D&D 5E Mystara 5th Edition Fan Made Supplement

[Hussar]

Sweetness and light. So much goodness here.

 

[bgbarcus]

There is some great work in this document. My campaign never left Mystara so it's good to see it still getting this sort of attention.

 

[Saeviomagy]

The champions abilities are just an underpowered mishmash. Better change at a critical coupled with a better long jump distance? The extra fighting style is nice, but how often are you going to switch styles? The regeneration at the end is nice, but that's not till 18th level. It's hard not to make a fighter archetype better than the champion.

I dispute that the best way to do so is to make them into a damage machine.

Both the champion and the battlemaster have abilities which are intended to apply outside combat. If anything, I think those abilities don't go far enough, while their in-combat abilities are more than sufficient.

My issue with the privateer is that the abilities they get are narrowed to the point that they only matter if you are in naval combat. If you are on board a ship, you really, really want one in your party, but if you are not on a ship, they're dead weight. I think that if you broadened them to apply to more general situations, they could be a great archetype.

Foresters are similar - generalizing their abilities to work in situations that apply in a forest, rather than restricting them to a forest would put them in a good spot I think.

 

[The Glen]

In the setting Thyatian Foresters and Ierendi/Minrothad Privateers are regional classes, like the Dervish or the Horse Warrior. Foresters are supposed to be the ghosts of the Vyalia forests, moving through trees like predators. When your archetype name is Forester, it's expected you spend most of your time in a forest. The Privateer could use some tweaking but the major of the abilities would still be ship related.

 

[Saeviomagy]

In the setting Thyatian Foresters and Ierendi/Minrothad Privateers are regional classes, like the Dervish or the Horse Warrior. Foresters are supposed to be the ghosts of the Vyalia forests, moving through trees like predators. When your archetype name is Forester, it's expected you spend most of your time in a forest. The Privateer could use some tweaking but the major of the abilities would still be ship related.

Just because you typically spend your time in a forest (or on a boat) shouldn't mean that most of your abilities stop functioning when you leave it. Especially when you are playing a game that will usually force you to leave it for most of your play time.

I'm not saying to get rid of the classes, just work out what the abilities actually allow them to do. One could argue that the talent to run across foliage would be quite useful on a ship's rigging for instance. And nothing should stop the ability to aim a ship's artillery from applying to land bound siege weapons.

The horse warrior is somewhat borderline in the same way, but I gave it a pass because it's useable much more often.

 

[ExploderWizard]

My issue with the privateer is that the abilities they get are narrowed to the point that they only matter if you are in naval combat. If you are on board a ship, you really, really want one in your party, but if you are not on a ship, they're dead weight. I think that if you broadened them to apply to more general situations, they could be a great archetype.

Foresters are similar - generalizing their abilities to work in situations that apply in a forest, rather than restricting them to a forest would put them in a good spot I think.

I see these archetypes as being perfectly good for NPCs. A lot of very narrow archetype characters are more suitable for NPC use than as PCs.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I see these archetypes as being perfectly good for NPCs. A lot of very narrow archetype characters are more suitable for NPC use than as PCs.

Then write up npcs, don't bother with classes.

 

[Staffan]

Just because you typically spend your time in a forest (or on a boat) shouldn't mean that most of your abilities stop functioning when you leave it. Especially when you are playing a game that will usually force you to leave it for most of your play time.

For an example on how to do it well, look at the Circle of the Land druids. Each Land druid has a connection to a particular type of terrain, but:

A. Nothing in the archetype is exclusive to that terrain. For example, spell recovery works perfectly well wherever you are.

B. The abilities (in this case, spells) that are terrain-based are thematically connected to that terrain, and often particularly useful there, but they're also useful in other situations. For example, a Mountain druid gets spider climb which is great when climbing mountains, but it's also useful for climbing trees, walls, pits, and other places.

 

[The Glen]

I modified the archetypes slightly. Privateer still have ship based abilities but can be used on land. Foresters movement abilities have been eased up, though the ultimate is still the plant walk with fewer limits. Waiting for the uploads to work. Internet is just a mess today for some reason.

http://anyflip.com/btzh/aeqw

 

[Ristamar]

You've made a lot of design choices I may not fully embrace, but this work is impressive. Mystara was one of the few campaign settings I voted for in WotC's recent survey.

It's good to see an "old friend." I haven't played in Mystara since 2e, though most of my Mystara experience was during the end of the BEMCI era. Makes me want to crack open the Rules Cyclopedia and relive my middle school years of gaming.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this. Thank you, and keep up the good work.