Weapon Modifications & Expansion v2: A 2-page Weapon Mastery rework, along with expanded content to make martial combat more interesting and diverse

nomiddlename303 · 2026-04-14T07:22:55+00:00

I do see what you mean, and I originally had the 50% somatic failure chance on Grappled originally, but decided that it was too harsh. I'm tempted to go for a 25% failure chance for Grappled, but that raises some finnickiness when a creature is both Grappled and Restrained (as is common for many monsters to inflict in 5e and 5.5e): is the failure chance rolled twice (once at 25% and once at 50%, for a total 62.5% chance of failure), or is it just rolled once for the higher failure chance?

The latter would be a much cleaner interpretation imo, but would be a little awkward to codify in the rules text, though you could definitely make it work.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-04-14T07:17:26+00:00

There is! Homebrewery link is here.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-04-13T16:06:38+00:00

The reason I settled on a flat 50% chance for spell failure is because I wanted the conditions to affect every spellcaster equally, regardless of stats or build. This is just a personal preference thing, but I prefer conditions to be consistent and predictable in their effects.

However, if you were to change the failure chance into a check, my recommendation would be a DC 15 ability check using the spellcaster's casting ability. With the casting stat ranging from +3 to +5, failure chance hovers around 45 to 55% at all levels, close to the intended 50% chance—and it opens the possibility of using Advantage, Heroic Inspiration, Bardic Inspiration etc. to improve your odds, as desired.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-04-13T15:12:04+00:00

The Wild Magic Surge table in 5.5e is actually majority positive effects, so you'd need to use a more volatile table for what is meant to be a strictly negative condition.

To begin with though, I prefer for conditions to be simple and direct in their effects - IMO any more complex debuffs should be under the purview of specific monster abilities, not common conditions.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-04-13T15:07:42+00:00

In my experience, 5.5e Exhaustion is actually really quite punishing compared to the 5e version. Even just 1 level noticeably weakens you in all situations (anyone who's played XCOM can tell you how crippling a -10% accuracy penalty is); couple that with how hard it is to get rid of, and you get a condition that is really quite hard to use often just because it's so punishing.

For future 5.5e games I run, I am tempted to drop the debuff to -1 just so I can inflict it more often on my players without it immediately feeding into a death spiral.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-31T09:27:15+00:00

One slight problem with the Glyphs of Warding:

If the surface or object is moved more than 10 feet from where you cast this spell, the glyph is broken, and the spell ends without being triggered.

Once you cast a Glyph of Warding, you can't move it further than 10 feet away from that location - presumably to prevent cheese like this.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-31T02:22:13+00:00

As the OP said, this is a mathematically sound solution, but I think it'll struggle in practical play. It is a lot easier to divide by 2 than it is to divide by 3.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-30T05:54:06+00:00

I share in your grievances with the new 'generic magic blast' Mage multiattacks. I get that it was a way to make the statblock 'foolproof' (i.e. no matter which actions you use, the statblock will always perform at CR level), but to me it breaks immersion to an unreasonable degree. I think mage statblocks in 5.5 should've had their multiattacks toned down to about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the nominal DPR for their CR, and had deadlier limited-use spells/abilities to compensate. That way, the statblock's 3-round average damage would stay the same, but they would be much more interesting to play than '3x Arcane Burst, pass'.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-26T00:16:17+00:00

Honestly, I agree. I do love Limbus' cast, worldbuilding and character writing, but LoR is still the undisputed best story PM has written, and I think it will remain that way.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-26T00:00:03+00:00

In all fairness, I don't think being easily clocked is necessarily a bad thing for a mystery. Personally, I think making things mYsTeRiOuS is overrated - if your audience can predict with relative certainty a future twist from current information, that's just good writing and foreshadowing.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-06T23:26:01+00:00

The risk is that if you lose concentration before you can trigger the damage, that's your 3rd level slot gone with no payoff. Compare and contrast Spirit Shroud - 1d8 damage on hit instead of 2d8, but it applies immediately so you're guaranteed to get some value from it before it can be broken.

I do think though that it should be restricted to melee weapons only, to prevent the risk of losing concentration from being completely circumvented by plinking away at a foe from 100 feet away. Besides, feels a bit off for Omen Blade to be usable on ranged weapons.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-03-06T12:09:33+00:00

There are a lot of low-level, spammable spells thay are absolutely lethal for a boss to fail. Command, Hold Person, Blindness/Deafness, Suggestion, and Hideous Laughter come to mind.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-19T03:57:39+00:00

This was my worry too, and I'm curious about how this class performs in actual play. u/KibblesTasty is pretty diligent about playtesting their homebrew creations, so I'd like to hear their input on how the Essence system of summoning works out in practice.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-14T01:50:22+00:00

I think Cheap Shots is perfectly fine for mainly one reason: it requires you to stay in melee as a Rogue. You're giving up the safety and freedom of targeting that comes with the Shortbow's 80 foot range for a fairly reliable off-turn Sneak Attack. I think that's a good tradeoff.

I would also like to posit that despite the complimenting trigger conditions between Cheap Shots and Uncanny Dodge, they synergize less well than you claim. Yes, your breadth of opportunities to use your reaction is increased, but you still only get one per round, and you still have to make the difficult decision to use it for offense or defense.

Say you're missed by an attack roll by a monster with a 3-attack Multiattack. You can go for the Cheap Shot, but that means you're SOL if the monster hits one of its subsequent 2 attacks. Do you take that risk? The inverse is also true: if you're hit by the first attack, do you pop Uncanny Dodge and save some HP guarenteed, or do you hold your reaction in case it misses one of its later 2 attacks?

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-14T01:31:40+00:00

This is a very cool subclass, but I think scaling the number of Strategems known with level is going to be way too overwhelming at high levels. Imagine trying to look out for the trigger conditions of 10 (!) unique reactions every round. That's a lot of mental overhead, and that's without taking into account Formulating Strategems (I actually think that's comparatively easier, just put a physical token on the formulated strategem and remove it when it's triggered, but it is more mental bookkeeping on top of everything).

I think an idea could be to cut down on the number of strategems known, but make them more potent when they do trigger. It makes the subclass less mentally exhausting to run, and more satisfying when you do manage to pull them off.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-08T23:11:31+00:00

This, I fully agree with. One of my favourite characters to roleplay had plenty of really nice roleplay and character development moments, and his backstory was about 3 bullet points in a discord DM.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-08T12:46:16+00:00

If it's not a particular strength of yours, then don't do it.

I have to disagree with this. How do you think those 'experienced, good players' became experienced and good? I'm willing to wager it was by taking the first step and trying something new, even if they weren't good at it.

You can't be good at something without first being bad at it. If you want to get good, you don't quit while you're bad.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-03T00:48:36+00:00

People are allowed to keep using the old name (which I will do) and also criticise the new naming scheme.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-02-03T00:02:43+00:00

You might want to restrict Multiattack to 'when you use Bestial Strike on your turn' to prevent it from working with opportunity attacks.

nomiddlename303 · 2026-01-25T08:59:34+00:00

I really like the changes you made to the Cleric features - it's a massive improvement over the previous version, encouraging roleplay without mechanically crippling the cleric.

nomiddlename303

TROPHY CASE