Reskinning 5e Classes Part I

It is common to see requests for new homebrew classes online in forums and comments sections. Making new classes is fun and it is exciting to bring something fresh to the table. Sometimes this is because a favorite old class is not available in the new edition (i.e. swordmage. mystic, & warlord). Other times these requests come from a desire to play in a different setting (Rokugan,  Maztica) or use a tool that is not available in the PHB (alchemist, gunslinger). But a lot of these requests can also be completed with a little bit of imagination and a lot of reskinning. By reskinning an existing class, your DM will already know how your class will fit in their game and understand the mechanics of it, but you still get the fun of playing something new.

My campaigns usually begin in an area of my setting that has a newly discovered archipelago in the ocean between the continents. I like to give my players ideas for how the classes in the book might look different in different parts of the world because anyone could end up in my starting area, so let's use this reskinning opportunity to get out into the wider world.  This time, I will be trying to bring new life to a few PHB classes through an Asian lens.

Features not mentioned are great as-is for our character and don’t even need a new name to match the new skin.

In this post, we will reskin the Barbarian and the Druid.

Barbarian ——> Samurai

You are a minor noble on a mission from your feudal lord, a wandering ronin with no lord, or a skilled peasant who is trying to become something more.

Battle Focus

First off,  we are going to reskin barbarian Rage as samurai Battle Focus. Our samurai will use her rage feature as written but instead of getting rage abilities from her insane battle lust, she can enter a state of pure situational clarity. This zen-like battle trance is difficult to enter into and maintain so she will still only be able to use it rage-times-per day and will, of course, follow all other rage rules as written.

Calculated Offense

We are going to call the Reckless Attack feature Calculated Offense. Our samurai may choose to leave herself open to attack, having made the calculation that with superior offense sometimes no defense is needed afterward.

Danger Sense 

This feature also does not need to be adjusted for our samurai. I would play this as a low-level version of Battle Focus that is always on.

Primal Path ——-> Path of Five Rings or Path of the Ancestors

Battle Instinct

The barbarian’s Feral Instinct has become Battle Instinct. This will interact with your Battle Focus the same way Rage and Feral Instinct interact.

Relentless, Persistent, and Battle Champion

These features also all work great for our re-skin as written, but we will change their names to something befitting a samurai as shown above.

Path of the Berserker ——->Path of Five Rings

Upon choosing this Path at third level, our samurai chooses to follow the teachings of Musashi Miyamoto, or an in-setting equivalent. She is now re-skinned as fighting with two full-size swords, or a katana and wakizashi. She can now do things other samurai cannot do while she is in her battle trance. She becomes a whirlwind of attacks and eventually becomes a pure intimidating presence on the battlefield because she is in complete control of her surroundings.

Frenzy ——-> School of the Two Swords

Like Musashi, our samurai now has pure freedom of movement and control unmatched by those who fight with both hands on their sword. She is not using the two-weapon fighting rules, but we have reskinned her Frenzy ability so that her bonus action attack comes from the flurry of her two weapons working together.

Mindless Rage ——-> Mindful Clarity

We are going to change Mindless Rage so that it is called Mindful Clarity. Everything else in the Path of the Berserker works as written.

Path of the Totem Warrior ——-> Path of the Kami

Upon choosing this Path at the third level, our samurai has learned to communicate with and gain guidance from lesser and nature kami. Kami can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead persons. Our samurai can now tap into the wisdom of her ancestors who were once mighty warriors.

Spirit Seeker

This feature is great as written, but we will reskin the spells beast sense and speak with animals so that they are kami sense and speak with kami. Kami are now our samurai’s allies and with the proper ritual and ancestral trinket or totem they will help our samurai accomplish her goals. They may appear as animals or translucent spirits. Work with your DM to see what they prefer.

Kami Spirit, Aspect of the Kami, and Kami Attunement

These features are fine as written as well—our samurai could be empowered by her relationship to nature kami that grant her the animal traits from the book. But while we are reskinning, let’s offer another option: our samurai has learned to connect with the kami of her venerated warrior ancestors. They will aid her in time of battle if called upon. Bear will be reskinned as Iron — the spirit of a samurai lord wearing full nanban dou gusoku, the heavy iron samurai armor granting resilience, strength, and an imposing aspect. Eagle will be reskinned as Silk— the spirit of a ninja master granting speed, eyesight, and maneuverability. Wolf will be reskinned as Spear— the spirit of an ashigaru warrior trained to fight in a formation and move silently.

This reskin makes a samurai who is a lot of fun to play. As always, if you are running a barbarian or planning to have one in your game, you want to consider the article by Colin Mclaughlin Rage Against the Barbarian.

Sun Wukong Art by Wang Xiao https://wangxiao.artstation.com/

Druid —->  Sun Wukong / Cursed Demigod

This one might sound weird but stay with me a minute. Depending on your DMs setting, you may need to change this skin a bit to fit.  This re-skin is based on the monkey king Sun Wukong himself. You don’t have to choose the monkey king as your character, you could instead be a demigod or a saint from your DMs setting who lost their power or is growing into it. Sun Wukong fits Druid perfectly.

Character Background

You are not adventuring to gain new knowledge, you are trying to get back the powers that have been stripped from you by amnesia or a curse. In the case of Sun Wukong, he made a lot of enemies and many of them could have tried to strip his powers away. Another possibility is a god could be trying to teach him a lesson by making him start over and has removed his powers and immortality. I also like druid as a class for this because it is wisdom-based. Perhaps the god he angered wants him to live another life and try to get some wisdom this time.

When you create your Sun Wukong, choose any race from the PHB and make your character as usual. We will recommend wood elf or human from the PHB races.

Druidic 

Your DM can let you know druidic or some other replacement secret language as they feel fits your new skin.

Cantrips

You are playing Sun Wukong. You have to take Shillelagh as one of your two cantrips known. 金箍棒 jīngūbàng is the name of your golden staff which you can make as small as a needle and keep behind your ear. If I was your DM, I would say casting Shillelagh allows you to make your staff appear, or change its size anywhere you like between the needle and ten foot pole— you don't have to cast it on an existing weapon. Depends on your DM: your mileage may vary.

Wild Shape

Sun Wukong is a master of transformations. He has knowledge of the “72 Transformations,” basically, he can assume any shape he likes except he cannot transform his tail. At level two, he begins to gain some of his transformation ability back. Just use the Wild Shape rules as written. If I was your DM, I would also let you change— at will—  from a humanoid-sized monkey and back again to your PHB ancestries’ appearance. No matter which shape you take with Wild Shape, you will always have a monkey’s tail.

Other Reskinning

Sun Wukong, before he was cursed,was a master of many spells. He also had golden mail, cloud-stepping boots, and other cool items and knowledge. Part of his knowledge of the “72 Transformations” is that he can pluck out hairs from his body and turn them into animals or clones of himself by blowing on them.  Any spell or item you get as you level up could easily be him regaining lost abilities.

Circles  ——->The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal or Master of the 72 Transformations

We don’t need to change anything in the Druid Circles except the names.  We will call Circle of the Land The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal and Circle of the Moon Master of the 72 Transformations because in D&D you have to choose one. But, as Sun Wukong, you are going to want to take Master of the 72 Transformations, as this gets you closer to becoming the true master from the stories. Once you get to 14th level the Thousand Forms will be very up your alley as you can now cast alter form at will.

Too bad about your tail though.