sterlingvermin

Backer Preview: Gladiator, Fighter Archetype

Hello there backers!

If you missed the announcement this week, all of these new / revised archetypes and the blog posts about feats for feedback are building up to my next product: the Complete Martialist Handbook. It's due out this spring or summer, hopefully by end of May. It's also a collaboration with Ross Leiser who publishes under the Outlandish Adventures Productions name.

Not only is the written content of the book going to be fantastic but with your support we've hired awesome artists and gotten to pay Nate for all the extra work he's putting in on layout and graphic design on the book. I can't wait for you to see it. In the mean time, enjoy the Gladiator!

Thanks,
Benjamin

Preview: Apothecary, Rogue Archetype

Hello backers!

I'm writing this update from Hawaii where I am (after 10 months, finally) on my honeymoon with my new(-ish) wife. I hope you all are doing well too! Here today is a concept I was really excited to develop. I'm pleased with how it came out and I hope you will be too. I wonder if anyone's guessed what this upcoming project is yet?

Enjoy!
Benjamin

Preview: Apex Predator, Ranger Archetype

Hey there patrons!

Here's another sneak preview at one of our upcoming yet-to-be-announced product. Perhaps between this and the last preview you're starting to piece together the final project but I hope you'll still act surprised when I announce it for realsies soon! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this Ranger archetype in your game.

Thanks,

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive: Werestirge

Hi everybody!

I needed a break from some of my longer term projects yesterday and I had found stock art of a werestirge recently so I decided to cook up stats for it. I hope you enjoy it! There is one small error that will be corrected on the document this week: the damage for the claw attack should read 6 (1d6 + 3) not 7 (1d6 + 4).

I have this vague idea that I'd like to do a series of monsters but not sure what format I would use. Maybe a product on DM's Guild? Maybe just something I host on the blog? Maybe a Patreon backer exclusive? Either way it would be serialized and not released all at once. If you have any thoughts, let me know!

Thanks for your support,
Benjamin

Preview: Shardmind

Hey there backers,

Everyone's favorite crystalline heroes are back! In this week's backer exclusive preview I present the Shardmind race. Please feel free to leave feedback or comments. The shardmind race may be revised before publication and your feedback will help make sure it's as good as it possibly can be.

Thanks,
Benjamin

The Summoner Class, Early Draft, v0.2

Hello patrons!

Linked here is v0.2 of the early draft of the Summoner class. I posted v0.1 on twitter, reddit, and facebook and got some great feedback. I've tightened it up quite a bit and I'm looking to hear from all of you about what you think of the direction it's moving in. I'm planning to allow a player of mine to run this class in a campaign that starts this Friday so it will get some at the table play here and I'm excited to see how it all shakes out!

Thanks as always for your support,
Benjamin

Patron Preview: Path of the Sylvan Warden

Hi patrons!

Last week I had our Sterling Vermin Recruits & up vote on what archetype from my upcoming revision to the Complete Martialist Handbook I would spoil for backers. Between the Paramour archetype for Rogue, the Gunslinger for Fighter, and the Path of the Sylvan Warden for Barabarian they picked...well, you can probably guess by now what they picked.

This is early days in the revision of the Complete Martialist Handbook so if you have any feedback this is the best possible time to give it. If you get a chance to play it in a game, I'd especially love to hear about it! Whether you have thoughts on it or not, I hope you enjoy this preview and it gets you excited for the project.

Thanks,

Benjamin

Preview: the Dragontortleborn Race

Hello there patrons!

A couple months ago when the Tortle Package was released on the DM's Guild I realized there was something terribly wrong with D&D 5e - it didn't yet include enough dragonturtle related content. In an effort to correct that grievous absence, I present an early draft of the dragontortleborn race. As the name implies it is the middle ground between tortles and dragonborn and the perfect way to show your love for a D&D classic, the dragonturtle.

Enjoy!

Benjamin  

Player's Companion Released & Happy 2018!

Hello friends!

Happy new year! I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. My wife and I went back to my ancestral home of Ohio and mostly dodged the worst of the weather which I consider a win!

As some of you may know, and as I’ll announce officially on the blog tomorrow, the Player’s Companion was released last Friday. The Player’s Companion shot to the top of the DM’s Guild Popular Titles list within hours and went Electrum Seller within 24 hours. All of the races I previewed to backers were included in the Player’s Companion after going through a series of edits and revisions. I hope you’ll consider picking it up, I’m very proud of it!

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/229989

2017 ended on a quiet note both here and on the blog and now I’m gearing up for more content. I have been invited to collaborate on another project with MT Black which I am working out the details with him about now. I’ll have more to say about that at a later time. I am also working with Ross Leiser of Outlandish Adventure Products. He and I will be looking back at my Complete Handbook series to make revisions (lots of them!) and additions. I plan to share regular updates on the Complete Handbook series here for feedback and testing from all of you.

With your support last year I was able to create new races, revisit Player’s Handbook options, draft optional rules, create new archetypes, and remaster the Pugilist. On a personal note, your support also allowed me to develop as a professional writer and for that you have my gratitude.

In the coming weeks please keep your eye here on the Patreon for sneak previews and play test materials of new archetypes and races. Keep your other eye on the blog for a new fan spotlight segment that will highlight community content written to work with Sterling Vermin material, a new version of the Avenger class (brought to you by the support of your fellow patron, Jared), new rules modules, and more.

Thanks for all your support in 2017 and I look forward to continuing our work together in 2018.

Sincerely,

Benjamin

Prophecy Domain Revisited

Hi there everybody!  

I've completed my chapter of the collaborative project I'm currently involved with and I was asked to revise and include the Prophecy Domain as well. This archetype was originally featured in the Complete Devout Handbook on the blog. I really enjoyed revising it and I think I might go through the old handbooks and give them all some much needed face lifts!

Enjoy!

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Nixie

Hello backers!

This is the final race I'll be writing for my upcoming collaboration and I think it rounds out not only the rest of the options in the book, but the options available in 5e as well! Nixies are small humanoids from the feywild that dwell in lakes, ponds, and rivers near the settlements of other races. They're charming!

Thanks,

Benjamin

Preview: Forgeborn Race

Hi everybody!

Sorry about the radio silence this month - I had a bit of a creative drought! I am (hopefully) up and running again with this preview today of the Forgekin. The forgekin are the 7th of 8 races that will be included in an upcoming project I am collaborating on with other creators! They are also another one of my attempts at injecting a little more science fantasy in D&D. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks for your support,

Benjamin 

Hengeyokai Race Free to Backers This Week

EDIT: The Hengeyokai race is now on the DM's Guild which means it must be taken down here. Please message me if you are a Patron and didn't get it while it was available here!

Hey there everybody!

I'm happy to release the final version of the Hengeyokai race today. Please download this before next week as it will go up on DM's Guild at that time and the rules of DMG prevent me from keeping it up here when that happens.

Enjoy!

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Pox & Plague

Hi everybody!

In today's backer exclusive preview we're taking a look at another module in the upcoming Darkest Dungeons & Dragons supplement: Pox & Plague. This module will include rules for increasing the difficulty of treating diseases as well as introducing or expanding on 18 maladies you can torment your PCs with. In today's preview we have 6 of those afflictions and the rules for how to treat them.

Enjoy!
Benjamin

This Week's Office Hours: 8/9 @ 6 - 8 PM PST

Hey everybody!

This week's office hours are 6 to 8 PM PST on Wednesday, 8/9. Come on by and talk to me about anything and everything Sterling Vermin related while I work my way through Pyre!

See you then,

Benjamin

Project: Nightmare Mode Preview: That Good Night

Hi backers! 

Today is our first preview of an upcoming project going by the code name, "Project: Nightmare Mode". Project: Nightmare Mode is a supplement that includes variant rules to use in your D&D campaign to crank up the heat on your player characters by introducing madness, virulent disease, crippling injuries, and inconsistent and terrifying consequences for returning the dead to life. Currently, the plan is to do a few previews on the blog, a few backer exclusive previews, then release to all Patreon backers for free for one week before going up on the DM's Guild (probably for $5).

I plan to have this project completed by October so it can be up for sale before Halloween. It will be the first pay only project by the Sterling Vermin on the DM's Guild and the first product to benefit from an official editor! We're stepping up our game and we're so thankful for your support!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! This post will be going up on the blog the following week but later in the month you will get a backer exclusive preview.

Thanks!

Benjamin

Sterling Vermin's First Office Hours NOW!

Come ask me your D&D and Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. questions while I play Pyre!

August Office Hours: 8/2, 6 PM PST

Hi everybody!

My new computer is finally set up and ready to go which means it's time to launch into the next phase of the Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. and, with it, office hours!

I haven't decided on the exact schedule yet, perhaps once every two weeks, I'll be holding a two hour office hours stream where I'll be playing a video game of my choice and chatting with patrons. Come join me and ask me any questions you might have about what we're working on, the status of older projects, or just to hear my thoughts on D&D!

The first office hours will be August 2nd, from 6 pm PST to 8 pm PST. I totally expect the sound to be wonky and me to mess up a lot of video stuff while I work out all the kinks so come to support me or mock me at your preference. During this office hours I'll be talking about some of the changes that have been made to the Patreon moving into August as well as discuss several projects that I have going on.

Please note that this office hours is NOT the same as the video chat Sterling Vermin Recruits & higher pledges get exclusive access to. We'll do that one later in the month when I'm hopefully more adept at navigating my new set up!

Thanks for everything,

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Myconid

Hello backers!

Looks like I was wrong - one more race preview coming your way this month! This time it's the myconids. As always I'm interested to hear your thoughts and hope you'll give it a whirl at your table.

Thanks,

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Hengeyokai

Hello backers!

Probably the last race I'll manage to put together this month, please enjoy this preview of the hengeyokai race and, as always, feel free to share your thoughts and feedback on the document itself or in the comments here. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope you enjoy!

Thanks,

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Shadar-Kai

Hi everybody!

Another backer exclusive for July, here's the preview of the shadar-kai race for 5e. Please take a look at it and if you have any thoughts, feel free to share them. I also encourage you to give it a shot in your own campaigns and see how it feels!

I suspect the trait, "Cloak of Shadows" will be fairly controversial. That's okay! I put it in there to get a feel for how people would respond to such a trait as well as because, frankly, I'm bored with giving skill proficiencies as part of racial traits. If people feel that this is not a good direction to go I'm considering replacing it with the "Fey Ancestry" trait that elves and half-elves have - I think it kind of makes sense with the shadar-kai history of time spent in and influenced by the Feywild!

As I mentioned in the last update, this content is being developed as part of an upcoming collaboration. I've been given the role of lead writer for new races and so you can expect to see quite a few more of these released as backer exclusive previews in the coming months.

Enjoy!

Benjamin

Backer Exclusive Preview: Half-Dwarf Race

Hi everybody!

This month's backer exclusive is a preview of a new player character race I'm working on, the half-dwarf. It's the first of a series of new races I am writing for a collaborative project I've been recruited for and I want you all to be the first ones to see it! If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, give the new race a whirl in your game and see how it plays. Half-dwarves make excellent magus, paladins, pugilists, and rangers!

Enjoy!

Benjamin

July Update

Happy July everyone!

As many of you probably know I got married late last month. It was great! It also took a LOT of my time both before (planning & entertaining out of towners) and afterwards (mini-honeymoon and total exhaustion).

Now I am getting back in the swing of things but I wanted to let my backers know why things were quiet the last few weeks and why they might be quiet for another week or two while I get the content engine back up and running. Here are a few of the things I plan to work on over the next few weeks and months:

- a bit more additional content for the Pugilist's (now belated) birthday

- a new version of the Scholar

- more taverns and tavern related content (backer exclusive previews)

- and an original adventure (backer exclusive previews)

I expect some smaller stuff to be sprinkled in here and there on the blog as well. I'm also really, really hoping that I can finally afford to get a PC in the next month or two so I can start doing a wider variety of content (live streams, podcasts, videos, etc.).

Hope you all are having a great summer so far!

Benjamin

Tavern Troublemaker's Preview: Tenser's Floating Taproom

Hi there everybody!

This weekend's preview is a bit more lighthearted / over the top than the Seven Devils and it's named after a famous 1st level spell to boot! Can you guess which one?

I'm still feeling out this format for describing tavern locations so feel free to give feedback on the kinds of information given here, what you'd like to see more of, what you'd like to see less of, and what you're happy with. I'd especially like to hear if you end up using Tenser's Floating Taproom in your own campaign!

Thanks,

Benjamin

Tavern Troublemakers Preview: Seven Devils

Last October I talked a bit about a project called Tavern Troublemakers that and previewed about a dozen monsters that would be included. The idea behind the project was to provide a lot of tavern-themed content all in one place and have it actually published as a book rather than pdf only. I went radio silent on it for a long time because I got busy with a lot of other things and couldn't devote much time to it.

Well this month I finally came back to the project, tweaked the outline I was working on, and wrote the first of what I hope will be about a dozen sample taverns included in the project. The idea behind these sample taverns will be to have fully fleshed out taverns that feel alive but don't require a lot of DM thought or prep - just plop it down into your campaign and run with it.

Previewed here today is the Seven Devils, a tavern owned and operated by the Balepour sisters.  I'm interested in any and all feedback - general feedback on this presentation of taverns, specific feedback about Seven Devils, notes on grammar and editing, etc. Or better yet drop the Seven Devils into your next session and let me know what your players think!

Pugilist Birthday Preview #2: Class Revisions, a new Fight Club, & new weapons

There's quite a bit packed into today's preview - revisions to Pugilist class features, a new Fight Club, and new weapons for use with Pugilist characters. I'm looking for feedback before these are incorporated into the birthday update so please leave your comments here or on the doc!

Official SVAC Hoodies

Hi everybody!

Short notice here but doing a 24-hour shout out to gauge interest - would anyone like an official Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. hoodie? We are doing a black zip up hoodie with the logo in solid white centered on the back. The price would be about $30 (at that I am losing money, which is fine, but just so it's clear this isn't a money making venture more of a community thing) and they would probably be completed in three weeks. If you're interested please let me know as well as what size hoodie you would want. At this point it's not a commitment but if you are 100% sure you want one be sure to say so and I will ensure there is one in your size saved for you.

Thanks!
Benjamin

Pugilist Birthday Preview 1: Magic Items

Hi everybody!

I got busy today and generated a few magic items for the Pugilist's upcoming birthday. Please take a look and let me know what you think - both in terms of feedback for what I've created so far and what you'd like to see in the final birthday update!

Hope everybody had an adventurous weekend!

- Benjamin

the Pugilist Class' Birthday Party Planning

Hi everybody!

I hope you're all doing great. Things have been a bit quiet over here as we plan some upcoming changes, big projects, and tiny projects but I wanted to reach out today to get your ideas about the Pugilist's upcoming birthday (June 7th).

Does anyone have any suggestions for what we should do to celebrate? I was thinking of writing a new archetype. What else could be good? Some Pugilist specific magic items? Anything else? Maybe some feats or something? I am sure you have better ideas than me so let me hear them!

Thanks,

Benjamin

Most Popular Title on the DM's Guild

Hello patrons!

Today the Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. Anthology knocked out the Complete Adventures of M.T. Black to become the most popular title on the DM's Guild. And I couldn't have done it without your support! I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am so proud of what we have accomplished and so excited about what we might accomplish together next!

I am planning some changes in the coming months to the Patreon and would love to hear feedback from all of you about how you would like to be engaged - what you'd like to see more of, less of, any other suggestions. I have toyed around with the idea of doing a podcast or a monthly livestream or video chat or something - would there be interest in those things? I look forward to hearing from you.

And thanks again for everything.

Benjamin