Dungeons Dragons

No other choice will impact your session or campaign as much as this one, because your class determines nearly everything you’ll be able to do. Understandably, that can be somewhat overwhelming. With 12 official classes in the D&D Player’s Handbook—each with their own unique gameplay mechanics, strengths, and weaknesses—it’ll take you a while to try each one and really learn the ins-and-outs. So how are you to choose? Here’s a quick and easy guide for anyone wondering “What D&D class should I play?...

Sure, Fighters don’t have access to spells like Paladins and Rangers, and they might not have the huge damage numbers of Barbarians and Rogues. It’s true, Fighters often felt overshadowed by other classes in previous versions—but they’re pretty great in D&D 5e. With much-needed buffs to both versatility and damage output, Fighters are a solid choice for anyone looking for a well-rounded melee character. Here are some key tips for being a Fighter and how you can help lead your adventuring party to success....

Without a Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG), you really just have a bunch of misfits walking from town to town and causing chaos without a purpose. For your D&D adventure to be a compelling story, you must have an adversary who challenges your heroes. You’ll find a lot of advice—both good and bad—on the web about how to craft a compelling D&D villain. But there’s one particular technique that I personally find useful, and I learned it from one of the worst movies of all time: Street Fighter....

Some of those fun encounters will need to be combat encounters, and part of the difficulty in being a DM is balancing those fights against the capabilities of your players. Another big difficulty is making sure your fights are fresh and unique. Even a well-balanced combat encounter can be boring if it feels clichéd, repetitive, or uninspired. And when you’re running a full campaign, monster variety is the spice of life....

One thing that never changes? Adventures are usually profitable, if you survive. For players, that means they’ll need somewhere to spend their ill-gotten gains. Enter, the merchant! But shopping sprees in D&D can be more than just a way for the party to spend money and acquire new items. Merchants and shopkeepers are a great way to bring life to a world, given that they’re one of the few non-violent world interactions....