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The Cats
2018-12-26, 02:21 PM
Recruitment is Closed

I'm looking for 1-2 homebrewed classes/subclasses to join a party I will be solo-running through Tales from the Yawning Portal as a play test. It's going to take awhile but I like doing this stuff.

It'll mostly be looking at the combat pillar since I'll just be running encounters straight from the book with no DM but I'll try to keep character knowledge separate so we can see how they work in the exploration pillar as well. Roleplay pillar encounters will be resolves mostly arbitrarily or with skill checks if the book provides DCs etc. I'll be keeping notes (both statistical and observational) throughout each session (sessions will be short: 1 or 2 encounters when I have free time).

I'll be running a 'standard' party (Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric, maybe 5th class) concurrently so we have something to compare ours to.

I know this isn't a super effective form of playtesting, and it'll take awhile (likely with a number of long breaks as I get busy/temporarily glum'd out and lose motivation) but hey, it's fun for me and it's better than nothing for you!

---

If you're interested please post a quick rundown of the homebrew class or subclass you would like to join the party. Please include a link to the brew, a short description of the class's fluff theme, what role you see them filling, mechanical gimmicks that are core to the concept, and (if it's a base class) what the subclasses add. Here's a few examples:

The Fighter is a warrior who uses his experience in tactical combat and mastery of weapons to great effect.
They can fill the roll of a front-liner in heavy armour, or as a ranged striker with bow and arrow.
They can make more attacks per turn than any other class at the same level (excepting level 1) and have more ASIs than any other class.
Their 3 subclasses give them: More tactical options to use in combat; More raw damage; 1/3 casting focusing on abjuration and evocation.

(The following two homebrews will be taking part in the play test)

The Circle of the Kami Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576243-Circle-of-the-Kami-Guardian-(Druid-subclass)) is a druid who was tasked with the protection of a minor nature spirit that grants him helpful abilities in return.
They are a hard support subclass focusing on buffing their allies.
They can grant their allies constant-effect abilities, changing the ability and which ally gets it after long rests. They can also allow their allies to cast some of their spells using talismans (similar to the unearthed arcana Artificer)

The Planeplitter (not currently uploaded as I have a few more comparisons and tweaks to make before I'm comfortable doing so) is an arcanist who tears holes in the barriers between realities, drawing power from other planes to cast their spells.
Their subclasses give them flexibility to choose from being a front-liner, mobile striker, or support caster.
They are 1/2 casters who use a skill check system instead of spell slots to limit their casting. They also have a bonus action ability that grants different benefits based on subclass and skill checks made while using it.
Their subclasses: Give them front-liner capabilites; Give them mobile skirmisher capabilities; Turn them in to something like a 2/3 caster.

Priority will be given to brews that I think are cool (mechanically and thematically), brews that have gone through some process of revision to bring them closer to balance (on paper anyway. Most likely be a thread here with community feedback that you used to help refine the brew. Other ways to show this to me are a changelog or just explaining how you did it in your post.), and brews that fit a necessary role (I want to keep the role composition similar to the 'standard' party for better comparisons).

I will not be considering brews that are incomplete, that have no fluff beyond the name, or that are based on summoning/controlling multiple pets (too much work for me).

You can submit more than one brew for consideration if you want, but I'm probably not going to run more than one brew from the same creator(besides my own I mean. Cause I'm doing the thing so I makes the rules!).

The current participants are the Kami Guardian druid and Planesplitter I posted above, and The Summoner, a base class by Grod the Giant. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576195-A-Man-and-his-Monster-Summoner-Base-Class)

Your responsibilities will be to create and level-up your character, provide patch notes when you change your brew, and engage in constructive discussion with the other creators. This will be a slow moving project. More details about this will be posted when we have a full party and are ready to start.

I promise no time frames or even useful results, but it could be fun and interesting to 'see' your brew in action.

MagneticKitty
2018-12-26, 03:53 PM
I guess I'm a little confused. Will it be just the homebrew player and you running scenarios or will it be the characters as a group? When will you meet? Week days or weekends?
Will it be through voice or text? How many meets a month?

I'd enjoy trying either of my barbarian subclasses that have lycan flavor or my revised elemental monk (see below). Or I'd be happy doing another brew of yours if i like it thematically. Either way sounds neat! Good luck!


http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576644-PEACH-Monk-Subclass-Way-of-the-Four-Elements-(Revised)

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?574919-Path-of-the-Awakened-(shifter-barbarian-subclass-and-two-shifter-subraces)

A shifter (race) barbarian who's rages temporarily transform them into a full lycan. Does not use book lycan rules.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?546062-Homebrew-Barbarian-Path

A barbarian of any race who weaponizes their lycan transforms using rages. Does not use book lycan rules.

The Cats
2018-12-26, 04:04 PM
I guess I'm a little confused. Will it be just the person running and you running scenarios or will it be the characters as a group? When will you meet? Week days or weekends?
Will it be through voice or text? How many meets a month?

Relevant parts bolded below.


I'm looking for 1-3 homebrewed classes/subclasses to join a party I will be solo-running through Tales from the Yawning Portal as a play test. It's going to take awhile but I like doing this stuff.

It'll mostly be looking at the combat pillar since I'll just be running encounters straight from the book with no DM but I'll try to keep character knowledge separate so we can see how they work in the exploration pillar as well. Roleplay pillar encounters will be resolves mostly arbitrarily or with skill checks if the book provides DCs etc. I'll be keeping notes (both statistical and observational) throughout each session (sessions will be short: 1 or 2 encounters when I have free time).

...

Your responsibilities will be to create and level-up your character, provide patch notes when you change your brew, and engage in constructive discussion with the other creators. This will be a slow moving project. More details about this will be posted when we have a full party and are ready to start.


So mostly me doing all the stuff, then you look at the results (how much damage or whatever your brew did compared to its PHB counterpart, how useful/powerful/different than you were expecting its abilities are in an encounter, etc.) and engaging with the other creators on what you think needs changing, how it can be changed, etc.

Throw up a link and some info about your brew if you're still interested. Thanks.

MagneticKitty
2018-12-26, 04:16 PM
Relevant parts bolded below.



So mostly me doing all the stuff, then you look at the results (how much damage or whatever your brew did compared to its PHB counterpart, how useful/powerful/different than you were expecting its abilities are in an encounter, etc.) and engaging with the other creators on what you think needs changing, how it can be changed, etc.

Throw up a link and some info about your brew if you're still interested. Thanks.

I guess solo running means just the one player at a time? I went back and added links, thank you

Grod_The_Giant
2018-12-26, 04:28 PM
Hey! I think this is an awesome idea, and I'd love to see how the Summoner works out in at least a semi-accurate game. I tried to reply to your message a few times, but your inbox was full.

The Cats
2018-12-26, 04:31 PM
I guess solo running means just the one player at a time? I went back and added links, thank you

It means one player, period. I will be running each of the characters, as well as combatants, NPCs and environment. I will be running everything in each encounter, adhering strictly to RAW( or RAI if RAW is unclear) and using motivations and tactics for enemies as written in Tales from the Yawning Portal (if there are any. otherwise I'll just have the orcs do what I think orcs do.)

This won't exactly reflect actual play (see my comments on adventuring encounters and roleplay encounters in the first post) but it will provide some data on combat abilities that may be useful without me having to commit another ~3-5 hours a week to another campaign/having to DM another campaign/having to spend a month to complete a single encounter in a play-by-post game.

Also I just wanna do it this way so I'm doing it this way *shrug*

The Cats
2018-12-26, 04:32 PM
Hey! I think this is an awesome idea, and I'd love to see how the Summoner works out in at least a semi-accurate game. I tried to reply to your message a few times, but your inbox was full.

Thanks Grod, I didn't realize a full inbox was a thing!

What party roll do you think your summoner can fill?

MagneticKitty
2018-12-26, 04:36 PM
It means one player, period. I will be running each of the characters, as well as combatants, NPCs and environment. I will be running everything in each encounter, adhering strictly to RAW( or RAI if RAW is unclear) and using motivations and tactics for enemies as written in Tales from the Yawning Portal (if there are any. otherwise I'll just have the orcs do what I think orcs do.)

This won't exactly reflect actual play (see my comments on adventuring encounters and roleplay encounters in the first post) but it will provide some data on combat abilities that may be useful without me having to commit another ~3-5 hours a week to another campaign/having to DM another campaign/having to spend a month to complete a single encounter in a play-by-post game.

Also I just wanna do it this way so I'm doing it this way *shrug*

Sorry if I'm being dense here. So one of us runs our home brew and you're running the rest of the party pcs and everything a dm normally does but with minimal roleplay, just a check or two for interactions?

Edit: Or you mean you're running it all on your own including the one we made and we just update their sheet for levels?

I think I finally understand sorry for confusion (I'm thinking you mean the second one I said... hahah). I've never seen this done but sounds cool!

Let me know if you want a barb or monk of mine

Hoping there will be a discord to post thoughts on mechanics/ balance.

The Cats
2018-12-26, 04:41 PM
Sorry if I'm being dense here. So one of us runs our home brew and you're running the rest of the party pcs and everything a dm normally does but with minimal roleplay, just a check or two for interactions?

I am running all of the characters, including your homebrew. Your contribution will be in analyzing the data and observations I post in the updates after I finish a session, and discussing with me and the other creators what the data/observations mean, if they mean changes need to be made, and how those changes should be implemented.

It's not an opportunity for you to play one of your homebrews, just an exercise in fine-tuning it based on 'numbers' from 'actual play' as opposed to on-paper theory.

MagneticKitty
2018-12-26, 04:49 PM
I am running all of the characters, including your homebrew. Your contribution will be in analyzing the data and observations I post in the updates after I finish a session, and discussing with me and the other creators what the data/observations mean, if they mean changes need to be made, and how those changes should be implemented.

It's not an opportunity for you to play one of your homebrews, just an exercise in fine-tuning it based on 'numbers' from 'actual play' as opposed to on-paper theory.


I understand now! Sorry for confusion. Will builds include feats? Are you planning on using standard array to make things fair as far as not having crazy high or low rolls swing things? Phb only races? I assume we should pick an optimal race. Or will all be standard humans to make things even?

The Cats
2018-12-26, 05:04 PM
I understand now! Sorry for confusion. Will builds include feats? Are you planning on using standard array to make things fair as far as not having crazy high or low rolls swing things? Phb only races? I assume we should pick an optimal race. Or will all be standard humans to make things even?

I'll let the participants know character creation rules when we're ready to start. Probably standard array though, yes.

Grod_The_Giant
2018-12-26, 05:51 PM
Thanks Grod, I didn't realize a full inbox was a thing!

What party roll do you think your summoner can fill?
Yeah. Unfortunately it doesn't give you any notifications; you have to scroll all the way down in your inbox to see how much space you have left.

Anyway, the Summoner's role will to a large extent be dependent on your Servitor. Depending on your subclass, at level 3 you could bring anything from a high-HP tank (Warg) to an AoE controller (Vine Blight) to an archer/scout (Musteval) to a blaster (Magma Mephit). I'd say the overall trend is towards off-tank-- Servitors trend towards melee combat, are ultimately disposable, and it's easy for you to spam Blade Ward and other defensive spells on them-- but there's a lot of variety.

...you know what, honestly they probably fit the "fifth man" position better than anything else.

The Cats
2018-12-26, 06:12 PM
Yeah. Unfortunately it doesn't give you any notifications; you have to scroll all the way down in your inbox to see how much space you have left.

Anyway, the Summoner's role will to a large extent be dependent on your Servitor. Depending on your subclass, at level 3 you could bring anything from a high-HP tank (Warg) to an AoE controller (Vine Blight) to an archer/scout (Musteval) to a blaster (Magma Mephit). I'd say the overall trend is towards off-tank-- Servitors trend towards melee combat, are ultimately disposable, and it's easy for you to spam Blade Ward and other defensive spells on them-- but there's a lot of variety.

...you know what, honestly they probably fit the "fifth man" position better than anything else.


Yeah, I was thinking all the different servitors would give them a whatever-needs-doing sort of role.

So we have:
A hard support character
A 5th class character
The planesplitter is flexible in which role they fill (though unlike the summoner once they pick a role they have to stick with it)

So I'm looking for some combination of two of these:
A dedicated front-line tank
An offensive/controller spellcaster
A skirmisher/striker

And of course having someone skillful will be useful too.

I'll leave this topic up for a week before deciding on the last two members.

Grod_The_Giant
2018-12-26, 06:25 PM
So I'm looking for some combination of two of these:
A dedicated front-line tank
An offensive/controller spellcaster
A skirmisher/striker

And of course having someone skillful will be useful too.
I've got an arcane half-caster homebrew (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565529-The-Steelsworn-Grod-s-obligatory-arcane-half-caster-%28and-anti-Ranger-%29) whose schtick is buffing themselves more effectively than anyone else. Take the right subclass and you can be a passable blaster at the same time... Also got an Artificer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573870-Artificer-Base-Class-Grod_the_giant-edition&p=23507826) who can make a credible tank or blaster, with a sideline of jack-of-all-trades skill guy.

My sibling's got a pretty neat Warlock rewrite (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572329-Yet-Another-Warlock-Rewrite-Eldritch-Dice-%28PEACH%29-v0-1-3) that operates around the principal of allocating power on a round-to-round basis, instead of a rest-to-rest one. You might get a kick out of it; they've put in quite a few revisions.

Kane0
2018-12-26, 10:43 PM
Sounds fun, i'm game!

Do you have a preference for new stuff over fixes/reworks?

I'm itching for some 'real numbers' on my Ranger using TWF (it's up to its... fourth iteration now?) but I've got a mix bag so whatever suits. Maybe one of my Barbarian or Fighter works?

The Cats
2018-12-26, 11:02 PM
Sounds fun, i'm game!

Do you have a preference for new stuff over fixes/reworks?

I'm itching for some 'real numbers' on my Ranger using TWF (it's up to its... fourth iteration now?) but I've got a mix bag so whatever suits. Maybe one of my Barbarian or Fighter works?

I prefer brews that can do things nothing in the official material can do, rather than brews that are just made to be better at doing a thing they could already do, or letting them half-ass something another class does. Grod's summoner and Artificer are good examples of unexplored design space in 5e. A ranger with better TWF probably won't do it for me.

I also prefer brews that have cohesive mechanics rather than giving it a handful of mechanically random powers based on a fluff theme. I really liked Xanathar's Storm Herald barbarian (despite low numbers) because of this: all of their abilities interact with each other in ways that make sense both mechanically and thematically.

Kane0
2018-12-27, 08:06 PM
Well in that case I have an old Invoker base class, and a handful of subclasses for core classes to choose from too.

Out of curiosity Grod, are you referring to this summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576195-Summoner-Base-Class)?

Grod_The_Giant
2018-12-27, 08:20 PM
Out of curiosity Grod, are you referring to this summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576195-Summoner-Base-Class)?
Yup! If you feel like taking a look, I'd love to hear your feedback-- there's not much existing material to balance it against.

theVoidWatches
2018-12-27, 09:35 PM
I have a rewrite of the warlock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572329-Yet-Another-Warlock-Rewrite-Eldritch-Dice-(PEACH)-v0-1-6) that hasn't gotten actually played yet (the campaign I'm going to be trying it in has been delayed, sadly).

The fluff is roughly the same as for the PHB warlock - you made a deal of some sort with a powerful being (currently a Fiend, Archfey, Celestial, or Great Old One) and were granted power in return. The PHB warlock talks about being taught arcane secrets, but my rewrite is more about being directly hooked into a powerline that you turn to whatever ends.

Mechanically, the way they work is that they have a pool of d6s which are renewed every round, and their abilities are fueled by that pool. As such, they constantly have to choose between dealing direct damage with eldritch blast (sinking all of their dice into damage should match them to a rogue's sneak attack) or fueling other abilities such as boosting their AC, flying, etc. They should be best compared to the Rogue, IMO, being a d8 health class with no short- or long-rest resources to concern themselves with, only action economy (and where to spend their dice, in the warlock's case).

The subclasses each focus on a different use of the dice: the Fiend, being the "stock" warlock, is generally about making your core features better; the Archfey debuffs your enemies by charming or frightening them; the Celestial buffs your allies by giving them bonuses to rolls or temp HP; the Great Old One makes you a better tank and lets you bond with a creature.

The pact boons are mostly unchanged but get additional boon-specific invocations as well as an upgrade at level 12: the Blade will make you better at dealing damage, but you're limited to melee combat - the Chain gives you a sturdy familiar which you can later protect; the Tome gives you cantrips.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-12-27, 10:19 PM
I have the Seeker of Forms (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HH_pwZ0J6q2TqIP0YmVLyTXArlDdVgtLUapJxC77ZGU/edit?usp=sharing), a flexible, mobile Incarnum homage. As far as roles, that largely depends on the subclass (Focus):

Blurred Blade is a melee striker, focusing on 2wf.
Piercing Shaft is a ranged striker.
Eternal Aegis is a tanky type, Captain America, the subclass
Caduceus is a supporter.

All do well against magic, having multiple anti-mage capabilities.

Another option is the Savant (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eNH1DpxdNWDSXCmGlJ7Ks-4WD2dOQrj43mv1Ftba-pU/edit?usp=sharing), a non-casting artificer/mad scientist. All use bombs. Unlike most, their sub-class features are on a tree--each feature lets you either upgrade one feature or gain a new one. You can also get gadgets. It's mostly a striker type, but that can range between ranged and melee, with the melee being good at grappling.

MoleMage
2018-12-29, 11:37 AM
I'd be interested in running the Alchemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23277785&postcount=3) through its paces. Ideally I think it should work out somewhere between blaster and support character, and it uses a mechanic something like 3.5's prepared casting. It's been revised with feedback from the class contest thread where it was originally posted and the changelog is noted in the post above.

I also have the Spiritcaller (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23005655&postcount=6) (a damage dealer that works through a modified smite that can be granted to other characters or their spirit companion pet) and the Destined (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23412011&postcount=3) (a front-liner that has to compensate for poor raw stats through the use of Heroics dice), either of which it would be cool to hear about in action.