D&D Ideas — Beacons
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. Here is the quote that inspired this week’s newsletter.
“Aragorn: The beacons of Minas Tirith! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!
Theoden: And Rohan will answer. Muster the Rohirrim!”
We were goofing around in our weekly meeting and this quote came up. Next thing we know we’ve agreed to make it our weekly D&D idea for the newsletter and Running D&D video. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. But before we jump into this week’s newsletter a quick reminder. You can still back Out of the Box: Encounter for 5th Edition. Or if you already did you can fill out your survey and make sure you get your stuff. Here is a link to the Pledge Manager. There is also a free encounter you can download in the Pledge Manager. This is available to anyone; it doesn’t matter if you backed the Kickstarter or not.
Add Your Voice (and 5E D&D Content!) to the D&D Community
Every single day the Dungeon Masters Guild adds new titles. At the time I’m writing this 14,184 titles stock the DMs Guild digital shelves and for every adventure, player option or Dungeon Master resource, somewhere along the line the author published their first one. This past week one of my favorite people in the D&D community to game with, Dylan Ramsey, published their first title. Dance of the Deathless Frost expands on Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus with a whole new way to approach the 5E D&D adventure with new locales, NPCs and magic items, including vehicle stats for the Baba Yaga’s hut plus a chance to tame the demon lord Kostchtchie. If you’re a Dungeon Master, chances are you’ve created your own content along the way too, right? Maybe you adapted adventures from earlier editions, created new subclasses for your campaign setting, focused on an element of the game to expand on or a million other things. Consider taking the opportunity to add your creations to the DMs Guild! Players and DMs are always on the lookout for new stuff to add to our games, and maybe yours inspire someone else.
Cracking Open the Warlock Grimoire from Kobold Press
It’s hard to believe over two years passed since Kobold Press launched Warlock, a Patreon-fueled project in the form of a booklet containing new maps, monsters, character options and more for Fifth Edition. Like it says on the tin, the most ambitious goal for Warlock is a yearly publication of the Warlock Grimoire, a hardcover collection of the entire year’s booklets plus more monsters, dark lore, secret encounters and Deep Magic. And now Warlock Grimoire exists! I received my copy in the mail and while a wealth of cool content waits within the nearly 300-page pocket-sized edition, my favorite part is the introduction. Why? Because before I interviewed Kobold Press head honcho Wolfgang Baur, someone advised me not to call Warlock a zine, but here in the intro to Warlock Grimoire, Wolfgang himself dubs the monthly booklets zines. Vindication!
Changeling and Kalashtar for a New Eberron Campaign
There’s Eberron in the air tonight. Over on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss what class you should play as a kalashtar or changeling, Eberron: Rising from the Last War releases in a few days and I just watched a terrific video about playing a juggernaut warforged as a T-800 Terminator character for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. I’m on the same page with Dave and Ted as regards ideal classes for changelings and kalashtar, so we’ll go in an unexpected direction here instead. A fresh cohort of Unearthed Arcana subclasses recently wrapped with lots of fantastic playtest options. How might some of them interact with kalashtar and changelings for a new Eberron campaign? Let’s get into it.
5E D&D Worldbuilding for a Revolution Plot: Part 1
Salutations, nerds! I hope you’re ready to do some 5E D&D worldbuilding because today we’re going to be talking about revolutions and empires, and what you need if the tabletop roleplaying game storyline you’re planning on running has to do with unseating someone currently in power. Please note, this is going to be a quick run down, not a comprehensive list. I’ve got the span of a quick article to do this — nope, two. Two quick articles. I’ve done the thing again where I had more to say than I thought I did. Ahem. But. I’m going to try to give you enough to springboard off of and hopefully enough to get the gears turning in your head for what you want to do with your plot. Got your notebooks out? Ready? Let’s dive in.
A Mouthful of 5E D&D Villain Actions Inspired by Matt Colville
When Nerdarchist Ted pitched the idea for a video response to Matt Colville’s Action Oriented Monsters video I was all in. I’d just watched the video myself and fallen in love with the idea of Villain Actions for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We’re no strangers to creating new 5E D&D monsters. And like Matt mentions, making creatures in the style of player characters feels kludgy and needlessly complicated and time consuming. But while we’ve generally kept to the existing monster resources like legendary and lair actions, and striving to include action economy options like bonus actions and reactions, Matt took things to the next level by developing a new kind of action — the Villain Action. Like any good Dungeon Master, when I spot a cool idea I steal it for my game. So while Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss the ins and outs of Villain Actions on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel, I’m gonna try my hand at creating some of my own.
Madness in 5E D&D
One of our Patreon supporters had a question for us recently. We discussed it during the Patreon exclusive live chat we do every Monday evening, but since it’s a topic I find really interesting and useful I felt it’s worth exploring a bit further. The question also came from a soon to be first time Dungeon Master for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a good chance they aren’t the only 5E D&D DM curious about it and since any player taking a turn behind the screen is cause for celebration, let’s take a look at their question and come up with some answers for both new and experienced DMs.
“Have you guys ran madness mechanics in your campaigns? About to try my hand at being our DM and was curious how difficult it would be to add that to the campaign.”
Bring Your Customized Character to Life with a Hero Forge Mini
If you are like me, then you enjoy using minis in your tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Minis add an enjoyable tactical side to the challenge of combat. But at times it can be so difficult to find the right mini, the perfect one with the right gear, right pose and even the perfect expression on their face. If you are not aware of Hero Forge than please let me introduce you to their wonderful products. I have purchased dozens of Hero Forge minis I proudly display in my collection. Their method of allowing the customer to perfectly design the exact mini they want makes them an ideal choice for selecting the mini for use at the gaming table.
New 5E D&D Feats for the Goatfolk
When we revamped Nerdarchy the Patreon, revising our monthly rewards was one of the most exciting parts of the process. For Patreon supporters this meant they’d receive the entirety of the rewards package with new Fifth Edition content ready to drop right into your game, at the lowest tier. Previously, supporters at the $3 level received the Mage Forge supplement with new magic items. But for the past couple of years now we send the entire digital product — 15-30 pages with full color art — to all supporters at the $3 level and above. Order of the Wizened was one of the earliest revised rewards packages. I take particular pride in that one since I had free reign to create the content from soup to nuts. Since then we’ve created a ton of content for Patreon supporters, and these products eventually make their way to Nerdarchy the Store. With the content available to everyone now, we thought it would be fun to revisit these earlier products and create some enhanced content for them right here on the site. So let’s get into it and create some special new feats for 5E D&D.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Warlock Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all warlock party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We had a lot of fun thinking about an all bard party and a bunch of people asked to see more like this so here we are. In 5E D&D warlocks are a very customizable class. Combinations of patrons and pacts, spells and invocations create a lot of options for players to put together. Warlocks choose their subclass at 1st level, represented by the Otherworldly Patron providing their power through a supernatural pact. Once characters reach 3rd level, they choose their Pact Boon — Blade, Chain or Tome. In the video they discuss D&D party composition and the different roles warlocks can play in a party. But I’m sticking with the scenario I imagined in the All Bard Party post here on the site. So let’s get into it and see what an all warlock party composition for 5E D&D could look like.
