D&D General Unique Class Mechanics you would love to see in a D&D "goes wild" Edition [+]

Tigris said:

I like a "kill stuff directly" mechanic for an assassin, I also like this in the executioner assassin in 4E (although a bit weak), if you damage something and after damaging its below X health its dead. I think with this scaling a bit better it would do similar thing as killing CR X creatures normally.

(Defender) Classes based on reactions are cool! They do take some additional time, but well can design for it.

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In 5e if you domt wanna add more reactions, one way to do it is to give defenders an emanation that slows and deals damage if an enemy attacks any creature other than the defender. Like spells that hit "when a creature starts its turn in the area". combine that with a mark that gives you extra damage next time you damage them against creatures when they damage an ally of yours on thier own turn. Assume most defenders will take sentinel, and go nuts.

Tigris said:

How would these 2 be made mechanically? I guess bards mostly cantrips (sound based is mostly flavour unless silence is common) but how can this be to be more distinct from other casters? And how would the ranger mechanic look like to make it mechanically unique?

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Rangers: herb-finding and herb use become their own little subsystem. Rangers are by far the best at it, then maybe Druids, then everyone else. Players of Rangers just have to track what herbs they have on hand. They also keep their tracking and woodscraft.

Bards: they get chooseable abilities mostly on pre-requisite chains, some of them unique to class, as they advance, each usable at will except some really powerful ones that have per-day or per-hour limits. Their magical or quasi-magical effects are transmitted solely through sound and the manipulation thereof, unlike any other magic. Some of their abilities last as long as they keep singing and-or playing, others are fire-and-forget. Main focus is charming, enthralling, persuasion, and support; other ability chains can make two Bards of the same level quite different in focus. They have to take short breaks now and then. They cannot be "counterspelled" except by another Bard, and are using neither divine nor arcane magic as such. They can counteract other sound-based attacks or abilities such as those of another Bard or the wail of a Banshee. Some of their abilities, if chosen, can and do cause direct sonic damage. They are not a front-line class except at extremely low level and probably not that well suited for a combat-heavy campaign.

To be fair, tweaking the power of these Bards to vaguely match other classes at the same level is a forever work in progress.

Tigris said:

Also here, sorry I was a bit unclear, I really mean more how you would make a single class more unique. Like what could a Ranger (or a new class like assassin etc.) do what makes them mechanically unique?

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I think the answer to this doesn't just lie in adding abilities to classes but also in taking away some abilities - and spells! - from classes that maybe shouldn't have them.

Want Rangers to be mechanically-unique? Take tracking (including tracking-like spells) away from everyone else, other than following obvious footprints in snow or mud. Ditch Pass Without Trace as a spell but give Rangers the ability to physically cover a party's tracks. Look at adding in a magical herbs subsystem. And so on.

Want Assassins to be mechanically unique? Ban poison use for everyone else (or at least make it really damn risky!), and-or make Assassins the only class that can, on a decent roll, outright kill an unaware opponent without regard for how many hit points it has at the time.

doctorbadwolf said:

Oh, id probably base the entire game on short rests as the main type of rest with every class getting their main thing back on a short rest, and then only really special or odd stuff, a d long rests can require a safe haven to even do.

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this.
either all are on Short rest or all are on Long rest counter.
when you have a spread of 0 to 5 short rests per Long rest, depending on campaign and/or DM, there is a huge imbalance between classes.

Give each primary spellcaster a nearly unique spell list, with no more than 10% of their spells potentially accessible by other classes (including subclass shenanigans).

Create more mechanics that are unique to a single class.

Create more classes that get zero spells or magical abilities before level 10.

Return of the Cavalier - really want a class where mounts are a mainstay and your mount can get better rather than just replacing it with a more powerful version (same thing for vehicles/vessels - they can level with more HP, additional abilities, etc. without having to be replaced or dump half your advancement into making them better). At the same time, I want to be able to ride Griffins, Dragons, Wyverns and the like and have it be fun instead of being punished for it.

Gunslinger class that can use guns and whatnot for those campaigns that want to move into Elizabethan Age/pike & shot era/Age of Piracy/Napoleonic or other eras/worlds where flintlocks, modern or even post-apocalyptic weaponry is available.

Runecasters who inscribe their spells physically into objects to enmagick them.

Truenamers who use the power of words to rearrange or control the world around them.

Monster PCs (I'd really like a Council of Wyrms settings that works, without having to water down Dragons)

fuindordm said:

Give each primary spellcaster a nearly unique spell list, with no more than 10% of their spells potentially accessible by other classes (including subclass shenanigans).

Create more mechanics that are unique to a single class.

Create more classes that get zero spells or magical abilities before level 10.

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Re: unique mechanics - I don't think that will really work well, it will just encourage multiclassing more. I'd rather abilities be available to more classes, but not just as good as X class so multiclassing isn't so appealing.

Re: More non-magic classes - yes, please!

Allow us to use objects other than dice to randomize the game.

I half homebrewed a "mathematician" class and a gambler subclass (alongside a geomancer and sacred numerologist) that used a deck of playing cards for their abilities.

Horwath said:

this.
either all are on Short rest or all are on Long rest counter.
when you have a spread of 0 to 5 short rests per Long rest, depending on campaign and/or DM, there is a huge imbalance between classes.

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Well I agree that this makes things easier to balance, but it also really limits the design space for classes. When we want to go 3.5 edition wild, then this is not really possible. Else you cant have the Book of 9 swords classes (which need to be per encounter) as well as the truenamer.

Also short rest, at least the 5e form, has the same problem as long rests, you dont know how many fights you have per short rest. So if short rest than "after each encounter" for me.

fuindordm said:

Give each primary spellcaster a nearly unique spell list, with no more than 10% of their spells potentially accessible by other classes (including subclass shenanigans).

Create more mechanics that are unique to a single class.

Create more classes that get zero spells or magical abilities before level 10.

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Any ideas for unqie mechanics? Thats what I am most looking for, with the rest I agree

Stormonu said:

Return of the Cavalier - really want a class where mounts are a mainstay and your mount can get better rather than just replacing it with a more powerful version (same thing for vehicles/vessels - they can level with more HP, additional abilities, etc. without having to be replaced or dump half your advancement into making them better). At the same time, I want to be able to ride Griffins, Dragons, Wyverns and the like and have it be fun instead of being punished for it.

Gunslinger class that can use guns and whatnot for those campaigns that want to move into Elizabethan Age/pike & shot era/Age of Piracy/Napoleonic or other eras/worlds where flintlocks, modern or even post-apocalyptic weaponry is available.

Runecasters who inscribe their spells physically into objects to enmagick them.

Truenamers who use the power of words to rearrange or control the world around them.

Monster PCs (I'd really like a Council of Wyrms settings that works, without having to water down Dragons)

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Yeah I dont see why there cant be a mount class, if there are also pet (sub)classes.

DnD goes wild tends to make me think of a lich flashing the adventurers...

As a shake up, rather than class specific, I'd like to see a shake up of the magic system affecting all classes that use it. Not sure to what exactly but maybe something like the old dragonlance saga system where magic becomes more freeform. It wouldn't exclude unique spells since there could easily be a selection of examples of what could be built, players could also build their own suite ofncommonly used spells but have the flexibility of making something up on the fly if needed.

Magic could be split up into domains that certain classes could choose from so if you really want to keep healing out of the hands of arcane magic users then you could.

The problems I can see with this system are that people would probably just use the examples or whichever handful of spells they come up with themselves. The times they do come up with something on the fly could slow things a bit at the table, they'd also need access to the creation rules which might be more problematic with pen and paper but automated tools might streamline it for groups which play with eletronic devices/online.

There are probably other reasons why games don't use similar systems, but I do like the concept of freeform magic.

Tigris said:

Any ideas for unqie mechanics? Thats what I am most looking for, with the rest I agree.

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Barbarian : already has rage which is unique and central to the class.

Bard : see @Steampunkette 's recent redesign.

Cleric : reduce spell power overall, increase the uses and power of channeling. I mostly forget channeling in bg3 because spells are more powerful. Get a new use of channeling when you role-play your god's tenet at a significant moment, but lose one if you violate your god's taboo.

Druid : wild shape is already unique and central but the extensive and powerful spells are too much on top.

Fighter - should be the only class able to use weapon mastery. The mastery system could unlock combos with bonus effects like some monsters (e.g. hitting twice in the same round unlocks bonus "rend" damage, trip then stun in the same round unlocks a chance of KO). They should also be able to purchase several combat feats and have access to some unique high-level feats.

Monk: already pretty unique

Paladin: could be the "aura" class. Simply having one around affects everyone with an ongoing effect: hope, despair, fear, revelation (no invis or stealth), etc. As you level up the aura increases radius and/or acquires secondary effects. Smite is ok, but it never needed to become a collection of spells.

Ranger: the stalker class that rewards exploration and prep. Gets bonuses to hit, damage, track, and understand an opponent after studying it or interacting with it prior to combat. Limited to +1/2 levels but stacks over time for any individual creature. Ex. Track an owlbear (+1), then hide and observe it for 10 min (+1) then explore its lair while it's gone (+1). When combat finally starts you're at +3 to hit and damage. Entirely skill-based, cannot be dispelled or disrupted. Also has abilities to help the whole party hide or set up ambushes.

Rogue: already pretty unique especially with sneak attack riders.

Sorcerer: too much like wizard. It could be the only class able to improvise spells. (E.g. a noun-verb system)

Warlock: already pretty unique.

Wizard: too much like sorcerer. It could be the only class able to maintain multiple concentration spells.