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!
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