Plane Shift Your 5E D&D Game Into Magic: The Gathering — Zendikar
On July 16, 2021 Wizards of the Coast releases Adventures in the Forgotten Realms — the first Dungeons & Dragons themed expansion for Magic: The Gathering, which lands in place of what would typically be a Core Set. The D&D expansion for MTG represents a true collaboration between these two Hasbro teams. But did you know there’s six times MTG crossed over into fifth edition D&D even before Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros? Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Kaladesh, Zendikar and Ixalan all Plane Shift-ed over to 5E D&D through terrific titles available free from Dungeon Master’s Guild. Let’s get into it.
Plane Shift Your 5E D&D Game Into Magic: The Gathering — Amonkhet
On July 16, 2021 Wizards of the Coast releases Adventures in the Forgotten Realms — the first Dungeons & Dragons themed expansion for Magic: The Gathering. In place of what would be a Core Set Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is a true collaboration between the two Hasbro teams. But did you know there’s six times MTG crossed over into fifth edition D&D? Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Kaladesh, Zendikar and Ixalan all walked the planes over to 5E D&D through highly produced Plane Shift documents available from Dungeon Master’s Guild for free. Let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Poison
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is poison, 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 poison if negotiations between a rescue party and the adventuring party turn hostile the woodland forces deploy special poison to diffuse the situation in Albatross. The imperiled infant heir to an elven nation lands in the adventurers’ hands and the chase is on from insectoid pursuers 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.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Artificer Specialists by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted enjoy looking at fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons homebrew content contributed to D&D Beyond. While they explore homebrew magic items on the DDB website — including one from Matt Mercer — I’m taking a look at another 5E D&D class and the homebrew subclasses folks created there. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) This time I’m looking at a D&D class beyond the core classes found in the Player’s Handbook. Artificer made its official 5E D&D debut in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. An artificer creates inventions and magic items of peace and war and the gears are turning as to what I might expect to see from the Top 10 homebrew Artificer Specialists. There’s currently over 350 homebrew of them so let’s get into it.
Deepen Your Experiences By Using Languages Effectively in 5E D&D
Languages are staples of human experience. Dungeons & Dragons captures this through the mechanic of languages yet for all of the significance language plays in real life I don’t see languages come up very often in 5E D&D. Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talk about special languages in 5E D&D as well from editions past. Secret languages are really languages relegated to specific classes or custom lineages and while the latter can have some elements that entwine in recent hot button debates the former adds some fantastic flavor to your world.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as an Elephant in the Room
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted lean into an appreciation for puns to sneak in a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Elephant in the Room character. This 5E D&D character build focuses on stealth both magical and mundane to demonstrate how with the right training and experience an unusual lumbering giant of a race can vanish before your very eyes. Let’s get into the loxodon master of stealth.
D&D Ideas — Background
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is background, 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 background in Girl with the Dragon SNAFU characters with a background in entertainment gain a leg up in uncovering more about the unusual relationship between a bard and his biggest fan. A mysterious woman holds draconic secrets and a lesser fiend hides behind it all unless characters find the truth and free her 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.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Martial Archetypes by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted enjoy looking at fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons homebrew content contributed to D&D Beyond. While they explore homebrew magic items on the DDB website — including one from Matt Mercer — I’m taking a look at another 5E D&D class and the homebrew subclasses folks created there. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) This time around my gaze turns to my favorite D&D class. Fighters come equipped with the best foundation to manage one third of the game. In other words as we like to say around here fighters fight. This leaves tremendous space to add variety to a fighter character. There are fighter subclasses in the Player’s Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and outside of official sources there are countless Martial Archetypes created by players all over the world. We put the finishing touches one of the the ones we’ve created just this past week and shared it along with a bunch of other new subclasses, spells, magic items and creatures. Now it’s time to check out the Top 10 homebrew Martial Archetypes. There’s currently over 325 homebrew of them so let’s get into it.
Take to the Skies of 5E D&D as a Flying Character with This New Feat
Flying characters aren’t nearly as good as you think in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. I know, I know — coming out the gate with a polarizing statement like ths immediately raises eyebrows. However even Nerdarchists Dave and Ted agree with this much as evidenced by a recent video on flying characters in 5E D&D. While I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m an expert on the matter I do play a flying character in our Those Bastards! campaign, as Prudence the feral tiefling. As such I feel I can offer some key insights into playing and running 5E D&D games with flying characters.
The Secret to the Best D&D Character Flaws
Salutations, nerds! A while ago I did a post about 10 flaws you can give your character that won’t bog down your game. Today I want to write about another school of thought regarding fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character flaws. The goals here are to add another dimension to your character, not make you think too hard about adding something entirely new and avoid complications at the table. Make your 5E D&D character flaw a part of their best quality.
D&D Ideas — War
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is war, 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 war in Dogs of War adventurers who come upon a grisly scene may find themselves going to war with a dangerously deceptive adversary. When heroes find a scene of animal attack, a duplicitous shapechanger lures them in for a howling kill 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.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Ranger Archetypes by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted have taken a shine to my posts over here looking at fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons homebrew content contributed to D&D Beyond. There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious. Since spring is in the air and I’ve been out working the garden this week I’ve got the natural world on my mind so today I’m focusing on the 5E D&D ranger. (Druids got their fair share already!) There are ranger subclasses in the Player’s Handbook, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and outside of official sources there are countless Ranger Archetypes created by players all over the world. We put the finishing touches one of the the ones we’ve created just this past week and shared it along with a bunch of other new subclasses, spells, magic items and creatures. I’ve definitely got the 5E D&D ranger on my mind and I’ll pluck out the Top 10 homebrew Ranger Archetypes. There’s currently over 925 homebrew of them so let’s get into it.
Failure is Fun in 5E D&D
Failure is fun. You read right — one of my favorite things in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons is failure. What’s more critical failure is one of my favorite optional rules to use in any 5E D&D game. Pulling from the Nerdarchy vault today I discovered a video from our archives that exemplify much of what I’m saying. Let’s talk about why.
D&D Ideas — Peace
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is peace, 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 peace in Argument the two sides of an ettin find themselves in conflict thanks to a peculiar magic item and clever adventurers can use this to their advantage to find a peaceful resolution with the rampaging giant. An ettin argues with itself after attacking a merchant caravan 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.
Make Your 5E D&D Spellcaster More Versatile with the Cantrip Mastery Feat
Feats are one of my favorite optional aspects of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Feats are fun and add a layer of unique customization to your 5E D&D character mirroring subclass features in terms of power level but a feat also allows you to distinguish your character’s flavor and development even beyond your other choices. Recently Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talked about the most popular homebrew feat creations on D&D Beyond. I cannot tell you how often I ponder what sorts of interesting feats I could concoct. Because I’ve been brimming with inspiration for making feats I want to share a new 5E D&D feat I concocted for full spellcasting classes called Cantrip Mastery. It’s inspired by the Optional Class Features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, which allow players to swap spells out.
