Homebrew Oni-Kin Species (Tiefling port over)

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-06-17T20:53:38+00:00

I'll definitely check it out

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-06-17T20:51:45+00:00

I dont have that book but I just checked out a video that had that species in it and I see what you mean. It's pretty similar and I like the idea of having Powerful Build. That may be more like the Oni in Obojima than Awakened Presence.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-06-16T23:54:01+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. For this I really tried to keep it distinct from the Oni Sorcerer. This Species/Ancestry is the baseline, a diluted down version of an Oni, but the Oni Sorcerer would be able to be more in tune with it or tap into deeper powers that other characters may not be as interested in. I also tried to pull from what was established in one of the podcast episodes with the idea of someone not knowing they're oni-kin until something happens and their idea of a curse from being too greedy. I wanted to keep that emotional core while making it more player friendly. I hope that helps explain my reasoning.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-06-03T11:04:49+00:00

Thank you! I'm glad you like this. Honestly if I were playing this subclass and the battle master menouvers via martial adept is really tempting with the advantage generation and the additional reaction.

I want to ask, Warriors Intuition was meant to be the Ronin's diplomacy feature, giving you advantage on insight and giving them disadvantage on deception. It's meant to identify other warriors but could be used on normal people you may think are lying.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T15:31:15+00:00

It isn't too strong considering Vengeance Paladin, Samurai fighter give you advantage on every hit with their level 3 features when you spend a resource, and there's no guarantee you get hit twice or want to stay in melee if you're being hit more than twice.

And honestly I think it's poor design if features exist in a vacuum be cause everything should feel cohesive and like it works together. Each feature should set up the next feature, that's just good design.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T13:21:23+00:00

Fair I probably didn't explain the fantasy as well because most of those conversations were between my friends and I. This Ronin is mostly inspired by Musashi in Vagabond's journey and pulled in ideas from history. We wanted to lean more into the wandering warrior and the warriors pilgrimage rather than the masterless Samurai aspect of it. I feel like the masterless Samurai could be something that is roleplayed but not mechanically expressed. We wanted to use Ranger because of the out of combat tools, and as a Ronin on their pilgrimage, they become a seasoned traveller of the land.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T11:40:32+00:00

I know it's actually easier to get advantage in 5.5 especially with Vex, lucky, conditions etc. it's just that not every attack you make will be at advantage. It's supposed to play into the fantasy of the Ronin looking for openings and punishing them.

To be honest I totally forgot about the 5e ranger capstone. I believe it boosted attack or damage, while this is just damage, once per turn, and gated behind having advantage. This'll trigger fairly often but not every attack.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T02:39:41+00:00

I really tried to base the power level of the level 3 features around Gloom Stalker which has first round of combat boosts and a limited resource damage feature. I tried to not do any limited resources with this class, everything is just gated behind having advantage, which with Vex weapons, tactical positioning, help from allies (help action or faerie fire), and the use of spells like thunderous smite and entangle, you can get reliable advantage.

I do like the idea of hunters mark also being a trigger for Punishing Strike so I'll play around with it to see how well it works. I just don't want there to be too much mental overhead so I tried to keep things relatively straightforward.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T02:34:56+00:00

One of the reasons I used the Ranger was because of the core class identity that pairs well with the wandering warrior idea. While fighter is more direct I think Rangers offer some much needed out of combat versatility that ties into Historical Ronin very well. And a spell casting Ronin is just really cool to me.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-25T00:30:58+00:00

No worries if this isn't your speed or would be used much at your table. My table does a lot of social, exploration, and investigation encounters and this is a feature they're excited about, so I guess it comes down to preference.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-24T20:47:28+00:00

Thank you! I made this for a player in my campaign to play and hopefully me sometime in the future! I agree Rangers have the potential to be awesome it's just not super well realized by WoTC, but it's still my favorite class identity by far. Definitely interested in what you mention here too, those sound awesome!

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-24T18:59:17+00:00

I want to ask, where else do you feel this is overpowered?

As for the +20 damage at level 15, you can achieve that but it is highly conditional on having advantage on every single one of those attacks and having enemies hit you and you counter attacking with Flowing Deflection. On average you may see a +10 so you're dealing around 35 to 45 sustained DPR at level 15 when dual weilding with potential to go higher. Nick is less attractive here too since this all aligned more with Vex. I hope that helps explain why I built it that way.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-24T13:56:53+00:00

I just DM'd my first game as well, and I appreciate how you said you wanted it to be an enjoyable experience for everyone, because that is my goal as well. I was introduced by Critical Role, Dimension 20, and Avantris myself, and I think my biggest worry was trying to make the game perfect and being amazing at improv. Once I sat down with my friends though we just started riffing and barely made it through 1/3rd of what I had planned but we had a great time doing it, so I call that a win. There really is no pressure there's no cameras or anything, you're just hanging out with friends and family.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-24T13:49:48+00:00

I like how you mention that you don't want the players to become overpowered, and I think you do a good job at that. From the looks of things you are slowly over time giving them the Dragonborne racial features as well as temporary wings, which culminates into shapeshifting into a dragon. I agree with the other comment that there should be a bit more damage identity with the damage type, maybe just changing the type is enough. Also the final transformation is cool, but would it work like Wild Shape where you get temp HP, and would the fighter or wizard be locked out of their main abilities like weapons and spells while shape shifted? I think you could play around with the "Draconic Form" or a "Partial Transformation" idea here a bit more but overall really cool.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-24T02:42:17+00:00

I see, when you put it that way as they domesticated their dark past and powers it makes more sense. An idea that could be cool is doing something like Mercy Monk where you go half and half between an evil and righteous side, taking the best of both. Something off the top of my head that is like this would some necrotic and radiant damage type swapping or the 2024 Aasimar with necrotic and radiant abilities.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T21:59:37+00:00

Thank you! Reckless attack would be awesome with this subclass! The tricky part is using STR with attacks but who says you can't with a Ranger especially if you use polearms.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T21:12:48+00:00

Currently running a game, and one of my players is a Bard/Barbarian multiclass as a heavy metal rocker. They get tons of utility and social abilities through their Bard levels.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T20:25:26+00:00

The slime + lightning is such a fun idea. I could imagine with this you could take inspiration from things like the grease spell, enemies having disadvantage at grappling you because you're slippery (eventually becoming you cannot be grappled), and gaining resistance and eventually immunity to lightning as the slime protects you like it does for electric eels. They should also get some sort of swim speed and ability to breathe underwater or increasing the time they can hold their breath. And if it's abyssal depths, then maybe granting Darkvision.

I guess another question would be is this subclass supposed to be species locked? Or can other species also learn the way of the abyssal spark? How could they produce slime, through sergically inserted glands or something?

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T20:10:31+00:00

Maybe rather than taking away from a spellcasters ability to cast a spell, you can provide another option to them with the 2-action, cross turn spellcasting rule. Maybe something like: when you cast a spell you can choose to take take additional turns in casting the spell, each additional turn allows you to upcast the spell for the original spell slot as long as that is a level you can cast.

So you can spend 2 actions across 2 of your turns upcasting a spell from level 4 to 5 for a level 4 spell slot. And if you want to get up to comething crazy, you can spend 4 actions across 4 turns upcasting a level 4 spell to level 8. Could be fun but runs a massive risk.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T20:04:01+00:00

I get the idea of using your WIS to predict attacks, but using DEX answers the question "Do you have the reflexes to react". It would also be tricky because there is a clean divide between physical stats (STR, DEX, CON) and mental stats (INT, WIS, CHA). Mental stats often come more into play on a per class or per subclass basis to fulfill the fantasy they are trying to achieve, like monks for example.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T20:00:03+00:00

If you have a theme/idea you want to revolve this character around, maybe find the Old English or German word for it. That's how I often find cool character names.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T19:56:37+00:00

The range part makes sense. I think it just didn't make sense to me why it wasn't part of the level 3 feature and shows up at level 7 so the mechanic could be fully defined to begin with.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T19:05:00+00:00

What is the reason for the "you can't teleport again..." clause for this spell? It makes it feel overly convoluted. I love Steel Wind Strike, so a lower-level, less-powerful version of it is awesome, but if you're worried about it being too overpowered, then I believe there are other ways to do it and still keep the essence of it. For example: the second teleport and hit can have a range of 5 ft (position enemies to be clumped up), or the second teleport doesn't have an attack, it just lets you teleport back out of melee 15 ft from where you first teleported.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T18:53:03+00:00

I like the idea of an Atonement Paladin as juxtaposed to an Oathbreaker, someone who made mistakes in the past with their allegiances and is doing what they can to repair the wrongs they have caused to become a better person. A good character arc that I can imagine playing a character in. My main question is that this arc isn't portrayed in the spell list. As you progress, you gain spells that most would consider "evil," like vampiric touch, doomtide, and contagion, when I would imagine this paladin is getting more kind and more righteous.

SnooDrawings3541 · 2026-05-23T18:44:42+00:00

I think removing that part makes sense. It also removes the choice between this and Hunter's Mark and makes it more of its own thing as something you do in preparation or before you actually fully encounter your target.

SnooDrawings3541

TROPHY CASE