Announcing: October Brewfest 2021

Announcing: October Brewfest 2021

MStMuch like last year, for the month of October, I'll be showing off a different brew every (week) day until October 29th. That's a grand total of 20 days of brews, and that discounts the days that will double dip! And, as a bonus, I'll be posting a few extras throughout the end of this week to get the blog warmed up before we start in earnest. I’ll give you all the themes in advance, but you’ll have to wait until sunday the week of for a proper schedule. Here’s the rough itinerary for this year’s brewfest:

Week 0: Warmup

Just like last year, I’ll drop a few miscellaneous brews until I drop the week 1 schedule on the 3rd.

Week 1: Unity

Nothing like coming together over a cup of warm brew as the Autumn chill rolls in. This week will see a smattering of new subclasses themed around team-play and loyalty, as well as as a whole new Unity Dice System to encourage team play that otherwise offers little benefit.

Week 2: The Veil Festival

Once everyone’s brought together, it’s time to celebrate. And what more exciting to celebrate than the thinning of the veil between worlds? Of course, we’ll need entertainers, and a few guards to keep the otherworldly at bay- and of course, some scholarly types will be around to study any strange phenomena. That’s where this week’s subclass options come in.

Week 3: Strange Craft

While the average folk clear out before the veil slips away entirely, some folk will be looking for just the right set of circumstances to accomplish what might otherwise be impossible. This week will be low on new subclasses, but will see new ideas regarding crafting in DnD 5e.

Week 4: Monsters

Even the most intrepid of crafters will clear out as the month nears its end and strange beasts rear their heads. Ready yourselves for a full week of monster stat blocks using my unit and paragon monster rules!

Just boosting a friend of mine who does good art- you’re all DnD nerds here, you’re bound to have a character you could use a sketch of, right?

hi all! i’m opening some simple, clean sketch commissions :) if interested, feel free to dm me! you can also find me on twit & insta @ jojeema :D

Looking for something, Traveler?

If you’re looking for any of my old brews, here are links to the Homebrewery pages (or a Wix page that hosts the PDF!)

I’ve tried to catch everything, but if I missed something you like, by all means let me know!

There are links below, but you can always check out my wixsite to my full range of content! It’s much better organized than this tumblr.

Subclasses

Barbarian Path

Path of the Rageborn [Commission]- high risk, high reward. Rage early, rage often, and slay them before they can slay you.

Druid Circles

Chimera and Titan- shape into strange and titanic beasts!

Emissary- bring a helpful and intelligent animal companion along for your adventures!

Martial Archetypes

Combat Superiority Archetypes (and more)- if you like the Battle Master’s combat superiority, look no further: the Captain, Expunger, and Vanguard  archetypes, as well as several new feats, open the mechanic up to characters than ever.

Classic Martial Archetypes- the Bastion, Skirmisher, and Shock Trooper open up well-loved but difficult to execute combat styles!

Monastic Tradition

Way of the Long Stride [Commission]-  leverage your exceptional speed to fell your foes.

Ranger Conclave

Trapper- utilize several unique trap designs to keep foes on their heels, then capitalize on the openings.

Roguish Archetypes

Sapper- deliver your sneak attacks through cunning improvised traps, and sabotage your foes’ every step.

Unseen Seer- Add a splash of divination magic to your toolkit, and pry secretys from even your most well protected foes.

Sorcerous Origin

Chronomancer- having been wrenched from your place in time, time now bends to your will.

Warlock Patron

Leviathan- a denizen of the deep isolates your foes and and lends its crushing power.

Wizard Traditions

Hedge Wizardry- practice strange, archaic forms of magic- and lean into some pop-culture witch aesthetics.

School of the Arc- combine the precision of the bow with the raw power of magic.

Races

Humans, Expanded- give humans an identity with five subraces to choose from!

Merfolk- slip below the waves with three subraces of merfolk, from the familiar coastal merfolk to the otherworldly deep merfolk.

Player Advice Articles are Below the Cut

Conversion Kits

The Arcane Sapper- utilize your Familiar and Glyph of Warding to tip encounters before initiative is rolled.

The Assassin- master the art of the ambush for any class or fighting style.

The Battlemaster- develop a unique martial style and enhance your attack routines.

The Dirty Fighter- utilize improvised weapons and unarmed strikes to become truly unpredictable.

The Spellsword- blend cantrips and weapons into a cohesive and threatening style.

2020 October Brewfest Finale!

This post compiles (cleaned up versions) of the statblocks I’ve posted throughout the fest. If you need the rules for Paragon Monsters or Units, view them (and these statblocks) at the homebrewery.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this month’s content, even if things got a little messy at the end, and I appreciate all of your support!

Next saturday, I’ll be posting a compilation of homebrewery links to everything I’ve posted over the course of the brewfest, as well as updating my site with the content that stayed on tumblr throughout the festival.

DnD's 'Evolution' and Why We Probably Shouldn't Freak Out

So a new set of core rulebooks was announced recently. Due to drop in 2024 if I'm hearing right. Look, I don't have a ton to say on this front, but I see some folks getting a little worked up and I just want to address it. First of all, I frankly don't think this is going to be as big a deal as some folks think it is. I think what we'll see more than anything will be some coalescing of various errata and rules tweaks from Tasha's and Xanathar's. Basically, I think this is an organization effort, in line with what's happening with Mordenkainen Presents the Monsters of the Multiverse for monsters and player races. We might see some updating of core subclasses to be more in line with recent design philosophy. I don't think we're going to see any major overhauls of what already exists, given the desire for everything to be backwards compatable. So to those folks hoping to see a major paradigm shift in DnD 5e- I wouldn't hold my breath, but we can always hope. Those folks who are a little apprehensive of what this 'evolution' entails- I wouldn't worry too much. And you'll always have your old books (or PDFs, or wherever else you get your stats). And here's the thing- the only edition of DnD that matters is your edition. I can assure you that unless you're playing AL you are not playing the same game my group is, or even the same game your group will play if one of the players steps up to DM. There are still folks playing OD&D and AD&D (and having a ton of fun doing it)! Hacking the game has been in this community's DNA since day 1- Hell, Pathfinder 1e is pretty much just a very zealous hack of 3.5. If you want to see major changes, don't sit on your hands until they release '5.5' or whatever they call this 'evolution' when the dust settles, make tweaks and experiment. Find what works for you. Find your edition. All that said- I'm optimistic. In the best case, these tweaks all turn out to be for the better and we all have a great time. In the most likely case, we each love and hate a different mix of whatever they change, and we house rule as we always have. In the worst case scenario, we get a huge case study in what doesn't work and maybe plenty of inspiration to take to our tables based on what we actually wanted to see. This isn't an end-times adapt or survive scenario, folks. Don't fear the changing of the seasons. Let's just see what's out there, shall we?

Week 4: Festivals and Fear Paragon Creature Preview (With Approximately 200% more statblocks)
All right, all right, I’m cheating a little- I’m going to have to break schedule this week. The School of the Veil (formerly of the Border) isn’t quite working out for me just yet, so it’s being delayed. It might be better off as a sorcerous origin, but that’s for another time.
Today, I offer you Two Additional Paragon Monsters to ease any potential frustrations and keep up that breakneck Brewfest pace. This serves as a sort of proof of concept- that concept being that Paragons are both a quick and dirty alternative to Legendary monsters, and one which offers a slightly different experience. 
I knocked these two additional statblocks out in roughly 30 minutes, because I generally just expanded on the existing abilities of the monster. The Centaur took the most work because it lacks existing special actions, so I had to expand on its skirmishing themes.
I hope you Enjoy- our Final post for the October Brew Festival is going to be a compilation of monster statblocks, including several that have already gone up, but potentially many more.
Enjoy!

(Fixing a typo on my phone appears to have annihilated the formatting on this post- I’ll have to fix it when I get off work, sorry folks!)