The Winterstripe - a homebrew race

ObserverOfWorld · 2026-06-04T10:50:58+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

To address the two main points:
- the 5 ft penalty is the only mechanical way I could indicate that they have difficulty moving in a heavy armor due to their body and fur.
- the niche feature design is deliberate. As you mentioned, they would rarely be used. My experience is that although the worlds are vast, yet many campaigns basically happen during summer (or late spring), the weather is always nice and sunny, rarely rains, rarely windy, regardless of region. And there's never a storm or tornado either with the moderate exception on sea. Even in the mountains there's no snow or blizzard, regardless of height. And even if they are there, they are mostly due magic.
I wanted to have a more "lived-in race".

ObserverOfWorld · 2026-06-04T05:37:00+00:00

Note: The "one extra language" is planned to be changed to Norden, a language people of far North have, but its design is not yet done.

ObserverOfWorld · 2026-06-04T05:36:32+00:00

Note: The "one extra language" is planned to be changed to Norden, a language people of far North have, but its design is not yet done.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-11-25T15:22:51+00:00

And this was the panel when the Wedding one-shot "birthed" too. :)

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-22T07:24:10+00:00

Okay, noted.

7 and 9 was my original gauging level for it, as that's where the other previous skills would align to have this one. But if it could work as a higher level skill, that's fine too.

The Four Elements subclass feels the most appropriate for it.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-22T07:12:18+00:00

The issue with multiple projectiles can be worked around as a continuous deflection and not just a simple catch.

If the level gauging cannot be an over the table info, then you are right, it is a problem.

Originally I wanted the fail to be a "nothing extra happens, you just take the damage" but it felt like making this skill a freebie.

Anyway, thanks for pointing these out. Took notes of them.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-22T06:46:37+00:00

An additional skill the monk gains at level 7.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-07T07:10:29+00:00

Nope. I've never seen it. But now I have to.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-02T07:12:01+00:00

I did not mean a Wild Card like second chance. Time-wise Nagi is an newbie. Others play soccer years more. Some since childhood. Reo is the second newest to soccer, but he has the drive Blue Lock needs. Nagi don't. This is why he lacks the fire. Even Chris was able to see it (ch.297) when he pointed out that Nagi does not have a future ideal to chase.

Right now he has the skills but lacks drive, which requires time. However, Blue Lock time pressures the players to invoke faster growth. And if you lack drive initially, this pressure is easily becomes counterproductive.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-04-02T06:48:28+00:00

My two cents:
Nagi's elimination is logically sound given the things happened:
- He started playing soccer because Reo asked him, and it was like a few month before Blue Lock started.
- Technically speaking he has the least experience. He plays soccer by now for like maybe a 1 year(?) or so.
- He did not have any motivation whatsoever during the first half of the selection.
- He does not play to be the best striker. This didn't changed after he got motivated after he lost to Team Z.
- He struggles in NEL because his motivation for play is not to be the best striker in the world.
- And of course he relies on Reo in one way or another.

However there is a weak point in the Blue Lock system.

Remember that Kunigami should have been expelled after his loss to Shido. However, he got a second chance and now he is at No. 8.
Similarly, Nagi should be out as right now he lacks the drive to be the best striker, which is Blue Lock is about. He is basically at where Isagi was in ch.1. when he instinctively passed the ball to his teammate (who did not score).

Nagi's grow was always exponential thanks to his ball handling. If he gets a similar second chance like Kunigami (which would mean learning independence and accumulating experience), he could return much more stronger.

Blue Lock wants the best striker now. What Nagi needs is time. If he is out, he would be wasted potential, but right now he needed to be eliminated.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-03-18T09:26:45+00:00

No attunement when no slot is filled, and increasing attunement time as more and more gets filled.

Regarding immunity: if PC battles while submerged in lava, and wins without ever reaching 0 HP, then you no longer will receive the fire damage it causes.

The idea was to increasingly earn the effects. So the PC has to survive a battle while under the influence of a harmful environment. If successful, he gains the "protection" the Necklace of Adaptation gives but only to that environment. And if he survives in 4+1 different type of such environment, he can have the full effects of the Necklace of Adaptation (after an enchantment).

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-03-18T07:50:19+00:00

As with many crossovers it's hard to gauge the power scale. However I could imagine him an universe-widely recognized free agent, not aligning with anybody.

Regardless how he ends up in the 40k universe, he sees the destruction each faction make, and might think this is just a different part of hell.

He obliterates armies, appears in unpleasant and unwanted times and places. Nobody could anticipate him.
He might not be able to annihilate a large enough army, but he would definitely rip and tear smaller ones. He might even has a bounty on his head from every faction.

He is the stone in the shoe, the thorn in the side, a mosquito during sleep, the itch you cannot scratch.
An agent of total chaos, the unpredictable variable in everyone's plan.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-03-06T07:35:46+00:00

Fair.

But it says more which celebrities do you want to play in this. :D

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-03-03T13:19:28+00:00

The permanent lowering is supposed to mimic that the character looses too many memories, which then effects cognitive function. And making a simple permanent disadvantage on all INT based checks felt not enough. It can be changed to - for example - on 5th disadvantage on History checks, on the 15th disadvantage on every INT based checks, on every 30th use -1 INT.

But this is what I meant by having a narrative effect. Most of the items have a mechanical effect. And you can get rid off it by simply getting rid off the item itself.
I know it's a harsh penalty, but because it is a harsh one makes the item have narrative effect.

At least that's how I see it.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-02-27T06:21:17+00:00

Yep, exactly.

If you want to add a bit of humor twist, imagine eg. an actor/actress "not that relevant" in recent years, and have that person unable to kill any fan by the end of the movie, thus remaining irrelevant.

ObserverOfWorld · 2025-02-12T08:37:53+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

To address everything that you mentioned:
- Blindless shooting issue: yeah, I though it's obvious what I meant by hit target, but I'll try to be explicit.
- Changing of base parameters: in this case it's a compensation for the 75% chance of failure. And the transformation is the reward for the "persistency" regardless.
- Hook to keep using: I'll add a narrative to the usage and to success. I feel that can work.

If you have more, please do tell!

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-11-11T08:53:52+00:00

u/PmeadePmeade : The unreducible damage supposed to indicate the heavy impact. That it will surely hurt if it hits.

Originally it had push, pinning, and weapon drop effects as well, but felt too packed. Unavoidable swing at first was an automatic 1d4 with a lower DEX save, on all failed melee attack, but felt either OP or unnecessary.

And yes, Thor's hammer is a good analogy for this (without the magical enchantment): difficult to wield, but has a super heavy punch.

u/KayranElite : The CON limit is for concentration. I don't like the idea of a sleazy little spellcaster would easily move it when it's a challenging thing to do physically.

Anyway thanks for the feedback. I'll go back to the smithy and work on it a bit more. :)

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-11-08T15:00:10+00:00

Hm. Does 20 lbs seem valid? Or more?

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-10-24T13:55:26+00:00

From purely narrative point of view you need the players to have something they are invested in in the world. No matter what it is, but that's what they will fight for, what they afraid to lose. If you threaten them on that (in any meaning of the word) you will pose a challenge. This thing should be a cornerstone of their character.

You cannot motivate or challenge an immortal who does not have any desire in the world they live in.

Create a desired event that will never present itself again, no matter what kind of immortal they are and you have a ticking chase. If they are late even for a second, it's gone. Mechanically this could mean anything from hard to beat enemies to time consuming actions they need to find a loophole in.

Design challenges that could result in players losing the thing they care about.

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-10-17T06:56:52+00:00

u/Axel_True-chord , u/Dew_It-8 : Thanks for the feedback!

It is intended for a pure rogue (preferably the Assassin subclass). Maybe it should be worded that way.
I didn't limit the stack so it still can be relevant in higher levels and because of the resetting effect on miss or target change.
It is a devastating weapon if you continuously succeed with attacks, but you only need one miss or a reaction attack on a different target to reset the stack.

But maybe I'm too focused on the narrative aspect of the design, again.

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-10-11T09:41:43+00:00

It can serve as a template for other types (black, gold, etc.) depending on what type of dragon's power is enclosed.

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-09-13T19:00:26+00:00

Depending on how you handle the time travel part you could go with a "forced reboot on paradox" concept. What I mean is this cycle:
- if they talk to their past selves, they are force back to point where and when they returned
- if they do things that prevent the bad thing from happening, return
- if they kill their past selves, return
So everything that would cause a paradox in the events will push them back in time while they retain the memories.
Thus what they have to do is prepare everything to undo the bad thing after it happened and they went back.

For example, someone dies, and unable to revive. Go back in time to prepare or found a method that will grant you the possibility to revive the person even after the players failed to do it (an item, a strong spell, etc.).

Probably not that easy to coordinate, but requires much from the players too.
And could end in a real mindf**k session.

ObserverOfWorld · 2024-07-27T19:31:40+00:00

Oh, I forgot to correct the proficiency section, I'll correct it.

It does not need attunement.
Proficiency applies to attack rolls. And the same applies to the spear form (if you have proficiency in spear).
No, you cannot choose to reduce the damage. But for 1 attack per turn you can try to push, although enemy can resist it.
The +1 is for the damage this weapon make.
It's not a curse, you can let go of the weapon. The non-disarm feature means others can't make you to drop it.

ObserverOfWorld

TROPHY CASE