MrStabby
2023-01-22, 09:41 PM
Some homebrew is overpowered. Some is underpowered. Most tables look at homebrew and can quickly get a good grasp of its probable power, but there are some features that sometimes seem to slip through.
A few things I have seen that people misjudge (including myself from time to time) and within the context of 5e.
1) Spell selection. For casting classes, obviously. People look at a class and see its a full caster or a half caster and mentally block out a certain typical amount of power from that. If it casts level nine spells at level 17 then this has a certain equivalent power - be the spell Weird or be it Wish. The gulf between the power of spells within a given spell level in 5e is enormous. Witch bolt and shield will really add a different amount to a class. It isn't that people don't look at the availble spells when evaluating a class but rather I feel their underweight them. A half caster with the best spells is going to be more impressive than a full caster with bad spells on the class list.
2) Spells known/prepared. How many different things you can do matters but people tend to evaluate each in isolation and give less weight to the bigger picture of sometimes not having the right tool ready.
3) The span of spells - sometimes blasting things is the right option. Sometimes save or suck, and sometimes you need a buff spell or at least something that won't worry about magic resistance. Having the same quality of spell but spread out over different functions is usually a bit more powerful, but this is a benefit that often seem to slip through evauation. This covers also a good balance of concentration/non-concentration spells and spells with different casting times.
4) Casting stat. Some stats are better than others, and the same class with a casting stat that aligns with an otherwise strong stat in the game is likely to be better than one that doesn't
5) Hit Points. Its a small point, but I think that people often don't give enough weight to HP and HD size. At level 10, going from a d6 to a d8 would give about 16 more HP over the day (assuming using half HD for HP recovery).
6) Abilities that can be used a smal number of times per day. I have seen people do a couple of quick checks - what's the max power of the class in queston in an encounter and can it put other classes in the shade? And, what's the at-will power of the class it can keep up all day. Abilities that are twice a day or once per short rest seem to get a bit of a cursory glance - if it isn't that powerful that it impacts peak power then it has a small effect and if its only being used a couple of times per day its as if it doesn't happen at all.
7) Abilities that are worse versions of other abilities. If another class has an ability but an ability in question is strictly weaker, it often gets labled as a bad ability, even though the cumulative effect of this with other class abilities might be large. If a class isn't pushing the envelope in one dimension or another its deemed safe - there seems to be a lot of tollerance for very powerful generalists.
8) The match-up between defensive abilities and likely strong or weak stats. Immunity to charm or fear is of greater marginal benefit to a Str based class likely to dump wisdom than it is to a Wisdom based class likely to dump strength.
9) Starting skills - if you were to give a homebrew class an extra skill at creation (like the ranger) it would likely not even be noticed by many.
10) Movement - whilst this is a bit more applicable to homebrew races than classes, a boost to movement speed seems to be undervalued in my experience.
11) Growing abilities - some that are obviously big like spellcasting or sneak attack get noticed. The gradual increase in power of things like bardic inspiration/song of rest or monk MA dice on the other hand just seems to slip through peoples minds when evaluating a class. Especially if the uptick is quite a bit later - a 3rd level ability that gets a boost at levels 11, 14, 17 and 20 that ends up powerful might totaly slip by people.
12) Healing. Unless its a big deal, anything that restored HP seems to get less attention - its less flashy and doesn't end encounters. Things like second wind might not be powerful abilities, but when people evaluate a class it can sometimes almost seem that abilities like this don't exist (and another example of both something that grows and something that is a few times per day).
13) Ritual Casting. When reading a proposed class, many reviewers just seem to skim over this. In a party with a ritual caster already it may not add a lot of power, but if there isn't one then its a big deal.
14) Anything that falls below a certain threshold of being too situational will often seem to not exist at all - especially defensive abilities. The afforementioned immunity to fear and charm or resistance to a (non BPS) damage type seems to be ignored. Something like the paladin's extra divine smite damage to fiends and undead as an offensive ability will gain a bit more attention.
15) Being MAD - if there is an ability (like some artificers,hexblade) to make a class SAD then those reviewing will often (rightly) jump on it as a powerful ability. If you do the opposite, people seem much less sensative to it as a weakness (say imagine a caster with some abilities keying of wisdom and some off charisma). This is a bit different for subclasses to existing classes where an expectation is already set.
16) Out of combat abiities. Sells like fabricate or expertise with tools. It might come up... it might not. Maybe this is covered under the niche abilities?
17) Alignment (or otherwise) of abilities common between classes. Look at an ability like temp HP on a hit. Fiend warlock gets it, long death monk gets it - the warlock is likely doing more damage and getting better value out of it becuse it gets so many offensive spells/boosts. Or look at a spell like spirit guardians - geat on a cleric that comes with armour and shield proficiencies, less good on a bard without them and who can't afford to stand in melee. If an ability is the same as another ability I tend to find it gets rated the same as that other ability.
This isn't intended to be advocating for people to push more powerful homebrew or to sneak things by people, and I am not even trying to say that this will be universally applicable. Just in my experience, these are the things that people don't pay a lot of attention to. I imagine there are a lot more.
A few things I have seen that people misjudge (including myself from time to time) and within the context of 5e.
1) Spell selection. For casting classes, obviously. People look at a class and see its a full caster or a half caster and mentally block out a certain typical amount of power from that. If it casts level nine spells at level 17 then this has a certain equivalent power - be the spell Weird or be it Wish. The gulf between the power of spells within a given spell level in 5e is enormous. Witch bolt and shield will really add a different amount to a class. It isn't that people don't look at the availble spells when evaluating a class but rather I feel their underweight them. A half caster with the best spells is going to be more impressive than a full caster with bad spells on the class list.
2) Spells known/prepared. How many different things you can do matters but people tend to evaluate each in isolation and give less weight to the bigger picture of sometimes not having the right tool ready.
3) The span of spells - sometimes blasting things is the right option. Sometimes save or suck, and sometimes you need a buff spell or at least something that won't worry about magic resistance. Having the same quality of spell but spread out over different functions is usually a bit more powerful, but this is a benefit that often seem to slip through evauation. This covers also a good balance of concentration/non-concentration spells and spells with different casting times.
4) Casting stat. Some stats are better than others, and the same class with a casting stat that aligns with an otherwise strong stat in the game is likely to be better than one that doesn't
5) Hit Points. Its a small point, but I think that people often don't give enough weight to HP and HD size. At level 10, going from a d6 to a d8 would give about 16 more HP over the day (assuming using half HD for HP recovery).
6) Abilities that can be used a smal number of times per day. I have seen people do a couple of quick checks - what's the max power of the class in queston in an encounter and can it put other classes in the shade? And, what's the at-will power of the class it can keep up all day. Abilities that are twice a day or once per short rest seem to get a bit of a cursory glance - if it isn't that powerful that it impacts peak power then it has a small effect and if its only being used a couple of times per day its as if it doesn't happen at all.
7) Abilities that are worse versions of other abilities. If another class has an ability but an ability in question is strictly weaker, it often gets labled as a bad ability, even though the cumulative effect of this with other class abilities might be large. If a class isn't pushing the envelope in one dimension or another its deemed safe - there seems to be a lot of tollerance for very powerful generalists.
8) The match-up between defensive abilities and likely strong or weak stats. Immunity to charm or fear is of greater marginal benefit to a Str based class likely to dump wisdom than it is to a Wisdom based class likely to dump strength.
9) Starting skills - if you were to give a homebrew class an extra skill at creation (like the ranger) it would likely not even be noticed by many.
10) Movement - whilst this is a bit more applicable to homebrew races than classes, a boost to movement speed seems to be undervalued in my experience.
11) Growing abilities - some that are obviously big like spellcasting or sneak attack get noticed. The gradual increase in power of things like bardic inspiration/song of rest or monk MA dice on the other hand just seems to slip through peoples minds when evaluating a class. Especially if the uptick is quite a bit later - a 3rd level ability that gets a boost at levels 11, 14, 17 and 20 that ends up powerful might totaly slip by people.
12) Healing. Unless its a big deal, anything that restored HP seems to get less attention - its less flashy and doesn't end encounters. Things like second wind might not be powerful abilities, but when people evaluate a class it can sometimes almost seem that abilities like this don't exist (and another example of both something that grows and something that is a few times per day).
13) Ritual Casting. When reading a proposed class, many reviewers just seem to skim over this. In a party with a ritual caster already it may not add a lot of power, but if there isn't one then its a big deal.
14) Anything that falls below a certain threshold of being too situational will often seem to not exist at all - especially defensive abilities. The afforementioned immunity to fear and charm or resistance to a (non BPS) damage type seems to be ignored. Something like the paladin's extra divine smite damage to fiends and undead as an offensive ability will gain a bit more attention.
15) Being MAD - if there is an ability (like some artificers,hexblade) to make a class SAD then those reviewing will often (rightly) jump on it as a powerful ability. If you do the opposite, people seem much less sensative to it as a weakness (say imagine a caster with some abilities keying of wisdom and some off charisma). This is a bit different for subclasses to existing classes where an expectation is already set.
16) Out of combat abiities. Sells like fabricate or expertise with tools. It might come up... it might not. Maybe this is covered under the niche abilities?
17) Alignment (or otherwise) of abilities common between classes. Look at an ability like temp HP on a hit. Fiend warlock gets it, long death monk gets it - the warlock is likely doing more damage and getting better value out of it becuse it gets so many offensive spells/boosts. Or look at a spell like spirit guardians - geat on a cleric that comes with armour and shield proficiencies, less good on a bard without them and who can't afford to stand in melee. If an ability is the same as another ability I tend to find it gets rated the same as that other ability.
This isn't intended to be advocating for people to push more powerful homebrew or to sneak things by people, and I am not even trying to say that this will be universally applicable. Just in my experience, these are the things that people don't pay a lot of attention to. I imagine there are a lot more.