Long Rest that can help with this is the spell Greater Restoration.

Frenzy Barbarians can enter a Frenzied Rage and gain a point of exhaustion at the end of their Rage in exchange for an additional attack as a bonus action. This is akin to something like a super form or emergency option. It’s your trump card, but you can only play it once a day safely or TWICE in absolutely dire circumstances and function in a fight. Use wisely, but swing hard. Three greatsword attacks at level 5 are so satisfying.

Why it matters to DMs: Deploy with caution and make sure all your players know what they’re getting into. This is one of the most roleplay heavy conditions so make sure to encourage them to describe why they have disadvantage on their ability checks or in how you flavor their struggle. “Your arms are sore and you can’t hold your opponent down.” “You have a delayed reaction to the noise behind you and don’t see anything.” “Despite the pain you carry in your back and how bad your fingers hurt, you manage to succeed and the lock clicks open.”

Frightened

A frightened creature has disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight.
The creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear.

Common Causes: the spell Fear, Dragons, Pit Fiends, Scarecrows, Bheur Hags, and Conquest Paladins

Why it matters to players: Frightened, far more than Charmed, is a battlefield control mechanism. The inability to attack effectively or even get close to a target is a fantastic way to bottleneck enemies and ensure you don’t get overwhelmed. Most abilities that cause the fear effect are area-of-effect so always be sure to maximize how many targets you can get within your range.

Spellcasters will have an advantage here that most martials won’t: many spells do not require attack rolls. Saving throws are 100% unaffected by the frightened condition so even if your Wizard is wetting himself, he can still cast Fireball.

Why it matters to DMs: There are a few implications to this effect, but the most mechanical is that it limits the action economy for a lot of creatures. In the case of Dragons and Pit Fiends, it ensures players can’t spend all their time dealing damage at 100% capacity. The early rounds are generally spent overpowering the effect or outsmarting it, like a Cleric casting the Heroism spell or Calm Emotions.

The ability to frighten adds a little bit of mystique to a creature. While players always assume their characters are brave, they are still people and people have moments of weakness. It takes a roleplay element, like a creature being so horrible and so reviled that its name inspires fear across the land, and brings it into a mechanic.

As a word of advice, I don’t not recommend using the Frightened effect on players too often. As previously mentioned, every player wants to believe their character is brave when it matters and challenging that idea is good in doses. However, you don’t want them to feel ineffective in combat too often or they might not get to enjoy the fantasy of themselves as heroes.

Gith and some Halflings will have advantage on all fear saves.

Grappled

A grappled creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed.
The condition ends if the Grappler is incapacitated (see the condition).
The condition also ends if an Effect removes the grappled creature from the reach of the Grappler or Grappling Effect, such as when a creature is hurled away by the Thunderwave spell.

Common Causes: Players wrestling with their enemies, claws and jaws of certain creatures like Giant Crabs and Grell,

Why it matters to players: If you have a high Athletics score, you absolutely must make use of it here. It may not sound like a lot if your only concern is pummeling an enemy to death, but there are some creatures where simply swinging a greatsword is not the most helpful thing you can do.

By making an Athletics check, which can replace one attack action if you have the Extra Attack feature, contested by the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics you can Grapple a creature one size larger than you or smaller.

It will require you to have one hand on the creature and you will have half movement, but the creature comes with you. It takes an action on their part to break loose or the truly bold might try to shove you away, but if a creature is massively out-damaging you, this is a great way to tie up their turn. This is particularly brutal when combined with the Shove Prone (more on the prone condition later).

You can drag enemies into the spell caster’s area of effect, ground flying enemies, or even drag a target away from their allies where you can introduce them to the business end of your longsword. If they’re not strong or slippery, teleporting out or blasting you away is their only good option.

PS: You can only dodge if you have movement. The Grappled condition negates the Dodge action.

Why it matters to DMs: Grappled is another effect that is usually augmented by other effects or is a rider on an attack. While your creatures can benefit from all the same effects the players can, I would also advise the usage of this to bring players into a tense 1-on-1 conflict with a villain that can make them feel targeted and singled out for being so dangerous. Infamy is a good feeling as a player.

Word of advice about flying creatures, they do not have a penalty beyond the standard half movement for flying while Grappling a target. This means villains can use flying creatures for extraction or abducting heroes a lot easier.

Incapacitated

An incapacitated creature can’t take Actions or Reactions.

Common Causes: the spell Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Harpies, Yolchols, Corpse Flowers,

Why it matters to players: This is as close as you’ll get to a battlefield pause button. Its benefits are simple and straightforward: the target stops doing anything. Barring rider effects, all they can do is run for cover. This is particularly good for enemies with devastating attacks or have Reactions that protect them. When a target cannot take its action, it cannot take bonus actions either. You cannot Misty Step as a bonus action while Incapacitated.

This one often comes with additional rider effects. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter actually specifies that they fall prone and Hypnotic Pattern inflicts this condition on a whole slew of targets while also Charming them and reducing their movement to 0.

Why it matters to DMs: Read the terms on the abilities that Incapacitate carefully and communicate that in-game exceptionally well. A big part of good game design is counterplay, especially in D&D.

Understanding how a creature inflicts this condition and the ability of players to respond to it, either through the creative use of their abilities or preparation, makes these Incapacitating abilities a lot more exciting than “you have to sit there and wait till it wears off.”

Invisible

An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a Special sense. For the purpose of Hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature’s location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.
Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature’s Attack rolls have advantage.

Common Causes: the spell Invisibility, Green Hags, Firbolgs, Poltergeists, Orthons, very rarely some potions and items

Why it matters to players: This is the only Condition that is unequivocally good to be under. It makes you hard to hit, hard to find, and aids you in launching attacks. Scouting? Escaping? Ambushing? This condition does it all.

For many full casters, the Invisibility spell becomes available at level 3 and the ridiculously more powerful version Greater Invisibility becomes available at level 7.

I suggest familiarizing yourself with the pg. 48 of the Player’s Handbook to deploy this accurately and effectively. Read the terms of each spell, item, or circumstance that makes you Invisible so you can keep it as long as possible.

Why it matters to DMs: As frustrating as it can be to work with Invisible players, it can be even more frustrating to go against Invisible monsters. Monster abilities, like the Green Hag’s, do not have restrictions about how many times it can be used and leaves no tracks or disturbed earth. Orthons have a field of Invisibility they can use it AS A BONUS ACTION.

This is one of those things in 5e you have to balance letting players exercise their abilities and play their fantasy character, as an unperceivable Assassin for instance, with the right amount of challenge. You want them to know the same trick won’t work every time, even if it works a lot of the time.

A DM has a lot of tools to counter Invisibility: Echolocation, Tremorsense, Truesight, and Blindsight just to name a few. Player options to counter Invisible creatures are limited to their abilities and their creativity. Make sure to give them ample opportunity to flex some mental muscles to problem-solve creatively.

Paralyzed

A paralyzed creature is incapacitated (see the condition) and can’t move or speak.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
Any Attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.

Common Causes: spells like Hold Person, Ghouls, Ghasts, Yetis, and Mages

Why it matters to players: Automatic melee criticals with advantage while your opponent stares at you in frozen horror is, without exaggeration, an ideal situation. Watching them auto-fail Fireball saves is a close second though.

Except in rare cases, a caster will almost always set up one of their allies with this condition. You cast Hold Person on the guy that needs to die the most and seems like he’ll fail a Wisdom save, then let your teammates do the work. For higher-level Warlocks, being able to upcast this to level 3-5 on a Short Rest so you paralyze multiple targets just keeps the gravy train rolling.

Why it matters to DMs: Many of the monsters that use it are smarter than animals, but not exactly master tacticians. They are unlikely to be able to take full advantage of the effect as players will, but they are still smart enough to attack a creature while it’s on the back foot. Even with only that thinking, being paralyzed could still easily put a character into death saves or in the ground in a worst-case scenario.

Spellcasters like Liches, Archmages, and Aracanaloths are a whole different ball game. They are smart enough to exploit every advantage. Use it with them to your full creative potential.

If players need to understand this enemy is a serious threat, put this condition to work and they will never forget the encounter. This is a “put the fear of God in your players” kind of condition.

Petrified

A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
The creature has Resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.

Common Causes: Cockatrices, Medusas, Basilisks, Beholders, and Gorgons

Why it matters to players: So, you’ve been petrified. Unless it was a cockatrice, I guess your teammates are going on a quest to get you unstuck. Your options for getting unstuck are the spell Greater Restoration and whatever else the DM thinks is a viable option. This condition is that bad. Avoid it like the Black Plague.

Most Petrifying effects have two saves because the designers of the game are fully aware that this is a bad position to be in. The first save often Restrains you, so you are unable to move or fight as effectively. This is when your muscles start to calcify and your legs turn into marble.

Then the second save is where your life is on the line. Put your Bardic Inspiration, Luck Point, Aura of Protection, or whatever benefit you can on this save. This one is for all the money.

Why it matters to DMs: This is honestly less of a condition than it is a story hook and you should prepare for that. More so than any other condition, being Petrified could lead to some drama at your table because it feels like character death.

We know, as DMs, there’s an infinite number of solutions to every problem with a little sleight of hand and research on our part. So calm your players, have them take a deep breath, and tell them this is not the end of the world.

All the work they put into their character isn’t for naught. The party can work together, do a job, possibly hire a guest character played by the same player who got petrified to help them and find a high-level Cleric or Bard to get them out of this.

Poisoned

A poisoned creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls and Ability Checks.

Common Causes: Poisonous spiders, Thri-Kreen, Poisoner’s Kits, horrid stenches, Drow, Demons, and Devils

Why it matters to players: This is the most basic de-buff of the conditions. You are only worse at attacking and trying anything with your skills. Your options for coping with this include spells like Protection from Poison and Lesser Restoration, being a Dwarf or a Yuan-Ti, a Paladin’s Lay on Hands, the often overlooked anti-toxin, or being a high-level Monk. There are many ways to counter-play, but not having any of them means you are out of luck.

This is a category where spellcasters have an advantage as being poisoned does not change their saving throw spells in any way. Most if not all Poisoned effects target Constitution, so spellcasters are more likely to suffer from the effect than Martial classes anyway.

Using rules found in the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything players can harvest poisons from fallen enemies or even purchase some. Against powerful enemies, this can help turn the tide and soften them up for Grappling. Be cautioned though: undead, fiends, and a variety of other monsters are immune to the Poisoned condition outright.

Why it matters to DMs: Odds are you’ll come across this one a lot. It is a favorite of Wizards of the Coast and for good reason: it is easy and wreaks a lot of havoc. Not only is it often a rider effect, but the rules on how to deal with the poison also vary wildly. Some give the player a save at the end of every turn, some are one save before a long duration, some if you fail by 5 or more you gain an additional rider effect, and those are just the most frequent. Read each individual ability carefully and think about what they imply. Poison implies either an advanced mutation in a creature’s evolution or the intelligence of a creature to utilize it.

Prone

A prone creature’s only Movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition.
The creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls.
An Attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the Attack roll has disadvantage.

Common Causes: the spell Grease and Command, Dragons, Wolves, Minotaurs, and Stone Giants

Why it matters to players: Prone is the easiest condition to counter. Standing up only takes half of your turn’s movement and requires no additional actions. However, that still has to happen on the Prone creature’s turn and they cannot stand up if their movement speed is 0. This means you can Grapple someone while Prone, benefitting from both conditions until they break free or the Grappler is removed from play.

It is also worth noting that going Prone on purpose can occasionally be a good thing. In the rare circumstance that a sniper is attacking the party from a long distance, the party can crawl to give the sniper disadvantage on hitting them. It might sound a little silly, but it does work by the rules!

Why it matters to DMs: This effect is often a rider on a creature’s main attack actions and only increases your chances of hitting the party with a melee attack for free. We’d recommend this for use against player characters that seem impossible to hit or that skirmish a lot. Limiting mobility in 5e matters a lot due to Attacks of Opportunity.

Restrained

A restrained creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s Attack rolls have disadvantage.
The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity Saving Throws.

Common Causes: the spell Entangle, traps, the Grappler Feat, Nets, Constrictor Snakes, Water Elementals, Ropers, and claws of large enemies

Why it matters to players: Restrained has almost all the benefits of Prone and Grappled in one package and then some more. This is fantastic for setting up spell casters, snipers, and melee fighters alike with no specific preference. Just like targets that are Grappled or Restrained, they can choose to fight instead of escape but at a significant disadvantage and only saving throw based abilities will be unimpeded.

A Druid can cast Entangle to tie up a whole swath of enemies for the Wizard to follow up with a Fireball that they must save against at disadvantage.

As to countering the effect, normally an Athletics or Acrobatics check will do the job, but teleporting works just as well.

Why it matters to DMs: Often a rider on another ability or attack, most creatures will know weakness when they see it and attack a restrained target relentlessly. Even creatures with bestial intelligence will know they have a chance to swing the fight in their favor if they all attack a target struggling to fight back.

Saving throws against restrained often are strength based. Most players will usually have a decent strength or dexterity, but almost never both. If you have a troublesome Rogue who passes every Dexterity saving throw, maybe try catching them while they’re Restrained.

Stunned

A stunned creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move, and can speak only falteringly.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.

Common Causes: the spell Power Word: Stun, Monks, Vrocks, Mindflayers, Ultroloths, and Myconoids,

Why it matters to players: This is the direct upgrade from Restrained and Incapacitated: Stunned targets can’t fight back and automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saves. It doesn’t matter if their Dexterity is a 28, they fail against a Fireball with no dice rolls.

Why it matters to DMs: See our advice on Incapacitated.

Unconscious

An unconscious creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings
The creature drops whatever it’s holding and falls prone.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
Any Attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.

Common Causes: getting tired, the spell Sleep, Brass Dragons, Jackalwares, Homunculus, Drow, and Vrocks

Why it matters to players: Possibly the most overlooked condition, Unconscious makes night ambushes deadly and assassin work a lot easier. If your character is Evil aligned or just has dark tendencies, this will come up. This is the only condition more deadly than Paralyzed, and even then only by a slim margin.

Most, if not all, Unconscious effects end upon taking damage so it has more nuance than Paralyzed which often doesn’t care how much damage you are taking. When you get lucky enough to attack an Unconscious target, put as much damage as you can into that first hit. Poison your blade, Smite with your highest slot, cast Hunter’s Mark, use Savage attacker, cast Fireball at a high level, or use whatever other tricks you have to play because this is the time to play them.

Being Unconscious yourself is not very fun since it effectively skips your turn, but thinking of solutions your fellow players can use to wake you up can be. Taking damage or being shaken awake are the most common ways to cancel this effect, but these can come from a lot of places. Familiars or friendly NPCs can use their action to shake a player character awake thereby keeping the other players focused on combat. If you are Unconcious but have a sizable amount of health back, then you can start to consider how to get the smallest amount of damage dealt to you. These can be anywhere from the Cleric casting the spell Spirit Guardians and allowing you to take damage from it (you don’t automatically fail Wisdom saves while Unconcious) to the simple, effective method of throwing a dart at the downed character outside 5 feet.

Why it matters to DMs: Unconscious isn’t generally game-breaking since its easier to counter than other effects and is fairly rare in terms of monster abilities (excluding Drow which is almost a guarantee to knock out some of your players), but it will become a factor if a player suggests a night-time ambush.

Unconscious is more “give and take” than some of the other status effects. Namely, your players should be able to attack sleeping targets in proportion to the number of times it is used against them. The exception to this is that we haven’t known a DM savage enough to kill players in their sleep without any warning or back and forth, but we are sure they are out there. Being killed without any work to balance it against player choice isn’t going to be received well. The DM is supposed to put barriers in their campaign for the players to overcome, not be actively looking for a chink in their armor to ruin them with.

Special note, creatures with the Fey Ancestry trait will be immune to being put to sleep magically.

Tips and Tricks for Using Conditions

Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other no matter the number of each

Player’s Handbook Page 173: “If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa. In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage.”

This matters since almost every condition gives one of the two to someone. If you are Poisoned and Blinded then melee attack a Prone person, you make a flat roll regardless. Don’t be surprised and use to your full advantage. Evening the odds isn’t so hard when you know the rules.

Conditions stack and are absolutely brutal when used in conjunction

Do not be afraid to Poison a Stunned target. Do not be afraid to Blind a Restrained target. Do not be afraid to Grapple a Frightened Target. The descriptions and flavor of combat is incredible when conditions come into play like this.

You can find all the Conditions for 5e on PHB. 290.

Don’t be afraid to double-check these. It’s easy to forget the difference between Incapacitated, Stunned, and Paralyzed.

Determine if you will use the Unconcious Condition for naturally sleeping targets

For this instance particularly, Halfling Hobbies advises you to consider if natural sleep and induced sleep will be considered the same for this status effect. As a Homebrew rule, many DMs hybridize stealth mechanics with the Unconscious condition for natural sleep.

The idea is as follows: if a player succeeds a stealth check against a naturally Unconscious creature’s Passive Perception, they receive the benefits of the Unconscious condition against the target. On a failed check, the unconscious creature wakes up but is not immediately aware of what awakened it.

Set each other up for success

Remember that D&D is a game to be played in a group. Figure out how you can use conditions give your friends a leg up in the fight and you’ll find yourself stronger than ever before!

Until next time,

May your game, have advantage my friends!

-Halfling Hannah

DM’s Quick Guide to Deities in 5e

Each time you start a campaign, you have an amazing opportunity to tell a story. Religion can be a huge part of that story, should you and your players choose to include it. Choosing a patron god for each player based on alignment, domains, and character race can be extremely important for your role-playing journey.

To choose a deity for your adventures, first consider their alignment. Each character in your campaign has a spot on a moral scale that runs from lawful to chaotic on one axis, and good to evil on a second. There are 9 possible alignments to choose that can influence your deity’s motivations:

Lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good are ‘good’ alignments.
Lawful neutral, true neutral, and chaotic neutral are ‘neutral’ alignments
Lawful evil, neutral evil, and chaotic evil are ‘evil’ alignments.

Here, we’ve sorted the gods by pantheon, alignment, and even race when applicable. This quick reference can help you choose a deity for an NPC at a glance, and help your players decide who their character is.

The Forgotten Realms Pantheon

Forgotten Realms is one of the most popular campaign settings from editions past. The world of Faerûn is rich with deities (over 30 of them), and you may recognize deities and settings from the novels of RA Salvatore and video games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

While most major deities are worshiped all over the world of Faerûn, many are local deities or tribal deities that seem to favor smaller groups and are not as widely known.

Good Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Ilmater, god of endurance	LG (Lawful Good)	Life
Torm, god of courage and self-sacrifice	LG	War
Tyr, god of justice	LG	War
Chauntea, goddess of agriculture	NG (Neutral Good)	Life
Deneir, god of writing	NG	Knowledge
Eldath, goddess of peace	NG	Life, nature
Lathander, god of birth and renewal	NG	Life, light
Mielikki, goddess of forests	NG	Nature
Milil, god of poetry and song	NG	Light
Mystra, goddess of magic	NG	Knowledge
Lliira, goddess of joy	CG (Chaotic Good)	Life
Selune, goddess of the moon	CG	Knowledge, life
Sune, goddess of love and beauty	CG	Life, light
Tymora, goddess of good fortune	CG	Trickery

Neutral Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Azuth, god of wizards	LN (Lawful Neutral)	Knowledge
Helm, god of protection	LN	Life, light
Kelemvor, god of the dead	LN	Death
Savras, god of divination and fate	LN	Knowledge
Gond, god of craft	N (True Neutral)	Knowledge
Oghma, god of knowledge	N	Knowledge
Silvanus, god of wild nature	N	Knowledge
Tempus, god of war	N	War
Waukeen, goddess of trade	N	Knowledge, trickery
Leira, goddess of illusions	CN (Chaotic Neutral)	Trickery
Mask, god of Thieves	CN	Trickery

Evil Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Bane, god of tyranny	LE (Lawful Evil)	War
Loviatar, goddess of pain	LE	Death
Auril, goddess of winter	NE (Neutral Evil)	Nature, tempest
Bhaal, god of murder	NE	Death
Myrkul, god of death	NE	Death
Shar, goddess of darkness and loss	NE	Death, trickery
Beshaba, goddess of misfortune	CE (Chaotic Evil)	Trickery
Cyric, god of lies	CE	Trickery
Malar, god of the hunt	CE	Nature
Talona, goddess of disease and poison	CE	Death
Talos, god of storms	CE	Tempest
Umberlee, goddess of the sea	CE	Tempest

The Greyhawk Pantheon

The Greyhawk Pantheon has a lot of overlapping deities, as they are pulled from the religions of various ethnic groups across the continent of Oerik. While this setting was most popular in 3e, it continues to provide a wondrous backdrop for many campaign settings in 5e.

Good Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Heironeous, god of chivalry and valar	LG (Lawful Good)	War
Pholtus, god of light and law	LG	Light
Rao, god of peace and reason	LG	Knowledge
Ulaa, goddess of hills and mountains	LG	Life, war
Ehlonna, goddess of woodlands	NG (Neutral Good)	Life, nature
Fharlanghn, god of horizons and travel	NG	Knowledge, trickery
Pelor, god of the sun and healing	NG	Life, light
Kord, god of athletics and sport	CG	Tempest, war
Trithereron, god of liberty and retribution	CG	War

Neutral Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
St. Cuthbert, god of common sense and zeal	LN (Lawful Neutral)	Knowledge
Wee Jas, goddess of magic and death	LN	Death, knowledge
Beory, goddess of nature	N (True Neutral)	Nature
Boccob, god of magic	N	Knowledge
Celestian, god of stars and wanderers	N	Knowledge
Istus, goddess of fate and destiny	N	Knowledge
Obad-Hai, god of nature	N	Nature
Olidammara, god of revelry	CN (Chaotic Neutral)	Trickery
Relishaz, god of ill luck and insanity	CN	Trickery

Evil Deities

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Hextor, god of war and discord	LE (Lawful Evil)	War
Incabulos, god of plague and famine	NE (Neutral Evil)	Death
Nerull, god of death	NE	Death
Vecna, god of evil secrets	NE	Knowledge
Erythnul, god of envy and slaughter	CE (Chaotic Evil)	War
Luz, god of pain and oppression	CE	Death
Tharizdun, god of eternal darkness	CE	Trickery

The Dragonlance Pantheon

Dragonlance’s world of Krynn started as a popular campaign setting that innovated on the offerings of other settings at the time. Backed by an extensive series of novels and other media, it remains a popular (if less-used) setting.

In Krynn, deities meddle in the lives of the people who worship them. They are more than distant gods. There are three distinct categories of deities in the Dragonlance pantheon, divided by alignment.

Good Deities (The Gods of Good)

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Paladine, god of rulers and guardians	LG (Lawful Good)	War
Mishakal, goddess of healing	LG	Knowledge, life
Kiri-Jolith, god of honor and war	LG	War
Majere, god of meditation and order	LG	Knowledge
Solinari, god of good magic	LG	None
Branchala, god of music	NG	Light
Habbakuk, god of animal life and the sea	NG	Nature, tempest

Neutral Deities (The Gods of Neutrality)

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Gilean, god of knowledge	N (True Neutral)	Knowledge
Chislev, goddess of nature	N	Nature
Reorx, god of craft	N	Knowledge
Shinare, goddess of wealth and trade		Knowledge, trickery
Sirrion, god of fire and change	N	Nature
Zivilyn, god of wisdom	N	Knowledge
Lunitary, goddess of neutral magic	N	None

Evil Deities (The Gods of Evil)

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Takhisis, goddesss of night and hatred	LE (Lawful Evil)	Death
Sargonnas, god of vengeance and fire	LE	War
Chemosh, god of the undead	LE	Death
Nuitari, god of evil magic	LE	None
Morgion, god of disease and secrecy	NE (Neutral Evil)	Death
Hiddukel, god of lies and greed	CE (Chaotic Evil)	Trickery
Zeboim, goddess of the sea and storms	CE	Tempest

The Eberron Pantheon

Eberron works differently than the other available pantheons. There are various religions, mainly The Sovereign Host and their worshippers and The Dark Six who directly oppose them. Various other deities exist in other faiths, but comprehensive lists of their deities are not available.

The Sovereign Host

Deity	Alignment	Domains
Boldrei, goddess of community and home	LG (Lawful Good)	Life
Dol Arrah, goddess of sunlight and honor	LG	Light, war
Arawai, goddess of fertility	NG (Neutral Good)	Life, nature
Ollandra, goddess of good fortune	NG	Life, trickery
Onatar, god of craft	NG	Knowledge
Dol Dorn, god of strength at arms	CG (Chaotic Good)	War
Aureon, god of law and knowledge	LN (Lawful Neutral)	Knowledge
Balinor, god of beasts and the hunt	N (True Neutral)	Life, nature
Kol Korran, god of trade and wealth	N	Trickery

Nonhuman Deities

Finally, we come to the nonhuman deities. Other races worship different deities than the ones listed above, as they are mostly human deities (depending on the setting). They are arranged here by race.

Deity	Race	Alignment	Domains
Bahamut, god of good	Dragon	LG	Life, War
Tiamat, goddess of evil	Dragon	LE	Trickery
Corellon Larethian, deity of art and magic	Elf	CG	Light
Deep Sashelas, god of the sea	Elf	CG	Nature, tempest
Sehanine Moonbow, goddess of the moon	Elf	CG	Knowledge
Blibdoolpoolp	Kuo-Toa	NE	Death
Eadro, deity of the sea	Merfolk	N	Nature, Tempest
Garl Glittergold, god of trickery and wiles	Gnome	LG	Trickery
Grolantor, god of war	Hill giant	CE	War
Gruumsh, god of storms and war	Orc	CE	War
Hruggek, god of violence	Bugbear	CE	War
Kurtulmak, god of war and mining	Kobold	LE	War
Laogzed, god of hunger	Troglodyte	CE	Death
Lolth, goddess of spiders	Drow	CE	Trickery
Maglubiyet, god of war	Goblinoid	LE	War
Moradin, god of creation	Dwarf	LG	Knowledge
Rillifane Rallathil, god of nature	Wood elf	CG	Nature
Sekolah, god of the hunt	Sahuagin	LE	Nature, tempest
Semuanya, deity of survival	Lizardfolk	N	Life
Skerrit, god of nature	Centaurs and satyrs	N	Nature
Skoraeus Stonebones, god of art	Stone giants	N	Knowledge
Surtur, god of craft	Fire giants	LE	Knowledge, war
Thyrm, god of strength	Frost giants	CE	War
Yondalla, goddess of fertility and protection	Halfling	LG	Life

Conclusion

Choosing the right deity for a character (and for NPCs) can be extremely important for the course of your DnD campaign. This quick look at each pantheon available in 5e can help shape the way you and your players enjoy whichever setting you choose.

Until next time,

May your game, have advantage my friends!

-Halfling Hannah

Sources

DnD Beyond – Appendix B

Gods of the Multiverse

Wizards of the Coast D&D 5e Player’s Handbook

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Tips for Running an Apocalytic Campaign in D&D 5e

The apocalypse genre is one of the most popular in modern sci-fi and fantasy media. So popular, in fact, that it’s become a frequently asked for campaign scenario for Dungeons and Dragons fans! While there are many systems built on that idea (Cyberpunk is perhaps the most well-known of these), you definitely don’t have to switch systems.

Here are a few things to consider when building your apocalyptic Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition campaign.

Choosing an Apocalypse Scenario

An important basis for an apocalyptic campaign is its setting. There are a number of ways to cause an apocalypse, and each one presents a different set of rules and expectations for your players:

Disease. Your campaign’s world was beset by a terrible plague or super-bug, and as a result, is sparse and empty except for a few weary survivors pitted against each other for unsullied resources. This campaign setting lends itself well to zombies and mutants as potential enemies.
Disaster. A supermassive storm destroyed a huge portion of your campaign’s world, leaving everything flooded and torn to shreds. A massive earthquake rent a hole through an entire nation in your campaign’s world, separating them by an impassable gulf and leaving tremors and aftershocks in its wake. A nuclear facility had a horrible meltdown, and now your campaign’s world is toxic. Major natural and manmade disasters make for an excellent in-progress apocalypse storyline.
War. The nations of your campaign’s world are locked in global combat over a cause that’s slowly fading from the minds of its everyday citizens. Your party might be an elite group of special operations soldiers on an espionage mission, or a ragtag group of everyday citizens trying to navigate no man’s land.
Invasion. Someone, or something, has arrived on your campaign’s world and taken over, changing the very basis of society as they know it. This can be an obvious enslaving of the native people or a subtle takeover that your party is fighting against as a small rebel sect.

Choosing a Campaign Setting

Once you’ve decided how your apocalypse started, it’s time to decide where your adventurers’ story starts. There are several good options for apocalyptic settings

Open Wasteland. If your characters’ world was destroyed by bombs or beset by asteroids, and now there’s nothing left on the surface. Perhaps it’s even irradiated. This means that your characters will have to have found a way to survive on the surface or tunnel below it.
Empty Cityscape. A maze of streets full of cars that will never start again and skyscrapers set at dizzying angles on unstable foundations. Cities somehow look wrong when they’ve been emptied by the end of the world. This is the perfect setting for a post-apocalypse dungeon crawler! Abandoned or evacuated cities have millions of perfect hiding places for loot, allies, enemies, and lore drops.
Returned-to-nature settlements. Maybe your apocalypse was a long time ago, and the remnants of the old societies are being swallowed up by nature. Maybe your characters can’t understand some of the strange shapes under the trees that might have been houses once. This kind of setting is wonderful for an invasion campaign, especially if you’re playing a party of invaders!

Building an Apocalypse Party

Here’s where an apocalypse setting gets tricky: who is your party, and how did they get together? You’ll want to make sure you have a variety of backgrounds and character types; if you have an entire party of bitter, morose characters that saw the end of the world and decided there was nothing good left, they won’t exactly be open to sticking together long enough to go on an exciting adventure. Talk to your players and make sure everyone’s got a backstory that makes sense with the lore of the world, and you have a balanced enough party to get things done.

In an apocalyptic setting specifically, you’ll want at least one healer, one survival expert, one historian or lore specialist, one defense specialist, and one offense specialist. The specifics of class and race are up to the players, as well as any other essentials built into your setting specifically (for instance, an interpreter for an alien invader society where your goal will be infiltration, or a cleric to appease angry gods in a world destroyed by them), but these are generally a good basis to start a party on.

Setting a Difficulty Level

Okay, you’ve decided where you are and how you got there. Now it’s time for you to start working out the specific details, starting with the difficulty level of your campaign. As with any other campaign, it’s important to gauge your player’s experience alongside your own as a DM to know where to set the level of challenge. It’s worth talking it out as a group and deciding what your goals are.

If your goals for the campaign are to use it as a sandbox for exploring fun character concepts and battle scenarios, then a basic setting built around familiar tropes can make for an easy but fun campaign. On the other hand, if the point of the campaign is to explore the world and its lore, you can build your setting to be more nuanced and complex right from the start with its own established and explored societies and history.

You can always change this challenge level mid-campaign if you find that it isn’t working for you down the road. You can control the difficulty by adding or removing political intrigue, introducing or eliminating party secrets and hidden motivations, or changing or swapping out the mini-bosses and dungeons. Your world should be flexible and easy to adapt to your needs.

The Problem of Magic Users in The Apocalypse

A huge part of what makes D&D fun is the magic system, and the classes that tap into it. It’s a major part of the basic function of the game, but it does present a serious issue to the apocalyptic scenario: why wasn’t magic used to stop it? When you have characters who can shape earth to stop that massive quake or calm emotions to lull the war to a standstill until negotiations can take place, why would it get that bad in the first place?

Typically, this can be resolved in one of two ways.

The first option is to completely eliminate magic from your campaign’s world. This requires a lot of homebrewing and reworking of the mechanics but completely eliminates this dilemma. A Reddit user offered the advice of replacing the magic classes with scientific equivalents. It won’t be a perfect match, but it will make the story make a bit more sense.

The second option is to incorporate magic into the cause of the apocalypse. Perhaps the invaders were the ones that brought the magic, or the nuclear meltdown woke old gods and forces of nature very suddenly. Maybe the wars were fought with corrupted magic users on both sides. If magic is brought in after the inciting incident, then it couldn’t have been a preventative measure, and if it was a part of the problem in the first place, then it can cause tension because it wasn’t used to stop this from happening.

You’re Ready for Session One

Once you’ve built your world, established how it got to where it is now, and who put it there, it’s time to start your campaign. An apocalyptic game offers many exciting options for your first session, from starting with the actual apocalyptic event to starting with a fight over scarce resources. You could even begin with the stereotypical tavern meetup, with the twist of it being in the last functional tavern in the world.

From there, it’s time to go out and explore this fantastic setting you’ve created and hope that your players don’t derail your story too badly. May you have lucky dice and interesting encounters. Now get out there and run the ruined world. You’ve got an adventure to go on!

Until next time, my friends,

May your game have advantage!

-Halfling Hannah

No Time to Prep? Make it a Breeze with NPCs for RPGs!

(Includes Side Quests!)

Is Curse of Strahd Low Magic?
Curse of Strahd is a low-magic, high-fantasy setting. This is because the commodity of magic within Strahd’s domain of Barovia is scarce and the magic that once existed is either
Complete Guide to Illusion Magic in D&D
The School of Illusion is a school of magic that specializes in deceit. Like the School of Enchantment, illusion spells focus on altering the perceptions of others to achieve your goals. This can be as innocent as creating an image in a 5 foot cube to as wicked as harnessing the nightmares of your enemies to drive them into madness.
Can Strahd Von Zarovich be Killed? D&D 5e
No. Strahd Von Zarovich, the Vampire villian of the D&D adventure module starting back in AD&D, cannot be completely destroyed. Because he is the ruler of a Domain of Dread, if “killed” Strahd will regenerate within his Domain anywhere from a few days to months later.
Using Werewolves in D&D
So if you’ve got a player asking to be a lycanthrope or want to include a Big Bad Evil Pupper in your campaign, but you’re not sure where to start, this article is for you. We’re going to explore several ways that you can incorporate werewolves into your campaign.
The Best Resources for Epic D&D Adventures
To create an epic D&D Adventure, be it a one-shot, campaign or side quest, you will need the following resources:

The New DM’s Guide to Running Combat

Combat in D&D 5e has five stages: determining surprise, establishing the environment (including all characters), tracking initiative, everyone taking their turn, and then moving to the next round. It looks like a lot when you have to call each stage by name, but trust me the steps flow into each other seamlessly with enough practice. If you are trying to DM D&D 5e’s combat for the first time or just need a refresher on the basics, this article is for you.

Taking Combat One Step at a Time

Step 1: Determine “Surprise”

This stage only matters if someone (players, NPC, or villains) is sneaking. If no one was attempting to be stealthy, skip right to the next step.

However, let’s say combat starts when a Goblin falls through the ceiling and stabs someone. In order to determine how this sequence of events plays out, the DM would compare the Goblin’s Stealth (Dexterity) check against the Passive Perception (Perception score + 10) of everyone participating in combat. If the Goblin’s Stealth check beats an individual’s Passive Perception, that individual is caught completely unaware and cannot take actions, reactions, or move on their first turn. If an individual’s Passive Perception is higher than the Goblin’s Stealth check, they are able to behave normally on their first turn of combat.

Remember! Any number of people can be Surprised within a group. Simply being in a group with a person who is not surprised does not negate your individual Surprise Condition.

This stage matters a ton to the Assassin subclass of Rogue who automatically scores a critical hit on a target that is surprised. If you have one of these at your table, always be ready for this step.

There are two other major considerations for this: the Alert player feat and level 7 Barbarians. Players who take the Alert are never surprised and will have high initiative as the other part of the feat. Level 7 Barbarians can act normally on their first turn even if they are surprised so long as the first thing they do is Rage.

Step 2: Render and Build the World/Establish Positions

This is probably the most straightforward of the steps: the players need to know what they are looking at. At this point, a map will need to be prepared and placed in front of your players so they can prepare themselves for their turn. Considerations for this include:

where the players described themselves during roleplay and throughout the story
the lighting of the location
what might count for cover from attacks
as well as any and all environmental hazards.

As the DM, your players should have a good idea of what the area around them looks like before a fight breaks out unless they are caught completely unaware in the dark. Be mindful that your description during roleplay has a strong correlation to the map. Any features of the room or things you made note of during the description should appear even if tables and chairs appear only as bad dry erase marker drawings.

If you are looking for a way to make your battle map come alive an easily populate a room with objects without being a dry erase master, you can buy these awesome static clings!

I have and use these regularly and they have become a staple in my DM arsenal. You can pick them up at your local game store or from our partner, Noble Knight Games!

Remember: where creatures stand also determines the possibility of an Attack of Opportunity, but more on that later.

Step 3: Who does what when: Roll Initiative!

Everyone will need to make a Dexterity check (also known as “rolling for Initiative”). For those lucky Bards, their Jack-of-all-Trades feature applies to this. The DM will then organize the Dexterity checks from highest to lowest, including both players and DM run creatures.

This is called the Initiative Order and it dictates when players take their turns. The highest initiative goes first, followed by the next highest, followed by the next highest and so on. When every person in the initiative has completed one turn, that Round is over and the combat resumes on the highest person’s initiative again. For the purpose of spells and other abilities that consider time, each round is considered to take six seconds.

When a DM runs identical creatures, a single initiative roll is made for all of them. Players decide their order amongst themselves if two players tie. The DM adjudicates ties between DM controlled creatures and ties between DM creatures and players.

In practice, I have found that calling for initiatives in groups of 5 helps a lot. If you don’t do this, you will likely end up with players screaming numbers at you. Which is overwhelming to say the least.

Start with, “Did anyone get an initiative above 20?” then “20 to 15,” and so forth until “5 to 1.” Tracking a lot of numbers can get confusing and this helps you build it in chunks, incorporating enemies around your player’s initiative.

To keep track of initiative you can use paper, apps, or physical trackers like this one available at Noble Knight Games:

Step 4: Take turns

Every player has a turn and the DM has as many turns as they have types of creatures. As previously discussed, the will follow the Initiative Order and their turns will be influenced by the turns made prior to theirs.

On the average turn, you can do all or none of the following:

Move your speed, most often 30 ft.
Perform one Action
Communicate by pointing, talking, shouting, or gesturing
One simple interaction with an object or the environment; like drawing a weapon or opening an unlocked door. Interacting with another object requires you to use your action.

Enemies go through the same process as players on their turns. An example of which would be “the Ogre draws his club and rushes the Fighter of the Party, furiously attacking and screaming insults about the Fighter’s mother.”

The Party can respond on their Initiative Turn. They may attack the Ogre, flee, or perform magic as long as it fits within their turn limitations.

Step 5: Repeat the last step: Begin the Next Round

All the pieces are in place now. All you have to do is let the turns on initiative play out. Unless more creatures arrive suddenly or the battle moves out of the established terrain, the battle will play out each round until its natural conclusion.

Some players like to negotiate their way out of a fight when they start to lose and some like to fight to the death. As always, be prepared to meet your party however they like to play.

Tracking Monster Hit Points

The DMG on pg. 248 recommends tracking hit points next to a monster’s name on a piece of paper. If you play on a map with miniatures or tokens, it’s easiest to have different minis or tokens for each creature to make tracking their hit points easier.

In a pinch, however, you can use stickers, colored paper clips, pipe cleaners or something else to help differentiate them. Be sure to give identical monsters some distinguishing traits so your players can reference them more easily.

Here is the tracking for the health of a Frost Giant and two Ogres he’s traveling with.

When they lose hit points, cross the original number out, and write the new total on the right. After a few rounds of combat, it can start looking longer and messier.

I generally prefer to track health and initiative together in a Google spreadsheet on my laptop during the games I DM. It makes it easier to order initiative automatically, track hit points, and label the creatures with conditions.

Total, Half and 3/4 Cover

In order to determine cover, choose the point-of-origin of the attack and the target of the attack. Find the closest corner of the attacker’s square and trace it with your finger to the edges of the target’s square(s).

If one or two of the lines is blocked, the target has half cover. This could be as simple as hiding behind a barrel with a bow. Half Cover gives a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity Saving throws against attacks and effects that originate from the opposite side of the cover.

If three or four are blocked, the target has three quarter’s cover. This could be firing from an arrow slit in a castle wall. Three-Quarters Cover gives a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity Saving throws against attacks and effects that originate from the opposite side of the cover.

If all four are blocked and the target is not visible in some way, this is Total Cover. This could be closing a steel door and locking it between the target and the attack. Targets in Total Cover cannot be targeted directly by an attack or spell.

Lighting

Lighting matters especially to creatures without Darkvision. It sets up ambushes and creates an ambiance for your players to interact with as well as limiting their options. It’s a double-edged sword though. Players with Darkvision can absolutely attack villains without Darkvision for a sweet ambush edge. Here are the basics of lighting you need to know.

Bright Light allows every creature to operate normally. This can be the result of a sunny day or close proximity to a lit torch.

Dim Light is usually a mass of shadows. It’s usually the boundary between Bright Light and Darkness. This would be encountered on the edges of the torchlight, twilight, dawn, or a particularly bright full moon in the middle of the night. Creatures with Darkvision see as if this is Bright Light. Those without Darkvision see everything as Lightly Obscured and only shades of gray.

Lightly Obscured: Perception checks using sight to detect anything that is Lightly Obscured has Disadvantage on the roll.

Darkness is found in the middle of the night in the woods, a lightless cave, or a dark alleyway with no street lights. Those with Darkvision now suffer from everything being Lightly Obscured and only shades of gray. Any creature without Darkvision now sees a Heavily Obscured area.

Heavily Obscured: Creatures are Blinded which means they automatically fail Perception checks involving sight. Attacks they attempt are at Disadvantage and attacks against them have Advantage.

Flanking

This is an optional rule that the DM can offer. If two allied creatures stand on opposite sides of an enemy, they gain Advantage on melee attack rolls against that target. Both allies must be able to see the target and not be incapacitated.

General Tips

Structure of an encounter

Whenever you are structuring an encounter, be mindful of how many encounters your players have been through and if there will be any more encounters after. If they are starting an encounter having used none of their spells, abilities, scrolls, or any other resources you can put them against some steep odds in good conscience.

If this is the players’ third combat encounter in a day and it is still gauged to be deadly, consider what might happen if the dice rolls are bad and prepare for the party to attempt to escape or negotiate.

Martials vs Spell Casters

Much has been made over the debate of Martials and Spellcasters in D&D, but here specifically I want to remind every DM to build encounters with your player’s classes in mind.

Magic Resistance gives enemies Advantage on saving throws against spells and weakens spellcasters. High AC makes a target harder to hit and weakens martial classes. Keep these traits and others in mind as you design encounters that way every member of your party gets the opportunity to shine.

The most actions (usually) win

Action Economy is a term you can find in almost any tabletop forum online. It refers to the tendency in D&D, and other turn-based games, for the side with the most actions to win unless the power of those two sides is wildly unbalanced.

In order for one giant monster to threaten a group of five adventurers, the monster will have to attack several times and have a lot of health. This is why higher-level creatures have Legendary Actions that they may take when it is not their turn. It ensures a higher chance of success against more rolls.

If you want to learn more about legendary actions and how to use them as a DM, be sure to check out my article all about that here.

Other variations on this include auras around monsters that negatively impact adventurers and some monsters have features that allow them to summon other monsters to help them.

Duration of each turn in real-time

In my experience, when everyone is focused and using abilities they are familiar with, the average turn takes about two minutes. This includes targeting, dice rolls, and explaining the consequences of the turn.

I’m aware of two major exceptions to this anecdotal rule. One is when a spell affects multiple different targets and involves several saving throws. The other is when the players have to change plans mid-fight and strategize their movements.

Neither is a bad thing. In fact, I’d say that’s part of the fun. Just watch that every player is allowed the same amount of time and is respecting other players’ time.

Don’t forget the Attacks of Opportunity!

When a creature decides to leave a hostile creature’s melee attack range, the hostile creature is allowed to make an attack before the creature leaves.

Don’t forget this!

I’ve played for several years and I still occasionally get hit with one I wasn’t considering. It helps shape the encounter and encourages a careful approach in both getting into melee combat and getting out of it.

There you are DM, you are now prepared to run an awesome combat encounter! If you need help building an encounter, you can head on over to my “Creating Balanced Encounters” post and if you want specific tips on running combat in an Urban space, you can find that right here.

Until next time my friends,

May your game have advantage!

-Halfling Hannah

Support Halfling Hobbies by Treating Yourself to Something from the Tinket Shop!

Is Curse of Strahd Low Magic?
Curse of Strahd is a low-magic, high-fantasy setting. This is because the commodity of magic within Strahd’s domain of Barovia is scarce and the magic that once existed is either
Complete Guide to Illusion Magic in D&D
The School of Illusion is a school of magic that specializes in deceit. Like the School of Enchantment, illusion spells focus on altering the perceptions of others to achieve your goals. This can be as innocent as creating an image in a 5 foot cube to as wicked as harnessing the nightmares of your enemies to drive them into madness.
Can Strahd Von Zarovich be Killed? D&D 5e
No. Strahd Von Zarovich, the Vampire villian of the D&D adventure module starting back in AD&D, cannot be completely destroyed. Because he is the ruler of a Domain of Dread, if “killed” Strahd will regenerate within his Domain anywhere from a few days to months later.
Using Werewolves in D&D
So if you’ve got a player asking to be a lycanthrope or want to include a Big Bad Evil Pupper in your campaign, but you’re not sure where to start, this article is for you. We’re going to explore several ways that you can incorporate werewolves into your campaign.
The Best Resources for Epic D&D Adventures
To create an epic D&D Adventure, be it a one-shot, campaign or side quest, you will need the following resources:

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What are Conditions in 5e?

Blinded

Charmed

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