A Mouthful of 5E D&D Villain Actions Inspired by Matt Colville
When Nerdarchist Ted pitched the idea for a video response to Matt Colville’s Action Oriented Monsters video I was all in. I’d just watched the video myself and fallen in love with the idea of Villain Actions for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We’re no strangers to creating new 5E D&D monsters. And like Matt mentions, making creatures in the style of player characters feels kludgy and needlessly complicated and time consuming. But while we’ve generally kept to the existing monster resources like legendary and lair actions, and striving to include action economy options like bonus actions and reactions, Matt took things to the next level by developing a new kind of action — the Villain Action. Like any good Dungeon Master, when I spot a cool idea I steal it for my game. So while Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discuss the ins and outs of Villain Actions on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel, I’m gonna try my hand at creating some of my own.
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.
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.
Way of the Third Eye — Blind Fighting Psychic Monastic Tradition for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a tabletop roleplaying game story, I knew I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Homebrew D&D Monsters Using NaturalCrit’s Homebrewery
When it comes to homebrew D&D monsters, I’m all about that life. Homebrewing is a fantastic way to exercise some creativity and gift your RPG table a truly one-of-a-kind experience! One downside of homebrewing is your work never looks just like the source material, and it always stands out as the oddball in your collection… or rather, it did, until NaturalCrit’s Homebrewery came along.
D&D Ideas — Fast and Dirty Monsters
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The Pledge Manager is live. You can select your tiers, add-ons, or even late pledge. If you somehow missed the Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter you can still get in on it. Check out the Pledge Manager here.
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Next up, the release of the Nerdarchy the Convention trailer is out there in the wilds as well. Check it out here.
Shelter Divine Domain — Cleric Subclass for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a tabletop roleplaying game story, I knew I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Epic Destiny — Legendary Warrior Sorcerer Subclass for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised unique a new D&D subclass for each character.
Path of the Brawler – Pro Wrestler Barbarian for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
College of Dazzling – Special Effects Bard Subclass for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Real Treasure in Cawood Publishing’s Treasured Finds is Storytelling Gold
The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide describes two types of adventures: location based, and event based. But after looking through a new product from the Dungeon Master’s Guild, my takeaway is a third type of adventure — treasure based. Treasured Finds from Cawood Publishing presents organized loot for 5th Edition, and for my 2 cp it’s the storytelling elements hidden in these random tables that’s the real treasure. But the chests stuffed with magic items aren’t too shabby either.
Rune Casting — The Teleporting Trap-Maker Wizard Arcane Tradition Wizard for D&D
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
This subclass was inspired by the lizard wizard himself, G’naark. Rune Casting is a very mobile sort of subclass, something wizards have never really had before. The Rune Casting wizard can also lay magical traps to ensnare others. Frankly, I’m not really sure where my brain was when designing this, and out of all the subclasses I wrote for The Mis-Adventurers, this was probably the most heavily inspired by what I wanted a single character to be able to do.
3 New Cantrips for D&D Inspired by The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table. A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. Among these are three new cantrips. Each of these new cantrips for D&D was designed with the classes listed in mind.
Trade Blood for Power with D&D Blood Magic
Looking for a way to darken magic in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games? Then have I got the perfect homebrew rule for you — Blood Magic!
