Long Post Warning:
I’ve been thinking about this thread A LOT, on and off writing a big long response. I really like your ideas in general, the theming of the capstone ability should be the much stronger than they generally are, and should capture the pinnacle of the “fantasy” of that class. So in order, here are my thoughts and changes on everything you’ve written.
First, capstone abilities restoring on a short rest is too strong. Think about the adventuring day that Dnd is based around: 2 encounters, short rest, 2 encounters, short rest, 2 encounters, Long Rest. Being able to obliterate monsters with a power of the strength that capstone abilities are every other encounter would be way too powerful. I don’t hate the idea but that’d be the kind of thing that would appear in Epic levels.
Barbarian: Only problem I have with your edition on this is that the reaction should be once per short rest. Otherwise the Barbarian could be theoretically invincible by using their reaction every turn to ignore all damage on a hit. Second keep in mind the Bear totem warrior’s Rage resistance extends to all damage types except psychic, so this would need to be carefully worked to include that.
Bard: Changing the 3d6 is WAY too strong. Think of the averages: 1d12 average is rounded up 7. 3d6 is rounded up 11. That is such a crazy bump up. Also max would be 18, which yes is rare but an 18 bonus is a guaranteed success on almost any roll. My solution to this is to drop it to 2d6, this way you still have a 2 minimum which is better than the terrifying 1 minimum, and is also equal to ½ cover which is at the very least a nice buff based on an established ruling. The average stays as 7, with a more consistent good increase, but less common max rolls, which is something you should keep in mind in this change.
Second, one commenter wrote that the Bard should get an inspiration at 0 if they start their turn, I agree with that if only to keep it consistent with your Sorcerer change. A level 20 bard is basically an unending fountain of lore and stories and entertainment, there’s no reason they couldn’t inspire effectively indefinitely.
Cleric: I don’t like this one very much for two reasons. First being that 1 week is a measurement that isn’t realllllyyy used in 5e. It’s not bad but I think just slapping it to long rest would be easier for players and DM’s to keep track of. Second is that it’s too vague. The player can ask a favour and the God listens, great, I wish the big bad was dead, I wish I had an infinite amount of money, etc. It would end up forcing DMs to make calls that not all DMs are in the position to make, it could upset players, it could annoy groups that aren’t particularly close, it’s too easy to abuse. This ability should be better explained, maybe the Cleric can cast the Wish spell once per day. The Wish spell isn’t a spell on the Cleric’s spell list, so this work’s fine, plus once per day is of course in line with Spell Slot regen on a long rest, while keeping the Wizard’s Arcane Regeneration as a unique way to keep those level 9 spells going. The problem with this is that it makes the Wizard learning Wish not unique anymore, which is of course very deliberately done by WotC, and second makes it so the Cleric can cast basically any spell of level 8 and lower which may cause problems with spell lists. Personally I think the Cleric should get some special ability based on their domain, like how the Paladin does. I don’t mind Divine Intervention on its own, but it shouldn’t automatically succeed, and removing the auto succeed at level 20 allows you to put in a fun unique level 20 feature.
Druid: Yeah we all know this one
no need to change this.
Fighter: The warlock blast getting 4th at level 17 is a great comparison for this. My solution is about the same as yours, indomitable being per short rest up to a max of 2 at level 17, as well as getting your fourth Attack at level 17. I think your Fighting Style Mastery solution is perfect, it’s exactly what a level 20 Fighter would be. Though remember you can get multiple fighting styles so in the ability it would say choose one.
Peerless Archer: The maximum damage is a bit strong, but it’s juuuust okay enough that I don’t REALLY have any gripes with it. It should just be mentioned that the original Archery fighting style only adds +2 to attack roll, and doesn’t affect damage. So to keep it in line with that the auto hit should be good enough.
Bleeding Wound: The problem I have with this one is simply that it was in the play test packages and they removed it for a good reason, it just isn’t fun or interesting. It gives more damage but that damage happens later. So it adds some unnecessary book keeping for a smidgen more damage. I think you should split up Dueling fighting style’s and the Close Quarter Shooter’s fighting style capstone. Here are my ideas:
Brutal Shot: requires Close Quarters Shooter: When you hit a creature within 30ft with a ranged weapon attack, that creature cannot make opportunity attacks against you until the end of your turn.
The reasoning behind this one is obvious, close range shooter still needs to get around and a ranged weapon isn’t the best way to do it, this is directly taken from the Swashbuckler’s Fancy Footwork, and it works great here.
Master Duelist: requires dueling fighting style: +2 to Attack rolls when you are using one weapon and nothing else
Reasoning behind this one is also very simple, but honestly doesn’t feel like enough to me. Maybe add something like when you hit with a weapon attack their speed drops to zero? Something about disarming? Lots of options for this, but it needs its own Supreme Fighting Style at the very least.
Ultimate Defense: I have no problem with this one, AC is a tricky number to fiddle with, this doesn’t affect people’s ability to hit you, only how much damage they do. Just keep in mind how this may coordinate with the Heavy Armor Master feat.
Brutal Weapon Fighting: same thing here, nice smooth upgrade for the fighting style.
Supreme Mariner: The indefinite breath holding is too magical, it’s important to note that Martial classes don’t often get magical effects, they get improved physical effects and use incentive rather than force. There’s no real reason for that, but maybe just double the length you can hold your breath, it’s still very impressive and works with the doubling of climb/swim speed. I don’t think +1 AC needs to be upgraded at all. Though now that I think about it this feature could simply remove the Heavy Armor limitation, but many people don’t use it because they tend to have higher dexterity so maybe not, that’d need some careful fiddling.
Marvelous Bulwark: Same as above, I really like this one, it’s a nice simple upgrade.
Terrible Onslaught: The first part of this is fine, but the second part is not. What if someone has picked the Sentinal Feat? It makes that feat useless because they get the ability from this. I’d consider something along these lines instead” Opportunity attacks never require you to use your reaction, allowing you to benefit from your Tunnel Fighter ability without entering a defensive stance as a bonus action. In addition, when a creature within 5ft of you makes a weapon attack against any creature that is not you, you may use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against the creature.
This way it furthers the fantasy of a master of enclosed spaces, able to take every opportunity to slam down another attack. Not sure if it should use the reaction or be part of the tunnel fighter stance (which no longer takes a bonus action so… basically all the time). This also takes one ability from the Sentinel feature so I’m not ultra into this, but there’s ways I think to implement this so it doesn’t interfere, such as giving a second attack like “If you already have this ability from the Sentinal feat, you can make two attacks instead of one.” compared to the attack on a disengage which is exclusive to Sentinel, and adding a second attack to a creature that disengages and tries to run isn’t as exciting or used as often.
Two-Weapon Master: I’m not fond of this one for the sole reason that offhand weapons are generally lighter and weaker than the main hand, so an extra attack there is not adding a whole lot, it doesn’t compare well to the increase of the other supreme fighting styles and doesn’t feel like a capstone ability. Secondly, Extra Attack does not mention that it has to be a Main Hand weapon, you CAN make extra attacks with an off-hand weapon already. This is my idea for it:
Two Weapon Coordination: requires two weapon fighting fighting style: When you hit with your main hand weapon, you automatically hit with your off hand weapon if you choose to make an offhand attack.
This is kind of a band aid, I’m not personally fond of auto hit attacks, but it’s a natural progression from the damage onto the offhand weapon. I was considering giving advantage on an offhand attack if you hit with the main hand but that doesn’t feel strong enough. Either works though, and the advantage would be more in line with other features in the game.
Monk: I’m very iffy on this one. In theory it gives the fantasy of a level 20 monk perfectly, being able to use all those early Ki abilities all the time, but in action it leaves the Monk with almost no reason to USE Ki unless they are a Monk of the way of the four elements. So I have a few things. First like the Bard and the Sorcerer, they should regain Ki on their turn if they are at 0, probably just 2 Ki. This gives the elemental monk its very base abilities to be used every turn, two diamond soul uses, but NOT a Quivering Palm, because that’s an exceptionally strong ability. Finally, I think this should give some kind of new way to use Ki to replace the loss of the uses of Ki on the lower level abilities, something very simple I think, like you can use Ki to make a perception or insight check as a free action, or something.
Paladin: I already talked about the short rest/long rest thing. So I’ll look at each change.
Holy Nimbus: First is that the holy nimbus addition is fine, but I think it should just make all creatures vulnerable to radiant damage, that’s very very strong but considering the lack of any real strength outside of fighting fiends and undead with this feature, it works. However because of this change, the damage from Holy Nimbus should be reduced to 5, so that it still deals 10 damage on the now Vulnerable targets. I’d even consider giving it something more? Like enemies attacking friendly creatures that are within the bright light have Disadvantage on the attack because of the brightness in their eyes.
Elder Champion: no problems here, you didn’t change anything except for the long to short rest, I like this ability as written in the PHB.
Avenging Angel: You made a fairly big change to the ability, replacing the fear effect. I like your change but I think the fear effect should remain, for some kind of out of combat use, even if it’s really minor, since the other two have the tiniest, tiniest out of combat use.
Ranger: I like this change you made, it’s still not very exciting which is a big problem of the ability in the first place, but I’d need to do a ton of brainstorming to think of a good ability. (though I’ve seen people playing with removing favoured terrain picking for an acclimation version instead, which if used with that would open up some interesting ideas).
Rogue: As written this is a great ability, but I have problems with your additions. First is that Once per short or Long rest you can maximize sneak attack damage? That is LUDICROUS, that’s 10d6, a free 60 damage is way too strong for a short rest. On Long Rest sure that’d work great, but definitely not short.
Second addition, I think this should be part of the base feature. Choosing to take a 20 (or force a 1 on an enemy), once per short or long rest is a-ok. Though ability check is a bit more grey, because of the sheer variety of effects that ability checks can cause. Like choosing to take a 20 on lifting and throwing a dragon is just silly, once again this would cause problems with the DM needing to make calls that they shouldn’t need to make to allow or disallow certain actions. Removing ability check from this would be a really way to just keep the quality of life on the ability safe.
Sorcerer: My only problem with this is that 3 SP regen is too much. 2 is a much better number for two reasons. First being that Heightened spell is a VERY strong metamagic ability, and being able to use that every turn would basically mean the Sorcerer gives permanent disadvantage on all spell casts.
Second, Think of the purpose of cantrips. They are meant to be a wizard’s solution to a weapon attack. Not a whole lot of damage, but is always there reliably, and increases at about the same pace as other classes get Extra Attacks and other such ways to increase their damage (like the paladin’s improved divine smite). A decrease to 2 SP per turn would mean that the Sorcerer would be able to cast level 1 spells as if they were cantrips, which is a very very strong ability on its own. Being able to cast level 2 spells as if they were cantrips is far too strong. A Cantrip at level 17 can do average 20 damage. If you consult page 283 of the DMG you can see that 1st and 2nd level spells are a little lower (12 and 18 respectively) but they often come with extra effects such as poisoning the target with Ray of Sickness, or knocking everyone around you back as with Thunderwave. Being able to cast level 1 spells as cantrips would really make the Sorcerer feel like an infinite font of powerful magic, and would be very similar to the Wizard’s Signature Spell feature.
Warlock: I agree with your reasonings here. But I think you threw away the idea of fixing the PHB ability too quickly. If it were changed to rolling initiative with no spell slots = regain 1 spell slot, I think it’d be a great way to balance the ability to stay consistent with others in the game. The only problems I have with your aspect of the blank features is:
Aspect of the Fiend: This summoning can cause real problems for the flow of the game. You need to be VERY careful with summoning abilities, as WotC has explained before, a summoning ability can only do one of two things: you sit back and let the summons do all the work, or the summon is useless. It’s too hard to balance. Second is how much it slows down gameplay, with an extra monster in play suddenly there’s another turn and more rolls are added to each round of initiative, this combined with the potential for a Warlock who has this ability to have the Pact of the Chain means they could run around with two summons, then they cast a conjuration spell, it all gets out of hand too easily. I definitely think you should avoid summoning abilities whenever possible.
Great Old One: Where the heck does the immunity to critical hits come from? That’s just out of nowhere and doesn’t fit the flavor at all. It can be cut out of the ability and it will still work well.
Second I don’t think an “aura of madness” works here. I think it would be more in line if it were part of your physical transformation, any creature that sees you gets feared and confused, or something like that. Additionally, I think you should be able to use your Awakened Mind feature offensively while in this transformation, like assaulting the mind with alien incomprehensible imagery to deal psychic damage or for some kind of effect.
Wizard: For the sole reason that you didn’t include this: Signature Spell is great but I think it should have one more minor thing on it, something that makes it more unique instead of just being able to cast two 3rd level spells without expending a slot. Basically just what you’ve been saying about making the abilities really unique.
Conclusion: Wow okay sorry for all that rambling. I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m being a real jerk, I looove your ideas for how the capstone abilities should be the pinnacle of the class, a big important unique thing. Your ideas are a great groundwork for improvement.
