Hello, I have a player that's completed the Eye of Gruumsh ritual and I am working out the homebrew feat for that; this is what I have so far and I'm curious what you think about balance of the feat as well as best practices to present this through the creator. Thanks for any feedback! https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/210278-eye-of-gruumsh
Way to long and powerful. Orcs already get Aggressive, so I don't understand that. Gruumsh's fury is basically part of the Dual Wielder feat, and I don't personally understand. Proficiency in Intimidation? Orcs already get that as a racial trait. Now we get to the spellcasting, and oh boy it is way overpowered. First, presuming someone's Wisdom isn't good, and 6 Spell slots? That makes picking up this feat is the equivalent of 3 CLERIC LEVELS. You should let them pick one of the cantrips, 1 of the first level spells which they can cast once a day, and one second level spell, which they can cast once a day as well. This makes it the equivalent of the Wood Elf Magic feat.
So half the things in this feat Orcs get as racial traits, one doesn't make sense, and the other is insanely overpowered. It needs a lot of fixing, but it is a cool concept.
And Acme/KafueLechwe, I based the feat on the monster manual https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/orc-eye-of-gruumsh and made some tweaks, my group just went from 5 to 2 players and this is going on a half orc ranger.
My apologies, I did not convey my point well, regardless of what monster you based it off of this feat is not well balanced against any existing feat. If, however, you are trying to balance a 5 person party into a 2 person party, that's another story all together.
That's a fair point Acme, I like KafueLechwe's notes on the spell slots changing to limited use similar to the wood elf magic; but I'm also okay with having this the most powerful feat in my game, I just don't want it crazy overpowered- one of the 3 players that decided to stop playing, 45 minutes before session 7, was a high elf and the sacrifice, so a pretty big game moment for my 2 best friends playing. I'm hoping this eye of gruumsh feat helps one player while the other player I expect to play Droop since we are half done with LMoP.
I still think that a feat, something that lasts throughout game play, is something you should consider the implications of. However if you want this to be a a fun and super powerful sacrifice of an eye, let your player(s) have everything youve detailed for the encounter, and then find and interesting and important way for that be important throughout the campaign.
For a feat this is still super overpowered, but as a boon granted to the player through in-game actions I think it seems fair. It's roughly the equivalent of a Very Rare/Legendary piece of equipment, and it seems like it must have been pretty hard to earn (one PC had to kill another PC after all).
Ritual Scarring. When an orc slays an elf in Gruumsh’s name and offers the corpse of its foe as a sacrifice to the god of slaughter, an aspect of the god might appear. This aspect demands an additional sacrifice: one of the orc’s eyes, symbolizing the loss Gruumsh suffered at the hands of his greatest enemy, Corellon Larethian. If the orc plucks out one of its eyes, Gruumsh might grant the orc spellcasting ability and special favor, along with the right to call itself an Eye of Gruumsh. These scars are recognized as a symbols of great religious status by all orcs and half-orcs.
Aggressive. As a bonus action, the orc can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see once per hostile encounter.
Gruumsh’s Fury. The orc can dual wield special and versatile weapons that can be 1 handed.
Innate Spellcasting. The orc can cast the following cleric spells innately. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells: Cantrips (at-will): guidance, resistance, thaumaturgy 1st level (1 use per spell, regained after a Long Rest): bless, command 2nd level (1 use per spell, regained after a Long Rest): augury, spiritual weapon (spear)
I would tie “Aggressive” to 1ce/Short Rest. “Hostile Encounter” is too undefined. You don’t want them charging the shopkeeper for being rude.
For Innate Spellcasting I would make the player choose one of each of the 2nd level spells, not get both. Or maybe give them both, but they can only use 1/Long Rest, not both.
I would tie “Aggressive” to 1ce/Short Rest. “Hostile Encounter” is too undefined. You don’t want them charging the shopkeeper for being rude.
For Innate Spellcasting I would make the player choose one of each of the 2nd level spells, not get both. Or maybe give them both, but they can only use 1/Long Rest, not both.
I've seen that something intended to be used once during combat is usually tied to rolling initiative. So if it's intended to be used in that way, I would probably word it, "After rolling Initiative, for 1 minute yadda yadda yadda." Still, it's probably easiest to just tie it to short rests.
Also, for the spellcasting... would it be more or less complicated to just give the character Charges similar to something like a magic wand, where they have a set number and can spend them on any of the attached spells they want? Maybe give the player 3 charges, and they can choose to spread them out over multiple spells, or just dump them all into one of the spells to up-cast it at 3rd level.
It might balance the feat somewhat if you imposed to the penalties for "lose an eye" as set forth in the DMG on injuries: "You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls."
It might balance the feat somewhat if you imposed to the penalties for "lose an eye" as set forth in the DMG on injuries: "You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls."
Agreed, losing an eye has to affect Perception, and I would think, Investigation.
I would tie “Aggressive” to 1ce/Short Rest. “Hostile Encounter” is too undefined. You don’t want them charging the shopkeeper for being rude.
For Innate Spellcasting I would make the player choose one of each of the 2nd level spells, not get both. Or maybe give them both, but they can only use 1/Long Rest, not both.
I like that idea for spellcasting, though, Aggressive is an Orc racial ability, and this feat is meant for orcs, so I think I would scrap it automatically. If a half-orc wants it, they should have played as an orc, even though it is worst.
Overall I would only make it the spellcasting feature, given that is is as powerful as taking a couple levels in Cleric. And, as a said before, if you restrict them to one of the cantrips, 1 first level spell, and 1 second level spell that they can cast 1/long rest each, that makes it as powerful as the Wood Elf Magic in XGtE.
EDIT: Also maybe make this not a feat, but rather, a boon granted by the DM.
I agree with scraping the racial abilities Orcs already have and maybe just having the spells. I think it should be more powerful than magic initiate and other such feats, as you need to do more to earn the ability and you can't just take it in leveling up (I'm guessing you didn't just give it to him for killing an elven villager). I'd say it should give a disadvantage on perception checks, and instead of it giving spell slots it should allow you to cast some of those spells once or twice per long rest. I would suggest: Guidance, Command 2/LR, Spiritual Weapon (Spear) 1/LR.
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Hello, I have a player that's completed the Eye of Gruumsh ritual and I am working out the homebrew feat for that; this is what I have so far and I'm curious what you think about balance of the feat as well as best practices to present this through the creator. Thanks for any feedback! https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/210278-eye-of-gruumsh
It’s too long. I think an abridged version would get you more useful feedback.
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Beyond that, even just looking at the spellcasting PORTION of the feat, it is already more powerful than the Magic Initiate feat.
Way to long and powerful. Orcs already get Aggressive, so I don't understand that. Gruumsh's fury is basically part of the Dual Wielder feat, and I don't personally understand. Proficiency in Intimidation? Orcs already get that as a racial trait. Now we get to the spellcasting, and oh boy it is way overpowered. First, presuming someone's Wisdom isn't good, and 6 Spell slots? That makes picking up this feat is the equivalent of 3 CLERIC LEVELS. You should let them pick one of the cantrips, 1 of the first level spells which they can cast once a day, and one second level spell, which they can cast once a day as well. This makes it the equivalent of the Wood Elf Magic feat.
So half the things in this feat Orcs get as racial traits, one doesn't make sense, and the other is insanely overpowered. It needs a lot of fixing, but it is a cool concept.
D&D is a game for nerds... so I guess I'm one :p
Good Point IamSposta, here's a new shorter version: https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/210667-eye-of-gruumsh
And Acme/KafueLechwe, I based the feat on the monster manual https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/orc-eye-of-gruumsh and made some tweaks, my group just went from 5 to 2 players and this is going on a half orc ranger.
My apologies, I did not convey my point well, regardless of what monster you based it off of this feat is not well balanced against any existing feat. If, however, you are trying to balance a 5 person party into a 2 person party, that's another story all together.
That's a fair point Acme, I like KafueLechwe's notes on the spell slots changing to limited use similar to the wood elf magic; but I'm also okay with having this the most powerful feat in my game, I just don't want it crazy overpowered- one of the 3 players that decided to stop playing, 45 minutes before session 7, was a high elf and the sacrifice, so a pretty big game moment for my 2 best friends playing. I'm hoping this eye of gruumsh feat helps one player while the other player I expect to play Droop since we are half done with LMoP.
I still think that a feat, something that lasts throughout game play, is something you should consider the implications of. However if you want this to be a a fun and super powerful sacrifice of an eye, let your player(s) have everything youve detailed for the encounter, and then find and interesting and important way for that be important throughout the campaign.
For a feat this is still super overpowered, but as a boon granted to the player through in-game actions I think it seems fair. It's roughly the equivalent of a Very Rare/Legendary piece of equipment, and it seems like it must have been pretty hard to earn (one PC had to kill another PC after all).
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I'm up to version 5 and I like this the most so far. https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/210857-eye-of-gruumsh
Eye of Gruumsh
Ritual Scarring. When an orc slays an elf in Gruumsh’s name and offers the corpse of its foe as a sacrifice to the god of slaughter, an aspect of the god might appear. This aspect demands an additional sacrifice: one of the orc’s eyes, symbolizing the loss Gruumsh suffered at the hands of his greatest enemy, Corellon Larethian. If the orc plucks out one of its eyes, Gruumsh might grant the orc spellcasting ability and special favor, along with the right to call itself an Eye of Gruumsh. These scars are recognized as a symbols of great religious status by all orcs and half-orcs.
Aggressive. As a bonus action, the orc can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see once per hostile encounter.
Gruumsh’s Fury. The orc can dual wield special and versatile weapons that can be 1 handed.
Innate Spellcasting. The orc can cast the following cleric spells innately. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells:
Cantrips (at-will): guidance, resistance, thaumaturgy
1st level (1 use per spell, regained after a Long Rest): bless, command
2nd level (1 use per spell, regained after a Long Rest): augury, spiritual weapon (spear)
I would tie “Aggressive” to 1ce/Short Rest. “Hostile Encounter” is too undefined. You don’t want them charging the shopkeeper for being rude.
For Innate Spellcasting I would make the player choose one of each of the 2nd level spells, not get both. Or maybe give them both, but they can only use 1/Long Rest, not both.
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I've seen that something intended to be used once during combat is usually tied to rolling initiative. So if it's intended to be used in that way, I would probably word it, "After rolling Initiative, for 1 minute yadda yadda yadda." Still, it's probably easiest to just tie it to short rests.
Also, for the spellcasting... would it be more or less complicated to just give the character Charges similar to something like a magic wand, where they have a set number and can spend them on any of the attached spells they want? Maybe give the player 3 charges, and they can choose to spread them out over multiple spells, or just dump them all into one of the spells to up-cast it at 3rd level.
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It might balance the feat somewhat if you imposed to the penalties for "lose an eye" as set forth in the DMG on injuries: "You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls."
Agreed, losing an eye has to affect Perception, and I would think, Investigation.
I like that idea for spellcasting, though, Aggressive is an Orc racial ability, and this feat is meant for orcs, so I think I would scrap it automatically. If a half-orc wants it, they should have played as an orc, even though it is worst.
Overall I would only make it the spellcasting feature, given that is is as powerful as taking a couple levels in Cleric. And, as a said before, if you restrict them to one of the cantrips, 1 first level spell, and 1 second level spell that they can cast 1/long rest each, that makes it as powerful as the Wood Elf Magic in XGtE.
EDIT: Also maybe make this not a feat, but rather, a boon granted by the DM.
D&D is a game for nerds... so I guess I'm one :p
I agree with scraping the racial abilities Orcs already have and maybe just having the spells. I think it should be more powerful than magic initiate and other such feats, as you need to do more to earn the ability and you can't just take it in leveling up (I'm guessing you didn't just give it to him for killing an elven villager). I'd say it should give a disadvantage on perception checks, and instead of it giving spell slots it should allow you to cast some of those spells once or twice per long rest. I would suggest: Guidance, Command 2/LR, Spiritual Weapon (Spear) 1/LR.