Fixing Weak Subclasses Through Custom Magic Items Instead of House Rules

[dmhelp]

This would be to cut down on some of the house rules that people sometimes deem necessary (I’m very guilty). All of these tattoos (inspired by TCOE) require no attunement and are common whenever the DM decides they are common (e.g. GWM Battle Master Fighter and TWF Champion Fighter in the same party). They could also easily be any other type of magic item (Gloves of the Drow Ranger, etc.).

Subclass Magic Items:
Tattoo of the Screaming Orc - when worn by a Berserker, exhaustion from Frenzy only lasts for 1 hour.

Tattoo of the Peaceful Grove - when worn by a Nature Cleric, may also prepare level 1 Druid spells.

Tattoo of the Trickster God - when worn by a Trickery Cleric, may also prepare the Hex spell.

Tattoo of Fire & Ice - when worn by a Land Druid, Druid fire spells may at the time of casting be changed into cold damage spells (e.g. cast cold blade instead of flame blade).

Tattoo of the Victorious Gladiator - when worn by a Champion, gains +1 weapon attack damage, or +2 at Fighter level 12.

Tattoo of the Elemental Storm - when worn by a Four Elements Monk, all Elemental Discipline costs are decreased by 1 (minimum 0).

Tattoo of the Green Dragon - when worn by someone of Green Dragon lineage, all poison damage spells treat poison damage immunity as resistance. This resistance is not ignored by the Poisoner feat (immune creatures still take 1/2 damage instead of full damage). *Note I will still be using a house rule to further help Green Dragon Sorcerers.

Tattoo of the Black Slaad - when worn by a Wild Magic Sorcerer, all Sorcerer damage cantrips/spells do an additional 1d4 damage.

Tattoo of the Master Alchemist - when worn by a Transmuter, once per long rest may as a bonus action enchant a weapon within 60’, increasing its enhancement bonus by +1 (to a maximum of +3) for 1 minute (no concentration).

Class Magic Items:
Tattoo of the Deadly Stalker - when worn by a Ranger, Foe Slayer may instead be used to apply the damage bonus to all attacks against all foes.

Tattoo of the Brute - when worn by a Rogue, may sneak attack with any one handed melee weapon.

Tattoo of the Covenant - when worn by a Warlock with an Invocation that expands spell access (e.g. Thief of Five Fates), once per long rest gains an additional pact magic slot usable with any Warlock spell. When worn by a Warlock with Eldritch Master, only requires a bonus action to entreat patron.

Misc. Magic Items:
Tattoo of the Two Dragon Gods - when worn by a Dragonborn, Breath Weapon may be used as a bonus action and also gains Darkvision.

Tattoo of the Drow Ranger - when worn and two-weapon fighting, melee weapon attacks add 1d6 damage to both weapons’ damage rolls.

Tattoo of the Glowing Sword - when worn while casting Mordenkainen's Sword, the base damage increases to 5d10 per hit.


Suggested changes or new item proposals are appreciated.

[stoutstien]

Item patching works for some people but for me it will always feel off for the 5e system because it is very much about the characters feeling power and hero like. It can easily fall into the trap of being some bloke who happens to have a super power item.

It also completely removes the excitement of magical items and gear. It's no longer a super cool thing they felt they earned but rather a mandatory thing thrusted onto them to keep up with the Jones across the way.

[dmhelp]

Item patching works for some people but for me it will always feel off for the 5e system because it is very much about the characters feeling power and hero like. It can easily fall into the trap of being some bloke who happens to have a super power item.

It also completely removes the excitement of magical items and gear. It's no longer a super cool thing they felt they earned but rather a mandatory thing thrusted onto them to keep up with the Jones across the way.

I personally would not complain if the DM gave me a custom item.... I would also consider the impact of all of these as less than a staff of power or belt of storm giant strength (super power items). It is just that the belt of storm giant strength also works on the GWM EK blind fighting Fighter. You can't really give out a belt of giant strength and say it has to go to the gimp fighter, not the Rock. Although you could give out a +3 flame tongue handaxe. I'm just trying to eliminate the need for people to read thru two pages of buffs to make a character (have my cake and eat it too, so maybe it isn't possible). They could be hidden feats but then they are a feat tax.

Ignoring martial vs caster comparisons, if anyone has a way to balance splashing at level 19-20 (without nerfing), examples would be:
Wizard 20 vs Wizard 18/Fighter 2 or Wizard 18/Paladin 2
Sorcerer 20 vs Sorcerer 18/Warlock 2 or Sorcerer 18/Fighter 2
etc

Or if there is a decent capstone thread that actualy came up with a good solution.

[stoutstien]

I personally would not complain if the DM gave me a custom item.... I would also consider the impact of all of these as less than a staff of power or belt of storm giant strength (super power items). It is just that the belt of storm giant strength also works on the GWM EK blind fighting Fighter. You can't really give out a belt of giant strength and say it has to go to the gimp fighter, not the Rock. Although you could give out a +3 flame tongue handaxe. I'm just trying to eliminate the need for people to read thru two pages of buffs to make a character (have my cake and eat it too, so maybe it isn't possible). They could be hidden feats but then they are a feat tax.

Ignoring martial vs caster comparisons, if anyone has a way to balance splashing at level 19-20 (without nerfing), examples would be:
Wizard 20 vs Wizard 18/Fighter 2 or Wizard 18/Paladin 2
Sorcerer 20 vs Sorcerer 18/Warlock 2 or Sorcerer 18/Fighter 2
etc

Or if there is a decent capstone thread that actualy came up with a good solution.

The simplest solution to address those dips if they havea negative impact in a particular game is to not allow the optional multi-classing rules.