Embody the Horror of Ravenloft Through the Way of the Astral Self from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
The Way of the Astral Self for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons monks allows your character to manifest ghostly appendages, gain newfound sight and so much more. With all of its heavy spirit themes this Monastic Tradition is the perfect fit for the Domains of Dread and Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. The latest 5E D&D book embraces the trappings and genres of horror in truly terrifying ways. While it comes as a surprise to many who know me I am an avid fan of horror spliced into other genres and while reading through this monk subclass I was so impressed by how easily this type of character would slot into a horror game. The subclass hails from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Tasha embodies so much of an archetypal witch that this only further leaned into the Ravenloft flavor. Let’s break down some ideas for the Way of the Astral Self and talk about its features.
Command Respect and Fear with the Order Domain from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
The Order Domain from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything feels truly weird in the spectrum of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. What I mean is this subclass is tied heavily to law, discipline and command and few other 5E D&D cleric Divine Domains associate so strongly with a particular alignment. For most other cleric Divine Domains we have more general concepts — things like Light, Life and Nature. While I come very close to exploring the notion of how the Order Domain demonstrates the death of the traditional alignment system, that’s too deep a topic for today. Instead let’s talk about first impressions and how this 5E D&D cleric feels almost like the antithesis of another Divine Domain from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything – the Peace Domain.
Dive Deep into The Fathomless from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
The Fathomless Otherworldly Patron for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons warlocks immediately evokes Fjord from Critical Role in my mind as an inspiration. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything offered many subclasses to fil out the class rosters and The Fathomless patron for warlocks feels especially welcome. Something about a warlock making a pact with a sea monster feels dreadful in all the best ways. While there’s no denying many Critters will have a hard time separating this subclass from Fjord, a veritable ocean of ideas surged to mind as I thought of what The Fathomless patron might look like, if not the dread Uk’otoa.
Weave This Beardomancy Wizard and Her Magnificent Magic Items into Your 5E D&D Game
Did you know Nerdarchy created an entirely new school of magic for the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? It’s called the School of Beardomancy and it’s absolutely fabulous. The supple spells of the beardomancy school are sure to harry any foe you encounter. Okay, okay, I’ll try to pull the puns back (but just a hair). If you want to see the School of Beardomancy in full swing check out Untraditionally Arcane where Ordo Wonderbeard entangles himself with some HAIRrowing encounters courtesy of Jake from Mini Terrain Domain.
Plane Shift Your 5E D&D Game Into Magic: The Gathering — Dominaria
Wizards of the Coast is doing it. They’re finally doing it! After crossing over Innistrad, Amonkhet, Ixalan, Zendikar, Kaladesh and Dominaria, Wizards of the Coast is finally crossing Dungeons & Dragons into Magic: the Gathering with Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. It’s a bit like when Eggo made syrup… though this already sounds worlds more epic! To celebrate this momentous occasion I would like to explore one of the aforementioned crossovers today. Get ready to deep dive into some history and lore because we’re going to Dominaria with Plane Shift: Dominaria for 5E D&D from the Dungeon Masters Guild!
Deepen Your Experiences By Using Languages Effectively in 5E D&D
Languages are staples of human experience. Dungeons & Dragons captures this through the mechanic of languages yet for all of the significance language plays in real life I don’t see languages come up very often in 5E D&D. Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talk about special languages in 5E D&D as well from editions past. Secret languages are really languages relegated to specific classes or custom lineages and while the latter can have some elements that entwine in recent hot button debates the former adds some fantastic flavor to your world.
Take to the Skies of 5E D&D as a Flying Character with This New Feat
Flying characters aren’t nearly as good as you think in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. I know, I know — coming out the gate with a polarizing statement like ths immediately raises eyebrows. However even Nerdarchists Dave and Ted agree with this much as evidenced by a recent video on flying characters in 5E D&D. While I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m an expert on the matter I do play a flying character in our Those Bastards! campaign, as Prudence the feral tiefling. As such I feel I can offer some key insights into playing and running 5E D&D games with flying characters.
Failure is Fun in 5E D&D
Failure is fun. You read right — one of my favorite things in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons is failure. What’s more critical failure is one of my favorite optional rules to use in any 5E D&D game. Pulling from the Nerdarchy vault today I discovered a video from our archives that exemplify much of what I’m saying. Let’s talk about why.
Make Your 5E D&D Spellcaster More Versatile with the Cantrip Mastery Feat
Feats are one of my favorite optional aspects of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Feats are fun and add a layer of unique customization to your 5E D&D character mirroring subclass features in terms of power level but a feat also allows you to distinguish your character’s flavor and development even beyond your other choices. Recently Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talked about the most popular homebrew feat creations on D&D Beyond. I cannot tell you how often I ponder what sorts of interesting feats I could concoct. Because I’ve been brimming with inspiration for making feats I want to share a new 5E D&D feat I concocted for full spellcasting classes called Cantrip Mastery. It’s inspired by the Optional Class Features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, which allow players to swap spells out.
Building Alternate Rules for Tools in 5E D&D
You heard me say it many times before — Tools are treated poorly in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Before you tool enthusiasts write me off, let me share some ideas for how to make the problem better. I’ve never been much for complaints without solutions. Recently Nerdarchists Dave and Ted touched on the tendency for us to hold onto legacy ideas as 5E D&D players. We do certain things simply because it’s how they’ve always be done.
5 Reasons Dice Goblins Make the Best D&D Players
Dice Goblin is a term that has emerged within the Dungeons & Dragons community to describe any player who hoards dice like a dragon hoards gold. For some the term rings like “hoarder” but many wear the title as a badge of honor. If I’m being honest I’m much more of a dice minimalist myself. I like to have my dice in neat rows with only a single set for any game at a time. Call me a D&D neat freak. I was recently thinking about dice goblins and if hoarding dice is really so bad a practice. In so doing I came up with five reasons dice goblins could be viewed as the best players to have in a D&D game.
Skillfully Designing New Skills for 5E D&D
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has taken the world by storm and I contend this is a big factor in the surge of popularity enjoyed by all tabletop roleplaying games of late. As the list of TTRPG options expands seemingly by the day new games offer their own spins on various mechanics and sometimes this leads people to find a new TTRPG option they like even better than the D&D that once held their hearts and minds. In an effort to bring new life to the world’s greatest roleplaying game I’ve devised a series of new homebrew options meant to streamline gameplay and offer some crunch to previously nebulous ideas. In this post I’m adding some crunch to 5E D&D skills.
Streamline Your 5E D&D Game with Alternate Saving Throws
Many staple mechanics of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons shape the greater genre of tabletop roleplaying game options. While 5E D&D is my favorite edition I have found myself wondering recently if perhaps this game couldn’t be even better. Is there a way to hack 5E D&D to make it more streamlined? Being the plucky adventurer I fancy myself to be I’m determined to try. In the previous post I wrote about an alternate ability scores and an option to streamline things regarding those. Today I’m taking the next logical option to explore with saving throws. For those of you who don’t know I have a YouTube channel and as part of #DungeonMarch I’m posting exclusively RPG content all month long.
New Possibilities Abound with 5E D&D Alternate Ability Scores
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has taken the world by storm and it makes a lot of sense. The creation of the Open Game License (lovingly referred to as the OGL) opened the floodgates for creators to use a core set of rules for developing everything from supplementary materials for the tabletop to video games. This popularized many core aspects of the system and created genre staples and today I want to challenge one of those 5E D&D staples and offer my own take.
Terrorize 5E D&D with the Path of the Beast from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons allows players to make their own characters with a variety of mechanics to support their favorite archetypes and custom craft their own unique person to play in a story woven by friends. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything added a deluge of new options to the 5E D&D mix. Between the recent Unearthed Arcana introducing Gothic Lineages and the new announcement regarding Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft I can’t think of a better time to talk about the Path of the Beast Primal Path for 5E D&D barbarians.
