For some reason I thought I was to late in my submission lmao, but during my fever I misstook april for may. I was actually nearly a month early.
Edit: I'm feeling better now, but haven't been on the internet since my submission lmao
I had a booboo in the original post and it did say April instead of May. You weren't hallucinating
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Alright. I made two newer versions only my feat for review.
The first one is mostly the same as the previous version but more punishing when you’re unlucky to balance out the benefits of being lucky.
This second one has a different benefit for when you’re lucky.
What does everyone think?
The first one seems basically the same, and doesn't address the balance issue for me. Most of the "punishing" stuff you list are things a lot of DMs do on a nat 1 anyway
The second one seems better, although for consistency I'd change the AC boost to subtracting the lucky dice from the incoming attack roll
I can’t take other DM’s houserules into account when writing something. I go by RAW and RAW is that a Nat 1 only counts as an automatic failure for an attack roll and there are no such things as critical failures in the RAW. That version of the feat makes both Nat 1s and the Unlucky Number count as both an automatic failure for all d20 rolls and adds the additional repercussions of critical failure to both. (The old version didn’t state that either was an automatic failure and only had the additional repercussions on the Unlucky Number but not the Nat 1. So this version is far more punishing than the old version.
How is subtracting the d6 result from the incoming attack roll more consistent? All the other applications have the player with the feat add the d6 result to something for their own character. None of them subtract anything and none of them affect anything any other creature does. By adding the d6 result to your own AC it is consistent.
I can’t take other DM’s houserules into account when writing something.
Sure you can, especially when it's a common house rule or optional rule
I mean, would you create a Sword of Flanking that gives you advantage if you have an ally on the other side of the foe you're attacking?
How is subtracting the d6 result from the incoming attack roll more consistent? All the other applications have the player with the feat add the d6 result to something for their own character. None of them subtract anything and none of them affect anything any other creature does
Because then the d6 is always being applied to a d20 roll
There are plenty of features, spells etc. that affect rolls by other creatures, whether it's applying disadvantage or subtracting from the roll
As an aside, I always find it hilarious when people ask for feedback and then argue with it
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I can’t take other DM’s houserules into account when writing something.
Sure you can, especially when it's a common house rule or optional rule
I mean, would you create a Sword of Flanking that gives you advantage if you have an ally on the other side of the foe you're attacking?
That’s different though. Flanking is actually an official optional rule published in the book. It’s optional but still RAW. But auto failure and crit failure are totally houserules that the book recommends against using.
I guess technically you are right that I could take those houserules into account but it would be really really hypocritical of me if I did. Instead of saying that I “can’t” do it what I should have said is that I think it’s a terrible idea to take houserules into consideration when writing stuff. When I vote in this competition and see someone has based their design on common houserules I give them lower marks on balance and playability for it.
Frankly I don’t think that judging people’s submissions based on houserules that many people don’t use is at all fair in this competition. Then it falls on each person voting to decide which houserules get considered and which ones don’t and how heavily weighted they are. If we just go by RAW it’s a more objective and level playing field for everybody. A line has to be drawn somewhere. I draw mine at the end of RAW. I can’t stop people from considering houserules when voting in this competition. I don’t have to condone the practice either.
Because then the d6 is always being applied to a d20 roll
There are plenty of features, spells etc. that affect rolls by other creatures, whether it's applying disadvantage or subtracting from the roll
Ok. I see what you mean. I was thinking of “consistent” in a different way than you were. I was keeping it consistent in that the person with the feat always added the d6 result as a bonus and always to their own thing. You were thinking of consistency as always applying it to the roll even if the person rolling is different and even if sometimes it’s addition and sometimes subtraction. Just different perspectives I guess. I’d be interested to see what some other folks think.
Yeah lots of stuff in the game does affect other creatures rolls. Lots of stuff in the game affects your armor class too. It’s kind of 6 of one thing vs half a dozen of the other I guess. Like I said I’m interested to get other people’s take on it to see which way people prefer it.
As an aside, I always find it hilarious when people ask for feedback and then argue with it
I didn’t argue with anything you said in my last post so I don’t feel this comment was warranted.
The first paragraph I explained that I wasn’t taking houserules into account and I pointed out the difference between the two versions for you because you said you couldn’t see them. The second paragraph I asked you what you meant about making it more consistent because from my perspective I had been keeping it consistent. I then went on to point out what the consistencies were as I saw them.
That’s not arguing. That’s pointing out a personal boundary, explaining my perspective in the hopes that it would be understood more clearly, asking for clarification from you about your perspective so I could understand you better, and again explaining my perspective on something else n the hopes it would be understood more clearly.
By dismissing what I wrote like you did you’re demonstrating that you don’t respect my personal boundaries, are unwilling to see another person’s perspective, and don’t respect it when someone else is making an effort to see things better from your perspective. And you did it all in a way designed to shame me into submission. That’s not a good roadmap for getting people to agree with you.
This is a bizarre thing to even have to type, but my comment was in no way "designed to shame you into submission".
I made a joke that people -- people, plural, as in multiple accounts on this website, not just AWierdPotato -- have a tendency to ask for feedback in this competition, and then push back on that feedback when they get it. And that's what you did. This isn't simply 'asking for clarification'. You accomplished that with the first sentence:
How is subtracting the d6 result from the incoming attack roll more consistent? All the other applications have the player with the feat add the d6 result to something for their own character. None of them subtract anything and none of them affect anything any other creature does. By adding the d6 result to your own AC it is consistent.
I mean, I get it. Kill your darlings is evergreen advice to writers for a reason. I genuinely just find it funny to see it playing out on a forum like this
You asked for opinions, I gave you mine. What you do with those opinions is entirely up to you. I promise you I don't take it personally if/when people disregard them
I look forward to seeing your entries in the other two categories
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Sorry. It seems I read your statement in a harsher tone than you intended. I apologize.
You’re right, I did ask for clarification in the first sentence. The rest of that paragraph was, as I said, me explaining why I thought it already was consistent so you could see it from the perspective I was viewing it from. I figured if you could understand how I was approaching it, it might make more sense to you. Just like I was asking for clarification I was likewise providing it from my end. I still don’t consider that “pushback” though, just an exchange of ideas and perspectives.
I really am sorry. I was a bit heated before on account of the changes to the marketplace, and apparently it’s “non constructive” to voice a dissenting opinion about WotC’s shitty business practices around here.
Went and read that main thread about removing the a la carte options, which was probably a mistake (reading the thread, I mean. Anything I have to say about the other thing, I'll put over there)
Anyway, my permanent Ignore User list has now jumped from one (Rav) to three (a certain agriculturally inclined OSR devotee, and someone using Hal-9000 as their avatar with a maximum lack of irony), so if any of them submit an entry, someone will have to let me know because I won't see the posts
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Okay, so I've got a really dumb idea for the PC group. I haven't worked out any of the details, but here's the thought process. It'll be a barbarian subclass called "Path of Misfortune's Sum" or something like that (a nod to MCG's Invisible Sun). The idea was, like Zombles, that at some point in the past, math was different. I'm talking strange new integers, algorithms that shouldn't be able to work, and stuff that could be reasonably described as magical. The PC was an expert on those maths. But then the gods decided that math ought to be different, hence our more limited systems that we know of today. So the PC went from a quasi-magical mathemagician into a fellow who knows things that don't work anymore. And that pissed them off. So now they're running around bashing people with weapons because their math-magic no longer works. But... sometimes it does. So the special abilities of the barbarian involve being able to do things that are mathematically impossible according to the current paradigm because they're just so darned angry about having learned an entire discipline only for it to have been changed out from under them.
I haven't worked out what abilities the barb should have, but I'm thinking along the lines of Dune's "weirding way" and Gurren Lagann's hot-blooded physics-defiance. The obvious choice would have been to make a wizard subclass or something. So naturally, being me, I decided to go with a barbarian.
So I have no new ideas to make this barbarian subclass work. The best I could come up with are a few gimmicks, like allowing the barbarian to choose nearby spaces to attack from as though through spatial gaps, teleport locally, and the like. But that's just echo knight junk mixed with the wild magic barb, and not really thematic. I considered some behind-the-scenes abilities, like playing with the distribution of dice outcomes, but that's too metagamey for my tastes. Funny enough, the ribbon abilities are easier to come up with. Like of course this barbarian should be able to solve math problems with their strength ability, lol. I suppose there's still almost a month left to make this happen. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Alright. For the interactive group, I give you two group patrons. They're rival factions... if by rivals we mean at complete cross-purposes.
Far Realm Cult
Your group serves the powers of the Far Realm as agents in the waking world.
Types of Far Realm Cults
Roll or pick from the Far Realm Cult table to determine the type of Far Realm cult your group serves.
Far Realm Cult
d6
Far Realm Cult
1
Kaorti Cell. These twisted pseudonatural beings originated in the Far Realm, and now look to merge their world with ours.
2
Bohemian Theater. These young thespians specialize in an ancient and forbidden performance art once used for occult rituals.
3
Inquisitive Scholar. These scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers have discovered much about the nature of reality. Too much.
4
Elder Elves. The inquisitive elder elves wandered the planes in search of new experiences. The Far Realm is their latest destination of choice.
5
Underdark Delvers. These experienced spelunkers uncovered one of the hidden gates to the Far Realm, and are tempted by the power it promises.
6
Bored Aristocrats. When not otherwise engaged in intrigue and debauchery, these nobles practice the occult arts in secret, and have attracted the attention of something alien.
Far Realm Cult Perks
Contacts. Your group is almost certainly not the only one sponsored by your patron. Plans that span the world and the course of millennia require many agents to complete. If necessary, your patron can put you in contact with their other agents, who might be in a position to help you through status, influence, or magic.
Magic. Alien entities often have access to vast stores of magic, including their own spells and secret caches of magic items. They are mindful of the value of this magic, and grant spells and items as rewards appropriate to the favor and the power of the adventurers.
Strange Gifts. Your patron grants your group a small measure of esoteric power. At 5th level, and again at 13th, you gain one supernatural gift as described in the treasure chapter of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The DM determines which supernatural gifts are available.
Far Realm Cult Contact
The organizational contact who dispenses assignments or delivers the word of your patron runs the gamut from prosaic to otherworldly. Roll or pick from the Far Realm Cult Contact table to determine who or what conveys your patron’s will.
Far Realm Cult Contact
d6
Far Realm Cult Contact
1
Visions. Your patron doesn’t use intermediaries, instead speaking to you in dreams, omens, or visions.
2
Alien Visitation. Your patron communicates by sending a monstrous aberration such as a nothic, psurlon, or star spawn emissary.
3
Half-Farspawn. Your contact's appearance is that of a typical humanoid at a distance, but their form shifts and squirms in your peripheral vision, suggesting something altogether different.
4
Mysterious Artifact. Your patron communicates through an alien object of unknown provenance.
5
Astral Movements. Your patron communicates through the movements of heavenly bodies.
6
Coincidence. Your patron communicates by subtly manipulating probability such that consecutive words spell a message on a scroll viewed askance, leaves fall from a tree in a conspicuous pattern, or the configuration of shadows forms a rune.
Far Realm Cult Member
The Far Realm Cult Member Roles table suggests positions you might fill in an order and the backgrounds frequently associated with each role.
The Far Realm Cult Quests table presents a few options for the sorts of work your patron expects from you.
Far Realm Cult Quests
d6
Quest
1
Artifact Recovery. A mysterious artifact of alien origin has been discovered. Secure it before your enemies seal it away for good.
2
Advance Prophecy. An ancient prophecy foretells the emergence of your patron into the world. Advance the prophecy by completing a dangerous ritual.
3
Tear a Rift. Seek out regions in which the barriers between worlds are thin, and tear them open.
4
Alien Voyage. Make a pilgrimage to a region infused with Far Realm energies and absorb its alien energy.
5
Spread Contagion. Concoct and release a devastating plague in a populated area that transforms its victims into vile monstrosities.
6
Assassinate Heretic. A former member of the cult is threatening to divulge your secrets. Silence them.
Gatekeepers
Your group acts in the service of a faction of gatekeepers--oathbound protectors that guard against extrplanar incursions.
Types of Gatekeepers
Roll or pick from the Gatekeeper table to determine the type of Gatekeepers your group serves.
Gatekeepers
d6
Gatekeepers
1
Circle of the True. These defenders of the natural world fight back against the corruption of the Far Realm.
2
Keepers of the Cerulean Sign. These scholars of ancient lore wield the Cerulean Sign, a powerful rune of protection against Far Realm incursions.
3
The Topaz Order. These militant devotees of Heironeous protect the innocent against extraplanar threats.
4
Society of the Sanctified Mind. The psionicists of this order crusade to rid the world of alien psionics.
5
The Celestian Order. The members of this esoteric order eschew ties to deities, and instead consort with the primal spirits to guard against Far Realm influence.
6
The Talaric Order. The warriors of this martial order have compiled a comprehensive codex of fighting techniques and mental disciplines to combat aberrations.
Gatekeeper Perks
With Gatekeepers as your group’s patron, you gain the following perks.
Research. Relying on a Gatekeeper’s network of contacts helps you unearth hidden secrets. If you can contact your patron or their agents, your group makes ability checks made to research lore related to aberrations and the Far Realm with advantage.
Sanctuary. Your patron’s agents have safe houses or other secure gatherings spread across a wide region. Your group knows how to locate these friendly enclaves and can maintain a modest lifestyle in one for no cost. In return, you must defend the sanctuary or protect the secret of its existence.
Guild Contact
Roll or pick from the Gatekeeper Contact table to determine your immediate contact within the guild.
Gatekeeper Contact
d6
Gatekeeper Contact
1
Vengeful Druid. Your contact is a druidic avenger whose original circle was infiltrated and destroyed by neogi slavers.
2
Disciplined Psionicist. Your contact is a contemplative psion who coordinates the organization's missions using psionic networks.
3
Discerning Archivist. Your contact is an obscure scholar who studies the nature of reality and what lies beyond. The scholar carefully employs mental wards when studying alien lore.
4
Reformed Cultist. Your contact was formerly a member of a Far Realm cult until the day they were slated to be sacrificed.
5
Darkrunner. This grizzled veteran of the Underdark is a skilled spelunker and monster slayer.
6
Mystic Warder. Your contact is a dedicated student of abjuration magic, as skilled in defending allies as in banishing extraplanar threats.
Gatekeeper Member
The Gatekeeper Member Roles table suggests positions you might fill in an order and the backgrounds frequently associated with each role.
Gatekeeper Member Roles
Role
Backgrounds
Strategist
Folk Hero, Noble, Planar Philosopher
Warden
City Watch/Investigator, Gate Warden, Knight
Scout
Criminal/Spy, Faceless, Far Traveler
Investigator
Archaeologist, Hermit, Urchin
Medic
Acolyte, Haunted One, Sage
Inquisitor
Mercenary Veteran, Ruined, Soldier
Gatekeeper Quests
The Gatekeeper Quests table presents a few options for the sorts of work your patron expects from you.
Gatekeeper Quests
d6
Quest
1
Prevent Prophecy. A Far Realm cult is on the cusp of fulfilling a prophecy with deadly ramifications. You strive to undermine their blasphemous agenda.
2
Contain Artifact. An alien object has surfaced in the hands of your enemies. Secure the object and destroy it if necessary.
3
Seal a Gate. A rift between this world and another has been torn open. Find the rift, seal it, and eliminate any aberrations that have come through.
4
Sabotage a Ritual. A deranged group of cultists are attempting to summon and bind an alien entity. Infiltrate them and sabotage the ritual before it can be completed.
5
Study Aberrations. Undertake expeditions to document, capture, and explain beings antithetical to the natural order.
6
Safeguard Liminal Zone. Your contacts have discovered a region in which the barriers between worlds are thin. Secure the location and defend it against intruders.
I don't normally do this one, but inspiration struck, so, for the Interactive Options category, I present:
Seers and Seen
For every person who cannot see, there is a person who cannot be seen.
This is how it has been since ancient times. In the dawn of civilization, a husband and a wife were unfaithful to each other, catching the ire of a goddess of love and commitment. To make sure the two would not stray from one another, the goddess made the husband unable to see anything but his wife, and the wife unable to be seen by any but her husband. This divine intervention did force the two to reconcile, but it came with some clear difficulties. While fishing one day, the husband fell overboard, and was too disoriented to know which way to swim to reach shore. The only person in the world who could see her having died, the now-widow went mad with loneliness. Some tellings of the story say that she took her own life, while other, whispered tales tell of her ensuing exploits as an assassin.
The husband was the first blind person, or Seer, and the wife was the first invisible person, or Seen. Although relatively uncommon, many children have since been born with these conditions. Whether this is because of accursed lineage, inscrutable divine acts, or something else entirely is still unknown. What is known is that a Seer is always born at the same time as a Seen, and that the two will be linked from that point on, the Seer only ever able to see the one Seen that they are connected to. There doesn’t need to be any proximity during the birth; Seers and Seen can be, and have been, born on separate continents.
Since the relationship between a Seer and a Seen being a fundamentally magical one, there are some arcane quirks involved. For one, a Seer and a respective Seen can act as conduits to one another for divinatory purposes, meaning certain spells cast in the proximity of one can possibly be used to find, identify, or contact the other. For two, when a Seer or Seen is dead, their counterpart can perform a ritualistic burial of the body, symbolically ending the marriage between the first Seer and Seen and removing the condition from the living of the pair.
For a variety of reasons, Seers and respective Seen frequently seek one another out. Sometimes, it’s to kill and bury the other to end the affliction. Sometimes, it’s to protect those being harmed by the other. Sometimes, it's simply for companionship.
Due to the nature of the conditions, Seers and Seen tend to congregate amongst their own kind. Seen are always outcasts, but some who recognize them also recognize their potential, and find them a place in a chapter of the Veil, an ancient crime syndicate that raises Seen to be thieves and assassins. Meanwhile, the condition of Seers is less blatant but still very impactful. Most villages have at least one person who knows how to get in touch with the Monastery of the Closed Eye, a group of Seers who are by far the best equipped to educate and raise a Seer. Even when parents decide to keep and raise a Seer themselves, many Seers decide later in life to seek out the Monastery. The Closed Eye is less inherently combative than the Veil, even accepting in Seen who wish to be with their Seers, but they still mandate combat training, even if it’s chosen only to be used for self-defense. The Closed Eye and the Veil frequently butt heads; the Closed Eye staves off the Veil under the belief that they are the only ones who can, and Veil members attempt to pick off Closed Eye monks for vengeance or security.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
So I have no new ideas to make this barbarian subclass work. The best I could come up with are a few gimmicks, like allowing the barbarian to choose nearby spaces to attack from as though through spatial gaps, teleport locally, and the like. But that's just echo knight junk mixed with the wild magic barb, and not really thematic. I considered some behind-the-scenes abilities, like playing with the distribution of dice outcomes, but that's too metagamey for my tastes. Funny enough, the ribbon abilities are easier to come up with. Like of course this barbarian should be able to solve math problems with their strength ability, lol. I suppose there's still almost a month left to make this happen. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Yeah, making math wonky on a character level and not a player level is a tough needle to thread, especially for a non-casting class
Could you do something like a melee riff on Metamagic/sorcery points, where you have different ways to tweak the base assumptions about weapon attacks? Change a range, swap the damage type to psychic or force, that kind of thing
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Earth Glide. The stonewalker can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the stonewalker doesn't disturb the material it moves through.
Actions
Multiattack.The stonewalker makes two melee or ranged weapon attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Rock.Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Bonus Actions
The stonewalker can take one bonus action on each of its turns, choosing from the options below.
Quake (3/Day). Each creature touching the ground in a 5 foot wide, 30-foot long line extending from the stonewalker must succed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone
Quicksand (1/Day).The ground within 10 feet of the stonewalker becomes quicksand. When a creature enters the area, it sinks 1d4 + 1 feet into the quicksand and becomes restrained. At the start of each of the creature’s turns, it sinks another 1d4 feet. As long as the creature isn’t completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is 10 plus the number of feet the creature has sunk into the quicksand. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can’t breathe
Stonewalk. The stonewalker teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space touching stone. It forms a new body out of earth, leaving the old one as a stone husk in the place it teleported from. Only two stone husks can exist at one time. If the stonewalker uses this action and there are already two stone husks, the oldest one crumbles to dust before a new one forms. A stone husk has AC 17, 5 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. A stone husk is also immune to all conditions.
Reactions
Husk Grapple. As a reaction when a creature ends its turn within 5 feet of a stone husk, the stonewalker can command the stone husk to grab them. The creature must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the stone husk. A creature can attempt a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the same DC as an action, breaking free on a success.
Description
The stonewalker is a kind of elemental spirit that shapes bodies of stone for itself from the surrounding rock. If it feels trapped, a stonewalker can leave its current body and shape a new one from nearby earth, leaving behind an empty husk. The stonewalker's connection to the earth allows it to briefly animate these left-over husks.
Stonewalkers are intelligent elemental creatures that may work in the service of wizards, kings, or dao as formidable assassins. They accept payment only in the form of precious gems, which they consume by absorbing them into their current form.
Ok. I got feedback from a few other people and have incorporated all of it into this latest version of my Daily Numbers feat. If anyone has any feedback on this version I look forward to reading it. Thank you.
Bumping with a reminder that entries must be posted by Sunday the 26th -- that's next weekend!
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Stink. Life got really busy. I'm heading out on a trip to Scotland in a few days so I will be unable to participate in this competition. Hopefully I will be able to join the next one.
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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I had a booboo in the original post and it did say April instead of May. You weren't hallucinating
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I can’t take other DM’s houserules into account when writing something. I go by RAW and RAW is that a Nat 1 only counts as an automatic failure for an attack roll and there are no such things as critical failures in the RAW. That version of the feat makes both Nat 1s and the Unlucky Number count as both an automatic failure for all d20 rolls and adds the additional repercussions of critical failure to both. (The old version didn’t state that either was an automatic failure and only had the additional repercussions on the Unlucky Number but not the Nat 1. So this version is far more punishing than the old version.
How is subtracting the d6 result from the incoming attack roll more consistent? All the other applications have the player with the feat add the d6 result to something for their own character. None of them subtract anything and none of them affect anything any other creature does. By adding the d6 result to your own AC it is consistent.
Glad you’re feeling better.
Because then the d6 is always being applied to a d20 roll
There are plenty of features, spells etc. that affect rolls by other creatures, whether it's applying disadvantage or subtracting from the roll
As an aside, I always find it hilarious when people ask for feedback and then argue with it
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You oughtn’t to grade based on optional rules unless the submission is explicitly written with that rule in mind.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
That’s different though. Flanking is actually an official optional rule published in the book. It’s optional but still RAW. But auto failure and crit failure are totally houserules that the book recommends against using.
I guess technically you are right that I could take those houserules into account but it would be really really hypocritical of me if I did. Instead of saying that I “can’t” do it what I should have said is that I think it’s a terrible idea to take houserules into consideration when writing stuff. When I vote in this competition and see someone has based their design on common houserules I give them lower marks on balance and playability for it.
Frankly I don’t think that judging people’s submissions based on houserules that many people don’t use is at all fair in this competition. Then it falls on each person voting to decide which houserules get considered and which ones don’t and how heavily weighted they are. If we just go by RAW it’s a more objective and level playing field for everybody. A line has to be drawn somewhere. I draw mine at the end of RAW. I can’t stop people from considering houserules when voting in this competition. I don’t have to condone the practice either.
Ok. I see what you mean. I was thinking of “consistent” in a different way than you were. I was keeping it consistent in that the person with the feat always added the d6 result as a bonus and always to their own thing. You were thinking of consistency as always applying it to the roll even if the person rolling is different and even if sometimes it’s addition and sometimes subtraction. Just different perspectives I guess. I’d be interested to see what some other folks think.
Yeah lots of stuff in the game does affect other creatures rolls. Lots of stuff in the game affects your armor class too. It’s kind of 6 of one thing vs half a dozen of the other I guess. Like I said I’m interested to get other people’s take on it to see which way people prefer it.
I didn’t argue with anything you said in my last post so I don’t feel this comment was warranted.
The first paragraph I explained that I wasn’t taking houserules into account and I pointed out the difference between the two versions for you because you said you couldn’t see them. The second paragraph I asked you what you meant about making it more consistent because from my perspective I had been keeping it consistent. I then went on to point out what the consistencies were as I saw them.
That’s not arguing. That’s pointing out a personal boundary, explaining my perspective in the hopes that it would be understood more clearly, asking for clarification from you about your perspective so I could understand you better, and again explaining my perspective on something else n the hopes it would be understood more clearly.
By dismissing what I wrote like you did you’re demonstrating that you don’t respect my personal boundaries, are unwilling to see another person’s perspective, and don’t respect it when someone else is making an effort to see things better from your perspective. And you did it all in a way designed to shame me into submission. That’s not a good roadmap for getting people to agree with you.
Wow. That escalated quickly
This is a bizarre thing to even have to type, but my comment was in no way "designed to shame you into submission".
I made a joke that people -- people, plural, as in multiple accounts on this website, not just AWierdPotato -- have a tendency to ask for feedback in this competition, and then push back on that feedback when they get it. And that's what you did. This isn't simply 'asking for clarification'. You accomplished that with the first sentence:
I mean, I get it. Kill your darlings is evergreen advice to writers for a reason. I genuinely just find it funny to see it playing out on a forum like this
You asked for opinions, I gave you mine. What you do with those opinions is entirely up to you. I promise you I don't take it personally if/when people disregard them
I look forward to seeing your entries in the other two categories
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Sorry. It seems I read your statement in a harsher tone than you intended. I apologize.
You’re right, I did ask for clarification in the first sentence. The rest of that paragraph was, as I said, me explaining why I thought it already was consistent so you could see it from the perspective I was viewing it from. I figured if you could understand how I was approaching it, it might make more sense to you. Just like I was asking for clarification I was likewise providing it from my end. I still don’t consider that “pushback” though, just an exchange of ideas and perspectives.
I really am sorry. I was a bit heated before on account of the changes to the marketplace, and apparently it’s “non constructive” to voice a dissenting opinion about WotC’s shitty business practices around here.
Went and read that main thread about removing the a la carte options, which was probably a mistake (reading the thread, I mean. Anything I have to say about the other thing, I'll put over there)
Anyway, my permanent Ignore User list has now jumped from one (Rav) to three (a certain agriculturally inclined OSR devotee, and someone using Hal-9000 as their avatar with a maximum lack of irony), so if any of them submit an entry, someone will have to let me know because I won't see the posts
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So I have no new ideas to make this barbarian subclass work. The best I could come up with are a few gimmicks, like allowing the barbarian to choose nearby spaces to attack from as though through spatial gaps, teleport locally, and the like. But that's just echo knight junk mixed with the wild magic barb, and not really thematic. I considered some behind-the-scenes abilities, like playing with the distribution of dice outcomes, but that's too metagamey for my tastes. Funny enough, the ribbon abilities are easier to come up with. Like of course this barbarian should be able to solve math problems with their strength ability, lol. I suppose there's still almost a month left to make this happen. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Alright. For the interactive group, I give you two group patrons. They're rival factions... if by rivals we mean at complete cross-purposes.
Far Realm Cult
Your group serves the powers of the Far Realm as agents in the waking world.
Types of Far Realm Cults
Roll or pick from the Far Realm Cult table to determine the type of Far Realm cult your group serves.
Far Realm Cult
Far Realm Cult Perks
Contacts. Your group is almost certainly not the only one sponsored by your patron. Plans that span the world and the course of millennia require many agents to complete. If necessary, your patron can put you in contact with their other agents, who might be in a position to help you through status, influence, or magic.
Magic. Alien entities often have access to vast stores of magic, including their own spells and secret caches of magic items. They are mindful of the value of this magic, and grant spells and items as rewards appropriate to the favor and the power of the adventurers.
Strange Gifts. Your patron grants your group a small measure of esoteric power. At 5th level, and again at 13th, you gain one supernatural gift as described in the treasure chapter of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The DM determines which supernatural gifts are available.
Far Realm Cult Contact
The organizational contact who dispenses assignments or delivers the word of your patron runs the gamut from prosaic to otherworldly. Roll or pick from the Far Realm Cult Contact table to determine who or what conveys your patron’s will.
Far Realm Cult Contact
Far Realm Cult Member
The Far Realm Cult Member Roles table suggests positions you might fill in an order and the backgrounds frequently associated with each role.
Far Realm Cult Member Roles
Far Realm Cult Quests
The Far Realm Cult Quests table presents a few options for the sorts of work your patron expects from you.
Far Realm Cult Quests
Gatekeepers
Your group acts in the service of a faction of gatekeepers--oathbound protectors that guard against extrplanar incursions.
Types of Gatekeepers
Roll or pick from the Gatekeeper table to determine the type of Gatekeepers your group serves.
Gatekeepers
Gatekeeper Perks
With Gatekeepers as your group’s patron, you gain the following perks.
Research. Relying on a Gatekeeper’s network of contacts helps you unearth hidden secrets. If you can contact your patron or their agents, your group makes ability checks made to research lore related to aberrations and the Far Realm with advantage.
Sanctuary. Your patron’s agents have safe houses or other secure gatherings spread across a wide region. Your group knows how to locate these friendly enclaves and can maintain a modest lifestyle in one for no cost. In return, you must defend the sanctuary or protect the secret of its existence.
Guild Contact
Roll or pick from the Gatekeeper Contact table to determine your immediate contact within the guild.
Gatekeeper Contact
Gatekeeper Member
The Gatekeeper Member Roles table suggests positions you might fill in an order and the backgrounds frequently associated with each role.
Gatekeeper Member Roles
Gatekeeper Quests
The Gatekeeper Quests table presents a few options for the sorts of work your patron expects from you.
Gatekeeper Quests
I don't normally do this one, but inspiration struck, so, for the Interactive Options category, I present:
Seers and Seen
For every person who cannot see, there is a person who cannot be seen.
This is how it has been since ancient times. In the dawn of civilization, a husband and a wife were unfaithful to each other, catching the ire of a goddess of love and commitment. To make sure the two would not stray from one another, the goddess made the husband unable to see anything but his wife, and the wife unable to be seen by any but her husband. This divine intervention did force the two to reconcile, but it came with some clear difficulties. While fishing one day, the husband fell overboard, and was too disoriented to know which way to swim to reach shore. The only person in the world who could see her having died, the now-widow went mad with loneliness. Some tellings of the story say that she took her own life, while other, whispered tales tell of her ensuing exploits as an assassin.
The husband was the first blind person, or Seer, and the wife was the first invisible person, or Seen. Although relatively uncommon, many children have since been born with these conditions. Whether this is because of accursed lineage, inscrutable divine acts, or something else entirely is still unknown. What is known is that a Seer is always born at the same time as a Seen, and that the two will be linked from that point on, the Seer only ever able to see the one Seen that they are connected to. There doesn’t need to be any proximity during the birth; Seers and Seen can be, and have been, born on separate continents.
Since the relationship between a Seer and a Seen being a fundamentally magical one, there are some arcane quirks involved. For one, a Seer and a respective Seen can act as conduits to one another for divinatory purposes, meaning certain spells cast in the proximity of one can possibly be used to find, identify, or contact the other. For two, when a Seer or Seen is dead, their counterpart can perform a ritualistic burial of the body, symbolically ending the marriage between the first Seer and Seen and removing the condition from the living of the pair.
For a variety of reasons, Seers and respective Seen frequently seek one another out. Sometimes, it’s to kill and bury the other to end the affliction. Sometimes, it’s to protect those being harmed by the other. Sometimes, it's simply for companionship.
Due to the nature of the conditions, Seers and Seen tend to congregate amongst their own kind. Seen are always outcasts, but some who recognize them also recognize their potential, and find them a place in a chapter of the Veil, an ancient crime syndicate that raises Seen to be thieves and assassins. Meanwhile, the condition of Seers is less blatant but still very impactful. Most villages have at least one person who knows how to get in touch with the Monastery of the Closed Eye, a group of Seers who are by far the best equipped to educate and raise a Seer. Even when parents decide to keep and raise a Seer themselves, many Seers decide later in life to seek out the Monastery. The Closed Eye is less inherently combative than the Veil, even accepting in Seen who wish to be with their Seers, but they still mandate combat training, even if it’s chosen only to be used for self-defense. The Closed Eye and the Veil frequently butt heads; the Closed Eye staves off the Veil under the belief that they are the only ones who can, and Veil members attempt to pick off Closed Eye monks for vengeance or security.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Yeah, making math wonky on a character level and not a player level is a tough needle to thread, especially for a non-casting class
Could you do something like a melee riff on Metamagic/sorcery points, where you have different ways to tweak the base assumptions about weapon attacks? Change a range, swap the damage type to psychic or force, that kind of thing
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Submission for the DM Category: the Stonewalker
Earth Glide. The stonewalker can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the stonewalker doesn't disturb the material it moves through.
Multiattack. The stonewalker makes two melee or ranged weapon attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
The stonewalker can take one bonus action on each of its turns, choosing from the options below.
Quake (3/Day). Each creature touching the ground in a 5 foot wide, 30-foot long line extending from the stonewalker must succed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone
Quicksand (1/Day). The ground within 10 feet of the stonewalker becomes quicksand. When a creature enters the area, it sinks 1d4 + 1 feet into the quicksand and becomes restrained. At the start of each of the creature’s turns, it sinks another 1d4 feet. As long as the creature isn’t completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is 10 plus the number of feet the creature has sunk into the quicksand. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can’t breathe
Stonewalk. The stonewalker teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space touching stone. It forms a new body out of earth, leaving the old one as a stone husk in the place it teleported from. Only two stone husks can exist at one time. If the stonewalker uses this action and there are already two stone husks, the oldest one crumbles to dust before a new one forms. A stone husk has AC 17, 5 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. A stone husk is also immune to all conditions.
Husk Grapple. As a reaction when a creature ends its turn within 5 feet of a stone husk, the stonewalker can command the stone husk to grab them. The creature must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the stone husk. A creature can attempt a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the same DC as an action, breaking free on a success.
Description
The stonewalker is a kind of elemental spirit that shapes bodies of stone for itself from the surrounding rock. If it feels trapped, a stonewalker can leave its current body and shape a new one from nearby earth, leaving behind an empty husk. The stonewalker's connection to the earth allows it to briefly animate these left-over husks.
Stonewalkers are intelligent elemental creatures that may work in the service of wizards, kings, or dao as formidable assassins. They accept payment only in the form of precious gems, which they consume by absorbing them into their current form.
Ok. I got feedback from a few other people and have incorporated all of it into this latest version of my Daily Numbers feat. If anyone has any feedback on this version I look forward to reading it. Thank you.
Bumping with a reminder that entries must be posted by Sunday the 26th -- that's next weekend!
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Stink. Life got really busy. I'm heading out on a trip to Scotland in a few days so I will be unable to participate in this competition. Hopefully I will be able to join the next one.
I updated my official entry
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/195342-competition-of-the-finest-brews-xxi?comment=90
Five days left!
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)