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ncat · 2 years

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Hello! Back again with new homebrew, sorry its been a bit, got a bit creatively tired for a while.

This work was inspired by me looking at the Oathbreaker paladin and thinking, "Its a little weird they still smite with radiant power, and their smites harm undead, is it not?". So, with this I decided to have a hand at making a way to work through that.

The two feature sets have differing intents in changing the paladins gameplay. For the Defiler, this is from turning you into a primarilly support/buff based character, to a more debuff oriented one, with your negatives to saves and your ability to apply the poisoned condition.

As for the Tyrant, its a support character, but less in the "Everyone is less likely to die now (:" sense and more in the "If everybody KILLS things faster, you all don't die". So, your abilities revolve around turning everyone into even more effective gang of murder machines. So, yeah, a self damaging but shareable mini smite, boosts to speed and avoiding charm, an aura to ignore damage resistance (which also has the second function of turning the lesser damage type of fire damage in the smite to something more effective since you don't have to deal with fires common resistedness)

So yeah (:

On a different note regarding these, as a project this sits somewhere between my variant classes and my alt class feature set (the dark divinity for cleric I made a little back), since, one one hand this is much larger than the alt features for the cleric, since it changes a lot more, but on the other hand, I don't feel it fits in with the rest of the variant classes I've made, since I feel what makes those them is the amount it changes from the class, to the point where it is a new class. The archivist is a variant wizard, but cleric spells and domain spells very much change up how you play. But a tyrant here is still very much a paladin, just a paladin with a few different tricks

Yeah. Hope you enjoyed (:

Pdf link here

Edit: Heres a link to a copy of the document, but without the art (and as such, without the blood). Because I dunno, maybe someone might want something that, so Ill put it here in that chance

#cw blood #dnd paladin #dnd homebrew #dnd #dungeons and dragons #dnd 5e #dnd optional features #NCat Homebrew

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jaypea00101010 · 5 months

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Expanded Optional Class Features!

Over my time playing 5e there's a few small tweaks I've wanted to make to the core classes, below are just a few of the tweaks I personally use at my tables!

Below are optional class features for Barbarians, Clerics, Monks, Paladins, Rangers and Warlocks, with reasoning given for them all

Barbarian

Ancestral Rage

Rage stops barbarians casting spells, but that leaves races that get spells a little high and dry, not able to use their spells in most fights, this is intended to fix that. Nothing super crazy, but tiefling barbarians will have just a little more fun.

Unending Rage

The latest barbarian playtests have let barbarians use bonus actions to keep raging, and let them rage for 10 minutes. While I think this doesn't really work thematically, it made me realise Rage probably shouldn't be as limited either. Will this come up much, not really, but it's a little less tracking and it's more thematic.

Unshakeable Rage

Force damage is becoming a lot more common on higher CR monsters, so having resistance to it for barbarians is pretty important. It's a fix to the main problem I have with barbarians, like I spoke about in THIS tumblr post.

Cleric

Channel Divinity: Spirit Guardians

Once again this is a fix to my biggest problem with the class, I don't really think turn undead is thematic for all clerics, but I think the spirit guardians spell both is pretty thematic for all clerics (or can easily be reflavoured to be), and is such a must pick for the class, it should just be built in, so this does! Scales with your proficiency bonus so it'll stay useful at all levels, and frees up your third level slots for something else

Monk

Overflowing Ki

Monks need more ki points, and while this might look like it's giving them less at first, the recharge on this is a lot better, you might have less ki points overall, but you'll have all of them for all every combat

Perfect Flow

Similarly to overflowing ki, monks deserve a better capstone, so this is it, a constant flow of ki points, so you can always do what you need in a fight

Paladin

Swear Your Oath

Again a fix to my biggest problem with paladins. The source of sorcerers power is their subclass, so they get it at level 1, same with clerics and warlocks, so why not paladins? This feature, while not doing anything mechanical, helps the thematics of paladins immensely

Ranger

Mark Foe

Potentially the first part of a full ranger rework, rangers need a better feature than Favoured Enemy, and this is it. In an ideal world rangers would have a core class feature like this that subclasses could build off...... maybe....

Survivalist's Spellcasting

Another fix, rangers are the masters of the wilderness, they should be able to prepare for any situation.... but no, they're known casters, well no longer

Warlock

Eldritch Blast

The final fix I've spoken about before, it's such a must-have, that it just needs to be a class feature. Plus having it be a class feature means it doesn't scale with multiclassing which helps a lot (still not quite enough to stop hexblades, but I've got another fix there

Cunning Contract

Warlocks were int based in the D&DNext playtests, and they still absolutely make sense to be, so this just does that!

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brewerssupplies · 2 years

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I've always liked the concept of a barbarian being able to lay the beat down on their enemies even if they don't have any weapons handy. So here's a Tasha's Cauldron style optional class feature! Hope you enjoy!

#dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #5e #dungeons & dragons #homebrew #ad speaks #kovaud #rpg #probablyad #barbarian #tasha's cauldron of everything #tcoe #optional class feature

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proudheron · 3 months

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my babygirl my sweet cheese

haven't played traveller since the summer and i miss my character a lot. this is wobble 😭

they are a kind of newtlike alien called a bwap. it's culturally important for bwap to show off their individual skin colours and markings - on their super humid homeworld they don't wear much clothing, but on other planets or in space they wear custom clothes designed to look exactly like their skin, permeated with water tubes to keep their body constantly soggy.

wobble is currently fleeing from the imperial navy with their spacer crew after being framed for treason. they have turned their spaceship bunk into a sauna, causing significant rust problems. despite being 4 feet tall and physically frail, they love heavy artillery, and use a gravity belt to wield cannons and flamethrowers. they are whiny, quick to anger, and irrepressably curious.

colours inspired by the alpine newt (ichthyosaura alpestris), with a bit of poison dart frog (dendrobates leucomelas) :)

#been neck deep in the new heroforge features for the past few weeks #i wish the head was flatter and less froggy but what can ya do #and the skirt/robe options are not the greatest bc of the nature of modelmaking #they're more of a skirt guy but what can ya do #dnd tag #(i need a better ttrpg tag)

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skyriderwednesday · 26 days

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Fucked up that nearly all the posts on 'how to build a ranger' are actually 'here's how to build a ranger that's the least like a ranger as possible!' I'm not picking ranger to play a rogue with no sneak attack, I'm picking ranger because I want to play a ranger.

#dnd #actually i'm playing a rogue/ranger multiclass #but i was trying to look up how to best use the ranger features and it's like--#'top 10 best options for rangers' numbers 5 through 1: 'this will let you emulate [insert non-ranger class here]'#jeez you don't have to play a ranger if you don't want to #if your dm doesn't want two of one class in the party then either get a new group #or respect their wishes and stop trying to bootleg rogue/druid/fighter

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blujayonthewing · 2 years

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aubree: hey tell the cook that dinner was really fuckin good the bartender: fuckin good or fuckin good? aubree: whichever one has the most emphasis...? bartender: no- which one? there is a distinction aubree: aubree:

#aubree last session: oh the cook here is a gnome who's REALLY passionate and serious about cooking?#please tell them to cook whatever they want to cause it'll either be fucking amazing or fucking weird and I'm here for it either way #cook: [audibly shrieks with glee from the kitchen when receiving the 'whatever you wanna cook' order]#me: how can I spin this into getting rooms at this inn with no vacancies 🤔 ahhh I probably can't lol #WELL I GOT... *A* ROOM HEEHEEHOHO #aubree gets a LOT of mileage out of being just... guilelessly and sincerely nice to people and it's really fun to play out #and really rewarding! she has Rustic Hospitality as a background feature but I've never needed to invoke it she just has it organically #but it was also funny because our bard was trying to get-- in fairness ALL of us-- a room with Conniving and Shenanigans to no avail #and then Aubree's just like 'I was nice to a person with no expectations ¯\_(ツ)_/¯'#also #me: I keep waffling but I think aubree is straight? despite presenting herself Like That #my fiance: would you like to hook up with an extremely enthusiastic chef #me: .... [kombucha girl]#the THING IS it's just more fun for me if my dnd characters are bi or pan!! why limit my options!#the way this played out especially wrt our bard was so good and funny I would have been sad to opt out of the scenario you know?#aubree's been through SO much in the last... well the whole campaign but especially the last couple weeks she deserves A Nice Night #I do think aubree is still probably a one on the kinsey scale or whatever but like yanno. incredibly good cooking is sexy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#my OCs #aubree

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frick-it-sugar-spice · 10 days

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........

#thibkin of makin a sinner oc dont @ me okay #theyre kinda a combo of a dnd idea j had for a character too #crow/magpie/ravenesque features in hell for hella amounts of identity theft thaylt lead to #the wrong and innocent ppl in jail or killed even tho no blood was strickly spilled by said sinner #part of the punishment in hell is being the corvid type bird with an unfreed tongue so they /cant/ talk #right away anyway. they gotta do the whole freeing the tongue thing which idk enoughh about but itd probably b super fucked up in hell #mmmmmaybe. idk just throwing my dumbass lil nevermade kenku character and hellverse together with some seasoning from other ocs nvr made #*bc they sweettalked the fuck out of everyone and everything to get what they wanted #<- that tag was supposed to be beside the cant talk one but didnt stick for some reason #theyre a huge scam artist #'s a shame (blogposter) cant really do the mean thing worth a shit so this character would be so ooc all the time #(blogposter) is a pussy ass bitch~ hates being mean if an instant apology isnt an option #txt

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kraymerman · 7 months

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DnD 5e Homebrew: Sorcerous Focus, Optional Font of Magic Ability

Your innate connection to the weave of magic allows you to passively recharge the mana in your blood while lightly resting.

Every short rest, you gain an amount of sorcery points equal to your proficiency bonus. Regaining sorcery points this way can allow you to emass an amount of sorcery points higher than your otherwise maximum. These extra points are automatically lost after your complete a long rest.

This ability stacks with the Sorcerer's Sorcerous Restoration class feature.

#dnd homebrew #dnd #dungeons and dragons #homebrew #dnd sorcerer #made this to sort of remedy the sentiment i see that sorcerers lack utility when compared to other spellcasters #i thought about other things like making them prepare casters like clerics #but i want to consider where the sorcerer is in comparison to martials as well as spellcasters #the concept of a coffeelock being able to make their own spell slots is really interesting #and a sorcerer having the features necessary to craft spell slots on their own gives them another play option and makes up for their smaller #number of available spells #👍

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nykloss · 1 year

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Ditching D&D Beyond or never got it in the first place? Here's some free/pwyw resources.

Dicecloud. This online app allows you to make and track character sheets for free! It does a lot of the calculations for you, just like dnd beyond would. Best overall replacement. (Thank you, @chryslerisdead)

PWYW Class Character Sheets by Emmet Byrne. These character sheets in my opinion, are easier to fill out and harder to mess up, with class-specific features built-in. You can easily edit them digitally, and there's even multiclass/homebrew options. Slap em on Google drive or something, share with your DM, lots of options.

Point-Buy Calculator. Easily automates character stat creation if you're using the Point-Buy system.

5e Level Up Tool. Select your class, select your level, get a digestible checklist of everything you need to do to level up. This one is SO GOOD and so slept on.

5e Spellbook. A quick way to reference your spells and build a Spellbook with a ton of filters.

Encounter Calculator. I know challenge rating isn't everything, but this is a good/fast way to see how balanced your encounters are, at a glance, at least in the eyes of the source books.

RPGbot. Lots of resources for DMs and players: encounter builders, dpr calculators, and lists of player options with sample builds and optimization suggestions, which may be helpful to folks new to the game.

Bonus: Online Tools (System Agnostic)

Here.fm. This is the alternative I use instead of roll20, because it's faster/easier. Drag and drop in maps and tokens in seconds, built-in library of stickers you can use for effects, draw right on the virtual tabletop, use temporary drawings to map out moves, built-in dice rollers, and options for proximity chat. I use it in combination with discord (just have players join your here room muted), but it could be used entirely on it's own, I imagine. Not built for ttrpgs, but works incredibly well for them.

Kenku.fm. A PWYW mini browser focused on mixing and sharing music to your dnd games through whatever app you use, with helpful discord support. This app also LEGALLY bypasses the issue that got all the YouTube discord bots shut down, so you can share YouTube audio worry-free.

Additional Resources (Aka, stuff I found out about after I originally posted this):

flapkan. Holy shit, this might be the BEST character sheet option on this list! Form-fillable pdfs with fully automated built-in prompts to auto fill features and spells, built-in Point-Buy and other automated calculations, and it generates a lot for you. Can be used digitally or you can print!

#d&d beyond #dnd beyond #dnd resources #5e #dungeons and dragons #roll20 #nyklos is typing #resources #also if you need the books and are ok with being a little jolly-rodger-core just add pdf to the end of your google search #oops! fixed typo in kenku.fm

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serpenlupus · 2 months

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About Wyll and his horns

Let's say I was writing a part of my Tav's story with Wyll directly connected to the dialogue he has during the tiefling party, and while struggling with this bit, I've realized there's quite a few misconceptions floating around. I felt compelled to add information to the table that might clear them, so here we go.

First, what exactly happens to Wyll when he disobeys Mizora in act one? Well, he doesn't get turned into a devil, he certainly doesn't get turned into a tiefling, he's not a half fiend, not a demon, none of that. Wyll stays human, but he has horns and red eyes (and other features we can't see on his model as of now).

(Everyone has their race listed, Wyll's remains "Human")

This is because when a warlock fails to uphold some part of their contract they can suffer a certain number of consequences, Wylls is “The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can't be removed by any means short of divine intervention. As long as these marks persist the character detects as a fiend when subjected to Detect Evil and Good spells or similar magic.” ( from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, page 214)

And I’ve come across some people that think it wasn’t so bad of a punishment, that he was being racist towards the tieflings, or just not being justified in being upset after having his body forcibly changed against his will. I think they are missunderstanding just how insidious Mizora’s actions were, and here I just want to give some context to maybe bring a better understanding to the situation. Your conclusions are up to you.

Gonna start by using a not exact analogy, but I think it’s going to make the explanation easier. Stick with me for a minute.

Remember Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean? He had a branded “P” on his arm that marked him as a pirate. A murderer, robber, criminal, etc. in the eyes of the society he was a part of. What did Jack do to earn the branding? (if you don’t know this I suggest you look up the “people aren’t cargo mate” scene) He refused to transport slaves and later freed them, and Beckett had him marked as punishment.

Then, in the first movie, he saves Elizabeth, a woman he didn’t know, from drowning. Right after however, when Norrington sees he has a branded “P”, he’s like “alright, off to jail with you, and then hanging”, no other option crosses his mind. Again, Jack doesn’t know Elizabeth, isn’t indicated to think he is going to be rewarded for helping her, he just sees a drowning person, sees that no one else is going to help, and chooses to save them. That is a pretty selfless/good aligned thing to do, for no other reason that he was the one able to do it, yet the branding in his arm overrides any good action he could ever do, marking him as a criminal for execution and no further thought.

In a way, that’s what Mizora did to Wyll; she forever visibly branded him as someone that has made deals with devils, and that in the world of DnD is a VERY BAD THING. Personally I really like the mod that gives him more devilish features, but at the same time I think there was something clever about choosing to leave him looking more human. He can’t be confused with a tiefling, he doesn’t have the ears, the claws, the tail, all those features that characterize them. He looks kind of uncanny, and that would be like a red flag for anyone in that world. (Beyond the already existing hate for tieflings that I’m not gonna tackle on here because it’s a complicated thing that deserves its own post). And Wyll wants to do good, he wants to help people, to be a positive force in the world so, so badly. This dude got abducted by a nautiloid, got tadpole’d, and the first thing he did right after that was come across the Tiefling refugees and be like “Oh you need help? No worries let me teach you self defense. Oh you being attacked by goblins? Let me blast them real quick”. His way of saying fuck you to all the awful things that have happened to him is being aggressively good and kind. Mizora knows this very well, wants to see him suffer for her amusement, wants to remind him he can't escape her claws, so her choice of punishment was to forever taint his future interactions with mistrust and suspicion. Some people can go real fast from “oh thank God they saved me” to “oh no, are they gonna rob me, are they trying to trick me, are they in cahoots with the ones that attacked me first?” just because of outward appearances. Especially in DnD world. And that deserves its own conversation, but we're focusing on Wyll here.

(Mizora, when I catch you Mizora)

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have made a deal in the first plac- - “ He was seventeen, alone, preyed upon by Mizora and put in an impossible situation. Please PAY ATTENTION to the story you’re witnesing.

Anyway.

About the tieflings. I know it’s easy to think his words can be derisive towards them, but it’s less about the horns and more about his body being changed against his will. Imagine instead that he got half his face burned, or something that disfigured him. I think his feelings at the moment were closer to that, and yeah they are pretty insensitive words to say to someone with a similar condition (horns or disfiguration), but when feelings are fresh and raw like that it’s easy to say insensitive things. Not saying it was ok for him to say those things, but ther was no malice in his words. I’ve also seen some people share that they think Mizora wanted to change him more to make him unrecognizable to his original self, the Wyll Ravenguard kid, and I think there is some truth to that too. She wants to make sure that Wyll remembers that he belongs to her, there's no question to that.

(MIZORA, WHEN I CATCH YOU MIZORA)

Whether the Tieflings refugees would feel unsettled by Wyll or not? Yes. In a way, they would. From reasons aside from the ones I explained above, remember that these specific tieflings come from Elturel. If you didn’t pass the History check or don’t remember, Elturel is a city that was literally ripped from the land and dragged to Avernus, First layer of hell (it left a hole on the ground and everything) because their mayor made a deal with the Archdevil Zariel some decades back in the timeline. He sold the souls of all its citizens and the city itself.

This was probably one of the worst times of their lives. Some even got captured and forced to participate in the blood War, like Dammon as a mechanic. And after Elturel got returned to the surface, the tieflings lost their homes because they reminded the other citizens of the literal Hell they’d just gone through, and they kicked them out. And remember, they met and saw Wyll as a human, and then saw him with horns. It’s not unreasonable to think that by looking at him they would be reminded of all the events that led them to the awful situation they’re in. Because of someone that was making deals with devils, just like Wyll. Even if his situation is completely different. And Wyll knows that, that’s why he tells you the tieflings are unsettled by him and chooses to stay away during the party.

It was never just about the horns.

And I know Wyll calls himself a devil but I think it’s because it’s the closest thing he looks as; devils are a whole different race with their own intricacies, although humans can be turned into devils ONCE their souls go to Avernus and they start climbing the power hierarchy there (Mizora and Raphael are cambions/ half-devils btw, which is a different thing, there are plenty of videos exploring those details more in depth).

Do I think Larian should have made some of this information clearer/easier to access? Maybe? but to be fair, it's a game focused and dedicated to a crowd that was already somewhat familiar with the source material, that blew up waay out of what they originally expected to reach. Hopefully they’ll add some clarifications like they did to other quests.

Anyway these are my two cents to the conversation, have a nice day, and don't hesitate to add your two cents if you feel like it!

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fantasy-anatomy-analyst · 3 months

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Making Humanoids Less Human

I did make a small post on this, but now I've got the art for a much bigger and more detailed post! so here we go.

I had several anonymous asks that all came in quick succession weeks ago. Every single one of them was basically just a variation on "how would you take (typically humanoid) fantasy being, and make them look less human?"

This blog does not exist for me to just give people original designs for free, my goal is to show off my own personal thoughts about fantasy design and help people figure out how to adjust their own designs to fit their vision better. That means when people ask me questions about how to do something, I want to give them things to think about so they can come to their own conclusion. I don't mind making original designs to illustrate concepts, but a whole flood of "show me how to make this specific thing look different" all at once like that was too much. I'm not answering them all individually, it's just not what I want to do.

But what I can do is show my own thoughts and ideas about how to take any fantasy design and push it further away from "human", and you all can look at my ideas and figure out your own way to do things!

So here are the main 4 methods I've come up with to make humanoids look less human.

(image description: a simplified drawing of a humanoid face surrounded by four altered versions of the same face. clockwise starting from the top left, they are:

Speculative, drawn as a cat person. Additive, drawn with horns, pointy ears, sharp teeth, and a second pair of eyes. Subtractive, drawn with blank eyes, no nose, and no eyebrows. Exaggerative, drawn with a long face and huge eyes, as well as a wide mouth, narrow nose, and big ears.

end description)

I am personally a fan of the speculative route, which means exploring an alternate root of evolution to create a new design. Through this method, I've created monkey elves, frog goblins, and pig orcs.

the additive option is the most common, I think. adding new feature or doubled features to a humanoid form is a very intuitive way to change the design and make it look less human. you see this in most fantasy and scifi designs, like star trek aliens and the dnd player races.

subtractive and evaggerative are the most common options for people that like the uncanny valley. it's really easy to make uncomfortable designs by removing or exaggerating recognizable features, and they're often used together. Slenderman, for example, removes all facial features and skin color but also exaggerates the limbs and body.

Combining the four methods will give you a really interesting design as well! So for practice I decided to explore an alternate design for Tieflings, the part-demon player race in dnd.

(image description: four examples of differnt tiefling designs using the previously described methods. the additive example is just offical dnd art of a tiefling woman with purple skin, horns, and a long tail.

the subtractive sketch looks very alien, with a bald head, empty eyes, and no other facial featuers aside from a small mouth. it has three fingers per hand and two toe per foot.

the exaggerative sketch shows a hunched humanoid figure with huge eyes and big ears. the neck, limbs, and digits are all long with claws at the ends of the fingers and toes, and the limbs are also quite muscular.

the speculative sketch shows a bipedal figure with features similar to a giraffe, including a long neck, ossicones, and hooves.

end description)

now, because tielflings have such a distinct look to them, obviously my new sketches don't really look like tieflings, do they? the only one that comes close is the giraffe. relying only on one type of alteration to the human form has left the designs rather empty and lacking in the more iconic traits of the original concept. so i tried a sketch that combined my ideas! it came out looking like a completely different creature lol, like it could be a kobold or something, still not really a tiefling.

(image description: a sketch of a creature with a giraffe-like head, long tongue, and sharp teeth. it appears to be roaring at something and stands in a half-crouch. it has long limbs with hoof feet and clawed hands, as well as a long tufted tail curled behind it. end description.)

didn't work out. too far into the animal side of the speculative evolution, I think. so I tried again and got a design I liked much better!

(image description: a digital painting of a tiefling leaping back and casting a glowing orange spell. she is wearing a tunic with a corset and detached sleeves, as well as several pieces of jewelry. Her skin is purple with dark patches like a giraffe's spots, and she has a giraffe's ossicones as well as hoof-like hands and two-toed hoof feet. Her tail is long with a tuft at the end. She has glowing eyes and a flat nose, and there is a single sharp tooth visible poking out of the side of her mouth. end description.)

Brought the face back into slightly more human proportions and that helped a lot. Sometimes designs just take a few tries! that's normal.

and hopefully this is helpful to all of you! there are so many ways to alter humanoid designs to come up with something original and unique to you!

#humanoids #making humanoids less human #altered humanoids #non primate humanoids #tiefling #long post #my designs #and btw ai cannot do this #does not matter how detailed you prompt it #it can't really get things to look this original and unique #it can't really blend different features like this in a way that makes sense #you have this power #the computers cannot replicate it

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theresattrpgforthat · 4 months

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games to play with my long distance partner? we’re queer nerds, i have a lot of dnd experience and some not dnd experience, they have a little bit of dnd experience, we both have fucked up schedules so something that’s asynchronous or short would be best. uh. there’s two of us. yeah i think that’s everything.

THEME: Long-Distance Games.

Hello friend, I am excited to introduce to you the joys of epistolary games!

From the Petals to the Leaves, by somewhere with stories.

This is a two player game about writing to a loved one while you are apart. Throughout the game you will write to each other while in different gardens, surrounded by plants and flowers of your choice.

This looks to be a pretty small game, but I think it fits the mood of writing to a loved one, with a concrete topic to base your conversations around - the plants in your gardens. I don’t own this game but I own a similar one by the same creator, so I’m assuming that the game provides you with a prompt list for each letter you send each-other. You can create your characters slowly as you write, uncovering bits and pieces about each-other through your fictional personas. If you just want something a little extra to flavour your letters to each-other, this might be worth looking at.

Soulum Scriptum, by Radmad.

Featuring the art of Marisa Bruno, Soulum Scriptum is a letter writing game for two or more players. You are isolated and alone, until a mysterious courier arrives at your door. They give you a proposition: write letters for someone just like you and they will bring you letters in return.

Develop the broken world and the haven that protects you, all while fighting despair and taking what hope you can find in your new connection across time and space.

This is a game of connection, between two isolated individuals who are struggling with despair. There are pages for various steps of the game, from world and character creation, to how to manage your feelings after your first letter. There’s also instructions for what to do when you fill certain tracks, including the track for your Haven (your home) and your Hopes (lines and pieces of the letters you receive that give you hope). If you like emotional games that have great potential to tell a story that grows brighter as you play, I recommend Soulum Scriptum.

Talking Thunder, by Eleanor Hingley.

‘Talking Thunder’ is a two-player correspondence RPG about finding connection in a dystopian world.

As the world changes, you never know what news each letter from your only friend will bring…

If you even hear from them again.

Another game about connection, this time in a post-apocalypse of some kind. I’m curious about how the letters are meant to reach each-other in the fiction of this game, although I suspect that ultimately that is up to the two of you!

We Are Ciphers, by Jgurantz.

We Are Ciphers is a 2-player letter-writing game where you craft a story using coded messages sent through the mail. You and your partner both covet the Prize, which you believe will transform your lives for the better. But acquiring it is an extremely tricky operation. Many things stand in your way, including the Target.

This is a letter-writing game with an added layer of complexity, because both of you could be writing in code! The code part is optional, but the premise of the game is that you are two spies trying to get your hands on the Prize - whatever you two decide that may be. The game comes with a list of popular media for inspiration, as well as a series of checkboxes for you to tick off to help you create a game that would be fun for the two of you. There’s also a number of worksheets to help you build your world, craft your codes, and create your characters. If you would like a fair amount of guidance as to how to play the game, We Are Ciphers might be up your alley.

The Wanderers, by AdventureByMail.

You and your friend wait to board two ARK-4 Civilian Class Shuttles charted for new colonies in the hinterlands of space. Though you will be several light-years apart, you promise to keep in touch through the interstellar communication network known as the Unified Starways Parley System. You'll use this network to tell each other about the life you build and the love you discover in the far reaches of space…

This creator makes a number of games designed for long-distance play, so if you like The Wanderers, you might want to check out some of their other work as well! The game itself is small enough to fit on a brochure, so it should be easy to print out and keep somewhere for easy reference. There are roll tables to help you create a character, and some advice on how to write your first letter. Following letters will be provided prompts based on a deck of playing cards, with special rules for drawing Aces. If you like using a bit of randomization to help drive a story, this game might be for you!

Games I've Recommended in the Past

I've played The Reaper's Almanac with a friend before and I really really love the premise of it. It has a chance to dive into some pretty traumatic material, however, as it is about death, so make sure to talk about your partner about the things you'd like to steer clear of if you play this game.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #epistolary games

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jaypea00101010 · 4 months

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Rage Reworked

Rage is a really fun class feature, but it could be better.

With the 2024 player's handbook, Wizards of the Coast have been moving towards rage being an 'always on' feature. Sure you've still got limited uses, but not only can you use a bonus action to keep it up (so you don't need to just hit or be hit) and use it more out of combat, you get an extra use back on a short rest, and most importantly, it now lasts for 10 minutes.

10 minutes.

With a bonus action, it seems clear to me that the intent is for barbarians to sneak around a dungeon while raging, which doesn't really feel thematic for me. In fact I know that's the intent because a later feature lets barbarians use strength for stealth while raging.

Generally this just seems to me that the intent is to make sure barbarians never run out of rages, and in that case, why still have limited uses? It doesn't make sense for me that a barbarian could just, not get angry when they've gotten angry twice today. Combining this with my other rage tweaks, I propose a solution, I propose:

Frenzy

1st-level barbarian feature, which optionally replaces the Rage feature

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a frenzy as a bonus action.

While in frenzy and not wearing heavy armor, you gain the following benefits:

You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity, the weight you can push, drag, or lift, and creatures you can push or grapple.

When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. This bonus increases as you level.

You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

At 11th level, you also have resistance to force damage.

You ignore the Fatigued condition

You are unable to cast or concentrate on spells while in frenzy, except for any free casts of leveled spells you have gained through your race.

Your frenzy lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature, taken damage, cast a spell, or made a strength check since your last turn.

When you end a frenzy, you gain the fatigued condition. Finishing a short rest removes 1 of your levels of fatigue, and finishing a long rest removes a number of levels of fatigue equal to your constitution modifier (minimum 1).

Fatigued

While you are subjected to the Fatigued condition you experience the following effects:

Levels of Fatigue. This Condition is cumulative. Each time you receive it, you gain 1 level of fatigue. You die if your fatigue level exceeds 10.

d20 Rolls Affected. When you make a d20 Test, you subtract your fatigue level from the d20 roll.

Spell Save DCs Affected. Subtract your fatigue level from the Spell save DC of any Spell you cast.

Speed Affected. Your movement speed is reduced by 5 feet for every two fatigue levels you have.

Ending the Condition. Finishing a Long Rest removes 1 of your levels of fatigue. When your fatigue level reaches 0, you are no longer fatigued.

Technically this isn't completely resourceless, you're still having to track your fatigue, but Frenzy feels a lot more thematic to me. So what are the changes and why?

Fatigue vs Limited Uses. I've already mentioned feeling that limited uses doesn't feel right for a barbarian, but the idea of fatigue, where pushing yourself into rage has physical rammifications (that you can ignore while raging) feels thematic, and while yes it's technically limited by the death level for fatigue, pushing yourself so far that you literally die from anger feels more thematic than just, not being able to rage any more. Also 'extra uses' being losing fatigue from resting also just feels like it makes sense for a barbarian.

Force Resistance. For reasons I've discussed a few times before, I feel with the move in high CR monster design away from B/P/S damage, barbarians absolutely need force resistance at later levels so they can keep being the tank they're meant to.

Spells and Strength. Playing a barbarian genasi or tiefling just feels bad, they're really fun combinations (just look at the love Karlach's gotten), but you can't cast spells in rage, so what's the point in having them, well, letting racial spells be cast in frenzy (and continue it) makes those combinations feel a lot better. Additionally, rage continuing from Strength checks lets you use your rage to push and grapple in combat, or move things around outside it without having to worry about it ending early (DMs could rule that raging them pulling something is only one strength check, I'd say you're still making them after the first, but they're low enough you'd automatically pass, your milage may vary)

No Bonus Action to End. Rage ending as a bonus action also always felt weird to me thematically and I've never seen it come up, so Frenzy... doesn't. if you want to stop your fury, you have to take time to calm down, you can't just stop easily.

Counting as Larger. This is another thing where it just feels like barbarians should already get it, you're a raging juggernaut, you should be able to grapple T-Rexes and push away adult dragons!

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bu-blegh-ost · 7 months

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What Chip's current condition may possibly mean for both him and the crew (a theory of sorts)

Spoilers for ep. 109 and 110. Heed the warning.

Okay, so ever since ep. 109 came out I've been frantically reading about undead and what does it mean for your pc to be undead. I stayed silent about it, cause I wasn't sure if Nik could fix this, but now that ep. 110 is out I'd like to share some of the things I found, for folks like me, who do not know much abt DnD yet.

So, in a long list of features the undead have, most prominent problem is how hard it is to heal them. None of Jay's or Gillion's spells can heal Chip now, we'd need a spell that normally damages people, like necromancy spells, since they have a reverse efffect on the undead, and none of them has access to that currently. Not only that, once Chip's health reaches zero at this state, that's it. No death saves, no going unconscious or going down. That's it, which is why the moment he turned undead, Jay started spamming the temporary HP canon. So Chip doesn't lose any of his core health pool. If he did die in this state, from then on, only a spell called Wish (if I'm not mistaken a lvl 9 Sorcerer wish, so Gillion could do that if he cranked up three more levels in sorcery real quick) or True Ressurection could save him. But these two spells would also bring Chip back to life as a regular person, not the undead, so it would be cool to seek out someone who could do that for them at the most convenient time.

To balance it out, Chip is resistant to a shit ton of attack types, including poison, physical, necrotic and many other. To top it off with Chip's evasion skills, I'm giving him good chances to either minimalize or negate most damage in this form. And well, considering everything, he'd be wise to take every opportunity to do so, joke damage taking is no longer an option, I think. Also Gillion needs to be very careful with radiant damage around Chip, cause it's very effective on the undead. Chip getting hit by Gillion's strike may damage him greatly, and the two need to be very careful around each other from now on :(((

And the most interesting thing I found is the Undead Hunger variant. Some undead can just live on for centuries and be fine without a need to feed on something. But some, even the intelligent ones like Chip, may need a bit more than that, and given that very ominous intelligence check Grizzly made him roll at the end of the day, I'm thinking he's implementing the hunger rule on Chip. Lemme tell you a bit about it.

So Undead Hunger is a Variant Rule that DMs use on player characters that are undead sometimes. And that means that once in a while Chip would have to feed on some sort of specific type of morsel to satisfy his craving, or suffer the cosequences. There are two variants of undead that can make roll for this: Inescapable Craving or Diet Dependent. The player in that case rolls for willpower, which DMs usually make a wisdom or intelligence check. In our case Grizzly chose intelligence, and Chip passed with a 19. The DC for Inescapably Craving Undead is 25, but the DC for Diet Dependent Undead is 15. So from that I deduced that Chip would be a Diet Dependent Undead, since he passed the roll.

Hunger for the Undead is like addiction to the living. This means that unless Chip can resist it with a succesful roll, he may become more agressive, anxious, violent or even self-destructive the longer he is denied a preferred meal. If he can't eat, he'll have to roll for keeping himself at bay every three days. He doesn't have to roll if he eats.

So you may ask now: what happens if he fails one to many times? This is the interesting part. So if Chip fails his once per three days intelligence check, the DM will make him take ability damage. That means that one of his stats (wisdom, strength, dexterity etc.) will reduce by a whatever number Grizzly sees fit (Chip can get all the lost points back the moment he eats). In the guide I've read it says that wisdom is the most crucial ability score to lose, tho I'm unsure if the DM takes away only from wisdom or if he can take any of the stats, I may need to read more on that. But the thing is, the more rolls Chip fails, the more wisdom he may loose, and please note, Chip does not have much wisdom to begin with (but he does have high intelligence so thank the gods for that at least).

The less wisdom Chip has, the more desperate he gets when it comes to eating. He may start seeking out more risky ways to get fed or do things he normally wouldn't to get it. Hunger can't kill him though, it may just make him lose himself (hence that comment of Grizzly's about him needing to hold onto his sense of self, at least that's what I think that is). Once Chip reaches wisdom score 0, Bizzly actually loses control over him, and Grizzly takes over Chip and he plays Chip as he was a wild enemy beast. In that state Chip can throw himself on anyone or anything that can provide him food, his mind completely lost. He can hurt others, attack his crew. He can do anything the DM determines a starved mindless beast would do.

He can come back to his senses once more, when he does feed on whatever is decided his preferred meal is, all his wisdom regained and all, but the consequences of his actions, when he was not himself, the dreadful realisation that he is now a monster, who needs to be kept in check so he doesn't hurt the people he loves...This may be a lot for Chip to take. If this were to happen, he'll need a lot of his crewmates' support and reassurance, and a lot of honesty will be demanded from Chip. He'd have to warn people around him and make sure everyone knows how he's feeling, if he needs help in finding food. Casue hiding this hunger may result in tragedy.

And of course, it doesn't help that they are where they are now. In any case, if Grizz decides that Chip's favourite meal is humanoid flesh (beyond cruel is what that would be), they are fucked, basically. If it is the flesh of any other creature or animal, well they are also fucked, because they are in a motherfucking Black Sea, so good luck finding anything consumable like this either way.

But hey, of course do remeber that in the end these are just my conclusions based on what I read. Grizzly might not be even using any of these rules, cause he's the DM and he can do whatever he wants. I just thought that based on what we saw, this is very likely to happen (consider it a theory of mine for the time being). If you would like to read more about it, I'll leave you the link to this one really good website that I found most of the information on. I can't confirm its relaibility, but it looks very informative, comprehensive and thought out, and thus far was the most thorough source I found, so I'm personally willing to trust it. But please do find out for yourself. That'll be it, see you and I hope you had fun reading!

Link to the website: https://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/aboutundead.shtml#undeadhunger

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Tags written out by the wonderful @dinzeeyz !!! They explained here what is ACTUALLY happening to Chip, not a theory, facts from the boys themselves! Please make sure to read them!!!

Well, there it is folks! Of course, I do not mind that I was wrong! The fun part in theorizing is not being right or wrong, but the journey one takes to find out the truth! And the truth is SO much more horrifying than I could ever think! You see, I was kinda thinking abt ways for Chip to still function while undead, but there is NO FUNCTIONING WHATSOEVER APPARENTLY. Grizzly's not playing, and the prospect of losing Chip forever is real oh dear OMG, that's absolutely insane!!! Please feel welcome to discuss this, I'll be definitely making more posts about this once I have a little more time but holy shit guys. We need to fix that boy up F A S T. If we lose Chip, I'm not recovering-

#jrwi riptide #just roll with it #chip jrwi #gillion jrwi #jrwi #theory #undead #jrwi spoilers #spoilers #jrwi riptide spoilers #GUYS GUYS GUYS #this theory has already been disproven by rolled and THE TRUTH IS EVEN CRAZIER #pls check out the update #https://www.tumblr.com/bu-blegh-ost/730136739405086720/tags-written-out-by-the-wonderful-dinzeeyz?source=share

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larkingame · 4 months

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so, i don't usually crosspost these posts, but this week's update on patreon is available to everyone and I know I have a bit of a larger following on tumblr, and I'd really like everyone on the same page so I'm dropping all I have to say here too.

good evening friends!! i hope you're all doing well! welcome to the first update of 2024. momentous for me personally, because this is the year we finish larkin. i am making this post available to all patrons, (paid or not) because I'd really like to start 2024 on the right foot with everyone aware of the road ahead. i am so determined to get it done you have no idea. this is my year. 2024, i christen thee: the year of the vampire cowboy.

okay, so big things ahead, lets talk about the update, explore some of the features we have in the game, plans for this weekends release, the schedule and a couple other things.

so, if you've played at all with the new version of the game, you'll take notice that it's a little bit different than my first image of the game. at first larkin was just a straight interactive fiction following the likes of cog like games, with choices and avenues and split stats and the like. but now, as of 2024 (crazy) we're seeing a game that is more reminiscent of a ttrpg, like dnd or cyberpunk, with stats, classes and dice rolls. admittedly, the very first encounter of the game is well (it's a little rigged) the game, of course, could not really get started if the preacher gets cooked before they've even made it to nevada, so, the odds are a little bit stacked in the players favor this round, but at least, it gives you a little bit of a taste of whats to come. to dive into the specifics of what's important with this first encounter (or just, how to avoid getting your ass really kicked) these first few rolls give bonuses to players with high dexterity and athleticism—-but that's not to say you need to make your character beefed up in these departments. each stat will get their time to shine later down the line.

but let's talk about what i'm really excited to discuss: classes. so with the new version of larkin, i've introduced a system of classes that operate somewhat like your standard dungeons and dragons class, but with a little bit more of that classic background from the original ttrpg mixed in—coloring the way your character sees the world of the game, sort of how a race might effect a dnd character--(a dwarf player is going to have a much different worldview than say, an elf.) for this i was heavily inspired by games like dragon age origins and baldur's gate, and while I do have those original background ready to be dropped a little bit later on the game in relation to your character's perspectives on the abrams family, I really like how these have come to form.

in total there are seven new classes: con-man, outlaw, healer, thief, gambler, showman and slayer. each of these classes warps the perspective of the player character, giving them new motivations, dialogue options, and affects their relationships with the other characters in the game and the world around them. to illustrate this, I'm thinking of making a little bit more of an in depth explanation screen to be added to saturday's update to really get that point across, but I'm still toying with how I want to phrase the specifics of it. what i might do is something similar to baldur's gate with little pop-up tutorials that can be turned off/on depending on how you'd like to play.

to give an example of some of the more in depth motivations/choices each class offers lets talk about the thief and the outlaw classes. the thief class i am especially excited for, because like the con-man class and similar to a few others, it really allows your character to be very money/materialistically motivated. it opens up routes later in the game, like romancing one of the sokolovs—with motivations reminiscent of gold-digging (hehehe very excited for that—i think it will be very fun to write—because you have this idea of a cold hearted player who is entering into a relationship with them strictly for business, versus a cold hearted player who is in it for the cash but also. might be falling in love with one of the sokolovs? ((a lot of fun dynamics afoot here.)) the outlaw class is also one i'm excited to work with because it really puts something of a strain on the preacher and wyatt's relationship—-mostly because you see a strong division in terms of their ethics—the preacher in that case is very 'do what you gotta do to survive,' whereas wyatt believes (key word—believes) he's living by some sort of moral code—that he's failed to instill in the person he views as his child. so like there are layers here boys. layers of resentment, failure—to connect, to teach, to bond. a final tidbit about the slayer class before I move on: if you would really like to play into the enemies to lovers trope with one of the vampires, I would highly recommend giving your player this class ((that's all I'll say))

so: saturday, that takes us to the bar, where each class will get a unique scene, similar to how the scheming tactic section worked in the original game. we're gonna finish up the encounter with the first vampires, meet our guild pursuers and move to the bar. I'm planning also to implement the character customization here—(sort of a way to prep before the player heads out to the bar.) most likely won't get to all classes by saturday's code, but after that, I'm planning to release again on next wednesday, so we're keeping on track. I'd really like to give a full picture of customization for the player character, with all the original options for physical appearance (i might keep clothes vague for now though and let you dress your character later on, until you get a taste of the inventory/bartering system-—you have to deal with MY poor fashion choices for a little bit.) but that being said, about character customization, if there's something that's lacking here and you'd like to suggest an addition I'd be all ears. This is what I'm planning to implement so far:

skin tone

body type*

hair color

hair texture

hair length

hair style**

height

skin details (acne, scars, vitiligo, rosacea)

facial hair

make-up

piercings

eyewear (glasses, no glasses, eyepatch, prosthetic eye)

gender-affirming customization (for ex. use of binding)

* a note on the body type section, I kind of had this idea of digitally drawing some silhouettes of different heights, shapes and sizes, and allowing the player to click through arrows to select a rough estimation of what their body-type might look like. I'm going to do an art dump later this month, and I have a few sketches of what I'd kinda like to do with that, but I'm still toying with it, because even that could be a little limiting in terms of options. if any of you had thoughts on that, I'd love to hear them.

**I think it might also be cool to kind of have drawings of different hairstyles available to the characters, arranged in the card formats like the previous gender options in that same red colored sketch format.

speaking of art though--and this is purely tangential so I apologize, I'm sure you've taken notice of some of the art being repetitive--for the moment that's purposeful. I'm planning to commission some work for the cards to be implemented in a later update--so what you're seeing are just placeholders for now.

okay! with saturday's notes out of the way, plans for the rest of the week. I need to finish the timeline and then I need to make it readable to people other than myself. it is currently incomprehensible and of the few people that have gotten their eyes on it only one (1) could make sense of my mad ramblings. (shout out to friend of the game bianca from exiled from court if any of you are familiar with her or her stuff, we are big bianca fans here.) After that I need to do some edits with the new update and such, and poke at the code.

Tonight after I post this, I'm specifically working on sending a few more emails to betas (know that sending emails is. my personal hell because of intense social anxiety. BUT we must persevere. emails will be sent tonight.) after that, I have to work on the phillip/kc/sam schedule + calendar for this month, just to keep the three of us on the same page. I'm in the process of looking at some stamps.com printers for sending out packages with this next round of physical rewards and ordering the merch (hehehe)

okay. super long update for our first one of the year, but I am so excited to get to keep working with you guys :) i'd like to thank you all for your continued support and I can't wait to show you more of the little universe i've crafted :)

until friday! i'm gonna be posting some cyrus asks/scenarios for you all to enjoy, so look forward to that! <3

#larkin if #devlog #patreon

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madanythinglaboratory · 1 year

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Oath of the Stars (a DND 5e Homebrew inspired by @comicaurora)

Tenets of the Stars

A paladin who assumes the Oath of the Stars swears to put their life on the line for the sake of other mortals.

Respect. Life is sacred, and should never be casually taken, nor neglectfully sacrificed.

Responsibility. Excuses, no matter how convincing, do nothing to soften the harm done. One must accept their shortcomings and promise to do better.

Humility. Evil is not unknowable, evil is not alien. Even the greatest paragons can fall from grace if they stop trying to do better.

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options:

Fire Within. As an action, you can light one weapon that you are holding on fire using the burning energy of the stars, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you deal an additional 1d6 fire damage with every attack made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.

You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.

Blinding Star. As an action, you invoke the radiance of the stars, using your Channel Divinity to radiate pure bright light. Each creature that can see you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. Creatures immune to the blinded condition, with blindsight, or who are already blind automatically succeed on this saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is blinded for 1 minute. A blinded creature can make another Constitution saving throw at the end of its turn.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed:

3rd level: guiding bolt, searing smite

5th: flame blade, pyrotechnics

9th: blinding smite, flame arrows

13th: fire shield, wall of fire

17th: legend lore, wall of light

These spells all count as paladin spells for you. You always have them prepared, but they don't count towards your number of prepared paladin spells.

Aura of Guidance

Starting at 7th level, friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have advantage on attacks against a creature that dealt damage to you since your last turn.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Guardian Angel

Beginning at 15th level, when an ally accessible within 30 feet is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to move up to them and take the attack instead. The attacker must roll again against your armor class and use the highest roll.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses after a short or long rest.

Radiant Champion

At 20th level, as an action, you can emanate an aura of starfire. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

Your speed is doubled, and you can jump as far as your speed allows during a turn.

As an action, you can fire a brilliant burst of starfire. Every creature within a 20 ft. cone has to make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell DC or take 12d8 fire damage. A creature who succeeds their Dexterity saving throw takes half damage instead.

A creature takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier when they touch you or hit you with a weapon attack the first time on their turn

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

(Shoutout to Queen of Bubble City of the fan Discord for suggesting Legend Lore and getting me rid of that stupid Holy Weapon spell that I hate so much. Also keep posted for more DND 5e homebrew for Aurora, because I'm definitely not gonna stop at one subclass per main character)

#aurora comic #kendal #vash #dnd 5e homebrew #paladin

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