Discover Incredible Magic Items Inside Vault of Magic from Kobold Press
The industrious kobolds of Kobold Press launched a new Kickstarter and not surprisingly they’re knocking it out of the park once again. This time our friends over at Kobold Press crack open the Vault of Magic for 5th Edition to uncover over 800 new magic items created by leading tabletop roleplaying game designers and Kobold Press veterans bringing wild surprises to your games.
5E D&D Monster Spotlight — Chimera
The chimera is such a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster from mythology and has made an appearance in all of the editions of the game. In fifth edition D&D a chimera can be encountered in a few different environments — grasslands, hills, mountains and the Underdark. These are all straight out of the 5E D&D Monster Manual and I’d add the aerial environment as well. This gives us quite a few places we can drop an encounter in with a chimera. They enter gameplay during tier two with challenge rating 6. Chimera are quite formidable with a decent amount of hit points, a fly speed of 60 feet and three attacks per round, one of which can be replaced with its Breath Weapon. Let us not forget villains like to employ chimera as mounts. A single chimera would be a medium challenge for four 5th level characters. These nasty beasts average 53 points of damage on a single round when they use their Breath Weapon or 32 when they can’t. If this D&D monster is played up to its full hunter archetype this is significant damage potential.
TTRPG Stock Sessions — Fancy Party
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m going to take a look at another stock session for tabletop roleplaying games in which we’ve got the biggest balls of them all! This series is going to be doing some party crashing. Or possibly attending legitimately with an invitation depending on what flavor you prefer. A stock session for a TTRPG is reusable scenario a Game Master can plug into campaigns that still feels different because of the specific characters involved and this one can be a good form break for parties who tend to do a lot of combat and traveling around and who tend to be excellent roleplay fodder. Most fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons parties spend a lot of their time in dungeons and on the road so seeing them all dressed up can be interesting. As before I’ll cover some of the decisions to make before running the Fancy Party TTRPG stock session.
Getting More from 5E D&D Monsters — Stonesnapper
The semi-sapient stonesnapper plant tends to grow where creatures that petrify like to make their lairs. The stonesnapper is a common fixture in many basilisk caves and there have been stories of medusae cultivating them and keeping them as pets in bygone eras. The flowers grow in vibrant colors, capable of motion and closing their petals around small objects. Their vines are also ambulatory. The stonesnapper doesn’t require much sunlight and in fact gets most of its nutrients by scooping up the leavings of creatures that have been petrified and then devoured — the crumbs left behind by things like gorgons, basilisks and medusae. The acidic fluid built up inside the stonesnapper in order to digest these leavings is a natural remedy for petrification. These plant monsters appear in Garden of Statuary, one of the digital fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons products we create for Patreon supporters and later for Nerdarchy the Store. Here you’ll find expanded 5E D&D content inspired by these opportunistic plant creatures along with the stat block as it appears in the book ready to drop into your games.
D&D Ideas — Dice
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is dice, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of dice it may be a Coin Flip to determine fortune or misfortune but the roll of the dice generates the effect every step of the way across a strange dungeon hazard. A floor made of giant coins, each promising fortunate or unfortunate effects, challenges heroes to cross along with 54 other dynamic scenarios in Out of the Box. Find out more about it here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.
Take Hold of Powerful 5E D&D Magic Items from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
A fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons book named after one of the iconic wizards of D&D lore all but guarantees new objects of power. While this wasn’t the case in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (barring a couple of creature specific ones) the titular wizard of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything references her colleague in the book’s section on magic items and notes how she finds common ground with him in their shared desire for them. Inside the book players can find 47 individual new 5E D&D magic items. So let’s get into it.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Fixes the 5E D&D Beast Master Ranger
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons is full of new options for players and Dungeon Masters. The book adds new content for characters in 5E D&D and provide alternatives for existing character options. While 5E D&D has been incredibly successful many players feel certain discrepancies exist among the classes, frequently with the ranger at the forefront of these views. Several times over the years the 5E D&D design team released Unearthed Arcana playtest documents focused on the ranger class with one iteration removing magic from the class entirely. This muddies the ranger’s identity without really addressing the balance concerns. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything offers new and exciting optional class features for all the core classes providing players a plethora of options to help each character feel unique — even those of the same class. The book’s Beast Master Companions optional class feature is the focus for this post.
TTRPG Stock Sessions — Flashback and Memory
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m going to examine the concept of stock sessions for tabletop roleplaying games. In particular I’m thinking about the idea of delving into a character’s memories and exploring their backstory a little bit in a flashback! A stock session for a TTRPG is reusable scenario a Game master can plug into campaigns that still feels different because of the specific characters involved. Think of it kind of like how a good chunk of anime have a beach episode. That’s what I mean.
D&D Ideas — Invisibility
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is invisibility, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of invisibility in Three Eyes Are Better an imp uses it’s power to turn invisible to manipulate a budding warlock and cause no end of strife for adventurers. A devious imp uses lures heroes into a destructive trap — battling a magic wielding cyclops — along with 54 other dynamic scenarios in Out of the Box. Find out more about it here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.
Thrust Player Agency Upon TTRPG Players with Questions to Engage
Whether I’m acting as Game Master or not the thing I dislike the most about any tabletop roleplaying game experience is a group who interacts in isolation from each other. As a player I want to interact with the other players through our characters and as a GM I hope to see this behavior from the people in the group. There’s several reasons for this and a technique I began using a few years ago helps tremendously. So let’s get into it.
Use This Circle of the Moon Druid for Your Next 5E D&D Game
When it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons the druid is probably my favorite class. Reasons for this abound. The 5E D&D druid is super versatile and comfortably fills the role of healer, defender, controller or damage dealer. Even when players focus on one particular aspect through one of the Druid Circles and other choices druid characters can still fill the other roles in a pinch. Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted cover one such aspect in a discussion about different Wild Shape forms a druid (specifically a Circle of the Moon druid) might use.
Making the Most of Wild Shape Forms for 5E D&D Druids
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get animalistic and take a look at the best beasts in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons for a druid to Wild Shape into during tier one of game play. While they point out the highlights of various beasts I’m of a mind to expand on this and see all the possibilities from official 5E D&D sources along with the environments in which they’re typically found. So let’s get into it.
Cawood Publishing Challenges Adventurers with Monsters of the Wilderness
Our friends at Cawood Publishing unveiled a new excursion into the World of Myrr unfolding through their series of monster books. Monsters of the Wilderness for 5th Edition is the fourth book in the series and the Kickstarter campaign bringing it to life for gaming groups all over the world launched today and runs through March 4.
The Five Room Backstory for 5E D&D Characters
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted look at ways for a Dungeon Master to use a character backstory as a resource to create dungeons for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Building on their ideas I’m curious about approaching from the opposite end and exploring how players can set their DMs up for success by constructing their character backstory like a dungeon for 5E D&D. So let’s get into it.
Start Your 5E D&D Campaign with a Single Encounter
How long is a typical session of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? When I was much younger with many fewer responsibilities my friends and I gathered to play D&D for a lot longer than the game sessions I experience these days. Scheduling and time management are factors in this as well as the influence of online gaming both streamed or simply using communication software to connect with fellow players. Newer Dungeon Masters and those curious about what life is like on the other side of the DM screen already have lots to consider (and feel anxious about) and session length is rarely something I see discussed when it comes to 5E D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game for that matter. So let’s get into it.
