Class; Weaver (5e)

[narrow bloom]

A class inspired by the shadowfell.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/DKmVZcoD320K
It is nowhere near finished but I would enjoy any criticism which can be given already.

[narrow bloom]

The class is a half-caster focused around using a minion you obtain, which gets altered depending on your subclass. Some subclasses also allow you to turn the minion into something special like a weapon or a special ability. You can also incurse a self-made curse upon your enemies.

It is wonky, kinda quirky but I do like it.

[dire socket]

Genuinely like it! Does feel rough in places but I'd absolutely play it.

Now for critique, I'd say you should maybe rename shadows tuff to something else? It just doesn't roll of the tongue very well, something like shadow essence or darklight would work better I think. Also the spell list feels kinds tiny.

[narrow bloom]

shadowstuff is what wotc refers to as magical essence from the shadowfell

[dire socket]

Huh really? Well the more you know I suppose.

[narrow bloom]

Yeah XD

They call stuff from Limbo as Chaos Stuff too

💀

If I remember correctly

[dire socket]

Lol, that feels super generic.

[narrow bloom]

Yeah, yeah it is. But like, yeah no it is.

[dire socket]

Still, like the class and if ya need help with anything for it, feel free to ask for help lol.

[narrow bloom]

I need some flavorful features mainly

I am usually pretty okay at mechanical stuff, but flavor is where I can lack in regarding actual features

[dire socket]

Flavourwise how about maybe a variant if the thaumaturgy cantrip but modified as if it was influenced by the shadowfell? Or having wisps of shadowfell energy follow you wherever you go.

[narrow bloom]

What did thaumaturgy do again

kinda like a shadowfell cantrip of sorts?

[dire socket]

Kinda yeah, having a fancy cantrip you can use at will could go a long way flavourwise.

[narrow bloom]

that is very true

It'll also be the only cantrip this class gets lmfao

Cause it currently has none

[dire socket]

Lol yeah, the spell list is also kinda small.

[narrow bloom]

yeah that is because the shadowfell doesn't have many spells that work with it

Someone else was gonna look at it and see if I forgot any spells which would also fit, but idk when she has time to do so

[dire socket]

Maybe like shadow of moil for 4th level could work? Enervation is also a neat 5th level spell.

[narrow bloom]

Shadow of Moil is on the spell list, enervation is not tho

Enervation does work, addin it to the list B)

[dire socket]

Oh danse macabre could also work, just get temporary minions for the spell duration but I also have a big custom spell idea. Beckon/summon sorrowsworn. Would be perfect since sorrowsworn are quite tied to the shadowfell.

[narrow bloom]

ooh lord that could be a pretty cool spell

I don't know if I should add summon spells to the list though, unless they really fit, mainly because you already get a puppet to play with

[dire socket]

Very fair, however summoning sorrowsworn would be quite thematic really.

[narrow bloom]

it would be

I'll put it on the list of things to think about ;P

If not a main class spell maybe a subclass one

[dire socket]

That's fair, honestly kinda feeling the subclass.

[narrow bloom]

propably yeah

Don't know which one yet

Vecna is undead focused, Strahd just allows you to shapeshift, Shar is the basic one because Shar is kinda the shaper of the shadowfell, Null is dragon and attack/spell attack focused, Nera is the supportive one and uhh, Mask is funny trickery focused

Lolth, I don't know yet but I don't think the sorrowsworn fit her drider aesthetic

It'd have to be another shadowfell being

WAIT BABA LYSAGA IS FROM THE SHADOWFELL?

Oh she is the mother of strahd

Okay so apparently the Raven Queen made the sorrowsworn

Which I made the supportive subclass

Ah well I'll figure something out eventually

[dire socket]

Well since lolth has hangout zone in the abyss with the demonweb pits maybe something fiendy? Wouldn't be without reason since dreagloths exist.

[narrow bloom]

Jezus what the hell are draegloths

[dire socket]

Half drow half demon creatures, quite deadly creatures.

[narrow bloom]

I have never heard of them

OH GOD

Why do they have little t-rex arms underneath their regular arms?

[dire socket]

That's from their glablezu side, half demon after all.

[narrow bloom]

fair, fair

I was kinda thinking of sending lolth to a more summoner aspect, considering she kinda has hordes of spiders

so that would work out well

[dire socket]

Funnily enough retrievers and maybe the Bebilith could work very well as spider summons. But I think you'd need to make a bebilith statblock from scratch.

[narrow bloom]

honestly, having the ability to summon different types of spider critters depending on level would be pretty cool

[narrow bloom]

Yeah, would need to make some stat blocks from scratch for it.

But that is not really an issue

[dire socket]

Would happily help anyhow! Especially if the bebilith is indeed considered since it is a massive spider fiends that eats exclusively other fiends and that's just so cool.

[narrow bloom]

Wait considering it is a fiend, does it have any fire attacks?

Actually even if it does have them I can just say no in the stat-block. Yeah sure I do consider the bebilith for the lolth subclass B)

[dire socket]

Sick, and hey, you could always have it be a bebilith variant that got lost in the shadowfell and went native.

[narrow bloom]

yeah true

I can do whatever the hell I want MUAHAHA

I can also just say instead of using spells you replicate the spider using the shadow loom feature

meaning it is a shadowy variant of the spider but not actually the spider itself

[dire socket]

True, the capstone for lolth could even be assuming a drider like form and going for man-spider, or woman-spider.

[narrow bloom]

very true

That would be sick as hell actually

Yeah I am doing that

you can use shadow weaving to gain temporary hit points and while those are active your shadow turns you into that drider form

Allowing you to walk on walls, create shadow webs and shoot off shadow webs and a whole bunch of other stuff

Yeah I think I got a pretty good idea for the lolth subclass now, thank you!

[dire socket]

Perfect, we are now on a roll lol. You love to see it.

[narrow bloom]

Indeed!

I do kinda need to get stuff for dinner now tho, so that'll be it for now

From me at least

If you have any more ideas, feel free to share them ;P

[dire socket]

No prob, take care plague! We'll talk later lol.

[narrow bloom]

ye, cya

[dire socket]

Aight, so plague, need any help with any other feature or subclass for this?

[narrow bloom]

Curseweaver

I need more shadow runes

but I haven't a clue what XD

Cause like, I "finished" the main class and I have finished 2 subclasses so all I need to make it functional is the shadow runes

[dire socket]

How many runes you'd say you need plague?

[narrow bloom]

Probably around 20 base ones, and I'd say a few subclass specific ones

maybe 2 or 3 per subclass (of Mask and Nera rn)

[dire socket]

Hmm, starting off then how about a rune of discord/confusion? Basically the target of the rune takws random actions such as standing there or running away.

[narrow bloom]

A wisdom save on the start of their turn basically?

otherwise they take a random action based on a 1d4 roll?

1 being attacking, 2 being moving in a random direction, 3 being taking a general action such as dashing dodging or disengaging and 4 being they can choose?

as for rune of discord, I made it that the cursed target can only heal half as much

[dire socket]

Basically yeah, Basically like a tweaked crown of madness effect.

[narrow bloom]

Yeah that sounds pretty cool, I like it B)

[dire socket]

A good idea for runes is basically stealing the effects from some spells and tweaking them a little, stuff like pass without trace, meld into Stone and whatever else.

[narrow bloom]

I suppose so yeah, the effects are supposed to kinda be like a curse you put together yourself

So maybe those spells don't work that well, but others should

[dire socket]

Fair, but I'd say there is still a Fair amount of stuff you could make by tweaking spells.

[narrow bloom]

yeah true

[dire socket]

Still, I am willing to lend a hand anyhow.

[narrow bloom]

Besides curseweaver I would also like some checkups on the balance of it all, whether it feels weak or strong

[dire socket]

From my reading of it balance wise feels like a balance of between a sorcerer and a warlock, the balance is pushed up a bit with the runes and high level of shadowstuff available at higher levels but I think that can be tuned a lil bit by making the amount of shadowstuff at higher levels a lil lower by a couple.

[narrow bloom]

I think the shadowstuff reduction seems pretty fair yeah

[dire socket]

Glad to see that we are eye to eye on this, I wouldn't make it a too big of a reduction but still, a minor tweak could not hurt.

[narrow bloom]

It is currently in line with a regular half caster but like, the liquidity is so strong

[dire socket]

Fair, honestly balance is hard to pick io without actually playing the class but I'd say it's in the threshold of balance where you can have fun playing it and not mog the other players.

[narrow bloom]

Alright, then I suppose I could go on and play a oneshot with it sometime soon

[dire socket]

Good idea, I would recommend trying it around level 3 or 8 to get a feel for the mid point if the class and going from where.

[narrow bloom]

Alright, will do!

[dire socket]

Hope the test goes well! I think you have a good thing going on at this point.

[narrow bloom]

I hope so too! And it is nice to hear it is looking good B)

[narrow bloom]

I have now added the flavor page and adjusted the flavor for alot of the features to align better with it

[narrow bloom]

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/DKmVZcoD320K

[dire socket]

Heads up weaver the 1st level feature is borked on my end, the statblock and the text appears a little off screen.

[narrow bloom]

Should be fixed

[dire socket]

It is indeed!