Hello there!
I only make posts for important releases, so you might have missed some of the smaller bits of content from this month – so here they are, in one short, easy-to-digest post:
1 – Monster: Video Game Boss Pylon
This is the last entry in my endless fight against having to use Legendary Resistances when we could all be having fun instead. It’s a concept mostly stolen from inspired by the fight against Tukohama in Path of Exile, but it’s a pretty common boss battle mechanic in video games in general, hence the cheeky name.
There often is a bit of a stigma about TTRPGs becoming too “video gamey”, but I believe in this case, video games have boss battles pretty much figured out at this point, and D&D definitely has some catching up to do.
2 – Magic Item: The Blood Quill
The perfect magic item for detectives who aren’t above using a bit of blood magic for the greater good.
Now this definitely won’t be a good fit for every table and every campaign, but for the intrigue lovers out there, this item can bring a lot of memorable moments into existence.
3 – Spell: Unknowable Secret
Here’s my spooky contribution for this year’s Halloween – a cosmic horror themed spell, which will give wizards, liches, and other high-INT enemies nightmares, and remind them that when the Far Realms get involved, often, ignorance is bliss.
You’ll probably have had to re-read this thing a couple times. It’s a pretty confusing spell by design. You deal max damage when the opponent succeeds on the save, rather than when they fail it, which is why the save DC is backwards. In essence, this means the opponent’s save bonus contributes to the spell’s effect, rather than protect the target from it.
And of course, what might just be the spookiest part of this spell, you’ll have to use a d17 to cast it. The average comes out to about 45 which you can also get with 10d8 if you don’t want to dabble in eldritch dice-mancy. Otherwise, you can roll 5d20, and re-roll any die that stops on an 18 or above – or just use a virtual dice roller!
4 – Subclasses
And with the release of the Circle of Crystals Druid, all 6 of the subclasses in this series are now available!
- Warlock: The Arcanist Patron
- Barbarian: Path of Blood Magic
- Cleric: Ambition Domain
- Druid: Circle of Crystals
- Ranger: Trapper Conclave
- Rogue: The Poisoner
I hope you’ve enjoyed these subclasses! I have a few more in the works, but they need some more time in the grinder before I am comfortable sharing them with other DMs.
What comes next?
Now that the subclass series has been completed, what comes next for this design blog?Well, you can look forward to at least these 4 things:
- More free content, similar to the the three smaller ones listed above, every single week!
- A new series! This time, instead of subclasses, I will be releasing a series of 3 heist-type one shots on a bi-weekly basis, as well as advice on how to run this particular subgenre of D&D! Here are the synopses of these three small adventures:
- A Better Deal (3rd level): A wealthy merchant family is using an imprisoned devil as a contract scribe. This devil would probably be pretty grateful if somebody were to free it…
- The Pirate Archmage (5th-8th level): One of the local pirate lords is a powerful wizard, and rumor has it he’s recently gotten his hands on a map to a large treasure. Sneak into his mage’s tower, and take all you can!
- The Submarine Job (5th-8th level): A submarine has been causing heavy casualties recently. Because it’s been bad for business, the local crime lord has decided to do something about it – she’s sold you the navigation plans of the submarine’s supply ship.
- Atom20, a free browser extension that lets you create & customize a character sheet on Google Sheets, and then use it on Roll20 (mid-november).
- Home-Field Advantage, a 200-page compendium of lair actions for over 320 existing D&D monsters! (later this year, January 2022 maximum)
Looking forward to sharing all of this with you!
Trekiros 