Madness in 5E D&D
One of our Patreon supporters had a question for us recently. We discussed it during the Patreon exclusive live chat we do every Monday evening, but since it’s a topic I find really interesting and useful I felt it’s worth exploring a bit further. The question also came from a soon to be first time Dungeon Master for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a good chance they aren’t the only 5E D&D DM curious about it and since any player taking a turn behind the screen is cause for celebration, let’s take a look at their question and come up with some answers for both new and experienced DMs.
“Have you guys ran madness mechanics in your campaigns? About to try my hand at being our DM and was curious how difficult it would be to add that to the campaign.”
New 5E D&D Feats for the Goatfolk
When we revamped Nerdarchy the Patreon, revising our monthly rewards was one of the most exciting parts of the process. For Patreon supporters this meant they’d receive the entirety of the rewards package with new Fifth Edition content ready to drop right into your game, at the lowest tier. Previously, supporters at the $3 level received the Mage Forge supplement with new magic items. But for the past couple of years now we send the entire digital product — 15-30 pages with full color art — to all supporters at the $3 level and above. Order of the Wizened was one of the earliest revised rewards packages. I take particular pride in that one since I had free reign to create the content from soup to nuts. Since then we’ve created a ton of content for Patreon supporters, and these products eventually make their way to Nerdarchy the Store. With the content available to everyone now, we thought it would be fun to revisit these earlier products and create some enhanced content for them right here on the site. So let’s get into it and create some special new feats for 5E D&D.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Warlock Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all warlock party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We had a lot of fun thinking about an all bard party and a bunch of people asked to see more like this so here we are. In 5E D&D warlocks are a very customizable class. Combinations of patrons and pacts, spells and invocations create a lot of options for players to put together. Warlocks choose their subclass at 1st level, represented by the Otherworldly Patron providing their power through a supernatural pact. Once characters reach 3rd level, they choose their Pact Boon — Blade, Chain or Tome. In the video they discuss D&D party composition and the different roles warlocks can play in a party. But I’m sticking with the scenario I imagined in the All Bard Party post here on the site. So let’s get into it and see what an all warlock party composition for 5E D&D could look like.
More Minis! Pathfinder Battles: Legendary Adventures
Nerdarchist Ted here and it is time to look at some more D&D and Pathfinder minis. Today we have Pathfinder Battles: Legendary Adventures. This is another set with a great selection of minis. There are 44 figures to collect and they have some on the bigger side — this set features huge sized monsters. The larger box means you have the chance of getting some of these huge sized minis.
D&D Ideas — Aliens
Two D&D Community Titles for My 5E D&D Short List
Creating content for tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, or creating an entire RPG itself, brings enormous joy. You might homebrew stuff for your home game, make products for an online marketplace like the Dungeon Masters Guild or your own website, or launch crowdfunding campaigns to produce books, accessories and boutique items. Creating content aims to enhance enjoyment for players at the gaming table. But even after your material is complete, the job doesn’t end there. Dungeon Masters and entrepreneurial content creators always gotta be hustling. At the table we aim to engage players and hook them on what you’re bringing. When it comes to commerce, raising awareness is the name of the game. In either case, you’re selling what you’ve got to the audience. For this week’s D&D community spotlight, two products came across my desk by way of creators out there hustling, something I admire.
Right Tool, Right Job — Tool Proficiencies and Minigames in D&D
Tools in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons featured pretty prominently lately among the Nerdarchy crew. We focused a live chat on the topic, a newsletter, video, website post and our October Patreon rewards zeroed in specifically on gaming sets. For November we’re following up the Rolling Bones rewards with a broader spotlight on all the other D&D tools. Union Salon is a location you can drop right into your campaign setting. Characters can explore their tool proficiencies through practice with experts, engage with colorful NPC masters of their craft, discover brand new tool sets and put their tool skills to use uncovering a mystery surrounding an auction of oddities and playing minigames in D&D. So let’s get into it.
Eladrin Teleport Specialist Covers All the Bases for 5E D&D
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted took a deep dive into what I’ve long considered the No. 1 absolute best super power ever, teleportation. Flight, regeneration, invisibility, reading minds — they all pale in comparison and don’t even come close to the ability to instantly transport from one place to another. And with all the different ways a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character can teleport, creating a character who bamfs around as casually as walking is within our grasp!
Where Conflict and Tension Comes From in 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about conflict in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. I’m not talking about the big bad evil creature and the general conflict of the campaign, of course. I mean the scene-to-scene conflict. Have you ever found yourself sitting at the gaming table in a scene where everyone was hanging out and nothing was going wrong? It can be pretty good once in a while just to hang out in character and let your party chill together, but if it goes on too long it starts to drag. If you have a conflict in every scene, however, even the minutiae of shopping for supplies can be made tense and interesting.
Dungeons & Dragonborn: Three Horror Trope-Inspired 5D D&D Bards for Halloween
When it comes to bards in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, they tend to get a rap for being the face of the party or the characters trying to get into everyone’s pants, but Charisma isn’t just about Persuasion, Deception and Performance. It’s about Intimidation, too. And Intimidation is all about instilling fear, whether through threats or presence. Lots of things are intimidating. Monsters and horrors are just a couple. Being that it’s the time for Halloween, I really wanted to try something weird, inspired by the All Bard D&D Party Composition: How to Play video from over on the YouTube channel.
D&D Artifacts That Will Damn Your Soul
Full disclosure the temptation to title this post “How to be an utter bad ass evil son of a bitch in D&D” was hard to resist. We had a lot of fun planning for the video over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel and looking over all the artifacts in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In another video Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talked about D&D magic items that will damn your soul. While there wasn’t much explicit indication of any soul damning, a character using those magic items definitely wasn’t winning any points in the good department. D&D artifacts raise the bar orders of magnitude. There is no question with these evil artifacts — a creature who uses them puts their soul in peril in a multitude of ways. But for a creature placing power above all else, employing the Book of Vile Darkness, Hand and Eye of Vecna or Wand of Orcus most certainly qualifies for the title of utter bad ass evil SOB.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Ghost Girl
For a Game Master descriptions are vitally important when running a tabletop roleplaying game like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Fantastic artwork can be a tremendous visual aid, and there’s countless miniatures and accessories to enhance your gaming table whether you play on a virtual tabletop or a physical one. So I’m always on the lookout for visual data to draw from and help paint a picture for players. I recently came across a remarkable sculpture by Kevin Francis Gray that struck me immediately and went directly into the GM toolbox in my imagination. Even better, Ghost Girl opened a window into this artists other works, a collection of incredible sculptures dripping with evocative imagery. Taking inspiration from fantasy art gets a lot of mileage for me as a GM, and the best works give ideas for adventure hooks.
Unearthed Arcana — Rune Knight Fighters, Swarmkeeper Rangers, and Revived Rogues
I know what you’re thinking: “Did Nerdarchy cover five Unearthed Arcana or only four?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss Unearthed Arcana — Fighter, Ranger, Rogue in today’s video, and we all speculated about what it could have been last week, so it’s only fair to share the space here on the website to take a look at Rune Knight fighters, Swarmkeeper rangers and Revived rogues.
New Eldritch Invocations for the Norn Warlock
Why should School of Divination wizards have all the fun when it comes to parting the veils of space, time, and consciousness in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? The Norn Otherworldly Patron is a fateweaver who holds destiny in the threads between her fingers. Traditionally there are three Norns, though there are other entities holding the title of fate and with the ability to bestow such powers through pacts. For the most part the needs of the Norn deal with the order of things and keeping destiny in line. As such her instructions are often cryptic. Fate does not bend to good or evil, it simply is, and as the Norn warlock is called one day to do something that seems beneficial to all involved so might you be called to be the villain in turn. In the meantime you can use the powers granted by your pact with the Norn to tug on the threads of fate however you see fit.
