The Complete Armorer's Handbook is a 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons supplement for upgrading weapons and armor. Inside this best-selling DMsguild product is a comprehensive modular framework that allows characters to improve their equipment as they see fit by seeking out craftsmen and spending some coin! Chapter 1 covers nonmagical upgrades, which approximate the basic +1-3 progression of magic items in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Chapter 2 introduces rune magic as a means to imbue your equipment with magical properties, including a fully-realized crafting system for characters wishing to create their own runestones using simple gemstones.
In this episode, Crit Academy walks through this well-laid-out and implemented system. We each give our thoughts on not only the mechanics but the layout, artwork, and implementation. Certainly, our favorite part is appendix A. I think Travis - DM Hook) said it best. "also known as "STFU with your iS tHiS BaLaNcEd? here's the math".
The two chapters comprise the following, with each option being adjustable, ignorable, or replaceable without impacting the whole:
Chapter 1:
A Revised Armor table based on real-world historical armor, weight and prices, with scalable purchase options and three types of shield, each filling a unique role.
Armor Upgrade rules including 14 unique upgrades.
A minimalist Revised Weapons table, offering four new weapon properties.
Weapon Upgrade rules including 13 unique upgrades.
7 types of Special Ammunition with easy crafting rules.
8 of Special Materials with simple modifications to the upgrade rules.
Rules for equipment Wear and Repair.
Chapter 2:
Rune Magic lore and how to introduce rune magic and runestones into your campaign.
Runestones – socketable gems used to empower equipment with magical properties.
Runesmithing – a complete ruleset for player-crafting of runestones.
Runesmith’s Tools – a new toolkit used to craft runestones using gemstones.
The Runesmith’s Guild – a complete ruleset for joining and progressing through a crafting guild, with tangible benefits to those who achieve status among their peers. Also includes new downtime activities!
A New Feat only available to veteran runesmiths.
Two New Artificer Infusions to enhance the potential of runic equipment.
39 Runestones, plus guidance on creating your own. It's also easy to repurpose the properties of magic items from any source—and you can even allow characters to "trade" magic items to help the guild scholars in their quest to discover/create new runestones!
Does your fighter have a Heart of Fur? Is there more to your warforged than meets the eye? Does your rogue think dual-wielding is for chumps? Then this is the D&D supplement for you, my friend.
Feats Don’t Fail Me Now is a collection of the greatest feats ever created for your not-entirely-serious 5e game
Over 40 Feats for 5e! They’re balanced, too! (We think.) Because breaking the game is no fun.
Winner: Nonstopdisco74
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Character Concept:
NPC Avelina Atterton
Description: A moderately attractive woman, she wears an old set of leather armor, nicked and torn by the ravages of time and battle. Her silver hair is lengthy and is close to two feet long. Her otherwise smooth face is marked with small tiny scars.
Personality: She runs her personal life as if detached from it. She organizes appointments and outings based on perceived benefits she will get from it. She is a ruthless business woman, a trait she acquired from her mother.
History: She was born to loving parents in a slum to the east. When money was particularly tight she was walking through alleys when she overheard a Shepherd hiring some criminals to sabotage a competitor. She made her way to the other competitor and parlayed her knowledge into a job. She has been a successful dealer in antiques buying low and selling high.
Motivation: Balancing her hectic life and new Shepherd responsibilities is difficult.
Ideals: Entrepreneur. Flaws: Selfish. Bonds: Attractive, Poor. Occupation: Shepherd
Voice: Loud with bravado
Monster Variant:
Briarthorn Goblin
Origin Statblock Couatl
Lost Features: Spell list, change shape, fly, shielded mind, truesight, telepathy, bite.
New features:
Vulnerability to fire damage.
New Spell List:
At will: dancing lights, druidcraft, pass without a trace
3/day each: entangle, fog cloud
1/day each: counterspell, dispel magic, spike growth, wall of thorns
Nimble Escape. The briarthorn goblin can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 24 hours. Until this poison ends, the target is unconscious. Another creature can use an action to shake the target awake.
Reaction
Thorny Grapple. When a creature within 5 feet of it hits the goblin with an attack. The briathorn goblin can use its reaction to attempt to grapple the attacker. The briarthorn goblin’s thorny limbs help it grapple creatures up to a medium size granting advantage on the check. A grappled creature takes 4 (2d4) piercing damage at the end of the briarthorn goblin’s turn for as long as it remains grappled.
Encounter:
Neznetwork on Reddit
Rob from the Rich, give to the fallen!
Let's be honest, in an adventurer's life, you're bound to be robbed more than Once. But as you climb through the ranks of your guild or get more powerful, Bandits are hardly any challenge, and most are just that old posse of generic humans, waiting to be put down. But in such a wide wild world, it doesn't need to be. Wouldn't it be great to be that one DM that adds that memorable encounter?
Another group of adventurers, with just as varied classes and races, attacks the party for any gold or valuables they have. It turns out that one of their party members died during their own adventures, and it was their only member capable of casting revive spells! They've found someone who can do it for them, but are being charged an exorbitant price for the service, not to mention they need to get the spell components themselves. The DM can play very intelligently here, but should give the attacking "bandits" an air of desperation. They will be quick to retreat if another member is low, with cries like "we can't lose another" and "maybe just take their healer hostage!"
Magic Item:
Kobold Mystery Meat Kabob
“This common kobold treat is a mix of pretty much whatever meat they can find. By adding a bit of crushed simple herbs and tossing it on a thin branch, they make for a better meal than trail rations. But not by much.”
Gourmet, common
This collection of mismatched cubed meats tossed onto a sick is a go-to for every kobold. Their mix of preparation, seasoning and, well, whatever else they can find puts a warm fire in your belly. There is enough on the kabob for one use. When you spend 1 minute eating the kabob, you gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks while in dim or dark light. This effect lasts for up to 1 hour. The effect ends if you are unconscious or become affected by a spell such as dispel magic or similar effects will end the magical effect.
Dungeon Master Tip:
Make it Believable
Believability is simply a matter of staying true to your material and to the fiction of D&D or your own world. Everyone has already bought off on the suspension of disbelief needed to imagine a world of medieval weapons and armor, magic, and monsters. You just need to help sell it by making the fiction real. Use evocative descriptions that key off all the senses of the players-how something sounds, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it feels like. Use names that sound real and fit the fiction of our world. Bob the Slayer is kind of goofy and will lead to goofy play, but Victor the Vile sounds like a believable person in a D&D world. Keep it believable, and the action of the game will reach a whole other level.
Player Tip: Don’t be a Dick
Infinite Copies of Yourself. Simulacrum + Wish
Lvl 17 Wizard
Cast Simulacrum on yourself. - half hit points, and can’t regain spell slots
Take a long rest
Have the clone cast wish, to cast a new 7th level simulacrum on you (now that you have all your spell slots)
This new you clone can now cast simulacrum
The psychomancer is a wizard adept in the manipulation of the psyche, or as it commonly known – the soul, be it for good or ill. It all depends upon the caster’s heart and grit, as well as their general tendencies and view of the world. Not many practitioners have lived to tell the tale, but those few of them that have, speak of a hard and gruesome path which eventually may lead even to Godhood.
Winner: carbysmaster
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