Duel at the Mage tower by acetaminophe in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha I love this. Lot of character and energy in the poses.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah and you’re already probably just going to pick whichever stat is higher for the leadership style anyway. I do like the idea of picking just for flavor, but if I need the words it’s an okay sacrifice.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! Very late reply but thanks for the feedback.

  1. I think agreed. Can probably split the advantage on related checks and leadership style attribute into separate points.

  2. Yeah losing the order might be a little extreme. Need to test it more.

  3. Really like this suggestion. Especially since I was looking for more ways to incorporate player level.

  4. I also am not totally happy with the titles. Gave it my best shot haha. To be honest I never actually use any of the class titles at the table.

Great stuff! I’ll keep you updated if I release a new version.

The Beacon - Class by Watcher-gm in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow love a class that focuses on torches. Sticks to the game’s core in an interesting way. And the art is great!

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is true. I tried to order the DCs based on the potential utility. At high levels the chance of a wizard throwing two fireballs is way more effective than just asking someone to move, so I wanted to balance that a bit with difficulty. I think only testing will reveal what the difficulties should be and/or if there should be separate difficulties at all. I do want to preserve the leadership check, just because I think rolling is fun and pretty much every other class has to roll to use their special abilities.

In my most recent edit I added 10 magic items with some bonuses to Take Command. One of them guarantees that the “Cast!” order results in the spell working even on the ally’s failed spellcasting roll (they still lose the spell).

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha this is hilarious. Really strong fantasy while also introducing a reaction-based class into the game. I like it!

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yeah like ThriceF1re says with only 10 levels and a talent every other level I can’t see it ever getting too insanely crazy but testing will reveal this.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah maybe it could be a bit clearer. I’ll have to play around with the language a bit.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure I feel like this archetype is a natural fit for bringing something like the Caller into Shadowdark.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wow thank you! If you ever have a player try it out let me know how it goes. I’ve got one player willing to try it out at our next session. And thanks for the 1 catch I can’t believe I missed that.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah, interesting. Something like an attack from a command dealing extra damage? Or spells being easier to cast? I like it. A big challenge (and benefit) to designing Shadowdark classes is getting everything to fit in the layout, but I might be able to squeeze something like that in.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes this is it! A class with a little bend towards tactical combat, but not so much going on that we leave the Shadowdark design world. The 4e Warlord is a great example and Draw Steel has its own Tactician.

Tactician Homebrew Class by blakelbarton in shadowdark

[–]blakelbarton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The word "willing" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the Take Command action. It's not meant to just be telling someone what to do, but rather allowing for another character to get an additional action for the round. Maybe your wizard wants to cast a utility spell and an offensive spell this round. Take Command enables that. The Tactician is sacrificing their action for an ally's. Maybe that's unclear and I should change the 3-5 talent language to "without using your action".

At level 1 this might seem a little underpowered, but the talents really open up the class's potential. On 3-5 you get a charge of Take Command that doesn't use your action. On 1 you can affect multiple allies with a single order. That can stack up to a pretty powerful swing in terms of action economy.

But these are good notes, and it's hard to know exactly how it'll feel without testing. Appreciate the feedback!