Far over the Misty Mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away ere break of day, To seek the pale enchanted gold. —The Hobbit On one hand, talking about the Ranger class in this blog has had me reading the Exploration rules. On the other, I’ve been […]
A friend of mine suggested the other day that he would really like to see a class similar to 4e’s shaman, with a strong focus on interacting with spirits in one way or another. You can make just about any caster class feel like a shaman with a very thin coat […]
As anyone playing Dust to Dust or Fallen Earth knows, I think it’s cool for characters to perform research to unlock new content, such as spells or crafting formulas. Games have a lot of ways for combat or social power to leave a mark on a setting; research is a […]
It’s funny, I don’t normally go in for seasonally-themed game content. Halloween gets a pass, though, because creepy stuff and gaming go together like a good ribeye and liquid fucking awesome. In this vein, here’s the Nightgaunt rogue archetype: they wear masks and thrive on the terror of their enemies. […]
My mental image. What if this guy were, you know, a protagonist? I’ve always liked heroes that have the courage and ability to wander in dark places. This ranger archetype focuses on that thematic element. (I’ve just this moment learned that there’s a group in the Pathfinder setting called the […]
This is an idea I’ve been meaning to write up for awhile. The two Paths of the Barbarian class are cool, and the Totem Barbarian can be a lot of different things… like a really good melee ranger, thanks to some really stylish options. I’m sorry, rangers. Your lives are […]
A conversation sprang up yesterday in my blog post about the Royal Sorcerer origin subclass. In that conversation, I was correctly called out for some shoddy design. Specifically, I gave the royal sorcerer the ability to make the friends cantrip cover its tracks with 100% effectiveness. This isn’t a good idea, […]
In my campaign, I recently introduced warlocks serving the Nightwalker, my setting’s version of the Grim Reaper. The PCs have known they would eventually run into such warlocks, but this is the first time it has happened. Obviously, that meant I had to write a new Patron option for the […]
Over in Google Plusville, +Levi Kornelsen mentioned the absence of a magic item economy in 5e. This is a core design assumption on WotC’s part, and they haven’t been shy about it. In most settings I agree with this choice, but in his post he’s specifically talking about Eberron. That setting gets to […]
The cleric spell list of the Player’s Handbook is pretty solid and broad, but I think there are some class-appropriate themes and spell concepts left to be plumbed. I’ve mentioned before my dissatisfaction with the fact that clerics have only one damage-dealing cantrip. In this post, I am pleased to present five […]
