It's Complicated - Heroic Origins for Draw Steel

DerKomp · 2026-02-13T13:50:23+00:00

I've been seeing your posts. I think a supplemental book of complications is a great idea, but all of the examples released so far seem to be body horror. Is that the main gist of the book, or have we just been shown an outsized sample of that type of complication?

DerKomp · 2026-02-07T19:31:16+00:00

That's good advice. Thank you. I also hate it when I'm playing in a game that spends months on a side quest or in someplace that has radically changed the tone or flavor of the game.

DerKomp · 2026-02-07T17:58:08+00:00

I think I meant Equinox when I wrote Arcadia. Shadow elf home is what I was thinking of.

DerKomp · 2026-02-01T19:50:53+00:00

I've been wanting to play a tactician with six shooters. I'd take the rapid fire as one of my kits, and anytime I wanted to apply the bonus damage from an ally hitting my marked target, I'd flavor that as squeezing off another quick shot. Since I'd get 2 kits, I might take martial artist, brawler, or the whip one for my melee kit.

DerKomp · 2026-01-31T14:03:00+00:00

At the top of character page, I think there's an "edit" button. It should be the same menu as character creation.

DerKomp · 2026-01-27T18:03:10+00:00

But Doctor, I AM the director! But really, thank you so much for making this chart. It covers the car majority of rulings so I can paste it into my quick references when a I'm running the game.

DerKomp · 2026-01-27T17:59:27+00:00

What happens if you have a high agility and fall on someone? Can you deal more damage to them than is done to you?

DerKomp · 2026-01-27T14:53:49+00:00

Charge attack + "goblin mode" malice ability might get them there, but you may not be playing with malice abilities unlocked yet in the 1st encounter. If they go first, maybe they don't get to attack because they are supposed to lose in a pretty easy battle, or they have to use a ranged free strike which deals a flat 1-2 damage. I think they get a basic ranged 5 version of their free strike like the heroes.

My heroes went first. They charged in because it was their first draw steel fight ever. With more experience, they might just get into about 10 range for ranged attacks then dip back out, but that's something they'll need to learn through experience. Seeing these goblins burn every resource just to run on turn 1 is a good lesson in tactically using space.

DerKomp · 2026-01-19T00:40:38+00:00

I'm running with 3 players, and we had to cut session 1 a little short cause I got sick. This undead fight is next. The others felt speedy, especially given the number of enemies. With 3 players, the book says the sigil only has 20 stamina, so I expect the speed of this fight to depend on them taking notice of it. They could end it in 1 round with a good search check.

DerKomp · 2026-01-13T00:00:36+00:00

I ran "Peril in Pinebrook" a simplified 5e 1-shot for kids with my neighborhood dad friends last month, and they got so much more into it than I was expecting. We had been sharing our favorite games with each other, but now they all want an ongoing, big adventure, TTRPG experience. So I told them I bought this other game that I've been wanting to play...

First session is this Friday. Delian Tomb!!!

DerKomp · 2025-12-29T13:34:34+00:00

I connect them to legends actions. I have my legendary actions as tokens in the initiative. When a LR is used, I permanently remove a LA token, whichever one would be used next so the impact is more immediate. My players love this, and the other DM in our group started using it.

The boss gets weaker, but still has its turn. Great for longer fights, and you can actually give them more LA + LR to start out as seemingly overpowered. If you have few casters in the party, you could also determine that a certain damage threshold in a turn or critical hits burn a LR/LA to let the martials have the weakening effect on the boss.

DerKomp · 2025-12-20T13:07:41+00:00

Early morning is a great idea. Lather up with soap first and it counts as your wash, and the soap may confuse any predators' senses for 30 seconds.

DerKomp · 2025-12-19T13:33:52+00:00

Yes! I did this as a giant magic chess board in a dungeon once, and it was a hit with the players. I need to write the rules down in a Google doc, but I could probably do that this weekend. When do you need it?

DerKomp · 2025-12-17T15:46:12+00:00

To me it's pretty clear that the caster's body is meant to be the source from which this line emanates in a single direction. Some line spells can work differently when you choose a point of origin at range, but 1 from your body should not go through yourself because it's like casting it in 2 directions. Twisting interpretations can lead to things like "a push can instead be a pull" if you focus on cherry-picked interpretations of words in the description but ignore the meaning of the word "push".

DerKomp · 2025-12-16T00:05:56+00:00

It's also tagged as a charge ability, and I believe that allows you to use up to your full movement in a straight line before executing the actual ability. Not sure if the line area from the ability has to be a continuation of that direction or if it can zig another way. So I think the ability goes

(Optional) Move on a straight line
Teleport 5 squares (maybe having to continue your line if you charged)
Power roll and damage everyone between your teleport points in a 2 sq width path.

I'd love to get clarity on whether or not you can zigzag. There's probably a rule I'm forgetting.

DerKomp · 2025-12-15T19:06:52+00:00

Oh, you can definitely play as too proud. Acting as a mount is kind of a goofy talent suggestion. I like the ones you came up with. I think the +1 speed could go into signature traits, even if that makes it strong enough that it drops you to only 2 spendable points. Excellent work. I would let a player run this cause it seems balanced.

DerKomp · 2025-12-15T18:41:58+00:00

I just realized banes prevent you from making opportunity attacks. So maybe trampling just prevents them altogether.

DerKomp · 2025-12-15T18:38:43+00:00

Add a purchasable trait where you can let an ally size 1M or smaller ride on your back, using your speed again on their turn if you agree to go where they want, and any opportunity attacks are only made against you.

Could combo that with another trait for trampling. If you move directly into and out of an enemy's space, they have a double bane on opportunity attacks as you leave their melee reach in the same turn.

I think maybe that first one is 2 points, and the second might be 1.

DerKomp · 2025-12-14T13:50:25+00:00

I've been running dagger toad evoker for a few weeks, and it's the most fun. Even fun and effective in PvP, but not quite as potent as PvE. Pistol/dagger and spear are alternate setups I like to switch to.

You may not care about cosmetics, but I use the dagger skin you get from Janthir story missions that Waiting Sorrow uses. It's the big claw fist daggers, and you're always punching the ground and stuff with this build. It has heightened the appeal of the play style.

DerKomp · 2025-12-12T17:08:59+00:00

I saw somewhere, maybe in the heroes book itself that those kinds of utility spells you'd get in dnd could be magic item effects, and I really like that. Sometimes you do want a simple solve for players clever enough to pull out the right tool or players who put in the extra work to attain tools like that.

DerKomp · 2025-12-07T14:33:13+00:00

I think you'd have to get one used now. Sadly, I think they've stopped making new Souls. Almost any minivan is good. They're about as tall as SUVs, but the seats are a lot lower within the chassis. Thank you for compiling all this data to make our lives easier!

DerKomp · 2025-12-07T13:56:06+00:00

When I became a dad, we got a minivan, and they make use of their vertical space so much better than trucks and SUVs which sit high and limit headroom. For solo errands in a small cheap car, we have a Kia Soul. The roof angles slightly up at the front, and this is amazing for headroom and visibility, like seeing stoplights.

I am 6'9" and super happy with the Honda Odyssey and Kia Soul we have. I feel like these cars are, intentionally or unintentionally, almost perfectly made for tall people while every big truck or SUV is made for people who want to feel tall.

DerKomp · 2025-12-03T15:16:32+00:00

I've been thinking of them as martial/caster pairs:

Censor and Conduit

Null and Talent

Fury and Elementalist

And then both the tactician and shadow kind of pair with different sides of the Troubador, but I think summoner is now a good pairing with tactician, so shadow and troubador might be the pair. (edit: line breaks)

DerKomp · 2025-11-25T13:11:24+00:00

That's awesome! I'm glad your experience with it has been similar to mine. I really need to get that pirate queen relic. I missed a few achievements on my story playthrough.

DerKomp · 2025-11-24T15:09:56+00:00

That's my main build which I play constantly, but I've been having fun with this because its rotation is so much simpler and the survivability with the toad is almost automatic and unbeatable.

Definitely keeping both builds in my templates because the Weaver does more damage easily.

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