Hello people :)

I'm currently homebrewing my first class for 5e. I done a bit of homebrew for my latest campaign particularly in the way of magic items, creatures and some other smaller stuff. But a while back I decided I wanted to give making a class a go. 

I was wondering if people had any tips for making a class. Particularly to do with balancing which is something I have been thinking about. Currently I have been comparing it to the output damage and out of combat uses other similar classes have. But I was wondering if people had suggestions that would help. Though I am open to all tips to do with Class homebrewing. Like good places to look for material or how to maintain a classes style/theme through making it. Also tips for formatting it well visually would be useful.

Lastly for context the class I am making is a class based around explosives the name of which is still hasn't been set in stone (I am awful at naming things haha). Currently it's not finished so I don't have anything to really share. I still need to finish off two of the 3 archetypes and a few of the higher level abilities. But once it's done I will likely be posting it on here for feedback :).

But thanks in advance for any tips provided.

Well, usually when creating a class you need to decide what kind of centric theme you're going for. Since you've decided you're looking for a character that utilizes explosives, you've got that part nailed down. It sounds like your class is more of a utility type, so I'd imagine you're looking at his/her Hit Die as a d8. An explosives tosser doesn't sound martial, so d10 should be out, and unless you're going to increase the kinds of things he can do with these explosives (I guess it depends on how creative you can be with it), he probably doesn't fit the pure caster type, so you're not relegated to a d6 either. Also think about what kind of proficiencies you're going to want this guy to have. It's unreasonable to expect he'll be able to do AoE explosion attacks every round, so he's probably going to need to have another way to defend himself. Remember that simply giving him proficiency with all martial weapons is a big factor into a class's power rating, so take that into careful consideration when making this determination.

Next is determining how "explosives" work in D&D. Luckily, the DMG has some good guidelines for an example of a bomb. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Bomb - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet (up to, to me, insinuates max distance, not normal distance; you're probably looking at a range of 20/60 typical of all thrown weapons). Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 fire damage.
2. Dynamite - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage (personally, I like thunder damage here, but hey, dealer's choice). You can tie sticks of dynamite together, adding an extra 1d6 per stick (max of 10d6) and the radius by 5 feet (max of 20 feet). You can also set a fuse for the dynamite to go off after 1-6 rounds.
3. Grenade - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 5d6 piercing damage.

The biggest problem, in my mind, that you're going to have to deal with is how to distribute these characteristics to a class across multiple levels. Also, you're going to have to figure out how to balance the class with other classes. To me, 3d6 fire or thunder damage is the equivalent of a 1st level spell, so this character probably shouldn't be able to use it more than twice a day for at the start. I'd also be wary of how quickly you let them add sticks of dynamite together for the increased damage and radius. (Fireball, for example, isn't available to casters until 5th level and deals 8d6 damage in a 20 foot radius, as a measuring stick, though it's also fair to consider you can shoot a fireball from 150 feet away, vice having to throw it from a normal radius of 20 feet). Of course, the DMG also alludes to a grenade launcher, allowing a character to fire grenades off from a farther distance, I think around 120 feet. This could also be a perk for later levels.

You're going to want to determine how the class will set its Saving Throw DC for its explosives; this is usually done with a Spellcasting stat; you could be ballsy and say Constitution, but you're more likely to better be able to justify using Intelligence, since it takes a modicum of practice and memorization to get the chemical mixing right. As long as it's not your primary attack stat, which is another ding against your class for its power levels.

You also want to determine how many explosives a day/LR/SR your class can use. This will be the crux of your class's design, and in the end is most likely the one thing people will judge whether or not to let players use it in their game. Too many times per day and DMs probably won't allow it; too few and players will pass on it. I wish you luck in this most delicate endeavor. Hopefully you already have a good mechanic in mind for this.

Anywho, I hope this gives you some idea of where to start. Good luck with your homebrewing. :)

Love the concept.  I'm slightly confused though, can you put up home brew classes on DnD Beyond? Or is the home brew on DDB limited to monsters and magic items?  

Many thanks.

/G

Currently home brew additions by players (us) are limited to spells, items, and monsters. The devs have stated that they plan on adding functionality to home brew races and classes, and they will also be adding the Unearthed Arcana material as well. Just gotta wait a little while.

Thanks! I'm feeling very bittersweet about DDB at the moment. Our campaign has the UA stuff- classes, spells, feats, the whole lot, featured throughout- so as nice as the product is at the moment it is pretty useless to me unless they included the UA or allow sufficient flexibility to add HB stuff. 😐

The cynic in me says they don't want to put UA up for fear that it might cannibalise the release of XG2E....

My advice on creating home brew is to re-skin as much as possible. Your Saboteur concept reads as a ranger or rogue base with spells like shatter and fireball skinned as explosives. This approach also helps maintain balance with other classes so they don't get to overpowered, which is the tendency for most home brew. 

Quote from aumguitarist07 >>

Well, usually when creating a class you need to decide what kind of centric theme you're going for. Since you've decided you're looking for a character that utilizes explosives, you've got that part nailed down. It sounds like your class is more of a utility type, so I'd imagine you're looking at his/her Hit Die as a d8. An explosives tosser doesn't sound martial, so d10 should be out, and unless you're going to increase the kinds of things he can do with these explosives (I guess it depends on how creative you can be with it), he probably doesn't fit the pure caster type, so you're not relegated to a d6 either. Also think about what kind of proficiencies you're going to want this guy to have. It's unreasonable to expect he'll be able to do AoE explosion attacks every round, so he's probably going to need to have another way to defend himself. Remember that simply giving him proficiency with all martial weapons is a big factor into a class's power rating, so take that into careful consideration when making this determination.

Next is determining how "explosives" work in D&D. Luckily, the DMG has some good guidelines for an example of a bomb. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Bomb - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet (up to, to me, insinuates max distance, not normal distance; you're probably looking at a range of 20/60 typical of all thrown weapons). Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 fire damage.
2. Dynamite - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage (personally, I like thunder damage here, but hey, dealer's choice). You can tie sticks of dynamite together, adding an extra 1d6 per stick (max of 10d6) and the radius by 5 feet (max of 20 feet). You can also set a fuse for the dynamite to go off after 1-6 rounds.
3. Grenade - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 5d6 piercing damage.

The biggest problem, in my mind, that you're going to have to deal with is how to distribute these characteristics to a class across multiple levels. Also, you're going to have to figure out how to balance the class with other classes. To me, 3d6 fire or thunder damage is the equivalent of a 1st level spell, so this character probably shouldn't be able to use it more than twice a day for at the start. I'd also be wary of how quickly you let them add sticks of dynamite together for the increased damage and radius. (Fireball, for example, isn't available to casters until 5th level and deals 8d6 damage in a 20 foot radius, as a measuring stick, though it's also fair to consider you can shoot a fireball from 150 feet away, vice having to throw it from a normal radius of 20 feet). Of course, the DMG also alludes to a grenade launcher, allowing a character to fire grenades off from a farther distance, I think around 120 feet. This could also be a perk for later levels.

You're going to want to determine how the class will set its Saving Throw DC for its explosives; this is usually done with a Spellcasting stat; you could be ballsy and say Constitution, but you're more likely to better be able to justify using Intelligence, since it takes a modicum of practice and memorization to get the chemical mixing right. As long as it's not your primary attack stat, which is another ding against your class for its power levels.

You also want to determine how many explosives a day/LR/SR your class can use. This will be the crux of your class's design, and in the end is most likely the one thing people will judge whether or not to let players use it in their game. Too many times per day and DMs probably won't allow it; too few and players will pass on it. I wish you luck in this most delicate endeavor. Hopefully you already have a good mechanic in mind for this.

Anywho, I hope this gives you some idea of where to start. Good luck with your homebrewing. :)

Quote from TheHumanJester >>

Quote from aumguitarist07 >>

Well, usually when creating a class you need to decide what kind of centric theme you're going for. Since you've decided you're looking for a character that utilizes explosives, you've got that part nailed down. It sounds like your class is more of a utility type, so I'd imagine you're looking at his/her Hit Die as a d8. An explosives tosser doesn't sound martial, so d10 should be out, and unless you're going to increase the kinds of things he can do with these explosives (I guess it depends on how creative you can be with it), he probably doesn't fit the pure caster type, so you're not relegated to a d6 either. Also think about what kind of proficiencies you're going to want this guy to have. It's unreasonable to expect he'll be able to do AoE explosion attacks every round, so he's probably going to need to have another way to defend himself. Remember that simply giving him proficiency with all martial weapons is a big factor into a class's power rating, so take that into careful consideration when making this determination.

Next is determining how "explosives" work in D&D. Luckily, the DMG has some good guidelines for an example of a bomb. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Bomb - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet (up to, to me, insinuates max distance, not normal distance; you're probably looking at a range of 20/60 typical of all thrown weapons). Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 fire damage.
2. Dynamite - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage (personally, I like thunder damage here, but hey, dealer's choice). You can tie sticks of dynamite together, adding an extra 1d6 per stick (max of 10d6) and the radius by 5 feet (max of 20 feet). You can also set a fuse for the dynamite to go off after 1-6 rounds.
3. Grenade - As an action, a character may throw this device at a point up to 60 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must pass a Dexterity saving throw or take 5d6 piercing damage.

The biggest problem, in my mind, that you're going to have to deal with is how to distribute these characteristics to a class across multiple levels. Also, you're going to have to figure out how to balance the class with other classes. To me, 3d6 fire or thunder damage is the equivalent of a 1st level spell, so this character probably shouldn't be able to use it more than twice a day for at the start. I'd also be wary of how quickly you let them add sticks of dynamite together for the increased damage and radius. (Fireball, for example, isn't available to casters until 5th level and deals 8d6 damage in a 20 foot radius, as a measuring stick, though it's also fair to consider you can shoot a fireball from 150 feet away, vice having to throw it from a normal radius of 20 feet). Of course, the DMG also alludes to a grenade launcher, allowing a character to fire grenades off from a farther distance, I think around 120 feet. This could also be a perk for later levels.

You're going to want to determine how the class will set its Saving Throw DC for its explosives; this is usually done with a Spellcasting stat; you could be ballsy and say Constitution, but you're more likely to better be able to justify using Intelligence, since it takes a modicum of practice and memorization to get the chemical mixing right. As long as it's not your primary attack stat, which is another ding against your class for its power levels.

You also want to determine how many explosives a day/LR/SR your class can use. This will be the crux of your class's design, and in the end is most likely the one thing people will judge whether or not to let players use it in their game. Too many times per day and DMs probably won't allow it; too few and players will pass on it. I wish you luck in this most delicate endeavor. Hopefully you already have a good mechanic in mind for this.

Anywho, I hope this gives you some idea of where to start. Good luck with your homebrewing. :)

 

Part of me feels good you have mentioned a loot of things I have already done haha. The main stats for the class are Dex and Int. Dex for throwing the bombs and Int for judging the DC and some other abilities to do with the archetypes. The sticking sticks of dynamite won't be a problem as the class bombs aren't to function in the same way as them making sticking them together impossible. The launcher idea I am using for a archetype though haha.

Class creation wise the only issue I am currently having is scaling the bomb damage per level and judging the number of bombs per day/rest to give it. As these affect balancing the most which is the aspect I have most be worrying about. 

I like the idea. Have constitution and dexterity as the saving throws. Maybe at higher levels you can add properties yo your bombs such as a stink bomb that makes your targets use a constitution saving throw vs poison damage or vs cold damage of you make a frost grenade. Have the same progression as a spellcaster when it comes to bomb damage.

Quote from Thraintar >>

Have constitution and dexterity as the saving throws.

Quote from Matthias_von_Schwarzwald >>

Quote from Thraintar >>

Have constitution and dexterity as the saving throws.

 Do you mean the class' saving throw proficiencies?  If so, no.  Dex, Con, and Wis are common; Str, Int, and Cha are uncommon; each class gets one of each. 

Wait you can make Homebrew classes here? I thought you could only make sub-classes. Am I missing something here or am I just not getting this.