March was a great month for D&D and for Dungeon’s Master. Wizards of the Coast released the Player’s Handbook 3 and they began the new D&D Encounters program. Our article on D&D Encounters (Week 1) was referenced on the Wizards site in their D&D in the News article from Monday, March 22. They also linked to Dungeon’s Master from the Dungeons & Dragons Facebook page. We always appreciate it when we get a shout out from Wizards. For readers who found us through these links, we welcome you to Dungeon’s Master. On the 1st of every month we do a round-up of all the article we published in the previous month. This gives everyone a chance to check out any of the articles that they might have missed the first time around.
Highlights
Player’s Handbook 3
March saw the release of the Player’s Handbook 3. This marked the official release of the new psionic power source. We provided an in depth, 3-part review of the PHB3 commenting on the highs and lows (mostly highs).
- Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 1)
- Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 2)
- Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 3)
- Is More Really Better: A Look At Character Classes – Does having 25 classes to choose from really make the game better?
D&D Encounters
“D&D Encounters is an exciting, weekly campaign that plays out one epic encounter at a time.” We share our opinion and experiences after playing in week 1 and week 2 of the new D&D Encounters program from Wizards of the Coast.
Player Resources
- Make Your Character More Than Just Numbers – For those who want to really develop their PC, check out this reference guide.
- Death Pact Necromancer – Wizards aren’t the only class with Necromancers, now Warlocks can master undead too.
- The Party That Prepares Survives – We apply the lessons from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to D&D.
- Celebrating The Teiflings Infernal Heritage – Our exploration of character races continues with the Tiefling.
- The Goliath, A Giant Waste – Our exploration of character races continues with the Goliath.
Energy Resistance Magic Items
We’ve scoured the D&D Compendium and put together a list of every item that provides energy resistance in one way or another and grouped them by energy type.
- Improve Your Defenses With Energy Resistance (Heroic)
- Improve Your Defenses With Energy Resistance (Paragon)
- Improve Your Defenses With Energy Resistance (Epic)
DM Resources
- I Took The Railroad To The Sandbox And Told A Great Story – How you put the campaign together can be as important as the story itself.
- What Constitutes Difficult Terrain: A Look At Tactical Maps – Sometimes the best way to add realism to your maps is to go outside and see what the world really looks like.
- Effective Use Of Weather – Never underestimate the importance of weather in your campaign.
- The Evolution of the Dungeon Encounter – We’ve gone from many small rooms to fewer large ones, but is there room for some middle ground?
- Novel Adventures: Games with Predefined Endings – Wizards provides an excellent adventure derived from a novel that doesn’t completely railroad the players.
- Improve Your Defenses With Energy Resistance (DMs Analysis) – A look at how DMs can make best use of our energy resistance magic items lists – players beware!
Skill Challenges
- Skill Challenge: Lie To Me – Determining the truth takes more than a lucky Insight roll. Sometimes a skill challenge can reveal more than you intuition ever could alone.
- The Skill Challenges tab at the top of the page provides easy access to all of our skill aides and skill challenges.
Reviews and Editorial
- Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover – Ameron shares his thoughts on the new monster stat blocks coming soon from Wizards of the Coast in the Monster Manual 3.
- Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover (Part 2) – Suddry provides a slightly different look at the new monster stat blocks.
- Review: Avenger – We review the latest Forgotten Realms hardcover novel from Richard Baker.
Eberron
- Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 6) – Our latest installment in this ongoing series focuses on Dragonmarks outside of normal bloodlines.
- The Eberron tab at the top of the page provides easy access to our Eberron resource page.
A Look Ahead
In April we’ll continue providing the Dungeon’s Master staples you’ve come to expect from us. More articles on skills and skill challenges, more Eberron articles, another installment or two in our ongoing series exploring PC races, book reviews and of course more feedback on D&D Encounters. We’re always open to your feedback and suggestions. If you have an idea for an article or want us to cover a particular topic, leave us a comment below of send us an email. Thanks to everyone who visited Dungeon’s Master in March and we look forward to having you return in April.
Looking for instant updates? Subscribe to the Dungeon’s Master feed!