Dungeons & Dragons – The Daily SPUF

D&D Druid: 5 Wildshapes Your Dungeon Master Will Not Allow

June 4, 2024June 6, 2024 aabicus 0 Comments animals, d&d, Druid, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, Filler, roleplay, roleplaying

It’s not happening. All of these are completely rules-legal, but you’re still not gonna get to play as them. There’s no way your GM will sign off on them, unless they’re going for a completely nonsensical setting or don’t mind crippling power disparities. Look upon these Wildshapes, ye mighty, and despair: 1. The Haungharassk Starting with this one because I talked about it in a previous article! This giant snail has a golden shell and even shinier stats, able to carry 9 passengers, climb walls, grant temporary hitpoints and remove curses with a single touch. It is hideously overpowered for… [Continue Reading]

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Review & Recommendation

January 11, 2024December 30, 2023 aabicus 0 Comments baldur's gate 3, bg3, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, early review, recommendation, review, rpg

Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting rave reviews from everyone, sweeping award shows and being called the Best Game of 2023 by multiple publications. And it’s really not hard to see why. Having played it myself, it honestly deserves all the praise it’s getting and it’s easily one of my personal favorite games of all time. 1. Deep Breadth of Content The first thing I noticed upon jumping into this game was how much it had to offer. With 11 races, 12 classes and 46 subclasses, your player character can wield a vast array of different playstyles, backstories, and appearances, and… [Continue Reading]

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The 3 Things That Appear in Every D&D Campaign

January 9, 2024April 23, 2024 aabicus 0 Comments Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, Filler, roleplay

Now, I know that’s a very bold title to start off with. “Come on, aabicus,” I hear you saying, “There have been literally millions of D&D campaigns throughout history, with unfathomable amounts of premises and settings. How can you say for sure that anything has appeared in ALL of them?” Well, this is how. For the rest of this slow-news-day article, I’m gonna lay my case for why these three things (one weapon, one monster, and one treasure) have never failed to appear in any D&D campaign ever played, from one-shots to dungeon crawls to the most unfathomable genres and storylines you… [Continue Reading]

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D&D 5e: A Complete Guide to Sidekicks

May 22, 2023December 14, 2023 aabicus 0 Comments d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, guide, roleplay, roleplaying, rules, sidekick

Pelor help me, I’ve fallen down another rabbit hole of obscure D&D mechanics. And these are even less likely than usual to ever happen in my actual games. But I don’t care because the sidekick rules are honestly really cool and revolve around one of my favorite concepts: playable NPC/monsters! Introduced in Dragon of Icespire Peak (and heavily fleshed out in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything), the sidekick rules are a system whereby a normally-unplayable creature can gain its own class levels that let it grow stronger alongside a party of regular PCs. There are three Sidekick classes (Warrior, Expert, and Spellcaster)… [Continue Reading]

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The 5 Best Weapons in D&D 5e (That You Can’t Use)

May 17, 2023May 17, 2023 aabicus 0 Comments d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, Filler, list, npc, roleplay, roleplaying, weapons

D&D 5th Edition simplified the weapon tables to an extreme degree compared to its predecessors. Gone are Exotic Weapon Proficiencies, or most subqualities like “keen” or “masterwork”, and most of the surviving options differ only in damage type or dice. And for the most part, martial NPCs/monsters honor these categories and follow the same rules for their own loadouts. But sometimes they don’t. Occasionally, a certain official monster or villain carries some seriously cool racial weapon with unique stats, and every GM just knows the party’s gonna ask if they can loot it from the corpse and use it themselves.… [Continue Reading]

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D&D 5e: A Guide to Throwing Weapons

April 13, 2023May 16, 2023 aabicus 0 Comments d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, guide, melee, roleplay, roleplaying, throwing weapons, thrown weapons, weapons

There are a few playstyles in 5e that don’t really receive enough developer support, in my humble opinion. Strength-based unarmed builds, for one, as well as single-wielding one-handed weapons without a corresponding shield. But throwing builds are probably the most-maligned on the list. Unless you stretch all the way into archery, non-spellcasters unfortunately aren’t going to hold their own in ranged combat. In today’s article, I want to discuss a few of the reasons why, and what an enterprising player can do to mitigate the issues. Problem #1: Action Economy Martial characters (except rogues) gain more attacks as they level… [Continue Reading]

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Why You Should Try D&D 1st Edition

April 5, 2023July 2, 2023 aabicus 0 Comments 1st edition, 1st edition D&D, cleric, d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, gary mack, OD&D, roleplay, roleplaying

Dungeons & Dragons has come a long way from its early days. When OD&D first came out in 1974, it quickly caught fire and spread throughout the wargaming community. Almost five decades later, it’s still recognizably the game we love, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t also massively evolved. My only goal with this article is to encourage you to seize any opportunity to experience the singular wildness of old-school D&D. How? No idea, that’s probably the hardest part. I’ve only ever had one opportunity, and it was in 2011, while I was a professional Traveller GM for Strategicon. One… [Continue Reading]

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D&D 5e: A Guide to Playing Level 0 Characters

October 14, 2022April 23, 2024 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, breakdown, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, guide, level 0, roleplaying, rules

Did you know D&D 5e actually has an official method for generating 0th-level characters? The Adventurer’s League module “What’s Past is Prologue” stars classless characters, and you can view the rules for generating your own in the free preview. I was pretty excited to learn this, as the ‘level 0 session’ is a popular unofficial method for playing underpowered ‘commoner runs.’ Today I wanted to talk about this niche ruleset, its pros and cons, and whether you should use it. Should you use Level 0 characters? My first caveat is that you should not run level 0 characters for beginning… [Continue Reading]

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D&D 5e: How to Build an Effective Naked Character

October 12, 2022April 23, 2024 aabicus 0 Comments armour, builds, d&d, D&D unarmored builds, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, guide, nudity, roleplay, unarmored

Okay, you don’t literally have to be naked, but this article is about unarmored builds and how to craft one that doesn’t sacrifice effectiveness or survivability. I always find myself gravitating to unarmored characters because it fits my personal fantasy of a heroic protagonist. From shirtless barbarians to suit-wearing badasses to unlucky everyman survivors… Fiction is filled with characters who take on the world without a shred of protection beyond their skills and smarts. But unfortunately, D&D’s primary form of AC is equipping armor (heck, the acronym literally means ‘Armor Class.’) Which means you need to keep some things in mind… [Continue Reading]

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D&D 5e: Why You Should Play a Dex Paladin

September 21, 2022September 29, 2022 aabicus 0 Comments Classes, d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, Paladin, paladins, roleplaying

Paladin is an incredible class, possibly the most reliable all-rounder in D&D. Between their tankiness, damage output, healing output, magic steed, and sky-high Charisma, they’re an incredible choice for new and old players. When I GMed a solo adventure to introduce the system to my boyfriend, I knew Paladin was the best class to let him experience everything D&D has to offer. But there’s one Paladin playstyle I don’t hear talked about often, and that’s the Dex Paladin. Normally, Paladins are the iconic Strength class, thanks to their heavy armor and predilection for melee combat. But I happen to believe… [Continue Reading]

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