Within Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything there is an optional rule that allows you to create a character that shifts their proficiencies around. No longer is every Dwarf a brewer, mason, or smith. No longer will every Elf know how to use a sword.
The ability to swap these out lets you tell new stories through new mechanics. But the change to the game mechanics are quite minor. Half the classes already allow the weapons that the Dwarf and Elf start with in the Player’s Handbook, in this case many optimizers will take Tools in order to expand their skills.
Yes, this expands the powers of certain combinations Race and Class. Frankly, ignore that tiny tic up in power.
This optional rule in Tasha’s grants you the ability to expand the story of your character.
Since your Dwarf didn’t grow up knowing masonry, but instead was a woodsman, what does Woodcarver’s Tools mean for them? Were they part of the crew that regularly left the caves of the fathers to harvest the massive trunks that became reinforcement for the great halls? Or were they just not raised among their people, instead taking their mother’s stone carving tools but applying those to the softer structure of wood to create art?
Your High Elf that did not learn the sword and bow, maybe instead they have Coffee Gear and Insight, because they founded a cafe where they interacted with wizards, nobles, and adventurers. You aren’t a warrior by nature, instead you are someone who understands the people who go out and see the world beyond the city.
Like so much of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the mechanics by this decision do not create power creep – they fashion story creep. There are 25 tools, plus Gaming Sets and Musical Instruments. Your character that has more of these than typical or usual has reasons for these.
As you generate new ways that your spells manifest (one of my favorite suggestions in Tasha’s) you should generate the reasons for your differing skill set from the classical presentations within your race. Whether it is all in your head, or a single line on your character sheet, a hint in the art you commission or draw, or an entire blog entry is up to you, the player.
But it should be there, because the 1000 thousands of stories that can be told in any game session originate in the mechanics, but the mechanics aren’t the point – the story is.
Most of what you need to know about Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is all over the internet. No one has overlooked the latest book release from D&D, but for those that want a slightly different approach to a review here are 7 non-crunch reasons I love the book.
Lore Collage’s focus this week is primarily on resources and approaches to Dungeons & Dragons during the pandemic. Remember to support local businesses as you purchase products, since they remain in danger of closing permanently, not just pausing.
Official Survey Time
What are the things that make you play #DnD? The open world, optimizing or customizing your character, telling a shared story with friends, the iconic art? Maybe all of the above! Take our survey and help shape the future of our work at Wizards!https://t.co/pOJmKI2ircpic.twitter.com/EE77eknsVa
There was another new product, one that got a lot less fanfare. The DM’s Screen Wilderness Kit is something that will be much more useful when you resume play in-person. The focus is on the exploration pillar. Newbie DM offers a flip through.
Changes coming to how Adventurer’s League info spreads information. There will be greater integration into official D&D channels and websites, which should make it easier to follow the seasonal changes.
Playing remotely or following major AP shows creates connections to community that we lack while inspiring the creation of new stories that we are unable to tell on your own.
For the thousands of thousands who are just beginning Tribality continues to put out fresh information to connect a new player with classes and concepts within the game.
Screen Rant has a list of RPGs that aren’t based in Euro-American fantasy. What would happen if you combined Strato-matic Baseball with D&D? Blaseball.
First of all, keep this in mind: you do NOT need a grand story. You're creating a playground, you're not writing an epic fantasy novel. pic.twitter.com/GRawGtzj5r
Tasha’s Cauldon of Everything is packed with new mechanics to add to the game. The expansion of racial options, which reduces but doesn’t eliminate the bioessentialism in D&D, and the new class options was the focus of most of the attention of previews. Now that the book is in the hands of the masses there a few other things that deserve your eyeballs, your character sheet, and your campaign.
Wizards provides this handy list about how to get your handses [in voco Gollum] on the book, but we strongly recommend supporting your local gaming store. The main digital play tools all have Tasha’s at this time and are in various stages of integration for what is a massive update and reworking of character creation.
Lean Into Personalization
While every player-facing book in 5th edition talks about creating your character’s identity through minor reskinning of features, none go as heavy into this as Tasha’s. There aren’t just lists. Through the ample use of sidebars and even art, the designers make it clear that your character is yours, and how that character presents itself is up to you.
The art with the chicken-shaped Magic Missiles is the most clear demonstration of this concept.
Magic Missile, with a twist. A painting of mine that appears in the new D&D book, 'Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.' It was fun. AD: Kate Irwin pic.twitter.com/d98UNzsN33
I’m leaning into this with a Swarmkeeper Ranger whose swarm is a bunch of terriers. They can nip the opponent’s heals, overwhelm them and force them to move, pull me to safety, and even fetch my spent ammunition after the fight.
Make the world yours, that’s what Tasha would do.
Battle Master Builds
The Fighter’s two non-magical subclasses from the Player’s Handbook can lack the identifying traits that connect them to fantasy literature in ways that every other subclass does. Tasha’s helps solve this by providing some sample builds for the Battle Master.
Each example includes the fighting styles, maneuvers, and feats that help create a cohesive identity rather than have a character that is merely a collection of mechanics.
With a sampling of those mechanics and about 50 words your Battle Master transforms into a representation of the legendary heroes of yore, that is uniquely yours.
Session Zero
Many, many, many blogs, vids, podcasts and articles over the decades have focused on Session Zero. Nowhere has the concept been laid out as clearly in a book produced by the maker of the game.
Adding this guide to what will almost certainly be the 4th best selling book in the arsenal of official products will help so many people who want to try the game. New players and new DMs will have a foundation upon which to establish their own social contract.
Sidekicks
Puppy! Wait, no warrior-wolf.
Scheduling play sessions during a global pandemic are a different struggle than they were in the Before Times. Getting a group together, using the same technology. In games with only 1 or 2 PCs having a sidekick can help solve the issues of game balance and limit the chances of a total party kill. They also fit the stories we try to tell.
Here, again, the creators used art to provide examples of the variety of sidekicks that can be created through the three “classes.”
The Expert shows up as a tortle scout/navigator, a winged kobold with some kind of charm, and a kenku historian/sage. The three versions of the Spellcaster are a bullywug wizard, a goblin mage (love that pink dress), and a tabaxi oracle with a pack of extra large scrolls. For the Warrior the art is of an aasimar with a sword & shield, a wolf, and a firbolg chef ready to smash someone with a cast iron pan.
Class Icons
Each of the 13 core classes (Artificer is in two books, it’s core now in my mind) has a icon that represents them. These small images are not new (they’re in the Player’s Handbook), they are just more obvious in their presentation within Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
They’re a clean look that I hope to see on merch at some point. Many third-party D&D inspired jewelers and apparel companies use class iconography. There is no reason why Wizards shouldn’t embrace this as well.
Parleying
People have been homebrewing versions of this for years, but including it in such a common book is important. D&D is, at its core, a combat game. But it doesn’t have to be and more rules to demonstrate that are good.
Hints, Allegations, Rumors of What’s to Come
Hidden within Tasha’s in character conversations and the rules sidebars are a plethora of hints about the future of the game. All attempts to figure out what these mean will be futile fun. Search them all and you too can shout “[setting name] confirmed.”
What are you looking forward to using from Tasha’s?
The pandemic was rough for Tacoma Defiance. Players in the USL bubble couldn’t practice with the Seattle Sounders. Players in the MLS bubble couldn’t play for Defiance, unless loaned for the entirety of the season – Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez and Ethan Dobbeleare were, eventually.
Defiance also lost a few home games as the Seattle Mariners used Cheney Stadium for their alternate training site. Still, the squad toughed it out. In fact, they came out of the restart 2-0-1, looking like just maybe things could be magical.
Eventually the losses of 7 players to the First Team, and the transfer of Jesse Daley (The Defiant 2019) to Brisbane Roar, over the past two seasons caught up to Tacoma, who finished third in the group.
Without their best who stood out as The Defiant of 2020, that player who best represents the spirit of Tacoma and Defiance more than anyone to wear the crest? [insert drumroll]
Ray Serrano
In 2020, this bizarre year, Ray Serrano turned into a goal dangerous threat. At 17 he had 3 goals scored on the season, tied for second on the squad with Chino Perez and Danny Robles.
Photo courtesy of Charis Wilson – Sounders FC/Tacoma Defiance
His first goal of the year cemented a come-from-behind draw to take points against Sacramento Republic in Sac. That was the first time for Defiance to take down the giants and future MLS side.
Over the season he developed a more aggressive approach to his game. Slicing his way through defenses he looked to become a goal-dangerous winger, not just a flair player. The assertive and artistic style is perfect for someone wearing the Black Ink and Green of Tacoma.
Starting the year as the youngest player on the roster Ray Serrano built himself up from infrequent sub into regular starter. Six of his first seven appearances were as a sub. By the end of the year Ray had a stretch with five starts in a row, including three times going a full 90 in a year where the usage of five subs meant that was a quite rare event for attacking players. Serrano’s hard work in practice is emblematic of what Tacoma expects from its people.
Last year after winning the Development Academy Western Conference Best XI he said that he wanted to win it again. Ray didn’t get that opportunity, because in the year he turned 18 he played too frequently on the professional side.
Whenever 2021 starts, Serrano looks certain to be a regular with Tacoma. He will be just 18 and have 989 competitive minutes under his belt.
Honorable Mentions
Other considerations were for Alec Diaz, who lead the squad in scoring with six goals and Sam Rogers whose value was demonstrated through his absence as he worked on transferring to a team in Spain. They were the Attacking Player of 2020 and the Defensive Player of 2020 respectively.
The Defiant by matchday polling
Diaz 3
Rogers 2.5
Serrano 2
Cissoko 1
Daley 1
Dhillon 1
Dobbeleare 1
Gonzalez 1
Herrera 1
Klenofsky 1
Fernandez .5
Ocampo-Chavez .5
Reynolds .5
Danny Robles and Taylor Mueller didn’t win The Defiant for a specific match, but they were frequently finalists for the award.
Robles showed flexibility that he can be a strong 8 as well as a dynamic 10. Mueller’s defense and leadership were vital in a season so frequently damaged by matches rescheduled due to the pandemic and wildfires.
Oppressive governments are a staple of genre fiction. From Robin Hood to the Vlad Taltos series, from Thay to any place ruled by a Sorcerer-King in Athas – the tales of tyranny that must be overcome are common.
An uprising is nearly impossible against these powers though. They have access to magics and personnel that make hiding difficult. Identifying who is in rebellion within a society that has the fantastic equivalent of an NSA, CIA, KGB, etc at the surface level seems easy. Yet, in our modern world with facial recognition and AI-infused communication monitoring there are still those who rise up against injustice.
The following are how you make certain that a rebellion that starts like this
Everything starts here, really. From something as simple as Disguise Self to the potent Seeming and Mislead the usages are obvious. They must still be stated and reviewed, lest we overlook the obvious.
These go hand-in-hand with Illusion. Getting past the guard who recognizes you is key. Having a huge crowd be under Sympathy can turn the entire tide of the movement.
Rogues and Bards
These two classes are natural fits for revolution. A College of Whispers Bard can sneak into a castle or manor and learn the secrets of the realm. A College of Glamour will work the nobles The College of Lore will know the History of the peoples, helping define and refine the message of the group, as can Eloquence. The Colleges of Swords and Valor fight among a crowd quite well.
Every Rogue fits. Every. They’re probably the baseline for your rebellion. Assassins, Tricksters, Masterminds, Inquisitives, Thieves, Swashbucklers, Scouts – the list of rogues involved in uprising reads like a casting call for Hunger Games or Divergent.
All Classes Can Fit
Artificers can build the defenses needed.
Barbarians are those enraged by injustice.
Clerics are more than the needed healers, but the ministers pushing for the rights of their flock.
Fighters can be the thug guarding a raid, or the armored noble who joins the cause.
Monks need not be confined to the outsider from another land, but the brethren who know the ancient ways of the nation.
Paladins who take their oath to the betterment of the commoner over the ruling class join your uprising.
Sorcerers exist in uprising literature often as the targets of a realm that do not like those born to authority.
Warlocks may join their pact to gain powers to help their peoples.
Wizards are masters of the spells most important to helping the revolution.
Druids and Rangers probably take the most work to have them fit the story, but difficulties are not impossibilities.
There are gaps within the common D&D classes, and these won’t be filled by Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The literature and other fictions around resistance feature some tropes that are currently difficult to build in the base rules.
Each of the following subclasses is a work in progress. Some are more finished than others.
Society of Veil and Shadow: Rogue
The Society of Veil and Shadows are a group of rogues dedicated to obscuring and protecting their guild from spies — both arcane and mundane. While able to contribute to the uprising’s success via sneak attacks and other clandestine abilities their true power is their ability to cast a few spells, most of which help keep the rebellion secret.
The Way of the Frayed Knot is a Monk subclass that attempts to feature some Western fantasy tropes. The most common of these is Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, but there are other studious, religious types that fought alongside rogues and pirates.
The Way of Mercy in Tasha’s may be close enough that my own version gets retired.
Conscript: Fighter
An old-timer who retreated from the life of adventure and war, but who for some reason gets called back into it. They’ve done their best to avoid violence. Instead violence seeks them out. The Fighter: Conscript (final name TBD) has seen things. Things no one else should see.
When they get the call to return to their former life they are no longer concerned with having the best weapon and the best armor. Their wits and experience taught them that any tool can be used for any job.
You rose from the underbelly of empire to demand a better life for all. Your pamphlets and speeches can inspire hope, or fear. Whether from the soapbox or via pamphlet your proclamations turn the tides of rebellion.
They come from the urchins and gangs, getting to know the vermin of civilization. Simultaneously they serve the people and the animals that run the streets of a city. Able to help feed and heal those in need, the Sewers Druid is equally at home within a gang of thieves as they are a swarm of rats.
How would you run a D&D campaign that focuses on rebelling against a power much mightier than the player-characters? What tools would you use to rise against The White Witch, or The Union, or the Burgue?
Welcome to Lore Collage, a weekly look at things going on around Dungeons & Dragons, fiction related to D&D, and a few other things within RPG and fantasy that you should grab for your next character or campaign. This list is curated with the goal to make certain that readers will not miss major announcement because they aren’t online at all times, as well as to expose them to unique and/or interesting projects that deserve amplification.
Add Mechanical Wolves to Your Campaign
Your next town of gnomes and/or artificers should copy Takikawa, Japan. They defended themselves from bear attacks by installing mechanical wolves — that are way too creepy. It’s a new twist on warforged, and frankly your home table needs this. Whatever natural plague is impacting your urban areas in D&D can be defended by completely bizarre things, not just walls and towers.
Official D&D Announcements
This weekend is the first ever Virtual Weekend of play for Adventurers League. There’s trial size and standard adventures still available. Creators and DMs will have the option to expand beyond prepared content. That will increase the variety of stories available to players in ways that past AL and convention play did not.
Sage Advice got a massive update in preparation for release of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Awf will be impacted by this, as Bladesingers took a low-level nerf and a high-level buff.
Every few days Dyson Logos comes up with a new map, including the lore around it. If you’re running behind your session prep or just need a one-off dropping these into your campaign are simple and easy.
— Swordsfall – Still Here, and Not Going Anywhere (@Swordsfall1) November 8, 2020
I’m a sucker for rebellion stories. I just watched the BBC Robin Hood from 2006, love Thomas Paine, and have a few subclass concepts I’m working through for my own campaign. Backing Flames of Freedom made too much sense. Their Kickstarter is done, but you can still order via Backerkit. Watch the amazing blend of rebellion, dark magick, and the power of all the peoples of the grimm alt-history of Boston on their Twitch channel.
Ribbons
Ali’s latest twitter thread on djinn focuses on the djinn of plagues.
Medieval Muslims wrote extensively about plagues. Theories ranged from the natural, to the will of the divine. But some spoke of the hidden influences of jinn and stars.
A thread on the astrology and jinn of plagues in the medieval Islamic world
One of the absolute amazing powers of Dungeons & Dragons is the ability to tell stories that you couldn’t tell by yourself. Whether you play at a table of 2, or 4, or 8 there will be ideas brought forth that surprise you. Communal storytelling by the DM and players creates options and opportunities that a single author would miss or gloss over.
The additional experiences and diversity of the group interact to create tales of wonder. This is a large part of why I enjoy D&D. Through the power of social media there is an opportunity to mimic this by using polls to guide the character creation process.
Asking others to help build a character gets you out of potential ruts and tropes, or embeds those tropes even further into your future PC or NPC. In the end of the process you come up with a character that is amalgam of not just your own experiences, but of the near infinite stories available via social media.
The full creation process can be viewed in the Twitter thread.
Tatiana started with “this character uses a sling.” While everything built off that, rather than build through the explicit creation system as outlined in the Player’s Handbook, instead the prompts were chosen in a more narrative fashion.
The various choices informed attribute distribution, race, class, background, spells, and skills. Riverhopper was built in order to create an Adventurer’s League character in case someone wanted to jump onto the Yawning Portal and just play.
Using personality seeds for the choices meant that we have a prankster who left their hometown looking for stories to tell (Bard) and gold to acquire (Criminal). You can find her in alehouses taking out some pocket cheese as she plans her next bit of mischief.
She’s not great remembering names, even though she’ll always remember you – just be something not a name. She keeps a small notebook and quill with her, constantly taking notes in a delicate hand in code that most do not know.
In combat Tatiana is likely to use Heroism and Bardic Inspiration to help her allies as she lurks back slinging stones at the enemy. Prone to rash decisions, Riverhopper will use a trick of the mind or hand to get herself out of trouble. The loveable Halfling is best in a support and face role.
During the pandemic many people are turning to role-playing games. D&D is regularly appearing in the 100 Best Sellers on Amazon. With their deep discounts versus physical locations that makes sense. The same holds true for digital outlets like DnDBeyond, Roll20, and Fantasy Grounds.
Dungeons & Dragons is simultaneously about the game with its stories of heroism in a world of magic and it is about community the group of players who gather regularly to tell those stories together.
Community is hard to come by during the pandemic. Most who read this blog are people who are distancing. Which has slowed the spread of the disease, but it also harms our local small businesses. Things are pretty dire for the friendly local gaming stores out there.
They couldn’t compete on price with online shops prior to the pandemic. Now, they no longer have the ability to safely host events on premise that gave them a unique life and place in our cities.
Here’s my favorites FLGS in Renton, Tacoma, Bellevue, and a few others as well.
Wizard’s Keep Games
I discovered The Keep back when I was selling beer. The old owner and I would talk Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, craft beer, and Tacoma every other week or so.
Wizard’s Keep Games hosted several of my D&D campaign sessions back in the Before Times when there wasn’t a global pandemic. They have a large selection of used D&D books if you’re looking for older materials.
Shane’s Cards
Down near the Uwajimaya, Shane’s leans heavy into collectible card games. They have a few more minis and dice than the Keep, but their RPG corner is a bit cramped.
Their frequent buyer program is helpful if you buy D&D and other stuff, but the pace of releases make it unlikely you’ll hit the significant discounts on D&D alone. Shane’s is a Renton classic.
Tacoma Games
Open and spacious the 6th Ave shop has a ton of miniatures and a wide selection of board games. They were doing curbside pickup during the height of the lockdown. Hit up Tacoma Games.
Terra Crux
Downtown Tacoma’s Terra Crux has a huge selection that reminds me of the days of old going to Book World in Kent. Great spot for paints and minis.
Mox Boarding House – Bellevue
While it isn’t in my dual homes of Renton-Tacoma, I would be failing if I left off the only other physical store I’ve purchased from. Mox Boarding House – Bellevue hosted some of my D&D campaigns, is where I met the Beedle & Grimm’s team, had many a beer in the restaurant, and while I was selling them kegs I would always take a long look at D&D products. They’re big enough you can find third-party books there too.
Others
In Walla Walla I’ve shopped at Books & Games as well as Western Paladin Games. Friends swear by Meeples and Zulu and TeKu and Arcane Comics in the Greater Seattle area.
Support them now, so that when we roll dice together we have a place to gather.
In this week’s post there are tips about creating with accessibility in mind, more libraries playing D&D with youth, maps, recommended podcasts, and so much more.
Beverage accompaniment: Friday Afternoon Tea’s Stormfire. It’s a softer approach to black tea, due to the blue cornflower with the mate and black peppercorn hitting giving it a spike of spice.
Accessibility and Representation
Jennifer Kretchmer‘s resource guide to Accessibility and anti-ableism is a hefty set of reading and viewing. These resources are a wonderful way to understand how your writing and gaming can create opportunities for others. Read, watch, re-read, re-watch.
Here it is, friends. A massive compilation of resources, documents, tools, and more addressing accessibility in tabletop gaming, streaming, and life. I'm incredibly proud to share my Accessibility in Gaming Resource. https://t.co/uzCODeeYjL (1/)
D&D is adapting. More frequently we see creators and performers of color, of differing sexes and sexualities – and we see their characters as well. Representation is vital. Myself, I think back to when I was so tiny there were thoughts about medical ways to cause me to be taller. At the time I always played Halfings, Gnomes, and Dwarves. I did that because I needed to see heroes that were like me.
In the Before Times there was a mighty group of heroes in the South Sound. These women and men put on shows, entertained the masses, and just maybe won a few battles for the hearts and minds of the people of the Near Cliff, Tahoma, and all that call the region home.
We were a tight group of specialists who when combined were a powerful faction of spellslingers, story weavers, and travellers who loved the region and would defend it.
These are the Heroes of Castle Cheney.
Delaney Saul, illustrator, created the group to celebrate my 45th birthday.
Delaney and I had conversations about what race and class each of the heroic representations of the group would be. While creating my friends, and Before Times coworkers, as playable characters (3rd level, Adventurers League rules, Players Handbook only, no stat below 10) I was able to add in a few more details about them.
Casey is the leader of the group – the Director, if you must. A few things were required when creating him. Without any doubt he is a Bard. The man is a natural performer, whether on a mic, dancing on a dugout, or spinning records. He puts himself in front of people. His knowledge of Tacoma, Puget Sound, and so much more made the College of Lore an obvious choice.
When deciding on his race, his natural charisma had to be emphasized. Leaning into the trope that half-elves can be accepted by both of their communities seemed obvious as Casey is beloved in Rainiers and Defiance circles.
Slapping expertise onto Performance and Insight was so obvious a choice, I’m not explaining it. The Background of Entertainer was also an easy choice. I needed to get Casey a Disguise Kit for all of those costume changes we know and love.j
Spell choices leaned into charming types, with Longstrider added because if you’ve ever seen him move around the stadium you know there is magic behind it.
Delaney is an extraordinary illustrator. Capturing her level of talent in D&D meant more than a Background, but instead the magic of images. Locked into the PHB for cost reasons (maybe one of my friends eventually plays themselves) that meant the Illusionist.
Her past as an athlete was captured in two ways. First up, that meant the Gladiator Background. Second it was why I went Wood Elf for race. The increased speed combined with Athletics felt like the perfect way to capture her love and career in basketball.
Witch Bolt became the attack cantrip of choice, because I felt like that one would give Delaney the most joy when she used it. I can just see her eyes light up while going all Palpatine on someone.
Adam is a videographer I’ve worked with and around for nearly a decade now. Between our time together with Sounder at Heart and on Tacoma Defiance broadcasts we probably know each other better than I know anyone else in the Cheney creative team. He is a man with believes in faith, equity, and generosity. A noble Paladin seemed an obvious start.
In order to best represent his excellent eye for what’s going on around him, he had to have the Feat Observant. That meant going with Variant Human. Adam’s cameras capture the life in any game inside Cheney’s walls and the vibrant community that is Tacoma.
For his background I wanted to capture to personality traits.
I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working toward peace. I am tolerant of other faiths and respect the worship of other gods.
“Acolyte”
If you’ve met Adam you know that every fiber of who he is consists in those traits.
Phinney the Wild is the technical genius behind all of the light, sound, and video at Cheney Stadium. I started working with him on the broadcasts, but really got to know him through a project that started early in the pandemic when I asked each employee about what they were doing. That’s when I learned that Phinney loves the mountains and forests of Washington.
That made it obvious he needed to be a Druid or Ranger. Since he’s the lord of sound, I needed to give him the thunder spells – Druid it is. If I hadn’t chosen to lock myself into PHB or free content, I would have gone Firbolg, but instead he’s a goliath.
Phinney consumes books. That’s where the Sage comes in. He’s also well connected at local colleges, which is a doubly important reason for that nod.
Erin is the other artist at Cheney Castle. Every party can have a duplication in role, but cannot have duplication in identity. To me, the other way to emulate the power of drawing/painting arts is Enchantment. The close choice was simple after thinking through that.
The high elf made sense after that, as I wanted a small boost to illusion magic. Also, Erin is fashionable, which fits the high elf tropes. Her fine precision in her artwork and design is captured in the Guild Artisan Background.
Erin and I worked together on the Defiance season ticket renewal magazine and several other projects. To recognize that her class skills are History and Investigation. No offense to Casey, but Erin spent as much time copy editing my writing for print as anyone.
Reema was my manager for Reign related projects in 2019. Through that time, when the team’s biggest star got in a Twitter war with the President and won every award available to a soccer player while winning The Best and a World Cup, we were in constant communication. Her leadership and belief in me was strong. Her charisma was readily apparent in discussions with ownership, or the brilliant talents that wore the crest – it came naturally to her. In D&D natural power such as hers often is displayed as a Sorcerer.
While the Noble Background is often about being born into high society, I chose that for Reema because she so seamlessly fits into the group. Between her sense of fashion, her wine and cocktail knowledge, and her will she belongs in those situations. The following trait and ideal also pushed that decision over the edge into a big “yep.”
Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood.
It is my duty to protect and care for the people beneath me.
Noble
To represent her ability to make friends simply and easily I gave her the Friends cantrip, while ignoring the part about people knowing magic was used against the new friend.
Maddie is so multi-faceted. To the fans in the stands she’s just part of the entertainment crew. To those of us behind the scenes she’s a manager of mascots, planner of schedules, and keen executor of fun. She’s part mage, that’s obvious. She also slips in and out of spaces, everywhere at once. The Arcane Trickster’s magic of entertainment was an obvious choice.
In her past our favorite Trickster was an elite tumbler. That meant expertise in Acrobatics and Performance, as well as the Entertainer background. Maddie always finds a way to share the fun with an audience.
Picking a race started with a look at which ones offered bonuses to Charisma. This quickly became a choice between lightfoot halfling and half-elf. There was a need to capture Maddie’s bravery in stepping into a role at the last minute, accepting all those challenges without any fear – halfling it is.
AJ, unlike the rest of the group, came to the Sound from elsewhere. He rapidly became a sounder, as in a person of the Sound, even if not a soccer fan. For his build I started with that Outlander background. His tales and stories from his youth, schooling, and previous jobs were foreign to us. The Outlander made so much sense.
The way AJ relaxes is to travel the new lands. He’s an expert on the parks around Pierce County and beyond. The Ranger embraces that. His willingness to support cross-functionally meant I went for the Hunter, as he knocks out small tasks frequently.
He’s good at so much – he can be a radio pbp voice, a video host, a writer, a social media expert, and more. There’s only one race that embraces the ability to do anything – the traditional human. Sorry, AJ, but little fantasy in that one. Bonuses to every single attribute will come in handy no matter what you do.
Throughout the design process every choice came back to how do I make the most heroic version of my friends and coworkers. Which skills, spells, and features made sense to show that these fantasy heroes are based in the real heroics during our year (or more, or less). Together, we overcame obstacles and used our various strengths to destroy the monsters that got in the way.
These are the heroes of Castle Cheney. I miss them, but that when a banner is raised asking for help they will answer, rally, and wave the Flag of Defiance for each other and our city.
Full Moon Storytelling 