Our Year-End Favorites: 2020-2021
We've been around for a year now. Here's some stuff we like.
James the Snickering Ghoul
Honorable Mention: Bone-Turner Hag
While I have a particular reason for each of my actual picks, Bone Turner just has to be here on vibes alone. I love running horror sessions, and one of these days I’m going to traumatize some newbie players with this, perhaps my most diabolical creation. I got to publish something with an action called Extract Bones, it just has to be here, even if it isn’t formally on the list.
And, of course, shout out to my fellow Magnus Archive nerds. I see you, and I have a checklist, stay tuned.
My actual list is in no particular order, as each of them are technically #1 in their own way, as you'll see.
'3'. Saboteur
Saboteur is probably the archetype we’ve made that I most want to play myself. I entirely blame Julie, as they have a knack for making archetypes that play uniquely without breaking out of the style of their class. Saboteur is very different from other Artificers, but still has that tinkering, one-step-ahead vibe that I feel is so fun about Intelligence based characters. Most of Julie’s archetypes are like this; Way of the River was a close second for this slot, but in the end, it had to be minefield halfcaster. Every time I think we’ve made a character option that unseats it, I reread Saboteur, and every time, I remember that no, nothing beats endless magic claymores.
'2'. Dreamwalker
Moving along, the Dreamwalker is one of the pieces I wrote that I think exemplifies the kind of content I’m always trying to make. It’s an archetype built off of a narrative concept, and that’s by far my favorite way to brew; to find a kind of character or story I couldn’t make with the content we have, and take that idea and make something that feels truly new with it. I think there are issues with Dreamwalker, some of which might be impossible to fix without fully melting and recasting it, but when it comes to flavor-first content, Dreamwalker is the concept I feel like I pinned down with the least compromise for the sake of rules and balance.
'1'. Seamwright
Finally, Seamwright is the piece I’m most (pleasantly) surprised got published. For some backstage context, each of our four designers has different priorities while we’re revising, and Trent the Sewerman is our author most concerned with simplicity of design. They’re usually right to reign in Jon and I, who love our weird complicated bullshit, but this time, they just… didn’t. Jon led design for Seamwright, and I was heavily involved, and we were both convinced it would have to be trimmed and simplified. It’s so indulgently complicated, and somehow we got away with it, something that still makes me cackle every time I remember.
Jon the Kobold Wrangler
Honorable Mention: Groosehounds
They’re adorable dog people - and have really diverse subraces. I luv them.
3. Enjoiner
This may be a bit of a cop out - Enjoiner is a whole class, with a lot of original content in it that mixes up the available options for Dnd, so it’s difficult to not have something outstanding in it to draw from - but if I may be so bold, I love every inch of the Enjoiner, the archetypes, the core class abilities, the statistic blocks, the new spells, the way its companion, the Enjoined, functions, and the balance it upholds when contrasted with other classes. It’s the complete package of new content - original but still compatible, and while it was a huge load of work, nothing warms my heart more than gushing about it to other people and, hopefully, seeing a sparkle of inspiration in their eyes.
2. Expanded Racial Feats II
On the other end from the Enjoiner, I also greatly appreciate material that augments existing content. I’ve chosen Expanded Racial Feats 2 in particular, because Goblins and Kobolds, but in general I love all of these collections because they make playing more esoteric or supplementary races more engaging, with special options available should one want them - it’s simply not fair that Elves get four of these feats while Goblinoids get none - so now Bugbears can chuck their Goblin friends at people - and those Goblins can then bite the everloving hell out of people. Because fair is fair.
1. Expanded Traits
Lastly, to round of my love for expanding the options available to others, I instead want to sing some praises for tools that make prepping, playing, and planning easier - random tables, inspiration collections, pre-written content you can drop into a world, all of these are wonderful - case in point, Expanded Traits is an update to the perhaps well known process of randomly generating characters. These tables give some adjustable set ups for determining a random character’s traits - race, orientation (if relevant), and the like - and make the world feel more fleshed out and nuanced without an excess of effort on the DM’s part.
Julie the Woozy Flumph
3. Stitcher
Starting first in no particular order is the Stitcher, a Rogue archetype! I have a lot of love and respect for DnD content that, at this point, does not rely on magical effects. After a while, it starts to feel like everything that a non-magical person can do within the mechanics of DnD has already been done. This is especially true with healing alternatives to magic; it’s hard to represent a healer that does not magically sew wounds together as realistic and sufficiently strong at the same time. Stitcher does all this while recontextualizing the Rogue class to do it, sporting a plethora of options that run off of unorthodox resources. It’s great; the Stitcher feels so flavorful, introducing a new archetype of character to DnD, and doing it in an interesting way.
2. Enjoiner
I really love this project because it does one of the most important things homebrew should be doing; introducing novelty. The Enjoiner introduces so much in its flavor and mechanics that nothing in DnD feels quite like it. Playing an Enjoiner feels like an entirely unique experience that could bring about a whole swath of new archetypal characters into DnD. Beyond this, it feels polished; I think we took what we learned from Fanatic and made something special.
1. Lingering Wills
I’m kind of embarrassed about this one. It’s one of the first things we uploaded, and one of my first pieces of homebrew. The inexperience shows a bit in the details if you revisit it. But beyond that, I think they offer such powerful encounter potential. They’re uniquely tormented spirits that come packed with personal lore and stories, and it's represented in their mechanics. Players are encouraged by design to engage with the creature’s lore in order to deal with it, creating great drama. There are even alternatives to combat to defeat this thing, which I feel isn’t always easy to manage in DnD! I really like these guys, and look forward to revisiting them.
Trent the Sewerman
3. Masquerade
The masquerade is everything I want from a monster. It’s scary whether the players understand it or merely encounter it in passing. You could craft a campaign around it or fight it in an evening, and both options would feel appropriate and be supremely memorable. It’s a fun creature to plan for, a fun creature to run, and a fun creature to discuss once the session is over. Chef’s kiss.
2. Wakeful
The wakeful are just cool. They’re inspired and original yet they feel timeless, a true testament to James’ creative ability. Their subraces all feel distinct and they have a plethora of features that nonetheless feel cohesive and unconfused. They have just enough flavor to be included in almost any world yet are not so overthrought that they feel invasive. I’ve seen a lot of skeleton subraces out there, but none of them hold a candle to the vision behind the wakeful.
1. Way of the Brawler
At the risk of coming across conceited, my final pick belongs to another piece of mine. This was actually the first piece of homebrew I ever created. In some ways, this is what started it all. It’s hard to separate my nostalgia from how I process this subclass, but I truly find it to be an exemplary piece of homebrew, perhaps because it has had so much time to develop and marinade. I find everything in this piece to be exactly what it needs to be and nothing more. The flavor is evocative of a classic archetype, and the gamefeel of the subclass works in tandem with that flavor, right down to each carefully crafted feature name. Having played through multiple iterations of the subclass, I am still astounded at its balance, having always felt powerful but never showstealing nor even as abusable as some PHB favorites. This one will forever be a classic to me.
Do you have favorites from our first year? We'd love to hear about them, either below in the comments or anywhere else you follow us! We always listen to your feedback, and use it to guide whatever we do next. Tell us what you loved, and you'll probably see more of it!
Here's to another great year, everybody!
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