Nautical Achievements

While looking on the DM Guild for useful supplements for my upcoming nautical game I found Nautical Achievements by BenDjinn. I love BenDjinn's stuff and am sad they took down all their horror content (which I'm assuming was for legal reasons).

Achievements and Trophies have been a regular thing in video games for a few decades now, though if you look at things like arcade high scores, the ideas has been around since the inception of video games. The modern idea is that you do a certain task in game and you get a named achievement added to your gamer record. This pdf takes that idea and adds it to 5e. It adds some nautical spice to the game. The pdf includes 100 achievements. Here are a few examples from Nautical Achievements:

• Wave Rider - You successfully ride a giant seahorse  
• Ship Hunter - You discover the remains of a sunken ship

For every ten achievements you unlock you get a Nautical Trait. These are very minor boons that add some flavor to your character. You can either let your players pick one or roll for it randomly. There are 10 presented, as well as blank space to create 10 more. Here's an example:

• Parley - You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks against pirates and sailors.

I can see some people bitching about this being another example of trying to make D&D like a video game, but I think it's a fun little touch. It's not going to take anything away from the game and I think it will encourage players to do some interesting things that they might not do otherwise. This 7 page pdf is only .99 cents. The achievements and traits are formatted to be printed off on labels, which is a handy way to use them. If you are open to the idea I think it's could be a nice addition to your game.

Legendary Wrestler Review

I can't help it, I have a sickness. While looking for more 5e wrestling content I found this fantastic supplement on the DM's Guild.

Legendary Grappler is an outstanding pwyw pdf. The main focus is the legendary wrestler archetype for the barbarian. The archetype is a great blend of classic and professional wrestling. Unlike some barbarian archetypes, the path isn't really about dealing a lot of damage. Instead it focuses on grappling and working as a team.

In addition to the archetype itself, there is also a page of lore that can easily be fit into most D&D cosmologies. The pdf presents three different wrestlers. Garnox and Vindrel are detailed and given face (good) and heel (evil) options. Both also has three different stat blocks: amateur, champion, and legendary. In addition to the brothers, the villainous sahaugin Khululukul is given stats. A former conqueror, he became obsessed with wrestling when he was defeated by the legendary wrestlers.  He only has one stat block and is a good challenge for characters of 10th or higher. Finally the pdf two sizes of printable miniatures for Garnox and Vindrel.

I am really impressed by this pdf. It's 19 pages of well rounded content. Not only do you get a new archetype, you get characters based around it, and game lore. Additionally, the pdf is gorgeous. The layout and artwork are professionally done.

Still not convinced you need this one? Check out the video below, created by the publisher.

Jeremy Hart Illos Creature Feature Quarterly Volumes 1 and 2

I've already spoken about Jeremy Hart's patreon page before, but I'm going to do it again. Jeremy is a talented artist and is creating some really interesting monsters for 5th edition. You can read my review of many of his early Creature Features here and here. He's recently released the newest volume of his Creature Feature Quarterly and posted a few videos of copies he had printed at a print shop.

Purchase Here

Purchase Here

These look fantastic! I think I need to talk to a print shop, because I'd love to have these babies spiral bound. You should support independent creators and give some serious thought to snagging his stuff and supporting Jeremy's Patreon, especially if you play 5e.

The Hag's Hexes

The Hag's Hexes is a 66 page collection of goodies for everyone's favorite monster crones. Released through the DM's Guild. The book is divided into five chapters.

The largest chapters is a bestiary. Monsters range from challenge 1-10. There are several new types of hags, fey and servants of hags, and a few wretched hag offspring. We're even presented with a new pc race, the changeling (which is a classic fey changeling, not Eberron's doppleganger-lite). I think my favorite monsters in the mix were the Hansel and Gretel inspired Candy Hag, Gingerbread Thief, Crul, and Gumdrop Ooze.

The second chapter is quite unique. It deals with bargains and curses, those classical hag abilities that don't tend to get a lot of attention in rpgs. There are six bargains and fifteen curses. I like that even though these things are given name and some rules, there's still a lot left up to the DM and player. This is a nice bit of freedom.

The third chapter focuses on magic items. Most of the items are very rare and Legendary, but that makes them all the more interesting to me. I love unique items. Dread Leanora's Pillow is my favorite of these. While it's cursed, if the curse is removed it has extremely powerful restorative effects, giving the attuned user the benefits of a long rest after only take a short. Most of the items described contain curses, but are still quite interesting.

The fourth chapter is a bit of an expansion to Volo's Guide to Monsters. That book provided some excellent information on hags and this just expands roleplaying the cursing crones. I appreciate that each hag is given minion suggestions and explains the connections the monsters have. We also get an expansion on the coven rules presented in Volo's Guide. Aunties and Grandmothers are given treatment and finally hag tactics are presented.

The final chapter focuses on encounters and adventures. Half of these are encounter groups with a challenge level. The other half of the chapter presents three different adventures centered around some of the new hags presented in the book. 

If you like hags, witches, and faerie tales and play 5th edition then I think this should be a welcome addition to your game. Tim Bannock (author of The Darkness Beneath Dalentown) and crew did a great job mixing classic legends and lore into the game and really fleshing out hags.

X Marks the Spot

Not sure how I missed this one.

While it's not the official Planeshift article full of Ixalan setting material I expected, Wizards has released a pretty cool Magic: The Gathering adventure for 5E. Clocking in at 28 pages, X Marks the Spot is a MTG Planeshift adventure. The pdf is a short adventure, new monsters (including the chupacabra), locations, magic items, and pre-generated characters.

Since Ixalan is a setting of dinosaurs and jungles I don't think it would be to hard to use the information of the adventure to supplement Tomb of Annihilation.

You can grab X Marks the Spot here for the amazing price of free.

Tomb of Annihilation Character Sheet

If you've planning on paying Tomb of Annihilation you should really considering using this great character sheet created by Adam Thaxton for the Dungeon Masters Guild.

This sheet has the same layout as a typical 5e sheet, but has a tribal look. For me that makes it much easier to use than some custom sheets (though don't get me wrong I love custom character sheets). You can download the full-size pay what you want version here.

The Tortle Package

Today, Wizard's dropped the Tortle Package. It's a special pdf supplement for Tomb of Annihilation. All money that WotC earn from its sales go to their Extra Life charity.

The pdf clocks in at 28 pages. It includes information about tortles, pc stats for them, as well as more information about the Snout of Omgar, an island (formerly a peninsula) of Chult that the tortles reside on. We're presented with information about a tortle fort, Ahoyhoy, as well as an old temple to Umberlee, the Bitch Queen. The last of the new content is monster stats for the decapus, geonid, topi, tortle, and tortle druid. The pdf ends with handouts about three tortle guides mentioned in the pdf, a picture of a holy symbol of Umberlee, and unmarked maps of the islands and locations.

Is this a must have? Absolutely not. However, the money goes to a good cause and it's still a really cool pdf. If/when I run Tomb of Annihilation, I'm definitely using this supplement. You can grab the Tortle Package here for 9.99. 

Storm King's Thunder - Session Four

Date of Session: 11-4-16

The Party

Dor (NG Half-Orc Druid): Dor is a half-orc druid of simple tastes (his favorite of which is a good ale). Despite his brutish appearance, he's actually quite humble and kind.

Varkus the Charmer (CG Dhampyr Rogue): An extremely charming "bard," Varkus friendly demeanor masks a dark past. No one knows which is sharper, his tongue or rapier...

Ella Henwen (NG Human Wild Magic Sorcerer): Ella is a magic user of humble origins. Touched by wild magic, strange things happen when she's around. Sweet and naive, she wants to see the world and make it a better place.

Nathaniel Graves (LN Human Fighter): The last surviving member of the Iron Eagles mercenary  company, Nathaniel is a grim marksman. He adventures for coin and only cares about those in his mercenary company (the party), though he often works for the Lords' Alliance.

Session Four

• The party met their patron, Milo Thann, at the Fiery Grog Tavern in Waterdeep.
• Valkur negotiated payment for the vanquished goblins and kobolds.
• Nathaniel took the Fiery Grog Tavern, failed, and vomited on a surly dwarf. Luckily Ella cast prestidigitation to clean him up and Dor was able to calm him.
• The party were hired by the gnome bartender to take out the monsters in his cellar. The monsters were *gasp* dire rats.
• After dispatching the rats, the party found complex cave system.
• They faced several types of mutant rats, including horrifying spider rats.
• They found journals written by a mad rat king.
• The party encounter Nibbles, an awakened albino rat with an enlarged cranium. He agreed to give the party information in exchange for being allowed to travel the world with them.
• The party rescued a tortured human teen who was searching for the fabled armor of invulnerability. 
• After dispatching a mimc the party prepared to face the rat king, himself.

Curse of Strahd: Potions

Curse of Strahd: Potions is a one page pay what you want pdf on the Dungeon Masters Guild. It presents 7 Ravenloft themed potions. The powers provided by these concoctions often come at a price. They are as follows:

Moon Blood - You blood becomes acidic to vampires and undead that decide to bite you.

Wolf Eye's - You gain superior darkvision and sunlight sensitivity while under the effects of this potion.

Gallows Ichor - Weapons coated in this black ichor overcome damage reduction

Vistani Elixir - You gain advantage on all rolls for a few minutes and disadvantage on all rolls for a few days.

 Corpseworm - This potion contains a centipede like creature that allows you to speak with a dead corpse, though after a few days a swarm of centipedes erupts from the corpse's mouth.

Morninglord's Tears - This potion can cure Lycanthrope from one that has not yet transformed, though doing ages the drinker.

Vial of Mist - This potion creates a 20ft sphere of mist.

These are all really cool and add a nice bit of flavor to Curse of Strahd. Pick it up and pass the creator a few silvers.

Trick or Treat (DM's Guild Adventure)

Trick or Treat is a short (7 page ) Halloween themed adventure for 5E that can be found at the Dungeon Masters Guild. It's rather simple, but festive and fun. The party comes across a small town celebrating Reaping Day (a fall harvest and honouring the dead festival).The festival includes a haunted house, bugbear dunking game, and pumpkin carving contest. Unfortunately when a ritual is miscast by a clueless townsfolk member, people become their costumes.

I've read through the adventure and it seems like a fun romp. I love Halloween and like doing a Halloween game, so I'll be running this in my Storm King's Thunder campaign. Once the characters finish taking out the goblins and kobolds, they'll escort a rescued human home. The festival will be in full swing.

If you want something spoopy (and I mean spoopy, not spooky) and have two bucks to spare, you should pick this up.

I did notice a minor proofreading oversight. The Nightmare Before Christmas is attributed to "Time Burton."

Fee, Fly, Foe, Fund: A Storm King's Thunder Adventure

Fee, Fly, Foe, Fund: A Storm King's Thunder Adventure is a pay what you want sidetrek for Storm King's Thunder available on Dungeon Master's Guild. It is written by former Wizards of the Coast staff member (and producer of the 5E core rulebooks), Greg Bilsland. It was designed for part of D&D 24-hour 2016 Extra Life game. 50% of all sales will be donated to D&D Extra Life team, so throw some money at it.

This adventure is a brings the characters back to Nightstone and deals with the hill giant wives affected by Chief Guh's (pronounced "Goo") plan. The whole thing is very combat heavy, which is fun. The maps definitely aren't professionally done, but this is a fun little adventure that's for a good cause.

I mean, c'mon, the adventure includes damage for a giant using half a cow as a weapon...

Thanks to +Stew Perkins for letting me know about this.

The Horrendous Heap of 16 Cities

I see the Heap as a fantasy version of the planet from Soldier.

Perhaps my warrior leper could be from the Heap

The Horrendous Heap of 16 Cities was released by in 2012 by Dylan Hartwell (whose blog Digital Orc, was a favorite of mine early in my blogging days). Written for Labyrinth Lord, the 29 page pdf is 2.99.

The Heap is a giant blight on the land. Essentially an ancient magic-user created sixteen portals in the sky. The portals are linked to 16 cities (which use them to dispose of their garbage).

Various factions are associated the Heap. While they only get mentioned briefly, hostile elves live around the Heap. They are furious at the state of their homeland and attack those that seek to make use of the Heap. On the edge of the Heap is a town of sellers. Within the Heap, itself,  there are scavengers, a leper colony (with a group of female clerics that administer to them as part of their vows), and a worm cult. The worm cult worships massive worms that leave in the Underheap. Several adventure hooks, named npcs, and monsters are also included in the pdf.

The Heap is a unique (and gross) sandbox to play in. I think there's a lot of potential here. If you're feeling frisky, you could even connect the worm cult to Kyuss. If you go this route (and play 5E like I do), there is a DM Guild product that might interest you: Monsternomicon: Kyuss and His Faithful.

If I wasn't going to put it in a Wizards of the Coast/Official D&D setting I'd probably have it connect to the following cities: Punjar, Vornheim, The Yellow City, Freeport. The Heap would be a great addition to Eberron. I'm not sure where I'd put it if I were using Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, but it could work there as well.

Honestly I've had this one for a while, but just sort of sat on it. Now I'm sad I haven't used it yet. I'll make sure that changes soon(ish). I miss Dylan's blog. I think I'll have to pick up some of his other pdf's soon.

Battle for the Undercity (5E) - Free For a Limited Time

For a limited time you can snag Battle for the Undercity for the amazing price of free. To do so, you just need to copy the code from the newest issue of Dragon Plus. 

Mike Mearls and Chris Lindsay discussed this product in an article back in March on the D&D webpage. It's a well balanced adventure in three separate parts. Each part focuses on a different villain group (all of which are interesting and could easily be reoccurring threats).

I've not used the adventure yet, but I really like it and will do so in the future. Good urban encounters can be hard to find. 

Kaiju Question

This one is fair simply:

Have you ever used Kaiju in your game? I realize that D&D has things like dragons and other huge, gargantuan, and colossal beasts that are kaiju-like but I'm just curious if anyone has ever done anything kaiju-related in their games. 

The Bestiary 4 for Pathfinder contains kaiju stats. Nothing official exists in, but if you want to include kaiju  there's a product on the DM's Guild site that may interest you. Gargantuas of Kara-Tur 5E updates Gargantuas (essentially Kaiju) from the Kara-Tur Monster Compendium to 5th edition. At only two dollars, the product doesn't have a lot of content, but it still gives you four varieties and something to work from when making your own. The four different gargantua represented are reptillian (Godzilla), humanoid (King Kong), insectoid (Mothra) and Krakentua (the Cthulhu in a kimono to the right). I've not used them yet, but they seem reasonably well balanced. 

Honeymage Wizard Tradition

If you want to add some interesting flavor (no pun intended) to your campaign, consider adding the Honeymage Wizard Tradition. The (predominantly) halfling wizard tradition is well flavored and pretty interesting: arcane beekeepers. They add several reskinned druid spells their list. Honestly, the only issue I have with the class is the 10th level ability seems a bit over powered.  In addition to the presenting a new wizard tradition, we're also given stats for monstrous bees.

I really like this pay-what-you-want pdf. Want to know what the buzz is about (pun intended)? Check out the Honeymage Wizard Tradition + Monstrous Bees on the DM Guild site.

Curse of Strahd Sidetreks

Once again, I'd like to highlight some Dungeon Masters Guild Material that I really like. Today's selection is a trio of pay-what-you-want supplements by the folks at Broken Knives. While suitable for any game, they also make great side encounters for Curse of Strahd.

The Boatman's Dog - The Boatman's Dog serves the finest cuisine. Much finer than an establishment of it's stature should be serving. At "The Dog" the fire is always crackling and the ale is always cold, but guests go missing, and no one is sure where the charismatic halfling proprietor Angus Thickheel is getting his meat.

The Crumbling Wall - A mysterious bard sits atop a crumbling wall deep in the forest. What secrets are told in his sonorous tunes?

Gregorio's Traveling Emporium and Managerie- Gregorio is a traveling merchant, with a "magnificent" menagerie and a dark secret.

Each of these encounters is short, creative, and has a nice sense of mystery and dread. They're all low level encounters and be great if you want to play Curse of Strahd but not use Death House as your intro. If you go that route, I'd start with The Crumbling Wall.

The Gunslinger Fighter Archetype For 5E

I've said it before, but I really like "celebrity DM" Matt Mercer. Critical Role is an entertaining series and I've talked about my love for his Blood Hunter (formerly Witch Hunter, now with the Order of the Lycan) class a few times. Matt has also released a pay-what-you-want Gunslinger Martial Archetype for Fighters.

Okay, I know, many people don't like guns with their D&D. I understand that and there was a time I was absolutely opposed to the idea. My stance isn't that strong anymore. While I don't like them to be common, I've seen how much fun a lone gunslinger can be to a Pathfinder game. Matt's Gunslinger archetype definitely draws on that class. Essentially this fighter archetype grants characters proficiency in firearms and grit, which is a resource that can be spent to have a better chance to hit, inflict more damage, or do trickshots and things of that nature. It also includes a firearms weapon chart.

The class looks like a lot of fun for firearm friendly games. The Gunslinger, Blood Hunter, and Order of the Lycan are all self-contained and can be used alongside the Basic rules set if you don't have the Player's Handbook.

J is for Janni Arak

"I've been to Zakhara a few times. The cities are beautiful and full of wonder. The food and drink aren't that bad either. The place is a bit too enlightened for my taste. You make lewd comment at a noble's daughter and all of a sudden you face the executioner's blade."
-Cade Ashworthy

Janni Arak

Arak is a clear, colorless, unsweetened anise flavored twice-distilled alcoholic drink popular on the Continent of Zakhara. It is extremely popular among the nomadic janni.

Being a medium strength alcohol, the constitution saving throw to avoid intoxication is DC 15.

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If you want to add a bit of Zakhara to your game, there are a few Al-Qadim themed products in the Dungeon Master's Guild. Here are some of the more popular ones:

Al-Qadim Archetypes: Scimitars Against the Darkness - I've purchased this one and it provides a plethora of information. It's based on the original Al Qadim and Wolfgang Baur's "Campaing Journal: Scimitars Against the Dark" from Dragon Magazine.

There's also Elemental Magic of Zakhara and Seers of Zakhara. Both are pay what you want and written by the same author. Between the two there's a nice amount of Middle Eastern inspired magic.

Dungeon Masters Guild - My Favorite Products (Part I)

The Dungeon Masters Guild is a cool resource and marketplace for 5E gamers. I've looked at and purchased a few things and thought I'd highlight a few of my favorites.

Barovian Vampires: Three New Monsters for Ravenloft - written before the release of Curse of Strahd (but after the announcement), this is a fun little product. It includes three vampire variants, my favorite being the challenge level 1 Gutripper.

Blood Hunter Class - I've talked about this one a few times. Matt Mercer originally created it for Vin Diesel and it's a Witcher/Last Witch Hunter hybrid. One of my players in the Itinerant Gentleman Adventurers used it and a player in my Curse of Strahd party includes one.

Order of the Lycan for Blood Hunters - This is an werewolf-centric expansion to the Blood Hunter class. The Blood Hunter in my Curse of Strahd game is going with this order.

Blood Magic - I've always been fascinated with blood magic (especially in the Dragon Age and Legend of the Five Rings settings). This book contains two wizard traditions, a sorcerous bloodline, and a rather creepy fighter archetype.

Journey Through The Center of the Underdark - This 20 page pdf includes 10 serious, 2 monster variants, and material related to my favorite demon prince, Grazzt. This is a perfect addition to any Out of the Abyss game.

These are my favorites. Has anyone else checked out DM Guild material? If so, what do you think?