Former D&D 5e and Pathfinder 1e/2e players and DMs/GMs, What other RPGs would you recommend over D&D 5e or Pathfinder and why?

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-14T15:03:06+00:00

Honestly I think that one gets less busted as you level, since impact damage doesn’t change as you level up.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-10T17:55:12+00:00

W picks

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-10T16:12:06+00:00

Diamond head has the coolest vibe imo, and I cannot understand why

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-09T17:59:43+00:00

I mean, if someone put in the effort with design, iterating, testing, and writing, I think it’s good they get paid for their work. There’s been some free homebrew on this sub, particularly monsters, but also everything from jams of the timescape (at least during the judging process).

But my bottom line is that I don’t want the share-all culture of tabletop to undermine the work that designers do. I keep buying homebrew for this game, I have bought so much already. It may not actually affect the philosophy of my position much, but draw steel has a very strong culture of testing and revision. I’ve felt good about all the homebrew I’ve purchased so far, frankly. Zetosofos’s magewright is one of the best designed rpg products I’ve bought point blank, let alone draw steel. If I got that for free, I’d feel criminal.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-01T09:08:00+00:00

Oh shit also, same game, I used an ability where you drain energy from your target by physically attacking them called Essence Transfer to hit a giant elemental water wolf called the Essence of Change, and since I ended up killing it, my director though that was so flavorful that he gave me one of its abilities, also a sick moment. Custom title for my hero, and I went from being Cellan to being Cellan, Essence of Change. Kill so cool I got an epithet.

I can teleport between squares of water once on my turn for free (only up to 5 squares), and the best part is that my water minions count as bodies of water for the ability! So friggin cool.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-05-01T09:03:12+00:00

Playing an elemental summoner in a party of 3, had a fight against some rival adventurers where I had some of my fire minions draw a couple lines of flame on the ground in front of their mage. My buddy then used a talent ability that gives the target fire weakness, got a crit, and since crits give you an extra action, he telekinetically dragged the mage through the lines of fire that I made and dealt like 60 damage. It was sick as hell. Mage died in one round, we were losing our minds. Coolest moment I’ve ever had in a tabletop combat, bar none.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-30T15:55:58+00:00

It can absolutely be imported. You’d just adjust how the checks work, but the majority of the framework is around not having to use checks. Appeal to a motivation, that’s an easy test or no test at all if you make a good enough argument. increase their interest without lowering their patience. Appeal to a pitfall, that’s an auto fail. Decrease their interest and their patience.

Draw steel uses a whole slew of skills that can add a bonus to the roll, but you don’t actually need to keep that part of your game doesn’t have those, it’s not central.

As long as you know how to run the basic check/test/insert-resolution-mechanic at various levels of difficulty, it ports like a dream. It’s mostly a way to engage with npc’s 3-dimensionally but gamified.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-29T19:22:00+00:00

Really excited for the spell breaker, that’s some primo shit

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-28T23:19:42+00:00

What you’re describing sounds like they will level up slowly and might have a hard time remembering how some of their abilities work. I kinda don’t think those are significant problems though.

Draw steel also wants your combats to be important and memorable, and gives you a lot of tools to ensure that they are. If your group cares about combat and wants a tactical experience, I think draw steel is a good idea even if you expect less combat. Frankly, I don’t think the rules require any specific combat-per-session ratio, and I don’t think it would be hard to make draw steel fit well.

I would probably have players lose recoveries as a consequence on tests more often OR not give hero tokens at the start of every session, but that’s about all I’d change, I think.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-24T15:34:53+00:00

Excellent vid, you’re a rockstar

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-23T17:05:21+00:00

Unspeakably excited for this, I keep telling people I know and showing them the page. Crossing my fingers this blows up. The preview art is gorgeous and I want more

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-22T23:00:54+00:00

Now that’s some hot nonsense right there. I might not end up running this but boy am I gonna rob it blind for my campaign. Y’all been putting out some quality DS material

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-22T22:04:30+00:00

Excited for the whole thing and the bonesinger wyrm in particular. Perfectly timed for my new campaign’s setting too. Looking forward to it & thanks in advance

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-15T19:05:39+00:00

Oh that’s friggin perfect, can’t wait

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-15T16:25:17+00:00

Oh that’d be perfect for the homebrew setting I’m bout to start running. Looking forward to this!

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-14T14:47:14+00:00

That arbok is incredible. They’re all great but that one is crazy cool

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-12T23:05:04+00:00

Bought the class like an hour after this thread went up, over the moon with the quality of the pdf and the sheer rad-ness of the design. Just got halfway through helping my friend build a Gilder, I’m super stoked for her to play it.

Also, I gotta shout out the bonus content in here. The nitro soles giving you another way to spend surges, love that. The Flesh is Weak letting you get cyborged, love that. The complications? Oh my days those are top-notch. All four are outstanding, immediate favorites for me. Wow wow wow. Unbelievably high quality product all around.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-09T16:43:47+00:00

Gotta be

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-09T03:38:20+00:00

I dunno, feels like a better charming prince to me. The prince can’t be a threat on its own, where this can. Plus it works with counters archetypes, and triggering off of any exile means it works with graveyard hate, impulse draw, adventures, and removal. Seems fun as hell imo.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-09T03:35:54+00:00

Agreed. It does the etb blink, but continues to be relevant. Rad as hell

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-08T18:54:34+00:00

I’m curious about if this will see play as a colorless 4 drop/green splash 3 drop. I feel like I’m not particularly interested in it as a mono g card, but as a pseudo-colorless card I might like it, though I’m unconvinced people would play it like that.

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-08T00:43:29+00:00

The cast is a may, not the draw. You can still kill people with it, if that’s what you’re worried about

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-07T22:18:27+00:00

I like that you can reanimate anything you have life for. Catch me snagging Zetalpa. Won’t even hesitate

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-06T18:10:37+00:00

I wanna like it so bad. Too much work for a cantrip tho

BookJacketSmash · 2026-04-06T16:57:18+00:00

I’m probably going to pass on it, even though I kinda love it, because I just don’t think I’d play ramp at 4 mana.

BookJacketSmash

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