The Obojima Podcast the Blog | Episode 10 - Creating A New D&D Subclass: The Oni Sorcerer

This blog post was made using dictation summary software, and posted for SEO purposes. If you really want to know what this episode is about, check out the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvr6pijlWwM

It’s episode 10 and something that rhymes with ten! Welcome to the blog of the Obojima Podcast! This podcast is a deep dive into the creative process behind Obojima: Tales from the Tall Grass. First things first, let’s meet our intrepid crew of writers. 

• Jeremiah Crofton - The Creative Director of 1985 Games and the creator of Obojima

• Ari Levitch -  Head Writer

• Adam Lee - Head Writer

It began with a question: What happens when a player’s power changes their soul?
In this episode, the team behind the Obojima podcast stepped beyond cartography and into corruption—or at least transformation. For the first time, the focus turned not to cities or cultures, but to a subclass: the Oni-Blooded Sorcerer.

And as they peeled back the skin of this idea, they found not just horns and magic, but stories about legacy, fear, control, and what it means to play a character people whisper about in the streets.

Lore of the Oni: Demons, Myths, and Echoes

In Obojima, Oni are not just big monsters—they are echoes of myth, power wrapped in names. Each is unique, as singular as a volcano. The team compared them to biblical Goliaths or Tolkien’s Maiar: rare, storied, and dangerous.

Why don’t they rule the island? Because Obojima fights back. Witch covens, elder spirits, and even the island’s very soul keep such beings in check. Oni may be powerful, but they are not unopposed. And power that hides becomes myth faster than power that conquers.

This built a space for the sorcerer subclass—not a monster, but a mortal touched by something ancient, walking the line between human and horror.

Transformation as Mechanic, and Narrative Fuel

The Oni Sorcerer is not just about fireballs. It's about the slow unraveling of self. Each time the sorcerer uses their magic—especially their sorcery points—they change. Claws sprout. Horns curve. Skin may flush with unnatural hues. Society reacts: some with fear, others with awe, others with torches.

These changes are not cosmetic. At low levels, they’re a whisper of what’s to come. By level 15, they’re a roar. Spend your final point, and you might become an Oni forever—a transformation that can only be undone a limited number of times. There’s a haunting balance: more power means fewer ways back.

It’s a class that rewards risk and tempts fate. Push too far, and you may lose your humanity. But if you don’t push, you may never survive what’s coming.

Sorcery as Resource and Risk

Unlike most subclasses, this one incentivizes spending, not hoarding. Each expenditure gives the player more strength—but more consequence. The writers likened it to Heroclix, where powers rotate and evolve based on use. Each transformation phase brings new abilities but limits illusions, shapeshifting, or subtlety.

Touch spells grow more vicious. Magical claws bleed arcane power. You become a spectacle—and maybe a threat.

There’s even talk of pushing spells beyond normal limits, burning through levels like kindling for greater effect—if you’re willing to wear the cost on your body and in your soul.

Roleplay at the Edge of Redemption

What makes this class sing is not just mechanics, but moral tension. This isn’t just a “demonic bloodline.” It’s Zuko in a mirror of horns: a misunderstood figure trying to master the fire inside them. Your character is feared. Watched. Perhaps even hunted.

There are whispers of secret orders, like the Courier Brigade, who track these sorcerers. NPCs may offer aid, suspicion, or betrayal. Some towns might drive your character out. Others might worship you. Either way, the transformation is not private.

And for those who choose to walk the line—never transforming fully, always one spell away from becoming something else—the tension is the reward.

Compatibility with the World of Obojima

The writers also explored how the subclass could interact with Obojima’s other systems and cultures. Could a Dara (the oceanic, magical race) become an Oni-blooded sorcerer? Could bloodlines skip generations? Would a diving village react differently than a cliff city?

The answers are open, flexible—an invitation for Dungeon Masters to shape local legend around the player. Perhaps Oni are extinct. Perhaps one just woke up in the woods. Or perhaps... it’s you.

A Class for the Brave, the Doomed, and the Cursed

In the end, the Oni Sorcerer subclass isn’t just about playing a powerful character. It’s about narrative consequence baked into mechanics. It’s a rare offering in the D&D space: a class that asks players to think not just about what their character can do—but what their power costs the world around them.

And that is a kind of magic not found in most books.

Check out the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvr6pijlWwM