5e Balance Tweaks

[Kithas]

That extra damage is a pittance compared to losing your capstone lvl 20 ability in either class. I think this is mountain/molehill for this situation.

the lvl 20's have always been really meh in my opinion, 4 sorc points? meh


back on topic;
Martial adept;
a fix I like better is keep it one dice and add;
-When you take the Attack Action on your turn you may forego one of your attacks to gain one Superiority Die. You lose this die at the beginning of your next turn.

this way it is a useful feat for people who aren't also battlemasters, and it adds a lot of versatility to battlemaster.

Charger;
I was thinking prof bonus+str mod but either sounds fine

Great weapon master;
I don't like that it can stack with polearm master, I would rather buff it and make it specific to versatile weapons used in 2 hands or GreatAxe, Greatsword, or Maul.
My version;
When you are wielding a versatile weapon in two hands, a greatsword, maul, or greataxe, you gain the following.
-Whenever you make an attack roll, before the roll you may take a -4 to the roll to add 8 damage to that atttack.
-You mix punches and kicks into your fighting in order to catch opponents off-guard. If you take the attack action on your turn as a bonus action you may make one unarmed strike.
-You have trained to use the hilt and cross-guard of your Great weapon defensively. When a creature within 5' of you damages you with a melee attack you may use your reaction to reduce the damage of the attack by your proficiency bonus+your strength modifier.

all the good weapon masteries add both a bonus action and a reaction. I'm really not a fan of the cleave bonus action as it is super narrow case. The unarmed strike is more flavorful and much more consistent. The reaction was to highlight that a great weapon would be more defensive than a polearm, deflecting attacks.

Polearm master;
We word the reaction like it is worded in sentinel and mage slayer. "You may make one melee attack." Letting it stack with Sentinel is still too good imo

Also we use a d8 for damage for all polearms. d10 vs 2d6/1d12 is just too small a price to pay for 10' of reach. This also puts the polearm master turn to 1d8per attack+1d4 for your bonus action, which is a lot closer to twf( usually 1d6 ec)'
we've been using this for several months and it feels right. Both my dm's opinion and mine(the most frequent polearm user)

I really like the revivify for pets for beastmaster, not sure if the rest is necessary :/

 

[Inconnunom]

- Delete the part about not suffering disad shooting in melee for Crossbow Expert (makes melee mostly obsolete)
- Delete passive perception altogether (broken mechanic)
- Change Devil's Sight so it doesnt work in magical darkness (OP). Add another minor benefit (I like Adv on initiative rolls - he sees glimpses of the future, as well as see in normal darkness, sort of "devil's sight").

I respectfully disagree with these entirely. I have no idea how you came to these opinions at all. Like, I'm trying to think of how you came to these conclusions but I have no idea.

 

[Inconnunom]

Great weapon master;
I don't like that it can stack with polearm master, I would rather buff it and make it specific to versatile weapons used in 2 hands or GreatAxe, Greatsword, or Maul.
My version;
When you are wielding a versatile weapon in two hands, a greatsword, maul, or greataxe, you gain the following.
-Whenever you make an attack roll, before the roll you may take a -4 to the roll to add 8 damage to that atttack.
-You mix punches and kicks into your fighting in order to catch opponents off-guard. If you take the attack action on your turn as a bonus action you may make one unarmed strike.
-You have trained to use the hilt and cross-guard of your Great weapon defensively. When a creature within 5' of you damages you with a melee attack you may use your reaction to reduce the damage of the attack by your proficiency bonus+your strength modifier.

all the good weapon masteries add both a bonus action and a reaction. I'm really not a fan of the cleave bonus action as it is super narrow case. The unarmed strike is more flavorful and much more consistent. The reaction was to highlight that a great weapon would be more defensive than a polearm, deflecting attacks.

This is pretty much an entirely new feat for versatile weapons and is no longer GWF.

Polearm master;
We word the reaction like it is worded in sentinel and mage slayer. "You may make one melee attack." Letting it stack with Sentinel is still too good imo

Also we use a d8 for damage for all polearms. d10 vs 2d6/1d12 is just too small a price to pay for 10' of reach. This also puts the polearm master turn to 1d8per attack+1d4 for your bonus action, which is a lot closer to twf( usually 1d6 ec)'
we've been using this for several months and it feels right. Both my dm's opinion and mine(the most frequent polearm user)
/

You only get one reaction, therefor only one opportunity attack. "You may make one melee attack" is redundant.
reducing polearm damage to d8 needlessly penalizes you. If you are comparing it to TWF, TWF should be buffed instead of penalizing other fighting styles.

 

[Kithas]

This is pretty much an entirely new feat for versatile weapons and is no longer GWF.

That was kinda the point, i dislike the cleave option and feel that it shouldnt stack with polearm master

You only get one reaction, therefor only one opportunity attack. "You may make one melee attack" is redundant.
reducing polearm damage to d8 needlessly penalizes you. If you are comparing it to TWF, TWF should be buffed instead of penalizing other fighting styles.

as in Sentinel and Mage slayer it is not listed as an "opportunity attack" therefore it doesnt stack with things that modify opportunity attacks. stated this...
The main reason for the d8 was to balance it with great weapons, not twf

 

[Inconnunom]

That was kinda the point, i dislike the cleave option and feel that it shouldnt stack with polearm master

as in Sentinel and Mage slayer it is not listed as an "opportunity attack" therefore it doesnt stack with things that modify opportunity attacks. stated this...
The main reason for the d8 was to balance it with great weapons, not twf

Just to make sure we are all looking at the same PHB...

Polearm master

When you take the Attack action and attack with only
a glaive, halberd, or quarterstaff, you can use a bonus
action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of
the weapon. The weapon’s damage die for this attack
is a d4, and the attack deals bludgeoning damage.
• While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, or quarterstaff,
other creatures provoke an opportunity attack
from you when they enter your reach.

Sentinel

You have mastered techniques to take advantage
o f every drop in any enemy’s guard, gaining the
following benefits:
• When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack,
the creature’s speed becomes 0 for the rest of
the turn.
• Creatures within 5 feet of you provoke opportunity
attacks from you even if they take the Disengage
action before leaving your reach.
• When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack
against a target other than you (and that target doesn’t
have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a
melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

GWF

You’ve learned to put the weight of a weapon to your
advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes.
You gain the following benefits:
• On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a
melee w eapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points
with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a
bonus action.
• Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon
that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a
- 5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add
+10 to the attack’s damage.

I still don't see your complaint about the opportunity attacks. Great weapons do fine on damage, especially with great weapon fighting style (2d6) or with race bonuses like orc extra damage die. Some classes can take advantage of certain weapons more than others, but that is to be expected. (we are also talking about 1 average damage here...)

I understand your reasoning about taking GWM -5+10 on your bonus attack with your polearm. It is a lot of damage, but it's also two feats. I disagree that it warrants throwing out GWM or even just for polearms.

 

[Kithas]

I still don't see your complaint about the opportunity attacks. Great weapons do fine on damage, especially with great weapon fighting style (2d6) or with race bonuses like orc extra damage die. Some classes can take advantage of certain weapons more than others, but that is to be expected. (we are also talking about 1 average damage here...)

I understand your reasoning about taking GWM -5+10 on your bonus attack with your polearm. It is a lot of damage, but it's also two feats. I disagree that it warrants throwing out GWM or even just for polearms.

Precisely what I was going for with Polearm mastery was to make sure it didnt stack with anything else that modifies opportunity attacks. I dont want sentinel or war caster to stack with it. Just as sentinel doesn't stack with itself or war caster.

For gwm
we are talking about 1 avg damage, between 1d10 and 1d12/2d6, 10' of reach is waaay more valuable than 1 average damage. 2 average damage? maybe
You can use gwf and orc dice with polearms too so theres no reason comparing it...
the issue I have is that RAW polearms are the only real way to go, you do more damage, more versatility and more range.
everything else is strictly worse

 

[mellored]

That extra damage is a pittance compared to losing your capstone lvl 20 ability in either class. I think this is mountain/molehill for this situation.

The sorcerer capstone is more sorcerer points per short rest.
The warlock gives you spell slots, that can be turned into sorcerer points on a shortrest.
So, no, you don't really lose anything.

What you trade is a level 6, and 7 lot. Which isn't nothing, but you gain a good bit more.

I do agree it's not a big issue. I will move it down to minor.

 

[mellored]

I mostly agree but would swap the -5/+10 mechanic for +1 Str (GWM) or +1 Dex (SS).

I would also:

- Delete the part about not suffering disad shooting in melee for Crossbow Expert (makes melee mostly obsolete)
- Delete passive perception altogether (broken mechanic)
- Change Devil's Sight so it doesnt work in magical darkness (OP). Add another minor benefit (I like Adv on initiative rolls - he sees glimpses of the future, as well as see in normal darkness, sort of "devil's sight").

Crossbow expertise i could agree with, as a minor thing.

i don't see any issue with passive perception.

I'm ok with devils sight. It gives warlocks a nice ability.

 

[mellored]

the lvl 20's have always been really meh in my opinion, 4 sorc points? meh


back on topic;
Martial adept;
a fix I like better is keep it one dice and add;
-When you take the Attack Action on your turn you may forego one of your attacks to gain one Superiority Die. You lose this die at the beginning of your next turn.

Not bad. But i think i'll stick with the simpler 2 dice.
It's still useful for anyone, including the battle master. He can easy burn though his dice with multi-attack.

I don't like that it can stack with polearm master, I would rather buff it and make it specific to versatile weapons used in 2 hands or GreatAxe, Greatsword, or Maul.

I don't see an issue. There's some negative synergy, since both give you a bonus action to attack, but you only have 1.

It's also not much more damage then +2 Str, which has it's other benifits like athletics checks.

I really like the revivify for pets for beastmaster, not sure if the rest is necessary :/

The ranger could use a bit more versatility. it's not more slots, just a few more prepared spells.

 

[Kithas]

The ranger could use a bit more versatility. it's not more slots, just a few more prepared spells.

but rangers dont prepare spells...
do you mean spells known?