D&D 5e – Playable Vampire Template

So, I'm getting ready to run a new 5e Campaign (in Forgotten Realms) with my group, and two of the players asked me if they could play (and start) as classic Ravenloft-esque vampires, apparently because they're on a Castlevania kick. Being the accommodating and homebrew-comfortable DM that I am, I said yes.

Looked around a bit, didn't like any of the options I was able to find (including the race of pseudovampires from MtG and the homebrewed prestige class). With a bit of reviewing and suggestions from a friend, and a lot of reviewing the sorts of abilities vampires have in both 5e and previous editions of the game, I came up with a template that I'm comfortable allowing the players to have. It feels very much like it fits the themes of a D&D vampire, without giving the characters abilities that are too powerful for any given character level. It was also important to me that it be a template rather than class levels, so if the character is killed and resurrected (whereby they would come back without vampirism) the character would not have to be rebuilt, simply remove the template. The worst logistical issue would arise from them (possibly) having to replace vampire specific feats they took, which is much simpler, and has a smaller impact if they have to finish a session without them.

So, there has also been some confusion about what this is, and how I'm intending to use it, so I'm editing the post to try to clarify the goals and intentions and design target:

• This does not take the place of a race or a class. This is designed to be something you can bolt on to basically any character or monster, except when it wouldn't make sense, like a fire elemental.
• I'm approaching the design not as a race or class. This template should function more like a cursed artifact, that's very difficult to get rid of without dying and being revived, and which unlocks new level-appropriate abilities as you level up.
• As a result, in terms of the number of abilities you have, this should increase versatility. But in terms of actual Power, this template should keep things fairly close to where they were before. For instance, a 7th level Wizard should be about as effective at handling any single encounter as a 7th level Vampire wizard, but the Vampire Wizard would have some more options to work with, as well as some restrictions and shortcomings to work around.

The daylight and water weaknesses could be a very large hurdle, so much so that this will not be suitable to all campaigns. Primarily those where the characters spend a lot of time outdoors during the day. Another significant concern is the shortage of low level spells that can heal undead in 5e. In my particular case I'll be allowing coming up with some healing abilities to fill that gap. I have not determined what they will be yet, but I may allow a necrotic lay-on-hands from the vampire paladin, and I may also add in a new spell for clerics that heals undead but not the living.

Vampire

Any creature that is not an elemental, construct, or undead can become a vampire. When a creature becomes a vampire, it retains all statistics except as noted below.

Vampire Traits

Undead Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Undead creatures don’t breathe, and don’t need to sleep.

Darkvision: 60ft.

Damage Vulnerability: Radiant, piercing damage from wooden weapons, slashing damage from silver weapons.

Damage Resistance: Necrotic; nonmagical bludgeoning damage.

Shadowless: A vampire casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror.

Blood Drain: A vampire can spend 1 minute sucking blood from a grappled, paralyzed, restrained, stunned, unconscious, or willing opponent, giving the victim one level of exhaustion. For each size category smaller that the victim is, increase the levels of exhaustion given by 1. For each size category larger than the vampire that the victim is, increase the number of times the Blood Drain action has to be used before the victim gets a level of exhaustion by 1 (larger creatures have more blood). For instance, a medium vampire trying to blood drain a gargantuan creature has to blood drain 4 times before the victim takes a level of exhaustion. When a vampire uses Blood Drain, it recovers a level of exhaustion.

Create Spawn: After reaching level 3, A vampire can choose to take a level of exhaustion (for thirst, if you’re tracking such things). if it does, it can spend 30 seconds giving a dead creature vampirism. The DM rolls a medium Charisma+Proficiency check (Charisma+level bonus for my group) for the vampire (in secret). The vampire can attempt this multiple times, taking a level of exhaustion each time. Each time it is attempted, the DM records the best result. On a success, the target rises again as a vampire at the next sundown. If the vampire failed the Charisma Check, if the target’s body is destroyed by fire, if the target has been decapitated, or if the target has been dead for longer than 2 minutes before the vampire starts to Create Spawn, the creature simply remains dead..

Hard to Kill: Vampires can only truly *die* a handful of ways: fire, sunlight, running water, decapitation, massive damage. When a vampire drops to 0hp, they do not make death saves (and can suffer neither death saving throw successes or failures), they stay inert unless something brings them back to 1hp, or kills them. When at or below 0hp, a vampire continues to accrue levels exhaustion from thirst. On the one hand, this means they don't have a 50% chance of death in a few rounds. On the other hand, this means vampires never stabilize during combat, and when taken down they stay down, giving their enemies lots of time to finish them off.

Torpor: A vampire who would die of exhaustion does not carry on to an afterlife. They remain trapped in their unmoving husk, trapped with no senses, with only their own thoughts to keep them company. A vampire in torpor can be resuscitated using a pint of fresh blood, which activates their regeneration ability. They come back with 4 levels of thirst exhaustion (an additional 4 pints will bring them back without any exhaustion). If they were in Torpor for more than a day, they come back with one indefinite madness trait. If they were in torpor for more than 7 days, they come back with two indefinite madness traits instead.

Regeneration: As a bonus action, if it isn't in fire, sunlight, or running water, the vampire can choose to take a level of exhaustion (for thirst, if you’re tracking such things). If it does, for the next 5 rounds, it regains its level in hit points at the start of its turn. If the vampire takes radiant damage, fire damage, acid damage from running water, or damage from holy water, this trait doesn't function at the start of the vampire's next turn. A vampire who is at 0hp and has fewer than 5 levels of exhaustion can activate this ability once per day, at dusk (after accumulating any applicable thirst exhaustion for the day). Once the vampire uses this ability, it can’t use it again until it finishes a long rest.

Climb: A vampire climbs without it costing additional movement.

Spider Climb: After reaching level 5, a vampire is treated as though it were permanently under the effects of a Spider-Climb spell.

Vampiric Powers

If a vampire isn’t in sunlight or running water, it can use the following abilities.

Children of the Night: As an action, when indoors, a vampire can magically call swarms of bats or rats, or half as many swarms of centipedes or spiders. While outdoors, it can instead call wolves or giant wolf spiders (as appropriate to the environment). The number of creatures called is as follows:

Level	Type
1	Swarm (Bat, Rat)	1d4
1	Swarm (Centipede, Spider)	1d2
1	Wolves, Giant Wolf Spiders	2d4
3	Swarm (Bat, Rat)	2d3
3	Swarm (Centipede, Spider)	1d3
3	Wolves, Giant Wolf Spiders	2d6
5	Swarm (Bat, Rat)	2d4
5	Swarm (Centipede, Spider)	1d4
5	Wolves, Giant Wolf Spiders	3d6

The called creatures arrive in 1d4 rounds. The vampire can direct them using verbally and somatically, as a bonus action. The creatures remain for 1 hour, until the vampire dies, or until it dismisses them as a bonus action. Once the vampire uses this ability, it can’t use it again until it finishes a long rest.

Charm: Starting at level 3, a vampire can target a humanoid it can see within 30 ft. of it. If the target can see them as well, the target must succeed on a DC (8+Proficiency+CHA) Wisdom saving throw against this magic or be charmed by the vampire. The charmed target regards the vampire as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn't under the vampire’s control, it takes the vampire’s requests or actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing target for the vampire’s Blood Drain attack.

A target that succeeds its saving throw is immune to the vampire’s charm ability for 24 hours. Each time the vampire or the vampire's companions do anything harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect lasts 8 hours or until the vampire is destroyed, is on a different plane of existence than the target, or takes a bonus action to end the effect. Once the vampire uses this ability, it can’t use it again until it finishes a long rest.

Weaknesses

Diet Restriction: A vampire can only subsist on blood. For purposes of hunger and thirst, vampires are immune to hunger, but are twice as thirsty, and the only fluid that will nourish them is blood. For a vampire, thirst exhaustion is evaluated at dusk each day.

Forbiddance: The vampire can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.

Harmed by Running Water: The vampire takes 20 acid damage if it starts its turn in running water. It takes 10 acid damage if it starts its turn in heavy rain, and it takes 5 acid damage if it starts its turn in light rain. If the creature had a swim speed before becoming a vampire, it does not have this weakness.

Stake to the Heart: If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into the vampire's heart while the vampire is incapacitated or unconscious, the vampire is paralyzed until the stake is removed.

Sunlight Hypersensitivity: The vampire takes 10 radiant damage (doubled for vulnerability) when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Vampire Feats

Vampiric Magery

Prerequisite: Ability to cast 1st level spells, Vampire
At each indicated character level, choose one of the listed spells to be permanently added to your spells prepared. They do not count towards your limit.

• 1st - Cause Fear, Command, Fog Cloud
• 3rd - Darkness, Misty Step, Suggestion
• 5th - Hold Person, Fly, Meld Into Stone, Speak with Dead
• 7th - Arcane Eye, Dominate Beast
• 9th - Dominate Person, Dream, Geas

Vampiric Shapeshifting

Prerequisite: Character Level 4, Vampire
If you aren’t in sunlight or running water, you can use your action to transform into one of the following forms, or back to your own natural form.

• Bat Form: Starting at level 4, you can transform into a tiny bat. While in bat form, you can't speak or take any actions, your walking speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. Your statistics, other than your size and speed, are unchanged. You revert to your true form if you die.
• Mist Form: Starting at level 6, you can transform into a medium cloud of mist. While in mist form, you can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. You are weightless, have a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. In addition, if air can pass through a space, you can do so without squeezing, and you can't pass through water. You have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and you are immune to all nonmagical damage, except the damage you take from sunlight, running water, or fire. You revert to your true form if you die.

Vampiric Charm

Prerequisite: Character level 4, Vampire
Your charm ability is usable at-will, and now lasts 24 hours.

So, I know that some people are very against players having templates, such as for a vampire, or lich, or what have you. In my experience it works out well so long as the template in question isn't adding large stacking bonuses to what the player already had. But at this point, this template looks like it should get the job done without breaking the game. I'll come back and update this after it's been at the table for a while, and detail how it worked out for us.

D&D - Concerning Alignment, Personality Traits

Preamble

So, I was writing on a different topic, but I realized that it was going to take longer than I had, so I’ve switched topics for today, to another topic I have been wanting to write about, that I can do with less time. I intend to finish and put up my other post in the near future.

That said, today’s topic is Alignment.

Premise

So, I’ve never been a fan of D&D’s alignment system. An alignment system CAN be a very handy tool to give the player ideas and quickly communicate your character's personality to the DM. The D&D alignment system, however, is far too vague to be any good for that. Particularly with the 9 alignments as distinct things. So, in the past, I have done the individual axes separately. I came up with separate definitions for Good, Evil, Lawful, and Chaotic. And that was at least consistent. But today, I’m going with an alternate “Alignment” system entirely. This replaces D&D’s conventional alignment system, act as fleshed out personality traits and flaws, and work with bonds and ideals.

Alignment System

So, I wanted an alignment system that not only helps the player iron out how they intend to play their character, but also, give the DM a good indication of how the character will play.

Choose two to four Core Character Traits that apply to your character. The only restriction, is you cannot choose opposing keywords.

Choose between four and eight Secondary Character Traits that best describe your character. If you have something in mind that is not on the list, talk to your DM, he should keep an open mind.

Core Character Traits

• A) Selfless - Willing to risk harm to yourself and your interests for the benefit of others.
• B) Selfish - Willing to see harm come to others for your own interests.
• A) Deliberate - Prefers to plan out their actions in advance.
• B) Spontaneous - Prefers to improvise their actions on the fly.
• A) Honorable - Has a code of ethics they stick to, believes in upholding responsibility.
• B) Dishonorable - Has no code of ethics and does what they feel like, and has no regard for responsibilities.
• A) Law-Abiding - Respects the authorities and their mandates.
• B) Criminal - Lacks respect for authorities and their mandates.

Secondary Character Traits

Absent-Minded, Accepting, Accomodating, Aggressive, Alert, Aloof, Ambitious, Anxious, Assertive, Arrogant, Attention-Whore, Awkward, Bigoted, Blabbermouthed, Bloodthirsty, Blunt, Boastful, Boorish, Brave, Callous, Candid, Cautious, Charitable, Compassionate, Compliment-prone, Condescending, Confident, Conformist, Confrontational, Considerate, Contrary, Contentious, Convoluted, Cowardly, Creative, Crude, Cruel, Curious, Dedicated, Defensive, Delegating, Deliberate, Dependent, Diplomatic, Direct, Disciplined, Distractible, Distrustful, Dogmatic, Doubtful, Down-to-Earth, Dutiful, Egotistical, Emotional, Empathetic, Emulous, Energetic, Excited, Fair, Fame-seeking, Fanatical, Fashionable, Fickle, Fidgety, Flexible, Forgetful, Foul-Mouthed, Generous, Gluttonous, Gossip, Greedy, Gruff, Haughty, Hawkish, Hostile, Hot-headed, Humorless, Hyperbolic, Idealistic, Immature, Impatient, Impulsive, Imperious, Indecisive, Independent, Indifferent, Indirect, Inflexible, Inquisitive, Insecure, Insensitive, Insightful, Jealous, Judgmental, Lazy, Level-Headed, Logical, Loose-Tongued, Merciless, Miserly, Naive, Narcissistic, Nervous, Noncommittal, Nosey, Nurturing, Obsessive, Obstinate, Open-Minded, Opinionated, Optimistic, Outspoken, Overconfident, Overprotective, Pacifistic, Paranoid, Peremptory, Perfectionistic, Pessimistic, Petty, Philosophical, Polite, Possessive, Practical, Pragmatic, Prideful, Protective, Proud, Rational, Reasonable, Reckless, Reliable, Romantic, Sadistic, Sarcastic, Secretive, Self-Centered, Self-Deprecating, Self-Righteous, Sesquipedalian, Sheltered, Sincere, Spineless, Spiteful, Spontaneous, Sticky-Fingered, Striving, Stubborn, Superstitious, Supportive, Suspecting, Suspicious, Tactless, Tactful, Talkative, Temperamental, Tenacious, Theatrical, Tight-Lipped, Timid, Traditional, Trusting, Trustworthy, Uncompromising, Unfeeling, Unforgiving, Unreliable, Unsatisfied, Untrustworthy, Vain, Vengeful, Verbose, Wise, Withdrawn

Conclusion

Well, I've been wanting to iron out this alignment system I've been mulling around for a few months, and I think this ended up as a great first-draft. I expect to make use of this little subsystem in my next campaign, instead of the standard D&D alignment.

Leave me some comments if you have any additional keywords that would better flesh out the list of secondary personality keywords!

— Hawkwinter

FFT - Spells Assessment 2

Right. Spells assessment #2. This time I'm covering all of the PHB Spells up to 5th Level. It takes some real time reviewing all of these spells, just because there's a lot of them.

Player's Handbook

Lv 3

All Clear

Animate Dead, Beacon of Hope, Bestow Curse, Blinding Smite, Call Lightning, Conjure Barrage, Counterspell, Crusader's Mantle, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Elemental Weapon, Fear, Fireball, Fly, Gaseous Form, Glyph of Warding, Haste, Hunger of Hadar, Hypnotic Pattern, Lightning Arrow, Magic Circle, Mass Healing Word, Phantom Steed, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Remove Curse, Revivify, Sleet Storm, Slow, Spirit Guardians, Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch, Water Breathing, Water Walk

Rejected

Clairvoyance, Conjure Animals, Create Food and Water, Feign Death, Sending, Speak with Plants, Tongues

Maybe

Aura of Vitality, Blink, Leomund's Tiny Hut - Probably too much, Major Image, Meld Into Stone, Nondetection - Probably unnecessary given how limited the divination effects are going to be, Speak with Dead - Probably too divinatory.

Lv 4

All Clear

Aura of Purity, Banishment, Blight, Compulsion, Confusion, Control Water, Death Ward, Dimension Door, Dominate Beast, Evard's Black Tentacles, Fire Shield, Freedom of Movement, Grasping Vine, Greater Invisibility, Hallucinatory Terrain, Ice Storm, Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound, Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Staggering Smite, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire

Rejected

Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Woodland Beings, Divination - Too much Divination., Fabricate, Giant Insect - Unlikely, Leomund's Secret Chest, Locate Creature

Maybe

Arcane Eye - This is about the extent of Divination that might be reasonable., Aura of Life - Could be okay. Would be more setting appropriate if nerfed, like most D&D healing, Guardian of Faith - Could be good for Summoner

Lv 5

All Clear

Antilife Shell, Banishing Smite, Bigby's Hand, Circle of Power, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Conjure Volley, Contagion, Destructive Wave, Dispel Evil and Good, Dominate Person, Flame Strike, Greater Restoration, Hallow, Hold Monster, Insect Plague, Mass Cure Wounds, Passwall, Planar Binding, Swift Quiver, Telekinesis, Wall of Force, Wall of Stone

Rejected

Commune, Commune with Nature, Conjure Elemental, Creation, Dream - Monsters Only, Legend Lore, Raise Dead, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Reincarnate, Scrying, Teleportation Circle

Maybe

Animate Objects - A bit too conjury, Awaken - It's cool, but not exactly on-theme, Contact Other Plane, Geas - Monsters yes, PCs Maybe, Mislead, Modify Memory, Seeming - Such disguise features may be excessive, Tree Stride - Maybe

Conclusion

Made a decent dent in them, most of the spells were clear-cut yes or no, and it was just about the time it took to read through them. Along the way I also started taking notes on Jobs that could be a good fit for some of them, as well. Once I complete this series I will be sure to post a finalized list of all the whitelisted spell effects.

Sorry these posts are a bit dry. They are useful, however. I'm thinking the next post is going to be a departure from what I've been working on thus far, and perhaps even a departure from the FFT 5e series. I want something different, to give myself a change of pace from reviewing stuff for several hours a week. We'll see what I come up with.

FFT - Spells Assessment 1

Premise

So, I'm going to go through all the spells (at least the ones in the PHB, we'll see about other sources) and determining which ones are appropriate or inappropriate for a War of the Lions style campaign. Why? Having a blacklist of spells and types of effects will be useful in determining what can be allowed, as well as what to include in homebrew Jobs/Classes/what have you. The overall magic level of FFT is lower than D&D, so stuff is going to get cut. That said, there's also going to be effects and spell types that are widespread and appreciated in FFT that D&D lacks, but that's probably a subject for another post.

Player's Handbook

Lv 0

All Clear

Acid Splash, Blade Ward, Chill Touch, Dancing Lights, Fire Bolt, Friends, Guidance, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Minor Illusion, Poison Spray, Produce Flame, Ray of Frost, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Shillelagh, Shocking Grasp, Spare the Dying (Maybe shouldnt be a cantrip anymore), Thaumaturgy, Thorn Whip, True Strike, Vicious Mockery

Rejected

Eldritch Blast (Way better than the other damage cantrips, unless you have a LOT of DR), Message (Communications)

Maybe

Druidcraft

Lv 1

All Clear

Animal Friendship, Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar (Burst!), Bless, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Chromatic Orb, Color Spray, Command, Compelled Duel, Cure Wounds, Disguise Self, Dissonant Whispers, Divine Favor, Ensnaring Strike, Entangle, Expeditious Retreat, Faerie Fire, False Life, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Fog Cloud, Grease, Guiding Bolt, Hail of Thorns, Healing Word, Hellish Rebuke, Heroism, Hex, Inflict Wounds, Jump, Longstrider, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil and Good, Ray of Sickness, Sanctuary, Searing Smite, Shield, Shield of Faith, Silent Image, Sleep, Speak with Animals, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Tenser's Floating Disk, Thunderous Smite, Witch Bolt, Wrathful Smite

Rejected

Comprehend Languages (Ancient Mysteries), Create or Destroy Water, Detect Evil and Good, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Goodberry, Identify, Illusory Script, Purify Food and Drink, Unseen Servant,

Maybe

Alarm (Mental Alarm is inappropriate)

Lv 2

All Clear

Aid, Alter Self, Arcane Lock, Augury, Barkskin, Beast Sense, Blindness, Deafness, Blur, Branding Smite, Calm Emotions, Cloud of Daggers, Cordon of Arrows, Crown of Madness, Darkness, Darkvision, Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce, Enthrall, Find Steed, Flame Blade, Flaming Sphere, Gentle Repose, Heat Metal, Hold Person, Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, Levitate, Locate Animals or Plants, Magic Mouth, Magic Weapon, Melf's Acid Arrow, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Pass Without Trace, Phantasmal Force, Protection from Poison, Ray of Enfeeblement, Scorching Ray, See Invisibility, Shatter, Silence, Spiritual Weapon, Suggestion, Warding Bond, Web

Rejected

Animal Messenger, Continual Flame, Detect Thoughts, Find Traps, Knock, Locate Object, Moonbeam, Nystul's Magic Aura, Rope Trick, Zone of Truth

Maybe

Prayer of Healing (No chance of wrong targets?), Spider Climb

Conclusion

So, I somewhat underestimated how long going through all of these spells would take. It's going to take a couple of posts to get through all of these, but that's okay.

A lot of the spells that are a bad fit, are to do with divination and communications. A few also have to do with necessities like food and water.

I suspect the PHB will take another 1-2 posts, and then the other sources will be much quicker. I may do some back and forth in the meantime. It'll make things more interesting if it's not all Jobs all the time until they're finished.

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 9

Job Creation 9

Welcome to Part 9 of Job Builds

Today we're going to take a look at how to do the FFT White Mage job for 5e. Because of the Overlap, this is also going to be the "Cleric" job.

Now, I just wanted to say that, after going through Dark Knight, I think that's the right way to handle Job Spell-Lists. The ones where I made minor adjustments to the list are not the way to go, they should be focused on what the Job should do. Particularly if we're going to allow a FFT-esque dual-Job setup (I intend to go into this later). I will want to update them later. But for now, I'm moving forward. I will go back and update the others later.

White Mage/"Cleric"

Premise — The White Mage is a mage has a variety of support magic which is used at range.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Cure, Raise, Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, Wall, Esuna, Holy

Premise — So we're gonna build White Mage, out of whatever we can find that's the closest fit for 5e.

Class/Subclass Options

Life Cleric — Proficiencies: Too heavy on the armor. Shields don't fit. The rest is good.

• Life Domain Spells: Pretty good fit. They cover most of the spells we actually want.
• Life Domain Proficiency: This is worse. Likely has to do with needing to get close to heal in D&D whereas you can do it at range in FFT> We may need to look at that.
• Disciple of Life: This one is a good fit.
• Turn Undead Not a great fit, but not terrible.
• Preserve Life This is a good fit.
• Destroy Undead Not a great fit, but not terrible.
• Blessed Healer Decent fit.
• Divine Strike Sure, I guess.
• Divine Intervention Absolutely not, in a setting where the existence of God is in question.
• Supreme Healing Maximized Healing is good.

All of the healing options can never hit undesired targets. This runs counter to what we want, but would require redesigned healing magics, so we're gonna leave it alone for now.

Protection Cleric — Proficiencies: Too heavy on the armor. Shields don't fit. The rest is good.

• Protection Domain Spells: A couple decent picks.
• Protection Domain Proficiency: This is worse.
• Shield of the Faithful: Nope.
• Turn Undead Not a good fit.
• Radiant Defense A bit much.
• Destroy Undead Not a good fit.
• Blessed Healer Decent fit.
• Divine Strike Sure, I guess.
• Divine Intervention Absolutely not, in a setting where the existence of God is in question.
• Indomitable Defense A bit much for White Mage, maybe.

Abjuration Wizard — Not a great fit.

• Arcane Recovery: Eh, sure.
• Abjuration Savant: Sure, why not, I guess.
• Arcane Ward: Decent.
• Projected Ward: Decent.
• Improved Abjuration: Decent.
• Spell Mastery: Sure why not
• Signature Spells: Sure why not

FFIV Project Spirit Master White Mage — This one looks promising. Proficiencies: Great.

• Soothe Sayer: Cheesy name, but good ability.
• Discipline: We want Spirit Master
• Conservation of Life: This one is very interesting. Neat White Mage capstone.
• Worldly Beyond Sure.
• Spirit Master Expanded Spell List All good spells.
• Shroud of Saints Very Short term Self-Protection. fluff fits.
• Surging Succor Decent fit.
• Clerical Smite Sure, I guess.
• Touch of the Padjal Crappier Supreme Healing

The spell list is promising, but it seems to mostly just be a crappy Cleric- otherwise.

Right then. Life Cleric is our closest starting point, so that's where we're going to start.

White Mage/"Cleric" (Life/Protection Cleric)

"A mage who taps into the powers of the divine, using White Magicks to cast spells of recovery and protection."

Proficiencies

Armor: Light Armor only, no Shields

Weapons: No Change

Tools: No Change

Saving Throws: No Change

Skills: No Change

Class & Subclass Features

Healer's Knowledge: You also become proficient in your choice of two of the following skills: Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion. This replaces Life Domain Proficiency.

Radiant Confidence: When you reach 10th level, you can't be charmed or frightened by celestials, fiends, or undead, and you are immune to poison and disease. This replaces Divine Intervention.

Spell List

White Mage "Life" Spells:

1st: Sanctuary, Healing Word

2nd: Prayer of Healing, Lesser Restoration

3rd: Beacon of Hope, Revivify

4th: Death Ward, Regen*

5th: Flame Strike, Mass Cure Wounds

Cantrips

Gust, Light, Mending, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy

1st Level Spells

Cure Wounds, Detect Magic (Ritual), Detect Poison and Disease (Ritual), Guiding Bolt, Heroism, Protection from Evil and Good, Purify Food and Drink (Ritual), Shield of Faith

2nd Level Spells

Aid, Calm Emotions, Continual Flame, Gentle Repose (Ritual), Gust of Wind, Protection from Poison, Warding Bond

3rd Level Spells

Dispel Magic, Glyph of Warding, Magic Circle, Mass Healing Word,, Protection from Energy, Remove Curse, Spirit Guardians, Tongues

4th Level Spells

Freedom of Movement, Guardian of Faith, Tetragrammaton*

5th Level Spells

Antilife Shell, Commune (Ritual), Dispel Evil and Good, Greater Restoration

6th Level Spells

Find the Path, Forbiddance, Heal

7th Level Spells

Fire Storm, Regenerate

8th Level Spells

Antimagic Field, Holy Aura

9th Level Spells

Astral Projection, Mass Heal

Roleplay: A White Mage might be part of the clergy, or they could just as well be a mage who simply studied the healing arts. Either way, you're interested in helping people.

So As you can see, I'm shifting gears just a little bit, having decided on the more focused spell-lists. The more focused lists should also allow us to dual-class more meaningfully as well, which is very FFT-esque. Arcane Ward, Projected Ward, and Improved Abjuration could all make good additions to this class, if we were to want to change anything out (such as possibly removing the turn and destroy undead features).

Next article is going to be a bit of a change of pace. I'm going to comb through the spell-list, and sort it into stuff that belongs in an FFT campaign, and stuff that just doesn't. It'll be of benefit to us building the rest of the Jobs, and it'll be of benefit when I go back to update the ones I didn't do this way.

— Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 8

Job Creation 8

Welcome to Part 8 of Job Builds

Today we're going to take a look at how to do the Dark Knight job for 5e, using Paladin to do so.

Dark Knight

Unlike the other art I've used, which all comes from the actual game and its concept art, this one is an excellent piece of fanart made by Kajusx. His deviantart appears to have been deactivated, but you can find much of his other work on Pinterest, here

Premise — As Established last post, The Dark Knight is a Mageknight (Gish with heavy armor and access to Knightly Weapons) who fights dirty and has a selfish, mercenary, or evil theme.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Magic, Good Melee Combat, Plate Armor, Knight Weapons, Lifedrain, Mana Drain

Premise — We reviewed stuff last week, and this week we're going to see how we can make it out of Paladin. I'll reiterate last week's evaluation of Paladin, below.

Class/Subclass Options

Paladin — Good Proficiencies.

• Divine Sense: Detect strongly aligned beings and consecrated/desecrated objects/places. Eh. Not terribly useful in an human focused campaign, but its alright. He could detect the few undead and zombies that are in the setting.
• Lay on Hands: Healing and curing disease/poison. Bad fit, unfortunately.
• Divine Smite: Change the damage type (Probably Necrotic) and who you get extra damage against and it works out better.
• Spells The spell-list isn't perfect. It's got a lot of healing, white-mage-type-stuff. Could use an overhaul.
• Fighting Style Some of them work. Maybe changing up the list would be worthwhile.
• Divine Health Sure.
• Extra Attack Absolutely.
• Aura of Protection Sure.
• Aura of Courage Sure.
• Improved Divine Smite Sure, but change the damage type as per Divine Smite.
• Cleansing Touch The flavor doesn't fit super well. Would work better if you could end beneficial spells on enemies.

Oath of Conquest Paladin — One of the Better fits

• Oath: Not Terrible
• Oath Spells: All of these are a good fit thematically, though no Lifedrain or Manadrain.
• Conquering Strike: Awesome
• Guided Strike: Awesome
• Aura of Conquest: More Awesome
• Implacable Spirit: I like it.
• Invincible Conquerer: Sure why not

Oath of Treachery Paladin — A mediocre fit with a couple iconic abilities.

• Oath: N/A
• Oath Spells: Not great.
• Conjure Duplicate: Eh
• Poison Strike: Sure
• Aura of Treachery: Sure
• Blackguard's Escape: 100%. This happens in the cutscenes all the time.
• Icon of Deceit: Sure

Oath of Vengeance Paladin — A decent but imperfect fit.

• Oath: Eh. Too Vigilante.
• Oath Spells: These are a damn good fit, thematically. Still no Lifedrain or Manadrain though.
• Abjure Enemy: Fear + Slow
• Vow of Enmity: Sure, this fits.
• Relentless Avenger: This is neat
• Soul of Vengeance: Eh.
• Avenging Angel: Nope

Oath of the Crown Paladin — A terrible fit.

• Oath: No, Not for Dark Knight.
• Oath Spells: No, not really.
• Champion Challenge: Not really.
• Turn the Tide: No.
• Divine Allegiance: No
• Unyielding Spirit: Sure.
• Exalted Champion: Nope

Oathbreaker Paladin — A Decent Fit

• Oath: N/A.
• Oath Spells: Sure, good fit.
• Control Undead: Yeah, thats cool.
• Dreadful Aspect: Not so much.
• Aura of Hate: This is good.
• Supernatural Resistance: Sure.
• Dread Lord: This is cool.

ZenBear's Oath of Blood Paladin — Nothing we want in here.

So, here we go. [Its been brought to my attention that the spell list was on the strong side, so here it is, revised a bunch]

Dark Knight Conquerer/Treachery/Oathbreaker "Paladin"

"A fallen knight who has turned his back on the light of the gods. He leeches the souls of enemies with his Fell Sword."

Proficiencies

Armor: No Change

Weapons: No Change

Tools: No Change

Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma

Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Stealth

Class Features

Control Undead: As per Oathbreaker. This replaces Divine Sense.

Absorbing Strike: You may prevent half the total damage you deal (rounded down) with an attack. If you do, you regain as much health as you prevented. This replaces Lay on Hands.

Tainted Smite: Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal necrotic damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an fey or a celestial. This replaces Divine Smite.

Fighting Style: Remove Mariner, Protection; Add Two-Weapon Fighting

Tainted Vigor: By 3rd level, the fell magics flowing through you make you immune to the poisoned condition, and you have resistance to poison damage. This replaces Divine Health.

Extra Attack: No Change.

Aura of Hate: As per Oathbreaker, except starting at level 6. This replaces Aura of Protection.

Aura of Confidence: Starting at 10th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you can't be charmed while you are conscious. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Improved Tainted Smite: By 11th level, you are so suffused with corrupted energies that all your melee weapon strikes carry necrotic power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. If you also use your Tainted Smite with an attack, you add this damage to the extra damage of your Divine Smite. This replaces Improved Divine Smite.

Steely Resolve: Once you reach 14th level, you can no longer be frightened. This Replaces Cleansing Touch.

Subclass Features

Oath of Treachery: As per Treachery. This replaces Oath of Conquest.

Conquering Strike: No Change

Poison Strike: As Oath of Treachery. This replaces Guided Strike

Aura of Conquest: No Change

Blackguard's Escape:As per Oath of Treachery. This replaces Implacable Spirit

Dread Lord: As per Oathbreaker. This replaces Invincible Conquerer.

Spell List

Dark Knight "Oath" Spells:

Dark Knight lv 3: Cause Fear, Inflict Wounds

Dark Knight lv 5: Darkness, Heat Metal

Dark Knight lv 9: Animate Dead, Vampiric Touch

Dark Knight lv 13: Confusion, Dimension Door

Dark Knight lv 17: Contagion, Dominate Person

1st Level Spells

Removed: Bless, Cure Wounds, Divine Favor (Radiant), Shield of Faith, Ceremony

Kept: Command, Compelled Duel, Detect Evil and Good, Detect Poison and Disease, Heroism, Protection from Evil and Good, Searing Smite, Thunderous Smite, Wrathful Smite, Detect Magic, Purify Food and Drink

Added: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Bane, Hex, Puppet, Expeditious Retreat

2nd Level Spells

Removed: Aid, Branding Smite (Radiant), Lesser Restoration, Zone of Truth (4)

Kept: Find Steed, Locate Object, Magic Weapon, Protection from Poison,

Added: Alter Self, Darkvision, Hold Person, Invisibility, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shatter, Suggestion

3rd Level Spells

Removed: Aura of Vitality, Bestow Curse, Blinding Smite (Radiant), Create Food and Water, Crusader's Mantle (Radiant), Daylight, Revivify (Resurrection) (7)

Kept: Dispel Magic, Elemental Weapon, Magic Circle, Remove Curse

Added: Fear, Gaseous Form, Haste, Tongues

4th Level Spells

Removed: Aura of Life, Aura of Purity

Kept: Banishment, Death Ward, Locate Creature, Staggering Smite

Added: Elemental Bane, Evard's Black Tentacles

5th Level Spells

Removed: Circle of Power, Raise Dead (Resurrection)

Kept: Banishing Smite, Destructive Wave, Dispel Evil and Good, Geas,

Added: Contact Other Plane

Roleplay: You're in it for yourself. Your superiors (assuming you have any) likely know it, but you get the job done, and you'll do things (with discretion) that many others wouldn't even consider.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this one, I know I enjoyed making it. It's flavorful and feels foul, tainted. A Paladin with an "evil" oath just doesn't fit the bill. Too much stuff that just doesn't fit the fluff.

So, life has gotten pretty nuts recently. As much as I'd love to continue to do 2 posts a week, it looks like I'm going to have to go down to one post a week for the next while. Expect a post next up for next Monday morning, when I'll be taking a look at how to build another Job in 5e.

— Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 7

Job Creation 7

Welcome to Part 7 of Job Builds

Today we're going to take a look at how to do the Dark Knight

Dark Knight

Premise — The Dark Knight is a Mageknight (Gish with heavy armor and access to Knightly Weapons) who fights dirty and has a selfish, mercenary, or evil theme.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Magic, Good Melee Combat, Plate Armor, Knight Weapons, Lifedrain, Mana Drain

Premise — Much like with Dragoon, this is going to involve a lot of reviewing before I consider homebrewing something custom, as several potential options already exist.

Class/Subclass Options

Paladin — Good Proficiencies.

• Divine Sense: Detect strongly aligned beings and consecrated/desecrated objects/places. Eh. Not terribly useful in an human focused campaign, but its alright. He could detect the few undead and zombies that are in the setting.
• Lay on Hands: Healing and curing disease/poison. Bad fit, unfortunately.
• Divine Smite: Change the damage type (Probably Necrotic) and who you get extra damage against and it works out better.
• Spells The spell-list isn't perfect. It's got a lot of healing, white-mage-type-stuff. Could use an overhaul.
• Fighting Style Some of them work. Maybe changing up the list would be worthwhile.
• Divine Health Sure.
• Extra Attack Absolutely.
• Aura of Protection Sure.
• Aura of Courage Sure.
• Improved Divine Smite Sure, but change the damage type as per Divine Smite.
• Cleansing Touch The flavor doesn't fit super well. Would work better if you could end beneficial spells on enemies.

Oath of Conquest Paladin — One of the Better fits

• Oath: Not Terrible
• Oath Spells: All of these are a good fit thematically, though no Lifedrain or Manadrain.
• Conquering Strike: Awesome
• Guided Strike: Awesome
• Aura of Conquest: More Awesome
• Implacable Spirit: I like it.
• Invincible Conquerer: Sure why not

Oath of Treachery Paladin — A mediocre fit with a couple iconic abilities.

• Oath: N/A
• Oath Spells: Not great.
• Conjure Duplicate: Eh
• Poison Strike: Sure
• Aura of Treachery: Sure
• Blackguard's Escape: 100%. This happens in the cutscenes all the time.
• Icon of Deceit: Sure

Oath of Vengeance Paladin — A decent but imperfect fit.

• Oath: Eh. Too Vigilante.
• Oath Spells: These are a damn good fit, thematically. Still no Lifedrain or Manadrain though.
• Abjure Enemy: Fear + Slow
• Vow of Enmity: Sure, this fits.
• Relentless Avenger: This is neat
• Soul of Vengeance: Eh.
• Avenging Angel: Nope

Oath of the Crown Paladin — A terrible fit.

• Oath: No, Not for Dark Knight.
• Oath Spells: No, not really.
• Champion Challenge: Not really.
• Turn the Tide: No.
• Divine Allegiance: No
• Unyielding Spirit: Sure.
• Exalted Champion: Nope

Oathbreaker Paladin — A Decent Fit

• Oath: N/A.
• Oath Spells: Sure, good fit.
• Control Undead: Yeah, thats cool.
• Dreadful Aspect: Not so much.
• Aura of Hate: This is good.
• Supernatural Resistance: Sure.
• Dread Lord: This is cool.

ZenBear's Oath of Blood Paladin — Nothing we want in here.

Fighter — Good Proficiencies. Nothing that detracts from Dark Knight.

• Drackolus' Dark Knight Fighter Subclass — Looks Pretty Good.
• Stuart Logan's Dark Knight Fighter Subclass — Also Looks Pretty Good

SilentSoren's Dark Knight,2 (Images) (Direct) — Eh. It's a different flavor than we're going for.

Nordic&Nerdy's Dark Knight Class (Direct) — This is a weird blood fighter lacking a lot of the abilities we would want. Not so much.

So, we have a few options here to consider:
Eliminated:

• SilentSoren's Dark Knight: Doesn't match the FFT Dark Knight Flavor
• Nordic&Nerdy's Dark Knight Class: This is its own weird blood magic thing
• Oath of Blood Paladin: No match

Considerations:

• Paladin: There's no single Paladin Oath that's a good fit for Dark Knight. But there are several of them with parts that are good.
• Stuart Logan's Fighter Subclass: This looks good.
• Drackolus' Fighter Subclass: This looks better.

For the super quick & easy route: Drackolus' Subclass is the one to choose. It's just better than the others.

This is going to be the end for today's post, I ran way over-time on this one.

Next Post won't be until next weekend. Join me then to see me build Dark Knight from Paladin! Later!

— Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 6

Job Creation 6

Welcome to Part 6 of Job Builds

Today we're going to take a look at the Dragoon

Dragoon

Premise — The Dragoon is a mundane, highly mobile, warrior, who wears heavy armor (Typically Full-Plate or Half-Plate), uses polearms (primarily spears), and has an uncanny, Wuxia-esque long-distance leap attack wherein he leaps in the air and then lands on the opponent, weapon down, for heavy damage output.

Core Gameplay Abilities — No Magic, Plate Armor, High Mobility, High ability to Jump, Exceptionally High ability to Vertically Jump, Spear Use, Hard-Hitting Leap Attack.

Premise — There are several choices already, from homebrew options to refluffing existing classes, so I'm going to pick through and review them and see where to go from there. With luck, One of them will be a good fit.

Class/Subclass Options

Dragoon Dragon Shaman — It gets good jump abilities in the subclass. Unfortunately the core class is a terrible fit. (But, concidentally, a great fit for the Dragonkin (last post))

Eagle Totem Barbarian — You're not remotely a Dragoon until 14 this way. That's no good at all.

Grayfigure's Dragoon Subclass — Fighter Base Class. This gives us the proficiencies.

• Glyph Jump: There's the core Jump ability. It's a little overcomplicated, it doesn't make a lot of sense if the hero is not Medium Sized because of the explicit size restrictions it includes (rather than relative size restrictions) - Not super relevant in an FFT Campaign where everyone is human, but something I'd consider in a regular D&D campaign, as I've always been inclined to want to come up with was to allow 12-foot-tall large monstrous races. Additionally I don't think a Polearm should be *NECESSARY* to use it for the knockdown effect, any two-handed weapon should work. It's fiddly and could very much use a thorough rephrasing, but it's serviceable. For Damage, you Jump STR+3 (20ft for a Human Fighter at Level 3, or 2d6 damage) You can add weapon damage to that at 4 in place of a second attack roll (or you could just roll the second attack after you land), At 7th it's STR+10ft (3d6 if you maxed out your STR), and at 15th level it's 4d6 damage with maxed out STR.
• Elusive Jump makes you very dodgy in a very mobile way, at level 7.
• Weird of the Wyrm gives you a weird "dragon-hunter" focus which I don't much care for.
• Ancestral Roar: A little underwhelming for level 18 given how many enemies at that level will be immune to fear, but it's flavorful, and passable.

All in all, this is a serviceable Dragoon.

DracoKnight's Dragoon Subclass (Direct) — Another Fighter Subclass. So we've got our armor proficiencies covered already.

• Aerial Incursion: Again, core Jump ability. This one punishes you for trying it if the target passes their save. It has a larger (non-increasing) range, and a much higher vertical jump portion (You're more likely to be able to jump over a wall.) They get a save against the damage, but the damage will be larger due to the higher fall-height. Lets assume 60ft once you max your strength, or 6d6 at maximum on level ground. When you get it at level 3, you can assume that's a 16 Str, or 48 foot jump = 4d6. Needless to say, 4d6 at level 3 is hefty. Unlike in Grayfigure's Dragoon, you can't use the ability for just movement without taking fall damage.
• Rebound Assault This lets you "Bounce" and get a second Aerial Incursion in place of replacing another normal attack.
• Spear of Heaven This gives you an Aerial Assault counterattack.
• Unfailing Lancer: This ups the DCs of your Incursions by +6.

It's heavier hitting, it's riskier, and it's much more one-note. True, the FFT Dragoon job is very one-note (but it has a second job skillset), and 5e characters are more flexible than that. So far I'm preferring Grayfigure's subclass.

DandWiki's Dragoon Subclass — I have low expectations about D And Wiki, they're known for terrible homebrew. that said, let's review it anyways!

• Lancer's Leap Reduces the running start needed to jump. Long Jump Str + Half Fighter Lv + STR Mod - Strange to use Strength twice High Jump range becomes 3+Str Mod * 2 - not very high for a Dragoon! Once per turn you can reduce the movement cost of jumping by half. Those are now your normal Jump Rules. You also get a "Leap" action, 5 ft per fighter level in height, and you can land anywhere within your walking distance. So, like DracoKnight's but you can't jump very high at low levels.
• Velocity If you're holding a weapon and you're conscious, you take 1/2 fall damage. A bit broad and also underwhelming. You can jump, but doing so is gonna hurt.
• Polearm Specialist +1 attack and damage with polearms. We don't need this, we're a fighter. This is bad design.
• Dragoon's Strike Now we can finally do the Dragoon thing, at level 7... Ugh.
• Elite leapAttacks Against you have Disadvantage at L10+, so long as you used Leap. Which you'll naturally do every round...
• Terminal VelocityNo Fall Damage if Conscious and Wielding a Melee Weapon.
• Elite Dragoon Critical on a 19-20, add an extra base weapon die on a crit. Chance to knock enemies prone when you Leap-Attack Them.

A mix of underpowered and overpowered (Mostly underpowered) abilities. Not good. Not Impressed. I was expecting it would be broken overpowered, but it's just broken poorly functional.

ajaxx07's Dragoon Subclass(Direct) — Fighter Again. Proficiencies are good.

• Soaring Strike When you leap before an attack using normal jump rules, add damage = Proficiency for every 10 feet jumped before the attack. Maximum # of attacks in a round capped at 2 if you Jump. All Jump follows Long Jump Formula as though you had a running start. Doesn't work if wearing more than 20lbs of armor.
• Air Hike At L7, You can now "Double-Jump" in any direction you choose. You can triple jump at 15. These extra Jumps are free move actions that can exceed your speed. If conscious and unrestrained you don't take fall damage if falling less than your maximum jump height.
• Draconic LoreKnowledge Skills, and Advantage when you use Soaring Strike and attack a large or bigger target in midair.
• Thunderous Leap When you leap, creatures within 5ft take Strx2 damage, and your leaps don't provoke OAs
• Pierce the ScalesSoaring Strike damage becomes Force Damage and Stuns opponents.

Well, it's not our worst one, but I don't think its the best one either.

Hack & Slash's Dragoon Subclass (Image) — Fighter Again!

• Jump Attack "Jump Attack" special action. Limited use Str mod/long rest. Leave the battlefield. can't be targetted or affected in any way. Next turn you use your bonus action to end the jump, and land anywhere within Movement x2 of your starting point. Attack with advantage if desired. At 11, it does double damage. At 20 it does triple. I don't like it. It's too dissociative. It does crap damage. It's mostly a defensive trick so you cant be targetted.
• Lancet Lifedrain Melee Attack con mod/short rest.
• Elemental Leap Advantage on checks related to dragon type creatures in any way (except attack rolls). Also, when you land, enemies take 2d8 energy damage unless they pass a dex save. Why only enemies? How does the elemental burst avoid your friends if it radiates out in all directions? Again dissociative. Jumps up to 3d10 at L20
• Freedom of the Sky additional save vs negative effects to throw them off, and if successful you lose the effect and jump. (What Level do you get this?)
• Reflexive Jump Jump as a reaction to being targeted and make yourself no longer a valid target.

The whole thing reminds me of the mtg effect "phasing". It also has gamey mechanics that seem completely disconnected with the game world. I strongly dislike it on a visceral level. It's designed like the things I find least enjoyable about D&D (which made up the majority of 4e) where the mechanics are completely divorced from anything that makes sense in the game world.

Tiger Totem Barbarian — You can jump, I guess. Medium Armor. This is probably the best "no homebrew" option. Not very satisfying though, IMO. All that barbarian stuff doesn't fit what I think of when I think Dragoon.

Eldritch Knight Fighter (Jump Spell at 3) — You'd have to get your GM to add Jump to the Spell List, but you could do so. A bit too magic for FFT's Dragoon though.

Battlemaster Fighter — So, the "Charger" feat is pretty close to what we want from Jump. Basically we just want it, and to be able to ignore difficult terrain when doing so, because you're jumping. A flexible GM might allow that (I would consider it). Perhaps as a custom Maneuver of some sort.

So, we have a few options here to consider:
Eliminated:

• Dragon Shaman: Way too magick-y. Good fit for the Dragon-Kin though, which is how I got sidetracked from my Dragoon article last weekend.
• Eldritch Knight: Same issue as Dragon Shaman. Small amount of homebrew, adding Jump. Also, the Jump comes a bit late.
• Hack n' Slash: I really dislike this one. I don't like the mechanics, I'm not a fan of how cheesy it is defensively (even if you could cheese it defensively like that in FFT), just... no.
• ajax007: It's Passable I suppose, It's pretty clearly based on non-Tactics Final Fantasy games, with the flying attacks.
• D and Wiki: This one was absolutely garbage.
• DracoKnight: Overly Punitive, and the Damage is high at Low Levels. Also, very one-trick-pony.

Considerations:

• No Homebrew: Tiger Totem Barbarian is the only one that works. Not the best fit, not very satisfying, but it's the only option without homebrew. If I wanted to play a Dragoon in someone's official materials only campaign and was neither a GM, nor in a game with an accomodating GM, this is the only dragoon I could do that would remotely cover it. I'd have to refluff Rage as some other sort of Zen Battle-trance or something.
• Battlemaster Fighter with a custom Maneuver and the Charger Feat: This one is a small amount of homebrew. I like this one, potentially. If a player expressed interest in doing this I would write it up for them and allow it.
• Grayfigure: The best option short of writing something new. For our purposes, we're going to use it.

Grayfigure's Dragoon Subclass

This was an interesting one, because there were so many possible options out there, I wanted to see if I *needed* to customize anything before I made an attempt at doing so. I did have rough notes for how I would have proceeded if I was going to customize, but I didn't end up needing them. Grayfigure's Dragoon is good enough; at least for our quick and dirty first draft, and we didn't need to do a custom Battlemaster this time around. It was also interesting to be able to bang out this many words in this amount of time. Not nearly as much time spent editing when you're reviewing rather than homebrewing!

Hope you guys liked it, I'll catch you again on Saturday night.

Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 5

Job Creation 5

Welcome to Part 5 of Job Builds! This time I'm going to take a stab at the Dragonkin!

Dragonkin

Premise — The Dragonkin/Dragoner is a Dragonblooded beastial gish, who has breath weapons and support spells, and a way with (and the ability to talk to) animals.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Elemental Breath Weapons, solid for martial combat, Healing, Status Effect Removal

Unlike the other Jobs I've built, I'm going to attempt this two different ways. One involves a PWYW DM's Guild Class, and the other is going to be tweaks on a PHB Class.

Class/Subclass Options

Dragonformer Dragon Shaman — [Pay What You Want] This one is a great fit for the FFT Dragonkin. The Spell list could use a bit of work, however. It lacks a Charm, Healing, Negative Status Removal, and Buff spell,s which (aside from breath weapons) are the bulk of what a Dragonkin has in FFT. But it does HAVE spellcasting.

Dragonkin Dragonformer Dragon Shaman

"Human in appearance, but descended of dragons. The blood of the Holy Dragon flows in her veins."

Proficiencies

No Change

Spell List:

• Dragonkin Spells (Changes to Dragon Shaman Spell List)
• Cantrips (0 Level)
• Daze Animal: Added
• 1st Level
• Animal Friendship: Added
• Charm Person: Added
• Cure Wounds: Added
• 2nd Level
• Animal Messenger: Added
• Lesser Restoration: Added
• 3rd Level
• 4th Level
• Dominate Beast: Added
• 5th Level

Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer — Well, this gives us the breath weapons and some dragon fluff, but it's a much more magic focused approach to be sure. Additionally, the sorcerer spell-list isn't any better a fit than the Dragon Shaman one, it's more or less missing the same key spells. But as it's a full spell list, rather than a very limited list, we're going to take a different tack than just adding all the iconic spells

Dragonkin Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer

"Human in appearance, but descended of dragons. The blood of the Holy Dragon flows in her veins."

Proficiencies

No Change

Spells: The Dragonkin Sorcerer casts spells like a Sorcerer. However, The spells available do not come from the Sorcerer Spell List. Instead, the Dragonkin Sorcerer casts spells from the Druid Spell List.

Either one of these gives a reasonable approximation of the FFT Dragonkin, depending on how martial-focused you're trying to go. Combining Sorcerer metamagics with the Druid list could also be interesting.

That's it for today. This one was interesting (and not originally what I had planned on covering today, but I stumbled across Dragon Shaman while working on the Dragoon, got sidetracked working on this one, and I just had to go for it.)

See you next time;

Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 4

Job Creation 4

Welcome to Part 4 of Job Builds! Up next: The Archer, and the Machinist(Sniper)!

Archer

Premise — The Archer is a mundane martial class that specializes on one thing: Ranged Damage. The class is one of two classes with a single feature, which just improves. As for what flavor to use outside combat, it's a toss up, but it should be nonmagical.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Take Aim

Class/Subclass Options

Sharpshooter Fighter — This is the best fit, it even has the "Take Aim" option.

Archer = Sharpshooter Fighter.

Note: The Sharpshooter Subclass for fighter is basically a PERFECT fit for the Archer class in FFT. However, some of the other archer options fit well into the setting. Arcane Archer gives us an archer gish, which is pretty awesome and fits well into FFT's subtheme of having tons of different Gish warrior groups, and Scout gives a great scout option, which fits well with the armies & soldiers theme. Champion Fighter could also fit - in fact it was the one I was thinking of before I started investigating the options. Ranger's nature themes and nature-based spellcasting is the only one that is a weak fit in our medieval politics and warfare world.

Machinist(Sniper)

Premise — I was looking at the Machinist Job, and was looking at the gunsmith Artificer, and while you *could* use that, it's not the best fit. The Machinists in FFT aren't mages in the least. They don't have mechanical servants. Artificers could fit into Goug thematically, particularly if you're running your game in a more magitech time period, but they're a bit too techy for the War of the Lions. I originally put Engineer away, stumped at how to do it in 5e. Battlemaster fighter with firearms is how to do it. But I'm going to make a few small tweaks to Proficiency. Additionally, some sort of homebrew crafting rules would be a great help, to allow our Machinist to repair and build simple machines.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Snipe - mostly called-shot themed class features, that cripple the opponent.

Class/Subclass Options

Battlemaster Fighter — A stun maneuver would be good if we were to expand this, or some sort of temporary limb-disabling maneuver. But this is our best option for the in-combat stuff. I'm going to suggest additional maneuvers from a Giant in the Playground thread by Ruslan. Specifically, Action Before Thought, Befuddling Strike, Bleeding Strike, Blinding Strike, Covering Strike, Exhausting Strike, Far Shot, Penetrating Strike, and Stealthy Shot. You can find them reposted below, as I did for the Fencer.

Machinist = Battlemaster Fighter.

Machinist Battle Master Fighter

"A Machinist strikes specific areas of the target's body to cause effects."

Proficiencies

Armor: Light Armor, Medium Armor

Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Ranged Weapons, Firearms

Tools: Smith's Tools, Tinker's Tools

Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence

Skills: Choose three skills from Athletics, History, Insight, Perception, Religion, and Sleight of Hand

Battle Master

Combat Superiority: Add the following maneuvers
ACTION BEFORE THOUGHT (Battle Master Maneuver): When you make an Initiative check, you can expend one superiority die to add the number rolled on the die to your Initiative result. You can use this maneuver before or after making the Initiative roll, but before the DM announces initiative order.
BEFUDDLING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to confuse the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom save. On a failure, the first attack made by the target during its next turn targets a random creature the target can see within its reach or range. The target is unaware of this effect until it occurs. Requires Level 15
BLEEDING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a living creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to create a bleeding wound. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll. At the beginning of your next turn, roll the superiority die again and deal this much necrotic damage to the target due to bleeding. This additional damage is dealt even if you're dead.
BLINDING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to blind the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Constitution save or become blinded until the end of its next turn. Requires Level 15
COVERING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to make the target slow to react. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Constitution save. On a failure, the target can't take reactions until the start of your next turn.
DISPELLING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to interrupt the target's concentration. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target has Disadvantage on any saves to maintain concentration until the beginning of your next turn. Requires level 9
EXHAUSTING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to exhaust the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Constitution save or acquire one level of Exhaustion.
FAR SHOT (Battle Master Maneuver): When you make a ranged weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to double the weapon’s range. If the attack hits, add the superiority die to the damage roll.
PENETRATING STRIKE (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to overcome the target’s defenses. Add the superiority die to the damage roll. If the target has resistance to the type of damage dealt by the attack, that resistance is ignored. If the target is immune to that type of damage, it becomes resistance instead.
STEALTHY SHOT (Battle Master Maneuver): When you make a ranged weapon attack while hidden, you can expend one superiority die to remain unseen. The attack does not automatically reveal your position. Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. If the result of this check beats the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each enemy that could potentially observe you, you stay hidden. If the attack hits, add the superiority die to the damage roll.

Note: Battlemaster for fighter is a great fit for the Machinist job in FFT, once these changes and extra maneuvers have been added, especially.

Roleplay: You are familiar with long forgotten steam and magi-tech equipment, from the last great fallen civilization, and you're well versed in the history of the land, as many snippets of wondrous technological knowledge came from centuries-old historical documents.

That's the two for today; More Job Builds will be coming this weekend. We've gotten a good chunk of them done, and I've (admittedly) gotten many of the easier ones out of the way, simply because I haven't ironed out how best to handle some of the more difficult ones in 5e. The rest could be on the trickier side, not having a good 5e analogue (The FFT Samurai and Summoner spring to mind as potential examples). We'll see what we can cook up.

Catch you guys again this weekend!

Hawkwinter

D&D 5e FFT: Jobs 3

Job Creation 3

We're back with Part 3 of FFT Job Builds! Up next: The Fencer and the Black Mage! Let's get started.

Fencer

Premise — The Fencer (or Knight, Depending on Translation) is a mundane expert at martial weapons combat, and all of his techniques are delivered by his primary weapon. His techniques revolve around destroying equipment, and disabling his opponent's body through strikes to their vitals. In D&D terms, he's built around Sundering equipment and Ability Damage. Neither of which actually exists for players in 5e by default - so this is a class that we won't be able to do a very accurate 'Quick n Dirty' build of, we'll have to take liberties with the concept if we're not going to build a bunch of custom abilities for it.

Ability Damage — I actually *REALLY* enjoy the ability to attack something other than HP, and have it have a meaningful impact. That's something I will probably explore in a future article. However, There's no ability damage for players in 5e, and (looking back at 3e) it was present, but not a design consideration. Very high CR monsters could be taken out as easily as regular rats by attacking their ability scores. It's a very interesting mechanic, and I miss it in 5e, but it's also something that needs to be properly designed for, and has been handled poorly in the past. I will likely write something up to bring back ability damage for 5e in the future, but that's at least one post on its own.

Sunder — Someone named Enricorix over at EN World HAS written up a sunder maneuver (even if it's just for held objects).

Core Gameplay Abilities — Sunder (any type of held or worn item, by slot), MP Damage, PA/MA/SP Damage

D&D Analogues — Sunder Weapon/Shield: sunder maneuver, Sunder Armor / Sunder Accessory / MP damage / PA/MA Damage: no real analogue; You'd need to homebrew something. SP Damage: no analogue (It pushes back your turns and makes them less frequent. Maybe a homebrew attack that *might* stun, and DOES lower initiative).

Class/Subclass Options

Battle Master Fighter — It's our best option for an FFT Style Fencer. This one's not going to include much (if any) tweaking compared to the others I've done.

Battle Master Fighter

"A brave and chivalrous warrior of unmatched skill. Uses a knight's sword to unleash the Arts of War."

Proficiencies

No change.

Battle Master

Combat Superiority: Add the following maneuver
SUNDERING ATTACK (Battle Master Maneuver): When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one or more superiority dies and you can attempt to sunder the target’s weapon or shield, if you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll to one item that the target is holding of your choice . If the total of damage is equal to or greater than the weapon damage threshold the weapon is considered sundered. A weapon's damage threshold is the same of a weapon's maximum damage die. (8 for a longsword, 10 for a halberd, 12 for a greatsword). Shields have 8 damage threshold. Oversized (or enlarged) weapons have an extra 4 damage threshold for each size category above the original size. Magic weapons are considered to have an extra damage threshold die per rarity level above common. Magic weapons have resistance to all types of damage and all types of damage from nonmagic weapons.
Special Substances: Some special materials as mithral and adamantine have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagic weapons. In addition mithral has resitance to weapons that aren’t made of adamantine or mithral. Adamantine has resistance to weapons that aren’t made of adamantine.
Sundered Weapon: A sundered weapon (or shield) is still usable but with disadvantage on rolls to attack (or -1 on AC for shields), until get fixed. A sundered magic weapon's (or shield's) magic properties are suppressed until properly repaired. All sundered weapons are treated as if were improvised weapons.
Weapons immunities: Weapons immunities. As objects weapons are immune to poison and psychic damage. An adamantine weapon or shield is immune to critical hits.

It's not a perfect fit, by far, but it's close enough to fit a "similar" mechanical role. It could really use several more homebrewed maneuvers to round it out.

Note: The Knight Subclass for fighter thematically fits into the setting very well, but it does not cover the playstyle of the FFT Fencer at all. I would absolutely allow it as a separate option, and would consider using it for some Knight type NPCs, however.

Roleplay: You either play this up as a sworn knight, or you play it as a hired sword, or you play it as a skilled soldier; they all work quite well.

Black Mage

Premise — The Black Mage is an AoE specialized blasting caster.

Core Gameplay Abilities — Various AoE elemental spells, Poison, Toad, Death

D&D Analogues — Various evocation spells, Poison: no analogue - 5e lacks ongoing damage over time effects, for the most part. There are a few, though, mostly to do with burning. Searing Smite & Immolation come to mind - maybe another topic for more detail in a future post. For now (to keep it simple) we'll say it's the same as Immolation, but with all the Fire Damage as Poison Damage instead. Toad: Polymorph, True Polymorph, Death: Phantasmal Killer, Power Word Kill.

Class/Subclass Options

Evocation Wizard — This is a really good fit, as is. This time we're going to leave well enough alone.

Black Mage = Evocation Wizard.

This one was easier than expected. Our fencer could use other homebrewed maneuvers, but it's still not a bad fit.

Hawkwinter

D&D 5e: Random Ability Score Generation

Preamble

Today I'm taking a break from my D&D 5e FFT5 series, and writing something that takes a bit less research and number crunching and whatnot, for a change of pace. I'll be bringing back more Job writeups for this weekend. Also; You'll note I've prettified the existing posts for my 5eFFT Series, as well as added an index.

Anyways; today I'm going to look at some alternate approaches to random ability score generation in D&D 5e, which yields results more in-line with what you could get via point-buy. I'm going to focus on my preferred random ability generation method, which is a modified variant of something I saw someone else post on a website years and years ago (I don't remember where I saw the original idea, but if I manage to find it again I'll add a link at the bottom).

Basic Card-Gen

This method of Random Ability Generation relies on a pack of playing cards, not on dice. Using cards instead of dice yields more consistent arrays between party members than dice does.

Point-Total?

Take an acceptable array, and add all the Ability Scores together. In this case, I'm going to use the Standard 5th Edition Array: 15,14,13,12,10,8. This adds up to 72, so 72 is the total we're going to work with.

Max & Min

Using point Buy, in D&D 5th Edition, a character can't start with a score higher than 15, or lower than 8, This is also important.

Building our Ability Score Deck

So, our constraints are: Nothing higher than 15, nothing lower than 8, and it adds up to 72. Since there are six Ability Scores, the way this is going to work is 12 cards (2 per Ability Score), with nothing below a 4. For a more frequent 15, we're going to allow a second 8, even though that means the player *could* get a 16.

To round out the options, here's the core of our deck:

It adds up to 60, it covers the range of numbers from 8 to 16, and leaves us 12 to work with for our final 2 cards. It also has the same average as the standard array.

The Choices

Now, for the last two cards, there's 2 viable choices. (there are other cards that would fit the total, but D&D is a game of specialization, and they're more likely to result in a "slightly above average Joe" with an array full of 12s, so I'm not going to recommend those.

Wildcards

The wild card doubles whatever's it's drawn with. Because our *Average* card is a 6, the wildcard counts as a 6 when you're adding up your 72, and two wild cards are drawn together, that's worth 12 - like if you had drawn two sixes. It adds in a bit of variance to the total Ability Score, as each wildcard could pair with a 4 (-2) or an 8 (+2), a little like dice, but still far more consistent than using dice.

Eight & Four

The Eight and Four give decent odds of a specialized array, while staying constrained in the 72.

Opinion

I think with 5e (unlike Pathfinder which has a larger variance in valid point buy arrays and thus has much swingier wildcards), I personally prefer using two wildcards over an eight and a four. It's more likely to result in a 16 or an 8, and less likely to result in a 12.

Final Deck Note - More Wild!~

If you find yourself wanting more variance than two wildcards give you, you can swap out the sixes for another two wildcards.

Using the Ability Score Deck

So, for the basic approach, you choose one of the two decks above, and your player shuffles the deck and then draws pairs, giving them a complete array.

Array Pools

If you're feeling generous, instead of each player rolling an array and being stuck with it, you can do one of the following to give the player a bit more choice in their final array. Which one you choose will depend on just how generous you feel.

Global Shared Pool

As each array is drawn, record it. After an array is drawn for each player, players build their character with any of the arrays that were drawn. Their choice. This will yield results a bit closer to point buy, as they'll choose the array that best works for what they're trying to play. Expect to see only a couple of the arrays get used.

Generous Limited Pools

Arrange all the players around a table (or otherwise find a way to put them in some sort of trackable linear order). Each player can build with their own array, or the array of an adjacent player.

Limited Pools

Arrange all the players around a table (or otherwise find a way to put them in some sort of trackable linear order). Each player can build with their own array, or the array of the player to their left.

I really like using cards if I want a campaign with non-point buy Ability Scores, and don't feel like providing the players with a couple of hand-built arrays to choose from.

Until next time,

Hawkwinter