Super Forms For My Game

[JNAProductions]

General Features Of Super Forms
When used, you get a second turn at your initiative score minus 10. So, if you roll a 12 for your initiative at the start of combat, you would get a second turn at 2. After being used in-combat, take a level of Exhaustion.
Some may have uses outside of combat-if done for only a small period of time (not more than two rounds at most) Exhaustion is not given.

The Primal Rage Of The Jotunsons
Size can grow one category, stacking with other size increasers and increasing reach as normal. Increase all damage dice by one step when increasing in size.
Increase Strength and Constitution by 4 points (to a max of 30) while in this form. Do not recalculate HP-current and max stay the same even with a change in Constitution.
Primal Rage can be activated as part of entering a Rage, or as a separate bonus action.
For Fleggr (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2739332)

The Primal Magic Of The Jotunsons
Size can grow one category, stacking with other size increasers and increasing reach as normal. Increase all damage dice by one step when increasing in size.
When entering this mode, you gain a singular extra spell slot of your highest level. If this slot is used, you gain Exhaustion at the end regardless of duration.
Primal Magic can be activated as part of using Giant's Might, or as a separate bonus action.
For Ymir (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2739218)

Mixed Heritage, Made True
Increase all damage dice by one step in this form.
When entering this mode, you gain a singular extra spell slot of your highest level. If this slot is used, you gain Exhaustion at the end regardless of duration.
Mixed Heritage may be activated as a bonus action. When activating it, you can also activate Radiant Consumption, Halo Of Spores, and Wildshape at the same time.
For Tilda (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2739088)

The Song Of The Ancients
Gain the ability to cast one spell per turn as a bonus action.
When entering this mode, you gain a singular extra spell slot of your highest level. If this slot is used, you gain Exhaustion at the end regardless of duration.
The Song may be activated as part of the bonus action used to enter Bladesong, or as its own bonus action.
For Alexandria (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2739213)


Overall notes: These are meant to be powerful. These are meant to be one heck of an upgrade, but one used somewhat sparingly. The game is gestalt-if you need details on that for critiques, lemme know.

[Yakk]

Given how much of "you can combine this with" you have, I'd just remove the action requirements entirely. Like how action surge doesn't itself require an action.

Maybe it happens at the end of your turn?

I'd avoid temporary modification of stats.

Ie: You gain proficiency in strength and constitution based d20 tests if you don't have it. If you already have proficiency, you now gain expertise and add twice your proficiency bonus. In addition, when you hit with a strength-based weapon attack roll, you add your proficiency bonus to your damage roll.

(Or, say, roll an extra set of weapon damage dice when you make a strength-based attack. This encourages larger weapons instead of multi-tap situations.)

Your strength doesn't change, but you get a bunch of bonuses.

...

Increasing damage dice by 1 step either requires an annoying table, and usually causes problems. The "extra set of damage dice" is an alternative (it is stronger). This is also how larger monsters work; a large monster using a larger greatsword does 4d6 damage, not 2d8.

...

You need to clean up the exhaustion. You mention it in multiple spots, and unclear if this means you get more than 1, or how you can get 0, or if it is just redundant.

...

A mechanic that is somewhat like "increase all dice 1 step" but doesn't crash on 1d12s is "treat 1s as max value of the die". A more powerful variant is "treat even damage die rolls as max".

The first boosts the average of dX by (X-1)/X.

The second adds +1 to d4, +1.5 to d6, +2.0 to d8, +2.5 to d10, +3 to d12. Which has the neat property that 2d6 gets +3 and 1d12 gets +3, keeping balance between the greatsword and the greataxe.

In addition, "1 step bigger die" on a small die is huge, while 1 step bigger die on a big die (except 1d12->1d20) is less important. (1 step bigger is +1 damage; 3.5/2.5 is 40%, while 7.5/6.5 is 15%.)

[JNAProductions]

I'm not too worried about slowing table time-this is a PbP, so minor numbers changes aren't gonna be any kind of massive slowdown.
I don't think d4->d6->d8->d10->d12->2d6->2d8 is that complicated, or fiddly.

You cannot gain more than one level of Exhaustion per use of the Super Form.
You gain one level if any or all of the below are true:
-You use it in combat
-You use the bonus spell slot granted by it
-You use it out of combat, for more than a few moments

It will require DM adjudication for the last one. I'm okay with that-if my players are not, I'll work with them to codify more solid rules, but I think they'll be okay with it.

And Mixed Heritage specifically lets you activate many things at once-that's by intent.

[Yakk]

d4->d6->d8->d10->d12->2d6->2d8

Impact in terms of average damage from the dice is:
+40%
+28%
+22%
+18%
+8%
+29%

which is a bunch of random noise with no sensible pattern.

Someone with a greataxe gets +0.5 damage (8% more damage from dice) while someone with a maul gets +2 damage (+29% more damage from dice) for no reason besides mechanical quirks.

I'm aware it can be fixed, my point is you didn't, and fixing it means fiddling with the progression etc.

When I'm trying to design mechanics, I attempt to avoid players having to deal with fiddly stuff like this; that 1d12 weapons are gimped when this rule applies, so you better not use a greataxe if you use this ability, not for any narrative reason but because the mechanics say so for no in-universe cause.

If we then strip out 2d6 and make both 1d12 and 2d6 go to 2d8, we get

+40%
+28%
+22%
+18%
+38%
+29%

and suddenly 1d10 to 1d12 becomes a huge jump; again, not for a pre-planned reason, just because the mechanics relatively arbitrarily caused it.

If you compare it to "odd numbers become maximized", we get:
+40%
+43%
+44%
+45%
+46%
+43%
change in damage from dice. The trick is that 1d6 gets an average of +1.5 and 1d12 gets +3.0 on average from this; and 2d6 gets +3.0 the same as 1d12. This is because 1dX gets +X/4 extra damage; so if 2dX gets the same amount of extra damage as 1d2X.

The boost might be too large. It just has a nice property here.