Discussion:Need advice for unofficial homebrew class balancing

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73.98.93.137 13:58, 4 October 2018 (MDT)

<-- Lead post text here --> I am creating a new class for me and my group of friends, and I need help to balance it out. It's called the Forsaken, and the class relies heavily on a single restriction to the player using this class, whatever weapon they choose, all weapons in the future must be of that weapon type, so if it's classified as a pole arm, other weapons must also be polearms on the future. As it stands now, it's hit dice is 1d10 and the same per level plus constitution modifier. Proficiencies are modified weapons (martial or simple weapon chosen as the modified one, damage doesn't change, it acts like a favored weapon, but still has the stars and limitations of the actual weapon chosen), light and medium armor, and it comes with a potion patch which, when ripped off, presents the player with 5 leveled potions of healing, lvls 1-5 is small, 6-10 is medium- 11-15 is large, and 16-20 is grand. Once used the patch is used forever.saving throws are wisdom and dexterity. Skills are 4 chosen from the following. Athletics, acrobatics, stealth,investigation,perception, and performance. The class comes with a (insert martial weapon here) with the word, modified in (), leather armor, potion patch, and possible starting wealth of 1d20×15. Now for the table. Lvl 1-5 has a proficiency bonus of +3, 6-11 +4, 12-15 +5, 16 and 17 +6, 18 and 19 +7 and 20 is +8. I don't have all the features yet, but from level 1-7 in order of levels from level 1 will gain. Mod stance (change modified weapons physical appearance, and user's stance, nothing special provided at this level), mod mastery (+character level to atk bonus, and damage bonus). Lvl 2 extra attack (I know this is early, but it plays in with something at level 5). Lvl 3 blitz (dash without losing an action, once a day) lvl 4 ability score improvement lvl 5 revenge counter (raise modified weapon damage dice size by 1, per hit taken, max of 2d20) flawless form (attack twice, in flowing succession, 2nd hit is guaranteed if first lands. Can be used twice in between every long rest) lvl 6 mod weapon improvement (permanently raise the die size of your modified weapon, by 1, ex. 1d6->1d8. Note, this is the only way to increase damage with your modified weapon.) Lvl 7 fleet footed (increase movement speed by +10, permanently). That's all I have thus far, I'm planning to add and addition feature for lvl 7, and then add either 1 or 2 for most of the others, 2 levels in the future will have no feature, and 1 will have 3 features. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Marasmusine (talk) 16:19, 4 October 2018 (MDT)

I'm having a little trouble following what you're describing, but I do have a few comments.

• Firstly, don't adjust the proficiency bonus from its standard progression. The rest of the game's calculations assume a certain prof bonus at certain levels.
• What is the actual concept of the class? Think about how it fits into the game world. Have at least one feature that deals with exploration and one that deals with interaction (not just combat). There is help at 5e Class Design Guide.
• If the class is restricted to one type of weapon, this can greatly reduce the chance of finding a suitable magic weapon (assuming you are using the random method in the DMG).
• For the potion patch, look at the healing potion's rarities to determine what level they are introduced.
• You are using two "common" saves, Wis and Dex. All the Player's Handbook classes have one common (Wis, Dex, Con) and one uncommon (Int, Cha, Str), this appears to be a deliberate for balance.
• You certainly wouldn't have a feature that adds character level as an attack bonus. A +1 bonus to attack is a big deal. +2 is an exceptional bonus. I can't think of many features that give more than +2.
• Extra attack is never earlier than 5th level. It's another game assumption. 5th level is when all classes get a damage-per-round bump. Prior to 5th level, you'd be looking at something like the monk's flurry of blows, which uses up a resource.
• "dash without losing an action" - have it use a bonus action.
• The remaining features only seem to be concerned with increasing the player's damage output. It's worth looking at the PHB combat classes to see what the expected damage output is at key levels.