5.Bando plans

-------------------------------------------------- NEW MECHANICS ---------------------------------------------
This section covers brand new mechanics that have been added, or new options to core mechanics of the game.
`Alignment Mechanics`
Magic items keep their alignment mechanics, but for things like spells which use your alignment, no. Those instead let you pick between all the options.
`Fighting Styles`
***Two-Weapon Fighting.*** Both weapons do not need to be light; instead, only one of them has to be. This means you can use a rapier and a dagger if you like. The actual style itself adds ability mod (as normal) but also removes the need for either to be light.
***Throwing.*** Exists. "You gain a +2 bonus to ranged attack rolls you make with a thrown weapon. Whenever you make a ranged attack with a thrown weapon, you can immediately draw another weapon as part of the attack."
`Spell Tags`
Just like the ritual tag, other spell tags exist! These tags are air, darkness, earth, fire, light, psionic, and water. Some effects call upon these tags, just like how the Ritual Caster feat refers to ritual spells, or how Draconic Bloodline refers to spells of the same damage type as your bloodline. Generally, the reason for these to exist is to allow more support for options that can't conventionally be categorized - there's no "earth" or "water" damage type, so a geomancer or a hydromancer can't get the same "Add your spellcasting modifier to damage" feature other damage type 'mancers would.
-------------------------------------------------- TWEAKS ---------------------------------------------
This section covers changes to existing mechanical options, rather than "core"; if you aren't picking one of these races, classes, or spells, then they won't affect you personally, while the New Mechanics section likely will regardless of what you go.
`Race Changes`
***All.*** Favored Classes are a thing, like Pathfinder. However, just like Pathfinder later on in its life, every single race has a "favored bonus" for every single class. This is basically just a unique racial trait that somehow ties into the mechanics of the class.
***Bugbear.*** Long-Limbed is fucking stupid and has convinced me the designer looked at the art of the race instead of their lore. I don't know what I'll replace it with but it'll be something.
***Dragonborn.*** Dragonborn has always been one of the weakest races in all of 5th Edition, as well as one that isn't very interesting. It has received some buffs and changes to make it more interesting, as well as a viable option. There's a subrace for each coloration, and the breath weapon doesn't do damage for metallics.
***Genasi.*** The highest of these guys is like a 21 on DB. This is really pathetic. They'll be made to be more interesting overall, as well as all having full delayed spellcasting.
***Gith.*** I've always hated how Githyanki and Githzerai *both* give mechanics that their lore's "favored" classes have, meaning that it's pretty impossible for them to actually play as them effectively. With the new Favored Classes system, they might not actually need a change.
***Goblin.*** New Fury of the Small: When you hit a creature that is larger than you with a melee attack, you can use your bonus action to try and shove the creature. When you do so, you can make a Dexterity (Athletics) check instead of a Strength (Athletics) check, and you can only knock the creature prone.
***Hobgoblin.*** Saving Face isn't very interesting, and only marginally useful. It is being replaced with a new trait, which ties into the subraces the race now has.
***Human.*** Default and Variant human fulfill their purposes just fine, but I had an idea for a thing where humans basically get 2 mini-subraces, being Culture and Location, or something along those lines; essentially, you'd have like "Noble" and "City" as a possible combo, or like "Warrior" and "City", "Noble" and "Jungle", that sort of thing. Not sure if I'll keep this idea, as it's probably more setting-based, but hey, it might be cool.
***Kobold.*** Kobolds are extremely weak, and don't tap into most of the potential of the race. The race's ability penalty is being removed, and subraces are being added to cover the ground that kobolds should.
***Lizardfolk.*** They sort of try to be like 9 kinds of lizardfolk at once. I think they'd work much better with subraces, like how lizardfolk did so in earlier editions, which also means more diversity.
***Orc.*** Orc is almost objectively worse than half-orc. Its ability penalty is being removed, and its traits are being changed to make it feel distinct from Half-Orc, while not being objectively better or worse.
***Yuan-Ti Pureblood.*** The justification for having the strongest racial trait, Magic Resistance, is incredibly weak, and as such, it has been removed.
`Class Changes`
***All.*** Multiclassing prerequisites have been removed. Most of the classes will also receive new subclasses.
***Barbarian.*** Honestly barbarian is actually a really well designed class. This will mainly just be fixing up subclasses.
***Bard.*** Countercharm is bad and it should feel bad. Otherwise Bard is pretty good. At best, maybe I'll fuck with something to give an additional subclass level, because Bard subclasses have a tendency to feel really basic and barebones. NEW IDEA: make some exclusive song-based spells, kind of like paladin auras, except you gotta spam bonus action or action to keep 'em going.
***Blood Hunter.*** Removed from existence permanently.
***Cleric.*** Divine Strike vs Potent Spellcasting is a choice, rather than set by subclass. Radiant and Necrotic are default options for Divine Strike, while most subclasses add a new one you can pick from when you get the feature. Cleric is overall a pretty fine class, but it's always bugged me how you're forced to go things like a weapon user if you're Life domain, or a weapon user for Death domain; Life doesn't feel like it should force you to weapons, and Death *gives you a cantrip buff*, so it's weird how it's sort of half-and-half.
***Druid.*** Druids have a tendency to feel like their Wild Shape is wasted if they're not Moon or Spores. This will be resolved by replacing it with a Channel Divinity-esque effect, called Channel Wilderness; Wild Shape will still be an option for it, so druids can do it if they want, but each subclass will add a new option for it.
***Fighter.*** Maneuvers are a base class feature; fighters tend to kind of feel bland, so this should hopefully make them a lot more interesting. Battlemaster is reworked into the "Warlord" subclass, which gives more maneuver uses, and focuses a bit on commanding.
***Monk.*** Scimitars are monk weapons, can use Strength instead of Dexterity for its stuff (yes including AC, i know silver will ban me for this). Maybe improvised weapons as monk weapons too? Strength monks have melee deflect missiles, but are otherwise unchanged aside from what modifier they use.
***Paladin.*** Paladin subclasses are currently quite boring in how formulaic they are, so in 5.Bando, paladins have been changed to have their subclasses feel more "liquid", like a fighter.
***Ranger.*** Ranger has a lot of problems. I might do my own changes to it later, but it's not going to be my focus just yet - for now, silverbass's Hunter will be used in place of it.
***Rogue.*** Stroke of Luck is auto-crit instead of auto-hit. Otherwise, Rogue is really good.
***Sorcerer.*** Sorcerer has a tendency to feel like a "worse wizard" if you aren't optimizing the hell out of it. Subclasses are getting expanded spells, new metamagic options are being added, an individual sorcerer will have more metamagic, and the capstone is being changed to be more interesting. Sorc points are here since 1st level.
***Warlock.*** Subclasses get a feature based on your boon at 6th level (extra attack replacements for blade, actual summoning for chain, spell-boosting things for tome), and each subclass has some exclusive invocations. Maybe there should be boon-subclass invocs, maybe not, I'm not sure. I did boon invocs in Acirena so I can just port them if I want anyways. Uhhh maybe something about the boon improving at a later level instead of being super fucking static???
***Wizard.*** Honestly the base class is pretty fine. 20th level should make the signature spells at-will, and some subclasses should be less horrible. Maybe consider making some subclasses that cover schools with two vastly different playstyles (like Conjuration with summoning versus teleporting) have Storm Herald-esque choices, except you can't change it out on a long rest or level or whatever. Bran will want me to remove some of its spells but I will probably not.
`Spell Changes`
New spells will be added to diversify options, especially for things with spell tags that currently lack them. Some spells are also being tweaked, and are listed below.
***Cantrips.***
Infestation increases the movement amount by 5 feet at 5th, 11th, and 17th. Damage increasing was another option to make it viable, but this gives it a much more interesting niche.
Primal Savagery is Touch. This mainly just changes how it works with familiars and Distant Spell.
Poison Spray is 2d6s instead of d12s (4d6, 6d6, 8d6).
True Strike affects next attack, not "first attack next turn", so you can use it with War Magic. It also grants a +10 bonus to the attack, instead of just advantage.
***1st Levels.***
Witch bolt is 3d6 instead of d12, scales by d6s per slot level above 1st, and both damages scale, not just initial. Lastly, the spell's range is 60 feet. Might decide that the range is too high, we'll see.
***2nd Levels.***
Flame Blade is basically just Shadow Blade except it uses spellmod. Worse damage type, can't be thrown, and no conditional advantage means that having more damage is fair.
Melf's Acid Arrow has the damage of initial increase by 2d4 and later increase by 1d4. 4d4 damage initial with 2d4 later is... laughably bad. 6d4 initial with 3d4 later is around the same amount of damage as *scorching ray* on average, except scorcher has less of a chance to whiff, while acid arrow sort-of-whiffs-sort-of-not.
Snilloc's deals 5d6 instead of 3d6. Shatter is like 4 less damage average but is a bigger AoE (10-foot radius) while Snilloc's is just 5-foot radius.
***3rd Levels.***
Conjure Barrage is 5d8. By default, CB is sort of... bad. Having big range is nice, but the damage is so bad that it's unlikely you'd ever use this unless you're fighting like an entire army of goblins. At 9th level. 5d8 means that it's still outclassed by Fireball in damage, but its exceptional range makes up for it. Also can scale with levels for damage, because... it can't do that for some fucking reason???
***4th Levels.***
Guardian of Faith can deal necrotic instead of radiant. You choose when you cast it.
***5th Levels.***
Holy Weapon is like GoF; can deal necro, you choose when cast. Unholy options are always good.
***7th Levels.***
Mord's Sword makes three swords, which you control with the same bonus action. This makes the spell feel actually really cool and interesting, instead of worse spiritual weapon.
***9th Levels.***
Time Stop doesn't end immediately if you cast a spell that affects someone else, provided that spell is only of 5th level or lower.
Weird's damage is 8d10 instead of 4d10.
`Feat Changes`
Feats as a whole are being overhauled into a new system, where (most) feats are split in half, and each ASI you get 2 "feat points", 1 feat point and 1 ability score point, or 2 ability score points. This means that characters can generally take more feats, and feat chains can exist, giving more customization of characters! Luckily, this system is actually very, very easy to convert existing feats into, meaning that it's not too difficult to allow homebrew with.