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The "Faster Features" Variant (+)
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<blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 8110980" data-attributes="member: 6987520"><p>Have you played a PC to level 20, to obtain your capstone feature and rejoice in newly found power and ability, only to have the adventure... end?</p><p></p><p>Have you played many campaigns, making it to level 10 or 12 even, just to find the adventure is suddenly over, and look at those higher lofty levels with utter longing for features you've never been able to play?</p><p></p><p>Well, after a lengthy discussion on the topic with some members of my tables, I decided to try a new variant: <em>Faster Features</em>.</p><p></p><p>The basic idea is simple: compress the access to all the features into levels 1-10, but <em>only</em> the access. Proficiency Bonus, Hit Dice, and other numbers associated with features, spell slots, etc. remain "as is".</p><p></p><p>The result, of course, is those lofty features in tiers 3 and 4 are now available in levels 6-10 (well... mostly, a few exceptions exist) and you can <em>actually</em> use them without having to trudge all the way up (only to find the fun snatched away!) or play in <em>over-the-top</em> epic styles of games, which frankly don't appeal to everyone (myself included!).</p><p></p><p>Now, will this impact things such as CR and encounter building? Sure, of course it will! But since your proficiency bonus and HD remain constant, you just get a lot more you can "do". How great an impact and if this is <em>really</em> a good idea will have to wait until the play-test begins. But, in the mean time the first draft is ready to share and what I will present below.</p><p></p><p>A note on multiclassing: you are limited to accessing only the first 10 levels of class features you obtain combined in all your classes. For example, if by level 20 you were a Fighter 3/ Rogue 17, you would have at most 3 levels of Fighter class features but then only 7 levels of Rogue class features (you would never get: Slippery Mind, Roguish Archetype feature (final), Elusive, nor Stroke of Luck; despite having 9d6 of sneak attack ( for a 17th level Rogue). In other words, if you never get ACCESS to the class feature, you never get the "other numbers" that might be associated with it, either.</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned this is a <em>first draft</em>, so please treat it as such. If the idea doesn't appeal to you, I respectfully ask you to move on. If, on the other hand, you like the concept or think it has some merit, please feel free to offer suggestions, balance-issues, etc. as you see fit. Constructive feedback is <em>always</em> appreciated. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Here are the prototype class tables (where new features have been added, descriptions are provided, and some homebrew/house-rule tweaking of numbers is present, of course).</p><p></p><p><em><strong>EDIT: All classes have been updated (10/24). The original tables were left for comparisons.</strong></em></p><p></p><p><strong><em>EDIT: Spell progressions for Paladins and Rangers have been increased to match full-casters. Spell slots per level were reduced to represent "half-casters". This was so spells like Find Greater Steed and Steel Wind Strike would be available for longer and could be enjoyed, as the concept of faster-features represents. It seemed ridiculous to us that a Wizard could use and enjoy a spell like Steel Wind Strike before a Ranger could, or that a Bard (via Magical Secrets) could use Find Greater Steed before a Paladin.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="Character Level Advancement"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127891[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Barbarian"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127658[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127892[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Bard"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127659[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127893[/ATTACH]</p><p>Metamagic was expanded outside of level 10 for the final two spells to keep the known spells more reasonable at higher levels. Some features were shifted slightly to make the access more continual.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Cleric"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127660[/ATTACH]</p><p>Added Destroy Undead (CR 5) because Vampire <em>Spawn</em> are not Vampires. <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 ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127894[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Druid"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127661[/ATTACH]</p><p>I've always loved the idea of a Plant wild shape, and increases the CR to 2 makes it better for non-Moon Druids. Beyond level 6 Moon Druids will still have higher CR shapes available, including plant.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127895[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Fighter"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127662[/ATTACH]</p><p>Yeah, AC/Save bonus is big, but you get it later. This is a <em>nod</em> to AD&D when fighters had the best saves and the AC bonus increases their survivability, thus making them better at fighting.</p><p></p><p>Extra Attack (3) at level 10 was deemed too strong, and so fell outside level 10 to level 15.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127896[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Monk"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127663[/ATTACH]</p><p>The added reaction to stand option makes sense to us for flavor.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127897[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Paladin"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127664[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127898[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]128051[/ATTACH]</p><p>The spell level progression was increased because it made no sense for spells like Find Greater Steed to wait until 13th level when it won't be of much use for long. This follows the philosophy of faster features--to give time to enjoy such things.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Ranger"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127665[/ATTACH]</p><p>Ranger will likely see a minor bump in spells known. 11 at level 20 is simply pathetic...</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127899[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]128052[/ATTACH]</p><p>The spell level progression was increased because it made no sense for spells like Steel Wind Strike to wait until 17th level when it won't be of much use for long. This follows the philosophy of faster features--to give time to enjoy such things.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Rogue"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127666[/ATTACH]</p><p>Since Evasion doesn't even cost your reaction, we house-ruled it to 1/4 damage on a success. Otherwise it is too strong for us, anyway.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127900[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Sorcerer"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127667[/ATTACH]</p><p>Although a couple metamagics can be combined, we liked the idea of being able to blend more--if you are willing to burn the sorcery points for it. If you can think of any <em>really</em> OP combos, please let me know!</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127901[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Warlock"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127668[/ATTACH]</p><p>Warlocks had a couple gaps that needed filling. Personally, I like the flavor of Unstoppable Caster for a Warlock and adding a second pact boon at higher levels allows the PC to expand a bit.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127902[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p>[SPOILER="Wizard"]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127670[/ATTACH]</p><p>I'm not sold on Resilient Caster, but we liked the concept in general and plugged it in for the first draft.</p><p></p><p>Getting a second use of arcane recovery allows Wizards to exceed more at spell casting, which is their primary focus IMO.</p><p><strong>Updated:</strong></p><p>[ATTACH=full]127903[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>That's it for now. A lot to take in and review if you care to. If not, no worries, we will be play-testing it sometime in the next month or so.</p><p></p><p>Thanks for reading! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DND_Reborn, post: 8110980, member: 6987520"] Have you played a PC to level 20, to obtain your capstone feature and rejoice in newly found power and ability, only to have the adventure... end? Have you played many campaigns, making it to level 10 or 12 even, just to find the adventure is suddenly over, and look at those higher lofty levels with utter longing for features you've never been able to play? Well, after a lengthy discussion on the topic with some members of my tables, I decided to try a new variant: [I]Faster Features[/I]. The basic idea is simple: compress the access to all the features into levels 1-10, but [I]only[/I] the access. Proficiency Bonus, Hit Dice, and other numbers associated with features, spell slots, etc. remain "as is". The result, of course, is those lofty features in tiers 3 and 4 are now available in levels 6-10 (well... mostly, a few exceptions exist) and you can [I]actually[/I] use them without having to trudge all the way up (only to find the fun snatched away!) or play in [I]over-the-top[/I] epic styles of games, which frankly don't appeal to everyone (myself included!). Now, will this impact things such as CR and encounter building? Sure, of course it will! But since your proficiency bonus and HD remain constant, you just get a lot more you can "do". How great an impact and if this is [I]really[/I] a good idea will have to wait until the play-test begins. But, in the mean time the first draft is ready to share and what I will present below. A note on multiclassing: you are limited to accessing only the first 10 levels of class features you obtain combined in all your classes. For example, if by level 20 you were a Fighter 3/ Rogue 17, you would have at most 3 levels of Fighter class features but then only 7 levels of Rogue class features (you would never get: Slippery Mind, Roguish Archetype feature (final), Elusive, nor Stroke of Luck; despite having 9d6 of sneak attack ( for a 17th level Rogue). In other words, if you never get ACCESS to the class feature, you never get the "other numbers" that might be associated with it, either. As I mentioned this is a [I]first draft[/I], so please treat it as such. If the idea doesn't appeal to you, I respectfully ask you to move on. If, on the other hand, you like the concept or think it has some merit, please feel free to offer suggestions, balance-issues, etc. as you see fit. Constructive feedback is [I]always[/I] appreciated. :) Here are the prototype class tables (where new features have been added, descriptions are provided, and some homebrew/house-rule tweaking of numbers is present, of course). [I][B]EDIT: All classes have been updated (10/24). The original tables were left for comparisons.[/B][/I] [B][I]EDIT: Spell progressions for Paladins and Rangers have been increased to match full-casters. Spell slots per level were reduced to represent "half-casters". This was so spells like Find Greater Steed and Steel Wind Strike would be available for longer and could be enjoyed, as the concept of faster-features represents. It seemed ridiculous to us that a Wizard could use and enjoy a spell like Steel Wind Strike before a Ranger could, or that a Bard (via Magical Secrets) could use Find Greater Steed before a Paladin.[/I][/B] [SPOILER="Character Level Advancement"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603578808399.png"]127891[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Barbarian"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603218780753.png"]127658[/ATTACH] [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603578847458.png"]127892[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Bard"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603218817157.png"]127659[/ATTACH] [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603578886153.png"]127893[/ATTACH] Metamagic was expanded outside of level 10 for the final two spells to keep the known spells more reasonable at higher levels. Some features were shifted slightly to make the access more continual. [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Cleric"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603218835073.png"]127660[/ATTACH] Added Destroy Undead (CR 5) because Vampire [I]Spawn[/I] are not Vampires. ;) [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603578969723.png"]127894[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Druid"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603218854011.png"]127661[/ATTACH] I've always loved the idea of a Plant wild shape, and increases the CR to 2 makes it better for non-Moon Druids. Beyond level 6 Moon Druids will still have higher CR shapes available, including plant. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579073308.png"]127895[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Fighter"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219061607.png"]127662[/ATTACH] Yeah, AC/Save bonus is big, but you get it later. This is a [I]nod[/I] to AD&D when fighters had the best saves and the AC bonus increases their survivability, thus making them better at fighting. Extra Attack (3) at level 10 was deemed too strong, and so fell outside level 10 to level 15. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579124915.png"]127896[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Monk"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219078785.png"]127663[/ATTACH] The added reaction to stand option makes sense to us for flavor. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579163526.png"]127897[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Paladin"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219095310.png"]127664[/ATTACH] [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579194335.png"]127898[/ATTACH] [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1604050399972.png"]128051[/ATTACH] The spell level progression was increased because it made no sense for spells like Find Greater Steed to wait until 13th level when it won't be of much use for long. This follows the philosophy of faster features--to give time to enjoy such things. [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Ranger"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219110301.png"]127665[/ATTACH] Ranger will likely see a minor bump in spells known. 11 at level 20 is simply pathetic... [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579234768.png"]127899[/ATTACH] [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1604050700412.png"]128052[/ATTACH] The spell level progression was increased because it made no sense for spells like Steel Wind Strike to wait until 17th level when it won't be of much use for long. This follows the philosophy of faster features--to give time to enjoy such things. [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Rogue"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219129527.png"]127666[/ATTACH] Since Evasion doesn't even cost your reaction, we house-ruled it to 1/4 damage on a success. Otherwise it is too strong for us, anyway. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579279040.png"]127900[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Sorcerer"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219145386.png"]127667[/ATTACH] Although a couple metamagics can be combined, we liked the idea of being able to blend more--if you are willing to burn the sorcery points for it. If you can think of any [I]really[/I] OP combos, please let me know! [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579348524.png"]127901[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Warlock"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219160480.png"]127668[/ATTACH] Warlocks had a couple gaps that needed filling. Personally, I like the flavor of Unstoppable Caster for a Warlock and adding a second pact boon at higher levels allows the PC to expand a bit. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579379246.png"]127902[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] [SPOILER="Wizard"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603219220531.png"]127670[/ATTACH] I'm not sold on Resilient Caster, but we liked the concept in general and plugged it in for the first draft. Getting a second use of arcane recovery allows Wizards to exceed more at spell casting, which is their primary focus IMO. [B]Updated:[/B] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1603579413517.png"]127903[/ATTACH] [/SPOILER] That's it for now. A lot to take in and review if you care to. If not, no worries, we will be play-testing it sometime in the next month or so. Thanks for reading! :) [/QUOTE]
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