New Light Update: May 2025
Added 2025-05-04 14:14:50 +0000 UTCFirst of all, I want to give a big thanks and welcome to all our lovely new patrons. We had a ton of new sign-ups in April! Many of our existing patrons also upgraded their patronage to higher tiers. This all accumulated into just over $2,500 for us this month—which means WE HIT OUR GOAL!!
There’s a few items we need to handle on the backend first, so we’ll have more news on what this means in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we hope you’ll continue to support us and the work we’re doing here. From our hearts to yours, thank you for helping this dream come true ;u;
What happened in the campaign?
Players accomplished a lot this past month. As a server, folks collectively found the vault of Charlemagne and brought the AI Warmind back online; set up a firebase on Luna and made peaceful trade with the local House Exile Eliksni; and found (part of) the remains of the Warmind Hadrada, which resulted in the restoration of The Speaker’s vitalis.
All active PCs get +2 XP right now for working together on these great accomplishments!
Furthermore, because the vitalis is restored and working better than ever, The Speaker will have 1 mote of Light to give to a Ghost every month. At the end of the month, if there’s a Ghost that’s suffered Darkness damage, The Speaker will give them the mote to recover the HP loss. If there’s multiple Ghosts in need, one will be chosen at random. (Mote of Light exotic item added to Appendix C of the Server Event Guide.)
A Chance to Redo Your PC Ability Scores
Sometimes, you don’t know what you want out of a character until you’re 9 levels on and suddenly, you realize you picked the wrong major stat to invest in. It happens more than you think; we see the posts from players who wish they could redo their stats.
So here’s your opportunity to do just that! Until May 10th, we’re allowing all active PCs the opportunity to re-assign all their ability scores and ability score improvements. You’ll have to fill out a lengthy Census report to do so. A copy of this report and its instructions are in the Server Event Guide under Appendix D.
Sunsinger Rebalance
Going forward, sunsinger PCs in the New Light campaign will be expected to play the 2e version of their class at all times.
The sunsinger class in D&Destiny 1e causes a number of design problems specifically for a West Marches campaign. When playing at a closed table, the GM always knows there will be a sunsinger and can adjust their encounters accordingly, but we don’t know if there will be a sunsinger in our sessions. This means we essentially have to design two sessions: one assuming there is a sunsinger, and one assuming there isn’t. It’s just not economically feasible for us to keep doing this.
How will this transfer happen?
Download and read the newest D&Destiny 2e version.
Import your character traits to your 2e character sheet. Though you will be playing a 2e class, your character traits still need to come from the New Light character creation guide, as we made those trait lists (including custom traits) explicitly for this campaign.
Build the rest of your 2e character sheet following the 2e sunsinger class.
Pick out equivalent 2e equipment for your PC. If you have a tier 3 broadsword on your 1e sunsinger, pick out a tier 3 2e broadsword to replace it; if you have a tier 1 hand cannon in 1e, you can replace it with a tier 1 hand cannon from the 2e equipment; and so on.
If you have an exotic item you can no longer use, please let us know. We will try to find/make an appropriate equivalent for your 2e self.
Any further questions can be asked in the #event-questions channel on our Discord server.
Other Changes
Firebase Nula is up and running, which means City hawks now travel to and from the Ocean of Storms. PCs no longer need their own jumpship to travel to Luna.
Patrol sessions can now take place in the Ocean of Storms. The Vanguard’s interdiction now only applies to The Hellmouth.
More monsters with components will start to appear in sessions. Furthermore, some components can now be targeted by ability checks, not just attack rolls. There’s a handout in all roll20 games which covers the mechanics of this interaction.
A new type of Patrol encounter, the Influence encounter, will start to appear in sessions. This encounter might be triggered by use of cards such as A Person Approaches, Enemies in Distress, or Patrol Beacon. This is an opportunity for PCs to roleplay with NPCs and possibly influence the NPC’s opinion on a given matter. For now, you’ll run into these roleplay opportunities the most when patrolling the Ocean of Storms.
A new server quest, Upgrade Firebase Nula, was added to the SEG.
It is no longer possible to die when performing the Patrol for the Vanguard DT activity.
The proficiency training option you get when you reach rank 3 in Agent of the Vanguard, Cryptarch, or Crucible Contender is now lost if you don’t pick an option before reaching rank 4. You don’t get to “bank” this choice for later, you must pick your proficiency at the time you reach the rank. PCs who are currently rank 4 or above in these Expressions have until May 8th to make a choice, if they haven’t already.
There are now two focused Meditation options each month. Completing a focused Meditation session awards Esoteric Knowledge, 2 resources of Expert quality or lower, and 2 XP.
The Hive assemble their forces... 16%
In Case You Missed It
Old updates that happened throughout April.
Changed the conditions around allowing a fireteam member to join your fireteam via Vanguard Deployment.
Updated Ikora's Meditations with new equipment & content options.
Overhauled the Crucible Contender Expression so it now gives out feats.
5 new artifact blueprints and 2 new device blueprints were added to the SEG.
For session sign-ups, we’ll be trying out the LFG Mode again this month. During LFG mode, only players who haven’t been able to sign up for a session may make an LFG listing.
Nightfall sessions now award 2 XP—yes, even if you fail.
You must spend all your writing prompt rewards before June 1st, 2025. We're introducing a new tracker for writing prompts & their rewards. Any unspent rewards will be lost.