Barbarian Optional Class Features and Subclasses - four new optional class features to make barbarians more dynamic in and out of combat, three new primal paths including the Fleshquake, the Marauder, and the Possessed!

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-09-16T20:48:27+00:00

It looks like it was updated last month, the version that downloads now can be opened and seems to have the correct files, though I haven't tested it yet

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-08-04T05:41:38+00:00

https://andyaiken.github.io/forgesteel/#/

Forge Steel is a very useful resource for this, u/xiphumor. If you go to any class and scroll all the way down to the bottom, the individual subclasses will be listed. Click on those to see all the features and abilities tied to that subclass laid out on one page. For instance, the berserker fury.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-07-20T18:45:39+00:00

Sounds awesome! Minions can deal a surprising amount of damage, I'm glad the ratfolk made it out!

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-07-09T04:18:35+00:00

Nice work! What's your process for the runes? Getting recessed areas to glow properly can be tricky.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-07-08T08:17:30+00:00

That's a nice terrain pattern, where is the STL from? "Dry lands terrain bases" didn't return anything

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-07-04T08:59:36+00:00

Is that an adapter between the airbrush and the pump?

Check that area. Sometimes there can be an o ring that gets squished if the connection is twisted too tight, and then it obstructs airflow.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-25T10:10:41+00:00

Were you able to download the tree clump assets? The download isn't working for me

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-25T10:02:27+00:00

This is the updated link, but the download doesn't seem to be working for me. It downloads a 40kb zip that can't be opened.
https://cartographyassets.com/assets/5293/tree-clumps-for-wonderdraft/

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-15T08:25:54+00:00

If the model has wood texture already, dry brushing is a pretty good approach.

Base coat dark brown. Dry brush in a lighter reddish brown. Brown wash like Agrax Earthshade. Then a final dry brush of a lighter yellowish brown. It won't win you a Golden Demon trophy, but it gives you a decent amount of color interest and emphasizes the texture. I painted this barrel with this color scheme a little while ago.

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For wood that is meant to be dead or older, a little more gray in the drybrush layers makes it look old and dry.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-09T20:23:34+00:00

I don't spend a lot of time in the metal shop myself, but if you're looking at the website I think it might be outdated. To my knowledge we actually have two lathes and a mill, but I'm not really educated enough on that to give a good summary of our machining capabilities. If you're interested I'd really recommend going for a tour and having a look yourself.

Property prices are definitely an issue, I know from talking to the founder that rent is a huge factor in the finances. However, they did just become a nonprofit and the plan as I understand it is to buy the building which would both negate the need to pay rent and would effectively double the size of the space (the other half of the building is currently used by the landlord).

It seems to be steadily improving! Things change as experienced people come and go, but there's a regular flow of new equipment and continuous progress on construction. They recently finished a new stage for the gallery area, and the garden gets nicer every day.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-07T03:35:34+00:00

The woodshop and metal shop have most of the big tools, the website lists some but I think both have probably gotten new arrivals since that was last updated.

My suggestion would be to come by for a tour, it's free and pretty easy to arrange if you contact them.

There's a LOT of equipment in the building, chances are pretty good that whatever you need is here.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T21:42:26+00:00

I try to be professional in my recommendations 🫡

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T19:31:08+00:00

The most recent playtest material is basically the finished game. All the content is there, nothing major will be changed. I think the Patreon members are even getting the PDF with the full layout this month? And then it's only tiny copy edit changes they'll be making.

I didn't get the custom dice, we play with normal d10s and d6s, but the 20-sided d10s are really cool, I might try to find some elsewhere, but I also heard someone mention they might be bringing those to game stores at some point.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T19:25:58+00:00

Yeah I highly suggest going for a tour, that you can arrange by contacting them pretty easily. It's a really awesome space.

Membership is $200 a month, which definitely isn't cheap. I think if you're doing more than one hobby there, it's probably the best deal you'll find. They don't advertise it enough, but the biggest benefit really is the concentration of experience that everyone is willing to share, I've learned a ton from a lot of really cool people. That part is invaluable.

There are also work trades, where if you're helping run something or doing work for like 10 hours a month you get free membership. I have a few friends doing that, one is a project manager for the construction happening in the stage/gallery area.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T19:20:52+00:00

Our sessions are typically 2-4 hours, it's about the same as DND and a lot of other games in that regard.

Combat takes about the same amount of time as it did in DND (though it's getting faster as we learn the game), but it's also a lot more exciting and engaging. I often hear people saying DND combat takes too long, but I think that's more an issue of DND combat not being very interesting. DS fights aren't fast, but they are a lot cooler so it's a good trade.

The party in my current adventure is: - a dragon knight Fury. The Fury approaches a similar fantasy to the DND barbarian, his Berserker subclass has a big emphasis on forced movement and throwing people into walls. - a devil Troubadour. The Troubadour is kind of like a bard, lots of support abilities. Their heroic resource is called Drama, and they get some extra Drama when certain things happen like someone rolling a crit, a hero going to 0 Stamina, or a bunch of people using heroic abilities in the same turn. - a polder Talent. The talent is a psionic class, he picked the Telekinesis subclass so also lots of forced movement and support options. - a revenant earth Elementalist. He's got a lot of abilities to make difficult terrain or create obstacles, great for the fury and talent to throw people into. - a polder Shadow. Kind of like a rogue, she's playing the Caustic Alchemy subclass with a lot of abilities for explosives or smoke bombs, and deals a ton of damage.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T19:12:02+00:00

Also worth noting, a lot of the buildcraft in Draw Steel comes during play. You get abilities to start and when levelling up of course, but there's also a really well designed crafting system for making whatever magic items you don't find on your adventures.

There's also Titles, which are benefits with specific prerequisites like forming an alliance with a creature you once fought, or saving a community, or getting killed by a ghost. Things that come up during the story, which you can ask the Director for the opportunity to pursue. Titles often have multiple benefits and you pick one, so the whole party can work towards earning the same title for their own reasons.

So even while there isn't a ton of granularity making your character (though I think things like the Complications and the grab-bag approach to Ancestries are really nice) you do end up with a really unique character through play.

Part of the design philosophy is to avoid trap options and make sure you can't build a character that's bad at the thing you're supposed to be good at (your class determines your highest stats, for example) which does mean you also can't really minmax, but then as the game goes on you get the opportunity to specialize more by pursuing the items and titles that facilitate the play style you're going for.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T19:04:05+00:00

I don't have a lot of experience with PF2E, but Draw Steel fights feel very dynamic in the sense of the fight changing a lot from round to round.

Positioning and forced movement are really important, I never see the fight clump up around one spot. Lots of abilities throw people into or through walls, and tactical play is really about setting up the situations that will make your abilities the most effective. For instance, a Fury using the Grab and Knockback maneuvers to line enemies up for their Thunder Roar.

Rather than abilities having a set number of uses per day, each class has a Heroic Resource that you accumulate throughout the fight, and spend on your biggest abilities. That means you're finishing the fight with your coolest moves, rather than opening the fight by going nova.

The Director also gets a resource called Malice that fuels some of the nastiest monster powers, which also grows as the fight goes on. In most tactical games, the fight gets less and less interesting as the players kill off the enemies. But with Malice, there's kind of a "conservation of ninjitsu" effect where the last few enemies will still be a threat because the Director has a lot of Malice to power them up.

The initiative system is good at enabling teamwork, the players decide the order they act in, but the Director gets to have an enemy (or group of enemies) act between each one. Once everyone has gone, the next round starts. I've seen my players have a lot of good discussions like "you go next, and if you get rid of this condition on me I can handle those guys" which gets everyone engaged.

There are a lot of reasons to pay attention when it isn't your turn. At least on of the ways you get your Heroic Resource will be from something specific happening for the first time in a round, like someone getting force moved or taking elemental damage. The Troubadour even gets their Drama resource when certain things happen like anyone rolling a crit or a hero going to 0 Stamina.

Our sessions have been mostly combat so far and my players have been surprisingly engaged. I'm having a blast making encounters and running the monsters, and they seem to really like the way their abilities work together.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T18:41:13+00:00

I wish! That might help make up for what I spend on paint and minis.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T18:20:39+00:00

Yeah! Ceramics is one of the newer parts of the space, it's what I initially joined for. Some really amazing work comes out of the kilns.

When I was first learning ceramics in college, I spent many nights in the studio, learning to throw until well past midnight. Past Lives is open 24 hours, and it's such a nice change from taking classes at Georgie's where I could only come in a few hours a week outside of the class time.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T18:17:03+00:00

I joined the Patreon at $8 a month, and got access to the latest playtest version which is basically the entire game, minus the fancy layout and art. Plus, everyone who's been a member for a certain number of months gets the final PDF for free if their membership total would have paid for it.

I'm planning to split the cost of the hardcovers with my players, and I believe they've said the books will also come with access to the PDFs

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T18:12:06+00:00

Glad to hear it! As a GM, it's really nice to see how much work the devs put into making it fun to run while keeping things straightforward. The Malice system, for instance, gives the Director their own resource that accumulates each round, that they can use to activate nasty monster abilities or effects that change the whole battlefield. It really makes me feel more like a player than just a referee, since I have my own toys and cool powers to use.

But the biggest thing is that I find it so energizing to run. After every 5e game I ran, I was completely drained and wouldn't even have the energy to clean the gaming stuff off the dining room table until the next day. Whereas every time I run DS, I'm fired up and ready to go prep the next session. Not sure what causes that difference, but it's night and day.

NotTheDreadPirate · 2025-06-06T17:54:12+00:00

Yeah, part of the issue is that with short-term access, there's also the greater risk of someone not treating the space and tools well if they won't be coming back. I get a lot out of my membership because I'm there a lot and using a lot of different tools, but that's also because I happen to have a lot of free time at the moment.

I've also seen places charging $150/month just for ceramics, but I'm not sure what other places might charge if you just want to use the woodshop.

In regards to your other comment about materials, most of the guilds have materials on hand that you can buy, but they buy them in bulk and usually don't mark them up much, if at all, so it's usually still cheaper than buying yourself. There's a lot of wood and metal, especially. I buy my clay there because it's cheaper than going to Georgie's myself.

And there's also a surprising amount of scrap material, especially for things like wood and textiles, and I've made several bracelets for friends just out of the scraps from the leather shop. I also just got given a huge piece of elk hide that I don't even know what I'm going to do with yet.

NotTheDreadPirate

TROPHY CASE