One More Thing: Path of the Scarbearer (Patreon)

Greetings everyone!

We've been very heads down this month as we focus on completing a few upcoming projects that we're working on, but one of those was this month's "One More Thing". We polled our Kollaborators and asked what they would like to see from a few options and this barbarian subclass was the clear winner in that poll. Now here it is in all of its bloody glory for use at your table.

Design Notes from Matthew

Funnily enough, this whole thing started with the word scarbearer. I was reading something and the phrase "bears the scars of..." was in it and that word instantly popped into my head. It sounded like something cool, but giving it shape would take a bit more time. 

Barbarians are a brawly type, so leaning into that lore of a warrior that learns from their injuries and proudly wears them on their body seemed right in line for something that could be interesting to explore. The idea that a character would want to be in the fray and would want to take damage in order to give them an upper hand seemed like something that could be difficult to design, but fun to pursue. 

By far, the hardest thing in this was finding a balance of defense, offense, and usability. Making something like this too defensive runs the risk of it being able to completely chew through content. Making it too offensive means you may end up with people not wanting to put themselves in harms way so I had to find a middle ground. 

My favorite part of this class though is that it gives the barbarian some utility in their ability to take a hit for their partners. I've wanted barbarians to have access to more utility and being able to include a mechanic that allowed that was just great. 

I'm excited to have another subclass under my belt for this release. We'll definitely be doing more in the future as I enjoy the challenge of designing to a theme like this. I think there's value in it as well as people seem to really enjoy having more player options for themselves.

If you're not a patron and would like access to these exclusive releases, click this link and check out our tiers. Every patron gets full access to these "One More Thing" releases each month.

Rewards for Patrons!

Kraken's Kohorts ($3 tier)

Kraken's Kompanions ($6 tier)

Kraken's Kollaborators ($10 Tier)

Stay in the fray,

- Fernando & Matthew