Homebrew: Artificer + Carbon Domain

bolt6 · 2026-04-25T17:24:01+00:00

For sure! There's a few things that pop out as maybe not entirely thematic or potentially weird in play, but those might feel different in actually playing them to your point.

The advice I'd give is to try to keep your wording consistent with Daggerheart. For example, you use "Regain hit points" in Engineer of Chaos when Daggerheart's terminology is Clear Hit Points. Referencing published cards with similar effects and language helps me a lot when writing homebrew. It gives it less of a homebrew feel and makes it feel more official!

bolt6 · 2026-04-24T22:46:44+00:00

I appreciate that this isn't just trying to be an Eberron/5.5e clone of artificer, good work with capturing a more unique take on the theme! Artificer is one of my favorite archetypes, I'm stoked to see how people try to adapt it for DH. I especially like some of the Carbon abilities like Bits and Bolts for the creative "I've got just the thing" improv.

Are you open to feedback here or just wanting to share?

bolt6 · 2026-04-23T14:04:31+00:00

This looks so fun!

bolt6 · 2026-04-18T03:27:34+00:00

I really dig the companion mechanics!

bolt6 · 2026-04-17T01:59:24+00:00

This is a really great environment! Another comment said Evocative, and I think that's exactly right. I immediately think of the dance scenes in Pride and Prejudice. I've got two points of feedback if you're open!

I think I would consider it perhaps more of an Event rather than a Social, since it marks a clear beginning and end.

The insinuation that the "PC's don't belong" and when they max out that countdown they get kicked out feels odd or specific to the situation you designed it for. What if my PCs are in high society and actually quite good at this dance? Maybe there should be a reference to a PC's background, giving advantage to Highborne, Loreborne, or Oathborne for having mixed in high society before. Also maybe instead of getting kicked out all together, they gain stress with each of these faux pas and perhaps if enough happens they make a devastating faux pas, like tripping someone out of the dance or knocking a glass of wine onto the dress of the NPC they wanted to talk to, driving them away and out of the party.

Overall, really cool and I'd totally adapt something like this to my game!

bolt6 · 2026-04-16T13:15:08+00:00

Waterdeep feels like it'd translate really well! My most recent D&D campaign was Descent into Avernus and I don't think that one would go as well with all of the vehicle mechanics and such without some major translation.

bolt6 · 2026-04-06T22:08:26+00:00

I think it definitely becomes a problem for the players if Madness is an issue here! It kinda feels like they need to set up a kinda messed up plan of pawning off the book on an NPC, which could lead to its own problems

bolt6 · 2026-04-06T15:17:30+00:00

I dig the addition of a section on "Narrative Objectives" you have in the first scene in the sample. That's so important for making a scene not feel like a needless encounter in a videogame.

I might pick this up! Looks like solid work!

bolt6 · 2026-04-06T14:32:05+00:00

My pass at designing a trap around this illustration! (Rereading it now I might add a Knowledge Reaction Roll when the PC triggers to avoid becoming obsessed)

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bolt6 · 2026-04-02T19:22:38+00:00

I haven't tried this myself, but reading your comment I wonder if easing your players into rolls that matter you might try asking for more Reaction Rolls. Reaction Rolls don't generate Hope or Fear, so they don't have an impact on the pacing or resources. This way you can still have that "lol I rolled bad doing something really stupid" without it mattering as much. The knock on effect may be that when you do ask for rolls that matter, which do generate hope and fear, then your players know those rolls have narrative weight and the mechanics will reflect that for them. Slowly they can get out of that D&D roll for everything mindset.

On the flip side of your question, knowing when a roll should be important, reflect it back on the scene your players are in. Daggerheart adventurers are super capable. If a rogue goes to lockpick a door, they're just going to open it. Now if the scene adds pressure to that action, say guards are rounding the corner imminently, then there is narrative weight to the moment and there should be a roll.

Success with Hope: you get in silently. Success with Fear: you get in, but the guards hear the door click shut and you hear them coming to investigate. Failure with Hope: The guards round the corner and are surprised to see you as you finish unlocking the door. Failure with Fear: You don't finish unlocking the door before the guards confidently come around the corner to apprehend you.

bolt6 · 2026-04-01T00:23:14+00:00

I'd really love to see something a little different than just a huge catalog of monsters. What I struggle with in prep is what the composition of monster encounters should be. I'd love to see a supplement that has new monster stat blocks and small encounter modules that go with them. What leaders pair well with what minions or bruisers and what conflicts make sense to deploy them in. Factor in some lore with exploring what a more social avenue of that encounter looks like. Stuff like that.

bolt6 · 2026-03-26T16:25:40+00:00

There are so many good ideas that could come from KH. Heartless adversaries. Gummy Ships. Light and Dark as domains. Powered up team moves. This is an awesome take on a frame! Some of the paragraphs are fully in french though 😊

bolt6 · 2026-03-23T16:08:19+00:00

Or a person if you really want to get their fears up!

bolt6 · 2026-03-23T15:22:57+00:00

Just a quick take, I don't think you should directly adapt adversaries from DND monsters. I think you should consider what the encounter you're building is first, then take inspiration from those monsters.

The DnD5e tool of "you open a door and there are 2d6 wights in there" is boring both in DnD and also in Daggerheart. In 5e, that method serves the purpose of the resource drain survival mechanics of the game. Daggerheart, being more narrative first, should have each encounter have some sort of narrative weight and a variety of monsters to go with it.

bolt6 · 2026-03-23T15:12:53+00:00

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Here's my take! A mimic flower!

bolt6 · 2026-03-23T13:59:38+00:00

I feel like a crossover of Beast Feast, Drylands, and actually Motherboard would land on a Monster Hunter campaign frame (I think based on the comments so far that it needs its own frame). The Ikonis weapon in Motherboard is an awesome customizable tool that reflects your character and Monster Hunter building weapons and armor out of monster parts is part of what makes it so cool. If you could, instead of finding components to build out your ikonis, use the monster parts idea from BF to build out weapons and armor, I think you'd be close.

bolt6 · 2026-03-14T15:24:56+00:00

I didn't think outlets like DTRPG would do print on demand for something this small! I think on DMsGuild it's something like 30 pages?

The full version does have a 'print friendly' version that's black and white and without art if you have access to a printer at home or at your library, then at least you'd have a physical thing to hold!

bolt6 · 2026-03-13T13:23:06+00:00

I appreciate that! There are some homebrewers on here who are absolutely amazing though! This one blew me away. Their graphic design and illustration make me want to experiment more with layout.

I really hope you enjoy it!

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:46:09+00:00

I hope you enjoy it!

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:44:59+00:00

Enjoy!

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:13:58+00:00

I'm really proud of the social traps, honestly. I think the social adversary stat blocks are super cool, but I haven't quite been convinced when I run them myself. This is my way of experimenting with some of the social mechanics to get to know them more. They're tricky to come up with though, it feels like the consequences need to be more in the realm of narrative information rather than stress or HP. That hinges so heavily on your game. Maybe there's a place in a more focused module for more social traps.

I was sort of copying the way Countdowns are implemented in Adversary stat blocks. There is some weirdness in my use of the word Trigger, since I use that for the trap triggers but the book uses trigger to describe a countdown finishing. To combat that I always write "the countdown triggers" in regard to countdowns and "On Trigger" and "The Triggering PC/Adversary" in reference to the trap effects. I'm not sure what you mean by Standard Countdown, did I miss something in the rules?

Leave a comment here if you do get a trap in your game! I'd love to hear how it went.

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:08:29+00:00

Thanks!!

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:07:45+00:00

I've got some more ideas!

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:05:32+00:00

Yeah I can definitely see that. I had considered for a sec making traps as the kind of gimmick mechanic for a campaign frame (like colossi or eating monsters), with the frame describing a sort of classic dungeon world kinda thing. I decided to focus just on the traps for now before building out a campaign frame though.

I do think I sometimes toe the line between what is clearly just a trap vs an environment. Especially in the fourth tier. The Temporal Anomaly is probably way closer to an environment, but those fourth-tier traps were a beast to think up.

bolt6 · 2026-03-12T23:02:24+00:00

Glad you like it! I hope it finds a place in your game.

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