Make sure you checked the comparison spoilers. In most cases a ki point is worth a 1st level spell slot. Sometimes a tax is added because of the short rest regeneration (see four elements monk)
For a sorcerer 2 sorcery points can be used to create a 1st level spell slot.
In your stated multiclass character concept, it would be appropriate to:
A) instead of gaining ki points gain 2 sorcery points.
B) regenerate half sorcery points on short rest.
C) when a monk feature calls for you to spend ki points treat it as calling for twice as many sorcery points instead.
D) change monk wisdom requirements to charisma or change sorcerer to wisdom.
I would take even levels between monk and sorcerer since you do not need high level spell slots to achieve the goal
I would then also make a double subclass that accounts for your level progression.
If we assume the first two levels taken is monk your level progression would look like this.
Level 1: monk proficiencies and saves, unarmored defense, martial arts.
Level 2: ki, unarmored defense, dedicated weapon (optional Tasha feature).
Level 3: +1 spellcaster level (multiclass spellcasting table), custom subclass feature 1.
Level 4: +1 spellcaster level, font of magic.
Level 5: custom subclass feature 2, deflect missiles, ki fueled attack (Tasha).
Level 6: +1 spellcaster level, metamagic.
Level 7: asi, slow fall, quickened healing (Tasha).
Level 8: +1 spellcaster level, asi.
Level 9: extra attack, d6 martial arts, stunning strike, focused aim (Tasha).
Level 10: +1 spellcaster level, magical guidance (Tasha).
Level 11: ki empowered strikes, custom subclass feature 3.
Level 12: +1 spellcaster level, custom subclass feature 4.
I'll leave it there because you get the idea.
There are some adjustments that could be made to the progression effectively making a custom class. See my "dead" levels, casting, and balancing post for additional guidance.
1)Move the asi growth to the normal growth.
2) space out the subclass features however you please.
3) fill out half caster class table with the features gained from the first ten levels of both sorcerer and monk.
4) retain feature scaling of monk features as if you were a single class monk.
5) use d8 hit die.
6) gain 2 sorcery points each level (regain them all on short rest).
7) male sure to get stunning strike at 5th level along with extra attack. (personally I would cap stunning strike to once per turn so it doesn't just eat all your sorcery points)
Additionally make sure you aren't getting features too early when you rearrange them to the table.
Some subclass ideas: Hangover: when you; become blinded, deafened, or are reduced to half your maximum hit points or lower, until the above listed conditions end you gain resistance to bludgeoning slashing and piercing damage and gain a +2 to attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes not made as part of flurry of blows.
Quick cast: when using flurry of blows you may spend an additional sorcery point to replace one of your unarmed strikes with a 1st level spell (don't consume a spell slot).
Weave into martial arts: when casting a spell with a range of longer than 5ft at a target within 5ft of you, you have advantage on the attack roll or the target has disadvantage on their saving throw.
Once you got it why don't you show me for me to check out. I'm currently writing my own ttrpg so my ability to dedicate time to homebrewing 5e is lacking. Honestly I think the character concept sounds really fun and interesting.
Thank you for your time.
I don't know why but I can't stop laughing at Mack's face. Sorry haha.
I never used heroforge but I'd say you did a good job on these.
Alright yeah, thanks for the breakdown. Currently I'm worried about current game balance even though everyone homebrews martials to have maneuvers for free anyway as of current... But this is useful feedback for me, as I think I'm in an outlier crowd who prefers combats lasting around 10 rounds but leaning towards more than less.
Fire stance I think can be tuned down to just wisdom or just prof yeah. And probably treat immunity as resistance. But I added the ignore resistance because I think by a landslide fire is the most resisted type, I might be wrong.
There are definitely options for what stats to focus on with this class, wisdom and dex as primary I think is the strongest but you can forgo wisdom entirely and go for intelligence or charisma, as long as you don't pick the options that scale off of wisdom. And because of the heavy armor proficiency and the option to use strength for your ancestral weapon (even if it's a longbow) you can build strength and pass up dexterity too.
Thank you, I spent a lot of time on this one. You think the stances are balanced as an at will ability? It's what I had in mind for it to begin with to bring the bulk of the versatility since the discipline is long rest and sparing.
The original version of left handed warrior was more flavorful than this incarnation. The original played with the honor mechanic a lot and was kind of skill monkey. The weasel is a kamaitachi by the way, a trickster who delights in the pain of others.
The other subclasses I had for it I didn't give lazy rewrites like I gave left handed warrior so they were mostly incompatible with this new version. I just wanted to push this one out because I've been silent for a while and needed more than one other opinion on the stances.
I think i could play with the idea of subclasses that lean into one stance over the others. I could recycle the left handed warrior and make it kami stance with the kamaitachi ally and abilities centered around it.
Anyway thank you very much.
Samurai V2.0 re-classes of sokoku vol.1
drive link
the samurai is a versatile martial class that channels the mystical arts of their ancestors.
please give feedback.
currently I'm thinking of restricting the uses of stances to one minute and a number of activations equal to 1/4 level rounded up, let me know what you think? and if you have any ideas for subclasses let me know?
and I'm sorry for not holding up to my commitment to writing the articles I promised. I will work on them but I got caught up in planning for the game I'm running and helping a friend with a project and reviving my classes of sokoku (a series of classes I made for a rokugan game some time ago)
Scaling stat blocks
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the parenthesis are areas to write in with pencil.
this one is a proof of concept that I drew up really quickly for my group, I'll run it by them and make revisions. but I'd like to have plenty of stat blocks in this format and maybe you would too, like a scaling brown bear for a moon druid. so let me know what monsters I should stat like this and I'll release them in a beta state to collect feedback before finalizing them for you.
thanks!
Yeah, I like it more than the common "make all martials battlemaster!" shout honestly. As much as I wish there were features that one could pick like a spellcaster picks their features in the form of spells.
I went all out for that game, it was set in rokugan (more like the OA Kara tur though) I made samurai, ninja, geisha, sohei, nomad, ronin, and I forgot how to spell the full caster option. It was almost as good as a fallout inspired game I ran with d20 modern a few years ago, I think I peaked with that one hahaha. It's about time I revisit my old stuff and rewrite it honestly.
topics I plan to cover in the next articles are; monster tactics, homebrewing monster actions and equipment, monster templates, and running large groups of monsters without bogging the game down, and if there is interest, using and balancing the conjure spells and animate objects that add a lot to the initiative without bogging.
thanks for reading! feel free to make any suggestions on what you'd like to see next as well.
Running monsters 1: commanders, shamans, and secondary objectives
I'll be writing more articles here so stay tuned if you're interested, and check out my previous articles below. ::: spoiler click to expand
Creating character kits instead of classes for 5e?
"dead" levels, casting, and balancing
How much is a ki point worth? an in depth look :::
now on to the article. I’ll address these topics in order, so,
starting with commanders.
Commanders can be used to keep low level monsters relevant as the party levels up, or to give uniqueness to specific enemy npcs. They also give the party a good secondary objective to combat that I will talk about later on.
Building a commander is simple, but they offer a lot more than just the monster; giving them individual motivations, styles of command, and names can go a long way for roleplay. Just don’t get too deep into the lore of one commander when it’s likely the party will hit first and ask
I like your thinking. Also have you read the most recent playtest? In it second wind is the limit break resource, at later levels they can use it to ad to skill checks and gain extra movement without provoking opportunity attacks, in addition they have weapon mastery properties that are control oriented.
I'm hoping that both the brawler fighter gets better buffs to improvised weapons in the final results and that alchemists fire doesn't change because that can be kind of crazy control for the fighter.
If you're interested though, I was thinking about rewriting a samurai class that was effectively fighter fueled by ki with eldritch invocations. It was a little too powerful in it's last build but faired just fine alongside the other classes I made for the game it was played in.
Psi Warrior 5e v1.5
v1.5 drive link
feel free to leave any feedback or questions but there are some specific points I would like feedback on. I’m looking for feedback for the spell list, mantle spells, and the bestial mind mantle. I feel like the bestial mind mantle is a little too powerful and would like some ideas on how to fix it.
the Psi warrior is designed to be a versatile half caster with the option to focus on martial combat or caster prowess. but also it’s to fill a gap in class themes without a convoluted psionic system or one poorly translated from 3e.
thank you for reading
Apologies but you are mistaken. Cantrips are not based on a specific ability score by themselves. Cantrips are spells and in each classes spellcasting section it specifies what ability score is used to cast spells from that class. Example, firebolt can be learned by sorcerer (cha) and wizard (int) and they both use their respective ability scores to calculate the spell attack modifier for firebolt.
As far as what you are saying with eldritch blast, you are probably forgetting that eldritch blast is powerful for the warlock because of agonizing blast. Furthermore, the new version of the spellslinger uses intelligence instead of wisdom and has a much reduced spell list.
Indeed at 1st level, 5th, 11th, and 20th, you should find that the spellslinger does have an ability to increase the damage of a cantrip. So their bonus damage will look like this (spell mod * x) + (2 * x) at level 1 x = 1 and x increases by 1 at levels; 5, 11, 20. At level 20 their spell mod should probably be +5 so the bonus damage would equal 28.
The reduction of crowd control options is not a concern, if you look at this caster in the manner you would a martial. Indeed that is what I intended for this class that it plays like a martial character and what crowd control options does a rogue have? Or a barbarian?
It is not just spell slots that I avoided in this class it is also spell levels. That is the intention.
Thank you for your feedback.
The first version of this class I made a mathematical breakdown for because it was at first just a proof of concept for a spellcaster without spell slots. I had based it directly off of the fighter and made sure it's damage output would not outpace the fighter, but of course between the levels 17 and 19 it did because cantrips scale at 5, 11, 17 whereas extra attacks for the fighter scale at 5, 11, 20.
While the damage was balanced against the fighter save for the problematic blade cantrips and an abuse of the wording for the classes damage boost using eldritch blast (the first version had every cantrip available to them) it outperformed the fighter by having more exploration and combat utility built into its primary attacks.
I replaced action surge with damage break, reducing the classes nova potential. I hope this will solve the issue with it outperforming the fighter. I also removed cantrips that can deal damage to multiple targets from it's list (save for acid splash) because a merit to the fighter is that with their consistent damage they can easily take down multiple lower CR creatures at once and that's something that shouldn't be intruded upon by the spellslinger.
I will argue that there is no best cantrip for combat because most have effects that would make them more or less effective in different situations. Chill touch for example deals d8 damage which is not the highest damage you can get with a cantrip it prevents the target from regaining hit points, shutting down any regeneration ability. Lightning lure can pull a target into an AoE. And ray of frost can slow a target from advancing, where many monsters don't have ranged options or have ranged options that are worse than their melee option.
I'll continue to work on it.
Spellslinger Mage v2.0
v2.0 Drive Link
A spellslinger mage is an arcane caster who masters the basic magic of the cantrip. they forgo learning how to use a limited number of leveled spells in order to learn how to use their cantrips with greater power and efficiency. in other words it's a spellcaster that doesn't use spell slots.
thank you for reading. any feedback is welcome but I am looking specifically for feedback about the break dice resource and if it now appears / feels distinct from the fighter.
v1.2.5 (old)
Psi Warrior 5e v1.1
drive link
any feedback on the subclasses, spells, and spell list is appreciated. you can leave a comment or send a private message. Thank you
the Psi warrior is designed to be a versatile half caster with the option to focus on martial combat or caster prowess. but also it’s to fill a gap in class themes without a convoluted psionic system or one poorly translated from 3e.
My next subclass I'm trying to figure out is kind of that. With a bonus to (all?) dexterity skills or being able to replace dex for int while in trance. And after preforming a successful attack with a ranged or finesse weapon they may break the trance to become invisible. It's still just an idea at this point.
I'll change it in the next update.
Thank you. Sorry I posted this just before passing out for the night haha.
I went down the list of skills and had psychic characters in mind, just checked them off until I had six to choose from. For sleight of hand specifically I thought most psychic characters end up being in some capacity tricksters. But persuasion or deception would probably have been better for the list huh?
Psi Warrior 5e v0.9
drive link
the Psi warrior is designed to be a versatile half caster with the option to focus on martial combat or caster prowess. but also it's to fill a gap in class themes without a convoluted psionic system or one poorly translated from 3e. it's the first one I've drafted that I'm happy with. I think the trance was a fun idea for a gimmick but I'm unsure if I executed it very well in the currently only available subclass, let me know?
feel free to leave any feedback or questions but there are some specific points I would like feedback on. I'm looking for feedback for;
the spell list. anything to add / take away?
the concept, does it have a strong enough identity? / how can I make its identity stronger?
and balance. is the autohypnosis feature too strong or too weak? are any of the new spells to strong or to weak?
Oh I'm really sorry I spaced on this. I got a little busy and need to prepare for a game I was invited to play.
That sounds really interesting though. It sounds like it would be a game full of really hard decisions. I don't know if you are into video games or not but if you are you should check out triangle strategy, it's got the same kind of political stuff going on as this setting you made.
Anyway, thank you for this interaction.
That's interesting. In your world are there other intelligent races / species? And do each of them use magic differently or are humans an only exception?
trails ARCUS unit rules 5e.
A friend of mine has been planning to run a game based on the trails game series and has proposed some interesting rules for the arcus units.
I realize the amount of crossover in the people interested in 5e and trails is probably very small so let me explain. An arcus unit is a small device that allows humans to channel the same magic monsters do. The unit uses small marbles called quartz, refined from rare minerals called sepith, to grant these powers. This is almost the only way to use magic as a human.
Charge points and prepared spells:
- Use the DMGs spell points optional rule but call them charge points.
- Every character can prepare up to six spells by placing quartz into their arcus units. These quartz can be exchanged for others that the character possesses upon completing a short or long rest.
- Quartz are magic items and not tied to any specific class, classes do not learn spells on their own and are unable to prepare them without quartz.
- The maximum spell level
Creating character kits instead of classes for 5e?
Introduction
When homebrewing in 5e sometimes you come across the problem of whether a concept has enough of an identity to be its own class or if it should be a subclass. And maybe there is a strong enough identity there for it to be its own class but it has so much overlap with another class that it doesn’t feel like it’s own. Or maybe it’s just for a character concept that can’t quite be achieved through multiclassing.
Well what if there was a homebrew option that could solve this? Well I can’t promise that character kits will solve all of these problems all the time, but it’s an interesting option to consider.
So what is a character kit?
A character kit is a set of modifications to a class that a character can choose that act as a give and take. They give the class a distinct identity while not changing the core aspects of the class or disrupting its compatibility with its subclasses.
The idea of a character kit is not new and neither is it mine. It comes from D&D
I apologize for the time between my posts. life get's in the way of hobbies sometimes.
if there is any other subject you would like me to discuss then let me know ok?
"dead" levels, casting, and balancing
“Dead” levels, casting, and balancing
Another article designed to help people homebrew in 5th edition.
When reading the players handbook or SRD you’ve probably noticed that each of the classes capable of casting spells have levels that there is nothing written in the “features” column of their class tables. You’ve probably heard this referred to as “dead levels” which, while not a very accurate name for it, is the common name and what I will be using for the rest of the article.
So why are there dead levels? And why do some classes have more of them than others?
The first one is easy, dead levels exist because gaining a new level of spell slot is considered a feature. After all, gaining a new level of spell slot is an increase in both number of options and power.
As for the second question. If you look closely, with only a few exceptions, the only times a caster gets a feature at the same time as a new level of spell slot is; when they gain their first level spell slot, wh
How much is a ki point worth? an in depth look
Introduction
When homebrewing, it is important to understand the values of the game resources both, for creating new ways to use them such as new spells, and for creating new resources as part of; subclasses, magic items, or new classes.
If you don’t care to read this whole discussion, the value of 1 ki is equal to one spell level in 9 out of 10 cases as shown by comparing ki abilities with spells. But that’s not all we will be discussing here, in addition we will look at how ki progression compares to spell progression of half and full casters.
side note: I have looked at the value of a ki point before and came to the same conclusion. But I thought I would do more comparisons to casters this time since I often hear a monk compared to a half caster and this comparison has been used to create full caster psionic classes.
base class comparisons
- Flurry of blows
Value: 1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes At level one we can expect this ability to be dea