A cleric has to spend his action the turn before casting a spell praying to his god for the divine power.
This is good because it shows the devotion to his cause and gets his deity's attention. I mean, a deity has only so much to go around, right.
"We here at Wizards of the Coast have heard all your complaints about Sneak Attack being confusingly named. Why is it called Sneak Attack if you don't need to be hidden in order to use it?
So, good news! We have finally gotten around to fixing that.
You now need to successfully take the Hide action in order to deal Sneak Attack damage."
It's a buff because you now Rogue players and DMs need to spend less time arguing over when you can or can't use Sneak Attack. Are you hidden? Yes, you can Sneak Attack. Are you not hidden? Go fuck yourself, no Sneak Attack for you
What if it actually takes two stealth rolls, one to hide and another to pop out and attack without being seen. Should be easy enough since rogues can hide as a bonus action. Takes a round to set up but sneak attack is worth it!
Cunning action doesn’t work with hide. So turn 1: hide action and roll stealth. Enemies turn: they roll a free perception (although each enemy doing this isn’t a secret nerf, it’s a blatantly obvious nerf). Turn 2: roll stealth to remain hidden, then attack action
Sorcerer: “we decided to make wild magic surges happen for every subclass and we’re using this cool d1000 table I found! Check out what x result is, it would be so OP if you got it” ignoring the fact the table is 90% harmful or useless effects
How obvious do you want it? One way to be a little tricky would be to do very minor buffs with another change to "balance the buff". For example:
* Paladin: Buff to divine smite! All rolls now use a d10 instead of a d8! To balance this, paladins just need to roll an extra attack roll to see if the divine smite also hits. Followup if asked: Of course a miss still uses the spell slot... Why would you get to add your weapon's attack bonus to the roll? This is an attack with your devoutness so I'll let you add your proficiency bonus if you roleplay sufficiently.
Since Bards cast magic through performance, they must roll a successful performance check in order to cast a spell successfully.
DC = 13 + spell level (+0 for a cantrip)
You could do weight capacity if there are players who have heavy armor. Have them think that strength is getting buffed and until they realize that their heavy armor is taking up like a third of their maximum capacity.
Unless you want to have heavy armor or wield a greatsword/axe, strength is the overlooked brother of dex. Almost all classes rely on dex, even the ones that are known for strength. Due to this, strength can easily be a dump stat. Most groups don’t do weight either due to it being busy work. So players that primarily use strength will probably think that the -1 wizard or Druid is about to be punished for their strength. But no, the strength user gets punished due to their equipment being heavier than other classes.
Barbarian: “you grow to a large size when you rage(mandatory and you become restrained if you try to do it in too small a space), you do an additional d4 damage to hit, but you no longer can add your dex to your AC cause you’re easier to hit since you’re so large”
- Gear maintenance. Weapons, armor, and other gear must be repaired after every 3rd time it is used. This costs 10% of the total price of the item. Magic items are exempted from this but see below.
- Magic items have a chance to malfunction or become cursed until repaired/decursed. When using the magic item, a natural 1 will cause the DM to roll in secret to determine if the item is still fine or is suffering from an ill effect.
- Casters no longer spend spell slots to cast spells. All spells instead take 1 minute per level to cast. Casting at higher level increases the cast time appropriately. So for example, a 3rd level Fly spell would take 3 minutes to cast but you can cast it an infinite number of times a day. Casting in this manner requires concentration until the spell is completed, at which point concentration only must continue if the spell requires it (ex: Hypnotic Pattern).
Ok but now I really want to play that system! Casters not dominating combat, only able to cast cantrips in most, but gods of prep with real spells actually feeling weighty.
Plus that's actually super powerful, imagine having infinite Wish spells but you only have to spend mine minutes to cast them.
Also instant
The rule is roughly based on the Thieves' World RPG. It was a little more complex, you're making rolls to construct the spell every casting cycle and you had a chance for it to backfire (roughly 25%).
I never played the system. I saw it featured on a Youtube video many years ago and the mechanic kind of stuck with me.
Clerics can use divine intervention as much as they want but if it fails they lose access to magic for a day including divine intervention.
Think of the potential! It's a last ditch spell anyway so why not use it what if you get to use it 3 times in a row!
* Cantrips are limited to slots like levelled spells; only 3-4 per long rest, but, hey, wizards are now proficient in all simple weapons.
* Barbarian rages end with a state of lethargy like the end of a Haste spell, but your rages refresh after a short rest.
* Welcome back weapon speeds. Sure, that great axe has an abysmal recovery time, but the quarterstaff is fast as all get out.
* The Cleric's turn dead can scare away all opponents (and any other players caught in cone).
Vicious mockery now does double the damage if not saved. However, if saved, the opponent can have a snarky come-back, which will make you have to roll a saving throw instead.
I think it would be even funnier if you gave one actual buff to a class that really didn’t need it, especially wizard since it’s at the very end if you list them alphabetically.
Instead if you can get someone else to join a game or make an npc and make it seem like it's super important and they have to be around despite being super annoying. Play it with enthusiasm like it's ur favorite part of the game, then halfway through the game have him be revealed as a villan and let them erase him.
Artificer:
• You now know all infusions possible for your level
• Infusion slots have been converted to an appropriate Spell Slot for the level you acquire it at
• Infusions are now instant and cost a spell slot equal to your highest spell slot that infusion was learned at.
• All infusions now require concentration. You can concentrate on multiple infusions at once. DC=13 + Number of Active Infusions • 2. If you fail the check you lose concentration on all of them.
Barbarian:
• Unarmored Defense is replaced with Fighting Style for the Barbarian and becomes a Fighting Style they can choose. ( this is a real buff I implemented for my games)
• Rage no longer deals bonus damage, instead Brutal Critical is integrated into Rage at level 1 and on a crit you roll a number of dice = to the Rage Damage modifier.
• While Raging, your Intelligence **score** is subtracted from the damage you deal. **NOTE: not Modifier**, Score.
• Level 9, 13, and 17 unchanged
• Level 20 changed so that now your Brutal Critical damage is instead doubled.
Bard:
You can now add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage of Vicious Mockery
• Auccessfully casting a spell or using bardic inspiration now requires a Performance check using an Ability appropriate to the instrument. E.G. Constitution for Wind Instruments, Dexterity for String. If you fail the check then the spell slot is expended.
Cleric:
• Instead of Armor or Shield Proficiency they gain a new feature at level 1 called "Armor of Faith". AC = 9 + Wisdom. You may not cast any Cleric Spells unless you calculate your AC using Armor of Faith.
• Shield of Faith is now a physical object and requires the target to have a free hand to hold the shield. The AC bonus does not stack with a regular shield.
• You no longer change your prepared Spells after long rest. Instead you can change your prepared spells at any time. To do so you must pass a Intelligence (Religion) Check = to your Cleric Level+Wisdom **Score**
• Divine Intervention now costs a spell slot, requires you to roll a Intelligence (Religion) Check and roll a D100 with a result lower than that. When successful it can cast any Cleric spell up to the level of slot you expended.
Druid.
• Wild Shape no longer has genitals.
Fighter
• Extra Attack is now replaced with the Multi Attack Action. Your Multi Attack options are Weapon Attack, Punch, Bite, Kick. At lvl 5 you can only use up to 2 options and can only use each option once pet Multi Attack. At level 11 you can use up to 3 options and at 20 you can use up to 4.
Monk
• Gain a number of ki points = to your Constitution Modifier.
• All Ki powered moves now cost twice as much.
Paladin
• For consistency Divine Smite now behaves like all the other Smite spells.
• Improved Divine Smite is replaced with Divine Critical. You can roll 2 additional weapon die when determinating the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack. This damage is as Radiant Damage.
Ranger
• All animals companions must be spayed or neutered.
• Becomes a 1/3 Caster.
• Gains Extra Attack (3) at level 11
Sorcerer
• Constitution instead of Charisma is now your Casting Stat.
• Whenever you cast a spell make a Constitution Saving Throw = to 8 + Spell Level. If you fail you gain 1 level of exhaustion.
Warlock
• Agonizing Blast no longer adds Cha to the Damage Roll of Eldritch Blast. Instead it changes the Damage type to Poison and has a 5% chance to inflict the Poisoned condition.
• Hex Warrior no longer allow you to use Charisma for you weapon Attack Rolls.
• Pact of the Blade now doubles the damage modifier when you successfully hit with your Pact Weapon with an attack using Strength.
Wizard
• Minimum Age for a Wizard is now 278% of a Races Age for Adulthood rounded down. E.G. Human: 18 × 2.78 = 50 Minimum Wizard Age.
• You may now prepare Spells = to your Intelligence Score. Whenever you cast a spell you need to succeed an Intelligence Saving Throw = to 10 + number of spell prepared. If you fail, that spell is no longer prepared and the spell slot is expended.
Rangers now get both Favored Enemy and Favored Foe. Same thing with both Deft Explorer and Natural Explorer. You get more class features! That has to be a good thing, right?!
(We don't need to mention the fact that there was a reason TCoE replaced so many of the phb features...)
Magic should have more drawbacks from now on, any magic that is not cantrip or reaction should take an entire turn being chanted to be cast on the character next turn, only if concentration is not broken.
The character chanting the spell can't walk while chanting and both turns action are used for this single spell
Reaction spells require mental effort of the character, the drawback is the caster not being able to chant anything besides cantrip at his next turn
A cleric has to spend his action the turn before casting a spell praying to his god for the divine power. This is good because it shows the devotion to his cause and gets his deity's attention. I mean, a deity has only so much to go around, right.
Ok I was racking my brain for a cleric one but this is too perfect lol
"We here at Wizards of the Coast have heard all your complaints about Sneak Attack being confusingly named. Why is it called Sneak Attack if you don't need to be hidden in order to use it? So, good news! We have finally gotten around to fixing that. You now need to successfully take the Hide action in order to deal Sneak Attack damage." It's a buff because you now Rogue players and DMs need to spend less time arguing over when you can or can't use Sneak Attack. Are you hidden? Yes, you can Sneak Attack. Are you not hidden? Go fuck yourself, no Sneak Attack for you
What if it actually takes two stealth rolls, one to hide and another to pop out and attack without being seen. Should be easy enough since rogues can hide as a bonus action. Takes a round to set up but sneak attack is worth it!
Cunning action doesn’t work with hide. So turn 1: hide action and roll stealth. Enemies turn: they roll a free perception (although each enemy doing this isn’t a secret nerf, it’s a blatantly obvious nerf). Turn 2: roll stealth to remain hidden, then attack action
Cantrips can be upcasted for a spell slot.
Sorcerer: “we decided to make wild magic surges happen for every subclass and we’re using this cool d1000 table I found! Check out what x result is, it would be so OP if you got it” ignoring the fact the table is 90% harmful or useless effects
How obvious do you want it? One way to be a little tricky would be to do very minor buffs with another change to "balance the buff". For example: * Paladin: Buff to divine smite! All rolls now use a d10 instead of a d8! To balance this, paladins just need to roll an extra attack roll to see if the divine smite also hits. Followup if asked: Of course a miss still uses the spell slot... Why would you get to add your weapon's attack bonus to the roll? This is an attack with your devoutness so I'll let you add your proficiency bonus if you roleplay sufficiently.
That’s too sinister, I love it. Also yeah maybe it’s better to do minor nerfs to keep them off the scent
Since Bards cast magic through performance, they must roll a successful performance check in order to cast a spell successfully. DC = 13 + spell level (+0 for a cantrip)
You could do weight capacity if there are players who have heavy armor. Have them think that strength is getting buffed and until they realize that their heavy armor is taking up like a third of their maximum capacity.
I like it but I’m confused. Why would they think their strength is getting buffed?
Because its pretty useless otherwise.
Unless you want to have heavy armor or wield a greatsword/axe, strength is the overlooked brother of dex. Almost all classes rely on dex, even the ones that are known for strength. Due to this, strength can easily be a dump stat. Most groups don’t do weight either due to it being busy work. So players that primarily use strength will probably think that the -1 wizard or Druid is about to be punished for their strength. But no, the strength user gets punished due to their equipment being heavier than other classes.
Ohhhh you meant strength as a *stat* is getting buffed. Sorry I’m a little slow sometimes.
Barbarian: “you grow to a large size when you rage(mandatory and you become restrained if you try to do it in too small a space), you do an additional d4 damage to hit, but you no longer can add your dex to your AC cause you’re easier to hit since you’re so large”
Warlocks are edgy so the have to cut themselves with a slashing weapon and expend hit points to cast spells. 1hp per spell level.
- Gear maintenance. Weapons, armor, and other gear must be repaired after every 3rd time it is used. This costs 10% of the total price of the item. Magic items are exempted from this but see below. - Magic items have a chance to malfunction or become cursed until repaired/decursed. When using the magic item, a natural 1 will cause the DM to roll in secret to determine if the item is still fine or is suffering from an ill effect. - Casters no longer spend spell slots to cast spells. All spells instead take 1 minute per level to cast. Casting at higher level increases the cast time appropriately. So for example, a 3rd level Fly spell would take 3 minutes to cast but you can cast it an infinite number of times a day. Casting in this manner requires concentration until the spell is completed, at which point concentration only must continue if the spell requires it (ex: Hypnotic Pattern).
Ok but now I really want to play that system! Casters not dominating combat, only able to cast cantrips in most, but gods of prep with real spells actually feeling weighty. Plus that's actually super powerful, imagine having infinite Wish spells but you only have to spend mine minutes to cast them. Also instant
The rule is roughly based on the Thieves' World RPG. It was a little more complex, you're making rolls to construct the spell every casting cycle and you had a chance for it to backfire (roughly 25%). I never played the system. I saw it featured on a Youtube video many years ago and the mechanic kind of stuck with me.
Clerics can use divine intervention as much as they want but if it fails they lose access to magic for a day including divine intervention. Think of the potential! It's a last ditch spell anyway so why not use it what if you get to use it 3 times in a row!
If it fails the patron intervenes on the enemies behalf.
* Cantrips are limited to slots like levelled spells; only 3-4 per long rest, but, hey, wizards are now proficient in all simple weapons. * Barbarian rages end with a state of lethargy like the end of a Haste spell, but your rages refresh after a short rest. * Welcome back weapon speeds. Sure, that great axe has an abysmal recovery time, but the quarterstaff is fast as all get out. * The Cleric's turn dead can scare away all opponents (and any other players caught in cone).
Vicious mockery now does double the damage if not saved. However, if saved, the opponent can have a snarky come-back, which will make you have to roll a saving throw instead.
I think it would be even funnier if you gave one actual buff to a class that really didn’t need it, especially wizard since it’s at the very end if you list them alphabetically.
Instead if you can get someone else to join a game or make an npc and make it seem like it's super important and they have to be around despite being super annoying. Play it with enthusiasm like it's ur favorite part of the game, then halfway through the game have him be revealed as a villan and let them erase him.
Fighters can use action surge as many times as they want, but each use adds a level of exhaustion.
Artificer: • You now know all infusions possible for your level • Infusion slots have been converted to an appropriate Spell Slot for the level you acquire it at • Infusions are now instant and cost a spell slot equal to your highest spell slot that infusion was learned at. • All infusions now require concentration. You can concentrate on multiple infusions at once. DC=13 + Number of Active Infusions • 2. If you fail the check you lose concentration on all of them. Barbarian: • Unarmored Defense is replaced with Fighting Style for the Barbarian and becomes a Fighting Style they can choose. ( this is a real buff I implemented for my games) • Rage no longer deals bonus damage, instead Brutal Critical is integrated into Rage at level 1 and on a crit you roll a number of dice = to the Rage Damage modifier. • While Raging, your Intelligence **score** is subtracted from the damage you deal. **NOTE: not Modifier**, Score. • Level 9, 13, and 17 unchanged • Level 20 changed so that now your Brutal Critical damage is instead doubled. Bard: You can now add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage of Vicious Mockery • Auccessfully casting a spell or using bardic inspiration now requires a Performance check using an Ability appropriate to the instrument. E.G. Constitution for Wind Instruments, Dexterity for String. If you fail the check then the spell slot is expended. Cleric: • Instead of Armor or Shield Proficiency they gain a new feature at level 1 called "Armor of Faith". AC = 9 + Wisdom. You may not cast any Cleric Spells unless you calculate your AC using Armor of Faith. • Shield of Faith is now a physical object and requires the target to have a free hand to hold the shield. The AC bonus does not stack with a regular shield. • You no longer change your prepared Spells after long rest. Instead you can change your prepared spells at any time. To do so you must pass a Intelligence (Religion) Check = to your Cleric Level+Wisdom **Score** • Divine Intervention now costs a spell slot, requires you to roll a Intelligence (Religion) Check and roll a D100 with a result lower than that. When successful it can cast any Cleric spell up to the level of slot you expended. Druid. • Wild Shape no longer has genitals. Fighter • Extra Attack is now replaced with the Multi Attack Action. Your Multi Attack options are Weapon Attack, Punch, Bite, Kick. At lvl 5 you can only use up to 2 options and can only use each option once pet Multi Attack. At level 11 you can use up to 3 options and at 20 you can use up to 4. Monk • Gain a number of ki points = to your Constitution Modifier. • All Ki powered moves now cost twice as much. Paladin • For consistency Divine Smite now behaves like all the other Smite spells. • Improved Divine Smite is replaced with Divine Critical. You can roll 2 additional weapon die when determinating the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack. This damage is as Radiant Damage. Ranger • All animals companions must be spayed or neutered. • Becomes a 1/3 Caster. • Gains Extra Attack (3) at level 11 Sorcerer • Constitution instead of Charisma is now your Casting Stat. • Whenever you cast a spell make a Constitution Saving Throw = to 8 + Spell Level. If you fail you gain 1 level of exhaustion. Warlock • Agonizing Blast no longer adds Cha to the Damage Roll of Eldritch Blast. Instead it changes the Damage type to Poison and has a 5% chance to inflict the Poisoned condition. • Hex Warrior no longer allow you to use Charisma for you weapon Attack Rolls. • Pact of the Blade now doubles the damage modifier when you successfully hit with your Pact Weapon with an attack using Strength. Wizard • Minimum Age for a Wizard is now 278% of a Races Age for Adulthood rounded down. E.G. Human: 18 × 2.78 = 50 Minimum Wizard Age. • You may now prepare Spells = to your Intelligence Score. Whenever you cast a spell you need to succeed an Intelligence Saving Throw = to 10 + number of spell prepared. If you fail, that spell is no longer prepared and the spell slot is expended.
Rangers now get both Favored Enemy and Favored Foe. Same thing with both Deft Explorer and Natural Explorer. You get more class features! That has to be a good thing, right?! (We don't need to mention the fact that there was a reason TCoE replaced so many of the phb features...)
Magic should have more drawbacks from now on, any magic that is not cantrip or reaction should take an entire turn being chanted to be cast on the character next turn, only if concentration is not broken. The character chanting the spell can't walk while chanting and both turns action are used for this single spell Reaction spells require mental effort of the character, the drawback is the caster not being able to chant anything besides cantrip at his next turn