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ThymeTwoDye
2014-12-28, 11:55 PM
Hey everyone, I am incredibly new to the site, but I had an idea for a homebrew D&D project and I figured I would ask about it on here to see if anyone is interested in the idea or has helpful advice.

It has come to my attention that 3.5 edition D&D (which is the only kind I've played, so maybe things are different in other versions) has balance issues when it comes to player versus player combat scenarios. Famously spellcasters are op at high levels while very weak at lower levels, and in combat-oriented adventures classes like Beguilers are obviously none-too-useful.

These things are true because D&D is a game that presents players with a variety of challenges other than combat, such as traps and NPC interactions, which reward charismatic characters, skillmonkeys, and utility spellcasters. But what if the game were reworked to give every class equal fighting-potential as well as strengths and weaknesses that would lend to its own meta in arena-style play?

Firstly, in my vision of this version, pretty much all existing classes would be scrapped and replaced. The new classes would be more based on interesting combat concepts than traditional archetypes of the fantasy setting. For instance, the Sage class, which is kind of like an unarmored cleric, would always have a holy pendant that weakens enemies and buffs allies within some radius. The sage could throw the pendant some distance into a fray if the situation demands it, and maybe get some spells at high level that let her levitate it around. What piece of mythology is this based on? None, but it leads to interesting strategic opportunities.

Secondly, I'm thinking that classes should be called disciplines, because there's a distinct difference between these and 3.5 classes. In 3.5, rogues and fighters exist because in real Medieval Europe, there were thieves and there were soldiers. In Super PVP D&D Deluxe Or Whatever, Legionnaires and Knights are separate disciplines, but there wouldn't be ways for players to be generic fighters in between. To allow people to still roleplay their own personalities, one could assume that every discipline is less of an example of who that character is, and more an example of what "style" of fighting that character has become an expert in. Each discipline, from knight to berserker to assassin to necromancer, is its own martial art form, in a way.

Thirdly, equipment and weapon/armor proficiency would change. There would be much tighter rules on what a given discipline could use as a weapon. For instance, the aforementioned sage could use a quarterstaff, club, throwing rocks, or sling, and that's pretty much it. Knights may have more options for weapons, but it would still be a rather small list. Each weapon would have more obvious advantages and disadvantages, though.

Fourthly, to counteract the general decrease in customization, class abilities would probably be formed in a more skill-tree construction, perhaps replacing feats with discipline-specific bonuses as well.

Fifthly, because this is designed with plotless arenas in mind, I might consider removing charisma and wisdom as ability scores entirely. In adventures, things like bluff and spot checks could possibly just use the intelligence ability score, but this is just me thinking on the fly and I may not want to tamper with abilities.

Other than these things I want to keep most stuff the same as 3.5.

So there you go, I have lots of ideas for classes in mind, but before pouring time into this huge undertaking I want to gauge if anyone would be interesting in helping out or playing the finished product. Once again any constructive criticism or brainstorming is welcome.

Just to Browse
2014-12-29, 12:16 AM
You may want to look at Legend (http://www.ruleofcool.com/) which was a D&D hack/rebalancing attempt that draws heavily from lessons learned in the Test of Spite PvP arena (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?113644-Test-of-Spite-D-amp-D-3-5) and Tets of Might, and is thus fairly well-suited to PvP scenarios. It does most of what you want, though weapons aren't limited in the slightest and are actually expanded into a sort of point-buy system.

You're also in luck because the Monster Manual hasn't come out (part of me thinks it never will...), so it's pretty much prime for picking up and using as a PvP game. If you really want to focus on PvP, you could pare down the attributes like they should have and put the lion's share of customization on picking up different special powers.