Hit points (HP) are a central mechanic in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition (D&D 5e). They determine your character’s mental and physical durability. That’s why it’s crucial to understand how hit points work. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of HP in D&D, including what they are, how you can calculate them, and how…
Many factors can go into Armor Class. It can be incredibly complicated for some characters, incorporating class, race, and other features on top of your type of armor. For others, it can be as simple as 10 + Dex modifier. Armor Class is important in combat because it determines whether you succeed or fail in…
Passive Perception is a valuable tool for Players and DMs alike. It allows you to make Perception checks without the need for Players to roll it every time. Officially, passive Perception is called passive Wisdom (Perception) in books like The Player’s Handbook. The Player’s Handbook also talks about passive checks (p. 175) though only ever…
Welcome to this guide on rolling stats for D&D 5e! Whether you’re a veteran player looking to shake things up or a newcomer trying to figure out where to start, this guide covers you. I’ll explain everything you’d want to know before you start rolling and how to roll for your character’s Ability Scores. If…
In this guide, I’ll show you how to calculate Challenge Rating (CR) in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. CR is a tool used to determine the difficulty of an encounter. A proper CR helps make the combat more balanced and exciting We’ll explore how to determine and adjust the CR of an encounter. Understanding CR is…
Creating the perfect D&D character can be a tricky thing. Sometimes you need the inspiration to make that perfect character. Luckily, there are D&D tropes and character archetypes that can easily be translated into a D&D character. Today, we’re looking at the different character classes in D&D and getting inspired by looking at D&D character…
Dungeons & Dragons is all about getting lost in a fantasy world. What makes D&D so special are the characters and the stories that come from a shared imagination. Today, we’re looking at fantasy novels that have incredible characters that will inspire you to create your next unique D&D character. Hopefully, they’ll survive past the…
Telling a potential employer about your Dungeons and Dragons obsession in your interview might not be the best idea (unless you work out they’re a DnD fanatic beforehand—then the job is as good as yours). Telling them that you’ve been fighting the Dragon Cult every Thursday for the last year might not go down too…
In this world, some spellcasters spend years locked away in ancient libraries, weaving delicate strands of arcane lore into the extraordinary tapestry of magical abilities and knowledge known as a spellbook. That’s Wizard. Some go to their local cult and with a quick blood sacrifice buy into the magical equivalent of a Happy Meal: cheap…
What we love about both the Barbarian and Fighter classes is that most of the time they’re ushered (sometimes unwillingly) to the front of combat. Protecting anything squishy and floppy. I’m looking at you mages. Both of them tend to be melee attackers that can hit hard and fast. Both are able to take A…
D&D 5e’s magic system has depth. Some spells can stop time, animate the dead, and rain fire from the sky. But in a universe filled with such power and wonder, cantrips are a more humble, everyday kind of magic. The kind of magic your spellcaster can use without much effort. Don’t let this fool you….
DM: “The frost giant’s ice club smashes down, crushing the very life out of you for (rolls) 40 points!” Bored Player: “Eh I still have 29 left, so after the Cleric does his healing I’ll be good as new.” DM: (sighs) One of D&D weaknesses is how damage- whether from combat, traps, or miscellaneous things like…
During this Halloween season, inject fear into D&D. After all, going into a dungeon should be a scary thing as it involves life or death decisions. Plus the monsters are real. And while I’ve written a previous column on making your games scarier via the 5 senses, there’s another technique. Empathy. I find that players…
Designing a campaign setting isn’t all about world lore and locations populated by classes, races, and monsters. You need to have things for those classes, races, and monsters who populate your setting to do. What we’re talking about here are staples of play in d20 system games — feats — and how to avoid some…
As the leaves turn and the skies grow cloudy, we turn our minds toward All Hallows’ Eve and things of an often creepier, spookier, or more macabre appeal. Let us turn our minds then toward a sweet sample of the garish gallery to be found in the westerly lands of the Pure Steam™ Campaign Setting….
Gamemastering at GenCon can be a blast. It’s a way to introduce people to a game you love, or even a game you’re trying to publish. It can also be a way to play obscure games that just don’t have a big following in your hometown. It’s a lot of work, though, and can be…
Character classes are the gateways through which players enter our games. As DMs, it’s important for us to understand character class design and what kinds of classes our players might enjoy playing. Remember this maxim: “What works for one game or one set of players might not work for another!” I took the liberty to…
Creating new races or writing for old ones can be a chore. Given that no matter how incredible our idea may be someone somewhere has probably already done it, we think there are a couple key design approaches one can follow to help build a better race. Races come from the land. This may sound…
Pure Steam™ is first and foremost a campaign setting. Settings are important to films, TV, comics, radio plays, novels, and books of all sorts. Settings are places, but settings are also more important than that. Settings are populated by heroes and villains, filled with wondrous and dangerous locales, and form the backdrops for our imaginations when…
Who doesn’t enjoy a good time travel story? The idea’s been prevalent in fiction for centuries. Whether it’s something where time travel is usually just a framing device like Doctor Who, or whether its integral to the plot like in Back to the Future or Chrono Trigger. The best thing about time travel is that…
There’s a collective sigh of relief and that figurative, though often literal, fist-pump when you’ve hit a milestone creating something you love. That’s how we at ICOSA Entertainment felt when we finally shipped our initial RPG offering, the Pure Steam™ Campaign Setting. But the holiday pounds were already melting away as our feverish brains began…