3 Places of Power to Drop Into Your 5E D&D Game
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore places of power for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Discovering strange locales, forgotten sites and other regions rife with unusual energies comes up pretty often in 5E D&D games. Like any other sort of encounter these places of power represent a point in the story where forward progress stops to allow players to describe their characters’ actions. Engaging with places of power and interacting with what they find there can be a great benefit. Sometimes these benefits are mechanical in nature and sometimes characters walk away with intangible rewards like knowledge, a contact or a special new quest. So let’s get into it.
5E D&D Players Gel through Group Patrons from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
All of the Dungeon Master’s Tools wrapped up with a deeper look at Natural Hazards but chapter four in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything holds many more terrific modules of content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The book’s second chapter revisits a concept introduced with Eberron: Rising from the Last War and explores Group Patrons for 5E D&D. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Know It All
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted indulge the latter's love for highly skilled characters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. An optional class feature for rangers in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything gives the class access to Expertise in a roundabout way...
Taking Stingy Jack from 5E D&D Warlock to Patron to Creature and Beyond
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take inspiration from an old Irish story for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Stingy Jack — sometimes called Jack o’ the Lantern — is a mythical character associated with All Hallows Eve and in fact the Jack-o’-lantern may be derived from this story. In the video they discuss the legend and come up with several different ways to incorporate this figure of folklore into 5E D&D games. I came up with another one too. In this scenario Stingy Jack is neither a creature to fight nor an NPC to engage with. Not exactly anyway. So let’s get into it.
Managing Unexpected Sidekicks in 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about what happens when your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons party decides to adopt an NPC you didn’t expect them to like. (AKA the thing I do that is the bane of every Dungeon Master I have ever had!) If it makes you feel any better though I’ve had my share of players doing this to me as well. I have some wisdom to share on how to keep track of these 5E D&D character and creature sidekicks and make sure to keep things straight as you go.
In Defense of Chaotic Neutral Alignment in 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to take a moment to talk about alignment in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons because let’s be honest, it’s just one of those bottomless topics there are a thousand things to say about. No, really. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about alignment, what it means and how people play it in 5E D&D. this conversation like so many other conversations about alignment started with the words chaotic neutral.
Implementing Fashion Style into Tabletop Roleplaying Games
An element often under reported within tabletop roleplaying game character creation is fashion. I know you are going out to save fair maidens, rid the country of treasure stealing fire breathing dragons and stop evil liches from raising armies of undead. Mighty fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventurers are busy and may think they have no time for fashion but this is another element of roleplaying that can bring your game to the next level. When you think about 5E D&D character design a character’s fashion style should be taken into consideration. Fashion can illuminate so much more about your character without spoken words leaving an impact on other players, NPCs and the Dungeon Master.
D&D Ideas — Shops
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is shops, 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 shops in Fibble’s Fantastic Familiars a comical fellow seeks to sell a chaotic Oculider, which threatens to destroy his shop. All kinds of other creatures are here too. An innocuous visit to an exotic pet store reveals creatures with mysterious and mystical stories or fantastic fibs 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.
Taking Advantage of Metaphorical Ruins for 5E D&D Characters
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted excavate ideas and concepts about ruins in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. If I’m honest after our recent live chat on the subject and accompanying newsletter I’m tapped on fresh ideas about ruins in 5E D&D at the moment. Fortunately I recently binge watched a terrific series and came up with a sideways approach to the topic I think can be useful for players and Dungeon Masters alike. So let’s get into it and see what we can takeaway from Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when it comes to ruins for our 5E D&D characters and campaigns.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Dagger Master
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted sharpen their blades and dissect a dagger master character build for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Quick Toss maneuver and Thrown Weapon Fighting options available through Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything create a new opportunity for a 5E D&D character equally deadly in close quarters combat and at range with daggers and other throwing weapons. The Dagger Master Character Build Guide cuts to the quick with a narrative thread and mechanical progression from 1st to 20th level making it useful for any tier of play. Plus as always we created an NPC creature version for Dungeon Masters too. So let’s get into it.
Minions of San-Tac-Laus to Help Deliver 5E D&D Holiday Cheer
About this time last year I made a holiday beholder for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons based on the chubby bearded man who is a symbol of the holiday season. But I knew the story would not end there. After all if the jolly man in the red has his staff of elves who really look and act like really short gnomes then San-Tac-Laus should have his own set of 5E D&D minions to work with as well.
Transforming Worldbuilding Lore into a New 5E D&D Paladin Sacred Oath
Over the past several days I’ve been doing a challenge for 30 days of worldbuilding and one of my viewers shared how she is building two worlds at once with this challenge. This inspired me to do the same. So while I have been building a comedic fantasy world through YouTube videos and exercises I’ve also been building a dark fantasy world called Aulmn for my second project. Part of worldbuilding is developing your own lore surrounding… well, everything. My launch point for this dark fantasy was a history of oppressive spellcasters leading to magical revilement. Then I started thinking about how spellcasting classes fit into the world and everything just snowballed from there. Recently Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talked about using Dungeons & Dragons lore and making up your own. This video hugely inspired many aspects of my worldbuilding. Today we’re covering one aspect of this lore and how it led me to develop a new paladin Sacred Oath for fifth edition D&D.
Opting for 5E D&D Character Options from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Hey folks! With the release of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters alike have been given a number of exciting new character options for Customizing Your Origin and creating a Custom Lineage. Strangely these new options seem to be met with mixed responses but like any optional rules they are merely a source of inspiration and variation to be adopted or not as individual groups of players see fit.
Fluff Like Your 5E D&D Character Backstory is the Game Too
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted examine how a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character’s backstory functions as a tool for the player and Dungeon Master alike. Comments on the video run the range from enthusiasm for this component of 5E D&D character creation to dismissal completely. The modular and adaptable nature of the game itself makes all these perspectives valid but from my perspective backstory is like a lot of other elements of 5E D&D — sitting right there in the open but often glossed over because there’s no pluses and minuses attached. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Depths
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is depths, 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 depths in Deep Breaths a group of lizardfolk and their chief ambush heroes deep in the oppressive jungle and demand a price be paid for intrusion. Political and spiritual pressure create a powderkeg of tension among lizardfolk on a pilgrimage 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.
