I'm rewriting an old homebrew of mine, a sorcerer called the "Chronal Spirit", and as you can guess from the name it's very time-oriented. I've found ways to make it work within the limits of 5e's mechanics and without putting more work on the DM than a typical homebrew (or really any subclass) would, but I'm having a little difficulty balancing one of the feats.
Originally, there was a level 6 feat that allowed them to cut the time spent during a long rest down to 4 hours (which RAI was meant to just mean "half the time it would otherwise take" because I forgot to account for trance. I fixed that in the rewrite), but I noticed it seemed a bit less powerful than the level 1 feature which functions basically as setting a temporary waypoint you can teleport to, so I swapped them. However, it originally cost two sorcery points that were lost after the long rest. I wasn't very good at balancing then, and am still not very good at assessing how good something is.
In the rewrite, I changed it to specify it halves the amount of time it takes the user to complete a long rest, that you don't regain the cost if the long rest is interrupted, and that you can include other creatures at the cost of one sorcery point per creature (so a party of 4 would take an additional 6 sorcery points to include the other 3). I don't know what cost would be suitable however, since you don't get sorcery points at level one.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. The RAW as it is now is: "Whenever you take a long rest, you can [cost] to halve the amount of time it takes for you to complete the long rest. If the long rest is interrupted, you don't get [cost] back. In addition, you can include other creatures in the effects at the cost of one sorcery point per creature added."
bonus questions: Is this even broken in the first place? Do I need the initial cost? Should I allow it to extend to other creatures?
If it were me and I was writing it as a 1st level feature I would make it a free use for the Sorcerer and only charge for additional creatures. I would also lower the cost so that only 1 or 2 Sorcerer Points would cover an average party. Maybe 3 creatures/SP, that way 1 SP would cover a party of 4, and 2 would also cover up to 3 NPCs, mounts, pets or other animal companions. (Horses & Bears and such also follow the same rules of exhaustion if they don’t long rest too after all.) Maybe more like this:
You can complete a long rest in half the amount of time as normal. Starting at 2nd level you can spend Sorcery Points to also shorten the rest for other creatures. At the end of a long rest you can spend 1 Sorcery Point to affect up to 3 additional creatures with this feature. You cannot spend more Sorcery Points on this feature than your proficiency bonus.
Keep in mind that Sorcery Points are a relatively rare, limited resource and are required for pretty much the entirety of the base class features to function. Giving up your class identity so your party can rest faster feels like a bad trade to me. I might look at the Genie Warlock to get some ideas on how to improve party rests without requiring your only defining resource.
I'm rewriting an old homebrew of mine, a sorcerer called the "Chronal Spirit", and as you can guess from the name it's very time-oriented. I've found ways to make it work within the limits of 5e's mechanics and without putting more work on the DM than a typical homebrew (or really any subclass) would, but I'm having a little difficulty balancing one of the feats.
Originally, there was a level 6 feat that allowed them to cut the time spent during a long rest down to 4 hours (which RAI was meant to just mean "half the time it would otherwise take" because I forgot to account for trance. I fixed that in the rewrite), but I noticed it seemed a bit less powerful than the level 1 feature which functions basically as setting a temporary waypoint you can teleport to, so I swapped them. However, it originally cost two sorcery points that were lost after the long rest. I wasn't very good at balancing then, and am still not very good at assessing how good something is.
In the rewrite, I changed it to specify it halves the amount of time it takes the user to complete a long rest, that you don't regain the cost if the long rest is interrupted, and that you can include other creatures at the cost of one sorcery point per creature (so a party of 4 would take an additional 6 sorcery points to include the other 3). I don't know what cost would be suitable however, since you don't get sorcery points at level one.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. The RAW as it is now is: "Whenever you take a long rest, you can [cost] to halve the amount of time it takes for you to complete the long rest. If the long rest is interrupted, you don't get [cost] back. In addition, you can include other creatures in the effects at the cost of one sorcery point per creature added."
bonus questions: Is this even broken in the first place? Do I need the initial cost? Should I allow it to extend to other creatures?
If it were me and I was writing it as a 1st level feature I would make it a free use for the Sorcerer and only charge for additional creatures. I would also lower the cost so that only 1 or 2 Sorcerer Points would cover an average party. Maybe 3 creatures/SP, that way 1 SP would cover a party of 4, and 2 would also cover up to 3 NPCs, mounts, pets or other animal companions. (Horses & Bears and such also follow the same rules of exhaustion if they don’t long rest too after all.) Maybe more like this:
Or something along those lines at any rate.
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Keep in mind that Sorcery Points are a relatively rare, limited resource and are required for pretty much the entirety of the base class features to function. Giving up your class identity so your party can rest faster feels like a bad trade to me. I might look at the Genie Warlock to get some ideas on how to improve party rests without requiring your only defining resource.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm