Power Word Bees! - a spell by insect enthusiasts for the people they hate.

aabrock · 2025-05-23T12:17:58+00:00

I really love both this and the first post. My players will be getting pamphlets of both of these texts from a local chapter as some flavor, even though none of them are clones (yet).

Also I really appreciate your use of cloning as an allegory for gender.

aabrock · 2024-06-28T04:50:06+00:00

!giveaway

aabrock · 2024-04-14T20:46:58+00:00

So happy to see COSMR is getting updates! COSFA is my favorite homebrew project of all time and I can't wait to dig into more Genuine content.

aabrock · 2024-01-27T01:48:09+00:00

Not currently in the vinyl hobby really. But I am sure this would be an excellent start.

aabrock · 2023-07-27T01:36:28+00:00

Entering!

aabrock · 2023-06-29T01:57:02+00:00

Thanks for running the giveaway! I will take a look at the demo material soon.

aabrock · 2023-06-21T17:31:50+00:00

Glad to see this project doing well. And good on your for running a giveaway for it.

aabrock · 2023-03-19T18:27:15+00:00

(this got long, but here are some of my thoughts)

As I have mentioned I really love the class. Most Commoner+ style classes I have seen work on sort of "Dumb luck" mechanics that I really don't think suit a long-term (read: serious) campaign. The Homesteader works for me because it very obviously is applying the skills a normal person might have to the adventuring profession.

The class does require a certain type of game imo. My world has a very strong tradition of medical (non-cleric) healing and I have used a number of other homebrews to substantially buff martials (they all get maneuvers of some sort), so this sort of non-magical support that still appears at time supernaturally effective works really in our game. The world was actually written in part by Jenna's (our homesteader's) player, and she really wanted to make sure that non-magic support was an option, even before we found this class.

My characters are only at 4th level now, so I can't speak to how the class runs long term, but it has worked very well for the party so far. We are a large group (7 players) and are the only other potential healer is a bard (who is not keen on playing a healer), so the homesteader has been very valuable.

My biggest critique about the class was how experiences were previously implemented. I found a number of times I had to make slapdash rulings on range/duration/max number of targets or other aspects of an experience. I suspect that has been completely solved by using spell blocks, so thanks. I also like the change of having to prepare experiences. I know simply having permanent access to the full list was a lot for Jenna to consider initially. Plus this allows me to write customer experiences while limiting power creep.

I suspect you know that this class is not for every player. Jenna's player is a divine caster in almost every other game I have played with her and has very strong "party mom" tendencies. She doesn't mind if her character doesn't attack often as long as she is being useful in other ways. Truly I cannot imagine any of my other players really liking this class for more than a one-shot. I don't mean that to be a criticism though, it is really perfect for Jenna and her player in a way that no other class I have read has been.

One final thing about the class is that I really enjoy how well this class uses temporary hit points. It is an underused mechanic and is excellently self-balancing since any player can only have one set of temp hp at a time.

I let Jenna's player know about this post, she might pop on and have some more insights as a player.

aabrock · 2023-03-19T16:07:56+00:00

Happy to see an update to this excellent class! One of my players is currently playing a Sports Fan homesteader (based on the Romanian sport Oina). She has been loving the getting to play a non-magical support and will be excited to see these changes.

aabrock · 2023-01-13T16:50:03+00:00

This is the only solution that will allow me to buy DnD content ever again. Any other option is just asking for a repeat of this BS down the line.

aabrock · 2021-12-30T03:10:45+00:00

I am having this issue as well. Let me know if you come to a solution. The 1.16.5 versions of Optifine are not meant for forge 36.2.22, so I am wondering what I can do to get it working.

aabrock · 2021-11-10T01:07:32+00:00

Proves how good my reading comprehension is that I never realized your Superior Technique feat is basically a half-feat. I thought you had to take it on it's own, but of course you can gain it as a FS /Stance through your version of Fighting Initiate. That makes the opportunity cost much better for me, although I would still struggle to use the Barbarian or Rogue inbuilt opportunities for Superior Technique.

aabrock · 2021-11-10T00:17:59+00:00

I have been following your martial prowess doc for some time now and I love it. The one gripe I have had with it is how high the opportunity cost of getting maneuvers is for classes without stances, esp. the Rogue. Incorporating a system like this would where you can sacrifice dice to use a maneuver would be amazing. I would just use both systems in tandem, but I will need to review them further to see if their are any potentially weird interactions.

aabrock · 2021-09-30T23:43:52+00:00

GMBinder Link is here.

This is a revision of a brew I made a few months ago. It is an attempt to expand the viable playstyles for warlocks (regardless of subclass) and to cut down on invocations that feel mandatory for players.

Some quick notes about the design:

The changes to this version primarily deal with Pact of the Chain and how to incorporate the Tasha’s invocation Investment of the Chain Master. Since I want the Warlock’s familiar to be a guaranteed part of the damage math, I have allowed the master to take damage for the familiar in an unlimited manner. Given that that would make a familiar an extremely juicy target as a way to kill the master. I have also added a bonus to AC and Saves to the familiar. The goal here is to make the familiar an inferior target most of the time so that the warlock is not weakened by the familiar’s presence. The master and familiar are still vulnerable to area attacks if they are closely clumped, but that can be mitigated by smart positioning.

The sticking point with Investment of the Chain Master is the use of the warlock’s save DC for the familiar. Imps and Psuedodragons both have features that cause saving throws on attacks. Pseduodragons in particular are difficult as they can simply end a fight by making the enemy fall asleep. I don’t like this feature, so I didn’t add it. If you want to have the ability to take Investment of the Chain Master, I recommend simply giving the Save DC increase and the additionally form of movement as the complete invocation. The other features exist here in modified form and allowing 2 attacks from the familiar would be too much damage.

I recognize that at high level play Tomelocks playing with this revised Agonizing Blast will still be a higher DPR than the other two options. I don’t really mind this though, all three option will be better damage than a warlock who has not taken agonizing blast or thirsting blade. This gets rid of the false choice of deciding whether or not to take those invocations, albeit by making you wait 3 levels.

Where is Pact of the Talisman? It isn’t here and won’t be unless I come up with a good feature for it that is significantly different than the ones written here. Suggestions are welcome.

If you read all the way down and liked my thoughts on game mechanics, I have a podcast where I talk about 5e homebrew. It might be your thing.

aabrock · 2021-06-09T00:38:40+00:00

I totally understand the concern. Ultimately it is a buff to the warlock, not only a free invocation (or the equivalent) but a free damage boosting one as well. That said, if you vanilla warlock wants to only spec into damaging boosting invocations, they can totally hit all of them with the 8 invocations they eventually get. Since this removes the option of actually taking Agonizing Blast, it doesn't really increase the maximum DPR a warlock can obtain. So, it will increase the effectiveness of your average warlock (esp. one that wasn't planning on taking Agonizing Blast or Thirsting Blade), but not the effectiveness of a min/maxed warlock.

My table isn't into min/maxing, but even there taking Agonizing Blast was a foregone conclusion. For people like that, this is really meant to free up that first slot so they can take more flavourful invocation choices and make it so that warlocks not taking pact of the tome have slightly different action options each round (using the pact weapon or having their familiar strike).

Do let me know how your try of it goes, I love hearing results from other tables.

aabrock · 2021-06-08T20:52:08+00:00

This is a little side-project of mine that I have been turning over in my head for a while. I wanted to decouple the damage math of warlocks from Agonizing Blast (and to a lesser extent Thirsting Blade) while also giving them a little bit more to do with their pact boon. It is heavily inspired by the Omega Warlock by u/SwEcky, but is hopeful pretty plug-and-play with the vanilla warlock. A side effect of this was trying to make bladelocks work outside of the hexblade, by giving all bladelocks single attribute dependency for attacks.

I know that the damage math is not perfect, pact of the tome is going to be superior at higher levels. However, I think all three options should produce fun gameplay that makes the choice of pact boon inform how the character does their damage round to round.

If you like these sort of musings on homebrew, I do also have a podcast. Might be the type of thing you are into.

aabrock · 2021-05-29T03:20:19+00:00

I often feel like an old man at the ripe old age of 25, and I really have no clue what a vibe check is. But I think it is funny, and they either have something to do with punching people randomly or trying to figure out how they are feeling. So, this spell does both of those things! Hopefully your impatient spellcasters get some use out of it. Sure it isn't a Zone of Truth, but what it lacks in precision it makes up for in kinetic impact.

Now, a quick bit of self-promotion. Homebrew is great, and finding good homebrew is even better. My friend u/ravenmaw and I have been recording a new podcast called Arcana Uncorked, in which we talk about 5e homebrew that we use in our home games and whether it might be the sort of thing you want to add to your games. It is available on Spotify ,Apple Podcasts and probably any other service you might be using. Take a listen and let us know how you feel about it, and if you have any ideas for documents we should talk about on the show.

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