What Makes Homebrew Good? || D&D Design for 5e 

"The very best homebrews allow you to interact with the world in a new way." I strongly agree with that. Wonderful video.

The distinction between interesting and exciting is one that it took me a long time to learn

"I copy text from official rulebooks" Right there is were I knew this video was so worth the watch. The single most frustrating thing I encounter when evaluating and parsing through homebrew both on and offline is the lack of consistency, I don't know what many content creators are trying to prove when they stubbornly "do it their way" when their way is poorly worded, vague, and conflicts with the systems they are trying to brew in. Copying rules text isn't making you a lesser content creator, it's making your content accessible.

Wow! Possibly you’re best video and certainly the best set of criteria for assessing home brew rules on the internet. There are many people talking about balance and minimising complexity but this is a complete framework for sensible home brew implementation. Thanks 👍

I feel called out for having a Red Mage homebrew class in the works 😭

A brilliant video, well thought out, articulate and very enjoyable. You’ve given me a lot to think about as I develop house rules for my own campaign. Thank you!

When they asked me what I'd like for a stronghold I said "Stronghold? My tower is plenty as is, thank you. My wife Rita is comfy, and I've got plenty of space for tables." When they asked me what I'd like for followers I said "No thank you kind sirs. I've got a flock of them already." When they asked me how I felt about Kingdoms & Warfare I misunderstood, "Great gadfish, I've had plenty of that me-thinks. I'd like a break from it." Ultimately, the miscommunication was wanting a break from my Gazetteer project. Well, the kingdom of kickstarter is in capable hands of #MattColville so I'll return once I've taken a nap. Conjure me if you have any more trouble Zip! ~Signed by Conjurer, Galder Fendt

"Are you trying to get people to dash off turn? Because that's not going to work." "Oh?" - Scout rogue with skirmisher feature. (okay not a full dash, but can still be 30'+)

Wow I'm glad I clicked on the reddit post that brought me here. Really well thought out video. It was a blast to watch. The point about stacking new mechanics is something I really hadnt thought about before and I will keep it in mind as I create and improve my homebrews I really hope your channel grows!

Really good video! I can really see the improvement in production quality! If i could ask for something it would be that you put numbers before the major points you discuss about, have a nice day!

Ahh sucks about the kickstarter. Looking forward to it whenever it is.

Love me some Jerralt of Ryevia

Wow, your videos are always so thoughtful and well written, thanks!! 🙃

Why would a controlled mount attacking be a problem? They really should ready be attacking a warhorse is a living weapon, treating it as a fancy way to move around is totally missing the point of what a warhorse is.

My most desired home brew, what I'm considering making if I get the chance and learn balance well enough, is a viable Blue Mage class.

Recently found your channel, content is excellent. Keep up the good work!

Looking forward to the Gazetteer! Good call on the delay.

How is this video not more popular???

Good video Good points and well thought out

Jw, are you a Vet brother? I played a ton of dnd when I was overseas

Would you please clarify the "doesn't rely on other homebrew rule"? I adopted another homebrew mechanic for social combat and have tried to implement it in other game systems, do require other conversions and hacks but it works beautifully, Should I rework it? It is just an extension or a reinterpretation of another system. Am I just misinterpreting you?

Who the heck is gerALT? It's GERalt

Yo, I like your channel, but can you credit the artist for the images you use?

The 'Math way' you present is bad... otherwise really good video, like best I have seen on the subject good, but if you think you can balance anything by turning it into virtual damage and back, you are simply wrong. First, spells are not created equally, there is a huge difference between creating a web effect and a gust of wind effect, though they are both second level spells. second, versatility is a huge part of a spellcasters power, so if you make a character that has only a few special abilities aside from damage, they need more raw power. third, the table is wrong. It claims a third level spell is worth 6d6 area damage, fireball and lightning bolt deal 8d6. It claims a 9th level slot is worth 14d6 area damage, but meteor swarm deals 40d6. And these are not even the best spells of their level, many spells are far better. fourth, you miss things, like 'the monk can consistently stun people' let us say that is equal to the equal to the command spell, taking the enemy out of the fight for 1 round. Except, Monks probably have lower wisdom than the wizard has intelligence, so the chances are lower, and the monk only has this option for disabling foes, so they have to target constitution save, which is one that is commonly very strong for monsters. All this means is, they are actually not equivalent, and you won't find anything equivalent, because the wizard will always have higher int than the monk has wisdom, and the wizard will often have the option to target that creature with something that doesn't target the strongest save it has. Fifth, after this process, we would supposedly have a character with all the power of an evoker, but the evoker gets other class features than arcane recovery and spellcasting, we need to account for those too. How do you go about it then? If you are making a martial character, Damage per round. Compare them to other classes with similar armor proficiency and Hit Dice, calculate their damage per round. You need to make a few assumptions about monster AC at different levels, how often the character will use abilities like smite, then calculate average damage. Now that you know how they measure up in damage to similar classes, look at abilities, here you have to go by gut feeling mostly. When you know which class you think have the stronger abilities, make sure they don't also have the better damage. Now you have to test your assumptions in play. playtest playtest playtest, does it turn out the monk runs out of ki way faster than you assumed, and cannot do flurry of blows as often as you thought? adjust your math. Was your assessment of what abilities work best in actual play true? I strongly recommend comparing to what you find to be the strongest class that fills the same type of role as your character. For spellcasters it is less math, and more what spells they have access to, look at some top 10 lists of spells for the different classes, and make sure your spellcaster has access to some, but not all of them. I know here we are using the math to support your subjective opinion, but balance in dnd is inherently subjective. Campaigns and styles vary too much to be completely objective about it. Math can support you, but it cannot stand on its' own. Here is a few tips to evaluate an ability: Consider the abilities ceiling, what is the most powerful thing you can imagine doing with the ability, that could actually come up during gameplay? Then consider its' floor, what is the worst you can imagine this ability doing during regular gameplay. Stunning Fist from monk is obviously at its' best when it stuns something big and tough, and at its' worst when you fail to stun at all, and just expend a ki point for no value. Next consider, how likely is the ceiling? Most big tough things have good constitution scores, and it is the second most common save for a monster to be proficient in, after wisdom. So it is unlikely to work, creating a high chance for hitting the floor, and a low chance for hitting the ceiling. Compare this to a paladin smite, it might not be as strong an effect as stun, but pretty much the only way it can fail completely is if the target was immune to radiant damage, not likely to come up ever so this should not be considered the floor. The ability has a relatively high floor, because you apply it after you have hit, so you can reliably get those 2d8 damage. The ceiling is of course to apply it to a crit so it is doubled, you don't get those every combat, but still in quite a few, so ceiling is relatively likely. Is smite then better than stunning fist? It is not clear, that depends on how strong stun is in actual gameplay. In my experience smite is better, and this analysis shows why. But actual gameplay was needed to reach that conclusion, so playtest playtest and playtest.

Dnd is one of the least complex RPGs I've ever played