Custom Races & Classes - Where to start?

[wlmartin]

Does anyone know of any recognized templates for designing Races & Classes?

I wondered if there was a balancing system for determining what factors to choose. (ie can it be any +2 to 2 abilities, or is there a rule.. if you remove the bonuses to 1 or both abilities (like Human) what can you replace it with?..)

And with class powers, how do you know how many [W] to give a power based on its level? Also if you give it an effect how does that effect the [W] value.

I would love to create a new class or a new race but am concerned that in doing so I would end up making it wimpy or over powered.


Anyone that can help?

 

[Pentius]

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[Unwise]

With the vast amount of abilities in 4th edition that you have to work with, there is really no reason to invent most things from scratch. It is very easy to just adjust where some bonuses go and which skills are class skills etc.

Powers are where things could get tricky if you did not have so much material to drawn on. If you want to make up a new power, just find something that is very similar and adjust it slightly. For instance, you want an area-effect mind-control power, for your new Witcherlock class, you just look through Psions/Invokers/Wizards high level powers until you see one that fits the bill. In this example, very very high level Invokers have an AE dominate. You look at what needs to be different about it and make the fiddly changes.

The trick is, with so many spells and powers what do you really need to create? There are very few abilities that need to be made from scratch. On that note, what classes really need to be made from scratch?

I think that general familiarity with the system tends to reveal its underlying assumptions, for instance: (very rough off the top of my head FYI)
- At-wills that do d10+stat damage have no cool effects
- At-wills that do d6+stat tend to have a nice effect with them (eg slow)
- At-wills that just do +stat have very nice controller or leader effects (eg -2def / allies that attack heal tiny bit)
- Encounters do +1[W] and have a nice effect like +prone, or +2[W], or no bonus damage and a strong effect (daze at low level, stun/dominate at high etc)


I have tinkered with building two classes from scratch that really did not have much in the way of good mechanics to base them on. One was a ranged arcane defender summoner. He created minions with at-will actions and used them to mark and create opportunity actions. The other was a doppleganger built in a manner similar to the vampire. He had lots of "the enemy makes a basic attack on themselves" powers, to reflect him stealing their abilities and using them against the monster. Other than these two, I am hard pressed to find something that needs to be made from scratch.

P.S. Think the tone here might sound like I'm poopooing on the idea of making stuff up. Quite the opposite in fact, I think 4th edition gives a great basis for making new powers/classes/races.

 

[FireLance]

My basic rule of thumb is to do a quick scan of the [role] [frequency] powers of the same level to get a general sense of the power level you should be aiming for.

If you have a specific [effect] in mind, check which other classes have similar abilities, at what levels, and at what frequency.

For both of the above, access to the online Rules Compendium is useful, but not necessary if you have the physical books.

If you would like feedback, you can start a thread in the Fan Creations and House Rules forum. If you do that and nobody replies, drop me a PM and I'll make an effort to do so.

 

[ceiling90]

I would look at any of the HoF* books.

- New Races: should follow the general ideas present in either of those books; though if you look the compendium, you can find more ideas and different implementations, along with extras and possible "no no's" presented under Fireclave's Guide - WotC breaks their own rules. You're free to do so too. The only caveat would be that if you break the rules, make it a compelling reason, be it fluff, or something interesting; but it's gotta work for the race; and I mean really work with it (I'm looking at you Shade).

- New Classes: should probably go with the ease and the more simplicity and focus of those present in the books. Doing a full AEDU class is pretty much... difficult, and more so compounded because another class will fill out your idea, but not actually fit your idea. I would think that it's better to imagine a very focused and flavor tied class; so that when creating it, you have a very good idea of what you want it to do; and so you can create exactly what you want it to do.

Thoughts: Races and Classes that are meant for general play, ie will fit into any world and the general points of light campaign, will be reviled, ridiculed, and generally ignored. A few might be accepted. But in general, the sheer number of races already present discourages many non-homebrewers from ever picking up a non-official race. Often times, they're just re-hashes or re-takes. I'm alright with that.

Personally, if you're going to do any of that, it should be tied in to a specific campaign world, where all the new things you created have a place, and weight behind them. But otherwise good luck.