Category: Player Resources

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The Golden Level of Heroic Adventure

As a player and DM through four editions now, I have observed the effect commonly referred to as “the sweet spot.” This is the point at which the game functions as intended, is fun for players and DMs alike, the PCs can handle most fights, and the monsters can be threatening without being overpowering. While the sweet spot in 2e was a strange one due to the difference in classes’ experience charts and earning, and 3e and its iterations had multiple sweet spots, 4e to date has had the longest, most sustainable sweet spot that I have experienced. It starts around level 3, and lasts until about level 23.

However, within this sweet spot, there stand four levels which I feel are the best time to be an adventurer in D&D. While three of them stand firmly in the paragon tier, being levels 12, 16 and 20, one stands in the heroic tier of play. Level 6 is the goal to shoot for in lower heroic, and it is where the PCs truly begin to feel their power. It’s when character choices in build, theme, and class truly begin to differentiate themselves. It is when heroic characters can get their first taste of the paragon tier challenges ahead, and the best time to start defining a campaign’s themes. It is the golden level of heroic adventure.

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DM Resources Player Resources

Nationality and Character Backgrounds

Most players select a background for their PC during the character creation process. In many cases it’s done for purely mechanical benefits. Being from this location may give you a resistance to fire, while this one may give you a bonus to your initiative. In all cases it also gives you access to a new skill or a bonus to one specific skill. When it comes to power gaming, no one overlooks a background benefits.

The background options that I see taken most often are the geographic backgrounds from the Forgotten Realms. Usually the player doesn’t really care that his PC is from Waterdeep, Akanul or Cormyr, they just want to additional benefit that being from those places provides. And that’s fine. It’s not the ideal reason to choose a background but it’s well within the rules. Any character can have any background.

This season during D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave the adventure strongly encourages the DM to insist that the PCs choose one of the three backgrounds provided. This helps give the players a good in-game reason as to why such a rag-tag and mismatched adventuring party would work together. Being from one of the three areas directly impacted by the happenings in the adventure gives PCs a strong motive for accepting the mission.

While at first a few of the players in my group resented being told they had to choose one of only three options (none of which they felt provided particularly appealing benefits) after only two sessions these same players really started working their background into the way the characters behaved. Without any prompting from me, the players instilled within their characters a sense of national pride.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave – Pre-Generated Characters

For the past four seasons of D&D Encounters, Wizards of the Coast has provided us with the same six pre-generated characters. There’s nothing wrong with theses pre-gens but they’re getting a little bit too familar. Not only that, but they don’t feature any of the new optioins from Heroes of the Feywild.

Realizing that a lot of people are looking for new pre-gens, our friend Kiel Chenier took it upon himself create a slew of new characters for use with D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave. He’s created nine new characters to choose from. The four pre-gens that highlight new classes and races from the Heroes of the Feywild are presented below. The rest of the new pre-gens are available on Kiel’s website Dungeons & Donuts.

During this season of D&D Encoutners all the PCs must choose a background establishing them from either Crystalbrook, Sildaine Forest or the city of Sybar. Each of the new pre-gens is from one of these locations. You’ll likely recognize the heroes from Sybar – three members of the famous adventuring company Acquisitions Incorporated.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan – Round-Up

There are only two weeks left before Forge of the Dawn Titan is replaced with Talon of Umberlee. I assume that most players who are interested in trying Lair Assault have done so at least once by now. I’ve had the pleasure of running it five times and playing it twice and I think that every time was more fun than the last.

Anyone looking for tips or hints on how to make their Lair Assault experience better should have no trouble finding plenty of articles online. In fact we’ve got plenty of useful links at the end of this article that you may find useful. But what you might find even more useful are the actual play experiences of those who have gone before you. So today I’m sharing seven podcasts of my experience with Forge of the Dawn Titan.

I’d like to draw special attention to session 6 which features the Dungeon’s Master creative team. This is your chance to hear us play D&D and get a sense of the camaraderie between this tight-knit group of friends.

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DM Resources Player Resources

You Make the Call – Questions About Rules (Part 1)

Every now and then a situation arises during game play that we’re not sure how to adjudicate. This kind of thing happens much less frequently now that we’re familiar with the 4e rules, but it does still happen. In our experience it’s better for the DM to make a quick ruling and keep the game moving foreword, and most time this is how we handle these unusual situations at my game table. However, we pride ourselves on knowing the rules inside out so when we have something unexpected come up and we don’t know the answer we see it as a challenge and after the game’s over we start digging.

When trying to find the right answer we of course begin by searching in the PHB, DMG, Rules Compendium or online compendium. If we can find a definitive ruling we go to the internet and the various forums. But this doesn’t always provide us with a satisfactory answer either. So we’ve decided to try a new series where we present the situation, explain our ruling and ask for your feedback. This might end up being a very informative series that clears up a lot of confusion for players and DMs alike or it may become a series where we get flamed by the online community for not knowing something obvious. We’re hoping that the good outweighs the bad so we’ve moving forward with it.

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Player Resources

Characters with Secret Identities

Normally D&D characters are glory hounds. They’re always looking to make a name for themselves. When they accomplish something noteworthy they usually go to great lengths to ensure that everyone knows it. The proudly wear their magical armor and make no attempt to hide the magical weapon hanging at their hip or strung over their back. For most characters, level advancement is synonymous with fame. The greater your reputation the more likely you are to take on better paying assignments with more danger and even greater chances for glory.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach. After all this is what almost all adventurers do, but there is something to be said for keeping a low profile. Certainly most adventuring parties have learned this over time and have likely even had an adventure or two where they needed to conceal their true identity. But what if this was the way your party operated all the time. Think about it. There are considerable advantages to anonymity. Think of what you can do if there is no chance that anyone can tie the deeds to your PCs?

I’m not suggesting that your character don a mask and go on a killing spree; quite the opposite in fact. I’m thinking of all the potential good that can be accomplished by keeping your identity secret, not to mention the fantastic role-playing opportunities that arise from having a dual identity.

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Player Resources

It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Talon of Umberlee

If you thought the first Lair Assault was good wait until you have a chance to play the latest offering from Wizards of the Coast. I thought that they’d set the bar incredibly high with Forge of the Dawn Titan but it looks like Talon of Umberlee is every bit as good, if not better.

For those of you not familiar with Lair Assault let me enlighten you. Wizards of the Coast is touting this public-play series as a way to challenge the most hard-core D&D players. Lair Assault pits the DM against the players like never before. The adventure is designed to be more challenging than any D&D game you’ve ever played. Over 80% of parties are expected to fail the first time though.

The new season of Lair Assault begins on December 1 and runs until the end of February.

There are a few general and very obvious differences between Talon of Umberlee and Forge of the Dawn Titan. Read on to find out more.

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Player Resources

Players Need to Be More Creative

One significant improvement that 4e D&D has over previous editions is the “say yes” mantra. DMs are actively instructed to let things happen. No matter what comes up at the gaming table the DM is now encouraged to say yes and find a way to make it work. That’s not to say that the DM should let the players get away with anything and everything, but if a player comes up with a creative idea the DM is encouraged to find a way to make it work and say yes.

In my experience the majority of DMs took this idea to heart. At the beginning, when 4e was still relatively new, players were trying all kinds of interesting things because they knew that the DM would likely say yes. However, over the past year or so I’ve realized that most players are content to player squarely within the rules. They are unwilling to take chances and propose ideas that are outside of the normal rule-set. This is especially evident in public-play situations like D&D Encounters. I think it’s time that the DMs make a point of reminding the players it’s ok to use your imagination. Being creative is a big part of what makes D&D fun.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave – Preview

Season 7 of D&D Encounters begins on Wednesday, November 16. The adventure is called Beyond the Crystal Cave and was inspired by the classic AD&D adventure,UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave. It’s no coincidence that it coincides with Wizards of the Coast’s latest product offering, Heroes of the Feywild which hits shelves on November 15.

In August we shared the few details we knew about season 7 based on what Wizards announced at GenCon. Now that I’ve actually received the DM’s kit I’m can provide a much more in-depth preview which I will be sure to keep as spoiler-free as possible.

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DM Resources Player Resources

7 Halloween-Themed Articles

"Zombies Playing D&D" by Mandi Tremblay
"Zombies Playing D&D" by Mandi Tremblay

Every year around this time DMs are inspired by Halloween and PCs find themselves facing off against skeletons, zombies, vampires and werewolves. Campaigns become darker as the DM taps into the fear associated with Halloween. But creating something original can be more challenging than many DMs realize. In order to help, we’ve combed through our archives and found 7 articles that we think will help DMs add that Halloween flavour to their campaign without just rehashing the same things you’ve done year in and year out.

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