5 Favorite 5E D&D Characters
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a cue from a fellow YouTuber and share tales of adventurers — and more specifically adventurers — past. It’s indulgent, it’s fun and it’s introspectively interesting to take a long view back at all the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters who’ve solved puzzles, talked with other characters, battled fantastic monsters and discovered fabulous magic items and other treasure. And since they got to do it in the video I’m gonna do the same thing right here. A huge roster of 5E D&D characters took up the adventuring life in the last six years and from the group I culled my top five favorites, hopefully each with a little nugget of usefulness to you but certainly a hefty load for me. So let’s get into it.
WizKids Captures the Terror of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden in Miniatures
A new book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons released and with it another fantastic set of miniatures blows in from the north courtesy of our friends over at WizKids. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden pits players against a harsh winter environment and the denizens dwelling there. So whether you are running this adventure or looking for awesome winter themed miniatures these ones certainly inspire some great roleplaying games. The Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden set of miniatures comes with over 40 options in blind purchase boxes as well as a massive Chardalyn Dragon miniature as part of the D&D: Icons of the Realms series available for purchase singly.
5 Performance Skill Challenges for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! It’s that time of the week again and we’re going to be talking about Performance skill challenges for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. As usual, the point here isn’t to send characters off on some grand epic quest so much as to provide a momentary stumbling block giving those skill heavy 5E D&D characters a chance to shine! So without farther ado prepare your world to be a stage. I hope you’ve all practiced those soliloquies.
Put some Oomph in Your Flumph for Your Next 5E D&D Game
We receive requests fairly regularly around the ol’ Nerdarchy offices and we’re happy to oblige whether they’re character builds for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, Game Master advice or in this case an appeal for more flumph! Over on our Facebook page we were asked, “Could you do an article about the flumph? They are the red headed step child of the aberration family.” Flumphs have been a part of D&D since 1981’s Fiend Folio, a sourcebook of monsters for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and appear in every edition since. In 5E D&D flumphs appear in the Monster Manual and several adventures. In my own homebrew setting they exist canonically on the shores of the Undersea of Fallen Stars where they were encountered by the cast and crew of Ingest Quest, the 5E D&D Spelljammer campaign over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel. Like so many D&D nerds out there I think flumphs are pretty cool but if I’m honest I don’t know a whole lot about these aberrations. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Favorite Books
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with Epic Double Weapons by Hero Forge
It is time again! Hero Forge continues to put out new additions and features for their customized tabletop miniatures every week called Treasure Tuesdays. I have been talking about how great Hero Forge is for a while but if you’re seeing this post as your first preview by Nerdarchy then let me tell you they are an amazing service allowing you to 3D design your customized miniatures for tabletop roleplaying games. The options are astounding with all the races, gear, accessories and articulation with more new options every week. And in the very near future the color printing options from their Hero Forge 2.0 Kickstarter will be available in wide release for everyone to use and be astounded by. The revised website is smoother and even more user friendly. I love Hero Forge and have loads of miniatures and STL files purchased from them. You have to check out all the wondrous options from the wonderful people over at Hero Forge.
5 Tabletop RPGs You Should Play
So, you wanna get into the big bold world of tabletop roleplaying games, huh? Maybe you’ve decided to spend more time with friends and you think game night is a great way to do this or perhaps you’ve got inspiration for a sprawling world and you just really want to evolve it by telling stories in it. Suppose you don’t know where to start, like what RPG system you should use. You could go with Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a classic for a reason and fifth edition D&D definitely strikes a delicate balance between crunchy and simple. Maybe you’ve recently been watching Nerdarchy’s most recent live play Moon Rises and you want to try your hand with Cypher System. Maybe there’s another game you’ve wanted to try but you’re just not sure on the matter or maybe you don’t even know where to start when you want to branch out with RPGs. Don’t worry. If you want a brief rundown of what different systems high and low points are you’ve come to the right place. Today we’re talking about five different RPG systems — what they do well, what they could do better and general pros and cons. Before we delve even that far feel free to check out the video I did over on my own YouTube channel where I break down the strengths and weaknesses of different types of RPG systems.
Unleash the Horde of Nord Games Ultimate Bestiary On Your RPG World
Ultimate Bestiary Miniatures unleashes a horde of of monstrous humanoids on your fantasy campaign setting and your tabletop through the latest Kickstarter from our friends at Nord Games. Revenge of the Horde introduced us to these awesome creators in the first place and over the years they consistently go all out on their products whether they’re books, card decks or in this case tabletop miniatures — a lot of them.
Shiny! | Tool Time with Jeweler’s Tools in 5E D&D
If you’re like me and easily distracted by shinies then this is the post for you because today we’re talking about jeweler’s tools in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons! As a quick aside proficiencies are a core mechanic of 5E D&D. However, tool proficiencies don’t fit neatly into the mechanic due to their more nebulous nature. Your own Dungeon Master might rule things differently from how we present things in this post so talk with your own DM and ask how they treat tool proficiencies, especially if you make that a core component of your character. With that out of the way let’s cover jeweler’s tools and how you might use them in your own game.
New 5E D&D Monsters from Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
A frozen land of isolation and terror awaits adventurers in the latest fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden challenges 1st level characters plunge into danger to save the frozen North from everlasting night as they advance to 12th level. There’s new magic items and spells included with the adventure for adventurers to discover out there in the lands north of the Spine of the World. But those rewards aren’t just sitting out in the open unprotected! New monsters inhabit the landscape to guard those treasures and pursue their own ambitions alongside many creatures from several other sources. Here’s the 5E D&D monsters included in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Creating 5E D&D Mechanus Orcs Through Worldbuilding
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a look at the savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Orcs have been a staple of D&D and fantasy in general forever, typically as a threat looming in the wilderness on the edges of civilization. Volo’s Guide to monsters does a good job expanding on orcs for 5E D&D essentially as divinely driven destroyers, a pretty one note portrayal. Campaign settings offer a window into different kinds of orc societies like you’ll find in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Dave and Ted climb in through that window to make themselves at home and offer up three new ways to reimagine orcs for players and Dungeons Masters alike by adding just a few simple details.
5 New 5E D&D Spells and Wizard Stuff from Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
The latest fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure plunges adventurers into a frozen land of isolation and terror. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden continues the tradition of building onto game concepts through design as a complete campaign, this time around challenging 1st level characters to save the frozen North from everlasting night as they advance to 12th level. We already know there’s 10 new magic items included with the adventure, and wizards can rejoice to discover new spells and other accoutrements of the craft out there in the lands north of the Spine of the World. Here’s the five new 5E D&D spells and associated wizardly stuff waiting ambitious magic users in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Exploring Eberron through the Mind Domain Cleric for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted look through their third eye and continue Exploring Eberron through the character options included in the Dungeon Master’s Guild book produced by Keith Baker, the megapopular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting’s original creator. Eberron is an extremely rich and detailed setting beloved by D&D players from its very beginning. Exploring Eberron illustrates wonderfully 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 plans to explore them all like we do. In the case of the Mind Domain cleric I’m going through the book to find the connection points between the Divine Domain and the larger world it comes from. So let’s get into it.
5 Perception Skill Challenges for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds, and today we’re going to to be talking about five flash skill challenges for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons based on Perception. For example, did you notice the word ‘to’ was written twice in the previous sentence? The point of these is to give you a quick 5E D&D challenge to throw at characters for a moment of conflict when you need one or feel the need to slow things down. None of them are meant to send the party on some epic quest (though it’s always possible with the right — or wrong — group of players). Let’s get ready to roll some Perception checks.
