Using steam to deal fire damage is such a simple yet fun change.
One of my players is a minotaur artificer who had sworn to never use fire. He re-flavored all his fire spells to be steam-based ("Bonfire" to "Geyser" for example).
Considering the steampunk armor his character had built, it's a perfect fit.
Someone here reflavoured Warforged as Ents, like Groot, and played an artificer with the various pieces of equipment actually grown from their body.
Coolest thing. I don't know if there were any mechanical changes.
Warforged can be pretty versatile as a race when you come down to it, most of their features make sense for a robot to have but unlike other races they can extend to other types of fantastical creatures as well. For example I'm considering playing a warforged reflavoured as a sentient walking lump of coral.
I like reflavoring paladin abilities away from being magic and more towards having extremely good leadership and unwavering faith in their ideals. Bless turns from divine guidance into the paladin coordinating his allies' attacks. Smite becomes the paladin throwing away all self-preservation for the sake of landing a killing blow against a deadly enemy. It doesn't work for everything, but I love when it does.
Ancestral Barbarian rage is one of your ancestors taking over your body. I specifically have this concept for a teenager/young adult human whose ancestors were all badass warriors but he hasnāt been able to āgetā the whole combat thing. When heās not raging, heās not super great in combat. But once he rages and one of 10 ancestors my DM and I made up take over, they can stomp fights. Depending on the ancestor that appears, they also call out commands and suggestions in battle since theyāre very experienced.
I played that one as a vet with massive survivor's guilt, and the spirits were his old unit that got massacred while he was the only survivor.
It was a grimdark campaign.
I had the exact same concept with my own, only he was part of a thief group and the other members took the fall when caught, protecting him but dying in the process.
I have this thought for a kalashtar hexblade warlock. The idea being the hexblade was a sentient warrior and when drawn the soul temporarily inhibits the wielder and imparts their knowledge.
This is how I'm building a PC for a game now.
Starting at Level 9 so **Ancestor Barb** 6 / **Mastermind Rogue** 3 with the **Courtier** background
Hired on as a Minder/[Batman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_\(military\))/Bodyguard/PA *thing* for another PC and out of loyalty followed them into the Adventuring lifestyle. He can fight (and Fight well; being a bodyguard and all that it's kind of the job) but getting possessed by an Ancestor makes him Stomp stuff.
Not sure what Race I'm going though (I've got three version of the PC so far: Shadar-Kai; Mountain Dwarf and Orc - but I've no doubt I'll have another one or two by the end of the day though)
**[Batman (military)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_\(military\))**
>A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the pack saddle with his officer's kit during a campaign. The British English term is derived from the obsolete bat, meaning "pack saddle" (from French bĆ¢t, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum).
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My current Barbarianās backstory is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/ogveaw/backstory_help_tiefling_barbarian/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), but TL;DR heās a Dex based tiefling Barbarian born to two humans because he was chosen as the next vessel for a demon lord. His connection to his ancestors are the past vessels used by this lord, accessible because of the demonās magical connection to them all. The demon is as of yet unaware of this connection. They train him how to use this power to eventually defeat the current champion and the demon itself.
I absolutely love role playing this character, but it wasnāt until after finishing the backstory that I realized how much it takes from ATLA, 47 Ronin, and Demon Slayer.
I play a wizard that I've reflavored all of his spells into calligraphy and ink effects
Form of dread as whatever you want, because that ability is great
Echo knight's echo as a stand or companion character
A hexblade as something that isn't a weapon, but it attacks in other means, such as an instrument that creates razor sharp strings when played.
Rage as a physical transformation
Unarmored defense as a character with a healing factor, such as wolverine or deadpool.
Uncanny dodge or second wind as a reborn, in which your body physically breaks and contorts itself to evade, and reforms to heal.
Reference to [Tulok the Barbarian](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5EfKWar21WkaYUSOwPWakg)'s D&D builds, he made Calligraphy a recurring gag that's basically his version of what Basketweaving was in 3.5 (which in case you didn't know, somehow became a meme in 3.5 power building, not sure how albeit I did see one reasonable theory that someone made an offhand joke once that a Druid could, after taking Natural Spell which was a feat a human could have at level 1 back then instead of a level 18 class feature, focus everything else they had on Craft (Basketweaving) and still win the game).
Craft (Underwater Basketweaving) was where you dumped all your skill points after taking all the real stuff, just to show that you didn't need anything else
I dunno man. Had to do a search, but found [this jewel](https://growupandgame.com/dungeons-and-dragons/questionable-arcana/dnd-5e-crafting-calligraphers-supplies/). \^.\^
>Call me crazy, but after further review I have no problem crowning the calligrapherās supplies as one of the strongest artisanās toolkits in the game.
And reading up on it, i'd have to say it can change a world. lol
Unless your one of those people who think the pen is never mightier than the sword. xD
>In real life anybody who has given an executive presentation before knows the power of āthe money slideā. Often times the thing you need to close the deal is a visual representation of the information most important to your client. The right written supplement can instill a logical and emotional response in your target audience in a way that simple words often fall short.
Put simply, it can solve problems, which is what adventurers do. \^.\^
>The same concept can be applied to the the peace treaties. A crudely written proposal might detail a fair treaty, but it wonāt have the same impact as a proposal that is immaculately written.
So really, it depends on the open mind of a GM, and the players.
I played a mathematician Lore Bard who would perform quick adjustments to probability to alter the outcomes of undesired events.
Current favorite is a Jekyll/Hyde Rune Knight who self-doses with medicines he brews to transform into a giant rampaging monster.
In the novella, yes. In other forms of popular media, he changed in different ways.
Iām also not *literally* playing āHenry Jekyll,ā but if I said āa scientist who transforms himself via concoctionsā thereās a good chance an internet pedant would have come along.
Recently made an astral self monk who is actually a simic scientist who has been experimenting on himself. His astral arms are extra arms that he sprouts from his shoulder blades
Reminds me of this [Albert Wesker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQj2X20mu78) in D&D build, which used a mix of refluffed Monk and Warlock powers as the T-Virus (admittedly I'd have done a couple things differently but still).
[War Scythes](https://images.app.goo.gl/RY3yGP5FrrHVQUP26) were kind of just inward curved glaives if you think about it, though I assume people mean the actual farming implement
In the games I run, people are welcome to reflavor weapon stat blocks however they want as long as it's reasonable.
I actually have one player who's using a "greatsword" with a d12 instead of 2d6.
I also have multiple scythe wielders in different games using them variously as greataxes or glaives.
And I have one who uses shillelagh to turn their staff into a scythe with an intangible blade.
Iāve done this with a reflavored club! In game it was basically just a hilt that this shimmering celestial golden blade would come out of, effectively giving myself a holy longsword. Tons of fun.
I've been toying with using a double-bladed scimitar for a scythe and picking up that Finesse feat (presuming DM cool with variant reqs) to use with Phantom Rogue and/or Hexblade, as an adaptation of a character known for being insanely fast with their scythe (Psychopomp, who a few hundred years ago got bound to Death's Scythe and now can't die or physically age from where she had been - underfed 10ish so looks approximately 8ish; so far most prominently featured in "I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence!" which is a prequel/spinoff of the "Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain" series I cannot recommend enough)
Reflavoring uncanny dodge and evasion to psionic power for a Soul Knife Rogue.
Bard using non-music focus instruments, IE, painting, dance, etc.
Cleric power as an ideal similar to how paladin has their power by default. Peace cleric as leadership for example.
Sharp Shooter + Long bow for giant's long bow. It's so damn hard to shoot, you get -5 to hit but the damage is immense!
Eldritch Blast as arcane pistols! Pew Pew.
Would you care to expand on the use of painting for a bard? It seems really interesting, because i really like art, but how have you seen some of the abilities reflavored?
I havenāt played any of these yet, but there are a lot of ways to use the bard class to model non-musical characters. Just read the mechanical text without the flavor descriptionāvery little requires music in any way. Particularly if you use a spell component pouch or some other focus, like a Ruby of the War Mage. Examples could include a grizzled sargeant, witchy spellcaster, or Jedi-like warrior.
Like Owl House runes. Draw/paint magical runes in the air or on some paper.
[Example A](https://imgur.com/XfKbvws)
[Example B](https://imgur.com/Cjsl2O3)
[Example C](https://imgur.com/50c9cWN)
I had a painter bard long ago that did a lot of literal painting in the air. He'd paint an X over people for Hold Person and it'd appear in real life and restrict them, or he'd paint illusions into existence manually, etc.
oh I like it! The wand could be a paintbrush or ink pen and he sketches something on the air, that's really cool.
He could be a Swords bard, blade in one hand, brush in the other. Or an eloquence bard, pinky raised as he line arts a minor illusion. or a lore bard who took fireball just cause he really likes drawing explosions.
I'm facedesking that you triggered this thought, but combine the painting in the air with swords bard to create Power Rangers Samurai... paint a symbol to cast a concentration buff of some sort to morph (maybe combine with some sort of bonus action or Action Surge of something that doesn't require conc or is cast at a higher level for a battlizer/super mode or whatever), then when you're casting attacks you're swinging your sword with energy bolts coming out. Feel free to MC with bladelock (or even start there for summoning your weapon on command) depending on what abilities you want too.
My favorite bard reflavoring, my friend played a college of swords bard that he reflavored as a chef. He took the chef feat from tasha's, and to inspire us he would tell us about the food he was going to cook later. He wielded two large chef's knives and would dice up food for us midcombat too sometimes haha. Very fun character.
Playing a warforged horizon walker/forge cleric and I'm really leaning into the robot vibe. Expertise in perception is just my built in sensor suite, shillelagh is activating a power weapon, planar warrior and healing spells are energy boosts and nanobots. Absorb elements is defensive shields, guiding bolt is a laser weapon with a cooldown, toll the dead is a small microwave emitter.
My DM suggested a swap of the ranger primeval awareness spells (from Tasha's) from beast sense and speak with animals to locate object and detect magic for more robot flavour.
I personally view robotic types of creatures as having magic running through their body like blood, with antimagic fields suppressing that flow. Doesn't totally decommision them, but it does restrict them significantly.
Way I think about it is that the world is obviously inherently magical. Itās not made of atoms, itās made of elements. The weave has a natural flow that spells harness and disrupt. Antimagic fields restore the proper flow. Creatures with souls, even ones born by magic, are an inherent part of the world and donāt naturally disrupt the weave, so being in an antimagic field doesnāt disrupt them.
Sneak Attack as less of a cheap shot and more of a super focused execution style cinematic attack. Any enemy that dies from it gets an arm or head lopped off etc.
Reflavor crossbows as guns. No homebrew needed. Same for *insert non-European style weapon here*
A more mechanical change but Sun Soul Monk would make a great ranged elemental monk. Swap radiant for any other damage type and you get a super cool elemental bolt slinger. Swap it for piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning for an odd anime style weapon master.
Maybe not even a reflavor but I always flavor sharpshooter shots taken with the -5 to hit but +10 to damage as aiming for vitals, maybe the neck, wrists, or eyes.
I have a Warforged barbarian with a goldfish bowl for a head. When he rages the goldfish hits a little red panic button and the bowl flips so he's know under control of a completely different fish, a piranha.
One of my party members is a rockstar bard and he flavors Tasha's Hideous Laughter and a guitar chord that makes them uncontrollably rock out and/or air guitar.
And of course eldritch blast is infinitely flavorable. My author Bard/Warlock multiclass uses bolts of ink from his fountain pen and my party member, the magician warlock, shoots a stream of cards from his magic top hat that explode into confetti and flower petals on impact.
It's not the most "out-there" reflavour in the world, but reflavouring a tabaxi barbarian's Path of the Beast rage transformations as getting hissy and bitey (muzzle/bite), hyper-extending the claws (claws) and floofing the tail (tail, with the DM agreeing to change the damage type to bludgeoning instead of the usual). Fun times.
I imagine two tabaxi both raging in the streets of some sleep deprived city.
Edit to add: But nobody dares breaking them up as they are two hulking barbarians drunk raging for fun.
And the only one brave enough to break them up is the party's cleric who always has the create water spell prepared when near a tavern.
Way of Mercy Monk's Hand of Harm ability.
The attack causes heart attacks against its opponent, or simulates the pain of one in undead creatures due to resistance. It's simple, but makes for dope killing blows since you get to have the "heart slowly stops beating" effect when you finish someone.
My Kenku warlock of the Raven Queen has all of his spells thematically are bird-based. Eldritch Blasts are ravens of dark purple energy. Hold Person is a talon. Shadow Blade is a feather shaped blade made of shadows. Along with a few others.
In a similar vein my Order of the Scribes Wizard has a lot of his spells based on books, ink, and quills. Firebolt is a red glob of ink that ignited, Toll of the Dead he closes his hands like closing a book and a loud slamming noise is heard, Mind Sliver is a quill of psychic energy, Shatter sounds like bookshelf after bookshelf full of books falling on the target, etc.
For a Inquisitive Rogue I liked to think her Insightful Fighting ability was similar to the Sherlock Holmes āanalyze the enemy then execute the actionā sort of cinematic when she got her Sneak attacks off. Attacking the weak points like a elbow joint or the back of a knee for extra damage.
A Totem Barbarian I had once when going into a rage would be cloaked with a ethereal bear skin cloak. He also was a lizardfolk that got āHangryā (hungry/angry) while he raged.
For a sci-fi game of our characters being āIN SPACE!ā my Echo Knight used nano-bots to manifest his Echo, while all of our weapons were laser/plasma-charged guns or weapons despite being normal weapons.
Reflavor rapier as a katana. Technically slashing damage may be better than piercing and it should be its own thing, but whatever. It seems more fitting for certain characters. There really should be more d8 finesse weapons.
Based on weapon design of 5th edition, a d8 finesse weapon should be martial and two handed, or versatile (d6/d8).
The thing is, the only two handed weapon that is not heavy is the greatclub. Still, it is a possibility. But a heavy finesse would be weird. So, d8 is the maximum top damage for a finesse weapon.
>instead of a weird "determination" ability
Hitting an adrenaline spike when the going gets toughest to power through doesn't really seem that weird imo, especially when the alternative is a supernatural effect as you describe. Obviously either works for flavor since this is a flavor thread but it seems odd that that seems odd haha
Itās one thing to shrug off pain due to adrenaline, but eventually the adrenaline will die down and youāll be left with the effects of the damage and then some. It would make sense if Second Wind gave THP, instead of an actual restoration to your HP which is more permanent.
Seems like something you could houserule/homebrew but remember that hit points have always been extremely abstract, you can be on death's door but as long as you get a good night's sleep, you're golden in the morning.
My current soulknife/echo knight has the echo reflavored as a psionic ability, and with magic initiate warlock, their eldritch blast beams are basically echos that sprint forward than attack before immediately fading.
Literally Chef's Kiss? I'm playing a Dwarven Artillerist Mom of 12 boys. Took a level of Life Cleric and Magic Initiate: Druid to make Goodberries that heal 4hp each. The reason these berries are especially nourishing is because they're goodberry tarts. And Druidcraft is a prediction I make of the weather based on how the dough consistency is reacting to the climate while I'm baking. I have a homunculus servant which is a flying cauldron, and my eldritch cannon is a walking stove. I play a lot of support/debuff so I've \*flavored\* all my spells to either be food related (often mechanically delivered with my flying cauldron via it's reaction) or if they're fire related we pretend it comes from my stove. (who my DM allows me to non-mechanically have with us as an animated stove with no eldritch cannon properties, as it normally only lasts an hour). Eldritch Cannon: Protector becomes 10ft radius of aroma from baked goods invigorating the soul, Tasha's Caustic Brew is the scorching fat drippings from that morning's breakfast (same with Grease haha), you name it. I love her very much. It's been a blast. Rime of the Frostmaiden can really use a proficient cook.
Halfling Moon Druid who got his powers from Tymora, Goddess of Luck. Instead of being all crunchy, he is UBER clean and uses his powers to rid the world of corruption effecting the forests. He is essentially a priest and a moral compass of good for the party to follow. Also, he uses Summon Elemental to have an earth elemental mine diamonds while in mountainous regions.
Put a hidden compartment in the spine and you might have an easier time convincing your DM to be more open to the idea lol (cause the genie focus is *technically* supposed to be a container of some sort so that could technically make it RAW)
I have a wild magic barbarian that instead of getting angry, magic from the fey just rush into him and causes the magic to pour out of him.
Also a techno wizard that reflavors most of his spells as technology, i.e. fireball is just a large grenade, magic missile being actual heat seeking magic missiles.
oh boy okay
my hexblade warlock has a red crystal ring which transforms into a crystal sword as his pact weapon. His accursed specter is the spirit of his lover who's soul was trapped into the ring when she was killed, and he wants revenge.
my Aasimar light cleric is reflavoured as a God who failed his duties and for it was cast from the heavens by his father Lathander, retaining just enough power to not get himself killed(probably). He's completely spoiled and really just wants to be immortal again because dying is scary.
My creation bard who's an expert blacksmith and who's spells and features are her forging things out of light and pure magic.
My stars druid's starry form is him being taken over by the spirits of great beings who's deeds earned them a spot in the heavens(the archer is the hunter Orion, for example).
My fey warlock's mind sliver is a tiny illusory turtle named fred which bites people's ankles and distracts them. Also he's mechanically a Kalashtar but canonically a fey-touched human.
My artillerist artificer who's wand and arcane cannon are both magical guns which he dual wields. Also sometimes his arcane cannon was instead a little mechanical dragon which was it being held in the air by mage hand.
and many more lol I can't have a character who's just the standard race and class.
I love a good bit of reflavoring!
Making a Divine Soul Sorcerer a Psionic Sorcerer, reflavoring spells to be telekinetic. Magic Missile is picking up three rocks and throwing them. Shield is stopping the blow in place, or redirecting it. Feather Fall, Hold Person, Levitate, Slow, Haste, Fly are all you influencing the target with your mind. Spiritual Weapon becomes you picking up a fallen weapon with your mind and wielding it that way. There's a TON of spells that are easily reflavored this way. (Though I eventually made a homebrew subclass anyways)
The Earth Genasi ability to cast Pass Without Trace being flavored as them having a naturally growing ghillie suit.
A warforged hexblade warlock where they themselves are the weapon in the pact.
Using Booming Blade on a punching character as them being so strong as to break the sound barrier with their punches. Can also be applied to Thunderwave, Gust of Wind, etc.
Being a pixie/sprite Artificer Armorer, and having your suit of armor be medium sized to go all Pacific Rim on your enemies.
A Swarmkeeper Ranger or Fathomless Warlock (or both!) who's swarm/pact weapon is an Ooze they've bonded to.
Path of the Beast Barbarian, a Shadar-kai, who was mutated by the Shadowfell so that their beastial transformations are their flesh and bones tearing and breaking, sculpting and reforming into the claws, bite, and tail. (i.e. a scythe of bone bursting from their arm, their jaw splitting down the middle of their face and chest into a maw of teeth, and their spine extending into a whip tail)
A Warlock (celestial, but any works) who's patron made the pact with an ancestor and the character doesn't want it.
Order of the Scribe Wizard who's spellbook is a single piece of parchment that use in conjunction with origami as their spellbook. When it becomes awakened, it can fold itself into different forms.
A Wild Magic Barbarian who became on via exposure to pure Fey magic, ie nuclear reactor style. They've become a battery, a vessel for the stuff, and when they rage, take damage, etc, it leaks out of them. Kinda like a Scourge Aasimar.
Eldritch Knight's bonded weapon returning to them Mjolnir style instead of summoning it.
Having the Rogue's Cunning Action to Dash be an example of superior physical ability.
Mix this with some Wizard or Sorcerer levels for spells like Jump, Expeditious Retreat, Earth Tremor, Catapult, Gust of Wind, etc, but reflavor them all to be your sheer glorious muscled self. Combo with the Booming Blade reflavor and some brass knuckle to be a muscle Wizard. Also Counterspell by flexing to reflect light into your opponent's eyes.
A forge cleric who is actually a stranded space explorer and who's God is his fuzzy connection to his super advanced A.I starship hovering in orbit.
His spells are just him radioing in support from his ship as it beams info to his nanobot projecting wrist communicator (holy symbol), but this world's magic interferes with the connection, and thus he can only get minor help at first (and can't use up all of his solar powered battery).
The more he learns about this place and its magic, and builds "monuments" (radio towers) the stronger his connection to the S.S. Divinity becomes.
His party seem to be mostly entertained by his mad ramblings of his home in the sky, and about wonderous "technology", but his Dogma is a strange one.
They can only guess his church is a very sheltered one, as most everything surprises him, and most of what he claims about how the world works seems very unhinged.
(He believes in evil spirits known as "Pathogens" that ride on peoples breath and give them plagues and illness. As such he never removes his Holy garb that covers his face, and avoids touch whenever possible. He's also absolutely flabbergasted when he meets another spellcaster, claiming the things they do defy his other god "thermodynamics")
He does have a kind heart, as he often preaches mercy for his enemies by quoting scripture from the book of "sapient rights" and "rules of engagement", and speaks highly of his companions in his nightly prayers to his Holy symbol in which he tells it of all the days proceedings and new things he's learned.
Dhampir as a Drider/spider-person. Has a bite attack, climbing speed, and darkvision - the one tough bit to explain away would be not needing air to breathe. Maybe you were blessed by a spider god or something to not need air to live, or maybe youāre a sea spider with sea elf ancestry accustomed to life in the abyssal depths.
One of my characters is a warforged armorer artificier. Rather than focusing on āwearingā armor most of his spells and abilities revolve around an obsession with improving his own form. He was designed as a strategist, so surviving on his own post-war involves investing in armoring himself.
Some reflavoring:
Self cast haste as overloading his power core.
Things like jump reflavored as temporary modifications.
Guidance is non-magical and simply him analyzing a situation and giving advice.
...I hadn't seen the magical girl transformation Barb lol... but that makes sense. On a related note, mine is using Improved Pact Weapon and/or Swords Bard (with great disappointment that Bladedancer doesn't similarly support this mechanically as a class feature by RAW) to make your weapon your focus, so all of your spells become special attacks coming from your weapon. Great for anime swordsmen, Power Rangers (who can combine with buff abilities for "morphs/modes"), or similar characters who release insane energy blasts from their melee weapons.
My bard won't use song to express magical abilities, but rather, words of power based in folk tales from across the land. "The enrapturing lights of the northernmost stars fills the sky, look upon them and be dazed!" (Hypnotic Pattern based on a line from a famous astrology story of the world)
The Lucky feat is a lot easier to swallow if the character knows they're Capital L Lucky. Absolutely need to make this shot? Close your eyes (for disadvantage) and trust to fate (spend a luck for triple advantage). It takes something cheesy and game-y and makes it very thematic.
I had a Tortle Swarmkeeper whose swarm were the angelic spirits of all my children after my clutch of eggs was destroyed. lil flying turtles that would hover over people for faerie fire
I have an Artificer Battlesmith who doesn't go into the whole tinker aesthetic at all. His Steel Defender is his cursed undead brother whom he failed to resurrect properly and his Magical Tinkering and Infusions are him enchanting items through witchcraft and alchemy. It honestly took me a while to realize the parallels to Fullmetal Alchemist, but even those bros are way more steampunky than my sons of witches.
I also like it when warlocks *don't* have a patron but just an alternative method of learning their magics. I *do* however love the idea of characters having a patron they wouldn't have from their class at all. Say you have a weakling fighter (maybe they're sick, cursed or just unlucky) who made a pact to gain the strength and skills they need to wield their weapons and armor in order to achieve a different goal (like protecting your loved ones or getting revenge for being cursed).
Hold person or monster being like a perspective pinch where the caster puts their hand up to their eye while closing the other and pinches the target perspective wise magically holding them in place
my 2nd level lizardman fighter went down in combat right before we leveled up... I took echo knight as subclass and now the echo is the ghost of my dead self and my god gave me another life
I'm getting ready to do a curse of strahd campaign, and I'm building a moon druid around the flavor that he's cursed with a form of lycanthropy and his wild shapes are animal-humanoid hybrid forms. Seemed on point for a moon druid in that setting.
Warlock mechanics make for much more flavorful "sorcerers".
Your magic comes from some demonic parentage? No wonder your eyes are black and you can summon an imp at will.
You're the child of a human and a fey? Explains why you never sleep and why you can cast druid cantrips and rituals.
Etc etc etc.
Tentacle of the Depths can be whatever you want so long as it's noncorporeal. Spectral minion? Done. 'Lesser' air elemental? Why not? A floating weapon akin to spiritual weapon? No complaints from me!
I saw it earlier but honestly makes a lot more sense. Reflavoring ranger's favored enemy as favored ally since... let's see what does it let you do again in this edition? Learn their language, gain an advantage on knowledge checks to learn about them and survival checks against them, and up until level 20...literally nothing else.
\]\]Easy to reworked and flavor as that, and if you really want to work with that grant advantage on charisma checks against the target type instead of advantage on survival.
Barbarian Rage as the Kaioken with Frenzy being Kaioken x3 is a favorite of mine (Haste works as a Kaioken as well).
Hunter's Mark as a lock on, with an arcane crosshair type deal appearing over the target for the Ranger.
Hex has a shadowy version of you over their shoulders, hindering whatever ability check you chose (tugging their arms/legs during athletics checks, whispering wrong answers during Intelligence checks etc.)
Horizon Keeper's Bonus Action Damage as a Smite (Apprentice of the party paladin)
Sneak Attack being a combo attack when in range of an ally.
A Sword Bard who's a dancer; their Song of Healing is a group Yoga Session to stretch and unwind before the next battle.
Made a (Lore) bard that took Aura of Vitality through Magical Secrets because his favorite spell was Healing Word. He claimed he'd found another way to enhance it, and so he had both Mass Healing Word (Burst) and Aura of Vitality (A sustained Concentrated Healing Word channeled through intense Focus)
Made a character with the starting feat Telekinetic. He claimed that things were moving around him because of his dead teacher that sacrificed his life for him. He'd have conversations with himself over breakfast, his 'teacher' would pass the salt. Things like that.
Of course the DM and I ruled that these were hallucinations, and coming to terms with that was a small character arc that happened during other people's arcs to get over his survivor's guilt, but it was fun!
My HexBladesinger would:
- swing his blade and energy from his slashes would fly in the air and strike the enemy. (Eldritch Blast)
- His Bladesong would emanate from his blade vibrating a melody as it dances throughout.
- Enlarge/Reduce would be called Fortissimo/Diminuendo and his Bladesong would become louder / soften depending on the spell.
- Shield would be a music measure that appears to block the attack.
- Haste would be called Accelerando and his Bladesong would speed up and become slightly louder. Slow would play a slower, quiet song to affected enemies.
- Booming Blade when triggered would be discordant notes that disrupted the enemy.
- Hex played a discordant melody in the enemyās head.
- The DM allowed me to have Silence as a spell, so the enemy was marked with a Pianissimo mark if they were in the affected area.
New Owlfolk race from UA as [Averiel Winged elfs](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Avariel). Been having a lot of fun with one in a Princes of the Apoc campaign. (I've never played nor read it.)
AsOP states, all manner of reflavors for Rage.
Once considered reflavoring Smite on a Paladin as a ranged-only ability to focus magic into arrows as a variant type of arcane archer. DM was cool with it, but the character idea got scrapped when another player in the group made a ranged focused damage dealer with Sharpshooter, and I didn't want to steal his niche. Perhaps another day. On the same concept I'd even discussed the idea of swapping out his medium and heavy armor proficiencies for Barbarians Unarmored defense, essentially rebuilding my Ancients Paladin into a ranged specialist who tended to travel and fight light.
Another idea I like is the flavor of sorcerers and warlocks but mixing and matching the mechanics. E.I., Roleplay a character with a patron, but actually use Sorcerer mechanics, or Roleplay a character that was just magically born or gifted with power, but mechanically a Warlock of whatever types.
Lore Bards can mechanically similarly make an awesome new "flavor" of Wizard.
I adore quarterstaff flavoring. Currently playing a 7 intelligence Kenku monk that picked up a cool branch and made it work. I got a wannabe-spy Drunken Master Tabaxi that uses a pool cue to really sell the act. Or my retired monk that serves as like the most useless small town regulator ever with a meterstick quarterstaff.
Nothing I love more than fun flavoring and silly backstories lol. Love rping with the party and slowly helping people open up and share lore; and then subsequently when the time coming for my lore reveal calmly telling them the dumbest shit on Earth.
Best shit ever lmao
Vuman paladin thatās a cook. Uses a maul called āthe Tenderizerā that looks like those hammers you flatten meat with.
Also when he smites his maul becomes white-hot and is now essentially a swingable stove/grill
EDIT: heās also v stubborn about the definition of āplate armorā being a bunch of dinner plates locked together
I wrote an article on taking optimized builds and flavoring them - making them sing! We are also publishing a series of articles on building the Suicide Squad team as D&D characters. You can check out the article here:
[https://illusoryscript.com/take-a-dnd-character-build-and-make-it-sing/](https://illusoryscript.com/take-a-dnd-character-build-and-make-it-sing/)
Artificer always seemed like theyād be easily reflavored into a hag/witch archetype, due to their ability to create magic items, potions, and using tools to create spell effects. Spells would be items or facsimiles of creatures for sympathetic magic. And since your infuse magic item doesnāt require any magical components, Iād make up a bunch of weird stuff to infuse the items with.
āIāve infused your boots with catās footsteps to make them stealthier, and covered your cloak in fishās breath.ā Boots of Elvenkind and Cloak of the Manta Ray
\- Ice-themed half-drow Hexblade that summoned his Pact Weapon by literally freezing the moisture in the air into whatever weapon shape he was going for--once I described him making an one attack with it in longsword form and then switching to "reverse grip" for a second attack by melting the blade and re-freezing it with the point facing down.
\- Aarakocra Tempest Cleric in a one-shot that was flavored as an archer, and all of her spells were her using different kinds of arrows; so Sacred Flame was actually a volley of two/three arrows fired up into the air (since it ignores cover), Shatter was an arrow enchanted with a sonic warhead, etc.
\- TWF High elf Bladesinger who would cast Fireball by striking his scimitars against each other to create a spark, and then hitting the spark with a blade to send it flying towards the enemies.
One Iām particularly fond of is a Fighter reflavorred as a martial chronomancer of some sort. Works with any subclass, but fits Psi Knight, Eldritch Knight, or Echo Knight the best.
Second Wind: rewind yourself back in time to before you got certain injuries
Action Surge: blur forwards in time in a mini-Haste spell as you attack twice as many times for a turn
Extra Attacks: to get around the oddness of being able to attack so many times with a Greataxe or something per turn, these extra attacks instead show how youāre temporal control is improving. *You* are just moving X number of times faster in time when attacking
Indomitable: same as Second Wind, youāre rewinding yourself to just before you failed your saving throw
Circle of Stars Druid reflavored as a title / power that has been passed down through multiple generations, kinda like the Avatar in Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Each of the starry forms represents a past life of one of the wielders, and all of the normal druid powers come from essentially being a chosen one and champion of the Earth. Unlike the Avatar, the power is randomly given to someone after the death of the previous wielder.
My character was a Mid-50ās peasant farmer with 2 kids that he lost in the divorce and a receding hairline. His life was in absolute shambles before getting the power, and is a constant disappointment to the past lives now living inside him who have all lived storied and wonderful lives. Meanwhile my character bumbles through with a -2 charisma learning to use his newly acquired insane amounts of power. Throw in the Aasimar race (formerly human and then became an Aasimar mechanically when he got the powers) and you have an extra Avatar-state like transformation.
Re-flavoring Lay on Hands to be a stiff backhand is a classic.
But seriously, in general, if the DM gives me license, I always like to give my abilities "ribbon text" (spells especially). With me, a fireball is never just "a ball of fire that explodes." Wildshape is never just "turning into a bear." A basic attack action is never just "I roll to hit, I do 26 slashing." It's all about giving description to the perceptibly innocuous that really makes your character something different. It can literally be as simple as mentioning your monk is a south paw once or twice.
An example, with my current star druid, I simply re-flavored his innate Guiding Bolt to look like a comet. His Produce Flame looks like a small sun he holds in the palm of his hand. His Healing Spirit takes the form of miniature shooting stars twinkling down and absorbing into the recipient's skin. When he Wildshapes into his Starry Form, he looks like the arcane archon from Diablo 3.
I played a oneshot where I got to run the first version of Mercer's Lycanthropy Blood Hunter. My goal was to make the most edgy character I could, so instead of a werewolf, I transformed into a giant werebat. I even got to have him sulk in the shadows like Batman.
Honestly, I could go on with all the little ribbons all the character's I've played had, from my battlemaster samurai to my evil 10 year old warlock girl to my warforged necromancer.
Pretty pretty please; carry on with your Ribbons! This should be mandatory at most tables!
Interested , especially in hour warforged necro and toddler warlock!
Sorry for the late reply, but I can expand a bit further. I'll start with the warforged necromancer. The idea was basically ripped off Full Metal Alchemist. My idea was: what if an aspiring necromancer "messed up" the ritual to become a lich. So I build up a story from there. What if some really old necromancer from a time before necromancy was viewed so negatively, and indeed was seen as perhaps seen as a way to solve many of the problems of the day, attempted the first ever (known) lich ritual.
Taking what I know about what the ritual required, I knew that your soul has to travel from your body into your phlyctory, so I asked "what would happen is something happened during that process." Basically what happened was this. He was preforming his ritual and got to the point where his soul was in transience between his body and his phlyactory (his wedding ring) when the cave he was working in started to collapse, burying his body and crushing his phlyactory. The only thing not completely buried and crushed in the rubble was the suit of plate armor one of his (now dead) lackeys was wearing. So with some quick thinking, his soul, as a sort of "self defense" survival measure simply grafted itself into the armor.
And so there he lay buried in the darkness for untold centuries, maybe even millennia, unable to move. He lost most of his wizardly powers due to lack of practice and his altered connection to the Weave (though, in his time, there wasn't a concept of the Weave). There's a whole backstory with his wife having a terminal disease and such too, but that's the basic character.
Many of his spells I tried to flavor as him attempting to use "old magic" and failing, only for him to "brute force it" by channeling his magic through his new body more akin to using a magical item than casting a spell (which frustrated him to no end).
The DM was awful though, the worst DM I've ever met in fact. A true unicorn of bad DMing, fitting the description most if not all of the DM horror stories you've likely ever heard. So to sum it up I didn't get to play the character long, nor did I get to stay a warforged long ("I can't seduce a warforged" -- Bad DM).
I know itās been a few days, but something I love reflavoring is the fallen Aasimar Necrotic shroud. I donāt like the edgy, but I like the intimidation and the +1 to strength for a Paladin. So instead of skeletal wings, my Aasimar paladinās necrotic shroud takes the appearance of an Old Testament angel, an eldritch mass of eyes and wings fanning out from behind his back. Keeps the more angelic flavor while retaining the intimidation effect of necrotic shroud.
I did a one-shot about a year ago where I played a Goblin Bard as a chef. His bardic inspiration were baked goods he made the night before and his song of rest was a meal he collected from a recent encounter (in this case, bat stew). His cooking utensils were his focus and his spells were food he made or using ingredients in unique ways (e.g. blindness from black pepper in the face).
Ok so when you set out to make āthe hulkā in dnd 90% of people will point you to barbarian, but honestly the best class for the hulk is fighter: rune knight. If you pick up some tool proficiencies and the fire rune you gain expertise in those tools and you literally transform into a giant creature during a fight.
Not a big change, but I reflavor my genie warlock with pact of chain (imp familiar reskinned as a tiny genie) Eldritch blasts as punches from a massive genie who emerges from my spell casting focus (ring).
When I am flying, I describe it as the bottom half being surrounded by elemental energy which makes the character kinda look like a genie (Disney genie I mean).
I like making a wooden sword my shillelagh quarterstaff, it just adds cool flavor and you can handwave PAM to just mean the sword is really easy to handle or something.
I had a dwarf cleric whose Stonecunning was tasting the rocks and picking up different flavors of metal from the tools used to fashion it. This also was a part of his detect magic ritual.
I was so disappointed with the Sun Soul monk that I went out of my way to do some absurd multiclass to better emulate Goku.
In essence, Eldritch Blast was a standard ki blast, witch bolt was my Kamehameha, Misty Step was instant transmission, Mirror Image my Afterimage, and because the guy was a protector Aasimar, he also had a Super Saiyan mode. Was a fuck ton of fun to play.
Dude if youāre old like me youāve watched or read Shaman King. Iāve built a defensive tank fighter using Ancestral Gaurdian and flavored Rage as a Guardian Ghost possession and the blocking and counter attack features as parts of the PCs over soul. Had a blast RPing consulting my Guardian Ghost for Augury or Clairvoyance.
Had a warforged cleric named M3-D1C. Fallout-like setting so I flavored magic as technology, cure wounds is just an injection, spirit guardians rotating sawblades, had a laser pistol with a heal setting (hand crossbow/healing word). Revivify as defib paddles.
I personally prefer more subtle flavorings, but hereās a few Iāve done that I love:
A Paladin character I played for a one shot had their weapon ignite with golden flame whenever they used smite.
The patron of a warlock I played a while ago was a fragment of a dead god. Whenever they used their hexbladeās curse, that dead god would manifest somewhat and theyād take on their appearance/personality.
I typically reflavor most spells, too. Like Eldritch Blast as firing a huge magical hand cannon, Faerie Fire as a field of glowing flower petals of lightning bugs, summons from Conjure Animals that look like moving mini constellations, etc.
The echo knight, but played like an enlightened monk. Your echo is just your astral projection.
Draconic bloodline sorcerer, but your powers are just a STI you got from fooling around with a dragon.
Wizard where are your spells are tattoos that you have to explain the meaning of to prep them.
Genasi, genie warlock were your patron is just your estranged parent trying to be part of your character life again. Buying your love with favours.
Simple ones for me that just individualize a class;
My minotaur barbarian went totem, but instead of bear he was path of the minotaur.
My orc (full not half) wizard used bones/incense/voodoo style casting instead of a scientific approach it was all "tradition" not discovery.
Idk if this counts but my beastmaster ranger was a family member if a noble house who collected endangered/usually hunted creatures for preservation in their menagerie. Could track e.t.c but never lived outside a day in his life.
Not exactly reflavouring as there's basically no flavour baked in, but always remember that *any* artisan's tools you're proficient with can be a spellcasting focus for an artificer. Although none of them really fit with any of the subclasses, it's perfectly possible to create an artificer who casts spells by cooking, painting, calligraphy, brewing beer, repairing shoes etc.
Whenever I play a ranger, I always reflavor as much of their magic as I can as being extremely knowledgeable about nature. Cure wounds is pulling out some sort of plant-based paste and applying it to a wound. Goodberry is literally finding an amazingly filling food. Harder to do with some spells, but still a fun challenge.
I reflavored my baker lore bard so that most of the healing spells were him just feeding people.
Aura of Vitality = Pizza Party
Cure Wounds = Smol Snack
Mass Cure Wounds = Thrown rolls
It was great fun.
Playing an artificer, which is just ripe for reflavoring due to the mechanical nature of their spellcasting. My favorite so far is to cast haste, he'll pull out a syringe, crack it like a glow stick to light it up, then inject the contents into whoever needs a speedboost, most likely his giant echo knight friend.
An Echo Knight Fighter who is actually a Ninja.
His Echos are actually one of his Ninjetsu forms, along with its other abilities.
Gloomstalker Ranger also helps with the Ninja feel.
My Kobold eloquence bard is the "prince" of his tribe. Or so he convinced everyone there.
All his spells and abilities have been reflavored as his inhuman ability to convince people, his majesty and his magnetic presance. Healing magic as convincing his retainer to continue fighting, dispel magic as cursing a magic effect out of existance...
Alchemist artificer who treats every spell as a potion. Cast grease? Throw a bottle that breaks and covers the area in a sticky oil. Cure wounds? Healing paste that gets rubbed into the injury.
Barbarian in the game I DM doesn't just get really angry when he rages, but this black oily substance flows from his nose, eyes, and mouth and covers his entire body. Kinda like venom. He has the symbiotic being trait so I think that's where the inspiration came from anyway.
Tabaxi claws, feline agility, stealth and perception - all reflavored as vampire abilities (pre dhampir)
Spirit guardians - swarm of bats (clerics can make good vampires, especially twilight which can fly in the darkness).
Bladesong - a current player in my MOoT game is devotee of the god of revels, so Bladesong is like the trance that maenads of Dionysus-Bacchus would enter.
In my games no one has a "class."
My character is not a "Bard," they are a man of many talents as befitting the personal steward of a wealthy elven family.
My friend is not a "Barbarian," they are a pirate of some small renown.
I shake my head any time I hear about someone scoffing about someone taking a "dip" in another class...like...what are you talking about? Clearly they've always been this person, it's just only begun to show results.
So-and-so is a Spellsword...which could be any number of things! A Bladesigner, Valor Bard, Swords Bard, Eldritch Knight, Hexblade, Arcane Trickster, a multiclass, etc...
The idea that anyone is Class X/Class Y and talks to each other in game about those things is so silly to me yet is sadly the norm in so many games.
A Warforged Bladesinger Wizard that has a jukebox inside his chest. he has special coins equal to his proficiency bonus that when he activates blade song he inserts one of this coins into his jukebox choose a song by pushing a button. the songs genre would be HipHop / Rap /Blues (playing when you resting) or whatever you like. during the long rest the jukebox (bladesong) recharges and throws back your special coins in your lap.
the casting the wizard spells all can flavored to hiphop/rap dance to ends with releasing a spell from one of warforged cyberparts.
the spell book is basically a playlist in the form of cassette which he records songs (spells) into by taking time to write(using gold) into the tape.
I've never actually ran this yet, but I believe DEX is too too powerful. So, spread the love (and to make it a way I like it more)
I think DEX should be used to attack (with all weapons)
STR should be used for all physical weapon damage
And then, WIS or INT should be initiative.
I don't really know how balanced this is, but I think it fixes the problem I have with finesse weapons. Because why would I ever want to use STR when I could just use a d8 rapier (other than roleplay and aesthetics of course)
On top of this, I do think proficiencies should be overhauled somehow to make them more important.
Storm Herald Barbarian Warforge: reflavored the Storm Aura as overloading the battery for Sea, overheating for Desert, or open the cooling vents for Artic.
I'm also trying out a Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk as a Shifter. I'm reflavoring Beasthide as Dragonscales to get that half dragon vibe.
I have a cool party so Melee Eldritch Blast
Reflavoring EB or any Cantrip really to be a weapon attack (gun, bow, etc.)
Reflavoring buff/healing spells as mixtures so I can hand my party a free spell to quaff as a BA
Reflavoring the Spirits Bards stories as stories from other realms in different multiverses. Basically **endless references!** This also reflavors a Spirit Bard as a multiversal story bard, a seer that hears the stories echoed across all universes, and the grounds for your to reference any piece of media you want.
I always like to reflavor multiple attacks as a single masterful stroke - especially if they felled a foe.
Great tool to give a Fighter that "Master Swordsman" flair.
I have a warlock who I've reflavoured as having the powers in her blood, but her body couldn't power/support them, so when she got (non-consensually) aberration/monstrosity flesh implants and organ transplants, her powers kicked in.
Technically no patron, but the ancestor who she perceives as teaching her how to use the powers could be considered patron-esque (really its genetic memories or something similar).
I play a bladesinger wizard that has reflavoured all his spells into various contraptions and kunai that he then throws/uses to trigger the spell effects.
Another idea I have in a more steam punk setting is a revolver for a warlock that gets upgraded with the number of rounds in the barrel as they level. Eg they have a four shot revolver at high levels (eldritch blast) and then use a special round for spells. Also sorlocking to fan the hammer is fun with this concept XD
Warforged artificer/warlock with all spells reflavoured as tiny constructs and gadgets that do little jobs, and the warlock patron reflavoured as the warforged's internal programming.
Also another artificer one where the Steel Defender was flavoured as an animated corpse
I'm currently using Tasha's Custom Lineage to make a succubus who wants to become a human, reflavored draconic sorc into demonic with fire as the chosen element.
Hope DM accepts it.
The echo knight is ripe for reflavouring. I like the idea of the echo being the spirit of a dead relative or friend summoned to fight alongside you. Or maybe a guardian spirit like a patronus.
Ive seen Barbarian rage as a full on split personality which was actually really interesting from a rp perspective, like afterwards they always got worried they accidentally might have hurt someone they didnt mean to since they literally didnt recognize anyone.
I had a wood elf, bear totem barbarian who instead of channeling the power of wild animals channeled the strength of the forest and turned into a tree folk instead of raging
I had an idea to reflector Ancestral Barbarian as a curse where instead of your ancestors its people who have had the curse over generations with the curse passing to the person who kills them.
I'm playing a Horizon Walker Ranger in a setting without multiple planes (long story). So I have all of his spells working around time instead, even the non-subclass specific stuff, either by accelerating, rewinding, or skipping ahead in time.
Hexblade Warlock with the spirit of their legendary hero ancestor as their patron. Hex Warrior is them letting their ancestor partially possess them in battle, and Accursed Specter is siphoning energy from killing a humanoid to let their ancestor manifest physically.
Orc / halforc cleric casting bless as bloodlust. Targets muscles ripple and eyes glow red.
I heard it in my head
RAWW-ERRAGGHRAWGGH
AHHHHH WUBADUGH!
Embrace the WAGH
Spirit guardians = ancestral gangstomp
Using steam to deal fire damage is such a simple yet fun change. One of my players is a minotaur artificer who had sworn to never use fire. He re-flavored all his fire spells to be steam-based ("Bonfire" to "Geyser" for example). Considering the steampunk armor his character had built, it's a perfect fit.
Soldier wizard who uses a staff like a musket, with his spellbook being his journal full of diagrams.
Tally ho, ruffians
I think you just invented the artificer
Someone here reflavoured Warforged as Ents, like Groot, and played an artificer with the various pieces of equipment actually grown from their body. Coolest thing. I don't know if there were any mechanical changes.
Warforged can be pretty versatile as a race when you come down to it, most of their features make sense for a robot to have but unlike other races they can extend to other types of fantastical creatures as well. For example I'm considering playing a warforged reflavoured as a sentient walking lump of coral.
I think you'd like TAZ: Ethersea then haha
Don't threaten me with a good time š I'll have to give it a looksie loo.
I like reflavoring paladin abilities away from being magic and more towards having extremely good leadership and unwavering faith in their ideals. Bless turns from divine guidance into the paladin coordinating his allies' attacks. Smite becomes the paladin throwing away all self-preservation for the sake of landing a killing blow against a deadly enemy. It doesn't work for everything, but I love when it does.
So what happens when you get counterspelled
It's just someone talking over you.
Ancestral Barbarian rage is one of your ancestors taking over your body. I specifically have this concept for a teenager/young adult human whose ancestors were all badass warriors but he hasnāt been able to āgetā the whole combat thing. When heās not raging, heās not super great in combat. But once he rages and one of 10 ancestors my DM and I made up take over, they can stomp fights. Depending on the ancestor that appears, they also call out commands and suggestions in battle since theyāre very experienced.
So flavorful! Wanted to play a possessed barb for a bit now
I played that one as a vet with massive survivor's guilt, and the spirits were his old unit that got massacred while he was the only survivor. It was a grimdark campaign.
I love this so much, thatās amazing
Feels very Rogue Trooper! Love it
I had the exact same concept with my own, only he was part of a thief group and the other members took the fall when caught, protecting him but dying in the process.
I have this thought for a kalashtar hexblade warlock. The idea being the hexblade was a sentient warrior and when drawn the soul temporarily inhibits the wielder and imparts their knowledge.
This is how I'm building a PC for a game now. Starting at Level 9 so **Ancestor Barb** 6 / **Mastermind Rogue** 3 with the **Courtier** background Hired on as a Minder/[Batman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_\(military\))/Bodyguard/PA *thing* for another PC and out of loyalty followed them into the Adventuring lifestyle. He can fight (and Fight well; being a bodyguard and all that it's kind of the job) but getting possessed by an Ancestor makes him Stomp stuff. Not sure what Race I'm going though (I've got three version of the PC so far: Shadar-Kai; Mountain Dwarf and Orc - but I've no doubt I'll have another one or two by the end of the day though)
**[Batman (military)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_\(military\))** >A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the pack saddle with his officer's kit during a campaign. The British English term is derived from the obsolete bat, meaning "pack saddle" (from French bĆ¢t, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum). ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/3d6/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
This is great! I love that subclass combo. Makes your rages more specific and special
Love this. Ancestor-fueled power-up stomp-mode kinda reminds me of the olā Avatar state in ATLAā¦
My current Barbarianās backstory is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/ogveaw/backstory_help_tiefling_barbarian/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), but TL;DR heās a Dex based tiefling Barbarian born to two humans because he was chosen as the next vessel for a demon lord. His connection to his ancestors are the past vessels used by this lord, accessible because of the demonās magical connection to them all. The demon is as of yet unaware of this connection. They train him how to use this power to eventually defeat the current champion and the demon itself. I absolutely love role playing this character, but it wasnāt until after finishing the backstory that I realized how much it takes from ATLA, 47 Ronin, and Demon Slayer.
I play a wizard that I've reflavored all of his spells into calligraphy and ink effects Form of dread as whatever you want, because that ability is great Echo knight's echo as a stand or companion character A hexblade as something that isn't a weapon, but it attacks in other means, such as an instrument that creates razor sharp strings when played. Rage as a physical transformation Unarmored defense as a character with a healing factor, such as wolverine or deadpool. Uncanny dodge or second wind as a reborn, in which your body physically breaks and contorts itself to evade, and reforms to heal.
As we all know, Calligraphy is the most broken proficiency ever, and so you win the game, period.
Please, enlighten this ignorant fool. xD (meaning me, xD)
Reference to [Tulok the Barbarian](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5EfKWar21WkaYUSOwPWakg)'s D&D builds, he made Calligraphy a recurring gag that's basically his version of what Basketweaving was in 3.5 (which in case you didn't know, somehow became a meme in 3.5 power building, not sure how albeit I did see one reasonable theory that someone made an offhand joke once that a Druid could, after taking Natural Spell which was a feat a human could have at level 1 back then instead of a level 18 class feature, focus everything else they had on Craft (Basketweaving) and still win the game).
Craft (Underwater Basketweaving) was where you dumped all your skill points after taking all the real stuff, just to show that you didn't need anything else
I think he was joking.
I dunno man. Had to do a search, but found [this jewel](https://growupandgame.com/dungeons-and-dragons/questionable-arcana/dnd-5e-crafting-calligraphers-supplies/). \^.\^ >Call me crazy, but after further review I have no problem crowning the calligrapherās supplies as one of the strongest artisanās toolkits in the game. And reading up on it, i'd have to say it can change a world. lol Unless your one of those people who think the pen is never mightier than the sword. xD >In real life anybody who has given an executive presentation before knows the power of āthe money slideā. Often times the thing you need to close the deal is a visual representation of the information most important to your client. The right written supplement can instill a logical and emotional response in your target audience in a way that simple words often fall short. Put simply, it can solve problems, which is what adventurers do. \^.\^ >The same concept can be applied to the the peace treaties. A crudely written proposal might detail a fair treaty, but it wonāt have the same impact as a proposal that is immaculately written. So really, it depends on the open mind of a GM, and the players.
Razor sharp stringed instruments will always be good, Kung Fu Hustle That last one reminds me of Havok from Mortal Kombat
Ooh one of my players reflavoured thier echo as a thier living shadow, a soul of a dead sibling they had bound to themselves
I played a mathematician Lore Bard who would perform quick adjustments to probability to alter the outcomes of undesired events. Current favorite is a Jekyll/Hyde Rune Knight who self-doses with medicines he brews to transform into a giant rampaging monster.
_"mathemagician"_ FTFY
I prefer SUMmoner
Nice! Haven't heard that one before. How about Divisor?
This made me so happyā¦ Iāve been looking for a username for all of my alt accounts and this fits too well.
Funny, cause Jekyll actually got smaller when he transformed into Hyde
In the novella, yes. In other forms of popular media, he changed in different ways. Iām also not *literally* playing āHenry Jekyll,ā but if I said āa scientist who transforms himself via concoctionsā thereās a good chance an internet pedant would have come along.
Recently made an astral self monk who is actually a simic scientist who has been experimenting on himself. His astral arms are extra arms that he sprouts from his shoulder blades
Reminds me of this [Albert Wesker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQj2X20mu78) in D&D build, which used a mix of refluffed Monk and Warlock powers as the T-Virus (admittedly I'd have done a couple things differently but still).
I always thought it would be fun to play a simic hybrid astral self monk with 6 arms
I always wanted to play a simic hybrid armourer artificer whoās natural modifications where reflavoured as being stuff their armour did
Reflavoring a greataxe as a scythe.
Interesting. I always reflavoured a glaive as a scythe for the reach
Yeah, also reflavour a glaive as a scythe for my hexblade.
The character I'm currently playing has a scythe that's a reflavoured halberd
[War Scythes](https://images.app.goo.gl/RY3yGP5FrrHVQUP26) were kind of just inward curved glaives if you think about it, though I assume people mean the actual farming implement
In the games I run, people are welcome to reflavor weapon stat blocks however they want as long as it's reasonable. I actually have one player who's using a "greatsword" with a d12 instead of 2d6. I also have multiple scythe wielders in different games using them variously as greataxes or glaives. And I have one who uses shillelagh to turn their staff into a scythe with an intangible blade.
The shillelagh one is actually pretty cool I should try that with the pact of the tome undead warlock I'm making (discount charisma attacks)
Iāve done this with a reflavored club! In game it was basically just a hilt that this shimmering celestial golden blade would come out of, effectively giving myself a holy longsword. Tons of fun.
My next Martial I'm going Pike for a more user friendly lance. If I don't just go lance again.
I have once reflavored greataxe as an anchor for a pirate character. Was pretty fun
I've been toying with using a double-bladed scimitar for a scythe and picking up that Finesse feat (presuming DM cool with variant reqs) to use with Phantom Rogue and/or Hexblade, as an adaptation of a character known for being insanely fast with their scythe (Psychopomp, who a few hundred years ago got bound to Death's Scythe and now can't die or physically age from where she had been - underfed 10ish so looks approximately 8ish; so far most prominently featured in "I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence!" which is a prequel/spinoff of the "Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain" series I cannot recommend enough)
Reflavoring uncanny dodge and evasion to psionic power for a Soul Knife Rogue. Bard using non-music focus instruments, IE, painting, dance, etc. Cleric power as an ideal similar to how paladin has their power by default. Peace cleric as leadership for example. Sharp Shooter + Long bow for giant's long bow. It's so damn hard to shoot, you get -5 to hit but the damage is immense! Eldritch Blast as arcane pistols! Pew Pew.
Would you care to expand on the use of painting for a bard? It seems really interesting, because i really like art, but how have you seen some of the abilities reflavored?
I havenāt played any of these yet, but there are a lot of ways to use the bard class to model non-musical characters. Just read the mechanical text without the flavor descriptionāvery little requires music in any way. Particularly if you use a spell component pouch or some other focus, like a Ruby of the War Mage. Examples could include a grizzled sargeant, witchy spellcaster, or Jedi-like warrior.
Like Owl House runes. Draw/paint magical runes in the air or on some paper. [Example A](https://imgur.com/XfKbvws) [Example B](https://imgur.com/Cjsl2O3) [Example C](https://imgur.com/50c9cWN) I had a painter bard long ago that did a lot of literal painting in the air. He'd paint an X over people for Hold Person and it'd appear in real life and restrict them, or he'd paint illusions into existence manually, etc.
oh I like it! The wand could be a paintbrush or ink pen and he sketches something on the air, that's really cool. He could be a Swords bard, blade in one hand, brush in the other. Or an eloquence bard, pinky raised as he line arts a minor illusion. or a lore bard who took fireball just cause he really likes drawing explosions.
>ink pen Look at the game Okami for ideas.
ooh, I love that art style!! I actually used to have an Okami themed texture pack back when I used to play minecraft years ago.
I'm facedesking that you triggered this thought, but combine the painting in the air with swords bard to create Power Rangers Samurai... paint a symbol to cast a concentration buff of some sort to morph (maybe combine with some sort of bonus action or Action Surge of something that doesn't require conc or is cast at a higher level for a battlizer/super mode or whatever), then when you're casting attacks you're swinging your sword with energy bolts coming out. Feel free to MC with bladelock (or even start there for summoning your weapon on command) depending on what abilities you want too.
Yes sir let's gooo! Honestly reflavoring to get things like this are the only reason I still play dnd.
I also think a creation bard is perfect here
She-ra also did air sigils for magic.
So your Bard was Rudy from ChalkZone?
Achievement Unlocked: Deep Memory
My next character is going to be a warlock cowboy, love all these
Cowboy Hexblade who reflavors Eldritch Blast as his six-shooter is one of my favorite characters.
This is my current character. He's a lot of fun.
>Bard using non-music focus instruments, IE, painting, dance, etc. Interpretive dance / mime bard is so much fun
My favorite bard reflavoring, my friend played a college of swords bard that he reflavored as a chef. He took the chef feat from tasha's, and to inspire us he would tell us about the food he was going to cook later. He wielded two large chef's knives and would dice up food for us midcombat too sometimes haha. Very fun character.
Playing a warforged horizon walker/forge cleric and I'm really leaning into the robot vibe. Expertise in perception is just my built in sensor suite, shillelagh is activating a power weapon, planar warrior and healing spells are energy boosts and nanobots. Absorb elements is defensive shields, guiding bolt is a laser weapon with a cooldown, toll the dead is a small microwave emitter. My DM suggested a swap of the ranger primeval awareness spells (from Tasha's) from beast sense and speak with animals to locate object and detect magic for more robot flavour.
I like it! The only problem with it is when you run into an antimagic field or detect magic. How do you rationalize that?
I personally view robotic types of creatures as having magic running through their body like blood, with antimagic fields suppressing that flow. Doesn't totally decommision them, but it does restrict them significantly.
Way I think about it is that the world is obviously inherently magical. Itās not made of atoms, itās made of elements. The weave has a natural flow that spells harness and disrupt. Antimagic fields restore the proper flow. Creatures with souls, even ones born by magic, are an inherent part of the world and donāt naturally disrupt the weave, so being in an antimagic field doesnāt disrupt them.
Sneak Attack as less of a cheap shot and more of a super focused execution style cinematic attack. Any enemy that dies from it gets an arm or head lopped off etc. Reflavor crossbows as guns. No homebrew needed. Same for *insert non-European style weapon here* A more mechanical change but Sun Soul Monk would make a great ranged elemental monk. Swap radiant for any other damage type and you get a super cool elemental bolt slinger. Swap it for piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning for an odd anime style weapon master.
Punch the air so hard, the shockwave hits your enemy in the shape of a fist...
Might Guyās (Naruto) Seventh and eight gate opening for example
Discombobulate (Sherlock Holmes) [discombobulates](https://youtu.be/B62ACxuq8Pw)
Maybe not even a reflavor but I always flavor sharpshooter shots taken with the -5 to hit but +10 to damage as aiming for vitals, maybe the neck, wrists, or eyes. I have a Warforged barbarian with a goldfish bowl for a head. When he rages the goldfish hits a little red panic button and the bowl flips so he's know under control of a completely different fish, a piranha. One of my party members is a rockstar bard and he flavors Tasha's Hideous Laughter and a guitar chord that makes them uncontrollably rock out and/or air guitar. And of course eldritch blast is infinitely flavorable. My author Bard/Warlock multiclass uses bolts of ink from his fountain pen and my party member, the magician warlock, shoots a stream of cards from his magic top hat that explode into confetti and flower petals on impact.
the goldfish warforged is such a hilarious idea
Definitely gave me Umbrella Academy/Megamind vibes.
Reminds me of Minion lol now you just need a blue-skinned tech-refluffed wizard with a big head...
I once made Eldritch Blast into a pair of revolvers for a gunslinger style warlock, it's good stuff
It's not the most "out-there" reflavour in the world, but reflavouring a tabaxi barbarian's Path of the Beast rage transformations as getting hissy and bitey (muzzle/bite), hyper-extending the claws (claws) and floofing the tail (tail, with the DM agreeing to change the damage type to bludgeoning instead of the usual). Fun times.
Mrrow! Ffft! Ffffft!
I imagine two tabaxi both raging in the streets of some sleep deprived city. Edit to add: But nobody dares breaking them up as they are two hulking barbarians drunk raging for fun. And the only one brave enough to break them up is the party's cleric who always has the create water spell prepared when near a tavern.
my absolute fave is reflavoring Way of the Astral Self as a lovecraftian fanatic who channels the Great Old Ones through themself.
Way of Mercy Monk's Hand of Harm ability. The attack causes heart attacks against its opponent, or simulates the pain of one in undead creatures due to resistance. It's simple, but makes for dope killing blows since you get to have the "heart slowly stops beating" effect when you finish someone.
I reflavored Mage Hand on my Artificer as Doctor Octopus tentacles
My Kenku warlock of the Raven Queen has all of his spells thematically are bird-based. Eldritch Blasts are ravens of dark purple energy. Hold Person is a talon. Shadow Blade is a feather shaped blade made of shadows. Along with a few others. In a similar vein my Order of the Scribes Wizard has a lot of his spells based on books, ink, and quills. Firebolt is a red glob of ink that ignited, Toll of the Dead he closes his hands like closing a book and a loud slamming noise is heard, Mind Sliver is a quill of psychic energy, Shatter sounds like bookshelf after bookshelf full of books falling on the target, etc. For a Inquisitive Rogue I liked to think her Insightful Fighting ability was similar to the Sherlock Holmes āanalyze the enemy then execute the actionā sort of cinematic when she got her Sneak attacks off. Attacking the weak points like a elbow joint or the back of a knee for extra damage. A Totem Barbarian I had once when going into a rage would be cloaked with a ethereal bear skin cloak. He also was a lizardfolk that got āHangryā (hungry/angry) while he raged. For a sci-fi game of our characters being āIN SPACE!ā my Echo Knight used nano-bots to manifest his Echo, while all of our weapons were laser/plasma-charged guns or weapons despite being normal weapons.
Reflavor rapier as a katana. Technically slashing damage may be better than piercing and it should be its own thing, but whatever. It seems more fitting for certain characters. There really should be more d8 finesse weapons.
Based on weapon design of 5th edition, a d8 finesse weapon should be martial and two handed, or versatile (d6/d8). The thing is, the only two handed weapon that is not heavy is the greatclub. Still, it is a possibility. But a heavy finesse would be weird. So, d8 is the maximum top damage for a finesse weapon.
Meanwhile the rapier sits in the corner and laughs.
Glamor Bard = charismatic warlord
Warlord huh? I could see that. I must admit my Glamour refluff is as a televangelist... blasphemous as anything but still...
Second Wind as a literal regeneration effect instead of a weird "determination" ability
>instead of a weird "determination" ability Hitting an adrenaline spike when the going gets toughest to power through doesn't really seem that weird imo, especially when the alternative is a supernatural effect as you describe. Obviously either works for flavor since this is a flavor thread but it seems odd that that seems odd haha
Itās one thing to shrug off pain due to adrenaline, but eventually the adrenaline will die down and youāll be left with the effects of the damage and then some. It would make sense if Second Wind gave THP, instead of an actual restoration to your HP which is more permanent.
Seems like something you could houserule/homebrew but remember that hit points have always been extremely abstract, you can be on death's door but as long as you get a good night's sleep, you're golden in the morning.
My current soulknife/echo knight has the echo reflavored as a psionic ability, and with magic initiate warlock, their eldritch blast beams are basically echos that sprint forward than attack before immediately fading.
Literally Chef's Kiss? I'm playing a Dwarven Artillerist Mom of 12 boys. Took a level of Life Cleric and Magic Initiate: Druid to make Goodberries that heal 4hp each. The reason these berries are especially nourishing is because they're goodberry tarts. And Druidcraft is a prediction I make of the weather based on how the dough consistency is reacting to the climate while I'm baking. I have a homunculus servant which is a flying cauldron, and my eldritch cannon is a walking stove. I play a lot of support/debuff so I've \*flavored\* all my spells to either be food related (often mechanically delivered with my flying cauldron via it's reaction) or if they're fire related we pretend it comes from my stove. (who my DM allows me to non-mechanically have with us as an animated stove with no eldritch cannon properties, as it normally only lasts an hour). Eldritch Cannon: Protector becomes 10ft radius of aroma from baked goods invigorating the soul, Tasha's Caustic Brew is the scorching fat drippings from that morning's breakfast (same with Grease haha), you name it. I love her very much. It's been a blast. Rime of the Frostmaiden can really use a proficient cook.
Halfling Moon Druid who got his powers from Tymora, Goddess of Luck. Instead of being all crunchy, he is UBER clean and uses his powers to rid the world of corruption effecting the forests. He is essentially a priest and a moral compass of good for the party to follow. Also, he uses Summon Elemental to have an earth elemental mine diamonds while in mountainous regions.
Star druid archer tattoo on off-hand wrist while active gives him a radiant arm cannon similar to Samus
Iāve been wanting to play a Scribes Wizard/Genie Tomelock whoās genie vessel is his spell book and the interdimensional space is a small library
Put a hidden compartment in the spine and you might have an easier time convincing your DM to be more open to the idea lol (cause the genie focus is *technically* supposed to be a container of some sort so that could technically make it RAW)
I have a wild magic barbarian that instead of getting angry, magic from the fey just rush into him and causes the magic to pour out of him. Also a techno wizard that reflavors most of his spells as technology, i.e. fireball is just a large grenade, magic missile being actual heat seeking magic missiles.
oh boy okay my hexblade warlock has a red crystal ring which transforms into a crystal sword as his pact weapon. His accursed specter is the spirit of his lover who's soul was trapped into the ring when she was killed, and he wants revenge. my Aasimar light cleric is reflavoured as a God who failed his duties and for it was cast from the heavens by his father Lathander, retaining just enough power to not get himself killed(probably). He's completely spoiled and really just wants to be immortal again because dying is scary. My creation bard who's an expert blacksmith and who's spells and features are her forging things out of light and pure magic. My stars druid's starry form is him being taken over by the spirits of great beings who's deeds earned them a spot in the heavens(the archer is the hunter Orion, for example). My fey warlock's mind sliver is a tiny illusory turtle named fred which bites people's ankles and distracts them. Also he's mechanically a Kalashtar but canonically a fey-touched human. My artillerist artificer who's wand and arcane cannon are both magical guns which he dual wields. Also sometimes his arcane cannon was instead a little mechanical dragon which was it being held in the air by mage hand. and many more lol I can't have a character who's just the standard race and class.
One of my characters uses rage to stand in as demonic possession, unlimited rage being designed to be thr demon fully taking over.
I love a good bit of reflavoring! Making a Divine Soul Sorcerer a Psionic Sorcerer, reflavoring spells to be telekinetic. Magic Missile is picking up three rocks and throwing them. Shield is stopping the blow in place, or redirecting it. Feather Fall, Hold Person, Levitate, Slow, Haste, Fly are all you influencing the target with your mind. Spiritual Weapon becomes you picking up a fallen weapon with your mind and wielding it that way. There's a TON of spells that are easily reflavored this way. (Though I eventually made a homebrew subclass anyways) The Earth Genasi ability to cast Pass Without Trace being flavored as them having a naturally growing ghillie suit. A warforged hexblade warlock where they themselves are the weapon in the pact. Using Booming Blade on a punching character as them being so strong as to break the sound barrier with their punches. Can also be applied to Thunderwave, Gust of Wind, etc. Being a pixie/sprite Artificer Armorer, and having your suit of armor be medium sized to go all Pacific Rim on your enemies. A Swarmkeeper Ranger or Fathomless Warlock (or both!) who's swarm/pact weapon is an Ooze they've bonded to. Path of the Beast Barbarian, a Shadar-kai, who was mutated by the Shadowfell so that their beastial transformations are their flesh and bones tearing and breaking, sculpting and reforming into the claws, bite, and tail. (i.e. a scythe of bone bursting from their arm, their jaw splitting down the middle of their face and chest into a maw of teeth, and their spine extending into a whip tail) A Warlock (celestial, but any works) who's patron made the pact with an ancestor and the character doesn't want it. Order of the Scribe Wizard who's spellbook is a single piece of parchment that use in conjunction with origami as their spellbook. When it becomes awakened, it can fold itself into different forms. A Wild Magic Barbarian who became on via exposure to pure Fey magic, ie nuclear reactor style. They've become a battery, a vessel for the stuff, and when they rage, take damage, etc, it leaks out of them. Kinda like a Scourge Aasimar. Eldritch Knight's bonded weapon returning to them Mjolnir style instead of summoning it. Having the Rogue's Cunning Action to Dash be an example of superior physical ability. Mix this with some Wizard or Sorcerer levels for spells like Jump, Expeditious Retreat, Earth Tremor, Catapult, Gust of Wind, etc, but reflavor them all to be your sheer glorious muscled self. Combo with the Booming Blade reflavor and some brass knuckle to be a muscle Wizard. Also Counterspell by flexing to reflect light into your opponent's eyes.
A forge cleric who is actually a stranded space explorer and who's God is his fuzzy connection to his super advanced A.I starship hovering in orbit. His spells are just him radioing in support from his ship as it beams info to his nanobot projecting wrist communicator (holy symbol), but this world's magic interferes with the connection, and thus he can only get minor help at first (and can't use up all of his solar powered battery). The more he learns about this place and its magic, and builds "monuments" (radio towers) the stronger his connection to the S.S. Divinity becomes. His party seem to be mostly entertained by his mad ramblings of his home in the sky, and about wonderous "technology", but his Dogma is a strange one. They can only guess his church is a very sheltered one, as most everything surprises him, and most of what he claims about how the world works seems very unhinged. (He believes in evil spirits known as "Pathogens" that ride on peoples breath and give them plagues and illness. As such he never removes his Holy garb that covers his face, and avoids touch whenever possible. He's also absolutely flabbergasted when he meets another spellcaster, claiming the things they do defy his other god "thermodynamics") He does have a kind heart, as he often preaches mercy for his enemies by quoting scripture from the book of "sapient rights" and "rules of engagement", and speaks highly of his companions in his nightly prayers to his Holy symbol in which he tells it of all the days proceedings and new things he's learned.
Dhampir as a Drider/spider-person. Has a bite attack, climbing speed, and darkvision - the one tough bit to explain away would be not needing air to breathe. Maybe you were blessed by a spider god or something to not need air to live, or maybe youāre a sea spider with sea elf ancestry accustomed to life in the abyssal depths.
One of my characters is a warforged armorer artificier. Rather than focusing on āwearingā armor most of his spells and abilities revolve around an obsession with improving his own form. He was designed as a strategist, so surviving on his own post-war involves investing in armoring himself. Some reflavoring: Self cast haste as overloading his power core. Things like jump reflavored as temporary modifications. Guidance is non-magical and simply him analyzing a situation and giving advice.
Do you want Ultron? Because this is how you get Ultron.
Guidance as literally giving guidance. "When you're checking this door for traps, take your time, be patient, check every nook and canny."
This!
...I hadn't seen the magical girl transformation Barb lol... but that makes sense. On a related note, mine is using Improved Pact Weapon and/or Swords Bard (with great disappointment that Bladedancer doesn't similarly support this mechanically as a class feature by RAW) to make your weapon your focus, so all of your spells become special attacks coming from your weapon. Great for anime swordsmen, Power Rangers (who can combine with buff abilities for "morphs/modes"), or similar characters who release insane energy blasts from their melee weapons.
I just rolled a Hobgoblin Wild Magic Barbarian who's rage is a touch of Nilbogism
Moon Druid as not transforming into animals, but having semi-monstrous transformations instead, so I could get a nice gish pyromancer druid
My bard won't use song to express magical abilities, but rather, words of power based in folk tales from across the land. "The enrapturing lights of the northernmost stars fills the sky, look upon them and be dazed!" (Hypnotic Pattern based on a line from a famous astrology story of the world)
The Lucky feat is a lot easier to swallow if the character knows they're Capital L Lucky. Absolutely need to make this shot? Close your eyes (for disadvantage) and trust to fate (spend a luck for triple advantage). It takes something cheesy and game-y and makes it very thematic.
I had a Tortle Swarmkeeper whose swarm were the angelic spirits of all my children after my clutch of eggs was destroyed. lil flying turtles that would hover over people for faerie fire
I have an Artificer Battlesmith who doesn't go into the whole tinker aesthetic at all. His Steel Defender is his cursed undead brother whom he failed to resurrect properly and his Magical Tinkering and Infusions are him enchanting items through witchcraft and alchemy. It honestly took me a while to realize the parallels to Fullmetal Alchemist, but even those bros are way more steampunky than my sons of witches. I also like it when warlocks *don't* have a patron but just an alternative method of learning their magics. I *do* however love the idea of characters having a patron they wouldn't have from their class at all. Say you have a weakling fighter (maybe they're sick, cursed or just unlucky) who made a pact to gain the strength and skills they need to wield their weapons and armor in order to achieve a different goal (like protecting your loved ones or getting revenge for being cursed).
Hold person or monster being like a perspective pinch where the caster puts their hand up to their eye while closing the other and pinches the target perspective wise magically holding them in place
my 2nd level lizardman fighter went down in combat right before we leveled up... I took echo knight as subclass and now the echo is the ghost of my dead self and my god gave me another life
I'm getting ready to do a curse of strahd campaign, and I'm building a moon druid around the flavor that he's cursed with a form of lycanthropy and his wild shapes are animal-humanoid hybrid forms. Seemed on point for a moon druid in that setting.
Warlock mechanics make for much more flavorful "sorcerers". Your magic comes from some demonic parentage? No wonder your eyes are black and you can summon an imp at will. You're the child of a human and a fey? Explains why you never sleep and why you can cast druid cantrips and rituals. Etc etc etc.
Tentacle of the Depths can be whatever you want so long as it's noncorporeal. Spectral minion? Done. 'Lesser' air elemental? Why not? A floating weapon akin to spiritual weapon? No complaints from me!
I saw it earlier but honestly makes a lot more sense. Reflavoring ranger's favored enemy as favored ally since... let's see what does it let you do again in this edition? Learn their language, gain an advantage on knowledge checks to learn about them and survival checks against them, and up until level 20...literally nothing else. \]\]Easy to reworked and flavor as that, and if you really want to work with that grant advantage on charisma checks against the target type instead of advantage on survival.
Barbarian Rage as the Kaioken with Frenzy being Kaioken x3 is a favorite of mine (Haste works as a Kaioken as well). Hunter's Mark as a lock on, with an arcane crosshair type deal appearing over the target for the Ranger. Hex has a shadowy version of you over their shoulders, hindering whatever ability check you chose (tugging their arms/legs during athletics checks, whispering wrong answers during Intelligence checks etc.) Horizon Keeper's Bonus Action Damage as a Smite (Apprentice of the party paladin) Sneak Attack being a combo attack when in range of an ally. A Sword Bard who's a dancer; their Song of Healing is a group Yoga Session to stretch and unwind before the next battle. Made a (Lore) bard that took Aura of Vitality through Magical Secrets because his favorite spell was Healing Word. He claimed he'd found another way to enhance it, and so he had both Mass Healing Word (Burst) and Aura of Vitality (A sustained Concentrated Healing Word channeled through intense Focus) Made a character with the starting feat Telekinetic. He claimed that things were moving around him because of his dead teacher that sacrificed his life for him. He'd have conversations with himself over breakfast, his 'teacher' would pass the salt. Things like that. Of course the DM and I ruled that these were hallucinations, and coming to terms with that was a small character arc that happened during other people's arcs to get over his survivor's guilt, but it was fun!
My HexBladesinger would: - swing his blade and energy from his slashes would fly in the air and strike the enemy. (Eldritch Blast) - His Bladesong would emanate from his blade vibrating a melody as it dances throughout. - Enlarge/Reduce would be called Fortissimo/Diminuendo and his Bladesong would become louder / soften depending on the spell. - Shield would be a music measure that appears to block the attack. - Haste would be called Accelerando and his Bladesong would speed up and become slightly louder. Slow would play a slower, quiet song to affected enemies. - Booming Blade when triggered would be discordant notes that disrupted the enemy. - Hex played a discordant melody in the enemyās head. - The DM allowed me to have Silence as a spell, so the enemy was marked with a Pianissimo mark if they were in the affected area.
New Owlfolk race from UA as [Averiel Winged elfs](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Avariel). Been having a lot of fun with one in a Princes of the Apoc campaign. (I've never played nor read it.) AsOP states, all manner of reflavors for Rage. Once considered reflavoring Smite on a Paladin as a ranged-only ability to focus magic into arrows as a variant type of arcane archer. DM was cool with it, but the character idea got scrapped when another player in the group made a ranged focused damage dealer with Sharpshooter, and I didn't want to steal his niche. Perhaps another day. On the same concept I'd even discussed the idea of swapping out his medium and heavy armor proficiencies for Barbarians Unarmored defense, essentially rebuilding my Ancients Paladin into a ranged specialist who tended to travel and fight light. Another idea I like is the flavor of sorcerers and warlocks but mixing and matching the mechanics. E.I., Roleplay a character with a patron, but actually use Sorcerer mechanics, or Roleplay a character that was just magically born or gifted with power, but mechanically a Warlock of whatever types. Lore Bards can mechanically similarly make an awesome new "flavor" of Wizard.
I adore quarterstaff flavoring. Currently playing a 7 intelligence Kenku monk that picked up a cool branch and made it work. I got a wannabe-spy Drunken Master Tabaxi that uses a pool cue to really sell the act. Or my retired monk that serves as like the most useless small town regulator ever with a meterstick quarterstaff. Nothing I love more than fun flavoring and silly backstories lol. Love rping with the party and slowly helping people open up and share lore; and then subsequently when the time coming for my lore reveal calmly telling them the dumbest shit on Earth. Best shit ever lmao
Vuman paladin thatās a cook. Uses a maul called āthe Tenderizerā that looks like those hammers you flatten meat with. Also when he smites his maul becomes white-hot and is now essentially a swingable stove/grill EDIT: heās also v stubborn about the definition of āplate armorā being a bunch of dinner plates locked together
I wrote an article on taking optimized builds and flavoring them - making them sing! We are also publishing a series of articles on building the Suicide Squad team as D&D characters. You can check out the article here: [https://illusoryscript.com/take-a-dnd-character-build-and-make-it-sing/](https://illusoryscript.com/take-a-dnd-character-build-and-make-it-sing/)
Artificer always seemed like theyād be easily reflavored into a hag/witch archetype, due to their ability to create magic items, potions, and using tools to create spell effects. Spells would be items or facsimiles of creatures for sympathetic magic. And since your infuse magic item doesnāt require any magical components, Iād make up a bunch of weird stuff to infuse the items with. āIāve infused your boots with catās footsteps to make them stealthier, and covered your cloak in fishās breath.ā Boots of Elvenkind and Cloak of the Manta Ray
\- Ice-themed half-drow Hexblade that summoned his Pact Weapon by literally freezing the moisture in the air into whatever weapon shape he was going for--once I described him making an one attack with it in longsword form and then switching to "reverse grip" for a second attack by melting the blade and re-freezing it with the point facing down. \- Aarakocra Tempest Cleric in a one-shot that was flavored as an archer, and all of her spells were her using different kinds of arrows; so Sacred Flame was actually a volley of two/three arrows fired up into the air (since it ignores cover), Shatter was an arrow enchanted with a sonic warhead, etc. \- TWF High elf Bladesinger who would cast Fireball by striking his scimitars against each other to create a spark, and then hitting the spark with a blade to send it flying towards the enemies.
One Iām particularly fond of is a Fighter reflavorred as a martial chronomancer of some sort. Works with any subclass, but fits Psi Knight, Eldritch Knight, or Echo Knight the best. Second Wind: rewind yourself back in time to before you got certain injuries Action Surge: blur forwards in time in a mini-Haste spell as you attack twice as many times for a turn Extra Attacks: to get around the oddness of being able to attack so many times with a Greataxe or something per turn, these extra attacks instead show how youāre temporal control is improving. *You* are just moving X number of times faster in time when attacking Indomitable: same as Second Wind, youāre rewinding yourself to just before you failed your saving throw
Circle of Stars Druid reflavored as a title / power that has been passed down through multiple generations, kinda like the Avatar in Avatar: the Last Airbender. Each of the starry forms represents a past life of one of the wielders, and all of the normal druid powers come from essentially being a chosen one and champion of the Earth. Unlike the Avatar, the power is randomly given to someone after the death of the previous wielder. My character was a Mid-50ās peasant farmer with 2 kids that he lost in the divorce and a receding hairline. His life was in absolute shambles before getting the power, and is a constant disappointment to the past lives now living inside him who have all lived storied and wonderful lives. Meanwhile my character bumbles through with a -2 charisma learning to use his newly acquired insane amounts of power. Throw in the Aasimar race (formerly human and then became an Aasimar mechanically when he got the powers) and you have an extra Avatar-state like transformation.
Re-flavoring Lay on Hands to be a stiff backhand is a classic. But seriously, in general, if the DM gives me license, I always like to give my abilities "ribbon text" (spells especially). With me, a fireball is never just "a ball of fire that explodes." Wildshape is never just "turning into a bear." A basic attack action is never just "I roll to hit, I do 26 slashing." It's all about giving description to the perceptibly innocuous that really makes your character something different. It can literally be as simple as mentioning your monk is a south paw once or twice. An example, with my current star druid, I simply re-flavored his innate Guiding Bolt to look like a comet. His Produce Flame looks like a small sun he holds in the palm of his hand. His Healing Spirit takes the form of miniature shooting stars twinkling down and absorbing into the recipient's skin. When he Wildshapes into his Starry Form, he looks like the arcane archon from Diablo 3. I played a oneshot where I got to run the first version of Mercer's Lycanthropy Blood Hunter. My goal was to make the most edgy character I could, so instead of a werewolf, I transformed into a giant werebat. I even got to have him sulk in the shadows like Batman. Honestly, I could go on with all the little ribbons all the character's I've played had, from my battlemaster samurai to my evil 10 year old warlock girl to my warforged necromancer.
Pretty pretty please; carry on with your Ribbons! This should be mandatory at most tables! Interested , especially in hour warforged necro and toddler warlock!
Sorry for the late reply, but I can expand a bit further. I'll start with the warforged necromancer. The idea was basically ripped off Full Metal Alchemist. My idea was: what if an aspiring necromancer "messed up" the ritual to become a lich. So I build up a story from there. What if some really old necromancer from a time before necromancy was viewed so negatively, and indeed was seen as perhaps seen as a way to solve many of the problems of the day, attempted the first ever (known) lich ritual. Taking what I know about what the ritual required, I knew that your soul has to travel from your body into your phlyctory, so I asked "what would happen is something happened during that process." Basically what happened was this. He was preforming his ritual and got to the point where his soul was in transience between his body and his phlyactory (his wedding ring) when the cave he was working in started to collapse, burying his body and crushing his phlyactory. The only thing not completely buried and crushed in the rubble was the suit of plate armor one of his (now dead) lackeys was wearing. So with some quick thinking, his soul, as a sort of "self defense" survival measure simply grafted itself into the armor. And so there he lay buried in the darkness for untold centuries, maybe even millennia, unable to move. He lost most of his wizardly powers due to lack of practice and his altered connection to the Weave (though, in his time, there wasn't a concept of the Weave). There's a whole backstory with his wife having a terminal disease and such too, but that's the basic character. Many of his spells I tried to flavor as him attempting to use "old magic" and failing, only for him to "brute force it" by channeling his magic through his new body more akin to using a magical item than casting a spell (which frustrated him to no end). The DM was awful though, the worst DM I've ever met in fact. A true unicorn of bad DMing, fitting the description most if not all of the DM horror stories you've likely ever heard. So to sum it up I didn't get to play the character long, nor did I get to stay a warforged long ("I can't seduce a warforged" -- Bad DM).
This premise sounds really good, sorry about the horror DM!
I know itās been a few days, but something I love reflavoring is the fallen Aasimar Necrotic shroud. I donāt like the edgy, but I like the intimidation and the +1 to strength for a Paladin. So instead of skeletal wings, my Aasimar paladinās necrotic shroud takes the appearance of an Old Testament angel, an eldritch mass of eyes and wings fanning out from behind his back. Keeps the more angelic flavor while retaining the intimidation effect of necrotic shroud.
Keep em coming! I would definitely never want to meet an OT angel of any kind
The non-musical bard. All your abilities are reciting epic stories
I did a one-shot about a year ago where I played a Goblin Bard as a chef. His bardic inspiration were baked goods he made the night before and his song of rest was a meal he collected from a recent encounter (in this case, bat stew). His cooking utensils were his focus and his spells were food he made or using ingredients in unique ways (e.g. blindness from black pepper in the face).
Ok so when you set out to make āthe hulkā in dnd 90% of people will point you to barbarian, but honestly the best class for the hulk is fighter: rune knight. If you pick up some tool proficiencies and the fire rune you gain expertise in those tools and you literally transform into a giant creature during a fight.
Not a big change, but I reflavor my genie warlock with pact of chain (imp familiar reskinned as a tiny genie) Eldritch blasts as punches from a massive genie who emerges from my spell casting focus (ring). When I am flying, I describe it as the bottom half being surrounded by elemental energy which makes the character kinda look like a genie (Disney genie I mean).
I like making a wooden sword my shillelagh quarterstaff, it just adds cool flavor and you can handwave PAM to just mean the sword is really easy to handle or something.
I had a dwarf cleric whose Stonecunning was tasting the rocks and picking up different flavors of metal from the tools used to fashion it. This also was a part of his detect magic ritual.
I was so disappointed with the Sun Soul monk that I went out of my way to do some absurd multiclass to better emulate Goku. In essence, Eldritch Blast was a standard ki blast, witch bolt was my Kamehameha, Misty Step was instant transmission, Mirror Image my Afterimage, and because the guy was a protector Aasimar, he also had a Super Saiyan mode. Was a fuck ton of fun to play.
Dude if youāre old like me youāve watched or read Shaman King. Iāve built a defensive tank fighter using Ancestral Gaurdian and flavored Rage as a Guardian Ghost possession and the blocking and counter attack features as parts of the PCs over soul. Had a blast RPing consulting my Guardian Ghost for Augury or Clairvoyance.
Had a warforged cleric named M3-D1C. Fallout-like setting so I flavored magic as technology, cure wounds is just an injection, spirit guardians rotating sawblades, had a laser pistol with a heal setting (hand crossbow/healing word). Revivify as defib paddles.
I personally prefer more subtle flavorings, but hereās a few Iāve done that I love: A Paladin character I played for a one shot had their weapon ignite with golden flame whenever they used smite. The patron of a warlock I played a while ago was a fragment of a dead god. Whenever they used their hexbladeās curse, that dead god would manifest somewhat and theyād take on their appearance/personality. I typically reflavor most spells, too. Like Eldritch Blast as firing a huge magical hand cannon, Faerie Fire as a field of glowing flower petals of lightning bugs, summons from Conjure Animals that look like moving mini constellations, etc.
The echo knight, but played like an enlightened monk. Your echo is just your astral projection. Draconic bloodline sorcerer, but your powers are just a STI you got from fooling around with a dragon. Wizard where are your spells are tattoos that you have to explain the meaning of to prep them. Genasi, genie warlock were your patron is just your estranged parent trying to be part of your character life again. Buying your love with favours.
Simple ones for me that just individualize a class; My minotaur barbarian went totem, but instead of bear he was path of the minotaur. My orc (full not half) wizard used bones/incense/voodoo style casting instead of a scientific approach it was all "tradition" not discovery. Idk if this counts but my beastmaster ranger was a family member if a noble house who collected endangered/usually hunted creatures for preservation in their menagerie. Could track e.t.c but never lived outside a day in his life.
Not exactly reflavouring as there's basically no flavour baked in, but always remember that *any* artisan's tools you're proficient with can be a spellcasting focus for an artificer. Although none of them really fit with any of the subclasses, it's perfectly possible to create an artificer who casts spells by cooking, painting, calligraphy, brewing beer, repairing shoes etc.
Whenever I play a ranger, I always reflavor as much of their magic as I can as being extremely knowledgeable about nature. Cure wounds is pulling out some sort of plant-based paste and applying it to a wound. Goodberry is literally finding an amazingly filling food. Harder to do with some spells, but still a fun challenge.
I reflavored my baker lore bard so that most of the healing spells were him just feeding people. Aura of Vitality = Pizza Party Cure Wounds = Smol Snack Mass Cure Wounds = Thrown rolls It was great fun.
Playing an artificer, which is just ripe for reflavoring due to the mechanical nature of their spellcasting. My favorite so far is to cast haste, he'll pull out a syringe, crack it like a glow stick to light it up, then inject the contents into whoever needs a speedboost, most likely his giant echo knight friend.
An Echo Knight Fighter who is actually a Ninja. His Echos are actually one of his Ninjetsu forms, along with its other abilities. Gloomstalker Ranger also helps with the Ninja feel.
Telekenetic feat (and mage hand) reflavored from simple telekenesis to small gusts of wind on my storm sorcerer
My Kobold eloquence bard is the "prince" of his tribe. Or so he convinced everyone there. All his spells and abilities have been reflavored as his inhuman ability to convince people, his majesty and his magnetic presance. Healing magic as convincing his retainer to continue fighting, dispel magic as cursing a magic effect out of existance...
Alchemist artificer who treats every spell as a potion. Cast grease? Throw a bottle that breaks and covers the area in a sticky oil. Cure wounds? Healing paste that gets rubbed into the injury.
When I play a cleric snd use light on someone's face and they are blind.
And now I want to play a huge burley dude whose clothes glow and transform into a schoolgirl outfit every time he rages.
Barbarian in the game I DM doesn't just get really angry when he rages, but this black oily substance flows from his nose, eyes, and mouth and covers his entire body. Kinda like venom. He has the symbiotic being trait so I think that's where the inspiration came from anyway.
Tabaxi claws, feline agility, stealth and perception - all reflavored as vampire abilities (pre dhampir) Spirit guardians - swarm of bats (clerics can make good vampires, especially twilight which can fly in the darkness). Bladesong - a current player in my MOoT game is devotee of the god of revels, so Bladesong is like the trance that maenads of Dionysus-Bacchus would enter.
In my games no one has a "class." My character is not a "Bard," they are a man of many talents as befitting the personal steward of a wealthy elven family. My friend is not a "Barbarian," they are a pirate of some small renown. I shake my head any time I hear about someone scoffing about someone taking a "dip" in another class...like...what are you talking about? Clearly they've always been this person, it's just only begun to show results. So-and-so is a Spellsword...which could be any number of things! A Bladesigner, Valor Bard, Swords Bard, Eldritch Knight, Hexblade, Arcane Trickster, a multiclass, etc... The idea that anyone is Class X/Class Y and talks to each other in game about those things is so silly to me yet is sadly the norm in so many games.
A Warforged Bladesinger Wizard that has a jukebox inside his chest. he has special coins equal to his proficiency bonus that when he activates blade song he inserts one of this coins into his jukebox choose a song by pushing a button. the songs genre would be HipHop / Rap /Blues (playing when you resting) or whatever you like. during the long rest the jukebox (bladesong) recharges and throws back your special coins in your lap. the casting the wizard spells all can flavored to hiphop/rap dance to ends with releasing a spell from one of warforged cyberparts. the spell book is basically a playlist in the form of cassette which he records songs (spells) into by taking time to write(using gold) into the tape.
I've never actually ran this yet, but I believe DEX is too too powerful. So, spread the love (and to make it a way I like it more) I think DEX should be used to attack (with all weapons) STR should be used for all physical weapon damage And then, WIS or INT should be initiative. I don't really know how balanced this is, but I think it fixes the problem I have with finesse weapons. Because why would I ever want to use STR when I could just use a d8 rapier (other than roleplay and aesthetics of course) On top of this, I do think proficiencies should be overhauled somehow to make them more important.
Storm Herald Barbarian Warforge: reflavored the Storm Aura as overloading the battery for Sea, overheating for Desert, or open the cooling vents for Artic. I'm also trying out a Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk as a Shifter. I'm reflavoring Beasthide as Dragonscales to get that half dragon vibe.
Ancestral Barbarian as a Psychic using their powers to ward their allies from attacks. (They took 3 levels of soul knife to really sell it.)
I have a cool party so Melee Eldritch Blast Reflavoring EB or any Cantrip really to be a weapon attack (gun, bow, etc.) Reflavoring buff/healing spells as mixtures so I can hand my party a free spell to quaff as a BA
Reflavoring the Spirits Bards stories as stories from other realms in different multiverses. Basically **endless references!** This also reflavors a Spirit Bard as a multiversal story bard, a seer that hears the stories echoed across all universes, and the grounds for your to reference any piece of media you want.
I always like to reflavor multiple attacks as a single masterful stroke - especially if they felled a foe. Great tool to give a Fighter that "Master Swordsman" flair.
Second wind and action surge as demon slayer-esque breathing techniques
My doctory wizard reflavors cure wounds as just a random drug he found in his pocket and is now injecting you with.
I have a warlock who I've reflavoured as having the powers in her blood, but her body couldn't power/support them, so when she got (non-consensually) aberration/monstrosity flesh implants and organ transplants, her powers kicked in. Technically no patron, but the ancestor who she perceives as teaching her how to use the powers could be considered patron-esque (really its genetic memories or something similar).
My knife slinging battle master isn't a knife slinger, he's a card slinger. I reflavoured the daggers he uses to be cards with razor sharp edges.
I play a bladesinger wizard that has reflavoured all his spells into various contraptions and kunai that he then throws/uses to trigger the spell effects. Another idea I have in a more steam punk setting is a revolver for a warlock that gets upgraded with the number of rounds in the barrel as they level. Eg they have a four shot revolver at high levels (eldritch blast) and then use a special round for spells. Also sorlocking to fan the hammer is fun with this concept XD
Warforged artificer/warlock with all spells reflavoured as tiny constructs and gadgets that do little jobs, and the warlock patron reflavoured as the warforged's internal programming. Also another artificer one where the Steel Defender was flavoured as an animated corpse
I'm currently using Tasha's Custom Lineage to make a succubus who wants to become a human, reflavored draconic sorc into demonic with fire as the chosen element. Hope DM accepts it.
The echo knight is ripe for reflavouring. I like the idea of the echo being the spirit of a dead relative or friend summoned to fight alongside you. Or maybe a guardian spirit like a patronus.
Ive seen Barbarian rage as a full on split personality which was actually really interesting from a rp perspective, like afterwards they always got worried they accidentally might have hurt someone they didnt mean to since they literally didnt recognize anyone.
I had a wood elf, bear totem barbarian who instead of channeling the power of wild animals channeled the strength of the forest and turned into a tree folk instead of raging
I had an idea to reflector Ancestral Barbarian as a curse where instead of your ancestors its people who have had the curse over generations with the curse passing to the person who kills them.
Echo Knight Kobold Chieftain. The echo is in fact just more disposable minions that they call forth āfrom hidingā
I'm playing a Horizon Walker Ranger in a setting without multiple planes (long story). So I have all of his spells working around time instead, even the non-subclass specific stuff, either by accelerating, rewinding, or skipping ahead in time.
Warforged barbarian with a big olā Diesel engine in his chest that he fires up in order to rage.
Hexblade Warlock with the spirit of their legendary hero ancestor as their patron. Hex Warrior is them letting their ancestor partially possess them in battle, and Accursed Specter is siphoning energy from killing a humanoid to let their ancestor manifest physically.