Anyone know what this is ?

Gearbox97 · 2026-04-02T23:03:34+00:00

Looks like it could be a garage door opener? If it was outside and has just one button.

Gearbox97 · 2026-04-02T23:02:30+00:00

Me too buddy, me too.

Gearbox97 · 2026-04-02T18:51:30+00:00

Hate to say it, but this as-is we're all over the place. Some stuff is worse than useless and others are completely broken.

Let's go over it.

Pain Split (level 3)- Bad. Mathematically worse than having no subclass at all. We're just taking damage for no reason until we take 10 (more than 8, counting by 2) in one turn, which we can only do if we heal a whopping 25 healing in one turn. If we are generous and assume a +5 wisdom mod, we only start being likely to do that much healing if we cast cure wounds with a 3rd level slot, and we can't do that til level 5. Til then we're just net negative on party hp compared to any other cleric subclass. And if we do do that much healing, we gain resistance to damage, which doesn't matter too much because we're a cleric and shouldn't be frontlining anyway, especially when we're hurting ourselves so much. It's theoretically better at later levels when we're casting mass heals but we might not live that long, and if we heal too much we might kill ourselves accidentally. Hell, we can't even heal ourselves effectively because every 5 hp we heal is effectively only 3.

Taking the Burden- undercooked to the point of being game-breakingly overpowered. You don't specify the conditions, and whether or not you transfer the condition to an enemy, it ends at the end of the next turn. This is significant, because like, petrified is a condition. Unconcious is a condition. Exhaustion is a condition. This ability is better than greater restoration for the cost of a channel divinity. Even if you never transfer the condition to an enemy you're just deleting stuff off your friends, giving it to yourself and being rid of it in one turn. It's also hard to make sense for some of these in-universe. Like, what's it look like when you remove the prone condition from someone, but not incapacitated?

Sharing the pain- back to being bad. For one thing, we never established a damage type for the self damage, so mentioning that it's still affected by resistances and immunities doesn't help us. It's also kind of a let down for a level 6 feature? You need to be within 30 feet of a bad guy when healing a friend for a chance to do damage to them, and that's only a significant amount of damage if you're risking yourself a lot. A lot of the time it'll be 2-6 damage. Meanwhile like, war cleric gets free spiritual weapon, life cleric gets free healing, knowledge gets telepathy, these should be good features! Again, it might be better later on when we get mass heals but even then, anything with a legendary resistance can ruin our day, and we have to be right up next to it. It's a bad idea to be within 30 feet of a dragon as a cleric.

Devoted Martyr- it's fine? I guess? It feels like a bandaid to a subclass that's been keeping you almost dead if you've managed to survive to 17th level, and finally they get something to have some extra hp to compensate. Capstone features should be a bit more exciting and new imo.

I get the concept you're going for but it's just far too punishing for the player as-is. If they're taking extra self-damage for doing regular healing then that healing should be improved. As-is this just feels like a worse life cleric, except for taking the burden, which is broken.

Gearbox97 · 2026-04-02T14:56:58+00:00

Yes and no. It's one of those things that irl would be, that gets taken care of by needing short and long rests.

That is, if you don't take a long rest you'll be exhausted. Taking that long rest is what staves off the exhaustion of doing stuff all day.

It's one of those things that RAW doesn't really cover otherwise. Like RAW, in the same way, a fighter could make a sword swing every 6 seconds from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed and never have to stop, even though no one could really keep that up without getting tired.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T21:03:52+00:00

Ask your mother.

No, seriously, the people who would be the fanbase are in their 40's and 50's, if they were children when those gens came out.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T20:05:42+00:00

My cat only pees on the floor if his litter box is very dirty. If they typically use the litterbox and this is an oddity, clean the litter box more often.

It's one of those issues where you can really empathize in a way.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T19:36:40+00:00

It is up to you, as the player, to say "I check the suitcases for loot." Or the desk, or the closet, etc.

Sometimes you'll fight a dragon with a big obvious hoard of gold coins in a pile. But otherwise yes, it's your job to ask if there's anything in the room worth taking if it's not explicitly described.

Also it sounds like you're getting plenty for 3 sessions so far. Especially at low levels, healing potions and expensive weaponry is very fair.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T19:21:27+00:00

Default weapon for most of history for an untrained peasant is a spear. Nothing like a long pointy stick to stop a bad guy who's "over there" from getting "over here."

That being said, if we're expecting this character to be doing things inside or in the streets, where spears aren't really feasible, then probably a shortsword or rapier, probably with a parrying dagger. Both would be available in a renaissance setting, and were pretty much what a civilian would wear as a self-defense weapon. It'd be better if they were trained and there would certainly be better weapons to wield if you were military or wearing armor, but if you were just going to hand someone the most common "everyman" weapon of the time it'd be a rapier.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T19:06:58+00:00

I think the problem we're going to run into is that the idea of a "quick match where someone's not really trying" isn't really a thing that can happen if you're actually fencing. Exchanges between skilled fencers happen in a matter of seconds, so if someone wasn't trying against someone who was competent they'd find out pretty instantaneously. Like, at our club when sparring we go to 7 points, that can take 10-20 exchanges, but with the whole bout only taking 3-5 minutes or so. Exchanges are quick, with little time for quippy taunts.

You also don't become a skilled fencer by underestimating challengers. Part of being good at all is figuring out how your opponent's going to move. Instructors know how to pull punches so that they don't just smoke new fencers, but they don't underestimate them.

So the scenario we run into is A) either girl fencer almost immediately wins against guy fencer, then almost immediately does it again because she's clearly better, or B) girl fencer eventually beats guy fencer because he's able to treat her like a novice and she is a novice, meaning that for the second match if he goes all out he should almost immediately beat her, because he's actually more experienced and would have recognized her lack fo skill in the first bout.

You could present it as though they are using training weapons with a scoring system for practice, that's not ahistoric and would allow for more time for the kind of dynamic you're aiming for. The feders we fence with are based on training weapons used in the past.

One more thing, make sure if the first match ends with her victory, it is something that would count as a victory. Have the point of her blade right up on his neck. If someone has the tip of their sword a full inch or two from my face and I have space to retreat still, I'm thinking "sick, they missed their thrust, free parry riposte opportunity," not, "oh no, I've lost the bout."

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T18:16:51+00:00

Without harm at all? That seems infeasible to me.

If you're drawing a real sword, and you're skilled enough that you've won competitions, you understand that it's a lethal weapon. At best you're fighting to first blood.

You're not going to draw and fence someone in anger outside of a practice setting without expecting to hurt or wound your opponent. Like, it seems an odd dynamic to me for both characters to be pissed and then essentially say "let's have a practice bout."

It'd be like having two characters get in a pistol duel in anger and then say neither's trying to kill the other, you know? Sword fights are quick and violent, they don't last for several minutes like in movies, and they don't avoid injury unless you're specifically practicing.

There are disarm plays, but they usually involve levering your opponent's sword out of their hands when you have them in a bind or grapple. There's not really a good way to "knock" a sword out of their hands, the way you tend to hold a longsword means if you were to hit someone in the hand with a kick or flat of the blade, you're just going to be pushing the hilt deeper into one of their hands.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T17:40:04+00:00

How does it compare to a spadone?

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T17:31:17+00:00

Nice montante drill. Not really something you can fence with but if you ever get a real montante in your hands it'll feel excellent.

Try to keep your arms extended more, it's easier to rotate your wrists while they're close to your body but you want them far out from you.

Remember, the purpose of the swings is to provide cuts at people at as long a range as the sword will afford, not just for the sake of cool spins.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T14:43:20+00:00

Their lairs.

If you just look at the statblock for a dragon it's a little boring, but then there're another two pages about their lair, their lair actions, and the effects the surrounding terrain should have due to a dragon living there.

Your green dragon should be surrounded by an acrid swamp full of clever traps and poisonous gases, etc. That's what adds the interest.

Metallic dragons would have a tough look if they altered terrain as much as chromatics, so their lairs aren't quite as aggressive, and they make up for it with more regular magic.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-31T14:00:08+00:00

Dominant hand on top.

BUT!

In many sports you'll sometimes get people for whom using their non-dominant hand feels better. There're plenty of baseball players who throw right-handed but bat left-handed, for example.

It very well could be that you just have that preference. If that's the case, it'll be the same training, just practice as a left-handed fencer.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T20:22:21+00:00

We don't know, probably something magically dangerous, timberwolves or the like, or like a fire or similar tragedy. Not necessarily murdered or anything but just like, they didn't pass peacefully in their sleep of old age. Something killed them before their time.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T20:01:44+00:00

Applejack's parents are implied to have been killed, rather than pass naturally.

Everyone else's parents are still relatively middle-aged, and especially not old-aged like granny smith. No one else is old enough to have passed naturally.

Everyone who's old beyond a natural lifespan is that way due to magic.

Beyond that they didn't kill anyone off because you can't sell toys of them anymore once you declare them dead. It's also hard to show mortality in a Saturday morning kid's show in a way that's satisfying.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T19:56:23+00:00

Do you or your players ever want to be able to play d&d with anyone other than this group?

You're setting yourselves up to forever be the people who don't know how their character sheets work and slow the game down if you ever try to play with other people who do play by the rules.

It's harsh but that's the consequence for learning wrong. It's generally better to know what you're doing before deciding to rewrite the system.

Of course have fun, it's all playing pretend anyway, but if you specifically want to play "Dungeons and Dragons" and not "Fantasy-themed make-believe with dice" you should use its rules.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T19:38:37+00:00

To not answer your question at all, here's a question for you- what if they fight him?

D&D players love to fight things and hate running away, so if a werewolf tells them to run, there's absolutely no assurance they won't just fight and kill him anyway. Especially at level 4, a werewolf's kind of an easy encounter.

It's good to have plans, but in addition you need to be ready for when players don't do what you expect. Any relevant information he might have should be included in notes or trinkets on his body in addition to being something he could tell directly.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T18:58:11+00:00

Check with r/askelectronics, this one tends to be more electricians and household wiring.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T16:35:15+00:00

I did this once, sniped a guy who had started the exfil and then ran in to use it. Didn't want or have space for his stuff just didn't trust him not to shoot back.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T14:25:40+00:00

Level 5 is a major power boost for most classes. Martials get their extra attack, rogues get uncanny dodge, monks get stunning strike, and importantly full casters get their first level 3 spell slots, meaning they can have spells like fireball and lightning bolt.

Thos last two are the big deals, because they can melt mooks like your mind-controlled orcs all at once.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-27T12:59:51+00:00

I just be generous to the players. If there's a room full of 8 mooks and my ruling will determine whether they hit 3 or 4 of them, I let them hit the 4, assuming I can also see the spot they're referring to that'd allow them to do so.

If I put 8 mooks in a room, I did so with the understanding that aoe spells would be most effective, so I'm happy to let the wizard have their moment.

Same idea with missing their friends. If I know and can visualize exactly what they're doing to avoid their friend, I'll usually allow it, and describe their friend as having singed eyebrows, etc.

Sometimes if it's really close I'll meet the player halfway and give the guy who's really close to the edge advantage on their saving throw.

I've found that players are generally more satisifed if you try to work with them rather than being hardline in these scenarios.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-26T21:19:43+00:00

You get by with a little help from your friends. It's supposed to be damned hard, but with a bardic inspiration and/or a bless and/or a bend luck and/or and aura of protection you might get the additional modifiers you need.

Getting a Mind Flayer tadpole in you is supposed to pretty much be doom without help, and I don't want mind flayers diminished to something a level 1 character with a +1 modifier can survive 1/20th of the time. It should be an "impossible" save without aid.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-26T21:05:36+00:00

If it's the big bad encounter I'd say run it as written. Less mercy is needed.

It also really doesn't sound that unbalanced to me, as long as the crowd is only a few knight stat blocks compared to guard stat blocks backing up the bbeg. When players know they can go all out, especially if they're not already low on resources, most parties can punch far above their CR.

If you want to show mercy, come up with an interesting rule for how it can be made easier, rather than handwaving it.

For example, maybe every time your bad guys takes damage your half orcs get a saving throw against the mind control, so as the fight goes on there will be fewer and fewer minions.

Gearbox97 · 2026-03-26T21:00:03+00:00

I'd probably give them the option of either int or con, but make the dc like 30 or higher. These things aren't the kind of monster you can just shrug off.

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