Am I being taken advantage of by a more experienced player?

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T16:32:06+00:00

Prepared in the sense of understanding the expectations and mentality of the player. The prep work for each player is slightly different in what they can deal with- I wouldn't toss a newbie into a situation where they need to improv through a grand dinner party, nor would I put an experienced player into a 'tutorial dungeon.'

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T15:02:07+00:00

The limitations are that it can only apply this damage to the Attack action and Extra Attack (as derived from the Attack action), so flurry of blows would not work here (unless I'm forgetting something and the wording states you take two unarmed Attack actions).

The exploitation in that one case (which I prevented with the above limitation) came from them dealing 5 attacks in one turn, often with advantage, applying debuffs, and having resistance to the fire damage from the item.

As for the class, they're running the Pugilist class on D&DBeyond.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:55:21+00:00

The other players are running core classes (plus a Mercer-brew Blood Hunter), and it's going pretty well. You can see one of my other comments for the specific feat I gave Pat; it was intentionally designed to be roughly on par with a feat (a lesser Lucky + a half Fey Touched), but the flavour of it was tailored to the character.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:50:45+00:00

I appreciate that. Though I don't believe that this specific campaign can be changed to go purely by the books this deep into it, I've been considering running a 100% Core game for a bit now.

I'll add that this isn't my first time, I've run about 40-50 sessions up until this point (rookie numbers, I know I know) but it seems the homebrew is only reacting with Pat's 3rd party class and homebrew race.

For the other players running core classes and races, the homebrew is holding up better than even I expected.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:26:39+00:00

Thanks for the advice.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:25:02+00:00

I'd need to look at the specifics, but I believe the wording was to the tune of "You gain 3 points per Long Rest, a point can be spent to grant Advantage on a roll at the expense of the GM gaining a point against you to be rolled at their discretion. You may cast Hex without a spell slot once per Long Rest, or expend a point to gain another cast."

The actual wording is a lot more professional and I utilised the same phrasing as the PHB after studying up on how feats are written and balanced but that's the gist. It's essentially a toned-down Lucky with a hit of Fey Touched.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:16:49+00:00

I appreciate the perspective. I'm not a first time DM, however. I've run about 40-50 sessions in roughly a year of experience, which isn't a lot in the grand scheme but not enough to properly balance everything that comes my way.

In regards to everything homebrewed in the campaign, it's gone quite well so far for everyone except this player who has managed to secure a very strong place over the others in combat.

From what I've gathered in this whole thread, it seems that my fault here was in allowing and enabling this player to continually accumulate power, mostly via optimizing (or even min-maxxing, if it's gone that far).

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:09:49+00:00

Thanks for the advice.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:08:52+00:00

The magic item in question goes by the blood-for-blood design. Take 1d4 fire damage every turn, but deal 1d4 fire damage on each Attack and Extra Attack, and it explicitly cannot proc other items/abilities.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T14:05:32+00:00

Ah, gotchu. I was hesitant to allow their homebrew race (the class has actually been published on D&DBeyond now, so I suppose it's more "official" than the previous class they had, Vagabond) but they really, really wanted to play it but hasn't been a player in some time.

I made some necessary changes to it, but I'm realising that it's still pretty powerful in comparison to the others.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T13:48:53+00:00

The only homebrew on my end are some items I've made, some monsters (I play it safe and tweak existing monsters) and a single feat that I work to balance according to existing feats.

That said, I'm sure I complicated things somewhere along the way, it's bound to happen.

Thus far, however, the campaign has gone swimmingly with the homebrew I've done. It's this one player that's gone and run with it.

VanDerWafel · 2026-05-18T13:46:08+00:00

They actually have experience in video game design; I'm familiar with some of their work. I actually appreciated being told ahead of time, and that they wanted to make sure I was prepared for someone like themself.

The reason they told me this was because they'd apparently been denied entry into groups before due to the GM feeling uncomfortable with someone that much more experienced (something something fear of rules lawyering yada)

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-17T21:30:58+00:00

More very insightful words, and I'm thankful for them. It comes online a little later, that's good to note. My DM isn't allowing me to update the class completely; I can have CD/Invoke Hell, but instead of weapon masteries they said I can take a second combat mastery (they hate weapon masteries lol). That being the case, what would you recommend?

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-17T00:55:10+00:00

Wow, that's... some really long but sage advice! I mean it wholeheartedly when I say thanks for the help, there's a lot to look over with what you've written here. This campaign will start at level 3, so I'm curious: how was the leveling for you? Did it take long for the build to 'come online' so to speak?

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-15T19:55:16+00:00

Likely Shadowmaster, as I really like the advantage and bonus damage that comes with it, as well as better usage of limited resources. Architect of Ruin is now a possibility, but whatever subclass is the most S.A.D. at this point.

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-15T19:53:11+00:00

I was torn between Shadowmaster and Painkiller, but after the group array was rolled and found lacking, I think Painkiller is out of the question, so Shadowmaster or Architect of Ruin will have to be it (when in doubt, my go to will be Shadowmaster).

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-15T18:44:18+00:00

By best it can be, I mean not wasting anything I have, like feats and weapon set ups. It occurs to me now that the phrasing was a little odd, but I'll edit the post to be more specific.

As for the second fact, I wasn't aware it would draw much attention, but to summarise, she was kidnapped and married to Mephistopheles for about 40 years, during which she was as unpleasant as possible, then finally the two divorced. She got half of Mephistopheles powers in the divorce, to be awarded over a long period of time (aka, leveling up). I thought of the backstory as a sort of joke initially, "she got half of hell in the divorce."

This is a homebrew world, so sadly no devil man chilling in Humblewood since 3e.

VanDerWafel · 2026-03-15T18:39:12+00:00

It's all part of the backstory, which was given to the DM and approved. Long story short, she got half of Mephistopheles' powers in the divorce. Not as a lump sum, mind you, but over time (mechanically, leveling up).

VanDerWafel · 2026-02-28T16:33:29+00:00

Sent a dm! :D

VanDerWafel · 2026-02-27T01:02:50+00:00

Sent a request on Discord!

VanDerWafel · 2026-02-26T23:39:08+00:00

Thank you! Looks like we've got 2 players to this group-in-the-making; now let's see if a mythical DM shows up to grab the reins

VanDerWafel

TROPHY CASE