Kinks and Cantrips is a pretty telling microcosm of the D&D landscape to me because like okay

they made a book that has classes for various kinks

so they had to make class mechanics for how the kinks work

but D&D’s class mechanics are all about combat

so they had to figure out how you can use each of the kinks to kill people

so for example the mind control one is “you can make someone your enthralled slave and then they’ll fight and die at your command” like holy shit chill

@kasdeya oh that’s annoying
i could see how d&d mechanics can be used for kink scenes - like, there are rules for escaping having your hands tied, and i’d bet running a primal scene as combat between martial classes would actually work pretty well - but i can’t imagine that mind control one is fun unless you get off on rolling wisdom saving throws

@kasdeya or for misogyny kink just play first/second edition

@ruwuby a primal scene between martial classes is actually a brilliant idea omg. but yeah I don’t think D&D has a good way of mechanically representing mind control in a way that’s hot

@kasdeya Yeah, that doesn't sound super appealing, kinda like they missed the whole point.

Although I can see a masochist barbarian that needs to take damage every turn to maintain their "rage"/excitement.

And maybe some sort of bondage ropemaster, who can also use their rope skills for climbing and non-lethal combat.

But the combat should be an inventive application, like if you are doing a kink TTRPG session I feel like combat is not going to be people's focus.

Also that mind control thing already exists, and it is also already boring. Mind control is an iffy one already, and I don't think D&D really handles it well. (Not that I know how it should be handled.)

@Shivaekul I do think that some fans of mind control would be into the class that they created, but probably only the ones who are into the end result of lasting mind control (someone is now lastingly controlled, now you can have fun with them). as opposed to people who are into the process of controlling someone, or people who are into temporarily controlling someone. if that distinction makes sense. and of course they would also have to be into the darker aspects of using someone to fight for them. so yeah I think they made that class have a much more niche appeal than they intended

they do actually have a masochist barbarian who gets buffs from pain! and that concept seemed completely bizarre to me at first but it does make some kind of sense now that I think about it a bit more. like I imagine that the buffs they get from pain in combat aren’t necessarily because they’re getting a kinky thrill from it, but it could be something that also translates into that character’s kink life too

the concept of a class that’s really good with ropes, that can grapple someone to the ground and tie them up is a pretty cool one btw. there are honestly a lot of cool things that you can do with rope (lay traps, climb walls, make a tripwire, etc.) and that’s not getting into magical effects that you could imbue the rope with

and yeah tbh I think that if you’re going to have classes built around kinks, they should work like the Pathfinder Enchanting Courtesan class where they’re built around intrigue and social things. like the Enchanting Courtesan does get some abilities that would be useful in combat for incapacitating people but their abilities weren’t really made with that in mind - they’re clearly meant to be investigating and using their charms to their advantage instead