D&D 5E help me make a class

[Donpoohbear]

i want to make my own class i love summoning creatures so it hit me i could make a class based off of yugioh summing creatures of low cr sacrificing them for stronger ones and having spells to support/defend rather than attack.

 

[Donpoohbear]

bump

 

[Dausuul]

Two questions:

• The wizard's Conjuration tradition seems to fill this role already. What about it does not meet your needs?
• What help, specifically, do you want from the ENWorld community? We can offer feedback and suggestions, but you need to give us a little more to work on.

 

[Donpoohbear]

i guess im more so trying to make it a gamebler were even i wont know what my next spell will be . i think id also like to be able to capture creatures and objects for later use . this is a very new idea for me so id mostly like peoples suggestions ideas criticisms ect. on the matter to aid me in making this a realized balanced class.

 

[famousringo]

I don't know a damn thing about Yu-Gi-Oh, but I think a good place to start with this would be to look at the Moon Druid and Beastmaster Ranger. Some key points:

- Existing spells don't really support what you're trying to accomplish, so it needs to be a class feature, not a spellcasting feature.

- Druids that want to attack as a beast and rangers that want their beast to attack need to spend an action to do so. Similarly, your Summoner shouldn't be able to cast a spell and allow his summon to get full attack at the same time. A single attack from the summon might be possible as a bonus action, or as part of your own full attack, a la Beastmaster.

- Note that druids don't get to be a monster and cast spells at the same time until very high level. A Summoner needs similar restraints on spellcasting, perhaps by having a very restricted spell list, limited spells slots like a Warlock, or being a half-caster like the Beastmaster.

- Moon druid CR probably sets a good upper limit for what CR of creature it might be possible to summon, though it might need adjustment. Also note the limited uses per day.

 

[Donpoohbear]

ok so like something were i can summon a creature as my class abillity not a spell then my spell slots would be used for buffing/debuffing/healing ill need to read up more on concentration rules i think

 

[Jester David]

The problem with summoning is that it quickly breaks the action economy: the summoner takes their action and the summoned creature takes theirs. It doubles the spells or attacks each round.
They're also a hit point suck. Damage spent killing the summoned creature us damage not spent on the fighter or required to be healed by the cleric.

If I were designing a Pokemon trainer class, I'd remove 90% of the office from the class. It has spell slots but can't cast spells and is poor at weapon attacks. Instead, it summons a pet that can attack and cast spells using the summoner' shoots when ordered by the summoner (which is an action).
The pets would heal slowly and the summoner could sacrifice hit points to keep them up.
The pets should be mostly unique to the class, with higher level ones having a set spell list. So you summon the pet with the spells you need.

But this is just a loose framework designing the class would be a crazy amount of work.

 

[Sunseeker]

Some thoughts:

In YuGiOh, the card-players are limited in what they themselves can do and summon, if I remember the rules of the game correctly by some kind of power-point system. Lets look at spell-points or Ki as a model already in D&D.

We can then select a series of animal-companion type monsters already available to other classes as things you could "cast" based on your level and the number of points you have available. If the creature dies in combat, you lose the ability to summon it for 24 hours.

Basing off the show where the characters usually have goofy catch-phrases do funny movements with their arms and of course, need the cards, we can treat summoning as having a Vocal, Somatic and Material component (the latter being refunded when your creature dies). We can add on to that a "spellbook" ie: the armband type thingy that holds your cards and allows you to play them.

You'd end up being something between the Conjuration and Illusion schools in the Wizard class. I think you could probably do everything you want with the Wizard class as it is.

I suggest taking a look at the Summoner http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner from Pathfinder as a possible idea to work with. It's basically a wizard with a special pet that can appear as human or inhuman as you want, though you can't change its looks on the fly.

I agree with the other posters that this is going to require a LOT of work and I suggest you give a Conjuration/Illusion specialist Wizard a shot.

 

[MechaPilot]

As far as i know, the first real conjuration spells come into play at about the 3rd spell level with the Conjure Animals spell (which I affectionately refer to as Conjure Woodland Christmas Critters, in honor of South Park). So, the first required step that I see is designing lower level conjuration spells capable of summoning individual low CR monsters. Additionally, since summoning is this character class's thing, we have to find a way to make each of the spells not require concentration; otherwise, you would never be able to summon two creatures in order to sacrifice them to summon a stronger creature.

Unlike the Conjure Animals spell which is non-specific about what beasts are summoned, these spells should specifically summon a given creature (wolf, tiger, etc). Additionally, I would give the spell a material component requirement, which would require a card for that creature as the material component.

Alternately, you could create some kind of class feature that allows the character to attempt to imprint the spirit of a defeated low-CR creature on a magically prepared card. This would effectively be the same as allowing the character to tame and train defeated low-CR creatures and make them summonable.

 

[Donpoohbear]

this is all great suggestions