Everything I'd Change to Fix D&D
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- 5E's a fickle mistress for experienced players to enjoy. Today I fix that.
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This video was scheduled to release after WotC's announcement that they'd no longer be meddling with OGL 1.0. The community spoke out and won part of this massive battle. Although I joke about pirating products and using D&D Beyond for free in this video, the choice to support WotC is now everyone's personal decision to make.
Thanks to everyone who stood up for #OpenDnD and fought to keep our community alive
Nice Minecraft, I didn't expect it in a D&D video but it genuinely made the video better lol
Glad they changed the OGL decision, but I'm still going to keep uploading PDFs to the Korean Basket Weaving forums because I'm in too deep now, and the sunk cost fallacy has taken hold of me
Firstly. Amazing video as always, Blaine 😃😇❤️
The changes mentioned are absolutely necessary and I fell ashamed of myself for not figuring them out sooner.
Secondly. Here are some topics and ideas I find interesting, that I couldn't find in d&d 5e official materials, that might be worth exploring (what you think about them, do you have any solutions on mind?):
Druid (doesn't need to be the class): wildshaping or taking on features of other beings than beasts (aberration, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, or undead).
Fighter (doesn't need to be this class): able to change their equipment in the midst of combat based on what might be effective against their enemies (thinking something like Erza Scarlet from FairyTale)
Gods: making them approachable, some rules for interaction with them (deciding whether they are being of that world or whether they just influence the world from beyond the material plane, CR, Statblock, good, neutral and evil + motives for each) (bonus: becoming a god/birth of a god/killing a god, meaning, hierarchy, system, daily life,...)
Leveling up: recommendations for low, mid, high and extreme tiers of play, level caps, multiclassing, beyond level 20, (stakes, enemies, goals at each tier of play)
Becoming a PC: reliving the life up to the starting point (via dream/remembering the past in a conversation with a character/while praying to a god/ ...) transition from 4hp villager character to a 1st level class PC,
commonness of classed characters more than 4hp villagers within village
Summoner: basically d&d 5e equivalent of Pathfinder 2e Summoner + ability to merge with the Eidolon, mechanics (wizard, sorcerer, cleric, warlock subclass/feat enabling the merging with summons/whole new class/spell + scaling)
Tech artificer: less magicky more science dependant inventor, influencing the fantasy world, from handgun to Ironman to giant mecharobot
Monster PC's: aberration, beast celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, or undead, compatibility, changes, unique abilities, motives
Equipment: Armors, Weapons, utilities, (magic compatibility, (does damage + spell modifier, by spending spell slots spells/magical effects/damage boost/defense boost/effect can be cast through it), evolving/upgrading the equipment instead of exchanging it for something else and getting rid of it, damaging/repairing/broken equipment, inventing/designing/making/crafting new equipment)
Space time travel: invaders/moving out, enemy/friendly (request to save from chaos/conquering realities...), means (technomagical gates/power of individual/god)
High level enemies: angels/demons/devils/other invaders/high level characters/gods, motives
Magic: explanation, magic systems (spell slots, mana points,...) , interaction with matter (nonspelcasters = strengthened by magic (in their body)/poisoned by magic, poisoning (by magic/of magic), living/entropic energy (what is its source?), manipulation (how does it work?)
Ok those are some topic I thought were worth a discussion, if not more. Thx for reading thus far. Much love take care and bye ❤️
Hey, do you have that spell casting martial mock up still floating around
don't know if ya read your replies but im really grateful for your content, i got stuck in a forever dm position for my group and i have little experience with actual campaigns so I end up homebrewing a LOT of stuff, my group dosent care as long as they get to play which is a good thing ig, but id like to go more pro
What if all Martial classes automatically got battle master abilities? Essentially giving them all the abilities we'd want plus some extra damage and flavor to their attack.
The Battle Master abilities don't really scale well, though. We'd need some serious ones like a martial move that counters spells or the effects of magic. That kind of thing would be useful even out to late game.
I done this with fighter, essentially I removed the Superiority Die, and move the Maneuvers into the base class. Once per turn, they can do a maneuver, simple as that and as they level up, they can do more maneuver in a single turn (Max of 3).
I would want to see all fighters get thr maneuvers, but i wouldnt want every barbarian to start playing tactically, per say.
I feel they are a fighter thing, but yes, all fighters should have it.
Barbarians should get the limit on rage uses gone, its outdated, no other modern system has a limit on them.
The further we go down, the closer we come to 4e.
Not that it's a bad thing. 4e has a lot of merits, and was made to resolve several issues with 3.5e that 5e later went back on.
As for the discussion itself; don't matter if it's called manuvers or spells, martials need to get discrete abilities they can choose between during char creation and that they use with a resource, preferably stuff that is not strictly combat related
@@Anegor Why not have above-bar-barians? If someone wants to play a smart bruiser informing the world on the ethos of the Armstrong line, let them.
Thank you Blaine for giving me a new taunting homebrew subclass to make
There are multiple taunt mechanics that are functionally what he describes already. Armorer Artificers with Thunder Gauntlets and Compelled Duel come to mind. Suggestion could easily work. Anyone can grapple and also knock prone, which effectively results in the inability to stand up. And obviously this is “homebrew” but I would always rule you can shout something rude and get a free Intimidate check at probably a high DC, depending.
I homebrewed an action that makes enemies have disadvantage on attacks on my allies.
I think it was originally a samurai or bannerman ability I messed with for a homebrew class I made.
I already made them
4:32 "Rather than continue through though, the party refused to go on and forcefully took a long rest in the demon filled cave just to refill their spell slots" Should likely continue with "And were told how bad of an idea that is (indirectly), but they ignored the obvious warnings, decided to do it anyway, and were ambushed in their sleep."
They had a Leomund's Tiny Hut spell active to cheese through an 8 hour rest without the ability to be attacked lol
@@BlaineSimple just have a demon use a dispel magic scroll
@@ethanvon222 Seems reasonable, lemme check if they have one lying around-
Don't some demons just innately have dispel magic though?
Leomund's Tiny Hut also gives the enemies 8 hours to prepare themselves for intruders that are trying to cheese tactics the spell. Especially demons who are smart creatures, they could either have an ambush ready as soon as the spell ends by bringing every enemy in the dungeon to the party or trap everything around the party. This is obviously up to the DM's discretion but if the DM warns many times to the players that taking a long rest mid-dungeon is a bad idea but still go for it, they should reap the repercussions of their bravado, and will quickly burn through all the resources they just gained from the rest, if not die to the enemies' tactics.
I already do try to limit random encounters when the party is just going from one place to another so I solidly agree with that one, but I can't believe I've never seen or thought of changing mundane weapons to be situational or have cool effects! Great idea, gonna tinker around with it for a little bit and try it out on my players in a couple of sessions :)
These changes sound a lot like 4th edition.
Rather than martials getting spells, I'd prefer more class features that correspond with limited utility and support. Like when the fighter uses second wind they give temp hp to allies as well, or expand fighting styles to do more at later levels (like interception or protector fighting style can allow you to have an ally reroll saving throws at like level 7)
We do need a mark mechanic like we had in 4e.
Zombies are based off voodoo Undead or pre- Romero Undead. For those I recommend ghouls. Much more accurate. Still can be a slog of a fight.
Yeah I'm inclined to agree with you, just giving all melee characters limited casting would be an easy fix but it would kinda kill some of the flavour with the subclasses that can use magic and cause problems for people who want to play characters that can't use magic. But there's certainly more we can do for them besides "I attack."
@@shadenox8164 The thing is. 4e is better than 5e
I was thinking the same thing.
I’ve been waiting for 5e players, most of whom have never actually played 4e, to stop dissing it and actually pay attention to the useful mechanics it brought to the table.
Martial versatility. Weapon variety. Distinct NPC combat roles. Skill challenges. Magic items with actual goddamn prices.
@@xySuperManxy well yeah, but there are like 4 characters you can make in all campaigns, so that's kinda the reason it failed
About Change Number 4. I had to make up this homebrew because a player had to leave our game and I just didn't want to retcon that their character did not exist period. We had a few dead Drow in the area for *in character reasons* , so I thought it would be fun to create a new type of Zombie! Minions of Lolth are undead Drow that can cast the web spell once per day as a kind of racial ability, and when they successfully bite a fey of origin creature and knock them down to 0 hp, they're on a ticking clock as the Minion of Lolth casts a mesmerizing spell with a more feminine voice, as if Lolth is speaking through the Drow. This chant will last until the target of the invocation has three failed death saves, in which the target will have disadvantage on saves, and once complete, they should have became a Minion of Lolth as well.
I say should have because we also had a Paladin in the party with Lay on Hands that will help the Eladrin back to his feet. So in the end after the last Minion of Lolth was cut out in the middle of its chant, I ruled the Eladrin to be put under a spidery divine coma until the party can cure his affliction.
Again this is something I homebrewed on the fly and did not plan on our player to leave, but it was fun to make a new monster on the fly.
Its nice to see someone actually acknowledge martials being weaker. Every time I see it discussed there's somebody going "Well actually this one polearm master build with great weapon master is super strong so no, casters are balanced."
imo casters arent that op, people just play them wrong bc to play them how the rules are writen is boring as hell
Really, I thought everyone knew how martials fall off after a period of time.
Anybody who says martial builds like the Polearm Master and Sentinel build are OP, so martials are OP, are just bad at encounter design
@@wildste Martials still are good for tank role when in endgame because they get more hp than pure casters
If, as a wizard, you aren't breaking the game then you're not playing right. That's in spite of the divine patches by butthurt gods.
Martial abilities would be so great, and it'd be nice to see more than a few of them be reactions. How many times has Legend of Vox Machina shown Grog blocking some potentially lethal attack like a dragon's breath by putting something heavy between it and his allies? Now imagine someone starting a Barbarian entirely because they want to do stuff like Grog does in the cartoon... and then they read what that character can *actually* do. A "make a X' long wall as a reaction that lasts until the start of your next turn 1/rest" type of thing would be so cool, and maybe even encourage allies to consider positioning.
Even some existing features getting buffed a little would make their owners more engaging to play. That never-used Protection fighting style? Adding "you can move up to half your speed to reach an ally under attack" suddenly makes it a viable tanking skill. Deflect Missiles? Let its protection eventually extend to nearby allies as well (and maybe give a subclass or two the ability to make this feature also work against ranged spell attacks).
Various weapons, weapon qualities and flaws is what has made me interested in other game systems (namely WFRP 4th) because the weapons really do feel mostly boring unless you can find a way to add some personality by doing things like naming them but even then the rules really are lacklustre
An updated version of the 4e mark would probably work well as a taunt that isn't straight up mind control.
4e mark isnt mind control...
@@guillermofischer1837 which is what they said. It isn't mind control.
For new zombie varieties, literally just use L4D2 special zombies, they add so much variety.
Spitter: Lower HP than a normal zombie and no melee attack, 15 ft range bile spit with 5ft radius, DC 10 CON save or you're poisoned
Smoker: Lower HP than a normal zombie and no melee attack, 30 ft range tongue grapple with DC 10 DEX or STR save or be grappled and be pulled 10ft towards the Smoker per round.
Witch: Double a normal zombie's HP, the Witch is incapacitated until it is attacked, after which it is given incredibly strong offensive capabilities, meaning you have to focus fire on it for one round or risk a PC going down.
Boomer: 1.5x HP of a normal zombie and 20ft movement speed, when within 10ft of a PC on its turn or when reduced to 0 HP, the Boomer explodes, coating a 15ft radius in boomer bile, DC 10 CON save or you're poisoned, anyone covered in bile is prioritized for attack by all undead creatures, while an undead creature can see someone covered in bile, they cannot attack anyone else.
Hunter: Lower HP than a normal zombie and no melee attack, 60ft movement and 30ft climb, 30ft range leap attack, on a hit the target is knocked prone and grappled, the target must make a contested STR check to knock the hunter off and can make no other actions.
Jockey: Lower HP than a normal zombie, 20ft range leap attack, on a hit the target is grappled and blinded and the Jockey controls the target's movement, the target must make a contested STR check to knock the Jockey off.
Charger: Double a normal zombie's HP, 20ft movement, 60ft range charge attack in a straight line DC 15 DEX save to dodge the attack or be grabbed by the Charger and pulled along with it, if the Charger crashes into a solid object while carrying a creature, the creature takes double damage from the charge. On subsequent turns, the Charger will spend its action slamming the creature into the ground for additional bludgeoning damage, a contested STR check or help from a teammate can free the target.
Tank: 5x HP of a normal zombie, 30ft movement, 30ft jump, 30ft climb, in addition to normal melee attacks, the Tank can throw chunks of the ground at PCs, with damage varying based on the terrain (stone>dirt>sand).
So recently I actually made a huge dnd overhaul for my group. There were a lot of problems that I think I fixed, but the main two core points are:
1. Mechanics should work for narrative, not the other way around. Seriously, give it some thought and you’d be suprised how much sense it has and how often it is ignored in D&D and many other TTRPGs;
2. No one is a spellcaster, so everyone is a spellcaster. Essentially what I did is I made skill progression completely separate from classes. And if you think it took a shit lot of work - you can’t even imagine how right you are.
Overall I am very happy with the result, and we have already playtested it: just today my players finished a big story ark fighting a false hydra, and, let me tell you, it felt awesome. Of course the new system still needs a hell of a lot of polishing, but it already works for us much better than 5e did.
P.S. If anyone will be interested in what I did, I might publish my workings somewhere. The only issue is that enlish is not my first language (which you probably already might have guessed), so the work might need not only finishing and polishing, but also a lot of translation. Anyways, I think I'm geek and nerdy enough to do this some time in the future, so I could as well do it now
I'd totally be interested in reading your work, personally!
I want to see how you did it because it sounds cool
I admit if you playtested it and it works I would love to see it. Sounds like what u did is not an off the cuff house rule, but a well thought out system
How did number 2 work?
@@JacobGrim in short, there are 4 key points:
• I removed ability to cast spells from all spellcasters. And then gave universalized ability to cast spells to everyone. You might think that it would mess up the power balance, because I did think so. And, well, it didn't. Though I'm only DM-ing for 4 players atm, so obviously I didn't have neither the time necessary, nor the chance to playtest all classes.
• To make it so it makes narrative sence as well as balance sense and common sense, I divided all of the D&D spells into 6 schools, each of which could be learned separately. (And yes, I know that D&D already had it's 8 schools, but the more you look into them - the less sense they make)
• The amound of spells available to a character as well as the amount of cantrips and the level of spells all depend on how skilled the particular character is in the magical arts.
• Gaining “levels” in schools requires spending “lvl-points”, which can alternatively be spent to get more Stamina Points (HP analogue). The narrative idea here is that your character choses to either Strengthen the body (gain additional SP) or Strengthen the spirit (and learn some new abilities in form of spells).
I don't want to spend a lot of time explaining the balance here, so I'd only say that the character that goes full-on-casting can fully learn 2/6 schools (≈1/3 of the spells in game, so approximately the amount that earlier spellcasters used to be able to learn). The “balanced” character can fully learn one school and not be a glass-canon. And the “beefy” character can forgo learning spells at all and instead be the most enduring of the party.
Here I must say that using any class ability or spell requires spending some amount SP. This way all of the systems of the game became interconnected. “Martials” as an archtype became more dependent on having a lot of SP (so they could take more hits and use their abilities to fight and protect their friends), while casters became a lot more fragile making them more glass-canon-ey, as they always should have been. And players also got an opportunity to play anything in between, adjusting the amount of “buttons” and personal difficulty (surviveability of their characters) as they please.
So now my players group consists of:
• full-on caster, that struggles from the fact that he has less SP than anyone in the group, but that's ok since he is a veteran player and knows what he is doing. And it already lead to a fair amount of interesting situations and choices!
• Dragonblood Sorcerer that is more of a caster than martial. Given her story and archetype it only made sence for her to be not *so* good and versatile in magic, but instead be more of a dedicated-to-one-school caster.
• a character that is more of a martial than a caster. He originally played as a classical bard, but when the new system was introduced he decided to focuse more on close combat.
• one almost full-martial monk, who took a bare minimum training in magic schools to be able to cast shield and a few other mostly flavored spells (such as Speak to Animals). And it actually made her a better martial, though at that point I wasn't surprised.
Obligatory Pathfinder Second Edition balances martials and casters and has unique weapons comment. That being said the idea of giving spells to martials as a balance mechanism is a really interesting idea for 5E. :)
I actually kinda like that D&D doesn't have a taunt system. While I do thing there should be more subclasses and abilities that encourage attacking a specific player (looking at you Armorer and Ancestral Guardian), I think a full taunt mechanic that has the ability to just tell a monster "no, you must go for me" would make it very video game-y. Most parties would never be willing to leave home without a designated taunt tank, and then we could start to fall into the tank-DPS-healer meta.
All of these changes make the game feel more video game-y imo. If that's what you want by all means, but it's a no from me
Personally I want a taunt system cause as it stands there's 0 reason to play a frontliner in dnd
A taunt system would need adjustments, for example enemies with low wisdom would be more concerned about the paladin with burning wings rapidly approaching them with the look of justice in their eyes, one with high wisdom would realize that, even though damnation via enraged paladin is approaching, that one spellcaster in the back occasionally throwing frostballs at your formation is an equivalent threat, and probably a bit squishier.
A taunt system would definitely need a Wisdom saving throw
In exchange, maybe make it a bonus action?
just spit balling an idea for taunting would be to have a character roll an intimidation check(str or chr depending on how they approach it) If successful the if the target attacks you there is no effect, but if they attack another target they have disadvantage. The skill check could be a DC # check or intimidation opposed by targets insight.
4ed. You're describing 4ed. I didn't like 4e, but it just seems more and more like they need to upgrade 4e rules to 5e.
Martial powers would be great.
4e does exactly two things well: Combat, and character builds. (Provided you FIX THEIR GODDAMN MATH in terms of monster design and items.) So in theory, attach all of 5e's non combat stuff to the combat and chargen system of 4e and you could theoretically have a really solid all around game! (Provided you fix the math on items and monster design. I can't emphesize this enough, they account for things like 'every rogue will have enhanced sneak attack damage feat' and 'everyone will have +X gear on all slots by Y level.)
A lot of the suggestion I’m seeing are just features in pathfinder 2e, I would suggest looking into it. Character creation is a little more complicated but the game itself is extremely similar to D&D
basically what 90% of these "suggested features" videos are, and yet people still refuse to just switch
True. I changed into PF2e because of this D&D Drama, and I think I'll stay there because of how good its combat is (and well, role-playing stays mostly unchanged)(Also, knowing dnd kinda makes easier to understand PF rules, at least in my experience)
People should give it a shot (a one-shot, if you will)
@@terra6713 Yeah I've eased my own group in with a one shot and they really enjoyed it.
@@negative6442 yeahhh I didn't switch till the OGL drama stuff, but that was mainly because my experience with pf1e was too complex of a system for my taste, so I assumed pf2e doubled down on that. Plus the puffin forrest and taking 20 takes did not help
@@PeytonThibs Puffin Forest is an idiot tbh, and Taking20 and his friends were playing the game in such a poor manner that its honestly hilarious.
I get a lot of my ideas for homebrews for dnd from a brazilian ttrpg system called Tormenta 20, there, all classes, including martials, have a resource that they spend called Mana Points and it works wonders. Also, every single time a character levels up, they choose a feat from either a class specific list or a general list, and that brings so much customization to your characters! I don't know if there is a english version of this system, but i really recommend it, especially the new version, where they make some small but cool changes!
There is a previous version called only "Tormenta RPG" but I really don't enjoy it as much as the new Tormenta 20 one
In this system, there is a weapon system that is similar to the the way weapons worked on 3.5 with different threat ranges and critical multipliers, which brings more uniqueness to each weapon, but there is more properties such as weapons giving a bonus to make manouvers (Tripping or disarming enemies)
@@case1423 weapons have all sort of tiny things to them. knuckledusters and gauntlets let your hands count as free but not for wielding weapons, some weapons can't be used while grappled, several weapons give bonus to combat maneuvers and all can get several upgrades
@@hugofontes5708 Truuueee I forgot to mention that!
is the class feat system similar to pathfinder 2e's class feat system?
For the Martial spellcasting fix, I'd suggest LaserLlama's alternate martial classes. They all have 'Exploits', which essentially makes them half-casters but with manoeuvres, stances, attacks, etc instead of spells.
Oh you mean D&D 3.5e's Tome of Battle?
Or just play 4th edition and have all this things and actually best monster variety in all d20 games
Great video!! People always talk about how the scimitar is just a reskined shortsword, but forget that there are worse cases, because they at least have different damage types. The actual reskin is the LONGSWORD and the BATTLEAXE, they are literally the same
uhmm akktually, the battleaxe costs 5gp less but weights 1 more so there is technicly a "diffrence"
wrong. the actual reskin is halberd/glaive. they are literally identical in all but name.
Bringing up giving spells to martial classes gave me a fun idea and I’d love to hear people’s opinions on it.
*Spell:* Kinetic Energy
*Level:* 5th
*Casting Time:* 1 Bonus Action
*Range:* Self
*Components:* V,S
*School:* Enchantment
*Description:* As you attack your enemies, your weapon begins to glow orange and vibrate, intensifying on each hit.
Each time you successfully hit a creature with a martial weapon, melee weapon, or unarmed strike after you cast this spell, you can add 1d4 Force damage to your next attack. These dice stack (for example, your second hit after casting this spell has 1d4 added to it, the third hit has 2d4 added to it, and so on). This spell ends once the caster misses an attack, loses concentration, can’t attack, or chooses not to attack for a turn.
*At higher levels:* When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the die type increases for every slot level, starting with 1d6 at 6th level and ending with 1d12 at 9th level
What my group does for pulling aggro is create a new action we call "Antagonize". What it does is, As a Bonus Action, you can use either an Intimidation or Performance check in order to draw an enemy's attention and distract them, making them focus on you. This gives the enemies Disadvantage attacking anyone but who antagonized them for 1D4 turns. If the user has landed a damaging attack on the cresture before using this Bonus Action, then they gain Advantage on the ability check.
My DM utilizes enemy aggro mostly depending on the intelligence of the enemy, dumber ones would usually attack whoever looks like the bigger threat/ hit them last/ did most damage and the smarter enemies would try going for the squishy spell casters, etc
1-2) Martials get to do cool shit, too: Give 4th edition a shot sometime. For inspiration's sake.
2 cont: I think uncoupling long rests from literally sleeping at night and tying resource recovery to story beats or some-such would really help matters.
5) Hey, you know where Minions are a thing? That's right, 4th edition. xD Glass Cannons are a great idea!
6) Defenders (one of the four roles) in 4th edition all had a variety of mechanics like this.
8) Lots of nice feats in 4th edition for varying weapon types. Sadly also lots of distinctions without a difference and weapons with a lower proficiency bonus which is in no way compensated for by ever so slightly higher damage.
Can confirm Change 7 is needed
My only session of DnD ever was in my high school's DnD club, which was just 2 hours of travelling and shopping before it was cut short and completely cancelled because too many players just left
One variant rule I've been vying for is crits adding status effects, liking having a warhammer knock someone prone or a dagger bleeding someone out. I think it would be best to let players choose between extra damage or effects because obviously not all monsters will be effected by certain things, but I do think it would be a cool addition either way.
Me when pathfinder
@@gramfero truuuuuuu
Even if you never wanna play the system, I'd highly recommend checking out the critical effects for each weapon group in PF2E, this is exactly the mechanic you're talking about so you could at least get some inspiration? 😃
With Tasha's that has become the Slasher, Crusher and Piercer feats. Effects on hits and more on crits.
Yup that’s Pathfinder. And it’s so glorious, since so much of the system orbits around ways to adjust crit odds through buffs, debuffs, and circumstances and these crits do so much more than +dice. Doubling and adding utility is awesome (or if using a deadly or fatal weapon, a crit can even be nearly triple)
Can’t wait for next month’s content! It’s going to be great! Very helpful for some of my players who like the more martial classes and need some spice.
To the zombie thing, my friend actually made "ash zombies" of corpses that died in a volcanic eruption. They were able to cast misty step by blowing to ash in the breeze and had some fire damage to their slam attack as the player gets burned with some cinders
That new spell type for martials actually existed in 3.5e. they were called "maneuvers" and were introduced in Tome of Battle
And every dm promptly banned them because of a lot of reasons. To be fair, the appeal of a powerhouse who gets by without direct magical capacitance is a really big factor for these types of class-based games.
Martials already have expendable abilities that recharge after a rest. So your change would in addition organize all these systems into one coherent one, which I find great.
I just want to say, as a player who creature a Bloodhunter (werebear) Tortle who used a halberd, just you mentioning the functionality of that weapon warmed my heart.
Thanks for your thoughts. I like experimenting with ideas on improving RPG.
This seems like more work to me than learning GURPS's basics, outsourcing the numbers to GCS and focusing on the stuff that's fun for you. You can get the whole book of different cool maneuvers for martials there. And some actual useful guidelines for creation of spells, features and other. While keeping all that balanced by point costs. I'm not a fan of doing WotC's job trying to reinvent the system. That's why I stopped DMing 5e.
It's a little ironic though that with the amount of different homebrew sources that try to cover its flaws or make it more universal 5e is becoming a more inconvenient DIY toolbox than GURPS. It's interesting to watch the natural development of such mass product
I like the martial magic idea one; It makes them not nearly as powerful as half casters or full casters. So no stepping on toes there and it gives them some other stuff to use other than. Attack six times with three attacks and a action surge.
I get it, that spell casters generally early on in lvls aren't all that powerful but once they reach lvl 7 and up. Combat becomes pretty much a matter of what spells work best and well; The spell casters pretty much got spells for everything.
Which makes the martial classes pretty limiting aside from being hp to AC tanks if built right. Which even then a well built spell caster can be just as tanky.
I agree, martials need some extra stuff specially at higher ends to make them feel more powerful. But that is just my thoughts. I'm gonna have to get on paetron and get some of these books.
Wasn't giving Martials spells basically what 4e did, and the community hated it?
They called them exploits but because they worked in a similar fashion a lot of the more traditional fanbase knee jerked at it. They didn't like the concept that you couldn't do a non-magical thing infinitely. Another thing to consider with this is that short rests in 4e happened after 5 minutes, not an hour, so it was possible for martials to use their exploits multiple times in a day.
I don't think the community hated it, but they hated that magic got nerfed
Yea martial gets spells was what 4e did anc people lost their ever living mind. Oh no! Fighters can't have spells!!a that's not d&d.
FYI I loved 4e...best rpg game I ever played in 35 years
What I'd love for martial classes is some sort of combo system. Basic attacks build up charges that can then be expended on what are basically just reflavored spells. The trade-off for the required build-up of charges being no spell slots. Anything to give martials a boost.
I had an idea for monks to have a stans and katas .you assume stance thats give you a basic buff (more reaction,extra BA ,faster speeds,higher jumps extras) and katas that are like menuver.. thogher you can have the "combo".
Instead of martials getting spells i think i would prefer for them to get abilities that fulfill the same purpose without being counted as magical (at least for most of them). Feels a bit weird for everyone to be a spell caster and this would also give martials an extra boost since their abilities wouldn't be stopped by anti-magic fields and counterspells
that - and/or give casters less slots so they suck as much as martials
So you want maneuvers like they were in 3.5?
I think they should just let some classes have special attacks.
-cleave attack
-attack that deals less but rises you defense
-pushing attack
-backstab
-prone target special attack
-attack after moving certain distance
-jumping down attack
-lowering ac attack
etc.
some classes could get to chose few of them and it could be like magic list, where there would be even more powerful ones which are not magic but reach levels of super powers (like space severing slash ... lul)
@@WhyYouMadBoi anyone could maneuver in 3.5, though. but yeah, maybe give those back to martials lol
@@hugofontes5708 Uh where is that said? I'm talking about tome of battle. Swordsage, warblade and crusader.
I personally very mixed feelings on fixing the problems martials have by just giving them spellcasting it just feels rather lazy to me cuz that's the same thing Wizards of the Coast have been doing they've been making a lot of martials subclasses magic or at least magic adjacent it's also a reason as to why I hate people suggesting give martials a bunch of magic items to fix the disparity because those can be lost or broken and it doesn't stop casters from getting magic items it's a Band-Aid to me
One of my issues that Rhexx has spoken about a lot is armor variety and how they only offer 1 stat. Might check out your alternative weapons.
When I start DMing again, I'm going to try to encourage more creativity like the bucket head example you gave. My zombies will also be able to infect. One homebrew that I have been using is that every long rest costs 1 meal or ration and larger characters use 2 rations in order to give a resource cost to long resting and add a very mild hunger mechanic.
Adding stuff like damage type for martial weapons is good
Like shortsword and scitimar having slashing damage,rapier having piercing damage and mace making bludgeoning damage
Hey Blaine, while watching this video I started thinking rather than giving spells to martials, giving them some sort of "martial powers" like 3.5's Book of the Nine Swords. Fighters and Monks get them of course, and optionally replace spells for Paladins and Rangers.
Funny enough, I actually use dnd zombies a ton. Though I reskinned them thoroughly as drones for a far realm race.
The reason is the upper castes have weird powers and having simple minions really smooths out combats with them.
Though it does probably help those higher level creatures have abilities that manipulate their minions initiatives or make them explode like acid filled ballons.
I love it everytime someone redevelops D&D 4e.
I'd love to see a rock-paper-scissors ruleset for armor vs weapons...
"I slash the evil knight with my awesome scimitar!"
"Oh, hmm. A slashing weapon against plate armor? Well, you make some cool sparks scraping against his armor..."
I’ve actually reworked weapons extensively when I started trying to come up with a dark souls one shot (yes, I know. Instead of using another ttrpg that would better suit it, I am forcing 5e to fit my needs. It’s just the system I’m used to.). I also made sure to make a difference between the STR and DEX fighters. All weapons add more scaling STR damage because all it is is brute force.
For the taunt idea, I've seen a Provoke skill used as part of the skill list, and making it a bonus action in combat could make it a reasonable choice
A small thing our group uses is an equipment durability system. Like anytime a player or monster hits with max die number (6 for D6) 4 for D4) a durability point is taken from the weapon used and armor or shield hit. There is a good table for equipment hp for 3rd edition we use too. But this makes us use different weapons we would normally just toss or sell.
hewwo, i would just like to say that 4e already gave martials 'spells' they were called powers, and there were 4 types,
at-will
rechargeable
encounter
daily
you can look for these, and steal them
Good to know what is coming in the next AniDnD pack Blaine. Was planning on doing something to make weapons unique so thank you so much for the save chief. Keep up the great work
Minions, martial spells, rebalancing, more engaging travel and environmental interaction, enticing equip options, taunts, whoa.
You just invented 4E.
I loved how you played "Ultimate Battle" from plants VS zombies at 6:20. You playing songs from Undertale and Plants Vs Zombies in the backround of these videos is my favourite part.
The idea of Martials getting spells is interesting, although something I've actually discussed with a few fellow players is giving the fighter the battle master subclass as part of the class itself, and making it so that the Battlemaster gives you special maneuvers and more/stronger number Maneuver dice. The kinds of special maneuvers would be absolutely bonkers combat stuff like teleporting behind the enemy in response to them missing an attack, striking all enemies adjacent to you in one attack, etc. This just gives the fighter class way more to work with while still keeping the Battlemaster its own subclass, and tbh all Fighters getting access to the standard maneuvers I think balances them out really well without forcing spellcasting on them.
You could check out the path of war (PF1 third party books from dreamscarred press) or the tome of battle (3.5 d&d book). These offer martial classes that have special abilities that they can use. The system is kind of like spells for martials and it might give you some ideas for making martials better.
My homebrew system has a lot of these fixes built in. Good video.
It always amazes me to see the lengths people will go to in an attempt to fix 5e instead of just playing a system better suited for what theyre looking for.
In my games I try to make sure to add a lot of combat encounters, giving spells to martials only works in high magic settings. My answer to this would be adding features to make them better resitant to spells
I'm currently working on a homebrew class called the monster slayer which is a place holder name. Anyway this classes whole thing is a unique combat system to this class, and not having set features allowing the player more customisability. To compensate for this the class does not have subclasses but the style of fighting is based off of what weapon you choose and they'd be a bit of a glass cannon d6 hit die + light Armor only for a front liner
Imagine totem warrior barbarian style level up choices (obviously tuned down) with ranger/fighter themes
My suggestions.
1. I think we need more spells over all and many of them should be less fight oriented and more focused on roleplay, exploration, fun etc.
2. I think martial SHOULD NOT ALL GET SPELLS as this way we would lack real magickly talent lacking people and they could simply add attack styles. Like attack that:
- requieres you to move certain distans
- attack that can strike few target
- need you to jump certain hight down
- be on top of a target
-has more crowd control focus
-is safer (could add ac if hits, or lower damage taken)
3. Taunting could be like an free action (some stream dm's do something like that but for checking enemies skills/abilities) or require bonus/ reaction to do.
This way intimidation/stealth could get focus off you and persuasion, performance could get it on you.
You could even make it so some monsters react differently to those, like orc could focus players that try to intimidate them, or goblins would focus on trying to find players that try to hide from them.
4. Monsters could have extra text added to them about things that player could do for extra effects. Mirror for beholder and medusa, 2 goblins/ spiders can be hit by one attack if they are next to each other (this one could be also counting toward minions type monsters as some players would have no aoe to deal with bosses that have to many minions)
BUT YOU FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGE NECESERY and that is FIRE DOESN'T BUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Oh I forgot to add they should also make magic items interesting as currently most of them are just items with ability to cast spells and most current spells are boring.
In Baldurs Gate 3 fighters actually have a use as you will fail quests if you dont do them on time and long rests cost time. For D&D however I fully agree with you, people just want to chill and roleplay not manage timesheets, thats even anoying Baldurs Gate where the computer does most of the calculations.
On numbers 1 and 6, I’m all for these being included in D&D/Pathfinder. Martials deserve more flair. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure in an aggro system for a Xenoblade Chronicles-themed Pathfinder homebrew-slash-derivative, which I’m presuming is going to revolve mostly around giving defensive style classes more HP than typical PF classes and giving aggro values to certain “Arts” (attacks and spells, which also integrates that “give martials spells” idea), even giving certain Attacker classes benefits when aggro is taken off of them.
Just bought the mega compilation and skimmed through it. Got some pretty fun stuff. Here's hoping another mega compilation will come out so I can get that one too.
i like the martial spell idea and thats what im working on in a homebrew source book, though i wnent a different direction so instead im adding maneuvers for all martials and HEAVLY expanding on maneuvers. maneuvers each have classes that can take them like spells do, overall acting a lot like spells but fitting the martial theme better, also being manuvers they have less tottal but come back on short rest so make martials still better for long days theoretically.
Still got a lot to do with it but its wip, especially since im wring like 50pages dense with mechanics by myself.
@BlaineSimple what you have described is very similar to ICRPG. The biggest difference is the Food: where in ICRPG food and drink work like healing potions, and can be consumed as a free action. Some are even combinations of healing potions and other effects, like Frog Legs (Jump).
Magic items of all types can definitely be a great Balancing tool for DMS. Martials never had issue keeping up especially with all those extra attacks for most experienced DMS and creative players.
Taunts were something my dm allowed, but to taunt the enemy we had to pull off a charisma check for taunting, which was a homebrew skill he added, one found out a “slur” for one of the monsters we were fighting (beep boop is what it was”) and that character had a 24 ac, was never hit once, and now that’s the whole parties battlecry
Changes like these to martials were tried in the past.
For exemple in 3.5 and pathfinder 1 they tried combat maneuvers, that are basically actions that work like magic but for martial classes.
They were fun and all but playing a martial like that doesn't really feel like a martial anymore
I honestly feel pf2 did a good job at balancing martials, where the system itself by design makes martial stronger, while the magic users are still more than viable thanks to the sheer veratilisy of magic.
Edit: I didn't clarify but the maneuvers I'm talking about are those from manuals like path of war, not just things like tripping and grabbing
In Pathfinder combat maneuvers weren't very much like magic at all, actually. You were just able to specialize in stuff that made sense to be able to do as a melee (or sometimes ranged) combatant, like tripping foes, grappling, disarming, etc. It was usually just an attack roll with with a different target number
@@thabookwyrm I'm talking mainly about path of war, where you have stances that give you special abilities and special attacks with a limted use per battle with effects that are comparable to spells
@@theweirdlyfriendlymushroom7920 ohhhhhhhhh, yeah, that stuff was way beyond my ken. We tried running the version DSP ported to PF1 back in the day and none of us was into it enough to get very far into the game
Hey Blaine, great video!!! The minion rule is a classic, but I actually disagree with minions being locked into one health. I am gonna make a video about this sometime I think, but consider the advanced minion rule mechanic. Any low CR enemy that can likely be killed in one hit can be your minion enemy, but instead of 1 HP, just keep whatever low HP they have. Many heavy attacks will often one shot them anyway, and instead of book keeping every minions life total which would weigh down combat, you could just mark the minion to be injured anytime they first receive a non-lethal amount of damage when they were unharmed, and then treat them as always taken lethal damage the second time they are hit regardless. This will also stop minions from being cheese by area of effect spells automatically and bring meaning to their attempted saving throws
There was this post somewhere on forum that re-imagined some of 4th edition things like martial abilities, something along the lines of Battle Master abilities, but without additional "Superiority die" and limited to turn.
I personally think that such addition (but with a little bit more class-theme injected into it's variants) would work wonderfully for martials. I'm playing 5e campaign currently, and i already feel almost crippling lack of variety during combat without multiclassin' into something.
For melee weapons I play Knives do 1d6-1 damage, but don't have as large a penalty to dual wielding. Swords do 1d8 plus 1d4 bleeding on crit. Hammers do 1d12 damage, and roll with advantage vs small enemies. With bows and crossbows I let the bow do 1d8 damage, while the crossbow does 1d4+3 damage. The thought process there being that a bow's output can be highly variable even from the same archer, but a crossbow will be doing fairly consistent damage because it's mechanical.
The fixes to martials I’d give is increasing the resources they have as they are incredibly limited and are usually outpaced by spellcasters’ resources at all levels and give them maneuvers that don’t require resources to use but don’t give the extra damage of Battle Master to keep it unique
I was like Blaine is going to make a 4E joke here since everything that he said they fixed in 4E, but ope! it too different than 3.5 so we can't do that again
I’m using that one video about upgrading your weapons. I think it’s a lightweight way to give martial some options and something to play around with, without sacrificing digestibility. My players agreed though they said it might be confusing at first to remember what each quality does.
We’re gonna see how it goes going forward and see if we like it. Though I’m also enforcing carry weight tracking. They’re fine with that surprisingly but I did tell them it’s intended to be a grittier game with some moments that require critical thinking. So maybe they just consider it par for the course.
The first one. So 4e? Because that's just 4e (I prefer 4e to the trash that is 5th.)
Change 4 is ALSO 4e. We have a TON of zombie variants. While most do just smash, there's a ton of variation in what they do. Want flying zombies where their back skin is wings? We got that.
Change 5. Seriously, just play 4e, that's 4e.
Change 8. 4. E. While there are some weapons that are obvious reskins, yes, every weapon has SOMETHING that makes it unique. My favorite is the brutal trait, where if you roll a certain number or lower on your damage roll (usually 1, but there's a Brutal 2) you just get to reroll. You do go into even more than what the base rules say, but all those alterations can easily be made. Many already have some variation. For example, a trait added later is the ability to trip using flails. That can easily be transferred to some pole arms.
Seriously, it sounds like you just want to play 4e. HAVE you ever actually given it a try? Dunno if you were in that Puffin Forrest game he ran, but let's just say having the guy who admits to hating the system AND admits to not knowing how to play DM the game probably wasn't a grand plan.
In a lot of high magic literature and games everyone has magic or a magic equivalent
I want to make certain races templates. Planetouched, Shifters, Dhampir, and similar beings could be applied to different races, so I could have a Couatl-Blooded Aasimar Dragonborn, a Dwarven Earth Genasi, an Orcish Longtooth Shifter, an Elven Dhampir, a Tabaxi Revenant, etc etc.
Completely agree with that taunt mechanic. It would open up some unique combat choices. Right now the way I run monster aggro is: "If you're the closest one to hit, then you have aggro. If you just hit it super hard for a big chunk of damage above everyone else, you get aggro now until someone pulls it away". Smarter monsters is the problem because it's like "How do I play the smart monster without being the asshole DM"
doesnt turning enemies in mindless robot drones that just hit whos closest and dont use any tactics defeat the whole roleplaying aspect of combat?
Pack Tactics! I'd love more colabs with him 😍
Firstly. Amazing video as always, Blaine 😃😇❤️
The changes mentioned are absolutely necessary and I fell ashamed of myself for not figuring them out sooner.
Secondly. Here are some topics and ideas I find interesting, that I couldn't find in d&d 5e official materials, that might be worth exploring (what you think about them, do you have any solutions on mind?):
Druid (doesn't need to be the class): wildshaping or taking on features of other beings than beasts (aberration, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, or undead).
Fighter (doesn't need to be this class): able to change their equipment in the midst of combat based on what might be effective against their enemies (thinking something like Erza Scarlet from FairyTale)
Gods: making them approachable, some rules for interaction with them (deciding whether they are being of that world or whether they just influence the world from beyond the material plane, CR, Statblock, good, neutral and evil + motives for each) (bonus: becoming a god/birth of a god/killing a god, meaning, hierarchy, system, daily life,...)
Leveling up: recommendations for low, mid, high and extreme tiers of play, level caps, multiclassing, beyond level 20, (stakes, enemies, goals at each tier of play)
Becoming a PC: reliving the life up to the starting point (via dream/remembering the past in a conversation with a character/while praying to a god/ ...) transition from 4hp villager character to a 1st level class PC,
commonness of classed characters more than 4hp villagers within village
Summoner: basically d&d 5e equivalent of Pathfinder 2e Summoner + ability to merge with the Eidolon, mechanics (wizard, sorcerer, cleric, warlock subclass/feat enabling the merging with summons/whole new class/spell + scaling)
Tech artificer: less magicky more science dependant inventor, influencing the fantasy world, from handgun to Ironman to giant mecharobot
Monster PC's: aberration, beast celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, or undead, compatibility, changes, unique abilities, motives
Equipment: Armors, Weapons, utilities, (magic compatibility, (does damage + spell modifier, by spending spell slots spells/magical effects/damage boost/defense boost/effect can be cast through it), evolving/upgrading the equipment instead of exchanging it for something else and getting rid of it, damaging/repairing/broken equipment, inventing/designing/making/crafting new equipment)
Space time travel: invaders/moving out, enemy/friendly (request to save from chaos/conquering realities...), means (technomagical gates/power of individual/god)
High level enemies: angels/demons/devils/other invaders/high level characters/gods, motives
Magic: explanation, magic systems (spell slots, mana points,...) , interaction with matter (nonspelcasters = strengthened by magic (in their body)/poisoned by magic, poisoning (by magic/of magic), living/entropic energy (what is its source?), manipulation (how does it work?)
Ok those are some topic I thought were worth a discussion if not more. Thx for reading thus far. Much love take care and bye ❤️
Arguably u could just hve demons show up during their attempt at a long rest. Just cuz they want a pong rest doesn't mean it is safe to take one.
Idk about number 1. Depends on the table but if everyone has access to magic, it feels less special. They absolutely need special abilities like the battle master maneuvers or better weapon options.
Also, change 7 is great but I’ve seen the opposite where most tables don’t bother with that stuff. I find it makes the journey too easy and less tactical.
OK, I grew with pretty much all of this. Mostly because I am a 3.0 to 3.5 player and almost all of this was in there. Especially by the end of it. Book of Nine Swords was essentially a Marshall fighter using muscle magic.
I would give martials manouvers upon creation, create more manouvers to pick from, make stronger magic weapons and make some old ones more common and cheaper.
Mostly just give martials more options to use in combat. As "I bonk the enemy and use my bonus action to do a class related thing" is what most martials do in combat, unless they have to grapple an thing for some reason.
Now, combine idea one and the taunt idea, and let the martials have some sorts of tauniting spells.
Excellent content!
Kender, the best race for people who aren't shit at RP, have an awesome taunt ability: As a bonus action, you can target a creature within sixty feet of you, forcing it to make a Wisdom saving throw. If the target of this ability fails the save, each attack it makes against creatures other than you are at disadvantage
Just take some notes from 13th age and ninja crusade.
In 13th Age you roll damage dice equal to your level, so a level 5 fighter will 5dx. This gives martial damage on par with caster. Weapon in 13th Age just deal damage based on their size, so a large melee weapon does d10, what is a large melee weapon, anything that is big enough to need two hands. So there are only 4 melee weapons on the game.
In ninja crusade weapon are defined by traits. So swords have sharp. They deal 1 point of bleed every time they 3 or more points of damage on an attack.
How do we put them together. All sharp weapons deal bleed on a crit. A level 3 fighter roll 3 dice for damage. Then the fighter can pick abilities like, If you inflected bleed on an enemy you can attack a different one right a way. If you are using a weapon with SHARP trait you crit on a 19+
considering the changes to rangers in One DnD i do think the devs agree with you and will be looking at buffing at least the fighters, monks and barbarians, maybe not through sheer number but by giving them more unique abilities, weapon abilities sounds awesome btw love that idea
I had a DM who handled a Taunt maneuver very well: The character doing the taunting had previous beef with the aggressor, so the DM had them come up with an insult and roll Charisma. More details below for anyone interested.
Our Ranger/Rouge had tried to get information at a brothel, but quickly learned it was very much affiliated with the local mafia-esk ruffians who were seizing control of the small kingdom we were in. He was being pursued by a high ranking brute and they had parkoured their way into an alley bellow. The ranger tried to shoot him, but at such close quarters he took some crippling disadvantages and couldn't land an arrow. One of our group suggested kicking him in the nanners. It worked beautifully! So, for 9-10 rounds it went back and forth with missed arrows, running up and kicking nuts, and hopping back to be out of range. Eventually the DM had the brute go down the other end of the alley and get away.
We fought him later and he was going after our wizard, so to keep him alive Ranger/Rouge asks if he can Taunt the brute to redirect his attention. The DM had him come up with an insult, (we all brainstormed and I had the honor of coming up with the best one) which resulted in him asking the brute how life was now that he was a eunuch. Then he rolled CHA, and the brute saw red and focused solely on him until the Paladin Dragonborn castrated his entire lower body.
The 6 encounters a day was old hat in 2003, before 3.5e was released.
Even in AD&D 2e we would just try to rest when the spellcasters ran out.
Hi blain, you probably don’t remember me but I made your life a living hell on that getting over it stream, I’m glad to see that you’re still AWESOME o7
I was planning to lightly use those survival mechanics for my out of the abyss campaign
The critical hit effects from Piercer, Crusher, and Slasher should be default abilities. Even a lvl 1 adventurer who makes a lucky nat20 shot with a longbow should deal additional die of damage, a lucky nat20 slash of a longsword should cripple enemies, etc.
My own change would be that weapons with many uses should be able to change their attack type. There's no reason a longsword can't be thrusted for pierce damage, or can't be bashed with the hilt/pommel for bludgeoning damage. This pairs nicely with the above critical hit effects - you can knock an enemy into a disadvantage state with a critical bash of your pommel, then slash at them as normal
I am coincidentally also writing a weapon overhaul, mostly to a) make martial weapons more interesting and b) make every weapon have a distinct use. Will probably also include a few weapon specialist/weapon master subclasses so you can play a fighter who is an actual walking arsenal and uses most of it every combat.
I don't think all martials should get spells specifically, but something similar to spells, like some type of stronger resource reliant abilities would work.
I love how every time you highlight some inherent flaw with 5e it always boils down to you just telling us how bad your DMs are.
So do Barbs cast while raging? If not, they're at a disadvantage over other martials, unless they have some good non-con self buffs. Maybe a pool of class only spell-like abilities that are effectively spells for just the barbs. That might push it more toward battlemaster, but a lot of those things should be options in general IMO.
I'd add rules for throwing a teammate. Both to help toss them somewhere, as well as using them as weapons. Also for throwing enemies.
giving weapons multiple damage types based on what they could logically do, as well as rolling crusher/piercer/slasher into default rules instead of feats would be a good start for weapons.
I want a guidebook to help with proper set up for businesses. You know I get a lot of "I want to buy this tavern and start a business", "Okay, so I want to use my tools to make jewelry when we travel and sell it at the next town", "I want to buy bottles make wine and sell it", "I got this huge plot of land I want to start to build a town... how much to build that". I would like a proper guide to help set up for when my players want to create shops (either in a solid building and pay a worker or for a traveling one".
Hi, I've been the only martial class user in my weekly D&D group for months (a fighter), not counting the Arcane Trickster rogue that prefers to shoot rays and stuff from a distance anyway, and in most encounters, my kill count is around three times everyone else's; it's all about how you use the abilities you have. With high constitution, I can tank hits for the party, and even keep going even on the rare occasion I take a bad hit with Second Wind, and with high strength, I can mow down enemies using Extra Attack and Action Surge, especially after taking Sweeping Attack from the Superior Technique fighting style. I think the classes are good as they are; not everything needs to be supped up with magic to be considered "good".
the taunt thing destroys what makes dnd fun. The whole thing is that its not a videogame that forces enemys to mindlessly hit the tank, which is the supidest tactic a smart enemy could do
I homebrew zombies to have only 1 hp, but they take no damage unless you hit them in the head. They have a grapple and Bite attack with a -3 to hit, but get +1 to hit for every other zombie within 10 feet of the target. If you are bitten, you get infected status (disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws), and have 1 d4 + 2 days to have greater restoration cast on you or your character will turn.