You already know your characters are more than the sum of their abilities and statistics. You already know your characters have a unique look and a style all their own. You have a sense of how they treat people and how they look at the world. You have an idea where they’ve been, where they’re going, and most importantly… why!
Now the question is: how do you present and share all this truly awesome characterization in your head?
Have you gotten away from using mounts and mounted combat? Or just don’t understand the rules or find them a bit wordy? Or think mounts are too expensive and don’t provide enough benefits? If you answered yes to any of these questions, get on your horse and ride!
Like ritual magic, mounts and mounted combat may be a bit of an untapped resource for your playgroup in 4e. They may not get enough play or stage time, for a variety of reasons. Well, let’s change that, shall we?
Where to start? Skim over the Mounted Combat and Overland Travel rules and charts in the Essentials Rules Compendium, and you’re well on your way to riding mastery. When you come back, just ride on through the rest of this article.
So I’m on Facebook yesterday talking with a friend about how we all rocked last night’s D&D session like, well, rock stars in our now-paragon Nentir Vale campaign. We start talking about other cool characters we’d like to play in case, Raven Queen forbid (and bring us back as revenants even! Love revenants!), we bite it.
We get to talking about controllers in the game, and we both simultaneously mention playing an Invoker would be really cool. We enjoy the RP aspect of the game, and like Dungeon’s Master tells us in Divine Intervention, divine characters always seem a natural fit for great roleplaying right out of the gate for anyone. My friend then mentions how the martial power source is the only one missing a controller right now. Read the rest of this entry »
How do you create and present the encounter maps in your games? Do you ever struggle with figuring out the most efficient option?
After finally getting a better handle on visually tracking combat conditions with markers and cards, mapping is a similar visual aid I really struggle with in 4e, as much as there are tons of mapping options we have today between tiles, poster-style battle mats, and erasable battle mats, never mind 3D terrain and digital options.
The ultimate question: Which physical mapping method saves the most time and communicates the most information quickly and evocatively while reasonably affordable? 
We’ll save a look at digital mapping tools and software for another time, as those come with special considerations of access and execution at the game table. And we’ll stay away from Dwarven Forge’s 3D terrain too for now, as truly stunning and 3D as it is, for cost reasons.
So that said let’s take a quick look at some of the most common and more affordable physical D&D encounter mapping options we have (and please comment on any I missed!):
Did you know there are a whopping 314 rituals (!) right now in D&D 4e?
That’s 314 additional things nearly every party has access to. Ritual scrolls, after all, are a “power” every individual character has access to, without needing to actually be a Ritual Caster via feat or class feature.
But do we seek out or include these 314 options enough in our adventures? More importantly, do we really know how to use them? Whether as PCs or DMs?
Remember that every ritual is a potential opportunity for your PC to creatively solve a type of problem as well a tool to help DMs create and add new layers of quests, encounters, adventures and storytelling in your game. Whether in the hands of your characters, or in the hands of antagonists, ritual magic is a resource for D&D problem-solving and inspiration.
D&D 4e’s combat system is rich and deep, and its many hampering conditions are important to track – visually and with color-codes highly recommended.
Here’s what we do in my games, as DM or player. Use any of these ideas or tools to help you and your friends more easily track the chaos of combat and save some precious session time:
Conditions: We use colored hair bands and bottle rings instead of solid tokens, since they’re a) inexpensive, and b) can often fit around minis instead of underneath, saving some space. Kudos to Mike Shea of Sly Flourish for the fantastic bottle ring idea. His Three Cheap 4e Game Aids post alone is worth its weight in platinum!
Condition Cards: We also use condition cards – a short summary of its rules on a power-sized card, next to the player or DM. You can find the PDFs of the ones I like best @ Weem’s Updated 4e Condition Cards. I’ve seen many others, but Weem’s are best I’ve found so far because they have a nice design, some color, a quick, simple visual or icon on them, plus the rules. Perfect to put right in front of the player or DM as they happen. Efficient, space-saving, and they don’t get in the way of seeing the battlemap or minis.
Really looking forward to next session? Can’t wait to play your character and return to your adventures?
One way to keep some of the magic of your last game’s adventures fresh is to make an in-character post between sessions. The impertinent intrusion of the real world on your campaign is actually a great opportunity to amp up your ever-growing RP and creative writing skills, develop and present your spectacularly cool character’s background and personality, and share your private and keen thoughts on the unfolding adventure and campaign.
Advantages of In-Character Posts
“The creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters” (the very definition of characterization) – adds memorable amounts of mood, atmosphere and storytelling flavor to your campaign. This encourages other PCs to roleplay with your character – both with their own in-character posts, and, using your cues and clues, “live” in your next session and all sessions beyond. They also make for a handy and entertaining journal-like record of your adventures and the campaign. Read the rest of this entry »
Love the cast of characters in your D&D game? Especially those party allies you make and keep on the way to, through, and after the Nine Hells? Like the ideas presented in DMG2 but looking for something with even more simplicity and even less DM prep work?
Better Together!
Why are companion characters or party allies so great? NPC companion characters provide a wonderful storytelling and roleplaying tool for DMs. Ideally, they help draw out some amusing or memorable roleplaying atmosphere from your players through their questions and banter.
And of course, party allies make for a helpful brother or sister-in-arms in the thick of combat. For small parties, they especially help in filling a missing role. Regardless of party size, just one companion character can help breathe a lot of life into party banter alone as the adventure and campaign continues. Read the rest of this entry »
Wish your D&D game ran a little smoother? Especially during combat?
Sometimes – or often – turns lag with all the tactical richness that 4e offers. You have a lot of choices in the moment to make. And more than ever, teamwork is rewarded in D&D. So it helps to think of your allies before, during, and after your turn. Make this the good habit that it is, and you’ll find your playgroup’s turns moving along a lot more smoothly. And smoother combats mean more time to ensure the precious balance of storytelling and game that has always been D&D remains intact throughout your game sessions.
Tactical Awareness
How many free, immediate and opportunity action powers have you forgotten or missed in the chaos of battle? Or this or that hit bonus, damage bonus, or other temporary modifier? If you’re like me, your fair share. There’s a lot going on, and every little bonus or penalty adds up – and everything you do impacts not just you, but your entire party too.
For example, your melee is going to want flanking opportunities to gain combat advantage as much as possible. Flanking is one of those mechanics that requires help – a teammate. You could say the same thing about many free actions and almost every immediate and opportunity action. That help is usually some sort of combat situation or trigger and it’s important you be on the lookout for that “help,” both in and outside of your turn. Your allies, your friends, are counting on you!
Consider sports teams. Better yet, consider a few of the arguably greatest and winningest sports teams either in the past decade or all-time: The New England Patriots and Boston Celtics. A huge reason for their team success is that each individual: Read the rest of this entry »
Hey everyone! I would love your help. I’m putting some ideas together based on this simple poll question on the front page of Leonine Roar: What Role in Your Parties is Least Common or Missing?
For my friends and I, it’s usually Controllers though up until this very morning I thought we might be playing in our brand new Shadowfell campaign tonight without a Defender, and that we’d be on the lookout for an NPC party ally Fighter, Paladin or someone else, depending how things went. Fortunately, one of my friends is going with a Raven Queen-worshiping human Paladin named Vrakas, so guess what? Missing Controller, yet again, it is!
Also, and this is so important to me, in the games I DM, I enjoy roleplaying NPC party allies or companion characters while the players switch off running them in combat. Win-win!
As for controllers not being as well represented in our playgroups’ parties, I guess my friends and I assume hordes of minions won’t be a problem! But that’s not always true, is it?
What about you guys? Which role and why? Please share your thoughts and stories and vote on my poll. Thanks!
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