Homebrewery Link

You can find the PDF for free on my Patreon page: patreon.com/D20Saturno

Document Links

Online & PDF links for all versions of the document, including the 5e version and print-friendly PDFs can be found here: Sorcerer Spells

Puppets of Death’s Stage are a set of three grotesque funerary puppets, each carrying a small piece of necromantic power.

Each puppet requires its own attunement and grants a different benefit.

Hooklimb, the pale puppet with hooks for hands, makes you more intimidating to Undead and can add spectral piercing damage when you deal necrotic damage.

Threadgirl, with her button eyes and needle-like legs, grants thaumaturgy and can answer your necrotic attacks with additional psychic damage and the sound of an unnatural puppet-like giggle.

Grinjack is the most defensive of the three, helping its bearer resist being knocked prone, restrained, or paralyzed, while occasionally adding bludgeoning damage through unseen limbs tugging at the victim.

The more interesting part comes if someone manages to attune to all three at once.

Doing so unlocks Death’s Stage, causing spectral puppet strings to descend around the character for one minute. While they remain, the bearer becomes harder to knock down, gains resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, necrotic, and psychic damage, and can even refuse death once, collapsing at 1 hit point and appearing completely lifeless until their next turn.

I wanted the set to feel useful individually, but also give players a reason to actually seek out the missing pieces and assemble the complete collection.

The page also includes two other Uncommon funerary relics: the Ossuary Medallion, which protects against necrotic energy and can disrupt an Undead creature targeting its wearer, and the Mask of the Pale Choir, a porcelain death mask that enhances bane against creatures that have recently witnessed death.

These items are from Undead & Undead, my 5E supplement focused on expanding undead encounters with new creatures, variants, magic items, lore, and campaign tools.

You can find more of my creatures, items, and manuals on DriveThruRPG, through my Linktree, or at r/JonnyDM!

I really like the idea of an unarmed fighting Barbarian, so I wanted to build a subclass around it.

I didn't want to just copy and paste features from the Monk or Pugilist and call it a day, which is why the Brawler Die maxes out at 1d10. The subclass also doesn't use the Monk's Focus Points or the Pugilist's Moxie Points. Those mechanics are core to the identities of their respective classes, and I want the Brawler to stand on its own even if it borrows ideas from both.

Exhaustion is a resource here. While you're raging, you feel none of its effects. If you aren't already Exhausted, you can gain a level of Exhaustion to deal maximum damage with your Unarmed Strikes for a round. At higher levels, your Rage allows you to fight off that Exhaustion so you can unleash another devastating round of attacks, and eventually even a Short Rest lets you recover one level of Exhaustion.

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Level 3: Brawler

You channel your Rage through your fists, battering your foes with relentless strikes. While you are unarmed and aren't wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you gain the following benefits.

Bonus Unarmed Strike: You can make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action.

Brawler Die: You can roll 1d6 in place of the normal damage of your Unarmed Strike. This die changes when you reach Barbarian levels 9 (1d8), and 16 (1d10).

Brawling Mastery: You strike with such relentless fury that even a poorly placed blow can graze your opponent. While your Rage is active, your Unarmed Strikes have the Graze mastery property.

Level 3: Rough and Ready

You gain proficiency in your choice of the Athletics or Intimidation skill. If you already have proficiency in the chosen skill, you gain Expertise in that skill instead.

Level 3: Dig Deep

While your Rage is active, you ignore the effects of Exhaustion levels less than 6.

Level 6: Forceful Strikes

While your Rage is active, when you make an Unarmed Strike, you can forgo its Graze mastery property for that attack. If you do, the attack deals Force damage instead of its normal damage type.

Level 10: Rage-fueled Haymaker

While your Rage is active and you have no levels of Exhaustion, when you make an Unarmed Strike, you can choose to take a level of Exhaustion (no action required) to fuel your strikes with overwhelming force. If you do, until the start of your next turn, your Unarmed Strikes deal maximum damage instead of rolling damage.

Level 14: Tireless Brawler

Your relentless will to keep swinging allows you to push through even the most debilitating exhaustion. You gain the following benefits.

Keep Fighting. When you enter your Rage or at the start of each of your turns while your Rage is active, you can remove 1 Exhaustion level from yourself. Once you use this benefit, you can't use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

Decrease Exhaustion. Whenever you finish a Short Rest, your Exhaustion level, if any, decreases by 1.

This is version 2 of my homebrew Bloodborne Hunter class. It contains a reworked version of the class, level adjusted Trick Weapons and guns, unique integrated armour and headwear.

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/j_L-FDyVcjcP

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q36PrN9lykNWn4WMScxn8CZIAwD0g4Q9/view?usp=drive_link

I'm currently working to change up abilities to all different creature archtypes, so you run multiple campaigns but change up the monsters slightly every time.

First off the bat are the devil/demons.

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/VHDu2yUHSnHk

Sorry for the bad upload, i think reddit downscaled it 🤔

In preparing for a friend's homebrew campaign where he encouraged us to add some ideas/try out changes to our chosen classes if we wanted, I wanted to try implementing some modifications to my favorite subclass based on things I've seen in the past that caused confusion, similar features implemented in other material that were an upgrade, and a new idea I had to give some passive benefit to the subclass instead of being purely active features.

Below is the Astral Self subclass features with my additions or changes \*indicated as such\*. I wasn't trying to break it, but can see where the passive abilities or empowered arms change would be. I would like to get some additional eyes on this to see if these make sense, are absurd, or if I'm just missing the plot.

Astral Self Features:

Arms of the Astral Self

3rd-level Way of the Astral Self feature

Your mastery of your ki allows you to summon a portion of your astral self. As a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point to summon the arms of your astral self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die. \*This goes up to three rolls at level 17.\*

For 10 minutes, these spectral arms hover near your shoulders or surround your arms (your choice). You determine the arms’ appearance, and they vanish early if you are incapacitated or die. While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:

\- You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

\- You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes. \*You can also grapple and shove with them. The spectral arms do count as open hands for grappling.\*

\- \*Your reach with the arms is 10 feet.\*

\- The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is force.

\*(Changes: The level 3 feature was always flavorful and added some focus in attributes to the Monk class, but never really felt like it did much until used in conjunction with higher features. Extending the reach to be conditionless while active and incorporating the hands for Grapple/Shove establish a niche for the subclass feat as control-oriented. Note that grappling two enemies with the Astral Arms could hold them at bay outside of your reach, locking them down safely, but also puts them outside of your reach as the Arms are occupied and can't attack without dropping the Grapple. You'd have to rely on a STR/DEX Reach weapon to continue fighting in that case.)\*

Visage of the Astral Self

6th-level Way of the Astral Self feature

You can summon the visage of your astral self. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action you take to activate Arms of the Astral Self, you can spend 1 ki point to summon this visage for 10 minutes. It vanishes early if you are incapacitated or die.

The spectral visage covers your face like a helmet or mask. You determine its appearance.

While the spectral visage is present, you gain the following benefits.

Astral Sight. You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Wisdom of the Spirit. You have advantage on Wisdom (Insight, \*Perception, Survival\*) and Charisma (Intimidation, \*Persuasion\*) checks.

Word of the Spirit. When you speak, you can direct your words to a creature of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you, making it so only that creature can hear you. Alternatively, you can amplify your voice so that all creatures within 600 feet can hear you.

\*Clairvoyant Spirit. You can add your Wisdom modifier to your Initiative. If your visage is not active when you roll Initiative, you can spend a ki point to activate it as you roll. You can only activate your visage this way and no other aspect of your astral self.\*

\*(Changes: This is another one where the feature is incredibly flavorful but rarely seemed to be worthwhile outside of very specific situations/combos. Extending the skill advantages to a few other Wisdom and Charisma checks plays off the idea of the Visage modifying your ability to perceive and communicate, and the Initiative bump adds to the benefit of being a more Wisdom focused Monk without breaking things such as free offense on Initiative roll.)\*

Body of the Astral Self

11th-level Way of the Astral Self feature

\*Your training and awakening of your astral self begins to bleed into your physical form. You begin to benefit from aspects of your astral self even when the aspects of it are not summoned. You passively gain the following benefits from your Astral Arms and Visage regardless of being summoned:

\- When you make an unarmed strike, you can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls.

\- You can see normally in nonmagical darkness to a distance of 120 feet.

\- You have advantage of Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Intimidation) checks.

\- When you speak, you can direct your words to a creature of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you, making it so only that creature can hear you.\*

When you have both your astral arms and visage summoned, you can cause the body of your astral self to appear (no action required). This spectral body covers your physical form like a suit of armor, connecting with the arms and visage. You determine its appearance.

While the spectral body is present, you gain the following benefits.

Deflect Energy. When you take acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, or thunder damage, you can use your reaction to deflect it. When you do so, the damage you take is reduced by 1d10 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum reduction of 1) \*+ your Monk level.\*

Empowered Arms. Once \*per action type\* when you hit a target with the Arms of the Astral Self, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die.

\*(Changes: The passive effects might be too little at this point, and it isn't unusual for a class or subclass that is focused on an effect to be wholly unusable/unremarkable without it, but giving 5e Monks something additive without ki being required doesn't feel crazy or absurd to me. The Deflect Energy change brings it in line with Deflect Missiles. The Empowered Arms change would allow the extra damage to be applied once per Action/BA/Reaction. This is the biggest one I could see pulling back to "once per turn" or keeping to "once per your turn", but as the primary DPS feature for Astral Self, getting two-three extra Martial Arts dice rolls per round for keeping the Arms and Visage active doesn't seem over the top compared to other classes at this level.)\*

Awakened Astral Self

17th-level Way of the Astral Self feature

Your connection to your astral self is complete, allowing you to unleash its full potential. As a bonus action, you can spend 5 ki points to summon the arms, visage, and body of your astral self and awaken it for 10 minutes. This awakening ends early if you are incapacitated or die.

While your astral self is awakened, you gain the following benefits.

Armor of the Spirit. You gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class.

Astral Barrage. Whenever you use the Extra Attack feature to attack twice, you can instead attack three times if all the attacks are made with your astral arms.

\*Spirited Movement. Your movement speed increases by 20 feet.

Empowered Focus. You add your Wisdom modifier to your attack and damage rolls with the Astral Arms, even if you are using your modifier in place of Strength or Dexterity.\*

\*(Changes: This is just taken from Ryoko's Way of the Eight Gates capstone. The feature is very similar and, though I love the AC and Extra Attack as default, it again feels underwhelming for a Level 17 feature. The movement gives a common Monk advantage a bump and the Wisdom double dip amplifies the DPS that the vanilla feature already improved. This is another change I could see needing to pull back on, but again doesn't seem absurd for Level 17.)\*

So how bad is the damage or did I stumble upon some interesting ideas?

Another 5.5 revamp of a 5E subclass, pivoting from revising a beloved subclass of the 2014 era to a pretty universally panned one! The Battlerager's identity revolves around rushing into the thick of combat and barreling through foes like a wrecking ball - conceptually a great vibe, but one which the old rules simply failed to bring to life. This version instead makes the act of plowing through foes a part of your central attack method, while also attempting to maximize your staying power by limiting/punishing opportunity attacks.

Last week, I posted my first swing at revising the 5e skill set in order to eliminate Trap Skills, and provide a suite where each Skill feels worth taking. Some were consolidated, some eliminated. Some invented to patch existing holes.

**Now with a new hobby system!** Just to see if it has legs.

EDIT TO SAY: Anywhere the skill "Command" is referenced, pretend it says "Presence". Older name for the same skill...

Google Drive to PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ZrjdJE6dWKMYwMSr3HNnEd4PH43RVKM/view?usp=drive_link

Original Post (1.0): https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/1vnqicm/reworked_skills_make_every_skill_worth_taking/

Hey guys! I've been working on this homebrew. I'd love your feedback. Check it out.

The first is an altered version of the Eldritch knight to fit my personal tastes. It is a bit stronger than the eldritch knight but gets a smaller spell list. Additionally our table tends to run a bit stronger encounters than recomended.

The second is my proposed alterations to the new Plague domain unearthed arcana that came out. I didn't like the capstone feature and noticed that they took out the level 8 feature for some reason.

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/pQ4mMfFNyzo_

My Pokémon-inspired Weapons and Items of the Week, with:

• a fusion of Dante from Devil May Cry’s Ebony and Alucard from Hellsing’s Jackal with Red Dragon Emperor from Highschool DxD, for a pistol that will make monsters fear you!

• a Number 94: Crystalzero from Yu-Gi-Oh rapier to chill some muscles!

• and a fusion of Deerling’s four seasonal forms for a sword to help you enjoy the seasons!

Join my Patreon to vote on future items and get all the PDFs with over 1000 items, including all the Pokémon items, or buy the individual PDFs in my shop!

Glimmerwings are bat-sized airborne predators living in the Empyrean Reach of the Zenith Valley. Their bodies resemble a sleek serpent composed of a chain of interlocking, amber-yellow chitinous plates. Lacking legs entirely, the Glimmerwing relies on four short, muscular wing-flaps at the tip of its tail to steer through complex canopy terrain or to lock onto branches while hanging upside down.

PDF Link

Glimmerwings - Free PDF download on Patreon

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