Today is Canada Day. While the Dungeon’s Master team is enjoying our nation’s birthday we wonder, where are you from?
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Tag: D&D
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Month in Review: June 2009
For those counting, it’s been five months since we launched and we’re still going strong. We continue to get comments form new readers almost every day. The Dungeon’s Master team wants to thank all of our readers for continuing to visit regularly, helping the site grow and improve.
Tomorrow is a holiday in Canada and the Dungeon’s Master team is taking the day off to celebrate our country’s birthday. We have a special Canada Day post in store for tomorrow so we’re giving you the month in review for June one day early. For those of you who might have missed some of the articles we published in June, this is your chance to get caught up. Here are the highlights from June.
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Skill Matrix Update
We’ve updated the skill matrixes by class and race. The existing skill aides for players and DMs now include materials presented in the Eberron Player’s Guide.
- The player’s aide has three new races: Changeling, Kalashtar and Warforged.
- The DM’s aide has the skills breakdown for the Artificer.
We’ve also added a new monster matrix for players and DMs. This is similar to the player’s aide except that it collects the monstrous PC race options presented in the Monster Manual and the Monster Manual 2. Those monsters later printed in other sourcebooks have been included in the player’s aide only.
Deities and Demigods was one of the very first AD&D supplements TSR ever produced. It’s been an integral part of D&D since 1980. But do we really need a 4e version? The myths haven’t changed since 3e so why put out a new book?
I’ve always been interested in mythology. The classic myths lend themselves so nicely to RPGs, especially Dungeons & Dragons. Who doesn’t like stories about larger-than-life characters with extraordinary powers doing the impossible? If you’re into D&D then a tale of a hero with magic powers and mythical weapons fighting monsters should be right up your alley. Realizing this, TSR published Deities and Demigods back in the days of D&D’s infancy. They provided us with statistics for the heroes of myth. Pure genius.
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend during my last few gaming sessions. The Fighter consistently deals more damage than my Rogue. We’re 9th level, almost at paragon, and I’m struggling to deal more damage than the Fighter. Fundamentally, something seems wrong when the defender can dish out more damage than the striker. My numbers should be consistently higher on a round for round basis, instead my jaw drops as I hear how much damage he’s dealing.
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Character Motivation
Why do PCs do what they do? When you’re creating a new character, do you even give this any thought? Fame and fortune are probably the most common motives for 1st level adventurers, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but is that your PC’s only motivation?
In many cases the DM creates a long-term campaign with a huge story arc designed around a single motivation. It might be something as noble as recovering a stolen artifact or as simple as seeking revenge against the assassin who killed your mentor. These are both excellent examples of broad motivations that bring strangers together and keep the party working towards a common goal. But what of each PC’s individual goals?
Sometimes PCs need to do what’s best for the game even though it may not be what’s best for the character. The PC’s personal politics, morals and ethics need to be set aside in order for the campaign to proceed.
An example of this scenario happened to our party in a recent game. Although we chose to do what was best for the game, it seemed really out of character for at least a couple of the PCs in the party. We’ve played these characters for almost a year and during that time we’ve worked to make them feel like unique individuals. They have distinct personalities and mannerisms. So what happens to all that character building when the adventure dictates that the role-playing be shelved during certain circumstances in order to keep the larger story arc moving?
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Skill Challenge Week – Roundup
Seven new skill challenges and one Eberron-specific skill aide later, skill challenge week wraps up at Dungeon’s Master. We now offer 24 unique skill challenges and 13 skill aides in our library.
The Eberron Player’s Guide was released during our skill challenge week so we made a point of releasing two skill challenges that are Eberron specific:
When we create skill challenges, our goal is to keep them generic enough to fit into any campaign setting (including Eberron). However, if you’re looking for more skill challenges with that Eberron feel, Border Crossing was designed specifically with Eberron in mind
Our focus on skill challenges and skill aides will continue, but I think it will be a couple of weeks before we revisit them again
We welcome your comments and input about any of our skill challenges. If you’ve had opportunity to use them in your game we’d really like to hear how things worked out. And if you have any specific topics you’d like to see covered in a future skill challenge post a comment or send us an email.
Your character has just manifested a Dragonmark. In Eberron this is a big deal. Dragonmarks have a huge impact on NPC reactions. Here are some tips on how to get a little extra from your Dragonmark during your next skill challenge.
There are going to be circumstances where having a Dragonmark or being affiliated with a particular Dragonmarked House may provide advantages during a skill challenge. The forthcoming Eberron Campaign Guide will likely cover this to some extent, but until its release here are a few guidelines that you can use.
Moving from room to room in a dungeon has historically been handled by drawing the map and the DM asking the party how they advance. Do they turn right or left at the t-junction. In 4e, the amount of crawling through a dungeon has been reduced with more focus given to large rooms and the encounters they contain within. Indeed, even traps are now incorporated into combat encounters. An adventuring group in 4e is more likely to find a pit trap in a combat encounter than randomly placed within a dungeon corridor.