Cobbler’s tools. Weaver’s tools. Glassblowing. There are a host of proficiencies that are part of building a character in D&D that seem strange at first for someone who is going out on adventures. For a lot of players, it just becomes something that you picked during character creation. We’ve come to call these the “orphan” proficiencies.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to discuss how they utilize these proficiencies in games, and even if you should, or if you just pass over these proficiencies and get to killing orcs.

3:00 The finite resources that are proficiencies, do you want to use one to be a good leather worker?

6:35 Delving into the use of the orphaned proficiencies really depends on the type of game you’re running and who’s playing.

11:55 You need to allow the space for these types of skills and proficiencies to come into play – it can’t be a race against the ending of the world.

13:05 Approaching it in terms of Peter Parker and Spider-Man… you’ve gotta pay the rent!

14:40 The effectiveness of certain artisan and craft tools over others: would you prefer weavers’ tools or thieves’ tools?

16:55 5e, specifically, has a lot of mechanics to handle most things in game. But these types of proficiencies are more narrative-focused, so don’t be so slavish to the rules and mechanics.

19:40 The players invested some level of thought into these proficiencies… lean into them.

27:00 DM Chris develops the first Skateboarding Fighter.

28:00 To shine the light on these proficiencies, you have to put some thought into building it into the campaign.

32:45 It doesn’t matter how dexterous or intelligent I am… I can’t just play a guitar when I pick it up for the first time.

39:05 Final Thoughts.