Helpful hints to homebrewing
Sept 7, 2016 18:11:15 GMT -5
9thcaptainhamlin, altherprimus, and 1 more like this
Post by MaesterofMadness on Sept 7, 2016 18:11:15 GMT -5
altherprimus was asking for some tips for homebrewing, and it seemed like the kind of thing that a lot of people could use for advice. I don't consider myself the greatest expert on homebrewing, so feel free to add your own tips.
The important thing to remember when 'brewing is balance. Yes, in this system, that does seem a little backwards, but there aren't any feats that give +1006 to all combat D20 rolls, so there is balance inherent in it, like any system. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about that at the start. Balance comes later.
So, my advice for creating custom content can be described in a few steps.
1) Figure out what you want to make, and if its already in the system. You might want to add favored enemy to the system, but the Wrath zenshaba type already handles that pretty well, so just adapt that, rather than trying to come up with a whole new set of feat ideas. If you do this step and don't find anything, good on you, you're adding something, continue on. You should have a solid idea of what you want the feat to do.
2) Go crazy building. At this stage, don't worry so much if it works or not. The worry here is just getting your idea on paper, you can balance later. This one I can't really give a large amount of advice for, as it's the area where I just write freely, whatever comes to mind, and I've already got a good idea of what I'm doing.
3) Get someone else to point out how you messed up. You are going to build something too weak, something too strong, or something that's like another feat but better or worse, depending. Everyone does it, having another person look at your stuff is just good form.
4) Try to balance. A good rule of thumb is balance against another feat or shikai pick. For racial feats, they can exceed the power of pretty much any non-prestige non-epic feat in the system, as long as that's where a race excels. Giving Superhumans a feat that lets them add their level to all weapon attack rolls would be weird, but one that requires superhuman strength and let's them used their unarmed strike skill with improvised weapons fits the race, especially the strength focused members.
For feat chains, since they have prerequisites, a good rule of thumb is each feat should be about 50% stronger per prerequisite, so if a feat has 4 prerequisite feats, it should be as strong as three feats.
Prestige feats should be stronger than normal, and a good minimum is having each prestige feat as strong as two normal feats.
5) Post it in community creations, and have people point out the flaws. You might write up something new and awesome and completely unique, and you should show the world. On the other hand, you might write up something thematically cool but mechanically weak, or vice versa, and the board can help fix it.
Anyone else have advice for homebrewing? Let's get this discussion going.
The important thing to remember when 'brewing is balance. Yes, in this system, that does seem a little backwards, but there aren't any feats that give +1006 to all combat D20 rolls, so there is balance inherent in it, like any system. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about that at the start. Balance comes later.
So, my advice for creating custom content can be described in a few steps.
1) Figure out what you want to make, and if its already in the system. You might want to add favored enemy to the system, but the Wrath zenshaba type already handles that pretty well, so just adapt that, rather than trying to come up with a whole new set of feat ideas. If you do this step and don't find anything, good on you, you're adding something, continue on. You should have a solid idea of what you want the feat to do.
2) Go crazy building. At this stage, don't worry so much if it works or not. The worry here is just getting your idea on paper, you can balance later. This one I can't really give a large amount of advice for, as it's the area where I just write freely, whatever comes to mind, and I've already got a good idea of what I'm doing.
3) Get someone else to point out how you messed up. You are going to build something too weak, something too strong, or something that's like another feat but better or worse, depending. Everyone does it, having another person look at your stuff is just good form.
4) Try to balance. A good rule of thumb is balance against another feat or shikai pick. For racial feats, they can exceed the power of pretty much any non-prestige non-epic feat in the system, as long as that's where a race excels. Giving Superhumans a feat that lets them add their level to all weapon attack rolls would be weird, but one that requires superhuman strength and let's them used their unarmed strike skill with improvised weapons fits the race, especially the strength focused members.
For feat chains, since they have prerequisites, a good rule of thumb is each feat should be about 50% stronger per prerequisite, so if a feat has 4 prerequisite feats, it should be as strong as three feats.
Prestige feats should be stronger than normal, and a good minimum is having each prestige feat as strong as two normal feats.
5) Post it in community creations, and have people point out the flaws. You might write up something new and awesome and completely unique, and you should show the world. On the other hand, you might write up something thematically cool but mechanically weak, or vice versa, and the board can help fix it.
Anyone else have advice for homebrewing? Let's get this discussion going.