Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Night Parade Performer

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted shake their thangs and create a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character who’s a mystical performer, using precise control of their body, mind and spirit to accomplish incredible feats. Nerdarchy had a request to do a character build for a 5E D&D Belly Dancer so we took the idea to the lab and came up with the Night Parade Performer we think fits the bill. Let’s get into it.

Behind the CBG — Night Parade Performer

Every CBG we create considers the journey as much as the final outcome. We aim to present a guide suitable for any level of 5E D&D play whether you’re pursuing an epic campaign from start to finish, starting beyond 1st level or choosing a character for a one shot. Then we take those concepts and develop an NPC or creature version of the character build for DMs to incorporate into their games. All of this gets packaged up and laid out in a PDF you can find over at Dungeon Master’s Guild. We’ve got dozens of pay what you want products at DMG, many of them best sellers so if you want to check those out start with the Night Parade Performer here.

All about the character story

Each CBG starts with a character concept sticking to a particular schtick, from the Mind Breaker’s psyche crushing smites to the Night Parade Performer’s spiritual elements of belly dancing and other forms of mysticism. Sometimes puns and pop culture references instigate the creation of a CBG too. At every step of the way we considered options for expanding the scope of what they bring to the never-ending war on evil.

For us it’s important to consider who these characters are as individuals and why they follow these particular paths. One special thing to note with this CBG is while we always aim to make the journey to 20th level as practical as possible — none of these characters “come online” after an awkward slog through many levels — the Night Parade Performer acquires the skills to pay the bills by 10th level. This is a tad later than usual for us but it’s worth noting this is one of our earliest CBGs from over three years ago and we’ve refined the process quite a lot since then. From this point the rest of the way to 20th level continues to expand their repertoire beyond the extraordinary performance precision they’ve already developed.

The Night Parade Performer holds a very special place in my heart because of the connection to Aaron Bonk. He is a childhood friend of mine who I played Dungeons & Dragons with for the very first time. When second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came out, we used the tools in the Dungeon Master’s Guide to create a new class: the Whip Master. And now, decades later, Aaron is a real-life whip master and object manipulation specialist who performs all over the world! Visit his website to find out more about his amazing performances. Among other awards and accolades, he holds the Guinness World Record for The Most Whip Crack Catches in One Minute. While we were working on this content, I got in touch with him to ask some questions about whip performance, and if he had any cool photos we could use. Thanks, Aaron!

Troupe Leader and Performer NPC for 5E D&D

Full disclosure — the NPCs and creatures we make in CBGs are some of my favorite bits of 5E D&D content to create. We step back and look at the character build to find the standout features that feel like signature abilities. The juice! From there we consider what sort of person or people would possess or gain these abilities and build a stat block around them. More often than not the section of a CBG For Dungeon Masters presents a generic creature.

After all these years creating content through Nerdarchy I must admit creating creatures is my favorite thing to do the same way Nerdarchist Ted loves making magic items. Hopefully what I put together is fun and useful for DMs out there. The majority of the 60+ creatures in our CBG collection were created by me and it’s fun looking back to see the progression. Early on these NPCs were basically straight up ports of the PC versions but we’ve since gotten much broader with the interpretations.

I remember working on this CBG and how I was never really sold on the belly dancer concept. It’s not something I have any interest in to begin with and it felt extremely limited to me as the foundation for a useful NPC stat block. However, after reconnecting with Aaron, learning more about his performances and their amazing spectacle I got an idea and took this in a different direction. If I recall correct it was the first time a CBG NPC took only inspiration from the character build rather than represent more of a straight up translation. There’s actually two distinct stat blocks in this CBG and one of them includes a variable action, which kinda sorta squeezes four versions into the same stat block. The Strongperson, Firebreather, Whip Artist and Beguiling Dancer make for a terrific troupe together with the Troupe Leader.

Traveling Show. The Troupe Leader and Performers are members of the Night Parade. This traveling troupe uses a carnival as a cover for their activities as spies, thieves and assassins.

“Beguiling Dancer. By performing a beguiling dance, the performer can entrall another creature. As an action, one creature the performer can see within 5 feet that can see them must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of the performer’s next turn. The charmed creature’s speed drops to 0, and the creature is incapacitated and visibly dazed. On subsequent turns, the performer can use their action to maintain this effect, extending its duration until the end of your next turn. However, the effect ends if the performer moves more than 5 feet away from the creature, if the creature can neither see nor hear you, or if the creature takes damage. Once the effect ends, or if the creature succeeds on its initial saving throw against this effect, you can’t use this feature on that creature again until you finish a long rest.”

If your next 5E D&D game needs an entertainer who blends performance, weapon skills and mysticism — whether you’re the DM or a player — check out the Night Parade Performer Character Build Guide here.

*Featured image — In the shared Ravnica setting for both Magic: The Gathering and 5E D&D the Cult of Rakdos is a guild that has evolved into a roving circus attracting hedonistic, anything-goes performers who really know how to put on a show like this Blade Juggler from the MTG Ravnica Allegiance expansion. [Illustration by Dmitry Burmak]

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