Nentir Vale Archives - Tribality

Unearthed Arcana: Into the Wild Breakdown

Brandes Stoddard — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 05:41:40 +0000

This month’s Unearthed Arcana takes us on a journey. That’s the, um, topic. Journeys? Anyway, this is a rules module for when hour-by-hour wandering through a wilderness region isn’t right for the situation. As Mearls explains in the intro, this is for when you have a destination in mind and a decent general idea of how to get there. As a sideline to this, I’ve done a breakdown of overland-travel rules in D&D, The One Ring, and Dungeon World, over […]

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Using Factions in Your Campaign

Shawn Ellsworth — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 05:37:24 +0000

This week on the Campaign Trail I’m looking at factions and how to use them in your game. This article will look at how Forgotten Realms factions are used for D&D’s organized play, how I use factions in my game, example factions in settings and tips on how to establish factions in your own game. Whether you’ve created your own campaign setting or if you are playing in an official setting, establishing factions can help the world live and breath. […]

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Monster Lab: Frost Witch Queen for D&D 5e

Shawn Ellsworth — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 06:01:49 +0000

This week on the Campaign Trail I wanted to share some monster stats for a Frost Witch Queen, that my players just battled against and won. If you’re looking for a powerful final boss witch or fey with lots of ice and snow powers, this might work for your game. My current 5th edition D&D campaign is set in 4th edition’s default setting, the Nentir Vale. I like how this frontier realm provides civilized points of light against the dangerous […]

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Unearthed Arcana: Warlock and Wizard Breakdown

Brandes Stoddard — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 05:57:12 +0000

Today’s Unearthed Arcana might qualify as the bombshell of the whole run through the classes, with the exception of the time they released a new base class. There are two new warlock patrons, twenty-five new warlock invocations, and one new wizard tradition. That’s a pile of content to discuss, so I’m going to jump right in.

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Make it Personal – Magic Items & Your Campaign

Shawn Ellsworth — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 04:01:00 +0000

Let’s look at how to make those magic items we give out to players a little more personal. We’re 6 levels and 16 session into my 5th edition campaign set in the Nentir Vale. Along the way I provided my players with some magic items I personalized for them. This week on the Campaign Trail, I’ll provide strategies for giving out magic items, example magic items I created (from scratch or by simply tweaking an existing magic item) and the […]

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Deities of the Nentir Vale (4e) for D&D 5th Edition

Shawn Ellsworth — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 13:00:44 +0000

The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player’s Handbook includes the awesome Appendix B that provides deities for running your game in the multiverse worlds of the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance and Eberron. It also provides the Celtic, Greek, Egyptian and Norse pantheons of antiquity. This can be a big help since creating a religion for your world can be lots of work. While not included in the 5th edition Player’s Handbook, the default pantheon from 4th edition was provided as […]

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Run a Nentir Vale Campaign for D&D 5th Edition

Shawn Ellsworth — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:00:24 +0000

Earlier this week, I was surprised to see the Nentir Vale on the list of settings in the latest D&D poll alongside Greyhawk, Eberron and other big settings. Seeing Nentir Vale on the poll gave me hope D&D’s 4th default setting may get official support in the future (but I wouldn’t bet on it). One of the biggest strengths of the Nentir Vale as a setting is the fact that there’s less material written about it than other settings such […]

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New Options for Githyanki and Githzerai PCs

Rich Howard — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:00:46 +0000

My previous article on githanki and githzerai PCs generated a lot of conversation about the history of these races across more than 30 years of D&D, including discussions about the kind of options people would like to see converted to the newest edition. Below you will find several new class archetypes inspired by James Wyatt‘s brilliant “Rise of the Githyanki” in Polyhedron #159, including the ghustil (arcane healers) for both bards and rangers, a holocaust warrior variant for eldritch knights, and a […]

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Gith Player Characters for 5th edition

Rich Howard — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:00:01 +0000

The githyanki and githzerai (sometimes referred to collectively as the “gith”) were created by Charles Stross for his own AD&D game and first appeared in the April/May 1979 issue of White Dwarf magazine. They gained their prominence in the D&D pantheon for their fascinating origin and unique powers, as well as gracing the cover of the 1981 Fiend Folio. Though the history of the gith races and their link to the illithids (mind flayers) are described in the 5th ed Monster Manual, no […]

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Dragon’s Day in Hammerfast

Shawn Ellsworth — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:15:07 +0000

I like when worlds have days of the week, holidays and other information to make the place seem old and real. For the ending of my campaign in the Nentir Vale I needed to have my heroes do more than just fight the big dragon and save the city. Hammerfast comes built in with some history to use as your backstory if you want to create an epic showdown with Calastryx. What is Dragon’s Day? Every year in late summer, […]

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