Sirius Dice is a Brooklyn, New York-based tabletop gaming accessory company that has been around since 2019. Their goal is “to create with intention: designing pieces that add character to the table, connect players through shared experiences, and celebrate the joy of gaming.”

The company recently sent me a few samples of the many dice sets and accessories that are available on their website and in gaming stores. Here’s a look at what I got:

Daggerheart

For those of you not familiar with the title, Daggerheart is a new tabletop RPG from Critical Role that was released last Fall. Sirius Dice has since released two dice sets for the game. As opposed to a standard set of RPG dice that consist of 7 dice, a set for Daggerheart has 9 dice. That’s because you have two additional, differently-colored d12s for your Duality Dice, a mechanism unique to the Daggerheart system.

Daggerheart Duality Dice Set – Fate of the Mortal Realms

The Daggerheart Duality Dice Set – Fate of the Mortal Realms retails for $19.99, and is available from the Sirius Dice webstore. The dice are a translucent blend of green and blue. The Duality Dice are clear, with a splash of light green inside the Hope die, and a splash of dark blue inside the Fear die.

Daggerheart Duality Dice Set: Fate of the Mortal Realms – Sharp Edged Edition

The sharp edged edition of the Daggerheart dice take things up a notch. In addition to the sharp edges of the dice, this set comes in a box with a magnetic lid. A foam insert cradles each of the dice. And while the color scheme is the same, this dice set is significantly larger. With all of these factors, the set bumps up to $34.99 at the Sirius Dice webstore.

I found that with the larger dice, the color variation was more pronounced, which I enjoyed. As far as rolling the two different sets of dice, though, you won’t really find much difference.

Netflix’ Stranger Things

Sirius has a several different products for Stranger Things. 

Stranger Things: Mini Dice Cup – Demodog

There are 4 different Mini Dice Cups available from Sirius Dice: The Demogorgon, The Demodog, Vecna, and the Hellfire Club. Each one retails for $19.99, and comes with a set of miniature dice unique to each dice cup design. You can find all four designs on the Stranger Things Sirius Dice page.

The Demodog has a little Easter Egg around the back of the cup, too: Dart, the “tadpole” that Dustin discovers and raises.

Here’s a look at the mini dice set alongside a standard-sized d20, to give you an idea of scale:

Stranger Things: Treasure Packs

The Stranger Things Treasure Packs each contain the following:

• Oversized d20 Die 
• Metal Ability Coin 
• Premium Embroidered Dice Bag

The Treasure Packs are blind bag purchases. There are a total of 23 possible d20 designs, 15 unique coins, and 7 distinctive dice bags to collect. Treasure Packs costs $12.99, and are available here.

Sirius Dice sent along 3 of the Treasure Packs; here’s what I received:

Dungeons & Dragons Undermountain Treasure Packs: Waterdeep Collection

Like the Stranger Things Treasure Packs, the Dungeons & Dragons Undermountain Treasure Packs: Waterdeep Collection are all blind bag purchases. However, these packs are priced at $19.99, and for a very good reason: each one contains a full set of 7 RPG dice, instead of just a single d20.

There are a few more things going on with these D&D Treasure Packs, as well:

A Complete, Exclusive 7-Dice Set

• Collect all 63 brand-new dice sets
• Features dazzling and thematic designs inspired by the dangers of Undermountain
• Organized into 6 tiers of rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, Legendary, and Artifact

A Gleaming Metal Coin

• Discover one of 17 new coin designs, plus the coveted 24k Gold Leaf Coin
• Perfect for roleplay, collection, or display in your adventurer’s hoard

An Embroidered Dice Bag

• Collect all 11 unique bags, each crafted with quality stitching and immersive Waterdeep designs

You can actually search the rarity of all the different D&D Treasure Pack dice, coins, and bags at this website.

As with the Stranger Things Treasure Packs, Sirius Dice sent along 3 blind bags to open. Two of my sets were Common rarity, and one was Rare. Sadly, no 24k Gold Leaf Coin for me! Here are the Common sets:

Instead of a canvas bag, the rare set included a velvet bag with the D&D logo. Additionally, the dice set was mushroom-themed. A mushroom replaced the highest result on each die, and each multi-colored translucent die also had a mushroom visible inside of it.

Sirius Dice – Final Thoughts

With everything I received, there’s a lot to unpack here! Uniformly, the quality of the dice and accessories from Sirius Dice are quite high. There are a few items that stand out, quality-wise, and unsurprisingly these are the sharp edged Daggerheart dice, and the rare Waterdeep Treasure Pack. 

The larger dice sharp edged Daggerheart dice are quite lovely, with not only very sharp edges, but sharp, crisp numbers and symbols on the dice. The larger size of the more expensive set also allows for more gradual color gradation. The standard Daggerheart Duality Dice set is quite attractive as well, and for most players might be a better choice due to the lower price point. Honestly, both Daggerheart dice sets make me want to start playing the TTRPG (of course I’ve also heard that the game’s quite good!)

As I play Dungeons & Dragons and also enjoyed all the seasons of Stranger Things, I quite liked the Treasure Packs I received. There’s a well-documented dopamine rush you get from opening up blind bags and finding what’s inside, made even more exciting when you find something that you really like and/or is of a higher rarity.

While I appreciated all of the great Stranger Things references, like the Hellfire Club dice bag, and a “Scoops Ahoy” d20, as a tabletop RPG player I found the D&D Treasure Packs to be more generally useful. After all, with those you’re getting a complete dice set. But, as the sets are all random, your mileage may vary depending on the specific dice you’ll find when you open a Treasure Pack.

My least favorite item was the Stranger Things Demodog Mini Dice Cup. I’m not generally a fan of miniature dice, as they’re easy to lose and not as much fun to roll as larger dice. Also, if I’m being honest, had I been choosing one myself out of the 4 Mini Dice Cup designs, the Demodog would have been my last choice. But this is my personal reaction to the product- the overall quality, as with everything else I sent, was quite high.

So there you have it: just a few of the many, many products that Sirius Dice offers. There’s also dozens of individual dice sets available, as well as other Treasure Packs and accessories. I’m certainly looking forward to getting some of these dice to the table, and gifting some others to my fellow players. And I already know that my girlfriend is eyeing some of the sets for herself…

For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Sirius Dice website!

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Disclosure: GeekDad received these dice for review purposes.

Back in September, I reviewed the DnD Condition Rings from The Wasted Wizard. This handy Dungeons & Dragons accessory provides dozens of terraced rings upon which you can place a 28mm miniature. The rings each show a condition that a character might be afflicted with. Even better, the rings are stackable, so that you can easily see if a character has multiple conditions. Recently, The Wasted Wizard sent me out their latest product, the Numbered DnD Status Rings. 

What Are the Numbered DnD Status Rings?

Much like the Condition Rings, the Numbered DnD Status Rings are stackable plastic rings that allow you to place a miniature with a 25mm base or smaller. This is the most common base size for TTRPG miniatures. Though listed as an expansion on the box, these can be used completely independently of the Condition Rings. The Numbered DnD Status Rings retail for $23.99, and can be purchased from The Wasted Wizard webstore, or from Amazon.

The box contains:

• 44 rings in 4 colors
• Felt pad stickers
• 1 DnD character sheet

As with the Condition Rings, you can stick felt rings onto the bottom of the Numbered DnD Rings to help prevent slippage on the game table.

And still as with the Condition Rings, adding the foam stickers to the bottoms of each of the rings can be a tedious process. I recommend sitting down in front of the television to make completing the task more enjoyable.

Using the Numbered DnD Status Rings

As opposed to the Condition Rings, which are pretty specific for Dungeons & Dragons, the Numbered DnD Status Rings can be used for most any tabletop roleplaying game. Additionally, they can be used in 3 distinct ways.

The way most Dungeon Masters will likely use the rings is to keep track of groups of enemies of the same type. There are 4 sets of rings numbered 0-10, so you can just place a numbered ring under each of the foes and then both players and the Dungeon Master will know which one of the (likely) identical miniatures is which.

You could alternately use the rings to track initiative, if you’re so inclined. Simply hand out the rings in order of who rolled the highest initiative, and then you can keep track of whose turn is coming up by looking down at the table.

Finally, if you wanted to represent large groups of foes or allies, you can stack the rings to indicate a larger number. And, as there are 4 different colors of rings, you could combine some or all of these methods on the tabletop.

Numbered DnD Status Rings – Final Thoughts

The Numbered DnD Status Rings, much like the Condition Rings, are a very useful tool for the Dungeon Master. Far too often when running a game, I’ve had a pile of similar or identical miniatures, with no good way to tell them apart on the table. Rather than players having to say, “I shoot at the skeleton archer with the bow that leans to the right,” they can now simply say, “I shoot at skeleton archer number five.” Anyone who has played tabletop roleplaying games in person is sure to appreciate how the Numbered DnD Status Rings clear up any confusion on the game table.

If you already have the Condition Rings from The Wasted Wizard, you’ll definitely want to pick up the Numbered DnD Status Rings. They’re tremendously useful, and also stack perfectly with the Condition Rings. But as I said before, even though they’re technically an expansion, the numbered rings can easily be used by themselves as well. They’re a great tool to help make your TTRPG sessions run smoother.

For more information or to purchase the Numbered DnD Status Rings, head over to The Wasted Wizard website.

The Wasted Wizard provided this product for evaluation, but had no input into this review. As an Amazon affiliate, I may earn a small commission on qualified purchases.

For many, Dungeons & Dragons may seem like a insurmountable entry point to the world of RPGs, and, in many ways, especially without at least one seasoned veteran in your group, it isn’t necessarily an incorrect assumption. The all new Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands aims to eliminate that hurdle not only for new players, but new Dungeon Masters (DM) as well, while still providing a fun experience for seasoned veterans.

Spoiler Alert: As someone who has both played and run D&D campaigns for the past 30 years, this starter set is hands down the best introduction I have ever seen to D&D and made it super easy for my 12 year-old, who has been wanting to play, to jump in and have a great time.

What Is Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands?

Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands is an all-in-one game set for 2-5 players, ages 12 and up, and takes about 30 – 60 minutes to play if you’re choosing characters and going up through the first couple of encounters. It’s currently available from Amazon as well as just about any gaming store that carries Dungeons & Dragons products for about $49. In addition, both physical, digital, and a bundle are available on D&D Beyond.

Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands was published by Wizards of the Coast.

Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands Components

This review is going to be a little different than a lot of our game reviews. I am going to focus mainly on how the components work to streamline and create a great entry to Dungeons & Dragons and less on the actual gameplay since there are hundreds if not thousands of resources on actually playing the game which doesn’t really change beyond the usage of the components.

This set strives to make D&D more accessible by removing rules, spells, creatures, statistics, etc. that are not necessary for the specific characters and adventures found within, while providing plenty of play aids – cards, maps, tokens, etc. and using a plethora of standardized call outs and highlighs across the components to simplify things (for example, almost every component, from the Adventure Booklets to the NPC cards has a “What You Need to Play” highlighted section to make it easy for each player and the DM to gather the things they need.

This is a large boxed set and it includes a lot of components.

• Play Guide Booklet
• 3 Adventure Booklets
• Quick Start Guide
• 8 Background Cards
• 55 Equipment Cards
• 53 Spell Cards
• 4 On Your turn Cards
• 42 Monster Cards
• 20 Magic Item Cards
• 20 NPC Cards
• 5 Full-size Maps
• 4 Half-Size Maps
• 8 Player Character (PC) Tokens
• 40 Power Tokens
• 46 Hit Point Tokens
• 75 Gold Piece Tokens
• 6 Gem Tokens
• 18 Terrain Tokens
• 80 Monster Tokens
• Set of 11 Dice
• 8 Class Boards
• Combat Tracker
• 5 Handouts
• Storage Baggies

All of the books and maps are printed on heavy duty semi-gloss paper. All of the cards are on par with most table top games (which is a vast improvement over the much cheaper feeling perforated cards of the previous Starter Set we tried out a couple of years ago). And the cardboard tokens are all of thick durable stock and printed on both sides.

The maps are all huge, full-color, highly detailed, and have grids on all of them except the overland maps.

All of the tokens that need to be punched out.One of the best upgrades to the tokens in this set is that that monster tokens are lettered on he backside. For example, the four bandits have A, B, C, D on them. This is extremely helpful for the DM to keep track of which is which especially for turn order, tracking health, etc.

This is a really fun addition to the game – five flavor handouts. There is a menu for the inn along with price sheets for the temple, provision store, and weaponshop, and a letter to the players. This is a really brilliant way to give new players a handful of options for what they can purchase without them having to stare at pages of tables.

The four Class Cards.Technically there are 8 Class cards but that’s because each Class has 2 cards with 2 sides. The first has Level 1 and Level 2 and the second has Level 3 on each side but with a different specialization (that players choose when they hit Level 3).

The Class card is the perfect example of how Heroes of the Borderlands streamlines rules and confusion for new players without actually sacrificing any of the complexity and rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Seasoned players will notice immediately that there are NO STATS for your character. I will admit this rubbed me the wrong way when I first looked at the card, but the reality of it, is that those numbers are pretty irrelevant when it comes to actual gameplay nowadays. What does matter are the bonuses those ability scores give your character for different skills and so only the relevant skills and bonuses for the specific class are shown.Why innundate players with a bunch of numbers and skills that often cause more confusion than clarity?

Each card also has a “What You Need to Play” box in the bottom corner to make gathering components quick and easy. Initiative, Speed, and Hit Points are front and center on the card with hit points being tracked using tokens. Armor Class has a card slot where a spell or equipment card can overlay when AC is enhanced. Each class card also has two card slots appropriate for the particular class that help explain some of the classes abilities (ie, the Wizard card has a cantrip and spell card slots while the Fighter has two equipment card slots in the event of dual-wielding).

Right beneath these card slots, each card has the relevant rolls during combat for that class so players do not need to figure these out for themselves, nor does the DM.

There is a section on each Class card with specific Class Features, often with spots for power tokens. This makes it really easy to know what special abilities your character has and how often you can (and have) use them.

And on the right edge of the card are slots for the Species and Background cards.

When a character levels up, the card is flipped over and all the appropriate leveling changes are done and in hand for them! No need to spend precious play time minutes looking up what to change or modify on your character sheet. At worst, the player will need to pick a couple more cards or tokens and then they are ready to carry on.

There are four available species in Heroes of the Borderlands – Elf, Dwarf, Human, and Halfling. Each Species has two variants – one more feminine presenting, and one more masculine presenting. Other than looks and the corresponding token, the two flavors of a given species are identical. Each species has special abilities noted on the back of the card.

There are eight backgrounds to choose from and while they are firstly intended to enhance a player’s backstory and role-playing, they do give the player a few extra abilities or bonuses to add variety to the classes.

Equipment Cards.Equipment Cards make it really easy for a player to see what they have in their inventory and reference exactly what the equipment does (on the back of the card) without having to look through pages and pages of equipment.

Not to overstate the simplification of this game, but only having a handful of spell cards that are specific and relevant really does cut down on confusion and time spent figuring out which spells a player should choose. I am sure many of you, like me, has sat at a table while someone spends 20 minutes or more figuring out spells. Limiting the availability of spells, while putting nice easy summaries of how they work on cards like this, really streamlines so much about playing a spellcaster. One other addition to this set is the spellbook equipment card. While it doesn’t actually do anything, it is a really brilliant way for a player to keep track of what is in their spell book versus what is actually memorized. All of a player’s spell cards go under the spellbook card except for those they have memorized for the day. Its a very simple mechanic that I think really brings to life the way a spellbook works in Dungeons & Dragons, especially for visual folks.

One of my favorite things about the spell cards in Heroes of the Borderlands is that spells with a range, have this really nice, easy way to help visualize the scope and range of a spell. Since all of the maps the players do battle on have 5′ scale grids, these pictographs make it super easy to see exactly how the spell will interact with the characters surroundings.

The On Your Turn Cards take and even further simplify and put at the forefront for players the most common actions and basics of combat. While these types of cards are fairly standard in many table top games, it’s really nice to have something like this available for Dungeons & Dragons versus this information being spread across multiple parts and pages of a character sheet.

Magic Item cards work exactly the same as Equipment Cards but have a different colored border to more easily track with equipment is magical versus non-magical.

NPC Cards are for DM use and make it really quick and easy to gather necessary components, along with providing the DM some quick flavor on how the NPC can and should interact with the players and what they can potentially do for (or against) the players.

The Monster cards are double sized cards with gorgeous art on the front for the DM to show to the players. The back of each card has all the relevant details the DM needs for the players to interact (and fight) with the monster – AC, HP, Speed, Initiative, Immunities, Traits, Actions, and even flavor text.

How to Play Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands

The Goal

The goal of the game, to oversimply for something of this scope, is to have fun, use your imagination, and complete adventures without your character dying (although even that isn’t necessarily a complete roadblock to playing the game)!

Setup

Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands has streamlined the setup and preparation for playing D&D to an amazing degree. The very first choice to be made is who will be the DM and which of the three adventure books the group will start with. The full range of adventures are split into three books so that no single person has to be the DM and can run adventures without seeing all of the secrets and details of the other adventures. For our first game, I as the DM while my wife and son were the players. We chose the Wilderness Adventure booklet to begin with (which also happens to be the recommended starting point for new players).

The first page in each Adventure Booklet gives the DM an overview of the adventures in the book, a Getting Started guide and a list of items that are needed to begin. In the case of the Wilderness it is the Wilderness map. While it isn’t necessary for the DM to read through the book in advance, I would recommend doing so just to make play flow a litle more smoothly. In the Wilderness booklet, there are 4 areas available for players to explore and for first time DMs the Trail is recommended as that section also functions as a tutorial for new DMs.

While the DM gets the adventure components together and sets things up, the players get ready by choosing their characters. Like everything else in this set, player creation has been streamlined and reduced to choosing from a handful of options. Players first choose their class card (Wizard, Fighter, Cleric, or Rogue) and set it before them with the Level 1 side face-up. They then choose their species (Human, Halfling, Elf, or Dwarf) and the corresponding player token, placing the card in the Species spot on the Class card. Next players choose their Background card, placing it on the Background spot on the Class card. Once each player has their character chosen, they gather any additional cards (Spells, Equipment, etc) and tokens (health, gold, power tokens, etc.) they need as indicated on their cards. Each player should also take an On Your Turn Card. The last thing players should do is choose a name (which actually took my son longer than the entire rest of the character creation process)!

While there is a Play Guide that players can read through, it is absolutely not necessary. However, it is really amazing that they were able to generate a 30-page streamlined Player’s Handbook that manages to cover everything needed to get started playing AND understand all of the mechanics if a player chooses to.

I’ve never spent less than a couple of hours prepping for a D&D game. Which is usually why I always try to do that session 0 ahead of time so it does not cut into play time. Getting ready to jump into Heroes of The Borderlands took us all of about 15 minutes.

One of my very few negatives about this boxed set is that it does not include a DM screen to protect the DMs book, dice rolls, etc. from player’s eyes. This isn’t a huge deal of course, and already having several screens made it a non-issue for us but brand new players and DMs may need to get creative if they want to hide things!

Gameplay

A game of D&D consists of the DM narrating and describing the world, non-player characters (NPCs), monsters, etc. The DM knows what will happen (or at least what random things can possibly happen), and guides the players to role-play what their characters say, do, and how they interact with the world. The DM will frequently prompt players with questions, have them make skill checks to accomplish things, and of course, control and play the NPCs and bad guys the characters interact with and fight.

Game End

While technically the game is not over until the players have finished every encounter in all three Adventure Booklets (which is enough for many, many hours of play), a given session can end just about anytime. At least in the Wilderness booklet and in the Trail region, we were able to create our characters, and go through three encounters in about an hour. We stopped at the entrance to the Woods region of the Wilderness where we’ll pick up next time.

When a session ends, each player should put their cards, tokens, etc. into one of the provided baggies. This is essentially a “save” of each character. This is also where one of my very few gripes about this set comes into play – if you end your session without character’s doing a long rest (something that happens quite often), there is no good way with the given components to know the exact status of a player – were they at 10 of 12 hit points, which spell slots had they used and not recovered yet, etc? This is the one downside to not having a paper character sheet. However, I think the simplicity for new players far outweighs that and it was fairly easy for me to just jot down a few notes and stick it in the Adventure Booklet for next time. It would also work to have players have multiple baggies to keep all of their components together while tracking which things were used versus not, but I’d rather just take a few notes than use more plastic.

Why You Should Play Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands

If you, or some of your friends or family, are new to Dungeons & Dragons, and they have been hesitant because they are intimidated by it, this is the set to bring to your table. If you have been a player and have wanted to try your hand at being a DM for the first time, this is the set to bring to your table. If your kids are interested in “that game” you play with your friends, this is the set to bring to your table. With things in the book like the above sample play, and all of the streamlined components, Heroes of the Borderlands makes D&D as easy to get out and play as any modern tabletop game (and even easier than a lot of them), which is not something I’d ever have said before using this set.

I can say with full confidence that Heroes of the Borderlands is not only the perfect starter set and introduction to D&D and being a DM, but it’s fun and a breath of fresh air even for seasoned veterans like myself who, sometimes, just want to play some quick D&D without getting bogged down in what a full campaign with your gaming group may entail.

Order your copy of Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands and get started adventuring!

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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.

In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards have a reputation for being the most versatile spellcaster. It is true that they have access to many things, but the only feature which is unique to them is their most iconic feature: Spellbooks. Every other feature is something another class does better or more interestingly. Every spell can be gained by other classes, and every iconic feature can be duplicated via feat, class, or subclass features. I could write about this at length, but a better use of time is to explore how to make the use of the spellbook for every other caster by taking a single level of Wizard. 

In the Player’s Handbook (both the 2014 and 2024 editions), the spellbook feature has very specific requirements for adding spells to your collection. The spell must be a Wizard spell of level 1 or higher, and you must have spell slots of a level which would allow you to cast that spell. Importantly, this does not require the spellcaster to have levels in wizard beyond level 1. This allows you to prepare 4 spells of any level from the game’s most expansive spell list so long as you find a copy and have the time and money to copy the spell over to your own spellbook. 

Why Do Casters Need Only 1 Level in Wizard?

Every spell in the Wizards spell list can be learned through various means, including the feat Magic Initiate: Wizard and a Bard’s Magical Secrets feature. But the downside to these features is that you only gain access to a small number of total spells learned.  Taking a single level of Wizard lets your caster gain as many spells as they can track down while leveling up in their primary class. For Bards, this leaves the Magical Secrets feature open to gain useful Cleric and Druid spells and Magic Initiate: Wizard still has value for providing access to useful cantrips. Further levels in Wizard come with a surprisingly disappointing number of features. This is because a Wizard’s class flavor and versatility comes from their spellbook feature, and they gain relatively little power from further levels in Wizard specifically.

Won’t This Affect Spell Progression?

While your main class will still need to progress to higher levels to prepare spells from that class (for example, one must be level 5 in a class to gain access to its 3rd-level spell slots), you are able to prepare Wizard spells which use a 3rd level slot as soon as your total level of spellcasting classes is 5. So a level 4 Druid/1 Wizard gains access to 3rd level spell slots, but they cannot cast 3rd level spells in the Druid class. But, if they have collected some 3rd-level spell scrolls, they can immediately add those spells to their spell book and prepare them to cast using the 3rd level spell slots. 

What if My Party Wants to Use the Scrolls?

Your character will need to navigate this situation. If you have proficiency in the right skills or tools, your spell caster can create spell scrolls, so you can always offer to replace the scrolls you hold on to for your spellbook. There may always be situations where a spell scroll is needed to survive or escape a situation, so be willing to use scrolls when your party really needs them. After all, the scroll won’t make it into your spellbook if your character dies. 

What if My DM Doesn’t Like This Interaction?

Always discuss your play style, rules, and norms at your table with other players and DMs. If this interaction makes it really un-fun for another Wizard in your party, or if your DM is having a hard time preparing around your extreme spell versatility, they might ask you to reign in this feature, despite it being Rules-As-Written if they decide to block it as Rules-As-Intended. In Adventurer’s League Game, RAW gameplay is required, so you can always play with this at those games. 

How to I Make This a Meaningful Character Choice?

There are many ways to take an option or feature in the game that are flavorful. Perhaps you’re playing a Wizard who doesn’t know they are a Sorcerer, and thinks their Sorcerer abilities are just masterfully prepared spells. Or you might combine the Warlock’s Book of Shadows from their Eldritch Invocation feature with the spellbook, having a single book for their spells, unknowingly gaining power from a Patron. My personal favorite is a Druid with the Magician Primal Order who is trying to find a balance between studying magic and preserving and utilizing nature. 

When Should I Consider Using or Not Using This Interaction?

Always remember that your character should be the driving force behind your interactions in the game. That said, if you are playing in an especially small party (1-3 players with a DM), it may be prudent to use some level of this to ensure that your group has coverage for many roles. So, if you have a Barbarian, Monk, and a Druid, having the Druid take a level in Wizard can cover a huge amount of utility that otherwise wouldn’t be available to your party. If you have a dedicated Wizard in your party, there is room for both fun and friction when collecting spells. It’s important to remember to share spells (as you can both copy each spell into your spell list) and to collaborate to make sure you’re preparing different spells, so you’re not always making their character redundant.

Which Other Spellcasting Class Makes the Most of The Spellbook?

Every class has its own interactions with the Wizard Spellbook feature. Bards and Sorcerers greatly increase their ability to swap out spells, Warlocks gain a separate type of spell slot, and Clerics and Druids get damage and utility not normally available to their class. No matter which class you choose, you should remember that many class features enhance spells from that class, but not spells you gain as a Wizard. For example, Druids have “Potent Spellcasting: Add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any Druid cantrip.” This feature cannot increase the damage of cantrips you gain from your dip into Wizard, so you might prefer to choose utility spells for your Wizard Cantrips if you’re planning on using a class with this hiccough. 

TL;DR

 A single level of Wizard allows you to collect every Wizard spell in the world over the course of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Your DM has to make this possible, and you might need to consider how other players feel about your use of resources to build your spellbook, but you can gain utility and unique game play options to enhance the game for everyone. This may be considered an exploitation of Rules as Written, and your DM may refuse it as Rules as Intended, but it can’t hurt to ask, right?  Enjoy, and remember to thank your DM (and ask if you’ve leveled up).

Disclaimers: No products were offered or provided for this review. Links in this article may include affiliate links which support the author’s independent work.

If you’re interested in maximizing your action economy in Dungeons and Dragons, this tier list will help you find a class that uses Bonus Actions well and class options for the classes that don’t have good Bonus Actions to start. Action economy refers to how much impact you can have in the game on your turn. Each player has 1 Action, 1 Bonus Action, and their movement speed which they can use each turn. Bonus Actions aren’t available unless a feature or ability grants you the Bonus Action, so it can be difficult to use this portion of a player’s turn. With that said, let’s jump into the tier list.

S Tier—Monk and Rogue

Our first tier has two classes: Monk and Rogue. These classes have base class features which are accessible extremely early which allow Bonus Actions on every turn if desired. Only these two classes can do this without an additional feature from a weapon, feat, or a choice of features from their class. They also each have multiple subclass options which grant even more diverse options for their Bonus Action.

Monk

All monks have access to the following Bonus Actions: Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. The subclasses Warrior of Shadow and Warrior of the Open Hand each grant additional options at higher levels. 

Rogue

All rogues have access to the following Bonus Actions: Cunning Action (Dash, Disengage, Hide) and Steady Aim. The subclasses Arcane Trickster, Soul Knife, and Thief grand additional options at higher levels.

A Tier—Bard, Druid, and Warlock

The next tier features the Bard, Druid, and Warlock. Each of these classes has access to an unlimited number of Bonus Actions if they have the appropriate class options, and some solid options before considering Subclass. 

Bard

All Bards have Bardic Inspiration. The Bard Subclasses College of Dance, College of Glamour, and College of Valor each grant additional options at higher levels. 

Druid

All Druids have access to Bonus Action spells and Wild Shape. In addition, every Druid subclass in the 2024 rules has additional Bonus Actions, with the subclasses Circle of the Sea and Circle of Stars each offering practically uncapped Bonus Action attacks.

Warlock

While Warlocks don’t have base features to automatically grant them Bonus Actions, they have many meaningful choices including spells and the following Invocations: Gaze of Two Minds, Investment of the Chain Master, and Pact of the Blade. In addition, Celestial Patron and Great Old One Patron Warlocks gain additional Bonus Actions at level 3. 

B Tier—Barbarian, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard

Our B–Tier includes classes which automatically gain Bonus Action options or (in the case of Wizard) provide powerful utility through Bonus Action options.

Barbarian 

All Barbarians have early access to Rage, a feature which uses a Bonus Action to activate, and the option to use future Bonus Actions to maintain the Rage if they don’t meet other requirements to keep it active. In addition, all Barbarian subclasses in the 2024 rules offer additional Bonus Actions. Most notably, Path of the Wild Heart grants access to Rage of the Wilds which allows the Barbarian to use a Bonus Action to Dash and Disengage every turn as a Bonus Action if they choose to embody the Eagle.

Ranger

Rangers have access to Bonus Action spells for damage, healing, and utility which saves them from being demoted to D Tier. This is because the only automatic Bonus Action they gain is Nature’s Veil which allows them to turn invisible a few times a day. The only subclass which offers additional Bonus Actions is Beast Master, which makes the Beast Master Ranger a master of Action Economy as well, as they can use their Bonus Action to order their pet to attack on every turn. This unfortunately does not extend to the other subclasses which are surprisingly lacking in Action Economy features, making them lean into using their sparse spell slots to cast Bonus Action spells instead. Thus, while Beast Master Ranger could easily be S Tier, the rest of the class is only here for their limited Bonus Action spells.

Sorcerer

All Sorcerers have access to a limited-use feature known as Innate Sorcery which makes them extra-powerful spellcasters for 1 minute. All Sorcerers have the choice of Metamagic options, and one of those options is Quickened Spell. Unfortunately, Quickened Spell uses Sorcery Points, which is the same currency Sorcerers use to gain additional uses of their Innate Sorcery, which adds another restriction to their Bonus Actions. Each subclass offers some form of Bonus Action, though Wild Magic’s option is random, and the others all (once again) require Sorcery Points to activate or gain additional uses. Even though the Sorcerer has some very powerful Bonus Action options, they remain in B Tier due to the massive restrictions on the number of times they may do so.

Wizard

Wizards, like Rangers, only make B Tier because of their spells. Fortunately, Wizards are full-casters, and have features to regain their expended spell slots, so they get to cast a lot of spells if needed. Unfortunately, there are no core features which grant other uses of Bonus Actions. The Abjurer, Diviner, and Illusionist subclasses offer some additional utility through Bonus Actions, but they are severely limited in scope.  

C Tier—Fighter and Paladin

Our C Tier features the Fighter and Paladin classes which have extremely limited utility through Bonus Actions.

Fighter

The Fighter has no access to spells, and the only feature which grants all Fighters a Bonus Action is Second Wind, which has limited uses. The Fighter subclasses Battle Master and Psi Warrior each grant interesting Bonus Action options, but both are limited by the pool of dice granted by the subclass, meaning Fighters have very little control over their action economy. 

Paladin

Despite being spellcasters, Paladins only have “damage+effect” spells for their Bonus Actions along with their Lay on Hands and Divine Sense features. Every other notable Bonus Action is earned at level 20 of a subclass, which makes them effectively non-options, as few games reach or play at level 20. 

D- Tier

The only class in our D Tier is Cleric. This is due to the niche scope of their Bonus Action options. While an argument can be made that a niche build of the Cleric can excel at action economy, the truth is, most players aren’t interested in having fewer options with limited utility.

Cleric

Though Clerics are full casters, their spells which use Bonus Actions are limited to primarily healing spells. The most notable Bonus Action spell Clerics have is actually a Cleric-exclusive spell Spiritual Weapon, which allows the Cleric to use a Bonus Action to attack with the summoned weapon. This basically forces Clerics who want to deal damage primarily to taking this spell, but it’s also Concentration, so the Cleric must risk losing the spell after a single attack or keep their distance from combat. To complicate this, nearly half of their Bonus Action spells are Concentration, all of which compete against powerful Action spells which require Concentration. To add insult to injury, the Bonus Actions available through subclasses are extremely limited and resource-dependent, which means Clerics give up other utility to gain a negligible improvement to action economy. The notable exception to this is Trickster’s Transposition which allows the Cleric to change places with their illusory double, but since the uptime of the duplicate is a maximum of 4 minutes a day, this does not overcome the other weaknesses in the Cleric’s overall options.

Bolster Your Action Economy 

There are a number of ways to improve your action economy with Bonus Actions which are not class dependent. Using these features, you can guarantee you have interesting choices on your turn with or without class features. 

Weapon Property—Light

The first feature belongs to the unsung heroes of action economy: Weapons. When you attack with a Light weapon, you can attack with another Light Weapon as a Bonus Action. This means that every class can gain an additional attack by choosing the right weapon. This comes with a trade: less damage per hit for more tries to hit. At every tier, extra attacks are better than more damage per hit, as there is always a chance your attack will miss. More attempts means that you deal more damage over time. The second attack does not add your Strength or Dexterity modifier, however, so this isn’t always going to be a worthwhile trade unless you have some of the other options below.

Weapon Mastery—Nick

A brand new feature to the 2024 rules, the Weapon Mastery Nick allows you to save a Bonus Action by allowing you to make the Light property attack as part of your Attack action. This is excellent for Melee combatants with excellent Bonus Action options. Spell casters are more likely to avoid this feature, as being in melee is a good way to lost Concentration on a spell, with a few exceptions. Note: This feature requires you to have Weapon Mastery as a class feature or from a Feat, and you must have the Nick Mastery for the exact weapon you use for your main-hand attack. 

Feats

Feats are available every 4 levels for every class, with Fighters and Rogues gaining an additional Feat as they level up. Using Feats, you can customize any class to make sure you always have something to do on your turn.

Feat—Chef

You gain the ability to make snacks, and creatures (like you or your friends) can eat these snacks to gain Temporary Hit Points, meaning you have a bit of a shield against damage. 

Feat—Dual Wielder

This feat can be taken starting at level 4, and allows melee combatants to swap out their second Light weapon for another 1-handed weapon, which increases the potential damage of that attack. Their first attack still must be made with a Light weapon, but the damage can be increased significantly with this feat. 

Feat—Durable

This Feat allows you to heal yourself using your Hit Dice as a Bonus Action, giving you the ability to heal yourself in combat without spells or potions.

Feat—Polearm Master

This feat allows you to make a second attack when you attack with a polearm (glaive, halberd, lance, pike, quarterstaff, and spear). This bonus attack deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage regardless of the specific weapon used because you’re attacking with the other end (haft/hilt) of the weapon.

Feat—Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting

This feat is only available to Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, who each have the ability to learn a Fighting Style feat. With this feat, your extra attacks made using the Light property of your first attack gain your Strength or Dexterity modifier, increasing the base damage they deal.

Feat—Telekinetic

This Feat allows you to learn Mage Hand, and it allows you a chance to create space in combat by shoving a nearby creature away from you. This can be especially useful for getting away from an enemy, since it allows you to move without provoking an Attack of Opportunity if the creature is pushed away.

Honorable Mention Feats

Feats—Keen Mind and Observant

These two features are very similar. Each turns an Action you can use into a Bonus Action. For Study comes with Keen Mind, and Search comes with Observant. Because these Actions compete with attacks, spells, and other Actions, they are often overlooked by players, but they can be very powerful if you want to use something in your environment to change the course of the battle.

Feats—Great Weapon Master and Poisoner

These feats grant a chance to do something extra with your Bonus Action. Great Weapon Master is triggered by a Critical Hit, so you have no control over when you get its extra attack. As for Poisoner, the creature you attack has to fail a Constitution saving throw, and that is easily the best resistance most monsters have, and it has no effect if they save. This can mean that it sometimes feel like you spend every turn poisoning your weapon, hitting with that weapon, and then the creature taking no extra damage. Because of these limitations, most players will only choose them if they are thematic to the character or particularly useful for a campaign. 

TL;DR

There are many ways to increase your use of Bonus Actions for maximizing your turn in Dungeons and Dragons. Every class has at least one feature available to it, and every class has access to powerful feats and weapon properties which can improve this further. Will you go with a Rogue or Monk, adding on feats that allow you to maximize every moment of your turn, or will you play another class and tune it up a bit? Whatever your decision, you can always make your turns feel more interesting, impactful, and effective through these features. Enjoy, and remember to thank your DM (and ask if you’ve leveled up).

Disclaimers: No products were offered or provided for this review. Links in this article may include affiliate links which support the author’s independent work.

It was back in March of 2024 that I first heard about the Table of Adventure. I was out at the Dice Tower West convention to preview Game Theory Tables’ latest, the Arena Game Table. At that time, I was taken into the strictest confidence with an exciting bit of news: the company had landed a deal with Wizards of the Coast to bring to market the first ever official Dungeons & Dragons game table.

Development of licensed products always takes a bit longer, as each step in the design process had to be approved by Wizards of the Coast. And so here it is, October 2025, and the Table of Adventure is finally available through crowdfunding. 

What Are Gamefound Quick Picks?

Gamefound Quick Picks are short looks at projects currently on Gamefound that are of interest to me, and by extension, many of our GeekDad readers. A Quick Pick is not an endorsement of the Gamefound campaign, nor have I (as yet) received any product copies to review. If you like what you see here, go check out the campaign and decide for yourself if you’d like to back it, or wait until GeekDad has had a chance to go hands-on. Though in this particular case, you’re pretty safe backing the Table of Adventure, as I’ve owned two versions of the Origins Game Table from Game Theory and they’re uniformly excellent, as you can see in my review of the Origins 2.0 LIT.

What Is The Table of Adventure?

The Table of Adventure is the first officially licensed Dungeons & Dragons gaming table. It is sized to accommodate 8 players, and has campaign-exclusive accessories.  The Table of Adventure has an integrated magnetic rail system and optional AC and USB power, much like the Origins 2.0. The retail price for the Table of Adventure is $3,899, but available for a discount during the campaign. The “Adventure Select” pledge level is an a la carte option, which provides a 15% savings off the retail price of the table and accessories. Alternately, the “Grand Campaign” pledge level is an all-in, which provides a 20% discount.

There are also backer-exclusive stretch goals from Dungeons & Dragons partners Wizkids, Beadle & Grimm’s, and Sirius Dice.

The Table of Adventure is currently available to back on Gamefound. 

New to Gamefound? Check out our crowdfunding primer.

Table of Adventure Features

The Table of Adventure has the following features:

DM Stronghold

• The most advanced Dungeon Master station ever built.
• Includes: magnetic 3-panel screen, initiative tracker, acrylic map protectors, optional dice towers.
• Built from solid ash and designed for comfort, flow, and control.

Official D&D Scenescapes

• Select from multiple gallery-grade play surface inserts, based on real environments from the D&D multiverse. Hand-upholstered, waterproof and vibrant.
• Scenescapes also line the DM Stronghold and accessories—this isn’t theme dressing, it’s immersive worldbuilding.

Creature Comforts & Accessories

• Magnet-based trays, shelves, cupholders, and more—all configurable without clutter.
• Upholstered Dynamic Gaming Suede surface: waterproof, plush, vivid.
• Optional power hub with USB/AC support to integrate digital tools at the table.

Immersion Meets Everyday Elegance

• Converts to a full dining table in under 2 minutes.
• Dining leaves store inside a Hideaway Ottoman; accessories go into the Side Quest Cabinet.
• Magnetic alignment, tongue-and-groove edges, and seamless design details.

Why You Should Back The Table of Adventure

I’ve had a lot of experience with Game Theory Table products, and the gaming tables that the company puts out are some of the most sturdy and attractive tables on the market. As we saw with the Origins 2.0, Game Theory Tables continues to refine their designs, making improvements with each new table that they release. In working with Wizards of the Coast on the development of this table, they’ve strived to make a gaming table that provides an immersive and comfortable space for up to 7 players and a Dungeon Master.

If Dungeons & Dragons is your TTRPG of choice, then you’ll definitely delight in not just the table itself, but the D&D artwork on both the table “scenescapes” and the accessories. There’s even the D&D logo engraved into the ends of the table. 

Backers of the Table of Adventurers will have considerable choice in their options. Much as with previous tables, the Table of Adventure will be available in multiple finishes, and the dining top and accessories will also be available in those same finishes. And there are plenty of accessories available, most prominently starting with the DM Stronghold and individual player stations. These attach to the table, and provide an extension of table space with room for player sheets, rulebooks, and more. The DM Stronghold includes a 3-piece wood privacy screen with magnetic panels, to allow the Dungeon Master to keep all important campaign notes and maps at their fingertips.

The Table of Adventure is a limited production run, with campaign exclusives that will never be made again. It will be handcrafted in small batches, with early bird pricing. And it comes with a strong pedigree from Game Theory Tables. If you’re looking for a D&D table that will seat a large party and last you for years to come, then you’ll definitely want to take a look at the Table of Adventure, the only official Dungeons & Dragons table to be made in the game’s 51-year history.

For more information or to make a pledge, head to  the campaign page on Gamefound.

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If you play Dungeons & Dragons, then you know all about the different effects, magical and otherwise, that can be placed on player characters and NPCs. Keeping track of all of these conditions, especially in the heat of combat, can sometimes be a bit challenging for both the players and the Dungeon Master. And that’s where condition rings come in.

Condition rings slip around the base of a standard medium-sized miniature, and list what effect is currently affecting the character. There’s a lot of companies that make condition rings, but the ones from The Wasted Wizard are a little different from the majority out there. Let’s see just how different!

What Are the DnD Condition Rings From The Wasted Wizard?

The DnD Condition Rings are plastic, stackable rings that fit around 20-25mm miniature bases. The Wasted Wizard sent their Starter Set, which contains 120 rings divided into 30 different conditions and spells. The Starter Set retails for $34.99, and can be purchased through The Wasted Wizard’s webstore or from The Wasted Wizard store on Amazon.

What’s in the Box?

As mentioned above, there are 120 condition rings included in the Starter Set, as well as two sheets of stick-on felt rings. The felt rings are placed on the miniatures so that you will be less likely to scratch or damage terrain and other miniatures when moving the figures about.

While not being at all difficult to stick the felt onto the bottom of the condition rings, with 120 rings in total, the process can get a little tedious. However, I’m happy to report that the felt has no impact on the stacking of the rings, so they’ll continue to fit perfectly inside of each other as well as stacked back inside of the box.

Using the DnD Condition Rings

Instead of a flat ring placed around the bottom of a miniature’s base, these condition rings are designed to nestle the base of the miniature into the top of the ring. The name of each condition, as well as an icon denoting its effect, is printed on the side of the rings. This not only allows for easy readability, but the rings are designed to be stacked, so that you can easily see all the conditions affecting a character. Additionally, the condition rings hug closely to the miniature’s base, so that you can place the miniatures much closer together on a battle map than you can with many of the other condition rings out there. As a matter of fact, these condition rings fit almost perfectly inside the 1″ squares of a standard battle map. 

I brought the DnD Condition Rings to my local Dungeons & Dragons game over the weekend, and it was very fast and convenient to use them during our combats. I appreciated how well the standard WizKids D&D miniatures nestle into the rings. However, it would also have been nice to have a larger set of rings, to fit the large-size creatures. Instead, at the game we hung the condition rings off the horns on the large goat rider miniatures during one of our combats.

The DnD Condition Rings from The Wasted Wizard are thoughtfully designed, and work well for gaming sessions. Much like you can stack conditions on a character, you stack the condition rings on each other with the character like a cherry on top. The felt rings are a nice touch, though I wish the rings came with the felt already attached. Still, I’m sure the particular labor involved in that would drive up the price of the DnD Condition Rings, so it’s a tradeoff. This is the first product from The Wasted Wizard, and they came out of the gate swinging. I look forward to seeing what other tabletop RPG products they introduce in the future!

For more information or to make a purchase, visit The Wasted Wizard website!

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Released earlier this year, Dragon Delves is the first published adventure book from Wizards of the Coast since the 2024 release of the their revised Dungeons & Dragons core books. It’s an anthology collection of 10 dragon-themed adventures, each of which will have players confronting dragons of many types and temperaments.

While Beadle & Grimm’s usually releases Silver, Gold, or Platinum editions for D&D adventures that are stuffed full of content, they’ve also started to put out some less expensive, trimmed-down releases known as DM Vaults. The DM Vaults are scaled-back sets that don’t have quite the same bells and whistles as many of their boxed sets, but do come in at a lower price point. Most notably, they don’t include the actual Wizards of the Coast books but instead serve as a companion for running published adventures.

Last year, I reviewed the DM Vault for the adventure Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. And now, Beadle & Grimm’s have given Dragon Delves the DM Vault treatment.

What Is Dragon Delves DM Vault?

The Dragon Delves DM Vault is a tool for Dungeon Masters looking to run any or all of the adventures from the adventure anthology Dragon Delves. The DM Vault does not contain the adventure book itself, and must be purchased separately.

The Dragon Delves DM Vault costs $120, and is available to purchase from the Beadle & Grimm’s website. It contains the following:

• 22 Battle Maps
• 28 Encounter Cards
• 3 Player Maps
• 4 In-World Handouts
• 1 Wearable Artifact
• 1 DM Aid

Note: This is a review of the DM Vault for Dragon Delves and not of the adventure anthology itself. Be aware that if you are intending to play any of the adventures, that minor spoilers may lie ahead.

DM Aid

The first thing that you will encounter inside the box is the DM Aid. In this particular instance, it’s a guide as to how to weave the individual adventures contained in the Dragon Delves anthology into a levels 1-12 campaign.

Player Maps

There are 3 included 8.5″x11″ maps that the DM can hand out to their players, corresponding to 3 different adventures. These are:

• The Forbidden Vale Overland Map (The Forbidden Vale)
• Village of Respite (Before the Storm)
• Godsbreath (Copper for a Song)

In-World Handouts

As with any Beadle & Grimm’s set, there are various items that the DM can hand out to players at certain points in the adventures. With Dragon Delves, there are 4 different handouts, all printed in different styles and on different paper stock: a letter (Death at Sunset), map (The Will of Orcus), recipe (The Forbidden Vale), and song lyrics (Copper for a Song).

Battlemaps

There are a lot of battlemaps in this set- 22 in all! included in the box. All of the maps are printed on thick, high-quality double-sided paper, and scaled to 28mm miniature size.

Here’s the location name, size of the map, and adventure that each map is found in:

• Redwood Grove, 24×32, Death at Sunset
• Death at Sunset’s Lair, 24×32, Death at Sunset
• Confectionery Conflagration, 16×20, Baker’s Doesn’t
• Fill’s Bakery, 16×20, Baker’s Doesn’t
• Candy Cottage, 24×36, Baker’s Doesn’t
• Temple of Orcus (North), 24×32, The Will of Orcus
• Temple of Orcus (South), 24×32, The Will of Orcus
• Starglass Waypoint Lower Level (Areas S6-12), 24×32, For Whom The Void Calls
• Starglass Waypoint Upper Level, 24×32, For Whom The Void Calls
• Monastery Upper Level (North), 24×32, The Dragon of Najkir
• Monastery Upper Level (South), 24×32, The Dragon of Najkir
• Monastery Lower Level (North), 24×32, The Dragon of Najkir
• Monastery Lower Level (South), 24×32, The Dragon of Najkir
• Garden of the Dragon (G14) (Map 6.3), 24×32, The Forbidden Vale
• Garden of Unearthly Delights (Center), 24×32, The Forbidden Vale
• Garden of Sacred Repose – West (G1; G6-12), 24×32, The Forbidden Vale
• Cobblehook Cove Area B6, B9, B10, 24×32, Before the Storm
• Cobblehook Cove Area B13 (Dragon Fight), 24×36, Before the Storm
• Shivering Death’s Lair (North), 24×36, Shivering Death
• Shivering Death’s Lair (South), 24×36, Shivering Death
• Nakari’s Lair Area N17, N18 and West part of N15 (Dragon Fight), 24×32, Copper for a Song
• Haskasori’s Lair Area H15/H16, 24×32, Dragons of the Sandstone City

Encounter Cards

There are 28 different encounter cards included. These are designed to hang on the DM screen, with the front of the cards showing illustrations from Dragon Delves:

On the reverse side of each card is the stat block for the monster or NPC.

Artifact

One of the things that Beadle & Grimm’s is known for is the inclusion of real-world representations of various item in an adventure. The Dragon Delves GM Vault is no exception. In this case, you get a 2″ metal Orcus holy symbol, meant to be displayed during the Will of Orcus adventure.

Dragon Delves DM Vault – The Verdict

The Beadle & Grimm’s DM Vaults are clearly meant to provide several tools to make the dungeon master’s life easier, but without all of the bells and whistles you will find in their larger sets. Notably, you are expected to already have or acquire the actual adventure module yourself, as that is not included in a DM Vault.

Dragon Delves is the third DM Vault that I have reviewed, after Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse and Keys to the Golden Vault. Content-wise, I’d say it falls squarely in the middle between the previous two sets. Appropriately, its price  falls in the median between its predecessors as well. There’s a few handouts included for the players’ immersion, but the main focus of Dragon Delves is on running the encounters. The Dragon Delves DM Vault includes 22 battlemaps, which is more than contained in the majority of the full-sized Beadle & Grimm’s sets.

And while I’m definitely a big fan of those full-sized sets, they also come with full-sized prices. The DM Vaults provide dungeon masters with a much more affordable way to bring utility to their games, while still adding a bit of bling for the players. In this regard, Dragon Delves is no exception. If you’re a fan of the latest Wizards of the Coast D&D adventure and want a great set of tools to help run the adventures, then you’ll get a lot of enjoyment and use out of the Dragon Delves DM Vault.

For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Beadle & Grimm’s website!

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Find Familiar Spirits, the premium gaming spirits company founded by actor and entrepreneur Matthew Lillard and screenwriter Justin Ware, has just announced the launch of a new line of premium whiskey: Quest’s End NPC. This is an accessible new way to invite more adventurers to the gaming and spirits table. Says Matthew Lillard:

We’ve always thought gaming and whiskey are best enjoyed with other people. NPC is our way to invite more fans to join the party and experience the incredible community we’ve been building. And while sharing a drink, we figured, why not give them dice and a fun game to play?

NPC: Master of the Thieves Guild is a 90-proof bourbon priced at $54.99 and comes bundled with a custom D20, a mini dice bag, and exclusive access to a new dice game. Brave or Knave is a brand-new fast-paced, rules-light dice game, co-created by Lillard and Ware, that’s easy to learn and perfect for stirring up fun and chaos between friends!

Crafted by Master Blender Molly Troupe, NPC: Master of the Thieves Guild has a tasting profile that delivers rich notes of toffee and vanilla, brightened by sweet mint and balanced with subtle hints of leather and spice. You can purchase NPC: Master of the Thieves Guild from the Find Familiar Spirits website.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost two years since actor and gaming entrepreneur Matthew Lillard and screenwriter Justin Ware, along with Blue Run Spirts co-founder Tim Sparapani, co-founded Find Familiar Spirits. This high-end adult spirits company combines genre storytelling with award-winning spirits craftsmanship.

I’ve had the pleasure of tasting the first two bottles of their D&D-inspired whiskey line, Quest’s End. As it turned out, both of those,  Paladin and Rogue, took home the silver in the 2024 World Spirits Competition. 

Now, after their four releases for season one, Find Familiar Spirits is back with Quest’s End season two! The first S2 release, Druid, went on sale to the general public on May 1st. Like previous releases, a bottle costs $149.99. The release includes the fifth chapter of the Dawn of the Unbound Gods saga, written by Andrea Stewart and illustrated by Tyler Jacobson.

I recently got a chance to sit down with Matthew Lillard to talk about Druid, Find Familiar Spirits, and some of his upcoming projects.

Me: Quest’s End, season two. What is new?

Matthew: We just went on sale less than two hours ago now.  It’s going great. It’s a new season, new taste, new flavor, obviously new chapter and ongoing saga. (We have a) new blender. working with a new woman named Molly Troupe who’s come on board. She’s incredible. Her love language is gin. And so she’s bringing a really sort of herbaceous flavor profile to this Druid bottle.

We’re growing up and trying to figure out how to sell to more people and expand and grow as a company, as well as provide continued sort of excellence in the whiskey space.

Me: So, you’ve also got Macabre Spirits; the first bottle just came out recently.

Matthew: We went on sale October. It just started shipping last week. It was supposed to originally be tequila. And we had some pretty dramatic political things happening around tequila and administrations. And so  we pivoted to Sotol, which is an American distillate, organically sourced from  Texas. So we’re really excited to bring that, and the novella by Mike Flanagan.  

Me: You’re joining the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) for Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

Matthew: I am, yes. I’m actually in New York now. I know if you can see it, but that’s the New York skyline. I’m in New York to shoot this week.

Me: I know you can’t talk too much about it, but how does it feel to be part of the…

Matthew: It feels great. I think that (with) the newest season I’ve got one more episode to watch, but it’s been incredible.

My friend runs it, name’s Dario (Scardapane), Dario is currently in Japan, is running the show.  And I think  Charlie’s great. think this cast is incredible. Deborah Ann Woll’s amazing. Obviously, Vincent’s remarkable. So being a part of the cast and sort of in the MCU for the first time, God knows I’ve wanted to be a part of it for so long.  It just feels really lovely.

Me: San Diego Comic-Con, are you attending this year?

Matthew: As of right now, I don’t know. mean, I’ve got, obviously Five Nights at Freddy’s (2) comes out in December, and then Scream 7 comes out in January. I have not heard of either one of them appearing or if I’ll be invited.

Me: How about your D&D projects? Are we looking at a second season coming up for Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!? 

Matthew: What good question. Faster, Purple Worm has a source book coming out. We Kickstarted it last year. That source book is about to land. We’re really excited about that. The book’s great. 20 different adventures.

The book is gorgeous. Really proud of the work that team, our whole team did there. I think that we’re excited for people to start playing at home. It’s a super easy, accessible way to sort of game for a night. You don’t have to worry about long-term sort of ramifications. You don’t have to dig in too much. And it’s a super great way to gather and just play.

Obviously we’re doing live shows this year. We’re doing a bunch of cons.  We’re performing at Gen Con for sure. Oh, cool. And there’s a chance that we do  like a tour, go on the road a little, but that’s a long way off.  All that said is that that format for us is still very much alive and awesome.

Me: Let’s circle back around to Quest’s End. You’ve got your whiskeys, you’ve got Macabre Sprits, are you looking to branch off in other ways?

Matthew: Yeah, we did (Whitestone) Courage with Critical Role this year. So that’s super exciting. It was great collaboration. That team’s fantastic to work with. We love them. We have  a  new brand coming. We have a new collaboration coming. And then early 2026, we have a new brand launching. So we have lots on the docket.

Me: But you can’t talk about it yet.

Matthew: I can’t talk about, I mean, I would say nothing for the launch. I was not even allowed to talk about the liquids for the rest of season two of Quest’s End. So it’s a little problematic, but all to say, all that to say is like, look, we launched this company two years ago. You know, we have a little bit of a hope and dream sort of like, what if we did something like this?

The reality is that it’s been an unbelievable success and we’re off and running. so the reality is as long as,  you know, our current administration doesn’t prohibit the import/export of  all the things needed to create things that we love, we’re going to continue to grow.  You  know, it’d be nice if our community in the world felt as comfortable about their buying powers as we do about making stuff.

Me: Do you have any other projects coming up that you’d like to talk about?

Matthew:  Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know Life of Chuck, the Mike Flanagan movie that comes out in June. I’m in Cross next year. I’m in Daredevil like we talked about  Five Nights at Freddy’s,  Scream 7. I’m doing another project with Flanagan in the Fall. So my day job has been crazy.

But you know, all that said, I’m more excited about what we’re building at Find Familiar Spirits. I mean, it’s been fun being COO, co-CEO, co-owner of this company. mean, the rigor of building it day in and day out, sort of having something to go to work for every day has been really exciting. Like I said, we have lots going on. We have Fam Club that we just built, which is an opportunity for our community to connect, an opportunity to give back a discount opportunity for people that are purchasing our goods. It’s also a chance for us to open up the doors to some stuff like virtual tasting with leadership, creating in-world events. Like at Gen Con, we’re hosting a party. We’re selling back stock to people that isn’t available anywhere else. Discord so people can engage. So lots of cool things happening to build community, not just sell products.

Me: (joking) So when are we going to see a sequel of Wing Commander?

Matthew: That is not in the works. There’s a lot of things that are in the works. That is not one of them.

Well, dude, thank you so much, Paul. Appreciate it.

Me: Yeah, no, thank you Matthew.  Always a pleasure speaking with you.

Quest’s End: Druid is currently available to preorder from the Find Familiar Spirits website or from partner supplier Seelbach’s. You can get a discount off both Druid as well as future purchases by joining Find Familiar Spirits’ Fam Club, which has other benefits including members-only virtual tastings and invites to live events.

For more about Quest’s End, here is my original interview with Matthew Lillard, Tyler Jacobson, and Kate Welch.

My review of Quest’s End’s second release, Rogue, can be found here.

For more about Macabre Spirits, you can read my interview with Matthew Lillard here.

As you might guess from the Roman numerals, this is Dungeons & Laser’s seventh crowdfunding campaign for their line of roleplaying miniatures and terrain. I reviewed their sixth campaign, Caves, last fall, which featured three different themes of modular cavernous terrain. The rewards from that campaign are about to begin fulfilling to backers.

What Is Porthaven?

Porthaven is the seventh miniatures campaign from Poland-based Archon Studio. It’s a nautical theme, set in the bustling harbor town of Porthaven, part of Dungeons & Laser’s own world of Deuslair. All of the miniatures and terrain are 32mm “heroic” scale (similar in size to a Warhammer miniature), and compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5e.

It’s currently seeking funding on Gamefound, with a minimum pledge level of $99 for a single core set. There are four different core sets available in the campaign, as well as a playable ship. There are multiple pledge levels available, with larger discounts for more core sets pledged. The all-in pledge is $349, and includes all four core sets, the ship, and all stretch goals. The crowdfunding campaign runs through April 16th at 12 PM PDT.

New to Gamefound? Check out our crowdfunding primer.

Porthaven Components

Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality.

Archon Studio sent me a really big box of sprues, which included 3 miniatures of the Ship Crew, and an engineering prototype of the playable ship.

As you can see, all the sprues are high-impact polystyrene, and can be assembled with clippers, plastic glue, and a file to clean any mold lines.

Ship Crew Miniatures

I received a single sprue for the Ship Crew minis, which contained all the components to assemble 3 miniatures, along with their own sculpted bases.

The miniatures are very well-engineered, and fit together very well without leaving any gaps. I would have loved to have seen a few less parts per mini, and I found the smaller female pirate to be a bit more challenging to put together, partly because of the smaller size of the parts. Still, it’s hard to argue with the results. The completed miniatures look just as good as the 3D renders that you’ll see on the campaign page.

Here’s a look at all three miniatures together:

I haven’t had a chance to paint any of these yet, but you can tell from the level of detail that they’re going to take paint well, and look great on the tabletop. These are only three of the 30 miniatures and 32 props in the Ship Crew Core Set, not counting any of the stretch goal miniatures you’ll receive.

The Playable Ship

As an alternate to purchasing 2 of the Core Sets, you can instead receive the Playable Ship. When completed, the Playable Ship is 28 inches long. As you can imagine, there’s a few more sprues involved than in 3 Crew miniatures:

The construction of the ship is broken down into sections in the instructions.

Lower Deck

You start with the Lower Deck. As you can see, I did use clamps or tape where I could to make sure that I got as good of a fit as possible while the glue dried.

And here is the completed Lower Deck:

The final step for the Lower Deck is adding in the deck guns, which are positioned at the gun ports:

Alternately, there are hatches that can be glued down over the gun ports:

Main Deck

When building the Main Deck, you will also add the anchors.

The two anchors each hang down from small plastic s-hooks. Sadly, one of the hooks was missing from my sprues (possibly a victim of shipping) and I lost the other hook while moving the model from room to room. I’m hoping that the final plastic piece to attach the anchor will work much better than in the prototype. Ultimately, I’m planning on using some wire and pliers to create a sturdier hook of my own.

Steering Deck

The Steering Deck simply slots into the Main Deck:

Front Deck

The Front Deck assembled so quickly, I forgot to photograph that sub-assembly! You’ll be able to see it in pictures of the completed ship, though. You can see in the picture below where the Front Deck will slot on top of the Main Deck:

And here is the Front Deck in place:

Masts

Assembly of the Masts starts with assembling the crow’s nests, which will then get attached to the masts and rigging. This is the last bit of assembly to complete the ship.

Once the masts are assembled, you can either glue them in, or just slot them in to make storage of the model easier. Here’s what the completed ship looks like:

It took me about a week to assemble the Playable Ship, but that wasn’t because of difficulty level. I was working on and off, taking my time to make sure that the glue dried completely for each sub-assembly before moving on. If it wasn’t for having to wait on the glue, one could probably easily assemble the ship in an afternoon.

The production version of the ship will also include fabric sails. There are also options available to upgrade to a clear plastic Ghost Ship, or even a Prismacast pre-painted ship!

Here’s some more looks at the ship, with its removable, playable sections:

Why You Should Back Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven

I’ve been relatively late to the party with Dungeons & Lasers, having just begun to take a look at their work with their sixth crowdfunding campaign. I can’t say much about their first 5 campaigns as I didn’t back them. But I can say I’m duly impressed both with their terrain (from the previous Caves campaign) and now, their miniatures in Porthaven. Not only are the designs engaging and characterful, but the sculpts are detailed and dynamic, and the miniatures are easy to assemble.

The Playable Ship is truly massive, and you can easily remove pieces to gain access to the decks below, making the model truly, well, playable. Like the character miniatures, the ship model itself goes together well, and will make a truly impressive model on the gaming table for a nautical TTRPG campaign. I’m sure it will even look better with some sails on the masts.

Let’s say you play Dungeons & Dragons, but you’re just not that into pirates? That’s OK, because there are still plenty of other miniatures in the campaign that will work great in any fantasy campaign. The Tavern Core Set has a fantastic set of both employees and patrons. The Female Orc Waitress looks to be worth the price of admission alone! And the Bazaar Core Set will populate a town marketplace, perfect for  when your adventuring party decides to go shopping for supplies or gossip.

Each of the Core Sets comes not only with character miniatures, but scatter terrain and props. And if previous Dungeons & Lasers campaigns are any indicator, there’s going to be a ton of stretch goals to unlock as well, making the pledges much larger than just the Core Sets would make it seem.

If you’re someone that likes to physically set the scene for your tabletop roleplaying campaigns, then the Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven campaign is a great way to get lots of highly detailed terrain and miniatures onto your table without breaking the bank. It’s easy to assemble, and will really bring the “wow” factor to your games.

For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven Gamefound page!

Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews.

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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of these models for review purposes.

With Game Theory Tables’ Crafted for Connections Kickstarter campaign well under way, I thought it was time to take a look at one of the newer tables on offer this year. Just last week, an update they posted revealed that the Origins 2.0 LIT had become available as one of the table choices you could pledge for in the campaign. And wouldn’t you know it, but that’s exactly the table that recently arrived at my door.

What Is The Origins LIT 2.0?

The Origins LIT 2.0 is the evolution of the Origins LIT table. It is essentially the same table as the Origins 2.0, but with the addition of remote-operated LED lighting on the interior of the player vault. During the Kickstarter campaign, the pricing for the base Origins 2.0 LIT is $3149, and can be secured with a pledge of a $499 deposit on the table. If you already have a board game table but want to get the Origins LIT 2.0 (or any of the other tables in the Kickstarter), for the same $499 deposit you can also trade in your existing table for as much as 45% credit. Shipping within the United States is free.

The Crafted for Connections Kickstarter Campaign will run through next Thursday, March 27th.

New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer.

Unpacking and Assembling the Origins LIT 2.0 Table

Game Theory Tables sent me the Origins LIT 2.0, as well as multiple accessories that are also available during the Crafted for Connections campaign. The tabletop itself comes in a wooden pallet, while the legs are in a separate box.

The pallet lid was secured with several latches. Opening those and removing the lid, there was a protective foam piece on the top, and more foam surrounding the rest of the tabletop. I had received a table in the natural wood finish, along with a dynamic gaming suede playing surface in the new “Badlands” template graphic.

On the underside of the table were two power strips, one at each end of the table. Each power strip has 4 110v plugs, 2 USB-A ports, and 1 USB-C port. These are optional purchases when configuring your Origins LIT table, and come pre-installed into the table.

These power strips come in handy for powering devices right from the comfort of the gaming table. The plugs for the power strips each thread through a different table leg during assembly.

Assembly of the Origins LIT 2.0 is almost exactly the same as the assembly for the original Origins game table, as detailed in my review of the original Origins. Simply remove the bolts and washers that are already attached in the corners of the tabletop, place the table legs, and reattach the hardware. It’s a 2-person job, but easily accomplished with two adults.

One important part of the assembly specific to the Origins LIT 2.0 is that you have to be careful to tuck the connecting cords from the LED strip in through an opening built into the table legs. Similarly, the power cords for both the LED strip and the two power strips will get run through the larger holes in the table legs, and then out through the arched bottom of the newly designed table leg.

The original Origins table relied on risers that you would screw into the bottom of the table legs to allow for clearance for cords. This new method of cord management is simpler and cleaner.

Once all of the legs have been attached, you simply stand the table up, plug in the power cords, and you’re ready to go.

The LED strip comes packaged with a small remote control. You can opt for multiple colors and brightness levels, depending on the game that you are playing. These lighting can be used to increase visibility on the tabletop, or set the mood for a tabletop roleplaying game.

There are even various presets that will cycle through different colors. You can see a few in the video below:

Origins Accessories

As mentioned previously, Game Theory Tables sent  several of their accessories along with the Origins LIT 2.0 table. All of these accessories are available in the Crafted for Connections Kickstarter campaign, both as add-ons when purchasing a table, or as part of an accessories-only pledge.

Dining Top

One of the most common accessories that people will get for their gaming table is a dining top, allowing the table to serve double duty in their home. The current dining top is 4 interlocking pieces, making it lighter and easier to take on and off than the 3-piece dining tops like the one that I had in my original Origins table.

Another thing I really appreciated about this newer dining top is that the bottoms of each piece were engraved with “bottom.” This made putting the dining top together a welcome no-brainer.

The matching dining top retails for $799, but is available at a discounted price of $679 during the campaign.

Mag Rail Accessories

One of the biggest changes from the original Origins to the Origins 2.0 is the addition of recessed magnetic rails running on both the outside and the inside of the table. This allows you to quickly add or reposition various accessories.

Game Theory Tables provided an assortment of the mag rail accessories for me to check out. It should be noted that you will be able to get all of your accessories in the same finish as your game table. However, the mag rail accessories you see below are prototypes, and were only available in the walnut finish.

Separately available in packs of 2, you can purchase magnetic wine glass holders, mugholders, and cupholders. These sets each retail for $99, but are priced at $82 during the campaign.

The magnetic card holders also ship in packs of 2, and are available at the discounted price of $82 during the campaign.

The utility shelves also come in a 2-pack, but are a little more expensive than the other mag rail accessories due to their size. These retail for $149, but are available for $124 during the campaign.

All of the mag rail accessories easily popped right into the magnetic rail, and felt secure and stable. And, of course, they add a lot of extra utility to your table, especially when you want to play a real table hog of a game like Twilight Imperium.

TTRPG Accessories

Game Theory Tables sent along a full complement of their tabletop roleplaying accessories, some of which are new for this campaign, and some of which have been previously released.

The DM Combo consists of the DM Command Center, and the DM Privacy Shield. The Command Center has a removable cupholder, as well as hidden magnets to secure the Privacy Shield to the Command Center. The compartments on the Command Center are magnetically attached, and can be substituted with separately available cupholder adapters.

A set of cupholder adapters for the Command Center and Wing Shelves is available for $49. They are only available in Natural and Onyx colors.

The Command Center attaches to the tabletop via screw-in clamps that will attach firmly without damaging the finish of the table.

The Privacy Screen comes in three pieces, which all connect magnetically both to each other and the Command Center. The magnetics are satisfyingly strong, and create a quick and secure connection. You definitely won’t find this DM screen sliding around!

The Privacy Screen also comes with 6 magnetic buttons, which can be used to secure maps or NPC statblocks to the screen.

The DM Combo retails for $599, but is available for $497 during the campaign.

Along with the DM Combo, you can purchase individual Player Wing Shelves, so that the players have extra space for their dice and character sheets.

Similar to the DM Command Center, the Player Wing Shelves clamp onto the table. They also come with a single cupholder. As with the DM Combo, you can remove two of the magnetically attached compartments if you want to add a cupholder.

The Player Wing Shelf Combo retails for $169, but is available for $140 each during the campaign.

New TTRPG accessories for this campaign include the Battle Dice Tower, and the Glass House Display Tower.

These solid wood dice towers are available in multiple colors, and come assembled. To put them onto the table, you magnetically attach a dowel to the bottom of the tower, as well as the wooden ramp.

There is a special magnetic end-cap used with both the Dice and Display towers. You simply pop off the normal end-cap from one of the table corners, and replace it with one of the ones pictured above. The dowel at the bottom of the tower magnetically connects with the end cap.

The dungeon master can rotate the tower easily, for either private rolls, or public ones. The die just gets dropped in the top of the tower.

The all-wood Glass House Display Tower assembles similarly to the Battle Dice Tower, and is also inserted into one of the specialty magnetic end caps. You can store miniatures inside, and the DM can rotate the tower to reveal upcoming enemies to the players.

The cover to the display tower is magnetically attached, and stays on firmly but is easy to remove.

The Battle Dice Tower and the Glass House Display Tower each retail for $199, but are $165 during the campaign.

The Verdict

One thing I can say for sure: The Origins LIT 2.0 is a definite upgrade to my original Origins table. Of course, there’s the obvious addition of the LED lights, a feature which is very helpful not just for setting the mood, but for reading all of the information on cards and the game board.

I never knew how much I wanted a magnetic rail system until I had one. The magnetic accessories are high-quality and so effortless to use. I’m especially fond of the utility shelf, which allows me a bit of extra table space for components when I’m teaching a board game. And importantly, all the magnetic accessories feel firmly attached to the rail, so I’m not worried about game pieces, or worse, a glass of wine, dropping onto the floor.

The in-table power strips are a much appreciated upgrade. There are enough outlets available to be running multiple laptops and powering several phones and tablets all at the same time. Which is likely more power than I’ll ever need, but it’s better to be future-forward. Additionally, the outlets are all flush with the bottom of the table. The old USB power adapters for the original Origins table mounted underneath the tabletop and took up extra space. Not a ton of space, mind you, but they were enough in the way that I couldn’t fit the armrests of my gaming chairs underneath the table with them installed. Now, the armrests fit underneath the tabletop with no issues.

A small upgrade which Game Theory Tables hasn’t really spoken about are the magnetic endcaps. With the original Origins table, the corner endcaps simply slotted in. Now, the magnets add a firm connection, and are easily removed to place accessories. And smartly, these new endcaps are the same size and shape as the ones from the original Origins table, which keeps all of the old Origins accessories compatible with the newer tables.

If, like me, you’ve got one of Game Theory Tables’ earlier models, you’re sure to be happy with the updates you’ll get with both the Origins 2.0 and the Origins LIT 2.0 (the only difference in the models being the LED lighting). And if you’re looking for your first gaming table, the Origins LIT 2.0 is a feature-rich table with room to grow. Game Theory Tables kept what was working with their original flagship table, and introduced tweaks and upgrades to the table that make improvements across the board. The Origins LIT 2.0 is a high recommendation, and is sure to enhance all of your game nights.

For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Crafted for Connections Kickstarter page!

Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews.

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Disclosure: GeekDad received a table for review purposes.

Our friends over at Rollacrit just debuted a variety of tiny dice spellcaster keychains. They sent all four over so that I could take a look, and let you know if you should be picking up a set or two.

What Are the Spell Component Tiny Dice Keychains?

The Spell Component Tiny Dice Keychains are aluminum, laser-etched screwtop cases containing 6mm antiqued metal dice. Each of the cases is 2.3″ tall, and function as keychains with an attached clip. There are four different versions of the keychains, each containing different varieties of dice. The keychains retail for $12, and are available on the Rollacrit website.

The four different keychains are:

• Set of Seven: Contains a typical set of RPG dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d10 (oo-90), d12, and d20.
• Fireball: Contains 8 d6 dice.
• Magic Missile: Contains 9 d4 dice.
• Cure Wounds: Contains 9 d8 dice.

Spell Component Tiny Dice Keychains – The Verdict

These Spell Component Tiny Dice Keychains are a lot of fun, and very reasonably priced considering both the dice sets and the keychains themselves are made of metal. The clips allow you to attach them to a zipper on your Rollacrit Bag of Holding (or any other gaming bag) so that you always have them at the ready.

Even though the dice are extremely tiny, they actually roll fairly well on the table. And most of the dice faces are easy to read, even for some of us older gamers with our deteriorating vision. The set that I had the most difficulty handling was the Magic Missile keychain. Normal-sized d4’s are hard enough to read before you shrink them to 6mm size. Additionally, I found the pyramid-shaped dice to be quite difficult to pick up off of the table. 

But these tiny dice sets are not meant to replace your regular RPG dice. Rather, they make a fun accessory to your gaming repertoire. The Set of Seven is perfect for any TTRPG player, while the other three sets are a bit more oriented towards the casters in your parties. With their quality and price point, the Spell Component Tiny Dice Keychains make great gifts for any roleplayers among your friends and family, and can easily travel with you just about anywhere. And you can even attach your keys to them!

For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Rollacrit website.

Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews.

 To subscribe to GeekDad’s tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader.

Disclosure: GeekDad received a set of keychains for review purposes.

As we’re winding down on the 50th anniversary celebration of Dungeons & Dragons, I’m reminded that there are still plenty of ways to still celebrate this milestone. As I reported on back in July, one of my favorite companies, Beadle & Grimm’s, was going to be releasing dice sets that recalled some of the most famous Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules. It took a bit of time for the dice sets to release, but now that they’re here, B&G sent me a copy of their Expedition to the Barrier Peaks dice set to see how it came out.

For those of you unfamiliar with the adventure module, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks stands out in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons history as being the first adventure module to incorporate science fiction elements. Set in the fantasy world of Greyhawk, the adventure centers around an alien spaceship that had landed many decades ago, but had been buried by an earthquake and only recently been uncovered.

D&D Classic Module Dice Sets: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

Beadle & Grimm’s has released 6 limited edition sets, each representing a different classic adventure module:

• Ravenloft
• Tomb of Horrors
• Vecna Lives!
• White Plume Mountain
• Temple of Elemental Evil
• Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

Each of the sets has the following features:

• Felt-lined book-style collector’s box (4.6″ wide × 6″ tall × 1.75″ deep)
• Standard set of seven resin dice and an exclusive, oversized d20 themed to each adventure
• Two-inch collectible metal coin commemorating the adventure and the 50th anniversary of D&D
• Four collectible cards with artwork from and information about each adventure and its legacy

Each dice set costs $38.25, and are available from the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore. You can also purchase a collector’s set of all six dice sets for a discounted price of $229.50 at the time of this writing, thanks to a 15% off holiday sale.

The boxes for the D&D Classic Module Dice Sets are designed to look like books:

The exterior of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks dice set faithfully recreates the cover for the original adventure module, as you can see from the back of the case:

The lid of the box is magnetic, a welcome inclusion that keeps the items inside safe from tumbling out. Speaking of what’s inside, this is what it looks like when you open up the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Dice Set:

Embedded in the front cover is the metal commemorative coin. The coin is double-sided, with the front representing the repair robot from the adventure:

While the back commemorates the 50th anniversary of D&D:

Next up is a series of four collectible cards. These feature artwork from the adventure on one side:

While on the other side of the cards, there is information about the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks module:

Under the cards you’ll find a set of resin dice, colored to match the adventure. 

The translucent d20 bears an etched silhouette of a repair robot in lieu of the “20”.

You’d think that would be all…after all, those are the contents advertised for the set. However, this is Beadle & Grimm’s we’re talking about, who love to throw in little surprises. So if you lift out the insert holding the dice and cards, you’ll find a little something in the bottom of the dice set:

It’s a recreation of the android boxing and wrestling instructor! Ironically, in the original module this illustration is numbered incorrectly for the encounter…there may have been a few editing issues back in the day.

All in all, the D&D Classic Module Dice Sets: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is a delightful homage to the original glory days of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a product that, like so many others from Beadle & Grimm’s, will look great on your shelf when not in use. And while the set is largely commemorative, those dice are eminently usable in a tabletop RPG game. 

If you’re looking for a good way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D, then look no further than one of the limited edition Classic Module Dice Sets. With Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it not only celebrates the past of a classic adventure module, but looks ahead to the modern reworking of said adventure. My only regret is that Beadle & Grimm’s didn’t send me the complete collection of Classic Module Dice Sets…a problem that can be easily rectified with my credit card while they are still available. 

For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore!

Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews.

 To subscribe to GeekDad’s tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader.

Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.

It’s the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons this year, and accordingly, Wizards of the Coast is pulling out all the stops. Earlier this summer they released their dimension-hopping high-level adventure, Vecna: Eve of Ruin. In this adventure, you’re tasked with defeating the plans of one of the all-time D&D villains, the archlich Vecna.

If you want to know more about the story of Vecna: Eve of Ruin, you should check out Rory Bristol’s review. But as is the case with other Dungeons & Dragons adventures, Beadle & Grimm’s has put out another huge artisanal boxed set, which includes not only the adventure, but a plethora of maps, handouts, miniatures, and more. This one is a Platinum Edition, much like their release for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. I was lucky enough to get sent a copy; let’s see what lies inside!

Warning! Some Spoilers for Vecna: Eve of Ruin lie ahead!

What Is the Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin?

The Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin is a boxed set that includes not just the published Wizards of the Coast adventure, but is chock full of tools and items to help a Dungeon Master bring the Dungeons & Dragons 5e adventure to life.

The set retails for $509, and is available on the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore. It contains the following:

• The full module of Vecna: Eve of Ruin broken out into five booklets
• D&D Beyond code for the full digital version of the module
• 3 original Beadle & Grimm’s Bonus Encounters
• 48 half-page art pieces pulled from the book to share with your players
• 54 Encounter Cards
• Epic NPC Encounter Cards
• Additional DM and player aids, including 17 Secret cards
• All in a faux-leather, foil-stamped, foam-lined storage box to display on your game room shelf
• 18 WizKids minis
• The Rod of Seven Parts
• 16 Battle Maps
• Poster and Area Maps
• In-World Handouts
• Custom DM screen
• Artifacts and Tattoos

The whole thing arrived in a large shipping box:

Unpacking the shipping box, there’s the main box for the adventure, a box for the map vault, and a box for the minis.

The back of the main box bears an edition sticker. As you can see, there’s only 1500 of these sets in total that will be printed.

While most of the edition boxes from Beadle & Grimm’s are heavy cardboard, the Vecna: Eve of Ruin box has an embossed faux leather cover, with a magnetic lid. This gives a luxuriousness to the box that welcomes its inclusion on your gaming shelf.

The digital code for the Vecna: Eve of Ruin book on D&D Beyond does not come in the box. This was something that was emailed to me directly after my Platinum Edition had shipped.

Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin – Main Box

Note: I’m listing items in order of how they’re packed into the box. There are a lot of layers to go through!

As with all of the B&G boxes, first up you’ll find a flyer that contains a welcome letter from the Beadle & Grimm’s crew, as well as a list of all the contents that you’ll find in the Platinum Edition.

Next up is a folder that holds both the 8 annotated dungeon maps:

And the player maps:

The maps in the folder are all printed on glossy card, and have an area on the backs for notes.

Underneath the map folder is the adventure book itself, exploded out into 5 softcover booklets for ease of handling by the DM.

Beneath the adventure is the Ruinous Tales From the Warehouse. 

These are 3 original, supplemental encounters that can be added into the campaign:

1. Rare Imports. An encounter for characters 10th level or higher that takes place in Neverwinter.
2. Palenna’s Plight. An encounter for 12th-level characters that takes place in the Astral Sea.
3. The Dragon’s Crystal. An encounter for 15th-level characters on the world of Krynn.

While these are bonus encounters, they seamlessly incorporate into the campaign, and can provide extra excitement and variety to the adventure. They have all-new art and writing from the Beadle & Grimm’s team.

Next up is a bundle containing the handouts and Dungeon Master aids. Foremost in usefulness is the Platinum Edition Elements, which is a guide to which elements of the boxed set are used in which chapters of the campaign.

Here’s the rest of the player and DM aids:

As always, the handouts are printed on several varieties of paper stock, to create an immersive feel for the players.

Given that this is a high-level adventure that has the players encountering powerful NPCs throughout the campaign, there are 11 oversized encounter cards for these NPCs.

The oversized cards are for the following NPCs. Again, spoilers:

• Acererak
• Alustriel Silverhand
• Kas the Betrayer
• Lolth the Spider Queen
• Lord Soth
• Miska the Wolf Spider
• Mordenkainen
• Strahd Von Zarovich
• Tasha the Witch
• Tiamat
• Vecna the Archlich

Here’s a closer look at the DM’s side of Tasha’s card:

As with the normal-sized encounter cards that we’re familiar with from other B&G box sets (including this one), the oversized cards are designed to hang over the DM screen, with a picture of the NPC on the player’s side, while all of the pertinent information and stat blocks are on the Dungeon Master’s side.

Speaking of the DM screen, there of course if a custom screen included in the Platinum Edition. Here’s a look at it from the player’s side:

And here’s the interior, which has tables full of information on important NPCs, chapter details, secrets, and the Rod of Seven Parts:

Given its importance to the campaign, there’s a physical representation of the Rod of Seven Parts included in the box.

Made of thick acrylic, these pieces are printed with an image of a piece of the Rod on one side, and a description of the magical ability of each piece on the other side. They fit together puzzle-like to form the whole Rod.

There are 48 half-page art pieces pulled from the book. Like the encounter cards, these are designed to hang over the DM screen. Chapter and page are noted on the other side. 

As opposed to previous editions, the art pieces in the Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin are printed on paper stock instead of the heavier card stock reserved for the 47 standard-size encounter cards.

The encounter cards, same as the oversized cards, have artwork on one side, and the stat block on the other.

Finally, nestled in foam at the bottom of the box you’ll find the other artifacts. These are all metal, and represent the following:

• Red Belvedere Casino Talon. The official chip for the infernal casino, it’s printed in Common on one side, and Infernal on the other.
• Soul Coin. Originally included in the Descent Into Avernus editions, it can be used to drive an infernal machine, or as currency at the Red Belvedere Casino.
• Coin of Completion. A mainstay of the B&G editions, this double-sided completion coin can be used for a memento, or as an inspiration token.

Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin – Miniatures Box

The edition contains 18 painted WizKid minis, many with paint schemes unique to this Platinum Edition. An asterisk next to the name of the mini indicates the exclusive paint job:

• Vecna*
• Tasha*
• Alustriel*
• Bearded Devil*
• Black Rose Bearer*
• Blazebear (large)
• Drider (large)
• Eldritch Knight*
• Horned Devil (large)*
• Moonlight Guardian
• Necromancer Wizard
• Red Abishai*
• Spyder-Fiend (x2)*
• Vrock (large)
• Warforged Blade (x2)*
• Kas the Betrayer*

Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin – Map Vault

This newly-designed box makes its debut for the Map Vault for Vecna: Eve of Ruin.

Inside, there are 16 Battlemaps and an area map of The Sanctum.

The back of The Sanctum map has a dry-erase grid, for sketching out encounters:

Here are the 16 battlemaps of key combat areas, printed double-sided:

Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin – The Verdict

Seeing as Vecna: Eve of Ruin is THE big adventure release for Dungeons & Dragons’ 50th anniversary, it’s nice to see that Beadle & Grimm’s has opted to craft an equally impressive Platinum Edition. All the hallmarks of a B&G box set are present, from the encounter cards, to the exploded campaign book, to the finely crafted artifacts.

There are some great new additions, to create that cherry on top. The oversized NPC encounter cards are not only useful because of all the extra information they carry, but the large pictures presented to the players reminds them of those characters’ importance in the campaign. The temporary tattoos are a lot of fun (if only they’d included enough for everyone!) and the new map vault is both attractive and useful for storing all of the battle maps.

As found with the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk, there are no pre-made characters for players ready to jump right into the campaign. While this absence was notable in Phandelver, it makes much more sense with Vecna because of the high-level nature of the campaign. You definitely wouldn’t want to play this adventure as a noob.

I was a bit disappointed with the paper quality for the art cards, which had formerly been of the same card stock as the encounter cards. The paper feels thin, and it feels like a cost-cutting measure rather than a creative choice. Hopefully this decision will be reversed in later Beadle & Grimm’s editions, but time will tell. Otherwise, the quality of the components is up to typically high B&G standards.

For anyone looking to run this big 50th anniversary love letter to Dungeons & Dragons, the Platinum Edition of Vecna: Eve of Ruin is sure to satisfy your gaming group. It’s a lot of money to invest upfront, but as I’ve pointed out with other Beadle & Grimm’s reviews before, you’re getting a lot in return when you factor in the sheer amount of content, and its quality. Having Dungeon Mastered a few different campaigns using Beadle & Grimm’s editions, I can tell you that my players are incredibly appreciative of what they bring to our TTRPG table.

For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore!

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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.

The recent release of the Player’s Handbook 2024 has had a mixed reception on a number of fronts, but the rules for species (formerly races) are a particularly contentious one for many players. This is because some species from the 2014 rules are no longer included, while other species have been added, and all have been reworked in some way. Let’s look at what’s different, what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s disappointing.

Removed Species

The species included in the 2014 rules included half-elves and half-orcs. Both of these species have been removed, with no option of creating half-species characters. Many players have thought the assumed half-human element to these species left little room for inventiveness throughout the editions. If you wanted to play a half-gnome/half-dwarf, there were no special stats for that combination. These days, the only way to play a half-species character is to choose one of the 10 available species and just use its features but describe your character in a way that reflects your heritage.

Added Species

Three new species have been added to the 2024 version of the Player’s Handbook (when compared to the 2014 version). Orc, Aasimar, and Goliath have been added, bringing the playable races up from 9 to 10 after the removed half-species. Each of these species have powerful features and lots of flavor. They are also fan-favorites from the many editions and ancillary materials, so it’s nice to have them under the umbrella of the Core Rulebooks.

Good

Several species were re-worked to offer powerful, interesting, or unique utility. Goliaths can choose an Ancestry which gives them a unique power such as teleportation, damage mitigation, or damage dealt. Aasimar and Dragonborn have unique options, including the ability to periodically sprout wings to gain a flight speed. Several species have meaningful sub-species options which give them additional flavor, including Dragonborn, Elf, and Tiefling. And for all of the Human fans out there, Humans have much more choice in their character creation, allowing you to select a proficiency and an origin feat at level 1.

Speeds have been more streamlined, with all species having a speed of 30 except for the Goliath and Wood Elf species, which have a speed of 35. This means that playing a small species is no longer a non-starter for certain classes or builds, and the only species-based increase caps out at an additional 5-foot step per round.

All of these options mean that character creation got a shake-up, and the decisions about how to create your character using these species are much more meaningful. Since species no longer dictates which class you’re going to be good at (through ability score increases), choosing your character’s species is much more agency-driven than it was in the previous version.

Bad

While some species got new options and their choices became more meaningful, other species lost out. Dwarf and Halfling lost all of their subraces from the 2014 rules. The new features of these species are fine, sure, but you can no longer get armor proficiency as a Mountain Dwarf, and all Dwarves have the Hill Dwarf hit point increase. Halflings lose access to Poison Resistance in lieu of Naturally Stealthy, which wasn’t taken very often, but could have been improved rather than scrapped. What’s worse, some of the most interesting options playing a Dwarf granted (namely Dwarven Combat Training and Tool Proficiency) have been stripped from the base species, making the remaining features distinctly lackluster for Dwarf fans.

Perhaps most disappointing for this writer is the continued exclusion of “monstrous” species from the PHB. Goblinoids, Kobolds, Tabaxi, Bugbears, Minotaurs, Tortle, Harengon, Aarakocra, and Shifters are all part of the core D&D world, and truly deserve to be presented with full rules alongside the traditional “human-like” species. These species would bring more variety, depth, and meaningful choice to character creation beyond the standard array of species which can be mistaken for Humans. Most of the species in the PHB 2024 are human-like variations.

To illustrate the problem here, let’s look at how similar the species included in the 2024 rules are. Three species are explicitly of human descent (Aasimar, Human, and Tiefling), and most others have lost enough flavor to effectively be tall humans (Goliaths and Orcs), short humans (Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes), or skinny humans (Elves). The only race that is distinctive enough to not be confused for human variants are the Dragonborn. This leaves the overall palette of character creation a bit, well, flat for a game celebrating 10 years in the same edition. This writer would have loved to see 1-3 of the more unusual races included just for the spark of imagination that could be offered to players beyond what various takes on humans can offer between themselves.

That said, some species are understandable to leave out if they are explicitly extraplanar, such as owlins, loxodin, leonin, changelings, warforged, and the fae, which don’t show up in the Monster Manual 2014 or in adventures as species one is likely to encounter in a basic D&D setting like the Forgotten Realms.

I do have to acknowledge that not every species could receive a glow-up and dedicated pages in the PHB, which is already much larger than its 2014 counterpart, but there are definite sections of the book—such as the Background section—which could have been made more efficient to free up a few pages for more species options.

Hope for the Future

Players are already discussing what they hope will change with further rules releases. Explicit guidance for half-species, a return of the custom lineage (formerly in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and not compatible with 2024 species), and sub-species for several species would certainly be welcome. Perhaps more desirable would be updates to the Free Rules over time, adding more species to the default options. There is little in the history of Fifth Edition to indicate this is a strong possibility, but with D&D being more popular than ever before, there is always room for some novel approaches to releases going forward. Otherwise, we’re looking at a lot of species which are made obsolete (some for a second time) since their release, requiring yet another release (and purchase) to bring them up to the current standards, which feels really cruddy for players who have bought up to 18 separate resources already to unlock these species.

TL;DR:

Overall, the state of species in the Player’s Handbook 2024 rules is improved when compared to the 2014 version, but Halflings and Dwarves lost some functionality which wasn’t replaced. The biggest successes can be attributed to Aasimar, Dragonborn, Elf, and Tiefling species. The biggest failing comes in the form of re-hashing the same human-like species instead of including some of the more iconic “monstrous” species, such as Goblinoids, Kobolds, and Bugbears. There is a real opportunity for the team at D&D to alleviate some of the friction caused by rendering species obsolete with the update through errata, or additions to the free rules for the species previously released.

In the countless updates the Dungeons and Dragons team has implemented on their proprietary tool DnDBeyond, one class has been entirely neglected, much to the chagrin of players and their Dungeon Masters (DMs). This would be the lowly Artificer, which continues to have access to all 2014 spells and features, but cannot prepare or learn spells from the 2024 material. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that most subclasses and even the 3rd-party class Bloodhunter have already been given access to this basic and necessary feature. Thankfully, a fix has been identified!

Why Does it Matter?

The 2024 versions of most Artificer spells have been reworked, often completely changing how those spells function. In a recent game, I realized my party’s Artificer was using the 2014 version of Mirror Image which is considerably more cumbersome in comparison to its 2024 version. After a short discussion, it became clear that his healing spells were the 2014 version, meaning they were offering half of the healing I accounted for in the game. For the rest of the night, we looked up the 2024 versions of the spells as needed, but this was extra work for everyone, because it meant he couldn’t use the character sheet’s damage rolls, healing rolls, or track other features the way I expected. In short, it slowed our game down considerably.

What’s the Fix?

I tried a couple of fixes at first, including adding the 2024 versions of the spells to a homebrew copy of his subclass, but this effectively prepared every possible spell on his list, which was not ideal. We continue to be unable to homebrew an entire class on DnDBeyond, but the new species and backgrounds work differently, and I found the fix in the backgrounds. By creating a homebrew copy of his background (Sage), I was able to add the full legacy Artificer spell list to the spells he can prepare. This took me less than 10 minutes. Thankfully, Artificers can only prepare spells up to level 5, so the spell list is not egregiously long.

Does it Work?

In short, yes. The player is now able to prepare non-legacy versions of his spells, and still has access to spells from more recent releases such as Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything which aren’t yet considered Legacy.

Can I Share the Background?

No, unfortunately. The background is too similar to the default Sage background, so it is not able to be published for public consumption. Also, your artificer may use a different background. The process is not terribly difficult though, so I’ll walk you through it.

Step-by-Step

The first thing you will want to do is identify the background your Artificer is using. Then you will want to navigate via the dropdown menu Game Rules to select Spells. In the first space, add artificer as a filter. There is no need for other filters! This will display every spell available to Artificers, including whether they are Legacy spells.

Next, you will want to open a new tab in your browser, and navigate to the Collections tab and select “Create Background”. Use the new dropdown menu to select the background you want to duplicate. Before you go any further, rename the background to something identifiable, and save the background. Once the page refreshes, scroll down to the modifications section. You will leave most options alone, but you will need to add the Feat that belongs with that Background under Granted Feats. Once that’s in place, go down to the last option to find Additional Spell List.

In this page, you will want to add each of the spells from the Artificer spell list what has a Legacy tag. If you add a spell without the Legacy tag, it will appear multiple times in the spell list, which may be confusing or just cluttered. The spells which lack the Legacy tag include spells from resources such as Xanathar’s Guide to Everything or the Spelljammer set. These spells have no updated version, and should only appear once in any given spell list.

After you have created this custom Background, your Artificer should change their background, and will need to re-select the Wizard spells for their feat. And that’s everything needed to bring your Artificer up to date.

Good to Go

While many players find it concerning that this basic step hasn’t been taken by with folks at WotC, especially since the Blood Hunter does not face such discrimination, I hope this fix helps your players play more smoothly. If you don’t have a copy of the Players Handbook 2024, you can order it now through Amazon. Now get out there and build an airship!

Disclaimer: Links in this post may contain affiliate links which support the author at no additional cost to you.

Among the countless new rules and exciting builds available in the Players’ Handbook 2024 (PHB), two cantrips have been reworked into a powerful synergistic combo every min-maxing spellcaster should be aware of. These cantrips are the iconic Druid cantrip Shillelagh, and the (previously) disappointing arcane spell True Strike. Let’s look at how these spells have changed, and how they come together to change melee combat for spellcasters.

A Note on Multiple Attacks Per Turn

This combination of cantrips only works if you don’t have the multi-attack feature. Most mage classes don’t get multi-attack, but some options like the Valor Bard subclass or the Eldritch Invocation Thirsting Blade can give some mages multi-attack, which doesn’t work with this combo. This is because True Strike is a weapon attack, but it doesn’t use the “Attack” action. Instead, it uses the “Magic” action, which does not benefit from multi-attacks. This also affects features such as the Nick Mastery and the Light weapon property.

Isn’t True Strike Useless?

Since the 2014 rules were released, True Strike has been one of the most widely hated cantrips available. Using an action to get advantage on your next turn’s attack isn’t great to start with. When you factor in the fact that it’s a concentration effect which can be ended before you get a chance to use it, it’s easy to see why players rarely made the mistake of using this cantrip. Thankfully, this spell has been retired, and the spell with the same name in the 2024 PHB is completely new.

The new version is an arcane attack with a weapon, as a Magic action, with any weapon with which you have proficiency and that is worth 1+ copper. This attack replaces your usual use of Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage with your spellcasting modifier. This means you can, at level 1, have an effective melee attack which deals more damage than any ranged cantrip, thanks to the reliable addition of your spellcasting modifier to the damage, which cantrips don’t typically benefit from. As an added bonus, this also allows you to deal radiant damage instead of the weapon’s normal type, helping you skip resistances to non-magical damage.

If True Strike is Great, Why do You Need Shillelagh?

The advantage of Shillelagh is that, much like its former iteration, it isn’t an attack. Instead, it infuses a club or staff with magical energy, effectively creating a magic weapon for your True Strike to use. This also introduces the option of dealing force damage instead of bludgeoning or radiant, which gives each of your weapon attacks a great range of coverage for different kinds of damage resistance.

The True Value: Scaling Up

A pain point for spellcasters who wish to wade into combat is the fact that they lack core class features, such as Extra Attack which allow them to scale their melee attacks at higher levels. The new version of True Strike actually scales similar to other cantrips, meaning you get an additional 1d6 radiant damage at level 5, and scaling at higher levels as usual. Added to Shillelagh’s scaling, which increases the base damage of the weapon, all the way up to 2d6 at level 17, and you get some seriously powerful melee weapon attacks. For example, your melee attacks at level 17 would have a base damage of 2d6+(modifier)+3d6, for an average of 16+(modifier) damage per attack.

How to Get True Shillelagh

With the 2024 rules, getting access to both True Strike and Shillelagh can happen at level 1. Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards can all learn True Strike at level 1, and Druids can learn Shillelagh. The only spellcaster who doesn’t have either is the Cleric, but even that class can get both. No matter which class you’re playing, you only need to take a background which grants the relevant Magic Initiate feat (Sage for Wizard and/or Guide for Druid). Clerics can do this only by choosing Human as their species, and either Sage or Guide as their background, using the Versatile trait to gain the other Magic Initiate feat. All other classes need only take one version of Magic Initiate to have both cantrips.

Best Classes for True Shillelagh

If you’re looking for both damage and a high armor class, Cleric and Druid are likely your best picks. Each allows you to choose an Order, which allows you to gain proficiency with medium armor (Druid) or heavy armor (Cleric). Either way, at level 7 and 15, you deal additional damage when you “hit a creature with an attack roll using a weapon” which does not specify the range or type of action. This means at level 17, Cleric and Druid casters using True Shillelagh can increase their damage to 2d6+(modifier)+3d6+2d8, for an average of 25+(modifier) damage per attack.

How Does this Compare to Just Playing a Melee class?

I’ve crunched some numbers for average damage/action for different classes below. For each example, we are assuming that by level 17 every class has a 20 in their primary stat, and these calculations do not consider other spells or limited use features which may deal damage. The idea is to just see how much damage we can put out reliably on every turn, not the peaks we can reach with bonus action spells and similar features, because it becomes much harder to objectively compare damage and utility at that point.

• Cleric: True Shillelagh: 30 damage/Magic Action
• Druid: True Shillelagh: 30 damage/Magic Action
• Fighter: Two extra attacks (greatsword 2d6) 36 damage/Attack Action
• Paladin: Extra Attack (longsword 1d8) + Radiant Strikes: 28 damage/action
• Rogue: Nick Mastery (scimitar and shortsword 2x1d6) + sneak attack: 48 damage/action

As you can see, this puts Clerics and Druids very nearly equal to martial focused classes, without sacrificing any spellcasting features. Rogues continue to be ideal for single-target, and Fighters, Rangers, and Paladins continue to be better equipped for melee combat in other ways, such as mitigation, multi-target, or control, but mages don’t sacrifice any of their spellcasting scaling to make this combo work, so they still have their own class’s powerful array of spells. Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards lack the additional 2d8 damage that Clerics and Druids have access to, but that loss of an average of 9 damage may be worth the features those classes offer, such as recovering spells, eldritch invocations, bardic inspiration, etc.

Example Build for This Combination

This is my own take on a level 1 melee character using the True Shillelagh combination. Because of its use of Shillelagh and Mage Armor, this build will rely on nearly zero equipment, because a club can be obtained from any number of sources, and Mage Armor frees up our concern for anything else beyond clothing. We take Healing Word to give us spellcasting with a bonus action, and all other spells/cantrips are up to you.

Species: Orc for Relentless Endurance
Background: Sage – True Strike, Prestidigitation, Mage Armor
Class: Druid (Primal Order – Magician)
Cantrips: Druidcraft (Magician), Shillelagh, Thorn Whip
Spells: Cure Wounds, Goodberry, Healing Word, Purify Food and Drink
Abilities (With point buy and +1 Con and +2 Wis from Sage):

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 12

Beyond Level 1

• Level 3: Circle of the Sea gives you maximum damage for your bonus action, and powerful enemy movement.
• Level 4: Pick up the War Caster Feat to be able to use True Strike as a reaction. This also gives us advantage on concentration saving throws, making it easier to keep up Concentration for spells which give us bonus actions to optimize our action economy.
• Level 7: Choose Primal Strike for extra weapon damage. Note that taking Potent Spellcasting will not affect True Strike, as it isn’t a Druid Cantrip, and Shillelagh already gets your Wisdom modifier. At level 15, Primal Strike doubles its damage, and Potent Spellcasting’s level 15 improvement doesn’t affect melee spells.
• Level 8: Take a feat which boosts your Wisdom, such as Fey-Touched, which also gives you access to Misty Step for superior mobility if being in Melee becomes too dangerous.
• Level 9+: You can choose to go straight Druid to get the best spellcasting progression, or you can dip into 3 levels of a class which gives you more combat features. If you do this, it will delay your Ability Score Increase progression, but you can take a 4th level in that class at combined character level 20 to get access to a second Epic Boon Feat.

A Note on Ranged Attacks

Shillelagh only affects clubs and quarterstaves, but True Strike’s stacking with Primal Strike means that you can still use True Strike to deal effective damage with ranged weapons, especially if you have access to Martial Weapons. This will require taking a feat at higher levels or losing Thaumaturgist or Magician in favor of their martial counterparts, but not needing Shillelagh frees up your cantrips for other choices, and you can get access to longbows and crossbows at level 1. The biggest downside to this is the lack of scaling Shillelagh offers, but this is offset by having access to attacks which deal 1d10 base damage, plus your modifier, at early levels.

TL;DR:

By combining the cantrips True Strike and Shillelagh, we have access to a powerful magic weapon at level 1, and an attack which does more damage than any other available single-target cantrip, and is immediately comparable to a melee character of similar levels. Since both cantrips scale at higher levels, and scale with class features such as Divine Strike or Primal Strike, this combination stays relevant into the late game, and truly shine for Druids or Clerics. If you don’t have a copy yet, you can order the Player’s Handbook 2024 via Amazon, as it is now available there cheaper than other options.

While old-school TTRPG players are used to drawing their tabletop maps on dry-erase grids, there’s no rule that says that has to be the only way to do it. Many Game Masters use actual physical terrain at the table not just for set pieces, but even for entire dungeon crawls. 

Several companies are dedicated to providing pre-made terrain for tabletop gamers. One of these, Archon Studios, launched their latest terrain campaign on Gamefound earlier this year for Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves. The pledge manager recently opened, and the campaign is accepting new backers via late pledges until December 13th, 2024.

What Is Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves?

Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves is a modular plastic terrain collection from Archon Studio featuring three separate underground themes. The terrain is compatible with earlier Dungeons & Lasers sets, and can be purchased either painted or unpainted. Pledges start at the “Surveyor” level, which includes 1 Core Set of your choice from the three available themes, and all stretch goals. The Surveyor pledge is available for $99 unpainted, or $139 pre-painted. The Gamefound pledge manager for Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves can be found here.

It should also be noted that as this is the pledge manager, any late pledges will not go towards unlocking any additional stretch goals.

New to Gamefound? Check out our crowdfunding primer.

Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves

There are three different core sets, one for each of the themes: Rocky, Demonic, and Fleshy. These sets allow for generalized terrain layouts. Additionally, there are a number of subthemes tied to each theme, which provide more specialized set pieces. These include: Goblin’s Lair, Spider Nest, Deep Mines, Combat Arena, Chambers of Agony, Ritual Site, Maw of the Abyss, Evil-Eye Hive, and Carnage Track.

Archon Studio sent me a few unpainted sprues from both the rocky and fleshy core sets, as well as a legacy pre-painted Dwarven Mine set. 

Fleshy Theme

While I only received 5 sprues of the Fleshy terrain and some connector sprues for use with both caves sets, it should be noted that each of the core sets contains 15 sprues of terrain and connectors. If you take a look at the Gamefound campaign page, you can get a sense for how much you can build from a single core set.

Here are the sprues I received:

To assemble, I first used some clippers to cut the pieces off of the sprues. After that, it’s a simple matter of inserting the clips into the bottoms of floor pieces to connect them together. Walls fasten to the floor pieces by plugging them into holes in the connectors. 

When connecting floor panels together, there will be open holes along the sides where each of the panels meet. If these aren’t being filled by a wall piece, then you can use the included plugs to disguise the holes.

Here’s a layout I put together with the Fleshy theme:

And here are some closer looks at that layout:

Rocky Theme

For the Rocky theme, I also only received a sampling of  different sprues as well as a sprue of connectors.  

Here’s a layout I initially made:

And here’s an alteration to that same basic layout:

One of the Rocky sprues also came with a couple of pieces of scatter terrain, which you can see here:

Enhanced Dwarven Mines Pre-Painted

This was the one complete set that Archon Studio sent me for evaluation, and it was also the only pre-painted one. This set and other, similar dungeon sets are available as add-ons during the Gamefound campaign.

Archon Studio uses a proprietary technique called PrismaCast to mechanically paint the terrain on the sprue. The terrain is initially hand-painted by an artist, scanned, and then the paint scheme is automatically applies to the sprues. You can read more about the process here.

The Dwarven Mines pre-painted terrain contains the following:

– 6x double floor
– 6x single floor
– 6x long wall
– 24x short wall
– 6x doorway
– 6x door
– 6x lamp post
– 12x torch

Here are all of the pieces, clipped off of the sprues:

The doors are functional in the set. Doors clip into the doorways, and can be opened and closed.

And here’s a look at an assembly using about 2/3 of the pieces in the set:

Why You Should Back Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves

Even though Archon Studio has had several previous crowdfunding campaigns for their terrain, this was my first hands-on exposure to Dungeons & Lasers. And I have to say, I came away impressed. The sculpting of the plastic pieces is full of detail, and the system they’ve developed for connecting the terrain pieces works well. I found I could very quickly throw a layout together on the table, and equally quickly could break it down for storage. 

There is the minor inconvenience of having to snip all of the pieces off of the sprues, but this is offset by two things. First, all of the terrain is modular, and can be assembled simply by clipping it together instead of having to permanently glue pieces together. And second, the cost is very competitive for the quality of the terrain.

Having an assembly system that carries across the Dungeons & Lasers line allows you to mix and match any of the available sets. Just using what Archon Studio sent me, I could have easily set up a layout where a descent into some Dwarven mines transition first into caverns,  then into some strange bio-organic chamber. It allows for endless expandability, especially if Archon Studio keep coming out with more sets over the years.

The PrismaCast system is astonishingly good in presenting a tabletop-quality paint job. If you don’t have the time or inclination to paint terrain yourself, you’ll likely be very pleased with the pre-painted sets. And if you prefer saving some money and getting the unpainted terrain sets instead, you’ll find plenty of rich detail that will take paint well.

With the Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves Gamefound campaign, you can get a tremendous amount of terrain for a very reasonable price, especially when you consider all of the unlocked stretch goals which backers also receive with their pledges. It’s fun and easy to assemble, and the plastic itself is lightweight but durable. The option to get everything pre-painted with the proprietary PrismaCast system is really the icing on the cake, and a real boon for people looking for some great terrain without having to worry about gluing and painting it themselves.

For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Dungeons & Lasers VI: Caves Gamefound page!

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Disclosure: GeekDad received samples of this terrain for review purposes.

With the upcoming release of the 2024 version of the Player’s Handbook (PHB), we thought we’d share some of our favorite power builds which rely solely on the rules presented in that resource. If you want to use feats, spells, or other features from books like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything or Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, you are absolutely welcome to do so, but not all DMs will allow all resources at their table, so we wanted the scope of this article to stick to the new PHB. Besides, if we optimized these builds any further, it honestly might not be fun for other players at the table. Also remember that while power builds are a lot of fun to explore, they can feel less fun to play because there is no natural challenge in normal situations. Use these builds with caution, and talk to your DM if you aren’t sure how to build the right power level for your campaign.

The five power builds we are previewing here are:

1. Who Needs Spell Slots? Celestial Warlock
2. Onslaught With Advantage – Beast Master Ranger
3. Everything Other Than AND Damage – College of Lore Bard
4. I Punch for Acid Cold Fire Lightning Thunder Damage – Warrior of the Elements Monk
5. You Can’t Touch This—But You Can Die – Circle of the Sea Druid

1. Who Needs Spell Slots? Celestial Warlock

This Warlock build is designed to have the greatest access to cantrips and rituals of any build. This allows us to circumvent the strict reliance on our limited Pact Magic spell slots and/or large numbers of short rests. By level 3, you will have a staggering 13 cantrips and 14 spells which are always prepared. Since we can use the Book of Shadows to access any level 1 ritual at the end of each rest, and the new crafting rules for spell scrolls only require having a spell prepared and training in arcana to create scrolls, this build allows you to have an endless library of scrolls, rituals, and cantrips which let you save your precious spell slots for spells like Gate and Power Word Stun. Finally, by using Magic Initiate feats, we grant ourselves an additional 3 spell casts (at level 1) for each day.

Class: Warlock, Complexity: High

1. Background: Acolyte (Magic Initiate: Cleric) 2 cantrips, 1 spell/slot
2. Species: Human (Magic Initiate: Druid) 2 cantrips, 1 spell/slot
3. Level 1 choices: Arcana and another skill, 2 cantrips, 2 prepared spells, 1 pact magic slot/short rest
4. Eldritch Invocation: Lessons of the First Ones (Magic Initiate: Wizard) 2 cantrips, 1 spell/slot
5. Level 2: +1 prepared spell, +1 Pact Magic slot/short rest, +Magical Cunning (+1 Pact Magic slot/day)
6. Eldritch Invocation: Pact of the Tome: +3 cantrips, +2 ritual spells, all changeable with each rest.
7. Eldritch Invocation: Armor of Shadows (+1 prepared, unlimited use on self)
8. Level 3: +1 prepared spell
9. Subclass: Celestial Patron: Grants +2 cantrips, +2 level 1 spells, +2 level 2 spells

Suggested Spells

The spells we suggest for this build are listed in order of when they are granted by the features above. For each spell, the level is indicated in parentheses or is marked with (c) for cantrips. For spells with special uses, those parameters are also included.

1. (c) Thaumaturgy, (c) Spare the Dying, (1) Inflict Wounds (1/day)
2. (c) Druidcraft, (c) Mending, (1) Goodberry (1/day)
3. (c) Eldritch Blast, (c) Toll the Dead, (1) Witch Bolt, (1) Speak with Animals (Ritual)
4. (c) Prestidigitation, (c) Shocking Grasp, (1) Feather Fall (1/day) 
5. 2x level 1 rituals chosen each rest, 3x cantrips chosen each rest, suggested:
            (1) Identify (Ritual), (1) Find Familiar (Ritual), (c) Sorcerous Burst, (c) Mage Hand, (c) Acid Splash
6. (1) Mage Armor (unlimited use)
7. (2) Misty Step
8. (c) Light, (c) Sacred Flame, (1) Cure Wounds, (1) Guiding Bolt, (2) Aid, (2) Lesser Restoration

As you can see, at this point, we have a spell list that no other caster could have at this level. We are free to take plenty of utility, and we have cantrips that do stacked AoE (Acid Splash), Split AoE (Eldritch Blast), melee-get-out-of-jail-free-card (Shocking Grasp), high-damage single-target (Toll the Dead), and a host of signature spells from other classes which add unique utility, such as sorcerous blast (lottery damage), and the signature trio of Prestidigitation, Druidcraft, and Thaumaturgy. Since this is all online at level 3, we will have another 7 eldritch invocations, which we can use to empower cantrips (3 repeatable choices) or unlock more spells we can cast at will (10 choices). And to pile onto the utility, the Celestial Patron subclass also grants Healing Light, which gives you another healing ability with scaling charges and no need for spell slots.

Taking all of this into consideration, I’d be terrified to fight a level 3 Celestial Warlock, and you will probably have a lot of fun with them. As you gain access to higher-level features, the class has scaling power, since every damaging cantrip scales with the total level of all classes, no matter which classes’ spell lists they come from, and they all use Charisma, thanks to the updates to those feats and features. Having another 13 spell preparation slots can open up even more flexibility from your spell slots, and Magical Cunning can restore 2 level 5 slots/day without a short rest, making spells more widely available when they are wanted.

Variation: Species

If you want a few more spells you can cast each day, you can choose a different species. Elves and Tieflings grant an additional cantrip, 1st-level spell, and 2nd-level spell. This does delay the full impact of the build a bit since we won’t have enough eldritch invocations to take Lessons of the First Ones again until level 5. That said, we have enough invocations to make this happen comfortably, and some species features, such as dark vision or trance might be enough incentive to shift the build. Do note that Tieflings get two cantrips at level 1, plus two spells, so they technically grant more spells/day than Magic Initiate, but you don’t get to select the spells, and they unlock at higher levels.

2: Onslaught With Advantage – Beast Master Ranger

If you want access to the most attacks per turn, look no further than the 2024 Beast Master Ranger. You might think of the Fighter as having the most attacks, but when optimized, Rangers get 4 attacks starting at level 5, where fighters unlock their fourth attack at level 20. Oh, by 11, the Ranger has 5 attacks per turn. This is due to the newly empowered Primal Companion, combined with Weapon Mastery features. Let’s look at the features required to make this resource-free onslaught happen. Note: I’ll be assuming we have a score of 16 in each of Wisdom and Dexterity for the calculations in this build.

Class: Ranger, Complexity Average

• Subclass: Beast Master
• Origin: Guide, Sailor, Scribe, or Wayfarer to improve DEX and WIS.
• Species: Any (Orc suggested for Relentless Endurance and Darkvision)
• Weapon Masteries: Shortswords (Vex) and Scimitars (Nick)
• Weapons: Shortsword and Scimitar
• Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting
• Primal Companion: Beast of the Land

Starting with Ranger and the Two-Weapon Fighting Style feat, we get two attacks per turn with our dexterity modifier added to both attacks. Nick is where things get interesting, though. Previously, for dual-wielders, the second attack took a Bonus Action. If your first attack is made with a weapon you’ve mastered with the Nick feature, your off-hand attack with a light weapon happens as part of your base attack. Hunter’s Mark adds 1d6 to each attack for a total of 4d6/Attack action. At level 3, we add our beast, which knocks enemies prone with its attacks when we have it attack (on our turn, using our bonus action), and its damage die is 1d8+2+WIS. So, we have (4d6+DEXx2+1d8+2+WIS) at level 3, or an average of 27 damage/turn without using any limited-use features other than free casts of Hunter’s Mark (remembering that Hunter’s Mark lasts for an hour, and we get more uses of it as we level up).

At level 5, we get to add another 1d6+Dex for our extra attack (which also benefits from Hunter’s Mark), and we get more daily uses of Hunter’s Mark. Next, at level 11, our pet gets a second attack and gets to use Hunter’s Mark damage once per turn, adding 2d8+2+WIS+1d6 to our damage every round. At level 11, the total number of attacks is three by the hunter, 2 by the companion, and four hits of Hunter’s Mark damage. This totals up to 7d6+6+2d8+4+6 or an average of 42 damage per round, with the damage being about half force damage. The max damage we can do this way without critical hits is 74 damage, with 32 of that being Force damage. If we take score improvements at 4 and 8, these amounts would improve accordingly.

The only downside to this build is that you will sometimes need to use your bonus action to move your Hunter’s Mark, instead of commanding your pet. This may make it frustrating against small targets, where it will be better for you and your pet to attack separate targets, and save uses of Hunter’s Mark for later. Against a Giant, Dragon, or other big beasty, however, you use a single bonus action to apply Hunter’s Mark, and you wail away until it dies. Either way, you can maintain concentration on Hunter’s Mark even if it isn’t on an enemy, and use a bonus action at any point during its duration to apply it to your target. To add to this, at level 13, your Concentration can’t be broken by damage, and if you cast Hunter’s Mark at higher spell slots it gains up to 24 hours of duration (with Concentration), meaning you can keep the buff up indefinitely.

But What About Rogues?

If you’re wondering why this build is superior to another DPS class, such as the monk or rogue, allow me to explain. Rogues have a slightly superior amount of single-target damage through Sneak Attack, but they can’t spread that damage out if there are more targets. Having 5 separate attacks allows the Ranger to spread out the destruction if needed. Monks have a similar ability to spread out their damage, but their flurry of blows requires focus points, which could be better used on other things (See below). On top of all of that, the Vex mastery and the Beast of the Land’s ability to knock enemies prone give the Ranger a significant amount of self-sustaining advantage against their opponents, allowing them to fish for crits or just guarantee more hits.

All in all, if you’ve ever wanted to feel like Drizz’t Do’Urden, wading through waves of enemies and tag-teaming with a panther to take down massive enemies, this build is the power build for you.

3: Everything Other Than AND Damage – Lore Bard

If you are preparing to play in a high-intrigue or low-combat campaign, this is the power build for you. The revised Lore Bard and Origin options allow you to gain proficiency and expertise in an unparalleled fashion. Though we will take most of our levels in Bard, we are going to start with Rogue as a base, because they get more starting skills and get two uses of expertise at level 1. We will then progress as a Warlock for a couple of levels for utility and damage, then we will level as a Lore Bard for some time.

• Species: Human (one proficiency, one origin feat: Skilled)
• Background: Charlatan: increase DEX, CON, and CHA. Feat: Skilled, Deception, Slight of Hand, Forgery Kit.
• 1 Rogue, Proficiency with Stealth, Insight, Investigation, and Perception, Simple and Martial weapons with Finesse or Light property, Thieves’ Tools, Weapon Mastery: Scimitar (Nick) and Shortsword (Vex) Expertise in two skills.

At this point, level 1, we have 4 skills of our choice from choosing Human, another 3 of our choice along with Deception, Slight of Hand, and the Forgery Kit from our background, and 4 skills from taking a level of rogue, along with strong weapon options which will keep us alive when we do need to fight, and two instances of Expertise, for a total of 11 trained skills and two of those with expertise. So, how do we get another 7 skills as quickly as possible? You might be tempted to think of the Bard, but we’re going to make a pit stop at Warlock first.

Classes: Rogue, Warlock, Bard, and/or Ranger, Complexity Very High

1 Rogue + 2 Warlock

By taking two levels in Warlock, we get some powerful utility and some more skill proficiencies. Notably, we get three Eldritch Invocations, access to some unique cantrips, and 2 pact magic slots which recharge on a short rest. Our first Invocation has to be available to a level-1 Warlock, which is limited to a few, so we will take Pact of the Tome for powerful utility. For the second of those invocations, we’re going to select Lessons of the First Ones, which can give us another instance of the Skilled feat for another 3 proficiencies. For the final invocation, we want some unique utility Bard can’t offer, so we will take our pick from among Eldritch Mind, Mask of Many Faces, Devil’s Sight, or another instance of Lessons of the First Ones, which can give us access to Lucky for some advantage rolls. While we’re here, we will pick up the Eldritch Blast cantrip, which continues to be one of the most powerful cantrips in the game.

1 Rogue + 2 Warlock + 3 Bard

Most of the rest of your progression with this build will be Bard. When you take the first level of bard, you gain an additional skill proficiency which leaves you with three untrained skills. We can get this by taking two more levels of Bard and selecting the College of Lore, which grants three skills. At level 2, we gain expertise in two additional skills, which is still faster access to that feature than if we had gone straight Rogue or Bard. Once we take our subclass at level 3, we have every skill proficiency, four instances of expertise, and the ability to do almost anything in the game. We’ve also collected Spellcasting, Pact Magic, Sneak Attack, Cutting Words, and the Bardic Inspiration feature, all of which keep this build competitive with other builds in combat, and make it devastating in non-combat scenarios.

1 Rogue +2 Warlock + 17 Bard

By the time you make it to level 20 as a character, you will have delayed access to level 9 spellcasting, but you’ve benefited from the effects of the Epic Boon “Boon of Skill” 13 levels early, while still keeping your 4 Ability Score Improvement feats intact to customize and improve your character along the way. With the changes and improvements to spells for combat and non-combat situations, you will be able to leverage the Bard’s access to every spell in the game to become the master of any scene, whether you’re needed for debating or beheading. We won’t ever get an Epic Boon with this build unless the DM uses those for level 20+ progression, but this build won’t even notice.

Alternate Build

If you don’t want to play Lore Bard, there are two other options for this build. For either of them, you’ll simply drop your third Eldritch Invocation to take Lessons of the First Ones again to get +3 skills. Then take a single level in Ranger or Bard for the last skill proficiency. Both classes have access to expertise with minimal investment, so you can choose how to progress in that based on how much expertise you’d like. After the 4th level, you can continue in Ranger, Warlock, or Rogue, based on what you’d like your gameplay to look like going forward. Update: This alternate build requires a DM judgment call, because RAW, the warlock cannot repeat an Origin Feat taken with Lessons of the First Ones, which could mean we miss out on 3 skills if we don’t take Lore Bard.

So Much To Do

The primary build here may well be too complicated for many players’ preferences. Juggling the many class features and rules interactions from taking three classes that have little synergy can be cumbersome. That said, this is probably the most powerful and fun low-combat build, as it gives us the roundest toolkit possible while keeping our ability to deal damage on track. If we use an option from the Alternate Build section, do note that you don’t get more complexity from spellcasting, but the class features for  Bard and Warlock are considered high-complexity, so even a single-level dip into those classes can really add a lot of details for a newby player to track.

4: I Hit for Acid Cold Fire Lightning Thunder Damage

The Monk’s new subclass, known as Warrior of the Elements, is a power build in its own right. Using their scaling unarmed attack based on Dexterity, Monks now start with a Martial Arts Die of 1d6, scaling to 1d12 instead of the former 1d4-1d10. To lean into this buff, the Warrior of the Elements uses the Martial Arts Die for its scaling effects. Unlike the removed subclass Way of the Four Elements, Warrior of the Elements Monks don’t cast spells, they simply channel the rage of the primal world, turning their unarmed attacks into magical attacks that deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage. This allows them to deal the damage type needed to overcome and circumvent resistances and immunities.

Class: Monk, Complexity: Average

Beginning at level 3, they gain the ability to spend a single focus point to activate Elemental Attunement, which increases their Unarmed Attack range by 10ft and empowers their unarmed attacks with the element of their choice. If they hit a target with this damage, up to 15 feet away, they can push that target 10 feet away (contested by a Strength save). This means that at level 3, Monks can more easily disengage, move, hide, or change targets without taking opportunity attacks. While this feature doesn’t increase our damage directly, being able to change the damage type we deal with every attack is a great way to get around resistances and immunities, and pushing our enemies gives us significant survivability and utility.

At level 6, they can create a burst of elemental energy spanning—not a typo—a 20-ft-radius sphere within 120 feet, hitting every creature within for 3 rolls of their Martial Arts Die, or half as much on a saved throw. It costs 2 Focus Points, so you can use it several times a day once you have access to it.

Starting at level 11, you gain a fly and swim speed while your elemental attunement is active. Long reach+Fly is hard to argue with!

Finally, at level 17, the Warrior of the Elements gains Elemental Epitome, which is bananas. Damage resistance and an aura which deals damage to creatures we walk by combine with our innate AC and movement speeds to make us a walking nuke which can also throw Fireball-sized attacks. Need an army erased?

Feats: This build gets extra silly if you take the feat Speedy (increases your speed and allows you to ignore difficult terrain) or the Epic Boon of Speed, which grants you an extra 30 feet of movement. These stacking feats will bring monks up to 100+ ft of movement per turn.

In the end, uncapped AOE and solid single-target make this subclass an absolute menace for any NPC or DM you play with.

5: You Can’t Touch This—But You Can Die

The last power build is centered on the new Druid subclass Circle of the Sea, which combines sea and storm themes into a devastating spellcaster. We’re going to start with Goliath as the species since it has a speed of 35ft and access to Giant Ancestry which gives us Cloud’s Jaunt, a teleportation ability. The Sage background gives us access to some distance utility from Magic Initiate: Wizard, and it buffs our ability scores for Wisdom and Constitution which improve our damage and ability to maintain concentration. The Circle of the Sea features help us stay out of range and defend ourselves, but this combination gives us a combination of abilities that is hard to shut down since the Druid can stay at range and easily create range if a creature manages to close the space.

Class: Druid

• Subclass: Circle of the Sea
• Background: Sage
• Feat: Magic Initiate (Wizard) Toll the Dead, Shocking Grasp, Expeditious Retreat or Find Familiar
• Class Spells: Produce Flame, Mending, Cure Wounds, Entangle, Longstrider, and Purify Food and Drink (R)

We take Toll the Dead and Shocking Grasp because they allow us to attack from a distance or create some distance (Shocking Grasp through a familiar stops an enemy from making opportunity attacks for a round). If we want more mobility, we can take Expeditious Retreat, or we can pick up Find Familiar to save us the daily use of a Wild Shape charge to have a familiar that can help us do things from a distance. We will take Produce Flame and Mending from the class list for the utility, and we will choose the Magician Primal Order, which gives us another cantrip, which will be Spare the Dying (which is now a ranged spell). Our level 1 spells are going to be Cure Wounds, Entangle, Longstrider, and Purify Food and Drink. Our main hope is to avoid needing to use spell slots because we want to save them for emergencies where Cure Wounds, Entangle, or Longstrider can save a life. Purify Food and Drink can be cast as a ritual, and is useful utility outside of combat.

Wild Shape Forms: Whichever forms you like. We aren’t going to use our Wild Shape very often, so I’d suggest utility forms such as Rat or Spider. These forms get you into small spaces and can be the difference between being trapped or escaping until we get access to bats and birds at higher levels. At higher levels, pick up the owl form for long-lasting flight.

Skills and Weapons: The skills you choose for this build aren’t going to be very consequential, but you can skip both Nature and Arcana since your Primal Order already boosts those skills. Similarly, weapons aren’t something we’re going to be interested in using. If we’re in melee, we’ll just use Shocking Grasp so we can get out without being attacked.

This build is pretty generic until level 3 when you unlock the Circle of the Sea. The primary ability here is Wrath of the Sea, which grants you an emanation effect (a new mechanic that represents an aura) that allows you to deal cold damage and push a creature away every turn as a bonus action. You get a number of d6s equal to your wisdom modifier, so at unlock this will likely be 3d6 damage as a bonus action which you can use every turn while your emanation is active. The only catch is that this emanation uses your Wild Shape charges (or spell slots if you are out of Wild Shape charges). The effect lasts for 10 minutes, so you can’t keep it up at all times, but you can use the Bonus Action attack as part of the Bonus Action needed for you to summon it.

At level 3, the ability to push a creature and deal 3d6 damage as a bonus action is already a lot of power. For comparison, Sorcerers and Wizards can use Dragon’s Breath to deal 3d6 damage, half on a save, but it requires a level 2 spell slot and needs concentration to last multiple rounds, and costs a Magic Action every turn. The Wrath of the Sea lasts 10 minutes without concentration and uses a bonus action to deal damage and push the target, leaving you free to cast spells with concentration, such as Moonbeam. Most importantly, the ability for a spellcaster in light armor to push enemies is massive. And since it’s triggered by you, rather than by circumstance, you can circle the opponent to push them in a specific direction, which allows you to support your allies from a distance while also creating opportunities to move into melee, push an enemy away with a bonus action, and use an action to heal a hurt ally.

Scaling

At level 6, the Wrath of the Sea feature grows to 10 feet, keeping you out of melee range, and giving a swim speed that is always active. At level 10, you can fly while the emanation is active, and you have resistance to cold, lightning, and thunder damage. At level 14, you can put the emanation on yourself, an ally, or both of you. The ally will be able to fly, resist damage, or use their bonus action to deal damage, (likely 5d6/turn, using your stats, not theirs) while you are also able to benefit from the effect. This can give classes with less need for a Bonus Action economy, including some Fighters, Rogues, Paladins, Clerics, Rangers, or even Wizards.

Level 18+

The benefit of reaching level 17 as a spellcaster is the ability to prepare 9th-level spells. But since we never get a second slot of this, and the features for Druids level 18-20 aren’t that useful, you can opt to pick up 1-3 levels of another class to dip into their features. Sorcerers and Wizards are better if you’re going for 3 levels, but if you want to take an Epic Boon at level 19, you can take a single level of Warlock to get some bonus cantrips, an invocation, a bonus spell slot, and access to any number of level 1 rituals or cantrips with Pact of the Tome, without sacrificing the Epic Boon Feat. The suggested Epic Boon for Druids is the Boon of Dimensional Travel, which works well for this build, as it’s escape-heavy. On the other hand, we already have a lot of mobility at this point, so taking the Boon of Skill can round out an area we’ve largely neglected, or the Boon of Spell Recall could give us a 25% chance to not spend spell slots when we use them. Either of these might be a better pick, but your mileage may vary.

Update: Honorable Mentions

DM Oak reached out to mention a couple of honorable mentions you’ll want to check out.

1. Humans: You gain Heroic Inspiration at the end of every long rest. Since Heroic Inspiration can be used to re-roll any one die roll, not just D20 tests, this is a powerful ability. If you manage to keep it through a long rest, you can give the bonus to an ally instead. You can use this for such spectacular situations as rolling Hit Dice when leveling up, rolling how many charges you regain when rolling for a magic item, and re-rolling Bardic Inspiration, Divination, or Bless dice
2. Champion Fighter: Like the Human species, Level 10 Champion Fighters grant themselves Heroic Inspiration, but they do it every round they start combat without it. Just keep rolling!
3. Sorcerer: The Innate Sorcerer feature allows sorcerers to grant themselves advantage on attacks and +1 to their spell saves for a minute at a time, with 2 base uses, and the ability to use it more by spending Sorcery Points. Trigger this effect as a Bonus Action, then unleash Cone of Cold, Cloud Kill, and Chain Lightning. Your enemies will drop faster than flies in a blizzard.

TL;DR

Every class has powerful new options, but with so many classes getting major reworks to class features, spells, feats, species, and backgrounds, there is a huge space for new powerful combinations that will bring entirely neglected subclasses, such as Beast Master Ranger or Warrior of the Elements Monk out of the closet of shame, and into the limelight. But with some of the more stereotypically powerful classes such as Druids, Warlocks, and Bards being reworked, there are new ways to explore combinations of features, and that’s always something to celebrate. Do you have a new favorite build? Share it in the comments! The Player’s Handbook 2024 is available for preorder now and will hit the shelves on September 17th.