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View Full Version : [5e] Witcher Potions Feat and Rules



Fortress13
2015-07-19, 09:55 AM
Hey, everyone.

Longtime lurker, first time poster. For a while now I've really liked the idea of creating a feat and crafting system specifically to incorporate the potions from the Witcher games. Rather than using the existing crafting system (not a fan), and rather than creating a whole new class or archetype, I liked the idea of creating a feat which anyone could pick up, giving more mechanical variety to who could play a witcher-like character.

Here's the link to my Homebrew:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z81tcqywb5yuncu/Witcher%20Feat%20and%20Tonic%20Rules%20Homebrew%20 2.0.docx?dl=0

I used a lot of the tonic material from this website: https://sites.google.com/site/5eclasswitcher/ . Kudos to him and his awesome witcher class project. My group and I didn't really want to use a full witcher class, though, but I loved how he organized the tonics, so I isolated the tonic material and changed some of the rules and effects.

My DM really likes the idea behind the feat and tonic rules, but is concerned about a homebrew feat being overpowered, so we're hoping some critique/feedback could help balance it out. Any thoughts or criticisms will be a big help! Does this look balanced compared to other feats? Too powerful? Too weak?

All the best,
Fortress13

PotatoGolem
2015-07-22, 11:58 PM
I love this. It seems mostly ok balance-wise, but you'll have to playtest it to see what happens- that's the only way to really know with a subsytem like this. Some tonics are better than others, but the system as a whole seems sound. There are a few things that aren't really clearly worded though:

*Wolf- I assume this means you now crit on a 19-20? "Critical Miss Chance" isn't something that exists in 5e.

*Fullmoon- super unclear. Does this raise max HP, give temp HP, or raise max HP and current HP?

*Toxicity in general needs some real proofreading. Biggest offenders:
--At half, you opponents "gain advantage." To/on what rolls?
--When you take that last potion, you start dying. This doesn't appear to be what's intended, but that's what happens in 5e when you go to 0 HP. AFAIK, you can't take a long rest when you're unconscious, but that's pretty DM dependent.

Fortress13
2015-07-23, 07:30 AM
Glad you think it looks cool! Yeah, it'll definitely need some play testing to really see how it works in the field, but I'm glad to hear it doesn't look broken.


*Wolf- I assume this means you now crit on a 19-20? "Critical Miss Chance" isn't something that exists in 5e.

Thanks for catching that. Yeah, I meant increase crit range to 19-20 and increase crit miss range to 1-3. Though I wonder if those should be even (19-20, 1-2).


*Fullmoon- super unclear. Does this raise max HP, give temp HP, or raise max HP and current HP?

Great point. I believe my original intent was to raise maximum hitpoints by that amount, and increase the character's existing hitpoints by that amount as well (if they're not at max). After reevaluating it, I wonder if temporary hitpoints might be the easiest for a player to keep track of. If I do that, I know I'll need to add in a line about how they either do stack or do not stack with other forms of temporary hit points--thoughts?


*Toxicity in general needs some real proofreading. Biggest offenders:
--At half, you opponents "gain advantage." To/on what rolls?
--When you take that last potion, you start dying. This doesn't appear to be what's intended, but that's what happens in 5e when you go to 0 HP. AFAIK, you can't take a long rest when you're unconscious, but that's pretty DM dependent.

Great catches. I'll definitely need to clear up the language. For the first point, I intended advantage on attack rolls specifically. For the second, wow. Thank you. I think that must be a layover from my 4e days where you could stabilize at zero. I could change it to reduce hitpoints to half rounded down. At that point, the character is suffering pretty badly anyway to the point where a long rest is pretty required.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

ban.make
2015-08-10, 01:53 AM
The Witcher is so interesting and challenging game. I love this.