D&D 5E Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

[Bupp]

I gave it a good summary read, going in depth on a few headers that caught my eye.

Very evocative of the source material.

I like how it achieves this feel by "adjusting the dials" of the base 5e rules.

 

[CapnZapp]

PCs are exceptional. Sort of goes with the territory. I'm just gonna ask: is this really the hill you want to die on?

Me having an opinion, and not immediately folding when contested, means I'm willing to die on hills?

Please.

Let me phrase it this way: if I get to choose a single genre where mechanical support for gender inequality might be justifiable, Sword & Sorcery would be my choice.

Have a nice day

 

[GlassJaw]

Overall I'm liking what I see with this. As I said, I like that there are mechanics to reinforce the S&S style of play. I also like the warlord-esque paladin replacement Conqueror class.

That said, Battle Cry is unbelievably broken and overpower. And at 3rd level, it's arguably the most powerful the class gets. Simply giving allies an extra damage die (like the Valor Bard's Combat Inspiration) would be much more reasonable.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Could you be more specific about exactly what issue you are having, Danny.

It sounds like you don't like/want the fact the link directly leads to the PDF, which then either gets downloaded to your computer/phone or gets previewed on-screen (depending on your browser settings), in which case yes, there would be boobies.

But the link is inside a spoiler tag clearly marking the content as NSFW, so...? Is this insufficient and if so in what way?

Do you, for example, need him to link to a (safe for work) web page instead of directly to the PDF, so it becomes clear any naughty stuff is unrelated to EN World?

Or are you (still) seeing NSFW imagery without actively opening the spoiler and clicking the link?

Help Xoth understand what is wrong and what to do about it

When we’ve clicked on the link, the first thing you see is the first page of the open pdf, which has nudity, and thus requires the NSFW alert.

 

[S'mon]

if I get to choose a single genre where mechanical support for gender inequality might be justifiable, Sword & Sorcery would be my choice.

It's funny, I'd think mighty warrior women were much more an S&S trope than a high fantasy trope. Belit & Valeria vs Eowyn?

 

[cbwjm]

It's a cool supplement which definitely evokes a S&S feel. I like how you've split up what would otherwise be racial abilities into where on the civilisation scale the race is, it's a cool way of doing it.

 

[Yaarel]

Future books will be using the fifth edition rules, hence the update of the Player's Guide. It's currently marked as a "playtest version" because some details might change as a result of feedback, but the final version will also be free (and there will be a Print-on-demand option as well).

In Xoth, you use the 5e Druid to represent the ‘shaman’.

However, the 5e Bard actually represents the shaman better and more straightforwardly.

Bardic songs work as shamanic songs to rapport with nature spirits and to inspire the community.

Unlike the Druid, the Bard wont normally shapeshift (but still could if learning the appropriate spell).

Everything the Bard does is shamanic, nature magic, healing, divination, mind manipulation.

And Charisma as the key ability makes more sense for a shaman anyway, many of who are also tricksters.

 

[Yaarel]

I felt splitting humans by ‘race’ and ‘culture’ was pretty clever.

Because any race could be any culture, it actually made the true-to-genre racism, nonracist.

(I still feel it is more polite and accurate to refer to ‘ethnicity’, rather than ‘race’, when dealing with humans. There is only one human race.)



Similarly, since the Seducer Courtier is effective against both males and females, the true-to-genre archetype plays out nonsexist and nonhomophobic.



All in all, these are clever ways to update the genre to todays sensitivities.

 

[S'mon]

I felt splitting humans by ‘race’ and ‘culture’ was pretty clever.
Because any race could be any culture, it actually made the true-to-genre racism, nonracist.

Yes, I like that approach, which to me feels truer to REH's worldview at any rate. Unlike Mongoose's OGL Conan where they gave us* Cimmerians an INT penalty! :-O

*I'm actually half Cimmerian and half Aesir, but having been raised Cimmerian that's how I identify.

 

[CapnZapp]

Spoiler: cont'd discussion on gender

It's funny, I'd think mighty warrior women were much more an S&S trope than a high fantasy trope. Belit & Valeria vs Eowyn?

I am sorry if you were led to believe I was against "mighty warrior women", I'm not.

With all respect to Miranda Otto, she played a role that successfully disguised herself as a man. That she would be represented in 5E as a STR fighter is something I find entirely fair, since she clearly has had to compromise: she has neither maximum Strength, nor Charisma. (Remember, I have never suggested female characters should be barred from strength builds)

A quick googling tells me Belit and Valeria are much closer in body type to classically feminine. I would peg them as DEX fighters (in 5E terms). Crucially, they look nothing like the muscle mountains I associate with 20 STR 20 CON.