south moss
With the license finally released, I can share some of the things I've been working on! These are a set of 4 subclasses which are fully able to be played with the backer packet!
This is just the beginning.
Tamwin's Homebrew is an independent product published under the DRAW STEEL Creator License and is not affiliated with MCDM Productions, LLC. DRAW STEEL © 2024 MCDM Productions, LLC.
south moss
lol, youve been itching to release
oh you know it! And these were just the things I have "complete". I've got another 3 full classes in the works, as well as a number of kits (should have the kits out by monday-ish?)
rugged tree
would LOVE to see the kits. Ill check out these subclasses later tonight.
responsibilities...
ionic osprey
I really like the Wealth domain
south moss
Thank you! I have some fun ideas involving letting your party "trade" recoveries, but that's limited to higher levels.
ionic osprey
I wanna get to work on some Conduit domains, there’s a few big ones I feel are missing currently
Mainly Moon and Sea
slow leaf
You have my attention 👀
south moss
You have my attention 👀
Well, you have my subclasses now. Thoughts?
slow leaf
I'm still catching up on the discord backlogs lol
I plan to read it with/after the packet though! I'll give you my thoughts then! 
slow leaf
looks awesome Tamwin! My players love the College of Rats! 🐀
south moss
looks awesome Tamwin! My players love the College of Rats! 🐀
I'd love to hear their feedback! The college of rats especially can be difficult, because it has two main fantasies associated with it (become rat (literal) and become rat (metaphorical)), and neither of those is really attached to a combat fantasy. So I'm trying to get as much feedback as I can in terms of what vibe do they want, and what types of things they want to do.
slow leaf
not sure I can get written feedback from them (I'm mostly just discussing it with them in a Discord VC)
but when I mentioned the abilities, they really were drawn to them!
I myself also really like Bodyguard Doctrine; the idea of being able to mark allies as well as enemies is super clever!
south moss
not sure I can get written feedback from them (I'm mostly just discussing it wit...
doesn't need to be written, I care more about vibes and themes then specific nitty gritty
ionic osprey
You can technically mark allies already it just doesn’t do anything useful lol
slow leaf
well sure, but that's basically the same as "you cannot mark them"
the idea that it could provide different benefits when applied to them is the clever, cool part
south moss
I'll need to actually playtest it a bit. I've been going back and forth on if the ally mark should be just the damage immunity, or also give a bane on attacks.
slow leaf
that seems like an obvious way to buff it if it proves too weak in testing
south moss
yup!
I've also been going back and forth on how the Focus generation should work. It could be "when an ally who you marked doesn't take damage for a round, you gain 1 focus" but I didn't quite like the incentive to end of round/start of round cheese it, or that it meant you were better marking the shadow and having them hide, instead of protecting someone who actually needed it.
south moss
yup!
devout lake
These are awesome, really like how flavourful the bodyguard and assassin are. I feel the college of rats might be stepping on the toes of the Fury stormguy
south moss
These are awesome, really like how flavourful the bodyguard and assassin are. I ...
It is a bit. But part of that is because the Raden Stormwight Fury is just... better at doing Shadow things than Shadows are? universal edges to hide/sneak, auto tier 3 to remain hidden... it's a lot.
The main differences are that the College of Rats can't fight as a rat (though they can use being a rat to enter stealth, sneak around and get in position), they don't get benefits for attacking while climbing a target, and they don't get any temp stamina from transforming.
Also from a lore perspective, the college of Rats literally stole the secret of being able to transform into a rat. They are meant to feel a little similar.
slender root
Going through this now! Rat college using enemies for flanking is a fun idea
Fading away and hiding after killing a creature is very flavorful for the assassin
Love the quote on Bodyguard
"I'm Just the Help" is a really fun and flavorful non-combat feature. I can see it getting a lot of use.
Get Down works really well as a triggered action for Bodyguard. Makes perfect sense in the fiction and seems comparable in balance to all the other subclasses' triggered action options.
Wealth Domain's non-combat ability is really useful, too.
south moss
I do think that the Get Down triggered action is a little stronger than the others with the Focus generation, but that's because the friendly mark doesn't generate any focus itself.
south moss
"I'm Just the Help" is a really fun and flavorful non-combat feature. I can see ...
I've been using the "battle butler" and "competent loyal second" as the main inspirations for the Bodyguard's non-combat abilities.
keen igloo
Love the 5E homebrewry style - I'm looking forward to a DS style guide at some point 🙂
Also, LOVE the bodyguard too. My favorite of them all.
south moss
Also, LOVE the bodyguard too. My favorite of them all.
Thanks! What sorts of things would you want to see from them in the future?
keen igloo
Hmmm. That's a good question. Its a little hard atm without knowing what the higher levels will look like in terms of ability. That said, I can see a heroic bodyguard being more resilient to damage on their own as well as their ward, being able to deal damage to those that hurt their allies, better at awareness - maybe being able to do something like ALWAYS act first in initiative, even if the party loses - or get an extra turn once at the start of combat. Also, something like reconoitter where they can limit surprise on the party and spot threats.
The bodyguard sort of feels like the counter to the Insurgent Tactician too. The disadvantage might be that unlike the vanguard, they probably give up more damage except under certain circumstances, and aren't as useful to the entire party, rather than one character at a time.
south moss
Hmmm. That's a good question. Its a little hard atm without knowing what the hig...
Ooh, I like always getting to go first in initiative.
keen igloo
Ooh, I like always getting to go first in initiative.
As a general note, I think a cool feature either for bodyguard or general tactican might be like - 'while dying, you have damage immunity X'. Seems fun.
south moss
As a general note, I think a cool feature either for bodyguard or general tactic...
OOh, yes. I also know I'm going to let them take a dice of damage (d10? d6?) to take extra triggered actions
keen igloo
OOh, yes. I also know I'm going to let them take a dice of damage (d10? d6?) to ...
I wonder if you could even get away with just granting that on a signature ability. Something like 'Ready strike that does 2/4/7 damage maybe, and Effect: you gain an extra triggered action on your turn. So, you give up your sig ability for another triggered, in a way? Or just grant that feature on a T3 result?
south moss
I wonder if you could even get away with just granting that on a signature abili...
The dancer kit used to have a maneuver that restored a triggered action to another ally
I'm disinclined to make them spend actions to get extra triggered, especially if they need to do it in advance
keen igloo
I'm disinclined to make them spend actions to get extra triggered, especially if...
Maneuver with Focus cost perhaps?
south moss
either way though, subclasses don't get signature abilities (yet, anyway), so doesn't really work here
south moss
Maneuver with Focus cost perhaps?
more so that it feels bad to spend X to get extra triggered actions, and then not use/need them
where as the stamina cost is paid at the moment, it's never "wasted"
Now, I could have it be a Focus cost, but I'm also using the triggered action as their incidental focus generation. So that doesn't really work.
keen igloo
where as the stamina cost is paid at the moment, it's never "wasted"
That's fair. I wonder now if there are any other powers that require some foresight. I do feel like if you make an ability with a chance of being wasted, you can also make it stronger. I think there is room for that sort of trade off, but I'll have to look and see if its anywhere in the rules so far
south moss
That's fair. I wonder now if there are any other powers that require some foresi...
50% do something super cool, 50% do nothing might be balanced on average, but it's still very swingy and feels quite bad when it fails. Now there are some times when it's impossible to avoid that, but if I can then I'll try to.
The big other case stuff like this shows up are damaging abilities with a lingering effect. If the character dies, then it's wasted. That though is a bit mitigated by the enemy dying: you lost out on the bonus because you "won".
keen igloo
True, I definitly wouldn't want to have a LOT of abilities with that risk of failure, as that sort of goes against the whole design premise of DS in the first place. But, I think players having it as an occasional OPTION is nice for those that are more inclined to take risks. That said, no certainly that it belongs to Bodyguard premise here or not.
