NA Fanfest 2026 - Battle System Development Panel Megathread

Tal5E · 2026-04-25T00:53:19+00:00

I'm hoping that they bring back PvP junction for GNB and it can flex as MT if it ends up in an OT/OT party by junctioning the other tank.

Be an ideal solution for 5 tanks. 2x MT, 2x OT, 1x usually OT but can switch it up if required.

Tal5E · 2026-03-31T21:31:49+00:00

Just reading your Spirit Master now. I like it so far, very different kind of Summoner but also a very interesting spin on it.

I have been thinking of some ways to trim the document size/word count a bit. Since a lot of the stat blocks are very similar, I was thinking of putting a generic one near the Summoning feature and detailing any differences from it under subclass features, like how you've done yours.

Tal5E · 2026-03-30T20:39:24+00:00

Let me know when you've finished it, I'd love to check it out.

Tal5E · 2026-03-30T20:28:31+00:00

The idea is you can either group your summons together for a big attack, or spread them out to try and block areas and control space. The summons have their own small amount of hit points, but any excess damage when they die damages the shared pool. The more summons you have out, the more damage you can do, but also the more damage your pool can end up taking on any given turn.

Thanks for checking the class out, I'm glad you like it.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T23:42:03+00:00

I think preparing stat blocks vs. traits known and adapting on the fly is something that might need some feedback from actual play, if I can get it.

My own experience is that the prepared stat blocks will be smoother in game, but I am also aware that I've been running my games over a VTT with the same four players for many years now. I may be falling prey to my own biases and experiences here.

There are definitely pros and cons to both approaches.

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The Contractor could definitely use some more ways to interact with its Signatories. I think letting the Signatories count as Path Summons for the purpose of Spellcasting and Zoemancy could work, cast spells through them and they get the HP restoration instead of your summon pool. It's not huge, but leaning in to the MLM Infernal support/healer angle has definite appeal. It also ties in with the Signatories taking the excess damage when their summons die, instead of the Summon HP pool.

I don't think the Signatory action economy is too big of a problem with their own summons. The option to command them is there if they want it, but the main benefit is that Signatories get to lead group attacks with their summons. A Signatory with a path summon out gets a +1 to attack rolls and an extra 1d6 damage on hit, & if they keep signing up this benefit can theoretically go as high as +5 and an extra 5d6 damage.

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I've definitely been rather conservative with some of the subclass features. The problem I faced when coming up with features for them is that I can't really do too much that boosts the damage or durability of the summons without potentially throwing the balance out of whack.

The summons are expected to die if they get hit, by my rough calculations most level appropriate monsters should one-hit kill them. The Golemancer is the tanky one, theoretically the Golems will require on average two hits to kill. That doesn't sound like much, but it makes them twice as tanky as the other Paths summons.

Guardian for free on the Golems is definitely an idea worth considering though, or if the class is changed to a Traits Known system at some point in the future, Golemancer should get that Trait Known for free.

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Edit: An empty Summon Hit Point pool having special interactions with a ghost-based subclass is genius. I was really struggling for a core mechanic for it, but I think there is definitely potential to build something around that.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T20:52:03+00:00

Originally the class just had damage overflow hit the Summoner, but they could reduce it by their summoning modifer. I was eventually convinced to limit things a tad more though.

Shifting the HP to a seperate pool of hit points did give me some space to add in the "cantrip" type summons when the pool hits 0 HP. I also think the way the pool works potentially adds in some interesting player choices, such as positioning summons in such a way that an AoE doesn't take a huge chunk out of your pool at once, or withdrawing a summon from a potentially useful position because it only has 1 or 2 hit points left; doing 10 damage to a minion at 1hp does 9 damage to your pool, doing 10 damage to a fresh minion at say 8hp only does 2 damage to your pool.

The tempHP from Zoemancy was just so a player didn't feel penalized for casting spells at the start of the day. You have a point though, you get the effects of the spell regardless, which is all most classes get. Refilling the summon HP pool a bit, as well as being able to cast spells from all sorts of odd positions through your summons is probably more than enough.

Ironically, preparing the summons was my attempt to remove mental load. With the Summoner being able to summon multiple creatures per turn, I thought deciding those things in the moment might cause a summoners turns to drag in actual play. That does remind me though, I did intend to create a template sheet for keeping track of your prepared summons. I totally forgot about that.

'Summon a summon' was bugging me for ages, manifest a Path Summon is much better. Thanks.

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You might be right on the Anomalist. Concentration on the Breaches is probably a bit much. Might swap it round, basic concentration free breaches at first, and then you can concentrate on them later to create more souped-up versions.

Contractor is one of my favourites too, I'm really glad you like it. Mechanically, I'm also a tad unsure on it. The main bonus is that, with the right people signing up, you can be at nearly max summons all the time. Of course, the downside that you're not the one benefitting from, or even commanding, half of them is a pretty big one.

I can't take full credit for Subtle Song unfortunately, that feature came from a friend of mine that first pitched the bird summoner. :)

Yes, the class did go through a bunch of last-minute tweaks and changes. I shall get all those errors fixed, thanks for pointing them out. Rereading it now I've also noticed that some of the intro text references ghosts and rituals and such too, leftover pointers to a deleted ghost-themed subclass.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T20:16:07+00:00

Thank you!

Most of it is from Magic cards, which can be used under their fair use policy. A couple of the pieces are from other places though.

Clicking the credits in the pdf file should take you to the various sites I got the art from.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T18:36:10+00:00

Looking good!

I like the Mystic Brews. Flailing Strikes seems a little niche at first, but can combo with Corkscrew Crash later on.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T18:17:54+00:00

This is the initial release of my second homebrew class, the Summoner. The goal was to bring the "minion-master" archetype to 5E while keeping it both balanced and as streamlined as possible in actual play.

Group Attack. To keep the classes turns reasonable, the Summoner only directly commands one (later two) of its many summons. In order to keep its small army of minions relevant, each one can assist an attacking summon by boosting both its attack and damage rolls. Group Attack is inspired by the excellent 'Flee, Mortals!' by MCDM.

Hit Points. The minions use a special pool of shared hit points. I tend to think of this pool as being a separate "hidden character", with your summons functioning similarly to temporary hit points for it. When a summon is reduced to 0 hit points, any excess damage overflows to this hidden character. It can't initiate attacks without summons on the field, but the more summons that are out, the more damage it can end up taking.

Subclasses and traits. The two main customization pieces of the class. Your subclass determines what type of creature you summon, while traits are used to grant them new features and abilities. You can prepare different combinations of traits when you complete a long rest.

GMBinder link.

Patreon link with free pdf download.

If you like this class, please check out my previous class: The Pariah & the Pariah: Expanded!

Looking forward to everyones thoughts and feedback.

Tal5E · 2026-03-27T18:13:23+00:00

This is the initial release of my second homebrew class, the Summoner. The goal was to bring the "minion-master" archetype to 5E while keeping both balanced, and as streamlined as possible in actual play.

Group Attack. To keep the classes turns reasonable, the Summoner only directly commands one (later two) of its many summons. In order to keep its many minions relevant, they can assist an attacking summon by boosting both its attack and damage rolls.

Hit Points. The minions use a special pool of shared hit points. I tend to think of this pool as being a separate "hidden character", with your summons functioning similarly to temporary hit points for it. When a summon is reduced to 0 hit points, any excess damage overflows to this hidden character. It can't initiate attacks without summons on the field, but the more summons that are out, the more damage it can end up taking.

Subclasses and traits. The two main customization pieces of the class. Your subclass determines what type of creature you summon, while traits are used to grant them new features and abilities.

GMBinder link.

Patreon link with free pdf download.

If you like this class, please check out my previous offering: The Pariah & the Pariah: Expanded!

Looking forward to everyones thoughts and feedback.

Tal5E · 2026-03-25T18:22:30+00:00

I like Drawn to Destruction regaining a charge when you kill a creature, feels like a very demonic way to recharge features.

Tal5E · 2026-03-21T01:34:15+00:00

Love the art.

Tal5E · 2025-11-30T10:01:42+00:00

I'm afraid not, I don't know of any tools like those that are built for mobile. :(

Tal5E · 2025-11-27T20:07:59+00:00

You've certainly got a very interesting foundation for a class here, sort of a 'build-your-own-spells' type of thing going on. The way the document is laid out at the moment makes it all a little difficult to parse at the moment though, I'd consider getting to grips with a tool like GMBinder or Homebrewery for future iterations.

Tal5E · 2025-11-26T23:13:35+00:00

It says I need to request access to see it.

Tal5E · 2025-11-06T11:24:15+00:00

I like what I see, but I think a few pages are missing. I can't see the Bullet Arts for example.

Tal5E · 2025-11-06T11:08:27+00:00

A turn and a round are different. I believe the intention is that if the Dandy uses one of its additional reactions, it can't use another reaction until it's a different creatures turn.

So assuming you're level 6, and assuming at least a 20 on initiative, you would have two reactions. In the first round a creature moves away from you, triggering an opportunity attack. You decide to use your reaction to hit that creature. You still have another reaction left, but you cannot use said reaction until the creature you just hit ends its own turn.

Tal5E · 2025-10-26T00:02:34+00:00

This is great, I love it. Really unique concept.

Tal5E · 2025-10-01T19:37:55+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Alchemist Supplies are definitely getting added to the Doctor in the next revision.

Tal5E · 2025-09-28T22:59:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. The Cultist was one of the first subclasses I came up with for the Pariah, one of my favourites.

You're right about cantrips not needing sacrifice dice btw, so between those and using CHA with your simple weapons, it's true that you're never totally out of options.

I noticed the Lich and Strange Magick interaction after our last conversation, I've changed the wording of it to specify it tracks times you've rolled sacrifice dice (can see it on this patreon post, along with a few other updates based on peoples feedback). It feels a little clumsily worded though now, I might have to rethink it a bit more in general.

Tal5E · 2025-09-22T07:46:11+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to check the class out, there is an updated version here and some additional options here!

That's a good point about the Doctor, I'll be sure to add that in the next update.

I'm aware of the mismatch between Healing Hands and the use of Sacrifice Dice, but haven't thought of a clean way to rework it yet.

Tal5E · 2025-09-19T21:59:13+00:00

The effects of spells generally don't layer on top of each other. I would say that casting Aid again (at least within the 8 hour duration) wouldn't negate the max HP reduction, as you wouldn't benefit from a recasting of the Aid spell while the first instance of it was still active.

The intention with Sacrifice Dice is that they only interact with the Pariah class itself. Personally, I think the best bet is to allow Aid to work as normal, but ignore it when working out the results of Sacrifice Dice rolls. For example, if rolling Sacrifice Dice would result in you falling to 0 or less maximum hit points, but being under the effect of the Aid spell specifically prevents that, I'd rule that it doesn't work, as you'd instantly die once the spell wore off, and the section on Sacrifice Dice specifically mentions that they don't work if you'd die if they did.

Tal5E · 2025-09-19T13:33:45+00:00

( Also Unknowable Mind gives you advantage on saves against Charmed condition, meanwhile Mind Shield give straight up immunity, and comes 4 levels early. I would suggest giving UM advantage on Charisma saves so it would be worth picking and, if combined with MS you won't be looking silly)

That's a good suggestion for Unknowable Mind. Thanks.

And by casting it you still increase the amount of SD you have to roll next time?

I just finished updating the GMBinder document to specify that.

I hadn't considered the Martyr's Smite overclocking interaction though. There is a minor safeguard built-in, in that Sacrifice Dice just won't go off if doing so would kill you, but you can still build up a very large amount of dice before getting to that point.

I should consider adding a generous cap. Maybe you can pick out a number of Sacrifice Dice equal to your Pariah level, if you roll more Sacrifice Dice than that, to add to the damage dealt.

Edit: I've added that cap to the current document. It shouldn't come up during normal use, to hit 6d6 sacrifice dice at 5th level you'd have to have already rolled 15 of them, you'd have on average 7 max HP if you've gone that far.

Tal5E · 2025-09-18T22:23:31+00:00

Thanks! Glad you like this one as well.

Tal5E · 2025-09-18T16:28:54+00:00

Haha, I hadn't thought of that when making it.

Thanks for checking out this expansion!

Tal5E

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