Hello homebrewers, I've got a homebrew on my hands that needs some input.
My player wants to make a character that is a literal mouse pretending to be a halfling. The mouse homebrew is a whole 'nother thing I'm working on. Right now, I'm just trying to balance the manner in which they pretend to be a halfling. I briefly considered allowing the mouse thing to just be flavor and make a full fledged halfling, but that's no fun. Same for being a simple illusion that has no physical component.
The model that I'm working with right now is that their family has been honing this craft for generations and produces amulets that allow them to walk through society perceived as real, hot-blooded halflings. Here's what I've got so far, any input would be appreciated:
Amulet of Half-Wittedness
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
The first time a wearer attunes to this amulet, they feel a new sense of possibility rush through them. Roll new stats for Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution, adding +2 to Dexterity and leaving off any modifiers obtained via race. Additionally, roll new hit points using class hit die and the new Constitution modifier.
When the wearer dons this amulet, they transform into a halfling. Their Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution scores become the scores rolled at the time of attunement. The wearer determines their appearance and can choose to alter the appearance any time they don the amulet. The wearer may choose to have features unusual to a typical halfling, such as extraordinary height or small feet. However, if the appearance deviates from that of a typical halfling too vastly, the appearance will instead be the last appearance the amulet manifested. If the last appearance was not chosen by a person present, the DM decides what the last appearance was.
The amulet must be invested with power via a metal disc heavily inscribed with runes. This process takes three hours. Once it is complete, the amulet has twelve hours of charge. Once the wearer has been transformed for twelve hours, or if the amulet is removed, they will transform back into their original form. Once the amulet is removed it must be charged again, no matter how long the wearer used it.
On a DC 20 Arcana check, an observer can tell that the halfling form is a transformation. For the purposes of a Dispel Magic spell, this transformation is considered a 9th level spell.
9th level true polymorph is a powerful item, even for a Halfling. If they intend to play as a Halfling with the option to turn into a rat, you can simply design the character as a Halfling that has Polymorph to be a rat, in reverse. You can also use regular Shape Change.
Making it 9th level reduces the unique experience of avoiding or being discovered as a rat, it's such a high level check that anything using 9th level to dispel is going to walk on them, and a lower chance to dispel isn't really significant if an anti magic field will do the same.
Treating it like regular Polymorph in reverse, and allowing them to change back every short rest is more flexible, more naturally challenges and experiences, and more recovery freedom. Also? Making it an innate quality rather than an item could be safer. An item can be lost or destroyed, an innate ability sticks to the PC.
IDK how you and the player intend to act around the feature, but you can review Metallic Dragons Shape Change abilities to get some basic Mystical shape shifting qualities.
I hadn't been thinking of it in terms of Polymorph and True Polymorph in part because I got so hung up on the duration. But that is a much better metric for determining the power of the enchantment. Same for the draconic Change Shape ability. Gives me a new framing.
I do believe I want it to stay an item however. I want the player to have that (honestly pretty slight) risk of losing it. It also creates a possibility for in game alteration. I dont particularly want to level this ability over time like its a mini class, but I don't want it to be static. With an item, I could give the player the option of having it magically altered or further enchanted if they want.
One question: is it too powerful to give this player the option to change the appearance? I tried to limit the shenanigans by imposing the charging time (though I think I prefer your suggestion of just tying it to a short rest), but they could still drastically change their appearance almost at will... it's one of the most powerful aspects of a dragon, feels dangerous to give it to a low level character.
Edit: AH BUT WAIT. If I do the reverse polymorph as you suggested, that circumvents that whole feature and also saves me from having to describe what happens to all the things they're wearing and carrying when they transform back into a mouse. Perfect 👌
Alternatively, have the amulet contain the mouse, who takes control of the halfling body? The halfling in question is a simpleton who agreed to give the mouse control (kind of like in the movie ratatouille, but more magic!) because the mouse is the one who knows how to adventure.
My concern with this is how it will work as & when the BBEG realises that the character is a mouse and counters the magic - or if antimagic happens anywhere.
I'd avoid letting them transform into a mouse unless they were a druid, and could wildshape anyway! Perhaps they should play as a druid, but they are a druidic mouse that learnt to wildshape, then learnt how to wildshape to a halfling instead of an animal.
I'm not particularly worried about a BBEG discovering it, because the player and I have already talked about it and they're excited by the challenge of figuring out how to counter that.
My concern with using a wildshape format is how it would interact with their regular druidic abilities. Does it take up one of their transformations? If not and they get just sorta transform into a halfling and stay that way for extended periods of time... there aren't particularly mechanisms for perceiving or countering wildshape, because its meant to only last an hour. Is it OP to simply allow them to invulnerably stay that way? Is it unfair to impose restrictions on it that could affect their regular wildshaping? Am I massively overthinking this?
Other than that concern, wild shape does fit a lot of what im looking for, I just feel like it would be too powerful.
Wild shape is designed to be brief and only turn into animals, not turn into Humanoids with class progression. Unless their Rat Halfling impersonator also wants to be a Druid, it shouldn't matter. But Shape Change has the least mechanical conundrums, it can function however you want it to without any complicated interactions.
If the player is mechanically using a Halfling with the assertion that it's really a Rat, than none of it is really salient, just play a normal with the occasional incident. It's only going to matter if the player starts abusing the feature to transform freely as the situation benefits them. You can tie the effect to an item no matter which transformation you choose, or whatever you can think of, it's a flexible game.
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Hello homebrewers, I've got a homebrew on my hands that needs some input.
My player wants to make a character that is a literal mouse pretending to be a halfling. The mouse homebrew is a whole 'nother thing I'm working on. Right now, I'm just trying to balance the manner in which they pretend to be a halfling. I briefly considered allowing the mouse thing to just be flavor and make a full fledged halfling, but that's no fun. Same for being a simple illusion that has no physical component.
The model that I'm working with right now is that their family has been honing this craft for generations and produces amulets that allow them to walk through society perceived as real, hot-blooded halflings. Here's what I've got so far, any input would be appreciated:
Amulet of Half-Wittedness
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
The first time a wearer attunes to this amulet, they feel a new sense of possibility rush through them. Roll new stats for Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution, adding +2 to Dexterity and leaving off any modifiers obtained via race. Additionally, roll new hit points using class hit die and the new Constitution modifier.
When the wearer dons this amulet, they transform into a halfling. Their Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution scores become the scores rolled at the time of attunement. The wearer determines their appearance and can choose to alter the appearance any time they don the amulet. The wearer may choose to have features unusual to a typical halfling, such as extraordinary height or small feet. However, if the appearance deviates from that of a typical halfling too vastly, the appearance will instead be the last appearance the amulet manifested. If the last appearance was not chosen by a person present, the DM decides what the last appearance was.
The amulet must be invested with power via a metal disc heavily inscribed with runes. This process takes three hours. Once it is complete, the amulet has twelve hours of charge. Once the wearer has been transformed for twelve hours, or if the amulet is removed, they will transform back into their original form. Once the amulet is removed it must be charged again, no matter how long the wearer used it.
On a DC 20 Arcana check, an observer can tell that the halfling form is a transformation. For the purposes of a Dispel Magic spell, this transformation is considered a 9th level spell.
9th level true polymorph is a powerful item, even for a Halfling. If they intend to play as a Halfling with the option to turn into a rat, you can simply design the character as a Halfling that has Polymorph to be a rat, in reverse. You can also use regular Shape Change.
Making it 9th level reduces the unique experience of avoiding or being discovered as a rat, it's such a high level check that anything using 9th level to dispel is going to walk on them, and a lower chance to dispel isn't really significant if an anti magic field will do the same.
Treating it like regular Polymorph in reverse, and allowing them to change back every short rest is more flexible, more naturally challenges and experiences, and more recovery freedom. Also? Making it an innate quality rather than an item could be safer. An item can be lost or destroyed, an innate ability sticks to the PC.
IDK how you and the player intend to act around the feature, but you can review Metallic Dragons Shape Change abilities to get some basic Mystical shape shifting qualities.
Hmmm some good critiques, thank you.
I hadn't been thinking of it in terms of Polymorph and True Polymorph in part because I got so hung up on the duration. But that is a much better metric for determining the power of the enchantment. Same for the draconic Change Shape ability. Gives me a new framing.
I do believe I want it to stay an item however. I want the player to have that (honestly pretty slight) risk of losing it. It also creates a possibility for in game alteration. I dont particularly want to level this ability over time like its a mini class, but I don't want it to be static. With an item, I could give the player the option of having it magically altered or further enchanted if they want.
One question: is it too powerful to give this player the option to change the appearance? I tried to limit the shenanigans by imposing the charging time (though I think I prefer your suggestion of just tying it to a short rest), but they could still drastically change their appearance almost at will... it's one of the most powerful aspects of a dragon, feels dangerous to give it to a low level character.
Edit: AH BUT WAIT. If I do the reverse polymorph as you suggested, that circumvents that whole feature and also saves me from having to describe what happens to all the things they're wearing and carrying when they transform back into a mouse. Perfect 👌
Alternatively, have the amulet contain the mouse, who takes control of the halfling body? The halfling in question is a simpleton who agreed to give the mouse control (kind of like in the movie ratatouille, but more magic!) because the mouse is the one who knows how to adventure.
My concern with this is how it will work as & when the BBEG realises that the character is a mouse and counters the magic - or if antimagic happens anywhere.
I'd avoid letting them transform into a mouse unless they were a druid, and could wildshape anyway! Perhaps they should play as a druid, but they are a druidic mouse that learnt to wildshape, then learnt how to wildshape to a halfling instead of an animal.
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I'm not particularly worried about a BBEG discovering it, because the player and I have already talked about it and they're excited by the challenge of figuring out how to counter that.
My concern with using a wildshape format is how it would interact with their regular druidic abilities. Does it take up one of their transformations? If not and they get just sorta transform into a halfling and stay that way for extended periods of time... there aren't particularly mechanisms for perceiving or countering wildshape, because its meant to only last an hour. Is it OP to simply allow them to invulnerably stay that way? Is it unfair to impose restrictions on it that could affect their regular wildshaping? Am I massively overthinking this?
Other than that concern, wild shape does fit a lot of what im looking for, I just feel like it would be too powerful.
Wild shape is designed to be brief and only turn into animals, not turn into Humanoids with class progression. Unless their Rat Halfling impersonator also wants to be a Druid, it shouldn't matter. But Shape Change has the least mechanical conundrums, it can function however you want it to without any complicated interactions.
If the player is mechanically using a Halfling with the assertion that it's really a Rat, than none of it is really salient, just play a normal with the occasional incident. It's only going to matter if the player starts abusing the feature to transform freely as the situation benefits them. You can tie the effect to an item no matter which transformation you choose, or whatever you can think of, it's a flexible game.