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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7956546" data-attributes="member: 7006">If you want to build a &quot;new&quot; class and find that the druid has a lot of what you want but not everything (or has stuff you don't want)... my advice would be to copy the Druid write-up into Word, and insert the Circle of the Moon mechanics into the proper places in the list.&nbsp; Thus you get your &quot;starting point&quot; for the class-- the Circle of the Moon Druid.At that point, you can start changing small features here and there to suit your needs.&nbsp; You cross out the rule you don't want and write in the replacement rule you do.&nbsp; This allows you to have a better idea of balance since you are only exchanging one rule at a time and can have a better sense if the rule you are putting in is about the same power as the one you are taking out.Then, you can add in roleplay requirements for certain features the class is giving you.&nbsp; So for instance in the Wildshape section you add in you have to have a piece of the animal you wish to skinwalk into.Finally... you can copy into Word the current Druid spell list for all levels (or probably you only need to go to like level 4 right now) and then start crossing off the spells you don't think fit the Skinwalker theme.&nbsp; Once you've done that... you can then go back into the PHB and see if there are any spells that the other classes get that you can add to this one.&nbsp; There probably will be a handful that make sense for it.&nbsp; You can then build the spell lists back up so you have about maybe 10-12 spells per spell level.You do all that... and you end up with a class that is pretty well balanced against the Druid (because you were self-balancing by feature as you went along).&nbsp; For some people it might look a lot like a Druid and they'd think the &quot;new&quot; class was unnecessary... but it doesn't matter what those other people think.&nbsp; So long as your player sees the Skinwalker as what they are looking for, how &quot;close&quot; it is to another class in the game doesn't matter a lick.But I also wouldn't allow another player to play a Druid in the same game.&nbsp; The overlap would be a little too much and one of the two would always feel like an also-ran.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7956546, member: 7006"] If you want to build a "new" class and find that the druid has a lot of what you want but not everything (or has stuff you don't want)... my advice would be to copy the Druid write-up into Word, and insert the Circle of the Moon mechanics into the proper places in the list. Thus you get your "starting point" for the class-- the Circle of the Moon Druid. At that point, you can start changing small features here and there to suit your needs. You cross out the rule you don't want and write in the replacement rule you do. This allows you to have a better idea of balance since you are only exchanging one rule at a time and can have a better sense if the rule you are putting in is about the same power as the one you are taking out. Then, you can add in roleplay requirements for certain features the class is giving you. So for instance in the Wildshape section you add in you have to have a piece of the animal you wish to skinwalk into. Finally... you can copy into Word the current Druid spell list for all levels (or probably you only need to go to like level 4 right now) and then start crossing off the spells you don't think fit the Skinwalker theme. Once you've done that... you can then go back into the PHB and see if there are any spells that the other classes get that you can add to this one. There probably will be a handful that make sense for it. You can then build the spell lists back up so you have about maybe 10-12 spells per spell level. You do all that... and you end up with a class that is pretty well balanced against the Druid (because you were self-balancing by feature as you went along). For some people it might look a lot like a Druid and they'd think the "new" class was unnecessary... but it doesn't matter what those other people think. So long as your player sees the Skinwalker as what they are looking for, how "close" it is to another class in the game doesn't matter a lick. But I also wouldn't allow another player to play a Druid in the same game. The overlap would be a little too much and one of the two would always feel like an also-ran. ;) [/QUOTE]

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