Capstone Question

[Amechra]

Would it break anything if the Bard's capstone was replaced with "you have infinite uses of Bardic Inspiration, go wild"? Same question for Monks (infinite ki) and Sorcerers (infinite sorcery points).

I think Sorcerers might be broken in that situation, since they can just straight-up gain an unlimited number of 5th level spells... but I feel like Bards and Monks would be fine.

[micahaphone]

It'd be a little OP, but I certainly wouldn't discourage you from buffing it somehow. Maybe you get some form of regeneration for the resource, not dependent on if you've already used all of it. One spitballed idea I just had is some form of resource regen at the start of every turn. Makes it so that at the start of combat you'd be full up on inspiration/ki/sorc points, but a sorc could still theoretically run out of points mid-combat and need to wait a turn or two for the pool to refill enough.

TBH balance at level 20 is a fool's game, this is a level where you've been able to cast Wish since level 17 (other classes) or 18 (magical secrets). Imagine adventuring for at least 2 levels with Wish available. Stuff's gonna be busted. Mind as well roll with it.

[Amechra]

It'd be a little OP, but I certainly wouldn't discourage you from buffing it somehow. Maybe you get some form of regeneration for the resource, not dependent on if you've already used all of it. One spitballed idea I just had is some form of resource regen at the start of every turn. Makes it so that at the start of combat you'd be full up on inspiration/ki/sorc points, but a sorc could still theoretically run out of points mid-combat and need to wait a turn or two for the pool to refill enough.

TBH balance at level 20 is a fool's game, this is a level where you've been able to cast Wish since level 17 (other classes) or 18 (magical secrets). Imagine adventuring for at least 2 levels with Wish available. Stuff's gonna be busted. Mind as well roll with it.

I mean, I mostly thought of it because Barbarians and Druids get infinite uses of their "special resource" at 20th. Why shouldn't the other capstones be that nuts?

[micahaphone]

Exactly! The campaign I'm DMing will probably end around 16 (monk, paladin, wizard), and if we do an epilogue or mini campaign, I'm struggling to think of what I'd do to challenge them RAW, if they're taking on Demon Lords at 15/16.
By level 20 you'll looking at fighting ancient dragons, astral dreadnoughts, lich mindflayers, rulers of Ravnican guilds, etc. I highly doubt giving out extra class-specific resources will imbalance the players beyond what they can already do.

[Bobthewizard]

All are overpowered, but don't let that stop you. They are 20th level and you are the DM so do what you want. If it is unbalanced for your party, you can find another buff to give the other characters.

For sorcerer, instead of unlimited sorcery points, you could rule that their meta magic no longer costs any sorcery points. They could use unlimited metamagic and would be able to use all of their existing sorcery points to create spell slots but it wouldn't be unlimited.

[stoutstien]

Would it break anything if the Bard's capstone was replaced with "you have infinite uses of Bardic Inspiration, go wild"? Same question for Monks (infinite ki) and Sorcerers (infinite sorcery points).

I think Sorcerers might be broken in that situation, since they can just straight-up gain an unlimited number of 5th level spells... but I feel like Bards and Monks would be fine.

I just made them into:
Bard- your total number of uses of bardic inspiration is now equal to twice your charisma modifier and each creature can have two dice at once.

Monks- as a bonus action the monk can center their body and mind, they can recover a number of ki equal to their wisdom modifier.

Sorcerer- once a round when you spend any amount of sorcery points roll a D20. If you roll a 10 or above you recover a number of sorcery points spent + 2 additional points.