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.
Speak Your 5E D&D Truth as a College of Eloquence from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted master the art of oratory to discuss the College of Eloquence Bard College for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Storytelling potential from this Bard College from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything ranks high in my book like most 5E D&D subclass options beyond the Player’s Handbook. Over the lifespan of any edition of the game the character options tend to become increasingly niche. As my perspectives grow and change I’m refining how I view the relationship between storytelling potential and mechanics and I’m curious to discover where I land on the College of Eloquence so let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Peace
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is peace, 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 peace in Argument the two sides of an ettin find themselves in conflict thanks to a peculiar magic item and clever adventurers can use this to their advantage to find a peaceful resolution with the rampaging giant. An ettin argues with itself after attacking a merchant caravan 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.
Come to that Fantastic Note with College of Creation from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted strike a cosmic chord to discuss the College of Creation Bard College for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. When it comes to storytelling potential this Bard College from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything hits the ground running with extremely evocative introductory text. This flavorful section even folds some new lore into the D&D multiverse through the concept of the Song of Creation, which points to legendary draconic entities Bahamut and Tiamat as the first singers of this cosmic music. While my approach to 5E D&D starts with story more than mechanics I’m discovering the latter impacts my perspective more than it used to, at least as we continue these deep dives into the subclasses found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. So far they’ve all been oozing with storytelling potential but in many cases the mechanics either fall flat or illustrate power creep. I’m curious to see where the College of Creation falls so let’s get into it.
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.
Expanding 5E D&D Background Characteristics — Acolyte
Salutations, nerds! We’re about to go on a journey of new background characteristics for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The backgrounds in the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook and other sources include suggested characteristics to help define a character and spark your imagination for roleplaying. In this series I’m going to create additional personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws for you to choose from during 5E D&D character creation. Maybe you’ve burned through all of the ones in the PHB and really want something new to chew on.
Form Doesn’t Meet Function for Path of Wild Magic Barbarians from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted took a walk on the wild side to talk about the Path of Wild Magic Primal Path for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons barbarians. This unusual Primal Path is found inside Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Since my approach to D&D always centers on the story more than mechanics in 5E D&D the same as it did when I started playing the game with the classic Red Box whenever I check out new 5E D&D material from Wizards of the Coast, our own content or any other creators I’m most interested in how these characters, objects and places inspire the gaming experience. This applies whether I’m the Dungeon Master or not and my perspective often surprises people, these days mostly because of the sort of work I do. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced lots of exciting new subclasses to the 5E D&D and I’m gonna explore my own deep feelings about the Path of Wild Magic and what it brings to the table.Let’s get into it.
Describing Your 5E D&D Character in Memorable Fashion
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m writing about a moment many fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players dread — when the Dungeon Master turns to you and says, “Introduce your character. Who are they and what do they look like?” Doesn’t it always kind of feel like there’s no good happy medium between too much detail and not enough? I aim to demystify this process and talk about three important things to remember when called upon to physically describe your 5E D&D character. The idea is to pin down things you’ll remember the next time you get caught unprepared. Fingers crossed this of some use to you but if not the first point is the most important.
Add a Draconic Lineage to Your 5E D&D Game
Draconians existed since first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons introduced them through the Dragonlance franchise and they are very different from the Dragonborn we get to play these days in fifth edition D&D. Along with lizardfolk, kobolds and tortles there’s a great selection of reptilian races to play in 5E D&D. But none of them seem to capture what people are looking for when it comes to playing an iconic dragon character. Maybe it’s because dragons are put on a pedestal of power and the playable version of dragonborn doesn’t hold up by comparison. Or maybe they are underwhelming when put beside what many agree are better performing races from a mechanical perspective. Explorers Guide to Wildemount introduced a couple of new options with the dragonborn variants of Draconblood and Ravenite. These options provide the darkvision dragonborn should have and they get traits that can be more useful than the breath weapon as an action presented in the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook. So how do we fix this?
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Social Magica Master
I know I’m not the only one who’s positively delighted by the way Jester makes use of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons sending spell in Critical Role’s story of the Mighty Nein. Over the course of the second campaign Laura Bailey’s character developed into the party’s premier expert when it comes to communications. On a larger scale the players make use of lots of spells and features to stay in touch with and keep track of friends and enemies all over Wildemount and beyond. They’ve communicated across time and space and these practices have a tremendous impact on the campaign.
D&D Ideas — Schools of Magic
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is schools of magic, 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 schools of magic we created our own! The School of Beardomancy experiments with strange energies from the Beard Dimension and expanded to infuse many other Fifth Edition classes with beardomantic power, new spells, magic items and an ever-growing tangle of fun and flavor for your games. With April just a few days away you can count on another installment of this annual tradition for those who Meet Us at the Tavern. Get caught up with the happenings from the Beard Dimension with the original Beardomancy and follow up Hairable Ideas in anticipation of this year’s installment. Bring your beard to bear against foes and protect your allies with beardomantic energy here and tap deeper into the voluminous power of the Beard Dimension here.
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.
D&D-izing Galvatron from Transformers: The Movie
While scheduling social media posts recently I came across a great D&D meme inspired by Transformers: The Movie. I mean of course the 1986 animated film and not the Michael Bay series of movies. To each their own but for my two energon cubes the animated movie rocked then and still rocks now. I saw it in the theater when I as nine and every so often I’ll watch it again for fun and it still holds up. One of the best parts of the movie is the transformation of Megatron into Galvatron, an upgraded form bestowed by Unicron after the Deception leader was nearly destroyed in a deadly assault against their Autobot enemies. At this point in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons there’s so many character options without even delving into third party stuff and it got me thinking what the villainous minion of Unicron might look like in 5E D&D terms. Curious? Here’s a hint.
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.
Wilderness Adventurer Couture
Going on an adventure in the wilderness? Here are different categories of heroes for wilderness adventures for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Whatever the case may be for you it is best to make sure you are prepared to become one with nature in the fashion sense. Asking around and doing your research is the perfect start!
