Saturday, January 26, 2019

FFXIV x D&D - Monk Archtype: Way of Rhalgr


This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:
I've finally convinced my FFXIV buddies to play D&D. The idea pitch that worked is for us to play a D&D game using our own XIV characters. I already knew of the existence of a homebrew version of the classes (found here) so I thought that transitioning one from the other might be easier.

I started looking at this homebrew stuff in more depth and it turned out that I wasn't entirely convinced about the end result; With all due respect to the man who put it all together, it must have been a massive undertaking to do so. The following is just my take based on his work, of which I am completely grateful for.

Keep in mind, none of this belongs to me or this person.


Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BJrIkCw5QE






Way of Rhalgr

I'm starting with this Monk subclass because I thought it was short enough to get started quickly. It turned out that I wanted to make more changes than I anticipated. Let's have a look. I wrote the text description of the abilities in italic and blue.


Greased Lightning

Beginning at 3rd level, you are able to launch attacks at an incredible rate. If you use flurry of blows and successfully attack your target with both of the unarmed attacks, you may make an attack roll for one more unarmed attack with double the proficiency bonus.


I see two issues with this ability:

  1. The wording behind "succesfully attack" is a bit confusing. Does it mean that you need to hit with both of your flurry of blow attacks? Or is it enough to just make the attacks?
  2. If we look at every other level 3 Monk ability, none of them allow you to deal more damage, and instead you're offered more things to do with your flurry of blows, or even different ways to attack an opponent.

This ability, as presented, does bring out the spirit behind Greased Lightning to being, but the issue is that it kind of doesn't work along the rest of D&D 5e's design. Also, while I like the idea of putting in a prerequisite to be able to execute something, I think having to hit with both of your flurry of blows attack to trigger a fundamental ability could get frustrating if the dice isn't in your favor. So what do we do?

Why don't we implement "positionals" instead? Not in a literal sense, of course. Perhaps the Monk has to move at least 5 feet every turn in order to get their Greased Lightning bonus; It would certainly give them the feel that they have to position themselves in a different place each turn. Opportunity Attacks in this edition are now only triggered when leaving your opponents' threat range, so it's feasible to do expect players to perform maneuvers like this.

As for the benefit of Greased Lightning, I would grant advantage on Flurry of Blows attacks; This way it's like they're using the momentum of their movement to perform faster attacks, giving them advantage. It's something they'll be able to use a lot more often. It loses a bit of that combo feel, but maybe we can get that in one of the later features.




Touch of the Elements

Beginning at the 6th level, you have learned a variety of elemental attunements which dictate your day. When you complete a long rest you may select one of the following boons. You receive the benefits of that element until you next complete a short rest. You may only change your selected benefit after a short rest.

Hands of Earth. You gain proficiency in your wisdom ability checks which you do not already have proficiency in. You may change the damage of your unarmed strikes to poison. You may use 1 Ki point to use the shove action as a bonus action.


Hands of Wind. You gain proficiency in your dexterity ability checks which you do not already have proficiency in. You may change the damage of your unarmed strikes to lightning. You may use 1 Ki point to use the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action.


Hands of Fire. You gain proficiency in your strength ability checks which you do not already have proficiency in. You may change the damage of your unarmed strikes to fire. You may use 1 Ki point to deal additional fire damage equal to your Wisdom modifier each time you land an unarmed strike.



  • While the general idea gets across, the wording used to describe this ability can become problematic at the table. What if I take a short rest, which ends my stance, and forget to announce that I keep or change the stance? Also, forcing players to change this only at short rests kind of takes away from the fun of changing stances in the middle of a fight, and I wonder if we can somehow implement that instead.
  • Hands of Earth: 
    • Handing out proficiency to ability checks like this is like handing out interchangeable skill bonuses. If you plan your initial skill selection around this ability then you're basically able to roll almost any skill that isn't INT based with proficiency; I understand the idea behind this ability, but it shouldn't turn monk into a limited bard or rogue.
    • Monks get Ki-Empowered Strikes at this same level, so there's no real need for them to deal elemental based damage.
    • Allowing the use of a Ki point to shove opponents as a bonus action is a cool idea.
    • Looking at other monk abilities of the same level, it's a little too powerful to grant them three separate abilities instead of the usual one or two.
  • Hands of Wind:
    • This has the same issues as Hands of Earth in regards to ability checks and elemental based damage.
    • Monks gain Step of the Wind at 2nd level, which not only allows them to use the Disengage and Dash actions as bonus actions at the cost of 1 Ki point, their jump distance is also doubled for that turn.
  • Hands of Fire:
    • This has the same issues as Hands of Earth in regards to ability checks and elemental based damage. Also, while granting a damage bonus is on par with the idea behind Fists of Fire, I think I prefer a die roll than a straight modifier bonus; we can make this fire damage to balance it out, since some creatures are resistant or immune to it.

Now here's how I'd handle this ability:

First of all, I'd change the wording so that it's easier to change boons, and I'd call them stances. I'd make it so that you can change them during the middle of a fight as well. Hands of Earth and Hands of Fire are easy enough to adjust; Hands of Wind needs a big rework since the idea behind it is to make the character faster, which is something that the D&D Monk class already does in spades.


Beginning at 6th level, you have learned a variety of elemental attunements for which you developed a fighting stance. Once you're in a stance, it's benefits last until the end of your next short  or long rest. Once you change stances, you must take the benefits of the new stance. You cannot benefit from two stances at the same time. Each stance benefit is as follows:
  • Hands of Earth. 
    • You can enter this stance as a reaction if you are being forced to roll a saving throw. While you are in this stance, whenever you make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you can spend 2 Ki Points to make a second roll. You can choose to spend your Ki Points after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined. Once you make a second roll, you must use the new result.
  • Hands of Wind. 
    • You can enter this stance before you use your Step of the Wind feature. While in this stance, you don't need to spend a Ki Point to gain the effect of Step of the Wind. 
  • Hands of Fire. 
    • You can enter this stance as a bonus action if you spend 2 Ki Points. While you are in this stance, when you hit a target with an unarmed strike, you can to cause your attack to deal an extra 1d4 points of fire damage to the target. 

I'm not entirely convinced with how Hands of Earth turned out, but I'll leave it like this for now.

Forbidden Chakra

Beginning the 11th level, you have gained a significant understanding of the Fist of Rhalgr style. After connecting with a successful Greased Lightning strike, you may spend 2 Ki points to deliver a powerful blow. The targeted creatures make the appropriate saving throw against your Ki save DC.

Dragon Kick. A leaping corkscrew kick aimed at the target's head, dealing 2d8 bludgeoning damage. The target must make a constitution saving throw, on a failed save, your attacks have advantage against that target for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier.


Elixir Field. You leap into the air where you stand and unleash a wave of Ki energy downwards, suspending yourself in the air as you burn all creatures within a 10ft. radius centered on you. Affected creatures make a dexterity saving throw, receiving 4d8 radiant damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful save.


Howling Fist. You crash your fist into the ground with tremendous force, causing a shockwave of Ki powered explosions to travel in a 15ft. line in front of you. Affected creatures make a dexterity saving throw, receiving 4d8 fire damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful save.


Tornado Kick. You leap into the air and deliever a series of swift but powerful kicks to your target creating a small localized tempest. The creature makes a strength saving throw receiving 4d8 bludgeoning damage on a failed save and are knocked back 10ft, and half as much on a successful save, with no knockback.



First of all, I kind of broke this ability back when I changed Greased Lightning, but it's an easy fix; just allow a Forbidden Chakra move to be used after you hit with one of your Flurry of Blows attacks once on each of your turns. Second, I feel like there are way too many options in this ability, but I would leave this as is for now. The abilities themselves are okay, though I'd make some minor alterations to them just so they fit with D&D 5e's design better.



Perfect Balance

Beginning at the 17th level you may activate Perfect Balance as a bonus action. You can use any of the abilities offered by the Forbidden Chakra feature at any time at the cost of 6 Ki points. You may only do this once per long rest.

The wording in this is a little confusing to me. What does "at any time" mean? Does it mean that you don't need to connect a Greased Lightning attack? Does that mean it's a free action to use? Does the 6 Ki Point cost cover the 2 Ki points needed to activate a Forbidden Chakra ability? When does this ability end it's effect? I also take a bit of issue that it's so costly.

At 17th level, your training in the . You can activate a Forbidden Chakra ability after you hit with any unarmed strike you make once per turn. This ability does not replace your normal use of Forbidden Chakra, and you can still use a Forbidden Chakra ability after you hit with an unarmed stike during your Flurry of Blows on each of your turns.



Conclusion

I'm not entirely satisfied with the end result; As I kept looking into it, it turns out that the base D&D class already has a fire / earth / wind mechanic with Flurry of Blows / Patient Defense / Steps of Wind , and adding it the way we are is a bit redundant, if not forced. In a future iteration, I hope to break the Forbidden Chakra feature in two and play with the interaction between Greased Lightning and other features better.

I'm gonna keep going over the rest of the classes as I gain inspiration, going from just subclasses and races to later on, full classes. In the end I hope to this all leads to a fun game I can provide for my friends.

Monday, January 14, 2019

TOMB OF ANNIHILATION: Grung Playable Race


One of my players came up to me and asked if they could play a Grung character. After I investigated, I noticed that there's no official release for a playable version of this race, and instead there's a list of deduced stats taken from an article. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the result and decided to put my own spin on it.

Links involved:
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Grung
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/09/05/grung-as-an-official-playable-race/
https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/223738


Link of my final product: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BkXEjZjtfE


Here's the stuff that I changed. I wrote the things that were extrapolated in red, and my changes to them in green. Finally, I explain my changes in italics.

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

It's easy to give a small race a +2 bonus on dexterity, and though it would have fit for Grungs, there's something we need to consider. Their immunity to poison, as well as the fact that they live in a place where it's easy for them to dehydrate, should give the idea that they are naturally more hardy. The Grung monster stat block supports this by giving them a higher constitution score than they have dexterity.


Arboreal Alertness: You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Arboreal Mobility: You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Though giving them Perception proficiency would fit, we should consider that Grungs are meant to be more athletic than they appear. Their Standing Leap ability shows this. If you check the Grung's stat block, they have a +2 bonus for both Athletics and Perception, but their natural Strength of 7, compared with their Dexterity of 14, makes me believe that their natural bonus to Athletics was made to help them with their weakness. 


Poisonous Skin: Any creature that grapples you or otherwise comes into direct contact with your skin must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. A poisoned creature no longer in direct contact with you can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. You can also apply this poison to any piercing weapon as part of an attack with that weapon, though when you hit the poison reacts differently. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 2d4 poison damage.
Poisonous Skin: On your turn as a bonus action, you can choose to secrete poison. When you do so, you can choose to coat one slashing or piercing weapon or up to three piece of ammunition. Once applied, this poison retains potency for one minute before drying, or when you make an attack with the coated weapon or piece of ammunition. Alternatively, you can spray the poison as a bonus action on a single creature that is in contact with your skin. 

A creature that makes contact with the poison must make a Constitution saving throw, the DC of which is 8 + your proficiency bonus + you constitution modifier. The creature takes 2d4 poison damage and is poisoned for 1 minute on a failed save, and takes half damage without being poisoned on a successful one. A creature that was poisoned by this effect can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. After you use this ability, you can't use it again until you complete your next short or long rest.

This ability had three issues:


  1. It's not party friendly: This would make it difficult for fellow party members to heal or carry their Grung teammate.
  2. The poison DC is set: Most, if not all, racial features that force a saving throw have a DC that adjusts to their proficiency bonus and one of their stats. A set DC just gets weaker as a character progresses.
  3. It's always on: Racial Features are usually limited in a short rest or long rest basis. This one would have the Grung PC be able to add poison to all their attacks, forever.


I turned this feature into an attack that was not only simple to use, but would also be a staple for a melee Grung combatant. Adjusting the DC and turning it into a short/long rest ability helped balance it. I'm not entirely happy that the end result turned into a longer paragraph so this might be something I could look into adjusting in the future. 

Water Dependency: If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.
Water Dependency: If you don't immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour, you need to drink twice the amount of gallons of water required to stay hydrated at the end of the day.

We already have an end-of-the-day system that penalizes you if you're not taking care of yourself. Not only would the original version have worked on top of something that already exists, it would have made itself really annoying to play. 

Also, consider this; the wording implies that a Grung with no access to water would risk receiving two levels of exhaustion at a time. One from the normal dehydration rules, and another from their own racial features. Not just that, but their racial feature also doesn't grant a Constitution saving throw to save themselves.

What I did was add an extra condition to the system that already works. They just need more water than any of the other races, but they are penalized the same if they don't meet the requirements.

I'll probably come back to this as I continue playtesting it.



Worldbuilding: Myths of Draconiquity, Part I - The Goblin King

  The Goblin King Myths of Draconiquity, Part I The origins of the archfey known as The Goblin King usually refer to his time as an old mage...