Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

  • Fighter: Conscript, version 1.3

    Fighter: Conscript, version 1.3

    In general I’m fascinated with Tier 1 play. But there’s another trope that I enjoy — the 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.

    Design Goals

    With this subclass the desire was to build a character who attempted to retire from their life of violence. They still know how to fight, they just stopped. Then, for whatever the cause, they re-entered the realm of warfare. Most often this transition occurs when they are on their farm, in their tavern, working their forge.

    They use the weapons at hand and the armor of peasants, and yet fight like the mightiest warriors. The build should support the use of simple weapons and lesser armors with Strength being the primary stat.

    Fighter: Conscript

    You are a light fighter who once served as a conscript in a standing army or militia. While there you learned the horrors of war. You also learned how to survive. You fought with what was available. Then, the war ended.

    Now, you attempt to forget your past. Your neighbors may look at you as a hero or a villain. That depends on your behavior and their opinion of the forces for which you fought. You go about your days, an expert smith, carpenter, vintner, or other artisan.

    Recently you’ve felt the call. You are duty bound to pick up your sickle, spear, gambeson, and those well-worn boots again. Your people need help, and you are called to serve.

    Tough as Nails

    Starting at third level you may choose to use your Strength bonus to Armor Class rather than Dexterity when wearing any light armor or medium armor.

    Plowshares into Swords

    At third level you gain the following abilities as a reflection of your life after service.

    • You are proficient in improvised weapons.
    • When using simple or and improvised weapons you gain +1 to damage on a successful attack.
    • You gain proficiency in an Artisan’s Tool. If you are already proficient in an Artisan’s Tool you may instead choose to have expertise in that Tool.
    • When recovering spent ammunition you recover all of it, rather than half.

    Wise Beyond Years

    At seventh level you gain proficiency in Insight and Intimidation. If you already have one or both of these skills you may take any Wisdom skill instead.

    Heart of the Lion

    At tenth level you are noted for refusal to give up the fight. You have advantage on saving throws that would impose the following conditions: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, or Stunned.

    Rally from Defeat

    At 15th level you inspire your teammates. When an ally within 30 feet fails a saving throw that causes damage you may use a reaction to grant them temporary hit points equal to your Fighter level + your Wisdom bonus and they may reroll the saving throw. They must accept the second result. Your ally must be able to hear you. This ability may be used proficiency bonus number of times per long rest.

    Bones of Steel

    At 18th level your Armor Class is adjusted by both your Strength and your Dexterity Bonus. This bonus is not subjected to a limit based on the armor. When you take damage you may use a reaction to spend a Hit Die to recover Hit Points as if you were taking a short rest.

  • What Tools Tell You About Your D&D Character

    What Tools Tell You About Your D&D Character

    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.

    Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

    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.

    Photo by Tom Swinnen on Pexels.com

    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.

  • Lore Collage: 20 Links You Should Read and Watch This Week

    Lore Collage: 20 Links You Should Read and Watch This Week

    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

    Not Tasha’s, the Other New Product

    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.

    Other Official Updates

    With many Actual Play podcasts and streams taking a pause Wizards has a collection of holiday and winter themed one-offs for your ear-holes.

    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.

    Gift Ideas

    After Thanksgiving Full Moon Storytelling will offer a mega-list of D&D products for the fan, or soon-to-be-fan, in your life. For now here is the official guide from D&D and a review of Field Notes new Game Master Journal.

    D&D During Pandemic

    Mainstream media continues to explore how the game of D&D can help people cope with the isolation necessary to combat coronavirus. Up in the Great White North there is also a feature on the educational benefits of D&D.

    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.

    https://oxfordstories.net/2020/11/16/column-how-dungeons-dragons-can-help-players-escape-isolation/

    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.

    Brief Description of 5e Classes and Subclasses (Ideal to Show to your Players), Part 6

    Documentary on Polyhedrals

    Watch the history of dice.

    Not D&D but Other RPG Stuff

    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.

    A Romany Lesson

    Read about the modern Romany in America.

    https://19silverlinings.com/2020/11/14/calling-us-gypsies-is-fine-but-we-call-ourselves-romany-travellers-because-some-of-them-like-wi-me-used-to-roam/

    As Always, Maps

    Want a Dungeons & Dragons world with a map that reminds you of Google Earth? Welcome to Kobold Press’s Midgard.

    https://koboldpress.com/so-you-still-want-to-play-in-midgard-part-one/

    Paths Peculiar takes a tiny map and creates an entire campaign with it. The simple approach is an excellent lesson for a first time DM.

  • 7 Things I Love in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

    7 Things I Love in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

    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.

    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?

  • Uprising & Rebellion in a Magic Setting

    Uprising & Rebellion in a Magic Setting

    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

    Photo by Rene Asmussen on Pexels.com

    doesn’t end up like this?

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Baseline D&D

    There are some tools to help the Dungeons & Dragons themed revolt within the standard rules.

    Illusion Spells

    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.

    Enchantment Spells

    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.
    by Hartwig HKD (CC BY-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/aDwaAx

    Filling in Gaps via Homebrew

    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.

    Society of Veil and Shadow

    Way of the Frayed Knot: Monk

    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.

    Way of the Frayed Knot

    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.

    Conscript

    Propagandist: Rogue

    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.

    Propagandist

    Still to Come – Circle of Sewers: Druid

    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?

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