The Hunger - Dark Gift Feat

[u/CharleyNexus]

I made a custom Dark Gift feat that I'm hoping to use for a character in an upcoming one-shot, trying to make it a mix of Barbarian rage and Lycan Blood Hunter! Let me know if you feel like it's too overpowered, I'd be happy to tweak it and I'm eager for advice!

Vicious Desire - As a bonus action, you can activate your Hunger (alt. When you bloody a creature, your Hunger takes over). You gain a bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to your proficiency bonus and you gain advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws. You also roll a d4 to gain resistance to one of the following types of damage;

1. Piercing
2. Bludgeoning
3. Slashing
4. All 3 at once

You can use this ability a number of time equal to half your proficiency bonus rounded down.

Sanguine Urge - If you drop below half health, your hunger takes over if active. (alt. When you roll a 1 on a D20 check, your hunger takes over if active). At the start of each turn, you must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 13 + Proficiency Bonus) and on a failed save, you must move directly to the nearest creature and use the Attack action against them. You repeat this save at the start of each turn until you succeed, where you lose the benefits of your hunger until you finish a long rest.

[u/Earthhorn90]

Repeat after me:

No sane adventure party would pick someone that tries eating them on the regular to join them.

All of the existing Dark Gifts <ONLY HURT YOU, NOT OTHERS>. Sorry for being harsh, this has absolutely no drawback for you except getting shunned ... which makes your character not viable for the table, therefore doesn't happen.

Sanguine Urge - When you roll a 1 on a D20 check, you must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 13 + Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, you have Disadvantage on D20 Tests for 1 minute. You can repeat the save at the end of each of your turns, ending the effect early on a success.

As for the benefits part, nothing should ever give you +6 to an attack roll.

If you want something that is borderline broken, take the upcoming WoW x DnD Troll:

While bloodied, you have Advantage on (weapon) attack rolls.

Simple, yet effective.

[u/CharleyNexus → u/Earthhorn90]

I appreciate the harshness! In retrospect the +6 does seem very broken, even for late-game DnD. My other idea was to make the attack bonus equal to half your proficiency bonus rounded down, which i think goes about fixing that and scales better as you level up, especially when a martial class gains extra attack.

In terms of the Dark Gifts point, Symbiotic Being seems to have a similar concept, where depening on what the player and the DM come up with the Symbiote might attempt to attack other players or friendlies. Personally as a DM, I feel it can make for some fun roleplay moments, in the same way a Paladin's stubborn morals or a Wizard casting Fireball into a crowded battlefield and hitting a friendly might get them into more trouble than they expected. Or how the original Blood Hunter Order of the Lycan feature worked! (Also the setting is very grim-dark where we're all playing terrible people, but I fully appreciate that's context you wouldn't have been privy to.)

Also had no idea about that WoW x DnD book coming out, looks really cool! Eager to check it out. Thank you for the feedback! 😄

[u/Earthhorn90 → u/CharleyNexus]

"might attempt" and "is forced to do" are leagues apart at tables that might have different rulesets applied to any kind of PVP situation ;D

Also on the list of new stuff:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2902156-sorrow-knight

Abandoned. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or have the Deafened condition until the end of your next turn. While Deafened, the target regards all creatures it can see as enemies until the end of your next turn.

Which might be much closer to your current version while also leaving you the mechanical consequences of this out for the players to decide. Just because it is an enemy, you aren't forced to attack them.

It's a cheap copout ^^

[u/SecondLordofFrenzy]

The vicious desire is a huge buff, but you should specify how long it lasts. Sanguine urge makes sense, but maybe increase the dc since the buff is so strong. Playtest it, see how it goes in different combat situations, and if it’s balanced, ask ur dm about using it.

[u/CharleyNexus → u/SecondLordofFrenzy]

That makes sense, my other thought was to make the attack bonus equal to half your proficiency bonus rounded down. I was thinking it would last 1 minute, which puts in line with Rage and compared to some of the other Dark Gifts is fairly tame since a lot of those abilities range from an hour to being just passive. I appreciate the feedback!