D&D General Vanity Frankenstein 5E: My homebrew D&D project [+]

[el-remmen]

I just went through and updated a bunch of the PDFs in the second post.

Some of them are just minor tweaks and changes to the classes and/or spell list, but in some cases I was getting told the PDFs were corrupt, so i had to re-render and upload them.

Please let me know if you try to view one and it doesn't work so I can try to address it.

At this point all the classes and subclasses are "done." I am continuing to do the work of trying to make stuff consistent and building the number or revised or new spells.

Some things I have done that people might find interesting:

• Got rid of any non-special/money cost material components and in many cases replaced them with the need for a focus. In some cases you need both a focus and a material component.
• All bardic inspiration dice can be added to damage now.
• Bards cannot cast another spell requiring their bardic focus (an instrument) while using a spell that uses that focus and required concentration. In other words, to concentrate on a bard spell you need to play music the entire time, you cannot cast another spell that requires the instrument (even if it is not a concentration spell) if you are already using it to maintain something else. Other spells that do not require the focus can still be cast while playing/concentrating.
• There is no such thing as a ranger spell list. Even the Warden subclasses which is the only ranger to get spells, chooses druid and mage spells and they then become considered ranger spells.
  • As such, I scrapped most existing ranger spells that don't already exist on other lists, adding one or two to the druid list.
• Got rid of "minimum 1" in most features based on an ability score modifier (in some cases kept "minimum 0"). If you have an average or lower Dex, for example,, don't take a Dex-based ability that will limit how much you can do it
• Related to that I re-added the 3E (and I think 2E) idea that to cast a spell you need to have an ability score that is at least equal to to 10 + the spell's level. Thus to cast first level mage spells you need an Int of at least 11 and need a 15 to cast 5th-level spells.
• Mage-Knights are like mages/wizards. But Arcane Trickster are like sorcerers and thus have a chance for wild surges when they cast spells because they are not as good at it.
• Sorcerers are an Int-based spell casted now. Bards and Warlocks cover Charisma fine, and Clerics and Druids cover Wisdom - so a second Int-based full caster made sense to me.

This is my working list of classes:subclasses in order of complexity (I will probably tweak the order/placement of some these, like Thief Rogue might go before Hunter Ranger)

Beginner
Fighter: :: Champion
Ranger: :: Hunter
Rogue: ::Thief
Berserker: :: Raider
Rogue: ::Swashbuckler

Intermediate
Berserker: :: Vanguard
Berserker: :: Ancestral Guardian
Cleric: :: Life
Cleric: :: Light
Bard: :: Valor
Bard: :: Lore
Cleric: :: Tempest
Cleric: :: War
Druid: :: Land
Druid: :: Sea
Druid: :: Stars
Fighter: ::Mage-Knight
Mage: :: Wizard
Monk: :: Mercy
Monk: :: Open Hand
Monk: :: Sword-Saint
Paladin: :: Devotion
Ranger: :: Warden
Rogue: :: Arcane Trickster
Warlock: :: Celestial Patron
Warlock: :: Fiendish Patron

Advanced
Bard: :: Eloquence
Cleric: :: Arcana
Cleric: :: Death
Cleric: :: Nature
Druid: :: Moon
Fighter: :: Battlemaster
Mage: :: Sorcerer
Paladin: :: Union
Paladin: :: Vengeance
Warlock: :: Primal Patron
Ranger: :: Beastheart


Happy to entertain feedback/questions!

 

[the Jester]

I have to say, this has a lot in common with my own "DnD Jazz" system. I like it- or at least what I have read so far.

I am also doing a ten level limit (inspired by E6), but my system is farther from 5e. I'm replacing a lot of character options with feats- including classes outside of the basic four, so Druid is a feat. I'm pretty happy with how it plays so far. I'll be watching this thread for more ideas and inspiration.

 

[TwoSix]

Browsing through some of the classes now.

Mage - I noticed it has 9th level spells on the "Old Magic" list, but I believe that feature only allows up to 8th level spells. (With the Transmuter-specific exception of True Polymorph.)

 

[el-remmen]

Yes. For now that is deliberate (with the idea being that 9th level spells could still be cast off ancient scrolls) but I may change that. Clerics can access 9th level spells through the Quest Spells feature (with limitations) - so I might in the interest of fairness.

 

[el-remmen]

One little consequence of changing a rule that I hadn't considered until today was that by making detect magic a cantrip (which I felt comfortable doing and removing as a ritual b/c now cantrips aren't guaranteed) I inadvertently removed it from the paladin list, since they get no cantrips!

What to do?

Easy. I just added detecting magic as an option to their divine sense, which make sense since I divided magic back into arcane and divine forms and they will be able to tell which it is. (the regular spell also does that).

 

[el-remmen]

I added a PDF of a section on Proficiencies, Skills, & Feats to the second post. It includes my take on rules for Weapon Mastery and Skill Specialties, along with Skill Challenges.

 

[el-remmen]

I've been slowly building a printed out black and white working version of these rules and keeping them in a three-ring binder (I find it easier to cross-reference and figure out what is missing in a print format + we'll need it for playtesting) and made draft table of contents, which I share images of below. [the page numbers are just placeholders for now).

Anyone have opinion on if Classes or Peoples (species) should come first?

 

[TwoSix]

Since the project seems to lean slightly in an old-school direction, I'd say stick with tradition and have Peoples first.

 

[Baron Opal II]

I have mine Abilities --> Ancestries (Peoples) --> Classes

 

[el-remmen]

let's say I want to divide damage types into two groups. one group is "physical" damage (fire, slashing, cold, lightning, poison, etc) what would be the "magical energy" group (force, necrotic, radiant, psychic) be called?