A Project I've been working on for a while now, a guide to creating custom spells for D&D In-Game!
It has things such as recommended time for research and development, possible cost of materials, and of course rules for all kinds of effects for your spells.
And best of all, its free for everyone up on DMs Guild!
Karsus' Guide to Create a Spell - Have you ever felt like the current spell options are not enough for your tastes?
You ever wanted to make…
If you like things like these, I have a patreon! You can support me over there, and every cent gives me motivation to continue doing this. Thank you very much :)
To unsuck a system, you have to know why it's not fun. underwater combat in battletech currently tries to simulate its underwaterness by slowing everyone down, cutting the range in half, and making hits extremely deadly with the breach mechanic.
This mostly means that games are more swingy, monotonous, and overall not very fun.
The main culprit seems to be that it's less a distinct environment that entices new tactics than it is the exact same as the surface but limited in a very unfun way.
Main issues are as follows:
movement is less deliberate despite its restrictions.
There isn't a buildup to the payoff of instant death.
Brainstorming: keep rar and create equipment for dedicated water fighting
redo flooding to be more gradual
rethink movement mechanics or los mechanics
keep the mechs on the surface and think about surface to depth interaction
remove flooding
---
thinking about it, keeping rar and developing/redeveloping the equipment seems good. I'd also like to do some additions to the rules for something like sonar.
something built for water should make it clear that regular mechs should not be in the depths. I also like some minor water to air interactions. might be fun.
Here are some new homebrew options for armor in your D&D game!
Reskinned Armor
Here's an interesting take on armor that cares more about what material the armor is made from rather than its make. The statistics are completely the same but the names are different.
Light Armor
Cloth/Cord: 5 gp, AC 11 (disadvantage on stealth)
Padded: 10 gp, AC 11
Treated Leather: 45 gp, AC 12
Medium Armor
Hide: 10 gp, AC 12 (Max Dex 2)
Bone/Shell/Ceramic: 50 gp, AC 13 (Max Dex 2)
Copper Mail: 50 gp, AC 14 (Max Dex 2) (disadvantage on stealth)
Bronze Scales: 400 gp, AC 14 (Max Dex 2)
Iron Mail: 750 gp, AC 15 (Max Dex 2) (disadvantage on stealth)
Heavy Armor
Steel Mail: 30 gp, AC 14, (disadvantage on stealth)
Bronze Plate: 75 gp, AC 16 (No Dex) (disadvantage on stealth) STR 13
Iron Plate: 200 gp, AC 17 (No Dex) (disadvantage on stealth) STR 15
Steel Plate: 1500 gp, AC 18 (No Dex) (disadvantage on stealth) STR 15
image credit: Jason Felix
Variants: Armor Damage and Repair
Armor often needs repairs, especially those designed to be easily replaced like leather, hide, and chain mail. Use one of these systems to simulate armor damage and repair. Note that magic armor will never need repair and will never break.
Narrative Armor Damage: Armor made from leather, hide, or mail must be replaced after an average-sized adventure or about 13 combat encounters; pretty much every time that you return to town during a big dungeon. Plate or splint armor does not need replacing, but will need repairs from getting dented or parts becoming totaled. After an average-sized adventure or 13 combat encounters, it must be repaired by spending an amount equal to 20% of its full price. Repairs take one week.
Armor Damage on Critical Hit: On a critical hit, the armor has a chance to wear down. On a critical hit, the armor has a 50% chance to gain a cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it provides. If the penalty would cause the armor to reach base AC 10 the armor becomes broken. Armor can be repaired at a rate of 20% of its full price per penalty removed by the repair. Such a repair takes 1d4 days per point of penalty removed.
Armor Damage from Wear: Whenever the creature takes bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage that would bring them below half their maximum HP, there is a chance that the armor breaks. The creature must make a DEX saving throw against a DC equal to 10 or the damage dealt, whichever is higher. On a failed saving throw, the wearer gains a point of wear. The armor does not get noticeably weaker, but if the armor accumulates enough wear, the armor needs to be completely replaced. Wear points can be removed by spending 10% of the armor's price per point removed. Light armor breaks once the armor accumulates 6 wear. Medium armor breaks at 8 wear. Heavy armor breaks at 10 wear. Leather armor accumulates 1 point of wear each day it is exposed to rain or snow or each hour while submerged in water.
Armor Break from Massive Damage: Whenever the creature takes 25 or more bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a single attack, the armor has a 50% chance of breaking. If the creature took 36 or more damage, the armor breaks automatically. Broken armor must be replaced.
Option: Type-Resistant Armor
Different types of armor tend to hold up better against different attacks. As an optional rule, use the following to alter damage based on the armor your character is wearing and the damage type. This would be in addition to Armor Class, not instead of. The damage reduction applied from this variant cannot reduce damage beyond a minimum of 1 damage. This reduction is negated if the creature has resistance to the damage type in question. For instance, a raging barbarian would have resistance to all nonmagic damage, which would overwrite their Hide Armor's reduction to bludgeoning damage.
This variant is more balanced for mid-level adventurers where this slight damage reduction would still matter (unlike in the 15-20 level range) but wouldn't be overpowered (like in the 1-5 range). This variant does require a tad of bookkeeping but since players don't change armor that often.
Remember that these resistances would apply to enemies' armor as well. Apply to creatures that don't wear armor by putting their natural armor into a category. For instance, a dinosaur or dragon might consider their scales to be Plate armor, while a Giant Toad might be considered Leather.
I paired Studded Leather and Ring Mail in with Leather and Chain Mail for those that still think they are worth including.
Padded: Bludgeoning damage and non-heavy piercing damage are reduced by 1.
Padded armor could consist of 20 to 30 layers of cloth that can help absorb impacts from arrows and bludgeoning damage, but not against heavy spears and the like.
Leather/Studded Leather: Slashing and bludgeoning damage is reduced by 1.
The padding helps resist bludgeoning blows while the hardened leather absorbs some slashing damage like a weak short of cutting mat.
Hide: Bludgeoning damage is reduced by 2.
Hide is thick and usually padded with several layers against hard blows.
Chain Shirt: Non-heavy slashing and piercing damage is reduced by 1.
A simple chain shirt could blunt slashing damage and the flexibility of the chain could disperse piercing blows, but not against heavy weapons with lots of weight behind them.
Scale Mail: Slashing damage is reduced by 1.
The scales of this armor are effective at deflecting slashing weapons away from the body.
Breastplate: Slashing and bludgeoning damage from non-finesse weapons is reduced by 1
Breastplate prioritizes the defense of the torso and sometimes the neck for improved mobility, but leaves the outer limbs exposed for those quick enough to punish them.
Half Plate: Slashing and bludgeoning damage from non-finesse weapons is reduced by 2.
Half plate by definition didn't cover the legs for improved mobility, so someone able to easily aim for that area would deal more damage.
Chain Mail/Ring Mail: Slashing and piercing damage is reduced by 1.
Chain mail could blunt slashing damage and the flexibility of the chain could disperse piercing blows.
Splint: Slashing damage is reduced by 2.
Splint mail can ward off slashes but has gaps between the splints where there is only fabric that piercing weapons would be drawn to as they skid around the metal. Bludgeoning could harmfully bend the splints, which were mostly used on arms and legs.
Plate: Slashing and bludgeoning damage is reduced by 2.
Plate armor is excellent at defending against most melee damage, but piercing damage concentrates each hit on one point and is able to pierce the armor.
New Armor Items
Brigandine: 2000 gp, 60 lbs. This suit of armor is as effective as Splint Mail and is Heavy Armor. It is made from steel plates sewn between elaborate patterned cloth. It is mainly meant as ornamentation for nobility rather than combat. Because of this, the wearer gains advantage on CHA skill checks to either seem like nobility or to persuade or intimidate as if a noble.
Lamellar: 200 gp, 30 lbs. Lamellar is a set of metal plates strung together and worn over your regular armor. It applies a +1 bonus to AC but imposes disadvantage on all DEX-based skill checks and saving throws. You must be proficient in medium armor to wear lamellar effectively.
Padded Jack: 5 gp, 10 lbs. A coat of cloth padding that can be worn over your regular armor. It applies disadvantage to all DEX-based skill checks and saving throws, but it reduces all incoming bludgeoning and slashing damage by 1. You must be proficient in light armor to wear a padded jack effectively.
Reinforced Trapper: 45 gp, AC 15 (disadvantage on stealth). Plates of iron used to reinforce a large chain shirt. You must be proficient in heavy armor to wear a reinforced trapper effectively.
Unique/Magical Armor
Coral Armor: Uncommon. Breastplate, Half Plate, Splint, or Full Plate armor can be made with enchanted coral. Armor of this type become virtually weightless in water, granting advantage on Athletics skill checks to swim in water.
Devilhusk: Rare. A set of +1 Leather, Studded Leather, or Hide armor that is made from a barbed devil's hide. Creatures grappling someone wearing Devilhusk take 1d10 piercing damage at the start of each of their turns. The wearer also has resistance to fire damage. The wearer's AC is considered to be 10+DEX when attacked with a silvered weapon.
Electrified Armor: Rare. Any metal armor can be made into electrified armor. This armor has been enchanted to rebuke attackers with electricity. Whenever the wearer is hit by an attack from a weapon composed mostly of metal, the attacker must make a DC 13 DEX saving throw or take 2d6 lightning damage.
Ghasthide Armor: Uncommon. Leather, Studded Leather or Hide armor can be made with the flesh of a ghast. Such armor can be used once per short rest to exude an awful stench using the wearer's action. Each creature in a 20 ft. radius must make a DC 14 CON save or become poisoned for 1 minute. The wearer also gains advantage on saving throws against paralysis.
Phasing Armor: Very Rare. A set of +1 Leather or Studded Leather armor that seems to be made of a teal mist that isn't entirely too keen on staying in the shape of armor. The wearer can enter the Ethereal Plane for 1 minute a number of times each day equal to their CHA modifier. The creature can move through solid objects but if they end their turn inside of an object they take 1d10 force damage. When they return to the Material Plane, if they are inside of an object, they are transported to the nearest unoccupied space and take 1d10 force damage.
Rhinohide: Rare. Heavy armor, AC 17 (No Dex) (disadvantage on stealth) STR 16 required to wear. Whenever the wearer of a set Rhinohide Armor moves more than 20 ft. in a straight line towards an enemy, the next attack they make against that creature takes an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
Rune-Circle Armor: Very Rare. A Chain Shirt, Chain Mail, or Ring Mail set of armor can be made as Rune-Circle Armor. Each individual ring is enchanted as tiny a circle of protection. The Rune-Circle armor grants the wearer advantage on saving throws against magic. The wearer also cannot be charmed, frightened, or possessed by fiends, celestials, elementals, fey, aberrations, or undead.
Silenced Armor: Rare. A set of silenced armor grants advantage on Stealth skill checks, even if it would normally impose disadvantage on such checks. Any armor can be enchanted to become Silenced Armor.
Snailshell Carapace: Very Rare. This pearlescent Scale Mail armor is composed of magically treated shell from a Flail Snail and has an affinity for magic energy. Succeeding at a saving throw against a non-cantrip spell causes the wearer to gain 1d6 temporary hit points per level of the spell. The temporary hit points fade after 1 minute.
Stone Armor: Rare. +1 Breastplate, Half Plate, and Full Plate can be made with stone shaped by magic. This armor allows the wearer to cast Meld into Stone once per day. The wearer becomes immune to the petrified condition.
A Note on Studded Leather and Ring Mail Armor
In short, this armor didn't exist. It really only exists as a numeric increment in the game to provide more options for armor.
Adding nonessential studs to leather doesn't enhance its ability to deflect attacks, and instead might even help catch slashing weapons or become studded in the wearer's skin from a bludgeoning weapon. Studs only exist for ornamentation and historically only had the function of holding leather armor pieces together.
Ring mail is extremely rare in history and many historians believe it was either used beneath a full set of armor or is simply a misinterpretation of chain mail. In theory, it only seems only effective at deflecting slashing and bludgeoning attacks as it is literally a bunch of giant rings that don't interlock, leaving plenty of room to guide an arrow or pike right on through. It certainly doesn't earn the right to exist as a heavy armor in D&D.
Personally, I would remove these or else rename them. It's okay to have dramatic differences between armor increments sometimes. You could rename Studded Leather as like Masterwork Leather or Owlbear Leather. Ring Mail could instead be a Heavy Chain Shirt or a Light Splint Mail made from some fantasy material.
whelp. brain gave me a small muddy stream today. wasn't even cutting through the woods, just like along someone else's patio.
posting the results here anyways.
in underwater combat, I think part of the thrill should be trying not to be discovered, hiding in the murky depths.
so!
sonar, because it's cool. watsonian reason is that regular LoS in battletech is done through a mech's sensors and not actually line of sight. the distances are too big and the targets too small for poor human eyes to see. Aquatic combat is a more intense version where even standard or even clan sensors (adjusted to air) have a difficult time.
First idea: hard LoS cap. let's say 15 hexes out, you have no LoS. don't matter if you have a gun that goes further, a remote sensor, a spotter( ok maybe a spotter is ok(?)) you can't see.
this means that if you don't want to fight at knife ranges, you need some sort of dedicated detection system.
The idea here is you could select different equipment for your mech with their own dedicated ways of bypassing the water hard cap or as a requirement for water exclusive weapon systems.
Like a sentry pulse version, extending in a straight, blockable, line forward, that you can activate at the end of that mech's movement. if something crosses that line, that mech has LoS on whoever passes. or something that just activates during the tag phase?
Heavy torpedo version where you can fire/place a non-damaging sonar pulse generator in a distant hex.
passive sonar systems that detect jumping/swimming units or other actions.
c3i but earlier and for water.
self guiding torps that will find their own targets but might miss or tract to a different target.
surface boat giving telemetry.
maybe the clans have a little drone that does the same.
There are various storage vats littering the field, possibly full of unknown contents.
Each vat occupies one hex and is two hexes tall and can block LoS. Occupants have blocked LoS while in a standing vat.
Each vat may be reinforced giving it 20 points of armor in addition to standard small building rules.
If the vat takes structure damage outside of the armor, the vat is considered non-functional and empties its contents. (special interactions may apply)
Empty vats still serve as intact structures.
Important! The roofs of the vats are weak! Only infantry, power suits, and similar may safely stand on the roofs.
Important! If a battlemech makes a jump movement onto a vat or declares they are climbing on top, they immediately fall in as if they entered a depth 2* water**. This may be done during a running action, but the pilot suffers a +2 penalty to their PSR for their entering water PSR test.
Units in non-empty vats are considered submerged in the depth of liquid each vat contains.
Vat Contents
Each vat only contains one type of fluid. (house rules accepted)
Water/Inert: This fluid has no unique interactions. Treat like water of the appropriate depth.
Empty: There is no fluid. Treat like a level 2 level change to simulate a short fall through the roof. Most units will be unaffected.
Corrosive: [currently wip. it obviously should damage submerged armor and damage anyone who breaks it with melee. not sure how much is fair]
Coolant: Removes 15 heat a turn while submerged. When in depth 1, remove 6 heat a turn. Apply heat sink bonuses in addition as if in the equivalent depth of water. [?] [Is that how coolant works?]
(ran out of steam zone)
Coagulant Gell: you sink slowly! for every turn you stay in the vat, you sink one level. you take a +3 psr to stay standing. I think it'd be cool if you received a one time 1d6 external armor repair if you remained in it for a turn to any submerged parts.
Lubricant: Same rules as the oil slick fluid gun ammo! instant additional +2 psr for getting in. Spreads an oil slick to the ring of surrounding hexes when emptied. +2 psr on entry.
flammable: acts like water until breached with a ranged weapon, it then lights on fire on a 4+ and spills in a flammable state to surrounding hexes when emptied.
Solid: It's solid in there! Treat like a clear hex with height 2.
Explosive: like flammable, but explodes in a 20 maybe 30 area effect explosion.
Fuel Air mixture: acts like empty unless breached by a ranged attack. explodes on a 3+ and dissipates into an empty vat if emptied unexplosively. definitely a 30, 40, maybe 50 AE. Scary!
Reactive: makes a ring of heavy smoke when breached, emptied, or if the roof is destroyed.
Shimmer: Submerged units gain a +1 to their target movement modifier the turn they leave the liquid. no effect when emptied.
Vat Modifiers
Half full: the fluid is only 1 level deep instead of 2.
Extra Deep: the vat bottom extends one level below the surface the vat rests on. 3 levels of fluid and you can't kick the vat walls if you're inside.
Emergency Release: infantry and power armor can safely empty the vat without consequence. 1mp to use. no jumping movement.
Cool hidden info rules
You could reveal with a table, but that's no fun. Players should make two sided tokens; one colored/symboled and the other side blank. agree on what sorts of fluids there are and what qualities, grab appropriate tokens and place blindly, blank side up. reveal when appropriate!
Halloween special event idea! Survival against the frankenmech hoard!
a group of players faces off against a dm (plus assistants) controlled hoard of unknown, pilotless, and seemingly endless frankenmechs while both protecting civilian filled bunkers
It's expected that there will be attrition, so if a player successfully withdraws, they keep a portion of their mech's value AND a portion of the value of the zombies they downed to spend on a new mech
or less if they fell in the defense
additional score can be gathered for the team by collecting scattered spawning rescue pods and bringing them to the bunkers!
game ends when the players are all unable to respawn, forfeit, or the story objectives are completed!
Add-on: slain mechs will slowly crawl towards each other in nearest pairs. When they meet, a new frankenmech rises from their corpses! better destroy the dead before it's too late!
I wrote up an article about herbalism a while back and decided that it wasn't fair to just do one fantasy profession. Why not another commonly-used but often glossed-over job that requires ingredients: engineering! Here in Part One I am creating a series of tables to help you generate magic-mechanical parts to salvage from broken machines, constructs, or broken traps. They could also be built by craftsmen in the town or city you're in.
In Part Two there will be an abstract system for building items and artifacts using the parts you generate here, using nothing but their rarity (common/uncommon/rare). For instance, "you need two common parts and one uncommon part to build an Arcane Blaster." Then you would roll here to randomly generate the names of each of those parts.
Unlike herbs, mechanical parts tend to not have biomes or climates where they can be found, but the idea is for these to be difficult for the player to acquire so that they have to quest for them. Let the player hear about where they can find certain parts or what sorts of machines might have those parts. Maybe there's a mechanic in a faraway town that can build a rare part for the player. Or maybe someone will give them the part if they help them with the local Dire Rat problem. The possibilities are endless!
Rarity:
Common: Can be salvaged from almost any machine (DC 12 Investigation to find) or made/bought from any local craftsman (DC 10 INT check to build, 10-500 gp to buy)
Uncommon: Salvaged from strange or larger machines (DC 16 Investigation to find). An experienced craftsman could probably build the part with time and precise schematics (DC 14 INT check to build, 500-5000 gp to buy)
Rare: Salvaged from unique machines or ancient technology lost to time (DC 20 Investigation to find). Only a master craftsman could ever hope to build such a part (DC 18 INT check to build, 5,000+ gp to buy)
Part Name Generator:
For Common parts, use Table C. For Uncommon parts, use Table B and append a word from Table C. For Rare parts, use Tables A, B, and C and put them all together. Use a d100 for each table. Roughly, Table A is a list of adjectives, Table B is a list of devices, and Table C is a list of parts to make up such devices. So using all three tables gets you an [adjective] [device] [part] like a Flux Capacitor Bolt or an Ethereal Engine Crank.
Material (1d100):
What the part is made out of. It will most likely be metal but there is a chance for it to be made out of an unusual material. You can also decide which one works best for a part you've generated by simply choosing one.
01-15: Copper
16-30: Iron
31-64: Steel
65-72: Aluminum
73-79: Lead
80-84: Silver
85-88: Gold
89-92: Mithril
93-95: Adamantine
96-00: Unusual Material (roll 1d6):
1: Wood
2: Ceramic
3: Rubber
4: Bone
5: Crystal
6: Energy
Size (1dX):
The size is based on the object being built. You won't need a large lead screw if you're building a pocket watch. Roll 1dX, where X is the size of the target object. Use a dicerolling app if you have to.
1: Fine (size of a fly)
2: Diminutive (size of a small bird)
3: Tiny (size of a house cat)
4: Small (size of a wolf)
5: Medium (size of a person)
6: Large (size of an ogre)
Complications:
Certain parts might be dangerous to handle or salvage. Roll 1d6. On a 6, the part requires a Sleight of Hand DC to salvage or install it. For a common part, the DC is 12. Uncommon: DC 16. Rare: DC 20. Then roll below to determine what sort of complication has been encountered.
01-10: Delicate: The part is fragile and can easily break if handled poorly. On a failed check the part breaks and becomes useless.
11-25: Arcane Component: Instead of a Sleight of Hand check, this device requires an Arcana check to remove or install the part.
26-29: Archaic: Instead of a Sleight of Hand check, this device requires a History check to remove or install the part.
30-35: Convoluted: The part is very complex to install or salvage. Increase the Sleight of Hand DC by 2. On a failed check, the part breaks.
36-40: Sharp: Part deals 1d6 slashing or piercing damage when mishandled.
41-45: Cold: Part deals 2d6 Cold damage when not handled properly.
46-50: Hot: Part deals 2d6 Hot damage when not handled properly.
51-61: Electrified: Part deals 2d6 Lightning damage when not handled properly.
62-74: Pressurized: The part could cause a pressure tank or valve to erupt, causing you to need a new part and dealing 2d10 bludgeoning damage to you on a failed check.
75-80: Toxic: The part contains, is composed of, or deals with toxic chemicals. When mishandled you take 4d8 acid damage and become poisoned for 24 hours.
81-84: Self-Destructive (salvage only): The salvaged part is intentionally rigged to destroy itself if tampered with. On a failed check the part and device are destroyed.
85-94: Trapped (salvage only): The salvaged part is intentionally designed to harm those that would tamper with it. Deal 8d6 damage of the type of your choice to the salvager if the check fails. This could be anything from an explosion to a poison dart to a magical ward. Use your imagination.
95-98: Lock (salvage only): The salvaged part is locked with a passphrase (magical), key, or code. This doesn't require a check but does require the correct information to access the part.
99-00: Animated: The part has been magically animated and has a mind of its own. On a failed check the part escapes and tries to either hide or run away.
