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Flashy
2015-03-20, 02:31 AM
Hey all!

So I do a homebrew world with light to moderate magitech, and I wanted to create options for players who wanted to start magically modified.

I grant all players a starting feat (as suggested by NeoSeraphi here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?404015-Suggested-Alternative-Feats-at-1st-level)) so the idea would be that players could take a custom feat allowing them to select two minor augments or one major one. With that in mind I tried to balance minor modifications against a half ASI and major modifications against a full ASI. Hopefully I succeeded?

Click here for the PDF (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byh62s8kxIG6djdad3VvNTRkYkU/view?usp=sharing)

I'd love any thoughts, suggestions or criticisms anyone has.

Asmayus
2015-03-20, 05:14 PM
I can't really tell you if it's balanced or not, but the flavor is awesome.

Flashy
2015-03-21, 01:46 PM
I can't really tell you if it's balanced or not, but the flavor is awesome.

I'm really glad you liked it!

Flashy
2015-03-31, 03:52 PM
I should mention that I'm particularly worried about Vital Reservoirs since it seems potentially way too powerful at 1st level and falls off tremendously as the game progresses.

PotatoGolem
2015-03-31, 06:06 PM
Maybe instead of 10 THP, it's 5xlevel? Weaker at level 1, but it scales well.

Darkstand
2015-03-31, 09:05 PM
My biggest concern is actually Remade for war. It might be balanced, but I know that no caster has proficiency in con saves, particularly because of concentration checks.
On the other hand, war caster gives advantage on concentration checks. So... it may be balanced. But it is certainly a advantageous feat for casters, especially with the extra minor.
*shrugs*
Vital Reservoirs seems fine, especially since the temp hp takes a action, even a bonus one. It won't save you from dropping to zero if you did not see it coming, or were trying to save it for later. It would be MUCH stronger if it 'autoapplied' upon reaching zero. The other effects won't come up nearly as often, but are very good flavor. (The sleep thing might matter every now and again.... but the rest of the party needs the usual sleep. It might save some time if you are keeping strict track of watches, as you don't 'lose' as many hours of sleep.)

PotatoGolem
2015-03-31, 09:53 PM
Since these replace a feat, I don't think Remade for War is a big deal. Casters can take Resilient to get proficiency in Con saves anyway, this just exchanges the +1 con for one of the minor saves. Also, sorcerers are proficient in Con saves.

Flashy
2015-04-02, 12:28 AM
Maybe instead of 10 THP, it's 5xlevel? Weaker at level 1, but it scales well.

I like this one a lot. It makes it way less pointless once you have more than two hit dice.

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-12, 03:41 AM
First of all, I wanted to say that these are... AWESOME!!
I'm not big personally on "magitech" in fantasy in general, but these are great! Definitely saving for a friend. Nice work ;^)

My only suggestion has to deal with Vital Reservoirs, and PotatoGolem's suggestion as well. 100 temporary hit points is a LOT to just arbitrarily toss on a character, even at 20th level. I think 5xLevel temporary HP is a bit too much.

What about getting False Life for free, and having it scale automatically with spell progression? (1d4+4 to start, 1d4+9 at 3rd, 1d4 + 14 at 5th, 1d4 + 19 at 7th, etc.) You get about half the value, but I think it's a better balance.

Flashy
2015-05-12, 05:40 AM
What about getting False Life for free, and having it scale automatically with spell progression? (1d4+4 to start, 1d4+9 at 3rd, 1d4 + 14 at 5th, 1d4 + 19 at 7th, etc.) You get about half the value, but I think it's a better balance.

I think this may be the perfect answer. It has a built in action cost, it's a set scaling and fits the design goal.

Do you think a recharge on a short of long rest would be more appropriate? My instinct would be a short rest, since it's the feature carrying most of the power load for what is functionally a feat.

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-12, 03:55 PM
Do you think a recharge on a short of long rest would be more appropriate? My instinct would be a short rest, since it's the feature carrying most of the power load for what is functionally a feat.

Hm. I think that recharge on a short rest is a bit too often, even if it's False Life. Especially if it's auto-scaling to a 9th-level spell at 17th level ;v Compared to say, Magic Initiate, you don't get cantrips but the spell *does* auto-level for you... in addition to some other (admittedly, ribbon-y) abilities. (Though Exhaustion advantage, Temp HP, and Barbarian are a very scary combo ;~;)

We could re-tool it so that the ability recharges on short rest but isn't as strong as false life. Model it after Second Wind: 1d10 + Level temporary hit points.

Flashy
2015-05-12, 07:25 PM
Hm. I think that recharge on a short rest is a bit too often, even if it's False Life. Especially if it's auto-scaling to a 9th-level spell at 17th level ;v Compared to say, Magic Initiate, you don't get cantrips but the spell *does* auto-level for you... in addition to some other (admittedly, ribbon-y) abilities. (Though Exhaustion advantage, Temp HP, and Barbarian are a very scary combo ;~;)

We could re-tool it so that the ability recharges on short rest but isn't as strong as false life. Model it after Second Wind: 1d10 + Level temporary hit points.

After thinking about it I think I prefer the recharge on a long rest. You're right, it's pretty powerful, and I prefer a long rest recharge from a fluff perspective. As for the Barbarian exhaustion thing, since Frenzy doesn't allow a save against the exhaustion effect it shouldn't be too powerful a combination, though I agree there's some degree of synergy there. In a game where Barbarians did save against the Frenzy exhaustion this would be substantially more powerful.

I've updated the pdf with the new version of Vital Reservoirs and a couple of typos fixed.

Steampunkette
2015-05-13, 12:26 AM
This is absolutely fantastic.

I'm creating a nonstandard fantasy setting which utilizes a magitech race, actually. And I think this feat as their primary Racial Ability would be perfect for allowing great variety of design. Though I'll probably refluff it to be less "Implants" and more "This is how you were built" since they're essentially tech-centric warforged.

You did a great job! And I can't wait to see what else you come up with that I can blatantly st- err... Utilize for inspiration.

>.>

Flashy
2015-05-14, 12:11 AM
I actually have an extended list of augments and homebrew magic items, but they aren't balanced against feats. Not all the magic items are magitech, and many of them are specific to my campaign, but the augments should all be pretty generic.

This document has been edited way less than the first one, so no promise that anything is remotely coherent. Here it is. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byh62s8kxIG6OUJ0TFhRS3hISmc/view?usp=sharing)

Flashy
2015-05-19, 08:35 AM
I've updated the document in the previous post with a couple additional items and augments that I kept after I gave up on an augmentation based fighter archetype I was trying.

If anyone has suggestions on how anything in that document could be reasonably balanced for the starting feat I'd love to hear them, by the way.