As part of working on a new manuscript for Tribality Publishing, I decided that I wanted to create some new cleric spells. I’ve already got a handful of new cantrips ready to go, so I wanted these to be 1st-level or higher. I also wanted to explore some divine magic […]
Crown of madness is a spell with excellent theme and, in my view, underwhelming mechanics. In this post, I discuss what I see as the problems, propose an alternate implementation, and explain my reasoning. I have every expectation that this spell has its hardcore supporters, or perhaps just those who oppose […]
Shortly after I sold my first article to ENWorld, full of Halloween-themed subclasses, I tried to do something similar with winter-themed subclasses. It didn’t fly, and it was a little while longer before I tried again. The important thing is that the Winter Kin sorcerous origin is something I dreamed […]
My gaming schedule has given me a lot more chances to see people create new 5e characters lately, including more than a few fighters and paladins. Some of those players set out to be the tankiest tanks that ever tanked, so they pick up the Protection fighting style, and… it […]
I wrote the Spirit and Exorcism domains a few months back, and they got me thinking about domains that imply totally dissimilar approaches to religion and spirituality. Here is another, perhaps more suited to sinister gods, such as the Blood of Vol in Eberron, but gods of battle such as […]
I’m introducing a lot of new players to my 5e Aurikesh campaign all at once, so I had to sit down and write out all of the house rules that have accreted in the three-years-and-change that we’ve been playing. This post, then, is to discuss why they exist; if you’ve […]
My thoughts turned back to the Ranger class recently, as I’m working toward the release of a PDF of ranger archetypes through the OGL. I’ve written two so far, the Lantern-bearer and the Stormcloak, and coming up with a third seemed fitting. At first I was thinking of doing something […]
Today I have for you a subclass – well, two subclasses, but heavily overlapping – that rely on some setting assumptions about wizards that are definitely not true in all settings. If you’re not already allowing and banning subclasses based on how they fit your campaign’s theme, cosmology, and society, […]
In the LARP that I work on, one of the races available to players is the Homunculus. It’s less like D&D homunculi and more like Frankenstein’s Monster; as with Shelley’s original, they are fully sentient. Within the setting, they are widely abused and mistreated by their wizardly creators, though some […]
I create a lot of subclasses in this blog, because subclasses are fun and interesting to design. In this case, as with the Lantern-bearer Ranger Archetype, I’m looking for thematically appealing ways to address some of the ranger’s shortcomings on the damage-output side. I’d also like for high-level rangers to […]
