I've never made homebrew before and I wanted to make a sort of rage/action surge mechanic for my character. I want it to tie in with the malfunction mechanic I'm using where casting a 1st level spell or higher means I have to get a 6 or higher on a d20 roll or the spell fails, and each time I succeed the minimum roll for failure increases by 1. I also, at 5th level, gain the ability to 'Overdrive' my tools by increasing my malfunction dc by more than normal. How would I go about making a mechanic where once per long rest I could either choose to Overdrive without drawbacks for one spell or something similar to action surge. How would I go about making this and how would I balance it?
It sounds like all you need is the text description in the subclass feature and an Action (either No Action or Special) with a reset type of Long Rest. Don't forget to back into the Action once you save it to set the Limited Use Data (button at the very bottom that does not show up until after you have saved the Action the first time).
If you have the complete text of the class feature, that might help determine what all is needed.
Yeah, adding an Action to either your 3rd level feature that comes online at 5th level, or adding it directly to the 5th level feature (depending on how you have it designed) should do it. A good note is that you no longer need to “go back into” the Action to add the Limited Use Data, after you [SAVE] the Action, simply scroll down and the new subform will be available for you to enter that data. Mairondil is right though, it’ll be easier to help you if you share the descriptions of your class features.
Oh that's right, you do have to save the Action first before the Limited Use Data button shows up, but it doesn't kick you out to the main feature screen.
Oh that's right, you do have to save the Action first before the Limited Use Data button shows up, but it doesn't kick you out to the main feature screen.
It used to kick us out, but they fixed that and it no longer does on the first save. Subsequent saves still automatically redirect to the main Feature page again though.
I changed the malfunction mechanic to work as such:
Home-made Tools
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, immediately after you cast a spell of 2d level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If you roll a 19 or below then the spell succeeds but your Malfunction counter increases by +1. Therefore, next time you cast a spell if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then your Malfunction DC increases by 1 again. Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 20. Once you cast a 2nd level or higher spell all none cantrip spells will need a malfunction roll in order to succeed, but 1st level spells will not increase the malfunction counter unless overdriven. If you roll a 1 on the Malfunction roll the counter resets, no matter what the counter is at. If you roll a natural 20, unless your Malfunction counter is at 0, the counter increases by +2. Once you complete a long or short rest the counter will reset to 0.
Is there any way to create this counter in DnDBeyond? or is it just a manual thing I will have to keep track of?
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, immediately after you cast a spell of 2d level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If you roll a 19 or below then the spell succeeds but your Malfunction counter increases by +1. Therefore, next time you cast a spell if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then your Malfunction DC increases by 1 again. Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 20. Once you cast a 2nd level or higher spell all none cantrip spells will need a malfunction roll in order to succeed, but 1st level spells will not increase the malfunction counter unless overdriven. If you roll a 1 on the Malfunction roll the counter resets, no matter what the counter is at. If you roll a natural 20, unless your Malfunction counter is at 0, the counter increases by +2. Once you complete a long or short rest the counter will reset to 0.
Overdrive
At 5th level, you can overdrive your spells and cantrips to increase their effectiveness but also increase their instability. On your turn you can choose to increase your Malfunction DC to overdrive a spell in one of the following ways:
+1 to your Malfunction DC to increase your spell’s raw force. If you roll damage for the spell when you cast it, you can add your Intelligence modifier to one of the damage rolls.
+2 to your Malfunction DC can double the spell’s spell’s range or area of effect (if applicable).
+3 to your Malfunction DC will increase the spell’s potency. Increase the spell save DC by 1.
This increase to your Malfunction DC occurs after you case the spell but before you roll your d20 to see if there is a Malfunction.
Fae Fury
At 7th level you gain the ability to use a burst of magic drawn from one's magical heritage that allows you to push yourself even further beyond. Once per long rest, you can draw on this reservoir of magic to either Overdrive a single spell without raising your Malfunction counter or if using a melee attack gain the ability to attack twice, with the attacks dealing an additional 1d6 fire damage.
Am I missing something, or is Home-made Tools just a straight penalty on its own? You get no benefit, but 5%+ of the time, your spell fails?
I would either give some benefit to offset this penalty (and then some - features are supposed to be a net positive), and/or have zero chance of malfunction until Overdrive is used and have only Overdrive as a mechanism for increasing the DC. Otherwise you're penalizing the artificer for simply casting spells.
I would also clarify what you mean by doubling area of effect. For instance, doubling the radius of a spherical area is not equivalent to doubling the side of a cube area.
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, Once you Overdrive a spell, immediately after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If the Malfunction counter has been increased, than the necessary roll for a save is decreased by an equal amount. Therefore, next time you cast a spell, if your Malfunction DC has been raised by +1, if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then the spell will succeed . Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 19.
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I've never made homebrew before and I wanted to make a sort of rage/action surge mechanic for my character. I want it to tie in with the malfunction mechanic I'm using where casting a 1st level spell or higher means I have to get a 6 or higher on a d20 roll or the spell fails, and each time I succeed the minimum roll for failure increases by 1. I also, at 5th level, gain the ability to 'Overdrive' my tools by increasing my malfunction dc by more than normal. How would I go about making a mechanic where once per long rest I could either choose to Overdrive without drawbacks for one spell or something similar to action surge. How would I go about making this and how would I balance it?
It sounds like all you need is the text description in the subclass feature and an Action (either No Action or Special) with a reset type of Long Rest. Don't forget to back into the Action once you save it to set the Limited Use Data (button at the very bottom that does not show up until after you have saved the Action the first time).
If you have the complete text of the class feature, that might help determine what all is needed.
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
My: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading WORKAROUND FIXED!!! (TY Jay_Lane for original instructions)
Yeah, adding an Action to either your 3rd level feature that comes online at 5th level, or adding it directly to the 5th level feature (depending on how you have it designed) should do it. A good note is that you no longer need to “go back into” the Action to add the Limited Use Data, after you [SAVE] the Action, simply scroll down and the new subform will be available for you to enter that data. Mairondil is right though, it’ll be easier to help you if you share the descriptions of your class features.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Oh that's right, you do have to save the Action first before the Limited Use Data button shows up, but it doesn't kick you out to the main feature screen.
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
My: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading WORKAROUND FIXED!!! (TY Jay_Lane for original instructions)
It used to kick us out, but they fixed that and it no longer does on the first save. Subsequent saves still automatically redirect to the main Feature page again though.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I changed the malfunction mechanic to work as such:
Home-made Tools
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, immediately after you cast a spell of 2d level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If you roll a 19 or below then the spell succeeds but your Malfunction counter increases by +1. Therefore, next time you cast a spell if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then your Malfunction DC increases by 1 again. Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 20. Once you cast a 2nd level or higher spell all none cantrip spells will need a malfunction roll in order to succeed, but 1st level spells will not increase the malfunction counter unless overdriven. If you roll a 1 on the Malfunction roll the counter resets, no matter what the counter is at. If you roll a natural 20, unless your Malfunction counter is at 0, the counter increases by +2. Once you complete a long or short rest the counter will reset to 0.
Is there any way to create this counter in DnDBeyond? or is it just a manual thing I will have to keep track of?
What I'm adding:
Home-made Tools
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, immediately after you cast a spell of 2d level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If you roll a 19 or below then the spell succeeds but your Malfunction counter increases by +1. Therefore, next time you cast a spell if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then your Malfunction DC increases by 1 again. Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 20. Once you cast a 2nd level or higher spell all none cantrip spells will need a malfunction roll in order to succeed, but 1st level spells will not increase the malfunction counter unless overdriven. If you roll a 1 on the Malfunction roll the counter resets, no matter what the counter is at. If you roll a natural 20, unless your Malfunction counter is at 0, the counter increases by +2. Once you complete a long or short rest the counter will reset to 0.
Overdrive
At 5th level, you can overdrive your spells and cantrips to increase their effectiveness but also increase their instability. On your turn you can choose to increase your Malfunction DC to overdrive a spell in one of the following ways:
This increase to your Malfunction DC occurs after you case the spell but before you roll your d20 to see if there is a Malfunction.
Fae Fury
At 7th level you gain the ability to use a burst of magic drawn from one's magical heritage that allows you to push yourself even further beyond. Once per long rest, you can draw on this reservoir of magic to either Overdrive a single spell without raising your Malfunction counter or if using a melee attack gain the ability to attack twice, with the attacks dealing an additional 1d6 fire damage.
Am I missing something, or is Home-made Tools just a straight penalty on its own? You get no benefit, but 5%+ of the time, your spell fails?
I would either give some benefit to offset this penalty (and then some - features are supposed to be a net positive), and/or have zero chance of malfunction until Overdrive is used and have only Overdrive as a mechanism for increasing the DC. Otherwise you're penalizing the artificer for simply casting spells.
I would also clarify what you mean by doubling area of effect. For instance, doubling the radius of a spherical area is not equivalent to doubling the side of a cube area.
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
How about this?:
Starting when you choose this specialization at 3rd level, your inventions can have a chance to malfunction caused by their handmade nature. The more you use your magical inventions the more likely malfunction becomes.
After each long or short rest, Once you Overdrive a spell, immediately after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, you must roll a d20. If you roll a 20, the spell will fail. If the Malfunction counter has been increased, than the necessary roll for a save is decreased by an equal amount. Therefore, next time you cast a spell, if your Malfunction DC has been raised by +1, if you roll a 20 or 19, the spell will fail. But if you roll a 18 or lower then the spell will succeed . Your Malfunction counter will continue to increase to a maximum of 19.