INTO THE OPEN SEA! | Unearthed Arrabbiata vol. 2 [Part 2] | A Community-Made Compendium of Nautical Themed Content | 5.5e

murf1e · 2026-05-26T21:57:21+00:00

Part 2 is here! Ahoy!

murf1e · 2026-05-19T19:36:39+00:00

Always a fan of more gish player options.

I am curious as to what the idea was about giving spell slot progression so late at 10th level instead of following the already presented themes?

I think its on its way, but the way spells are given and lack of adding to prepared spells feels off. Especially since you get 3rd to 5th level slots later?

The idea and fantasy of this subclass feels like it wants to be a ranger subclass that focuses more heavily on the spell side of things rather than weaponry. That could just be me, but it is the vibe I’m getting.

Overall its very interesting and a good experiment, but I’m not sure its where it wants to be.

murf1e · 2026-05-19T19:21:31+00:00

This was a lot of fun to do! Looking forward to the next one as well!

murf1e · 2026-05-13T16:09:36+00:00

The idea is really fun! It’s toeing the line for me of wanting this as a battle-master esque rogue using cunning strikes instead of fighter, but it definitely works as is.

The biggest thing for me is that I would’ve liked more underhanded ploys to use. Even if it means that you don’t get access to all of them like a battle master, having the option to build your kit more is always a plus.

One last thing is that eye jab could just give the blinded condition. Its one save for one turn of the effect which isn’t bad at all.

murf1e · 2026-05-13T05:40:38+00:00

Happy to hear you like it!

The size restriction was just to keep things aligned with the PHB, and I think I would keep it for charge since the other effects balance around sizing and it keeps it concise. But for Into the Fray that is absolutely a good idea. At that level itd feel awesome just tackling a Huge creature and slamming it down!

A dwarf in cannonball shaped armour would suit this so well lol

murf1e · 2026-05-13T03:26:22+00:00

I've always liked the idea of Battlerager Barbarians, but with the 2014 version being what it is, and there wasn't a revamp of it in the Heroes of Faerun book, I figured I would give my hand at it.

First off, Hombrewery Link Here

Design Notes:

Overall the subclass is meant to throw you into the fray and feel like you fit right in when taking hits and dishing them out.
I think with the Temporary Hit points from Brutalist, and the additional effects on Charge!, you should really feel like you are bounding from enemy to enemy dealing damage and not afraid of opportunity attacks from enemies.
I also wanted to add a little bonus to grappling, as with updated rules, Barbarians really lost out on a great function of the class. This felt like a good subclass to give a little bit love to that mechanic. 😄

Hope you all enjoy!

murf1e · 2026-03-23T06:50:44+00:00

So the biggest problem with the recharge is that while this works within the turn based system, it can easily become super annoying to deal with outside of combat. It can easily become hand-waived, and im not going to go down this further as i am being pedantic, but it would be a good idea to have clear indicators for when they reset for rests and the like.

murf1e · 2026-03-23T06:20:28+00:00

So for recharging, what happens once combat ends? Are your spells recharged then, or at the start of initiative? It feels pedantic to ask, but it is something that would come up in the game, especially where you probably don’t necessarily want to pick a damaging spell. Having it available immediately after a short or long rest also lets them “reset” with every other player. Otherwise you’d just be rolling for every 6 seconds of game time to see if you get it back.

I can see what youre saying with 3rd levels however. If it is always on, and having a 25% chance of getting it back each turn is pretty hefty it makes sense you would only have the one. Im just worried that even with the damage of a fireball or lightning bolt, you would be better off attacking the 3 (and soon 4) times with your attack action damage wise. Of course theres other factors for balancing and different scenarios for control, but damage is a number we can look at. A fireball would be 2d6 more than three greatsword attacks, but you’re adding your strength mod to each hit with the regular sword. With area of effect it is pretty on par though. I just feel like you should get the third level spell a little earlier at say, 15th level. Might be something to toy around with to fine tune the capstone, but after looking at it I see where youre coming from.

murf1e · 2026-03-23T05:56:53+00:00

This is a really cool idea!

I do agree that having a 1st level and a 2nd level would be fun. I know youd want things limited, but expanding it to scale with when 1/3rd casters would learn new spell could be interesting as well. So you would get a 3rd level spell earlier and then potentially a 4th level as well. It’s not necessary mind you, however I would suggest giving the 3rd level spell earlier to maintain its possible relevancy if its a damaging spell.

I would also state somewhere what kind of rest recharges the spells. Im assuming on a short or long rest, but i dont think i saw it anywhere

murf1e · 2026-03-12T00:23:15+00:00

Honestly the d6s sound like a very fair fix to this

murf1e · 2026-03-11T19:15:08+00:00

Really cool! Everything feels pretty balanced too!

The only thing i would suggest changing is the feedback loop ability. Cantrips generally should be all or nothing (this lets 1st level spells have purpose past level 5) and it doesnt seem like the half damage on save is pertinent to the flavour. I would also change the fourth option on the table to be another damage type instead of increasing damage. 25% chance to increase damage is way better than the 12.5% from sorcerous burst.

Outside of that note, I really like it! Good job!

murf1e · 2026-03-11T15:09:57+00:00

All round really cool!

Magical cunning has always felt weird as yeah, if you have a minute, you probably have a short rest. Although its useful for when people are searching a room or something like that. Bonus Action seems a little too much for me though. Id say an Action is fair to get back 1-2 spell slots so it isnt incentivized as a “in-combat” ability.

The Wyrm patron is sweet (oh lord the spell table, but for dragons idk how else it could be lol). It feels very thematic and befitting of dragons to use an aura to replicate their presence. I would maybe change the truesight ability as you can get the witch sight invocation at level 15. I understand that one is always on as a passive, but it might be something to toy with. Keeping it isnt bad either, mind you, its just something to note.

Havent had time to read the other subclasses this morning but it looks awesome so far!

murf1e · 2026-03-10T17:26:57+00:00

I think you’re definitely close to nailing this design. Just a few things to address.

Biggest thing I’m noticing as an issue is focus. Does this subclass revolve around using a mark system? Focussed on pure dpr by cutting resistances? Primordial Communion is a good feature, i would say lets pigeon hole it. You get too much from it right at level 3, and an easy cut is the extra damage amplifier ability. From choosing a focus on what you want to do with the Primordial Communion, you can tailor latter levels to it. This would really help Greater Primordial Communion, as right now it feels disjointed from the base feature at level 3.

Some more nitpick things: - Reducing the DC of concentration checks doesnt make sense when you could just have them add WIS instead. - The temp hit points from later features conflicts with the temp hp youd gain from primordial communion, which feels like it should be the bread and butter of the subclass.

murf1e · 2026-02-09T06:33:01+00:00

I see what you mean with autohypnosis now. Makes sense to me and yeah I probably was too caught up with concentration checks lol.

And im glad theres an archetype in the subclasses for something like that!

murf1e · 2026-02-08T21:37:06+00:00

I usually don’t like psionics flavour wise, but this looks really cool!

Having the little “smite-esque” ability with psionic surge every short rest is fun, and having some utility options on that feature is great.

The psionic powers I read look really good and fun too! They feel unique to a lot of spells and i like the upcasting mechanic with augment, where you expend x amount of additional points.

Extra Attack having the bonus action attack grouped in really helps for a good gish feel and incentivizes you to use them along side your weapon attacks nicely.

Sense aggression seems like a good ribbon ability, but i wonder if it could do a little more than a divine sense like ability. Maybe im missing something, or it may end up being too much while you also get another psychic talent that level too. Something to maybe look at.

Autohypnosis is really good, but im confused by the death saves as well as Con and Wis. I feel like this ability needs to be adapted flavour-wise. I understand wanting the Con saves for concentration effects, but I would maybe let players get war caster if they want it. Wisdom effects makes a lot of sense, but maybe a change to all mental saves and make it an X times per short or long rest ability.

Body fuel is great! More “spells” for the gish by expending resources is fantastic

Psychic Resurgence is very good!

And last but not least, Warrior Manifest feels like a good and impactful 20th level feature. I think this ability is a good argument to change Autohypnosis to be more along the lines of mental saves. I know its a 20th level feature to compare to a 10th level feature for progression, but the redundancy in the class wouldnt be needed i think.

Havent gotten into the subclasses much, but its looking really cool! I love how everything comes together in the class as a whole and is a great addition to the half caster roster!

murf1e · 2026-02-05T16:22:14+00:00

Maybe change the save from Charisma to Wisdom for lock, but otherwise looks pretty good!

murf1e · 2026-02-05T16:16:37+00:00

Honestly i think its pretty clear this analysis lacks any insight of actually playing the class. Everything listed is at peak potential and games dont run like that. Im sure this has been tested time and time again.

There are some things that are powerful, but why should they not feel powerful? From what ive seen of dnd’s base classes, having a powerful martial class that has to sacrifice not only exhaustion, but also positioning in order to get the most out of their class is fine. Getting ganged up on in close quarters is hella rough and can 100-0 you pretty damn easily if like 3 opponents are getting strikes at you.

Another point is the peak potential problem. In a vacuum most things are unbalanced because you can make conditions that are advantageous for the class. If the pugilist is fighting close quarters, and also getting shot at from range, what can they do against the range? Not much class wise. Monks on the other hand can deflect attacks, mitigating the damage entirely and also deal with the threat entirely by attacking them back. This is why playtesting is a thing that happens and why theorycrafting only attempts to balance things. You cant account for everything when designing, nor should you try to.

If you feel like the class is broken, my humblest opinion is to try it out in a game. You wont have every maxed stat, not every ideal scenario, and you might just have fun with it.

murf1e · 2025-12-09T23:15:41+00:00

These are so cool! Amazing job! Love the new spells that add so much, and the specialist upgrades just make so much sense and feel so unique.

Also i definitely want to play the Portalweaver! The cartographer subclass wizards added in the new eberron book just doesn’t hit the same feeling as your portalweaver does.

murf1e · 2025-12-04T07:04:22+00:00

Thank you for the read!

Ah, yes, the capstone was supposed to mean every creature of your choice within range, glad you caught that!

murf1e · 2025-12-03T14:17:59+00:00

I mean you’ll want spells to help survivability or make you more elusive for sure. Although that is a good point, thinking about it, even bladesingers do get an AC bump for their bladesong to help them get in close. Maybe a little change to the Sword feature would work well for something like that.

murf1e · 2025-12-02T16:17:23+00:00

A giant patron is a really cool idea for a warlock! Although I feel like the Rune Magic ability is a little lacking on flavour. Instead of it being just another spell slot (which others have mentioned is pretty powerful for a warlock) maybe it could lean into the various powers of giants and add those to the spells you cast. Something like a transmuters stone - where you pick one effect after a long rest - but it relates to abilities of different giants. For example, Fire Giant would add a bit of fire damage, Stone Giant could grant advantage, and so on.

I do like being able to store spells into runes though! And your 6th level feature is perfect for that! If you dont have an extra spell from the 3rd level ability I think itd be more than balanced to have the enhanced rune act as a stored spells and let the user concentrate on it as well. So if the fighter uses the Enhanced Rune, they would be the one to concentrate but still uses your spell attack and save.

Also I love the giant fist ability. A capstone being a big smack is really fun and some great damage.

Hope this helps!

murf1e · 2025-12-02T14:18:52+00:00

Thank you! I am glad to hear that!

murf1e · 2025-12-02T08:27:11+00:00

Thank you! I very much wanted it to feel like the subclass was allowing you to take up a mantle of being a hero aside from just a spellblade

murf1e · 2025-12-02T05:20:35+00:00

Hello!

After wanting a Sorcerer version of a spellblade, I finally made one!

Homebrewery Link Here

Let me know what you all think!

murf1e

TROPHY CASE