Royal Burden | Anchor Subclass, and on brewing for homebrew classes

Hey all, a friend of mine just released a homebrew class called the Anchor. It's pretty cool (and just edgy enough) and I recommend checking it out—here's a link. I decided to make a subclass for that class, mainly to challenge myself, and here it is!

The combat loop of this class is pretty similar to the rest of the Anchor. During most of the big fights, you'll be unshackled (one way to think about it is if a barbarian would be raging in a fight, you'll be unshackling), and get the benefits of Regal Commands. With Regal Commands, you'll be knocking people prone, giving yourself and allies advantage on attack rolls against them (which is the damage boost Anchor subclasses all give at L3). 

While you're below half your max hit points, you'll get a buff to Regal Commands allowing even better movement control. It is still limited to once per turn, but it'll help keep one significant enemy from escaping or moving to a better position.

At higher levels, you'll start using your reaction each turn on Glorious Authority for a defense bump (and later to share damage back with that creature, so also offensive). At L18, you'll get Heavy Lies the Gilded Crown, which will change the combat loop to also using up your action every once and a while for a hefty defense boost. When you have it active, one creature won't be able to target you with attacks or harmful abilities at all, making you a perfect candidate for getting right in their face. The target can move 30 ft from you, but hopefully you'll be able to use Regal Commands to stop that movement.

Anyways, onto the mini talk. Homebrew classes are one of the biggest thing a homebrew creator can make. They take much, much, much more effort, for a whole bunch of reasons. In broad terms, a homebrew class needs to:

- Create a novel core mechanic that feels really special. This is a really hard thing to do, but when it's done well, it's awesome.
- Create a thematic concept. Some classes have this a bit easier when they use pre existing tropes (like gunslinger), but a thematic concept for a class needs to be really well thought out for the class to be successful.
- Make a bunch of interesting subclasses. Not only do you need to make the class, you need to make a bunch (I like around 2-5) of subclasses that support the class. Creating great subclasses is hard on its own!

There's also a lot of reasons to brew a full class. I've mainly seen reasons like wanting a big challenge, having ideas too big for a subclass and just wanting the freedom of doing something new. Now, there's a pretty easy solution for the first and third of those ideas: creating homebrew for someone else's homebrew class!

Creating homebrew for a homebrew class is very similar to creating homebrew for an official class, though it has a few differences. The main issue is that less is known about any single homebrew class compared to a full class, which means you'll run into issues with not being able to get reliable feedback and not knowing the structure of the class. I normally recommend just reaching out to the class' creator for feedback—I know personally that I'd be delighted to help anyone who made a subclass for a class I released. Otherwise, I recommend looking at each of the features and organizing them into three categories: Offense (for attacking options, like Anchor's L3), defensive (for defensive options, like Anchor's L6), and Utility (for ribbons/everything else, like Anchor's other L3). You can also label some features as Enhancements (for thing that enhance a previous feature, like Anchor's L14) and as "Varied" (for things that are unique to each subclass, like Anchor's L18). Knowing the structure of the class is really the most important step in making the subclass, and getting general feedback on wording/broad strokes balance things (not fine details, like specific numbers on a feature, but broad strokes like deciding if truesight belongs at L3 somehow).

I really recommend trying to brew a subclass for a homebrew class. It'll be a change of pace for what you're used to, and it'll be a fun challenge. If you see a class on r/UnearthedArcana or wherever else you get your homebrew, try making a subclass and sending it over to the creator!

Otherworldly Patron: The Calamity | Warlock Subclass, and on warlock capstones

Welp, I went on another "little" break... but never mind that, here's a cool warlock!

The Calamity is an idea I had a while ago, though it originally started as a Great Wyrm patron. The concept was a great being of destruction that wanted to lay waste to the world, and you as a warlock took power to spread that destruction. Kind of edgy, but sometimes that style is fun!

In combat, the Calamity's main combat loop will be just like any other warlock. You cast cantrips (or make weapon attacks if you have the Pact of the Blade) and occasionally sprinkle in a spell. What differs is the addition of Inescapable Destruction, which eats your bonus action each round for a control effect. They also get to reroll one instance of damage per turn, which would normally be used on a standard attack, but becomes best when they cast a spell such as fireball. Overall, this subclass is encouraged most to be casting their spells, getting benefits from Armageddon and Armour of the Apocalypse.

Anyways, onto to the mini rant of the day: Warlock Capstones.

You may have noticed that End of Days is a crazy ability, and you're right—it is crazy. Warlock capstones in general are normally crazy things, usable once per long rest (or once per short or long rest). One great example is that Fiend gets Hurl through Hell, letting them throw an enemy through the horrors of the lower planes without requiring a saving throw. Now, there are definitely some that differ: the Great Old One creates thralls at will and Hexblade gets to move its Hexblade's Curse feature when it kills a creature. While I have no problem with Great Old One (it is definitely an awesome capstone), I don't like Hexblade's Master of Hexes feature at all since it simply doesn't feel as epic as it could if it were limited in uses with a more impactful mechanic.

The other big weird thing End of Days does is that it has a recharge of 7 days, instead of the normal long rest. There is some precedent here—Genie's capstone recharges after 1d4 long rests—but I think that 7 days just feels so much cooler than 1d4 days. 

That's all really just circling around the main idea here: warlock capstones have such great potential as massive, epic abilities. End of Days is meant to really lean into that. Regardless of the mechanics of it, it has phrases such as "you can bring immense ruin to the world around you", "the ground is churned and blackened" and "If you kill a creature in this way, it is reduced to ash." That stuff isn't really important if you just look at the numbers of a feature, but it feels really awesome to use. To add to that, it's not just narratively epic, it also does 150 flat damage, which always feels massive, and a 7 day cool down, both of which make it feel mechanically epic too. 

To conclude, warlock capstones, and capstones in general, shouldn't be afraid to be awesome things. It's a fact that most campaigns will never reach higher levels, meaning capstones are rarely actually used. This just serves to double down on the message—if people are mainly just going to be looking at the feature, you need to make sure it's really awesome even to look at!

Sorry it's been so long since I've been making stuff. I have some other things ready in the pipeline now, so keep an eye out! The next subclass I have planned is one for a friend's homebrew class, which should be going public at the end of August or early September!