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!
D&D Ideas — Aberrations
How Background Enhances Your D&D Character
The notion of your D&D character having a background is integral to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. It grants you a precious few skill proficiencies, and a combination of tool and language options. While background was a part of 4E, it wasn’t nearly as prominent or impacting as it to your D&D character in this edition, and I think the reason for making background such a big deal is directly related to the attempt of 5E to harmonize mechanics and roleplay.
D&D Ideas — House Rules
5 Eldritch Invocations to Empower the Warlock’s Eldritch Blast
ELDRITCH BLESSSSTTTT!
As many veteran players of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons know, eldritch blast is one of the most powerful cantrips, and its exclusivity to the warlock class is essential to its niche in the game. By allowing for multiple attack rolls, having a high damage die grade, being of the force damage type, and possessing such a long range, this cantrip is accused by many to be too powerful. However, like most things in the D&D 5E, this cantrip’s exclusivity to warlocks is partly what makes it so well balanced. Unlike other full spellcasting classes, warlocks get extremely few spell slots.
One way the class makes up for this is by granting special spell-like abilities through Eldritch Invocations, often passive adjustments to how your character plays. Eldritch Invocations grant things like new or improved senses, low level spells at-will, higher leveled spells on a cooldown, or modify your premier cantrip (you guessed it): eldritch blast.
Today, I’ll be introducing 5 original Eldritch Invocations for use at your table. All of these work to enhance the warlock’s signature cantrip!
ThunderCats Ho! Claw Shield D&D-ized
This one is a long time coming. As a follow up to my very first Neradrchy writing assignment — D&D-izing the Sword of Omens from Thundercats — I’m finally getting around to its companion relic, the Claw Shield. It’s been on the list for quite a while, and every so often we’ll see a new comment, suggestion or request for this incredible item, one of a pair that gives Lion-O, Claudus or any other ThunderCat Lord their power. Is it as powerful as the Sword of Omens? The cartoon version of the legendary sword is beyond the pale of even the most powerful artifacts of D&D lore, and the D&D-ized version we have here on the site is no slouch either. But does the Claw Shield match its might? Let’s get into it and find out.
Truer Strike — An Answer to True Strike (AKA the Worst D&D Cantrip)
Okay, folks. We’re tackling the elephant in the room today, the thing so many other channels and blogs have addressed… because I’m feeling especially masochistic. Seriously, though, true strike is arguably the single worst cantrip in all of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In order to properly address it, let’s start by analyzing just what makes true strike so underwhelming.
D&D Barbarian 5E — Path of the Frost Wyrm
Nerdarchy has teamed up with Pacesetter Games & Simulations as well as Vallejo Paints to put together something special in our opinion, but we might be a bit biased. For one, both companies are sponsoring this article, video, and contest. So, disclaimer out of the way if you care about such things. Inspired by the Frost Wyrm miniature by Pacesetters Games & Simulations we came up with the concept of the Frost Wyrm barbarian tribe. As well as a brand new D&D barbarian primal path for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. For some extra inspiration we had our former intern Jake Kosman work his magic with Vallejo Paints.
Strongholds and Followers from MCDM
Many of us look back at the old editions of Dungeons & Dragons with rose-colored glasses. Reminiscing about THAC0 and the uniqueness of the old races and classes. One thing I always liked though that slowly died out was strongholds as a level reward. This mostly died off after second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. There was the Strongholds and Builders Guide in 3.5, but I found it more of a Dungeon Master supplement and players never gave it a glance. This goes back to something removed from D&D — politics. Old settings like Birthright, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft all had factions that lead to a lot of political intrigue and plots. Due to this it was not uncommon for people to be awarded baronies in these games and used as quest points themselves. As the editions changed, we would see the leadership feat come and go, and followers and cohorts fall to the wayside. Now from the brilliant mind of Matt Colville and the creative staff from MCDM they have returned these things to the light with the 5E D&D supplement Strongholds & Followers. For those of you unfamiliar with Matt Colville you can check out his Running the Game series over here. Let’s take a look at the book.
New Circle for Druid 5E D&D — Worshipping the Froghemoth
Nerdarchy recently partnered with Pacesetter Games & Simulations as well as Vallejo Paints. Use the promo code staynerdy15 for a 15 percent discount on their products. We’ve taken this partnership and built some and cool content for 5E D&D. We kicked things off with Horris the Horned Lord. Most recently we moved on to Abalor the Abhorrent and a dark druid 5E Circle — the Circle from the Beyond. Abalor is based off of the froghemoth model from Pacesetter. It’s a great looking model. You can see it below as painted by Jake Kosman using Vallejo Paints. The froghemoth D&D monster was reintroduced into 5E D&D in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Part of the awesome Nerdarchy, Pacesetter, and Vallejo team-up is a contest to win a froghemoth both painted, unpainted, and the paints to paint your very own froghemoth miniature. There’s a bunch of ways to enter the contest to win the minis and paints. Check it out here.
Crafting D&D Magic Items for the Wizard
The wizard one of the most iconic classes of the D&D game. An iconic image is the wizard holding an arcane tome aloft while speaking aloud an incantation. We took that as inspiration for creating some new D&D magic items — in this case specifically, the tome of holding. These magic items could be used by wizards for multiple functions.
