Race: Faeries [Second Draft]

It's good to be ambitious and take on challenging new concepts! It's one of the things that, I think, made latter-day 4th edition so great.

This in mind, I decided to make faeries as a playable race, tackling the concept of playing as a tiny character. Some things change! Others don't! Surprisingly, it's only a small (hah) difference.

Let's see what faeries have to offer:

FEATURES:

• Three distinct subraces, for pixies, sprites, and sylphs!
• Five racial feats! At least one for each subrace.
• Flying as a racial trait! But, like, balanced.
• Shrink the world down to your size, and really mess with people.

CONCERNS:

• The new rules for tiny races could create issues I haven't foreseen.
• Feat balance isn't my forte, but they seem alright so far.
• The flight ceiling isn't ideal, I don't think, but I'm hoping the easing of restrictions as a character levels make sense.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Many, many more races are possible that I would've initially thought! Time to try some truly crazy concepts.

Race: Awakened Undead [Fifth Draft]

Awakened Undead! Just in time for... Christmas?

So the DM's Guild just unleashed a massive collection of new art, including a ton of new undead images, for all creators to use. This spurred me to take another look at the Awakened Undead, and I realized I've learned a whole lot about making character races since I developed them.

Thus, revision number 5! 

Lots of changes this time around, both in verbage and in presentation. Let's get started!

CHANGELOG:

• New Interior Art, including artwork from the talented Leena Lecklin (@leenadraws), whose tumblr and instagram you can find at the links provided here!
• New Racial Feats, one for every undead subrace!
• New Racial Traits for skeletons and revenants!
• Undead can now be healed and affected by humanoid spells, but only receive half-healing from most sources.
• Added a sidebar for "classic" no-healing undead, because I know that's important to lots of folks.
• Rebalanced Mummy and Ghoul, because some traits were outside the intended power balance.

CONCERNS:

• Adding healing, even half-healing, to undead was a contentious decision. I'm sure I'll make someone unhappy by doing so, but at least the half-healing trait (and the alternative sidebar rule) exist.
• I changed quite a bit. Usually that creates small errors here and there. If you see something, say something!

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Always make the most of new art when it appears on the Guild! You can do quite a lot with it!

Race: Shardmind [First Draft]

When I make a race, I often think: What makes this different? Why would someone want to play this, when a human, an elf, or a gnome is right there?

Back in the old 4e days of yore, the Player's Handbook III offered a wide swath of races, introducing githzerai, minotaurs, and wilden to the game. Each of the subsequent PHB's offered a "power source" they focused on. PHB2 had Primal, whereas PHB3 offered multiple Psionic classes to choose from!

Alongside those were, of course, the shardminds. An enigmatic race of psionic living crystal, formed from the last line of defense against the nightmares of the Far Realms.

Lore-rich and with strong psionic ties, shardmind stood out from the other race offerings in the PHB3 by virtue of being so different. You could be a more established race, sure, or you could be a being of glowing, living crystal that speaks by imparting thoughts into the minds of others.

So, naturally, I had to carry that over to 5e, soon as I could!

FEATURES:

• A Depth of Lore that solidifies a shardmind's place in the world!
• Glow When You Want To! Turn it off when you don't.
• Turn into a Swarm of Crystal Shards and really mess people up.
• Two New Racial Feats! For manipulating your psionic crystal to cast spells, or conjure weapons!

CONCERNS:

• There's a lot in this race, but it doesn't necessarily feel over-powerful.
• I'm always unsure of feat balance. Feats are hard to manage, and I don't have as much practice with them as I'd like.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• KEEP. MAKING. FUN. RACES!

Race: Swarm [First Draft]

Sometimes, it's fun to make something profoundly different and gross. Something that makes my skin crawl just writing about it. Something equal parts fun and horrifying to bring to the table and play.

Hint: I'm talking about this race. This horrible, disgusting, pile-of-worms-or-rats-in-a-trenchcoat race.

A swarm is created one of two ways: Either arising by itself when a group of tiny animals or insects affected by magic bands together, or when a mortal is transformed into one by dark magic. Swarms are nightmares to behold, and a truly alien creature to step into the shoes of.

And, honestly, those are the characters that I like playing the best. The characters that see the world in a way I never could, that have opinions, thoughts, and motives that I the player find strange to contemplate.

Anyway! Here's what it does:

FEATURES:

• Break into an amorphous ball of nasty, to slip through grates and escape foes!
• Summon animals from the wilds, and add them to your horrible body!
• Eat people! Just, eat people.
• Two different feats, to give your swarm some fun magic to play with!

CONCERNS:

• This is a hard one to balance, but doesn't feel overly powerful. Playtesting is good.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• It's fun to do concepts that instinctively make me flinch away! Broadens my horizons, and I can really lean into what I find gross or unnerving about them.

Spells: Codex of Technomancy [First Draft]

I've always wanted to make another spell collection! Had a few drafts that I ideated on for quite some time, but never finalized.

Fun fact: I had a rough Codex of Alchemy at one point, but I fully cannibalized what I made there to make the Brewcraft and Imbue Potion features on the Witch class.

Anyway! Technomagic has always been one of my favorite ideas, the idea that in a world where both science and magic exist, there'd be a rather big overlap on that Venn diagram. I've also been a big fan of the mad science types that would take up such arcane practice, as well as the Actual Magic Scientists who'd look down their nose at exactly those kind of people.

Let's take a look at what this supplement has in store:

FEATURES:

• 16 New Spells, with something for every class!
• Spells to Craft Golems, take pictures, summon impossible machines, create traps, and more!

CONCERNS:

• The usual slew of small balance concerns that come with making lots of spells for just about any class

WHAT I LEARNED:

• YEP SPELL COMPILATIONS ARE ABOUT AS HARD AS I REMEMBER. I'll for sure make another one eventually, but it'll take a while.

Race: Scarecrow [Second Draft]

The first draft of the scarecrow was remarkably on-point! Very little needed to be changed, which is something I always appreciate.

I love making D&D races in particular. There's something fun about the lore-writing, which I don't typically get to do. Races, for obvious reasons, get much more lore than general class options, and making a race gives me much more time to create a compelling reason to play that character.

Scarecrows in particular are interesting to me. Not only are they a construct race, which I adore, but they're horror-themed. They're twisted abominations of their former selves, so far-gone they've forgotten who they even were.

It's a fun character for me, personally, to play, because it begs the question: Where does the character go from here?

CHANGELOG:

• Not that much! Changed how fire vulnerability works, added a passive racial ability that literally scares crows, and a sidebar for how scarecrows and witches interact.
• New art by Doug Wright!

CONCERNS:

• Also not that much! Scarecrows, previously, were fairly balanced, and this iteration doesn't shake up that formula too much.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• I want to make another construct race! Expect more in the future!

Class: The Augmented [Second Draft]

The Augmented was always a promising concept but, as one of my first full classes, not one I feel I executed initially very well. It had a handful of balance issues that needed solving, and stepped on a few toes.

But, more importantly, it had great thematic potential, and a well-defined space that allowed it to exist as a distinct class!

Converting it to v0.2 required a few crucial changes, most of which I'll elaborate briefly on in the changelog.

CHANGELOG:

• Streamlined level progression, keeping front-end from being too heavy
• Rolled Overdrive and Shield Matrix into subclasses, to keep the class from having too many tools
• Rebalanced several key augments
• Added integrated weapon augments into the core battlefist design

CONCERNS:

• The class still occupies a distinctly science-fiction thematic niche. I don't think this is strictly forbidden in D&D, but it's definitely on the far side of acceptable.

WHAT I LEARNED: 

• I accidentally released this one before I planned to! I need to be more careful with which version of files I upload, when.

Class: The Commoner [First Draft]

Level 0 play is a really intriguing option to me. I love starting the party in a position of relative powerlessness, and having them earn their stripes from there.

I kicked around how to do this for some time, experimenting with ideas like Level 0 Archetypes, backgrounds-as-classes, and other off-the-wall spitballing ideas before finally settling on the Commoner class, as you see it here.

The Commoner is a class unlike any other, not necessarily meant to be played alongside traditional fighters, rogues, wizards, or the rest. Commoners are by nature weaker to the point of near death, and exist entirely before 1st level. 

A commoner is a class about overcoming your flaws, getting stronger, and learning to survive.

FEATURES:

• Four Fractional Levels of Class Progression, culminating in your first level in an adventuring class!
• A Collection of Unique Flaws, to give each commoner character and something to struggle against.
• A Handful of Perks, illustrating how each commoner learns the tricks necessary to help them survive.
• A New Background, for any character, but particularly for aspiring commoners!

CONCERNS:

• As with any new game mechanic, will it work as intended?
• Are commoners too weak, or too strong?
• How to the flaws and perks measure against each other?

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Classes in D&D can be made to do a lot! Even things they're not really intended to do.

Subrace: Tabaxi Variants [First Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

Cats! Everyone loves cats! The people who tell you they don't are, frankly, liars.

Tabaxi are one of my favorite races in canon D&D, and they're a ton of fun to play. But one thing I noticed is how many people fluff their tabaxi out to be a certain kind of cat. You've got hairless cat tabaxi, big huge lion tabaxi, cute fluffy housecat tabaxi, the list goes on!

So, I thought, what if I went into the Volo's Guide to Monsters rules for tabaxi, and tweaked them, so that they'd be able to have subraces? 

What if I took the cats we already had, and used them to make even more cats?

Here's the result, with artwork from the fabulous Ashley Irelan, whose portfolio you can find by clicking her name!

FEATURES:

• Five new tabaxi subraces! From lions, to lynxes, to housecats!
• Distinct subrace features for each, to make different cats play like different cats.

CONCERNS:

• The core race may not have as much unifying meat left on its bones as I would like.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Turning a race into subraces is fun, and not as difficult as it would seem! I'll have to try it more often.

Catching Up!

Hey there, reader! Bet you've been wondering about the radio silence.

Well, surprisingly, I haven't stopped releasing! I've just fallen behind in on-the-blog updates in a major way.

But that's going to change in the next few days. I'll be bringing us back up to speed with an update every couple of days, until we're all caught up to my most recent releases.

So buckle up, you'll be seeing a lot of new (well not precisely, but still!) content, very quickly.

Teas and Tisanes [First Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

Sometimes, I don't want to make something big, crazy, and over-the-top. Sometimes, a mellow, laid-back bit of lore and character building is just what we need.

Teas and Tisanes is a collection of canonical teas and, well, tisanes, from multiple major D&D settings. Listed by location and biome, it even includes rules for brewing, drinking, and finding tea in your own games.

Have a character that'd like to brew a pot of tea over an open campfire, or conduct an elaborate tea ceremony? Then pour a cup, flip through this supplement, and enjoy!

FEATURES:

• 28 Teas and Tisanes to enjoy with your party, some of which have magical effects!
• A new toolset to brew tea with.
• Rules for finding, brewing and drinking tea!

CONCERNS:

• Balance isn't completely perfect, but none of the teas do anything outrageous so it shouldn't be too bad.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• When in doubt, ask Ed Greenwood and Keith Baker for help.

Expanded and Exotic Weapons [Seventh Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

And I thought having six drafts was note-worthy!

Expanded and Exotic Weapons has been due for a revision for a little while now, to bring it up to speed with most of my modern content. 

Come to think, that's been my thought process for most of my later revisions for this project. I learn more, I want to apply what I've learned.

What have I learned, and what have I changed? Let's take a look-see:

CHANGELOG:

• New art by Douglas Wright!
• Exotic Weapon Proficiency is now half a feat, also giving you your choice of +1 to Strength or Dexterity!
• Added the Garrote! A weapon loved by rogues, and hated by whomever the rogue is sneaking up on.
• Moved the Harpoon from Exotic to Expanded Weapons and modified its stats accordingly.
• Modified the Double Weapon property to be more intuitive, basing it on the double scimitar found in Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron. 
• Added more magical weapons, making sure to have at least one magical weapon per each exotic weapon!
• Multiple crunch changes, most weapons got at least a minor textual edit.

CONCERNS:

• The static numbers for sap and garrote still don't sit well with me, but apparently that's how weapons are done.
• All double weapons are now two-handed weapons as well, so GWF comes into play. I can imagine that's going to be pretty major for the spiked chain, but we'll see.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Honestly? To expect an eighth draft of this same project, maybe a year down the line. So it goes.

Magic Items: Warforged Components [Second Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

Sometimes, I just have something kicking around in my head that needs to be let out. A concept that just won't leave me alone until I create it.

When the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron was released, I was overjoyed, but reasonably disappointed that they only included 3 options as warforged components. In previous editions, warforged components were my favorite thing about warforged, the idea that you could upgrade yourself into a whole new creature, just by the magic items you build into yourself.

So, I went back, found all the warforged components I loved back in the day, and adapted them to 5th edition with all new rules. 

FEATURES:

• 24 New Items, ranging from shovel hands to scorpion tails!

CONCERNS:

• Assigning item rarities is always wishy-washy, but I think I did a good enough job of it.
• There may be minor bugs and textual problems I didn't find, but nothing gamebreaking I hope.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Sometimes staying up to 4 in the morning working on D&D stuff can actually be a good idea!
• Coffee is, beyond a doubt, my best friend in the whole world

Class: The Witch [Second Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

It's been a long time coming, but the second take on the witch is finally fully revised and ready to go!

This time, the witch has two new subclasses, several new jinxes, the inclusion of Xanathar's spells, not to mention new, beautiful art by the talented Diana Nock (@jinxville)! 

This is a full rules revision, and not a single part of the witch remains untouched. Let's give a rundown of what's been changed.

CHANGELOG:

• General reorganization of features, giving the class a more reasonable progression in line with existing classes
• Added rules for applying potions to food and drink with Imbue Potion
• Added a new feature: Fine Fettle
• Streamlined casting to be INT-only, though WIS casting exists as an optional rule
• Revised the spell list, adding Xanathar's spells and defining the witch's role as a support caster
• Added personality tables and roleplaying advice for familiars
• Coven of the Dark Moon has received a re-kit, adding undead and scarecrows to their repertoire
• Coven of the Full Moon is now the only coven that can heal, focusing strongly on doing excellent healing with low-level spells
• Coven of the Half Moon has a new low-level feature, and has had its capstone expanded significantly
• Coven of the Crescent Moon, a gish-witch, has been added!
• Coven of the Eclipse, a subclass focusing on forbidden magic and demonology, has been added!
• Added several new jinxes, and revised existing options

CONCERNS:

• Balance, as always!
• How does the class scale vs. other classes?
• How do the subclasses measure against each other?
• Is the familiar sufficiently survivable?
• Are jinxes clear in their functions? Are they well balanced against each other?

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Commission art for everything, all the time. All. The. Time.

Roguish Archetype: The Jester [Fifth Draft]

Download a selectable-text, printsafe version here!

The last time I touched this one is three years ago? My god, how time flies.

I've got a backlog of revisions due a mile long, and I'm not content to just edit old content. I've learned so much in the time I've spent doing this, and I aim to re-imagine old options, making them distinct, well-rounded, and complete!

The jester, for one, had a unique casting system that I always felt was somewhat lacking. It was very much "Here are some spells! Make the spells happen!" without any distinguishing system mechanics behind them.

No longer! The jester thematically was always about blind luck, silly situations, and grim humor over sheer utility, so I've re-imagined it as an extremely variant 1/3-caster that relies mostly on luck to determine its spell list.

I expect that this won't be a final version (woe betide me, a sixth draft?!), but it's a bold reworking that I imagine will carve more of a niche for itself than the four other jesters that have come before it.

CHANGELOG:

• Arcane Buffoonery is now Arcane Wit, which comes with a full (if decidedly different) 1/3 caster spell progression!
• Harlequin's Mask doesn't specifically reference vicious mockery, because it created weirdness whether it or Arcane Wit should be first.
• New Ability: Tumbling Fool! Get some extra mileage out of your Disengage, roll around the battlefield like a maniac.
• Cruel Comedy has been raised from 9th to 13th level, which seems like a better space given what it does.
• Most of the spells you know are completely random! But don't worry, they reset every long rest.
• Now uses a 1/3-caster version of warlock spell mechanics, instead of eluding to it sidelong like it did before.

CONCERNS:

• Oh, so very many.
• Will randomized spellcasting be fun?
• Is 1/3-caster warlock progression balanced?
• Is Arcane Wit clear in its language as to what it does?

WHAT I LEARNED:

• I guess if I need to revise my entire catalog, I might as well start right now.

Martial Archetype: Centurion [rough draft]

Download a selectable-text, printsafe version here!

Sometimes in the middle of a big project, I'll start working on a small side-project just to clear my mind a little bit. The augmented actually started that way as well, believe it or not, until it spiraled off into a project even bigger than the one I was taking a break from!

I was doing a lot of research into Rome for reasons I won't get into just yet, and a friend of mine expressed interest in seeing a Centurion realized in 5e. The more I researched, the more I realized how possible a Centurion fighter was, and so I took a break and decided to give it a go.

Turns out, the idea had legs. And now we've got a full-fledged Centurion fighter, ready for a test drive!

FEATURES:

• Three different postures to hold your Tower Shield, depending on what you think the enemy will throw at you next!
• A wealth of options that build on core fighter mechanics, creating great synergy with the base class.
• The ability to be the tankiest tank of them all, just don't expect to move very quickly.

CONCERNS:

• Maybe too tanky? It's powerful within that one focus, but it doesn't have a whole lot of latitude outside of it.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Sometimes, ideas happen really quickly, and it's good to be prepared when they do!

Class: The Augmented [Rough Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

So here's what I've been working on all this time!

It's been very hard to get perfect, but I finally got it into a state that I'm happy with. New classes are always tough (half-casters most of all), and building a technology-based class in a mostly non-technological game is additionally tricky!

But enough of my woes, I'm sure you want to hear what the Augmented has to offer!

FEATURES:

• 3 subclasses, ranging from protecting your allies with conjured barriers to hacking into the minds of your foes!
• 34 augments, allowing you to customize your augmented and create something truly unique.
• A progressive system for upgrading your body as you level, allowing you to build new augments into your newly-upgraded parts.
• Battlestrikes that deal additional damage, and allow you to control the flow of battle.
• Personal shielding, to give you that much additional survivability!

CONCERNS:

• Augments are varied, and hard to balance. So far, they seem acceptable.
• This class dabbles in a lot of kits that may belong to other classes, but with enough caveats that hopefully that shouldn't matter too much. 

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Yep, this is DEFINITELY the hardest thing I've worked on so far. Balancing half-casters is no joke!

Oh, and special thanks to Douglas Wright for the artwork I commissioned! Be sure to check out his blog at this very long link.

Otherworldly Patron: The God-King [ROUGH DRAFT]

Download a selectable-text, printsafe version here!

Ok, hiatus over, back on track!

The God-King warlock has been one of the most challenging warlocks I've worked on to-date, and it took me a good bit of back-and-forth (and no small help from fans and friends) to get it in a workable state. Commissioned by zriegel, a Walrock-level backer on my Patreon (thanks again!), the God-King is an ancient Egyptian themed warlock ready for multiclassing, viable as a Stygian cultist, a devotee of Athasian Sorcerer-Kings, or as a wanderer of the wastes, using dark magics to survive the perils of the desert sands.

Pact with an ancient and forgotten God-King, receive their blessing and their curse, and enforce their fell will across the wasteland and beyond!

FEATURES:

• Use a Soul Jar to keep your friends close, probably closer than they would like.
• Transmute your wounds into Hungering Scarabs and share that pain with your foes!
• Use the damage you take to bolster your allies with Pain Into Life!
• Drink the life from those around you, Desiccating all those nearby.

CONCERNS:

• Soul Jar is probably the most ambitious level 1 I've done so far. It has a lot of moving parts, but between all the complication it feels balanced. At least, as far as I can tell.
• Hungering Scarabs has no saving throw by design. It's built upon the damage math for magic missile, which should make it more reasonable?
• Pain Into Life is very versatile. It's balanced around the Fiendlock level 10, but is better and worse in certain areas. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:

• Things will come together eventually. Sometimes I just have to back up, look at the whole, and be unafraid of weeding out anything that's not working.