What are people homebrewing?

Myrhdraak

Explorer
Well, any of us can combine our efforts if we are all using OGL (I'd say we could use a CC license of some type, but OGL does have the virtue of giving you some cover from WotC for 'D&D-like' games). HoML has an OGL attached to it anyway. Not that there's a huge amount to share...

I do not see any chance of sharing the material under existing WotC rules. Would be nice if they opened up the 4th Edition license to create things for WotC in a similar way as for 5e, but I do not see that happening, so until then I just work on this with some other D&D 4th Edition friends.
 

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Cyvris

First Post
I have put all 4th Edition rituals into one compendium sorted by level, but then added some flavor text from 5e spell wording (where applicable) and renamed "classical" rituals into their old D&D wording.
View attachment 79150

I really like how that reads. Attaching them to Healing Surges is interesting. I've been playing with a sort of (limited) Vancian Ritual system, maxing out at around two per level, scaling at 1/5/9 by tier. Haven't really started in to much on the Rituals themselves, mostly just slotting them into the levels I'd want them to occupy. Darkness for example ended up being a first level Ritual in this version.
 

Yeah, I'll probably yank Silver Tongue out. I wanted something to sort of show Warlocks being good with voices and influencing people. Maybe some sort of "you make people hear ghostly voices" sort of power. That would make them interesting stealth/distraction characters if they wanted.
I think it would be a little more in keeping with the 'cantrip' concept, yes. I sort of feel like EVERY warlock etc would just have to take Silver Tongue, just because.
 

I do not see any chance of sharing the material under existing WotC rules. Would be nice if they opened up the 4th Edition license to create things for WotC in a similar way as for 5e, but I do not see that happening, so until then I just work on this with some other D&D 4th Edition friends.

Well, nobody here can give you legal advice... I figure if I were to make up a spell that was basically a 3.x OGL licensed spell, even if it had some 4e-like rules added (IE its a 'ritual') I don't feel nervous about that. Its either not something WotC made up for 4e, and thus not stepping on their toes, or its something covered by OGL (in the 3.x SRD) and if I'm using OGL, then its fine. That would be my thinking.

So, obviously cloning the 4e rituals wholesale is out, just like cloning 4e powers wholesale is out. OTOH I think that the 3.x spell lists are VERY deep and cover the vast majority of what you'd want. A lot of PF stuff is also covered by the OGL, so you can also extend yourself in that direction. I'm happy to leave out many of the actual 4e rituals that don't seem to be exactly named after or quite functionally derived from 3.x stuff. In any case, I wouldn't use your material in my game anyway as it stands, since it is clearly copyright by you (or perhaps WotC depending on your opinion).

The other option of course is to just make up entirely original rituals. I don't think that's astronomically hard, and if you were going to support a unique setting that would be cool anyway. Give them evocative names and a bit of setting-specific color, etc.
 

I really like how that reads. Attaching them to Healing Surges is interesting. I've been playing with a sort of (limited) Vancian Ritual system, maxing out at around two per level, scaling at 1/5/9 by tier. Haven't really started in to much on the Rituals themselves, mostly just slotting them into the levels I'd want them to occupy. Darkness for example ended up being a first level Ritual in this version.

You could tie it into skills, call them practices and make them basically the mirror of skill powers.
 

Cyvris

First Post
You could tie it into skills, call them practices and make them basically the mirror of skill powers.

I thinking of making them full on actual "Vancian" magic more or less, just far more limited in the number of total slots.

Skill Powers I'm toying with a point or specialization system. Instead of taking a Feat for them or swapping out utilities, you gain certain ones based on the number of points you've invested. Scratches that old "I want to put points into skills" itch from 3e, but with actual benefits instead of "the numbers got bigger."
 

I was kind of just planning on having a series of boons that are effectively "really bad-assed at Thievery" etc and just give you some practices you can exercise along with say 3 powers to pick from. There could be several of these per skill for different aspects of the skill (IE Safe Cracker, Prestidigitator, trapsmith). Haven't really decided if there should be even more refined levels of these, like another set of "Master ___" boons to give you even crazier stuff. Starts to feel like a tree, and I wasn't really going for trees.
 

S

Sunseeker

Guest
I'm currently homebrewing a new campaign setting. It's edition non-specific, but specifically includes a Gith invasion, so it's certainly easier with 4E or 3.X. I'm also trying to figure out how to make Slivers (from MTG) a workable monster.
 

Cyvris

First Post
So far most of this homebrew has been pretty "broad". Anyone doing anything for specific classes? Most felt pretty good by the end of 4e, though Psionics could have used some more support I feel. I want to write up some sort of Feat to help out the Battlemind's "Mind Spike" but really can't come up with anything besides giving it range.
 

So far most of this homebrew has been pretty "broad". Anyone doing anything for specific classes? Most felt pretty good by the end of 4e, though Psionics could have used some more support I feel. I want to write up some sort of Feat to help out the Battlemind's "Mind Spike" but really can't come up with anything besides giving it range.

I've been in 'road warrior' mode all week, so I haven't had a lot of time to dig into specifics. In HoML each class has a damage die and weapon/implement proficiencies. Weapons and implements each have a small damage bonus (so a dagger does SLIGHTLY less damage than a great sword, like 2 points vs the 4 point difference in 4e). This establishes your basic role-based damage differential. There are class boons that provide for damage kickers for strikers, added stickiness for the knight, some control riders for controllers, and of course some buffing features for leaders.

You can pick any or all of your class's starting boons, usually there are 3, but a class could have more. IIRC knights have a 'use my shield to absorb some damage and it becomes broken' a 'get extra OAs', a 'mark and punish', and a damage bonus with large weapons. Depending on which ones you pick, you'd be stickier and/or more punishing, closer to a striker, or operating in a more defensive damage soaking mode.

Rogues have boons close to their 4e cousins. There's a 'sneak attack' bonus to damage, a first strike bonus, and a 'get back your Vitality Point if you used it as an extra action and got a Complete Success' feature (so basically a free AP if you roll well enough). That gives you a quick and deadly combatant, though the details vary slightly from 4e (really its mostly just cleaner and missing some of the arbitrary flavor restrictions). There's also a 'Thief' boon, a 'Trickster' boon, and a couple others that generally work well for different sorts of rogues (but could be applied to other classes as well).

Priests are pretty much the 'Laser Cleric' half of the 4e Cleric class. The other half is relegated to paladin, so there's a nicer distinction than in 4e or D&D generally (Priests cast spells, paladins hit things). Some priests can be reasonably competent melee combatants however. Their features are fairly close to 4e, but tied more closely to their choice of god(s). Any priest can pick the 'be a decent healer' option, some can pick super healer, others can pick various buffing/debuffing options, various flavors of 'turning', etc.

Beast Master is a fun one, but I'm still working out some of the details on that and hasn't really been tested at all. Again, its not radically different from the 4e ranger option (and don't get on me about how that was weak, it wasn't).

I'll try to post some real specifics soon, though you're all welcome to peruse the PDF I linked in my OP. None of the classes is really fleshed out much beyond the first couple of levels, as there simply aren't enough boons defined yet for that, particularly items.
 

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