Grindstone (Patreon)

Greetings adventurers!

Dwarven smiths were constantly looking for ways to one up one another with their inventions. At some point, things got a little silly. They started attaching flywheels to gauntlets in hopes of making grappling hooks and things of that nature. They succeeded in making quite a few dislocated shoulders and pulled biceps. I guess the spirit of innovation and competition can drive all manner of odd ideas. One that actually stood the test of time was their methods of quickly honing their bladed weapons to be ready for battle at a moment’s notice. While the grindstone vambrace never caught on for practicality purposes, some of them still survive in working order today, including this one that we refurbished.

Our patrons get early access to all of these items as well as additional formats that are easily usable in both physical and online play for D&D and Pathfinder 2E. Additionally they get high-res art exports, easy to use text exports, behind the scenes updates, and a lot more.

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Design notes from Matthew:

So, I’ll admit I was a bad friend on this one. Fernando and I typically have a process where we go back and forth on early iterations before we move on to a final one for the illustration. It lets us rapidly develop ideas and then throw them out just as easily. This time, I was too quick to say yes and we ended up having to redo the illustration late in the game. Totally my fault, but a great reminder that even in relationships that have great communication, sometimes there can be a lapse. That said, Fernando’s second go around perfectly caught the idea of what I had in mind. Also his brushwork on this one is just stellar.

In 5E there’s somewhat of an expectation of a permanent bonus in magic items. Like the thing you have is supposed to be able to be used at most times or if not, then there’s plenty of charges. That led me to wanting to develop two uses for it even though I was mostly interested in the sharpening mechanic. The reaction bit of AC was actually quite helpful in the end as it pushed it into the Very Rare tier which is more where I wanted this item to live in the end.

For Pathfinder, there’s not as much of an expectation of permanent bonuses and I find that somewhat freeing in my design. Instead I got to focus on writing a very unique sharpening mechanic that acts like a temporary rune upgrade. I was rather proud of this style as it means that it can stay relevant as you continue to level up and acquire new weapons. It really only tops out once you have a maxed out rune and by that time, well you’re already doing a lot of damage.

This was me just wanting to embrace a weird idea that popped into my head. The ability to sharpen something on the fly seemed like an interesting roleplay opportunity for any smith focused character. There’s something menacing as well in someone revving this thing up and sharpening their blade in front of you. I hope you dig it as well.

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Rewards for Patrons!

Kraken's Kohorts ($3 tier)

Kraken's Kompanions ($6 tier)

Kraken's Kollaborators ($10 Tier)

Stay sharp!,

- Fernando & Matthew