D&D (2024) What if you were in charge of reworking classes for 5.5?

[Horwath]

Monk's biggest problem, to me, is that it doesn't feel like a class built to do anything, but is just a pile of features that sound 'cool' and were used in previous versions of the game. I'd ask the Monk player what the fantasy they want to realize is and then build the Monk to do THAT and see if I can fit the legacy stuff into that goal. Nobody plays a marital artist class to 'lockdown the casters'.


So just one step removed from class-less then? I guess I should have said "the editor told you to keep the same classes or the fans revolt"

shhhh!

class-less is for 6E in 2034

patience young padawan

 

[payn]

Bard would be the only class. Every other archetype would be a sub-class of Bard.

 

[Stormonu]

This is pretty much my take for a 5.5 under construction:

Mjal's Mighty Tome - Classes & Races

Additional homebrew options for 5E

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

Things of note:

• Give the Barbarian a fighting style, with Reckless Attack being one of the styles
• Cut out Eldritch Knight and make a distinct fighter/magic-user class
• An option for the fighter to trade out armor proficiencies for Unarmored Defense
• Add more Fighter Battlemaster maneuvers and make some maneuvers available to anyone
• Improve on the Fighter Champion, making it more resilient
• Allow rogues to trade in sneak attack dice to add conditions to opponents
• Rework monk to lean into the martial arts and more choices during advancement
• Add a psion class that is a mix of 2E/3E abilities and 5E sensibilities
• Split out Origin and Subclass for the Sorcerer (along the lines of Warlock's Patron and subclass) and make a host of both
• Incorporate Eldritch Blast as a core Warlock feature to free up some Invocations
• Plenty of subclasses all around
• Several new conditions that I felt were missing such as Diseased, Burning, Frozen and Sleeping.

 

[Oofta]

Bard would be the only class. Every other archetype would be a sub-class of Bard.

They aren't now? I mean, we all know bards are masters of disguise?

 

[Jer]

No major changes. Add the Artificer to the PHB as a default class. Move the Ranger fixes from Tasha's into the core PHB. Leave everything else basically as is.

Oh, and add a Warlord class of course.

 

[Morrus]

True enough! It's a different philosophy to 5e's simplified design though

Well, you asked for “completely change the way the various classes work”!

 

[Oofta]

Huh. I wouldn't change much of anything. I'd tweak some rules, give strength based PCs more options (especially for ranged attacks). But beyond that, they work well enough.

 

[Horwath]

Huh. I wouldn't change much of anything. I'd tweak some rules, give strength based PCs more options (especially for ranged attacks). But beyond that, they work well enough.

I would just have more powerful bows, depending on STR rating, I would still keep precision(bonus to attack and damage) tied to dex.
For pure STR ranged option, we should get little buff to thrown weapons(more damage, little more range)

For bows, we could have:
str n/a: 1d4, range 60/240
str 8: 1d6, range 110/440
str 10: 1d8, range 150/600
str 14: 1d10, range 190/760
str 18: 1d12, range 230/920
str 20: 2d6, range 250/1000

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The 5.5 warlock would be a fusion of 5th warlock and 3.5 Binder. Each vestige would give an optional list of spell, and when you wanted to change your list of spells, then you should summon a different vestige.

 

[Parmandur]

High level:

- Artificer is now a Core Class. Mostly keep it the same.

- Barbarian is now called the "Beserker," and any wilderness versus civilization elements are moved firmly to Background.

- Monk is now called the "Mystic," and all fluff tied to Monasticism is firmly moved to Bqckground, along with all Orientalist themes being removed. "Ki Points" are now just Spell Slots, and the Mystic is essentially a half-caster equivalent to the Warlock.

- Ranger now takes their Subclass at Level 1, and the organizing principle is making "Favored Terrain" the Subclass: Subclasses like Forester, Highlander, etc.

- On that note, all Classes take their Subclass at Level 1, allowing Subclass to alter base flavor more.