Perfect Party Size? In 5th edition, it’s five.
I’ve been ruminating recently on an issue I haven’t seen a lot of discussion about: How many players are too few or too many? For most groups, this issue is more a matter of...
Tagged: NPCs
The “Big Three” Ability Scores: Another Reason Adventurers Are Rare What an Analysis of Pregen Characters Reveals about Ability Score Preferences
Which ability scores are the most popular? Which are most likely to be dump stats? You probably have some gut answers about this, based on what you’ve seen first-hand. I know I did. But,...
SHAPESHIFTERS: The Lord in the Pit No one said intelligent magic items had to be swords. Or property.
Introduction Lord Blot is a sentient sphere of annihilation. It maintains a low profile in a remote area of a larger kingdom, where it enjoys both limited anonymity and territorial independence. Local rulers know it...
SHAPESHIFTERS: Farron, King of Baubles A dangerous NPC broker in the underground magical-items market
Shapeshifters is a new series on nonplayer characters. These NPCs aren’t literal shapeshifters. Instead, they fall into the “shapeshifter” archetype described by scholars of myth like Joseph Campbell. We’re talking about the Professor Snapes and Walder...
Gleeking Out on the Streets of Runerock Or, the Fine Art of Interpreting Crappy Stats
An excerpt from the journal of one Jacker Stump, age and origin unknown, as transcribed by Bennonois, clerk to the Court of Canes, City of Runerock. (A warning to brothers of the Order:...
Raicho the Recusant
An Experiment with Narrative Because character is best revealed through narrative, I thought I’d present most of this installment of Dice Unloaded in story form. It’s an experiment. Raicho the Recusant—fourth and most controversial in...
Mitra, Daughter of Masks
When I first proposed the idea of a cleric whose divine powers came from being a demigod — a half-deity — one of my good friends, also a long-time gamer, took exception with the...
Bettelfegne
The Book-Knight In his response to the first article of this series, Wallace Cleaves argued that Jedi may be better represented as clerics of The Force than as any other class (yes, including the...
Galatherina the Relic-Bearer Wielded by a Sword
Once you’ve chosen a deity, consider your cleric’s relationship to that god. Did you enter this service willingly? Or did the god choose you, impelling you into service with no regard for your...
Dice Unloaded: Making Mr. Grip-Wight
Many years ago, during the reign of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I rolled up a character old-school style. This wasn’t unusual. At the time, I was doing what everyone else was doing: roll 3d6, take...
