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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Best of Homebrew: 5th Edition -- Subreddit for indexing the BEST homebrews around!



Toothless
2015-09-01, 02:08 PM
Hiya everyone!

I recently made a subreddit last night to gather the BEST homebrew content around and list them in a single, easy to find location. Too often great stuff goes unseen, and too often absolutely OP broken trash is. The link is below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/boh5e/



Unlike other homebrew subreddits, posting does not add your homebrew automatically. All of the content have been reviewed and scored on a scale of 1 to 10, saving you both time and headache searching as well as balancing after a player destroys your game. Only a score of 7 or above will make it to the subreddit.

New homebrews will be added daily, keeping your hunger of new content fully satisfied. I'm still currently working on starting it up, so expect 5-10 more by the end of the week. If you have a homebrew you'd like to post, just submit it and we'll give it a look over!

Thanks!

DersitePhantom
2015-09-02, 04:51 AM
I really liked the idea of this from looking at this post, but after going to the subreddit and finding a bunch of Middle Finger of Vecna content, I can't help but be disappointed. I don't want to be overly inflammatory, but MFoV has a strong tendency to ignore 5e design principles, poorly word abilities (often using non-5e terminology) and make glaring balance mistakes. It always looks nice and it comes in high quantity, but I've long since stopped trusting their quality.

Also, putting your own homebrew up there feels like a conflict of interest. I might end up posting a more detailed criticism of the Runner class (and there's quite a bit to criticize) but I don't have a lot of time.

If the subreddit ends up being what you want it to be, then I will be a very enthusiastic participant.

JNAProductions
2015-09-02, 05:05 PM
That is a small, small list. I've seen a heck of a lot more balanced homebrew here on GitP, so that list is definitely lacking.

Scarce
2015-09-02, 11:03 PM
I really liked the idea of this from looking at this post, but after going to the subreddit and finding a bunch of Middle Finger of Vecna content, I can't help but be disappointed. I don't want to be overly inflammatory, but MFoV has a strong tendency to ignore 5e design principles, poorly word abilities (often using non-5e terminology) and make glaring balance mistakes. It always looks nice and it comes in high quantity, but I've long since stopped trusting their quality.



All really true points. As the guy behind Middle Finger of Vecna, I can say that I've always intended it to be more of a an open design workshop than a finished product warehouse. Our material has has ups and downs (I like to aggressively try new approaches to things, and I hope we're getting better, Wild West Update aside), but it pales in comparison to much of the stuff to be found here.

I think your best bet to find the most balanced stuff it to ask around on this forum and a few others, and don't add anything that hasn't seen a few revisions and/or a lot of discussion.

weaseldust
2015-09-03, 09:37 AM
My advice would be to have a post for each candidate homebrew, in which people could discuss what grade to give it, and a single stickied post containing links to the ones that earn at least 7. (You can have a permanently stickied post on Reddit, right?)

SodaDarwin
2015-09-03, 09:50 AM
My advice would be to have a post for each candidate homebrew, in which people could discuss what grade to give it, and a single stickied post containing links to the ones that earn at least 7. (You can have a permanently stickied post on Reddit, right?)

If possible, this.
In general, quality can be relative. By restricting it to a tiny group's (or even one man's) vote as to what has what quality you create... problems. By having it so anything can be posted, but the most notable ones actually get a permanent spot at the top, that's not only fair but is also just better.
Try to make an inclusive society, rather than exclusive. Things of appallingly poor quality can be... forgiven for not being including, but unless 7 is going to be 'average' then you can have issues.

Gr7mm Bobb
2015-09-03, 12:35 PM
I'm hoping that I didn't miss this and am the first to ask. What would be the recommended method of submitting homebrew from self or other as recommendation to be put on the list?

I do not use reddit, or have a reddit account and I hope that it does not pose issues.

bloodshed343
2015-09-03, 01:16 PM
We have a DnD homebrew compendium for 5e here on the forums. It has most, if not all, the content listed there. We could form a committee to meet in the Homebrew Playland campaign to discuss certain homebrew, run it through an encounter or two, and then give it a grade on a scale of 1-10. Anything 7 or above will be added to the "best of" list, anything 6 or below will be sent back to the author with specific and quantitative notes for improvement.

To do this, we'd need 4-5 experienced members willing to set aside at least an hour per week for discussion.

This could be a big, big thing.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-09-03, 02:07 PM
We have a DnD homebrew compendium for 5e here on the forums. It has most, if not all, the content listed there. We could form a committee to meet in the Homebrew Playland campaign to discuss certain homebrew, run it through an encounter or two, and then give it a grade on a scale of 1-10. Anything 7 or above will be added to the "best of" list, anything 6 or below will be sent back to the author with specific and quantitative notes for improvement.

To do this, we'd need 4-5 experienced members willing to set aside at least an hour per week for discussion.

This could be a big, big thing.

I'd be cool with this, either as a tester or a creator. I trust these fora more than reddit, for sure.

Toothless
2015-09-03, 02:07 PM
I really liked the idea of this from looking at this post, but after going to the subreddit and finding a bunch of Middle Finger of Vecna content, I can't help but be disappointed. I don't want to be overly inflammatory, but MFoV has a strong tendency to ignore 5e design principles, poorly word abilities (often using non-5e terminology) and make glaring balance mistakes. It always looks nice and it comes in high quantity, but I've long since stopped trusting their quality.

Also, putting your own homebrew up there feels like a conflict of interest. I might end up posting a more detailed criticism of the Runner class (and there's quite a bit to criticize) but I don't have a lot of time.

If the subreddit ends up being what you want it to be, then I will be a very enthusiastic participant.

Thanks for the opinions! I definitely encourage ya to downvote on the ones that you don't believe should be there and comment. Not only is it great for the creator, but it's great for me since we'll get higher quality stuff that everyone can agree on.

Yup, I just started a handful of days ago and have a LOT of homebrews to sift through, so apoligize if the list is at bit small atm. x.x I hope to fill up the first page by the end of this week.

That is an excellent point about the CoI, I'll take down the Runner in that case. Thanks again! ^^


That is a small, small list. I've seen a heck of a lot more balanced homebrew here on GitP, so that list is definitely lacking.

Sorry! x.x Like I said, I just started a couple of days ago, but the list'll be growing fast hopefully. If ya have any ideas off the top of your head, shoot 'em over please!


All really true points. As the guy behind Middle Finger of Vecna, I can say that I've always intended it to be more of a an open design workshop than a finished product warehouse. Our material has has ups and downs (I like to aggressively try new approaches to things, and I hope we're getting better, Wild West Update aside), but it pales in comparison to much of the stuff to be found here.

I think your best bet to find the most balanced stuff it to ask around on this forum and a few others, and don't add anything that hasn't seen a few revisions and/or a lot of discussion.

That's a great idea, thanks for that! If ya have anything off the top of your head, by all means, submit, makes my job easier to write reviews and scores. xD


My advice would be to have a post for each candidate homebrew, in which people could discuss what grade to give it, and a single stickied post containing links to the ones that earn at least 7. (You can have a permanently stickied post on Reddit, right?)

Interesting... I like that idea actually, making it more of a community effort instead of a group effort. I'll try that idea out actually, put up another subreddit for voting and reviews and scores. The highest upvoted comment will be posted on the original subreddit, score and review in all, how about that?

Those with a lot of highly voted reviews might get a fancy flair or title or whatever, make some incentive to review.


If possible, this.
In general, quality can be relative. By restricting it to a tiny group's (or even one man's) vote as to what has what quality you create... problems. By having it so anything can be posted, but the most notable ones actually get a permanent spot at the top, that's not only fair but is also just better.
Try to make an inclusive society, rather than exclusive. Things of appallingly poor quality can be... forgiven for not being including, but unless 7 is going to be 'average' then you can have issues.

Yup yup, hopefully above'll answer that. ^^


I'm hoping that I didn't miss this and am the first to ask. What would be the recommended method of submitting homebrew from self or other as recommendation to be put on the list?

I do not use reddit, or have a reddit account and I hope that it does not pose issues.

Go ahead and post here!


We have a DnD homebrew compendium for 5e here on the forums. It has most, if not all, the content listed there. We could form a committee to meet in the Homebrew Playland campaign to discuss certain homebrew, run it through an encounter or two, and then give it a grade on a scale of 1-10. Anything 7 or above will be added to the "best of" list, anything 6 or below will be sent back to the author with specific and quantitative notes for improvement.

To do this, we'd need 4-5 experienced members willing to set aside at least an hour per week for discussion.

This could be a big, big thing.

That's not a bad idea; I think having it open-community would be a good idea too though. Less stress on us, and it allows the community to have a say. The playground will always be open to test to write your own review however. ^^

It's essentially the equivalent to the Oscars or a community voted award; both have their benefits.

bloodshed343
2015-09-03, 02:17 PM
That's not a bad idea; I think having it open-community would be a good idea too though. Less stress on us, and it allows the community to have a say. The playground will always be open to test to write your own review however. ^^

It's essentially the equivalent to the Oscars or a community voted award; both have their benefits.

I think a combined arms approach would be best. Let the community voting process decide which ones we actually take into testing. I think this is important because the scores won't be based on opinions, but quantitative analysis. We could make specific notes if there are important balance considerations to allowing a certain class or subclass into a campaign, such as not letting class x multiclass with class y, or race x is always the optimal choice for class y.

tl;dr I think we should playtest things before giving them a gold seal of approval.

Toothless
2015-09-03, 02:18 PM
I think a combined arms approach would be best. Let the community voting process decide which ones we actually take into testing. I think this is important because the scores won't be based on opinions, but quantitative analysis. We could make specific notes if there are important balance considerations to allowing a certain class or subclass into a campaign, such as not letting class x multiclass with class y, or race x is always the optimal choice for class y.

tl;dr I think we should playtest things before giving them a gold seal of approval.

YES, I love this, this sounds perfect. I'm writing it up as we speak. FINALLY, homebrews won't always be seen as broken messes or all overly-OP.

While we're here though, any volunteers to set up that moderator team? I'm thinking a team of 4-6 people would be great so in-case a person doesn't show up, we'll still have plenty of minds to work with.

EDIT: https://www.reddit.com/r/voteboh5e/

Also, instead of having SET meetup and playtesting times, why don't we run it like Rotten Tomatoes? http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

We'll designate a number of mods, 10 or 15 or so that are approved "Critics". These are the only ones who would be able to post on the /r/boh5e display page with their reviews. Whenever a post shows up, whenever ya find time, a critic would post their score and review about that homebrew. When we have 5 or more mods who posted, we'll post up a consensus and the average of the reviews score it gets.

eleazzaar
2015-09-03, 08:02 PM
I have some interest in the sorting out and/or improving the best homebrew races. Even here, there's good stuff, and pretty good stuff with a few issues, and lots of broken, generic or incomplete races.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-09-05, 07:03 AM
A thought occurs: we should have some contests for 5e homebrew. I've seen lots for 3.5 stuff, but none for 5e.

Would anyone be interested in doing that?

JNAProductions
2015-09-05, 11:39 AM
I would be interested as heck in that!

Michael7123
2015-09-05, 11:49 AM
I would be interested in such a contest

Prince Zahn
2015-09-05, 03:32 PM
Oh my gosh!!! This is so incredibly awesome!

I do want to thank whoever nominated my Binder class thread for playtesting and judging :smallsmile: this is an amazing initiative, toothless!
If I may ask, have you guys given thought to the methodology of the playtesting? Are you going to mix homebrews together in characters or groups, or do you work scientifically by using strictly PHB material and isolating the parts being tested from other variables? It's probably more work, but the latter might be the best option for the most accurate results, like with a laboratory.

As my class is an open, colaborative project, that is exactly what limits our development in a class with this many moving parts - the low rate of testing, feedback, and new manpower. Anybody who wishes to test my Binder class for this index or other rankings that stem from it has my blessing, (I would appreciate if I could be notified though, as I don't have a reddit account.:smallredface:).

I am super flattered that the class is being considered for testing - with the help of testing and feedback I aim get the class rating all the way up to 9 or 10 on your scale, so please - test the class, be as honest as you can, and I would love to hear your notes so that I could make my class as close to perfect as possible.
Thank you very much!
P.Z.

p.s. you spelled my name incorrectly on the reddit entry, could you fix that, please? Thanks again!:smallsmile:

bloodshed343
2015-09-05, 03:59 PM
-snip-

The problem with testing currently is that we need more dms/players, especially since we'll need multiple tests of each feature to provide any meaningful data. With our current group it would take years to playtest all of this.



But I have confidence that we, as a community, can get this organized and running.

JNAProductions
2015-09-05, 05:59 PM
I'd be willing to playtest some homebrew.

bloodshed343
2015-09-05, 08:04 PM
If you want in, talk to Toothless for an invite to the campaign. I can give you a link to the campaign forums on roll20 so you can post there, I think.

https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/1000939/gitp-homebrew-playground

DiBastet
2015-09-07, 09:42 AM
Well, I for one would sure like to see the Artificer of Alancia on these lists and contests. If anything it's the oldest complete-no-wip-and-fully-functional-since-day-1 5e homebrew class here on gitp.