D&D 5E Feat Help: Monk Reskin Werecreature

[Alex Bates]

So i have a player in my group who i was more than happy to accommodate when he said he wanted to be a werecreature or something along those lines.. Picked up the "A Touch of Class" book and wasn't overly great in my opinion so started reskinning the monk: way of the open hand and i was very pleased with the results. The main thing being changing the players perception of the monk class and renaming all the relevant features to sound more savage and beastly..

Now the next part is where i got stuck creating a feat (Also have the background feature to my disposal though atm he is a urchin background) to fill in the blanks. I am unsure if i am trying to balance the feat with too many pro's / cons or what ~ i should also add the player wants the restriction of being weaker whilst in human form mainly to assist in his roleplaying.

Werecreature Feat
+1 Con Mod
+1 Bonus to hit and damage for unarmed strikes

While in hybrid or beast form you gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell

Can use Dexterity instead of strength for checks whilst transformed

You gain the ability to transform into a wererat hybrid or rat for a free action. You retain your size and stats all gear you wouldn't use will be absorbed into your body.

Whilst in human form your ac is 10 and your werecreatures features are locked until you use a free action to transform.

You take 1d4 radiant damage a turn whenever you come in contact with silver. This damage ends once you are no longer in contact.

I would love to know how you guys would handle creating a custom feat and if you would apply any of the disadvantages or if you would handle any of it differently.

The way i have been looking at it is the stat increase is standard, along with some features to add flavor to the feat then i have attempted to add balance to it by adding an extra feature in to counter the negative.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I would love to know how you guys would handle creating a custom feat and if you would apply any of the disadvantages or if you would handle any of it differently.

What "checks" does this feat allow you to replace Strength with Dexterity?
If its all skill checks (assuming not including saving throws), then this is a rather powerful ability: - probably more powerful than a feat should be just by itself.
What is the design intent behind it?

In 5e, there is no such thing as a "Free action". You should probably adjust to either Action or Bonus Action, depending on the effort required.

Is there any actual restriction of the change? Number of times per long/short rest etc?

The way i have been looking at it is the stat increase is standard, along with some features to add flavor to the feat then i have attempted to add balance to it by adding an extra feature in to counter the negative.

The stat increase is very much not standard, and only generally used when the rest of the feat is decidedly weaker than most other feat available. That is not the case in this feat.

I would suggest removing it, and changing the +1 bonus for unarmed strikes to the ability to deal Piercing and/or Slashing damage with unarmed strikes instead.

 

[Alex Bates]

What "checks" does this feat allow you to replace Strength with Dexterity?
If its all skill checks (assuming not including saving throws), then this is a rather powerful ability: - probably more powerful than a feat should be just by itself.
What is the design intent behind it?

This part of the feat is generally unimportant and i didn't overly think it through ~ the part will have plenty of strength in it so it probably takes away from them.. At the same time i am probably under valuing the ability to change form, but as it is purely cosmetic i haven't really concerned my self much over that fact. In the end of the day does using dex for strength in checks effect mechanics much more than trying to bash down a door or rip open a box ? Not as far as i know unless i am over looking the obvious..

In 5e, there is no such thing as a "Free action". You should probably adjust to either Action or Bonus Action, depending on the effort required.

Is there any actual restriction of the change? Number of times per long/short rest etc?

The stat increase is very much not standard, and only generally used when the rest of the feat is decidedly weaker than most other feat available. That is not the case in this feat.

I would suggest removing it, and changing the +1 bonus for unarmed strikes to the ability to deal Piercing and/or Slashing damage with unarmed strikes instead.

Free actions are actually described in the PHB Page. 190 we use them in our games alot ~ didn't think it was appropriate to restrict a class from its features to the point they have to give up bonus actions and actions to transform as it was mostly cosmetic.. the aim of this feat is to fill in the blanks to make it feel more like a werecreature rather than penalize them for wanting to be one.. So no there are no restrictions on number of times he can use it but there will be a roleplay process and reasons for him to use his human form more often, for example he won't be talking in his were form for a couple of levels etc ~

As for changing the damage type on the attack instead of a +1, i love this idea and will definitely look into applying it but what you have suggested so far is to leave in 2 quite negative effects and leave the feat as advantage on perception, transforming (which is cosmetic) and a change of damage type which doesn't make much of a difference whilst focusing on a part of the feat which could just be removed to be fair.. Which i would say is far from being worth a feat, but thanks for the point of view.

 

[Quickleaf]

So i have a player in my group who i was more than happy to accommodate when he said he wanted to be a werecreature or something along those lines.. Picked up the "A Touch of Class" book and wasn't overly great in my opinion so started reskinning the monk: way of the open hand and i was very pleased with the results. The main thing being changing the players perception of the monk class and renaming all the relevant features to sound more savage and beastly..

Now the next part is where i got stuck creating a feat (Also have the background feature to my disposal though atm he is a urchin background) to fill in the blanks. I am unsure if i am trying to balance the feat with too many pro's / cons or what ~ i should also add the player wants the restriction of being weaker whilst in human form mainly to assist in his roleplaying.

[SECTION]Werecreature Feat
+1 Con Mod
+1 Bonus to hit and damage for unarmed strikes

While in hybrid or beast form you gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell

Can use Dexterity instead of strength for checks whilst transformed

You gain the ability to transform into a wererat hybrid or rat for a free action. You retain your size and stats all gear you wouldn't use will be absorbed into your body.

Whilst in human form your ac is 10 and your werecreatures features are locked until you use a free action to transform.

You take 1d4 radiant damage a turn whenever you come in contact with silver. This damage ends once you are no longer in contact.[/SECTION]

I would love to know how you guys would handle creating a custom feat and if you would apply any of the disadvantages or if you would handle any of it differently.

The way i have been looking at it is the stat increase is standard, along with some features to add flavor to the feat then i have attempted to add balance to it by adding an extra feature in to counter the negative.

Welcome to ENWorld Alex

I haven't picked up "A Touch of Class" yet – haven't played enough games to warrant including that much new player material – but usually the stuff from ENWorld is pretty good.

I'm not sure I follow what the point of the feat is?

For example, there are rules in the Monster Manual (assuming you have that) for "Player Characters as Lycanthropes" on p.207.

To analyze your feat in light of that...

What you don't mention...
I would give the PC control over their lycanthropy and allow them to be whatever alignment they choose. THAT should be the main benefit of the feat, being able to control the awesome power of lycanthropy and not being a raving lunatic killer.

+1 bonus to hit and damage for unarmed strikes
Can use Dexterity instead of strength for checks whilst transformed
Unnecessary. According to MM, a wererat would gain a bite attack (1d4) piercing, and "Attack and damage rolls for the bite are based on whichever is higher of the character's Strength and Dexterity." Your version of blanket replacing STR checks with DEX checks is outright broken. Do not do that.

While in hybrid or beast form you gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell
Wererats get "Keen Smell" as per the MM, so putting this in a feat is pretty much superfluous.

You gain the ability to transform into a wererat hybrid or rat for a free action. You retain your size and stats all gear you wouldn't use will be absorbed into your body.
Well, the ability to transform comes from being a wererat as per MM, not due to the feat. What the feat does is reduces that from requiring an action to not requiring any sort of action (being free on your turn), and absorbs you gear into your rat body – useful for gear-laden PCs. Now, your feat is pretty cool...but if you look at a Druid's Wild Shape, that also requires an action. So making it totally free to use is probably broken, because then a PC could conceivably turn into a human, turn into a rat to scamper through a hole, and turn back into a human all in the same turn. Instead, to limit potential abuses I recommend reducing the transformation to a bonus action.

Whilst in human form your ac is 10 and your werecreatures features are locked until you use a free action to transform.
Not sure what you're even saying here, or why it's relevant. All PCs have a base AC of 10+DEX+armor. This seems no different.

You take 1d4 radiant damage a turn whenever you come in contact with silver. This damage ends once you are no longer in contact.
A very sensible approach. While the MM says a lycanthrope PC gains the wererat's damage immunities (i.e. to non-magical non-silver bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing weapons), that really seems excessive for most games. Your version might be a bit punitive, but it works. The other option would be to simply give vulnerability to silver weapons, but I actually like your more narrative approach (which is how I actually run lycanthropes at my table).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Maybe you could just change his race to the Shifter from the Eberron UA? (https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Eberron_v1.pdf)

This would allow him to shift into hybrid form once per rest, then you could create a utility Feat that grants something like this:
+1 Wis
Can communicate with one type of beast and gain advantage when dealing with them.
Can shift into a Wolf, Tiger, Boar or Bear once per long rest.

 

[Alex Bates]

Welcome to ENWorld Alex

I haven't picked up "A Touch of Class" yet – haven't played enough games to warrant including that much new player material – but usually the stuff from ENWorld is pretty good.

I'm not sure I follow what the point of the feat is?

For example, there are rules in the Monster Manual (assuming you have that) for "Player Characters as Lycanthropes" on p.207.

Thanks for the page reference and welcome it had completely slipped my mind that there would be rules for turning pc's into werecreatures ~ since normally that involves taking the pc off the players hand due to the fact it gets stuff like damage immunities which as you said are pretty excessive ! The breakdown you have given is really useful and much appreciated,

The main point of the feat was take away the monk's (werecreatures) ability to function without being in form away so whilst in human form he would lose his dex bonus to ac making it a plain 10 (so he could play up his weak street urchin side bit like a commoner stats) then he could transform into the werecreature (basically allowing him to use his classes monk abilities which he can't use out of were form)..

To be fair its getting a lot more complicated than it was meant to be haha think i may scale it back to something alot more simple the thing about making the transformation cost more than a free action would be that he would lose basically a round of combat for pure roleplay reasons.. though i suppose its not end game if you take a monks bonus action from them first round of combat ? Though i have not personally had any experience with monks in my party so i have been hesitant with nerfing it in anyway.

Maybe you could just change his race to the Shifter from the Eberron UA? (https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Eberron_v1.pdf)

This would allow him to shift into hybrid form once per rest, then you could create a utility Feat that grants something like this:
+1 Wis
Can communicate with one type of beast and gain advantage when dealing with them.
Can shift into a Wolf, Tiger, Boar or Bear once per long rest.

Also thank you vince this is really useful information too ! Think i may go with something like this:

Werecreature Feat
+1 Con Mod
You can use your action or bonus action to magically assume the shape of a wererat hybrid or a medium sized rat. You can use this feature twice. You regain the expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. You gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your level + your Constitution bonus (minimum
of 1). While transformed, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Don't think he would go for the shifter race so using some of that with the way druids work could give him this for his variant human.. Was tempted to go with just whats in the book for the wererat curse but think my player will enjoy this without adding anything broken into the game ! Ill just run it past you guys for what you think but seems like a vast improvement on the broken mess that was the original may change the action / bonus action requirement if you guys know which a monk is more likely to do without but figured if he had a choice it would give him more flexibility with his attacks since he really is just a reskinned monk at the end of the day.

He would still get the "You take 1d4 radiant damage a turn whenever you come in contact with silver. This damage ends once you are no longer in contact." and advantage on smelling related perception checks ~ but they would be more on the curse side.