DM Zalgariath

This forest spirit can charm anything. Undead. Fiends. Your ranger’s wolf companion. At will — every single turn. In 2025, the Dryad quietly became the most dangerous CR 1 in the Monster Manual. This one’s a bit special. It’s my contribution to Monster Week: Fey — an annual community event from Ginny Di and Pointy Hat, bringing TTRPG creators together around a shared theme. This year, obviously, it’s fey — go check the whole lineup out.

Today, we’re looking at the two evocation heavyweights of the 3rd-level spell slot. The iconic. The explosive. The friendship-ending… Fireball and Lightning Bolt. Which boom stick is right for you?

Heroes of the Borderlands, D&D’s new Starter Set for 5e24 is out, and it is MASSIVE. It is easily the best designed beginners tutorial I think the game has ever seen, and with D&D being such a complex and customisable experience, that is a great thing. But despite its girthy size and hefty weight, this mighty tome of a box set is still missing 3 things which I think would have elevated it from a 9 to a 10 out of 10 experience. So what are they are how can we fix it?