Spellsword RPG Development Update #5 — May 4th, 2026
Hello Reader, here are the latest Spellsword updates!
Snapshot / TL;DR
- Reworked and simplified the Class System
- Reduced Arcane Mod to better control scaling and balance
- Changed rounding rules for ArcMod and Might Mod
- Minimum Damage + AoE changes + Scratches
- Opened up Closed Beta Applications!
- First full microtutorial series planned
Major Work Completed
Class System Rework
The Class System has always been alien to Spellsword’s design, especially so in the form it existed in previously. We put it together to help make players moving in from D&D style games. It offered a few really cool features and accomplished its goal of differentiating classes from one another and giving players a comfortable box to play within. But this also made it feel like a bolt on and power crept the system to a point that balance became difficult.
We have reworked the system, stripping it down to six mastery levels rather than 24 individual levels. With this, the fat has been cut out and the system feels lean. It will likely need several iterations to land where it should be.
Arcane Mod and Might Mod Adjustments
One intended effect of the class rework lead to greatly reduced Might and Arcane Mod values. We made two additional changes in this vein: 1, the previous rule to round up to the nearest 0.25 integer has been replaced by ruling to round to the nearest 0.1, allowing for smaller differences in Might and the various factors contributing to Arcane Mod to matter more; and 2, the bonuses available to massively boost Arcane and Might Mod in or shortly after character creation have been culled or reduced.
Most of the effort has centered around Arcane Mod, with Gnomes seeing their profound 1.0 ArcMod bonus reduced to 0.3 and the bonuses that Wizard and Spellsword received also being reduced. The changes to Might Mod are mostly circumstantial, but some other targeted adjustments are under consideration.
Minimum Damage, Aoe Changes, and Scratches
Another item on our balance pass focused on minimum damage and area of effects. We love Spellsword’s high lethality. It is far more a feature than a bug!
That said, with the previous form of minimum damage rule, namely that successes had a minimum base damage equal to half the Fighting Style or Arcane skills (for damaging spells) resulted in far too much highly lethal outcomes that stripped tension from fights and limited progression.
We still like the idea, so we changed the Weapon Specialist specialization series to give a stepped minimum damage after the basic level spec, terminating in the same values as before. That consistency can still be achieved, but it demands investment and mastery.
Area of Effects were wildly overpowered in their previous form. They are strong in all games, but they are normally limited by (most) casters considering the fact that their teammates are likely to be hit by their fireball.
But Spellsword offers players such deep control of their spells that they have multiple options to avoid accidentally hitting their teammates if they like in the Target and Bypass runes. A small additional mana cost does not offset this efficiency.
Area of effect damaging effects now have their maximum base damage equal to half the wielder’s Arcane skill. Criticals still add 1d100, so that will remain unhinged and satisfying.
Lastly, we had previously canned Scratches because we thought they were dragging combat on and wanted this to tweak a bit. The same test that revealed the problems with Arcane Mod and the minimum damage also revealed we went in the wrong direction.
Scratches are back, but now they do nothing and cannot escalate into Minor Wounds. We realized this lethality-lowering decision flies in the face of something we like, but without this rule a character with ten-thousand Toughness from a massive spell could be killed with six separate instances of a single point of damage. Obviously, this was not acceptable.
Closed Beta
Coinciding with these changes, we have decided to shift our current development status to an application only Closed Beta. We need quality GMs and Players not only willing but excited to help us iterate and test through these and other changes as we move Spellsword toward the future, refined state.
If you know groups that might be interested, send them a link to our Beta Application page so we can get some information from them and see if it is a good fit. Anyone accepted to the program will receive a life-time discount on our products and memberships, so they stand to gain something there, aside from exclusive inside access to our development team and process.
Microtutorials
No other microtutorials have been uploaded because we took a moment to plan the entire series out. We already caught a problem with Microtutorial 2: Skill Checks, namely that it never mentioned difficulty modifiers. Can you believe that?
We currently sit at 17 videos planned, which means to hit our goal of the whole initial quickstart microtutorial series being less than 30 minutes long, our average length of video needs to be under 2 minutes. At the moment, this is not managed, so some of the existing tutorials may need to be tightened even further.
Our current goal is for these microtutorials to be planned, recorded, edited, and uploaded before the next update email.
Systems Under Active Refinement
Microtutorials, Class Rework, Monster Balance pass
What We’re Iterating On
Microtutorials will receive a lot of focused work to keep them tight, useful, and short.
Some of our monsters, specifically Goblins and Bandits, used some class features and will need to be specifically reworked, as they are currently far stronger than they should be.
Problems We’re Solving
We are evaluating some of the sub-classes remaining after the rework to see what values may still need tweaking and adjusting.
Sorting out how to keep the Microtutorials short and useful is a significant expected challenge.
What’s Still Uncertain
Each class’ sub-class paths may need adjustments, and some classes currently get more abilities than others in order to meet basic functionality for the class concept, specifically Priest and Ranger. This may present a balance problem we will need to address.
Design Insight
Initiative belongs in the trash.
So that is where I put it.
That may sound insane if you have spent years playing tabletop RPGs. “Roll for initiative” is practically sacred. It is the moment the table leans forward. The GM smiles. Dice hit the table. Everyone knows violence is about to happen.
At first, that moment is exciting.
Then you wait ten minutes for your first turn.
Then another fifteen for the next one.
Someone checks their phone. Someone sends a meme across the table. Someone else starts planning their turn, then the battlefield changes before they get to act, so they have to start over.
Eventually someone says, “It’s your turn.”
And now the player has to ask the deadliest question in tabletop combat:
“What’s going on again?”
A lot of tables blame phones for this.
I don’t.
The phone is not the disease. The phone is the symptom.
The real problem is that combat in many RPGs is boring for everyone except the person currently taking a turn.
Initiative is not the only reason that happens, but it is absolutely part of the problem. It chops the fight into little isolated permission slips. You wait. You act. You stop. You wait again.
That is not what a fight feels like.
So Spellsword threw initiative out.
No initiative roll.
No turn order ladder.
No “you are too slow, so stand there and hope you still have something useful to do later.”
When combat begins, players and NPCs declare what they are doing, and the fight starts moving. Everyone is acting inside the same violent moment. Everyone has skin in the exchange. Everyone is paying attention because what they choose matters right now.
That does not mean the game becomes a sloppy free-for-all.
Spellsword uses Action Points, reactions, active defense, and structured resolution to keep the chaos playable. Faster characters still matter, but speed does not merely mean “you go first.” Faster characters get more opportunities to act. They can push harder, react more often, reposition, press the attack, or survive situations slower characters cannot.
That is the better version of speed.
Going first is cute.
Doing more is dangerous.
This works because Spellsword was built around active combat from the ground up. When someone swings at you, they do not simply roll against your Armor Class while you sit there like furniture. You can block. You can clash. You can try to put your shield between your ribs and their weapon while driving your own blade into them.
You are not waiting for combat to happen to you.
You are in it.
That is why initiative became unnecessary. Once active parries, blocks, reactions, Action Points, wounds, armor penetration, and simultaneous declarations started working together, traditional initiative began to feel like an old rule we were only keeping because other games kept it.
So we cut it.
And the strange part?
It was not awkward.
We originally treated this as a wild experiment. A dangerous little “what if” we fully expected to reverse.
Instead, combat immediately felt more natural.
Fights became faster. Players stayed more engaged. Declarations happened together. The mechanics created the scene instead of waiting for the GM to manually stitch together a dozen disconnected turns.
A warrior raises his shield.
A thief darts for position.
A mage finishes a spell.
An archer looses before the melee collapses.
Two fighters clash steel at the same time, and the dice tell us who actually controls the exchange.
That is the heart of Spellsword combat.
Not turn order.
Not waiting.
Not “I attack, you miss, next player.”
Simultaneous pressure. Active defense. Real consequences.
That is why we call it SimulClash.
And yes, HP is gone too.
But that is another corpse for another development update.
If you are on the fence, this is one of the biggest reasons to get involved with Spellsword early. SimulClash is not a cosmetic tweak. It changes the entire feel of combat at the table.
Never roll for initiative again,
Christian
What Members Should Test
-
Reworked Class System
- Do classes still feel defined and separate?
- Do you still feel a sense of direction?
- Do classes feel like a bolted-on afterthought or an intentional system component?
-
Scratches and Modifier Scaling
- Engage in some fights
- Do you still get Mortal Wounds on similar skill opponents when it makes sense?
- Do you get too many Scratches? Does that feel bad?
- Do spells feel like they operate on a more sane level?
- Do strong characters still feel strong?
What’s Next (2-Week Objective)
Our current priorities for the next two weeks are:
- Publishing the entire list of microtutorials is priority one. If possible, we want this.
- Second priority: Complete the Quickstart Challenge material so people can get this proper introduction
- Review all monsters to adjust all stats to be in line with current rules
That’s the end of this development update! Thanks for reading.
