Crit Academy: A Dungeons and Dragons Podcast

Crit Academy covers the newest Unearthed Arcana: Heroes of Krynn released March 2022. In it, we explore character options from the Dragonlance setting. This playtest document presents the kender race, the Lunar Magic sorcerer subclass, the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery backgrounds, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons . Download Full Unearthed Arcana: Hero...

What is the best way to start a new D&D Campaign? Today we give you tips, tricks, and tools for running Session 0 . This powerful tool will help ensure you kick off your stories with a bang! When it comes to roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons , there are many different aspects. This naturally means that each player is likely to want something different out of it. We've touched on the dif...

Is Dungeons and Dragons kid-friendly? Absolutely! The streamlined 5e ruleset is great for children. The complexity of 5e can be a bit much for some younger kids, settings like Aloria are PERFECT for it! So, are you prepared to embark on a fantastic journey to the adorable world full of adorable and furry characters? Well, strap in as we discuss the cute Kickstarter Fates End - Furhaven . The World...

How do you handle PvP in D&D? This is a question we've seen a lot. Can Player Vs Player (PvP) be fun in Dungeons and Dragons? We wanted to find out. So we created Clash of Classes . PVP in Dungeons & Dragons is something that many try to avoid. The system itself was not designed for this in mind. But that doesn't stop us from pitting classes against each other. There have been quite a bit of learn...

This episode of Crit Academy is brought to you by our generous Sponsor Fates End Furhaven I saw a DnD meme some time ago that got me thinking. It said "GM Tips for Embracing DM's Truths". Now, normally I just keep scrolling, but the details caught me and got me pondering a few things. So I wanted to get the guys' perspectives and share my own thoughts on them. Below are a number of truths that und...

How Do I Run Time Travel in Dungeons and Dragons? You don't have to look hard to come across a story involving time travel. We find the plot device in many genres of books, films, and comics. Although science fiction leans heaviest on time travel—killer robots sent back to terminate the mother of a dangerous revolutionary are certainly a well-known example. In this episode, we discuss tips, tricks...

Adventuring in Dungeons & Dragons is a life of treacherous mountain passes, deadly beasts, and other dangers that can leave an adventurer near death. This fact makes any and all who can bend magic to seal wounds, cure diseases and remove dark curses a valuable asset. But, which subclass is the best? Cleric of life domain? Divine soul sorcerer? Celestial warlock? Well, in this episode, we are joine...

Join our D&D Discussions Live on Sundays @ 7pm Est or on our Youtube Channel here! Benefactors come in all shapes and sizes and everyone can use a helping hand once in a while. Sometimes, however, relationships with a patron, employer, or other types of benefactor can become strained. Or worse. Detailed in Benebads are entities who can offer benefits to a party of adventurers in the short or long...

Bard College of Percussion for Dungeons & Dragons Join our D&D Discussions Live on Sundays @ 7pm Est or on our Youtube Channel here! Best-selling Dmsguild author Chan Lensch joins us to share a bit about his work and talk with us about his passion project the Bard College of Percussion. The bards of percussion manipulate the emotions of those around them. They are excellent communicators, know the...

10 World-shaking Events for Dungeons & Dragons When we think of world-shaking events, we tend to think big: wars that pit the forces of good against evil in a final confrontation, natural disasters that lay waste to entire civilizations, invasions of vast armies, or extraplanar hordes, assassinations of world leaders. These are the events that title the chapters of history. 📢 Full Article: https:...

Dungeons & Dragons does a lot of things great. But there is one particular detail that is lacking. Any rogue player will tell you the rules for running heists are nearly non-existent. Well, Jimmy Meritt creator of Here's to Crime: A Guide to Capers and Heists has you covered! Oh boy, did he nail it! This small but mighty product will have the thieves, rogues, and masterminds in your group tremblin...

Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition has certainly taken a different approach to their game design from past editions. They opened their playtest material to fans to play and experiment with mechanics and themes before the official release using their Unearthed Arcana. So you can bet your ass that we follow these releases pretty closely and choose what to cover. Well, there was no way in the Nine Hell...

Alternative Race Lore for Dungeons and Dragons Sponsor: Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code CRIT at  www.manscaped.com . Your dice will thank you. The release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything introduced custom lineages that can allow the player to customize this from a mechanical standpoint. One thing that has always been consistent (albeit with small changes) in the history of...

Limitless Heroics: Comprehensive Disability Compendium for Tabletop RPGs Sponsor: Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code CRIT at  www.manscaped.com . Your dice will thank you. What if you could make the real world a better place by playing Dungeons & Dragons? When you play a tabletop role-playing game like 5e, you want to be the hero. The world is different for you having been ther...

Bloodied and Bruised: Dynamic Combat Monster Manual Options Sponsor: Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code CRIT at  www.manscaped.com . Your dice will thank you. Do you want to make your Dungeons and Dragons combat feel more dynamic? Do you want your players and their characters to "feel" the progression of battle as they exchange blows with the enemy? If so, then you need to chec...

10 Dungeons & Dragons World Building Tips Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code CRIT at www.manscaped.com . Your dice will thank you. "When playing Dungeon & Dragons, there's nothing quite like being the Dungeon Master. While players are able to experience exciting adventures and play their characters with more freedom than nearly any other type of game can allow, DMs are in contr...

Brought to you by Manscaped! Never lose your dice in the forest again! The perfect holiday package for his package. Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code CRIT at www. MANSCAPED.com #ad #manscapedpod #MANSCAPEDPartner Wild Beyond the Witchlight is a wickedly whimsical adventure awaits for the world's greatest roleplaying game. I have to say, that in my opinion, this may be Wizards...

Fizban's Treasury of Dragons More ink has been spilled on describing dragons than on nearly any other creature. These ancient, noble, yet savage beasts are a favorite subject of guidebooks, bards' tales, and ancient tomes and scrolls. True dragons are winged reptiles of ancient lineage and fearsome power. With life spans stretching into millennia, they are a repository for the vast knowledge and a...

Orcs worship GRUUMSH, THE ONE-EYED GOD OF SLAUGHTER, and are savage, bloodthirsty marauders. They plague the civilized races of the world and also fight among themselves to prove their strength and take the treasure. They love close combat and plunge furiously into the thick of battle, giving no thought to retreat or surrender. Join us as we delve into getting the most out of the combat aspects of...

Adventurers spend a great deal of time delving into dungeons, uncovering lost secrets, and slaying monsters. In between all the action, they need a bit of a break from the familiar. What better way than with Mini-Games? Well then hold on to your dice and join us as we discuss how to create and run Mini Games in Dungeons & Dragons. Crit Academy interviews Game Designer Geoffery Golden. Geoffrey has...

Dungeon Masters! Do you ever find yourself in the need of quick quest hooks or short adventures? With these 50 Notice Board Quests, you will always have something ready when your characters decide to bob instead of weave. 50 Notice Board Quests was developed by Drop the Die with the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition tabletop game in mind, but when writing it, their goal was to give only the framewo...

Displacer beasts look like enormous panthers, but their barbed tentacles and illusions make them far deadlier. They quietly stalk their prey before bringing it down as quickly as possible in an ambush. The displacer beast's cunning, stealth, and ferocity have earned it a reputation as one of the most well-known predators of the Feywild. The creature's image is used in heraldry and literature to in...

Extraordinary Expeditions Kickstarter Now LIVE! Back it today and get a FREE adventure: www.rebrand.ly/extraordinary-expeditions How to Run a Great Horror Adventure in Dungeons & Dragons Are you looking to run a horror adventure for this Halloween? Then you're gonna want to stick around as we speak with an expert! Phil Beckwith creator of the adamantine best-selling Dungeons & Dragons horror trilo...

What is a West Marches Dungeons & Dragons game? For this episode we delve into a fantastic article written by Ars Ludi the Grand Experiment. West Marches was designed to be pretty much the diametric opposite of the normal weekly game: There was no regular time: every session was scheduled by the players on the fly. There was no regular party: each game had different players drawn from a pool of ar...

Brace Yourself… From project lead Apostol Aostolov and a talented community of DMs we discuss Grit & Glory! For decades, running realistic campaigns using the world's greatest role-playing game has been an impossible feat. Previous editions showered players with supernatural abilities and magic items until only monsters of legend present a formidable challenge. In this episode, we discuss Grit and...