Bastions in the Narrative 2

I haven’t had a chance to write my UA breakdown article on the Bastions and Cantrips packet for Tribality yet, but today I’m makin’ gravy without the lumps! This is content that should be fun even if you’re not using whatever comes from the Bastion rules in the end. I […]


LARP Design: The In-Town Game 2

Thanks to a long list of complicating factors, I had to miss almost every LARP event of 2023 before September. Since the start of September, I’ve played an Eclipse event, an Altera Awakens event, and two Alliance events (one Atlanta chapter event, one National event run by Crossroads TN), I’ve […]


I Am the Very Model of a Modron Major-General 1

I am the very model of a modron major generalI’ve legend lore on plants, beasts, and every elementicalI know the Queens of Gith-land, and I quote the flights draconicalFrom Tiamat to Tu’narath, in order lore-canonical I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters MordenkainicalI understand the elements, simple, para, and quasi…tical,About […]


Rogues and the Short Rest 8

As the Unearthed Arcana development of 5e.24 continues, the design team’s apparent campaign against the Short Rest has pivoted hard toward everyone getting back something but almost no one getting back everything on a Short Rest. Long-time readers may recall that I called for this exact thing more than a […]


More Spells from Vecna’s Grimoire 3

Since Glen Terry asked for them in a recent comment, I’m doing more spells themed around Vecna, the Whispered One. I love spell design, and designing weird things you can do with high-level spells is an especially interesting space. Vecna’s Spellbook | More Spells Anoint Death Knight 8th-level necromancy (cleric, […]


The “Pious” Warlock, Part Six

It’s been right on a year since the last time I touched this series and covered Yugoloth patrons. I feel like I’m right at the edge of having enough material to do gehreleths/demodands, but… today I’m doing the considerably more popular Great Old Ones, and specifically the malevolent stars. For […]


New Monster: Bone Harvester 4

For one of my freelance projects, I submitted a hefty list of new monsters, and the project lead picked a goodly number of them. In this post I’m writing about one that didn’t make the cut, just because I thought it was an interesting idea. It’s a re-imagining of one […]


One D&D: New Primal Orders 6

Back in December, I created a collection of new Divine (Holy) Orders for the Cleric class, and pointed out that Holy Orders really needed to show up at 1st level rather than 2nd level. In the new Player’s Handbook 6 playtest document, WotC renames Holy Orders to Divine Orders (presumably […]


Hammer of Thunderbolts Redesign 2

The hammer of thunderbolts is an unusual magic item in 5e, in that it doesn’t do much at all until you have and attune two other magic items: gauntlets of ogre power and a belt of giant strength. (The traditionalist in me insists on girdle.) This is a thorny situation, […]


alchemist, alchemy

D&D 5e: New Metamagic Options 2

I like it when sorcerer subclasses support theme and a gameplay loop with a new metamagic option. The core metamagic options are usable for a large number of expected spells, though they don’t need to work for allof them to be valid. For this post I’m working on narrower options […]