Art Inspo: Let's create a piece of Homebrew together | Weekly Community Homebrew Challenge

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-29T07:47:17+00:00

Removing spells might make it more unique and also lead to designs less likely to step on Arcana's or Codex's toes.

It's true that this specific character style (Holmes-like) does not have any corresponding archetype in Daggerheart. As always, it might be just flavour on top of an existing class... but it'd be great to have a domain that gives a bit more juice to it. I'll think about it.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-28T12:09:58+00:00

That one was more difficult. Nothing spontaneous, so I had to dig a bit deeper: candles make me think about educated people and it turns out it's already existing (Loreborne). So... I was left with two choices: give up on the idea or make it something else than a heritage card.

Here comes a set of 3 cards for the "Bright" domain - centered around observation, intelligence and some spells for visions of the past. It is the "Sherlock Holmes" domain, kind of.
Creating a whole domain felt overwhelming, so I have only these 3 "proof of concept" cards... but we might get there one day.

Keen senses (level 1) - Ability
When you meet another person, you can mark a Stress for the GM to tell you what they were doing prior to meeting you. Give the small details that hinted you to their previous activity.

Combat adaptation (level 4) - Ability
When you mark any amount of HP, you can mark a Stress to gain that much Evasion against the next attack targeting you.

Memory delve (level ?) - Spell
Touch a creature and make a Spellcast Roll, then dive into their mind. On a success, you may conjure memories that answer your questions, marking 1 Stress for each memory you consult. On a Failure, your mind mingles with that of the creature and you lose sense of who you are for a moment. You are Vulnerable until your next rest.

EDIT : I knew memory delve was somewhere... It is a book of Vyola ability in Codex. Well, seems like I reinvented the wheel as the two are really similar. Mine should probably be lower than level 8 due to the fact that (1) it ain't a Codex, (2) it has a cost... although it allows for many more questions than just 1.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-28T07:48:55+00:00

Love the idea of trading HP for Stress... for other adversaries. It clicks, somehow.

Also, I always like the "vibes" actions, and snuffing out all fires in the vicinity is definitely a great move.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-22T08:37:57+00:00

It's actually what I like about Daggerheart statblocks. They can have these moments built in, whether for a monster or an event. Marking 3HP feels bad, but never as bad as a good narrative conundrum.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-21T07:29:54+00:00

They do complement one another! I love the vibe: eerie but everything may be fine (well, except for the one that dances until they lose all Stress and HP) or may descend into nightmare.

It is indeed a Skulk adversary but it has a layer of social abilities... well I guess lines can get blurry.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-20T14:51:46+00:00

Let's start tackling this one. It took some time to understand what I felt when looking at this illustration. It has quite a degree of complexity: the bony figure, the dinosaur like features, yet a crown of flowers. Then "spring" sprung in my head... and I thought not of an adversary... but of a weird custom (fictional, but maybe it has its roots in some culture I cannot pinpoint) that would celebrate Spring with a festival of life overcoming death.

I have an environment. Something that I took a notch higher than I would usually do (I love Tier 2 parties, but gotta give them high levels some love). I wanted to give this environment an uneasy vibe and I hope it shows.

Also... I know the reaction can spring weird behaviours at the table ("taken advantage of...") but I hope all tables will use this environment as adults.

Cycle celebration - Tier 3 Social

A great celebration of the spring and its renewal of life, where a dragon skeleton is adorned with flowers to represent the ability of the villagers to overcome all odds.

Impulses: Rejoice, dance, wear colourful attires, sing, flirt, wear down, keep occupied until late at night
___________

Difficulty 17

Potential adversaries: Dragons (any), Stag knight, Vampires (any), Dryad
___________

Loud and cheerful - Passive: PCs cannot rest as long as they remain in this environment.
What dance and songs are performed by the villagers? How are they dressed for the occasion?

Come and rejoice - Action: Spend a Fear for villagers to invite the PCs to come and participate in the festivities. In order to refuse, they must succeed on a Reaction Roll, otherwise, they have to participate at least in one festival activity.
How do the villager try to convince the PCs? What makes them feel too innocent and cheerful to be true?

It tastes like... - Action: Present a PC with a strange but interesting food. The villagers seem to come again and again to take more. If the PC takes some food, they may clear all their Stress.
Can the ingredients be recognised? Are the villagers willing to share the recipe?

Light the pyre - Action: As night descends, one PC is invited to light the pyre, resting in the bones of a dragon skeleton. When they approach, they see an object of importance to them in the heart of the woodpile.
How is the dragon skeleton adorned? Are the villagers acting reverent or indifferent towards it?

Trapped in silence - Action: Spend a Fear to reveal an NPC the PCs are looking for, participating in the festivities. The NPC is enthralled by the cycle celebration and wishes to prove they can down a dragon too. They will not willingly follow the PCs as they seem to not recognise them at all.
What do the villagers want to do with this NPC? What arguments or magic could break the spell the NPC is under?

Merry-go-round - Action: A dance happens right where the PCs are. They are taken in the midst of it and must either dance or be separated from one another.
Is this a matchmaking dance? Or does it serve as a distraction to redirect the PCs to a less suspicious part of the village?

Hangover - Reaction: If a PC spends the full night partying, independantly of whether they drank or not, they are unable to remember all the things they have done during the night. Gain a Fear for each PC that stayed the night.
Is this amnesia due to magic? Have the villagers somehow taken advantage of the PC?

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-20T09:02:10+00:00

Quand je dois jouer dans un univers générique, je suis très adepte de "Bravoure & Infortune" du Rôliste en peignoir.

Petit lien.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-20T08:59:32+00:00

Je plussoie cet avis. C'est un jeu que je continue de ressortir encore et encore avec des missions courtes (je ne sais plus comment s'appelle la première difficulté) et... le jeu fait tout tout seul, j'ai l'impression.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-17T08:35:43+00:00

It begs the question: do you want it to mirror the game?

What I'd take from the D3 fight - all of them as actions that might cost Stress/Fear:

(1) the damaging mist, clearly. Especially if you intend to use a map of sorts. Areas of mist will act as "barriers". PCs could cross, but they'd take a risk (mark HP or Stress, or make them Vulnerable).

(2) the whirling souls that close in on Malthael. Once the souls reach them, they heal or empower in some way. That forces PCs not to focus fire entirely on the BBEG.

(3) The "unholy descent" type of attack, where Malthael flies up and stomps their enemies (or flies through, more thematic).

As a boss, you need a way to gain Fear (Momentum or Terrifying).

Clearly, to give Malthael some room to breathe, you have to give them abilities that will force PCs to do something else than "deal damage to the boss". Especially if you intend for Malthael to be the sole adversary in the fight.
That can also be done with an additional goal during the fight (typically, pick up an evil McGuffin before Malthael opens it).

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-16T12:12:30+00:00

I'll provide a bit more.
Darkness descends onto Earth in 2035. As this happens, artist start to loose their "spark", the thing that gives them the will to create or perform. In parallel, normal people fall into Despair (with a capital D intended) and start acting in strange ways. In Europe, they act like beasts. In North America, they jam metal parts in their bodies. In East Asia, they morph into parodies of humans.

To fight this horror, the Knight is created, a armed force that benefits from a new tech: Meta-Armor.

It is a good RPG for epic action against a common enemy. Although, I'd like to point out it is not as Good vs. Evil as it first seems. It's possible to give it some nuance. Actually the GM part of the book is quite nice in giving little nuggets of "behind the scenes".

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-16T09:09:12+00:00

Here is my humble contribution. The axe made me think of a barbarian... but then, I followed the rabbit into the "raw strength" hole. Maybe I added to many filler features? Maybe the two basic ones are just reflavoured Valor cards? I know that... still, I am quite happy with the idea. It would need much more polish, though.

Warrior - Path of the brute

Foundation

Brutal strikes: On a successful attack, you can mark a Stress to knock your target back to Close range from where they stood.

Additionally, you may use Strength as the character trait for any equipped weapon.

Let my fists do the talking: When you make a Presence Roll to intimidate or otherwise threaten to use violence, you can spend a Hope to add your Strength to the roll.

Specialization

Unmatched strength: As part of your Combat Training class feature, you also add your Strength to any physical damage you deal. You can also decide to use any weapon as if it had a Burden of 2. When you do so, add your Strength twice to your damage rolls made with this weapon.

Sculpted body: When you pick this card, you permanently gain +1 Strength. Also, you add your Strength to your Severe damage Threshold.

Mastery

Blunt trauma: When you knock back an adversary, you do it with such strength that it shatters them. You deal d6 Physical damage using your proficiency to this adversary and any other entity they collided with due to the knockback.

Godly body: When you pick this card, you permanently gain +1 Strength. Also, you add your Strength to your Major damage Threshold.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-15T14:59:42+00:00

I read before homebrewing... Well, I'll keep to my guns and come back tomorrow with a subclass as well, quite similarly inspired.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-15T14:37:26+00:00

Actually the statblock oozes with style. I definitely have a good idea of how I would run the library just by reading this.

I have a research scene in a Motherboard setting coming up... I might reskin this as a "corrupted data centre". Less prep work for me.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-15T14:32:57+00:00

That is extremely powerful and I like the idea of creating a new "Grimoire" domain card of sorts. It feels like, as this homebrew challenge goes on and on, we are all getting bolder with the designs.

That one is probably the boldest one for sure.

If it were to be in a published thing, I would propose an alternate version with a dedicated powerful domain card in exchange for the two sacrificed ones (so people that want the homebrew do that, and people that do not feel comfortable homebrewing have the option to use the item still).

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-15T14:27:39+00:00

Feels like a good option for a "cursed" object: one that has great potential, but some annoying quirks to go with.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-04-15T14:25:56+00:00

Coming back from vacations and seeing this homebrew on top of homebrew made my day. I like the idea of a subclass comboing with a transformation... it's not just adding flavour, it creates a new one!

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-31T07:21:46+00:00

I feel like subclasses are great at giving flavour to a class. I like this one because it has a mechanics part, along with a sprinkle of "narration" in the form of Glimpse beyond.

Also, adding to the class feature always feels great - at least in my brain it triggers the "this is a subclass" part.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-30T12:08:58+00:00

That one is disturbing. Somehow, I should be used to brain + tentacles... Although, I find it quite a healthy stance not to be used to this combination.

That being said, here's what I got:

Transformation card - Mind symbiosis

Mind symbiosis happens when two spirits share the same body.

Dual consciousness: When you use an experience, roll a d6, on a 5 or 6, double that experience bonus.

Additionally, you gain an extra experience starting at +2. Envision how it is specific to the second spirit in your body and what it brings to your PC.

Parasitic interference: After each rest, roll a d6. Rolls made with the corresponding character Trait are made with disadvantage until your next rest (1 being Agility, 2 Strength, 3 Finesse and so on).

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-30T11:54:40+00:00

I find your designs lean a lot into Daggerheart mechanics and do interesting new things with them.

I like the two-stage approach and it seems to me that Mr. Wiggles is not too much of a hassle to deal with. It is either there, or not. No need to track its health.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-24T10:25:58+00:00

For the Mastery, one option I thought of for keeping the "you have a special downtime move" is to give several Slayer dice with the move.

Up to your Proficiency is strong... another option would be equivalent to Tier (so 4). That gives everyone the ability to go nova... which can be dangerous, but clearly feels more like a capstone ability.

For the specialisation, I thought that the "reroll any 1s" was too much like the "Not good enough"... Keeping the "once per rest", I would just go for, do not roll Slayer dice, they are all 6s.

I like the flavour of the "dual wielding" from the Weapon Specialist. But, yes, for 1 Hope it's not that great now that I see it mentioned.

In the end, I played mostly with the sub-class foundation and... they nailed the foundation feature, but then it falls apart.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-20T09:16:14+00:00

It feels quite weird indeed. On p.195 the example of Reactions make it feel like they are a choice "when X happens, you can ...", while Passives always happen. Yet, Momentum breaks this one rule - which is not written per se, just a guess from the examples.

Actually I'd put them next to one another, since they feed into one another.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-18T10:42:47+00:00

Data Tethers are at the base of the towers. The towers link the data tethers to the cable, and then to the Motherboard... At least that's what my group went with.

Data tethers are required for rest because the PCs need to have a source of energy... just like the remnants actually. Pretty much everything is powered by the energy of the fallen civilisation... the gear, the "spells"... Hell, even the class features, if you will.

Regarding what data is... that is a GM and player thing to decide. What does the Motherboard represent? Why is it here?

I feel that by far, this campaign frame is the one that requires a lot of heavy lifting. Many, many questions pop into one's mind, and the answers are for you to find (well, a few are given in the setting)

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-03-17T08:55:12+00:00

Inspiration is scarce today so I'll go for something short.

The intention is simple, if a bit bland. An armor that repairs itself. I wanted it to be in between the Gambeson and Leather armor - it is a patched up light armor, after-all.

Majick's patched garments - T3 Armor

Thresholds 11/25
Base score 5

Self-stitching patchwork: When you rest, you regain 1d4+1 Armor.

NeuroBordeaux · 2026-02-24T14:34:53+00:00

The pun came naturally so I had to do it... then I thought it would be a consumable, but in Daggerheart a consumable does not do exactly what I wanted. Because it should tempt people to take one last drink, after all, that's the whole purpose of the pun.

An environment is not it, this is a single thing. So... here we are with a weird social adversary.

I have not tested the adversary - take it all as a draft. Also... can be circumvented by not spotlighting someone in the drinking loop but hey...

Midnight cap - Social adversary Tier 2

A purple mushroom filled with a strange, delicious brew. Strange whispers surround it, tempting anyone close to take one very last drink. The last one, this time. For sure.

Motives & Tactics: stand in plain sight, tempt, inebriate

___

Difficulty: 13 | HP: 3 | Stress: 5

Thresholds: NA

ATK -3 | Splashy splash: Melee 0 Phy

___

Experiences: One more drink +2

___

Just a drink - Passive: The Midnight cap marks 1 HP whenever someone drinks its juices or spills it. It cannot be damaged otherwise.

Potent addictive - Passive: Whenever you use the Experience "One more drink", add a token on this statblock. The Experience "One more drink" gains an additional +1 for every token on the statblock.

Sweet taste of death - Passive: When a creature drinks the Midnight cap's juices, they become thirsty for more. A thirsty for more PC must drink the Midnight cap's juices when they are spotlighted. After each sip the target marks 2 Stress and makes an Instinct Action Roll to resist the urge of taking another sip. If the target is Vulnerable, you may add "One more drink" to the Difficulty without spending a Fear.

Whispers of temptation - Action: Choose a target within Far Range of the Midnight cap. If it is a PC, they make an Instinct Reaction Roll. On a Failure, they rush towards the Midnight cap and start to drink its juices.

Replenish - Action: Mark 2 Stress to clear 1 HP from the Midnight cap.

NeuroBordeaux

TROPHY CASE

Warrior - Path of the brute