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2018-07-31, 06:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Welcome to the chat thread for the Base Class Competitions for D&D 5e. If you wish to say anything about the competition which is neither a submission nor a vote, then it belongs here. You do not need to be a contestant to post here. You are allowed to critique a competitor’s work and offer suggestions on how to improve their homebrew through this thread, but it is preferred if you do so through that class’ specific thread (if applicable). I will also be holding discussions over what the next competition’s theme should be in here. Let us begin.
Submissions thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...es-(probably-)!
Voting thread: yet to be created
Former Competitions
1st contest: Who Needs Swords or Sorcery?, won by WarrentheHero with the Inventor
2nd contest: Expect a low Margin of Terror, Won by Mourne with the Sleepwalker-
I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-08-03, 02:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2015
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
The class I'm currently working on for this contest is a Djinn Warrior- for some reason, a Djinni grants you power. This could be becuase you freed one and it offered you a Wish, or maybe an ancestor Wished to protect their family line. Maybe, similar to a Sorcerer, this Genie's blood runs in your veins, or perhaps some other reason. In any event, you've been given great power by this Genie.
The base class gets bonus lightning damage on-hit, but the "main" feature is the Minor Wishes mechanic. Minor Wishes let you accomplish magical feats such as flight, the conjuring of decadent feasts, or the control of winds. At higher levels, the class will eventually gain the ability to cast Wish regularly.
The subclasses reflect which Freehold or Citadel your associated Djinn is from, and the subclass split is at level one. The Citadel of Storms empowers your lightning and allows you to strike with your fists, while the Citadel of Zephyrs offers greater control of elemental air itself, with a combat focus on archery.
It's still WIP, and I don't like to post classes until they're at least 90% done, but this is the concept so far.
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2018-08-03, 04:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Sounds interesting. I've got... nothing. Not even the inkling of a concept (at least one that I feel hasn't been done a thousand times).
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2018-08-03, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
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I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-08-03, 04:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Try one of the other elemental systems maybe?
A class based on alchemical metals.
A pokemon trainer spin-off using the 15/17/18 types (depending on which ones you like/dislike).
Elements of spellcasting (somatic, material, verbal).
Magic the Gathering 5 colors.
I'm musing a couple ideas over in my head right now. If I settle on one I'll come back here to announce the idea.Last edited by MoleMage; 2018-08-03 at 04:54 PM.
Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-08-03, 04:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2015
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
A couple of ideas I tossed around before mostly settling on the Djinn are:
- Geomancer. Control over stone and magma. You could make stone prisons, throw lava rocks, and cause miniature volcanic eruptions. Subclasses could focus on either fire or earth manipulation.
-Frost Knight. A Paladin substitute without healings, it would be a heavy armor class that focuses hardcore on battlefield control
-4 Elements. Expand on the basic idea of the Monk subclass but... better. Not sure what direction subclasses would go.
-Elementalist basic control over 4 elements with subclasses focusing on different elements providing a lot of the real meat of the class. Maybe a spellcasting base class? A real cool mechanic would be that partway through class progression, you either choose a second subclass to start benefitting from, or you choose a second element and combine them into a new one (Fire+Earth=Magma, Air+Water=Storm, etc)
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2018-08-03, 06:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Reminds me of the mobile game Alchemy, where you made new elements by combining basic ones, then combining the basic/advanced, or advanced/advanced ones together to make different combonations. Feels like it'd work well as a spell-point caster that could let you use a Major and Minor effect for each spell. Major could determine the type of damage, and the range, while the secondary one could be an on-hit or terrain effect (or additional damage) based on the element. So Fire (1) + Earth (1) would be a fire ranged burst that got an AOE of 5 feet from the target that can knock prone/create difficult terrain.
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2018-08-03, 10:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
A wu jen update could work here, as well.
I already did an Avatar-esque / Way of the Four Elements / Swordsage update that's on DM's Guild, so I'll want to think of something away from that. But an Elemental Ascendant type would be good.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do just because I've wanted to do it for a while now.DM's Guild Work
5e Homebrew: The Circle of Progress, a druid circle about becoming a transformer - Winner of 5e Subclass Contest 1 - "It's Technical"
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2018-08-04, 05:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Thanks for the link to the flow of materials.
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2018-08-04, 01:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
So, I made a whole new system of mysticism just for this class - it combines the elements of Motive, Priority and Action to form a compound Consequence. I'll do some work on actually making the class do stuff in just a bit.
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2018-08-05, 05:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
I decided to steal my own idea of using the Alchemical elements. The chassis of the Alchemist is ready to roll, and I will post the PDF shortly.
EDIT: As with Jormengand, this doesn't yet include actually doing stuff (and I have one remaining dead level at 15), so still to come are Houses, Formulae, and an ability at level 15.
EDIT EDIT: I had a thought for a theme. Mix it Up ( or possibly Remix Mastery): create an alternate or variant class for an existing class. It doesn't have to have the same level progression or even core abilities, but theme should be maintained. For example, alt/variant paladin doesn't need divine smite or even spellcasting, but does have to deliver on that same theme of "holy knight".Last edited by MoleMage; 2018-08-06 at 11:49 AM.
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2018-08-07, 12:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
I created a setting element last year for warriors that fight with giant weapons. They are supported by wizards that drive giant robots or Druids that summon giant earth elementals.
I started to expand out into other types of city protectors, I had a Dragon Speaker warlock and I think I’ll add in this elemental warrior archetype as vanguard for the Druids.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...c1cCXY1ITxETgI
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2018-08-08, 11:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Some more elemental grouping ideas:
Fire Emblem's Weapon Triangle (Swords->Axes->Lances/Spears->Swords) and/or Trinity of Magic (Anima->Light->Dark->Anima or Fire->Wind->Thunder->Fire)
The "flavors" of quarks (Up, Down, Strange, Charm, Bottom, Top)
Any specific subset of the Periodic Table (The Noble Gases, the Coinage Metals, the Alkali Group).
EDIT: A smallish update to the Alchemist filled out their dead level at 15 and started the long process of designing enough formulae to give them a solid number to pick from.
EDIT EDIT: The signs of the Zodiac would also flavor quite well into a group of 12 elements.Last edited by MoleMage; 2018-08-08 at 02:19 PM.
Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-08-16, 02:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Alright, I think the Alchemist is complete enough to request first-draft feedback. I'm still working on the formula list when I can (gonna have a whole weekend free coming up so probably do a fair bit then), but class features and subclasses are done outside of that.
How are everyone elses' projects going?Last edited by MoleMage; 2018-08-16 at 02:12 PM.
Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-08-16, 02:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
I'm nearly done with the final pass before reveal on mine... should post it tonight or tomorrow.
Always looking for critique of my 5E homebrew!
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2018-08-16, 03:22 PM (ISO 8601)
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- In the Playground, duh.
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2018-08-16, 06:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
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I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-08-17, 09:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
I know what you mean. My other things are largely elective (at least the ones that consume a lot of the time that would be spent doing alchemist building), but coming up with enough formulae to give people meaningful choices is proving to be an undertaking.
I've so far given names to 25/40 planned formulae, full write-ups to 13, and partial write-ups to 3 more. At least we have about a month left to finish this in.Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-08-17, 02:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
I think my concept is final coming together (like two trains on a track). I should have the draft posted sometime this weekend.
I had little inspiration for this theme and coupled with an internal need to make sure anything created works within my campaign world, this has been a most difficult contest.
I'll hopefully also have some time coming up to start giving some feedback. I'm especially interested in seeing the alchemist as I made a stab at this as a base class a while back. Hoping to find some good things tostealborrow.
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2018-08-19, 09:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2013
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Always looking for critique of my 5E homebrew!
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2018-08-23, 09:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Okay, I finally believe I have came up with something. I was frankly stumped on what to do, so I decided to do some minor research on elementals in mythology. A name that came up a lot was Paracelsus; an alchemist from the 16th century who proposed that their are four types of invisible nature spirits which can travel through their respective elements like we do air. The four elementals were gnomes who could phase through earth (this name is slightly misleading as these are a lot more reminiscent of dwarves than their actual namesake in D&D), salamanders who live and walk through fire (you can find an example of this monster in the MM), Sylphs who could fly through the air (not much different than air elemental in D&D really), and undines who could swim through water (essentially mermaids and similar beings).
This kind of gave me an idea for a class; a sort of shapeshifter who can transform themself into different elementals which decide their features. The main benefit of an elemental form would be what state of matter you could incorporeally travel through, but there would be much more benefits. It is essentially a class that allows you to almost change their form and the corresponding effects of class fatures at will (with resource expenditure), but with the drawback of never having as much raw power as the other classes. Exchanging overall power for unprecedented adaptability. How does this idea sound to you all? I worry that it is running on such strange rules that it may be incredibly unbalanced.Last edited by Requilac; 2018-08-23 at 09:33 PM.
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I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-08-26, 12:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
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2018-08-26, 08:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
To be fair, my “elemental shifter” class is a pretty literal interpretation of the theme. It’s usually not my style, but it is what I got inspiration for. I think many people in this competition where pushed to make their class fit the theme too directly. Jormengard is really the only person who threw a curveball here.
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I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
-
2018-08-26, 10:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
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- Oklahoma
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-08-27, 11:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Okay, my concept turned out be a complete dumpster fire. None of the elemental forms are even remotely balanced towards each other. The sylph is incredibly more overpowered than the others, the gnome is underwhelming in all but its one brokenly overpowered burrowing ability, the salamander is dishing out way too much and damage, the undine gets to breathe underwater and all their other features are desperately put in and don't make sense. Not to mention that I can't make heads or tails of what the spellcasting should be organized like. I have now come to the realization that I can't get the forms to be anywhere equal in power unless I make massive suspensions of disbelief and fill in features which don't honestly make sense. This is especially made difficult by trying to have them all fill different niches. I was hoping that my unique design would give it some character, but it just made it the most broken class possible.
Thusly, I will be scrapping the idea and taking all of the good parts of the elemental shifter to make a new class; The Firestorm Avatar. Hopefully the more solidly defined idea will give me some more room to work with. Please be patient with me as I rewrite my entry.-
I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-08-29, 11:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
MoleMage, regarding your alchemist...
Having worked on my own version of the alchemist a full class, I can certainly appreciate what you have done here. In fact, the catalyst feature is a thing of beauty --- so much so that I now have to redesign my own alchemist to incorporate it.
I actually don’t have a lot of comments in regards to your class, it is very solid. Great job! I look forward to seeing the completed version (if you’d like, I can share my own alchemist with you – there may be some ideas there for additional formulae).
Here are the few thoughts I do have…
- The core class is really bereft of fluff/ribbon features. I’m guessing the intent is to pack most of those into the Houses, but I feel that there should be at least a couple skill/social/exploration features (aside from Toxin Immunity) as part of the basic kit.
- I’d guess the intent is to somewhat replicate an Int-based caster with readied spells. That being said, I don’t feel that the requirement for ‘Formulae Readied’ adds a lot to the class. It’s another (small) layer of administrative management for little gain/reason. I personally don’t think it would impact the power curve too much if this was removed an alchemist could prepare up to their maximum number of formulaes chosen from any of the formulae that they know.
- Catalysts. Did I tell you how much I love this? Ha.
- The Houses are certainly find and fill their niches (with some nice touches – Auric transmutation is very flavorful, a great reskin of flesh to stone). I’ve not quite warmed up yet to the House of Astrology but I can see that it fills a niche and is well flavored (it’s just hard for me to make the mental jump from alchemy to astrology).
Again, great job! Lots of good stuff here so, for the sake of providing things for me to plagiarize, please finish this class.
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2018-08-29, 01:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
My GMBinder version now has base effects for about half of the Journeyman formula (no catalyst effects yet), so I am still working on it slowly. I am on the road for about a week coming up but will have my laptop so I should be able to work on it.
The intent with readied formula was indeed to limit their in the moment flexibility, but given that unlike 5e prepared casters they don't keep their creations after consumption I can see your point. Trimming that also will give me room to add more flavor features like you said (though a lot of skill bonuses are/will be tied up in formulae like spellcasters have theirs tied up in spells, I can give them some built-in ability to recognize codes at level 1 for sure, and come up with something else probably for the mid-teens).
I was pretty proud of the catalyst feature when I came up with it so I am glad you like it. I'd be happy to hear about any formula or catalyst ideas you have to fill in my gaps also, just send me a message.
Thanks for the feedback!
While I am here, some more unorthodox "element" ideas:
The cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)
The phases of the moon (anywhere from 2 with just new and full to 8 with waxing and waning crescent, gibbous, and the first and third quarter could be justified)Last edited by MoleMage; 2018-08-29 at 02:48 PM.
Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.
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2018-09-03, 12:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Okay I just finished my class for this competition; the firestorm avatar. I really would have liked to do the elemental shifter more, but trying to balance it was incredibly tedious and this solution seems much better. Most of the features of the current class where actually migrated straight from my notes for the elemental shifter. Any help on improving the class is much appreciated.
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I have designed a Gothic Horror TTRPG built for actual play performances. If you want to play some sessions using it or talk theory, read more about it here!
My D&D 5e Homebrew Content
The Necronomicon. An >30 Page Cthulhu Mythos Supplement
Faerie Vampyre Monsters. Won 1st place in the GitP Monster Design Contest: Shapeshifters.
Check here for my extended homebrew signature!
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2018-09-10, 03:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2017
Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Posting revised version of shaman now. Instead of working off a bardish base with Enhancement as a Valorish subclass, I made the shaman a half-caster base ala paladin and tried to give the Elemental and Restoration subclasses more things to do outside using spell slots. I think it worked alright with Ele, maybe less so with Resto.
Enhancement feels like it could also use some love, but a bit unsure of where to go. I am much happier with this than the last draft. Going to take a break from it for a while, will read all your guys' in the next few days and give some feedback/hopefully find some ideas to steal.... :-)
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2018-09-15, 02:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: D&D 5e Base Class Contest III Chat Thread
Another alchemist update is upon us! I am now slightly more than halfway through formula creation, and have finished formulae up to Journeyman tier. Still interested in any ideas people have for Expert or Master formulae (names for some of my intended effects are in the PDF) and any catalyst effects they think could go on existing formulae with only 2 effects (2-3 per formula is my goal but I ended up landing on 2 a lot more for Journeyman than I did for Apprentice). If you have an idea for the effect, you don't need to assign it a catalyst, I can pick one that I think fits.
I ended up putting some of the "exploration/social" into optional formulae (Truth Serum, Elixir of the Chameleon, Flask Familiar, Rod of Purification), but am still considering throwing in a level ~10 social/exploration feature, if I can come up with an idea for one.Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.