Right off the bat... what is a Little Doctor and how does it work? Multiple features in this subclass mention a Little Doctor, but there's no explanation for what a Little Doctor is or how you use them.
Experimental Medicine is just a strictly worse version of the Experimental Elixir feature from the Alchemist subclass. It has all the same effects, except it also has two new failure options. The poison might be useable, but you still need to get a creature to drink it, whether that means forcing it down their throat or sneaking it into their drink or something. It's not even that much damage.
Triage feels needlessly complicated. It seems like just a less reliable means of casting cure wounds or revivify. It would have to be a serious emergency situation to even attempt this feature instead of just relying on healing magic or potions.
I don't know what the Artificial Organs are meant to do. It doesn't seem to provide any benefits except to creatures that have already lost a vital organ... and even then, it's unreliable, as it's possible it will just stop working in an hour. Unless you're playing in a game where the DM regularly has your allies undergo unnecessary surgery, I can't imagine this ever being used.
Overall I don't really see this subclass being particularly useful. If I wanted to be a healing-focused artificer I would probably just go for Alchemist, since its subclass features directly feed into making the class better at healing. It feels like this Doctor subclass is designed for a very, very specific homebrew campaign that includes a lot more minutia about health and medicine. In the majority of games, nobody needs new organs often enough to justify dedicating a whole subclass feature to the concept.
I guess I should have mentioned that the subclass is me attempting to make it fit for a world that has mystic elements in it but not outright magic so it's flavoring and balancing for that.
Experimental medicine is meant to be you make it but don't know the results and it's an experiment so there is a chance you could fail and get a dud or bad result.
With Triage again it's me trying to make something kind of realistic to replace a magical element and in real life if you are doing Triage you might end up making things worse if you aren't careful or someone could even die.
Artificial organs is something that should probably be replaced now that I look at it but I'm not sure what to put there as a 9th level feature.
I'll keep thinking on it and try to come up with something else for the 9th level but I'm open to suggestions just remember this is meant for world that doesn't really have magic.
Hmm... the Little Doctor link doesn't seem to be working.
I can see the flavor you're going for... it had the feel of something made for a low-magic setting. Like I said... Triage is only valuable if you don't have access to regular healing.
I think for the Experimental Medicine, especially if you don't get to know what it is before drinking it, then the things it does should be a lot better than Experimental Elixir. To justify the risk of poison, then the good results should be even better.
I think the Artificial Organs are really hard to use, but I think you could use a similar function to give temporary boosts. Even if it's just like... a +2 to ability scores or something.
I increased the hit points of the artificial organs and added a con boost I was thinking of changing it so that it has some sort of effect on the undead.
Okay, I can finally see the Little Doctor and honestly... it shouldn't be treated as a separate magic item. I had assumed that Little Doctors were going to be constructs and would have a creature statblock to justify keeping the feature separate from the subclass... but honestly you should scrap the magic item and just include all the rules for constructing Little Doctors in the subclass itself.
Also... wow, those are expensive. A Doctor Artificer would need to spend 100gp at level 3 just to be able to have Cure Wounds prepared... a spell that they can just get for free as a regular artificer. And they aren't even made without the possibility of failure... meanwhile, Battlesmith Artificer gets a battle robot for absolutely free in addition to get all of their subclass spells with no GP cost. Considering how much more expensive these are and how many chances for failure this subclass has, the features should be much more potent.
I think that's the main problem I'm seeing with this subclass... none of the features are good enough to justify the cost or risk of failure that other subclasses don't have to worry about. If you just get Little Doctors for free as part of a Long Rest, then they'd be fine. But if you need to spend real GP to produce them, then they should be much more powerful.
I added it to the subclass and made a free production part to it but left the cost for if the player wants to make more than the free amount.
Ooh, I like that idea. It's something I kind of wish the Alchemist artificer could do... they can only create more of their experimental elixirs by spending spell slots, but why can't they just make them if they spend the money for resources?
Instead of adding a new cost, I say just tie it into the Little Doctors. Something like, "As an action, you can destroy one of your Little Doctors to create an Experimental Medicine. You can choose which effect this medicine has, instead of rolling to determine it". This way you don't have to track separate resources, we already have a GP cost figured out for them.
The Little Doctor ability is confusingly worded. I would recommend re-writing it to be easier to understand. I'll take a crack at it, but tell me if I accidentally change the meaning of something.
You can create items to assist with various tasks performed as a Doctor Artificer. During a long rest, you can use metals, gears, and other components to manufacture a number of Little Doctors equal to 1/2 your Artificer level rounded down (Minimum of 1). You choose the level of each Little Doctor, but it cannot be greater than the level indicated in the Little Doctor chart.
When you use this ability, you may roll a d20. If a 20 is rolled on the die, you create an additional Little Doctor of a level less than the level indicated in the Little Doctor chart (Minimum level 1). Otherwise, half of the components that would have been used are lost.
I am also curious as to if the Little Doctor can do anything beyond what is explicitly stated in the other abilities. I picture them as being similar to the Homunculous Servants artificers can normal get, but if that is the case, I think they should have some basic abilities to move and do things on their own.
For Doctor Treatment, are you the point of origin of the spell, or is the Little Doctor? who is "casting" the spell? What does it mean for a Little Doctor to be "used" for something? Does the Little Doctor have to be within a certain range, or simply exist? I would like to know what precisely the idea for this ability is.
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I write homebrew and don't publish it. (evil, I know)
I already changed the wording some but I will take some of your wording because after looking at it I like it better. No one is using the spell per say it's more that the Little Doctor combined with the Doctor's knowledge is creating an imitation of the spell's effect. "Used" was meant to impress the idea that each Little Doctor is a one use item and is destroyed upon use I already fixed the wording on that too. the imitated spells have their normal range since the Little Doctor doesn't have an innate range since it can't do much on it's own. Like if a cleric tried to use it then they'd just get some fancy gloves. The idea behind the ability is to include it's creation in the subclass rather than have it as a separate item although the item is already made and I've been updating it alongside the subclass just so that it's not too confusing for anyone who already grabbed it.
Again the whole idea for the Doctor subclass and everything in it is a setting without true magic.
Thank you to everyone (both of you) for your suggestions.
It's an interesting concept but it just doesn't really work for 5e the way it is set up. It feels like it is designed for a different game system entirely. Artificers get spell slots, and can create magic items, the base class simply doesn't work for a setting without magic. You would need to build from Monk, Rogue, Fighter, or Barbarian (probably Rogue let's be honest) if you want a character for a setting without magic.
Notes:
The Resilience experimental elixir should be changed to provide temporary hit points rather than an AC bonus. AC bonuses are poorly balanced mechanics as the effect is non-linear, a +2 AC on top of an AC of 22 is very different from a +2 AC on top of an AC of 14, this is why AC bonuses are relatively rare in the game. In contrast temporary hit points are linear and constant in effect and non-stackable so won't break the game.
Artificial Replacement doesn't make any sense in the current rules of 5e, there is almost no way to lose a limb, organ, or body part and attacks do not target a specific part of the body. Furthermore just realistically... having a bag of all possible limbs / organs to instantly transplant into someone doesn't really make sense...
Triage likewise doesn't make any sense at all, why would you ever use it? If a creature is a 0 hp any healing spell is better than this (including Cure Wounds which a level 1 Little Doctor can provide), if a creature has died within the last minute Revivify is just so much better that this....
The Doctor Class for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond (dndbeyond.com)
trying to get help ironing this out.
Right off the bat... what is a Little Doctor and how does it work? Multiple features in this subclass mention a Little Doctor, but there's no explanation for what a Little Doctor is or how you use them.
Experimental Medicine is just a strictly worse version of the Experimental Elixir feature from the Alchemist subclass. It has all the same effects, except it also has two new failure options. The poison might be useable, but you still need to get a creature to drink it, whether that means forcing it down their throat or sneaking it into their drink or something. It's not even that much damage.
Triage feels needlessly complicated. It seems like just a less reliable means of casting cure wounds or revivify. It would have to be a serious emergency situation to even attempt this feature instead of just relying on healing magic or potions.
I don't know what the Artificial Organs are meant to do. It doesn't seem to provide any benefits except to creatures that have already lost a vital organ... and even then, it's unreliable, as it's possible it will just stop working in an hour. Unless you're playing in a game where the DM regularly has your allies undergo unnecessary surgery, I can't imagine this ever being used.
Overall I don't really see this subclass being particularly useful. If I wanted to be a healing-focused artificer I would probably just go for Alchemist, since its subclass features directly feed into making the class better at healing. It feels like this Doctor subclass is designed for a very, very specific homebrew campaign that includes a lot more minutia about health and medicine. In the majority of games, nobody needs new organs often enough to justify dedicating a whole subclass feature to the concept.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I guess I should have mentioned that the subclass is me attempting to make it fit for a world that has mystic elements in it but not outright magic so it's flavoring and balancing for that.
Experimental medicine is meant to be you make it but don't know the results and it's an experiment so there is a chance you could fail and get a dud or bad result.
With Triage again it's me trying to make something kind of realistic to replace a magical element and in real life if you are doing Triage you might end up making things worse if you aren't careful or someone could even die.
Artificial organs is something that should probably be replaced now that I look at it but I'm not sure what to put there as a 9th level feature.
I'll keep thinking on it and try to come up with something else for the 9th level but I'm open to suggestions just remember this is meant for world that doesn't really have magic.
Link to the Little Doctor https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/7121213-little-doctor I guess I forgot to put it in when making this request originally but I was at work so I was busy.
Hmm... the Little Doctor link doesn't seem to be working.
I can see the flavor you're going for... it had the feel of something made for a low-magic setting. Like I said... Triage is only valuable if you don't have access to regular healing.
I think for the Experimental Medicine, especially if you don't get to know what it is before drinking it, then the things it does should be a lot better than Experimental Elixir. To justify the risk of poison, then the good results should be even better.
I think the Artificial Organs are really hard to use, but I think you could use a similar function to give temporary boosts. Even if it's just like... a +2 to ability scores or something.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I increased the hit points of the artificial organs and added a con boost I was thinking of changing it so that it has some sort of effect on the undead.
Okay, I can finally see the Little Doctor and honestly... it shouldn't be treated as a separate magic item. I had assumed that Little Doctors were going to be constructs and would have a creature statblock to justify keeping the feature separate from the subclass... but honestly you should scrap the magic item and just include all the rules for constructing Little Doctors in the subclass itself.
Also... wow, those are expensive. A Doctor Artificer would need to spend 100gp at level 3 just to be able to have Cure Wounds prepared... a spell that they can just get for free as a regular artificer. And they aren't even made without the possibility of failure... meanwhile, Battlesmith Artificer gets a battle robot for absolutely free in addition to get all of their subclass spells with no GP cost. Considering how much more expensive these are and how many chances for failure this subclass has, the features should be much more potent.
I think that's the main problem I'm seeing with this subclass... none of the features are good enough to justify the cost or risk of failure that other subclasses don't have to worry about. If you just get Little Doctors for free as part of a Long Rest, then they'd be fine. But if you need to spend real GP to produce them, then they should be much more powerful.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I added it to the subclass and made a free production part to it but left the cost for if the player wants to make more than the free amount.
Ooh, I like that idea. It's something I kind of wish the Alchemist artificer could do... they can only create more of their experimental elixirs by spending spell slots, but why can't they just make them if they spend the money for resources?
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
The Doctor Class for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond (dndbeyond.com)
I should add an option for experimental medicine the only question is how to set up the cost so I'm open to suggestions.
Instead of adding a new cost, I say just tie it into the Little Doctors. Something like, "As an action, you can destroy one of your Little Doctors to create an Experimental Medicine. You can choose which effect this medicine has, instead of rolling to determine it". This way you don't have to track separate resources, we already have a GP cost figured out for them.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I'll change it to that instead of the 50gp I also need to fix the wording so that the Little Doctor gets expended when used.
The Little Doctor ability is confusingly worded. I would recommend re-writing it to be easier to understand. I'll take a crack at it, but tell me if I accidentally change the meaning of something.
You can create items to assist with various tasks performed as a Doctor Artificer. During a long rest, you can use metals, gears, and other components to manufacture a number of Little Doctors equal to 1/2 your Artificer level rounded down (Minimum of 1). You choose the level of each Little Doctor, but it cannot be greater than the level indicated in the Little Doctor chart.
When you use this ability, you may roll a d20. If a 20 is rolled on the die, you create an additional Little Doctor of a level less than the level indicated in the Little Doctor chart (Minimum level 1). Otherwise, half of the components that would have been used are lost.
I am also curious as to if the Little Doctor can do anything beyond what is explicitly stated in the other abilities. I picture them as being similar to the Homunculous Servants artificers can normal get, but if that is the case, I think they should have some basic abilities to move and do things on their own.
For Doctor Treatment, are you the point of origin of the spell, or is the Little Doctor? who is "casting" the spell? What does it mean for a Little Doctor to be "used" for something? Does the Little Doctor have to be within a certain range, or simply exist? I would like to know what precisely the idea for this ability is.
I write homebrew and don't publish it. (evil, I know)
I already changed the wording some but I will take some of your wording because after looking at it I like it better. No one is using the spell per say it's more that the Little Doctor combined with the Doctor's knowledge is creating an imitation of the spell's effect. "Used" was meant to impress the idea that each Little Doctor is a one use item and is destroyed upon use I already fixed the wording on that too. the imitated spells have their normal range since the Little Doctor doesn't have an innate range since it can't do much on it's own. Like if a cleric tried to use it then they'd just get some fancy gloves. The idea behind the ability is to include it's creation in the subclass rather than have it as a separate item although the item is already made and I've been updating it alongside the subclass just so that it's not too confusing for anyone who already grabbed it.
Again the whole idea for the Doctor subclass and everything in it is a setting without true magic.
Thank you to everyone (both of you) for your suggestions.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/1796267-doctor
What I've got it at now for the campaign I'm trying to use it in.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/1798159-doctor
It's an interesting concept but it just doesn't really work for 5e the way it is set up. It feels like it is designed for a different game system entirely. Artificers get spell slots, and can create magic items, the base class simply doesn't work for a setting without magic. You would need to build from Monk, Rogue, Fighter, or Barbarian (probably Rogue let's be honest) if you want a character for a setting without magic.
Notes:
The Resilience experimental elixir should be changed to provide temporary hit points rather than an AC bonus. AC bonuses are poorly balanced mechanics as the effect is non-linear, a +2 AC on top of an AC of 22 is very different from a +2 AC on top of an AC of 14, this is why AC bonuses are relatively rare in the game. In contrast temporary hit points are linear and constant in effect and non-stackable so won't break the game.
Artificial Replacement doesn't make any sense in the current rules of 5e, there is almost no way to lose a limb, organ, or body part and attacks do not target a specific part of the body. Furthermore just realistically... having a bag of all possible limbs / organs to instantly transplant into someone doesn't really make sense...
Triage likewise doesn't make any sense at all, why would you ever use it? If a creature is a 0 hp any healing spell is better than this (including Cure Wounds which a level 1 Little Doctor can provide), if a creature has died within the last minute Revivify is just so much better that this....