I absolutely love the Planarch Codex. I'm not using it in my current campaign, but I decided to write up some jobs to go on the Adventurers' Guild noticeboard. They're on a Google Drive folder here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1II1r3O2c5Ox_pO1Paa7gRE0qnd8q_f0Vm_VrjI8k_nU/edit

Let me know what you think!

When I run hirelings, I will be making a note of how many hitpoints they have. However, this will only come up if they take damage that a PC rolls (careful with that fireball, Greta...). The rest of the time, if they get hurt, they suffer effects according to the fiction. Sometimes the appropriate effect is death.

Ok, I've read both character sheets and spell lists several times, and I'm really not seeing how these two classes are meant to feel balanced. I know balance isn't a terribly critical part of Dungeon World, but this just looks egregious.

So, the Cleric has 4 more HP, does d6 rather than d4 damage, carries 3 more load, can Turn Undead, has Divine Guidance which can be used anywhere rather than Ritual which can only be used at a place of power, and most importantly can prepare ANY spell rather than being limited to a spellbook.

In return, the Wizard gets... Spell Defense.

In D&D, these classes were sort-of balanced by the Wizard having much better spells. But that's really not the case in DW - in fact, the Cleric gets a couple of spells earlier than the Wizard! (True Seeing, two levels earlier; Trap the Soul four levels earlier)

Is Ritual really such a game-changer that it justifies all the other disadvantages of the Wizard? Alternatively, am I missing something?

Ok, I'm SURE I recall reading about someone creating a playable Dragon class in Dungeon World. But I can't for the life of me find it; so I wrote my own. Here we go. Fairly rough first draft. See below the second line for my comments and questions.

The idea is to portray a young, fairly small dragon. It doesn't yet have the vast magical power, vast reserves of arcane secrets, or enormous golden horde of an ancient dragon; which in part explains why it's hanging around with a bunch of grubby adventurers.

Please comment on this. Balance comments are welcome, as are remarks on whether or not this feels suitably like playing a dragon,

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The Dragon

Damage d10
Max HP: Constitution +10

Look:
Burning eyes, alien eyes, or strangely kind eyes.
Brightly shining scales, battered armour-like scales, or well-camouflaged scales.
Massively muscular body, sinuous body, or lean and hungry body.
Aura of imperious glory, aura of vast magical power, or aura of monstrous menace.

Alignment:

Good: Endanger yourself to protect a mere mortal.
Evil: Terrify or torment lesser creatures just for the fun of it.
Lawful: Pass judgement over lesser creatures in a just and fair manner.
Chaotic: Defy or shatter the petty laws of mortals.

Race:

You are a dragon. Pick a natural environment:

• The cruel mountain peaks. Your breath weapon is a bone-chilling blizzard of ice and snow.
• The shifting desert sands. Your breath weapon is a surge of crackling lightning that fuses sand into glass.
• Deep beneath the earth. Your breath weapon is a volcanic gout of molten rock.
• The dank, dismal swamps. Your breath weapon is a spray of noxious acid.
• The vast ocean. Your breath weapon is a sonic shockwave that can sunder the hull of a galleon.
• Or choose somewhere else. Your breath weapon is a wave of searing flame.

Starting moves:

Dragon's scales:
Your scales are as tough as chainmail. You have 2 armour. You cannot increase this by wearing armour or carrying a shield.

Dragonflight:
You can fly, although not particularly gracefully.
When you attempt a difficult aerial maneuver, roll +CON.
*On a 10+, you succeed. *On a 7-9, choose one:

• You don't quite pull it off as you'd intended.
• You succeed, but you're going to be forced to land.
• You succeed, but you get hurt in the process.

Dragon breath:
When you unleash your breath weapon at Near range, roll +CON.
*On a 10+, choose one. *On a 7-9, choose 2. *Either way, deal your damage, ignoring armour.

• It's less impressive than you'd hoped. Deal d4 less damage.
• Your aim is off, and you only hit one of the targets you were aiming at.
• You exhaust yourself, and can't use your breath weapon again until you rest for a bit.
• You miscalculated - either you hit something you weren't aiming at or you leave yourself vulnerable.

Draconic majesty:
When you terrify lesser creatures with your awe-inspiring presence, roll +CHA. *On a 7+, they choose one:

• Grovel before you
• Flee in abject terror
• Swallow their fear and attack you

*On a 10+, you also take +1 forward against them. *On a miss, they do as they please and you take -1 forward against them.

Ravenous hunger:
Whenever you consume rations, consume one extra ration.

Gear
Your Load is 12+STR, although you can only fly with a load of 4+STR or less. You start with a harness that lets you carry things easily, a flame-grilled sheep (ration, 6 uses, 4 weight) and 100 coins worth of miscellaneous valuables. It's not a horde but it's a start.

Advanced moves:

Devastating breath:
When you unleash your breath weapon, deal +d4 damage.

Iron scales:
Your armour increases to 3.

Mighty Pinions:
Your wings increase in strength. You can carry one creature up to Medium size when you fly.

A Dragon's Lair:
You have established a lair. It benefits from a permanent version of the Wizard's Alarm spell. While you are within your lair, you take +1 Ongoing.

A Dragon's Horde:
Requires "A Dragon's Lair"
You have resolved to accumulate a mighty horde. Whenever you obtain a significant treasure and add it to your horde rather than spending it, mark XP.

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch:
Your claws and teeth gain the Messy tag and Piercing 1.

Precision shot:
You can use your breath weapon to Volley at long range. If you expend ammo, treat it as "you can't use your breath weapon again until you rest for a bit".

Under your wing:
When you Defend by using a part of your body to shield someone, in addition to any other advantages of the Defend move, they benefit from your armour as well as their own.

Studying the ways of mortals:
Pick a move from any class.

Advanced moves for levels 6+:

Ruinous breath:
Replaces "Devastating breath"
When you unleash your breath weapon, deal +d8 damage.

Adamantine scales:
Replaces "Iron Scales"
Your armour increases to 4.

Growing fast:
Only take this move when you have significant time between adventures.
Your size increases to Large. Your claws and teeth gain Reach. You gain +4 HP.

Devour:
Requires Growing Fast.
Once per combat, when you roll a 10+ on Hack and Slash against a Small creature, you may ignore their armour and hitpoints and simply swallow them whole.

Hideous rending:
Replaces "The jaws that bite, the claws that catch"
Your claws and teeth gain the Messy tag and Piercing 3.

Following the ways of mortals:
Pick another move from the same class used for "Studying the ways of mortals"

Mastering the ways of mortals:
Pick another move from the same class used for "Studying the ways of mortals"

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I'm a little concerned the above-listed version of Dragon Breath is too powerful considering it's d10 damage ignoring armour. Here's an alternative version of dragon breath. This one is weaker since you only get one shot per fight.
Once per fight, when you unleash your breath weapon at Near range, roll +CON.
On a 10+, you deal your damage, ignoring armour. On a 7-9, you still deal your damage, but choose one:

• It's less impressive than you'd hoped. Deal d4 less damage.
• Your aim is off, and you only hit one of the targets you were aiming at.
• You miscalculated - either you hit something you weren't aiming at or you leave yourself vulnerable.

And, of course, this one allows for advanced moves letting you use Dragon Breath more than once per fight.


I want to give the dragon some innate magical potential - maybe the ability to detect magic by smell, or something - but I can't work out how to best represent this. It'll be an Advanced move or two, I know that.

I don't currently have Bonds worked out, because honestly I don't even know where to start. I have absolutely no idea whether 100 coin is a sane amount to start with - on the one hand, that isn't actually enough to buy most characters' starting equipment when you look at the prices for armour and weapons. On the other hand, the Dragon doesn't need armour or weapons.

I know +CON moves are pretty rare, but Dragon Breath really does seem to work best keyed off Constitution, and I wanted to base Dragon Flight on the same thing to avoid making the Dragon too dependent on multiple attributes.

Draconic Majesty really is just the Paladin's "I am the Law!" with a slight modification.

I really am not sure whether Dragon's Lair and Dragon's Horde are at all useful. I think they're an important bit of flavour; but maybe I don't need mechanics to encourage a dragon to make a lair and a horde.

Why three multiclass moves? Because I want "dragon wizard" and "dragon cleric" to be more viable at higher levels.

  I feel that the Gnoll's Bard's talent is too good especially compared to the Human/Elf talents.  I think Gnoll bards would primarily end up using that move for every battle.

Remember, "Aid Another" is one of the basic moves. It's not an always-active bonus, it requires the Bard's allies to perform the Aid Another move - and, as a move, they have a chance to roll a 7-9 or a miss. The Gnoll's advantage just means that it's really easy to justify Aid Another to the Bard's Arcane Art: "Ok, she's singing the Song of the Red Huntsman? Cool, I join in."

I like the Gnoll Druid's talent.  I wonder if it'd be better to have it be a roll though so it can have some interesting side-effects/complications.  Otherwise, I imagine a Gnoll druid would chew the marrow of every fallen foe hoping hoping for a clue or hint of treasure.

Yep, definitely going to re-envision this as a Move rather than an automatic thing. Thanks!

Just out of curiosity, why the half-orc and not just Orc?

In this case, it's because there's someone in the campaign I'm going to start soon who wants to play a half-Orc. You could use the moves for Orcs just as well.

I think the Half Orc's Bardic talent may also be a touch overbalanced?  But then again, Bards only hit for 1d6?  Am I correct that the +1d4 just applies for his next attack and not the whole encounter?

"+X Forward" always means a bonus to the next roll. If it was for the whole encounter it'd be +X Ongoing. And yes, the Bard does d6 damage. Part of the point of this advantage is to encourage the half-Orc bard to break face a bit more often.

The Lizardsfolk Fighter's armour; does it stack w/ regular armor? 

Nope. It basically means your armour is never less than 2; which would be incredible for a Wizard or a Rogue, but shouldn't be overpowered for a Fighter who's expected to wear heavy armour most of the time anyway. It's a defence against getting caught with your pants down.

The Lizardfolk wizard has too much leeway w/ the spout lore talent.  I'd set a limit on it as once per session otherwise you may as well treat every 7-9 as 10+.

Good point. It's not without limitations - declaring that a particular bit of knowledge is known only to the Lizardfolk does have some pretty serious repercussions in the fiction, especially if most of the Lizardfolk aren't exactly good guys; plus it can only be used for Spout Lore about magic. It might still be too good. I like the theme of this one, but the implementation is tricky.

So, you're starting to think elves are tall thin humans, dwarves are short wide humans, and halflings are small cute humans and you want to play something a little bit more monstrous. I don't know why - maybe you want to be a bit different. Maybe you think the conflicts inherent in playing a half-Orc paladin will be fascinating. Maybe you want to represent a culture that seems strange and alien to the "civilised" races. Maybe you just think Gnolls are awesome.

Well, here you go.

Gnoll
Bard: Your songs are meant for a bloodthirsty chorus. Your allies can always Aid your Arcane Art rolls if they're within shouting distance.
Druid: The spirit of the predator is ever-hungry. When you crack the bones and feast on the marrow of your fallen foes, the GM will tell you a secret they knew.
Fighter: You have vicious teeth and claws, and know how to use them. They are a weapon with Hand range and the Messy tag (if you choose bare hands as your signature weapon, add the Messy tag for free).
Ranger: You are adept at learning your prey's weaknesses. When you Hunt and Track a specific creature you intend to slay, take +2 damage ongoing against it when you finally corner it.


Half-Orc
Bard: Your music invigorates you as much as your allies. When you use Arcane Art to grant a bonus to damage, you also take +1d4 forward to damage.
Cleric: The monstrous, blood-soaked gods of the Orcs call out to you when your faith wavers. When you roll a miss on Cast a Spell, you may treat the result instead as a 7-9. If you do this, take -1 Forward to Last Breath. You may clear this next time you successfully petition your god for Divine Guidance.
Fighter: You're inured to pain, and can brace yourself to withstand horrible wounds. Whenever you choose to take damage, you count as having one more point of armour than normal.
Paladin: Your god wishes to make your divine authority obvious to all who would doubt that a half-Orc could serve as a Paladin. When you are on a quest, you recieve a Mark of Divine Authority in addition to whatever other boons you would gain (whether you want it or not).
Ranger: Your animal companion has been through as many tough scrapes and dicey situations as you have. It gets +1 armour.


Lizardfolk
Cleric: Your faith is ancient. Your gods were old when the first Elves crawled from the mud. Add Petition: Recover or restore an element of the ancient Lizardfolk Empire.
Fighter: Your scales have hardened, and are now as tough as any armour. You count as having 2 armour even buck-naked.
Paladin: Your unblinking gaze is transfixing, your sibilant voice a proclamation of doom. When you roll 10+ on I Am The Law, you may take +1 Ongoing instead of +1 Forward. This lasts so long as you focus your attention single-mindedly on that one NPC.
Wizard: You know secrets more ancient than the world. When you Spout Lore about magic, you may convert a 7-9 result into a 10+ by declaring that this knowledge is lost to all but the Lizardfolk.


I'd appreciate comments on whether these seem balanced, as well as whether they seem cool.

(I do have a copy of Number Appearing, and I'm aware that Justin has already done a fantastic job of making some of these traditionally "monster" species playable; but I wanted to take my own shot at it.)

The short answer: Called Shot always works. "I hit him in the arm" only works if the GM feels like it.

The long answer: The fighter's attack could easily have gone like this:

Fighter: "Bah! 2 points of damage."
GM: "The automaton doesn't even seem to notice as your sword strikes sparks off its impregnable brass armour. "

Or even:

Fighter: "Ha! 9 points of damage."
GM: "Wow, yeah, the thick brass armor soaks up alot of the force from your blow, but that's a lot of damage. You've broken some kind of piston and there's oil leaking everywhere, but it's still strangling the wizard."

However, if the Ranger had been allowed a Called Shot, you'd get:

Ranger: "Bah! 2 points of damage."
GM: "The automaton doesn't even seem to notice as your arrow ricochets off its impregnable brass armour and clatters under a table somewhere."
Ranger: "Dude, Called Shot says the target drops anything it's holding, regardless of whether I deal any damage."
GM: "...Yeah, sorry, you're right. Let me try that again. Your arrow cuts through a pipe of some kind, and oil sprays everywhere. The automaton's grip loosens, and the wizard struggles free and falls to the floor, grasping for breath. The automaton doesn't seem much fazed, though."

Sometimes, I'll warn the player that doing something triggers a World Move and let them back out or find some way to work around the potential risk, but I won't tell them the possible outcomes until after they've committed to it. They can probably infer a few of the likely outcomes from the situation, though.

For example, when you browse the Goblin Market is the kind of move that I'll give people a bit of advance warning about. They might not realise out of character that this is the kind of place where weird things can happen to you just by being there, but their characters almost certainly will. On the other hand, when you immerse yourself in the Sacred Pool of Amn-Shegorath probably doesn't warrant advance warning.