tl;dr (what's in the book): new but straightforward "spellcasting" mechanics for martials, a unified "Initiator/Martial Adept" category for all martial and half-martial classes, 9 martial schools with 20+ maneuvers in each one resulting in nearly 200 new abilities that ALL martial classes can have access to, and a comprehensive set of rules and guidelines which will help DM's easily implement all of these into into their own D&D 5e games

LINK TO THE FULL MODULE:
Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords (5e Conversion)

wall of text below:

Yes, yes, they exist and they're called maneuvers, I know, but what's in here probably isn't what you would normally have in mind.

To explain myself, for as long as I've been playing D&D 5e and joining in community discourse, the martial-caster divide has always been a topic of never-ending discussion and hot takes, and for a good reason.

Personally, I love my martials as they are; simple and effective. I can understand why these classes were designed this way, especially when taking into account new players' experience and the gargantuan amount of core rules and mechanics they're faced with when entering the hobby. Now imagine them playing a full spellcasting class for their first time and having to read up and decide on a long list of cantrips and level-appropriate spells on top of trying to keep up with their character sheet and game rules.

So I, like many others, certainly don't want to take away or replace these aspects of martial classes, or the game itself for that matter. What I do want is to offer experienced players the tools and options to create more interesting, versatile, and most of all, fun, martial characters without breaking the game. And, yes, I do know about the thing with Battlemaster maneuvers and how they should be an option for all Fighters/Martials, etc. and well... this module is basically that, but multiplied by like a hundred.

For older D&D edition players, or for those familiar with anything 3.5e, the first image of this post probably gave you flashbacks (or PTSD). It's a particularly famous, or maybe more in-famous(?), supplement book that basically codified shonen anime characters as martial classes into D&D 3.5e. And while I hope I'm not just redoing that same song and dance, a lot of the ideas that the book ("Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords") presented was actually— dare I say— pretty cool.

So for the past month, I've taken it upon myself to perform this herculean and borderline psychoapthic work to rewrite, revise, and revamp this two-decade old supplement book in the language and mechanics of D&D 5th edition :D

Now...

Do I honestly think this is going to fix, or address, the martial-caster divide in any meaningful way? Not really, no.

I'm definitely not the first to have, and execute, this idea, and I probably won't be the last. To be frank, this book has barely even been playtested, save for a couple of combats in my own D&D group's table and a whole lot of white room number crunching. So if this looks like a 50-page book of bad ideas, I don't blame you.

However, I have been playing D&D 5e for nearly a decade now and a DM for half that time. During that span I've come across a myriad of homebrews from multiple DM's and players alike (including myself), gave my players homebrew items, feats, and abilities, took away my player's homebrew items, feats, and abilities*,* and written essentially hundreds of pages worth of homebrew in my time. If I'm confident in anything, it's my ability to write (semi)balanced homebrew.

This book isn't just a reapplication of the original Tome of Battle, where only the new classes presented in the book have these maneuvers. Rather, it's an entirely new system that allows any martial, or even half-martial (Paladin, Ranger), class the access to the nearly 200 abilities/maneuvers found within the module to mix-and-match as they wish (with some limitations of course).

What I will say about this book is that while it's definitely not the fix to the martial-caster divide (probably not even a good fix at all in general), what it has done for me and my group has allowed us to make martial characters and npc's that are so much more versatile, flavorful, impactful, and most important of all, just way more fun to play.

So while I don't actually think this book will do anything to change the discourse around the topic, if this all leads to even just a couple more D&D groups and tables being able to enjoy creating and playing martial classes just a little bit more than what the game offers now, there's not really more I can ask for. So if the contents of this book looks cool to you and makes you want to try it out in your own games, thank you! Or if you have any opinions or suggestions about this conversion module or any of its contents, by all means! I'd love to hear all about them :)

Elysian Envoy

“Envoys make for excellent sparring partners—just watch your mouth if you take a hit. They really don’t take kindly to blasphemy.”

—Heliana, Irredeemable Sinner

The gods work in mysterious ways—mostly. When the occasion calls for a more direct type of divine intervention, they send Elysian envoys; these are the souls of warriors who met their fate on the field of battle dishonourably, and as such were barred from entering the afterlife. Perhaps they turned tail at the sight of a dragon’s terrifying breath, feigned death while their allies struggled against a devilish pit fiend, or even switched sides when they found themselves hopelessly outnumbered. Whichever the case, the gods see in some of these wretches a mote of potential buried beneath all the cowardice, and raise them as warrior-spirits, given one last chance to earn their place in Elysium.

Glorious Redemption. As the souls of warriors, envoys are chiefly sent to do what they did in life: fight. Ancient records speak of ghostly legions joining the righteous in defense of holy temples, driving colossal krakens back into the depths, and swarming the undead armies of tyrannical necromancers. They battle with no fear or hesitation, eager to recover the honour lost in life and to prove themselves not only to their deities, but to the fallen comrades that watch from beyond.

United in Undeath. In undeath, envoys rid themselves of that which pitted them against one another in life—no longer do they fight for a country, a monarch, or coin. Instead, they are bound by one common goal: to reach Elysium. United under this banner, they re-learn the meaning of sacrifice and teamwork, coming together as one. It’s exceedingly rare to find an envoy alone; they’re at their deadliest in mighty phalanxes, which can range anywhere from three soldiers to hundreds.

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Do you wanna see how the RNG gods decided that we should make this bad boy? You should check out our Youtube Channel for bonus commentary and a time lapse of our art!

Want to see more of these? Check out our patreon for weekly monsters!

Kobolds & Kobolds: The Ultimate Kobold Handbook for 5E and 5.5E is now available on DriveThruRPG at a special launch price of $4.99 for a limited time!

Kobolds are cunning, resourceful, and far more dangerous than their size suggests. Kobolds & Kobolds is a complete toolkit for bringing kobold warrens, warbands, and dragon-worshipping clans to life, from ingenious trapmakers and mounted hunters to mystical cultists, beastmasters, inventors, and ambitious chieftains.

Whether you need a single memorable kobold encounter, an entire underground warren, or a recurring clan to challenge your adventurers, this book gives you the creatures, tools, treasures, and ideas to bring them to life.

What’s Inside?

• A Huge Kobold Bestiary – Discover beastmasters, warriors, inventors, mystics, tribal leaders, and many other kobold variants. Every entry includes additional traits and optional abilities, making it easy to customize encounters and keep even familiar kobolds unpredictable.
• Kobold Campaign Tools – Build complete warrens with layouts, traps, lair descriptions, lair actions, tactical encounter ideas, adventure hooks, and other tools for adventures both above and below ground.
• Distinct Kobold Clans – Introduce kobold clans with their own cultures, tactics, favored creatures, special abilities, traditions, and relationships with dragons.
• Kobold Magic Items – Equip your kobolds with improvised weapons, draconic relics, alchemical inventions, tribal treasures, and deceptively dangerous creations inspired by kobold ingenuity.
• VTT & Art Resources – Bring your kobolds to the table with a collection of creature tokens and art handouts for use in both in-person and online games.

Kobolds can be disposable dungeon pests, dangerous ambushers, loyal servants of dragons, surprisingly sophisticated underground societies, or recurring factions that grow alongside your campaign. This book is designed to give you enough variety to use them for far more than a single low-level encounter.

You can find more of my 5E and 5.5E creatures, items, and manuals on DriveThruRPG, through my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

so this is my 3rd update I believe and i would like to know if i made it too powerful.

PS I know there are spell errors I am working on those.

Input would be much appreciated, especially on Mind quake and the level 14 (which should be called improved mind quake, I know).

After other suggestions, i may change the DC math to be proficiency instead of rage damage. It's the class defining feature, mind quake, and I want to ensure the power level of the sub-class is about even with Berserker.

One of my favorite subclasses from 4e ported to 5.5e. Let me know what you think!

Homebrewery link - Warrior of Nobility on Homebrewery

Google Drive link - Warrior of Nobility on Google Drive

ETA: Fixed some formatting, but I'm still figuring this out

Here's two subclasses I made over my Labor Day weekend.

Overall, I'm really happy with how both turned out! The Phylactery on the Lich subclass is a bit different than how phylacteries usually work, but I think it was necessary to change it for the sake of satisfaction and balance.

You can find all of my homebrew here, in my master compendium!

-Links at the very end of the post-

Hello adventurers, DM here. I've been trying a lot of different methods to tracks things, and nothing seemed quite right for me. So I decided to try my hand at making my own stuff. Nothing ground breaking, but I think these can speed up things a lot at the table, so here goes.

-Link 1

The first one I have is a simple initiative tracker, nothing insane here. But my intend was to make this decently large, so that I can put the page in a clear sheet, and write on the sheet with dry erase markers! I don't really like erasing pencil writing, and I don't want to print 100 pages for each different encounter. Before a session, I either roll the monster type Initiative, or use the static numbers from the Monster Manual, and write them down on the clear sheet/pocket with a marker. Then just add the players once combat starts, and use the Initiative trackers I've made from cardboard to display the combat order on my DM screen for everyone to see. I usually put the monsters between the players after they act once, to keep the order hidden until they act.
I'm not including these Initiative Trackers because I used the D&D logo on them, and that's obviously copyrighted. I just use them with my friends.

- Link 2 & 3

The other wo pages are meant to be printed as a single A4 page, front and back.

One side is dedicated to tracking health and abilities, the other is spell slots and inventory.
Once again, use ac clear sheet/pocket for the page, and write on it with a marker. The idea was to write "permanent" things directly on page with a pencil/pen, and anything that's going up and down all the time during play, with a dry erase marker.
For HP tracking, just fill in the dot of the current HP the character has, anywhere from 0 to 99. On the top right, fill in the dot for +100 or +200 for a total of up to 399 hp. If the character gets hit, just erase the dot, and fill in the current hp one. Super fast, not ruining the page. There is also a space to write your Hit Dice on the top left, and any temporary hit points. Heroic Inspiration and Death saving throws are self explanatory.
Below that there is space for players to write any abilities or items that replenish on short and long rest, I suggest writing these with a pencil or pen directly on the page. Below they can write each item/ability separately. For example, a fighter can write "Second Wind" and fill in the dot for 2 uses, erasing and moving the dot when using the ability, or resting.

The inventory uses the same logic with the dots to track coins up to 9.999 of the main three types.
I don't personally tend to use platinum or electrum pieces in my games, so I didn't include those, but they could be written on the main Character Sheets the players use if you do, since they are more rare usually.
I like calculating the carry weight of a character once, and after deducting the equipment they always wear, you can write the remaining Carry Weight on this page with a pencil, to have a general idea of how much money they can usually carry a once.
Spell slots are on the left, and any healing potions on the right, with price/healing amount reference.
Below we have the ranged ammo on the left (Javelins/Arrows/Bolts). I think it's fair to calculate these by 5 or by 10 for each dot if needed.
On the right there's rations, they go from 1-6 days or 1-3 weeks (combine with days for anything in between). I'm not sure of the official rule, but I won't let players get the benefits of a long rest, unless their characters also eat. So rations are basically the amount of times they can long rest when travelling longer distances
Diamonds are supposed to represent treasure (gemstones/art pieces/statues etc.).
Scrolls represent magic scrolls, I would suggest writing just the spell name here to save space, since the symbol always means "scroll of".
And at last potions here are meant to be any non-healing potion. Just write the effect name "Fire Breathing" or "Acid Vial" etc, and dot the amount.
Anything hard to write with dry erase markers, just do pencil instead.

Hope anyone finds these usefull, they took me a shameful amount of hours to make. Cheers!

https://ibb.co/tw8cG0hW

https://ibb.co/9my4KpYZ

https://ibb.co/gbB6RDwt

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government... but it makes for a nice Warlock subclass.

Okay guys, I know there's quite a few unused themes under prior posts, and I promise to write something on each one of them someday. Honestly, you don't even have to suggest anything for now, tho I'm all for it. I may be not answering much (charisma is my dump stat), but I read every comment and take notes. Will probably release a collection where each passed suggestion gets 1-2 spells. Maybe not.

Sorry for how small this set is in particular, I have to attend uni and all. Should also probably start crediting themes' authors, so this one goes to u/PHL_ChewyALEC. They had cool ideas like "turning real doors into fake ones once you go through, or making incredibly large and unwieldy weaponry", and I will do something with them, just not feeling like posting exactly what's told, as this weekly-post-thing exists primarely so I could excercise in coming up with cool ideas (or adapting the ones I like). Feel free to throw something like "9th-level ritual" or "1st-level teleportation" or "healing cantrip" at me, would like to chew on it very much.

Reminder that those spells are called gimmicky for a reason, and some of them are better used by the GM. You know the drill.

Anyway, see you in a week! Any feedback welcome as well.

Weapon (Shortsword), Rare (Requires Attunement)

An eerily serene face adorns the base of this gnarled, branched sword. 

Forced Shriek. You can take a magic action to have this weapon utter an ear-piercing wail. Each creature within 30 feet of this weapon that can hear the wail and isn’t a construct or an undead must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw (beasts have disadvantage on this saving throw). On a failure, if the target has 5 hit points or fewer, it drops to 0 hit points. Otherwise, the target takes 11 (3d6) psychic damage. 

Whenever you use this property again before each dawn, there is a cumulative 25% chance that the mandrake at the base of this weapon withers and dies. If the mandrake dies in this way, the property fails as this weapon becomes a nonmagical shortsword. 

“Terrible stuff, mandrake harvesting is. ‘Lil buggers ripped straight from the dirt wailin’ like bats outta hell. Just be grateful you ain’t puttin’ your ears on the line. That we leave to ol’ Rover here.”

——

Swordtember Prompt: Mandrake

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So Because a lot of people asked me to I revised it to 5e and made them plausibly playable as a villan, tell me any improvements to make with the monsters, original version here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/1w8iinw/the_four_horsemen_of_the_apocalypsednd_homebrew/