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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next BALANCING HELP Needed!



DrowPiratRobrts
2018-03-05, 03:55 PM
EDIT 2: I ended up remembering the Mystic class from UA released by Wizards, so we're using that to balance the class and just changing the flavor of the abilities. We're also trading out some passives with the Monk for a more unique class feel. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the final result. We don't have everything down in pen and ink yet, but is character is only level 2 or 3 at this point, so with the structure in place we'll be building as we go.

EDIT 1: I'm closing this for now by taking the link away so we can rework things. I'll post again when we've reworked it and condensed all the info in one place.

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Hey everyone! My friend is about to join our campaign. He wanted to create his own class based on a book he's writing. It's very similar to Monk (Way of the Four Elements) but when going into the class you have to choose just one element. Same concept though. As you level you gain better powers (basically spells). You spend "Linergy" points to cast them and can only learn powers that correspond fairly closely with 5th or maybe 6th level spells at the highest. You won't get those until late game obviously.

It's a lot to sort through, but I basically want to see if anything stands out as really broken or super weak that I haven't seen yet. I don't expect you to go through with a fine-toothed comb (unless you want to), but any cursory thoughts would be helpful. The link to a few documents is below. Comment with anything you see. Thank you ahead of time, because I know this is tedious work. I'll be checking back here if anyone has specific questions in the comments.

NOTE: I'm not the DM but I'm by far the most experienced player. Our DM is fine with creating classes and races, and he plays pretty close to the rules usually (with some glaring exceptions just like any DM). We're not a very rule-focused group though, since I'm the only one who knows the rules well enough to do that.

Flashy
2018-03-05, 06:48 PM
My main note at this point is that the whole thing is way too complicated, incomplete, and hard to parse. There are way too many features that aren’t explained, and way too much complicated fluff in descriptions of abilities that should be straightforward.

Going into specifics...

The point system that the class uses is seemingly never described. Is this a short or long rest recharge class? How many points do you have at each level?

What does the ability points column in the table refer to? I couldn’t find a description of that in the class abilities document.

All those fiddly “+1 to ability score if” riders on class features should be cut out. That’s not really a mechanic that fits in the 5e design space.

Dimsight should be clarified. What’s a typical being? How would this feature work on a character with darksight vs one without?

I can’t see why you’d ever use the staff form over the longsword form under the Soul Weapon feature.

The class seems to have a bunch of dead levels, where it gets no significant feature, which 5e generally frowns on.

It’s basically impossible to comment on balance with most of the powers left undescribed.

And finally, why can’t this be played as a four elements monk that only chooses one element’s powers and has flurry of blows refluffed as a bunch of attacks with the magic crystal?

DrowPiratRobrts
2018-03-05, 07:00 PM
My main note at this point is that the whole thing is way too complicated, incomplete, and hard to parse. There are way too many features that aren’t explained, and way too much complicated fluff in descriptions of abilities that should be straightforward.

Going into specifics...

The point system that the class uses is seemingly never described. Is this a short or long rest recharge class? How many points do you have at each level?

What does the ability points column in the table refer to? I couldn’t find a description of that in the class abilities document.

All those fiddly “+1 to ability score if” riders on class features should be cut out. That’s not really a mechanic that fits in the 5e design space.

Dimsight should be clarified. What’s a typical being? How would this feature work on a character with darksight vs one without?

I can’t see why you’d ever use the staff form over the longsword form under the Soul Weapon feature.

The class seems to have a bunch of dead levels, where it gets no significant feature, which 5e generally frowns on.

It’s basically impossible to comment on balance with most of the powers left undescribed.

And finally, why can’t this be played as a four elements monk that only chooses one element’s powers and has flurry of blows refluffed as a bunch of attacks with the magic crystal?

Wow. I agree with basically all of that. Thanks for actually taking the time to think through it. I get your confusion as it makes more sense when he explains things in person. I just wanted basic feedback like you've given about some overall points. You're seeing a lot of the same things I think I've seen...I can't figure out why he doesn't just play Way of the Four Elements. I think it's close enough without going through all this work. I just didn't want to rain on his parade, but with you seeing some of the same major flaws I am I think I'll let him know. As far as the powers go, we'd basically just reskin preexisting spells, which seems like a lot of work to me (and I don't want to get roped into that).

nickl_2000
2018-03-06, 07:46 AM
Check out Kryx's Monk. It may perfectly fit the bill and no one would need to write it out (starting at page 66, then there are a bunch of single element subclasses)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxGh_mU9ihaPbXMtclcwWTlsM1U/view

thegreatone5224
2018-03-11, 11:45 PM
How is the rework going? I'd love to take a look.

DrowPiratRobrts
2018-03-14, 04:11 PM
How is the rework going? I'd love to take a look.

It's going great. I remembered after several hours of work that I actually played the 5e Mystic when it came out. We're basically taking that as a template for "Psi Points/Talents/etc." and changing the flavor of everything. Then we're trading out some of the passive abilities of the Mystic with some Monk or Monk-like abilities. It's so much less work this way, and so much more balanced for that matter. I just wish I would've remembered that class before we tried to reinvent the wheel...

DrowPiratRobrts
2018-03-14, 04:13 PM
Check out Kryx's Monk. It may perfectly fit the bill and no one would need to write it out (starting at page 66, then there are a bunch of single element subclasses)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxGh_mU9ihaPbXMtclcwWTlsM1U/view

This seems really similar to our final product, we're just going with the Mystic's resources and abilities rather than the monks.