D&D 5E Damage on a missed attack roll

[MiraMels]

At least one version of the Great Weapon Fighting Style during the 5e public playtest was "deal your strength modifier in damage to your target when you miss them with an attack with a two-handed weapon" or something like that. It was changed prior to release.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Why I'm asking is there is a player in my group who is using a 3pp character and this character does half his level in damage on a missed melee attack. I'm just wondering if there is a precedence for this kind of thing in 5e.

There's no mathematical difference between damage on a failed roll vs AC by an attacker and damage on a successful roll vs a save DC set by the attacker.

So plenty.

 

[cmad1977]

I mean... I wouldn’t allow a 3pp class in my games without a real hard look at it. Mostly because a lot of the classes in my experience lack play testing.

 

[TwoSix]

Disciple is the class name and the player had this to say about it "Homebrew from the Unearthed Arcana curated list". Not sure where he got from.

It's from the Reddit Unearthed Arcana subreddit's curated list of homebrew (reddit: the front page of the internet), which is material which has been vetted by the moderators to meet minimum requirements for presentation and balance. It's probably the best overall spot for homebrew online, as long as you look for stuff which gets a good amount of upvotes and has the creator involved with balance discussions within the post.

I looked over the Disciple, it looks pretty good overall. It's a fairly involved class, so there could be something in there that's problematic, but I don't think the "damage on a miss" ability is overpowered, mathematically. (Whether or not the flavor of the ability is a problem for you is a discussion for a dedicated subforum. )
It looks as though the specific ability is from the Blade Dancer subclass, in which the 3rd level ability lets you do Wisdom modifier damage when you miss with a weapon attack.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Dang! Too slow.

Disciple is the class name and the player had this to say about it "Homebrew from the Unearthed Arcana curated list". Not sure where he got from.

Oh, I know that one. For those who dont, it look a lot like the Swordsage from the Book of Nine Swords, some kind of mix between monk and a battlemaster. It uses ''maneuvers'' that are more or less the discipline from UA Mystic refluffed as martial techniques. The Disciple 2.1.pdf

Its not a terrible homebrew to be honest. I'm really not a fan of 3pp creations, but this one stands out IF you dont use the monk class in your game.

Now, for the question in the OP, I can say that ''damage on a miss'' is often seen in homebrew creations, but never in official stuff.

 

[jasper]

Let it stand for a while. BUT tell him some monsters may get the ability ad hoc. So occasionally the monsters hit him with a miss. If he gripes. It is a bad class.

 

[Garthanos]

Damage on a successful saving throw that bites terrible terrible design... burn it

 

[bedir than]

Fell-Handed Feat (UA) had this

Whenever you have disadvantage on a melee attack roll you make with the weapon, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to your Strength modifier (minimum of 0) if the attack misses but the higher of the two d20 rolls would have hit.

That UA is quite old and zero items from it have seen the light of day

 

[generic]

Fell-Handed Feat (UA) had this

Whenever you have disadvantage on a melee attack roll you make with the weapon, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to your Strength modifier (minimum of 0) if the attack misses but the higher of the two d20 rolls would have hit.

That UA is quite old and zero items from it have seen the light of day

I can see why the feat was never implemented, as all it does is make failed attack rolls when you have a disadvantage bite a little bit less. So... if I miss on a disadvantage, I get to deal a small bit of damage?

 

[bedir than]

I can see why the feat was never implemented, as all it does is make failed attack rolls when you have a disadvantage bite a little bit less. So... if I miss on a disadvantage, I get to deal a small bit of damage?

It had other benefits as well. The portion I shared was the only part similar to the question at hand.

I loved the Weapons/Tools Feats