When To Homebrew

Since most homebrew issues come from races and classes, that’s what I’ll be focusing on here. When it comes to items and spell, the same general concepts may apply, but issues of power and balancing are going to be much different since you can adjust a spell level to fit more appropriately, or determine at what point an item enters into your game. Race, class and background will haunt you through an entire campaign, so getting it right is a bigger issue.

The Right Time

The first advice I would give to anyone who wants to homebrew is this: Learn to play the game first. Don’t come into your first session insistent on creating your own race or class. Even if you’ve read all of the source material, if you haven’t actually played, you can’t really conceive of how abilities or traits are going to affect the overall game. If you have an idea for a character that you want to play that doesn’t fit within the pre-existing options, play something else through until level five, and talk to your DM about switching when you understand the game a bit better.

When someone has an idea that brings a concept to life in an interesting and unique way that can’t be properly represented by a pre-existing character option, it might be time to explore creating something new.

A DM might also want to try creating new races and classes, or even building an entire world. I would give the same advice: go slow. Build your world: make notes, write stories, develop characters and histories; but at the same time, learn the rules of D&D (or whatever system you want to use). Then you can integrate your world into a playable system with fewer problems and frustrations.

The Wrong Time

One of my players asked my opinion on a homebrew class that someone in one if their games was planning to run. After looking at an assortment of seemingly unmatched abilities, I asked, “What’s he trying to achieve with this?” He consulted the player and responded, he liked bard, but thought that the buffs were too underpowered. I told him that his player shouldn’t be homebrewing.

Power-gaming is the wrong reason, in my opinion, to homebrew. If you are simply unhappy with the damage potential of a class, maybe you’re playing the wrong class, or maybe you have the wrong expectation of the game. Maybe a better idea than homebrewing is working with your DM to determine what race/class/background best fits your idea for your character.

The thing to recognize is that the existing character options are designed to provide a balanced gameplay experience. Going outside of those parameters can easily upset things, so you may not necessarily get what you want, if the DM recognizes that what you want to play is unbalanced. The point of most tabletop RPGs is to gain power as you level up, not to be able to fight ancient dragons one-on-one at level three.

Doing it the Right Way

If the time is right, and both the DM and the player are interested, take that initial concept and develop the themes inherent to it.

If it’s a race, make that race unique, but keep it realistically powered for the world that you’re playing in. Look at pre-existing races for ideas on how to balance. Keep in mind that aaracockra get a stat bonus and a fly speed of 50 feet, and that’s it. There’s a reason for that. Dragonborn get a stat increase, a breath attack, and damage resistance, and that’s it. On the other hand, dwarves and elves get a lot more abilities and traits, but less powerful. Powerful abilities are going to be offset by frequency of use and the lack of other abilities.

Work with your DM as you go, and if you’re the DM, make sure that you read and take some time to consider what your player has shown you. I’ve seen games where the DM gives a player permission to run a character, then gets upset because they didn’t actually read the description.

Know what you’re trying to achieve, what the general concept (such as ancestry, theme of abilities, etc.) is, and work out from there. A race of ice elves may have originated from a group that became stranded in a realm of ice, or been subjugated and changed by a powerful being of cold. They might have resistance (or even immunity) to cold damage, but at the cost of their fey ancestry trait. A ranger who serves a powerful vampire lord might gain the ability to call a swarm of bats or rats at level three, gaining a fly speed or invisibility later on.

Be prepared to edit and revise as you go. If the DM is willing to let you experiment, you should be willing to let them have some creative and editorial input on how your character works in their game. Timing of abilities and traits will go a long way to balancing your build.

Try and remember that the point is not just to build an overpowered character (at least in most games), but to add a distinctive and new flourish to an already burgeoning world. You’re trying to add a little something of yourself to the game world.

An Example: Demolitions Expert (Fighter subclass)

We’re going to create a fighter subclass on the spot, using the theme of a construction worker; specifically someone well versed in tearing down buildings. The name isn’t great, but I did just come up with it.

Standards:
To start with, fighters choose their martial archetype (subclass) at level three. They gain a martial archetype feature at 7^th, 10^th, 15^th, and 18^th level.

Tools of the trade: You are skilled with tools used to tear down structures. When you choose this archetype at 3^rd level you gain proficiency with your choice of carpenter’s tools or stonemason’s tools.
Additionally, when you use a hammer or axe to attack a construct, object, or structure, or attempt to break a door open, you have advantage on attack rolls against those objects.

Find the right spot: Starting at 7^th level, you have advantage on Perception and Investigation checks with regards to structures (doors, walls, etc.).

Bring it Down with a Bang: At 10^th level you gain proficiency with alchemist’s tools, and can create a small destructive device with them. If you acquire ingredients worth half the value, you can create one of the following: flask of oil, alchemist’s fire, black powder.  You can create one use as part of a long rest.

Black powder: As an action you can ignite the powder to deal 3d6 bludgeoning and 1d6 fire damage to everything in a 10’ radius.  Creatures can succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw for half damage. Constructs and structures take double damage.

Tool Master: At 15^th level you gain a new fighting style. Choose from either heavy weapon master or two weapon fighting. When using axes or hammer you can infuse them with additional destructive power. On a successful hit the attack deals an additional 1d4 of fire, acid, or thunder damage. You choose the damage type when you declare the attack. This does not make your weapon magical if it is not already.

King of Destruction: Years of beating against buildings and constructs has imbued you with natural toughness against them. Beginning at 18^th level you have resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from constructs, items, and structures. Additionally, when you hit one of these with a melee attack with a hammer or axe, the hit is automatically a critical hit.

Now, this isn’t meant to be the final word on fighters, but it conveys specific advantages without overpowering anything; grants damage boosts in general situations but with weapon limitations; adds a new option for alchemist’s tools; and hopefully is fun to play. I don’t know yet, but I hope someone tries this out and gets back to me.

That ends my ranting on homebrew for this week. I’m sure I’ll come back to it again and with more examples in the future. Go try your own, share your ideas in the discussion forum, and have fun!