homebrew

[supple flower]

Well I don't want to go there because Is that's for campaigns and the fight would probably only be about 20-30 minutes long it would be a waist to do that that's why I came here because I know us homebrew fellas love to test out our shit in combat and I also know that we have incredibly op items that we never get to test out because any sensible dm won't allow it

[cerulean seal]

So… you want to test out an overpowered class/subclass and items against a max level character for what?

Just to prove it’s overpowered?

[supple flower]

For fun because I'm bored

And he has no magic items and is level 5 he has 114 hp his dex wis and int are all at 0 his AC is only 17 the only thing powerfull about him is that he has limitless and even that isn't that strong because he only has 31 cursed energy which is not that good

@cerulean seal

[cerulean seal]

I don’t think it’s possible to have a 0 on any stat unless you mean +0

[supple flower]

That's what I was referring to yes

[cerulean seal]

Gotcha

[frank berry]

It's not a channel for just campaigns, but any game, including one shots, and what you're looking for would also go there, as you are looking for a player

[supple flower]

True but I'd half to fill out one of those application thingys and that's a lot of work for just 30 minutes of play

@frank berry

[frank berry]

Probably, but solicitong games outside of those channels is against the server rules regardless

[supple flower]

True but In order for it to be a game there would need to be a DM and so forth I just want to playtest

I'm not trying to brake the rules or anything I'm just asking if anyone wants to test out there op magic items against a character I made

[still goblet]

Had some real crazy homebrew stuff in the past

One thing I can remember in detail was a custom warlock

More or less a ghost confined to an amulet that another part member had to wear constantly. When not worn, the warlock was unable to be active

More or less a Jojo stand, and well balanced despite that

Good old days...

[supple flower]

You still got there character sheet?@still goblet

[still goblet]

Probably somewhere in my lich-esque online storage

So old it would take an actual spell to organize it, and another just for it to be coherent lol

It was a fun class tho

[supple flower]

Lol well I'll fight up against any homebrew class subclass item you got

[still goblet]

Low health, couldn't technically fully die due to the amulet being a forced phylactery of sorts, medium AC, could not equip new armor and had to improve theough leveling

The part about not dying when hitting 0 hp was the hardest to balance imo

But it works off the idea that they just return to the amulet and can't help unless necrotic healing or time

And if the person wearing said amulet takes it off they cant form

[supple flower]

That's kinda cool actually

[still goblet]

But still powerful spells to make it not a total pushover in combat

Very glass cannon with good rp, I do miss that

I should revamp it someday for a campaign if im being deadass

[supple flower]

@still goblet heh sounds like it would be fun

[still goblet]

It would be

[supple flower]

@still goblet you would you perhaps be interested in the jjk campaign the character I'm trying to get someone to fight is from would you

[still goblet]

Speak to me of it

Im always willing to hear out ideas

[supple flower]

Well I am a level 5 jujutsu sorcerer with the limitless technique I can fire of 4 blue infused melee attacks with 1d6+9d8+3 damage per punch and each punch would make you roll a str saving throw of you become stunned until the start of your next turn where you would need to roll the save again

@still goblet

And I've almost been killed several times being that strong

[still goblet]

9d8 huh

Lotta damage for a lvl 5

Even minimum rolls for dmg youre putting out 13 per punch

Thats pretty good

[supple flower]

Oh that's just me using blue if I used red it would be 1d6+15d8+3 and when I get hollow purple it would become 1d6+33d12+3

So if you like playing op characters and still have a challenging combat this is the perfect campaign for you my friend @still goblet

[still goblet]

How many people you got

[supple flower]

Oh we have several people but there are the different schools so we need more people for the other schools so we can do that inter school combat thing

@still goblet

[still goblet]

Send me information in DMs

And we can discuss further tomorrow at some point

You make a good sales pitch, and frankly shaking things up might be fun

[supple flower]

@still goblet I'll invite you to the server and we can talk there I have lots of free time so I can talk with you any time

[still goblet]

Works for me

It is late at the moment but I will join and we'll discuss tmrw

[supple flower]

@still goblet got it

[whole adder]

Testing something out again, what if, instead of having no move speed penalty when wearing heavy armor as a Dwarf

You simply become immune to difficult terrain (so you can't be slowed while walking on it) instead?

Would that be a buff or a nerf

[frank berry]

Major buff honestly

[whole adder]

Actually wait I should have clarified

The difficult terrain immunity only applies if you're wearing heavy armor

Would it still be a major buff

[frank berry]

Better than the base feature I feel
But gonna be honest that also feels a bit odd to me flavor -wise

Like "Oh no, this heavy rubble and/or mud or other physical obstacles are slowing me down. Let me just put on this heavy suit of armor and it'll be so much easier!"

[whole adder]

Dwarves are built different Noted though

[native grove]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/1janau7/mentalism_domain_cleric/

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

[true forge]

eh, its ok

the capstone is weirdly worded, it basically just means you learn the rest of 6th level and gain truesight

1st level i would say is too strong, but GOO is right there so ig its fine

[cloud cove]

Very unbalanced
2 lvl is kinda OP, i'd removed disadvantage and made wis save (cuz wis is not that rare + it looks like u try to get into mind, that's what's wis save does)
6 lvl: adding wisdom to every initiative is ok, but adding wisdom to ur AC without limit is OP. Launch enemy should have some limit too.

[native grove]

the launch enemy does have a limit, it has a set amount of uses

[primal osprey]

So, I’m making a weapon themed around greed and the corrupting influence of temptation, what weapon would y’all say fits this theme? I was going to go for basic sword but I feel like something else would fit

[true forge]

hmmmmmm, let me see

you could do a War Pick, Sickle or maybe a Whip

[primal osprey]

Hmmm, maybe a sickle or whip

I’ve never made magic sickles or whips before

[frosty skiff]

Thematically I quite like when you would be knocked back, you get knocked back less that a few other systems have for dwarves.

[whole adder]

Sources of knockback are probably more rare which is why I decided against it

Running around aoe from your own team while wearing heavy armor just fine is something ig

[pearl canopy]

So I just realized something, I made a feature for a subclass I made and if I combine it with the Healer Feat I can heal as a Bonus Action 1d6+(my level)+(Target's Hit Dice)+ PB

This is while using a Healers kit...

[south sundial]

So I wanna make an Enspelled weapon with Lesser Restoration at Uncommon rarity. 5.5e rules state 3rd level spells are only available for rare Enspelled weapons.

How would you recommend scaling the weapon back to meet the uncommon rarity requirement? I’m thinking of making it a light hammer.

Oh my b it is a 2nd level spell, but same issue applies

[feral zinc]

It’s because it’s a 2nd level spell with 6 charges that it’s rare, not because of the weapon itself. Give it fewer charges. Reference other uncommon items that give spells for a baseline

[fierce dome]

Anyone wanna take a look at a full class I'm pretty sure is both boring and busted?

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/MxK6QTqBjE6w

It's a mostly martial supporty type class

It's not a true caster though it does get cantrips and some rituals

Heck of a sales pitch, I know

[limpid zenith]

What's the recharge on the Knowledge dice?

[limpid zenith]

This is jaw-droppingly broken beyond all comprehension.
And the subclasses are still blank. Meaning they get more features.

If you want more specific feedback, let me know

[fierce dome]

They don't expend. They work like martial arts dice, not superiority or bardic inspiration dice

[limpid zenith]

Holy shit

[fierce dome]

I was pretty sure it'd be broken but I wouldn't mind more data on how

It's a very rough first draft written in about two hours with zero playtesting, made up of basically every idea I had

[limpid zenith]

First off, not familiar with the study action. Is that something you can gain expertise in?

[fierce dome]

Study action is new for 2024

Basically any time you make an INT check that uses a skill, that's a study action

Arcana, nature, investigation, history, etc

I know I'm forgetting one

[limpid zenith]

So regarding Combat Analysis, is the check type varying? Basically, can we expect they'll have expertise in it?

[fierce dome]

The check type varies depending on the creature type, according to the rules for the study action

So they'll have expertise sometimes

[pearl palm]

Hiya, looking to test some homebrew monsters out or at least get opinions on their balancing, new to the server. Where could I post a stat block since I dont think images are allowed here?

[fierce dome]

Can't drop screenshots but you can drop links

[sacred current]

Religion

[fierce dome]

I always forget religion. Even in non-d&d contexts lol

[sacred current]

[fierce dome]

Direct link to the study action in the 5.5 PHB

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/phb-2024/rules-glossary#StudyAction

[pearl palm]

would I not have to publish them to dnd beyond to link them?

[fierce dome]

You can post images to somewhere like imgur and link that

[pearl palm]

oh yeah, 🤦‍♂️ im silly

[limpid zenith]

So, analysis.

• By giving you action to someone else, you basically turn your action into the most useful action possible. A buffed martial gets another round of attacks; a spellcaster with slots to burn gets to unload. It's a pretty sweet deal for a support PC with generally underwhelming combat abilities.
• If combat analysis lands, it's like everyone in the party getting Hex, which is pretty awesome
• Sage advice. Permanent, improved, guidance, on top of the Guidance cantrip you already took, means you won't be failing many checks. And oh look, your best class features rely on checks.
• One level gives way, way too much. If this were official, every optimizer is dipping a level in here. Expertise, knowledge dice, combat analysis, cantrips, you name it. One level only

I'll ignore the high level stuff for now since people generally don't get there much. But a team action surge is gonna make for a real short combat against just about anything.

[pearl palm]

https://imgur.com/a/DpfYuIh

[limpid zenith]

And Spell Mimicry, for a class with Expertise AND Sage Advice to guarantee it, is incredibly strong

[native grove]

should this subclass know phantasmal force, mind whip or a different spell?

[fierce dome]

One thing I will say is that even with expertise in the relevant skill, there are creatures you won't be able to land combat analysis on. Max roll is 20+5(INT)+6(prof)+6(exp) = 37. Roll for that feature is 10+CR, and CR goes up to 30, so that's a max DC of 40.

[limpid zenith]

Ok, fair enough

I'd say the only critical issue that's actually game breaking is the ability to multiclass right now, with the stuff it gives at level one

[fierce dome]

How would you feel about it if multiclassing didn't exist?

[limpid zenith]

Much better, since it can't shore up its deficiencies.

Also how much are these subclasses gonna add?

[fierce dome]

I tend not to think about multiclassing in the first few drafts

I'm designing for 24 but mostly stuck in a 14 mindset where multiclassing is an optional rule you have to opt in for and isn't worth thinking about really

But in 24 it's core so I will have to think about it more

[limpid zenith]

I'd be tempted to outright forbid it on the class, unless it got a major overall.
Other main issue is unlimited Sage Advice. With the fact you also have guidance, you might want to put a reasonable limit

[fierce dome]

More flavor than power. They get five features like fighter, so at least 2/3 levels will be pure ribbons

The current concept for the subclasses is that there'll be one based on each skill, since it's a support/skill monkey class

[limpid zenith]

Then yeah, it's actually pretty solid. I think I was too harsh on it originally, mainly thinking through the lens of multiclassing

[fierce dome]

So an athletics sub, a deception sub, a history sub, a performance sub, a sleight of hand sub, etc

[fierce dome]

SA is slightly limited by the fact that it takes a Reaction, meaning you're only doing it once a round. And it conflicts with spell mimicry in action economy too

I did think about these things a little bit, lol

[limpid zenith]

Spell Mimicry is 1/short (as it should be), so I don't think it'll be much conflict.
Also out of combat, everyone's getting about +6 to every ability check (d4 guidance + d6 sage)

Oh, major thing. You can apply Sage Advice with Well-read.
Given that, I'd make sage advice others only

[fierce dome]

Probably not a bad call

[limpid zenith]

Walking into combat with Guidance, Save Advice, and Well Read, you're not failing that combat analysis check ever

[fierce dome]

How would you feel about taking them down to a d6 hit die

[limpid zenith]

First off, is this with or without multiclassing? Having light armour is a massive downgrade from medium armour + shield.

Given they have to burn a feat to get medium armour (at lv4), I'd be tempted to let them keep their d8

[fierce dome]

Gotcha

Without mc for now

[limpid zenith]

I'd let them have it if they wanna go into melee themselves, since they don't have much other incentive besides weapon mastery.

I do really love support classes, which dnd generally doesn't do well, so it's actually a design that fills a necessary design hole.
It's a good class and concept.

And I know you're meant to ignore the level 20 features since you'll never get there, but Guided Phalanx should be 1/long at minimum

[fierce dome]

Yeah the capstone is nuts

[limpid zenith]

I'll say, my favourite part of it is that's it's broken in a way that makes everyone else shine.

For sure let me know when the subclasses are done

[lethal cedar]

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/INdISHYCzZTX
Wanted to share a beastmaster subclass rework i made

[fierce dome]

Sorry I fell asleep. And if I don't send you a DM or something I will almost definitely forget

Can I drop you a line just as a reminder

[limpid zenith]

Sure, thanks! 💖

[stoic minnow]

How would y'all make a class around dying?
Every time I try so multi class ruins it

[scenic urchin]

what

[stoic minnow]

A class built around death

Like your own

[scenic urchin]

but death is a fail state

[stoic minnow]

**unconscious

Mb cause death is kinda just... Lmao

[scenic urchin]

being at 0 hp is also a fail state

this doesn't sound like a design that is possible

you'd first need to find a new fail state somehow

[stoic minnow]

Wdym

[cerulean seal]

The issue is that a player can just continuously throw themselves into reckless situations to get themselves killed which just puts your party at a disadvantage or sounds annoying to run in the long run

[stoic minnow]

Exactly the issue I was running into

[cerulean seal]

Hitting 0 hit points is by all accounts the opposite of what they game is designed around

It’s not doable in this system

[stoic minnow]

Sad

[cerulean seal]

Are you just wanting to do a mechanical thing around death or themes of death? Because there are plenty of rebirth or voodoo related approaches you could take

[stoic minnow]

Nah like actually falling unconcioys and benefiting

[cerulean seal]

You would have to make it tied to like… your character willingly goes to sleep to accomplish something. Not standing around and waiting for the enemy to beat your skull in

[stoic minnow]

Fair.

[peak inlet]

there are subclasses that do that rn

species that put you in a good position and feats that help

you can build a character in the current rules that fully revolves around death, it’s just a whole class would clash with everything else to either make it too OP or too useless

or even actively harmful

[burnt pasture]

Could someone help me with a cleaver like weapon kinda blades of chaos size that could be dual weilded

[frank leaf]

There's always smth flavored with Echoes/Glitch characters

Glitch characters being people affected by a kink in the universe that for some reason won't stay dead

And Echoes being the "Echoes", or vague copies, of a powerful person/creature across the Planes, mostly tied to dragons in 5e.

[frank leaf]

I mean, Short Swords are around that length. Flavor them as thicker and you're prob good.

[burnt pasture]

Mmm ok thanks

[pure turtle]

Ok so im making a bbeg based on 2d fighter games (SSB, Mortal Combat, etc) and kamen rider my players will encounter him at around lvls 7-9 just wondering if i could add more things to him

Admin driver; Konami mode
Hp: 2120. Ac: 25
Point system: 10 points
Str: +6
Dex: +4
Con: +7
Int: +3
Wis: +2
Chr: +10

A: punch deals 2d20 (1 point) [str+4 to hit]

AA: 2 punches same target deal extra d20 (2.5 points) [str+5 to hit]

AAA: 2 punches same target ending with an uppercut dealing 4d10 (5 points) [str+7 to hit]

Neutral B: shoot a small beam dealing 3d10 energy dmg (2 point) [chr to hit]

Side B: chronicle saber slash deals 8d6 (3.5 points) [str+5 to hit]

Up B: rising rail kick str check dc:20 if failed brought up 50ft in the air and takes 6d10 bludgeoning dmg (5 points)

Down B: on ground is pixel smash everyone around him must make a dex save dc:18 if failed they are now prone and take 3d6+2 energy dmg (1.5 points) while in the air turns into rider kick which deals 10d12 (6 points) [str+6 to hit]

Pixelation grab: 100ft range dc:21 str save after grabbed spend .5 points to deal 5dmg and throw 30ft in any direction (3 points)

Shield: +35 temp hp (1 point)

[tired gazelle]

I want to downscale the Duergar Warlord statblock for a level 3 party. He’s a crime boss accompanied by 2 CR 1/8 guys, 2 CR 1/4, 2 1/2s, and 1 CR 1 guy, in addition to his CR 4 Drow Gunslinger enforcer. I’ve already reduced his HP from 75 to 45 and his AC from 20 to 18. Should I also reduce his damage output or should reducing his defense be enough?

[azure quartz]

How many level 3 characters, this is key.

If you have 7 and 8 players like me, keep him full strength.

[peak inlet]

is there a better way to word this?

Nature Spells

At 3rd level, you have grown in sync with nature allowing you to cast spells you otherwise couldn't.

You can choose a leveled spell from the Druid spell list to have prepared, the spell counts as a Ranger spell. A spell you choose must be a spell for which you have spell slots, as shown in the Ranger Features table.

You always have the chosen spells prepared, and whenever you gain a Ranger level, you can replace one of the spells with another spell that meets these requirements.

[scenic urchin]

yes

[peak inlet]

can I just use the Magical Discoveries wording?

[scenic urchin]

I'm not sure, i think there might be multiclass issues

[peak inlet]

A spell you choose must be a cantrip or a spell for which you have spell slots, as shown in the Ranger Features table.

I think it covers multiclassing

[scenic urchin]

if youre comfortable with it, go for it

[peak inlet]

I might not allow cantrips though

I guess the feature is technically just a limited version of Magical Discoveries so it makes sense to use similar wording

[viral patio]

Hello all. My party has bought a 90k airship. Something i wasnt ready for. 😂 i was wondering what you guys would do for a spaceship put that much into it.

[cerulean seal]

Like the features of the ship or handling gameplay surrounding the ship?

[viral patio]

Features of the ship

[cerulean seal]

Idk what the economy is like in your campaign. For all I know a ship of that price could be really cheap

[viral patio]

Ita just normal faerun 5e economy

[rancid geyser]

Wrote this homebrew background last year for my character in our also homebrew setting, thought it'd be cool to share here lol (SC-Earth is a location in the homebrew setting)

[cerulean seal]

Hmm… so that’s a lot of good then. I mean a spaceship alone would cost a hella lot of money. So a ship alone that can travel through space and so on would be enough. I would read over the bastion system in the 2024 DMG and use that as a basis for how to run your crews ship

[viral patio]

okay thanks! i went based on what i quickly searched on google. and it said the highest rating ships were roughly 90k. so i told them that. what exactly that holds i havent figured out yet. lol

[north elbow]

damn what level are your players that they can toss around 90k

[rancid geyser]

unless they robbed some place XD

...or started a business instead of doing campaign stuff

[spring tusk]

CR 19 Fire Giant wouldn't hate some feedback on this statblock in particular

this is not one of my favorite statblocks or one of my favorite bosses in game

feels very much like a filler boss, but I made it for the sake of completing my project and getting some experience with mostly saving throw bosses

[hollow siren]

Contemplating trying and brewing a class again, this time around skills like the scholar HB Class I found ages ago via Reddit or LaserLlama’s savant class

The idea of the class would be a combo of Bard and Rogue, but flavored as an academic and lacking Spellcasting (except for a single subclass, and even then there’d be a unique twist) except for cantrips only

Subclasses would be based off of mental skills plus at least 1 or 2 tool sets

So far I have:
Historian (this one is history focused but also thieves’ tools, calligrapher’s supplies, and cartographer’s tools)
Arcanist
Theologian
Survivalist (cartographer tools but also a combo of animal handling, survival and nature focused)
Healer (Medicine and Healer’s Kit focused)
Alchemist
Smith (Smith’s Tools, Jeweler’s Tools, Woodcarver’s Tools, Leatherworker’s Tools, and Tinker’s Tools)
Lawyer (persuasion, deception, intimidation, and insight focused)
Rune Carver

Bonus:
a subclass focusing on Lightning, Tinker’s Tools (for more Eberron-esque, steampunk, magitech and magipunk, and/or modern settings, or if you just want to have this one)

All of these are ideas and not every one of them will make the cut

The “caster lite” subclasses will be arcanist, historian, and theologian. Though healer and alchemist will also likely get 1-2 goodies

None of this is drafted, all of this is proof of concept/a general idea and I was seeking feedback and interest level

[dark hornet]

someone here knows a voodoo like mage subclass?

[hollow siren]

Occultist by laserllama is good

[analog glade]

Just finished the first draft of an NPC stat block, and I’m very happy with it, but I’m not entirely sure if I’ve put the CR too low? Does anyone have any tips for making sure the CR is accurate? It’s a passion project more than anything so it probably won’t feature in any of my games, but practice is practice

[void jungle]

Field it against a pseudo-team of characters and see how it fairs, that is the best way of testing things if you really want to examine interactions.

[analog glade]

I plan to, but how would I determine the CR based on that? Say I pit my CR 18 NPC against four LVL 16 PCs, and they soundly defeat him. What do I take from that?

[void jungle]

If that is the outcome you are looking for, great, if not - see where you want to change your design. I wouldnt nail it down to CR but intended play, is that creature doing what I want it to do, or not?

[analog glade]

That’s fair. Thanks:D

[sullen tree]

What is a good curse for this item?

Amulet of Druidic energies

This amulet is fashioned from a piece of black metal, with a symbol of a widening eye upon it. Whenever a creature casts a spell within 100 feet of the amulet, it begins to thrum subtly and glow with arcane energy of druidic origin as it adds to the power of the spell. When the command word is spoken near it though, it grants its wearer the power to control plants and beasts of all kinds, gifting them the magic of the druids of old.

[umbral dust]

i'm a little confused as to what the amulet actually does mechanically

although some curse ideas are that they slowly become some kind of fey/plant creature like a dryad or treant, or they have mechanical drawbacks if they aren't in nature on account of channeling druid stuff

[rugged cargo]

They get barkskin and are vulnerable to fire damage.

[rapid marlin]

Anyone know of any monsters similar to the trex that can't use its bite and tail on the same target? Trying to design something with the same principles

[rugged cargo]

Grim Hollow has a Snapjaw.
Yawning portal has Elder Giant Lizard.
2014 Giant Crocodile

[rapid marlin]

Thank you 🙂 will check this out.

[fierce dome]

Lol I literally just wrote a first draft of one of these this week

A scholar/skill monkey class that doesn't get spellcasting, just cantrips (and rituals) and has subclasses themed around the eighteen skills

I even posted it in here

I called mine the "Prodigy"

[midnight elk]

Could I please get some feedback on this Spider-Man inspired mobility/defense based artifact?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jVXZpAOxE2HybXByFJoT-aJN7_o9bAKrAXJIcLbCLM4/edit?usp=sharing

[rugged cargo]

Web Swinging: You can swing
What is swinging? How far can one swing?

Web shot
Bonus action, no save to restrain a creature. Kinda strong.

Specialty webs
Do these apply in addition to the Web Shot/Barrage options?
Such that we can webshot to restrain and deal damage for on-hit effects in specialty webs?

[midnight elk]

Your movement becomes fluid and three-dimensional.
As part of your movement on your turn, you may fire a web line to a solid surface you can see within 60 feet and swing.
This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.


You may change direction freely during the swing.


Difficult terrain does not slow this movement.


You feel less like you’re running… and more like you’re flowing.```

[rugged cargo]

You should also change sharing permissions on your documents to not allow strangers to edit your document.

[midnight elk]

I will fix the Web Shot and the specialty webs can be used only for a web shot.

The following web cartridges are classified as specialty webs and follow the same universal rules unless otherwise noted:
Loading a cartridge is a bonus action


Each specialty web can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest


Specialty webs are designed to incapacitate, control, or manipulate the battlefield rather than kill
Any required DC will be 15 to pass
Each specialty web can be used for 1+your proficiency bonus web shots.```

[rugged cargo]

Consider that the ground is a solid surface that you can see. This means that enemies will not be able to opportunity attack your "web slingers".

I do think that the wording for swinging can be clarified.

[hollow siren]

Lol
Nice, hive mind moment

[hollow siren]

Could you reply to it? Would love to check it out

[fierce dome]

@hollow siren

There's a pretty lengthy discussion about it after

[olive harness]

I love the guided strike ability lowkey

That is a neat concept

[fierce dome]

It gets a little out of hand

[olive harness]

The level 20 ability isn't necessarily busted per say

[fierce dome]

It's clearly a first draft

[olive harness]

It definitely seems like the kind of class that a player could just spam the action/attack transfer during combat and kind of be disengaged from the game for the whole time

Which is smth I have noticed

Because they can kind of just let other players do most of what the class user would normally do on their turn

[fierce dome]

You can't be too disengaged, since you're supposed to pick what the other character does

[olive harness]

Ohhhh

That makes sense

[hollow siren]

Thanks!

[fierce dome]

Np

[inner dove]

How would you improve unarmored defense?

[coral delta]

I mean it's great as is. Why do you need it to be stronger?

[void jungle]

I wouldn't, its fine as is - problems with the Barb do not stem from its mid AC but everything around it.

[olive harness]

There's the DR ruling from unearthed arcana that may or may not apply if you use it in your games. Other than that, I wouldn't touch the unarmored defense ruling

[faint sonnet]

Honestly, I think the main thing would simply be a set of scaling magic items (without attunement) that's +1 to +3 AC and don't work if wearing armor.

[inner dove]

Don't the Barbarian and Monk classes fall off at higher levels because of Unarmored Defense not being good enough?

[faint sonnet]

Bracers of Defense exist but they're +2, don't work with shields, and are attunement.

[weak pendant]

#looking-for-players

[inner dove]

...

[olive harness]

Homebrew item, ___ (could be earrings of some other jewlery or decor) of defense. No attunement. 3 charges. Expending a charge grants an additional +1 AC for 1 hour. This feature is not stackable. You may spend all three charged at once for +2 AC for one hour.

Stack this with bracers of defense

Boom, issue solved

[coral delta]

I mean, AC as a whole falls off at higher levels. Once your foes start swinging for +14 to hit, your 24 AC paladin is still getting hit every turn.

[faint sonnet]

I would also say that my proposal would be intended to replace Bracers of Defense, not stack.

[olive harness]

About 60-70% of the time maybe, but yeah

Or magical/nonmagical effects that ignore armor

[olive harness]

How about a greater Bracers of Defense

Bracers of Barbarian Blood, attunement, +3 AC

[coral delta]

And enemies at that level swing 2-4 times per turn, so it averages out to about 1 or 2 hits even with your beefiest defender. DnD has never been a game about defense. It's offense focused.

[olive harness]

Hmm, tis true

[olive harness]

Lowkey, I don't think players or DMs use cover enough

[coral delta]

Which, because your Monk wants to build Dex and Wis for their offensive capabilities, means that Unarmored Defense grows naturally as they level up without any extraneous investment. That's actually a good thing!

[olive harness]

If they did in combat, then this could migitate some attacks and make combat more defense focused

[fierce dome]

Just curious if you read it lol

[frank leaf]

Greedy Guards
-# Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
-# 4th level Abjuration
-# Casting time: Action
-# Range: Touch
-# Components: V, S, M (A pile of coins worth 500+ GP, which the spell consumes)
-# Duration: Until Dispelled
-# You trade loyalty for power when creating a swath of invisible forces to guard an area you touch. You create a 60ft foot cube filled with invisible guardians. When a creature first enters the area or starts their turn there, they must succeed a Charisma Saving throw or be teleported 40ft towards the nearest exit of the area and take 1d6 Force damage. You can designate creatures that are immune to this spell’s area. As an action, a creature can throw a pile of coins worth at least 500 GP into the air within the area of the spell, which then disappears. They then automatically succeed the saving throw against this spell.
-# At Higher Levels: (When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the distance a creature is teleported increases by 10ft for each slot level above 4th.)

How's this spell?

"Until Dispelled" is pretty strong, so made the damage low.

[coral delta]

Phrasing on the introductory flavor sentence is a bit strange.

Likewise, "exit" is a very loaded word, and mechanically difficult to define.

While the tax is interesting flavor-wise, mechanically it means that most creatures will never be able to pay the toll since creatures like giant animals don't have money, and those that do are just reducing the amount of money the party will receive when they're defeated.

[frank leaf]

Definitely a part of the balancing for it (and kinda leaning towards a defensive/rest tool)

Since it's Until Dispelled

[frank leaf]

Should I say "away from the point of Origin"?

Thought that might be more standard, but also sound just as if not more weird

[coral delta]

I don't quite know what the best wording to use here is, since there's a lot of ways to frame it, but each kind of locks it into a different zone control method. You'll have to figure that one out yourself.

[scenic urchin]

the spell makes guardian of faith look like a complete joke :V

[frank leaf]

I mean, 500 GP cost and can be auto bypassed for the same price. Ofc a third of the damage too

Realistically less if we talk averages

[scenic urchin]

how much gold are you assuming a 7th level adventuring party has

[frank leaf]

Hopefully not enough to completely disregard this cost. Does it rly seem that cheap? For two of these you could cast Heroes Feast . . .

[scenic urchin]

might be an important thing to nail down if thats the balance point you're gonna hinge on

[rugged cargo]

I feel like a no-concentration, duration, single action, AoE, forced teleportation is kinda strong. Like isn't this at least a 6-7th level spell?

[echo hatch]

Hehehhehhehehehehhe

67

[fast sentinel]

I'm looking for a simple and easy to remember fix for the ranger
Something easy to add so new players in my table don't have to "relearn" his class
Has there been any consensus already?

I made something taking inspiration from the fixes in Tasha's and some features in the 2024 PHB

But I'm sure there must be a more elegant solution

So far I got this
It's supposed to be added to favored enemy

When you cast the spell using this feature, it gains the following modifications:

• When you take the Attack action, you can cast the spell or move the mark to a new target as part of that action, provided you do so immediately after you hit a creature with an attack roll.
• You can choose to cast the spell without requiring Concentration. If you do so, the spell’s duration becomes 1 minute for that casting, and it ends early if you cast the spell again, have the Incapacitated condition, or die.

[frank leaf]

Personally I gave them a scaling die (only d4 to d8) with a mini-bless to Wis checks and a once per turn to hit bonus

So that HM doesn't just do one thing

But doesn't feel alien

(oh and ofc no conc lol)

[frank leaf]

So, I should prob up the component cost, but the fact you can pay it off permanently is supposed to be a balancing point

So intended to kinda only be strong against non-intelligent creatures

Maybe 5th level?

To compare it better to a non-conc enemy TP version of Far Step?

[rugged cargo]

It has a secondary use-case of teleporting your entire party every turn. If you have a source of temp HP, this is doubly strong. Imagine double misty step every turn. Players can choose to fail saves automatically.

[frank leaf]

Ahh. True. Although it is meant to be away from the point of Origin, meaning it's not very good for that Evasively past the first time.

[fast sentinel]

I think DSR has a video with a solution very similar to that

[frank leaf]

There are a few things my rework has that matches up with newer ones coming out ye

So likely means it's hovering around what people want

(although mine also has a few . . . Bold ideas)

[frank leaf]

Wait, would upping the damage actually help that lol?

[rugged cargo]

It would reduce the times players would do it yes, but also make the primary use stronger, which it doesn't need.

[frank leaf]

Hmm. I'm comparing this to Hallow for Perma effects, which it does have nearly as strong as effects compared to, in exchange for having a way to counteract it Nonmagically

And ofc only take an Action

[frank leaf]

Is it rly comparable to a 6th level spell when Arcane Gate is a 500ft repeat teleport?

This isn't even a 10th of the distance per TP and has a GP cost AND a non-magical counter.

[rugged cargo]

I would compare it to something like "Guards and Wards" [6] or "Hallow" [5] or at a miminum, it would be better than "Spellfire Storm"[4] at controlling space.

Note that Guards and Wards and Hallow have a casting time of 1HR and 1Day respectively.

[frank leaf]

So, if your scroll up, several of my points still stand against Guards and Wards.

• Instead of 4 Whole Dispel Magic Castings, it just takes 500 GP of coins, far more mundane and likely.
• Larger GP Cost to Cast (50x the price of Guards and Wards).
• New point, Guards and Wards has just as much impediments with the Arcane Lock doors as the one per turn Save TP, and yet has higher damage options like Stinking Cloud.

All this to say that I don't think even the one Action casting brings it up to Guards and Wards level.

[hollow siren]

Just finished dinner so planning to get to it in a mo lol

I’ll dm you feedback so as not to clog chat

[flat folio]

I’m really stuck on how to write this ability, ideas?

Camouflage: You have advantage on stealth checks to hide amongst foliage and automatically succeed when hiding among the same tree species as yourself, or if you are hiding from a creature that does not know you are out of place. If hiding from a creature that would realistically realise you were there, for example, the dm can revert this to advantage, remove the advantage, or impose disadvantage at their discretion. Wether the creature realises you are an Ent, or just realises that you are out of place is also decided by the dm.

For an ent species btw

Maybe I should connect it with this ability?

Converse with Foliage: You can take an action to spread down your roots. You enter a state where you are Incapacitated, you cannot speak normally, your speed is 0 and you cannot benefit from speed increases. In this state you can use chemicals to ‘speak’ to any plants whose roots lay within 10ft of you. These plants may give information at the DM’s discretion, but will not take orders, and tend not to be helpful. Plants communicate at a speed 5x slower than Common and tend to be very roundabout. This state ends when using an action (exeption to the incapacitated rules) to end it or when you are moved.

[fierce dome]

That is way too wordy and frustratingly reliant on DM fiat. You need a feature that just works without the DM giving you permission

I'd give advantage on stealth in natural environments, then maybe copy the "False Appearance" trait that many Plant monsters have

[flat folio]

Yea, I don’t know how to write it to make sense tho

[fierce dome]

Copied directly from the twig blight stat block:

"False Appearance. While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a dead shrub."

[cerulean seal]

I did something similar for a rogue subclass I was working on. Just steal the False Appearance feature. “False Appearance: While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a patch of mushrooms or mold.”

This is what I wrote for my rogue

[fierce dome]

Maybe roll it all together as

"You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks in wooded environments. Additionally, while you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a tree of your chosen species"

[flat folio]

Thanks

[fierce dome]

Jinx you owe me a coke

Also: can you believe that 2024/5.5 removed false appearance from all monsters that had it?

[ancient willow]

Ended up making a rival, alternate monk subclass to the one I made earlier this month.

I'd like to know any thoughts or critiques on it before I end up porting it to natural crit.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2758111-warrior-of-the-southern-cross

[flat folio]

Also, while this isn’t part of the class so I don’t care about writing, do these scaring rules seem good?
Scaring rules 4 Eents: If an ent is disguised as a tree and ceases their disguise in the presence of a creature that does not know of their presence, the creature must succeed a Wisdom saving throw with a dc equal to the ent’s passive intimidation. If the ent intends to scare the creature, they roll an intimidation check that becomes the dc if it is higher than their passive intimidation. On a failed save the creature becomes frightened of the ent for a number of minutes equal to 5 - their wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). If the ent wishes to avoid scaring the creature, they can roll a d4 + their charisma modifier and minus that from the dc.

[crisp pivot]

Idea for a homebrew class I'd like to run maybe in a campaign one day; and implement into my own ttrpg:

The houdmaster; you come equip with a guiding stick which is basically a weaker sword type but what the guiding stick allows you to do is control a dog which you can train to do different things like defend an area or scout out enemies; along with other trainable stuff and through leveling and training you can teach the dog to follow commands from other party members but you gotta be careful because the dog could die and that'd be sad :<

Also using the dog would count as a bouns action

Kinda just letting you do more with a bouns action if that makes sense

Idk

[cerulean seal]

So basically taking Beast Master Ranger but making it into a full class with different options?

[crisp pivot]

Probably

[flat eagle]

im trying to make a spell that deals 3d20 of damage to enemys in a range of 30 feet and it kills u insently do u guys have any thoughts about it and what lvl would it be

[hasty jay]

kills the user instantly or...? no amt of damage is worth that
besides that, 3d20 (or more likely 5d12) damage in a 30 ft emanation is prolly 5th level

[flat eagle]

yea kills instently and permently

and i want it to be like a spell where u got nothing to do anymore

[frank berry]

I mean, if it's a spell that permanently kills you when used, at that point it kinda loses the meaning of a spell level, since the cost is your life, rather than balancing your spell slots 🤔

Like if you try to balance that around spells of similar level, the whole "nothing left to do" concept isn't really gonna work that well. You'd still need a spell slot, and you could easily pick a similar spell that doesn't have the additional downside of a permanent death

[pine zephyr]

I have a homebrew race that has a set speed of 40. When a player tried to add the speedy feat, it didn't add the extra 10ft of movement
I decided to change the set speed of 40 to a Bonus speed of 10, but now the base speed seems to be 50 WITHOUT the increase from speedy. Any suggestions?

[native grove]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/1janau7/mentalism_domain_cleric/

This is a link to a homebrew cleric subclass i made, how does it look?

[wispy oracle]

Saying this here for more clarity

Apparently, Pugilist has the ability Swagger Step, allowing them to add the equivalent of a Martial die to a failed check and potentially turn it into a success

The problem is that while they say check, presumably ability check, they also say Constitution, which has no ability checks

[cerulean seal]

3d20 is nowhere near enough damage worth my characters entire life

[crystal turtle]

Hey DM's and seasoned players. I want to ask your opinion on a non-standard action I made for my campaign. The campaign is set in an arctic enviroment in the dead of winter. The party (currently) consists of three new players (one has been a DM). I'm also a new DM, but have played in a few campaigns.

So, I was wondering if this would make sense for the campaign;

You may throw a snowball as an action.
Picking up snow and balling it into a snowball will take a bonus action.
You may drop the snowball as a part of your free action.

A snowball deals no damage.

If you have proficiency in ranged weapons, you may add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll.

If you roll above DC 15 (modifiers excluded), your snowball will blind your target until their next turn.

You will have advantage when attacking a target blinded this way. And the target will have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as any perception (wisdom) rolls used to see.

(Mind you, this is also a low-magic setting, so I'm trying to give them more opportunities to get the upper hand in combat)

[coral delta]

The last section is unnecessary, since the Blinded condition already tells you what it does

[crystal turtle]

It's for new players, they might not know the rules of the Blinded condition. Which is why I mentioned it.

[coral delta]

Mechanically, it's mostly fine. DC is an incorrect wording choice here, since it's an attack roll. Probably simpler to just use the target's AC instead.

[crystal turtle]

Thanks.

[coral delta]

From a more meta perspective, I think this is a dangerous thing to add, because it's a fairly powerful effect that your players will want to try to replicate even outside the snowy zone. They'll start looking for mud, or something else to replicate the same effect, which could easily get out of hand.

[rapid latch]

A holdover from my 40k project, what do y'all think of this weapon property?

Chain: whenever you successfully hit a creature with a Chain Weapon and deal damage, if you roll a 4 on a d4, a 6 on a d6, a 7-8 on a d8, a 9-10 on a d10, or a 10-12 on a d12 damage die, you deal additional damage equal to the Chain weapon's damage die. Rolling the necessary result on damage die gained from this effect does not trigger this effect again.

[rugged cargo]

Constitution has an ability check if a DM asks for it.

[rugged cargo]

This is a pseudo-crit with a way higher crit chance. It also stacks with normal crits.

I could be careful with what items you give this property to, as if you put it on something like a Drive Shaft from obojima (3d4), you essentially give a 58% chance to crit.

Based on its wording, it also sounds like it might trigger off of additional damage from "Divine Favor", Smites, and so on.

[fierce dome]

Yeah, Constitution has ability checks like any other ability. What it doesn't have its any associated skills

[rapid latch]

Hmm, how would you suggest I reword it to only include damage from the weapon damage die and not additional damage from things like Divine Smite or Elemental weapon? "This effect is only triggered by the damage die innate to the weapon?"

[rugged cargo]

"rolls an x..... on the weapon's damage die"

[rapid latch]

Ah, that's much better.

[rugged cargo]

This property also pairs well with a player taking the "Savage Attacker" feat.

[rapid latch]

Yeah considering how little that feat gets any use, from what I've seen at least, I'd consider that a bonus.

[stray lance]

do you guys do monster sheet reviews?

[rapid latch]

Shoot what you got.

[stray lance]

ah it wont let me send a picture

no matter thanks tho

[fierce dome]

Post it to imgur and drop a link

That's how we usually get around the stupid "no pictures" restriction

(well, I use homebrewery and link that instead of dropping screenshots to imgur, but I know that's not for everyone)

[stray lance]

where do i put it?

[fierce dome]

The link?

Just paste it in the chat

[stray lance]

ah there is no link

[cerulean seal]

Either upload the photo into a google doc or Imgur and then share the link here

[fierce dome]

You can go to imgur.com and upload any picture

[stray lance]

ah imgur is banned in my country

[fierce dome]

Ahhh

[cerulean seal]

Then just stick it in Google docs

[fierce dome]

Google docs work too

[stray lance]

i live in britain we dont have freedom of the internet here

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x9hAiCnjKm23GAIKPwMUbyD0qLu8RTHb5w3byGE6o4s/edit?tab=t.0

that work for you?

[cerulean seal]

Need to make the link public. Go to the share button, globe, change to “anyone with link, viewer”

[stray lance]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x9hAiCnjKm23GAIKPwMUbyD0qLu8RTHb5w3byGE6o4s/edit?tab=t.0

try tha

i did tune it down a bit from what i copied it from but i feel it is kinda strong for a cr 3

[rugged cargo]

It looks fine.

[cerulean seal]

Looks good to me

[warped carbon]

i have made 2 necklace magic items. the first is the necklace of water breathing an uncommon magic item. second is the every race armor it is a necklace that requires attunement. when wearing it you can speak the command word and it will make perfectly fitting armor appear on you the armor has an AC of 20. for this im thinking either rare or very rare.

[coral delta]

A set of +2 Plate Armor (20 flat AC) is very rare, but has a Strength requirement and incurs Stealth Disadvantage.

If this armor doesn't have these same limitations, it would probably be closer to Legendary tier rarity, as it would be extremely powerful.

[warped carbon]

ok

and i based it off of tony starks nanite suit.

[flint marsh]

magic armor will always change size to fit you unless otherwise noted

the necklace is actually a much worse version of Necklace of Adaptation, which is uncommon.

necklace of adaptation lets you breath underwater. in poison clouds, in space, wahtever, and gives you advantage vs poison.

[coral delta]

It's about equivalent to the Cap of Water Breathing, to be fair

[primal osprey]

So I’m making a Circle of Crystals Druid subclass, and I realised that it’s subclass use of wildshape named “Gem Shape” is just stone skin without concentration, and the subclass even gets stone skin as a spell. What would be some cool extra abilities to add to the gem shape?

So far I just have resistance to BPS

I could add fire and cold resistance but I also don’t want it to just be like bear rage

[warped carbon]

ok so my first one is useless. how about i make it a very rare and it can be called the breath less necklace. needing attunement and allowing the wearer to not need to breath.

[flint marsh]

cap of water breathing doesn't actually allow you to breath water, it creates a bubble of air around you. which means you're breathing air

[coral delta]

These things are functionally equivalent for practical play

[oak pier]

Made this feat to help Druids (especially Moon Druids) Wild Shape scale a bit better as the game progresses, thoughts?

Feral Combat Training
Prerequisite: Level 4+ and the ability to Wild Shape

You gain the following benefits.

-Ability Score Increase. Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
-Feral Attack. While in Wild Shape, your attack bonus equals your spell attack modifier if it is higher than the Beast's attack modifier. In addition, if your beast form has an ability that forces a creature to make a saving throw, you may use your spell save DC if it is higher than the DC in the beast form’s statblock.

[rugged cargo]

Looks decent.

Only concerns would be for specific non-MM statblocks having saves that poison enemies, as it makes those significantly more dangerous.

Also, a lot more grapples and restrains.

[ancient willow]

You could have it deal self-damage like I did for a 'self-sacrificial' maneuver.

Maybe half if you really wanted to give it oomph?

[oak pier]

That's definitely a fair consideration

[jaunty belfry]

A lot of people hold the opinion that strength could use some extra utility because while Athletics checks will never not be important, there often are other ways of circumventing them.

Outside of some spells that are usually third party, most strength checks like avoiding getting grappled can also be overcome with dexterity.

Dexterity has more skills, lets you use ranged weapons more reliably, adds to your defenses, and is probably one of the most common saving throws. We've all heard this.

I am curious though if anyone has ever done any Homebrew rulings or applications to try and give strength some extra variability?

[rugged cargo]

2024 STR is for grappling, with the exception of monks (dex again, but requires a level of investment).
Weight can be a factor, but depends on campaigns.

STR also has options like the giant belts, which don't really have a equivalent.

Also matters for heavy armor and heavy weapons.

A consideration for homebrew would be that anything that would emphasize STR, could be poached with a giant belt.

[hasty jay]

i heard about a HB magic item: a goblet that, when drunk from, shows you a memory from the last person who drank from it. i think it'd be cool for inter-party rp 🙂
...personally i would emphasize to the player choosing the memory that they are picking a memory, not the PC 😁

[jaunty belfry]

I agree. Honestly I wish there was more role-playing and exploration opportunities for it because it seems like there's way too much overlap between dexterity and strength. Having a very high dexterity can give you almost as much AC as having the best heavy armor, protects you from certain saving throws much better, and while you can't initiate a grapple with dexterity unless you are a monk you can escape a grapple with dexterity.

[flat adder]

Not sure how this discord is on rules about sending over files, but I homebrewed part of a campaign and Im still working on some lore for it. If anybody would like to look over it and shoot some ideas or critiques at me, feel free to dm me and I will send the file for the campaign over. Its incomplete in its current state so dont judge to much lol.

[glass tendon]

Who wants to hear me out on some crazy concept I thought of

[frank leaf]

I mean, there's no guarantee anyone will have one since magic item crafting is an optional rule

Unless you have an Artificer, by which case who cares, they're not exactly a problem class

[frank leaf]

Overrun optional rule from 2014 is cool. Lets you force your way through enemy's spaces if you succeed a Strength check.

[scenic urchin]

one of the goals of this armor rework was making strength more better
#homebrew message

[bright vigil]

i’d be interested hearing it

[frank leaf]

Btw, uhhh. How strong a Ranger Subclass Capstone is a Very Rare Magic Item you choose (Weapon, Rod, or Staff)?

[glass tendon]

Awesome so basically it's absolutely cracked I kinda like the idea of an eldritch abomination so I was thinking to use the dagon from ben 10 as a baseline for existential Eldridge horror type dealy and then it's followers for some of the abilities because I think they're cool abilities

So on a baseline to get around taking damage and stuff I think I wanted to just be able to outright just shift out of the physical plane and then just give it a bunch of cool like stretchy arm tentacle attacks so like reach and stuff

And then maybe like an ability to to turn those who enthralls with it's just awesomeness into like followers so they get like access to different abilities kinda like what he did in the show

[bright vigil]

ooo thats a good ideaaaa taking the inspiration from Ben 10 too

[glass tendon]

Yeah I can't remember the name of the guys that would like slide from our known reality into like a parallel one with like stairs that they walked up to get to places

So basically it's like a teleport except it's totally not and they have to actually move and the enemy could totally see them I mean like I'll make it like based on maybe wisdom like if they pass a certain check they can perceive them if they don't pass it they can't see them when moving through reality or something

[peak inlet]

I was working on 4 subclasses that I had a very specific view for and I decided to make them more general, 3 of them were converted to horror-like subclasses and I’m still trying to figure out what possible Bard subclasses could be horror-like

the only thing I can think of is a College of Taxidermy Bard maybe

or I might just replace the Bard in the group with my School of Hemomancy Wizard

College of Tragedy

[fierce dome]

i mean college of spirits exists

thats the ghost story bard

bards are all about creation, what if you spun a frankenstein/moreau character as a bard instead of an artificer like most people try to

[peak inlet]

this could work for an Artificer if you give a specific selection, otherwise, I don’t think you can quite fit it into a Ranger, keeping the choice completely open is a bit of an issue and unlike being on an Artificer, it will kinda have to be blocked in low magic item campaigns

taking it at face value, it’s very difficult to compare to other capstones on a Ranger because Very Rare Magic Items will give you more than most capstones in terms of value but if you can already get a magic item of that rarity easily by that point, it’s completely useless because you don’t need that many weapons

[peak inlet]

yeah, but that already exists, I am specifically trying to do stuff on my end, College of Requiems is already a thing from Grim Hollow as well

for context, I’m mostly trying to reskin and remake one of my subclasses because the idea of them initially was based on specific deities in my homebrew world

this subclass is one that mainly revolves around being linked to 1 ally

[fierce dome]

theres also college of the dirge singer in exploring eberron

"horror bard" seems like pretty well-explored territory

ooh, what about a creepy dollmaker

toy making is an art of sorts

[peak inlet]

omg that’s actually insane

[fierce dome]

you could even make it a pet class

[peak inlet]

ok, so this is a subclass that is used by one of my characters because they follow a specific deity as I said

this person’s partner has a mother who was not ideal, and the mother was a doll maker

I actually love that both as a subclass theme and how it makes sense in my story

thanks a lot

idk how I didn’t think of that earlier

[fierce dome]

yeah no problemo

maybe give them prof in weavers tools, so they can make the doll cute little creepy outfits

[peak inlet]

the current feature names are “Tether” and “Marionette” anyway

[stuck cargo]

Sorry for the abysmally long message haha 😢

[scenic urchin]

maybe this slapped together feat

Ancient Blood
Special Feat
Prereqs: <insert prerequisites here>

Strange corrupting blood flows through your veins. You gain an Ancient track that starts at 0 and goes to 10.
Whenever you finish a Long Rest where you gained Hit Points, increase your Ancient track by one.
You can do the following:

• Whenever you would die or drop to zero Hit Points, instead gain 3d10 Hit Points and increase your Ancient track by one.
• As an action, you can increase your Ancient track by one to have a helpful vision about a question of your choice.
• As an action, recover your highest level missing spell slot and increase your Ancient track by one.

When you gain a level, reduce your Ancient track by one.

When your Ancient track reaches 10, you finally succumb to the power. You irreversibly become an NPC under the DM's control that acts in furtherance of the corrupting power possessing you.
You cannot use this feat to determine how to remove this feat or avoid this fate.

[fierce dome]

you can ping me when you have a draft, if you want. im curious to see how it shakes out

[summer nacelle]

Hello, I just had what I believe is a great idea
Basically, my campaign runs along the loose principal of reaping the souls of various powerful people. I recently played Library of Ruina, so I came up with the idea of "keypages" in the form of Subclasses. If the players kill a boss and one of them are of a compatible class, they could choose to switch subclasses to that of the boss's unique one. I am a pretty new DM, so there are definitely some balancing kinks I'd have to work out, but I think this is a fun idea to bring. Are there any suggestions to improve on this?

[scenic urchin]

its a fine idea only if you have the capacity to really flesh out some quality subclasses for the players to switch to, otherwise it's signing up for trouble

[summer nacelle]

Of course I will have to make my bosses a little powerful, but I do plan on nerfing some of the parts I think would be too powerful in the hands of a party of players

[scenic urchin]

what may be a lot easier is, instead of cooking up subclasses (which are basically the hardest things to brew), you could instead cook up some feats and grant the feats for free to whichever player claims them

[summer nacelle]

I also have nothing but time to design these

Maybe I do the subclasses for more major fights, and feats for smaller fights

Since smaller ones won't have much to offer anyways

[hollow siren]

I would take acid trees’ advice here

[summer nacelle]

I am definitely considering it

[sonic ledge]

Also I’m making an umbrella weapon it can be both a shield and a weapon but not at the same time

Umbrella???

Ba (Or free action 🤷‍♂️) to change form idk thoughts?

Close quarters: This weapon acts as a lance

Defense; this weapon counts as a shield that gives +2, to ac

@hallow tinsel

[hallow tinsel]

Utilize/Magic Action to switch if you want to keep it in line with donning and doffing a shield; though it could easily be a BA if it was an attunement weapon; would be fun to have it be a +2 shield in shield form and a +2 lance in weapon form

[sonic ledge]

I was thinking +2 but I want to play a gentleman who fights with an umbrella who can quite it early on so I didn’t want a really rare magic item

[hallow tinsel]

could riff on the Veterans Cane, and just make it a common to start with
could easially have rarer versions available or made depending

though I'd keep it an action to switch if non attunement and a BA if attunement

[sonic ledge]

Veterans cane never heard of it

[hallow tinsel]

yep, walking cane that becomes a longsword; 5.5e DMG page 318

that one switches as a Bonus Action, but this being a shield really needs it to be an action

lance is fun because it's a 2h reach weapon that becomes a 1h weapon if mounted as well

[sonic ledge]

2h?

1h?

[hallow tinsel]

2 hand / 1 hand

[sonic ledge]

I know words not abbreviations

Oh true

[hallow tinsel]

Just a really fun stat block for a weapon

[sonic ledge]

Thx girl

[true ember]

Soo how are y'all and the game?

[vagrant egret]

If anyone is also up at this ungodly hour (or just woke up and wants to do some reading), I just finished revising an old idea for a Ranger subclass focused on incorporating a Focus Point/Sorcery Point system: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/fcfPlABdfL5L

[vague warren]

hello guys, im extremely new to homebrew so i js wanted some help to understand how to implement some of my abstract ideas into homebrew through dnd beyond or foundry :D

[winged musk]

@heady stream sorry about the ping but i absolutely love horizon and i just had to say that the stuff in your bio is so cool

[heady stream]

Thank you! I hope you find good use for it in your games

[hasty rune]

I can help with foundry! Depending on the idea you might need some modules. Tell me your funny ideas magic man!

[cerulean seal]

Check #ddb-support for help with DnD Beyond

[vague warren]

im making a homebrewery thing to send here

[hasty rune]

Let me know if I can help

[vague warren]

thanks alot! i will

[reef badge]

hey guys, quick question, when u make a custom monster stat block, is there a template/website that you use (so it e.g. roughly looks the same as a normal stat block?) and if so could u point me in that direction xD

[cerulean seal]

You should be able to do so on DnD Beyond

[reef badge]

yeah I personally dont use dnd beyond (apart from looking up stuff) so didnt know that xD
but thx!

[vague warren]

@hasty rune do you know the ratio of a homebrewary page?

im trying to line up the image and i need to know

[hasty rune]

I don't actually

[vague warren]

its 6.58:8.51

width to height

[peak inlet]

getting an additional feat is better than changing your subclass, I think you should just do feats all around

[peak inlet]

this is what I have rn

Bard: College of the Marionette

Doll-Maker

Proficiency. You have proficiency in Weaver's Tools.

If you are holding a set of Weaver's Tools after finishing a Short Rest, you can make a number of dolls up to your Charisma modifier. A creature holding one of those dolls can use a Bonus Action to wind the doll up. The doll gives that creature advantage on the next skill check they make within the next minute. After the effect activates, a minute passes after winding up, or if you create a new set of dolls, the doll is destroyed.

Puppeteer

At 3rd level, you can use the strings of your instrument to puppeteer other creatures.
:
As a Bonus Action, if you are holding an instrument or Weaver's Tools, you can bind a creature you can see within 30 feet of you to yourself. The creature remains bound to you for up to 1 minute, the effect ends early if the creature moves more than 60 feet away from you or if you bind yourself to another creature.

When binding a creature or at the start of your turn when a creature is bound to you, you can give the bound creature advantage or disadvantage (your choice) on their next attack roll before the start of your next turn.

Manipulation

At 6th level, you can properly manipulate your puppets.
:
As a Magic Action you can consume a use of Bardic Inspiration, to force the bound creature to make a Charisma Saving Throw against your spell save DC. The creature must use their Reaction either way to activate one of the following effects (your choice):

Tension. On a failure, the creature must immediately make a melee attack against a creature of your choice within range. On a success, they take Psychic damage equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die.

Slack. On a failure, the creature's speed is set to 0 until the end of their next turn. On a success, their speed is halved for that duration.

Endless String

At 14th level, you have mastered the art of pupetry and can manipulate more than one puppet at once.
:
You can now have up to two bound creatures, Manipulation can activate on both puppets simultaneously. Whenever you make a choice from a feature in this subclass, you must assign each puppet a different effect. When you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die, you can also bind them as part of the same Bonus Action. When you are only bound to one creature, the bind breaks past 120 feet instead of 60.

[peak inlet]

I like the overall idea, but I do have some issues with this

• the way you gain the cache points is a bit weird
• your points scale with PB, WIS, and class level all at the same time
• Defensive Salve is the weakest option in your first choices but is also the most expensive one
• paralyze till the end of their next turn should be to the start of their next turn
• should be a Bonus Action to create a weapon, all weapon setup spells are Bonus Action
• level 7 features are generally defensive, I think the concentration advantage to nearby allies would fit here instead
• the Circle Magic as BA is really powerful, it could be your capstone feature I guess with the arcane focus thing
• creating a weapon should be a level 3 feature, that’s baseline crafting

imo, this Ranger should be designed much more arcane-focused, right now, it seems like a Ranger that’s dipping in Paladin and Artificer which is a pretty heavy concept vs. an Arcane subclass which is pretty common

up to level 10 rn, it is not arcane at all, then in the second half of features, it becomes very arcane

[vague warren]

alright, im done

that took alot longer than expected

[hasty rune]

Mind if I take a look?

[vague warren]

not at all

im js gonn take a screenshot cos idk how else to do this

nvm i found the link

can you give me advice on how to balance this aswell as general thoughts?
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/sdKYgcg4sHyX

[peak inlet]

you can’t send screenshots in here

[vague warren]

ik im probably missing the languages here but this should be all the important stuff

[peak inlet]

for Sharp Vision, you cannot really make it so you gain advantage after you roll, advantage as a whole works before rolling. You could just have it be advantage PB times per Long Rest (the current scaling is very convoluted)

I would also add the Eyes of Eagle effect to that

[vague warren]

What's that

[peak inlet]

in fact, I might even say if you just have Perception instead of Perception/Investigation, you might be able to get away with permanent advantage if you remove Keen Senses

[vague warren]

what does PB stand for there?

[peak inlet]

These crystal lenses fit over the eyes. While wearing them, you have Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. In conditions of clear visibility, you can make out details of even extremely distant creatures and objects as small as 2 feet across.

[peak inlet]

Proficiency Bonus

[vague warren]

i want to try and keep the scaling-by-levels system, how would you think i can make the scaling more balanced

[peak inlet]

using Proficiency Bonus

Proficiency Bonus is the most balanced scaling-by-levels system

[vague warren]

yeah how would i use the bonus

like + level?

[peak inlet]

Proficiency Bonus has the following scaling
2 + FLOOR(1/4*(level-1))

it can be found in all the class features tables

[fierce dome]

Oh hey that's fun

I kinda expected a pet class

Sadly I'm nowhere near awake enough for any coherent critique

It mostly looks like it works, maybe some weird wording here and there

[peak inlet]

that coulda worked too, I just felt like a non-combatant pet class is a bit too adventurous for me at the moment, I might draft that too at some point, but I think this fits the horror theme better

[peak inlet]

yeah, I did type this up right before going to sleep and I didn’t revise it yet, it probably does have a buncha wording issues

[fierce dome]

It's fun regardless

[vagrant egret]

This all is solid feedback, thanks! You're right on the progression, I'll tinker with it. I skipped over making 7 very defensive because it seems like it'd be boring not to unlock more options til 11, but you make a good point about options.
For arcane flavor, you're kinda right, but a big aspect of this is the spellcasting-using-cache feature. Might move that to 3rd level to organize the theming a little bit.
For how to gain spells/heavy-or-uncommon theming, are you saying abnormal or bad?

[peak inlet]

7 being defensive can mean having the 11th level concentration feature + the extra stun option and Defensive Salve with the healing

that’s a full feature that is defensive

the way you gain cache rn is bad and needs rework imo, the theming being confusing isn’t necessarily always bad, but it does bring up issues with being unable to build a character around it or only being able to build 1 character around it

I think you can keep similar features but lean more on the arcane end and make casting spells with it at level 3

Cure Wounds requires 2 points to heal 2d8 extra, Defensive Salvo’s upcasting is 3 points for 2d6

also, keep in mind casting spells with cache points means you can cast 2 spells on the same turn

you might wanna explore converting it to a spell slot (no action required) instead

an expended spell slot that is

[vagrant egret]

Ohh really good catch lmao

Yeah I'll check the wording on that

[vagrant egret]

I can see the way you get Cache points being really awkward to incorporate, yeah... Because the intent of the subclass is to provide a way to "use monster parts" essentially, I want the feature to tie in with that, but I don't think "when you kill a guy" works. Maybe it's just something you forage for during rests and you gain additional points on the battlefield, but that feels like way weaker flavor.

[peak inlet]

I have a class that does that too, lemme check how I handled it

[vagrant egret]

Bless

[peak inlet]

alright, I scrapped the body part bit because it encourages killing everything you see

instead, you look around the battlefield for their body parts (rather than requiring a full corpse)

the issue with yours is mainly the triple scaling though

I would standardize that to WIS times per LR, you can gain the max amount of points by doing this

and then probably decrease the max points

I would still prefer Long or Short Rest

much more controllable for this kind of resource

and reliable as the player

the reason I think mine works the way it does is because it’s an extra low level spell slot for a pact half-caster

gaining a spell slot every battle makes sense

[vagrant egret]

Sure yeah

[peak inlet]

I think with this, it’s more likely they would wanna get resources back on a rest

[vagrant egret]

Absolutely. I think it makes sense to get the full cap of resources back on LR, maybe that's them keeping what they're implied to have harvested from the battlefield. Then the ability to gain during the day is tied to HMark kills?

As for the cap, it's hard because 10 at 10 actually seems fine to me, but 2 at 3 (even if you round up) would be kind of miserable.

[peak inlet]

I would say that’s not a bad way of running it

[vagrant egret]

Also unsure about keeping conclave spells atp - they're relevant to the class, but that is a lot of stuff because it's introducing a whole system.

Just seems weird not to have that with an arcane focus on the subclass

[peak inlet]

you kinda don’t want subclass resources to be as intensive to track as main class resources

[keen halo]

so
funny situation
my dm just approved for me to play 2024 pugilist in a 2014 setting (we will just ignore weapon mastery)

[peak inlet]

going with Ranger level stacks makes it difficult to keep track of

[vagrant egret]

Fair point

[peak inlet]

can you tell them to reconsider?

[keen halo]

im going to reroll my existing character, which has 18 strength, 16 con, 15 dex, 15 wis, 14 char and 12 int (4d6 rules!)

do i play as custom lineage with fey-touched feat for mystic step, 16 wisdom, 20 strength and hex, or do i go 2014 goliath for the big bonk which gives me 20 strength, 16 con, 16 wis, 15 dex, 14 char, 12 int?

[peak inlet]

recovering on a Hunter’s Mark kill means you could honestly have WIS as your max

[vagrant egret]

Double WIS?

[peak inlet]

and then decrease the price

[peak inlet]

or that yeh

[keen halo]

no because i want to punch hard

[peak inlet]

and a kill gives you back WIS stacks

[vagrant egret]

That seems solid

Has to be HM kill only though otherwise it's more kill stealing

[peak inlet]

it’s such a badly designed class even for 2024

[keen halo]

any1 with some thoughts?

[vagrant egret]

POV you made a monk again

JK I don't know it well

[peak inlet]

when the creature is marked and it dies, not you kill it

[keen halo]

how's it a badly designed

[vagrant egret]

Perfect

[peak inlet]

and if you absorb the creature, the spell ends

[vagrant egret]

Oh good tradeoff

[keen halo]

especially with 2014 exhaustion being less horrible than 2024 exhaustion

[peak inlet]

so they can keep their mark or get resources

[vagrant egret]

Yes that's a fair tradeoff

[peak inlet]

also frees up your concentration

[vagrant egret]

And Mark is pretty sustainably possible anyway

[vagrant egret]

This is untrue imo

But new exhaustion is easier to track

[keen halo]

i mean for the context of combat - also, you can remove exhaustion

and also i dont HAVE to get exhaustion so

[peak inlet]

it’s badly designed in the “omg I’m making a class, I want it to do everything and be the best at it” way

[keen halo]

so ur just saying its op?

[peak inlet]

it’s a different level to just OP

but essentially yes

[keen halo]

okay cool, so im going to play it.

🙂

can you help me out with the race thing i had in mind?

do i play as custom lineage with fey-touched feat for mystic step, 16 wisdom, 20 strength, 16 con, 15 dex, 14 char, 12 int + hex

or do i go 2014 goliath for the big bonk which gives me 20 strength, 16 con, 16 wis, 15 dex, 14 char, 12 int and lets me shrug off damage every short rest?

(our party is level 1 with a forge cleric, rogue, sorcerer and druid)

at level 4 i planned on grabbing skill expert to go for 16 dex and athletics expertise

[peak inlet]

this is not a question for #homebrew

[keen halo]

its a question for optimization, but optimization is only on official content

[peak inlet]

idk if #optimization would know how to build a Pugilist

[keen halo]

yes. so where exactly does my question end up at?

[peak inlet]

you might have to go to #third-party

[keen halo]

3rd times the charm

[peak inlet]

#homebrew is your own brews

[keen halo]

alright

[peak inlet]

I mean I would say #character-discussion but they would say your questions are too optimize-y

[keen halo]

yeah its really not a win win situation

d4 made a pugilist and he made it almost identical to how im planning on running it, but hes playing 2024 so hes playing 2024 races as well. im not 😄

[peak inlet]

Pugilist makes the game less fun for everyone

[keen halo]

i think my DM of 20 years will be able to handle managing the pugilist if he accepts it

[vagrant egret]

At the end of the day it's the table's choice what y'all play yeah

[keen halo]

i also think you're really stretching it

implying im going to make everyone not have fun is wild

[peak inlet]

well, I do hope they looked through the class before approving it that’s for sure

[keen halo]

he's looked at it with me and i told him 3 times hes able to look at it more if he wants to before he gives me the final go

and i even told him haymaker maxes the damage on everything while i attack etc, and hes read through some of the exhaustion, the fisticuffs, moxie points etc

i got nothing to hide, and if hes fine with it - great

for every "pugilist is broken" person theres also a "pugilist is underwhelming" person

ive seen 3 videos about how pugilist falls off later and doesnt offer much beyond just playing for themselves, while i also saw 3 videos saying pugilist is insane and offers too much

[vagrant egret]

Plus a good DM can always adjust and adapt to the needs of a party

20 year DM doesn't always mean they'll do that but generally I'd say that's a skill they've probably learned

[peak inlet]

either way, not for this channel

[vagrant egret]

True

Reworking/reorganizing these aspects of Wildcrafter

Annoyed because I certainly had just used ChatGPT as a QC experiment (I dislike using AI for creative stuff, but was curious how it would work for quality control. The answer was poorly, it's terrified of any and all damage scaling) and it was the thing that suggested HM connection.

Stupid AI recognizing patterns and saying things based on those patterns that are consistent with the patterns

[peak inlet]

I mean I was going to suggest HM connection, my issue with that is idk if you are using any homebrew on your Ranger and a lot of homebrews make it less worth using

[vagrant egret]

Nah I'm just using 2024 ranger for this. Theoretically it's also compatible with 2014 ranger, but my group is moving to 2024 rules soon so I'm partially using this as an opportunity to explore the ruleset more (I also just love Ranger, though).

[peak inlet]

2014 Ranger wouldn’t really like the HM connection either

although maybe not really mind it either

if you’re laying it down then killing within the round

[vagrant egret]

yeah

Wouldn't be as good as with 2024 but you could always just drop the HM requirement and cap it in the same way as HM uses

Just less graceful and not something I'm gonna bother with - I'm starting to like 2024 rules

[peak inlet]

I prefer 2024 rules and my favorite class is Ranger, that being said, I still think it’s very subpar

[vagrant egret]

That's fair.

I think the weaknesses of Ranger also happen to be its strengths, which leads it to really rely on subclasses to choose an aspect of its core and lean into it. Even if it's not ideal for powerful builds, though, it's fun and flavorful which is nice.

[peak inlet]

they also don’t have a T3 feature unlike other classes

Tireless really sucks, I’m assuming the T3 feature is their level 11 subclass features, but those also aren’t strong enough

if you’re designing for base Ranger though, I do think your level 11 subclass feature should be relatively more powerful than your other features

I think of it as getting 2 subclass capstone-level features

at level 11 and then at 15

[vagrant egret]

They are, yeah. Tireless and Roving and whatever the first one is are almost directly from TCoE

That seems like a solid guiding principle lol

Makes up for it

[peak inlet]

but the current subclasses don’t quite do that as grandly, so you also do need to moderate

think about the level 10/11 feature of all other classes

Warlocks get a 3rd spell slot, Clerics can now revive once per LR without material cost, Artificers get 10 castings of any 3rd level or lower spell in their list

[frank leaf]

Greedy Guards
-# Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
-# 5th level Abjuration
-# Casting time: Action
-# Range: Touch
-# Components: V, S, M (A pile of coins worth 500+ GP, which the spell consumes)
-# Duration: Until Dispelled
-# You trade loyalty for power when creating a swath of invisible forces to guard an area you touch. You create a 60ft foot cube filled with invisible guardians. When a creature first enters the area or starts their turn there, they must succeed a Charisma Saving throw or be teleported 20ft away from the Point of Origin and take 4d6 Necrotic damage. You can designate creatures that are immune to this spell’s area. As an action, a creature can throw a pile of coins worth at least 500 GP into the air within the area of the spell, which then disappears. They automatically succeed saving throws against this spell for 24 hours.
-# At Higher Levels: (When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the distance a creature is teleported increases by 10ft for each slot level above 5th.)

Take two

How's this variant of the spell?

[peak inlet]

so in a similar way to how the Paladin’s Capstone feature is their subclass feature, make sure to raise the level 11 subclass feature to also cover the level 11 power spike

[peak inlet]

should be a longer time to set up something like that

I would use Forbiddance as a blueprint

[frank leaf]

Yeah, see, I keep hearing this but that's just Guards and Wards but worse . . .

[peak inlet]

no reason for it to be an Action if it’s stays until dispelled

[frank leaf]

I used Hallow as a blueprint

Which has wayyyy stronger effects in exchange for taking longer

(and ofc was put on Cleric intentionally to be able to be made into an action)

[vagrant egret]

Reeeallly having trouble with graceful phrasing here. Was gonna just make it a BA, but there are already so many in here lol

Proxy Components. When you could otherwise cast a spell but have no remaining spell slots of that level, you can spend a number of Cache Points equal to twice the spell's level to create one as part of the spell's casting.

I guess it could be a reaction

[frank leaf]

(reread)

[peak inlet]

Hallow has a 24 hour casting time

and I don’t think Guards and Wards deals damage

[vagrant egret]

Need to make sure it doesn't enable double-casting on a turn

[frank leaf]

Hmm. Cast it without a spell slot

[peak inlet]

but I might be wrong

[frank leaf]

I mean . . . Is that particularly bad?

After all

[vagrant egret]

For Ranger? Kinda

[frank leaf]

Vro, what combo could Ranger have that would upset balance . . .

[vagrant egret]

It's dipping into a level of shenanigans I don't think is necessary for this subclass

[frank leaf]

Just specify Ranger spell

[peak inlet]

just convert into expended spell slots

[frank leaf]

BAM done, no multiclass abuse

[peak inlet]

still can be abused

[frank leaf]

It does.

It literally gets 2 Stinking Clouds for free

[peak inlet]

you wanna say “a spell slot of a level the Ranger can cast according to the Ranger class features table”

[frank leaf]

How exactly . . . ?

[peak inlet]

Stinking Cloud

Each creature that starts its turn in the Sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have the Poisoned condition until the end of the current turn. While Poisoned in this way, the creature can’t take an action or a Bonus Action.

[peak inlet]

Ranger spells can be cast with any spell slot

[vagrant egret]

I think you can actually say one of your Ranger spells, that works, but I don't want to enable double-casting regardless

[peak inlet]

that’s why you need to convert to spell slot or use the Quicken spell wording

[vagrant egret]

Quicken spell is a good idea ill look at that

Nvm 2024 wording doesn't really work for this

[peak inlet]

3 levels in this Ranger and 17 levels into Druid allows you to cast 5th level Ranger spells for free

if you just use the Ranger Spell wording

[vagrant egret]

I think when you say "one of your ranger spells" it's understood RAW to mean a spell you learned as part of your Ranger class

[peak inlet]

yes

but those spells can be upcast still

and Dragonmark spells belong to all class spell lists

[frank leaf]

Vro, upcast

You're worried Abt upcasting

An already very niche feature

[peak inlet]

very niche?

[frank leaf]

Plus a busted campaign specific feat

[frank leaf]

Yeah, needs to be learned through level up

[frank leaf]

It's hardly ever worth to upcast. Exceptions are that. Exceptions

[peak inlet]

ok, I’m not sure what kind of game you’re playing where using a 1st level spell slot to gain upcastings of 5th level are not worth it

[peak inlet]

you can also use the Arcane Monk subclass feature table

or Sorcerer Magic conversion table

[vagrant egret]

Right now looking at Sorc Magic

I think I'm actually just going to modify the existing phrasing though

[peak inlet]

Font of Magic

[frank leaf]

Vro, you are not getting that with a dip. It relies on Cache Points . . . @vagrant egret how do you get Cache points?

[vagrant egret]

Double +WIS max, regain on LR & regain +WIS# when you drop a Hunter's Mark target to 0hp. Later, can also gain an additional one when you hit OAs

[frank leaf]

That is. Not very good scaling. Like, you are much better off with flat scaling.

To prevent dip abuse that is

Just like Sorcerer

[vagrant egret]

Level 3: Component Stockpile

You have a specialized component pouch which you use to store crafting materials, represented by a number of Cache Points. You have a maximum number of Cache Points equal to twice your Wisdom modifier, and regain all spent points when you finish a long rest. When a creature you targeted with Hunter's Mark drops to 0 hit points, you can choose to end concentration on the spell and gain a number of Cache Points equal to your Wisdom modifier.
Mental Stimulant. When you make a Concentration saving throw, you can spend 1 Cache Point to add your Wisdom modifier to the result.
Proxy Components. You can cast a Ranger spell for which you have slots, without expending a spell slot, by spending Cache Points equal to twice the spell’s level. If you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast another spell using a spell slot on the same turn.
Savage Arsenal. As a Bonus Action, you can spend 2 Cache Points to create a simple melee weapon or a piece of ammunition in your free hand. Choose fire, acid, or poison damage when you create the object: it deals an additional 2d6 damage of that type to the next creature it successfully hits, then crumbles to dust. If ammunition created in this way misses its target, it immediately reappears loaded in the weapon from which it was fired.

[frank leaf]

Otherwise this is yeah, very much too good not to steal for Druid at 3rd

[vagrant egret]

Screwed around with some of it, so this is what it is now.

[vital sorrel]

Would making a system that goes along with dnd count as homebrew? Like if you made a nation roleplay that used dnd rules for combat and character creation and completely different rules for like nation survival, would that be hb? Just checking cause idk where to post my current WIP.

[vagrant egret]

Yes it would!

Well, maybe. Depends how far off it is. If it's alternate homebrew rules for aspects of D&D, I'd say that's homebrew. If it's an alternate system that uses some D&D rules, that's #third-party

[vital sorrel]

Ty!

[peak inlet]

#third-party is just published homebrew

[vagrant egret]

Also combined Backup Weapon and Savage Arsenal, so now you create a weapon that does the damage and crumbles. Essentially a smite but limited to simple weapons and matched to Gloom Stalker's bonus damage (which is very limited, so this is still more overall).

[vagrant egret]

Proxy Components also doesn't require the spell to be prepared this way which I think makes sense in context of the Subclass theme

[vital sorrel]

And then definitely wrong channel (what would be the right channel?) but would I be able to post the server I’m using for that dnd hybrid system in looking for community even though it’s only part dnd?

[cerulean seal]

Try #looking-for-players

If you are looking for people to play your game with you

[vital sorrel]

thanks!

[vagrant egret]

I updated my Wildcrafter subclass for Rangers based on some of the feedback I got here (primarily from @peak inlet, thanks). Changes:

• Rephrased Proxy Components to prevent multiple spell slot casts per turn, and include the ability to cast unprepared spells.
• Savage Arsenal now creates a temporary simple weapon or one piece of ammunition, which deals 2d6 damage on a hit. Ammunition teleports back if it misses.
• Versatile Cache is now Level 7, and has the Defensive Salve and Bolstered Power passives. Level 7 keeps the Cache Point from OAs.
• Defensive Salve heals inherently, and can heal an additional 2d8 HP for 2 additional Cache Points.
• Exploit Energies is now Level 11.
• Mortal Arsenal stays at 11, boosts damage to 2d8 for all created objects, and can enhance a wielded weapon or ammunition instead of creating new ones (allowing martial weapons to be enhanced).
• Ensnare Energy has moved to level 11, has increased cost, and now can trigger on any weapon attack. It lasts for about a round depending on if it's a regular attack or Opportunity Attack.
• Arcane Locus now has the circle spell ability, and no initiative bonus.

[vague warren]

random question, is it normal for spells to be unlocked via species?

like only species X can cast spell Y

or smth like that

[oak pier]

spells are usually class locked, not species locked

[fierce dome]

I don't think it's ever happened in 5e

Maybe in prior editions

[oak pier]

some species get innate spells, but they can still be taken by appropriate classes

[keen halo]

is there any person here that's an optimization nerd adn can help me out?

running 2024 pugilist in 2014 campaign - and I REALLY want to minmax hard. need some help

[vague warren]

#optimization

[keen halo]

yeah, its a hit or miss because its mostly official stuff. im trying there as we speak

[pastel widget]

I need help coming up with some racial skills for a manatee-humanoid besides waterbreathing and swimspeed.

So I have this homebrew race in my setting called Aquariads. Anyone born under a storm or over the ocean is mutated durring their birth into an Aquariad.

The appearance of Aquariads vary wildly from one to the next. Aquariads can look like a humanoid version of pretty much and marine/underwater animal you can think of, and therefore their racial skills may vary depending their unique appearance

I have a player who decided to play as one and is playing an Orca looking Aquariad - he has a 3 racial skill he can use in combat a number of times = to his PB, they inspired by certain things Orca's do like hunting other whales by delivering devastating headbutts, so one of the skills he can use is a headbutt

All that to say. I need help coming up with some racial skills for a manatee-humanoid besides waterbreathing and swimspeed.

[keen halo]

increased carry capacity?

they're also very curious animals so maybe proficiency in nature checks?

for grappling they could be considered 1 size larger than they are?

[hallow tinsel]

could give them the Charger feat, but only when using swim speed

[vague warren]

aswell as the dash ability but only underwater

[hallow tinsel]

Bonus action dash and charge ability both only usable with swim speed

[pastel widget]

@hallow tinsel @keen halo @vague warren

Thanks for the suggestions!

I like charger (underwater) and counting as one size larger.

The party fought a pufferfish Aquariad who could turn 1 size larger as well as forced dex-saves (with a very low dc) onto any melee attackers, fails resulted in recieving 1d4 poison damage when hitting the pufferfish.

They'll likely be fighting this manatee out of water. So the +1 size modifier is something I can work with

I have a barbarian goblin (small) in the party who grapples once or twice in every fight.

It'll be interesting to see her surprised reaction when she tries to grapple the manatee pirate

[keen halo]

that'd be hilarious ngl

[pastel widget]

"I go to grapple the manatee"

"He is unaffected- you give his leg a hug"

[hollow siren]

Ok that’s both hilarious yet wholesome

[devout ledge]

Hello, im making a DND campaign set in MC. Due to this im using a weapon tier system based on the Minecraft ores.

I would like some opinions on how the damage dice should scale for the Weapons. Some are already filled out but others I left blank because I honestly had no clue what would be balanced. Reply or dm me if you wanna see what i got typed in the Notepad

[mossy apex]

In the one i did. I just renamed a longsword to wood sword, then the +1,2,3 were gold iron diamond, respectfully. Dagger was shovel. I wanna say the shortsword was pickaxe. And everything had a 2d20 uses before they broke, except gold, that had d10 but also gave multiatk

[devout ledge]

i would like the +1,2,3 be represented with the sharpness enchant and i already have a durability system in place. Im literally fighting my mind in figuring out attack dice scaling XD

im also allowing players to choose any of the normal classes so im expecting them to use great axes or staffs n such

Dagger easy, greatsword though. Has a base damage of 2d6, how do i scale that!?! XD

[Dagger]
-Wood: 1d4
-Stone: 1d4
-Copper: 1d4
-Gold: 1d6
-Iron: 1d6
-Diamond: 1d8
-Netherite: 1d8

[Greatsword]
-wood:
-Stone:
-Copper:
-Gold:
-Iron:
-Diamond:
-Netherite:

[mossy apex]

Weapon wise, I gave out the basic axe, sword, pickaxe, shovel options, with casters using a stick for a wand. I also did this before netherite was introduced.

[devout ledge]

all im seeing is that i like to make myself suffer with complicating things XD

[mossy apex]

In Minecraft gold only does slightly more dmg that wood and has less health than that.

[rugged cargo]

You can consider separating attack bonus and damage bonus?

[devout ledge]

can you give an example on that? Cant really visualize it

[noble lion]

I would really like to alter some weapons to make them valid options, but I want to make sure that balance is maintained. Firstly, I was thinking of perhaps making the flail deal 1d8 bludgeoning but make it reach. Would this add to it's usability without surpassing other weapons?

[brave flare]

Make the wood and stone variants weaker. 2d4 instead of 2d6 but are still technically stronger than th strongest dagger

[faint sonnet]

Shouldn't be an issue, no. Whip is 1d4 with Reach and Finesse, which each can be considered to count as a reduction of dice size.

[green orchid]

So my latest session involves my level 18 party of 6 going through a mega dungeon. And the second floor is just a massive collection of winding maze-like corridors of overgrown ruins with the occasional forest adjacent clearing. And their entire goal is just to survive on that floor for 24 hours trying to run around and collect as much useful loot as they can while the guardian of the floor is constantly tracking and hunting them the whole time.

You might think that a single monster chasing a party of 6 high level PCs would be a massive joke of an encounter.

But here is his stat block.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nXpCXWVW7p8Q5XrVr0oc4X5xQ_IL8sVb/view?usp=drivesdk

[brave flare]

Are they supposed to kill it

This is a question I have before I give feedback

[green orchid]

I'm totally going to switch the music to Dante's theme from SMT nocturn whenever he shows up lol.

[green orchid]

They CAN kill it.

[devout ledge]

Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of the other tiers then because then they have a chance to deal as much damage as diamond and netherite. Unless you mean I should make those 2d6 as well.

I guess I don’t understand how adding another D4 dice weakens the wood and stone tiers

[brave flare]

Okay.

[brave flare]

Alright let me clarify

[devout ledge]

Ah, you meant for the great sword. Now that ive re-read the comment you replied too

[brave flare]

What I mean is make the wooden and stone variants 2d4, this makes them ever so slightly stronger than daggers even at the highest tier

Yeah greatswords

[devout ledge]

Gotcha gotcha, I’m just fretting over making these dice attacks to strong or weak. Lvl 5 PCs btw and gonna have normal zombie and skeleton stat blocks for enemy comparison

[brave flare]

Alright so tell me all the weapons you got so far, or is it just the daggers and greatswords

[brave flare]

Btw this looks amazing, I don’t really have any gripes with it

[devout ledge]

Sword, longbow, bow, heavy crossbow, dagger, club, hand axe, javelin, light hammer, mace, quarter staff, sickle, spear, battle axe, and flail

As for the ones I don’t have

Glaive, great axe, great sword, halberd, lance, long sword, maul, morning star, Pike, rapier, scimitar, war pick, warhammer

So about half XD

[brave flare]

If you’re ever worried about balancing issue keep in mind I homebrewed guns and it ended up with a level 7 player having a modified fire breath sawed off double barrel that did 6d10 and because of his gunslinger feat, ignored half and three quarters cover

Also he only had to roll a 10 to hit cause I ruled guns would ignore regular armor

[devout ledge]

XD I mean, once the sawed off shotgun basically got perm dragons breath ammo. It was bound to happen

[green orchid]

I just realized there are several typos that I forgot to correct. But that's thankfully an easy fix.

And thank you! I was honestly expecting people to complain about how BS I made him lol.

[brave flare]

Yea, I had to make the final fight a kajiu level fight so that it wouldn’t just end in 3 turns lol

[devout ledge]

Least my weapons will be mitigated by the fact that they have to be crafted so funded the resources n such will be fun

[brave flare]

Yeah no I didn’t even notice the typos lol, but I am a sucker for having bs both for my players and as a DM.

[brave flare]

So are the damage on the weapons normal with tweaks fit to their material

[devout ledge]

Basically the damage will scale with the material used to make it, along with durability.

Mats can only be gained from POIs discovered through ability checks. Which can only be done by spending Hunger Points which is tied to a custom Exhaustion meter with 4 tiers……

I’ve thought to much on this

[static maple]

At what point in making this homebrew did you think, nah this is too weak lets add something else

[devout ledge]

Not even getting into enchant books XD

[green orchid]

My whole philosophy with homebrew is "Give the party overpowered abilities. Make them fight equally overpowered shit." Haha.

The only issue is that it's a little hard to balance and make it actually mechanically interesting without breaking bounded accuracy or having the party just curb stomp everything.

This is the third campaign I've run with my group and my first one was a total shit show lol.

Thankfully I've learned a few lessons over the years and I think this strikes a good dichotomy between "super threateningly overturned" and "fair to the players if they strategize well".

[devout ledge]

Honestly that worry is kinda why I’m planning on doing a test DND session with the mechanics I’ve made to see how the players like em.

Before committing to an actual run

Also for me it’s like

*super strong PCs with homebrew abilities
*Fight the equivalent of the TMNT foot clan in terms of enemies

• Or just strong mutant shredder

[brave flare]

Well the gunslinger part was a complete oversight but I wanted to make the guns highstakes and high reward weaponry. The way you used the guns fundamentally made you focus on positioning since ALL guns ignored AC and a crit could kill you if you’re not careful.

My players thought it was pretty fun. Especially because this was a wild westy campaign

[devout ledge]

Wild West with guns and the gunslinger still snuck in and broke the damage counter XD

[brave flare]

Yeah 😂

[brave flare]

Same! This is also my third campaign, and I didn’t want to make everything super duper broken, so instead I’m gonna implement a new mechanic that feels broken but won’t come up very often.

I call it “Final Stand” which triggers when they are the only party member left conscious, and they get a super charged ability unique to them that can do allow them to make a “final stand” against their opponents, which will fit perfectly with the fact one of my players wants to sacrifice themselves in the upcoming boss battle.

For example a paladin would get Golden Smite, which is a much stronger variant of Smite, AND it guarantees an auto crit when used (can only be activated once per long rest)

[green orchid]

Yeah that's the kind of stuff I do. Though for this campaign I gave everyone a custom feat in the form of "Latent magic"

(Rowan left the campaign unfortunately but he got replaced by Malik)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16M8BAemK5cx4yIHVLMBvnUMX6P45YBKmo7vn79e1uVs/edit?usp=drivesdk

[dense rose]

So. I’m making a homebrew kobold subrace right?
Can someone help me decide if it’s op, balanced, or overbalanced..?

[brave flare]

This is so cool. I might steal this one day

[dense rose]

Here’s what I have so far

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-RVl2mycnstLQ_4YMGdkYSLdkaPLaX9mR-f-W8wEA3c/edit?usp=drivesdk

[green orchid]

This is a little confusing. But also I have to ask. Is it supposed to be stronger than normal races or about the same? And is it for 14 or 24?

[green orchid]

I am curious though, is there anything about Ziegfreid's stat block that you think is interesting or like the most?

I honestly haven't been able to get much legitimate feedback since I usually can't directly show my players the stat blocks for creatures until after the fight is over. Haha.

[noble lion]

So I've made some additions to the 5e armor system for my games, and I'm unsure if two of those additions will negatively interact. These additions all fall under my new "armor properties", pretty much identical to how weapon properties work. The first property of concern is one I actually really like called "compatible", which allows certain types of armor to be worn with certain other types of armor. While combined, you gain the properties of both armors, but use the AC equation of whichever armor would give you the higher number.

The second property, or properties, are the Padded, Plate, and Chain properties. Each one raises your AC by an additional +1 against weapon attacks that deal certain damage types. Plate is piercing, padded is bludgeoning, and chain is slashing. So if you're wearing plate armor and have an AC of 18, you'd increase it to 19 when being attacked by a spear. Now, this is fine when you only have one of these properties, as your AC is still normal against 2 of 3 weapon damage types. However, when you combine, say, a gambeson and plate, you'd have a 19 AC against both bludgeoning and piercing. Would this be too strong?

[brave flare]

I like how he is very much a hunter and not easily hunted himself

He definitely looks like he’ll keep the party on their toes instead of just someone they can easily kill and not have to worry about him anymore

[jaunty belfry]

Brewing up a 1/3rd caster subclass for Barbarian, Path of the Wild Warden.

Because Barbarians are sort of fitting that primal warrior archetype and often live in small communities in the rural lands, the spellcaster influence is druid. A PC like this could be a warrior who apprenticed under a druid allied with their group, maybe initially they were a druid but their training was interrupted and they had to take up a warrior-path for various reasons, or they are part of a barbarian tribe that is allies with a druidic circle and often works alongside rangers so they picked up some unique training.

Features are

• 1/3rd caster with spell progression levels effectively identical to Eldritch Knight's wizard spells for spell slots and cantrips, but with druid spells instead. Max level spell slots are 4th level.
• The ability to cast spells and concentrate while raging (but only after succeeding a Con save DC with the DC determined by spell level, DC = 5 x Spell Level so a cantrip or 1st level spell is easy, but higher levels have a bigger risk), but only druid spells. Can't cheese a multiclass by grabbing wizard and then doing wizard spells as a Wild Warden in the middle of a rage.
• You get Shillelagh automatically and later can cast it on any weapon you're holding, not just clubs of staves; so use any weapon masteries you want.
• Later on, you can create any nonmagical weapons, shields, or armor via out of wood using Shillelagh and raw materials over a long rest. All armor counts as light or medium armor (so you could technically be wearing plate, which does have the stealth penalty still, but still rage)
• Additional proficiencies and one expertise in some wisdom based checks and skills, especially survival, medicine, and/or animal handling
• Your wood armor and weapons can later be upgraded to have thorns to inflict damage on melee attackers, be treated as +1 gear, and give a stealth bonus if you stand still in foliage

Any thoughts?

[ancient willow]

holy MAD, but conceptually it seems interesting

[jaunty belfry]

Their is a bit of an assist there.

The idea of making wooden weapons and armor (that still function like metal) is to blend the druidcraft with martial weapon use. And because you want at least a decent Wisdom score as this Barbarian, their is a worry they'd have pretty bad AC if you had to worry about Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution in addition to Wisdom. So you can make basically wooden halfplate or even full plate armor and a shield, have a good AC, and not need a huge Dex score.

So this Barb would want STR, CON, and WIS in that order, instead of the usual STR, CON, DEX.

Sort of like how Eldritch Knight fighters will almost never has as good of an INT score as a wizard, but they can use heavy armor to help buff up defenses in leiu of devoting some scores to INT over DEX.

Balance concern though? Is it busted that this would create a barbarian who can heal themselves or act as a very tanky medic?

Highest level spell they could do is 4 and they'd get only 1 spell slot by 19, with 3 lvl 3 slots, 3 lvl 2 slots, and 4 lvl 1 slots.

[drowsy pewter]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/3219916-the-first-hubris is this broken?

The First Hubris
Level
6th
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
120 ft. (20 ft. )
Components
V, S
Duration: 1 Hour
School: Evocation
Attack/Save: DEX Save
Damage/Effect: Fire
A roaring flame descends from the heavens like Prometheus's first act of hubris, leaving behind powerful flames. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on that point makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d6 Fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The area leaves behind powerful flames. Any creature that enters the area for the first time or starts its turn there has the Burning condition. While it has the burning condition this way, it has vulnerability to Fire damage if it does not have immunity to Fire damage. If it does have immunity to Fire damage, Fire damage is treated as though it does not have immunity to Fire damage.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d6 for each spell slot level above 6.

[hallow tinsel]

aay, love to see something actually use the burning condition other than imolate XD
it's fine; it's lingering fireball, burning isn't terribly much damage in the first place, and they can easilly just leave the radius
it cutting through immunity is a bit iffy but otherwise it's fine

[jaunty belfry]

Maybe if the target has resistance to fire damage, it takes normal damage; and if it is immune it treated like it has resistance?

[dense rose]

Can you… elaborate on what you’re asking with the second question..?
Please?

[stuck raptor]

2024 or 2014 ruleset

aka, 5.5e or 5e respectively

[hallow tinsel]

or 5.5e or 5e, with the new nomenclature

[dense rose]

Oh. Uh. I…
Don’t know…
I just used the Monsters Of The Multiverse kobold as a base then expanded on it and changed it to fit the lore In developing…

So most likely 5e..?
I think

[stuck raptor]

ok, so 2014/5e

[dense rose]

I have also updated it to try and make it more balanced or make more sense with the stats..

I can provide a new link if the previous one doesn’t work

[jaunty belfry]

DM ruling for some campaigns I've been in, that I am curious for others to think. For rangers, Hunter's Mark is a free action. Still a bonus action for other classes, but for rangers in specific this helps free up the BA for class abilities like beastmaster's using their beast.

[rugged cargo]

No save on burn- strips resistance and immunity, grants vuln. Would say yeah, it's broken.

[drowsy pewter]

The Burning condition can be removed with an action before I get another fire spell in.

[stuck raptor]

doesnt dropping prone also do it

[rugged cargo]

rest of the party can ready spell, this burns the enemy turn

[stuck raptor]

ok, dropping prone also stops burning

so, half movement cancels out that part

[rugged cargo]

prone and action

[stuck raptor]

oh crap, curse me being a dnd player

[hallow tinsel]

also if this is 5.5e, jsut literally have the Ranger level 13 feature make it no longer be a concentration spell for them instead of them jut not needing to make conc saves

[stuck raptor]

#dm-world-building

[fierce dome]

Anyone wanna read a revision of a potentially broken support class?

I hope so, cause here's a link to it

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/MxK6QTqBjE6w

It's called the prodigy. It's a powerful skill monkey, a partial martial, a limited caster, and has the super fun ability to direct the party like traffic

[median pecan]

Does anyone know how I could change the scaling for a weapon from strength to dexterity?
I'm specifically trying to swap the strength scaling of the spear to dexterity using homebrew

Nevermind guys I figured it out ✌️

[median pecan]

I am facing another issue, I am trying to add a secondary, seperate damage die for when my weapon shifts into a Longbow.
I am trying to use Damage, Piercing 1d8 but it just doesnt appear in the actions tab

[sick plume]

This is the homebrew section. You'd be better off asking in the general, or dndbegond help tab.

[native grove]

Curse of rust

Transmutation 2nd level spell

Casting time:one action

Range:30 feet

Components:V, S, M (a piece of rusted metal)

Duration:instantaneous

You target a creature within range who either has natural armor, is wearing armor or is holding a weapon. If the user targets natural armor, the target have to make a constitution saving throw or suffer 2D6 necrotic damage and a 1D4 penalty to their AC for 10 minutes. If the user targets regular armor, that armor suffers a 1D4 penalty until it is repaired during a short rest with an appropriate tool. If this reduces the armors AC bonus to 10, then that armor is destroyed. If the user targets a weapon, the weapon rusts and has a 1D4 penalty on all attack and damage rolls until repaired with an appropriate tool. Magical armor can be effected by this spell but not destroyed. This effect does not stack, and applying this spell to a target again simply has you reroll the penalty.

Spell class list:artificer

how does this spell look?

[cerulean seal]

Check #ddb-support

[median pecan]

Alr thanks and mb

[torn fjord]

problems I see with this:

• there's almost no flavor text here, beyond the name of the spell
• the name of the spell implies it should only work on metal, but there's no such restriction
• natural armor can be affected by the spell, but for some reason natural weapons are exempt
• the only situation in which the spell can fail is when targeting natural armor
• the spell includes a damage component, but it only works on certain enemies and even then can fail
• the spell appears to lack any benefit from upcasting

[native grove]

i will add flavor text, sorry about that

[torn fjord]

I'd recommend trying to figure out the other issues I pointed out as well

[native grove]

to be fair not every spell can be upcasted, infact many cant. You cant upcast shield for example

[torn fjord]

eh, the bigger concern is that the spell simply cannot fail at all unless you're targeting an enemy with natural armor

[native grove]

the problem is, what saving throw would that even be? Your not targetting the creature, your targetting its equipment

[mellow halo]

Working on a custom survival ruleset to use with LOTR 5e from Free League.

I really wanted to have the speed attribute and archery attribute separate, so originally removed constitution and added an aim/precision attribute that could maybe also be used for a crafting skill? My current draft has ranged attacks tied to Awareness (renaming of Wisdom) which would represent use of eyesight, etc. Obviously not as on the nose as an aim or precision attribute, but I don’t know if I want to rework all the class features to include it.

I had a photo of the character sheet, but it’s not letting me add photos?

[torn fjord]

even so, making a spell that cannot fail and at the same time reduces an enemy's ability to fight is a bit busted

[native grove]

what saving throw would that be?

[torn fjord]

I don't really know if it should be a saving throw, I just know that making it so that a spell applies a penalty to the target and can't fail is too strong for a second level spell

[native grove]

thats why i made it so it cant stack

[torn fjord]

even without stacking it's too strong imo

[native grove]

then how would it be resisted/avoided?

[torn fjord]

you'll need someone else's input for that, I just feel quite certain that this is too strong to be a second level spell

potentially outright destroying the enemy's armor or weapon with a second level spell that they can't in any way prevent is insane

[native grove]

my best idea is to just flavor it as metal eating bacteria that has to be dodged

[native grove]

Curse of rust
Transmutation 2nd level spell
Casting time:one action
Range:30 feet
Components:V, S, M (a piece of rusted metal)
Duration:instantaneous
You create a puff of oxydizing gas. An effect applied by this spell cannot be applied twice on the same creature/suit of armor until the effect ends. The target must make a dexterity saving throw or have one of the following effects happen (casters choice):

Errode shell:the target suffers 2D6 necrotic damage and have their natural armor reduced by 1D4 for 10 minute or until the creature is magically healed.

Errode claws:the target suffers 2D6 necrotic damage and have a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls using their natural weapons.

Rust armor:the targets armor suffers a 1D4 penalty until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

Rust weapon:the targets weapon suffers a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

Spell class list:artificer

How about this version?

[torn fjord]

much better, genuinely

can be avoided and has clear limitations

my only remaining question is why it's specific to artificer if it's called a curse

[native grove]

i wanted to give artificers a single target debuff spell that fits the theme of engineering and inventing and this was the best i could come up with

[torn fjord]

definitely serves that purpose, it's just that the name itself doesn't really sound like an artificer thing

[native grove]

any suggestions on other names?

[torn fjord]

literally every other detail is fine atm, aside from maybe a bit of rewording that I wouldn't know how to do to make it be more mechanically accurate

[native grove]

"plague of rust" might work

[keen halo]

Rust Bomb

[torn fjord]

best I had was "Rusting Agent" which sounds more like a bottle of something you'd pour on the enemy's stuff when they're not looking

[keen halo]

Also I think the spell is insanely op

[torn fjord]

"Cloud of Rust" could work if it were like a 10ft cone rather than a single target spell

[keen halo]

Natural armor shouldn't be included. Do classes that don't wear armor but have an armor buff just get their skin scorched?

Makes no sense to work on natural stuff. Should only apply to metals.

[true forge]

i'd say it only effects metal objects/armor/weapons

[keen halo]

Yeah

Making a leather armor rust?

[torn fjord]

oh yeah, I completely forgot my earlier point about the name implying it only works on metal

[keen halo]

Making robes rust?

[torn fjord]

also bows/crossbows, quarterstaves, etc

[keen halo]

Yeah sorry it's op as hell lmao

Especially for a level 2 spell with a one action time and barely no cost

[true forge]

crossbows would get rusted, most have metal

[torn fjord]

not all, but fair enough

[keen halo]

Just make it work on martial weapons

90% of them have metal and if they don't you can just flavor it that they do, say a long bow has metal attachments or w.e

[torn fjord]

nah, specify that it only works on metal armor and weapons

[keen halo]

That's fine too ig

But the spell is objectively op lmao

[torn fjord]

there are still a few martial weapons that aren't made of metal and make no sense to rust

[keen halo]

Especially if it works on magical armor like what

[native grove]

its important to note that it still doesnt stack

[keen halo]

Also why does the caster choose if they make a save OR an effect happens?

[native grove]

decided to go with the name "rusting agent"

[torn fjord]

even so, allowing even magical armor to be reduced in effectiveness by a second level spell is a bit much

[keen halo]

Mate imagine your +3 studded leather turns to a -1 because a level 3 artificer said "nah"

[native grove]

Artificers get 2nd level spells at level 5

[keen halo]

My bad on that but it's still imbalanced lolv

Heavily busted

[torn fjord]

point stands, magical weapons and armor should probably be exempt

[keen halo]

Youd debuff someone for what is effectively permanently or unless they get it fixed/usually out of combat

Or you force them to mend it mid combat

[torn fjord]

oh, and I just realized, there's nothing preventing you casting this spell twice on the same guy, once on his armor and once on his weapon

[keen halo]

It's a second level spell that effectively applies a permanent disadvantage until dispelled

Yeah it's not the same target

[native grove]

Rusting agent
Transmutation 2nd level spell
Casting time:one action
Range:30 feet
Components:V, S, M (a piece of rusted metal)
Duration:instantaneous

You create a puff of oxydizing gas. An effect applied by this spell cannot be applied twice on the same creature/item until the effect ends on said item/creature. Magical weapons and armor are immune to this spell. The target must make a dexterity saving throw, and on a failed save they have one of the following effects happen (casters choice):

Errode shell:the target suffers 2D6 necrotic damage and have their natural armor reduced by 1D4 for 10 minute or until the creature is magically healed.

Errode claws:the target suffers 2D6 necrotic damage and have a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls using their natural weapons for 10 minutes or until the creature is magically healed.

Rust armor:the targets armor suffers a 1D4 penalty until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

Rust weapon:the targets weapon suffers a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

At higher levels:when casted using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, it can effect magical weapons and armor.

Spell class list:artificer

How about this?

[torn fjord]

you can just say "Screw that guy in particular" with this spell by casting it twice

[keen halo]

I'd make it so this spell cannot be active twice.

As in, if you cast it again the first cast gets disabled

Like how you can't use light cantrip on two sources

You're still enabling natural armor and weapons to be eroded. It's op.

[torn fjord]

slightly confused how that could make sense from an in world perspective, given artificer stuff is very explicitly not magic

[keen halo]

What stops you from making A DRAGON'S armor be reduced?

[native grove]

i personally dont see that as OP so were just going to have to disagree here

[torn fjord]

absolutely nothing

[keen halo]

Yeah sounds op

[native grove]

legendary resistance

[keen halo]

For a 2nd level spell

[native grove]

also its just 1D4, for a dragon thats basically nothing

[torn fjord]

froggy, the idea of the spell itself is still good, it just needs more workshopping

[keen halo]

Say that the powder falls off from the weapon? Maybe it's a coating?

[keen halo]

Reducing a dragons ac from 19 to 15 makes any martial/or really any class be able to, at that level, almost always guarantee a hit on him

Dragon can't mend himself either btw

[native grove]

that is assuming the dragon both fails the saving throw AND it rolls the maximum value

dragons tend to have proficiency with dex saves

[torn fjord]

an artificer using some kind of rusting agent to negatively impact an opponent's equipment is pretty smart and fits in terms of flavor

issue is just that the current version is too strong for the level you want the spell to be

[native grove]

the reason im allowed natural weapons and armor to be effected is because most of the time you arent fighting creatures that use weapons or armor. Most monsters fight tooth and claw

[keen halo]

Okay, so then make a variant of the spell that's only for natural or make it so upcasting let's you do it

Like upcast to 4 lets you target natural sources

[native grove]

its important to note that this spell is for artificer, which is a half caster. You cannot spam this spell willy nilly

[keen halo]

Still sounds op to me

[native grove]

then you and i are simply in disagreement

i feel like having it JUST be metal items would make the spell too limited in most campaigns

[torn fjord]

actually, it depends on the campaign

[native grove]

yeah thats why i say most campaigns

[torn fjord]

in a lot of games, you're primarily up against humanoid enemies, or undead enemies, or some other thing, but still have the vast majority of enemies wearing armor and using weapons

very rarely are the majority of your enemies attacking exclusively with natural weapons and using exclusively natural armor

[native grove]

how useful would the spell be if it didnt effect natural weapons or natural armor?

[torn fjord]

still very useful imo

in fact

exactly as useful as the second level spell Heat Metal

which exclusively works on metal armor or weapons

[native grove]

Rusting agent
Transmutation 2nd level spell
Casting time:one action
Range:30 feet
Components:V, S, M (a piece of rusted metal)
Duration:instantaneous
You create a puff of oxydizing gas. An effect applied by this spell cannot be applied twice on the same creature/item until the effect ends on said item/creature. Magical weapons and armor are immune to this spell. The target must make a dexterity saving throw, and on a failed save they have one of the following effects happen (casters choice):

Rust armor:the targets armor suffers a 1D4 penalty until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

Rust weapon:the targets weapon suffers a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

At higher levels:when casted using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, it can effect magical weapons and armor.

Spell class list:artificer

Fine, how about this?

[torn fjord]

I'd slightly rephrase to just say "cannot be applied twice to the same creature" and skip the mention of a specific item, since the effect of the spell mentioned further down specifies that it works on the target's armor or weapon at the caster's choice

unless you're wanting to allow a use case where it's cast on a weapon or piece of armor that isn't currently being used, to try and nerf an opponent that will be fought later

[native grove]

Rusting agent
Transmutation 2nd level spell
Casting time:one action
Range:30 feet
Components:V, S, M (a piece of rusted metal)
Duration:instantaneous
You create a puff of oxydizing gas. An effect applied by this spell cannot be applied twice on the same item until the effect ends on said item. Magical weapons and armor are immune to this spell. The creature wearing or holding the targetted item must make a dexterity saving throw, and on a failed save they have one of the following effects happen (casters choice):

Rust armor:the targets armor suffers a 1D4 penalty until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

Rust weapon:the targets weapon suffers a 1D4 penalty on all attack rolls and damage rolls until it is repaired or the mending cantrip is casted on it.

At higher levels:when casted using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, it can effect magical weapons and armor.

Spell class list:artificer

How about this then?

[torn fjord]

looks good, I think, but get a second opinion from someone other than me

[native grove]

i still am not sure if i like it in this state

[keen halo]

Sounds like u want an op spell

This does look better

[native grove]

i want a debuff spell for artificier that can be applied generally

[torn fjord]

...I'm just going to point out that Enlarge/Reduce exists and does the 1d4 penalty to damage regardless of creature type if you successfully shrink the target

[native grove]

who actually uses the reduce part of enlarge/reduce?

ive only gotten use out of that part ONCE

[hallow tinsel]

it's better for utility; use it on a small PC to quickly get through a crack in the wall or something

[torn fjord]

you're wanting an artificer spell that debuffs and isn't super niche

[native grove]

yes

[torn fjord]

Enlarge/Reduce is the best bet there is for that, because it's out of combat utility, can be used to buff allies at any level, and can debuff enemies on a failed save regardless of creature type

[native grove]

is reduce actually any good as a debuff?

[hallow tinsel]

not really >.>

[torn fjord]

it's a 1d4 penalty to damage rolls and disadvantage on anything involving Str (except attack rolls for some reason)

[native grove]

Befuddle

enchantment 2nd level spell

Casting time:one action

Range60 feet

Components:V,S

Duration:one minute, concentration

You target a creature within range who must make an intelligence saving throw. On a failed save they take 2D6 psychic damage and become befuddled for the duration. Befuddled creatures have disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability checks and concentration saving throws. The target can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success.

At higher levels:when you cast this spell at 3rd level or higher, you can target an additional creature within range for every level above 2nd.

Spell lists:sorcerer, wizard, warlock, bard, star knight

Would this spell fit on artificer?

[hallow tinsel]

Grease, Heat Metal on Armor, and Web are all at least decent
also you can use Artificer to craft Spellwrought tattoos so you can have any spell off of any spell list up to 5th level depedning on your artificer level:

Artificer level 2: up to 1st level
Artificer level 10: up to 3rd level
Artificer level 14: up to 5th level

[torn fjord]

that is way too many penalties on a low level spell that also deals damage

[native grove]

i dont think grease counts as a debuff spell

[hallow tinsel]

prone is a massive debuff

[native grove]

wouldnt faerie fire count as a debuff then?

[torn fjord]

yes

[hallow tinsel]

yes

[torn fjord]

frankly, the debuff is the main use of Faerie Fire

the invisibility thing is an extremely niche side benefit

[native grove]

in that case if i do make a second single target artificer debuff spell it will probably be 3rd level

i just wish artificer got more debuff spells