Red's Design Philosophies
This is a collection of design ideas and philosophies that I have collected over the years of homebrewing. These are purely for assistance; you shouldn't treat any guide as a perfect path.
When Creating a...
Class
- What feature does this class commonly use that makes a commoner think "Okay, this person can't be mistaken for anything other than a(n) "x"."
- How does this class use their resource effectively? The more features that play off gaining, expending, or simply having a resource can distinguish it from others very effectively. An example is the sorcerer, who can gain and expend sorcery points and spell slots by trading between them.
- What sort of features imply how a class trained to be who they are? Rogues have thieves cant, rangers have specialized territories, spellcasters often have cantrips.
- What is the "flagship" subclass? This is usually the subclass that is essentially an extension of the core features. Examples of this are: Berserker Barbarian, Champion Fighter, Thief Rogue, and Fiend Warlock.
- What is this class' cyberpunk alternative? Transforming modern ideas into fantasy also works in reverse, and can help immensely when figuring out features and themes.
Full Caster
The full caster is by default powerful due to their access to high level spells, but the amount of levels that introduce higher level spells also massively reduces how many features the class can have. Their spells are their features, what spells they learn or how they tilize them is what separates them from other classes. It would be out of place for the base Wizard to learn bless, because the flavor of the spell isn't arcane. Their spell slot level is also their primary feature, which is why they receive the least amount of impactful features.
Resource
How often is this resource used? How does this class restore its resource and is that restoration thematic? For example, the monk has ki, which is restored on a short rest - monks are known for their meditation, so it makes sense a monk would spend a lot of time during the day meditating (as meditation is required to restore ki).
Can you turn a feature into a new resource? What if the wizard could use Arcane Recovery for something other than restoring spell slots? The fighter's Second Wind is commonly used resource that players tinker with. Wizard of the coast is just now realizing that the druid Wild Shape is another resource that can be spent on features other than changing into an animal.
Feature
Features can be hard to determine its power. A useful way of designing its strength is envisioning it as a spell. This is not a perfect way to determine strength, but rather offer a ballpark estimate.
- Consider how powerful the feature is compared to a spell of that level in a full spellcaster's spell list. You might even give it uses like a spell slot of the same level (For example: Rage starts with two "Spell slots"). This is less a 1 to 1 ratio but should help you understand expendable class resources.
- If the feature is permanent, its power should match a spell of a level around 1-2 levels lower than the maximum spell level of a full caster with the same level for a half caster or a spell-less class.
Sorcerous Feature
Sorcery points can be difficult to truly understand how impactful it is when a feature utilizes just points alone. A very simple method of understanding the power is equating the amount of sorcery points to a spell of the same level (eg. 3 sorcery points = 3rd level spell, 5 sorcery points = 5th level spell).
Try to think with...
This section might help get you unstuck.
Negative space
Think in negative space. The warlock's spell slot resource is actually a short-rest spell point system, except the designers decided to "summarize" how many spell points you had at the given level and made them into spell slots that then scaled with the warlock. Imagine if they had spell points equal to their level that restored on a short rest that followed the rules of spell point cost (DMG, 288). While the power curve is wonky, its very close.
Another negative space is the paladin lay on hands. It's actually a per-level ability score modifier healing ability, like the Druid's Balm of the Summer Court is per level healing. The designers decided to instead summarize it as a 5, so the healing felt more impactful when used.
Thinking with negative space is by far the most powerful tool you can use to create new features, but is also the hardest skill to learn. This will help you take the feature of one class and splice it into yours without anyone ever knowing.
Here is a more in-depth look at Negative Space on my blog.
Collareral Inspiration
When stuck on a particular piece, work on another within the same vein using different mechanics. An example of this could be a wind based fighter, but you can't think of a higher feature. Instead work on something adjacent such as a windy druid that conjures wind twisters with their wild shape. This can lead to new features inspired by your other subclass, and also often creates two subclasses from one idea.
This can rarely transform into Explosive Collateral Inspiration, where the two subclasses creates a feature that's neutral in flavor and can be used elsewhere.
Recontextualizing
When innovating, bringing a new context to a commonly used feature can change the game. If a player knew what their attack roll will be before making an attack would they still follow through or would they choose to do something else? What if they knew what person a monster will target next turn? This is in a lot of ways similar to negative space, but rather than thinking about a negative space, think about how the angle of a square might seem like a pyramid.
This is yet another very challening skill.
Dormant Damage
Instead of increasing the minimum or maximum damage, increase the dormant damage. An example would be to increase the damage you already have against a target at full health. Example: your damage is still 3d10, but you improve the chances of doing full damage.