Fight the Fear and Play a Coward Effectively in 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted speak with confidence about playing a coward in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The discussion makes a clear distinction between expressing a character’s fear in the game itself and approaching circumstances and scenarios with undue trepidation from the players themselves. Say what you will about 5E D&D, a significant portion of the game involves characters fighting monsters and inserting themselves into dangerous situations. This could be a rich source of roleplaying and character development for those who hold fear in their hearts. At the same time it’s important to recognize the cooperative group dynamic and an ally who runs away or hides as a matter of course puts companions in a tough spot. As a huge advocate for a support style role in 5E D&D I thought it might be useful to share some ways characters can contribute to their party’s success while still expressing their character’s fears, so let’s get into it.
Step Aside Owlbear, the Flamingox is a New 5E D&D Mashup Animal Monster
Dungeons & Dragons has a long tradition of making monsters that are a mashup of different things, creatures inspired by legends and mythology and creatures that are mixed together and combined. The owlbear is one such iconic monster mashup of D&D and over the years a few here and there get added to the game. Other creations pay homage to this tradition by combining creatures together as part of the worldbuilding. My kids and I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and combined creatures abound in the series, sparking my imagination to create something new for 5E D&D.
Discover the City of Lost Omens with Exciting New WizKids Miniatures
When you look at prepainted miniatures for tabletop gaming WizKids continues to stay at the top of the game. Whether you are playing Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder or any number of other fantasy roleplaying games, miniatures from WizKids are great and the new City of Lost Omens set is no exception. I always look forward to the next set of miniatures from WizKids as each one gives me new options for threats to challenge characters and adventuring parties. In addition to the blind purchase in recent years WizKids began doing the nonblind purchase associated with each set. I am a huge nerd and collector when it comes to miniatures in particular. The minis included with City of Lost Omens inspired tons of ideas to bring to the gaming table already.
Embrace the Hero Forge Foxfolk Spirit in Your 5E D&D Game
Nerdarchist Ted here to expand upon the lovely post written by Steven about the vulpin, a foxfolk race for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons right on our site here. I think this is a great start and I wanted to expand upon it by making a new racial feat available for the foxfolk race that captures some of the Japanese folklore about the mythical figures called kitsune. And for Dungeon Masters out there I’ve included a vulpin spirit caller ready to drop right into your campaign as an insightful NPC. Whether you’re a player or DM, or simply think foxfolk are really fun and cool you can create your own customized miniature and get it 3D printed — in full color — from the amazing Hero Forge.
D&D Ideas — Music
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is music, which we discussed in our 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 music, in Girl with the Dragon SNAFU when adventurers visit an inn filled with music, laughter and lots of conversation they discover a whole lot more going on off stage than the performance on stage. This and 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your game come straight Out of the Box here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates, info on how to game with Nerdarchy and ways to save money on RPG stuff by signing up here.
Wage Secret Chest Wars with Classic Spells in Your Next 5E D&D Game
A while back over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted looked at all the spells in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons to determine the most expensive ones to cast. Part of the research for the video involved noting all the spells with expensive material components, both those consumed in the casting and the ones where the component is not consumed and therefore reusable. Any time you take a close, thoughtful look at the minutiae within 5E D&D you can find new inspiration for characters, adventures and campaigns and what I took away from this video research is a new appreciation for one of the oldest spells in D&D — Leomund’s secret chest.
5E D&D Adventurers are the Warmest Place to Hide for the Blood Rime Monster
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted find frosty inspiration from the upcoming Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden and create a fast and dirty monster for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A blood rime is an ooze creature attracted to warm blood found in arctic regions and since Dave and Ted hammer out the basics in the video, here on the website we’ll get down to crunchy brass tacks and put together a stat block along with some lore to give Dungeon Masters some ideas on how to incorporate this cold terror into their 5E D&D games. So let’s get into it.
5E D&D Feats for the Future from Unearthed Arcana
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a closer look at some new ways for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters to gain mastery in one of their capabilities or discover the ability to do something completely new. In other words they’re talking about 5E D&D feats and in particular the recently released Unearthed Arcana 2020 — Feats playtest document. This Unearthed Arcana presents 16 new feats to add new twists to characters whether through magic, martial prowess or mastery of new techniques. You can check out these playtest feats here and hear what Dave and Ted had to say below while I take a look at some other practical applications and do a bit of speculation. So let’s get into it.
Spice Up Boring RPG Fantasy Worldbuilding by Removing Humans
Fantasy is a broad genre when it comes to tabletop roleplaying games. However, it seems that whether it’s Tolkien, Le Guin, Adeyemi or Salvatore, humans are an inescapable staple in settings and conflicts. Don’t get me wrong, I love humans. Most of my friends are human. But I have to wonder if we lose a degree of creativity by presuming fantasy must include humans? Today, I want to explore some ways excluding humans in your RPG worldbuilding can really step up your game.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Campaign as a Pod Person in an Adventure Simulator
One of the scenarios RPG players face time and time again is the inconsistent group. For many the greatest villain in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop roleplaying game is Scheduling. Oh, the trials and tribulations involved with maintaining an RPG player group on a regular basis. Online gaming goes a long way towards mitigating this challenge because it’s easier than ever to find people to roll funny shaped dice with but what about keeping one group of people together consistently enough to complete a long campaign, or even a few sessions to finish a single adventure? Personally I frequently run into an issue getting a group to meet more than once with any consistency. I still manage to satisfy my gaming itch, but whether as a player or Game Master I yearn to experience a protracted RPG campaign following the same group of characters. While going through some notes I came across one with a potential way to circumvent some of the issues I’ve faced keeping an adventuring group together. So let’s get into it.
Best in Show 5E D&D Magic Items for a Druid
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted commune with the natural world to come up with the best magic items for druids in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the previous discussions on top magic items for various character classes in 5E D&D this is an unusual topic because it’s rare for a character to choose magic items. However there’s a few opportunities I can think of off the top of my head. In Adventurers League play items can be traded on a one-for-one basis for items with the same rarity at a cost of 15 downtime days unless they’re playing at the same table. Games beginning beyond 1st level often allow for players to choose magic items too, like in our own monthly fan one shots. These looks at 5E D&D magic items are difficult for an entirely different reason though. The best of anything is subjective, if for no other reason than campaigns are as diverse as the people playing them. This time around we’re going to stick to looking at homebrew magic items at D&D Beyond but instead of following the factor of three model I’m going to lean into the subjectivity. For each type of magic item (excluding potions and scrolls) I’ll consider the rating, views and adds for each kind and choose the one I think best serves a druid. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Dungeons
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is dungeons, which we discussed in our live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of dungeons, in Council of Three a magical puzzle confronts dungeon delvers and depending on how this goes they might receive a boon, a trap or even a future adventure. This and 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your game come straight Out of the Box here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates, info on how to game with Nerdarchy and ways to save money on RPG stuff by signing up here.
5 Athletics Skill Challenges for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! I’m back this week with another set of skill challenges for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and this time around we are dealing with Athletics — the things that strain the body and make you push to go faster and farther. The kind of skill challenge that boil down to one solitary question: Dost thou even hoist? As previously, the idea is you could take any of these five Athletics skill challenges and drop them right into your 5E D&D game to give a character who leans heavily on this skill a moment to shine and solve a smaller problem.
Make Intelligence Your Dump Stat and Show How Smart Your 5E D&D Character Can Be
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted put on their thinking caps to explore using dump stats and low ability scores in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. They talk specifically about Intelligence in this case, discussing different approaches for roleplaying and perspectives on how and why a character might have a low score. This broad topic can apply to any RPG, even games without a specific Intelligence score or even ability scores at all. Portraying a character with below average smarts can be a lot of fun but this particular ability score, like a lot of nonphysical attributes in any game, can also be tricky. It’s a lot easier to imagine an exceptionally strong or agile character or conversely a weak or clumsy one but when it comes to what we often refer to as mental stats roleplaying becomes a bit more challenging. Since Dave and Ted cover Intelligence itself, I’m curious about different kinds of intelligence. You may have heard the term ’emotional intelligence’ before and this got me thinking of ways for RPG characters to display their own types of intelligence inspired by other ability scores. So let’s get into it and come up with ideas for characters who dump Intelligence to showcase their own smarts in 5E D&D.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with New Sorcerer Metamagic Options
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons wizards harness magic through understanding while druids commune with magic as a living force. Warlocks channel otherworldly energies into our own dimension, as do clerics (in a wildly different context). Paladins gain power through their ardor and devotion while rangers tame natural magics, often triggering primal energies within. Bards essentially fudge their way through things, hodgepodging lore together and weaving it into their performances, and numerous others possess magic in part, though their primary focus lies in martial prowess or self-discipline. Then there’s the sorcerer.
