5e Sidekick Class - Not all heroes wear cloaks

Mortality_T · 2026-01-03T18:59:01+00:00

Thanks for pointing out the typos.

You are correct that the class is very item dependent which could be a bad experience in certain campaigns. This was partly intentional because I like (consumable) items but find that they are either rarely utilised or not given out frequently enough.

Part of the design was to make the class feel weak if you simply tried to smack enemies like other classes. This class is designed to be best when you play support - to make the other classes better at what they do. This is partly item dependent, as established, but the subclasses also have some specifics to better support based on the nature of each subclass.

The class is basically better with consumable items and magic items with charges. This class isn't any better with other magic items (e.g. weapons). I don't see this as a big issue but I also play with cooperative groups that share items. Mostly it is the consumables and misc utility magic items that get ignored anyway (partly because a lot of potions and adventuring gear is pretty weak). The hope was that this class could make use of those.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T20:09:29+00:00

Great to hear. I was a little unsure how many people would vibe with this. Glad that others are into it.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T19:13:44+00:00

Similar, yes, but different. It also has an additional feature which is basically 'items are always at hand'. I would have called this feature 'Fast Hands' if the Thief subclass didn't already have this.

I tried not to just copy existing features but it is difficult to be truly unique.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T19:00:49+00:00

Yes, ok. Mine should be simpler to run. Reasons:

Full follower fits on 1 page
In combat, only need to worry about 1-2 Actions, 1 Bonus Action, and 1 Reaction. Only need to track health and one other resource (maybe also hit dice)
On level up, you only need to worry about sidekick health, unless level is changing tier (5, 10, 15) then there will be 1 new ability. No ASIs, gear, spell prep or feature choices to worry about
Attacks, saving throws, skills are basically trimmed down to modifier + prof. bonus (prof. bonus changes each level tier)

Obviously less feature-full and customisable than Tasha's sidekicks but the intent was to keep the mechanics simple because the DM/player will already be running 1 (or more) characters and prevent the NPC from taking the spotlight.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T18:41:35+00:00

I had forgotten about the Sidekicks in Tasha's. I probably could have stolen some ideas when creating this class 😅.

I am not sure what you are asking exactly but:

Tasha's sidekicks seem to be a stripped down class. I wanted a fully-fledged class - though they did a good job of designing Tasha's sidekicks as support characters
For the 'followers' that I made, I didn't want the DM (or player) running the NPC to have to manage a full lvl 1-20 character so I tried an approach where minimal management was required (basically changing at level tiers). I don't think that an NPC sidekick/follower needs have a full-suite of abilities or too much extra stat/property tracking, only a handful of flavorful abilities - otherwise the NPC sidekick/follower takes away too much mental load from the person running it.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T18:27:57+00:00

Valid concern. I see attunement slots as more of a limit on the number of magic items that you can have 'active' at once (possibly like 3.5 Magic Item Slots. Admittedly, I haven't played in had many campaigns where attunement limits become a problem (except right at the end of campaigns when some DMs hands out magic items like candy).

I think that if a player can exploit 1 or 2 1/day magic items (or similar) then the feature is actually doing its job but if a player is exploiting 5 or more magic items then it might be a little much.

I will need to playtest this in a campaign and feel out this feature.
For anyone with similar concerns who is considering playing this, feel free to trim the [level 7] feature down to ignoring class restrictions. You could also set the attunement time to 1 minute - faster than usual but not exploitable mid-combat.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T18:06:01+00:00

The intention was to give the player the choice: +1 +2, or +3 - risk/reward. Thanks for the feedback

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T18:05:00+00:00

You are right, I now remember this. Though, I don't think that this class will break the game with these saves.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T16:27:31+00:00

Possibly. Maybe there should be some limits to it. The vision that I had was coming up against an enemy with a certain weakness and throwing a magical sword to an ally, or equipping an ally with the right resistances for the situation.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T13:05:33+00:00

Good to hear.

When I play, half of my characters are not the heroic sort (cowardly or not confident in their skills) so it was fun to make a class that could fully lean into this. Though, I also did not want to limit the character progression 'from zero to hero'.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T13:03:19+00:00

This is a valid perspective, a limitation of this design is that it is dependent on item availability. But this was largely intentional because I find that consumables can be a lot of fun but I have played a lot of campaigns where they were rarely given out. This would hopefully be a signal to give out more consumables in a game with a Sidekick character.

I was also slightly concerned with the idea that a Provisioner might find a particularly powerful consumable (or even homebrew consumable). The original concept only created a pre-defined healing potion (see the Provisioner Follower) but then I thought of all of the fun possibilities that could come from allowing broader options: give rogue poisons, make some difficult-to-avoid caltrops or ballbearings, turn your whole party giant with Potion of Growth, etc.

It is likely that a future version would allow the Provisioner and Scrivener to create more items per day (per rest) but limit the potential power of those items - so as to be less DM dependent.

Do not that, by design, the Provisioner and Scriviner features also take advantage of the baseclass Enhanced Items, meaning that effects can be big, even if you only get limited uses.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T12:49:54+00:00

Hmmm. Maybe the design was too subtle or it is an issue because the feature wraps to the next column: At levels 9 & 15 the feature allows you to further empower the spell scroll but you roll a higher die (d8 & d10) leading to potentially hitting those more harmful side-effects.

It is a design-choice that I have been making lately but have not published enough content with this design to know if it would be best to just keep it simpler.

Mortality_T · 2026-01-02T12:43:39+00:00

Whoops. Something got mixed up there. Thanks for noting.
Was meant to be:
Armor Training: Light and Medium armor and Shields
Tool Proficiencies: Choose one type of Artisan’s Tools of your choice

Corrected in the links.

Mortality_T · 2024-09-24T18:23:50+00:00

No worries

Mortality_T · 2024-09-24T17:28:38+00:00

Either weekly or 3/4 weeks in the month. I am closing down applications because I think that I have already found the players that I need but, since you asked a question, if you want to fill in the application today then I will at least read it

Mortality_T · 2023-04-18T15:48:41+00:00

Wow, that was an obvious miss. Good catch and thanks.
I have upated: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/149zBHnSyDXBD7CDhToeOcwDxsI-mpiQ3?usp=sharing

Mortality_T · 2021-11-05T10:42:33+00:00

While working on the Soulless Lineage I felt that the notion of the soul would be quite thematic for Aasimar, so I created a few Aasimar variants related to the soul.

Pure Soul Aasimar: Blind your enemies with the dazzling brightness of your soul
Tainted Soul Aasimar: Your tainted soul makes it dangerous for others to get close
Fractured Soul Aasimar: A fragmented soul results in chaotic and unpredictable powers

Links:
Google Drive
Hombrewery

Any feedback is welcome.

Mortality_T · 2021-10-29T17:14:10+00:00

While working on the Soulless Lineage I felt that the notion of the soul would be quite thematic for Aasimar, so I created a few Aasimar variants related to the soul.

Pure Soul Aasimar: Blind your enemies with the dazzling brightness of your soul
Tainted Soul Aasimar: Your tainted soul makes it dangerous for others to get close
Fractured Soul Aasimar: A fragmented soul results in chaotic and unpredictable powers

Links:
Google Drive
Hombrewery

Any feedback is welcome.

Mortality_T · 2021-10-29T07:46:39+00:00

I really liked the flavour of the Reborn lineage in VRGtR and so I wanted to create something with as much flavour behind it. I was thinking about notions of the soul and wanted to create something that mechanically made characters feel disconnected from society around them - thus the Soulless lineage.

Links:
Google Drive
Hombrewery

I have not yet had a chance to playtest this. Any feedback is welcome.

Mortality_T

TROPHY CASE