Sacred Oath: Oath of Love [Remaster]

The more I learn about homebrewing, the more I have cause to regret some of the earlier design choices I made.

This deep-seated pathos is what has made me start remastering some of my old projects, and no project have I wanted to go back and modify more than the Oath of Love paladin.

I became less and less satisfied with this oath's use of charm mechanics, the further along I got. It seemed disingenuous, somehow, to swear an oath about upholding True Love, only to, a second later, charm someone into loving you, and then be rewarded for stabbing them while they are forced to love you, though your Channel Divinity.

That's not to say charm mechanics are bad or that they shouldn't have a place in this option, but they certainly shouldn't be used to con and stab people when you're trying to preach the gospel of love.

I'm hoping this remaster fixes the thematic issues of my older work. If not, let me know. Nothing says I can't release an even newer version, should this option need one.

CHANGELOG:

• Modified the spell list to make it less charm-intensive, bringing back old favorites like color spray!
• Two new Channel Divinity options, one that bolsters your allies with temporary hit points, and the other locks down anything intelligent enough to truly want something. 
• Lover's Embrace is now Aura of Affection, and adds hit points to any healing done within the radius. 
• Passion's Kindness is now Radiant Empathy, because looking back Passion's Kindness was just kind of annoying in practice. 
• Endless Devotion has been completely reworked, and now primarily makes your enemies incapable of attacking, if they fail a save and start adjacent to you. 

CONCERNS:

• I changed a lot, which usually means there are little, fiddily errors out there. See if you can find any. 
• Channel Divinity: Heart's Desire intentionally uses inconclusive language, as the creature it targets could hypothetically desire anything. I'm not sure if that's a wise choice or not. 

WHAT I LEARNED:

• It feels pretty good to have gone back and finally taken a crack at fixing this one. Maybe I can update the Knavery paladin next. 

Walrock Template v0.2 - More Toys, More Tools!

My last template was, as it turns out, really well-loved by a wide variety of homebrewers. 

That's always nice. So I made you another, updated template with better stuff.

You can download this template by clicking here.

As with the last template, be sure to do the following before using this:

1. Read /u/skybug12's Mousefolk guide, which you can find here.
2. Download and install these fonts and brushes.

After that, you can open up and use the template in Photoshop just fine.

This template includes the following:

Class Table
Prestige  Class Table
Expanded Spells (Full Caster)
Expanded Spells (Half Caster)
Spell Formula
Spellcasting Table (Third Caster)
Monster Stat Block
Optional Rule Sidebar
Spell Formatting Template
Formatted Titles and Text

Happy homebrewing!

Sacred Oath: Oath of Love [Second Draft]

Positive response! Always love getting that, though a negative response often tells me just as much about how to fix something and make it work.

Much was said, and it gave me sufficient material to turn this around and make a second version of it relatively quickly. As always, thanks to all those that helped, and to all those who enjoy this class option!

What I Changed:

• The spell list nix'd color spray in favor of sanctuary. Less magical girl, more magical paladin - which is probably a positive change for the class option, but still makes me personally a little sad. =(

• Sense Ardor has split off of Conquering Passion. I'm getting the idea that I should let fluff powers stand free rather than lump them in with Channel Divinities, even though I've pulled that off with the Free Commerce and Common Man oaths.

• Passion's Kindness no longer refers to itself as a miasma, which I've come to learn means "bad air." Who knew.

• Endless Devotion now actually takes an action to use (hurr) and allows you to pop a Channel Divinity as part of the same action, leading to intended synergy with Conquering Passion and your paladin playing smite wack-a-mole with the enemies near him or her. 

Concerns:

• Still not 100% on the power level of Endless Devotion, seems like it could be stronger. Level 20's are hard to balance. 

• That's about it. Not much else in the way of balance concerns, this seems fairly in line with other oath options. 

Sacred Oath: Oath of Love [ROUGH DRAFT]

Paladins are pretty cool for a lot of reasons.

They're magical knights empowered by a concept - typically one with a god behind it - that go out into the world in an attempt to make more of their concept. This can be devotion to a holy cause, revenge against the evils of the world, violent revolution for the masses...

...or, simply enough, Love.

Paladins who take the Oath of Love believe that love is the underpinning of all good and beauty in the world, and seek to create and protect as much love as possible in all of its many forms.

Features:

• Charm-based mechanics. Tank well with solid crowd control, and bonus smites for breaking charm with a hit. 

• Limited control of creatures immune to charm. Heartless creatures can still be Held with your Channel Divinity, allowing you to not be entirely helpless when facing creatures with charm immunity. 

• Heavily defend your allies and yourself with features that make you harder to hit and that bring attacked allies into a safer, more defensible position. 

Concerns:

• Possibly too control-y. Charm is a delicate balance, but very important to the class. It costs spell slots that you'd otherwise like to use on smites, too, so it's an important trade. 

• Passion's Kindness is really quite powerful, but so are most other paladin level 15's. I'd like someone balance-minded to take a closer look at it. 

Sacred Oath: Oath of Knavery [Second Draft]

And the second half of the Pacts & Pickpockets update: The updated Oath of Knavery!

Unlike the pact boons, this option needed a great deal of changing. People seemed overall dissatisfied with the tenets and the complexity of Skulker's Blessing and so, with thanks to reddit users /u/vastlyapparent, /u/timdragga, and /u/maxwellbegun, I revamped and fixed up these particular features.

Now, we've got a thief-y paladin I'm pretty proud of, with solid mechanics and flavor to spare.

If you've got opinions, don't keep them to yourselves! Let me know, and I'll give credit where it's due if there's another round of updates.

What I Changed:

• The tenets are almost entirely all-new. Along the same lines as the previous, but more cohesive, restrictive, and generally common-sense.

• Skulker's Blessing has been broken into two separate Channel Divinities, the second of which (Tricks of the Trade) has replaced Turn the Righteous.

• Skulker's Blessing now does damage that scales with level, rather than as a function of the Charisma modifier. This damage is 1d6 more than previous, but is now poison damage and is thus more easily resisted by a wider range of creature types. 

• Tricks of the Trade is built from the fluff portion of the previous Skulker's Blessing, and now also grants its bonus potentially to Strength (Athletics) and Wisdom (Insight). TotT now also has its own fluff power, which looks like a really cool thing for a thief-focused individual to have. 

• Aura of Deception has been reworked, now giving an additional d6 to Dexterity ability checks and saves to you and those nearby you. This ability also reduces the armor penalty to stealth, and even gives you advantage if you choose to wear lighter armor instead of stock-standard paladin plate.

Concerns:

• People seemed to like Mask of Legends, but I didn't get too many eyes on Ruse. My intuition tells me that Ruse is alright, but I'd really like confirmation. 

• Any additional insights I can get towards multiclassing this with rogue I'd appreciate. Multiclass knowledge is, as said before, one of my weak points. 

Alternative 3rd Level Warlock Pact Boons [Second Draft]

It's always nice to release content with lots of fiddly bits and find that it doesn't really need much in the way of fixing. It tells me I'm either getting better at this whole homebrew thing, or I got obscenely lucky this time around.

I'm leaning towards the second possibility. Especially considering all the changes due to the Paladin of Knavery, the second draft of which is also coming out today!

It's the Pacts & Pickpockets double-feature update. Check out the changes and enjoy the new content!

What I Changed:

• Retooled Chimeric Aegis (thanks, /u/FullmetalCowgirl!) to better differentiate it from options provided to the Fiend pact warlock.

• Broke the synergy between Eldritch Arrows and a rogue's Sneak Attack feature, because that could've gotten silly (with thanks to /u/994125010!).

• Modified Eldritch Arrows to build off of Agonizing Blast, rather than ignore it. 

Concerns:

• Would like more eyes on the damage numbers of Pact of the Peacemaker and Pact of the Scourge still, but I consider no news on those to be good news - I did work very hard to balance both pact boons. 

Sacred Oath: Oath of Knavery [ROUGH DRAFT]

Paladins! Champions of light and law and good! Catchers of criminals, enemies of party rogues!

...well, most of them, anyway.

The Paladin of Knavery, on the other hand, is an ethical rogue's best friend. Dedicated to robbing from the rich to give to the poor (the rich in this case also including dragons and other wealthy monsters), these paladins often eschew plate for leather, and skulk across the battlefield to deal additional damage.

Many of their abilities emulate (but don't duplicate) rogue functions, and everything is designed to stack with rogue abilities pleasantly for an easy, highly-functional multiclass experience.

Features:

• Sneak-Attack-like Channel Divinity, doesn't stack with Sneak Attack on an individual attack but does allow usage on a second attack. 

• Spell list that allows for emulation of much rogue kit, as well as other thematic abilities,

• Features centered on trickery and stealth, while not sacrificing paladin kit like helping others and avoiding damage.

Concerns:

• Balance on the level 20 feature is question marks. It seems to be alright, but I'm still not 100% sure. 

• Ruse and Skulker's Blessing could probably be worded better. 

• I'd like more people to look at this and rogue multiclassing, as multiclassing knowledge isn't my strong suit.

Subrace: Mountain Elf

I like elves. Elves are neat.

Here are some elves that make great barbarians by way of being elves and also dwarves.

Features: Track prey like a badass, don't give a fuck about difficult terrain, and use big beefy weapons no other elf would dare touch.

Concerns: None. Maybe I'll buff this subrace in a couple of places if ya'll think it's necessary, but it seems pretty balanced so far to me.

Subrace: Sea Elf

Sea elves!

Fantastic in any swashbuckling campaign or any campaign taking place near the sea (or a lake, or a river), sea elves have always been my favorite variety of elf for at once having an alien perspective but not necessarily being dicks about it the way the drow are.

I liked 'em in 3.5, but 4e skipped over sea elves and broke my heart (though I guess they were technically supported with a feat? 4e was weird). I'm not going to take that risk with 5e, though - so homebrewed, balanced* sea elves it is.

Features: Swim fast, use weapons that work well underwater, access to the shape water cantrip.

Concerns: Nothing balance-wise, subraces are easy-peasy. I could do a better job with the write-up, though, and I'll probably take another crack at editing in a couple days when I have the energy.

Alternative 3rd Level Warlock Pact Boons [ROUGH DRAFT]

Some warlocks get a book. Other warlocks get a sword. A few warlocks even get a familiar.

Not you, though. You get to choose whether you want a whip, or a bow, or a gun, or even a shield! Or fancy shoes!

AND you get thematic, balanced* invocations to support these choices! How lucky can you get?

* * *

Special Mechanics:

• Pact of the Scourge - You get a whip! The whip has reach, but doesn't deal a whole lot of damage on its own. With invocations, you can attack up to twice and cast thorn whip once, all with one action. 

• Pact of the Bastion - You get a shield! It gives you the always-handy +2 to AC, in addition to giving you access to invocations that allow you to better protect yourself and others. 

• Pact of the Mystic Treader - You get fancy boots! They increase your move speed and give Dex folks access to jumps, in addition to making you much more mobile and even a little more skilled, with invocations. 

• Pact of the Arc - You get a bow! It allows you to shoot eldritch blasts with your Dex modifier while being nimble and accurate with invocations.

• Pact of the Peacemaker - You get access to a bunch of guns! The invocations increase which guns you can use, as well as allow you some serious synergy with the hex spell.

Concerns:

• Damage is balanced roughly off the Bladelock for the Scourge and Peacemaker pacts, while Bastion, Arc, and Mystic Treader are assumed to use eldritch blast primarily for damage. Scourge/Peacemaker damage is approximately on the mark, but could use a closer look. 

• Invocations are in the order of their pacts on the rest of the document, except the Bastion's invocations because I fucked that up and didn't want to have to fix ALL the formatting in the world to rectify it. 

• I may have to add some verbage about Scourge's thorn whip either counting or not counting as casting a spell on that turn. I'm not sure which would be better. 

• I know that the UA - Modern Magic supplement gives the option of using a gun as a part of a Blade pact, but that's not terribly thematically fitting nor balanced, as a gun-blade-pact easily does more damage than any other blade pact. The Peacemaker pact is balanced on typical Blade pact damage, while retaining more flavor. 

* * *

These are cool ideas I've been sitting on for a while, trying to figure out how to properly implement them. I've got them together enough to push forward to the next step - namely, asking other people for help because lord knows I can't fix balance issues myself.

If we can get these balanced and in order, I've got some great ideas for additional pacts, as a second pact-pack! Gotta make these ones work first, though, and I'd love to hear what input you guys have.

A newer version of this option is available. 

Sacred Oath: Oath of Free Commerce [Second Draft]

Here's some homebrew! It's fancy and refined! But enough about that, here's some other stuff first:

In non-homebrew news, my job has started up again!

This means that content is slowing down somewhat because, as much as I love homebrew, it's like personal project number three for me. For the record: project one is helping a street cat from in front of my house become a house cat, and project number two is top secret but won't stay that way forever.

That said, in the spirit of me starting work, here's a revision of the capitalist paladin.

What I Changed:

• Arcane Lock has been replaced with Hold Person. Both are thematic, but so is See Invisibility. I'm genuinely sad I can't include all of them.

• Objective Worth now scales off of your Charisma modifier, and the ribbon power of this ability has been expanded to give a fuller, more complete antiques-roadshow I-sure-know-the-price-of-this-thing experience. 

Concerns:

• I wanted to add Arcane Lock as a ribbon somewhere, but the only place it would fit would be on the level 15 feature. It wouldn't be especially thematic there, but I'd still like to slot it in somehow.

* * *

This and the Common Man paladin look fit to print - to me, anyways, and we all know how that goes. Tell me what needs fixing, I'll fix it, and we all go home happy with cool paladin options.

I've got some cool stuff in the pipeline - I might go back to warlock material for a little bit, but I've got several paladin ideas I'd like to get out in the open as well.

Exciting times, assuming I find the time to do it all. 

As always, thanks for the support, folks! It's always fantastic to share my work with people willing to pick it over and help make it better - and people who appreciate it for what it is, too.

Sacred Oath: Oath of the Common Man [Second Draft]

We pulled together. worked as a community, and made Communist-Paladin a true champion of the people!

At least, unless there's something we missed. But the great thing about collective labor is, if we made a mistake, it can easily be fixed with more collective labor.

Let's take a look at the changes!

What I Changed:

• The virtue of Togetherness is now the virtue of Community. Because, y'know, that makes perfect sense. 

• Worker's Harmony can now also be used to buff people into having proficiency with crafting tools, which is a fun, fluffy ribbon for it to have.

• Fixed the duration on Strength of the People. You can no longer be a giant propaganda man for an hour, that'd be silly.

• Noted gear changing size in Strength of the People. You will no longer hulk out of your clothes and be a giant naked propaganda man. That would also be silly, and somewhat terrifying in a way not intended.

• Adjusted benefits of Strength of the People. You now give tHP to others that can see/hear you, and can mass-help people each turn. This is easily the weakest self-buff of the paladin level 20's, but the strongest party-buff. You're big and look cool, and your being-big and looking-cool inspires your friends to pummel your enemies into oblivion. 

Concerns:

• Not anything, really. This is remarkably solid and distinct. 

* * *

I'm about ready to wrap this one up. I'll put it on reddit in a few days when I've got some time, see what people think, and re-release it as a version 1.0 if it's all good.

Speaking of which, I've genned a version 1.0 of every pact I've done so far. Expect them later this week, full of perfect* balance and bug fixes!

Sacred Oath: Oath of Free Commerce [ROUGH DRAFT]

We looked at communist paladins last week, paladins to whom money is no object. Now, the other side of the proverbial coin: gallant defenders of capitalism, the paladins of Free Commerce!

Paladins who take this oath believe in the market as a tool for great equality and freedom amongst the masses, and wish to protect the promise it holds for members of all walks of life. Known also as Thiefcatchers and Day-Traders, these paladins hunt threats to the market both mortal and monstrous, mundane and magical. A thieves' guild or organized crime racket is just as valid a threat as a hoarding dragon or slave-taking vampire, and these paladins excise these evils at the root so that civilization may flourish.

* * *

Special Mechanics:

• Abilities that counter invisibility and stealth. Assassins, specters, and party rogues be warned, this paladin is here to catch thieves and those that try to hide from sight. 

• Guarding and Security. Many of this paladin's spells focus on keeping belongings safe.

• Thief-catching. Those that try to steal and then flee should beware this paladin.

Concerns:

• Unsure on the balance of Invisible Hand of the Market and Game Theory. IHotM makes the paladin a very sticky tank, while Game Theory is designed to illustrate the paladin predicting all behaviors on the battlefield and thus has a limited but still diversely powerful kit. 

• Turn the Craven is a powerful fuck-you to stealth ambushes, but it's only usable once per short rest and you better be certain that the hidden creature is within 30 feet of you. 

• Level 15's like Market Equilibrium aren't typically once-per-short-rest, but I feel it fits the strength of the ability and keeps it from stepping on IHotM's toes too much. 

* * *

I've had fun making these paladins, and I'm wondering where I'm going to go next. Nomadic survivalist paladins that live off the land? Dogmatic paladins of Libertarianism? Maybe socialist paladins that smite their enemies to help them #FeelTheBern.

Realistically: I'm going right here, at least for one more revision. This combat economist isn't going to be perfect out the gate, and all ya'll can, as always, help me make it better. 

It's not an economy unless everyone takes part. What do you think?

Sacred Oath: Oath of the Common Man [ROUGH DRAFT]

Paladins! On a Walrock blog!

Paladins are my second-favorite class, and one with a great deal of homebrew potential. While I enjoy warlocks for being clearly the most modular option offered in 5e, paladins are a close second from a flavor perspective, being interesting, compelling, and having a reason for being inherent in each and every Oath option.

So, that in mind, here's a Communist paladin.

This should work well in any setting up to modern, but would work especially well in an industrial-revolution-esque setting like Eberron where the lower classes are huddled together in cities, in constant conflict with their social superiors.

The Oath of the Common Man is, at once, both a very socially-conscious, helping-the-poor oath, and a bitter, angry oath at those who would harm the impoverished, striking out at the debtors, industrialists, and tyrants of the world and punishing them for their crimes. Paladins who take this oath are encouraged to work alongside the downtrodden and organize for a better tomorrow, all the while bringing down whatever threatens the common folk, their equality, and their dignity.

* * *

Special Mechanics:

• Reliance on the Help action. United workers help one another, and this reflects that. Both a Channel Divinity and the 15th level feature involve the Help action in some way. 
• Solidarity. This paladin is a team player, and many of their spells specifically help others accomplish physical actions. They also have the ability to evenly redistribute damage amongst all friendly creatures in a given area, as the common folk must bear their collective burdens together. 
• Revolutionary spirit. This class is encouraged, both overtly and through more subtle mechanics, to attempt to overthrow any tyrannical power structure that harms the lower class. Some (by my measure, very strict) DMs might consider this disruptive - as a DM myself, I personally find it to be a powerful roleplaying opportunity with a high probability of engaging all players present. Your mileage may vary, but you were going to have to ask your DM if homebrew was allowed before using this, anyway. :p

Concerns:

• Many players do not know about Help actions. That is why I included the page number here. 
• I'm slightly unsure of the balance on Aura of Solidarity, but it seems roughly in line with the other paladin level 7's.
• I have no fucking clue how to balance paladin level 20's, but becoming a giant figure that stepped out of a propaganda poster with several special abilities fueled by having supporters seems very thematic, and, again, in line with the other oath abilities of the same level.
• Turn the Bourgeois does not call out specific creature types, and thus is hard to balance against the other Turn abilities. It's about in the same neck of the woods, though, and DMs are fully in control of how often it is able to be used. 

* * *

It's a rough draft, so something is clearly broken and needs to be fixed. I just don't know what, yet. 

Why not contribute to our collective labor effort, seize the means of production, and help me figure out the flaws inherent in our oppressive capitalist system?

And also this homebrew, if you don't mind. 

My Template - How I Make My Stuff

Lots and lots of people ask how to make stuff done in the PHB style, and how to make homebrew look official.

It's not easy. Truth is, it kind of sucks at first, until you learn how to do it. But, once you get it into a formula, it's mostly a matter of creating the proper mechanics, finding (and cropping) the right art, and producing the whole enchilada.

If you're new to making professional-looking homebrew, I'll break it into three steps:

1. First, required reading. Read The Mousefolk Guide by reddit's /u/skybug12. It tells you the general ins and outs of how to do things in the PHB style, requiring only light-moderate Photoshop knowledge and some serious patience.
2. Be sure to download the brushes, fonts, and other miscellaneous materials that /u/skybug12 includes as part of his guide. These are especially important - you cannot duplicate the PHB style without this pack.
3. Lastly, to make it even easier and to get access to elements of the pack above, be sure to download the template that I use to make everything here. Included in this template are:
• Text columns and headers complete with formatting
• Graphical element for the Optional Rule sidebar block
• Graphical element for the Expanded Spell List
• Graphical text element for the Monster Stat Block
• Example pictures for picture elements on the page, to give a general idea as to how they're done.

Sounds simple, but is actually a massive pain in the butt to generate in the first place (especially the monster stat block, hoooooly fuck was that hard). Feel free to use the template for your own content, just be sure to credit me when you use it, same as I credit /u/skybug12 in my homebrew. 

Happy homebrewing!