THE POST NOBODY IS ASKING FOR

i first put up this one in may of 2018, i think? thats what the interface says. idk if itll push it to the front or just republish it in 2019. i find the way that i was writing around this time pretty goofy, i was having a time, and i reverted this post and some others from back then to drafts so i wouldnt have to look at them. mostly this is a blog for me to look at, ill publish it again and see where it puts it on the blog. then maybe ill write an addendum or something. i dont really go by matt rundle anymore for trans reasons


WHO IS THIS PERSON MATT RUNDLE

i'm a game designer. i did games at uni and i got a bs in video game design. i care about games and i have made games. i come from a video games background; but RPGS is my focus, and i have studied every game. video games, board games, card games, tabletops and args. not jsut hte new and not just the old. i have studied the games i don't like. i know from what i speak.

alright, so jack macnamee, a friend from uni, the best rpg designer i have yet met, a dude i bonded with over PROBLEM SLEUTH, he came to me a couple years back with this book, VORNHEIM, by zak smith.

WHO IS ZAK SMITH?
he was very excited about this book, even though it be hard to read. i couldnt get him to shut up about it. so i bought a copy, and i played in MACKNAMEES's vornheim game locally. and over time i've come to see that it was the best rpg book that existed at the time.

vornheim led me to read zak's blog, to follow zak smith on googleplus, to follow all zak's friends also on googleplus, to play very occasionally in a couple of zak's googleplus games, to play in a bunch of other googleplus games run by and populated by key luminaries in the zak-centric old school revival FLAILSNAILS & CONSTANTCON google plus community. because ZAK runs games at wird times that also puts him in my LOCAL D&D GOOGLEPLUS COMMUNITY, which is AUSTRALIAN CRAPSACK, about which, ask jez gordon. or ANTIPODEAN CRAPSACK if you want to include scrap princess, and we must. she is the best of us. but this is also the zak community, they are the same. all of this is good and right.

i am fond of these people because they love the game, and while they are d&d experts, i was not. but now i am an expert. i've studied every edition of the game. i've studied all the key not-published-by-wizards texts about the game that i would need to study in order to know the game and how to talk about it. i have played the game. and i play it well. i know from what i speak.

but zak, and the zak community, are better than any discourse on the game that has come before. before i was into d&d i was into pixel art, roguelikes, webcomics, and making characters and maps. this is the best pre-zak discourse I had on d&d, and the HISTORY OF ART AND GAMES AND LAW AND CHAOS. this was the best discourse I had. do not fight me on this point. it was not good enough, those guys don't appreciate me and they don't even understand why i wirte the shit i do. but now i have this community i don't really need all that legacy stuff, which was only a shadow of actually playing the game.

so ZAK is a big deal for me, what zak has to say is a big deal for me. I listen to zak and i care about his opinion and i care about his livelihood (which is his relationship with women - his girl mandy morbid, who is sick, like physically ill, and also sick of being harassed by shitty games nerds. his players, many of whom make their living doing porn, including mandy).

ZAK doesnt make his living making d&d, though. I'm not sure how he does it but i'm led to believe he makes it mostly in these two other spheres: art and porn.

art and porn and d&d. they have a lot of things in common. they are a good monad: all the best ideas come out of these spheres. at the very least, ZAK comes out of those spheres.

but there's this fourth sphere we must speak about: the CONTROVERSY. and so we have a field. art and porn and d&d and the CONTROVERSY.

all this shit exists without zak smith but I must listen to zak, i'm invested in this community. we cannot fail to listen to zak.

zak's a really weird dude though. anyway i try to keep this blog for d&d, i have other blogs for art and porn and the controversy. the thing is i've backed myself into this corner where i cannot ignore zak smith. zak can ignore me but i don't give a shit about this. i will write in the zak smith style; wherever i am and without apologising for myself. I see all this shit and it goes in my head and swims around in there, i can not be rid of it. i will not go away.

i could block zak but i do not wish to. he writes well and he knows what he is talking about. he is, in his own words, the hottest designer of the season. this is not a defense of zak smith though, because zak is also wrong. he does not care about those poeple he can't understand. but he still sees his enemy, he still complains about his enemy, and he still hurts people. I wouldnt even know about any of this shit if zak did not complain about it constantly. but i have also had to listen to zak's detractors, because zak will nto shut up about them. but we must listen to zak. if i blocked zak (and i do not wish to) i would still hear all this CONTROVERSY shit through intermediaries. in fact, the controversy would exist, even without zak. zak is a maven for the CONTROVERSY.

should i keep writing about this shit? probably not. there's not profit in this for me. but i give a shit. and i do all this stuff for free anyway. i'm in this for myself and for my friends. mods bless us all.

 

 addendum (jan 2025)

so thats all from back then

to be real i dont think i know zak well enough to be a character reference for him. my work is better for having read zak's. he's an influential designer and i have benefited from reading his criticism. i think his is an important point of view and its never sat well with me the way the rpg community treated him. i never took the claims against him super seriously and i don't really believe that he did any of that shit. i belonged to a an ad-hoc community on googleplus, that community from my position was zak-centric and zak was a defacto moderator of that community. i played with him a couple times and i liked and admired him, i think he's a singular designer. as well, i think zak is kind of a shitty moderator and I think his rules for how to conduct an argument are asinine. i don't really like forums and moderation in general, i don't hope that zaks weird rules for how best to conduct a discussion are adopted more widely

he was right to identify that he was the unfair target of a hatemob and he didnt and doesnt deserve to have his life destroyed by these people. i think that this review of red and pleasant land sucks and is bad: https://daegames.blogspot.com/2021/11/a-red-pleasant-land-meaningless-modern.html i dont have any real insight into his relationship with mandy and cant speak to it

hows the familiar meant to work

ive notice that the writers of 5e (mearls, crawford, perkins, et al) are reluctant to tell you what to do with familiars and like animal companions and stuff in interviews - like i think that the strictest reading of the rulebooks wants it to be

familiars (only as a class feature, not useful in combat)
animal companions (only as a class feature, useful in combat)
and now sidekicks (anyone can have, useful in combat)

and like, as written the rules sort of deliver these things, sort of not

and in interviews they'll be like, of course, anyone can have a familiar, of course - and i can see in streams and adventures that this is the intended way to play - and now because theres an explicit system in sidekicks, anyone can have a guy whos useful - and in a game that doesn't use sidekicks, we can see the same system is still intended in late-release beastmaster class features like the ua beastmaster ranger and the artificer

and the boring answer is like, they want you, the dm, to decide, because of course i can decide stuff, i can make up whatever dumb rules i want, but hows it actually sposed to work

the sorcerer should get a sorcery point at level 1

so the sorcerer has sorcery points at every level except 1, and doesnt really get good stuff to do with it until level 3. my game i want it to be pretty high level is level 3, so i wanted to buff the sorcerer at level 1-2, give them sorcery points and a way to use sorcery points earlier, maybe this breaks the game if youre multiclassing but i dont think so, but it is a lot of stuff to get at level 1, maybe confusing for new players, to whom i say, hey, dont play the sorcerer

Font of Magic.

You have a deep wellspring of magic within yourself. This wellspring is represented by sorcery points, which allow you to create a variety of magical effects.

At 1st level, You have a single sorcery point, and you gain one additional point every time you level up, to a maximum of 20 at level 20. You can never have more sorcery points than shown on the table for your level. You regain all spent sorcery points when you finish a long rest.

Sorcerous Zeal.

Your body crackles with a magical energy that allows you strange boosts of skill at odd times. When you roll an ability check, you can spend 1 sorcery point to add +1d6 to the ability check, after the d20 roll is revealed but before the dungeon master announces the outcome.


---------
is this overpowered? you can do it once a day at level one and twice a day at level 2. or at level 2 you can get a level 1 spell slot instead for 2 sorcery points. so it kinda... builds the ramp of , hey, sorcery points, do stuff with these

at higher levels i don't expect sorcerers would use sorcerous zeal very much because it competes with metamagic and i think is less powerful than metamagic, but if they do maybe thats good, maybe youre skills more often than spells in this game and then the sorcerer gets a thing they can use in that kinda game

is it bad flavor for the sorcerer to be like a jack of all trades skills guy? does it beat the bard at the thing the bard is good at? im not sure but i think it could be good for my game, im gonna probably do something else with the bard, but i think its not better in all cases than the bard thing

fighter weapon focus

(this about 5e again)

so i wanted a thing thats more than the fighting style at level one to make the fighters seem more different than each other. ive seen a couple different approach to this - i think more likely most people would swap out the fighting style, or the battlemaster steez for this kinda stuff- but i like it stacks with fighting style, and i think swapping out the fighter's self heal for some weapon steez gives me enough space to work with, more than you get with jsut fighting style, and im playing with the essentials kit, which i like because its sort of a new basic - and essentials kit never mentions the battlemaster, so this might work in an alternate universe game where theres no battlemaster, and this 'weapon focus' ability can also round out the fighter style sidekicks in that book. ahem, 5e voice...

Weapon Focus

At first level, you can either choose a Weapon Focus or gain the Second Wind feature.  When you level up, you can choose to replace your Weapon Focus with a different Weapon Focus, or choose to swap a Weapon Focus for Second Wind, or Second Wind for a Weapon Focus.

If a Weapon focus ability calls for a saving throw, the DC for that roll is your Maneuver Save DC.

Maneuver Save Difficulty Class: 8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).

Choose one of the following abilities for your Weapon Focus:

Trapper. When you hit a creature that is medium or smaller with an attack using a flail or whip, as a bonus action you can cause the target to either succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. When attacking a target with a net, you do not take disadvantage on the attack from attacking at long range, or from making a ranged attack in close combat.

Secret Crossbow Arts. You ignore the loading property on crossbows. You can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.

Blood Drinker. Your attacks with daggers and darts do 1d4 additional damage. When you reduce an enemy to 0 hp with a dagger or dart attack, or with any weapon that deals slashing damage, you can immediately gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + 1 for each level you have in this class.

Punch Through. When you hit with a reach weapon that deals piercing damage, or with a weapon that is thrown like a javelin (including a spear, trident, or dart), you can hit a second target with the attack so long as the targets are within 5 feet of one another, and you can draw a straight line from the attacker through both targets.

Rattle Bones. When you hit a creature with an attack using a bludgeoning weapon, that creature is rattled until the end of its next turn. (A rattled creature has a -2 penalty to its attack rolls.)

XVARTS

using the sidekicks ua and xvart warlock together...

ok, so the queen of these xvarts is a xvart warlock named MAJAR the UNBLINKING as in Volo's Guide with few changes, she has boots of striding and springing, a rod of the pact keeper +1 and a shield +1
35hp, ac18 with a +1 shield

 but her champion is this guy...

STRITTEN BLAXT (XVART BATRIDER HEXCASTER)
hp 10d6+10 (70hp)
a xvart warlock with 5 levels of spellcaster (cleric)
that replaces its 'spellcasting' trait
but he still has innate spellcasting which is detect magic and mage armor at will, so we'll keep him in no armor. (AC15)

xvarts have the thing where they can communicate with rats and bats, and with giant bats and rats. so i would put this guy on a giant bat mount and have him oversee fighters on the ground...

(there are like 400 xvarts in this stack, not includign the ones outlined here.)

that gives him a range of 60ft. and the bat also makes its bite attack which adds another (+4/d6+2) damage. i would let him use the xvart disengage and shove proficiency for the bat. so advantage on shoves if theres an ally in 5ft of the target. then he uses his whole move to shove and disengage, making no attacks.

give him a shortbow, so its...
(+4/d6+2) either with the bow or the scimitar ... and flavor him a sort of branding iron thing instead of a scimitar, that does burning damage.

so ill give him... does a melee attack, which is also casting a touch spell with the branding iron, the bat makes a bite attack, and disengage in the same turn.

stealth +3
give him wisdom 16 (+3) and constitution 14 (+2)
wisdom based casting (+6/ DC14)
wisdom saving throw (+6)

[1][1][1][1][2][2][2][3][3]

three cleric cantrips (thaumaturgy, guidance, resistance)
1st level spells (bane, guiding bolt, cure wounds)
2nd level spells (lesser restoration, blindness/deafness)
3rd level spell (bestow curse)

so buffs and debuffs, some touch spells, some healing.

on a short rest, recovers 5 points of spell slots.

----------------
REXVOLT, JARN and YESRA, XVART BATRIDERs
so i'll give him some level 3 lieutenants. these guys can be based on regular xvarts rather than warlocks.. with 16 dex, so ac14(leather armor) and 30 hit points each. im giving them three levels of warrior.

proficiency (+2) in athletics, acrobatics, and animal handling

theyre also bat riders, basically to confuse which guy is the spellcaster. stritten goes into stealth, these guys pop out. so they also do the disengage and shove while on bats. im picturing a lot of narrow platforms over pits in this cave.

so shove is a str-athletics check opposed by the targets dex-acrobatics check. so these guys are the best at the shove thing, having advantage +2 if an ally is adjacent to the target. the shove knocks you prone or

they make an attack or a bat attack, not both, and theres generally no reason to use the bat's bite rather than shove or arrows.

 they make bow attacks and scimitar attacks at (+5/d6+3) and also make bat bite attacks at (+4/d6+2)
they also crit on a 19 and have advantage on dex saves they can see.

then some roguey ones on the ground...

-----------------
SALM, JISBIT, SILSBY and CLAX, XVART WHISPERERs - these ones are (level 2 expert) speakers, so they speak either common or goblin. call them 15 hp.

proficiency acrobatics, slight of hand, stealth, insight, survival, with expertise in insight and survival.

they do net attacks (+4, 10 feet) or mallet attacks (+4/d6+4)... but nonlethal. but can disengage, dash or hide as a bonus action. these guys automatically crit against a foe on the ground.

------------------
okay, so the theme with these guys is theyre noble avatar smurf types who are just trying to maintain their secret homeland, but the place is also a beholder lair or such (who they sort of believe is an avatar of their god, the NIGHT HUNTER) and the beholder guy is starting to pull planar terrors into the world....

so they will prefer to scare off adventurers rather than kill them, the idea is to rough them up, dump them out of the dungeon and make it so that they dont come back. I think if they tpk the party, they will take 1 eye and dump the party outside.

treasure.... majar would have a bunch of gold jewelry covered in moonstones, 2000 gold worth. a +1 rod of the pact keeper. a +1 shield. and a boots of striding and springing.

TWINZEL AND DANGDELON

4es martial power has this strength rogue build which seems built for the bugbear, and also somewhere theres a feat that lets a drow fight with a crossbow and a melee weapon at no penalty, and these are pretty killer dnd guys but hard to reproduce in 5e...

im trying to convert these dudes from a document where they are halfbaked 4e pcs to be 5e monsters… because thats probably more useful…

when i was making these i wanted to make two dudes who would fight well together, a two dudes...
both have, leather and no shield, is AC15. they each have maybe like... 50 hit points? they are each level 7 dudes so maybe like a CR5 encounter if you fight them together. whatever that is.

both fight in melee and with a crossbow in one hand and a melee weapon in the other.

TWINZEL, a bugbear rogue...
dex 16 (+3)
int 16
str 16
cha 13 (+1)
con 10 (+0)
wis 8  (-1)

skills: stealth +9, thieves tools +6, intimidate +4, deception +3, insight +3
initiative: +3.

TWINZEL fights with a light crossbow (+5,d8+3) in one hand and an oversize mace (+5, d10+5) in the other. after attacking, he can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action, even on a miss. he grants opportunity attacks when he attacks with the crossbow in melee (as usual) - DANGDELON does not. TWINZEL and DANGDELON each know the secret crossbow art that lets you reload a crossbow with one hand, and as a free action.

SNEAK ATTACK: +3d8 damage to one target he hits per round, that he can sneak attack. (5e monsters can't sneak attack when they have disadvantage to hit, and they need to either have advantage to hit or have an ally in 5 feet of the target, in order to sneak attack. TWINZEL often attacks from hidden, and DANGDELON is often within 5ft of enemies, so TWINZEL will likely be able to sneak attack on any given round. If attacking with the mace, he can sneak attack two targets per round.)

SURPRISE ATTACK: (bugbear) a further +2d6 damage if you surprise a creature in the first round of combat.

MACE: +5 to hit. reach 10ft. d10+5 damage, and the target is RATTLED (has -2 to hit). after attacking, he can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action, even on a miss.

MULTIATTACK: if TWINZEL has two targets he can sneak attack with his mace, then he can use the mace to make one attack on each target, RATTLING both targets and sneak attacking both if he hits them. after attacking, he can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action.

DIRE OPPORTUNITY: (using the reaction) when you hit with an opportunity attack with the mace against a RATTLED target, knock the target prone. and it is RATTLED again.

BAT ASIDE: 1/short rest, make a mace attack against one target. on a hit, the target takes 3d10+3 damage. slide the target up to 5 squares to be adjacent to one of its allies. that target and all its adjacent allies are knocked prone and RATTLED. after attacking, TWINZEL can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action, even on a miss.

CROSSBOW: +5 to hit. 30/120 feet. d8+3 damage plus 3d8 sneak attack damage. after attacking, he can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action, even on a miss.

BLINDING CROSSBOW BARRAGE: 1/short rest, hits each enemy target in a 15ft cube adjacent to TWINZEL. each target makes a dex save (dc14) - if they fail the save they take 2d8+3 damage and are blinded, if they succeed they take half damage and are not blinded. after attacking, he can shift 3 spaces and hide as a free action, even on a miss.

BRUTAL CUNNING: TWINZEL had advantage on deception and insight checks.


and DANGDELON, a drow barbarian/ranger...
str 16 (+3)
dex 16
cha 14 (+2)
con 14
wis 10 (+0)
int 10

skills: stealth +6, athletics +6, acrobatics +6, persuasion +5, intimidation +5, survival +3
initiative: +7.

DANGDELON fights in one of two modes:
two picks: with a war pick (+6,d6+3) in each hand.
crossbow and pick: with a hand crossbow (+6,d6+3) and war pick (+6,d6+3). (this is his normal style.)
and he can swap between these modes as a free action.

RAMPAGE: when DANGDELON crits on or reduces an enemy to 0 with with an attack, he can shift 3 spaces and make a melee attack as a free action. and each enemy standing within 20 feet of DANGDELON is UNSETTLED (attack rolls against that target's AC are granted a bonus +2 to hit) until the end of DANGDELON's next turn. Each target can be UNSETTLED more than once, and they stack.

and he also gets the ranger's sneak attack...
HUNTER'S QUARRY: (using the bonus action) mark the closest enemy as your hunters quarry.. deal +2d6 damage on one attack on this target, once/round. DANGDELON has advantage on survival rolls to track his quarry, and wisdom checks to learn about his quarry.

PICK: +6 to hit, d6+3 damage. DANGDELON's pick attacks crit on a 19. and any target he hits with a war pick, is UNSETTLED: attack rolls against that target's AC are given a bonus +2 to hit until the end of DANGDELON's next turn. Each target can be UNSETTLED more than once, and they stack.

CROSSBOW: +6 to hit, d6+3. DANGDELON never grants opportunity attacks when attacking with a crossbow, and can reload the crossbow one-handed and as a free action.

MULTIATTACK: DANGDELON makes two attacks, either 2 pick attacks or 2 crossbow attacks, or one of each.

RAPID SHOT: make a crossbow attack against each creature in or adjacent to a given square that the weapon can reach. these attacks all take -2 to hit.

CRUCIAL ADVICE: 3/short rest (as a reaction) DANGDELON grants a creature within short range, other than himself, advantage on a skill check that uses a skill he is trained in.

and he has the drow stuff:
drow spells: dancing lights as a cantrip. faerie fire 1/long rest. darkness 1/long rest. he'd use faerie fire on or before the first round of a combat, and darkness when he wants to escape.
Superior Darkvision: Your darkvision has a range of 120 feet, instead of 60.
Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Alakra, Catcher, Taste

something ive been doing lately is rolling random characters and wherever you come to a choice just roll for it and hard go with it (like for race class background languages whatever) like your brain comes up with reasons why the character makes sense and its way more interesting than just stacking options with the same valence

and i havent really played any of these characters in the game but its fun, theyre often killer characters it makes me consider all the options in the game and it gives you a sense of what the space of the game can really be so its good for learning systems you dont understand

another thing i do is if you roll the same option twice for two characters roll again, between those two thigns it makes very varied interesting characters, i know this is not a new life hack but its still a good one

These are third level characters for fifth edition

---

Alakra

Hobgoblin city watch ancestral barbarian (level 3)

athletics insight

I face problems head-on. A simple, direct solution is the best path to success.

When people follow orders blindly, they embrace a kind of tyranny. (Chaotic)

Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for.

I’d rather eat my own face than admit when I’m wrong.

16  14 14  12 10 9

con str cha dex wis int

ac 16 (10+dex+con+shield)

hp 35 (15,10,10, 3d12)

hobgoblin: medium, 30 feet. darkvision 60.

saving face: if you would miss on a d20 roll, you can add +1 for each ally in 30 feet who you can see. 1/short rest.

ancestral guardian barbarian

ancestral protection - when raging, the first character you hit each turn, is 'marked': disadvantage to hit anyone except you, until your next turn.

+ all the level 3 barbarian stuff. give yourself advantage to hit, give the enemy advantage to hit you. get rage, get advantage on dex saves you can see.

lance, warhammer.

has a camel, Macy.

---

Catcher

primeval guardian goblin ranger sailor (level 3)

15  15 14  14 8 8

str wis dex con int cha

small. speed 30.

hp 28. (12,8,8. 3d10)

sailor

athletics, perception, navigator's tools, boats...

I stretch the truth for the sake of a good story.

We all do the work, so we all share in the rewards. (Lawful)

In a harbor town, I have a paramour (Tarmella, a sea hag) whose eyes nearly stole me from the sea. (i stole one of her eyes)

I’ll say anything to avoid having to do extra work.

darkvision.

blowgun (25/100, 1 damage), greataxe (d12), trident (versatile d6/d8, thrown 20/60)

mariner: swimming and climbing 30, +1 to ac. no heavy armor or shield.

scale mail: ac17. disadvantage stealth.

fury of the small: add 3 (your level) damage against a creature larger than you. 1/short rest.

nimble escape: disengage or hide as a bonus action.

favored enemy fey. advantage on survival checks to track these and knowledge checks to know them. and gain the sylvan language.

favored terrain coast

bite of steel. +d6 damage on one weapon attack on your turn.

go big. become large. your footprint is 2x2 and your reach goes up by 5 feet. your speed is 5 feet. and you gain 2 (half your level) temporary hp. dont spend them all in one place! toggle this as a bonus action whenever you want.

spells! 3 [1] slots a day! dc12/ +4 to hit

- absorb elements.

- snare.

- cure wounds.

- entangle.

---

taste of fruit

dex wis int con cha str

16  14 14  13 10 8

ac 18 (10+dex+wis)

hp 24 (10,7,7, 3d8)

tabaxi kensei monk detective (investigator) level 3.

medium, 30 feet. darkvision 60.

feline agility - when you move, you can move twice your speed. recharges when you don't move on your turn.

cats claws - climb 20. your unarmed strike is a claw attack.

acrobatics, investigation, insight, perception, stealth, 1 language.

I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.

Change: We must help bring about the changes the gods are constantly working in the world. (Chaotic)

Everything I do is for the common people.

I judge others harshly, and myself even more severely.

kensei weapons - flail, longbow.

flail shield - when you use the attack action + hit with an unarmed strike, if you have a flail in hand, get +2 ac that turn.

martial bow - when you hit with the bow, deal an additional +d4 damage, as a bonus action. this works on multiple bow attacks on the same turn.

so the flail attack... +5, d8+3 bludgeoning. so you can do... either 2 unarmed strikes (+5, d4+3) and get the 2ac, or a flail and an unarmed, or a bow with a sort of weaker unarmed (doesnt add your dex).

at level four... you can do a flail and two unarmed strikes. for 1 ki.

at level five... two flails two unarmed. for 1 ki.

you also get either painter's tools or calligrapher's. i think the painter's tools is funny if you use it as an identikit.

sidekicks

so the https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_Sidekicks.pdf
sidekicks ua is pretty innaresting.

basically it's a stripped down fighter, rogue and mage, that you could use wherever you have a vaguely appropriate character in the game that needs to be levelled up, but neatly. it's npc classes but its also a very vanilla version of dnd 5th, if you wanted just basic player classes.... i mean we already have one of those, is the basic rules, but...

basically this is the thing, where you could take monster stat blocks and stick levels on them...


what monsters are there that we can use this on + it'd be good? i think a goblin or skeleton or wolf would be fine but cr1 theres a lot of stuff.... what if it was good?



the first thing i tried was the quickling (from volos) but i think its too good. a quickling with the first level of any of these classes is super deadly.

..nilbog no way....

pterafolk?

the modron (quadrone) option is good even if it has no real synergy, its ... good

yuanti pureblood....

xvart warlock...!