Lalliman
2017-10-15, 08:42 AM
I felt like making a playable giant class. This is awkward territory, since PCs aren't supposed to be Huge sized, and the superhuman Strength breaks bounded accuracy, but I think I did a decent job.
Here it is. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-hUE7RHdYk6wThjt2_rLCnBj5Bs2OBLFGuCKvSXPqDI/edit?usp=sharing)
I ran a bit of math and it seems numerically balanced. I don't know about the subraces though, those were difficult. Lemme know what y'all think.
Why does the class start at 5th level?
Because there’s no way that an adult giant can be as weak as a 1st level character. A commoner giant with only rudimentary combat training would still be way more powerful than a 1st level fighter, purely due to his size. I mean, that’s basically what a hill giant is, and they’re CR 5. I could’ve made you start off as an adolescent Large-sized giant to circumvent this problem, but I didn’t want to make the player deal with the implications of changing size category from one level to the next. So instead, it starts at level 5.
Why does Extra Attack have a -5 penalty? What is this, 3rd edition?
It has to do with the power curve. I want the class to have Extra Attack, but the 5th level power boost is already fulfilled by the damage die enlargement from Gigantic Stature. I can’t just give the giant Extra Attack at 11th level, since that would double its damage output and make it too powerful. (By comparison, the fighter’s damage increases by 50% when it gets Extra Attack at 11th level.) Thus, I split up the obtainment of Extra Attack into two steps, which more closely matches the power curve of the other classes.
Why no Hill Giant and Storm Giant?
I left those out because they deviate too strongly from the other four in terms of power. The former too weak and the latter too strong. Their features would've been hard to balance.
Here it is. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-hUE7RHdYk6wThjt2_rLCnBj5Bs2OBLFGuCKvSXPqDI/edit?usp=sharing)
I ran a bit of math and it seems numerically balanced. I don't know about the subraces though, those were difficult. Lemme know what y'all think.
Why does the class start at 5th level?
Because there’s no way that an adult giant can be as weak as a 1st level character. A commoner giant with only rudimentary combat training would still be way more powerful than a 1st level fighter, purely due to his size. I mean, that’s basically what a hill giant is, and they’re CR 5. I could’ve made you start off as an adolescent Large-sized giant to circumvent this problem, but I didn’t want to make the player deal with the implications of changing size category from one level to the next. So instead, it starts at level 5.
Why does Extra Attack have a -5 penalty? What is this, 3rd edition?
It has to do with the power curve. I want the class to have Extra Attack, but the 5th level power boost is already fulfilled by the damage die enlargement from Gigantic Stature. I can’t just give the giant Extra Attack at 11th level, since that would double its damage output and make it too powerful. (By comparison, the fighter’s damage increases by 50% when it gets Extra Attack at 11th level.) Thus, I split up the obtainment of Extra Attack into two steps, which more closely matches the power curve of the other classes.
Why no Hill Giant and Storm Giant?
I left those out because they deviate too strongly from the other four in terms of power. The former too weak and the latter too strong. Their features would've been hard to balance.