#D/D/D Archetype

[theprecuresystem]

Our Decks!

So, we've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh every thursday lately! A lot of people don't expect me to be the girl that's into the game in here, but it can be so fun with all the stories the cards have behind them! I've ran two decks before... Karakuri, and D/D/Ds. I'm going to be running my Karakuris tomorrow, and I'm really excited for how things will go, since they're more of a rogue deck than a properly tiered one.

The little wooden frog they have is so cute... I hope you all can find them just as cute!

The frog is just adorable, right? He banishes himself to change a Karakuri monster's battle position, which activates the bigger karakuri monster's effects - which lets you do things like draw more cards, or banish cards that your opponent has! Such a strong ability for such a small wooden frog...

[dartagnantt]

Assassin: Rehired | What if the assassin didn't focus on dress-up?

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.

This week, as part of a theme most foul, I decided to go upon a foul task and revise our hired killer.

The assassin archetype never really appealed to me as a player, and not as a theme either. First off, just over half of its features are based on disguise. Which is fine, but one of them is literally the charlatan background feature for a price. But also, you may have realised this about me, the guy that keeps making playable monsters, I don't play humans and human-likes very often, so being the only gnoll in this city of mostly humans, there is no disguise in hell that will conceal my identity without magic. So while the disguise kit has its uses, the more exotic a creature you play, the less they are outside of the arts.

Secondly, it's primary feature is very strong, auto crit on any creature that has yet to act in combat. Great vibes, see what they're going for. Because that window is variable (and not always there) and at most a round, you don't actually get that feature most of the time. So, I opted to go for a different approach.

Poisoner

The assassin, in addition to disguise, has poisoner's kit proficiency, why not expand on that instead? In this instance I discard disguise as a proficiency you can go out of your way for. Instead, give the assassin a limited use set of debilitating poisons. Ones that impart vulnerability to weapons (what I intend to get the most use), knock out a target (for sneaky sneaks) and one that inflicts sneak attack damage (for convoluted assassination plots).

Death's Shroud

Bringing more general versatility to the previous poisons, but not quite wanting to ape the cloudkill spell, just gaseous poison. Sneak attacking a whole room at once sounds pretty sweet to me.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Possibly the least exciting option, but kind of how I intend to get around the lack of disguise issue for getting close to a target. Do it the old fashioned way! Not being seen.

Marked for Death

I suspect that this feature name exists somewhere in the D&D's history for something similar, but I didn't really check. This is based on the old capstone feature of the rogue, where you just straight up murder people with a single con save. I mean, you're playing an assassin, of course the capstone was going to be the murder button

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Scout Roguish Archetype

Poisons: Reapplied

Finding the Trail

Skill Challenges

I also have four classes, and two splatbooks over on DriveThruRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

d'Artagnan's Lycanthrope Survival Guide. A book of lore, stats, and werebeast subclasses for lycanthropes.

[soapcloth]

Love the thought of post-medical discharge soap being a big gamer.

[3416]

okay none of this is coherent bc i'm on the verge of sleep at 9pm rn but that right hand man as dog post literally has my gears turning bc that's mitch fucking marner bro. that's mitch and there are so many levels to it. mitch who has made his whole career being the assist guy... takes pride in the fact that he can help the team even if that results in his point accumulation seeming lesser bc they're not goals. taking advantage of the skills and iq he possesses to try to make the people around him better and literally set them up for success...always the first one there to congratulate them on it too.... literally naming his whole foundation the marner assist foundation bc he embraces that role on a team with a generational goal scorer who's made it clear he wants to play with MITCH and appreciates mitch's talent and communication. like. actually his right winger... his right hand man. okay and even happy with being the second best, as he's been for large portions of his life w an older bro who's good at everything right on into a stacked draft class.

and mitch personality wise gets the dog description sometimes too. loyal, happy go lucky, wants to be around his guys all the time, and it's where he's the happiest and thrives the most. he's energetic, he's buzzin, he's willing to entertain, he's the life and love in that room in so many ways that are loud.... that bark but don't necessarily bite (THOUGH THEY CAN BITE. criticism can be doled out and taken as long as it's from the right places with him) but like. especially when he was younger too, he was literally the team emotional support puppy who loved cuddles and attention and with age comes protection from the outside a little bit..,. dialing back what he's willing to show or admit to people on the outside but it's still there and what keeps the camaraderie alive despite an ever rotating roster. and i kNOW. i know. so much dog imagery and symbolism has to do with being protective and fierce, and in hockey for mitch that doesn't necessarily translate on the ice the same way bc he's not big and rough and physically forward the way some people wish he was, but he probably would take a bullet for most of those guys. and in ways, he has taken on the shield or become the punching bag... he was with babcock, he's taken on the scapegoat with media so a lot of critique is thrown squarely at him for group failure. he's the martyr even if that's not exactly what he signed up for.

he's grown more guarded but he's LITERALLY. literally. a dog. a dawg. auston's dawg.... their dawg. the epitome of lots of good things about hockey culture (and i'm sure some bad too), but he embodies so much of the loyalty.. the side kick.. the best friend energy in some ways.... it makes me emo. and....... and to think of him with his own dog trying to recreate unbridled joy from his childhood (cut to those pics of him as a kid w his chocolate lab vs him now w zeus).... like he's desperate for love and recognition of his loyalty and companionship. he's gotten used to being second fiddle, not necessarily in any resentful way but like. these past few weeks he's kind of gotten to step up and be the guy™. he's the heartbeat...... the dog's not usually meant to be the main character but maybe he is worthy of it.

[thegrinningghost]

D-16’s No-Good, Very Bad Day

[starbuck]

Was thinking earlier about “People are not stupid, Ives.” “Really?” and how Ives’ self-centered misanthropy is so important within the larger thematic context of American Imperialism. Imperialists prioritize their own interests over all others since they believe that those they have deemed “others” are unworthy of human consideration. On an individual level, this comes down to believing that you are better than other people, more worthy of life and happiness. 

This is how Hart ends up working with Ives as a willing coconspirator… Even before Colqhoun’s arrival, Hart clearly looks down on the other residents of Fort Spencer. He describes them so uncharitably to Boyd that it isolates Boyd from everyone before he’s even met them. Hart hates his job and the life he lived that got him there and he copes by believing that he is, at least, a superior type of person to everyone under his command. 

In that way, Hart killing his former comrades in cold blood doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the logical conclusion of his superior, misanthropic perspective pushed to the extreme. He’s better than them, so why SHOULDN’T he kill and eat them? Don’t you understand? You have to KILL! to live! You have to KILL!!!!!!! 

[blenselche]

What do you think would happen if Fern survived?

uh. well. imo he wouldn't.

For the Narcissus retelling and Green Knight reference to hit he had to croak. I think he could've had a much larger presence and set himself apart more had the show not been cancelled but that boy had a role to play out. I can fanfic all I want but he was created to die.

The second I saw that grass Finn in Finn's nightmare back in season 5 I had a hunch of what was coming. (you ever get a blorbo knowing they're gonna die? lol) Blonde warrior, plant self foreshadowing, the grass blade carving Finn's likeness into everything like a mirror, it wasn't subtle. Finn Sword happened and that was my confirmation that this was gonna go down. He even lives on as a permanent mirror planted in-place where Finn first "sees" him.

What kills Fern? Finn #1 looking at himself too head-on, Finn #2's love/clinging "starving" him of a chance to find himself outside of the face that he's having trouble fitting into & the expectations it sets that he can no longer meet. Had he moved away and had space to find out what "Fern" really meant I don't believe he'd have died. But that was never gonna happen. The characters he's based on don't get a happy ending, they act as a test for the hero, or a cautious warning.

so

That's why all of my Ferns are grass demon centric. In canon Fern's maybe 1/3rd Finn and yet it rots him slowly. He needs to integrate, accept what he is and move on in order to live. He can't as long as Finn #1 has the wheel in any meaningful way while Finn #2 is around. His time as the Finn sword has its claws in him too deeply, (being trapped and forgotten and the only company/friend you have is the guy that did it to you will do that) and his demon nature warps all of those messy emotions into something incensed and ferocious.

but uh idk maybe he'd move somewhere secluded and find a new instrument to practice evocation magic on? (one of the few things we know about the grass demon) I can see him bounty hunting/lurking around the City of Thieves. Maybe working/living in Wild Berry or Princess Fern's (ha) kingdom. I don't think he'd be a common sight around Ooo, nor keep in touch with too many people. I know people HC him moving in w/ Jermaine but I can't think of anything giving Jermaine a case of the creeps more than a demon wearing his brother's face. He'd absolutely try to exorcise Fern, or think Finn is insane for having not vanquished him yet. /shrug/

Sorry, kind of a long, rambling half-answer.

[youling-the-ghost]

If I say that Falmouth's "squid out of water" backstory is a fantastic allegory for being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world...

[determinedowl23]

they should be in the same blunt rotation

[12pt-times-new-roman]

so, this is pretty interesting -- they're already using spells introduced in OneD&D, such as power word: fortify.

[conceptofjoy]

like an offshoot player can have themes and character arcs that diverge from the alpha player implying a different classpect, but at the end of the day, the only quest bed they could possibly use is the one assigned to their player. they'd ascend, but still be doomed/ not the alpha player.

im basing this off dream jade being assimilated into alpha jade and the coinflip dave dilemma. there are doomed ascended players that exist in dream bubbles that had slightly different experiences to the alpha players, and you can carry that logic to offshoot alpha characters like the sprites or the dirk splinters.

[ebitenpura]

REAL FREAK HOURS

[dartagnantt]

Scout Roguish Archetype | Scouts that scout, not set up ambushes

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.

This week, as part of a theme most foul, I decided to go upon a foul task and revise our hired killer.

The second the theme this month is tracks, so I used it as an excuse to visit the scout archetype. I'm rather fond of it conceptually, but I will say, I was surprised when I realised that the latter half of its features are a better assassin than the official assassin. They get a second attack as a bonus action and can sneak attack with it too! Damn! That said, as cool as those are, I don't think a scout is best embodied by its ability to do devastating ambushes. Moreover, the rogue's base featureset is pretty good at doing that on it's own if you want to go that way. So, I opted to focus on mobility and detection.

Pathfinder

I won't lie, I couldn't resist calling this pathfinder. I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Anyway, the 5e scout gets nature and survival, which definitely gives it a ranger vibe, which is cool but not really the part of the ranger that fits this concept, instead I decided they'd be really good at navigating, reading maps, and making maps.

Skirmisher

This feature is really good in the base scout, so I kept it, and kind of made it its defining feature

Superior Mobility

While I kept the name of the scout feature, I decided that, as a class that can dash as a bonus action, they don't really need an additional 10 feet of movement speed. But they can probably do with other forms of mobility. Also, if you're going about in nature, not being slowed down sounds like a good idea.

Lookout

I'm not the proudest of this feature, seeing as half of it is part of my modified (and the oneD&D) alert feat, but quite frankly I had to try really hard not to make this subclass the Alert feat archetype. Which I mostly succeeded. But these are important skills for a scout to have. I am amused that it's basically the opposite of the lookout feature the other one gets.

Unfond Farewell

I enjoyed naming this one. This isn't much, but it does give the scout more to do during combat, instead of stuff largely surrounding combat.

Right Place, Right Time

I'm not sure if I'll keep this feature going into 6th dawn, but I have been toying with the concept that this one pulls off for a while. How did the monk or rogue evade the fireball and take no damage? By not being in the area, of course

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Poisons: Reapplied

Finding the Trail

Skill Challenges

College of Epics

I also have four classes, and two splatbooks over on DriveThruRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

d'Artagnan's Lycanthrope Survival Guide. A book of lore, stats, and werebeast subclasses for lycanthropes.

[uinferno]

Yknow. I do forsee a potential plot point for Netflix-levania to somehow have Dracula as a villain back, even with the end of the previous series. Obligation. He's no longer the weary widower, and with Lisa's return there's closure. He's lived as a man. He understands man. He may not even hate man. Maybe.

And yet he's back because the other Vampires are fucking it up and now daddy's home to bring back order. He's no longer gunning for genocide, but honestly, the politicking of the vampires who are so far up their own asses, they need to be reminded who's really in charge. His death left a power vacuum, a particularly annoying vacuum. Maybe the little things of humanity irk him, but vampires are everything they have but turned up to 11.

So at the end it's a formality. He'll come back, clean things up among vampire society, make enough of a mess to get a Belmont to kill him, then turn in for another 100 years.

Does this make him too noble? Probably. If you want the grandiose "What is a man" Dracula, you can extrapolate from "It's an obligation" and have him actively resent people pulling him out of the afterlife from Lisa so fucking much, that he leans too hard into the role. The part of him who's evil out of obligation and the part who's evil out of resentment begin to blur the lines. Is he the lord of darkness because that's the role he's been cast and is simply going through the motions or his he just so simply done with the whole process that he refuses to give up an inch of power to any other Vampire (or human) because they're all just children in his eyes?

It could still ultimately culminate in a Soma Cruz plot line where after 1999 he quits so hard that he refuses to even return to the role properly but it doesn't matter because his mere presence fills the vacuum, even when he does nothing (not for the lack of trying from others).

Maybe that's a bit petulant in its own right. YMMV, but I think that's the point. For being such an archetypal lord of all evil villains, how he fills it is shockingly dynamic. He's evil for evils sake, a beacon of arrogance, or a truly tragic villain. Depends on what's needed. If he does come back, I do want to really see a "Castlevania does Bram Stoker's Dracula. Genuinely. It's just an adaptation for the original novel because that's Canon to the original Castlevania timeline, and it'd be funny to properly reveal that Quincy Morris is a Belmont (And his son fights WW1 vampires and grandson WW2)."

[autumnmobile12]

After some reflection on why I gravitate towards certain characters, I've narrowed my favorites into three archetypes:

(Note: These are not all of my favorites; just the immediate suspects who come to mind right now.)

A snarky bitch

(With exceptions. This sort of character does have a fine line between a delightful smart ass and someone who's just mean.)

...

Someone who's living in the madness of their own mind

(However which way that manifests.)

...

Characters who just have confidence or straight-up audacity and/or are past the point of giving a shit for whatever reason

(I'm aware insecurity is a big part of Shizuo's character, but the guy also has boundaries he's not shy about enforcing.)

...

Or characters who are some bizarre combination of all three

(Or have traces of those three elements.)

Yes, Allen belongs in this final category because, while a sweetheart, he will still blackmail his allies, cheat at cards and publicly humiliate his opponents, and is a occasionally snarky little shit.

...

Disclaimer: None of this is to say I don't enjoy the badasses like Vi, or wholesome characters like Celty or Sypha, or the cinnamon roll, heart full of rainbows, 'can do no wrong' type of characters like Deku. They just don't entertain me half as much as the lineup pictured above.

You also may have noticed that some of these characters are straight up really awful people. (Izaya in my opinion being the worst cause he doesn't even have the paper thin excuse of a tragic backstory.) Being entertained by fictional characters and condoning what they do are two separate matters. I condone nothing; these people are monsters. Sometimes you want to hand them a blanket and some tea, sometimes you're just here to watch them fall, but fictional monsters are the only good kind of monsters.

[tearlessrain]

seriously can catastrophes stop happening for five minutes my brain is already fried from the ones we're already experiencing