D&D + MtG Homebrew Question

>>50035255
If you're making your entire party planeswalkers - which, if you're making some of them planeswalkers, you should have ALL of them be planeswalkers, because otherwise some of them are just plain stuck on their homeplane - then just give them the ability to planeshift for free, start them at L3ish, and DON'T take anything away.
If you want to give them spells, give them their choice of (appropriate number, wasn't there a feat that does this?) spells, and again, don't bother taking anything away for this. Or maybe just a free feat of their choice, noting that maybe going with magic is a Very Good Idea. Just give it to them.
You can always throw more/harder stuff at them if they end up being too strong, after all.
Also, Jace is a wizard, not a sorcerer. With nothing but Illusion and Enchantment spells prepared.

>>50035354

They were basic examples, but I can see your point.

The only things I was going to take away were going to be the paths/oaths/traditions/whatever, in favor of a new one focused on Planeswalker magic.

Planeshifting was going to be free, that's the tradeoff for the "only me" limitation (as opposed to bringing others or banishing others as Plane Shift is written).

I see Magic Initiate as a feat, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I was thinking something more along the lines of an extra 3 spells at each level per color, and based on the player's colors, they can pick 1 spell of any level they'd be able to learn spells for (similar to domain spells for 3.5 Clerics, it's in addition to their normal casting). This feels like it would be better as a racial modifier. I still feel something should be lost in exchange, even if it's minor racial benefits.

Also, I'm building it because I'm bored, fascinated, and a little bit obsessed. Stuff happened in my life recently and I don't have much to do, so now seemed like a good time. But I'd like to use this in a campaign at some point soon after it's finished to playtest.

>>50035491
>Planeshifting was going to be free, that's the tradeoff for the "only me" limitation (as opposed to bringing others or banishing others as Plane Shift is written).

Pardon my ignorance, but doesn't the whole premise of MtG involve summoning shit from different plains of existence to do your bidding or something like that? How are you going to model this if they can't bring other shit with them?

File: image.jpg (68KB, 500x662px) Image search: [Google]

68KB, 500x662px

>>50035255
Personally I'd use GURPS to make a MtG table top but if you have to use 5th edition D&D make sure everyone is a planeswalker to balance it out.

>>50035636

That falls under summon spells. But they can't blatantly go plane-hopping and bring guests post-mending. They have to learn spells another way to do that.

>>50035659

I'd be willing to give that a shot, but I really don't want to try homebrewing a system I'm unfamiliar with. From what I've seen here on /tg/, GURPS is a good system but a little heavy on the entry-level side of things from a rules knowledge perspective. I've never had a group interested, so I haven't played it.

I would say exalted wouldnt be a half bad choice for this.

>>50035255
The main two abilities planeswalkers have are being able to Planeshift at-will, and the ability to Comprehend languages no matter where they travel.

It works much better as a template on top of a standard character.

The other big benefit planeswalkers get, at least in the MTG universe, is a lot more access to Mana bonds and different spells to learn. A non-walker can at most bond with the mana on their own plane and only ever learn spells that have been discovered there, and most mages don't have a very large variety there. Planeswalkers can draw mana from all the planes they've been to, and learn a whole library of spells from wherever they go.

For comparison, a non-walker caster in the MTG universe probably caps at around level 5, outside of legendaries, while planeswalkers would go up much higher in terms of raw power and versatility.

Also, Gideon should probably be a Paladin, as he does possess some knowledge of magic, even if he prefers hitting things.

Jace would also fit better as a Psion, though lacking rules I would make him a Wizard just so he's INT based rather than CHA.

The rest fit perfectly.

>>50036328

See, the different spells thing... I'm thinking that offering three different spells that all fit the flavor of the color and doing it as I stated before (similar to the free domain spell Clerics got in 3.5) is probably the way to go. I don't see a better way of handling casting for Walkers.

>Gideon and Jace
Again, they were only examples I was tossing out. But Paladin might fit Gideon's anti-damage ability a little better flavorwise. Jace just needs some sort of telepathy magic.

Another thing, I'm thinking Planeswalkers should have an effective level higher than the character level if things are getting added with nothing removed. Like, adjust ECL +2 or something. Anyone agree/disagree? I'm trying to make it possible to balance in a normal group, so, for example, if the group started at level 4, the Walker would start at level 2 (if my ECL adjustment was right).

>>50036396
Planeswalkers are kind of weird to try and include in a party with non-walkers, since they can easily leave. Realistically, a Planeswalker will also quickly outstrip most non-walkers in terms of ability.

Unless the walker has just done their first planeswalk and is super inexperienced, there are very few things that can threaten them. Anything they can't handle with all their magical prowess they can run away from. If it's something they really need to defeat then they can spend the time learning to summon something bigger or finding an artifact to solve the problem.

Having a Planeswalker in the party is a bit like sticking Green lantern alongside some navy seals. Yeah, the seals are tough and can handle a lot, but the Green Lantern has a much wider variety of options, much more raw power backing them up, and the ability to fly into space or to other planets to retreat and regroup.

That's the sort of disparity you're dealing with.

Honeslty, an MTG game is better anyway when you focus on one. Either everyone is a walker, which means they can explore the multimeter together and any threats are things that threaten entire planes, or they're all non-walkers, which means you can have smaller scale conflicts and explore a single plane in more depth.

Trying to mix them just means the Planeswalker will soon be solving everything while the others hang around, until somethi g that threatens the walker shows up and the others get crushes.

Its not the sort of thing that was meant to be balanced, and forcing balance on it will just feel weird.

>>50036483

That's the thing I'm starting to realize, which is my reason for bringing up the ECL thing, as a way of essentially forcing a planeswalker to be a lower level than the rest of the group for the sake of balance. If all that was added was the personal Plane Shift, Comprehend All Languages, and a couple of bonus spells (1 per level, chosen from the color list(s) of that Walker), would they really still be unbalanced in that party if they were 2 or 3 levels behind? I don't think this would affect the player's experience, either, they'd still have options and 2 levels isn't a huge difference. (Not as much as it was in 3.5, for sure.)

>>50035255
Gideon is an Abjurant Champion Fighter, I'd say.

Other than that, not too far off, but I wouldn't give them anything super-special beyond the ability to cast Plane Shift (self only) once per short rest, just choose their spell selection from the thematically appropriate schools.

>>50036509
Think of it more like this. Lets say you have the Planeswalker at level 2, fresh from their first walk. And a few level 4 harasses of various classes.

Things might continue okay for a bit, but you run into the issue where the level 4s will reach a level of magic they really shouldn't have. Around level 8 or so they'll basically be paragons of whatever class, and going past 10 will start putting them on par with gods and archdemons. Any spellcastwrs among them will basically have mana bonds with most of the plane just to fuel their spells.

As for the planeswalker, having an extra bonus spell or two doesn't really fully describe the extent to which they get things. Being able to get mana bonds from multiple planes effectively means a landslide has much more raw power available to them. If you use the spellpoint variant to keep track of how much everyone has, very little stops the landslide from journeying around in their free time and pumping that up past what it should be. Spells are in a similar vein. Just by going around and studying different creatures, spells, or even rare but mundane events, they can learn even more spells.

It'ss going to be very hard to justify the Planeswalker always being 2 steps behind when they have the potential for faster advancement as well as a higher theoretical cap.

While you can just have them continuously get stronger, its going to be odd once you're fighting Eldrazi that only Planeswalkers have a hope of beating and the party soldier is punching better than a legendary sea monster.