September 2021 Development Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 11:48:48 AM

Thanks to everyone who provided survey feedback. Due to this feedback, we took a pause to look at our completed content and make some changes and additions. Here is a quick summary of the most significant development.

Races

Overall, you told us you're happy with the racial options, including the new Karokans. The most significant changes we made in this chapter were to the Dragonborn and Selkies.

Dragonborn

• You asked for Coral Dragonborn. 
• We rebuilt the dragonborn as a full stand-alone race called Aquatic Dragonborn with Coral Dragonborn and Sea Dragonborn subraces. 
• This player option should feel familiar to anyone who looked at the Dragonborn UA pdf from a while back.

Selkies

• We updated the Seal Skin trait to provide more utility while outside of seal form. The trait now provides a +1 to AC for selkies when they are in humanoid form (or wild shaped too for druids) and wearing their seal skin as a cloak.
• While in seal form, we made it easier for selkies to change in and out of seal form by making it a bonus action. We also wanted to make the seal form a little more sturdy. We changed the calculation to 10 + DEX mod + CHA mod from the previous 12 + DEX mod in the Quickstart. This new calculation should look familiar to anyone who has played a barbarian or monk.
• Overall, these two changes should make selkies a more attractive choice for players.

Subclasses

Overall, we made some minor tweaks and changes to a handful of subclasses such as the Speargunner and Path of the Wild Seas Barbarian. The feedback on the subclasses was positive but you told us you felt like the sorcerers needed a little boost.

Ancient Magic Sorcerer

• The Arcane Device has been rewritten to simplify the device. Also, device enhancements that had to wait until level 14 are now split to unlock at 1st and more advanced stuff at 14th level.

Tidal Sorcerer

• Tidal Sorcerers now get a spell list at 1st Level.

Magic

The total number of magic items in the book has nearly tripled from what we presented in the Quickstart, increasing from 12 to 31 magic items. This includes eight Relics of the Ancients. 

Monsters

The total number of monster stat blocks in the book has increased over 50% from what we presented in the Quickstart, jumping from 40 to 62 stat blocks.

• We have two new kallidu constructs (rover and stinger) geared towards undersea encounters that are replacing the walker and crawler we reprinted from The Seas of Vodari in the Quickstart.
• Some of the new monsters include Coral Dragons, Sea Dragons (reprint from The Seas of Vodari), Mimic Sunken Ship, Lavaspitter, Hunting Lizard, Reem, and the Undying Deep. 
• All of the Under the Seas of Vodari subclasses now have NPC stat blocks too.

Please let us know what you think of these changes and additions in the comments below. Early Access backers should expect to see some of this content shortly.

Under the Seas of Vodari QS v0.5 Feedback Survey
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 01:58:15 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

August 2021 Development Update
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 12:38:52 PM

Hey everyone!

I wanted to provide an update on what we've been up to over the last month and what's coming up.

Development Update

Here are some details on what we've been working on since the last update:

•  Welcome to the Undersea World: We expect writing for this section to reach completion this week. We will then move into editing and bringing all of the myths and legends together into a cohesive story of the undersea world's history and pantheon.
•  An Undersea World to Explore (Writing Complete): Writing for this chapter is complete. Our current focus is on artwork and editing.
•  People of Vodari (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Player Options (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Equipment (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Vehicles: We're heavy into development and I'm hoping we'll have more to share soon!
•  Spells (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. We just added two new undersea-themed healing spells. This chapter is complete and will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.  
•  Monsters: We are just finishing up adding NPC stat blocks for the new subclasses that appeared in the Quickstart Guide. Final development is focused on completing our remaining higher CR monsters by late August.
•  Running Undersea Adventures: Development for this section is near complete. We're still looking to add some undersea diseases and other small bits. Editing has begun on the completed random tables.
•  The Sunken City of Zuroth: The adventure is being playtested!

Feedback Survey

We will send out a survey to backers for feedback on the new player options and spells in the Quickstart Guide towards the end of the month. If you didn't get a chance to complete the last survey, please provide your feedback this time... every little bit helps. If you completed the last survey, additional feedback on the new stuff and changes is much appreciated and we hope you'll complete another survey.

Pregen Characters

The undersea themed character sheets have been sent out and we're now working on the pregens. All of the pregen character sheets have art and we're about halfway through building out level 3 PCs for each subclass. The goal of the character sheets is for GMs to have them ready to go for players when they run the undersea adventure, The Sunken City of Zuroth.

Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide v0.5 Sent
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 08:00:05 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide v0.4 Sent
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 11:21:13 AM

As promised before the end of July 2021... we've emailed everyone a link to download the latest Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide.

What's New?

• Ancients are descended from near-divine beings who constructed a highly advanced civilization using magic. War and eons of living in vastly different oceanic zones split the ancients into two people, the Dakri and Varu.
• Karokans are amphibious crustacean humanoids most known as peaceful nomads who keep to themselves. Adapting to vastly different environments divided them into Shallows and Deeps karokans.
• Sea Elves now have racial stats for Sunswimmers who live closer to the surface and for Deepdivers who have adapted to the deepest seas.
• Speargunner Gunslinger Archetype: Use your speargun in inventive ways to foil enemies. Includes a reprint of the  Gunslinger class with notes for using firearms underwater.
• Warden of the Ancients Fighter Archetype: Shift between predator and sentinel using ancient battle techniques.
• Ancient Magic Sorcerous Origin: Channel technology-like magic through an arcane device.
• Corruption in the Flame Warlock Patron: Devastate your enemies with fire and necrotic energy.
• Feats: We've tweaks and the feats and added an additional feat, for a total of 5.

Survey

We'll send out a survey sometime in August 2021 to give everyone a chance to provide feedback on this version of the Quickstart Guide.