hey everyone and welcome back to the
micros happy fun hour I’m your host Mike
Murrells franchise creative director for
Dungeons & Dragons I and if maybe
perhaps and we watched the stream of
many I is the last you saw of me on this
stream I was having my three shadow
dragons and my minions of a I guess I
won’t try to beat around the bush of
Vecna who is lurking out in the negative
Material Plane fell to the combined
efforts of four mighty 18th all
characters I hope you tune in if you
haven’t if you didn’t turn it in I check
out the videos we have here on twitch.tv
slash D and E to catch up on all the
action I was but one of many Dungeon
Master’s who ran sessions over the
weekend I had a great time I hope if you
had a chance to check to check it out
and tune in that you had fun and so now
I’m kind of riding my post stream of
many eyes hi to roll on in to some more
design work here on psionics and if
you’re looking I mean obviously the
screens up
I see behind my big blocky head we have
the mystic clasp and a blank Word
document well not quite blank it’s blank
say for two words mystic notes so that
might give you a hint as to what we’re
gonna talk about here today chat we’re
actually to talk about the fighter know
the and we’re gonna talk some more about
say onyx hey so hey it’s good to be back
it’s good to be back in the chat you
know tired of the stream was Ord I
actually I flew back yesterday so I had
a chance to get a good night’s sleep it
turns out don’t sleep very well in
hotels but I sleep pretty well when I’m
at home and our Sheltie puppy is jumping
on my head
chewing on my ear so some reason that
was very relaxing I slept very well the
welcome to any new viewers I hope you
have fun essentially our goal with this
stream is for me to show you live the
creation of essentially the first draft
of new stuff for dd5 right now we’re
doing lots of subclasses we’re doing
psionics right now and what we’re gonna
do today is I’m gonna walk through the
mystic character class
I’ll provide a recap of what we done
with sine X so far surfer Nass context
if you’re new viewer not gonna make it
go back and watch all the videos but
what I want to do today is given what
we’ve done so far let’s take a look at
what the state of the mystic last year
at the end of 2017
what we had and what might change as we
look at the subclasses we’ve built so
the so yeah OMI is my audio coming
through I see doom Drake I’m very quiet
guys if you shot if you’re getting
issues we did have we’re running late
because we’re having some issues with
the mic not this mic the mic that
captures the noise I am the mic that
makes the noise at least on this stream
so anyone else having issues with some
audio just chime in on chat Jeremy here
is keeping an eye on things and we’ll
make sure that we’ve got some looks like
okay so may just be my projection – I
did kind of the Southern California very
dry climate now we’re getting some folks
hearing that it’s a little bit quiet so
I will try to project Oh Jeremy’s
getting up this is getting serious now
so people don’t just lose our audio but
I’ll just keep talking so we have a good
testing the smidge quieter than usual
it’s a little quiet how’s it going now
anyone dmn chime in is a spat tk-421 of
you guys is it getting better I want to
see a couple folks who are still a few
things coming in and I’m quiet this
would be now the first hour it’s a bit
quiet for max volume yeah it does looks
like it’s a bit muffled oh okay much
better now it sounds so it sounds like
everyone sitting getting better now
louder better much better better I think
we’re good alright yes better and
clearer heart rate is Derek cuz I’m
gonna turn it down a bit
alright here we go alright you got if
anyone out there in chat just let me
know if my voice starts to tail off
written like that just let us know like
I said we do kind of coming in we’re a
little bit late cuz I the heroes that
support this stream this week it’s
Jeremy well making sure we get getting
everything going and rolling fine
alright so even loud loud even which is
appropriate come in laude knock loud
noxious so
okay excellent all right so I’ll keep an
eye on shad as we go like I usually do
but again just in case any technical
issues just sound off we’ll see what we
can do to fix them up all right
so let’s recap what we’ve done so far
first of all we’ve had a number of
subclasses we’ve built for existing
character classes that are going to use
psionics Oh
share DVI did Scion beat mystic yes it
did so I think it pains me I’m gonna
tell you Chad it pains me I think we’re
gonna call the class to Sion in my
defense I know initially mystic was not
the most popular choice that’s what they
were gonna call the sanic class back in
the 70s but each generation of gamers
gets the D&D that they need so we’ll
pivot to Sion no problem this is kind of
a case to where as a designer and my and
where I’m sitting I can’t really get
attached to names you know we put things
out there often will like the mystic is
a good example of we could have called
it Sion up front we knew that would have
gone over well sometimes it’s best to
test the change even if you’re not
confident in it just because in this
case since we’re play testing it gives
us the chance to see well how would
people react so anyways yeah we’re gonna
call this class the Sion because that’s
what everyone wants and why not do it
that way right make everybody happy
the now it doesn’t mean the mystic can’t
come up somewhere else as a subclass or
is a name but I think one of the pieces
of feedback I got from people was mystic
sound didn’t quite sound like the flavor
of this class and that’s the big thing I
want to talk about today what is the
flavor of this class we’ve walked
through so far and I’m gonna types I
just like typing as I talk someone at
the stream remarked was kind of like Bob
Ross it was soothing as I’m gonna try to
like not get too high energy today but
it also I find as is my type while I’m
going not only do the notes help me but
it is kind of soothing for me Keith keep
the mind focused so we’ve got the
psychic warrior who’s our fighter
psionic fighter we have the soul knife
who’s our psychic monk and we had the oh
now I’m totally blanking we had the the
name of the psionic Wizard was someone
from someone from chat named this class
and I’m forgetting the Mentalist
Mentalist
so essentially we’ve got our classic
telepath we’ve got our sort of you know
an ecologist the psychic martial artist
and we’ve got our psychic bruiser
I think these archetypes are captured
pretty well so far
obviously pending playtesting but I feel
like the the concept behind them fits in
well and so that this is something where
I don’t necessarily feel like we’re
gonna revisit it the specific
implementation might shift but I think
we’re starting to kind of carve out
where these things fit good parallel for
you is the this idea of imagine if we
were inventing D&D from scratch and we
said hey who uses magic right and we had
divine magic in arcane magic and we’re
starting to hold the cleric can heal and
the Wizards more about blasting and the
oh well go on like what about the
warrior mage how do we want to handle
that well that’s maybe you know the
eldritch Knight and the fighter it’s
it’s kind of the process we’re going
through here right now we’re asking
ourselves where do these where these
concepts best served now I’m gonna give
you a little bit of a a forward-looking
thing we you know kind of see where I
think we might go with with subclasses
we talk about a warlock having like a
pact of the missile called the aberrant
just relax by the words but this could
be a warlock has a pact with say like a
AB Aleph or an elder brain so now the
interesting thing about this is I don’t
think conceptually this warlock is
necessarily has a super clear place like
for instance the psychic warrior
imagines we have a lot of abilities that
augment their physical prowess just like
in the wizard spell list we have spells
like shield that are useful for a mage
but also really great for a frontline
warrior so I’m not saying we’re breaking
up lists of spells it’s more saying what
subclass what subclasses within the Sion
so I really need to worry about
supporting so I don’t think the warlocks
poaching any of those within the rogue
I’d like to do there was a class in 3rd
edition called the lurk
and that the kind of way I’ve been
thinking about that character is the
sort of psionic psionic invisibility
this is the character who essentially
erases evidence that they’re around
right their invisibility is more you
don’t perceive them in the sense that
they’re messing with your mental
processes I would imagine this will
probably also lend itself to like I’ve
taken something and you don’t know it’s
gone I open a door and you think it’s
still closed things like that so that’s
kind of where I see that coming in that
sort of information hacking it’s another
thing I kind of thought about it I mean
that’s moving far more science fiction
but it’s that’s kind of the concept the
character who goes in and comes out
without without your knowing and then
looking at the other classes for
barbarian and bard
and like I don’t know if we need sanic
subclasses there there are ones we can
do but the the approach being I don’t
think that they’re gonna intrude on the
course I on class druid so is very same
situation since in such a nature focused
class as with the cleric focused on the
divine I don’t think we necessarily need
that crossover if it’s there it might be
some sort of sonic theme domain for the
cleric it may be aberration theme for
the druid but I don’t think that’s
necessarily taking conceptual space in
the Sion we think of the rest of the
classes the sorcerer and I think the
sorcerer is in a space similar to the
warlock
it’ll probably patterned after something
existing in D&D like aberrations for
instant it would probably more of a look
at the warlock and sorcerer how can they
express that differently and so I think
looking at the classes this is these are
probably the ones so I’m actually gonna
erase warlock not that we’re not gonna
do this but I think what I want to do is
of these four I think these are covering
concepts that I don’t need to cover
directly within the Sion
so yeah in same failure automated air
effect the Ranger a pallid I think it’s
a similar thing if we were to do
something like this it may either be
more response to the flavor around
soundex
or would be taking that existing
character class and finding a way to
express it sonically rather than saying
get think of the eldritch night versus
the wizard we had a long discussion of
should the
warrior mage and the players handbook be
a fighter subclass or a wizard subclass
if you own the Sword Coast adventures
guide you see what the wizard would look
like if you did take that path of the
warrior mage as a wizard subclass with
the Blade Dancer but we felt that was
very realm specific so we’re okay
putting it there we felt the most direct
path for a new player would be llama
warrior first who uses spells also
because if you look at the blade dancers
class features they are require a little
bit more of an advanced sort of grasp of
mechanics like how to make these things
work together where the eldritch night
it’s pretty straightforward you play as
a fighter for your first couple levels
then you pick up a couple of spells and
then you’re going from there
conceptually it’s pretty straight
forward rather than they think of the
resource management when do I use my
blade dance what am I in the front line
what am i in the back how do I manage my
spell list typically mechanical options
that require more of that meta thinking
we see as being the next step beyond the
players handbook the wizard and the sort
of classic I’m the kind of glass cannon
II spell caster
that’s about as techy as we want to get
the players handbook all right so the oh
uh LT virus no sign of healing at all
well no we’ll probably see some flavor
started killing and that’s what actually
a great question – oh it’s blade song
not blade dance did I get it completely
wrong see that’s why I’m the creative
director because now the directive is
please everyone pull out your copies of
sword custom you know I’m horrible with
names
see that’s why changing mystic design
doesn’t bother me because I don’t
remember any way so the but yeah so we
added a question about sonic healing so
what we’re gonna do today and next 40 or
so minutes on a walk through the
existing mystic character class and
we’re gonna we’re not I’m not saying
we’re redesigning the class we’re kind
of redesigning the class oh I think
we’ll probably end up keeping a lot of
this but what I want to do is is touch
on something that C is very important to
tabletop role-playing game design in
specific and role-playing game design in
general
and that’s when you think about it when
you’re designing a role-playing game
there are two main tasks you have in
front of you and I’ll zero in on
tabletop role-playing the first thing
you need to do is determine who are the
players going to portray what are your
archetypes in our game in our world who
is it that what are the roles who take
on and there’s a lot behind that
question this is not a question okay
what’s just this thing right I mean
you’re that’s may see your world
building but it gives direction to it it
makes you think about who do I want to
portray and ideally you’re going to
create those roles in a way that people
who are think about playing your game
would think wow I want to portray that
now you might have a very like Dungeons
& Dragons high adventure you know I’m
gonna go to dungeons battle monsters
okay great I want to be a warrior I want
to be like and you might pull in
characters from movies and think oh my
character to be like I want to be the
plain elf like Legolas I want to play
out like a powerful wizard man be cool
and a thorough volts of energy and just
you know things like that I want to play
the cunning road you know and so when
you come up with those those arc types
you’re essentially deciding this is what
I need to design for my players so that
they can go through pick these things
out and portray them that even applies
to much more sort of if you’re gonna
make a much more sane dramatic game I
call my game doesn’t have violence it’s
all about portraying the corruption of
you know the organized crime the 1950s
you’d still think okay I want to play
the undercover cop or I want to play the
you know the hitman or I want to play
the the mastermind or I’m gonna play the
criminal lawyer you know things like
that you’d still think of it that way
and that’s how I would approach it now
keep in mind that’s my approach
everyone’s approach is gonna vary but
that’s how I sort of my creative voice
flows I like to think of that so what
we’re gonna do here is walk through our
mystic impact answer that question if I
want to play a site-to-site on not
mystic if I’m gonna make a sign a
character who do I want to portray and
it’s essentially with these these
subclasses have shown us all what here’s
here’s roles you that you can portray
you can be the big bruiser tough guy you
can be the martial artist
can be the classic telepathic you know
Professor X character and then what the
road we got this kind of criminal
mastermind
you know just disappearing into the
firmament so what I want to do first
taking here at the draft of the mystic
and zoom back is we’re actually gonna go
to the subclasses first because this
really this is a stage we already have
our classes designed I’m not going to
design a bunch of new ones
okay what about the immortal is a barbed
subclass that actually might be
something to as we go through these we
might end up finding homes for some of
these if we think we want to keep them
but what we’ll talk about that
so the orders are the the subclasses
here the and Daedalus wing how is it
different that’s really something that’s
important here because that’s going to
tell us what we need to get to do here
is we look at these these subclasses if
we let’s say the order the avatar is up
on the screen so I’ll just dive into
that one if we look at this and say yeah
we think this is a character people want
to play now here’s the important thing
ideally your target is people who
haven’t they’re not familiar with the
concept of psionics yet there’s gonna
look at this as a piece of art and a
page and read the description and think
wow i really want to play that person
it’s really helpful if you’re pulling in
examples from pop culture characters
they already know but since this is an
expansion to an existing game we already
have our players handbook out there it’s
not as important if we’re making a game
from scratch you know going back to the
organized-crime game i talked about
where it’s oh I want to play the the
undercover you know the informant right
I’m coming I don’t know your game I just
know the genre I know the story I’m
thinking of the characters I want to
play we’re going a little bit deeper
here because Dungeons & Dragons has
already captured a lot of those sort of
knee-jerk responses you play a fantasy
adventure game kind of like World of
Warcraft Lord of the Rings or Conan the
Barbarian who don’t to play right and
you’re gonna say Archer I wanna be a
warrior right I want to be we’ve already
got those covered so we can be a little
more esoteric with these the important
thing is that we have a clear identity
for all of them
quick question from aids Apia how do I
feel the disaster Baron is coming along
the I’m glad you liked it it’s a little
bit on the back burner for getting it
finished
because I’m really focused right now I’m
getting this the sonics thing is
sprawled out a bit more
we do have almost everything though in
the queue to come out as an on earth
Turkana the scheduling the one thing to
keep in mind we since we do do use an
Arthur canna to play test things for
upcoming products there is a little bit
of a traffic jam there everything is
eventually going to show up in you a
unless in chat we just saw hey this
wasn’t working at all
which I don’t think is the case for
anything we worked on I think everything
that just didn’t work out we revised and
took a different path but so it’s just a
matter of sequencing and when stuff
shows up but I’ve been pretty happy with
the design we’ve done for almost
everything so far so I think it’s all of
its in us in the space now where it’s
ready to go to a UA it’s to matter of
traffic because well you guys don’t know
the schedule I know the schedule and I
know it’s coming up so it’s a little bit
crowded right now but everything will
eventually make its way out there I’m
also considering the Giants or sure
speed rules I love I was actually I’m
super excited about the kid that went
out there I’m thinking about maybe for
extra life in the spirit of being sort
of I’d like to call it enlightened
laziness saving myself time but then
doing something useful and maybe tying
some of these things to to extra life
maybe putting together a PDF source up
on DMS guild and like for a nominal
donation letting people grab an edited
version of some of the stuff I’ve done
I’m not sure yet if I’d want to do that
you know here’s the thing I chat feel
free to sound off how you guys feel
about this but this is my kind of
reaction to it I didn’t want to do that
with Sonics I know that could be a
really juicy thing I think soundex is
big enough but I just want to make it
freely available I think that it’d be
kind of fun to do a sort of donation
thing for other material but also just
if you think that the entire thing like
you know just let me know how you feel
you throw in chat I’ll keep an eye on it
anyhow probably ask on Twitter too later
I want to make sure that what we do for
extra life I know last year for instance
we auctioned off a personalized subclass
for everyone now which the everyone I’ve
heard from so far has agreed that those
subclasses will be released to the
general public so I might do those with
extra life too we’ll see I just don’t
want people to feel like Oh sound ex
we’re doing this together
on stream I don’t want people to feel
like on now have to pay make a donation
even though it’s a donation I don’t I
don’t want to take it you know I don’t
force anyone you know to get access to
things where they kind of feel it’s more
in the community space so so now that
I’ve walked it through maybe I’ll just
do it with the the four subclasses from
last year but the yeah and I think I
hadn’t found I think that’s kind of an
ideas we’d really want to get these as
wide exposure as possible that’s always
that’s something I struggled with last
year and that’s why I made the four
subclasses just for one person you know
one before them each one person was that
the we weren’t putting people in the
position of what we need to play test
this so I paid money for something but
now it’s going to play test so I didn’t
have to pay money yeah it’s something a
little bit tricky I don’t want to go to
the extent of writing a full adventure
because that takes a lot of energy and
if you watched my for instance the the
tanks game on Sunday I had like a page
of notes for that I am very much a
middle is DM so I could run into bench
everything turn it into an actual
adventure that you guys could use that
take a lot of work so I want to make
sure anyways oh yes so datalist we are
getting distracted so come on let’s
buckle down okay so what we’re gonna do
first is let’s take a look at existing
Scion special subclasses let’s take a
look at the Avatar so what I want what I
like to do when I think of this is I
write down the Avatar I think myself who
is this person right without looking at
the text this is somebody who embodies
virtues or beliefs inspires others is
the and I really think was psionically
it’s the walking manifestation of
emotion that’s kind of how I think of it
the glad people enjoyed the game I had
awesome players they made it so easy for
me I literally told them beforehand like
you know the first half hours is gonna
be you guys being you guys don’t you
know I’m not I’m not there to get in the
way it’s a different approach to DMing
than maybe for a home game but
especially we have such talented people
I mean I’ll say I don’t know if people
were expecting from Ron’s paladin I
think he was probably the least
well-known of those characters but when
when I heard about his character and
that’s character he plays in Joe’s
campaign this is gonna be easy
and then the Big Show was super he’s oh
he’s a hardcore gamer we had a nice
conversation but building his character
and he on phone about tweaks before and
he was really excited and so I was so
much fun
the it’s fun to be in front of an
audience I gotta admit the okay so let’s
take a look with the avatar
now here’s one thing here knows that our
avatar is Mashable for elements that’s
terminator 455 that’s correct I never
watch that show I need to I’m waiting
against my daughter’s old an apple-pie
watch together so okay so this is
something which now here’s one thing
gonna throw in here when I think of this
this might actually be a bard subclass
that’s one thing I threw out there
because we talked about bards who talk
about inspiring bards are all about you
know bringing out emotion in others so
this might be something which we want to
throw out there as a bard subclass
rather than necessarily nesting it
within the sion now quick side note as
part of what we’re doing here one of the
big flaws I felt with the what was
called the mystic was it was trying to
do too much and it meant that the core
of the character class was all over the
place so the oh and uh
Mirek the Arctic might actually just be
the avatar and maybe we’ll change the
name up what yeah so that in there that
was that was of the fourth edition
character class so what I want to do is
go through and find out which of these
subclasses I can only express within a
new character class I’m sure there’s
others other ones that we have not
accounted for might might float to the
surface and I’ve already thinking of a
few it sounds like it should be named
Bastion I don’t know the Bastion is a
can transform into a turret so that’s
next
overwatch reference for anyone out there
I had opportunity to go to the overwatch
League Denham Elia but just was too busy
too much too much stuff going on next
time I’m down there I do want to check
it out though I do i do love eSports I’m
a big sports fan so naturally alright or
to be awakened this is the character
that I think the The Mentalist has sort
of taken over the awakened is all about
you know bending minds using sanic
attacks so I’m gonna write this down but
I think pretty quickly I would really
intend that The Mentalist picks this up
and here’s why
when I picture there’s a reason why
in x-men professor axe is depicted you
know classically I have not follow
comics in a while but he’s depicted as
hey he’s this incredibly powerful
psychic figure but he’s not physically
he’s not meant to be imposing and I
think when this was a great example of
something where game wise this character
felt like they wanted to have light
armor or no armor few weapons a d6 hit
died and putting it in this class that
was kind of built on a cleric style
chassis was really working against it so
I think that what I would like to do is
just sort of say look let’s let’s put
the awakened over to the mental let’s
not try to follow up on this one the so
then let’s go out to our next one order
be immortal and this is another one
where this is all about using sonic
energy – oops – sustain your your
physical form and I think someone in
chat throughout that maybe this could be
a barbarian I could actually see that a
barbarian that the rage is like some
sort of is a psionic state I could see
that I could also see the psychic
warrior picking some of this stuff up
the that really the mastery of the
physical form i thinkin this is another
one where I wanted the immortal I check
check on chat Titan look at this right
bonus disciplines immortal durability
right starting at a first level your hit
point maximum increases by one per
mystic level this is the fifth edition
designer talk for I really wish I could
give you a bigger hit die but I can’t
because this class is d8 this is one
also when you’re aren’t wearing armor
wearing a shield your base AC equals 10
plus 2x plus con this is essentially
getting at the the aesthetic sort of
choice I was looking for here is that
typically these characters didn’t wear
armor it starts to look a bit like a
monk you know so I think if you’re
playing a soul life maybe that gets so
oldest if you’re playing a psychic
warrior and you just want to go with
light or no armor and build your
character that way or maybe the bar oh
you know what Dov this is the barbarian
so I think maybe the super durable
psychic guy I think that might be able
to go over there
the
yeah okay so I’m seeing I’m not seeing a
riot and shot yet for somebody’s okay
now come to the Nomad this is one thing
where things get a lot more interesting
so we think of the Nomad this is a
character who can bend space and maybe
even been time they’re good at using
soundex to essentially manipulate the
concept of space and time around them
not necessarily you know making like a
wall disappear per se but more I’m gonna
twist twist time in space to just move
to where the wall isn’t if that makes
sense so the our notes here they keep
their mind is a strange rarefied state
they seek out knowledge they perceive a
bizarre living with knowledge they call
the noosphere it’s getting a little
nerdy there but that’s I always want to
drop into a D&D book the so this is all
about going out gathering knowledge and
I like this this is a class who I feel
like do bards they’re masters of lore
yeah but they’re not this because these
guys are about themselves they are not
about I’m gonna also inspire others you
know it would be a poor this is a great
example of trying to say build us into
the Bard I think would be a dead end
because you’d have all these bard core
bard class traits that just wouldn’t
support this archetype so I think we
have our very clear the avatar was like
maybe but this one is very clear this is
this a scion subclass um I like the
flavor grapples you know this could be a
ranger but I think this character isn’t
necessarily walking around with a lot of
weapons also again just that flavor of
like I think the difference is the
Ranger I’ll use it here I’ll use an
example the Rangers traveling through
the forest leading the party because the
Ranger knows the terrain the nomads
might have something similar because the
Nomad is using psionics to learn about
the Train as you go using a sort of
clairvoyant style effect or tapping into
the web of knowledge around it so I
think there’s enough of a flavor
difference there that I wouldn’t want to
go Ranger I think this could be pretty
strong within this so this is basically
our knowledge of time and space this is
almost kind of like a maybe yeah almost
like they mean like Doctor Who I mean
it’s not quite there but this idea that
it’s character who knows a lot
and is using Sonic’s for knowledge and a
manipulate space and time I think that’s
I think there’s also something very
distinct we don’t really have another
character that can do that so I think
this is I think it’s a pretty good one
Solon I’ve already picked up so I’m not
gonna bother with it
I will bother in the sense we’ll make it
as a monk subclass and I gotta say
having designed this it works so much
better about subclass the wujin this is
a weird one so this was basically to get
ours our sonic blaster into place I
don’t think we necessarily need it
because if we think sanic that blaster
you know messing with the elements
this is Ono Matt is dr. Manhattan yeah a
human double-o – I like that yeah that’s
pretty cool
the I think that this isn’t necessarily
one we need anymore
because if I’m like hey I want to be a
sonic guy and I want to throw like lots
of energy around I can just play The
Mentalist and then stock up on some Evo
patient spells in addition to whatever
I’m pulling in from the Sonics bellows
so I think the wujin just goes away the
and this is okay so now you might be
thinking okay way to go Merrill’s you
had like six subclasses and you killed
them all
well Leonid demon yes a new subclass
astral constructor right this is work
that’s go in add a few new ones right
the so that’s the first one we talked
about the stream way ago way ago way
back when we first started working on
this there’s two that popped to mind
first is another other word I’m gonna
click on my right window call the
constructor this is something which I
know we get requests all the time
oops look at me using word this is our
summer this is the character I talked
about on stream a few weeks back where
they create psychic constructs and they
can view them with psionic effects the
classic one would be you know the you’re
fighting a group of works they have
their leader you create a sign a
construct it comes into being and it has
a fear of Eket a CH to it because since
it’s an act not just a you know but I
think it should have some of that ESP
mental flavor
and I might say look I’m actually gonna
reach into the mind of the orc chieftain
and pull out the thing it fears most and
that’s what I’ve created the other works
are afraid of it you’re right and it’s
fun thing about this is it’s a summons
and no one is like well was it was it
having tea like up and you know Anna
Vernis when I got pulled through now
this is purely a construct it does some
nice things world building wise it’s
just clean what’s actually going on the
I also want to have some fun with this
cuz here’s my here’s my weird flavor I
was thinking about this that new pistol
that that essentially this is you
bringing your imaginary friend to life I
thought this would be funny this is a
subclass actually had a little companion
there might be purely psionic that
you’re talking to and then you basically
then give it form it springs into being
and it starts doing stuff essentially
that’s your sort of you might have an
at-will ability to bring it into life to
do a limited set of things then use
power on it to make it do cooler things
the yeah
newbee one it looks different ever
that’s easy I think it’s exactly it if
you remember from the stream of my tanks
game that the moat the first mode of
light never looked at it they saw the
thing that was you know that they wish
for yeah I never once saw something
different right and now there’s now it’s
kind of wait I’m just just grabbing it
as like this beam of light I don’t think
I ever described the actual thing
because in theory I’d have to go around
the audience and ask everyone what would
you see so yeah so that’s one of the
first ones the other one this is a
favorite of mine cuz I always like this
and the metamorph I think we want a cool
shape changer this is the character I
think this is kind of taking the place
with the immortal a little bit and where
the immortal was kind of a warrior was
all about I’m durability think I want to
transform this a bit to being C pun this
is someone who can change themselves and
that could be new creature forms
elemental forms if you were watching the
stream so I custom-built for the Big
Show a sort of very crude but functional
the math was there didn’t look like it
cuz he’s actually did it Wow like I was
kinda he was a great example player to
Rex DMS playing out plans sealing up my
that’s what the dragons are so to come
down but closed it all up the this idea
that he could turn
if he caught it and watch the stream he
took a stone for him at one point gave
him a big booster armor class really
dropped his speed and also let him
deflect attacks that would have gone
through him if the dragons had breathed
again you probably have seen it he would
have had an ability to dampen that that
damage in the AOE because of his
defensive form you know things like a
liquid form you know stuff like that and
this is a class again when you look at
what we have out there the druid is a
shape changer but it’s a very directed
shape change you know it’s I am changing
into things that you find in nature this
is a character that I see is changing
into things and arise to the mind so I
think the I think you want to do
creature forms right but I think it’s a
lot more flexible rather than saying I’m
turning into an alligator I’m gonna
think of something dangerous and turn
into that and it’s more general this
might be an error rather than saying use
the alligator snap lock we’re giving you
statin bonuses and changes and it’s up
to the player to describe what did I
just turn into because it’s only it’s
the you know its power of mind right the
yeah turning to I one of the Big Show’s
forms as a fire form you could have gone
into the and yeah liebe Libre zero I
think some of the immortal disciplines
would go under here because I imagine
there’s probably some sort of like
durability aspect to this since I can
change my form you know you throw me
into water I can breathe water you
trying to set me on fire I can turn into
something that’s fire resistant
especially lower levels I think these
might be some of these abilities that
you could layer on all right so what
else we got yeah oh yeah
zap you know turning into an alligator
made of Nightmare fuel and tentacles
think that actually was it’s a good way
to think of it because there’s some of
these abilities is a player you might
flavor this as I turn into a creature
now I’m gonna use a fear effect like if
I’m a different ability that’s not not
one of my shape-changing ones that maybe
happened how you describe it to other
players like this is what I’m doing I’m
changing myself to make myself
terrifying than augmenting that with
sanic power to make all the orcs run
away or whatever it is I’m doing the so
let’s see a k3 one eight my to subclass
thoughts was wondering if you think it
would be interesting for something Jedi
force themed yeah I think that the the
other’s thinking is some of the other
things working with the astral plane
yeah I think the nomads I might actually
throw in something astral here because
I’m kind of thinking that might be how
they get around and also they how they
manipulate time since the astral is a
timeless realm but I think that’s the
sort of final one I want to do here so I
think what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna
throw via weight you know I’m just gonna
cut this so I think we’re good here
I think I’m gonna cut this because I
think we don’t need it and I think the
avatar I’m kind of thinking we might go
this route but I’m not gonna commit to
it yet but I think the final one is the
telekinetic character don’t know what to
call them yet but this is the character
who you know you know I think that
something could be very flexible and we
could do a lot of interesting force
effects that really it is a specific
like I’m gonna use my mind to batter
stuff around and move it and I think you
know I think this one needs a little
more consideration to give it that the
real flavor but I think telekinesis
since it’s here’s the thing this is a
great example of when you’re coming into
an existing system the telekinesis is a
very high level effect even for the the
Mentalist it was not something you got
till six level so getting this at first
level I think would be fun and I think
it would speak to a some would think hey
that’s yeah okay I want to play it on a
character oh cool oh no no I want
telekinesis right the classic Jedi you
know pushing stuff away from me this is
probably a good case where the mechanics
of the game might drive a might drive an
option we build to basically let players
you know
dip in you play a character they want to
play the right now the system just
doesn’t support now the danger here is
we can’t be too mechanical about it
we’ve got to think of a good story I’m
not gonna worry about that too much
right here right now though because I
think we can get to it the but I think
that that is something which we want to
build and it you know it kind of makes
me feel that then I think with if we
have four to start out with it’s a
pretty strong thing to build in I think
that these the Avatar style things we
might just keep the powers in the game
but not necessarily make it something
that is
a subclass so cuz I think maybe the bar
D we could do to the ardent and in swing
that over to the bar tonight I think
that would work alright so what I hope
this is kind of a shown is it mean
character class design often the first
thing you’ll do is you’ll think of the
subclasses you’ll think of who is it
that I am going to play or is that whom
no that’s not yeah who when I you know
what is the role I’m offering to players
you know when we’re doing this what are
the sort of the incentive are you like
to think it’s it’s a casting a movie you
know who but you know who is gonna make
up the cast of this game and what are
the roles that I want to play and so
starting with this starting with
subclasses is nice because it gives you
more specificity and it also starts
showing you what are the core features
of the class and then what are the
things that we need to make specific let
me throw in and come back to it Mike
it’s got a sweet died fellows asking off
to have a question was more coxed
eternal champion idea part of the
inspiration of the session yes 100%
the tower of hopes defiance was
thoroughly inspired by Moorcock and his
approach to the multiverse in the plains
and I’ve always found that I’ve always
really loved that that Michael Moorcock
stories we haven’t read them Elric the
eternal champion well worth reading
fantastic stuff Moorcock’s a great
writer another one that inspired me not
directly here but is uh Zelazny amber
series for me amber is very inspiring
when I think about the Gods my takeaway
from reading amber was that if you were
immortal and you had immortals in your
life whether it’s your family or just
people you know give it enough time
eventually those other immortals would
be both both both your best friends and
your worst enemies because you just have
such a long history that you’d have a
reason to save their lives and give your
life for them and you’d have a reason to
want to kill them you have so much water
under the bridge so yeah definitely more
cockin Zelazny or cheek huge influences
on how I think like cosmic D&D the see
what else we got here the oh cool you
met you met Moorcock that’s know I’ve
never met him I have never not had the
chance so anyway so this is kind of what
we’re looking at here so the next step
work in a character class okay River
this is just how I do it everyone you
know game designs a little bit finding
your own voice so you’re gonna probably
if you’re such if you’re starting out
whether you’re 10 or 50 or whatever
somewhere in between if you haven’t done
a lot of game design we’re doing it for
a while it took me a while to kind of
really establish how I do things I did
it for a few years many years actually
before I really felt comforting oh this
is how I like to do it it’s all about
finding your tools your toolset and what
you do so what I like to do at this
stage is then look here what we’ve got
here I’m actually gonna put this one in
italics just to remind myself that I’m
not really considering it looking at
these were to think to ourselves what
binds these characters together and very
simple stuff we have to do right now but
it’s useful to do this like what kind of
hit die do we expect this character have
so chat feel free to throw in your
thoughts but d68 d-10 maybe even d12
looking at these thinking of the Scion
and thinking of these four subclasses
where do you sit think Oh Ramona are
Bergsma the telepath we actually saw
that being thrown over by the The
Mentalist subclass of the wizard maybe
because we saw the telepath is being
probably physically less capable than
the other subclasses in this class so
I’m seeing some do you say 200 dark
elven double ODST yes there was highly
varying class for hit points would you
roll over here and said that’s like I
below 9800 one oops so I’m seeing a lot
of d8 d6 is 50 tends to d4 gold cliff
trust being I kind of class tyrant we
tried to test that with the Ranger at
one point to d85 people hated it
d6 are dat dark islands still voting for
that d hundred the so I think I’m seeing
a lot of d8 the one line of the druid d6
or d8 I think Daedalus winged miking d6
but d6 I don’t know if it’s well looking
at these subclasses you know here’s
machining I think well hmm d6 I’m seeing
actual eye people going up calling for
d6
that would be interesting because that
would well I don’t know what that would
do the would the wizard subclass we’d
figure it out later all right in a few
da it’s okay you know what I’m gonna
arbitrarily go for ya it might be too
much you actually looking at these
classes we’re not seeing anyone except
the metamorph who’s gonna get up in your
face and do damage to you and with the
metamorph we can build in those hit
points than the powers you know I want
to do this so here’s something I like to
do whenever I have a design where it’s a
though cuddly evil member cezzah
Warriors gonna be over in the fighter so
it’s kind of like having the Elder
tonight over in the fighter so we don’t
worry about the wizard itself being
tanky all right you know car games d4
let’s go back old school I’m gonna throw
in the d6 it done here’s why I think if
you’re you have a choice between
something that brings you more toward
the middle of your existing population
and something that pushes you to the
edge I think it’s good your first try to
go to the edge because that might prompt
something a bit more interesting now
here’s something that’ll definitely
happen though right if we find and I’ve
seen this happen in game design let’s do
a d6 that makes sense okay what’s your
first class feature your first class
feature is you get extra points right
like we no no let’s get rid of that you
know if we were to say we don’t want
this character that armor but then we
wanted to give them some you know funky
way to get their AC up like that’s we
will do the thing of what you just get
to add a second ability mod to your AC
that’s the easy thing to do if it starts
getting more techy the metals like just
give them armor okay let’s go let’s go
with d6 the you did dark elven do you
made a great case I was so tempted just
go on G percentage no I want to go the
opposite end right we’re gonna go crazy
with lots of hit points but that would
you know I gotta admit it’s kind of
funny to think I now kind of want to
make a character who’s one class feature
is they get like 50 hit points per level
and that’s it like no proficiencies
nothing it’s just you just you just take
up a 5 by 5 by 5 square and that’s your
entire job and it takes forever to kill
you like maybe give you super good
saving throws the
so okay so I think that’s an extra one
what about our armor we’re just talkin
armor throwing does this character get
armor did we think any any armor versus
Oh
eighty-three 180s if we do d6 that might
actually mean then we want to do a
telepath in this class well see though I
don’t want to bite off more than we can
chew at this stage well what I’d like to
do is work for the class features first
and then see and then what implications
that has for the wizard so we’ve got
okay so armor do we guys we got this
character is a default wearing armor
light nah see weighted comp there do ya
like that
the new class the roided counters huge
it’s anti pile of meat no armor light
armor plus it into the bins
okay so yeah I think we’re saying armor
and I think we could if you wanted to
give the inability it’s like int mod two
armor if we wanted to get but that that
might be a choice that actually might be
the sonic version of major armor but
we’ll get to that
okay so normal weapons do we feel like
these guys are using any like basically
we look at do they use swords or are we
just looking at bows I don’t you know
yeah shields no armor yeah no armor but
a really sweet looking at stabby burger
game that’s it gonna be stylish you’re
gonna go to the dungeon simple weapons
dagger staff cleric weapons yeah I think
he okay simple weapons no swords yeah to
have clubs short pros yeah okay so I
think we’re looking it’s it’s simple
weapons I don’t think we need to go as
far as the wizard list with it’s that
kind of funky idiosyncratic list we can
just go simple weapons so yeah weapon is
the mine scarecrow scarecrow King
thirteen thirteen exactly the mind is
the deadliest weapon alright so now
let’s take a quick look back here’s what
we ended up with a mystic and I think
this is where you’re gonna kind of see
some of the tension I felt in the class
so we had d8 hit points so we’re gonna
we might where to try dropping that down
and we can’t blight arm in simple
weapons now this here’s the thing that
when i look at these subclasses i don’t
see any reason why I need to like
address the armor and weapons issue
again that was that’s a good sign of a
class might be stretched beyond its
bounds if you’re like well but this guy
needs armor we did identify the
metamorph might me
more hitpoints but that might be a sort
of a class feature that’s giving healing
or additional polloi and so we can
figure that out but but I feel more
comfortable this because we – tell me
hey here’s our for current subclasses
one of the men the the metamorph has a
recovery feature I mean we already had
this right here as durability and
healing that’s it we’re not doing that
because mechanically we need to patch it
over we’re doing that because we think
it’s in flavor and that’s always a good
place to be if you’re doing things for
subclasses it’s in flavor as opposed to
this guy’s just get in this class is
getting its ass beat in combat we just
we need to give them better armor cuz
cuz otherwise they’re just getting you
know to go you know your flavor is not
working well with your actual story with
your actual mechanics so it’s good here
that if we had a character who could
recover and is durable but it makes
sense it’s the story driving this as
opposed to like well we’re adding it in
just to make it work for instance if you
know you can imagine a world we said
well it’s a shape change you’re getting
claws and a bite and stuff like that we
didn’t really think of durability as
being key that that would be a real
tension with d6 a new armor but I think
we’re good here even the armor part I
imagine when you change you’re gonna get
better armor I imagine that that’ll be a
feature alright good so and I think
that’s probably the no am I gonna bow I
don’t I think that I might would
probably be using more like I’m twisting
space to to hit you from short from long
range
like with short range attacks I we’ll
see we’ll see so the nice thing is when
we go back and look up here right we
could see his psychic warrior we wanted
to armor and more hitpoints so it would
have been pushing against it soul knife
same way they mix it up up close the the
rogue the lurk we’ll probably need some
of that you know because they’re gonna
be off on their own a lot again this is
something where maybe this kind of this
rolls over and becomes I mean we might
keep it we just might see it this is a
good option for if you don’t want to use
the class but you want to use Sonic’s
like you might in your campaign use this
I think we’ll keep it but I’m not too
worried about trying to make it the
defining you know men tools but we’ll
get there it said let’s tackle these for
them then see where that that it should
resolve itself I want to give us the
opportunity if we feel that d6 isn’t
working to go back to a d8 I don’t want
to lock us in quite yet all right so we
get five minutes so let’s take a look at
so this is a very simple case now this
is all it’s a matter of you know killing
your darlings let’s see what we created
last year and let’s see how much wood
survives saving throws intelligence and
wisdom I don’t think that’s gonna change
the sonic class being very mental makes
sense our skills Arcana history insight
medicine nature perception and religion
these are all mental skills without
going to charisma related skills I think
looking at these four right here that
makes sense the avatar is a little bit
of one who is out there like well it
seems like they should be charisma
driven but that’s also a very nice way
to do it too
if you’re looking at a class that is
using magic or has a spell casting stat
and you have a subclass that naturally
seems to want to push that to somewhere
else a subclass is a great great way to
resolve that because if we make you know
the art into subclass of the bard or the
average how would we call it
it’s a charisma casting class that just
takes care of itself
I don’t need to put in some weird thing
here to make your charisma relevant same
thing if we wanted to pick up this idea
of the immortal I could imagine if the
Barbarian if we did is a barbarian that
could specify in its psionics class
feature some class featured that you may
be using Constitution as you’re casting
stat so okay so I think these equipments
whatever that will just be based on the
features here’s a nice table which will
just skip the table is very important
but we don’t need to worry about it
let’s take a look at our class features
so I if you follow the stream for a
while you know there’s a big decision we
have to make up front about our sub
class and that is does your sub class
come in at first level third level or if
you’re the weird outlier that is the
wizard which is one of our core classes
but whatever odd second level and I
think shad sound off I have my
suspicions I don’t think this this is a
super tough question but I’m just
curious to see does the does everyone’s
expectation in chat line up with what
I’m thinking what level do you think you
should be making the the sub class
choice Act first purser second fifth the
banana will go crate just me a level I’m
gonna play for like a couple weeks where
we go third first second third first
looks like first is coming in for a lot
of characters a few points per second Oh
get to the second – oh that’s right
that’s right I get to second but I’m
seeing out of first 20th level red lets
you play this that’s like you know the
reward was now you get a subclass choice
I just love the idea now that that’s
someone would play D&D for a while I
think that’s noir like I was doing
classy no don’t you get a 20th level you
get to pick you know you can be a farmer
or mechanic dark out you know dark out
but down below I got a minute I like the
the the persistence in the number 100
hundred let’s make this a hundred level
class and we can make it I can you XP
table will divide you like your level
divided by five is your actual level or
know what forget it 100 level yours
isn’t your five times stronger the okay
lotsa for D fourth I share DB I will
make it random that would stand out
see you guys you don’t have to read the
feedback when the I read those comments
the special tip of the hat person who
put like I think one time someone put
some erotica in there like oh hey that’s
a nice little you know this is violating
our computer policies here at Hasbro but
the it was definitely a change of pace
okay so I’m seen a lot of boats reversed
in a second the you want more post
twenty Khan say the classicism
guaranteed to go to post twenty I see a
lot I think the manic isn’t waiting for
front I got one very ardent supporter
fifth level ok I think what you know I
think the second level I think actually
is I’m even example what of why second
level was not something that’s gay and
had no fainting at the hitting the nail
on the head first since the subclass
defines the playstyle that’s very true
and that’s a very powerful argument in
favor first and here’s I seeing people
saying first and second and I’m gonna
sort of show you like here’s why the
wizard doesn’t get it at first you wait
until second and that’s really just
because we felt there was enough stuff
going on at first level but we want to
just get in your hands as quickly as
possible that we could afford to wait a
level that we wanted to make any known
animal try to remember how much you know
what this is a little there’s a little
bit of a technical thing right here
excite I’m not oh wait no I think I if I
go to Dena beyond I think I have someone
else’s account up yeah here we go so
let’s take a quick look we have a minute
oops
it’s good at characters and classes
official and let’s go the wizard so if
we take a look at the wizard in its
progression what you see here is arcane
recovery is coming in at first we felt
that was really important for play that
while the arcane traditional stuff was
pretty cool we wanted you to get make
sure you are getting more spells and
tying those spells into the short rest I
mean obviously although the mechanic
works because that’s probably was a good
balance for it but it needed the players
at 451st level you were playing a bit
longer adventurer you had the chance to
rest as a wizard this gave you another
reason to want to trigger one of those
short rests and for any character that
had a short rest stuff going on this
just felt like a good way to get across
a short rests your first level take a
short rest
essentially power back up these are a
little trick I do oh and uh Edna feign
white why does a druid let I’ll take a
quick look yeah but I was little I
kidding I’ll go to the druid um this is
really about teaching about short and
long rests my trick I know first of all
characters are very fragile so typically
when I’m running a first level adventure
I give the players copious chances for a
short rest and I essentially designed
them with you know section of the
adventure short rest finale so I ran a
dungeon like a month or two ago where
there’s all this sort of initial
exploration kind of a mini boss
encounter yet the kind of solid like
it’s a it’s a trap and a Mike of south
and before you go into the final big
room like it’s telling you know here’s
the vault door when you open if there’s
danger on either side but we’ve cleared
out this tomb otherwise so let’s just
take a short rest and for first little
characters that’s essentially powering
back up they’re almost back up to full
so yeah let’s go and now one caveat I
don’t remember if this account has the
that would have the druid available
let’s take a quick look here we go so
now now the second interesting so I
can’t quite remember why we did for the
druid oh because of wild shape coming in
we wanted drew dis yes exactly so this
is a good example of the reverse we’re
keeping things pretty simple for you at
first level we didn’t want wild shape
and spell casting to come in at the same
time so giving you spell cast when you
felt especially for a first time player
and this is a good example of really
designing for the first time player
obviously if we played druids before an
experienced player getting spell casting
in wild shape is probably pretty simple
for you but if you’re a first time
player we didn’t want you to feel like
oh I’m learning spell casting and I’m
learning wild shape since the circle
spoke to wild shape we had to wait until
you got wild shape before your circle
abilities could kick could kick in so
that is really what would determine
whether at first or second for this
character class for the Sion we would
just have to look as we build it out
what are the core features that all Sion
the share and then does it make sense
just to give you hey they’re pretty
light it’s nothing too serious I need to
give you up front so I can give you your
subclass at first which I think probably
is the path bid go down or is there a
reason to delay until second and that
would need to be the subclass is
speaking to a pretty meaty class feature
that’s shared across all characters
width of the class or there’s another
mechanic that we feel like it’d be very
valuable to have a first level to help
you play that character I mean
essentially with the wizard having the
d6 hit points and pour weapons and armor
now compare that the druid was a d8 and
can be effective up front you know
keeping mind druids you know their their
proficiencies you’re getting medium
armor and shields so you are essentially
if you need to be the backup fighter you
can do that where the wizard was very
dependent on spells and encounters so
yeah so we’re at about three minutes to
the top of the hour ah
we’ll call it there we’ve got a pretty
good place now that we kind of see who
this can this character class we see who
it is becoming we’re seeing the
relationship between the subclasses we
built the ones I kind of think um is
like load-bearing subclasses like this
is getting the full suite
across the the concept of sanics in the
game and I think we’re gonna predict it
a place so next week we’ll talk about
core class features for the Sion which
in the process of that will also have to
start thinking about class features that
we’ll need for these the subclasses
essentially that that process will be
what are the things that all of these
characters need to be able to do and
then what are the things that they get
to do themselves so I hope that was fun
for everyone had a great time thanks
taking part chat for helping me solve
some of these issues
and I will see everyone next week so
take care
[Music]
Great stream today everyone! Chat was hopping, and the ideas are flowing. Can't wait for next week.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) June 5, 2018