I am making a homebrew class for a campaign and I want to have something that really completes with the top paladin builds like PAM vengeance and fear conquest but more classical paladin feel and a little Solaris inspired. When making these subclasses it's easy to over tune them in the excitement or out in redundant bad mechanics. The campaign won't go past ten so I've not added the last two subclass features but I wanted synergy and a top tier oath without being embarrassingly overturned. Any feedback would be great.
Oath Spells:
Burning Hands, Healing word
Flaming Sphere, Blindness/Deafness
Fireball, Slow
1st channel: Bonus action, next melee attack immediately heal half the damage you just dealt just dealt to an ally within 30ft.
2nd channel: Action, concentration, enemies who end their turn inside 30ft aura take 1 level of exhaustion.
7th level ability: Enemies within 10ft aura have their movement speed reduced by half until the end of their next turn. Additionally enemies blinded by you use their movement randomly 1d4 north east south west.
Like I said I haven't made the rest of the subclass bc the campaign isn't supposed to go past 10. Exhaustion is powerful but I based it off a 4th level spell Sickening Radiance which deals damage, ofc this aura moves with you which is what I'm expecting to make it powerful. It's also concentration which I think really drops the power level. 7th level ability is meant to support this making it possible to trap enemies in your aura and force them to attack you for being a threat or get away from you and allies. The blind random direction is just a risk option with a 25% chance to get enemies to come towards you, however they could put themselves in bad situations either way. 1st channel just brings a lot of paladin flavor for me, having a powerful heal option. Spell list was a lot of flavor, fireball is a huge get meant to keep up with haste and counterspell etc other oaths get. The flavor is my favorite thing about the oath, exhaustion representing the beating heat of the sun the blind synergy representing blinding light and this being a true paladin feel that also feels mean and offensively powerful.
Yeah good point, I don't want to give it a con save though as that was substantially weaken it imo. I think with the save though maybe I can take away concentration?
Also does the blindness mechanic need more support? A side effect of blindness is just thrown in there with no channel option for making blindness. You have to use the blindness/deafness from oath Spells or blinding smite.
Also debating on removing fireball and making slow the big get there because imo healing word at level one is already a massive boon for a pally.
The exhaustion thing would probably be more appropriate if it gave them 1 level of exhaustion if they have no exhaustion, and you could go with no concentration requirement. That or just find a different mechanic; exhaustion with no caps just gets too nuts.
For 7th level aura, reducing movement speed in an aura gets tricky in practice. If they've moved half their speed and then enter it, are they done moving? If they move 5 feet to escape it, does their movement go back to normal? Easiest thing is just to say those that start in the aura are at half speed for that turn.
Lastly, I don't think fireball is the big get you think it is. It's significantly less impressive at level 9 than it is when full casters get it at level 5. It has use, but I wouldn't rate it's usefulness up there with slow or haste.
Yeah good points the more I play test this the more I'm finding out because sometimes it's just like ok enter combat against big bad and in two turns the combats decided because they can't escape the aura and it's either they kill me or die. For example 60ft move speed bad guy enters range, I put up CD exhaustion, immediately they're 30ft and can't get away, two turns later they're at 15 move speed and just have to sit and fight. I just wonder if a 10ft aura for the skill would be better, however that just says don't come near me lol which could be good for protecting party members but it's getting iffy.
However I still look at this like is this a bad thing? This really just makes the enemy deal with me at some point.
I'm considering reworking the big CD around blind but that also seems like it could just turn into a more powerful vow of enmity. One option is to make the 7th level aura a 10ft exhaustion aura but idk what that would accomplish exactly.
The other choice besides fireball was plant growth. Thanks for the feed back, the table really wants a homebrew pally class bc we've all played the others to death and they just aren't the flavor we want. A true good paladin, who has that offensive mean streak I think of when I think sword and shield golden plate paladin.
Also I think it has to be concentration now that way enemies have a way to stop the onslaught and the other CD option is getting thrown out to be a non combat option like immunity to the effects of cold weather and advantage on perception checks in daylight.
I am making a homebrew class for a campaign and I want to have something that really completes with the top paladin builds like PAM vengeance and fear conquest but more classical paladin feel and a little Solaris inspired. When making these subclasses it's easy to over tune them in the excitement or out in redundant bad mechanics. The campaign won't go past ten so I've not added the last two subclass features but I wanted synergy and a top tier oath without being embarrassingly overturned. Any feedback would be great.
Oath Spells:
Burning Hands, Healing word
Flaming Sphere, Blindness/Deafness
Fireball, Slow
1st channel: Bonus action, next melee attack immediately heal half the damage you just dealt just dealt to an ally within 30ft.
2nd channel: Action, concentration, enemies who end their turn inside 30ft aura take 1 level of exhaustion.
7th level ability: Enemies within 10ft aura have their movement speed reduced by half until the end of their next turn. Additionally enemies blinded by you use their movement randomly 1d4 north east south west.
Like I said I haven't made the rest of the subclass bc the campaign isn't supposed to go past 10. Exhaustion is powerful but I based it off a 4th level spell Sickening Radiance which deals damage, ofc this aura moves with you which is what I'm expecting to make it powerful. It's also concentration which I think really drops the power level. 7th level ability is meant to support this making it possible to trap enemies in your aura and force them to attack you for being a threat or get away from you and allies. The blind random direction is just a risk option with a 25% chance to get enemies to come towards you, however they could put themselves in bad situations either way. 1st channel just brings a lot of paladin flavor for me, having a powerful heal option. Spell list was a lot of flavor, fireball is a huge get meant to keep up with haste and counterspell etc other oaths get. The flavor is my favorite thing about the oath, exhaustion representing the beating heat of the sun the blind synergy representing blinding light and this being a true paladin feel that also feels mean and offensively powerful.
2nd level feature should require a saving throw
DM: “Who’s your patron?”
Warlock: “Ummm”
DM: “Hurry Up”
Warlock: “yOu”
*All other players look at each other with utter fear*
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Check out my homebrew: My Homebrew
Yeah good point, I don't want to give it a con save though as that was substantially weaken it imo. I think with the save though maybe I can take away concentration?
Also does the blindness mechanic need more support? A side effect of blindness is just thrown in there with no channel option for making blindness. You have to use the blindness/deafness from oath Spells or blinding smite.
Also debating on removing fireball and making slow the big get there because imo healing word at level one is already a massive boon for a pally.
The exhaustion thing would probably be more appropriate if it gave them 1 level of exhaustion if they have no exhaustion, and you could go with no concentration requirement. That or just find a different mechanic; exhaustion with no caps just gets too nuts.
For 7th level aura, reducing movement speed in an aura gets tricky in practice. If they've moved half their speed and then enter it, are they done moving? If they move 5 feet to escape it, does their movement go back to normal? Easiest thing is just to say those that start in the aura are at half speed for that turn.
Lastly, I don't think fireball is the big get you think it is. It's significantly less impressive at level 9 than it is when full casters get it at level 5. It has use, but I wouldn't rate it's usefulness up there with slow or haste.
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
Yeah good points the more I play test this the more I'm finding out because sometimes it's just like ok enter combat against big bad and in two turns the combats decided because they can't escape the aura and it's either they kill me or die. For example 60ft move speed bad guy enters range, I put up CD exhaustion, immediately they're 30ft and can't get away, two turns later they're at 15 move speed and just have to sit and fight. I just wonder if a 10ft aura for the skill would be better, however that just says don't come near me lol which could be good for protecting party members but it's getting iffy.
However I still look at this like is this a bad thing? This really just makes the enemy deal with me at some point.
I'm considering reworking the big CD around blind but that also seems like it could just turn into a more powerful vow of enmity. One option is to make the 7th level aura a 10ft exhaustion aura but idk what that would accomplish exactly.
The other choice besides fireball was plant growth. Thanks for the feed back, the table really wants a homebrew pally class bc we've all played the others to death and they just aren't the flavor we want. A true good paladin, who has that offensive mean streak I think of when I think sword and shield golden plate paladin.
Also I think it has to be concentration now that way enemies have a way to stop the onslaught and the other CD option is getting thrown out to be a non combat option like immunity to the effects of cold weather and advantage on perception checks in daylight.
Praise the sun