Hello friends, Ginny Di here
And today we are gonna talk about flavor
And no, I'm not talking about the official D&D cookbook
Although I do have a cooking show where I make recipes from it
So check it out in the cards
I'm talking about narrative flavor
Thematic details that don't actually affect the mechanics of gameplay
In my opinion, flavor is one of the best parts
of playing an imaginative role-playing game like D&D
And magic is one of the most fun places to show it off
So today I'm gonna walk you through
how to come up with your own unique flavor for your spellcasting character
Before we get into the how-to, I just want to dig a little deeper into what flavor actually is
The simplest explanation is that flavor is any descriptive element
that doesn't affect the mechanics of play
To be clear, you can flavor a lot more than just spell-casting
You can flavor how your character fights,
what their armor or weapons look like,
how they perform a check or a save
I just want to talk spells today because I think they're super fun to play with
But these suggestions could easily be adapted to flavor other elements of your gameplay
Also flavor is already built into some spells
For example when you cast Chill Touch
It's described right there in the handbook as a ghostly skeletal hand
The way that it looks doesn't have any effect on how you roll your ranged attack
or how much damage you do
It's just flavor
But where it gets really fun is creating your own flavor
For example, when my warlock Aisling looks through the eyes of her familiar
Nightshade the pseudodragon
I describe her own eyes going full black iris and whites
with sort of an oil slick purple sheen like Nightshade's own scales
This is a visual that helps me
and the other players at the table visualize what's happening
And just makes this particular action feel cool and interesting
You don't even have to accept the flavor that the handbook provides
But one crucial part of all of this is that you need to communicate with your DM
Some DMs will be really open to flavor
and others may prefer you to stick a little closer to what's in the handbook
Some may even allow you to change mechanics to suit the flavors
Such as Matt Mercer in Critical Role
allowing Jester's Hellish Rebuke to deal cold damage instead of fire damage
Everything in this video is predicated on the assumption
that you are in communication with your DM
Okay? Okay.
Let's get started
Every spell has components listed
which are just the requirements to cast the spell
Components can be verbal, somatic, or material
These can be a great entry point for figuring out flavor
You might want to describe how you use these components
Or if your spellcaster uses an arcane or divine focus, what that focus looks like
and how they use that
Caleb in Critical Role is a great example of a very literal way
to translate the listed components into flavor description
He always describes pulling a specific material item out of the component pouch
like bat guano for Fireball
and then doing something with it, like rolling it in his fingers
It's a great narrative reminder that Caleb as a wizard, is casting magic through study
He's practiced and prepared for and memorized all of the steps to cast a spell
Since my character Aisling is a warlock she has an arcane focus
which she can use in place of components
So when she casts a spell
I often describe her as reaching up to hold the vial of soil that she wears around her neck
and then performing the somatic gestures with her free hand
For verbal components
ask yourself what exactly is your character saying when they cast a spell
Maybe Aisling, since her patron is fae, speaks her spells in Sylvan
the language of the fae
If you play a bard, you may ask what verbal component of Hideous Laughter
is perceived by the target as being so funny
Speaking of which, allow me to shamelessly plug my Tasha's Hideous Laughter video
from last week
which contains 50 terrible D&D jokes that would be perfect flavor for casting that spell
If a spell does damage
you can look to the damaged type for ideas on how to flavor that damage
For example if a spell does fire damage, where does that fire come from?
How does it move? What color is it?
Maybe your character speaks a few words of power
and their material components ignite in their hand and then they toss it towards their target
When it hits it explodes into a mass of arcane green flames
Or maybe they simply extend their hand to point at their target
And the ground beneath them begins to glimmer with embers
before snake-like streams of licking flames rise up from the earth to circle their body
Aisling's patron is a homebrew archfey called the woman of the soil
She has the spell Chill Touch which deals necrotic damage
So to combine that death energy with the soil theme of her magic
I thought of grave dirt, I thought of people being buried in the ground
Instead of one big ghost hand like the spell describes
I imagine lots of crumbling little hands formed of dirt
and rotting bits of plant matter
emerging from the ground and clutching at the target's feet and clothes
Like they're trying to drag them down into the earth
If it suits your character
This might be a place that your DM could allow you to make changes to the damage type
As long as they don't think that it's going to seriously skew how effective the spell is
But that's starting to get into homebrew territory which some DMs just may not be into
So remember that you can still flavor damage without actually making mechanical changes
If you want your multi-class wizard/cleric to cast a fireball
that appears as a glowing golden burst of divine energy you can still describe it that way
even if it deals fire damage
If you're feeling like there is a lot to keep track of while playing D&D
I feel you
Not only is it hard to take notes while playing
But it's even harder to take notes that are organized enough to go back and reference later
That's why 1985 Games has sponsored this video
to share their newest Kickstarter: Dungeon Notes
These simple little journals are designed to make it as easy as possible
to take and revisit organized notes
There's a player's journal for your character sheet, spells, items, and session notes
complete with a customizable index
And even a little tracker for crafting or skill training
where you can log how many hours you've put in towards specific goals
For DMs you can use the session notes journal
to keep track of your players' AC, passive perception, and max hit points
or to jot down stat blocks and sketch out maps
Plus, grab the campaign notes journal to keep track of larger scale info
like your world's deities, and factions,
historical timelines, and important locations and NPCs
For more flexible or disposable notes
They have also designed these little sticky note pads
So that DMs can keep track of things like initiative order or last minute NPCs
And players can easily keep tabs on hit points and spell slots session by session
Instead of constantly erasing and rewriting on your character sheet
If you've been interested in D&D journals before
but found it difficult to justify the price point
especially for multiple characters
you are going to love how accessible dungeon notes is
Check out their Kickstarter at the link in the description to learn more
and make your own pledge
Most spells are available to multiple classes
But that doesn't mean the spell has to look the same
when used by casters who draw their magic from very different sources
Thinking about where your class gets their magic
can inform how they might cast each spell differently
For example, Pass Without Trace would probably look very different for a ranger
than it looks for a druid
For a ranger, Pass Without Trace might mean that they're familiar enough with the land
that they can lead their party through areas that are quieter or darker
They have a magically granted understanding
of which plants will rustle loudly when disturbed
or which types of dirt will retain clear footprints
which animals will cry out when they see a person
Meanwhile a druid's version of Pass Without Trace might mean that nature shapes itself
around your party as they travel
Twigs choosing to snap more quietly beneath your feet
A slight breeze causing the shadows of leaves to shift to conceal your passage
Aisling is a multi-class warlock/druid but she was a warlock first
and her druidic origin is still tied to her warlock patron
So I tend to flavor even her druid spells with sort of a dark, spooky, warlock-y feel
You can also bring elements of your character's personality into how they cast spells
Are they really showy and attention seeking?
Maybe they speak their verbal components in a booming voice
make grand gestures
Maybe there are effects that come alongside the spell that are purely for show
Or if they're shy, they might whisper or mumble their verbal components
And perform more subtle gestures
If they get angry easily they might be the type to hurl their spells
Or deliver them with martial looking strikes
Or maybe the magic itself is red and orange and aggressive looking
If they're a very precise detail-oriented person
Their spell casting might be very intricate
or the magic might manifest itself in geometric patterns
If you're not sure what your character's personality is
I have a video to help with that, you can check it out in the cards
Aesthetic and theme can come into play here too
For example, Aisling has flowers growing from her hair
So when she wildshapes
there are also flowers growing from the fur or feathers of whatever creature she's turned into
Digging into your character's history can also inform their spell casting
How did they learn these spells?
If they learned magic in a school or in some sort of structured way
They might be methodical and do the same thing every time
A spellcaster like that might warm up each morning
practice their somatic movements in the evenings before bed
they may even mutter the memorized steps to themselves
or count them as they cast
If their spell attack misses it might be described as them forgetting or mispronouncing a word
Their community or geographic location can also have an impact
Maybe a caster who was raised in a sea-faring community
sings or chants their verbal components
like a sea shanty a work song to time their rowing to
Or maybe a caster raised by a militant tribe or clan
learned to channel their magic through weapons
Aisling learned her magic while living in a community
that judged and shunned her adoptive mother who was labeled as a witch
So her magic in some ways comes from a place of shame
She's never going to be a showy caster
because she grew up believing that magic was something to hide and feel guilty about
I imagine this means that she speaks verbal components quietly
She probably hunches and turns away from people while making somatic gestures
In the end, as long as the mechanics stay the same
you do not have to do the same things that everyone else is doing
Have a perpetually sniffly character who cast spells by sneezing
Cast ranged spells by folding your components into a paper airplane and throwing it
Make all of your verbal components worthless yells
Cast spells through dance
Do whatever sounds fun and interesting to you
I feel like I always say this, but it's a game
And better yet, it's a game where we have total control over how it's played
So why not do crazy things?
D&D is the absolute last place you should be thinking inside the box
I'd love to hear about how you flavor your spells and actions in the comments
And as always if you have any tabletop gaming or character building questions
that you would like me to answer, please let me know!