Arcana Uncorked

Time magic is as awesome as it is potentially problematic. From the sheer strength of the possible effects to the amount of bookkeeping it requires to keep it all straight, there are plenty of reasons for players to avoid it. That said, we here at Arcana Uncorked think it is cool, Andrew even played a time mage in an old 3.5 game. And we think there are ways to do it that don't break either the meta or your DM's brain. Today we discuss three Wizard subclasses that bill themselves as Chronomancers, the mostly official one from Wildemount, and 2 homebrew takes. Which is best for your group? Only your future self can say! The Chronurgy Wizard can be found in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, available at your local game store. The chronomancy Wizard by the Middle Finger of Vecna can be found here: https://mfov.magehandpress.com/2015/05/the-chronomancer.html The Chronomancy Wizard by u/TehlaltheAllTelling (whose name we absolutely butchered this episode, sorry) can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/eywubu/arcane_tradition_chronomancer_finished_1_year/ Chronomancy Spells and the Circle of Time Druid by Old Gus (u/callmepartario) can be found in his Hero's of the Multiverse Compendium, here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qv-U43kH066mbaeu9dLNeqmDpsdQW6CW We talk a bit about the Valda's Spire of Secrets Kickstarter in the episode, a new expansion book by Mage Hand Press (the publishing arm of the middle finger of Vecna. I am sorry to say that the window to back the book has passed (Andrew was slow at editing). Hopefully in the future we will get episodes out in a more timely manner. That said, you can probably look forward to some content from that book being featured on the podcast soon, as we caved in and backed it ourselves. Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

At what point is a monster no longer a monster? If it is the size of a skyscraper what makes the heros think they can possibly kill it? It may have hit points, but if you can't hit a vital organ then HP doesn't make sense either. In this episode we look at two Titanic Homebrew monsters from the Haven Discord's All Beneath Yonder Sea and Streams (ABYSS) Compendium and talk about what you can do as a DM to make epic encounters with Gargantuan monsters make sense. While doing so, we also discuss how you can make aquatic combat more friendly for players, as these monsters come from deep under the sea. All Beneath Yonder Sea and Streams by the Haven Discord server can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DZ3WtWmN68tlpZpmgs8WBPaROyP4iUPL/view Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Is there anything to be said about the Ranger that has not already been said many times? Probably not, but collating the thoughts of many into the opinions of the two must be worth something. So in this episode Pat and Andrew begin a series of talks about the Ranger with a very simple question "What is a Ranger?". We talk about the class features that make a Ranger feel like the fantasy character you want to play, while also noting where the published material falls short of that fantasy. In coming episodes we will drive into reworks of the Ranger, and see if any of them hit the themes we talk about today. We mentioned a few homebrews in this episode that we will be diving deeper into later. But should you want them now here they are. The Variant Ranger by u/VampireBagel_: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11wL00gNydG6yGmvgKxELCA9fpcZaLytW/view Yet Another Ranger Variant by u/ImFromNASA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9DFWcC7deE5Qkc2ZGFDVzlnaUk/view?resourcekey=0-s3qJCHVbwa59mImvXRjA8g The Hunter by u/aeyana: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LW8NwDOWv6U_41xQnsb The Martial Ranger by u/agenderarcee: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MTSf1NxHva3nZH6U45C And should you want even more check out r/DND5CommunityRanger. Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Monks are probably the most supernatural of the martial classes and it makes sense for them to have abilities that mimic spells. However, giving spellcasting to monks has resulted in the strangeness that is the Way of the Four Elements monk. Homebrew (and the popular media franchises that inspired it) has given us two possible fixes to make spellcasting monks better, that take essentially opposite stances on the issue. Between audio issues and a incredible lack of close reading skill, can Andrew and Pat get to the bottom of monk madness and come out with some good homebrew? (Seriously, this episode was cursed, more that 20% of it got stripped in editing and it is kinda a miracle it made it out alive, have fun listening!). The Way of the Elemental Bender by u/McKirby98 can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/n7ljl2/way_of_the_element_bender_final_version_a_mostly/ The Way of the Weave monk by u/TheWinkingWizard can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/j7d7pl/way_of_the_weave_jediinspired_thirdcaster/ Andrew's fix for Forseen Fighting (beta version): "Your prescient abilities come to your aid to counter your foes in combat. Once per round when targeted by an attack you may choose to gain advantage on the next attack you make against the attacking creature before the end of your next turn." Basically this encourages dueling with foes who want to get at you, which is both true to the Jedi way and is a bit different from the punch and run monks normally do. I would make it a reaction, but this subclass already gets two reactions (deflect missiles and flowing defense) and I don't want to have them miss out on those abilities. Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

What the heck does a Glass Golem do? Golems are the ultimate friend to the squishy evil mage; large, obedient and great fodder for that troublesome adventuring party. However, without support golems don't have much else going for them. Today Pat and Andrew take a look at a take on making Golems encounters more dynamic with a revised quartet of golems from the Monster Manual and a bunch of new ones. They also dive into the real world folklore of golems and maybe get a bit too excited about ways to kill, rather, challenge your players. So, Andrew was a bit daft and recorded his audio with the wrong mic. The quality isn't great for this and the next episode, but it should be fixed after that. Direct all angry memos to the email address below. The Golems document by u/Kankerata can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sbdDCTKf2E0S1WMhHcm-fHdEBlHbi_ko/view Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

It's time folks, get your pitchforks ready. We are taking your purist fantasy setting and adding guns! Perhaps the most popular homebrew subclass out there, there is a ton to talk about regarding the gunslinger both about the subclass specifically and about how to incorporate firearms into your game without breaking balance. Additionally, we welcome Pat's partner Emma to the podcast. She brings with her Adorabella, her Southern Belle Owl person with a gun who has been a very fun litmus test for how the subclass performs. The Gunslinger can be found on DMsguild for Pay What You Want here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/170778/Gunslinger-Martial-Archetype-for-Fighters?term=gunsl Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Pet classes and subclasses have a, well, problematic history in official 5e content. How do you make a companion creature exciting to play while not having to nerf the PC into the ground for balance? The Soul Binder class tackles these issues head on with a class that is exclusively about having a best friend to adventure with. Dragons? Check! Symbionts? Check! A Beastmaster-style sublcass that might actually work? Wow, this class really does have everything! The Soul Binder v.07 (Redux) by u/FragSauce can be found here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MYzYkeD3dtqq-kBBx9h Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

The 10th episode of Arcana Uncorked eschews well formatted, finely balanced homebrew. No, this time it is all about houserules. These are those on the fly rules changes that you and your DM made because it makes the game more fun for your table. We have a pile of them that we have used or considered for our home games and of course we are going to talk about them. Oh, and there is an actually word for the "realism" we keep talking about in the episode. "Verisimilitude" is when story elements are consistent with respect to the genre and tone of the world they are in. So, many of these rules are inconsistent with our lived reality, but still have verisimilitude because they are consistent with the expectations of how your game works. Spell Driver and Bonus Action Potions can be found in the Critical Role: Tal'dorei Campaign Setting by James Haeck and Matthew Mercer, available at your friendly local game store. The Resurrection Consequences Table by u/Jack_of_all_Tricks can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/b4bnc4/resurrection_consequences_tables/ The Critical injuries table by u/arnieisdabest can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/g2m8tj/oc_i_created_a_d100_critical_injuries_table_for/ And we know the DMG has a table like this, we like this one better. Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

In this episode Pat and Andrew get distracted for awhile talking about D&D races. Are races meant to more closely reflect racial cultures or actual genetics? Then we actually get to the meat of the matter and talk about fixes for two underwhelming Player's Handbook races. How do you make a human more than a boring set of stat boosts? Make their subrace speak to their culture! How do you make a Dragonborn feel more draconic? Make the mechanics more closely reflect draconic biology! The Alternate (Environmental) Human by u/AeronDrake can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4jAv0Wgv9taOEpaWnBwWjlSWms/view The Greater Dragonborn by u/CaelReader can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ttoyMfsaC7Y3lXS2hjWFdtQUk/view Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Monsters can be a great tool in a DMs homebrew aresenal, but what makes a monster more than the sum of it's stats? In this episode Pat and Andrew talk about the intersection between good monsters and good encounter design. Then they take a look at 3 dangerous monsters from The Book of Beautiful Horrors, an dark fantasy monster supplement featuring monsters from The Witcher (as well as many originals). With this expansive and flavorful supplement you can find challenges to vex your party at any level. What makes these creatures a cut above? Listen and find out. The Book of Beautiful Horrors (verison 2.1) by Nathan Haslé (u/regerem) can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByEZ_EOCyILZa1B0N0t1RkN5Vjg/view Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Today's episode is features our first guest on the program. Logan is a good friend and longtime member of our campaign here to talk about her character Portia, a Tidecaller wizard and member of the Chromatic Beasts. It's still a homebrew review, but with some added game stories and personal thoughts on how the subclass plays long term. The Tidecaller and the rest of Yorviing's Arcane Grimoire by u/Yorviing can be found here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Lx2r95-_Z8zlgFJHp4Z#p34 And here is the image of our party that pat mentioned: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/n54w2p/art_after_over_35_years_playing_together_my_dnd/ Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Spirit magic, curses, the occult arts, there are many ways to define a Witch. But which ideas and mechanics make for the best D&D witch? Today we discuss the themes that a Witch needs to differentiate itself from other spellcasting classes. Then we take a look at 3 different witchy homebrew classes, each with a unique take on the concept. Which witch is the best witch? Tune in to find out. We had a bit of audio trouble on this one, Pat's mic died midway through recording and we had to use a backup. The last 40 minutes isn't to the standard I would like. Expect a shiny new mic with quality to match coming by episode 8. The Witch by Zarieth (version 3.0) can be found here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7gG0ZSzBHgbWv7t_wf The Witch (free version) by the Middle Finger of Vecna (Mage Hand Press) can be found here: https://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/09/witch.html The Occultist (version 1.1) by KibblesTasty can be found here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-M-WtrKeZNFdEXq0MKXw Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Utility cantrips that scale like damage cantrips? It's more likely than you think! Andrew and Pat take a look at how PCs use cantrips, from the Archmage to the Eldritch Knight and how improving cantrips can improve gameplay. The good cantrips get better, but can this system even save True Strike? Evolving Cantrips (Version 2.5) by u/Carios125 (Yoonki) can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PHpOenx-jkwEuHLblDCB7WdSnF1C89xS/view Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

Today Pat and Andrew review their first new homebrew class, the Witcher. They discuss the design philosophy of classes in 5th edition and ask how specific a class can be before it needs to be a subclass? After that they talk about the archetypal features of the Witcher class, including the Focus mechanic, a unique way to increase the Witcher's combat versatility. The Witcher version 2.0 by johnofbohemia can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V68y2ZDX_Xo7lga-zo7ftSNfWgnXiDxB/view and on their reddit at u/johnofbohemia Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

In this episode Pat and Andrew discuss the problems inherent in the Sorcerer class in the players handbook. Afterwards, they take a look at a long trusted homebrew of the sorcerer that purports to tackle those issues. Finally, we take a look at two subclasses in this tweaked sorcerer, one that alters the way wild magic works and another that is brand new. The Tweaked Sorcerer by Sword Meow et al can be found here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LScPfDMNJC1r34ymHuX and on their reddit at u/swordmeow Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us, maybe with a comment or suggestion for a homebrew to look at? We can be found in the following places! Email: homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

In this episode Pat and Andrew look at the recent UA published by Wizards of the Coast "Folk of the Feywild" and discuss the hard choices that the designers made when creating these non-standard options. Then we look at the Pixie race from Old Gus' Errata to see how a homebrew creator took on the same challenges. A couple notes about this episode. First, it was recorded before the most recent UA about Dragons, so we refer to the discussed article as the most recent UA, despite that no longer being the case. Second, Pat's dog Basil can be heard in a few spots in the episode, we hope you don't mind. The Folk of the Feywild publication by Wizards of the Coast can be found here: https://media.wizards.com/2021/dnd/downloads/UA2021_FeyFolk.pdf The Pixie race is found in Old Gus' Errata: Fey Folk, found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1088_Wf6HG3KMjtWCxqhbFsNI7uMgoU-i/view The entirety of Old Gus' Errata can be found here, be sure to take a look at the read me: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qv-U43kH066mbaeu9dLNeqmDpsdQW6CW and on his reddit at u/callmepartario Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us? We can be found in the following places! Email: Homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock

In this first episode of Arcana Uncorked, Pat and Andrew discuss what makes good homebrew and where to find it. After that they look at two Subclasses for the Rogue, The Divine Agent (version 1.0) and the Surgeon (version 1.1), both written by KibblesTasty. As discussed in the episode, we find a lot of great homebrew on r/UneathedArcana, which can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/ In particular taking a look at their curated list in the sidebar is a great start to find some nice documents very quickly. The subclasses discussed today, along with many other awesome homebrew by KibblesTasty can be found on his website: https://www.kthomebrew.com/ And on his reddit, u/kibblestasty Direct link to the Divine Agent: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LW4nZ5ZiGLUPConaV6e Direct link to the Surgeon: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LW4m980nnn1--TdBQiX Intro and outro music is Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech. The image in the title card is by Designdrunkard on Pexels. Want to contact us? We can be found in the following places! Email: Homebrewreviewers@gmail.com Pat on reddit: u/ravenmaw Andrew on reddit: u/aabrock