WizKids 4D Settings: Homestead and Medieval Farmer Spin Adventure from Humble Beginnings
When creating low level games for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons there are tropes for where the adventure is going to go. Down on the farm there is something happening with the animals. Or down on the farm things are going missing. Yeah there are a lot of them, but the things happening on the farm is common among early quest goals. If you want to wow your players from session one you can pick up the awesome WizKids 4D Settings: Medieval Farmer and WizKids 4D Settings: Homestead sets of scatter or terrain for your 5E D&D or favorite tabletop roleplaying game put out by our friends over at WizKids.
Mythology of a 5E D&D Dwarven Artificer Specialist
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted tinker with ideas for playing an artificer in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A while back we did a video series about the best race to play each 5E D&D class and with the artificer being the only new official class since the Player’s Handbook we were compelled to add a new title to the series. The discussion on YouTube brought up some intriguing ideas and if I’m honest the artificer class itself didn’t really captivate me until I was watching the video. One of the races they mention for potential best artificer doesn’t make the final cut for them but for me it shot to the top of the list and remained there like mountain bedrock. At least for my own growing campaign setting the best artificers are dwarves.
A Group of Fighters is Called a Club
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about fighters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and honestly I feel like this is going to be the most difficult one because as far as all the 5E D&D classes go, I feel like fighters have the least cohesive class identity. So let’s see what we can coax out of this one. Fighters…fight things. And that’s pretty much the unifying feature. Some of them cast spells, some of them are just straight up masters of weaponry, some of them are ranged and some of them are melee. It’s not even a more interesting word than that, it’s just ‘fighters fight’ because that’s what they do. But there’s something to be said about simplistic melee, and something else entirely to be said for groups of fighters, especially when they’re trying to keep up with classes like wizards and rogues. There’s a trope, the badass normal, and that’s what I think of when I think of a straight up fighter. Someone who is just good because they’re good and not because of any magic or special trick they use. They keep up, and they keep up with people who should be way over their heads, and that alone is worth the effort.
Nature 101 – 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons mechanics revolve around the ability checks and the proficiency bonus. When it comes to skill checks as ability checks, the check is written like this (for example): Intelligence (Nature). The reason for this is Intelligence is the applicable ability score, and the Nature proficiency allows further modification of the ability check. Quick Disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can allow or require any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant to act as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like narratively.
Taking Morality, Duty and Obligation from a Galaxy Far, Far Away for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted bring some ideas from a galaxy far, far away to the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons table. They take inspiration from a mechanic from Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars Roleplaying and talk about how they’d implement a similar device in 5E D&D. In Star Wars RPG part of a character is your Morality, Duty or Obligation. These narrative mechanics are tied to Force and Destiny, Age of Rebellion and Edge of the Empire respectively. If I’m honest I’m not very familiar with FFG’s Star Wars RPG so when we were planning the video I wasn’t much help. But now that I’ve heard what Dave and Ted have to say, I’m certainly intrigued to explore this idea more and think about how Morality, Duty and Obligation can be a terrific tool for 5E D&D Dungeon Masters and players alike.
D&D Ideas — Patrons
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week's topic is patrons, which we discussed in our exclusive Patreon live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST with Patreon supporters and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes...
Catching up with DMs Guild and D&D Community Creators
My collection of content from Dungeon Masters Guild continues to grow! There are so many amazing creators in the D&D community and keeping up with all the fantastic new material is challenging to say the least. Thankfully the DMs Guild newsletter delivers a great summary of new content along with special deals to save you money on great new content for your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games. In addition I appreciate whenever creators reach out to share news about their own new and upcoming material for 5E D&D available through the DMs Guild. Also, how about a shout out for Lysa Penrose, recently named brand manager for DMs Guild! Congratulations to Lysa, she is a tireless advocate for great gaming and positive D&D community building. (She’s also a guest creator for our Out of the Box book, and her Crones and their Cravings encounter is one of my favorites of the 55 encounters.)
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Wizard Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all wizard party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We get a kick out of making this video series people seem to dig it, and I’m having a blast with the concept here on the website. Playing an all wizard party in 5E D&D more than anything raises concerns about squishiness, something many of the video comments touch upon. Dave and Ted can share their insights into 5E D&D party composition and over here we’re continuing to build the scenario we started way back when with the all bard party — a campaign setting of academia for each particular character class. So let’s get into it and put on our pointy hats for an all wizard party composition in a 5E D&D academic setting.
Medicine 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons revolves around the ideas of ability checks and the proficiency bonus. When it comes to skill checks as ability checks, the check is written like this (for example): Wisdom (Medicine). The reason for this is Wisdom is the applicable ability score and the Medicine proficiency allows further modification of the ability check. Quick Disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can allow or require any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant to act as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like narratively.
Creating Undead Hordes in 5E D&D is Fun!
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss what happens when a necromancer's undead army stops being a few minions and starts being a real pain to conceal from the rest of the world. Around the Nerdarchy HQ we joke about how...
A Group of Druids is Called a Grove
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about druids in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and I don’t know about you but I don’t tend to run into them as often as I do some of the other classes so brace yourselves for an adventure, because I’m learning a lot this time right along with you. Druids are the nature class. Devoting oneself to the wild is not a whim, it’s a lifestyle. I know in 5E D&D they kind of swerved away from this, but once upon a time druids were so devoted to the natural order of things they weren’t even allowed to wear metal on their person, so often you’d find them in armor made of bone or ironwood instead of steel. Druids are promoters of growth, defenders of the wild and they can even take the shapes of animals. With all that going for them, it’s a shame they don’t get as much attention as some of the other classes available. I mean, I get it, kind of. They’re not the best class mechanically, and you can always play an Oath of the Ancients paladin, after all. So today, I’m going to try to convince you (and convince myself) to go druid and give it a shot.
Investigation 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons mechanics revolve around the ability checks and the proficiency bonus. When it comes to skill checks as ability checks, the check is written like this (for example): Intelligence (Investigation). The reason for this is Intelligence is the applicable ability score, and the Investigation proficiency allows further modification of the ability check. Quick Disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can allow or require any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant to act as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like narratively. Ever want to play a character like Sherlock Holmes or Batman? What about the ghost whisperer, or Veronica Mars? Some of the greatest plot points in D&D games include intrigue, mystery and suspense. The ability to navigate complex plots and solve mysteries might very likely be solved by a character trained in the Investigation skill.
Have You Ever or Never as a D&D Dungeon Master?
Over on Twitter I saw Nerdarchy friend Mini Terrain Domain Jake shared a graphic from Arcane Emporium with 20 D&D related scenarios called Never Have I Ever: D&D DM. The idea is for each thing you have done on the list, add one level and then see what level Dungeon Master you are according to these parameters. I thought it might be fun to share this here with y’all, and I’ll go through the list myself to find out what level DM I am after 30+ years of rolling funny shaped dice. Afterwards I fully expect you to share your results in the comments too! So let’s get into it and find out what I have and have not done as a D&D DM.
Help Dungeon Masters Guild and DriveThruRPG Fight Fire with Games
Since late July 2019 devastating bushfires have ravaged large swaths of Australia, the worst the country has experienced in decades. Persistent heat and drought make the problem even worse. Entire towns have been consumed by wildfires, thousands of homes destroyed or damaged and over 7.3 million hectares have burned across Australia — an area larger than Belgium and Denmark together. Because the D&D community includes people from all over the world, we have some personal touchstones to the terrible situation going on in Australia through the creators and people living there who we become friends and fellow gamers with online and at conventions. So it is incredibly wonderful to see the RPG community doing what it can to help. When I saw just now there is a Fight Fire with Games campaign going on at Dungeon Masters Guild and DriveThruRPG I knew right away we had to share this news here on the site.
Explore Myriad Topics, Themes and Styles in the D&D YouTube Community
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted give a shout out to a bunch of YouTube channels dedicated to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games. In the video they reminisce about Nerdarchy history since earning a Silver Play Button YouTube Creator Award. The D&D YouTube community grew a lot since then with content creators sharing a wide variety of video topics, themes and styles. There’s no ranking of these great D&D YouTubers. Instead the video covers a few broad categories. Here on the website I thought it would be fun to select a few gems from each of the creators I’ve found particularly compelling.
