Sorcerer Subclass Reveal and Feedback Form
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 06:21:24 PM

Spiritual Intuit Sorcerer

A natural font of magic lies within everyone. Many are born with an innate understanding of this magic while others have to follow a strenuous routine of spiritual study in order to tap into this wellspring. You’ve spent your life studying the magics within your own spirit. Through meditation and spiritual growth, you have connected with the natural spark at the center of your being. Using this connection, you’ve learned to draw out your innate magics to empower spells and affect others around you. It has since become your life’s goal to hone your spiritual training in order to become one with the world around you.

As a sorcerer, the origins of your powers are incredibly important. To determine the inciting incident that sparked your abilities, you can pick or roll on the table below. If none of these options work for you, consider speaking with your GM to work out a custom option.

1. At an early age, I found that calm and quiet environments allowed me to focus on my heartbeat and breathing. Not long after I noticed that doing these exercises brought magics bubbling to the surface.
2. My magic manifested in a fit of rage. The raw power of it was frightening and I vowed that, if I am innately in tune with magic, I will control it and not allow it to control me.
3. I attended a monastery seeking a monastic path. Needless to say both I and my mentors were surprised when their teachings unlocked something else.
4. I was caught in a sudden and unexpected surge of magic that sparked something within me. My curiosity has led me to experiment how I can draw that spark out.
5. During a recent visit to the city archives, I happened upon ancient texts that spoke of unlocking a person’s hidden potential. They really work! Now it’s time to decipher them to see how far I can take this.
6. I had an experience with death. Before being brought back, I bonded with another spirit. Once awakened, I found I could do magical feats I was unable to perform before.

Spiritual Shell

1st level Spiritual Intuit feature

Through determination and spiritual study, you’ve managed to tap into the wellspring of magics that are suffused within your being. Navigating the different aspects of this energy has taught you how to pull them forth in a powerful aura that both protects and empowers you. As an action, you can manifest your power as a spiritual shell that shrouds you for 1 minute. While wreathed in this energy, you gain the following attributes:

• You gain a +2 to your AC.
• You can roll an extra 1d4 damage when casting a spell that deals damage.
• You emit a bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light an additional 10 feet.

Once you use this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. Starting at 3rd level, if you use 3 sorcery points, you can use this feature again before resting.

Mindful Insight

1st level Spiritual Intuit feature

Your growth depends on your ability to openly and honestly confront the harsh truths about your own limitations. Facing these hard truths in yourself has helped recognize when others aren’t being completely honest. When making a Wisdom (Insight) check, double your proficiency bonus.

Replenishing Spirit

6th level Spiritual Intuit feature

You’ve learned to empower your abilities by mediating on the magics woven deep within the very essence of your being. Provided you have the Hit Dice available, you can use a bonus action to expend Hit Dice and replenish missing Sorcery Points. You must expend two Hit Dice for each Sorcery Point you wish to recover.

Aura of Calm

14th level Spiritual Intuit feature

Your immense practice at controlling your personal emotional state causes you to exude an aura of calm which others find intoxicating. As a bonus action, you can expend a sorcery point to create a calming aura for 1 minute. The aura has a diameter of 30 feet and is centered on you. You can target a number of creatures within the aura equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). The targeted creatures must make a Wisdom saving throw equal to your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed. While charmed in this way, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0 as long as the aura is going.

If the creature takes any damage, it can attempt the save again, ending the effect on a success.

Empowered Shell

18th level Spiritual Intuit feature

Your continued work at learning to control your internal magics has elevated the power you can draw forth when shrouding yourself in your spiritual aura. When using an action to invoke your spiritual shell, you can choose to empower it with the following added benefits:

• While wreathed in this energy, you have resistance to all forms of damage except necrotic and psychic damage.
• When you cast a spell that requires an attack roll, you make the roll with advantage.
• When you hit a creature with a spell that would force it to make a saving throw, that creature does so with disadvantage.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 7 sorcery points to use it again.

Sorcerer Feedback Form

The following google form is meant to collect thoughts on the Spiritual Intuit Sorcerer subclass. Honest feedback will help in making any additional tweaks to the mechanics or theme of this subclass. The feedback will be collected over the course of 2 weeks after which the form will stop collecting responses.

Spiritual Intuit Sorcerer Feedback Form

Ranger Subclass Reveal and Feedback Form
about 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 03, 2023 at 05:49:12 PM

Happy New Year! We're continuing the series of subclass reveals with our ranger who studies the skies. Just like before, please take a moment to review the subclass and give us your feedback using the form linked below. 

Ranger: Peregrine Scholar

Not all those who consider themselves rangers find their home among the trees in the forests or the stones of the mountains. Some look to the sky and feel a kinship with the creatures that dwell therein. Peregrine Scholars are drawn to the study of the skies and flight in general. For many, they are determined to achieve a place amidst the heavens. Peregrine rangers research weather patterns, birds of prey, and other natural or arcane elements that might offer them insight into their fascination with the world above.

Peregrine Magic

3rd level Peregrine Scholar feature

You learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Peregrine Scholar Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

  Peregrine Scholar Spells  

Ranger Level: 3rd

Spell: feather fall

Ranger Level: 5th

Spell: levitate

Ranger Level: 9th

Spell: fly

Ranger Level: 13th

Spell: conjure minor elementals (air only)

Ranger Level: 17th

Spell: conjure elementals (air only)

Airstrider

3rd level Peregrine Scholar feature

You’ve begun to push your knowledge of the winds into the realm of flight. As a bonus action, you can surround yourself with gusting currents that hold you off the ground. For the next 1 minute you rise a foot above the ground and gain a hover speed equal to your walking speed. While this ability is active, you become immune to the prone condition.

After you use this feature, you can’t do so again until after you finish a short or long rest.

Arcane Wind

7th level Peregrine Scholar feature

Your understanding of air currents has taught you how to summon the wind around you for protection. When you are hit by a melee attack, you can use a reaction to usher a burst of air back towards the attacker. When you do this, the creature must make a Strength saving throw equal to your spell save DC. The creature takes 9 (2d8) force damage and is pushed back 10 feet on a failed save, or takes half damage and is pushed back 5 feet on a successful one.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of one). All expended uses are restored after a long rest.

Wind Shield

11th level Peregrine Scholar feature

Whenever you use your airstrider ability, you can surround yourself with a powerful, swirling vortex of wind. While you are affected in this way, all ranged attacks against you have disadvantage and automatically miss beyond their normal range. Your ranged attacks are unaffected.

Sonic Boom

15th level Peregrine Scholar feature

Your experimentation on how to manipulate air currents has resulted in you learning to bolster your speed by riding the winds. As a bonus action, when you move on your turn in combat, you double your speed until the end of the turn. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. While moving in this way, when you pass within 5 feet of a creature, it must make a Strength saving throw equal to your spell save DC. On a failure, they take force damage equal to your ranger level and are knocked prone. If a creature succeeds, they only take half damage.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Ranger Feedback Form

The following google form is meant to collect thoughts on the Peregrin Scholar Ranger subclass. Honest feedback will help in making any additional tweaks to the mechanics or theme of this subclass. The feedback will be collected over the course of 2 weeks after which the form will stop collecting responses.

Peregrin Scholar Ranger Feedback Form

Fighter Subclass Reveal and Feedback Form
about 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 06:46:37 PM

I'm back for another subclass reveal but before we get into showcasing the Fighter subclass, I do have the feedback form for the Bard subclass ready as well. This will be the last time I post the feedback form separately from the subclass. I think it makes more sense to keep everything together so it's easier to find on both of our ends. That being said, here's the link to the update that contains the Bard Subclass.

Bard: College of Tongues Subclass Reveal

Bard Feedback Form

The following google form is meant to collect thoughts on the College of Tongues Bard subclass. Honest feedback will help in making any additional tweaks to the mechanics or theme of this subclass. The feedback will be collected over the course of 2 weeks after which the form will stop collecting responses.

College of Tongues Bard Feedback Form

Subclass Reveal

Now that that's out of the way, I can share the next subclass with you. The following is probably the subclass I've enjoyed the most. I've played this one and really got into the mechanics of it. I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to hearing your feedback!

Weapon Adept Fighter

Many people spend years adapting and perfecting fighting styles. They make it their life’s work to imbue the training they’ve undertaken to attempt to make their weapon a natural extension of their physical form. Where they spend their time working to understand the blade through rigorous practice, you’ve gone straight to the source. There is no better way to truly understand a weapon and its purpose than familiarizing yourself with every intimate detail undertaken to craft it.

A Weapon Adept Fighter forges perfect weapons and learns the intricacies of each item they craft to a point that they can stand against even the best trained warriors. Their obsession with their craft allows them to understand the weapon’s abilities and to wield them like no other.

Weapon Focus

3rd level Weapon Adept feature

You’ve spent years working a forge to perfectly understand each idiosyncratic feature of your favored type of weapon. The knowledge of how your chosen type of weapon works is now so ingrained, it’s practically a part of your genetic makeup.

Starting at 3rd level, you choose one of the following weapon damage types; slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning. You are considered an expert with weapons that deal your chosen damage type. Whenever you successfully land a weapon attack against a creature, you can use the Adept Feature granted for your chosen damage type.

Adept Feature: Phased. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack that deals bludgeoning damage, that creature must make a Strength saving throw equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency. On a failed save, the creature can’t take a reaction until the end of its next turn.

Adept Feature: Penetrating Strike. When using a weapon that deals piercing damage against a creature that would normally have resistance, it instead takes damage as normal. In addition, when using a weapon that deals piercing damage, you can roll an additional 1d4 as a part of the damage roll.

Adept Feature: Arcing Slash. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack that deals slashing damage, you can choose to deal 1d4 slashing damage to a single additional creature that is adjacent to both you and your initial target.

Keen Weapons

3rd level Weapon Adept feature

Your ability to create and hone weapons with your chosen damage type is unparalleled by others of your craft. Your skills are seen as nearly magical, as if you were imbuing a part of your own fighting spirit into the work that you’ve created. During a long rest, you can either choose to create a new weapon or enhance an existing, mundane weapon of your chosen damage type. This process consumes 5 gp worth of materials. The bonus fades at dawn of the following day or when you choose to create or enhance a different weapon. At higher levels you can provide additional benefits to the weapons that you have worked on.

• At 3rd level: You apply a +1 bonus to a weapon’s attack and damage rolls.
• At 10th level: The bonus a weapon gains becomes a +2. You can apply this bonus to two weapons instead of one.
• At 18th level: The critical hit range of the weapons you’ve worked on expands to 19-20.
  

Bonus Proficiencies

3rd level Weapon Adept feature

When you choose this archetype, you gain proficiency with smith’s tools.

Parry

7th level Weapon Adept feature

When a creature makes a melee attack against you that would hit, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that one attack. You must see the attacker and be wielding a weapon that works with your Weapon Focus ability.

Deflective Blow

10th level Weapon Adept feature

Your instinctive understanding of your weapons and how to wield them gives you the unique ability to dance away from and deflect incoming attacks. While you are wielding a weapon with your chosen damage type, when you are targeted by a ranged attack or ranged spell attack, you can use a reaction to reduce the damage you take by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + proficiency. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses after you finish a long rest.

Broadened Weapon Focus

15th level Weapon Adept feature

Pushing your knowledge of the forge and the foundations required in crafting your weaponry has allowed you to expand your prowess into other specializations. When you get this feature, you gain the use of the Master Feature of your initially chosen weapon damage type.

Additionally, you can pick a secondary weapon damage type to learn. You can only use the Adept Feature of this second damage type.

Master Feature: Shaken. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack that deals bludgeoning damage, that creature must make a Strength saving throw equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency. On a failed save, on the creature’s next turn it must choose whether it gets a move action, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses after you finish a short or long rest.

Master Feature: Wounding Strike. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack that deals piercing damage, that creature must make a Constitution saving throw equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency. On a failed save, the next attack that deals piercing damage to the creature does double the amount of damage it normally would. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses after you finish a long rest.

Master Feature: Death by 1000 Cuts. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack that deals slashing damage, the creature must make a Dexterity saving throw equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + proficiency. On a failed save, the creature is left with a gaping wound that deals an ongoing 1d4 bleed damage at the end of each of its turns. Each successive hit against a wounded creature does not require a save and causes it to gain another wound that deals an additional 1d4 (max of 4d4) bleed damage. The creature can end the ongoing effect by using an action to stop the bleeding.

Additionally, when you target a creature that has 4 wounds, you deal an additional 1d10 damage to it for each hit.

Powerful Striker

18th level Weapon Adept feature

The knowledge of your weapons’ balance and power has taught you to be a warrior in your own right, striking swift and powerful blows against your enemies like few others can manage.

At the start of your turn, when you take the attack action, the first attack you make is done with advantage. If the attack lands, add an additional 1d10 to the damage roll.

Fighter Feedback Form

The following google form is meant to collect thoughts on the Weapon Adept Fighter subclass. Honest feedback will help in making any additional tweaks to the mechanics or theme of this subclass. The feedback will be collected over the course of 2 weeks after which the form will stop collecting responses.

Weapon Adept Fighter Feedback Form

One More Thing

I'll be sticking to the two week release schedule for these subclasses a bit more stringently moving forward. I'll be posting every other Monday until we get through all of them. Once the new one is posted, the feedback form for the previous one will discontinue collecting responses. SO! You guys have two weeks to let me know your thoughts on the Bard and Fighter subclasses. I'll take into account anything that you send my way on it in the hopes I can make any last minute tweaks that may be needed before the release of the final product. 

Alright, that does it for this update. I'll see you all in two weeks for the next one!

Until Then.

Daivd

Path of the Destroyer Barbarian Feedback Form
about 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 06, 2022 at 07:19:49 AM

The following google form is meant to collect thoughts on the Path of the Destroyer Barbarian subclass. Honest feedback will help in making any additional tweaks to the mechanics or theme of this subclass. The feedback will be collected over the course of 2 weeks after which the form will stop collecting responses. 

Path of the Destroyer Barbarian Feedback Form

The End/The Beginning
about 2 years ago – Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 08:02:16 PM

The Kickstarter has officially closed as of today! I want to take a moment to thank all of you who backed this kickstarter and helped in getting the project funded. I am astonished at the amount of support that was offered for this project and I promise I will be doing everything I can to make sure that this is a stellar piece once it is out and ready to share. The kickstarter coming to a close is the end is just the beginning of something much bigger I'm hoping to do moving forward. 

I believe I'd mentioned this in a previous update, but my goal is to make this kickstarter a starting point for future Oranth based content. I've got three projects in various states of completion that will follow this one. Right now Gribble's Guide is my primary focus. I'll be devoting my free time (outside of my normal job) to making certain this is as high quality as I can make it. I can't wait to be able to share this in full with all of you. Now that the KS has closed, I want to give everybody a rough outline of the work that I still need to accomplish before this will be considered complete. I'm going to do it in a quick bullet-list format so it can be as clear as possible (and convince me not to be overly wordy).

• 1/5 guilds being introduced for this project are complete. The others are outlined but need to be cleaned up. I expect to have that finished this week. 
• There are a handful of tables that still need to be fleshed out in the guild building mini game rules. Not many. Currently just 3.
• 7 more spells need to be created since, you know, we reached ALL THE STRETCH GOALS!
• I will be doing layout over the next month to help get a better idea of where I need art for the book. 
• Art direction will then need to happen. I'll be doing the sketches to hand off to the artists. 
• During the art direction phase, I'll have an editor working through the content of the book.
• And that leaves the one shot adventure from our guest writer and the NPC stat blocks that will be created once we've gathered feedback on the subclasses. 

This doesn't seem like a lot, but, trust me, there is a lot here that is going to take time. I don't expect most of this to really get the wheels rolling until after the holiday break has ended but I'm hoping most of this will start falling into place quickly at the start of the new year. That's the first bit of this update. But this one is a bit of a two-parter. 

Subclass Reveal Time

As promised, I'll be sticking to the two week schedule for releasing the subclasses from Gribble's Guide. I'm planning to try to get feedback form for the barbarian up either tomorrow or, at latest, by the end of this week. I was hoping to have that ready to go today but I've been hosting family the previous week and it's kept me from being able to allocate the time I needed to. They are all back in their own abodes now so I'm less distracted in that regard. Now, without further waiting, here's this update's new subclass. Please keep in mind this is playtesting material and feedback will be greatly appreciated once the form for this one goes up with the introduction of the next subclass. 

Bard: College of Tongues

Those that belong to the College of Tongues have been strongly persuaded that words can master and tame all manner of creatures. It is not uncommon to find bards of this college lost in great classics of literature searching for hidden phrases that may contain some aspect of power. They are also often found practicing the principles of oration in the hopes of strengthening their own narrative ability. There is an artistry in their craft that allows them to weave natural magics through their language to influence the world around them.

The College of Tongues knows there is an ideal quip for every situation and it is their life’s work to use these to power their own oratory skills and magics.

Fluency

3rd level College of Tongues feature

Your spare time is dedicated to exploring tales from many different cultures. Your understanding of these cultures through their languages allows you a broader influence when performing your oratory skills. Once you join this college, you learn a new language of your choice. When making a Charisma check using a skill dependent on speech, you can add a d4 bonus to the roll, provided the creature listening to you shares a language.

Master Communicator

3rd level College of Tongues feature

Lacking a shared language with an interested party has led to more creative ways of opening lines of communication. You learn the tongues spell, which doesn’t count against the number of spells you know. This spell is always prepared and can be cast without the need for verbal or material components.

Bolster Resolve

3rd level College of Tongues feature

Through studying the speeches and performances of great orators of the past, you’ve learned to imbue their influence into your own words. You've learned to inspire those around you to overcome difficulties that would cause others to fall. If you spend at least 1 minute performing your speechcraft, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration to empower those around you. You can target a number of creatures within 60 feet equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one) that shares a language with you. When you do so, for the next hour, the targeted creatures gain advantage on a single saving throw or ability check of their choice.

Once you use this ability, you can't do so again until you take a short or long rest.

Words of Accuity

6th level College of Tongues feature

The correct combination of words can make a giant feel like an insect or a halfling feel like a towering god. As an action, you can cause a target you can see within 30 feet to shrink or grow in size as if by the enlarge/reduce spell. Using the spell as a part of this feature does not require concentration. If the target is unwilling, it must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a success, the spell has no effect. When you use this feature, the additional or reduced damage die rolled is equal to your Bardic Inspiration die instead of the d4 mentioned in the spell’s description.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to half your proficiency. Once you’ve expended all uses, you can’t do so again until you take a short or long rest.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher. You can have only one creature affected with this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have a creature under its effects, the first one immediately returns to their normal size.

Maven of Speech

14th level College of Tongues feature

Through scouring forgotten manuscripts dotted with words of arcane wisdom, you’ve found the sources needed to manifest power in your every word. Each utterance carries with it a weight that can leave others speechless. When you cast a spell that would force multiple creatures to make a saving throw, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration to have them make their roll with disadvantage. This targets a number of creatures equal to half your bard level.

Additionally, if a creature fails their save, they are silenced until the start of your next turn.

End of playtest material

That is everything for this update. Before I sign off, I just want to thank everybody who backed this project again for their help in making this a real thing. 

Until next time...

David