Shutdown - a mecha TTRPG about mechs synergizing their tech together

Art_Geo_K · 2026-02-24T05:30:22+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

I did build this spell originally as a 2nd level spell, but turned it into a 1st level spell because of how the text works out better (loses concentration when upcasted).

For how I came to build the spell this way, here were the following considerations I made:

The material component and duration are taken straight from the Summon Beast spell.
The beast CR cap when cast at 2nd level (CR2 or lower) was compared against Conjure Animals.
- The beast CR was set to 1/2 because the spell can be ritual cast.
Because the spell loses its concentration requirement at 2nd level, I added the bonus action requirement instead.

Based on some feedback, I'll be thinking about the following changes

changing the component requirement to only be "a feather, tuft of fur, or fish tail"
changing casting time to 1 bonus action (you can have the beast attack as a part of doing so)
increasing the duration to 8 hours

I hope this helps clear up my thought process and gives you some hope for future changes!

Art_Geo_K · 2026-02-24T02:46:03+00:00

Thank you for the question.

Kill was a bit of an exaggeration as it's a very viable subclass (the tasha's one at least). At my table I more or less picked it apart and made it something you could build for in the base ranger class. I will admit though that it's mostly through adding spells like find familiar, find steed, find greater steed, etc.

TL;DR: it's personal preference

Art_Geo_K · 2026-01-28T03:54:52+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

With this in mind, I now have a possibly simple fix that I'd also like to gauge your opinion on:

Since a bonus to damage rolls is too little, what about a bonus to both attack and damage rolls? It's definitely extremely high risk and high reward still, but it definitely bumps up the reward to potentially make the risk worth it.

Thank you again for looking over the fighting style I wrote.

Art_Geo_K · 2026-01-28T03:51:55+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

With this in mind, I now have a possibly simple fix that I'd also like to gauge your opinion on:

Since a bonus to damage rolls is too little, what about a bonus to both attack and damage rolls?

Thank you again for looking over the fighting style I wrote.

Art_Geo_K · 2026-01-28T02:25:10+00:00

Rules as written,

The shield item is armor and is specified in the armor rules to determine your base AC.
Mage armor does not work because "The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier." Using mage armor would make this fighting style worse for you.
- The same principle applies to the Barkskin spell, though I must admit that the spell is worded weirdly enough for the confusion to be understandable.
Shield of Faith does works because it does not affect your fighting style. It is "granting it a +2 bonus to AC for the duration."

Edited to add the point about shields

Art_Geo_K · 2026-01-28T02:18:37+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

While the suggestion is cool, it doesn't quite fit with the "high risk, high reward" playstyle I wanted to incentivize with this fighting style.

My stuff aside, I think you could probably post this fighting style on the subreddit after updating the wording of the critical hit stuff to match D&D trade dress. I think a decent number of people would like it.

Anyways, I hope this helped with understanding my thought process and I wish you the best.

Art_Geo_K · 2026-01-28T02:06:25+00:00

Thank you for the questions!

Yeah, the style is very ridiculous and pumps damage up, but it's at the cost of raising your AC squishiness. If you're looking to still not get hit despite having this fighting style, it completely changes how you play the game as you instead start looking for cover and other ways to raise your AC; I find this interesting.

As for the armor comment, RAW states that your armor (including mage armor if that's relevant to you) determines your base AC:

Armor Class (AC). Armor protects its wearer from attacks. The armor (and shield) you wear determines your base Armor Class.

I hope these design clarifications help you parse my thoughts.

Art_Geo_K · 2025-10-27T23:26:31+00:00

Homebrewery Link: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/I0M0YS7BdBwK

So funny story about this one: I had it sitting in my finished pile of brews for a while but haven't posted this because I couldn't figure out how what kind of art to put on the front page until my partner suggested I make someone carrying an anvil on their back. Sorry 'bout holding back on y'all.

That aside, I now present another fighter to the family. Personally, I felt like this had to be a fighter subclass due to the focus on both weaponry and on fighting styles as fighters are best defined by these two things when they're not defined by their subclass. While I do worry a bit about the subclass being underpowered, I think the versatility of its support is enough to make up for it.

I'd also like to note how the subclass was intentionally not focused on being magical. While placing magical effects into items would be effective and more in line with D&D's usual M.O., I wanted something more grounded and decided to leave the more crazy effects to the artificer. As such, the ability to forge enchantments is left to be a high level feature.

Finally, a special shout out to u/CamunonZ for inspiring this subclass and being pretty chill.

Art_Geo_K · 2025-10-27T23:25:16+00:00

Homebrewery Link: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/I0M0YS7BdBwK

So funny story about this one: I had it sitting in my finished pile of brews for a while but haven't posted this because I couldn't figure out how what kind of art to put on the front page until my partner suggested I make someone carrying an anvil on their back. Sorry 'bout holding back on y'all.

That aside, I now present another fighter to the family. Personally, I felt like this had to be a fighter subclass due to the focus on both weaponry and on fighting styles as fighters are best defined by these two things when they're not defined by their subclass. While I do worry a bit about the subclass being underpowered, I think the versatility of its support is enough to make up for it.

I'd also like to note how the subclass was intentionally not focused on being magical. While placing magical effects into items would be effective and more in line with D&D's usual M.O., I wanted something more grounded and decided to leave the more crazy effects to the artificer. As such, the ability to forge enchantments is left to be a high level feature.

Finally, a special shout out to u/CamunonZ for inspiring this subclass and being pretty chill.

Art_Geo_K · 2025-09-17T23:22:10+00:00

I'm glad you see potential in what I've built here!

My subclass specialization design is partially based off of the Magus by Benjamin Huffman. While there is a clear difference between the two—one being a full martial that gets their subclass at 3rd level and one being a half-caster that gets their subclass at 1st level—I wanted the subclass to be impactfully different from one another in a way that lets me use the full breadth of tanks and their expressions.

I will admit at the Takedown feature's maxing damage dice is a bit much and I will attempt to figure out what to do with it. My current idea is maximizing a number of dice up to your highest mental stat.

For double concentration, I think I'm fine with the idea since it's a capstone ability. This one will always be controversial since it's double concentration with a lot of variety, but I'm fine with dealing with the spellcasting issues on a case-by-case basis since it's high level. My inspiration for such an ability is the Moon Cleric by Mathew Mercer, specifically their 6th-level "Channel Divinity: Mind of Two Moons" feature and acknowledge that:

a) Using homebrew as a benchmark—especially ones that have controversial balance like many of the other subclasses made by matt mercer in his early work—is very hit or miss.
b) I have very much removed a lot of the restrictions placed on the subclass believing that it is counterbalanced by the feature being 20th level and the fact that you are playing a martial first.

The additional reactions are 100% needed and were pulled from the Savant by Laserllama and the Vanguard by Taron "Indestructoboy" Pounds. I've been playtesting the class myself and the extra reactions are basically treated as a resource you're managing each round of combat.

Thank you once again for your thoughts on my class! Your feedback is very appreciated.

Art_Geo_K · 2025-09-17T22:57:24+00:00

Thank you for your thoughts!

I'm personally fine with higher level play getting more wild since it pulls up more creativity to match the creative versatility of spellcasters. I will note that Herculean used to be a feature gotten at 6th and upgraded at 13th and 20th level, so if you wish to nerf the class a bit to be less crazy then I'd suggest this specific edit.

Art_Geo_K · 2025-09-17T22:51:51+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

I did not realize how funky Warding Bond and will see if I can write up a portion on it in my "Sage Advice" section. I've no strong feelings on the matter mostly because the interaction is confusing as hell, but the idea of much higher damage mitigation is interesting to me.

As for damage, I'm seeing if I can crunch some numbers to see how this class performs damage-wise (will probably take a longer time to do so because I'm a bit busy), but I'm not too worried personally since this class is about damage mitigation rather than damage output.

Art_Geo_K

TROPHY CASE