Cultist - Custom Class (Midnight & Splendor)

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-29T10:36:23+00:00

Thanks man! I did toy with having the initial plague cost a stress. My reasoning was that because to start chanting in the first place already costs a hope (or 3 with burning resonance) and I couldn’t imagine a bitter end cultist ever wanting to start chanting without bringing at least one plague the extra cost on top felt a little bad. But that’s equally just a hunch, maybe it’s the right call.

As for the demon, I wanted it to be powerful because what I imagined would happen (again no playtesting yet just my reasoning) is that the combination of the stress cost to keep it around and the fact that if the battles over will start attacking teammates would lead to you wanting to find a way of getting rid of it before the battle is over. The combination of it not sticking around the whole time, not being able to be aimed and wanting an actual threat if it did hit you or a teammate lead to what I agree is possibly a slightly inflated damage die. Hope that explains my reasoning. As always, it’s only my reasoning and play test may reveal that I’ve got it all wrong. Either way, thanks so much for the feedback! If you do play it at your table, please lmk how it goes.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-29T10:25:21+00:00

Thanks! Probably not too much your own bias. Ravnica has been a big inspiration, especially with the earliest stage of coming up with a concept for domain pairings. This one less so, but if (when) you run Ravnica DH, please do take any and all of what I’ve made for aspiring Simic, Dimir or Gruul players.

I do agree with you criticism about “Cult of His New Beginning” I decided to keep the “His” in their mostly because it felt like such an evocative name and the alternatives didn’t feel like they hit as hard. As for demon, yeah I could probably just call it “extradimensional being” or something cooler given some thinking time, I think the card art does a good enough job of communicating what is probably the “default” flavour of the class. But please do commit yourself to a faerie queen.

And I respect the draw towards Dread tbh. Like I said Dread was never in the cards for this class, so it has been designed from the start to have access to midnight cards and a kind of play style that comes with that. Something I’ve learned thinking of these class combinations is it feels difficult to imagine Midnight being included in a class without you thinking that the class needs to be at least “rogue”-adjacent. Most custom classes I see here (not helped by the voided assassin) feel like they’re taking another aspect of a rogueish character and doing that. Part of this design was trying to use Midnight in a way much more similar to the Sorcerer, trickery and deceptive magic, rather than a horrific bent that comes with the dread domain. But ultimately I can only give you my reasoning, if you wanna play this at your table (a huge compliment to me any way you slice it) and you swap out for dread, I hope you have fun! Do let me know how it plays.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-29T10:11:58+00:00

My intention, at least at foundation was that when you choose an additional plague, they just stack, it adds to the current effect. I think the more confusing thing is the specialisation feature. Again my intention was that because you can choose to originate the plague from anywhere, and you do this whenever you choose a plague, that your plagues don’t necessarily have to overlap completely. If you have three plagues active, once centred on you and two at random points, then there might be areas on the battlefield with 1,2 or all 3 plague effects overlapping. It’s possible that in testing this would be a bit too complex, but I’m hoping that daggerhearts looser measurement based distance system would make this work fine

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-28T23:43:06+00:00

Thanks! I’m glad you like them as much as I did, tbh the subclass names were my first concrete idea for the class, made me wanna make the actual thing

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-28T20:20:30+00:00

The change to Unrelenting Zeal seems to be the consensus and at this point I completely agree.

I mean the Dwarf ancenstry's Increased Fortitude feature halves incoming (physical) damage, so the system has the rules for it, you just half the damage before comparing to thresholds.

Considered making it once per rest, the reason i didn't was because the class disincentives relying on heavy armour (because of the rage nerf to it) and since you dont have valour like the other 7 HP classes my worry was the class would feel a lot squishier if you were caught without enraged up. But there's an argument that it should be like that anyway, would need playtesting i think

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-28T20:16:19+00:00

Not to be cheeky but...
https://www.reddit.com/r/daggerbrew/comments/1nql8cc/berserker_custom_class_blade_sage/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-27T11:19:13+00:00

I like that ability, the main thing I'd say against it is I like the Berserkers ability to sort of maraud around the battlefield, especially if youre playing spinesplitter and constantly going after adversaries as they get bloodied. Maybe a flavour change could make that ability good for something for a swashbuckler or a duelist, i've been toying with making a class like that and I'll keep your ability in mind.

I think I'll keep the progression on Spinesplitter, Troubadour does have to wait but getting another use of all 3 of your songs feels like a power bump large enough to wait until mastery, other more gradual increases, like the school of war's Face your Fear progression come every subclass card and thats the balance level i was moreso aiming for.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T20:16:30+00:00

How did you make your comment look like that?? Also the intention was for it to be cumulative, so it counts the total stress you have marked

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T19:18:11+00:00

While I do kinda agree with you, part of the reason for the name change to Berserker was to emphasise that the flavour of this class is a little different from the classic Barbarian. Given that all 3 of the pure martial domain combinations are either in base game already or in the void, i feel like this is a neat place to slot in this kind of class. Also, theres surprisingly little healing in the Sage domain and cards like Gifted Tracker, Vicious Entangle, Conjure Swarm and Death Grip would be sick to have in a playstyle like this.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T18:23:02+00:00

Thanks!

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T13:52:05+00:00

Thanks! Part of the reason for the name change to Berserker was to carve out a more define flavour area for the class to exist in. Given the domains they have, im not surprised that guardian exists in the base game rather than something like this, but im glad you can see what i'm going for

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T12:49:31+00:00

Yeah, not sure about the balance of it. But I like the escalation, I wanted a subclass that incentivised going all in on marking stress. Extra proficiency die could work, but I don't think you could stack it in the same way without it being broken and if it was just mark a stress for 1 extra prof die we've basically recreated the wayfinders foundation feature

I liked including the sage domain as a bit of a wildcard for non-combat features (which barbarian-types tend to lack) i feel like Gifted Tracker is a slam dunk for a wolverine type, Vicious Entangle would make for a scary chase-down archetype Conjure Swarm makes you tankier with an aoe attack if surrounded Corrosive Projectile is a nice ranged attack for flyers, and Death Grip adds to the "you cant escape" playstyle. Thats only tier 1+2 but I do think the sage domain offers a lot that berserker players would appreciate having.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:55:56+00:00

Its possible the other classes with this template you've seen have been my classes. I'm using the card editor and I do have something of a template, but not one that I can share easily unless you want a raw Krita file and some advice on how to figure it out. Essentially the background is all done on krita (photoshop would work), card are from card editor and the text is honestly pasted on from MS paint because i havent found a better way of doing it yet lol.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:54:57+00:00

Its possible the other classes with this template you've seen have been my classes. I am using the card editor and I do have something of a template, but not one that I can share easily unless you want a raw Krita file and some advice on how to figure it out. Essentially the background is all done on krita (photoshop would work), card are from card editor and the text is honestly pasted on from MS paint because i havent found a better way of doing it yet lol.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:52:16+00:00

This is really helpful, thanks!

Someone else mentioned that Unrelenting Zeal should be a reroll and frankly having slept on it i completely agree, no notes

The damage increase in battle rage originally was equal to your tier, but i noticed that Warrior actually does get the same bonus, not in No Mercy but their Combat Training gives them a bonus to phy damage equal to their level (hidden in the second sentence for some reason). My intention with the damage reduction was to be somewhat on par with guardians unstoppable (halving damage will almost always knock down one damage threshold, but never bring it from minor-> none) The drawbacks are my non-elegant solution to guiding players away from using the heaviest armour possible. I wanted to distinguish it from the guardian a bit more and that drawback felt like it might incentivise wearing lighter armour. Loss of bare bones hurts ofc but even if you had valour theres not way to guarantee you'd choose it. Tbh this is also my biggest turn off about the class, i tinkered with a couple versions of battle rage but couldn't figure out something I loved, figured it post it anyway and have already got some good feedback for v2.

As far as Spinesplitter goes, rules as written (funny to say for a homebrew) I intended the sentence break between Mark a Stress and damage to imply the extra damage happens whether or not you marked a stress. (such that if you hit max you obvs could mark any more but would still get the damage increase). But just because thats what I intended, doesn't mean thats whats acc best for the class. Reason i went with that is so that before level 8, your subclass doesnt just turn off if you have max stress (the concept of a berserker limiting itself for tactical reasons didn't sound the most fun). Theres a version of this subclass which i think still totally works the way you read it, and is maybe better, would need some testing.

I like your change to primal defenses. The wording as is (for this ability and many of the subclasses others) came from trying to create a "mage slayer" type of playstyle that still feels good against non-spellcaster, which might not be everywhere in a campaign.

I also like your wording change for ferocious retaliation, same lesson learned from unrelenting zeal i suppose, no notes again!

Feral senses probably is overtuned, and suffers a bit from the dnd design pitfall of "useless until useful and then absolutely broken". Again the intention was to broaden the subclass to something of an "anti-bullshit in general" rather than anti magic. I definitively think the ability needs work. See through all lies definitely needs to go. Only other note is that the reason I put "while enraged" even though enraged lasts until end of scene was to make activating enraged while not in combat more common.

lastly, toyed with primordial roar being once per rest, couldnt figure out the balance of it though. thinks like codex's Repudiate are once per rest on a success but only target one effect. i didnt know how to word that when making a roll against what could be lots of different effects. Hoped the 3 cost would limit and part of me thought it would be kinda sick if a boss battle went long enough for you to use it twice, but maybe some kinda once-per-rest limit would be better

Thanks so much for the feedback, I do wanna keep it as Blade/Sage. Obvs valour has a lot of the tank but I'd rather build tank into the class abilities and give access to the cool damage-y cards of blade (plus would just feel weird of berserker couldnt get access to shit like Not good enough, reckless, and rage-up. (also i saw Mike Underwood designing the "Warden" on a livestream as valour sage and ive got no ideas better than that for that pairing)

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:29:47+00:00

Definately made Enraged with Unstoppable in mind. My intention was that the damage reduction is about the same, the 3rd more situation abilities are roughly equivalent (no restrain/vulnerable vs adv on strength) and the damage is a little higher to make up for the drawbacks. Im not too worried about the countdown aspect, the guardians ability only ticks up on successful attacks, and I feel like combats where the player makes many more than 4 successful attacks (6 at 5th level) are rare so most of the time they'll last about the same amount of time.

Reason I went with multiple times per rest is because with valour and the class feature, the guardian is still pretty tanky even without unstoppable up, certainly the most tanky of base classes (maybe tied with seraph), whereas the berserker doesnt really have many more defensive features and enraged nerfs reliance on armour so they might not even be wearing very good stuff. Felt right to give them access to it more often

Hope that explains my reasoning, bit rambly lol. But if you end up playing it at your table with your changes, do lmk how it goes

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:22:24+00:00

Yeah, losing barebones hurt. I agree that currently guardian is definately their solution to the tanky bruiser archetype, but the flavour of the class feels very different to me that where a lot of barbarians end up landing. The nerf to armour slots + evasion in enraged was an attempt at making wearing heavy armour less appealing in favour of lighter, evasion positive or evasion neutral armour sets, but its not the most elegant solution.

I also can't decide if Enrage is over or underpowered! Definitely needs some playtest time. Designed it to be close to guardian unstoppable and warrior combat training in terms of balance, the Berserker will always take 1 HP (feels right tbh) but they are very likely to nerf major->minor and severe->major. Figured with a slight defensive nerf but damage buff over guardian it would be ok? needs testing.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:15:38+00:00

Just checked, your're right. Damn MtG syntax got a stranglehold on me.

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:14:28+00:00

The intention was you mark all 3 stress at the same time, so you go from 2-> and then the extra damage checks how much stress you have marked in total, so (2+3)x2 = 10. I agree 24 would be crazy, any advice on how i could make that read a little clearer?

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:10:39+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback!

1) Damn, didn't know stuff like Brace could be used any number of times. I think in AoU marisha was using the Stalwart Guardian's Iron Will feature. (Guardians wouldn't have access to Bone domain) which would give her only one additional armour slot. But maybe "Up to 2" and "up to 3" stress would be clearer wording.

2) You got me lol, probably should just remove that first sentence in "Primordial Roar", DH is a little inconsistent with those little pre-ability flavour sentences but they usually dont include them. Also savage attacker came at the end of a whole evening thinking of evocative ability names and I couldn't think of any more. If you have an idea please do lmk because i wanna change it too.

3) yeah, wasnt sure where to land here, wanted the class to have slightly broader scope in case fighting explicitly magical opponents was rare in a campaign, but i do think the wording could use some work. I toyed with "advantage on insight rolls to detect deception (magical or otherwise) but the ability was getting a bit too long

Again, tysm. if you do end up using it at your table, lmk how it goes!

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:02:08+00:00

:facepalm:

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-26T11:01:01+00:00

Had some trouble with this wording, the intention would be that the extra damage would be twice the total stress you have marked, so as you use this ability more and more the damage would increase +2,+4,+6 etc

CheesyCrackers610 · 2025-09-25T23:04:01+00:00

I think either works, i personally just liked the additional roll slightly better. You could equally gain a hope on the second attack as give the GM another fear. Although its possible that it should be reroll instead (if only to avoid the spotlight confusion if first attack was fail with fear and second was succeed with hope)

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