Today is Tuesday, which means: maps! Lots of stuff today folks, so check them out.
Our new public map today is an updated version of an older map I did for Inktober. This is a set of tombs in a canyon, somewhere in an arid rocky waste. Notably, this map lacks a grid, which isn’t common among my work.
Hello!
It’s Tuesday, which means release day. I’ve got a couple of maps and illustrations for you today. These are all older images I may have shared on social media before, but they have been cleaned up and (in the case of the maps at least) added to, tweaked, or detailed further. Think of them as director’s cuts!
These are meant to be used with initiative tent markers, hung over a DMs screen to denote conditions like Poisoned or Restrained during combat.
I printed them on parchment paper, and I’m thinking about cutting the bottom corners so that the bottom becomes a point, making them look like little banners (you can see an example of that below).
Please enjoy!
You can grab the condition markers here or below.
Using Skills is a series of posts that delves into and discusses each skill in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. This index is meant to make this series easier to navigate for anyone wishing to look up a particular skill.
And now we finally come to the last part of our ongoing series on the skills of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. Last time we covered Stealth, and for this final discussion we’ll be going over that friend of rangers and barbarians: survival.
The bent blades of grass. The occasional broken dead twig from the surrounding autumn forest trees. A slight smell still on the air; of horse sweat and steel.
“Less than an hour,” the tracker said, brushing dead grass out of the way of the muddy hoof-print. “Riding east hard, though they’ll need to be turning south-east to get around the river.”
Survival is the skill of thriving outside the confines of civilization.
After a month’s hiatus, we return with a new Using Skills! Last time we discussed sticky fingers and grabby hands with Sleight of Hand. This time we talk of Stealth, possibly the most used and certainly most useful skill for most characters in Dungeons and Dragons.
(As a note, this episode of Dragon Talk has Jeremy Crawford discussing Stealth.)
The foot-pad ambles slowly across the cobblestone street in the dark of midnight, feet not making a sound as she slips past the searching watchmen. The hunter nocks an arrow, aiming with her short bow from the brambles and bushes waiting for this one perfect shot at the great wolf as it pads slowly into view. The acrobat steps off the precipice and silently begins to fall downward towards the unwary thug in the alleyway, his daggers held high for the killing strike. Stealth is the cornerstone of surprise, which is the cornerstone of victory.
Last week we discussed using the skill Religion in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. Today we’re getting a grip on that skill of nimble fingers, sleight of hand. This will be a short one, as it’s pretty straight forward and a DM hardly needs inspiration in cultivating the use of it.
The juggler stepped through the crowded market area, ignoring every jostle and bump as she kept five balls in the air -as well as nicking a bauble surreptitiously off of a market stall. The courtier made her rounds through the ballroom, greeting diplomats and nobles one after the other with a friendly pat or a hug; none would realize until much later that their pockets were much lighter. The guard captain once again frisked the urchin he had caught stealing in the wharf district, but could not for the life of him figure out what happened to the coins he swore he saw the vagrant grab. Sleight of hand is the go to skill for the sticky fingered.
So I fell off the planet for a bit around the holidays. Things got busy and I mentally checked out and was unable to really produce anything of worth or note. A new year is in front of us, however, and I am getting back upon the horse.
Today we’ll be discussing the skill Religion. I want to thank you for sticking with me through this series. I’ve rather enjoyed writing it and seeing the discussion it creates. We’re nearing the end of the skill list, and with that I need to think of another excuse to post weekly to my blog.
Enjoy!
The ranger motions for the traveling band to stay back as he examines the half-hidden stone marker among the brambles near the woods path, recognizing it as a symbol for a infernal cult that haunts the wilds of the area. A cleric studies an ancient apocryphal text of his church, recognizing some of the iconography as still in use today. The diplomat nods casually to the grand looking priest that meets her at the entrance of the temple, but bows reverently to the old woman in plain robes that stands beside him – knowing her to be the true head of the religious order. Religion is a skill for those who want to be proficient in divine knowledge.
So I may have missed a couple of updates here for a couple of weeks. Holidays keep me busy and tired because of my real (lame) job, and so my blog suffers. Nevertheless, late though it is, I have for you the next part of our Using Skills series. Last time on this series we covered Perception, which I recommend you go back and read. This time clear your throat and tune those strings, it’s…
The old warrior, far past his battle years though those long near-forgotten days still marked him with scars upon his arms and face, leaned forward in his customary chair by the fire. His audience, a small group of disparate children, crowded around him. The light of the fire cast shadows that danced behind them on the oaken beams of the great hall. He stared past the children to these fey shapes and as he leaned in, they did the same – ready to cling on to his every word. His voice, it was said, had the power to summon up the spirits of warriors and dragons from days gone by; to transport you to primeval glades and crystalline caverns; to unveil the very fabric of the magical universe. Finally his old voice, gravelly and low, spoke out the first incantation that brought all of this to life: “Once upon a time…”
