You've been there.
A player shows up to your Saturday night session with a twenty-page PDF they found on a forum. It’s a "Soul-Binding Chronomancer" or maybe a "Blood-Cursed Void Knight." It looks cool. The art is great. But three sessions in, that player is doing 400 damage while the Fighter is still just... swinging a sword twice.
That is the chaos of dnd 5e homebrew classes.
Let’s be real: Wizards of the Coast is slow. They release a new book every few months, and while the official subclasses are fine, they don’t always hit that specific itch for a specific fantasy trope. Sometimes you want something weirder. You want a class that feels fundamentally different from the core twelve. But homebrew is a minefield. For every masterpiece like Matthew Mercer’s Blood Hunter—which eventually got its own spot on D&D Beyond—there are ten thousand "DandD Wiki" disasters that will absolutely snap your game in half.
Why We Risk Our Campaigns on Unofficial Content
Dungeons & Dragons is fundamentally about the power fantasy. The core classes are designed to be "safe." They have been playtested by thousands of people to ensure that a Paladin doesn't make a Cleric feel useless. But "safe" can occasionally feel boring. If you've played 5e since 2014, you’ve probably played every flavor of Rogue under the sun.
Homebrew offers a solution. It’s the wild west of game design.
People look for dnd 5e homebrew classes because they want mechanics that match a narrative. Maybe you want to play a character who uses their own life force as a resource, or someone who builds a mechanical suit of armor from scratch. While the Artificer exists now, for years, the only way to get that "Iron Man" vibe was through homebrew.
The appeal is the "New Shiny." It’s the same reason we mod Skyrim or Elden Ring. We want to see how far the engine can go before it starts smoking.
The Red Flags of Bad Homebrew
How do you tell if a class is hot garbage? Honestly, it’s usually pretty obvious if you know where to look.
First, look at the action economy. 5e is built on a very specific rhythm: Action, Bonus Action, Reaction. If a homebrew class gives a player a way to do three things at level one that normally take a Fighter until level eleven, it’s broken. Period. No "flavor text" about how their soul is burdened by demons justifies them getting three attacks at the start of the game.
Another massive red flag is "Dead Levels."
Official classes usually give you something every time you level up, even if it’s just a new spell slot level. If a homebrew class has huge gaps where nothing happens, and then suddenly at level 6 they get a feature that lets them auto-crit, the designer didn't understand the math of the game. They were just looking for a way to make a "cool" ability.
Watch out for "Main Character Syndrome" classes too.
These are classes that try to do everything. They have high HP, heavy armor proficiency, full spellcasting, and expertise in five skills. If one character can pick the locks, tank the dragon, and heal the party, why are the other three people even at the table? Good dnd 5e homebrew classes should have a niche. They should need the rest of the party to survive.
Where the Good Stuff Actually Lives
If you’re tired of the broken stuff, you have to go where the professional designers hang out.
The "Big Three" of homebrew creators are generally considered to be Matthew Mercer, KibblesTasty, and LaserLlama. These guys don’t just throw ideas at a wall. They playtest. They have communities of thousands of people who break their classes on purpose to find the cracks.
The Blood Hunter (Matthew Mercer)
This is the gold standard. It’s so popular that most people forget it’s technically homebrew. It’s a "hemocraft" class—you hurt yourself to hurt others. It’s edgy, it’s thematic, and it’s actually somewhat underpowered in certain tiers of play, which is a sign of a responsible designer. It fills a niche that the Ranger and Paladin don't quite touch: the tortured monster hunter who uses the enemy's tools against them.
KibblesTasty’s Inventor
Before the official Artificer came out, KibblesTasty’s Warlord and Inventor were the kings of the mountain. Even now, many players prefer the Inventor because it feels more like a "mad scientist." You choose a specialization—like Golems or Potions—and you actually build things. It’s complex. It’s way more math than the standard 5e player might want, but for the right person, it’s perfect.
LaserLlama’s Alternate Classes
LaserLlama is a legend in the r/UnearthedArcana community. Instead of just making new classes, they often rewrite the ones that feel "weak." Their "Alternate Fighter" or "Alternate Ranger" adds maneuvers to every martial class. It fixes the "I just attack" problem that plagues 5e martials. If you want dnd 5e homebrew classes that feel like they were written by the original devs on a particularly inspired day, this is where you go.
The Math Problem: Why Homebrew Often Fails
Design is hard. Like, really hard.
Most homebrewers forget about bounded accuracy. In 5e, the numbers don't go that high. A +10 to hit is a massive deal. When a homebrew class starts giving out "flat bonuses" to AC or attack rolls, they are messng with the fundamental math that keeps the game playable.
Standard classes usually follow a power curve. Levels 5, 11, and 17 are "power spikes." This is when Martials get Extra Attack and Casters get 3rd, 6th, and 9th level spells. A lot of homebrewers put their big features at weird levels, like level 4 or level 9. This makes multiclassing a nightmare. Imagine a Paladin dipping two levels into a homebrew class and suddenly getting a feature that lets them Smite twice for the price of one slot.
The game collapses.
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How to Safely Introduce a New Class to Your Table
If you’re the DM, you have the final say. Don't be a pushover.
I always tell my players: "We can try this homebrew, but it’s on a probationary period." If it turns out to be busted after three sessions, we are changing the numbers. If the player isn't okay with that, they don't get to play the class.
You also need to read the fine print. Does the class scale with Proficiency Bonus? Most modern 5e designs do. Does it use "Long Rest" or "Short Rest" for its resources? If you have a party of Monks and Warlocks who love short rests, and your homebrew player needs a long rest to do anything, the party’s rhythm will be destroyed.
Basically, look for synergy, not just power.
The Psychology of the Homebrew Player
Sometimes, a player wants a homebrew class not because they want to be "The Best," but because they feel restricted.
Maybe they have a very specific vision of a character from a book or a movie. If you can achieve that vision by just "re-skinning" an existing class, do that first. A "Necromancer Knight" can just be an Oathbreaker Paladin. You don't need a 30-page homebrew document for that. Re-skinning is the safest form of homebrew because the math is already vetted.
But if the mechanics must be different—like a class that uses a deck of cards to cast spells—then you dive into the brew. Just make sure the player understands that they are the guinea pig.
Actionable Steps for Balancing Your Game
Don't just say "no" to homebrew, but don't say "yes" blindly. Here is how you actually handle it:
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- Check the Source: Avoid "DandD Wiki" like the plague. It is unmoderated and notorious for wildly unbalanced content. Stick to curated sites like the DMsGuild (look for "best seller" medals) or the "Curated Collection" on Reddit’s r/UnearthedArcana.
- The "One-to-One" Test: Compare the homebrew class to a similar official class at levels 1, 5, and 11. If the homebrew class has more HP, more features, and higher damage output than its official counterpart in every category, it is broken.
- Audit the Resources: Does it use a new resource? "Spirit Points" or "Void Energy"? If it does, make sure there’s a clear limit on how they are regained. Infinite resources are the death of 5e challenge.
- Trial Run: Run a one-shot. Let the player use the class in a vacuum before committing to a two-year campaign. You’ll see the cracks in a three-hour combat session much faster than you will by just reading the text.
- Fix it with Items: If a homebrew class ends up being a little too weak (which happens!), you can fix it with magic items. If it’s too strong, you’re stuck in the awkward position of having to "nerf" a player, which never feels good. Always aim for a class that feels slightly "under" the power curve rather than "over" it.
Dungeons & Dragons is your game. The books are just suggestions. But the math of the game is what keeps the tension alive. When you use dnd 5e homebrew classes, you’re taking the wheel of the game’s design. Do it with a bit of skepticism, a lot of communication, and a willingness to change things on the fly.
If you want to start exploring, go find the "Compendium of Forgotten Secrets" or look up Benjamin Huffman’s "Pugilist." Those are great starting points that won't make you want to tear your hair out mid-session. Just remember: flavor is free, but balance costs effort.