The Adventurer [5e Generic Extraordinary Class]

[Deleted]

Looking a lot better each time I see it!

Some things I noticed

1) Wording needs to be consistent, some things say "starting at X level" and others don't. I would take out any words you don't really need. On the overcarching description you can leave "at X level" but when describing them you should leave it out.

2) I like the Hide in Plain Sight change.

3) I like that you can multiclass within the archetypes but I don't think that would be very balanced. It may not be broken, it just feels like it could be.

4) I see a little bit of this, but I would love to see even more reliamce on Int, Wow, and Cha. One of my gripes about D&D is that most times Martials have no reason to ever boost mental stats.

That's all for now!

1: Went through and worked most of this out. I'm still going to need to work on the wording of a few archetypes.

2:

3: Now it's a feat!

4: I would too but I think too much of that might have DMs wary of allowing this. If anyone ever decides to use this outside of my groups. People are weird about martials and mental abilities.

[Consensus]

I really like the looks of it and would ask DM to play one if I didn't have so many backup characters, the only problem I see is shield mastery is useless with unarmored defense although that maybe intended. Some people may want to be nude while hitting others with shields.

[Deleted]

I really like the looks of it and would ask DM to play one if I didn't have so many backup characters, the only problem I see is shield mastery is useless with unarmored defense although that maybe intended. Some people may want to be nude while hitting others with shields.

Thanks! That's actually quite the compliment!

I'll take a look into making Naked Shield Person work.

[Consensus]

Okay, after revisiting this, I have spotted some more issues. Mainly in the mastery's. (A minor nit pick is the (Strength Save negates) language used frequently. Although I prefer this format to official writing, it just seems to be good presentation to imitate official format)

Weapon Mastery

Bow Mastery: I don't know if you've intended this class to be able to use feats? but both the bow mastery features overlap with 1/3 of of CBE's benefits and 1/2 of sharpshooter's benefits, which are the exact feats a character using bows would likely take.

Hammer Mastery: I don't think Shove (Push) and Shove (Aside) are actual terms in 5e, IIRC you can shove someone prone, or shove 5ft, and they're usually distinguished by specifically saying that an ability cannot shove a target prone (EX: minotaur UA)

Heavy blade Mastery: I am 99% sure overrun is not 5e terminology, and in the transcend mastery it mentions how when you overrun a target, your attacks against 'one of the creatures' has advantage. The way it is now is really unclear since it implies only one creature can be overran but has you select 'one of the creatures.'

Light Blade Mastery: penalties like -5 are things which aren't used often in 5e (yeah SS and GWM but those are outliers) the system uses disadvantage for things like this (also IIRC disadvantage averages to a -5.) For this part: If you use the Disarm maneuver on an unarmed target, you deal weapon damage (but no modifier) It's strange that it's still called disarm, and the (but no modifier) language could be cleaned up. Also, in the trancend mastery, I don't believe Tumble is in the 5e system either.

Polearms Transcend Mastery: for polearms (and axes) the mastery is fine, however the transcend mastery specifies that only a spear may be used, as well as 'nullifying' an attack or spell from a target you threaten. This seems like it should have a roll attached or else it may be way better than all the other transcend mastery's. Also what does nullifying mean? is does it stop and entire multiattack or extra attack or one single attack. For a spell is the spell slot still spent? Finally 'threatening' a creature isn't language used in 5e, a creature within your reach, means the same thing and is covered by 5e rules.

Shield Mastery: The regular mastery may or may not allow shield AC bonus to stack, since you could wield 2 shields, and still use one as a melee weapon, upstaging all sword and board adventurers. In the transcend mastery the wording could stand to be cleared up, because it 'using' extra attack to attack a second target is a little vague imo.

Thrown Weapons Mastery: The mastery is confusingly worded but understandable, although I'm not sure how to help with that, and the transcend mastery should have the wording deal at least 1d8 damage, rather than at least deal 1d8 base damage.

Unarmed Mastery: The reference to flurry of blows is confusing, does this ability just take the monk ability? Because it allows the user to make 2 unarmed strike as a bonus action with 1 ki. I'd just write: When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. (copy pasted from martial arts with the reference to monk weapons removed) this way it allows for a bonus action 1d4/6 +STR attack.

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Second Wind: No criticism for the ability itself but it's pretty boring for the only thing on lv. 3.

Battle Tactics: No problem with the ability it just seems contrary to some character concepts though. Also the overlap in creature types is regrettable, and I think fiends should be in the religion category too, but that only makes them more similar.

I really like improved attack, that's not a criticism though.

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I'm gonna stop here, because I've got school, but I really like the concepts presented here, even if I just spent ~40 minutes tearing into them.

[Deleted]

Okay, after revisiting this, I have spotted some more issues. Mainly in the mastery's. (A minor nit pick is the (Strength Save negates) language used frequently. Although I prefer this format to official writing, it just seems to be good presentation to imitate official format)

Weapon Mastery

Bow Mastery: I don't know if you've intended this class to be able to use feats? but both the bow mastery features overlap with 1/3 of of CBE's benefits and 1/2 of sharpshooter's benefits, which are the exact feats a character using bows would likely take.

Hammer Mastery: I don't think Shove (Push) and Shove (Aside) are actual terms in 5e, IIRC you can shove someone prone, or shove 5ft, and they're usually distinguished by specifically saying that an ability cannot shove a target prone (EX: minotaur UA)

Heavy blade Mastery: I am 99% sure overrun is not 5e terminology, and in the transcend mastery it mentions how when you overrun a target, your attacks against 'one of the creatures' has advantage. The way it is now is really unclear since it implies only one creature can be overran but has you select 'one of the creatures.'

Light Blade Mastery: penalties like -5 are things which aren't used often in 5e (yeah SS and GWM but those are outliers) the system uses disadvantage for things like this (also IIRC disadvantage averages to a -5.) For this part: If you use the Disarm maneuver on an unarmed target, you deal weapon damage (but no modifier) It's strange that it's still called disarm, and the (but no modifier) language could be cleaned up. Also, in the trancend mastery, I don't believe Tumble is in the 5e system either.

Polearms Transcend Mastery: for polearms (and axes) the mastery is fine, however the transcend mastery specifies that only a spear may be used, as well as 'nullifying' an attack or spell from a target you threaten. This seems like it should have a roll attached or else it may be way better than all the other transcend mastery's. Also what does nullifying mean? is does it stop and entire multiattack or extra attack or one single attack. For a spell is the spell slot still spent? Finally 'threatening' a creature isn't language used in 5e, a creature within your reach, means the same thing and is covered by 5e rules.

Shield Mastery: The regular mastery may or may not allow shield AC bonus to stack, since you could wield 2 shields, and still use one as a melee weapon, upstaging all sword and board adventurers. In the transcend mastery the wording could stand to be cleared up, because it 'using' extra attack to attack a second target is a little vague imo.

Thrown Weapons Mastery: The mastery is confusingly worded but understandable, although I'm not sure how to help with that, and the transcend mastery should have the wording deal at least 1d8 damage, rather than at least deal 1d8 base damage.

Unarmed Mastery: The reference to flurry of blows is confusing, does this ability just take the monk ability? Because it allows the user to make 2 unarmed strike as a bonus action with 1 ki. I'd just write: When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. (copy pasted from martial arts with the reference to monk weapons removed) this way it allows for a bonus action 1d4/6 +STR attack.

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Second Wind: No criticism for the ability itself but it's pretty boring for the only thing on lv. 3.

Battle Tactics: No problem with the ability it just seems contrary to some character concepts though. Also the overlap in creature types is regrettable, and I think fiends should be in the religion category too, but that only makes them more similar.

I really like improved attack, that's not a criticism though.

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I'm gonna stop here, because I've got school, but I really like the concepts presented here, even if I just spent ~40 minutes tearing into them.

Thanks! I actually like stuff being tore into, I sometimes do the same thing and I don't mean for it to be taken negatively... I have been meaning to take another look at this and fix some wording, but I've been distracted by a lot of things and actually just got back into D&D stuff recently (my Sorcerer and Fighter took up most of my time recently). I'm going to eventually pull this down to a 10 level class as many of these things aren't really a high level feature (judging by Warlock and other class standards). Although it shares similarities with my reaction fighter, I don't really want to merge them (eventually I would like to make a build your own spellcaster).

Bow Mastery: I believe I originally didn't want feats to be a thing for this, at least not with the way feats are handled in 5e... I might need to rethink this idea.

Hammer Mastery: Some of the terminology comes from the DMG :). Shove Aside (which I should use without the () ) is from page 272. I used a bit of short hand to get my point across as I found the way WotC does things to be annoying as a reader. I prefer to get to the point... Maybe a glossary of terms would be useful.

Heavy Blade Mastery. As with Shove Aside, Overrun is in the DMG, page 272. You can technically overrun more than one creature in a turn so the mastery should be "When you are wielding a heavy blade and you're successful at overrunning a target, you have advantage on your next attack against the target on you next turn". You can use Overrun as an Action or Bonus Action in one turn and then the next turn gain advantage on the first attack you make against both (if you overran two).

Light Blade Mastery: Many things actually give +/- in the game. Cover, the feats, and spells all give modifiers that are simular to the -5. Guidance, bless, magic weapon, bane, cover, partial cover, and archery style are all things that use +/- system off the top of my head... I think I have an idea for a change though, especially since disarming can be very rare. Tumble is also in the DMG, page 272 (recurring theme I have) and is essentially an overrun by using Acrobatics instead of Athletics.

Polearm Transcend Master: It originally was the spear that was getting this but I changed it to polearm... I actually don't like this one so I'll need to change it. Ready actions are... Meh. Probably just change it to a reaction attack.

Shield Mastery: Added one shield clause (though I need to make a dual shield wielder subclass at some point). Also, I'm gonna allow the mastery to allow the normal attack to ricochet back, I freaking love captain america.

Throw Weapon Mastery: The wording is essentially the catapult spell, but with some words that fixes some confusion people had with catapult (that was backed up by tweets). Also changed the wording a bit on the back end.

Unarmed Mastery: If this class is in play, the Monk will not be a class, but it is a subclass, so yeah I should just copy that sort of writing for it. Also the unarmed strike damage die increases by three steps if you have both the Mastery and the Monk Subclass (changed the monk) as I think if you're a melee specialist you should be doing at least d8 base damage (unless you have a source of extra damage) with your main weapon of choice (or lack of).

Second Wind: Boring, but I changed the wording to where being attacked at half or less health allows you to use a reaction to the attack (so before damage) to use your Second Wind to heal yourself up. This is one of the stronger healing abilities since you can base it on being attacked and not being damaged. You will really want to keep gaining levels to power this up.

Battle Tactics: If you're an adventurer you should do your homework even if you aren't a ranger. This and read opponent can be fluffed in many ways.

Improved Attack: Thanks, I prefer keeping things simple and instead of giving a third attack and slowing things down, adding a reliance on a mental stat works well with expected damage at mid levels for the most part. I think I will add a note that the minimum bonus damage is +2 (half prof) as maybe some people won't want to have decent mental stats (barbarians).

I really need to do some some in depth changes to this. Thanks for the help!

[Consensus]

huh I guess I just need to read the DMG better, are those terms used for optional rules or are they just things you can do

[Deleted]

huh I guess I just need to read the DMG better, are those terms used for optional rules or are they just things you can do

They are special actions in combat. Anything in the DMG is up to DM discretion but tbf everything in thr PHB is too.

Like... Players don't decide when to make an ability check, they have to wait until the DM gives it to them. Players say what they want to do and the DM decides what ability check to use.

I'm thinking of adding in more of the DMG, there is a lot of cool things in there. I was thinking about a Totemist that uses monster features (specifically calling them out as the same thing).

[cdax]

This class is a load of laughs. I would love to throw together a playgroup just using this class. So many varied options. Tons of fun.

[Deleted]

This class is a load of laughs. I would love to throw together a playgroup just using this class. So many varied options. Tons of fun.

Thanks!

I really hope you get a chance to try it out, let me know how things go :).