homebrew

[oak parrot]

I just want more taunts on more martials

[void jewel]

And a martial using any 2h weapon (which many will to maximize damage) cannot afford to use a shield which is an issue

[void jewel]

I homebrew lots of them

[left lagoon]

silvery barbs doesn't exist

you imagined it

[void jewel]

I have no martial at my table right now, but I do have a paldin rocking a custom homebrew tank subclass. He has a channel divinity to use reaction to teleport when an ally gets hit and become the target of the attack instead, with resistance to the damage if he gets hit.

Has used it lots well

[oak parrot]

Double shield paladin!

🛡️ 🛡️

joking aside, i kinda wish that the game allowed sillier builds like that too.

I kinda allow shields to count as improvised weapons, and put masteries and FS on and stuff

[native grove]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/1pym49n/revised_school_of_necromancy_wizard_subclass/

This is a link to a homebrew wizard subclass i made. How does it look?

[oak parrot]

okay, first thing, you don't have the extra spells that spell schools should get

[silk hedge]

Rock Gnome Barbarian can use Prestidigition toys while raging.

[native grove]

its a 2014 subclass

[oak parrot]

oh, my mistake, sorry

[native grove]

its fine stuff like that happens

[deft dagger]

Breaking immunities is a big no no

[native grove]

may i ask why?

[oak parrot]

I feel like the level 14 ability is kinda borked. in a bad way. restricting the number of undead to your level is a good way to suddenly reduce the number of undead you have at your command.

[native grove]

problem is without that limit a necromancer could theoretically gather infinite undead

[oak parrot]

But you've effectively traded a necromancer that uses Animate Dead to one that just casts fireball on a bunch of goblins and now... you're done until you fight an enemy

The four different levels all play against each other rather than synergize

[native grove]

alright fine i will replace their final feature with something else

[oak parrot]

level 3 is thp, level 6 is a summoner-adjacent ability, level 10 is a necrotic damage blaster, and 14 is a summon-ability that directly clashes with your level 6 ability

For subclasses, tis best to have a consistent theme - are you going all in on pets? turning undead yourself? being blast-y?

[native grove]

There i made the last feature into something more fitting

[oak parrot]

oh, grim harvest needs slight rewording. "Whenever you or an undead that you raised kills a creature with a spell" I don't think you meant that your undead need to kill with spells

[native grove]

oh right fair i should fix that

there now it should work

[oak parrot]

10 x feels a bit much - even extend spell only does double, but the idea feels solid

hmmm... i don't think i see any other issue off the top of my head

[native grove]

i can lower it to x5 if its really needed

[oak parrot]

Good luck

its kinda game dependent, so I'm not going to say much. Some dms would have issues, some would not

it boils down to how much pressure the PCs are under

[native grove]

ah alright

[woven hamlet]

14th lvl seems like a permanent pain for the dm

So youre telling me you want to have a potential 120 undead under your control which all gain thp whenever you kill something?

I mean sure you certainly can but its going to steamroll whatever game youre in and ruin the campaign

[native grove]

fine ill replace it with something else AGAIN

[woven hamlet]

The only way of playing with something like that is for the dm to limit resources which seems slightly unfair to anyone that wants to play the class

You could possibly go down the route of having one big monster?

Sorta like an evolved version of any of the undead

[native grove]

yeah thats my idea

[native grove]

updated the 14th feature a second time into something new

[woven hamlet]

Maybe make it so instead of killing to gain thp, whenever you cast a necromancy spell the creature recovers an amount of hp = to the spell level x2 or something

[native grove]

i made it into something more akin to what you suggested earlier, letting you raise bigger undead

how does it look now?

[native grove]

^

[tulip dirge]

@void jewel
Back to this again if you are interested.

Other than the previous information i should mention i have 9 levels in bard with a system that gives me a few extra spell slots.
This makes it so that i never have time to use all spells in one combat, and due to being a 16 lv rouge on that makes me decent at avoiding threats meaning we can get to a safe space relatively easy. So when you are safe enough to not feel threatened for immediate combat you prepare for a long rest where you use up all remaining spell slots. As an elf with ring of sustenance “which we assumed halves rest time” i sleep for 2 hours where others can guard and we spend a total of 4 hours on resting.

But there are more reasons healing is strong in that campaign that i have not brought up. Bleeding, critical wounds, dying instantly when doing con score more than 0hp and the inability to resurect subjects with a soul of greater power than a lvl 15 caster or equal in magical power

But i also notice your argument is how effective your hp is. So on that front i have 25 ac and as a rogue so when i get hit i can half the damage meaning i can last a decent amount of time with a smaller amount of hp. And the other members have damage reduction and temporary hit points and slightly higher ac

[faint sonnet]

The first bit is largely what I'm doing. You can't progress faster than a certain rate, so you're "gated", but that leaves room for other stuff. The diagetic reason is that a certain level of mastery has to be achieved with magic as a whole.

The idea is that hyperfocusing is actually a cost-benefit, considering that you will run into enemies that ignore your stuff at times. Those feelsbad moments are intended and are to be expected within a normal playthrough. It's an easy way to make combats significantly harder (and feel significantly more dangerous).

[tulip dirge]

So do you play a one trick pony or a jack of all trades?

[faint sonnet]

The good news is that there's planned to be a huge variance between that, as you may have a primary, secondary, and tertiary focus, or a primary and two secondary, or even two primaries, and so on and so forth.

This is a very reductive way to describe my actual stance on the matter, but I think 5e "babies" caster classes in many ways, though it's understandable why on the back-end.

[tulip dirge]

You want them more complicated?

[faint sonnet]

In some ways, yes. In some ways, no.

[tulip dirge]

As a caster it usually is easy to be well versed and there maybe should be more of a benefit to specializing in a element

[faint sonnet]

See, I kinda flip the script there. I think that you should need to specialize to get high-power spells.

[tulip dirge]

So you want to make something similar to the lore master outside of the subclass system?

[faint sonnet]

Hmm, not exactly. It's more like "If you don't know fire spells leading up to it, you can't cast Fireball. Fireball represents a certain skill-level with fire magic."

[dawn charm]

Hi people, could i run a special Christmas Item i made for my party through you?

is this the correct channel?

[hardy shell]

At 3rd level you gain:

Unarmored Defense

Beginning at 3rd level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier.

Rage

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.

While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a unarmed attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a monk, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.

Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.

At 6th level you gain:

Feral Instinct

By 6th level, your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls.

Additionally, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren’t incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.

At 11th level you gain:

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you’re raging and don’t die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

At 17th level you gain:

Persistent Rage

Beginning at 17th level, your rage is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall unconscious or if you choose to end it.

Indomitable Might

Beginning at 17th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Would this be OP as a monk subclass?

Figured rage would have a ki cost idk how much yet

[tulip dirge]

ah so basicly how divinity does it

While i like the idea i think dnd has to few spells for such a system

but thats where 5esrd comes in (:

[tulip dirge]

yeah go ahead

[dawn charm]

Christmas War Tree:
Requires Attunement
Requires 16+ Strength to use
Has a range of 2 squares, though it is melee.
Flexible: 1-handed: 1d8; 2-handed: 1d12
Charges: 5 (1d6 for long rest)
When an attack hits, one of the following effects can be used, spending charges:
Snowfall: Target's speed is halved (1 charge)
Explosive Gift: Target must make a Dexterity saving throw, or suffer 1d6 fire damage (2 charges)
Bright Lights: The next attack toward the target has advantage (3 charges)

[dawn charm]

Oki doki

[tulip dirge]

Tbh i think all of the options an be one charge

I whould argue snowfall is the best one too

although at like lvl 1-5 that extra 1d6 will be quite sweet

[dawn charm]

Changing it

but, like, do you like the weapon?

[tulip dirge]

I would write it a bit more clear, like is it a war axe or something?

[faint sonnet]

My solution was actually to reduce the number of spell levels from 9 to 5, funny enough.

[tulip dirge]

did you merge the levels or just remove 6-9?

[left lagoon]

I wonder how a system would look like if each spell had a specific knowledge cost and use cost

as in, you could easily know a lot of combat spells as they're simple but they use high mana, and it would be much harder to know intricate spells like the utility ones but also they wouldn't cost as much to use

kind of taking apart the entire "spell level" thing and just giving you a cap on knowledge and mana

[dawn charm]

i absolutely forgot to saythe damage type, it's bludgeoning, like a huge club. I got inspiration from a christmas gargantuan from PVZ

[faint sonnet]

Merged, for sure.

[faint sonnet]

To an extent, this is how my rework works, though it does involve gates.

[void jewel]

100%. And sounds like healing is strong - but none of that makes it stronger than spending those same resources to avoid the damage in the first place

But if your resources are not strained, then yeah, go for it! May as well do both

If you've got slots to spend every turn of combat, may as well spam it all out

[tulip dirge]

Yeah, killing the enemy fast and if that wont work, reduce their ability to inflict damage to as big of an extent as possible

[empty vine]

i play as a dragonborn hexblade who is also a werewolf
i am not so happy with the current mechanic so i thought to make one
the base of my idea is to based the transformation to the best from on the druid wild shape and the hybrid form on the barbarian rage
we play in 2014 but i thought it maybe it could work beater with the 2024 rules (one of the reason is to make anther different form an actual druid an barbarian. we don't have either of them in our grope)

i think it could fit bcs i had to choose in the past one of 3 packs and i chose the one that is very much can describe as a druidic one

[empty vine]

so i would like your help with how to do it exsacly, like it last based on time or life? how can u use it? it is like charge?

[spring tusk]

Made a new magic item

Wet Willy

Weapon (Club), Legendary (Requires Attunement)

Unless the weapon is fully submerged in water, it is unable to be Identified with spells such as Identify, or detected with spells such as Detect Magic, and otherwise appears as a leather wrapped handle and wooden guard to a broken sword.

When the weapon becomes fully submerged in water, the body of a Hunter Shark appears from the sword's tang, with its tail replaced by the guard and handle. This transformation has all of the usual stats, except its Intelligence score increases to 6, and its swim Speed is reduced to 20 feet.

When the weapon transforms, if nobody is actively attuned to it, one creature within 5 feet of it that can see it and is also completely submerged in water can use its reaction to make a DC 14 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check, immediately attuning to the weapon on a success. On further turns a creature can instead use their action to attempt this check, immediately attuning to this weapon on a success.

While attuned and submerged in water, the weapon allows you to wield it, causing you to gain the following effects:

• This weapon has a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls. On a hit, the target takes 3d6 +4 Piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 14 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to avoid being Grappled (Escape DC 14).
• Attack rolls with this weapon against creatures with fewer than their maximum Hit Points are made with Advantage.
• You gain 60 feet of Blindsight and a 40 foot swim Speed.
• Once per long rest, as an action you can force each creature of your choice within 30 feet that can see you to make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the target takes 6d8 Psychic damage and is Frightened of you for 1 minute. An affected creature can remake the saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the Frightened condition on itself. The creature takes half damage on a successful save.

While the weapon is being wielded, it has no swim Speed, and can take no actions until it is released by its wielder. If the shark body would die, it instead reverts back into the body of the handle, and resurfaces in 1d6 + 1 days unless the weapon is not fully submerged in water.

how do we feel about this?

[void jewel]

Pretty strong, but more than balanced for the legendary tier seeing as it is a weapon

Specifically weapons that require active use can afford to be way more powerful than anything passive or non-weapon

[spring tusk]

I figured the required submersion niche might help to balance it out

[void jewel]

Ye it definitely is campaign dependant

For example my current campaign it'd be pretty bad, but I can think of some that it is great in

[vernal leaf]

Id remove the immediate attunement and give it the minor quality that makes it quickly attuned to

I can imagine a bad guy killing the pc with it and immediately attuning to it

[void jewel]

Can be handled by not doing that too

[stuck ravine]

Ever created your own domain of dread? I mean for the game, not in your head or real life. I'm looking for examples so have an idea how fleshed -out I need to make things. 😊 TIA

[crystal lichen]

Hola everyone, and happy holidays! 🤗

For a campaign we're running, i would very much like to try and work out a custom made spell, for my artificer.
Since a lot of the fights we do, are often with piles of terrain-control spells, like web, spike growth, Blade barrier, Darkness, etc.
A lot of things with the control tag in common.

So, what i would love to have some feedback on, is a spell for my artificer, which i'm thinking would look something like this, for a first draft:

---

"Mold"
Level: 2nd
Casting time: 1 action
Range: 90 ft
Components: V, S
Duration: (C) 1 minute
School: Transmutation
Attack/Save: Will
Damage/effect: None

You try and take control of a persistent area spell within range, and mold it into a different form and qualities.

You can choose one of the following changes:

1. Double or halve spell area
2. Double or halve spell duration
3. Double or halve the spells damage
4. If the spell has an elemental designator, you can change the type to another
5. Move the spell to another location within range
   6, Exclude up to your spellcasting modifier from the spells effect.

If you take over the spell, it now occupies your concentration slot, and if you lose concentration, the spell stolen also ends.

Using a higher level spell slot:
For every level higher spell slot spent, you can pick another one of the 6 effect options.
No choice can be picked more than once though.

Available for: Artificer, Wizard, Sorcerer, Bard

The thoughts behind, is to be able to work together with own party casters, as well as disrupt enemy area-casters, and get a bit creative with battlefield control.

What are your thoughts on the above draft?
Would love any and all kind of feedback and thoughts 🤗 🙌

Hope you all have a great day!

[vernal leaf]

Domains dont have to be particularly large. For example I have one that is only large enough to accommodate the structure inhabiting it

Thankfully there are written means to enter and leave such domains

[vernal leaf]

This needs to be a higher level imo. As is its better than dispel magic

Its main practical purpose is easily the ending of spells willingly as per dispel magic but we've tacked on the ability to keep it and change it. So 4th or 5th level at least

[crystal lichen]

What would you maybe change or do about it, to make it a 2nd level spell, if possible?

Cos my thought is, im trying to compare its effects to other level 2 control spells, like spike growth.
Where this also has the added disadvantage, that it requires a area present, before even being able to be used, which i think is already quite a drawback, i'd think.

[vernal leaf]

Remove the idea that the spell is stolen. Only modified. The caster maintains control of the spells concentration

And maybe that the modification itself is a separate concentration

If a spike growth is made bigger. The druid maintains the spike growth. But the fact that its bigger is maintained by the molder

[crystal lichen]

Fair, so can't take it over, but just adjust other peoples spells?
Preventing the counterspell effect yeah. I do get your thoughts there, definitely.

And you mean, that both the original caster, as well as my caster, both use their concentration, keeping the "molded spell", running in its adjusted form, correct?

[vernal leaf]

Yes. But more specifically the original caster is maintaining the original spell. And if they lose concentration it all drops because there's no spell to modify. But if the modifier loses concentration then the original spell snaps back to its original state.

That makes this singularly a buff spell or a debuff spell that weakens or strengthens other magics

[crystal lichen]

Yeah, i can definitely see what you mean, and makes sense.

So, what if we try and split this into a junior, the lvl. 2 one, and a senior one, lvl. 4-5 (which lets you steal area spells).

[vernal leaf]

Might consider getting rid of the "moving" part though.

Spell stealing is a feature of the arcane trickster so id look to that for inspiration

And id use upcasting to let it affect higher level spells the same way counterspell works.

Spell stealing is like a...level 5 - 7 spell thing at least. It can be a bit strong

idk where id put it specifically

[crystal lichen]

What if that had the added requirement, that its only possible with acceptance from the spell owner?
So if you try and shove your friends spell, but he disagrees, then tough luck.. spell wasted 😅

[crystal lichen]

Just looked that ability up, Spell Thief, which they get at lvl. 17, and its definitely good inspiration and balancing guidelines.

What the major differences are, is that they can just use a reaction to force the caster into an int check, dc. versus your casting save, to steal any spell, that in any way includes you in its target.
And if you succeed, and can actually cast it, for the following 8 hours.

I'd like to differentiate this spell from their signature, by making it solely able to target area spells.
which i'd say is a bit of a disadvantage, both because the target pool is much smaller, and it requires a specific battlefield condition.
Plus, it takes an action to cast, not a reaction, and it locks up your concentration too, while it runs.

And you can't cast it yourself either, but only try and "turn the table", somewhat, on a hopefully unsuspecting opponent.

So, my first impression, for the stealing version, would probably be lvl 4 or 5, as you also said early on, to be honest.

Or whats your thoughts? 🤗

And ps. very much appreciate the constructive feedback so far!

[vernal leaf]

Honestly I would ditch the dnd traditonal system entirely for this kind of spell and use something like the savage worlds upgraded high magic system where you at a certain level upgrade a spell that you have so that it does a lot more. I think in a design space we should ditch the idea of stealing entirely and make it a level 2 utility buff debuff spell. And if youre looking to steal ongoing things it should be a different spell and idk

[misty pagoda]

they must pick one of three (specific) skills. and it does other things. i just want to know if it's possible in the homebrew feat creator and i'm just dumb, or if it can't be done, so i stop pulling my hair out

my players dont like that there's no half species in new 5e, so i'm trying to make homebrew origin feats that give you minor racial features from either elf, human, or orc so my players can forgo a traditional origin feat and pick one of those to get the mechanical bennies of being a half/something half something else. I can't tell if im doing it wrong or if there is just no way to restrict access to skill options in the feat builder to specific ones. which seems really silly...

i can only say "pick from any skill" or like, other weird predetermined combos. i can't seem to set my own skill list as a "pick one of" choice

[crystal lichen]

Not entirely sure what you are saying the alternative would be, or could look like, if going a whole lot outside of the classical design shapes?

[bitter whale]

anyone willing to help me balance a boss for my session tommorow (i procrastinated 💀 )

[vernal leaf]

What level are the players and how many

[crystal lichen]

Sure, throw some details and stuff, and i'll gladly chip in.

[bitter whale]

can i send you the statblock in dms or do you prefer here ?

[vernal leaf]

Dms

[crystal lichen]

I'm super fine with either

[bitter whale]

okay gimme a sec

@crystal lichen @vernal leaf Dmd you

[flint marsh]

I made an alternate to that - where the features are instead feats but can only be taken at level 1
https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-O5kkdPpAjWCaQ-le56x

there's more to add and tweaks for balance of course but perhaps this might give your players something to chew on without having to create new species

[cerulean seal]

That may be more of a #ddb-support issue to maybe show you how to customize it for your player.

[flint marsh]

and also it isn't limited to "you have to be half orc to do this" or whatever. you can just build out your character

[jovial lichen]

yeah, species linked talents is #######!!!!!!

[nova basin]

I started working on a wukong-esque monk last night, but I'm stumped on what to do for the second half of 11 and 17

[jovial lichen]

did u make extended weapon ?

[nova basin]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T1WyTWvWC5LduS00lBlkKwYmQX5WSiuO5z7DruMH7hU/edit?usp=drivesdk

[nova basin]

Nah summon weapon for defensibe buffs and a reaction tp

I dont want it to be specifically wukong, jist trickster skirmisher vibes

[jovial lichen]

yah thats the thing

[nova basin]

I'm thinking 11 is a little lacking for tier 3, but it could also be fine just adding that to already potent defenses

But 17 idk

[jovial lichen]

it dosen'tr need to be a staff

it could be a whip

[nova basin]

I could always make an avatar state but I already gave up and made another monk so I dont wanma do another monk with another avatar state

Yes I know

[jovial lichen]

it could be daggers

[nova basin]

Yes I know

[jovial lichen]

it could be gauntlets

or even a BOW

[nova basin]

How many times do yiu wanna repeat this line

Not a bow

Simple melee weapon

[jovial lichen]

LOL

[half condor]

Don't forget the bajillion forms of immortality /s

[nova basin]

Theres my capstone

[jovial lichen]

well i gave my idea

[nova basin]

What was the idea

[primal osprey]

Hey, I'm using Falindrith's Monster Maker for the first time, does anybody know if the initiative modifier can be edited? I can't find any way how

[cerulean seal]

IS the summoning a weapon thing supposed to be like Spiritual Weapon or more like, you are just manifesting the weapon into yoru hands?

[nova basin]

The second one

Theres definitely a world where I make a spiritual weapon focused monk tho

Could run into SADness issues but eh monks need it and astral self wasnt broken so

Anyway

[cerulean seal]

3rd level feature I think is a little too focus point hungry for what its doing. I would make the main, summoning the actual weapon cost no focus points maybe just like Wis mod times per long rest, and then while you have the weapon you can then spend focus points to do XYZ

[nova basin]

The summoning comes with a bonus action weapon attack

By natire of letting it work with fob, it kinda has to cost a point

Ig you could make it to where you can summon for no action but I dont like that as much

[cerulean seal]

No you write it like this

[nova basin]

I know dnd dyntax Ive been here for years

Im saying design wise

[cerulean seal]

"As a BA you can summon the spectral weapon. When you summon this weapon, or as a bonus action on any following turns, you can spend X focus points to do Y"

[nova basin]

And wis mod/lr without using wis for the core numbers is MAD unless you make it short rest

And if its short rest it may as well be focus pointed and more potent

[nova basin]

Real

[cerulean seal]

All i'm trying to get at is that 2024 monk design philosophy tends to be, you get 1 feature that the monk can just do and then can spend a FP to get a improved or additional feature as part of that.

like all their main stuff now. Step of the wind, BA unarmed striked, etc.

[nova basin]

Yep

I might change that

But I was asking about what to do for 11 and 17

Idk if 11 is potent enough to need anything else or not, but I have no ideas for ehat the ultimate form of this is

[half condor]

Wall of text for a species I made the other day incoming, thoughts?

Cosmic Shard Traits
Cosmic Shards appear to be a member of a mortal species, but in reality are a small part of a cosmic being such as a Great Old One capable of experiencing and interacting with reality as a mortal. These beings lack access to the majority of their vast power, either giving it up willingly or being cut off from it by an outside force. a single cosmic entity may have many shards active at one time, however these shards have their own free will and personalities. When a cosmic shard dies, they rejoin their true forms.

Your Cosmic Shard character has the following traits.

Creature Type: Aberration

Size. Small (2 to 4 feet tall) or Medium (4-8 feet tall) chosen when you select this species

Speed. 30 feet

Darkvision.
You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Eldritch Mind
You have resistance to Psychic damage and you know the Mind Sliver cantrip. You can cast it as normal, and you can also cast it as a reaction when a non-aberration creature attempts to contact you telepathically or read your mind a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest. When a creature fails its Intelligence save against this spell when you cast it as a reaction, their attempt to contact you telepathically or read your mind fails and they can’t make another attempt for an hour unless you allow them to.
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select this species).

Uncanny Presence
You appear to be a member of a different species, but something about you is “off”. Because of this, you can give yourself advantage when using the influence action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
You can roll on the table or choose one or more options below to determine your abnormality, or you can come up with your own options along with your DM. These options have no mechanical benefit beyond what is explicitly stated in this trait.

d6 Abnormality
1 Your appearance is unnaturally “perfect”
2 You have an extra finger on one or both of your hands
3 Your skin, eyes, and/or hair appears abnormal, such as an unnatural color or texture
4 You have markings on your body that look eerily similar to eyes
5 When you speak, it sounds as if multiple different voices are speaking at the same time
6 You do not blink

[nova basin]

Oh well off to practice

[cerulean seal]

Maybe 11 you do the spiritual weapon thing? Since Wukong can control their weapons from a distance and its kinda tricksterish. Imagine them sending a staff into a room along to scout for it or something. lol

[summer ivy]

what could be a negative effect from someone being on a low gravity planet? So far the effects I have is you can jump at double the distance, all ranged weapons can fire using it's long range without penalty, and all terrain is considered difficult terrain

[cerulean seal]

Realistically, depending on how low gravity, projectiles would push the user back some distance.

Also muscle atrophy becomes an issue over time

[summer ivy]

idk how I'd do muscle atrophy for D&D but the pushing back sounds good

[half condor]

Depending on how brutal you want to be perhaps a con save granting a cumulative -1 to Str and Dex scores per failed save for every X amount of time in a low grav environment without simulated normal grav exercise?

[summer ivy]

doesn't muscle atrophy only come into effect after like, days?

[cerulean seal]

It usually takes longer than that

It's a very slow over time sort of thing

Also finding ways to excersice can circumvent it

[chilly jewel]

idk if circumvent is the right word for that morelike diminish the concequences

[summer ivy]

I jusst realised the time frame doesn't matter cus I literally have another planet rule list that includes a magical item drain effect after 1d4 days

[grave radish]

Does this thread not allow pics to be shared?

Because I would like to get suggestions on a statblock without having to share the info piece by piece.

[half condor]

according to a quick google search it looks like moderate effects on muscle mass can be apparent by 1-2 weeks with large effects by 1-2 months.

[scenic urchin]

you cant upload pics here, you may upload your pic to a google doc and link it here tho

[grave radish]

Good to know! Thank you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-s_SC2HF24viFXUjsIgiObNn0pwun4eytXKXu08lLuU/edit?usp=drivesdk

Any constructive feedback would be appreciated.

Suppose to be both a warlock patron and potential BBEG for a campaign.

[scenic urchin]

can't see it, don't have permissions (prob isn't shared)

[grave radish]

Oh darn hold on

So trying to share as a pdf and Apparently attachments aren’t allowed on this channel

[cerulean seal]

Just change the link to a viewer link

[grave radish]

How exactly do I do that?

[summer ivy]

when you're looking at the doc, go to the top right at the "share" button. Clikc that then at the bottom on "general access" it should say restricted. Change that to "Anyone with a Link"

By default I think it makes anyone not directly shared with a Viewer

[nova basin]

Maybe, but I feel like that would overload the level

Maybe at 17 I have it available as non concentration and a free action

Still ba to cast but you can move and attack woth it for the duration without the ba

[cerulean seal]

Possibly. You could also maybe do a mirror image type effect instead if you want to focus on trickster

[nova basin]

It already gets mirror image at 6

[cerulean seal]

Ah yeah

[nova basin]

I dont wanna just rip echo knight either

Idk about the spiritual weapon either bc I want the class to stay in melee and skirmish, and that feels like an easy way to keep distance while you take free defenses

I think I need to lock down the fantasy and visuals of the sub to influence what my capstone would be

The whole thing was inspired by me doing some staff flow in front of a mirror, mixing in twirls with blocks and attacks, so my image of the subclass was twirling or otherwise being flashy and acrobatic with the weapon, offering you better defenses, but at the cost of risking dropping the weapon when you lose your rhythm

I was thinking the tradition focuses on motion in the esoteric sense

If you tried hard enough you could probably fit the mechanics to any fantasy if you mess with level 6

[delicate bluff]

is anyone able to help me refine and balance a homebrew race i made

[nova basin]

Sure whats up

[delicate bluff]

So I made a race called the Sakurokai which is a Sakura wolf that has 4 subraces matching the 4 seasons and when i made it in dnd beyond i did a oops and gave it advantage in everything by mistake. Im new to creating homebrew stuff

[nova basin]

Idk enough about ddb to help with that but I can go ober design and balance

Sounds like youre taking inspiration from eladrin

[delicate bluff]

Im gonna be honest I wasnt even familliar with eladrin lol

But if your down to help, would it be possible to help me do it some time tomorrow afternoon?

[nova basin]

Probably not, thats class time

What wrong with rn?

[delicate bluff]

i have to leave soon for work. If anything is there a time that would be good for you? I didnt realize the time til now

[nova basin]

Around this time or before noon tomorrow probably

But you could also just drop it in the chat and see if people respond to it

[delicate bluff]

Alright I’ll probably do that

[grave radish]

How about now?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-s_SC2HF24viFXUjsIgiObNn0pwun4eytXKXu08lLuU/edit?usp=drivesdk

[scenic urchin]

i see it

[grave radish]

Oh good! Any criticisms or suggestions?

[scenic urchin]

there's a lot of text here, it takes time to read it all

some of the abilities reference shadows but its not clear how many shadows this BBEG comes with ... maybe that doesnt matter

[delicate bluff]

@nova basin here’s the file for the homebrew race https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EfA85362IDFGui2wgan0YLx_nHZ6Cmyv/view?usp=sharing

Or for anyone who’s willing to help me out with this

[scenic urchin]

looking through the ability roster, this feels like a pumped up death knight to me, one where the difficulty scales with how many melee PCs there are. if the party is all melee, the insidious aura and tyrant's onslaught are going to punch well above their weight (and this thing is CR 23). if the party is all ranged, i think a lot of the design will end up not delivering in practice-- but that depends on how many shadows the boss comes wtih. but shadows at this level are well outclassed, so idk.

there's cool shadow theme here but tbh none of the abilities are very punchy, they're all kinda just cog abilities. none of them stand out, and for a boss, they probably should be more front and center

[grave radish]

All valid points.

Any suggestions on what to improve or change?

[scenic urchin]

idk, lean into the shadow stuff more. any ability that doesn't have anything to do with shadows, stare at it and see if more shadowyness comes to mind.

insidious aura - creatures in the aura at initiative count 0 must make a saving throw or spawn a shadow. if only one person is in the aura, they fail the save, and that person has no allies within 10 feet of them, they also become a shadow under the BBEG's control until the next initiative count 0.

ferocious surge - BBEG can sacrifice a shadow within 5 feet of them to turn a hit into a crit

shadow breath - consume a shadow next to BBEG to do a 60 foot cone, all creatures in the cone lose 1d4 strength (like the shadow's strength drain) and must make a save or take a lot of damage

tyrant's onslaught (costs 3 actions) - every shadow within 30 feet of the bbeg makes an attack. their attack bonus is +20 instead of their normal attack bonus and their strength drain is maximized.

[grave radish]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-za1rKYrvYlLeTRRnlQBAKH5546pX8CBpat1CqhrMN0/edit?usp=drivesdk

Any feedback would be appreciated.

The first statblock has all the traits found in the vampire statblock but is on a separate page in an effort to not over clutter.

[grave radish]

Should I change her spellcasting or keep as is?

Given she’s supposed to be trained in war and conquest by Zariel’s forces?

[spice root]

I have a player who plays a dual wielding whip BM fighter, does anyone have any experience or suggestions for how to make whips not suck/fun mechanically?

[cerulean seal]

Probably just bump their damage for a little

Maybe a D6 instead of D4

[pearl canopy]

Man I made this subclass for The Apothicary (3rd Party) and Ive play tested it some, but god do I REALLY wanna find a long term campaign for the character

[hexed solar]

I just created a new legendary sword for my players, it is a long sword, and it is called the Smite of Sun Ray's, it deals 30-45 damage, and never misses, and sets the enemy on fire

It's kinda OP

[flint marsh]

congrats

[polar timber]

it just deals flat damage?

[hexed solar]

Yea

[polar timber]

well, i wish you the best of luck balancing around it

[hexed solar]

It's gonna be a challenge

I might make it so you can only use it in a battle against a god or deity

Which there is a little bit of in the campaign

[lilac saffron]

would it be nice if we have a jester class in DnD?

[severe bolt]

I really liked the Satire Bard UA, although it definitely needed some tuning to work.

[lilac saffron]

a bard that is comedic?

[severe bolt]

Yeah, based on jesters and court fools.

[lilac saffron]

but still jesters only exist in homebrew right?

[flint marsh]

I mean "jester" as a class is nebulous. seems like more of a background than a class

[lilac saffron]

what about a combat jester?

[slender condor]

No pings, please :pray:

If you see someone with “No Pings” in their name, please don’t @ that user. If you Reply to them, please turn the alert @OFF, and if you forget, a simple apology is appreciated. Thank you!

[flint marsh]

what does a jester mean, for combat?

[lilac saffron]

like a trickster with knives

[slender condor]

No pings, please :pray:

If you see someone with “No Pings” in their name, please don’t @ that user. If you Reply to them, please turn the alert @OFF, and if you forget, a simple apology is appreciated. Thank you!

[flint marsh]

so a rogue? with perhaps expertise in performance

[lilac saffron]

like that i guess

[spring tusk]

Does that prompt pop up automatically or do you enter a command

[flint marsh]

I enter a command

anyone can, if they are so inclined

[spring tusk]

Still pretty cool

[flint marsh]

it's just since uh well, since school was out for the holiday season I've had to explain it so many times

[spring tusk]

Ah, gotcha

[flint marsh]

anyway - "Jester" doesn't really do anything for me knife-wise. they're just folks that hang around the rich and powerful and make fun of the king

[spring tusk]

That makes sense, never really thought about it like that- when the kids flood in things probably do change around here

[flint marsh]

so when someone says combat jester that just flies over my head because I don't know what that means

like Zorn and Thorn from FFIX are mages as an example. no knives

[lilac saffron]

still the idea of a jester that fights sounds interesting

[spring tusk]

It does,

But I get what Dave's saying

"Jester Fighter" is kinda just

Background Class

[flint marsh]

sure! and there's a million ways to do it - just like there's a milion ways to play a farmer that fights

[spring tusk]

Rogue with the performer background

[lilac saffron]

that seems about right

[flint marsh]

at least it seems right for what you'd described

[void jewel]

Jester is just a personality more than a fighting style, so you could really do this with any class you like!

[woven hamlet]

^

[flint marsh]

it's a job, like farmer or muckraker or town crier, so you can definitely pick whatever class you like and during your work hours put on a jingle ball hat

[supple flower]

hay dose anyone wanna play test there crazyest hombrew in a lil pvp fight i have a jjk special grade cursed spirit character

i want to test out

[cerulean seal]

Is it like a custom class? Or just a monster block?

[supple flower]

it is a custom class and its a level 20 character

[cerulean seal]

Can I see the class?

[supple flower]

i can invite you to the character sheet but only text in genral

[cerulean seal]

hm?

Why not just send it here?

[supple flower]

because its absolutly massive

[cerulean seal]

Well yeah, it's a class. Slap it into a google doc and send it in. that's how I usually post classes or subclasses and such

[supple flower]

well the thing is the channel in trying to invite you to is the character sheet

[cerulean seal]

But I want to see the class not the character sheet. I was curious how the homebrew class was structured.

[supple flower]

ohhh ok

[cerulean seal]

I like reading classes

[supple flower]

ok ill sent it to you in dms because its hand made in a dnd wiki

@cerulean seal I sent it to you

[brave moat]

In D&D 5e there are modern weapons that are available in the DMG. But apparently there is no modern body armor. How would you guys go about adding modern body armor?

My idea is that if for some reason you like medieval armor or whatever, then the rifle gets like a +10 bonus to hit you, but if your armor is modernized then it acts like normal armor in D&D 5e where there are some light armor types ranging 11-12 AC, medium armor types ranging from 13 to 16 AC, etc etc.

But how would you guys go about it?

[native gale]

I would just take existing armor rules and reflavor what the armor looks like to be more modern.

I don't think there's any reason to reinvent the wheel, and its not like modern armor is so much stronger than it deserves to grant you a higher AC bonus

[cerulean seal]

Like what Colossus said. You could just give them specific properties if you really wanted. Like if its a ballistic bulletproof vest, just give it like, resistance to piercing damage or something

[brave moat]

Well I mean, modern armor IS that much stronger, Level 4 plate will stop a .308 AP bullet

Plate armor would get obliterated by it and you would die instantly

[native gale]

Ok but put realism aside for a minute and think about game design. Is it fun for these options to completely invalidate the rest of the game? I guess we should start by asking, are you running a normal D&D setting where these modern objects just happen to also exist, or are you running a modern setting?

[cerulean seal]

If its a modern setting then it doesn't really make much sense for people to even be wearing plate armor and such and could easily just be reflavored.

[brave moat]

Im running in a modern setting

[native gale]

Ok so, just change the scale of what the “baseline” for that world is, so the numbers make sense. Metal Plate armor probably doesn’t need to exist in that setting, so you can just 1:1 replace that with modern body armor or whatever. So there’s no comparisons being drawn, but the balance and mechanics stay the same

[cerulean seal]

Ye, just change the names and flavor

numbers can stay the same

No one is running around in plate armor modern day but plenty of people may wear a basic bullet proof vest. Or maybe a padded jacket. Or in the most advanced battle fields, Kevlar equipment and so on

So you just scale everything to where they need to be

A bow isn't a bow, it's a pistol or a rifle

etc.

[ripe cosmos]

Hello im new to dnd and i would like to know if anyone has time to go in a call with me to help me with my campaign... Im using a ai to do a solo campaign and wanted to know how to start as a dungeon master and player from begining to end (be patient please as i said im new and i suck at this :D ) if you wanna help just send me a message in dms

[cerulean seal]

Two things. 1. Ai isn’t allowed on the server:
2. read over the players handbook to get a grasp of the basics of DnD. I recommend read over that as well as potentially listen/watch other people play sessions and campaigns to learn

I always recommend people start as a player and get used to the rules before jumping into becoming a Dungeon Master as that requires a lot more work

[cerulean seal]

Check #learn-to-play

[ripe cosmos]

I assumed it was ai content wich i am not bringing over i just said that im using ai because im playing alone

Second i already saw some campaigns but I don't know the behind the scenes, i wanted to make a campaign alone without being 100% dungeons and dragons more like getting how it works and adapting to my own story

[cerulean seal]

I've never used Ai in that capacity before. I don't know how well it does at actually running DnD. I would probably look for an actual DM willing to teach you or run a game for your in #find-a-game Once you finish reading over the rules

[ripe cosmos]

The ai just story tells and it assumes everything you did as what you did instead of you rolling the dice, thats why i wanted to know how to be a dm aswell so i can make the fighting and stuff without the interaction part

[cerulean seal]

It sounds like you just want to write a book. I don't know how useful using a ruleset is going to be. You are looking for storytelling and fiction writing advice. Probably not dungeon master advice since that's more about how to game design for your players and such.

I know of some good online lectures I could send you about story telling and fantasy writing

[supple musk]

Has anyone made custom rules just sake of it? I have been thinking about weapon proficiency system which basically gives alternative actions when you spend enough proficiency bonuses on one weapon.

[cerulean seal]

Weapon Mastery exists which is basically that now. I would read over those in the 2024 rule set. As a Dm you can always just come up with rules as you see fit

[ripe cosmos]

I don't want to write a book, i want to play dnd alone, if i wanted to write a book I wouldn't come here in the first place since the app assumes what im saying as true, i want the randomness of dnd, the funny part about failing and the feeling of successfull rolls, i wanted to play dnd but idk how to create my character since im not following the standard dnd characters neither the standard storys

[cerulean seal]

Unless you mean something different

[cerulean seal]

Players handbook then and Dungeon Masters Guide

Check #learn-to-play

[ripe cosmos]

But that's for standard dnd i want a customized experience, ;-;

[cerulean seal]

Idk what to tell you homie. You want DnD but not DnD. You want to write your own story but not your own story. I don't know if this is the best place. This server is specifically for running and playing DnD

You might be better off looking for a more generalized roleplay rather than playing a specific DnD ruleset.

You could even just grab a D20 and roll for probability

[ripe cosmos]

Yeah but idk how i would do with fights neither deception rolls and stuff like that, what i want is to make a dnd campaign with custom classes and story

But thanks for your patience i will check in a different server :D

[cerulean seal]

It sounds like you want to make your own table top game system. I would reccomend at either looking at other existing rulesets that exist or just write your own system.

[ripe cosmos]

I just never did that thats why im asking for help since homebrew is more relaxed than strict rule sets and a strict story

Since im new in dnd i wanted help thats all

But thank you anyways

[hidden delta]

There are single player games on dms guild I don’t know how good they are but you can find them even some for cheap or free

[ripe cosmos]

Thank you... Could you send me the link?

[brave moat]

Another question though is, how do I make melee weapons viable again? Since the guns do so much damage. Do I say that DEX isn't added to damage rolls of guns? Or?

[ripe cosmos]

Thats not exactly what i wanted but at least its a start

[cerulean seal]

Again, if this is a Modern game you don't need to reinvent the wheel you just need to move the scale

A knife today is still just as deadly as a knife was in the 1800's and before

You don't need to make guns so crazy overpowered either. Just treat them as bows and crossbows and such like normal scaling

You aren't running a DnD game that has guns in the setting. You are running a modern setting

So you need to just reflavor existing DnD weapons into "modern" weaponry and leave the numbers alone probably

People are still just as deadly today with a knife, or a bat, or a baton, etc.

[brave moat]

yeah but nobody is gonna wanna build an STR based fighter/barbarian if guns are so much better than melee weapons

[cerulean seal]

Why would guns be so much better than melee weapons?

People run around in base DnD with longswords and warhammers rather than bows all the time

[brave moat]

the hunting rifle in the DMG does 2d10 piercing damage... this isnt my custom homebrew

these are the official stats for guns given by WoTC

Automatic Rifles do 2d8 piercing and have an AoE ability that forces a dex saving throw.

[cerulean seal]

Don't forget the reload property too

[brave moat]

its found in page 72 of the 2024 DMG, take a look at em and you'll see how strong they are

DEX is already the best stat in the game, this just makes DEX even better

[cerulean seal]

I'll look at them, one sec. I have the book next to me

[cerulean seal]

So two things. I think generally the damage of these guns are meant to be if they exist in a typical fantasy DnD setting. With that said they still have to abide by the reload rules and in typical DnD, bullets are supposed to be more rare

But in a modern setting you can just adjust damage die

I would again just use a long bow for like a hunting rifle

Or something like that

If anything, just reduce the damage for a little

Instead of 2d10 make
It 1d10

[brave moat]

My preferred option is just to make guns not use any stats

No dex, no STR, no nothing

You can be proficient and thats it

that allows melee and bow damage builds to eventually out-pace them

I think they still suffer from disadvantage if you try to shoot someone right next to you

right?

[spice root]

Yeah

[cerulean seal]

Yes

Which is the benefit of getting up close

Also melee weapons don’t have to reload

[spice root]

Crossbow mastery feat removes reloading I think? Which is why it’s incredibly broken

[brave moat]

Also removes the disadvantage when firing in melee

do you think that feat might need to be straight up banned?

Oh wait nvm

it only works for crossbows

I just checked it specifically says the item type needs to be a crossbow

[spice root]

Ok cool. I don’t know what type of campaign you’re running but maybe part of it you could do as like a lot of the combats are more tactical, with obstacles in the way? Rather than an open field

[potent lantern]

Hey folks 👋 I’m working on a homebrew monster for a campaign for my family and could use a second set of experienced DM eyes. If anyone’s down for a quick chat or to bounce ideas, I’d really appreciate it—no pressure at all. Can't post it directly in here as some party members are in the discord and dont wanna spoil it for them

[severe trellis]

So I wanna make up some Higher Level Magic Light Armor, as there is a supreme lack of Unique Sets of Magic Light stuff like the Daemon Armor, Effriti Chain and Armor of Invulnerability

First idea:Make a legendary equivilent to the armor of invulnerability, boring I know, but this is to make some equivilent but not exactly the same and I feel leather or cloth armor would be better at resisting elemental damage given thats what clothes do irl.

Armor of Insolation
Legendary Armor(studded leather), requires attunement

You have Resistance to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Thunder damage while you wear this armor.

Absolute Inolation: You can take a Magic action to give yourself Immunity to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Thunder damage while you wear this armor damage for 10 minutes or until you are no longer wearing the armor. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

[patent obsidian]

Well, Armor of Invulnerability is already legendary. And you should definitely specify the type of damage you would be immune to with Absolute Inolation. Because the original says this:

You have resistance to nonmagical damage while you wear this armor. Additionally, you can use an action to make yourself immune to nonmagical damage for 10 minutes or until you are no longer wearing the armor. Once this special action is used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.

Your homebrew makes it seem like the user would be immune to ALL damage, which would make any fight trivial as long as you save on spells that apply conditions.

[severe trellis]

That was a failure in copy pasting, it was meant to replace with the elemental damages mentioned in resistences

[severe trellis]

Also yes the Armor of Invulnerability IS legendary! But its plate Armor...Thats the problem, there arent really equivilents to high level magical heavy and sometimes Medium armor with Light Armor

this is to make a Light Armor equivilent

[polar timber]

An Armor of Insulation sounds like an interesting Legendary armor for Padded Armor. Especially since padded armor is almost always looked over since it has such low base AC

[polar timber]

4 damage immunities is very strong for an armor that will net you a total of 17 AC max vs Armor of Invulnerabilities 18 AC and (effective) 3 immunities for only non-magic damage. Especially if this is for 2014 rules, cause Armor of Invulnerability is much weaker in that edition compared to its 2024 version

[grave radish]

Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-za1rKYrvYlLeTRRnlQBAKH5546pX8CBpat1CqhrMN0/edit?usp=drivesdk

As note the first monster/NPC has all the traits found in the vampire statblock of the 5e MM but is on a separate page in an effort to not over clutter.

[tired gazelle]

I’m going to start a DND campaign with a group of complete beginners and because of that, I want to avoid homebrew classes and races to keep things simpler for them and because I’ve had bad experiences with allowing homebrew in the past. However, there was a house rule that came to mind and I wanted to workshop it a little more. Basically my idea is that on level up, instead of getting all of their new abilities immediately, players get a “level up token” that they can cash in whenever. In exchange for delaying their level up and saving the token, they get to use an ultra powered version of their new ability when they cash it in and for the first time they use it. For example, if the Life Cleric is going to get Disciple of Life at Level 2, they can delay their level up and save the token to use when the whole party is in danger, and that lets them add an extra die or two of healing the first time that they use this new power. Or when the Sorcerer is about to get 3rd level spells, they can save their token to use one of their new spells for the first time without spending a spell slot and maybe this spell is upcast to fourth level. This is just an idea for now and I don’t know if I’ll end up introducing it at the table because of the factors above. Just workshopping and trying to get some feedback

[polar timber]

As long as the one time buffed effects arent too crazy, it sounds like a decent idea

sort of like the characters having an epiphany in a moment of intense emotion that lets them "break through" to the next level

[nova basin]

This would definitely work better with more experienced players

Thats a great thematic moment, good for plot points and boss battles, but newer players may not be as confident in their rp or what they do when they level up, and itll likely alow things down without the desired impact

[tired gazelle]

That’s what I thought too. What if I went over their level up options beforehand and had the token as a little cheat card that tells them what their new abilities are (as well as the supercharged version they can use), and kept proficiency bonus and HP gain as normal. Also only using this system for bigger level increases with new class abilities, and not for things like ASIs

[cerulean seal]

For brand new players it’s generally a good idea to set the normal rules and expectations so they can learn the game

[tired gazelle]

Beyond mechanical confusion, you do make a very good point about having to ease them into RP and that’s something I should definitely keep in mind

[polar timber]

maybe you can try introducing such a rule a bit later into the campaign once your players get used to the rules and general play

[nova basin]

Yeah I woukd definitely keep it 100% vanilla if theyre new

Only stary introducing new stuff when they arent asking fundamental questions anymore

[tired gazelle]

I was thinking that this system would be used with XP levelling, but it’s occurred to me that the same kind of moment and effect can be achieved RAW with milestone levelling at critical moments

[vernal venture]

Has anyone here ever play-tested a new class? I see the materials all the time on D&D Beyond, but I wasn't sure about the rules regarding vetting that a new class works or not. I would be curious how DMs validate playability and design.

[frank maple]

Here is a draft for a heavily arcane themed sorcerer (2014) subclass I've been working on. I think the balance is okay but some of the metamagic amplifications might be a bit much. I generally tried to give bigger amplification effects to the lesser used/"weaker" metamagic options.

Sort of aiming for a power level around the clockwork/lunar level but would love some ideas for maintaining the feel of all of the metamagic options whilst giving them a boost for the cost of an extra sorcery point.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nzNit4j5zFDiqSSMUF2sm6v2r_d9pS4_kXxoWH4Kpko/edit?usp=drivesdk

[flint marsh]

I tend to run a series of one shots at different levels with just one new class for testing in the mix, using a different player each time

I've also got a friend who likes running one shots, so we can see how a dm deals with it, so im not always the one running the game(to help avoid bias)

When possible I like to get a few different tests before making adjustments but sometimes something is more or less potent than expected, or doesnt provide the narrative experience I was lookong for and it is very easy to see so I'll make a change in the middle of a testing run

[vernal venture]

That's awesome! I only DM for the local game store and they have very strict rules for home brew because the audience is under 17. I can't seem to find adults willing to get games going and the other DMs at the store are very anti-homebrew

[flint marsh]

It can be a challenge yeah

I'm blessed with three entire groups who like it to varying degrees

[void jewel]

I agree that one shots with the custom class being one participant are best

[wicked condor]

Would it be fun to add something like a sanity bar or maybe stat? Like say you have to make a sanity saving throw and if you fail you get the frightened condition

Or if it's a bar you have to manage it by taking short rests and if you don't you suffer by having hallucinations

[mild cove]

Don’t know about the 2024, but 2014 dmg has something about how to handle that

[tired gazelle]

You might be interested in checking out Blades in the Dark or Call of Cthulhu

[peak inlet]

I wanna add some sort of narrative inspiration type system (similar to Daggerheart Hope) which my players can use to do stuff like level up before a battle (instead of right after it) or come back to life with 1 HP from death saves

I wanted to have an automatic system to add those, and I was wondering if I should reward it on crit success, crit failure, or something completely different

[void jewel]

The problem with any system rewarding crit success or failure is that it's mostly martial exclusive

Spellcasters don't roll nearly as many dice as martials

At least when it comes to d20s

Really they only roll their own saves, and on rare occasion a cantrip that happens to not force a save, damage, and skill checks

Martials meanwhile often roll 2-4 d20s every turn

[peak inlet]

sure, but it would also be granted by me for RP, I just want something to move it forward for those who don’t RP

all my players are spellcasters

[void jewel]

If they're all fullcasters then yeah it'd work because it'd be even

With the level thing, you could use milestone and just have them level before the fight

You can always just insert levels

[peak inlet]

yeh, but also, ability checks mean the players are probably more engaged

[faint sonnet]

Honestly, I like systems that reward martials for rolling more d20's.

[void jewel]

Yeah I find it always varies between the amount of agency each player has in the system

[faint sonnet]

I even think it makes narrative sense.

[void jewel]

What I mean is that its normal for some players to be more involved, at most tables.

[peak inlet]

I do use milestone, but I don’t want them to just level up before a fight always, they’re so many players so I find it difficult to challenge them

[faint sonnet]

Make spells not crit 2026 👀

[void jewel]

It doesn't need to be always, it can be arbitrarily decided by you

[peak inlet]

so I would prefer to have them spend a resource to get it right before the showdown than after

[void jewel]

Unironically wouldn't shift the meta at all, nerfs only the trap spells

Spellcaster buff because less people picking trap attack roll based spells

[peak inlet]

nooooo, don’t take away my off-meta spells

[scenic urchin]

oops all fireball

[faint sonnet]

I dunno if I'd say that stuff like Firebolt or Ray of Frost is a trap spell, but it definitely mostly nerfs cantrips.

[void jewel]

Ye more levelled spells.

Ray of frost and firebolt would lose 5% dpr

[faint sonnet]

Though I also did a giant breakdown of spells a while back and presumed spell power inflation is way more prevalent than people would expect.

[peak inlet]

yeah, I know, but it makes sense to do it before showdown battles, I just think it works really well to have them spend a resource especially since the way my world works, there are specific things that unlock a latent power (such as deities, entities, a weird potion, special tattoos, etc.) and I like the idea of having them choose what they want to call on those latent powers to execute

[faint sonnet]

It's one of the reasons that I say one could destroy the entire "casters are superior" discussion by removing a minimal number of spells, and a chunk of those spells aren't even used by a lot of people.

[peak inlet]

more than just arbitrarily going “yeh, this time you have the fight before leveling up”

[faint sonnet]

By my own criteria that was very broad and unbiased (because giving a rating was just checking boxes), the average spell ended up at around 2.8/5, with that number potentially being inflated by the fact that every ritual or "until dispelled" spell was given an automatic 3 at the worst.

So the average spell ended up worse than average, lul

[peak inlet]

I think I’m actually probably going to use something like the piety system but 0-6 and consumable

if they follow the source of their latent power, they gain 1, if they RP well, they gain 1

-# turn everyone into a Paladin

[faint sonnet]

I will say the giant ranking actually was pretty helpful in me building some frameworks for spellcasting, with a big one being that upcasting being bad was foundational to a lot of detrimental things in play.

[peak inlet]

I think I realized that spells are much more powerful than I thought they were

I always played Rangers or multiclass Warlocks, so I never got spells at full caster speed

then I played Sorcerer once, and the spells ramp up in power very quickly as a full caster

[scenic urchin]

i'm playing a 9th level wizard right now and 80% of the time I have the wrong spells prepared

[faint sonnet]

The thing that puts a lot of "this spell is bad" discussions into context is that there's a tiny list of spells that the majority are being compared against, so even making smol tweaks to the top end entirely makes or breaks comparisons.

[peak inlet]

Catnap and Prayer of Healing are pretty huge rn

[void jewel]

Totally. A ton of second level spells have the issue of "this isn't web"

And a lot of third level spells are "but you could have spent this slot on hypnotic pattern"

If you remove web and rope trick from the wizard list the second level spell power would decrease dramatically

[peak inlet]

honestly the games I play have so much charmed immunity that I never get to use Hypnotic Pattern

[peak inlet]

2nd level spells are already not that great

[void jewel]

Fortunately most creatures with charm immunity also lack compelling ranged attacks that aren't sight based, so you can cover those matchups elsewhere easily

[scenic urchin]

2nd level spells are amazing

[void jewel]

Yeah 2nd level is a huge power spike

Casters biggest power spike is level 3, not 5

[scenic urchin]

detect thoughts, invisibility, suggestion, and misty step are all heavy lifters

[void jewel]

Druids get to delete fights with spike growth, paladins get the best spell in the game in find steed when they get second levels

[peak inlet]

yeah, but they all suck at 3rd level

they become really nice at 5th level

[void jewel]

What do you mean

Web, spike growth, ect. basically solo win fights at 3rd level

Not every fight, mind you, but many

[peak inlet]

you only get to use 2 of them

if the DM is actually running a decent number of events per day, you run out very quickly

[void jewel]

I mean, kind of? A wizard gets 3.

Arcane recovery

Warlocks get 4, usually 6, or more

[peak inlet]

my team used up all their 2nd level slots before they even started the heist

[scenic urchin]

carrying 3 encounters is still pretty good

[void jewel]

Times four players = 12 encounters

A well placed web can usually cause the encounter to swing so dramatically in PC favor that no other resources are needed

(Web is busted)

[scenic urchin]

not using web can often mean PCs start getting downed

[peak inlet]

I mean, that’s assuming it’s all combat encounters

[faint sonnet]

NGL, that largely means that the playing field is relatively simple.

[peak inlet]

I run a pretty good balance between combat and non-combat stuff that requires slots

[void jewel]

I'd disagree - in tight areas with many rooms, doorways, and obstacles, web gets better, not worse

[peak inlet]

I agree with this

[void jewel]

Web's worst use case is in an open field

[faint sonnet]

That's when Web gets in your way and enemies can escape, though.

[peak inlet]

the players keep forgetting the enemies can also use Web

[void jewel]

Depends on placement yeah. Fortunately, the caster can end concentration at any time

[scenic urchin]

you can dispel the web at any time :V but usually its better to let enemies flee anyway

[faint sonnet]

Admittedly, I prefer LoS to be meaningful so you don't actually know where the enemies go when they are out of sight (even if you can guess).

[void jewel]

Yeah I totally understand that rule

I find it slows my tables down too much

Players end up spending 60+ seconds just thinking about what spaces enemies will be in

I dislike, for example, foundry's default LOS system

[faint sonnet]

That's kinda the fun part of combat. Slow turns are discouraged, and that kind of time being taken isn't allowed, in my favorite styles.

The game is significantly easier the more information you have, for example.

[void jewel]

Yeah depends what the players want out of it. For my tables, the tactical wargame is usually a big part of it, and rushing players would just make it less fun. Others might enjoy it

I totally get pressured choices like that being fun for some people

[faint sonnet]

Oh, it's also meant to be tactical in my favorite combats, so playing with incomplete information is a "skill-check."

[peak inlet]

I hide the enemies when they are invisible or in heavy obstruction

or darkness if they don’t have dark vision

[void jewel]

I agree. If I had to play at such a table, the first thing I'd attempt to do is remove that mechanic. Likely with a warlock familiar who exists only to see things

[void jewel]

Big heavy obscurement nerf

(Or buff if the monsters also guess squares)

[faint sonnet]

(This is how familiars get bodied in my sessions, amusingly.)

[void jewel]

Depends how much the monsters are metagaming

[peak inlet]

they also guess

[scenic urchin]

monsters usually roll a d8

they usually miss

[void jewel]

How do they guess

[peak inlet]

they can still hear that an enemy is adjacent

[faint sonnet]

If the group can steamroll when they have information and struggle heavily when they lack it, the information is the decider, not the group, if that makes sense.

[peak inlet]

if they walk next to a spot, they know the position but roll at disadvantage

[void jewel]

I agree I just find it a logistical problem also for placing AoEs and such. The slowness just isn't worth it to me. Turn times would solve, but I don't implement those for other reasons

[void jewel]

But it would be a flat roll regardless

[peak inlet]

otherwise, if they’re using AoE, they just throw it in the area

[faint sonnet]

I'm not saying that people are playing "wrong" if battlemaps are totally open, I just think the game is way easier in a way I don't find as fun.

[void jewel]

Because the player not seeing them would cancel the disadvantage

[scenic urchin]

i dont like turn timers because this is a turn based game 😐 putting a timer on the turn is putting a limit on the fun part of the game

[void jewel]

Heavy obscurement turns everything into a flat roll

This is why fog cloud is known to be used for wolf encounters due to pack tactics

[peak inlet]

it depends on how much the heavy obscurement is part of their strat

[void jewel]

Unless one party has blindsight

[peak inlet]

some groups run blindsight

[faint sonnet]

Yeah, I don't like turn timers either, it's just that when you lack a lot of information you need to make guesses and trust your gut.

[peak inlet]

if someone with Blindsight witnesses an ally getting hit, they can use a Heroic Inspiration to warn the person getting attacked

[void jewel]

Tbh if monsters were guessing locations in heavy obscurement I'd use it even more than I already do. You can't catch my wizards without pyrotechnics prepared and that would be insane value.

Not a critique, just a comment.

[peak inlet]

(this is what I wanna move over to the new Hope system I’m trying to make)

[scenic urchin]

i'm okay with buffing fog cloud

[peak inlet]

(so Heroic Inspiration gets back to being used for rerolls)

[void jewel]

Heavy obscurement is my single favorite game mechanic from a player and DM perspective

I think it is highly underutilized in optimization communities and normal games alike

[scenic urchin]

we brewed "you don't get advantage attacking an unseen target unless you see the target" so that fog cloud is just "everyone gets disadvantage" instead

[faint sonnet]

Honestly, I think LoS is just up there with Heavy Obscurement.

I can notice a tangible difference in combats that use LoS as a point of tension and those that don't.

Bonus points if the players are good at anti-metagaming or you somehow have individual LoS for each player digitally.

[void jewel]

From a player POV, heavy obscurement is why I love illusions so much, for "perfect obscurement" (you can see the enemy, but they can't see you)

[void jewel]

Foundry's default system does this but its also a PITA in other ways

[faint sonnet]

Like, I just think there's something special about someone yelling "oh shit!" over the mic after they move somewhere you can't see and everyone else is like "??!!"

[peak inlet]

I’m working on a 9th level summon spell, I know I want them to be able to contribute to Circle Spells, but I’m not sure what spell level to give them

[void jewel]

Wym

[peak inlet]

rn I went with allowing them to cast 1 specific 6th level spell once

[faint sonnet]

I think probably the biggest thing I like about LoS being a big factor in fights is that the game suddenly seems a lot more dangerous, because you have no clue what's waiting behind a door or corner.

[void jewel]

I see that appeal for some tables yeah totally

[peak inlet]

sorry, I meant Circle Spells

[void jewel]

The times I've played with it as a player I've found it just to be annoying.

It's less "oh I wonder what's around this corner" or "damn this is tense deciding where to place this aoe" and more "damn wish I could see the board".

[peak inlet]

I either play characters that don’t care because their abilities are AoE anyway, or don’t care by personality and just barge in without thinking

[void jewel]

It also takes you out of the magic when you can see what's going on with your friends at all if they are around a corner. Really incentivises people to be less engaged.

[faint sonnet]

I can see this, but I'd speculate that the reason it feels like the last one is because you're so used to having all the information available that not having it feels like you're losing out.

"I wish I could see the board" very easily translates in-game to "I have to make a decision and my decision very well might be flawed."

[void jewel]

It doesn't feel like losing out - like it DOES feel fair tbh. It just kind of feels like you're playing basketball and they decided to put ankle weights on everyone. Totally fair and still a cool game, just with random annoying aspects.

Like, I think the thing is that I value the ease of play over the other benefits that the tension would provide

Or it light be a side effect of foundry's poor implementation of it

[faint sonnet]

Fair. For me, the tension is the play.

[void jewel]

(In foundry, you don't even know the shape of the room until you have fully entered the room yourself)

[void jewel]

One thing I found myself doing is starting every turn by saying "DM, where does it SOUND like the enemies are? And roughly how many in each area?"

[faint sonnet]

I really should try Foundry.

[void jewel]

Best VTT I've ever used, once you install some modules

If you like this LOS system I will say you'll love foundry's defaults even

I turned it off for manual fog of war but it is great for your use case

[faint sonnet]

My current DM (that I use this style with) would say "You hear a few noises in this room but you can't tell anything else."

Combat is truly player skill, not button mashing skill.

[sacred current]

So uh, I'm adapting some spells from Aground since I really love the game. Is this spell balanced?

Quaking Pillars
Level 2 Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Components: V, S
Range: Self (15-foot-line)
Duration: Instantaneous
_ _
Earthen pillars surge up from the ground in a 15-foot long, 5 feet wide line, ramming through objects and creatures upto 15 ft. high before disappearing. Creatures in this area are forced to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature receives 2d8 bludgeoning damage and is knocked Prone. On a successful save, a creature receives half the damage.

Creatures cannot receive fall damage from this spell unless they were flying and failed the save.
_ _
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of level 3 or higher, the damage and line's length increases by 1d8 and 5ft, respectively for each spell slot level above 2nd.
_ _
Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

[faint sonnet]

You may know where your allies are on the battle map, but that doesn't mean your PC actually knows where they are.

[scenic urchin]

i'll be trying it in 2 weeks but not for D&D, no chance to test out the mini combat

[void jewel]

Mini combat?

[scenic urchin]

combat with miniatures

[void jewel]

Ah

Like with a projector?

Onto a real table

[scenic urchin]

no

i mean we're trying out foundry in two weeks

but the game we're playing doesn't use miniatures at all

[void jewel]

Oh. I misread earlier. Nvm

[scenic urchin]

this seems like it compares poorly to thunderwave...

[sacred current]

Would increasing the damage to 3d8 or 4d6 help?

[scenic urchin]

i mean, it wouldnt hurt... but is thunderwave really the benchmark for a 2nd level spell?

[sacred current]

I completely forgot thunderwave even existed

[sacred current]

It was not at all a benchmark, more so my attempt to balance the spell seeing as it has two extra things in Aground: two lines appear, and they have homing abilities

[dreamy mantle]

You guys ever try making your own class?

[cerulean seal]

Yes. It’s the most difficult thing you can do in DnD. But it’s doable

I’ve been working on my homebrew class for a few months now

[dreamy mantle]

Honestly i tried to make one, the Tamer

[cerulean seal]

Oh yeah. I’ve seen a few tamer like classes running around.

[dreamy mantle]

Holy crap i just remembered a game from my childhood

Because i said The word tamer

Anyway yea

Basically you would get a bunch of animal friends the more you level up

[cerulean seal]

Important question. Do you have to source the animals from encounters yourself or does your class just give you the pets?

[dreamy mantle]

I would imagine when you level up an animal just approaches you like a Disney princess

You would get like a bird, a small mammal, and then i forgot the rest of the class features

[cerulean seal]

Good. So the class gives you the animals. As it should be.

[dreamy mantle]

Although i do remember one of the sub classes was circus themed

It was also a martial class to set itself apart from other classes

I actually had 3 subclasses

The Survivalist, the Ringmaster, and The Botanist

If you were a botanist you actually took care of a carnivorous plant, essentially Audrey 2

Actually looking at it now, i never actually finished the class

I never gave it a level 20 ability

There was also a feature where for every animal companion you have, you would gain extra health, and all of your pets would share the same health pool

Basically the whole class would be about raising a baby creature all the way to its adult form

[void jewel]

I've scrapped my class and redone it many many times

It is a long process

[dreamy mantle]

Honestly I started this class years ago

I kinda just forgot about it

I just had the idea for a new casting class actually, The Chef, though it would be fun

Basically cooking magic food and using Pans and cooking utensils as weapons

[peak inlet]

it could be a Bard subclass

for the pans as weapons, you wanna create a new weapon or use one of the many third party and homebrew options out there

or reflavor/make a subclass for Bobble’s class

[frank berry]

I mean sounds like easy to do, just take the retributive strike's text and change the wording to fit a bomb instead of a staff

[hollow siren]

ok, so status update for my foci as a weapon idea, i have developed it further:
-arcane foci deal fire/lightning/cold/force damage (your choice); holy symbols deal radiant/necrotic (your choice), druidic foci deals fire/cold/lightning/acid/poison damage (your choice). the damage die will be 2d6 and add further d6s as you level up (scales with cantrips, so 5th is 3d6, 11th is 4d6, and 17th is 5d6). this will interact with extra attack. i might also limit it to scaling with the spellcasting feature, but I am not sure.
-figuring out how to let this interact with artificers
-they would count as simple ranged weapons, with a range of 150/300 (might need to revisit how ranged weapons work). bardic foci will be a choice of radiant/thunder/psychic damage, and scale similarly.
-there would be an innate smite-like feature of adding additional d6s if you use a spell slot (and this all would be accompanied with a revision of AT Rogue that lets you always get off a sneak attack when using this with an arcane focus, but you then cannot use a spell slot to smite the attack, and the capstone would be revised to interact with this new option too).
-each focus will get a gimmick. i plan to also make a feat or two to enhance this, and revise war caster to interact with this idea once i have drafted everything. Magic Initiate 2024 will also get a revision, included in the final drafted document, to allow the use of a component pouch OR any focus with which you can use to cast spells. this revision is not related to the project, but it is something i have wanted to draft for a while.
-these attack types will only be useable if you have the spellcasting feature.
-im still working on how to differentiate this from cantrips, but my thinking is that cantrips will have some distinct benefit to use and this attack feature will have one too. my thinking here is guided primarily by the orb/staff playstyles of VG: both are viable and both have perks that support each, but both are distinct

[coral delta]

That is a rough wall of text

[hollow siren]

In Veilguard (VG as said above), orbs tend to deal MORE damage but have LESS range.

[hollow siren]

yeah sorry

more just throwing my ideas thus far on a project im struggling with, to see if it sparks any thoughts/reactions

[flint marsh]

So one-handed, extreme long range, damage like a magic greatsword, can be used with extra attack, an inmate smite, plus gimmicks

Better than weapons, better than cantrips. Is there a downside of any kind?

[peak inlet]

I thought the point of it was to be a ribbon feature that’s only useful when you can’t use your cantrips or spells

this doesn’t do that, it just replaces cantrips

[flint marsh]

And weapons

[peak inlet]

yeah, what’s the point of Gish

or anything really

and those foci can also have magic item versions

I would make it so a single focus only has one damage type, like weapons, crank up the price, and keep the damage at d4 or d6 cantrip scaling without extra effects

if it’s 2014, d4 is the max you can throw out

d6 with extra effect already puts it at 2024 cantrip level

without components

[hollow siren]

working on that, this isnt drafted and i am playing with concepts

[hollow siren]

not really, more so inspired by artificer's artillerist and the orb/staff differences in playstyle from veilguard

[hollow siren]

im trying to develop it so it doesnt and is its own distinct thing

[hollow siren]

i was contemplating actually making it two handed, like how Veilguard has orbs and daggers being one handed and dual wielded, and staves count as two handed

[hollow siren]

i was contemplating making it start at 2d4 and scale the same, after sending my notes above

[peak inlet]

1d4 and scales

2d4 and scales would require a feat

[hollow siren]

id keep it at 1d6 if its a single damage die

[peak inlet]

or the foci to already be magic items

or require attunement

[hollow siren]

i was going to tie some of the oomph to feats yeah

[hollow siren]

yes, this was the idea: foci would get individual item blocks. i would likely revise it to require attunement though for the attack action feature/benefit

[peak inlet]

I mean with attunement, it’s not broken I don’t think

I would still lower it to 1d6

[hollow siren]

fair

[peak inlet]

2d6 is too much

[hollow siren]

yeah, after sending it the thought struck me

[peak inlet]

wait, it extra attacks?

damn

[hollow siren]

i think i will lower it to 1d6 and have a feat that allows you to add a bonus d6

[peak inlet]

it should have the Loaded property

[hollow siren]

ok i didnt explain this well lol: extra attack features allow multi attacks with the staff/whatever, but you need to spread the d6s around and allocate them (min of 1)

[hollow siren]

doesnt loaded mean ammo?

[peak inlet]

You can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

[hollow siren]

how does loaded interact with EA?

this feels pretty good except i would not require ammo for this (i am not turtledove nor brewing his attempt at WWII with wizards, lol)

[peak inlet]

doesn’t let you shoot with a Loading weapon again as part of the same action

[peak inlet]

call it “Charging”

[hollow siren]

ah, so you fire once per turn?

no extra attacks then?

[peak inlet]

you can extra attack

you just can’t extra attack with another Charging weapon

[hollow siren]

huh, i see now

[peak inlet]

so one attack with this then a dagger can still work

[hollow siren]

thats an interesting idea

[peak inlet]

or Staff pulse then melee staff attack

[hollow siren]

right

idea then: it has the charged property, but a feat lets you allocate the d6s to extra bolts fired as seperate attacks should you have the extra attack feature

[peak inlet]

like splitting up the attack but splitting the power?

I think if that’s the only thing the feat gives you, you can make it a Nick attack

without requiring you to have an Extra Attack

[flint marsh]

That's massive- any on-hit procs would be boosted. Like how eldritch blast outstrips other cantrips

I think maybe looking to 4e's focuses/implements may be better in line. You're still casting cantrips but your implement can modify the thing based on what it is.

[vernal venture]

I had a blast creating a new patron for one of my players. The player asked me to make up a ridiculous patron for him. I came up with a "lesser fiend/god" who wants to take over the Pride circle of hell. Since it was a table under age 17, I made it so that this Patron was bored with physical torture and wanted to punish pride through "aggressive humility". In a moment of inspiration, I actually wrote up a contract for the Warlock to sign. By the end of the campaign, every kid wanted to sign the contract to multi-class. No extra powers, but just for the pure chaos. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wtHrIWHoH5yvyj9x--7iWs8f2e1O5jgU/view?usp=drive_link

[flint marsh]

But if making casters even less reliant on resources/more powerful is the goal and fits your table, the direction you're going is fine

[peak inlet]

yeah, it’s strong, but if it didn’t have the smite stuff and could only fire 2 bolts as an attack on a caster, I think it’s fine for a full feat slot

I just don’t like the whole concept

but if you’re going along with it, an attunement slot + a feat for a worse Eldritch Blast isn’t an issue

[flint marsh]

Is it worse if it comes built in with eldritch spear, element swapping, and being eligible for extra attack and action surge?

As it is a simple weapon, rather than casting, it does not require the magic action to use

[peak inlet]

I did recommend decreasing the range and making it only work once per turn, so I’m assuming that as part of it

[flint marsh]

So definitely if making casters (of all types) way more powerful and less resource dependent is the goal... go for it

[peak inlet]

and I did say it should require attunement

which does add a resource cost and splitting the bolts also requires a feat

that’s pretty expensive

as it was stated, I do agree it’s too much

that’s why I suggested all the changes tbf

I did also recommend splitting the elements and not making them chosen at the point of casting but at the point of attunement

[flint marsh]

Sure but I'm not critiquing your critique of the material - my feedback is on what was presented

There is no need to defend your suggestions haha

[peak inlet]

my feedback on his feat suggestion was based on my own feedbacks assuming they were all taken into account

which I now realize doesn’t make sense

[hollow siren]

pretty much

[hollow siren]

i hesitate to do so because something something warlock niche, but honestly fair

[hollow siren]

ill take a look! I didnt know about these so thanks for the inspiration

[hollow siren]

oh good point. i may then make it have a special property that while it uses an attack action, treat it as if you used the magic action for purposes of levelled spells

[hollow siren]

actually, i just wanted to give them soemthing cool to do/use staves/foci for beyond the M components. the tricky part is balancing to prevent this exact issue

Personally, i think the game shouldve been balanced around cantrips as a standard baseline (which wouldve then lowered the power ceiling) and given martials stamina points for power attacks/maneuvers to begin with, instead of what we got.

[hollow siren]

i did for purposes of balance, actually! I gave your prior feedback thought, lol. i also realize i originally did not communicate the purpose of this idea very well tbf though

[peak inlet]

new feat set for different weapon attacking styles

Jester’s Stance

Stance Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+, Can’t Have Another Stance Feat)

Ability Score Increase. Increase an ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Jester’s Play. Immediately after failing a Performance check, you can choose to barely succeed it instead. Once this feature is used, you can’t use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest.
Enchanting Performance. After using the Attack Action, you can use a Bonus Action to cast a cantrip with a casting time of one Action. You can only use this feature if you did not cast a spell this turn, you can’t cast another spell this turn after using this feature.

(kinda like a feat to build up on the Fighting Styles)

this one is for Gish, I will probably give it a Bard cantrip prepared for free

[hidden delta]

Why does it specify that I can’t cast another spell this turn im out of actions/bonus actions and why doesn’t it work if I’ve already cast a spell, which was probably a Cantrip. Like I don’t think that letting valor bard or Eldritch knight cast 2cantrips per turn is going to make the game unbalanced

[peak inlet]

I should also keep it bound to the d20 value

[peak inlet]

it is for Bladesingers/Valor Bards which would be able to use 2 cantrips + attack every single turn without any resource usage

[hidden delta]

Then give it a limit

[peak inlet]

it nerfs Haste with it

[hidden delta]

Seems way more useful

Like a number of uses equal to pb

[peak inlet]

at that point, you could use Spellfire Spark and be better off

[hidden delta]

Fair enough

[peak inlet]

the point of the Stances is resourceless buffs to a playstyle like Fighting Styles

I might make it a cantrip swap

but that hurts crossbow attackers

[hidden delta]

Ok, must say it feels kinda silly to give casters fighting styles as that’s the one things maritals sometimes have

[hollow siren]

i actually like a cantrip swap idea, but a BA cantrip is fine even without a limit on casting

but limiting what can be cast that turn to activate a BA cantrip after attacking is also fine

[hollow siren]

i think an analogous feature (for instance, druid/cleric getting 1st, 7th, and 15th level feature choices), is fine but otherwise agreed

[hidden delta]

I didn’t think of those like that but yeah they kinda are

[sacred current]

Redeemer's Plate
Rare, requires attunement by a Paladin
Enchanted with protective magic, this set of plate armor radiates a sense of safety and security.
Resilient Embrace. Any damage the wearer receives is reduced by 2.

Aura of Shielding. Any damage dealt to creatures benefitting from the wearer's Aura of Protection is reduced by 1.

Warding Hands. When you restore hit points to a creature, that creature receives 2 temporary hitpoints.

[native gale]

While it is true that there are some effects like this in the game already, its largely a design concept that the game has moved away from. This feels very videogame-esc.

[nova basin]

Idk what feels videogamey about it tbh

Just seems like a solid armor

The only issue I have is the thp, since you can only have one source at a time and nobody wants to give up their thp slot for 2 without a rider

[worldly bolt]

Hey, I would like some opinions on magical items that expand and grow with the characters story. It’s for a high magic campaign, where there is lots of powerful items kicking around.

Cloak of the Endless Hunt - (Unique, Requires Attunement by a Bloodhunter)

This dark red and black cloak is made from a thick leather, along the hem are 7 powerful runes that bolster its bearers resolve.

• While wearing the cloak you gain a +2 to All Survival, Nature and Medicine Checks
• You can roll an additional Hemocraft die to increase the damage die of your Crimson Rite by 2, if this would put it above a d12, it goes to 2d6, then 2d6+2, and so forth. (D4=d8)
• As an Action you can coat a rune on the cloak in your blood. When u do so you gain Resistance to 1 damage type of your choice for 1min. You cannot have more than 1 rune active at anypoint, and they recharge at Dawn.
• Due to the power of the cloak it is unaffected by an Antimagic Field and only a Dispel Magic lvl 9 Can shut off its powers.

At 11th level you gain the following Benefits:

• The +2 increases to a +4 for Survival, Nature and Medicine Checks
• As part of an Attack you can expend a rune to cast Hunters Mark on the creature it does not require concentration, lasts for the full hour, and cannot be moved to a new target when the current one dies.
• Depending on what path of Bloodhunter u took u gain one of the following options as well as an extra use of your Blood Maledict
  -- Ghost: U know an extra Blood Curse
  -- Mutant: You can prepare an extra Mutagen per day
  -- Lycan: You gain an extra Use of Hybrid Transformation per SR
  -- Profane Soul: You gain an additional Spell Slot
• You gain a +2 to your Intelligence Score, this can push it above 20.

At 15th level you gain the following benefits:

• The +4 increases to a +6 for Survival, Nature and Medicine Checks
• You can expend a Rune as an action to cast a 3rd level Cure Wounds on yourself or Lesser Restoration
• When you activate your Crimson Rite you can forgo the Hemocraft damage roll 1/SR
• You also now gain Resistance to Necrotic and Psychic Damage

[hollow siren]

scaling items is a cool concept that i like

personally i think the concept is underutilized

[upper token]

was wondering if anyone has any information on different types of Drow been toying with the idea of a lighting or thunder Drow? Any help rescourses or suggestions would be helpful

[cerulean seal]

There is a forgotten realm wiki page about Drow.

[upper token]

thanks do you have a link by chance

[cerulean seal]

idk if links to there are allowed here. Just google Drow DnD and should be the first wiki link

It's on the forgottem realms wiki

[upper token]

thanks so much

[livid bay]

So, this is the first artifact level magic item I have made, and it's for a campaign I'm running about Tiamat attempting to conquer the material plane. It is a powerful weapon, initially found shattered into two pieces, each piece sealed by abjuration. It's called the Soul of Hagrafane.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/11020592-soul-of-hagrafane

I did manage to make it all work on a digital character sheet, though I forgot to put the advantage against dragon breath weapons in the Modifiers, and I couldn't figure out how to make one of it's properties work on a sheet. But at least about 95% of it works!

(If the link doesn't work, let me know, I'll fix it.)

[abstract basin]

to any fellow dms in here, i'm having a hard time designing my own custom dungeon maps when i want a very specific design so i can't use a pre-made one, any tips?

[smoky sand]

Awesomesauce sword (Finesse, Light, Versatile) 1d10/1d12
Can add 2d6 fire damage to this as a bonus action upon saying words. (PB/LR)
Polearm Master works with this.
Thrown (30/120)
Ranged (15/60)
Rangers can add in 8d6 force against favored enemies/Hunters marked enemies

[hollow siren]

this is blatantly overpowered. i gather its also a joke brew, from the name, but still

items that work with particular classes are also not unprecedented but also have to be done carefully. most of those either require attunement and require at least a level in that class to use, can be used for that class' spells if a focus (but usually have a limited/specific benefit), or just key off that class feature and dont have an explicit/hard requirement of that class (but otherwise why use the item then if youre not maining that class?.)

here, this favored enemy/hunters mark related feature is fine. the damage die is just obscene. make it a 1d8 or a 2d6, and you can slap that onto a serious brew and it would be fine

it's progress though from your usual ranger brews though

let me brew this in a balanced way lol

[restive tusk]

I’m seeing a lot of significantly detrimental effects mitigated by relatively easy means for the level a character would typically acquire this

[livid bay]

That's true, though on the detrimental properties list, there are some major detrimental properties that aren't that bad.

I'm for sure open to feedback, I don't usually brew artifacts, but it was a fun challenge.

[restive tusk]

The benefits are just ok in my opinion. Also your own summon dragon would be hostile to you

[hollow siren]

Hunter's Wrath
Magic Item (Longsword). Requires Attunement and at least 1 level in the Ranger Class

This magic longsword is a mark of honor and expertise among rangers. The blade is covered in twisting vine motifs. You may use this sword in place of any material components for your spells, if they are not expended in the spell's casting and/or do not have a GP cost associated with them. Attack and damage rolls made with this longsword gain a bonus equal to your wisdom modifier to all enemies.

In addition, when you hit a target that is a Favored Foe or marked with your Hunter's Mark, your attack and damage rolls deal an additional 1d8 damage (your choice between Fire, Lightning, Cold, Radiant, or Slashing).

[livid bay]

Oh yeah, I hadn't considered that.

Hm.

[hollow siren]

a little design note on balance: rangers DO tend to be weaker. so i think the bonuses are fine and balanced by the fact that rangers tend to be bleh in terms of power

[livid bay]

I'm considering swapping out that one for vulnerability to Lightning damage.

though I don't know if that would make it any different

[worldly bolt]

I customer build a magic item for each player within the world no matter what we’re playing, and then they need to be the level to unlock the next powers, but they also have to of advanced within their story, so it’s a good bit of balance

[smoky sand]

ooooh pretty

[smoky sand]

do you mind if i use this

[cerulean seal]

Inkarnate is my favorite map website personally. I’ve made a lot and pulled a lot from it. And the subscription is really cheap if you do decide to pay for it. You can do a lot free

I use it for all of my campaigns

[wicked condor]

Is there anywhere I can show an image of my sanity mechanic so I can get feedback on it?

[sturdy knoll]

Host the image on reputable file sharing service (like Google Drive) and share a link to your image that way.

Make sure to explain the link when sharing links so folks know what to expect when they click it.

[wicked condor]

It's a link to Google docs will that work?

[sturdy knoll]

Yes that is okay

Just explain the link when posting it.

Links without context get moderated

[wicked condor]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1svi88r3ESRRCo6NxPpp9ImLOxN2D_1jETD_JDtVZ-V4/edit?usp=drivesdk
This link leads to a homebrew sanity mechanic that I am still testing

[sturdy knoll]

Can you set your link to a publicly viewable one so folks don't have to sign in to view it?

[wicked condor]

Oh sorry

[sturdy knoll]

That will help it get more attention

No worries!

[wicked condor]

I think I've done it

[sturdy knoll]

Interesting concept

[wicked condor]

Any flaws I might've overlooked?

[sturdy knoll]

Maybe consider simplifying it down to 6 steps (similar to exhaustion). And playtesting it with friends to see how well it actually plays out at the table.

[wicked condor]

I'll try simplifying it, anything in particular that needs simplification?

[sturdy knoll]

I was thinking that just breaking it down to 6 steps - if it gets too fine grained it may not really be impactful and if it's too simplified (e.g. 3 steps) then it will be happening all the time and might be too distracting.

[wicked condor]

So it should be something like
1.something scary = saving throw and if failed you gain 1 bar, you get used to certain sights
2. On full bar you hallucinate scenarios and can get into fake combat
3. You can reset the bar by resting
4. Some things are extra difficult when insane
5. You can take damage when not resting

5 is the most I could get

[sturdy knoll]

That sounds fine - but yes, definitely playtest it and see how it actually plays at the table.

[wicked condor]

Right I'll test it next session, see how it fares then I might put it away and fix it

[hybrid sonnet]

Fellas I have a lot of ideas on things that I want to do as a DM (I have never dmed before) but I have a ton of ideas for cool homebrew campaigns and bosses but I fear with my current connections I’ll never be able to use them but also I cannot commit by myself to making an entire campaign or one shot for some reason though I have tried multiple times. Are there any DMs who would want to hear out my ideas possibly and I can work with them to make it reality. I don’t like my works going to waste. Also I’m just not experienced in balancing encounters and cool ideas in concept might not translate well into battle. I’m not sure if this will call to anyone but let me know if you’re interested in hearing some out because I’d love to divulge ideas to people that I don’t know how to do completely by myself

[abstract basin]

Thanks, although I might just make a detailed hand-drawn map because I'm cheap 😂

[severe trellis]

Soft idea I wanna give to my level 4 party, I like throwing decent challenges at them but giving them tools to win.

Ring of the Wind caller
Wonderous item

You can use a Magic action to cast "Summon Elemental" summoning the Air Elemental. Once you use this you can not do so again for 7 days.

I know not Uber strong but I think it's a cool tool to put in their toolbox

[nova basin]

Given that lvl 4 spells are at least 3 levels away it might be a bit much, but on a week cooldown I guess its fine

Scales pretty bad tho, by the same vein of only being good for 3 levels

If you do give it to them, I think I'd have it be a personable plot item

Like maybe it summons a specific, sentient air elemental

Or they make a deal with a djinn and use that to call forth his avatar

Outside of being thrmatically interesting, this falls off pretty fast

[upper tinsel]

Anyone have name recommendations for a magic item that’s basically a texting system that uses Sending via pieces of parchment?

-# Setting up a highly requested group chat for my Strixhaven game so people can write each other from the specialized parchment on the wall of each dorm.

[lean crow]

Sounds a lot like the Far Scribe warlock invocation.

[hollow siren]

go for it!

its very on the fly tbh so may not be totally balanced. i didnt set rarity either

[dry lintel]

Is 60 ft. of Truesight too much to have on a character? (asking here since I am adding it onto an artifact I am creating)

[hidden delta]

If it’s artifact tier should be fine, and unless your planning on using illusions or invisible enemies should be fine, or just put those things far away

[dry lintel]

oh yeah, it is artifact tier alright.

thx

[dry lintel]

Ok, I want some feedback on an artifact I am making. I have yet to write the lore, but I got the mechanical effects down. This is tied into a backstory for a twilight cleric of mine: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10OmJwIIVwP-qN06x8AYXVT3q3okX928cpU2JCi55ISw/edit?usp=sharing

[severe trellis]

I mean three levels is months of irl adventuring

Also how good would a scimitar with extended reach be?

Like

Wind-Blade Scimitar
Rarity(varies from +1 to +3 starting at uncommon)

Attacks made with this weapon gain an extra 5 feet of range

Bleh bad wording

[west zenith]

This is kind of homebrew so I'll ask this here, but I'm working on a campaign with inspiration from the Ready Player One novels. One big thing is that I want the players to have two characters, their online persona which would basically be an actual DND character, and their irl character which wouldn't have all the traits of DND character such as magic, or superhuman abilities, but Im toying with the idea of if I should let the characters pick the traits that their IRL character has, or if they should be random. What do y'all think.

[nova basin]

Not very, basically just a d6 whip

[west zenith]

Or any weapon with reach

[severe trellis]

Decent for a lower level magic item? Wanna make a cool wind based weapon for the same party that the Summon Elemental Ring or for actually.

They ar visiting and helping clear out the temple of and old wind god and I want some cool thematic magic stuff to give em that isn't too strong

[west zenith]

One sec I'll send some things

[west zenith]

Galeheart Bracers
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

These leather bracers are etched with swirling cloud patterns that feel cool to the touch. A faint breeze always seems to follow the wearer.

Abilities:
Windstep (2/day):
As a bonus action, you can call on a burst of wind to move up to 15 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. This movement looks like you’re briefly carried by a gust.
Deflecting Gust (Reaction, 1/day):
When you are hit by a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll as a sudden crosswind knocks it off course. You must choose to do this before damage is rolled.
Featherlight Landing:
You take no falling damage from falls of 20 feet or less, as wind cushions your descent.

Zephyrglass Vial
Wondrous item, uncommon (no attunement)

This thin glass vial holds a swirling fragment of sky-blue wind that never settles.

Abilities:
Release the Zephyr (consumable):
As an action, you throw the vial up to 30 feet, where it shatters in a burst of compressed air.
Creatures in a 10-foot radius must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet away from the center and knocked prone.
On a success, a creature is pushed 5 feet and not knocked prone.
Environmental Control:
Unsecured objects in the area are blown away, extinguishing nonmagical flames like torches or campfires.

Could throw in maybe 1d4 of those vials

[pearl canopy]

So after several months of making this subclass, I thin I finally can leave it alone.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kwSZGJW1etToyI1YcFbtzRpmwv0imfQLVHcvm5EDOj8/edit?usp=sharing

The Surgeon, the melee class for The Apothicary (Sebastion Crowe Guide to Drakkenheim)

[nova basin]

Do that with a few uses of knockback/knockup

[polar timber]

Very cool, I like the flavor!

[verbal charm]

I made like a weird extra stat a while back and I wanna know if it’s utterly stupid (please be gracious I barely know how to make a character )
so the luck stat is basically a skill now that I think of it but uh it’s based off your intelligence so I’m pretty sure this is how it worked: you role like normal and I add your intelligence mod to your luck mod. then when you open a chest or smth in a session you role for luck, I apply your modifier and if it’s below 5 it’s horrid below ten is kinda bad below 15 is above average and below 20 is great and it’s kinda a dumb idea but uh yeah I made this like 6 months ago on a whim

[polar timber]

My main question would be why intelligence affects a stat that is supposed to represent how lucky you are.

[misty pagoda]

That is exactly what I did… I made feats. Not new species.

[verbal charm]

i don’t even remember

[west zenith]

Follow up question, why not just use a base d20 roll?

[polar timber]

If you do want to implement such a mechanic into your game, to add like a randomizer-esque thing, I think its fine. But maybe make it just a flat roll?

[verbal charm]

kk^^

[polar timber]

none of the ability scores in d&d really affect your luck in any way, so making it just a flat role to determine how lucky the characters are could make it more fair

otherwise wizards and artificers will just get much better loot for free lol

[verbal charm]

ty for the advice^^

[west zenith]

And if you want, feats such as lucky could add a modifier (I would probably use half PB) to that roll

[polar timber]

being able to reroll a loot roll with the Lucky feat would definetely make it much stronger, which has positives and negatives, but it is definetely an option

[west zenith]

Same as halfings

[verbal charm]

ok

[severe trellis]

Knock up could be fun or maybe give a few cases of feather fall?

*casts

[severe trellis]

Looks brilliant, I might use these and throw in a pair of Winged(Windy) boots

[west zenith]

Also whats your party comp

[runic parcel]

I'm looking into making a wonderful wizard of oz style subclass for rouge
So basically faking casting magic

Currently I want to have an ability where you can make a certain number of adventuring gear after a long rest, but I'm having trouble balancing it.
At first it was just going to be what's outlined on the table on pg 150 of the phb, but I'd like to include some of the cool setting specifc stuff like the narycrash from dragonlance

But now I don't know how to say "But don't take the broken ones like wyvern poison or the seeds the ressurect you"

[severe trellis]

Open hand monk, Scion Rogue, Psi Fighter, Twi Cleric

[runic parcel]

And I know I could play an artificer or arcane trickster or just an actual wizard, but it's just... not the vibe I want rn, and I'd also like to actually try my hand at homebrew

[severe trellis]

@west zenith

[runic parcel]

Great spread

[west zenith]

Great spread, they should like the items.

[runic parcel]

Hey that's my line
-# /j

[west zenith]

To bad I'm stealing it
Robs you of your line

[runic parcel]

nooooooo!

:(

[west zenith]

Modify the table, just copy it with what you don't want on there and and add what you want

[runic parcel]

yeah...

That's realistically the only solution...

[west zenith]

Simplest way with no confusion among the table

[runic parcel]

I just didn't want to admit it 😭

I'll probably circle back to that once the rest of the subclass is done. For now I'll just ues the basic phb adventuring gear

[vapid dragon]

What are some good resources for learning how to make stat blocks?

[runic parcel]

Should I allow them to make healing potions? Rn I have it to where you can make stuff equal to your PB and you get it at third level
I'm leaning no.

[verbal charm]

oh

oops

[runic parcel]

saw the PB part?

[verbal charm]

yeah but make it insanely complicated so they cant just make like ten

[verbal charm]

chat

lowkey i dont know what pb means</3

[runic parcel]

proficiency bonus

[verbal charm]

OH

i have no idea then

[runic parcel]

Thanks anyway

[verbal charm]

sorry chat</3

[runic parcel]

All good

Ima put it as no for now, but I'd still love to hear ppl's insights

[dry lintel]

Hey, can someone plz answer my question?

[west zenith]

Looks good

[frank berry]

Moonlight Guidance feels weirldy worded or maybe I'm missing something. If your allies are in the light of the artifact, you get advantage on d20 tests? Regardless of where you are, as long as an ally is in the light? That feels weird and I'm not sure its the intent here.

Otherwise nothing catches my eye. Balance really goes out the window when you get to high levels and Artifacts, so if you're asking about that, it's gonna be harder to say

[tranquil moat]

Hey Im having some issues creating a subclass, DnD beyond says I don't have the correct levels (fighter), but I have all the correct levels for the features (3, 7, 10, 15, 18), and I also don't have any extra levels. What am I doing wrong?

All the features are "granted" if that changes anything

[frank berry]

Might be more of a #ddb-support issue, so might wanna ask there

[tranquil moat]

thanks

[patent radish]

so they want to make healing potions? do they have tools for that? because the prof bonus + stat bonus might be better to have a scale of DC.

fail and loose your input of healing herbs gathered.

the base mechanics end up bpund by that prof bonus and chance of failure.

so are you putting any cost on failure in the normal crafting mechanics?

[runic parcel]

I hadn’t thought about making a chance to fail

They were just going to be able to… make stuff

[unique parrot]

For Deflecting Gust, “disadvantage” can’t be imposed after a roll, so I’d advise wording closer to Silvery Barbs

[grave radish]

What is a good trait, action or boon for a player or NPC who joins a blood Magic cult led by a vampire warlock, to gain?

[unique parrot]

Dhampir’s Vampiric Bite perhaps

[void jewel]

Its worth noting that if they are using magic item crafting from 2024 there isn't a chance to fail.

[coral zodiac]

For an upcoming oneshot a couple of my players wanted to play Japanese inspired characters - as such I did a little research into historical weapons and tried to make some fun new martial options!

They are all martial weapons, though I have no decided which ones should be added to monks! - at least Tonfa!

---

Katana: 1d6 Slashing, Finesse, Light - Feint

Odachi: 1d10 Slashing, Finesse, Two Handed, Heavy - Cleave

Wakizashi': 1d4 Slashing, Finesse, Light, Parry - Nick

Sai: 1d6 Piercing, Finesse, Light, Thrown (20/60), Mixed Technique - Sap / Vex

Tonfa: 1d6 Bludgeoning, Light, Protective - Slow

Nunchaku (Helliana's): See Halliana's

Kusari-Fundo: 2d4 Bludgeoning, Two Handed, Constrict - Topple

New Features

Feint (Weapon Mastery): If your attack misses your target your next attack against them before the end of your next turn is made with advantage.

Parry: When you are hit with a melee attack you can use your reaction to increase your AC by 2 for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.

Protective: While wielding two of the same weapon you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Mixed Technique: This weapon has two unique grip positions that confer differing bonuses. As an object interaction on your turn, you can swap between these grips, changing its weapon mastery. While dual wielding this weapon you may swap the grip of both weapons with the same object interaction.

Constrict: When you are wielding the kusari-fundo in two hands and take the Attack action on your turn, you can attempt to flourish with the weapon immediately before you make your first attack. To flourish, make a DC 13 strength check, adding your proficiency bonus if you are proficient with kusari-fundo. On a success, the first time you hut a creature you can also attempt to grapple as part of the same attack.

On a failure, you gain disadvantage on the attack roll.

[patent radish]

but you are atempting to limit the nember of the crafts? a factor might be a slowing factor to the potions is the herbs needed to make the potions. if they took the herbalist kit training to start with, ect.

[rancid basalt]

Working on a magic item to specifically enhance Eldritch Blast, as follows:

Master Blaster, +1
Wand, Uncommon (?) - Requires Attunement (by a creature that knows the Eldritch Blast cantrip)

While holding this magic item, you gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls. You can use the wand as a focus to cast Eldritch Blast, when you do the spell does not require Verbal components, and its range is doubled.

When you roll a 1 on the damage die for your Eldritch Blast, you can reroll the die and use the new result, even if it is another 1. When you roll a 10 on the damage die for your Eldritch Blast, you can roll an additional d10 and add its damage to the total, rolling again if this die is also a 10, and so on.

Might be OP and overtuned, thinking of either trimming down the second property or increasing the rarity, but feedback would be appreciated

[void jewel]

Definitely not OP

Adds not much damage mathematically

I wouldn't even consider it competitive for attunement slots if I had other half decent options

The +1 is the biggest benefit here. EB doesn't really need the range doubled much, and the rerolls don't add much

[dim sun]

Rod of the pact keeper exists too so nah it's probably not that bad

That gives plus 1 to attacks and DC aswell, but also restores a pact slot

[boreal rover]

I'm working on some "spa treatments" for Descent into Avernus (no spoilers about the adventure here). Was looking at balancing some of them out as they are "expensive", so a mix of both one-time use effects and permanent effects are in order. These are all unique treatments, and would have to be purchased individually. Are there any specific ones that are wildly unbalanced? What other spa treatments could be offered and what would their mechanical benefits entail?

Sleep Therapy. Once, when you finish a short rest, you can choose to gain the benefits of a long rest instead.
Adrenaline Treatment. Once, when you are reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, you can use your reaction to drop to 1 hit point instead.
Anti-Aging Serum. Your maximum hit points increase by 1 per level, and you cannot be magically aged.
Life Line Reinforcement. You have advantage on death saving throws.

[tired oasis]

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! I've finished my months long quest of expanding the Heroes of the Borderlands starter set with new class boards (along with their spell/equipment/NPC cards), background cards, and species cards. I've compiled everything into a neatly organized Google Drive folder, and I'm including the Affinity Publisher templates in case you want to tinker with something (or make your own versions). As with all my HotB stuff, it's all freely available via my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/heroes-of-master-146945585

[severe trellis]

Idea for an effect I wanna put on a wind-based weapon

"When you make an attack with this weapon you can expend a charge, and hit or miss you can force the target to make a Dexterity Saving throw or be knocked 10 feet into the air and fall to the ground prone, unable to get back up until the start of your next turn."

Or something, an ability to knock a foe down and kinda knock the wind out of them so they cant get up right away

[hidden delta]

Sleep therapy looks much stronger than the others and adrenalines effect could probably be passive other abilities that do that have been

[boreal rover]

Once, as in once after receiving the treatment, and then no more

[runic parcel]

Nono this’ll be a subclass feature

[void jewel]

Lifeline is pretty mediocre - I hope the team has other solutions rather than allowing you to even roll three death saves to begin with. That said, its permanent, and any permanent buff is string.

Same thing for adrenaline. Very mediocre benefit, especially post lv 5 when everything has permanent multi attack. This would seem like a once daily thing, but nope, it's once. And it eats your reaction on top of that. I'm not touching this at all if I'm a player.

Anti-aging theory is crazy good. Tough is a highly underrated origin feat, and getting half of it for free forever is great. Best one by a large margin. Thus makes lifeline cry, because there will likely be multiple occasions where the +level hit points leaves you standing.

Sleep therapy is very strong, but once, so balanced. Compelling. Usefullnes depends on campaign length; single time features are stronger if the campaign is longer.

[boreal rover]

Interesting points, any changes to balance? Or other proposals for other treatments?

[void jewel]

Anti-aging's hit point benefit likely needs a rework. As is, its just significantly better (so much so that I'd go pretty massively out of my way as a player to not leave the location until I get it)

The aging thing itself is a ribbon. The hit points are amazing value

Adrenaline, if its being single time use, should leave you in a better state than 1 hitpoint. I'd say half. This would make it like one single use of the epic boon that does the same

Instead of going down one time, return to half your max hitpoints

Now I'm interested as a player. That's enough HP I still have a solid chance

Lifeline is about the power level I'd expect for a permanent option. Pretty niche, but forever.

[boreal rover]

And maybe remove the reaction restriction?

[void jewel]

Adv. On death saving throws means, if left to your own devices, you are overwhelmingly likely to stabalize. This is very good, but overshadowed by the fact healing is available. But as a permanent thing, still compelling.

[void jewel]

Also reasonable

Contrasted with a single 1 hour long rest, this is now a real choice

[boreal rover]

As for other treatments, any ideas? I'm running a bit low on those

[void jewel]

Anti-aging could add a hit die. That's a more reasonable permanent buff that I still definitely want.

Or even a couple hit dice if you want it to be more compelling

A couple d6's or a d12 permanently to your daily hit dice pool is a good amount of survivability that won't be overbearing because it doesn't influence the maximum, still requires a rest to use unless you spend other resources getting a way to use them otherwise, and you may feel pressured not to use them so you have them later, like other hit dice

Not sure I'd take a single d6 over death save advantage, but two, and now I have to decide, probably leaving a bit towards anti-aging

A single d12 and I'm kind of on the fence between the two. Which is good from a design pov

I'd probably vary it depending on these:

1. Has the DM shown they will target downed players to finish them? If so, advantage on the saves doesn't really matter anyways. Pick the hit dice
2. How many short rests do we have most days? Raise or lower value of the hit die accordingly.
3. How often do I go down and does my party always pick me up instantly or leave me to roll saves? Raise or lower death save advantage accordingly.

That would be my decision matrix towards that as a player.

Me as a person, I overvalue permanent things likely over consumables. But if I knew the campaign was ending soonish, I'd take one of the consumables instead.

[void jewel]

The psychological barrier to the hit die use is a big part of what keeps it manageable; players may not be frequently spending or wanting to spend all their hit dice to begin with, do it'll probably go unused most days. But that's OK, because it'll feel good every time the player looks at their hit die pool

[dry lintel]

I pulled and altered the wording from Candle of Invocation. Also, I don't see anything within the wording, that was the intent.

oh wait, I see. I meant both you AND the ally gets the advantage

there, fixed it. thanks for bringing it up

[surreal kettle]

How strong would a feature be if it allowed one to cast Mirage Arcane as a bonus action?

[coral delta]

About as strong as Cartomancer.

[fickle stump]

Is there a limit to how mutch homebrew stuff u can make? like how many spells ect. you can make?

[boreal rover]

Theoretically? No
Realistically? Until you drop dead

That being said, I wouldn't just make homebrew "just for the sake of making it", I would try to do things that I would use on my own campaigns, or that other people might want to use for theirs

[fickle stump]

yeah im using all of mine for a single campaign

After i made like 40+ homebrew stuff snd beyond just started lagging like its taking me a lot longer to go to the homebrew my creations thing and it doesnt let me create any more spells???

[patent radish]

why do you need that to create new spells?

[hollow siren]

you dont need dnd beyond to make more spells. but thats weird, and also tracks with that monstrous to use UI

[vapid dragon]

How do i write my own statblocks?

I don't know how to design a statblock but I want to

[sturdy knoll]

Look at an existing statblock. Modify it to add or remove a feature.
Or do you mean a tool for displaying your statblocks?

You could use Google Docs or even https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/new

[idle jungle]

Hi I’m planning on doing a pretty short fantasy high campaign while our other dm plans a longer dark fantasy campaign - any suggestions for how to structure it?

[cerulean seal]

Sounds pretty straight forward tbh. Though #dm-discussion may be better for this type of question.

[idle jungle]

Thank you 👍👍

[vernal leaf]

I made an item

An amulet that lets a paladin store up to 20 points of unused lay on hands healing into it for later. Attuneable by anyone

Do you think it should have a lower maximum?

[scenic urchin]

why do you ask?

[polar timber]

It mainly depends what sort of rarity you want to go for.

If you are using 2024 rules, the Taunt-like effect could be an Xft emanation, since its centered on you. I would recommend making it an active ability that takes a Magic action to activate, specifically because having it on always may end up being tedious to consider in rp encounters, or even in combat if your allies can be affected by it as well, but thats up to you

[molten heart]

guys, in my campaign were going above level 20, meaning the enemies also do. now i have this one optional boss thats either friend or foe depending on what my players do. for passing lvl 20 they either multiclass and pick a new subclass. now the boss is a pure wizrad so my question is, would an onomancy (UA) and Order of scribes (also UA) be too much to throw at them?

[polar timber]

Outside of that, clarification on what you mean by "heavy armor" vs "heavy-armor" in the 3rd bullet point would be nice.

The rest of the 3rd bullet point doesnt really apply to 5e armors, mainly because things like heavy armor reducing move speed is already a thing if a character dont have enough strength while wearing heavy armors, and by RAW I dont think any form of armor limits your swim speed or fly speed if you character has them, so any limitation that you put on heavy armor as a whole would more so be a house rule than anything tied to this specific piece of armor.

I also am unsure what you mean by "but also as a reflection that you cant move towards enemies, so youre forcing them to come to you".

There are also probably some existing cursed armors you can reference to figure out how cursed items work

[tired dagger]

hey what slot level should be a smite spell that causes an automatic critical hit?

[polar timber]

does the smite spell itself also deal damage along with the auto crit?

if so thats very strong, probably 5th level spell

[tired dagger]

no its justcauses the current attack youre making to be a crit

kinda like divine smite for paladins

[polar timber]

oh, I thought you mean as in a homebrew smite spell for a paladin

[tired dagger]

no its like branding smite wrathyful smite

thunderous smite

[polar timber]

sure, but those deal damage along with their special effects

im asking if this hombrew smite spell will deal damage along with triggering an autocrit

[tired dagger]

im not sure i undertsand.
no it doesnt deal additional damage
yes it does add the critical hit effects onto an attack you are making so for normal tables double damage for ym table it incapcitation

i wanna give 2 of these scrolls to my players before a huge dungeon

[polar timber]

Well, smite spells in 2024 are Paladin exclusive spells, so 5th level is the max spell level to consider if your sticking to that

an autocrit is very strong, i'd prob recommend it to be 5th level

[tired dagger]

gotcha

[polar timber]

I will say, that for an actual paladin, that might be a bit underwhelming, cause paladin damage comes from the extra damage divine smite adds to their attacks

if this new smite spell doesnt deal any additional damage along with the auto crit effect, then its not really useful for a paladin specifically. Its immensely powerful for a rogue that has a spell scroll of it though

so its kinda hard to balance

[acoustic jewel]

For my shapeshifter copycat themed big bad, would it be feasible to have a mechanic where as a reaction or legendary action or something they basically be like Taskmaster (the Marvel villain who can copy any fighting style) and hit an enemy with whatever the last thing she was hit with was, whether it be a spell or attack?

[cerulean seal]

Maybe just make it anything that has happened in the same round

[acoustic jewel]

I think keeping it to the same round would be fine. I could also heavily reflavor a deflection ability if I really want

[sacred current]

Taking a different approach to this. Bones of the Earth was used as a template, so this should be weaker in comparison

Quaking Pillars
Level 2 Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Components: V, S
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
_ _
You cause 2 pillars of stone to burst from places on the ground that you can see within range, ramming through creatures before disappearing. Each pillar is a cylinder that has a diameter of 5 feet and a height of 20 feet. Creatures in each pillar's area are forced to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature receives 4d4 bludgeoning damage and is knocked Prone. On a successful save, a creature receives half the damage.

Creatures cannot receive fall damage from this spell unless they were flying and failed the save.
_ _
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can create one additional pillar for each slot level above 2nd.
_ _
Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

[wanton furnace]

Not really homebrew
But I got Obojima Tales of the Tall Winds for Christmas and im so hyped

Anyone here played with their stuff?

[runic parcel]

Hoping for some feedback on this rouge subclass
-# I know artificiers and arcane tricksters exist but they use real magic and I wanna use fake magic

[frank berry]

Not the biggest thing, nor really an issue, but I find it funny that with the 3rd level ability you could give someone a gift and then gain advantage to intimidate them lol

9th level feature, "Grappled targets can be moved while you stand still", could use clarification. Is there no limit to this, because one Spike Growth and you can just shave someone down to nothing in one turn. Also the second part of the ability is really confusing to read, and I'm not entirely sure what its meant to do, so it could use some clarification

13th level feature, feels like it should use your reaction

17th level can't really give any feedback since it doesnt include any of the options, but having a lair for yourself sounds like a fun and interesitng idea. Kind of a gimmicky one, since it requires 24 hours prep and for your enemy to come to you, but still fun in concept

[lilac saffron]

How about an undertale SOUL homebrew idea?

[frank berry]

In what way? A spell, a race, magic item, a whole class?
There's the determination thing to respawn / go back in time or whatever, and unique battle system of the game, but neither sounds like easy to balance depending on what kind of homebrew you're going for

[runic parcel]

oh I forgot to make the list

But yes 13th should be a reaction

And I hadn't really thought about spike growth...

The second part of wire work is a bit hard to describe

But basically if you can attach your wires to like... a wall or ceiling that's within 30 feet you can go towards it

Or move the grappled creature instead

[lilac saffron]

Character origins maybe?

[frank berry]

The "can only move part way to a surface" is the main confusing part of that
Also it's weirdly written in a way, that if you use your cunning action, for some reason your grappled creature is then allowed to move with this ability if you dont?