Gnomish Workshop: I See AC
Armor class is one of the most consulted stats in D&D 5th edition. It could arguably be *the* most consulted stat, assuming your game has combat as a major part of the play sessions. Even if it’s a war of spellcasters, a number of spells use attack rolls that target AC. In any average combat, though, almost everyone including the DM is going to be looking at that Armor Class statistic multiple times. Now before we gets into the details, we’re going to talk about AC as a concept. Despite the name and the common ways to increase it, “Armor Class” is not only a representation of the amount of armor your character wears. If you think about it for a minute, you’ll realize that makes no sense. Rogues, Bards, and Monks can easily run around the battlefield with ACs of 16 or 17, and they’re dressed in ninja wraps,…
Heroes Rise two hundred and thirty third entry: Oh Em Gee Ell
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 233rd entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday, January 21st, 2023, and released Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ostron and Ryu went to PAX Unplugged and talked to the goodfolk of Goodman Games. Next we check out some D&D News, brought to you by the letters “O”, “G”, “L” and the number 1.1. Yeah, we’ve got some things to wade through. After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Gnomish Workshop and take a look at everyone’s AC; before finally heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you have to say. Community Questions
Wisdom of the Masters: Everyone’s Getting… A Gun!
Combat in D&D can quickly become repetitive once the characters are at a high enough level and players are familiar enough with their abilities to figure out their best moves. This is especially true if there isn’t a lot of variety in the nature of monsters or environments combat happens in. Apart from changing the type of monsters (like using one or two large ones rather than multiple regular foes) the next easiest way to make combat different is to change the environment around. Pits, changing terrain, and verticality are easy ways to change up the battlefield. However, if you have a campaign taking place in a normalized environment like, say, Waterdeep, that gets a little harder. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a pit of lava guarded by Yetis in a warehouse down by the docks. And that’s apart from the fact the Yetis would probably…
Heroes Rise two hundred and thirty second entry: The Tavern Tales
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 232nd entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday, January 7th, 2023, and released Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. Unfortunately Ostron can’t join us this week. According to his vacation request he has to, quote “attend a wild party”… Wait, that can’t be right… Maybe he meant a “wild-magic party”? That still doesn’t seem right… Anyway, playing the role of “guy who ruins everyone’s fun” tonight is Tony from our sister-show, Guard Frequency. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ryu shows us a new (Android) app she’s chatting with. Next we check out some D&D News as we take a look at the OneD&D Cleric and Species Playtest, and since there’s a lawyer on the show we thought it would be a waste to not at least touch on the OGL 1.1 controversy. Well, Tony thought it would be a waste,…
Heroes Rise “Best” of 2022
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. I’m Mikey, and joining us on our quest this evening is. . . no-one. Lennon is currently buried under 17 feet of snow. Ostron has locked himself in his room and says he “won’t come out until he solves it.” Ryu, or KayDee, rather, stormed out of the guild hall shouting “I’ll show them whose heart is three sizes too small!” RaeRae got a unicorn as a gift so theres no telling when or if we’ll ever see her again. Branwen is building a new Ikea scratching post for Cinder. Gath accidentally glued his mouth closed while assembling minis. Bloodlake is out buying some Universal Solvent to unglue Gath. Tomathanes is on hold with tech support because his sending stone bricked when he tried to update the firmware. Indigo Spectre has wildshaped into a goldfish and I’m not sure which one is him, and…
Archives of Candlekeep: Thessalthings and How to Make Them
Thessalar is a minor figure in the grand scheme of things, but his popularity got a slight boost a few years ago, albeit indirectly. A huge, amorphous monster appeared toward the end of Stranger Things season 1 and in the trailers for Stranger Things season 2. Given how much Stranger Things leaned on D&D for story elements and naming conventions, fans of the series and D&D immediately began to guess what the monster was or would be called. With no clues from the cast or writers, the internet as a whole eventually went with “thessalhydra.” And then a lot of people only familiar with 4th and 5th edition D&D went, “a what”? By the way, the creature from stranger things was eventually dubbed a mind flayer, but that’s not important right now. The thessalhyrda is a monster out of 1st edition. It originally appeared in the second monster manual. Like…
Heroes Rise two hundred and thirty first entry: Wyrmspear: Veil of the Draconic Monarch
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 231st entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday December 10th 2022, and released Wednesday December 14th 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ryu and Ostron went to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia last week and spoke to some people called … “Wiz?” kids? I dunno, they’re probably not a big deal. Next we check out some D&D News as we take a look at the latest hardcover release, Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and look at all things Thessal (and how to make them); before finally heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you [all] have to say. Community Questions
Heroes Rise two hundred and thirtieth entry: If an Owlbear Poops Mimics in the Woods…
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 230th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday November 26th 2022, and released Wednesday November 30th 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ryu has found something more deadly than an official adventure’s first level encounters… [volume 1 | volume 2] Next we answer all of those D&D questions we never thought we’d get asked as DMs, as we gather around the campfire and engage in some Dissonant Whispers After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and get the lowdown on Graz’zt; before finally heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you [all] have to say. Community Questions
Archives of Candlekeep: Graz’zt
Like so many things, Graz’zt is fine as long as you’re a man. Graz’zt is a figure that can be very problematic in D&D. Certainly using him in a campaign in any way that’s true to lore and doesn’t just have him as an adversary to fight can raise some eyebrows or cause a lot of uncomfortable squirming in players. The demon lord is not new, but he wasn’t there from the very beginning like Orcus or Demogorgon. Graz’zt was, however, a Gary Gygax original for better or worse. Gygax also said in an interview that “Graz-it” was the pronunciation, so sorry to everyone who liked the “grazt” version. The demon lord first appeared in a module for first edition D&D called “The lost Caverns of Tsojconth [SOJ-kanth]”. It was labeled as adventure “S4” and published in 1982, though the published version was a clean up and rewrite of Gygax’s…
Heroes Rise two hundred and twenty ninth entry: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Tiamat
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 229th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday November 12th 2022, and released Wednesday November 16th 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. This week we’re going to wander into the Market of Minauros to see what mysterious and magical items have filtered up for sale. Angel’s Bacchanalia: Holiday Feasts & Celebrations for D&D Itza’s Guide to Dragonbonding: A DnD 5e supplement Quest Decks 2.0: Adventure Cards for your RPG Games Next we check out some D&D News as we discuss the new art released for Takhisis, as well as looking at the prelude to adventure for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen; and then we’ll open up our Quest Logs as Indigo Specter takes us through the Tomb of Annihilation. After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and learn all about the Gnolls and Yeenoghu, before…