The following is a Homebrew Class I made after I got inspired from a post on Pintrest of a situation that happened to someones party.
I am mainly looking for constructive criticism and whether or not it seems viable. For those who will see some of it as TLDR, this is a race that is meant to act as the other half of a class. In this sense, this race causes you to multiclass. The finer details are below. All of the lore aside from the motives options were just made up by me and thus may not align with anything 5e has on Sentient Items.
It is currently specialized to fit my style of DM-ing but I would like to make a version to put out into the world where others could adopt it into core rules and it not break a campaign. The sections that I believe have the biggest potential to be unbalanced is the leveling, the powers, and the body transferal. I apologize in advance for any spelling or language errors but welcome corrections on those as well. I just need a new set of eyes because I've been working on this for 3 days and feel I am glossing over things.
Thanks again in advance for checking this out and even more so if you comment.
Okay, I've done a brief read over the content posted here and I've come to a conclusion: this does not read as a class option.
Remember that every class follows a strict structure when explaining how they work. These can be broken down into 4 basic sections: 1) Levelling table (what do I get at what level?) 2) Basic Features (What skills and equipment do I get when I start at Lv1?) 3) Universal Class Abilities (What skills do I get regardless of class?) 4) Sub-class Abilities (What skills do I get because of class?)
From these, each section has multiple sub heading for each ability in that class, explaining when the ability is unlocked and what it does in the most basic language possible. You have repeated had long explanation about these abilities under single headings which makes it sound long and confusing but could be broken down. Example: Subclasses. Each form of item gives its "owner" abilities (i.e. Trinket's +1 on saving throws). These should be under their own headings, like "(Item) Physiology", separate from the "Power" table.
Finally, I would like to point out something. In Body Transferal, you mention that if you host dies, you drop to the floor until someone picks you up. NO. Just NO. If your character fails all 3 death saving throws, you are dead. It doesn't matter if you a sentient item or not, this a fundamental rule of D&D. This is how characters die and when new characters need to be rolled.
The link here is connected to the original Blood Hunter pdf produced by Geek&Sundry. Use this as a guide to re-write your class so that it sounds more like a class option.
P.s. I apologise if this comes across in a negative attitude. My wording in comments often depend on how close/far the person is to that goal. In this case, far since it doesn't read as a class option to me.
It does come off a little harsh but no worries, i did ask for criticism. I meant for it to be more akin to a race option and it is still under construction. Ive made several edits since the original posting already.
It is very wordy and is part of what i am seeking to correct. For the comment on organization, this is what i hate most about my own work. This first draft here is my ideas spewn out and balances added in as i thought of them. I cleaned it up slightly before posting but this is very much just a pretty version of my raw document. But thats just a me thing because i enjoy graphic design.
On character death, i see and understand the outrage on the character being able to "avoid" death, but to me this was balanced by the new methods death could present itself as for a character. Like this. Example: If the host is disarmed on a ship and the item falls into the ocean, more than likely thats unretrievable and after the time limit that host would die and the player would need a new character since the item is lost. Or if they are discovered to be a cursed weapon, perhaps a king orders it locked away or banished. That was why the time limit existed in body transferal.
But alot of what i disagree with about your initial critiscisms is whether or not this is a class or race. I went with race because as a class you have the problem of if a player chooses to multiclass into the item later on in the campaign. The vessel can't just emerge before them and then theres the fact they must choose to be taken over or controlled that can really derail a campaign.
Additionally each item is different only based on the subrace they are and cannot level up stats or gain other abilities in common outside said subraces so a leveling table would have nothing on it. They dont use their proficiency bonus, their starting feats depend on their racial build, dont have spell slots, or leveling abilities. (Proficiency bonus' lies with the hosts' table based on combined level. I added that in with my revisions when i noticed that clarification was missing).
The balance in stregth for this race in my eyes is that it gains alot of powers at the cost of levels in common for the host in comparison to the rest of the party. For example, because playing that race gives you a level in it, level 1 players have 1 level in sentient item and 1 in host class. A lvl 5 player would be sentient item level 3 and host class level 3. The combat effectiveness will lie in the hosts body, so a lvl 3 in class will be going up against level 5 encounters with their items utility to make up the difference.
The core of this homebrew is that the race levels up. It is not like other races or classes, its a hybrid is some ways and a nerfed version of each in others. I had no illusion i would have this right on the first try because of that, i am just trying to get to a comfortable point with it because of how far it moves away from core rules and build methods while trying to live amongst them.
I am sorry if what was poster upset you to read. I thank you for your thoughts and advice and links for reference. This was just a creation i had and was wanting some assistance to help mold it into something better in the end. If any of what i have said changes what lense you view this homebrew in, i would love to hear those new perspectives. If not, id love to hear that too
I've taken a read through, and you've obviously put a lot of work into think about this. But I'm struggling with the idea of playing as an item / host combination. Particularly as the 'primary' class in this instance is a sentient item. That throws up all sorts of problems with the general rules of the game.
I like the idea of an item having a soul that, over time, connects with whoever wields it, granting certain abilities and powers. But that feels much more like a Warlock's pact - and that's the angle I think you should explore, rather than a class all of its own, this would work well as subclass.
Your info around rolling a sentient item is good. It could help generate the weapon, armor or item that the character 'finds' in their backstory. Similar to the 'hostile takeover' or 'partnership' options, these work well to develop character traits.
I've not really looked into the mechanics of your home-brew beyond that. It seems outrageously powerful though, and like I mentioned, requires completely re-writing the DnD rulebook.
Thank you for the advice. I do still believe that my intention of it being a Race instead of a class is where a lot of what I had in mind for balance comes to play. It does act as a class, but by being a race it provides lots of powers but not a lot of character strength obtained from leveling a class, thus only granting utility instead of stats.
For playing as an item/host, the player only has to focus on being the item. Regardless of a takeover or partnership, it is to be assumed the body will be going along with the wishes of the item.Thus the player should just pretend they are the host for easiest results. Only sometimes as a DM tool should the body try and resist an action the item wishes to perform. I do realize that is something much more difficult to control from playe to playe and DM to DM but it was the intention of how to control it.
Interesting idea of having it be a Warlock's Pact. I see that working much better for fitting in the established rules. My only stipulation then is that by being a arlock there is no option for a martial focused character to branch into this.
And I do realize that this idea here messes with many established and core rules of the game, but I did my best to state how these instances would play out for this race, leading to very long-winded sections.
As an update I have now started working with a player of mine who just made a character of this and we will be performing combat and RP tests this week.
The beauty of 5th Edition is in its streamlined ruleset that allows you to bend and flex it to create all manner of things. If you're happy to work out the details, and it works for you, your group, and your campaign, then more power to you.
I didn't realise this was meant to be a Race, rather than a Class. I think that's even harder to justify. The problem is, races follow various patterns that keep them balanced - and the racial features do not change, as they're inherent. All races can be paired with a class to create a combination of features and abilities. This Race is so vastly different, and breaks the conventions of the rules, that it would be very hard to balance.
Regarding the Warlock; martial variants are entirely doable. See the Pact of the Blade archetype, for example.
That said, this doesn't have to work for everyone - it only needs to work for you - and so even if it is very niche, if you can balance it and make it work, then I hope you can bring it to life in your campaign.
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The following is a Homebrew Class I made after I got inspired from a post on Pintrest of a situation that happened to someones party.
I am mainly looking for constructive criticism and whether or not it seems viable. For those who will see some of it as TLDR, this is a race that is meant to act as the other half of a class. In this sense, this race causes you to multiclass. The finer details are below. All of the lore aside from the motives options were just made up by me and thus may not align with anything 5e has on Sentient Items.
It is currently specialized to fit my style of DM-ing but I would like to make a version to put out into the world where others could adopt it into core rules and it not break a campaign. The sections that I believe have the biggest potential to be unbalanced is the leveling, the powers, and the body transferal. I apologize in advance for any spelling or language errors but welcome corrections on those as well. I just need a new set of eyes because I've been working on this for 3 days and feel I am glossing over things.
Thanks again in advance for checking this out and even more so if you comment.
Pictures in my google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nyEYjYrRND71O5flTdR6qPcX8rrIROdk
Original raw doc. before I made it look like PH pages
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RUIS0B6Qu5eBzZNVE5bDpq8tlOPygr0A07w2nnpAdho
-Tvol
Okay, I've done a brief read over the content posted here and I've come to a conclusion: this does not read as a class option.
Remember that every class follows a strict structure when explaining how they work. These can be broken down into 4 basic sections:
1) Levelling table (what do I get at what level?)
2) Basic Features (What skills and equipment do I get when I start at Lv1?)
3) Universal Class Abilities (What skills do I get regardless of class?)
4) Sub-class Abilities (What skills do I get because of class?)
From these, each section has multiple sub heading for each ability in that class, explaining when the ability is unlocked and what it does in the most basic language possible. You have repeated had long explanation about these abilities under single headings which makes it sound long and confusing but could be broken down. Example: Subclasses. Each form of item gives its "owner" abilities (i.e. Trinket's +1 on saving throws). These should be under their own headings, like "(Item) Physiology", separate from the "Power" table.
Finally, I would like to point out something. In Body Transferal, you mention that if you host dies, you drop to the floor until someone picks you up. NO. Just NO.
If your character fails all 3 death saving throws, you are dead. It doesn't matter if you a sentient item or not, this a fundamental rule of D&D. This is how characters die and when new characters need to be rolled.
The link here is connected to the original Blood Hunter pdf produced by Geek&Sundry. Use this as a guide to re-write your class so that it sounds more like a class option.
P.s. I apologise if this comes across in a negative attitude. My wording in comments often depend on how close/far the person is to that goal. In this case, far since it doesn't read as a class option to me.
It does come off a little harsh but no worries, i did ask for criticism. I meant for it to be more akin to a race option and it is still under construction. Ive made several edits since the original posting already.
It is very wordy and is part of what i am seeking to correct. For the comment on organization, this is what i hate most about my own work. This first draft here is my ideas spewn out and balances added in as i thought of them. I cleaned it up slightly before posting but this is very much just a pretty version of my raw document. But thats just a me thing because i enjoy graphic design.
On character death, i see and understand the outrage on the character being able to "avoid" death, but to me this was balanced by the new methods death could present itself as for a character. Like this. Example: If the host is disarmed on a ship and the item falls into the ocean, more than likely thats unretrievable and after the time limit that host would die and the player would need a new character since the item is lost. Or if they are discovered to be a cursed weapon, perhaps a king orders it locked away or banished. That was why the time limit existed in body transferal.
But alot of what i disagree with about your initial critiscisms is whether or not this is a class or race. I went with race because as a class you have the problem of if a player chooses to multiclass into the item later on in the campaign. The vessel can't just emerge before them and then theres the fact they must choose to be taken over or controlled that can really derail a campaign.
Additionally each item is different only based on the subrace they are and cannot level up stats or gain other abilities in common outside said subraces so a leveling table would have nothing on it. They dont use their proficiency bonus, their starting feats depend on their racial build, dont have spell slots, or leveling abilities. (Proficiency bonus' lies with the hosts' table based on combined level. I added that in with my revisions when i noticed that clarification was missing).
The balance in stregth for this race in my eyes is that it gains alot of powers at the cost of levels in common for the host in comparison to the rest of the party. For example, because playing that race gives you a level in it, level 1 players have 1 level in sentient item and 1 in host class. A lvl 5 player would be sentient item level 3 and host class level 3. The combat effectiveness will lie in the hosts body, so a lvl 3 in class will be going up against level 5 encounters with their items utility to make up the difference.
The core of this homebrew is that the race levels up. It is not like other races or classes, its a hybrid is some ways and a nerfed version of each in others. I had no illusion i would have this right on the first try because of that, i am just trying to get to a comfortable point with it because of how far it moves away from core rules and build methods while trying to live amongst them.
I am sorry if what was poster upset you to read. I thank you for your thoughts and advice and links for reference. This was just a creation i had and was wanting some assistance to help mold it into something better in the end. If any of what i have said changes what lense you view this homebrew in, i would love to hear those new perspectives. If not, id love to hear that too
This should probably be in the Homebrew section.
I've taken a read through, and you've obviously put a lot of work into think about this. But I'm struggling with the idea of playing as an item / host combination. Particularly as the 'primary' class in this instance is a sentient item. That throws up all sorts of problems with the general rules of the game.
I like the idea of an item having a soul that, over time, connects with whoever wields it, granting certain abilities and powers. But that feels much more like a Warlock's pact - and that's the angle I think you should explore, rather than a class all of its own, this would work well as subclass.
Your info around rolling a sentient item is good. It could help generate the weapon, armor or item that the character 'finds' in their backstory. Similar to the 'hostile takeover' or 'partnership' options, these work well to develop character traits.
I've not really looked into the mechanics of your home-brew beyond that. It seems outrageously powerful though, and like I mentioned, requires completely re-writing the DnD rulebook.
Thank you for the advice. I do still believe that my intention of it being a Race instead of a class is where a lot of what I had in mind for balance comes to play. It does act as a class, but by being a race it provides lots of powers but not a lot of character strength obtained from leveling a class, thus only granting utility instead of stats.
For playing as an item/host, the player only has to focus on being the item. Regardless of a takeover or partnership, it is to be assumed the body will be going along with the wishes of the item.Thus the player should just pretend they are the host for easiest results. Only sometimes as a DM tool should the body try and resist an action the item wishes to perform. I do realize that is something much more difficult to control from playe to playe and DM to DM but it was the intention of how to control it.
Interesting idea of having it be a Warlock's Pact. I see that working much better for fitting in the established rules. My only stipulation then is that by being a arlock there is no option for a martial focused character to branch into this.
And I do realize that this idea here messes with many established and core rules of the game, but I did my best to state how these instances would play out for this race, leading to very long-winded sections.
As an update I have now started working with a player of mine who just made a character of this and we will be performing combat and RP tests this week.
The beauty of 5th Edition is in its streamlined ruleset that allows you to bend and flex it to create all manner of things. If you're happy to work out the details, and it works for you, your group, and your campaign, then more power to you.
I didn't realise this was meant to be a Race, rather than a Class. I think that's even harder to justify. The problem is, races follow various patterns that keep them balanced - and the racial features do not change, as they're inherent. All races can be paired with a class to create a combination of features and abilities. This Race is so vastly different, and breaks the conventions of the rules, that it would be very hard to balance.
Regarding the Warlock; martial variants are entirely doable. See the Pact of the Blade archetype, for example.
That said, this doesn't have to work for everyone - it only needs to work for you - and so even if it is very niche, if you can balance it and make it work, then I hope you can bring it to life in your campaign.