Magicspook
2020-12-29, 05:33 AM
Hello everyone,
I'd like to have your opinion on two quick homebrews I wrote down for a player who wants to play a bullywug monk. My main design principles were:
>Make it a fun and relatively straightforward character to play
>No difficult synergies to track (this is her second serious character)
>cover the theme of froggy monkness without leaving gaps of 'I should be able to do that'
She's relatively new, so don't worry about obscure multiclassing exploits. Nor am I too worried about the 'bragging rights' ability being too powerful, I hand out advantage as a reward for good roleplaying all the time and this is meant as roleplay incentive for her (again, shes relatively new and shy).
Without further ado, let's share the homebrew!
The race:
Bullywug traits
As a bullywug, you have the following traits.
Ability Score Increase.
You increase three ability scores with 1, or a single ability score with 2 and another with 1.
Age.
Bullywugs live lives of a similar length to most humans.
Alignment.
Bullywugs are nothing if not opportunistic, and do not care in particular for order or freedom. They tend towards neutrality on the lawful-chaotic axis.
Size & Speed.
You are on the shorter end of medium, standing just over 4 feet tall. With feet adapted better for water than land, you have a walking speed of 25ft. and a swimming speed of 40ft.
Amphibious.
Your thin and soft skin is adapted to take up oxygen from the water. You can breathe both on land and underwater.
Languages.
You can speak, read and write Common and Bullywug. The Bullywug tongue is a croaking language that can carry for long distances (up to 300ft.) and can be used to communicate simple concepts with frogs and toads.
Jumping legs.
Adapted for taking long leaps, you can jump over unusually long distances. Your long jump is up to 20ft. and your high jump is up to 10ft., with or without a running start.
Bragging rights.
Your position in Bullywug society is not necessarily based on your actual exploits, but rather on the tall tales you spin of them. You have advantage on all charisma checks incorporating a tale of your exploits, proviced you use at least one item as a 'trophy' from your tale.
The subclass:
Tongue strike
When you take this subclass at 3rd level, your tongue becomes an additional limb with which to strike. Whenever use your flurry of blwos ability, you gain the following benefits:
>your reach increases by 10 feet for the attacks granted by flurry of blows
>whenever you hit an object or creature with the attacks from your flurry of blows, they must succeed on a strength saving throw or be moved up to 10 feet towards you. If a creature moves into a space adjacent to you, you can immediately grapple them without costing an additional action (the normal restrictions for grappling apply).
Whirlwind Jump
Starting at 6rd level, you are capable of jumping amazing distances and perform great feats of acrobatics. Instead of spending a ki point to dash or disengage as a bonus action, you can spend a ki point to benefit from both effects.
Furthermore, you can expend 2 ki points as an action to turn into a whirlwind of movement while you jump. You move up to 30ft. in a straight line in any direction, provided you do not enter a hostile creature's space or pass through a solid object. While you move in this way, you can make one unarmed attack against each hostile creature that comes within 5ft. of you. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity while moving in this way.
slippery skin
When you reach 11th level, your skin becomes slick and slimey. You can squeeze through spaces one size smaller than you normally can. In addition, you have advantage on desxterity (acrobatcs) and strength (athletics) checks to escape a grapple, and checks attempting to grapple you have disadvantage. If a creature automatically grapples you when it hits you with one of its attacks, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack.
toxic slime
At 17th level, you learn how to secrete a debilitating slime from your skin. When you hit a craeture with your unarmed attack, you can spend 4 ki points to leave a smudge of this slime on your opponent. You can also leave a smudge of toxin as a reaction when you are grappled by a hostile creature.
When poisoned, a creature must succeed on a constitution saving throw at the start of each of their turns or become poisoned until the start of their next turn and take 6d4 poison damage. This effect lasts until they succeed on this saving throw three times.
Let me know what you think! Is it balanced? Are there parts that are not-done in 5e balance? Are parts badly worded? Any feedback is welcome!
I'd like to have your opinion on two quick homebrews I wrote down for a player who wants to play a bullywug monk. My main design principles were:
>Make it a fun and relatively straightforward character to play
>No difficult synergies to track (this is her second serious character)
>cover the theme of froggy monkness without leaving gaps of 'I should be able to do that'
She's relatively new, so don't worry about obscure multiclassing exploits. Nor am I too worried about the 'bragging rights' ability being too powerful, I hand out advantage as a reward for good roleplaying all the time and this is meant as roleplay incentive for her (again, shes relatively new and shy).
Without further ado, let's share the homebrew!
The race:
Bullywug traits
As a bullywug, you have the following traits.
Ability Score Increase.
You increase three ability scores with 1, or a single ability score with 2 and another with 1.
Age.
Bullywugs live lives of a similar length to most humans.
Alignment.
Bullywugs are nothing if not opportunistic, and do not care in particular for order or freedom. They tend towards neutrality on the lawful-chaotic axis.
Size & Speed.
You are on the shorter end of medium, standing just over 4 feet tall. With feet adapted better for water than land, you have a walking speed of 25ft. and a swimming speed of 40ft.
Amphibious.
Your thin and soft skin is adapted to take up oxygen from the water. You can breathe both on land and underwater.
Languages.
You can speak, read and write Common and Bullywug. The Bullywug tongue is a croaking language that can carry for long distances (up to 300ft.) and can be used to communicate simple concepts with frogs and toads.
Jumping legs.
Adapted for taking long leaps, you can jump over unusually long distances. Your long jump is up to 20ft. and your high jump is up to 10ft., with or without a running start.
Bragging rights.
Your position in Bullywug society is not necessarily based on your actual exploits, but rather on the tall tales you spin of them. You have advantage on all charisma checks incorporating a tale of your exploits, proviced you use at least one item as a 'trophy' from your tale.
The subclass:
Tongue strike
When you take this subclass at 3rd level, your tongue becomes an additional limb with which to strike. Whenever use your flurry of blwos ability, you gain the following benefits:
>your reach increases by 10 feet for the attacks granted by flurry of blows
>whenever you hit an object or creature with the attacks from your flurry of blows, they must succeed on a strength saving throw or be moved up to 10 feet towards you. If a creature moves into a space adjacent to you, you can immediately grapple them without costing an additional action (the normal restrictions for grappling apply).
Whirlwind Jump
Starting at 6rd level, you are capable of jumping amazing distances and perform great feats of acrobatics. Instead of spending a ki point to dash or disengage as a bonus action, you can spend a ki point to benefit from both effects.
Furthermore, you can expend 2 ki points as an action to turn into a whirlwind of movement while you jump. You move up to 30ft. in a straight line in any direction, provided you do not enter a hostile creature's space or pass through a solid object. While you move in this way, you can make one unarmed attack against each hostile creature that comes within 5ft. of you. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity while moving in this way.
slippery skin
When you reach 11th level, your skin becomes slick and slimey. You can squeeze through spaces one size smaller than you normally can. In addition, you have advantage on desxterity (acrobatcs) and strength (athletics) checks to escape a grapple, and checks attempting to grapple you have disadvantage. If a creature automatically grapples you when it hits you with one of its attacks, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack.
toxic slime
At 17th level, you learn how to secrete a debilitating slime from your skin. When you hit a craeture with your unarmed attack, you can spend 4 ki points to leave a smudge of this slime on your opponent. You can also leave a smudge of toxin as a reaction when you are grappled by a hostile creature.
When poisoned, a creature must succeed on a constitution saving throw at the start of each of their turns or become poisoned until the start of their next turn and take 6d4 poison damage. This effect lasts until they succeed on this saving throw three times.
Let me know what you think! Is it balanced? Are there parts that are not-done in 5e balance? Are parts badly worded? Any feedback is welcome!