#homebrew dd
I Told You I Would add Armor!
Ok, this one has probably been one of the longest projects I have ever worked on compared to the final scope. Back in, what 2019? I released a Supplement called “Clockwork Dragon’s Expanded Armory” to serve as a replacement and expansion for the core weapons tables, and address some of my biggest pet peeves about the general “sameness” of weapons. But an armory contains more than just weapons, and that initial release was always lacking suitable Armor to go along with the other tools of war I had carefully stated up.
I had always planned to add armor to the supplement, but actually tackling the project turned out to be a lot more easily said than done. You see, 5e relies on this thing called “bounded AC” which means you can’t just start adding higher AC bonusses to the game without making players effectively unhittable. I also had this idea in my head for a system more like what I experienced back in 4e, where armor wasn’t sold as distinct sets, and instead, you could have various pieces of armor, such as helmets, chest plates, and grieves that collectively decided your AC, but each of which could have individual enchantments and bonusses. None of which could really be achieved using 5e’s existing AC system
I worked for probably about a year and a half developing a complete defense rework for the game, which split Armor Score and Defense Score into separate statistics, with armor adding damage reduction, and Defense Score deciding how hard you were to actually hit. At one point, It included a re-design of how speed was determined. I divided up armor sets into 3-5 separate pieces, which could be mixed and matched, with individual weaknesses and resistances for each piece of a set. Then I spent a good 6 months playtesting it, both on my own, and with any group that found the idea intriguing. And believe it or not It worked.
Unfortunately, there were so many nuances and details to the system I had devised, that it just…. didn’t feel like 5e anymore. It was playable, and even fun - once you got the hang of it - but just felt like too much weight on top of a relatively simple tabletop system. So in the end, I decided to scrap nearly two years of work and playtesting, and start over with the goal of keeping things simple, but still interesting.
The result it what you see here. No heavy rewrite, no piece-meal armor system, just the simple addition of resistance and vulnerabilities that each set of armor conveys to it’s wearer. I also made sure to keep most of the interesting new types of armor i had developed, and explored the idea that some types of armor might even grant *advantage* to stealth checks instead of just disadvantage. In the end, I’m actually really happy with how it turned out - just not as happy with how long it took to get here.
I still think my more complicated defense system has merit, and I haven’t seen anything else that works quite like it, so I’m going to keep it in my back pocket for that new tabletop system I’ve always wanted to write. Maybe if I get a wild hair, or enough interest from the community, I will post my work on it sometime. but that is a project for another day.
As usual, the preview images above are low resolution, and does not contain everything. For the latest high-resolution PDF, as well as a whole host of other work I have done, check out this handy dropbox link, containing all of my published content. The armor you see above is part of My Expanded Armory supplement.
If you like what I do and want to support me or just generally help out, Check out my Patreonpage, or throw some coin at me through Paypal.me. If you wanna just come say hi on my Discord, that’s great too!
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RPG classes?
No.RPG extracurriculars.
Rather than picking one path to build your character, at each level you can choose minor powers and abilities. I think this could work in a “realistic” game like Call of Cthulhu (we’ll call it 8e, the Less Crunchy Edition). Or if you’re looking for a game that exists, the FATE system will let you play this kind of malleable character.
Actually a concept I’ve been quietly working on for the past few years. I’ve dubbed it the “colligate” system:
Each level you get 3-5 credits (depending on the level). You can spend them on anything from ASI’s to a variety of feats, which have costs and prerequisites based on what they do.
Rather than your class determining your features/skills, classes are a set of requirements that can be filled by a range of feats and other things (such as ability scores, skill bonusses, speed, or ac). If you meet the requirements for a class, you are considered to be that class, and gain access to additional feats that have that class as a prerequisite.
Obviously, this is meant to mirror the way college credits work in earning a degree (except, you know, classes actually mean something). And it makes character creation and leveling significantly more flexible and creative.
It’s hard to keep track of without computer assistance though (just like college credits, who would have guessed?). And because there is so much flexibility, there is definitely a lot of room for both ineffective and overpowered builds. My goal with writing the features is to keep them all relatively balanced, but to do so, I have to consider how they might interact with literally every other feature.
so needless to say, it’s taking a while to get anywhere
A Quick Promo
Hey all, as some of you may know, one of the reasons I haven’t published as much content the past year or so is because I have been working on an NSFW content supplement for the adult D&D server I run (we all gotta have hobbies, right?). I don’t plan on doing much cross promotion, since I don’t want to flood my fans on this blog with NSFW content they haven’t asked for, but if you are at all interested, I just released the core ruleset for my Lewd supplement over on My Other Blog.
Aside from just Naughty Homebrew, the other blog is going to be a platform for me to post some adult fiction, and even highlight the work of other people on my Adult server. If that sounds cool, give me a follow there, and maybe even swing by to join Celia’s Lewd Dungeon for some NSFW roleplay and adventure (Age verification required)
If none of that is your bag, That’s Cool!
I still plan to continue posting and creating SFW content here, and with this first major release of the Lewd Rulebook, You can expect that to be relatively soon! I’ve even finally got finances situated enough to start commissioning custom artwork for some of my content, so expect some updates with that here in the near future too.
now, if you will excuse me, I have some alternate curse rules and a new race currently sitting open on my desktop that i need to finish up. Anyone ever wanted to play a Vulture Bee?
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Victor Stein and The Regal Aeramanu
(Now with amazing new Art!)
The Aeramanu are a refined and regal race of birdfolk, steeped in the occult tradition of their homeland. They are also one of the most important peoples in my Aetheros Campaign Setting, not least of all by the hand of one Victor Allen Stein - A former inquisitor that brought down, not only the church itself, but the very gods that once ruled over his world.
I’ve been struggling since before I even created this race to find just the right artwork for Victor Stein - My eccentric necromancer who managed to steal the throne of the nine hells from Asmodeus himself. So when I realized that I finally had the income to start properly commissioning artists for unique art to fill out my content, Stein was first on my list of characters to give focus on.
I have to give a huge shout out to @multid0rk for this Amazing character art (I still need to properly commission a background, rather than). I’ve been working with them on a number of character pieces like this, and they are quickly becoming my sortof resident artist for all of my homebrew. Definitely expect to see more of their work here in the future!
As usual, the Preview here is low resolution. For the high-resolution PDF, as well as My Expanded armory which contains a number of new shields, check out this handy dropbox link.And be sure to tell me what you think!
If you like what I do and want to support me or just generally help out, Check out my PatreonorKo-Fi pages, or throw some coin at me through Paypal.me.If you wanna just come say hi on my Discord,that’s great too!
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