Introduction

When homebrewing in 5e sometimes you come across the problem of whether a concept has enough of an identity to be its own class or if it should be a subclass. And maybe there is a strong enough identity there for it to be its own class but it has so much overlap with another class that it doesn’t feel like it’s own. Or maybe it’s just for a character concept that can’t quite be achieved through multiclassing.

Well what if there was a homebrew option that could solve this? Well I can’t promise that character kits will solve all of these problems all the time, but it’s an interesting option to consider.

So what is a character kit?

A character kit is a set of modifications to a class that a character can choose that act as a give and take. They give the class a distinct identity while not changing the core aspects of the class or disrupting its compatibility with its subclasses.

The idea of a character kit is not new and neither is it mine. It comes from D&D second edition. And even though it is a concept from a previous edition it works quite well in 5e, I have made some before and even prepared a few as examples here.

Character kit examples

You will probably notice each of these kits has a holy theme, while this was unintentional and I only realized it after preparing them, it does show how kits can be used to greatly expand player freedom in a restrictive campaign theme such as being members of a divine order.

1. Holy assassin (rogue)

A discrete warrior of the church, they take care of zombies, demons, and worse without the public ever suspecting.

Benefits:

Channel divinity At level one you gain the cleric ability channel divinity and can use it to turn undead. When you use your Channel Divinity you must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again. You do not gain more uses of this ability as you gain levels in this class.

Cleansing strike Starting at first level, when you successfully use your sneak attack feature against a fiend or undead your sneak attack dice become d10 for that attack and the attack's damage becomes radiant.

Destroy undead When you reach 5th level in this class you gain the cleric feature destroy undead. This feature improves as you level up as shown on the cleric class table

Religion proficiency You gain proficiency in the religion skill

Hindrances:

At first level you do not gain expertise or thieves cant, in addition you gain one less proficiency

2. Holy lance (paladin)

A divine guardian who operates at a distance, picking off foes with strikes guided by their god.

Benefits:

Ranged smite You may use your divine smite and smite spells on ranged attacks with; spears, javelins, short bows, and longbows.

Fighting style options When you choose your fighting style at second level, the following options are added to the list you pick from.

• Archery. You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

• Ranged protector. When an ally within 60ft of you becomes the target of a ranged attack you may use your reaction to use your ranged or thrown weapon to intercept the attack reducing the attack roll by 1d8. You may expend a spell slot to increase the amount of dice rolled to reduce the attack roll by 1d8 per level of the spell slot. To intercept a ranged spell attack you must expend a spell slot.

Banners Each aura you get as a paladin is attached to a holy lance rather than originating from you. When you roll for initiative you may throw these lances up to 120ft to a space that you can see (no action required). If you lose these lances or they are destroyed you may perform a one hour ritual over a short or long rest to cause them to appear as new before you.

Hindrances:

Your hit die becomes a d8 for this class and you cannot wear heavy armor

3. Evangelist (bard)

A preacher and orator who specializes in healing through the power of their god.

Benefits:

Strength in faith Starting at level one whenever you cast a spell that restores hit points or gives temporary hit points, that spell restores twice as many hit points or provides twice as many temporary hit points.

Recited verses Beginning at third level you gain a bonus to religion checks equal to your charisma bonus

Enemy of evil At level three you have advantage on Charisma checks against any; aberrations, fiends, and undead, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and you can't be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. you also learn abyssal, infernal, or deep speech.

Spellcasting focus You may use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus

Hindrances:

You do not gain expertise at third level

Love thy enemy Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage, each target is considered resistant to that damage unless they were already immune.