My home is full of stuff I don’t need, but I own anyway, simply because I want it. Sure, all I need is the Player’s Handbook and a single set of polyhedrals but I sure as heck intend to load up on more and more accouterment for my D&D games.
If you like your stuff the way I like my stuff, then read on. This is a list of 7 wholly superfluous items that nevertheless are awesome and will trick out your D&D games.
A List of Totally Unnecessary Yet Totally Awesome D&D Accessories
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Magnetic Bases
This is a little upgrade idea I picked up from a DM at a recent convention. The magnetic markers from Alea Tools are a wholly unnecessary addition, but a nonetheless welcome one.
The one inch markers come in an array of colors, including red, orange, and yellow. Sized just right for a standard mini, you can use the markers to indicate damage level. If someone just has a simple flesh wound, slap a yellow marker on the mini. If the character is mostly dead, use a red.
Colors are great for differentiating similar type baddies, while other can be used to indicate conditions, like dazed or poisoned. They aren’t throwaway-cheap, but they are high quality and will get years of use in games. Get them here.
Bento Boxes
Bento Boxes are the hip lunch box at hip lunch environments everywhere. Perhaps it’s because they originated in Japan, which automatically makes them cooler. Honestly, I don’t know why; I just know I want one to store pens, dice, and minis.
Bento Boxes come in all shapes and sizes. And with the varying patterns and colors, they can really be tricked out and personalized. You can certainly find one to fit your taste.
I know carved wooden boxes are also a trendy option to store D&D items, but they can be pretty spendy as well. Why not pick out a Bento for your minis and dice?
Spell Effect Area Templates
Spell Effect Templates are quite fun to have around. I’m assuming you have spell cards, so don’t continue reading until you make sure you do. But after spell cards, area effect templates are the next best thing for spell casters.
You know those spells that suggest a 15 foot wide cone or an area of effect with a 10 foot radius? Yeah, those. Then you spend half your table time counting out squares to determine which characters are actually within the spell range.
Spell templates mitigate that by allowing you to plop down a plastic signifier for a fireball area of effect. BOOM! It’s good, clean fun.
You can buy a set of spell templates from Ark Knight for about $40. But crafty types can make their own make cutting the templates out of transparency sheets or some other such material. Have at it.
Flight Stands
Flight Stands by LITKO are wholly unnecessary but what the heck.
When a character casts flight, it has always been difficult to represent that with your minis. Lots of gamers use an empty Chessex box and set the flying mini on top of that. LITKO takes that idea to a whole new level (pun intended).
LITKO Flight Stands aren’t sturdy. In fact, they are pretty delicately made, so be careful with them. Still, it’s fun to be able to represent flying creatures or PCs in your game.
They are available via Amazon or you can visit LITKO online and also search through their other tokens, markers, and accessories.
Paper Folios
Paper Folios are perfect for holding a character sheet, a couple pens, and maybe a set of dice or two. I love them to organize ether thing you need for a single character that is taken on the go.
I have a few clear project folio cases that have a little snap on the side. They fit a standard letter size character sheet, with plenty of extra room for a couple pencils and scratch paper. It’s super handy because you can keep everything for a single character stored in there, then stack the folios if you get one for each of your characters.
There are slender versions as well. A pro maneuver are the versions of the folios that have two little extensions on each side that allow them to be hung in a file cabinet. Imagine a whole file cabinet of D&D characters! Excuse me, my eyes are getting misty.
Arcane Note
Arcane Note is a fun journal that was just Kickstarted and will be available for purchase soon. In fact, we wrote a whole post about the Arcane Note, so I’ll point you there if you want detailed information.
The short story is it’s a leather portfolio that is filled with all sorts of helpful tools at the table. There are condition cards, a dice tray, grid paper, and more.
Everything is beautifully designed so you feel like you are treating your character to a spa day when you use the Arcane Note at your table.
You can find it here. Bonus: they also have some sweet “potion” bottles on their site!
Spice Rack
A spice rack is not a typical item for use in a D&D game, but I’m hoping to change that, ’cause it’s spicy time. (I regret that joke. Not gonna chance it though.)
Each bottle from the spice rack I purchased could be used to store one standard set of 7 polyhedrals (plus a couple extra dice).
I had my daughters sort out a couple of bags of bulk dice to find full sets, then we went to spicy town, loading up the rack.
It looks fun on my desk. And if I need to grab a full set of dice, I just grab a bottle, which is easy to see because I spun the bottles around to let the dice shine through the clear portion. Get your spice rack here.
We keep out lists to 7 here at Nerds on Earth, so I’m cutting myself off. But there is a host of other products you can get to personalize your D&D experience. Head over to Facebook and share what you use! We’d love to see it. In fact, if you are a merchant with a product, consider this as an invitation to share what you have to offer. We might not need anything other than the PHB in our games, but we sure do want it.
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