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Alchemist Artificer revised (V1.3)
▲ 16 r/UnearthedArcana

Alchemist Artificer revised (V1.3)

Feedback would be very much appreciated!

Biggest changes (in order of appearance)

- Fireball for a viable offensive 3rd level spell-storing item spell (many artificer subclasses share specialization spells anyways, this is not stepping one anyone’s toes too much imo)
- Instead of preparing elixirs randomly on a long rest, simply select which ones you want and take some minutes to ready them (rewards foresight and planning). Uses increase at 5th and 15th level (not 9th since all elixirs improve then).
- At 5th level, a much more flexible and potent combat option that leans into team-play by consuming your reaction (nuance by competing with Flash of Genius). Doesn’t scale and does not have limited uses since this is essentially the Extra Attack level.
- 9th level is lighter, simply gain a resistance and add more utility to elixirs on top of having your elixirs scale at this level.
- 15th level nets you 2 more resistances (for a total of acid/fire/poison) and cements the alchemist as the APEX brewer of alchemical potions despite Tasha’s Bubbling Cauldron appearing on the wizard spell list by allowing the duplication of Rare and Very Rare potions. Full casters are slinging 8th-level spells at this level so I don’t think this feature is too problematic. The alchemist would be able to craft the potions given the time and resources regardless.

u/HighlyOk — 11 hours ago
▲ 13 r/UnearthedArcana+4 crossposts

[OC] The Synaptic Neurotoad: a CR 4 illusionist boss that doesn't need allies to bend reality

I've been working on an original homebrew bestiary and wanted to share the Alpha of the Neurotoads: the Synaptic Neurotoad.

If the standard Neurotoad is already dangerous in numbers, the Synaptic takes everything to another level. It's CR 4 and what makes it especially interesting is that it doesn't need allies to use advanced illusions. Autonomous Synaptic Mind lets it maintain two simultaneous illusions without concentration. Architect of Reality makes those illusions affect sight, hearing and spatial perception at once, with disadvantage on saving throws in dim light or darkness.

Its main action Greater Illusory Projection can lock multiple creatures into disadvantage on attacks, halved speed and no reactions for a full minute — no concentration required. Cognitive Isolation cuts a target off from all ally assistance. And if a creature manages to see through an illusion, Perceptual Rewrite instantly shifts it to a new target within 30 ft.

The ideal encounter is Synaptic Neurotoad + 2-4 standard Neurotoads in terrain with dim light, water and cover.

The bestiary quote sums it up perfectly: "When you start doubting what you see… you have already lost."

Feedback on balance for CR 4 is very welcome.

u/PassengerLeather8223 — 15 hours ago
▲ 91 r/UnearthedArcana

Branching Boss Fights - Homebrew Document V2

Memorable boss battles are built on dynamic, evolving encounters. This guide empowers Dungeon Masters (DMs) to transform routine fights into unforgettable events in which player choices directly influence the battle's course and outcome.

Bosses are no longer just creatures with large pools of hit points; They adapt, grow desperate, change tactics, reshape the battlefield, and respond to the players' triumphs and setbacks. Whether the party interrupts a ritual, rescues innocent civilians, destroys powerful artifacts, or inadvertently furthers the villain’s plans, every decision shapes the unfolding battle.

Inside, you'll discover a two-layered approach to branching encounters:

  • Main Phases: Dramatic shifts that alter the boss, battlefield, objectives, and rhythm of combat.
  • Mini Phases: Subtle, ongoing opportunities for players to shape the fight by targeting key creatures, objects, or objectives that matter most to them.

You’ll find a comprehensive framework for creating branching encounters: tools for designing stage transitions, setting meaningful objectives, building timer- and action-based triggers, rewarding partial successes, and evolving boss stat blocks as the fight progresses.

No longer do boss fights follow a predictable script. Each encounter becomes an evolving narrative shaped by the players’ actions. One group might thwart a ritual before it’s complete, another could save prisoners but let the boss escape, while a third faces the villain at full strength after a failed attempt to stop the ritual. Every outcome tells a different story, rewarding creativity, teamwork, and meaningful choices.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Branching Boss Fights. You can read the document more easily on my Patreon by downloading it. You can also use the link below:

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-OWT88Iqzq6Pmhuqo8Td

If you want to see more, please check out my Patreon. You can also see upcoming boss battles I am creating on my Pinterest and Instagram.

u/Zi_Chin — 1 day ago
▲ 4 r/UnearthedArcana+1 crossposts

Playtest material from a Campaign setting / sourcebook - Occultist Class and Aberrant and Hemomancy Subclasses

Hey all! This is my first post and I am sorry I don't have any Fancy Art for this. I am one of the casualties from the Video game industry lay offs and for the past three years I've put a lot of my time into working on this campaign setting and source book and for all intent and purposes it's done and ready except for playtesting. But yes at the moment I don't have the finances to make pretty Art and well aware of the backlash I'd get if I used AI Art even for a playtest. SO please be understanding with those limitations.

I haven't done this before and I'm clueless as to next steps, so that's an area I've love some tips on. But I've lost some help with some external play testing. I've created a risk reward Spell casting class. Most deal with the mental taxation of casting spells since your focus is your mind, but the feedback I am looking for in play is for people to test out that system, if they feel it's too oppressive.

In my own playtests we found it was balanced and worked really well and added a LOT of narrative play. The class is intended to be VERY roleplay friendly and considered player narrative at every step. There are spell schools in this that aren't part of the normal schools in D&D and that's intended, they aren't from the standard weave. They aren't spells the wizard can access. The setting has quite a bit to do with the hubris of Wizards. But yes. I have selected two subclasses to be tested for the Occultist which are in the subject heading.

I have a link to the playtest material, and if you want access Just request it and I'll give anyone access to who wants it. Thank you to anyone in advance who does this. Credit will go into the book as well as a playtester provided constructive feedback has been given, and more depending on the extent the feedback causes in changes. This is also my first playtest so if things aren't laid out properly please tell me if I've missed something for that as well. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WNis5-OiyMecFshIzy-jM3UeVeSgC_yf?usp=drive_link

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u/CuriousGoodsOfficial — 19 hours ago
▲ 25 r/UnearthedArcana+1 crossposts

Warrior of Shura Monk V2

Retooled version of my previous Warrior of Shura Monk after talking with my DM and adjusting for balance. The Wrath system really helps the feel of a battle fueled monk and gives the vibe of a fighting game character by chaining regular attacks into more and more powerful attacks.

Someone was very helpful with the previous post and sort of helped inspire the Wrath system idea so I'm happy to take feedback. Cheers folks

u/Rick_Hardpak — 1 day ago
▲ 41 r/UnearthedArcana

Druid: Circle of Wonders v.0.3

I've seen lots of Magical Girl/Super Sentai type homebrews across the internet but not of them quite hit the flavor that I was craving. I've made a few passes for balance but now its time to share and see what the community thinks. I left the flavor vague so the transformation can easily fit most places but this certainly isn't geared towards super serious play styles but let me know what you think. Any subtle changes that you think are needed woul

**[Homebrewery Link](https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Hp42\_xipiXrH)\*\*

u/SamuraiNazoSan — 1 day ago
▲ 0 r/UnearthedArcana+1 crossposts

2024 Druid Wildshape temp HP sucks, and I want your opinions on my suggestion

Basically, what the title reads, I think the temp HP based on your druid level is just bad.

I got inspiration from the Villainous Titan druid UA, where your wildshape is specifically 4x your druid level for a titan form, and I liked that idea a lot, and it scales decently.

My idea is to give all CR 1 and below wildshapes temp HP equal to 3x Druid level.

CR 2-3 = 4x druid-level temp HP, 4-5 = 5x druid-level temp HP, and 6 = 6x temp HP.

A nice scaling table for regular druids to become slightly stronger than they could with regular wildshapes, and allows for moon druids to slowly scale up and have some decent HP in their higher CR creatures.

A direwolf at level 8 would give 24 temp as a druid, and would slowly scale up by 3 HP per level, which would go beyond what a regular dire wolf would have in terms of HP since their max is 37.

Let me know what you think!

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u/CashewsM — 1 day ago
▲ 8 r/UnearthedArcana

Formation Monsters (5e): A system for running trained military units as a single creature. Looking for design feedback.

Baaz Formation

Baaz are the backbone of the Dragonarmies, drilled relentlessly to fight as disciplined formations rather than as individual warriors. Each soldier is trained to hold the line, protect their comrades, and exploit openings with practiced precision. Alone, a baaz is a modest threat. United in formation, they become a formidable obstacle capable of challenging even seasoned adventurers.

A Baaz Formation represents a squad of draconians acting as a single tactical unit. Shield bearers absorb the enemy's assault while rear-rank warriors strike from relative safety, maintaining cohesion until the formation begins to break apart. As casualties mount, the unit's tactics, defenses, and offensive capabilities change to reflect the loss of trained soldiers rather than a simple reduction in hit points.

Like all Baaz draconians, each fallen warrior leaves behind a dangerous petrifying corpse, forcing enemies to carefully consider how and where they engage the formation. Though the unit fights as one creature for ease of play, each member retains the distinctive death throes that make Baaz draconians infamous.

I've been working on a homebrew monster system that represents disciplined military formations as a single creature rather than four independent monsters.

My goal wasn't to make stronger monsters—it was to preserve the feeling of fighting trained soldiers while reducing initiative, hit point tracking, and bookkeeping at higher levels.

Instead of tracking four creatures individually, the formation:

  • uses a shared hit point pool,
  • loses individual members as it reaches damage thresholds,
  • changes its capabilities as members fall,
  • retains each member's individual death effects,
  • treats single-target non-damaging spells as affecting individual members while damage is still tracked collectively.

The attached Baaz Shield Formation is the first implementation of the system.

I'm less interested in whether the exact numbers (AC, HP, damage, CR) are perfect and more interested in feedback on the Formation mechanic itself.

Some questions I'd especially appreciate feedback on:

  • Does this seem intuitive to run at the table?
  • Are there rules interactions or edge cases I've overlooked?
  • Does it successfully capture the feel of a disciplined military unit?
  • Would you use a system like this in your own game?

I would mention as well that this would be the first of many such military formations such as archers, cavalry, standard militia, vanguard and flankers.

Thanks in advance—I appreciate any constructive criticism.

u/CrazyJonny30 — 1 day ago
▲ 2 r/UnearthedArcana+1 crossposts

Homebrew Druid Subclass -- Circle of the Aurorae

I've spent a good amount of time creating this druid subclass but am having trouble finding people to help playtest and look at it, so I thought I would post it here. Please leave some comments on whether you think the subclass is over tuned or under tuned and, if you could, I would really appreciate a playtest from some fellow DND enthusiasts. Feel free to comment on anything -- from the wording to the mechanics themselves -- and please tell me if you think this is a good proof-of-concept. For context, the Circle of the Aurorae (aw-ROAR-ay) is a battlefield control druid who uses persistent magical conduits to promote fast repositioning and melee damage rather than spellcasting. The subclass is based on the natural phenomenon aurora borealis. Happy reading! 

 

Druid – Circle of the Aurorae

Druids of the Circle of the Aurorae seek to draw power from Nature's raw breath, which manifests in the sub-cosmic rays of light mortals term aurorae. Their order grants them the strength to summon and stride through these radiant currents, blessing allies with their beauty while dazzling those who threaten the natural world. These druids see aurorae as more than a spectacle; rather, they represent the living pulse of the world, flowing unseen through the heavens before revealing themselves as dancing curtains of emerald, violet, crimson, and radiant gold. By learning to guide these celestial currents, druids of this Circle weave luminescent pathways across the battlefield to confound those who seek to bring down the natural order.

Coronal Conduit (Level 3)

As a Bonus Action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape to create a Coronal Conduit, a cascading flow of auroral energy. The conduit is a 20-foot-long, 10-foot-diameter horizontal cylinder that originates from you or from either end of one of your existing Coronal Conduits and extends in a direction you choose. Coronal Conduits can't overlap.

The conduit remains fixed in place for up to 1 minute. Maintaining it requires Concentration, as if concentrating on a spell. All Coronal Conduits you create share the same instance of Concentration.
The conduit sheds Bright Light for 10 feet and Dim Light for an additional 10 feet. Creatures can move through a Coronal Conduit freely. Entering or leaving a conduit has no effect unless one of your Circle of the Aurorae features says otherwise.

When the conduit appears, each creature of your choice in it must make a Constitution saving throw against your Spell Save DC. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4 Radiant damage and is swept into the auroral current, where it remains suspended approximately 10 feet above the ground. While suspended, its Speed is 0, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls as the dazzling currents obscure its vision and impede its movement. At the end of each of its turns, it can repeat the saving throw, using Strength instead of Constitution. On a success, the effect ends, and the creature falls unless it can remain aloft by other means.

While you are in a Coronal Conduit, your Speed is doubled.

Circle of the Aurorae Spells (Level 3)

When you reach a Druid level specified in the Circle of the Aurorae Spells table, you always have the listed spells prepared.

Druid Level Prepared Spells
3 Light, Color Spray, Guiding Bolt, Longstrider, Blindness/Deafness
5 Aura of Vitality, Dispel Magic
7 Aura of Purity, Freedom of Movement
9 Greater Restoration, Steel Wind Strike

Boreal Mastery (Level 6)

  • By learning to ride the currents rather than merely create them, you weave broader ribbons of auroral light.

While you are in a Coronal Conduit, you add your Wisdom modifier to Constitution saving throws you make to maintain Concentration on your Coronal Conduits.

When you create a Coronal Conduit using Wild Shape, you can create two Coronal Conduits instead of one. Each conduit must originate from you or from either end of one of your existing Coronal Conduits.

In addition, the damage dealt by your Coronal Conduit increases to 2d4.

Empyrean Torrent (Level 10)

  • By embracing the auroral flow, you move as effortlessly as light itself, allowing the ever-shifting currents of the heavens to bend around and protect you.

While you are in a Coronal Conduit, you have a flying Speed equal to twice your walking Speed.
After moving at least 20 feet through a Coronal Conduit on your turn, choose Cold, Lightning, or Radiant damage. You have resistance to the chosen damage type until the start of your next turn.

Once on each of your turns, after moving through two or more different Coronal Conduits, you can use a Bonus Action to empower your next attack before the end of the turn. If that attack hits, it deals an extra 1d8 Radiant damage for each different Coronal Conduit you moved through this turn.

In addition, the damage dealt by your Coronal Conduit increases to 3d4.

Incandescent Weave (Level 14)

  • Though few druids ever master more than a single current, the eldest of the Circle weave entire skies of living light, gliding through the Material Plane with effortless grace.

When you create a Coronal Conduit using Wild Shape, you can create three Coronal Conduits instead of one. Each conduit must originate from you or from either end of one of your existing Coronal Conduits.

Your Coronal Conduits can pass through nonmagical objects and terrain. While you are in a Coronal Conduit, you can move through the spaces of other creatures and through nonmagical objects and terrain as though they were difficult terrain as your body becomes a thread of auroral light carried within the current. You can't willingly end your movement in another creature's space. If you end your movement inside an object, you are immediately moved to the nearest unoccupied space and take Force damage equal to twice your Druid level. You can't use this movement to pass through objects thicker than 5 feet.

While you are in a Coronal Conduit, the first time each round you fail a Constitution saving throw to maintain Concentration, you can choose to succeed instead.

Friendly creatures wholly or partially inside one of your Coronal Conduits have Half Cover.

In addition, the damage dealt by your Coronal Conduit increases to 4d4.

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u/Alias093 — 1 day ago
▲ 50 r/UnearthedArcana+1 crossposts

Basilisks!

5 basilisk statblocks that I made a while ago!

I wasn't sure which iteration of their petrifying sight I wanted to go with, it being an ability like in 2014 or a recharge thing like in 2024. Ultimately I leaned closer to the 2024 one for simplicity, though I do think I prefer how the 2014 basilisk works...

u/Emmie-Dash — 2 days ago
▲ 23 r/UnearthedArcana

Bard - College of the Skald - A subclass about recounting your allies' glorious deeds in battle.

A bard subclass around the idea of getting more Bardic Inspirations, but only against a specific foe.

u/Terakhan — 1 day ago
▲ 107 r/UnearthedArcana

Eyesore | An off-putting anti-support cantrip

Temporarily prevent healing, or other buffs, in the vein of Chill Touch... with a bit more of a personal put-down attached. Heaps more 'brew at BLACK PUDDING PRESS!

u/Pixel_Engine — 3 days ago
▲ 183 r/UnearthedArcana

The Kryptonian Class – A Fan Rework of a Beloved Homebrew for the D&D 2024 Ruleset

Based on u/unfathomablewu's Kryptonian class, I decided to revisit the concept from the ground up for the 2024 rules, updating its mechanics, subclasses, and progression to better fit the new design philosophy. I'd love to hear your thoughts, balance feedback, or even a playtest report if you decide to give it a try at your table.

u/Bastblast_ — 3 days ago