project-image

Stabracadabra: A cursed fighter subclass for 5e

Created by Steve Conley

You play the sword and the fighter is your minion! A fun and powerful fighter subclass. Plus: Death Save Devices! PDFs may be ordered and pre-ordered at https://steveconley.com/shop

Latest Updates from Our Project:

A big Stabracadabra update!
3 months ago – Fri, May 08, 2026 at 08:12:49 PM

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

More previews... Magic spells and creatures...
3 months ago – Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 03:10:26 PM

I have a lot more progress to share with everyone! Attached are screen caps from a fairly recent iteration of the pages. A small bit of art is missing from one of the magic spell pages.

Let's start with some magic spells...

That first spell is "Blade of Dread" - no "the"
Of these spells, I think Twisting Knife might be my favorite - perfect for a villain or a martial caster to perhaps finish off a fleeing enemy. The Con save reduces it's chance of successfully damaging a target so I upped the damage a little from 1d8 and added the location-determining perk.

And some creatures...

As with nearly all of my creature illustrations, I digitally sculpted and lit each of these in Nomad sculpt and I then use those sculpts as reference for the paintings.

Half way through this I was reminded of the thing which killed Tasha Yar and then my whole goal became making it look better than that thing.
I like the idea that hitting this creature with fire makes it harder to deal with.
It really is just a pile of uncritable hit points.
This is another way to sneak the spells from Stabracadabra into a reluctant DM's game.
I sculpted the teeth for this guy while waiting in the dentist office. I love making these things!

We are in the home stretch!

Thank you again for your patience and support!

-- Steve

patreon.com/steveconley

Stabracadabra Magic Items and a Tiger-Toothed Saber!
4 months ago – Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 10:38:07 PM

I wanted to share some of my latest progress on Stabracadabra. Again, I hated to scrap so much of the first version but the overhaul is SO much stronger and user-friendly! I hope you'll be able to see all the extra effort and months spent within the pages of the book!

Magic item preview

Here's a first look at the magic items in Stabracadabra all of which are sword-themed and/or dreamed up with Fighters in mind...

The Blade of the Armed Encanter casts spells from Stabracadabra which I'll be sharing a preview of next.
I'm weirdly proud of how well my illustration of the Boots of the Front Line turned out! :)

Thanks to everyone who provided insightful and eagle-eyed feedback on the Bladeborne Subclass and Sentient Sword rules!  I'm now adding a FAQ to the book so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to message me or leave your questions in the comments below.

Thanks too for the kind messages about my hospitalization - I'm feeling much better and am nearly 100% again!

The next preview will include the magic spells, and the creatures will follow after! I'm super excited to share those!

Thank you again for your amazing support!

-- Steve

More Stabracadabra to share!
4 months ago – Sat, Apr 04, 2026 at 05:30:09 PM

What a week...

I was all set to share this update on Monday and then my week got sidelined by a 3-day hospital visit (technically, it was two hospitals). I am on the mend and sporadically back at my desk and I even got some art done while in the Emergency Room.

Not an actual scene from the hospital.

I've shared some of the details and more art over on my Patreon.

But more importantly: Here's an updated Stabracadabra preview...

Below is a download link for the latest PDF preview of the Sentient Sword and Bladeborne Fighter subclass rules.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9hel6hd3icadku7enfnl2/stabracadabra-linked-04-14.pdf?rlkey=f38k4gw43ixa1espci8v3i9t0&dl=0

I'd love your feedback!

Thanks for all the amazing responses from the previous sneak peek and all the tire-kicking too! There are quite a few changes and improvements reflected in this new preview. I hope you love them!

Back to work!

-- Steve

An elven Bladeborne Fighter wielding a Necromatic Sentient Sword. I touched up this illustration while in the hospital. 

A Stabracadabra update and previews...
5 months ago – Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 04:21:06 PM

As I mentioned in the previous update, based on testing and feedback, I'm completely reworking the character-creation section of Stabracadabra. I'm super happy with how it's coming together and wanted to share a look at the work in progress.

Some context: These screen captures are not the final edit but they should be enough if you want to give the subclass a try. The images have been removed during editing and they may not fit the space in the end. There's also an updated Stabracadabra Character Sheet at the bottom.

The d4 in yellow is a typo. The latest iteration of the formula is (d10 x 10) + d100 = years. And yes, everyone who remembers their algebra knows I didn't need to put d10 X 10 in parentheses but feedback is feedback. :) 
The blurry top bit isn't ready for preview and I just scrapped the level 2 feature this morning. Pull on one string and other things come undone.

Here's the latest version of the Stabracadabra Character Sheet...

In the next iteration, the Sword will have a section for its own backstory. There will also be 4 attunement slots for when the Bladeborne Fighter reaches Level 15 and the Sentient Sword no longer counts against their maximum number of magic-item attunements. 

As I said, I'm really happy with how this is coming together.

There's much more to do and I'll be sharing more progress in the next update! I apologize that my December/January ETA for delivering the PDF turned out to be way too optimistic. I do hope that all the extra hours spent will be felt in the pages of the book. Thank you again for your patience!

If I can answer any questions or if you have any comments, please don't hesitate to write me via Kickstarter, in the comments below, or email me directly at steve-at-steveconley-dot-com

I really hope you're going to love this book!

-- Steve
patreon.com/steveconley