We began April with an obligatory April Fools article, but after a humourous look at magic items we were all business through the rest of the month. We took a long hard look at building monsters in our four-part series, began a new ongoing series exploring ways to truly optimize racial powers, continued our ongoing weekly coverage of D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade and provided an early peek at season 5, D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard. April was packed with a lot of great 4e D&D articles so if you missed anything this is your chance to get caught up.
Our goal here at Dungeon’s Master is always to provide you with the best 4e D&D articles and resources possible. Let us know how we’re doing and if you think we’re on the right track. We always welcome your feedback, good or bad. Thank you to everyone who visited and commented during April.
Highlights
DM Resources
- Sometimes (as the DM) it’s fun to intentionally mislead the players. The next time you’re in that mood, give them Magic Items That Aren’t Magical.
- Television Scripts As D&D Adventures – Looking for an adventuring hook or a side trek for your next campaign? Just turn on the TV.
- Designing Social Encounters – Don’t bite off more than you can chew when creating social encounters. With a clearer understanding of what you actually need you’ll save yourself hours of prep time.
Bauxtehude provided an excellent 4-part workshop in April on how to build better monsters. These articles are full of great resources and tips whether you prefer to create their own monsters or use monsters right out of the Monster Manuals.
- Building Better Monsters Part 1: Meet Your Maker, Monster
- Building Better Monsters Part 2: More Than the Sum of Its Parts
- Building Better Monsters Part 3: Making the Monster Fit the Bill
- Building Better Monsters Part 4: Monster Themes and Implementing Your Designs
Player Resources
- Quitting the Party Mid-Adventure – It’s rare that a PC’s convictions conflict so much with the adventure’s goals that the character has to leave the game. I share my experience of how it was handled at my gaming table.
- Character Catchphrases – Help your PC stand out in the crowd by giving him a creative catchphrase.
- Foregoing Short Rest – As character get more powerful the need to rest between every single encounter becomes less and less important.
It started as a one-off article and quickly became a regular feature at Dungeon’s Master. We look at ways to get the most out of your character’s racial power.
- Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Dragon Breath
- Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Fey Step
- Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Dwarven Resilience
D&D Encounters
March of the Phantom Brigade
Season 4 has but one encounter remaining before reaching its thrilling conclusion. Read the weekly field reports and listen to the actual play podcasts recorded at Dueling Grounds in Toronto and find out how the party’s been doing through chapter three.
- D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 9)
- D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 10)
- D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 11)
- D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 12)
Dark Legacy of Evard
Season 5 begins on May 11. We offer a preview of what’s in store, four new pre-gens (exclusive to Dungeon’s Master) as well as our thoughts on letting players continue using their leveled up PCs.
- D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard – Preview
- D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard – Using Leveled Up PCs
- D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard – Pre-Generated Characters
Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.
A Look Ahead
May already looks like it will be a great moth here at Dungeon’s Master. We begin with a look at an alternative, less traditional way of building characters. Our series on exploiting racial and class powers looks at Elven Accuracy, Infernal Wrath and Globe of Darkness. We’ll continue with our weekly coverage of D&D Encounters as we transition from March of the Phantom Brigade to Dark Legacy of Evard. Be sure to visit Dungeon’s Master every day for more great 4e D&D articles and resources.