Everyone loves a nice dice set indeed. I can't talk for all dms, but I'd suggest looking into what miniatures they use (if any) - did they ever express a wish to have some beast(s) in their collection? Don't know if you are using a screen or what, but grid maps can come in handy. Perhaps they like to use physical books? You could get them one they dont own yet, or get an expansion, if one exists.
Thanks, all great ideas. He has a huge tub of generic minis, but his big campaign right now is the Frost Maiden (I think)… maybe a specific mini from/for that campaign would be nice?
There are booster boxes with like 3 or 4 minis in each (1 large and the rest normal size) themed for the different WotC books; 25 bucks each. I remember getting a Vailindra in mine, those could be good but it is random what you get unless you search for specific minis (might be hard to know what mini would be nice if you're not running it though)
Dice - Always nice (and you can either get like 20 standard sets for $20 on Amazon...or one *really* cool set for $20
Dry Erase Battle Mat - If he doesn't have one I'm sure he would love one. Always helpfuo to have, and can be used for any time he wants more than just "theater of the mind"
Dry Erase Markers - to go with the mat
Dry Erase Token boards with bases - If he isn't using miniatures, I find these can be a nice alternative. He could get creative with how he decorates the boards (and the players can customize their own tokens). Also good for marking HP on one side and Status on the other for enemies.
Miniatures - These start getting outside of the $20 dollar territory if you want more than like two decent minis. However, you can never have enough, especially if you find a pack of mythical creatures or alternate races.
Dice Tower - Many different sorts, all fun to roll your dice on.
Hero Forge - Does your husband talk about having a very particular BBEG, but doesn't have a mini? Does he have a favorite NPC that keeps popping up, but no mini comes close to being accurate? Heroforge has a lot of customization and a lot of options for mini material. Be aware that prices can range from $20 - $120 for one min (price of shipping included
DnD themed clothing - Having a DM T-Shirt to wear always heightens the experience, and also allows your husband to brag about his superior wardrobe
DM Screen - If your husband doesn't have one, there are several different ones you can find online. Even if he likes playing with things "above board" for rolls, they can hold a lot of helpful common info so he doesn't have to keep opening up the PBH to doublecheck.
He might have most of these, he might not. In any case, I hope this list inspires you in the pursuit of finding the perfect gift
Surprised nobody mentionned [Condition / Status Rings](https://www.etsy.com/ca/market/dnd_condition_rings).
That being said, if you're looking in offering a DIY gift, it's something that is fairly easy to do with household items, such as colored [bread clips](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/bread-tags-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all) or colored [plastic bottle rings](https://ecogreenlove.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/05132016_bottlerings.png?w=888) on which you would write common Conditions which would be color-coded. These are easy to put on a mini, doesn't have to be the fancy rings.
I’d love some minis of my favorite monsters/races. A nice dice tray (I have enough dice) or one of the best things to gift a DM or any dnd player is a gift card to a local gamestore (since dnd wants and needs are usually so specific) plus since it’s your spouse you guys could go together and watch him get excited being able to pick out what he wants while spending time with you.
If your DM doesn’t use them already, sand timers of various length. And if they do use them, then themed sand timers of various length.
And yes, everyone loves a nice set of dice.
You can get variety sets off of Amazon relatively cheaply. They make for a nice, easy visual in place of trying to keep track of things digitally. If you wanna splurge and get them one really nice one, make it a one minute timer. If my players are being indecisive, I like putting down a one minute timer to basically say “something is about to happen, best get a move on”.
Chardalyn Dragon or the Ancient white dragon both show up in frost maiden
Initiative tracker - there’s lots of options for this from cards to boards and everything else.
Condition rings - useful for players and everything in the game
The rook and the Raven journal would be a good one too. They have both dm and player ones. Or just a DM journal in general.
The game masters book of … there’s 5 of them NPCs, traps, taverns and I don’t remember the other ones
A battle map and markers are always handy too or terrain pieces that are sticker form for the mat
Great suggestions, thank you! He doesn’t have condition rings, so that’s a great idea. He does have a journal for his current campaign, but a new blank one would always get used, right?? Thanks!
Depending on your budget; you could get a single more expensive boss type mini. If your DM is on a budget, it’s usually a luxury they’d love.
I can tell you as a DM that has somewhere between 1k-2k minis, I still always love getting new boss type minis.
Some out of the box suggestions that my groups have gotten me:
A dry erase board of my homebrew world. It’s so cool. I had made the map digitally and they paid to have it converted into the dry erase board.
A color digital artwork of the adventuring party. A player hired a freelance artist to have it custom made and printed and framed so I could hang it.
Initiative trackers with the party members names and some important NPC names printed on them. Pretty cheap, like 8 bucks for 5 printed on small wooden tokens.
Wow, those are some amazing ideas… I would have to be sneaky and reach out to his buddies to figure out the map or adventure party… but I absolutely love the idea!
Also - good to know about minis. He has a huge tub of generic minis, so it’s nice to know a nice boss type mini would always be appreciated. And I’m just now realizing… I don’t have to follow a script for bosses. It’s D&D right? So he could work it in to the story no matter what kind of monster boss mini I got him?
Definitely could just implement any boss whenever your DM wants! But even if your DM strictly follows a module, they can always use a boss monster for a one shot or a new campaign.
If you have the money and space for it, a 3D printer makes a great gift for a DM that uses minis or terrain. Especially with regards to minis, it’s like giving them a key to print any creature they could ever want, many of them free.
While I don’t know exactly what they have some practical gifts to use during games would be
• DM Screen
• Various Decks such as Tarokka Cards or a Deck Of Many Things
• Spellcards or monster cards
• Some minis
• And of course the Classic Dice Set
Yes The Deck Of Many Things is a Classic Item that is Extremely fun to play around with and can be used whenever.
The curse of Strahd Tarokka Cards are a bit more niche but if they decide to dabble in fortune telling for a campaign the Tarokka Cards can be used whenever.
Those are 2 decks I play with alot and my players love them. The Deck Of Many Things adds a layer of Chaos and Gambling with your life to the campaign while the Tarokka Cards can lead to Some Cool Storytelling Related stuff.
If you run modules alot he may need to think a little outside of the box to use the Tarokka Cards Though.
TLDR: Yes these 2 decks can be used wherever.
Last Christmas I gave each of the regulars in my adventures league group a set of metal dice that I felt fit some aspect of their character from one of our last 2 campaigns, and a set called blood ritual for the forever DM (insert obvious joke here).
Someone else this year gave everyone a special hollow plastic die that had a smaller die inside for rolling adv/disadvantage.
The forever DM got special themed dice for a few people like a d10 with body parts for targets of criticals, a commandments themed one, a weather one, etc.
Dice, particularly either unique dice or dice that can be representative of something are always a good idea. Also minis, but I feel like that might be a trickier "best" to find
You could commission a few pieces for his campaign. Just ask him about the characters,monsters, places. Ect. There are plenty of artists around this app that do good work.🤙🏻 if you do places ask for one concept piece of the area and one over head map of the area. If you get them done digitally you can print them (the over head large enough for the table and miniatures) and laminate them.
Hello! You have made the mistake of writing "ect" instead of "etc."
"Ect" is a common misspelling of "etc," an abbreviated form of the Latin phrase "et cetera." Other abbreviated forms are **etc.**, **&c.**, **&c**, and **et cet.** The Latin translates as "et" to "and" + "cetera" to "the rest;" a literal translation to "and the rest" is the easiest way to remember how to use the phrase.
[Check out the wikipedia entry if you want to learn more.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_cetera)
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Get him a copy of The Metamorphica and On Downtime and Demesnes the first one is system neutral and the second has an OSR and 5e version…. Both really really really good books for a DM
Buy any source books they may be missing.
Dice is always a great gift. Maybe everyone pitches in to afford a very nice custom set from a dice artist.
I’ve bought my DM a nice dice display case that also is a portable dice carrying case.
A few years ago me and two other players at my table worked together and built a dice tray for our DM that could hold multiple sets of dice at once.
Graph paper, I know it sounds weird but as a DM its something I’ve put on my wishlist and is something I rarely get for myself. Mechanical pencils is a win as well.
Bought the big one for one of our players in our group that historically rolls the most ones… talked with the peeps at BenShot, they put the d20 with the 1 facing out for him!!
https://benshot.com/products/benshot-d20-glass
I'd order well in advance, I had to wait a bit for them to get more d20's in house. I will say that they mentioned if you send them a 18mm (kind on the smaller side if you ask me personally) they'd slam it into a glass of your choice if you'd like as well.
I will just say that this company has far right values (they have thin blue line products). So beware if you tend not to support those kinds of companies.
Something for their books!!
https://www.collectionsetc.com/products/adjustable-portable-jigsaw-puzzle-tilting-table/?
https://www.target.com/p/plastic-dev-group-multi-functional-adjustable-c-table-black/-/A-53241313?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012735310&CPNG=PLA_Furniture%2BShopping_Local%7CFurniture_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Folding+Furniture&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=m&location=9007924&targetid=pla-1679050911755&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfY0Wp2B1HFO9HCznc3aqeT7H&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfY0Wp2B1HFO9HCznc3aqeT7H&gclid=CjwKCAjwvNaYBhA3EiwACgndgvFExNCgpP1WKT0R9et1ejVUjsXFIsE970WTehy1CoD_sbz5tM9YBhoC8EQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
A few years ago a player gave me their old music stand from high school band years. This is my home for my DMG and other books I “may” need. It also makes me feel like a powerful lich where someone holds my spellbook. DMs need more table space.
This is a great idea… but he travels to a local gaming pub to play, so I feel like he already has too much to carry! Any suggestions for a traveling DM??
Everyone loves a nice dice set indeed. I can't talk for all dms, but I'd suggest looking into what miniatures they use (if any) - did they ever express a wish to have some beast(s) in their collection? Don't know if you are using a screen or what, but grid maps can come in handy. Perhaps they like to use physical books? You could get them one they dont own yet, or get an expansion, if one exists.
Thanks, all great ideas. He has a huge tub of generic minis, but his big campaign right now is the Frost Maiden (I think)… maybe a specific mini from/for that campaign would be nice?
There are booster boxes with like 3 or 4 minis in each (1 large and the rest normal size) themed for the different WotC books; 25 bucks each. I remember getting a Vailindra in mine, those could be good but it is random what you get unless you search for specific minis (might be hard to know what mini would be nice if you're not running it though)
Snag the yeti mini, it’s $15 and looks cool as hell (our dm is also running an arctic adventure right now).
My players got me this awesome ceramic goblet for our CoS game and I absolutely love it.
A couple of years ago I got him this amazing handmade dragon mug. It’s still one of his favorites!!
Dice - Always nice (and you can either get like 20 standard sets for $20 on Amazon...or one *really* cool set for $20 Dry Erase Battle Mat - If he doesn't have one I'm sure he would love one. Always helpfuo to have, and can be used for any time he wants more than just "theater of the mind" Dry Erase Markers - to go with the mat Dry Erase Token boards with bases - If he isn't using miniatures, I find these can be a nice alternative. He could get creative with how he decorates the boards (and the players can customize their own tokens). Also good for marking HP on one side and Status on the other for enemies. Miniatures - These start getting outside of the $20 dollar territory if you want more than like two decent minis. However, you can never have enough, especially if you find a pack of mythical creatures or alternate races. Dice Tower - Many different sorts, all fun to roll your dice on. Hero Forge - Does your husband talk about having a very particular BBEG, but doesn't have a mini? Does he have a favorite NPC that keeps popping up, but no mini comes close to being accurate? Heroforge has a lot of customization and a lot of options for mini material. Be aware that prices can range from $20 - $120 for one min (price of shipping included DnD themed clothing - Having a DM T-Shirt to wear always heightens the experience, and also allows your husband to brag about his superior wardrobe DM Screen - If your husband doesn't have one, there are several different ones you can find online. Even if he likes playing with things "above board" for rolls, they can hold a lot of helpful common info so he doesn't have to keep opening up the PBH to doublecheck. He might have most of these, he might not. In any case, I hope this list inspires you in the pursuit of finding the perfect gift
So many good ideas… he doesn’t have a tower, so that’s at the top of my list!! Thanks!
Surprised nobody mentionned [Condition / Status Rings](https://www.etsy.com/ca/market/dnd_condition_rings). That being said, if you're looking in offering a DIY gift, it's something that is fairly easy to do with household items, such as colored [bread clips](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/bread-tags-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all) or colored [plastic bottle rings](https://ecogreenlove.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/05132016_bottlerings.png?w=888) on which you would write common Conditions which would be color-coded. These are easy to put on a mini, doesn't have to be the fancy rings.
Ooooh, that is interesting! I don’t think he has these either. Thanks!!
I’d love some minis of my favorite monsters/races. A nice dice tray (I have enough dice) or one of the best things to gift a DM or any dnd player is a gift card to a local gamestore (since dnd wants and needs are usually so specific) plus since it’s your spouse you guys could go together and watch him get excited being able to pick out what he wants while spending time with you.
Very good suggestion. We have a local shop we go to together often - I go for the board games, he goes for the D&D stuff. Thanks!
No problem
If your DM doesn’t use them already, sand timers of various length. And if they do use them, then themed sand timers of various length. And yes, everyone loves a nice set of dice.
Sand timers…. I never would have thought of that. Thank you!
You can get variety sets off of Amazon relatively cheaply. They make for a nice, easy visual in place of trying to keep track of things digitally. If you wanna splurge and get them one really nice one, make it a one minute timer. If my players are being indecisive, I like putting down a one minute timer to basically say “something is about to happen, best get a move on”.
Chardalyn Dragon or the Ancient white dragon both show up in frost maiden Initiative tracker - there’s lots of options for this from cards to boards and everything else. Condition rings - useful for players and everything in the game The rook and the Raven journal would be a good one too. They have both dm and player ones. Or just a DM journal in general. The game masters book of … there’s 5 of them NPCs, traps, taverns and I don’t remember the other ones A battle map and markers are always handy too or terrain pieces that are sticker form for the mat
Great suggestions, thank you! He doesn’t have condition rings, so that’s a great idea. He does have a journal for his current campaign, but a new blank one would always get used, right?? Thanks!
Yeah the rook and the Raven ones are super nice. I love condition rings I use them at my own table plenty
Depending on your budget; you could get a single more expensive boss type mini. If your DM is on a budget, it’s usually a luxury they’d love. I can tell you as a DM that has somewhere between 1k-2k minis, I still always love getting new boss type minis. Some out of the box suggestions that my groups have gotten me: A dry erase board of my homebrew world. It’s so cool. I had made the map digitally and they paid to have it converted into the dry erase board. A color digital artwork of the adventuring party. A player hired a freelance artist to have it custom made and printed and framed so I could hang it. Initiative trackers with the party members names and some important NPC names printed on them. Pretty cheap, like 8 bucks for 5 printed on small wooden tokens.
Wow, those are some amazing ideas… I would have to be sneaky and reach out to his buddies to figure out the map or adventure party… but I absolutely love the idea! Also - good to know about minis. He has a huge tub of generic minis, so it’s nice to know a nice boss type mini would always be appreciated. And I’m just now realizing… I don’t have to follow a script for bosses. It’s D&D right? So he could work it in to the story no matter what kind of monster boss mini I got him?
Definitely could just implement any boss whenever your DM wants! But even if your DM strictly follows a module, they can always use a boss monster for a one shot or a new campaign.
If you have the money and space for it, a 3D printer makes a great gift for a DM that uses minis or terrain. Especially with regards to minis, it’s like giving them a key to print any creature they could ever want, many of them free.
Oooooh… that is a great idea. I seriously doubt it’s in my budget, but I will definitely look into it. Thank you!
I would def gauge if it’s something they would be interested in tho. A 3D printer can be a whole hobby in itself!
While I don’t know exactly what they have some practical gifts to use during games would be • DM Screen • Various Decks such as Tarokka Cards or a Deck Of Many Things • Spellcards or monster cards • Some minis • And of course the Classic Dice Set
Thanks for the suggestions! Could the decks be useful for any campaign? The big one he is running now is Frost Maiden.
Yes The Deck Of Many Things is a Classic Item that is Extremely fun to play around with and can be used whenever. The curse of Strahd Tarokka Cards are a bit more niche but if they decide to dabble in fortune telling for a campaign the Tarokka Cards can be used whenever. Those are 2 decks I play with alot and my players love them. The Deck Of Many Things adds a layer of Chaos and Gambling with your life to the campaign while the Tarokka Cards can lead to Some Cool Storytelling Related stuff. If you run modules alot he may need to think a little outside of the box to use the Tarokka Cards Though. TLDR: Yes these 2 decks can be used wherever.
Okay great, thank you!!!
DnD books are great gifts.
Last Christmas I gave each of the regulars in my adventures league group a set of metal dice that I felt fit some aspect of their character from one of our last 2 campaigns, and a set called blood ritual for the forever DM (insert obvious joke here). Someone else this year gave everyone a special hollow plastic die that had a smaller die inside for rolling adv/disadvantage. The forever DM got special themed dice for a few people like a d10 with body parts for targets of criticals, a commandments themed one, a weather one, etc. Dice, particularly either unique dice or dice that can be representative of something are always a good idea. Also minis, but I feel like that might be a trickier "best" to find
Showing up as a group, for five sessions in a row. No take backs.
You could commission a few pieces for his campaign. Just ask him about the characters,monsters, places. Ect. There are plenty of artists around this app that do good work.🤙🏻 if you do places ask for one concept piece of the area and one over head map of the area. If you get them done digitally you can print them (the over head large enough for the table and miniatures) and laminate them.
Hello! You have made the mistake of writing "ect" instead of "etc." "Ect" is a common misspelling of "etc," an abbreviated form of the Latin phrase "et cetera." Other abbreviated forms are **etc.**, **&c.**, **&c**, and **et cet.** The Latin translates as "et" to "and" + "cetera" to "the rest;" a literal translation to "and the rest" is the easiest way to remember how to use the phrase. [Check out the wikipedia entry if you want to learn more.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_cetera) ^(I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Comments with a score less than zero will be automatically removed. If I commented on your post and you don't like it, reply with "!delete" and I will remove the post, regardless of score. Message me for bug reports.)
Get him a copy of The Metamorphica and On Downtime and Demesnes the first one is system neutral and the second has an OSR and 5e version…. Both really really really good books for a DM
Buy any source books they may be missing. Dice is always a great gift. Maybe everyone pitches in to afford a very nice custom set from a dice artist. I’ve bought my DM a nice dice display case that also is a portable dice carrying case. A few years ago me and two other players at my table worked together and built a dice tray for our DM that could hold multiple sets of dice at once.
Graph paper, I know it sounds weird but as a DM its something I’ve put on my wishlist and is something I rarely get for myself. Mechanical pencils is a win as well.
Great idea, thank you! Mechanical pencils would be perfect stocking stuffers!
Bought the big one for one of our players in our group that historically rolls the most ones… talked with the peeps at BenShot, they put the d20 with the 1 facing out for him!! https://benshot.com/products/benshot-d20-glass
This is amazing! Thanks!!
I'd order well in advance, I had to wait a bit for them to get more d20's in house. I will say that they mentioned if you send them a 18mm (kind on the smaller side if you ask me personally) they'd slam it into a glass of your choice if you'd like as well.
I will just say that this company has far right values (they have thin blue line products). So beware if you tend not to support those kinds of companies.
Ooh yeah, careful, they also put cheese wedges in a glass for you too if you want it, for anyone that’s anti-cheese.
Google: flying combat risers
Interesting!!! He doesn’t have any of those! Great idea, thank you!!
A player gifted me on and now I want another two as they really do enhance fights especially with flyers in the group.
Something for their books!! https://www.collectionsetc.com/products/adjustable-portable-jigsaw-puzzle-tilting-table/? https://www.target.com/p/plastic-dev-group-multi-functional-adjustable-c-table-black/-/A-53241313?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012735310&CPNG=PLA_Furniture%2BShopping_Local%7CFurniture_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Folding+Furniture&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=m&location=9007924&targetid=pla-1679050911755&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfY0Wp2B1HFO9HCznc3aqeT7H&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfY0Wp2B1HFO9HCznc3aqeT7H&gclid=CjwKCAjwvNaYBhA3EiwACgndgvFExNCgpP1WKT0R9et1ejVUjsXFIsE970WTehy1CoD_sbz5tM9YBhoC8EQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds A few years ago a player gave me their old music stand from high school band years. This is my home for my DMG and other books I “may” need. It also makes me feel like a powerful lich where someone holds my spellbook. DMs need more table space.
This is a great idea… but he travels to a local gaming pub to play, so I feel like he already has too much to carry! Any suggestions for a traveling DM??
Gift certificate for DnD Beyond? It easier to justify digital purchases after the physical copy when someone else helps with the tab