For this month, I took on a challenge to come up with at least one character a week that used a homebrew class option. I also made two characters in Daggerheart, and two new PF2E characters using some class archetypes from Team+. It’s been a fairly busy month in that regard.
For this post, I have a new character using each of KibblesTasty’s new classes, so we’re gonna have sort of a showcase of some of his work. Let’s get started
Tempest
I was born during the worst thunderstorm in my peoples memory, and so my parents named me “Tempest”. When I had grown, I was part of the warband that killed the blue dragon which had been plaguing our home with these storms. When I absorbed his essence, I had to re-learn to fight with the powers it gave me. I am Tempest, Dragonwrath of the wild-born, and YOU WILL NOT PASS.
In my own homebrew setting, the nation that the Shifters occupy are in a state of almost-war with the Dragonborn empire to their east. As such, they have come to despise practically all things Draconic. And while no Dragons actually collaborate with the empire, at least openly, that does not stop the Shifters (known as the Wildborn in my setting) from accusing them of sending the occasional dragon into their territory to wreak havoc.
Tempest was born in a time when such a dragon was ravaging the small encampment his parents were staying in, surrounded by the pounding thunder and unceasing rain of a storm the blue dragon had unleashed. The dragon would plague his people for years to come, wanting the the lands of the shifters for its own little fiefdom, eventually to raise them as an army to cast down the empire, ironically enough. But it would never see it’s ambitions come to pass. A warband of shifters would formulate a well-conceived plan to ambush and bring the dragon down. It cost most of them their lives, and only succeeded thanks to a generous amount of luck, but nevertheless the wyrm fell.
What happened next, none could predict. The magical essence that makes up the fundamental elemental nature of a dragon burst forth from the wyrm’s corpse…and was drawn to Tempest like a moth to a lantern. He found himself able to transform his limbs into draconic claws and wield a breath of lightning. Though some looked upon this gift as a boon to his people, far more viewed him as tainted or cursed by the hated foe, regardless of the control he wielded. He felt exile was the only true path opened to him, and so he voluntarily left, taking on the life of an adventurer, hoping that conflict would provide the impetus to master the wielding of the draconic abilities within him, to serve as a protector as much as a warrior
Tempest is a Warden with the Dreadwing subclass. Though plenty of his backstory is tied into my own homebrewed world, you can keep a fair amount of it by removing the ties to the Dragonborn empire and have his people’s dislike of dragons be tied simply to the blue dragon that had ravaged them for so long.
Dynama Gates
You want a warning? What, like ‘Fire in the Hole’? Two problems with that. One, If I yell a warning, the bad guys will know it’s coming too, and Two, my stuff doesn’t always make fire. Sometimes it’s acid. Or poison. On occasion, spiderwebs. Point is, wouldn’t be accurate!
The Gates family is one of renowned alchemists. Dynama’s mother and father are scholars, credited with many discoveries both scientific and practical. They had long groomed their children to follow into their academic footsteps, only to be thoroughly disappointed by both of them choosing instead to enlist in the military.
Both found great success applying their knowledge to military matters. Dynama’s brother turned his experiences more towards the medical, becoming an expert healer and creator of medical concoctions. Dynama, by contrast, turned instead into the more destructive side of alchemy, becoming a master demolitionist.
After a long and decorated term of service, the pair diverged again. Her brother elected to make a career out of military service, having been promoted up the ranks. Dynama chose to become an adventurer for hire, having grown to chafe at military hierarchies and wanting more freedom for herself and where to employ her own skills. Her skills are certainly both flashy and capable of delivering results, and the occasional healing draft she can brew is certainly a skill in her favor as well.
Dynama is a human inventor, using the Potionsmith subclass.
Shae’inith
I mean, yeah, I did train to join one of my homeland’s elite archer units. But my father used his influence to make sure we ended up on sentinel duty after I joined. Too afraid to lose me. My squadmates resented the hell outta me. So I quit and ran away. Figure I can do my home and my team more proud than I could by staying.
Shae’inith, or Shae to her friends, is an orphan, her parents tragically killed in an attack by monstrous creatures. A noble elven family, longtime friends of her parents, took her in. Her adoptive father sought to provide the best education he could for her, including the fabled elven arts of the bow and of magic. She took to both like a duck to water, developing such skills that she was invited to train in an elite military order of her homeland, one that wielded steel and spell as a blended art. Despite her father’s objections, she was an adult at this point, and he could not prevent it.
Shae excelled in the art of the Spellshot, and once her training was completed, she was offered a permanent post in the unit’s ranks. Though her father could not prevent her joining, he could use his considerable influence to keep the Spellshots guarding the borders of their homelands, and did so. He could not bring himself to lose Shae as he had his dear friends.
Though none of her fellow Spellshots dared openly blame her, all knew that their missions had been curtailed by Shae’s adopted father, and many began resenting her. She was furious at her father, but he denied everything, insisting that such matters were beyond his purview. Finally she realized there was only one thing she could do. She resigned her place among the Spellshots and fled her homeland. With her gone, her father’s ability to influence the assignments of her unit would vanish and they could resume their normal missions. She, meanwhile, would act in the service of her people, and beyond, in an independent capacity.
Of course, there are many among the Spellshots who believe that the resignation was staged, and that she still acts under the command of their leadership…but none can prove this of course.
Shae’inith is a Spellblade, using the Spellshot subclass.
Lerissa
Of course we’re gonna talk to it first. Your people decided to try talking to my people and look at what we’ve built from there. If we can resolve this peacefully then no one risks getting crushed. If not…well at least talking will get me close enough to get some hairs to curse it with.
Witches, thanks to centuries of superstition, have a bad rap. Recently a number of covens decided to band together in an alliance of sorts, providing mutual aid and defense if necessary. They also resolved to redeem the image of their belief systems and practices, providing beneficial services to the various nations that dwelt near them, so long as those nations respected their belief systems and ceased undue persecution of them. While many religious orders have objected, by and large the covens have proven beneficial presences.
Lerissa’s own coven, colloquially known as a “black” coven, provides solutions to monstrous creatures inhabiting nearby settlements. They often work to mediate between them, offering to relocate them to less inhabited areas, or helping to establish a mutually beneficial relationship. Of course, not all such beings are wiling to negotiate, and the Black coven is equally adept at dealing with such problems thanks to their focus on powerful offensive magic and curses.
Lerissa has taken up the path of the adventurer, hoping to spread her coven’s more compassionate methods to others. She is a Tiefling Witch (technically a subclass of Kibbles’ Occultist).
Zorrin
Officially, my homeland has no knowledge of a unit known as the ‘Wraiths’ and cannot confirm any involvement in any actions where such a unit was said to be present. Unofficially? Yeah we kicked some ass.
Zorrin’s origin, like Tempest’s above, is somewhat tied to my own campaign world, but could easily be adapted to others. He’s a copper-scaled dragonborn, and like nearly all of the Empire, has entered into military service. He very quickly established himself as a master planner and tactician, and soon found himself as one of the founding members of an elite group of commandos known as the Wraiths.
Each member of the Wraiths is officially assigned to other units, but unofficially they are often given deep cover missions that will never be officially sanctioned. If they’re caught, they’re disavowed. As part of their official covers, as well a way to help gather intelligence, members of the Wraiths will occasionally be loaned out to allied adventuring groups or placed in covers that mark them as independent adventurers, often ones that brand them as criminals and outcasts from Imperial society. Zorrin is often part of the former, as his skillsets lie in successfully coordinating small-group tactics. Many an adventuring group has been thankful that his efforts led to a much quicker victory on their missions with far less casualties, nary a bit wiser that every group has resulted in new intelligence being passed back to his imperial handlers.
Zorrin is a Warlord, using the Tactician subclass.
Veras Ryl
Psychic powers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. By the time I was 6 months old, I’d already wrecked my room tossing things with my brain. Three times.
Veras’ father is a powerful storm sorcerer, his powers awakened the first time he ever came to the surface and witnessed a powerful thunderstorm off the coast. Verin, by contrast, was born not with his father’s abilities, but with a wellspring of potent energy in his very mind, one that the infant didn’t always have the greatest control over. His parents brought in magical aid from all over their homeland, and sometimes beyond, but none could ascertain the true nature of his powers, and so their techniques to help control the young one’s powers all went awry.
That all changed when a secretive group who called themselves Psions reached out to his parents, promising knowledge of his condition. The boy had psionic abilities like them, and they offered a solution. They would generate a psionic locking field on his mind, containing his powers, occasionally returning to help him siphon off the accumulated power, but in return they asked that the boy be given to them upon his 11th year. By then his powers would be so developed that they would no longer be able to contain them, and Veras would need to learn the proper techniques to control and channel them. Seeing no other option for their son, they agreed.
Veras would develop into a powerful telekinetic, with a secondary focus on using the psionic energy of his mind to enhance the strength of others around him. As a consequence, he must undertake a nightly meditative ritual to prevent his powers from manifesting while he sleeps and must constantly keep his emotions in check. This has given him an undeserved reputation of being cold and unfeeling. He has never forgotten the lessons his father taught him, however, and upon completing the lessons of his Psion brothers, he has chosen to venture forth, using his powers to help others wherever he can. And should he come across another young soul with uncontrolled and unexplainable happenings? Well maybe he can help them, too.
Your Quest Log is Full 