D&D 5E The "Faster Features" Variant (+)

Jediking · Oct 21, 2020

@dnd4vr

Barbarian: Rage damage could scale the same as proficiency bonus. Other classes seem to get more damage boosts (eg. monk scaled martial arts) so it's in line with them.
Fighter: saving throw bonuses will stack hard with Indomitable. Only +1, I'm sure play-testing will see how this goes.
Monk: seems to be the most difficult to condense.... I would personally keep Ki at level 2. But levels 1-2 go so fast it won't make a big difference.
Paladin: good, but I would change cantrip progression to same as Ranger.
Rogue: probably needs Sneak Attack scaling to jump once or twice to help keep up damage with other classes. Maybe skip 3d6 and just change it to 4d6 at level 5
Sorcerer: seems good, I can't think of OP metamagics but playtests will sort it out. Maybe add more Known spells (a common complaint about Sorcerers, but personal taste not really a balance issue)
Warlock: would be one of the harder ones to balance, especially with so many options and features. Pact of Blade - look at Ranger/Paladin. Chain - look at Druid. Tome - look at Wizard/Cleric.
I am not a fan of the Unstoppable Caster - but I hate dealing with Counter-Counterspells in combats so am pretty biased on that front.
Wizard: give them proficiency (or even expertise) in Arcana at first level. I'd rather swap Resilient Caster with something truly "wizard-ly" like skills, defence against illusions, etc rather than just a bonus in combat.

Umbran · Oct 21, 2020

I think this fails pretty solidly for the Wizard, whose major capstone as a character are spells, not other features.

Zaukrie · Oct 21, 2020

Umbran said:
I think this fails pretty solidly for the Wizard, whose major capstone as a character are spells, not other features.

My concern as well......maybe they need something new.

Stalker0 · Oct 21, 2020

So of course when I first read this I was like "oh no way that will be too OP", but having looked over the charts, its not nearly as bad as I thought, and actually looks quite promising (not compressing the spell levels greatly reduces the overall change to gameplay).

Here are my thoughts having read over the classes. While some things you'll shake out in playtesting I think there are a few things off the bat that stick out that can be addressed.

1) Barbarian: I would swap Persistant and Relentless Rage (relentless is a major increase in resiliency, too much for 6th level).

I would also consider dropping the 3 dice brutal crit, that is bringing a lot of extra damage to the party.

2) Druid: Archdruid as written is 100% broken. Its manageable at 20th level because of all of the other crazy stuff at that level, but its not savable at 10th. You could maybe do something like double the number of wildshapes available.

3) Fighter: Action Surge with 2 uses unchecked gives the fighter too much nova power. A simple fix, is to only allow 1 use per encounter. So it lets the fighter surge more often per day, but not in a single fight.

4) Monk: For Empty Body, you may want to allow the invisibility but not the astral projection. Going with your spell notion (ie not wanting to add high level spell "shenanigans"), that prevents the plane shifting ability.

I do think you can likely increase the monk's damage table, all of the other fighting classes are getting a solid increase, the monk could use some love their as well.

5) Paladin: I would swap aura improvements and improved divine smite. IDS is a large damage enhancer, worthy of a bit later in the progression. Aura Improvement is nice but it only changes frequency not power.

6) Rogue: Considering what all of the other fighting classes are getting, I really don't think evasion is OP.

7) Sorceror: My group has been using the "improved metamagic" ability for several campaigns, never had a single issue with it.

8) Wizard: Spell Mastery may be a little over the top for 10th, perhaps make it only 1st level at will. That is still really good, but shifts the curb just a bit.

9) General: I would put all the Extra attacks on the fighting classes back to 5th. This is the most important damage increase in the progression. At 3rd that really shakes up the CR calculation. It also shifts the needle towards fighters too much at the low levels where they are already quite good.

10) You may want to consider removing the last of the subclass powers from each class, unless you just want to handle subclasses on a case by case basis. Some of them give some "high level" type powers that are not immediately apparent until you start going through them. Example: Dragon Sorcerer's "always fly". Knocking out the highest level of the subclass powers could take out a lot of potential abuses in a single stroke.

Stalker0 · Oct 21, 2020

Umbran said:
I think this fails pretty solidly for the Wizard, whose major capstone as a character are spells, not other features.

In context though, this 9th level wizard is slinging 2nd level spells as cantrips...so yes his capstone is still spells

Laurefindel · Oct 21, 2020

Jediking said:
Warlock: would be one of the harder ones to balance, especially with so many options and features. Pact of Blade - look at Ranger/Paladin. Chain - look at Druid. Tome - look at Wizard/Cleric.
I am not a fan of the Unstoppable Caster - but I hate dealing with Counter-Counterspells in combats so am pretty biased on that front.

I had this reflex too. The counter-counterspelling gets annoying fast when your player still has a whole selection of 1st, 2nd, 3rd (and over) spell slots to fuel their fight with. But warlocks, specifically, have two spell slots per fight for a significant part of their career. Getting counterspelled as a warlock is actually rather frustrating; more than as any other full-caster class at any case. In the hands of any other full-caster, I'd say "not a fan" too, but for warlock I actually find this cool. And given that it is a 6th level class feature, I'm not too worried about multi-classing cheese; full casters give a lot to invest in 6 levels of warlocks.

NotAYakk · Oct 21, 2020

Laurefindel said:
I had this reflex too. The counter-counterspelling gets annoying fast when your player still has a whole selection of 1st, 2nd, 3rd (and over) spell slots to fuel their fight with. But warlocks, specifically, have two spell slots per fight for a significant part of their career. Getting counterspelled as a warlock is actually rather frustrating; more than as any other full-caster class at any case. In the hands of any other full-caster, I'd say "not a fan" too, but for warlock I actually find this cool. And given that it is a 6th level class feature, I'm not too worried about multi-classing cheese; full casters give a lot to invest in 6 levels of warlocks.

As an alternative, what if a counterspelled spell doesn't actually cost the slot?

I mean, in general.

For monsters this has almost no balance impact; few monsters use up their spell slots in a combat.

For PCs, it has a large impact on warlocks, and a far lesser one on everyone else.

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You could also refund a 1 level lower slot instead of the full slot when you are counterspelled.

This means if you counterspell the "one level 6 slot" you block the disintegrate (and don't just delay it).