Skirmisher: I would let you move away as part of your Uncanny Dodge reaction once you hit 5th level, in addition to moving as a reaction if an enemy ends their turn next to you. That would allow you to get the option of moving after only eating a single attack (which you were probably going to use UD on anyway) rather than only being able to move away after an enemy pours their entire attack routine into you.
Survivalist: You should get two proficiencies of your choice if you already have Nature / Survival. That way someone building towards Scout won't have to choose between being bad at these at low levels or picking two wasted skills.
Superior Mobility: This should actually grant climb and move speeds rather than merely enhancing ones you already have. In addition, this is probably where I'd throw in a Cunning Strike enhancement - letting you use Withdraw either for free (no die cost), alongside another Cunning Strike option (which i or both.
Ambush Master: No change.
Sudden Strike: I would let you use the second sneak attack against the same target if it deals half damage. Otherwise unchanged.
mostly makes sense to me
my only concern is while the skirmisher seems a bit ehhh to me in standard, the move 15 feet away after taking half damage with no resource seems really strong. Not sure if its too strong, trying to think of points of comparison.
the ones I can think of with half movement are tied to a resource.
barbarian with rage BA
fighter tactical shift BA
bard inspiring movement. Reaction
inspiring movement is the closest, it uses a resource though, and is also ends turn.
perhaps if it was an either or proposition. you can choose to take half damage, or move half you movement.
but maybe its fine, just feels like it would become almost impossible to melee pressure a ranged rogue at all.
I get that, but to be fair, it's not all ranged rogues - I'd say being difficult to pressure is the Scout's claim to fame specifically.
I wouldn't be opposed to putting a "Proficiency Bonus times per X" limit on the ability to move during UD if doing it as an at-will reaction is too much.
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your special martial arts training leads you to master the use of certain weapons. This training also includes instruction in the deft strokes of calligraphy or painting. You gain the following benefits:
Kensei Weapons. Choose two types of weapons to be your kensei weapons: one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Each of these weapons can be any simple or martial weapon that lacks the heavy property. The longbow is also a valid choice. You gain proficiency with these weapons if you don't already have it. Weapons of the chosen types are monk weapons for you. Many of this tradition's features work only with your kensei weapons. When you reach 6th, 11th, and 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon – either melee or ranged – to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above.
Agile Parry. If you make an attack with a melee monk weapon or unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon. You gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated. You can be affected only by one agile parry at a time: the most recent one.
Kensei's Shot. You can use a bonus action on your turn to make your ranged attacks with a kensei weapon more deadly. When you do so, any target you hit with a ranged attack using a kensei weapon takes extra damage equal to your martial arts die. The extra damage is the same type as the weapon’s type. You retain this benefit until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all uses on a short or long rest.
Master of Weapons. Your training with weapons allows you to use the mastery property of two kinds of weapons of which you have proficiency. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can practice weapon drills and change one of those weapon choices. When you reach 6th, 11th, and 17th level in this class, you can choose another weapon to gain weapon mastery with, following the criteria above.
Way of the Brush. You gain proficiency with your choice of calligrapher's supplies or painter's supplies.
One with the Blade
At 6th level, you extend your focus into your kensei weapons, granting you the following benefits.
Empowered Kensei Weapons. Whenever you deal damage with one of your kensei weapons, it can deal your choice of force damage or its normal damage type.
Honed Strike. As a bonus action, you can spend 1 focus point to grant one kensei weapon you touch a +3 bonus to attack rolls when you attack with it. At level 15, this bonus increases to +5. This bonus lasts for 1 minute or until you use this feature again. This feature has no effect on a magic weapon that already has a greater or equal bonus to attack rolls.
Sharpen the Blade
At 11th level, you gain the ability to augment your weapons further with your focus.
Strengthened Strike. As a bonus action, you can spend 2 focus point to gain advantage on melee attacks for 1 minute. During this time, you deal extra damage equal to your martial arts die with your kensei weapons. The extra damage is the same type as the weapon’s type. You can use this feature three times. You regain two uses on a short rest, and all uses on a long rest
Empowered Critical. You can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with an attack with one of your kensei weapons. This increases to two additional dice at 17th level.
Unerring Accuracy
At 17th level, your mastery of weapons grants you extraordinary accuracy. If you miss with an attack roll using a monk weapon on your turn, you can reroll it. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Why I made the changes I did(Changes are highlighted in blue)
-It's unfair to kensei monks to not give them weapon mastery when rogues get it.
-Kensei's shot should scale, but if it had infinite uses it would make ranged weapons better than melee.
-Monks magical unarmed strikes changed to force damage unarmed strikes, so did the same with kensei weapons.
Circle of the Shepherd (Druid) - add always prepared spells, rebalances Spirit Totems so they are more distinct and more effective without requiring a huge number of allies, adds benefits similar to Extended spell metamagic to your conjuration spells at higher levels
Inquisitive (Rogue) - makes you the master of the Search action, gives you a unique Cunning Strike to overcome enemy resistances, and adds Truesight at higher levels
Chronurgist (Wizard) - adds a list of spells known for free, changes Temporal Stasis to fit themes of spellcasting better, rebalances the Spell Storing ability so it is less exploitable, fixes auto-fail / auto-success capstone to an Action Surge-like ability.
Rune Knight (Fighter) - adds a bunch new Runes and rebalances existing ones so there are fewer clear winners / losers. Restores Grapple-builds by giving enemies DA on saves against your grapples.
Found in bare-fist fight clubs, or hanging around taverns awaiting the inevitable breakout of drunken violence, the warrior of Drunken Brawls seems like an easily defeatable opponent but shocks their attackers with their high degree of skill and creativity that allows them to control the battlefield while avoiding being hit themselves. They are equally effective when throwing improvised weapons from a distance or when surrounded by enemies, making them versatile and deadly warriors in any situation.
Brawler's Technique
You when use your Flurry of Blows, you gain the following benefits:
Duck and Weave. You also take the Disengage action, and your movement speed increases by 10 ft until the end of your turn.
Improvised Strikes. You can pick up and use an improvised weapon as part of each attack you make with your Flurry of Blows.
Brawler's Improvisation
Starting at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in improvised weapons and your Martials Arts applies to attacks made with improvised weapons. In addition, you gain proficiency in the Performance and Brewer's Supplies.
Thrive in a Crowd
At 6th level, you have learned to skills to excel against multiple enemies. You gain the following benefits:
Combo Strikes : When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points you can immediately make one additional attack as part of that same action against a different creature within range.
Redirect Attack : When you use your Deflect Attack ability, you can spend 1 Focus Point to redirect damage of the attack even if you do not reduce the damage to 0 and the target automatically fails the Dexterity saving throw. In addition, you can use your Deflect Attack even if the attack misses you.
Drunkard's Luck
Starting at 10th level, you can spend 2 Focus Points to give yourself advantage on any d20 Test.
Frenzy
At 17th level, you gain the ability to make an overwhelming number of attacks against a group of enemies.
Endless Flurry: When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make any number of attacks as long as each attack targets a different creature.
Momentum: When you hit with an attack you can spend 1 Focus Point to deal additional damage on that attack equal to the 1d6 for each attack you have made this turn. For example on your first attack this would deal 1d6 additional damage, your second attack would deal 2d6 additional damage, and your 5th attack would deal 5d6 additional damage.
Sorry for the late reply. To keep with nice toys as a free bonus action and an improved version of the nice toy you get at higher levels for a Focus Point that MONKS have.
Kensie Attack =Bonus action (No Focus Points) to make one attack with a Kensie weapon and add Proficiency to damage
Improved Kensie attack = Bonus action (1 Focus point) to make one attack with a Kensie weapon and add one Martial Artis Die to damage
This is how I would update them. I kept it closer to the 2014 version except I replaced the 11th level feature with something similar to 2024 11th level Monk features, but moved the old feature’s functionality to 17th and made it work for any kensei weapon they are holding. I did add the scaling to Kensei shot, but made it scale slower. I also gave out less weapon masteries and at 11th allow for any weapon to be a kensei weapon.
Path of the Kensei
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your special martial arts training leads you to master the use of certain weapons. This path also includes instruction in the deft strokes of calligraphy or painting. You gain the following benefits.
Kensei Weapons. Choose two types of weapons to be your kensei weapons: one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Each of these weapons can be any simple or martial weapon that lacks the heavy and special properties. The longbow is also a valid choice. You gain proficiency with these weapons if you don’t already have it. Weapons of the chosen types are monk weapons for you. Many of this tradition’s features work only with your kensei weapons. When you reach 6th, 11th, and 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above. You learn one Weapon Master Property associated with one of your Kensei weapons. You may switch this property when you complete a long rest, but it must be to a weapon mastery property for one of your kensei weapons.
Agile Parry. If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon. You gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated.
Kensei’s Shot. You can use a bonus action on your turn to make your ranged attacks with a kensei weapon more deadly. When you do so, any target you hit with a ranged attack using a kensei weapon takes an extra 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type. This damage increases to 2d4 at 11th and 3d4 at 17th. You retain this benefit until the end of the current turn.
Way of the Brush. You gain proficiency with your choice of calligrapher’s supplies or painter’s supplies.
One with the Blade
At 6th level, you extend your focus into your kensei weapons, granting you the following benefits.
Focused Kensei Weapons. Your attacks with your kensei weapons ignore resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing weapons.
Deft Strike. When you hit a target with a kensei weapon, you can spend 1 focus point to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 6th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above. You also learn an additional Weapon Mastery. It must be associated with one of your Kensei Weapons.
Flurry of Blades
At 11th level, when you use theAttackaction to attack with a Kensei weapon on your turn, you can make one attack with the same Kensei weapon as a bonus action. You can expend 1 Focus Point to make two attacks on this bonus action with same Kensei weapon instead.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 11th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, no longer following the criteria. You may choose any simple weapon or martial weapon.
Unerring Accuracy
At 17th level, your mastery of weapons grants you extraordinary accuracy. If you miss with an attack roll using a monk weapon on your turn, you can reroll it. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns. Additionally as a bonus action, you can expend up to 3 focus points to grant any kensei weapon you are holding a bonus to attack and damage rolls when you attack with it. The bonus equals the number of ki points you spent. This bonus lasts for 1 minute or until you use this feature again. This feature has no effect on a magic weapon that already has a bonus to attack and damage rolls.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you. You also learn an additional Weapon Mastery. It must be associated with one of your Kensei Weapons.
.Choose two Wizard spells from the Necromancy school, each of which must be no higher than level 2, and add them to your spellbook for free.
In addition, whenever you gain access to a new level of spell slots in this class, you can add one Wizard spell from the Necromancy school to your spellbook for free. The chosen spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Undead Servant
At 3rd level, you learn the Find Familiar spell if you don’t already have it. If you already know the Find Familiar spell you may choose another spell of the same level to learn. When you cast the Find Familiar spell, you choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: Crawling Claw, Skeleton, or Zombie. You may give any form you choose the undead creature type. If your familiar is undead you may use it to deliver your necromancy spells even if their range is not touch. When you cast a Necromancy your familiar can be the point of origin. You calculate the range of the spell as if your familiar cast it. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must take a Reaction to deliver the Necromancy spell when you cast the spell.
Undead Thralls
At 6th level, you add the animate dead spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. If it is already there choose another spell of the same level or lower to add to your spellbook. When you cast animate dead, you can target the a corpse or pile of bones of any small or medium creature except constructs, and you can target one additional corpse or pile of bones, creating another zombie or skeleton, as appropriate.
Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits:
The creature’s hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your wizard level.
The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls.
The creature can be used like your familiar to deliver your Necromancy spells
Inured to Undeath
Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced. You have spent so much time dealing with undead and the forces that animate them that you have become inured to some of their worst effects. Additionally when you prepare a spell of 1st level or higher that deals damage you may prepare the spell as a school of Necromancy version and change the damage type to necrotic.
Command Undead
Starting at 14th level, you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other wizards. You add Charm Person and Dominate Person to your spellbook if you don’t already have them. If you have the spell in your book you add another spell of the same level or lower. When you cast any Wizard enchantment spell you may target undead creatures with it even if undead are not a target for the spell. If you cast a Wizard enchantment spell with a spell slot of 6th level or higher and only target one creature the spell ignores any condition immunities of an undead target. You may cast Charm Person on an undead target even if you don’t have it prepared as long as you are holding your spellbook.
.Choose two Wizard spells from the Necromancy school, each of which must be no higher than level 2, and add them to your spellbook for free.
In addition, whenever you gain access to a new level of spell slots in this class, you can add one Wizard spell from the Necromancy school to your spellbook for free. The chosen spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Undead Servant
At 3rd level, you learn the Find Familiar spell if you don’t already have it. If you already know the Find Familiar spell you may choose another spell of the same level to learn. When you cast the Find Familiar spell, you choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: Crawling Claw, Skeleton, or Zombie. You may give any form you choose the undead creature type. If your familiar is undead you may use it to deliver your necromancy spells even if their range is not touch. When you cast a Necromancy your familiar can be the point of origin. You calculate the range of the spell as if your familiar cast it. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must take a Reaction to deliver the Necromancy spell when you cast the spell.
Undead Thralls
At 6th level, you add the animate dead spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. If it is already there choose another spell of the same level or lower to add to your spellbook. When you cast animate dead, you can target the a corpse or pile of bones of any small or medium creature except constructs, and you can target one additional corpse or pile of bones, creating another zombie or skeleton, as appropriate.
Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits:
The creature’s hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your wizard level.
The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls.
The creature can be used like your familiar to deliver your Necromancy spells
Inured to Undeath
Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced. You have spent so much time dealing with undead and the forces that animate them that you have become inured to some of their worst effects. Additionally when you prepare a spell of 1st level or higher that deals damage you may prepare the spell as a school of Necromancy version and change the damage type to necrotic.
Command Undead
Starting at 14th level, you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other wizards. You add Charm Person and Dominate Person to your spellbook if you don’t already have them. If you have the spell in your book you add another spell of the same level or lower. When you cast any Wizard enchantment spell you may target undead creatures with it even if undead are not a target for the spell. If you cast a Wizard enchantment spell with a spell slot of 6th level or higher and only target one creature the spell ignores any condition immunities of an undead target. You may cast Charm Person on an undead target even if you don’t have it prepared as long as you are holding your spellbook.
While I like the broad direction here, without all the other Chain perks that Warlocks get, a Skeleton familiar is going to be pretty useless. It can't attack, it's fragile, you can't see through its senses to target your spells more safely etc. I would aim towards getting them the Summon Undead spell as a concentration-free pet instead, similar to Draconic Sorcerer or Great Old One Warlock.
College of Swords - made Defensive Flourish less powerful but more predictable, improved Mobile and Slashing flourishes so they are worthy competitors to Defensive Flourish, added more powerful flourishes at 14th level to give more feeling of progression.
College of Whispers - almost a complete rewrite so it actually feels like a spy/extortionist rather than just a knock-off rogue. New tool proficiencies in forgery & poison, words of terror is useable in combat, added invisibility in shadows and made the soul-capture ability actually useful for regaining spellslots or learning information, at 14th level added subtle spellcasting and a spellslot-free charm ability.
Cavalier Fighter (renamed guardian) - simplified Mark, added ability to run over to defend your friends as a reaction, added push/prone effect to retributive strikes at higher levels.
Warrior of the Drunken Brawls (Drunken Master Monk) - added compatibility with improvised weapons, fixed Drunkard's Luck so it is more useful, added new combo-strike options to build on it's anti-crowd design.
Warrior of the Mystic Fist (Astral Monk) - made the Arms allow you to use Wisdom for grappling, added Levitation at 10th level, made Astral Visage usable at will rather than costing Focus.
Twilight Domain Cleric - removed initiative bonus, reduced scaling of thp from twilight sanctuary and made it require concentration, adjusted spell list to add more spells that can be reflavoured as astronomical phenomena, swapped free flight for a bonus action jump, and added new bonuses to twilight sanctuary at high levels to make up for reduced scaling.
Peace Domain Cleric - added ability to use Emboldening Bond on enemies to protect your friends, limited Bond's bonus to ability checks and added telepathy to reinforce non-violent theme. Replaced damage swapping with a retribution-like ability, and added charm/fear immunity to emboldening bond at higher levels. Made the bond a Channel Divinity like it should have been.
And a Bonus One:
Circle of the Elemental Guardian - to make up for WotC removing elemental forms from Moon Druid and making Moon druid very moon-y, here's a subclass all about harnessing the elements.
Warrior of the Drunken Brawls (Drunken Master Monk) - added compatibility with improvised weapons, fixed Drunkard's Luck so it is more useful, added new combo-strike options to build on it's anti-crowd design.
Warrior of the Mystic Fist (Astral Monk) - made the Arms allow you to use Wisdom for grappling, added Levitation at 10th level, made Astral Visage usable at will rather than costing Focus.
These are awful. Stripping flavourful features for mindless attacking and nonsense that actively make you less effective at mobility and attacking.
Warrior of the Drunken Brawls (Drunken Master Monk) - added compatibility with improvised weapons, fixed Drunkard's Luck so it is more useful, added new combo-strike options to build on it's anti-crowd design.
Warrior of the Mystic Fist (Astral Monk) - made the Arms allow you to use Wisdom for grappling, added Levitation at 10th level, made Astral Visage usable at will rather than costing Focus.
These are awful. Stripping flavourful features for mindless attacking and nonsense that actively make you less effective at mobility and attacking.
What are you talking about! Other than some descriptive texts and some tweaks these two in the quote are basically the same as the original. At least when I just did a quick comparison on my phone.
I guess copying too much flavor text would prevent public view of this homebrew
Warrior of the Drunken Brawls (Drunken Master Monk) - added compatibility with improvised weapons, fixed Drunkard's Luck so it is more useful, added new combo-strike options to build on it's anti-crowd design.
Warrior of the Mystic Fist (Astral Monk) - made the Arms allow you to use Wisdom for grappling, added Levitation at 10th level, made Astral Visage usable at will rather than costing Focus.
These are awful. Stripping flavourful features for mindless attacking and nonsense that actively make you less effective at mobility and attacking.
LOL, the only things I removed were:
Drunken Master:
leap to your feet - why is this flavourful? It's just half of the Athlete feat. Proficiency in improvised weapons seems much more flavourful, no drunken brawl would be complete without someone hiting someone else over the head with a glass or beer mug.
Astral Self :
I changed the skills you get advantage on from Insight and Intimidation, to Persuasion and Intimidation. I didn't understand why changing the appearance of your face lets you insight better, just doesn't make sense!
I removed Deflect Energy because it's in the base class
Everything else is just changing the names of stuff to reduce the risk of getting dinged for copyright infringement.
So, for starters, your names are bland and embrace the "exists solely for fighting" design direction of the 2024 Monk.
Drunken Brawls gets an unlimited-use extra attack as part of their Attack action, meaning you can potentially gain extra attack after extra attack without limit. And since this is a 3rd-level feature, what actually happens is that you take a three-level dip into Monk and then the rest of your levels into any other martial class that can do more damage per hit than the Monk (even with as many or more attacks, because 2024 power-creep is unbalanced to heck).
Redirect Attacks gets turned into a boring extension of Deflect Attacks rather than being a unique reaction, nerfing it and further highlighting the fact that the 2024 Monk will do nothing but the same action/bonus action/reaction on 99% of rounds.
Momentum is obviously overpowered, especially with the fact that you give the Monk unlimited attacks, meaning running through a crowd lets you deal 10d6 extra damage at the end.
Mystic Fist (again with the "brainless facemash" title) makes no sense as a title when there are features entirely unrelated to brainless facemash. It's also written in a way that forces Wisdom to be used rather than making it an option. And of course you want to be able to deal extra damage and to deal four different damage types, because again 2024 Monk exists solely to attack, attack, attack.
You don't need to have a cost-free feature to give you extra benefits. The only reason for this is realizing how the 2024 Monk is completely worthless and massively obsoleted by anyone else once they're out of ki.
Giving them Levitate as a class feature is obviously a terrible idea, for one reason you clearly didn't consider: you can't move horizontally while levitating. So every time you use your 10th (good editing) or 17th-level features, you now have to waste 20 feet of movement putting yourself back on the ground so you can actually move.
They're both awful, flavourless, soulless, and entirely uninteresting to play for anyone who doesn't care only about damage. But if you cared about damage, you'd play literally any other class that can do more damage than the Monk, have more options beyond mindless attacking, and can do more on top of attacking. They're terrible, just like 2024 design in general.
So, for starters, your names are bland and embrace the "exists solely for fighting" design direction of the 2024 Monk.
Drunken Brawls gets an unlimited-use extra attack as part of their Attack action, meaning you can potentially gain extra attack after extra attack without limit. And since this is a 3rd-level feature, what actually happens is that you take a three-level dip into Monk and then the rest of your levels into any other martial class that can do more damage per hit than the Monk (even with as many or more attacks, because 2024 power-creep is unbalanced to heck).
Redirect Attacks gets turned into a boring extension of Deflect Attacks rather than being a unique reaction, nerfing it and further highlighting the fact that the 2024 Monk will do nothing but the same action/bonus action/reaction on 99% of rounds.
Momentum is obviously overpowered, especially with the fact that you give the Monk unlimited attacks, meaning running through a crowd lets you deal 10d6 extra damage at the end.
Mystic Fist (again with the "brainless facemash" title) makes no sense as a title when there are features entirely unrelated to brainless facemash. It's also written in a way that forces Wisdom to be used rather than making it an option. And of course you want to be able to deal extra damage and to deal four different damage types, because again 2024 Monk exists solely to attack, attack, attack.
You don't need to have a cost-free feature to give you extra benefits. The only reason for this is realizing how the 2024 Monk is completely worthless and massively obsoleted by anyone else once they're out of ki.
Giving them Levitate as a class feature is obviously a terrible idea, for one reason you clearly didn't consider: you can't move horizontally while levitating. So every time you use your 10th (good editing) or 17th-level features, you now have to waste 20 feet of movement putting yourself back on the ground so you can actually move.
They're both awful, flavourless, soulless, and entirely uninteresting to play for anyone who doesn't care only about damage. But if you cared about damage, you'd play literally any other class that can do more damage than the Monk, have more options beyond mindless attacking, and can do more on top of attacking. They're terrible, just like 2024 design in general.
What would be your recommendations for Astral Self and Drunken Master or would you leave them “as is” to play with 2014 or 2024 monk class?
Just curious
Edit: Also, constructive criticism is always welcome, rants are not particularly helpful
Inquisitive (Rogue) - makes you the master of the Search action, gives you a unique Cunning Strike to overcome enemy resistances, and adds Truesight at higher levels
I'm playing one now in a 2024 game, so this caught my eye. I have some thoughts about this version:
Keen Eyes
Thanks to Search [Action] now encompassing Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival, I feel like treating a 7 or lower as an 8 is good for Insight and Perception, but Medicine and Survival are a little outside of the Rogue's wheelhouse. My fix for that might be a little fiddly, but I think that the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Survival if either (a) the Rogue is attempting to decipher and follow tracks, or (b) the Rogue is proficient in Survival. I think the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Medicine if the Rogue is proficient in Medicine.
In addition, this still runs into the same problem it had in 2014, in that once Reliable Talent comes online, most of the feature becomes redundant and useless. Except that now it becomes useless sooner because Reliable Talent has moved to level 7. The best idea I have to compensate for that is that at Rogue level 7, you can treat an 11 or lower for the Search actions as a 12.
Scrutinize Opponent
I'm fine with the 60 foot limit, that's reasonable, but it seems like this also removes language saying you can't get the sneak attack damage if you have disadvantage on the attack. I would put that back in.
Irresistible Attack
Hmmm... Completely bypassing damage resistances for 1d6 seems like it might be a little bit strong, although it is true the Inquisitive Rogue is weaker in combat than many other options.
Flawless Deduction
Always-on Truesight? Not even "proficiency uses/day," just always on? The original version was a little underpowered, but doesn't free unlimited Truesight seems too strong? I would tone that down to Truesight for 1 minute, which you can use proficiency bonuses/day. Or, considering that at level 13, proficiency is +5, maybe even wisdom mod uses/day (minimum 1).
Thanks to Search [Action] now encompassing Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival, I feel like treating a 7 or lower as an 8 is good for Insight and Perception, but Medicine and Survival are a little outside of the Rogue's wheelhouse. My fix for that might be a little fiddly, but I think that the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Survival if either (a) the Rogue is attempting to decipher and follow tracks, or (b) the Rogue is proficient in Survival. I think the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Medicine if the Rogue is proficient in Medicine.
In addition, this still runs into the same problem it had in 2014, in that once Reliable Talent comes online, most of the feature becomes redundant and useless. Except that now it becomes useless sooner because Reliable Talent has moved to level 7. The best idea I have to compensate for that is that at Rogue level 7, you can treat an 11 or lower for the Search actions as a 12.
The Search as a BA was suppose to make this continue to be useful even after Reliable Talent. The rest was just an issue of complexity, having subclass features be conditional on other character building choices is not a very good design. And when designing this one, I thought a lot about Sherlock Holmes, as this really feels like that is the vibe the subclass is supposed to have, and he does a lot of deductions related to what killed someone based on observation instead of specifically medical knowledge which is how I see the Medicine side of the Search Action, likewise Survival in terms of Search is looking for foot prints and broken sticks etc... as evidence of where a creature is or was which again feels very Sherlock Holmes-y.
Scrutinize Opponent
I'm fine with the 60 foot limit, that's reasonable, but it seems like this also removes language saying you can't get the sneak attack damage if you have disadvantage on the attack. I would put that back in.
Not sure why that's necessary, there are so many ways for Rogue to get advantage now and melee is so much more power, just being able to sneak attack when you don't have advantage or a friend near the enemy feels very underwhelming because most of the time you will have advantage and multiple melee characters in the party who will be up there giving you sneak attack anyway.
Irresistible Attack
Hmmm... Completely bypassing damage resistances for 1d6 seems like it might be a little bit strong, although it is true the Inquisitive Rogue is weaker in combat than many other options.
Honestly, by passing resistances isn't actually the selling point here for me, most likely at this level you'll have a magical weapon that will by pass resistances anyway. Rather the not-triggering special abilities was more what I thought would be the selling point.
Flawless Deduction
Always-on Truesight? Not even "proficiency uses/day," just always on? The original version was a little underpowered, but doesn't free unlimited Truesight seems too strong? I would tone that down to Truesight for 1 minute, which you can use proficiency bonuses/day. Or, considering that at level 13, proficiency is +5, maybe even wisdom mod uses/day (minimum 1).
Warlocks can get always on truesight around the same level as an invocation.
The Search as a BA was suppose to make this continue to be useful even after Reliable Talent. The rest was just an issue of complexity, having subclass features be conditional on other character building choices is not a very good design. And when designing this one, I thought a lot about Sherlock Holmes, as this really feels like that is the vibe the subclass is supposed to have, and he does a lot of deductions related to what killed someone based on observation instead of specifically medical knowledge which is how I see the Medicine side of the Search Action, likewise Survival in terms of Search is looking for foot prints and broken sticks etc... as evidence of where a creature is or was which again feels very Sherlock Holmes-y.
The times when there's a meaningful distinction between a Bonus Action and an Action is when there is major time pressure, which tends to mean in combat. The times when it really matters whether your Search is a full Action or Bonus Action will be quite rare and situational. That's why I don't think just allowing Search as a Bonus Action is enough compensation. An Inquisitive Rogue's niche is spotting lies and small details, which is why I support giving that a slightly higher floor than the default Reliable Talent.
Your point about subclass features be conditional on character building choices not being good design is a fair point, and I acknowledge that isn't ideal. I also agree that examining wounds and looking for footprints is very Holmes-y and would fit well with the ideal of the Archtype. The issue, though, is getting a general bonus to Medicine and Survival checks in can step on the toes of other characters. For instance, Medicine applies to stabilizing a dying teammate – which in your homebrew, a Rogue can do as a bonus action. Survival can be for building a shelter in the wilderness, or finding food and water, and so on.
You’re right that trying to carve out exceptions is not a great design idea, but the best I can think of is to add language noting that the minimum of 8 may not necessarily apply for every check, and the DM has the final say.
Not sure why that's necessary, there are so many ways for Rogue to get advantage now and melee is so much more power, just being able to sneak attack when you don't have advantage or a friend near the enemy feels very underwhelming because most of the time you will have advantage and multiple melee characters in the party who will be up there giving you sneak attack anyway.
I'd just be cautious about making a feature which simply invalidates a major guideline/rule about Sneak Attack, which is that you can't have it when you have disadvantage. There can be many reasons why a player would have disadvantage. And, as you note, there are many ways to get advantage, and one benefit of the (2014 version of) Insightful fighting is that it allows you to get Sneak Attack even if you don't have advantage, so if you have disadvantage and advantage, they'll cancel each other out and you can get it anyway.
I've only gone through a handful of fights in the current campaign, but Insightful Fighting has proven useful for some of them, such as when you're first to act and no one starts out in melee with an enemy, and sometimes for enemies who keep out of melee range.
Honestly, by passing resistances isn't actually the selling point here for me, most likely at this level you'll have a magical weapon that will by pass resistances anyway. Rather the not-triggering special abilities was more what I thought would be the selling point.
Just being able to shut down enemy "on-being hit" special abilities - any special ability - sounds like a something a DM would hate, as certain enemies are balanced on having those on-hit specials, and it might not make sense to shut down some special on-hit abilities "just because." This sounds like a recipe for arguments with the DM. "Can you explain how your attack would somehow prevent the special ability of X?" "Ummm... I don't know? This text just says it shuts them all down."
Warlocks can get always on truesight around the same level as an invocation.
That's not at all the same thing, though. Invocations aren’t free. There are trade-offs, by which I mean that there are other invocations which a Warlock could have taken instead.The True Seeing spell is a level SIX spell, granting Truesight for only one hour, and it costs 25 GP per casting.
This is permanent Truesight, for free, forever for being a member of a subclass who is level 13. This is too strong.
I think one minute duration, half proficiency bonus uses per day (which, even using a half proficiency bonus is still two at level 13) is much more reasonable, and can represent the Inquisitive Rogue really taking time to focus more intently for a minute. Maybe it could even last for 10 minutes, or have proficiency uses per day. Possibly both, although I'm inclined to be a little more conservative.
In addition, flavor-wise, Warlocks are granted their power from an otherworldly being, so it feels a little strange for a more mundane-flavored subclass to just have it.
I should also comment on the other part of the level 13 ability, the part about being able to use your Perception or Insight for the Study Action: That seems like a fine ribbon, no complaints or quibbles.
3rd-level As a bonus action, you can spend 1 focus point to summon the arms of your astral self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force or psychic damage (your chioce) equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.
For 10 minutes, these spectral arms hover near your shoulders or surround your arms (your choice). You determine the arms’ appearance, and they vanish early if you are incapacitated or die. While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:
You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes.
When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is the same damage dealt when you activated this feature (force or psychic)
Visage of the Astral Self
6th-level You can summon the visage of your astral self. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action you take to activate Arms of the Astral Self, you can spend 1 focus point to summon this visage for 10 minutes. It vanishes early if you are incapacitated or die. The spectral visage covers your face like a helmet or mask. You determine its appearance. While the spectral visage is present, you gain the following benefits.
You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
When you speak, you can direct your words to a creature of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you, making it so only that creature can hear you. Alternatively, you can amplify your voice so that all creatures within 600 feet can hear you.
On your turn when you have both your astral arms and visage summoned, and miss with an unarmed strike you deal psychic damage equal to your Wisdom modifier to the target.
Power of the Astral Self
11th-level When you have both your astral arms and visage summoned you gain the following benefits.
Once on each of your turns when you hit a target with the Arms of the Astral Self, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die.
When an attack roll hits a target within 10 feet of you, you can use your astral arms to use your Deflect Attack feature as if you were the target. If you don’t reduce the damage to zero the target takes the remaining damage. If you reduce the damage to 0 and spend a focus point to redirect the attack, use the target’s location as if it were your own.
You understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.
Your unarmed strikes can deal force, necrotic, psychic, or radiant damage (your choice when you hit)
Body of Astral Self
17th-level Your mastery of your Astral Self allows you to gain the following benefits.
Empty Body You can spend 8 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. If you take other creatures with you, you must complete a long rest before you can cast it again with this feature.
Complete Body As a bonus action you can spend 5 focus points to cause the arms, body, and visage of your astral self to appear for 10 mins. The spectral body covers your physical form like a suit of armor, connecting with the arms and visage. You determine its appearance. While the complete body is present you gain the following benefits.
You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Constitution modifier when making Constitution checks and Constitution saving throws.
You can use Self-Restoration at the start of your turn instead of the end of you turn.
Your AC is increased by 2.
You gain immunity to psychic damage
When you use Stunning Strike you can force the target to make an Intelligence saving throw or Wisdom saving throw instead of a Constitution saving throw.
So, for starters, your names are bland and embrace the "exists solely for fighting" design direction of the 2024 Monk.
LOL, sorry your complaints are hilarious.
Drunken Brawls gets an unlimited-use extra attack as part of their Attack action, meaning you can potentially gain extra attack after extra attack without limit. And since this is a 3rd-level feature, what actually happens is that you take a three-level dip into Monk and then the rest of your levels into any other martial class that can do more damage per hit than the Monk (even with as many or more attacks, because 2024 power-creep is unbalanced to heck).
Please try actually reading the subclass. The Combo-Strikes is a 6th level feature and it does not allow you to move in between the combo-attacks so you are hard limited to however many enemies are within your reach. You also must hit and drop each one to 0 hp which would mean each enemy must have <20 hp, and you have to hit each one of them. So even in the absolute best-case scenario this is roughly equivalent to one-round of 2014 Moonbeam - a 2nd level spell.
Redirect Attacks gets turned into a boring extension of Deflect Attacks rather than being a unique reaction, nerfing it and further highlighting the fact that the 2024 Monk will do nothing but the same action/bonus action/reaction on 99% of rounds.
Redirect Attacks was not unique Rune Knight gets the same thing but with Range via the Cloud Rune. Redirect Attacks doesn't give you more options now that Deflect Attacks exists it just gives you a "in this one niche situations I use Redirect Attack instead of Deflect Attack" 99% of players are going to forget they have Redirect Attacks and just use Deflect Attacks if they are separate features.
Momentum is obviously overpowered, especially with the fact that you give the Monk unlimited attacks, meaning running through a crowd lets you deal 10d6 extra damage at the end.
OMG 10d6 damage once per turn for the cost of 2 Focus points if there are 10 enemies in the combat! That's definitely OP! Which is why Rogue is by far the most OP class in 2024 right? A 17th level Rogue deals 9d6 with every Sneak Attack, so OP!
Spiritual Guardians and Conjure Woodland Beings are dealing 5d8-9d8 radiant (depending on what spellslot you use) to every enemy, every round at this level.
I get that, but to be fair, it's not all ranged rogues - I'd say being difficult to pressure is the Scout's claim to fame specifically.
I wouldn't be opposed to putting a "Proficiency Bonus times per X" limit on the ability to move during UD if doing it as an at-will reaction is too much.
Training of the Blade
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your special martial arts training leads you to master the use of certain weapons. This training also includes instruction in the deft strokes of calligraphy or painting. You gain the following benefits:
One with the Blade
At 6th level, you extend your focus into your kensei weapons, granting you the following benefits.
Sharpen the Blade
At 11th level, you gain the ability to augment your weapons further with your focus.
Unerring Accuracy
At 17th level, your mastery of weapons grants you extraordinary accuracy. If you miss with an attack roll using a monk weapon on your turn, you can reroll it. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Why I made the changes I did(Changes are highlighted in blue)
-It's unfair to kensei monks to not give them weapon mastery when rogues get it.
-Kensei's shot should scale, but if it had infinite uses it would make ranged weapons better than melee.
-Monks magical unarmed strikes changed to force damage unarmed strikes, so did the same with kensei weapons.
-also changed the name to "Warrior of the Blade"
Tell me if this is too op.
For those interested I've made updated:
Circle of the Shepherd (Druid) - add always prepared spells, rebalances Spirit Totems so they are more distinct and more effective without requiring a huge number of allies, adds benefits similar to Extended spell metamagic to your conjuration spells at higher levels
Inquisitive (Rogue) - makes you the master of the Search action, gives you a unique Cunning Strike to overcome enemy resistances, and adds Truesight at higher levels
Chronurgist (Wizard) - adds a list of spells known for free, changes Temporal Stasis to fit themes of spellcasting better, rebalances the Spell Storing ability so it is less exploitable, fixes auto-fail / auto-success capstone to an Action Surge-like ability.
Rune Knight (Fighter) - adds a bunch new Runes and rebalances existing ones so there are fewer clear winners / losers. Restores Grapple-builds by giving enemies DA on saves against your grapples.
Here's my pitch for Drunken Master:
Found in bare-fist fight clubs, or hanging around taverns awaiting the inevitable breakout of drunken violence, the warrior of Drunken Brawls seems like an easily defeatable opponent but shocks their attackers with their high degree of skill and creativity that allows them to control the battlefield while avoiding being hit themselves. They are equally effective when throwing improvised weapons from a distance or when surrounded by enemies, making them versatile and deadly warriors in any situation.
Brawler's Technique
You when use your Flurry of Blows, you gain the following benefits:
Duck and Weave. You also take the Disengage action, and your movement speed increases by 10 ft until the end of your turn.
Improvised Strikes. You can pick up and use an improvised weapon as part of each attack you make with your Flurry of Blows.
Brawler's Improvisation
Starting at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in improvised weapons and your Martials Arts applies to attacks made with improvised weapons. In addition, you gain proficiency in the Performance and Brewer's Supplies.
Thrive in a Crowd
At 6th level, you have learned to skills to excel against multiple enemies. You gain the following benefits:
Combo Strikes : When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points you can immediately make one additional attack as part of that same action against a different creature within range.
Redirect Attack : When you use your Deflect Attack ability, you can spend 1 Focus Point to redirect damage of the attack even if you do not reduce the damage to 0 and the target automatically fails the Dexterity saving throw. In addition, you can use your Deflect Attack even if the attack misses you.
Drunkard's Luck
Starting at 10th level, you can spend 2 Focus Points to give yourself advantage on any d20 Test.
Frenzy
At 17th level, you gain the ability to make an overwhelming number of attacks against a group of enemies.
Endless Flurry: When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make any number of attacks as long as each attack targets a different creature.
Momentum: When you hit with an attack you can spend 1 Focus Point to deal additional damage on that attack equal to the 1d6 for each attack you have made this turn. For example on your first attack this would deal 1d6 additional damage, your second attack would deal 2d6 additional damage, and your 5th attack would deal 5d6 additional damage.
Do you think it is too powerful?
Sorry for the late reply. To keep with nice toys as a free bonus action and an improved version of the nice toy you get at higher levels for a Focus Point that MONKS have.
Kensie Attack =Bonus action (No Focus Points) to make one attack with a Kensie weapon and add Proficiency to damage
Improved Kensie attack = Bonus action (1 Focus point) to make one attack with a Kensie weapon and add one Martial Artis Die to damage
Just my 2 Copper
This is how I would update them. I kept it closer to the 2014 version except I replaced the 11th level feature with something similar to 2024 11th level Monk features, but moved the old feature’s functionality to 17th and made it work for any kensei weapon they are holding. I did add the scaling to Kensei shot, but made it scale slower. I also gave out less weapon masteries and at 11th allow for any weapon to be a kensei weapon.
Path of the Kensei
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your special martial arts training leads you to master the use of certain weapons. This path also includes instruction in the deft strokes of calligraphy or painting. You gain the following benefits.
Kensei Weapons. Choose two types of weapons to be your kensei weapons: one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Each of these weapons can be any simple or martial weapon that lacks the heavy and special properties. The longbow is also a valid choice. You gain proficiency with these weapons if you don’t already have it. Weapons of the chosen types are monk weapons for you. Many of this tradition’s features work only with your kensei weapons. When you reach 6th, 11th, and 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above. You learn one Weapon Master Property associated with one of your Kensei weapons. You may switch this property when you complete a long rest, but it must be to a weapon mastery property for one of your kensei weapons.
Agile Parry. If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon. You gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated.
Kensei’s Shot. You can use a bonus action on your turn to make your ranged attacks with a kensei weapon more deadly. When you do so, any target you hit with a ranged attack using a kensei weapon takes an extra 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type. This damage increases to 2d4 at 11th and 3d4 at 17th. You retain this benefit until the end of the current turn.
Way of the Brush. You gain proficiency with your choice of calligrapher’s supplies or painter’s supplies.
One with the Blade
At 6th level, you extend your focus into your kensei weapons, granting you the following benefits.
Focused Kensei Weapons. Your attacks with your kensei weapons ignore resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing weapons.
Deft Strike. When you hit a target with a kensei weapon, you can spend 1 focus point to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 6th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above. You also learn an additional Weapon Mastery. It must be associated with one of your Kensei Weapons.
Flurry of Blades
At 11th level, when you use the Attack action to attack with a Kensei weapon on your turn, you can make one attack with the same Kensei weapon as a bonus action. You can expend 1 Focus Point to make two attacks on this bonus action with same Kensei weapon instead.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 11th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, no longer following the criteria. You may choose any simple weapon or martial weapon.
Unerring Accuracy
At 17th level, your mastery of weapons grants you extraordinary accuracy. If you miss with an attack roll using a monk weapon on your turn, you can reroll it. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns. Additionally as a bonus action, you can expend up to 3 focus points to grant any kensei weapon you are holding a bonus to attack and damage rolls when you attack with it. The bonus equals the number of ki points you spent. This bonus lasts for 1 minute or until you use this feature again. This feature has no effect on a magic weapon that already has a bonus to attack and damage rolls.
Kensei Weapon
When you reach 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you. You also learn an additional Weapon Mastery. It must be associated with one of your Kensei Weapons.
Necromancer
Necromancy Savant
.Choose two Wizard spells from the Necromancy school, each of which must be no higher than level 2, and add them to your spellbook for free.
In addition, whenever you gain access to a new level of spell slots in this class, you can add one Wizard spell from the Necromancy school to your spellbook for free. The chosen spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Undead Servant
At 3rd level, you learn the Find Familiar spell if you don’t already have it. If you already know the Find Familiar spell you may choose another spell of the same level to learn. When you cast the Find Familiar spell, you choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: Crawling Claw, Skeleton, or Zombie. You may give any form you choose the undead creature type. If your familiar is undead you may use it to deliver your necromancy spells even if their range is not touch. When you cast a Necromancy your familiar can be the point of origin. You calculate the range of the spell as if your familiar cast it. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must take a Reaction to deliver the Necromancy spell when you cast the spell.
Undead Thralls
At 6th level, you add the animate dead spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. If it is already there choose another spell of the same level or lower to add to your spellbook. When you cast animate dead, you can target the a corpse or pile of bones of any small or medium creature except constructs, and you can target one additional corpse or pile of bones, creating another zombie or skeleton, as appropriate.
Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits:
Inured to Undeath
Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced. You have spent so much time dealing with undead and the forces that animate them that you have become inured to some of their worst effects. Additionally when you prepare a spell of 1st level or higher that deals damage you may prepare the spell as a school of Necromancy version and change the damage type to necrotic.
Command Undead
Starting at 14th level, you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other wizards. You add Charm Person and Dominate Person to your spellbook if you don’t already have them. If you have the spell in your book you add another spell of the same level or lower. When you cast any Wizard enchantment spell you may target undead creatures with it even if undead are not a target for the spell. If you cast a Wizard enchantment spell with a spell slot of 6th level or higher and only target one creature the spell ignores any condition immunities of an undead target. You may cast Charm Person on an undead target even if you don’t have it prepared as long as you are holding your spellbook.
While I like the broad direction here, without all the other Chain perks that Warlocks get, a Skeleton familiar is going to be pretty useless. It can't attack, it's fragile, you can't see through its senses to target your spells more safely etc. I would aim towards getting them the Summon Undead spell as a concentration-free pet instead, similar to Draconic Sorcerer or Great Old One Warlock.
Here's a few more I've updated (and rebalanced):
College of Swords - made Defensive Flourish less powerful but more predictable, improved Mobile and Slashing flourishes so they are worthy competitors to Defensive Flourish, added more powerful flourishes at 14th level to give more feeling of progression.
College of Whispers - almost a complete rewrite so it actually feels like a spy/extortionist rather than just a knock-off rogue. New tool proficiencies in forgery & poison, words of terror is useable in combat, added invisibility in shadows and made the soul-capture ability actually useful for regaining spellslots or learning information, at 14th level added subtle spellcasting and a spellslot-free charm ability.
Cavalier Fighter (renamed guardian) - simplified Mark, added ability to run over to defend your friends as a reaction, added push/prone effect to retributive strikes at higher levels.
Warrior of the Drunken Brawls (Drunken Master Monk) - added compatibility with improvised weapons, fixed Drunkard's Luck so it is more useful, added new combo-strike options to build on it's anti-crowd design.
Warrior of the Mystic Fist (Astral Monk) - made the Arms allow you to use Wisdom for grappling, added Levitation at 10th level, made Astral Visage usable at will rather than costing Focus.
Twilight Domain Cleric - removed initiative bonus, reduced scaling of thp from twilight sanctuary and made it require concentration, adjusted spell list to add more spells that can be reflavoured as astronomical phenomena, swapped free flight for a bonus action jump, and added new bonuses to twilight sanctuary at high levels to make up for reduced scaling.
Peace Domain Cleric - added ability to use Emboldening Bond on enemies to protect your friends, limited Bond's bonus to ability checks and added telepathy to reinforce non-violent theme. Replaced damage swapping with a retribution-like ability, and added charm/fear immunity to emboldening bond at higher levels. Made the bond a Channel Divinity like it should have been.
And a Bonus One:
Circle of the Elemental Guardian - to make up for WotC removing elemental forms from Moon Druid and making Moon druid very moon-y, here's a subclass all about harnessing the elements.
These are awful. Stripping flavourful features for mindless attacking and nonsense that actively make you less effective at mobility and attacking.
What are you talking about! Other than some descriptive texts and some tweaks these two in the quote are basically the same as the original. At least when I just did a quick comparison on my phone.
I guess copying too much flavor text would prevent public view of this homebrew
what flavorful features are being stripped away?
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
LOL, the only things I removed were:
Drunken Master:
leap to your feet - why is this flavourful? It's just half of the Athlete feat. Proficiency in improvised weapons seems much more flavourful, no drunken brawl would be complete without someone hiting someone else over the head with a glass or beer mug.
Astral Self :
I changed the skills you get advantage on from Insight and Intimidation, to Persuasion and Intimidation. I didn't understand why changing the appearance of your face lets you insight better, just doesn't make sense!
I removed Deflect Energy because it's in the base class
Everything else is just changing the names of stuff to reduce the risk of getting dinged for copyright infringement.
So, for starters, your names are bland and embrace the "exists solely for fighting" design direction of the 2024 Monk.
Drunken Brawls gets an unlimited-use extra attack as part of their Attack action, meaning you can potentially gain extra attack after extra attack without limit. And since this is a 3rd-level feature, what actually happens is that you take a three-level dip into Monk and then the rest of your levels into any other martial class that can do more damage per hit than the Monk (even with as many or more attacks, because 2024 power-creep is unbalanced to heck).
Redirect Attacks gets turned into a boring extension of Deflect Attacks rather than being a unique reaction, nerfing it and further highlighting the fact that the 2024 Monk will do nothing but the same action/bonus action/reaction on 99% of rounds.
Momentum is obviously overpowered, especially with the fact that you give the Monk unlimited attacks, meaning running through a crowd lets you deal 10d6 extra damage at the end.
Mystic Fist (again with the "brainless facemash" title) makes no sense as a title when there are features entirely unrelated to brainless facemash. It's also written in a way that forces Wisdom to be used rather than making it an option. And of course you want to be able to deal extra damage and to deal four different damage types, because again 2024 Monk exists solely to attack, attack, attack.
You don't need to have a cost-free feature to give you extra benefits. The only reason for this is realizing how the 2024 Monk is completely worthless and massively obsoleted by anyone else once they're out of ki.
Giving them Levitate as a class feature is obviously a terrible idea, for one reason you clearly didn't consider: you can't move horizontally while levitating. So every time you use your 10th (good editing) or 17th-level features, you now have to waste 20 feet of movement putting yourself back on the ground so you can actually move.
They're both awful, flavourless, soulless, and entirely uninteresting to play for anyone who doesn't care only about damage. But if you cared about damage, you'd play literally any other class that can do more damage than the Monk, have more options beyond mindless attacking, and can do more on top of attacking. They're terrible, just like 2024 design in general.
What would be your recommendations for Astral Self and Drunken Master or would you leave them “as is” to play with 2014 or 2024 monk class?
Just curious
Edit: Also, constructive criticism is always welcome, rants are not particularly helpful
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I'm playing one now in a 2024 game, so this caught my eye. I have some thoughts about this version:
Keen Eyes
Thanks to Search [Action] now encompassing Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival, I feel like treating a 7 or lower as an 8 is good for Insight and Perception, but Medicine and Survival are a little outside of the Rogue's wheelhouse. My fix for that might be a little fiddly, but I think that the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Survival if either (a) the Rogue is attempting to decipher and follow tracks, or (b) the Rogue is proficient in Survival. I think the 7 or lower as an 8 should only apply in the case of Medicine if the Rogue is proficient in Medicine.
In addition, this still runs into the same problem it had in 2014, in that once Reliable Talent comes online, most of the feature becomes redundant and useless. Except that now it becomes useless sooner because Reliable Talent has moved to level 7. The best idea I have to compensate for that is that at Rogue level 7, you can treat an 11 or lower for the Search actions as a 12.
Scrutinize Opponent
I'm fine with the 60 foot limit, that's reasonable, but it seems like this also removes language saying you can't get the sneak attack damage if you have disadvantage on the attack. I would put that back in.
Irresistible Attack
Hmmm... Completely bypassing damage resistances for 1d6 seems like it might be a little bit strong, although it is true the Inquisitive Rogue is weaker in combat than many other options.
Flawless Deduction
Always-on Truesight? Not even "proficiency uses/day," just always on? The original version was a little underpowered, but doesn't free unlimited Truesight seems too strong? I would tone that down to Truesight for 1 minute, which you can use proficiency bonuses/day. Or, considering that at level 13, proficiency is +5, maybe even wisdom mod uses/day (minimum 1).
The Search as a BA was suppose to make this continue to be useful even after Reliable Talent. The rest was just an issue of complexity, having subclass features be conditional on other character building choices is not a very good design. And when designing this one, I thought a lot about Sherlock Holmes, as this really feels like that is the vibe the subclass is supposed to have, and he does a lot of deductions related to what killed someone based on observation instead of specifically medical knowledge which is how I see the Medicine side of the Search Action, likewise Survival in terms of Search is looking for foot prints and broken sticks etc... as evidence of where a creature is or was which again feels very Sherlock Holmes-y.
Not sure why that's necessary, there are so many ways for Rogue to get advantage now and melee is so much more power, just being able to sneak attack when you don't have advantage or a friend near the enemy feels very underwhelming because most of the time you will have advantage and multiple melee characters in the party who will be up there giving you sneak attack anyway.
Honestly, by passing resistances isn't actually the selling point here for me, most likely at this level you'll have a magical weapon that will by pass resistances anyway. Rather the not-triggering special abilities was more what I thought would be the selling point.
Warlocks can get always on truesight around the same level as an invocation.
The times when there's a meaningful distinction between a Bonus Action and an Action is when there is major time pressure, which tends to mean in combat. The times when it really matters whether your Search is a full Action or Bonus Action will be quite rare and situational. That's why I don't think just allowing Search as a Bonus Action is enough compensation. An Inquisitive Rogue's niche is spotting lies and small details, which is why I support giving that a slightly higher floor than the default Reliable Talent.
Your point about subclass features be conditional on character building choices not being good design is a fair point, and I acknowledge that isn't ideal. I also agree that examining wounds and looking for footprints is very Holmes-y and would fit well with the ideal of the Archtype. The issue, though, is getting a general bonus to Medicine and Survival checks in can step on the toes of other characters. For instance, Medicine applies to stabilizing a dying teammate – which in your homebrew, a Rogue can do as a bonus action. Survival can be for building a shelter in the wilderness, or finding food and water, and so on.
You’re right that trying to carve out exceptions is not a great design idea, but the best I can think of is to add language noting that the minimum of 8 may not necessarily apply for every check, and the DM has the final say.
I'd just be cautious about making a feature which simply invalidates a major guideline/rule about Sneak Attack, which is that you can't have it when you have disadvantage. There can be many reasons why a player would have disadvantage. And, as you note, there are many ways to get advantage, and one benefit of the (2014 version of) Insightful fighting is that it allows you to get Sneak Attack even if you don't have advantage, so if you have disadvantage and advantage, they'll cancel each other out and you can get it anyway.
I've only gone through a handful of fights in the current campaign, but Insightful Fighting has proven useful for some of them, such as when you're first to act and no one starts out in melee with an enemy, and sometimes for enemies who keep out of melee range.
Just being able to shut down enemy "on-being hit" special abilities - any special ability - sounds like a something a DM would hate, as certain enemies are balanced on having those on-hit specials, and it might not make sense to shut down some special on-hit abilities "just because." This sounds like a recipe for arguments with the DM. "Can you explain how your attack would somehow prevent the special ability of X?" "Ummm... I don't know? This text just says it shuts them all down."
That's not at all the same thing, though. Invocations aren’t free. There are trade-offs, by which I mean that there are other invocations which a Warlock could have taken instead.The True Seeing spell is a level SIX spell, granting Truesight for only one hour, and it costs 25 GP per casting.
This is permanent Truesight, for free, forever for being a member of a subclass who is level 13. This is too strong.
I think one minute duration, half proficiency bonus uses per day (which, even using a half proficiency bonus is still two at level 13) is much more reasonable, and can represent the Inquisitive Rogue really taking time to focus more intently for a minute. Maybe it could even last for 10 minutes, or have proficiency uses per day. Possibly both, although I'm inclined to be a little more conservative.
In addition, flavor-wise, Warlocks are granted their power from an otherworldly being, so it feels a little strange for a more mundane-flavored subclass to just have it.
I should also comment on the other part of the level 13 ability, the part about being able to use your Perception or Insight for the Study Action: That seems like a fine ribbon, no complaints or quibbles.
EDIT: I forgot I left a sentence unfinished.
Warrior of Astral Self
Arms of the Astral Self
3rd-level As a bonus action, you can spend 1 focus point to summon the arms of your astral self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force or psychic damage (your chioce) equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.
For 10 minutes, these spectral arms hover near your shoulders or surround your arms (your choice). You determine the arms’ appearance, and they vanish early if you are incapacitated or die. While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:
Visage of the Astral Self
6th-level You can summon the visage of your astral self. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action you take to activate Arms of the Astral Self, you can spend 1 focus point to summon this visage for 10 minutes. It vanishes early if you are incapacitated or die. The spectral visage covers your face like a helmet or mask. You determine its appearance. While the spectral visage is present, you gain the following benefits.
Power of the Astral Self
11th-level When you have both your astral arms and visage summoned you gain the following benefits.
Body of Astral Self
17th-level Your mastery of your Astral Self allows you to gain the following benefits.
Empty Body You can spend 8 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. If you take other creatures with you, you must complete a long rest before you can cast it again with this feature.
Complete Body As a bonus action you can spend 5 focus points to cause the arms, body, and visage of your astral self to appear for 10 mins. The spectral body covers your physical form like a suit of armor, connecting with the arms and visage. You determine its appearance. While the complete body is present you gain the following benefits.
LOL, sorry your complaints are hilarious.
Please try actually reading the subclass. The Combo-Strikes is a 6th level feature and it does not allow you to move in between the combo-attacks so you are hard limited to however many enemies are within your reach. You also must hit and drop each one to 0 hp which would mean each enemy must have <20 hp, and you have to hit each one of them. So even in the absolute best-case scenario this is roughly equivalent to one-round of 2014 Moonbeam - a 2nd level spell.
Redirect Attacks was not unique Rune Knight gets the same thing but with Range via the Cloud Rune. Redirect Attacks doesn't give you more options now that Deflect Attacks exists it just gives you a "in this one niche situations I use Redirect Attack instead of Deflect Attack" 99% of players are going to forget they have Redirect Attacks and just use Deflect Attacks if they are separate features.
OMG 10d6 damage once per turn for the cost of 2 Focus points if there are 10 enemies in the combat! That's definitely OP! Which is why Rogue is by far the most OP class in 2024 right? A 17th level Rogue deals 9d6 with every Sneak Attack, so OP!
Spiritual Guardians and Conjure Woodland Beings are dealing 5d8-9d8 radiant (depending on what spellslot you use) to every enemy, every round at this level.