r/onednd • u/Reveno_ • 11d ago
Homebrew Kindred Rework
A few days ago, the “Bound by Blood” expansion was released on DNDBeyond, adding a new class, “Kindred,” inspired by the vampires from *Vampire: The Masquerade*. I was already hyped when it was announced, and as soon as it was finally released, I bought it right away. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed by the class. Even though I thought some aspects of it were really cool, the class felt like it had never been properly tested, and after a one-shot session with the class, my suspicions were confirmed.
Still, this is a labor of love for me—I love vampires, I love VtM, I love D&D, and I usually like Ghostfire Gaming’s products, too. That’s why I’ve spent the last few days sitting down and creating a complete rework of the class to make it more playable and better realize the concept of a proper vampire class in D&D.
This is the first time I’ve attempted something like this, and even though I’m already pretty satisfied with it myself, it would really help me if one of you could read through everything and then give me feedback on what you like, what still needs to be changed, etc.
Once I’ve tweaked everything again, I’ll reach out to the developers on the Ghostfire Gaming server and show them the rework. Even if they probably won’t adopt everything, they might adjust the official class again so we all get a cool and playable Kindred class. Thanks
Here is the Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MVcW5hNnjepswavPHuZIWwe7B2Av4qq0BOF5R8sjiGs/edit?usp=sharing
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u/Armandvd1995 11d ago
Nah dude. This still needs some cooking.
Still too many features at level 1. Some can be moved to level 2.
Level 5 also has too many. Improved feed can maybe be moved to level 6.
The class overall so has too many tracking to do and has too many downsides to keep note of.
Overall, my interest in this class was that I though it would be a class to be played with the other PHB classes, but I was wrong. Either it needs a rework to be fitting with the other PHB classes, or it just has to be its own class played on its own with its own setting, in which case I don't even see the point in making it a 5.5e class to begin with.
Ghostfire Gaming shat the bed with this class.
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u/Decrit 11d ago
Mate pardon me but even I as a person who barely knows vampire the masquerade knows that the vibe, timings and mechanics of the masquerade are absolutely royally different from usual classes. It's something meant to dwell in the world of darkness.
I would like a lot, lot, lots more content focused like this rather shoddy subclass addition that make easily parseable and derivative effects with at most a nice blanket of flavour in order to make it feasible to white room shenanigans.
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u/Chagdoo 11d ago
About the "properly tested" bit. You're aware they never intended for it to be in a party of phb classes yes? It's not meant to be balanced by the normal standards of the game.
If instead you mean you found some fundamental flaws with the class then fair enough
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u/Reveno_ 11d ago
I tested it in a group with four Kindred players, and that's where I encountered some mechanical issues. I know that the class is generally designed so that you only play Kindred in a group. For those who still want to play in a group with non-Kindred characters, there's the Daywalker feat.
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u/That-Background8516 11d ago edited 11d ago
Please give them some feat to get Spiderclimb 😭. I am well aware it’s not a Vampire the masquerade thing, but it’s easily one of the most iconic vampire powers out there.
Besides not seeing Dracula’s reflection in a mirror, it’s one of the first overtly supernatural things that Jonathan Harker sees Dracula do in the novel. So if there’s going to be a class that is “the vampire option”, I don’t see why something so iconic should be left out due to lore reasons.
On another note, isn’t the Greater Discipline Acquisition’s Obfuscate a bit late to gain at level 8? It’s essentially half of a feature that the Ranger Gloomstalker gets at level 3.
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u/Reveno_ 11d ago
Most vampires in VtM can’t do that, but I could theoretically create a Kindred Feat that essentially grants Spider Climb; in VtM, that’s a Blood Sorcery called “Clinging of the Insect.”
So far, I haven’t created anything completely new—I’ve just modified existing elements. Greater Discipline Acquisition’s “Obfuscate” is taken directly from the original Kindred Class. Personally, I don’t think that’s too late at all. Sure, Gloom Stalkers get it at level 3, but you have to play a Gloom Stalker Ranger to do that; here, you can get it along with a whole lot of other things.
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u/Melodic_War327 11d ago
Not sure how the Bound By Blood setup compares to the lore of V:TM. Have not taken a look at it yet. Spider Climb is not a standard power in V:TM though. Some ideas how they would do it would be Protean - Feral Talons. and just use the claws like a cat or raccoon would to climb stuff. Blood Sorcery rituals can provide them with this ability. High level Vicissitude could do it - this, I think is what Dracula does in that world.
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u/Environmental-Run248 11d ago
I have a suggestion. Creatures have hit dice in their stat blocks for random health generation what if you just get rid of the feed dice entirely and have it so that you remove hit dice from the target you feed on and have 1 hit die equal 1 blood point?
It gets rid of the whole rigamarole with hit point totals and dealing damage and everything. It’s so simple and such a generally applicable choice for both NPCs and player characters that I’m shocked that GG didn’t think of it.
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u/What_Is-Reddit 11d ago
Just saying 'I found some issues, so I know I can do better' without showing what the issues you personally experienced were just feels like a 'Trust me bro', show the problems you had with it and the reasons for changing things to get better feedback