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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next New mechanic - Prestige achievements



Citan
2015-08-14, 04:33 PM
Hi all!

Welcome to my new thread, exposing the concept of "Prestige Achievements".
This idea comes from my frustration as seeing how some class combination really hampered each other RAW (like Monk's Martial Arts and Sneak Attack) or which compatibility is yet open to discussion (like Unarmed Strike as Wild Shape beast). Discouraging players to attempt creative concepts unless houseruling class revamps.

So, I wanted to find a way to reward some specific builds that would be...
1) Easy (pick and play, no DM hassle).
2) Balanced (just strenghten enough the build so that it's in line with other members while avoiding cheesy power).
3) Immersive (make the player feel the weight of his/her choice by bringing requirements).
4) Fun (try to bring additional ways to play).
Note that contrarily to Feats, these are "automatic". Meaning that as soon as a character meets all requirements, a player CAN (but has no obligation to) get them (although if they really played in a way fitting an Achievement there is little reason for them to reject it).


Hereunder are the few I thought about. As you will see, most of them involve Monk, since it's one of the class I find the most difficult to mix with. There are probably many other combinations that don't work by RAW though. Feel free to add your suggestions if you like the concept.

Clawing Fists
Requirements: Monk 7+ / Rogue 7+
Fluff Description: You spent your whole career training your Martial Arts in such a way that you fists can pierce things instead of just hit them when you focus entirely on a point.
Benefit: When you use your Attack action with Unarmed Strike, you can forego your Extra Attack to instead apply Sneak Attack damage on the first attack.

Divine Fists
Requirements: Monk 7+ / Devotion Paladin 7+
Fluff description: after years of patient training and using your fists to neutralize instead of slashing enemies to death, your fists have become attuned to channeling divine energy. that they are now as sturdy as real weapons, capable of enduring even the most powerful enchantement.
Feature: treat your fists (and fists only) as weapons for the sake of weapon-targeting buff spells and abilities such as Sacred Weapon, Magic Weapon and Elemental Weapon. You'll permanently lose this ability as soon as you kill someone with piercing or slashing damage.

Kung-Fu Panda
Requirements: Monk 7+ / Moon Druid 7+
Fluff description: years of training to attune your Martial Arts with beast form now bear fruit, allowing you to channel ki while being wild shaped.
Feature: you can use your Monk abilities with any Wild Shape form that lets you stand on two legs (including Ape, Bears, Panda). You can never Wild Shape in a flying beast with a CR > 2.

Mac 2 Flurry
Requirements: Fighter 5+ / Ranger 5+ / Monk 5+ / DEX 20
Fluff description: increasing the speed of your attacks have always been your lifetime goal. You studied the stances of Fighters using light weapons, the quickness of Rangers chaining dagger attacks or multiple arrows, to hone your Martial Arts in such a way that you can get multiples hits in a matter of seconds.
Feature 1: when using Attack action with your Unarmed Strike, you can choose to put everything into speed. If you do so, you can launch additional attacks beyond your natural second. Each subsequent attack is made with a cumulative malus of +3 to hit. Furthermore, all attacks (including the first two) suffer a flat malus of 2 points to damage.
Feature 2: when using Attack action with thrown daggers or a shortbow at normal range, you can launch a third attack as part of the action.

Arrows of Judgement
Requirements: Paladin 7+ / Fighter or Ranger 7+ / Archery Fighting Style / Sharpshooter feat
Fluff description: after years of honing your spiritual senses, focusing solely on bow mastery, disregarding heavy armors to improve your own perception, you finally learnt to impregnate your divine energy on objets for a few seconds.
Feature: you can now smite on ranged attacks made with bows. You lose proficiency with all STR-based weapons.

Note: could be adapted/rewritten to work with thrown weapons instead.

Spirit Hunt Incarnation
Requirements: Eldricht Knight 6+ / Blade Warlock 6+ / Thirsting Blade Invocation / STR and CHA 16+ / Only Javelins and Spears as bounded weapons.
Fluff description: as a follower of the ancient hunt tradition of the XXX clan, you dedicated yourself to use simple thrown weapons, developing a strong spiritual link with your two weapons. As a part of your pact with your Patron, you asked for your spiritual link to be enhanced. As a consequence, your bound weapons share now the link of your pact.
Feature 1: As long as both your bound weapons are Spears or Javelin, you can recall both of them as a bonus action.
Feature 2: On your turn, if you hit an enemy with one of your bound weapons, all subsequents attacks against this enemy will benefit from +2 to hit during this turn.
Feature 3: You can choose to plant one of your bounded weapon into an enemy. If you do so, launch an attack with a -5 malus to hit. If successful, this bounded weapon now stays firmly in the enemy's body. As long as this lasts, your attacks with second bounded weapon benefits from +10 to hit. During each of this turn, the enemy can try to remove the bounded weapon with a STR check (DC is the one of your Warlock class).
Note that for most of them, the main limitation is a high dual-class requirement. Two reasons for that.
a) The benefits I proposed are generally good, and could lead to overpowerness if only a dip in another class was sufficient.
b) These benefits are supposed to represent a nearly lifelong effort towards a specific goal, so it's natural they require a hefty investment in all targeted classes.

Thanks in advance for your feedbacks. :)

eleazzaar
2015-08-14, 05:46 PM
You have the downsides listed under the benefit heading.

Citan
2015-08-15, 05:35 AM
You have the downsides listed under the benefit heading.
Ohh, so hard... The downsides are really part of the thing but the global balance was positive so I thought that the term Benefit was fitting. Ah well... Changed the term for Feature.

zylodrizzt
2015-08-15, 09:19 AM
One thing I just thought about when u made the last one about planting your javelin or spear is a drag mechanic like scorpion "get over here!" Lol I think that could be a prestige bound weaponachievement

Citan
2015-08-15, 01:20 PM
One thing I just thought about when u made the last one about planting your javelin or spear is a drag mechanic like scorpion "get over here!" Lol I think that could be a prestige bound weaponachievement

Interesting idea indeed!
I first thought about this kind of Achievement because I had an idea of Eldricht Knight with dual thrown weapon for a long time and I found frustrating to be able to call only one weapon with a bonus action.

Your suggestion made many other ideas pop in my head^^ (on the basis of both weapons being "magnets" which attract each other). I'll have to think about what they are worth, maybe build a subclass in itself... ^^

Thanks for reading anyways :)