Path of the Destroyer Barbarian Feedback Form
over 3 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
over 3 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

Congratulations Graduates!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 06:49:53 PM

We've blown past the previous three tiers of stretch goals and have uncovered the next block! Now that the book has its own custom adventure and writer, you have a chance to experience the subclasses and content in the World of Oranth. But what good is a single adventure when you could have so many more? Moving forward, for every stretch goal that gets unlocked, another adventure will be added to the digital files collected for backers. These adventures won't be held within the pages of Gribble's Guide, they are their own publications and backers will get their own copy of each one that is unlocked. Once all are unlocked, you'll have several options to use during game night to really get a feel for Gribble's Guide.

That's it for this update. Short and sweet. We unlock more stretch goals, you get more goodies for your table. It's that simple. Now it's time for me to get back to figuring out all the artwork that is going to be needed for the rest of the book. 

Until next time...

David

Meet the Guest Writer
over 3 years ago – Sun, Nov 20, 2022 at 08:14:10 PM

Well, you've all come together to help us get over the stretch goal I've been excited to get to and now I get to pull in a guest writer for the one shot adventure. As we've been coming up to it, I've been reaching out trying to find a good writer. I've had several people apply and I've finally narrowed it down. Allow me to introduce you to Chris Hopper!

Chris is a prolific writer in the community. I've had the pleasure of working beside him on a couple of previous, larger works where he's done an outstanding job. He's currently creating for Matt Colville on MCDM's Flee Mortals! project. He's also been featured in DMsGuild best sellers such as Amarune's Almanc. He's been a part of other kickstarters including Comets & Cockpits and Neverending Inc's Anasi's Tapestry of Lives. He can also be found working to create expansions and supplements for RealmWarpMedia's Fallen Camelot series, Mörk Borg, and For the Queen. When he isn't working through all of these other projects, he does accessibility consulting for Arcadia Magazine and works as a layout artist for other projects. We're excited that the World of Oranth team is able to pull in a new member and can't wait to see what we can create together!

Writing Credits

The following is a list of writing credits that Chris is most proud of and wants to share. '

• Neverending Inc
• Flee, Mortals
• Comets & Cockpits
• Amarune's Almanc
• Monster Hunts Weekly
• Children and Champions of the Fey
• Marvelous Archetypes
• Grimpress
• Splinterverse

Advanced Field Study and SubCLASS is in Session
over 3 years ago – Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 09:39:32 AM

We're now quickly on the way to unlocking the next set of stretch goals. We flew through the NPC stat blocks faster than expected and are currently racing towards the next set of three goals. Because we've got the new block of goals on the page now, I wanted to take a moment to explain what we're hoping for with each of the next items. I'll go through these briefly and quickly line out everything.

One Shot Adventure

This is what it sounds like. ADVENTURE! And its main goal is to take you into a new area of Oranth. I'm also going showcase a few of the new stat blocks from this book and some of the guild related things as well. It's going to be a one off thing that will be meant for 2-4 hours of play. Not sure the level range yet, but details will be hashed out soon. 

Guest Writer

The next big thing I want to do is bring in a new writer. If we hit this stretch goal, I'm going to take the notes for the adventure and let them fill in the details. I'm wanting somebody special for this. I've got a small list of people that I"m about to start reaching out to and start whittling it down. My goal is, as we close in on meeting this item, to have it narrowed down to a the person I want and be able to present the guest writer in an update after that stretch goal is hit. 

VTT Playable

The expectation on the the digital aspect of this project  is that we will release everything through DriveThruRPG once it's ready to go out. I'm planning to make this ready to play through Fantasy Grounds and include the module files in the digital package that everybody will get from DriveThru once the digital contents are ready. I'm also looking into a couple other VTT's at the moment but right now, if we hit this goal, the only one I'm currently expecting to use once this project is ready is Fantasy Grounds. That may change before the project comes out and if it does, I'll make sure to keep everybody aware but currently Fantasy Grounds is the VTT we're shooting for. 

Now with all of that out of the way, Here's the big thing for today's update. 

Subclass Testing

As mentioned before, I'm planning to put out each subclass through updates for everybody to look over and give feedback on. Once the update is posted, I'll wait for a two week period before posting the feedback form. The feedback will be anonymous and meant to retrieve constructive criticisms for each subclass. I'll then take that feedback and gauge where there is a lot of overlap in the comments and tweak the mechanics to better balance each one. There's nothing more to it than that. And because there's nothing more to it than that, let's go ahead and showcase the first subclass. 

Path of the Destroyer Barbarian

The problem with knowledge is that it is not always used for altruistic intentions. As a Path of the Destroyer barbarian, you are driven by vengeance to learn the most tactical way to completely eradicate your enemy.

Path of the Destroyer barbarians tend to be an anomaly among other barbarians. Oftentimes they are found inside archives pouring over large tomes of war and strategy. This does not mean their rage is any less potent. In many cases, they are known to be more efficient than their peers, as they use their studies to focus their anger against a chosen foe to deadly effect.

Drive Out my Enemies

3rd level Path of the Destroyer feature

As a Path of the Destroyer barbarian, one of the first lessons taught to you is how to focus your rage on those that would seek to deal you harm. And your wrath won’t stop until you see them driven beneath your heel. The last creature to land an attack against you, before your next turn, becomes the focus of your rage. Until the end of your turn, while raging, you can add an additional 1d4 to all melee attack rolls and damage rolls made against this creature.

Starting at 10th level, the die increases to a d6.

Critically Vicious

6th level Path of the Destroyer feature

You’ve learned to quickly assess any weakness in your enemy and funnel your strength towards exploiting it to deal potentially lethal blows. While raging, when you land a critical hit, you deal max damage for that attack. You can use this feature a number of times equal to half your proficiency bonus rounded down. Once you’ve expended all uses, you can’t use this feature again until after a long rest.

Kiting the Kill

10th level Path of the Destroyer feature

A good tactician understands the value of strong allies. When those allies are threatened, it serves well to draw the attacker’s attention away in hopes of protecting your support. When a creature attacks an ally within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to attempt to redirect their focus. If the creature can see and hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). On a failure, that creature must use its move action to move closer towards you. If the creature has already moved on its turn, the effect will take place at the start of its next turn instead.

If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.

Mutually Assured Destruction

14th level Path of the Destroyer feature

If you are to fall to the hands of your enemies, it will be the last thing they ever do. When a creature within melee range of you lands a critical hit against you, you can use a reaction to immediately make an attack against that creature with advantage.

This ends the subclass play material 

I hope you all have fun with this subclass. Keep in mind this is play test material and what appears here does not necessarily reflect what will appear in the final product. I'll be reaching out again soon to reveal who the guest writer is when we reach that goal. 

Until next time, keep being awesome

David