Intimidation 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): Charisma (Intimidation). The reason for this is Charisma is the applicable ability score and the Intimidation 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. The worlds of D&D are full of monsters, mayhem and all sorts of scary stuff, but suppose you want your character to be one of the scary things of the world? Maybe you want your cleric to put the fear of the gods in people? If you’re looking to coerce, bully or unnerve then Intimidation is the skill for you!
D&D Ideas — Other RPGs
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is other RPGs, 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 up. Our new cover relaunch in Nerdarchy the Store continues with gorgeous new art by Adrian Prado, along with a couple of promo codes for miniatures, game products and RPG accessories. And yes, the Out of the Box Pledge Manager remains open for late pledges. You can get your hands on the book and all the add-ons including presale badges for Nerdarchy the Convention, or upgrade your badge to Legendary or Artifact level. There’s also a FREE encounter Seizing the Means you can download for a sneak peek at the sort of content you’ll find in the book. Check it out here.
Turn Up the Heat in 5E D&D with a Go To Artificer Spell
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted continue the series on go to spells for spellcasters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. This time they’re discussing the artificer, the first official new class for 5E D&D since the Player’s Handbook. In particular Dave and Ted take a closer look at tier 2 artificer spells. During this tier of play from 5th-10th level artificers gain access to 2nd and 3rd level spells. They also gain two Artificer Specialist features, Tool Expertise, Flash of Genius, an Ability Score Improvement and Magic Item Adept. It’s those two Artificer Specialist features I’ve got my arcane eye on and I’m curious if there’s any interesting interactions between 2nd-3rd level artificer spells and their specialties. So let’s get into it and see how much magical energy we can squeeze out of the 5E D&D artificer through their Artificer Specialist choices.
Insight 101 – 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has a variety of skill proficiencies a player character gains, especially at character creation. These skills represent a character’s capability in each designated area. In this series, we’re diving into a look at the different skill proficiencies that can modify ability checks. Skill checks, or ability checks are written like this (as an example): Wisdom (Insight). This is because Wisdom is the ability check being made, and Insight is the skill proficiency that’s further modifying the ability check. Quick disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can require or allow any ability check and/or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant as a guide for new players and DMs as to how certain ability checks and skill proficiencies can be applied. Speaking of insight, that happens to be our focal skill check today!
Your 5E D&D Monsters Need More Actions
If you are anything like me then you like making monsters for your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games. I consistently game with veteran players. In fact, many of the people I have recently been playing with have been gaming longer than I have or even longer than I have been alive in some cases. They’re generally familiar with all the great monsters in the Monster Manual and other official 5E D&D publications, making it challenging to surprise them.
Because making my own monsters from the ground up involves mainly my own creativity, this means there is no way players are going to have a chance of knowing what is in the stat block. Only I do, because I made it. But after years of playing 5E D&D I fear I have made a mistake with many of the monsters I made previously. It is very easy to take a monster and scale it up or down to make it more powerful or weaker, but this is not very creative. I have also taken a monster, made some slight changes, moved some stats around and described it differently. But this is not what I am looking for either.
The Art of Playing an Archer Without a Bow for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted let loose on playing an archer in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the video they discuss various class features and abilities to make deadly archers for 5E D&D. Playing an archer or ranged combatant of any sort in an RPG is something I hold near and dear to my heart. Way back in my earliest days of playing D&D both the tabletop version and through video games like the classic Gold Box series I took a shine to this kind of character. Two distinct experiences stand out to me why playing an archer is one of the best options for an RPG character, at least in terms of combat. So let’s get into it.
Find Solace in the Desert (and Ghosts!) at the Forgotten Oasis for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! It’s that part of the month again, and today I want to talk to you a little bit about the Forgotten Oasis, our upcoming Patreon reward content for February, so if you’re not subscribed to Patreon and you’re interested in receiving this content, go ahead and pop on over there, cause it’s right around the corner and we share early access to these Fifth Edition products before they make their way here to the store on the website. Every month we create new products with material for Game Masters and players alike, ready to drop right into your 5E D&D games. In January we uncovered Treasures of the Tundra, and now we’re switching things up and heading to a warmer climate in the desert.
What Do Your Unearthed Arcana Subclasses Say About Your 5E D&D Character?
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discussed the latest Unearthed Arcana 2020, Subclasses Part 1. The playtest document contains material for barbarians, monks, paladins and warlocks in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Fun fact: we were in the middle of our weekly video planning meeting last week when this new Unearthed Arcana came out. No brainer, right? We’re all big fans of 5E D&D so of course we eagerly want to read over and geek out about new character options. In the video Dave and Ted break down the crunchy stuff for the Path of the Beast, Way of Mercy, Oath of the Watchers and Noble Genie. But what sort of characters represent these exciting new subclass options? Let’s get into it.
Way of the Four Elements Monk Reborn for 5E D&D
Earth, fire, air, water: long ago, the four elements lived together in harmony within the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons beta. Then, everything changed when the Player’s Handbook was officially released. Only the Dungeon Master, master of the world itself can save what the Way of the Four Elements became, but I believe it can be reborn. Okay, okay. I promise I’ll try to keep the Avatar: The Last Airbender references to a minimum (even though it’s my favorite TV show of all time).
When 5E D&D was still in beta I eagerly downloaded each patch of new content, and when it was announced the Way of the Four Elements made the cut into the PHB I was absolutely ecstatic! Finally! I would get to play a character like the avatar! I’d played a four elements-based monk character in a homebrewed version of 2E AD&D in the past and I was so excited to make him into 5E D&D, officially using the rules for what had previously been just a dream for me to see Wizards of the Coast put out.
So, imagine my disappointment when I read how the once-epic Way of the Four Elements had devolved and nerfed into a ki-burning nightmare with fewer options than I’d ever feared they might reduce it to. A lot of the core problems with the Way of the Four Elements as it stands struggles for two primary reasons, in my opinion.
D&D Ideas — Beginnings
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is beginnings, which we discussed in our first live chat of 2020. With the beginning of our new schedule, we combined the topical chat of our long running Quests & Adventures live chat with the exclusive Patreon weekly chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. with Patreon supporters and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. 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. Speaking of beginnings the image below is from our wildly successful Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter. In Aces High the encounter begins when a gang of goblin sky bandits makes their presence known in dramatic fashion. The Out of the Box Pledge Manager remains open for late pledges. You can get your hands on the book and all the add-ons including presale badges for Nerdarchy the Convention, or upgrade your badge to Legendary or Artifact level. There’s also a FREE encounter Seizing the Means you can download for a sneak peek at the sort of content you’ll find in the book. Check it out here.
DC Comics Getting Their D&D On with The Last God
Third party creators publish new content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons every single day. Many times each day. Since I’ve written this sentence there’s probably been a dozen titles published online along with crowdfunded projects and the like. But it’s noteworthy to see the Warner Bros.-owned comic book publishers DC Comics announcing a sourcebook based on The Last God comic book series for D&D. The Last God: Tales from the Book of Ages debuts in comic book retailers and participating digital retailers on April 29.
History 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
When it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons many newcomers will quickly notice the importance of the proficiency bonus and the prevalence of skills. In the system, ability checks determine outcomes at the will of the dice, but ability score modifiers and proficiency bonus modify the numbers rolled, potentially turning failure into success. In this series, we’re diving in to look at the different skill proficiencies that can modify ability checks. Skill checks and ability checks are written like this (as an example): Intelligence (History). The reason is because Intelligence is the ability check being made, and History is the skill proficiency modifying the ability check. Quick disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can require or allow any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant as a guide for new players and DMs on how certain ability checks and skill proficiencies can be applied. Today’s focus is all about knowledge of the past and memory! That’s right; we’re talking about History.
Dungeon Master’s Guide Appendix A Shows 5E D&D isn’t All About Combat
Over on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted shared a great conversation about a topic near and dear to my heart — the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide. More often than not whenever I’m looking for an answer, guidance or a little inspiration I find it within the 5E D&D DMG. Like Dave and Ted mention in the video, DMs who’ve been playing for a long time across several editions might feel like they’ve seen one DMG they’ve seen them all. To some extent this may carry some water but only in broad strokes. There’s a great thread on Twitter from Neal Powell going through the DMG page by page to share takeaways DMs might have overlooked. You can follow along #DMGC2C to track his findings. As a big time DMG advocate myself I’m happy to share my perspective on what the DMG tells us about 5E D&D and how useful it is for understanding what the game is all about. So let’s get into it and take a look specifically at Appendix A: Random Dungeons in the 5E D&D DMG.
5E D&D World of Monsters — Aberrations
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted started a new video series called Nerdarchy’s Guide to D&D Monsters. We like creating new video series for the same reason we enjoy starting a new campaign with a set number of sessions. It helps focus your attention more closely because you have a finite amount of time to explore an idea, and you get the satisfaction of completing a tidy, succinct experience. I particularly dig video series here at Nerdarchy the Website because we publish a new post with every video and I do most of the writing. A series with a theme makes a great jumping off point. Since the guide to aberrations in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons video covers what to expect and how to manage things when these creature types show up in your campaign setting and adventures, it was kinda tough coming up with a theme for these accompanying posts. How about this: what if aberrations are the only type of monsters in your 5E D&D world?
A Group of Barbarians is Called a Horde
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about barbarians in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, the true punk rockers of the D&D world. Throw on some hype music, jump a couple of times, rough your mind up and let’s get ready to rage. Once upon a time barbarians of the horde didn’t get to read unless they took it specifically as a skill, and I think that’s very telling of this class in general. Reading is a thing you have to slow down to do, and barbarians typically don’t want to slow down for anything. Save that double speak for your rogues and mages, because barbarians like things straight forward and simple. Why would you pick a lock when you can just bash the door down, after all? But there’s a certain allure to that simplicity. A 5E D&D barbarian doesn’t want your bull.
