Mike Mearls Games

Bard Sneak Peek

Sneak preview for backers of a bard subclass.

It's wild to me that there's no official bard college that deals with acting. So, here's my take on it.

College Features

The College of Drama grants the following features.

Inspiring Performance

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to inspire greatness in your audience. As a reaction when you make a saving throw against an effect, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration di...

Bard Subclass Design

Creating subclasses for the spellcasting classes is a tricky proposition. Access to full casting (spell slots equal to a cleric or wizard) consumes an enormous amount of a class’s total power budget. You have little space for additional benefits.

When building a subclass, you have three basic approaches. One path adds benefits on top of the class’s existing features. For example, a subclass feature could provide a damage bonus to a class’s spells or attacks. This kind of feature p...

Path of the Spell Chosen

Arcane magic flows through the world on currents and tides. Anti-magic regions are voids where that power cannot reach. Other areas capture, focus, and contain magic, creating places of power where a skilled arcanist can enact mighty rituals.

Sometimes, a living creature becomes a locus for arcane power. Through happenstance, a curse, or a magical ritual, they become fused with the essence of arcane magic. This power roils within their souls, straining and contorting their physical form...

Sneak Peak for Subscribers

Here's a look at the first draft of this Tuesday's article, with a new barbarian subclass.

Barbarian Subclass Design

Compared to other classes, the barbarian’s design is relatively narrow. The class’s Rage feature is its central mechanic. Everything else in the design orbits around it, either complementing it or trying to fill the niches it avoids.

For example, Reckless Attack is a nice complement to Rage. It grants you advantage on attacks, at the cost of giving your opponents advantage against you. It’s a great trade off while using Rage, because that feature provides a significant damage bonu...

Subclass Requests Part 2

Hey backers! I would love to get subclass requests for the following classes:

• Cleric

• Druid

• Warlock

• Wizard

Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts.

Subclass Requests

Hey paying customers! Here's another reminder that if you want a specific subclass designed, drop your idea into the comments below. Also, drop in any questions you have about building subclasses and I'll answer them in future installments.

How to Build Subclasses: Core Design

Subclasses are the most important tool for making new character options. In this series, I’ll break down my process of building them for each of the core character classes.

The Big Picture

In this installment, we’ll look at the big picture approach to subclasses in general. In later installments, we’ll look at each character class and break down the key considerations to making a subclass for it. Using requests placed by subscribers at the paid tier (how’s that for a plu...

A Subclass to Tide You Over

Hey all! I know this place has been relatively quiet, largely because I have been traveling a lot for work lately. So, let's just cut to the chase and throw something interesting out there. How about a barbarian subclass?

I always liked the idea of the barbarian as a class that hates magic, so what about an anti-magic barbarian?

The Spell Breaker

Some barbarians are able to attune their souls to primal power to such an extent that they step outside of the ...

The Militant!

Hey all! I was walloped by a non-COVID illness after Gary Con and am still picking up steam. For this week, let's take a look at my take on the classic cleric - the militant. Take a peek and let me know what you think.

Back from Gary Con!

Taking part in both Founders & Legends and Gary Con meant I spent about 10 days in Wisconsin. It was a lovely time, in part because I spent about 40 hours playing TTRPGs and another 6 or so in panels.

Still working away on the new game. This week, here's my take on the burglar class. To make up for the missed week, I'll have another class up shortly.

The Magic-User

Here's another class built using the Odyssey engine. It's a throwback! Or not!

This class is built for a dungeon crawling TTRPG. Its working title is Dungeon Lost, and it is a world where the common tropes of dungeon delving are enshrined as core principles of the world.

In Dungeon Lost, the world was formed long ago as a prison to contain the Annihilator, an entity of pure entropy. The Annihilator seethes and writhes deep within the world, desperate to escape and undo the hated w...

Pysker Update and a New Game

Hey all!

Quick update on the psyker character class. I'm a little behind schedule with various responsibilities stacking up that threw my roadmap off a bit. Here is the current plan:

1. Finish the class to level 10. I'll do that for Friday.

2. Start making lots more powers. That'll be the focus for March.

Getting level 1 to 10 done, and powers in a good place, sets the table for levels 11 - 20.

Questions or concerns? Drop 'em here!

Now, to the heart of the ...

Pysker to Level 7

Two more levels added to the psyker progression. I tweaked the power limit mechanic on psionics and adjusted a couple class features. Any requests for powers? Toss them in the comments.

Challenges Redux

This week, I take another pass on a framework for skill challenges for 5e.

Psyker to Level 5

Here they are, fresh from the mind forges - psyker level 1 to 5.

Skill Challenges

This week, we take a look at a rough draft of a skill challenge system for 5e.

Psyker Levels 1 to 2

Game design rule of thumb - push to playtest as fast as possible. On that note, here are the first two levels of the psyker, with enough powers to make it playable.

At this stage, not crazy happy with the class but I think this is a good enough to start tearing apart.

Mind the (Skill) Gap

Continuing our look at checks in 5e, this week I break down the math behind scaling results and show how they can address groups where one character is an expert and the rest are amateurs.

Psychic Turns and Powers

I've been ruminating on psychic turns and powers for a bit. In fact, the last article was posted later than I wanted because I couldn't quite crack where I was going. Thanks to a few comments from backers, I think I have a clearer vision for the psyker's core mechanic.

The psyker gains a psychic turn each round that occurs on their initiative + 10.

Psychic Turn:

• The psyker can manifest powers, or techniques under powers, that are usable on the psychic ...
  2024-02-02 21:20:27 +0000 UTC View Post

The Psyker: Flavor and Core Mechanic

This week as we work on the psionic class, I want to take at look at the class’s flavor and how we can model it with a core mechanic.

To start with, I’m going to use “psyker” as the class’s working name. I’m a Warhammer 40k fan, plus I find the name psion a bit too science fiction-oriented for my tastes. However, I expect the name to change as the class design rolls on.

As an aside, picking an obviously wrong working name is a hazardous move. In m...

Scaling Check Results

Modern TTRPGs have embraced the concept of mixed success. In the attached article, I take a look at how we could add that element to 5e. It turns out, its a simple change.

Happy 50th Birthday D&D Community!

On the last Sunday in January 50 years ago, a shoe repairman and amateur game designer invited his circle of friends over to his house for games. In those days, games were focused on simulations of historical battles, whether with cardboard chits on game boards or miniature figurines arrayed on a sand table.

That Sunday, though, something different was in the offering.

That cobbled, Gary Gygax, had copies for sale of his new game, Dungeons & Dragons. That amateur game designer...

Discord & D&D at 50

Hello there paid supporters!

First of all, your support means the world to me. It feels like every time this week I've felt discouraged or down, my phone dings and I find that one of you lovely people has signed up at the paid tier. It means a ton to me. Thanks!

In thinking about how I can offer a better value, I've thought about offering a Discord server with exclusive access to paid supporters.

Question for you all: What would you expect from that? I want to make sure I un...

Class Design and Tech Debt

Hello paid subscribers, and welcome to my series of articles on class design in 5e. I'm designing the psion as an example in this series, a character who uses psionic power to achieve amazing feats of... well... we actually can't say for sure yet. Figuring out just what the psion does is part of the process. We do have a vague idea of what a psionic character looks like, but we'll need to sharpen that definition before we can start doing specific game design.

In this installment, I'm go...

The Difficulty with Difficulty Class

Have you ever had trouble with skill checks in 5e? The DCs presented in the 5e SRD are labeled from very easy to nearly impossible. How do they actually map to the kinds of modifiers that characters bring to the table? The attached PDF outlines the issues with the DCs as they are presented and offers a simple solution to the problem.

This solution also sets us up for a new way to look at checks, one that makes them more distinct from saving throws and attacks.

Paid Early Access: DCs in 5e

Howdy paid subscribers! You get early access to the first installment of my articles on DCs in 5e and why they don't square with the game's math. Enjoy!

Brain Drain

Let's design a psionics system! At the paid tier for the next few weeks, you'll get an early look into concepts for a psionics system that I am designing for a science fiction TTRPG that will be a companion project to the fantasy game I am working on.

At this point, the system uses points similar to the 3e psionic system. I like the idea of psionics running off an internal reservoir of energy that a character can control.

I also love the idea of leaning into the idea of the third,...

Talking About What to Talk About

Hey everyone! Hope your Monday is treating you well.

This week, I am going to write about skill checks in 5e and how the labels used to describe DCs in the game are inaccurate. I'm also going to share an alternate approach to skill checks that can help drive the action forward in your game. That post will go up on Tuesday.

If there are specific topics you want to see me hit, sound off in the comments.

Welcome to Mike Mearls Games!

My name is Mike Mearls, and you probably know me as the guy who led the creation of D&D 5th edition. I've been a tabletop RPG designer for over 25 years. I love playing, running, and creating content for TTRPGs. They've been part of my life for over 40 years.

I love that the person running a TTRPG needs full transparency into what the rules do and why they do it that way. In many ways, a TTRPG is more of a game design kit than an actual game. It's up to you to assemble the pieces in...