Personally, I love the idea of homebrew. Unfortunately, most people who create homebrew do not follow the rules. Like some of my homebrew, it doesn’t really follow the rules. My best homebrew is this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/6269615-shadowbound-skeleton it is not even that good. I am gonna do a poll. Select yes if you agree with me or select no if you don’t agree with me.
What do you mean by not following the rules? Do you mean balance? Used language? Syntax?
I've tried to make all of my homebrew items, spells, and monsters be as balanced and official seeming as possible. Sure, I have a joke item or two, but even those should be "following the rules".
Yeah, a lot of homebrew items, spells, and monsters are not balanced and don’t have proper mechanics.
Luckily you don't have to include those into your games. If you find an item concept you really like, but the weapon is severely over/underpowered, tweak it to your needs. I haven't been around for too long as a DM homebrewing my own stuff that I would know how it has evolved over time, but saying "Homebrew ain’t really good anymore" is quite a powerful statement, IMO. Maybe it's true and people just want to create massively overpowered monsters/items nowadays or maybe you've only looked at the "wrong" place.
I usually craft homebrew items and monsters specifically for a certain story. When I've created the monster/item, I write its description as if it's from the official materials. I haven't really looked into the homebrew collection too thoroughly, partly because as you said, they might not have mechanics well described. But mostly it's because when I create from scratch I know the RAW and RAI of the item/monster and I can better explain it to my players if there's confusion or ambiguity.
Personally, I love the idea of homebrew. Unfortunately, most people who create homebrew do not follow the rules. Like some of my homebrew, it doesn’t really follow the rules. My best homebrew is this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/6269615-shadowbound-skeleton it is not even that good. I am gonna do a poll. Select yes if you agree with me or select no if you don’t agree with me.
What do you mean by "anymore"? Are you asserting that at some point everyone (or most people) followed these so-called homebrew rules and that's dropped off? If so, I have two questions:
LOL, as if homebrew was ever even close to balanced. A few creators do try to make quality stuff that is balanced but a tonne is obviously made by teenagers or children to be as OP as possible, many others are made as a joke or otherwise is not and ever was intended to be serious, and some are even made out of spite by DMs frustrated with their players.
The dead ba for example - my answer A HB BA 60' Range cantrip that scales at a d6+mod has a to hit roll based on casting stat and can either harm a foe or heal an ally - problem solved.
Problem #2 Martials being hugely outpaced by casters in Tier 3/4 - HB weapons that scale like cantrips - easy - you should hit harder if your face tanking the dragon than the guy that can re shape reality and stands 120-240 feet back. Lots of stuff like that is the core of good HB.
But yes there are lots of nutty broken items in the DB as well.
Edit WOTC is entirely focused on bringing in new players and having them churn Tier 1/2 over and over (Seasons) so they can sell more content - and has totally abandoned Tiers 3/4 effectively disallowing 50% of the funnest content in the game unless high tier DM's are willing to balance both structurally and on the fly.
The dead ba for example - my answer A HB BA 60' Range cantrip that scales at a d6+mod has a to hit roll based on casting stat and can either harm a foe or heal an ally - problem solved.
Problem #2 Martials being hugely outpaced by casters in Tier 3/4 - HB weapons that scale like cantrips - easy - you should hit harder if your face tanking the dragon than the guy that can re shape reality and stands 120-240 feet back. Lots of stuff like that is the core of good HB.
But yes there are lots of nutty broken items in the DB as well.
Edit WOTC is entirely focused on bringing in new players and having them churn Tier 1/2 over and over (Seasons) so they can sell more content - and has totally abandoned Tiers 3/4 effectively disallowing 50% of the funnest content in the game unless high tier DM's are willing to balance both structurally and on the fly.
You do realize you're proving OPS point, don't you? That cantrip is beyond broken, and doubling martial's damage output is not the solution.
The dead ba for example - my answer A HB BA 60' Range cantrip that scales at a d6+mod has a to hit roll based on casting stat and can either harm a foe or heal an ally - problem solved.
Problem #2 Martials being hugely outpaced by casters in Tier 3/4 - HB weapons that scale like cantrips - easy - you should hit harder if your face tanking the dragon than the guy that can re shape reality and stands 120-240 feet back. Lots of stuff like that is the core of good HB.
But yes there are lots of nutty broken items in the DB as well.
Edit WOTC is entirely focused on bringing in new players and having them churn Tier 1/2 over and over (Seasons) so they can sell more content - and has totally abandoned Tiers 3/4 effectively disallowing 50% of the funnest content in the game unless high tier DM's are willing to balance both structurally and on the fly.
You do realize you're proving OPS point, don't you? That cantrip is beyond broken, and doubling martial's damage output is not the solution.
A cantrip that scales at a d6+mod is broken? 9 of 10 dm's in my circle of DM's use it (The other dm is an AL purist) - it gives casters something to do with what is normally a dead ba - and as a pure mathmatical issue it is lower power than almost any other cantrip once a caster has accesss to illusionists bracers in t3/4 - and as a top off heal or a pick up a player who is on the other side of the map from the main healer its fine but it does not replace leveled healing spells - or a dedicated healer.
And yes adding dpr to martials balances them against casters - that can call down meteor swarms - create walls of force - forcecage etc
WOTC has admitted casters are balanced around a 6-8 encounter day - they have also admitted data from D&DB shows the average session is 1.5 encounters - the theoretical low output martial dps across 6-8 encounters that would be comprable to a caster IF said caster had to conserve slots - but that is not how the game is played at most tables. Besides thats a load of junk when any caster can dip into warlock and do 8d10+40 resource free from 240' after about l14 or 15 when they get access to very rare items.
Have you ever played or dm'd tier 3/4 and beyond content?
An unlimited heal almost fully negates the need for rests apart from the mandatory long rests to avoid exhaustion. Hit dice basically becomes obsolete. Pretty much every single source I've seen have clearly stated that a healing spell should never be a cantrip or any other unrestricted resource. Even Healing Word, a BA ranged 1d4 + mod heal, costs a spell slot. And upcasting it only adds a 1d4 per level.
Actually HW is 2d4 + mod - and again the point here is to smooth out game play there are plenty of reasons to take a short rest but i wont defend this past this post.
The level of damage creatures put out is so far and away beyond most healers ability to heal that the mathmatically most effective way to heal is to let players drop then bring them back. At l18 16hp is a top off or a pick up an unconcious player at best - but we can all agree to disagree.
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Personally, I love the idea of homebrew. Unfortunately, most people who create homebrew do not follow the rules. Like some of my homebrew, it doesn’t really follow the rules. My best homebrew is this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/6269615-shadowbound-skeleton it is not even that good. I am gonna do a poll. Select yes if you agree with me or select no if you don’t agree with me.
Oiia
What do you mean by not following the rules? Do you mean balance? Used language? Syntax?
I've tried to make all of my homebrew items, spells, and monsters be as balanced and official seeming as possible. Sure, I have a joke item or two, but even those should be "following the rules".
Yeah, a lot of homebrew items, spells, and monsters are not balanced and don’t have proper mechanics.
Oiia
I have created exactly 1 race, and it follows the rules just fine, but lots of weapons are way too op.
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Luckily you don't have to include those into your games. If you find an item concept you really like, but the weapon is severely over/underpowered, tweak it to your needs. I haven't been around for too long as a DM homebrewing my own stuff that I would know how it has evolved over time, but saying "Homebrew ain’t really good anymore" is quite a powerful statement, IMO. Maybe it's true and people just want to create massively overpowered monsters/items nowadays or maybe you've only looked at the "wrong" place.
I usually craft homebrew items and monsters specifically for a certain story. When I've created the monster/item, I write its description as if it's from the official materials. I haven't really looked into the homebrew collection too thoroughly, partly because as you said, they might not have mechanics well described. But mostly it's because when I create from scratch I know the RAW and RAI of the item/monster and I can better explain it to my players if there's confusion or ambiguity.
What do you mean by "anymore"? Are you asserting that at some point everyone (or most people) followed these so-called homebrew rules and that's dropped off? If so, I have two questions:
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LOL, as if homebrew was ever even close to balanced. A few creators do try to make quality stuff that is balanced but a tonne is obviously made by teenagers or children to be as OP as possible, many others are made as a joke or otherwise is not and ever was intended to be serious, and some are even made out of spite by DMs frustrated with their players.
Much HB is made to fix all the things WOTC wont -
The dead ba for example - my answer A HB BA 60' Range cantrip that scales at a d6+mod has a to hit roll based on casting stat and can either harm a foe or heal an ally - problem solved.
Problem #2 Martials being hugely outpaced by casters in Tier 3/4 - HB weapons that scale like cantrips - easy - you should hit harder if your face tanking the dragon than the guy that can re shape reality and stands 120-240 feet back. Lots of stuff like that is the core of good HB.
But yes there are lots of nutty broken items in the DB as well.
Edit WOTC is entirely focused on bringing in new players and having them churn Tier 1/2 over and over (Seasons) so they can sell more content - and has totally abandoned Tiers 3/4 effectively disallowing 50% of the funnest content in the game unless high tier DM's are willing to balance both structurally and on the fly.
You do realize you're proving OPS point, don't you? That cantrip is beyond broken, and doubling martial's damage output is not the solution.
A cantrip that scales at a d6+mod is broken? 9 of 10 dm's in my circle of DM's use it (The other dm is an AL purist) - it gives casters something to do with what is normally a dead ba - and as a pure mathmatical issue it is lower power than almost any other cantrip once a caster has accesss to illusionists bracers in t3/4 - and as a top off heal or a pick up a player who is on the other side of the map from the main healer its fine but it does not replace leveled healing spells - or a dedicated healer.
And yes adding dpr to martials balances them against casters - that can call down meteor swarms - create walls of force - forcecage etc
WOTC has admitted casters are balanced around a 6-8 encounter day - they have also admitted data from D&DB shows the average session is 1.5 encounters - the theoretical low output martial dps across 6-8 encounters that would be comprable to a caster IF said caster had to conserve slots - but that is not how the game is played at most tables. Besides thats a load of junk when any caster can dip into warlock and do 8d10+40 resource free from 240' after about l14 or 15 when they get access to very rare items.
Have you ever played or dm'd tier 3/4 and beyond content?
An unlimited heal almost fully negates the need for rests apart from the mandatory long rests to avoid exhaustion. Hit dice basically becomes obsolete. Pretty much every single source I've seen have clearly stated that a healing spell should never be a cantrip or any other unrestricted resource. Even Healing Word, a BA ranged 1d4 + mod heal, costs a spell slot. And upcasting it only adds a 1d4 per level.
Actually HW is 2d4 + mod - and again the point here is to smooth out game play there are plenty of reasons to take a short rest but i wont defend this past this post.
The level of damage creatures put out is so far and away beyond most healers ability to heal that the mathmatically most effective way to heal is to let players drop then bring them back. At l18 16hp is a top off or a pick up an unconcious player at best - but we can all agree to disagree.