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Cheezus Chroist it’s been a long time since I last posted something. My apologies.
Here is something unrelated to my Sekiro Content. I feel that reactions are seriously underutilized in 5e DnD, and once my brain gears got churning, I got some ideas for new reactions that everybody can use. After a couple of months of rewrites, and half an hour making a cover page, I offer to you a list of expanded reactions.
There are 3 new types of reactions, under which more derivative reactions can be found. The 3 types of new reactions are:
1. Ledge Grab: This reaction governs trying to grab ahold of an object when you’re falling, likely in the hopes of saving yourself. Any time you find yourself about to careen over the side of a cliff or falling through a canopy of trees, this is your opportunity to try and grab ahold of something to slow or stop your fall. You make an Athletics or Acrobatics check against a DC determined by your DM to see whether you succeed or not, and your DM determines what happens on a success or failure, depending on the circumstance. Your DM may reference the handy Target Object table for example DCs and the Circumstance next to it for circumstantial bonuses to the DC.
1.a. Grab On! is using Ledge Grab to grab for a creature instead of an object. This is most often used to save another creature who is about to or is in the midst of falling, or to try and save yourself by grabbing a grounded creature while you are about to or are in the middle of falling. Assuming the creature wants to reciprocate your grab, no grapple check needs to be made. Instead, you both automatically grab onto each other, and the grounded creature than needs to either join the falling creature in falling or make a STR saving throw to stop the falling creature from falling. Grabbing creatures who don’t want to reciprocate your grab is discussed a little later, under “You’re Coming With Me!” The DC for the STR saving throw to stop a falling creature’s fall depends on the size difference between the grounded creature and the falling creature. Creatures of the same Size use a DC of 10, and creatures of different Sizes have that number increase by 10 or decreases by 5 depending on the Size difference. Notice how the DC is 0 if the grounded creature is 2 or more sizes than the falling creature. That means stopping the falling creature’s fall will be an automatic success.
1.b. You’re Coming With Me! When attempting to grab hostile creatures, you use an obvious contested grapple check between yourself and your target. If you’re the falling creature and you win the contested grapple check, then the hostile grounded creature is on the hook for either being dragged down with you or saving themselves by stopping your fall with a successful STR saving throw.
1.c. I’ve Got You is not a variant of a Ledge Grab but instead an optional rule for a niche case when two creatures are falling together. Are you trying to make sure the other creature hits the ground first, or are you trying to protect them with your body? Either way, there has to be some way to determine who is on Top and who is on the Bottom. Due to the way falling works in 5e, it’s not often that you’ll get the opportunity to wrestle around in the air with another creature while falling, but in case you do, this section offers mechanics on how you might govern the interaction.
2. Get Back! A common trope in action flicks and kind-of in real life occasionally is the (re)act of pushing or pulling someone out of harm’s way. Here you can use your reaction to push or pull creatures within your reach up to 5 feet when you see that they are the target of something, anything at all. In probably half or more circumstances, 5 feet probably won’t make much of a difference. Which is to say, I bet you’ll probably get a lot of use out of this reaction. It’ll make positioning more important for both melee and ranged attackers, but it’s not difficult to overcome. But if you and another creature just happen to be at the edge of a fireball, it’ll make a pretty epic moment when one of you sacrifices yourself to push the other out of the way.
2.a. Watch Out! is the variant of Get Back! where you throw your whole body into pushing or pulling someone out of the way of danger. Doing so increases the push or pull distance from 5 feet to a whopping… wait for it… 10 Feet!!! Yeah, okay, not that big a deal, but it could come in pretty clutch. In exchange for this distance increase, you now move into the creature’s original space, so if that creature was the target of an attack, you become the new target of that attack. This can be a pretty useful ability for tanks and protectors.
3. Catch! Did you ever think you needed formal rules to govern how difficult it is to catch an amulet from your ally across the goblin-riddled dungeon room, or to intercept a dagger thrown at the official you’re in charge of protecting? Neither did I, until I started writing this document. Catch! declares that any Tiny object passed up to a distance of 10 feet requires no check. Otherwise, it’s a DC10 Athletics or Sleight of Hand check to catch an object (Yeah, that’s right, DEX-primary characters. I’m splitting up needed skills between two Dexterity skills. That’s what you get for being the “best” stat in the game.) Catch! establishes that there is a Normal range and a Long range for throwing items, not unlike the normal and long ranges for ranged and thrown weaponry. Most Normal ranges will vary between 20 to 80 feet depending on the creature’s Strength, and the Long range will be triple that.
3.a. Interception! That’s right! You can be a cheeky little bugger and Catch! an object not intended for you. All you have to be is in the right place and the right time, which is anywhere between the thrower and the intended catcher at the time the object is flying through the air. It’s the same DC 10 Athletics or Sleight of Hand check except you have disadvantage.
3.b. Throwing Style. DC10s are great, but what if you’re a baseball coach kicking up dirt trying to signal to your pitcher for the third time to make a different throw? The thrower at the time of throwing can choose to apply a -5, +0, or +5 modifier to the Catch! DC10 by choosing one of the three throwing styles. All of the Catch! rules so far govern only Tiny objects thrown for the purpose of being caught. Rules for thrown weapon attacks are described later.
3.c. Throw Magician. Any DEX-primary characters upset about me shafting you earlier, look here, please! If you’re proficient in Sleight of Hand, you can further augment the Catch! DC by either making it easier to catch for your intended catcher or more difficult to catch for any would-be interceptors. Combining this with Throwing Style, this means you can make the DCs for your intended catcher/would-be interceptor(s) equal to any of the following: DC 0/5, 5/10, 10/15, and 15/20.
3.d. Catching a Thrown Weapon. Simply put, the DC is higher for catching a thrown weapon. If you like variance, then make the DC 10 + the attacker’s attack bonus for any object thrown like a weapon and DC 15 + the attacker’s attack bonus for any object thrown with the thrown property (objects designed to be thrown as weapons are harder to catch than random objects thrown as weapons). So you can now catch thrown weapons. What’s the drawback? Well, if you fail your Catch!, you get hit by the attack automatically. And, if you rolled a 1 on your failed Catch!, the attack is a critical hit.
3.e. Catching Free-falling Objects. These are rules for catching an object that is falling without an intended catcher. Might happen when someone drops an object from high up or your ship fell out of the sky upside-down and everything on board is now falling. Instead of a DC10 with which you augment using styles and magic tricks, the DM determines the DC based on the circumstances. The Falling Object table gives examples of DCs.
The final page outlines 3 new feats to go along with these reactions in case you want to supercharge your new reaction powers. 5 points to Ravenclaw for the first person who can tell what the first feat’s name is a reference to.
Leuku's Balanced Homebrew for DnD 5e 