Fantastical Mounts: Ride into Legend with New Creatures for 5E
No terrain too difficult A dragonborn warrior, you are proud of your heritage. When your family came to Ulthe-Gana from the Dragon Realm, you were eager to explore the new lands and represent your kind among the people native to the world. As an...
Review: Creature Components vol. 1: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Creature Components Vol. 1 from Playground Adventures is a supplement detailing the use of spell components taken from fantastic creatures to power spells and magical items for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. The supplement gives rules and examples for the effects that components taken from many creatures may have in spells as well as new feats and magic items that emphasize the benefits of collecting components from creatures.
If you have watched Critical Role, you may have seen Vox Machina hunting monsters such as a white dragon for the Slayer’s Take and harvesting their remains. Looking into the Dungeon Master’s Guide or Player’s Handbook you might ask yourself why they would do this. Now you can bring those ideas into your game!
Kobold Press Granting Wishes With Genies Great And Small
D&D Creature to Character Conversion: Darklings
A few times in the past, I've written articles about elements of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons homebrew world I'm building (which I'm temporarily calling Gladius). One of my earlier D&D creations was the aatier, a half-tiefling half-aasimar race. Not to long ago, I...
Want More 5E D&D Monsters? How About Limitless Monsters?
Limitless Monsters Kickstarter from Limitless Adventures Unleashes 100 D&D Monsters!
Do you like monsters? Of course you do. Whether you’re a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master on the lookout for exciting new creatures to challenge adventurers or a player whose character seeks fame, glory, gold and heroic deeds, monsters are one of the most amazing parts of the game.
Fortunately for you, there’s still time to head over to Kickstarter and back Limitless Monsters – the latest campaign from Limitless Adventures. (Campaign ends on Oct. 28). With two other successful Kickstarters to their credit already, this campaign is already funded with content written in advance to ensure delivery of high-quality material on time.
Top Ten D&D Monstrous Humanoids
The gift that keeps on giving! Nord Games’ Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde inspired not one but TWO videos on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel, plus a review here on the website. And now its generating another post.
In the video above, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch talk about their favorite monstrous humanoids in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. They each choose two, discuss the appeal and explore a bit why and how they’ve used them in games, either as player characters or as a Dungeon Master.
It’s worth noting that there is no official “monstrous humanoid” designation in D&D. There’s just straight-up humanoids. Many of them are most certainly monstrous though! Also, despite appearing in the Revenge of the Horde book, ogres and trolls are not humanoids – they’re giants. But in defense of the book, there is no claim made limiting the creature types to humanoids, simply “classic monstrous races.”
And minotaurs are monstrosities.
According to the current D&D Beyond monster database containing material up to and including Tales from the Yawning Portal, there are 231 humanoids in official D&D content. Many are individuals from various adventures and campaigns like Pharblex Spattergoo, an NPC from Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Aside from official sources, there’s plenty of third-party material like the Ultimate Bestiary.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #9 – Bandersnatched
[caption id="attachment_14716" align="alignright" width="219"] Night hag as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. [Art courtesy of Wizards of the Coast][/caption] Introduction In a previous encounter within Series 1 (Auntie Knows Best) there was mention of a Hag Eye. This device was being employed...
D&D 5E Spelljammer Makes the Most of Monsters
It’s been a few weeks since the last trip into the wildspace of Spelljammer for D&D 5E. My home game dabbled in a few one-shots and welcomed a new, first time Dungeon Master. Origins came and went, and several Nerdarchy projects kept me from sharing more insights into the exploits of a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Spelljammer campaign.
Then I saw this tweet from Mike Mearls the other day.
I know patience is difficult, but we really are looking at ways to bring all the settings back. Even Spelljammer! #WOTCstaff https://t.co/eKu48e5RjF
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) July 3, 2017
And the enthusiastic replies.
And a long list of other Spelljammer fans sharing affection for the setting.
And fan groups on Facebook, Google+ and more.
We’re out there, Wizards of the Coast! While I can’t speak for all of us, it’s encouraging to know the folks behind the game we love include all of our favorite aspects from its rich history in their grand vision. In time, I’m confident we’ll get our Dark Sun, Al-Qadim, Dragonlance and Eberron fixes in official capacities.
Nord Games unleashes Revenge of the Horde on your D&D game
Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde from Nord Games offers an awesome resource for incorporating a variety of monstrous races into your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game. At nearly 200 pages, the book presents creature options for bugbears, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, ogres, orcs and more. The book is available through Nord Games in PDF and hardcover options, for $15-45. In addition to the D&D version, there is a Pathfinder edition, too.
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch backed the Kickstarter campaign, and you can watch their Nord Games-sponsored flip-through video above. In addition to the hardcover book, they received the reference deck, all five encounter builder decks and 258 pawns featuring the new creatures from the D&D book.
Pixelscapes gets psychedelic with D&D monster art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpwEd5KoR-0&t=2736s Jen Gagne of Pixelscapes stopped by the Nerdarchy live chat with Nerdarchist Dave to talk psychedelic D&D monster art, drawing, sculpture and of course gaming. She’s an amazing artist, unafraid to be bold with her color selection, and she’s been gaming for a really long...
D&D grung and other monsters are people, too
Monsters as notable NPCs and player characters in D&D is something I’ve touched on in past columns, including last week’s exploration of the similarities between a TTRPG GM and a Swiss Army knife. Since then, I ran the “Grungle in the Jungle” adventure idea for my gaming group. Inspired by Stream of Annihilation’s One Grung Above from WotC Product Manager Christopher Lindsay this adventure puts the players in control of a band of grung from Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
Garibay Monster Collection 001 (Barkrager) – One Dungeons & Dragons 5E Medium Beast
I am building a Dungeons & Dragons 5E Adventure (Ulyain Village) on Youtube video by video (click here to watch). The Barkrager is a creature that inhabits the forest surrounding Ulyain Village, and the creature is presented here for use in your next Dungeons & Dragons 5E game.
Critter Compendium brings D&D monsters of the past into the present, with creative new creatures
Critter Compendium by Tobias Beis is a collection of monsters for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, available now as a PDF through the Dungeon Masters Guild for $15. The hefty book presents a wide variety and number of creatures from earlier D&D editions converted to the current ruleset, along with original creations that includes artwork by the author. With 135 entries and appendices describing additional creatures and templates, Critter Compendium has enough creatures to populate several campaigns across the whole gamut of challenge ratings.
The Monster Manual Is for Every Player During Every Moment of Every Dungeons & Dragons 5E Game
Last week, the Manual of Siraq was presented right here on Nerdarchy as a new Dungeons & Dragons 5E magic item for players. The Manual of Siraq is a distinctly unusual magic item that has a metagame purpose of allowing every Player Character in a gaming...