Version 2 I hope is clearer and more interesting - I agree that the transition was a bit sudden!
When you activate the Hilt, any attack to make with the Hilt deals an additional 1d4 Necrotic damage from now on. Curse: From the moment you activate the Hilt, you begin your transformation into a Lich, with the Hilt as a Phylactery. Each time you slay a humanoid with the Hilt, your hitpoint maximum is increased by the maximum hitpoints of the humanoid, to a maximum of your normal hitpoint maximum. Each time you complete a long rest where you have not slain a humanoid using the Hilt since your last, your hitpoint maximum is reduced by 1d10, and you gain one of the following effects, sequentially, which last until your curse is removed: • You no longer need to eat or drink • You no longer need to sleep (you must still rest as normal) • You no longer need to breathe • Your skin becomes waxy and dry • You become resistant to Poison • Your creature type changes to Undead, you become immune to Poison
If your hitpoint maximum ever reaches 0, then you are slain and a hostile Demilich forms within 10ft. your Phylactery after 1d10 days. If you are otherwise slain whilst cursed, your body reforms within 10ft. of the Hilt after 1d10 days, and you return to life with a hitpoint maximum of 10 or your total level, whichever is highest, and with all of the traits described above. If you are targeted by a Remove Curse spell, then the caster must succeed on an Arcana check with a DC of 18, plus 1 for each of the traits above that you have gained, to end the curse, and on a failure, Remove Curse does not work on this curse for 1 week. You may not cast Remove Curse on yourself to end this curse.
Version 2 I hope is clearer and more interesting - I agree that the transition was a bit sudden!
When you activate the Hilt, any attack to make with the Hilt deals an additional 1d4 Necrotic damage from now on. Curse: From the moment you activate the Hilt, you begin your transformation into a Lich, with the Hilt as a Phylactery. Each time you slay a humanoid with the Hilt, your hitpoint maximum is increased by the maximum hitpoints of the humanoid, to a maximum of your normal hitpoint maximum. Each time you complete a long rest where you have not slain a humanoid using the Hilt since your last, your hitpoint maximum is reduced by 1d10, and you gain one of the following effects, sequentially, which last until your curse is removed: • You no longer need to eat or drink • You no longer need to sleep (you must still rest as normal) • You no longer need to breathe • Your skin becomes waxy and dry • You become resistant to Poison • Your creature type changes to Undead, you become immune to Poison
If your hitpoint maximum ever reaches 0, then you are slain and a hostile Demilich forms within 10ft. your Phylactery after 1d10 days. If you are otherwise slain whilst cursed, your body reforms within 10ft. of the Hilt after 1d10 days, and you return to life with a hitpoint maximum of 10 or your total level, whichever is highest, and with all of the traits described above. If you are targeted by a Remove Curse spell, then the caster must succeed on an Arcana check with a DC of 18, plus 1 for each of the traits above that you have gained, to end the curse, and on a failure, Remove Curse does not work on this curse for 1 week. You may not cast Remove Curse on yourself to end this curse.
What do you think?
Amazing! Some of the best rules for lichdom that I've ever seen.
The only thing I see that could be a problem is that the phylactery is a magic item. Normal phylacteries are nonmagical, so to kill the lich forever you just have to find the phylactery and then destroy it. If it's a magic item, then pretty much the only way to destroy it is with antimagic field. I suppose that the difficulty of destroying the phylactery is counteracted by the ease of finding it, since they have to carry the hilt any time they want to absorb souls, so it's probably not much of a problem.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Version 2 I hope is clearer and more interesting - I agree that the transition was a bit sudden!
When you activate the Hilt, any attack to make with the Hilt deals an additional 1d4 Necrotic damage from now on. Curse: From the moment you activate the Hilt, you begin your transformation into a Lich, with the Hilt as a Phylactery. Each time you slay a humanoid with the Hilt, your hitpoint maximum is increased by the maximum hitpoints of the humanoid, to a maximum of your normal hitpoint maximum. Each time you complete a long rest where you have not slain a humanoid using the Hilt since your last, your hitpoint maximum is reduced by 1d10, and you gain one of the following effects, sequentially, which last until your curse is removed: • You no longer need to eat or drink • You no longer need to sleep (you must still rest as normal) • You no longer need to breathe • Your skin becomes waxy and dry • You become resistant to Poison • Your creature type changes to Undead, you become immune to Poison
If your hitpoint maximum ever reaches 0, then you are slain and a hostile Demilich forms within 10ft. your Phylactery after 1d10 days. If you are otherwise slain whilst cursed, your body reforms within 10ft. of the Hilt after 1d10 days, and you return to life with a hitpoint maximum of 10 or your total level, whichever is highest, and with all of the traits described above. If you are targeted by a Remove Curse spell, then the caster must succeed on an Arcana check with a DC of 18, plus 1 for each of the traits above that you have gained, to end the curse, and on a failure, Remove Curse does not work on this curse for 1 week. You may not cast Remove Curse on yourself to end this curse.
What do you think?
Amazing! Some of the best rules for lichdom that I've ever seen.
The only thing I see that could be a problem is that the phylactery is a magic item. Normal phylacteries are nonmagical, so to kill the lich forever you just have to find the phylactery and then destroy it. If it's a magic item, then pretty much the only way to destroy it is with antimagic field. I suppose that the difficulty of destroying the phylactery is counteracted by the ease of finding it, since they have to carry the hilt any time they want to absorb souls, so it's probably not much of a problem.
Thanks! It also shouldn't be that easy, as if they are a lich but not yet so old as to die, then destroying the phylactery would simply end the curse, which would be boring!
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
The name of the monster is improperly capitalized and randomly pluralized.
"natural armor" should be in parenthesis.
Usually, the thing saying they don't need to sleep is in the description instead of the statblock, and is called Constructed Nature. From clay golem: Constructed Nature. A golem doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Helping Hands is really overpowered, because it's infinite healing. A party that gets their hands on one of these guys is bound to have a field day, even despite the "half max hp" restriction.
Blowtorch can have a similar problem as Helping Hands. Some PCs (autognomes) can be constructs, so providing a chance for perpetual healing for them is a bad idea.
In Flight Instinct, dash should be capitalized and ideally have the tooltip, like so. [ action ]Dash[ /action ]
The first sentence of the description isn't a complete sentence.
In the last sentence of the description, you mean to say whose instead of who's.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
The name of the monster is improperly capitalized and randomly pluralized.
"natural armor" should be in parenthesis.
Usually, the thing saying they don't need to sleep is in the description instead of the statblock, and is called Constructed Nature. From clay golem: Constructed Nature. A golem doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Helping Hands is really overpowered, because it's infinite healing. A party that gets their hands on one of these guys is bound to have a field day, even despite the "half max hp" restriction.
Blowtorch can have a similar problem as Helping Hands. Some PCs (autognomes) can be constructs, so providing a chance for perpetual healing for them is a bad idea.
In Flight Instinct, dash should be capitalized and ideally have the tooltip, like so. [ action ]Dash[ /action ]
The first sentence of the description isn't a complete sentence.
In the last sentence of the description, you mean to say whose instead of who's.
1,2,3,6,7,8. Got it. I’ll fix it the next chance I get.
4. Would making it so that they can only heal their Ally’s if they’re below 5 hit points balance that?
5. How would you balance that?
And now I realize I said beta droid instead of drone.
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
The name of the monster is improperly capitalized and randomly pluralized.
"natural armor" should be in parenthesis.
Usually, the thing saying they don't need to sleep is in the description instead of the statblock, and is called Constructed Nature. From clay golem: Constructed Nature. A golem doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Helping Hands is really overpowered, because it's infinite healing. A party that gets their hands on one of these guys is bound to have a field day, even despite the "half max hp" restriction.
Blowtorch can have a similar problem as Helping Hands. Some PCs (autognomes) can be constructs, so providing a chance for perpetual healing for them is a bad idea.
In Flight Instinct, dash should be capitalized and ideally have the tooltip, like so. [ action ]Dash[ /action ]
The first sentence of the description isn't a complete sentence.
In the last sentence of the description, you mean to say whose instead of who's.
1,2,3,6,7,8. Got it. I’ll fix it the next chance I get.
4. Would making it so that they can only heal their Ally’s if they’re below 5 hit points balance that?
5. How would you balance that?
And now I realize I said beta droid instead of drone.
I'd combine the healing effect of Blowtorch with Helping Hand, making one action that heals 3d8, is twice as effective on constructs, and can only be used once per creature per day. I'd also probably remove the half-max-hp restriction.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
The name of the monster is improperly capitalized and randomly pluralized.
"natural armor" should be in parenthesis.
Usually, the thing saying they don't need to sleep is in the description instead of the statblock, and is called Constructed Nature. From clay golem: Constructed Nature. A golem doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Helping Hands is really overpowered, because it's infinite healing. A party that gets their hands on one of these guys is bound to have a field day, even despite the "half max hp" restriction.
Blowtorch can have a similar problem as Helping Hands. Some PCs (autognomes) can be constructs, so providing a chance for perpetual healing for them is a bad idea.
In Flight Instinct, dash should be capitalized and ideally have the tooltip, like so. [ action ]Dash[ /action ]
The first sentence of the description isn't a complete sentence.
In the last sentence of the description, you mean to say whose instead of who's.
1,2,3,6,7,8. Got it. I’ll fix it the next chance I get.
4. Would making it so that they can only heal their Ally’s if they’re below 5 hit points balance that?
5. How would you balance that?
And now I realize I said beta droid instead of drone.
I'd combine the healing effect of Blowtorch with Helping Hand, making one action that heals 3d8, is twice as effective on constructs, and can only be used once per creature per day. I'd also probably remove the half-max-hp restriction.
Got a new homebrew, a spell I came up with (doubtless done umpteen times before, but this one is mine!) to seize control of another person spell. Came up when someone on discord was asking if two instances of Call Lightning from different people causes the second to take control of the storm the first created!
I am 100% using this for one of my Bosses, it's going to be seriously scary for the players (one of them often summons an elemental!)
Got a new homebrew, a spell I came up with (doubtless done umpteen times before, but this one is mine!) to seize control of another person spell. Came up when someone on discord was asking if two instances of Call Lightning from different people causes the second to take control of the storm the first created!
I am 100% using this for one of my Bosses, it's going to be seriously scary for the players (one of them often summons an elemental!)
Seems quite strong, though for bosses less so because it takes an action to cast, creating a net neutral action economy (a player used their action to cast the initial spell, the boss used their action to cast this one rather than casting any other spell or taking any other action) and may not even succeed. On the player end it might be considered way stronger than a 4th-level dispel magic, as it not only denies enemies a cast buff or debuff, but also gives it to the players, and its success rate is often higher than that of upcast dispel magic; most creatures usually have a spellcasting ability of +5 or less.
If I were to give a suggestion, I would say make the auto-success rate lower (like 3rd or lower for a 4th level spell slot and so on) and increase the roll success DC. These are just suggestions, still, so don’t take my word for it that these changes would be balanced.
Speaking of, I was so intensely motivated to make Vivien Reid come to life in the past two hours that I made a subclass, which, incidentally, I’d definitely like review on. Take a look, if you would!
Rangers of the ark conclave are bearers of the spirits of the departed. It is these animal souls they summon them to aid them in battle and defend their ark. The souls take physical form when called and obey the Ranger that bears them through the physical world, given a chance to persist after death. These rangers are sometimes called Avengers or Grimwalkers, but whatever the moniker, they consider it their solemn duty to bear their spirits, and to do so with respect and consideration. After all, not all bears go to heaven.
Ark Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Ark Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
At 3rd level, you gain the capacity to carry the souls of dead beasts. You can keep a number of souls equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 2).
Up to 1 minute after a beast or monstrosity with Intelligence less than 5 dies, you can spend 1 minute communing with the spirit of the dead animal if you aren’t carrying the maximum amount of souls. When you do, if the spirit is willing, it joins you at the end of the communion. When making this choice, the spirit is aware of the effects this will have.
On your turn, when you take the Attack action, you can forego one of your attacks to summon a spirit you are carrying. The spirit takes the form of the animal it was in life, but it has a number of hit dice equal to half your Ranger level (rounded up) and its bonus to any attacks it makes is instead equal to your spell attack bonus. The spirit also qualifies as an undead as well as its original creature type (making spells such as cure wounds fail for it). It obeys your verbal commands (no action required) and, in lieu of commands, acts in defense of you, and then itself. All spirits summoned by you act on the same initiative, which is rolled the first time you summon one, in order from last summoned to first.
You can only have a total CR of spirits summoned at the same time equal to your proficiency bonus. A spirit disappears once 1 minute passes, when it is reduced to 0 hit points, or when it becomes incapacitated, in which case that spirit cannot be summoned again until you finish a long rest.
A spirit you are carrying can leave you at any time, if it chooses to. You can also release a spirit from your service via a 1-minute ritual.
Once you reach 11th level, the maximum total CR of spirits you can have summoned at one time increases to twice your proficiency bonus.
Spectral Strikes
At 7th level, your ethereal connection augments your attacks. Whenever you hit with an attack with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, the attack deals additional damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).
Additionally, your unarmed strikes and natural weapons, as well as the attacks of summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature, count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage.
Fury of the Lost
At 11th level, the power of the fallen souls you bear increases such that they defend you to the last moment. When a summoned spirit disappears as the result of falling to 0 hit points, it can use its reaction to make an attack against a hostile creature it can see within its reach.
Champion of the Many
At 15th level, you have grown into a stalwart and trusted guardian of the spirits you defend, and who defend you. As a result, whenever an attack is made against you, you can cause one of your summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature to use its reaction to teleport to a space within 5 feet of you and impose disadvantage on that attack roll.
Additionally, the number of spirits you can keep at one time increases to 3 + your Wisdom modifier, and whenever one of your summoned spirits disappears, you gain advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
Any thoughts on this?
This is super cool! Although it would be useless if you never encountered any beasts or monstrosities.
The same way that Druids and Beast Masters would be useless if they never encountered beasts below their maximum CR. I don’t think that’s a main concern for me in this subclass.
Good point.
Also, any world which has hunters is by definition going to have beasts to hunt. I really have difficulty imagining a place where you don't at least have a couple squirrels chattering at you from the trees. And lovers of obscure Marvel titles will immediately remember what Squirrel Girl would have been able to do at that point LOL, ... especially with undead squirrels who have half her level in hit dice. But anyway, I really like this one! Very different flavor than the standard ranger while still doing it respectfully, and also it seems to broaden the original Pokeranger idea to something that could be approached from a wider range of character type.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I would think you intended that the summoned spirit animal should have the same kind of attacks with the same damage level and type ... before the bonus ... as it had in life, but you don't actually say so; and since they are undead creatures not the actual fleshly beings they were in life its possible that some other mechanism is involved. For instance, you don't actually say that they take on a fleshly form when they are summoned, so their teeth and claws would be spirit energy not a physical blade or point and presumably would do necrotic damage rather than piercing or slashing, if in fact they don't form a new body
Hello, I am posting the earliest draft of a homebrew mass combat system (apologies for formatting). The overall idea is that to create a unit of soldiers, one would just choose a troop number, armor type, and troop type and then jot down stats. During this combat, the players (if they aren't commanding forces) will be fighting high value targets or undergoing special missions.
During combat, each unit will do X amount of damage to all other adjacent units and, if it chooses, move up to its speed. Damage is resolved at the end of the round. A unit's health, damage, and speed are determined by their size and other variables.
Number of Soldiers
Base Health
(minimum 3)
Base Damage*
Speed
Unit Level
10
5
Weapon Damage-1
30 ft
1
30
10
Weapon Damage
30 ft
1
40
15
Weapon Damage
25 ft
1
50
20
Weapon Damage
25 ft
1
100
30
2x Weapon Damage
20 ft
2
200
35
2x Weapon Damage
20 ft
2
400
50
2x Weapon Damage
15 ft
2
600
75
2x Weapon Damage
15 ft
2
1,000
100
3x Weapon Damage
10 ft
3
Variable
Health
Damage
Speed
Light Armor
—
—
—
Medium Armor
+5/unit level
—`
—
Heavy Armor
+10/unit level
-1
-5 ft
Shields
+5/unit level
—
—
Tower Shields
+10/unit level
-1
–5 ft
High Level
+5x level
+level
—
Cavalry
—
+2
+20 ft
Archers
-5/unit level
+1
—
Plans for revision
The system has been playtested once, and the big piece of feedback that I got was to increase player interaction. In addition to that, I am considering adding a system for maneuvers that can be made by a unit's commander, to make combat based more on tactics than unit skill and size.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
Feedback at this point is just that it seems interesting, but this did bring a smile to my face.
*old fart reminiscence trigger warning* LOL
I'm not sure how far this is forgotten history at this point, but I am old enough to remember starting to play, at age 11 or so, back in the very earliest days of D&D before even what became known as 1st edition. This is a total circling back around to the beginning! Literally, D&D started out when the tabletop wargamer Gary Gygax did something like this in reverse. All the wargames back then were tabletop miniature games and all the miniatures represented UNITS. Gygax' innovation was to come up with the idea of the individual hero in the first place, and then to give them dungeons and things to have fun in in between tabletop battles. And the whole D&D monsta grew from that little seed. *chuckle*
(edit: actually that was ONE of his inventions. The other was to shift the game to a fantasy setting. I don't think any games before that took place in anything other than tediously detailed and absolutely historically accurate recreations of real world battles. Gygax not only came up with the concept of FANTASY roleplaying, but the whole genre of roleplaying games PERIOD. Then he started TSR, turned D&D into a sensation, then the 500 pound gorilla that TSR had become by that point was bought up by the 1000 pound gorilla White Wolf (the original creators of World of Darkness games like Vampire: The Masquerade), and in turn were bought up by the 2000 pound gorilla WOTC.)
===============================
EDIT: Having looked it over a little more, I'm curious about a couple points and have one suggestion. I'd add a 20-soldier tier to the table so that the first ranks go up by ten-soldier increments to the point where the units are large enough that ten soldier increments aren't going to have a significant effect; or else make it a 20-soldier increment and go 10 - 30 - 50 -100etc.
The other is how exactly unit damage will be resolved. If a unit takes a certain amount of damage, what does that actually represent? If it is that a certain number of soldiers in that unit were killed, I;'d think the units ability to do damage to other units would be reduced, and maybe some of its other abilities. If they were only wounded, there still might be a little bit of that effect, only less. And if the units include NPCs that appear individually in your campaign (likely if the unit was recruited for the defense of the character's home town or somewhere else where they know a lot of people) you'd need to have some system after the battle for determining who if anybody got killed.
Speaking of, I was so intensely motivated to make Vivien Reid come to life in the past two hours that I made a subclass, which, incidentally, I’d definitely like review on. Take a look, if you would!
Rangers of the ark conclave are bearers of the spirits of the departed. It is these animal souls they summon them to aid them in battle and defend their ark. The souls take physical form when called and obey the Ranger that bears them through the physical world, given a chance to persist after death. These rangers are sometimes called Avengers or Grimwalkers, but whatever the moniker, they consider it their solemn duty to bear their spirits, and to do so with respect and consideration. After all, not all bears go to heaven.
Ark Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Ark Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
At 3rd level, you gain the capacity to carry the souls of dead beasts. You can keep a number of souls equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 2).
Up to 1 minute after a beast or monstrosity with Intelligence less than 5 dies, you can spend 1 minute communing with the spirit of the dead animal if you aren’t carrying the maximum amount of souls. When you do, if the spirit is willing, it joins you at the end of the communion. When making this choice, the spirit is aware of the effects this will have.
On your turn, when you take the Attack action, you can forego one of your attacks to summon a spirit you are carrying. The spirit takes the form of the animal it was in life, but it has a number of hit dice equal to half your Ranger level (rounded up) and its bonus to any attacks it makes is instead equal to your spell attack bonus. The spirit also qualifies as an undead as well as its original creature type (making spells such as cure wounds fail for it). It obeys your verbal commands (no action required) and, in lieu of commands, acts in defense of you, and then itself. All spirits summoned by you act on the same initiative, which is rolled the first time you summon one, in order from last summoned to first.
You can only have a total CR of spirits summoned at the same time equal to your proficiency bonus. A spirit disappears once 1 minute passes, when it is reduced to 0 hit points, or when it becomes incapacitated, in which case that spirit cannot be summoned again until you finish a long rest.
A spirit you are carrying can leave you at any time, if it chooses to. You can also release a spirit from your service via a 1-minute ritual.
Once you reach 11th level, the maximum total CR of spirits you can have summoned at one time increases to twice your proficiency bonus.
Spectral Strikes
At 7th level, your ethereal connection augments your attacks. Whenever you hit with an attack with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, the attack deals additional damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).
Additionally, your unarmed strikes and natural weapons, as well as the attacks of summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature, count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage.
Fury of the Lost
At 11th level, the power of the fallen souls you bear increases such that they defend you to the last moment. When a summoned spirit disappears as the result of falling to 0 hit points, it can use its reaction to make an attack against a hostile creature it can see within its reach.
Champion of the Many
At 15th level, you have grown into a stalwart and trusted guardian of the spirits you defend, and who defend you. As a result, whenever an attack is made against you, you can cause one of your summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature to use its reaction to teleport to a space within 5 feet of you and impose disadvantage on that attack roll.
Additionally, the number of spirits you can keep at one time increases to 3 + your Wisdom modifier, and whenever one of your summoned spirits disappears, you gain advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
Any thoughts on this?
This is super cool! Although it would be useless if you never encountered any beasts or monstrosities.
The same way that Druids and Beast Masters would be useless if they never encountered beasts below their maximum CR. I don’t think that’s a main concern for me in this subclass.
Good point.
Also, any world which has hunters is by definition going to have beasts to hunt. I really have difficulty imagining a place where you don't at least have a couple squirrels chattering at you from the trees. And lovers of obscure Marvel titles will immediately remember what Squirrel Girl would have been able to do at that point LOL, ... especially with undead squirrels who have half her level in hit dice. But anyway, I really like this one! Very different flavor than the standard ranger while still doing it respectfully, and also it seems to broaden the original Pokeranger idea to something that could be approached from a wider range of character type.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I would think you intended that the summoned spirit animal should have the same kind of attacks with the same damage level and type ... before the bonus ... as it had in life, but you don't actually say so; and since they are undead creatures not the actual fleshly beings they were in life its possible that some other mechanism is involved. For instance, you don't actually say that they take on a fleshly form when they are summoned, so their teeth and claws would be spirit energy not a physical blade or point and presumably would do necrotic damage rather than piercing or slashing, if in fact they don't form a new body
Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate it. I think one of the main reasons summoned spirits don’t deal force damage or something is that it would make them significantly stronger, ignoring resistance at low levels. I guess you could still make that case. I’ll consider making the change.
Speaking of, I was so intensely motivated to make Vivien Reid come to life in the past two hours that I made a subclass, which, incidentally, I’d definitely like review on. Take a look, if you would!
Rangers of the ark conclave are bearers of the spirits of the departed. It is these animal souls they summon them to aid them in battle and defend their ark. The souls take physical form when called and obey the Ranger that bears them through the physical world, given a chance to persist after death. These rangers are sometimes called Avengers or Grimwalkers, but whatever the moniker, they consider it their solemn duty to bear their spirits, and to do so with respect and consideration. After all, not all bears go to heaven.
Ark Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Ark Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
At 3rd level, you gain the capacity to carry the souls of dead beasts. You can keep a number of souls equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 2).
Up to 1 minute after a beast or monstrosity with Intelligence less than 5 dies, you can spend 1 minute communing with the spirit of the dead animal if you aren’t carrying the maximum amount of souls. When you do, if the spirit is willing, it joins you at the end of the communion. When making this choice, the spirit is aware of the effects this will have.
On your turn, when you take the Attack action, you can forego one of your attacks to summon a spirit you are carrying. The spirit takes the form of the animal it was in life, but it has a number of hit dice equal to half your Ranger level (rounded up) and its bonus to any attacks it makes is instead equal to your spell attack bonus. The spirit also qualifies as an undead as well as its original creature type (making spells such as cure wounds fail for it). It obeys your verbal commands (no action required) and, in lieu of commands, acts in defense of you, and then itself. All spirits summoned by you act on the same initiative, which is rolled the first time you summon one, in order from last summoned to first.
You can only have a total CR of spirits summoned at the same time equal to your proficiency bonus. A spirit disappears once 1 minute passes, when it is reduced to 0 hit points, or when it becomes incapacitated, in which case that spirit cannot be summoned again until you finish a long rest.
A spirit you are carrying can leave you at any time, if it chooses to. You can also release a spirit from your service via a 1-minute ritual.
Once you reach 11th level, the maximum total CR of spirits you can have summoned at one time increases to twice your proficiency bonus.
Spectral Strikes
At 7th level, your ethereal connection augments your attacks. Whenever you hit with an attack with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, the attack deals additional damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).
Additionally, your unarmed strikes and natural weapons, as well as the attacks of summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature, count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage.
Fury of the Lost
At 11th level, the power of the fallen souls you bear increases such that they defend you to the last moment. When a summoned spirit disappears as the result of falling to 0 hit points, it can use its reaction to make an attack against a hostile creature it can see within its reach.
Champion of the Many
At 15th level, you have grown into a stalwart and trusted guardian of the spirits you defend, and who defend you. As a result, whenever an attack is made against you, you can cause one of your summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature to use its reaction to teleport to a space within 5 feet of you and impose disadvantage on that attack roll.
Additionally, the number of spirits you can keep at one time increases to 3 + your Wisdom modifier, and whenever one of your summoned spirits disappears, you gain advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
Any thoughts on this?
This is super cool! Although it would be useless if you never encountered any beasts or monstrosities.
The same way that Druids and Beast Masters would be useless if they never encountered beasts below their maximum CR. I don’t think that’s a main concern for me in this subclass.
Good point.
Also, any world which has hunters is by definition going to have beasts to hunt. I really have difficulty imagining a place where you don't at least have a couple squirrels chattering at you from the trees. And lovers of obscure Marvel titles will immediately remember what Squirrel Girl would have been able to do at that point LOL, ... especially with undead squirrels who have half her level in hit dice. But anyway, I really like this one! Very different flavor than the standard ranger while still doing it respectfully, and also it seems to broaden the original Pokeranger idea to something that could be approached from a wider range of character type.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I would think you intended that the summoned spirit animal should have the same kind of attacks with the same damage level and type ... before the bonus ... as it had in life, but you don't actually say so; and since they are undead creatures not the actual fleshly beings they were in life its possible that some other mechanism is involved. For instance, you don't actually say that they take on a fleshly form when they are summoned, so their teeth and claws would be spirit energy not a physical blade or point and presumably would do necrotic damage rather than piercing or slashing, if in fact they don't form a new body
Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate it. I think one of the main reasons summoned spirits don’t deal force damage or something is that it would make them significantly stronger, ignoring resistance at low levels. I guess you could still make that case. I’ll consider making the change.
Sorry, wasn't quite clear. I wasn't so much suggesting you had to change the damage type if you didn't want to; as much as suggesting you clarify by stating explicitly in the description what type and level of damage these creatures, or explicitly state that their attacks are the same as they were in life. Mainly feedback on writing style, and suggesting there might be different options to be considered, rather than that I think the content itself is necessarily wrong. Only meant the stuff about necrotic damage as an example.
Speaking of, I was so intensely motivated to make Vivien Reid come to life in the past two hours that I made a subclass, which, incidentally, I’d definitely like review on. Take a look, if you would!
Rangers of the ark conclave are bearers of the spirits of the departed. It is these animal souls they summon them to aid them in battle and defend their ark. The souls take physical form when called and obey the Ranger that bears them through the physical world, given a chance to persist after death. These rangers are sometimes called Avengers or Grimwalkers, but whatever the moniker, they consider it their solemn duty to bear their spirits, and to do so with respect and consideration. After all, not all bears go to heaven.
Ark Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Ark Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
At 3rd level, you gain the capacity to carry the souls of dead beasts. You can keep a number of souls equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 2).
Up to 1 minute after a beast or monstrosity with Intelligence less than 5 dies, you can spend 1 minute communing with the spirit of the dead animal if you aren’t carrying the maximum amount of souls. When you do, if the spirit is willing, it joins you at the end of the communion. When making this choice, the spirit is aware of the effects this will have.
On your turn, when you take the Attack action, you can forego one of your attacks to summon a spirit you are carrying. The spirit takes the form of the animal it was in life, but it has a number of hit dice equal to half your Ranger level (rounded up) and its bonus to any attacks it makes is instead equal to your spell attack bonus. The spirit also qualifies as an undead as well as its original creature type (making spells such as cure wounds fail for it). It obeys your verbal commands (no action required) and, in lieu of commands, acts in defense of you, and then itself. All spirits summoned by you act on the same initiative, which is rolled the first time you summon one, in order from last summoned to first.
You can only have a total CR of spirits summoned at the same time equal to your proficiency bonus. A spirit disappears once 1 minute passes, when it is reduced to 0 hit points, or when it becomes incapacitated, in which case that spirit cannot be summoned again until you finish a long rest.
A spirit you are carrying can leave you at any time, if it chooses to. You can also release a spirit from your service via a 1-minute ritual.
Once you reach 11th level, the maximum total CR of spirits you can have summoned at one time increases to twice your proficiency bonus.
Spectral Strikes
At 7th level, your ethereal connection augments your attacks. Whenever you hit with an attack with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, the attack deals additional damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).
Additionally, your unarmed strikes and natural weapons, as well as the attacks of summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature, count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage.
Fury of the Lost
At 11th level, the power of the fallen souls you bear increases such that they defend you to the last moment. When a summoned spirit disappears as the result of falling to 0 hit points, it can use its reaction to make an attack against a hostile creature it can see within its reach.
Champion of the Many
At 15th level, you have grown into a stalwart and trusted guardian of the spirits you defend, and who defend you. As a result, whenever an attack is made against you, you can cause one of your summoned spirits from your Ark of the Lost feature to use its reaction to teleport to a space within 5 feet of you and impose disadvantage on that attack roll.
Additionally, the number of spirits you can keep at one time increases to 3 + your Wisdom modifier, and whenever one of your summoned spirits disappears, you gain advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.
Any thoughts on this?
This is super cool! Although it would be useless if you never encountered any beasts or monstrosities.
The same way that Druids and Beast Masters would be useless if they never encountered beasts below their maximum CR. I don’t think that’s a main concern for me in this subclass.
Good point.
Also, any world which has hunters is by definition going to have beasts to hunt. I really have difficulty imagining a place where you don't at least have a couple squirrels chattering at you from the trees. And lovers of obscure Marvel titles will immediately remember what Squirrel Girl would have been able to do at that point LOL, ... especially with undead squirrels who have half her level in hit dice. But anyway, I really like this one! Very different flavor than the standard ranger while still doing it respectfully, and also it seems to broaden the original Pokeranger idea to something that could be approached from a wider range of character type.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I would think you intended that the summoned spirit animal should have the same kind of attacks with the same damage level and type ... before the bonus ... as it had in life, but you don't actually say so; and since they are undead creatures not the actual fleshly beings they were in life its possible that some other mechanism is involved. For instance, you don't actually say that they take on a fleshly form when they are summoned, so their teeth and claws would be spirit energy not a physical blade or point and presumably would do necrotic damage rather than piercing or slashing, if in fact they don't form a new body
Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate it. I think one of the main reasons summoned spirits don’t deal force damage or something is that it would make them significantly stronger, ignoring resistance at low levels. I guess you could still make that case. I’ll consider making the change.
Sorry, wasn't quite clear. I wasn't so much suggesting you had to change the damage type if you didn't want to; as much as suggesting you clarify by stating explicitly in the description what type and level of damage these creatures, or explicitly state that their attacks are the same as they were in life. Mainly feedback on writing style, and suggesting there might be different options to be considered, rather than that I think the content itself is necessarily wrong. Only meant the stuff about necrotic damage as an example.
Also, think that since I've been so free giving feedback on other people's creations, it's only fair I should start putting some of mine out there to be scrutinized LOL. I'll start out with a homebrew race I developed for my current PbP campaign world, Sauvogia:
Riverkin are a mystery. No other race knows where they came from, and they themselves consider the question a little foolish, having for so long a time lived lives perhaps not on the very bottom levels of society, but certainly among the classes where if you let the past distract you too much you tend not to stay alive in the present. Indeed, on their home world of Sauvogia riverkin are stereotyplcally viewed as stevedores, fisherfolk, bargekeepers, all the professions that might be summed up with the words "riparian roughnecks". Indeed, they encourage this view, as it tends to lead those who would oppress them to underestimate them. In fact, they are an ancient and, in their own way, subtle culture with several traditional martial arts focusing around the blades and tools they would tend to use in their, indeed often sought by choice and at least to a slight degree as camouflage from the fools that would take them lightly, usual roles. Within the privacy of their own homes, they also nurture a traditional style of music with a heavy emphasis on drone instruments such as bagpipes, contrasted with a vocal style that alternates long periods of throbbing restraint with fireworks that stretch the voice of the singer to the utmost in both high and low registers, Consequently, those riverkin musicians who choose to share their arts beyond their own ranks (which is allowed in their culture so long as certain deeply private and often ritually-associated words and melodies remain a profound secret to all outsiders) make good bards as well.
A typical riverkin female (they are decidedly a matriarchal culture, and in fact the females tend to be larger) tends to stand between 5'5" and 6'5", with the males between two and four inches shorter. Their weight ranges between 175lbs and 230lbs, but their muscle tissue and general distribution is denser and more compact than many races, and so they tend to be deceptively lean and slender of build even at a weight which for other beings of their height would lead to a certain ... rotundity.
Riverkin hair tends to shades of brown and black; the rare redhead among them is viewed as either chosen or cursed by the gods; and there has been only one case of any other hair color known, not blonde but absolutely pure bone white from birth, a legendary hero who fell to become the monster she was battling and then battled herself until she was defeated; and some riverkin strands of tale claim their race stumbled mistily out of swirls of river mist wherever her blood touched the water in that last battle above and below. Males have no beards, but consider the length and elegance of their moustache to be a point of pride verging on honor, while the females similarly view their sideburns. Their skin tones tend to reflect their name, a blend of browns and greens such as might be seen on the riverbank or dappling over the surface, all somehow swirling together in patterns that defy the eye to look at them closely enough to be sure of exactly what their pattern is
Creating Your Character
At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.
Languages
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race tells you what your character’s creature type is.
Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.
Life Span
The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description.
Height and Weight
Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player's Handbook and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.
Riverkin Traits
As a riverkin, you have the following racial traits.
Roughnecks
Due to the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of the professions and environment they are traditionally associated with, and a certain sense of quirky stubborn pride that enshrines that even in the cases of the ones who no longer inhabit that world, all riverkin start out with the Tavern Brawler feat
Creature Type
You are a Humanoid.
Size
You are Medium.
Speed
Riverkin walking speed is 30 ft.; their swimming speed is 20 ft.
Semi-amphibious
While not truly amphibious, all riverkin have membranes in their nostrils and upper throats which filter supplemental oxygen out of the water, and a recirculating system to constantly expel used water from the nose rather than allowing it to go down the windpipe or trachea, Hence, all riverkin can survive underwater for one hour as if they were under the effect of a water breathing spell, and can activate this as a reaction if they are suddenly submerged.
River arms
Riverkin have developed proficiency with certain traditional weapons associated with their usual river trades, and over the millenia they have extrapolated these to similar weapons of that type. All riverkin are proficient with the net, short sword, hand axe (cleaver), falchion, harpoon, and short spear.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Definitely would like general feedback, but the specific thing I'm wondering about is how balanced you think the Semi-Amphibious trait is. Too long a duration? Too short? Is water breathing in general an imbalancing factor in some way I haven't thought of? Wonder what ye all think
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Definitely would like general feedback, but the specific thing I'm wondering about is how balanced you think the Semi-Amphibious trait is. Too long a duration? Too short? Is water breathing in general an imbalancing factor in some way I haven't thought of? Wonder what ye all think
First up, in terms of writing, the paragraphs are quite long and often less organized than they could be. Consider splitting them into shorter, labeled paragraphs. Also, these sentences:
No other race knows where they came from, and they themselves consider the question a little foolish, having for so long a time lived lives perhaps not on the very bottom levels of society, but certainly among the classes where if you let the past distract you too much you tend not to stay alive in the present.
…
In fact, they are an ancient and, in their own way, subtle culture with several traditional martial arts focusing around the blades and tools they would tend to use in their, indeed often sought by choice and at least to a slight degree as camouflage from the fools that would take them lightly, usual roles.
…are either grammatically incorrect or just hard to read.
You also explain that they have a rich musical culture but do not represent that in the abilities of the species.
In terms of balance, I’d say it’s alright, if a little weak. Their only active ability is that of Tavern Brawler. The others are passive and often irrelevant. Personally, I would increase the duration of Semi-Amphibious and add a second active trait.
For River Arms, the falchion, harpoon, and short spear are not weapons in D&D 5e. Their equivalent would be scimitars, javelins, and spears.
All excellent points!
Version 2 I hope is clearer and more interesting - I agree that the transition was a bit sudden!
What do you think?
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Amazing! Some of the best rules for lichdom that I've ever seen.
The only thing I see that could be a problem is that the phylactery is a magic item. Normal phylacteries are nonmagical, so to kill the lich forever you just have to find the phylactery and then destroy it. If it's a magic item, then pretty much the only way to destroy it is with antimagic field. I suppose that the difficulty of destroying the phylactery is counteracted by the ease of finding it, since they have to carry the hilt any time they want to absorb souls, so it's probably not much of a problem.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Thanks! It also shouldn't be that easy, as if they are a lich but not yet so old as to die, then destroying the phylactery would simply end the curse, which would be boring!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Just finished this. The Beta Drone. Posting here to see if you guys can either, A) Catch any grammar mistakes, or B) figure out if its too strong for a cr 2 creature. It's supposed to be a healer.
MY INFO
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
1,2,3,6,7,8. Got it. I’ll fix it the next chance I get.
4. Would making it so that they can only heal their Ally’s if they’re below 5 hit points balance that?
5. How would you balance that?
And now I realize I said beta droid instead of drone.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
I'd combine the healing effect of Blowtorch with Helping Hand, making one action that heals 3d8, is twice as effective on constructs, and can only be used once per creature per day. I'd also probably remove the half-max-hp restriction.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
That… makes sense. Thanks.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
Got a new homebrew, a spell I came up with (doubtless done umpteen times before, but this one is mine!) to seize control of another person spell. Came up when someone on discord was asking if two instances of Call Lightning from different people causes the second to take control of the storm the first created!
I am 100% using this for one of my Bosses, it's going to be seriously scary for the players (one of them often summons an elemental!)
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Seems quite strong, though for bosses less so because it takes an action to cast, creating a net neutral action economy (a player used their action to cast the initial spell, the boss used their action to cast this one rather than casting any other spell or taking any other action) and may not even succeed. On the player end it might be considered way stronger than a 4th-level dispel magic, as it not only denies enemies a cast buff or debuff, but also gives it to the players, and its success rate is often higher than that of upcast dispel magic; most creatures usually have a spellcasting ability of +5 or less.
If I were to give a suggestion, I would say make the auto-success rate lower (like 3rd or lower for a 4th level spell slot and so on) and increase the roll success DC. These are just suggestions, still, so don’t take my word for it that these changes would be balanced.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Also, any world which has hunters is by definition going to have beasts to hunt. I really have difficulty imagining a place where you don't at least have a couple squirrels chattering at you from the trees. And lovers of obscure Marvel titles will immediately remember what Squirrel Girl would have been able to do at that point LOL, ... especially with undead squirrels who have half her level in hit dice. But anyway, I really like this one! Very different flavor than the standard ranger while still doing it respectfully, and also it seems to broaden the original Pokeranger idea to something that could be approached from a wider range of character type.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I would think you intended that the summoned spirit animal should have the same kind of attacks with the same damage level and type ... before the bonus ... as it had in life, but you don't actually say so; and since they are undead creatures not the actual fleshly beings they were in life its possible that some other mechanism is involved. For instance, you don't actually say that they take on a fleshly form when they are summoned, so their teeth and claws would be spirit energy not a physical blade or point and presumably would do necrotic damage rather than piercing or slashing, if in fact they don't form a new body
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Feedback at this point is just that it seems interesting, but this did bring a smile to my face.
I'm not sure how far this is forgotten history at this point, but I am old enough to remember starting to play, at age 11 or so, back in the very earliest days of D&D before even what became known as 1st edition. This is a total circling back around to the beginning! Literally, D&D started out when the tabletop wargamer Gary Gygax did something like this in reverse. All the wargames back then were tabletop miniature games and all the miniatures represented UNITS. Gygax' innovation was to come up with the idea of the individual hero in the first place, and then to give them dungeons and things to have fun in in between tabletop battles. And the whole D&D monsta grew from that little seed. *chuckle*
(edit: actually that was ONE of his inventions. The other was to shift the game to a fantasy setting. I don't think any games before that took place in anything other than tediously detailed and absolutely historically accurate recreations of real world battles. Gygax not only came up with the concept of FANTASY roleplaying, but the whole genre of roleplaying games PERIOD. Then he started TSR, turned D&D into a sensation, then the 500 pound gorilla that TSR had become by that point was bought up by the 1000 pound gorilla White Wolf (the original creators of World of Darkness games like Vampire: The Masquerade), and in turn were bought up by the 2000 pound gorilla WOTC.)
===============================
EDIT: Having looked it over a little more, I'm curious about a couple points and have one suggestion. I'd add a 20-soldier tier to the table so that the first ranks go up by ten-soldier increments to the point where the units are large enough that ten soldier increments aren't going to have a significant effect; or else make it a 20-soldier increment and go 10 - 30 - 50 -100etc.
The other is how exactly unit damage will be resolved. If a unit takes a certain amount of damage, what does that actually represent? If it is that a certain number of soldiers in that unit were killed, I;'d think the units ability to do damage to other units would be reduced, and maybe some of its other abilities. If they were only wounded, there still might be a little bit of that effect, only less. And if the units include NPCs that appear individually in your campaign (likely if the unit was recruited for the defense of the character's home town or somewhere else where they know a lot of people) you'd need to have some system after the battle for determining who if anybody got killed.
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate it. I think one of the main reasons summoned spirits don’t deal force damage or something is that it would make them significantly stronger, ignoring resistance at low levels. I guess you could still make that case. I’ll consider making the change.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Sorry, wasn't quite clear. I wasn't so much suggesting you had to change the damage type if you didn't want to; as much as suggesting you clarify by stating explicitly in the description what type and level of damage these creatures, or explicitly state that their attacks are the same as they were in life. Mainly feedback on writing style, and suggesting there might be different options to be considered, rather than that I think the content itself is necessarily wrong. Only meant the stuff about necrotic damage as an example.
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
I see. Thank you for clarifying
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Also, think that since I've been so free giving feedback on other people's creations, it's only fair I should start putting some of mine out there to be scrutinized LOL. I'll start out with a homebrew race I developed for my current PbP campaign world, Sauvogia:
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Definitely would like general feedback, but the specific thing I'm wondering about is how balanced you think the Semi-Amphibious trait is. Too long a duration? Too short? Is water breathing in general an imbalancing factor in some way I haven't thought of? Wonder what ye all think
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
First up, in terms of writing, the paragraphs are quite long and often less organized than they could be. Consider splitting them into shorter, labeled paragraphs. Also, these sentences:
…are either grammatically incorrect or just hard to read.
You also explain that they have a rich musical culture but do not represent that in the abilities of the species.
In terms of balance, I’d say it’s alright, if a little weak. Their only active ability is that of Tavern Brawler. The others are passive and often irrelevant. Personally, I would increase the duration of Semi-Amphibious and add a second active trait.
For River Arms, the falchion, harpoon, and short spear are not weapons in D&D 5e. Their equivalent would be scimitars, javelins, and spears.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Could I get some feedback on this magic item?
Ashwrought Longsword
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature