Reskinning of an ability

[cullynthedwarf]

Watched a NERDARCHY about reskinning the Rage ability in to a battle Trance. Mechanically its the same. Have a player who didn't like the brute of the barbarian but now likes this Dervish style character they made.

Has any one else reskinned an ability or class feature in a interesting way? How did it play?

[WadeWay33]

I'm not sure if this would qualify, but I re skinned a wizard's spell-casting ability as psionics in a game or two. Also I had a player that re-flavored his warlock's Hexblade as a double bladed trident, and his specters as living seaweed that would come out of their body. It didn't work SUPER well, but it was fun to watch/describe.

[Randomthom]

I do reskinning of abilities frequently. My current halfling bard delivers his magic via card tricks instead of music (still requires same level of verbal component).

Bottom line is mechanical advantage, if there isn't one then there's no real problem and the rule of cool can be allowed to reign supreme :)

[airless_wing]

I’ve got a Bard-tender, whos bardic inspiration is refluffed as players feeling emboldened after having one of his cocktails.

[djreynolds]

Before the Samurai came out we used the "barbarian" and their rage was their ki focus

[Misterwhisper]

Reskinned the entire drunken master monk subclass to be about cooking and fought in an apron and used kitchen tools; hand axe became cleavers etc.

Made a warlock into gunslinger: Eldritch blast was using a “pistol” as a focus, studded leather duster, darkness was a bottle of blackness I threw around. Most spells and abilities were reskinned as old west tools or bottles. Think Jonah Hex..

[Enixon]

Third edition's main Forgotten Realms campaign setting book gives Drizzet a single level of Barbarian so that he can use Rage to represent his tendency to go into a battle trance, so that's one example of reskinning that has (or at least had) "offical" support.

It was nice to have as an example when people would insist that "(class/ability/whatever) has to be exactaly like (main example of the class/ability/whatever in preexisting fantasy media) or doing it wrong!" :smallbiggrin:

[stoutstien]

As a perpetual DM I fully endorse reskinning or flavor changes. In Currenrt campains we have:
A glamour bard luchador who spells where combo moves
An ancestral guardian Barbarian who summoned the dwarven version of Statler and Waldorf.
A wild magic barbarian who thinks they are a wizard. Rage is them getting frustrated that they can't quite get the incantations correct.
A wizard who's spells are just meta manifestations of their imagination.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I reskin most of things.
I actually can't remember the original flavour of most of the features.

[Danielqueue1]

Had a ancestoral guardian war wizard that reskinned everything to connect somehow with the spirits that haunted him.

Learning a new spell? wizard ancestor taught him. History check? Consults with his ancestors. Raging? Possessed by orcish ancestor. Shadow blade becomes spectral blade, Gaseous form becomes ghost form, fear becomes "the haunting."

As long as the mechanics don't change have fun in my opinion.