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TinkerHouse Games has been making full-color, easy-to-assemble TinkerTurf Sci-Fi Terrain for years, and one thing we’re always asked at shows is “When are you going to make terrain for Fantasy?” Well, we've put the pandemic to good use and we’re fixin’ to roll out a new line of terrain for...

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE Penny Arcade’s Acquisitions Incorporated Expands to Cardhuntria The legendary tabletop role-playing company, now in a card game. Sydney – April 19, 2016 – Penny Arcade’s Acquisitions Incorporated is happy to announce its latest franchise venture - a crossover expansion...

Wild Shape might be way more dangerous than I first thought. The rules for Wild Shape say that "You automatically revert [to humanoid form] if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die." The "or die" part is the scary part. Because "When you transform, you assume the beast’s hit...

My Chain Pact Warlock has a feat choice to make, and while considering Magical Initiate I realized a fun little trick. 1. One of the neat benefits of Find Familiar is that your familiar can deliver a spell with a range of Touch. Even if it's up to 100 feet away from you. The bummer for...

Unseen Servant has always held a special spot in my heart. Maybe because boy, would I sure like to have this spell in real life. The 5E version has some welcome specificity that nevertheless inspires some intriguing, undefined possibilities. I'm curious how this community feels about the topics...

One of the great things about 5E is the whole "rulings not rules" philosophy. So I'd like to query my fellow DMs' ruling on a vague rule: surprise. The rules text is on page 189. My key takeaways from the above are: 1. DM determines. 2. In order for there to be Surprise, at least one side...

Reading the DMG, it's got some pretty specific guidelines for the scale of hex maps. Province scale: 1 hex = 1 mile Kingdom scale: 1 hex = 6 miles Continent scale: 1 hex = 60 miles So 1 continent hex = 10 kingdom hexes = 60 province hexes. Are there any map programs that offer a "zoom"...

Phantasmal Force is an oddball spell that does damage, but doesn't require an attack roll or allow a save. Instead: I'm curious how my fellow Dungeon Masters handle the above. For example, a PC casts Phantasmal Force as suggested by the spell: "a phantasm created to appear as fire, a pool of...

The Find Familiar spell gives you a creature that rolls its own initiative. It can't attack* but can take other actions as normal. One of those actions can be Help. This action gives advantage to the skill check of a creature, or can be used in combat to give Advantage to an attack. This is...

Off-turn actions are a well-known vein for Char Op gold. I've been mining the Battle Master, and want to share some discoveries. All Battle Master maneuvers trigger on the Battle Master's attack or (more often) hit, so I recommend going with Archery style for the +2 to hit. Rogue's Best...

I've seen a few Barbarian builds exploring TWF and two-handed weapons, but not any with shields. Which surprises me, since a shield-wielding Barbarian is pretty sweet: high AC, high damage, and fun battlefield control. Build below for a Viking-style berserker. Key Features: High AC and high...

I picked up the Dungeons of Dread compilation of Tomb of Horror, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, White Plume Mountain, and Lost Caverns of Tjojcanth. I've been playing D&D since 1981 yet have never played those legendary adventures. Thing is, I (and my group) all want to play 5e. Does anyone...

One of the interesting benefits of the Barbarian's Rage is that it grants advantage on Strength checks. I was looking for ways to take advantage (pun intended) of this feature, and ran across it while exploring 5E's take on shields. I'm also a big fan of anything that grants or takes advantage...

Heavy Armor. Shield. Martial weapons. Healing. Fireball. Invisible familiar. For the player who wants it all: the Warlock/Cleric. One of the major features of the Warlock is that it gets all spell slots back after a short rest, and those slots are maximum potency. The downside is that it only...

I'm playing in WotC's charity D&D game on November 2nd. When I signed up I hadn't really given much thought to a character; I figured I'd play my "usual", which is some form of swashbuckling rogue/fighter. But then I realized the game is two days after Halloween. And I read the new Wildshape...

The rules for exploration say that you can travel a certain distance per hour depending on pace, ranging from 1 mile (slow pace) to 3 miles (fast pace). That distance is halved in difficult terrain, such as forest or swamp. A creature can travel a number of hours each day equal to his Con bonus...

Curious how y'all handle attempts to track by characters that lack the ranger's "tracking" feature. Or attempts to trip by creatures without the fighter's "trip" feature. My concern is that DMs, particularly novice DMs, will not allow those activities if the character lacks those specific class...

One of the issues I had hoped Next would address is how D&D represents shields mechanically. Unfortunately, the current ruleset maintains the status quo. There are two shields in the game. One gives +2 to AC, the other gives +1 (and is given the name "buckler"). I have two issues with this...

At the DDXP "class" seminar (transcript here), Monte brought up the Three Pillars of D&D: Roleplay/Interaction, Combat, and Exploration. And the idea that classes would be balanced by their ability to interact with/excel at those three pillars. I think this is a terrible idea. It goes back to...

Longtime reader re-inspired by the HBO series, so I picked up A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying from Green Ronin. It's a hardcover, and a quick read (and search of GR's forums) revealed tons of errors/errata. The system is intriguing, though, and I'd like to give it a shake. So, what's the...