Hey i would love to get some feedback about my homebrewed paladin subclass. I have never homebrewed something before so this is my first try and i tried to keep it balanced.
I call it Oath of Blood, where its mostly based around the idea of sacrificing your own lifeforce to help others. Please leave a comment on the subclass it self or on this thread with your suggestions. I would also loved if you would quickly answer the poll so i get a more broader spectrum, since i would love to improve it further.
I suggest posting this in the homebrew forum. That’s where the folks hang out who would be most likely to give feedback on this. Also, better to put the details in the post. Lots of people don’t like to follow links to 3rd party locations.
Hey i would love to get some feedback about my homebrewed paladin subclass. I have never homebrewed something before so this is my first try and i tried to keep it balanced.
I call it Oath of Blood, where its mostly based around the idea of sacrificing your own lifeforce to help others. Please leave a comment on the subclass it self or on this thread with your suggestions. I would also loved if you would quickly answer the poll so i get a more broader spectrum, since i would love to improve it further.
"sacrifice for the greater good" Is a tenet, then right below "Neither good nor evil" saying they are neutral always. these tenets as worded, contradict each other, you cannot sacrifice for the greater good while staying neutral. and you can't be neutral if you sacrifice always for the greater good. The Oath of blood even describes as "A person who has sworn this sacred oath by which whom he is bounded by blood to a person, deity, idea or following. Being bounded by blood means willing to sacrifice your own lifeforce to protect others." This does not seem neutral either.
Because I am a firm believer in you actually play the tenets of the paladin or your paladin becomes an "oathbreaker" and once a paladin breaks an oath to one god, what other gods would believe them to follow the tenets and oath to them? This is a problem. I like the overall concept. The blood empowerment... is the only thing that may or may not need tweaking besides the tenets. But i'd have to see that through playtesting honestly to see how impactful it really is. The tenets, is a problem from jump.
So after I typed all this I realized I was being pretty critical and didn't intend to be. I think you did a great job there and I love the concept and flavor of this. I do have some concerns about some of the mechanical features but I think you've got some cool ideas.
Blood Empowerment is confusing. Does it cost an action to activate, then any time after for a minute that you can use your bonus action to empower your next spell? Or is it a bonus action to use the ability then free whenever you cast a spell that heals or deals damage? The former isn't very good, and even the ladder doesn't feel very good on a Paladin. Action economy, spell slots, and your own health is a steep price. At level 3 when you get this, you have 3 spell slots and likely around 25 to 31 hit points. If you use this ability, you are going to lose around 3-24 hp to heal/deal that much extra. It also kinda forces you to cast spells that heal or deal damage after you use the ability. If you take the Fighting style that gives you cantrips, you can use it 10 times in that minute. Is that intended? It might be broken if it is at higher levels. If you chose to keep this as is, I'd add language about it only working with spells first level or higher.
My two main issues - 1. It feels more like a cleric ability. It would certainly be better there. Paladin's don't generally cast a ton of damage or healing spells. They'll use Lay on hands to heal and mostly use smites for damage. The smite spells are ok and those will maybe see more use for this. 2. I don't really like that once you use this the paladin is basically forced to use spells for healing or damage for the rest of the encounter or it's basically a wasted ability. It's also a net negative ability. You're damaging yourself and using action economy to deal the same amount of damage or heal the same amount on someone else. Sure, if that little bit of extra healing means someone can survive another hit, or if that little bit of extra damage kills something, it's net positive. The issue is you're not going to know that's the case when you initially cast the ability.
If I were designing a similar ability, I'd use a bonus action to activated it for a minute, causing you to deal extra damage equal to your charisma modifier on spells, attacks, or added healing on healing spells, and have the paladin take the same damage. That would rain it in a little too. You know exactly how much you're hurting yourself.
Sanguine Shield is pretty bad. Paladins already have an aura that adds to saving throws. This is kinda redundant. I would do something else here.
If I were designing this feature, I would make it a defensive or utility feature. I think you had a good idea there with giving the paladin a defensive option. One offensive and one defensive just feels really good. I'd really focus in on that blood magic type stuff though. One thing I think would be fun would be a taunt/thorns type mechanic. For Example, using an action, you can force all creatures of your choice within 60 feet to roll a charisma saving throw. Living Creatures have disadvantage on the saving throw. On a failed save, the enemy has disadvantage on all attacks that target creatures other than you until the start of your next turn. Additionally, when you are hit by any attack, you deal necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier back to the attacker until the start of your next turn. Not really a defensive feature if you go this way but it's a pretty cool utility feature imho.
Aura of Bloodletting does something that I generally dislike- stealing a core feature of another class (in this case; barbarian) and giving it to another class. And this makes it even stronger by giving it to everyone within the aura's area and it's always on. It's extremely strong. I'd rethink this one. Maybe lean into that whole take damage to help the party concept. For example, maybe this aura empowers you to use your reaction to receive half the damage a friend takes to give them resistance to that damage type until the start of your next turn- including the triggering damage. That'd be interesting.
Sanguine Endowment is pretty good although changing the Channel Divinity options might mean you change this too. I think you can keep the what you have with the changes to channel divinity options I recommended. If you like my idea for the Sanguine Shield, consider giving the paladin temporary hit points instead of upping your armor class. That way it still decreases the damage you'll take, but won't hurt your ability to do that retaliate damage.
I like that you give something on top of buffs to the Channel Divinity options. I think you should reword it though. If you gain proficiency in perception, you also effectively gain proficiency in your passive perception. You don't need to specify it specifically. You might want to add language that you gain another skill if you already have perception. Or maybe you gain expertise in it.
Ultimate Sacrifice steps away from the usual convention for paladins level 20 ability which is fine, but generally level 20 abilities are super compelling. What you have is fine, but I'd really amp up this and put it in line with existing paladin subclasses. It's also worded weirdly. You need to specify if it's an action, what type of damage you're taking, is it to hit point total or current hit points, etc. Consider this revision:
At 20 level, sacrifice has been a major part of your life and giving your life force away to help others is nothing but second nature to you. You can transfer your own health to one willing creature and healing them for the same amount. As an action, you can deal any amount of necrotic damage to yourself and heal a willing creature for an amount equal to the damage you took. You regain the ability to use this feature again after you finish a long rest.
I like the idea a lot but I think this doesn't go far enough. It could be so much better and still be in line with the relative power of other subclasses.
Consider something like this:
Ultimate Sacrifice
20th – level Oath of Blood feature
At 20th level, you can, as a bonus action or reaction to a creature you can see dying, surround yourself in blood gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
Your melee weapon attacks deal additional damage equal to your Charisma Modifier. On a hit, you are also healed by an amount equal to your charisma modifier. If you would be healed beyond your hit point maximum, your hit point maximum also increases by this amount for the duration of this ability.
As an action, you can transfer your own health to one willing creature healing them. As an action, you can deal any amount of necrotic damage to yourself and heal a willing creature for an amount equal to the damage you took.
When a creature dies within 60 feet of you, you can siphon their blood to traverse the battlefield. Using your reaction, you can teleport to the location of the dying creatures corpse. You can also teleport if you use your reaction to activate Ultimate Sacrifice. When you emerge from the corpse, you are healed by an amount equal to your charisma modifier. If you would be healed beyond your hit point maximum, your hit point maximum also increases by this amount for the duration of this ability.
I think it's somewhat strong but not outrageous. It really dives into that blood mechanic and infuses your level 20 ability into it. It also gives interesting mechanics. You've given yourself a lot of extra hp? Heal someone for a ton. Already healed someone for a ton? Now you have ways to recoup that lost health.
These are just my thoughts. Obviously feel free to ignore any or all of it. I just really liked the concept and wanted to throw in my thoughts!
Hey i would love to get some feedback about my homebrewed paladin subclass. I have never homebrewed something before so this is my first try and i tried to keep it balanced.
I call it Oath of Blood, where its mostly based around the idea of sacrificing your own lifeforce to help others. Please leave a comment on the subclass it self or on this thread with your suggestions. I would also loved if you would quickly answer the poll so i get a more broader spectrum, since i would love to improve it further.
Link to subclass
Much thanks and would love to see a comment soon.
LessThan3 <3
Don't Forget to Love all
<3
I suggest posting this in the homebrew forum. That’s where the folks hang out who would be most likely to give feedback on this.
Also, better to put the details in the post. Lots of people don’t like to follow links to 3rd party locations.
Thank you and i will. I'll post it over there as well and put some more details in there. Thank you <3
Don't Forget to Love all
<3
"sacrifice for the greater good" Is a tenet, then right below "Neither good nor evil" saying they are neutral always. these tenets as worded, contradict each other, you cannot sacrifice for the greater good while staying neutral. and you can't be neutral if you sacrifice always for the greater good. The Oath of blood even describes as "A person who has sworn this sacred oath by which whom he is bounded by blood to a person, deity, idea or following. Being bounded by blood means willing to sacrifice your own lifeforce to protect others." This does not seem neutral either.
Because I am a firm believer in you actually play the tenets of the paladin or your paladin becomes an "oathbreaker" and once a paladin breaks an oath to one god, what other gods would believe them to follow the tenets and oath to them? This is a problem. I like the overall concept. The blood empowerment... is the only thing that may or may not need tweaking besides the tenets. But i'd have to see that through playtesting honestly to see how impactful it really is. The tenets, is a problem from jump.
Blank
So after I typed all this I realized I was being pretty critical and didn't intend to be. I think you did a great job there and I love the concept and flavor of this. I do have some concerns about some of the mechanical features but I think you've got some cool ideas.
Blood Empowerment is confusing. Does it cost an action to activate, then any time after for a minute that you can use your bonus action to empower your next spell? Or is it a bonus action to use the ability then free whenever you cast a spell that heals or deals damage? The former isn't very good, and even the ladder doesn't feel very good on a Paladin. Action economy, spell slots, and your own health is a steep price. At level 3 when you get this, you have 3 spell slots and likely around 25 to 31 hit points. If you use this ability, you are going to lose around 3-24 hp to heal/deal that much extra. It also kinda forces you to cast spells that heal or deal damage after you use the ability. If you take the Fighting style that gives you cantrips, you can use it 10 times in that minute. Is that intended? It might be broken if it is at higher levels. If you chose to keep this as is, I'd add language about it only working with spells first level or higher.
My two main issues - 1. It feels more like a cleric ability. It would certainly be better there. Paladin's don't generally cast a ton of damage or healing spells. They'll use Lay on hands to heal and mostly use smites for damage. The smite spells are ok and those will maybe see more use for this. 2. I don't really like that once you use this the paladin is basically forced to use spells for healing or damage for the rest of the encounter or it's basically a wasted ability. It's also a net negative ability. You're damaging yourself and using action economy to deal the same amount of damage or heal the same amount on someone else. Sure, if that little bit of extra healing means someone can survive another hit, or if that little bit of extra damage kills something, it's net positive. The issue is you're not going to know that's the case when you initially cast the ability.
If I were designing a similar ability, I'd use a bonus action to activated it for a minute, causing you to deal extra damage equal to your charisma modifier on spells, attacks, or added healing on healing spells, and have the paladin take the same damage. That would rain it in a little too. You know exactly how much you're hurting yourself.
Sanguine Shield is pretty bad. Paladins already have an aura that adds to saving throws. This is kinda redundant. I would do something else here.
If I were designing this feature, I would make it a defensive or utility feature. I think you had a good idea there with giving the paladin a defensive option. One offensive and one defensive just feels really good. I'd really focus in on that blood magic type stuff though. One thing I think would be fun would be a taunt/thorns type mechanic. For Example, using an action, you can force all creatures of your choice within 60 feet to roll a charisma saving throw. Living Creatures have disadvantage on the saving throw. On a failed save, the enemy has disadvantage on all attacks that target creatures other than you until the start of your next turn. Additionally, when you are hit by any attack, you deal necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier back to the attacker until the start of your next turn. Not really a defensive feature if you go this way but it's a pretty cool utility feature imho.
Aura of Bloodletting does something that I generally dislike- stealing a core feature of another class (in this case; barbarian) and giving it to another class. And this makes it even stronger by giving it to everyone within the aura's area and it's always on. It's extremely strong. I'd rethink this one. Maybe lean into that whole take damage to help the party concept. For example, maybe this aura empowers you to use your reaction to receive half the damage a friend takes to give them resistance to that damage type until the start of your next turn- including the triggering damage. That'd be interesting.
Sanguine Endowment is pretty good although changing the Channel Divinity options might mean you change this too. I think you can keep the what you have with the changes to channel divinity options I recommended. If you like my idea for the Sanguine Shield, consider giving the paladin temporary hit points instead of upping your armor class. That way it still decreases the damage you'll take, but won't hurt your ability to do that retaliate damage.
I like that you give something on top of buffs to the Channel Divinity options. I think you should reword it though. If you gain proficiency in perception, you also effectively gain proficiency in your passive perception. You don't need to specify it specifically. You might want to add language that you gain another skill if you already have perception. Or maybe you gain expertise in it.
Ultimate Sacrifice steps away from the usual convention for paladins level 20 ability which is fine, but generally level 20 abilities are super compelling. What you have is fine, but I'd really amp up this and put it in line with existing paladin subclasses. It's also worded weirdly. You need to specify if it's an action, what type of damage you're taking, is it to hit point total or current hit points, etc. Consider this revision:
I like the idea a lot but I think this doesn't go far enough. It could be so much better and still be in line with the relative power of other subclasses.
Consider something like this:
I think it's somewhat strong but not outrageous. It really dives into that blood mechanic and infuses your level 20 ability into it. It also gives interesting mechanics. You've given yourself a lot of extra hp? Heal someone for a ton. Already healed someone for a ton? Now you have ways to recoup that lost health.
These are just my thoughts. Obviously feel free to ignore any or all of it. I just really liked the concept and wanted to throw in my thoughts!
Fairly strong, especially the aura, but not too broken.