Wrathful Wizard Monsters

By RJ on 19 December 2022. 

The wrath of a vengeful wizard is rarely matched. However, when mated with the ferocity of a monster and the skill of a thoughtful Dungeon Master, a monster imbued with the abilities of the wizard class may not only challenge a player character wizard, but an entire party.

Already on RJD20, we've explored mixing monsters with classes like the bard and barbarian, druid and paladin, and now: we move onward to D&D's most esteemed class: the wizard.

Today, we're looking at three wildly wacky wizard monsters for your next D&D session:

• A pixie arcanist with a wit as quick as her spellcasting!
• An ettin incredible armed with a barrage of magical abilities and an eerily threatening intellect!
• An efreeti pyromancer who wields the devastating elemental forces of his blistering home realm!

Each promises a unique experience for your game and your world. How can you pit a pixie arcanist against your party of three murderhobos? Where does an ettin incredible fit in your grand world of sword and sorcery? Does an efreeti pyromancer wield much power in your setting's version of the City of Brass, or is she a jester compared to the warrior-class of the legendary planar settlement?

Before we leap into these monstrous wizards, let this list of eight wizard-based foes inspire you:

1. An awakened wild boar with a wizard's spellbook stitched to him. Somehow, he's learned how to cast a few cantrips and basic spells.
2. A deep gnome School of Illusion wizard destined to branch out into the World Above.
3. A bugbear School of Evocation wizard, also known as an evocationist, who ripped a spellbook from a fallen foe's warm, dead hands and became a master of explosions. She specializes in fireballs.
4. A wise hill giant School of War wizard specially trained by a resident fire giant sage in the ways of arcane and greater warfare. He has led his tribe to many battles over far superior foes.
5. An orthon commander specialized in the School of Conjuration, capable of summoning great armies from planes other than his scarred home realm.
6. An iron giant trained in the School of Enhancement by his archmage creator.
7. A balor keen in the dark magic of the School of Necromancy, heading a horde of demons and abhorrent undead.
8. An ancient green dragon wise in the School of Lore, knowledgeable in every single aspect of the world known to mortals...and even some information kept only by those of immortal bend.

Wizard Foe Generator

For this particular strand of foes crossed with one of D&D's most iconic classes, I've crafted the Wizard Foe Generator. Try it out! It provides you with a base monster, where they can be found, and an ability/action inspired by the wizard class from D&D 5E and other editions in the game's history.

Now, let's create three wizardly foes.

Pixie Arcanist

Inherently tricky, tiny creatures, twisting a pixie with the abilities of a wizard makes quite the intimidating enemy...or powerful ally. A pixie arcanist wraps her opponents in sparkling strands of magic, rendering them helpless so her swarms of mystical friends can eliminate them in a swift and safe manner.

They're tricky foes to face

What is a Pixie Arcanist?

The wondrous woodlands of the Feywild glitter with the magic of a thousand peculiar peoples. Hags cackle away in their cursed huts and bone-filled caves. Satyr dance along forest trails singing songs of enchantment. Centaurs roam groves illuminated by the bright Feywild twilight, their hooves stomping along to primal beats that ooze magic. Even the forests themselves bubble with arcane potential: trees talk, leaves whisper, and the animals linger with even the sentience of a normal mortal man.

The stars of the Feywild, though, hold a special kind of magic. And when they fall: only a select few are capable of drawing forth that latent energy.

Feywild stars and their crash sites are dotted with powerful glyphs and words of arcane power, mysteriously written in the most elegant form of the Sylvan language. Pixies, fast-moving and inquisitive, are often the first to arrive to these craters. They scribble down the words and phrases on leaf booklets and scratch them out of the rock and ground. Afterward, they spend months and sometimes years practicing these sky-given groupings of words. Only those who remain dedicated to this practice become pixie arcanists.

The otherworldly spells available to pixie arcanists are from distant stars and often involve glittering, awe-inspiring sights of stardust and bewilderment. 

Some spells channel the energy of a burning star. 

Others freeze foes with the infinite chill of space. 

All are coveted by wizards of the Material Plane...

In Eldar, pixie arcanists quickly find their way from the Feywild into other planes of existence. Some believe the stars of other realms like the Hells or even some layers of the Abyss hide even darker "star carvings." In the Material Plane's largest settlement, Galen the City of Magic, a pixie arcanist teaches a special course on this small but unique sphere of arcana.

In Golgifell, fey crossings to Brisantha are some of the most common "magical" occurrences found and witnessed by normal mortals. Fey usually don't wander into the mortal world if they can help it, but some pixies have been known to guard these fey crossings, ordered to by their commanding Fey Court. Pixie arcanists in particular deeply enjoy gazing at the idyllic starscape of Golgifell, and wonder if "star carvings" exist in this world as they do in their own.

Sample Pixie Arcanist

Here's an example pixie arcanist using the Wizard Foe Generator to attach a new ability and action to the base pixie monster.

Base Monster: Pixie, Monster Manual page 253

Added Ability: False Self. The pixie arcanist can cast disguise self at will, but it can also shift between Tiny, Small, Medium, and Large creatures. Huge creatures can only shift to Large size.

Added Action: Student of Cantrip Excellence. The pixie arcanist can cast up to three cantrips with a single action. Each cantrip can be different or the same.

Plot Hook: Pickpocketing becomes the norm of a bustling port city when a pixie arcanist uses her starry arcana to enhance the skills of a local guild of thieves. Their weird magic perplexes the law enforcement, so they bring in those more versed in the arcane arts.

Flavor both outlined abilities as starry-themed: the creatures the pixie arcanist pretends to become have star tattoos on their body. The cantrips manifest in a burst of stardust.

Ettin Incredible

Ready to surprise your players and subvert their characters' expectations? This is the foe for you. An ettin incredible might turn a predictable, blow-for-blow blow-up with a typical ettin into a fight for survival against a creature that should never be able to handle magical abilities in a regular D&D setting. 

No one expects an ettin wizard.

What is an Ettin Incredible?

Only rarely do giantish gods allow one of their misshapen children the mental prowess to pursue a life of magic. Normal ettins are already weird folk among giant kind, pushed to the edges of society. Most times, they aren't even accepted among giants. They are forced to commandeer goblin tribes, serve the whims of orcs and hobgoblins, or become vicious rivals in troll territory. However, in the rarest of circumstances, an ettin is born with an incredible intellect. These ettins are rapidly sought after by giants at the top of the chain (called the Ordning in many worlds) and trained in the ways of arcane magic.

These very rare ettins are known as ettin incredibles.

Unlike almost any other creature, they are able to cast not one, but two spells concurrently. From one mouth and mind, an ettin incredible might spew forth words of power to conjur a fireball while the other crackles out a lightning bolt. Even more impressive, they can concentrate on two different spells at once: one mind might keep a blur around itself, while the other ensures an attacking barbarian stays affected by hold person as the ettin's fire giant allies eviscerate her.

Some ettin incredibles manage to escape servitude once they learn how to wield magic. These ettin incredibles, even solo, are formidable foes.

In Eldar, ettin incredibles originated in Nargond during Giantfall. Not products of giantish gods, these ettin incredibles manifested the wild magic latent in the air of the world during this tumultuous time. As the empire of giants fell and sent tsunamis roaring across the planet, ettin incredibles further ensured giant kind's doom. They leapt into the world and tore scattered factions apart, obliterating them with intense arcane surges and forgotten spells. As quickly as they appeared, they fragmented and wandered across the broken landmasses. Some bloodlines still exist, ettins capable of immense thought and insight, but the most common way of finding them is pure chance. If they are born into the world, they often become leaders of hill giant tribes or respected sages of frost giant jarls and fire giant citadels.

In Golgifell, ettin incredibles are the norm: regular ettins do not exist. Even though ettin incredibles take on the regular "ettin" role, they are still extremely rare alongside all other giants except hill giants. Encountering an ettin in Golgifell is an event best left unattended. The lack of magic in the rest of the world almost seems to redouble itself in ettins, overwhelming any who interact with them. In the most remote wilderlands like Res Mana, ettins boast huge armies and followers who worship them as gods-on-earth.

Sample Ettin Incredible

Below is one example of an ettin incredible created with the Wizard Foe Generator. Beware: it's powerful.

Base Monster: Ettin, Monster Manual page 132

Added Ability: Perfect Mind. The ettin incredible is able to concentrate on two spells simultaneously.

Added Action: Impossible Arcana. The ettin incredible is able to cast two spells in a single turn with a single action.

Plot Hook: Doom befalls a frontier town when a duo of ettin incredibles dominate both a tribe of orcs and a pack of gnolls. At the helm with extreme intelligence and a horde of formidable minions, the ettin incredibles intend on conquering the town and moving closer to "true" civilization.

Efreeti Pyromancer

No enemy fought by your party before has wielded fire magic quite like an efreeti pyromancer. Area domination, explosive damage, and a temper enraged by the might a thousand fires are all staples of this wizard-like wonder from the Elemental Plane of Fire. 

Did I mention she rides in a sleigh pulled by hippos made of magma?

What is an Efreeti Pyromancer?

The typical tyrannical lives of an efreeti noble bore the wisest among their kind. Those who seek unrivaled power delve into the depths of the Plane of Fire, learning the secrets of primeval pyromancy. They become masters of the most scorching element, wielders of the sacred fire, one of the vital elements of creation.

Once they master the secrets of the sacred fire, they become creators as well. A power thought only known to the gods in the hands of a mere creature. Efreeti pyromancers can breathe fiery essence into normal beasts. They can turn snakes into blazing serpents; giant eagles into phoenix-like birds; massive hippos into beasts of molten magma.

From remote studies, they perfect this craft and plot domination of the Plane of Fire and realms beyond. However, an efreeti pyromancer in a world not its own, such as the Material Plane, can easily wreak havoc. 

Entities of pure flame are not meant to exist in worlds of balance.

In Eldar, efreeti pyromancers began as solitary scholars but eventually formed the Cabal of Eternal Flame. As a unit, they've built a dominion across most the Plane of Fire that rivals the strength of the City of Brass. Some suspect they were behind the Devastation in the Material Plane, wherein a huge swath of Aelonis was elementally destroyed. All know they pay homage to Imix, the Prince of Elemental Fire, though some believe he is not their master: some think they control the archomental.

In Golgifell, there's but one tale of an efreeti who took over the Gulonde. In his reign, he turned the sands black and the rivers to lava. The rivers faded, but the black sand remained and cursed the endless desert forevermore. At times, his bellowing laughter can be heard on the wind during great storms of sand. These storms spawn beasts of pure flame, echoes of the pyromancer's initial scarring of the desert.

Example Efreeti Pyromancer

Here is an example of an efreeti pyromancer built with the Wizard Foe Generator.

Base Monster: Efreeti, Monster Manual page 145

Added Ability: Sculpt Magic. Spells that would otherwise damage the efreeti pyromancer's allies no longer do so.

Added Action: Plane Bringer. Once per day, the efreeti pyromancer can summon a creature from another plane of existence that is CR 2 or less. The summoned creature returns to its home plane when a new creature is summoned.

Plot Hook: An efreeti pyromancer enters a jungle realm, transforming it into a woodland of fiery beasts and molten magma rivers. Her spree of terror must end, else it'll spread into the nearby countryside.

In Summary

If you're stuck preparing your latest D&D NPC or encounter and really need some magical inspiration, the wizard class serves as an excellent source. Always remember:

• The Wizard Foe Generator is a rapid-fire way to form a compelling foe for your characters to face.
• Schools of wizardry work wonderfully as background information, foe motivations, and even plot devices in your world.
• Enemies based on wizards don't need to use spells, just re-flavor them as innate abilities and actions.

In last week's article, I explored why the spotlight should be shared amongst all at the table, and how it's not only the job of the Dungeon Master to ensure this. If you enjoyed this post, check out last week's post as well!

Here's to greatening your game and world: cheers!

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• How to Make Holier D&D Monsters with the Cleric Class
• How to Build Fighter-Inspired D&D Monsters
• How to Make Earthier D&D Monsters with the Druid Class
• D&D Monsters Inspired by the Monk Class

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Field Notes 5E Character Journal Review

I pack mountains of information in my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns that my players can choose to latch onto or let loose into the great sea that is our campaign’s narrative. Who is the emperor of the Kothian Empire? How did he reach the throne? Why did the Obsidian Circle want to eliminate the Choqiti wood elves? Where did the Choqiti retreat to in their time of need? Some players love to keep track of this sort of knowledge, keen that it will make an impact later in the campaign; others don’t, either because they’re uninterested or don’t have somewhere clean to write it down.

In all scenarios, invested player and not, I have an excellent solution: the Field Notes 5E Character Journal.

The Field Notes 5E Character journal is a newly released product of Field Notes, a company dedicated to providing tabletop roleplaying game players with clean mediums to keep track of their characters and campaigns. This particular item, the 5E Character Journal, specializes in organizing everything a player in a D&D campaign could ever need or want for their character.

If you’re interested, continue reading. Before you consider ordering this product, check out everything it has to offer — all 64 pages — below.

Quick Overview

In short: this journal is great for players who play a single character for a long stretch of time; it's not the best for someone who plays a variety of characters. However, it’s compact and has pages for any information a player would want to have in a campaign. There’s room for any mechanical detail you might want to note about your character. What does my Champion fighter receive at level 9? How does my warlock’s Hurl Through Hell ability work again? Why is eldritch blast my favorite spell to use? In addition, there’s a plethora of pages 100% dedicated to storing information about your character’s personality and history, not a measly six lines like a normal character sheet. From their backstory to any factions they might be a part of, there’s a page for it. Campaign knowledge has spots too, sprinkled throughout the book. If you’re still not sure about the journal, read the deep delve below!

In-Depth Exploration

The journal begins with a page dedicated to detailing the owner of the little booklet: who they are, how to contact them, and other miscellany. It also explores important D&D rules like exhaustion, area of effect, and size categories. An index also lines the left hand side of the page, explaining where everything in the journal is located. I like this part, especially the index and area of effect pictures. The former helps people navigate the booklet with ease and the latter explains something often lost on players in the midst of battle.

The next page is meant to be a broad overview of your character. Their name towers above everything else, including class, subclass, age, faith, a large box for a sketch of them, and much more. It’s great. This is what I love to focus on, after all. At a glance, you can really get an image of your character without anything truly mechanical invading your vision. I’ve noticed these tidbits have disappeared from the standard character sheets of fifth edition, especially the weight, height, and eye color details; I’m glad this included them.

The next two pages are titled Race Details and Ancestry details. They let you delve into your character’s history, giving you plenty of space. Who are their parents? Do they still live? Where did your race come from? Is your land still thriving? This page is fully dedicated to building on the story of your character, driving home the importance of the fluff & narrative side of your character and not the mechanics of it. Again, lovely.

The next two pages allow room for your character’s bonds, flaws, personality traits, and ideals — a facet of every 5E D&D character sheet. However, these pages give lots of space to build out multiples of each or allow you to really dive in on a single one. A regular 5E character sheet does not allow this at all, giving a measly line or two for each. That’s not enough space for a character who might survive and evolve for 50 sessions.

The next few pages are for your backstory and background, alongside your class and subclass details. The pages after that are your mechanical character sheet. Your stats are there, alongside everything you get at every level so you don’t need to reference the Player’s Handbook constantly; another great addition for players who don’t have a PHB. There’s also a fantastic section on languages your character knows and whether or not they can read, write, speak, or recognize them.

Spells and profiencies line the next chunk of pages in the journal and end with a plethora of pages on equipment, coins, and treasure. This is easily enough room for a 40+ session campaign. There’s even an “Attuned” column for you along the left hand side.

After items, there’s a section on downtime activities. These pages allow you to keep track of any deals you might have going on during the adventure. Are the Greenblades performing a sacred ritual in a faraway grove for you? Are your minions constructing a grand citadel on the edge of a demon-infested gorge? Is the great Handil Iliun forging an artifact in the far-off reaches of Scyth? Everything and anything that might be happening outside the adventure can be kept here.

Next up are 20 pages dedicated to notes on each and every level, including how many hit points you gained at any particular level. This means you can remember specific things that happened across the campaign, including events, monsters slain, and even the time you rolled minimum hit points four times in a row.

Near the tail end of the journal is tons of space for specific pieces of campaign-specific knowledge. There’s room for NPCs, sidekicks, and other important characters in the story. After, there are six dedicated pages to faction notes. You have lots of space to detail the members of a specific faction, any alliance you might have with them, or any prominent goals of the organization. After that is room for campaign specific quotes. We all want to remember what the first big bad villain said as they fell to the ground, lifeless, right? Finally, there is a section for meta theories and a complete session log. These both help you keep track of the progression of the campaign in the long-term.

The journal ends with another information page, containing a detailed alignment chart and table of ability score modifier bonuses, among other things. Another great detail for those who don’t own a PHB.

In Summary

The Field Notes 5E Character Journal is a fantastic resource for folks who love to take notes during a campaign, detail their character, and keep a working history of their character’s journey in the campaign. The journal contains a bounty of mechanical information important to players as well, and plenty of room to detail each and every mechanic your character might have. At the end of a campaign, you’ll have a complete history of it from start to finish from your character’s perspective. Not only is this a great way to stay invested in a campaign, it’s a great way to remember an epic story long after it has ended. Truly, for anyone who plays in a D&D campaign and is dedicated to a single character, this is a fantastic pick-up. If you play lots of different characters or aren't dedicated to a single campaign, this might not be the purchase for you.

I hope this review helped inform your decision on the Field Notes 5E Character Journal. If you’d like to pick one up, make sure to visit their site and let them know I sent you!

Until next time, farewell.

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How to Keep Track of Your D&D Campaign

By RJ on 7 February 2020.

When did the party receive four pegasi as a gift from the Choqiti wood elf tribe? Where did they cause a volcanic eruption and accidentally massacre a clan of peaceful fire genasi druids? What kind of creature was Kifirith? Who infiltrated the party as a doppelganger and fed Lord Elyas Embong all the information about the missing gold dragon? Where did the party begin their adventure?

These are all questions that arise during a Dungeons & Dragons campaign or between sessions. Players — and Dungeon Masters — aren’t always able to recall key details. That’s okay! D&D is a complicated, vast game during which unpredictable and confusing situations can arise. 

Dragon lords spy on dwarf settlements while polymorphed into an elf. The Hand of Vecna hides in the backpack of one of the adventurers. An army of hobgoblins marches on the city of Galen. Draagad Dalamissent was the storm giant who died at the hands of his brothers. We’re only human, how can we remember all of this information in our mortal minds?

Using our campaign compendium, of course!

What is a Campaign Compendium?

A campaign compendium is a file that helps us keep track of our campaign. Preferably, it’s a spreadsheet like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, allowing us to keep track of specific information in a clean and concise medium. In this file, we store tons of important knowledge such as:

1. Session names, synopses, summaries, and dates in the world and on earth.
2. Names and descriptions of nonplayer characters, as well as when they were introduced.
3. Player character names, descriptions, players, party status, mortality status, and notes.
4. Maps of the region, continent, and world.

All of the information in our campaign compendium is available to our players at all times if we use a sharing service like Google Drive. This fact allows our players to read about or catch up on the campaign between sessions and even look up key knowledge on the spot during an actual session. Before we explore how to manage our campaign compendium, take a look at one of mine for either the Karlith Straits or Caught in Galen.

Unlike our campaign guide, our campaign compendium might be utilized by both dedicated and more relaxed players. People who are invested in the characters and story of the campaign might pore through our compendium, memorizing every character they've met, every event in our campaign, and every place they've visited. People who don't remember as much or don't care as much might be motivated to glance over our compendium before a session starts, eager to show off their enhanced memory or contribute more to the narrative. It's a win-win for us!

How to Manage Our Campaign Compendium

We don’t want our campaign compendium to be a confusing sheet. It needs to contain clear information that can communicate broad ideas about the story or important characteristics about the people quickly. So, before we do anything else, we need to set up the compendium.

Create three tabs and one tab for every key campaign map (most likely a region, continent, and world map). Name the first tab Journal, the second tab Dramatis Personae, and the third tab Party Members.

In the Journal tab, create a column for each of the following headers: Session Name, S# (Session Number), Session Synopsis, Session Summary, Date (World), and Date (Earth). The first column contains the names of each of our campaign’s sessions while the second column contains its number. 

The third column briefly alludes to the events of the session before it happens, and the fourth column summarizes the events of that session. Only detail the most important events of the session, we don’t want this cell to take up more than one row of space. The final two columns hold the date the session took place in game and in reality.

In the Dramatis Personae tab, make a column for each of the following headers: Name, S# (Session Number), Description, and Status. The first column holds the name of a nonplayer character, excluding titles, and the second column shows the session they were introduced. The third column quickly dives into the NPC, outlining their primary role in the world. The final column alerts readers whether or not the character is still alive.

In the Party Members tab, build a column for each of the following headers: PC Name, Played By, S#, Description, In Party, Status, and Notes. The first column holds the name of the character, excluding titles, while the second column shows who they are played by in the real world. The third column shows when they entered the campaign and the fourth column details important traits like race, class, and background. The fifth column explains whether or not the character is still in the party and the sixth column shows if they’re still alive. The final column is for any extra notes, such as their current goals or aspirations.

In the Map tabs, simply expand the map to its maximum size. These tabs serve as a way for our players to navigate the region, continent, or world on their phones or computers if we don’t have printed out maps.

After our compendium is created, all we must do is manage it. Before every session, we update it with the session’s name, number, and synopsis. After every session, we update it with the session’s summary, any new nonplayer characters, and any changes to existing characters — both player and nonplayer. Remember, we need to keep everything concise; this compendium isn’t for fiction or long-winded discussions on our campaign. It’s meant to serve as a tool for us and our players to glance over and remember key events and characters of our campaign.

Different Ideas for Our Campaign Compendium

We can infinitely customize our compendium. Detailed below are a few of my ideas that might inspire a better campaign compendium.

Let the Players Handle the Compendium

While we are usually the ones who maintain its accuracy, we could give that responsibility to our players. All we must do is ensure our compendium is editable and explain to our players their new opportunity. If they want to, they can detail the events of the campaign themselves, summarizing key encounters and characters in our compendium. This will only work if our players agree to it, so make sure they’re on board before deciding this idea is the way to go.

Add Outlets for Deeper Knowledge

While we want our compendium to remain concise, we can still give players the opportunity to easily access more information about the campaign and world in it. For example, I include the link to my campaign-specific region guide in my campaign compendium for the Karlith Straits. This lets my players quickly see more in-depth lore about that region. In addition, I link to an in-depth campaign journal. This journal details the events of the campaign as if they were fiction being read in a novel. I love writing so it’s a special, interesting aspect I can add to my compendium — it’s not for everyone!

Campaign Achievements and Statistics

This one might be controversial, and I might not ever utilize it in my own game. D&D isn’t a video game, of course, but one of the best features of video games that D&D doesn’t have that it could is achievements and statistics. Our campaign compendium could hold two more tabs named Achievements and Statistics. The Achievements tab could include an array of different challenges & goals for our party, especially if they’re goal-driven but refuse to come up with goals for their characters. 

Examples include:

• Convince Lord Ambriosa to side with the rebels.
• Slay Lazarus the Glutton using the terrain of his lair intelligently.
• Stay in the Nine Hells for one week without making a deal with a devil.
• Polymorph into monster of every type. 

These Achievements might inspire our players to approach social interactions, exploration, and combat encounters in unique and interesting ways. The second new tab, Statistics, could house awesome or pointless facts about our D&D campaign. How many dungeons has the party entered? How many monsters have they killed? Who’s casted the most spells? When did the party level up? Information like this might not have any direct benefit, but it’d be interesting to track.

In Summary

A campaign compendium can only help our D&D game. Utilizing it, we can:

1. Keep all of our campaign information such as important events and iconic characters in a compiled yet concise location.
2. Ensure our players remain engaged in our campaign by having knowledge obtained readily available.
3. Give players the chance to immerse themselves in the campaign by keeping track of information.
4. Add more outlets for advanced knowledge of our campaign and world.
5. Try out radical ideas such as achievements and statistics in our game.

That’s all, folks. I hope you try out a campaign compendium in your own game. Let me know if this was helpful in the comments below, link your compendium, too! If you're interested, most of my compendiums are found on this page.

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Here's to greatening your game and world: cheers!

Expanding Your D&D Setting's Campaign Guide

Last July, we explored how to build a campaign guide for our unique Dungeons & Dragons setting. Of utmost importance was a solid description of the world, a brief timeline, a lightly-detailed map, a set of tenets that define the world, multiple race and class points of origin, and a basic pantheon. If we enjoy worldbuilding, though, we can continue to expand our guide. Sure, some players might not read all fifty pages of our world bible, but that’s why we usually write a one to three page summary of our campaigns before we start them.

This campaign guide is for us and players deeply invested in the lore of our world. We write it to further develop our world and help those who want to build characters who are connected to it.

So, without further ado, let’s learn how we can expand it with examples from my world, Eldar.

Continents

Campaign guides usually focus on a single region or continent of our world. Before diving into it, we should quickly explore the rest of it. It’s time to answer questions. How many continents are there? Which ones are inhabited? Who lives on them? How can a player character originate from them? What are their stories? Hone in on that final question, it will assist in building the others. Detailing the other continents of the world gives us a solid understanding of it, steeping it in history with a single paragraph. When we are playing, it allows us to pull relatively mundane knowledge about the world. To us, it’s just a paragraph we wrote in our campaign guide. To our players, it’s a snippet of interesting lore that immerses them more into the world.

Here is an example from my campaign guide. This passage explores Garthuun, Land of Monsters.

Eldar Example

Goblinoids, ogres, minotaurs, trolls, and aberrations are almost always seen as uncivilized monsters. Thusly, Garthuun is seen as a continent dominated by monstrous races. Goblinoid empires reigned supreme across Garthuun, commonly warring with one another and tribes of lesser races who roamed the wilds like ogres, trolls, and minotaurs, until the entire continent was thrust into a state of turmoil 3,000 years ago. A coordinated beholder invasion from the Subterrane crushed each goblinoid nation, turning the honor-bound race into a savage people as they competed for survival with the creatures they once conquered. Over time, the aberrations molded the monsters to their will, forming new factions and nations with themselves at the top. Now, Garthuun is a continent of conflict between Subterranean masters who play war with monstrous pawns. If you are a monstrous race, being a Garthuunian is a great idea! You could have escaped to Aphesus from the grasp of your militaristic beholder overlord. Going from another angle, you might be an agent of one of these overlords, searching for something on Aphesus. Think about what a Garthuuni overlord might want. It’s possible they are scouting out new territory to conquer after 3,000 years of controlling most of Garthuun...

Campaigns Set in Your World

A great way to flesh out our world and make our players’ characters’ actions matter is giving them a dedicated section in our campaign guide. This part looks over past adventures & campaigns in our world and speaks to their impact. What happened during the course of the adventure? What happened to the adventurers? What consequences did their actions have on the world? How often is this epic tale remembered?

Here is an example from my campaign guide. It explains the Dead Isles of Altarin campaign.

Eldar Example

On a tropical archipelago dominated by a trio of liches called the Dread Admirals, unlikely heroes joined forces to overthrow their cruel rule. In the process, they slayed a lesser Demon Prince, reassembled a destroyed giantish artifact, and shattered the liches’ amalgamated phylactery. The party, White Crow, Gwenavine, Primedordus, and Red Tusk passed into legend. White Crow disappeared from the globe and Gwenavine constructed a druidic citadel. Primedordus became a scholar of Azudon’s Reach and Red Tusk returned to his northern homeland. Today, the ruins of the Dread Admirals’ empire is scattered across the tumultuous Karlith Straits and the story of their fall is locked away in old tomes of lore. Read more about this epic adventure here: https://www.rjd20.com/2019/10/the-dead-isles-of-altarin.html

The Main Continent

After glancing over minor points of our world, we explore the main location where our adventure will occur. Most of the time, this will be a large continent. Other times, it might be a smaller region of our world. Whatever the case, we want to detail this place in full. Because of this, we can start with a brief explanation of the continent: a piece of fiction or a fact. Afterward, we delve deeper into each individual region and nation that calls the continent home.

Here is an example from my campaign guide. It introduces the continent of Aphesus.

Eldar Example

Safety. A concept simple to understand but unattainable to so many folk across our realm for countless decades. And after centuries of seeking it, I can confidently say that we will never achieve it. Nonetheless, we can stay true and strong to our own. We are not weak. We are not lesser. We are powerful and we can stand in defiance of the forces that yearn to destroy or dominate us.

The Kothian Empire stirs once again in the east, stretching its claws across our lands. The terrifying dictator Achai the Red moves in the Enoach, an army of burning dead at his command. High up in the Scythian Reaches, shifters and lone rangers speak of more giants moving south from Isen. And in the heart of our civilization, a sorceress-queen plots to shatter her nation’s shackles, refuting all extensions of peace. In the face of these threats, I ask: what will you do for the good folk of the Brynland Nations? I can confidently say I will do all I can to achieve the impossible: safety.

— Handil ce’Iliun, high elf archmage of the Dwiergus Council of Galen, City of Magic

Who lives in the frigid Scythian Reaches? What remains in the Thayan Desolation? How do the folk of the Caeldrim Forests interact with their surroundings? Do the orcs of the Greenlands of Bryntoril have a tangible society? What is it like to live in the Kothian Empire? How broad is the Aphid Alliance? What is the Dwiergus Council? Where are you most likely to find drow? Do the Garthuuni affect Aphesus in any way?

The next part of the Eldar Campaign Guide explores the continent of Aphesus in-depth, poring over its regions, nations, and important factions. First, it details wide regions like the Enoach Desert and the Caeldrim Forests. Afterward, it delves into Aphesusian nations, from the Algravoth Kingdom to the Ungart Holds. Finally, it explores the prominent factions on Aphesus like the Aphid Alliance, Forgotten Kings, and Dwarven Defenders. You can use any of these to grow your backstory or background, and determine your future goals — or even build adventures set in this realm.

Regions

With our continent set up, let’s delve into the regions of it. Ideally, these are the largest parts of the continent: sprawling deserts, dense jungles, massive mountain ranges, and limitless plains. For each region, we want to write around a paragraph of interesting lore. When we do so, we must focus on the present and refrain from lingering in the past for too long. What does the region look like? Why is it important? Who lives there? Are there any points of interest? What’s going on right now? Once we’ve answered all of these questions in a single paragraph to the best of our ability, we move on.

Here is an example from my campaign guide. It introduces the Zinaen Jungles.

Eldar Example

A roaring waterfall spouts from the mouth of a massive serpent’s mouth carved from a stone mountain face. Snakeheaded humanoids emerge from a grand golden temple, ornate blades at their sides, as they prepare to assassinate intruders to their holy land. A balor demon lounges on a throne of wood and bone, surveying her prisoners captured upon entrance to the cursed Zinaen Jungles. These tropical thickets and fetid swamps are the territory of accursed races like yuan-ti and tieflings, fiendish creatures who guard the forbidden secrets of the Age of Blood. When fiends ruled Eldar, the seat of demonic power sat in the heart of the jungle and its abyssal taint remains. Three years ago, the Loreseekers built a settlement on the edge of the jungles, a stronghold named Meeko’s Bastion. Named after one of the assassinated leaders of the adventurer organization, Meeko’s Bastion serves as a point of entrance into the near impenetrable thickets of Zinae.

Nations

After all of our regions are created, we move on to the nations of our continent. We know what it looks like, but who are the primary powers there? We want to paint a picture of each nation, what drives it, and why it is important to note. Who makes up the population? Who leads the nation? How was the nation founded? How recently did it rise up? What recent event caused it to prosper or fall? Mix and match these questions nation-by-nation so no two pieces of lore are alike. In addition, include a section about the nation’s culture. What are its people like? What would a player character from the nation be? Are there any key factions that stem from it?

 
Here is an example from my campaign guide. It introduces the nation of Aralia.

 

Eldar Example

Massive arches of pale marble curve over a radiant temple, a joyous chorus pouring from its stained and open windows. A beautiful, silver-haired woman in gleaming plate armor holds a sun-tipped sceptre high as a praying crowd reach their hands to the sky. Locked away in the Vaults of Light, the Hand of Vecna struggles to break free, restrained by divine magic, steel shackles, and an avatar of Pelor himself. Welcome to Aralia, a theocratic nation lead by Archdiviner Eliza Tyrdaughter, the demigod child of Tyr. Currently, it is experiencing a golden age. Aralia was untouched by the War of Vecna’s Hand, managed to spread their laws across Aphesus, and secure multiple outposts from the Scythian Reaches to the Zinaen Jungles. Their only real threat is the Kothian Empire.

CULTURE: All Aralians are religious and a sizable amount are zealous. Mostly human, they hold just ideals and unbreakable opinions about the world around them. Aralians were the power responsible for defeating the greatest threat in recent history, Tarset, and they know it. As a result, they’re confident that their way of life is the correct — and only — way to live. Strangely, they managed to spread their laws, taught to them by the high clerics of Mount Celestia’s deities, across the civilized nations of Aphesus. Now the culture of Aralia spans from the north to the south, a culture of upholding righteousness and reinforcing the tenets of the good gods. How do you worship the deities? How zealous are you?

In Summary

If you’d like a complete version of my campaign guide as an example, here’s a link to it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sxxf0MPx1uGkFiGfvYrxA5cJTnKlcybZtum-41kVMzQ/edit?usp=sharing

• Campaign guides can always be expanded.
• These campaign guides are for us and the players who are invested in our world.
• Add information on other continents to the guide.
• Explore the previous campaigns set in the world.
• Delve into the main continent of the world, from the regions to the nations. 

Until next time, farewell!

Eager for more RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out Villain Backgrounds Volume I, a supplement that crafts compelling villains.

Please send inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com.

My Take on Matthew Colville’s 5E Action Oriented Monsters

Soaring into a manifest zone on their airship, the Misty Tide, the party erupts into a pocket of the Elemental Plane of Fire high above a sea of bubbling lava. Surrounding them are hissing fire newts mounted upon burning birds, prepared to hijack the airship and release the fire elementals powering it. The airship’s captain screams, “Hold out! We’ll escape ‘ere in a minute, I’ll get us through!” In response, the fiery raiders attack, lead by a striking fire newt warlock. The combat begins, and she thrusts her molten scimitar into the broiling air. The blade soars between each party member, scorching them with ease before reforming in her hands. Later in the combat, she deftly descends atop her burning bird below the airship, narrowly avoiding a blast of eldritch energy. In the struggle’s final moments, she dismounts from her tiny phoenix in a whirl, leaping thirty feet to gouge one of the party members with her scimitar and deal tremendous damage. Ultimately, she fails; the rest of her fire newts die, and the party escapes the manifest zone — victorious.

Balancing encounters in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition can be tricky. Sometimes, the party steamrolls our encounters. Other times, the monsters overwhelm the party thanks to lucky die rolls on our part. In rare cases, we throw encounters that are far too difficult at our party and they decide to stand and fight; most of the time, they die. 

Every so often, we balance them just right with the core rules, resulting in a masterpiece. Of course, many of these encounters are comprised of awesome abilities used by our players’ characters: monks leap across the battlefield using Step on the Wind. Warlocks fling foes into a horrific planescape with Hurl Through Hell. Sorcerers annihilate enemies and protect allies with Metamagic.

What do our creatures do that is awesome, that can make the players cheer with frightful glee? Red dragons breathe fiery infernos, purple worms swallow foes, and beholders barrage enemies with eye rays, yes, but what about other creatures with less options and abilities?

Enter Matthew Colville’s action oriented monsters. The concept is simple yet powerful. Introduced by the primary DM of MCDM himself, action oriented monsters have actions, bonus actions, and reactions just like the characters battling our monsters, in addition to a special type of action called the villain action.

Most of the time, these foes are bosses or solo monsters like bulettes, tarrasques, or remorhazes. When we design them, we delve deeper into the role of game designer, looking at the monsters we use and creating interesting actions for them to take in combat. Ideally, this will make our encounters more engaging and dramatic. Their primary function is to present a sizable challenge to our player characters.

We must be careful, though. Action oriented monsters should not be deployed casually. As our campaign progresses, we must ensure not every encounter is extremely difficult or strenuous for our party. These types of monsters are a great tool for us, but we must remember to utilize regular foes too. If every encounter is graced by an action oriented monster’s presence, encountering such a powerful foe will become less special.

I’ve tested action oriented monsters multiple times since watching Matthew’s video on the subject, from a brutal marilith of Yeenoghu to a maniacal spider-riding goblin, and they’ve worked wonders. They challenge the player characters. They change the flow of combat. They make battle more dramatic.

They tremendously help our encounters, especially if we have trouble balancing them using the basic D&D 5E ruleset.

Let’s build an action oriented monster one step at a time.

The Enraged Grizzly Bear

Let’s say our low-level adventuring party is traveling to a new town, tracking a goblin scouting party, or searching for a mystical beehive in a deep forest. Suddenly, out of the brush charges a massive grizzly bear, frothing at the mouth! It’s initiative — but what can our enraged grizzly bear do? We need to create a set of actions, bonus actions, reactions, and villain actions based on the traits of the bear. Before we do, let’s lay out its hit points and armor class.

Using the brown bear in the Monster Manual as an example, let’s give the enraged grizzly bear double the standard 34 hit points, giving us 68. In addition, let’s add two to the armor class of 11, bringing it to 13. As Matthew says in the video, it’s more important that we up the hit points instead of the armor class; it’s more fun to hit a creature with more hit points than to simply miss. I completely agree with this in most cases, especially here. We’re most likely running this bear against a low-level party; if they never hit it, they’ll become downtrodden. Let them hit the bear, but let it have a mountain of hit points.

Actions

All creatures in D&D have specific actions only they can use; most of them are multi attacks, breath attacks, or spells. Very few monsters have actual actions that allow them to move around the battlefield. We should give our action oriented monster at least an attack action and a movement action, both special to the creature. Do note, as Matt says in his video, we won’t be giving spells to these monsters. They require too much time to perfect for combat situations. Instead, we’ll make actions that can act like spells for monsters who’d use them.

Let’s think about what a grizzly bear can do. In D&D, bears are vicious animals that can bite and claw enemies. In addition, they can climb. This pairing gives our bear a solid attack action and a disengage that can be used with its bonus actions. Two will suffice because we’ll have plenty of other actions to pull from later.

• Multiattack: The enraged grizzly bear makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
• Bite: Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage.
• Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
• Climb: The enraged grizzly bear climbs up to 15 feet up a tree within 15 feet of itself without drawing attacks of opportunity.

Bonus Actions

Monsters rarely have bonus actions in D&D 5E, despite them being one of the greatest parts of this edition’s combat system. When we design bonus actions, we should think about pairing them with our actions. It doesn’t take a ton of work on our part, and it will result in more engaging encounters for our players. We simply need to look over our action oriented monster’s actions and pair a bonus action with each of them. If we’re feeling especially ready-to-design, more bonus actions can always be added!

What pairs well with the bear’s actions? Perhaps if it hits with both of its attacks, it can make another claw attack as a bonus action. This allows the bear to tear apart a melee attacker. How about a climb action? Let’s say the bear climbs up a tree and can leap from it to squash a target, dealing massive damage. Both of these can be used in conjunction with the bear’s regular actions!

• Vicious Claw: The enraged grizzly bear makes one additional claw attack if both its bite and claw attack hit.
• Bear Slam: The enraged grizzly bear leaps onto a target within 15 feet of it, dealing 2d4 + 4 bludgeoning damage and knocking it prone. If the target succeeds a DC 14 Strength check, they talk half damage and are not knocked prone. The enraged grizzly bear must be at least 15 feet off the ground to use this ability.

Reactions

Reactions are even more rare in D&D 5E for monsters. Luckily for us, they’re rather easy to design. We simply need to create an if-then scenario and we have a reaction. Ideally, we’ll want two reactions for every action oriented monster we create. Any more than that becomes quite cumbersome for us to manage. If we have two, we’ll have the choice of which to use every round of combat — an aspect that makes it more interesting for both us and the players.

Our bear is very susceptible to ranged attacks despite being somewhat manageable in combat. Let’s give it something to counter a purely ranged strategy. Maybe the bear can swat missiles out of the air? In addition, if someone makes an attack of opportunity against it, let’s allow it to kickback and return an attack against the opportunist! Both of these reactions give our players room to strategize during the combat. Do they attack the bear as it rushes by? Do they hold their fire until the end of the round?

• Swat: If the enraged grizzly bear is hit by a ranged attack, it can use its reaction to add 2 to its armor class until the beginning of its next turn.
• Kickback: If the enraged grizzly bear is targeted by an attack of opportunity, it can use its reaction to make one claw attack against the attacker.

Villain Actions

Now we’re in the new part of monster design: villain actions. The concept of villain actions is simple: villains actions occur on different rounds of combat at different points in time — usually at the end of another creature’s turn (like legendary actions). Take note that during any given round, only one villain action should occur. If more than one takes place, it becomes too much for us and our players to track.

We have complete creative freedom over villain actions. We must think about our creature, our combat, and what cool things can happen during it. Villain actions happen sequentially (round 1, round 2,...round x), so we need to take into account the villain actions from rounds past and how long the combat will last. As Matthew mentions in the video, many combats tend to last three rounds in D&D 5E, so three villain actions should suffice. While that’s a good baseline, we should look at our group and mold this rule to fit us. Usually, I like battles to last five rounds, but maybe villain actions aren’t necessary every turn. Therefore, I place them during round one, round three, and round five. If your group is different, that’s fine, just take it into account! And of course, remember we might need to adjust this mid-combat. If a confrontation we thought would take five rounds only takes three, move the villain actions around.

Okay, here’s where our fun truly begins. What super-flavorful actions can we add to our villain, the enraged grizzly bear? Perhaps, during the first round of the battle, it lets out a great roar, potentially paralyzing enemies. This allows the bear to tear into any nearby characters. After that first round, there might be a few characters sniping our bear from range. Let it rush them. During round three, generally the final round in D&D 5E combat, the bear should commit a truly awesome act. But what? Think about it as we lay out its first two villain actions.

1. Mighty Roar: The enraged grizzly bear lets out a mighty roar, paralyzing all creatures within 30 feet until the beginning of the next round if they fail a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw.
2. Rush: The enraged grizzly bear charges a target within 60 feet and makes a bite and claw attack against it with advantage.
3. Lasting Maul: The enraged grizzly bear makes a bite attack on one creature within five feet with advantage. If the attack hits, it’s a critical hit and tears off a body part - roll a d4 (1-hand, 2-arm, 3-foot, 4-leg).

Okay, we might think the last villain action is a tad crazy, but this is D&D after all. Overall, the enraged grizzly bear might be completely overpowered! We’d have to test it in combat. Give it a go — we should all try this out and see if it works at our table. Flip to a random page of the Monster Manual and turn that creature into an action oriented monster: a goblin or a mindflayer — a behir or a lich. Anything can be turned into an action oriented monster, we just need to think creatively!

Quick 5E Action Oriented Monster Examples

I’ll take my own advice and flip through my Monster Manual. Here are six quick action oriented monsters I made for us:

1. A mimic that can burrow, swallow adventurers whole, and spit its adhesive substance
2. A barbazu (bearded devil) who can blink, impale foes on its spear, and grow its spiky beard up to ten feet long
3. An abominable yeti that can petrify its foes in ice permanently, burrow in snow, and create an avalanche
4. A ghost who can form a fog cloud, possess multiple enemies at once, and pull a creature into the Ethereal Plane
5. A myconid sovereign that can create a storm of hallucination spores, grow to an immense size, and consume other myconids to gain health and damage
6. A nothic that can see the future and avoid attacks, leap from hero to hero in flurry, and use Rotting Gaze on a group of creatures in a cone

If we want more ideas, browsing https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/ is sure to suffice. In fact, there’s a massive thread containing a plethora of action oriented monsters created by Dungeon Masters like us. Here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/dkegva/action_oriented_monster_catch_all_thread/

When to Use Action Oriented Monsters

As we discussed earlier, we don’t always need action oriented monsters in our encounters. Sometimes, a battle against a group of goblins and wargs will suffice. Here is a summary of when we might want to utilize this concept:

1. During boss battles
2. During encounters against solo creatures like bulettes, liches, tarrasques, and even dragons
3. When we want to challenge our player characters
4. When we are having trouble balancing encounters against large amounts of players

In addition, we can take the strategies we learned with action oriented monsters and apply them elsewhere. Feel free to simply add bonus actions and reactions to monsters, forgoing villain actions. Doing so adds flair to our encounters without making them too challenging; villain actions are a piece of the action economy puzzle that truly level the playing field.

In Summary

Action oriented monsters can be a huge help to Dungeon Masters looking to enhance their combat encounters. Remember:

1. Action oriented monsters make our combat more dynamic, interactive, and interesting.
2. Actions are necessary for every monster. Usually, they are the basic abilities the creature has, including special movement, attacks, and breath weapons.
3. Bonus actions should complement our monster’s primary actions. If we’re feeling creative, add extra — but always have enough to be used in conjunction with an action.
4. Reactions are rare and require triggers. We must think about what our player characters will do in combat, and create interesting reactions to their actions. Try to create at least two to vary up the monster’s possible reactions every round.
5. Villain actions are a creation of Matthew Colville that give our monsters unique abilities depending on how far into the battle we are. During round one, our enraged grizzly bear uses mighty roar — and so on and so forth.
6. Don’t go overboard with action oriented monsters. We must sprinkle them throughout our worlds, ensuring they are unique.

Thanks for reading. Huge props to Matthew Colville for his video on action oriented monsters. I hope my expanded take here helps everyone build better combats.

Quick note: I've been regularly posting on my YouTube channel for awhile now. If any of you prefer listening to content, I'm reading my articles and posting them there, in addition to discussing how to prepare a D&D session and a few other choice topics. Check it out!

May your monsters be mighty, creators, farewell!

Eager for more RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out Villain Backgrounds Volume I, a supplement that crafts compelling villains.

Please send inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com.

A Tome of Creation

By RJ on 19 January 2018

Thursday night. I’m wide awake at 11:45PM, unable to corral my thoughts for tomorrow’s Dungeons & Dragons session. The group has finally reached the apex of this act: They’re about to do battle with Chieftain Legrogg of the Gorecrown tribe. The corrupted frost giant heads a horde of goblins, ogres, and hill giant that has been rampaging across the snowy landscape of Bassel’s Vale, alongside a cult of lycanthropes. Once they slay Legrogg, the lycan cult will lose their most valuable and powerful local ally.

Tomorrow night’s session is going to be grand and intense. Yet, I’m having trouble coming up with a few aspects of it. Where should the battle take place? How will Legrogg act? Should the tribe’s name, ‘Gorecrown’ have any significance? Aaagh!

With all these thoughts stampeding through my mind, I turn to my bookshelf and pull out a binder. Scribbled on a white piece of printer paper slipped under the binder’s sleeve are four words: The Tome of Creation. All of my questions, I know, will soon be answered.

At some point, everyone experiences a creative stampede, during which there are so many different thoughts and ideas charging through their brain that they’re unable to properly think. This phenomenon happens quite often to me during school, but it also occurs when I’m preparing for a Dungeons and Dragons session or campaign. When my brain refuses to cooperate, and my time is limited, I pull out a special binder I’ve deemed a tome of creation.

You might be asking, what is a tome of creation?

Today, we’ll be discussing exactly what a tome of creation is, how to make one, and why everyone who plays D&D should have this inspirational item.

A Tome of Your Own

With the influx of new D&D players, some of them thrust into the fray, others slowly immersing themselves in the wonderful world of roleplaying, I’ve seen questions about how people get their inspiration, particularly dungeon masters.

That question is easy to answer. Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to pay attention. Need a unique accent for an NPC you’re creating? Listen to the accent of your friendly local grocery store clerk for ideas. Looking for encounters to fill up your next game session? Pull a book off the shelf and start reading, fantasy, history, informational, anything. Oftentimes, I’m inspired by real-world events, such as the dominant personality of Genghis Khan for an orc warlord, or the absolute brutality of trenches of the Great War for a battle in the mud pits of a jungle.

However, I’ve come to understand you need a place where you absolutely know you can look to get inspired. Sometimes, you don’t have the time to stroll through the gritty villages of the Witcher III to prepare for your party’s trek through a war-torn grassland. You don’t have time to generate the personality of the victim of a foul lycanthrope using the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Players new and old, dungeons masters experienced and green, I have a solution. I have a time-saver. I have flint and steel that is guaranteed to make a spark, and perhaps a flame.

I present to you: The tome of creation.

A tome of creation, in short, is an amalgamation of all of your favorite pieces of inspiration. Roll tables, artwork, advice, absolutely anything and everything you get inspired by. Instead of condensing information people need and enjoy inside a single binder, I often see players scrambling through their wide array of sourcebooks, journals, and partially crumpled sticky notes. Once, I was a part of that group.

That’s no longer the case, my friends.

To give everyone an example of what the binder can hold, I’ll list the tabs of my tome of creation. My binder contains the following sections:

• Tips and Tricks: Various pieces of advice from people I admire, such as Matt Click, Christopher Perkins, and Matt Colville.
• Personal Notes: Information about my homegrown world, Aelonis, that can be inserted into a story to give it more depth.
• Names: Dwarf names, kobold names, dragon names, thri-kreen names, halfling names, temple names, you give me an NPC, I’ll provide you with a name.. When I end up using one, I cross it off, and make a note of where he or she appears.
• Random Scribings: Unrelated paragraphs of lore and adventure concepts usually written when I wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, or during class.
• Awesome Concepts: Locations, monsters or encounters found in the core D&D rulebooks and adventures that I love and am inspired by. For example, the absolutely amazing river-den of the hill giants from Storm King’s Thunder, and almost every single NPC blurb from Curse of Strahd.
• Maps: For when I’m drawing and need inspiration.
• Roll Tables: Almost everything can be found in this section, ranging from random encounters to magical side effects to drinking a potion.

Spending an hour or two to create the binder is all it takes! Pick up a decent binder of your favorite color, a few tabs (sticky notes will do, my friends), and create a cover that says, “Tome of Creation. Then, print off or copy everything and anything you like into the binder. Print off roll tables and adventure ideas. Photocopy NPC tables from D&D adventure books, such as the dramatis personae page of Storm King’s Thunder. Drop in a few maps as well. Finally, organize the material with your tabs.

Now, you have a source of material that you’re fond of, material that is special and pertinent to your interests. I understand this sounds simple, even silly, but having a tome of information you personally care about amounts to more inspiration than poring through random books (most of the time).

As an aside: If you're not fond of carrying around a binder, then you can make a tome of creation using Google Docs or a flash drive. Personally, I love feeling the binder in my hands and being able to quickly edit or flip through pages during a session. To each their own!

I’m telling you: Just try it.

When your mind is running amuck, your inspiration dead, or you simply need some quick ideas, your tome of creation will be there, ready and filled with inspiration.

Unlimited Utility

Generally, I use my tome of creation while preparing for a D&D session.

If I’m struggling to figure out an enemy’s motivations, I flip to the vast collection of NPCs I’ve written myself or photocopied from another D&D adventure. In my aforementioned game session, the corrupted frost giant Legrogg ended up being mind-controlled by a faraway beholder because of the magical Gorecrown attached to his head. 

This added mystery and tension to the battle because the party finally discovered that the crown atop his head was some sort of conduit from yet another faction, which they ended up allying with and attuning the Gorecrown to one of their own heads. This crown, in addition to allowing a crazed beholder to control its wielder, also allows the beholder to see through the wielder's eyes.

When I opened my tome, I had zero clue what the climactic battle would look like, if the name "Gorecrown" had any significance, and that another faction would be added to the campaign. By the time I was finished, I had added another layer of depth that would have never been disposed to me. The battle took place overtop a canyon with a bridge of bone and skulls. 

The Gorecrown was now a mystical artifact created by an eye tyrant to partially control Legrogg and spy on the lycanthropic cult's activities. Now, I knew I had an amazing session prepared.

The tome is also useful during live play.

If you’re like me, sometimes you’ll have trouble coming up with evocative NPC names on the spot. Nearly every time a PC asks an improv’d character what their name is, and I don’t have my tome handy, I stutter out something like Gitro Stormshone (rambly human researcher), and Boarhead (a goblin who was previously afflicted with wereboar lycanthropy). 

Fortunately, I now have the tome with me at all times, so, if needed, I can quickly pull it out and pick an NPC name from the vast array within. At other times, you might need an entire NPC. If you do, simply choose one from the pages copied from D&D adventures of yore and reskin it to your liking.

Other ways to use it during live play include:

• Creating encounters out of thin air with roll tables or previous adventure notes. For instance, I've pulled an amazing airship battle encounter from Storm King's Thunder on the fly, and it worked incredibly well! If you need to generate an encounter quickly, using one previously created works far better than rolling on the random encounter table.
• Generating interesting items on the fly. You can do this with roll tables made specifically for items, or you can keep a list of self-made artifacts and those found in other adventures. I've done this, and had Blackrazor suddenly appear in my campaign. Crazy stuff.
• Whipping out already made maps. They don't have to be made by you, simply print some off the internet, or photocopy them for modules such as Rise of Tiamat and Princes of the Apocalypse.
• Giving your campaign a bit more depth using unique bits and pieces of your world located within the tome. For example, my world has two moons, one blue, one red. I often use this piece of information to immerse my players in nighttime battles or journies.

In Summary

I recommend everyone who plays D&D should spend a few hours to build a tome of creation: A binder full of your favorite pieces of inspiration. If you’re stuck preparing for a session, simply grab the tome and pore through, and you’ll assuredly find that one of your preferred ideas latches onto you. Plus, it can be used during play to do a plethora of acts, such as quickly inserting a new character or encounter into your world.

The tome is easy to make! Simply grab a binder, a few tabs, and printed or photocopied pieces of paper and voila, you have a book of your favorite sources of inspiration.

What's your opinion on this, folks? Leave a comment below, and we'll discuss if this item is a boon or a curse!

Next week, we’ll be discussing ways to physically immerse your players in your game.

Here's to greatening your game and world: cheers!

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