Category: Player Resources

Take a Break From D&D, Play a Board Game

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date January 11, 2012
16 Comments on Take a Break From D&D, Play a Board Game

The announcement that Wizards is working on the next iteration of D&D has created a lot of churn in the gaming community, the online forums and the blogosphere. In light of this flourish of activity we’ve decided to take a step back and look at something a completely different toady – board games.

In addition to being a huge D&D nerd I’m also an avid board game enthusiast. Where my RPG circle tends to include “just the guys,” board games have a much broader appeal. I’ve never been able to get my wife or brother into RPGs, but they love board games. Likewise, I’d never dream of asking my parents to play D&D, but they’ll make a trip to my house for board game night. Board games are generally very easy to learn and don’t have the nerd stigma that a lot of people associate with D&D. It makes them appealing to everyone.

A lot of FLGS in my neighbourhood actually have a slew of board games that you can play in the store. This is a great way to try some new games before you buy them. Purchasing board games from your FLGS (as opposed to a toy store) is yet another way you can support them after you’ve purchased the PHB and DMG.

The next time your gaming group doesn’t have enough people to play D&D, or a critical member of the group is absent (the DM, perhaps), resist the urge to cancel. Get together with your friends and have a good time playing board games. There are a lot of great games on the market today so don’t limit yourself to just Monopoly or Risk. For something different, check out five of my favourite board games below. They’re all easy to learn, fun to play, and well worth the investment.

Tags 4e, board games, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Forbidden Island, Pandemic, Revolution!, The Settlers of Catan, Ticket To Ride

Class Discussions Player Resources

Utility Powers – The New Face of Customization

Post author By Sndwurks (David Buresh)
Post date January 9, 2012
2 Comments on Utility Powers – The New Face of Customization

As 4e D&D has matured, the sheer number of powers to choose from has grown significantly. At its inception, a character made from the Player’s Handbook would choose two or three at-will powers from a total of four listed, one encounter power from four listed and one daily power form four listed. The occasional utility power sometimes provided three or four choices for a character, which served primarily to enhance either their primary role or their secondary role in the party.

With the advent of non-AEDU (at-will, encounter, daily, utility) character classes, such as the psionic classes, as well as the Essentials classes, the one aspect of the power selection that was not changed was the choice of utility powers at level 2, 6, and so on. The introduction of skill powers in the Player’s Handbook 3 began to finally expand the utility power into more than simply a way to enhance your existing class features and powers. In the last year and a half of development, 4e has introduced themes for heroic tier character characters, as well as several articles on the subject of new racial utility powers. Utility powers have shifted away from their original role in a character, and have taken on a new importance as the new true form of character customization.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, skill powers, Skills, utility powers

D&D Encounters Player Resources

Announcing the Pre-Generated Character Library

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date January 6, 2012
7 Comments on Announcing the Pre-Generated Character Library

Today Dungeon’s Master launched a new permanent resource page on our blog, the Pre-Generated Character Library. We’ve collected all the pre-gens that Wizards put together for the first four seasons of D&D Encounters along with the home made PCs created by the blogging community. Now all the pre-gens are available in one easy to find place and each season’s pre-gens are available for download in PDF format.

Although 6 pre-generated characters are provided with every D&D Encounters kit, Wizards has confirmed that they have no intention of providing new pre-gens moving forward. They want players to create their own characters and not just keep reusing the pre-gens season after season. However, there are always new players who will need a pre-generated character so it’s always a good idea to have a few on hand. Our library gives you more than the stock six that we’ve come to love and hate.

The characters in the Pre-Generated Character Library can be used for D&D Encounters or at any home game. They provide DMs with complete, ready-made stock characters that they can easily use as PCs or NPCs in low level adventures.

The Pre-Generated Character Library will be permanently accessible in our left navigation below the Staff Picks. We’ll continue to add new pre-generated characters to the library as we acquire or create them.

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.

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Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Player Resources, pre-generated characters, pre-gens

Editorial Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Are You Willing to Provoke an Opportunity Attack?

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 31, 2011
5 Comments on Greatest Hits 2011: Are You Willing to Provoke an Opportunity Attack?

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2011. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

The most important thing to remember when you provoke an opportunity attack is that it’s not a guaranteed hit. Your opponent still needs to make a successful attack roll against you. Yet most players think that an opportunity attack means automatic damage, and it’s this fear that keeps players stationary during combat. The misconception that they’ll take damage if they move or if they make a ranged attack when next to an enemy will sometimes lead players to use less than their best attacks.

Never forget that dice hate everyone equally, and not just your PC. You can’t assume that the dice will always give the DM a successful hit. In most cases the monster’s likelihood of scoring a hit is in the 50/50 ballpark. So the next time you have to decide if you should provoke an opportunity attack, think about what’s to be gained by doing so and then remember that the odds are probably in your favour.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, Opportunity Attack, Player Resources

Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Hurry Up and Wait – A Look a Delaying and Readying Actions

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 30, 2011

Since I wrote this article I’ve put my money where my mouth is on numerous occasions. In my home games I delay at some point in almost every encounter and readying an action is becoming a lot more commonplace too.

In a recent adventure our party was being attacked by flying creatures. The monsters would make flyby attacks, never landing close enough for us to engage them in melee. My Paladin had only one ranged attack, but it was range 5. The monsters with their incredible speed of 8 managed to remain more than 5 squares off the ground, staying safely out of my threat range. Round after round they swooped in, attacked, damaged us, and then flew to a safe distance from five of the six PCs.

Finally I decided to ready an action. After the next flying monster completed its move action I would use my only ranged attack against it. The result was better than expected.

Unaware of my plan, the monster continued his attack pattern. Move first, flyby attack second. Unfortunately for the monster my readied action went off after its move but before the flyby attack. I landed a solid hit. As soon as the rest of the party saw my success they too began readying actions. The monsters only lasted a couple more rounds.

After that encounter things really changed at my gaming table. Now we have PCs readying actins all the time. Sometimes they don’t get to act for a round or two, but we’ve become a lot more effective and the combat has actually become faster. So the next time your fighting a bunch of monsters take a second to think tactically and see if readying an action will give you an advantage you might not normally anticipate.

Remember that just because you can attack on your turn doesn’t mean that you have to attack on your turn. There are often better options, but it’s up to you to figure out what they are.

Tags 4e, D&D, Delay, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, Hurry Up and Wait, Player Resources, Ready an Action

Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Character Catchphrases

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 28, 2011
3 Comments on Greatest Hits 2011: Character Catchphrases

A catchphrase can certainly add personality to an otherwise dull character. But it can work in reverse as well. If your catchphrase is weak or silly you can make an interesting character seem dull in a hurry.

I’ve heard my share of lame catchphrase at the gaming table. Some of the worst catchphrases I’ve ever heard are nothing more than really bad puns. I don’t think a con goes by where I don’t hear “It’s hammer time!” from the guy playing a Dwarf with a hammer, “Let me axe you a question,” from a PC with a axe, or “I’m giving him the shaft,” from an archer. If you’re going to go to the trouble of actually creating and using a catchphrase please try to be imaginative. I realize that puns or wordplay can get a quick chuckle from the table, but the ones like I’ve described here aren’t funny or original. They’re just lame.

There’s a reason that some of the coolest characters in D&D and fantasy fictions are the strong silent type: saying the wrong thing is often worse than saying nothing at all. So when you decide that your character is going to use a catchphrase, just make sure to it’s something interesting. It can be funny, especially if it’s derived from previous failure or an unexpected success, but don’t bore the table with nothing more than a bad pun. Now you know. “And knowing is half the battle!”

Tags 4e, catchphrase, D&D, D'oh!, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Go ahead, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, It's clobberin' time, I’ll be back, Leroy Jenkins, make my day, Player Resources

DM Resources Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Make Magical Item Identification Harder

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 26, 2011
1 Comment on Greatest Hits 2011: Make Magical Item Identification Harder

We all like getting stuff, whether it’s in real life or in game. If it’s new, it’s exciting. In the case of magical items they have the added benefit of being powerful; likely more powerful than the items you currently possess. But being able to discover everything about an item over the course of a short rest, a mere 5 minutes in game, is a lot like receiving a gift without wrapping paper. Where’s the surprise? Where’s the suspense? And more importantly where’s the joy that comes from finally discovering what’s actually beneath that disguised exterior?

By making magical identification harder you take something that was once a thrilling part of the game, and add the excitement back into getting something new. When you don’t know what the magic sword actually does (beyond providing a plus or two) it’s like looking at all the wrapped presents underneath a Christmas tree with your name on them. You know that eventually you’ll get to open those presents, but until then there’s the anticipation of what they might be? Is that box a new video game or a pair of dress socks? Does that small packable contain a gift card to your favourite store or is it a last minute bauble from a discount store?

By making magical identification harder you bring back anticipation. You make the PCs and the players live with the suspense of not knowing what that item will be. And when they finally do discover the item’s full potential it’s just like being a kid on Christmas morning and finally getting to open all those presents that you could see but not open in the day days and weeks leading up to Christmas.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, Identification, Identify Magic Item

Class Discussions Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Band of Brothers: Adventuring Parties of the Same Race

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 24, 2011

Excluding monsters, there are 36 playable races in 4e D&D (so far). Each race brings something unique to the character creation equation. Although a character of any race can become any class, there are obviously some that are more suited than others based on racial bonuses. But even with the choices narrowed down, it’s still unusual to have any two PCs in a party be the same race or even the same class. That’s just the way D&D works. And I for one have absolutely no issues with it.

The challenge with this kind of multiculturalism is coming up with a plausible reason that explains how and why these characters ever came together in the first place. It’s easy to accept the foundations of the fantasy setting in the context of the game, but beyond the high level elements, players still expect a certain level of realism and want things to make sense even in a wondrous setting. Yet time after time we just accept (albeit begrudgingly) that this band of misfits we call a party found common purpose and have become fast friends.

One of the best ways to overcome the “why are we in the same adventuring party?” problem is to find some commonality. Making everyone play the same race is probably the easiest way to accomplish this. As much as I hate to restrict anyone’s options during character creation, a party of the same race does present some immediate benefits, the first and most obvious of which is finding motive to be together.

When the party is made up entirely of just one race there are plenty of ways to create a shared background between some of all of the characters. It also gives the players a chance to look at the racial powers and feats and see if there are ways to try something that they might not be able to if there weren’t other members of the same race in their party.

When Lair Assault offered Glory for a party of the same race that completed the adventure I expected to see a lot of same-race parties. Of the 15+ games I watched or played in, I never saw a single party where the PCs were all the same race. I saw a few parties with four Dwarves or four Genasi, but never the full five. I guess that no matter how appealing you make it, unless the DM puts his foot down, people will exercise their freedom of choice and make the character they want, race be damned. Oh well, their loss.

Tags 4e, D&D, dragonborn, Drow, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Dwarf, Eladrin, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan, Player Resources

Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2011: Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Dragon Breath

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date December 17, 2011
2 Comments on Greatest Hits 2011: Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Dragon Breath

My very first LFR character was a Dragonborn Warlord. For years I played this character with no clear direction of how I wanted him to develop. I only thought of him as a Warlord and a leader. Then he reached level 11 and I discovered the Honor Blade paragon path. After that everything fell into place. Instead of focusing on a paragon path that was tied to his class, I decided instead to focus on a paragon path that focused on his racial abilities, in this case the dragon breath. It didn’t take long for this character to get a reputation as a Dragonborn first and a Warlord second. It was the first time in 4e that I’d seen a character with such intense specialization in his racial powers or abilities.

The first time any of the Dungeon’s Master gaming group saw my LFR Dragonborn in action was at GenCon last summer. It was Wimwick’s first GenCon and his first LFR experience. He was so impressed by the power my Dragonborn PC possessed that he started playing with character builder that night to see if there was a way to refine the build and maximize the powers even more. It didn’t take long before he had a Dragonborn Warden that could deal more damage more often with his dragon breath than my Warlord. Even though we promised ourselves that we’d never run an article that was nothing more than “let me tell you about my character” he felt he had to share our builds with our readers. From there, this series on exploiting racial and class powers was born.

What was supposed to be a clever insight into one racially superior build became a series that featured some of the most popular races in 4e D&D. In a very short time we had an article on the Dragonborn, Eladrin, Dwarf, Elf, Drow, Tiefling and Warforged. They were extremely popular and people had a lot of additional suggestions on how to really take advantage of a racial powers to make a truly unique (and often unstoppable) character.

Since we ran these articles we’ve discovered the immense role-playing satisfaction that comes from playing a PC that focuses on his race before focusing on his class. In my regular group three of six PC have taken paragon paths that only have a racial prerequisite. This campaign is certainly one of our best and it’s due in no small part to the excellent role-playing and character development that’s come from a really focused examination of the most unique aspects of those races. These paragon paths may not always be the most powerful in terms of numbers, but the character development that this choice has encouraged makes up for any shortcomings in the combat mechanics. – Ameron

Tags 4e, creating a 4e D&D character, creating a D&D character, D&D, dragon breath, dragon breath racial power, dragonborn, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, feat optimization, Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits 2011, racial powers

Class Discussions Player Resources

Changing Classes

If your Wizard wants to dabble in swordplay he can always choose to multi-class in Fighter (assuming you meet the prerequisites). Or, if this is something you decided during the character creation process then you can make a hybrid character that combines aspects of both classes equally. But what happens if, after many levels as a Wizard, you decide that you don’t just want to be a dabbler who multi-classes. What if he wants to give up the arcane arts entirely and become a Fighter? What does he do then?

If you’re following the rules as written then you don’t really have any acceptable options. However, a creative player may be able to convince an adventurous DM to explore other possibilities, especially if they make sense in the context of the game.

Changing classes after character creation isn’t something that the 4e mechanics allow for. However, previous editions of D&D did. It’s not something that happens often so I’m not surprised that no 4e mechanic exists to accommodate this kind of thing. But sometimes there will be a really good in-game story rationale for why a PC must abandon his old class entirely and pursue another. In these cases we need to get creative.

Tags 4e, changing class, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Player Resources