6月27日

New version with six new playable races

I've decided to widen the scope of the game a bit and expand beyond the original four races plus subraces and things got a bit out of control!

Now there's six new races to play: half-elf, half-orc, tiefling, aasimar, kobold and bugbear. This opens up some interesting new character builds:

* Kobold rogue - high natural dexterity makes a natural fit for a rogue, but the pack tactics trait synergises really effectively with sneak attack. When you and an ally are both next to a target, you get advantage on your attack from the pack tactics trait and the bonus damage from sneak attacks which becomes very powerful.

* Bugbear fighter/rogue - the key feature of the bugbear class is natural reach on all weapons and bonus reach using weapons already with that trait. What it means is that you can be a great weapon fighter and use a polearm to hit monsters 3 squares away. Or you can be a rogue with a finesse weapon and sneak attack from 2 squares away. Both builds become excellent support fighters because you can always attack over the heads of your allies who can take the brunt of the damage for you.

* Half-orc fighter - this build makes for a really powerful and direct fighter. The savage attack trait means that when you roll a critical hit, you roll an extra die of damage so you hit extra hard, particularly when combined with the fighter's improved chances at critical hits at higher levels. The relentless endurance trait gives you an extra buffer before being knocked out. Knowing that you can drop to 0 HP once and automatically be given 1 HP to keep fighting means that you're extra resilient in the front of a party.

* Aasimar are still under development, but they are already useful support characters no matter what class you choose. The healing hands trait gives you a once per rest ability to heal damage up to your character level. It might not seem like much, but it can revive an unconscious ally during combat which can make all the difference.

* Tieflings are also still under development, but a race with darkvision, fire resistance (still a work in progress but will be really helpful to survive enemy spells) and high charisma is a versatile choice for any class.

6月24日

New version released with two-weapon fighting

Two-weapon fighting is now an option for all classes. although fighters have the ability to utilise the two-weapon fighting style.

Without that fighting style, the player can wield a light weapon in both hands. Light weapons include: daggers, clubs, handaxes, light hammers, short swords, scimitars, and sickles. The weapon in the player's main hand works as normal but the weapon in the off hand can make a single attack per round as a bonus action only without any bonus damage from stats and the like.

If a fighter takes up that fighting style, then both attacks are made with normal bonuses to damage.

It hopefully adds a bit of flexibility to builds and weapon choice in the early game and it seems like it could really come into its own if you manage to track down two powerful light weapons to use together.