



One of the most exciting things I heard about for the birthday celebration is the mention again of adversary cards. Maybe I am just a goblin for items like dice and cards, but I want them so bad!!! That being said, my question for the subreddit is, are there others that are excited for these to come out and if so, what are you imagining using them for? For those not excited, is there a reason? Do you think these will just be too much to deal with or that they won't get much use?
Also, if there are any updates on progress or release date or a kickstarter please let me know!
Hello all! I am starting my first campaign as a GM soon, and one of my players is running a Witch. I was thrilled to see them show off the Hope and Fear Witch pages in the Birthday Stream yesterday and planned to let my player see the updated class/subclass information, so I typed everything up from the stream that appeared to have changes and thought I would share! I've included some notes for comparison to what was in the Void content as well. (*Note: I think I got everything correct, but hard to read some areas.)
A small, harmless pet or a scrying stone [instead of talking skull].
Hex: Mark a stress to temporarily Hex a target within far range. While Hexed, the target gains a penalty to their damage rolls and Difficulty equal to your tier. The maximum number of creatures you can Hex at one time is equal to your Spellcast trait. [No requirement for you or an ally to mark a Hit Point before Hexing, and named a range limit for the target of the Hex. Target gains a penalty instead of players gaining a bonus. Max number of simultaneous Hexes added, and no specific text on ending the Hex (would now be covered by normal GM rules of ending status effects).]
Commune: [Appears to be the same as the Void, except that "nature spirit" was updated to just say "a spirit."
Foundation Features
Specialization Feature
Mastery Feature
Foundation Feature
Specialization Feature
Mastery Feature
[Edit: Added to/clarified note on Hex feature.]
"Salvation Beam:
Make a Spellcast Roll (16). On a success, mark any number of Stress to target a line of allies within Far range. You can clear Hit Points on the targets equal to the number of Stress marked, divided among them however you’d like."
How do you rule that line? In my understanding you are not your own ally so you cannot exchange your own stress for HP slots. But does the line have to start at your position or can it be any line in Far range. For example my allies form a Frontline and a stand behind it can I target them all or do I have to be at the end of that "Frontline"?
The only other spell that I found with a line are the Wall spells which clearly states to choose two points and connect them.
The Art for the Salvation Beam card does not help at all by the way:)
Thanks in advance for the advice
Go vote, this is on Bob world builders page.
Voting is still open and you can help lend a voice to our community 😄
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEkeKPSKPWSKrFNtMSZcUjXwRF-S_MCZWP3-LkgbicKJcFvg/viewform
Welcome to Tadpole Thursday, the weekly community Q&A Megathread for Daggerheart newbies!
There's no such thing as a bad question in here. The rest of the community is standing by to help explain the basics of the rules, direct you to resources, and help get you a feel for what it's like to play or run Daggerheart.
What to Share. This Megathread is to open all questions about Daggerheart, no matter how basic or obscure.
How to Thrive. If you have experience with a given question and can offer a concrete answer, advice, or resource link, please chime in!
Here are a few guidelines for our Newbies:
Here are a few guidelines for our resident experts when answering:
Sincerely, thank you all for being part of one of the fastest growing and most generous subs on Reddit!
Hey everyone! So I thought I would ask you for your opinion on a project I’ve been working on for a while now. It is a collection of 99 domain cards, 11 per domain. The cards will not have art because it would be close to 9k euros…
My issue is the playtesting: I have been able to get groups to playtest most cards from levels 1 to 5, and 5 would need more data. I can’t fit more Daggerheart games into my life (what a sad sentence!) and my friends have already been super generous with their time testing the subclasses from my first supplement Fearless and the vol2 coming soon.
So by the time I would finish playtesting all cards for all domains above 5, it would take months of high level content, assuming players would want to try my new spells and abilities. So what should I do?
1- publish now (with disclaimer?)
2- wait until higher levels are playtested
3- third option (tell me if it's obvious I'm new at this)
Edit: can't seem to make the poll widget to work
I'm currently running a Daggerheart game for 2 players: a mousefolk sorcerer and a infernis rogue.
The rogue has taken the Uncanny Disguise domain card. It reads:
>When you have a few minutes to prepare, you can mark a Stress to don the facade of any humanoid you can picture clearly in your mind. While disguised, you have advantage on Presence Rolls to avoid scrutiny.
Place a number of tokens equal to your Spellcast trait on this card. When you take an action while disguised, spend a token from this card. After the action that spends the last token is resolved, the disguise drops.
The sorcerer has managed to loot the Glamour Stone following a roll on the loot table in the Core Set Rulebook. The Glamour Stone reads:
>Activate this pebble-sized stone to memorize the appearance of someone you can see. Spend a Hope to magically recreate this guise on yourself as an illusion.
Obviously there is a lot of overlap with Uncanny Disguise and the Glamour Stone. Neither player has expressed concern about both having disguise based abilities, but I fear that one of the rogue's core mechanics has now been somewhat trivialised by giving the other player a common loot item.
We're currently ruling it that the Glamour Stone makes an illusion which is obviously much bigger than the mousefolk when they disguise themselves as a human (or something comparable) so they can't interact with objects and doors in the way you might expect, but besides spending a single Hope, there doesn't appear to be any other negatives about it.
I might be making a big deal about nothing, but how would you approach this? Would you just try and make interactions that would draw attention to the Glamour Stone being more illusion-based?
I plan to speak with my players about it before next session, but any suggestions are welcome!
The balance helper is really nice though, kudos!
The Foundryborne Team wants to join in on the Daggerheart Birthday celebration!
We are giving away one (1) FoundryVTT license key.
To enter, just post a comment here with your favorite Character Experience!
Requirements:
My table have recently started enjoying the fantastic campaign frame "The Ameraldi Coast" by @Stoneward13 available here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/daggerheart/s/4AMukDurtf
As a result, I have created a set of full ship sailing mechanics, including modular upgrades, crew maintenance mechanics, ship maintenance and repair, and most importantly; Naval combat. Including PC professions that the characters can train in, in game to give the vessel unique bonuses like targeting weak spots and
Seen as the amazing campaign frame had so much work, go into it for absolutely free, I thought I'd do the same with my ships, and post the "Work-in-progress" here, I hope you enjoy and please give me any feedback if you try them in your games!
Basic Ship Mechanics:
Brigantine
HP:
Evasion - 12
Hull - 10/15/20
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
(The general health of the ship, once it hits 0 the ship is sunk.)
Crew stress -1 per Heavy damage etc
□ □ □ □ □ □
(Otherwise known as Morale, when crew die or are injured, this can fill. But also during long journeys without food, gold or motivation, the crew could get more stress. If the crews Stress is full, they may fail to follow orders, making the ship almost impossible to man, or maybe even mutany)
Water level - On Major damage, start a D12 Countdown Die
(No prizes for guessing what happens what that runs out. Ship sinks.)
Speed: 5-8 Knots - 6 avg speed
(during chase scenes, instead of rolling players agility, the players will use their speed dice, apoased by their targets or Pursuers speed dice, in this case a D6, the winner of this role will tick up their chase dice. This happens at the beginning of every round of the action tracker)
(For example:
PC ship syarys chacing another ship, depending on how far away the shipmis when the chace wnsuse will determin how high or low tge chace die will staty or which dienyou will use. Thatbis to GMs discresion and uses thenusual chase mechanics (pg 163 in the Guide)
The PCs ship has as average speed of 6 (speed = 1D6, and they are chasing a ship that is slightly quicker, a Sloop with a avg speed of 8 knots = 1D8, at the top of each action tracker round (or spotlight/fear action, whatever you perfer) the two ships roll their speed, the higher roll ticks up their chase Die and the ship with the higher speed is more likely to get away, but still possible to be caught through crew intervention or luck, if the quicker ship keeps rolling badly maybe the wind changes direction, and their many masts make the vessle quick but difficult for the crew to adjust as quickly as the players, even though they are generally slower.)
Armourments: Port side - 4 Cannons (4D8)
Starboard side - 4 Cannons (4D8)
Bow - Swivel guns: Chainshots & Grapples (see Master of Arms)
Layout:
Stern / Deck / Bow
(Only really used for fire spreading mechanics, See Alchemic fire rules at the end)
Capacity manages most resources on the ship. you can upgrade the ship in any area, in any way you see fit. but it will come at the cost of space.
adding more cannons will raise your damage output, but you will have less space for crew mates. armour will let you receive more Hull damage, but at the cost of speed etc. This will mainly he to GMs discression as to what makes sense to trade out for, eventually of the PCs want more capacity to add more guns (its always more guns...) they will need to attack and board a larger vessle, and claim it as their own. (See SHIP UPGRADES)
Helmsman - Steers the ship. Tanner
(Manoeuvre: on success +2 to hit with Cannons.
Evade: on success +2 to evasion.
BRACE! - As a reaction, mark a stress to lower incoming damage severity by 1)
Trimmer - Manages the sails - Alistair Finch
(Accelerate: on success +1 to speed
HOIST THE MAINS! - Mark a stress to gain a +3 to speed for 1D4 rounds)
Navigator - Navigates via maps and Crows nest - Timmy
(Long Arm - Target enemy crew with a long-armed rifle +1 enemy stress
WEAK SPOT! - Mark a stress to give the Cannons advantage to hit)
Powder Monkey - Reloads the guns - Issik
(Quick Reload - On a success Cannons roll an extra 1D8 of damage
BOOM! - Mark a stress to A: Double the damage bonus or B: drop a powder keg off the Stern to attack Pursuers)
Master of arms - Crowd control of enemy ships, uses Chain-shots and Grapples to control targets - Captain Merry
(Swivel guns;
Chain shots - On success -2 to enemy speed
Grapples - On success drag ship closer (Far-Close-Very Close-Mele)
BOARD! - Mark a stress to swing across to a ship in CLOSE range)
Cannoneer - Aims and fires the Cannons - Sialas Ward
(FIRE! On hit (+"Mauver" & "Weakspot" bonus) 1D8 for each cannon on firing side (+Powder Keg bonus
AGAIN! - Mark a stress to fire again with the same bonuses)
Bosun - Maintains the ship - Barnaby
(Repair the Hull - On success gain 1HP
Patch Holes - On success Pause Water Level Die
BAIL! - Mark a stress to reset the Water level)
Surgeon - Heals the crew - Doc
(Patch up - On success, heal one crew mate
NIP-O-Rum - Mark a stress to give the crew some rum to calm their nerves, + 2 crew mates and advantage on next board attempt)
Evasion - due to capacity rules, if one goes up another goes down as a trade off
Hull HP
Crew Capacity
Water Level
Speed
Range
Armament
Rare and expensive upgrades. The party will have to come across blueprints, and/Master craftsmen to install them
- Rear Swivel Guns: same mechanics apply
- Ironclad Bulk: Reuce all incoming damage by 2.
-Armoured Hull: Water Level Die starts on Severe damage rather than Major
- Offensive Training: Boarding rolls have advantage.
- Defensive Training: Boarding defence rolls have advantage.
- Battle Horn: Nearby allied ships gain +1 Evasion.
- Intimidating Figurehead: Enemys must make a Fear save when combat begins or gain stress.
- Oarsmen Surge: Once per encounter, double speed for 1 round.
- Alchemical Fire Barrels: MKI/ MKII/ MKIII/ MKIV/ MKV
(See achemic fire rules at the end)
- Gilded Hull: +1 to social rolls at sea.
- Silent Cutting Hull: Enemy ships suffer +2 Difficulty to detect you at night or in fog.
- Shock‑Ram: When ramming, deal +2 Heavy Damage and force a Crew Stress check on the enemy.
Tradeoff: Your ship takes 1 Heavy Damage automatically.
- Fog‑Emitter Crucible: Once per encounter, create a d4‑round fog cloud around your ship (you gain +2 Evasion; ranged attacks suffer +2 Difficulty).
- Siren’s Song Bell: Once per encounter, force an enemy ship to make a Fear save or lose its action.
SHIPS:
⚔️ Iron Clans of Varunkel – *Longship*
*Fast, brutal, and built for boarding. Their goal is to get close, hook on, and overwhelm.*
Varunkel Longship (Raider – Level 1–2 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 14
- Hull: 8 / 12 / 16
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
- Water Level: On Major damage, start a d6 Countdown Die
Layout:
Main deck
Speed: 6–10 knots (very fast under oars)
Armament:
- Ranged: 2 Light Ballistae (2d8)
- Boarding: Grapple Hooks (advantage on boarding attempts)
Special Traits:
- Oarsmen Surge: Once per encounter, ise a D10 instead of the D6 speed Die, for 1 round.
- Berserker Crew: When boarding, deal +2 damage on the first round. (To crew stress directly, and to any PCs in combat, +2 to all damage)
- Shallow Draft: Can navigate waters other ships cannot.
---
🐉 Celestial Dynasty – *Alchemical Fire Barge*
*Trade vessel first, weapons platform second. Designed to keep pirates far away.*
Kaien‑Zuru Fire Barge (Trade Barge – Level 2–3 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 13
- Hull: 12 / 18 / 24
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □ □ □
- Water Level: On SEVERE damage, start a d10 Countdown Die
Speed: 6–8 knots
Layout:
Stern / Poop deck / Main Deck / Bow
Armament:
- Deck Throwers: 3 Alchemical Barrel Launchers
- Repeating Crossbows: 6 Light Crossbow Nests (6d6)
Special Traits:
- Alchemical Fire: On a crit, fire spreads to adjacent ship sections.
- Protected Cargo: Water Level countdown begins on SEVERE damage not MAJOR
- Trade Priority: Will attempt to flee before fighting.
---
🌤️ Sovereign Frigates – *White‑and‑Gold Aristocrat Ships*
*Fastest ships in the world. Not built for war, but can outrun anything.*
Sovereign Pleasure Frigate (Luxury Frigate – Level 1 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 16
- Hull: 6 / 10 / 14
○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □
- Water Level: On Major damage, start a d8 Countdown Die
Speed: 10–14 knots (fastest on the seas)
(D8+2 - D12+2 speed die)
Layout:
Fore Deck / Main Deck
Armament:
- Minimal Guns: 2 Decorative Cannons (2d8)
- Signal Rockets: Used for calling help, not combat
Special Traits:
- Gilded Hull: Intimidating to common sailors; +1 to social rolls at sea.
- Crew of Servants: Poor at combat; disadvantage on boarding defence.
---
⚓ The Crown of Adharon's Flagship Galleon.
*A floating fortress. Anyone should think twice before fighting this head‑on.*
Imperial Galleon (Man-O-War – Tier 4 Threat)
HP:
-Evasion: 10
- Hull: 30 / 40 / 50
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –2 per Major damage
□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
- Water Level: On SEVERE damage, start a d20 countdown Die (it sinks slower due to compartmentalisation)
Layout:
Stern / Poop deck / Main deck / Fore deck / Bow
Speed: 4–6 knots (slow but unstoppable)
Armament:
- Port: 12 Heavy Cannons (12d8)
- Starboard: 12 Heavy Cannons (12d8)
- Bow: 4 Chasers (4d10 piercing)
- Stern: 2 Chasers (2d10)
Special Traits:
- Ironclad Bulk: Reduce all incoming damage by 2.
-Armoured Hull: Water Level countdown starts on Severe damage not Major.
- Admiralty Marines: im combat boarding rolls have disadvantage.
- Command Ship: Nearby allied ships gain +1 Evasion.
- Terrifying Presence: PCs must make a Fear save when combat begins or Mark a stress, crew marks a stress automatically.
---
⚓ Standard Ships of the World
Useful for merchants, pirates, NPC encounters, or environmental flavour.
---
Sloop (Light Scout Vessel – Level 1 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 15
- Hull: 6 / 8 / 12
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □ □ □ □
Water level - On Major damage start a D8 Countdown Die
- Speed: 8–12 knots
- Weapons: 2 Light Cannons (2d8), 1 Swivel Gun (1d6)
Traits:
- Excellent for scouting
- High manoeuvrability (+2 to Evasion when Manouvering)
---
Galleon (Merchant Galleon – Level 3 Threat)
(Not as terrifying as the Grand Navy’s war galleon.)
HP:
- Evasion: 11
- Hull: 20 / 30 / 40
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
Water level - On Major damage, start a D12 Countdown Die
- Speed: 4–6 knots
- Weapons: 6 Cannons per side (6d8)
Traits:
- Slow to turn
- Huge cargo capacity
- Often escorted
---
Skiff (Tiny Boat – Level 0 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 14
- Hull: 10
○
- Speed: 4–6 knots (rowing)
Traits:
- Cannot mount cannons
- Used for landing parties, fishing, or sneaking
---
Cutter (Fast Courier – Level 1–2 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion:15
- Hull: 8 / 12 / 16
○ ○ ○ ○
- Crew Stress: –1 per Major damage
□ □ □ □
Water level - On Major damage, start a D8 Countdown Die
- Speed: 10–12 knots
- Weapons: 2 Light Cannons (2d8)
Traits:
- Used for messages, smuggling, and scouting
- Hard to hit at long range
---
Brig (Mid‑Size Warship – Level 2 Threat)
HP:
- Evasion: 13
- Hull: 12 / 18 / 24
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Crew stress -1 per Major damage etc
□ □ □ □ □ □
Water level - On Major damage, start a D12 Countdown Die
- Speed: 7–9 knots
- Weapons: 4 Cannons per side (4d8)
Traits:
- Common pirate ship
- Balanced speed and firepower
🔥 Alchemic Fire Cask (Dynasty Weapon Block)
A volatile cask of sticky, alchemical gel that ignites on impact. Designed for ship‑to‑ship combat, or ocean zoning to place barriers between persuers. Terrifying and a closely guarded secret by the Dynasty.
Weapon Profile
- Range: Close–Medium
- Attack Bonus: +2
- On Hit: Target ship gains Burning (Countdown d4 = 4) and immediately takes 1 direct Damage.
- Reload: 1 round
- Crew Required: Cannoneer or Master of Arms
---
🔥 Burning (Countdown d4 = 4)
The level of the alchemic fire barrel depends on the amount of damage it will do, ie a MKI barrel is a D4, a MKII is D6, MKIII D8, MKIV D10, MKV D12.
A ship set ablaze by alchemic fire begins a countdown that ticks down each round.
At the start of each round of the action tracker:
- The ship takes 1 direct Damage.
- The ship suffers +1 Crew Stress.
- Reduce the countdown by 1.
When the countdown goes from 1 to 0:
The fire burns out and the condition ends.
---
🪣 Extinguish Action
Any PC or NPC crew member may attempt to reduce the countdown.
- Action: Attempt to extinguish the flames (throw water, smother, beat down the fire).
- Difficulty: 2
- Success: Reduce the countdown by 1.
- Failure: No reduction; the acting character suffers 1 Stress from heat and smoke.
This allows multiple characters to meaningfully contribute in the same round at the cost of ship progress or preparation.
💥 Mishap (Natural 1 on Attack)
Dynasty alchemic fire is dangerous to handle.
- The firing ship takes 1 direct Damage.
- The firing ship gains Burning (Countdown d4 = 4) on its own deck.
I was watching the live stream and I’m very excited for the hex crawl stuff they showed, i’m just about to start a West marchers inspired campaign in the next few days so I would love to have the official rules, but I couldn’t get any clear screenshots
Sounds like they're giving it a spin in the CR Atlanta live show next week, but curious to hear from those who playtested the original version whether swapping Blade for Bone is the direction to go with the class?
With the 1st birthday of Daggerheart event I wanted to reshare my adventure frame I wrote called Blood & Midnight. I finished the whole play testing adventure a few weeks ago so this is the final version that's fully tested and polished which I'm quite happy with.
You may have read that Heart of Daggers is giving all the proceeds for purchases to creators during the birthday event so I wanted to take a chance to promote my adventure, although it is pay what you want, so you can get it for free as well :)
The adventure frame is meant to act as all the materials a GM needs to frame out an epic tale across 3 set piece encounters featuring your PCs dealings with the vampire nobel, Lady Veyren DuVal. I wrote it with a lot of inspiration from the Arkham Horror LCG so it offers branching stories and objectives. In our group, the PCs went into the final showdown and chose to save their ally, stop the ritual, and defeat Lady Veyren DuVal, BUT at the cost of 3 Blaze of Glory death moves to make it so they would have such a great success.
https://heartofdaggers.com/products/blood-and-midnight-a-tier-1-and-2-adventure-module/
If you've already checked out my adventure I just wanted to thank y'all for the support, and if you had a chance to try it out, I'd love to hear how it went from you :) My chat is open on Reddit or feel free to comment.
Hello Daggerhearties!
It’s Meredith from Demiplane for DAY 3!
Happy DAY 3 of our Giveaways this week! Your homebrew yesterday was fantastic (big fan of the Anansii!) and we are thrilled to release homebrew tools soon so you can put them in the NEXUS!
Alongside our incredible partners, Darrington Press (thank you, Darrington Darlings!), we are going to run a giveaway a day this week in celebration of Daggerheart’s Birthday! The prize will be one (1) Daggerheart Core Set from the Daggerheart NEXUS, the official digital companion for Daggerheart!
We will be running this once a day through Friday so now there are three chances to win!
The Giveaway (The Deets!)
📢 How to Participate
Every day, we are going to ask a question to the community!
Comment below answering the following question:
💭 What is your ONE piece of advice for someone starting Daggerheart (Dealer's Choice for GM and/or Player) for the first time?
🎁 Giveaway Rules & Details
Started playing a family Daggerheart Howard's Rip off with the family, and my youngest loves it so much he asked for his own copy!!!
I made the Liar's Crit post that Elise mentioned in the birthday stream!
I'd love to see a t-shirt or something for that, if Darrington were interested. I'm not trying to make money off of it, I just think it'd be cool and a way to contribute to the community. Is that something any of the rest of you would like to see?
Age of Umbra: Sallowlands is an all-new, six-part Daggerheart mini-series from Critical Role, set in a dark and foreboding fantasy world, debuting July 9 on Beacon, Twitch, and YouTube! Return to the blighted Halcyon Domain as five misfits seek solace within the mysteries of a new region: The Sallowlands. This swathe of cracked badlands holds secrets that could lead them to salvation – or into the jaws of ancient horror.
Game Master Matthew Mercer leads this standalone adventure, and is joined by a cast including Critical Role co-founder Laura Bailey along with Jennifer English, Abubakar Salim, Vico Ortiz, and Zachery Renauldo. They’ll encounter brutal adversaries and high-stakes in this dark and emotional actual play, which explores themes of desperation, survival, and love in the face of overwhelming odds.
We can't wait for you to get to enjoy it! Plenty more reveals to come but in the meantime set your reminders for the July 9th premiere.