Design Warlock pact of the Kraken with Mike Mearls – Happy Fun Hour!

hey everyone welcome to the Mike morels
happy fun hour so this is the opening
episode it’s my first time with my own
little show and so I thought I’d talk to
stuff for a second a little bit about
the purpose of the show so if you look
at the screen right now you could
probably see my big old melon in a
little subset window and then there’s a
word document we have open and then we
have our handy dandy D&D beyond.com
window opened up so I thought what would
be a fun way to kick things off is to
really explore the process of creating
stuff for 5th edition D&D using this
hour to walk you through building
something to show you the sort of how
character classes work how races are
build monsters all those additional
little pieces behind the game and so to
start with I thought we would go through
each character class and design a sub
class now to give you a sense of what
we’re going to do I’m really gonna focus
on the process behind it so I’m not
necessarily gonna go through and start
like doing a spreadsheet and doing all
the detail work whatever they want to be
was hopefully through the process of
creating a sub class give you some more
insight to the character classes and how
they work and also see how the process
from our side of the book looks to maybe
give you some ideas of how things go now
one thing we’re gonna do is but this
week since you know we didn’t really is
our first episode so first time I’m
doing this together I didn’t want to
just start with something cold and be
like okay hate yeah what do you want to
do and then like I’m just watching chat
for five minutes and of course that’s
like I think there’s a delay so you type
something than 30 seconds later after 30
seconds of awkward silence my end I’d
say something so to start with already
picked out we’re gonna take a look at
the warlock to start with and i have a
concept in mind but what i’d like to do
is dover the course of the week on i’ll
bring this up a couple times i’m on
twitter and i’ll even type it out here I
am at my Camaros on Twitter so if you
want to throw some suggestions my way
for next week say hit me up on Twitter
that’s the best place chat school too
but chances aren’t shada but not going
to capture it so it’s still a bit easier
and as they’re going off I want to focus
on what answering questions as we do
things so for Twitter if you have ideas
on what classes you want to get
next let me know and if you have any
ideas and here’s how I want to set some
ground rules for this if you have an
idea of a subclass you want to see don’t
explain to me what the subclass does
because as part of the fun is working
through that on the show instead like
just give me a name you know like you
might just say you know do I want to see
a subclass for the fighter that’s called
the samurai you know we already did that
so I guess I could do it I could just
easiest hour all right I just have a
book and type it in the but so just
focus on you know what’s this idea of
like then the name and then I think part
of the fun would be especially for
someone who makes a suggestion is that
you get a sense of what something might
end up looking like so okay now right
now the screen what I will do once I
start typing I’m gonna I’ll expand
things out so you guys can see oh yeah
you know what and I’d actually did so
let me just increase that a bit we don’t
need that so hopefully a chat if you
having trouble seeing that as I said
someone is having a little bit trouble
seeing things just let me know also hold
if so can you read the disclaimer at the
top confidential oh no I hope no one can
see this we live haha terrible job but I
had to make it so what I want to start
with a little bit was so for the warlock
wolvox on my favorite classes and i will
totally admit one of the reason that’s
one of my favorite classes is because it
is one of the most enjoyable classes to
build subclasses for you know when you
know when you look back at the fifth
edition when I look back at it as one of
the people who helped make it
I am very critical of my work I am never
happy with anything I’ve ever made and I
always have a natural tendency to
nitpick things so while I obviously I
could tell you that they and you’ll find
out as we go through I’ll talk about
some of the things with a warlock that
maybe are a little bit harder to design
around but I think overall this is
probably a class that in terms of
delivering the flavor through the
subclass really hit the mark in terms of
what we wanted to do and I’ll talk a
little bit about how we hit some of
those things and why some aspects of
this class make it a little bit easier
and more evocative than other classes so
what I’m going to do now to start with
whenever we work on D and E and this is
something which is we’ve emphasized if
you talk to us on Twitter NASA’s
questions
the I’m right now looking at DME beyond
and the very first thing you always do
when you’re working on the game even as
someone who helped co-create the game
and I’ve been working on it for about as
long as you could because I worked on it
when we first started I never assumed I
know what I’m doing you know but way
back in the day I used to do tech
support I worked in an office I was the
person who kept the network running if
someone’s computer was having problems I
was the person who showed up to fix it
and I read when I had that job reading
their an article about the person who
was the most likely to destroy a piece
of equipment in the act of trying to fix
it
say installing ram without grounding
yourself properly and frying the
computer was statistically speaking much
more likely to be someone who was an
expert then someone who was a beginner
and that was because a beginner now you
can have a beginner who just charges in
and doesn’t read anything but more often
than not a beginner has a mindset of I’m
a little bit nervous about doing this so
on to make sure I get it right
so they do all the safety precaution
checks and everything whereas the expert
starts to treat things in a fairly blase
manner and they just kind of go ahead
and do it because they think they have
everything down but you’re not gonna
remember all of it and trying to
memorize everything really either is
kind of cluttering your mind
so the first thing I always do when I’m
going to work on a character class is I
go and I read the character class it’s
important to not only understand where
the class sits in terms of its role in
the lore but also its mechanics and so
I’m not guessing it’s also I mean
frankly it’s easier right and whenever
you have a chance to make things easier
go for it so in this case what we’ll do
I’m gonna scroll down here as I’m
talking if you can read this it’s great
if you can’t because the resolution or
whatever broadcasting yet don’t worry
about it
I’m not gonna start like saying now read
this paragraph but more just gonna kind
of use this as my backdrop as I speak
but the first thing I always do is I go
and I take a look at the existing
subclasses and I always go back to the
Player’s Handbook because one of the
important things about fifth edition is
in our mindset is we never assume that
you own anything beyond the core three
rule books so we wouldn’t want to be in
a position of saying okay we’re now
using the subclasses from Zenith ours
guide as our baseline for do
because we don’t know someone coming for
The Player’s Handbook who’s now looking
at that subclass there might be
something that drifts in that doesn’t
make sense to them or might seem off or
might cause power drift or anything like
that so we always start with a player’s
handbook and we also we built the
players handbook the subclasses we chose
for the classes really meant to
represent a solid spread to pop the
possibilities within the class so when
you look at the warlock and now I’m
gonna assume you know what a warlock is
I don’t assume that I know that little
about the class and I go back and it’s
read everything but again you’ll see as
we go through what we actually focus on
so when look at the Warlock we have the
archway as a patron and now it’s also
important to keep in mind the nature of
the subclass so okay is you remember now
looking at these that warlock subclasses
represent your patron the patron is the
person or entity or thing that the
warlock has entered into a pact with to
gain magic so we have an archway and
I’ll skim on these and what kind of I’ll
show you two kind of as we unpack them a
bit but arch fay a fiend basically a
very broad definition of anything from a
demon to a devil to any other evil
outsiders and then we have the great old
one which is all the creepy weird
entities like the Risdon den dar the
night serpent entities that aren’t gods
but in some ways have godlike powers and
they’re typically maligned and intent
it’s very D&D phrase maligned and
intended but in any case so we get the
sense that if we’re going to build a new
subclass for the Warlock I really want a
strong identity when we think of a
warlock who has a pack of the arch vain
as opposed to one who has a pack to the
fiend it isn’t hard to imagine that
those two characters look very different
and then you throw the great old one
into the mix and you start thinking
about okay like I can see three distinct
characters setting aside Dungeons and
Dragons one of the things you’ll want to
do is think hey if someone has never
played D&D before and I wanted to relate
this subclass to them in terms that they
could understand I ideally would think
of descriptions or pop cultural figures
you know I could say oh do you want to
be a warlock of like Cthulhu
that’s the great old one and you can see
things kind of click into place the
fiends kind of easy because there’s
plenty of fantasy stories and games that
deal with demons and devils so you could
take your pick of anyone from pop
culture the archer is a little bit
different you know it depends on how in
a fantasy someone is but you think of a
lot of you know just just classic they
archetypes
offer you from Shakespeare things like
that but more that is of the trickster
someone who’s more more comfortable with
indirect manipulation rather than just
beating people down because that’s the
next step to it is you also want the
subclass in its iconic representation to
suggest what it actually does in the
game so building on that we think
archway we think of someone who’s more
of a trickster who manipulates emotions
we think of the great old one as someone
who maybe deals with madness strange
magic that bends reality and the fiend
we know there’s a lot of ways ago the
Phoenix actually have an interesting one
in its design but this idea of someone
who has that sort of dark malevolent
feel to them and I think the theme is
one of my favorites because I think it
does a pretty good job of with very
simple mechanics getting across that
flavor of like fire and destruction and
again that’s sort of not creepy in the
way the great old one is creepy where
it’s unsettling but more creepy that
might be a little scary
more intimidating so we have that idea
that we want something that’s iconic and
what I settled on and as I said next
week for next week’s new hit me up on
Twitter give me some ideas I just picked
one to start with
Frankie cuz I want to have it in my
campaign and I thought it would be fun
to do so I thought you know one of the
things of the entities of Dungeons and
Dragons that we have is this is the
Kraken
these enormous creatures that live
underwater that are holdovers from the
war against the between the that the
gods way back in the you know the
ancient primordial days of D&D we depict
them as even though there are these
monstrous kaiju they’re incredibly
intelligent and especially in the
Forgotten Realms we have this idea of
the Kraken society and the idea that the
Krakens are intelligent and that they’re
looking out for information so I thought
it’d be kind of fun and also I have a
I always have a weakness for like this
idea of the nautical-themed campaign so
why not have a warlock whose patron is
the Kraken to kind of bring that flavor
in and also give us something which
maybe gives a bit more direction to it
and can give a sense if you here’s a
really action great example but thinking
of that pop cultural element if
someone’s like hey you know I should I
take this they haven’t played me before
but if they’re a Game of Thrones fan you
can tie it like well you do you like the
characters in the iron Isles things like
that or iron ion if you think about
forget or just Pirates of the Caribbean
did you like that movie series did you
like that it may be playing something
attached to that so it gives you the
sense that it’s going to be a little
creepy it’s gonna be attached to this
concept of the sea so that’s a solid
starting point especially when I want to
play a pirate but I won’t play a creepy
pirate
that’s another angle we could look at
the and so that’s kind of where I wanted
to start with and then I want to kind of
show now how we might give some depth to
it and and actually then to actually do
the design so the I say someone to the
idea the Queen of Hearts I actually
really like that idea is a fade patron
really really really stands out to me
that’s kind of interesting Alice in
Wonderland is actually was DNA adventure
back in the day that Gary Gygax wrote
inspired by Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland so the so where do we start
where do we go next
very easy to start writing stuff but we
have to understand that within D&D
there’s lore that connects to things and
so we want to make sure that if
someone’s playing a Kraken Kraken
warlock and not play the playing a crack
would be fun see our twenty-something
monster but um if you’re playing a
warlock dedicate to a Kraken well we
have to figure out well what is a Kraken
in Dungeons & Dragons does this creature
exists so I’m gonna go to my handy dandy
dandy beyond I’m gonna back the top here
and I’m just gonna look up the monster
just like I did with the class and I’ll
bounce back to the class later but again
I could sit here and try to remember but
I always want to make sure I’m looking
at the text it doesn’t it takes moments
to refresh my memory and take a look at
what we have again its apologies we can
see the text don’t worry about it and I
can’t expect you to read it I’m just
kind of if you can read it great but I’m
sort of following along and I’ll walk
you through it
the
so when I look at the Kraken in Dungeons
& Dragons is very high CR creatures see
our 23 challenge 23 so really powerful
so with that okay that makes sense I
don’t really need to necessarily go into
a lot of details of why would this
creature like let’s say this creature we
had a much lower challenge rating and
may have to account from the story does
I think about it why would a creature
that’s kind of weak have-have be
creating packs with warlocks we usually
think of it was fairly cosmic very
powerful entities you know you don’t
have the the pact of the coal bowl
that’s like kind of a sad pact I guess
if a Coble bullies you into doing his
bidding I guess that might be something
but you’re not gonna get too much power
out of it and so looking at the Kraken
we have right off the shelf a very
powerful creature so it’s not stretching
the bounds of what we think of the
character class is this could be an
entity that has warlocks and make pacts
the interesting thing now so maybe we
look at the details of some of its
abilities because we think kraken we
think okay giant tentacled squid is
there anything more to it here
especially at challenge 20 and above
it’s rare you see a creature at that
challenge it just beats things up it
usually has some magical angle to it or
some it’s a bit more mythic so the ice
and some ones were to work in the pact
of the coal bolt so Tentacruel see I’m
looking forward to that so one of the
things we see looking at the kraken
snap-loc is it’s got multi TAC it’s got
a bite okay like sure it does those
things it’s got a beak it’s got tentacle
attacks we expect that but um it’s got
the siege monster ability which lets a
double damage against objects but that’s
not I think that’s just because it’s so
big it’s size is gargantuan
I don’t see those necessary something
that the Warlock would get I have a
freedom of Moon ability that allows it
to ignore difficult terrain as a
designer I’m gonna say that’s probably
more there to just reflect its immense
size than being something like hey what
makes a cracking a Kraken because that’s
what we’re looking for we’re looking for
the thing that says hey what is the
essence of a Kraken that if I was to
make a pact with one that’s what I’d be
looking for to really evoke that flavor
so I know today we do had say that
Krakens are amphibious so they can they
can walk on water they have a 20-foot
speed they’re not fast as they walk
around on their tentacles but they can
do it like okay that kind of just shows
us that they they’re interested in
things on land but again it’s not really
defining ability but that we do
something really interesting over here
Krakens in D&D can manipulate the
weather they can call a lightning storm
and it mentions in there right up and
again I’m gonna scroll down here and
take a look at some of their regional
effects because they are legendary
creatures they can alter the weather
around them it makes some mention here
and there their flavor text that people
do tend to worship them so great that
even further reinforces our flavor it’s
almost like a plan this like a maybe I
thought about it last night and then
picked it before the stream the but they
also it talks about how when people
worship them they often do so because
they’re looking for the good weather
that a Krakken can bring since the
Kraken can control the weather and a six
mile radius on its layer it could in
theory ensure that weather is good for
shipping or it could be with is
displeased make the weather bad for
shipping or farming and so on so the
that seems to be an interesting angle
because it’s also something it’s gonna
be pretty distinct to D and D if it also
really makes sense we think of an
inaudible campaign we start thinking of
this character that someone who’s kind
of creepy someone we might think may be
a little suspicious up because Krakens
are evil but if they can offer control
of the weather that’s pretty useful if
you’re sailing especially through waters
I might be cracking infested and I seen
track dies uh someone a Tentacruel they
kind of mentioning uh free freedom
moment might be a good spell full list
and that’s another good way to pick up
some of those things and I’ll show you
kind of how we some can kind of layer
some of these things into elements of
the subclass where the it might not be
big enough to be a class feature it
might be something that slots in nicely
for the spell list and I’ll talk with a
spell list as we start going through the
features so what we’ve set along here is
loose what I’ve settled on and I said
from the next one hit me up on Twitter
we’ll get some concepts there he’s
looking at the Kraken and things it’s
weather control element being important
that kind of explains why people might
other what might associate with these
guys and we definitely getting a very
clear nautical feel and again we don’t
really need to like maybe flesh out more
details of why you have a pack of the
crack and talks about how they were
there worship by cultists and they’re
very powerful creatures so we’re good to
go conceptually and now we have a bit of
a direction that’s forming as we start
taking new class abilities so now
it’s a good time to stop and think what
is the structure of our subclass so
narrative li we’ve we’ve already looked
at that we want a patron we want an
entity we want entity that’s
sufficiently powerful that it makes
sense for warlocks to have pacts with
them but if we now go back and look at
the actual character class and take a
look at the mechanics we can get a sense
of how those the sub class goes about
presenting those elements so let’s take
a look at my 15 packed I’m going to made
this one of my favorite ones and I’ll
actually tell you why right now cuz I’m
scrolling to it W being secret right so
one things are really like about the
fiend pact is the Dark One’s blessing
ability so it’s the ability to get at
first level it’s important to consider
when does the subclass show up and that
the character’s progression for warlocks
have comes in at first level and for
classes where that does come in that
early it’s because we see if you were to
tell people hey I’m playing this class
and here’s my subclass that that’s
naturally how you want to present
yourself because you think of yourself
as I’m not just a warlock I’m a warlock
with this pact it’s gonna really heavily
flip flavor my character from day one
other classes come in at level three
because the class itself has enough
going on or has a distinct enough
identity that you don’t necessarily need
to add the subclass in yet a good rule
of thumb and this is kind of kind of a
conceptual thing we established back in
the day we’re designing the game is that
when you choose your subclass ideally
you’re not changing your equipment so as
an example if you think of the fighter
and you wanted to make someone who is an
archer you wouldn’t want to present core
fighter abilities where it’s like well
I’m gonna take a very high dexterity
because I want to be a range guy range
character but the mechanics really
assume I have a high strength so in
order to like survive from first to
third level I’m gonna have to wear heavy
armor and maybe I’m have to use close
combat weapons once I hit third level
though and I choose Archer so
theoretically it’s an archer so class
then I can okay I can go to lighter
armor and I’m not going to start using a
bow we didn’t really want that to ever
happen we wanted to always feel like the
character you wanted to play was the
character you’d start playing in first
level and then adjust the
sub-class the mechanics are delivered
and then when it actually showed up in
the progression table to match up with
that so a good example of the cleric
domains being chosen at first level for
instance if you wanted to play a war
cleric who let’s say and so it was
really important to you that he had
let’s say the correct weapon you’re
using or that you could mixed up in
close combat versus someone wanted to
play something like a cleric of the son
who might be more of a spell caster we
don’t want even those characters to have
to undergo this kind of awkward
transformation like okay now that I’m
fair level now I’m gonna wear throw on
plate mail and walk around with a giant
hammer and hit people or okay now that
I’m third level I can I don’t have to
wear my armor anymore I can be more of a
caster so the fighter for instance has
its mechanics are nonspecific enough
like with action surge and things like
that and it doesn’t really care too much
about your abilities that you can start
at first level say okay I put my high o
stability in dexterity and I want to
start with the ranged weapon and just go
from there and then when you hit third
level maybe start getting your ranged
combat specific abilities it augments it
or when you have a chance choice like
the weapon choice we on and I’m blanking
on the name but the fighter gets a
choice at one point we can just seed it
with enough options at first or second
level I think it’s that level if you see
this is why you always look stuff up
it’s gonna go click on the fighter right
now to make sure I get this right
when you get your fighting style at
first level you can just pick the
archery option so but that was an area
where you felt we could make these broad
enough it’s also why for instance the
fighting style options are fairly broad
they give you a bonus to all ranged
attacks rather than say a specific
weapon or some type of attack so the
Warlock falls into the category of
getting a subclass at first level
because we just felt the packs were
flavorful enough that if you were
playing a warlock you’d really want to
say I’m a warlock and have a theme
packed and that’s really changing how I
play right from the beginning I don’t
want to alter how I approach the game at
a later level to accommodate the
subclass choice the yeah and actually
someone in chat Fox TV points out the
Valor bar doesn’t get purchased until
third and so that is true that’s
probably that’s one area where we maybe
should have had it at first level
because you don’t get your
heavy armor and Marshall weapons and
that’s that so that’s a very good
example of that where that actually is
amiss and you’ll see this in the classes
this is an understanding that it really
evolved as we made the game and so not
all the classes necessarily even course
like fit into these ideas but classes we
design going forward this will be sort
our principle the important thing about
game design principles though is we are
very much driven by feedback from
players ha and so we don’t have
principles that are set in stone they
can always change especially as the
audience changes this taste change I we
always like to say that our plans are
the plans we have for now but they might
not be the plans we have for next year
the so getting back to our internal pact
or lock what I really like about it is
and this is what I always strive for now
when I design a warlock subclass don’t
always hit it but it’s why aim for is
something like darkman’s blessing so
what dark dark one’s blessing lets you
do is whenever you drop a hostile
creature to zero hit points you get
temporary hit points it’s your Christmas
mattifier plus or warlock level and I
love this ability because it’s super
simple it scales up perfectly as you go
go up and level it just gets better it
remains relevant so it’s getting better
in the sense that it ok it’s bigger than
it was before but it’s staying
relatively the same power or thereabout
it’s close enough and it triggers all
the time because the great thing with
temporary hit points is they don’t stack
so I can take my turn I can drop five
enemies I’m still I’m not getting a
giant pile of temporary hit points I’m
getting the temporary points once the
next time I get hit those might those
will likely go away but the important
thing is it’s on all the time and so I
really feel like when I’m playing this
warlock that ability is always there
it lets me roleplay it it lets me really
play it up and description my character
and it reminds everyone else in the
table that hey I am a theme packed
warlock
unlike other potential warlocks or any
other casters and that you might have in
the party so the as a counterpoint when
you look at the arch Bay Fae presence
lets you force everyone in a ten-foot
cube to make a wisdom saving throw and
if they fail it they’re charmed or
frightened by you now once you use it
though you have to take a shorter long
rest to get
back this is it’s always it this is
something that’s very very much a
challenge in design because when you
think of Fane you think okay I want to
influence your emotions it’s much harder
to find something that is small but
still impactful like there’s a very much
a sweet spot of it’s interesting enough
that I want to track it and use it
getting a benefit but it’s not so big
that it overwhelms other abilities so
and this is a good example this is why
this isn’t a hard and fast rule but it’s
also something where I think as we’ve
learned as we designed more for the game
to watch people play that this might be
a type of design we don’t use as often
now that said this is still I would find
this pretty well balanced it’s pretty
big effect charming and frightening
people this is also another great
example it gives you an option so if
you’re in the tavern looking for
information you can charm people if
you’re getting ambushed by orcs you can
frighten them so it’s really nice one
thing I really like about this ability
is that very simple flexibility you just
make an A or B choice really determined
by the situation you’re in and frightens
approver it’s pretty powerful ability
you’re throwing out a lot of
disadvantage on that with that and in DB
beyond I can look and say a a frightened
a Frank a trans disability I design
joint ability checks and attack roles
while the sorts of spheres within line
of sight that’s really good especially
against big mobs of creatures if you are
like ambushed by a bunch of weenie
monsters this can shut down all their
attacks essentially disadvantage be very
punishing against goblins and coal molds
creatures like that again and then it’s
got a nice flavor to it the way I see
this now if you go down to the great old
one they get a very we think it was like
more of a utility tech thing where with
awakened mind you get the ability to use
telepathy to speak with creatures within
30 feet of you so that’s a very
flavorful ability it’s not as
straight-line obvious and utility as the
other two ones
it may be requires a little bit of
thought to really and it’s probably more
useful in games that focus less on
combat but we always want to try to find
that nice spreads you can see within
these three abilities there’s one that’s
really great in combat the the infernal
pact is fantastic the fae pact is kind
of in the middle it’s got good combat
utility
between those short rests but it’s not
direct damage so you’re really going to
combo with the rest of the group to win
that fight or it’s very good in social
situations the thing about if you’re in
more of a role-playing mode those short
breasts are back usually not always but
usually easier to come by because you
can use this when you’re at the tavern
trying to track someone down and then
the warlock player can take a short rest
in the tavern while someone else does
something we’re just waiting either your
scale of time is larger awakened mind
it’s an always-on ability and that
telepathy really requires some player
creativity to find ways to use it but we
also really really really helped
establish that creepy weird fear kind of
flavor we’re going for so this ability
is something we want to have on all the
time and I may have cheated by thinking
this last night so don’t get to see the
creative process live which I can assure
you would be really boring and probably
me opening a game video game and playing
while you watch and I just look really
thoughtful the but so I put a little
thought into this and I had my initial
thought was very simple like okay you
can breathe underwater and swim because
the that received obvious you know it’s
a crack and priests you know kind of
thing involve Krakens you should be able
to swim and breathe water but I as I
thought about it I just that was very
narrow it’s one of those abilities where
it’s incredibly useful if you’re in a
nautical campaign but often Dungeon
Master’s like there’s enough magic like
water breathing or potions or magic
items that would really make that not
feel too exciting and as new pursuit
points out a couple races get water
breathing and swim already so if you’re
thinking hey I want to play a crack
impact war like oh cool I’ll be a Triton
well like you’re getting the same thing
twice it’s not that interesting so the
you have turns into be playing Monster
Hunter right that’s gonna be the hours
my hour cuz no one can disturb me while
it during this hour right I can’t be
dragged to a meeting like it’s at all
your live so this would just be me
playing with your games right the so
water breathing in a swim thing just
didn’t it seem like an obvious choice
but as I sort of delved into it and
that’s an important step to think when
you’re building a subclass think to
yourself what are the natural
class race combos
how could I make sure that I’m not
overlapping those two badly if there is
an overlap am i okay with it let’s say
for instance we had the cracking pact
and we thought and just making something
up here but there’s a mountain dwarf
ability that collided with it maybe
you’re okay with that because you think
mountain dwarf isn’t really something
that would naturally be a match for this
pact so I’m okay with players kind of
getting that sadness if I think the
payoff is worth it but if it’s something
like a Triton or anything that’s like a
water breathing race is a natural fit
for this we don’t want to make that feel
like a bad combo we also don’t want to
have sort of I call like creeping doom
disease on a feature especially a low
level one where we’re like okay well
we’re gonna give me water breathing in a
swim speed because we think you get that
but we think that’s not really worth
anything so give you another thing and
then like maybe that thing isn’t as big
it’s like you end up just stapling like
five different features into one that’s
another way we want to avoid so what I
thought of is that kind of put some put
some time and do this last night was
what if we gave you Kraken tentacles all
right like you’re you’re a warlock with
a crack in it what a Kraken is known for
giant honking tentacles that grab ships
and drag them down so what I was
thinking of doing was and you’re gonna
see this is kind of the and here’s my
Twitter if you can read that at Mike
Merle’s I’m just gonna make notes to me
here again if you can’t read it don’t
worry about it this is me just taking
notes myself because it might take a
couple episodes to do this or I can show
off next week the more final design I’m
actually using the template we use when
we design so I’m going to delete this
it’s not gonna be as I’m not gonna be
the full fancy thing but I am gonna go
here and say hey you can see all our
headers you can see that we have word
styles we use
so this is our each three and so and I’m
just gonna write first level just to
remind myself and I think it’d be kind
of good to give you Kraken tentacles and
the nice thing about this is we can now
that we’ve said hey the flavor is you
get a tactical what does it actually
look like so I’m gonna kind of leave it
open for now what I imagine is we can
make this some sort of a twill attack
that really focuses on utility rather
than damage this might be something that
you use not every round but just when
the situation is appropriate or when
you’re like
I really want to do this so what I’m
thinking is it’s a melee attack and I’m
gonna give it up just a crazy long reach
this is one thing we’ll do also this did
this like design phase we’re just
starting out before playtesting is we’ll
just make things like it’s a 20-foot
reach so I’m just to make a note to
myself and 20-foot ranch should we can
read it the reach on this is gonna be 20
feet cuz I always at this stage you know
playtesting doesn’t agree is good it is
gonna catch the broken stuff that
doesn’t mean that we just break things
and what you guys fix it and play tasks
but it does mean we start out it’s like
look let’s let’s push things to the
extreme and see like what comes out of
it so we’ve got a melee attack with
20-foot reach and I think it’s we want
to do like a can’t rip damage so I’m
gonna make a note of that we want this
to be something that’s useful or in
sorry that’s code for we want you to we
want this to be useful every level this
should never be phased out so can’t rip
damage we want actually put in a number
now it’s just to remind us okay this
should scale up and then what I want
this to do is move people around and so
I can grab you pull you closer let me
knock you further away maybe within my
20 foot reach and I’m gonna look at
grappling but I’m not sure I want if I
want you to grap it yet cuz this is the
immediate use case that comes in with
this I grapple you and the rest of the
party beats you down because it lets me
exert some control and then I’m like hey
wait what does grappling do again
remember you always look things up I’m
gonna go back to DD Beyond and I am
going to look up in the compendium my
rules and I’m just gonna do a search for
grapple to make sure I know what this is
actually going to do before I start
throwing it around again remember don’t
worry about memorizing things it is so
cheap to just look things up so I’m
gonna go here to my conditions like a
grapple so here’s the thing a grapple
creature speed becomes zero so I’m
locking someone down it’s a lot and
Crete monsters I don’t like that a lot
of NPCs who don’t like that we can think
of the situation where you’re
confronting a criminal and I try to get
away this could be an instant wind
condition for that may be a little too
good to let you do it all the time
with also getting cantrip damage and at
reach but we’ll think about this and
also the
you can be removed it’s like a thunder
wave knocked something away and if you
get incapacitated so now I’m looking at
that out so I’m thinking really it is
just I’m gonna shut down your speed you
know I’m not necessarily crazy about
doing this but it’s also very flavorful
so in the spirit of you know why not
let’s just put this in for now and
assume you know what it would be great
if we can let this grapple we don’t know
if we can it might be too good but let’s
start there let’s start with the best
expression of it and see where we go
from there we could also look at doing
things like you could deliver an
Eldridge blast or a can trip through
this which could be useful but I’m gonna
stop here for now because I think this
is enough right now to get them across
this idea what I’m imagining is that
maybe there’s a transformation element
to it that you might transfer one of
your arms into a tentacle to use to
reach out and grab someone because
that’s nice and creepy it’s what we want
if we didn’t want to go with a creepy
route we might just say it’s some sort
of magical effect but so that’s what we
started with and it gets that idea of
the Kraken grasping and it’s real
physical reflection what it is and the
nice thing is since we’re gonna balance
this to be essentially identical to a
can trip you know an attack use every
round that the this is a great thing to
give it first of all because our gonna
use it all the time what we’re going to
decide though as we go through it I like
to do is build it all all the other
class features and then look at okay
what’s the actual magnitude of this do I
need to add anything else to it because
as other things come into line we get a
more complete picture of the the
subclass
so that’s we’ll leave that there for now
we kind of know what we’re starting with
but let’s take a look at our other
levels so it’s six level rather than
just go through and design I’m again I’m
gonna go back and look at my character
class my other subclasses see what we
have so I have a good comparison point
and also more importantly I get a sense
of fanatically what are we delivering at
six level so we’ll go back and I’m gonna
start with the the fiend pack not just
because it’s my favorite but also
because it’s also delivering at will
effects is probably but it’s your best
comp starting point it’s good to try to
find things that look as similar to what
you’re working with as possible as your
starting point but if that’s not your
endpoints where you’re gonna go first
so if Darwin’s own locket at 6:00 level
the Fein pact can add a d-10 to an
ability checker saving through and
that’s really good you’re probably gonna
turn a failure into a success you can do
use this after you see the initial role
but before I need the roles effects
occur so it is though used on a shorter
long rest so it’s pretty pretty potent
but once you use it you get to take a
rest to use it again the great old one
at six level is getting in tropic Ward I
were straight away you can see that this
ability is short short short or long
rest recharge so okay that’s a
similarity I probably don’t want to
break that pattern because I have given
you something you can use all the time
at first level now I may be looking for
more things that are gonna provide you
with a spike and it’s also kind of
fitting the pattern we’ve established
and then within tropic Ward it’s similar
to Dark One’s own luck and that you can
kind of turn the success and if in this
case turns success and a failure if
someone makes an attack rule against you
you can use your reaction to add this
advantage to that attack and then if the
attack misses you you get advantage on
your next attack against that creature
so we can kind of see sort of bending
luck here I compose a drawback and I get
a benefit also on that shorter long rest
recharge and then we go back up to the
Fae pact a similar thing this fits into
this idea of the trickster I that when
you take damage you can use your
reaction turn invisible and teleport up
to 60 feet away so it gets that idea
that if you’re in danger you can a trick
people give them some misdirection and
you only remain a great remain invisible
to the start of your next turn or until
you attack or cast a spell now that’s
important because what this is really
clearly shelving this ability as is
defensive it’s very hard for me to use
this and then get advantage on an attack
and again it’s short or long rest so
when we look at those three together
we’re seeing they’re things I have a
recharge on them require arrest and all
of our defensive in nature so unless I
have a good reason to break that pattern
which I might I might say look to
deliver the flavor of this pact I’m
gonna do something very different
but in general it’s nice to sort of
follow that pattern so what I thought
about here four six level
got my header six level ability maybe
something to do with it with a cloud of
darkness the Kraken creature had the
ability to make a cloud of ink it’s kind
of a classic thing we think of squids
that’s what they use so a defensive
ability we’re on a shorter long rest I
can create an area of darkness and
probably let you see through it because
since it is supernatural in nature and
you want to use it to confuse your
enemies that might be something which is
very much in flavor of hey this is
someone who’s adopting characteristics
of a Kraken when threatened they can
essentially create an ink cloud and
escape so that one’s very simple and
it’s ink could if you can read that Inca
Cloud and so we we want is a darkness
area that you can see through we might
want to consider letting you get some
free movement out of that like but it’s
certainly I feel like that the Fae pax
who’s got something similar and then I
sin but the darkest area is again it’s
very good against crowds of people the
first person that attacks you you might
trigger this ability cloak yourself in
darkness and now everyone else has
disadvantage against you so I think
that’s gonna happen on its own you
probably don’t want to have to add the
additional complication of like you’re
moving away because that’s very much
what the the fave hacks doing that it’s
tricking you
the Kraken has more the feel like I’m
gonna make life harder for you but you
do know where I am I mean I’m a giant
kraken we think the original creature is
gonna have trouble hiding but I am gonna
protect myself
maybe tank a few more attacks I
otherwise could so I’m just gonna make a
note here that it’s gonna be centered on
warlock and lasts until the start of
next term we could keep this ability
that it sticks around till the end of
your next turn that would give it more
of that offensive feel I’m gonna be
tempted to use this when I’m going up
against something I really want to hit
with my eldritch blasts or whatever they
can’t see me but I can see them and so
we really want to make this though feel
defensive so that’s always something to
keep in mind is when you’re thinking of
those durations start a turn or kind of
turn the difference really is do I want
the player to get take advantage of this
or is this more something that I’m
imposing on the world around me then
what’s my turn it goes away so that is
the
kind of feeling that growing four is
more defensive the so that kind of fits
into our flavor and it was pretty
straightforward and we’re still kind of
hopefully on point again hoping he also
gives that sense of that creepy factor
you’re creating darkness you’re not
creating a bunch of shiny beautiful
flowers you’re plunging and run around
you into darkness now this is also
interesting thing what the think of is
the radius because presumably your
allies won’t be able to see through it
either but I think that’s something what
to think of but it would make sense for
a warlock since we’re locks aren’t but
are like clerics typically depending one
subclass you take but they’re not
typically support characters they’re
more greedy or they want to pack
themselves and it comes to the cost of
like the fighters next time now he can’t
see or she can’t see that so be it
alright I’m safe all right so that’s our
six of lability we have a nice constant
ability and we have something that’s
more more timed so now let’s go back
there are handy and dandy dandy beyond
website and let’s take a look at what
comes in at tenth level so if tenth and
fourteenth level and then we’ll have the
spell list spell list I actually pick
them ahead of time I don’t want to like
spend a lot of time just flipping
through the players handbook but I’ll
give you some insight now we pick those
so a tenth level taking a look at will
start the arch Bay you get immunity
being charmed and when a creature
attempts to charm you you can use your
reaction to turn the charm back on that
creature it’s got it has to make a
saving throw a wisdom saving therapy
charm itself so another reactive ability
but this one is always on so what’s
really nice about this is that whenever
anyone tries to charm you they’re
potentially in trouble so it means that
the Fay packed warlock is very good
against creatures that want to beguile
or alter minds because unlike the
ability at six level which was once per
encounter this one’s always on so not
only are you immune but you can bounce
things back to an enemy for 10th bubble
for the fiendish warlock you get to
every time you take a rest
choose one damage type you get
resistance to it you also though now one
thing here over a I’ll choose fire or
thunder whatever no you’re gonna choose
bludgeoning slashing or piercing because
those are damage types those are the
weapons that you face a lot but magical
or
silver Upton’s ignore it so there’s a
little bit of like well I could choose
that it seems like the obvious choice
but maybe I want to choose an energy
type depending on the adventure now this
is one where it’s resistance again you
choose it every time you take a rest so
you’re gonna take a rest and pick then
you get it the rest of the day until you
change it the assumption here is you’re
gonna try to think ahead and either take
a damage type like slashing personal
budgeting or you’re gonna think okay
we’re going into the the volcanic lair
or the red dragon well you already maybe
already have fires it’s 40 fling but
maybe you’ll activate that or you’re
going against the you know the cult of
ol hydra and you’ve got you know you can
be doing a lot of cold damage i know
that’s but not be all hydra she’s water
see this is why we look things up
because we get them wrong all the time
but anyways it kind of we assume you’re
gonna pick one that’s gonna be useful to
for you or you’re gonna choose one of
the damaged ones and the great old one
at tenth bubble so you can’t be
telepathy doesn’t apply to you you get
resistance resist a psychic damage and
whenever a creature deals psychic damage
to you it takes the same amount so
similar to the faith pact what we’re
saying not only are you immune to this
but if people try to use it against you
you turn the tables on them
it’s like immunity plus plus it’s saying
not only immunity but it’s mastery of it
so when we think of the kraken this one
gets kind of interesting because we
don’t necessarily think of energy types
or immunities is something that’s really
tied to the kraken it’s not something
that really stands out so we may have to
go a little bit further afield the one
thing I thought about here was maybe
this is where we give you the ability to
breathe underwater in a swim speed one
thing we could do here is give you a
really good swim speed so even if you’re
a creature if you picked a race that
allowed you to swim swim swim underwater
this is still a benefit for you and we
also know that that kraken likes
lightning you know it can control the
weather and it can conjure lightning
bolts so one of the ideas I had here was
I’ll go to my any styles put this in the
h3 10th level was give you immunity to
lightning which is pretty narrow right
now this is also where I mentioned
earlier that we wanted to avoid turning
abilities into giant lists of things and
higher levels were not as strictly
against that because we assume if you’re
playing tenth level you’re a little more
comfortable
some complexity but as what I thought
about here was you get immune to
lightning and hey you know actually a
I’m gonna get a Jory and Drake it
actually just hit it right in you see
where I’m going here you can breathe
underwater double swim speed and then
since you’re immune to lightning what I
thought about doing was when you take
lightning damage people around creatures
around you take that damage also or take
some amount of damage because I’m gonna
explain to you why you don’t want to
just say it’s the same damage so one of
the things your first things you’re now
you’re trying to try to do with this
ability and this is probably the ones
we’ll see where we get up next week well
I’ll I’ll do some thinking and maybe
I’ll post a prettier version of this is
the first thing you would try to do if I
said you’re immune to lightning and if
you take lightning damage of people
around you get hit with it
you’re try to find ways to put yourself
in your own areas of effect you’re gonna
try to bounce those lightning bolts off
the wall and into you things like that
so we don’t want you to double the
damage we probably ought to control that
damage because you’re a caster and
there’s ways you can turn the tables on
things if you notice the Fae and the
great old one they said if someone does
this to you you reflect it back to them
this one though is gonna be more generic
I’m thinking more the water around you
becomes electrified if you’re underwater
the air around you so since I like to
think of it as those of return to sender
abilities well this is a case where we
don’t really know who the sender is
gonna be it could be yourself and the
person getting it is might not actually
be the sender so you want to have more
control over that so what would likely
would end up here was like if you take
lightning damage everyone around you
take some smaller amount of lightning
damage it might be Warlock little Plus
charisma something in that neighborhood
probably less than that because you can
ideally what you’re gonna try to do is
find some you can use that will again
this is kind of future proofing this is
where like playtesting would come into
play but we do have to think of this we
don’t want to deliver something that’s
just obviously busted right out of the
gate so we’re not gonna actually getting
any good testing feedback so we’re we’re
gonna use that we’ll throw that in here
for now it’s a little bulkier than I
like but I think it’s a good starting
point and then we get to 14th level and
this is where we get to have a lot of
fun so we’re in about ten minutes left
so I’m gonna get through this one that
I’ll talk about the spells and then
we’ll wrap it up there about five we’re
gonna transition over to our next show
the Oh actually uh did a bit has a
question how do you take lighting damage
if for your immune it’s great questions
because you’re not taking any damage so
what we would say and phrasing the
ability is and this is where Jeremy
Crawford comes in this is where he does
a lot of his work he’ll understand
here’s the intent of the design how do
we implement it it may say something
like if your immunity would kick in
something happens so rather than worry
and that’s another thing why you
wouldn’t want to say the damage you take
it’s applied to everyone else because
immunity is gonna mess with that so you
might say if your immunity reduces the
damage you take from an effect everyone
around you take some lightning damage
and again that’s why makes it easier
just think it’s gonna be a flat number
because we know essentially as far as
the system is concerned the Lightning
damage comes in gets turned to 0 when
immune kicks off and so now I don’t have
that value to technically reference
anymore now we know you’re a dungeon
master and players playing at home you
can remember what that number was but we
always try to think very
programmatically so it’s as clear as
possible if you’re playing this
character there’s not a lot of questions
about what’s happening and then Jordan
Jacobs mentioned that you could also do
resistance if you wanted to tie into
that damage so let’s let’s get through
this 14th availability and I’ll talk a
bit of the spells and then we’ll call it
a day till next week so 14th bubble as
usual we’re gonna go back and look at
our existing packs to save time I’m just
really gonna look at focus in on the
fiend one because that’s the one I felt
had the nicest done peril here so a 14th
bubble with a fiend packed on a long
rest now so it’s the equivalent of a
spike a wizard spell something you can
use once can’t get back till essentially
the adventuring day is over you can hurl
someone through hell which is not a
pleasant experience because it gives you
10 D 10 psychic damage from the horrific
experience so that’s a really big wallop
and if we take a quick look at the other
ones create thrall you know this one for
the great old one lets you essentially
turn someone into a serpent which is
pretty powerful
like I get someone to walk around and do
my bidding and dark delirium for the Fae
pact you can tremor frighten someone for
a minute
the I can read this really quickly
they just completely misrepresented but
it’s another pretty essentially spell
quality level charm effect it stacks on
top of your other ones which you already
have and to the nice duration to it the
and it’s the creature is lost and misty
realm the parents what you choose this
is really a good way to shut someone
down or or just essentially mess with
them so one thing has a big effect
before I want something that you’ll only
get back after a long rest something
that’s got a really nice big magnitude
to it so what I thought I was since the
Kraken lives in the world this could be
a Kraken that lives off the coast why
not essentially summon the Kraken so
what I pictured in my mind was you call
out to the Kraken a portal opens water
gushes out and just one giant tendril
comes in and just crushes someone so
similar to hurl through hell but very
thematically different and it also
thought well wouldn’t it be fun is that
I thought of some of these abilities
they are kind of more crowd control and
this is where we get to sort of start to
thinking this is why we do a quick pass
through all of them we think about the
tentacle if we’re gonna give you a
grapple lets me shut down one person but
then my ink cloud is very good against
groups and my lightning reflections also
good against groups so I think we I want
to try to do is trend this toward a
little bit more crowd control like I’m
good at taking on multiple enemies at
once it also feels like the Kraken as
Kraken has multiple tentacles to deal
with multiple threats like okay that
kind of feels cool
so as ya oboe crazy this is some in
tentacle straight at a final fantasy or
I think it’s gonna be some in tentacles
and just put down here deal with the big
crowd damage and control I might want to
also have water
I like rush through as I open this
portal it’s like it’s some sort of water
effect that alters the terrain what it
makes you want to do here now is with
the Kraken tentacles is maybe you know
you can grapple and maybe I’ll put a
note up here like maybe multiple attacks
maybe multiple small attacks we’d want
to make a distinct from elders blast
which does give you multiple attacks as
you progress in levels we’d probably
want this maybe to do multiple tax very
early on there are some can ships that
let you do damage and if someone’s
within 5 feet also damage that person so
maybe look at multiple targets here so
you can look at the sense that oh is a
Kraken
warlock I’m really good at taking a lot
of people because like the crack and I
have multiple tentacles I can reach out
with and and slap people around so the
yeah and aqua fortressitx the Kraken
it’s based on a squid yeah that’s
basically the kind of concept of it
though in Dini lore we think each Kraken
would have a unique appearance tentacles
is kind of they’re like one unifying
thing so that’s basically our mechanical
breakdown we have our theme that theme
evolved into a mechanical theme as we
went and that’s typically how we work we
really think story first and we start
trying to draw like what would this
character do then this one kind of just
naturally evolved but you can see as I
went back and clean up that first level
ability to say okay I really want
mechanically want to think of crowd
control as his characters deal to
differentiate them from the three
warlocks we Cinco saw all three warlocks
in The Player’s Handbook the Fae warlock
was one who’s closest to this the first
level ability to do a ten-foot cube of
fear or to charm people but it isn’t
necessarily as like finely honed in as
the as this warlock here so let’s take a
quick look at our spells so when we’re
coming up with spells a warlock gets an
expanded spell list this is pretty
straightforward I don’t have to worry
too much about looking at the other
classes the subclasses
Kairi just want to make sure I get the
flavor right here essentially for each
of first through fifth level spells I’m
gonna pick two spells that don’t appear
on the warlock spell list now if you
follow me on Twitter actually I tweet I
tweeted out a couple months ago a sample
warlock pack that didn’t that I made
that mistake that’s an example of hey
look things up don’t just do it and
that’s a great example of I made that
spell list by just looking at the spells
forgot to go back and read the
difference between diffe you’re adding
this to your list versus spells no and
so really what you want to here this is
where you really wanted to liver your
theme because the nice thing is the
warlock at say first the third level has
a pretty good selection of spells it’s
really a fourth or fifth you have to
start worrying about actually giving
spell power because that’s if you look
at this with a warlocks spell list at
fourth and fifth level for the class
they’re a little thin so you wanna that
is the one area you’re gonna have a
little bit of a conflict between
delivering something flavorful and
delivering something
that’s really on point for what the
class should be doing so our first of
all spells what I had here is crater
story of water and thunder wave a
thunder wave I thought because of the
weather control effect now if you notice
in first the first sixth tenth and
fourteenth ability we didn’t do a lot
with the weather control stuff but I
feel pretty confident that what we have
there fits the theme so I do want to
deliver that sort of sense of oh yeah
the the Kraken warlock deals with the
weather control aspect I think
delivering that for the spell is a
pretty good way to go because I I’m not
reinventing the wheel now here’s where
things get interesting now gust of wind
is an obvious spell then its second
level but I also threw an augury because
I wanted to get the sense that the
warlock
he’s dealing with an entity who lives in
the world so it’s something which you
might use an augury sol to reflect the
idea that you can talk to your patron
and get information from them it also in
the Forgotten Realms specifically
reflects this idea that the Kraken
society is really interested in
information gathering lore it’s not
something that’s super heavy handed but
it’s sort of a tip of a hat to that this
is a good place to put that kind of
flavor where it might be a little more
ruled specific but it’s not so out of
character that it doesn’t fit in at all
and so the third level I threw in call
lightning again to get that weather
thing and as of course I if you could
read it I wrote call lighting because
that’s what I always misspell lightning
as and then here’s where I’m gonna put
water breathing you know it’s if you
need it as a character more importantly
the spell lets you apply it to the rest
of your party and again it’s a spell you
can take the spell or not right it’s
real up to the player to then feel like
do I really want this or I want to go
with a different option I’m avoiding
that feel bad of I’m playing about
Triton who can breathe water oh and my
class gave me water breathing that’s
something I have to take so I’m at
fourth level through in control water to
get give that flavor feel and then Eve
ARDS black tentacles was sitting there
is like oh this is so obvious a spell I
want to give you cuz
hello tentacles right that’s easy and
fifth level things got a lot harder and
this is where we start getting some
imperfect it’s so I’m gonna admit I
threw in cone of cold because I just
wanted to give you good offensive spell
and that’s a lot I can kinda say it’s
like the weather it gets cold at sea too
right kind of not the best fit but it’ll
kind
do and then commune with nature again
get this idea that you can sort of
communicate with the Kraken again it’s
not it’s not a perfect fit and of these
I would definitely zero maintenance I
feel pretty good about 1st through 4th
but this is an area where because the
spell is just naturally things down is
get the higher level you don’t necessary
have the same breadth of options to
choose from and I often find that at
fourth and fifth levels when you start
trying to force fits try to avoid
designing new spells just for subclass
but it is definitely something where you
can kind of feel things bump against
each other now what we would do let’s
say that we were building this for
product we might pull in some spells
from Zenith ours guide or another source
but we would repeat them with it the and
the oh and George Echols mentions you
could have additional invocations that
would be something to think of too
invocations and I thought actually I
thought at one point of giving an
invocation through this as one of the
class features but try to avoid X I
really want the invocations to be a
place where players feel like they can
really play so weird do invocations that
were say crack and warlock only want
them to really feel like things that not
every crack and warlock would want but
that if you would really want to have so
that might be something where that
forgotten realm specific flavor might
come through where the crack in society
has these information brokers or
something along those lines so maybe
something more elemental to reflect at
different outfits of ascetic at a
different take on Krakens we might put
that there so something can opt into so
we are at five of actually four of my
clocks I would have been it over thanks
everyone for joining me remember my
Twitter on Twitter I am Mike Morell zits
all one word shoot me
your remember for the one for next week
tell me what class and just name the
subclass don’t give me anything beyond
max I think part of the fun is gonna be
showing how this might evolve because
it’s not just about you know what I
might design is about what you might
design it so they’ve made kind of fun if
you don’t give any details just think of
the concept and then we’ll kind of see
where we all end up so yeah thanks
everyone for tuning in and I think
coming up next we got dragon plus at the
top of the hour thanks for joining me
and I’ll ton of fun can’t wait for next
week and I’ll put a little more work
into the snow maybe I’ll show you next
week maybe we’ll start the show by kind
of saying okay here’s where we ended up
by putting
more work into this to clean it up a bit
alright thanks everyone and see y’all
next week
Had a ton of fun on the stream today! Hope the commentary on design was helpful, and remember to tweet the name of the class and subclass you'd like me to design next week. We'll also look at the more finalized warlock pact of the kraken.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 30, 2018