Welcome to our AI DnD 5e Starter's Guide on how artificial intelligence can revolutionize your Dungeons & Dragons experience.

To kick off our new channel around roleplaying & artificial intelligence (AI), we’ll explore how to use AI in DnD 5e to accelerate your creativity and elevate your games.

We’ll also discuss how AI can automate specific tasks and create unique storylines.

So let’s dive in and see how AI can help make your next Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) adventure truly legendary!

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad term to describe computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.

AI systems can understand natural language, recognize images, make decisions, and solve problems. AI applications are used in many industries, from healthcare and finance to self-driving cars and home automation.

AI is rapidly evolving and has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology, including our favorite tabletop roleplaying games.

What is the potential of combining AI and D&D?

Combining AI and D&D opens literal multiverses of possibilities for players of the world's most popular role-playing game.

AI technology can generate unique monsters, NPCs, and adventures for players to encounter instantly.

A platform like Chat GPT could even be used to create digital versions of characters, allowing players to participate in D&D games even when they are not physically present.

AI can generate vast landscapes in seconds, offering players limitless possibilities for exploration.

All in all, AI has the potential to dramatically expand the scope of content players can create while enhancing the quality of the D&D experience in countless ways.

Here are some I’m most excited about, along with some examples of how I’ve used AI to create D&D content.

Using AI for Character Creation

I love the potential AI has to seed and develop compelling characters.

Need proof? Here’s the full, unedited example from the prompt, “Write the gritty backstory for a halfling thief named Bobbert Birchbender from Waterdeep” using Canva’s built-in AI writer.

“Bobbert Birchbender was born and raised in Waterdeep, the bustling port city known for its hustle and bustle. His parents were simple dock workers who eked out an existence on the docks and made enough to get by. But Bobbert Birchbender had bigger dreams.

He was a curious and inventive halfling who, while playing on the docks one day, stumbled across a group of thieves and scoundrels in the process of a heist. He was instantly intrigued and asked to join them. The thieves were impressed with his natural agility and guile and took him on as an apprentice.

From then on, Bobbert Birchbender was immersed in the world of thievery. He learned the art of pickpocketing, lockpicking, and even the mechanics of elaborate heists. He quickly became one of the foremost experts in his field and found himself in demand by all sorts of criminals and criminals-to-be.

Bobbert Birchbender reveled in the life of crime and the thrill of the heist. He was always looking for the next big score, and he often found himself embroiled in some of the city's seedier dealings. But he was careful to never get too deep and always managed to stay one step ahead of the law.

However, his luck eventually ran out. On one fateful heist, Bobbert Birchbender and his crew were caught in the act by the Waterdeep city guard. In the chaos that ensued, Bobbert Birchbender was the only one to escape unscathed.

Since then, Bobbert Birchbender has been on the run. He still takes on jobs, but he is much more careful now. He is always looking over his shoulder, and he knows that one wrong move could mean his downfall. He has become a shadow in the night, a phantom thief, and he uses his skills to keep himself afloat and one step ahead of the law.”

This is serviceable and could quickly be built upon to create a compelling character.

I could then use AI to create names and backstories for Bobbert Birchbender’s crew, his parents, and the officers hell-bent on bringing him in.

*A bit infantile and the hands are weird, but not a bad first pass at Bobbert!*

Let’s throw in a portrait for good measure, and voila! Instant PC backstory, complete with portrait and plenty of sharpened knives for the DM to help you carve out your story.

How to Use AI for Worldbuilding in DnD

AI worldbuilding is another area I’ve been exploring, using it for our World Anvil page to create the places my character visited during our second Eoan interlude.

This is mostly flavor content that doesn’t impact the game directly but is a fun and easy way to build out our world when we don’t have much time.

Here’s an example of an entry I created recently with the prompt, “write a medieval fantasy newspaper ad for a discount produce store called ‘Beauregard’s Mostly Unperished Perishables’ near the docks of Harborton, Dungeons & Dragons” with some editing from my part. Can you tell where the AI writing ends, and I begin?

“Hear Ye, Hear Ye! The bargain-hunters of Harborton and its environs, heed this call! Beauregard's Mostly Unperished Perishables is here!
Stop by our store near the docks and find the mostly-freshest produce from lands near and far (but mostly far)!
The only thing that will be spoiled is your wallet with savings on our variety of ripened fruits, vegetables and grains.
Our prices are lower than a halfling's den, so you won't have to break the coffers to get the food your family needs.
Come one, come all - and bring your iron stomachs! Beauregard's Mostly Unperished Perishables is the place to shop 'n save!”

Of course, we can’t have an entry without an image to seal the deal, so I used the prompt, “discount produce stand, medieval fantasy, docks, harbor city” to get this.

Perfect for what I had in mind and way better than anything I could have made on my own for such a low-impact piece of content.

How AI Can Help DMs

Based on those two previous examples, you can probably see how AI is an invaluable tool for time-strapped Dungeon Masters.

Aside from quickly creating exciting characters and lore, DMs can also use AI to generate new monsters, villains, and adventure hooks.

Here’s the result for a Valentine’s Day-themed one-shot adventure hook prompt with accompanying art, as an example.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Dungeon Masters and Players!

In this one-shot adventure, your party will travel to the mysterious Floating City of Love, a magical place that only appears once a year on Valentine's Day.

Here, the party will face challenges that test their courage and resourcefulness, as well as questions about the nature of love itself.

The party will find themselves in a strange land where the laws of science and magic work differently.

They will explore the city, meeting strange and wonderful people, creatures, and things, each with their own stories to tell. Along the way, they must solve puzzles and riddles, battle monsters and villains, and find the true meaning of love.

The ultimate goal of the adventure is to find the heart of the Floating City of Love and unlock the ultimate power of love.

However, the path to this goal is not an easy one. The party will encounter dangerous enemies, powerful magic, and mysterious secrets.

Will your party be able to find the heart of the Floating City of Love and unlock its power? Only time will tell!”

While not a complete adventure, this gives me a great jumping-off point to flesh out some details and can be applied to any tabletop roleplaying game system if Wizards of the Coast’s new OGL has you down on D&D.

Best Tools For AI DnD 5e Creation

Midjourney

Operating as an independent artificial intelligence research lab, Midjourney is focused on exploring and expanding our collective imaginative powers.

Midjourney has become popular due to its community-focused integration with Discord. Simply invite the Midjourney Bot to your Discord, type /imagine followed by a descriptive prompt, and in a few moments you’ll have four versions of your image.

You can then upgrade an image or create more variations based on your favorite. Midjourney currently offers a set amount of free credits for new users, but once you’ve burned through that (and you will, quickly), you can subscribe for a fairly reasonable price.

Some downsides are that usage is limited to Discord, you can’t share your membership with others (for now), and their content creation terms restrict you even on your private server.

Canva

Canva is a powerful graphic design software, but did you know it’s also a powerful and affordable AI writing tool?

Canva released this feature on December 7th, 2022, and makes it ridiculously easy to create surprisingly usable text. I’ve used Canva for all the AI writing examples in this post.

There is a free version, but content creators looking for an all-in-one solution can’t go wrong with a Pro membership which allows you unlimited AI copywriting.

*These are tools we use and pay our money for - they are not sponsors or associated in any way.

Conclusion

For good or ill, artificial intelligence is disrupting a variety of industries by making complex content creation accessible, among other things.

As a professional content creator, I embrace what AI allows me to do. I view it as an extension of my tool kit - not a replacement for craft and skill. With AI, I’m able to move upstream in my creative endeavors to focus on more impactful areas with my limited time.

It’s important to note there’s a major ethical discussion to be had around AI, which we’ll be exploring in future posts. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date on our Role P.L.A.I. channel!

That’s it for our AI DnD 5e Starter Guide. We hope it’s provided you with a new perspective and tools to enhance your game with this exciting new technology.

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Unleash the Power of AI to Enhance Your Dungeons & Dragons Experience! | AI DnD 5e Starter's Guide