Covenant of the Conspiracy | Keeper Spirit Covenant, and homebrew for homebrew

Today introduces another first in the homebrew I've posted to this blog: this is homebrew for homebrew! The Keeper is an excellent class homebrewed by NotTheSmoooze. I definitely suggest that you check out the class and her other work!

So, what is it like to make homebrew for homebrew?

Oath of Independence | Paladin Sacred Oath, and turning elements into ideals

"The cold never bothered me anyway."

Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I loved Frozen (and Frozen II!) and still do! Not that that would be surprising, really. After all, in the post right before this I praised a Barbie film as a childhood favorite. Anyhow, here we have another sacred oath. This one is probably my most thematically stretched, but it was done to fulfill an interesting challenge: a friend invited me to create an ice-themed subclass, and I found myself wanting to make a paladin. But how do I turn ice into an ideal?

Doppelgänger | Background

The Doppelgänger is another background homebrew. It's my longest one yet, and it's my favorite of the three that I've made so far.

Oath of Strangers | Paladin Sacred Oath, and on firearms and cowboys in D&D

I think the Oath of Strangers is one of my most unique sacred oaths. The thematic idea is pretty offbeat—the classic Wild West cowboy as a paladin—and the mechanic is a very different take on how to incorporate firearms in Dungeons & Dragons.

Inkling | Roguish Archetype, and on thematic magic items

When I posted the Secretary rogue, I mentioned that I had made other roguish archetypes before that point. Well, here is one of them: the Inkling is the first roguish archetype I ever homebrewed! And to be honest, I think I like it better than the Secretary—not to say the Secretary isn't good. I just think the Inkling is better.

Oath of Power | Paladin Sacred Oath, and on auras

For the Honor of Grayskull!

I've only seen the first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. I've thought about seeing the rest of the series, but I've heard kind of mixed things which is why I've put it off. But that's neither here nor there! I wrote the Oath of Power as a tribute to the show and as a Christmas gift to a friend who really enjoyed it when we still only had season one.

Fairy | Player Character Species, and on tiny creatures

I've actually seen more than one fairy or pixie player character species homebrew before. Even so, I think fairy stories and tropes are really cute and sweet, so I wanted to give the concept a try for myself. I think it was a good exercise, because I really like the way it turned out!

Oath of Enthusiasm | Paladin Sacred Oath, and on revising homebrew and Gravity Falls

"Nothing is stronger than the power of… Mabel!"

First of all, a big thank you to Charlotte, AKA Chikuto, who kindly granted permission to use this adorable Gravity Falls fanart in the homebrew! Charlotte has more art on Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter and also draws and writes a cool webcomic.

And now to introduce the Oath of Enthusiasm! This is another sacred oath inspired by one of my favorite characters. Last time, Sara Crewe from A Little Princess inspired the Oath of Benevolence. Today, Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls inspires the Oath of Enthusiasm. The two characters are pretty different tonally, I grant, but I think the values they embody are surprisingly compatible. Their characters both emphasize compassion, self-worth, and forgiveness.

Bodysnatcher | A Background, and on brewing out of your comfort zone

Possibly the eeriest of all my homebrew, the Bodysnatcher is another nonprofessional background in the vein of my earlier cyborg. And it's another science fiction background, though this time in the cosmic horror genre of H.P. Lovecraft.* I created the Bodysnatcher in response to a friend's prompt-based homebrewing challenge event: anything inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos or Lovecraftian cosmic horror.

Oath of Betrothal | Paladin Sacred Oath, and on flavor text and innovative inspiration

The Oath of Betrothal is another early paladin homebrew of mine. If memory serves, it's the fourth homebrew sacred oath I ever made. I created the Oaths of the Lyan, Fantra, and Paramander (now the Oaths of Society, Anarchy, and Detachment respectively), and I unexpectedly discovered that I wanted to make more sacred oaths, beyond the themes of Dragon magazine's "Plethora of Paladins." I'm not sure how I hit upon the idea, but I'm very happy I did. I think the Oath of Betrothal is among my most fun ideas.

Selkie | A player character species

Selkies as a fantasy species have enamored me ever since I was a little kid. As the quote I use in the homebrew suggests, I first heard of Selkies through the Magic Tree House book series. Those were definitely kids' books, but if you ask me that series' titles were great at being kids' books! Summer of the Sea Serpent was among the early titles to introduce more expressly magical elements in a relatively short-lived, but still enjoyable direction for the series. This book marked Kathleen's introduction, and Kathleen was the first Selkie I ever met.

What are Selkies? Outside of The Magic Tree House, that is? Selkies come from Scottish and Irish folklore. They are creatures that can transform from seals into a (usually female) humanoid form. Probably the most famous Selkie trope in the popular conscious is that of a fisherman or other man stealing a Selkie's sealskin in order to obligate her into marrying him. I reference this in the second page sidebar; ultimately, I decided to write the mechanics such that this scenario is not possible. I don't want to write mechanics that would cause players to lose agency, and I think Selkies have the potential to be a lot more interesting than prizes for a man—not to speak too on the nose about this, but it is a relevant motive for sidestepping that narrative.

Next question: why do I want to be able to include Selkies in a TTRPG setting? Well—just because I think they're cool, really! Sometimes that's all the reason one can have. A wise designer once told me that in homebrew, self-satisfaction is a valid and important motive. I guess then the qusetion becomes why do I like Selkies? There's something really fascinating about the dichotomy of Selkie life.

Sometimes I compare them to Mermaids to emphasize the differences: Mermaids spend their whole lives living in the water, and their humanoid shape and fish tails are always part of who they are. Selkies, meanwhile, don't exist as a physical in-between; rather, they swap entirely between spheres of existence, going from ocean-dwelling seal to land-walking humanoid and vice versa. That dual-lifestyle is incredibly interesting! I hope that came through in the lore and mechanics of the Selkie I created here.

Secretary | A Roguish Archetype, and on lyrics as feature names

"Why do you write like you're running out of time? Write day and night like you're running out of time?"

I've made homebrew referencing The Legend of Zelda, homebrew referencing Demon Slayer, homebrew referencing A Little Princess, and yes, now homebrew referencing Hamilton: An American Musical. What can I say? The songs and music were all stuck in my head! And so, Alexander Hamilton: A Roguish Archetype was born.

The Archmage | An Otherworldly Patron, and on overlap among patrons

The Archmage! Although I have previously posted the Chivalric Order, that was actually not the first otherworldly patron I ever created. That honor goes to the Archmage, which has had a surprisingly long history among my homebrews. If memory serves, I made my first draft of this homebrew two or three years ago by now! This was one of my first homebrews, created shortly after the three Oaths of the Fantra, Lyan, and Paramander that were the precursors to my present Oaths of Anarchy, Society, and Detachment.