Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Illusion Spells by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted dive into the School of Illusion magic for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. More than any other school of magic, illusions in 5E D&D rely heavily on the Dungeon Master. There are 33 illusion spells across the official sources of 5E D&D and of course countless homebrew and third party creations. Browsing through the homebrew illusion spells at D&D Beyond I see there’s currently 1,433 of them! If we limit these lists to illusion spells for wizards we only lose 1 official spell (silence) but a whole bunch of homebrew ones, bringing the number down to 904. Since the nature of illusions in 5E D&D depends largely on how the DM reacts to them, it’s up to you and your group to determine how much versatility and power (or lack thereof) illusion magic holds. So let’s instead look at the homebrew illusion spells for wizards at D&D Beyond the way we looked at homebrew magic items for rogues and see what mystifying magic we discover.
Tip the Scales with Hero Forge Serpentfolk and Nagas in 5E D&D
Snakes get a bad rap in our world. As a kid I recall people always being afraid of snakes with numerous claims about them being slimy, creepy and scary. The fact they have no legs and feet, in a way, makes them alien to most other things people interact with. When you add into the mix most snakes either crush their prey while it is alive or poison it to death or so it is comatose for consumption makes for a creature that can live up to part of its reputation. But worry not, snakes and not slimy. Their scales are smooth and like many reptiles fairly cool to the touch. My son is getting a snake for a pet as soon as the kind he wants is available from a local dealer. Not to get too deep on it, he is getting an egg eating snake from Africa so he does not make his sister upset by feeding mice to a snake. She just got mice as pets for Christmas. With snakes on the brain I was very excited to see Hero Forge release two snakelike options during their Treasure Tuesdays in February — serpentfolk and nagas.
RPG Crate Holds the Recipe for Adventure for 5E D&D
If you know anything about RPG Crate you might already be aware of their wondrous Recipe for Adventure cards. If you have watched the monthly RPG Crate game I have run for a while over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel you may have heard me talk about them. Recipe for Adventure cards are fun index cards that allow you to take your fantasy roleplaying game to a whole new level.
A Group of Rangers is Called a Lodge
Salutations nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about rangers in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Now I don’t know about you but I’ve heard them taking a lot of grief lately for being one of the objectively less powerful classes in 5E D&D, but that wasn’t always the case. I’ve also heard rangers attacked for having less of a class identity as some of the others out there, but I don’t feel like that’s true at all. So let’s delve into the woods. Let’s do some tracking and nature stuff. Let’s walk a couple of miles without it being difficult terrain and see how far out this ranger stuff goes.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items for Rogues by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted carefully consider the best magic items for a rogue in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In some respects this is an unusual conversation topic. Characters rarely get an opportunity to choose magic items. But it’s worthwhile to have goals and keep an eye out for particular magic items during the course of adventures. There’s two other situations I can think of when players have control over their characters’ magic items. In Adventurers League play items can be traded on a one-for-one basis for items with the same rarity. Making a trade costs each player involved 15 downtime days unless they’re playing at the same table. The other scenario is games beginning beyond 1st level. In our own monthly fan one shots we give players an option to choose magic item(s) for their characters this way, and I’ve played in many games with the same guidelines. Protip: for a tier 1 adventure or campaign try letting players choose one rare magic item to start and see what happens. For now, I had so much fun looking through homebrew Otherworldly Patrons on D&D Beyond that I’m going to do the same thing here and see what interesting magic items I can find for 5E D&D rogues.
Dragon Age’s Thedas is My Middle Earth for the Fantasy Genre
For many, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is their quintessential introduction into the fantasy genre, but that isn’t how it went with me. Today, I’m getting personal and sharing my own introduction into the fantasy genre, a world that few would expect: Thedas, the lands where the stories of Dragon Age take place. However, before I explain how Thedas is my Middle Earth, I need to provide some context. So, please indulge as I share some of my personal history.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Warlock Otherworldly Patrons by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get back to basics and discuss the warlock class for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the video they look across all of the 5E D&D books with warlock content. There are warlock subclasses in the Player’s Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurers Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Dave and Ted share an overview of the character class plus weigh in on their personal gaming experiences. Outside of official sources there are countless Otherworldly Patrons created by players all over the world. We’ve created quite a few ourselves in our products, newsletter and posts here on the website. There’s more from the D&D design team included in various Unearthed Arcana playtest documents, and lots of terrific third party products contain new options for warlock players. Over at Dungeon Master’s Guild there’s currently 840 products tagged as character options with warlock content too. But there is another source of homebrew content I’m looking at today — D&D Beyond, where people have used the homebrew tools there to create 755 Otherworldly Patrons for 5E D&D warlocks. Let’s get into it and take a closer look at some!
Sleight of Hand 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons revolves around the mechanics of ability scores (physical and mental character traits) and how those scores apply to proficiencies (what you’re good at). Both are represented numerically, as modifiers to any number you roll on a d20 whenever you make a skill check. Ability checks are written like this: Ability (proficiency). For example, your Dungeon Master might call for an Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. The reason for this is Intelligence is the applicable ability score, while your Religion proficiency allows you to further modify the skill check. Quick disclaimer: any 5E D&D DM can require or allow any ability check or skill proficiency check for any reason, even outside this purview. This article is meant as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like, narratively.
Adventurers of Adventure Guild Wants You! Creating a Guild for 5E D&D, Step 1
I can’t tell you how many times our discussions about fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons around Nerdarchy HQ include talk of organizations. Character build guides, adventure hooks, character stories, Dungeon Master or player tips and a whole lot more often raise a point about creating some kind of group. There’s a multitude of benefits to coming up with this kind of content, not the least of which is providing context in a campaign setting. Organized groups of people tell players something about the world their characters exist within. Whatever cause or goal brings an organization together illustrates something important, at least to the members. Organizations represent a useful resource in a DM’s toolbox whether it’s one a player came up with as part of their character’s backstory or one already established in a campaign setting. In my 5E D&D games there’s an organization all players become familiar with from the start. New characters begin their careers as new recruits of Adventurers of Adventure, and they’re always looking for more.
Religion 101 — 5E D&D 5E Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons revolves around the mechanics of ability scores (physical and mental character traits) and how those scores apply to proficiencies (what you’re good at). Both are represented numerically, as modifiers to any number you roll on a d20 whenever you make a skill check. Ability checks are written like this: Ability (proficiency). For example, your Dungeon Master might call for an Intelligence (Religion) check. The reason for this is Intelligence is the applicable ability score, while your Religion proficiency allows you to further modify the skill check. Quick disclaimer: any 5E D&D DM can require or allow any ability check or skill proficiency check for any reason, even outside this purview. This article is meant as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like, narratively.
A Group of Monks is Called a Fellowship
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about monks in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, and I have been waiting an eon for this because it comes with music. Okay, so those monks read more like clerics than actual monks in terms of the 5E D&D class, but humor me this once. It’s been stuck in my head for what feels like an age and if I have to suffer, so do all of you. Of course 5E D&D monks tend to feel more like the martial artists you would find in a Xiaolin temple than the shaven headed eastern kind who spent most of their time reading and writing while a lot of the rest of the populace didn’t know how to do that. We’re talking unarmed strikes, flurry of blows, catching arrows in midflight…monks are pretty awesome. In fact, I think that’s the adjective I’m going to use for them.
Persuasion 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons revolves around the mechanics of ability scores (physical and mental character traits) and how those scores apply to proficiencies (what you’re good at). Both are represented numerically, as modifiers to any number you roll on a d20 whenever you make a skill check. Ability checks are written like this: Ability (proficiency). For example, your DM might call for a Charisma (Persuasion) check. The reason is Charisma is the applicable ability score, while your Persuasion proficiency allows you to further modify the skill check. Quick disclaimer: any 5E D&D DM can require or allow any ability check or skill proficiency check for any reason, even outside this purview. This article is meant as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like, narratively.
Performance 101 – 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition D&D revolves around ability checks and the proficiency bonus. When it comes to skill checks as ability checks, the check is written like this: Charisma (Performance). The reason for this is Charisma is the applicable ability score, and the Performance proficiency allows further modification of the ability check. Quick Disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can allow or require any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant to act as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like narratively.
D&D Ideas — Media
Welcome once again to the Nerdarchy Newsletter. This week’s topic is media, which we discussed in the exclusive Patreon live chat we do every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST with Patreon supporters to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here.
Perception 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons revolves around ability checks and the proficiency bonus. When it comes to skill checks as ability checks, the check is written like this: Wisdom (Perception). The reason for this is Wisdom is the applicable ability score, and the Perception proficiency allows further modification of the ability check. Quick Disclaimer: a 5E D&D Dungeon Master can allow or require any ability check or skill proficiency, even outside this purview. This article is meant to act as a guide for new players and DMs to explain how skill checks work and what they look like narratively.
