Category: Playing D&D

  • Narrative character creation in 5th edition

    Narrative character creation in 5th edition

    Story is modern roleplay gaming. But, character creation per the Player’s Handbook is mechanical. It doesn’t have to be. It can follow a narrative; this is how.

    The character creation order changes a little bit with this method. Now it’s almost as if your character is going through childhood and adolescence while you and the DM (ideally together) go through this process. Kind of like filming a documentary, together you discover the journey from birth to hero. Take notes and get the feeling of the story that created the personality that will exist at the table later. If the player talks about history or backstory that doesn’t yet exist in your world, they are there creating it with you. This empowers the player to help with worldbuilding and creates bonds between the character and the past.

    I’ve done this with two players so far. The following has the steps of process and a practical example.

    Tell me about your parents

    This is the first lead. The DM is trying to figure out a bit about the homeland and race of the parents. They don’t need to be known (orphans are common in our base literature), but at the least get a few words describing origin country and race. Write those down. Get their given name now. Maybe their adventuring name is different, but when they are born, they are named.

    My first player said his parents were a merchant family from Southern Kirtin. They’d lost their lands when Daoud took over. They are halflings that abhor Azsel.

    Race: Halfling

    Are you strong, intelligent, wise, a leader, nimble, healthy?

    As the DM I generated a random point buy array and asked for the player to describe their character traits that they exhibited as a youth. Were they the type that led groups or shy? Did they throw rocks, or work in the mill? Maybe they were sick, or never got sick when others were? Some people read a lot, or read people. Distribute the six scores based on the answers given.

    This player said that they were a bit of a leader playing with the kids, generally healthy, tended to know and understand people. They were a bit weak (halflings in Everflow have minuses to strength).

    STR: 7 | DEX: 16 | CON: 14 | INT: 11 | WIS: 14 | CHA: 14

    Your parents did what? Did you follow in footsteps?

    The answers to these questions determine Background, and help guide you towards Class. They aren’t the answer to class, but do influence it. A lot of personality gets built out here. The Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw should be apparent from this conversation. If it isn’t offered, the DM can probe a bit more.

    In our example the character was raised by a merchant family that wanted to do everything right, that as a family wanted to regain their lost market in Kirtin-on-the-Lake and as the youngest of the trade family he’d been swindled once or twice, so he’s a bit suspicious of that.

    Background: Merchant with skills in Appraiser’s Tools because he doesn’t trust and Vehicle’s (Land) because he was the youngest son.

    What makes you special?

    Ask about the time that the character discovered that they aren’t common, but instead began to know that they are a hero. Have them describe it. Did they fight with arms, pick up a bow? Maybe they stole something? There should be indications towards class here. The experience may be a bit like a tree where the branches are melee or magic. After that the split might be sneaky (Rogue), hefty (Fighter, Barbarian), ranged (Fighter, Rogue, Ranger) or divine (Cleric, Druid), arcane (Wizard), discovered (Sorcerer), pledged (Warlock, Paladin). Are they principled (Monks, Paladins, Clerics)? This is likely the longest conversation you have during narrative character creation. Throw them some experience for wonderful ideas that surprise and entertain you.

    But during this section you’ll come away with their Class, their options like Fighting Styles, or Faith, or Wizard school, etc.

    Our example character was someone who had a caravan raided. He wasn’t a fighter, and didn’t know magic, instead he helped. He distracted the opponents, or warned his guards. Throughout the fight he was helpful. After the fight he repaired the cart, and returned the goods.

    Class: Uncommoner (this is a homebrew that may be public soon)

    Altogether it isn’t a major shift. Maybe some tables already do similar. For me it created a process shift from “this is what I am” to “this is how I came to be.” That adds some depth.

  • Errata for December 2021 mostly focused on helping your character be yours

    Errata for December 2021 mostly focused on helping your character be yours

    The semi-regular blog by the D&D team at Wizards of the Coast released today is from Jeremy Crawford, folding in Sage Advice and Errata updates.

    Four rules answers are shared, all about spells. The biggest impact on my games would be the clarification that spell attacks are not spells. This means Counterspell and similar are not effective against the consolidated stat blocks for monsters in the latest and upcoming releases. Also, Silvery Barbs is ineffective against Legendary Resistance, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The other two questions seemed to have obvious answers, but the clarification helps.

    There is a significant change to Drow, and that connects to most of the player-facing Errata updates.

    This new text replaces a description that confused the culture of Menzoberranzan—a city in the grip of Lolth’s cult in the Forgotten Realms—with drow themselves. The new text more accurately describes the place of drow in the D&D multiverse and correctly situates them among the other branches of the elf family, each of which was shaped by an environment in the earliest days of the multiverse: forests (wood elves), places of ancient magic on the Material Plane (high elves), oceans (sea elves), the Feywild (eladrin), the Shadowfell (shadar-kai), and the Underdark (drow). Drow are united by an ancestral connection to the Underdark, not by worship of Lolth—a god some of them have never heard of.

    Sage Advice December 2021

    Within the nine books that have Errata updates that theme is extended.

    The Player’s Handbook sees 15 of 22 new changes being related to Alignment. The most common change is “The “Alignment” section has been removed.” No longer are characters going to be directed towards certain behaviors. They are, instead, the heroes and anti-heroes of the story — unique and special.

    “The “Alignment” section has been removed.”

    Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (which is not only still in print, but still getting updates!) have similar changes to their PC-facing content. Volo’s also notes that Volo himself is an unreliable narrator with almost all of his experiences being confined to the Forgotten Realms.

    “The lore in this chapter represents the perspective of Volo and is mostly limited to the Forgotten Realms. In the Realms and elsewhere in the D&D multiverse, reality is more varied than the idiosyncratic views presented here. DM, use the material that inspires you and leave the rest.”

    Volo’s Guide to Monsters Errata

    SCAG has some changes to the Sun Soul Monk and the Swashbuckler that bring them in line with these subclass’s appearances in other books.

    Overall the Errata focuses on the concept that only canon that matters is what’s at your table, and that your character is yours. All nine books with Errata in the last year are linked at the Sage Advice update.

  • Why DMs Are Banning Silvery Barbs

    Why DMs Are Banning Silvery Barbs

    Due to Silvery Barbs (1st lev) being dramatically better than Fortune’s Favor and slightly better than Shield, I will also be banning it at my table.

    thinkdm's avatarThinkDM

    Silvery Barbs was an Unearthed Arcana subclass feature that was playtested for the Strixhaven setting. After class-variable subclasses were abandoned, the feature was converted to a level 1 enchantment spell for bards, sorcerers, and wizards. This spell is published in D&D’s new book, Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.

    Spell Mechanics

    The spell works like this:

    As a reaction, you can force a reroll (take lower) on an attack, check, or save.

    Then, you hand out a bonus inspiration that can be used for 1 minute.

    Reroll Mechanic

    The core mechanic is not based on disadvantage. It’s a forced reroll after the fact. That’s not only better for conserving spell slots and action economy, it allows Silvery Barbs to be stacked with disadvantage from other sources, and other strong reroll mechanics like the Lucky feat.

    Casting Time

    Reaction spells immediately throw up a red flag for power creep. There aren’t…

    View original post 1,156 more words

  • Four ways to use Oleg Dolya’s new Neighborhood maps

    Four ways to use Oleg Dolya’s new Neighborhood maps

    There are certain DMs (me) who aren’t good at drawing and or mapping. For us, a few dollars a month towards various map makers helps us create our worlds. Even if you don’t commission specific works, the services of Dyson Logos (my favorite dungeons), Two Minute Tabletop (my favorite battlemaps), Deven Rue (my favorite regional maps), and Watabou (my favorite procedural maps) can add depth to your gaming sessions — even when you don’t use miniatures.

    Oleg Dolya, the person behind Watabou, just released neighborhoods.

    This is vital for me. Uprising & Rebellion takes place in large city. Having maps of districts and neighborhoods within that is important for the game. Being able to create one on the fly as my players head off script is vital. Players will always go off script. Just because you think they’re going to have a battle in the Docks doesn’t mean they won’t visit North Shore, the Ward of Mighty Trees, the University or Silk Row.

    Created using Watabou

    Will I have two or three of these printed out just for the flavor of the next neighborhood over? Yes.

    Here are three other ways you can use the Neighborhood maps.

    1. Stitch together an assembly of several of them to create a city. The unnatural gaps make perfect sense as mountains, lakes, rivers, etc. A whole city at this level of detail would be interesting. Make certain to use the same color set for each.
    2. Some of the generations for the neighborhood map make sense as compact villages. Yes, Dolya has a village creator, but those don’t have wells, fountains, and ponds in them. The neighborhoods can.
    3. The map can be an underground cavern in the Dwarven city trope. First shift the colors using the ‘0’ key to one that has some darkness to it. Pretend that the trees are mushrooms, and that the streets are the passageways and tunnels to the rest of the world. Bone Wharf is now a Mountain Dwarf city.
    Created using Watabou

    The key to using a procedural map is that you aren’t going to get exactly what you want, or even close to what you want. You are going to get a usable map, fast. Let the oddities of the creation guide you towards creating the people and the space. That long road running from lower-left to upper-right on Silk Row? That’s obviously the Silk Row itself. The fountain is where the various traders and merchants gather to discus their deals. The light smattering of trees are for the very richest of households, those that raise silkworms in the climate that isn’t proper for them. There are some roads that run parallel to the Silk Row, those are for supporting businesses, not the wealthy traders. The non-enclosed squares like the large one up-and-right are areas that are pack animal friendly. You are the DM (or when you use as a player to describe a hometown the creator). Let the algorithm take you to answers you could never find on your own.

    What else do you see in Silk Row? Why is the dwarven city called Bone Wharf? What makes Bone Wharf unique?

  • The Hunter should be among your D&D Backgrounds

    The Hunter should be among your D&D Backgrounds

    Myth, legend and story energize Dungeons & Dragons. The game, especially in its 5th edition circles back and amplifies itself. So many of the tales which helped create the game are those of the zero who becomes a hero. A small town X becomes greater than life, saving kingdoms and worlds.

    These zeroes have so many professions. In 5th edition these preheroic roles are captured in Backgrounds. The game does a decent job of offering several. But some are missing — like the Hunter. A Hunter may be chasing a stag and stumble upon a sleeping woman. Or they set traps for furs, travelling to the city later.

    Currently you could use an Outlander or a Folk Hero. But you aren’t a hero yet. That’s going to happen at the table. The Outlander ignores many of the stories of a hunter who is part of the community from which the tale starts. That’s why you need a Hunter. So here it is.

    Photo by Vincent M.A. Janssen on Pexels.com

    Hunter

    Whether for your lone homestead or for a large city you hunt for your people’s food. You may do this with a bow, or a sling, or traps. You do this swiftly and effectively, honoring the prey for what they provide your family, friends, and neighbors. You may be a pseudo-noble authorized to hunt on the Queen’s lands or a trapper out in the wilds.

    Some hunters are expert trackers, others can stalk their prey for miles, while others still use snares. A hunter may focus on specific beasts, or not. No matter their preferred protein when they are on the trail they are completely dedicated to success.

    Skill Proficiencies: Survival, Stealth
    Tool Proficiencies: Leatherworker’s or Woodcarver’s Tools
    Languages: None
    Equipment: A non-magical ranged (w/ 10 pieces of ammunition) or 3 thrown weapons or 2 hunting traps, traveler’s clothes, waterskin, knife, whetstone

    Feature: Provider

    During a long rest you are able to find enough food for yourself and your proficiency bonus number of people for a day. You can do so and still gain the benefits of a rest, but still must sleep or trance as appropriate to your race or lineage. Additionally, you have twice your proficiency bonus for your Stealth or Survival skill gained from this Background when in natural surroundings. This bonus does not stack with Expertise or similar rules at any time.

    You are not proficient with the weapons that are starting equipment.

    For personality use the Folk Hero or Outlander, for now. When the Before We Were Heroes project is available for purchase every Background will have their own traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

    The Hunter can also be played as a Trapper without any changes beyond the name. Just choose the hunting traps for your equipment.

    Hunter Design Goals

    As usual this design started with the massive hole in the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook not having many mundane backgrounds and trying to shoehorn them into the Folk Hero. But being a hero is what playing the game is about, not the story in your past.

    With the Hunter I wanted to explore a way to grant Expertise, under a different name, to any character at 1st level. But, this is as pricey as the cantrip granted by the Drudge. There must be a cost. That cost isn’t just dropping a single skill, but dropping a skill and one language/tool/etc. That didn’t seem to be enough though. So, the rule is that a Hunter must choose one of two skills and cannot have the other at 1st level. Our mundane hunter is either good at tracking/trapping or good at sneaking — not both.

    The inspiration has to start with Artemis, Orion, and the Huntsman. But there are more, so many more. Missing this trope is glaring. Crockett, Boone, Ishi, and others can guide you to your own character.

    Other Custom Backgrounds