I have been working on a Home Brew class with some very thematic abilities. The executioner is supposed to be a light armored berserker type that can take almost anything 1 on 1.
This class is inspired by League of Legends Characters Darius and Draven.
- by giving Executioners proficiency in two-handed martial weapons you've also given them proficiency with longbows, while removing proficiency with longswords or axes. It makes more sense to me to limit it to melee martial weapons, unless longbows were intended as part of the concept?
- the Bloodlust feature seems to grant an extra Bonus Action and attack. Perhaps you meant that they expend 1 bonus action to attack again? Either way this seems incredibly powerful, as it means a lvl 1 Executioner will be dealing twice as much damage as a lvl 1 Fighter. Perhaps it would be better to grant them the extra attack only on a turn in which they've scored a critical hit or reduced a creature to 0hp, modelling the ability after the Cleave feat
- Unflinching is also a very powerful feature, but it grants advantage on Persuasion checks in combat. This means that your Executioner becomes a socially competent gentleman in the middle of fighting, and also has advantage on rolls to inflict the Charm condition. This doesn't seem like it works with the concept. It would also mean that this character would start a bar fight every time they want to convince an NPC of something.
- Condemned is strange. Normally you get to perform an Attack of Opportunity using a Reaction, this seems to work just like an Attack of Opportunity but uses a Bonus Action instead of a Reaction. I'm not sure what the idea behind this is. Wouldn't it work better to simply state that the Executioner can get Attacks of Opportunity even if the enemy takes the Disengage action?
- Stand Aside seems like a fine feature, but 5th level is where most martial classes get an extra attack. The ability to make 2 attacks per turn is massively more powerful than Stand Aside, regardless of how neat that feature is. You could either add an extra attack here, or take a note from the Cleric and allow them to add d8 slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage to 1 attack each turn. That would significantly boost their damage output, while retaining the focus on powerful single attacks.
- Onslaught is neat, and I quite like it as an idea. Definitely fits the concept. But you should probably specify whether you make a single damage roll, or whether you roll damage separately for each enemy hit.
- Death's Dance is an interesting concept, but it needs a limit. Otherwise an Executioner with enough kills could walk around with an AC of 30+ and become essentially immortal.
- Straining Strikes is again neat, but significantly less powerful than the extra attacks that other martials get. Also, a Critical Hit only doubles the rolled dice of an attack. Because Straining strikes adds a bonus to the damage instead of adding dice, a critical hit wouldn't double the extra damage. Also, you should probably specify that the bonus damage is equal to the damage the executioner takes from the attack. Otherwise they can use an effect like Barbarian Rage or a Potion of Invulnerability to negate/reduce the damage they take, but still get the full damage boost on their attack.
Haven't read the subclasses yet, might do so in a bit. Definitely a fun character concept, though. Seems like a bit of a cross between a Rogue and a Barbarian, in terms of playstyle.
I really appreciate all of the comments and questions. The sub classes are mostly the focus so if you end up reading them let me know. Some of the abilities they have are split up or full on Bonus Feats. I addressed everything you commented on and any and all help with this class will make my content improve in the future. I plan on attempting to publish a campaign setting with some of my classes being the focus eventually.
I agree to the melee martian weapons.
Blood Lust: I wanted to make a in your face killer class but has lower HD and worse armor than a fighter. But I can see why the extra attack each turn is too much.
Unflinching is supposed to only work if those abilities are being used against them. Unless you are a headsman subclass, and that only gives them intimidation.
Condemned: I still wanted the executioner to have a normal reaction. This ability was made to punish enemies who attack the executioner and attempt to flee. I wanted them to be able to hit any enemy that leaves weather it be from nimble escape or disengage. I feel I worded it poorly.
Stand aside: On the Ability chart its marked to give them an extra attack i must have just forgot to type it bellow. I originally had this ability at lvl 1 but obviously i had to move that to when monks also get stunning fist.
Onslaught: i added the 1 attack roll to the description thanks for catching that.
Deaths Dance: So I am unsure if how I worded it wrong. They can only have that temporary AC till the end of that combat encounter. Its meant to seem like a killing spree perk, inside 1 encounter at a time. They also must deal the killing blow to the enemy. If this ability is still a problem I may just rework or replace it.
Straining Strikes: I reworded it and removed the confusing critical comment so it could be a little more straight forward. I originally had this ability do wayyyyy to much damage and had critical hits kill the Executioner but it didn't seem like an ability people would want to use.
I have been working on a Home Brew class with some very thematic abilities. The executioner is supposed to be a light armored berserker type that can take almost anything 1 on 1.
This class is inspired by League of Legends Characters Darius and Draven.
Executioner Google Doc File
Looks like a fun concept, a couple of notes.
- by giving Executioners proficiency in two-handed martial weapons you've also given them proficiency with longbows, while removing proficiency with longswords or axes. It makes more sense to me to limit it to melee martial weapons, unless longbows were intended as part of the concept?
- the Bloodlust feature seems to grant an extra Bonus Action and attack. Perhaps you meant that they expend 1 bonus action to attack again? Either way this seems incredibly powerful, as it means a lvl 1 Executioner will be dealing twice as much damage as a lvl 1 Fighter. Perhaps it would be better to grant them the extra attack only on a turn in which they've scored a critical hit or reduced a creature to 0hp, modelling the ability after the Cleave feat
- Unflinching is also a very powerful feature, but it grants advantage on Persuasion checks in combat. This means that your Executioner becomes a socially competent gentleman in the middle of fighting, and also has advantage on rolls to inflict the Charm condition. This doesn't seem like it works with the concept. It would also mean that this character would start a bar fight every time they want to convince an NPC of something.
- Condemned is strange. Normally you get to perform an Attack of Opportunity using a Reaction, this seems to work just like an Attack of Opportunity but uses a Bonus Action instead of a Reaction. I'm not sure what the idea behind this is. Wouldn't it work better to simply state that the Executioner can get Attacks of Opportunity even if the enemy takes the Disengage action?
- Stand Aside seems like a fine feature, but 5th level is where most martial classes get an extra attack. The ability to make 2 attacks per turn is massively more powerful than Stand Aside, regardless of how neat that feature is. You could either add an extra attack here, or take a note from the Cleric and allow them to add d8 slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage to 1 attack each turn. That would significantly boost their damage output, while retaining the focus on powerful single attacks.
- Onslaught is neat, and I quite like it as an idea. Definitely fits the concept. But you should probably specify whether you make a single damage roll, or whether you roll damage separately for each enemy hit.
- Death's Dance is an interesting concept, but it needs a limit. Otherwise an Executioner with enough kills could walk around with an AC of 30+ and become essentially immortal.
- Straining Strikes is again neat, but significantly less powerful than the extra attacks that other martials get. Also, a Critical Hit only doubles the rolled dice of an attack. Because Straining strikes adds a bonus to the damage instead of adding dice, a critical hit wouldn't double the extra damage. Also, you should probably specify that the bonus damage is equal to the damage the executioner takes from the attack. Otherwise they can use an effect like Barbarian Rage or a Potion of Invulnerability to negate/reduce the damage they take, but still get the full damage boost on their attack.
Haven't read the subclasses yet, might do so in a bit. Definitely a fun character concept, though. Seems like a bit of a cross between a Rogue and a Barbarian, in terms of playstyle.
I really appreciate all of the comments and questions. The sub classes are mostly the focus so if you end up reading them let me know. Some of the abilities they have are split up or full on Bonus Feats. I addressed everything you commented on and any and all help with this class will make my content improve in the future. I plan on attempting to publish a campaign setting with some of my classes being the focus eventually.
I agree to the melee martian weapons.
Blood Lust: I wanted to make a in your face killer class but has lower HD and worse armor than a fighter. But I can see why the extra attack each turn is too much.
Unflinching is supposed to only work if those abilities are being used against them. Unless you are a headsman subclass, and that only gives them intimidation.
Condemned: I still wanted the executioner to have a normal reaction. This ability was made to punish enemies who attack the executioner and attempt to flee. I wanted them to be able to hit any enemy that leaves weather it be from nimble escape or disengage. I feel I worded it poorly.
Stand aside: On the Ability chart its marked to give them an extra attack i must have just forgot to type it bellow. I originally had this ability at lvl 1 but obviously i had to move that to when monks also get stunning fist.
Onslaught: i added the 1 attack roll to the description thanks for catching that.
Deaths Dance: So I am unsure if how I worded it wrong. They can only have that temporary AC till the end of that combat encounter. Its meant to seem like a killing spree perk, inside 1 encounter at a time. They also must deal the killing blow to the enemy. If this ability is still a problem I may just rework or replace it.
Straining Strikes: I reworded it and removed the confusing critical comment so it could be a little more straight forward. I originally had this ability do wayyyyy to much damage and had critical hits kill the Executioner but it didn't seem like an ability people would want to use.
I may change Bloodlust back if you think that having to land an attack before they get the extra attack seems strong but some what fair.