5e Grognard

I got called out in  this thread  about cheap miniatures to use while you build a collection.  My group (14 year old daughter and twin 9 year old boys) has built Lego Minifigs to represent their characters.  They bought some accessories from  Brick Forge .  My daughter has hers, so I won't be able to post them until this weekend. I also use printable figure flats, and have included a pic of them at the end.  The party has several henchmen as well, which also have minifigs.  You can read about their first adventure  here.   Jackson, the human earth wizard.  Quarterstaff has light spell cast on the end.  Backpack and potion.   Narcisso, the half-elf cleric and Dravin the human druid.   Kargash the half orc ranger and Rurak the dwarf barbarian.  Rurak, being a dwarf has "short legs", so he measures up properly in relation to the half elf.  Rurak in a rage, facing an orc, an orc chieftan and an orc shaman. These last few are from the Lost Mines of Ph

Dragon Magazine issue #89 has proven to be a deep source.  I still have a few shields and a handful of monsters to finish up, but today I'm going to convert a NPC class into a new fighter archetype, the Sentinel, originally by Andy Pierce. Sentinel The sentinel is a fighter whose job it is to defend against both open and surprise attacks.  Their primary purpose is to detect approaching invaders or assailants, and to then sound an alarm and hold off the enemy until help arrives. To accomplish this, sentinels have trained themselves to be exceptionally alert.  An inner sense sharpened by years of practice, a veteran sentinel will notice a sharp intake of breath, or the position of a weapon or the stance of a would-be opponent. Defensive Superiority When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn maneuvers that are fueled by special dice called superiority dice. Maneuvers.  You learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are detailed under “Maneuvers” below.

Back to the Creature Catalog from Dragon Magazine #89, this time with the Glasspane Horror.  The Glasspane was later republished in the 2005 Dragon Compendium Volume 1.  I worked off of those stats since they were easier to convert. The Compendium has it listed as an aberration, but I felt that it could also be an elemental creature, so I listed it as such, since that is how I started writing it before I found that listing. Glasspane Horror Large elemental, lawful neutral (shapechanger) Armor Class 16 Hit Points 76 (8d10+32) Speed 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 11 (+0) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) Damage Resistances (whilrwind form only) bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious Spell Immunities The glasspane horror is immune to all illusion (pattern) spells, spells with the words color or prismatic in their names, and spells with the li

I've been doing this for about a month now, and have started reaching out to the greater blogosphere.  I've been reading a pile of blogs for awhile now.  Always been a fan.  Never thought of starting one until recently. What changed?  5th Edition D&D.  I'm a big fan of the new edition, but here at the beginning of its life cycle we are short on crunch.  Those fiddly bits that all DMs love to add to their game.  A new spell cast by the necromancer that is terrorizing town.  That unknown monster lurking in the shadows, that rare magical item that is only known of in legend.  We didn't have enough of those.  So I set about doing what I did in my early days of gaming, going thru Dragon Magazine and adding the cool bits to my world. I figured if I went thru all that trouble, the least I could do was share it with others, considering I have so shamelessly stolen so many ideas from the blogs that I read, the least I could do was give back. So in the spirit of this

Another installment of unique magical shields from The Forgotten Realms, from Dragon Magazine #89. Hawkstone’s Bulwark Unique magic armor (shield) The ranger Hawkstone bore this shield in his war against the giants of the Great Glacier and the beast-men (ogres) of Thar.  Some time after his death, his grave was violated and all his treasures stolen, among them the blade Durelva and this shield, known in ballads as Hawkstone’s Bulwark.  It is generally believed that Hawkstone won this shield from the hoard of the black dragon Yrindoth. Its origin is as unknown as its present fate. The shield is a single slab of 2-inch-thick, polished steel of a beautiful blue hue, a fine metal unique in its quality in the Realms. It has the usual two straps within, of black bullhide, and weighs no more than a wooden shield. It has the abilities of a +2 shield, and upon command the shield grows magically into a bridge. (The command word, known through lore but not written anywhere on the shie

I've long been a fan of specialist wizards.  Ever since 2nd Edition AD&D introduced them I've used them, and even expanded it to elementalist wizards.  Back then it was easy.  All you had to do was make a new spell list.  All fire spells went into the fire list.  Sometimes you had to reskin a spell.  Mage armor?  Now it's stone armor.  Magic missile fires bolts of air, ect. 5e adds some new challenges, with specialists gaining special abilities.  I've been tweaking and trying to come up with some ideas.  What I have below is more of a rough draft than anything.  I'm not completely happy with what I have, not sure how it all balances out with all the other specialists.  So I welcome feedback to push this into final form. Specialists gain powers ar 2nd, 6th, 10th and 14th level.  I've done a bunch of googling and finding other versions for other editions.  I've cherry picked ideas that I liked and seemed to fit in with the power levels.  At some levels

Just a change to the template.  While the last one was dark, like my soul, I'm hoping this one is easier to read.  I'll change up the font color on some of the old posts as time goes by. I'll get back to getting some more crunch going as well.  Had a busy week with some family from out of town visiting.  Also working on a 5e version of elementalist wizards, which I shall be posting soon.

Been awhile since I posted a play report.  We'll pick up another episode of the Fellowship as they continue along the Crypts of Motha the Bloody.  My play as the group is in red, Brian, the DM is in black. Legolas, level 1 elf fighter Gimli, level 1 dwarf cleric Frodo, level 1 halfling theif Gandalf, level 1 human wizard Part 1 is here . Gandalf will carry the loot.  After tending their wounds and a short rest, the group will head back, in marching order.  At the T, they will head right, away from the smell… You head right and turn another tunnel to the left.immediately in front of Frodo stands a large wooden door… Instead of sword and shield, Legolas will wield the staff from the statue.  Frodo will listen at the door... Pressing his ear,Frodo hears absolutely no sound on the other side… Frodo:  “Sounds empty, unless there is more undead just sitting.” Legolas opens the door.  Him and Gimli enter first, with the other two close behind… You enter a m