1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime

[Garryl]

Okay, so there's this world, and around it (hundreds of light years away or so), there's this uniform, spherical cloud of dust expanding outward like a growing shell. Except now it's collapsing inwards due to gravitational forces pulling it together. In only [x amount of time], it will collapse to the center, where this planet it, wiping out all life on it.

This planet, the shell, and the plane they are on have a history. The plane itself used to be a Far Realms-type place where reality does not exist in any way, shape, or form we can possibly comprehend. A plane of primordial chaos. It was at war with some other plane, one of ultimate law and order. The order plane built a bomb, a perfect sphere placed in the center of the chaos plane. When it exploded, it released an expanding shell. Inside the shell was uninhabitable for the denizens of the chaos. So they did the only thing in their power they could to fight back and stem the tide of their destruction. They invented physics. Suddenly, gravity existed, and its pull started pulling the shell back in on itself, slowly decelerating it, then accelerating it inwards. But physics had another effect. It introduced randomness and change into the otherwise fixed nature of the interior. Where once a perfect sphere existed, the spent remains of the planar bomb, it slowly began to vary. Life began to evolve on it.

[Jackinthegreen]

Wild Spell feat

Prereqs: Natural Spell, ability to Wild Shape into a Large animal

Benefits:  While Wild Shaped, you may treat yourself as the type and subtype of the creature you are Wild Shaped into for the purposes of your own spells.  For example, this would allow you to cast Animal Growth on yourself while Wild Shaped into an appropriate animal.

For more fun stuff, be a Goliath and get a barbarian level for Mountain Rage, then take Powerful Wild Shape.  From the looks of it, that'll allow the character to become a larger animal.

Hmm.... not a great idea.  Makes Awaken shenanigans even easier.

That one I didn't think about, but Awaken on a PC is broken anyway and shouldn't be used.

[Garryl]

Reinforced Crossbows

These variants on normal crossbows have a heavier frame and spring, allowing them to fire bolts with far greater velocity. A reinforced crossbow weighs twice as much as a regular crossbow of its type, and has a range increment 20 feet larger when fully cranked. However, they are, obviously, harder to crank to their fullest extent. A reinforced crossbow costs twice as much as a normal crossbow, plus an additional 100g per point of strength rating.

A given reinforced crossbow is made for a given strength rating, similar to composite bows. A character with a strength modifier at least as high as the crossbow's strength rating can wield and reload it like a normal crossbow of its type, cranking it fully as part of reloading it. For every point of strength modifier below the weapon's strength rating, the character requires one additional full-round action above and beyond the normal action or actions needed to reload the crossbow to fully crank it. Fully cranked, the weapon grants a bonus on damage rolls equal to its strength rating. When fired while not fully cranked, the range increment is reduced by half and the attack suffers a -2 penalty on attack rolls.

[Garryl]

Revamped sizes and 5' steps.

Reaches given are for upright bipeds. Use the reach for one size category smaller for quadrupeds and other non-upright creatures.

SIZE: Space/Reach
Large: 10'/10'
Huge: 20'/20'
Garganutan: 40'/40'
Colossal: 80'/80'

Shift: A new action option that replaces 5' steps. For smaller creatures, it's effectively the same as before. However, big creatures can move further than just 5'. When a creature shifts, it can move a distance up to half its space (rounded down to the nearest 5', minimum 5') in a straight line, to a maximum of its movement speed for the mode it uses.

[phaedrusxy]

Shift: A new action option that replaces 5' steps. For smaller creatures, it's effectively the same as before. However, big creatures can move further than just 5'. When a creature shifts, it can move a distance up to half its space (rounded down to the nearest 5', minimum 5') in a straight line, to a maximum of its movement speed for the mode it uses.

Great idea. I remember hearing someone discuss something like this, but have never seen it implemented in a game. It makes being big even better than it already is, though...

[Garryl]

Fighter as (over-the-top) fighting styles.

Basic chassis is as present. In addition, at first level, the Fighter chooses a distinct fighting style, and gains additional benefits relating to that style at every odd level. At 6th level, choose a second fighting style. You gain the benefits of that style as a Fighter of your level -5. At 11th level, you gain a third fighting style as a Fighter of your level -10. At 16th level, you gain a fourth and final fighting style as a Fighter of your level -15.

Oversized Weapon Fighter

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Wield a huge sword. Or a ballista. Your choice, I'm not picky.

Skills:

At 1st level, you count as one size category larger than normal when determining which weapons you can wield and your carrying capacity. In addition, once per day per Fighter level plus once more per 4 non-Fighter levels, you can declare any attack you make with any oversized weapon to be a crushing blow. Make the attack as normal, but if it deals damage, any creature damaged must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Str modifier) or be stunned for 1 round.
At 3rd level, when wielding an oversized melee weapon, your reach with that weapon increases as though you were one size category larger. Additionally, you gain the benefits of the Far Shot feat when using oversized ranged weapons.
At 5th level, you can perform a sweeping strike with an oversized weapon once per round in place of a normal attack. If you would make a melee attack, it applies to all opponents in a cone with a radius equal to your reach. If you would make a ranged attack, it applies to all opponents in a line with a range equal to your range increment. Use the same attack roll and apply it to all targets affected. Sweeping strikes ignore miss chances caused by concealment.
At 7th level, your attacks with oversized weapons ignore all damage reduction or hardness your targets may have. In addition, you gain a shield bonus to AC equal to the number of dice of damage done by your oversized weapon's base damage.
At 9th level,
At 11th level,
At 13th level,
At 15th level,
At 17th level,
At 19th level,
At 20th level,

Lightning Bruiser

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Hit them hard and hit them fast.

Skills: Tumble

This is not the TWF style, although it'll be extremely synergistic with it. Abilities to come.
At 1st level, you add your Dexterity modifier to weapon damage rolls. You gain a dodge bonus to your armor class equal to the number of attacks you've made since the beginning of your last turn.
At 3rd level, you gain the Sudden Strike ability as a Ninja of half your Fighter level.
At 5th level, you gain a bonus to all movement speeds equal to 5' per 2 Fighter levels, and you can move up to half your speed as part of making a full attack.
At 7th level,
At 9th level,
At 11th level,
At 13th level,
At 15th level,
At 17th level,
At 19th level,
At 20th level,

Determinator

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Implacable, unstoppable, and don't take no crap off of nobody.

Skills: Autohypnosis

At 1st level, you gain Diehard as a bonus feat (even if you don't qualify for it). Treat your nonlethal damage as 10 points less when determining whether you are staggered or unconscious. Further, you gain DR/- and acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic resistance equal to your base Fortitude save.
At 3rd level, you gain Mettle, as the Hexblade class feature.
At 5th level, you can act normally while at negative hit points, and both the amount of nonlethal damage you can ignore and the negative hit point total you die at are increased by your Fighter level multiplied by your base Fortitude save.
At 7th level, you can reroll one failed saving throw each round. Alternatively, you can make a new saving throw against a single ongoing effect affecting you for which you failed your saving throw. If you succeed, the ongoing effect's effect is reduced as though you had originally succeeded on your saving throw.
At 9th level, you gain fast healing equal to your base Fortitude save. In addition, you gain a morale bonus to your armor class equal to the number of attacks that hit you since the beginning of your last turn.
At 11th level, you become immune to death effects and gain a +4 bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects. Movement-impairing effects, even complete immobilization, cannot reduce the distance you move to less than half (rounded up to the nearest 5 feet).
At 13th level, you gain Improved Mettle. Whenever you fail a Fort or Will save against an affect to which Mettle could apply, you suffer the reduced effect instead.
At 15th level,
At 17th level,
At 19th level,
At 20th level, you gain regeneration 20. No type of damage bypasses your regeneration. In addition, you can end any one ongoing effect affecting you each round, as though the effect's duration had expired.

Juggernaut

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An impenetrable wall of steel.

Skills:

At 1st level, while wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving out of a creature's threatened spaces while you move closer to that creature, and any movement away from you, even 5' steps and movement with the Tumble skill, provokes attacks of opportunity.
At 3rd level, you gain the Evasion ability, except that it only applies while wearing heavy armor or while wielding a shield. In addition, you add your shield bonus to armor class to your Reflex saves as well.
At 5th level, you reduce the total armor check penalty of your armor, shield, and load by your base Reflex save. Additionally, your movement speed and running speed are no longer reduced due to wearing armor or carrying a medium or heavy load.
At 7th level, your armor and shield bonuses to armor class apply against touch attacks and incorporeal touch attacks.
At 9th level, while wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield, you can freely move through the spaces of creatures of your size or smaller. When you do, you can make an Overrun attempt as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity, and if successful your movement that turn does not provoke attacks of opportunity from the creature you overran.
At 11th level, you gain the Improved Evasion ability, except that it only applies while wearing heavy armor or while wielding a shield.
At 13th level,
At 15th level,
At 17th level,
At 19th level,
At 20th level,

Forgemaster

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Make the weapons that make the peoples fall down.

Skills: Use Magic Device

At 1st level, you gain the Item Creation ability of an Artificer of your Fighter level, and you treat any weapon, armor, or shield you have personally created or enchanted as having an enhancement bonus 1 higher than normal while you use it.
At 3rd level, you gain Craft Wondrous Item as a bonus feat. While you use them, any items you have personally created or enchanted gain a +4 bonus on their saving throws.
At 5th level, you gain Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat. While you use them, any items you have personally created or enchanted take only half the normal damage they would take (before hardness and other damage reductions).
At 7th level,
At 9th level,
At 11th level,
At 13th level,
At 15th level,
At 17th level,
At 19th level,
At 20th level,

[Garryl]

Breathe Weapon [Breath]
Prerequisites: Breath Weapon
Benefit: As the same action as drawing a weapon would take, you can channel your breath weapon into the form of a weapon you can wield. This can be any weapon with which you are proficient, chosen when you use this ability. The breathed weapon functions in all ways as a masterwork weapon of its type, except that instead of dealing damage, any creature you hit with it is subject to your breath weapon (a saving throw may reduce the effects, as normal).

Being made of energy, your breathed weapon cannot be sundered. It can be disarmed, but you add your Constitution modifier as a bonus on the opposed attack roll to avoid being disarmed of it. Any creature other than yourself who holds the breathed weapon is subject to your breath weapon once per round as though struck.

Using this ability counts as a use of your breath weapon. A breathed weapon lasts for 1 minute before dissipating.

Edit: Probably want to drop the duration on this, probably 1d4+1 rounds. Maybe also you can't use your breath weapon again until this dissipates.

[Jackinthegreen]

Einhander addition:

If you have 9 or more ranks in Tumble, you gain the benefits of the Dancing Blade Form stance while wielding a light or one-handed weapon in one hand and nothing in your off hand.

I'll eventually rework this into a rewrite of the feat, but for now that's what I've got.

[Garryl]

Some notes on combining characters' ability scores (to be used with giant mecha... yeah, the idea's still floating around my head even since the previous thread).

Treat each ability score as the controlling creature's ability score plus the ability modifier of the other creature's ability score, excluding modifiers from ongoing sources (such as spells and magic items, but not instantaneous effects). Modifiers to an ability score from either party caused by ongoing sources are applied to the gestalt whole's final score, stacking as normal.

[Garryl]

How much do you think this would change the game?

Taking a 5' step doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity for moving into another space a creature threatens. If you move entirely outside of a creature's threatened area, you provoke and attack of opportunity from that creature as per normal movement.

[veekie]

It'd reduce combat mobility even more I think. Not sure if you think thats desirable, D&D combat is pretty immobile as it is.

[Garryl]

I was just thinking of older editions where the 5' step didn't exist, along with other mechanics which meant that completely avoiding the risk of spell disruption weren't possible. Consider it with some combination of the following additions:

Break Away

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Break Away action: As a full-round action, you can make a single attack and move up to half your movement speed. Like withdrawing, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for leaving the space you began your movement in.

Improved Break Away
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Tumble 5 ranks, BaB +6
Benefit: As part of performing a Break Away action, you can make a full attack instead of only a single attack.

AoOs

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You don't provoke AoOs for moving out of a space an opponent threatens if you began your movement at least partially within that opponent's threatened area. You only provoke AoOs for moving entirely outside of an opponent's threatened area, or for moving out of a space an opponent threatened as part of movement that did not begin in that opponent's threatened area.

[Garryl]

Revamped weapon proficiency. Ironically, this variant may seem closer to AD&D's proficiencies that 3.5's.

Proficiency is no longer boolean. You have degrees of proficiency. If you have given degrees of proficiency with one or more weapons form different sources, they don't stack, use only the highest. Generally, only classes give you fixed degrees of proficiency. Most feats modify your proficiency.

Any class that originally gave proficiency with any simple weapons gives 1 degree of proficiency with all weapons it gave proficiency with.
Any class that originally gave proficiency with any martial or exotic weapons instead gives 2 degrees of proficiency with all weapons it gave proficiency with.
The Fighter class gives 3 degrees of proficiency with all weapons. Even exotics.
Simple Weapon Proficiency gives 1 degree of proficiency with all weapons.
Advanced Weapon Proficiency (combining the old Martial/Exotic Weapon Proficiency and Improved Unarmed Strike feats) gives 3 degrees of proficiency with the chosen weapon.
Weapon Focus and the rest of the chain each increase your degree of proficiency with the chosen weapon by 1 in addition to their previous effects.
Racial weapon familiarity increases your proficiency with a weapon by 1 degree.

Simple weapons require 1 degree of proficiency to use properly.
Martial weapons require 2 degrees of proficiency to use properly.
Exotic weapons require 3 degrees of proficiency to use properly.

Some weapons give additional benefits if you have high proficiency with them. For example:

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Unarmed Strike:
1 - Does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
2 - Can deal lethal damage.
3 - Damage die increases 1 step.

Reach weapons:
3 - Can threaten and attack adjacent spaces without penalty.

Bastard Sword, Dwarven Waraxe:
3 - Can be used in one hand without penalty.
4 - Considered to be used 2-handed where beneficial, even when used one-handed.

Thrown weapons:
2 - Do not provoke AoOs for ranged attacks in melee.
3 - Can draw as a free action.
4 - Use either of Dex or Str for both attack and damage rolls.

Projectile weapons:
2 - Dex to damage while within one range increment per degree of proficiency.
3 - Do not provoke AoOs for ranged attacks in melee.

Whip: (to be revised as tripling reach instead of that stupid fixed 15' range)
3 - Can deal lethal damage. Can harm armored opponents.
5 - Threatens spaces within reach.

Light and Finessable weapons:
2 - Can use Dex instead of Str for attack rolls.
3 - Can use Dex instead of Str for damage rolls.

[Garryl]

Minor Wounding Aura (Clr 2, DN 2): As Inflict Minor Wounds, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Light Wounding Aura (Clr 3, DN 3): As Inflict Light Wounds, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Moderate Wounding Aura (Clr 4, DN 4): As Inflict Moderate Wounds, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Serious Wounding Aura (Clr 5, DN 5): As Inflict Serious Wounds, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Critical Wounding Aura (Clr 6, DN 6): As Inflict Critical Wounds, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Harming Aura (Clr 8, DN 8): As Harm, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level.
Vampiric Aura (DN 7, Sor/Wiz 7): As Vampiric Touch, but affects all creatures within 30' once per round for 1 round/level. You gain temporary hit points equal to the highest damage dealt to any one creature (does not stack between rounds).

(Remember, you're within 30' of yourself.)



I have an even better idea!

Spell Aura [Metamagic]
Turn a touch spell into an emanation that affects all creatures within 30' (including yourself if you are a valid target). If the spell was instantaneous, it instead lasts 1 round per caster level, but only affects each creature the first time it enters the emanation. A spell aura uses a spell slot 2 levels higher than normal.

[sirpercival]

Spell Aura sounds familiar... maybe a little crystalline...

[Jackinthegreen]

Spell to Power Ardent.  Swap the mantles for psionic versions of cleric domains/appropriate spells.

[Garryl]

Skill Parcels

De-granularizing skill points. At every level, you get some number of skill points you can assign to your skills. You get a +4 bonus to that skill for every point assigned. Maximum one point per skill at level 1, +1 at 5th and every 4 levels thereafter.

Classes (and Int and human bonus and stuff) give 1/4 the points they used to. Use fractions, much like fractional BaB. So a human fighter with Int 13 would get 1 skill point per level.

All skills, in addition to having higher modifiers, grant some extra benefits by rank.

Skill prerequisites would need to be reworked. As would first level benefits. And class vs. cross-class skills. And how you spread things out so you can actually have multiple skills trained at levels before 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, etc.

[Garryl]

Denial

If I can't see it, it's doesn't exist (Su): You have improved cover against creatures that have total concealment from you.

If I don't understand it, it's just a trick (Su): As long as you have not identified a spell, you treat it as an illusion and are immediately granted a saving throw to disbelieve it (in addition to any saving throws it may already grant). You only gain this special disbelief saving throw once the first time you become aware of any given spell (when it's cast, or in the case of ongoing spells when you can perceive it or its effects in some way).

If I don't like it, it must be evil (Su): Your abilities that normally function only against evil creatures, or that have greater effects against evil creatures, function or provide their greater effects against any creature you consider your opponent, regardless of alignment.

[Jackinthegreen]

Wild Spell feat

Prereqs: Natural Spell, ability to Wild Shape into a Large animal

Benefits:  While Wild Shaped, you may treat yourself as the type and subtype of the creature you are Wild Shaped into for the purposes of your own spells.  For example, this would allow you to cast Animal Growth on yourself while Wild Shaped into an appropriate animal.

For more fun stuff, be a Goliath and get a barbarian level for Mountain Rage, then take Powerful Wild Shape.  From the looks of it, that'll allow the character to become a larger animal.

Hmm.... not a great idea.  Makes Awaken shenanigans even easier.

That one I didn't think about, but Awaken on a PC is broken anyway and shouldn't be used.

Bit of an update I thought of:

The effects of any spell you cast on yourself while wild shaped using this feat only last as long as the single wild shape does if the effect doesn't end before then.  For example, if you cast Animal Growth on yourself and then ended or changed your wild shape, the spell would end.

[Garryl]

That limitation is both too specific and too general, and doesn't influence Awaken anyways (it's instantaneous). Too specific because other casters can still Animal Growth or Awaken you without limitation, and too general because it kills your Barkskin and Bull's Strength and other buffs that you could put on yourself regardless.