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- I Cast...Brainstorm issue 10!
I Cast...Brainstorm issue 10!
A weekly newsletter of ideas and advice for D&D Dungeon Masters, players, and fans
Dave Palmer
June 13th, 2025
In partnership with
Yay! Our 10th newsletter, and on Friday the 13th as well. Cool!
This week — Creative Skill Checks, 3 Helpful NPCs, and a Wilderness Encounter
Thanks for reading I Cast…Brainstorm!, a weekly newsletter with ideas and advice to help make DM-ing and playing D&D (and other TTRPGs) easier and more fun.
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Let’s brainstorm some fun!
In this issue...
Creative Skill Checks
Most TTRPGs use skill checks in some form or another, and in D&D 5e, there are eighteen distinct skills players can be proficient in — usually chosen at character creation through species, class and background choices, although things like magic items, multi-classing and even down-time training can allow a character to become proficient in additional skills.
Each of the skills is keyed to a specific attribute, which helps determine how good the character is at that skill, but consider this —
As a player or a DM, you can uncouple attributes from skills whenever you like, to create different combinations for specific and unique situations, or to let characters shine in different ways, or any other reason.
For example —
Instead of Charisma (Performance) — Intelligence (Performance)
If your character is really smart, this could be a way to show off their big brain, by rattling off facts, doing complicated math in their head to impress the king, or winning a spelling bee…in orcish.
Instead of Wisdom (Animal Handling) — Strength (Animal Handling) or Charisma (Animal Handling)
A physically powerful character can try to calm an overly aggressive dog, or control a bucking horse with their strength. Or perhaps a highly charismatic character could create a connection with an injured lion, getting close enough to pull a thorn from its paw.
Instead of Intelligence (Religion) — Wisdom (Religion)
Instead of knowing facts about a religion, or divine magic, or creatures from the elemental planes of good or evil, a wise character could use their intuition to understand an esoteric religious tenet or koan, or to get a feel for how well a course of action would align with a goddess’ known principles.
Instead of Charisma (Intimidation) — Dexterity (Intimidation)
Flawlessly balancing a dagger on the end of one finger while you ask a captured soldier questions could be enough to convince them to loosen their tongues willingly.
Instead of Strength (Athletics) — Constitution (Athletics)
This could be useful combination if your character needs to win an endurance race, or a drinking contest against the champion of a barbarian tribe.
The combinations, (and the unusual circumstances that justify them), are endless.
3 Helpful NPCs
Here are three helpful NPCs if your players, or their characters, need a hand.
Stel Dran the Dauntless
Elderly N druid — laconic, stern, kind
Stel is a legend to local townsfolk — incredibly tall, wearing armor made of ironwood, and accompanied by his faithful giant weasel named Bolt, he patrols the wilds in a wide swath, and woe to anyone he catches causing unnecessary harm to the flora or fauna under his protection.
Fibber
Child CG commoner — observant, lonely, honest
The name Fibber, bestowed by the other street-kids in town, is an inside joke — the youngster has never been known to tell a lie. Small and thin, Fibber survives by begging outside various inns and taverns, and if the PCs show any kindness to her at all, she’ll follow them at a distance, working up the courage to make an offer — information about events and people around town, in return for food or a safe place to sleep.
Hawyll Colcannon
Young adult LG mage apprentice — stubborn, inquisitive, sarcastic
Hawyll is a young mage-in-training that’s too impatient to stay cooped up in a stuffy wizards’s tower with his mentor. Especially interested in ancient cultures and lost magic, he can often be found exploring ruins with his pack stuffed overfull with notebooks and drawings, and (rarely) with a powerful item of ancient magic he’s obtained through great risk to himself and anyone else around.
A Wilderness Encounter
DMs — this is a small encounter you can drop into the wilderness as a warning, as an additional challenge for your players, or as an opportunity to drop useful items or information into the world.
The Silent Campsite
The PCs stumble on a recent, and recently destroyed, campsite.
Suddenly, there is a campsite up ahead, close enough that you immediately question why you didn’t hear or smell it before now. As you approach, you begin to understand why.
A circle of stones that once served as the boundary of a once tidy campfire have been scattered about the area, and the fire is nothing more than ash. The remains of three tents are arranged in a half circle around the cold campfire. Only one is still pegged to the ground, slashed and torn on both sides to reveal a shredded bedroll inside. The remains of backpacks and other gear are strewn about in a wide area.
The campsite is recent — all of the items are contemporary, and worn from use.
If it works for your world, campaign and game, you can add evidence of a battle — bloodstains in the ruined tents, tracks and scuffs in the earth around the campfire, and things like that.
There could be a ghost or poltergeist in the area — the angry spirit of one of the campers who will defend the area, and could be put to rest by the characters. Or perhaps a hidden survivor from either the attackers or defenders.
Investigation and Perception checks can illuminate details about the battle, turn up discarded weapons or magic items, reveal tracks of attackers or survivors as they fled the area, and discover clues that could lead the party deeper into your story.
Brainstorming Links
If you love D&D and other RPGs as much as I do, you probably already know about the folks below, who are real inspirations to me. If you haven’t already, please check ‘em out!
The Arcane Library — masterpiece adventures, and Shadowdark, too!
https://www.thearcanelibrary.com
The Angry DM — so angry….so many great ideas….
https://www.thearcanelibrary.com
DMDave — on point analysis of D&D rules, and a ton of fun ideas
https://bsky.app/profile/dmdave.bsky.social
RPGBot — whip smart critique and explanations of 5e rules
https://rpgbot.net/
Sly Flourish — a DM’s best friend who is also a better DM
https://www.slyflourish.com/
Treantmonk — years of helpful advice and clever ideas
https://www.youtube.com/@TreantmonksTemple
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What I’m DM-ing
A weekly Curse of Strahd campaign via Roll20 using 2014 5th edition rules
A weekly Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign, in-person, with 2024 5th edition rules
A series of one-shots in a bi-weekly game at a bar in LA
Two different campaigns with my kids, (Rime and Storm Kings Thunder) when schedules align
What I’m Playing
A 5th ed. Dragonlance campaign as a 9th level Tinker Gnome Gadgeteer Rogue, named Professor Flondersnoot
About to start playing Vecna: Eve of Ruin as Clybb Thistlebridge, a 9th level Halfling great-weapon Fighter
And in all my free time, I play a LOT of Hearthstone!
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The original ideas in this issue of I Cast….Brainstorm! are covered under the Creative Commons BY-SA license — all content is free to use (including commercially) and change, with proper attribution.
You can read about the license here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
