I'd really like to hear your feedback on this homebrew class. I LOVE the concept of dealing higher damage by sacrificing hp (or hit dice), but this class seems to have much lower dps when compared to barbarians and fighters. Please focus specifically on the hellbound subclass since that is the one I would like to use.
If you agree that the dps is too low, how would you fix it?
I'm not sure that the DPS is too low. Dark Nebula is a 30 feet cone attack. With the right positioning you should be able to hit most enemies. I would also not underestimate how strong a bonus to hit can be. Especially if you also manage to grab a I think a lot of the power of the class will depend on whether or not you have other sources of healing available. E.g. will you be able to buy health potions and/or have a healer available in your party. If you need your hit die to replenish your hit points during short rest and to increase your damage then the dark well ability will probably not be very useful. The Blood Price ability is also abusable. Have a party member with low strength hit you repeatable in the face. On average for every 4 damage you take, you'll regain one hit die. Assuming about 14 CON, this hit die will heal your for about 7.5 HP. Repeat until you are maxed out on health and on hit die.
If I was your DM I would not not increase the damage of the class, until I see how much damage it actually can do. I would probably change the Darkside future so you can wait until after you know whether you hit or not (with the caution that crit-fishing is not allowed). I would also allow the Darkside damage to work with GWF.
As a last point: maybe take a look at the Blood Hunter.
Thank you for the feedback Petward. You are right that the 30ft feet cone attack has the potential to be great, but it seems too situational. Even if facing a large group of enemies, there is no guarantee I can group them together to optimize damage. Then again, with teamwork it might be pretty viable.
I agree that the blood price ability can be abusable, but I will not be abusing it like that. I will only have it take effect against enemies.
Just to reiterate, you don't feel like the 1d10 at the cost of a hit die is drastically underwhelming when comparing to a fighter who has 4 attacks at level 20 (at no cost!), not to mention the other subclass features that give even more damage like the combat superiority dice?
And yeah I took a look at blood hunter. It was interesting, but still not the high risk high reward I am looking for.
A fighter only gets his fourth attack at lvl 20. In exchange you get an ability that makes you unkillable for 5 rounds. Darkside increases the damage for all your attacks that turn, so it can be more than just 1D10. It's mainly the +1,+2,+3 to hit and damage that I think might be really strong.
The problem is that the drawback of giving up a hit die really depends on your party. If you are in party that often takes long rests and has a cleric to help you heal without spending hit dice then the drawback isn't that large. If your DM prefers large dungeon without options for long rests then you might want to ask for a damage increase. Like I said, as a DM I would want to see the class in action before I would agree to increase the Darkside damage.
For homebrew at my table I also prefer starting with a version I know won't be too strong. If I notice the class can use a buff, then the player will be happy. If I start off with the homebrew class being too strong and I have to nerf it, then the player will feel bad about it. Even though the final version of the class in both cases might be the same.
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I'd really like to hear your feedback on this homebrew class. I LOVE the concept of dealing higher damage by sacrificing hp (or hit dice), but this class seems to have much lower dps when compared to barbarians and fighters. Please focus specifically on the hellbound subclass since that is the one I would like to use.
If you agree that the dps is too low, how would you fix it?
http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/N1YOCXYKg
(This is not my work)
I'm not sure that the DPS is too low. Dark Nebula is a 30 feet cone attack. With the right positioning you should be able to hit most enemies. I would also not underestimate how strong a bonus to hit can be. Especially if you also manage to grab a I think a lot of the power of the class will depend on whether or not you have other sources of healing available. E.g. will you be able to buy health potions and/or have a healer available in your party. If you need your hit die to replenish your hit points during short rest and to increase your damage then the dark well ability will probably not be very useful. The Blood Price ability is also abusable. Have a party member with low strength hit you repeatable in the face. On average for every 4 damage you take, you'll regain one hit die. Assuming about 14 CON, this hit die will heal your for about 7.5 HP. Repeat until you are maxed out on health and on hit die.
If I was your DM I would not not increase the damage of the class, until I see how much damage it actually can do. I would probably change the Darkside future so you can wait until after you know whether you hit or not (with the caution that crit-fishing is not allowed). I would also allow the Darkside damage to work with GWF.
As a last point: maybe take a look at the Blood Hunter.
Thank you for the feedback Petward. You are right that the 30ft feet cone attack has the potential to be great, but it seems too situational. Even if facing a large group of enemies, there is no guarantee I can group them together to optimize damage. Then again, with teamwork it might be pretty viable.
I agree that the blood price ability can be abusable, but I will not be abusing it like that. I will only have it take effect against enemies.
Just to reiterate, you don't feel like the 1d10 at the cost of a hit die is drastically underwhelming when comparing to a fighter who has 4 attacks at level 20 (at no cost!), not to mention the other subclass features that give even more damage like the combat superiority dice?
And yeah I took a look at blood hunter. It was interesting, but still not the high risk high reward I am looking for.
A fighter only gets his fourth attack at lvl 20. In exchange you get an ability that makes you unkillable for 5 rounds. Darkside increases the damage for all your attacks that turn, so it can be more than just 1D10. It's mainly the +1,+2,+3 to hit and damage that I think might be really strong.
The problem is that the drawback of giving up a hit die really depends on your party. If you are in party that often takes long rests and has a cleric to help you heal without spending hit dice then the drawback isn't that large. If your DM prefers large dungeon without options for long rests then you might want to ask for a damage increase. Like I said, as a DM I would want to see the class in action before I would agree to increase the Darkside damage.
For homebrew at my table I also prefer starting with a version I know won't be too strong. If I notice the class can use a buff, then the player will be happy. If I start off with the homebrew class being too strong and I have to nerf it, then the player will feel bad about it. Even though the final version of the class in both cases might be the same.