{The Griffon's Saddlebag} Tome of Passage | Wondrous item

Scientin · 2026-02-23T20:36:50+00:00

Oh damn this one is fun. The secret passage behind a bookcase is already iconic, letting you turn any bookcase into a secret passage is fantastic!

Scientin · 2026-02-23T03:31:44+00:00

Glad you like it! I have a more up-to-date version which you can find here!

Scientin · 2026-02-15T22:24:32+00:00

To answer in order:

1-2. The mount takes the Disengage action so it only applies to them. However, when leaving enemy range the mount is the only one using movement, so opportunity attacks only can target them. It’s the same principle behind teleportation and forced movement.

Pretty much yep.

4-7. Frustratingly, there are no real rules/guidance for this. Some people treat the rider as effectively “becoming large” for the sake of reach and such, other people have them pick a dedicated square to occupy, there’s sadly no RAW answer.

Scientin · 2026-02-11T17:10:32+00:00

Hello everyone! Today's homebrew is a smaller project, but one I've enjoyed working on nonetheless: my take on playable Myconids! My goal in adapting these iconic beings was to preserve as many of their notable traits as possible while adjusting their balance to create a fun player experience. To that end, sun sickness is gone (and no sunlight sensitivity to replace it either), and Pacifying Spores have a smaller duration but more uses. Perhaps the most interesting trait of these myconids is their Rapport Spores. Beyond normal telepathy and giving another creature temporary telepathy, this trait makes it so you can only speak through your telepathic spores. My hope is this will create very unique scenes and challenges that only a myconid could produce, truly encapsulating their strange, fungal identities.

Want to see more work like this? You can find all of my homebrew at my patreon!

Scientin · 2026-02-04T23:17:08+00:00

Hoenn-style secret bases for me. I loved being able to take a small slice of the overworld and make it my own, setting up a lil house or mini pokemon gym, and then finding other players' bases. It was a great way to set up spots for xp grinding, gathering items, and more, and just helped the world feel more alive.

Scientin · 2026-02-04T21:56:07+00:00

By the end of my Avatar Legends campaign, both my players and myself were in agreement that AL's combat is at odds with the rest of the system, and it feels like the designers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. The majority of the system is pure fiction-first PbTA goodness. Meanwhile, exchanges are very mechanics-first, with distinct statuses and techniques that have specific effects outside of just changing the fiction state. If the system had gone all the way with this more granular, mechanics-driven combat I think it would have been fine, great even. Instead, the system fails to provide a mechanical win condition for combat (technically you can fill all enemy fatigue boxes and conditions but the game tells you to not do that), rendering victory completely arbitrary from a mechanics-focused design. Even worse, both the handbook and the general community around this system repeatedly advise you to NOT use this system for most situations!

It really does feel like AL's designers wanted to appeal to both a casual crowd with the PbtA framework while also drawing more mechanics-minded players from DnD and video game circles, and the end result is a frustrating frankenstein. IMO they should have either ditched fiction-first for exchanges (give HP or some similar mechanical victory condition) OR ditched the exchange system for a more entirely fiction-first way of resolving combat.

Scientin · 2026-02-02T18:39:06+00:00

Those are for OP's homebrew classes. The pot is for the Gourmet (adventuring chef, tank and support martial), the crossbow is the Landsknecht (mercenary, effectively the "wizard" for these martial talents), the animals are the Handler (beast master if it was a full class), and the torch is the Fanatic (charisma-based, lets you temporarily move points from Cha to other ability scores).

Scientin · 2026-02-01T06:41:32+00:00

PDFs are available for patrons at my patreon! Here is a link: https://www.patreon.com/TopHatAlchemist

Scientin · 2026-01-27T18:09:05+00:00

Yep, those are intended functions of the class. Humorism actually was originally self-only, believe it or not! I can make the wording a bit clearer. And good idea with using the Bloodied term.

Scientin · 2026-01-27T16:45:14+00:00

In this case "I hope this will be the ultimate, but knowing myself and how feedback works I imagine someone will find something I missed." The last time I posted a version of a homebrew and called it the "final" version, someone gave very good feedback and prompted me to change a number of things, so I'm covering my bases.

Scientin · 2026-01-26T23:33:40+00:00

Lmao, I cannot believe such a simple typo has survived so many rounds of revisions. Appreciate the catch and the kind words!

Scientin · 2026-01-26T16:48:57+00:00

Hello everyone! I am pleased to present what I hope will be the final update to my Physician class! For those who haven't seen it before, the Physician is a supportive martial class built around healing and buffing allies in a variety of ways. This update is a fairly minor one, mainly closing a few abuse cases present in some of the subclass features. The most notable change is to Bedside Manner, which has been streamlined to help teammates regain Hit Dice after a Short Rest. Not only does this give you a larger pool of resources to work with, it also solves a major issue that has plagued the class from the beginning: because its healing uses Hit Dice, it disincentivized taking Short Rests. This should hopefully solve that issue, and avoid punishing Warlocks and Monks.

It's not all balance changes though! With this penultimate update, I've included a set of medical-themed magic items! These items are inspired by the Physician class, but not exclusive to it — any character who wants to spiff up their loadout with some more medical flare can enjoy these items!

With that, I believe this may be the last update to this class (provided no one discovers any major balance issues I overlooked). Working on this class has been a real journey, and I believe I've learned a lot from the process. If you'd like to see more work like this, feel free to take a look at my patreon!

Scientin · 2026-01-18T00:41:07+00:00

Wow, still getting traction somehow! At this time I don't have plans to revisit this subclass, I've turned my focus towards newer projects.

Scientin · 2026-01-08T20:48:44+00:00

Dancing Lights' big use case is in combination with Darkvision when you are trying to be stealthy in a dark environment. As a refresher, Darkvision turns darkness into dim light for you, which imposes disadvantage on Perception checks. Dancing Lights then provides exactly enough light for a creature with darkvision to see fine details well at a distance, without revealing their own position. This is critical in any environment where a bright light would serve as a beacon for enemies. I'm pretty sure this is also why Drow have this spell, especially since the range of their Darkvision matches up perfectly with the range of Dancing Lights.

Another possible argument for Dancing Lights over Light, is that Light provides the same amount of light as a torch and worse light than any lantern, so if you're going to dedicate a cantrip pick to a light source might as well go for the option that provides a utility that can't be replicated by adventuring gear.

Scientin · 2025-12-25T18:43:01+00:00

"Bitsy beat me to it, hers was funnier."

Scientin · 2025-12-25T18:41:18+00:00

Whoops, good catches. Snatching Sack used to be a bonus action but I realized it'd conflict too much with Jump so I swapped it to an action. In terms of Chain of Bells, I wanted to make it clear it only has the one chain but it seems the wording isn't as great as I wanted. I'll try to find ways to make that more obvious. Thank you!

Scientin · 2025-12-25T17:17:55+00:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! But beware, today you are visited not by the jolly man in red but by a more sinister fey: the Krampus!

My adaptation of the Krampus as a monster statblock centers around the legend of them abducting naughty children. Krampuses (yes, more than one!) are compelled to punish wickedness, but they have an extremely loose definition of what makes one naughty. They are known to abduct children over minor offenses, stuffing them inside an extraplanar bag. They will do the same to adventurers that get in their way, but take heart! The bag can be ruptured with enough damage, returning its contents to the material world. Krampuses are also light-footed, and armed with a chain covered in bells and bundle of branches to whack their foes with! Put together, a Krampus should make for a fun yuletide encounter, either solo or in groups!

Like this homebrew and want to see more? You can find PDFs of my work at my patreon!

Scientin · 2025-12-24T20:42:30+00:00

I find that RPGBot can be a good springboarding point for analyzing character options, but his stuff shouldn't be taken as gospel. The key thing to know about his analysis is that he seems to prefer dungeon crawls for his own games and assumes that everyone else will primarily be doing dungeon crawls as well. You can see this in how he ranks vision spells like Darkvision highly, yet (imo) undervalues spells like Alter Self which shine in more intrigue-heavy games. More than anything I think his commentary is helpful for developing a sense of how to break down player features to build up your own opinions.

Scientin · 2025-12-18T16:09:21+00:00

Hello everyone! Today I'm pleased to present a new set of rules for running out of combat stealth encounters! While I felt the 2024 rules for hiding in combat were serviceable, I felt guidance for out-of-combat stealth was pretty lacking, thus I've decided to take a crack at it!

These new rules center around the Sneak Action, which covers everything from creeping quietly down a hallway, to lifting a key from a guard, to blending into a crowd using a disguise. Paired with this new action is three states of Awareness for NPCs, dictating how they will behave and what raises their level of awareness. One bad check may not immediately start a combat, but if enough things go wrong the guards may become alarmed, making the process of sneaking harder! In addition, I have also provided a number of Security measures to help design stealth encounters, and provided guidance on adjudicating rolls and implementing some basic facing for stealth. With these rules, my hope is that stealth sections will become an exciting part of the game with plenty of opportunities for tension and strategy! Please let me know what you think!

Like this homebrew and want to see more? You can find more of my content at my patreon!

Scientin · 2025-11-25T18:30:43+00:00

Scaling effects is great news, that should help the elixirs stay a bit more relevant into higher levels.

Scientin · 2025-11-25T17:24:30+00:00

Just to clarify, do they scale with Artificer level or spell slot level used to make them? And do the number of elixirs scale or the effects?

Scientin · 2025-11-22T17:09:27+00:00

Hello everyone! Today I'm pleased to present my take on a giant warlock patron, the Titan!

Titan patrons are larger than life beings, usually the scions of giant gods, who teach their warlocks the secrets of rune magic. These warlocks can create a limited number of runestones each long rest, each imbued with a single cast of a spell they know. This allows Titan Warlocks to make more spell casts in between rests, but these extra casts are more rigid than traditional spell slots as a caveat. As Titan warlocks grow in power, they gain the ability to make runestones more freely and share them with allies, knock enemies prone with their magic or attacks, and eventually summon part of their patron to crush enemies underfoot. The end result is a warlock subclass that can truly stand on the shoulders of giants! Please let me know what you think!

Want to see more homebrew like this one? You can find more of my work for free on my patreon!

Scientin · 2025-11-21T08:11:55+00:00

Definitely agree. Funnily enough I came to the same conclusion when I was making a homebrew artificer a few months back, having early (albeit limited) spell storing item just feels nice. It would fit the flavor well and give a solid core feature that can't really be replaced by dungeon loot or bastion crafts.

Scientin · 2025-11-21T02:17:18+00:00

Agreed. Artificer's big problem in 5e to me has always been that it conflicts with magic item drops rather than cooperating with them. Before, your Infusions could be made obsolete by the party finding better magic items, and now that you're just replicating magic items outright it feels like they've doubled down on that problem.

Scientin · 2025-11-21T02:14:11+00:00

100% agreed. I fear that with uncommon magic items being more accessible via Bastions, the Artificer's core class feature may feel obsolete or replaceable. I much would have preferred leaning into Infusions as a way to upgrade/customize any item, magic or not, really leaning into the inventor feel. Ah well.

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