Cyborgs and Robots Take Over 5E D&D through Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
I want to talk about cyborgs, robots and machines in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons (oh my)! The new Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has everything! Well, it has a lot. Reading through the new 5E D&D subclasses I had some initial thoughts I shared on my YouTube channel and I promised to talk more about them.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Grung Grappler
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take grab onto a small idea for a grung grappler Character Build Guide for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The 5E D&D Tiniest Wrestler CBG holds on tight to this concept from character creation to 20th level while the special NPC or creature version inspired by the character build for Dungeon Masters ready to drop right into your game stands tall in the center of the arena as a main eventer. So let’s get into it.
Anyone Can Be Psionic with New 5E D&D Feats in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Psionics have finally made their canonical fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons debut in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. And when I say now anyone can be psionic I mean anyone. Courtesy of two new 5E D&D psionic feats any character or creature can manifest at least a base level of psionic power!
Exploring Eberron through Artificer Specialists for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted tinker with Exploring Eberron through another look at the character options included in the Dungeon Master’s Guild book produced by Keith Baker, the original creator of the megapopular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Eberron’s rich and detailed setting appealed to D&D players from the very beginning. Exploring Eberron wonderfully illustrates how curating character options creates a tremendous opportunity to show, rather than tell, what’s special about your world. Exploring Eberron includes several subclasses specially tailored to the setting for 5E D&D characters to choose from and Nerdarchy explores them all like we do. In the case of the Artificer Specialists I’m searching through the book to find connection points between these subclasses and the larger world they come from. So let’s get into it.
Improve Your 5E D&D Experiences with Session Zero in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Between bursts of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character creations, revisions and reimaginings brought on by the release of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything I find myself most captivated by Dungeon Master’s Tools in chapter 4 of the new book. While these sections aren’t exactly breaking new ground in the tabletop roleplaying game hobby they do achieve one super important thing — creating official support. Right now I’m focusing on the lead in to the chapter outlining session zero, which I believe is the most critical part of any 5E D&D campaign. So let’s get into it.
Parleying with Monsters in 5E D&D Reveals the Power of Social Interaction
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is officially released! Like countless others around the world I poured through the new fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons book oohing and ahhing over the fun new character options, my imagination awhirl with possibilities. (We’re already talking about twists and turns for our characters when we revisit Those Bastards!) In the coming weeks we’ll surely create plenty of videos and posts right here exploring what’s inside but there’s one section of the book I absolutely love above all others and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into Parleying with Monsters. So let’s get into it.
Social Interaction in 5E D&D is All About Attitude
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted interact socially for a discussion on fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adversaries whose weapons lean more towards a sharp tongue than a sharp sword. You might be surprised to learn there’s a section in the 5E D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide covering social interaction both narratively and mechanically. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Runes
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is runes, 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 runes in Devil’s Hospitality unwitting adventurers entangle themselves in a fiendish contract marked by deceptive runes and the race begins to find a loophole and void the binding circumstances. This guest creator encounter from Don’t Stop Thinking’s CJ Leung ensnares heroes in a devilish plot 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, by signing up here.
10 Tiny Terrors of 5E D&D
Not too long ago I took a look at the chonkiest bois in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. It turns out 5E D&D’s most massive monsters when it comes to hit points also stand at the top of the size chart with ten out of 13 boasting Gargantuan size. But big threats don’t always come in equally big packages. While there aren’t a whole lot of deadly creatures on the Tiny side of things there’s plenty to put adventurers in peril. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Dragon Champion with this New Magic Item
Tempered in the Mage Forge, Drukal the Fang of Drasusgino comes to you by way of Nerdarchist Dave’s Court of Wyrms campaign. A Land of the Lost style setting for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventures this hidden region sees reptilian and draconic entities as the dominate creatures. Kobolds, lizardfolk, dragonborn, yuan-ti and others of the scaly persuasion hold sway in a land of dinosaurs, drakes and dragons.
Write the RPG You’ve Always Wanted During GamoWriMo — the NaoNoWriMo Spinoff for TTRPG Nerds
It’s November, which means National Novel Writing Month — also lovingly referred to as NaNoWriMo. Last year, Dael Kingsmill proposed a twist on our classic NaNoWriMo called GamoWriMo. The premise of NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write at least 50,000 words of a novel in a single month. GamoWriMo’s challenge was similar: take the niggling idea for an RPG campaign that just won’t leave you alone and get it to a playtest worthy state before the end of the month. Both challenges emphasize getting words on a page as opposed to immaculate quality.
Listen to the Sound of Music | Tool Time with Musical Instruments in 5E D&D
In our continuing discussion of tools and proficiencies in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons it’s time we talked about a craft many appreciate and even more confuse with the existing Performance skill. Grab your kalimba and take a seat in the orchestra because we’re talking about instruments. As a quick note tool proficiencies are generally nebulous in 5E D&D and their applications vary depending on your Dungeon Master. These posts are meant as guides for those who don’t know where to start but many DMs already have established rules for how tools proficiencies work in tandem with skills. So make sure to ask how tool proficiencies work in your own games.
Player Choices Foster RPG Division of Labor for Better Game Experiences
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted ponder the ins and outs of Dungeon Masters recognizing and respecting player and character choices in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The discussion applies to any tabletop roleplaying game and encompasses both mechanical and narrative choices during character creation and throughout a campaign. To me this speaks to paradigm shift in the RPG hobby. So let’s get into it.
Buff Your 5E D&D Battle Master Courtesy of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Dungeons & Dragons Principal Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford recently shared a bit of inside information about Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything sure to get fans of the fighter class excited. In particular Crawford wrote about Battle Master builds included in the upcoming book of expanded rules for fifth edition D&D. So let’s get into it.
Exploring Eberron through the College of the Dirge Singer Bard for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted strike a chord with Exploring Eberron with another look at the character options included in the Dungeon Master’s Guild book produced by Keith Baker, the original creator of the megapopular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. D&D players embraced Eberron’s rich and detailed setting from the very beginning. Exploring Eberron does a terrific job illustrating how curating character options creates a tremendous opportunity to show, rather than tell, what is special about your world. Exploring Eberron includes several subclasses for 5E D&D characters to choose from specially tailored to the setting, and Nerdarchy explores them all like we do. In the case of the College of the Dirge Singer bard I’m going through the book to find the connection points between the subclass and the larger world it comes from. So let’s get into it.
