D&D Ideas — Culture
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is the culture, 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 culture in the frozen tundra of Kredgefur’s Belt myth and magic greatly inform the lives of clan culture including the power of fate to affect outcomes — like the rise of a new Frost King. 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.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Armor
Wow is there a tremendous amount of homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond. I’ve gone over all the 5E D&D schools of magic, subclasses for every class, feats and several other categories of content and now it’s time to start tackling magic items. Starting at the alphabetical top I’m looking at all the homebrew armor for 5E D&D. You’ll find over 20,454 of these at DDB. We get a kick out of checking out the 5E D&D content folks come up with and sharing their homebrew creations. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) Let’s get into it.
Expand Your Roleplaying Through Heritage and Culture in 5E D&D
If you want to stir the pot with the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons fandom then bring up the topic of race and watch the opinions flow. Race is a core mechanic of 5E D&D and while some prefer the term lineage (see Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) the two terms are used interchangeably within the community. The way I like to run D&D games, I view any mechanic as having a direct influence on the story and likewise I believe every mechanic’s existence ought to be justified by a story element. Race is just one of these areas so let’s break down character race, what it means, and how to use it more effectively in your 5E D&D games.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Flesh Render
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted took inspiration from a community supporter to create a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character build around the inflict wounds spell. The Flesh Render delved too deeply into both the arcane and divine workings of the multiverse, which drives them a bit mad and we found great appeal in this concept for a 5E D&D character. Let’s get into it.
Dissecting the 5E D&D Celestial Creature Type
Salutations, nerds! It’s time for a look at celestials in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, by which I mean angels. Sort of. You’ll see what I mean when we start cracking into them but suffice it to say, another day another 5E D&D creature type.
D&D Ideas — Creepy
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is the creepy, 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 creepy the beetles, centipedes and other deep living creepy crawlies creep adventurers out during an encounter with an insectoid knight and the horrendous creature tormenting it. 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.
7 Small Scaries of 5E D&D
A while back I wrote a beefy post about the chonkiest bois in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. As a follow up I looked at the deadliest Tiny 5E D&D creatures. For some reason or another the latter began showing up in the top posts over the last week or so and I thought perhaps folks might be curious about creatures who fall between the two extreme ends of the size spectrum in 5E D&D. The title for this post clues you into where I’m starting for a closer look at the monsters of more moderate size. Let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Scaled Skald
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted had an enlightening visit from Kraul the Lizardfolk as a special guest who helped explain how unorthodox character builds for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons can become fun, effective characters to play. The Scaled Skald character emerged through a combination of unexpected class and background choices when we set out to illustrate how 5E D&D characters are much more than a collection of optimized numbers on a character sheet. Let’s get into it.
Dissecting the 5E D&D Beast Creature Type
Salutations, nerds! Are you ready to unleash the beast? Well, neither am I, but I am at least ready to unleash an examination of the beast creature type in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Beasts in 5E D&D are basically mundane animals. These are the kinds of creatures druids look to for their Wild Shape feature.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Library Agent
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted fulfill a community request for a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character who dutifully carries out their responsibilities as a librarian adventurer. The Library Agent is a 5E D&D character who procures lore and protects a sacred library and museum of arcane wonders. Late returns won’t be tolerated by this crusader of academia and easily accessible collections of materials, books or media. Let’s get into it.
Alignment in D&D is NOT Dead! But It’s Not What You Think
Alignment is not dead. There, I said it. Stone me if you will. However, alignment goes beyond fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons in my opinion, though not in the way you might think. I’m not talking about our conventional alignment system of law vs. chaos and good vs. evil. As the system stands it really only works in the contexts of certain moods and genres as I’ll explain in a bit. I do believe there is a sort of alignment to story genres that can help us compartmentalize and define our games, stories and even the media we consume.
D&D Ideas — Evolution of D&D
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is the evolution of D&D, 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 evolution our own creations are evolving in a new direction too! We’re taking our popular Character Build Guides and mashing them up with our wildly successful Out of the Box encounters. For this exciting evolution we’re taking CBGs to the next step by crafting dynamic encounters around the creatures and NPCs inspired by the player character guide. 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.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Party Animal
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore how one person’s poison is another’s passion for a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character who focuses on creating and using alchemical enhancements. The Party Animal is a 5E D&D character who loves a good time. Establishing themselves as a purveyor of mood altering or enhancement substances is just as important as saving the multiverse or whatever. Let’s get into it.
Catch a Whiff of 5 New 5E D&D Aromatic Magic Items to Awaken Your Senses
Baron Smellybones has opened his vault of curated curiosities to bring you the world’s greatest set of Scented Adventure Dice. Add a new dimension of customization to your game with these exquisite aromas. To awaken your olfactory sense to the fantastic possibilities here’s a variety of new magic items inspired by these aromatic artifacts of tabletop roleplaying.
Discover Critical Role Campaign 3’s Wild New Party of D&D Adventurers
Critical Role just began Campaign 3 of its fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game. The continent where the campaign takes place this time is Marquet and the southern accents, which we were previously introduced to via Fjord of Campaign 2, are in full swing . Before we delve into this post please know there might be some spoilers ahead for the first session of Critical Role Campaign 3 as well as spoilers for all episodes leading up to this point. If you’re not into those maybe come back and read this after catching up.
