PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next "Start as a Commoner" Campaign Rules



KOLE
2018-09-14, 05:29 PM
Hello all! Me and a friend had an idea for a campaign that we realized would use some home brewin'. I'd like to hear your thoughts on what we have. This is not campaign specific; it could serve as a template for other campaigns if you'd like. We're sharing this to help stir other people creativity as well!

The concept it every character starts as a Commoner stat block Human. 10 in every stat, no class or special features. Briefly, we discussed the idea of other races getting a +1 to a primary stat and -2 to another and no special race features, but that's for a later date.

As a commoner, you would get:
Hite Dice: 1d6 per Commoner Level
Hit Points at level 1: 6
Hit Points at higher levels: 3+Con Modifier

Proficiency in Light armor, simple weapons, no tools, no saving throws, no skills.

From here you would have to cooperate very carefully with your party to take on encounters. For our campaign, the idea is that the setting is after the normal adventurers failed their quest and the BBEG took over the land. Your PCs are all dirt farmers in a small village, forced to continue working the fields to feed the bad guys standing army. The goblins guarding the village are cruel, and fed up you start a guerilla campaign to liberate your town and eventually the world.

Here's how leveling works. It was partially inspired by Fire Emblem to set the tone. You go through 10 levels of Commoner. Neither me nor my co-DM brewing this have ever used XP in our campaigns, so I can't give you an XP requirement for each level, but the idea is 2-4 sessions for Commoner level 5 since you'll be SQUISHY. The idea is for this to challenging but not quite dark souls.

When you advance in level, you get +1 to an ability of your choice, for every single level.

Every other level (2,4,6,8,10) you can either pick a Skill, OR a tool prof, OR a single Martial Weapon prof, OR an armor Prof (starting with light, you would go medium first than to heavy, shield can be taken at any time), OR a Cantrip from the Commoner Spell List. The cantrip list would be small with minimal damage choices, but when you choose a cantrip for the first time, you also choose your casting stat from Wis, Int, or Cha. All Commoner spells use that for Save DC and Spell attack from now on.

When you advance to level 10 in Commoner, your next level up allows you to enter level 1 of a class of your choice. However, you have to meet the minimum multiclass requirements to enter a class, I.E., 13 Str or Dex for a fighter, 13 Int for Wizard, etc.

Upon becoming level one of the class of your choice, you trade in your 10d6 hit die for a single hit die of your new class and keep your HP. You gain none of the Proficiencies of this new class except for Saving Throws. No starting equipment, either. You only get the level 1 features. From there, you level as normal.

The idea is to struggle up from the bottom, dirt farmer to hero. We wanted to highlight just how significant the difference is between a Commoner and the average hero, and capture the grind of becoming exceptional. I also like how making gradual decisions will shape the character into their class role.

Our primary worry, however, is the massive boost spellcasters might get compared to martials. Even without investing in Con, all spellcasters would start with minimum 36 HP. Wizards and Sorcerers also get a boost by starting with Light Armor and Simple Weapon prof. They could potentially get 5 free cantrips on top of their level 1 cantrips earned, from an (albeit limited) pool beyond their own.

In contrast, fighters have to burn 4 of their 5 options to get just their armor Prof they would normally get, and that's without ANY martial weapons. They start with more HP than usual as well, but not MUCH more, and probably have to give up all skills to accomplish this.

So casters get a significant boost going this route and Fighters in particular have it hard. How do you think we should ameliorate this?

I would consider taking away light armor prof from Commoner 1 but this really only exacerbates the problem, forcing Fighters to either go Dex or use all their mini-ASIs to get heavy armor.

I'm toying with the idea of giving some goodies to Level 1 classes- but I don't want to give too much. Giving Fighters auto-All armor prof at level 1 is a little more than I want in this context. I want it to be a struggle to be as good as a "Normal" Level 1 hero. And also doing that would free up people intending to be fighters a lot; they could potentially pick up 4 good cantrips, a martial weapon, and have full armor access. Just doesn't quite jive right with me.

I may end up going some version of this route however, as I'd like to give Rogues and Bards 1 free skill at level 1. Maybe you should gain all the proficiencies you would as if multiclassing?

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

KOLE
2018-09-15, 02:29 AM
Here's what I've come up with so far. Please PEACH!

Solutions to the problem right now are too simply have the player gain all proficiencies normally gained when one multiclasses. Still not happy about this as I feel it's far too generous. I may just go a step further and tweak the list of things gained. For example, a fighter may simply gain proficiency in all martial weapons, instead of everything except heavy armor. That feels like a good compromise.

I also decided that one can simply pick Heavy Armor instead of having to pick Medium Armor first. I'm still on the fence about this however as anybody panning to pick up a full caster now only needs to invest a single "Ameliorate" for a pretty significant boon.

Considering adding a feature like "Greater Ameliorate" at level 5-8. Something that would grant you something slightly powerful, like a single battle maneuver, or fighting style, or maybe even a 1st level spell of your choice. Could be interesting thing to bring into your new class and really up the payoff for finally upgrading.
--
By choosing “Commoner”, you are, in a manner of speaking, selecting your race, class, and backround. As of this moment, the guide is intended only for playing as a Human Commoner.

Human Commoner Traits

Ability Score Increase. By choosing this race, all of your ability scores become 10.
Age. Commoners often live hard lives. They reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live past 40, though they can live up to a century.
Alignment. Although Humans tend to no alignment, Commoners are often Lawful.
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common. At your DM’s discretion, you may know another language commonly spoke in your land, especially if you are ruled by another race.
Hardy. As a Commoner, you and the generations before you likely lived brutal lives, wrought with danger. You can choose to gain advantage on a single Death Saving Throw. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Commoner Class Features

As a Commoner, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d4 per commoner level
Hit Points at 1st level: 6 + your Constitution modifier.
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d4 (or 3) + your Constitution modifier per commoner level after 1st

Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple Weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: None
Skills: None

Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to equipment granted by your backround.
-(a) a club or (b) a sling & pouch of pebbles
-common clothes
- a small knapsack containing a blanket, a candle, a flask of water, & fishing tackle.

Commoner Backround

Skill Proficiencies: Perception
Tool Proficiencies: One type of tool associated with your trade.
Equipment: A tool associated with your trade such as a pick or pitchfork, a small dull knife used for work and eating, a handmade trinket gifted to you by a loved one, and a cloth pouch containing 5 cp.

Human Commoner Features

Level Proficiency Bonus Features
1 +2 Ability Score Increase

2 +2 Ability Score Increase, Ameliorate
3 +2 Ability Score Increase
4 +2 Ability Score Increase, Ameliorate
5 +2 Ability Score Increase
6 +2 Ability Score Increase, Ameliorate
7 +2 Ability Score Increase
8 +2 Ability Score Increase, Ameliorate
9 +2 Ability Score Increase
10 +2 Ability Score Increase, Ameliorate
11 +2 Path to Greatness

Ability Score Improvement

Beginning at 1st level and then on every level until 10th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Ameliorate

At 2nd level, and again at 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th level, you can choose one of the following improvements.

-You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice.
-You gain proficiency in a tool of your choice.
-You learn a language of your choice.
-You gain proficiency in a single martial weapon of your choice.
-You gain proficiency in either Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, or Shields.
-You choose a cantrip from the Commoner spell list. When you select this feature for the first time, you also select either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability with those cantrips. Cantrips chosen this way do not scale with Commoner level.

Path to Greatness

After braving untold danger and treachery, you’ve become something more than a mere Commoner. You’ve transcended into some sort of hero. At 11th level, you can choose a new base class, as long as you meet the Multiclassing Prerequisites for that class. You become a 1st level member of that class and are no longer a Commoner. You trade your existing Hit Dice for new dice appropriate of your new level, yet retain your current HP. You gain only the proficiencies granted as if multiclassing, as well as the classes Saving Throws. You retain all features and proficiencies gained as commoner, while you gain the level 1 features of your new class as if multiclassing. You now level as a normal member of that class.


Commoner Spells

Cantrips (0 Level)
Acid Splash
Blade Ward
Druidcraft
Friends
Guidance
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Prestidigitation
Produce Flame
Resistance
Spare the Dying
Thorn Whip
True Strike
Vicious Mockery

Quellian-dyrae
2018-09-15, 03:15 AM
So, my 5e knowledge is pretty minimal, but I think what I'd advise, rather than having a unique commoner progression that adds onto 1st level stuff, is to let the commoner progression build up to 1st level stuff.

Keep the all abilities start at 10 and you get +2 to assign per commoner level, including 1st. Overall, that will result in characters using these rules ending up with higher abilities than typical first level characters - a nice reward for surviving it! You might let players drop one score to 8 to raise another by +2 at first commoner level as well.

Commoners start with 1d4 HD, 4 HP, and no proficiencies or class features. They also begin with a proficiency bonus of +0.

When you begin play, you pick the class you are building towards (that is, what class your character will be at 1st level). You also pick a race and background normally, receiving all the normal benefits (proficiencies, abilities, ability score modifiers, whatever).

There are 8 commoner levels. At commoner level 5 your proficiency bonus becomes +1. It becomes the normal +2 when you reach character level 1 (which happens when you would otherwise reach commoner level 9).

Each commoner level past first you get one of the following; you may choose which you get with each level up, until you've received them all:

-Your chosen class's starting Hit Points (commoners don't otherwise gain hit points from additional levels).
-Your chosen class's Hit Die.
-Your chosen class's tool proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's skill proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's weapon proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's armor proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's cantrips (as per a 1st level member of that class).

At commoner level 9, you become a full-fledged 1st level member of the chosen class, receiving all remaining features.

Not all classes will actually benefit from all of the above options (a wizard won't get any benefit from armor proficiencies, a fighter won't get cantrips, etc), so you might occasionally get dead levels aside from ability increases, but it's not a huge deal.

This way commoners are strictly less capable than heroes throughout their commoner levels in all areas - there isn't anything odd like losing HD or whatever. A level 8 commoner is not a weak level 8 character; it's still a level 0 character, but it's closer to being level 1 than most other commoners.

You will want to give commoner levels very quickly though, since they provide so little benefit. I'd maybe suggest that every "heroic" encounter (such as a battle, a skill-based challenge...anything where you'd normally get XP, basically) earns the next commoner level.

KOLE
2018-09-15, 02:42 PM
Hey Quellian! I want to give a sincere thank you. When somebody takes the time to contribute to something I'm working on, it means the world to me. Homebrewing can be quite time consuming, so for someone to offer something is very significant to me.



Keep the all abilities start at 10 and you get +2 to assign per commoner level, including 1st. Overall, that will result in characters using these rules ending up with higher abilities than typical first level characters - a nice reward for surviving it! You might let players drop one score to 8 to raise another by +2 at first commoner level as well.

Commoners start with 1d4 HD, 4 HP, and no proficiencies or class features. They also begin with a proficiency bonus of +0.

I'm not sure as of this moment how I feel about Commoners going into 1st level x class at a stat advantage over a character built normally. I'm also on the fence about 0 Prof bonus at level 1. On one hand I like the idea of that challenge and earning even the meager +1. I feel like that would be an enormous feeling of accomplishment. On the other hand, 5e is built on Bonded Accuracy, so even the simplest tasks depend on a meager prof bonus, even at 0 level.

I'm also nervous about starting out at less than 6 HP. We're walking a razor edge here between "Difficult start" and "Dark Soul start". Sure, 2 HP isn't THAT significant of a difference, but it still gives me pause.



When you begin play, you pick the class you are building towards (that is, what class your character will be at 1st level). You also pick a race and background normally, receiving all the normal benefits (proficiencies, abilities, ability score modifiers, whatever).

There are 8 commoner levels. At commoner level 5 your proficiency bonus becomes +1. It becomes the normal +2 when you reach character level 1 (which happens when you would otherwise reach commoner level 9).

Each commoner level past first you get one of the following; you may choose which you get with each level up, until you've received them all:

-Your chosen class's starting Hit Points (commoners don't otherwise gain hit points from additional levels).
-Your chosen class's Hit Die.
-Your chosen class's tool proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's skill proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's weapon proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's armor proficiencies.
-Your chosen class's cantrips (as per a 1st level member of that class).

At commoner level 9, you become a full-fledged 1st level member of the chosen class, receiving all remaining features.

I think this is a very solid offering, and very competently done! As is, I think these rules would be great. However, I think we're coming at this idea from two different angles.

I'm looking for:
-A beginning option for either independent players or a campaign that is challenging.
-A setup in such a way that the player has to be very cautious and take their character growth seriously, to feel a sort of bond for growing said character. I don't know if you've ever played video games featuring flesh out, named characters and permadeath, such as Fire Emblem or X-COM, but you grow close to the characters and grow them in such a way that if they fall in battle, it can be emotionally effecting to you the player.
-A system that allows Commoners to naturally "Grow into" their class. So all Commoner Classes are the same fundamentally for all their levels but their features vary from player to player, however, when they transition into their full class, it's natural. I want this from both a story perspective and mechanically speaking. So the physically weak (10 con, 10 str) Commoner who studied hard to pick up a handful of cantrips to help her friends suddenly gets the payoff of finding a spellbook and stepping into a bigger, more powerful role. I have this picture in my had of the massive payoff of a player casting a first level spell for the first time as a level 1 wizard when they spent the first few sessions scraping by on cantrips. I'm trying to capture that feeling- hopeless struggle than massive payoff- in a system.
-I also want the potential for people to customize their characters more than normally easily allowed, to introduce new and exciting options for people. For example, you say:


Not all classes will actually benefit from all of the above options (a wizard won't get any benefit from armor proficiencies, a fighter won't get cantrips, etc), so you might occasionally get dead levels aside from ability increases, but it's not a huge deal.


And I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but this may show your relative unfamiliarity with 5e. For example, when Wizards get armor prof, they get no downsides to wearing that armor. There are no spell failure chances or movement penalties (unless they're wearing heavy armor without the appropriate strength). Fighters with cantrips can use them freely every round at the cost of their normal attack option, unless it's a bonus action cantrip. Something like vicious mockery on a rogue could be significant, as they can engage an enemy, deal damage, and force disadvantage on whoever's swinging at them. It allows for more alternative builds and surprising choices, which is part of what I'd like here. Sort of a payoff for starting weak- you get options others don't have.


This way commoners are strictly less capable than heroes throughout their commoner levels in all areas - there isn't anything odd like losing HD or whatever. A level 8 commoner is not a weak level 8 character; it's still a level 0 character, but it's closer to being level 1 than most other commoners.

I agree about the hit die- it is awkward how it's written right now. I think I'll take your note here and make Ameliorate the only option for Commoners to get hit die. Then, when they "Class Up", they can keep those hit die in their new pool since they had to make some sort of sacrifice to get them.


You will want to give commoner levels very quickly though, since they provide so little benefit. I'd maybe suggest that every "heroic" encounter (such as a battle, a skill-based challenge...anything where you'd normally get XP, basically) earns the next commoner level.

My thoughts exactly. Running Commoners will require a cooperative DM who is willing to give players options and reward creativity rather than throwing encounters at them. I don't know much about XP requirements as I've always played homebrew campaigns that use milestone levelling, but the intent here is that the DM would allow fairly rapid leveling through Commoner levels.

In conclusion, as I said earlier, I think we're coming at this from two different angles. Your goal, which is a valid direction, is to put players through an initial hard mode for a pay off of being "1st Level+", but otherwise being a normal starting character. I want something a little more distinct, which is why I don't want characters earning much more than just 1st level class features and potentially being slightly behind on ASIs and skills, in exchange for unconventional custom options such as Battle Maneuvers, Fighting Styles, skills not on the native class list, and cantrips.

Sir Brett Nortj
2018-09-15, 07:05 PM
Can you rather be a toilet cleaner of a dirt farmer? With d four hit dice and one working eye?

Come on, man! Who would live like that? Feeding bad guys? Why not poison them, or, join them?

Wait, they need you to feed them, and, they have weapons! bummer...

Okay, here is the quick way to the top! You breed bad guys! Start a rebellion from within? This is moral and just, and, will make a hero out of your character in no time. All you need is a opening... like someone that is left out, okay? This way the attention you give them will be music to their ears, and, then you build 'a resistance,' yes? This way, you will be able to, in about a month, kill the whole sum of the enemy with a mutiny, and, you tune them smack about dying fo the father land or some historical prejudice mumbo gumbo and then they will see an opportunity and some fool, yes?

The best opportunities come with a mess at the top, hey?