Circle of Time | A Time-themed Spell, and on higher level spell design

Most D&D campaigns don't reach Tier 3 (that is to say levels 11+), which is a real shame when it comes to features and spells. At those levels, there is room for a lot of really, really funky stuff—stuff that doesn't necessarily break balance, but does break universal laws.

Now, I'm not a D&D lore guy, but one thing I know for sure (as it is used in the majority of fantasy settings, even beyond D&D) is that high level magic just isn't as common as low level magic. Even in magic rich settings such as Eberron, high magic is rare at best. The reason is simple: this is the magic that is simply beyond the scope of what many people should be able to do; if multiple parties could use this magic, the world would be changed heavily.

That is where the fun homebrew comes in!

At lower levels, most spells will focus around usability. Things like fireball, haste and shield are staples because they are good spells for what they do, and nothing can really stand up to those sorts of spells in the competition of limited spell lists. At higher levels, while this competition is still common, I've noticed that spells become less about the players, and more for the DMs to give to powerful rivals. Spells like disintegrate are good, great even, but what makes it a 6th-level spell isn't the damage (after all, all damage can be tweaked to fit the appropriate spell level), it's really the fact that things killed by this spell can only be brought back with the highest level of magic: wish and true resurrection. This shows us how serious spells can be at these levels, and that's where Circle of Time really draws its roots.

Recently, I read the novel Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman and it immediately had me thinking how magic in D&D could emulate the amazing worlds described. While most of the different models shown in the book were worldwide, stuff like time moving slower the higher you are, or the fastest you are going, a couple caught my eye as being perfect for a spell. Those criteria were simple, the effect described needed to not affect everything, but to still be impactful enough that if it were seen in the world, a player would be amazed. Circle of Time was based on a concept of a center of time somewhere in the world. The closer you were to the center, the slower time was for you, and the further you were, the faster time was (time is relative, after all). The novel talked about some people journeying to this center of time to endlessly receive good emotions such as pride, getting themselves frozen in time at the very center to forever enjoy the moment. 

In the spell, these sorts of mechanics are reflected by paralysis at the center, and slower speeds as you grow closer. The spell is not really usable in combat, as it affects the entire area evenly, ally or foe, and is designed to trap you in it. Regardless, it's quite usable as a feature of a campaign. Perhaps a BBEG wishes to not grow old, trapping themselves in a Circle of Time to never lose their youth, or maybe a character is scared of something of their past, wishing to remove the problem through the passage of time by waiting in such a spell.

I hope this sort of spell is usable in your campaigns, whether by players or DMs. High level spells have always fascinated me, simply because of their astounding potential for world shattering effects, and I certainly plan on releasing others I've made! 

P.S. I promise I'll be back to my regularly scheduled barbarians soon haha. I plan on having a couple other non-barbarian brews first, one post on the artificer class, one for some thematic magic items, and maybe one post on revising official content, but I think they'll all be pretty fun!

Canadian Animal Totems | Path of the Totem Warrior expansion, and on brewing totem spirits

This brew was inspired by Rain-Junkie's Australian Animal Totems. When I saw that brew, I thought to myself how if they're Australian and did that, I could do it as a Canadian. 

The Totem Warrior is a really great example of what I call subsubclasses. With a choice of different animal 'paths' through the levels, a player has not only chosen a subclass (Path of the Totem Warrior), they also get to customize their character further, gaining features related to bears, wolves, and eagles (and later in WotC's development, elk and tigers.) To me, this kind of customization is awesome—even though I love simplicity, getting to tailor your character perfectly is really enjoyable.

In a brewing sense, I'm also a big fan of the Totem Warrior. The PHB only provides a very limited amount of animals to play with, and SCAG offers even fewer, which is really a shame as there are a lot of animals out there. To return to Rain-Junkie's brew, when I read it, I felt that some people would find a good connection to being able to use those animals; being able to play something that feels like home is almost always a good feeling. Knowing of that feeling, I decided that it would be really cool if I made some similar totems that felt like Canada. (Of course, the idea then went into an ideas folder and wasn't touched for several months until I got it out a couple weeks ago!)

Now, I also wanted to talk a bit about the design space of totems. Right off the bat, at 3rd level, we can see that there is a definite variation in power level between these. Bear gives resistance to all damage, covering all the elements and such that rage normally can't cover, but Tiger only gives a jump increase. Now, the other PHB totems do lean closer to Bear than Tiger, but this shows that we have a lot of room to play with.

At 6th level, most of the totems get ribbons or otherwise weak features. Of course, as the 3rd level is normally quite potent, the budget here is smaller. At 14th level, they normally get something pretty decent. Wolf, Elk, and Tiger being offensive, and very potent when stacked with how prone never really dips to being bad, and Bear's kiting ability allows it to tank very consistently for the whole party. At these two levels, the power level is a lot closer to itself than at 3rd level.

Anyways, that's enough rambling for today. I hope you enjoy the brew as much as I do!

Path of the Garden | Barbarian Subclass, and on ribbons

This is a relatively new subclass I started working on last weekend. Barbarian is definitely my favorite class to brew for, and it shows in the amount I make of them!

To start, this brew's combat loop is about the same complexity as the Path of the Tempest's. At the start of your turn while raging, or when you enter a rage, you create a bloom of flowers, essentially a land mine. When another creature gets too close, you can use your reaction to trigger it, causing damage. Sometimes, it may be wise to let a couple creatures move in first, then trigger, and it can also be used to control the space, blocking off certain routes on the battlefield. 

For this homebrew, I tried to get some features that were very much ribbons (Flowercraft and Orchard Walk), and features that essentially scaled off each other (the other three). With the combat loop of placing blooms, the class is encouraged to move through the field, potentially drawing others towards bombs, or moving around to control an area. It could equally spend its time staying on one target in melee, forcing them to make saving throws or choose to take opportunity attacks.

I'd also like to talk about ribbon features. In 5e, most abilities can be split between "rocks" and "ribbons". Rocks are core features; in this subclass, Blooming Petals, Sakura Flurry, and Seasonal Bloom are rocks. Ribbons are thematic features, adding to the flavor of a brew without messing with its balance; in this subclass, Flowercraft is a ribbon, while Seasonal Bloom is somewhat of a mix between a ribbon and a rock (leaning heavily towards ribbon).

In brewing, one of the most important things of a brew is it's thematic, specifically how the player can feel that thematic when playing it. A ribbon feature can be something small, such as borrowing an effect from a cantrip or minor feat (like Flowercraft does, taken from druidcraft), or could be a bit larger, but only situationally useful. If you look at some official content, you'll see ribbon features all over the place, which is a great place to start adding these thematics into your own games. Some prime examples include Storm Sorcerer's Storm Guide, Paladin's Divine Sense, Ranger's Primeval Sense, the second half of Ranger's Vanish, Horizon Walker Ranger's Detect Portal, and Grave Cleric's Eyes of the Grave. Another good place to look is in cantrips and feats, such as druidcraft, prestidigitation, Observant, Keen Mind, and others of that style. Adding ribbons into a brew helps a lot, and in my opinion, the best homebrews are often set apart by the inclusion of ribbons (either as stand alone features, or integrated into other features), which allow them to masterfully make the flavour of the brew really stand out!

Next time, I plan on releasing some new animal tokens for the Totem Warrior Barbarian!

Path of the Tempest | Barbarian Subclass, and on combat loops

This is a subclass I've been tinkering on for a couple months (I had started it right after posting my Sun Domain here), and it is definitely one I'm pretty happy with.

As a quick recap, the Path of the Tempest channels the power of a storm through its raging, able to manifest abilities such as teleporting around the battlefield to attack and evade, emitting minor charges to hamper enemies, and creating electric bursts. The 'core' ability of the subclass is certainly its L3, the Lightning Step, which allows for short teleportation and attacking along the line of teleportation (creating an interesting AoE effect). This ability is what I'll be touching on most today, as it is the basis for the rest of the subclass to play on, and ultimately is really what the player will be using most.

In my homebrewing experience, one bit of feedback I've gotten a lot is about a concept I like to call "Combat Loops". Effectively, this is what the player will be doing every fight on a regular basis, with no cost, or rather, no cost that won't likely be gotten back by the next encounter. For example, one could say that the Combat Loop of a fighter is to take the Attack action every turn and use their Action Surge feature on the first round of every combat. Another example is that the Combat Loop of a cleric is to cast Toll the Dead (or Sacred Flame) using your action, starting the first round casting Spiritual Weapon as a bonus action, and using your subsequent bonus actions to continue attacking with it. This loop could be interrupted with other spells, but in general, this is what one could expect (when number crunching) of what a cleric would do. Identifying a subclass or class's Combat Loop helps us analyze it better, ensuring that its damage isn't too low or high. (This is a vital step before you should even think about playtesting. Running the numbers will make sure your stuff is balanced while playtesting will show if it's fun.)

Now, for barbarians, I'll analyze the Combat Loop a bit more specifically. Overall, most barbarians will be spending their turn immediately entering a rage, then taking the Attack action. On subsequent turns, a barbarian will use their action to continue to Attack, while some barbarians (such as berserker) will start using their bonus action to use their subclass features. The Path of the Tempest starts the same as others, and on subsequent turns will be using Lightning Step to move across groups of enemies, so as to proc the lightning/thunder damage. This sort of loop encourages a lot of movement around the battlefield, which should ensure the player is more actively engaged on their turns (as they will need to pay attention to their position much more than the "I attack whatever is nearest to me" that I hear so often!)

In future posts (especially subclasses), I'm going to touch on what the Combat Loop is for the brew, in addition to the rest of the quick recap! Hopefully, I'll have the next brew ready within the next two weeks; a month and a half is much too long!

Sun Domain | Cleric Subclass, and the design of Channel Divinity investment and similar thematic spaces

This is my first blog post so I decided to start with something I feel I'm quite proud of. This subclass was made during a bout of cleric subclass making and I wanted it to feel special. 

Most of my previous domains used a level 6 feature that didn't interact with Channel Divinity, and I wanted to try something new. Furthermore, I didn't really want to make a Channel Divinity option at level 6 either, since it didn't fit my image of the class. After some brainstorming, I eventually came across Caim's Divinity Domain. 

The Divinity Domain moves away from the concept of being a cleric that worships a god, instead, it makes you into a person with a spark of divinity. While the concept is certainly uncommon and many believe its thematic shouldn't be done, I was immediately drawn to its main mechanic and how it works so elegantly.

At 1st level, you get a new damage option called Light of Judgement, a spell attack that deals 1d6 + your Wisdom modifier. At 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to create a pair of wings, and while you have these wings, you can fly and use Light of Judgement as a bonus action. At 6th level, the initial damage increases, and when you use your Channel Divinity, you can choose to expend multiple uses of it t create more pairs of wings. For each additional pair, you deal more damage, and your flying speed increases.

With the Sun Domain, I took a similar mechanic. At 2nd level, you can create a chariot pulled by a pair of solar steeds. Multiple creatures can be in the chariot, and while in there, there is a great bonus to mobility and defense. At 6th, you can use more uses of Channel Divinity at once, creating more pairs of solar steeds, increasing the chariot's base statistics, its speed, and grants you resistances. When you use all three Channel Divinities, you gain immunities, and the flying speed increases even more.

Now, another side of the Sun Domain is its thematic similarities to the Light Domain. Basically, the Sun Domain could be seen as a Light Domain variant, due to how similar they are. 

Frankly, this was a known issue from when I first sat down to write it. Instead of trying to really separate it thematically, I decided to embrace those similarities and invest in the mechanical differences. Each subclass shares common mechanical themes, such as blinding light, radiance, and the whole concept of emitting light, but each takes those notes in separate directions. 

At 1st level, the Light Domain blinds enemies and protects allies at the same time, while the Sun Domain uses its action (later bonus action) to heal and impose the blinded condition on foes. Both have to do with 'blinding light' and 'protecting allies', but each does it in very different ways.

At 17th level, the Light Domain gains an aura of light. At 2nd, the Sun Domain's chariot also produces light. While the Light Domain's is offensive, giving disadvantage on rolls, the Sun Domain's is attached to a defense/mobility feature, with the light being mainly a ribbon.

With the mechanics, the Sun Domain's use of the Solar Chariot is really what makes it separate from the Light Domain. Because of the Light Domain's broad scope, it would not be able to have such a feature, since it would only fit one narrow thematic. The Sun Domain embraces that thematic, meaning it can use such features.

To conclude, while the Sun Domain fits within the thematic of the Light Domain, its different mechanics, especially those that fit only a narrow theme, set it apart and allow it to have its own space beside the Light Domain, instead of underneath!