Showing posts with label dnd5e. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dnd5e. Show all posts

The Hidden Stress of D&D

By RJ on 6 May 2023.


I imagine I'm not alone. Without fail, D&D night excites me. Oftentimes I'll think about the upcoming session days beforehand, meandering through my mind about the possibilities, but never putting pen to paper until the night before or the day of. In these winding paths in my head, I'll explore where the party might go, what might excite the players, and why their characters will be challenged and tested.

Ideas flow freely.

The demon the party released and partially defeated? It ravaged a nearby city, creating its lair in the temple of a lawful, good, but absent deity. Might they venture there, or the collapsed cove layered with mysterious treasures they heard about from their talkative tabaxi friend?

Natalie really enjoys love stories, and she's built a great one into her character! When will Mia be reunited or have the chance to meet her lost love? Will he be the same person she remembers, or forever changed by the war he was forced to fight in?

The Bannerless is beginning to make a name for itself, a dangerous idea in this dark land. As a budding organization, others see it as a threat, though some may seek to ally with it. Who will try to take out the party and their faction before it grows too large, and how might that excite the players? Who will reach out and try to build an alliance, calling out enemies before they show themselves?

While I think about what might be fun for my players, I become excited.

I write these ideas down, I weave a loose narrative for the session almost assured it will go off the rails immediately. That's how most of my sessions go, but I love it.

Yet, when the day arrives and the hours pass by, I start to panic.

D&D Day

What if the party doesn't want to go to any of these places? What if they want to go nowhere? What if my world isn't interesting enough?

What if Natalie hates what I try to give her and pushes back. Will I react well enough and find something else to satisfy her and her character's story?

What if any resistance to the party's faction growing is met with anger or disdain?

The "what if's" mount in my head. I stress. I try to be rational, I know my players enjoy the game I run, that's why they play, but I stress regardless. 

The clock continues to tick and the session nears. People begin to arrive. I've already set up the table, they move to their chairs. I take mine and begin the music and a brief recap.

Then...

Euphoria. Storytelling comes with ease. Characters ebb and flow in my mind. Plots grow organically and reactions to character actions and antics are quick. Everyone's laughing and engaged. If someone's not, I immediately pivot to something I know they enjoy or address the faltering fun swiftly.

The session goes well and everyone has fun. However, the next week, I know everything will repeat.

Why?

Dungeon Master Panic

It's all mental, really. I've been running games for over a decade now, but this phenomenon continues to occur. The day of a game, I seem to dread it the closer the game gets. Then, when we all sit together and begin, all the hidden stress washes away.

I cannot place it. I don't necessarily have a fear of public speaking or social interaction. I'm not its biggest fan, but people tell me I'm decent at it. I always shrug at that.

It's not a lack of prep. I've tried preparing oodles of content and seeing if that fixes my day of fear: it doesn't! I know my world well, understand my players, and have a firm grasp of every system I play.

At the end of the day, I think it's ingrained in me. Maybe it assists me in some way? In the face of this huge Dungeon Master panic that climbs throughout the day, I always perform at the table. I succeed. Perhaps the day I fail all this panic will subside? No, I doubt that.

Really, I'd compare this to a feeling I have before a huge presentation at the workplace or a speech I'm supposed to give somewhere. However, all three environments are so dissimilar.

In one, I am paid. I know what I'm doing and everyone else must understand I have a firm grasp on the subject. Usually, I'm teaching others about the topic and there's minimal reaction. Beforehand, though, tension builds throughout the day and breaks once the presentation is over. That's happening less and less as I present more and more and truly learn the subject material. I've been at my current job for four years and I'm almost never nervous anymore.

For the other, speeches, I'm usually asked to give one. People enjoy what I can say or improvise. The same with workplace presentations, the more I do this the less worried or stressed I am beforehand. They're always fun during and I feel great after.

Why is D&D so different? I've been doing this for a decade, but I get that Dungeon Master panic every session without fail. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it hurting my game or my psyche? I don't know!

Am I alone? I don't think so. Let me know in the comments below.

If you missed the last article, give it a read. You have permission to break the rules you set if it's needed to save your game.

Want More RPG Tips & Tales from RJD20?

As always, thanks for reading. Please send all inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

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Ranger D&D Monsters

By R.J. Compton on 9 April 2023.


Rangers are formidable combatants. They make excellent allies in numerous scenarios. As Dungeon Masters, though, we might wonder how they could become foils to our heroic parties or merry vagabond bands. Despite their less-than-welcoming reception in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, rangers still provide a host of abilities, narrative strands, and wild ideas to Dungeon Masters for custom D&D monster creation. Look in the current edition of D&D, gaze into the past, and pick what you like. You're bound to find a nice mound of ranger-scented truffles.

Today, that's what we're exploring: how to make a D&D monster with the ranger player class. 

Like any sensible ranger, let's rush right into the fray.

A Simpler Approach

While crafting a set of traits of our own may be fun and thought-provoking, there is a simpler way to attach ranger abilities and ideas to D&D monsters. Let's check out this simplified method before delving deeper.

Gather and peer through the various ranger subclasses in fifth edition D&D, or look at rangers of editions gone by. Pick a feature, steal it, and plop it right on a monster. There you go: you have a ranger-like monster to pit against your party. Here are a few great ranger subclass features to attach to your monsters.

  • The Gloom Stalker's Umbral Sight. The monster gains darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If they already have darkvision race, its range increases by 30 feet. They are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. While in darkness, they are invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see them in that darkness.
  • The Horizon Walker's Distant Strike. The monster gains the ability to pass between the planes in a blink of an eye. When they use the Attack action, they can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space they can see. If they attack at least two different creatures with the action, they can make one additional attack with it against a third creature.
  • The Hunter's Horde Breaker. Once on each of the monster's turns when they make a weapon attack, they can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet of the original target and within range of their weapon.

Identify Ranger Traits

Alright, time to go in-depth.

Before we even start crafting monsters, we need to identify what traits of the ranger class we can swipe and insert into our monsters to further flavor and embolden them. Each of these major traits can be used to build a set of possible abilities or background bits.

What do you think about a goblin defined by the decrepit caverns he wanders? Or a bugbear who specifically hunts other bugbears? Perhaps a fire giant who swaps between multiple weapons in a battle, each crafted in the fiery forges of the obviously best variety of giant?

Let's define the obvious ranger traits.

Wild Spirit 

Generally, rangers are free-ranging and intimately connected to the unbounded straits of land. Forests, plains, mountains, swamps, caverns, and deserts are where they roam best, though a select few might treat urban environments as their wilderness of choice. Rangers typically take on aspects of the region around them in their personality, appearance, and even combat technique. For example, a ranger who lives in a forest might have a firm personality like the trees around them, rely on a strong support system as each member of the forest family relies on each other, and abhor civilization from tearing apart the forest to build mockeries of the ranger's own home.

Imagine a goblin ranger who embodies the mushroom grove he lives in. The goblin wears a mushroom cap hat, carries pouches filled with dangerous spores, lives inside a massive mushroom, and even has an odd dog-shaped mushroom companion. Mix a ranger combat trait or two into that and you have a unique, mushroom-obsessed goblin ranger.

Favored Foes

Since I've played D&D, I've associated rangers with the favored enemy trait. Whether it was third edition, Neverwinter Nights, or the wacky implementation of the concept in fifth edition, I'd always look forward to crafting my own ranger around their favored enemy. You can do the same with a monster. However, if it's going to be battling the characters, do your diligence and ensure its favored foe is in the party. It won't be an interesting enemy trait if it doesn't ever come up in battle.

Imagine pitting a kobold with a pension for hunting halflings against your primarily-halfling group. How about a balor demon with a fierce hatred for elves and is able to sense them miles away? Maybe a hill giant who embraces the fine art of dwarf smashing? The favored foe trait need not only provide combat bonuses to this ranger monster, but it can also provide plenty of storytelling opportunities for you and the rest of the group.

Numerous Fighting Styles

Why stick to one way of fighting when you can style on your foes? A classic function of the ranger is a wide range of weapon combat options. An elven ranger may specialize in dual-wielding longswords and weaving quickly through the bloodshed. A dwarf ranger might practice archery and outshine even the finest human archers. Another could wield only a battleaxe, or a scimitar and shield, or a greatsword of mighty proportions. Plus, each of these rangers could swap between these fighting styles swiftly; one round they might dual-wield, the next they may retreat behind cover and loose a volley of arrows.

Elf by artborne-wd.

This is a great way to make a battle dynamic. A ranger-based monster can focus not on a wide array of abilities, but on a decent arsenal of different weapons to swap between.

Light Nature Magic

Nothing extravagant emerges from the ranger in the form of magic, but any monster inspired by them could have minor connections to nature magic. Easily, you can just drop the exact Ranger spells from any Player's Handbook onto your monster, or slightly retool them if needed. We can do this with a few Ranger spells from the 2014 Player's Handbook, such as thorn whip, entangle, and hail of thorns. It need not be extravagant; it'll provide new options and new flavor to a usual, bland monster.

Make Ranger Trait and Monster Lists

Armed with what makes a ranger and what will translate well to a D&D monster, it's time to make lists or a table of the potential monsters and ranger-inspired abilities and traits. One list needs a bunch of ranger traits. The other should be a batch of monsters you can apply these ranger traits to. Here's an example of two lists with ten items each.

Ranger Traits

  1. Terrain Attunement. The monster is able to hide in, maneuver around, and knows a lot about certain types of environments like forests, plains, caverns, or mountains. This gives them bonuses to Stealth, any knowledge check about the landscape, and inside information on the dangers and secrets in the area.
  2. One With the Land. The monster has become one with its environment. It takes on features unique to its environment. For example, a desert ranger may craft needles into their armor, have sandy yellow skin, or carve weapons from the bone of great waste beasts.
  3. Obsessed and Angry. The monster hunts a certain type of enemy. When battling this enemy, they gain great combat and out-of-combat benefits.
  4. Only Eyes For One. The monster once hunted a certain class of enemy but stopped to focus all their ire on one specific foe. When battling this sole foe, they gain incredible combat benefits. They also know everything there is to know about this individual.
  5. Rabid Weapon Swapper. The monster switches between multiple weapons and fighting styles during combat. Consider allowing it to freely swap between weapons every round, batching an interesting movement ability alongside it. When it swaps to a bow, the monster might leap into a strategic position. When it shucks its offhand sword to the side and pulls out a huge shield, it pushes its allies to the side and becomes the biggest target in the battle.
  6. It Takes Two. The monster uses one powerful weapon during its first hit point pool, then swaps to another during its second hit point pool. This should be an epic moment in the battle that showcases not only the strength of the monster but the awesome weapons it is wielding...that may soon be in the characters' hands.
  7. Healthy Helper. The monster focuses on enhancing its beast companion with nature magic. During battles with it, the true power lies in this monster's companion. However, without the ranger alive, the companion becomes a whimpering shell of its empowered self.
  8. Don't Vine If I Do. The monster wields nature magic to control its enemies. Arm the monster with thorn whip, entangle, hail of thorns, et cetera. If you don't want to look up spells during combat, just use the base monster's basic attack bonus and give it to a summoned thorn vine controlled by the monster.
Crypts of Ravenloft by vilenko.

Ranger Monster Bases

  1. Goblin
  2. Bugbear
  3. Gnoll
  4. Oni / Ogre Mage
  5. Hill Giant
  6. Erinyes
  7. Balor Demon
  8. Ancient Black Dragon

Craft Creatures Using the Ranger Class

Don't run off on your own just yet! Here's a brief list of potential monsters you can use in your D&D games. Each is inspired by the ranger in some way.

  1. Goblin Pathfinder - a goblin who specializes in blazing trails in a specific terrain type.
  2. Bugbear Stalker - a bugbear who melds into her surroundings and springs upon unsuspecting prey with nature magic.
  3. Gnoll Ravager - a gnoll who swaps between multiple weapons during battle, cycling until his foes lay dead before him.
  4. Oni Avenger - an ogre mage who tracks a specific favored foe, eager to take them out after taking extreme precautions to prepare for the battle.
  5. Hill Giant Deadeye - a hill giant who swaps from dual-wielding longsword to a great bow upon the midsection of the fight.
  6. Erinyes Raider - an erinyes imbued with bits and pieces of hell-scarred nature magic.

Lessons Learned

The player character classes of D&D provide Dungeon Masters with plenty of inspiration to build interesting monsters. 

In particular, the ranger class helps create monsters with a variety of interesting properties like nature magic, varied fighting styles, and favored foes. You can mix and match these traits with any base monster across any D&D edition and you'll end up with a more interesting creature, plus a few ideas to build their story around. 

The idea of crossing classes with monsters may seem incredibly basic, but it's powerful. If you need to make a unique monster fast, are tired of typical monster features, and have access to or knowledge of the character classes, this is a great monster-making method. 

Try it out and let me know how it goes!

If you enjoyed this post, check out last week's article, all about how to improve your Dungeon Mastering craft while on a hiatus from running games behind the screen. If you'd like to read more RJD20 articles and improve your tabletop roleplaying game sessions and worlds, check out the links below.

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Renewed Focus, Honing Your Craft

By RJ on 2 April 2023.


Even when I take a break from behind the screen, drift away from my ever-growing world of Eldar, and sucked into the sometimes blinding reality of daily life, I strive to improve my leisurely craft. It's why I might ponder about the innards of the game I run or the structure of my setting while I sit in endless traffic. It's why I speak in comical voices to my daughter when I read her stories during lunch or in the early hours of the morning. It's why I write these articles, why I spur my mind for ideas to help others when I cannot find the inspiration to create solely for myself.

So what do I focus on improving and how do I do it?

Ponder About Your D&D Game

Our daily lives are filled with thought. However, I've been trying more and more to streamline certain aspects of sections of it to alleviate stress in others. For example, I might remove unnecessary steps in a process at work, automating them in some instances or solving the question permanently in others. Another example is the tabs my browser opens in the morning: one tab for email, another for my calendar, a third for my queue of tickets, and a fourth for my personal production board. All these simple time savers and brain helpers allow me to think and do others, more interesting things at the end of the day. Importantly, they let help me ponder & create.

That's advice chunk number one: iterate on constant tasks that require thought until they no longer require thought. This immediately saves your brain some power and allows you to use it for your virtuoso sessions later in the day.

The next chunk is plainly in the header of this section: simply think about your game. There are surprisingly plenty of times to do this in normal life. Here is a concise list for both you and me.

  • Next time you grab your phone to scroll social media, think about your next session. What's something unexpected you could drop into it?
  • As you're driving somewhere solo, expand on a player character's narrative. Is it being addressed? Have you highlighted it recently? What's special about them?
  • On your next run or walk, turn down the music or podcast and create the next major conflict for your campaign or adventure. Which characters might be connected to it already? Who or what will be the big bad evil thing? Where will it take the group? How can you foreshadow it?

For most of us, the most effective change is a swap from watching some of the undisputed cutest cat videos in existence at best and arguing with a fellow human on the internet at worst to putting that mental energy into crafting something memorable. It seems easy. It seems worthwhile. So why wouldn't we do that? Well, many of us (including me) are attached to the ease of information and community provided by our phones. They allow us to find what we want when we want to find it. They connect us to others and allow us to gain insight into what they think without the need to engage in true conversation. Truly, it's all convenient.

Fight the urge for simplicity. As with any run, any weight-lifting, embrace difficulty and challenge; it will improve the end product. I know, a comparison between exercise and worldbuilding and running the game. Wild but appropriate. Choose to think about what's happening in your next game or what you can build in your world instead of delving into the trap of social media.

Practice in Weird, Effective Ways

Not all practice needs serious thought behind it. Truly, all it must be is effective. Try out a few of these simple but effective techniques to practice your Dungeon Master abilities or worldbuilding mind.

  1. Incorporate a real-world location into your homebrew setting.
  2. Read to someone or talk to yourself in a nonplayer character's voice.
  3. Try out the mannerisms of a new NPC at a public place with others: restaurants, stores, parks, et cetera.
  4. Relate a relevant situation in your ongoing campaign to a situation occurring in your actual life.
  5. Flip through a random fantasy book and stop at a page at random; read the page and find a way to tie what's happening in the moment to your world or adventure.

While I can promise all of these techniques are effective and help inspire or improve your creative mindset, they are also a tad peculiar. Even so, they are good to do in all situations, unless you plan on practicing the bodily movements of a mind flayer or beholder in the middle of a grocery store. Please refrain from this advice chunk if that's the case.

Of course, don't discount tried methods, too. Reading through game books will improve your grasp of the rules and how to use them effectively. Reading actual books, fiction or nonfiction, will widen your pool of knowledge to pull from for creation, narration, and reaction to your group's antics. Reading articles containing advice like this one, others found across RJD20, and other creators like Sly Flourish will point you in the right direction or provoke thought. Watching videos or listening to podcasts can also help your game, whether synthesizing written advice in an easy-to-digest format or inspiring your own vocal cords with a brand new voice to add to your repertoire.

Connect Your D&D Game and World to Something More Than Yourself

Countless people force themselves to turn their hobby into a business. While that's completely unnecessary, I think it's because they are trying to accomplish something very particular: they want to grant greater meaning to their hobby. They might care about it deeply, but they want to show it to others, to prove its worth. Unfortunately, a scarce few profitable worlds. Many, though, can pull in others to care about their creation. That's what you should aim for!

Even outside the game, talk to your players about it. Show them you care about their characters, their role in the world, and the setting as a whole. Discuss what's going on in other areas and what future tales might unfold. Sometimes, they might give input or ideas in this out-of-game medium that could truly spiral out your ideas for the adventure at hand.

Speak with your family and friends about it, too! There's no need to keep it contained to those who traditionally enjoy D&D, either. How else do you thrust new players into the hobby? While everyone sits silently on the 9:30am Monday morning meeting, leap into the antics of your latest D&D game. I can already hear the exclamations, visualize the confusion on Zoom: "You did WHAT!? You said WHAT? How could you do that in a GAME!?"

Usually, my passion for the game and my own world pours into every conversation. I get excited. The others get excited. The people who don't understand D&D get confused. We all have a good time. Plus, once I relay these stories to others, some become invested. They ask about my game, my world. Both parties look forward to discussing "the latest in Galen".

Showcasing and discussing your stories with those you care about helps you remember why you enjoy D&D. It also connects them in a way to your world and might even convince them to give the hobby a go. At times, these light conversations might inspire you to accomplish heavier tasks, like finally starting that dead campaign again or driving home a certain character's importance to the plot.

Lessons Learned

We all lose focus on our D&D games and worlds. What matters is how we renew said focus, how we improve ourselves as Dungeon Masters, Worldbuilders, and Players during those breaks in play. Remember the following:

  • Think about your game constantly. How can you improve it? What cool thing can you do next? Which character can you highlight?
  • Hone your craft in weird ways. Read your kid their next story in the voice of the villain. Pick a page from the Bible and relate it to your campaign's current situation. What could go wrong?
  • Connect both your game and world to other people. This invests others into your hobby, pushes you to continue building on it, and might even get new folks to play.

If you enjoyed this week's article, check out the last one about taking breaks from our D&D campaigns. It happens to all of us.

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Breaks Happen

By RJ on 26 March 2023.


It has been 85 years! My table is dusty, notes dried up, and my mind muddled. Of course, that's an exaggeration, but it has been quite some time since I last ran a game; just about two months. While this isn't my longest break from wearing the Dungeon Master mantle, due to the absolute whirlwind of family, work, and lack of creative time it feels far longer than just a winter break. As I sit here typing this article, I yearn for an exciting three-hour session in either of my current campaigns...

Does your mind ever wander likewise?

Let us leap back into the world of Golgifell and the treacherous battle in a cultist's cavern. Their dark ritual halted, the party engages their alien elf leader, a man who can wield both sword and arcana with the utmost skill. Will half the party still retreat as planned, leaving their companions to fight the malevolent elf? Will Revan Talo slay the elf, one of the nine Ular who walk the surface of the world? Will Mia Stark succumb to the vile desires of her sentient blade? When will the entire group discover what happened to the city of Wintermount?

As a Dungeon Master, I cannot wait. I'm giddy to get back to Golgifell...one day. Hoorah, for its return land soon, sooner than I think. However, my other campaign might take a tad longer to land.

Caught in Galen, I've not run since October of 2022. October. 2022. Its return is likely to arrive around July of this year, but I'm ready to return to Eldar as well.

68 sessions in, the group of Galen, sometimes called the Heroes of Below, work to keep the world afloat. A hurricane of a monster, Loogodramin, plucks the strings of existence with his abberant spawn, the most malicious among them being his first children: Arzkel, Gorlat, and Nailen. With one of them supposedly slain and Loogodramin's initial plot of worldshifting Eldar into other planes of existence, the Heroes of Below are on the winning side...most think. Alas, those aware of universe-shaking tremors know that's not the case; the party's actions have caused a ripple effect across the cosmos. Now, no one knows which side shall benefit, or if Eldar itself will survive.

The core characters of the story are:

  • Jason Urso is a mastermind rogue with a pension for consuming the bodies and memories of aberrations. This desire has caused his own, human mind to twist, corrupting it with the influence of at least four other sentient, insane entities.
  • Luna is a transmutationist who has cast off the chains of her tortured past and embraced a new life in a new place with new people, consequently becoming one of the biggest movers and shakers of the world of arcana. She witnessed the destruction of her former home, the annihilation of an entire plane of existence, and the cancellation of an epic spell thought long forgotten.
  • Rev is a paladin sworn to an Oath of Redemption who survived the unbridled apocalypse of his home plane: Vapoa, the Plane of Water. Though he is a recent addition to the Heroes of Below, he has already been thrust into the center of a universe-threatening danger kickstarted by the vile Entropic Enclave, the all-consuming Loogodramin, and the party themselves.

Oh, and we return to the campaign in a pocket-dimension housing five pages of the Book of Vile Darkness while the group fights a trio of huge beholders! Hopefully the campaign's "new beginning" isn't a swift end...

For a bit more insight into the campaign, I wrote two pieces of fiction:

Simply typing about Caught in Galen reminds me of the amazing times that group has had at the table. I'm ready to return.

Have you ever had an extended break from your game? How do you cope? Does your mind often wander into the realms of those games? Do you prepare for future sessions, plot out various parts of your setting and campaign, or pause worldbuilding entirely?

Unfortunately, I've done the latter for most of this break. I would like to return to crafting Eldar and Golgifell, though. 

I will.

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How to Make a D&D Character, the Ettermot Drous Example

By RJ on 19 March 2023.


For years, I was the forever Dungeon Master. I ran numerous games, multiple campaigns, and introduced plenty of inquisitive folks to Dungeons & Dragons and the greater tabletop roleplaying game scene. However, I was not a consistent player. Sure, I hopped onto the other side of the screen every once in a while, but it was never week after week. I may have been a veteran in crafting worlds and portraying villains, but I was a novice player of the game.

That all changed when my daughter was born. I went on a Dungeon Mastering hiatus and became a consistent player of the game. Ever since Amber entered the world in March 2022, I've been a player more than a near-omniscient adventure builder and villainous actor.

This drastic change altered my view on character creation and D&D and tabletop games in general. I've learned tons on this side of the screen. I'm eager to share these lessons with all of you. First up: one of the simplest but most interesting ways to build a character and what comes along with it.

Although I also play the debatably redeemable minotaur paladin in my brother-in-law's ongoing campaign, my most recent foray into D&D adventure is in my brother's fifth edition D&D campaign. I'm playing alongside the other members of his bachelor party, some D&D vets, and others not too into the hobby. We've been able to figure out what the adventure is based on: the first real quest chain in Dungeons & Dragons Online: Korthos Island.

I made a very special character for this campaign in a very specific way. Allow me to introduce you to Ettermot Drous, a scarred but lovable bugbear druid.

D&D Character Creation Challenge Mode, the What

D&D 5E outlines a clear way to make a character. For Ettermot Drous, I did not follow the game's instructions. Instead, I provided myself with a new set of rules and a challenge. The rules:

  • Roll a single set of ability scores
  • Roll straight down the list, beginning with Strength, and ending with Charisma
  • Roll three d6

Why?

Oftentimes, I love unbounded creativity. This allows me to build a limitless world and wild adventures. One region of Eldar might be inhabited by antfolk who skitter through the ruins of an archaic giant empire, while another might be presided over by communistic kobold militarists. One of my adventures might send the adventurers to recover a piece of an old book from the Astral Plane, while the next might send them into the bowels of the physical world to fight an obese red dragon.

Yet limits of what I can do inspire me at other points. That's the case with Ettermot Drous. I sought limits and with those limits, I knew I would be forced to create my way out of the hole if I wanted to make an interesting, somewhat useful character. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Here were my rolls for Ettermot Drous:

  1. Strength: 6
  2. Dexterity: 9
  3. Constitution: 10
  4. Intelligence: 4
  5. Wisdom: 18
  6. Charisma: 8

I was left with poor or outright terrible rolls in everything ability score except Wisdom. Truly shocking. This forced me to invent an interesting character, someone who would work in the setting and game system of D&D 5E with terrible statistics.

Immediately, I knew I needed to pick a class reliant on Wisdom. That left Monk, Cleric, and Druid. Ettermot's race could be decided later. 

Wielding the process of elimination, I knew Monk requires not only good Wisdom but decent Dexterity and Constitution as well. I'd need to be able to withstand a few hits in combat, plus be able to dish out a bit of damage with my fists, a pair of kamas, or a staff. With my current statistics, there was no chance of that happening. Thus, that class was gone. Not an issue, I had played a Monk before. On to Cleric: Clerics usually need okay Charisma on top of good Wisdom. In addition, I wasn't feeling the class. Farewell, Cleric. Druid it was.

Exiled Druids of Lornwood by Huussii.

Now, while I was hyper-aware of the need to pick a class that matched my stats, I didn't follow suit with my choice of race. I peeked at the selection and immediately locked onto a single choice: bugbear. Why? Well, there's no rhyme or reason for it. I saw bugbear, pictured a decrepit bugbear druid, and the rest is history. I knew my character needed to be a bugbear, I knew with these terrible rolls and my strategic class choice, a bugbear could work. And so Ettermot became a bugbear.

You might notice something is missing from this piece of character creation: other players. In most campaigns, I would recommend making characters as a group. The experience isn't only extremely fun, it leads to party cohesion and/or interesting conflicts. If you have the opportunity to make your character alongside the other players, do it. It will make your D&D experience that much better. 

Why is every character interested in the Duke's kidnapped child? Does every character seek the construction of their own keep on the borderlands? Which faction does each character serve? The questions that drive the campaign can also unite the party and in some circumstances with experienced players, create interesting conflicts within the group. While everyone might be interested in saving the Duke's kidnapped child, one party member might want to help the child, not for gold or a favor from the Duke, but because they're secretly related to the child and might know something terrible about the Duke himself. Everyone might want to build a keep on the borderlands, but one character might know they're building the keep atop an ancient dungeon that holds a dark secret.

I may not have been able to build my character alongside the other players and craft a cool secret, but if you get the chance, take it!

A Tragic Past, the Who

Once you have "the what" of a D&D character, now it's time to determine "the who" of them. All it involves is asking questions, respecting the world and/or setting, collaborating with others if possible, and putting in the effort. 

The story of Ettermot Drous is a tragic tale of war and loss.

He entered a conflict reminiscent of Eberron's Last War, a member of a squadron who saw victory after victory. However, in a particularly bloody battle, his entire squad was killed and he was the final remaining member until an ally came to his aid. Ettermot was nearly dead, burnt, and scarred, but this ally managed to bring him to safety before succumbing to wounds sustained during their rescue of Ettermot. After recovering, Ettermot dedicated his life to the pursuit of his savior: learning of and tapping into the power of the stars. That path turned him to the druidic Circle of Stars. It led him to the airship where the campaign begins, en route to an old site of the druids who began the Circle of Stars.

Piece by piece, let's look at how I determined who Ettermot was and is.

First, I asked myself: how does this character make sense? He has terrible stats, why? I decided he was a veteran of a war who sustained terrible wounds but learned much in the process. That caused all his core abilities to drop but his knowledge about the world to grow. Next, how did he become a druid, and a druid of the Circle of Stars? Building on the story of war and loss: the individual who saved him from certain death was a druid of this circle, but they perished during their rescue mission of Ettermot. The individual's sacrifice drives Ettermot ever forward as he learns more and more about the stars of the sky. Inside my mind, I'm hoping someone else might be related to this druid in some way, it'd be a strong connection in the campaign; it's why I'm leaving their name blank and who they were sort of open-ended. Finally, what does he want? To finish the path of his savior, to become a bigger part of the world despite the horror he has endured. It's what pushes him forward and what placed him on the airship where my brother's D&D campaign starts.

The Rangers of Carabtui by rodmendez.

Despite my poor rolls for Ettermot, I put plenty of effort into his creation. After all, I am bringing myself and Ettermot to the virtual tabletop. He is my contribution, at least in the beginning, to the campaign. He needs to be ready for the adventure at hand.

Always put effort into your character, even if it's the bare minimum. You can always improvise at the table to build their backstory and personality, but you should come prepared.

Looking Onward, the Why

As I enter this new campaign, all I expect from Ettermot Drous is some fun. Honestly, it's what I expect of all TTRPG campaigns, D&D, Pathfinder, or Call of Cthulu, the game system does not matter. When you sit down and play, you should enjoy yourself. 

If you're not enjoying yourself, speak up. People will notice. Address it before it becomes a greater concern.

Ettermot Drous is a vehicle for a good time and a few laughs with friends at a virtual tabletop. Given the wildly underpowered but interesting character concept, I'm sure I'll be the driving force for fun and utter disaster.

UPDATE: Here's an addendum to the article with some insight from the campaign as it currently stands: I was correct! Ettermot is the clown of the group, but lovable, and everyone wants to keep him alive despite his likelihood of dying in every battle. Although he is pure utility and somewhat of a drag in combat, I've portrayed him in an endearing way that, already after three sessions, everyone is attached to him. That's a win.

In Summary

Every time you hop into a D&D or TTRPG game, remember:

  • Enjoy character creation. Your character may last years or die ingloriously in the first battle against a swarm of rats. Little rats.
  • If you are not the Dungeon Master, you are bringing yourself and your character into the fold. Make sure both are positives to the group, not negatives!
  • You are there to have a good time. If you're not feeling it, speak up.

In case you missed it, the last article explored a great way to mix up your monsters. Give it a read, it will help you, I promise.

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Monster Mash

By Ian on 12 March 2023.


Whether it’s a stick-wielding goblin or a raging pit fiend from the depths of Nessus, the monsters of D&D come in all shapes and sizes. Oftentimes this makes it easy for a DM to find the perfect beasty fit for almost any encounter. However, there are some cases where it’s best to look beyond the Monster Manual. Perhaps you’re DMing for experienced players and are looking to challenge them with an abomination none of them have faced before, or maybe you have been wanting to use a creature that is not found in your campaign’s environment. It’s times like these I enjoy using a DM technique I call the Monster Mash. 

This is done by mixing a base monster with one or more other ingredients in order to create a new creature. The most common ingredients used in this process are:

  • Another monster or animal
  • An element or environment
  • A class or background from the Player's Handbook

To demonstrate the process, let’s craft a creature together using all of the ingredients above. The monster we’ll be mashing today will be the Roper. 

Mixing Monsters 

Combining monsters is not as simple as stitching two beasts together, unless you're looking to create a flesh golem. Instead, this process should involve infusing your base monster with the features or abilities of another. Ultimately, this will leave your monster with a slew of new abilities at its disposal, but be sure to have creative lore ready to describe how this abomination came to be.

  • The beholder artificer had long since discarded his fleshy form. Now inhabiting a mechanical body, it seeks to rid the material plane of organic life.
  • A centaur cursed by a yuan-ti blood ritual still has the lower body of a stallion, but now has the upper body of a humanoid cobra. A new breed of warrior for the Serpentine Cabal.
  • Seeking to eliminate its weakness to sunlight, a vampire lord regularly ingests large amounts of troll blood. Though his experiment was a success, it left him with weaknesses of a different kind.

Let's take a look at our Roper. Even though it's able to make five attacks on its turn (four tendrils, one bite), only its bite attack actually deals damage. This means our poor Roper can easily be overwhelmed by a party's action economy. Instead, let’s splice our Roper’s tendrils with a terrifying creature from the real world: the sea lamprey.

Fusing a lamprey head to the end of our Roper’s tendrils gives it circular mouths filled with barbed teeth that latch onto prey. The tendrils can still reel targets in for the Roper’s larger bite attack, while also dealing a little damage of their own. This small change greatly increases the difficulty and tension of an encounter without the need of adding additional creatures.

Environmental Adaptation

Certain monsters are limited to specific environments or planes of existence. This can be quite the hurdle when you want to implement them into an encounter, but don’t let it stop you. Instead adapt your creature based on its new environment, changing its abilities to fit its new habitat. The creature may have learned to use this terrain to its advantage, allowing it to evolve abilities beyond those of its more ordinary kin.

  • Pratorian the Sightless hatched, grew, and thrived in the depths of the Underdark. Though the black dragon was blind from an early age, he learned to hunt using his senses of smell and hearing, granting him both blindsense and keen smell. All it cost him was his eyes.
  • The sahuagin of the Copper Sands grew to live on minimal water, instead burrowing to survive on the moisture found deep under the shifting dunes. Often coming up to hunt during the cold nights. They evolved and gained burrowing speed plus tremor sense. 
  • A treant growing in the Underhallow becomes overgrown by fungi and an unlikely symbiotic relationship begins. The fungal infection allows the treant to throw spore clusters that create poisonous clouds. Also, instead of awakening trees, the fungal treant is able to summon myconids.

Moving back to our Roper, we find it in a frozen fortress long abandoned by its draconic residents. With not a single stalagmite in sight how can the poor Roper hope to hide? Adaptation is needed if this Roper is to survive. Instead of relying on stalagmites, let’s say our Roper has adapted to hide among a series of large icicles. Now, our Roper has evolved to deal cold damage and its clear icy skin causes ray spells to reflect randomly. Suddenly, this Roper is feeling far more dangerous.       

Classy Critters

As player characters earn levels, they also gain access to a plethora of powerful traits and abilities. This progression demonstrates a character's mastery of their honed craft, whether it be martial, magical, or something in between. Yet if player characters are able to learn these skills, why can’t their enemies? Giving your monster abilities from within the Player's Handbook is fair game, so long as you have an explanation handy!

  • No one expected the fearsome lich would also turn out to be a professional lute player. Perhaps there’s more to this undead bard than the tales suggest.
  • An unarmed thri-kreen may seem like an easy target. That is until you discover it has been trained in the Way of Four Fists by a monk.
  • An insane kuo-toa wielding paladin-like abilities may convince some to worship his slimy idol, but who knows where his powers truly come from?

For the final time, let's return to our ferocious Roper. It may not have the intelligence of a wizard or the agility of a rogue, but what it does have is fury. Giving our Roper access to the barbarian’s signature rage ability will make this fight truly unique for the coming party. 

After going weeks without a proper meal, the icy Roper senses the presence of four individuals exploring its frozen lair. What the party thinks is merely dripping water is in fact the creature’s many lamprey-like mouths beginning to salivate. Too late, the party realizes the danger as the Roper enters a hunger-fueled rage. Immediately, half the group is bitten and pulled toward the Roper’s freezing jaws. 

Another memorable encounter thanks to the Monster Mash.  

In Conclusion        

Creating a Monster Mash is an effective way to challenge or surprise your players. This technique works best when DMing for experienced parties, or when a desired monster doesn't quite fit the campaign’s environment. Simply mixing an existing monster with a few ingredients can create an unforgettable encounter. 

If you have ever crafted a custom monster of your own please tell me about it in the comments below!   

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Dice Fudging and Twist Endings

By Ian on 26 February 2023.


It’s a Dungeon Master’s role to create and populate the many different strongholds, lairs, and other villainous locales that player characters delve within. This means when combat starts it’s also the DM who rolls for the dastardly villains that work against the players. This puts the DM in a rather powerful position as their role is hidden behind the screen. 

They are also the one who determines the difficulty of any saving throws a player character must make. Given these factors, the DM has the power to control the flow of combat while never truly revealing their dice rolls to the players. This opens the door for the DM to fudge their rolls, lying about the true outcome in order to push the combat or story in a specific direction.

It’s important to know when best to fudge a number and when not to. The ability to extend an encounter by falsifying rolls is tempting, but there are more satisfying ways to accomplish this. Adding a twist to the end of an encounter is far more engaging for players than simply prolonging it by using fudged rolls. Both of these methods can be tricky to use so let’s look at the do’s and don'ts of each.         

The Power of Fudge      

The party had reached the final chamber. The ovular room was littered with broken silver shells, yet they could see two eggs remained unhatched. The tabaxi barbarian rushed forward to investigate, yet as she neared the first egg a strike from a massive stone mace sent her spiraling to the ground unconscious. From behind one of the room’s pillars, a massive deformed draconic creature emerged and a towering silver door slid into place preventing escape. Now the three remaining wounded party members were in for the fight of their lives… 

So you would think, but two crits and a flick later the beast’s HP hit zero. A quick finish to what was supposed to be a dangerous combat, yet it was within the DM’s power to fudge numbers and keep his creation alive a few more rounds. Should he do it?

There are always moments where a DM considers manipulating a number to help the story along. Uncovering a hidden door, clue, or treasure could vastly impact a party's progress. This means a run of bad dice rolls could leave players feeling confused and annoyed. In this scenario, it’s best to lower the DC in order to keep the story rolling and players engaged. A little fudging to keep players happy is perfectly fine, but using the power of fudge against your players can have disastrous results. A monster hitting or surviving when it otherwise wouldn’t easily lead to a character's death or even worse a TPK. A single fudged roll has the power to ruin a campaign. 

Due to the powerful nature of fudged rolls, it’s best only to use them to assist your players when they are suffering a string of failed skill checks. This way the party is still able to learn valuable plot information even if their Perception or Investigation checks are not particularly high. Fudging rolls in combat is a bad idea, as it runs the risk of making an encounter either far too easy or difficult (depending on how you manipulate your rolls). In the end, it’s best to avoid faking your rolls at all, unless you use it as a tool to improve your players’ enjoyment.     

Twist Endings

Let's take a look at the opposite scenario. The party has dodged your traps, uncovered your secrets, and obliterated the boss! Most times this level of success means that your players are having a great time. Sure they may be rolling high this session, but that’s not a problem so long as all the players are involved. If you desire to make the dungeon more exciting at this point instead of fudging a roll it could be better to add a twist ending. 

  • As the pirate beholder draws his last breath his hidden underground cove begins to collapse. One final trap to ensure his treasure will be buried with him.
  • The party opens the gilded chest expecting gold only to find the petrified body of a halfling. Perhaps curing him will reveal the true treasures' whereabouts.
  • As the final foe falls an illusion spell is lifted revealing that the party was slaying paladins, not cultists. Their employer will have to answer for this.  

A twist ending adds far more to an encounter than artificially prolonging combat. It will often create an aura of urgency while also presenting the party with a clear choice or challenge. When used effectively a twist can turn a casual session into a memorable one.    

The best twist endings are hinted at throughout an adventure. This allows your players to speculate with one another often leading to outlandish predictions that could be more interesting than the planned twist! Don’t be afraid to incorporate these ideas into your plot as it will only improve your story, as well as your players’ enjoyment of it. The excitement built from moments like this help to propel parties from adventure to adventure in search of further clues until the final twist is revealed. 

However, it’s best not to drop twists every session. Otherwise, the party will begin to catch on.      

In Conclusion 

Here's a recap of what we learned today:

  • Fudging rolls can be dangerous. Giving a monster a single extra hit or turn can lead to a character's death or worse. 
  • DM’s should only manipulate rolls when it’s necessary to move the story forward, or when the players are suffering a string of bad rolls.
  • A satisfying twist ending is far more exciting than artificially extending combat. A twist is far more engaging for players and is a perfect way to build hype for the next session.

This was Ian's first article on RJD20. Please leave a comment below about what you liked and what you didn't; all feedback is welcomed!

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Why Unbalanced Combat Encounters Can Enhance Your Dungeons & Dragons Experience

By RJ on 19 February 2023. 


Many Dungeon Masters fret and worry about the balance of their combat encounters. I'm here to tell you there is no need to lose sleep or overprepare battles in Dungeons & Dragons, at least when it comes to ensuring they are mechanically sound and balanced. Simply balance your combat encounters and any encounter really on what makes sense in the context of the campaign.

However, suddenly swapping to this style of play isn't right. If you are the type of DM or GM who looks at challenge rating, experience budgets, average damage, and the exact action economy, let your players know you are switching to a new style of preparation when it comes to combat. It's cordial. It's kind. Players of DMs who prepare adventures in the heavily-balanced style usually know the encounter is beatable when it begins. When you begin to use what makes sense in the greater adventure or scenario and toss what is rules-as-written balanced, this may not always be true. The players may pit their characters against unbeatable foes that require more than what's clear to overcome. That's where the fun begins!

Let's explore this method of D&D prep together.

Create What is Right

In the Tuesday night Bannerless campaign, the group sought the help of a true cleric of the Sage. Magic as a whole is a rarity in the setting of Golgifell, and the presence of divine magic is slowly fading as the good gods seem to depart entirely. Thus, when Virag Deepdeath, a cleric of Larani offered to cure a fatal curse in exchange for a heist into a nearby buried site, the party agreed.

The cursed gunslinger, Revan Talo, was cleansed of his curse (a literal ravenous mouth on his body that needed flesh) and the group asked Virag what she knew about this buried site. She told them it was an underground temple of the Devourer, one of the evil deities of Golgifell. Inside, a sacred relic of another good god, the Protector, was being guarded by a demon. Demons in this setting are scarcely found mighty monsters. Battling it would be suicide. Regardless, the party accepted Virag's holy quest.

As the Dungeon Master, I knew this demon would easily overpower the party. When we were playing D&D 5E, they were only level three upon accepting the mission. Though not identical, this demon, named Dorgantheu, Crusher of Kings, was similar in power to a balor. A homebrew balor versus a party of four third-level adventurers. Who would win? The homebrew balor, of course. Yet that didn't stop me from including it as a foe.

Path of Exile 2 concept art by Mike Franchina.

I decided to use Dorgantheu because it made sense in the context of the story and world, plus it fit well with what one of the players wanted to confront. By the time the party reached the Devourer temple and came face to face with the demon, his threat was well-known and the scene revolved around that fact. The combat encounter with Dorgantheu was no mere battle. Instead, it was a powerful roleplaying moment turned chase turned momentary fight turned chase that ended with an epic battle and foreboding send-off for the party and Dorgantheu.

You should create what makes sense for your campaign. Ignore the rules if you would like to and it makes sense for your current adventure. Some of my favorite moments in D&D only occurred because I tossed out what should work rules as written and decided to go with what I thought was right for my game.

Let Your Mind Run

Once your mind is no longer hindered by encounter building limits, the possibilities become endless. I've found over the past year my mind has changed places when it comes to limits on character creation and how no-limit character creation hinders creativity, but my opinion on encounter construction remains the same. Unlike crafting compelling, unique characters, limits on crafting encounters greatly limit my imagination.

When you craft an encounter without limits, ask yourself four simple questions:

    1. What is this encounter about?
    2. Who is in this encounter?
    3. Where is this encounter?
    4. What's a twist this encounter might take?

These four questions are all you need to build a great combat encounter. None require you to follow any kind of balance or experience budget. Last week's Orrery session in the Bannerless campaign contained a combat encounter that used this exact format. The group was infiltrating a cultist hideout at the bottom of a misty gulch. Concurrently, the cult was conducting a ritual to summon a demon into the mortal world. As the party entered the hideout, they saw the dark ritual ongoing, and combat began.

    1. The party sought to stop the ritual. The cult wanted to finish the ritual and defeat the intruders.
    2. The party (Revan Talo, Mia Stark, Moolock, and Tarzany) versus 20 cultists, a half-summoned demon, and four cultist warriors.
    3. In the ritual chamber of the cult hideout, mid-ceremony to summon a demon from Ghorgath.
    4. If the sacrifices aren't removed from the altar, the ritual might finish. In addition, the cultists are not true warriors; they are commoners and can be knocked out to be shaken from their trance.

Altogether, it took me about five minutes to prepare for this encounter. My group had a fantastic time and it was a dramatic battle. I didn't balance it. I thought about what made sense in the campaign and moment, then ran with it. Especially since I'm the least confident with my combat encounters, I'm pleased my relatively-new method of encounter creation seems to be working out.

Demon by remarin-de6qnxq.

In Summary

When you stop balancing your combat encounters by the books, everything becomes more fun and wild in your D&D campaigns. Trust me. Remember:

  • Alert your players if you've strictly followed the encounter budget outlined in the rules in the past. A sudden switch from finely-tuned, well-balanced encounters to swingy, context-based battles might violently surprise them.
  • Create what makes sense in the context of the story and world, with a dash of what the players would like to see.
  • Unleash your inner creativity when it comes to battles, carving them around the setting and your wildest ideas combined.

In case you missed it, my last article explored how to create rogue-inspired foes for your D&D campaign, adventure, or world. Give it a read now.

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Unveil the Power of Thief-Like Creatures in D&D Campaigns

By RJ on 12 February 2023.


No one expects a rogue as a monster, do they? Well, if you play your cards right, they shouldn't! Do note: I'm not speaking for all the conniving bandit lords Dungeons & Dragons groups battle, the goblins who are quite thieving, or the hill giants who pillage every pantry in sight. I mean legitimate monsters who use actions inspired by the archetypal rogue class present in nearly every fantasy roleplaying game imaginable.

In this article, we are crafting a formidable foe inspired by rogues and providing plenty of inspiration for more monsters in the same vein.

Let me loop you in on other potential rogue-based foes before we hop into my fully fleshed-out creature:

  1. The Crawling Claw Arcane Trickster. This tiny undead hand can control another spectral hand that specializes in picking locks, confusing targets, and even performing silent assassinations.
  2. The Balor Demon Swashbuckler. This lord of abyssal pits has mastered one-on-one combat, sparring with archfiends and other balor demons. Moreso than others of its kind, it can maneuver across the battlefield with relative ease and confuse foes with its rapid movements.
  3. The Kobold Genius. This small, reptilian humanoid calculates its opponent's moves seconds, if not minutes before they play out. It forms plans within plans and ensures they're all outlined both in mind and on parchment.
  4. The Bugbear Assassin. This vile goblinoid understands the best way to execute a variety of targets wielding a variety of weapons, venoms, and poisons.
  5. The Bandit Lord Trickster. This human rose through the ranks of a greedy bandit clan through sheer intelligence and manipulation. He doesn't only work charismatic magic among his own criminal folk, though. He often attends royal gatherings and balls to trick haughty nobles into accidentally contributing to his powerful bandit clan.
  6. The Rhinoceros Soul Knife. This huge beast was enchanted by an ancient, deceased wizard whose menagerie was loosed upon the world upon his death. The rhino can slice through reality with its charge and force tiny, psychic horns upon its foes.
  7. The Skeleton Thief. This sentient undead was raised by a necromancer and trained to break into wizard towers protected from the living with wards. The skeleton, that of a halfling, sneaks and steals as well as any other living thief.
  8. The Ogre Mastermind. This hulking ogre is not like its kin, rather, the ogre understands how to coerce those around into completing desirable tasks and working with those outside its usual circle. Most of its webbed plans are scrawled across the walls of its cavern home.

I promise you each feels distinct, and each is system agnostic.

Now, let's leap into this article's foe, a particularly dexterous giant.

The Hill Giant Acrobat

Usually, hill giants are viewed as slow-moving, even stumbling hulks. Not the hill giant acrobat, a variant of hill giant who seeks to subvert expectations.

What is a Hill Giant Acrobat?

Acrobats are not born with the innate ability to leap from precarious perch to perch, flip seven times in the air with a single jump, and twist themselves through the most contorted obstacles. They must train relentlessly to hone their physical craft, consume only the best food to sculpt their bodies, and ensure their body and mind work as one, well-oiled machine. 

Hill giant acrobats follow all these procedures and protocols, but only with someone of extreme intellect at their helm. Naturally unintelligent beings, they must be constantly taught and reminded of the huge reserve of strength inside them. This strength meshed with speed and a moderate intellect leads to a near-unstoppable force. Many acrobats use quarterstaves as their weapon of choice. Hill giant acrobats, though, pick out a suitable tree and carve it into a staff for combat. Some of the most legendary imbue their staves with Giantish runes, empowering them with the might of their kind's arcane history.

In Eldar, hill giant acrobats descend from the Order of the Big Stick, an organization of expertly-trained hill giants from the long-dead giant empire of Nargond. Most members of this order are not only acrobats, but they've mastered the Way of the Four Elements. They combine their mastery of acrobatics and elemental strength to channel swift, magical strikes into their tree-sized staves.

In Golgifell, hill giants are all that remain of giantkind in any formidable number and even they are rare. No hill giant acrobat has emerged from the hills & mountains west of the Farloth Peninsula...yet. If one of these odd hill giants were to exist, it would likely be in the Towerpeaks or the lowlands leading into the Gulonde Desert.

A hill giant and his tree by garmonbozia94.

Sample Hill Giant Acrobat

Here's an example hill giant acrobat!

Base Monster: Hill Giant, Monster Manual page 155.

Added Ability: Master of Movement. The foe treats vertical surfaces as if they are regular terrain. On horizontal surfaces while standing upright, the foe gains 20 feet of additional movement. In addition, if they fail a Dexterity saving throw, they may reroll it twice per long rest.

Added Action: Shocking Blow. The foe makes a special attack roll against a target within melee range. If the attack hits, the target must make a Constitution saving throw (8 + Proficiency + the foe's Strength modifier). On a failure, the target becomes Paralyzed until the end of the foe's next turn. In addition, the target takes an additional 6d6 damage based on the foe's weapon. If the foe uses a bludgeoning weapon to make this attack, the attack roll has advantage.

Plot Hook: The hill giant acrobat was sent to eliminate the owner of an ancient relic, then return the relic to its red dragon patron. However, the ancient relic's properties were unknown and during the hill giant acrobat's struggle with the relic's owner, they used the item against the giant. Now, this hill giant acrobat is under the psychic-control of a wealthy dwarven mogul who has realized what an asset it is. The red dragon knows this too and seeks the return of his treasured servant. The player characters might run into the hill giant acrobat on the street as it escorts the dwarven mogul, be hired by the red dragon to free the giant from its trance, or requested to take out the giant by a rival mogul.

Regardless of where and when you decide to drop the hill giant acrobat into your D&D campaign, it's sure to leave a giant-sized crater.

In Summary

As with all other classic character archetypes, typical rogues make excellent bases for ravenous foes and NPCs in your D&D 5E or other RPG campaign. Remember:

  • Character classes can inspire foes on the Dungeon Master's side of the screen or table. Use them as a starting point for your next villain.
  • Rogues make excellent, intelligent antagonists with a knack for powerful, pointed assaults.
  • Even the oddest of creatures can inherit the coolest of abilities from the rogue archetype. Sometimes, these strange ideas become the most compelling and memorable!

The last RJD20 article explored what microtransactions might look like in One D&D. If you'd like a grim but very likely glimpse into the future of this particular brand of RPG, give it a read!

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