Play Your Next 5E D&D Game in the Bag of Beans Magic Item Campaign
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore crafting a magic item as a plot device leading to more fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure. During one of our weekly live chats Ted took inspiration from the bag of beans, a magic item that’s been part of D&D since the earliest days and even way back then advised Dungeon Masters how “thought, imagination and judgment are required with this item.” While researching the bag of beans further for this here post I came across a story shared by a player about this magic item’s tremendous impact on their very first 5E D&D campaign. Turns out campaigns and adventures across the history of D&D experienced the ups and downs of this kooky magic item. So let’s get into it and look at some first hand accounts of how the bag of beans affected some D&D players and give you some ideas for your own games.
Meet the Lovable Lug with a Dark Past and His Tasty Giant Crab Companion in Those Bastards 5E D&D Live Play
Missing constellations, infernal plots and all the sibling feels are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in Those Bastards, our live play fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game streaming on Tuesdays 8-10 p.m. eastern on our second channel, Nerdarchy Live. We got the players and Dungeon Master together to share about the game, their characters and themselves.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Raucous Satyr with Racial Feats
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get bawdy and revel in what the satyr offers as a playable race for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Satyrs are longtime D&D monsters across all the editions and make their debut as a character race option in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. The new race boasts some powerful traits and in the context of MOoT begins play even more powerful with the addition of Supernatural Gifts. This is an important distinction because the default assumption for campaigns in the Theros setting includes a curated selection of playable races. All that said, what I’m interested in doing here is expanding the breadth of satyr adventurer life through creating some special satyr racial feats for 5E D&D characters. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Minions for 5E D&D
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is minions for 5E D&D, 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 minions for 5E D&D, in Devil’s Hospitality adventurers contend with a devious fiend and their minions before the contract they’re tricked into binds their souls forever. 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.
Best in Show 5E D&D Magic Items for a Bard
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted find inspiration to come up with the best magic items for bards in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the other 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 and leaning 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 bard. So let’s get into it.
Old D&D Spell Sticks to Snakes Reborn for 5E D&D — Cast Down Thine Staff!
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted examine an old spell and give it the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons treatment. In previous editions clerics and druids could channel divine power to cast sticks to snakes and thereby transform ordinary sticks into — wait for it — snakes. Back in those days of yore many spells could be cast inversely too and this was one such spell with the amazing ability to transform dangerous snakes into, you guessed it, sticks. (It could also be used to counterspell sticks to snakes.) This spell from the Alteration school of magic, what would now be transmutation, became known for much more than frightening folks with miracles straight out of sacred texts. Quarterstaves, arrows, axe hafts, spear shafts and more were juicy targets to transform into wriggling reptiles. Dave felt nostalgic for this oldie but goodie and felt it would be fun representing in for 5E D&D, so here it is for you to drop right into your own games.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Pride Warrior Leonin
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted feel the magic and hear the roar, discussing the best class for leonin in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Leonin let loose on the 5E D&D scene by way of Mythic Odysseys of Theros, an exciting addition to the multiverse from the planes of Magic: The Gathering. Leonin are lionlike humanoids and in the lore of M:tG developed a culture strongly valuing honor and religion. The leonin of Theros developed differently in terms of culture, making a conscious effort to separate themselves from other races and largely abandoning deity worship. As the second and most recently catlike humanoid official 5E D&D race option it seems to me people gravitate towards leonin over tabaxi and all viewers of the video left lots of great comments with their own leonin character ideas. I got caught up in the fun too so I thought I’d share some of them here and create a very special leonin NPC you can drop right into your game too. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a College of Ghosts Bard
Hey all! One of the more interesting elements of fantasy, mythology, folklore and even history is death and how people interact with it. In fantasy roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons this is often represented through necromancy and the dark arts accompanying this sort of magic. I feel there is much more to death as an element of 5E D&D. Whether it is what happens when our characters die or how our characters interact with the dead and undead, I am not a believer in the idea all such goings on are inherently evil. History is full of people who have or claim to have a special connection with dead spirits — speaking to them, communing with them and even calling upon them in times of need. We see this represented in subclasses like the Path of the Ancestral Guardian for barbarians and both Grave and Death domains for clerics.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as the Strongest Character Ever!
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted do the heavy lifting during a discussion about carrying capacity and how much characters can push, drag or lift in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. This topic came about through a discussion at Nerdarchy the Discord about opportunities to put great physical Strength to use outside of dealing more damage with melee weapons along with a casual conversation about encumbrance in 5E D&D. Because I play in a lot of one shots and short campaigns I try out lots of different characters and make a point to explore everything they’ve got to offer during play. Since I recently played a very strong goliath character (an Extreme Adventurer!) I was ready to Hulk out on this topic and we had a lot of fun crunching the numbers for the strongest adventurers in the multiverse. Let’s get into what you can do with such immense power in 5E D&D.
Those Bastards Illustrate Different Forms of Intelligence in 5E D&D
Those Bastards is Nerdarchy’s (much less lewd than the title suggests) live stream game of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Every Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. EST the Nerdarchy crew comes together to play some 5E D&D. Of course it’s mostly just our excuse as a team to come together with our hobby and have some fun as friends but it’s also a way for you as the community to see how we apply many of the things we talk about, both here on the site and over on the YouTubes!
The current campaign is entitled Those Bastards. The premise is all of our characters are half siblings (same dad, different moms). As we discovered one another and our intertwining destinies we also learn more about one another’s characters. The running joke for most of the campaign has been the barbarian has the highest Intelligence score (at a 14). But make no mistake — our characters are no idiots… probably. Here’s the thing: our characters all get their own times to shine and show off their own skills. While it’s true that Vent (our fire genasi barbarian) is the most intelligent mechanically, there are other ways Those Bastards prove their mental fortitude.
Saddle Up for Mounted Combat and Adventures in 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted saddle up to discuss the ups and downs of a mounted adventuring party in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. They go over things like logistics and campaign ideas highlighting mounts and mounted characters in the video. I’m eager to share what official 5E D&D material becomes crucially important as regards mounts and mounted characters. No small number of online discussions about this and many other topics often gloss over, straight up ignore or simply illustrate lack of awareness about the mechanics we’ve already got available. You can see this circumstance arise when it comes to special actions characters can do too, explored more in depth here. We’ll start with mounted combat and go from there, so let’s get into it.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Monk Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted naturally take a disciplined look at the idea of an all monk party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Here on the website we take a different approach to this popular video series, exploring my take on the concept of single party composition. Monks in 5E D&D combine extreme mobility and damage dealing power in a very self sufficient class. But it’s a different kind of class we’re focusing on here when it comes to our D&D academia campaign setting, the conceptual frame for this series. Instructors at Monastic Traditions use martial science to provide a way of training students in a results driven atmosphere that brings mind, body and spirit together. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Firearms
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is firearms, 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 firearms, in Fire for Effect fire arms are attached to fire giants who burst forth from underground tunnels with hobgoblin allies to launch an unexpected assault. 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.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Dirty Fighter by Metagaming
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get down and dirty to talk about fighting dirty in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. It’s an unusual topic because fighting dirty essentially means not playing by the rules, which is kind of how the whole tabletop roleplaying game experience operates. Unlike fighting dirty in something like a Mixed Martial Arts competition, character actions don’t simply occur and become subject to rules after the fact. The question then becomes how can 5E D&D character fight dirty by using the rules themselves? At the end of the day fighting dirty embodies a willingness to do something to win that an opponent is unwilling to do under the assumption everyone plays by the same rules. So let’s get into it.
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.
