Hi, I'm Fae. I'm agender, queer, mixed race and I've got chronic pain, autism, adhd, and borderline personality disorder. And I'm in trouble.
I take care of my mother and brother, both of which are also disabled. More so than I am.
My grandparents are hell.
My grandfather has locked my truck in the garage, claiming that I can't drive in the snow so it isn't safe. I am 33 years old and cannot leave my house without someone with me.
My grandmother is much, much worse. She deliberately antagonizes my mom until she has seizures or shuts down, both are dangerous for her health. She attacks me and my siblings, knowing we can't really respond because she's much smaller than us. She's stabbed my grandfather before and frankly I'm just waiting for her to turn a knife on me too.
They also control our finances, threatening us with homelessness if we don't comply.
But I have a way out, possibly, hopefully. My book. I'm crowdfunding a 5e expansion called Sympathy Jones' Guide to Apotheosis. It currently has a bunch of species and classes, and I am putting the subclasses, feats, spells, and backgrounds into the pdf as we speak. I have monster stat blocks ready as well, though they aren't in the word document or the pdf. Tons of world lore too, about Virae, a land where mortals become gods by studying.
Please share this post, this link. If enough people buy my book, I can get my mom and brother to safety. They're what's important.
From 8bitpixelheart - Get Ready for Sympathy Jones and your guide to Apotheosis
Let's say you could make a wish to change one thing about Dungeons and Dragons.
Not the culture surrounding it, not the business practices of the company that owns it, not the various tweets that have become immortalized over the years. The game itself. The rules and mechanics that define the game you're playing.
For myself, a few years ago, it would have been that there was no way to really unify the things I wanted out of a character. You can cast a spell, or you can hit the enemy with a sword; those are two separate actions, Smites and Scagtrips notwithstanding.
If you're a Paladin, you can choose to smite your enemies, or you can choose to heal your friends. Your support abilities and your martial abilities are contained away in neat little boxes that never mix.
What if you supported your allies in the process of attacking?
Well. You might get something a lot like the Magical Girl.
(featuring: Like 10 more pages of material that didn't fit here, 4 subclasses, a level of customization similar to the Warlock, and ethically-sourced Creative Commons art with absolutely zero AI input.)
I talked ages ago about making a 5e necromancer class. So I did. It took... waaaay too long. And I do not have a good excuse as to why.
But I have things to share. Namely. I have a preview for the whole class. The whole class. All of it. Plus the theorems (spells). Free. Right below the cut (or you can follow this link).
But first, a notice. This may be all the "content" of the class, but I do plan on adding extra ritz to it. I want to add two appendices, both of which help organize and clarify elements of the class. I also want to add full art and do a theme redesign to match the necromancy vibe (instead of my general arcana theme I put on docs). I'm also going to do bigger edits and make sure everything is better polished and more readable. That version of the doc will be on GMsGuild and cost money (but I wouldn't charge money if the QoL changes weren't worth it). I want that available by Halloween. If you want to help speed things up, I have a review sheet here.
As far as other things to note: This is heavily influenced by the Locked Tomb books. That's where I drew a lot of ability themes and the name for "theorems". A lot of the subclass features are based off of characters in those books as well, see if you can figure out which (it's a little obvious).
I present an update to the Spiritualist! I've provided reworded and more specified rules for some features. Also I've reworked some abilities, mainly being Summon Spirit, now allowing you to use the statblocks of the monsters you kill. For the subclasses I've given a better expanded spell list and an entire new subclass! The Harvester, after killing a creature you gain Lost Souls, which can be used like Soul Points for their own features to use on both you and your summons.
New homebrew Class for Fabula Ultima. Presenting the Courier! Pick up and deliver packages across your setting, with Skills that support the group in travel, economy, Bonds, and getting the lay of the land. Pwyw on itch, please let me know what you think!
A homebrew Class of travel and utility for Fabula Ultima
Hi there~! I hope these...Interesting times have treated you well, if you want some reprive from the horrors of life, I come bearing you all a gift. My second custom class for Dungeons and Dragons 5th-edition. The Accursed! An individual who became cursed, and has since learned to control it, turning it into a source of power. If you've ever wanted to play frankenstein's monster, a werewolf, or something like the lich king then this is the class for you.
Playing an Accursed
As previously mentioned, the accursed is a half caster similar to your rangers and paladins, focusing on debuffing and other control effects, unlike all other casters, the accursed uses constitution as its spellcasting ability, for your power now derives itself from your now cursed vitality.
Hex Points: Rather than using spell slots, the accursed gains a tiny pool of points, known as hex points to cast their spells, as well as use other accursed abilities. Similar to ki points or the warlocks spell slots, your hex points are recovered upon completing a short or long rest, allowing you to quickly regain your powers on the fly.
Overchannel: Overchannel is a type of stance the accursed can enter as a bonus action, unleashing their afflictions full power, this could take form as a bestial transformation, or a storm of raw arcane energy. While you overchannel your curse you can spent hit dice, rather than hex points when using your accursed abilities, as well as gaining additional benefits determined by your subclass. However, this power comes at a price, for the entire time your cursed is overchanneled, you suffer from a penality.
Accursed Adaptations: As the accursed gains levels, it gains adaptations, ways its curses evolves to be even more debilitating, these are essentially the accurseds eldritch invocation. However, I tried to design these much more as additional abilities the accursed can use, rather than just passive effects they get, though there are absolutely adaptations that are more passive. Some of my favorite adaptations include Evil eye, which lets you see hostile creatures under the effects of your spells as if you had blindsight. Scourge strike, which lets you spend hex points to deal additional necrotic damage on a weapon attack or unarmed strike (Essentially the accursed version of divine smite). And Manifested affliction allows you to summon a ghostly representation of your curse to aid you in battle.
Subclasses
The accursed document features 8 subclasses for your accursed subclass to choose from, while I won't go into great detail for each, I will list what each one does.
The Curse of The Beast is a lycanthrope subclass that turns an accursed into a ravenous beast, unleashing flurries of strikes against their foes.
The Curse of The Immolated is a blaster subclass focused on dealing as much fire damage as possible, burning enemies to a crisp
The Curse of The Immortal turns the accursed into a healer, bestowing them plenty of temporary hit points.
The Curse of Rebirth is a necrotic tank that empowers itself with temp HP, gaining benefits while it has said temp HP.
The Curse of The Sickened is a potent debuff that slowly chips away at its opponents health with powerful poisons and diseases
The Curse of The Parasite is a flexible striker that uses its variety of mutations to adapt to any combat scenario.
The Curse of Misfortune is your archetypal accursed that debuffs foes and bends fate to its will.
And lastly, The Curse of The Warrior is your archetypal gish that turns the accursed into a potent weapon wielder (Especially if you pick up the more martial oriented adaptions)
Design Goals
The overall goal of the accursed was to create a unique caster that played with the idea of "power at a price" while you wield explosive debuff and control potential (As well as other roles depending on your subclass) you also suffer from severe debuffs and lack much in the way of resistances through the accursed itself. This created an interesting "power budget" when designing the class as I felt like I could get away with bolder abilities due to those debuffs being there. It was also interesting to design for since, to quote someone who's intelligence score is higher than my own (That I don't remember the name of as of writing) 5th-edition is not a system of downsides, the only feature I can think of that debuffs you off is frenzy on the berserker barbarian, and even then that got patched out with the new PHB, so it feels rather interesting to design a class that's build around downsides (Even if you do have a way to get around it temporarily) I also wanted to create an experimental caster for the simple fact that casters arn't my favorite to design for. They're fun to play absolutely! But designing for them feels a little tedious since spellcasting inevitably takes up so much of the classes power budget, not to mention that there's a good chance you'll have to write new spells to fit a specific class theme, and that I don't want to just make a slightly altered paladin or wizard. Here's hoping I succeeded at the later.
That's all you need to know about the accursed before testing the class out for yourself, the document also comes with several new spells, most of which were written for the accursed itself, as well as a 2024 rules conversion guide for those wanting to play the class with the updated PHB. I hope you enjoy the accursed, leave feedback and possibly play the class in your own games.
A homebrew class for Heart: The City Beneath, because I’m vibing with this setting so much.
This springs entirely from the following single line in the book, in the section on religion in the Heart and the other gods that might be worshipped there: “Mehror, the god of snuffed candles, and his pacifist cannibal priests.”
And. Look. One of my favourite video games of all time is Sunless Sea, and tell me that does not remind you Mr Candles/Mr Eaten, the Chapel of Lights, and the rite of St. Gawain’s candle? Snuffed candles and pacifist cannibals. I can work with that. Heart, like Sunless Sea, is a body horror sort of game (or they are in places, anyway), and I can work with candles and fat and death and cannibalism. Tallow. Not beeswax, oh no, these are going to be tallow candles. Rendered from the fat. Heh.
I am aware that Mehror gets more detail in Spire: The City Must Fall, but unfortunately I do not yet own that, and besides. The Church of the Moon Beneath isn’t the same as the Church of the Moon Above. Worship changes in the Heart. The gods worshipped down here may not be entirely the same as the gods as they are worshipped above. So, if the following contradicts Mehror’s lore in other places, I think that’s maybe fine? This is the Heart, and things are different here. And I’m just having a little bit of body horror sort of fun. Heh.
Speaking of. WARNINGS, naturally, for said body horror. I don’t think this is worse than the Cleaver or the Witch or the Deep Apiarist, so it’s around par for the course for Heart, but just in case.
All that said? Here we go!
TALLOWED
In the silence and the stillness, a thin thread of smoke rises from a snuffed candle. Gaunt hands scrabble among the grease. Tallow is licked from bony knuckles. The light is holy, a soft suffusion of hope, but the remnants are holy too. Fat for the feast, hope amidst the emptiness. We are but tallow, and the world starves around us. Hour by hour, the lights go out, but naught will be wasted. We shall offer hope by candlelight, and feed our fellows in the darkness.
Mehror is the god of snuffed candles, and the Tallowed are his chosen devotees, those closest to his hand. You are one of them, and you shine with his light, your flesh as translucent as fine tallow, your faith a soft flame above your head. Many of his followers come to Mehror starving, hollowed and gnawed by hunger, and Mehror offers what solace he is able. The flesh of his devotees, the fat of his candles. To be Tallowed is to know emptiness, and to know that one day, when your light goes out, that you in your turn shall feed the empty.
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CORE TRAITS
Skill: Discern
Domain: Desolate
Resource: Collection of used candle stubs (D6, Desolate)
TALLOW. You are Mehror’s candle, and your flesh is transformed by his light, shiny and translucent as the finest tallow, and able to be purified as such. Though your flesh may run and weep, it belongs to the Lord of Snuffed Candles, and so resists being turned from him. At the beginning of each situation, you can clear all stress from Echo, as Mehror reaffirms his presence within you. You cannot remove stress from Echo except by using this ability.
FLAME. While you live, the light of your faith shines as a candle flame above your brow. Until your last moment, you shall never know darkness unless by choice. The light of your faith in Mehror hovers over your head, and functions as a portable magelight while lit (Delve, D8). You can choose to temporarily snuff or relight this flame at will, and it cannot be snuffed out by any other means while you live.
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MINOR ABILITIES
BREATH OF MEHROR. The breath of the god coils around you like smoke. Gain +1 Protection in the Blood, Echo, Mind or Supplies resistance. You can take this advance more than once.
CUPPED PALM. When it is not yet time for a flame to go out, a cupped palm might shield it and keep it from guttering. Gain the Mend skill. Only once, if someone near you takes Critical fallout and would die, you may intercede with Mehror’s blessing. You reduce the afflicted person’s fallout one step, to Major, and immediately take Minor fallout of the same type yourself.
ECHOES OF THE SNUFFED. There is much to be learned from the dance of flame and shroud. Gain access to one of the following skills: Compel, Delve, Discern, Endure, Evade, Hunt, Mend, Sneak. You can take this advance more than once.
ENDURING TALLOW. Your tallow-flesh melts like wax and reforms, good as new. +2 Blood Protection.
GUIDING WISPS. A stilled heart follows the breath of life. Gain the Delve skill. Once per session, while on a delve, you can offer up a prayer to Mehror and temporarily snuff your Flame. A breath of wind carries the smoke from your Flame towards where you wish to go, guiding you towards your destination and granting you a d4 boon towards the delve.
HALLOWED SPACES. The soft flickering of candles guide the way to safe spaces. Gain the Religion domain. Once per session while on a delve, by the ritual lighting and snuffing of candles, you can consecrate a small area as a Shrine of Mehror, allowing you and your allies to each remove d4 stress to either Mind or Echo.
LAST BREATHS. The tallow of every spent candle bears the mark of the breath that snuffed it. The rites of Mehror offer a window unto the past. Gain the Occult domain. When you ritually imbibe the flesh of a deceased person, you witness a vision of their last moments of life.
MARK OF PASSAGE. The light of Mehror aids you when someone truly needs to be found. Gain the Hunt skill. When you seek a particular quarry, the marks of their passage are highlighted by a glow while within the light of your Flame. This might manifest as a trail of glowing footprints across even stony ground, or perhaps as a glowing trail of smoke through the air.
OFFERINGS OF THE FLESH. Even in the starkest and most desolate of surroundings, Mehror provides. +2 Supplies Protection.
PATHS OF THE EMPTY. The Tallowed walk many paths, for the breath that snuffs the flame is universal. Gain access to one of the following domains: Cursed, Desolate, Haven, Occult, Religion, Warren, Wild. You can take this advance more than once.
SHIELD THE FLAME. You walk among the hungry, and Mehror would not leave you wholly undefended. Gain the Sneak skill. When you snuff your Flame in order to better go unnoticed, it creates a thin haze of smoke around your person, granting you the Obscuring tag until you relight your Flame.
SOFT HAZE. What speaks more of safety than the gentle scent of candle smoke and the soft flickers of the flame? Gain the Compel skill. Once per session, while outside of combat, you can exude such a sense of comfort and safety that you can lull one nearby creature into a natural sleep.
VOTIVE LIGHTS. In darkness, a candle is lit in hope and prayer for those in need. Gain the Haven domain. Once per session, when you enter a landmark, a lost soul approaches you to ask for aid for someone they care about.
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MAJOR ABILITIES
EFFULGENT TRANSFORMATION. Some among Mehror’s faithful burn harder and brighter than others, their translucent tallow-flesh at times shining with internal fire. Whenever you want to, you can channel Mehror’s light into an effulgent transformation, your bones shining through your translucent flesh. While in this state, you roll with mastery on Compel and Endure checks, but all Sneak checks become Risky. You revert to your normal state at the end of the current situation, and mark d4 stress to Blood upon doing so, as the strain of the transformation burns through you.
MINOR: LIGHT OF HOPE. Have hope, for while all lights eventually go out, there is warmth while they are shining. While you are in your effulgent transformation, all nearby allies that can see you roll with mastery on Endure checks as long as you remain transformed.
MINOR: BEACON OF LIGHT. The fatal glory of Mehror’s Flame draws the eyes of all who witness it. While you are in your Effulgent Transformation, all allies within arms’ reach of you roll with mastery on Evade checks.
MINOR: BLINDING RADIANCE. Crowned in Mehror’s desolate glory, the light of your Flame can blind. While in your Effulgent Transformation, target one adversary and roll Endure+Desolate. On a success, you flare with radiance in that adversary’s sight, blinding it until the end of the current situation.
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HAND OF GLORY. Legends say that candles rendered from the fat of dead men offer powers to their bearers to travel unseen. Though not dead, you are one such candle. Offering up a prayer to Mehror, you focus on the light of your Flame and alter its nature. Roll Sneak+Desolate. On a success, you and the light of your Flame become invisible to all but yourself until the end of the current situation.
MINOR: WALK WITH ME. The flame of glory burns not only for itself. When you activate your Hand of Glory, any allies within the light of your Flame also become invisible.
MINOR: CLEAR THE WAY. Those who walk beneath the light of the Hand of Glory shall not be barred. While your Hand of Glory is active, whenever you encounter a barrier such as a locked door or gate, roll Delve+Desolate. On a success, the barrier opens silently.
MINOR: HOLD FAST. The Hand of Glory also holds power to stop pursuit. While your Hand of Glory is active, roll Hunt+Desolate. On a success, one adversary that is pursuing you or your allies becomes frozen and motionless, paralysed in place.
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HUNGRY ONE. Many of Mehror’s faithful do harm to no one, but not all. For some, hollowed by affliction, the search for fat and feast is more immediate. When you activate this power, mark d4 stress to Mind as you enter a frenzy of starvation. You gain the Killskill. Once per situation, when you deal stress to an adversary while in this state, reduce stress to Blood by the same amount.
MINOR: RAVENOUS STARE. You lock eyes with your adversary, all your bright-dark hunger in your eyes. When you activate your feeding frenzy, deal d8 stress to one adversary who can see you.
MINOR: FLENSING STRIKES. You know just where to slip the blade to flense fat from flesh. Your weapons while in feeding frenzy gain the Piercing tag.
MINOR: SHARE THE FEAST. Ravenous as you are, you are still Mehror’s faithful. You would not forget the hunger of others. Whenever an adversary dies by your hand while in feeding frenzy, you and all allies that you can see reduce d4 stress to Blood, as you gladly share your bounty.
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ORACLE OF FLAME AND SMOKE. The faithful of Mehror have long been experts in pyromancy and libanomancy, the reading of omens in fire and smoke. As an Oracle of Mehror, you are able to perform a ten minute ritual via the lighting of candles, reading the answer to one question from the order in which they are extinguished and the twisting of the smoke as they are snuffed. Choose a question, and roll Discern+Occult. On a success, you gain useful information towards that question.
MINOR: ILL OMEN. In your mind, a candle gutters and goes out, presaging ill omen for one of your adversaries. Roll Discern+Occult. On a success, the difficulty of one adversary is reduced by one step, to a minimum of Standard.
MINOR: BREATH OF WARNING. Breathing in sweet smoke, you fashion a new candle, one that will warn of coming danger. Before embarking on a delve, you fashion a ritual candle that will snuff itself when danger approaches. This candle allows your party to rest on a delve without incurring a bane.
MINOR: LIGHTS IN THE DARK. As you travel, you build Shrines in the name of Mehror, each Shrine existing as a candle in your mind. When the candle goes out, you know that trouble has come to those you have visited. Whenever you are in a landmark with the Haven domain, roll Discern+Occult as you build a shrine to Mehror. This creates the link between your mind and the Shrine, allowing you to know should trouble or disaster strike the landmark.
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RENDER UNTO OTHERS. ‘We eat the fat and drink the blood’. Your tallow-flesh, once shed, offers salve and solace to the wounded. Once per situation, when you mark stress to Blood, a nearby ally can reduce stress to Blood by the same amount.
MINOR: MEHROR’S SOLACE. Mehror’s chosen have no fear, for he awaits the snuffing of their light. That surety shines for all to see. Whenever you take Blood fallout, both you and all nearby allies who can see you gain +1 Mind protection for the remainder of the situation.
MINOR: FAT FOR THE FEAST. Sacrifice is its own reward, commensurate with itself. Once per session, when you take Blood fallout, a nearby ally can downgrade Blood fallout by one step.
MINOR: FINAL OFFERING. The last and most precious duty of any Tallowed. Should you suffer Critical fallout and die, all nearby allies can remove one Minor fallout or downgrade one Major fallout should they partake of your flesh.
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ZENITH ABILITIES
CHAPEL OF LIGHTS. Mehror sends you a vision of joyous sacrifice, a haven, small and desolate, founded of your fat and your flesh. Following the call of your god and the needs of the desolate, you forge a path into the hungry depths of the Heart until you find the place of your visions. There, rapturous, you gather the hungry around you, and bid them feast upon your tallow-flesh, so that through your sacrifice Mehror may build a place of safety and plenty. You are torn apart beneath scrabbling hands, your fat fuel for the fire, but as you fall you witness a chapel of red and white erect itself around you, and a thousand candles begin to light the darkness. A new landmark is born from your sacrifice, sacred to Mehror and all his hungry children.
DESOLATE GALE. In a moment of ecstatic communion, you become the instrument of Mehror’s final embrace. Throwing wide your arms, you call upon the breath of your god to snuff out all around you. From nowhere, above your head, a vast gale howls down upon you, and rushes out across all that you can see. Your Flame whips wildly and gutters above your head, and then vanishes, as your lifeforce is extinguished and your soul becomes a wisp of smoke carried upon it to Mehror. All around you, every other living thing is carried with you into that ecstatic embrace. The landmark you are in is emptied of all life, and a soft rain of candle soot gently blankets the empty shells left behind.
WHISPERS IN THE SHRINES. As your Flame gutters, your life ending, you feel yourself drawn upwards into the wisps of smoke that trail from your dying light. To activate this ability, die. Instead of falling, fat for the feast, you instead shine incandescently, your body burning through completely as your Flame flares and then fails, and are transformed completely into sacred smoke. While you hang suspended in the moment of your death, should they wish it, each of your companions may ask you one question, a burning query that they have long held close to their chest. Guided by Mehror’s divine knowledge, you may answer it for them, fully and truthfully. Once these questions have been asked and answered, a breath of wind blows you onwards, a sweet breath of incense, a voice that may answer other lost and desolate souls from the shrines of the Lord of Snuffed Candles.
