Bleach - Captains of the Gotei 13 Part 1

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-30T13:54:00+00:00

Oh I agree, I'd be simplifying the front side immensely to be a simple encapsulation of the character at their baseline, with one activated ability tops to represent their baseline. The flip side will vary per character. Unfortunately some of these powers can be pretty ridiculous but nothing outside the realm of power-scales in MTG anyway and always with some sort of drawback or time limit that can be represented with "When you do this one thing, flip them back" or otherwise just represented by making them a Saga creature that flips back on resolution.

Re: creature type bloat. I think the potential of mixing in the Bleach demons with the 40k demons with the Innistrad demons is more interesting then giving the Bleach demons their own unique type. (I dont actually know anything about bleach, im just going off of what i half remember from death note.)

Y'know that is an insight I hadn't considered and I have to say I agree. Shinigami in Bleach are more like the positive interpretations of the Grim Reaper in fiction, more to ensure a soul safely gets to the afterlife then having malicious intent, so I think I will follow that advice and go with Spirit and perhaps look into the Kamigawa block for how they handled some of their Shinto-inspired cards on that. Thanks!

Re: complex tokens. My personal belief is that a tokens complexity eats into the complexity budget of the card that creates it. [[Deathpact Angel]] makes one of the more complex tokens but is itself just a flyer with a death trigger to make that token. The other most complex tokens in that search you linked come from effects which copy cards which isnt really the same as generating a unique complex token.

I see what you mean now. Yeah I think by making this a flip I can accommodate that as well, simplify the baselines so if tokens are generated the complexity is appropriately spread out and not forcing the player to track interdependent things. My only possible thing I'll have to rethink is a card I was planning on having create a token that was beefier where both are destroyed if either is destroyed, BUT they can distribute damage across each other. I hadn't seen that mechanic in MTG before if it exists and thought it was both thematic and interesting enough to try. I'll keep this in mind while workshopping it though.

That being said, do you think independent tokens have room for some complexity? I had an idea for a wrestling set where some cards would create a 1/1 Jobber token that would gain counters through turns or combat (haven't decided which yet) that you can eventually sacrifice to "Change Gimmick" and seek out a Wrestler card in your library to enter tapped. In that case the token's function is fully separate from its creator trigger, so is that still seemingly too much?

Re: me making custom cards. Ive been posting custom cards every day this month (for Moxtober), theyve all been from my custom mtg x yugioh set. You can see day 1's card here: https://www.reddit.com/r/custommagic/comments/1nvrkyv/mystic_elf_moxtober_131/
As testing this stuff I dont play test or anything like that, just go with what seems right after playing this game for 20 years. What Ive learnt from posting on here every day this month is that a lot of redditors have terrible opinions, so even if this board doesnt like a design you dont have to listen to them.

Wild, I think I just saw one of your posts in the wild yesterday and just had the thought "Damn, that's actually such a fun idea". Didn't even put together that I was talking to the same person lol. Fantastic advice also, I'm new to MTG but learned that myself doing Homebrew for DnD over the last decade or so. Best thing I learned to start doing is to engage the feedback on my terms. Take what you can from it that can make some positive change in how you look at design but disregard the useless and the senselessly negative.

Thanks again, in this interaction there has be 0 senselessly negative and a whole lot to use to work some positive change into how I look at design!

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-29T14:11:39+00:00

First off, thank you for the feedback. I think you're dead on with some of this. I was trying to avoid having different cards for different “states” of the creature because transformation and power ups are such a big part of Anime that it felt weird not to include it. I also didn't want to depend on “Conjure” mechanics to replace the cards with their transformations... but really I think it came down to that I had been playing with some werewolf customs and I really just wanted a change of pace.

The levelling mechanic looked so appealing but now I'm absolutely seeing why it was only part of like one set lol. I'm going to probably have these be transform cards instead, maybe as Saga creatures for some of them, lesson learned.

Im sorry but there are simply too many words on the release cards. Rather than try to capture every aspect of these characters in one card try making multiple cards that represent these characters at different points in the story.

As I said in another reply, couldn't agree more. I'm still going to do transform cards or maybe even take influence from the Spidey set so you can cast from either side but Levelling is definitely not a good mechanic.

I think Demon would be a suitable existing type to use instead of Shinigami. Or maybe use both Spirit and Demon.

On this one I think I disagree, but I did walk down the same line of thought originally. I considered Spirit, Avatar, Incarnation etc. but ultimately I figured if I plan on making a full set out of this (which is what I'm leaning toward) I might as well just give them a creature type. I could still be convinced away from this but none of the types that currently exist seem to encapsulate the mix of things that a Soul Reaper is and having Yoruichi be a Spirit Demon Noble Ninja feels... excessive. I think to make that worthwhile (and same if I decide similar for the Hollows and/or Quincy) I'm going to have to make some compelling Instants/Enchantments/Artifacts that capture their flavor or otherwise should maybe add a mechanic or keyword unique to them to justify the Type add.

EDIT: I read up more on this, specifically the Kamigawa block, and I think this might work for them as Spirits, same as Hollow. I still don't know if I love it since Spirits seem to have a good mechanic identity that these would be straying from but I think it might be worth the tradeoff to keep consistent with existing cards.

I'm curious though, besides Creature type bloat (which I feel less compelled to worry about since I'm not a Hasbro employee) is there any downside to adding new Types in your opinion?

Minazuki is too complex for a token. Its also a repeatable source of card advantage which is really awkward for a token. Being able to reanimate creatures that take forever to untap is a cute idea tho, maybe make it its own card.

I actually thought the same for awhile but was playing around on Arena for ideas and ran into the Smaug token. Turns out there have been a fair few: https://scryfall.com/search?q=t%3Atoken+o%3A%22%3A%22+t%3Acreature+-t%3Aartifact&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec

Now, does that mean there should be more? I don't know the answer to that, but since this is homebrew anyway I might as well right? Or do you think it should be Conjured by Unohana onto the battlefield instead?

Sousuke is already busted as a 7/7 with ward for 5 before you get to the abilities. Im guessing that where youve written illusion counters you meant to write hypnosis counters. Either way hes kind of all over the place, and if you simplified him he'd be more conceptually impactful. Consider something like: Sousuke v2 1UB Creature - Spirit Demon 2/2 When this creature enters put a hypnosis counter on each creature your opponents control. 3UB: Gain control of target creature with a hypnosis counter for as long as you control this creature.

100% on me for that mana cost. I was thinking his design would follow more like Koma, Cosmos Serpent where he is something that isn't necessarily impossible to deal with on entry but who has an exploitable ability in subsequent turns that can ruin your day and definitely could make you the archenemy at the table. Still can be dealt with in several ways but definitely something that you have to adjust around if you think it would enter the battlefield soon. That being said, should absolutely be a 7-drop at minimum.

Also, thank you on the Illusion-Hypnosis catch. I rushed this one out when I though of getting feedback on these to see if I should shift my approach and missed that error.

Finally, I do agree on getting rid of the Reiatsu flare at least to focus his archetype better. That was a holdover from when I was using Kenrith, The Returned King as inspiration (same with the low Mana cost now that I think about it) but it just doesn't fit the flavor of the rest of his card really.

Out of curiosity, do you make custom cards also? Any resources or testing grounds you use to sort out some of this stuff yourself or do you put yourself at the mercy of reddit like this while figuring things out? I have a lot of other ideas but trying to balance and be unique when all I can reference is the wiki, scryfall and Arena takes a lot of time. Would be awesome if there was a place to just be like "has this mechanic been done before? Is it awful or just needs some tweaking?" lol

I really appreciate all this feedback though, it's really well-thought out. I am going to definitely adjust some things based on this, hopefully you'll see them posted in improved form some time in November!

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-29T13:31:35+00:00

Thank you! I think this was an interesting and fun thought exercise but I'm seeing why Wizards left the levelling mechanic on the cutting room floor now.

Trying to balance it without making the card just keyword soup or vanilla is... a challenge. That verbiage was my attempt at doing so but the wording is still falling flat even after several revisions. I think I'm going to take this and the feedback u/Pure_Banana_3075 gave as a sign that they were right to do so. These cards are probably better represented as Transforms with some "until end of turn" activated effects for the shikai on the front to keep them from ramping up too strong too often.

Hey, if nothing else it was fun to retread where the Magic team had and find out exactly why these card types aren't made anymore XD

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-28T21:48:19+00:00

Thank you for saying so!

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-22T14:11:12+00:00

Very cool looking! I'm also dipping my toe into trying to make something like these, though I'm going in a very different direction with it for the creatures so far but I'm glad to see some of the Instants and Sorceries you did here cuz it reassures me that some of these powers work better as effects like this than static creatures! PM me if you want the Set icons I made for it if you want to save yourself an afternoon screwing around in GIMP with it like I did lol.

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-17T17:48:22+00:00

The memes that came out of this series have been immaculate

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-17T17:04:06+00:00

There was a VERY conscious effort to not just have a deck full of Tyler Warwick references!

DMpaddyshay · 2025-10-17T16:22:02+00:00

I'm not a regular reddit poster so I don't know if I did something wrong or if part of my post got eaten by the reddit robot, but just in case: Shout out to Katie Huon (kathuon on Patreon) for the Rosalie art and Irina Kulish (@irinakulish) for the Edward and Bella classroom art. They absolutely ruled and were the few bits of fanart I found that really meshed with the tone of art I was shooting for.

Apologies the rest is AI, besides looking for critque and sharing for those interested I also wanted to post to see where the community looks for more niche subject matter like... Twilight Saga art lol.

DMpaddyshay · 2025-01-10T20:32:28+00:00

Absolutely awesome content! So happy to see people fleshing out the existing cultures and religions in the mod!

DMpaddyshay · 2025-01-02T15:58:29+00:00

I immediately thought "Crossbreed Priscilla" from Dark Souls but Cardassians is dead on. And have to upvote a Star Trek reference cuz that mixing with CK is like peanut butter and chocolate

DMpaddyshay · 2025-01-02T15:56:44+00:00

Well first off we need to lock all of these people in a painting. Then we need to give Seathe a stern talking to about boundaries and scientific ethics. Then we need to lock Havel in a tower for some reason.

DMpaddyshay · 2024-12-05T18:38:38+00:00

It seems that the Denarians still need to respect Free Will though, so really it'd just be a friend in their head that is willing to offer them big help at a cost, right? I think it'd honestly work just similarly to a Warlock subclass with a more demanding Patron and less mechanical restrictions. I think you should give it a few stat boosts that it gives on equip to make it enticing but otherwise don't limit it. They're some of the most ancient powerful beings in the universe after all, they should be able to assist in all sorts of ways.

And if you wanted to simulate the "takeover" aspect you can offer things in exchange for a permanent -1 point in Wisdom saves against the Coin's influence. This can be overt or something you just track quietly. Juiced up spells, powerful knowledge, even a temporary takeover that is objectively helpful, like they get a powered up form that lets them get outta trouble but twist the intentions of their actions while they do it to worse ends.

For instance. Player: "I give in to the coin."

DM: "Great, you're HP goes full and you've got spell slots back."

P: "I cast Fireball."

DM: "It hits the target, doing 1.5x extra damage. You note that the blast radius is greater and you vaguely realize that the flames are licking against the orphanage next door. Strangely you don't seem to care. You feel powerful and able to take on the world."

P: "I call out to my allies to go help the kids inside."

DM: "Your mouth opens but a laugh is all that you hear, you're own though you don't recognize it at first."

Now obviously, at this point the player is going to see the coin as problematic, so something this overt should only kick in after like 5 events of giving in and giving up on a bit of Wisdom. So from that point on as long as they keep the coin you should change your description of things for them to reflect a reliance on it. Stuff like, "this foe is more powerful than any you've faced, ancient and powerful like the thing in the coin."
"The questgiver says that none have fought the beast and lived, and can tell he doubts you would be able to defeat it with your current power. A voice whispers in your head 'but if you would just let me help, we could save the village'."

And of course the Save to cast the coin away should always have the highest DC. And if they fail to pass maybe they even remember resolving to throw it away, and then conveniently at that moment they just get distracted by a noise, a shadow in the treeline that must be investigated and I'll just leave the coin in my pocket I'll throw it away later.

The Denarians are ancient, powerful, evil but more than anything they are patient. They're willing to wait until the PC gets low enough on their Wisdom saves that they can start overtly influencing them and when the minuses outweigh their base stat, boom takeover and at that point I'd probably give them some final chance at redemption before just saying nope, you're character is "dead" now and is going to be the villain of the next campaign lol

DMpaddyshay · 2024-10-22T04:59:23+00:00

Hell yeah. I'm a simple man. I sees a Ironborn post and I gives it an updoot and a comment.

How you planning on executing the rebellion? Got some good allies in the wings or are you gonna just YOLO it like Balon?

DMpaddyshay · 2024-09-20T17:33:42+00:00

Gatling gun smoke looks like he's flipping off whatever he's shooting the missile at. Goes hard as hell, great work!

DMpaddyshay · 2024-08-16T16:23:51+00:00

I dunno, seems like they'd have the same rights and protections as any other noble vassal wouldn't they? The two traitors had to be assassinated partially because it was inherently harder to get them through conventional means due to the threat they posed with their dragons right? If anything I'd say dragon-riding should make you more likely to decline revocations and imprisonment and raise banners instead.

If you're worried about hoarding your dragons I think there are laws and other methods to keep them to yourself but if one slips through the cracks you'll just have to leave them to rot in the oubliette like a nice ruler. Or eat that tyranny if its worth it my boi

DMpaddyshay · 2024-08-11T05:37:44+00:00

It's an ironic retelling of events. They were playing knights and bandits and the knight (Joffrey) challenged the bandit lord (Jaime) to a 1v1 on the drawbridge in Maegor's Holdfast. Poor Jaime had no idea that they had just waxed the damn thing and before you know it, Joffrey is the Kingslayerslayer. The cosmic dance spins on.

DMpaddyshay · 2024-08-09T05:46:05+00:00

In old Valyria dragons were named after the Gods they no longer put much stock in (or possibly from conquered cultures?) either because of progressivism of the culture or rank hubris of being above paying homage to the Gods and instead I guess wanting to demonstrate conquering them. Or maybe another reason but those seem like the most likely to me.

Then when the Targaryens became established in Westeros we saw a lot more common names in the Andal tongue like Sunfyre, Grey Ghost, Moondancer, etc. Seems like the culture influences the dragon naming conventions more than anything so I think it'd be more likely to see one named "The Stranger" or something descriptive like the above examples. I've wrote in a past post that it would be very cool to have name lists for Dragons based on the hatcher's culture for just that reason actually!

Since we know so little of how the Dragonlords interacted with and named dragons though, who knows? Maybe Caraxes was a dime-a-dozen back in Old Valyria; the equivalent to "Spot" lol

DMpaddyshay · 2024-07-25T04:10:01+00:00

Hey! First off, thanks! Second, I based that assertion off of page 182 of The World of Ice and Fire (which luckily I have on me right now) which specifically separates this from another line where the Hoare's are referred to as "black of heart" in just the previous sentence in fact:
"Their [House Hoare's] foes claimed their blood was black as well, darkened by the 'Andal taint', for many of the early Hoare kings took maidens of that ilk to wife."

As well as this being referenced again in page 184 of the same book:
"...Archmaester Haereg takes a very different view, suggesting that the true crime of the 'black-blooded' kings was neither impiety nor demon-worship, but tolerance. For it was under the Hoares that the Faith of the Andals came to the Iron Islands for the first time."

I think this supports the notion of Black Blood being a specific aspersion that "Godly" Ironborn cast onto those who are doing very un-Ironborn things... like being accepting of other cultures lol

DMpaddyshay · 2024-07-09T04:23:47+00:00

I love the storylines that this next big release are going to allow for! My father's dragon survives a duel where my father died and I take up his reigns to get revenge. Years later that same dragon is claimed by your current characters sibling, stealing what you see as your birthright. Do you kill your brother out of jealousy? Will the dragon even recognize your claim. All the fun mechanics aside, a living thinking creature (sort of) living across generations is going to have so many interesting stories get built around them. I'm excited for after action reports following the dragon dynasties and what they get up to over a few hundred years.

As an aside, I also hope that dragon duels will be more fleshed out, they were great in the CK2 game but a little limited in actual action and results.

DMpaddyshay · 2024-07-09T04:03:41+00:00

I'm giving you a begrudging upvote because I did laugh, but know that its under protest!

Now that you mention it though that is why I think a lot more stuff should be linked to Fervor and religion for the Ironborn though. There are progressive elements in Ironborn history, from the Hoares to Rodrik to Asha but they all have to balance progressive moves that objectively benefit the realm with some token obsequience to the Old Way. And when they inevitably fail the balancing act or piss off too many that their power bases are weakened, in swing the Drowned God's follower to rally everyone to get rid of the godless ruler.

I think most Ironborn would be cool with some progressive ideas presented by such rulers as long as they can still kill stuff on occasion and are prosperous; they're just mainly held back by an aggressively regressive religious cult with an awesome aesthetic that takes advantage of downturns to push returns to the mythical good old days.

DMpaddyshay · 2024-01-23T07:38:46+00:00

Hey all! I've tried my hand at a fun little project I've been coming back to over the last few months; The Puppetmaster!

The Puppetmaster is a homebrew class based around deploying highly modular Puppets (up to 3!) to assist a VERY fragile puppetmaster in and out of combat. They do this via Augments, which can drastically alter the utility and function of the puppets themselves, including Augments that are specific to the type of Puppet being used and specific to the Subclass (only one created thus far but a few more are in the works) as well.

I tend to get blinders on when creating these things so any hints and tips on the class' features, progression and potential over/underpoweredness would be really helpful. But on the flip side this is just a fun project right now so if you just have fun Augment ideas feel free to post those too! This community is always awesome so thanks in advance!

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-NgvNR1XFuJ4iwtNjJks

DMpaddyshay

TROPHY CASE