Oath of Enthusiasm | Paladin Sacred Oath, and on revising homebrew and Gravity Falls

"Nothing is stronger than the power of… Mabel!"

First of all, a big thank you to Charlotte, AKA Chikuto, who kindly granted permission to use this adorable Gravity Falls fanart in the homebrew! Charlotte has more art on Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter and also draws and writes a cool webcomic.

And now to introduce the Oath of Enthusiasm! This is another sacred oath inspired by one of my favorite characters. Last time, Sara Crewe from A Little Princess inspired the Oath of Benevolence. Today, Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls inspires the Oath of Enthusiasm. The two characters are pretty different tonally, I grant, but I think the values they embody are surprisingly compatible. Their characters both emphasize compassion, self-worth, and forgiveness.

I originally created the Oath of Enthusiasm as a present for a good friend who introduced me to the show. It's a slightly selfish present because Mabel is my favorite character while theirs is Grunkle Stan, but they also love Mabel, so I figured it worked out, haha.

I liked the initial version, but I didn't quite have as much time to make it as I had hoped for. After finishing, I got to look at it again, and I had the opportunity to fine-tune it. For me, second opinions always help. I'm lucky to have many homebrewing acquaintances who are able to apply their much better technical knowledge to help me polish my work.

Revising is always tough, because it means changing what you originally created, and usually that was something you liked! For example, the initial version had a completely different 15th level feature called Sweater Town, which was sorta like a self-only catnap. I ended up changing it, though. I decided it was a little weird to turn Mabel's forlornness into a feature. The new feature, Shooting Star, also felt like it had a stronger thematic and aesthetic connection to the light and love themes going on. Still, I was sad to see Sweater Town go.

Another example: the 20th level capstone used to have a clause that improved the paladin's jumping ability, which I described as, "The world's hops aren't going to jump themselves." In the end, I had to remove this in order to make space for what I think is ultimately a better, more thematic feature.

So, revision is tough. But it's good! Although I miss the old features, the new ones make the Oath of Enthusiasm that much better. With the features polished and Charlotte kindly allowing me to use that great art, I can consider the Oath of Enthusiasm complete.

Also, check out Gravity Falls! It's clever, funny, creative, and poignant.