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D&D Ideas Dawn

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is Dawn, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of Spelljammer one of the most dangerous threats in the Nerdarchyverse are the Vargarians, interdimensional arcanocybernetic conquerers who’d fit right in as ongoing antagonists for fantasy spacefaring adventurers.

Vargarian Collective blends sci-fi with fantasy for Fifth Edition. An unusual visitor to the heroes’ world needs help, but it puts the adventurers at odds with the Vargarians — cybernetic invaders from another dimension! Can the party find what they need at the Vargarian outpost in their world and escape without being assimilated into the Collective? Check it out right here!

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

This past week’s live chat topic was dawn. The first thing I think of in relation to D&D is that many magic items renew their charges at dawn. 

But it’s got me thinking about other things as well. I’ve done encounters or battles that are more about holding out or enduring for a certain amount of time. It could be waiting for reinforcements to show up, a ritual to be completed, or until an important person can escape. Another no-brainer would be dawn’s first light. Especially if the party is being besieged by undead or fiends. This would totally give off some sweet horror movie vibes. Just some ideas off the top of my head.

But instead of coming up with plot ideas this week I want to leave you with a new feat. 

Dawn Touched

Your exposure to the magic of dawn’s first light and it has changed you, granting you the following benefits:

• Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You learn the daylight spell. You can cast the spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
• You learn the light cantrip

Spotlight

Ultimate NPCs: Skulduggery

Occupying the seedy tap-houses and criminal underbelly of civilization, you’ll find a variety of thieves, assassins and mercenaries within, each with the backstory and statistics necessary to run as an NPC or player character in your favorite tabletop RPG game. So pull up a stool, try the ale (don’t mind the lumps), and meet the regulars…

• A full-world character collection
• Game backstories
• Character quick-reference stats
• NPC or player character options

Whether you’re populating a wretched hive of scum and villainy for your Spelljammer campaign or just looking for a variety of sketchy characters for your adventures, check out Ultimate NPCs: Skulduggery here!

From Ted’s Head

There are plenty of myths and lore about Dawn’s light breaking enchantments and driving away creatures of the night. Being afraid of the dark is something that many children do in fiction and real life, but the dawn is the antithesis of that. It is truly a magical moment to sit and watch Dawn Break. My family took a week down at the beach and one day we watched the sun rise. Seeing the light break the darkness is awe inspiring.

But why is Dawn so powerful? The light that breaks the darkness offers hope, renewal and the chance that comes with all that can be done in a new day. It is a breath of fresh air, a chance to start over, correct previous mistakes or try again and see if today you succeed. It is another day for those struggling to hang on to life. 

Latching onto the concept of energizing and renewalI feel like this is a great opportunity to create an item that symbolizes this magical concept and make an item unlike anything I have made before. I hope you like it and that it inspires you to make items like it or use it in your own games.

Dawn’s Light (rare, wondrous item)

Dawn’s Light is typically made into a ring or an amulet. A simple chain necklace or a silver band holds a golden sun in glorious detail and immaculate workmanship. Looking upon the sun instills a smile on any who hold the sun in high regards, especially any who worship a deity with the sun as part of their symbol or symbolism. 

Dawn’s Light has six charges. When you use a non artifact magic item that uses charges and it is out, you can choose to expend charges from Dawn’s Light instead. You can also spend charges to cast a 1st or 2nd level spell if you have no slots available, you can spend 3 charges to cast a 1st level spell or 5 charges for a 2nd level spell. When you expend the last charge out of Dawn’s Light instead of going to o charges it has one charge remaining offering a little more hope. Once this feature is used it will not function again until it has been restored to full charges. Dawn’s Light regains all expended charges at dawn so long as it is above ground at Dawn. If the sunlight is not able to reach the item it does not regain its charges. 

Dawn’s Light is believed to be made by clerics of your local sun god offered to its wandering healers to better serve them in their mission of bringing the light and the needed healing to those who struggle against the evil and darkness of the world. Worshippers of the sun god who see Dawn’s Light being used for evil purposes are coaxed in action against or to hire adventurers to put an end to the atrocities of such an act.Such worshippers would recognize such an item on sight and watch carefully any who carry such an item to prevent such misuse.