Divining the Dice

Grappling is a fun and unique mechanic which people often tailor their characters around. Commonly the Goliath Barbarian or perhaps warrior is a popular choice, for a number of obvious reasons. However due to me liking to raise the bar for a number of ridiculous reasons I would like to put forward my favorite alternative. The Bugbear Sorcerer Grappler. Yes... sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Grappling Refresh Ok so first things first, lets refresh our memories as to the grappling rules. As taken from a terrific post by Ktkenshinx on grappling from Enworld , lets have a look at the basics: Grappling is a "special melee attack". To grapple a target, you must "use the Attack action" to then make your special melee attack (the grapple). From an RAW perspective, the "Multiattack" ability of monsters cannot enable multiple grapples because it is its own action type. If you have multiple attacks for the Attack action, you can replace as many of them ...

The concept of a session zero is a great idea which allows the party to create characters without potentially stepping on each others toes. In reality however, I often see people just pick the characters they want to play, which could lead to 3 melee tanks and a wizard or 3 charisma based characters and a cleric. Now this isn't wrong in any way, it just means that more people are capable of filling the same niche, which leads to less overall coverage of all the various skills and abilities. This can potentially complicate things further as it means there's more competition to fulfill certain aspects. Hence the 'stepping on each others toes' issue. I think DM's and players at this point have a responsibility to attempt to split the responsibilities evenly between the group to ensure everyone has their own niche and chance to shine. So to counter this issue in my own games I have devised a simple setup to have players "specialise" in a particular field...

Looking through FiveThirtyEight's  amazing survey the other day yielded a number of interesting insights to the types of characters people enjoy playing. The most baffling thing to me though is the very poor representation Druids received in the survey. They ended up being the least popular class, which for a class with such utility, diversity and flexibility, really left me surprised.  There's 6 druids in this picture... maybe. Lets Talk Options Druids have to be almost hands down, one of the most flexible and interesting classes to not only play, but also role-play. I think that most must simply view them as forest dwelling hermits who hate everything but trees and things that cannot speak. This however, doesn't have to be the case. Perhaps your druid is an urchin who has gained their powers after spending time with the vermin that frequents a large city. Or maybe, your druid trained as a cleric following the teachings of a nature god but was never blessed with th...

This week we continue delving deeper into the joys of character creation. Therefore in the spirit of pushing the boundaries and maximising your experience with the game, let’s talk about optimising.... your fluff. Not every character created decides to adventure based on wonderlust, is an orphan with no siblings, has no hobbies, interests (romantic or otherwise), or religious affiliations. I think a number of these factors can easily be overlooked when creating a character. But looking comparably with our own lives, or the lives of our ancestors, it’s very easy to determine all these little issues would be large factors in our characters day to day lives. Uncontrollable Circumstance I find the first step is to get a feel for the setting the character is to take part in. Is the world based in feudal times, with a strong influence from gods or magic? What is the climate like politically? Is there any unrest or war? Are the wilds encroaching on the reaches of civilisation per...

Being a DM is challenging for a number of reasons. Good DM's (Or GM's) not only have material prepared, but can jump off script at any moment. They know whats an appropriate challenge for combat, the right way to get the party to jump onto a hook, how to manage the table and different characters expectations. A lot can ride on a DM, weighing them down and sometimes throwing them about and spitting them out. DMing can be disheartening for a number of reasons also. But there's only one way to get good at things right? Practice practice practice. WRONG!!! I think there's 2 ways, practice and study. That's right your schooling days aren't over future and current DM's, you are going to have to put in some effort if you wanna be the best. How can you rise through the ranks in almost any pursuit or hobby? I'd wager a good way would be to look at the professionals, what makes them great? Is it the story? the table management? the interesting hooks, plots ...

I understand that some people utilise RPG systems for a combat simulator and to test their mettle. This doesn't really apply to that style of gameplay. This is more of a generic overview for the regular game and it covers an issue i see arise in almost every group i have ever been involved with.  I love table top role playing games. I love getting together with real people and solving problems, having a laugh, interacting with someone’s creation/passion, and guiding which ever character i play onto bigger and better things. I love the idea of the three pillars of game play which D&D has promoted. What do I dislike about this game? Player’s often single minded focus on combat and the optimising that often goes along with it.  Now before most people stop reading, please understand that I like combat, it’s often at least 33% of the game. I just hate the idea of it being something that people focus on so intently it compromises other sections of their character. I als...

WoTC’s DMs Guild concept is a great resource for both players and DM’s alike. Not only can abundant home-brew and official content be found, but it is also a great place to turn your hard work into some reasonable pocket money. New Classes, subclasses, races, maps, encounters, items, backgrounds, spells, npc’s, adventures and one shots can all be found on the site for free or being sold. My Experiences... At the beginning of this year with a bunch of spare time and some creative inspiration, I set about creating a campaign to play with my family. I prepared the story, town, NPC’s and other important information into a document with similar formatting and layout to other D&D products. After finishing the first 3 parts and uploading them to DMs Guild ( check out my stuff here ), I continued working hard on creating the rest of the campaign and a bunch of other content for the next 4 months. I formatted edited and tested my content and then uploaded it to the Guild. Unfortunatel...

Creating detailed and nuanced characters has recently become much easier thanks to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything’s , This is Your Life section. However if you are looking for some alternatives, or perhaps are new to D&D, I have a few suggestions to get your next PC off the paper and into their first adventure. For New Players For new players I strongly suggest picking your favourite character from a movie, book or TV show, as this provides a great framework for your characters back-story, attitudes and personalities. This may seem like a silly idea as it could be difficult applying a template to the selection of available classes and races, but I will provide some examples. Ultimately you will find that almost any conceivable character can be converted to a D&D PC. Firstly, Mulan everyone’s favourite female warrior. Take the human race (possibly variant to access find familiar through the magic initiate feat). The charlatan background can provide access to the dis...

D&D does a pretty good job of applying a rule set to a fabricated reality. Although the current system ignores much of the nitty gritty of previous versions, it envelops most basic issues likely to arise. Now before I delve any further, I would like to address the fact that I realise that 4e 3.5e and pathfinder do cover a few of the topics I’m about to cover. The reason for this post however isn’t about making new rules or showing where 5e is lacking. Its more about incorporating a level of realism and logic that is missing in some things. Combat Clumsiness Your paladin fighting with all his pack, bedroll, barrel, 4 warhammers, 3 chain mails and a dog still attached? He must be having a hard time keeping balance!  Characters that don’t clearly state that they have, to the best of their ability, prepared for combat should be at some sort of disadvantage. This could be in the form of maybe a -2 to AC or at the least a hampered movement of some variety. This could be seen...

There’s a delicate balance when it comes to the tabletop in terms of personality, character interaction and ensuring everyone has a good time. Although the DM is often looked towards to ensure everyone’s character gets a chance in the lime light, I believe the responsibility also lies at the feet of each person at the table, especially people who find themselves leading the rest of the party. Within a group there will often be dominate personalities and some more submissive ones. People with dominate personalities often are quick to step up to social interaction encounters and also don’t mind throwing their weight around in all other aspects of the game. This provides them with an unbalanced majority of “air time” leaving others feeling disenfranchised or ignored. Some players are fine to sit back and just enjoy the experience regardless, yet others can become frustrated and will sometimes leave the group or game. In a few of my recent games there has been one such person in...

Combat can be a little dull from time to time, especially when there isn’t a lot thematically or mechanically going on. The rounds can start to drag and it becomes hard as a DM to continue to create awesome mental images of a raging fight, when it’s just roll after roll. In an attempt to spice things up slightly, I have implemented a system in my games to try to create further interest and add mechanical fun to regular combats. It’s a simple system that can be imposed both on the players and the NPC’s and doesn’t add any real additional work to the group. I call it the Called Shot Method . The system works as follows, if you’re fighting a Bugbear with the standard 16AC and you are able to roll 5 over his AC, you can call wher on his body you would like to strike. Then based on the damage rolled, from lowest to max, the severity of the effects is calculated.  If you rolled a 5 or 6 on a D6 then the effect may be crippling. If you rolled a 1 it may just have grazed the i...

When it comes to skill checks such as investigation or arcana, a lot can ride on getting a reasonable roll of the die. Nothing is more frustrating than having a nice juicy +6 (at low levels) in a skill, to then roll below a 5 on the dice and learn or gain nothing. This can even cause problems for DM’s who would like to progress a plot, but has it hinging on the correct DC being reached. I think part of the system creates dissolution and disappointment in players (especially unlucky ones such as myself), so I have devised an alternative based loosely of the idea of “passive” skill levels. Within the PHB and DMG passive abilities are only mentioned in regards to Perception and Investigation (under the Observant Feat). However it could be assumed that the ideas of passive scores could be applied to all skills, especially ones a character is proficient in. Now I’m not going to say that the using passive scores for everything is a great idea, because rolling the dice is fun....

Creating homebrew content can be tiresome, especially when it comes to inventing new and unique tropes for campaigns or quest arcs. Other brilliant minds have suggested using movie and TV show plots as a framework for your own campaign ideas (see T the writer’s story on “Spoony the bard” ). Although this is a great and easy way to structure such a story arc, I would like to offer another alternative.... History!! Wait!!! Before you all stop reading and reminiscing about the most boring subject in your middle years education, just remember that history is often stranger than fiction. I’m going to lay out a few ideas to get you all started and very soon I’m sure you will begin to see the genius of this concept. Bonus round information: While using this method you are actually getting the huge benefit of learning history whilst creating unique content :O, I know this probably isn’t going to be enough to sway some people but still....   The rough foundation of the Roman Em...

As a DM or player, boss fights really need to bring something unique and challenging that regular combat does not. Most tackle this issue by using powerful and unique creatures from the Monster Manual at the end of particular adventure or campaign arcs. Doing so however, often leads to predictable scenarios and all too often simple whack a mole style combats, with everyone standing around attacking each other.  This is perfectly acceptable, but in the spirit of raising the bar, I would like to discuss a few additional options for boss fights to encourage more engaging and strategic play.  First, the boss is the boss for a reason. There should be something “magical” or powerful about them that separates him or her from their regular underlings. This doesn’t have to be the typical options like a magical item or overpowered stats. These encounters often take place in a fantasy setting with rules usually constructed for the players, as a game master you can break the rul...

Hi, I'm Nick. I'm married, have 2 small kids, a full time job and an unquenchable thirst for tabletop role playing games. Dungeons and Dragons is a relatively new hobby for me, although it is one I have spent arguably the most time on. The journey started just over a year ago now and although this by no means qualifies me as a professional, I'd like to think I've gained some critical insight which may be interesting to share. I want to approach this in a series, that isn't necessarily exclusive to only Dungeon Masters or Players, but to anyone who also enjoys this wonderful activity. I want to tackle some of the more obvious issues I regular face as both a player and a DM but, I don't want to rehash issues that other podcasts, videos or blogs have covered to death. I would also like to touch on some fun topics like arc's (both character and campaign), ideas and inspiration. Ultimately though, this is all about my love for such a great system and concept wh...