I Cast Pod!

Episode 12: Sorcerers, Entertainers, Jackalweres and Volo

Mike Rickard — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:43 + Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes
01:56 + Off To The Races: This episode features - nothing. We’ve covered all the races in the PHB!
03:56 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at Sorcerers
15:55 + Background Check: Entertainer
18:40 + Monster Menagerie: Jackalweres
22:03+ Lore Academy: Volo

Total runtime 26:53

Sources & further reading:

Sorcerer: PHB: 99-104

XGTE: 48-52

SCAG: 136-137

Entertainer: PHB: 130-131

Jackalwere: MM: 193

Contact me:

https://icastpod.com - Website

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Twitter

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. This episode is the end of season finale, and we’re talking about Entertainers, Sorcerers, Jackalweres, and Volo.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

WotC has been busy recently, in light of the Black Lives Matter movement and general social change of our time, adding disclaimers to some of its older content, which may be seen a racially or culturally insensitive, or gender biased. D&D includes many races and has never penalised players who choose to play any gender, which was already admirable, but these steps will continue to ensure that anyone can play without feeling excluded or maligned.

Ultra Pro showed off their ultra-cute vinyl Figurines of Adorable Power during the D&D Live 2020 livestream, including adorable Mimics, Flumphs, Owlbears and more. I’ve already seen the Red Dragon figure for sale and have been tempted…

80’s Tees now have a range of D&D based merch, both from the main game and from the 80’s cartoon spinoff, and includes character armour hoodies that make you look like you’re wearing the armour of Hank the Ranger, Bobby the Barbarian or Eric the Cavalier, with more to come.

Off to the Races

None

We’re skipping playable races in this episode, as we’ve actually covered all the races in the PHB. Now I know that there are many more playable races, but it seemed a good point to end the season, and give me time to buy one of the other sourcebooks. Do you think I should go for Vole’s Guide to Monsters, which contains Aasimar, Goblins, Orcs, Kenku, Tabaxi, Yaun-ti and more, or perhaps Mordekainen’s Tome Of Foes, that includes Gith, and… er, well, Eladrin. Let’s be honest, in terms of continuing to make content, it’s going to be Volo’s. I will also be looking into the Elemental Evil Player’s Guide, which add Genasi, Goliath and Aarakocra, (the latter of which was covered as a monster way back in EP 3.) as well as the Dungeon Master’s Guide: The Tortle Package, which perhaps unsurprisingly, adds options for playing as a Tortle - giving you the option of playing a young Rogue - Essentially a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortle? Sorry, couldn’t resist. Tortle. Tortle. Tortle. Word has lost all meaning. Ok, I swear I’m done with the Tortle jokes now.

Anyway, let me know which race has been your favourite that we’ve covered so far, which is your favourite D&D playable race overall, or which race you’ve not played as yet & want to.

Also I’d love to hear your feedback on season 1. So far I only have one rating on iTunes, so that’s one way of letting me know what you think of the show. What have you liked so far? What would you change? Is there anything you’d like to see in season 2? Let me know, as I can’t make the show better without your input.

You can email me @ icastpod@gmail.com, or get in touch via Instagram or Twitter, (@icastpod,) or post on our Facebook page. All links will be in the show notes.

You So Classy

Sorcerer

Sorcerers are rare in the world, and carry a magical birthright with them, that may have been passed on through blood; exposure to some cosmic force; or through an otherworldly influence. Sorcery cannot be learned or studied, it is a force that chooses the wielder, rather than the other way around. Magic infuses the sorcerer, giving them latent abilities and incredible power, but with no immediate understanding of how to use it effectively and safely.

Some sorcerers are almost at the mercy of their ’talent’, with raw power roiling inside of them, releasing almost at random, and manifesting in unexpected ways. It may be that the sorcerer holds vestiges of a draconic bloodline coursing through their veins, or they seem to be a conduit for raw, wild magic. Sorcerers and the power they have can be chaotic and unpredictable. Some draconic bloodlines create just one sorcerer in a generation, whilst others may produce several, or even every member of a bloodline could be a sorcerer. Others who may not even have draconic heritage, can appear as flukes of random chance, and yet others may attribute their sorcery to an event in their lives, such as being touched by a demon, sipping water from a magical spring, or being blessed at birth by a Dryad. The gift of magic may be conferred upon the individual by a god, or by exposure to the elemental planes of existence, or even by the insanity-inducing chaos of Limbo.

Sorcerers have no need for spell books or grimoires like wizards and have no otherworldly patron like warlocks, but need to learn to harness their power mainly through trial and, sometimes painful, error.

The power in a sorcerer may seem to champ at the bit, urging the sorcerer for release like a full bladder. The magic wishes to be used and utilised, and can sometimes overflow and spill out in unpredictable ways if it is not brought forth consciously.

Sorcerers often heed the call to adventure as a way to both unleash their inner magical power, and as a way to learn to harness and control it better. Of course, loot never goes amiss either. Some adventuring sorcerers may quest as a way to better understand their gift, or simply find out the answer to where it came from. Many adventuring parties benefit greatly from a sorcerer in their ranks, gaining flexibility and adaptability from the sorcerer’s abilities that they may not get from other casters.

When creating a sorcerer, think firstly about the source of your power. Generally you will choose either to have a draconic bloodline or else be a conduit for wild magic, but the exact source of your powers are for you to decide. It could be a familial trait, with distant ancestors occasionally appearing before you in spectral form to advise and guide you on your journey; or it may have been due to some extraordinary event, which left you blessed with inherent power, but cursed without the knowledge, or even wisdom of how to manage it. Perhaps the event also left you scarred, leaving a permanent reminder of your torment etched into your flesh? Maybe a creature of extraordinary power bestowed your sorcerous gift on you, for reasons you might not even understand? Remember - your character not knowing where their power comes from is a valid choice as well.

How does your character feel about this power? Do they revel in its chaotic unpredictability, or do they shrink from using it, for fear of causing harm to others or themselves? Was it something they sought out, or was it thrust upon them? Was there an option of refusing the power when it was given and does your character wish they’d taken the blue pill, so to speak? Perhaps you wield the magics with an iron fist, believing that might makes right?

The primary stats for a sorcerer are Charisma, followed by Constitution. For a quick build, also choose the hermit background, which is covered in episode 9. Then, choose Prestidigitation, Shocking Grasp, Ray of Frost and Light cantrips and the 1st level spells Magic Missile and Shield. Next choose either the Draconic Bloodline or Wild Magic sorcerous origin.

The Draconic bloodline confers a hereditary, innate magical ability on you - unless you are the first of your bloodline, in which case it will pass on to your descendants. At 1st level, you choose a type of dragon as your ancestor and you will use the damage type of the dragon you choose in features you gain at later levels. You can speak, read and write Draconic. Also you can double your proficiency bonus if you make a Charisma check while interacting with a dragon. Your HP max increases by 1 due to your draconic resiliance, and increases by 1 each time you level up. Parts of your skin have a thin sheen of scales too, which gives you an AC of 13+Dex mod while you’re not wearing amour. Later levels bring more Draconic features, including the ability to sprout wings from level 14.

The Wild Magic origin means that your magic comes from the forces of chaos. You may have been exposed to wild magic, from the Elemental Planes or Limbo most commonly, but also the Far Realm. Or instead you might have been marked by a demon or blessed by a Fey. Some Wild Magic sorcerers have no apparent cause or origin for their power.

From first level, your spellcasting unleashes surges of raw, untamed magic. Once per turn, the DM can ask you to roll a D20 immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. A roll of 1 means you must roll for a wild magic effect from the table on page 103 of the PHB. If the effect is also a spell, it cannot be affected by your meta magic, being too wild. It also does not require concentration, even if it normally would, and lasts for its entire duration.

The Tides of Chaos effect means you can gain advantage on one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check between long rests. When you have used this feature and have not had a long rest to regain it, the DM can ask you to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table when casting sorcerer’s spells as before.

Later levels bring abilities to affect other creatures’ attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws - adding bonuses or penalties to them, greater control over Wild Magic surge, and extra damage to your spells.

XGTE adds in origins of: Divine Soul, where you have been blessed by a god; Shadow Magic, involving magic stemming from the Shadowfell itself, or Storm Sorcery, with powers of Elemental Air. The SCAG adds more information on Storm Sorcery.

Moving on now from origins, The first Sorcerer mechanic you will come across is Font of Magic. This allows you to tap into the power within you and is represented by sorcery points, which allow you to create various magical effects. You start with 2 sorcery points, and gain more as you level. You regain sorcery points after a long rest. You can use sorcery points to gain additional spell slots as a bonus action on your turn, and new ways to use them will be learned at later levels. An additional first level spell slot costs 2 SP. A second level slot costs 3, a third level slot costs 5 and so on. You can also expend a spell slot as a bonus action on your turn, gaining a number of SP back equal to the slot’s level, so a level 1 slot would give back 2 SP.

At third level, you get Metamagic, giving you the ability to change your spells to better suit your situation. You can only use one metamagic option on a spell cast, unless told otherwise. At third level, you get to choose two metamagic options from the list of:

Careful Spell - You are able to protect some creatures from the effects of a spell you cast that requires a saving throw. You can spend 1 SP and choose a number of creatures from a minimum of one, up to equal the number of your Cha mod. Creatures chosen automatically succeed on their saving throw. This is a great way to protect your party members from the full force of your spell, whilst still hitting enemies. This is particularly useful in situations with enclosed spaces, for example.
Distant Spell - When you cast a spell that has a range of 5ft or greater, you can spend 1 SP to double the range of the spell. If the spell has a range of touch, you can use this option to increase the range to 30ft, also expending 1 SP to do so.
Empowered Spell - When you successfully hit with a spell and roll damage, you can spend 1SP to re-roll a number of damage dice up to the number of your Cha mod. You must use the new rolls, but this option may be used in conjunction with another option used during the casting phase such as Careful Spell.
Extend Spell - For spells with a duration of 1 min or longer, you can spend 1SP to double the duration, up to a maximum of 24 hrs.
Heightened Spell - When you cast a spell that requires a saving throw, you can spend 3 SP to force disadvantage on one creature’s first saving throw.
Quickened Spell - When you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, you can spend 2 SP to change it to a bonus action instead.
Subtle Spell - When you cast any spell, you can spend 1 SP to cast it without verbal or somatic components.
Twinned Spell - When you cast a spell that only allows one target and doesn’t have a range of self, you can spend a number of SP equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range with the same spell. This costs 1 SP if the spell is a cantrip. The spell must not be able to target multiple creatures already at it’s current level - so magic missile is not eligable, but ray of frost is, for example.

Stat Block

HP @ 1st lvl: 6+Con mod
HP: 1D6(4) + Con mod/lvl
Hit Dice: 1D6/lvl
Spell attack mod == Cha mod + Prof bonus
Spell save DC == 8 + Cha mod + Prof bonus
Charisma is your spell casting ability and is also used for any spell save DC. You can also use a spellcasting focus if you wish.

Proficiencies

Armour: None
Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaves, Light Crossbows
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Con, Cha
Skills: Choose 2 from:
Arcana
Deception
Insight
Intimidation
Persuasion
Religion

Equipment

A light crossbow & 20 bolts or any simple weapon
A component pouch or an arcane focus
A dungeoneer’s pack or and Explorer’s pack
2 daggers

Background Check

Entertainer

The obvious choice for bards, the entertainer background can be useful for all sorts of character builds. Performance is an often overlooked skill in D&D and yet can come in handy when creating a distraction, inspiring others, or just as a way to get free lodgings, food or just some extra spare cash.

As an entertainer you know how to captivate and enthral. Your antics capture the attention of people, from an audience of one, to large marketplace crowds in busy cities.

You can sway an audience to tears with heart-wrenching tales; elicit instant laughter with your sparkling and rapier wit; or make them wistful for vistas they’ve never seen with impassioned recitations of epic poems. You can command a room of nobles, telling astonishing and lurid tales of the common folk, or you can have a tavern-full of workers on their feet dancing and clapping along to songs you wrote that mock the nobility.

Typically entertainers are particularly charismatic, persuasive and flamboyant people. Easily able to capture and hold attention with storytelling, dance, musicianship, comedy or other performance art.

Entertainers get the feature, “By Popular Demand”, which means you can always find a place to perform, be it tavern, circus, noble’s court, or theatre. You also get free lodging there and food to a modest or comfortable degree, all in return for your performance each night. This also makes you a local attraction and locals are of a friendly disposition towards you.

Stat Block

Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Performance

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, one type of musical instrument

Equipment: A musical instrument of choice, the favour of an admirer - some trinket, lock of hair or love letter, a costume, and a pouch containing 15Gp

Variant:Gladiator

Gladiators are also classed as entertainers, however their artistry tends towards the martial. Fighting and performance go hand in hand to you. You may also have had some training in tumbling or acting. With this variant your By Popular Demand feature allows you to find somewhere to show off your skills, such as a gladiatorial arena, secret fight club, or even working as local muscle. You can also substitute your musical weapon for an unusual weapon, such as a trident or net.

Monster Menagerie

Jackalwere

Surprisingly the only J letter monster in the whole of the 5th edition monster manual, this episode focuses on the Jackalwere. Jackalweres are, like their name suggests, Jackals that have been tainted by demonic power, making them into humanoid jackals, that look like a furry, if nude, Anubis. Originally created by the demon lord Graz’zt, to serve his own devoted servants, he reached up from the Abyss, and gifted Jackals with the ability to speak and assume humanoid forms. In fact the Jackalwere has three main forms that it can shift between: Its true form, that resembles a normal Jackal; A gaunt and wretched human form, which is used to lure do-gooders in as they beg for succour; and a hybrid humanoid-jackal form which is its main form for attacking.

Jackalweres lurk near roads and trails, in order to capture and/or kill travellers. Those that are captured are delivered to the Jackalwere’s lamia masters, who enslave them or torture and kill them for their own amusement. The Jackalwere’s gaze has magical properties that can render a foe unconscious, allowing for easy capture, or if facing a fearsome enemy, the Jackalwere might magically put them to sleep and make good its escape.

Cowardly creatures, Jackalweres prefer to fight alongside other Jackalweres or actual jackals, who serve as fierce and loyal companions.

Stat Block

AC 12
HP 18 (4D8)
Speed 40ft
Skills:
Deception +4
Perception +2
Passive Perception 12
Stealth +4
Damage...

Episode 11: Half-orcs, Rogues, Folk Heroes, Illithids and Intellect Devourers

Mike Rickard — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:43 + Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
03:31 + Off To The Races: This episode features
08:54 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at
16:27 + Background Check:
18:23 + Monster Menagerie:
22:18+ Lore Academy:

Total runtime 29:57

899 4 2 161

Sources & further reading:

Half-orc: PHB - 40-41

Rogue: PHB - 94-98; SCAG: 134-136; XGTE: 44-47

Folk Hero: PHB - 131-132

Intellect Devourer: MM - 191

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In this episode, we’re talking about Icewind Dale, Half-orcs, Rogues, Folk Heros, Illithids and Intellect Devourers.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

There’s a new sourcebook coming! Icewind Dale: The Rime of the Frost Maiden ties in with not only R. A. Salvatore’s Icewind Dale trilogy of novels - the first he wrote containing the Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, but also it apparently has some tie in to the upcoming Dark Alliance game. (And presumably the previous Icewind Dale CRPG,) Touted as a horror adventure module, with 320 pages and over 50 stat blocks contained within - the most in any 5e module so far, several of which will be for the Frostmaiden Auril, herself as she can appear in various forms. Journey to the frozen wastes of the far north, to the communities of Ten-Towns and help defeat an ancient evil, brave blizzards, fish for Knucklehead trout or participate in an as-yet unnamed Goliath sport! The release date is Sept 15th and it should retail for $49.99.

Want more Icewind Dale? IDW Publishing is going to be releasing At the Spine of the World on 21st Oct. The comic is set in Iceland Dale and features Saarvin, a Dragonborn Ranger, facing off against feral beasts, blizzards and a strange madness that has gripped the residents of Ten-Towns.

Still not enough? Well prepare for your adventure in Icewind Dale with Rime of the Frostmaiden Dice and Miscellany, which features eleven frosty looking dice, a foldout map of Icewind Dale and Ten-Towns, a felt lined box that doubles as two dice trays, and twenty double sided cards with descriptions and illustrations of creatures and characters from the area. The set is due to release on the 15th Sept for around $30.

What? More? What makes you think…? Ok fine. Wizkids is releasing a tie-in Mini set, also in Sept. Packs contain chilling new monsters like the Tomb Tapper and Abominable Yeti, denizens of Ten-Towns like the Reghed Nomads, and even include the many forms of the Frostmaiden herself for you to encounter - if you dare. There are 45 figures to collect and packs cost $16.99

Got money to burn? Consider treating yourself to The Beadle & Grimm’s Rime of the Frostmaiden platinum edition. It comes with a custom DM screen, full scale battle maps, exclusive encounter cards, In-world handouts, high quality wearables, and original artwork. With a limited run of 1000 copies at $499, it’s a steal and the perfect gift for your favourite D&D podcaster. cough What? Nothing, I didn’t say anything.

Off to the Races

Half-Orc

In D&D, alliances between Orcs and humans are not unheard of. Sometimes they unite to band together against some force that threatens both of them, sometimes an uneasy truce descends over the two factions after many years of brutal and bloody war. Whatever the reason, intermarriage is sometimes the seal that bonds the two tribes together. From these unions, half-orcs are born.

The one-eyed god Gruumsh created the orcs and for the most part, reigns supreme over them. Even orcs that deny the god his due worship, for whatever reason, can still feel the fingers of his influence snaking their way into their lives, and the lives of half-orcs are not exempt. It may be that they hear whispers from the god in their slumber, or they feel the thrill of Gruumsh’s elation surge through them, as they enter the fray of the melee - washing over them like a tide. Some take the feeling as a sign, and come back to Gruumsh’s fold, while others interpret it as an ill omen, and shy away from doing Gruumsh’s will.

Orcs are not inherently evil, but there is an aspect of it within their hearts. Some follow to see where it leads, and others rebel, by trying to do good in the world.

Aside from Gruumsh’s influence, half-orcs feel emotions more intensely than their human counterparts. Rage feels like a burning sensation all over their skin. Insults sting like a freshly-slapped face, and melancholia drains them of energy. Half-orcs feel everything this way so delight in partaking in activities that spread pleasure through their bodies, like laughing raucously; drinking; wrestling and dancing feverishly to the pulsing throb of drums that reverberate in their guts.

Half-orcs tend to be slaves to their tempers, and can sometimes descend into sullen episodes, but most often they like to act instead of spending long hours in contemplation. This hotheaded nature often leads to fighting, either with other tribes, races or even within their own groups. Those who can master their emotions stand the best chance of becoming leaders - chiefs or even ambassadors between clans or races, utilising their human heritage to their advantage.

Some half-orcs prefer the company of humans, living in human societies, who are more likely to accept them than other racial societies, apart from orcs themselves, of course. Generally half-orcs will be given names appropriate to the society they are born into, but some will take on new names in later life - sometimes to better fit in with new surroundings, or occasionally half-orcs raised in human societies will take on an orc name, pronounced in a guttural way to emblazon their heritage for all to hear or simply, because they find that humans find such names intimidating.

To ingratiate themselves, some half-orcs will demonstrate a patient and reserved nature, above and beyond even the humans they mingle with, while others withdraw, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Still others play up on their toughness and try to be so unapproachable that others leave them alone.

Orcs value scars. Battle scars are marks of pride to be displayed, and scarification as beautification and adornment is commonplace. Scarring is also used to mark slaves and outcasts - exiled orcs and half orcs are branded to show their persona non grata status, and declare it wherever they go. A half orc will almost always have scars if it has been around orcs enough. Those that involve tales of domination on the battlefiled may be displayed proudly, even within human societies, whereas those that tell of crushing defeats or time spent as a slave or exile will probably be covered or otherwise hidden.

Half-orcs tend to have greyish skin tones, sloping foreheads, and larger builds than humans - standing at around 5 to 7 ft tall and weighing 180-250 lbs.

Half-orcs make good adventurers. Strong and hardy, and with a savage, furious edge to their combat, they are ideally suited for a life of battles and skirmishes. The obvious choices for a half-orc character are Fighter or Barbarian, with Rogue down at the bottom of the list, but could also make for great Paladins, with their inherent sense of honour and martial skills.

Stat Block

Half-orcs benfit from a +2 to Str and a +1 to Con
Half-orcs reach adulthood at around 14 years, ageing noticeably faster than humans and rarely living past 75.
They inherit a chaotic nature from their orc parent, and are not naturally predisposed towards good. Half-orcs that live with orcs may tend towards evil.
Size = medium
Speed: 30ft
Darkvision: 60ft
Proficiency in Intimidation
Relentless endurance - When you are reduced to 0hp and are not killed, you drop to 1hp instead. This can be used once between long rests.
Savage attacks - when you crit with a melee weapon, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice twice and add the result to your damage roll.
Languages: Common and Orc. (Orc has no written form, but borrows the Dwarvish script.)

You So Classy

Rogue

One of my personal favourite classes to play, Rogues are all about stealth, hit-and-run tactics and burst damage that focuses down single targets with surprising speed and agility, and escaping back into the shadows. Masters of turning the tide of battle to their advantage, Rogues seek out vulnerabilities in their opponent’s armour and tactics to maximise the effectiveness of their strikes. They are versatile and heavily skilled, acting with keen resourcefulness and a measured approach.

Rogues can specialise their skillset, with some focussing on stealth, or deception, or physical skills like climbing, discovering and disarming traps, opening locks, or use of poisons.

Most cities will have at least a handful of Rogues. Many of them will earn an illicit living as burglars and thieves, cutpurses, assassins, and confidence tricksters, but others will earn a staple from a legitimate occupation, such as locksmith, investigator, or exterminator. Remembering that sewers in Toril crawl with worse things than rats and roaches, exterminators in D&D have a harder time of it than those of our world.

Although most Rogues work as independents, many will hire an assistant or lackey for some jobs and/or heists and there are Thieves’ Guilds in most major metropolitan areas, which Rogues will usually be affiliated with in order to gain information, seek shelter if on the run from the local guards, or just mingle with their own kind.

Some Rogues eschew the Thieves Guild and instead devote themselves to a particular crime family, performing tasks as diverse as messenger to hitman.

When serving as adventurers, Rogues occupy a decidedly grey space, morally speaking and their escapades can land them on the side of righteousness as easily as on the wrong side of the law. There will always be those who take to adventuring in order to loot, or otherwise relieve owners of their riches; those who take to adventuring in order to disappear from the vicinity of the eyes of their victims, foes and would-be captors; and those who just fancy the glamour and danger of the lifestyle.

Known for engaging in combat on their terms only, Rogues dart from the depths of shadows, to appear suddenly behind their prey, sliding an edge between the ribs, only to vanish again, as incorporeal as smoke. A Rogue’s main weapon is not their starkly beautiful daggers, nor the caltrops and traps they wield, but their cunning. Their knack of examining a situation and turning it to their own advantage. Rogues look to maximise damage with each strike - preferring one precise slice to a flurry of wild blows, that may only serve to wear down an opponent’s energy reserves. Add to this the Rogue’s uncanny ability to avoid damage, and some bolster those innate abilities with magic.

When creating a Rogue, DEX should be your primary stat, followed by either Intelligence or Charisma. Intelligence is for builds that want to take up the Arcane Trickster archetype, or if you wish to excel at investigation. Charisma is for builds that want to focus on deception and social interaction. For a quick build, choose these stats and the Charlatan background.

From 1st level, you get access to Expertise, which allows you to double your proficiency bonus when you make ability checks, with your choice of two skills, or else one skill and Thieves’ tools.

You also get Sneak Attack, one of the Rogue’s main mechanics, where you can add 1D6 extra damage on attacks made with a finesse or ranged weapon, if you have advantage on the attack roll, or if there is another enemy of the target within 5ft of it - that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the roll. The extra damage scales with levels too, making for a pretty handy burst of extra hurt you can deal out.

You can also understand Thieves’ Cant, a code used between thieves to mark loot, safe houses, easy prey, dangerous areas or whether a particular Thieves’ Guild operates in the area. Thieves’ Cant is a mixture of secret signs and symbols, code, and dialect that can be hidden in normal conversations, but the conversation will take four times longer than just saying your message plainly.

From second level you get Cunning Action, which allows you to Dash, Disengage, or hide as a bonus action on each turn in combat.

From third level, you choose a Roguish archetype. The PHB lists Thief, Arcane Trickster, and Assassin. The SCAG adds Mastermind and Swashbuckler. XGTE adds Inquisitive and Scout, as well as additional details for Mastermind and Swashbuckler.

Thief has your skills honed for larceny. You get the ability to use thieves tools as a bonus action to disarm a trap or open a lock; faster climbing ability, advantage on stealth checks provided you move up to a max of half your speed and more at later levels.
Arcane Trickster bolster their arsenal of tricks with magic of illusion and enchantment. They gain the cantrip mage hand, plus two more of choice from the wizard list, as well as three 1st level wizard spells. Later levels bring abilities to distract, ambush and even learn new spells from other spell casters.
Assassin trains you to be a killer via poisons, weaponry and stealth. You get advantage against any creature in combat that haven’t taken a turn yet, the ability to create false identities, mimic others’ speech and mannerisms and damage doubling capabilities.
Mastermind is geared toward those who would be spies, courtiers and the like. You can aid others in combat, gain insight into enemies capabilities, misdirect strikes against you, and more.
Swashbuckler trains the user in the art of the blade. Rather than hacking away at enemies, your death-dealing almost appears as a dance or performance. You can avoid attacks of opportunity, gain bonuses to Initiative, and can re-roll missed attacks, gaining advantage at the same time.
Inquisitive No secret is safe from your prying eyes, and you can read others to glean their true intent and root out lies. You study opponents’ tactics to gain advantage during combat and exploit their weaknesses.
Scout is adept at stealth and survival, particularly in the wilderness. You can move up to half your speed as a reaction without provoking an attack of opportunity, gain proficiency in the Nature and Survival skills, have advantage on initiative rolls, and extra attacks.

Stat Block

Hp@ 1st level == 8 +Con mod
Hp - 1D8 (5) + Con mod/lvl
Hit Dice - 1D8/lvl

Proficiencies:

Armour - light armour
Weapons - simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools - Thieves’ Tools
Saving throws: Dex, Int
Skills: Choose 4 from:
Acrobatics
Athletics
Deception
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Sleight of hand
Stealth
Equipment:
A rapier or short sword
A short bow and quiver of 20 arrows, or short sword
Burglar’s pack/dungeoneer’s pack/explorer’s pack
leather armour, two daggers and thieves tools.

Background Check

Folk Hero

A product of humble beginnings, destiny had more in store for you. People from your home think of you as their champion already, and greater things - more glorious battles, hard won victories and the vanquishing of more powerful foes - lies in wait in your future. You stand between the forces of evil and the simple common folk you come from.

From your simple past life as something like a farmer, miner, servant, or woodcutter, you were propelled into the ranks of local hero by some defining event. Perhaps you stood fast against the tyranny of a local lord, or fought off a wandering monster that threatened your quiet hamlet, or perhaps you spearheaded a ragged militia against a more powerful enemy and won the day? The PHB has several suggestions in a table to either choose from or roll for.

Rustic Hospitality - You fit in with the common folk, having come from them originally. You can always find a place to rest, hide out, or recuperate among commoners - unless you yourself have proved to be a danger to them. They will shield you from the law or other forces that may be seeking you, but will not risk their lives for yours - you’re the hero after all, not them.

Many folk heroes carry the experience of their common life with them, looking on their humble origins as a source of virtue, rather than a shortcoming. Being proud of where you came from is integral to the folk hero way of life and your home communities are still very important to you, although you now find yourself called away to fight for other communities and causes.

Stat Block

Skill proficiencies: Animal handling, survival

Tool proficiencies: Land vehicles and one type of artisan’s...

Episode 10: Rangers, Half-elves, Hook Horrors and the Underdark

Mike Rickard — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:43: - Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
03:25 + Off To The Races: This episode features Half-elves
08:52 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at the Ranger
18:30 + Background Check: Guild Artisan
23:16 + Monster Menagerie: The Hook Horror
29:56 + Lore Academy: The Underdark

Total runtime - 34:56

Sources & further reading:

Half Elf - PHB: 38-39

Ranger - PHB: 89-93, XGTE: 40-43, SCAG: 133-134

Guild Artisan - PHB: 132-133

Hook Horror - MM: 189

Links

News

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lrdtobD&D Beyond - Legends of Runeterra: Dark Tides of Bilgewater

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/316467/The-Book-of-Weird-Magic- The Book of Weird Magic by Oliver Clegg

https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/sourcebooks/mythic-odysseys-of-theros?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=moot&utm_campaign=TOF_+D%26D%2BMTG&utm_content=spider-+preorder&fbaid=23844632008460174&fbclid=IwAR3O09bVyZDKqt0rKkSpD5VMm8qgbz55CEuSpCbjIpTIomQmC6t6UheEQXI- Mythic Odysses of Theros on D&D Beyond

Underdark areas

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Underdark- FR Wiki on the Underdark

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Buried_Realms- FR Wiki on the Buried Realms

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Darklands- The Darklands

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Deep_Wastes- The Deep Wastes

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Earthroot - Earthroot

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Glimmersea- Glimmersea

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Bhaerynden- Great Bhaerynden

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Northdark- Northdark

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Shanatar - Old Shanatar

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Rift- the Great Rift

Underdark denizens

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Phaerimm - Phaerimm

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Aboleth- Aboleth

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Kuo-toa - Kuo-toa

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sahuagin -Sahuagin

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y.

In this episode, we’re talking about Half-elves, rangers, guild artisans, hook horrors and the Underdark! So let’s get started!

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

We made it to ten episodes! That’s not including the 2 bonus episodes so far. If you’re listened to all 12, I want to thank you personally for coming on this journey with me. I’ve had almost 200 unique listeners, according to my stats, and they’ve come from all over the world. I’ve had listeners from the UK, the US, Canada, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and Australia! Wow. Thanks so much for listening, and here’s hoping you stick with me for the next ten shows!

Fans of Summoner’s Rift - rejoice!

D&D and the League of Legends universe are getting a crossover in the form of, “Legends of Runeterra: Dark Tides of Bilgewater. This is a mini campaign with details of the Runeterra region of Bilgewater, including 3 new subclasses: Path of the Depths Barbarian, Renegade Fighter who has a firearm, and a Wild Card rogue, and new monsters and items recognisable to any LoL or Legends of Runeterra players. I’ve played a little bit of League and some Legends of Runterra, so I’m interested to see this setting. It’s available now - for FREE from D&D Beyond. It’s already in my Sources on D&D Beyond, and I literally can’t think of any good reason for it not to be in yours, probably by the end of my sentence. Apart from your internet is down, but then how are you listening to this? Ah, downloaded for later listening. Of course. Well hop on as soon as it’s back up then! Direct link in the show notes.

The Book of Weird Magic

I mean… you’ve already sold me, but go on:

From the makers of “The Book of Bad Magic,” - Another one for the list!

Oliver Clegg has created a book of 21 weird and freaky subclasses for 5e, like:

The Cat Domain Cleric who has an uncanny ability to climb, or see things others don’t.
A Fighter with tentacles for arms - does that make them a bi-pod?
Monks who reject gravity the way others would reject third helpings at the salad bar.
Paladins who swear oaths to storytelling - a likely tale!
Rogues that can replace one of their hands with a hand of glory - sounds kinda gory!

Which, for under $8, sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Available through the DM’s Guild - direct link in the show notes.

Mythic Odysses of Theros

is on D&D Beyond from today! I covered it way back in Episode 3, so go listen to that episode for more details.

Off to the Races

Half-elf

Half-elves are said to combine the best qualities of both races: The artistic nature, refined senses, and love of nature of the elves, and the inventiveness, ambition and curiosity of humans, with either side balancing and tempering the other. Coming from two worlds sometimes means not fully belonging to either. Half-elves that live among humans may find attachments difficult - watching their human parent, as well as friends, succumb to the ravages of time and eventually, death - while they remain largely unchanged. Humans think half-elves look like elves, and generally treat them as such in any dealings between them.

Conversely, Half-elves who live among the elves find that they have reached adulthood while their previous peers are still living as children and older elves still thinking of the half-elves as such. The elves think half-elves look human and also treat them as such.

Half elves mature at approximately the same rate as humans, and reach adulthood at around 20, but live much longer lives than humans - often they live over 180 years.

This can lead to feeling disavowed by both societies and half-elves sometimes flit between them, finding neither the welcome nor the feeling of belonging that they crave, and many would say - deserve. This can be further worsened by the fact that half-elves born into human settlements are most often given elven names, and of course half-elves born into elven communities are generally given human names, further marking them out as different from those around them. Half-elves have no territories or lands of their own, although they are generally allowed to mingle in human cities without too much bother. They are generally less welcome in elven forests. Those that integrate into society, generally find uses for their natural charisma and social skills, earning them professions as disperate as swindlers or diplomats. (And of course there are always those who state that the two are the same, or close enough as makes no difference.)

Half elves inherit their love of personal freedom and creative expression from their elven parents. They generally neither desire followers nor wish to follow leaders, and balk at rules. Their resentment of having to do what others say can lead them to becoming unpredictable, or at worst, unreliable and as such, they tend towards chaotic alignments.

Occasionally there are enough half-elves in a human settlement to form small communities, and half-elves enjoy the company of others like themselves. Within their own kind they can find understanding and solace, empathy and kinship with others who have known the difficulties they face. They can discuss problems and issues dealing with other races with others who have gone through the same, and gain advice and wisdom of how to proceed with not only that issue, but also with their lives in general. Unfortunately, not all human settlements contain half elves, and even fewer elf societies harbour them. A half-elf might spend years living in the same place or even wandering without meeting another.

Consequently, many half-elves choose to spend mostly solitary lives, either within another society, or else leading the life of a wanderer, taking the open road as travelling companion. Other take trades in solitary professions, like trappers, foresters, hunters and others, that allow them to spend swathes of time away from societies and the tangled web of problems they can be for half-elves. And of course, some take to the adventuring life, where other misfits, outcasts and non-conformists make up the larger part of the community, and can feel welcome.

Half-elves are physically similar to both races, usually between 5-6ft tall. They are generally around the same height as humans or elves, with their build coming somewhere in-between the slender elves and the broader humans, giving them an average weight of 100-180lbs. Half-elf men can grow facial hair and some choose to hide their elven ancestry by growing a beard and covering their ear tips with helmets, hats, headbands, headscarves or other coverings. In terms of skin tone, they can inherit the full range of tones from either parent, giving them a wider range of colouration than either race alone. Their eyes tend to take after their elven parent, and they gain darkvision from this fact. They tend to be afflicted with the wanderlust that their elven kin also suffer - a product of their long lives, which is exacerbated by their human curiosity and ambition.

Considering all this, when creating a half-elf, consider the backgrounds of hermit, outlander, entertainer, charlatan, or even sage - as all of these could play to either a charismatic, socially aware character, or else one who prefers to spend much of their time alone.

Stat Block

Cha +2, and you can increase two other ability scores of your choice by 1.
Alignment - normally chaotic.
Size - Medium
Speed - 30ft
Darkvision - 60ft
Fey Ancestry - Half-elves have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic cannot put them to sleep.
Skills - Proficiency in two skills of choice.
Languages - Common, Elvish and one other language of choice.

You So Classy

Ranger

Ask someone who their favourite Ranger is, and these are the likely answers:

Drizzt Do’Urden
Minsc
Laeral Silverhand
Hank
Aaragorn, son of Arathorn
Sylvanas Windrunner
Paul Gascoigne, the English soccer player who played for the team Queen’s Park Rangers, which I think - not being a football fan myself - makes them sound like they should be working for the Forestry Commission.
or: What the hell is a ranger?

And you can tell a lot about a person by their answer. Let me know how many you got out of 8, on Twitter, where I’m @Icastpod. If you need the questions again, rewind - but don’t forget to listen to the rest of the show afterward!

Rangers in D&D follow a similar pattern to Aaragorn from the LotR books, or actually are they more like Legolas? I’ll leave that for you to debate, because according to my brief research, hoo-boy, there’s a lot of people debating how to assign D&D classes to LotR characters.

Anyway, known as “warriors of the wilderness,” Rangers do battle with creatures in the wild, be it ogres, giants, murderous beasts or pillaging raiders. They are master trackers, able to follow quarry as a predator; move silently through the underbrush, and stealthily creep up on targets to deliver a killing blow. They can take a particular prey as ‘favoured’ and cast nature spells, that emphasise speed, stealth and the hunt, to complement their already stellar skills in those areas of combat.

A ranger may make the main part of their income from subsidiary talents, like hunting and skinning, selling the hides to tanners - the meat for the pot, to share with their animal companion. Or they might work as a guide, safely delivering those who would pass through wild lands, unscathed. They may sell their skills as a tracker too, but the main tenet Rangers hold to is to protect civilisation from attacks at its outskirts. Sometimes they may join up with groups of Druids, if their objectives align. Many Rangers prefer solitude, or a pet companion. Was that why your character became a ranger? To escape society, maybe to be alone after a terrible tradgedy? Or was it a calling to protect the wilds from those who would harm it? Looking to be the first and last required line of defence for civilisation, Rangers’ fierce independence, skillset and outlook make them ideal adventurers. Used to sleeping on hard ground, and getting into tussles with creatures of varying types kind of comes with the job.

The most important stats to a Ranger are Dex and Wis, but there are options with to build a two weapon fighting style, which should focus on Str as primary. To make a quick build, use these guidelines and choose the outlander background, which you can hear more about in episode 7.

The first mechanic Rangers get is the favoured enemy and terrain features. From 1st level, your previous experience in tracking and hunting a particular type of creature allows you to choose a favoured enemy, from:

Abberations
Beasts
Celestials
Constructs
Dragons
Elementals
Fey
Fiends
Giants
Monstrosities
Oozes
Plants
Undead
Or you can choose two humanoid races, like Goblins and Orcs.

You get advantage on all Wis (Survival) checks to track favoured enemies, and on intelligence checks to recall information about them. You also learn one language spoken by your favoured enemy. You can add additional favoured enemies at 6th and 14th levels. Take into account that you will be meeting different types of monsters as you level up.

For favoured terrain, your time in the wilds has made you adept at travelling and surviving in a particular type of environment. You can choose from:

Arctic
Coastal
Desert
Forest
Grassland
Mountain
Swamp
or the Underdark - more on this one later…

When making an Int or Wis ability check related to your favoured terrain, you add double your proficiency bonus if using a skill you’re proficient in.

When travelling for more than an hour in your favoured terrain:

Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group
Your group can’t become lost, except by magic
You remain alert to danger, even if otherwise occupied doing things like foraging, navigating or tracking
If travelling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace - this includes travelling with an animal companion if playing the Beastmaster archetype.
You find twice as much food as normal while foraging
While tracking, you learn the number of creatures, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area

You choose additional favoured terrains at 6th and 10th levels.

At second level, you adopt a fighting style, from:

Archery - Gives you a +2 to attack with ranged weapons
Defence - Gives a +1 to AC while wearing armour
Duelling - Gives a +2 to damage rolls when wielding a single melee weapon in one hand
Two-weapon fighting - You can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack

At second level, you gain spellcasting abilities. Your spells are nature-based, similar to Druid’s. To start with you know 2 first level spells of your choice from the list, with matching spell slots. As with all casters, you expend a spell slot in order to cast a spell, but get all slots back after a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability. Your spell attack mod is your Wis mod+prof bonus. Your spell save DC is 8+Wis mod+prof bonus.

At third level, you choose a Ranger archetype. The PHB lists Hunter and Beast Master. XGTE adds Gloom Stalker, Monster Slayer and Horizon Walker.

Hunter - Gives you choices of extra attack reactions, extra damage, or an extra attack against a different creature within 5ft of the first one you attacked, provided the second is in range of your weapon. You also get a choice of defensive tactics that can cripple opportunity attacks against you, give a +4 bonus to AC against a single creature after it has hit you, or advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Later levels bring multi-attacks of varying types.
Beast Master - You gain a beast companion that obeys your commands and you’ve trained it to fight alongside you. Initial choices are hawk, panther, and mastiff, or any creature no larger than medium and a CR of 1/4 or lower. You can add your prof bonus to the beast’s AC, attack and damage rolls, as well as any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. It shares your initiative, but doesn’t take an action unless you command it to. You can command it where to move without using an action, and can use an action to command it to Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help. Once you gain an extra attack at level 5, you can attack yourself and command your companion to attack too. If you are incapacitated or absent, the beast acts on its own, prioritising protecting you and itself. It can take reactions, such as opportunity attacks, by itself. If your beast dies, you can spend 8 hours magically bonding with a new...

Episode 9 - Tieflings, Paladins, Goblins and Hermits

Mike Rickard — Fri, 29 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:42 + Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
01:39 + Off To The Races: This episode features Tieflings
07:27 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at Paladins
20:51 + Background Check: The Hermit
23:42 + Monster Menagerie: Goblins
28:18 + Lore Academy/Announcements

Total runtime - 30:31

Sources & further reading:

Tieflings:

PHB: 42-43

Paladins:

PHB: 82-88

SCAG: 131-133

XGTE: 36-39

Hermit:

PHB: 134-135

Goblins:

Monster Manual: 165-166

Links

https://dnd.wizards.com/dndlive2020- WotC’s red Nose Day event: Roll With Advantage

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Tiefling- FR Wiki on Tieflings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiefling- Wikipedia on Tieflings

https://syrinscape.com- Syrinscape tabletop audio.

I'm also including a full transcript of each show in the show notes from now on, so you can go over my scripts and see where I've flubbed bits, or just check over some of the stats I mentioned. I'll go back and put transcripts into all previous shows up to this point too, but that might take a little while, so check back later if you can't see them for a particular episode. Thanks.

Episode 9 - Tieflings, Paladins, Goblins, and Hermits.

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In this episode, we’re talking about Tieflings, Paladins, Goblins and Hermits - Red Nose Day and other podcasts too!

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

Between 18th-20th June, WotC are doing a series of live play D&D events called D&D live: Roll With Advantage, with various celebrities DM’ing and playing, including Deborah Ann Woll, Felicia Day, Brian Posehn, Amy Acker, Janina Gavankar, Matthew Lillard, David Harbour, Brandon Routh and more, to help Red Nose Day. WotC are also creating a special adventure, called Return to the Glory, available via the DM’s Guild, as well as event apparel, showing a Snowy Owlbear with a red nose AND a way to participate remotely through their live event portal - with proceeds going to Comic Relief US and the Red Nose Day fund - link in the show notes.

Off to the Races

Tiefling

Originally introduced to D&D in the Planescape setting, Tieflings were described as a mix of human and, “something else”… implying that they had heritage that originated in the lower planes, which were evil. Tieflings were said to be descended from Fiends, but because their ancestral evil was many generations ago, they are not classed as half-fiends. This was changed in 4th Ed. So that now their ancestors made a bargain with devils to increase their power. They get their name from the the German “Tief” meaning deep, or low and the suffix “ing’ as in offspring. German also has another connected word: “Teufel” meaning devil, which may also have contributed.

Tieflings are generally maligned in society, due to their infernal heritage. Descended from a pact that happened generations ago, where the essence of Asmodeus, overlord of the nine hells, was infused into their bloodline, in order to make him a racial god, and ensure he had enough followers to gain godly powers. They carry vestiges of this demonic ancestry in their physical appearance - with large, prehensile tails that curl around their legs when they get nervous, extended canine teeth, and pupil-less eyes of solid colour - usually black, red, white, silver or gold. The most noticeable of their anatomical differences from humans, is a set of horns on their heads. Their horns come in a variety of colours and shapes. They may curl around their ears like a sheep, or spiral upwards like an antelope, or any number of variants, including antlers on those descended from Beshaba.

Some Tieflings whose heritage was particularly strong could have forked tongues, leathery or scaly skin, cloven hooves, a sulphurous or brimstone odour about them, and unusually warm flesh.

Speaking of flesh, their skin tones include the same range of tones as humans, but also various shades of red. Generally Tieflings are not supposed to be blue, like Laura Bailey’s character Jester from the second season of Critical Role, but D&D being the game it is, we can take it, turn it over and make it whatever we want it to be.

There are even Tieflings descended from Rakasha, a race of duplicitous outsiders, devious sorcerers and malevolent manipulators, that have feline eyes or furred skin.

In terms of usual Tiefling hair, that grows around their horns, is commonly black, or else other dark tones, like brown, dark red, deep blue or purple.

Tieflings often live in human cities and towns, in small minorities. Treated as a subclass, (in the political sense of the word class,) by humans and most other races, Tieflings are often relegated to the poorer and rougher parts. This treatment often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and Tieflings often turn to crime in order to support themselves, as due to their baleful appearance, they are often shunned, especially by superstitious commoners and this can make it difficult to earn an honest living. People will generally not buy from a Tiefling merchant - fearing curses, or just being swindled. Occasionally Tieflings rise to become crime lords in their area. Sometimes they live among other minorities, where their plight might find empathy.

In any case, life for a Tiefling might not always be a happy one. Some parents of Tieflings whose features were particularly demonic might kill their child, or it might be killed by frightened villagers who fear it’s presence might blight their crops or make their livestock sick.

Tieflings often don’t have the usual upbringing most human children enjoy, but are intelligent, and capable warriors naturally, with a dark and seductive demeanour. Growing up they become aware of their different nature early on, usually by derision at the hands of others. Despite this maltreatment, they don’t all naturally gravitate towards evil as expected, but instead span the gamut between extremes of good and evil, usually falling somewhere in-between, much like their human counterparts. Often proud, self reliant, (usually by necessity,) slow to trust and secretive - the latter trait only adding to their mistrust by others, which might be seen as enjoying their privacy in other races. Indeed most Tiefling traits can be viewed through the lens of prejudice, or seen as normal traits in a race of people who had little involvement in where they came from.

With no homeland, Tieflings have to integrate themselves into society in general, and know that they will have to make their way in the world on their own. Once you have shown you trust a Tiefling, they can become a lifelong friend and ally. Tieflings are generally carnivores, with bone marrow considered a particular delicacy, although that probably does little for their reputation.

Stat Block

Tieflings gain +1 to intelligence & +2 to Charisma
Tieflings age at the same rate as humans but typically live 20-40 years longer.
Size =Medium
Speed: 30ft
Darkvision: 60ft
Resistance to fire damage
Infernal legacy - You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. At 3rd level they can cast Hellish Rebuke as a 2nd level spell once between long rests. At 5th level they can cast Darkness once per long rest. They use Charisma as the spell casting ability for these spells.
Languages: Common and Infernal

You So Classy

Paladin

Paladins are sometimes referred to as White Knights, Cavaliers or Holy Warriors. Their closest parallel in the real world is probably the Knights Templar - the famous holy warrior knights from history.

Paladins are typically clad in plate armour, brandishing a large sword and shield, they value virtue, nobility, and honour.

Paladins are bound by powerful oaths to uphold justice and righteousness against the dark forces of evil throughout the world. A common misconception about Paladins is that their sacred power comes only from the deity or deities they serve, when in actual fact it comes just as much from their devotion to justice. Training for years, Paladins master a variety of weapons and armour, but those martial skills pale in comparison to the divine magical power they wield. Paladins have powers to heal, to protect the innocent and the just, and to vanquish evil and the undead wherever they may linger.

Paladins are born to the adventuring life, persistently seeking out evil in the darker parts of the world, driven by a lust for justice that borders on, and some would say crosses the threshold into zealotry. Even though a Paladin may be in service to a monarch or country, they consider that allegiance secondary to their cause of righteousness, as they believe that every victory against evil, no matter how small, can help tip the scales in the favour of goodness and help save the world from darkness and oblivion.

A Paladin is often a good choice for a starting player who is a little unsure of what they want to do in terms of team role. A Paladin is a half-caster, so players get to dabble in magic both offensively and defensively, as well as getting stuck into the action as a melee fighter, while their plate armour soaks up damage, allowing Paladins to tank for the team, while the squishy casters - wizards, sorcerers and warlocks use ranged spells to take down foes, or rangers and rogues flank enemies for advantageous positions for sneak attacks etc.

The first thing to think about when creating a Paladin is the nature of your holy quest. By third level, which arrives pretty quickly, the features related to your oath will be available and you should be planning for this. In fact I’d go so far as to say when creating ANY character, you should be thinking of third and even fifth level features from the outset. Go through the oath features to see what sort of playing style you prefer. Also think about where your Paladin has come from and their journey to this point - remember a level 1 adventurer would still stand above your average soldier, fighter, or mercenary in terms of their level of skill and expertise - you are playing a hero character after all. Were they a knight errant? A leader of armies? A personal guard to the crown, or even an adviser on matters of war? You could even be a lone swordsman, driven to fight evil out of a need for revenge.

Which god or gods do you serve? Popular choices include Torm: god of courage and self-sacrifice; Tyr: god of justice; Heironeous: god of chivalry and valour; Paladine: god of rulers and guardians; Kiri-Jolith: god of honour and war; Bahamut: the platinum dragon god of good; The Silver Flame: deity of protection and good; and various others.

Paladins are also set apart by their calling to fight for good. How did you receive your calling? Was it written in letters of fire in the sky? Did you witness the destruction of a place of innocence and pledge yourself to ensuring it never happened again on your watch? Did an angel witness your deeds and bring word that you were chosen? Or did another Paladin see a spark in you that they nurtured into a flame of righteous indignation against the wicked and damned?

Paladin quick builds favour Strength, followed by Charisma, then choosing the Noble background, (see last episode for more info on Nobles.)

As a Paladin, you can sense the presence of evil, almost like a vile odour in the air. Conversely, the presence of powerful good also affects you as if notes of a heavenly choir were ringing out. You can use an action to detect such presences and until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60ft of you as well as it’s type, (restricted to those mentioned.) but not it’s identity. You can also detect the presence of any consecrated or desecrated place within the same radius. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier +1 between long rests.

You can also lay on hands to heal from a pool of healing power - restoring HP to yourself during a long rest equal to your Paladin level x5, or as an action, to a character up to the amount available in the pool. You can also spend 5HP from the pool to cure a target of one disease or neutralise one poison affecting it. You can also cure multiple diseases and/or neutralise multiple poisonings on a character with a single use of laying on hands, spending HP separately for each instance. This feature may not be used on undead or constructs.

At second level, you adopt a fighting style, from:

Defence - which gives a +1 to AC
Duelling - which gives a +2 to damage rolls with a single equipped weapon, provided you wield no others
Great Weapon Fighting - While wielding a two-handed or versatile weapon, you can re-roll a 1 or 2 on an attack roll, but must use the new roll.
Protection - If a creature you can see attacks an ally within 5ft of you, you can impose disadvantage on the roll, using a reaction, but you must have a shield equipped.

You also get the ability Divine Smite, which allows you to add radiant damage on top of weapon damage, expending a spell slot. The extra damage is 2D8 for a 1st level spell, and an extra 1D8 for each spell level above 1st, to a maximum of 5D8. The damage increases by 1D8 if the enemy is undead or a fiend.

At 3rd level, you are immune to disease and you take your sacred oath, which allows you to channel divine energies, granting new features unique to each oath type.

Oaths include:

Oath of Devotion - These are the white knights of legend, held to the highest standards. You must not lie or cheat - your word is your bond. You must never be too afraid to act. You must protect the weak and punish their oppressors, albeit tempered with mercy and wisdom. You should be an example of honour - treating others fairly, doing the most good and least harm.

This Oath grants you access to the spells: protection from evil and good, sanctuary, lesser restoration, zone of truth, beacon of hope, dispelling magic and more at higher levels. You can also Channel Divinity, allowing you to turn the unholy, or bless your weapon, imbuing it with positive energy - meaning you add your Char mod to attack rolls with that weapon. The weapon also emits a bright light in a 20ft radius and dim light for 20ft further. This ends after a minute, as part of an action, or if you are no longer holding or carrying the weapon or if you fall unconscious.

Oath of The Ancients - This oath closely mirrors the tenets of Druids. Paladins of this oath are often called Green Knights, Fey Knights or Horned Knights. To swear to this oath means you must kindle the light of hope by your acts of mercy, kindness and forgiveness. You must stand against wickedness and the enemies of good, love and laughter and protect life where it flourishes. You must delight in song, beauty and art, and you should personify the light of joy with your bearing and deeds.

This oath gives you the spells, ensnaring strike, speak with animals, misty step, moonbeam, plant growth, stoneskin and more. Your channel divinity options are: Nature’s Wrath, which invokes primeval forces to ensnare foes with grasping spectral vines; and Turn the Faithless, which involves an incantation that fey and fiends find painful to hear.

Oath of Vengeance - This oath commits you to punish those who commit atrocities against others that classifies as a grievous sin, righting wrongdoings against the innocent and helpless. It may involve stopping a rampaging dragon, a marauding war band, or a people who have turned against the will of the gods. These Paladins are like Batman - dark avengers of justice, less concerned with their own purity, than with calling evil to task. You must choose to fight the greater evil. You do not meter out justice with mercy - you defeat your sworn foes by any means necessary, and help those affected by their misdeeds.

This oath grants you the spells bane, hunter’s mark, hold person, misty step, banishment and more. Your channel divinity options are: Abjure enemy , which frightens foes who fail a Wisdom saving throw within 60ft as you present your holy symbol and chant a prayer of denunciation. Frightened creatures have a speed of 0 and don’t benefit from any speed bonuses. A saved throw means the creature’s speed is halved. Both last one minute. You also have a vow of enmity, giving you advantage on attack rolls against a creature you can see within 10ft for one minute or until it drops to 0 HP.

The SCAG expands the oaths list to include the Oath of the Crown, dedicating the Paladin to serving society and the just laws that bind it together. Spells include Command, compelled duel, warding bond, spirit guardians and more. Channel divinity options are Champion Challenge - which compels other creature to enter into battle with you; and Turn the Tide - which bolsters creatures that can hear you within 30ft, allowing them to regain HP = to 1D6 + your Charisma mod.

XGTE further adds the Oath of Conquest - these Paladins seek not only glory in battle but the complete subjugation of their enemies, crushing the forces of chaos and evil underfoot. Sometimes called Knight Tyrants or Iron Mongers, some even consort with the powers of the nine hells - the archdevil Bel, warlord of Avernus counts many of this type of Paladin as his followers. Conquest tenets include breaking their opponents will and crushing all hope, ruling with an iron fist, and might makes right. Spells include armour of Agathys, spiritual weapon, bestow curse, fear, dominate beasts and person and more. Channel divinity options are: Conquering presence - which forces each creature of your choice within 30ft to become frightened of you for one minute on a failed Wisdom save, and Guided Strike - that allows you to gain +10 on an attack roll after you see the roll but before the DM says whether it hits or misses.

XGTE also includes the Oath of Redemption - which makes this type of Paladin use violence only as a last resort, which can be a very difficult path for an adventurer of any type to follow. These Paladins try to turn foes into allies, believing that anyone can be redeemed, provided they are not inherently evil, like devils, fiends, demons and the undead, who they apparently have free reign to smite as they see fit. The tenets of the redeemers are: Peace, innocence - setting people on the path to righteousness as early as possible by example, patience and wisdom. Spells include sanctuary, sleep, calm emotions, counterspell, hold monster and more. Channel divinity options are Emissary of Peace - which grants you a +5 to Persuasion (Charisma,) checks for 10 minutes; and Rebuke the Violent - When an attacker within 30ft deals damage to a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to force the attacking creature to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, the creature takes radiant damage = to the damage it dealt. On a save, it takes half damage.

Background Check

Hermit

As a...

Episode 8 - Nobles, Gnomes, Monks and Flumphs

Mike Rickard — Fri, 15 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:41 + Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
01:24 + Off To The Races: This episode features
10:17 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at
18:30 + Background Check:
22:31 + Monster Menagerie:
27:17 + Lore Academy:

Total runtime - 32:54

Sources & further reading:

Gnomes

PHB: 35-37
SCAG: 114-115
XGTE: 178 (names only)

Monk

PHB: 76-81

Noble

PHB: 135-136

Flumph

Monster Manual: 135

Links

https://discord.gg/QC9d2YQ- Discord server to chat with me and others

https://dnd.wizards.com/remote/freematerialWotC free materials page

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Flumph- FR Wiki on Flumph’s

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Bahamut - FR Wiki on Bahamut

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahamut_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)- Wikipedia on Bahamut

Welcome to Syrinscapesyrinscape.com - Syrinscape tabletop audio

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y.

In this episode, we’re talking about Gnomes, Nobles, Flumphs, Monks and Bahamut!

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

Off to the Races

Gnome

Gnomes love life. They try to enjoy as much of it as possible, which considering they live for 3-5 centuries, means they’re here for a good time AND a long time. Despite this lengthy lifespan, Gnomes still worry that they won’t get to see and do everything they want to do in the time that is given to them.

Gnomes love to explore, create, invent, investigate and play, well into their adult lives.

Gnomes love to laugh, enjoying jokes and pranks. Their workshops erupt in peals of laughter as often as minor explosions and plumes of smoke.

Gnomes speak as fast as they think, which is generally pretty fast. Standing at slightly over 3 feet tall, and weighing 40-45 pounds, with tan faces and fair hair that has a tendency to strike out on it’s own in several directions at once, bright eyes and a cheerful disposition. Males are often bearded, and in contrast to their hair, their beards are well-kempt and often styled into forks or points.

These diminutive peoples, called the forgotten folk by some, are some of the least populous and influential in the world. Not having a major presence on the world stage would infuriate some races, but not the Gnomes - they revel in the anonymity it affords them and the protection that brings.

Legend tells that Gnomes first sprang forth on Faerûn from mystic gems buried deep in the earth. This explains both their love of gems and their predilection for living in underground warrens. The forest Gnomes came from emeralds, diamonds became the rock Gnomes, and rubies became the deep Gnomes, or Svirfneblin.

Gnomes tend to live in secluded, hidden places, away from other races, but will gladly work and socialise with humans, elves and dwarves, although Gnome interests often take second place to the concerns of the other races. Gnomes are often underestimated by the other races, but Gnomes have learned to use this to their advantage, both defensively and offensively, when required. Their homes are generally underground, but they come up into the sunlight more often than Dwarves. Their dwellings are hidden by a combination of clever architecture and illusions. Welcome visitors are quickly ushered into their bright little burrows, whereas those who are not welcome will likely never find them.

Gnomes have several names, having been given epithets by not only their parents, but aunts and uncles and the clan elder may chip in a name too, amongst others. When dealing with other races, they usually chose no more than three names - a personal name, a clan name, and a nickname - choosing the most fun ones to say in each category.

Forest Gnomes make their homes in simple hillside dwellings, deep in the woods. They could live only a few miles from a human or elf village, and the residents there would never know the Gnomes existed, such is their desire for seclusion. If discovered, and treated well, they make for fine neighbours, but still prefer to avoid contact with even friendly-seeming folk. Forest Gnomes have an affinity with animals, often keeping squirrels, badgers, rabbits, moles, woodpeckers and others as pets. They also have a knack for illusions that helps them stay hidden. If discovered, forest Gnomes will either pack up and move their whole town deeper into the forest, vanishing overnight, or else if threatened, will defend their homes with all the resources at their disposal. Forest Gnomes rarely leave the comforts of home to go adventuring, but those that do, use their gifts with magic and nature to become guides, scouts, mystics, or Druids.

Rock Gnomes are more commonplace than their forest-dwelling cousins, interacting regularly with other races. Rock Gnomes are inquisitive, seeking out people to learn new things from. They prefer to live on the edges of other settlements, in their own enclaves, but occasionally a rock Gnome will live in a human or dwarves city. Gnome wanderers also exist, travelling between communities to learn new things and trade both information and goods.

Gnomes who leave to live amongst other races, often find themselves a trade as jewellers and gem cutters - skills they have inherited from their race. Others find work as Tinkerers, Alchemists or Engineers. Gnomes find machinery of all types fascinating and love to figure out how they work - often by dismantling them. Gnome Sages and Tutors are found in human communities - their long lifespans giving them ample time to accumulate much useful knowledge to pass on.

The Deep Gnomes, or Svirfneblin, reside in the Underdark, along with the Duergar, (dark dwarves,) and Drow, (dark elves). Deep Gnomes are serious, careworn, and dour - especially when compared to the sunny, cheerful and optimistic dispositions of their surface dwelling cousins. One thing they do share is their love of privacy, and Svirfneblin homes are also hidden away, as well as well guarded.

Being in close proximity to the Drow, whose society prizes hostility and conquering, they live under constant threat of being relocated, destroyed, or pressed into slavery for the Drow. This in fact happened to Blingdenstone, which was one of the largest and grandest of the Deep Gnome’s strongholds, having existed for over two thousand years until it was overrun by Drow from Menzoberranzan, around a century ago.

In contrast to their counterparts, Svirfneblin are lean with dark grey and earth skin tones, resembling rock. Males are bald and beardless, with females having hair on their heads. Svirfneblin adventurers are known, often living amongst the other denizens of the Underdark, or occasionally making their way to the surface.

Stat Block

Size: Small - 3-4 ft
Speed: 25 ft
Darkvision: 60ft
Gnome Cunning: Advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saving throws against magic.
Languages: Common and Gnomish

Forest Gnomes

Dex +1
Natural Illusionist - You know the cantrip Minor illusion. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Speak With Small Beasts - You can communicate simple ideas with smaller beasts with a combination of sounds and gestures.

Rock Gnomes

Con +1
Artificer’s Lore - you can add twice your proficiency bonus when making Intelligence (History) checks on magical or alchemical objects or technological devices.
Tinker - You have proficiency with artisan’s tools. You can use 1hr & 10GP worth of materials to create a small clockwork device, with an AC of 5 and 1HP from:
Toy - such as an animal, person or monster, which can move 5 ft in a random direction and makes noises commensurate with it’s appearance.
Fire Starter - This device produces a small flame, which can light a candle, torch or campfire. Using it requires an action.
Music Box - Plays a single song when opened, until it ends, or the device is closed.

You can have up to 3 of these devices active at any time, which last for 24 hours, at which point they cease to function. You can choose to repair them, spending another hour to do so. You can also use an action to dismantle a device, reclaiming the materials.

Deep Gnomes

Dex +1
Superior Darkvision - 120ft radius
Stone Camouflage - You have advantage on Dex (Stealth) checks to hide when in rocky terrain.
Extra Language - Undercommon
Svirfneblin Magic - You can cast nondetection at will, without a material component. You can also cast blindness, deafness, blur, and disguise self, using intelligence as your spellcasting ability, and regain the use of these spells after a long rest.

You So Classy

Monk

Monks utilise Ki energy - the magical energy that flows within living beings - to create magical effects and push their physical boundaries to be faster and stronger than their bodies would otherwise allow.

Monks can also utilise Ki to impede the flow in other creatures, leading to debuff effects.

Trained in unarmed combat in temples around the world, monks are seeking perfection or enlightenment via personal reflection and rigorous training. Many monks enter the monastery as children, perhaps orphaned by war, or by parents who were too poor to feed them.

Some monks live apart from the nearest towns or cities, bathing in the spiritual and tranquil surroundings of the monastery. Still others live entirely isolated lives like hermits, heeding only the call of their leader.

Many do integrate into society though, making regular trips into towns and cities for provisions, cloth and other necessities. Sometimes they will barter their skills. More often than not, Monks will intervene if locals are attacked by bandits or monsters, adding their uncanny might to that of the guard or militia.

For a monk to leave the confines of the temple or monastery to become an adventurer is a much larger decision though, and a much different lifestyle to the communal living they may be used to.

Monks may become adventurers for many reasons. It may be at the behest of their leader, who has a task for them. The PHB mentions monks becoming spies or assassins, which seems a little counterintuitive for a monk, especially when Rogues exist, but whatever. Maybe there’s a particular path that some monks can follow to gain these nefarious abilities huh? Cough Foreshadowing! Cough

Other reasons monks could leave to become adventurers:

They see the wider world as the ultimate challenge for their skills and spiritual development.
They wish to root out and destroy evil.
They are just plain sick of the temple lifestyle and have turned their back on it in order to drink, fight, and generally raise hell.
They have been exiled for breaking their oaths of monk-hood-dom, or for seeking out secret or forbidden knowledge.
They fell in love with a local from the nearby town and left the monastery for them - only to have their affections spurned. Unable to turn to the monastery for help, they turned to adventuring as a way to survive and hone their skills.
They want to wear colours other than orange and red.

For your monk’s backstory, you’ll need to think about their connection to the monastery - is it still strong or have they broken all ties? Are they still working secretly for the monastery?

Were they a resident since birth? Were they left in a basket on the doorstep with a note for the monks to take care of the baby, or did they have a spiritual epiphany later in life, and eschew their worldly possessions in order to follow a more serene path? Did you join to hide yourself away from people who wanted you dead? Did you join always intending to leave once you’d gleaned the secrets of Ki manipulation? Oh, the questions!

How do you feel striking out alone? Will you be able to relate to other adventurers from different backgrounds?

The PHB lists monks as almost always lawful in alignment, but what if something happened to make you hate your monastery?

Stat Block

As a monk, your primary stats should be Dex and Wis. For a quick build, choose the hermit background.

HP @ lvl1 == 8+Con mod
HP == 1D8 (or 5) + Con mod/lvl
Hit dice: 1D8/lvl
Armour: None. Better hope that Ki stuff works eh? Don’t worry though, because you get something called:
Unarmoured defence - when not wearing armour or holding a shield, your AC == 10 + Dex mod + Wis Mod
Weapons: Simple weapons, short swords
Tools: One type of artisans tools or a musical instrument
Saving throws: Strength, Dex
Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth
Equipment:
A shortsword or any simple weapon.
Dungeoneer’s or explorer’s pack
10 darts

Other Monk mechanics:

Martial arts: When using simple weapons or short swords, provided they are not two handed or classed as heavy, and not wearing armour or using a shield, you can -

Use Dex instead of Str for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed and monk weapon strikes
Roll a D4 instead of the normal damage of unarmed or monk weapon strikes. This die changes with levels
You can make an additional unarmed strike as a bonus action

Ki - Starting at lvl 2, you gain Ki points, which scale with levels. To start, you can use these points to fuel the features, Flurry of Blows, Patient Defence, and Step of the Wind. You learn more Ki abilities as you level.

Flurry of blows - you spend 1 Ki point to make 2 unarmed strikes as a bonus action
Patient Defence - 1 ki point grants you the ability to Dodge as a bonus action
Step of the Wind - 1 ki point enables you to disengage or dash as a bonus action

You regain Ki points after a short or long rest, provided you use 30 mins to meditate.

If a Ki feature requires your target to make a saving throw, the DC is 8 + prof bonus + wis mod.

Your base speed also increases by 10ft from 2nd lvl and scales with levels too, with the usual proviso that you aren’t wearing armour, holding a shield, are only using monk weapons and haven’t consumed any dairy within the last 72 hours. Ok, I might’ve made that last bit up.

At 3rd level you choose between monastic traditions:

The Way of the Open Hand - Masters of martial arts, they can use Ki to push or trip opponents; can heal themselves, and learn powerful meditations to protect from harm. Star Wars fans (for the force push,) and Kung Fu movie aficionados will enjoy this path.
The Way of the Shadow - Essentially ninjas. What, you thought all monks were peace loving hippy types? Not these badasses. They learn to cast darkness, darkvision, pass without trace, or silence - without the need for material components. They can also teleport between shadows, and follow up with advantage on their first melee attack. If you’ve ever played Dishonoured or Thief, this might be the path for you.
The Way of the Four Elements - You learn to harness the elements. Some monks stick to one, others integrate several or all. You can cast elemental spells, such as thunder wave, stone skin, cone of cold, burning hands and more. A particular favourite is “Clench of the North Wind, which makes it sound like you’re holding in a fart, but in reality you cast hold person. Combined with the fact that adepts of this path often tattoo themselves, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender will love this path, along with fans of Storm from the X-Men.

Some other fun monk features, include being able to deflect ranged weapon attacks, extra attacks, slow fall, and the ability to understand all spoken languages.

Obviously as always there are loads more features for the monk generally and in each path than I have the time, energy or inclination to cover, so get reading if a monk is in your future character bank.

Background Check

Noble

Born of privilege, Nobles see the world very differently to commoners. They understand wealth and power, having significant sway in the political spheres. Their family will own land and collect taxes. You will probably have some form of title - as well as the responsibilities that come along with it.

Were you born of aristocracy, a pampered and out of touch sort - aloof and entitled; or the child of a wealthy mercantile family, raised to the nobility by years of hard work? Or perhaps you were disinherited - your family turning their back on you for some slight, leading you to fend for yourself on the cruel city streets. You could even be a benevolent land owner, who cares about the people who live and work on your land, perhaps fighting to defend both your territory and it’s people.

If you have a title - what is it? Work with your Dm to come up with not only a title, but some sense of what import it carries, and what ties, bonds and responsibilities it drapes over the shoulders of its carrier.

How much influence does you family have over you? Do they expect you to carry on the dynasty, or are you not a direct heir, so were mostly left to your own devices. Does your family have a reputation? How are they regarded by the other nobles in the region? Does their reputation cover more than one region - perhaps even world renowned?

How do you feel about inheriting your title? Do you stand proudly, an example of noble superiority? Or do you feel it as a millstone around your neck?

How does the family feel about your adventuring career? Are you representing the nobility with a quick wit and a flashing rapier? Or maybe you’re trying to distance yourself from your past, proving to yourself that you don’t need fawning over by sycophantic servants, preferring pitched battles to pampering.

Do you wear your families livery and coat of arms emblazoned on your chest, or perhaps discreetly on a signet ring?

Do you have a manservant? Or maybe you travel with a squire?

Stat Block

Skills: History, Persuasion
Tools: One type of gaming set
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse...

Bonus Episode 2: A Brief History of D&D

Mike Rickard — Fri, 08 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Bonus Episode #2 - A Brief History of D&D

Intro

Now in it’s 5th edition, Dungeons and Dragons is experiencing a resurgence into popular culture, in large part due to the internet, and live streaming shows such as Critical Role; Acquisitions Incorporated, and Force Grey, as well as thousands of other live play shows, streams, youtube channels and podcasts.

It has spawned countless other games, influenced most of the forms of entertainment we enjoy in some form or another and brought to the world the concept of “Levelling Up”. Without it, there’d be no World of Warcraft, or video games like The Witcher 3, and the entire field of gamification might never have arisen to help us enjoy our to-do lists. D&D has become a cornerstone of geek culture.

It wasn’t always so popular though. In fact during the 80’s, it was positively vilified … but we’ll get to that later. Join me now as I delve into the sprawling corridors of history to discover what D&D is, and how it came about.

The beginning

First, we need to travel back to 1971 before even your wizened and grey-bearded host was born - to a game called Chainmail, that was written by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren.

Gary was a long time miniature war-game veteran - the type still played by Military buffs around the globe today, as well as Warhammer and its variants. Essentially you have an army, represented by miniature figures. You enact or reenact battles by manoeuvring the army around the playing field using rulers and resolve battles by rolling dice, with the help of a referee.

Gary saw that there was potential in expanding the rules of wargaming, which he felt could be constricting. In addition, Gary wanted to get away from using only 6 sided dice, as there was an inherent bell curve when rolling 2 of them: 2’s and 12’s were rare rolls, whereas 6’s 7’s and 8’s are more common due to the increased combinations of numbers that can result. Gary initially used numbered poker chips 1-20, to ensure a 5% chance of getting any particular number. Later, he found a school supply catalogue that had dice shaped like all the Platonic solids, including the now-famous Icosahedron: A 20 sided die that will forever be known as the D20, thanks to D&D.

Chainmail

Between 1968 & 1971, Gary and his friend Jeff Perren worked on what would become 16 pages of rules for a new type of game. They called it Chainmail, it differed from traditional war-games in 2 major ways: First, some of the miniatures, instead of representing multiple units, were instead known as ‘Hero’ units, that could withstand much more punishment than ordinary units. Secondly, just for fun, rules were included for magical fantasy settings. Things like wizards, spells, elves and … dragons! Gary was a big fan of Robert E Howard’s Conan series, and hoped to bring some of the swashbuckling adventure to tabletop gaming.

In 1971, Chainmail was published by a games company started by a friend of Gary’s. It was the company’s biggest hit, making around $300 per month.

Dave Arneson

Dave Arneson, having already collaborated on a high seas naval combat game with Gary, modified Chainmail further to include improvisatory play, and moved the setting to a dungeon in order to make games easier to deal with. Dave also added an experience system, necessitated by his player groups wanting to play games that spanned multiple sessions. Characters now earned experience points, based on what they do in the game. Earn enough points and the character goes up a level. Dave also took a different approach to being the game’s referee too, instead of just acting as an arbitrator of the rules, he also performed as a kind of guide to the dungeon and the world itself, describing the scenery and encounters.

Gary and Dave agreed to collaborate again after talking about what Dave’s group were up to, with Gary trying to codify new rules from Dave’s notes and during long phone calls.

There were four races in the original edition; Human, Elves, Hobbits and Dwarves.

Classes were constructed, originally consisting of just Fighting Man, Magic User and Cleric, each with lists of mathematical attributes that were used during play, like intelligence, constitution, strength and so on. The list of available weapons stretched too to include many new bladed, blunt and spiky things. The attributes in particular, enhanced the playing of a character - a low intelligence score might literally spell disaster for a wizard, but isn’t going to stop a warrior swinging a sword, and those the same attributes could also feed into playing the role - a player could easily act out their version of a character with low intelligence.

TSR

By 1973 Gary had shopped the game around publishers, but no one could ever seem to see the potential for a game that had no winner and didn’t really end, so he set up his own company, Tactical Studies Rules, with a childhood friend, Don Kaye, who had helped Gary playtest the game. Dave Arneson wasn’t asked to join the fledgling company, as he and Gary didn’t exactly see eye to eye on many things. He was just having fun playing the game.

The company managed to raise $2400 and got to work. In January of 1974, the first thousand copies of the three-booklet set were printed, ready for sale at $10. A set of dice costs $3.50 extra. As with so many brands that came out of the 60’s and 70’s, TSR at this point is run from Gary’s basement. There was no budget for marketing, but word of mouth proved to be D&D’s success, spreading through hobby shops, colleges and schools and in ten short months, TSR sold out of D&D booklets.

Shortly thereafter, the Advanced version booklet came out in 1977, adding many new features, including new classes Assassin, Bard, Druid, Illusionist, Monk, Paladin, Ranger and Thief. The first Monster manual was also released. The Players Handbook came along in 1978, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide in 1979.

Pre packaged adventures followed, written by Gary, Dave Arneson and others, but the real beauty of D&D, the thing that still attracts players and DM’s to it now, is that D&D had scope for people to build their own adventures from scratch, even their own worlds and all of them can be explored, fought for and looted.

The Satanic Panic

In the late 70’s and into the early 80’s, America was gripped by the “Satanic Panic”, which vilified anything seen as satanic, including heavy metal music, video nasties and D&D. Around this time, the media was circulating rumours of Satanic cults performing ritual child abuse, centered at the time around alleged abuse of children by teachers and other adults in positions of authority.

In 1979 a student named James Dallas Egbert the 3rd disappeared from his college in Michigan and rumours circulated that he had been killed as part of a real life D&D game in the steam tunnels under his college. James had been something of a prodigy, so no one could think of a reason why he would just disappear. William Dear, a private investigator from Dallas, worked on the case by trying to get into James’ mindset. He found a seemingly meaningful arrangement of thumbtacks on James’ cork board and studied the D&D manuals for clues. The only other clue left by James was a note stating that if his body was found, it was to be cremated. The handwriting on the note did not match James’.

William believed that the path to finding James, could be found through studying D&D, even paying to play games to better understand the game and by extension, the mindset of a player. Dear was interviewed multiple times during the course of the investigation, and was even quoted using the attributes from the game, saying that James, “Did not posses Strength and Charisma, but Intelligence and Dexterity, yes.” and the media ran with it.

Eventually James called Dear, who went to visit him in a dilapidated hotel in a bad part of the town he’d escaped to. On the condition that Dear told no-one where he had been since he’d disappeared, James told him his story.

In fact, James had left Michigan after a failed suicide attempt, due to depression stemming from a troubled home life and the fact that he hadn’t come out as gay to his parents - which would’ve been an even bigger deal back then. He’d also started using drugs and alcohol as a way to cope. He’d planned to commit suicide in the steam tunnels, which students had used for playing, partying and having sex in, but had been unable to go through with it. He’d written the note with his left hand to throw people off. He’d spent some time coach surfing, staying with friends and eventually hitched a ride south.

James was reunited with his parents. Dear kept his word and told no one about James’ story. Dear visited James at his parent’s house on occasion.

Sadly, about a year after being found and returning home to his parents, James finally did commit suicide.

Dear finally told James’ story in full five years after he died in a book that detailed not only his problematic home life, but also James’ issues with depression, drugs and alcohol - but far be it for the media to let the facts get in the way of a good story, they had another in a long line of scapegoats for society’s ills in D&D. The story that a kid had been killed while playing was already widespread. It was obvious D&D was evil to its accusers - it promoted witchcraft and demon worship, and the evidence was clear: the booklets contained spells and incantations, and there was talk of demons within its pages.

A 1981 novel called “Mazes and Monsters”, presumably for copyright reasons, told a tale of a youth who became so enamoured with a fictional version of the game that he could no longer tell what was real any more. It was based loosely on the story of Eggbert’s disappearance. It was later developed into a film starring a young Tom Hanks.

Another parent formed a group called “B.A.D.D” - Bothered About Dungeons And Dragons, after she claimed her son shot himself in the chest after receiving a curse in the game.

It’s interesting to note that a similar thing happened more recently with the Harry Potter franchise, with certain sections of society branding it evil and dangerous for similar reasons and the media regurgitating the story to the public. No one ever seems to make mention of the fact that the heroes in these works are busy fighting the demons and evil forces, much like in most heroic works of fiction dating back to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest known work of literature, and works like Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad.

TSR makes bank … for now

By 1982, TSR was boasting sales of between 16 and 22million dollars. (Sources vary)

If anything, the “Satanic Panic” helped profits with the free publicity, and TSR could barely keep up with demand, but trouble was on the horizon. In attempting to branch out with the franchise, Gary stepped back from games design to lead TSR’s entertainment division and moved to California. He had some success: In 1983 CBS aired the Dungeons and Dragons animated TV show, which helped with publicity, but by the mid eighties, the company was in trouble.

Things go downhill

The Blume bothers, who were fellow board members, managed the company into the ground in Gary’s absence. The company had bought 70 plus company cars and spent around 1.5 million on office furniture. When Gary came back, TSR was 1.5 million in debt.

By 1984, TSR had made hundreds of lay offs, but profit projections still looked bleak, so they turned to Lorraine Williams, the mother of a writer Gary had met in Hollywood and who had management experience, to run the company. Williams proceeded to buy out the Blume brothers and in 1985, Gary was ousted from the board, no longer having a controlling share of the company. He sold his remaining stake the same year.

It was during this time that Dave Arneson sued TSR for an undisclosed sum after relations with Gary soured around sharing credit for the game. Going forward, Dave’s name would feature alongside Gary’s as co-creator.

And So It Goes

TSR continued for 12 years after Gygax left, but had fallen behind its competition by the mid 90’s. Eventually, TSR was acquired by Wizards of the coast in 1997, and the TSR name was dropped from D&D products by 2000. More editions followed, but were mostly sidelined by video games like WoW, which were not only based on D&D, but often made by people who were fans of D&D.

Up To Date

The 5th Edition was released in 2014, which soon hit Amazon’s best seller list, and the uphill crawl got taken up by streamers, leading to where we are today - an internet full of D&D shows, how-to videos, podcasts, as well as merch, fan art and more!

Gary Gygax died in 2008 at 69 and Dave Arneson died in 2009, at 61, but their legacy lives on every time we roll an icosahedron.

Total runtime: 15:21

Links

• Twitter thread by @PulpLibrarian, : https://twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/1217889379605237761

•“You’re Wrong About …” podcast, “The Satanic Panic” May 3rd, 2018, by Michael Hobbs and Sarah Marshall https://rottenindenmark.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/satanic-panic-v2.mp3

•The Epic of Gilgamesh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

•The Works of Homer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer.

Episode 7 - Outlanders, Ettins, Humans, Fighters, Death Metal and Tiamat

Mike Rickard — Fri, 01 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:41 + Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
04:39 + Off To The Races: This episode features Humans
08:32 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at the Fighter
17:47 + Background Check: The Outlander
20:05 + Monster Menagerie: The Ettin
24:18+ Lore Academy: None this time, listen to find out why
24:33 + The Infamous: Tiamat

Total runtime - 30:45

Sources & further reading:

Humans - PHB: 29-31 SCAG: 100-112, XGTE:(Names) 181-192

Fighters - PHB: 70-75 XGTE: 27-31, SCAG: 127-128

Oulander background - PHB: 136-137

Ettin - Monster Manual: 132

Links

https://www.icastpod.com/episode/episode-4-soldiers-and-beholders-and-dwarves-oh-my I Cast Pod episode 4, which includes the Soldier background - useful for Fighter builds.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Tiamat- FR Wiki on Tiamat

https://amzn.to/3d90UV4- Amazon affiliate link to Tyranny of Dragons

https://amzn.to/3aVVTxi - Amazon affiliate link to Hoard of the Dragon Queen

https://amzn.to/3aSEshd- Amazon affiliate link to Rise of Tiamat

https://syrinscape.com - Syrinscape tabletop audio. (Not an affiliate link)

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In this episode, we’re talking about Death Metal, Ettins, Tiamat, Fighters, and Outlanders.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

I finally took delivery of my package of The Depths of Drasted - a limited edition boxed set of CD and one shot 5E compatible adventure, from the death metal band, The Black Dahlia Murder - who I’m already a big fan of. The adventure is designed to take around 3 hours to complete, so perfect for a one shot, and the character sheets all start at level 5, (“simply because at level 5 you have access to all the cooler spells and abilities” according to the booklet.)

The adventure takes place in the long-deserted ruins of the city of Drasted, which in its prime was a centre for magical learning, but has been abandoned for long ages. Stories tell of this repository of knowledge being home to many powerful and magical artefacts, ripe for plunder - but superstitions abound of this dark and foreboding place being home to an ancient force that rose up from under the city, poisoning it’s inhabitants and turning some into horrific abominations beyond the limits of flesh and imagination. In fact, as you enter a pall falls over the group and there seems to be an ominous green glow emanating from somewhere out of sight…

The set contains:

The CD of the album Verminous
A 24 page adventure booklet, with hand drawn artwork for items, enemies, maps, and page borders as well as tables for slime mutations and temporary insanity.
A custom set of green dice, with a variation of the biohazard symbol on the ‘one’ face, (apart from the D4, where it is in the middle on each face.)
A DM screen featuring artwork from the album’s cover
Custom pre-generated character sheets for Sloan McCord, cleric; Dux Lefevre, wizard; Wagner Lionheart, fighter; Walker Garrotte, fighter; and Chance Deveraux, rogue
High quality thick presentation cards for the unique enemies in the game: Dark Cultist, Tomb Hornet Grave Rat and King Rat, with hand drawn artwork printed on one side and background info and stats printed on the reverse
4 Hand drawn printed pull out maps to play on with minis.

There’s definitely more than I expected in the box and it’s of high quality overall. I’m really pleased with not only one of my favourite bands putting out a D&D adventure as a boxed set for its album release, but also the fact that the module has obviously had a lot of work and love put into it. Grab one if you can.

Off to the Races

Humans

I have to say I don’t really understand the choice to play as a human. If in any game: video, TTRPG, or even board game; if there’s another option besides human, I will play that. Elves are my personal favourite. But seeing as we play these games for some escapism from our day to day lives, playing a human seems a little… basic.

“You could be a powerful elemental?”

“Human.”

“A creature that looks like a demon - red skin, tail, horns and all!”

“Hmm… human.”

“A stout dwarf? A nimble halfling? A graceful elf? An industrious gnome?”

“Ooh! Erm… human please.”

“Bird person? Lizard person? Sentient Robot?”

“Nah.”

“How about a half-human hybrid? A half orc? Half elf? Half drow?”

“Nope, just make me a regular Joe.”

That being said, let’s look at the advantages of playing a human. In D&D humans are the most varied of all the races. As in real life, there is no such thing as an ‘average’ human. Height, weight, skin and hair tones are all widely variable.

Humans are also driven by ambition to achieve in ways that some of the longer lived races, just aren’t. Humans are the most adaptable, with wide varieties of moralities, cultures and proclivities which is widespread over the face of Toril.

Despite most human lives lasting under a century, they build cities and monuments to last through the ages, and preserve traditions through several lifetimes. Despite looking to legacy and the future, humans also live in the moment for the greater part, making them ideal for the adventuring lifestyle. They keep abreast of events too, including social and political changes. They are also welcoming of other races into their societies, for the most part - at least compared with how many humans are able to live in other societies.

Humans also have the odd compunction to champion causes, rather than just territory or group affiliations.

Adventuring humans may turn to the profession for any number of reasons - wanderlust, greed and avarice, the pursuit of glory, fame and power, or just the desire to help others and root out evil.

Humans have settlements, cities and even empires over the face of Toril, including Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and Baldur’s Gate, as well as numerous smaller sites like Phandalin, Iriaebor and Loudwater.

Humans are kind of generally good at everything in moderation in D&D and are famous for their adaptability, living in more types of terrain, from harsh tundra to scorching deserts, than any other race. Humans can survive and even thrive almost anywhere on the face of Toril, or even underneath the surface. Humans even settle in places that other races have forsaken, building towns and cities on the ruins of earlier civilisations.

The one thing that holds the human race back from becoming even more prevalent and powerful is their predilection for infighting. Were they able to band together and unify in the way that the elves or dwarves do, they might rule over all Toril.

Stat Block

Your ability scores each increase by 1

Any alignment is viable, as humans span the gamut.

Speed: 30ft

Size: Medium. Usual range is between 5-6ft

Languages: Common and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the language of the peoples they most commonly trade or deal with. Humans often appropriate words from other languages and pepper it into their own speech.

You So Classy

Fighter

One of the most diverse classes in the game, the fighter can be specc’d a number of different ways, from a knight, to a gladiator, mercenaries - even archers can come under the purview of the fighter.

All fighters learn the basics or all combat styles, which means that as a fighter, you can pick up an axe, Warhammer, sword or bow and start doing some damage. You’re rarely, if ever, defenceless. You can swashbuckle with the best of them, snipe enemies from range, restrain them with a net, or get up close and personal.

Fighters are similarly adept with all types of armour and shields as well. Every fighter has a specialism, whether it’s two handed weapons like great swords or battle axes; duel weapon fighting with short swords or daggers, or a spear and shield combo. Some fighters even bolster their proficiencies and abilities with magic.

Fighters stand apart from your average city watch guard, soldier or mercenary, being more like veterans, high ranking officers or loyal knights. They are much more capable and highly trained than your average grunt.

Obviously such skills make them ideal for the adventuring life and many fighters turn to adventuring after a contract runs out, a job ends or just to try their hand at gaining special weapons and armour, which are often secreted away in dangerous corners of the world, guarded by monsters that will prove a challenge for a fighter’s mettle and skill.

When creating a fighter, consider where you got your initial training. Were you a mercenary, a soldier or perhaps a bodyguard? What made you stand out in the ranks? Did you complete some heroic deed by the skin of your teeth? Did you save the life of your employer? Are you just more ruthless and bloodthirsty than the rest of your brothers-in-arms?

Did you learn under a mentor, or just dedicate yourself to learning every martial trick for advantage on the battlefield?

What made you become a fighter? Did you just have a knack for swinging a sword? Did you take up arms to protect the weak, or to get revenge on someone? Do you just want to protect your homeland or its people? Or maybe you needed to prove yourself to someone?

Were you tested in the academy or just spend hours alone, honing your skills?

You can make a quick fighter build by choosing either Strength or Dexterity as your primary stat, depending on whether you’d prefer to wield melee weapons or archery/finesse weapons. Your secondary stat should either be Constitution, or Intelligence if you plan on going the Eldritch Knight route, which we’ll discuss shortly. Lastly for the quick build, choose the soldier background - listen to episode 4 for more info about the Soldier background - link in the show notes.

As a fighter you get to pick a fighting style. The PHB lists:

Archery - which gives a +2 bonus to attack rolls that you make with ranged weapons
Defence - gives you a +1 to AC when you’re wearing armour
Duelling - When wielding a single melee weapon and no other weapons, you gain +2 to damage rolls with that weapon
Great Weapon Fighting - When using a two handed melee weapon or a weapon with the versatile property, if you roll a 1 or 2 for damage, you can re-roll, but must use the new result
Protection - You can impose disadvantage on an attack roll against a creature other than yourself, if it is within 5ft and visible to you - handy if your companions get attacked
Two-Weapon Fighting - You can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack

Another main mechanic of the fighter class is Second Wind. This allows you to take a bonus action on your turn to regain 1D10+ your level HP back, giving the fighter excellent sustain in prolonged battles, without having to call on the healer too much.

At second level, you gain Action Surge. Your reserves of stamina, built up over long years of training and battles, allow you to take an additional action per turn, as well as your normal and any bonus actions. This ability renews after a long rest.

At third level, you pick a martial archetype., which will give you further abilities and benefits as you level up. The PHB lists:

Champion - Focussed on raw physical power. Benefits include improved criticals, bonuses to athletics rolls, an additional fighting style at 10th level and more.
Battle Master - A more tactical approach to fighting, the Battle Master studies war, including history, and theory. Benefits include manoeuvres, which enhance attacks, and superiority dice, which you use to fuel you manoeuvres. One of the fighters in my group uses sweeping attack to great effect in melees, hitting multiple enemies in one swing.
Eldritch Knight - Combines magic with fighting abilities. They study abjuration to gain magical protection during battles, and evocation to deal AOE damage to multiple enemies at once. Eldritch knights learn relatively few spells compared to a real caster, but commit them to memory rather than utilising a spell book.

XGTE extends the list with:

Arcane Archer - weaving elven magic into bow attacks, Arcane Archers form some of the most elite elven warriors, protecting borders and territories with shots that can curve around corners, or infuse arrows with magic that can banish creatures to the Feywild, beguile or enfeeble foes, burst - adding AOE damage, grasp enemies, pass through objects, seek out enemies or cloud their vision with shadows.
Cavalier - Cavaliers excel at mounted combat, having usually been born into nobility and raised at court. You gain proficiency in one of: History, Animal Handling, Insight, Performance or Persuasion; or you can learn an additional language of choice. You gain advantage on saving throws made to avoid falling off your mount and can land on your feet if you do fall off but drop no more than 10ft and aren’t incapacitated at the time. Mounting and dismounting only costs 5ft of movement, rather than half normal speed. You can mark creatures when attacking them, giving them disadvantage on attack rolls where you aren’t the target. Later, you get the ability to ward off attacks against you, your mount or others nearby as a reaction.
Samurai - A samurai has unlimited resolve and indominable fighting spirit. You gain proficiency in one from: History, Insight, Performance or Persuasion or an additional language of choice. You can use a bonus action on your turn to give yourself advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of the turn and you gain 5 temporary HP. You can use this feature 3 times between long rests. At later levels you gain bonuses to Persuasion checks and Wisdom saving throws. You can also stave off unconsciousness when dropping to 0 HP, starting at 18th level, using a reaction to immediately take another turn, which interrupts the current turn.

The SCAG adds Purple Dragon Knight to the tally:

Hailing from Cormyr, PDK’s have pledged to protect the crown of Cormyr, both within it’s borders and seeking out enemies outside. They wander around as knights errant, dealing out justice as warranted by their code of chivalry. At third level, you can inspire others by your deeds in battle by using your second wind feature, which now affects three creatures allied with you within 60ft, who gain HP == to your fighter level, provided they can see or hear you. At 10th level, you can give an allied creature within 60ft of you the ability to make a melee or ranged attack as a reaction when you use your action surge.

If you like the Purple Dragon Knight feature set, (of which there are more listed in the SCAG than I’ve discussed, for time,) but don’t want to be in thrall to Cormyr for whatever reason, you can use the feature set as a Banneret.

Stat Block

HP @ 1st level: 10 +Con Mod

HP: 1D10 (or 6) + Con Mod/level

Hit Dice: 1D10/lvl

Proficiencies:

Weapons - simple and martial
Armour - all armour & shields

Tools: None

Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution

Skills: 2 from:

Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Survival

Equipment:

chainmail or leather armour, longbow & 20 arrows
martial weapon and a shield or two martial weapons
2 handaxes or a light crossbow & 20 bolts
A dungeoneer’s or explorer’s pack

Background Check

Outlander

The Outlander background gives your character a life lived in the wilds of the world. Used to wide open spaces, all types of weather and quiet solitude away from the bustle of crowded cities and their technologies. You may have been a rover, a wanderer, a nomad, vagabond, (- call me what you will) a recluse, (although there is also the Hermit background - yet to be covered on this show,) a hunter, or anyone who prefers a life alone with the wilds of nature for company.

You have been influenced and impacted by some of the strange sights and experiences you’ve had in places that most can only imagine.

You have an excellent memory for maps and geography, and can always recall the general layout of terrain, settlements and other features of the land. You can always find fresh water and food for yourself and up to 5 other companions, per day - as long as the land is the sort that would have wild berries, small game, rivers or lakes etc.

Living in the wilds has impacted your social skills though and you may lack the graces and airs of city dwellers, to the point where you might be considered gruff, abrupt or even downright rude. Life in the wilds has no need for niceties, and no time for protracted politeness. Things happen fast in the wild and you need to be ready to react.

It may be that your character doesn’t speak much, being used to animal companions and their own thoughts - or perhaps your character felt starved for conversation and tries to make up for long stretches without it by blurting out everything that crosses their mind?

Generally the ties of tribe, family, clan, or the natural world are the most important bonds to an outlander, but that could easily be the group of adventurers you’ve chosen to ally yourself with.

Stat Block

You have skill proficiencies in Athletics and Survival

Tools: One type of musical instrument

Languages: One of your choice. (I assume in addition to common.)

Equipment: A staff, a hunting trap, a trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveller’s clothes, a pouch containing 10GP.

Monster Menagerie

Ettins

Orcs in D&D are generally regarded as brash, uncouth, violent and generally ill-tempered. Why am I mentioning Orcs in a section about Ettins? Well imagine an Orc, Crossed with a giant, with all the bad behaviours of an orc, with added poor self hygiene into the mix - that’s the beginnings of an Ettin.

Ettins are foul creatures who rarely, if ever bathe - leading to a build up of layers of dirt and grime caked onto their skins and under the hides it wears.

Ettins are the conjoined twins of the D&D world - having two heads, with each having its own distinct personality and name. Not confusing at all I’m sure. This means that each personality never experiences solitude or privacy. This close quarters existence can lead to in-fighting between the creature’s two heads, with personality clashes being exacerbated by the fact that they cannot spend time apart - familiarity breeds contempt and all that. For those of you with siblings, imagine - or remember a time when you were trapped somewhere...

Bonus Episode 1: No Dungeons, Just Dragons

Mike Rickard — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of this episode:

00:30 + Dragons in human culture
01:58 + You Down With OG D&D? (Yeah You Know Me)
04:34 + The Magazine That Bears Their Name
08:22 + 2E Or Not 2E?
10:40 + Close Encounters of the Third Edition Kind
12:17 + May the Fourth Edition Be With You
14:07 + State of Play
16:07 + Colour Me Chromatic
20:04 + Metallics-a
25:21 + The Dracolich

Total runtime - 27:48

Links

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/draco-historia- WotC on draconic history through the various editions

Here Be Dragons - Scientific American Blog Networkblogs.scientificamerican.com › observations › here-be-... - Scientific American on Dragon ubiquity

https://allthatsinteresting.com/dragon-legends- All That’s Interesting on Dragon legends

Episode Transcript

In this, our first bonus episode, we’re talking about dragons.

Dragons are ubiquitous across human culture and no one really seems to know why. Studies of Vervet monkeys showed that they have an innate fear of lions, eagles and snakes. Add those together in the right ways and you could end up with something that looks like a dragon, so perhaps humanity’s obsession with the creatures is in part, evolutionary? Or perhaps the tales sprang from earlier times when we unearthed the fossilised remains of dinosaurs without the knowledge we have about them now? Those huge lizards seem primed for tales about gigantic flying beasts with preternatural powers, such as bringing rains or breathing fire. They permeate even into today’s pop culture too, with the Hobbit and Game of Thrones both displaying impressive versions. In antiquity they were features in the Chines, Greek and Moari cultures, amongst others. The Babylonians had a serpent diety-monster called Tiamat - a name which may be familiar to you, or will be by the end of this episode.

In the 1970’s the creatures made their way into a game that evolved from tabletop war-games into something more fantasy based, which provided an ideal home for these reptillian monstrosities…

So listen on, intrepid adventurer, but beware - for here be Dragons!

You down with OG D&D? (Yeah You Know Me)

Originally there were six types of Dragons in D&D: Black, White, Blue, Green, Red, and Golden. Dragons took up pages 11-14 of the Monsters and Treasures booklet for OD&D. Considering that most monsters at the time warranted only a paragraph or two, it showed how important Dragons were to the game - they are in the title, after all.

In their original incarnation, dragons looked quite similar to their later and current versions. They already had set alignments - Golden dragons were lawful, while chromatic dragons were chaotic - and breath weapons that were different for each colour: Acid for black, cold for white, Chlorine gas for the greens, lightning for blues, fire for reds and either fire or gas for the golden. They also each inhabited unique terrains and represented different challenges for players of certain levels. Levels 5-7 would battle white dragons, 9-11 would face reds and 10-12 could fight golden dragons. They could also appear in different age groups, which defined their hit points and breath weapon damage.

One major difference with OD&D dragons was their vulnerability and resistance to certain elements, for example: Blue dragons were vulnerable to fire but resistant to lightning and water.

They also differed from most monsters, which were supplied only with combat stats, whereas dragons had percentages listed of likely they might be to talk with adventurers, or be sleeping - possibly inspired by the activities of the dragon Smaug in Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Rules were even included for those attempting to subdue a dragon or even trying to sell one!

Greyhawk

Supplement 1: Greyhawk, included four more metallic dragons: Brass, Bronze, Copper and Silver, bringing the total to ten. In the Greyhawk setting, metallic dragons could be lawful or neutral. Later, other dragons would fill the neutral alignment and the metallics would remain lawful only. Greyhawk also brought with it the dragon gods Tiamat and Bahamut, albeit without their names, who still feature in fifth edition in The Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat.

The dragons gained increased power in AD&D, including an ability to induce fear in weaker enemies.

The magazine that bears their name

In 1980, D&D saw some new additions to dragons, first with Gem dragons in Dragon magazine issue #37, by Arthur W. Collins. He added five new neutral dragons: Amethyst, Crystal, Emerald, Sapphire and Topaz, each with their own territories and breath weapons as before.

Then Len Lakofka in Dragon magazine issue #38, introduced Brown, Orange and Yellow dragons. Where previously chromatic dragons had been chaotically aligned, (and metallics being lawful,) these three were evil.

Dragon #62 saw the good steel dragon and evil gray dragon make their first appearance in 1982, and issue #65 had Richard Alan Lloyd continue the chromatic spectrum with his own yellow, orange and purple dragons in September of ‘82.

The official material included new dragons too, with six Oriental dragons being included in The Fiend Folio in 1981, and the Monster Manual 2 of 1983, which expanded the roster with Cloud dragons, Faerie dragons, Mist and Shadow variants.

'Basic’ D&D showed off its own gemstone versions in the D&D Masters Rules in 1985 - categorising Amber, Crystal, Jade, Onyx, Ruby and Sapphire dragons, which covered a range of alignments and bore little relation to Collins’ neutral Gem dragons.

Then in ‘84 came Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman - a trilogy of dragon-heavy adventure modules to address the fact that although dragons were included in every Monster Manual, there were no adventures that featured them. There were adventures about giants, drow, elemental evil and even lizard men, but the best known monster in the game had none.

Dragonlance grew into a story of epic proportions, eventually spanning 12 adventures - one for each type of dragon, plus Bahamut and Tiamat. These adventures saw the dragons appearing more as characters than just monsters, and they formed the main part of the plots, with dragon armies marching across Krynn and taking over vast territories.

Dragon magazine continued to focus in on dragons, beginning with #50, the fifth anniversary issue, which boasted a ‘special dragon section’, which included an article by Greg Rihn, called “Self defence for dragons, which posited that dragons needed to be tougher, in-game, seeing as how they were continually fending off well kitted out parties of adventurers. It was partly due to this article that dragons picked up extra attacks and some sneaky tricks.

From then on it became tradition for the anniversary issues to incldue some articles about dragons, which makes sense really, being the game’s most notorious antagonists. Occasionally this meant the introduction of new types, including in issue #170 in 1991, ‘ferrous’ metal dragons of chrome, cobalt, iron, nickel and tungsten. Usually though it involved rules variations, like dragon clerics or another attempt to improve dragons’ damage output.

The final draconic issue #356 in June 2007, reworked the ferrous dragons and detailed many of the most famous dragons from D&D’s history.

Over these anniversary issues, much unofficial lore was added to dragons, making them the most detailed monsters in the game, including Ed Greenwood, (creator of the Forgotten Realms and Elminster,) who wrote out 20-some unique draconic personalities in his column, ‘Wryms of the North’ between issues #230 to #259.

2E or not 2E

After AD&D was reworked in a second edition, dragons appeared once more in the Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1. This sourcebook revisited dragons thoroughly, mainly by powering them up. TSR announced, “They’re back… and more dangerous than ever!” In Dragon #146.

Dragons in 2E were given new attacks, like wing buffet and snatch and received more hit dice. The white dragon which had previously had access to 5-7 hit dice, now found 11 available. The red dragon went from 9-11 to 15. Maximum HP was also bumped up for older dragons and generally, they were more dangerous in 2E.

During 2E, TSR released over 25 Monstrous compendiums, which included lots of new dragons, including new chromatics, gem and gemstone, metallics, neutrals and oriental dragons. There were also unique, one-offs, such as the astral, radiant, planar adamantine, cloud, the steel dragon of Greyhawk and the frankly incredible weredragon, which I personally want to know more about.

Despite this, the main categories remained largely unchanged since 1974. In 1990, the Draconomicon was released as part of 2E, which is not only a great name, but was also the first draconic sourcebook, which although focussed on the Forgotten Realms, contained lots of info for dragons of any land, and included new dragons into the bargain, bringing mercury, steel and yellow into canon.

Ed Greenwood also brought us another incredible piece of content in the form of the Dracolich, an undead variant that originated in Dragon Magazine #110 and featured in the novel Spellfire (1987), but really took off in the 2E era, when they became the focus of the second draconic sourcebook, “Cult of the Dragon” in 1998.

Lastly, 2E managed to squeeze in the “Council of Wryms” expansions in 1994 & 1999, which was a setting that players could take on the roles of dragonkind themselves.

Close Encounters of the 3rd Edition Kind

3rd edition again reworked many of the draconic groups without expanding them, so we see the familiar chromatics, metallics, gems, and orientals.

The biggest overall change was that 3E used age differently. Where before age had modified HP, now it was used to broadly distinguish a species. A dragon could now be anywhere from a 4HD Wyrmling to a 37HD Great Wyrm.

Draconic attacks also became more dangerous, as part of an overall power boost for monsters in general. Dragons also cast spells more frequently in 3E and older dragons, with these new abilities, became more like the lethal creatures of legend.

3E did include some new variants in Monsters of Faerun in 2001, albeit realm specific; and even more powerful epic level dragons in the Epic Level Handbook of 2002, as well as planar dragons in Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons in 2003.

The latter tome was another in depth look at these creatures, featuring information on draconic psychology, physiology, feats and more. It also included the lesser cousins of dragons - drakes and wyrms.

3E also saw two more sourcebooks, both in 2006: Dragons of Faerun and Races of the Dragon, with the latter book introducing players and DM’s alike to a new humanoid race of draconic descent, the Dragonborn.

May the 4th Edition Be With You

Dragonborn became one of the core races in 4E, but dragons themselves became more important in the game in general. 4E expanded on 3E’s idea of younger dragons being able to be faced by lower level parties, so that more players could experience the thrill of a dragon battle, rather than having to wait until high levels to slug it out with one. The 4E Monster Manual continued the work of 3E - using age as a differentiator for level and challenge. A young white dragon was a level 3 monster, whereas an ancient white dragon was a level 24 encounter. This meant that weaker, young dragons could be used in adventures for low level players.

The Free RPG Day adventure Treasure of Talon Pass from 2008 has a black dragon encounter as its final boss, even though the adventure was set for players of second or third level, which would previously have been unthinkable.

Other changes were more balancing for stats, mainly to make dragons more thematic, in line with other overall 4E changes. So white dragons might do cold damage with a claw attack rather than just with their breath weapon and dragons generally got more effective fear effects and their breath weapons recharged in new ways.

The 4E Monster Manual expanded the metallic dragons with mithral and orium joining the pantheon of brass, bronze, cobalt, mercury and steel metallics, and official brown, gray and purple dragons into the chromatics. Lastly, the new category of Catastrophic dragons appeared in Monster Manual 3 in 2010, who commanded the destructive powers of earthquakes, blizzards and volcanoes.

State of Play

Now a decidedly core part of the game, as they should be - dragons are heavily featured in 5E, with the Tyranny of Dragons storyline, where the cult of the dragon seeks to free Tiamat, the queen of evil chromatic dragons, from the nine hells. Also, the new Essentials Kit boxed set, is called The Dragon of Icespire Peak and sees beginning adventurers through to level 6 or so, eventually facing off against a young white dragon called Cryovain, who has taken up roost in the mountains surrounding Phandelin, displacing various creatures, who then appear in and around the area unexpectedly.

5E’s Monster Manual lists among its denizens; the terrifying undead Dracolich; Shadow Dragons who were true dragons that were either born in the shadowfell or else transformed by years spent in the plane of shadow; Chromatics -Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White; Metallics - Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, and Silver; as well as the Turtle Dragon.

It continues the subdivision of dragons by age, listing Wyrmling - 0-5 years, Young - 6-100, Adult - 101-800 and Ancient - 801+ as categories.

True dragons fall into the broad categories of the feared evil and selfish chromatics, and the respected noble and good metallic dragons.

True Dragons’ ideals and personal motivations may vary wildly, but all covet wealth to the point of avarice, amassing treasure and hoarding coins, gems and magical items in lairs, which in turn attracts intrepid adventurers, making the dragons reticent to leave their pile for long - generally only to patrol or feed.

Adult and ancient dragons are known as some of the most powerful creatures around, in part due to their predatory cunning, magical abilities and natural weapons and armour.

Colour Me Chromatic

Driven by selfish greed, chromatics display the worst sides of draconic nature. They believe that the wealth of the world is theirs by right, and that might makes right. Being mighty creatures, they steal from others with complete disregard for commerce - they hoard for the sake of having it and build lairs to defend their spoils, rather than for shelter. Most often these lairs are created in difficult to reach places, hidden entirely, or else in dangerous areas to help deter all but the most brave, reckless or foolhardy plunderers. Their superiority complex makes them believe they are the most worthy and powerful of all the mortal creatures, and that they were born to rule tyrannically over all creation. Humanoid races are to the chromatics as livestock are to humans - creature only worthy of subjugation, their only use being what is designated by their masters.

Tiamat, the queen of evil dragons, rules over the chromatics, from her lair on Avernus, the first layer of hell. In 5E Tiamat is a lesser god and can grant spells to followers and worshippers, though she hates to share power like all chromatics. She has five heads, each representing a different chromatic heritage - black, blue, green, red and white - and is huge, as one might expect from a lesser god. She hates Bahamut, the platinum dragon who is revered by the metallics, as well as Asmodeus, who stripped her of the full rule of Avernus and prevents her power from growing further.

Chromatic Types

Black - The most evil and vile of the chromatics, black dragons collect the treasures of fallen peoples. They hate seeing the weak prosper and live in swamps and the ruins of kingdoms. They hate and fear other dragons.
Blue - Vain and territorial, blues live in rocky coastlines, searing steppes, and parched badlands. They lord over other creatures in their territory and any insinuation that it is weak or inferior is dealt with swift and deadly force. They tend to fight protracted battles, often soaring out of reach, or attacking from distance with lightning. They sometimes employ wizards, sages or bards and reward loyalty.
Green - Tricksters by nature, greens use misdirection, manipulation, intimidation, lying and every other trick in the book of treachery and cunning to get their way. They take particular pleasure in corrupting the innocent and good-hearted. They collect people that they have bent to their will as much as they collect actual treasure. They favour forested areas and swamps for territory.
Red - Reds covet wealth more than any other type and are exceptionally vain. They prefer mountainous regions and high perches with which to survey their lands. Impulsive and rage-filled, Reds are vengeful and aggressive. They compete with other reds for status, using lesser beings to bring them news and information, as well as fearful slaves. while they isolate themselves with their hoard.
White - The least intelligent, smallest and most bestial of the chromatics they live in the cold places of the world, preferring frigid temperatures in places like tundra, taigas, or wind-whipped mountains. White dragons lack the cunning and tactical nature of other chromatics, but are also the best hunters - being most in touch with their bestial natures. Whites only eat frozen food and often freeze corpses as trophies to gloat over. Despite their lack of intelligence, they have incredibly long memories and their capacity for holding grudges is second to none. Whites avoid all other chromatics whenever possible.

Metallics-a

Metallic dragons view themselves as a powerful race amongst others, rather than the apex of the chain. Although the metallics covet treasure, it is less driven by greed, as by the chromatics, and more for curiosity and learning. They collect relics and items which reflect their personalities and interests. They may also collect dangerous magical items, in order to shield other from their effects. If an item would serve the greater good, often a metallic dragon can be persuaded to part with it, provided they can make their claim and purpose clear and meaningful to the dragon.

Metallic dragons gain abilities to transform into humanoids and other creatures, and some use this power to integrate themselves into other societies, to learn more about their culture, including cuisine, ways of life and to keep up with current events.

Metallics have good memories, but often judge races based on their other interactions with other members of the same species. They can smell out members of a bloodline, so could be fooled by an unscrupulous descendant of a good person they met previously, or resent someone who was perfectly innocent if their forebears were...

Episode 6 - Halflings, Harpers and Druids - but no Dragons?

Mike Rickard — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:45 - Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
01:07 + Off To The Races: This episode features Halflings
08:30 + You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at Druids
18:12 + Background Check: The Sage
21:16 + Monster Menagerie: Not Dragons
22:04 + Lore Academy: The Harpers
26:29 + The Infamous: Elminster Aumar

Total runtime - 35:15

Sources & further reading:

Halflings: PHB: 26-28; SCAG: 108-110; XGTE: Racial feats - 73-75, Names - 179

Druid: PHB: 64-69; SCAG: 126-127; XGTE: 21-26

The Harpers: SCAG: 54, 123, 127, 147

Links

https://i.redd.it/3pmztddrf0v11.jpg - 5E race size comparison chart

https://dnd.wizards.com/remote/freematerial- WotC free material for its Play at Home, Stay at Home campaign during Covid lockdown.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Elminster_Aumar - FR wiki on Elminster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elminster- Wikipedia on Elminster

https://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dragons/what-dd/heroes/elminster - WotC on Elminster

https://amzn.to/2K81xBH- Amazon’s list of Elminster novels, by Ed Greenwood (affiliate link)

https://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dragons/story/faction/harpers- WotC on the Harpers

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Harpers- FR wiki on the Harpers

https://syrinscape.com- Syrinscape tabletop audio

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In this episode, we’re talking about … Halflings, Harpers, Druids, Elminster - but not Dragons. Listen on to find out why.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

Stay at Home, Play at Home - free resources

Off to the Races

Halfling

Small in stature but large of heart, halflings enjoy a good meal, a blazing hearth, good drink and good conversation. Lovers of peace and home comforts, some halflings live in remote agricultural communities, while others, tempted by the wonders of new lands and new foods, form nomadic travelling societies, constantly moving in their caravan of covered wagons or boats, chasing the horizon.

Thought of by most other races as plucky, lucky and deft, The Halflings, or Hin, are nimble, and courageous - sometimes beyond their apparent means. Halfling tales are often peppered with lucky escapes and narrow squeaks.

Like Tolkien’s Hobbits, D&D halflings in general stand about 3ft tall, which makes them smaller than most other races, including Gnomes.

This, along with their stout nature, tends to make them… less than intimidating, for the most part, which has lead to them surviving for centuries by going either unnoticed, or at the very least appearing as no threat to anything else. Their complexion ranges from pale and ruddy, to tan and they usually sport brown or sandy brown wavy hair. Brown or hazel eyes are common and males often sport bushy sideburns, with beards being less common and moustaches being rare among them. They like brightly coloured clothes that favour comfort and function over style. In fact they are a generally practical and pragmatic race in general, their main concerns being occupied with basic needs rather than frippery and ostentation. Halflings have a knack for finding straightforward solutions to problems and don’t have much patience for dithering. Wealth is not flaunted in halfling society, rather kept away in a cellar or other secret place.

Halflings are a happy and cheerful lot for the most part, and try to get on with everyone, other races included. They dislike generalisations, particularly negative ones, so tend to take people on an individual basis. They cherish their families and friends above all, and their home comforts second. Halfling adventurers usually take to the life through wanderlust, curiosity, or sometimes for reasons of community or friendship. The adventuring life is usually seen more as an opportunity than a career. The discovery of new things, even a new dish or style of clothing is a big draw for them.

Halflings blend easily into societies of Dwarves, Elves or Humans, making themselves valuable to their adopted community, just as they would at home. Often they become so closely knit with these communities due to their friendly, easy-going nature and hard work, that members of the society often wonder what life was like before their halfling friends arrived. Also, the halfling natural predilection to stealth along with their unassuming bearing allows them to pass unnoticed where attention is unwanted.

They are loyal to friends as they would be to family and work well in groups and can be a force to be reckoned with when their companions are threatened, to the surprise of many an enemy. As a rule, they are kindhearted, giving and have a strong opposition to oppression of any kind. They hate to see suffering and are easily moved to pity - their generous nature leads them to share whatever they have even in times of personal hardship.

Their own communities tend to be rural farmsteads or well-kept groves, or as mentioned, groups of travellers. They don’t go in for kingdoms or countries, preferring to look to their elders for governance, and to keep to their own shires in terms of land ownership. Traditions are preserved within families and they don’t usually have any caste system or hierarchy of nobility and rarely recognise royalty amongst themselves.

The Halfling language, although not technically secret, is not normally shared with outsiders, possibly due to their rich oral traditions being their main way of recording their history.

Stat Block

Dex +2
Alignment: Usually lawful good.
Size: Small - normally about 3ft tall and around 40lbs
Speed: 25ft
Lucky: This feat allows you to reroll any natural one on an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, but you must use the second roll, even if it’s another nat 1.
Brave: You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Nimble: You can move through any occupied square of any creature that is at least a size larger than you.
Languages: common and halfling.

There are two sub races listed in the PHB, the Lightfoot and Stout, with Strongheart and Ghostwise as other variants in the SCAG.

Lightfoot get a +1 to Charisma, and a natural stealth ability that allows them to try to hide when obscured by a creature one size larger or more.

Lightfoots tend to enjoy keeping moving, as their name suggests, either striking out alone, or in small bands, where the membership of individuals may shift over time as they drop in and out. They typically excel at navigation and travel tasks, such as foraging, sailing, Cartwright work and more.

Stout halflings get a +1 to Constitution as their name suggests, and have resilience that gives advantage on saving throws against poison and resistance to poison damage.

Stronghearts have all the features of Stouts, but tend to ingratiate themselves even more easily into other societies, with an intent to put down roots. Where the Lightfoot will breeze into communities, make friends and then leave on the next wind, strong hearts ingratiate themselves and often stay in an area for centuries. They are sometimes referred to by other races as “the good folk” due to their affable nature, resistance to offence and incorruptible spirits. They have nimble hands and bags of patience. Coupled with their industrious nature, they make good weavers, potters, wood carvers, basket makers, painters and farmers. Stronghearts often have blonde or black hair and blue or green eyes, unlike the generally brown tones of the Lightfoots.

Ghostwise Halflings are the rarest of the Hin sub races. They trace their ancestry to a war among halfling tribes that caused them to flee Lurien. They are only found in Chondalwood and a few other isolated forests. They often choose a natural landmark as the centre point of their territories, and members carry a piece of it with them at all times. Nightgliders are clan warriors who bond with giant owls, riding them into battle as mounts. Due to their reclusive nature, adventurer Ghostwise are even rarer still.

Ghostwise halflings get a +1 to wisdom, and the silent speech ability, allowing them to communicate telepathically with any one creature within 30ft, provided you share a language.

You So Classy

Druid

Druids are wardens of nature, revering the natural world and often eschewing city life. They see themselves as part of nature, a conduit for its will - an agent in preserving balance. This is one of the major charges a Druid is tasked with - ensuring the elements ; earth, air, fire and water - remain in a delicate equilibrium. An imbalance of power could result in the world being drawn into one of the elemental planes of existence or being destroyed entirely. Druids are opposed to elemental evil in all its forms and can often be found near places of elemental power, carefully observing that the balance is not disrupted.

Druids revere nature in all its guises, accepting nature’s inherent cruelty when it is necessary, and promote ecology in all forms, helping tend that which sustains animal and plant life, and thus the sentient races of Toril. This means they are also opposed to that which is unnatural, such as aberrations like beholders and Illithids, and any type of undead, like zombies or vampires. Druids will lead raiding parties against such creatures, especially if they encroach on druidic territory or threaten the balance of nature.

Druids gain power from nature - either from a nature deity, in a similar manner to a Cleric, (see last episode for info on Clerics,) or else from the force of nature itself. Many Druids seek to gain a transcendent mystical connection with nature, rather than devotion to a deity, but others will directly serve gods. The ancient druidic traditions are sometimes referred to as the “Old Faith”, which sets them apart from priests and acolytes who worship in constructed shrines and temples, where a Druid is more likely to be found practicing their faith in a forest or meadow.

Druid spells are of course nature based, often displaying the power of tooth and claw, shifting tides, fire and storm. Druids have the ability to change shape, shifting into the form of a noble creature to fight. Some even prefer animal form and spend the majority of time in it.

Just as an aside, my group played online for the first time the other night and our Druid had the interesting notion of climbing a tree, then using Wild Shape to transform himself into an Ox, causing him to fall from the tree onto an enemy. Gravity is a force of nature after all, so that innovation has earned him an inspiration point.

Things to consider when creating a druid:

What has given them their close bond with nature? Were they brought up in the Old Faith? Raised by wolves? Or do they just find a calming affinity with wild spaces? Did they have an encounter with nature spirits or did they have a spiritual journey where they met with a guardian animal like a giant eagle, bear or wolf?
It could even be that they were born during a raging storm, were struck by lightning or affected by another natural event such as an earthquake or volcanic eruption that attuned them to the inherent power of nature.
What made your druid take up the adventuring life? Was it to experience all that nature has to offer? To seek out spiritual places in the desert or tundra? To fight Elemental Evil or the unnatural forces in the world? Were you a caretaker of a sacred grove that was destroyed or defiled by Abberations from another plane?

Stat Block

Wisdom is the primary stat for Druids, followed by constitution. For a quick build, chose these stats and the hermit background.

HP @ 1st lvl: 8 + Con mod

HP @ higher lvls: 1D8 (or 5) + con mod/lvl

Hit Dice: 1D8/lvl

Proficiencies:

Armour - light, medium & shields - which cannot be made from metal.
Weapons - Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs (or quarterstaves - either is correct,), scimitars, sickles, slings, and spears.
Tools - Herbalism kit
Saving Throws - Intelligence, Wisdom
Skills - Choose 2 from:
Arcana
Animal Handling
Insight
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Religion
Survival
Equipment - You start with:
A wooden shield or any simple weapon
A scimitar or any simple weapon
Leather armour
An explorer’s pack
A druidic focus

You also know Druidic, a secret language only known to druids and can use this to send secret messages to other druids, who will automatically spot it. Other can spot the message with a DC15 Perception (Wisdom) check, but cannot decipher the message without the aid of magic.

You know two cantrips of choice from the Druid spell list and can learn additional ones at later levels.

Your spell casting ability is Wisdom and draws on your attunement to nature.

Spell attack modifier = Wisdom mod + proficiency bonus
Spell save DC = 8 + Wis mod + proficiency bonus.

You can cast a druid spell as a ritual if the spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared.

You can use your druidic focus as a spell casting focus for your druid spells.

At second level you gain Wild Shape, a major mechanic for druids, giving them the ability to shift into animal form. You must have seen the creature before and can use this twice between short or long rests. At second level you can only transform into walking beasts - no swimming or flying. At fourth level you can add swimming beasts but no flying. At 8th level you can include flying beasts.

You can remain in beast form for the number of hours equal to half your druid’s level, rounding down - so a level 3 druid can Wild Shape for an hour, for example.

You can revert to normal form as a bonus action on your turn, or automatically revert if knocked unconscious, drop to 0 HP or die.

The following rules apply to Wild Shape:

You are limited by challenge rating as to which creatures you can transform into. At 2nd level, it is 1/4CR. At 4th level this increases to 1/2 and at level 8, you can choose CR1 creatures.
Your stats are replaced by those of the creature you become, but your personality and alignment remain the same, as do your intelligence, wisdom and charisma scores, so you could become a charming snake, rather than a snake charmer. (Sorry.) You also retain saving throw and skill proficiencies, as well as gaining those of the creature. If the creatures bonus is higher than yours, you use the creature’s bonus score.
You cannot use any legendary or lair actions the creature normally has.
You get the creature’s HP & hit dice. When you revert form, you return to the HP you had before you transformed - unless you revert automatically after being reduced to 0HP, in which case, any excess damage is taken from your normal total, e.g. if you have 1HP as the creature and take 10 damage, you automatically revert and take 9 damage. If your character had more than 9HP before transforming, you aren’t knocked unconscious.
You can’t cast spells and can’t speak or take actions involving hands, unless you are some form of primate, otherwise you are limited by the capabilities of your beast form.
Transforming does not break concentration on a spell already cast however, or prevent you from taking actions as part of a spell you’ve already cast, such as call lightning.
You retain the features of your class, race or other source and can use them provided your new form is capable of doing so.
You cannot use special sense while transformed, such as Darkvision, unless your creature form also has that sense.
You choose whether your equipment merges with you, is worn by your new form or falls to the floor when you transform. Equipment does not change size, so there’s no Hulk shorts option. If your new form cannot physical wear gear, it must drop to the floor or merge with you. Anything that merges with you cannot be used and has no effects until you revert.

At second level, you identify with a particular circle of Druids - either the Circle of the Land or the Moon in the PHB, with the Circles of Swords, The Emerald Enclave and the Moonshae circles available in the SCAG and the circles of Dreams and Shepherd in XGTE. Check the show notes for page numbers.

The circle you choose adds additional features, such as an additional cantrip at 2nd lvl for the Circle of the Land, or the ability to use Wild Shape as a bonus action and can expend a spell slot to regain 1D8 HP/lvl of spell slot expended for the Circle of the Moon.

At level 18, you age at a rate of 1 year per 10 years of time, and can cast many of your spells while in Wild Shape form, being able to perform verbal and somatic components, but not material. At level 20, you can use Wild Shape any number of times.

Background Check

Sage

As a sage you should know your stuff. Sages spend years studying the lore of the multiverse - exploring dusty old tomes, scouring ancient cracked scrolls, poring over mottled manuscripts and tirelessly listening to other experts in their respective fields. No piece of knowledge was too obscure to be brought to light and filed away to satisfy your curiosity. Your studies can be a means to an end, or else in the pursuit of some other ideal - which you can decide. It could be good, bad or as far as most other people are concerned, indifferent. You are knowledgable and hopefully also wise, and you get the same buzz from learning as others do from combat, ale or personal attention.

You can roll a D8 (sfx: die roll) to determine your area of scholarly training, from:

Alchemist
Astronomer
Discredited academician
Librarian
Professor
Researcher
Wizard’s apprentice
Scribe

You get the Researcher feature - Even if you do not know a piece of information, or are unable to recall it, you most likely know where to look or who to consult to find it out. Usually your sources would be a library, scriptorium, university or other learned sage, but it may be...

Episode 5 - Elves, Clerics, Sailors and more

Mike Rickard — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:59 - Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes
01:10 - Off To The Races: This episode features the Elves
09:06 - You So Classy! This episode, we’re looking at Clerics
16:09 - Background Check: Sailor
18:45 - Monster Menagerie: The Carrion Crawler
21:50 - Playing Safe: How to play D&D online during lockdown
25:42 - The Infamous: Minsc and Boo!

Total runtime - 32:08

Sources & further reading:

Elves: PHB: 21-25, SCAG: 105-108, XGTE: 176 (Names only)

Cleric: PHB: 56-63

PHB Appendix B: Gods of the Multiverse: PHB 293-299

SCAG: Clerics: 125-126

SCAG: Religion in the Realms: 19-20

SCAG: The Faerûnian Pantheon: 21-23

SCAG: The Gods of Faerûn: 23-41

SCAG: The Gods of Mulhorand: 41

XGTE: Cleric: 17-20

Sailor: PHB - 139

Carrion Crawler: MM - 37

Links

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Elf- Forgotten Realms Wiki on Elves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare- John Henry Fuseli’s painting of The Nightmare, depicting a demon or incubus sitting on her chest as she sleeps, which almost certainly stemmed from folklore regarding elves.

https://dnd.wizards.com/remote- Wizards of the Coast on how to play D&D remotely.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Carrion_crawlerForgotten Realms Wiki on the Carrion Crawler

How to Play D&D Online | Roll20 Tutorial - YouTubewww.youtube.com › watch - Roll20 How to play D&D online tutorial

How to play D&D online – and actually enjoy yourself ...www.techradar.com › how-to › how-to-play-dd-online-and-actually-e…- TechRadar’s take on how to play D&D online

New Player's Guide: How to Play D&D Online - Posts - D&D ...www.dndbeyond.com › posts › 750-new-players-guide-how-to-play-…- D&D Beyond’s guide to playing online

https://nerdist.com/article/how-to-play-dungeons-and-dragons-online/- Nerdist on playing online

https://www.dndtomb.com/how-to-play-dnd-online/- DnDTomb on playing online

https://dm-helper.itch.io/dm-helper- DM Helper software

https://roll20.net/ - Roll20’s site for playing TTRPG’s online

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php - Fantasy Grounds software

https://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htmWizards of the Coast dice roller.

https://www.ddo.com/en- D&D Online (videogame)

https://www.playneverwinter.com - Neverwinter D&D MMORPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinscWikipedia on Minsc

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Minsc- Forgotten Realms Wiki on Minsc

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Boo- FR Wiki on Boo

https://amzn.to/2R5C5Aw- Amazon page for Baldur’s Gate graphic novels featuring Minsc and Boo (affiliate link)

https://www.comixology.co.uk/search?search=baldurs+gate- Comixology page for Baldur’s Gate graphic novels and issues featuring Minsc and Boo.

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y.

I hope you’re all well in this uncertain time and staying safe. I’ve been housebound for the last couple of weeks and after finishing this podcast, will be getting stuck into my next session with my group online .

In this episode, we’re talking about Elves, Clerics, Sailors, Carrion Crawlers, evil-hating Rangers and their miniature giant space hamsters, and how to play safely during the Covid pandemic.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

Due to Covid 19, there hasn’t been any major news updates since last episode, so in that case, we’re

Off to the Races

Elf

It’s often said that people want what they don’t have, which might explain why I, with my large frame, round face and long beard - looking mostly like a Dwarf, apart from my height, love to play as a slender, graceful Elf.

Long-lived, lithe, and dextrous; agile, swift, keen of sight and hearing - there’s a lot to admire about the Elves. They make superb hunters, ferocious opponents and impressive craftsmen - their skills with metals is rivalled only by the Dwarves.

They are an innately magical race, although this has not always been a good thing. As discussed in the previous episode, the venture to raise the Isle of Evermeet caused the Sundering.

Elves love nature, magic, artistry, music and poetry and the good things in life. They live in places of ethereal beauty, a part of the land - living with it rather than just on it. Often their cities lacked walls, welcoming nature within, so that no clear boundary is set between the city and the countryside or forest, in which it resides.

In English and Germanic folklore, Elves were small, mischievous people, associated with Faeries. They meddled in human affairs occasionally, seemingly for the sport. Sometimes they would swap out human babies for Elf ones, which would only come to light once the infant grew. Other legends have them sitting on people’s chests as they slept, causing nightmares - the German word for nightmare is Alpdrücken, or “elf pressure”. See the show notes for the famous painting, entitled “The Nightmare” by John Henry Fuseli. Other legends had them as helpful, with healing magic and yet others blamed Elves for diseases and blights on livestock.

In D&D, Elves evolved from the Eladrin long before recorded history, arriving on Abeir-Toril before other races. The green elves ruled over Toril in relative peace for centuries, until the Eladrin nation of Aryvandaar invaded the Dark and Green elf nation of Miyeritar, beginning the Crown wars which lasted a total of 3k years. The green elves suffered many defeats and losses during the wars and were driven into the wilderness, beginning the elven kinship with nature and the forested parts of the world.

During their exile, factions formed. Those who remained in isolation and lost their taste for building nations became the wild elves - nomadic wanderers. Of those, some migrated into the lands of the eladrin and through interbreeding, the wood elves were created as a hybrid culture.

In total there are nine sub races of Elves in D&D lore:

Sun Elves: Sometimes called High Elves or Gold Elves, they are highly civilised with a natural affinity for magic.
Moon Elves: Also called Silver Elves, they were a nomadic people who often interacted with other races.
Wood Elves: Known as Copper Elves, these Elves took to the forests for their homes.
Drow: Dark skinned and generally evil, they occupy the vast caverns of the Underdark. They have their own magics and mostly eschew the surface world, aside from nighttime raids, as sunlight hurts their darkness-adapted eyes.
Aquatic or Sea Elves: Water breathing elves, found in the oceans of the world, particularly off the coasts of Faerûn and Evermeet.
Wild Elves: Reclusive and feral, these Elves prefer a wild existence close to nature rather than the trappings of society.
Avariel: A mostly extinct race of winged Elves, who were one of the first to settle in Faerûn. They have feathered wings and can fly.
Lythari: A rare race of lycanthropic Elves, who could transform into wolves. Unlike Werewolves, they have no hybrid form, possibly due to their ability not stemming from a curse. They live primarily in wolf form, in the deep wilds of the world.
Star Elves: Also called Mithral Elves, this was an isolated sub race that lived on the demiplane of Sildeyuir, near the Feywild.

Elves are known for impulsive behaviour and strong but swiftly passing passions - being easily moved to anger or laughter in equal measure, but quickly reverting to a calm demeanour shortly thereafter.

Generally 5-6ft in height and 130-170lbs in weight, Elves may seem slight to your average human, and certainly to a Dwarf, but they can be as strong as either and also can move swiftly over even rough terrain. They also possess a preternatural sense of their surroundings, as well as as unmatched accuracy in their strikes.

Elves also do not need to sleep, instead gaining the same benefit from four hours of meditation, known as ‘reverie’ as a human would get from 8 hours of sleep. They are also still aware of their surroundings during reverie, making them very difficult to surprise or ambush.

Elves usually take to adventuring out of wanderlust. With a lifespan of around 700 years, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, where everything seems rushed and unrefined to them and changes too much over decades, so they take to careers that let them set their own pace. They also enjoy exercising their martial and/or magical prowess and growing their abilities, which adventuring allows them to pursue.

Elves can appear as haughty or stand-offish to other races, but due to their long lives, they find attachments difficult, as it is very likely they will outlive their friends from other races. They also take the long view, so short term conflicts and drama seem unworthy of their attention. They age at the same rate as humans, but are not considered adults until they reach 100 years old.

Elves, like other races in 5e, can be adapted to any class, but Wood Elves make for good Rangers, (although Rogues could benefit greatly from the Mask of the Wild mechanic, discussed shortly,) and Sun Elves make good Mages.

Stat Block

As an Elf, you gain the following:

Dex +2

Alignment - usually good or chaotic, apart from the Drow, who are generally evil.

Speed: 30ft

Darkvision: 60ft

Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception

Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saving throws against being charmed and Elves cannot be put to sleep by magical means.

Languages: Common and Elvish

Subraces:

High Elf:

Intelligence +1
Weapon proficiencies: Long and short swords, long and short bows
One cantrip of choice from the Wizard spell list, with intelligence as your spellcasting ability.
One extra language of choice

Wood Elf

Wisdom +1
Long & short - swords and bows
Speed: 35ft
Mask of the Wild: You can attempt to hide when lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist & other natural phenomena.

Drow

Charisma +1
Superior Darkvision: 120ft
Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you or your target are in direct sunlight.

You So Classy

Cleric

The Cleric class is quite involved, spanning 8 pages of the PHB, as opposed to a martial class like Rogue or Ranger, which take up 5 each. Clerics are seen as intermediaries of the Gods, imbued with divine magic, unlike a regular priest or priestess. Clerics are often dismissed as just a support class, or worse, written off as only healers - but the Cleric is a warrior too, more akin to a battlemage than a nurse.

Divine power is not granted haphazardly by the gods either, a Cleric is someone who has been chosen specially to fulfil a higher purpose and calling, which enables them to channel divine energy in order to manifest the miraculous. Clerics harness this energy via intuition of the will of their gods combined with their devotion, so although they may learn ritual and prayer, they cannot increase their divine power through study. Literally touched by the hand of god, Clerics have been invested with some measure of their deity’s power, in order to become a vessel of the god’s will on Faerûn.

Clerics combine healing spells and skills with inspiration, buffing party members in a similar way to Bards. In addition, they can harm foes, invoke curses of plague and poison, inspire both awe and dread and call down divine flames to engulf enemies. Many also wade into the fray, mace swinging.

The gods choose who they determine worthy, so not all Clerics are former priests or acolytes. They might just as easily be wanderers, hermits or devout peasants. Some Clerics may not only serve one god, but a pantheon, or even a cosmic force, such as life or death, or a particular philosphy or concept, such as love, peace or one of the nine alignments. This gives another huge swathe of scope for creating Clerics.

Through the use of Domains, which are areas of life that their deity presides over, Clerics have a lot of scope to be specc’d in a variety of ways. The PHB includes the domains of Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War. The SCAG includes the Arcana domain, and XGTE further expands the list with the domain of the Forge and Grave. The scope of domains is beyond the time we have available, but your choice of domain essentially sets the spec of your Cleric. Nature allows you to spec like a Druid, with the ability to speak to animals, and spells like Barkskin, Grasping Vine, Wind Wall and Spike Growth. The War domain specs you more like a Paladin, with Divine Favour and Shield of Faith, Crusader’s Mantle, Spiritual Weapon and Flame Strike. Other domains give you access to more healing abilities, weather control spells or illusory techniques like Mirror Image or Polymorph. This makes the Cleric one of the most adaptable classes available - something that makes me want to play one, just for the utility alone.

Clerics also have the ability to turn undead, making undead creatures try to flee from you as you hold out your holy symbol and speak a prayer as an action. Undead within 30ft that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. Those that fail are turned for 1 minute or until they take damage and during this time they can’t willingly move within 30ft of you or take reactions. For their action they can only use Dash, or try to move to escape the effect. If there’s nowhere for it to move, it may Dodge.

At 5th level, any undead creature that fails it’s saving throw on Turn Undead is instantly destroyed if it’s CR is at or below a certain threshold, depending on your level. See page 59 of the PHb for the table.

Clerics normally take to adventuring because of a directive from their god, which may be a call to exterminate evil, or to seek out holy relics in the dark places of Faerun. Clerics are generally also deigned to protect the followers of their god, be it smiting invading orcs, banishing demons back to nether realms or brokering peace treaties between warring factions, tribes or even nations. Most adventuring Clerics keep a connection to nearby temples or orders of their faith as a duty, or at the behest of a temple’s residents or high priest.

Your first question as a player will be to name the god you serve. Appendix B of the PHB, starting on page 293 offers names of gods, along with their alignments and suggested domains. See the show notes for further reading on clerics from the SCAG and XGTE too.

Next you must decide whether the god sought you out, or discovered you through your deep devotion to them and whether the call to action was one you took up willingly, or perhaps you were compelled against your own better judgement to seek out the enemies of your higher power.

Most Clerics will start their lives in a temple, seminary or other religious institution, as a simple priest before realising that they have been blessed. They will then receive training and instruction from another Cleric.

Creating a Cleric: Use Wisdom for your primary stat and either Strength or Constitution as your secondary, depending on what sort of Cleric you wish to build.

Stat Block

HP @ lvl1: 8 + Con modifier

HP Later levels: 1D8 (or 5) + Con Mod/level

Hit Dice: 1D8/level

Proficiencies: Light/Medium armour & shields. Simple weapons.

Tools: None

Saving throws: Wisdom, Charisma

Skills: Choose 2 from History, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion.

Equipment: A Mace or Warhammer (if proficient,). Leather armour, scale or, if proficient - chainmail. A light crossbow with 20 bolts or any simple weapon. A priest’s pack or an explorer’s pack. A shield and a holy symbol.

Wisdom is your spell casting ability and is also used for setting the DC save against one of your Cleric spells.

Spell attack modifier = Wis mod + Prof bonus

Spell save DC = 8 + Wis mod + Prof bonus

You can cast a Cleric spell as a ritual if the spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared. You can also use a holy symbol as your spell casting focus for Cleric spells, which is useful as you start with a holy symbol.

Background Check

Sailor

Ahoy, and splice the missenmast!

As a sailor you probably should have a better knowledge of nautical terms than I do. You’ve weathered terrible storms, fought off hideous monsters from the...

Episode 4 - Soldiers and Beholders and Dwarves - Oh my!

Mike Rickard — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

01:30 - Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
01:57 - Off To The Races: This episode we discuss Dwarves.
08:00 - You So Classy: Looking at the Bard class.
13:33 - Background Check: Join the army! We check out the Soldier background.
16.54 - Monster Menagerie: The nightmarish Beholder is this episode’s focus. Geddit? Focus!
24:36 - Lore Academy: Ever wanted to tear a planet apart? We talk about The Sundering(s)
27:00- The Infamous: The Drowse ranger Drizzt Do’Urden

Total runtime: 32:37

Links

https://discord.gg/g7HbME- the I cast pod Discord server. Come and chat with me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WJHNxqXVWAA J Pickett on Dwarves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m73NN7_ETU - the Dungeon Dudes on Bards

https://geekandsundry.com/explore-the-unusual-history-of-the-beholders/Geek and Sundry on Beholders, including video by Mr. Rhexx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CRIFPSIZbI&feature=emb_rel_pauseMr Rhexx, on Beholders

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Beholder- Forgotten Realms Wiki on Beholders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beholder_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)- Wikipedia on Beholders

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Large_LuigiForgotten Realms Wiki on Large Luigi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bstyqFw3H8- Jorphdan on The Sundering

https://geekandsundry.com/who-the-heck-is-drizzt-dourden-one-of-dds-iconic-characters-explained/- Geek and Sundry’s Guide to Drizzt Do’Urden.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Drizzt_Do%27Urden- The Forgotten Realms Wiki on Drizzt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drizzt_Do%27UrdenWikipedia’s page on Drizzt.

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y.

I hope you’re all well and not too stir crazy for those of you that are self isolating and social distancing! Hopefully you’ve had some extra time to play D&D or catch up on reading, prepping maps etc. As for me I’m currently off work and at home. My last session came just before the lockdown, and we’re looking into doing our next session online. How have things affected you and your games? Drop me a line at icastpod@gmail.com to let me know.

Alternatively you can chat to me on our new Discord server! Search for I cast pod or use the link in the show notes. I’ll try to be there as much as possible, especially during the lockdown.

In this episode, we’re talking about Dwarves, Bards, Soldiers, Beholders and the Legendary character Drizzt Do’Urden. So let’s strap on our scimitars, pocket the statue of Guenhwyvar, and get stuck in!

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

We’re a little light on news this episode, although it’s worth mentioning that the explorer’s Guide to Wildemount is now available, for those of you wanting to follow in the footsteps of the Mighty Nein or just have some fun in that setting.

Funko are releasing D&D themed pops. Starting with Asmodeus, which is available now, we’ve also seen Minsc and Boo, a mindflayer and a gelatinous cube, complete with unfortunate adventurer skeleton inside.

Off to the Races

Dwarf

Beer, beards and braids - mountain dwelling, stocky humanoids with a love of mining and smithing, and always with a Scots accent for some reason, they are a staple of fantasy literature the world over and our second featured D&D race.

Dwarves are famous for many things: Shortness of stature and temper, a stoutness of build and heart and hardiness of constitution. Dwarves are hearty, with famously strong stomachs, and can create their own vitamin C so they can survive for long periods without fruits and vegetables. They are also resistant to many food borne toxins, including alcohol, which they have a huge tolerance for. They have long memories that often serve to keep track of the grudges they are currently holding. With an average lifespan of 400 years, they have plenty of time to make both friends and enemies, amass riches from the bowels of the earth and create their masterwork.

In D&D lore, the God Moradin created the first Dwarves in his soul forge from iron, mitral, earth and stone, and placed them on many worlds. Moradin taught them to read stone and extract metal, taking their efforts as worship, and teaching them to enchant their creations with magic.

When a clan of dwarves tried to recreate life in their forges, Moradin became angry at their arrogance, and cast the Dero race out, becoming the Duergar, the dark dwarves that reside in the underdark and are enemies of all goodly dwarves.

Dwarves weather everything with their own brand of stoicism, changing little over centuries. They respect the traditions of their clans, including devotion to their gods. They extend this loyalty to their friends, and it would take a great slight to turn a dwarf from friend to enemy; for although they may take offence at lesser slights, they rarely let those get in the way of a good friendship. Their stubbornness works in both directions in this way - they could remain loyal to someone long after everyone else has given up hope. Dwarves are also true to their word and see little profit in things like lying or even sarcasm.

Here’s what Dwarves think of Elves:

“It’s not wise to depend on the Elves. No telling what an Elf will do next; when the hammer meets the Orc’s head, they’re as apt to start singing as to pull out a sword. They’re flighty and frivolous. Two things to be said for them though: they don’t have many smiths, but the ones they do have do very fine work. And when Orcs or Goblins come streaming down out of the mountains, an Elf’s good to have at your back. Not as good as a Dwarf maybe, but no doubt they hate the Orcs as much as we do.”

Their ideals include industrious labour, skill in battle, and devotion to the forge.

They love skill and artistry, particularly as it pertains to the creation of fantastic items, including weapons, armour and jewellery. Some dwarves have been known to let this love corrupt into avarice.

They hate all orcs and the orc god Grummsch, as well as Asmodeus, the king of hell.

Dwarven kingdoms span entire mountain ranges, delving deep into the earth to reap the riches buried within. Whatever they can’t make themselves, they trade - often with humans and halflings, who use waterways to trade Dwarven goods, as the Dwarves themselves dislike boats and travel over water.

Dwarves will often allow trustworthy members of other races into their halls, although that trust can be slow to build and even then there will be areas considered off limits.

Like the Dragonborn discussed last episode, Dwarves arrange themselves by clan and being clanless is the worst fate that can befall a dwarf. Even dwarves that live far away from their clan cherish that affiliation, and will be ready to regale anyone who will listen with stories about their clan and its accomplishments.

Dwarves may take up adventuring for many reasons. They may wish to amass a personal wealth of treasure, for a specific personal reason, or simply out of a desire to help others.

Dwarves age at the same rate as humans, but are considered young until 50. Most are lawful, believing in the benefits of a well ordered society and tend towards the good end of the spectrum.

Dwarves skin tones range from deep brown to pale tinged with red. They wear their hair and beards long in simple styles. Their hair colours are usually black, grey, brown or red.

Stat Block

Height: 4-5ft

Weight: 150lbs

Size: Medium

Speed: 25ft, which is unaffected by wearing heavy armour.

Darkvision: 60ft

Advantage on saving throws against and resistance to poison damage.

Proficiency with battle-axe and handaxe, light hammer and war hammers.

Tools: smiths, brewers or masons.

Stonecunning: You can add double your proficiency bonus to history checks against masonry.

Languages: ‘dwarfish and Common

Subraces: Hill Dwarves and Mountain Dwarves:

Hill dwarf gets a +1 to wisdom and your HP max gets a +1, increasing by +1 per level

Mountain dwarf gets a +2 to strength and gets proficiency in light and medium armour.

Just as an aside - the word Dwarf is only one of three words in the English language to begin with the letters ‘DW’ can you name the other two? Email me at icastpod@gmail.com with your answers - first correct answer gets a shoutout on the next episode.

You So Classy

Bard

Bringers of tidings, levity and wisdom, Bards are bearers of news, traders in song, story and gossip, and living repositories of history and folklore in the Forgotten Realms. They chronicle events both large and small, from feats of valour to town here-say.

A bard can expect to exchange a few stories and/or songs for a hot supper and lodgings, and in some places, could be treated like a visiting dignitary - a Noble might host a bard in extravagant style, while ensuring the bard sees nothing that the Noble doesn’t want told and retold across the realm. Not all wandering performers are Bards, as Bards actually have a magical component to them, earning additional respect and accolades from the powers that feed their performances.

Typically flamboyant and glib of wit, the bard calls attention to themselves in order to gain a wider audience. The most famous bards are akin to pop stars, possibly crossed by well known newscasters. You could make your bard take inspiration from one of your favourite rock stars and anchorpeople.

Successful bards are known for at least one piece of performance art, usually a song or poem that is popular or catchy, that has enraptured the populace - although if your character is just starting out, it may be that your magnum opus lays ahead of you.

Every bard is proficient in at least 3 musical instruments, sometimes more. Bards are also generally adept, often mastering skills they have a mind to learn.

Far from being passive, many bards are able to acquit themselves admirably in the melee, using their magic to bolster their already undeniable talent.

Proficient with light armour and simple weapons as well as long and short swords, rapiers and hand crossbows, a Bard is a formidable addition to any team, with spells like Thunderwave for offence, as well as Vicious Mockery to take the sting out of your enemies’ blows. They can spec well as a healer, with healing word coming immediately as a first level spell. Bards use Charisma as their spell casting ability, which makes sense for a performer and the PHB recommends Dex as your secondary stat.

One of your main mechanics is Bardic Inspiration, where you can inspire others through song or stirring oratory. This is done as a bonus action, so can be performed without penalty to your main action per turn. You choose one creature within 60ft of you that can hear you and they gain a Bardic Inspiration Die - a D6 that they can use once within the next 10 minutes, and add that roll to an ability check, attack roll or saving throw, but not to add to damage dice rolls. The inspired creature can wait until after the roll to declare if it is going to use the bardic inspiration die, but, must declare it before the DM says whether the roll passes or fails. This makes it even more useful, as you won’t go wasting it on an already good or great throw. A creature can only have one Bardic Inspiration die at a time. The Bard can use this feature the number of times equal to their charisma modifier per long rest, but that should give you four or even five Inspires between sleeps. At 5th level you get all your uses back per long or short rest with the Font of Inspiration feature.

From 2nd level you can add half your proficiency modifier (rounded down) to any ability check that you are not proficient in, proving again their adeptness at most things. You also gain the ability to use soothing music or oration to help heal during a short rest - anyone in your party who can hear you and uses a hit die to recover hit points, gets an additional 1D6 hp back. This ability scales as you level, becoming 1d8 at level 9, 1D10 at 13, and 1D12 at level 17.

At 3rd level you choose a bardic ‘College’ - a loose association of Bards with similar interests that gather to trade information and melodies, and to preserve their traditions.

The PHB has Colleges of Lore and Valour, which give variants of Persuader and battle musician, the SCAG has Fochlucan, which is allied with The Harpers, New Olamn which cultivate expressive musicians and of The Herald, which concerns its adepts with history, folklore and heraldry, naturally; as well as several more instruments of choice, and XGTE has colleges of Glamour, who’s disciples studied in the fey wild, or under someone who did and can charm even the savage beasts of the land; the college of Swords, who’s students are called Blades and who entertain through feats of knife juggling, sword swallowing and mock combat; and the college of Whispers who appear as ordinary entertainers, but are really spies, using their invites to perform subterfuge, infiltration and extraction of secrets by charm, extortion and threats.

Stat Block

HP: 1st level - 8+ Con mod, then 1D8 + Con mod

Hit dice: 1D8/level

Saving throws: Char, Dex

Skills: Choose any 3

2 Cantrips & 4 spells known at first level with 2 spell slots.

Background Check

Soldier

As a Soldier, war is life. You may have enlisted young, been drafted, or joined up when other options seemed bleak. You knew the military would feed, clothe and possibly, educate you. And so it did, in it’s own way, but it taught you what it needed, not what you wanted.

Luckily, most of what your years in the military taught you is useful for a life of adventuring. You’ve been taught not only armour and weapon skills, but basic survival techniques too. Years of training and fighting have honed your athletics abilities. Your mind instantly shifts into strategic mode when faced with enemies. You carefully take note of every nuance of body language that might belie a weakness - a slight limp, a roll of a shoulder, the twitch of an eye.

As a player you get to decide: were you part of a standing army? A member of a mercenary militia? Part of a Noble’s private guard? How far did you progress? Were you a grunt or did you command your own platoon? Were you known for battlefield savagery or a brilliant tactical mind?

Soldiers have proficiencies in athletics and intimidation, both of which can be very handy during the adventuring life. You also have proficiencies in one type of gaming set and land vehicles.

You start with an insignia of your rank, a trophy taken from a fallen enemy, (a dagger, a broken blade or a piece of a banner,) a set of bone dice or cards, common clothes, and a pouch containing 10gp, which oddly is the same amount as the Urchin that we covered last episode.

You can roll a d8 sfx: die roll to determine your role in your unit or army. Roles, (in order from 1-8,) are:

Officer
Scout
Infantry
Cavalry
Healer
Quartermaster
Standard bearer
Support staff (cooks, blacksmith, etc.)

Your attained rank is recognised by other soldiers, current or former, from your organisation. It may be worth researching your rank so you know who would be either side of you. You can use your rank to exert influence over them if they are/were of lower rank, requisition simple equipment or horses for temporary use - or you could laugh it off and claim, “that was a long time ago. We’re all just folk now.” Your rank allows you access to friendly encampments and fortresses.

My personal experience of military people is that they tend to be polite to everyone but forthright, and don’t suffer fools for long. They have a strict moral code and an upright bearing. They are used to situations where lives are on the line, so rarely sweat the small stuff, but they pay attention to small details.

They may stick to a strict routine: Perhaps your soldier tends to rise before everyone else, taking time to clean and oil their sword, check the straps of their armour for tears and nicks, generally maintain their equipment, or maybe do a round of practice drills? Soldiers know that skills and abilities need to be kept sharp as well as their weapons as a sword is only as good as its bearer.

Monster Menagerie

Beholder

Originally a discussion about a nightmare foe by Thierry Kunz that was overheard by Gary Gygax, The Beholder has been around since 1975 in the Greyhawk supplement.

They come from the far realm, which is like HP Lovecraft’s playground, where thoughts can become living entities, corrupted by nightmares.

Classed as a large aberration, Beholders are basically a floating head, with a cycloptic eye set above a large fanged mouth. If that wasn’t enough, several prehensile stalks, usually 10, extend from the upper part of their heads, each with an eye at the end that can grow back in a week if cut off. There’s no altitude limit on floating either - they could float into space if they wanted. In fights, they tend to hover out of melee range and use their vast arsenal of magic rays and anti magic, along with telekinesis.

Almost every Beholder is different though. Some are fleshy, or metallic, or even furry. Other variations include plates, tough hide, crustacean-like eye stalks, or snake-like; segmented eyes, horns, and so on.

Beholders are obsessed with themselves - showing narcissistic and...

Episode 3 - A New Beginning

Mike Rickard — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

01:02 - Heard Any Good Rumours Lately? News from the Planes.
04:23 - Off To The Races. This episode features the Dragonborn as its playable race to discuss.
11:02 - You So Classy! This episode, we’re focussing on the Barbarian.
17:36 - Background Check. Talking about the Urchin background and ways it can inform your roleplay of your character.
19:28 - Monster Menagerie. Starting with the Aaron A. Aaronson of D&D Monsters - The Aarakocra.
25:40 - Lore Academy. The Spellplague and its effects.
29:41 - The Infamous. Legendary characters from Dungeons and Dragons. This episode, we learn about Tymora.

Total runtime - 33:17.

Sources & further reading:

Dragonborn

PHB: 32-34; SCAG: 112-114; XGTE: 74, (Racial feats,) 175-176 (Dragonborn names.)

Barbarian

PHB: 141

XGTE: 8

SCAG: 121

Links

poster-barbarian-know-nothing-passion-rage-can-sunder-mountains-may-speak-passion-diydespaircom- Barbarian Quote

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c4/2c/40/c42c40f371f67ce113250a26f87d58fb.jpg - Barbarian quote 2

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Aarakocra- Aarakocra

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Syranita- Syranita, Patron God of Aarakocra.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Akadi- Akadi, Queen of air.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Aerdrie_Faenya - Aerdrie Faenya, Elven goddess of the Seldarine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7Xcd4OyBI- AJ Pickett on Aarakocra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa9OyLmkSq8&t=134s- WebDM on Aarakocra (& Kenku)

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Spellplague- The Spellplague

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDyqSsJPIs4- Jorphdan on the Spellplague

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmYD-vyZv3U - Poohead189 (what a username!) on the Spellplague

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMSOYUaZcBo - Jorphdan on Tymora (First half of video is on Torm.)

Episode Transcript

Cold open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a D&D podcast about creating characters, taking chances, rolling dice and having fun. I’m Mike, your DM and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. I’m excited about this episode as this marks the transition to how I think the show will be going forward. I wanted to do episode 1 & 2 as beginner episodes and the focus going forward will still be learning and have the beginner in mind - but I wanted to create all new sections to discuss things like playable races and classes, as well as famous NPC’s and characters from D&D, and loads of other good info. So let’s get started.

Heard Any Good Rumours Lately?

On the 2nd June, Wizards of the Coast are releasing Mythic Odysseys of Theros, a new campaign sourcebook based in the Magic: The Gathering world of Theros, which adapts Greek Mythology for its setting. Players will choose a supernatural gift and then go on an epic quest across the realms of mortals, gods and the five realms of the underworld, pitting players against mighty heroes, imprisoned titans and prophecies, to leave their mark as a legend.

The supernatural gifts work similar to character races mechanically and give your character a variety of traits.

There will be new races available, drawn from myths such as Satyrs, Minotaurs or Leonin.

There will be new subclasses available including ones for Bard and Paladin.

New monsters will include mythic monsters, whose power outstrips even legendary creatures.

God weapons - receive as a blessing from the god you represent or brazenly steal them to gain previously unheard of power.

From the little information released, and the artwork, it looks like the campaign will be a little like playing Clash of the Titans, which providing we’re talking about the original Harryhausen version, is no bad thing.

The book will release with an alternate, soft-touch cover for $49.95

Video Games

Hopefully by now you should have seen the Baldurs Gate 3 gameplay livestream.

Larian revealed playable races of Humans, Githyanki, Tieflings, Halflings, Elves and Half-Elves, Drow and Half-Drow, Dwarves, and more. Some of the races, showed sub races too such as Hill Dwarf, High Elf, Lightfoot Halfling or Asmodeus Tiefling. All the races shown could be played as either Male or Female, and I’m assuming with no advantages or penalties for either. There were also backgrounds like Noble, charlatan, Criminal or Entertainer shown.

Classes shown were Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, Ranger Rogue or Warlock, with more coming after Early Access.

Larian also showed off some of the NPC’s and the opening cinematic which showed Dragon Riders fighting with the Illithid Nautillus ship and all I can say about that is - I hope the writers of the movie watched it and took notes. It also shows an Illithid ship ‘collecting’ people as it caused destruction in the city of Yartar, which sits just east of Triboar and the Sword Coast. The Illithid interacts with a Githyanki female - inserting a tadpole into her eye - which allows mind melding in the game proper, but will also eventually consume characters from the inside and turn them into Mindflayers.

Baldur’s Gate 3 looks amazing and has been announced for PC and Google’s Stadia so far . I am very excited for this and will probably order whatever deluxe version they release, but will have to buy a PC to play it as it’s unlikely it will appear on current generation consoles.

Off to the Races

Dragonborn

Considered one of the most exotic races in the PHB, Dragonborn have Draconic ancestry, although their origins are shrouded in mystery. One story says Io, the dragon god, fused astral spirits with the fury of the elements. The greater spirits became Dragons and the lesser, the Dragonborn.

Another version has Dragons already existing when Io was split in two by a primordial called Erek-Hus, the King of Terror, during the Dawn War. The Two halves became the Dragon Gods Bahamut and Tiamat, and the blood that spattered the ground became the Dragonborn.

A third tale has Io creating the Dragonborn before all other humanoid races, shaping their perfection and firing them with his breath, and only creating Dragons later, at the start of the Dawn War to use as weapons in the war.

The fact that they were created by Io and not Bahamut or Tiamat means that every Dragonborn has a choice to make in their own personal morality of which path to follow.

Although the latter myth sees Dragonborn as being created before the Dragons, on their homeworld of Abeir they serve as a slave race to the Dragons. During the Spellplague, the two worlds intersected and the Dragonborn nation of Tymanchebar displaced the nation of Unther, becoming Tymanther and seeking to integrate with Faerûn and for a time established itself as a nation of honour, until the events of The Sundering reverted Unther back to Faerûn, leaving many Dragonborn without a nation and scrabbling to survive.

Dragonborn average around 6’2-6’8 in height, and average 300lb in weight. They have larger & stronger bones than humans, but with a less dense core to the bone.

They have breath weapons, determined by their draconic ancestry from a list of; fire, cold, acid, lightning and poison. They are also granted a damage immunity to the same type. They have taloned digits, with 3 fingers and a thumb, but lack wings or a tail. Their teeth seem to replenish if one is knocked out, but this is just the other rows moving up to full the space. Dragonborn can be quite tetchy towards those who point out that they have lost a tooth.

Their colours are usually of brass or bronze heritage, and tend towards a rusty, reddish brown, but can range to scarlet, gold, white, black, blue, silver, brass, bronze, or copper-green.

They birth eggs, and find other reproductive systems gross. Their young are nursed for a short period, but grow quickly - walking only hours after hatching and reaching the size of a ten year old human child by the time they are three. They are considered adults at 15 and live to around 80 years.

Dragonborn families are direct relations and a clan is formed of families through intermarriage, shared history or alliance.

Dragonborn revere their clan above all else. Their actions reflect on their clan and dishonourable behaviour could result in expulsion. Every Dragonborn knows their duties within the clan and their honour demands they perform to their best. If a situation arose where a Dragonborn were forced to choose between family and clan, the clan’s welfare would take precedence. They are given personal names at birth, but put their clan names first, as a mark of honour.

They are a very proud race, valuing skill and excellence, which pushes them to strive for self-improvement and self-sufficiency. They hate to fail, so recognise the need for help in difficult situations, turning to their clan when needed. Any honour due to acts of daring, bravery or heroism is considered bestowed upon the clan first, and the acting individual second.

They view their code of honour and loyalty as a type of faith, and are often skeptical about religion, having been forced to worship their draconic masters in ages past, but some do worship gods. Bahamut and Tiamat can count Dragonborn among their followers, and other Dragonborn favoured gods include Torm and Tyr for their codes of honour and order, as well as Tempus, Kelemvor and others.

They can be viewed as monsters by lay-folk, although they are likely to be treated with caution rather than fear and panic.

They speak, read and write Common and Draconic.

Some famous Dragonborn include Arkhan the Cruel - Joe Manganellio’s red scaled Oathbreaker Paladin character, and Tiberius Stormwind, also red scaled, and a Sorcerer played by Orion Acaba in the first Critical Role series.

Stat Block

Size: Medium

Speed: 30ft

Alignment: Tend towards extremes. Most are good but followers of Tiamat will be evil.

Breath weapon: 2D6 damage, 1D6 on a save with a DC of 8+ Constitution Modifier + Proficiency Bonus. Dexterity save against Black, Blue, Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, and Red ancestries, which comprise Acid, lightning and fire. Constitution save against Silver, Green and White ancestries, which are cold or poison.

Damage increases to 3D6 at level 6, 4D6 at 11, and 5D6 at level 16.

Applies in a 5ft by 30ft line for Black, Blue, Brass, Bronze and Copper ancestries, or a 15ft cone for Gold, Green, Red, Silver and White ancestries.

Ability score increases: Strength +2, Charisma +1

Advantageous classes that can make use of the ability score increases:

Barbarian (Strength), Bard (Charisma), Fighter (Strength), Paladin (Strength & Charisma,), Sorcerer, (Charisma), Warlock (Charisma). Paladin being the standout for Min-Maxers.

For more information on Dragonborn, see the show notes for sourcebook page numbers.

You So Classy! - Discussion of a class

Barbarian

“You know nothing of passion. When your rage can sunder mountains, you may speak to me of passion.

Barbarians are fury made flesh. They live for battle, laugh in the face of danger or overwhelming odds, and their rage is akin to a force of nature, like a tempest. They invariably fight to the death, their incessant rage fuelling their conquests, whether one on one or vs. an army.

They can draw their rage from various sources, such as fierce animal spirits they commune with, or else simply a burning anger at a world that has been nothing but pain to them. It is this rage that not only gives focus to their fire, but also bestows upon them enhanced reflexes, amazing resilience and strength beyond measure.

Barbarians see civilisation as a diluting of their primal spirit. Rather than settling, they embrace their feral natures, seeking strength and freedom unfettered by walls; preferring to roam the tundra or grasslands of their homelands under an open sky, heeding the call of the wilds.

They are never more alive than when in the midst of battle, delighting in the chaos of the melee, relying on instinct to guide their hefty blows rather than field tactics.

Their tendency to rush headlong into the fray can make them both an asset and a liability to an adventuring party. While it’s true they can act as a tank for the less robust members of the party, dealing out huge damage to foes and soaking up hits, they care little for plans and strategies. Played to type, they could be quite annoying for other party members who perhaps want to avoid a particular skirmish or try stealth as a tactic. If you’re playing as a barbarian, try to exercise a little impulse control - your character can act annoyed at having to temper their instincts and still be true to character, but your group will thank you for not pulling the entire camp of orcs before they’ve had a chance to whittle down their numbers by other means. Remember, just because you can rage and ignore a sword thrust like it was a mosquito bite, doesn’t mean the rest of your party can. If you rush in every time and end up with a TPK, expect a few sour glances from your teammates. Barbarians aren’t necessarily stupid, although can often be played that way due to intelligence being a dump stat for them, so approach encounters with some thought. Even if you decide that your best course is to create a distraction by rushing the enemies’ main gate solo, still wait for whatever signal your party has worked out before doing so.

“I know not of fear or sorrow … only bloodlust and rage.”

One of the main mechanics for the Barbarian is Rage. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action. If you’re not wearing heavy armour, its effects are:

Advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws
When attacking with a melee weapon that uses strength, you get bonus damage that scales as you level up - check the rage damage column of the barbarian table.
Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.

Rage lasts 1 minute, which is equal to ten rounds of combat. It can end early if you are knocked unconscious, or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature or taken damage since your last turn, so always be pummelling!

You can also choose to end your rage as a bonus action. You get a limited number of rages between long rests, consult the Barbarian table’s rages column to find out how many per level.

You also get an unarmored defence, so if not wearing armour, your AC is 10 plus your Dex mod AND your Con mod - so be sure to put a decent roll into Dex. This can also be used with a shield, which can bump your AC quite nicely.

Other Barbarian advantages at later levels include extra attacks, a reckless attack from lvl 2, which involves nominating it on the first attack of your turn, giving you advantage on melee attack rolls using Strength during the turn, but also gives opponents advantage against you until your next turn.

From level 2 you also get Danger sense, giving you advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects you can see, including spells and traps, provide you aren’t blinded, deafened or incapacitated.

From third level, you choose a path from Bezerker, Totem Warrior (PHB), Or the path of the ancestral guardian, Storm herald or zealot (XGTE) or the path of the Battlerager, with additional Totem Warrior option in the (SCAG).

Later advantages include fast movement; Feral instincts which give you advantage on initiative rolls and makes you unable to be surprised, provided you enter rage on your turn before doing anything else; Brutal critical, which add additional dice to your critical damage rolls; Relentless rage which can bring you back from 0 HP, and more.

Famous Barbarians include Grogg, from Critical Role and Conan.

Stat Block

Main stats: Strength, Constitution (also saving throws)

HP : @ lvl1: 12 + Constitution Mod

1d12 + Con Mod/lvl

Hit Dice: 1d12/level

Armour: Light, Medium, Shields

Weapons: Simple & Martial

Tools: None

Skills: 2 from Animal handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, Survival

Equipment: Greataxe or any martial melee weapon

2 handaxes or any simple weapon

Explorer’s pack & four javelins.

If you like flying into rages and slicing your way through hordes of enemies in a fervent bloodlust, laughing maniacally as you go - barbarian is the class for you.

Background Check

Urchin

The Urchin background means your character grew up as a homeless orphan, learning to survive and provide for yourself on the heartless city streets. You needed to keep constant watch over your meagre belongings, save some other poor wretch steal it from you. You slept on rooftops and in alleyways, exposed to the chill of the night air, rains and snows. Often you took ill due to this exposure, and with no money for medicine, you relied solely on your constitution to pull you through. You’ve survived by a combination of your wits, strength, and speed.

As an Urchin, you start your adventuring career with enough money to last a ten-day living modestly, with a pouch containing 10Gp, and have expert knowledge of the city you grew up in, using shortcuts unknown to most to travel across it in twice the speed.

The Urchin background gives you proficiencies in Sleight of hand and stealth, presumably as a result of having to steal food to survive and you get tool proficiencies for Thieves tools, and disguise kits.

You start with a small knife, a pet mouse, a token to remember your parents by, and a set of common clothes.

The Urchin background could be useful for Rogues, with SoH and Thieves tools. Personally I think it should come with a +1 to constitution, but there we are.

Roleplaying an Urchin would mean remembering your humble beginnings, perhaps hoarding food even when it is plentiful, or taking particular care of your footwear, to ensure it lasts. You may be reluctant to share things like food and loot, or simply take extra pride in you possessions.

Monster Menagerie

For our first monster menagerie segment, we’re going to look at the Aaron A. Aaaronson of D&D monsters, the:

Aarakocra

The Aarakocra have been a playable race since 1987, 1st...

How To Be The Dungeon Master

Mike Rickard — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the second episode of i cast pod, a podcast about Dungeons and Dragons! Every two weeks I’m going to be talking about various aspects of D&D, with plenty of tips and tricks to add flavour to your own roleplay sessions.

Here’s a rundown of the episode:

00:49 - What’s Involved? (In being a DM,.)
1:38 - What Makes A Good DM?
03:30 - What Makes A Bad DM?
4:58 - Responsibilities
6:14 - Session 0
8:40 - Rules You Should Know
10:47 - House Rules
11:42 - Homebrew Vs Pre-Built Campaign
12:43 - Preparation Time
13:14 - Maps & Minis Vs Theatre Of The Mind
15:16 - Describing The Scene
17:27 - Tools
21:02 - Music & Ambient Sounds
21:38 - NPC Tips
22:41 - Designing Encounters & Scenarios
23:23 - Monsters
24:10 - Handling Awkward Players
27:15 - It’s OK To Have To Look Things Up
28:10 - The DM Screen & DM Magic
29:53 - Reward Your Players
30:39 - DM Guidelines
31:41 : Wrap up
Total runtime: 32:42

Links

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkVdb9Yr8fc05_VbAVfskCA- Matt Colville’s Youtube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/wilwheaton - Will Wheaton’s Youtube channel

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/facilitatorCollins Dictionary definition of ‘Facilitator’.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/ D&D Beyond - online DM tools.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/sac/sage-advice-compendium#RulesReferences - The Sage Advice Compendium - loads of good DM rules stuff.

http://roll20.net/ - Roll20 online TTRPG playing site

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php- Fantasy Grounds

https://dm-helper.itch.io/dm-helper- DM Helper

https://www.dndbeyond.com/encounter-builder - D&D Beyond Encounter Builder

Mapping:

https://inkarnate.com/Inkarnate - Browser based map maker

https://www.wonderdraft.netWonderdraft - Desktop based map maker

https://www.profantasy.com/products/cc3.aspCampaign Cartographer - Windows based map maker

https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/ Azgaar - another browser based map maker. Links with:

https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator Medieval Fantasy City Generator

Music/Sounds

https://syrinscape.com- Syrinscape

https://tabletopaudio.com - Tabletop Audio

http://www.bluefacegames.com/dmdj/- DMDJ

https://www.worldanvil.com- World Anvil, Worldbuilding software

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cherry-Halma-Plastic-Playing-Pieces/dp/B01DCXSH5Q/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Big+Cherry+40x+Halma+Pawns&qid=1582240707&sr=8-1 - Amazon.co.uk link to multicolour player token Pawns.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpghorrorstories/ - RPG Horror stories on Reddit. Worth a browse to see what NOT to do.

Stat Block Generator

https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html 5e Stat Block Generator - I used this to create a Statblock for my Picklezilla monster that I posted on Instagram. (@icastpod)

Episode Transcript

Cold Open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a podcast about D&D. I’m Mike, your host, DM, and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In this episode, I’m going to be talking about being a Dungeon Master - What’s involved; what rules you need to know; what makes a good or bad DM; managing player expectations; prebuilt campaigns vs homebrew; NPC tips, and lots more. So let's get started.

What’s involved

So you’ve decided to be the DM for your group - Welcome to your second job! Just kidding, but being a DM does involve more work than being a player. Players just turn up with dice, character sheets and notebooks and they're good to go. As a DM, there's a lot of prep you have to do before you get to the session. You may have to draw out maps, write plot points, prepare dialogue and exposition, and work out things like traps and monsters that are a good challenge for your group, as well as XP and treasure. Your main job though, is actually managing your player’s expectations. The better you can do this, the smoother your game will run and the better time will be had by all. More on this later

What makes a good DM

Matt Colville, a longtime player and DM puts it best I think when he says: “You only have fun if your players have fun.”

Taking on the mantle of DM means an unspoken contract between you and your players, which boils down to this: You have agreed to provide them with entertainment. If you deliver a campaign that only involves searching a single room for rat droppings,sfx: rats which turn out not to be there, chances are you're doing your players a disservice.sfx: exasperated A good DM aims to provide their players with an interesting adventure that’s fun to play, because that's what we’re all doing: We're playing a game, for fun. If it's not fun, then your players have every right to stay home and do their taxes, wash the dishes, or find something else more fun to do. So when designing your campaign, or prepping a pre-made one, put your players first. Think about what would make them happy.

The lamest way I can think to put it, is that as the DM, you’re the Facilitator of Fun. Just for kicks, here’s the definition of “Facilitator”:

A facilitator is a person or organization that helps another to do or to achieve a particular thing.(SN: link to definition.)

Which I think is actually a good definition of a DM. You’re there to help and guide the players on their journey. In game, it might be to find and kill the BBEG, discover a long lost treasure, or save the world, but in the meta game it is always to have fun, first and foremost.

You should be hoping for your players to do well, and occasionally even enabling that to be the case, (more on that later,) but at the very minimum you should be celebrating their victories and commiserating their losses as if you were one of them, because really, you are.

What makes a bad DM

By contrast, a bad DM puts their own good time before that of their players. They might throw monsters whose challenge rating far outstrips their party’s level, just to watch them squirm, or worse, to watch their characters die. sfx: die No one wants their character to die, for the most part, so killing them kills the fun for that player.

Contrary to what you may have heard, the DM is not supposed to be an antagonistic force - just because you control monsters and evil-aligned NPC’s, doesn't mean you should play that alignment yourself. If anything, a DM should fall somewhere between True Neutral and Neutral Good on the alignment chart. You're technically supposed to be True Neutral, but if you're not rooting for the party even a little bit, I’d say you’re doing it wrong personally.

Will Wheaton also has a credo, which is “Don’t be a dick”, meaning don’t cause trouble for the sake of it. Really, Will’s credo is almost a distillation of Matt’s, just put another way. Don’t make things unnecessarily hard for your players just because you get a power trip from doing it. If your goal as a DM is a TPK, (or Total Party Kill,) sfx: slaughter don’t be surprised when your group doesn’t come back.

Responsibilities

Ok, so we’ve touched on the responsibilities you have to your players, but what else do you need to manage as a DM?

If you’re running a pre-made campaign, you need to have read ahead to know the major plot points. You don’t necessarily have to read the whole thing cover to cover, although that wouldn’t hurt, but far enough ahead that you should know what should happen at each session.

If you’re home brewing a campaign, and I would suggest you don’t if it’s your first time, just to make things easier on yourself, but if you are, then you need to world build like crazy. More on this later

You’ll also need to know what NPC’s will crop up, a little about each one, and if you’re going to do voices, I suggest working out what each NPC will sound like ahead of time and noting down accents, as well as anything else pertinent to their speech.

You’ll need to know the basic rules - things like speed over different types of terrain, the order of combat, when to ask for ability checks, how to set a difficulty class, or DC, and more. It also helps if you know how to roll a character, as your players will look to you for help when creating theirs.

Don’t worry though, lots of the rules are actually pretty easy.

Session 0

I recommend you have a session 0, as this can help get your campaign off to a great start. In a session 0, you have a Q&A session with your players, manage expectations, roll characters and if you have time, I’d also recommend doing a short, fairly easy combat encounter.

The Q&A should involve you as the DM explaining what sort of campaign you’re going to run, including setting - is the campaign taking place in Faerun, Ebberon, Avernus, Ravnica, or across several of the planes of existence?

It’s a great time to ask what your players expect from the campaign - do they want combat, RP or exploration heavy, or a balance? - and also what to expect from you as the DM.

The combat encounter can be as simple as a few monsters in a single room. sfx: Monster growlsYou can tie it into the main campaign, or have it as a standalone one shot. It allows the party to get used to things like the order of initiative, particularly if there are players in the party new to the game, and also lets them try out their skills, spells and abilities, as well as develop the beginnings of inter-party cooperation.

Why make it an easy encounter though? Why not make it super challenging? Because the encounter is like dipping your toe in a pool. It sets the expectation for what’s coming. If you teach your party early on that they should expect their combat encounters to be gruelling slogs where victory is not assured, it sets the tone for the campaign as a whole. Not everyone, and especially not many new players, will be up for every encounter running the knife edge between life and death. If your entire party is comprised of Dark Souls fans, then fine - you know they’re gluttons for punishment.

Remember though, that these are level 1 players. They have few abilities yet and probably not a lot of hit points. Most video game RPG’s, start you off in an area where your challenges are less, because building up your players with a few wins makes them want to play more. The psychology of this will have been studied by the companies that create the games, so it’s worth paying attention to. It’s better to start easy and then build up the challenge as you go.

Rules you should know

I mentioned certain rules you should have down, such as movement, combat and ability checks etc, so let’s go over them:

Walking over difficult terrain halves movement speed, so a movement speed of 30ft becomes 15 ft.
Combat order is: Roll for initiative, establish places of players and NPC’s, then start in initiative turn. Players can move up to their speed and perform an action - have a listen to the previous episode “What Is D&D?” for more info on actions.
Ability checks - You should ask for an ability check whenever a player asks to try something that has a reasonable risk of failure with consequences. So if a player hands an NPC a coin, no ability check is needed, because a)It’s an easy task that most people should be able to accomplish, and b)There are no real consequences of failure - the player would just have to pick up the coin again.
If a player tries to scale a wall, an ability check should be asked for, (usually acrobatics or athletics,) because falling off the wall is a realistic risk, with failure having consequences such as loss of HP, up to character death, depending on the height of the wall and what’s around it or at the bottom.
Difficulty class is pretty easy too: Generally it will go from 0-20 at earlier levels, and up to 30 or higher at higher levels, due to bonuses etc. On the 0-20 scale, an easy task would have a DC of 5; medium - 10; hard- 15; and extremely hard - 20. Obviously you can tailor this to your own style of play. I’ve used DC’s of 12, 17 and so on. Generally though, you think about how hard something would be to achieve - take into account as many relevant factors as you can, such as:
Is the wall they’re climbing wet, making it slippery?
Is the door they’re trying to open sealed by magic as well as a mechanical lock?
And so on. Then assign a DC, ask them to roll and describe the result.

House rules

Do you have any particular house rules? For my group, we decided on a flanking rule, as honestly, I was surprised that 5e didn’t have one in place. We decided as a group that if an enemy is engaged with a player, (or NPC,) and the player attacks from directly behind, that player rolls with advantage. The monster may then decide to face the attacking player as part of their move, negating the Advantage, but transferring it to the original player or NPC unless it turned so it could see both, or moved away, risking two attacks of opportunity.

If you have any in-house rules, session 0 is the best place to bring them up, so that players are reminded when the situation comes up in-game, rather than having a new rule sprung upon them in the heat of the moment, which can often feel unfair if it changes their expectations of what happens in that moment.

Homebrew vs prebuilt campaign

If you’re DM’ing for the first time, I highly recommend going with a pre-built campaign. There will still be a ton of reading and encounter building for you to do, as well as lots of improvisation as your players do things you never expected, but it takes the heavy lifting of world building off you. This lessens your burden and also allows you to learn from some of the best campaign writers out there.

Of course you can always homebrew a story into an established setting such as Faerun or Ebberon, using the relevant source books to ground your story in and provide a framework to hang it on.

Otherwise, you need to establish a setting, decide whether magic is prevalent or rare, write out a government, pantheon of gods, establish societies, factions and many other things, many of which may never see the kind of coverage in-game that you feel the amount of work you put in calls for. That’s just the way it is.

Prep time

Prep time for sessions varies depending on various factors - have you read ahead to figure out the story arc for next session? Do you need to create/draw out maps? More on this in a moment Have you got all your encounters built, either on paper or D&D Beyond? Have you prepped a couple of other encounters, just in case your party speeds through your content way faster than you thought they would? Make sure to give yourself enough time between sessions to prep.

Maps & Minis vs Theatre of the Mind

Theatre of the mind is essentially the DM describing every scene like the narrator of a fantasy novel. While this might sound like less work than drawing out maps either on paper or using tools like Roll20, Inkarnate etc, TotM requires a skill set involving writing, narration, performance, and improvisation.

Maps and minis can be useful for the players to get a general lay of the land both on the macro and micro scale - I use the map that comes with the Essentials Kit of the sword coast on one side to give players a sense of where they are in the world, and the other side, which shows a map of the town of Phandelin, to navigate their immediate surroundings.

I also use a dry erase battle map to either copy out the map of where they will visit this session and cover areas with black card until they are explored, or if they are visiting a large area with many rooms, I then copy out the maps from the campaign guide room by room onto graph paper, and put down each room as they encounter it.

During combat encounters, I find maps and minis are much easier for establishing distances and things like line of sight, as you can just refer to the map. Doing combat encounters as purely theatre of the mind is more difficult for players to get a grasp on which enemies they can see, or are in range of.

You don’t even have to spend a lot on monster minis - I use simple multicoloured board game “person” tokens to mark enemies and they players used those as well, until they bought their own minis. I’ll put a link in the show notes to them.

Ultimately the choice is up to you, but I find a combination of the two works best for me and our group. You can also buy maps, or multi-use tiles or entire scenery, but even with those I feel theatre of the mind still definitely has a place in your game and those descriptions can bolster scenery and set scenes and moods.

Describing the scene.

“Suddenly from somewhere in the dense brush to your right side, a rustle catches your attention, immediately followed by a volley of arrows that whistles past your head, thudding solidly into the side of the wagon you’ve been walking beside. The horses pulling the wagons rear and whinny, stopping in their tracks. A quick glance confirms that the rest of your party is in similar straights… what do you do?”

This is a good example of a...

What Is D&D?

Mike Rickard — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:15:00 +0000

Welcome to the first episode of I cast pod, a podcast about Dungeons and Dragons! Every two weeks I’m going to be talking about various aspects of D&D, with plenty of tips and tricks to add flavour to your own roleplay sessions.

Here’s a rundown of the first episode:

1.01: Intro to your host - I DM, but I’m no expert!
2.09: News - D&D Video games, Comics, Books, Merch & movie news from around the web.
4.43: What is D&D?
6.41: D&D Basics
8.54: Three Aspects of Play:
9.37: Exploration
10.32: Roleplaying
13.19: Combat
17.51: Getting Started
19.20: Don’t I Need to Know a Lot to Play, Like Lore, and Maths?
20.10: Rolling Characters
21.37: Choose a Race
22.26: Choose a Class
24.24: Choose Your Alignment
25.57: Background
26.26: Ability Scores
29.38: Playing the Game
30.43: Ability Checks
33.20: Crits and Failures
34:28: Advantage and Disadvantage
34.59: Close

Links from the show:

Free basic rules PDF - It even has a blank character sheet template near the end.

https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf

Free, prebuilt character sheets from the starter set

https://media.wizards.com/downloads/dnd/StarterSet_Characters.pdf_

Character sheet for people with Dyslexia

https://www.geeknative.com/70088/dd-character-sheets-for-players-with-dyslexia/

More character sheet variants for people with Dyslexia

https://www.dyslexic-charactersheets.com

A handy table to work out modifier scores from ability rolls:

[https://dnd5e.info/using-ability-scores/ability-scores-and-modifiers/ - Click on ‘Customisation options on the left, then “Ability Scores and Modifiers”]

SyrinScape Fantasy & Sci-Fi Sounds player: (Used for some awesome sound effects during the show,)

[https://store.syrinscape.com/what-is-syrinscape/?att_icastpod]

I also used Freesounds.org for a few effects:

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Episode Transcript

Cold Open

Welcome to I Cast Pod, a podcast about D&D. I’m Mike, your host, DM, and guide to all things dungeonesque and dragon-y. In our first episode, I’m going to be talking about what D&D is, and how to get started playing. We’ll cover D&D basics, game etiquette, the three aspects of play: Exploration, Role Playing, and Combat, Character Creation, Hits, Crits and more.

So if you have just dipped your toe into the deep, deep waters of D&D - perhaps by watching or listening to Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, Acquisitions Incorporated, or any of a number of live play streams or podcasts or seen it on TV shows such as Community, Stranger Things, or Rick and Morty - the latter two of which actually have official D&D modules available now to play - and thought D&D looks like fun; or maybe you played a little in your youth and want to get back into it; or maybe you’ve just always been D&D curious, but have never had the chance to get involved - then this episode is for you.

A Little About Me

So before we go any further, I figured I’d tell you a little bit about myself - in relation to D&D, so don’t worry, this won’t be my entire backstory!

I currently act as DM for a local group in my city that runs out of a cafe after hours. I have both played and DM’d in the past - but I’m no D&D expert. I have no degrees in Lore, my main playtime has been with 5th edition, which is the most recent version. I have a vague recollection of playing, I think, 4th edition a long time ago, but my passion for the game has developed much more recently. In fact, part of the reason for starting this podcast, was to help me learn more about the game and become a better DM for my group, and also a better player in general. So with that said, let’s learn together!

News

Video games:

Baldur's Gate 3 being developed by Larian Studios, the people behind Divinity Original Sin 2. Considering that game is considered one of the most D&D-like experiences in a video game, this could be a great addition to the already popular series.

Dark Alliance - a reboot of the PS2/Xbox/GameCube game will be a 4 player co-op action RPG game featuring characters from R.A. Salvatore’s Icewind Dale trilogy. I for one, am excited at the prospect.

In fact up to 8 D&D video games are rumoured to be in production currently, all of which will feature single player campaigns of some sort, as well as co-op play.

Comics

For Critical Role fans, 2020 is going to be a good year. The Chronicles of Exandria is released on March 31st and Vox Machina Origins vol.2 is released May 28th.

Books

In addition to those, Matt Mercer’s official collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount releases on March 17th!

Merch

The latest dice and miscellany set is looking very cool, and is based around Larael Silverhand, archmage of Waterdeep. It features blue dice, a double-sided map of the Sword Coast and the city of Waterdeep and 20 illustrated cards featuring Larael’s insights on key characters, locations and lore from across the Forgotten Realms. Larael Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit releases on March 17th too. Might want to start saving for March.

Movies:

There is also a D&D movie in the works! Considering the last major release was widely considered to be a pretty terrible movie, expectations should be low, hopefully paving the way for the team to knock it out of the park. Jonathan Goldstein and John Frances Daley were listed as writers in a recent tweet from Goldstein’s twitter account. Goldstein and Daley have Spider-Man: Homecoming; Horrible Bosses and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 among their writing credits, and described it as a “Guardians of the Galaxy-tone movie in a Tolkien-like universe. Fingers are crossed.

What Is D&D?

D&D is currently hugely popular - mostly due to the internet, particularly YouTubers, podcasters and live streamers putting content online in ways never before possible and enabling more people to get involved with the game. What was once the preserve of just a handful of people around a table, or the occasional small convention, D&D is now a legitimate entertainment phenomenon.

But what is it?

Well, let me ask you a couple of questions:

First: What do you think the definition of a game is?

This was a question I was asked at college - I studied computer science, but the course was geared towards video game development, hence the question. The answer, it turned out, could be boiled down to the phrase “A series of interesting choices.”

Second: What do you think of when I say the word “Storytelling”?

Maybe you think of books, films, or graphic novels. Or perhaps you think of daring adventurers, returning from expeditions with tales of derring-do; Or greek plays, brought to life by actors playing the roles of valiant heroes, fickle gods and terrifying monsters.

D&D is, in some ways, the summation of all of these things. It is, at its essence, a collaborative improvised storytelling adventure, set in a fantasy realm filled with the aforementioned heroes, gods and monsters daring adventurers, misfortunes, mayhem, magic, and more. What’s great about it, is you either get to be one of the heroes, or maybe, if you’re up for more of a challenge, you get to be something like a god… the DM.

D&D Basics

In D&D, the players each take on the role of an adventurer and the DM acts as both guide to the world at large, as well as a kind of referee.

The players tell the DM what they want to do in any given situation, and the DM, alongside certain dice rolls, decide whether the character succeeds or fails. The dice are there to add an element of chance, otherwise there would be no stakes at all, and everyone would automatically succeed at everything. While that sounds great, it would make for a very boring adventure, because drama… comes from… conflict. sfx: swordplay

Conflict doesn’t necessarily mean combat btw, - it just means there are forces that oppose what you want to achieve, be it gravity; sfx: drop or an ageless Lich, hellbent on revenge for that time your party mooned him from the side of a flying carpet, or it could just be the risk of the consequences of failure.

I always say to my players, “Never ask me if you can do something, tell me what you want to do and we’ll figure out if it’s possible. Bear in mind that even though game worlds generally run on something like real world physics, magic is generally part of most, if not all settings, and can often circumvent or even negate physics in lots of interesting ways. And even if you don’t have a particular spell that can make you, say, levitate, sfx: up we go! in order to grasp some elusive… high up… treasure… gah! maybe someone else in your party does have one and can cast it on you, or even on the chest to dislodge it. sfx: dropping coins

D&D is the ultimate sandbox adventure game, where you really are only limited by your imaginations. Well, that and the dice. sfx: dice rolls

In an ideal game the party all works together towards some common goal and the DM facilitates the adventure.

3 Aspects of Play

D&D Adventures have 3 main components: Exploration, Role Playing and Combat. Some games can involve more of one than the other parts. For your first campaign, try to get your DM to run a balanced adventure, so that everyone can figure out what they enjoy most, but get to play all aspects.

Note Generally games start with the party in a relatively safe spot, such as a village, or a tavern in a town or city, but could start with the party in prison, or in the midst of a surprise attack. It depends on your DM and the type of game they want to run.

Exploration…

involves not only finding out where you are, either through theatre of the mind style descriptions from the DM, or from uncovering portions of a map, or both - but it might also involve things like checking for traps, sfx:trap searching for clues to your goal, checking for hidden monsters and other unknown dangers. In D&D, your party are rarely out of peril for long. Most often, your DM will ask you for a Perception check if you say you are specifically searching, to see what you find. We’ll cover ability checks later, but for now, just know that you will need to roll a D20, sfx: die roll and tell your DM what score you got, including any relevant modifiers. Your DM will then tell you what you perceive or discover, if anything.

Role playing…

takes a few forms. In most cases players describe what their characters are doing to the DM and Party in the 1st person:

“I walk slowly down the corridor, checking the walls, floor and ceiling carefully as I go for traps or signs of anything unusual…”sfx die roll “A 1?” sfx: willhelm scream

Speaking in first person helps with immersion and getting into character, although some people prefer to speak in the third person: “Darla vaults the crumbling wall and dashes to the aid of her friends.” Generally in my experience 1st person is better, but the DM should at the very least make sure everyone in the party is going to be doing either 1st or 3rd person, otherwise it can feel a bit odd if only one of the party speaks in 3rd person, but check with your DM if you’re unsure.

Role playing doesn’t mean you have to put on a voice or act out scenes, but if you feel capable of doing either, go for it!

Another time role playing often happens, is when talking to NPC’s, or Non player characters. These are any characters that show up in the story who are embodied by the DM. It could be a friendly tavern owner, or a bored shop keeper. It could be an evil villain or a possible opponent. Make use of your notebooks to write down the names of NPC’s as you come across them and any relevant information either about them, or that the party learns while talking to them - you never know when it might come in handy later. It’s also useful to keep notes about the campaign in general. Some groups nominate a scribe, other groups just have everyone taking their own notes. Also I said ‘possible opponent’ because part of the beauty of D&D is that sometimes you don’t have to fight certain creatures or beings - sometimes you can talk your way out of a situation, maybe changing your opponents mind altogether and getting them to fight for your cause, or you could try bartering, bribing, blackmailing or even seducing your way out! The possibilities are literally only limited by the imaginations of the party, which is a major part of the attraction of the game.

The main part of role playing though, is playing the game as you imagine your character would, based on your character’s stats, alignment and background - more on these later, and using only the knowledge your character would have within the setting.

Combat…

In D&D is turn based and one turn simulates six seconds at a time. There is often a joke made that in D&D, a twelve hour march can take seconds in real time, whereas a five minute skirmish can take three hours. Combat most often happens when the players encounter monsters - a general, collective term for all antagonistic creatures and beings in the game. You’ll know when combat is beginning because the DM will ask everyone to “Roll for initiative”. Everyone will roll a D20 sfx: die roll and add any relevant bonuses, and tell the DM. Initiative is simply the order that players and monsters will take turns in each round of combat, with higher rolls going first, through to those who rolled lower. The DM will roll for the monsters initiative and then will have some way of keeping track, whether just on a notepad, or by handing out numbered cards, etc. Initiative is rolled anew for each combat encounter, but plays no role in out of combat play.

Next the DM will establish where all the players and monsters are. Distance is important in combat for both melee and ranged attacks. sfx: weapon clash/bow firing

During combat you can do two main things during your turn. You can move and perform an action. You can move up to your character’s speed, which will be on your character sheet - usually around 25-30 feet per turn. You can move all at once, or move, then do an action, such as attacking, then move again.

Be aware though that if you fail to kill a monster with your attack and then move away, this can provoke something called an attack of opportunity by the monster, where it basically gets to take a swipe at you as you try to move away, sfx: growl & swipe but splitting your movement can lead to more tactical battles when it is possible.

You action can be to attack; cast a spell; ready an action - usually you describe an event that will trigger the action, like “if the goblin stands on the trapdoor, I’m going to pull the lever,”; help another character; dash - this uses your action to double your movement speed for the round, but may mean you can’t do anything else; disengage, which involves moving away from an enemy without provoking an opportunity attack; dodge; search; hide; or use an object, such as a magical or non magical item.

There are small actions that you can do during combat that don’t use your action to perform, such as kicking a small pebble, drawing the weapon you’re about to attack with, pick up a dropped weapon, or pull a lever, for example. sfx: Goblin surprise yell

To attack, you have to pick a creature in range. To determine if you’re in range of the creature, check the spell or weapon description. Melee usually requires you to be within five feet of the enemy, and ranged varies. Ask your DM for guidance. Then the DM will tell you if there are any special circumstances, for example if the creature is in cover or obscured in some way. Then roll a D20 to see if you hit. Add any modifiers - weapons and spell descriptions usually tell you if they have a bonus ‘to hit’ and tell your DM. If you equal or exceed the number of the armour class of the creature, you hit and can roll damage dice directed by the weapon or spell. The DM probably won’t tell you the actual armour class, or AC of the enemies you encounter, just if you hit them or not. Some DM’s prefer it if players don’t try to work it out going by previous dice rolls, as that’s classed as meta gaming - using knowledge about the game that your character wouldn’t have for an advantage. In practice though, as a player it’s kind of difficult not to notice if another players misses with a 14 and you hit with a 15 though.

Combat ends when all the enemies are dead, when the party is all unconscious or dead, which is fairly rare, or under other conditions - if a single enemy is left they may bargain for their lives, enemies may be taken prisoner or debriefed for information, or the enemies may rout and flee the battle.

Getting Started

How Can I Start Playing?

There are lots of ways to play these days. The traditional way is to gather a group of people into a room, with character sheets, dice, notepads and pencils.

The absolute minimum you’ll need to play are 2 people, one set of dice, the basic rules, which are available online for free - check the show notes for the link, a notepad or paper and a pencil. That’s it.

A usual group will be about 5-7 people, including the DM.

There are lots of ways to find a group to play with. You could ask friends and family; check at your college or place of work to see if there’s already a group you can join; check out local cafes, coffee shops, hobby or comic shops. You could google the phrase “Dungeons and Dragons games near me.” You could check the Meetup app or other local list apps like Gumtree or Craigslist. Obviously as always, take precautions when meeting people from online list groups - have a fully charged cellphone with you, meet somewhere public and if you can go with a friend, even better.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can also play online without leaving your house with tools like D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, Roll 20 and others. You could also just set up a Skype conference call, use Discord with Sidekick and any number of other options.

Don't I need to know a lot of lore/maths to play?

No! To both things. Basic maths skills are all that’s required - usually adding modifier scores to dice rolls. Occasionally there might be some light multiplication or division but nothing more than that. You can use the calculator on your phone, or even download an app to roll your dice for you. Some even allow you to plug in your stats so the app even calculates modifiers too!

As to lore, you really don’t need to know any to begin with. If you have even a passing acquaintance with the fantasy genre - even if you’ve only seen the Lord of The Rings movies, you’ve got enough understanding to start, and you’ll learn as much as

I Cast Pod Trailer

Mike Rickard — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

A trailer for the upcoming podcast, "i Cast Pod!" A Dungeons and Dragons discussion show.