College of the Unheard (Bard)

The College of the Unheard is a bardic tradition that caters to characters who do not have their full capacity for hearing. Whether hard of hearing or deaf, members of this college are unfazed. Rather, they harness their capabilities to communicate and cast spells in unique fashion. Bards of this college call themselves The Unheard because their invisible disability often goes unconsidered by others. Yet, anyone who underestimates The Unheard will quickly learn the folly of their ways, as these bards are equally capable as their peers and boast incredible talent.

Movement Effect Size Caps

Should effects which manipulate the movement of a target be limited by size? We examine the narrative issues and give you a simple rule that fixes them by employing size caps.

Thrown Weapon Master

Today we're building a feat to alleviate action economy woes with thrown weapons and give them a nice damage boost to bring it in line with other weapon loadouts.

Oath of Secret Knowledge (Paladin)

Once upon a time, a character came across a shrine deep within an abandoned Dwarven stronghold carved deep into the Iron Mountains. Struck by reverence to the shrine of the lost deity Dumathoin, he knelt and prayed. So his character changed forever. I worked with the player to create a Paladin subclass devoted to the … Continue reading Oath of Secret Knowledge (Paladin) →

Simple Trap System

Traps can be fun. A great myth is that traps need to be carefully curated to be worth anything. While curated traps are wonderful, even simple traps can be great. Here's a simple system for running fun and impactful traps at your table: Download the PDF via DM's Guild Elements of a Good Trap For … Continue reading Simple Trap System →

Breath Weapon Overcharge

In last week's post on Breath Weapon Dice Pools, I suggested that you could power up the breath weapon by allowing the dragon (or other monster) to charge their breath weapon beyond its normal limits. This week, I've developed an overcharge system to drive more dynamic combat. We'll be using the Breath Weapon Dice Pools … Continue reading Breath Weapon Overcharge →

Breath Weapon Dice Pools

Torching the whole party with a dragon's breath weapon is one of the most fun moments as a Dungeon Master. How can we tweak this rule to have greater control over its power and establish ludonarrative harmony?

Design Tips: Trap Features

We used to build characters a different way. Back in 3.x, the splat got so numerous that you were practically forced to "work backwards from 20." In other words, you would build your ultimate character concept and work backwards to see what you needed to take at each level. For example, failure to properly plan … Continue reading Design Tips: Trap Features →

How Often Do Critical Hits Underperform?

Critical Hits are often the subject of homebrew rules. Driven by the perception that critical hits frequently underperform, these homebrew rules juice up the damage of critical hits to a more impressive level. They're often implemented after a player waits 20 rolls (on average) to score a critical hit that lands with a thud. But, is this underperformance a reflection of perception or reality?

Artificer Expanded Spell List

Buffing the Artificer spell list with spells that fit its casting themes of object manipulation, fabrication, healing, defensive fortifications, and personal buffs. 14 new Artificer spells from Xanathar's Guide to Everything are included on a handy chart to track your prepared spells.