Should i let a use Anime 5e or Spheres of Power in a 5e game?

[Jervis]

Hello all. First as a precursor I'm not against homebrew or third party systems. In fact I like them. I'm preparing for a upcoming 1-7 5e game, a dungeon crawl to be specific. Most of the players are making things using standard 5e mechanics and don't have any interest in reaching outside of that. But, one player expressed interest In using the Dynamic Spellbinder from anime 5e (dysuki entertainment, better known for Big Eye's Small Mouth).

For anyone unfamiliar, it's a anime inspired system built on the bones of 5e. Dynamic Spellbinder has the ability to use a mechanic called Dynamic Power to replicate spell effects, or effects comparable to spells of a given level by spending the class's resource just called energy, so long as that spell effect fits a theme. At first level they can create effects comparable to cantrips, third level lets them mimic 1st level spells, and so on. They get +15 energy at every even numbered level and +5 at every odd 1 starting at 15. Each spell effect (cantrips included) costs it's level squared energy(1 for cantrips and 1st level spells, 4 for 2nd, 9 for 3rd, etc). Example if you had dynamic power fire you could mimic firebolt, flaming sphere, fireball, flamestrike, darkness, Guiding Bolt, any spell really so long as it can fit the theme of fire. It can also create effects in line with spells of that level and create the effects of spells not fitting that theme so long as they are made to fit that theme via damage type alteration and flavor.

So as you can probably tell this is a disaster waiting to happen where anyone of this class breaks the game or becomes useless because of spells being too expensive. Anime 5e is very much a narrative game complete with some classes just getting two or three actions per turn at some levels and some very vague effects. So I said I would read the rules more and think about it. The class's power vastly outpaces it's resources to the point that it becomes a mess but at the levels we'll be playing at it might cause some problems.

Getting away from that. I suggested he look into Spheres of Power (Drop Dead Studios). I'm not extremely familiar with spheres in 5e but I know a little bit about 3.5 spheres and there it was generally considered tier 3 in the same vein as ToB classes so you could slot it in a regular 5e game without much issue. From a cursory reading i can tell that it would be much less abusable. It's not quite as flexible as he wanted but i think it has a higher chance of working. It's less freeform and the rules don't require as much DM adjudication since i don't have to be asked what is and isn't a spell equivalent.

The player in question isn't particularly an optimizer so i don't think he's trying to break anything. He just has a character concept that isn't possible in the existing 5e class list, not even with spell point variants or something as flexible as UA mystic. Like i said i like homebrew and don't mind adding options to let a player use their concept. Can anyone give me some ideas on which of these, if either, i should allow to not have them overshadow everyone else or break the game? And if you know of some better way to achieve a weird flexible magic style thats not fitting in with any 5e options in the official books id love to know.

And for context the concept is basically a specialist in innate magic that, instead of having spells known, can do a lot of magical things related to a narrow sphere of influence. Think a fey or something with a lot of weird niche things abilities too specific to have spells on a known or prepared list dedicated too them. I'm open to any vaguely balanced homebrew or third party that fits this sort of theme you can see with the two i've listed.

[Burley]

So, when I search for this class, this thread is the top google result. I'm gonna just stop searching for more info.


I think you should wait and see how it plays out. Maybe this player isn't going to break your game, or maybe they'll go supernova once and then you throw in a second phase to the boss and they learn their lesson about trying to be OP.

I think its a lot easier to see what happens and respond to it, probably at the end of the session. If they go too crazy, ask them to pull it back. If they're getting overshadowed, ask if they'd rather play sorcerer.

[Bigmouth]

Ask the other players. Everyone should be involved when bringing in third party stuff. It effects everyone.

[Jervis]

Ask the other players. Everyone should be involved when bringing in third party stuff. It effects everyone.

Everyone is aware he wants to use something nonconventional. No one really has much interest playing anything homebrew or minds him using it. So i’m just looking for an option that doesn’t break anything.

So, when I search for this class, this thread is the top google result. I'm gonna just stop searching for more info.


I think you should wait and see how it plays out. Maybe this player isn't going to break your game, or maybe they'll go supernova once and then you throw in a second phase to the boss and they learn their lesson about trying to be OP.

I think its a lot easier to see what happens and respond to it, probably at the end of the session. If they go too crazy, ask them to pull it back. If they're getting overshadowed, ask if they'd rather play sorcerer.

Fair. Since I asked this question last night I matched out the progression. At 3rd level he would have 45 1st level spells a day. Granted he wouldn’t be able to upcast or use 2nd level spells but 45 castings of Shield, magic missle, and absorb elements per day is probably a little bit much. Mathing it out it isn’t as absurd later on with the module ending at 7, where he would have 75 energy and a maximum of 8 casts of 3rd level spells per day with not much else he could do afterwords. I suppose I could just convert it to a spell point magic caster with the same ability but at that point he’s just better than every other caster in the party because his “spell list” would be that huge. At this point i’m not sure what the best way to handle this is.

[JLandan]

Since this class is not canon 5e, it comes under the heading of homebrew, even though it's a third party publication. I believe that with some tweaking it is usable. As is, it is way overpowered.

Read the DMG chapter 9, DM workshop. Section: Creating new character options/Modifying a class/Changing spell lists and Variant: spell points.

Start with Sorcerer.

First: Take cantrips off the "energy" (subfirst: find a better name than "energy") driven spells. Give it a set list of possible cantrips, and limit it to a number known, same as any other Sorcerer.

Second: Change the energy cost for each spell level to something that has been play tested. I suggest the Variant: spell points in the DMG. Each level cost its level plus the previous level (1=1, 2=3, 3=5, 4=7, 5=9, 6=11, 7=13, 8=15, 9=17). Use all rules under Variant: spell points.

Third: Create a spell list for this class. Let the spells be derived from any list, keeping to the theme. Keep the spell levels the same.

Fourth: Create or modify a current Bloodline to suit your theme.

Fifth: Modify proficiencies as needed to suit new "class".

Its actually fairly easy. And its all RAW.

[Phhase]

Personally, I really like 5e Spheres and would like to play it some day. Go ahead and try it, its power comes through fairly non-traditional angles.

[Rashagar]

I've played/DM'd with Spheres of Power before and really enjoyed my time with it. Granted that was in Pathfinder, but I imagine they've done just as good a job with a 5e implementation.

[sambojin]

The anime one sounds a bit scary. Is there a Dynamic Power: Mind? Or a Dynamic Power: Elemental? Or a Dynamic Power: Destruction? Or a Dynamic Power: Inner Strength? Because if there is, that's a *lot* of charm/fear/mindscrew, could-be-nearly-anything, damage or buff spells known automagically for a pseudo-psionic spellpoints thingo.

Just not sure how far you can go with it.

Probably go Spheres instead? I don't know anything about it, but I could think of a lot of descriptive words to fit into "Dynamic Power" to give me a pretty good caster, even with squared scaling of spell costs.

(Note: a druid using spell points is pretty scary as well. They have a lot of good low level stuff to cast)

[Dream Cream]

I'm way late to this, but I wanted to give my two cents on the matter;

the Dynamic Spellbinder isn't so absurd, so long as you are keeping track of the rules. For starters, they burn energy to *attempt* the activation of their Dynamic Powers.

*This is reliant on an intelligence ability check.*

So if your player chose, say, Fire and wished to use the equivalent of Burning Hands. You rule that, given the stress of combat, it would be tough to do safely at their relatively low level, so the DC would be 15.

If they fail the DC, they waste the energy and action.

Unlike 5e casters, who can't fail their spellcasting, the Dynamic Spellbinder *can* fail. It's not 45 1st level spells. It's 45 *attempts* to use their power at the cantrip/1st level range.

So they can attempt Shield, fail, and thus waste energy and their reaction.

You can also give final say on what they can and can't do at their given power, and whether it falls within their sphere of influence.

You're not going to get Shield from a Fire Spellbinder, after all.

[Hytheter]

They get +15 energy at every even numbered level and +5 at every odd 1 starting at 15.

How needlessly arcane. Why not just make it ten per level?

[Jervis]

How needlessly arcane. Why not just make it ten per level?

IIRC the calculation was +5 per level by default because of the mechanics with the class giving a bonus +10 at even levels.

[truemane]

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