I feel like the closest to broken thing I've come across is the custom lineage, the feat of variant human but keeping +2 stat and darkvision. Even so, not really unbalanced, just different.
Yeah, with the new custom Lineage, you can technically start with a stat of 18 by choosing a feat that grants a +1 bonus to the same stat you choose to put the +2 Racial bonus into.
Abjurer wizards using the same feat to pick up armor of shadows to keep a fully charged abjuration ward at all times.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but "Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell." and casting Mage Armor cost an action. Spending an action to have your ward regain 2 HP doesn't seem super crazy to me. That is also assuming that the DM would allow you to cast it multiple times on yourself without ending the spell effect first. It also does in fact count as casting a leveled spell, so no bonus action spell craziness for you if you do this. You are singularly committing to boosting your ward's HP by 2.
Shadow Armor is At Will, so cast it continuesly between combats or during rests, the Ward stays On untill you take a Long Rest,so you can easly abyse it to resplenish it between combats.
And since its at will, there's not much the DM can do about it, off course you don't do much else, thats the payoff.
"Gunther can you help us with something?"
"Nope i can't i'm recharging my Ward"
"...Well Ok... *muttering to himself* freakin useless Wizard, never helps with anything "
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
This feels like a half-way step towards a much more flexible character creation system. Perhaps that's co ing with 6e, perhaps, with online tools, 5e will just develop over time like an MMO. I'd be happy with that.
Somewhere here there's a great character generation system that allows for flexibility and creativity whilst maintaining some of the lore from D&D history. Somewhere there's a home-brew system for generating 5e characters with a points system - 5 points for Darkvision, 15 for a Feat etc. Whilst its a departure from 'traditional' D&D character creation it felt pretty balanced and very flexible and I wonder whether something like this and using racial packages that gave a discount from the total points cost of the individual elements of the package to encourage certain similarities in races could be a way forward.
This feels like a half-way step towards a much more flexible character creation system. Perhaps that's co ing with 6e, perhaps, with online tools, 5e will just develop over time like an MMO. I'd be happy with that.
Somewhere here there's a great character generation system that allows for flexibility and creativity whilst maintaining some of the lore from D&D history. Somewhere there's a home-brew system for generating 5e characters with a points system - 5 points for Darkvision, 15 for a Feat etc. Whilst its a departure from 'traditional' D&D character creation it felt pretty balanced and very flexible and I wonder whether something like this and using racial packages that gave a discount from the total points cost of the individual elements of the package to encourage certain similarities in races could be a way forward.
I don't think there are thousands of powers - many of them follow a pattern - extra 'racial' skill, darkvision yes or no, racial weapons etc. I think its doable.
Yes, the options for powerful combinations is there but... a) It's already there in differences between the races, b) there are ways of mitigating this - relatively easily in fact - and c) does it really matter anyway?
Funnily enough we have been playing a home-brew character generation where players could mix and match racial attributes with it going to the table for a vote if considered borderline too powerful and allowing players to use any variation of stat blocks just like Tasha's. It works very well and has created some truly memorable characters.
What's the point? Exactly because it's a roleplaying game. Why not? If you allow people to customise you open up more options, more flavour. If there happens to be a bit of inbalance so what? It means not all Dwarves are the same or all Halflings are Lucky - to me that's enhancing roleplaying not restricting it.
I think it could be managed (and actually done better than it has been in Tasha's). Tasha's has already moved in this direction so unless you're banning it at your table (which, of course is your call) then I think better to embrace fully and do properly. A phb style set race abilities system and an optional points-based fully customisable one.
I’m just banning it at my table, and undoing the erratas to Bladesinger, Booming Blade, and Green Flame Blade. I would have allowed the CFVs, but they are not available as an individual purchase option from DDB, so now I cannot even allow them. I might buy the Spells from Tasha’s, but honestly I don’t want to out of protest since I can just recreate them all as homebrew.
A point-based race design system is doable but will almost certainly either make some existing races impossible to reproduce or mean that most races have surplus points. Or you can do a combined race/attribute generation system (use point buy for stats, but also allow buying non-stat abilities with those points. And give more points, and make a starting stat value of 16 possible).
I’m just banning it at my table, and undoing the erratas to Bladesinger, Booming Blade, and Green Flame Blade. I would have allowed the CFVs, but they are not available as an individual purchase option from DDB, so now I cannot even allow them. I might buy the Spells from Tasha’s, but honestly I don’t want to out of protest since I can just recreate them all as homebrew.
The CFV is still out there as a PDF
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Abjurer wizards using the same feat to pick up armor of shadows to keep a fully charged abjuration ward at all times.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but "Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell." and casting Mage Armor cost an action. Spending an action to have your ward regain 2 HP doesn't seem super crazy to me. That is also assuming that the DM would allow you to cast it multiple times on yourself without ending the spell effect first. It also does in fact count as casting a leveled spell, so no bonus action spell craziness for you if you do this. You are singularly committing to boosting your ward's HP by 2.
Yup. Alarm accomplishes the same thing much more cheaply, as does just using the shield spell during fights. Burning a feat for a new way to recharge the ward with an action is a waste.
Alarm has a /time/ cost. You have to have the time to cast alarm long enough to cast it repeatedly. You can re-cast mage armor 6 times while on the move in the same time it costs you to cast alarm once, stationary. I've been in many situations where I have enough time to recharge my ward with armor of shadows between fights, and would not have been able to recharge with alarm.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Alarm has a /time/ cost. You have to have the time to cast alarm long enough to cast it repeatedly. You can re-cast mage armor 6 times while on the move in the same time it costs you to cast alarm once, stationary. I've been in many situations where I have enough time to recharge my ward with armor of shadows between fights, and would not have been able to recharge with alarm.
Strictly speaking, you don't have to stay still to cast it, you can continue walking and choose your target based on the area in range when you finish the cast. The time cost is usually 11 minutes rather than 1 though, as if you're using it to fill a ward, you'll want to cast as a ritual.
Alarm has a /time/ cost. You have to have the time to cast alarm long enough to cast it repeatedly. You can re-cast mage armor 6 times while on the move in the same time it costs you to cast alarm once, stationary. I've been in many situations where I have enough time to recharge my ward with armor of shadows between fights, and would not have been able to recharge with alarm.
That seems incredibly DM specific. I've had an EK abjuror (my avatar) in a Tomb of Annihilation for, literally, years, and have not once had that occur. Alarm works just fine out of fights, shield/PEG/absorb elements work just fine in fights. Obviously your mileage varies, but based on my experience burning a feat just for mage armor is an enormous waste.
I feel like the closest to broken thing I've come across is the custom lineage, the feat of variant human but keeping +2 stat and darkvision. Even so, not really unbalanced, just different.
Yeah, with the new custom Lineage, you can technically start with a stat of 18 by choosing a feat that grants a +1 bonus to the same stat you choose to put the +2 Racial bonus into.
Shadow Armor is At Will, so cast it continuesly between combats or during rests, the Ward stays On untill you take a Long Rest,so you can easly abyse it to resplenish it between combats.
And since its at will, there's not much the DM can do about it, off course you don't do much else, thats the payoff.
"Gunther can you help us with something?"
"Nope i can't i'm recharging my Ward"
"...Well Ok... *muttering to himself* freakin useless Wizard, never helps with anything "
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
This feels like a half-way step towards a much more flexible character creation system. Perhaps that's co ing with 6e, perhaps, with online tools, 5e will just develop over time like an MMO. I'd be happy with that.
Somewhere here there's a great character generation system that allows for flexibility and creativity whilst maintaining some of the lore from D&D history. Somewhere there's a home-brew system for generating 5e characters with a points system - 5 points for Darkvision, 15 for a Feat etc. Whilst its a departure from 'traditional' D&D character creation it felt pretty balanced and very flexible and I wonder whether something like this and using racial packages that gave a discount from the total points cost of the individual elements of the package to encourage certain similarities in races could be a way forward.
That seems very... strong.
When players get creative.
I don't think there are thousands of powers - many of them follow a pattern - extra 'racial' skill, darkvision yes or no, racial weapons etc. I think its doable.
Yes, the options for powerful combinations is there but... a) It's already there in differences between the races, b) there are ways of mitigating this - relatively easily in fact - and c) does it really matter anyway?
Funnily enough we have been playing a home-brew character generation where players could mix and match racial attributes with it going to the table for a vote if considered borderline too powerful and allowing players to use any variation of stat blocks just like Tasha's. It works very well and has created some truly memorable characters.
What's the point? Exactly because it's a roleplaying game. Why not? If you allow people to customise you open up more options, more flavour. If there happens to be a bit of inbalance so what? It means not all Dwarves are the same or all Halflings are Lucky - to me that's enhancing roleplaying not restricting it.
I think it could be managed (and actually done better than it has been in Tasha's). Tasha's has already moved in this direction so unless you're banning it at your table (which, of course is your call) then I think better to embrace fully and do properly. A phb style set race abilities system and an optional points-based fully customisable one.
I’m just banning it at my table, and undoing the erratas to Bladesinger, Booming Blade, and Green Flame Blade. I would have allowed the CFVs, but they are not available as an individual purchase option from DDB, so now I cannot even allow them. I might buy the Spells from Tasha’s, but honestly I don’t want to out of protest since I can just recreate them all as homebrew.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
A point-based race design system is doable but will almost certainly either make some existing races impossible to reproduce or mean that most races have surplus points. Or you can do a combined race/attribute generation system (use point buy for stats, but also allow buying non-stat abilities with those points. And give more points, and make a starting stat value of 16 possible).
The CFV is still out there as a PDF
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
Yup. Alarm accomplishes the same thing much more cheaply, as does just using the shield spell during fights. Burning a feat for a new way to recharge the ward with an action is a waste.
Alarm has a /time/ cost. You have to have the time to cast alarm long enough to cast it repeatedly. You can re-cast mage armor 6 times while on the move in the same time it costs you to cast alarm once, stationary. I've been in many situations where I have enough time to recharge my ward with armor of shadows between fights, and would not have been able to recharge with alarm.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Strictly speaking, you don't have to stay still to cast it, you can continue walking and choose your target based on the area in range when you finish the cast. The time cost is usually 11 minutes rather than 1 though, as if you're using it to fill a ward, you'll want to cast as a ritual.
That seems incredibly DM specific. I've had an EK abjuror (my avatar) in a Tomb of Annihilation for, literally, years, and have not once had that occur. Alarm works just fine out of fights, shield/PEG/absorb elements work just fine in fights. Obviously your mileage varies, but based on my experience burning a feat just for mage armor is an enormous waste.