Greetings and welcome to a series of several WizKids reviews! As the official source for many Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder products, WizKids is a name many Game Masters know.
As a hub for professional Game Masters, StartPlaying is always on the lookout for the coolest new tools and toys to enhance our sessions. Recently, WizKids sent us several of their products to review. There’s an eclectic mix here, so we broke them down in quick bits so that you can peruse and get back to rolling dice!
DnD PHB 2024 Book Tabs
What you see is what you get here – adhesive acrylic tabs that stick to the pages of your DnD rulebook. We got three sets of these, one for each of the 2024 Core Rulebooks. The pre-written tabs cover the smart, and obvious, choices. There are big tabs for each chapter and smaller tabs for important subsections, all color coded. The Player’s Handbook tabs, for instance, have matching color tags for each subclass and others for frequently checked options like Feats.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide tabs similarly break down each chapter and subsection, which is particularly helpful when delving into the details of Bastions and magic items. The nster Manual tabs are mostly alphabetized ranges of monster names. All come with several blank tabs and separate color letter tabs. I like the inclusion of simple letters so I can better mark the spell and magic item lists. At $9.99 a set, they’re worth looking into if you’re primarily a pen-and-paper user.
D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures: Special Edition Baldur's Gate 3
The initial announcement of BG3 minis made waves (and did my TikTok a favor too). The disappointment, then, was bound to make headlines once the figures actually released and sported poor paint jobs. WizKids has since apologized and offered refunds. Fortunately, there is hope for those who still want to include Astarion or Karlach in their own campaign.
Unpainted BG3 minis are available now both at your local game store/ through the WizKids store, and they look good. The sculpts are quality and based largely on the characters’ poses in promotional art, such as Astarion holding a dagger and reaching out to you invitingly. They’re primed and ready for you to paint just how you want them. One sort of odd choice is that Wyll is only available with devil horns. Sorry evil Wyll fans, WizKids canon says he spared Karlach.
These minis come in pairs for $5.99. The duos are:
- Lae’zel and Shadowheart
- Gale and Astarion
- Wyll and Karlach
- Jaheira and Halsin
- Dame Aylin and Minthara
- Ulder Ravengard and Zevlor
- Sarevok Anchev and Raphael
- Volo and Withers
Pathfinder Deep Cuts: Adult Adamantine Dragon
Pathfinder’s art style is among my favorites in TTRPGs. The sharpness of the characters and the way colors are used reminds me of a comic book. So I always enjoy getting Pathfinder minis. This Adult Adamantine Dragon is no different.
I enjoy the chunky chin and overall bulk of the design – this guy looks like he’d lay me flat out with one good hit like in Monster Hunter. I got the Deep Cuts version, which comes unpainted but primed for you to give it your own touch. It’s accurately sized with a Huge ring included, so more of a functional piece than a display. It retails at $69.99 through WizKids online or at your local game store.
Critical Role Taste Of Exandria Charms
Blind box/bag collectibles are coming back in a big way to the TTRPG space. WizKids of course has blind box minis, DnD has blind bag dice, and now Critical Role has the Taste of Exandria charms. To their credit, these charms have some really fun references for fans. I particularly enjoyed that Scanlan’s Hand Pie has his autograph on the back. They might be a little overpriced at $5 a charm, though. This is definitely one of those cases where there is a target audience. And that audience will probably enjoy that there’s a new way to display their love for their favorite character.
And that’s the end of our review roundup! I hope we helped inform a potential purchase or made you aware of a product you didn’t know existed. Let us know if you want to see more GM tool deep dives! All products were provided by WizKids for the purposes of review.
Sergio Solórzano is the best Dungeon Master in the USA (according to a Wizards of the Coast competition, anyway). He loves minis and terrain but also goes all-in on improv!
