Right Tool, Right Job — Tool Proficiencies and Minigames in D&D
Tools in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons featured pretty prominently lately among the Nerdarchy crew. We focused a live chat on the topic, a newsletter, video, website post and our October Patreon rewards zeroed in specifically on gaming sets. For November we’re following up the Rolling Bones rewards with a broader spotlight on all the other D&D tools. Union Salon is a location you can drop right into your campaign setting. Characters can explore their tool proficiencies through practice with experts, engage with colorful NPC masters of their craft, discover brand new tool sets and put their tool skills to use uncovering a mystery surrounding an auction of oddities and playing minigames in D&D. So let’s get into it.
Eladrin Teleport Specialist Covers All the Bases for 5E D&D
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted took a deep dive into what I’ve long considered the No. 1 absolute best super power ever, teleportation. Flight, regeneration, invisibility, reading minds — they all pale in comparison and don’t even come close to the ability to instantly transport from one place to another. And with all the different ways a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character can teleport, creating a character who bamfs around as casually as walking is within our grasp!
D&D Artifacts That Will Damn Your Soul
Full disclosure the temptation to title this post “How to be an utter bad ass evil son of a bitch in D&D” was hard to resist. We had a lot of fun planning for the video over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel and looking over all the artifacts in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In another video Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talked about D&D magic items that will damn your soul. While there wasn’t much explicit indication of any soul damning, a character using those magic items definitely wasn’t winning any points in the good department. D&D artifacts raise the bar orders of magnitude. There is no question with these evil artifacts — a creature who uses them puts their soul in peril in a multitude of ways. But for a creature placing power above all else, employing the Book of Vile Darkness, Hand and Eye of Vecna or Wand of Orcus most certainly qualifies for the title of utter bad ass evil SOB.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Ghost Girl
For a Game Master descriptions are vitally important when running a tabletop roleplaying game like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Fantastic artwork can be a tremendous visual aid, and there’s countless miniatures and accessories to enhance your gaming table whether you play on a virtual tabletop or a physical one. So I’m always on the lookout for visual data to draw from and help paint a picture for players. I recently came across a remarkable sculpture by Kevin Francis Gray that struck me immediately and went directly into the GM toolbox in my imagination. Even better, Ghost Girl opened a window into this artists other works, a collection of incredible sculptures dripping with evocative imagery. Taking inspiration from fantasy art gets a lot of mileage for me as a GM, and the best works give ideas for adventure hooks.
Unearthed Arcana — Rune Knight Fighters, Swarmkeeper Rangers, and Revived Rogues
I know what you’re thinking: “Did Nerdarchy cover five Unearthed Arcana or only four?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss Unearthed Arcana — Fighter, Ranger, Rogue in today’s video, and we all speculated about what it could have been last week, so it’s only fair to share the space here on the website to take a look at Rune Knight fighters, Swarmkeeper rangers and Revived rogues.
New Eldritch Invocations for the Norn Warlock
Why should School of Divination wizards have all the fun when it comes to parting the veils of space, time, and consciousness in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? The Norn Otherworldly Patron is a fateweaver who holds destiny in the threads between her fingers. Traditionally there are three Norns, though there are other entities holding the title of fate and with the ability to bestow such powers through pacts. For the most part the needs of the Norn deal with the order of things and keeping destiny in line. As such her instructions are often cryptic. Fate does not bend to good or evil, it simply is, and as the Norn warlock is called one day to do something that seems beneficial to all involved so might you be called to be the villain in turn. In the meantime you can use the powers granted by your pact with the Norn to tug on the threads of fate however you see fit.
Tier 2 Bard Spells and Spellcasting in 5E D&D
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel one of our popular video series is Go To Spells for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Nerdarchists Dave and Ted go through each D&D spellcaster class and discuss the most all-around useful spells, divided by the tiers of play. Tier 1 is 1st-4th level, tier 2 is 5th-10th, tier 3 is 11th-16th and tier 4 is 16th-20th. They choose go-to spells for attack, defense, buff and utility plus an iconic class spell. I am involved with the video planning, so we’re all on the same page with the selections. Instead let’s look at what tier 2 spellcasting means in terms of tier 2 bard spells for 5E D&D.
Unearthed Arcana — Heroism Paladins and Eloquence Bards
The round of Unearthed Arcana playtest content with new subclasses for each class in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has come and gone. D&D players had opportunities to read through them, discuss them and playtest these new D&D subclasses, and provide feedback to the D&D design team through surveys. On the Nerdarchy YouTube channel we’ve got videos about each of the Unearthed Arcana playtest packets for these new D&D subclasses too. I always like to imagine how new content adds to a D&D campaign, and also speculate on what sort of product playtest material could be part of down the road. So let’s get into it with the Oath of Heroism paladin and College of Eloquence bard.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Bard Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all bard party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In 5E D&D bards are arguably the most versatile class. The core class features offer a remarkable mix of magic, martial prowess and skills. Once characters reach 3rd level and choose their Bard College the options continue to flourish. Bards can focus on one of those three areas or diversify their features even further. In the video they discuss D&D party composition and the different roles bards can play in a party. But when I think of an all bard party for 5E D&D my thoughts go a different way. So let’s get into it and see what an all bard party composition for 5E D&D could look like.
Help out the D&D Community through DMs Guild
Part of my worldview is there’s always good things going on in the world, and there’s always bad things going on in the world, and I do my best to focus on the good. I saw this morning on Twitter a creator in our D&D community is experiencing a rough patch. Creator Cat Evans had some home repair troubles and they reached out for a helping hand through the content they’ve created at the DMs Guild. Cat’s books include material for both players and Dungeon Masters of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, so there’s something for everyone. Take a look and help Cat out by discovering cool new content for your 5E D&D games at the same time. See? Something bad happens and you focus on the good. You can find all 19 of their DMs Guild titles here.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Kingly Presence
Real world history and mythology intersect in Tintagel, a village in the United Kingdom. Sculptor Rubin Eynon’s Gallos overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on the cliffs of the village in Cornwall, England. The 8-foot-high bronze statue is inspired by the legend of King Arthur and also the rich Cornish history of the region. And to a fan of fantasy tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, it gets me thinking about adventure hooks.
Are Tool Proficiencies Worthless in 5E D&D?
Whenever I see tool proficiencies in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons come up in online conversations, I make a point to participate. Tool proficiencies, along with backgrounds, are one of my favorite things about 5E D&D. To me they represent a character’s hobby or vocation and add a significant lens for a character to view the world through. When we choose tools for our live chat and newsletter topic recently, it was a real joy to engage with the audience in the live chat and later share my own thoughts. We incorporated tools into our October Patreon rewards, and in a few days our November rewards build on those concepts. And today we took a closer look on the YouTube channel with a follow-up here to discuss if 5E D&D tools are worthless.
Tier 2 Cleric Spells and Spellcasting in 5E D&D
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel one of our popular video series is Go To Spells for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the series Nerdarchists Dave and Ted go through each D&D spellcaster class and discuss the most all-around useful spells. The discussions are divided by the tiers of play. Tier 1 is 1st-4th level, tier 2 is 5th-10th, tier 3 is 11th-16th and tier 4 is 16th-20th. For each discussion they choose a go-to spell for attack, defense, buff and utility plus an iconic class spell. Since I am involved with the video planning, we’re all on the same page with the selections. So let’s look at what tier 2 spellcasting means for the D&D cleric.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — The Bones Await You
When you hear “Chapel of Bones” you probably think nercomancer. It’s at least in your surface thoughts. But there is a real Chapel of Bones in Portugal where the interior walls and columns are covered and decorated with human skulls and bones. The 16th century Franciscan monks who built the place meant to represent the concept of life being transitory best summed up by the motto memento mori. The bones of the chapel are very literal reminders of death. But I don’t see any animated dead or other signs of necromantic shenanigans.
D&D Adventurers League Witch Doctor Delivers Instant Funk
Of all the Adventurers League Character Build Guides we’ve done, this one might be my favorite. I should preface by letting you know I think this almost every time. What captures my attention more than anything in these guides are the character backgrounds and narratives we come up with for each one. Whether it’s a pure class 1-20 levels or a mashup of several classes, each choice from race to deciding between ability score improvements or feats and go-to spell loadouts make every character unique. The thing I love about the witch doctor is before Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get around to choosing their first class level, the character already has a rich story, fertile grounds for roleplaying and an impressive set of skills and knowledge.
