I was cooking up a respec idea for my players, if they wanted to play more different classes and their abilities. A lot of players in my group a fairly new to DnD, and it's pretty light-hearted stuff. Here's a respec mechanic that I thought for them, please share your ideas if it's too unbalanced or not. Maybe I could use this in my other games maybe you could!
You can switch your skills around, as long as they remain in the same starting skills list from that class, for example a bargain cannot gain proficiency with arcana. If you switch a stat that has expertise in it, then that skill looses the expertise and becomes an ordinary skill. You cannot switch skills from your background.
For subclasses, you loose all abilities of the subclass you currently have and gain the abilities of that subclass. (Morally gets a bit strange for some classes but don't worry about it)
For classes, as long as you have the minimum prerequisites you can change your current class levels for another, if you fully switch into another class you replace your old saving throw proficiency for another (of the class that you respeced into), loose starting skills,loose old class abilities (this includes pets gained through these abilities, like the beastmaster ranger or the battle smith), spells known and spellslots of that class (if it had any).
You can swap your ability scores around, and place them in whatever order you like. You may also reduce one or multiple of your stats by an amount up to your proficiency bonus, and in turn you can increase your other stats by the reduced amount. You cannot give a stat more than 2 points, the stat that you reduce cannot be less than 6, and the one that you increase cannot exceed 20.
For example, a fighter wants to increase their Dex (16) so they decide to lower their Charisma (13). They are lvl 5 so the proficiency bonus is +3, they decide to also increase their Strength (13) a bit. After the reduction their stats are: Dex - 18, Strength - 14 Charisma - 10
The main drawbacks to using this mechanics that I thought of :
-Having the potion/ritual of respec cost gold equal to the player level times 75.
-The effects of the respec getting a while to kick in, a d4 days worth per level/ability/skill respeced/swapped
-Loosing some of the character memories, after several respecs the character become an NPC under the DM's control
-Some facial feature being changed, the general public might view that person differently now
With new players I usually just let them respec at will as long as it's between sessions. I don't see much point in being restrictive in this regard, they're still figuring out what they enjoy playing and sometimes they get disappointed by something that looked like a good fit but turns out not to be for them. Once we hit tier 2 play I expect them to have made their choice and to be able to commit to a character, but before that I'm pretty loose if it's a first campaign.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I will let my players just roll up whole new characters or redo them in between adventures. The primary downside is that you lose the magic items you've obtained. My group has a few people (including myself) who really like trying out different characters and will play 2-3 different ones throughout a campaign. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the player makes an effort to fit it into the narrative in some way.
I let my players respec when they want, but when they change something individual like a subclass I always make sure to be thorough. A lot of times, a player will respec and play their new character for a few sessions until we realize that there are some small quality of life changes from their previous subclass that we forgot to get rid of. Small things like that tend to slip by without you noticing. Also, be wary of the ability score changes. It could lead to some min-maxy overpowered characters.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
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You can switch your skills around, as long as they remain in the same starting skills list from that class, for example a bargain cannot gain proficiency with arcana. If you switch a stat that has expertise in it, then that skill looses the expertise and becomes an ordinary skill. You cannot switch skills from your background.
For subclasses, you loose all abilities of the subclass you currently have and gain the abilities of that subclass. (Morally gets a bit strange for some classes but don't worry about it)
For classes, as long as you have the minimum prerequisites you can change your current class levels for another, if you fully switch into another class you replace your old saving throw proficiency for another (of the class that you respeced into), loose starting skills,loose old class abilities (this includes pets gained through these abilities, like the beastmaster ranger or the battle smith), spells known and spellslots of that class (if it had any).
You can swap your ability scores around, and place them in whatever order you like. You may also reduce one or multiple of your stats by an amount up to your proficiency bonus, and in turn you can increase your other stats by the reduced amount. You cannot give a stat more than 2 points, the stat that you reduce cannot be less than 6, and the one that you increase cannot exceed 20.
For example, a fighter wants to increase their Dex (16) so they decide to lower their Charisma (13). They are lvl 5 so the proficiency bonus is +3, they decide to also increase their Strength (13) a bit. After the reduction their stats are: Dex - 18, Strength - 14 Charisma - 10
The main drawbacks to using this mechanics that I thought of :
-Having the potion/ritual of respec cost gold equal to the player level times 75.
-The effects of the respec getting a while to kick in, a d4 days worth per level/ability/skill respeced/swapped
-Loosing some of the character memories, after several respecs the character become an NPC under the DM's control
-Some facial feature being changed, the general public might view that person differently now
A couple of alternative solutions that may be easer:
- Allow them to multiclass.
- Run short adventures that only last 1 -3 sessions, and with each new adventure, they can roll up a new class.
With new players I usually just let them respec at will as long as it's between sessions. I don't see much point in being restrictive in this regard, they're still figuring out what they enjoy playing and sometimes they get disappointed by something that looked like a good fit but turns out not to be for them. Once we hit tier 2 play I expect them to have made their choice and to be able to commit to a character, but before that I'm pretty loose if it's a first campaign.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I will let my players just roll up whole new characters or redo them in between adventures. The primary downside is that you lose the magic items you've obtained. My group has a few people (including myself) who really like trying out different characters and will play 2-3 different ones throughout a campaign. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the player makes an effort to fit it into the narrative in some way.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I let my players respec when they want, but when they change something individual like a subclass I always make sure to be thorough. A lot of times, a player will respec and play their new character for a few sessions until we realize that there are some small quality of life changes from their previous subclass that we forgot to get rid of. Small things like that tend to slip by without you noticing. Also, be wary of the ability score changes. It could lead to some min-maxy overpowered characters.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert