Category: Playing D&D

Custom Backgrounds, classes, advice and more about Dungeons & Dragons

  • Latest Unearthed Arcana further uncouples race from mechanics

    Latest Unearthed Arcana further uncouples race from mechanics

    When a new Unearthed Arcana drops much of the focus is on the mechanics. They are mechanical tests after all. In some cases the development team removes story mentions to not taint the survey results. This UA drop is focused on playing as Undead or Fey. The purpose is to test Dhampir (emergent vampires, kinda), Hexblood (emergent hags, kinda), Reborn (those that hover between living and dead, mostly).

    Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

    The mechanics are intriguing. The Dhampir has a bite attack that uses Constitution for its damage stat, which makes sense. The Hexblood has a superior version of Message and Arcane Eye combo. Reborn are sleepless, with a kind of elvish trance available.

    More important than the new racial options and mechanics is the sidebar titled Design Note: Changes to Racial Traits. Thanks to Justice Arman for calling this out on Twitter and forcing me to look deeper into the change.

    Let’s take it piece by piece.

    The first paragraph further emphasizes the small changes in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It’s a solid reminder of the product and the small steps already taken.

    In 2020, the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the option to customize several of your character’s racial traits, specifically the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, and traits that give skill, armor, weapon, or tool proficiencies.

    From UNEARTHED ARCANA 2021: Gothic Lineages

    Paragraph two is a reminder that the work is not done. Forward all D&D books are removing those elements from races that are purely cultural, as well as the Ability Score increase. This will obviously, and *necessarily*, impact the current races (a change that will be simpler via DnDBeyond and other digital systems than those with physical books. There will still be physical and magical differences for the characters with certain races.

    Following in that book’s footsteps, the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage.

    The final paragraph is a strong reminder that a character is not the normal part of any culture, species, lineage, or race. The player-character occupies a unique space within a D&D world. They are heroes or anti-heroes, not paragons of a racial group.

    Finally, going forward, the term “race” in D&D refers only to the suite of game features used by player
    characters. Said features don’t have any bearing on monsters and NPCs who are members of the same species or lineage, since monsters and NPCs in D&D don’t rely on race or class to function. Moreover, DMs are empowered to customize the features of the creatures in their game as they wish.

    The multi-year critique directed at D&D in regards to its history and legacy of racism and racial-tinged rules is having an impact — a slow one. This are necessary changes. Some of them are small. Some of them are big.

    To borrow from Jemma Simmons, Agents of SHIELD, “The steps you take don’t need to be big. They just need to take you in the right direction.”

    These are steps in the right direction. This is progress. The path forward is exciting.

  • Tips about naming your characters

    Tips about naming your characters

    Naming characters can be hard. For a DM coming up with names at the spur of the moment can lead to a stoppage in play as their mind struggles to find something appropriate for the NPC that was supposed to be a background character, but your players have thrust that individual into a major role.

    For most players, naming a character is a rare event. It is usually the first or last thing that they do. Then, it’s over until the next campaign starts. Still, you want to get the proper name for your character, because you will carry it with you for a long time*.

    *strong exceptions for rogues, criminals, urchins, and the like.

    As someone who both creates way too many PCs, and once named a formerly non-notable NPC “Anderson” after the car dealer across the street from the restaurant hosting our session I’ve developed a few tricks to naming characters.

    Easy Button

    Those of you using DnDBeyond.com probably already know this, but the Fantasy Name Generator has well over 100 different naming categories. Click the category and it will spit out ten names. Simple is as simple does. Sometimes you’ll hit those buttons a dozen times to get the one you like.

    Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

    All the way back in November of 2017 Wizards of the Coast released Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The book is most well known for being the first official significant expansion of character classes in 5th edition. Those people into optimization ranted against the inclusion of almost 20 pages of names.

    Frankly, it was a poor critique.

    There are so many more people picking up the game every day, every month, every year. They don’t have the knowledge base that stretches back editions. They may not want unofficial sources for fantasy names.

    Xanathar’s includes official lists of fantasy names as well as dozens of real cultures that are often captured within your gaming table. This section is one of the forgotten joys of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Cracking the book open to those sections should help inspire your next character’s name.

    Use Athletes for Inspiration

    After working in sports for nearly 15 years, there should be little surprise that they become part of my gaming paradigm. There’s a reason that Sports as a Tool exists in my worlds.

    Sports, particularly Olympic sports and soccer/football, are an excellent way to discover wonderful inspiration for names. Just look at the recent MLS SuperDraft.

    Mitch Guitar was drafted. Who doesn’t want to make a Bard called Mith Lyre now?

    Sondre Norheim was drafted. Could that be your next dwarf named after a powerful elven king? Yes.

    Real people and cultures can inspire your name. Honor those peoples through the name of your character.

    To discover new names head to a reference website covering a sport with international play. Click on a league outside of the mainstream, click a team at random, and combine a two-four players’ names. Drop a couple letters, or add a few. Research those players because their lives can help inspire you the same way that reading Tolkien can inspire you.

    Sports Reference, Soccerway, and Transfermarkt are my favorite places to do this.

    As a DM, I try to have a small selection of NPCs already made up ahead of a session. These index card sized characters are there because my players will always surprise me. Most of their names have come from various athletes around the world. Some will be consistent within a certain set of cultures, while others recognize that the fantasy worlds in which we play are generally as interconnected as the modern world in which we live.

    Your naming conventions should embrace the fact that the peoples travel extensively.

    How do you name your characters?

  • So, you got into ShantyTok, now what

    So, you got into ShantyTok, now what

    Nearly everyone on the internet has heard The Wellerman a dozen times, with different variations popping up every day. Maybe you’ve even experimented with other sea shanties, because frankly when you are stuck at home the unity of the working-class’s songs helps you feel like you are part of something greater than yourself.

    That’s a large part of the reason that ShantyTok exploded off of Tik Tok to take over all social media. Now, it’s even inspired people to start talking about the best film about the Age of Sail — Master & Commander.

    Frankly, you need to add shanties to your D&D game too. There lots of ways to do this, from just a single character to an entire campaign. Do it. Have fun. Embrace the zeitgeist, and make your gaming community a group of unified purpose — surviving a sea and sometimes even a captain that hates you.

    Every Class Can Be A Pirate/Privateer/Sailor

    First and foremost, realize that any and every class can be a sailor of sorts. The obvious way is through the use of the Sailor/Pirate/Privateer Background. You already know this. You also know about the Swashbuckler, because you are a wise soul.

    But there is more than that. Every single Bard in the core D&D game can fill a role on a pirate ship, so can every Rogue. Most Clerics make sense, etcetera, etc. Be creative in the roles and purpose on a ship. Your concept belongs there, even a fully armored Paladin, with those drawbacks, belongs aboard a galleon in the Age of Sail.

    Just a quick glance at Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything shows some great concepts for your shanty-singing adventurer;

    • Artificer: Artillerist – Who needs gunpowder when you have magic cannons?
    • Cleric: Order Domain – Someone has to keep the law of the ship and boost the crew.
    • Druid: Circle of Stars – The blessings of the sky are vital during a trip across thousands of miles of ocean.
    • Rogue: Phantom – The latter Pirates of the Caribbean movies lean into tales where dead men talk.
    • Warlock: The Fathomless – duh

    Making the sea even a small element of a campaign gives space for your shanty-singing glory.

    Seas of Voldari

    What if every character was part of the story of the sea? That’s what Tribality’s Seas of Voldari explores. Their words describe the setting and ruleset well.

    The Seas of Vodari campaign setting was created to support seafaring adventures that focus on the crew of a ship hunting sea monsters, exploring mysterious uncharted islands, visiting bustling port cities, following maps to find buried treasure, and battling cutthroat pirates. The setting is also well suited to running campaigns in its large port cities, with swashbuckling heroes getting mixed up with fierce rivals, notorious crime syndicates, feuding nobles, and scheming politicians.

    From the sales page for Seas of Voldari

    The added classes, races, and backgrounds make life at sea the key element of most adventures. Add them to your existing campaign and your players have more options to enjoy their sugar & rum & tea.

    Be Creative: Add Shanties As A Landlubber

    While The Wellerman is all about the Age of Sail, shanties were not confined to life at sea. There are shanties about building railroads, working mines, and every other activity that requires a group to work in unison in miserable conditions — the marching and running songs of soldiers are related to shanties.

    Hi ho, hi ho
    It’s off to work we go

    Yes, your dwarves should sing shanties. Your drudge cutting down trees for the lumberyard should sing shanties. Your Bard at the bar should sing shanties, and so should your Battle Master.

    All times of needed unity are appropriate for the musical style.

    Other Inspirations

    Step away from The Wellerman. Listen to The Longest Johns or one of the many playlists built to feature shanties.

    This can add more ideas during campaign prep or character building.

    Watch Black Sails. It’s Hulu, Starz, and Prime (season 1) for no additional charge. The season one trailer opens you to the TV prequel for Treasure Island, but it’s season 4 that gets my blood pumping.

    There’s also the now-classic cartoon Pirates of Dark Water, which is especially handy if you want a Seas of Voldari campaign. It’s hard to track it down, but if you can find it the mix of piracy and fantasy is perfect for a Dungeons & Dragons.

    The films, books, comics, and such inspired by life at sea is numerous. Your approaches to integrating that into your campaign should be as big as the ocean.

    For forty days or even more,
    the line went slack then tight once more,
    All boats were lost, there were only four
    and still that whale did go.

    The quest of the Wellerman is the quest of Ahab, and a familiar quest for any adventurer, because it’s never done, merely paused for a bit of song and rum.

  • Prekx, Gujri, and Shrubbrs – the best fencers this side of Flowing Lake

    Prekx, Gujri, and Shrubbrs – the best fencers this side of Flowing Lake

    Prekx was happy to get hired for this job. Anytime he could get further from the village with all their suspicious eyes was good. Many still thought of him as a goblin, and not just a fence maker. Even now, with his reputation after building Gujri, the steel goat, to find the gaps and holes faster than real goats and at no loss of meat there were those who thought about the attack from his former tribe. Prekx didn’t even know his tribe. He’s just known the land around Flowing Lake.

    Growing up under the care of the mage Alizon, he learned what magic could do and that if you know the proper gestures, and words, and components you can just do things. Not normal things – big, impressive things. That’s how he learned the spells that helped him make up for his weak size — Mold Earth and Mage Hand.

    Magic helped him overcome size and strength. It introduced him to carpentry and the fine works of woodcarving. It helped him build Shrubbrs – that tiny cluster of branches and roots and thorns with a heart of fire-stone. Magic is where he turned, because that’s where he had his friend.

    Gujri would find the hole in the fence. Then Prekx and Shrubbrs would join the steel goat there to clear some land around it, make it easy for the human to repair. Instead of standing in brambles they would have space.

    Then it was off to towards the river. Someone needed a string-metal fence. Normals couldn’t make that. It’s a little invention that he came up with using his artifice. Lighter, and stronger, the string-metal fences were become popular. They will hold out the vermin, hopefully. There’s a flock of cockatrice and a cluster of giant spiders that are an issue lately.

    Maybe he can fence those towards each other? It would be easier than a herd of sheep being petrified or chicken coop covered in webs.

    “Gujri! Get over here,” Prekx shouts.

    The only answer is the crank of rusted metal. That’s another problem altogether.

    Photo by Artur Roman on Pexels.com

    Fence Making is Magic – an Artificer build

    The concept for this character started in a simple place. I was working on horse fencing, which is hard, physical drudgery. The thought sprung into my head ‘how would a D&D hero do this?’

    That starts with Mold Earth and Mage Hand. Between those most of the digging and walking over back-and-forth, back-and-forth, back-and-forth, sorry distracted by all that walking, just makes things easier. I looked into a sorcerer for that, but unfortunately it didn’t quite represent what I wanted.

    From there, taking the Feat: Magic Initiate became obvious. In order to be an expert carpenter (the closest tool to a fence maker in the game) meant one of three choices. Artificer felt better than Rogue and Bard. The reason for that is that the handy assistance from the built companions just made too much sense.

    Shrubbrs and Girji would be invaluable aids in maintaining and building a fence. Not only that, but a worker on the edge of a civilized area could use the extra defensive help from a steel goat.

    Throw in a cool photo of Goblin Gulch, and now, a character is born.

    Goblin Gulch by Nick Wietzel

    There will probably be a deeper dive into Goblin Gulch later, but in Prekx’s case he left the Gulch when young.

    Prekx Booyahg Booyahg Booyahg of the Gulch is a goblin artificer, steel defender.

    He’s Flowing Lake’s (an idea I came up with during the recent flooding) best fence maker. That background was based on the Folk Hero, with minor tweaks.

    For the flaws I leaned into the goblin tribe he left, saying that the ruler there wants Prekx dead. Also, he learned to hate bullying from his youth as a goblin. He learned to love magic from his latter youth as a student with Alizon.

    His sincerity he picked up because he’s damn good at his job and he’s a goblin. He will never hide either of those things.

    Finally, he’s confident in his abilities and do what he can to instill confidence in others. But at times he will misuse long words because his education started late.

  • These are the three reasons I’m getting Candlekeep Mysteries

    These are the three reasons I’m getting Candlekeep Mysteries

    On a Tuesday during the depths of winter Wizards of the Coast announced their latest product release for Dungeons & Dragons — Candlekeep Mysteries. The adventure anthology format is not new to 5th edition. Previous releases Tales from the Yawning Portal and Ghosts of Saltmarsh were both collections, rather than full paths that are designed to be a campaign.

    Candlekeep Mysteries is different though. The design intent is that the 17 adventures can be completed in just a single session of a few hours. That’s a great tool for people who struggle to keep a group of players together meeting regularly for a massive path that takes months. Getting 2-4 others together for just 2-4 hours is much easier than planning a weekly session that lasts years.

    17 One-Shots

    That’s one of the key reasons to get this book. As someone who designs a massive world, I lean towards the campaign format. But that means throwing together a single session as more and more friends want to try to game is difficult.

    Now, I’ll have a resource of shorter content than the Starter Set or Stranger Things Boxed Set. Neither of those are able to be completed in 4 hours, though the Stranger Things box can probably be done in ten or so, even with someone as verbose as me.

    Having a book of one shots on hand will be an excellent addition to my DM tool chest.

    The Alt Cover Is Art

    Candlekeep Mysteries alternate cover is a soft finish deepish red with gold lettering and accent art. It appears as you might dream a tome on the shelves of the famed library-keep might look. There are arcane symbols and guardian drakes.
    The alternate cover is available at your local gaming store on March 16.

    Put that on a shelf in a public space, and your non-gaming friends will think you own a fancy tome. It’s brilliant and evocative. The only way you can get it is by supporting your local gaming store. You should always support your local, and particularly so in the current pandemic-economy which threatens their very existence.

    Yes, the other cover is more like your other books, and certain completionists might like that look. Me, I’m no longer interested in hiding my passion for D&D. I want fancy books and knickknacks that inspire people to ask me about my shelf space — whenever they can enter my home safely again.

    Embracing Critical Diversity

    Looking over the 19 authors behind the tome you see people who not only come from diverse backgrounds, but who are vocal in their critique of D&D’s history and present. These voices were not shunted aside, but instead featured in official product.

    And that diversity shows up in the adventure details that were released already. Kretchmer’s adventure features a wheel-chair accessible dungeon. This is a historically accurate detail that makes sense within a realm of magic. Official products embracing that design decision is wonderful. If you are creating adventures or other RPG content Jennifer’s reference Accessibility in Gaming is vital.

    Barber is a Black veteran from Canada who has critiqued Wizards, D&D, and other games for the way they address issues for his communities. Kwan is one of the voices behind Asians Represent. His voice has elevated the discourse regarding Asian themes within gaming. Now, both will feature in official product.

    As Jeremy Crawford states so often, “a diverse group is a strong group.”

    This collection of authors, editors, artists, and more embraces that concept and provides the DM with content that breathes that very statement. It is a brave and responsible action by a company to not only accept the often harsh criticism, but to take those critics and give them a larger voice.

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