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Mourne
2017-06-11, 11:51 AM
The links below detail three Intelligence based classes (filling the "Technology" sphere in my campaign world). This finally signals the completion of a massive -- self-inflicted – undertaking: 21 classes, 9 of which are new, organized in 7 profession spheres (martial, stealth, divine, arcane, technology, primal, and mental). I’ve more ideas rattling around in my head but believe I’ve enough bandwidth in all these classes that any further additions should fit as an archetype.

Note that the non-caster portion of the title really refers to a Vancian style spell progression that uses spell slots, etc. These classes are intended to be non-magical for the most part though the Artificer really is walking a fine line in this regards as it interacts an awful lot with the realm of spells and magic.

Anyway, before I get sidetracked….

First, the Academic is an interpretation of the classic scholar/loremaster. It was the last of the classes I worked on and I'd nearly given up on any kind of cohesive design until stumbling across a Scholar class posted the Unearthed Arcana subreddit (by Charrmeleon). This really served as a blueprint for the class (as well as the two other Scholar-like homebrew works cited in the same post). This class is very much a support class and takes the concept of the Help action to its penultimate level. It's certainly the weakest of the three in regards to combat but the most versatile (modular) by far. It remains to be seen whether the core mechanic can compete with the current Help action or if it brings enough to a party to compete with a bard.

The Artificer is a tear-down/reimage of the WoTC Artificer class. It's the most "magic-based" of the three classes, though I've tried to tie it (thematically at least) to the creation of a machine that treats and channels magical energy as if it were just another mundane power source. The artificer is all about using the energy inherent in spells and magic items for their own purposes. The magic item creation feature may be a little too much, depending on the campaign – the official UA Artificer has a much more limited pool of items to draw upon. Note that the disjunction feature, which I absolutely love, is from a homebrewed Wizard archetype created by reddit used Anathemys.

Finally, the Alchemist has been shared already in a previous thread (though there have been some minor changes since then and some recent suggestions for improvement). Again, it's largely inspired from myriad other alchemist homebrews, though I really tried to stay away from the pseudo-caster route that substituted potions-acting-as-spells for spells. The Alchemist is intended to be essentially a chemist, creating admixtures that primarily cause some type of damage. I did include both the classical homunculus and philosopher's stone to provide some non-combat utility (note that utility is primarily accessed through their archetypes). Alchemical Metallurgy helps out with the lack of spells and provides some of the "feel" of alchemy without having to bolt on a crafting system.

I've not included the archetypes with either the Academic or Artificer at this time. I'd like to make sure the core classes aren't too bonkers before going too much further.

Again, these classes are a combination of original design and inspiration/features from other homebrews. To the best of my memory, I’ll include a credits link at the end of the documents when they’re completed.

Homebrewery Link: Academic (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By74Hokcz-)

Homebrewery Link: Artificer (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJ9IYeqG-)

Homebrewery Link: Alchemist (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1ZpKW4cbb)

ravencroft0
2017-06-11, 02:00 PM
Hello. I have only looked at the academic, but I wanted to make remarks while to were fresh in my mind. That and I'm on a cell; going back and forth between pages is a pain.

I like it. It's a rehash of other classes and still it's own thing. Most features benefit everyone, good. Rogue dipping might prove to be op with sneak attack damage. With that said you might be stepping on toes with all the skill monkeying. The "invocations" look fun. It's hard to truly gauge balance without the subclasses. Four might be much, I recommend two to start. Again the academic looks cool - a way to play a rogue and a hard without magic. Really need to see the subs, though. Good job.

Ziegander
2017-06-11, 05:05 PM
On the academic, my gut feeling is that you underestimated yourself and went a bit too far with quite a few of the class features. In particular, Analytical Observance is very strong, v2 even moreso, Learned Expertise is just over the top, and Studied Strike is very strong to the point of being probably too much. As far as Rapid Analysis goes, move actions do not exist in 5e, you have actions or bonus actions, movement takes place any time you want, before, during, or after, and in any combination between, so that's going to need to be rewritten.

Mourne
2017-06-12, 11:50 PM
On the academic, my gut feeling is that you underestimated yourself and went a bit too far with quite a few of the class features.

As an initial pass, there was bound to be some issues. I know I'm not in love with the Sage Advice feature (at least for my interpretation of this class) and I'm probably gonna junk it in favor of something else.


In particular, Analytical Observance is very strong, v2 even moreso.

It’s essentially Bardic Inspiration with the cost of an action to use (instead of a bonus action) as well as consuming the target’s reaction. Same range and same effect, as the “value” of the Bardic Inspiration die (d6,d8,d10, and d12) work out to be about the same as the Analysis Modifier.

My initial thought on the second version was that it is very close to the existing Help action with the kicker of adding the Analysis Modifier to one of the advantage die rolls. Maybe too much, though I'll probably still run some numbers through AnyDice.

What do you feel makes it overly strong? Admittedly, it has unlimited uses but the action economy cost is fairly high and I'm not sure it's loads better (especially initially) then simply using your action to Help.


Learned Expertise is just over the top.

This is exactly the rogue’s 2nd level Expertise feature except the second gained benefit happens 4 levels later than the rogue. Is it over the top as it “steps on the Rogue’s toes”? The Academic has a much more narrowly focused skill list, which in some regards pulls down the value of the feature versus the rogue.


Studied Strike is very strong to the point of being probably too much.

Could you please expand on this as I’m not seeing this? In order to use this, you will have had to use your action to perform Analytical Observance at which point you use your bonus action to make a single attack (with likely a simple weapon), using an attribute (Strength or Dexterity) that’s not primary for your class. I'm leaning towards reducing the bonus damage to a d4, somewhat similar to magic missile and its progression.

This is an attempt to allow the Academic to have a small role in combat and would be woefully behind any melee based class.


As far as Rapid Analysis goes, move actions do not exist in 5e, you have actions or bonus actions, movement takes place any time you want, before, during, or after, and in any combination between, so that's going to need to be rewritten.

Yeah, true. Sorry, it’s my lazy shorthand for, “If you don’t move on your turn…”. I’ll fix the wording, though I'm not really in love with this feature and am leaning towards replacing it.