Why am I doing this?

I know there have been too many 5e class reworks to count, and even an official one now with OneD&D, but they usually leave me wanting more and don't really fix the things I want them to fix. So whats one more on the pile?

I'm starting this project for fun, for myself, and as a challenge with some specific design goals in mind. Feel free to provide feedback and let me know if you think I am hitting the goals, or if my goals are stupid (which they very well might be).

Barbarian

Ah, barbarians, my big, beautiful, beefy boys. The only class in 5e that is almost strictly Strength based, as well as the only class with a d12 hit die. Barbarians are beefcakes through and through, but they need more beef. I often hear people say they want their barbs to stomp earthquakes into the ground, so lets give them the thunder thighs they need to do it.

What are barbarians the best at? This is pretty simple: strength. Barbarians are clearly meant for the fantasy of the Big Strong Guy. Out of combat Barbarians don't have much to do so lets see if we can fix that too. In combat a Barbarian's iconic abilities are rage and reckless attacks. So lets lean into those features. Also Rage damage is boring so we are going to see if we can make it more interesting. Barbarians are also typically the MADdest class, along with their monk friends, but instead of removing that MADness lets see if we can give them the tools to deal with it while also making them the STRONGEST THERE IS!

Class Features

As a barbarian, you gain the following class features

Rage

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.

While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. If you are able to cast spells, you can't cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

The Rage lasts until the end of your next turn, nad it ends early if you don Heavy Armor or have the Incapacitated condition. If your Rage is still active on your next turn, you can extend the Rage for another round by doing one or more of the following:

• Make an attack roll against an enemy
• Force an enemy to make a saving throw
• Take a Bonus Action to extend your Rage

Each time the Rage is extended it lasts until the end of your next turn. You can maintain Rage for up to 10 minutes. Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.

Unarmored Defense

While you are not wearing any armor, your armor class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Primal Fitness

Each time you gain an Ability Score Improvement from a Barbarian level, you can additionally increase either your Strength or Constitution score by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. You gain this increase even if you choose to take a feat instead.

Danger Sense

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren't as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger. You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can't be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Reckless Attack

Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.

More to come later on subclasses.

Primal Knowledge

When you reach 3rd level and again at 10th level, you gain proficiency in one skill of your choice from the list of skills available to barbarians at 1st level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Fast Movement

Starting at 5th level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren't wearing heavy armor.

Rising Fury

Starting at 6th level, the power of your rage grows stronger as the battle goes on. Each time you end your turn having damaged a hostile creature or made them fail a saving throw your rage damage increases by one die. If you end your turn and have not done either your rage damage decreases by one die to a minimum of one.

Feral Instinct

By 7th level, your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls.

Instinctive Pounce

At 7th level, as part of the bonus action you take to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed. Additionally, when you reduce a creature to 0 hitpoints you can immediately move up to half your speed towards another hostile creature you can see without expending any movement.

Savage Blows

Beginning at 9th level, every strike you make hits with extreme force. When you hit a creature with a Reckless Attack, add an additional weapon damage die to the damage roll.

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you're raging and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Supreme Athlete

At 12th level, the maximum for your Strength and Constitution scores is now 22.

Primal Might

At 13th level you can grapple creatures up to 2 sizes larger than you. This increases to 3 sizes larger at 17th level. You can also throw grappled creatures and objects up to 2 sizes larger than you a number of feet up to five times your Strength modifier as an action. For each size smaller than huge, the distance thrown doubles. If a thrown creature hits a solid surface it takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for each 10 feet it traveled to a maximum of 20d6 and falls prone. If the target is thrown at another creature, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take the same damage and be knocked prone.

Primordial Spear

Also at 13th level, when you make an attack with a thrown weapon that uses strength you can throw the weapon up to its long range without disadvantage, and if you are raging the distance thrown doubles. You may also choose to forgo the attack roll and make all creatures in a 5 foot line up to the range of the weapon make a Dexterity saving throw or take the full damage as if they were hit with an attack. The DC for the roll is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. The weapon passes through objects such as dirt or wood up to 5 feet thick, stone up to 1 foot thick, or metal up to 1 inch thick.

Persistent Rage

Beginning at 15th level, if you roll initiative and have no uses of Rage remaining, you regain one expended use of it. Additionally, your rage is so fierce that it now lasts for 10 minutes without needing to do anything to extend it from round to round. The Rage still ends early if you have the Unconscious condition or don Heavy Armor.

Shatter Weapon

At 15th level, if a creature misses you with a melee weapon attack, you can use you reaction to catch and break the weapon used in the attack, destroying it. If the weapon is a natural weapon that is a part of the creature's body, such as a fist or claw, the creature takes 1d12 + your Strength modifier in bludgeoning damage. The body part is not destroyed, but the creature can not use that body part for an attack until the end of their next turn.

If the weapon used in the attack is magical you disarm them instead, wielding the weapon if you have a free hand, or dropping it to the ground if not.

Trembling Earth

At 17th level, the might of your rage shakes the very earth. While you are raging, the ground within 10 feet of you is difficult terrain as it heaves underfoot. The tremors continue even after you have passed, creating a trail of difficult terrain wherever you walk that lasts until the beginning of your next turn. You can choose to suppress or incite the tremors (no action required by you) on your turn.

Additionally, while raging you can use one of the attacks on your turn to strike the ground, causing one of the following effects. If an effect requires a saving throw the DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. Once you use one of these effects, you cannot use another until you rage again or spend another rage point. If you are not standing on solid ground

Quake. All creatures of your choice within 100 feet of you must make a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and take 5d6 bludgeoning damage. A creature who succeeds takes half damage and is not knocked prone. The quake deals 50 bludgeoning damage to any structure in contact with the ground in the area when you use this feature. Any creature on the ground during the quake that is concentrating must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have their concentration broken.

Fissure. You open a rift in the ground that is 10 feet wide and extends from 5 feet in front of you out 1d10 x 10 feet and is 1d10 x 10 feet deep. A creature on the ground in this area must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall in. A creature that successfully saves moves with the fissure’s edge as it opens.

Earth spike. You target a point you can see within 60 feet of you, and you create a column of earth centered on the point that is 20 feet wide and extends upwards 1d10 x 10 feet. You can choose to have the surface of the platform remain intact or become a mess of broken earth and sharp stone. If you choose to have the platform become broken, the area becomes difficult terrain and any creature who walks through it takes 3d6 damage for every 5 feet it moves.

Indomitable Might

Beginning at 18th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Primal Champion

At 20th level, you embody the power of the wilds. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

Monk

Oh monks. I love monks! Everyone dreams of just punching all their problems in the face and monks let you live that dream! Unfortunately, punching things in the face is not as effective in this game as it should be. So lets give monks some love.

What are monks the best at? Monks are the quickest class, they can zip around the battlefield and make the most attacks, or they will be once we make a few changes. I am going to make some conbtroversial changes here, for one, monks unarmed strikes will never move past a 1d4, instead they will just get a ton of attacks. They are also going to get an extra reaction as well (for a ki point) and a way to regain ki points early on. Plus a little bump up on the hit dice size to help our speedy little monastic friends.

Class Features

As a monk, you gain the following class features.

Unarmored Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Martial Arts

At 1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield:

• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.
• You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama). Whatever name you use for a monk weapon, you can use the game statistics provided for the weapon on the Weapons page.

Monastic Training

Each time you gain an Ability Score Improvement from a Monk level, you can additionally increase either your Dexterity or Wisdom score by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. You gain this increase even if you choose to take a feat instead.

Ki

Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. Your monk level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Ki Points column of the Monk table.

You can spend these points to fuel various ki features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more ki features as you gain levels in this class.

When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your ki points.

Some of your ki features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon's lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Meditative Repose

At 7th level, if you have no ki points remaining you can use an action to regain 4 ki points. You can use this action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Purity of Body

At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon

Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws.

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Timeless Body

At 15th level, your ki sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can't be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.

Additionally, you can spend 8 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. When you do so, you can't take any other creatures with you.

Perfect Self

At 20th level,

Wizard

Wizards, the little nerds of the party. But don't say that to their face, cause everyone knows wizards are the top dogs. They get all the best spells and they can get even more by copying the homework of other wizards. Needless to say we are going to bring them down a peg, but only a little, because blowing stuff up with magic is rad as hell.

So what are wizards all about? In short, they are all about versatility, they have a spell in their book for any occasion and they don't even need it prepared if its a ritual.

My main gripe with wizards, and what I am going to try to address with this update, is they are a little too versatile for a class that is supposed to specialize into a school at 2nd level. The school specialization has zero bearing on what spells you can pick, so we are going to make them actually specialize by limiting their spell choices to a single school 75% of the time. Then we are also going to force wizards to choose whether they want to specialize or be a generalist even more by giving them the option for signature spells early on, at the cost of additional spell choices. Lets hope your DM gives lots of scrolls as loot!

Class Features

As a wizard, you gain the following class features.

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a quarterstaff or (b) a dagger
• (a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus
• (a) a scholar's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• A spellbook

Arcane Tradition

At 1st level, you choose an arcane tradition, shaping your practice of magic through one of the schools of magic. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level, and effects the spells you can select at first level.

Spellcasting

As a student of arcane magic, you have a spellbook containing spells that show the first glimmerings of your true power.

Ritual Casting

You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don't need to have the spell prepared.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table, and must be from the school of magic chosen as your arcane tradition. At 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th, you may choose to select spells from any school. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook, these have no restriction on school.

Arcane Recovery

You have learned to regain some of your magical energy by studying your spellbook. Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.

For example, if you're a 4th-level wizard, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2nd-level spell slot or two 1st-level spell slots.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Signature Spells

At 5th level, you can choose focus your study on the spells you already know, rather than on learning new spells. Each time you level up, you may forgo learning a new spell and instead select a first-level spell that is already in your spellbook, making it a signature spell. You can only choose to make one spell a signature spell each time you level up.

When you cast a signature spell it is cast as if using a spell slot one level higher than the spell slot expended. You cannot upcast a spell beyond your highest level spell slot.

At 9th level, and again at 13th, 17th, and 20th level you can select higher level spells to make signature spells. You may also choose to further augment a previous signature spell, making it a +2 signature spell or higher. The total level of the spell level plus the signature spell modifier can not exceed the total spell augment, as shown in the signature spell table.

For example at 13th level, you could make fireball a +1 signature spell, or you could have magic missile be up to a +3 signature spell.

Spell Mastery

At 18th level, you have achieved such mastery over certain spells that you can cast them at will. Choose a 1st-level wizard spell and a 2nd-level wizard spell that are in your spellbook. You can cast those spells at their lowest level without expending a spell slot when you have them prepared. If you want to cast either spell at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.

By spending 8 hours in study, you can exchange one or both of the spells you chose for different spells of the same levels.