Maybe a Paladin? I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with the whole of the whole Magical Girl genre but Paladin is the first thing to pop into my head after Warlock. Not sure.....
Though this is making me think of how to incorporate other anime into D&D....
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Mephista made me wonder when the Wild Shape became integral to druids in D&D. I don't remember the Wild Shape being a thing in AD&D or 2e. Frankly Wildshape is one of those class features I'd love to be able to see swappable into something like Ranger and Rogue and Barbarian. I mean some Wild Shapes seem to be robbing the Ranger of the Beastmaster's companion feature "just call them "cooler companion than Ranger".
What I'm saying is I like the idea of Wild Shape, I'm not particularly happy it's "the thing" associated with Druids, and also not happy it's anchored on Druids.
Druids had wild shape in 2nd Edition, but it wasn't emphasized nearly as much as their spellcasting ability was. Third Edition was the point where it became their really defining trait.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Okay, rethinking my stance now that I've actually, y'know... read and comprehended the question, I think a Circle of Stars Druid covers Magical Girl a bit better. There's the Starry Form ability to transform, although RAW it doesn't provide new clothes, but I think that's a harmless reflavor. Wild Companion covers the cute animal thing that shows up from time to time, although it's much more limited than a Warlock's Familiar. And Druid gives a good mix of attack and healing spells, which sounds about right for a Magical Girl. At the very least it's got moonbeam, which is thematically appropriate for the one Magical Girl anime I've seen more than 5 episodes of.
The only problem is, like we were all talking about earlier... it's weird that this theoretical magical girl can also just like... turn into a Velociraptor if she feels like it.
Maybe a Paladin? I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with the whole of the whole Magical Girl genre but Paladin is the first thing to pop into my head after Warlock. Not sure.....
Though this is making me think of how to incorporate other anime into D&D....
Really, you could reflavor a bunch of different classes to be magical girls- there are a ton of different types who have different specializations, from support spellcasters to melee brawlers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Okay, rethinking my stance now that I've actually, y'know... read and comprehended the question, I think a Circle of Stars Druid covers Magical Girl a bit better. There's the Starry Form ability to transform, although RAW it doesn't provide new clothes, but I think that's a harmless reflavor. Wild Companion covers the cute animal thing that shows up from time to time, although it's much more limited than a Warlock's Familiar. And Druid gives a good mix of attack and healing spells, which sounds about right for a Magical Girl. At the very least it's got moonbeam, which is thematically appropriate for the one Magical Girl anime I've seen more than 5 episodes of.
The only problem is, like we were all talking about earlier... it's weird that this theoretical magical girl can also just like... turn into a Velociraptor if she feels like it.
Maybe a Paladin? I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with the whole of the whole Magical Girl genre but Paladin is the first thing to pop into my head after Warlock. Not sure.....
Though this is making me think of how to incorporate other anime into D&D....
Really, you could reflavor a bunch of different classes to be magical girls- there are a ton of different types who have different specializations, from support spellcasters to melee brawlers.
I feel like Divine Soul sorcerer would work well for this, since Magical Girls seem to have cleric spell-type abilities, and the wings at fourteenth level are a classic anime thing.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
If we can't use Warlock then I would suggest a Sorcerer subclass. Magical powers but still a little limited because of spells known. Not so great for a melee fighty Magical Girls, but that would have to go over to Paladin I think.
This is why I think Warlock is really a better option as a base class. They can do magic spell girl (Tome) or melee girl (Blade) or magic pet girl (Chain). Heck you can even do the magical compact (Talisman).
Using existing options to make a Magical Girl, my inclination would be to go with an Armorer using the Infiltrator model w/ light armor, with the Homonculus infusion filling in as a helpful animal companion. Castings of Magic Missile will be tiara-shaped.
As it's own new option, I would probably make something with Charisma-based half-casting progression in line with the Artificer rather than Pally/Ranger, and probably give the base class a choice between leaning into it's spellcasting or martial aspects for combat effectiveness (though my actual preference would be to try to come up with something different from what's been done before). Subclasses could revolve around the elements, celestial bodies, or summoning minions. This is all off the top of my head so not much in details, but I could probably come up with more if I sat down and bashed my head into it...
...and, now this is slowly turning into homebrew project # 487... X _ X
None of this is on topic. Others have already asked the people stick to the topic of the original post, now I will as well.
On the original topic, I would like to see more elemental subclasses. They made the Wildfire Druid, I would like something like that for Earth. Perhaps as a Monk Subclass.
I definitely would like to see more elemental subclasses as well, especially for Sorcerers. I liked the Ideas of the UA Sea, Earth and Phoenix sorcerers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Wonderful transition. I don't think Magical Girls warrant their own class, but a subclass for sorcerer or bard would be cool. If that doesn't happen, you could always reflavor the bladesinger's bladesong as a transformation, or you could make the Spore Druid's symbiotic entity one as well (albeit with more death and fungi than Sailor Moon)
As for races, more Dwarf subraces of any type (except Gully Dwarves) are welcome.
Wonderful transition. I don't think Magical Girls warrant their own class, but a subclass for sorcerer or bard would be cool. If that doesn't happen, you could always reflavor the bladesinger's bladesong as a transformation, or you could make the Spore Druid's symbiotic entity one as well (albeit with more death and fungi than Sailor Moon)
As for races, more Dwarf subraces of any type (except Gully Dwarves) are welcome.
I still think that Divine Soul sorcerer is an excellent option for this. I'll break down the features.
Divine Magic: Cleric spells make for magical healing, as well as some other very Magical Girl-like spells. Favored by the Gods: This is basically classical hero luck, the character succeeding against incredible odds. Empowered Healing: Not super thematic, but it can be reflavored to be so. Angelic Form: I don't even want to know how many Magical Girls can sprout wings. Unearthly Recovery: Anime characters often have the ability to heal grievous wounds between scenes.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Wonderful transition. I don't think Magical Girls warrant their own class, but a subclass for sorcerer or bard would be cool. If that doesn't happen, you could always reflavor the bladesinger's bladesong as a transformation, or you could make the Spore Druid's symbiotic entity one as well (albeit with more death and fungi than Sailor Moon)
As for races, more Dwarf subraces of any type (except Gully Dwarves) are welcome.
I still think that Divine Soul sorcerer is an excellent option for this. I'll break down the features.
Divine Magic: Cleric spells make for magical healing, as well as some other very Magical Girl-like spells. Favored by the Gods: This is basically classical hero luck, the character succeeding against incredible odds. Empowered Healing: Not super thematic, but it can be reflavored to be so. Angelic Form: I don't even want to know how many Magical Girls can sprout wings. Unearthly Recovery: Anime characters often have the ability to heal grievous wounds between scenes.
Never thought of this, thanks! Anyways, let's move past the Magical Girl thing as it could fill another thread, hopefully, meant for the topic.
As I've said before, a frog race would be nice (other than Grung which is a little overpowered and isn't official, a slightly weakened version would be fine)
I'd like to see more lineages for PCs that are just plain weird. Failed Ceremorph, that gives you weird mind powers such as a mind blast that scales with level. Rakshasa progeny that can adopt new forms through cannibalism. An Ooze-form that can move through spaces and has an acid attack. I could probably keep going, just gimme more WEIRD stuff dammit!
I'd like to see more lineages for PCs that are just plain weird. Failed Ceremorph, that gives you weird mind powers such as a mind blast that scales with level. Rakshasa progeny that can adopt new forms through cannibalism. An Ooze-form that can move through spaces and has an acid attack. I could probably keep going, just gimme more WEIRD stuff dammit!
Oh, what about potential disease mutation lineages? Obviously you can have your Lycanthrope touched lineage and Dhampirs cover Vampirism. What about a lineage related to mummy rot, where the individual survived but is now a sentient pile of sand. Or a lineage based of the Chaos phage that causes the victims to die and be reborn as a Slaad. Instead, the person survives but becomes Slaad or Chaos touched in some way. Or a lineage mutated by the strange mucus and mind control powers of an Aboleth?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
I just want to remind everyone to stay on topic for this thread. If you can't or don't want to participate in the topic, please feel free to start a fresh new thread.
Hmm, on Topic, I'd like a Nightblade, or Ninja subclass for Rogue. For me a Nightblade is a Rogue who uses weapons and magic to kill. When I first thought of trying to play a Nightblade in D&D I looked at Arcane Trickster, but the AT's spells are mostly Enchanting/Illusion, then Phantom and Soulknife came out and while I'd love to play a Soulknife, it's still not a Nightblade. If I wanted to play a Nightblade the way I imagine it, I would have to go for Gloomstalker Ranger, but a Ranger isn't a Rogue.
Another thing I'd like, would be class/subclass specific Feats. As example I'm gonna use the Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer. There are 10 Dragons you can choose from, yet the class progression is the same for all of them, so I'd find it cool, if you could get different Feats, depending on what type of Dragon you chose. I looked at all the Adult Dragons to see what kind of traits/skills they had and thought of something like: Black, Bronze, Gold, and Green could get Amphibious to let them breath on land and under water. White could get Ice Walk
Not sure what to give to Blue, Brass, Copper, Red or Silver, as they didn't have any specific traits on their stat block aside from their Legendary Resistance.
None of this is on topic. Others have already asked the people stick to the topic of the original post, now I will as well.
On the original topic, I would like to see more elemental subclasses. They made the Wildfire Druid, I would like something like that for Earth. Perhaps as a Monk Subclass.
Elemental themes are really underrepresented in 5e sadly. All the elemental sorcerers apart from storm got axed for some ridiculous reason. Tasha's adding genielock has helped a bit.
I'm really wanting elemental paladin or ranger subclasses. An elemental themed half caster/martial is my ideal class.
I personally think the more variation the better. each player likes there character to be unique so the more options the better. i do understand people wanting to keep it old skl though :)
Hmm, on Topic, I'd like a Nightblade, or Ninja subclass for Rogue. For me a Nightblade is a Rogue who uses weapons and magic to kill. When I first thought of trying to play a Nightblade in D&D I looked at Arcane Trickster, but the AT's spells are mostly Enchanting/Illusion, then Phantom and Soulknife came out and while I'd love to play a Soulknife, it's still not a Nightblade. If I wanted to play a Nightblade the way I imagine it, I would have to go for Gloomstalker Ranger, but a Ranger isn't a Rogue.
Another thing I'd like, would be class/subclass specific Feats. As example I'm gonna use the Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer. There are 10 Dragons you can choose from, yet the class progression is the same for all of them, so I'd find it cool, if you could get different Feats, depending on what type of Dragon you chose. I looked at all the Adult Dragons to see what kind of traits/skills they had and thought of something like: Black, Bronze, Gold, and Green could get Amphibious to let them breath on land and under water. White could get Ice Walk
Not sure what to give to Blue, Brass, Copper, Red or Silver, as they didn't have any specific traits on their stat block aside from their Legendary Resistance.
I think a Ninja subclass would be a good addition. Assassin Rogue doesn't quite do the job and Way of Shadows Monk lacks the rogue's skills so the only way to really get that Ninja/Shinobi feel is to multiclass Rogue/Monk and since you have to go deep into both classes you have to wait a few levels to even start to get the character you want to play.
I don't know if it should be a Rogue subclass or a Monk subclass. I do heavily lean towards Monk subclass that gives an ability to use Ki to make a Sneak Attack though.
Ninjas are an odd duck, mostly because people expect them to do more than most folks would feel comfortable with a single PC doing. Like you said, Golaryn - people want a 'Ninja' to have the Rogue's deadly Sneak Attack, enhanced skill base, Expertise training, and slipperiness, but also all of the Monk's ki abilities, unarmored defenses, incredible speed, and everything else. A fantasy ninja, the way people want to play them, is a gestalt class, not a multiclass or subclass.
One possible recommendation, as a homebrew rule for people who want that Ninja Assassination feel from a Way of Shadows monk (i.e. the closest you'll ever get to a "Ninja" subclass) is to allow the monk to combine all their attacks into a single strike. Rather than rolling two hits plus Flurry for two more, let the monk roll a single attack roll. On a hit, they deal all their damage. On a miss, they flub and lose all their damage. Charge them ki for it and let them roll an extra MA dice or two in exchange for losing three attacks' worth of Dexterity damage, jigger the balance as needed, but that would be my fix. Would let people get that Ninja Shank they're looking for, and with Skill Expert and some background jiggery one can have the Stealth expertise and Thieves' Tools proficiency one is looking for to make a ninja.
Elsewise a base rogue is good for 'fighty' ninjas that are more about the assassination and combat superiority than other ninjas, while Way of Shadows is good for 'sneaky' ninjas that are more concerned with never being detected and ensuring their infiltrations go unnoticed.
EDIT: Mayhaps something like this
Way of Shadows, Optional 5th-level Class Feature: 'Blade of Silent Sorrow' As an action, you can strike with supernatural sureness and destroy your foe's vital points. While wielding a dagger or shortsword, you can spend up to two ki points and make a single attack roll against a target creature as an action. On a hit you deal the attack's normal damage, plus additional damage equal to three rolls of your Martial Arts die for each ki point spent to make this action. You cannot make any other attacks on any turn where you use your Blade of Silent Sorrow.
Overall I think you are right. Pop Culture has had a major impact on what people expect from the Ninja, myself included. I would want it to do way too much.
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She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
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Maybe a Paladin? I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with the whole of the whole Magical Girl genre but Paladin is the first thing to pop into my head after Warlock. Not sure.....
Though this is making me think of how to incorporate other anime into D&D....
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
Druids had wild shape in 2nd Edition, but it wasn't emphasized nearly as much as their spellcasting ability was. Third Edition was the point where it became their really defining trait.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Really, you could reflavor a bunch of different classes to be magical girls- there are a ton of different types who have different specializations, from support spellcasters to melee brawlers.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I feel like Divine Soul sorcerer would work well for this, since Magical Girls seem to have cleric spell-type abilities, and the wings at fourteenth level are a classic anime thing.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
If we can't use Warlock then I would suggest a Sorcerer subclass. Magical powers but still a little limited because of spells known. Not so great for a melee fighty Magical Girls, but that would have to go over to Paladin I think.
This is why I think Warlock is really a better option as a base class. They can do magic spell girl (Tome) or melee girl (Blade) or magic pet girl (Chain). Heck you can even do the magical compact (Talisman).
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Using existing options to make a Magical Girl, my inclination would be to go with an Armorer using the Infiltrator model w/ light armor, with the Homonculus infusion filling in as a helpful animal companion. Castings of Magic Missile will be tiara-shaped.
As it's own new option, I would probably make something with Charisma-based half-casting progression in line with the Artificer rather than Pally/Ranger, and probably give the base class a choice between leaning into it's spellcasting or martial aspects for combat effectiveness (though my actual preference would be to try to come up with something different from what's been done before). Subclasses could revolve around the elements, celestial bodies, or summoning minions. This is all off the top of my head so not much in details, but I could probably come up with more if I sat down and bashed my head into it...
...and, now this is slowly turning into homebrew project # 487... X _ X
None of this is on topic. Others have already asked the people stick to the topic of the original post, now I will as well.
On the original topic, I would like to see more elemental subclasses. They made the Wildfire Druid, I would like something like that for Earth. Perhaps as a Monk Subclass.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I definitely would like to see more elemental subclasses as well, especially for Sorcerers. I liked the Ideas of the UA Sea, Earth and Phoenix sorcerers.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
Wonderful transition. I don't think Magical Girls warrant their own class, but a subclass for sorcerer or bard would be cool. If that doesn't happen, you could always reflavor the bladesinger's bladesong as a transformation, or you could make the Spore Druid's symbiotic entity one as well (albeit with more death and fungi than Sailor Moon)
As for races, more Dwarf subraces of any type (except Gully Dwarves) are welcome.
I still think that Divine Soul sorcerer is an excellent option for this. I'll break down the features.
Divine Magic: Cleric spells make for magical healing, as well as some other very Magical Girl-like spells.
Favored by the Gods: This is basically classical hero luck, the character succeeding against incredible odds.
Empowered Healing: Not super thematic, but it can be reflavored to be so.
Angelic Form: I don't even want to know how many Magical Girls can sprout wings.
Unearthly Recovery: Anime characters often have the ability to heal grievous wounds between scenes.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Never thought of this, thanks! Anyways, let's move past the Magical Girl thing as it could fill another thread, hopefully, meant for the topic.
As I've said before, a frog race would be nice (other than Grung which is a little overpowered and isn't official, a slightly weakened version would be fine)
I'd like to see more lineages for PCs that are just plain weird. Failed Ceremorph, that gives you weird mind powers such as a mind blast that scales with level. Rakshasa progeny that can adopt new forms through cannibalism. An Ooze-form that can move through spaces and has an acid attack. I could probably keep going, just gimme more WEIRD stuff dammit!
Oh, what about potential disease mutation lineages? Obviously you can have your Lycanthrope touched lineage and Dhampirs cover Vampirism. What about a lineage related to mummy rot, where the individual survived but is now a sentient pile of sand. Or a lineage based of the Chaos phage that causes the victims to die and be reborn as a Slaad. Instead, the person survives but becomes Slaad or Chaos touched in some way. Or a lineage mutated by the strange mucus and mind control powers of an Aboleth?
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
I just want to remind everyone to stay on topic for this thread. If you can't or don't want to participate in the topic, please feel free to start a fresh new thread.
Thank you
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Hmm, on Topic, I'd like a Nightblade, or Ninja subclass for Rogue. For me a Nightblade is a Rogue who uses weapons and magic to kill. When I first thought of trying to play a Nightblade in D&D I looked at Arcane Trickster, but the AT's spells are mostly Enchanting/Illusion, then Phantom and Soulknife came out and while I'd love to play a Soulknife, it's still not a Nightblade. If I wanted to play a Nightblade the way I imagine it, I would have to go for Gloomstalker Ranger, but a Ranger isn't a Rogue.
Another thing I'd like, would be class/subclass specific Feats. As example I'm gonna use the Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer.
There are 10 Dragons you can choose from, yet the class progression is the same for all of them, so I'd find it cool, if you could get different Feats, depending on what type of Dragon you chose.
I looked at all the Adult Dragons to see what kind of traits/skills they had and thought of something like:
Black, Bronze, Gold, and Green could get Amphibious to let them breath on land and under water.
White could get Ice Walk
Not sure what to give to Blue, Brass, Copper, Red or Silver, as they didn't have any specific traits on their stat block aside from their Legendary Resistance.
Elemental themes are really underrepresented in 5e sadly. All the elemental sorcerers apart from storm got axed for some ridiculous reason. Tasha's adding genielock has helped a bit.
I'm really wanting elemental paladin or ranger subclasses. An elemental themed half caster/martial is my ideal class.
I personally think the more variation the better. each player likes there character to be unique so the more options the better. i do understand people wanting to keep it old skl though :)
Please visit the shop ---> https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EmperorsForge.
I think a Ninja subclass would be a good addition. Assassin Rogue doesn't quite do the job and Way of Shadows Monk lacks the rogue's skills so the only way to really get that Ninja/Shinobi feel is to multiclass Rogue/Monk and since you have to go deep into both classes you have to wait a few levels to even start to get the character you want to play.
I don't know if it should be a Rogue subclass or a Monk subclass. I do heavily lean towards Monk subclass that gives an ability to use Ki to make a Sneak Attack though.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Ninjas are an odd duck, mostly because people expect them to do more than most folks would feel comfortable with a single PC doing. Like you said, Golaryn - people want a 'Ninja' to have the Rogue's deadly Sneak Attack, enhanced skill base, Expertise training, and slipperiness, but also all of the Monk's ki abilities, unarmored defenses, incredible speed, and everything else. A fantasy ninja, the way people want to play them, is a gestalt class, not a multiclass or subclass.
One possible recommendation, as a homebrew rule for people who want that Ninja Assassination feel from a Way of Shadows monk (i.e. the closest you'll ever get to a "Ninja" subclass) is to allow the monk to combine all their attacks into a single strike. Rather than rolling two hits plus Flurry for two more, let the monk roll a single attack roll. On a hit, they deal all their damage. On a miss, they flub and lose all their damage. Charge them ki for it and let them roll an extra MA dice or two in exchange for losing three attacks' worth of Dexterity damage, jigger the balance as needed, but that would be my fix. Would let people get that Ninja Shank they're looking for, and with Skill Expert and some background jiggery one can have the Stealth expertise and Thieves' Tools proficiency one is looking for to make a ninja.
Elsewise a base rogue is good for 'fighty' ninjas that are more about the assassination and combat superiority than other ninjas, while Way of Shadows is good for 'sneaky' ninjas that are more concerned with never being detected and ensuring their infiltrations go unnoticed.
EDIT: Mayhaps something like this
Way of Shadows, Optional 5th-level Class Feature: 'Blade of Silent Sorrow'
As an action, you can strike with supernatural sureness and destroy your foe's vital points. While wielding a dagger or shortsword, you can spend up to two ki points and make a single attack roll against a target creature as an action. On a hit you deal the attack's normal damage, plus additional damage equal to three rolls of your Martial Arts die for each ki point spent to make this action. You cannot make any other attacks on any turn where you use your Blade of Silent Sorrow.
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Overall I think you are right. Pop Culture has had a major impact on what people expect from the Ninja, myself included. I would want it to do way too much.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master