Design Space

And why it Matters

When coming up with creative content for the table, often the goal is to fulfill the fantasies of a specific player by creating options for them to play some character they think would be awesome. While many of these characters can easily be made with colorful flavoring of the existing options presented in Wizard's core books, some options simply go unfulfilled. This leads us to design homebrew options (whether it be player races, class options, feats, etc) to fulfil that particular player's fantasy. Most tables can handle this on a case by case basis and should- content designed for a single player should fulfil exactly what the player is seeking to do within reason. We have seen plenty of options created that reference specific fictional characters which are great in the niche campaign setting the DM has put the option in. These options are often poorly designed as general options.

When creating content intended for general use or with the goal to have any player pick up the option, the design goal changes. Instead of creating tailored options to fufil a specific player's fantasy, the design premise is to create a unique and satisfying option that can captivate and plant ideas in players minds.

Another important reference point for content creators out there is game balance. Rarely at the gaming table will two characters go exactly toe to toe in damage, healing, utility, etc, and that is a good thing. Having a variety of characters leads to more memorable, exciting moments all throughout the journey in the fictional worlds we as DMs create. Game balance then matters for one main reason: it keeps each player satisfied doing what they are good at. When an option is created that is wildly more powerful than an already existing option, a player using the existing option loses moments to shine and be noticed. Encounter balance is also something to consider- combat feels more satisfying when the players earn the victory. A player that stomps all over hoards of baddies and smites down the big bad in two rounds can make a thoroughly thought out combat feel pointless and not impactful.

This is then where design space comes in. Each class is innately better at some things than the other classes. Bard, for example, has a huge supporting tool kit for helping their allies in combat, hindering enemies and being versatile skill machines. The class largely lacks high damage spells from their spell list for this reason until they can optionally pick some up with magical secrets. To contrast, the Sorcerer class may share in limited spells known but plays very differently as a full caster. Often, they choose from an array of high damage spells, getting options from Draconic and Wild Magic to empower specific kinds of spell casting and function as a blaster, dealing truck loads of damage without supporting their allies.

This guide is to present content creators with a better starting point for class option development. It currently includes Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid and Fighter.

Barbarian

Barbarians can feel very boring in some players hands. While the class might not have the most exciting features, it does allow for interesting decision making during combat.

The main feature of the Barbarian class is Rage. The various Primal Paths present incredibly strong options that are active while raging. As you progress in the barbarian class, you are effectively customizing your passive bonuses you get while in this state (example being Frenzy and Totem Spirit).

Because Frenzy and the Totem Spirits are so strong, you can often work with very powerful features to include while raging. Gaining an additional attack or resistance to all damage types but physic present powerful options that give designers a ton of room to work within.

The secondary feature of barbarian is their exploration survivability. Features like Danger Sense and Fast Movement allow Barbarians ease of navigation in challenging environments without too much fear of repercussion. Paired with their large hit point well, adding features that give barbarians more ways to interact with the world around them fits right in with the core design.

Barbarians mainly make decisions based off risk and reward. Reckless attack and raging have costs, and players have to decide if the cost is worth the reward they will get. The design of the class encourages risk taking by giving them natural AC with high Constitution and lots of hit points. Creating features that encourage risk taking fits in with what barbarians want to be doing and helps give them interesting choices every round of combat and when exploring the natural world.

In the PHB, barbarian Primal Paths improve their rage at 3, gain an exploration feature or passive improvement to their rage at 6, gain a strong utility feature at 10 and their final rage improvement at 14.

Bard

The bard class has very limited options for expansion, as it only gets three levels of subclass features.

The main feature of the bard class is Bardic Inspiration. The mechanic guides how each bard option plays using features like Cutting Words and Combat Inspiration.

Bardic Inspiration consumes a bonus action to use, which means bards often are casting spells or cantrips and inspiring in the same turn. Giving bards additional ways to use their bonus action or changing the action needed for Bardic Inspiration (an example being Cutting Words) let's Bards customize how they perform in combat.

The secondary feature the bard subclasses emphasize is skill efficiency. Presenting bonus proficiencies or ways to augment your skill list further (existing features to use as examples would be Peerless Skill or Jack of All Trades) is important.

Unfortunately, the two bard options are very general, each covering half of combat (martial and casting). Creating fresh new options can be tricky, but finding creative ways to capitalize off of these main two features could be a good way to go about doing it.