About the show

Father and son team, Jay and Jack Oatway, bring together two generations of Dungeons and Dragons experience. They discuss fun, offbeat ways to bring more to the table. From how to create characters that challenge expectations, to building a more well-rounded campaign: tune in for fresh perspectives for players and DMs, whether you are new to the game, or are a seasoned veteran.

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Episodes and Blog Entries

  • Fantasy Robot Wars: Warforged vs Reborn

    Episode  |  July 16th, 2021  |  31 mins 28 secs
    adding flavor, races, reborn, steal this character, subverting tropes, tips, warforged, weirdness

    This week father and son face off in a showdown to decide which is better: making a robot character using the Warforged race from Eberron, or building one using the Reborn race from Van Richten's Guide. Two robots enter, but only one can prevail!

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    How To Make Boss Fights Properly Tough

    Episode  |  July 13th, 2021  |  48 mins 7 secs
    adding flavor, boss fight, combat, three pillars, tips, weirdness

    Are your players chewing up and spitting out your tough monsters? Does a deadly level CR seem like a walk in the park? Are you regretting letting everyone have magic items? Fear not, we are here to help you fix that. We look at ways to go beyond simply turning your big boss into a big bag of hit points -- and instead turn it into a fight that makes everyone feel like a hero.

  • How To Use Traps in Your Game

    Episode  |  July 1st, 2021  |  55 mins 53 secs
    adding flavor, dms workshop, investigation, three pillars, tips, traps

    Traps have been a part of the D&D experience since its earliest days. But a lot has changed over the years. Join us as we poke at some traps with a 10' pole, and learn how today's best uses of traps can enhance your next adventure

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    Raising the Banneret: Workshopping a Revised Purple Dragon Knight

    Episode  |  June 25th, 2021  |  58 mins 21 secs
    adding flavor, fighter, point buy, revised, steal this character, subverting tropes, support role, tips, weirdness

    There are some subclasses which no one plays because, well, they kind of suck. We often ask what it would take to make them suck less -- but also not to get too overpowered that they make the DM want to pull out their hair. This week both Jay and Jack bring some ideas together on what the Banneret subclass (aka Purple Dragon Knight) is all about (leadership), and how to bring out the best of that theme.

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    The Holy Con Man

    Episode  |  June 18th, 2021  |  43 mins 26 secs
    adding flavor, background occupation, bard, cleric, college of eloquence, steal this character, subverting tropes, tips, weirdness

    Once again we offer a look at how to break out of tired tropes: this time with the Bard. Internet memes would have you believe that these characters only reason to exist is to seduce everything they come in contact with. So we want to go a different direction with this build, what if our bard is really very good at preaching and has found a home within religion -- and not just one religion. In fact, he's talked his way into every religion in town.

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    The Price is Right: Taking the Guessing Out of Magic Item Costs

    Episode  |  June 12th, 2021  |  55 mins 44 secs
    magic items, shopping

    This week we look at how much you should charge for that magic item in the window. We all know that pricing items within the fantasy economy of a D&D campaign can be tricky. As a DM, you are trying to provide a balance between retail realism and just keeping the story moving. And it helps to have some sort of accurate guide for whenever a PC might decide to haggle, which is whenever they go into a shop.

  • Let's Build: Creating a Darklord Using Random Tables

    Episode  |  June 4th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins
    background occupation, darklord, personality traits, random build, steal this character, tips, weirdness

    We dive into a different type of build this week. Instead of making a character, we are building a nemesis for our players -- someone truly evil, someone beyond redemption. Join us as we dig into Chapter 2 of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft and build a Darklord of our own.

  • Two Generations of Dread

    Episode  |  May 28th, 2021  |  1 hr 3 mins
    dm only zone, domains of dread

    We compare some of the Domains of Dread from the recently released Van Richten's Guide to the Domains originally published in Ravenloft: Realm of Terror box set published in 1990, and talk about some ideas for how we might run these as part of a campaign.

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    Once More Unto The Mists

    Episode  |  May 21st, 2021  |  1 hr 3 mins
    exploration, lineages, races, subclasses, van richten's guide

    With the recent release of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, we don't just take you into what this supplement has to offer, we go deeper into The Mists. We offer you Dark Gifts, which come with even Darker Bargains...in exchange for the next hour of your life, we give you the forbidden knowledge that is the Like Dragon Like Son Guide to Ravenloft!

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    Sorcerer Redux: Better With Spell Points

    Episode  |  May 14th, 2021  |  55 mins 42 secs
    adding flavor, point buy, revised, sorcerer, spell points, steal this character, subverting tropes, tips, weirdness

    In the back of the DM's Guide is an often overlooked section about using spell points instead of spell slots. While many dismiss this as too confusing, on closer examination, this might be just the ticket for giving sorcerers that extra love they deserve...that and a few other tweaks, which we discus in this episode.

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    The Raven Ranger: Building the Right Character for The Setting

    Episode  |  May 7th, 2021  |  44 mins 17 secs
    adding flavor, background occupation, ranger, steal this character, subverting tropes, swarm keeper, tips, weirdness

    We all like to build cool, interesting characters. We like breaking tropes, and coming up with original concepts. But often that's not enough. This episode, we look at not just building a good character, we look at building "the right character".

  • You Can't Break the Game, But You Can Break Your Friends

    Episode  |  April 30th, 2021  |  45 mins 1 sec
    breaking the game, having fun, interpersonal conflicts, resolving issues

    Is it possible to break D&D? What does it even mean when someone says, "That's totally broken!"? We investigate this idea and discuss how there is almost nothing, mechanically speaking, that can be introduced to the game that can't be managed somehow. And then we look at the one place where things are not always so easy to manage -- people's feelings. If there is anything that get broken in D&D, it can be hearts. And it can be friendships. We talk about how to prevent that from happening, and how to play the most fun-even-if-it-is-unbalanced-and-weird game of D&D.

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    Turning a Old Subclass Into New Gold

    Episode  |  April 23rd, 2021  |  55 mins 56 secs
    adding flavor, cleric, forge domain, steal this character, subverting tropes, tips, weirdness

    This week we hope to inspire you to re-examine subclass features you may have overlooked. We take a second look at a the Forge Domain Cleric, and in particular their unique Channel Divinity. Join us as we discuss how our Kobold cleric build would potentially generate hundreds of gold coin per day, just through an act of devotion to their diety.

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    Putting More Dragon in Your Next Character Build

    Episode  |  April 16th, 2021  |  1 hr 6 mins
    dragonborn, kobolds, spells, steal this character, subverting tropes, unearthed arcana

    With the recent drop of new Unearthed Arcana focusing on draconic options, this week we unpack all the new ways that you can now boost your character's dragon ancestry. We discuss how we might choose between Chromatic, Metallic and Gem dragon lineages. We look at how you can build a "dragon-touched" race using custom lineage and the new dragon feats. And we unpack the lore surrounding some new dragon-inspired spells.

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    Beyond Beast Mode: Getting the Most Out of Wild Shape

    Episode  |  April 9th, 2021  |  1 hr 2 mins
    adding flavor, druid, steal this character, subverting tropes, tips, weirdness, wild shape

    Druids are well known for being able to take the form animals, but recent additions to the rules provide new uses for the Wild Shape feature. From magical bow and arrows to fiery elemental companions, join us as we look at how the new features are transforming the way we can play Druids.

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    Part 2: The Great Outer Planes Travel Guide

    Episode  |  April 2nd, 2021  |  1 hr 5 mins
    adding flavor, exploration, outer planes, three pillars, tips, weirdness

    Need some warmer weather? Maybe some extreme sports to satisfy your need for adrenaline? Why not head to the fabulous Outer Planes? Perhaps try you luck at some of the Lower Planes. Can't decide which? Don't worry, we've got you covered -- plus some great tips on how to use the Outlands to build you next character's back story.