Greetings and hello to my subscribers and future people. You have noticed for the past month, or so my lack of activity and postings regarding homebrews or custom rules content. That’s because I’ve been hard at work writing several projects, all of them to eventually reach the DMs Guild. But I did not want to leave people in the dark about it. So, I will be sharing some insight what my schemes and machinations. Time to part the curtain so you may see my plans and projects for the upcoming fall season of 2017.

Mike Mearls’ Decree

After the Mystic and Artificer base classes had been featured in Wizard’s Unearthed Arcana column, Mike Mearls, one of the senior designers for D&D proclaimed that while the classes were relatively polished, there was some still enough room for improvement. So, the two classes were unleashed upon the community to take charge and develop more ideas.

We had previously featured the Mechanic (or Hordeficer) specialization on this blog, but I decided to return back to my Eberron roots to draw more inspiration on non-traditional but popular class. While I was rereading the Mechanic, I realized that I made a few design flaws with too much upkeep on the player’s part, especially when it came to handling many initiative tracks. So I decided to lessen the impact the smaller mechanical familiar offered in regards to combat. I did raise the size category, since there not many small category beast creatures under a challenge rating of 1.

I’ve developed two more Artificer specializations, the Battlesmith and Augmentation. The Battlesmith is essentially how the Eldritch Knight is for the Fighter class, combat oriented but a greater emphasis on maximizing the capabilities of magic weapons and armor. The Augmentation specialization is the Artificer deciding to take a dire and drastic turn, believing that science holds a greater magic, ultimately they become a construct by the end. They are in the process of being refined, but the results look promising.

In the same vein, I began work on the Mystic class as well. Unfortunately, the Mystic schools are akin to building a whole new spellcaster from scratch. Practically every new Discipline is a combination of building a spellcasting school and then adding a subclass to complement it. There are more parts compared to the Artificer, which means this one will have a later release date planned.

Additional Releases

I have been working on my Madness & Corruption ideas since I posted them (click here). Additionally, I have been working on more blood-inspired spells along with hopefully some refinements on my previous Gothic-inspired classes.

I also plan on compiling many of the subclasses I’ve posted here, to be refined before being also posted on the DMs Guild.

Please note: The Artificer, Mystic, and these additional releases will be Pay What You Want.

The Bigger Project – Book of Nine Swords

If you were playing Dungeons & Dragons near its twilight years, Wizards of the Coast crafted two distinct books that marked the final evolution of the 3.5 rulesets before 4th Edition and Paizo adopting the Open Game License to make Pathfinder. The two books: Tome of Magic and the Book of Nine Swords touched on new ideas that would eventually see their way to 4th Edition, especially the material in the Book of Nine Swords. The Book of Nine Swords detailed nine martial schools, each thematically different with an array of favored weapons and unique abilities (called maneuvers and stances) tied to them. Mostly, it was granting martial classes, the aesthetic of being a spellcaster. It was Wizard’s way of balancing spellcasters and martial characters. This philosophy influenced much of 4th Edition with their class and ability designs. Even into 5th Edition, the idea to keep the classes balanced between each other was important.

When I began writing the rough blueprints for the latest Anthology from the Land of Magic, titled “the Chromatic Lords,” I had become inspired again by the Book of Nine Swords. The Battlemaster in 5th Edition is a callback to the Book of Nine Swords, but I personally was not satisfied with the initial offerings. I wanted more maneuvers, and the class features felt subpar compared the other Fighter archetypes. Some notes and ideas have more or less been sitting on paper for a little while now, but they haven’t yet reached a solid phase of actual design and implementation. When I have more information to share on this project, you will find it here. The Battlemaster may receive a facelift and I may possibly give an option for Monks and Barbarians.

Future Patreon

I’m also working on a Patreon page for the blog and for additional content. More news will be released once I finalize my design, the reward tiers, and my offerings to my potential future patrons.

Thank you for your patience, I know I’ve been rather silent on here, but I promise to keep everyone in the loop.

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