D&D: Five Homebrew Classes That Are Actually Fun and Playable
Homebrew Classes can be a blessing or a bane, depending on which side of them you end up on. These five are playable and fun!
D&D 5E has been out for almost a decade. And even though there’s variety spread out over 13 different classes with numerous subclasses to play from, after a while it all starts to feel a little same-y. This is why, homebrewing up your own character class feels like an inevitability. Play D&D long enough and you might think “yeah why not play someone whose whole deal is being a weird little witch” or whatever.
Incidentally, that’s how we ended up with Pathfinder’s Inquisitors and Oracles, they were just fun new ways to mess around with the classic formula. Innovation isn’t inherently a bad thing! And homebrewed stuff can be a lot of fun to play with. Buuuut there are the inevitable horror stories about things that are absolutely broken and ruin everyone’s day. Even those, however, are easy to deal with, the group just collectively says “no Carl, you can’t play that, pick something normal.”
So don’t let imagined boogeymen keep you from trying out something. You may discover your next favorite character in a homebrew class! Here are five that are a great time to play. As always, you’ll want to check with your DM/the rest of your party before you do. But these ones are highly thought of by people on the internet (maybe don’t tell them that part).
Keeper (Designed by NotTheSmoooze)
Keepers are a fun time. This homebrew class is all about forming a bridge to the spirit world, and bonding with a magical spirit companion to do all sorts of cool things. Whether you’re accompanied by a little god, a wayward spirit, or something else altogether, this class is all about the bond.
The key feature of Keeper is the Bound Companion, you have a spirit that accompanies you and grows in power alongside you. You also are a half-caster with access to a limited spell list. You can find the Keeper on GM Binder.
Disciple (Designed by Izzy)
Do you miss the Tome of Battle from 3.5E? Do you wish that your warrior could be a little more mystical without the mage-ness of an Eldritch Knight? The Disciple is absolutely for you. Disciples are all about fighting styles and ideals that inform them. Combat is an opportunity to test and refine one’s philosophy.
And the way they work is by picking a mystical discipline that grants you different techniques you can use along the way. It’s similar to Battle Master but if the Maneuvers weren’t designed by someone playing it safe for Fighters, and you gain some cool mystical abilities like Blindsense and a Preternatural Awareness that keeps you from ever being surprised along the way. Check out the Disciple on GM Binder.
Savant (Designed by LaserLlama)
Savants are a fantastic, fun support-focused class. If you’ve ever wanted to play an Intelligence-focused class that wasn’t a spellcaster, this one is for you. It’s a great way to play a Detective, a Healer, and a pretty good “Tactician” option if you like that style of play.
They very much lean into the fantasy of analyzing a foe in a moment, and being able to defeat them by outthinking them at every turn. They get different abilities that let them help the party, including having extra reactions and being able to heal party members, and they have access to a number of Scholarly Pursuits which are extra abilities that range from “you have a Falcon” to “you are a master fencer.” You can find the Savant on GM Binder right here.
Dragon Knight
It is hard to deny the appeal of being someone whose whole deal is riding around on a dragon. Add to that an unbreakable bond, nay, a legendary friendship between knight and dragon and you’ve got basically everyone’s secret fantasy that they’ve been hanging onto since they were like ten.
The Dragon Knight delivers on this—Dragon and Knight fighting as one. This is an extremely frontline melee class that plays surprisingly well. Your dragon is its own dragon that is empowered by your mystic bond, and it levels up along with your level in Dragon Knight, so this isn’t really for multiclassing unless you go crazy with it. But it’s a fantastic companion class.
You can check out the Dragon Knight right here.
Blood Hunter
Of course, Matt Mercer’s infamous sanguine-fueled romp of a class is going to be here. The Blood Hunter is indirectly responsible for the death of a beloved character (who later became the campaign’s main villain) so there’s a bit of a high bar when it comes to playing this.
But, people do indeed seem to like it.
What’s your favorite homebrew class?
