Hello friends!
Today I'm happy to pull back the curtain on a new class I've been tinkering with in my spare minutes: the mystic! The mystic is a full spellcaster class representing those who have mastered magic via occult traditions and a direct transcendent connection with the Weave. Included in this first playtest are two subclasses, the Astrologer and the Cartomancer. Please enjoy!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
For this month's patreon exclusive, your recruits, adventurers, and legends selected the Circle of Plague—a disease loving druid archetype! This was a challenging one to write on a few fronts but I believe I made it interesting enough while compensating for the fact that like 60%+ creatures you encounter will be immune to disease. My goal was to root this archetype in fantasy as much as possible so as not to draw parallels between this option and our real world pandemic but it does touch on themes of contagious disease so let this be a content warning. I hope you all enjoy and I'm excited to see what our patrons come up with for October!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
For August’s Patreon exclusive, our Recruits, Adventurers, & Legends voted to give me a “wild card”. I decided to take this opportunity to iterate on new categories of magic items I’d been idly thinking of—supernal thoughts etched into the Weave accessible by all and magical landscapes that influenced the nations that rose and fell in their proximity. I think there’s a lot of promise for worldbuilding in these concepts and, hopefully once you read about them, you’ll agree! Let me know what you think on the comments here or over on the discord!
Thanks as always for your support,
Benjamin
Hello fair patrons!
For this month's Patreon exclusive, your Recruits, Adventurers, and Legends voted for a set of feats for pugilists. I decided to broaden the scope a bit to include both actual pugilists (the class) and feats that let other classes dip into pugilism (without the class). And these are the result! I hope you enjoy them!!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
Hello patrons,
The oft submitted underdog has finally won the monthly exclusive poll so I present to you the thrown weapon specialist pugilist, the Pummeling Pitcher! This one was an interesting challenge and I kept finding myself wanting to lean into a baseball theme (if you're worried, I mostly refrained). Anyways, happy June and I hope you all enjoy!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
This month a ghostbusting subclass for the artificer class won the ballot. I took prompt pretty literally! Whether you're a fan of the original movies, the all female main cast remake, or the cartoons I think you'll find something familiar and something new in this take. Sound off with your thoughts on the Ectogaoler in the comments!
P.S. Check out the new blog for the new Anointed class playtest.
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2021-05-14 05:23:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy Friday everyone!
Incase you forgot, the winner of last month's vote to become the Patreon exclusive was something I was already writing for The Ultimate Adventurer's Handbook. Since I couldn't make that an exclusive I committed to doing two this month and here's the second: the Prismatic Arrangement, a teleporting, space themed, music arrangement obsessed archetype for the Magus class. Along with the archetype you'll find two new cantrips and a new spell. Enjoy!
Thanks as always,
Benjamin
Hello beloved patrons!
This month there was a three way tie for what was to be the April exclusive. I've chosen two of those involved in the tie to develop as your April exclusives and the first one is here! The Path of the Groundbreaker is an earthbending barbarian archetype that is about as gonzo as it gets. Burrow through the earth! Topple your foes with localized quakes! Petrify your fiercest enemies!
I'll be getting to work on the second exclusive soon but, for now, enjoy the Path of the Groundbreaker!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2021-04-05 19:00:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello patrons!
This month you voted for an ooze artificer or ranger for your Patreon exclusive but there was a bit of a hiccup—I was already writing one for an upcoming book! So instead of an exclusive this month you get a preview and next month to make up for it (and to celebrate my birthday) you'll get two exclusives. Deal?
In the meantime, enjoy the Oozologist and thanks as always for your ongoing support!
Benjamin
2021-03-11 23:30:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everybody!
This month, Optional Class Features for the Magus class won out our popular vote poll. I had an interesting time writing this as it gave me the opportunity to look back over the magus class and consider simple fixes to a few issues. In fact, some of the material here (the expanded spell lists and replacement for Eldritch Armament, for example) may get rolled into the core class in the future. Enjoy!
If you aren't familiar with the magus already, you can find the free trial version on the DM's Guild here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/265322/The-Magus-Class-Preview
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
Happy New Year! I hope you're all having as good of a start to 2021 as you can given the circumstances.
In December the recruits, adventurers, and legends voted that for this month's exclusive they wanted to see synergies between cantrips. This was design space I'd never considered before but I hope you'll agree it's led to some interesting new concepts!
I often think this time of year about how I can approach writing and design in a new way, including revamps to the Patreon. I don't have any announcements at this time but if you want to discuss things you'd like to see on the Patreon going forward, or things you aren't a fan of, please join us on the discord or tweet at me!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2021-01-08 19:17:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello patrons!
For the final month of December, our Recruit, Adventurers, and Legends voted on a new pugilist Fight Club as the exclusive: the Draconic Sphere Zenkai. The prompt for this Fight Club was "DBZ inspired" but since I've never seen even an episode...I made my best guesses! In the end, I had a lot of fun writing this and hope you have just as much fun reading and playing it.
Happy holidays to everyone and I'm hoping for a better 2021 for us all. Thanks for your ongoing support!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hello Patrons,
First of all, sorry to get this one to you so late in the month.
Second of all, whew! I got it done in November just in time!
Third, please enjoy your patron exclusive summoning focused warlock archetype!
Fourth,
Benjamin
2020-11-29 06:13:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello patrons!
This month's winner of the popular vote for new content was warforged subraces! If you're a fan of Eberron, I apologize, I know almost nothing about the setting so I struck off in a random direction that inspired me rather than relying on anything from previous editions. If you're a fan of warforged in general, I hope you like what you see! Let me know in the comments.
Enjoy!
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
For September's patron exclusive, your recruits, adventurers, and legends voted for the Chrononaut, a time manipulating artificer! There aren't a ton of time manipulation spells in 5e so I did write a new spell, cascade of hours, to round on this subclass' spell list. Enjoy!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2020-09-11 13:40:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everybody!
I'm expecting my second son any (wait for it) second now but I just got this back from Nate and I wanted to show it off! Last weekend, @thinkingDM challenged me to turn the "pimp cup" concept into a player option. He shared his Pact of the Grail on twitter early today. Here's my bard take on it! Hope you enjoy.
Thanks,
Benjamin
2020-08-11 04:44:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello patrons!
For August, a set of feats that improve synergy in multiclassing won out (just barely) over a contract themed bardic college. This prompt was definitely a challenge for a number of reasons! Multiclassing is typically weaker than taking a single class except when you're shopping for very specific features or feature interactions and, even then, it's usually more of a gimmick. These feats probably don't totally solve that but they do start to build a new identity for specific class combinations. I hope you enjoy!
On a personal note, I'm expecting the birth of my second child any day now. Once he arrives, you'll have to excuse me if my presence on twitter, the discord, and around here is temporarily more sporadic.
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
Hello patrons!
For July's patron exclusive, your recruits, adventurers, and legends voted for ANOTHER Fight Club. You guys have so many now! This month's is a forge themed fight club. I wasn't sure how to approach it for awhile but, ultimately, I think this turned out pretty neat. It's fun to take a class restriction, ignore it or subvert it, and then figure out how to still make it thematic and I hope I've succeeded here. You be the judge!
Thanks as always for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2020-07-14 13:25:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
This month your Recruits, Seasoned Adventurers, and Legends voted for Intelligence based feats for combat. I had a handy reference in the Scholar class. You'll notice that some of the feats grant modified versions of Scholar features while other feats provide entirely new options. It was fun to explore how to incorporate Intelligence into combat and I hope it inspires some new character concepts for you.
Thanks as always for the support!
Benjamin
2020-06-14 05:09:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
This month the artificer got some super duper creepy love with the Reanimator archetype! I haven't written an artificer archetype since the official release and, let me tell you, it is very hard to extrapolate a consistent design pattern from the currently released options! That said, I'm really pleased with the fictional and mechanical identity I landed on. The reanimator occupies an interesting position in the artificer class and D&D generally where it is primarily a damage dealer but also a support...but ONLY a support when someone's actually down or dead, not the traditional restoration-of-hit-points style.
Thanks as always for the support!
Benjamin
Hey everybody!
Tonight I'll be doing a Keep of the Kobold Queen livestreamed Q&A from 7:30 PM PST to 9 PM PST on my twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/sterlingvermin). I'll be taking questions from the twitch chat and from twitter while I play through the beginning of one story from Octopath Traveler. I may even reveal a small surprise preview for folks who tune in!
Hope to see you there,
Benjamin
Hello everyone,
As I mentioned earlier this month, to celebrate my birthday I wanted to make you two exclusives instead of one. I was happily surprised this month to see an idea I'd had for a long time but had been putting off, the martial artist pugilist. I think I've done a good job excising most of the monk esotericness from the archetype while still letting it feel like a version of the pugilist that means into the monk themes. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks for your ongoing support,
Benjamin
2020-04-22 15:06:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello there backers!
Keep of the Kobold Queen is now officially available on the DM's Guild! If you've been following the production of KotKQ you know it's not just an adventure, it's a whole suite of content aimed at players and DM's. If somehow you've missed all the hype I've been building around this, please check out the product page for an exhaustive description of the adventure and everything that comes with it. Also take a look at the incredible commercial at the bottom of the page!
As always, thanks for your ongoing support and, if you pick up KotKQ, I hope you love it!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hello you fantastic folks,
I'm getting *so* hyped up for Keep of the Kobold Queen which, if you didn't know, releases on the DM's Guild this upcoming Monday, April 20th. To celebrate the imminent release, and because art assets are not exclusive to DM's Guild the way writing is, I wanted to gift all of you the pixel paper minis that come with the adventure. It was your pledge money that made this whole project possible and I hope that whether or not you snag Keep of the Kobold Queen this month you enjoy using this paper miniatures at your table!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hey there SV fans!
The trailer for my next adventure, inspired by JRPGs of yore (and today), can now be seen on youtube. This trailer gives you a taste of everything you can expect from the adventure plus reveals the oh-so-close release date so you know exactly what day to spam F5 on DM's Guild. Give it a look, get hype, and share widely!
Thanks,
Benjamin
2020-04-13 14:40:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello backers!
I have a ton of info for you this month but I want to start with expressing my sincere hope that all of you and your families are well during this global health crisis. It's a scary, unpredictable time and I appreciate your ongoing support as I fully plan to continue writing throughout the pandemic.
First, the vote this month was a tie! Since it's my birthday month, I decided rather than break the tie, I'd do both, starting with the crystal cavern catfish. This monster appears to be a mundane cave filled with valuable gems. Once incautious adventurers step inside, it begins to ooze acidic goop and gnash them with its stalactite and stalagmite teeth! Despite the danger, those who best the crystal cavern catfish are well rewarded for their trouble.
Second, and unfortunately, someone has been attempting to manipulate the voting results for the monthly backer exclusive. I'm not sure who, and I'm not interested in finding out who, but I will be changing the way votes happen moving forward to ensure that each patron eligible to vote is casting only a single vote.
Third, please take this opportunity to download any and all backer exclusive content that's over a year old. I plan to remove this soon. Content that's cycled out of the backer exclusive library may be featured in future releases.
Please enjoy this monster and look forward to the second April exclusive later this month!
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hi everyone!
It had been a long time since I'd had a reason to go back and review the scholar again, as well as work on new content for it, so I was excited when a "forbidden lore" Field of Study won the vote for this month! As you'll see, I've played around with a lot of gothic horror and Lovecraftian tropes in this archetype. It's quite different in theme from other scholars so it opens up new options. I hope you like it!
As a side note, if there are any exclusives from a year ago or more that you want to keep for your personal use, please save those files. In the coming weeks I will be removing those from circulation (though they may appear in the future in products).
Thanks,
Benjamin
2020-03-13 16:27:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello there everybody!
Another Fight Club for the Pugilist class! You guys are made for this stuff! My prompt this month was, "a pugilist who uses explosives to improve their fighting". At first I was not sure how I was going to turn that into a coherent archetype but once the idea of the explosive being a molotov cocktail got into my head, the rest of the concept slowly came into focus. The Rebel Rouser is a pugilist modeled on rioters / freedom fighters / dissidents. It's unique among pugilists in that it innately has some ranged and AoE attack options—both areas where the class typically has gaps. I hope you enjoy this archetype, I had a lot of fun writing it!
As a side note, I do hope after you're done reading the Rebel Rouser you'll take a look at my last post regarding upcoming changes to the SVAC Patreon. I'd love to get all of your feedback before those changes go live. Your input on what kind of additional content you'd like to see from me is particularly of interest to me.
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hello all!
I hope your January was an excellent start to the 20's. As I did a little bit over a year ago, I'm thinking of ways to improve the Patreon. I have a few ideas that I'd like to share with you to get your feedback on them, as well as to hear any ideas you might have.
First, the changes to the tier system.
At the $1 a month pledge, you will get you the current monthly exclusive.
At the $3 a month pledge, you will get the current monthly exclusive, access to the last 3 months of exclusives, and you'll get to vote on what next month's exclusive will be.
At the $5 a month pledge, you will get you will get the current monthly exclusive, access to the last 6 months of exclusives, you'll get to vote on what next month's exclusive will be, and you'll get to put a nomination on the ballot for the monthly exclusive.
At the $10 a month pledge, you will get you will get the current monthly exclusive, access to the last 12 months of exclusives, you'll get to vote on what next month's exclusive will be, and you'll get to put a nomination on the ballot for the monthly exclusive.
I'm also considering adding additional content in the form of regular campaign setting updates to backers at the $5 and $10 level. What I'm interested in hearing from all of you is whether you'd be more interested in smaller campaign settings or one large campaign setting. If we go with the smaller campaign settings, there would be an update with campaign material each month and every three or four months it would be compiled together as the completed setting guide. If we did one big campaign setting, I guess it would just go on indefinitely? I'd be focusing on my Nevermore setting if all of you are more interested in the big single setting.
Finally, I plan to clean up some of the old posts. Many of them are ballot submissions and the ballots themselves and I think that's causing the Patreon to be quite cluttered and hard to navigate for newcomers. I've hesitated in doing that so far because there are some very kind / fun comments on some of those posts but I do think it's for the best in the long run to clean it up.
Please, as always, share your honest feedback with me on these proposed changes and feel free to make any other suggestions about how I might improve your experience as a patron.
Thanks,
Benjamin
Hi there patrons!
This month's exclusive is quite a bit later than I had intended to get it out—my apologies for that! Until this player option was voted the most popular choice for January, I actually had never read or knew anything about Incarnum so I spent a lot of time 1.) learning about how it worked in 3.x then 2.) trying to figure out how that might look in 5e then 3.) trying to pair down the mechanics so they worked as an archetype and not a whole new class or set of classes. Whew! I think the result has promise but I'm interested to hear what fans of Incarnum think of this (admittedly liberal) take on the concept.
Enjoy!
Benjamin