homebrew

[golden temple]

allow me to type it out,,

[midnight elk]

1
Sun-Yellow Duck
Bludgeon Quack
1d6 bludgeoning, shove 5 ft, prone
Scales 1d8/1d10/1d12 at levels 5/11/17; returns

There's 20 (you roll a d20 to determine the one you get)

returns means it can be reused.

[golden temple]

Dagger
Tactics: Weapon Tactics are specific actions, attacks, bonus actions or reactions which particular weapons get access to. You may only use a tactic if your class (usually isolated to martials) is noted by that tactic, and you may only use any specific tactic once per turn.

• Open Vein (Bonus?). After a successful weapon attack that targets any single creature, you may use your Bonus Action (still unsure) to force that creature to make a DC 8 + Proficiency Bonus Strength Saving Throw or begin bleeding, taking 1d6 [ i dunno what type ] damage at the start of each of their turns for three turns, this damage cannot be stacked until level 3. On a successful save, it takes half damage from the initial attack and is not affected otherwise.

[strange surge]

Didn't Weapon Masteries try to accomplish this but simpler and less book-keeping?

[golden temple]

i mean yeah but these are different things,,

[midnight elk]

Rules Summary:
Ducks are improvised weapons and count as magical for overcoming resistances.

Ranged attacks use Dexterity + proficiency if proficient with thrown weapons; otherwise, Dexterity + half proficiency.

Some ducks require a saving throw instead of an attack roll. Save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Dexterity modifier.

Most ducks return to the satchel after use; some explosive or special ducks are consumed.

The ducks display personalities: yellow ducks are brave, purple ducks disdain clerics, and the Obsidian Duck glares like a tiny void.

Ducks may float in cups of tea when not in combat.

Are the rules weird enough?

[strange surge]

Why half proficiency if not proficient?

Ah. If weird rules is the goal then it makes sense.

[golden temple]

ffor example, this is the other one i and like four other people made some time ago,,

Longsword
Tactics: Weapon Tactics are specific actions, attacks, bonus actions or reactions which particular weapons get access to. You may only use a tactic if your class (usually isolated to martials) is noted by that tactic, and you may only use any specific tactic once per turn.

• Reap (Action). With a weapon held in two hands, you may strike all creatures within five feet, which must make a DC 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Weapon Modifier Dexterity Saving Throw or take this weapon's damage. On a successful save, it takes half damage. This tactic inflicts more damage when you reach higher levels. At 5th level, the damage dice is increased by one additional die, two additional dice, and the range is increased to ten feet at 11th level, three additional dice at 17th.

[midnight elk]

I wanted it to be confusing, weird and wonderful.

Yes, the purple ducks hate clerics

[strange surge]

The question is why

[midnight elk]

Why not?

[strange surge]

What cleric wronged the purple ducks ...

Fair enough.

Truly a purple duck.

[midnight elk]

Some of them are straight up grenades

[strange surge]

beautiful

[midnight elk]

Sable Duck
Shrapnel Quack
1d4 piercing + 1d4 in 10-ft cone
Consumed; scales +1d4/+1d4

[strange surge]

Scales based on what?

[midnight elk]

Either level or number of times used

Here's the Duck Sack:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u93ZnfIm5GavUuj3AbH17c48yvi0bfk4t4OgSP6k_vU/edit?usp=sharing

[sacred current]

2nd level feature
Rapid Evolution
From 2nd level onwards, you can awaken the potential of change within yourself. As a Bonus Action, you can expend one use of Wildshape to enter an Evolving Form. While in this form, you have a number of Evolution slots equal to your Proficiency Bonus, which can be acquired by the following ways:

• When you are hit by an attack, you can choose to gain a +1 bonus to AC.
• When you are forced to make a saving throw, you can choose to gain advantage on saving throws using that ability score.
• When you take the Dash action, your movement speed increases by 5 feet.
• When you make a successful spell/weapon attack roll, you can choose to gain a +1 bonus to spell/weapon attack rolls.
• When you force a creature to make a saving throw using a spell or feature, you can choose to increase the DC by 1.
  You can stack the same Evolution multiple times. When you gain an Evolution and all your Evolution slots are full, the oldest Evolution is replaced.
  This form lasts for 10 minutes, until you are Incapacitated or end this feature as a Bonus Action.

How balanced is this feature for a Circle of Time druid? Would it be better to make the Evos activated using a reaction?

[hollow siren]

extra attacks are fine. power attacks on a slot system work better

[hollow siren]

so youre trying to make an arthur weasley build then /joke/

to answer your question these rules are indeed suitably weird lol

[strange surge]

Hey guys. If I have a series of features of sorts that can be applied to any monster and which give them themed attacks and abilities, how would I go about calculating their impact on CR?

[stuck raptor]

example?

[true forge]

Durability

the weapon has 4 Durability. Durability represents the weapon's condition and build quality. When a creature rolls a 1 using one of these weapons, the Durability decreases by 1. When you take a short rest, you or another creature can repair it using smith's tools or tinker's tools, regaining 1 Durability up to the Durability maximum. When the weapon reaches half Durability, it has disadvantage on all attack rolls.

When a weapon reaches 0 Durability, it becomes unuseable until you repair it, as the weapon becomes broken and cracked.

Fortified

The weapon's maximum Durability score increases by +2.

Fragile

The weapon's maximum Durability decreases by 2.

so, instead of misfire, you get durability

[static galleon]

i have a quick question, what would be a good way to add genetic mutations into your homebrew guide in a way that doesn't feel cheap or upend the balance of the guide

[strange surge]

"creature’s Hit Points are always max AND/OR creature gains Resistance to Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing AND can survive a fatal blow at 1 HP once"

Hoping to find a general rule of how these features could affect CR because they vary wildly

[strange surge]

why would adding homebrew to a guide be cheap or upend balance?

[static galleon]

that is NOT what i said

[stuck raptor]

hit points is max doesnt increase cr (2014 demilich had it). count resistances immediately for effective hit points, and use the zombie's undying(?) trait as a reference for the last part

[strange surge]

I don't get it then. Adding "genetic mutations" is homebrew, no? And it's to a guide? So it seems like just adding homebrew to a homebrew guide

[static galleon]

your getting into semantics when that's not the point of what im asking

[strange surge]

I led the reply with "I don't get it." I'm asking what you're asking.

[static galleon]

by genetic mutations, i mean an extra boost that a player could get at the start of the campaign or possibly through story events, issue is i don't really know a good way to make something like that fair or balanced at all

or how i should properly implement it in this case

[midnight lynx]

Could someone help me with deciding the rarity of a magic item?

[strange surge]

Interesting that HP max doesn't affect it. I'll look up how to calculate effective hit points.

How can I use another trait as reference to how something affects CR though? Would I need to find a "base" monster with similar features to the zombie, then see how the zombie's CR differs based on it having the undying trait?

Also, is there a general rule for how spellcasting would increase CR?

[stuck raptor]

it should be in the 2014 dmg.

the table also in the dmg lists how some traits can affect cr/stats

if it deals damage, you can use those for dpr

[strange surge]

Would Genetic Mutations work as a category of Feats? That could help you balance them.

I'm not sure what you mean about how to implement them because I still don't really know what the "homebrew guide" is. Context definitely helps clear up confusion

[strange surge]

Sweet. I take it you favor 2014 over 2024? I actually don't own the 2014 DMG but I do have the 2024, I'll see if it's in there too (surely it is, right?) Thank you Ti- 👍

[stuck raptor]

oh i favour 2024 heavily. i just use the 2014 dmg for calculating cr, since monsters in 2024 just hit their intended cr more consistently

[midnight lynx]

It’s a Drow veil that gives you Truesight in Darkness, and allows you to cast Detect Thoughts 3 times a day

[stuck raptor]

id say lower end of vrare

[strange surge]

Oh. So why use 2014 to calculate if it's less consistent?

[stuck raptor]

you misunderstand, the 2014 monsters were more inconsistent

[strange surge]

yeah I must be confused. You said you use 2014 rules to calculate CR because the 2024 monsters are more consistent in intended CR, which would make the 2014 monsters less consistent, so I was asking why you would prefer the rules of the less-consistent system, if that makes sense

[stuck raptor]

to clarify:
the 2024 monsters generally follow the 2014 dmg (although in actuality theres hidden math byt the devs themselves), and are more consistent compared to their 2014 renditions

[strange surge]

Ohhh. So are the 2024 monsters not consistent with the 2024 math?

[stuck raptor]

theres no math for 2024. or to be more accurate, the 2024 dmg has no expanded math for calculating cr

(to my chargrin)

[strange surge]

Ah. But they follow the original 2014 formula more closely than the 2014 monsters. I get it now

[stuck raptor]

instead we get bastions 🙃

[strange surge]

Haha, you don't like them?

I haven't used them yet

[stuck raptor]

more so i wish we got updated cr math instead of that

ive had fun with bastions, although they can be ackluster

[strange surge]

I see. Have you homebrewed anything for them?

[stuck raptor]

not particularly

[strange surge]

Yeah, I feel like I haven't seen much bastion homebrew

Might just not be very necessary I suppose

[midnight lynx]

Would it be busted if the Truesight it gave was equal to half your Darkvision(those without getting 30 feet)?

[stuck raptor]

that could work yeah

[midnight lynx]

awesome

[velvet aspen]

How strong would it be if I made these changes to the 2024 Dragonborn's Breath Weapon?

-Instead of being able to use the Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you can only use it once and then you regain your use of it with a short or long rest.

-Instead of scaling with 1d10s, it scales with 2d6s. 2d6 damage at level one, then 4d6 damage at level five, 6d6 damage at level eleven and finally 8d6 damage at level 17.

[sacred current]

A little help pls?

[quiet osprey]

1. While in this form, you have a number of Evolution slots equal to your Proficiency Bonus, which can be acquired by the following ways: Acquired or expended?
2. the AC bonus thingy has no duration limit, and no reaction cost.
3. the advantage thingy has no duration limit and no reaction cost.
4. the dash thingy has no duration limit
5. the attack thingy has no duration limit
6. the DC thingy has no duration limit
7. You can stack the same Evolution multiple times. When you gain an Evolution and all your Evolution slots are full, the oldest Evolution is replaced. This form lasts for 10 minutes, until you are Incapacitated or end this feature as a Bonus Action. What?
8. it's not worded very well.

currently, the bonuses arent tied to any duration and the thingy can be read in a way that results in infinite bonuses to everything

[sacred current]

1. They are acquired(as in filled)
   2-7. They last for the duration of the form
2. This is the first draft btw

[quiet osprey]

Ok

It still seems absurdly powerful

[sacred current]

1. 2-6 AC bonus
2. Adv on 2-all saves
3. +10-30 speed
4. +2-6 attack bonus
5. +2-6 DC

...okay that is overtuned. This needs more work then

[quiet osprey]

And it only costs a 2 level dip

[gloomy prairie]

En Garde
General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+, Dexterity 13+)
You gain the following benefits.

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Duelist's Riposte. When a creature misses you with a melee attack roll, you can take a Reaction to make a melee attack roll with a finesse weapon against the creature.
Deft Strike. Once per turn when you hit a creature with a weapon that has the Finesse property with advantage, you can cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target. This extra damage equals the damage dice of your weapon.

I've always felt there was a bit of a middle ground between Dual Wielding and great weapon fighting that isn't exacty catered to, so I wanted to make a feat that exemplifies the feeling of being a duelist.

[woven hamlet]

Its decent although later levels its a extra 42 damage for a single round and an extra 24 for standard rounds, assuming all attacks hit

[gloomy prairie]

I'm considering changing the deft strike to be different than just "Finesse great weapon master"

[woven hamlet]

Not including the damage from rolled dmg and dex modifier

[gloomy prairie]

So, my alternative would be

Once per turn when you hit a creature with a weapon that has the Finesse property with advantage, you can cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target. This extra damage equals the damage dice of your weapon.

So, like a pseudo crit whenever you have advantage, but once per turn.

Arguably worse, but more interesting IMO

actually wait I can change something rq

[woven hamlet]

Icic I was going to say maybe a vital strike where if you roll 5 above a targets ac or on a crit you add an extra d6 dmg

[gloomy prairie]

Okay, so this would also be able to be applied on reactions (and if you're TWF) if you have advantage on the reaction attack, working with rapiers and stuff too

Obviously this feat seems to be great for rogues but I also still think it has a good place on the toolkits of fighters and whatnot as well

I'd do "Rolling 5 above target's AC" But that will def fall off late game

as even with advantage, hitting 5 above AC will be exceedingly difficult

[woven hamlet]

Yup, it definitely would make you want to go after the smaller ones

[gloomy prairie]

1d8 extra damage isn't very impactful

But, the idea would be that it can be applied to crits

and would technically buff your reaction attack

Although

I had just another idea, but it doesn't pertain to weapon use so I'll save it for later

[native quail]

Just realized I never shared this here. Thoughts on this Barb sub?

Spellcasting

At 3rd level, <Insert 1/3 caster text here with CON + Druid base>. You can use a weapon with the two-handed property as an Arcane Focus.

Rage Casting

At 3rd level, when you finish a Long Rest, you can choose one of your Druid cantrips. You can cast that cantrip while Raging until you choose another cantrip.

Reckless Casting

At 3rd level, your Reckless Attack feature additionally applies to attack rolls made with Constitution.

Primal Fighting

At 6th level, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of the attacks with a casting of one of your Druid cantrips that has a casting time of an action. You also can choose two cantrips for your Rage Casting feature.

Rage Magic

At 10th level, you can expend a Rage charge to regain a spell slot of a level no greater than your Proficiency Bonus as an Action. When you do so, you can also change the cantrips you’ve chosen for your Rage Casting feature.

Crazed Magician

At 16th level, when you enter a Rage, you can cast one of your Druid spells that has a casting time of one action. When cast in this way, the spell requires does not consume a spell slot and isn’t subject to the restrictions of Rage. Additionally, you can now cast all of your Druid cantrips while raging. Instead, for your Rage Magic feature, you can pick any three of your Druid spells.

[true forge]

tbh, i dont mind 3rd casting barbs, but i think only casting in rage is the best way to do it imo

also, why the Druid list?

seems very, not naturey

[gloomy prairie]

I agree with casting in rage

either that or the ability to only cast certian spells while raging

Like, not legit the ability to cast while raging (because then you can barb 3 with thus sub and then take any other character)

It's important to distinguish only spells gained via the subclass

[true forge]

i mean, my thing has this

Raging and Spellcasting. You can only cast and concentrate on your warlock spells while raging. While raging, you can use your weapons as your spellcasting focus.

[gloomy prairie]

Yeah, that's pretty much good enough

also, I think druid spell list fits better than any other spell list for barbarian

Barbarians always have somewhat of a primal feel to them so I think them having nature-based spellcasting makes the most sense

[true forge]

oh well mine is just warlock but buff (basically)

[true forge]

tbh with the way that Sam made it, sorc fits better

[gloomy prairie]

Not quite

really, I feel sam's could fit with anyone's

just the issue is that the subclass feels a bit...

Weak when it comes to the flavor, I suppose?

Oh well, I mean, with con based casting I guess sorcerer could fit but I dont think druid being picked is out of the question

[native quail]

That’s exactly what my sub does?

[gloomy prairie]

Sorry, I just meant to make it clear in the sub that's all

[true forge]

i think we both meant full on rage casting (levelled spells and cantrips)

[native quail]

You do get leveled spells in rage, at 16th level

[gloomy prairie]

Feels a bit weak, why not just let barb be a full 1/3rd caster?

Like, cast leveled spells out the gate and whatnot too

if they have to be raging to cast spells I dont think it's too bad or "overpowered"

[native quail]

The Druid spell list has two things mainly: utility spells and concentration spells. Concentration spells, combined with the other Barb features, are really powerful and some of the options (looking at you Spike Growth) are so good you would feel bad if you didn’t use them whenever you could.

Utility spells, on the other hand, aren’t necessary in combat. Thus they aren’t hampered by the rage restrictions, and limiting spells to only while in Rage would hurt this area

[true forge]

well the druid list does have some good spells for barbs to do say

[gloomy prairie]

True, but also remember: Barbarian's highest stat still wouldn't be con, they need strength.

[native quail]

By the time you get concentrating on spells while Raging (which is still only once per Rage), you’ve enough spell slots that there’s more variance

[gloomy prairie]

Sure, this sort of DOES open the door for Con-based barbarians (funnily enough)

but hear me out

what if you give this one a bit of a moon-druid-esque kinda feel to it?

[native quail]

This sub is designed with CON being your highest stat

[gloomy prairie]

Like, maybe not only can you cast spells and stuff but you alter your body with bestial features

[native quail]

No, im not designing a shapeshifting subclass

I’m making a third caster barbarian

[gloomy prairie]

I dont mean full shapeshifting

[native quail]

That’s the point of moon Druid

Like the phases of the moon changes, so too does your form

[gloomy prairie]

It's just a suggestion like perhaps you could make your character have the claws of a bear or something and it scales with your casting stat

kind of like the alter self spell

[native quail]

That’s a cool idea! But it’s not remotely close to what I’m making here

[gloomy prairie]

Fair enough

What cantrips do you have in mind that a barbarian of this subclass would mostly be using?

Primal Savagery?

[native quail]

Shillelagh is the big one

[gloomy prairie]

If that's the case, I do feel the cantrip extra attack here feels a little lackluster

[true forge]

so they need to be using clubs/quarterstaffs?

[native quail]

They don’t need to, but they benefit from it

[true forge]

i mean that is what Shillelagh benefits unless they changed it in 2024

[native quail]

It’s up to the person playing it. Shillelagh is a really good spell, so of course they should take it. But they don’t have to

[gloomy prairie]

I say mostly because druid doesn't have access to anything like true strike, booming blade, etc.

[native quail]

The point of that was to give ranged options

[gloomy prairie]

Yeah true but barbarians still are quite lackluster at range

We could do better here

[native quail]

Reckless Spellcasting removes the limitations on range if you’re using CON, so that’s a big bonus

[gloomy prairie]

But designing 1/3rd caster subclasses can be hard sometimes because the features can't be "too good", and most of what we've ever seen for caster subclasses were EK and AT, which didn't have a whole lot

[true forge]

my cleric 3rd casting rogue looking at this message "totally yeah........."

[gloomy prairie]

For a cleric spell list 1/3rd caster my choice was monk lol

[true forge]

monk already got a subclass for this project

[gloomy prairie]

but it was pretty cool because monk had resources so it enabled some creativity

also spirit guardians monk makes me feel heavenly

[true forge]

this rogue one is based of something else but its divine in nature so :P

[gloomy prairie]

you know what I'd like to see for rogue though?

A CHA based caster for rogue

maybe with the sorc or bard spell list

[true forge]

Shadow of the Divine

3rd level Divine Mirage feature

Your divine magic blends with your innate stealthiness. you now can cast Minor Illusion as apart of your Cunning Action feature. In addition, when you cast Minor Illusion in this way, you can choose the following effect to occur instead of creating a sound or object:

• You can create a brief flash of blinding light around yourself, which then quickly fill the area within a 10 foot radius with divine smoke that lasts for a minute. When in this smoke, you can attempt to hide even when you are unobscured. You may attempt to hide when you use this effect, on a successful hide, your form becomes one with the smoke as you become Invisible instead of Hidden. If you leave this radius, the invisibility ends, if you renter this radius, you can use the Hide action to become invisible again. Any other creature of your choice within this area has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
  The range of this radius increases as you level in rogue, it increases to a 20 foot radius at 6th level and finally a 30 radius at 11th level.

You can cause Minor Illusion to do this a number of times per long rest equal to your Wisdom modifier. You can spend a spell slot to regain uses of this feature equal to the spell slot level (no action required).

thats the gimmick feature :P

(yes it gets free Minor Illusion)

[gloomy prairie]

Sam, I've got a quick question

what's the general concept/flavor of this subclass?

what do you envision this barbarian would be like?

[native quail]

The reason this Barb sub’s features are a lot weaker than they could be is because this sub doesn’t require any investment in another stat. Stuff like EK requires you to prioritize something you could otherwise have disregarded. A +7 for your SAM as part of normal progression is huge.

[gloomy prairie]

Honestly that's fair

Barbarian also cannot afford to have a different stat for casting

[native quail]

I don’t believe in subclass flavor to be honest, but the name of the sub is Path of Primal Magic

[gloomy prairie]

Because then they'd have to prioritize not only strength dex and con but possibly wisdom too

[true forge]

Rapid Fire

Once per turn, you can make 3 attack rolls with this weapon instead of one, but the 2nd and 3rd attack roll must be made with disadvantage. If you loose Durability with a Rapid Fire weapon while making this extra attack rolls, the gun instantly breaks.

so, does this seem too harsh? (should add somethings wait a sec)

[gloomy prairie]

It's quite important to the design process though, most subclasses typically have a little bit of flavor in mind

You can risk your subclass feeling too generic

[native quail]

A theme is important, flavor isnt

Subclasses should be generic. They should be only marginally more specific archetypes than classes

Unless you’re designing a sub for a specific group (ex. PDK), flavor only restricts

[gloomy prairie]

Okay well one thing

You should allow to add the rage damage bonus to spells cast

[true forge]

looks at my mythos based stuff "well crap"

[native quail]

In this case, the theme of the subclass is a utilitarian nature-based Spellcaster. There was inspiration for it that goes deeper, but if I incorporated into text it would limit what the sub could be used for

[gloomy prairie]

Well you should still mention it

because it can help come up with features and whatnot for the class

[native quail]

Why? They drove specific ideas behind it, but they’re not central nor part of the concept

[gloomy prairie]

I wouldn't put it in the actual sheet or anything

but I just mean, tell us

for a utilitarian nature-based spellcaster as you describe i'm pretty sure we could come up with something more interesting than just yet another cantrip extra attack

[native quail]

People make homebrew all the time that says stuff like “Deep in the mountains of Placename, the soldiers of Factionname do Magicname. Their warriors are called Subclassname.” And like that’s cool and all but you’re effectively designing a subclass for your specific campaign that you will pressure your players into taking if you’re not making it at their direction.

Subclasses should be broad archetypes. I mean look at the ones we already have: Hunter? Arcane Trickster? Life Domain? Lack of flavor isn’t a problem here

And I feel like adding Hextra attack makes it more creative. It gives people more room to build with and design this barbarian as they want

[gloomy prairie]

Not quite, there's already 3 other subclasses that have those kinds of features

[native quail]

How does that contradict what I said?

[gloomy prairie]

Valor bard, Eldritch Knight, Bladesinger

[native quail]

Yes I’m aware of how Hextra Attack works. It’s common for a reason

[gloomy prairie]

The design of the feature itself isn't very creative, it feels like the basic usual "1/3rd caster who has cantrip extra attack" instead of something that can fit the theme more

It's an incredibly broad feature but it's also a pretty boring one

[native quail]

Maybe someone wants to make their guy more tanky so they use their Hextra Attack to cast Resistance on themselves. Maybe they pop a Spare the Dying to help an ally. Perhaps they cast Shillelagh because they forgot to before combat.

[gloomy prairie]

and as I previously stated, it's not like the druid spell list has access to blade cantrips either so it would be a pretty meh feature

[native quail]

Having broad features isn’t a bad thing, especially when it’s one of them

[gloomy prairie]

Yeah but it's too broad

That's kind of the issue really

you could change the kind of spell list this subclass has and nothing would change

[native quail]

It’s got 13 possible uses. That’s hardly too broad

Especially when you consider third casters don’t get nearly that many cantrips

[gloomy prairie]

The only thing that feels nature-y about this subclass is the druid spellcasting otherwise this could have the sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list and it wouldn't feel any different

[native quail]

Yeah, so? Druid spell list gives more than enough nature flavor when combined with that Barb already has

[gloomy prairie]

Same can't really be said for arcane trickster or eldritch knight

They definitely feel like arcane subclasses

[native quail]

Eldritch Knight has less flavor than this

[gloomy prairie]

AT especially

Not really no

[native quail]

“You can stab. Action Surge Hold Person is slightly better now.”

I think the most flavorful thing they have is their teleport which like. Everybody has that in 2024

[gloomy prairie]

Weapon bond

[velvet nebula]

Hey guys so I’m makeing a Wild West themed campaign but I have no clue what to name the sherif any ideas? Any help is appreciated

[gloomy prairie]

I mean regardless

[native quail]

You think “You can’t be disarmed” is flavorful?

[gloomy prairie]

The subclass feels like Eldritch knight with Druid spellcasting

And that’s really it

[native quail]

That’s silly

[gloomy prairie]

It is

[native quail]

They share ONE feature

[gloomy prairie]

Yet it does nothing to actually make itself more interesting in what it can do alongside its spellcasting besides just general things

Why don’t you turn towards the arcane trickster for example?

Hell you could do something similar with Shillelagh like AT does with mage hand

[native quail]

Because the AT design is the one of a combat role. It’s designed around the role of a Skirmisher, which works great but doesn’t fit this subclass at all. It’s not what I designed

[gloomy prairie]

No it’s not? lol

[vivid jolt]

@native quail w pfp

[gloomy prairie]

Arcane trickster’s flavor actually plays to the strengths of the class

And the flavor of being a rogue in general, with a magical twist

[native quail]

Yes, and Rogues’ strengths are that of a Skirmisher

Barbarian doesn’t have a combat role like that, so the design of AT would work here

[gloomy prairie]

You AMBUSH people with spells, you STEAL spells with magic, you STEAL from people with magic

[gloomy prairie]

Okay I think you misunderstand what I said here

[native quail]

Except Rogues aren’t explicitly thieves

That’s a different sub

[gloomy prairie]

When I refer to using the arcane trickster as an example, I’m referring to how it’s actually quite flavorful for a 1/3rd caster

[wet yarrow]

What's being discussed?

[gloomy prairie]

You feel like a rogue who uses magic to get the upper hand

[native quail]

. for Balbian

[gloomy prairie]

Meanwhile, your barb sub kinda just feels like a barb with Druid spellcasting

I don’t see how any of the spellcasting or any of the features explicitly mesh with what barbarians are supposed to do besides the fact that they’re connected and compatible with rage

[wet yarrow]

Oh, the Rage for Spell Slot is dope.

That's a neat resource shift.

Reminds me of 4e Hybrid classes

I just got done making 5 Lv 3s for barbarian subs, lol. Doing fancy things with Rage is on the brain.

I like the Rage + Druid spell kicker too, and by Tier 4 the cantrip while raging barely does anything anyway

[native quail]

Yeah, though I don’t like how late you get it

[wet yarrow]

Rage is a funny resource because you actually usually have too much of it

[native quail]

I considered moving it to 6th level, and then taking Hextra Attack and altering it to be stronger and at 3rd level

[wet yarrow]

I think 6 would feel just about right

You have a lot of subclass spikes mid Tier 2 anyway

[native quail]

Then, of course, that gives me another feature to add at 10 that I need to come up with

[wet yarrow]

And youre still bound by the spell levels you can cast

[native quail]

I think Barbarian is just kind of weak overall too, so I can afford to make the sub stronger

[wet yarrow]

There's room to grow there, for sure.

I've been tearing at it a good bit.

[true forge]

i mean, casting makes it strong no doubt, but everything else doesnt seem that strong?

[native quail]

So I move Rage Magic to 6th level, remove Primal Fighting, and change (changes bolded) Rage Casting to:

At 3rd level, when you finish a Long Rest, you can choose two of your Druid cantrips. You can cast those cantrips while Raging until you choose another cantrip with this feature. Additionally, while Raging, Druid cantrips you cast that deal only damage and require you to make an attack roll can be made as part of the Attack action, and are also considered weapon attacks for your Barbarian features.

[wet yarrow]

So rage damage. That's beef.

[native quail]

Yeah, other guy suggested it earlier and I’m a fan

Also helps to encourage you to still Rage instead of just spamming Reckless Starry Wisp

As for the 10th level feature… I dunno

[true forge]

i mean, i did spell slot conversion into rage charges and vise versa as my pact magic caster barb's 10th :P

the 3rd level was d8s equal to rage damage bonus as a bonus action by spending a rage charge

[native quail]

Ooh ooh! Brutal Strike!

Acts of Magic

At 10th level, your Brutal Strike feature applies to Constitution-based attack rolls as well. When you use Brutal Strike on a Constitution-based attack, you can use your reaction to cast one of your Druid spells with a casting time of 1 Action. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Strength modifier.

[true forge]

so this a 2024 subclass?

[native quail]

Yes

[true forge]

ah, all 2024 subs are

Level 3: xxxxx

or at least all ive seen lol

[native quail]

Yeah I don’t like that formatting 😬 so I don’t use it

For my homebrew i often use 2014 formatting in some places, but I always use 2024 rules

Like for monsters I still delineate between weapon and spell attacks

Okay, next draft. Changes bolded.

Spellcasting

At 3rd level, <Insert 1/3 caster text here with CON + Druid base>. You can use a weapon with the two-handed property as an Arcane Focus.

Rage Casting

At 3rd level, when you finish a Long Rest, you can choose two of your Druid cantrips. You can cast those cantrips while Raging until you choose another cantrip with this feature. Additionally, while Raging, Druid cantrips you cast that deal only damage and require you to make an attack roll can be made as part of the Attack action, and are also considered weapon attacks for your Barbarian features.

Reckless Casting

At 3rd level, your Reckless Attack feature additionally applies to attack rolls made with Constitution.

Rage Magic

At 6th level, you can expend a Rage charge to regain a spell slot of a level no greater than your Proficiency Bonus as an Action. When you do so, you can also change the spells you’ve chosen for your Rage Casting feature.

Acts of Magic

At 10th level, your Brutal Strike feature applies to Constitution-based attack rolls as well. When you use Brutal Strike on a Constitution-based attack, you can use your reaction to cast one of your Druid spells with a casting time of 1 Action. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Strength modifier, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Crazed Magician

At 16th level, when you enter a Rage, you can cast one of your Druid spells that has a casting time of one action. When cast in this way, the spell requires does not consume a spell slot and isn’t subject to the restrictions of Rage. Additionally, you can now cast all of your Druid cantrips while raging. Instead, for your Rage Magic feature, you can pick any three of your Druid spells**; these spells do not need to be cantrips**.

[rotund dirge]

I feel like this is not really balanced lol

• You want Barbarian, the class that goes up to +7 Constitution modifier, to use Constitution as a spellcasting ability?
• Usually third casters don't use weapons as a Focus, but regardless
• At 6th level, your PB is +3. It increases to +4 at 9, +5 at 13 and +6 at 17. As a third-caster, your highest level spell slot is 2th level at Barbarian level 7, 3rd level at 13 and 4th at 19. Why not just say you get your highest level spell slot, up to 4 or gained through the Spellcasting feature granted by the subclass (so it prevents multiclass problems)?

[spring tusk]

in 2024 is Hit Point capitalized

[rotund dirge]

Pretty much every rule is

[true forge]

Firearms

Name	Cost	Damage	Weight	Range	Properties
Martial Ranged Weapons
Palm Blaster	2 GP	1d4 piercing	2 lb.	(10/40)	Light, Reload 4, Durability, Fragile
Pistol, Semi-Automatic	5 gp	1d6 piercing	4 lb.	(60/90)	Reload 6, Durability
Riverboat	10 gp	1d8 piercing	5 lb.	(30/60)	Reload 6, Durability, Special
Hand-Held Shotgun	20 GP	2d4 piercing	5 lb.	(10)	Reload 2, Durability, Fragile, Blast
Rifle, Single Shot	30 GP	1d10 piercing	10 lb.	(60/240)	Reload 1, Durability, Fragile
Rifle, Scoped	40 GP	1d12 piercing	12 lb.	(90/360)	Reload 10, Durability, Fortified, Stopping Power, Scoped
Boomstick	100 GP	Special	10 lb.		Reload 1, Durability, Special, Stopping Power

well got some of the many guns, btw idk how balanced they are lol

added Two Handed to both Rifles

[spring tusk]

hello evernyan

this is the CR 9 Ancestor Spirit

this is the CR 13 Regal Ancestor Spirit

is anyone noticing a difference

[white bison]

I feel like the cr9 one is a bit underpowered

I love the cr13 one tho

[spring tusk]

for a CR 9 its not

[tropic stratus]

broken link

[spring tusk]

yeye was just about to mention that

I ended up deleting that CR 9 so if you wanna check it out again just click the CR 13 one

Ancestor Spirits for easy access

[tropic stratus]

I only just realised ... Elden Ring

iirc in ER the Regal Ancestor spirit was stronger because it had spirit summons it could absorb to gain new moves and heal itself

otherwise they were both basically the same

[native quail]

If they’re spirits, shouldn’t they have some sort of incorporalibilty

[spring tusk]

Well not every spirit is incorporeal but to that extent I'm fairly sure the "spirit" is what animated the carcass

[spring tusk]

Right yeah, to the point that in the moves list for the Regal Ancestor Spirit it directly says it shares most of its moves with the Ancestor Spirit variant

except, it gets three phases

And those spirit summons? It can also manifest into one of them

And the different phases give you different spirits it can turn into

And the different spirit form it chooses before it then becomes it's base form again gives it a different ability that it otherwise doesn't have access to

It was just 3 hours of trying to figure out the wording for a clause that specifies that the phase 2 Trait triggers twice but at different points and with SLIGHTLY different results, and also clauses that specify that certain traits only activate after the second time the trait has been activated, and also a trait to explain what the actions that were labeled "hare", "boar", and "goat" meant

Creating the actual actions were easy

It was mostly just about writing out the descriptions

Trying to figure that out, it took me like 7 attempts before I settled

[spring tusk]

I did weirdly really enjoy making it

But it was hefty

And in the end it is such a cool statblock

[white bison]

you’re underestimating what a level 9 party is capable of

[white bison]

yeah it’s p cool

[spring tusk]

It's not meant to be fought by a level 9 party

Closer to level 5, or 6

[white bison]

that’s what the 9 in cr 9 means

[spring tusk]

Then what's CR 30 mean

[white bison]

cr9 means the monster is made for a party of 4/5 level 9 people

[spring tusk]

No

CR 9 means it would be a low difficulty encounter for a party of 4 level 9's

[white bison]

CRs above 20 just show that the fight is supposed to be way harder than what a lv20 party normally faces

[white bison]

it’s literally in the manual

wym no

[spring tusk]

Which manual??

[white bison]

either the phb or dmg, kinda forgot

probably dmg

[spring tusk]

The 2014 one filled with statblocks that prove that blatantly wrong or the 2024 one that doesn't say that??

I fully believe a 2014 book said that

2014 also gave us 2014 ranger

Any single combatant is going to be a low difficulty encounter against your average party of 4 PC's based on action economy alone

[white bison]

"A monster’s challenge rating tells you how great a threat the monster is. An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat a monster that has a challenge rating equal to its level without suffering any deaths. For example, a party of four 3rd-level characters should find a monster with a challenge rating of 3 to be a worthy challenge, but not a deadly one."

from the dmg

[spring tusk]

Which dmg

[white bison]

2014

[spring tusk]

Yeah there's your problem

[white bison]

cr works the same in 24

[spring tusk]

No it doesnt

Cr didn't even work that way in 2014

They said it did

They were wrong

Which is why they don't repeat it in 24

[white bison]

this reasoning is p flawed

[spring tusk]

I'm sorry you feel that way?

Its realistic

[white bison]

if you’re making this for other people to use against a level 6 party, cr9 is not good

it’s misrepresentstive

[spring tusk]

Yes it is??

[white bison]

and based on your own opinion of cr

[spring tusk]

It's not an opinion of CR that's how CR works

[white bison]

content should be standardized, not subjective

[spring tusk]

Good thing it's not subjective

[white bison]

‘yes i know the manual says that but the manua lis wrong’

you said this literally

[spring tusk]

That's not an opinion that's how it works

[white bison]

bro this convo is stupid i’m dipping

[spring tusk]

Okay??

Good for you, bye

[white bison]

that’s literally ur opinion 😭

[spring tusk]

I would have phrased it as an opinion of it was an opinion

It's called having experience as a DM

I know that the 2014 DMG says that, I also know the 2014 DMG says a lot of things, and that a lot of things- especially about encounter balance in the 2014 DMG were wrong

They fully revamped CR, scaling, and encounter balance in 2024 you can't just say it works the same, have you even read the 24 DMG?

More specifically have you even read the chapter in it on encounter balance??

Maybe I should add a note somewhere that says these enemies should be fought at lower levels then what the XP budget would suggest because of the whole single combatant thing, that's a fair enough point

[boreal rover]

A CR9 creature against a party of level 6 adventurers will be considered a Hard difficulty, almost bordering Deadly

Can you run it? Of course, but it will not be a standard encounter

[spring tusk]

Also by the way, I literally used the table from the 2014 DMG chapter on homebrew monster creation for the stats on the creature, so if it's underpowered then it's underpowered by the standards of what 2014 D&D said the standards of a CR 9 should be

[spring tusk]

Right, and that's what I'm going for

Level 6 was a rough estimate, but the way I do it is that I take what would be a hard encounter XP budget, then find out where it would be an easy encounter XP budget, and use the hard encounter XP budget from that level instead,

Since a single combatant is considered an easy encounter even if it's XP budget would say otherwise

[boreal rover]

Please, refrain from pinging, thanks

[spring tusk]

Gotcha, you have it nowhere on your account so I didn't know, I'll refrain in the future

[boreal rover]

No worries, I'm fine repeating it whenever necessary

[spring tusk]

Being single combatants I want them to feel difficult so I make what would be a low difficulty encounter due to single combatant syndrome a high difficulty encounter by just bumping it up

It's what I did with Margit, he's meant to be fought against level 4's but he's CR 8

[boreal rover]

And I'm not sure where this is from, I believe an easy encounter for level 6 party (4 characters) would be 1200xp, whether that be from a single enemy or from multiple (with corresponding multipliers)

[spring tusk]

I forget where I read it from but the general thing is that by the standards of action economy alone a party of 4 adventurers is gonna beat down on a single combatant unless you're giving it like 8 things to do on its turn

Which makes sense it's literally ganging up on someone

[boreal rover]

Which is why legendary actions and lair actions increase the CR of a monster (and therefore the XP, which in turn increases the difficulty consideration), not sure what your point is

[spring tusk]

I'm not sure how you're missing my point you just stabbed yourself with it

/lh

[boreal rover]

If I have stabbed myself with it, then there is little point brining it to further discussion

[spring tusk]

I suppose not?

The point is that D&D combat is entirely based on action economy

It's why you don't include more than like 2 enemies per PC, or even 1 enemy at lower levels

A creature that would usually be fit for a hard encounter against level 4's typically doesn't have the action economy required to be balanced against a party of 4 all on its own, which is again why encounters have multiple enemy combatants

They practiced it in bg3, all the bosses had allies in the room with them, or a gimmick to distract you from the main boss, because encounters that were just the one creature get stomped on

..so adding legendary actions and lair actions does increase the CR of a monster, and as such those higher CR monsters tend to have the action economy and overall stats to maintain themselves against a party of level 4's all by themselves

That's why I've made Margit, a creature meant for level 4's, a CR 8 boss, because if he was a CR that aligned with what would typically be a hard encounter, then he would get ganged up on and thrown out the window

In fact in game this is shown to be the case, you summon some wolves and have a friend help you out and suddenly he's got so many people he's distracted with that you get to just go to town with your weapons- it's actually fairly common with all the bosses, its honestly how I cheesed Malenia

[rugged olive]

I need an idea for a 7th level feature for a battlemaster akin fighter subclass (based on stances, and choose 1 from available options at 3rd, 10th, and 18th level)

Moreso akin to the Totem pole Barbarian for fighter

[vale ingot]

I feel like its a running theme to not take actual takes from people with knowledge of the books itself to help give opinions and suggest homebrewed rules as RaW here

[vale ingot]

Also "Epic" profile pic

[white bison]

Could you send what you got so far?

[golden temple]

oh i recognise you, , ,

[golden temple]

i still need feedback on this one, , , ,

[rugged olive]

Oh sure

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zrBIUaRRyOpavI9KqcJBMJLljfLGUSc1I-QzeMsr5Xc/edit?usp=sharing

[rugged olive]

Simpler, and I think it coincides with maneuvers or weapon masteries

[golden temple]

ssomething something (tthey're the concept that each weapon, much like mastery, get unique features, but instead of properties, it's actions - uses,,) (tthese are tied to what class you are, mostly just martials,,) (wwhich is the point of the idea, to add more variety to martials without just making battlemaster useless,,)

[ember sorrel]

this is a product of bounded accuracy btw

[brittle blade]

I was curious on who would wanna talk on a topic of a homebrew i did when i was in college and maybe get some feed back about the type of story and campain it was and have always bin curious on if others out there may like what it was about, and maybe even revive it.

[midnight chasm]

Why don't you tell us what it's called and what it's good for?

[frigid holly]

hey so i m new to dnd i wanna get into in because of legends of advantris (a youtube chanell if your not familiar)

and im looking to join a party

[native gale]

welcome! If you are new to the game and want to learn more about how to play, head over to the #dnd-newcomers channel for advice and guides. If you already know how to play and want to find a group to play with, the #find-a-game channel has instructions for how to go about doing so

This channel is for "homebrew" content, which is where users create their own game content, like monsters, magic items, subclasses, etc. Think of it like mods for a video game. Not the best place to start if you're new to the game. Its important to learn how to play the base game before you start making changes to the rules

[frigid holly]

i know how to play somewhat from watching youtube and stuff but i mainley just need a party is there a way u could help

[vivid jolt]

w channel

[frigid holly]

ikr theyre so good

whos ur fav character by them?

[native gale]

We can help give you advice and walk you through some of the process, but that should be discussed in #dnd-newcomers as well. That's not a topic for this channel

[frigid holly]

is there an off topic channel i cant seem to find one

[native gale]

#non-dnd-topics

[frigid holly]

found it sorry

i skimmed and missed it

[native gale]

no worries

[rapid latch]

What kind of attacks would y'all give what is essentially a Celestial miniature planetoid?

Like, Gargantuan (10×10) sized.

[midnight lynx]

Gravitational Pull(Like a Swallow Attack, does bludgeoning damage and forced movement)

Meteor Strike(Radiant bolts fly off as a ranged attack)

[wintry wave]

Some good ideas above; I might also add something like an aura that gave ranged attacks disadvantage (Bent Gravity) as its massive size disrupts space around it.

[rapid latch]

For Gravitational Pull, I already made that a passive to simulate orbit. Any creature within 30 feet of it must succeed a Strength saving throw or be pulled towards it.

For the disadvantage on ranged attacks I could do something like the Oort cloud.

[brittle blade]

well it is styled and was based around doctor who and players start by meeting one of the time lord doctors and work to try to figure why there even there in the first place

[midnight chasm]

Alright, I know you got redirected previously, so let's try to nail this down for the right audience.

Are you wanting to talk about a game you played previously that someone made up the story for? That's #tales-from-the-table.

Did you want to discuss a particular item or creature or class you homebrewed? That's here.

Did you want to chat about the setting you were playing in? That's probably best for #dm-world-building.

[spring tusk]

Im not sure if this is in opposition or alignment with me and I'm not sure it matters either way

It could also be a magic third thing and have nothing to do with me at all lmao

[spring tusk]

Mm? What's that? /Gen

[native grove]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/1c32n1m/school_of_arcane_athletics/

This is a link to a homebrew wizard subclass i made

[spring tusk]

Are you looking to show it off or for feedback?

[native grove]

feedback

what do you think?

[spring tusk]

I think unarmored defense being the two best stats in the game and not just allowing to add your intelligence to the unarmored defense is a little busted

I also think that the paladin strike thing should be an added spells thing

Like you get a table with the smites and what levels you would get access to them

But that's just a formatting issue more than anything else

Mostly the thing for me as well is that we already have blade singer, which is essentially a melee wizard

I love battle mages but the reason the blade singer doesn't make wizards strong and just let's them use their intelligence for things that would usually require strength is because wizards having strength, con, and intelligence is usually an issue of MAD

[ember sorrel]

"numbers start and stay small"

in 5e your attack bonus starts at +5 and goes to +11 (sans magic items). AC is similarly constrained. you cannot have a large action economy disparity in 5e because the likelihood of getting whittled down

[spring tusk]

Ah, gotcha gotcha

[urban bay]

is anyone available to provide some feedback on an Artificer Subclass I made a while back?

[jagged gorge]

My DM just gave my Warlock this magic item, what would be the best use case for it? Undead Patron subclass (Strahd is her patron)

As a Magic action, you may drink from the phial and become Empowered for up to 5 minutes. While Empowered, you deal maximum damage with spells and weapon attacks, and cannot concentrate on spells. You may end this effect at will, no action required. If you drink from the phial three or more times in a single day, you must succeed on a death saving throw (DC 10) for every third time you've drank that day. For each failed death save, you gain 1 level of Exhaustion.```

[spring tusk]

Giant kaboom AoE's that all do max damage

Level 9 fireball max damage

Level 9 destructive wave max damage

[jagged gorge]

Undead Patron, not Fiend Patron

[spring tusk]

Warlocks also don't get access to destructive wave either I'm pretty sure

[jagged gorge]

Only up to 5th level slots as well

[spring tusk]

The point is giant AoE's

[spring tusk]

Ok then level 5 giant fireball, you get my point

[jagged gorge]

Again, Undead Patron, not Fiend Patron

[white bison]

This item is incredibly strong

[spring tusk]

Again, that's not the point

It's Legendary yeah

[white bison]

It’s strong even for a legendary

[spring tusk]

Ok

Anyway

[spring tusk]

The point was AoE's, fire ball is just the most well known one so it's the one I named

It doesn't have to be fireball

[void jewel]

It's only strong as a precast

It isn't worth spending your action on in combat, really.

But as a precast it is excellent.

[white bison]

Ye but it has a long duration and 3 uses per day, also the penalty for using it more than 3 times is almost nothing

Max damage is very strong on the right spells

[void jewel]

Yeah as a precast it is excellent

[white bison]

Exactly

[jagged gorge]

It has no limits to the number of uses per day, fwiw

[white bison]

That dm is lucky he gave it to a warlock and not a wizard/sorcerer lmao

[jagged gorge]

Just that every three swigs procs a death save

[white bison]

480 damage meteor swarm

[white bison]

Yea, penalty almost non existent

[void jewel]

Yeah tbh the warlock should give it to a full caster if there is one lol

[white bison]

Real

[void jewel]

The best use for this item is to give it straight to your friendly wizard

[white bison]

Watch any monster evaporate

Btw if someone survives my 480 damage meteor swarm my simulacrum can redo it

[void jewel]

This is mostly limited by available slots. Wizards have much less of that issue.

[jagged gorge]

Eldritch Knight, Alchemist, and Beast Master are the other three players

[white bison]

Actually ive just noticed smth

This doesn’t need attunement

[void jewel]

In that case, keep it.

[jagged gorge]

There's a Twilight Domain DMpc as well

[white bison]

You can just let everyone drink before every fight

[void jewel]

Yeah lmao they can all do it

Oh yeah max entire party damage lol

Goodbye game balance.

[jagged gorge]

I have a feeling the DM would say it only works for my Warlock

[void jewel]

That's cheap.

[jagged gorge]

I'm just assuming that'll be his ruling on it

[void jewel]

I hate when they retcon stuff out like that.

Deal with the consequences of your actions

[white bison]

Learn to make balanced items next time 😭

[spring tusk]

Or add a slight claus that the first person to drink out of it each day is the only person who can drink out of it without instead taking poison damage equal to Xd4 where X is the level of the spell they cast

[spring tusk]

Or make the balanced item now and not suffer through your mistake when it's extremely easy to fix??

[jagged gorge]

Asking now, DM says others who drink have different downsides, and won't elaborate

[white bison]

He’s not the dm

[spring tusk]

Alrighty then,

[white bison]

He’s a player

[void jewel]

They won't tell you how it works? Just cast identify.

[spring tusk]

Yeah I understand that thank you

[void jewel]

If the DM doesn't tell you how an identified item works, hit them on the head.

[white bison]

Btw an excellent spell to use with this is synaptic static

[white bison]

Real

[jagged gorge]

I asked what the downsides were and he said "when we cross that bridge"

[void jewel]

Cast identify, force his hand.

[spring tusk]

They know how the item works they just don't know the distinctive downsides for every different person in the party ESPECIALLY since if this person just asked they might not have any downsides prepped to elaborate on in the first place

[spring tusk]

That would be crossing the bridge yes

[void jewel]

Sounds like the item is incomplete.

DM problem, I cast identify.

[spring tusk]

Yeah that happens, the DM is still a player, be considerate, lmao

[void jewel]

Never happened to me.

I have stats for items I make.

Identify reveals the stat block

[white bison]

Honestly, this item is fine only because the party has no full caster

And even then, it’s incredibly strong

[spring tusk]

Respectfully if y'all were my players you wouldn't be for long,

[void jewel]

..do you not have stat blocks for your homebrew items?

[spring tusk]

I have statblocks for everything

The point isn't that DM's shouldn't have prepped statblocks

[void jewel]

Great. Identify reveals the stat block

[spring tusk]

The point is that you should be considerate when a DM doesnt

[spring tusk]

Completely interrupting me to ignore the point, thanks for that

[void jewel]

They definitely should have written versions of what every item does. That's a reasonable expectation.

[spring tusk]

I'm getting ready to head out, y'all have fun with whatever conversation this is

[void jewel]

Item descriptions shouldn't be stored in their heads

[jagged gorge]

The DM can determine if information isn't revealed by Identify, no?

[spring tusk]

Nobodies saying they shouldn't, the point is that you should be considerate regardless, sometimes a DM makes a mistake, they're still a person and a player

[spring tusk]

This is true,

[void jewel]

No. It tells you the properties of the item. The spell doesn't leave room for DM fiat

[void jewel]

It is not. Not unless you modify identify.

[spring tusk]

Every spell leaves room for DM fiat that's the nature of D&D

[void jewel]

Nope. The spell does what it says lmao.

[white bison]

you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use, and how many charges it has, if any. You learn whether any spells are affecting the item and what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn which spell created it.
If you instead touch a creature throughout the casting, you learn what spells, if any, are currently affecting it.

[void jewel]

Unless you change it

[spring tusk]

The spell does what the DM says lmao

[void jewel]

No? Spells do what they say they do, unless there's homebrew. It doesn't sound like they home brewed identify.

A DM who decides fireball deals 2d6 less damage when I cast it, without setting that out ahead if time, is a bad DM.

[spring tusk]

You wouldn't know if they did or not and that's not the point, spells have a description, it's the purview of the DM to decide wether the spell works as intended or not, a spell not working as intended can actually be a good storytelling tool

[void jewel]

No. Spells work as intended unless their description states they don't. Fireball always deals damage or half on a save, with the same dice.

You can't decide "uhhh actually that deals 4d6 instead"

[white bison]

Honestly i wouldn’t play in a campaign where the dm changes the way any feature works on the fly

[void jewel]

Same.

[spring tusk]

I agree, I think weakening a party without warning them that an action would lead to that certain consequence is bad dming, I also think a DM should atleast explain why after, but the DM still has purview over the effects of a spell

[void jewel]

They do not, actually.

[spring tusk]

They do, actually

[void jewel]

No.

[spring tusk]

And I'm gonna stop you right here, because I promise you neither of us are going to change eachothers mind

[void jewel]

I agree, neither of us will.

[spring tusk]

It is a fundamental difference on how we view DMing and that's okay

[void jewel]

I agree.

[spring tusk]

Great,

Anyway

[void jewel]

If I cast identify and the DM hides info from me, poor planning on their part or not, I'm gonna judge them

So @jagged gorge cast identify.

[midnight zinc]

if im a dungeon master you better believe im going to tpk my party

[void jewel]

Based

[spring tusk]

The DM can do what the DM wants, the limitations of a DM are self set due to the responsibility that comes with the role,

The magic item is strong, but it's fun, and I've learned at this point that changing people's homebrew if they haven't asked for help changing it is a losing battle,

Best move would be to use a lot of AoE spells, high damage single target is good but AoE will take out more targets so I think it'd be better, good luck killing things :)

[void jewel]

Me when I power trip

"I make all the rules" ahh attitude.

Not "let's discuss the rules"

[spring tusk]

You are not the arbiter on how someone else views the game, or what they do, this person literally isn't having any issue with the item or their DM, just straight up asked what the best use case for a magic item would be

[void jewel]

Womp womp

[white bison]

I tpked my party on accident and moved the campaign to hell

[void jewel]

The best use case is to cast identify on it

[spring tusk]

Why do you feel the need to insult me lmao, does it make you feel better to think you're better than me?

I'm sorry that's what you have to resort to I guess

[midnight zinc]

campaign i was in was set in what was basically hell

but the thing there was something called "the end of death"

if you died there you lost a bit of yourself but respawned somewhere else inside of it, further

[void jewel]

No, that do be power tripping tho lmao. IDC about how you DM. But this is mildly entertaining yeah

[spring tusk]

Bait used to be believable

[midnight zinc]

the dm's idea was that we would die to the first encounter

guess what didn't happen?

[white bison]

Wait wait wait

Is this a module

One of my friends wants to dm that module

[midnight zinc]

nope, just something my friend came up with

probably took inspiration from something

but this one is original

[white bison]

I swear to god there is a module with that same mechanic

It’s called hope or sum

[void jewel]

Tbh one time a DM refused to identify an item, the party threw it in the gutter.

Identify your item or have the time you spent making it wasted lmao.

[midnight zinc]

i know like

[spring tusk]

Congrats, have a laugh, it's different DMing styles, I thought we were agreeing to disagree so I don't know why you feel the need to be rude lmao

[white bison]

You lose it every time you die

[spring tusk]

But like sure ig

[midnight zinc]

the game "hades" has something similar

in a way

[white bison]

And you can’t regain it

[void jewel]

We are agreeing to disagree, but seem to still be talking.

[midnight zinc]

i think in this one the entire point was that

[white bison]

?

[midnight zinc]

the end of this hole you found the way out

so you needed to go further and further

if you wanted out

[midnight zinc]

die (in hell), come back in a different spot?

[white bison]

Oh yeah

[void jewel]

Party dies to tpk, goes to hell, dies there, goes to hell squared.

And so on until they get out

[midnight zinc]

at one point hell is just a white room and if you open a door confetti pops out and you gain a level up and your way back

[spring tusk]

People are allowed to keep having conversations even while agreeing to disagree, and also I did seperate and went to go talk to the other person before you started tugging on my sleeve like an attention starved child to insult me for no reason other than- what, your hurt ego?

Are you sad I don't agree with you? Is that why you're acting like a child?

[void jewel]

Lmao.

Relax

[spring tusk]

Maybe don't be rude for no reason lmao

[void jewel]

I just said the DM style of DM decides how all spells work is power tripping.

That's not personally offensive to you

[white bison]

Party dies to tpk, goes to hell, makes cerberus the party pet, steals hades helm and anubis’ scale then runs away after pissing off almost half of the pantheon of death

[void jewel]

Unless it is then be my guest lol

[white bison]

What actually happened in my campaign

[midnight zinc]

one campaign i was in i was responsible for (kinda) derailing the plans of the dm

because the dms idea was that a reocurring enemy was an eater of hope

the only way to kill him was finding out his true name

[white bison]

I love when i dm and players derail my plans

[midnight zinc]

and shouting it as you struck him down

which you know, awesome and all

and the idea was we beat him normally and he comes back later until we figure out his name

[spring tusk]

Don't play coy, I was describing my dm style, which you know because we were just talking about it, you were saying I power trip as the DM, and even if it wasn't meant directly against me, you hit me with a "womp womp" and a "this is mildly entertaining"

What if instead of ragebait you tried doing something meaningful

[void jewel]

Yeah and I think its power tripping and stand by that lol.

[midnight zinc]

but the issue is that through some plot related shenanigans i had gained a boon that gave me a single use "speak with plants"

and that this hope eater in specific held a divine being in the form of a golden rose, whom he kind of fed on

[spring tusk]

Congrats?? You don't need to insult me in the process,

[midnight zinc]

.....i just used speak with plants and asked for his name

[void jewel]

Cool.

[midnight zinc]

and then killed it in the first encounter

[white bison]

😭

I’d love that as a dm

[midnight zinc]

it was REALLY cinematic

especially since one of the pcs had died

in the same fight

[void jewel]

Speak with plants and speak with dead to talk to the chair is a personal favorite

[spring tusk]

Making fun of it because it's a "I make all the rules" mentality as if the DM doesn't have purview over all the rules

[midnight zinc]

my character got chosen by the golden rose as a divine emissary after that fight (though that didnt last long)

[white bison]

One time where i loved when one of my players derailed the campaign

Is at the end of the last campaign i dmed

[void jewel]

They don't. The people who play make believe at the table together do lmao.

[spring tusk]

That's not how the spells work RAW by the way, since you're so invested in that in the homebrew channel for some reason

[spring tusk]

Dude that's what D&D is, it's make believe with numbers

[void jewel]

Do not care.

[void jewel]

Yeah it is

That's my point

[spring tusk]

So you're a rage baiter and a hypocrite, cool

[white bison]

The players found the shards of the crown of the dungeon master which had died, and it gave them all temporary godlike powers for 1 minute

[void jewel]

Cool

[white bison]

One of the players didn’t use the transformation in the final fight, he waited until it was nearly ended

[rough flame]

so moral of the story, don't tell the things who would have a reason to want you to die the only way to kill you

[spring tusk]

Whatever, as long as your players and DM are happy it doesn't matter to me how you run i just wish you wouldn't be rude about it in the process lmao

[white bison]

When the fight ended, he killed all the other players, seized the fragments and recreated the world by destroying his body and giving everybody an happy ending

[void jewel]

I agree there

[white bison]

Since all the players had lost a lot during the campaign

[spring tusk]

You agree you didn't need to be rude?

[white bison]

And everybody forgot about his character

[spring tusk]

Great, then we're on the same page

[void jewel]

With the first part

[white bison]

I didn’t plan that at all for the ending but i loved that

[spring tusk]

Nah

[void jewel]

Nah

[spring tusk]

Unless you're just straight up saying you do think it was necessary to be rude lmao

[void jewel]

I'm gonna be so real man, that wasn't that harsh. I think unilateral rules choices against the player are power tripping. If you make them, I think you're power tripping. That's it lol.

[faint sonnet]

Considering it's a homebrew item, it's entirely possible to not have portions not revealed by Identify. I've used that before myself.

[void jewel]

Yes the property can say it isn't revealed by identify then it isn't.

[spring tusk]

Nobody said anything about that though lmao, so you're getting upset about a non-issue

[midnight zinc]

real end of evangelion vibes

i dig it

[void jewel]

Ok

[faint sonnet]

Correct, but the existence of that property wouldn't be revealed to the players.

[spring tusk]

Ok??

[midnight zinc]

oh this reminds me

[void jewel]

Yes agreed

[midnight zinc]

apparently theres a rule about two pocket universes

being opened at the same time

which we managed to trigger once by complete accident

and it was genuinely the funniest thing ever

[spring tusk]

Are we talking about the demiplanes thing

[midnight zinc]

i think we had a 30 minute deliberation as to what was going to happen

[spring tusk]

Blackhole of holding lmao

[jagged gorge]

Like putting a Portable Hole into a Bag of Holding?

[midnight zinc]

by the 20th minute we were all convinced we had accidentally shattered the universe

[midnight zinc]

i think it was something to do with entering a universe at the same moment as you leave one

two different people in the same space

[faint sonnet]

Which means that the only thing that truly matters is the DM's intent on how to use the item.

[spring tusk]

Tamms you're so cool

[midnight zinc]

it was genuinely the funniest thing that ever happened to me

[void jewel]

And how the players feel about it. If a DM hid a downside behind "not revealed by identify" that'd be a quick way to get some players not to trust their items.

[jagged gorge]

That's what I'm mostly worried about tbh

[spring tusk]

And what's wrong with that, sometimes you should be wary about magic items

[void jewel]

Nothing, as long as you're good with the resulting low magic setting.

[midnight zinc]

god damn it i dont have image perms

hold on let me copypaste this

[void jewel]

Didn't say anything was wrong with thatm

[spring tusk]

That argument is based on a personal experience that I've never seen played out elsewhere

[void jewel]

That's fine.

[jagged gorge]

I'm afraid that he'll make it function like they drink purple worm venom

[midnight zinc]

Rolling Star — 7/31/2025 8:06 PM
Are you kidding me

little reddit
— 7/31/2025 8:06 PM
jupe dont bother showing up
the universe literally imploded
like this isnt a joke

true love
— 7/31/2025 8:07 PM
sob emoji

Rolling Star — 7/31/2025 8:07 PM
Are you being genuinely serious

little reddit
— 7/31/2025 8:07 PM
it LITERALLY imploded
YES

[jagged gorge]

Or some other nasty poison

[void jewel]

Yeah. Its quite risky with unrevealed downsides.

However, doing it would show you. And tbh, that's more "the DM decides you take X poison damage" than the consequences of the item.

It'd functionally reveal the property for the future

[white bison]

LMAO

[void jewel]

If you guys have a downtime day, you could all drink from the vial, record the results, and then you know what the item does.

[midnight zinc]

i think the exact mix was

freeing a lich from a phylactery gone wrong

and drawing "the void" deck of many things

at the same thing

the lich left a pocket dimension

the void transported a player to a pocket dimension

and you ask me "okay, what happened then?"

long story short: the player became the moon

[white bison]

😭

[rough flame]

Murphy's law in action my god

[white bison]

Dnd parties wanna be the avengers but then every campaign ends up being guardians of the galaxy

[midnight zinc]

the moon became a necromancer and we accidentally created a demon (BECAUSE ANOTHER PLAYER WAS IN THE RADIUS OF THIS WHOLE MESS AND GOT TRANSPORTED TO A POCKET DIMENSION WITH ONLY HIM AND A GOD, FORCING HIM TO KILL THE GOD TO ESCAPE)

[midnight zinc]

it was genuinely so hilarious

the moon started making the dead rise

[void jewel]

Actually @jagged gorge this is my advice if identify doesn't work. Pause adventuring for a day if there is no active narrative pressure (the entire party can oftentimes just choose to do nothing), drink from the vial, record results. Multiple times per person to make sure.

[midnight zinc]

one of our friends was both the moon and making animals kill themselves to then follow his command

[faint sonnet]

Oh, absolutely, but that's the responsibility behind being a DM.

[midnight zinc]

i had a deer speak to me in fluent eldritch to try and calm me down

[void jewel]

I agree 100%

[midnight zinc]

because i forgot the OTHER side effect of this whole deal: the dungeon (underground) we were in got transported several hundred feet up

[rough flame]

saw someone say "everyone wants to be critical role, but end up being legends of avantris"

[midnight zinc]

and if i stayed where i was itd be crushed by the fall

[white bison]

TRUE

[faint sonnet]

That's what Avacyn was referring to, to my understanding. Being an opposing force without being a jerk.

[white bison]

Which is why i dig the dnd movie

People complain it’s unserious

[midnight zinc]

LOL

literally true

[white bison]

But the speak with dead scene is exactly what would happen in a campaign

[midnight zinc]

we were serving a lich (because he paid us)

and then we accidentally killed the lich and merged both him, the moon and a pc

just an incredible game

frankly

[faint sonnet]

If anything, the mindsets that 5e cultivates are tough for playing a game where the DM doesn't feel guilt for stuff going "wrong".

[midnight zinc]

and why did all of this happen in the first place? my character failed a check and accidentally threw the phylactery he was being held in towards the necromancer who secretly longed to have it for herself

[void jewel]

Ye. However, I for one if I know an item is cursed/has a downside but have no idea what it is will just dispose of that item. But that's just my opinion.

As a player you can kind of dispose of items you don't like the mechanics of, just to get them out of the game. Unless it is like bound to you or something but that'd be odd.

[faint sonnet]

Earlier editions (not even DMs, just the actual mechanics) were much more: "Wow, [player], that sucks. You died, btw."

[faint sonnet]

Of course, but that's the point of "power at a cost."

[white bison]

Earlier editions were also much more of a rpg rather than telling a story

[faint sonnet]

Which can be dangerous (to shift away from) when you tell a story via conflict.

[void jewel]

Yes I agree. And maybe I'm just more on the conservative side in regards to that. I like power at a cost, if I know what cost is.

This is also why certain power at a cost plot hooks just don't fly in my table's games. They'll just throw the item away ASAP. At another table, it could be great

[rough flame]

how do you accidentally THROW smth?? I get dropping or fumbling, but THROWING?

[midnight zinc]

okay LOOK.

[void jewel]

I have on more than one occasion given them "the one ring" or such an item, only to have it immediately ditched.

[midnight zinc]

the evil crow master (whom i started to follow because i was 20% kenku LOL) told me

"throw me that phylactery, i need to eat it to destroy its curse"

and i was like "okay :)"

and i tried to throw it

then the dm said

roll a d6. if you land above a 3 it falls towards the crow

i rolled a 1

[faint sonnet]

I think part of it comes, design-wise, from players not feeling pressure to use powerful things.

[rough flame]

and they say 13 or 4 are the unlucky numbers

[void jewel]

Which is also something that is tricky; I don't want player's only solution to a problem to be using the items I created.

[faint sonnet]

Using LotR as an example, there were many times where Frodo had to use the ring or the story would have ended much differently.

[midnight zinc]

to be honest as unlucky as it was

i cannot even explain

how funny it was

to spend 30 minutes with a bunch of your buddies

to reach the conclusion that you accidentally destroyed the in game universe

we were fully convinced we turned the world inside out

we had a person in the server who wanted to play w us

[void jewel]

I agree. And it is great from a narrative perspective, I just find it less compelling from a game design perspective to say "your character build matters less than this thingy I gave you". But this may just be a style or player difference.

[midnight zinc]

and i think i sent the messages i sent them saying "dont even bother coming next week, we destroyed the world"

[faint sonnet]

I even think that it's fine to create an item and scale encounters to assume that item for the forseeable future. "Oops, someone died because you didn't take this seriously" is a result that sucks but affirms good gameplay patterns to me.

[void jewel]

One problem that creates is a power imbalance between players. In order to make that item powerful enough to do that, it'd have to meaningfully increase a PC's power beyond their normal means such that they stand out significantly above others. Though this could be solved by giving everyone a thing.

[faint sonnet]

Whether the PC died solely because someone didn't use the item may not be obvious, but the POSSIBILITY of saving them is something that can be great character devlopment.

[void jewel]

An item would have to be REALLY powerful to make that kind of difference in an encounter.

[faint sonnet]

This is where the "cost" comes in, generally.

Like, that's my entire preferred gameplay style, so I understand it pretty deeply.

[void jewel]

The problem is that I find it difficult (and maybe this is just me) to come up with a cost that is
-not largely irrelevant/temporary
And
-doesn't feel bad.

Without being prohibitive.

[faint sonnet]

I think the last part is what needs to be used more. I think costs should feel bad if the goal is "power at a cost".

[astral scarab]

Cleaning up a draft of a magic item I may have mentioned here last year:

Sinister Belt
Wondrous item, belt
Rare, Requires attunement

Appears to be a black leather belt with an ornamental dagger permanently attached to it. The dagger is pearl gripped and seemingly sealed into a sheath made of alabaster.

Spectral Appendage. When wearing the belt, you may use a bonus action to sprout or dismiss a ghostly non-dominant limb. The Appendage is not as dexterous or strong as the user's favored limb, and lacks the strength and coordination to wield weapons or shields by itself, but otherwise may interact with items normally.

The Pale Blade. As an exception to the above statement about weapons, the Appendage may draw a spectral version of the sheathed dagger attached to the belt, and attack with it(1d4 force damage) observing the rules of off-hand attacking as they apply to the user.
I wonder if the name makes sense to anyone. and also if my wording on the Pale Blade section is clear enough.

[faint sonnet]

Put another way: I find that the games I enjoy the least are the ones that care too much about my enjoyment.

[void jewel]

I can respect that.

[faint sonnet]

The game doesn't feel authentic; it feels like it's meant to make me feel good instead of letting me glean my own meaning.

[void jewel]

I think hard games, in general, are good. I think my issue with the take was the intersection of
-not giving much information to the players
Combined with
-item downside different per person.

Like, if we are doing power at a cost, I don't think it should be an unknown cost. But that's just me.

[faint sonnet]

I don't even think the game has to be "hard" to involve that idea with homebrew as much as it has to provide an actual benefit to taking the downside.

[void jewel]

If you don't know what the downside is, you can't evaluate the benefit.

[scenic urchin]

when i think of 'hard D&D' i think of like, the tournament modules that they run at conventions

where you have an hour to do a dungeon crawl and you get scored based on how far you get, and the highest score wins

[faint sonnet]

You can definitely evaluate the benefit, though you can't evaluate the cost-benefit ratio.

[void jewel]

I agree. That's the important part for me.

Is the cost benefit ratio

If you trust your DM to be reasonable though, then you can evaluate it.

[faint sonnet]

I think it's fun to not know, personally, because if I know it can suck all the fun out of it.

[astral scarab]

I want to very succinctly say "if you can add bonuses to off hand attacks, you can add it to this." but that didn't sound very item-descriptiony

[void jewel]

I can get where you're coming from, though I just generally choose to interact less with unknown game systems.

But that's just my choice

[faint sonnet]

I would also say that there's times it may not "matter" whether I know, because I care about the story more.

I will intentionally make a bad decision because it makes for a better narrative and better story, which is what I value from the game.

[void jewel]

That's fair. I think my thing is: I need to believe the item will be good for the story.

In a vaccum, I am going to assume the downside for using the item VASTLY outweighs the upside. I think it's this assumption that leads to our different uses

[faint sonnet]

With the caveat that it's what my PC would do, ofc.

[faint sonnet]

Respectfully, I think that assumption can be harmful to the concept of trusting one's DM.

Like, I just flat out wouldn't play with a DM if I believed they'd screw me over, so it's tough to relate with the assumption that someone is making homebrew to be unpleasant.

[void jewel]

I could agree. However, it's the assumption I use. An unknown downside is a much bigger downside than it actually is, and is just not a system I trust generally.

I think if the DM had a track record of being reasonable with it, then I would be more relaxed about the assumption.

If the item is mostly story or exploration based, different metric.

[faint sonnet]

At the same time, you can't make a track record without going on the track.

[void jewel]

However, if it's a combat item, an unknown downside is a massive liability. I'd use it if I had zero other things to resort to

[void jewel]

I'd base it on other things, likely.

[faint sonnet]

Out of curiosity, do you have context of other TTRPGs or is it mostly 5e?

[void jewel]

Like, if we're looking at a TPK in combat, and I have a spell that has a 15% chance to prevent it or an item that has a 30% chance, that item actually has more like a 10% chance in my head when weighed against the unknown downside.

[rough flame]

Not exactly DnD vernacular, but could do smth like "The Pale Blade counts as an off-hand attack when applying bonuses"

[faint sonnet]

I mostly ask because 5e is kinda abnormal with how much it babies the players, whereas most other games are much more "serious" about the players needing to engage with the game on the game's terms.

[void jewel]

I played 4th edition for awhile, and a homebrew system for a few years 12 or so years ago, but nothing outside of that.

[faint sonnet]

I even see my spell and class reworks falling flat for a lot of 5e players because they are very much "here's your lane, stay in it".

[void jewel]

Yes a 5e PC is extremely powerful and, if built right, versatile.

I do recall an earlier discussion we had about class roles being relevant here

[faint sonnet]

All spellcasting of mine will be learned and not able to be swapped outside of its concept, for example.

It's possible I don't even allow swapping at all, tbh. This also means no swapping on level-ups, as well.

[void jewel]

I do think "prepared" lists was a flaw.

I use it, but think it wasn't the best design.

The level up swap I like. It allows you to take spells that are bad later now. This could be solved by designing better spells though.

2014 sleep is the primary example.

[faint sonnet]

I'd probably consider clarifying if/how it uses action economy.

[astral scarab]

now I'm thinking of the fact you can throw daggers lol... I guess this would have to vanish or return?

[faint sonnet]

I'll be using spell trees and cantrip investments, so ideally the issue won't be a problem.

[void jewel]

That would be a pretty big improvement.

One system I do know of, but haven't played, is Ars Magica. I like a lot of (but not all of) their spell design.

[faint sonnet]

It basically forces uniqueness as overlap is very costly, and also allows expansion among concepts.

[void jewel]

Id love to find a group for ars magica. But it's far too obscure, and my friends are firm on the 5e train.

[astral scarab]

I have been careful not to imply that this would allow someone to attack a whole extra time, but I think that there's utility for people with two handed weapons and the two weapon fighting style.

I don't know what it would actually break if any bonus action used to make an off hand attack would allow you to use this as well, though.

[void jewel]

Yes trees with exponential growth to force specialization is good design IMO in that sense, especially because it makes it feel rewarding.

[faint sonnet]

The downside I'm aware of and okay with is that some spell trees may be entirely useless in some situations.

But the thing that works as an opposing force is that if no one takes those spell trees, no one can benefit from them.

[astral scarab]

I considered that because thri-kreen who have secondary arms don't get any extra swings, even though the arms can wield light weapons, that this would be much the same.

[rough flame]

I mean since it's technically a feature of the belt, you don't necessarily have to treat it like a dagger, like how storm of blades only uses the base damage of the swords without any of the other attributes

[faint sonnet]

With a dagger? Likely not, no.

[astral scarab]

I guess base racial features being weaker than rare magic items isn't that wild

[void jewel]

Ideally balanced by making less universally applicable trees more potent when they do come up, I'd think.

[faint sonnet]

Yes and no. I'm a big proponent of emergent gameplay so certain trees are entirely going to depend on the skill level of the players using them.

Using Divination spells as an example, how useful they are is almost entirely based on how good you are with using them.

[void jewel]

I agree. I think DM fiat is an issue to be addressed there. Take illusion spells in 5e as an example. Extremely powerful, but prone to DM issues.

Unless you mean combos and math form of skill

[astral scarab]

The Pale Blade. As an exception to the above statement about weapons, the Appendage may draw a spectral version of the sheathed dagger attached to the belt. The dagger has the light and finesse properties, and deals 1d4 force damage. You may draw and attack with it by itself as a bonus action or as part of any other bonus action off-hand attack.

[void jewel]

I'm assuming you mean in-game creativity

[faint sonnet]

I'm actually entirely fine with DM fiat, tbh, and part of my overall rework will be directed towards players and will likely involve things they don't wanna hear.

[void jewel]

DM fiat can be good but how good it is scales with the DM.

For example, illusions are worthless at many tables in combat.

Due to DM fiat.

Though I suppose you can only design so hard around a poor DM

And it might be a waste of effort to do so

[faint sonnet]

A big part of why is that design has shifted away from DMs actually making determinations, so you end up in the twilight zone of simultaneously assuming a DM is following the guidelines you've set and making sure that they do the extra stuff that goes against your guidelines.

5e is also infamously bad at supporting DMs.

[rough flame]

now it reads like you get a second off hand attack if you use one, so you get main hand and two off hands (imo at least)

[astral scarab]

yeah, I changed my mind lol

because I think I left it pretty clear you don't add bonuses, and the terms of the fighting style feat specify only a second weapon

well shit, I did specify finesse

but the wording of two weapon fighting stands.

[faint sonnet]

One of the spiciest things I see people pushing back against with my rework is the fact that most of the damage types are locked off to Divine classes and you "unlock them" based on working with your DM on which ones make sense for a character that follows a certain deity.

[mild cove]

I had an idea for a homebrew class. Rather than training their body like a monk, or their mind like a barbarian, they train their soul. It would be a half-caster with either dex or strength as a core stat. Their spellcasting stat would actually be determined by their subclass, with wisdom for divine or primal, and intelligence for arcane. That sound like a cool idea?

[remote lance]

I can’t say because I know nothing about their mechanics

[mild cove]

Just concept for now

[rough flame]

so damage is calced like storm of blades? where it's just the normal damage of a standard version of the material weapon

[astral scarab]

So anyway, in cast you didn't know, sinister comes from the Latin word for Left.

Sinister Belt
Wondrous item, belt
Rare, Requires attunement

Appears to be a black leather belt with an ornamental dagger permanently attached to it. The dagger is pearl gripped and seemingly sealed into a sheath made of alabaster.

Spectral Appendage. When wearing the belt, you may use a bonus action to sprout or dismiss a ghostly non-dominant limb. The Appendage is not as dexterous or strong as the user's favored limb, and lacks the strength and coordination to wield weapons or shields by itself, but otherwise may interact with items normally.

The Pale Blade. As an exception to the above statement about weapons, the Appendage may draw a spectral version of the sheathed dagger attached to the belt. The dagger has the light and finesse properties, and deals 1d4 force damage. You may draw and attack with it by itself as a bonus action or as part of any other bonus action off-hand attack. You may manifest the Spectral Appendage, draw and attack as part of the same action. This item does not, by itself, allow you to add any bonuses to an off hand attack, and may only benefit from such bonuses when they have not already been applied to another off-hand attack.
Do you think this is water tight now? Possible third attack. Only apply bonuses that you're entitled to by other features, and you don't get to duplicate that bonus.

[mild cove]

Why the non dominant thing if it can’t use weapons shields or tools?

[sick valley]

Yeah. It just feeels like an excuse for GMs to say you can't do something with it like holding a corner of a box or pick up a heavy object even though you can apply strength. Also, it can hold tools, right?

[mild cove]

And if it’s not as easily used, would that make somatic components impossible?

[sick valley]

It feels like: "The hand cannot carry a shield or wield a weapon except the Pale Blade [see below]" would be sufficient to express what you want.

Is the intent with the pale blade that it can make an additional two-weapon fighting attack? Otherwise I'm not sure how it isn't "you have a weird spectral arm that can hold a special spectral blade, which you can make main attacks or two weapon attacks with just like any other arm"

If the intent is just that you can wield a bow and also have the dagger available, or a shield or implement and still two-weapon with the dagger I don't see that it needs all those rules; it's an arm that can only wield this one weapon.

[mild cove]

Also seems a bit weak for a rare item

[sick valley]

Yeah. Attunement, definately, it breaks the rules in the kind of way you want attunement for. But rare? Give the weapon some cool properties or something at least.

Tell me a story about why I -want- to be a rogue (probably a rogue, right?) who is wearing this thing. Does it get to count as invisible when using a tool? ignore intangible (because it's spectral?). All of the above?

[astral scarab]

Have you heard the phrase "two left hands?"

[sick valley]

Not until now. Seems awesome (I'm a southpaw). Two left feet, yes.

But srlsy, hand dominance is explicitly not part of the rules for 5e. It's pure flavor; the rules don't care whether you're left handed, right handed, or ambidextrous.

[astral scarab]

This would give a lefty two rights. It's fair that way. And anyone that tried to say, "but I am ambidextrous" would have to find out how the rest of us live, I suppose.

The whole item basically started as a pun

It's "sinister" as opposed to "dexterous"

[sick valley]

Yeah, I get it, but if you want it as a Rare+Attunement, the challenge is to also make it interesting and cool. The "it's an extra non-dominant hand but also spooky" is a fun start, and if you want to keep "non-dominant" I'd just get rid of the rest of the flavor since that communicates the joke.

[astral scarab]

So uncommon+attunement?

It has the sort of wacky flavor that xanathar's common magic items have, but seems less superficial

[sick valley]

On the Third Hand
Common wonderous item
This item looks like a left hand. When you activate it (during a short or long rest) by attaching it to any part of your body, it changes shape to match the shape of your less dominant hand, and becomes a hand you can control. It cannot hold weapons, shields, or tools, and you automatically roll a 1 on any skill check you attempt with it without any beeifits (if any) that would acrue from rolling a 1. However, it can hold onto small objects you place in it until you retrieve them, and if able, will make rude gestures at anyone in the vicinity (including you, if you look at it, e.g. in a mirror).

I mean, I like the idea of the useful one. But the flavor common item would be funny.

No attunement; you wanna stick a dozen on different parts of your body, have fun.

[astral scarab]

I wonder how much more broadly useful it would be if it could wield light weapons and shields

And if it would begin to break anything

Because it feels like an exponential leap to me

The "Animated Shield" is Very Rare

[sick valley]

Yeah. I mean, Animated Shield is a weak item but you don't want to duplicate it, and lettign this wield shields would be strictly better than animated shield.

[wise berry]

Attempting to make a mix between Mimic and Animated Armor (with a longsword attack) to serve as a protector of an item in it's stomach. Here's the stat block (mostly pulling from Mimic and adding an Animated Armor AC and an increase in 1 Hit Die, and a Longsword attack). Any feedback is appreciated, im quite new to homebrewing creatures: https://critterdb.com/#/creature/view/68eef063602030b6fba25c2f

[tough sorrel]

So in my campaign im making magic items that use technology from wizard/artificer, sorcer meta magic, and spells to create effects. I was thinking you spend you hit die to activate the effects but my freind thiks it should it should be you take damage =to your hit die. Any ideas/ suggestions

[scenic urchin]

ideas hmm ... a high tier undead spellcaster that doesn't have spell slots, and instead steals HP from their enemies to cast their big spells

[stuck raptor]

i feel like thats a big increase in DPR

[scenic urchin]

it'll be like, every time it casts fireball, the party first has to lose HP until they've collectively lost 30 HP, or else the undead defaults to taking it from the character with the lowest HP

and then afterwards, the fireball hits

and if there's not enough HP around, then it can't cast

[rapid latch]

How does this trait look for my Primum Mobile Archon?

Demiurge. While the archon is within the Nine Heavens or the Material Plane, the area within a 1 mile Radius of it is considered its Lair.

[stuck raptor]

so basically as long as theyre in home plane, theyre in home turf

[rapid latch]

Pretty much.

[stuck raptor]

seems fine

[rapid latch]

In Gnosticism, from which the concept of the archons originate, Archons served Yaldabaoth AKA the Demiurge who falsely proclaimed to be the creator of the physical world.

Though my archons are Lawful Good, leaning more towards Lawful than Good at times admittedly, I still wanted to reference this aspect of their origin.

[craggy steppe]

Can I share my Homebrew for Feedback?

[sturdy knoll]

That’s what this channel is for! Note that if this is large amounts of text it will work better using a shareable document like Google Docs

When sharing links can you also provide an explanation of what the link is - e.g. “monsterous ooze creature” so folks know what to expect

Thanks!

[craggy steppe]

Roguish Archetype: Madcap

[summer ivy]

Is resistance to force damage actually good?

[golden temple]

nnot really-? i dunno,,,

tthe main advantage is that force damage doesn't have many resistances,,

[stuck raptor]

its good, but also rare. (at least in 2014)

[summer ivy]

Ah

I made a race that has resistance to it.

[stuck raptor]

like, ameythyst dragonborn have force resistance, but since force was rarer, it wasnt too much of a big deal

[brazen flame]

What are all the implications of making a weapon 2 handed aside from the obvious used hand?
Only thing I can think of is the GWF fighting style

[golden temple]

hm,,?

[brazen flame]

Like are there any other rules that interact with a weapon being 2 handed.
Because great weapon master actually specifies a heavy weapon, not 2 handed.

Because I've had this idea knocking around in my head that is honestly just a mechanical implementation of flavor
A 2 handed sword that does the 1 handed d8 damage of a longsword, but also counts as holding a shield (So you can use shield related mechanics and get the +2 ac, you're basically holding a sword + shield as one item)
So I was wondering if it being a 2 handed weapon technically would mean anything if you didn't make specific note about it in the desc.

[astral scarab]

Take 3. It's rarer, to keep in line with the floating shield, but it can do more. The only limitation is that it can't wield full size weapons

Sinister Belt
Wondrous item, belt
Very Rare, Requires attunement

Appears to be a black leather belt, but when attuned, grants the following ability:

Spectral Appendage. When wearing the belt, you may use a bonus action to sprout or dismiss a ghostly non-dominant limb. The Appendage performs all normal functions of an arm, but is not quite so strong or dexterous as your dominant limb, and weapons it may wield by itself are limited to those with the light property.

This item does not, by itself, allow you to add any bonuses to an off hand attack, and may only benefit from such bonuses when they have not already been applied to an off-hand attack.

[golden temple]

i don't think so, actually, , , i think most just ignore that part-? outside of like, homebrew, , ,

i had the same issue some time ago,,

[brazen flame]

Can it do all normal actions/hold other stuff?
Cuz I would use this to just hold ashield with a 2 hand weapon lol
or use it to get around the fact a 2 hand weapon makes hand interactions awkward

Or you can use it to hold a second light weapon while one of your main hands holds a shield

[astral scarab]

yeah, thus it is very rare

[brazen flame]

I just think its not a very exciting item personally but its probably fine

[astral scarab]

it's kinda floating shield plus

and a pun

[brazen flame]

I forgot animated shield was a thing.
So yeah it's essentially an animated shield but better

[brazen flame]

Animated shield is also very rare, but I guess the next step is legendary and it probably wouldn't fall under that

[astral scarab]

the original version I had written had a complicated mechanic whereby it could not hold shields or weapons other than the one it came with:

Sinister Belt
Wondrous item, belt
Rare, Requires attunement

Appears to be a black leather belt with an ornamental dagger permanently attached to it. The dagger is pearl gripped and seemingly sealed into a sheath made of alabaster.

Spectral Appendage. When wearing the belt, you may use a bonus action to sprout or dismiss a ghostly non-dominant limb. The Appendage is not quite so dexterous or strong as the user's favored limb, and lacks the strength and coordination to wield weapons or shields by itself, but may otherwise gesture, hold or interact with objects.

**The Pale Blade. **As an exception to the above statement about weapons, the Appendage may draw a spectral version of the sheathed dagger attached to the belt. The dagger has the light and finesse properties, and deals 1d4 force damage. You may draw and attack with it by itself as a bonus action or as part of any other bonus action off-hand attack. You may manifest the Spectral Appendage, draw and attack as part of the same action. This item does not, by itself, allow you to add any bonuses to an off hand attack, and may only benefit from such bonuses when they have not already been applied to an off-hand attack.

[brazen flame]

This item does not, by itself, allow you to add any bonuses to an off hand attack, and may only benefit from such bonuses when they have not already been applied to an off-hand attack.
This line just feels redundant, what situation are you trying to fix here?

Most bonuses are already limited to one off hand per turn because you can only make 1 off hand per turn anyway

[astral scarab]

the wording of two weapon fighting already specifies that it applies to a second weapon, but sometimes you gotta spell things out.

[summer ivy]

I just realised my Mercury Dragonborn based on what's written is resistant to both acid and psychic damage

[astral scarab]

just anticipating people thinking this would turn their two weapon fighting into three weapon fighting

[brazen flame]

isn't the two weapon fighting rule basically just "you can use a bonus action to make a second attack if you are wielding light weapons"
So im still not sure what that line is fixing

Its use a bonus action to make one attack

[summer ivy]

immediately thought of that one guy from One Piece

[brazen flame]

having a third arm that holds a weapon doesn't give you an extra attack or bonus action

[astral scarab]

two-weapon fighting style feat is the one that lets you add your bonuses to a light offhand weapon.

but it specifies somewhere in the wording "second"

[brazen flame]

oh the style.
It says "when you engage in two weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack."
So again the belt wouldn't conflict or allow for any rules, because it doesn't let you make an extra attack

[astral scarab]

not, any number of offhands, and since I said this thing can attack as part of any other bonus action off-hand attack, it seemed worth adding that this doesn't mean double bonuses, it just means 1d4 force.

If, though, you had two-weapon and dual wielder, it'd be compatible with 2 handed primary weapons. It's also compatible with a shield held in a real hand.

it stops you full on from using a shield and a 2 hander

[brazen flame]

The most recent version doesn't say anything about it making attacks though outside of being an extra hand

[astral scarab]

because it is just a fully functional limb other than it can't wield non-light weapons by itself.

so it's bound only to the normal rules.

[brazen flame]

okay but I still don't understand what this line

This item does not, by itself, allow you to add any bonuses to an off hand attack, and may only benefit from such bonuses when they have not already been applied to an off-hand attack.
is fixing.
Because the only thing you can use this for is to make your regular off hand attack(which would get the bonus), hold a shield(in which case this line doesn't matter), or to be a free hand for things like potions(which this line doesnt matter)

[astral scarab]

I got rid of it being able to go in for a double dip on bonus action off hand because it was already animated shield+

I guess the line became more vestigial once I dropped that feature.

but honestly I might put it back. It doesn't make sense that it's kinda just hanging out there for a 3 weapon fighter

How about

Spectral Appendage. When wearing the belt, you may use a bonus action to sprout or dismiss a ghostly non-dominant limb. The Appendage performs all normal functions of an arm, but is not quite so strong or dexterous as your dominant limb, and weapons it may wield by itself are limited to those with the light property. The spectral arm may perform an off-hand attack normally, or may attack as part of any bonus action attack with a different light melee weapon. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of this attack, unless that modifier is negative.
I added back in the ability to ride on other bonus action attacks

[shut night]

I wanna give my players a cursed magical spell book that has an actual, very human-like face on the front of it.

The spell book comes with the Sleep spell in it already, gives a +2 to your wizard spell save DCs, and while attuned to the spell book you always have Sleep prepared and can cast for free without a spell slot any time the face on the spell book's cover is awake.

Any time the spell book's face is awake, the face will loudly scream and wail in horrible anguish audible up to 150ft away. Whenever you cast the Sleep spell by any means while the spell book's face is awake, the spell book's face will fall asleep for 1d4 days.

[brazen flame]

you should specify that it counts as an off hand attack and doesn't get mod to damage.
Also you have to be extremely careful about giving them any magical weapons if you give them this

[astral scarab]

last sentence

[brazen flame]

I can't read I guess

[astral scarab]

kinda why the first version was limited to using the magic dagger.

[brazen flame]

Yeah.

are you making this for a specific player

[astral scarab]

Maybe I could make the magic dagger a cool returning dagger.

[brazen flame]

or just a ageneral idea

[astral scarab]

it is a lark based on a pun.

sinister being the latin word for left, as opposed to dexter: right

it's sinister, so it's not dexterous.

[shut night]

Now I gotta make a two weapon fighting character named Sinister Dexter

Thanks

[brazen flame]

If its just a pun then you're putting a lot of thought into this for a joke

[astral scarab]

correct.

I get bored, you know.

makin stuff is fun.

[astral scarab]

it's also not lost on me that all versions I proposed can wield finesse weapons, pick locks, etc.

[brazen flame]

anyway Idea I had:

GreatShield Blade
2 handed
Damage: 1d8
This item counts as wielding a 1 handed weapon, as well as a shield that grants +2 ac.
Which like I said earlier was really just "I want to wield a big sword aesthetic, but want the mechanics of a shield"(Because using a sword as a shield is cool)
But now I'm wondering if to make it more interesting I could add or change anything like making it count as a 2 handed weapon for the fighting style.
Or making it heavy which would give you access to GWM (This one is probably a bad idea lol).
I also thought maybe it should give you a small bonus against being disarmed but that comes up like never and idr if 2 handed items already have any mechanics relating to being disarmed or not.

[astral scarab]

are you calling out that it counts as a shield for the purposes of the shield master feat specifically?

[brazen flame]

there are other mechanics like the protection fighting style

[astral scarab]

true

[brazen flame]

Tbh the only reason I wanted to make it like an item is because flavoring a sword + shield as "Yeah i'm actually holding one big sword" has implications of like
What happens if you get disarmed and only drop 1? Mechanically you still have the other but narratively it unravels and it feels like its stretching the "flavor is free" implication

[peak inlet]

if you were holding both, it would require 2 hands

[astral scarab]

Re: GWM, the current version at least triggers with any weapon that has the two handed or versatile property. Heavy has been changed, so I assume you're making this for 2014

[peak inlet]

nvm, I misread it

I think you should word this completely differently

give it a Special property

[brazen flame]

Yeah it should probably have special I forgot that was a thing lol

It was just the first draft of it to get the idea.

[astral scarab]

mechanically, how is this different from sword and boarding? Flavor I see the difference, but mechanically this just appears to be a longsword and shield.

[brazen flame]

I literally have not looked at any rules regarding 2024 edition and I probably never will, so yes.

[astral scarab]

now, if this were a magic greatsword that granted +2 AC and counted as a shield...

[peak inlet]

the Special should be something like “this weapon counts as a one-handed weapon for [whatever]. While holding it in 2 hands, it also grants +2 to AC.”

[brazen flame]

It's not, which is why I was wondering if I should change it in any way like making it heavy (so it could access to GWM, but that might be too strong, as GWM is such a massive dmg increase and the restriction it is having to use a 2 handed weapon so you have less access to AC via a shield)

[peak inlet]

you have to also make it so equipping and unequipping it is an Action

[brazen flame]

good point.

[astral scarab]

If it's a magic item, I reckon that that alone could be an advantage over sword and boarding, actually: It not taking an action to don/doff.

[brazen flame]

My original intention was that it wasn't a magic item, and that was it meant to mostly be a way to consolidate flavor and mechanics of "using a big sword as a shield is cool but we odn't have a way to do that"
but w/e it was just a quick throwaway thought

[peak inlet]

that’s almost like running Defender

you can just end your turn by pulling the weapon out and you immediately gain +2 AC

[astral scarab]

if you're trying to build "nuts from berk" as a player, maybe you give them a greatsword that grants no AC, but says in its description that it counts as a shield. Wham bam, they can protect people with it.

[sick valley]

I mean, it should be a magic weapon; it's basically "'I'm carrying a giant anime sword that defends me".

I'd probably word it differently?

[brazen flame]

i've never read berserk does he do that often? lol

[peak inlet]

when I reflavor sword and board I just make them 2 separate pieces that connect

being disarmed just releases the weapon

[brazen flame]

that's a good option

[astral scarab]

him and cloud from FF7 use their big swords as tower shields, yeah. I reckon they have the defensive fighting style.