Your Homebrew is Bad, Here's Why

Your homebrew is dogwater. Dooky even. Thankfully, I Offbeat Outlaw know why this is because I have a massive giga brain and know exactly why your homebrew for dnd and other things is bad.

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Songs Provided by Arcane Anthems, Epidemic Sound, and Super Smash Bros

[tileox]

yo, my chronal Blade was the first thing up there, neat and fair enough, talking about a class is the best way for me to think of how to make it better, so thanks, and love the video Offbeat, great work

[A_Professional_Idiot_mk.]

This seems like good advice for all game design, not just homebrew.
Gonna keep this in mind as I make my own ttrpg system.
Side note, making a ttrpg almost entirely from scratch is so painful and I regret my choices. Too late to go back now tho

[anahera]

Oh this is smart. I can see this mistake in every homebrew or campaign I’ve made. Thank you!

[weepingwalnut]

This is what I love about making Druid subclasses. They don’t need to be balanced at all, because you’d need to mess up so horribly to make something more OP than Moon Druid.

[MahitoTransfiguaration]

Exactly this. The simplest way to keep things balanced is having it be a resource that can only be used so often. Whether that's once per day or by a charge mechanic.

And yeah, it should be made to be fun first and balanced second. Absolutely.

I also like to do this thing where if there is a drawback or limited usage I like to either reduce the drawback or increase the usage over time if it's homebrewed, whether it be one I made or found from someone else. I think items and abilities getting better as time goes on such a great concept that not even WotC always gets right.

[Gravewhisper]

I've been DMing my own TTRPG that I developed over last year and am still adjusting the rules for as I'm using my playergroup as playtesters. I have 6 players in my group, 4 of which have never played a TTRPG before this, and considering we've been finding a date to play at least every 2 weeks since January, I'd say they're having fun. I recently asked them if the fights were too easy for them, cause I kinda messed up the balance and they rarely even find a need to heal what little damage they take. None of them had a problem with that. Turns out, players can have fun while not being constantly on the brink of death, who knew? xD

[Avigorus]

I've been toying with a Warlock patron based around ice magic, tanking, and CC. The "balance" is that I left a couple bits of verbiage up to DM interpretation (albeit I might change that), and at levels 1, 6, and 10 you have to sacrifice something, which IMO makes sense for Warlock patrons in general... course I haven't gotten around to sharing it anywhere, albeit I've mentioned it here and there (it's inspired by an ASMR video of all things lol).

[Mega-Prime]

Wait hold on
IS THAT DATING START, FOR AN AD READ?!?!
WHAT IS THIS AN ALPHARAD VIDEO?

[HamsterPants]

The way you described Action Surge is interesting to me. As somebody who plays a Fighter/Cleric, I find myself often using Action Surge so that I can attack and heal on the same turn.

[ArcaneAnthems]

Really great video! Literally IF ITS NOT FUN

[PixeIated]

I mean i made a sword that has one use/one swing that teleports an enemy it hits to a random location
They're saving it for the bbeg rn






I didn't tell them said random location was 19 feet above the user's head

[PurpleRoseAudio]

I’m fairly new to dnd been wanting to dabble in home brew will now keep this video in mind as I do 💜 thank you. Also going to share with friends

[researchinbreeder]

Running a Pokemon tabletop game, and I've decided to basically start throwing balance to the wind. The party currently contains a homebrew Drunken Master who can punch ppl for missing him with attacks (and has ways to make that happen), and multiple Pokemon that are significantly stronger due to powerful Fruits that teach them moves and evolve them early. Plus a bunch of thematic equipment like a Ninja Mask that gives neat buffs or a cloak that makes them take less from most ranged attacks.

And the balance for these comes in the fact that I know they're competent at the game, and will be able to use these tools I've given them to navigate more complex and challenging encounters than they would normally be able to

[TheShepherdFilms]

As a counterpoint (however, I mainly agree with you) Losing Hit points is losing a resource...hp being one of the most important resources...watching you I'm sure you get that.

[Rashagar]

Kept confusedly pausing this video to try check if my phone was playing Poké & Chill without me asking it. Was just the background music here haha!

[dylankandoll]

I made a homebrew bow for my rogue which is very simple but has been very fun at my table. The bow when it hits someone causes them to make a saving throw or be restrained. My player asker me if that was going to be balanced and I just went well go have fun with it. And its been great

[Metalchefkiwi]

He had us in the first half, not gonna lie

[captianbacon]

When i homebrew races and subclasses i typically look at exsisting stuff for scaling and make it forward a theme im excited for. I have a asscreed rouge subclass that is kind of a modular suclass like infusions in a way were you get X amout of assassins tools that all have neat little perks to spice up the general mundanity and if you have for knowledge of what your going into you can set upbyour loadout with the best stuff for the situation. Nothing about them is super strong there really versitile they get a super specific version of extra attack at 9 were you can sneak attack 2 targets at once if there surprised or attack only the same enemy twice.

[jacobsever]

“You probably suck at home brew”. Yes I do why do you ask? XD. Best YouTuber

[criminalmatrix]

Sooo many times I have gotten players who want to pull up some homebrew class. And the one rule of homebrew I always tell them is that I need to have a chance to adjust it first. Because 99 times out of 100, the thing is broken, in a decidedly unfun way. Outclassing all the other classes at the table, or, completely failing to perform the way the player things. or even worst, become a detriment to the party and ruin the fun of the players involved. Please homebrew responsibly and sometimes... just trust your GM.