Hey Friends,
We’re so excited to announce a few of the most requested features we’ve had, all in one go! As of today, Friends & Fables now supports class features, feats, and real subclassing. Some quick highlights:
A new level up screen where you can choose ASIs / feats / and see the new class features you’ve unlocked.
Homebrewing classes now feels complete, with class features, subclasses, and resources (rage, focus points, mana, etc.).
You can select from the SRD feats or homebrew your own.
~60% of Class Features / Feats should work in narrative and turn-based combat (more on this later)
Getting subclasses, class features, and feats to work is incredibly complex. Our goal with this update wasn't to get everything working perfectly—it was to get enough working so that world builders can start adding these elements to their worlds and players can start feeling the impact of their class and feat choices. In this post, we'll break down what you can expect to work today and what we'll be improving in future updates.
We’ve waited until now to tackle these features because getting them to work is very technically challenging due to the mechanical nature and complexity of D&D feats & class features. We had two approaches to choose from:
Hard-coded mechanics: Break down every component of feats and features and hard code them directly into the game engine. This would guarantee most mechanics work correctly, but it's extremely time consuming to implement and has limited flexibility which makes homebrew much harder to support.
AI-assisted flexibility: Give Franz the core tools he needs to handle the basics (updating bonuses, stats, etc.) and let him interpret things the way a human would. Not everything will work perfectly out of the gate, but it's easier to implement, will improve over time, and makes homebrew much more flexible and easier to support.
We went with approach #2 because we believe homebrew freedom is essential to the platform and going beyond D&D. It also lets us get this update into your hands faster so world builders and players can start creating and experimenting.
What this means for you:
Not every feat or feature will work exactly as expected right now, but you can expect steady improvements with future updates.
Many feats and features will work on the honor system for now. For example, if you have the Weapon Master feature, we won't track which weapons you have mastery with—that's on you to manage. If a feature grants a stat bonus, you'll need to update it manually. In the future, we’ll work to make these updates automatic.
We believe this is the most flexible path forward. We're trading some accuracy now to ensure homebrew can be truly awesome in the future.
Quick explainer/refresher for those that might not know the difference between a feat and a class feature. Class features are abilities your class gives you automatically as you level up — they’re the core abilities that differentiate a Barbarian vs a Wizard for example. Feats are optional perks available to all characters regardless of class that you can choose at certain levels (usually instead of an Ability Score Improvement) to customize your character’s style.
With proper subclassing, resources, and features, classes in Friends & Fables finally feel complete! You can now create full classes across your workshop, worlds, and campaigns and sync them.
We have loaded in 2024 SRD classes which will show up in worlds with SRD defaults on. They all come loaded with SRD class features, resources, and subclasses. This does put us in a slightly awkward spot between 2014 and 2024 rules, but the plan is to eventually transition fully to 2024. If you prefer one over the other, you should be able to homebrew into your preference!
The SRD classes each come with one subclass, which we have included, but we have also extended each class with 3 F&F official subclasses as well. These will be included if you have SRD defaults on.
Resources like Focus Points (Ki), Rages, etc. have been loaded in and now can be used in game. Franz should automatically track usage and restore upon resting. For the highest level of accuracy, be specific in your wording: “I use one focus point to…”
While we’re excited that the SRD class resources are in, we’re even more excited about the possibilities with homebrew. You’ll be able to create manageable class resources like mana, oxygen, chakra, etc. We can’t wait to see the creative things that you guys will come up with!
SRD 2024 feats are now loaded into the platform, and you can homebrew your own feats in the workshop, worlds, and campaigns.
You can update your character’s feats when you edit your character and you will also be able to choose them in the level up screen if you have reached a level in which your class gets to choose a feat.
Stat Adjustments are a new character feature that make it easier to track buffs and debuffs on your character. Stat adjustments are separate from item bonuses, but work the same way. You can add a stat adjustment via the character form. Stat adjustments are meant for tracking changes to stats from feats or temporary effects. Say you drink a potion that gives you +10 speed for an hour. This would be a great use case for a stat adjustment!
Stat adjustments are a purely manual feature in this update. In a future update, we’ll give Franz the ability to automatically add and remove these character stat adjustments.
We wanted leveling up to feel more meaningful, and now that we’ve got classes fully fleshed out, it was time to give leveling up a refresh as well!
On ASI / Feat levels, you’ll now see a UI to choose whether you want to put two points towards ability scores, or choose a feat.
On other levels, you’ll be shown any new class features you have unlocked.
When leveling up from 2→3 (or whatever level your class gets to choose the subclass), you will be prompted to choose a subclass.
You’ll see resources used when you use an ability. Tip: call it out by name - ex. As a ranger, it’s better to say “I use one charge of favored enemy and cast hunter’s mark” instead of “I cast hunter’s mark”. This helps Franz differentiate between feature usage vs casting a spell normally.
You should be able to sync class updates from worlds to your campaigns which now includes syncing the features, subclasses, and resources between worlds and campaigns, as well as importing/exporting them to the workshop. Same goes for feats!
This update was huge, and we thought it would be better to give everyone the usable parts now rather than making you wait for it to be perfectly complete. Here’s a list of some things that you can expect to not work yet, but will be addressed in future updates.
Feats or features that give access to new spells (such as Magic Initiate) will have to be manually managed by adding them directly to your spell book.
Feats that change how resistances / damage multipliers are handled.
Feats that give reactions (we need to make reactions work in combat first).
Automatic stat adjustments. For example, if you take the Defense feat, your AC will not be updated automatically - you will need to manually create a stat adjustment for now.
NPCs do not use their class features in combat yet - only Player Characters can use features.
Publishing and Discovering feats.
Default image generator for classes and races has been updated.
Fixed world pages breaking when making a world private after it’s been published.
Fixed a bug where factions were sometimes not visible on the world overview page.
You can add a spell directly to your spell book from the available SRD spells or from your workshop.
We have a couple of quick reminders for everyone!
Please remember that the updated pricing goes into effect on your next subscription renewal after Dec 1st. If this is your first time hearing about this update, please see here for more information.
Our Winter Creator Spotlight contest is live! If you want to win 10,000 credits and have your world featured, See here for more details! Please make sure your submissions follow all the rules to be considered valid. All valid submissions will receive 100 credits! Submissions close Dec 21st.
If you’re still reading, we appreciate you taking the time to read such a long patch note! We hope it has been worth the wait.
As for what’s next, we’ll soon be rolling out giving subscribers monthly credits and some new features that you can finally start spending those credits on such as premium image and text generation.
Thank you all for your continued support, it’s what allows us to keep pushing the frontier forward in this space. Happy adventuring!