#‘you can add your intelligence modifier to your initiative rolls’

[dnd-homebrew5e]

@the-wizard-scheme Here is the list and I will also put where I pulled the ability from. Note, I did say to my DM if he wanted to edit some to not be so strong or too many uses to do so. Also, I did not ask to receive every single ability. I just wanted to give different options that made sense to me. If any didn't make sense to my DM I wouldn't have worried about it.

- You can cast levitate on yourself at will without expending a spell slot.

(It's the Ascendant Step Eldritch Invocation that Warlocks have access to at level 9)

- When you finish a long rest, roll three d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn. Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.

(Pulled from Divination Wizard with its 14th level extra die upgrade)

- You can add your Charisma modifier to your Initiative rolls.

(Pulled from Chronurgy Wizard at level 2, but Charisma instead of Intelligence)

- When you cast a spell, you can use your reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 60 feet of you. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses after you finish a long rest.

- You can see the true form of any shapechanger or creature concealed by illusion or transmutation magic while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within line of sight.

(Pulled from the Witch Sight Eldritch Invocation Warlock's get at level 15)

- Once per long rest for each spell, you can cast the ravenous void, reality break, and tether essence spells.

- You can choose one damage type when you finish a short or long rest. You gain resistance to that damage type until you choose a different one with this feature.

(Pulled from the Fiend Warlock's 10th level feature Fiendish Resilience)

- Once per long rest, you can expend a spell slot equal to the spell's level to cast a spell you don't have from the sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list. The spell must be cast at base level.

(Inspired by Aberrant Mind/Clockwork Soul without school of magic limitation. My character is an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer/Celestial Warlock)

- You gain proficiency in three languages of your choice.

(Pulled from Linguist Feat without the +1 to Intelligence or the cipher thing)

- This feature has 3 charges. When you cast a spell with a range of self or touch, you can expend a charge to target a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You regain all expended charges after you finish a long rest.

- You can add your proficiency bonus when you need to make an ability check when you cast the counterspell and dispel magic spells.

(Pulled from the Abjuration Wizard's Improved Abjuration feature at level 10)

- Your Charisma score increases by +2. (maximum of 22)

- You have advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.

(Pulled from the Epic Boon of Magical Resistance)

- When you cast the immovable object spell, the maximum weight of the item that can be targeted by the spell increases to 100 pounds.

- When you cast the spell gift of alacrity, you can target a second creature that you can see within 30 feet of the target the spell was originally casted upon.

- When you cast the spell pulse wave, a creature that fails the saving throw is pushed or pulled an additional 15 feet.

- When you cast the gravity sinkhole spell, the range increases to 150 feet.

- When you cast the temporal shunt spell, you can choose for the saving throw to be an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw.

- When you use the Quicked Spell Metamagic feature to cast a dunamancy spell, it only requires 1 sorcery point.

(Note: Quicked spell normally requires 2 sorcery points)

- You can't be surprised while conscious and other creatures don't gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you.

(Pulled from the Alert Feat without the Initiative bonus)

I am absolutely furious right now. So, when we leveled up to 17 two months ago I was told I would get my "beacon powers." After we leveled up, we went back to my game and then finally got back to the campaign tonight.

Last week my DM told me I should have player agency and should have a say in which powers I receive from it. I sent him a list of TWENTY potential abilities to happen. I would say 90% were very reasonable and the other 10% was OP.

Out of the 20 abilities, I received 0 of them. Was given a power that was given to a player that is no longer apart of our game and when I was visibly upset, I was told "Your only child is showing." He said more will come later... we're level 17 and are supposed to level up only once more. How much later is later?

So fucking much for player agency and having a say in the abilities I get.

[sunstaained]

yk .. maybe it’s nothing at all but i’d love to throw my hat in the ring for suvi subclass speculation

is war caster the easy out? yes. but aabria’s been coy with her hinting on the fireside that both that and abjuration aren’t gonna make the cut. now hear me out.

✨chronurgy✨

there’s something about the way aabria describes suvi self soothing that’s rhythmic tapping, making an effort for it to come off as “clock-like” and yk? could this just be fun flavor stuff? absolutely! but i’m willing to put my clown makeup on for this one.

suvi with the ability to make reality bend to her favor, no matter how small to protect the ones she loves (chronal shift) and doing her best to truly keep things down on lock, just nice and contained so she can help get a better handle on things (momentary stasis??) look, gang. it’s a tasty option.

[nerdythebard]

#60: Susano'o-no-Mikoto, God of the Summer Storms

Welcome back, Gods and Goddesses!

This anonymous request brings us face to face with the mighty Susano'o, Japanese God of Storms and Sea. Susano'o, wild and impetuous, became a wandering hero after his banishment from the divine realms and created several kinds of plants and crops (and many, many descendants) while on his travels across Japan. Let's see what this short-tempered troublemaker can bring to your game.

Next Time: Reluctantly, I have to accept this one... Because I am Nerdy the Bard of the D&D Library... and I am burdened with Glorious Purpose.

Now then, let's see what do we need to focus on:

A MIGHTY STORM: Heh heh... old SMITE jokes are great. Anyway, yes, we need to have some connection to the raging storms, hurricanes, and the seas. Their destructive power shall serve us.

An even mightier Sword: While we embody the raging power of a storm, we are also a skilled and peerless warrior god. We are, in fact, the bone of our sword (love you, Grailfinders!) and it is the extension of ourselves.

Gotta Go Fast: Mobility will be important for us, as the God of Storms and a wandering warrior. We need to be able to position ourselves to face any danger.

---

Normally, I'd use my usual trick and make a god we're building an Aasimar (as I did with his sister, Amaterasu -> see HERE). This time, however, I want to play around a little, so let's make Susano'o an Air Genasi. Going by the guidelines from Mordenkeinen's Monsters of the Multiverse, we get a +2 and a +1 to two abilities of our choice (Dexterity and Strength respectively), our movement speed is just slightly better at 35 feet per round, we get 60 feet of Darkvision, we are able to hold our breath indefinitely if not incapacitated (effectively gaining resistance to gaseous attacks and ability to remain underwater forever) and are resistant to lightning damage. Thanks to the Mingle with the Wind feature, we also gain the Shocking Grasp cantrip and some other spells in the future.

What better for a banished god than a redemption as a Folk Hero. We gain proficiency in Animal Handling (poor horses) and Survival, as well as one type of artisan's tools and land vehicles. We also gain the Rustic Hospitality feature; the pathetic mortals kind common folk may offer us their kindness on occasion and provide with shelter, food, or perhaps the latest gossip. They may also shield us from danger, although it's unlikely they'd risk their lives for a stranger right away. Although...

ABILITY SCORES

We will start with Dexterity on this one. We strike fast, we strike often. As a being of heavens, we also boast a divine Constitution. Finally, we need to strike with the power of the storm, so we're also investing in Strength.

Charisma will be next, we have enough to intimidate the weak and trick a giant demon snake. Intelligence will be on the lower end, and we're dumping Wisdom - we are definitely not thinking about the consequences of our actions.

CLASS

This one had a few options, but I decided that the best balance between Susano'o's divine abilities and his swordsmanship would be to make him a Fighter start-to-finish. Fighters get a d10 as their Hit Dice, [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. We can see Susano'o wear some armguards in the art, but since we cannot get just those in the game, we're going to start him without any armour. And we will give him a longsword that you can reflavour visually as a katana. Our saving throws are Strength and Constitution, and we get to choose two class skills from the list (Athletics and Intimidation).

Level 1: We begin by choosing our Fighting Style. For this, we shall take the Dueling style, which lets us add a +2 to our damage roll when we wield a weapon in one hand and nothing in the others. We also get Second Wind, which we can use as a bonus action once per short or long rest in order to heal [1d10 + our Fighter level] Hit Points.

Level 2: Thanks to Action Surge, we can now take one additional Action during our turn in combat. We can do so once per short or long rest.

Level 3: We choose our subclass, our Martial Archetype. Susano'o is a warrior first and foremost, but due to his divine heritage he also displays some supernatural abilities; therefore, we shall make him an Eldritch Knight.

From now on, we get access to Spellcasting. Intelligence is our casting ability, and we know cantrips and regular spells. We start with two cantrips (Gust and Sword Burst) and threee 1st-level spells, two of which must be either from the Abjuration or Evocation school of magic; we'll take Mage Armour, Thunderwave, and Disguise Self). From our Air Genasi race, we also get Feather Fall.

We also make our sword truly mighty by developing Weapon Bond. From now on, we cannot be disarmed unless we're incapacitated or allow so. Additionally, as a bonus action, we can summon our sword to our side from whenever it is as long as it is on the same plane of existence as us. We can Bond two weapons at once (giving us now a full set of samurai swords).

Level 4: We get our first Ability Score Improvement where we upgrade our Strength by both points. We also get another spell (Fog Cloud).

Level 5: At this level we get Extra Attack. From now on, during a single Attack action we can strike twice. We also get our final Air Genasi spell: Levitate.

Level 6: Time for another ASI. Let's raise our Strength and Wisdom by one.

Level 7: At this level we get another subclass feature. With War Magic, if we cast a cantrip as our Action, we can make one weapon attack as a Bonus Action. We also unlock 2nd-level spell here; we can grab Magic Weapon to recover some of our lost divinity.

Level 8: Time for another ASI. Let's raise both Strength and Dexterity for that nice 18 on both, and pick up another 2nd-level spell: Warding Wind.

Level 9: We gain the Indomitable feat. We are now able to re-roll one failed saving throw. We must, however, use the new result even if it's worse than the original one.

Level 10: Halfway through the build and we're getting another subclass feature. With Eldritch Strike we can now place a cut on our enemy that makes them vulnerable to magic; when we hit a creature with our melee weapon, it has disadvantage on the saving throw of the next spell we cast before the end of our next turn. With that, we can now pick a new 2nd-level spell: Shatter, which will force a Consitution saving throw.

We also get another cantrip; let's take True Strike that will synthesize nicely with our War Magic subclass feature.

Level 11: Here, we get an upgrade to our Extra Attack. From now on, whenever we Attack we can make a total of three strikes per turn (six if we decide to take Action Surge). We also get another spell, See Invisibiliy, to always find our enemies.

Level 12: Another ASI. This time, we shall cap our Dexterity into 20, which will increase our AC and Initiative bonus to make sure we get the first strike before anyone else.

Level 13: Our Indomitable can now be used twice per long rest. Additionally, we finally unlock 3rd-level spells. Let's grab Call Lightning to become the Thunder Bringer (yes, EPIC the Musical released a new Saga and it is awesome!)

Level 14: Time for another ASI. Let's cap our Strength to 20 for that divine striking power. But what's power without more mobility, so for our next 3rd-level spell, let's grab Thunder Step.

Level 15: For our final subclass feature, we shall get Arcane Charge. After using our Action Surge, we can now teleport to an unoccupied space within 30 feet of us. With that, and our last choice, we can now cover quite a lot of distance whether in combat or outside of it.

Level 16: With the next ASI, we will actually bump up our Constitution and Charisma by one point each. We also get another spell. Here, let's pick Pulse Wave and flavour it as a sheer wind pressure coming from our sword slashes.

Level 17: We get a few upgrades to our fighting mechanics. We can now use Indomitable three times per long rest, and we can use Action Surge twice per short or long rest.

Level 18: For our final subclass feature, we get Improved War Magic; this lets us make a weapon attack as a Bonus Action if we use our Action to cast a spell.

Level 19: For the final ASI of the build, we will round off our Constitution and Charisma to nice even numbers. Here is where we unlock 4th-level spells, however we will keep to the previous level in order to grab Lightning Bolt.

Level 20: As our capstone we are Fighter 20, which gives us improved Extra Attack. During a single Attack, we can now unleash up to four strikes. For our final spell, let's grab Tidal Wave to create the ultimate storm.

---

And that's Susano'o-no-Mikoto, the wild god of storms. Let's see what we came up with:

First and foremost, we're a combat beast. Plenty of attacks, both physical and magical, maximum score for both Strength and Dexterity, solid Speed; we're clearly a frontline fighter. Mobility and Crowd Control is our strongest tactic here.

Our unarmoured AC is 15 (18 with Mage Armour), we have a +5 to our Initiative, and the average of 211 Hit Points.

Unfortunately, though a solid build, we cannot do a lot outside of combat. We don't have a lot of skill proficiency and out mental ability scores are pretty weak; we need to procure some sort of item that will help us not being mind controlled. My personal recommendation: the Mindguard Crown from Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk.

---

And that's it. As promised, we're back my dears. As penitance, I shall work on the next build right away, so keep watch!

-Nerdy out!

[firelord-zuzu127]

Hey guys! I know I’ve been gone for a hot minute but I had a concussion and finals and what not. I am also about to graduate and wanted to share my speech with you guys as well!

Roll For Initiative

(Firelord Zuko)

During my high school years one of my favorite ways to spend my free time was by playing D&D. I have been an avid Dungeons and Dragon player for about 5 years now. Those of you who happen to know this game, know that you create characters using intricate character sheets and ranking different stats to represent your character. I’m guessing I just lost a good chunk of you, it’s ok, I’m about to land this ship. I think of us as highschool students like characters that have spent the last four years “leveling up” or evolving as people. We are just D&D characters made to conquer this treacherous journey known as high school. Our greatest lesson as students isn't whether we know how to graph a parabola or all the conspiracy theories on the JFK assassination. Because, those lessons aren’t necessarily applicable in everyday life going forward. What is applicable is our character growth. Highschool truly is a journey and the people you meet and challenges you have faced affect who you turn out to be.

One thing about D&D is that the attributes you have are given certain modifiers, so when you roll you can add on a certain modifier. For example I thought I had a +3 in intelligence since I decided to take honors classes. What I didn’t realized was that I had a low wisdom modifier and that was going to be more useful. Wisdom is basically street smarts and common sense while intelligence is more book smart. One of the first the lessons I learned from (MATH TEACHER) was that grades aren’t as important as we think. Even with putting in more effort than ever before I still wasn’t doing as well in math as I used to. It didn’t matter if I had a +3 in intelligence, my rolls were just naturally low. Although, the struggle did make me realize that my grades weren’t going to define me. No college is gonna look back at you freshman year geometry grade and think you’re a failure. They probably aren’t even gonna look at the specific grade. They are more likely just going to look at what classes you took. I even learned to ask for help from a tutor my next year to keep up with my busy classload. It was very beneficial to learn early on perseverance and self worth, as a stable foundation to get through highschool.

This next teacher is probably one of the most impactful teachers in my life. I would compare this to the part of the journey where you meet a wise mentor who takes you under their wings. (ENGLISH TEACHER) was the first highschool teacher I met, even though I didn’t have any classes with him. At the end of 8th grade I remember emailing him because I was terrified about transitioning to highschool and if the teachers were nice. When I eventually became a freshman I was more worried about balancing my school work and extracurriculars. I wasn’t sure if it was worth the stress to join a bunch of different clubs while still having plenty of homework and no study hall. That’s when I realized that (ENGLISH TEACHER) was the sponsor for most of the clubs I wanted to do so and if he could handle teaching all his classes and clubs, then so could I. He taught me to never back down from opportunities and to take risks.

As we reach my Junior year my wisdom has begun to level out with my intelligence. That still didn’t take away from the issue of dyslexia. By that time I had accommodations but was often too anxious to remind my teachers about them. Yet, there was one English teacher who needed no reminder. (ENGLISH TEACHER 2) went above and beyond. When English III required a significant amount of reading and annotating, I didn’t want (ENGLISH TEACHER 2) to have to bend over backwards and read to me everytime. It turned out that I didn’t even have to ask, she had already downloaded recordings for me to use. She said she was willing to do anything that would “Even out the playing field” for me. She taught me that not only am I not a burden but my accommodations were deserved and a necessity.

Ultimately, we reached my senior year, and this is when I met a very special teacher. In D&D there is this class known as a bard. They are mainly seen as musicians and entertainers but during the heat of battle they help to heal party members and provide inspiration. This is the effect (ART TEACHER) had on me. She started teaching art in Mahomet at the beginning of second semester. That is also the semester I decided to take three art classes at once. When I was signing up for these classes a year earlier it was because I had just spent my Junior year completely stressed out. I had panic attacks everyday at even just the thought of going to school. (ART TEACHER) was able to take me from being a student who was terrified to attend class to someone who was openly excited to go to school. She did this by believing in me and never letting me give up. She tells all her students “Don’t crash out”. This means that when I tell myself that I can’t do it, she swoops in and says “Yes, you can.” In fact she always says yes no matter what I ask to do, allowing my creativity to stretch much farther than even just a piece of paper. She cares about her students deeply above all else. She believed in me and supported me and that filled me with the motivation I needed to reach my true potential. I gained initiative.

Undoubtedly, the people who have helped me mature the most as a person are my party members. I don’t just mean metaphorically at this point, the friends I play D&D with have had an immense amount of impact on my emotional development. Just as they support me in battle, they have supported me through life. We started traveling in a pack, never going anywhere alone. We learned to open up and be honest with each other. If we had issues with one another, we sat down and had mature conversations about boundaries and respect. So when it came time for us to fight our true adversaries, we wouldn’t have to face them alone. They never made me feel insignificant or weak if I had my own struggles. They showed me what it feels like to be loved and cherished.

So what lessons did I have to learn over the years to level up? From (MATH TEACHER) I learned the importance of self-worth and perseverance. From (ENGLISH TEACHER) I learned to never turn down opportunities and to leave my comfort zone. With (ENGLISH TEACHER 2) I was appreciated just the way I am and shown that it wasn’t a burden to ask for help. (ART TEACHER) motivated me to stick out through the end and pursue my passions. My party has been with me since the first foe and is here today as we fight the final boss.

I have all these incredible people to thank for endless wisdom, life lessons and my overall character development. Without the teachers and friends in your life you may have never turned out to be who you are today. After all, D&D is a social game, you could never play it alone.

Let me leave you with one final thought, a quote from an iconic dungeon master:

“It’s our time to write the story and we are going to make the world how we want it.” - Brennan Lee Mulligan

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #329: Sakamoto Ryouma (Lancer)

today on Grailfinders we’re building the best argument for a completely superfluous Grailfinders episode, Sakamoto Ryouma (Lancer)! it’s Sakamoto, but again! in-game it’s a stronger version of the original, but here we take all the builds to level twenty regardless of their rarity. what I could do to differentiate this build from the first stumped me for a while, but I think I’ve hit on something.

Ryouma’s still an Echo Knight Fighter to summon his wife as a bonus action, but now instead of a monk and a rogue, he’s a Lore Bard to learn some buffing spells for oryou’s super-saiyan mode.

check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

next up: you better watch out, you better watch out, you better watch out! you better watch out!

Ancestry & Background

I won’t bore you too much here, it’s exactly the same as before (except for one thing). Variant Human, so that’s +1 Wisdom and Charisma, Stealth proficiency, and instead of that UA feat we’re getting Magic Initiate for some Druid spells. Primal Savagery is how oryou will be attacking most of the time now, using her acidic claws instead of your piddly strength score. you also embrace modern technology like weather stations with Druidcraft, and Oryou can keep you safe thanks to her Protection from Evil and Good. Ryouma’s still a Soldier though, so that’s some History and Intimidation proficiency for you.

Ability Scores

this one’s 100% the same. highest to lowest- Charisma, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence, Constitution, Strength. I would love to be able to stat up oryou this time around, but sadly Ryouma’s still the main servant.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: this Ryouma’s a bit more martial since he’s a knight class, so he’s starting off as a Fighter. this means his starting proficiencies are completely different, getting proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as Insight to see through political bullshit and Animal Handling to stretch the definition of “animal” to its breaking point. and “handling”, for that matter.

also, starting as a fighter gets us oryou’s Fighting Style earlier, so pick up Unarmed Fighting, just in case those claws don’t work out. if you’d rather grab something for Ryouma, I’d just go with Two-weapon Fighting and reflavor a rapier as a light spear, with a shortsword in his off-hand.

you also get a Second Wind once a short rest, giving you back some HP as a bonus action thanks to the power of oryou’s healing spit. …she does really have healing spit, right? I didn’t just hallucinate that while forcing my way through the event?

2. Fighter 2: second level fighters can make an Action Surge once a short rest, adding an action to your turn so you can fight like there’s two of you. because there is.

3. Fighter 3: as a third level fighter you become an Echo Knight, letting you Manifest Echo as a bonus action. now oryou can float around in her own space without using your action to move, as long as she’s within 30’ of you whenever your turn ends. it has a good AC but only one HP, so expect to spend your bonus action bringing oryou back a lot. while she’s out you can swap places as a bonus action, and you can attack and make attacks of opportunity from her space. primal savagery doesn’t count as an attack for this, so I guess oryou’s relying on her fists when she’s not hanging around you. that’s disappointing, but we’ll find a way to make her awesome later on.

also, you can Unleash Incarnation once a day to make an extra attack from the echo’s position. if you want to let oryou use a dex weapon, I won’t tell anyone, promise.

4. Bard 1: bouncing over to bard gives you proficiency in Persuasion, as well as the ability to cast Spells using your Charisma. you can also give Bardic Inspiration to your allies Charisma Modifier times per day, letting them add a d6 to any one attack roll, save, or check they make in the minute after you hand it over.

to be more specific about spells, you have Blade Ward to be protected by oryou physically with resistance to weapon damage, and Mage Hand to have her carry random stuff around, for your cantrips. you also get spells like Distort Value to be a smooth-talking bastard that can convince a whole town to sell him their rice supply, Heroism to make everyone else more ardent supporters of restoration, Feather Fall so oryou can save your frail ass from falling, and Thunderwave so she can punch people so hard they go flying.

5. Bard 2: second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, so now you’re at least half-proficient in every skill. you also have a Song of Rest, so you can add more health to your party over short rests. your gf with one hit point will be grateful.

you can also use Unseen Servant now; in case you need to send oryou off on some errands. a vastly, vastly weaker version of oryou, but an oryou none the less.

6. Bard 3: third level bards can learn up on some Lore, giving you an extra three proficiencies, like in Deception, Arcana, and Athletics. this is still Ryouma after all, did you think I’d forget deception? this is also the level you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in Insight and Persuasion.

you also get second level spells like Gift of Gab. Ryouma’s good with words, but you probably aren’t. at least, not as good as he is. with this spell you can undo any unfortunate wordings and rewrite your last six seconds of dialogue.

when you want painful dialogue, you can use Cutting Words to spend inspiration on weakening a creature’s attack, check, or damage roll. if your wife only has 1 HP, she’ll need some protecting too. only a little.

7. Bard 4: fourth level bards finally get an Ability Score Improvement, so you can bump up your Dexterity for better spearing an better dodging.

you also learn the Friends cantrip to force your way into conversations, and the Aid spell for our first taste of healing. is giving your echo an extra 5 HP a good use of a spell? god no. could it be cool? maybe! at least you can also give that buff to a couple other friends at the same time.

8. Bard 5: at fifth level you are a Font of Inspiration, so your inspiration dice refill on short rests as well as long ones. they’re also d8s now, so they’re more effective over-all. on top of that, you get third level spells like Mass Healing Word to top off the whole party in one go.

9. Bard 6: sixth level bards get Countercharm, but that’s pretty much useless, we’re here for Additional Magical Secrets, a feat that I will never get tired of pointing out comes before the first magical secrets. basically, you get two extra spells, and they can be from any spell list. use Tidal Wave to send a little splashback at your enemies, and Primal Savagery again to use charisma instead of wisdom. it’s still tied to just you, but now we’re using your good casting modifier.

for his normal spell Sakamoto gets Motivational Speech, a slightly more offense-based heroism, because by this point Acquisitions Incorporated might as well be bankrolling this build.

10. Bard 7: seventh level bards get fourth level spells, and now oryou can finally set off completely on her own with the help of the spells Phantasmal Killer.  every turn the target has to make a wisdom save or they’ll take psychic damage. real simple, but real effective.

11. Bard 8: use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells and more inspiration, and now you can Charm Monsters. I mean, you already charmed one!

12. Bard 9: ninth level bards have a better song of rest, and you can also use fifth level spells like Scrying. literally just. send oryou off to spy on people.

13. Bard 10: tenth level bards have d10s for inspiration, plus another round of Expertise! now you’ve got better animal handling and deception. you also get Thunderclap for a free oryou punch, and another round of Magical Secrets!

now you can Summon Draconic Spirit for a full oryou summoning with much more than 1 HP. they get a bunch of resistances, and she even shares one of them with you! on top of that even at the lowest level you can cast it at, oryou will be able to make three attacks each turn! if you just want uppies, you can use Freedom of the Winds to get a piggyback ride from oryou, giving you a flight speed, as well as advantage against being grappled, restrained, or paralyzed. oryou can also yeet you away from an incoming attack or spell, and if you land outside of its range, you take no damage. of course, this also means your ride is over.

14. Bard 11: remember how I mentioned Ryouma conned a whole town out of their food? now it’s time to use it. Heroes’ Feast gives everyone who partakes a panacea against disease and poison, immunity to poison and being frightened, advantage on wisdom saves, and increased HP, all for 24 hours. this is the benefit of being a 5 star.

15. Bard 12: use your last bardic ASI to receive the Gift of the Metallic Dragon. with this, you can cast Cure Wounds once a day for free or by spending spell slots, and oryou can shield you or your allies as a reaction, adding your proficiency bonus to their AC, and you can do that proficiency times a day.

16. Bard 13: thirteenth level bards get seventh level spells like Etherealness. for up to eight hours you can travel around the ethereal plane without having to worry about anything on the material plane, creatures or objects. this seems out of place for Ryouma, but tbf literally every servant should have this spell.

17. Bard 14: at level fourteen your Peerless Skills lets you add inspiration dice to any ability check you make. you’re two people, you should roll like two people. well, one and a half. you both have your weaknesses and it evens out.

you also get one last round of Magical Secrets, turning yourself into oryou in one of two ways! if you want raw power, Tenser’s Transformation gives you plenty of extra health and stronger attacks, but if you want a more thematic transformation, there’s always Draconic Transformation, giving you blindsight, a breath weapon, and wings.

18. Fighter 4: going back to fighter gets you yet another ASI, so bump up your Dexterity for more lancing.

19. Fighter 5: fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each attack action, that’s two per turn, four with action surge, and up to five with unleash incarnation. sorry it took so long to get this, I just felt the dragon stuff was higher priority.

20. Fighter 6: fighters are awesome, so we get to end this build with another ASI! this time we’re getting the Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, allowing you to add elemental damage to your weapon for up to a minute, and you can react to gain resistance to one instance of elemental damage proficiency times a day. now oryou protects you from everything!

Pros & Cons

Pros:

you have a lot of Protection, so actually getting a solid hit in on you is tough. you have a pretty good AC, plus many, many ways to increase your AC or your save or reduce incoming damage.

you’re also great outside of combat, with tons of expertise in social skills, high charisma, and a way to add even more dice to your skill checks. you will definitely be the face of the party. either you or oryou, at least.

I know I bring this up every time, but flying is awesome. it nullifies most enemies, and it’s just a really cool way to get around.

Cons:

you need all that protection because you’re a politician, not a fighter. you have barely over 100 HP, so a sneeze will put you into power word kill range.

echo knight is super fun, but this time it’s hard to use in combat for us, since oryou’s in-character options for hitting anything are “attack with a -1 to hit” or “hope the DM is kind enough to bend the rules for you.” without a good way to deal damage, the echo knight stuff is just an easily popped balloon.

our biggest goals don’t happen until late game, so for most of the campaign your build will be more awkward than anything else.

[paperanddice]

Mothman and Mu Spore

Mothmen are strange beings that show up right before calamities across the Dragon Empire, though rarely are they remembered. Able to modify the memories of those they encounter, most regular people fall under the sway of their ominous gaze and ignore it, or go about slight changes in their regular activities that help bring about a great disaster. Those who try to oppose the mothmen are stymied on a deep, fundamental level, as the creature tries to alter fate to ensure the result it already expects. Those who can remember the mothman's appearance afterwards have reported them raising the dead, or turning support structures of buildings into rust to bring it down, among many other things. Most imposing however is when they rip away parts of a person's identity, turning it against them. Even those of great power know very little about mothmen, an even more concerning prospect as their numbers seem to be growing around the Empire, signalling some great event coming.

The mothman is a more advanced creature, as a big part of it is the ability to steal a player's icon benefit or one unique thing and gain a special ability off of it. This is an exercise in improvisational creativity on the GMs part, so put some thought into what you'll do with different features if you grab them, especially if you aren't as good at thinking on your feet.

Mothman Double-Strength 4th level caster [humanoid] Initiative: +8 Claws +8 vs. AC (2 attacks) – 12 damage. Natural 16+: The mothman can make a mind-warping gaze attack against the target as a free action. C: Mind-Warping Gaze +8 vs. MD (up to 3 nearby enemies) – 6 psychic damage and the target takes a -1 penalty to all attacks (save ends). Each time the target fails this save, or is hit by this attack again, the penalty increases by 1, to a maximum of -4. Natural 16+: The target is also hampered until it succeeds on the save. R: Phantasmal Killer +8 vs. MD (one nearby enemy) – 15 ongoing psychic damage, and the target is dazed and doesn’t add the escalation die to its attacks (save ends both). Natural 18+: The target must instead start making last gasp saves. On the fourth failed save, the target dies of a heart attack. Limited Use: 1/battle, when the escalation die is 3+. C: Agent of Fate +8 vs. MD (one nearby enemy) – The target can’t add the escalation die to its attack rolls (save ends), and loses one icon relationship die until the end of the battle. If the target had an unused benefit for that icon, the mothman steals that benefit and can use it to force a complication onto the party immediately. Natural 16+: The mothman steals the target’s one unique thing. The GM can create a power for the mothman or a penalty on the target that reflects this theft, that lasts until the end of the battle. Limited Use: 1/battle. Recharges if this attack misses. Flight. Portentous Gaze: Whenever a nearby enemy attacks the mothman and rolls a natural 1-5, the mothman can make a mind-warping gaze attack against that enemy as a free action. AC 20 PD 14 MD 18 HP 104

The mu spore is a thankfully very rare plant, as it is a massive, strangely intelligent thing. With bodies at least 30 feet long, and a tentacle span of at least 100 feet from tip to tip, they are massive but shockingly light and graceful, floating about with ease and venting jets of thickly spored gas to guide their movement. While they grow best deep underground, once they are fully grown they are more than capable of leaving such environments, even rising to the surface and into sunlight. While ravenous and willing to devour entire civilizations if not stopped, they are actually also quite erudite and intellectual. Despite no known means of studying, they are very knowledgeable of many histories and ancient books, and if peaceful contact can be made they can be an incredible source of information. Additionally, their spores can be used in many potent alchemical concoctions, so alchemists who hear of a mu spore will pay a king's fortune for samples.

Mu Spore Triple-Strength 13th level troop [huge plant] Initiative: +18 Vulnerability: Thunder Great Maw +18 vs. AC – 150 damage, and the mu spore grabs the target, or swallows the target if it was already grabbed at the start of the mu spore’s turn. Miss: 60 damage. Grasping Tentacle +18 vs. AC (can target nearby enemies) – 80 damage. Natural Even Hit: The mu spore can grab the target. Miss: 20 damage. Quick Use: The mu spore can make this attack as a quick action. C: Body Crush +18 vs. PD (all enemies climbing on the mu spore, and all nearby enemies in a group) – 80 damage. Natural Even Hit: The target is also dazed (save ends). Miss: 40 damage. C: Spore Cough +18 vs. PD (2d3 nearby enemies) – 180 damage. Natural 16+: The target is also vulnerable to all damage (hard save ends, 16+). Limited Use: 1d3 times per battle, never two turns in a row. Enormous: The mu spore is so big it ignores opportunity attacks, and disengaging from it only requires an easy check (6+), unless the target is grabbed. Enemies can climb onto the mu spore; it can’t make great maw attacks against enemies climbing on it, but gains a +4 bonus to hit with its body crush. If it hits an enemy climbing on it, that enemy must roll a save; on a failure, it falls off (and probably takes falling damage). Creatures its grabs are also no longer climbing on it. Flight: Despite its great size, it floats easily and directs itself through the air with jets of gas. Swallow Whole: A creature swallowed by the mu spore takes 5d20 acid damage at the start of each of the mu spore’s turns. It can act, but can’t target or affect any creature outside the mu spore, or vice versa. The mu spore has -2 to all defenses against enemies attacking it from inside, but only melee and close-quarters attacks are possible. If a swallowed creature does 150 or more damage to the mu spore in a single turn, the mu spore must attempt a save; on a failure, it spits out all swallowed enemies. The save becomes a hard save (16+) if the damage is 200 or more. Resist Acid 18+. AC 28 PD 27 MD 24 HP 1160

Inspired by the Pathfinder 1e Bestiary 2. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

[cagemasterfantasy]

Wizard (Chronurgy)

Focusing on the manipulation of time, those who follow the Chronurgy tradition learn to alter the pace of reality to their liking. Using the ramping of anticipatory dunamis energy, these mages can bend the flow of time as adroitly as a skilled musician plays an instrument, lending themselves and their allies an advantage in the blink of an eye.

Chronal Shift: At level 2, you can magically exert limited control over the flow of time around a creature. As a reaction, after you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can force the creature to reroll. You make this decision after you see whether the roll succeeds or fails. The target must use the result of the second roll.

You can use this ability twice, and you regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Temporal Awareness: Starting at level 2, you can add your Intelligence modifiers to your initiative rolls.

Momentary Stasis: When you reach level 6, as an action, you can magically force a Large or smaller creature you can see within 60 feet of you to make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. Unless the saving throw is a success, the creature is encased in a field of magical energy until the end of your next turn or until the creature takes any damage. While encased in this way, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Arcane Abeyance: At level 10, when you cast a spell using a spell slot of 4th level or lower, you can condense the spell's magic into a mote. The spell is frozen in time at the moment of casting and held within a gray bead for 1 hour. This bead is a Tiny object with AC 15 and 1 hit point, and it is immune to poison and psychic damage. When the duration ends, or if the bead is destroyed, it vanishes in a flash of light, and the spell is lost.

A creature holding the bead can use its action to release the spell within, whereupon the bead disappears. The spell uses your spell attack bonus and save DC, and the spell treats the creature who released it as the caster for all other purposes.

Once you create a bead with this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Convergent Future: Starting at level 14, you can peer through possible futures and magically pull one of them into events around you, ensuring a particular outcome. When you or a creature you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to ignore the die roll and decide whether the number rolled is the minimum needed to succeed or one less than that number (your choice).

When you use this feature, you gain one level of exhaustion. Only by finishing a long rest can you remove a level of exhaustion gained in this way.

Source:  Explorer's Guide to Wildemount

[underdarken]

ARKEZET // LEVEL 10 STATS

CHARISMA: 19 WISDOM: 10 INTELLIGENCE: 12 CONSTITUTION: 15 DEXTERITY: 13 STRENGTH: 8

PROFICIENCIES

BACKGROUND: SAGE ARMOR CLASS: 15 ARCANA: +7 HISTORY: +7 PERCEPTION: +6 DECEPTION: +10 PERSUASION: +10 LANGUAGES: Drowic, Elvish, Undercommon, Common, Draconic, Infernal

METAMAGIC

DISTANT SPELL: Increase the range of spells by 50%. Melee spells get a range of 30ft.

QUICKENED SPELL: Spells that cost an action cost a bonus action instead.

TWINNED SPELL: Spells that only target 1 creature can target an additional creature.

SUBTLE SPELL: You can cast spells while Silenced

NOTABLE FEATURES

ALERT: You gain +5 bonus to Initiative and can't be Surprised.

DRACONIC ANCESTRY - RED (FIRE): At Level 6, spells that deal Fire damage are more powerful, and you can become resistant to Fire.

DRACONIC RESILIENCE: Dragon-like scales cover parts of your skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 13.

ELEMENTAL ADEPT - FIRE: Spells you cast ignore Resistance to Fire damage. In addition, when you deal Fire damage with a spell, you cannot roll a 1.

ELEMENTAL AFFINITY - DAMAGE: When you cast a spell that deals damage of the type associated with your draconic ancestry, you add your Charisma Modifier to the damage.

ELEMENTAL AFFINITY - RESISTANCE: When you cast a spell that deals damage of the type associated with your draconic ancestry, you spend 1 Sorcery Point to gain Resistance to that damage type.

ASSORTED: DROW WEAPON TRAINING, FEY ANCESTRY, SUPERIOR DARKVISION

[agentblizz]

!!my thing!!

everyone please ask your ttrpg friends about ttrpg regularly, or else we fucking die

gonna go over how this would work as specified in the original post and then break down the subclass as a whole, tl;dr at the end

So Wizards take a subclass at level 2, as opposed to the most common level 3, which means that you're going to be even more squishy than the average participant if you spin a Wizard, but War Magic is a great counterbalance for the Wizards historical ragdollability.

War Magic is described as, at its core, a hybridization of Abjuration and Evocation, which essentially boil down to defensive magic and offensive spellblasting, respectively. a War Mage focuses on bolstering themselves early on to ensure they can keep a continuous stream of high damage throughout an encounter.

Intelligence is a Wizards primary stat, which is why the War Mages level 2 feature Tactical Wit is especially helpful. When rolling initiative, a War Mage may add their Intelligence bonus to their initiative roll. Great feature (as long as you don't roll like ass), ensures you can throw up some defenses before an enemy would have the opportunity to attack you.

Their other level 2 feature, Arcane Deflection, is slightly less useful but still a great asset in a tough spot, with one major drawback. when a War Mage is attacked or forced to make a saving throw, they can use their reaction to add a bonus to their armor class. Arcane Deflection grants a +2 to AC against an attack roll and/or a +4 to a saving throw. Ideally saved for saving throws, as it's a better bonus and you would have presumably already cast Shield by now, but that +2 could be the difference between life and death (In fact it most likely will be, as you likely have 14-16 HP as of level two). The drawback of using this feature, however, besides the obvious expense of your reaction, is that until the end of your next turn, you cannot use leveled spells, only cantrips. This is a pretty flat ability at level 2 as with limited spell slots you would be relying on cantrips pretty heavily, but at higher levels when you need to spend some slots to keep up with your party, it could be detrimental. The ideal situation to use this feature in would be when you are already out of spell slots, as you receive no penalty and you don't have the option to cast a reaction spell instead of using this feature.

Throwing defined mechanics out the window in favor of the in-universe feel and use of the subclass, a War Mage is always trying to get the jump on an opponent. The typical strategy is to throw up a Shield or comparable spell and start blasting. War Mages are usually highly trained, respected individuals who would have no need to hide their power, and even if they did, a wizard does not need to perform magic to live, so you could easily hide yourself by simply not using your powers. It would be, IMO, a pretty ideal setup.

Ok now we talk about the rest of the subclass cuz they're rlly interesting!!

At level 6 the War Magic Wizard unlocks a feature called Power Surge, a pool of charges (aptly called "Power Surges") that can be used to deal some free extra damage. Once per turn when they deal damage to a creature with a spell from the wizard spell list, a War Mage can expend a Power Surge to deal additional force damage equal to half of their wizard level. at the time you get this feature that's only 3 damage and it doesn't get much better, scaling to a maximum of 10 if you put all 20 levels in wizard. The reason this isn't completely useless is that Power Surges are incredibly easy to generate, and the feature itself requires no use of action economy. A War Mage can store a number of Power Surges equal to their Intelligence modifier with a minimum of one. You gain one Power Surge whenever you successfully end a spell using Dispel Magic or Counterspell, as you siphon the lingering magic from the spell you end. When you complete a short rest with zero Power Surges, you gain one. When you complete a long rest, your Power Surges are reset to one automatically.

At level 10 they unlock Durable Magic, which grants them a +2 bonus to AC and all saving throws when maintaining concentration on a spell. This incentivizes a War Mage to always keep a concentration spell going, ideally something defensive to maximize protection.

And finally at 14th level a War Mage acquires their final feature, Deflecting Shroud. A majorly needed upgrade to Arcane Deflection, when you activate Arcane Deflection as a reaction you automatically deal force damage equal to half your Wizard level to up to three creatures you can see within 60 feet.

War Mages have a lot more self-defense options than other Wizards, but they still have a low health pool, and benefit majorly from martial support.

tl;dr much safer a position to be in than most wizards but still pretty squishy, if you stick to civilian life or keep an escort of tanky adventurers you'll be fine. Plus magic is pretty convenient even when you're not out doing shit, and having no patron or sorcerous genetics means no drawbacks to using it besides maybe being a little tired.

Spin this dang wheel of every 5e subclass. You are hit by a truck and end up on the Sword Coast as that class, at the level you select that subclass.

[periodotic]

GEU Report #3: Combat and Classes

If this is your first time seeing this blog, you might want to check out the first post - report #1 - here.

This report is going to be split into two parts; the first is explaining the combat system itself, and the other is explaining the system for class features before giving you the pdf for fighting classes. Note that this won't go over magic that much, but in a future report I will showcase the mageform classes, the spells, and the spell levels. Again, the mageforms are still unfinished in terms of spells and features, so I don't want to leave you with little information on them that seems unsatisfactory.

The two primary aspects of modifiers both inside and out of combat are Attributes and "Command Ranks." You may remember Command Ranks from the last report, and that I said I would cover it later - that's now! It would be best to consider these two things the basis of a player-character's stats.

Attributes are different scores that reflect your player-character's capability in that Attribute's subject. There are nine of them. It sounds like a lot, but you spend little time keeping track of it, as it remains unchanged outside the context of leveling up, and no character makes use of them all - that is, unless you're a very unique Perfecter. Three of the Attributes are "physical" in that they pertain to the body. Three more are "mental," and the other three are "technical" - about specifically their subject. The Attributes are as follows:

Power: This represents the ability of a character to attack, to hit, and their physical strength. Power is used when making attacks; when you roll to attack something, on the attack roll (not the Limb Dice!) you add Power to your attack. If you hit them and roll for damage, you also add Power to that roll. A character with high Power may be some grizzled warrior with expertise in many weapons, or an overwhelming force of nature who relies on their own muscle to hurt someone. Those with low power may be meek, or perhaps are strong, and simply don't have much familiarity with using their strength - or using weapons.

Agility: One's skill at dodging, moving, nimbleness, and swiftness. When calculating your Defense for each Limb, Agility is the modifier initially used for each - ignoring the changes to Defense made by Armor and effects. Additionally, many skills in GEU are effected by Agility. An agile character can be swift, light on their feet, and quite flexible. A low-Agility character may be clumsy, rigid, or slow. They could also be a fast-paced person, who just doesn't have a good enough reaction time to properly dodge or deflect things.

Fortitude: Healthiness, toughness, and resilience are determined by your Fortitude. Fortitude affects the rate at which you gain health, your ability to ignore negative effects of various sources - spells, traps, disease, etc. - and the speed in which you recover. Many common abilities of enemies require you to roll using Fortitude in order to save against the effect. If your character has high Fortitude, they may be well-trained physically, are naturally healthy, or have an insane desire to not die. If they have low Fortitude, they may be frail or sickly, or just have thin skin.

Awareness: A character's reaction time, and thinking skills and speed are associated with Awareness. It is used in calculating the order of characters' turns in combat, and its associated skills - skills that involve Awareness as part of the modifier - are about your ability to predict and react. Having a lot of points in Awareness may mean that your character is constantly vigilant, can sense things around them, or are even paranoid! On the flip-side, no or negative Awareness could mean that your character is oblivious or are the type of paranoid that can't actually predict things. Awareness is also used by Channelers to gain a bonus to their rolls involving spells - the ability to perceive the barrier of reality and unreality.

Intelligence: You can surmise what Intelligence means for a character - knowledge, memory, and logic skills. Intelligence has no intrinsic bearing on combat, other than when a character attempts to recall information about a foe, which could allow them to remember or realize a weakness. An intelligent character may have great knowledge of the world they live in, or are extremely lucky at guessing, while a low-Intelligence character has little memory to work of - maybe being a clone or amnesiac - or knows a lot and always manages to make the wrong conclusions. Intelligence is used by Infusers to gain a bonus to their rolls involving spells, as their knowledge of the world allows them to tap into it for more magic.

Will: I feel that Will is the most specific of the non-technical Attributes, but it is still very usual for one's mentality. Will resists being persuaded both by normal means and by magic, as well as allowing you to persist through effects. Just like Intelligence, Will provides little intrinsic combat use, but serves in skills and in gained abilities. Will is used by Projectors to gain a bonus to their rolls involving spells - its their own self that fuels their magic.

Cybernetics: As with all technical Attributes, Cybernetics is not available initially. Only a class, allegiance, or other source of proficiency in Cybernetics grants you the ability to use it. Machine players (robots) automatically have "proficiency" in Cybernetics - proficiency being a condition one gains that permits them to have certain things, like Cybernetics, Mist, the ability to wear grades of armor, and more. This Attribute regards interacting with machines and other mechanical entities. Programming, hacking, and toggling are all skills under Cybernetics. If you want your character to gain a proficiency in it, then consider trying to go through some process to receive "Active Cybernetic Implants." While characters can have prosthetics and other cybernetic parts, the ACI is an implant specifically produced to give its host the ability to link with other machines. A cyborg, robot, or body-modding individual would want to have high Cybernetics as it allows them to navigate other machines, and activate abilities better.

Mist: Despite the strange name, Mist is important for mageforms. Not all characters have a Mist proficiency, as machines lack a connection to magic, and some biological entities don't bother to train in it. Mist is one's power in terms of magic, meaning that attaining a mageform class level grants you Mist (machines can't become mages. Instead they have their own special forms of classes and allegiances that grant them special electronic/digital/mechanical abilities). When rolling for something that involves magic, a mage usually adds their associated Attribute - Will, Intelligence, and Awareness - alongside adding Mist and their Command Rank.

Experience: This is a special Attribute that does not increase the same way as other Attributes. This is determined by your class level instead of your distribution of Attribute points, and changes every six levels regardless of what levels they have. Your starting experience is zero, and you follow a "tree" of options for what Experience does for you:

At level one experience, you gain something called a "Wild Action." When I go over the action economy later right after this part of the blog, I'll tell you what this means.

At levels two through four, you choose between gaining an action, a move, or a reaction. You can choose each option only once. This means that by level twenty-four, you'll have two actions, two moves, two reactions, and a Wild Action.

So, now you know about the first of the two primary modifiers. Command Ranks are the other. When you see the pdf attached to this report, you'll find that some things will read something like:

Rank Gain (Level 6)

Basic Weapons (2)

Basic Weapons (+2)

Advanced Weapons (0+3)

Hacking (1+1)

Hacking (2)

These are three Command Ranks being granted to you, at level six. See how they name what the Command Rank is pertaining to, and then a number associated? This means that when you roll in that subject, such as attacking someone with a basic weapon (like a stick) you'll then be able to add that number. But wait! See how there is both a "2" and a "+2" in the parentheses for Basic Weapons? These are different, not a mistake! That "2" is giving you a "base" modifier. Across all Command Ranks you have for a subject, you can only add one "base" modifier. However, that "+2" is called a "bonus" modifier. You can add all the bonus modifiers you want, but you must have some base in that subject in order to be able to apply a bonus. Therefore, if you didn't have that Basic Weapons (2), then you wouldn't be able to apply the Basic Weapons (+2). Now, look at Advanced Weapons and Hacking. See how it has two numbers? This means that it is applying both a base and a bonus. When you are granted both a base and a bonus Command Rank, they will look like that, not being separated into two groups like the Basic Weapons (2) and (+2) are. You still treat them as if they are different, though, so you can apply that +3 from Advanced Weapons if you have a different base value you want to use for it.

Now that you know the two important modifiers for rolls, why not go over your action economy? There are three actions you can make each round, called an action, a move, and a reaction. You can use each of these once per round, and refresh your uses at the start of each round - a round being when the turn order is complete and returns to the start of the list (also note that some features change your turn order mid-combat, and this doesn't update until the next round). As discussed with Experience, your action economy develops into something completely different as you level your class, changing the way the game works.

Actions are used for primary abilities in the game. You are able to: Attack an enemy that you can hit, Prepare to use an action later, Defend yourself against a future attack, Run faster, and more. Be wary, though! Each action you make can only be made once per round by default. So, if you have multiple actions, you can't Attack multiple times

Moves are used to trigger weaker or faster abilities, ones that you don't intrinsically have. Therefore you have no use for a Move by default.

Reactions, like Moves, are essentially useless until you gain uses from features and abilities. If you Prepare to take an action by using your Action, you trigger that preparation by using your Reaction. Reactions differ from Moves as they can be made from outside your turn by default and are meant to be responses to other actions.

A Wild Action, the economy you gain from entering level six, is actually not a type of action itself. Instead, you can use it as either an action or a move. You make this choice whenever you use it, so if you need two actions one round, and then two moves the next, you can do so.

That's a lot information, but this only regards the general system of the game. Now it's time to go over the mechanics of a class. Each class has twelve levels, and a "prestige" level that you gain afterwards. This limited number of levels promotes multiclassing for high-level characters, while the prestige system rewards dedication to one class. "Prestige" levels work by being treated as if you have taken a new level, but the bonus from that are one prestige trait and one of the following: two Class traits, a Standard trait set, or a subclass Advancement.

"Traits" are units of features in the game, in which they grant a new feature to you. You are expected to have a lot of these, and what makes the game so customizable is that you choose the majority of the traits you receive. Starting at level one, every three levels grants you two traits of your choice from your class. Starting at level two, every three levels grants you a "set" of traits from a list that everyone has access to - called Standard traits. Note that the traits you get are simultaneously gained with everything else you get while leveling up, except for the fact that you are at a new level; some traits have requirements that need to be filled, and if you fill those requirements by gaining a new trait at the same level you attempt to gain the first trait, you can't actually do that unless you space that out between levels. There are also a couple of symbols you need to know:

+ means that this trait is an addition to another trait of the same name. By default this trait requires the original trait that it is adding to.

↺ means that this trait can be repeatedly gained. By default you can only gain this trait once per level.

⇄ is a unique one - just like +, there is another trait somewhere with the same name. However, you can choose to have the original trait or this ⇄ trait.

⧫ is even more unique as it works off of ⇄ traits; when you pick either, you can later choose to have this trait which usually combines the features of both traits. Note that a ⧫⇄ would mean that the trait with those symbols is an alternative to a normal ⧫ trait.

Each class is meant to have a set of "paths" of specialization that you can take. These are called sub-classes, and each class has a special name for their set of associated sub-classes. For example, the Defender has Caryatids, while the Lancer has Tecpatl and the Aligner with Ammunition. Look a few lines up from this part of the blog, back to the part about traits and how you gain them every three levels. Notice how you gain nothing every three levels starting at level three? That's because those holes are filled by sub-classes. You gain what is called an "Advancement." You spend that advancement to ascend the level of a sub-class, including ascending through different ones! However, there exists only one sub-class for each class currently, and they aren't too particular as I wanted to introduce the generalization sub-classes that can fit any character.

Time. Just as how the setting using base 12 influences the game, the setting's time system plays a role in the game. I spent the effort of making a little grammar system for making compound words in the setting's language, so you'll see text like "dilukrin" or "dilukringa." To make it simple: if you see a time measurement being used in an ability that catches your interest, remember this:

A "luk," also called a lukga, diluk, or dilukga, is a short measurement. Pretend that it is a second. Turns last six dilukga.

A "lukrin," also called a lukringa, dilukrin, or dilukringa, is a longer measurement. Pretend that it is a minute - seventy-two dilukga make up one dilukrin.

A "takrin," also called a takringa, ditakrin, or ditakringa, is an extended measurement. Pretend that it is an hour - seventy-two dilukringa, or 5184 dilukga, make up one ditakrin.

The "di-" prefix and the "-ga" suffix represent quantities. "Di-" means a specific quantity as opposed to general or non-specific quantities, like how one can say "a cat" or "one cat." "-Ga" means a plural amount, like how one says "many cats" and not "many cat."

Additionally, movement uses something called a ulip. This isn't dependent on the setting, but rather a unit simply used to describe combat distances.

One more thing before I talk about the pdf. Characters need time to recover their abilties. They have the weaker Rests, in which they heal a tiny bit, based off of their Constitution and health dice, as well as bonuses granted by some Standard traits. They have the stronger Recoveries in which they fully heal, regain most to all uses of everything they have, get a good night's sleep, and maybe a bit more depending on their features.

Okay, cool. Everything should now be out of the way! If you've stuck around this far, thank you so much for reading this. I know this is complicated and convoluted, but once you get the full picture, you'll see that it's quite comprehensible. I would upload the pdf to tumblr directly, but unfortunately I must share it through something else, so I am hosting it on Google Drive.

Again, thank you for taking the time to read this. It's very long and I am very tired. I'll try to go over something much more concise for the next report.

[ink-flavoured-tea]

Fun D&D Builds 8: Healer Artificer

What you’ll need: 

The Artificer Class - Alchemist Subclass

Mark of Healing Halfling

A Strixhaven Student Background that gives you access to a 1st level Wizard spell - Witherbloom Student or Quandrix Student preferable 

Optional: Cleric Class - Life Domain

Ok so first, you’ll want to be a Mark of Healing Halfling from the Eberron books, this will give you an extra 1d4 to medicine checks and checks with your herbalism kits. You can also cast Cure wounds or Lesser restoration spells for free once per long rest, which is handy if you’re running low on spell slots and an ally goes down. Finally, you’ll get a greater range of healing spells to choose from thanks to the expanded spell list. 

Next, go for the Artificer class, for your spells you’ll need to grab the Spare the Dying cantrip and the Cure wounds spell. For your Infusions the only one you’ll really need is Homunculus Servant, this will allow you to cast your spells through your Homunculus as long as the spell has a range of touch, which means you can position it near an ally and potentially heal or stabilise them if they’re running low on health. 

For your Subclass, choose the Alchemist. This will allow you to brew one potion for free per day (you can brew more but you’ll need to expend a spell slot) admittedly, only one of these will heal you and you’ll have to roll on a table for it so there’s a 1 in 6 chance of getting it. BUT, at higher levels you’ll gain an additional boost to your healing equal to your Intelligence modifier, so using a 1st level spell slot your Cure wounds spell will heal for a minimum of 11 hp and a max of 18. Later on, you’ll be able to brew two potions per day for free at level 6 and three at level 15 and the creature who drinks it will gain extra temporary hipoints. Finally, at level 9 you can cast Lesser restoration a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and at level 15 you can cast the Heal spell once per day. 

Finally, and this part’s important: Choose a Strixhaven background, personally I would recommend either Witherbloom Student (as you will get additional healing spells) or Quandrix Student (as you will get a balance of attack and support/buffing spells). This will give you the Strixhaven Initiate feat which will give you two extra cantrips and will also let you learn one 1st level spell which you can cast for free once per long rest OR you can expend spell slots to cast it again. Choose a spell from the Wizard Spell list and specifically choose the Unearthed Arcana Spell: Healing Elixir. This takes one minute to cast but you can make a healing potion which heals for 2d4 + 2 hit points, which remain magical for 24 hours and you can make a number of these as long as you have the spell slots (and flasks) 

So, you get a few ways to heal yourself or your allies for free, a way to transport better healing spells than healing word and a way to buff your medicine checks (which if you cast guidance on yourself you gain 2d4 to add to your medicine checks) 

Still not enough? Well you can also multiclass into a Life Domain Cleric and all of your healing spells will gain an extra 2 + the level of the spell hit points in addition to all the other healing buffs you’ll have, and you’ll have Channel Divinity: Preserve Life to help out too. 

Thanks for reading and happy healing! :)

[homebrew-and-heroism]

Artificer: Clockwinder Specialist

The endless gears of Mechanus, as well as the manufactured copy within the Clockwork Cities of the mechanites, tick loudly throughout reality, keeping time with the flow of time itself. Inspired by the perfect keeping of time, you have delved deeply enough to harness chronal energy to wind or unwind time's metaphorical gears just enough to assist you in your travels to further expand your knowledge.

Tools of the Trade

When you adopt this specialisation at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with one type of melee weapon of your choice. If you already have proficiency with all melee weapons, you gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools of your choice.

Clockwinder Spells

Starting at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Clockwinder Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Clockwinder Spells

Artificer Level 3: Gift of Alacrity, Shield

Artificer Level 5: Blur, Find Traps

Artificer Level 9: Haste, Slow

Artificer Level 13: Arcane Eye, Dimension Door

Artificer Level 17: Scrying, Temporal Shunt

Hand of the Clock

At 3rd level, you create a magical melee weapon to act as the Hand for your clock. This weapon’s appearance and form can be anything you have proficiency with. Whenever you make an attack while using the Hand, you may choose to use your Intelligence modifier instead of the score normally associated with the weapon. 

The Hand can be conjured or dismissed as a bonus action. In addition, you can infuse it as if it were a nonmagical weapon.

Chronal Workings

Beginning at 5th level, you have learned to move in tune with the flow of time around you, letting the universe guide you rather than pushing through it. Your movement speed increases by 10 feet, and you can add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative rolls

In addition, the chronal energy filling you has begun to affect you physically, slowing your ageing. For every two years that pass, you only age one year.

Momentary Stasis

When you reach 9th level, as an action, you can magically force a Large or smaller creature you can see within 60 feet of you to make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is encased in a field of magical energy until the end of your next turn or until the creature takes any damage. While encased in this way, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. Additionally, any spells or abilities the creature is using are temporarily disabled while it is encased in this way, resuming once it escapes the field.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Perfect Time

By 15th level, you become so attuned to the workings of time that you are able to manipulate them with your Clock Hand as easily as you would wind a clock. Your Clock Hand gains the following benefits:

+2 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

If a target is resistant or immune to the damage type dealt by your Clock Hand, it instead deals Force damage.

When you make a melee attack using your Clock Hand, you may turn to make an additional melee attack against a second target within range as part of that attack.

[binno-blum-dumb]

oooo plz let me help you out! This is my autismm

For characters, there are certain pre built character sheets that can be very helpful for beginners who want to learn to play the basics, but if you’d like to make your own character i could recommend some sources, but honestly character creation is really difficult so i just would recommend using presets. In school campaigns ive played in, the dm usually has presets ready to go for beginners. If they don’t, you could also download ones from online and print them. I found these presets from dnd5etools.com but you could also find them online through your own searching. You can also take these presets as a basic template and expand your character from those foundations

There is also the official dnd starter set, you can get them from target, Amazon, Walmart, etc. They retail like 15 usd and they include a book of essential information, dice, and character sheets, but there is tons of free stuff online that’s more accessible if needed.

As for the basic playing, all you really need is some dice and google to look up spells, or you can just ask your dm for guidance on mechanics and spells. Your dm and other party members will also have dice you can borrow. On the character sheet there are “modifiers” and ability scores (constitution, dexterity, strength, intelligence, wisdom, charisma) that determine how you adjust your rolls based off your character. For example, your dm might ask you to roll for initiative (start the combat) and you would add the dexterity modifier to your roll. The difference between ability score and modifier is that ability score is the larger number that almost never gets used, but it’s the number you would roll for when you build the character

For spells I use dnd wiki dot and dnd beyond has good class and race info (roadmap, game rules, classes or species)

Ginny Di has lots of good stuff too! Basically anything you could need tutorial wise will be there

I was gonna add more but I fell into a depression as this was sitting in my drafts for three weeks but I’m sorry this is a late rb, if you have any more questions rb this again and good luck with dnd ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

I have questions.

Okay so, there's a dungeons and dragons club at my high school and I was considering joining during the next school year. Only one problem, I don't know what I'm doing. Soooo I was wondering if anyone has any tips for like how to make a character and like how to play so that way I have a slightest idea as to what I'm doing when the new school year starts and I'm not SUPER embarrassed.

[nerdythebard]

#32: The Gentleman Ghost [DC]

I've got one more in me for the Month of Spook, my darlings.

I'll be honest, I've recently became a little obsessed with this particular character. His mannerisms, history (he debuted in 1947 and yet we hear so little of him), and general vibe seemed to resonate with me. I've became a fan of "Gentleman" Jim Craddock aka The Gentleman Ghost. Let's get spooky with it!

Next Time: Speak shyly and carry a big shield.

So, what do we need to be the resident not-friendly ghost?

Dandy Phantom: The Gentleman Ghost is... well, a ghost and a gentleman. We need to somehow incorporate that in our build.

Tricks and Treats: Craddock has several gadgets at his disposal, including a (sometimes magical) cane, flintlock pistols, and even a ghostly horse and carriage to move around.

Scary Spook: Gentleman Ghost has shown a number of supernatural powers, including mind control/hypnosis, fright inducement, short-distance teleportation, etc.

---

Although originally a human (and British), Craddock is a ghost now. That means, we're picking the Reborn from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. We get a +2 and +1 to two abilities of our choice (Charisma and Dexterity), proficiency in two skills of our choice (Sleight of Hand and Acrobatics), knowledge of Common and another language, and Knowledge from a Past Life; whenever we make an ability check, we can roll a 1d6 immediately after rolling the d20 and add the result to the overall score. We can use this a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus, and we regain all uses after a long rest. Finally, due to our Deathless Nature, we gain several undead benefits:

We have an advantage on saving throws against diseases and being poisoned, as well as resistance to poison damage.

We have an advantage on Death Saving Throws.

We don't need to eat, drink, or even breathe.

We don't need to sleep and magic cannot put us to sleep. We can finish a long rest in 4 hours if we spend them in a motionless state.

In life, Craddock was a highwayman and a master thief... what other background can we choose but the Criminal? We gain proficiency in Deception and Stealth, proficiency with thieves' tools and one type of gaming set, as well as the Criminal Contact feature. We gain a reliable, trustworthy NPC contact, whom we can ask for informations, deliver messages, set up meetings with other shady individuals, etc.

ABILITY SCORES

Dexterity will be our number one, we wear little armour, we need to be sneaky and nimble, and we're pretty skilled. Charisma is next, we are a charming gentleman after all. Constitution follows, even death couldn't keep us down, so we can take a few hits.

Wisdom is next, Craddock was and still remains a crafty and witty individual, eluding various DC heroes successfully. Follow that up with Intelligence, Jim's father was indeed a gentleman, so he probably had some education. Finally, we're gonna dump Strength... we're dead. No muscle.

CLASS

I've had a few ideas here, some included multiclass, others got some triple-class elements in it. Finally, I've decided to go with the easy path and go Rogue start-to-finish. Rogues get a d8 as their Hit Dice, [8 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies with light armour, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords, and thieves' tools. Since we already have those last ones from our background, ask your DM to replace it with firearms proficiency from the Artificer class. I'd rather we don't pick an armour, but if you have to, go for a simple leather one. For weapons, get a cane (flavoured quarterstaff), perhaps throwing darts, maybe a rapier, too. Our saving throws are Intelligence and Dexterity, and we get to pick four class skills from the list (Insight, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion).

Level 1: With Thieves' Cant, we learn a secret system of phrases, symbols, and gestures used by criminals to hide messages and recognize one another (or, you know, British slang). We also get Expertise, which lets us choose two skills we're proficient with (or one skill and thieves' tools) and double our proficiency bonus applied to them. Let's pick Stealth and Sleight of Hand. Finally, we get Sneak Attack. We can apply extra 1d6 damage (changes as we level up) whenever we gain an advantage on a weapon attack (weapon must have a finesse or ranged property) or whenever our enemy is within 5 feet of another enemy of theirs.

Level 2: We get Cunning Action, which can be used to move and act more quickly. We can now use the Dash, Disengage, and Hide Actions as Bonus Actions.

Level 3: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 2d6.

We get to pick our subclass, our Roguish Archetype. This was another close one, but in the end I've decided to go with the Phantom archetype from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. As we walk the line between life and death, we hear Whispers of the Dead. Whenever we finish a short or long rest, we can choose a skill we're not proficient with and gain temporary proficiency until we choose another.

Finally, with Wails from the Grave, we channel the power of death to harm another creature. After rolling our Sneak Attack damage against a creature, we can choose another creature within 30 feet of the first one and deal [our Sneak Attack dice halved] necrotic damage to it. We can use this feat a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus. We gain all uses back after a long rest.

Level 4: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. We're going to raise our Constitution by two points.

Level 5: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 3d6. We get Uncanny Dodge; whenever we're being hit by an attack we can see, we can use a reaction to receive half of the damage.

Level 6: We get another shot at Expertise. This time, we're going to double our proficiency bonus for the Intimidation skill and our thieves' tools.

Level 7: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 4d6. At this level, we get the Evasion feature, which is probably one of the most powerful in the game. Whenever we are forced to make a Dexterity saving throw that would make us take half damage on a success, we instead take no damage (we take half damage on a failed save).

Level 8: Another ASI. We put one point into Constitution and one into Dexterity.

Level 9: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 5d6. Time for the subclass upgrade. Tokens of the Departed lets us use a reaction whenever a creature dies within 30 feet of us to snatch a piece of its soul and create a tiny token from it. We can use the Tokens in the following ways:

While we have a Token on us, we have an advantage on Death Saving Throws and Constitution saving throws.

Whenever we use Sneak Attack, we can burn one Token to immediately use the Wails from the Grave effect without expending the use of it.

As an action, we can choose to destroy a Token and release the soul sliver. When we do so, we can ask the spirit one question. The spirit knows what it knew in life but is under no obligation to speak truthfully.

Level 10: Halfway through the build, and we get another ASI. This time, however, we're going to pick the Shadow Touched feat. Doing so, increases our Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1. We also learn the Invisibility spell and one other 1st-level illusion or necromancy spell (Cause Fear). Once we cast either spell, we cannot cast again until finishing a long rest.

Level 11: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 6d6. We get another good feature: Reliable Talent. Whenever we make a check for an ability we're proficient in, the rolls of 9 and lower are treated as 10.

Level 12: Time for another ASI. We're going to raise our Dexterity by one point and Wisdom by one.

Level 13: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 7d6. We also get another subclass feature. Thanks to Ghost Walk, we can assume a spectral form as a bonus action. We gain 10 feet of flying speed, we can hover, and attacks against us are made with a disadvantage. We can also move through people and objects, but we do suffer 1d10 force damage if we end our turn inside one. We stay in this form for 10 minutes. We cannot use this feature again until we finish a long rest or destroy one Token.

Level 14: We get Blindsense. Yes, Rogues do get a lot of good feats. If we are able to hear, we are now aware of all hidden and invisible creatures within 10 feet of us.

Level 15: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 8d6, and we get the Slippery Mind feature. We gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

Level 16: For another ASI, we're going to increase our Dexterity by two points.

Level 17: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 9d6. We get our final subclass upgrade: Death's Friend. Whenever we use the Wails from the Grave effect, we can deal the necrotic damage to both targets. Additionally, at the end of a long rest, if we don't have any Tokens on us, we wake up with one Token.

Level 18: We gain the Elusive feature. While we aren't incapacitated, attacks against us cannot be made with an advantage.

Level 19: Our Sneak Attack damage is now 10d6. Time for our final ASI of the build. We're going to cap our Dexterity and dump one point into Strength.

Level 20: Our capstone is Rogue 20 and we get the Rogue's ultimate feature: Stroke of Luck. Once per short or long rest, if our attack misses a target within range, we can instead make it hit. Alternatively, if we fail an ability check, we can treat the d20 roll as a 20.

---

So, this is another spooky fella for this year's October. What do we have?

Seems like a standard Rogue. Large arsenal of skills, decent elusiveness, and abilities to turn around failed rolls.

Our AC is 16, we have a +5 to our Initiative and 153 Hit Points on average.

Honestly, I don't have much to say in terms of weakness. Our Strength is pretty bad, true, but overall... I am pretty satisfied with this one. Perhaps I'm even gonna play it myself one day. Yeah...

---

One more spooky build for the road. Once again, I cannot express how grateful I am that you guys are enjoying these silly things and are actually suggesting what you want to see. Thank you once again, and thank you for 100 followers.

- Nerdy out

[martyslittleusedblog]

Is It Balanced? A Look at D&D Homebrew Races Episode 1: Fishmen (One Piece)

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Fish_Men_(5e_Race)

Today, we will be using the Detect Balance Scale (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vq1kz6PRAbw5LHy6amH-bNb4OuB8DBXL1RsZROt03Sc) to determine if the Fish Men homebrew race is balanced, and if it isn't, what changes we can make to fix it. If it goes over 30, it's definitely overpowered, and if it goes under 20, it's certainly underpowered. The recommended range the points should be in is 24-27, so if necessary, we'll try to adjust for that with adjustments that would make sense for the race/subrace.

Now, let's get started with the base Fish-Man traits (that matter to the Scale):

Ability Score Increase. Your ability scores depend on your subrace.

Size. Fish-men generally have the same sizes as humans, if not a bit wider and taller. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet.

Amphibious. You can breathe both air and water.

Conductivity. You are resistant to cold damage. However, you have disadvantage in saving throws against lightning damage.

Languages. You speak, read, and write in Common and Aquan.

Ability Score Increase. Your ability scores depend on your subrace.

Size. Fish-men generally have the same sizes as humans, if not a bit wider and taller. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet.

Amphibious. You can breathe both air and water.

Conductivity. You are resistant to cold damage. However, you have disadvantage in saving throws against lightning damage.

Languages. You speak, read, and write in Common and Aquan.

Now, the latter half of Conductivity's description has me a bit stumped. There is nothing on the Detect Balance Scale about disadvantage on saving throws against types of damage. We'll get back to that, but for now, let's look at the subtypes, starting with Carcharodon (the shark-folk).

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Dexterity or Constitution score increases by 1.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Natural Predator. You have advantage in Wisdom (Survival) checks underwater to track creatures whose current hit points are below their hit point maximum that bleed.

Bite. Your great teeth are excellent natural weapons to make unarmed strikes with. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.

Here's another issue: You have a choice of ASI +1, but you can only pick between the two. Does it count as a choice if your choices are so limited? We'll have to account for that...

According to the Detect Balance Scale:

ASI +2 = 8 points

Choice of ASI +1 = 5 points

30 ft Swim Speed = 2

Amphibious = 2

One Medium Resistance (cold) = 3

Darkvision 60 = 3

Advantage on a situational roll (see Natural Predator) = 2

1d6 natural weapon = 2

Total: 27

Excellent! It's within the accepted range! ...But wait. What about the disadvantage on saving throws against lightning damage? Should we count that? If so, should we treat it as a vulnerability? If so, we'd need to subtract 16 points, as the Scale considers lightning to be a medium vulnerability. If that's the case, the total would then be 11, which would be very underpowered.

Well, let's move on to the Aquaeneodon subrace (the common fish-folk).

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1, and any one other ability score of your choice increases by 2

Ocean Artisans. You are proficient in one tool, instrument, or gaming set of your choice.

Able Fighter. You are proficient with tridents and spears.

Another unusual problem: The choice of an ASI by 2 instead of one. That is potentially a problem, but I can't say for certain, because the Scale doesn't say anything about that. Let's see... ASI +1 = 4, while Choice of ASI +1 = 5. ...I s'pose for the sake of this, we should apply the same logic to ASI +2, which is 8. This would mean that if you have a choice of ASI +2, that would be worth 9. Let's go with that.

As well, you are given proficiency with two types of weapons, but on the Scale, the description they have next to Weapon Training simply says "for 3 or 4 weapons". I'm not sure what that means; does it mean what it sounds like or should I be careful not to jump to conclusions?

ASI +1 = 4

Choice of ASI +2 = 9

Tool (or choice thereof) Proficiency = 1

Weapon Training = 2?

30 ft Swim Speed = 2

Amphibious = 2

One Medium Resistance (cold) = 3

Total: 20

Well, it's not TOO underpowered, unless you want it to be within the Recommended range. Hmm... Maybe the Aquaeneodon should ALSO have Darkvision 60 ft. That would add 3 points to the score, making 23. We're almost there! We could also exchange the proficiency with tridents and spears for 2 Martial Weapons of Choice, adding one more point to the score. The result: 24.

Next up, the Cetacea (whale-folk, nevermind that whales are not technically fish).

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 2.

Bulky. You count as one size larger when determining how much you can carry, and how much you can push, drag, or lift.

Thick Skin. While unarmored, your Armor Class is equal to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You may use a shield and still gain this benefit.

ASI +1 = 4

ASI +2 = 8

Powerful Build (Bulky) = 2

12+Dex Natural Armor = 1 (Would the ability to use a shield and still gain the benefit change this?)

30 ft Swim Speed = 2

Amphibious = 2

One Medium Resistance (cold) = 3

Total: 22

Again, not TOO underpowered if you don't mind that it's outside of the Recommended range. But if you do, maybe the Cetacea should ALSO have Darkvision 60 ft. (I'm sensing a pattern...) That would bring the score to 25. There!

Finally, the Octopada (octopus-folk).

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Ink Jet (wasn't given a name on the original site): As an action, you may attempt to blind a creature within 10 feet of you by shooting black ink at them.

Tentacles. To properly wield weapons as you might with regular hands, you need to use at least two tentacles to hold weapons and shields. So, to wield two-handed weapons, you need to use four of your six tentacles. Due to the weight it would put on your boneless body, you cannot wield a two-handed weapon and shield simultaneously. Individually, your tentacles can interact with objects through simple actions like opening doors and jars, or carrying weights of up to 10 pounds each, but they cannot attack or use weapons or shields.

The previously unnamed feature that uses ink was initially in the Darkvision description, which seems to have been a mistake. Anyway, this feature is quite interesting; I don't think there are any spells or the like that have the same properties, but there you go.

As for the Tentacles feature...I don't know. As far as I can tell, there is nothing on the scale mentioning anything like it. Nothing about dual-wielding weapons, anyway.

ASI +2 = 8

ASI +1 = 4

Darkvision 60 = 3

30 ft Swim Speed = 2

Amphibious = 2

One Medium Resistance (cold) = 3

Total: 22

Yet again, not TOO underpowered, but not within the recommended range, either. I'm not sure how to approach this one, however, because I still don't know whether the Tentacles feature is underpowered or overpowered, and thus, the above score may not even be accurate.

But what do you all think? Lemme know in the comments below, and if any of these subraces seem appealing to play as, see if your DM's cool with it (preferably with the aforementioned adjustments made). If they are, then get out there and show the baddies some Fish-Man Karate!

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #293: Saitō Hajime

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the most tired man alive, Saitō Hajime! Seriously, look at that motherfucker. He looks how I feel.

Anyways, he’s a Champion Fighter to be good but not perfect at using swords, and a Gloom Stalker Ranger to perfect his opening attacks. Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Hope y’all saved your FP from the grail front. You’re gonna need it.

Race and Background

Saitō is a Variant Human, giving him +1 Dexterity and Wisdom, as well as proficiency in Perception and the Fighting Initiate feat for some Two-weapon Fighting. We need a lot of fighting styles here, so get used to hearing about them. This one lets you add your ability modifier to damage done by weapons in your off-hand, so your short-swords both do as much as possible. Like Okita you’re a member of the City Watch, giving you proficiency in Athletics and Insight. I’m not sure whether Insight or Perception will help you pick your battles, so you’re good at both now.

Ability Scores

Right off the bat, your highest score is going to be Dexterity. You fight in a suit, and you dual-wield, both are usually dex-based. Second will be Strength though, since you’re also just as deadly with a two-handed sword. Third is Constitution, to help you not die while fighting in a suit.

All this does mean your Wisdom will be lower than I’d like, though it’s still good enough for multiclassing with your racial bonus. This also means your Intelligence is just okay, but we’re dumping Charisma. Don’t worry though, looking dead inside is a charm point on tumblr, just ask Sans and Reigen.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: Starting off as a fighter gives you the Great Weapon Fighting Style, letting you re-roll 1s and 2s on damage dice if you’re using a two-handed weapon. Invincible blades don’t roll poorly on attacks. You also gain a Second Wind to help you outlast the rest of the Shinsengumi. (Or it would if they didn’t also all have it.)

You also get proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as Acrobatics and Intimidation. Being invincible is half in the way you hold yourself, after all.

2. Ranger 1: We want that third fighting style as soon as possible, so we’re bouncing over to ranger right away, letting you make someone your Favored Foe when you hit them. Then, once per turn you can add 1d4 to your weapon damage against them. It’s worse hunter’s mark, but you can use this without spending spell slots proficiency times per day.

You also become a Deft Explorer, making you Canny and doubling your proficiency bonus on Insight checks. (Or perception, again it depends on which one you think helps more) You’ll also get proficiency in one skill from the ranger list for multiclassing, so grab Investigation for better policework.

3. Ranger 2: Second level rangers get another fighting style, and Dueling will help your one-handed attacks be a little stronger by giving them a +2 bonus to damage. This only works when you have a single sword out, but drawing one weapon is a free action. Just attack, draw your second sword, and attack again.

Alternatively, you could use that bonus action to cast Spells, which use your wisdom for damage and attack rolls. At least they would, but we’re picking up Hunter’s Mark and Longstrider, which don’t need either of those. The former adds a d6 of damage on every attack while you’re concentrating, while the latter lets you move a little faster to hurry up with your NP.

4. Fighter 2: Moving back to fighter gives you an Action Surge, a second action you can use in a single turn once per short rest. Stabby, then stabby again. Simple but effective.

5. Fighter 3: Third level fighters pick their martial specialty, and yours is the Champion, which gives you an Improved Critical right off the bat so you crit on a 19 or 20 now. Again, simple but effective.

6. Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Piercer feat for a +1 boost to your Strength and some extra consistency. Once per turn, you can re-roll a die of piercing damage and use the new roll. Additionally, critical hits with piercing weapons will now have an additional die of damage.

7. Fighter 5: To make that crit fishing even easier, fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each attack action, for up to two attacks in one action, three with your bonus action while dual-wielding, and five with an action surge as well.

8. Ranger 3: Moving back to ranger gives you even more attacks once you become a Gloom Stalker. This gives you an expanded spell list (none of which really matter to us, but they’re in the character sheet if you want them), Umbral Vision for 60’ of darkvision and invisibility against darkvision, and you become a Dread Ambusher. You now add your wisdom modifier to your initiative rolls, and on your first turn of combat you move faster, and can make an additional attack as part of your attack action. Not only that, but your additional attack also deals additional damage too!

On top of all that, your Primeval Awareness lets you spend a spell slot to sense weird creatures within a mile of you. Now that you’re part of chaldea you’ll probably have to deal with that stuff.

You also get another first level spell like Zephyr Strike. Spend a bonus action, move without provoking reactions, and you can end the spell early for extra damage, advantage on an attack, and increased walking speed. All good things, all very Hajime.

9. Ranger 4: Use your second ASI to grab the Slasher feat. This rounds up your Strength, making you just as good with a longsword as a shortsword, and you can use slashing weapons to reduce a target’s speed by 10’ once a turn. If you score a critical hit with a slashing weapon, you’ll force disadvantage on that creature’s attacks for a round. Now all your swords are fancy!

10. Ranger 5: Fifth level rangers would get an extra attack, but uh… you don’t. Instead you get second level spells like Barkskin. This also uses concentration, but for up to an hour you have a minimum AC of 16, regardless of what it would be otherwise. If you’ve survived to level 10 with an AC of 13 and a +1 to constitution, you’ve earned a little break. Now you can fight in a suit with… slightly less fear. Not none.

11. Ranger 6: Sixth level rangers deal more damage against their favored foe, and you become Roving as a deft explorer. This means your speed increases by 5’, and you get a climbing and swimming speed for more mobility. That’s not particularly applicable, but the extra speed is nice, and maybe one day we’ll get a Summer Hajime. It could happen! Maybe…

12. Fighter 6: Sixth level fighters get another ASI, and we’re actually going to use this one to improve our ability scores, how wacky. Round up your Constitution and Wisdom for more HP (this is retroactive, so you get +12 this level) and stronger spe- a faster initiative roll. We still don’t have any spells that use wisdom, aside from your subclass ones.

13. Fighter 7: At seventh level champions become Remarkable Athletes, so you can add half your proficiency bonus to any physical check that doesn’t already use it. You can also add your strength modifier to long jumps if you have a bit of a runup. It’s the silver medal of physicality, which fits you perfectly.

14. Ranger 7: Meanwhile in ranger, seventh level gloomstalkers get proficiency in Wisdom saves thanks to your Iron Mind. Admittedly I am writing this before the event shows up, but you seem pretty unflappable.

You can also turn one of your swords into a Magic Weapon, just in case your DM hasn’t given you one by this point. Or three, as the case may be. Anyways, now it’s more accurate, deals more damage, and can cut through high-level enemies like demons.

15. Ranger 8: Eighth level rangers get another ASI for more Dexterity for more AC and speed and stabbing. You can also use Land’s Stride to walk through nonmagical plants without being slowed or damaged. This is also very situational, but at least you get a cool shimmery effect when you do it.

16. Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get third level spells, but I don’t like any of them. Instead grab Silence for a better time sneaking up on people. The slow walk is intimidating, but it doesn’t really work in most fights if people know you’re coming.

17. Ranger 10: A tenth level ranger is Tireless, letting you give yourself temporary HP as an action proficiency times per day. Your short rests also reduce exhaustion now too.

Your evade skill also finally comes online when you don Nature’s Veil as a bonus action. This makes you invisible for a round, and you can also do this proficiency times per day. Either get the advantage on a foe, or make your escape to survive the Meiji Restoration. Either option works great.

18. Ranger 11: Our final foray into rangerdom unlocks a Stalker’s Flurry. Now once per turn you can make another attack as part of the same action when you miss one! The ultimate boon in terms of consistency.

19. Fighter 8: Eighth level fighters get our last ASI, bringing up our Strength to match our dexterity. We couldn’t leave longswords hanging like that, it’s just not safe.

20. Fighter 9: Ninth level fighters are Indomitable, letting you re-roll a failed save once per day. Don’t bother fighting charisma saves, I’d keep this for the fights you can win.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You come packed with ways to re-roll attacks, damage, and saves, while also having a boost to your physical checks, making this build one of the most consistent fighters we’ve had so far.

That’s not to say you’re a one-trick pony though, since you have plenty of options available to keep combat interesting, with plenty of skills unique to your short swords and longswords to switch up and keep enemies on their toes.

Dread Ambusher doesn’t specify you have to use your extra attack after your normal ones, so you can mix this with your Nature’s Veil and Favored Foe to deal 2d6+1d8+6 Piercing damage in one shot, which is a nice opener, especially with six other attacks coming behind it thanks to your offhand weapon and action surge. And all of those have advantage and a doubled crit chance to boot for even more pain.

Cons:

While you’re great in an ambush, you’re not quite as good in an open fight. Your HP is okay, but it’s nowhere near good enough to be a frontliner if you want to run around rocking an AC of 14. Thankfully Hajime is as flexible with his armor as his swords in this build, but it’s not in character to pull out chainmail.

You’ve also got different additions on different weapons, so at no point can you truly fight at full power. Either you’re dealing extra consistent damage with shortswords, or you’re slowing people down with a longsword, but you can’t do both at the same time.

Finally, your low charisma means you might have a hard time convincing the party to go anywhere. You’ll also have a hard time not getting shot into another dimension, which is its own set of problems.