Trying to get my thoughts straight on the core fantasy of each dnd class
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/22255198
lemmy.dbzer0.comTrying to get my thoughts straight on the core fantasy of each dnd class - Divisions by zeroA while back, I got into a heated argument with a friend about 5e; I wanted to
play a new system becuase I was getting tired of how generic 5e is, but my
friend insisted that i could hombrew 5e to create any style of play i wanted. We
are no longer friends, but I’ve been pondering how to homebrew 5e into a shape
that encourages a specific style of play. My main issue with 5e after all this
time is that I don’t feel like the classes actually encourage you to behave like
your class. Druid is personally my favorite class because it’s the exception (i
liek da aminals) but every other class is at best somewhat samey and at worst
actively frustrating (looking at you, PHB ranger). Here’s my thoughts about what
I think the core fantasy of each class SHOULD be. Lmk what you think. I want to
know if I am really off-base with these. Bard: I think you play a Bard to be a
drama queen and an artist. Barbarian: s t r o n k Cleric: The main appeal of
being a cleric, for me, is promoting a god, proselytizing, doing outreach,
building a temple, and most importantly asking the DM very specific questions
about their setting and making them very happy. It’s all about that faith
babyyyy. Druid: i liek da aminals. (fr, the actual appeal for me is similar to
cleric but with Druid stuff) Fighter: the only reason for me to play Fighter is
the Battlemaster Archetype, so I can play 5e like the wargame it sometimes seems
like it wants to be. I also like the Champion for the expanded crit range, but
if you like being stronk like bull you could just play barbarian? (Starting to
think that Barbarian should have been a Fighter subclass). Monk: wuxia/xianxia.
Kinda out of place, but I can dig it. They should have leaned more into that.
Paladin: The only class that I think was incredibly damaged by WotC’s decision
to make alignment not matter mechanically. IMHO, the concept of Oaths should
have been more fleshed out, and there should have been consequences for breaking
your oath included in the rules. Ranger: the one time I played a ranger, I
worked with the dm to homebrew some cool stuff for traveling so I could be the
ultimate master of the wilderness. (We then went into a dungeon and spent the
rest of the mini-campaign there.) I think a better ranger would have more cool
stuff for traveling, and maybe let you make more animal friends. Rogue: Stabby
glass cannon skill monkey. 5e’s rogue knows what it wants to be and it is very
good at being its best self. I have never played a rogue, but I totally get the
appeal. IMHO, best class in the game. I think the only way to improve the rogue
would be to make skills better. Sorceror: I have mixed feelings about the
Sorceror. I like sorcery points, and I like being able to do more with a limited
spell list. That said, if I want to play as a magical boy who casts spells as
easily as breathing, I think it is unfair that there is no way to slam together
a spell-like effect on the spot with nothing but your Wits. Warlock: My favorite
misfit child. As a DM, I love how I can use this class to yank a player around
my cool setting under the threat of [REDACTED]. However, I have noticed multiple
players seem thrown off by this. As a player, I love using my Warlock pact to
exploit the hell out of the setting for my own game, but the way it’s
spellcasting works runs completely counter to how every other class works.
Ultimately, could be a better power fantasy, all things considered. Wizard: I
have a bone to pick with this class. Yes, this class offers a path to ultimate
power. However, the main way you do this is by shoving spell scrolls into your
spellbook like a kid on Halloween grabbing fistfuls of candy from a bowl labeled
“Please Take 1”. This means going into dungeons to find them, and hopefully also
the gold to copy them into your spellbook. However, every DM I have played with
seems to forget that spell scrolls, especially Cantrip spell scrolls, are a
thing that exist and can be found as loot. More importantly, we rarely even go
into the dungeons that these scrolls are in! In my opinion, the best way to make
wizards playable is to make 2 changes to all or most of the other classes: > 1.
Give the other classes abilities that similarly depend on the Dungeon. Maybe
give them stuff to spend copious amounts of money on? > > 2. Give some of the
other spellcasters spellbooks so more people are hungry for scrolls. (Bard could
definitely use a spellbook, since they are kinda like music wizards.) Then, all
you would need to do is give the wizard some tiny boons to their spellbook usage
to make it slightly more efficient than the other classes. Artificer: Inventing
stuff is cool! I just wish that WotC wasn’t so scared of giving players the
freedom to customize stuff. Maybe in another timeline we could have gotten an
Artificer that functions like the PF1 Summoner. Also, guns. Not sure why they
are so afraid of guns. Any table that bans Artificer is also going to ban guns,
and any table that really wants guns will also really want Artificer. The venn
diagram of Artificer enthusiasts and people who want guns in D&D is a circle.
Here’s my thoughts on what I would need to do to make 5e conform to a style of
play I like: 1. Cull the redundant classes so my work is a bit easier. Barbarian
and Paladin become Fighter subclasses. Druid becomes a Cleric subclass.
Eliminate Sorceror, Monk, Warlock, and Artificer until I know what to do with
them. This leaves Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Wizard. 2. Rework
the lower levels to incentivise the core fantasy of each class. 3. At higher
levels, give each class ludicrously expensive stuff to buy so they still want to
go into the dungeons and get loot. Move the currency system to be based around
copper pieces so I can more easily deploy the overcomplicated currency systems
that make me happy. 4. Make skills a little more fun to work with. For example,
maybe whenever you use a skill successfully yoh can increase your proficiency
with that skill by 1? 5. Circle back to Sorceror, Warlock, Monk, and Artificer.
Make new classes to replace them. Artificer gets a whole framework for fully
custom inventions. Monk gets proper cultivation genre mechanics, diving deep
into eastern alchemy on top of the standard martial arts flair. Sorceror has
spellcasting, but also gets a toolkit for slapping together spell effects on the
fly. Warlock gets a full point-buy system with their pact boons. So, looks like
you really can homebrew D&D into anything! Guess I was wrong, Matt. I just
needed to completely gut the game and replace all its organs! Lmk if I am
completely off-base.
