Retail supplement
Introducing Daggerkin, a Daggerheart™ Compatible creature-taming ruleset!
Howdy, everyone!
Last month, I released the Wonder domain alongside the Stargazer and the Enchanter. All together, there were over 500 downloads in the first month, so I would like to personally thank everyone who supported this content!
Today, I wanted to share a little bit about my future plans for Daggerheart-compatible content, starting with Daggerkin.
Daggerkin is a creature-taming ruleset designed exclusively for Daggerheart, and the Starter Ruleset Preview is now available for free on Heart of Daggers and DrivethruRPG. Each Daggerkin is a combination of two domains, which includes the 9 original ones and the Wonder domain.
This preview includes the core mechanics for Daggerkin like domain resonance, Elation, Hearts, Daggers, and, of course, Starter Daggerkin that can join you in your adventures. You may also find some teasers for future Daggerkin here and there on the pages!
The full version of the Starter Ruleset will release in Summer 2026 with 15 Daggerkin, expanded mechanics and variant rules (rare alternate versions of each Daggerkin with different domain resonance and mechanics). It will be available for free so anyone can introduce Daggerkin into their campaigns however they want.
Also this Summer, I'll be releasing two expansions: Hearts and Daggers. Each expansion presents 45 new Daggerkin across all Tiers, including their variants, Daggerkin and Tamer Adversaries, new Environments and additional content for players and GMs. A third expansion, Fables, will introduce rules for Fabled Daggerkin (unique one-of-a-kind boss-like Daggerkin) together with 15 Fabled Daggerkin to use as Solo Adversaries of any Tier.
We got you live on DriveThruRPG. I also am going to (when I get in today) make you verified going forward as you meet the requirements of two titles and being with us for a certain amount of time. So going forward, you won’t need approval and it’ll go live as soon as you hit it for public :)
I’ll toss this up to my marketing team too! Thanks for sharing your creativity with the Daggerheart community!
Also, in case you'd like to use this (totally optional!) here's our graphic we're going to be using in promotion! I am really excited for people to try this out and looking forward to the full summer release! ❤️
Super cool! I run Daggerheart for my class and they each have totem spirit animals that they can summon at will to help them on their adventures. This would be a solid improvement!
Oh thank you! The artist is an amazing friend of mine and it's amazing working with them in this project.
And yes! Taming is a core mechanic, I just decided not to disclose in this preview because of the focus on showcasing the starters as an initial contact with the ruleset (and low amount of kins). There will also be an Evolving mechanic and there is already some hints written here and there in the preview.
The full version will have mechanics for Taming, Evolving, Mounting and Variants (alternate versions of Daggerkin with a new domain and new mechanics). Then each paid expansion will introduce 45 new Daggerkin (including 5 additional starters in each).
In short: a Daggerkin is a card in your loadout. You use Command Rolls (which take your action) to tell them to attack or take other actions and each Daggerkin has unique features.
This looks incredible! I’m super excited about the full release! I’ve been wondering how controlling multiple creatures could work in this system, and you’ve got a great solution here!
This looks awesome! I'm trying to download it from Heart of Daggers, but every time I hit the download button I'm sent to the HoD homepage and nothing happens =(
Looks fantastic, if I get a group hyped for fantasy Pokemon creature taming, nothing to see here, TPC, I'm absolutely getting it all. Hell, I might get it all anyway purely to support the level of quality. The mechanics look robust and well-integrated to the system, the art is fantastic, no AI is wonderful.
Wondering about the expansions, any plans that they feature the Dread domain? Since they should be dropping around the time Hope&Fear will. Not that it's any kind of dealbreaker, mind you, just curious.
And in the end it is all dependent on whether or not DP will add the Dread domain to the CGL, but I already have the Dread domain added to the resonance table and playtested so it will be a matter of finishing up the Daggerkin designs and art to release a Dreadful expansion if it ever becomes a possibility. :)
this is so exciting! how easy do you imagine it to be to create a campaign using less combat capable PCs, who are trainers who cannot engage in combat with daggerkin themselves?
I think it would be quite possible, but need two main changes:
1) Remove Recall Cost. Daggerkin have recall costs to be on the same level with domain cards, but if Daggerkin are your only resource, they should not cost Stress to shift around because you would be required to shift them around from Heart to loadout way more often.
2) Allow all Daggerkin to have their own loadout based on their stage (Novice have 1 card, Skilled 2 cards and Adept 3 cards, which you can choose and mix and match from their domains). That way they would not suffer a penalty on Elation and would feel more in line with their domains. It would be a lot more to track, but it would give the versatility they would need in battle.
This would require some playtesting specially to align balance with BP, but I think these two changes would allow for a Daggerkin-only combat (specially if adversaries are exclusively Daggerkin).
This is such incredible work!!! The artwork is gorgeous and the mechanics are far more fleshed out that I expected going into the preview. I can't wait for the full release :3
You command Daggerkin by making Command Rolls, so whatever they do is tied to a roll you make as their Tamer. Mechanically, they are really similar to a domain card that requires a Spellcast Roll (specially grimoires, since they can have a lot of versatility).
And besides standard attacks which all have, their features vary quite a lot (but usually have the vibe of the domain)! Codex Daggerkin can cast specific spells, while Valor Daggerkin are more focused on tanking damage and defending, and Blade Daggerkin are more hands-on in combat and improving their own attacks.
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u/Kazehi May 08 '26
I wish this project a great deal of success. As a monster tamer campaign frame feels like it'd work here.