Core Books
I say you don’t have to get just books, but definitely consider getting just books. If you know someone who has been playing D&D for a while, as a player who doesn’t have the monster manual and they’ve been talking about getting into DM’ing, get them a monster manual or the Dungeon Masters Guide. Same can be said for someone in any of the game systems. If they don’t have one of the core books, consider getting it for them. Or if you have someone who is playing Star Wars: Force and Destiny consider getting them the Edge of the Empire core book.

Extra Content Books
Hey, more books, but we’re just getting the different types of books out of the way, one more to go after this one. When I say extra content books, also known as splatbooks, I’m talking about things like Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Xanathers Guide to Everything. These provide extra content for your game and might be world or class specific in games, but they aren’t going to give you a specific game that you have to play. Most game systems the longer they are around get more of them, so consider buying your DM extra content, or find the books that have player classes and get those for players in the game.

Campaign Books
Final type of book, these are the pre-generated campaigns that DM’s can run. These I would say be most careful when getting. If the DM you are getting it for runs games in their own world or in an existing world but their own stories, they might be pretty improv heavy or like to come up with their own stories in a very specific way. So a campaign book might not be as useful for them. However, maybe that’s what your group runs, if that’s the case, go ahead and find one that your DM doesn’t have, or go onto something like DM’s Guild and there are lots of things out there for campaigns (as well as other things).

Dice
Maybe your DM or player already has all of this that they want. I have yet to meet an RPG player who wouldn’t gladly take more dice. Depending on what system you use, the dice might be different, but if they are playing Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, you are going to be using the standard set of dice, so look for something that has a twenty, twelve, two ten, eight, six, and four sided dice. Or if they are playing the Dragon Age RPG, some six sided dice, or for the Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPG, the specific dice for that. Dice sets are generally not that expensive, so they make nice stocking stuffers. But it could be that you want to give a nice set of dice, consider Easy Roller Dice which can be made out of metal, so it’s a really nice set. I will say, I really like my metal dice from there, and because they are heavy, they roll very with a satisfying thud.

Dice Accessories
What are dice accessories? They are things like dice trays, dice towers and dice bags. These things just add a little bit of fun accessory wise for your game. A dice tray is nice, especially if you have metal dice because those can ding up a table or are just loud on a table. The dice tower means that your dice will roll a bit more randomly as it’s just something aesthetic to drop your dice into and have them bounce down through it. And a dice bag is really nice as it helps you move around your sets of dice more easily. For the dice bag, you could also just give them a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey as that can come with a bag that a lot of people use as a dice bag.

Spell Cards
Spell cards seem extra to the hobby, you can always just look up your spells in the players handbook or whatever supplement you have spells from. But Spell Cards allow you to track what you have available a whole lot easier and what spells you might have used or not have access to anymore. They aren’t that expensive when they are in print from Wizards of the Coast, so they can make a solid stocking stuffer.

RPG Video Game
Now, this one is completely different because it isn’t part of the table, it’s something that they can do separate from their regular gaming. While there aren’t a ton of amazing RPG video games out there, in my opinion, there are some really good ones. Consider grabbing one of them or grabbing a trilogy of them like the Dragon Age games. I’m sure there are a lot of other good ones out there, Diablo III comes to mind as well, so find one that you think would match what the person likes and get it for them on the system that they have. This can be trickier though, because they might not be a big video game fan, so if they aren’t, don’t force this one, there are plenty of other good things, or there are always dice.

I’m sure there are a whole lot more things out there for RPG players. If they are doing a podcast or video stream, that opens up a whole other realm of possibilities. Just spend some time figuring out what game they play as that might change up what they want, and I’m already thinking of other things that I could have put down, so use your imaginations for that RPG gamer in your life.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

One thing I want to mention first about all of these classes is that playing against type, as I sometimes suggest, is going to be for your more roleplay-focused player versus a more combat-focused player. The reason I want to call it out is because the first example of a druid player I want to mention is Torin from our Dungeons & Flagons podcast. He is not your typical druid in some ways — his background is that of a soldier, and he’s not the hippie-granola character that’s common for this class. Yes, he is a pacifist in a sense, but still has to fight against the urges to destroy.

With that idea out of the way, what is a druid? Most of the time, they are that hippie or granola type I mentioned. They love Mother Earth and all creatures upon it that aren’t humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. (who are probably messing up the land). A druid is often connected to a specific grove or glade that they watch over, and often, their impetus for going exploring is that something is happening to their grove or something is threatening it, so they have to keep whatever it is from happening. People often play druids as lone ranger types (as compared to playing a ranger who likes to be alone, which would be a lone ranger ranger).

Mechanically speaking, druids are spellcasters first and shape-changers second. All druids have the ability to shape-change into various beasts, and this is the feature that normally draws people to the druid. Being able to change into a bear and then run through bad guys seems cool. It isn’t a super-effective means of combat, but can be used well at times (especially for humorous effect). Also, druids tend not to be focused, traditionally anyway, on charisma. Their spell-casting ability is based on wisdom, and with the lone ranger archetype that most people think of for druids, they wouldn’t be too used to conversing with humanoids, so it makes a lot of sense.

Now that we have our framework in mind, let’s look at some possible backstories you could use for a druid character:

Growing up in the city, you always felt a connection to nature — the rats running around, the pigeons that would sit in the market trying to find scraps. When you got older, you ventured out into the country, and you loved it there. The fresh air, the creatures running everywhere — you found that you belonged in nature. However, as you spent time in the country, it laid heavily on your heart that there were some people from the city you grew up in who never got to really see nature. Finding a patron back in the city you had come from, you created a druid grove so that all people could come visit and see what matters so much to you, but now your patron has passed away, and his heir isn’t willing to support you anymore. If you want to keep your little bit of nature alive in the city, you’re going to have to find a way to support yourself.

Your people’s calling was to protect the island you grew up on. There were amazing creatures there that weren’t found anywhere else in the world. One day, however, strange ships showed up to your island. You and your people hid, but these humans had come on a mission to search out exotic creatures, and even cut down some of your trees. What could you do? These people weren’t peaceful like your tribe; they weren’t living in harmony with nature. One day, they left, and things seemed to get back to normal — until you saw more ships on the horizon. They came again and again, and finally, you knew what you had to do. Stowing away aboard one of the ships, you sailed back to the mainland to see if you could find a way to stop this and people who would help.

You don’t remember what your parents looked like. There are blurs of what could have been them, and you remember hearing screams. You were just a baby when they were killed. Out all alone by yourself in the woods, you wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for a kindly wolf who had taken you in. Or that is what you had thought at first — in reality, the wolf was the druid who would raise you and keep you safe as you grew up. Now she is old, and you are tasked with keeping her safe. However, there are goblins raiding in the woods and cutting down trees. What will you do about it? Your mother told you to find help in the outside world, but how do you do that? What is the outside world even like?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

We are trying a new thing with Amazon Links — f you’re interested in what we talk about in our articles or use for the podcast, please consider making a purchase through our links. Purchases help support our website and offset our costs. Thanks!

[amazon_link asins=’0786965606′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’edd5fd71-db9a-11e7-88a1-d70a450710e0′]

According to D&D lore, a clerics power comes from being a devout follower of a deity. The character itself doesn’t have magical ability in the same way that a sorcerer, bard, or wizard would where their power is in themselves to some extent. The deity bestows the power upon the character. This actually works pretty well for a player who wants to play a cleric for a little bit or wants to change out characters every so often. They can actually still play the same character, but if they go with a more martial cleric, they can be a cleric for a little while, lose their faith, and become a fighter.

The cleric in a party generally has one important duty. They generally aren’t going to be your most damage focused and combat focused character, but they have their role in combat as the healer. That’s often the role that a cleric gets stuck into though, and sometimes you don’t want to play your cleric that way. You can be an effective combat character if you want, or you can focus more on being scholarly or on you can be a missionary and focus on charisma based traits.

Mechanically speaking, you are a spell casting class. You are going to want to do well at it and put most of your stats into that. Depending on your Cleric domain it’s also possible that you are going to want to focus on constitution and strength in order to be able to do damage and wade in and tank it in combat, especially in a party with a number of spell casters.

Why would a Cleric join a party?

Well, if you are a missionary, then you’d probably want to have some people protect you as you go along the road, or it might be that you travel with a party in order to give last rites and heal the wounded as a charity. There’s plenty of opportunity to want to find a holy artifact or text that has been lost a long time, and you’re helping them out with what they want to do so that they’ll help you out in the future.

What are some backstories that you could use for a Cleric?

Growing up as party of a cult you’ve spent your life hearing about this evil deity who you’re trying to bring back. It had always been a pretty unimportant part of your life until the deity chose you to be their mouth piece and to look for their resting place. Now you’ve had to get help from other adventurers to aid you in your travels to proselytize and to help you when you’ve figured out where the deities resting place may be.

She was too young to see the tragedy that befell her village, but unfortunately, you don’t get to decide how old you are when your parents, your family, your friends, and your village all burn to the ground. It was shocking that she even survived. Sitting there in the ashes for who knows how long she saw a person coming to her dressed in black. It told her that it wasn’t her time yet, that she would live, and that the person could help her. She now travels around finding lost souls who have for one reason or another been trapped here on the mortal coil and giving them the rest that they deserve but there is an abomination in the land who is bringing back the dead against their wills, and she cannot face it alone.

Growing up in the temple is a wonderful and the deity of love should be known by all. I am a priest and my calling is to spread the love. Who wouldn’t want to feel more loved in their life? I am not one to pick up a sword and road is dangerous. I believe that my deity will save me, but I’m also know that they do not want me to be a fool. I’ve been set to the far reaches of the world, and I will need help to make it there.

When it rains, the crops grow. That’s how it’s always been in my home village and that is the way it should always be. But something has happened, my prayers to my deity seem to be going unheard and the crops are dying, the animals are dying, and I do not know what to do. There has to be some force at work, there has to be some reason for this tribulation, but I am a woman of the cloth and I do not know how to investigate or fight. I am going to need to find assistance before all the crops die and the coffers of the church are too empty to be able to hire good help.

Would you play one of those back stories? What type of cleric have you played before?