#so the instinct was like “so is this a multiclass situation”

[cocoa-rococo]

i've been thinking about freakazoid in the context of a dnd / fantasy au, and while the immediate instinct is something like, "oh yeah, dexter is a wizard and freakazoid is a paladin, they multiclass", please consider instead:

dexter douglas is literally Just Some Guy trying to get by magic school, when he gets a spell book as a gift. there's a bit of an accident with his familiar when he's trying out a ritual, and he ends up unleashing a blast of magic powerful enough to rock the weave. he's now getting actively hunted down by gutierrez, an archmage and cult leader trying to contact otherworldly forces for personal gain.

what they did not plan on (and neither did anyone else) was that dexter now accidentally has a warlock pact with the most friendly and maddening great old one patron imaginable, and said patron has been dying to try out a mortal vessel for a looooong time.

[khywren]

✨Let's talk about OCs!✨How would you describe your OC's personality/aesthetic? What's your favourite thing about them? Tell us a fun fact(s) about your OC or their creation!

❤️Send this to at least 3 people to spread some OC appreciation!❤️

eee, thanks for this! i was curious when i saw your other post!

in terms of personality, the three main words i would use to describe ysera are impulsive, awkward, and resilient. she's not very bright, so she usually acts on instinct without taking the time to actually think thinks through. girl runs purely on vibes, and as a chronic overthinker i applaud her for that. she's also spent a good chunk of her life living on her own and purposely avoiding contact with other people, so she's not always great at social interaction, hence the awkwardness. i think this definitely bleeds into her impulsiveness because she'll just say whatever stupid thing is on her mind.

she's also pretty resilient; she's had a rough life and has felt the sting of betrayal on more than one occasion, but she isolates herself out of fear of causing others more harm than anything else. she desperately wants to form genuine connections with people if and where she can and still tries to see the good in people despite what she's been through.

out of curiosity, i took the MBTI personality test for her and ended up with ISFP-T: the mediator. this little bit stuck out to me as a good representation of who she is:

Your spontaneous nature leads you to embrace life’s adventures with open arms. You’re not one for rigid plans or structures; instead, you prefer to go with the flow, adapting to situations as they arise. This flexibility allows you to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. Beneath your easy-going exterior lies a heart of gold. Your empathy runs deep, and you have a genuine desire to understand and support those around you. However, you’re not one to wear your heart on your sleeve – your feelings often run deeper than others realize.

i don't know if i have a single favorite thing about her, but one of them is just her design. she's fairly basic, but i like that simplistic design and haven't seen a lot of tavs who look like her, which makes me happy. her scars are one of my favorite design elements; originally i just thought they would look cool, but eventually i came up with more of a backstory for why she has them and i think it added more to her overall character!

and, let's see… a fun fact about her creation… oh, okay! so, i've mentioned it briefly before, but ysera was originally supposed to be multiclassed as both a sorcerer and bard. her unstable magic was one of the foundational aspects of her character when i was concepting her, and the thought was that she would use music as an outlet for her emotions to keep herself from accidentally hurting other people (since her magic becomes more unstable when she's worked up). i ended up cutting that from her because it didn't really fit in with everything else i wanted to do with her, but i still think it was an interesting concept~

[kanohirren]

How to Make Rendog in DnD

I’ll go level by level and explain the reasoning behind my decisions and how I think it fits them in character. This build assumes starting at level 8 but includes notes on differences if you start at level 1 and progress to 8. This is not intended as a guide on how to play dnd, just how to build this character. I also don't explain every feature, but I may briefly touch on it and explain my reasoning for taking it.

Class: Barbarian 5 (Path of the Beast)/Bard 3 (College of Swords)

Race: Shifter (closest to an official dog race in 5e)

Base Ability Scores:

Str 15 (+2) + 1 from race = 16 (+3)

Dex 10 (+0)

Con 14 (+2) +2 from race = 16 (+3)

Int 8 (-1)

Wis 10 (+0)

Cha 14 (+2)

Background: Folk Hero

Ren is a strong player with a good track record when it comes to pvp in the life series. What he lacks in game knowledge he makes up for with pure charisma, being able to swing many people to his side (renpire, shadow alliance). Depending on how you look at it, he really is a hero to some (especially martyn) and knows how to make a good show.

Before we get into the class features, here’s the race and background ones.

Shifter:

Bestial Instincts: Skill proficiency. Choose Athletics.

Darkvision 60ft.

Shifting: Become more beast-like as a bonus action and gain temp HP. Become doggier.

Shifter type: choose Swiftstride to be fast, but if you want tankiness then Beasthide is also a good option. Barbarians often struggle with movement speed which is the main reason for choosing Swiftstride.

Folk Hero Background:

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Any Artisan’s tools, land vehicles.

Rustic Hospitality: Common people like you and will help you.

Shifters get to choose their animal ancestry and traits, so you can choose to be a dog. Longtooth is usually the default option for dog (the other options are associated with other animals) but the feature is quite useless in this build, which is why we pick one of the other ones.

Time for class levels! At 1st lvl, we start with barbarian, which grants us:

Proficiency in Light and medium armour, shields

Proficiency in simple and martial weapons

Proficiency in Strength and Constitution saving throws.

Skill proficiencies: choose Intimidation and Perception

Rage: Core barbarian feature. Hit harder and soak more hits. Keep in mind you cant use spells while raging, which will matter after multiclassing.

Unarmored Defense: Add your Con to your AC if you have no armour. Goes well with being a bard…

The red king Ren was very vicious kind of king who goes to war leading his troops rather than hiding in the backline. Barbarian is a perfect class for Ren who is both very good at and goes unga bunga on occasion. Keep in mind both Shifting and Raging are bonus actions, so you have to use them on different turns. The temp HP gets doubled value vs weapon damage if you’re raging because of resistance, so it might be usually better to rage first but it also depends.

At 2nd lvl, we continue with barbarian and will do so up to lvl 5.

Danger Sense: Advantage on dex saves against things you can see. Very useful for avoiding traps.

Reckless Attack: Advantage on your attacks is always good to have if you don’t mind taking more hits.

These features fit Ren perfectly too since he is pretty good at surviving and avoiding traps (unless a stalactite is involved) and in combat he can go pretty wild.

At 3rd lvl, we get:

Subclass: Path of the Beast

Path of the Beast gives:

Form of the Beast: When you Rage, you get an extra bestial trait to be even more dog-like. Bite gives you healing at low hp, claw gives you an extra attack and tail gives you extra ac. All fairly useful in different situations.

Now Ren becomes even more doggy. I always envisioned Ren being more of an axe-wielding barbarian, but these are still good to have. Keep in mind you choose the trait when you rage and can’t change it until a new rage, so choose the right one for the situation (low hp? Bite for healing. Two claw attacks actually deals more damage than the axe because you add your strength mod twice. Tail is good for avoiding hits or hitting something barely out of reach.)

At 4th lvl, we get:

Ability Score Improvement OR Feat: Take the Ability Score improvement and bump your Strength up to 18 (+4).

The extra strength helps everywhere as a barbarian.

At 5th lvl, we get:

Extra Attack (more damage! Woo!)

Fast Movement: an extra 10 ft. of move speed if you aren’t wearing heavy armour which you can’t really use as a barbarian anyway.

If you took Swiftstrider at the start, you’ll now have a whopping 50 ft. of walking speed, which is pretty dang fast. You’ll be able to run across deserts in no time.

At 6th lvl, we begin multiclassing with a level in bard, which grants us:

Musical Instrument Proficiency: Choose a Horn.

Skill Proficiency: Choose Persuasion

Bardic Inspiration: Increase chances of success. Not a spell, so you can use it during rage.

Two Cantrips: Choose Message (whisper chat msgs) and Minor Illusion (fun spell)

Four 1st lvl spells: Speak with Animals, Identify, Charm Person and Color Spray.

Now we get to the more… seductive side of Ren. Ren’s a really fun person but is also known to be a little on the less PG side of things if you know what I’m saying (not to mention the fact that as a barbarian with unarmored defense… fully exposed while being beheaded). I also tried to pick spells that are more useful outside of combat since he can’t cast spells while raging.

At 7th lvl, we take a second level of Bard, which grants us:

Jack of All Trades: Half-proficiency in all ability checks is good.

Song of Rest: Listen to Ren sing Britney during a short rest and heal up extra good.

One more spell: Command (Kneel before your king!)

Jack of All Trades will make up for some of Ren’s poorer stat checks now.

At 8th lvl, we take a third level of Bard, which grants us:

Expertise in Two Skills: Choose Persuasion (man literally persuaded people to go to war) and Athletics (good in general for strength builds).

2nd lvl spells: See Invisibility (doesn’t use concentration)

Subclass: College of Swords

College of Swords grants us:

Bonus Proficiencies: Medium Armor and Scimitars. Redundant because we get that from Barbarian.

Fighting Style: Choose Dueling and use a battle axe with a shield.

Blade Flourish: Even more movement speed when you attack, and the flourish options are all useful on top of the extra damage they provide (more ac, knockback and aoe damage). The go-to would probably be Defensive Flourish to stack with your Tail. If you chose Beasthide Shifter, your AC will go even higher.

Flourishes are especially useful because they aren’t spells and they don’t take any action economy. This is a surprisingly good synergy between a barbarian and a bard multiclass, especially since you get access to a fighting style with this subclass for some extra damage consistency.

Summary:

Final Stats:

Str 18 (+4)

Dex 10 (+0)

Con 16 (+3)

Int 8 (-1)

Wis 10 (+0)

Cha 14 (+2)

Two Attacks

Battle axe attack: +4 (str) +3 (prof. bonus) = +7 to hit, 1d8 + 4 + 2 (dueling) slashing dmg.

Three Bardic Inspirations

Cantrips: Message, Minor Illusion

1st lvl spells: Speak with Animals, Identify, Color Spray, Charm Person, Command

2nd lvl spells: See Invisibility

In summary, lots of combat power (as is fitting for the Red King himself) and a decent amount of Bard utility. A similar build to Scar’s, though more towards the combat end of the spectrum.

And that’s it for Ren! I think I managed to capture a bit of his savagery but also his fun and charming side into this build. He’s built for combat but he’s also quite good in social situations and he’s gonna be a tough nut to crack!

[ifightformyfriends]

Good instincts! These are great prompts to get you thinking about your character as a person and how that person plays into the Class that they are. They’re really common in other TTRPGs.

Pathfinder takes a more Examples approach than Questions, providing examples of what a Class can be, and is often assumed to be, in various situations. They have similar information for Ancestries, with “You Might” and “Others probably” for each of those and also every Versatile Heritage (Things like Tiefling that you can slap onto any Ancestry for tons of combinations).

Beacon does go the question route, with 4 questions for each Class. Same for Ancestries here, too, along with an example Worldbuilding for them because there is a lot of worldbuilding you can do in the system. Also worth noting that Beacon has 12 level progression but each Class is only 3 levels, so it’s always worth thinking about the questions for why you take your next Class which keeps them always relevant.

And then there’s Fabula Ultima, which again offers 4 questions Per Class. Nothing for Ancestries since those aren’t mechanically relevant in Fabula Ultima, but there is a TON of group focused collaborative worldbuilding to help get everyone on the same page about the game being played, but that’s a bit out of scope for this. Fabula Ultima is a Tabletop JRPG, and as such you start at level 5 and you HAVE to Multiclass with 2 or 3 Classes for those initial 5. And the levels go up to 50! Though you can only have 3 Classes under level 10 at a time so at most...7 Classes over 50 levels.

They’re a very useful tool, especially for newer players, and their absence from 5e helps to highlight that 5e isn’t actually meant to be easy for new players, it’s meant to be approachable, and those are very different design goals.

So you're playing a D&D class

(had these thoughts while thinking about CR character builds, but relevant to D&D in general).

Here's just a brief list of three questions per class that are intended to be helpful if you're playing that class and are working on fleshing out that aspect of your character. Note that I'm only covering officially published classes for 5e. If you're a blood hunter I am just going to assume you know what you're about, and if you're a mystic then you are beyond help or hope. Also, obviously, there's way more to a character than their class! But understanding why the character is that class is pretty crucial to overall character build.

Artificer:

Did the magic come first or did the tinkering come first?

Did you apprentice or where you self-taught?

What do you dream of creating - or if you don't, what outside goal drives your creations?

Barbarian:

Is rage a cultural or family trait, or is this unique to you?

What do you feel like when you rage?

What do you feel your purpose is, outside of combat? Do you have one or are you not sure? (note - feel free to ask this about other martially focused classes, but barbarians skew especially hard towards combat skills above all others)

Bard:

What led you to be able to tap into the echoes of creation (not guaranteed for all artists!)

What is your medium, and how did you come to it/learn it?

You have a ton of skills - how did you acquire them?

Cleric:

What is your relationship with the deity/entity/concept that grants you your powers?

Since many sources have multiple domains, why this domain specifically?

What does your worship look like?

Druid:

Is your relationship to nature cultural, or personal?

What drew you to your circle?

How do you feel about wildshape? Is it a tool available to you, or an enjoyable experience?

Fighter:

Who trained you or how did you pick up your skills?

What led you to focus on fighting? Is there something you wished to attack or to protect?

Fighter is REALLY modular/subclass dependent, so dig into your subclass; if you're a champion, the 'what is your purpose outside combat' from Barbarian may apply, but if you're say, an eldritch knight or rune knight, you may have had two teachers and should dig into that.

Monk:

Who trained you?

What does Ki feel like for you?

Not a question, but: with the caveat that I know very little about martial arts, I do think that having a concept of the martial art style your monk uses is a huge help in bringing the character to life.

Paladin:

What drew you to this oath?

What continues to motivate you?

You're in a very versatile role; which part speaks to you the most- do you see yourself more as a protector? a healer? is the versatility itself what matters?

Ranger:

How did you learn your nature skills?

What is your relationship to your magic?

Why are your favored terrain and enemy what they are?

Rogue:

How did you learn to pick locks?

Did your thievery/stealth come as a necessity for survival, or was it a choice?

As with bard - what specifically led you to develop the skills you have?

Sorcerer:

When did your powers first manifest? If it was not when you were very young, what were you doing beforehand?

Are you interested in where your powers came from? How far would you go to learn about them? Or do you already know?

What would you do if your powers disappeared?

Warlock:

What led you to make the pact - even if it was accidental or a trick?

How do you feel about your patron generally?

Because warlock is truly very modular - that is, extremely reliant on the boon and evocations for flavor, analyze the choice of evocations and boon. If you picked agonizing blast, why specifically did your warlock want to make eldritch blast stronger? What drew your character to the blade vs. chain vs. tome?

Wizard:

What role do wizards play in your society?

How were you trained?

What do you most desire to learn or achieve?

[dorkustm]

Please accept my screenshot of HCs

weapon-themed

peter... shouldn't be allowed to have a weapon, but if he's in a life-threatening situation or other, he's a resourceful fighter and a quick thinker. that isn't to say that this leads to smart choices, such as trying to punch a ghost with his non-dominant hand. weapons make him nervous, and he doesn't like the idea of physically hurting someone unless absolutely necessary, being bullied will do that to you

hobby-themed

i think that richie n ruth peer pressure pete into becoming their usual d&d dm, bc every d&d group has that one poor bastard although i think they all take turns. but on the occasions that he gets to be a player? oh, it's over. min-maxer AND a rules lawyer, but only in a slightly annoying way. in the way that his go-to class could be wizard, maybe artificer, but he has some absolutely batshit multiclass builds in his back pocket bc god forbid he doesn't make it everyone's problem if he gets the chance to be a player

transportation-themed

ted taught pete how to drive and i imagine it was an only slightly traumatizing experience. and i imagine this doesn't happen too incredibly often, but on the off-chance that ted gets fucked up and strikes out on a date or whatever, pete's his designated driver. he'll give his brother shit, but he'll give him a ride if he needs one

time-themed

ted also gifted pete the watch that he wears, and it is definitely well-loved and well-used, especially at school where technically he isn't allowed to have his phone on him. that isn't to say that outside of school, when he's hanging out or on his phone or whatever, sometimes the instinct is to check the time on his phone rather than the watch that he wears near constantly. ironic, but teenagers and their phones, am i right?

night-themed

pete absolutely had a space hyperfixation; one of the kinds of kids who begged for a telescope from his parents that would sit untouched in his closet for an undetermined amount of time until a special occasion called for it. i think he also used it as an excuse to stay up late because it was Educational. so, he'd be out with one of his parents in the backyard looking up at the stars, sharing all of his space-themed fun facts until he wore himself out and passed out

day-themed

pete's favorite day of the week is thursday. why his favorite day of the week is thursday? i couldn't tell you because i don't know

[suddencosmology]

Antimagic for the Soul: a brief exploration of bullying casters in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition.

Magic is scary. There are plenty of ways to protect your squishy or poor-save allies from getting ratioed by the local evil wizard, but just like reproduction, prevention is the best defense. A proactive stance vs magic not only reduces the stress of preparing your spells for the day, but reduces the need to fill your head with staple spells like Protection From Energy.

So how does one prevent spellcasting? With Counterspell! Problem is, Counterspell in it default state is a reactionary ability. Not only do you need know what spell is coming at you, have that spell prepared yourself, and you need to ready your action to Counterspell it. That just won't do.

First we look at the feat Improved Counterspell. This alters the requirement of readied spell to be any spell of the same school, provided it can match or beat the spell level. Good, but not perfect. You still need to know the spell is coming.

For Sorcerers, Wizards, Clerics, and classes that use those spell lists, there is the spell Battlemagic Perception. A 3rd level spell, this baby gives you a boost to Spellcraft to identify the spell coming at you, and with 5 ranks in Spellcraft, you instantly sense all spells happening within line of sight/100 feet of you. Also, it gives Counterspell as a free action. Doing so ends the spell which is a bummer, but sometimes one 'lolnope' is enough. Until you're high enough level to be dealing with Quickened Spells, you've effectively stolen the caster's turn.

But it can go further. The feat Divine Defiance allows you to spend one use of Turn Undead or similar ability to immediate action Counterspell. Given the situational value of Turning, a Cleric probably has two to six more Turn attempts than they need in a day.

A character with all of these can fire off two Counterspells in the same round if need be. Very sexy.

But there are more fish in the sea, and lots of them like hitting people with sharp/blunt objects. The inherent martial solution to casters is hitting them, and the threat of hitting them. A caster within a threatened space must make a Concentration check (DC 15+(2xSpell level)) to cast their spells without provoking attacks of opportunity. At low levels this is a gamble, but at higher levels, with higher bonuses, this is an easy check.

The Disruptive feat increases the DC to cast defensively by 4. Improves the odds of failure... but what if you could guarantee failure?

Look no further than Mage Slayer. This feat makes defensive casting impossible.

The feat Supernatural Instinct covers a different, but important base. It causes any supernatural ability (such as spell-like abilities and breath weapons) used by a threatened foe to provoke an attack of opportunity.

Now, a caster can always Tumble (DC 15 to move safely) away or take a five foot step to get out of melee range. The solution here is twofold: either increase your reach, or make moving not an option.

Tactical use of the environment can force this caster up against a wall, a cliff, or just in the reach of another character.

Creating or emulating Difficult Terrain (halves move speed, cannot five foot step) has a myriad of options. There are spells galore, either produced by a friend, a magic item, or yourself if you multiclass.

For feats, Difficult Swings creates Difficult Terrain in your threatened space when you unleash a full attack. Scorpion Style cuts an enemy's speed down to 5 feet (Fort save negates), and Footslasher halves their speed on a successful attack.

Reach is often increased by being bigger (either magic or playing a Large character), but there are also reach weapons and the Extending weapon property to get an extra 5 feet between you and your enemy.

So these are all well and good, but what if you just really hate magic? What if other people casting spells at you is just the worst? Try Antimagic Field. A ten-foot radius bubble of Fuck You, available as a sixth level spell. No spells, no supernatural anything, and no magic items. Nothing works.

Oh yeah, you're a player character. You probably have and like your magic items. Recalculating bonuses is annoying, even with an app or digital sheet. Also, Antimagic Field means you, the caster, can't cast. Sadge.

But what if... haha, just kidding.

Unless? Selective Spell. A metamagic feat. +1 to the spell level, and one designated creature within a spell's area is unaffected by the spell. Select yourself, and enjoy all benefits of antimagic with no downsides.

Thank you for reading and remember: every caster is beyond salvation except the ones on your side.

[sapphicquill]

TAZ Balance: the truth will set you free

(ao3 link!)

Rating: Teen 

Characters: Taako, Kravitz, Magnus

Wordcount: 2942

“You’re fuming, dear.” 

Taako turns to look at Kravitz when the reaper speaks, trying not to let the thin frown fall off of his face at the sight of his uncharacteristically smug dead boyfriend. From his spot as Taako’s personal body pillow, Magnus laughs quietly.

“I can’t believe he convinced you to teach him this shit,” Taako says with an exaggerated huff. The elf crosses his arms tightly across his chest, sticking his chin up haughtily to hammer home his petulence. Magnus laughs again, the vibrations of it rumbling through Taako’s back like a purr. Taako very courteously does not throw an elbow backwards into the fighter’s stomach, despite how much he would enjoy doing just that. Kravitz lets out a hum, smirk not quite leaving his unfairly handsome face. 

“It’s not my fault Angus got curious about multiclassing as a bard,” the reaper finally says. And, as much as Taako was loath to acknowledge it, Kravitz is right. Taako groans theatrically and pointedly does not actually respond like an adult, because fuck that. 

Angus had approached Taako after one of their lessons together--much less frequent than they once were, before Lucas had gotten the idea to start up a small magic school, but Angus seemed content to return to his first (and clearly superior) tutor whenever the chance presented itself. But instead of asking for some sage wisdom or deeply insightful advice from Taako himself, Angus had asked for confirmation that Kravitz had been a bard before becoming a reaper, then begged for Taako to bring him along for their next lesson. 

Kravitz had been over the moon when Taako begrudgingly explained the situation, and the reaper wasted absolutely no time in devising a lesson plan for the boy detective. Taako had to work especially hard to keep from swooning over his boyfriend’s enthusiasm and instead sulked to their other boyfriend about the cruelty of life. (Magnus had been very little help, the bastard. Taako left with a disgruntled whine when the fighter started theorizing on how to convince Ango that learning some rogue skills could be helpful too, the absolute traitor.) 

“You want to know what I think?” Kravitz asks after another moment of silence. Taako frowns as he finally lets his gaze meet the reaper’s eyes directly. 

“Not particularly, but something tells me you’re going to keep talking anyway, you dick.”

“You’re jealous.”

Taako feels himself freeze for half a second before he can pull himself together. Damn Kravitz for knowing him so well. Damn him and Magnus for making him feel comfortable enough to even let himself be read that easily. Damn them both.

“Oh fuck right off, you’re full of shit,” the elf tosses back almost automatically through gritted teeth. 

“Hey, play nice,” Magnus teases, poking Taako in the side. The unexpected jab sends a fluttering shockwave through the startled wizard, who squeaks before he can catch himself. Kravitz continues to look on smugly, not breaking eye contact with Taako as he scoots further up the bed and closer to the other two. 

“You’re very precious when you get all wound up like this, love,” he murmurs. Taako shifts, instinct telling him to pull away and hide, to clam up and put up an even harder front. A quiet voice that sounded worryingly sweet and comforting tells him to just come clean to the both of his boyfriends. It wasn’t like they didn’t know he was secretly a soft, if somewhat emotionally-deficient, sap. Magnus had definitely figured it out somewhere along that first hundred years, and Kravitz was frighteningly perceptive.

A sudden weight around his waist distracts Taako from the beginning of whatever bullshit emotional spiral he’s about to fall into, his body automatically pulling against the sudden restriction. Though the warmth of Magnus’ arms encircling him from behind sends an innate sense of calm through him, the elf nearly pulls something in his neck as he whips his head toward the human because Magnus, what the actual hell. Magnus has the decency to look a bit sheepish, but resolutely does not let go. 

“Mags…” Taako growls, narrowing his eyes and trying to look intimidating despite the growing fluttering of excitement in his stomach. He’s quickly figuring out Magnus’ plan and is now desperate to not show his hand because fuck, this got different, fast. This somehow turned into Taako goading his boys into absolutely wrecking him for being a stubborn piece of shit, which he hadn’t even considered as an outcome when this mock argument had started. Now, however, his mind is three steps ahead, already craving the feeling of his partners’ touches driving him insane.

Because here’s the thing—Taako, maybe, kinda, sorta actually likes getting tickled. He absolutely would never say as much, even under pain of death (and he is really familiar with how  fucking painful death can be), and the only other being in the multiverse that probably knows is Lup because, duh, twin sister or whatever. So it was always imperative Taako never let on in any way he didn’t exactly hate it when Magnus and Kravitz, whether alone or together, decide to tickle him stupid. He would probably implode from the embarrassment—and what a dumb fucking way to go after everything else. No, that wouldn’t do at all. 

Thus, it’s second nature for the elf to throw out menacing glares and cutting threats, which is exactly what he does as he feels Magnus flex his fingers and rest them at the center of his stomach. He’s unable to resist flinching at the sudden light touch to his bare midriff, though—damn, why did he and Lup convert the majority of his wardrobe into crop tops? 

Movement at the other end of the bed catches his attention, so he redirects back to Kravitz, face pinched and pout sufficiently exaggerated. 

“It’s quite alright, Taako, really,” the reaper says, affecting the tone he usually saves for puppies and small children, the absolute ass, “You’re allowed to want to be Angus’ favorite.”

“Shut up, I do not—” 

The remainder of Taako’s protest is swallowed by a sharp gasp as Magnus draws his fingers across Taako’s stomach with a quick flick

“Do you really think you’re in any position to be bitchy right now?” the human says, smile evident despite his gruff tone. Taako feels his ear twitch as Magnus’s breath skates across his skin and it takes every ounce of concentration he has to not shiver or let out a breathy half-laugh. Instead the elf remains as still as possible, frown almost ridiculously exaggerated and eyes narrow slits focused on Kravitz. The reaper adopts an over-the-top pout—no doubt meant to mock Taako’s own expression—and draws ever closer to Taako and Magnus. 

“Magnus, maybe you could help me convince our beloved to be more honest, hm?” 

The words have barely left Kravitz’s mouth when Taako feels Magnus begin to slowly drag his fingertips across his exposed stomach. Tiny zings of tickly sensation burst across Taako’s skin like low-level electricity and somehow keeping still and silent is the hardest thing Taako’s ever done in his life. He can’t, however, keep the warm bubbling feeling of anticipation and excitement from flooding his entire body, and that, of course, makes keeping still even fucking harder. 

Magnus’ fingers trail lightly across Taako’s abdomen before slowly gliding up his sides. Without really meaning to, Taako squeezes his eyes shut, trying to will himself into a trance by force. This clearly amuses both of his boyfriends, as their joint chuckles echo in stereo in the sudden darkness. Taako feels like he’s standing on the edge of a cliff, one wrong move and he’ll cascade off the side and plunge ten thousand feet—

Then Magnus’s devilish touch reaches the top of his ribs and the dam breaks. 

A steady stream of hiccuping giggles pours from Taako as Magnus gently skitters light tickles across one of Taako’s absolute worst spots and even without looking, the elf can tell that his boyfriends have both got gleeful expressions on their stupid fucking faces. He squirms, trying in vain to block out the torturous sensation of Magnus’ fingers or escape their attack altogether, but that just seems to encourage the fighter. Feather-light scritches instantly turn into fast, fluttering pinches and quick vibrating prods and Taako would be embarrassed about how quickly he dissolves into full-fledged laughter if he wasn’t so busy absolutely losing his mind. 

“Ready to admit you secretly adore Angus yet, love?” Kravitz asks from far too close, Taako can tell he’s almost pressed up against his chest, but fucking of course he isn’t. He can practically hear the mischievous grin in the reaper’s voice when he shakes his head. 

“You leave me no choice, then.” 

Over the sounds of his increasingly frantic laughter, Taako can hear Kravitz speaking the incantation for Zone of Truth, and he’s sure Krav’s crimson eyes are sparkling with mirth. The unique sensation of enchantment magic washing over him barely phases the elf—he’s too preoccupied with Magnus’ deft hands flitting up and down his ribs to really pay it much mind. Taako squeezes his eyes even tighter and attempts to focus on resisting the truth spell, gasping around his laughter, trying to push past the way his nerves feel like they’ve been set alight so he can focus—

And then promptly fails his save. 

Of course he fails his save. How could he possibly concentrate on resisting a Zone of Truth from a powerful ex-bard-turned-Grim-Reaper with Magnus’ fucking fingers skittering across his abdomen, drawing squeaky, desperate laughter from him like water from a well? 

“Now, come on, dove, be honest with us.” 

And then Kravitz is tickling him too, on top of concentrating on a fucking spell, his nimble musician’s fingers skittering ruthlessly across Taako’s hips, and it’s impossible to think about anything other than the fluttering in his stomach, the laughter forcing its way out of his lungs, the pleasant fuzziness already clouding his mind. He can’t even remember Krav’s question, really. Taako’s brain feels like it’s been filled with cotton (but like, in a good way) and he can barely string two thoughts together before giving up thinking altogether. 

“Admit it, Taako, tell us the truth,” Kravitz purrs directly into Taako’s ear and even that tickles like hell, and between that and the two pairs of hands currently wreaking ticklish havoc on him, it feels like every wire in Taako’s brain is crossing simultaneously. He wants this to end and also never wants this to end, why can’t his boyfriends wreck him like this constantly, it’s not fair—

“Tell us, Ko, come on!” Magnus whines, seemingly trying to match Taako’s usual petulant tone as he drills his fingers into the wizard’s underarms and knocks his laughter up at least ten decibels, and that’s what pushes Taako to open his big, stupid mouth. He means to say something about the dumb boy detective, he really does, but instead all he can think about is Kravitz and Magnus making him scream and laugh and thrash around with teasing words and fluttering fingers and, well—

“I—I—” Taako’s voice breaks on a laugh, brain going a million miles an hour and also stuck in the mud simultaneously.

“Yes dear, that’s it, come on, out with it,” Kravitz says while rubbing incessantly ticklish circles into Taako’s sides. And that finally pushes an answer out of Taako, who manages to push through his laughter long enough to speak. 

“I fucking like being tickled, okay?—Shit—!”

Suddenly, the two pairs of hands on Taako’s skin still, and as his laughter slowly dies down, the full impact of what he’d just actually admitted to hits the elf like a cartload of bricks. Fuck. Shit.

Weirdly, instead of instant fiery panic, Taako is filled with a sense of...calm? It’s like someone hit pause on the entire fucking universe. Taako keeps his eye closed and resolutely doesn’t think about what just happened; doesn’t think about anything, other than a burning sense of mortification and the deepest desire for a hole to open up and swallow him up. 

“Nope, okay, that’s—I didn’t—no, fuck this,” Taako mumbles as he sits up, easily breaking out of Magnus’ hold. With eyes still closed he leaps up from the large bed and has half a mind to burn a Teleportation spell to get as far away from his boyfriends as possible before feeling a cool hand wrap around his wrist. Taako can identify the feel of Kravitz’s touch almost alarmingly well, and normally he sinks into it without more than a few grumbled faux-complaints. Here and now, the wizard doesn’t instantly pull his arm from Kravitz’s grasp like he desperately wants to, but he doesn’t move toward him either. Instead, he keeps his eyes closed and pretends he’s literally anywhere else. 

“Taako, wait,” and that’s Magnus’ voice, the one that always makes a small part of Taako melt because it’s so full of genuine love and affection and care and fuck, he has to open his eyes and face the two men he actually definitely loves, shit. He braces himself, not exactly sure what expressions might adorn the faces of his boyfriends but he’s prepared for the worst. 

The first thing Taako sees when he opens his eyes is, unsurprisingly, Kravitz, as the reaper is closer to him. What does surprise Taako is the look Kravitz is giving him. The other man looks—apologetic? 

“Taako, I’m so sorry,” Kravitz starts, and Taako feels his heart stutter a bit, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I should never have cast Zone of Truth and forced you to tell us that.”

And that—

That’s not what Taako had expected to hear come out of Kravitz’s mouth. He’d more or less thought, at the very least, he’d get laughed at. Made fun of. Belittled. Shamed. This is—far from all of that. 

“I—what?” 

If it had been any other time, Taako would have congratulated Krav for actually rendering him fucking speechless, because that’s a rarity. As it is, Taako can’t do much of anything aside from gape, gaze not leaving Kravitz’s crimson eyes. 

“The spell, it didn’t compel you but it forces you to be truthful, and you clearly weren’t ready to tell either of us that you—” 

At this, Kravitz seems to pause, looking like he’s attempting to phrase his words as carefully as possible while still turning over this new information in his mind. Luckily, Magnus, as he always seems able to, picks up right where their Grim Reaper leaves off. 

“You’re totally waiting for us to roast you or something, aren’t you?” 

Fuck, has Magnus always been this perceptive? Taako could have sworn he was oblivious as all hell but no, this is the man he’s known for over a century, of course Magnus knows all his tells. 

“Well, we’re not going to,” the fighter barrels forward, always fucking rushing in, and Taako isn’t sure whether he wants to dive back onto the bed or Misty Step to the front porch to call Lup on the Stone of Farspeech and just scream. 

“Why would we? It’s not like you’ve told us something weird or bad or anything,” Kravitz adds, finally out of his own head. He sounds a little frantic, like he desperately needs Taako to believe him and fantasy Christ, Taako loves him for it. 

“Honestly, it’s kind of adorable,” Magnus adds. Taako finally cocks his head enough to meet the human’s eyes and he’s known Magnus long enough to tell when he’s lying. 

He’s absolutely not lying. 

The sense of relief that Taako expects to flood through him comes in waves. His heart is still beating a million miles an hour (which he hadn’t even noticed, fuck) and it still feels like he could cook a five course meal using only the heat collected on his face, but his desire to run and hide and sulk is retreating, and the space between Magnus and Kravitz is looking more and more inviting by the second. 

It’s the most natural thing in the entirety of the planar system for Taako to lower himself back onto the bed and resume his position lounging against Magnus. Quiet descends on the room and it’s warm, comfortable. 

“We should probably have a real conversation about this later,” Kravitz says, and Taako surprises himself by humming in agreement rather than groaning in protest. 

“Later,” he concedes, and then Magnus is shifting again and Taako’s about to grouse about how a moving pillow is a pretty shitty pillow when—

“So if you actually like getting tickled—”

An involuntary shudder shoots down Taako’s back at this, at Magnus’ voice curling around that word, fuck, and suddenly the great brute’s hands are back on Taako’s ribs and his fingers are slowly tracing Taako’s skin and it’s like a bolt of lightning through his entire consciousness. 

“Then you won’t mind if Krav and I get back to work, huh?”

Despite quickly being overcome by tittering giggles, Taako can sense a voiceless conversation happening over him, and then Kravitz is back in his space and his hands are inching up Taako’s thighs, squeezing and stroking lightly as they go. 

“Yes, Magnus is right—you never actually told us what we really wanted to hear, love,” Kravitz purrs, mischief and affection so clear on his face that there’s no room for Taako’s anxiety to even attempt to convince him of something horrible.  

So instead of spiraling into a pit of despair, Taako revels in the wide grin pulling at his lips, savors the electric sensations rippling across his nerve endings, and laughs. 

[lostinthosebrowneyes]

Pedro Character HCs | The Boys as D&D (5e) Classes

Dave York

Rogue. Dave is a soldier who specializes in the silent kill. He knows all about a life of murky morality and thrives in the darkness with his expertise in stealth. But get him up close and away from his teammates and their flanking advantage and it’s game over for him. He’s the classic high risk, high reward class with melee and range versatility, specifically the Assassin archetype who makes the most of drawing his weapon first.

Din Djarin

Fighter. Nobody beats the humble Fighter in terms of battle versatility. Din is more than a mercenary, he’s a true warrior. An expert in all manner of weapons, just put something that kills in his hands and he’ll make it sing. The Fighter is the workhorse of any D&D campaign, a classic and always welcome addition, he does his job with maximum efficiency be it solo or as part of a team. He has no need for fancy spells or gimmicks, his job is to take the pain and dish it out in equal measure. He will outlast all of the showy casters and niche glass cannons on the battlefield, taking his Second Wind while they’re making death saving throws. Din would probably also have the Sentinel feat because he particularly shines as a protector and is a selfless member of any party, ready to take up the slack and have your back when you need him. This is the way.

Ezra

Bard. Ezra is a talker. In a sticky situation? Try to talk your way out of it. Looking for information? Say just the right words to try and get what you need. Whether he’s good at it is debatable and he’s rolled a lot of Nat 1s in his life, but Ezra has the spirit of a Bard inside him. He’s a lateral thinker, lives by the philosophy of taking the unspoken third option and he seems like the type of person who invests in obscure lore. In the Green there is no magic to save you, only hard work. But could you imagine Ezra’s sheer power if he could speak cutting words that actually physically killed people? He would be unstoppable.

Frankie Morales

Ranger. Whether it’s up in the sky, armed with a rifle or just socializing with friends, Frankie seems to like to navigate his way around danger and keep it at arms’ length rather than face it head on. He’s found his way through quite a few wild and dangerous terrains through his career in the military, from jungles to deserts, and surely knows a thing or two about roughing it. He’s quiet, thoughtful and down-to-earth, and he seems to make his biggest mistakes when he’s around other people. Peer pressure can’t hurt you when you’re in the wilds on your own, I’m just saying.

Jack “Whiskey” Daniels

Blood Hunter. I’m going to be blunt, Blood Hunters are zealots who pick a particular type of target and hunt them to the ends of the earth. Jack clearly has an issue with black-and-white thinking and can’t let go of a good (or even a really stupid) vendetta. Particularly, Jack would be Order of the Profane Soul, because he would clearly sell his soul to the devil to wipe his enemy from the face of the earth. Blood Hunter also fits Agent Whiskey’s fighting style as they are generally Dex-based (aka, agile) fighters who sacrifice their own health to do intense amounts of damage; the riskiest daredevils of all D&D classes. Jack Daniels is a bloodhound, when he’s got his target’s scent he will finish the job or die trying.

Javier Peña

Paladin. Here we have the somewhat nobler take on the black-and-white morality man on a mission. Javier is a Paladin all the way. On a good day, Javi would be Oath of Devotion, the most romanticized version of his ideals and goals. But most of his days are bad days, so Javi chooses the Oath of Vengeance; committed to seeing evil pay no matter the cost, making restitution for the things he must do in their pursuit only after he’s taken his foes down by any means necessary. Javier has a bit of a white knight complex at times, an overdeveloped sense of justice that just doesn’t jive with how the real world works. Sometimes he realizes that, but other times it eats him up inside. As a Paladin he would have a host of spells and tricks under his belt specifically to help him root out his elusive targets, echoing the arsenal of espionage tactics he has access to in the show.

Marcus Moreno

Paladin/Sorcerer Multiclass. I couldn’t pick between the two for Marcus M, luckily these two produce a very strong multiclass! Marcus is the product of strong bloodlines like a Sorcerer and his magnetic talent is an innate part of him just as a Sorcerer’s magic is. However, this power is not his strongest asset. His leadership abilities and protective instincts are what make him who he is more than superpowers and that’s his Paladin side coming through. Marcus Moreno is the quintessential hero and a high Charisma type, but in the unassuming way that he’s just a nice dude who people naturally like... unless you’re Miracle Guy, I guess.

Marcus Pike

Rogue. Oh man, Marcus Pike was the hardest to pick of all. He’s in a law-oriented job but is impulsive and intuitive. He has combat training but he is not aggressive. He’s passionate but not over-emotional. He has a love for the arts but no desperation for the limelight. Eventually I settled on a specific Archetype: The Rogue Inquisitive. A detective flavor of the Rogue, the Inquisitive is more reliant on Wisdom than his sneakier brethren. His skills are in honing in on the truth, both of his situation and the hearts of those around him. He’s insightful, steady and trusts his gut for good or ill. The Rogue is more than a criminal or a killer, the Rogue is also the classic jack of all trades. Marcus as a Rogue is someone who loves sampling many different interests and avenues, surprising people with his versatility of talents. He’s always up for a new challenge and adventure, he’s always got an arrow in his quiver you didn’t know about. And yes, sometimes he’s a bit low-key, but you really want that in a Rogue.

Maxwell Lord

Warlock. Maxwell is the perfect Warlock cocktail of willing to make a deal and too arrogant to realize it’s a bad one. Warlocks are greedy for power, too ready to take shortcuts and often needy for attention, even if it’s the wrong kind of attention. His short rest spell slots make his magic a quick fix for sticky situations but just as quickly depleted. Maxwell is willing to get his head in way too deep in order to get what he wants and what he wants is always just out of reach, but that taste of power from his patron is enough to keep him going.

Oberyn Martell

Monk. I know what you’re thinking: “What?? The hottest man in Westeros, known hedonist Oberyn Martell as anything but a Charisma-based class???” Well here’s the thing, Oberyn is a lover and a fighter, and nobody does what he does better than a Monk. Peak physical condition, baby. Those acrobatic moves? Dexterity-leaning Monk class has it covered. Oberyn is a clever man and he uses the science of poisons to get to his enemy’s weak points. Similarly, the Wisdom-based Monk uses a blend of magic and science to exploit pressure points and Stunning Strike their enemies into submission. They are experts of the human body, what more need I say? At higher levels they literally have a class feature to stay fit and sexy for the rest of their lives. Add onto that, the Monastic Tradition Way of the Sun Soul uses explosive bursts of fire and light against their enemies in a way that’s pretty thematic for the Prince of Dorne and his fiery personality.

[astriiformes]

If you want to, who are the characters in your Friendship Campaign? They look wonderful!

Oh I LOVE to talk about my D&D party always.

Currently we have 5 party members -- Voski, Amaranth, Kriv, Ditto, and Erwyn -- who all independently signed on to work on a boat, got handed over to the fae, and have been having some Adventures™ as a result.

Voski -- although she’s mostly been going by “Kasia” for a while now; she has a lot of aliases -- is our lute-playing bronze dragonborn College of Glamour bard, with an exceedingly sharp wit and a past that’s still largely a mystery even after four years of our campaign. She’s a fairly guarded character, which fits with her skills in disguise and forgery, but still looks out for the rest of the party -- which is good, because she’s got a lot more survival instincts than some of the rest of us. She tends to wield sardonic words as a weapon (sometimes literally), but despite a history of skipping town when things got messy, she’s still put herself in danger to pull other party members out of it, whatever reason she gives you.

Amaranth is our tiefling Swashbuckler rogue. An alcoholic ex-pirate who lost her crew in a tragic wreck (courtesy of some devils who still have it out for her), she has a rowdy, boisterous, personality that is sometimes eclipsed by the fact that she has a lot of trauma to process and worries about her losing her new, developing found family the way she lost her old one -- although it’s also clear she’s getting better at coping with her grief and seeing good things in the present, too. She’s quick to anger and incredibly defensive of the people she cares about (and more than comfortable with aggressive revenge), but also fun, incredibly funny, a notorious flirter, and a deeply loyal friend.

Kriv is our bronze dragonborn Oath of Devotion paladin. A follower of Bahamut, he’s also the youngest party member, at 18 (which is a little more mature for dragonborn than it is for humans, but still!) and only left his family’s farm to see some of the rest of the world a few years ago. Kriv is deeply caring and works hard to help others, although he’s also picked up some heavy guilt over situations where his choices weren’t so easy. He loves learning about theology and old, lost gods, and has gained the favor of several of them alongside his own. He even bears the symbol of one, a long-dead god of protection called Tsova, who he befriended and briefly served as a vessel for, on his shield.

Ditto is our forest gnome Conjuration wizard, who accidentally released a strange Far Realm creature during her brief time as an apprentice (although it wasn’t really her fault) that might be hastening the destruction of the world. After learning more about its nature as an adult, she is now deeply committed to seeing it home. Ditto is sweet, talkative, brimming with creative (if sometimes questionable) ideas and loves both magic and her friends a lot. She thinks very out of the box with her spellcasting, and is definitely the most likely party member to hug another one out of the blue (and we love her for it).

And last, Erwyn (played by me!) is our high elf Horizon Walker ranger (although I may multiclass him soon as cleric of Fenmarel, the elvish god of outcasts, due to his friendship with an NPC cleric mentor-figure). A former wizard-in-training who struggled with arcane magic -- and his family’s expectations -- he decided to learn more about the Planes after a portal to the Abyss opened and wreaked destruction at his school. Erwyn is anxious and compassionate, with a poor self-image that often leads him to be reckless with his safety often in the name of helping others. He’s had a rough time with deaths and resurrections (my cursed dice have given him the worst hit points) but is incredibly stubborn, fueled by a desire to make the world a better place -- although his friends are teaching him to include himself in that better world, too.

(As a bonus -- I imagine this may have been prompted by the fantastic art our rogue’s player commissioned for our campaign’s fourth anniversary, so with that noted -- the figure behind the PCs in that is Lady Elessea, a mysterious archfey who we are in the service of until further notice -- and who seems to know more about the likely-coming end-of-the-world than she’s been letting on)

[hglog]

PBTA Spelljammer GLOG Thing?

Recently, my father dug up his old Traveller and MegaTraveller books for me, and after having a lot of fun reading through them, I can definitively say I don’t ever want to GM the system. But it got me in a space-gaming mood and my mind turned to two things. First, the Uncharted Worlds game I was once a player in, which seems to have borrowed a lot of the good aspects of Traveller and put them into a PBTA system, which I love very much. Second, the AD&D setting Spelljammer which is an amazing science-fantasy fever dream that I’ve unfortunately never gotten to experience firsthand. Naturally, I decided I’d make an RPG. And, ever since I discovered it, GLOG has basically consumed a large part of my mindspace whenever I think about RPGs.

Now it’s about a month later, and I have a lot written, but even more still to write. My biggest issue is getting my thoughts organized. I’m always a lot neater when I know other people are going to see my work. So, in a hope to make things more coherent for myself, I’m going to let you in on what I have to far.

What I like about Spelljammer

Science fiction minus the science

Practically any science fiction trope you can think of fits into the setting, but when it comes to the actual science, it’s this weird-ass mix of a classical Greek and medieval alchemist understanding of the cosmos.

You don’t have to worry about players “um, actually”-ing you about what happens in the vacuum of space, because it’s actually not even a vacuum!

Magic = FTL

Despite the previous point, its science is actually still relatively “hard” when it comes to internal consistency and logical consequences to its different laws of reality than our own. The magic, on the other hand, is magic. My headcanon is that the speed of light imposes a hard limit, but magic is the one thing able to ignore it.

While people could theoretically pull off a no-magic spacecraft launch (if they had a few thousand more years of technological development), for the most part, if something is in space, it’s probably because a wizard decided they wanted it to be in space.

Weird-ass spaceships

Since a spaceship is “anything you can put a spelljamming throne in,” you get a delightful mix of regular boats, classic pulp sci-fi or space opera spaceships, weird organic tentacled things, and whatever else strikes your fancy.

What if a dragon died and all the kobolds that worshipped it somehow got enough spell slots to just pilot its corpse into space and start fucking shit up?

Sadly, Spelljammer doesn’t offer a lot of customization, instead just relying on a wide catalogue of weird ships used by different aliens.

Wizards

What I like about PBTA

Adaptable to basically any setting

There is a great wealth of hacks I can draw from

These two points go hand in hand. I haven’t, however, been able to find a specifically spelljammer-inspired PBTA hack, so that’s why I’m doing this.

The PBTA games I’ve read through in creating this (so far) are  Uncharted Worlds, Dungeon World, and the original Apocalypse World.

Encourages little preparation

My biggest challenge in running a game that’s interstellar in scope is my instinct to pre-prepare everything, which is already problem if I think I need to make an entire country, let alone an entire planet. But now we’re talking not only a planet but every planet.

While you can do worldbuilding as the GM for a PBTA game, you can also not do any, and let the players do all the work for you upon character creation. Dungeon World is especially good at this.

It’s fun

I’ve enjoyed every PBTA game I’ve been a player or a GM for, no exceptions (so far).

It’s extremely easy to teach people

Most of my friends are not as into learning new systems as I am. But most of them have already played at least one PBTA system, and if they haven’t, it wouldn’t be as much of a hassle as say, AD&D or Traveller.

What I like about GLOG

The four-template class blueprint

If PBTA character sheets are streamlined, I don’t even know what I’d call GLOG character sheets.

I don’t know if I’d shave my classes down quite as much, but I’m definitely taking notes from GLOG’s designs.

GLOG spellcasting

This is one of the things I like most about GLOG.

Spell dice to power FTL? Maybe 1 die per 30 light years or whatever, and the sum determines how fast the trip can be made? Doubles and triples can be malfunctions or space pirate attacks or something.

A shit ton of classes

I think I’d like to limit it to 10 or so classes, but I’m definitely going to get inspiration from some of the weirder GLOG classes along with the classes fighters/wizards/rogues.

An emphasis on interesting problem-solving

I think this is more just good game design than GLOG itself.

Encourages taking a weirder spin on fantasy lore that’s often taken for granted

Again, this seems like it’s just good worldbuilding, but a lot of GLOGgish writings do this, and I’d like to follow in their footsteps.

What I like (and dislike) about Traveller

I don’t like how obtuse it is

Reading the book sort of overwhelms me. It’s like they didn’t even try to make it accessible. It’s just endless black text on a white background, tables and diagrams strewn about haphazardly, and no art, not even just at the beginnings and ends of sections. The cover is a black void to symbolize the state of my mind after reading three pages.

When it comes to spaceships, I like a lot of crunch and granularity in their design

Something I found myself wishing for when playing Uncharted Worlds was a more involved ship design process. While they did clearly take notes from Traveller, it’s nothing like the original.

I don’t know what it is about spaceships. Characters I like simple and streamlined, but I guess reading through power plant matrices and choosing software and balancing it all on a budget gets me into the headspace I actually believe a spaceship creator would be in, whereas I don’t think the creation of a person usually involves that sort of design process.

I'm neutral on the crunch for everything else, but I think it's at odds with PBTA sensibilities

Plus, as I sort of mentioned in the PBTA section, I want my mostly 5e-playing friends to be willing to test this with me.

I like the psionics

I really like psionics, and I think Traveller properly captures the feel that I like for them.

However, I’m not a fan of “anyone can test their psionic abilities and then roll to maybe get powers.” I’m going to have a psionic class, which a character can start in if they want to have psionic powers, or they can multiclass into later if they want to discover their psionic potential later on. If they don’t want their character to have latent potential, they can just never take any levels in the class.

I dislike the highly-defined setting

I know it’s supposed to be adaptable to most sci-fi settings, but the books reference their own universe and history so much that it doesn’t really feel that way.

How do I synthesize this all into one game?

Setting-wise, I’m mostly drawing from Spelljammer, as well as Star Wars, Numenera, and my own imagination. I don’t want to define many specific planets or empires or sectors or whatever since I prefer most of the worldbuilding work be done by players during character creation. Also, if you know of any very low-science space fantasy fiction that I should read, please send it my way.

I do have very specific ideas about how I want spaceships and space travel to work, which I think need their own post later. You might get a pretty good sense of what I’m going for from the Spelljammer and Traveller sections, though. My plan is to take advantage of something like Traveller’s very granular and in-depth ship creation to let players make their own completely batshit Spelljammer-style spaceships. I think a ship needs its own character sheet.

I’m doing the PBTA thing where each class has a character sheet. I haven’t decided whether I’m doing the standard 6 stats or making up some weird ones. The former is definitely easier to sell to people but I think the latter is cooler.  Also, since you need a spellcasting class to have FTL what do you do if nobody picks one? I don’t want to get in a situation where I have to tell them “one of you needs to switch classes,” that just feels bad and could create animosity. A solution I’m slightly leaning towards is having only one of each character sheet, then making sure there’s always one fewer non-spellcasting class option than there are players, so by pure mathematics someone will end up able to power the ship, and I don’t need to force anyone to change on my own. The issue there is then I can’t have more than 3-5 non-spellcasting class options depending on party size, and I’d prefer a larger and more varied class pool. Another option would be to have magic hirelings available, but I want spellcasters with the ability to do FTL to feel like these big, weird, and powerful personalities, so having them just available as hirelings sort of it cheapens that in my opinion.  Maybe it’s not actually important that the party always have access to their own interstellar travel? I could see the PCs being like a bunch of interstellar hitchhikers. Very Douglas Adams. 

That’s just about everything that I don’t think needs a separate post. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any thoughts about this potential horrible chimera of a system I’d love to hear them! You can reach me here through Tumblr or at Robot_Face#7919 on the OSR discord server.

[preux-chevalier]

With the caveat that I haven't actually finished watching the show with my own eyeballs and not through gifsets, here are some thoughts about who would play what. (cc @bethanyactually)

First I want to make the distinction between what classes they as people would be from a meta perspective (ie a D&D au of the show), and what classes the actual characters would want to play in-universe. This is a list of the latter, although I do have additional thoughts on the former.

George: Barbarian. I suspect she'd initially be the least enthusiastic about the general concept of playing D&D, but she agrees because the rest of the crew is so excited, and picks barbarian because it's not complicated like any of the magic classes and she might as well hit stuff really hard. She'd 100% end up getting way more invested in it than anyone, including her, expects after the adrenaline rush of hitting some crits.

Bess: Druid. She would unironically love the idea of a Disney princess-style situation where small cute animals and flowers follow her around, and there are enough interesting subclasses that she could really indulge her chaotic side. I also considered bard - she'd get a kick out of a really melodramatic actor type - but I think the flavouring of druids and ability to change spells whenever she feels like it would appeal to her more.

Ace: Monk. I'm willing to bet he has watched a LOT of action movies and the idea of being a Jackie Chan / ninja / Force ghost / airbender / whatever other pop culture thing his subclass allows for would be fuckin sick. Despite the somewhat stoner-level reasoning (said with affection) in the previous sentence, he's also smart enough to relish the more complex aspects of the class, and I suspect he'd actually end up being the best tactician of the crew, which he could really put to good use with a monk.

Ned: Cleric. Dude took one look at the rest of the group's characters and went "well, someone has to be the healer." (Technically Bess can heal too, but we all know damn well she's going to prioritize doing crazy druid shit, as is her right.) There's a huge variety of options for domain, too, so he still has a lot of flexibility around what kind of vibe he wants to have in addition to healing.

And Nancy...

This is the hardest one for me by far. I think it's partially because Nancy herself is so quintessentially a paladin - fundamentally driven by her sense of justice and willing to charge without hesitation into objectively insane and/or dangerous situations in the name of uncovering the truth. (Probably also a multiclass into rogue, because her first instinct in the face of literally any difficulty in canon is "how can I commit a crime about this?") But that's the D&D au perspective, not what she as a person would want to play, and I have a hard time imagining her playing as one.

I absolutely cannot see her playing any kind of warlock, given the whole patron / bargain situation and... yknow.... all the heinous entity shit that happens to her in the show. I also feel like she maybe would get frustrated with wizard or sorcerer, despite the potential for creativity, because they're not at all durable and I don't think she'd enjoy relying on strategic avoidance and other tankier characters to stay alive, even in a game.

Of the remaining options, I think she'd opt for a ranger. It's a half-caster, allowing her to make use of both physical combat (either ranged or melee, despite the archer stereotypes) and spellcasting ability. That versatility would appeal to her, and while rangers aren't THE most self-reliant class on a gameplay level, the flavouring generally involves being self-sufficient and alert in the wild, and she'd be able to handle herself in a variety of situations in a way a lot of other classes can't.

Anyway, that's my take on the Drew Crew adventuring party. Curious if anyone else has different thoughts!

After a very productive chat, @bethanyactually and I have decided we need a Community-style Drew Crew D&D campaign.

Picture Connor as GM, but they’re only involved because Ace works at the morgue, and he’s really reluctant to run it for them, but it turns out being amazing because they have a lot of experience with Situations and Decisions.

[rosebramblewolf]

there should be a hexworld tabletop rpg. with extensive homebrewing you could maybe cobble d&d into a campaign setting for it but hhhhhhhh not really

but it seems like the classes would be witch, familiar, hexman (hexperson really but this is the 19th century so), and like. whatever cool word you could come up with for a regular/nonmagical person who can still handle themself in a fight. maybe in three flavors: fighty, healy, and sneaky.

hexbreakers are canonically super rare so i wouldnt make them a class of their own, theyd be like an optional feat-type situation where your gm could allow or disallow you playing as one. hexman could be a starting class or something you picked up a level or two of later, that would be optional, but you cant multiclass witch to familiar for obvious reasons, and then anyone would be able to pick up the fighty and healy nonmagical classes if they wanted, or you could hardcore specialize in it and not have any magic at all, although my instinct would be that most people wouldnt want to play as that, but that might be my own bias against the d&d staple Human Fighter coming out

so maybe you’d have witch and familiar classes which could then be combined or not with the freely-intermixable hexman, brawler, medic, and thief. so for instance jamie would have been a witch who took levels in brawler and hexman over the years. tom would be a witch/brawler with the hexbreaker feat. nick is familiar/medic/brawler. rook and mal are familiar/thief. owen and dominic are witch/hexman. cicero is pure familiar. and so on.

and then you’ve got the different jobs people take kind of like how backgrounds work in 5e informing what kind of resources your character has to draw on, can they put in a call to someone and have allies show up to help, do they have a bunch of money they can throw at a problem when they need to, how do the variously organized (or not) factions of npcs react to them, where (if anywhere) can they go for safety, are they the person you go to for the fiddly detailed knowledge of a thing, owen for instance would have some kind of a scholar background and be better set up to roll well for esoteric hex info and would probably have like. old professors or something that he could write to who would be able to put him in touch with experts in other fields. and whether you had that background or not - nick doesnt - would determine not how skilled your medic was at medicine but whether they actually had an m.d.