How to Build a Great Homebrew Subclass in D&D 5e: Features, Interaction Types, and Level Scaling
- Dec 12, 2025
- 15 min read
Picture the way Iron Man turns a regular human into a walking arsenal, or how a Witcher-style upgrade can change the entire feel of a fighter. That’s what a subclass does in Dungeons & Dragons 5e: it reshapes how your main class plays, and it’s a big reason players gravitate toward a few favorites again and again.
There are many subclasses for each main class (fighter, druid, ranger, etc.) within Dungeons & Dragons 5e. Each subclass gives the player a new way of playing their main character class. An example is the Eldritch Knight, which provides the fighter with magic. Among these subclasses, there are favorites that each player tends to choose consecutively. The reason is that the favorite subclasses strengthen the main class and provide features that grow as the player levels up.
The Circle of the Moon subclass for the druid is the most commonly played subclass among all the druid subclasses because Wild Shape allows the player to choose a creature CR ⅓ the druid level. A good subclass is one that contains features that can be used constantly, and that grow as the players level up. Below is an example of a good and bad subclass feature, as well as why.
Bad Subclass Ability:(Rogue Assassin) Assassinate ability
The Assassinate ability gives the rogue advantage on attacks if the creature did not have a turn yet, and it makes the rogue critically hit when the creature is surprised. Having advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not taken their turn yet is a good aspect of the Assassinate ability. However, that is only applicable if you rolled high in initiative.
The other piece of the Assassinate ability is the critical damage to surprised enemies. Being able to critically damage a surprised monster is an amazing ability. However, in a campaign, the likelihood of you being able to surprise the boss—or even surprise most encounters—is slim to none. The surprise crit ability will probably only happen once or twice in the campaign.
Good Subclass Ability: (Druid Circle of the Moon)
Circle Forms AbilityCircle Forms allows the druid to change the Wild Shape feature from a static progression (2nd Level: CR 1/4, 4th Level: CR 1/8, 8th Level: CR 1). The “Circle Form” ability changes the CR rating to 1/3 of your Druid class level. Meaning a 20th-level druid can turn into creatures up to CR 6 beasts.
A CR 6 beast is a mammoth that has an HP of 126. In contrast, a CR 1 beast like the dire wolf has an HP of 37. The “Circle Form” ability allows the druid to be more of a tank and doesn’t stagnate the druid’s Wild Shape to just CR 1 creatures at level 8.
Using Dungeons & Dragons 5e built subclasses from Wizards of the Coast is fun for a little while; however, it gets boring. As a dungeon master, you may consider developing your subclasses. However, you need to learn how to create a subclass, and what features are good in a subclass.
Regarding Dungeons & Dragons, subclass features fit within four categories: Combat, Environmental Interaction, Social Interaction, and Explorative Interactions. In the blog post, I will cover all the interactions and what main classes (fighter, druid, ranger, etc.) already have features associated with each category. I am also going to provide a guide on how to build good and proper subclass features.
Interaction Types
As a Dungeons & Dragons player, there are 4 categories of interaction that each player will deal with as they play a campaign. In this section, I will discuss the different categories of interactions and what class best fits each. For each class, there will be a rating of 1 - 3, with a 1 being that the class feature is terrible for the interaction and a 3 is that they have features that are great at it.
Environmental Interaction:
Environmental interaction is when the player needs to navigate different environmental terrains such as rivers, hills, tunnels, sand, and volcanoes. When it comes to environmental interactions, the players will need to either make dexterity, strength, perception, or investigation ability checks or saving throws. Mobility is another factor in environmental interactions. For example, climbing a mountain or walking in a forest may be considered rough terrain, meaning that the player can only move half their distance.
When it comes to combat, environmental interactions are associated with rough terrain, which forces the player to move at half their movement speed. Other hazards include areas like acid or volcano pools that require players to move around them and use their movement speed carefully. For a class to be great at environmental interactions, they need to have a high movement speed (like the monk at 60), or they need to be able to move through rough terrain as if it is normal (like the ranger).
When it comes to repercussions for a player with environmental interactions, damage or exhaustion is a major issue.
Exploration Interaction:
Exploration interactions are a category that associates with a player wanting to gather information or navigate an area. Such exploration interactions are navigating a dungeon, trailing an enemy, or infiltrating a castle. For exploration interaction, the player either makes dexterity, wisdom, intelligence, or charisma ability checks. They may also need to make a lot of saving throws due to traps.
When it comes to repercussions to exploration interactions, the base or area will be on high alert. The player will receive damage from traps. Or they will lose time, be captured by the enemy, or be captured by a monster.
Combat Interaction:
Combat interaction is the most common interaction within Dungeons & Dragons. When it comes to combat, it requires the players to go in order based on a feature called initiative. When it comes to combat, there are 4 types of monsters: grunts, tanks, glass cannons, and bosses. The last thing you must consider is that monsters have a Challenge Rating (CR). Each challenge rating adds more and more features to the monsters.
Social Interactions:
Social interactions are all interactions that the player has with Non-Playable Characters (NPC) and monsters. NPCs can be kings, guards, merchants, blacksmiths, and anyone the dungeon master has created that has important information for the players. Social interaction will require charisma- and wisdom-based ability checks such as persuasion, deception, intimidation, or insight.
When it comes to repercussions to social interactions, the players may not get the right information. Such failures can be a bard asking a goblin where their main base is. Because of the failure, the goblin could be leading them to a trap or an ambush.
Monster Types
Grunts:
Grunts are monsters with a low challenge rating compared to the player's level. You usually see grunts with either a boss (to soak up attacks) or as a way to whittle down the player's health and spell slots before they fight the boss. In Dungeons & Dragons, a player can deal with a monster CR rating that is ¼ their player's class level. A level 1 player can defeat a CR ¼ monster.
Grunts are dangerous because there tend to be many of them in combat. Since there are a lot, the players can usually only make 1 attack per turn. A good class that fights well against grunts is one that can make multiple attacks or has an Area of Effect (AOE). Usually, grunts can be defeated in 1 turn, which means they have low health. So a class that can make multiple attacks can defeat multiple grunts. Also, having AOE to hit multiple grunts helps; a well-placed fireball can end an encounter in a single turn.
Tanks:
Tanks are monsters with a high Armor Class (AC). A high AC is anything with 17 or above. The player must roll a 17 or above to hit the monster. A player's probability of hitting a 17 AC is 4 out of 20, which is 1/5th.
Tanks are dangerous because they can keep hitting the players without being hurt themself. Most tanks also require a lot of attention from a player. This means tanks can force the party to deal with other monsters while a party member is preoccupied. A good class against tanks is other tanks, or casters that force saving throws instead of attack rolls.
Glass Cannons:
Glass cannons are monsters with a low Armor Class; however, their attacks do a high amount of damage. A common glass cannon is a spell caster, because most spells can do as much damage as 12D10s, based on the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG). Most glass cannons either have a tank or several grunts to distract the players while they do massive damage from behind the scenes.
Glass cannons are dangerous because they do major damage, which can drop players' health to 0 in a matter of 1 turn. If glass cannons are not dealt with quickly, they usually will be the ones to Total Party Kill the group. The class that is great against glass cannons is the class that can attack it first: classes that can make ranged attacks (bow/arrow, casting spells), or a class that has high mobility and can get up close to the glass cannon monster.
Bosses:
Bosses are monsters that have a high challenge rating. Bosses tend to be both glass cannons and tanks, making them very dangerous. The other feature that bosses have is lair and legendary actions. These actions allow the monsters to use more abilities, such as attacking multiple times or making a specialty attack. A good example of a legendary action is the wing attacks that dragons can do.
Bosses are the most dangerous monsters because they can do things neither of the other groups can do. If the party is not prepared, then the bosses will Total Party Kill the players in a few turns. There is no specific class that is great at dealing with bosses. Instead, it takes a good party that can work well together to defeat the monster.
Monster Levels
Challenge Ratings:
Challenge rating is the monster’s difficulty level when playing Dungeons & Dragons. A player can deal with a challenge rating of 1/4th the player's class level. This means a party of 4 players can deal with a challenge rating equal to their level. Based on experience, I have come to realize that the monster gains more abilities and features as the challenge rating goes up. I also notice similarities between groups of challenge rating levels, such as monsters between 1 - 5 challenge ratings tending to have similar abilities. Below is the challenge rating groups and some new features you should consider as your players level up.
CR 1 - 5:
Monsters can attack once
Monsters have no damage-type resistances or immunities
Monsters have no condition immunities
CR 6 - 10:
Monsters tend to have multi-attack abilities
Monsters have auras that help other monsters or damage allies
Monsters have rechargeable abilities that do major damage or cause negative conditions for the players
Monsters start having resistances and immunities to conditions (charm) and damage types (fire)
CR 11 - 15:
Monsters tend to have lairs / legendary actions
Monsters can use abilities that may cause instant death
CR 16 - 20
Monsters have all previous abilities; however, there is just more damage or more conditions they are immune to
Monsters also start to have legendary resistances, meaning if the monster needs to make a saving throw, if they fail, they pass no matter what
Building A Homebrew Subclass
For a dungeon master or a player that wants to build a homebrew subclass, the process is easy when you consider limits or common players and dungeon masters have to
Long/Short Lasting Campaign Consideration
Most campaigns either last for a single session (short-term) or multiple sessions (long-term). A short-term campaign lasts only for a single session, and the players do not level up. Long-term campaigns last multiple sessions and have a story that the players follow.
Among both long-term and short-term campaigns, each contains a session. A session usually lasts between 2 - 4 hours. Within the session, the players will have up to 2 short rests and possibly 1 long rest. A session will also contain a social, combat, environmental, and exploration interaction. So when building a homebrew subclass, you need to think about if the features will recharge on a short or long rest.
Main DND Class
The first thing you need to consider when building a subclass is what main class the subclass will be a part of. Every class has its pros and cons, such as the monk being very mobile while the fighter is a tank. Every class has strengths, weaknesses, and features that only associate with the class.
In a different blog, I have evaluated all the strengths and weaknesses of each subclass as well as their important features. Also, in this blog at the top, I have also rated the types of interactions each class excels at. You can access the class-specific reviews by clicking on this [LINK].
Feature to Consider
There are two types of features that every subclass has. First is “at will” features, which are constant features that the player can use at any time. Second is chargeable features, which—based on the name—have a limit to how many times a player can use the feature. Such charged features are like Wild Shape, which can only be used twice and only comes back after a short rest.
In this section, I am going to cover both feature types, their benefits, and how they should be developed.
At-Will Features
As mentioned, at-will features are ones that can be used at any time. One at-will feature that a subclass has is the Rogue Scout (Survivalist) feature, which gives them expertise in Nature and Survival checks. Another is the Barbarian’s Totem Warrior (Spirit Seeker), which allows them to cast “beast sense” and “speak with animals” spells at will.
If you notice, at-will features tend to either increase the player's ability checks or allow them to cast spells that help them with exploration or environmental interactions. Also, when considering giving the player at-will features, at-will features should be given when the player is able to access the subclass for the first time. For most classes that is level 3; however, druids, sorcerers, and warlocks get access to their subclass abilities at 1st or 2nd level.
Chargeable Features
Chargeable features are strong features that allow the player to do something so special they can only use it X amount of times per day. These features are limited because if they allow the player to create items or build objects, the player will most likely use the ability indefinitely.
An example of charged features is the Rogue Phantom’s (Wails from the Grave) feature, which allows them to do half damage when they do “sneak attack.” For a level 20 rogue that does 30 damage on average from sneak attacks, the phantom's ability will do an additional 15 damage. That adds up to a lot of damage if it is constant.
When it comes to building a chargeable feature, you need to think about scalability. As the player increases their class level, the ability should increase as well. Newer subclasses that have been developed are starting to use a proficiency modifier or half the proficiency modifier. Doing that is great because the proficiency modifier is not subject to the class itself, but rather the level of the player.
Once you have determined your chargeable feature, you need to determine when these charges will come back. Most of the time, the chargeable feature will come back on a long rest. However, some classes have their main abilities come back on a short rest, like the druid and the fighter’s features. So think about how the main class features recharge and try to do the same.
Subclass Abilities
When it comes to abilities, you need to consider the class level and what features the current player's base class is capable of. However, do not just think about the player's base class, but what all classes are capable of doing. In this section, I am going to cover damage-based, healing-based, and spell-based abilities you should think about, and what level they should be given.
Spell-Based Abilities
When casting spells, you need to consider: is your class able to cast that spell with their spell slot? If they can’t cast spells, then consider what another class can do at that same point.
A good example is if you want to give a rogue the wish spell: do not give it to them at level 3. Wish is a 9th-level spell, and wizards can’t cast 9th-level spells until they are 17th level. So it would be recommended that the rogue’s subclass 17th-level feature would best fit a wish spell feature.
Damage-Based Abilities
Doing extra damage is in many subclass features, and everyone wants to do more damage and take down the monsters. A great damage-increasing feature is the Phantom Rogue “Wails of the Grave” ability, which allows the rogue to do half damage from their Sneak Attack dice rolls to another creature. In total, that can be 30 damage when the player is level 20.
When I think of abilities, I consider what a wizard can cast at that level. Based on the Dungeon Master Guide (DMG), they have a list of average damage for direct and AOE-based damage per spell as presented using this LINK. I recommend following that guide when it comes to building a damage-based ability.
Healing-Based Abilities
If you want to build a subclass feature that does additional healing, I would recommend allowing the player to provide little healing and have it be limited and rechargeable. Else you will be dealing with a party that is always in full health. Now, if you do not want to do healing, then allow the feature to give temporary hit points. Temporary hit points do not stack, and they replace the current temporary hit points of the player.
Class Level
On average, most classes gain subclass abilities 4 times, with the exception of the fighter, which gets 5. That means that if there are 20 levels, then for every 5 class levels, the players get a new subclass feature. That means the player will get a new ability between 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16-20.
A good example is the rogue, which gets a new subclass ability at 3, 9, 13, and 17. In this section, we are going to separate the 4 different ability groups and provide recommendations on what to give the player and class.
Class Level 1 - 5
At this level, the players are still not as tanky. For most, a single hit from a spell will bring them down to 0. Such as the rogue, which at level 3 will have an HP of 21. Most monsters with a CR rating of 1/2 will do 6 damage on average, which means after 3 hits, the rogue is down.
So at this time, you should give your main feature and a secondary feature that will help them with environmental or exploration interactions.
A simple and good example of starter subclass abilities is the Champion fighter, which gives 2 abilities:
Improved Critical: is the main feature for the Champion subclass, which allows fighters to crit at 19 now. That is an amazing ability and really enhances the fighter’s fighting ability.
Remarkable Athlete: allows fighters to add half proficiency when it comes to strength and dexterity checks. Remarkable Athlete helps the fighter when it comes to exploration or environmental interactions.
Class Level 6 - 10
At this point, the player is better with their class and knows how to use their class features really well. Also, at this point, monsters are stronger and now have resistances or immunities to conditions and damage types. Monsters also get crafty at this time with auras and spells that will cause conditions or damage to the players.
So I recommend building on the player's resistance to survive, such as giving resistance to certain conditions, helping with saving throws, or helping with healing.
There are several good examples of lower mid-level subclass features:
Blessed Healing: which allows them to heal when they cast a healing spell. Celestial warlock gives resistance to radiant damage through the Radiant Soul feature.
Empowered Healing: which allows them to use sorcery points to help with healing their allies.
Class Level 11 - 15
If your players have survived to this point, that means they truly know their class and the features that the subclass provides. That also means the players have several magical items that help their class, with the most common being +1 magic weapons. For monsters, this is the stage where they gain legendary actions and are now able to do AOE damage, such as casting spells or breathing fire.
For subclass features at this level, there are two main directions to take. You can either build upon the subclass’s 3rd-level feature (such as “improved X” or “enhanced Y”), or you can further enhance what the class is already good at. If the class casts spells, improve how those spells function. If the class focuses on physical damage, improve mobility or weapon attacks.
There are two clear examples of this approach:
Build-upon feature: The Totem Warrior barbarian’s Totemic Attunement, which expands on the 3rd-level Totem Spirit feature by granting additional benefits.
Enhancing class strengths: The Rogue Scout’s Ambush Master feature, which adds half proficiency to initiative rolls, and the Evocation Wizard feature that allows the wizard to deal maximum damage when casting evocation spells.
Class Level 16 - 20
At this point, your players are now gods. When they make an ability check, on average the rolls will be 20 and above. For example, a wizard with an 18 Intelligence (+4) and a proficiency modifier (+6) gets a +10 to Arcana checks. This means a roll of 10 will, no matter what, result in a 20. At this stage, as a dungeon master, you should stop giving frequent ability checks or reduce their number, because the players will almost always succeed.
When creating a subclass feature for this tier, you need to treat the characters as gods. They should gain abilities that allow them to break or bend the normal Dungeons & Dragons guidelines.
There are two examples that exemplify high-level subclass features:
Action-breaking power: The Thief rogue feature that allows them to take two turns per round in combat or in any situation that uses initiative.
Transformative abilities: The Oath of Vengeance paladin’s Avenging Angel feature, which allows the player to transform into an angel, gain flight, and frighten every creature near them.
Final Thoughts
Using Dungeons & Dragons 5e built subclasses from Wizards of the Coast is fun for a little while; however, it can get boring once you’ve played the same favorites repeatedly. Building homebrew subclasses is a solid way to keep your table fresh, but the key is making features that fit the main class, show up regularly in play, and scale well as the character levels. If you keep recharge timing, interaction categories (combat, environmental, exploration, and social), and level-appropriate power in mind, you’ll end up with subclass features that feel good at the table across both short- and long-term campaigns.
I’ve created several homebrew subclasses of my own as well. You can check them out here:
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