#Homebrew Spotlight

[thearcadearchives1981]

HOMEBREW SPOTLIGHT- DONKEY KONG FOR ATARI 7800!

  Hey Arcaders! The Atari 7800 Prosystem was a great machine- that never saw it’s full potential. The system was slated to come out in 1984- where it would have been promptly been a hit. With GCC ( A company we have talked about in a earlier post ) working on the system specs and most of the original lineup- the machine boasted updated graphics, as well as Atari 2600 compatibility, it could have…

[theunwellkingdom]

Lore Spotlight #12: Bran Bramble

Long ago, town of Bran Bramble was isolated from the rest of Lyrea, tucked away behind thorn-laden walls and ruled by a selfish lord. However, with the help of the new Queen's Royal Guard, he was overthrown, and felled by his own son, Gin!

Afterward, Gin took a vow of pacifism and left to travel Lyrea. He hoped to atone for his deed by helping others.

His brother Tomas stayed behind as Bran Bramble's steward. He believed he could make it a more welcoming place. But the following decades would prove more challenging than he could have imagined...

Tomas's approach was simple. His father had closed the town off from the world, so he would open it to all. Criminals, outcasts, and Resistance soldiers mingled among growing ranks of Royal Guard sent by the Queen.

Tensions hit a fever pitch when the Blind Berserker cleaved a path of ruin through the center of town. Our heroes, including Gin returning at last, arrived just in time to help Tomas and his local deputies fight back against the combatants on both sides of the smoldering crater!

After the conflict was settled, Fable, the catfolk cleric, cast Create Water to fill in the crater and extinguish the flames. And so Kittypaw Lake was formed!

Later on, Bran Bramble became a sanctuary for displaced wizards from the Painted Wastes, and finally began to rebuild into the town Tomas and Gin always hoped it could be.

[monstersdownthepath]

Scourge Spotlight: Oitos

CR 11

Lawful Evil Medium Outsider

Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 249

While most velstrac believe in the beauty of mutilated flesh and twisted muscle, for the Oitos, such beauty is only skin deep. These gilded fiends eschew tinkering with flesh in its entirely, believing in the perfection of bone, despite how inflexible it is when compared to the myriad of shapes helpless flesh can be molded into. Rather than be discouraged by the restrictions placed upon themselves, Oitos take the challenge in stride, representing the fiends of greed among the velstrac race, decorating themselves and the exposed bones of their victims with elaborate scrimshaw, gilding with precious metals, and gemstones gruesomely embedded in the surfaces.

Mortals enticed by the idea of wealth are the primary victims of the Oitos who, like other “ambassador”-type velstrac, can use Plane Shift not only to move themselves around the universe, but take other Lawful-aligned creatures along with them. Whenever an Oitos uses its Plane Shift to travel to the Plane of Shadow or any Evil-aligned plane, it arrives at its desired location with perfect accuracy thanks to them being skilled Dark Travelers. Dark Traveler also doubles the speed at which an Oitos travels with its 3/day Shadow Walk, letting it cover preposterous amounts of distance in incredibly short amounts of time. If, for whatever reason, it needs to travel to one of the transitive planes or the Negative Energy Plane, Shadow Walk allows it--and any passengers it’s carrying--to reach such destinations in just a few hours. They even have Deeper Darkness at will to always assure they have an entry point/escape route!

With Charm Monster available to it 3/day, an Oitos can easily kidnap someone who’d otherwise wise up to the fact that this talking golden skeleton might not want what’s best for them, inviting them into a life of wealth and splendor only for them to find out it literally costs them (all the skin off) an arm and a leg. Oitos don’t actually need to install the gold manually, mind--though they often do--they just need to score a critical hit with any one of their three natural attacks to afflict someone with Golden Bones. This curse permanently transforms the victim’s skeleton into radiant gold, lowering their Con score by 4, afflicting them with a Faerie Fire aura that can’t be dispelled, and potentially burning out their eyes from the inside to blind them if they fail a DC 21 Fortitude save that they must make every round.

Luckily, they must first fail a DC 21 Fortitude save after being critically struck by the Oitos to suffer this cursed transformation in the first place, but as previously mentioned, they can attempt three times a round to afflict an unwilling creature with this splendor. Two claws (1d6+11 +2d6 Cold) are their primary means of offense, but they also have a Lash on hand made up of the leather and skin of past victims that deals 2d4+11 +2d6 Cold damage. While flesh is discarded, skin is kept to be made into fashionable accessories and even weapons by the depraved fiends, their curse of Golden Bones transferring through any such leather weapon they field.

Side note: the book says the cleaned skeleton of someone afflicted with Golden Bones is worth about 1,000gp, but I find that figure insultingly low. Yes, if you melted them down you’d get about 1,000gp worth of ingots, but I bet if you really looked around in any large enough fantasy town you’d be able to find a real weirdo who’d pay top dollar for a solid gold skull. Like, perhaps, a devotee to Raetorgash...

Second side note: Because they have Fabricate available 3/day, Oitos can and will reshape the bones of unworthy victims into jewelry and decorations for themselves or their more worthy victims.

While potentially damaging all the gilding they worked so hard to apply makes Oitos hesitant to actually engage in a combat they could reasonably be damaged in, if victims have no weapons that can bypass their DR 10 (bludgeoning weapons that are silver or Good-aligned), they’ll at least stick around enough to try and get some licks in before they attempt a hasty escape. In battles where they need to stick around, they can make sure EVERYONE stays where they are with a 3/day DImensional Anchor, which is especially useful when hunting down fellow Outsiders and their nasty tendency to Dimension Door or Teleport away.

Their DR isn’t where their defenses end, though. Their Unnerving Gaze can cause nausea in any creature that fails its save, preventing them from fighting back as they’re peeled by the skeletal fiend, and they have Eyebite available 1/day to sicken and panic lesser beings with a single glance. Eyebite can also render a target comatose for two hours if they have 4 or less HD, making the Oitos terrifyingly efficient kidnappers and slavers... and excellent at churning out gold in exchange for sacrifices. The Golden Bones curse only works if the victim is critically struck, but a helpless or willing target can allow the Oitos to coup de grace them, which is always a critical hit.

You can read more about them here.

[shadowchloe]

Tarokka Deck Commission (11/55): Marionette The Marionette card is the tenth card of the High Deck, and it represents the presence of a spy or a minion of some greater power; an encounter with a puppet or an underling. Commission, ko-fi, shops, and socials all linked in bio! (Commissions ordered now may be delayed until this current commission series is done)

[dungeonofthedragon]

It's Disability Pride Month! I've already made a post spotlighting disabled creators. Now, let's have a post of accessibility aids for use within your gaming worlds!

Blades in the Dark: Mobility Equipment by Aurelia

Cost: PWYW

A collection of mobility items for Blades in the Dark, from a disabled creator. Two items for every playbook- well worth checking out!

Combat Wheelchair (5E) by Mark Thompson

Cost: free! Link is to google drive.

Here it is- the by now famous Combat Wheelchair! One of the best known mobility aids created for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Evil Hat

Cost: $7.50

This toolkit provides tools for representing disabilities within Fate games, as well as advice for supporting players with disabilities at your table. It was put together by a team of disabled creatives, so you know this was made with love and from real people's experiences.

Homebrew Disability Systems for 5E by harpoon_gun

Cost: PWYW

Highly rated set of mechanics for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, brought to you by a disabled creator. Useful for both NPCs and player characters.

Service Monsters (5E) by PsychHound

Cost: PWYW

Service monsters to aid your disabled characters in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons! There are multiple options to choose from (including guide, medical alert and autism support monsters), each with unique traits supporting their role. There are also a bunch of backstory ideas, to inspire the story of how your service monster came to be in your service!

(PsychHound has also created trauma mechanics and mechanics for autism and ADHD! The latter is informed by his own experiences as an autistic social worker.)

We Are Still Here by Ennis Rook Bashe

Cost: PWYW

Mobility aids and medications suitable for use in Apocalypse World and many other Powered by the Apocalypse games. Very highly rated by the Itch community!

[psychhound]

5e homebrew for disability pride month

hey yall :D since it's disability pride month and i am a Local Disabled TM i wanted to spotlight the d&d 5e homebrew i've done featuring disability mechanics!! they're all FREE / PWYW and available on itch!!

autism & adhd mechanics

traits for mechanically emphasizing a character's autism and/or adhd!! there's 11 traits total, with 5 shared between them, and 3 each that are specific to autism and adhd. the traits are beneficial, detrimental, and a mix of both, intended for 1-3 to be chosen for a single character. includes traits like sensory processing disorder, time blindness, and rejection sensitive dysphoria

service monsters

service animals - monster edition! you choose a customizable base for your monster, a statblock, and origin, and then get to choose your service type: guiding, hearing, mobility, medical alert, trauma, schizophrenia, or autism! each service type has a unique monster with different abilities, strengths, and magic. service monsters can't be used in combat but they have resistance to all damage and go to a pocket dimension upon dropping to 0hp

trauma mechanics

10 traits for panic disorder, ptsd, and cptsd, with an included definitions section and suggestions for trait application. includes mechanics for triggers, as well as for traits like panic attacks, insomnia, hypervigilance, and trust issues. the traits include different outcomes for meeting the dc or failing by different margins, and the aftereffects of failing a save, as well as ways that allies can help

my inspiration for making these was that i'm an autistic, mentally ill, traumatized disabled person who's been an active and leading disability advocate for the last 9 years and a disability-specialist social worker for 2.5 of those. definitely still room for improvement with my homebrew but i think there always will be when trying to put the incredibly varied human experience of disability into a crunchy numbers&rules format :o)

if you liked them please consider throwing some dollars my way either on itch or on my kofi as i get ready to head to grad school to study gamification in the mental health & disability space!! you can also check out the rest of my 5e homebrew here!

happy disability pride month to all, go run over some toes

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Earlybird Initiative

Because folks seemed to like my last write up for a combat systems, I figure I'd share one of my most enduring game mods.

I've tried SO MANY different initiative systems over the years, enough that I have pretty strong opinions on what makes a good one. My primary goal was to cut down on time that players spend waiting for their turns, as slow combat is one of the primary things that bleeds fun out of the sessions: Players who are bored waiting for their turn check out, which makes them slower and less decisive when the spotlight swings back around to them, this makes it longer for imitative to circle around and creates a feedback loop where player's attention becomes further and further taxed. I needed a system that did the opposite, kept everyone on their toes, engaged, and cooperative, as well as something that was exceptionally light weight.

Step 1: DM says "roll initiative", all players roll as normal, add their modifiers, but keep the number to themselves.

Step 2: The DM Calls out " twenty and above", and then every player who got 20 or above in imitative can take their turn in whatever order they wish, splitting up actions however they wish around each other in order to coordinate.

Step 3: Enemies who got 20 or above on their initiative go. Lair actions trigger.

Sep 4: DM says "Ten and Above", Repeat steps 2 and 3 with players followed by monsters, then again saying " Everyone else" for everyone who hasn't gone.

Step 5: If combat is still going DM says "Initiative resets" and everyone rolls their initiative shuffling combat positions , repeat until "how do you want to do this?" moment.

That's pretty much it. There's a bunch of little things you can do to speed things up (like only rolling initiative for important enemies while the rank and file have static initiative based on whether they're fast, medium, or slow) but largely this simplifies the logistics of having to keep up with combat to a few lighting fast beats. Everyone's engaged because they know their turn is only one or two steps away rather than forgetting where they sit in an ever shifting round-robin.

Literally every group I've introduced this to over the past three years has loved it to the point where they find combat run by other DMs painfully slow by comparison. I don't know what's a greater endorsement than that.

Art

[campaign-spotlight]

Episode 1: Worldbuilding with Mike

In our very first episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Mike (tumblr's very own @mikerickson!) about building a vibrant and realistic world for your campaign, NPCs who just want to be messy, and the importance of learning AutoCAD. Spoiler warning - especially for Annihiliation but also for 3:10 to Yuma and maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Does Jake's mic discipline get any better as the season goes on? Stay tuned to find out.

Here's the WorldAnvil page for Mike's campaign. Click through to zoom in and pan around on the world map we discuss in the episode.

Here's the Planet Map Generator that Mike used to build the world. On next week's Flashlight, we'll be talking about a very different tabletop game that's all about worldbuilding.

For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

[transbookoftheday]

Chef’s Kiss by TJ Alexander

A high-strung pastry chef’s professional goals are interrupted by an unexpected career transition and the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager in this deliciously fresh and witty queer rom-com.

Simone Larkspur is a perfectionist pastry expert with a dream job at The Discerning Chef, a venerable cookbook publisher in New York City. All she wants to do is create the perfect loaf of sourdough and develop recipes, but when The Discerning Chef decides to bring their brand into the 21st century by pivoting to video, Simone is thrust into the spotlight and finds herself failing at something for the first time in her life.

To make matters worse, Simone has to deal with Ray Lyton, the new test kitchen manager, whose obnoxious cheer and outgoing personality are like oil to Simone’s water. When Ray accidentally becomes a viral YouTube sensation with a series of homebrewing videos, their eccentric editor in chief forces Simone to work alongside the chipper upstart or else risk her beloved job. But the more they work together, the more Simone realizes her heart may be softening like butter for Ray.

Things get even more complicated when Ray comes out at work as nonbinary to mixed reactions—and Simone must choose between the career she fought so hard for and the person who just might take the cake (and her heart).

[dailycharacteroption]

Prestige Class Spotlight 14: Chevalier

(art by Lord-of-the-slugs on DeviantArt)

Sometimes when you look through the early days of a gaming system, you see ideas that clearly formed the bones of ideas that would come later, but it makes you wonder why they themselves were left behind? Well, today’s subject is like that.

Today’s subject is a prestige class from the early 3.5 days of the Pathfinder setting, from the back matter of one of the Second Darkness AP books. Essentially, it served as a way to inject a little bit of paladin into characters that don’t fulfill the alignment requirement to actually BE paladins, even if they are otherwise good.

Indeed, this archetype is most commonly associated with the adventuring god Cayden Cailean, and like him they firmly believe in protecting all that is good in this world, but aren’t too hung up on rules and restrictions. While many have the trappings of knights, theirs is an informal order that accepts anyone with desire to do good and the courage to stand up towards the most fearsome of threats without backing down. Beyond that, anything goes, from backstabbing the bad guy to breaking the law to simply just enjoying life with no moral restrictions beyond what they view as right.

Now, you can see why this would have been a big thing back in those days because, outside of homebrews and obscure Dragon and Dungeon magazine articles, the notion of folks getting paladin (or blackguard)-like powers outside of two classes was practically unheard of. Aura of Courage and Smite Evil were a paladin thing.

It only made sense that eventually, with Pathfinder Second Edition fully divesting itself of many old assumptions, that we would see the Paladin transform into the Champion class, with much more flexible sets of morals and whatnot.

But what bugs me is that Chevalier never came back as a name for either of the non-paladin goodly variants of the class. Which sucks because Chevalier is a much more fun than Liberator, even if it isn’t as descriptive. It would have been such a good callback though.

Eh, but I digress. In any case, this prestige class is definitely a contender for prestige class with the fewest actual levels, only having 3. This makes sense though, as it really does just exist to do one thing and one thing only, so let’s talk about what that is.

The requirements for this prestige class include being of goodly nature, having decent social skills and fighting skill, as well as having faced a very strong threat, making the minimum possible level to start taking it be 6th. However, the low number of levels in the prestige class means it could reasonably be taken by any class, even at later levels.

These warriors exude fearlessness, warding them against fear as well as doing the same to nearby allies to a lesser extent.

They also, however, exude recklessness, and whenever they join combat their hastiness lends them a measure of deadly sureness to their attacks during those first few critical moments.

They learn to offset some of this, however, keeping their guard up when charging at foes.

A headstrong nature also helps them when it comes to fighting off hostile enchantments, sometimes allowing them to shake them off moments later if they initially succumb.

Perhaps as a reflection of the Drunken God’s own alcohol tolerance, or merely because the divine forces find the idea of such daring heroes falling to something as base as poison abhorrent, but these warriors are blessed with total immunity to toxins as a result.

Finally, They also are blessed with enough divine power to smite the wicked as if they were a true paladin.

This prestige class of course needs a slight bit of conversion work because it’s technically a 3.5 creation, but it overall represents a fun little idea and a minor dip that may be worth it to some characters. One level is enough to make even casters happy what with fear immunity and a buff to attack rolls and damage that includes spells, while more martial characters will enjoy the better charges, protection for one of their weaker saves, and their own special way to smite… and many of these abilities scale to your total character level, not just levels in this prestige class!

I can imagine that many of these characters are somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to their daily lives unlike some paladins, causing them to sometimes come into contention with others that have certain expectations for what a paladin or other holy warrior has to be. Even still, when the chips are down, these warriors are fully capable of getting serious, though they likely still have plenty of quips for their foes.

A terrible rash of murders have been occurring in the farmlands of the Eastern Province, and a band of adventurers led by a brave chevalier arrive to investigate. In doing so, the party discovers that the murders are the work of the largest infestation of monstrous Jack-o’-Lanterns ever seen, leading to the question of what could have given rise to such an army of autumnal adversaries.

They say that the only true law of the sea are the oceans whim, and yet there are still those that seek to bring joy and peace, such as the wandering Depthwards, a group of aquatic beings, mostly cecaelians, that travel between oceanic communities writing wrongs and living free.

Cast out from the order for failing to live up to their standards, Vilga was delighted to see that she still retained enough of her god’s favor to receive a trace of divine power. Now she fights for justice on her own terms, though some hardliners in the order brand her a heretic.

[dice-wizard]

HEY EXALTED NERDS

Join the IRON CHARMS COMPETITION!

This will be a three-round homebrew competition using Exalted: Essence's ruleset over the next few weeks! The Iron Charms competitors will write their best Charms according to our prompts. You'll have a limited amount of time to submit and must include our secret ingredients. Bring your best Charm-writing skills and pit yourself against other fans in this high stakes technical competition. The submission will then be judged by a panel of our developers, and the winners will see their work put together in a pdf for all to enjoy! The winner of the entire competition will win the coveted Iron Charm Winner role, a spotlight in the pdf, and our undying admiration.

Anyone can submit, but will you survive the qualifying round? Only the top 15 submissions will move on and battle for the right to become the Iron Charms Champion.

The submission form will be posted on the Onyx Path Discord ( https://discord.gg/3e9TKgWhKb ) in the Iron-Charms channel on Monday, 10/9, so get ready!

[thearcadearchives1981]

Homebrew Spotlight- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Arcade Game for the Sega Master System!

Homebrew Spotlight- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Arcade Game for the Sega Master System!

[theunwellkingdom]

Lore Spotlight #13: The Haunting of Contraption!

Contraption is a goblin city on wheels, a hulking steel behemoth that roams the plains of Lyrea. Garp Garp grew up there, riding around and raiding the outskirts of Crestfall for food, until one day he ran away to become a bard.

This was no small decision. He knew if he left his clan, he would be shunned as an exile.

Years later, Garp Garp returned with his new friends, only to find that Contraption was under attack! And the threat was coming from within!

Scraps of metal from Contraption itself had started coming to life and attacking the goblin families who lived there! While Garp Garp's father, Blargg Blargg, wasn't eager to welcome him back after all this time, he reluctantly asked our heroes for help. At this rate, Contraption would soon be destroyed unless someone could get to the bottom of the mystery!

As the party navigated grimy corridors and precariously stacked homes in search of clues, the scrap monsters they encountered got bigger and more elaborate -- from formless balls of shrapnel, to fierce serpents that grew as they churned through steel walls, to the absolutely massive scrap baby which thrashed the city's engine room!

In their fight against the scrap baby, they finally discovered the true source of the attacks. The scrap monsters were being animated by a vengeful spirit, the ghost of a young girl who had been captured and eaten by the goblins!

Gin, the party's monk, spent his turns dodging the baby's attacks and calmly talking to the ghost. After considerable persuasion, she calmed down enough to lead the party to the goblins' storeroom, where they found a few other shivering kids.

Garp Garp negotiated with Contraption's elder, Queen Gnarlnash, to prevent future hauntings. She agreed that the goblins would no longer take townsfolk for food -- the city would instead transition to a pescatarian diet thanks to the abundance of nearby rivers and lakes. Gin was especially happy to hear this, as the news of missing children in Crestfall had weighed on him for some time. He ensured the surviving children were returned to their homes, and just like that, Contraption wheeled off into the sunset!

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Heikegani

CR 4

Neutral Evil Small Aberration

Bestiary 5, pg. 141

Easily among the most bizarre creatures found in Paizo's later Bestiaries, the Heikegani (which I'll be calling "Heike" from now on) are based on a real world crab with a much less berserk backstory than the ones on Golarion; on Earth, the shell of the Heikegani merely look like faces through sheer serendipity. On Golarion? They're one step away from being Undead, because they're inhabited by the ghosts of warriors who died at sea but who have refused to actually become Undead due to the disgrace such a transformation would bring them. So, instead, their soul seeks a suitable host to inhabit, and what's more suitable than the pinnacle of evolution?

Now, let's address the crab-that-used-to-be-an-elephant in the room: the bonkers lore. While the book itself states ALL Heikegani are born from the souls of, very specifically, samurai who died from a magical catastrophe near a crab breeding ground, that's... More than a little goofy, if I'm being honest. Now, I'm normally all for ludicrous backstories for a monster species, but the idea that there's enough samurai dying in magical explosions around newborn crabs that their restless souls create a noteworthy population of murderous crustaceans (which can travel in groups of up to seven!) is too much, even for me. If you've seen my more ridiculous homebrews, you'll know that the bar for the lunacy I can tolerate in lore is embedded four feet in bedrock, so this should REALLY tell you how silly I find the idea! So, in my own take on the lore, Heike are born from any sufficiently motivated warrior perishing at sea whose soul refuses to give in to the temptation of undeath, and multiple Heike showing up means the warrior had an especially powerful soul, so much so that it couldn't be contained in a single crustacean body. If you want to go in a different direction, Heike could be born from fragments of the soul rather than the entire thing, much like how a ghost is just the negativity left over by the true soul, its presence weighing the rest down like an anchor. They do, after all, carry little else but hatred for the living and a need to fight greater and greater foes until they can finally die an honorable death... or kill everyone else trying.

The first sign that the party is dealing with something far more than just a common crab that happened to pick up a dagger is the Unnatural Aura cascading off the thing, the Heike's aberrant nature causing common wildlife to tremble in their presence. No animals willingly travel within 30ft of a Heike, leading to the amusing possibility of a party's horses suddenly flinging their riders from their backs because a big crab reared up at them. Less amusing is the possibility of it terrifying the party by rearing up, because it can use Intimidating Glare as a full-round action to make an Intimidate check (+9) against everyone within 30ft of it, potentially shaking up the entire party for multiple rounds in a single move. It doesn't even suffer from the normal penalty it'd take by being Small-sized!

Once the party is debuffed, the Heike can issue a Challenge to a foe it wishes to slay as a swift action, making it more vulnerable to the attacks of other creatures (its AC goes from 18 to 16 vs anything but its target) but vastly more dangerous against its victim, not only gaining insurmountable DR 2, but +4 damage. Its twin claws already deal 1d3+4 damage each, but with +4 damage on top of it and the threat of Power Attack looming in the wings, suddenly the encounter is no longer a joke... Not that battles against crabs should ever be treated as a joke. Giant Crabs only seem silly until they're tearing the Rogue in half after drowning the party Wizard, and the Heike's damage output vastly eclipses its un-possessed kin while giving up none of the crab's normal tricks. Despite being Small, its Grab attack can latch onto Medium targets without needing to do anything special, and it's got a +10 to grapple checks--enough to cancel out the penalty it would normally take for grappling larger targets--AND it constricts its grappled victim for 1d3+4 additional damage each round... which is also augmented by Challenge, as the damage boost applies to all damage rolls it makes. One round of being grappled by a Heike could mean taking upwards to 30 damage, or even higher if it Power Attacks! Really, the fact they can wield a dagger almost feels like a waste when their normal claws are powerful enough weapons, but a Heike will always choose to wield the weapons it did in life... and if the DM is feeling mean, this means they have permission to have the things armed with whatever magic items they've scavenged from the sea floor.

About the only mercy granted here is that a Heike's size means it cannot easily drag victims into the water to drown them, as normal Giant Crabs are infamous for (their grapple modifiers aren't quite unbreakable in Pathfinder, but they're still high, people!). They're also less inclined to do so thanks to their obsession with honorable combat (which is why they prefer weapons), but going full dishonorable is the best way to beat them; unlike a Giant Crab (a Vermin), Heike are vulnerable to mind-affecting effects. Unfortunately, the aforementioned obsession with honor allows them to tap into their Memories of Honor 1/day to grant themselves a +4 bonus to any saving throw they make, something they normally reserve for a battle-ending ability like the Slumber Hex or Color Spray, the latter of which they're still vulnerable to at only 5 HD.

The problem is that fighting dishonorably will cause it to fight dishonorably in turn, abandoning its weapon in favor of its (normally) vastly more dangerous claws. Whatever spell or ability you try and end the combat with had better end it, or you're likely end up as just another tallymark scratched into its blade.

You can read more about them here.

[mythandlaur]

Lyoko Warriors Run A D&D Game

I wrote something about this for Code: July and said I'd expand on it later And Then I Didn't so

Aelita: After much deliberation, was chosen to be the DM given her skillset making her good at handling both mechanics and storytelling (though the others occasionally try their hands in one-shots). Was incredibly nervous at first, but naturally settled into the role and thrives in it. Makes a lot of homebrew and gets crazy into setting development. Is very careful about the players' mental states and tries not to mirror any actual event they've been through too closely in her stories, though she can't help projecting a little bit (Mister Puck shows up as an NPC wherever she can fit him, she focuses a lot of plots around family crises and the importance of bonds between people, always puts emphasis on hope and happy endings, even if they're difficult to reach). Can be absolutely cruel in regard to making enemy encounters strategically difficult, but only because she knows the others will somehow make it through. Has a DMPC elf druid who acts as a healer (and shamelessly flirts with Jeremie's character)

Jeremie: Was also considered for the DM role, but declined--he admitted that while he'd read the rulebook before and would do great with mechanics, he'd make a poor storyteller. It's also kind of cathartic for him to be with the party of fantasy action heroes for once. He made a human wizard initially as a poorly-hidden, powered-up self-insert, focusing on spells that would mechanically and strategically benefit the party, but as he gets into the story the character comes into its own and he branches out with spells he just thinks are cool. The designated Only One Who Remembers What Happened Last Session, and usually the first to see through Aelita's battle gimmicks, though whether or not he tells the others about them immediately is a toss-up.

Odd: Made a nonbinary dwarf bard before most of the group knew what nonbinary was (mid-2000s, not a well known thing despite two of them being trans). Takes up the healer role when Aelita can't juggle her PC. Often has to be gently nudged out of the spotlight and reminded he isn't playing the only main character, but Aelita can always rely on him to take her hooks and drag the others along with him, or force the rest of the party to actually talk to each other. Basically that one really talkative, enthusiastic player in the group who always fills any awkward silences.

Ulrich: Initially wasn't too interested in this whole thing and was just joining to hang out with his friends. Has a dragonborn fighter who eventually multiclasses into monk. Also started off as very much a self-insert character, and Ulrich is occasionally a bit of a difficult player because he has trouble with his character being wrong and screwing things up. Eventually, though, he starts to loosen up, sometimes rivaling Odd as the spotlight-stealer because of his character's dedication to their team and "awesome dragon powers"

Yumi: Originally tried to make a healer until Aelita sussed out she didn't actually want to play support and was only doing it because she thought she had to; after some nudging, she made a human rogue assassin instead. She still winds up being the party's dedicated problem-solver and only sane man, the one who'll actually try the doorknob to see if it's locked before Jeremie's character makes a dangerous attempt to teleport past it or Ulrich's character tries to kick it in. The most quiet person at the table, but when she does speak up, it's clear she's put a lot of thought into her character's backstory, how she behaves, and her relationships and opinions on others. Always describes her attacks in battle, and encourages Ulrich into eventually doing the same.

William: Was invited by Aelita to mend his relationships with the rest of the group, and is the silently-acknowledged exception to the "don't play anything too close to Lyoko" rule since he's still working through some crap and this is the only way he'll actually open up to the others. As such, has a tiefling warlock afraid of his own powers and patron that's difficult to integrate into the group at first because of William's own reluctance and being one of those infamous brooding edgy loner characters. Eventually, William shows the character has a very notable soft side and gets him in somewhat good graces with the others. Is incredibly dramatic and clearly using this as an acting outlet, but is also very good at said acting and tends to get the rest of the group swept up in his energy.

[glitterygoopbailiffoperator-blog]

Looking for Players for an SW5e Game!

Hi! I'm an experienced DM looking for players to join an SW5e game.

To begin with, what is SW5e?

SW5e is a Star Wars hack of DND 5e. It has the same base components as normal 5e, but with a Star Wars and generally futuristic twist. The classes have been adapted into the world of Star Wars and are more customizable than base game. Casting is split between two systems: force casting and tech casting. Force casters are the more traditional Star Wars casters (think force choke and jedi mind tricks) while tech casters "cast" using devices and gadgets.

If you're interested, click here for more information!

What's the deal with the game?

Currently, I am between two options set in the Star Wars universe.

Option 1

You are a part of a special forces unit working for the Empire. You could be some variety of stormtrooper, ISB operator, or even an inquisitor in training. While you are working for the Empire, this campaign doesn't necessarily have to be an evil campaign. It will be up to you and your party to decide whether you embrace the ideals of the Empire of if you will strive to challenge their grip on the universe.

Option 2

You are members of a powerful Sith's retinue in the Old Republic era. This campaign would focus more on tracking down ancient artifacts and furthering the goals of the individual that you work under. Think political assassinations and tomb raiding, all against the backdrop of intergalactic war. Like Star Wars Indiana Jones. There will be less debating over small issues like ethics and morality and more of a focus on exploration and intrigue.

Yo, who the eff is this?

I've been seriously playing DND since 2020 and have been DMing that entire time. I've dabbled with 3.5, Pathfinder 1st edition, 4e, and other indie games here and there as well as other TTRPGs. I'm a really big fan of homebrew and am an avid homebrewer myself. I like to run player driven games that focus on drama and hard hitting choices. I love to build arcs around each player's backstories to really give everyone their fair share in the spotlight. I'm looking for people who enjoy interacting with their fellow players and will collectively work together and with me to create a fun and interesting story. I genuinely believe that DND is a collaborative effort, so a love of roleplay and player interest and input are things that I really love having at my table.

Final notes!

I'm looking for around four to five players. Timing is currently flexible, although weekday nights are preferred. This campaign will be hosted online using Roll20 and discord. I do want to put a disclaimer that I already have a player in my group. She is my girlfriend, but she will not be receiving any special treatment and is already very well aware of that fact.

If you're interested, please fill out the google form linked here! I'll get back to you if I feel like you're a good match! Thanks so much for your interest and I'm looking forward to reading your submission.