October Brew Fest: Week 0

October Brew Fest: Week 0

This is the last post for the brew festival warmup week, and as classic as it gets for my content: The Chronomancer origin was the first homebrew subclass I ever made, and one of the few I’ve gotten to play a character for! His name was Nabi, a Kenku who managed to escape the curse that stripped his people of their voice, but still had his mind ravaged and his wings taken. Anyway, onto the bits you might care about, I’ve updated this a small bit. Primarily, I replaced an old text box with some weak advice about handling time travel, and replaced it with explanations of what I mean by ‘Temporal Anchor’ and what abilities can interact with the Dislodge Temporal Anchor feature. It’s not much- really, to support using this in more interesting ways, I’d need to brew up some spells. If there’s interest for this subclass, I might brew some up when the festival is over.

Everybody wants to time travel, right? The Chronomancer makes this possible, at least in the short term, for your local 5th edition sorcerer.  In case tumblr destroys the document, click through here: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ryRG9GCK- Alternatively, check me out on: https://5eforge.wixsite.com/foundry 

October Brew Fest: Week 0

This is the last post for the brew festival warmup week, and as classic as it gets for my content: The Chronomancer origin was the first homebrew subclass I ever made, and one of the few I’ve gotten to play a character for! His name was Nabi, a Kenku who managed to escape the curse that stripped his people of their voice, but still had his mind ravaged and his wings taken. Anyway, onto the bits you might care about, I’ve updated this a small bit. Primarily, I replaced an old text box with some weak advice about handling time travel, and replaced it with explanations of what I mean by ‘Temporal Anchor’ and what abilities can interact with the Dislodge Temporal Anchor feature. It’s not much- really, to support using this in more interesting ways, I’d need to brew up some spells. If there’s interest for this subclass, I might brew some up when the festival is over.

Everybody wants to time travel, right? The Chronomancer makes this possible, at least in the short term, for your local 5th edition sorcerer.  In case tumblr destroys the document, click through here: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ryRG9GCK- Alternatively, check me out on: https://5eforge.wixsite.com/foundry 

The Leviathan patron should appeal to seadwelling spellcasters who want to double down on their theme and land-dwellers looking to take a plunge into the depths alike.

Crush your opponents with the weight of the oceans, plunge them into its darkness, and when they know longer know how to raise a hand against you- strike them down. If the Tumblr wrecks the document, or you just want a PDF, click through this link!

You can also check me out on my Wix site, where all my articles and best homebrews are compiled!

The Leviathan patron should appeal to seadwelling spellcasters who want to double down on their theme and land-dwellers looking to take a plunge into the depths alike.

Crush your opponents with the weight of the oceans, plunge them into its darkness, and when they know longer know how to raise a hand against you- strike them down. If the Tumblr wrecks the document, or you just want a PDF, click through this link!

You can also check me out on my Wix site, where all my articles and best homebrews are compiled!

October Brew Fest: Week 0

This is our first warmup post for the October Brew Fest, and our first update! These images are an updated version of the document. I’ve added a few boring wording changes, but I also added a new fluff paragraph acknowledging humans with lower or higher degrees of empathy and ambition, as well as a note box explaining the once-obscure alert sleeper trait.

I’ve always loved the freedom that comes with playing humans, but hated how 5th Edition DnD stripped them of their identity. This lets you play a human that’s distinctly, well, human!

In case tumblr destroys the document, click through here: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ryzHFVw_Q Alternatively, check me out on: https://5eforge.wixsite.com/foundry

October Brew Fest: Week 0

We’re still in the blog warmup phase for now, so I’m bringing back Conversion Kits.

This is an article series I’ll be bringing back (and continuing) this month, where the goal is to transform your character with just a few choices. The motto is Minimum Investment, Maximum Impact.

Now that I have more eyes on them, if these articles do well, I may post more in the future.

Conversion Kit: The Assassin

Continuing my Conversion Kit series of articles, we discuss the Assassin subclass! Turn any character into a master of ambushes and terribly efficient killer with just three levels of Rogue.

Below the readmore, you can find Additional Support for this kit, as well as Pitfalls and Character Suggestions.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Rogue, selecting the Assassin archetype at level 3.

Overall Impact: Your character now has the mechanical backing to follow through on clever schemes with lethal force.

Investment

Much like our last conversion kit, once you select the Assassin subclass, you can immediately set off to do what assassins do best. Once again, you’ll need to satisfy the multiclassing requirement- just a score of 13 in Dexterity, plus a score of 13 in whatever attribute your other class of choice requires.

You don’t necessarily need a Dexterity higher than this, but remember that your bonus to Stealth rolls keys off of it. You can mitigate the problems of a low Dexterity score by taking proficiency in Stealth and using the Rogue’s Expertise feature to double your proficiency bonus.

Truth be told, you can abandon Stealth entirely if it doesn’t fit your concept. However,  you’ll want to keep in mind that the assassin’s primary feature requires Surprise. While by the Rules as Written, Stealth is the only way to gain surprise, many GMs will allow betrayals or sudden strikes to grant surprise.

Perhaps you can take advantage of Deception or Persuasion to lure your target into a false sense of security, or use a spell like Dimension Door or Invisibility to suddenly appear behind (or even before) a foe and strike them down.

All that said, regardless of the method you’d like to use, you’re very likely to want stealth proficiency. It’s the least reliant on GM interpretation and applies to the greatest variety of situations.

Narrative Impact

Though the most apparent Narrative for a character using this kit is that of a professional murderer, it is by no means the only route you can take.   Your character is now mechanically incredibly reliant on first strikes. Hunters-turned-warriors (such as most rangers) gravitate to this approach to combat by default, but characters lacking the stomach for battle might turn to this path to end fights quickly. Elite warriors might prefer ambush tactics, and even certain paladins may find a swift death to be all that their foes deserve. In truth, you could utterly ignore this kit’s narrative impact and carry on as if you had never taken a single level in another class. However, I’m inclined to see that as something of a wasted opportunity to set your character apart- where did your character learn to fight dirty? Do they see it as a necessary evil and regret their actions, or do they believe they’re justified as there’s no justice on the battlefield?

Mechanical Impact

From a mechanical perspective, the Assassin offers lethal first-strikes. Whatever your method of attack- a greatsword, a spell, thrown dagger- your Assassinate feature guarantees you a Critical Hit, as long as the attack hits a surprised target.

I cannot emphasize enough how unbelievably good a Guaranteed Critical Hit is in Fifth Edition D&D, and believe me, if I had a way to highlight that bolded, italicized, underlined phrase I would use it. I thought about including a gif of someone slapping a desk. I need you to see those words and realize what they mean.

A critical hit multiplies all of your damage dice. If you can find bonus dice, you’re going to hit incredibly hard. If you have multiple attacks, they will all be critical hits. A critical hit on a Paladin’s Smite or Rogue’s sneak attack is a lucky break. A full round’s worth of critical hits on a Fighter’s attack routine or a Wizard’s Scorching Ray is a dream. Get the drop on an enemy, and that dream is your reality.

The simple truth is, the Assassinate feature alone is enough to enable ambushes as a tactic.

Keep reading