#even without considering the fact that it's not on the wizard or warlock spell lists

[12pt-times-new-roman]

I do want to point out:

Ludinus knowing Laerryn's name is not, in and of itself, proof that he was alive during the Age of Arcanum.

Laerryn was on his list of "people to reach out to." But this document was in his home in Molaesmyr, a city he arrived in 500 years post-Divergence. Why would he keep that document, knowing that Laerryn fell with Avalir and that her body was irrecoverable? Why would it be pinned on his wall like it's important, over 500 years after Laerryn's death when speak with dead is off the table?

We know that Avalir itself is known about in present-day Exandria by esoteric scholars and specialists. Imahara Joe has a book that talked about it, so it's not like it's completely forgotten, and honestly, the entirety of the Ring of Brass were so involved with Avalir's internal politics and inner workings that there's no way their names weren't written down a hundred times over in various records, reports, and news clippings. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Ludinus was able to get ahold of this information, especially with Laerryn being so prominently involved with Avalir's most intricate arcane mechanics and experiments.

So I think that this list was of people Ludinus wanted to contact using the contact other plane spell. It reads as follows:

You mentally contact a demigod, the spirit of a long-dead sage, or some other mysterious entity from another plane. Contacting this extraplanar intelligence can strain or even break your mind. When you cast this spell, make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, you take 6d6 psychic damage and are insane until you finish a long rest. While insane, you can’t take actions, can’t understand what other creatures say, can’t read, and speak only in gibberish. A greater restoration spell cast on you ends this effect. On a successful save, you can ask the entity up to five questions. You must ask your questions before the spell ends. The DM answers each question with one word, such as "yes," "no," "maybe," "never," "irrelevant," or "unclear" (if the entity doesn’t know the answer to the question). If a one-word answer would be misleading, the DM might instead offer a short phrase as an answer.

Personally, I think that Laerryn would most definitely count as "the spirit of a long-dead sage," as would most other pre-Calamity archmages (which I can only assume Vishtaron and Vatora were). The spell is on the wizard and warlock spell lists, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility for Ludinus -- plus, it even plays into his particular flavor of anti-theist magic, since it's essentially a non-divine version of commune.

[niuttuc]

Magic’s Spellcasters

 Magic: the Gathering features, shockingly, a lot of Magic and beyond that a lot of creatures and characters using that magic. A good number of those are considered spellcasters.

Now, there’s a lot of different types of spellcasters in the game, and it is in fact even written on the cards, in the aptly-named typeline. But today, we’re gonna focus on the five “iconic” spellcaster types, one for each color. Though most types often bleed into other secondary colors. After the recent addition of Warlocks as the Black iconic spellcaster, we now have a complete cycle: Clerics, Wizards, Warlocks, Shamans and Druids.

Beyond the colors, what defines a spellcaster is the way through which they obtain their magical abilities, and that’s what we’ll focus on here. However, before we start, a few quick notes. First, the classification presented is far from flawless. Be it for flavor or mechanical reasons, plenty of creatures get those five types without fitting neatly into the definition, or get one instead of another. Sometimes, non-spellcasters also get those types. On the other end, in a game so focused on magic, even characters that aren’t dedicated spellcasters have often recourse to magic, be it warriors, soldiers, archers or rogues. And finally, there’s more types of spellcasters or adjacent that are only gonna be brushed upon here, like Artificers.

For each main spellcaster type, we’ll list their main color, describe what makes them what they are, give a one-sentence description, and give a few examples from the game, planeswalkers or legendary creatures. We’ll go in WUBRG order, starting with...

Clerics

Clerics can be found primarily in White, but are often seen in Black as well, because of the tendency of major organized religions to be Black-White.

A Cleric draws their magical abilities from their faith and/or devotion towards a being or ideal. The target of that devotion can be a being, either one that’s verifiably real or one that they believe in, or an idea or ideal. A concrete example of the latter would be believing in the Law, Justice or in the religious organization they’re a part of itself.

It is hard to separate a Cleric’s magic from the object of their devotion. Sometimes, the object of devotion actively empowers a Cleric in very obvious ways. Sometimes, faith is just a way to channel the Cleric’s own magic. In any case, conviction is the driving force of their spells. A hieromancer Cleric would only be able to enforce laws they believe in, and a Skirsdag Cleric will exert their power through their faith in demons’ power... Or the power demons grant them itself. The lines can get muddy.

There’s a lot of non-spellcasting Clerics, the type is often given to members of organized religions, of course, but also to healers of all kind, whether they’re devoted to healing others or not. Yawgmoth’s card is a Cleric, after all.

In one sentence: Clerics cast spells through their faith and/or devotion in  one or more being, ideal or idea, fueling it through their conviction. Examples: Gideon Jura (the Law), Ajani Goldmane (helping others), Basri Ket (Oketra, then later just her ideals), Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim (Eldrazis), Whisper, Blood Liturgist (the Cabal/Belzenlok).

Wizards

Wizards are most often found in Blue, but are one of the most common spellcaster types outside of their main color. One can also find plenty of Wizards in Red, and also in Black, where Wizard was one of the types supporting Black before they got a spellcaster type of their own with Warlocks recently. A good number of Black cards with the Wizard type would probably be Warlocks if printed today.

A Wizard draws their magical abilities from their knowledge of the worlds, and of magic as part of it. They may have had innate magic like most beings, but they learned beyond it, generally through research or study. They’re the most likely to “cast spells” in a traditional way, having invented them themselves or learned it from another source. Due to how vast the subject of Magic is, most Wizards specialize in a certain type of spells or magic for their study, just like most scholars in our world tend to specialize into a narrower and narrower field as they learn more.

Wizards are typically the most knowledgeable spellcasters about magic itself, and as such tend to be the most likely to manipulate it in ways other spellcasters generally don’t, be it by replicating it or by stopping it. However, Wizards can have a harder time understanding magic that doesn’t fit neatly in the theories they learned. Some spellcasters with a more direct connection to Magic, typically some Shamans or Druids, can know more than even the most scholarly Wizard about the way magic functions on an empirical level.

As far as non-spellcasters go, the Wizard type is granted to scholars of all types, whether they can perform magic or not. Some may have other types overriding it (artificers, for example, get an entirely different type for their field of study,) but most academics fit all kinds of Wizards.

In one sentence: Wizards cast spells through knowledge of magic beyond their natural ability. Examples: Jace Beleren (Illusion magic beyond his natural mind magic), Teferi (most of his magic stems from his study in a magic school), Venser (one of the rare examples of artificers that get the Wizard type, but he did study his own innate magic beyond the artifacts he built.), Barrin (Had to mention him)

Warlocks

Warlocks, the most recent addition to this list, are centered in Black, and so far haven’t had enough cards to really show up in other colors (with only 11 cards so far), but have the potential to do so. They were introduced toward the end of 2019, as a way to complete the cycle of five color-centered spellcaster types. Because of that, we have a smaller list of examples of what a Warlock is. But one can make good theories from the few we saw and what we know of Black as a color.

A Warlock draws their magical abilities from exploiting an external source. The statement is pretty vague, but it’s because there’s no single way to become a Warlock. A witch that distillates the life and properties of plants and animals into powerful brews is as much a Warlock as someone who draws power from a demonic contract, from the emotions of others or from death and life itself.

Warlocks are one of the harder spellcasters to properly define, partly due to the fact they weren’t around for most of the game, and partly because they can have sources of power very similar to some of the other spellcaster types. A Cleric drawing their power from their devotion to a demon is very close to a Warlock in contract with one. A Druid drawing their power from the nature around them is very close to a Warlock. But the Warlock is powered by using up a resource or an exchange of energies from their source to the magical effect.

We don’t have much of an example for non-Spellcasting Warlocks yet, but one could easily imagine an alchemist or witch not able to cast spells, and be a Warlock. Depending how one considers Innistrad’s stitchers and other mad scientists using geists to power their inventions, they walk the line between Wizard and Warlock, which would probably land them on the latter side.

In one sentence: Warlocks cast spells by using an external source as fuel for their magic. Examples: Liliana Vess (The Esis root infused with souls, life itself, the demonic contracts, the Chain Veil,....), Davriel Cane (the Entity, demons), Tibalt (pain), Sorin (Blood), Konda (That Which Was Taken/Kyodai).

Shamans

Shamans are the primary spellcaster type of Red, but due to how easily they mix with elements from other spellcasters, seeing them outside of Red is very common, possibly even more than Wizards. Green and Black, Red’s allied colors, have most of the Shamans after it. Once again, it remains to be seen if Black will have quite as many Shamans now that Warlocks have been introduced. But they’ve already gotten a few since the introduction of the type, so it will probably remain a secondary color for them.

A Shaman draws their powers from their innate magical ability, that they cultivate and train to improve. In the Multiverse, many people have innate magic, weak or strong, generally specialised in a single field. Having that innate magic isn’t enough by itself to be a Shaman (otherwise nearly all planeswalkers and many non-planeswalkers would qualify). The Shaman focuses on it as their main way to interact with magic, sometimes improving it much beyond what it initially was. Jace Beleren is a mind mage by birth, but learned scholarly to master his magic and moved beyond it into Illusion, qualifying him as a Wizard. Though arguments could be made to qualify him as a hybrid of Shaman and Wizard, spellcaster types are usually kept to one. Given the innate magic of many characters, Shaman is usually here as a foundation that can be overwritten later on if the character grows past their talents.

Now, Shamans are also represented in plenty of other roles. Just like Clerics and Druids, Shamans are often part of religions or hold a spiritual role, and through those they often learn rituals or have practices that can borrow elements to all four other spellcaster types (and more!) Their self-reflection can bring them to open up to the world, either to knowledge of it or to the life of it, like Wizards or Druids. Just like Warlocks, some Shamans can sacrifice something (or someone) to perform a ritual. Shamans are by far the least cleanly defined type of spellcaster, and the one that blends most easily with others. But cases like Meren’s show us that even if a Shaman learns rituals, their power is significantly weakened or their execution hindered if they don’t fit who they are.

Non-spellcasting Shamans are few and far between, but the Shamanic traditions mentioned earlier, be them spiritual in nature or not, don’t all require performing magic of their members.

In one sentence: Shamans cast spells from within, from their innate magic and its cultivation. Examples: Chandra Nalaar (Pyromancy), Sarkhan (Draconic nature), Oko (His main focus is his innate shapeshifting, expanded to others. An argument could be made that shaping minds is another extension of it, thought that’s a stretch,) Gisa (Ghoulcaller’s necromancy)

Druids

Druids are almost exclusively Green, and the color’s primary spellcaster type. Only a literal handful of Druids that aren’t aligned with Green can be found in the entire game’s history.

A Druid draws their magical abilities from living things, and their communion with them. While a Warlock might also get their magic from others, a Druid will generally take very little, and not have contracts or formal accords. That’s not to say a Druid won’t form long-standing bonds, quite the opposite. A Druid’s will ask their allies to use their abilities, magic, enhanced by the Druid’s magic, or not at all, to help them. In return the Druid generally cares about those allies, provides directions or is respected by them. Now, a Druid’s allies can include other people, but is generally of a more primal nature. Beasts, plants, elements, sometimes the world they’re on itself. They strengthen themselves and their allies by using each individual’s strong suit towards the service of a commune, of which the Druid is the representative and the conduit of.

While we generally focus on what a Druid uses their magic for, they are, in turn, generally used by their magic and commune in the same way. Druids are all about mutually beneficial help between them and the nature they bonded with.  Nissa helps Zendikar, or tries to, as much as Zendikar helps Nissa. When she steps outside of the world she’s bonded with and learned to work with, she has to spend time communing with other worlds she visits, and even then is much less “powerful” there. Garruk (when not cursed), on the other end, is much less tied to a single place, but communes with nature in his own ways. Yes, he hunts and kills animals, but also deeply respects them. He hunts them as part of the system of nature, to sustain himself from it, and in return, protects nature, its beasts and its system from interferences. Attempting to do that is what got him cursed in the first place. A communion primal enough that it seems to work no matter the plane he is on, though he probably would struggle in places like Ravnica where civilization overran the primal nature.

Through their exchanges with the world, Druids learn a lot about it and themselves, in ways that even dedicated Wizards or Shamans don’t. In societies or communities that revere nature, the Druid is a spiritual representative, much more than any Shaman or Cleric could be. Druids sometimes organize in community among themselves too, generally following the same principles and communing with the same entities. Sometimes, Druids will commune with an embodiment of nature, be it a deity, a spirit or an elemental, making them closer to Clerics. But that communion is not more or less than what Druids usually do, just projected onto a more visible avatar. A Druid’s commune can be as small as them and a singular being they’re bonded with, plant, animal or otherwise, but generally this connection can allow them to understand others through more limited exchanges. The Eludha on Ikoria, the Bond between monsters and humans, for example, is very Druidic in nature, though individuals have taken different approach to how they interacted with it.

Non-spellcasting Druids are generally pretty rare, the kind of bond Druids rely on generally deepening onto magical territory, but there’s more than a fair share of people with deep ties to nature and communities that don’t wield their own magic. From hermits in the woods to the Elves on Kaladesh and their ties to the Great Conduit, from Gruul trying to help nature reclaim its spot on Ravnica to Selesnya guide and foster its growth within the city, or even bonded humans on Ikoria with no other magical ability, Druids can exist in most environments, even without magic.

In one sentence: Druids cast spells with the help of other living things they commune with and empower in return. Examples: Nissa Revane (Worlds themselves, Zendikar specifically), Garruk (The natural order), Vivien (The Arkbow is essentially a portable commune with the beasts within,) Jiang Yanggu (Mowu), Winota (Both Bonded and Bonders)

In summary

Clerics: Clerics cast spells through their faith and/or devotion in  one or more being, ideal or idea, fueling it through their conviction. Examples: Gideon Jura (the Law), Ajani Goldmane (helping others), Basri Ket (Oketra, then later just her ideals), Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim (Eldrazis), Whisper, Blood Liturgist (the Cabal/Belzenlok).

Wizards: Wizards cast spells through knowledge of magic beyond their natural ability. Examples: Jace Beleren (Illusion magic beyond his natural mind magic), Teferi (most of his magic stems from his study in a magic school), Venser (one of the rare examples of artificers that get the Wizard type, but he did study his own innate magic beyond the artifacts he built.), Barrin (Had to mention him)

Warlocks: Warlocks cast spells by using an external source as fuel for their magic. Examples: Liliana Vess (The Esis root infused with souls, life itself, the demonic contracts, the Chain Veil,....), Davriel Cane (the Entity, demons), Tibalt (pain), Sorin (Blood), Konda (That Which Was Taken/Kyodai).

Shamans: Shamans cast spells from within, from their innate magic and its cultivation. Examples: Chandra Nalaar (Pyromancy), Sarkhan (Draconic nature), Oko (His main focus is his innate shapeshifting, expanded to others. An argument could be made that shaping minds is another extension of it, thought that’s a stretch,) Gisa (Ghoulcaller’s necromancy) 

Druids: Druids cast spells with the help of other living things they commune with and empower in return. Examples: Nissa Revane (Worlds themselves, Zendikar specifically), Garruk (The natural order), Vivien (The Arkbow is essentially a portable commune with the beasts within,) Jiang Yanggu (Mowu), Winota (Both Bonded and Bonders.)

Anyway, that’s gonna be it! Those are the five main spellcaster types, or at least my interpretation of them. Don’t hesistate to comment where you disagree or if you feel like you have anything to add, and have fun categorizing various magical characters!

[tigerkirby215]

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything subclass Tier List

(Artwork from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Posted by @robmichel_art on Twitter. Copyright Wizards of the Coast.)

I was going to make some comparison posts between the UAs and the full release of Tasha’s but other more qualified people are doing that, so instead in my continued effort to pretend that this account is for more than just me satisfy my character building obsession I decided to make a little tier list ranking the subclasses from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything from my least favorite to my favorite.

This list is going to be comparing the subclasses from Tasha’s to each-other, but is also going to be comparing the subclasses to the other available subclasses for the class they’re from. So even if I really like a subclass it’ll lose points if the class already had better options. I’m not going to talk about any of the reprinted classes from Eberron or Ravnica but I will talk about the reprinted Theros subclasses (Eloquence Bard / Glory Paladin) as for many people this will be their first time seeing them.

Also it goes without saying but this is just my opinion! So sorry if you really like the next class you’re about to see because it’s at the bottom of my tier list!

F TIER

Psi Warrior (Fighter)

Well something had to be the worst. Truthfully I really wasn’t interested in the Psi Warrior during UA but wow its full release leaves a lot to be desired.

First let’s get the obvious out of the way: “Worse Battlemaster LUL!” It is laughable how bad this subclass is when compared to Battlemaster. BM gets to give itself advantage, give allies advantage, move allies, fear enemies, grapple enemies, give enemies disadvantage... and by comparison Psi Warriors get to do a little more damage or reduce a bit of incoming damage.

The fact that this subclass requires Intelligence confuses me to no end. They changed both Rune Knight and Soul Knife to not require intelligence (even though Rogues are kinda expected to have good Intelligence to help with skill checks) but Psi Warrior still needs INT? It amazes me that Battlemaster, Rune Knight, and Echo Knight are all SAD (single ability dependent) yet Psi Warrior of all subclasses is the one they consider too strong if you can min-max.

The biggest problem with this class by far is the Psionic Energy Die. Having your main class resource only come back after a Long Rest is insulting. (It’s the problem that Samurai Fighter has had since it was printed and it’s really sad that Wizards of the Coast didn’t learn from that.) While Battlemaster gets bigger die that have more effects which come back on a short rest Psi Warrior can only recharge one die per short rest. Honestly this subclass would be so much better if you regained Psionic Energy Die when using Second Wind (as well as having a dedicated action for it) so at least then you could have more than one die per short rest.

The only good level in this subclass is level 7, entirely because you get to Fly when you Dash. I mean, sure the UA Dragon Monk can also do that but at least this is in the official rules. Everything else that this subclass gets is weak: Telekinetic Thrust lets you do what Battlemasters were doing at level 3,  Guarded Mind is just bad (Monk? Never heard of ‘em!), Bulwark of Force is mediocre at best (I know like 3 people who actually understand how cover works in 5e), and Telekinetic Master is a laughably weak capstone. Your capstone as a Fighter is a situational 5th level spell that takes away your ability to attack? Meanwhile actual spellcasters are casting 9th level spells, and other martials are doing upwards of 50 damage per turn.

At first I was largely indifferent to the Psi Warrior but after reading over all its abilities its laughable how bad it is. It at least surpasses Purple Dragon Knight in terms of mediocrity (ironic considering that the two of them are beside each-other on D&D Beyond) but it’s the only true stinker of Tasha’s, and it gets the honor of being the second weakest Fighter subclass and the weakest subclass in this book.

D TIER

Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer)

This is the best subclass to play if your only desire is to cast spells, and I mean that in the worst possible way. While every other Sorcerer has a defined class role Aberrant Mind feels like the most generic milk-toast subclass that you pick simply because you didn’t know what to play. While Clockwork Soul defends, Divine Soul heals, Draconic Bloodline blasts, Shadow Magic sneaks, Storm Sorcerer evades, and Wild Magic does memes Aberrant Mind’s only major strengths come online at level 14+.

Telepathy at level 1 is a joke when compared to the other Sorcerers. CS can negate advantage, DS gets Super Bless on top of access to the Cleric spell list, DB gets free Mage Armor, SM gets super Darkvision and the Half Orc racial trail, SS gets goddamn flight, and WM gets to kill the party at level 1 with a level 3 fireball. Meanwhile AM gets the Message cantrip with a longer range.

Psionic Sorcery is okay. Getting cheaper* (citation needed) spells that you can Subtle Spell for free is alright. The subclass spell list is good and seeing as you can sub out the spell to take better ones if needed you can really get some useful magic for your kit.

SPELLS TO LOOK AT AS AN ABBERANT MIND SORCERER

LEVEL 1

Dissonant Whispers is honestly a really good spell to have, but Arms of Hadar is a bit situational. If willing you can swap it out with: the utility Divination spells (Detect Magic / Identity - remember that Sorcerers can’t Ritual cast so it might be better for someone else to take these), Hex, Sleep, or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.

LEVEL 2

Gift of Gab from Acquisitions Incorporated is either going to be a complete joke of a spell or the most useful spell in your arsenal. Hold Person is the most obvious choice from second level. Tasha’s Mind Whip is a great single-target damage spell with some added utility, and is almost objectively better than Mind Spike because it doesn’t require Concentration.

LEVEL 3

Both Hunger of Hadar and Sending are great spells, and there really aren’t a lot of Divination / Enchantment spells at third level. The only one I can really recommend is Tongues if you need the utility.

LEVEL 4

Evard’s Black Tentacles and Summon Aberration are both extremely strong spells, but if you want to replace them for some reason: Arcane Eye is essentially just a better familiar, Confusion is a great AoE disruption spell, and Locate Creature can be useful in a pinch.

LEVEL 5

Honestly the spell list really opens up at 5th level. Just about any choice is good, so look on D&D Beyond to see what to take. If you know me I’m going to recommend Synaptic Static.

Psychic Defenses, like with Psi Warrior, seems to have been taped onto the class because WoTC realized how weak it was so they just threw more situational garbage into its kit to compensate.

Revelation in Flesh is pretty much the only good ability you get. And granted there’s some insane utility with this ability. Not-quite-Blindsense, fly speed (best one), swim speed (worst one), and the folding ability that I’m sure will result in some interesting stories on Reddit. Warping Implosion is also a great escape-utility ability but like it’s your 18th level capstone of course it was going to be good.

If I was going to play in a level 20 one shot I’d perhaps roll up a level 20 Aberrant Mind. (Or more like a level 18 Aberrant Mind with 2 levels in Warlock because Sorcerer’s level 20 capstone sucks lol.) But unless I knew the campaign was going to at least level 15 I wouldn’t even bother.

Oath of the Watchers (Paladin)

It was boring in UA and it’s boring now. I feel bad that I have so little to say about Oath of the Watchers, especially after writing massive paragraphs about Psi Warrior and Aberrant Mind. But Oath of the Watchers feels like the worst parts of Arcana Cleric to me. Only difference is that while Arcana Cleric gets Wizard spells you get Moonbeam and help with Initiative. This subclass feels more campaign-specific than PHB Ranger and that’s really saying something.

Swarmkeeper (Ranger)

It’s certainly the most unique Ranger, both in terms of concept and in terms of abilities. It actually has a lot of utility with a good spell list and the Gathered Swarm feature providing a lot of great utility to a martial character. The thing is that in all honesty this subclass is kinda boring until level 15. And the other big problem is that the fantasy and roleplay that this subclass provides is so strange. When you think “Ranger” do you think master of the hunt, traveling through multiple dimensions and slaying powerful foes from the shadows with a tamed beast at their side? Or do you think “hurr durr bugzzz”?

This subclass feels like the one you pick when you've played literally every other subclass available, or when you get them from a random character generator. Ironically enough I do actually have a friend who made a Swarmkeeper for a one-shot I ran back when this subclass was in UA. But the fact that they made the character just to test UA shows just the type of characters that will be made with this subclass.

Way of Mercy (Monk)

You either love it or you’re completely indifferent, is what I have found the general opinion of Way of Mercy to be. Guess which camp I’m in. This subclass literally just feels like a Cleric with mobility whose healing comes back on a short rest. Time will see how OP “I can heal every turn and get my Cure Wounds back on a Short Rest” not-Cleric will be, but until then the subclass is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. For the people who wanted to play a healing Monk I’m happy for them.

Path of the Beast (Barbarian)

If I can sum up Path of the Beast in one word it’s “underwhelming.” Form of the Beast gives you three above-average weapons to choose from, Bestial Soul gives you some movement buffs, Infectious Fury lets you do some decent crowd control or damage spiking, and Call the Hunt lets you buff your party.

The thing is... you’re fighting against “resist all damage” (Totem Warrior), “protect your allies with your JoJo Stand” (Ancestral Guardian), “smite with the wrath of God” (Zealot), or “shoot lightning out of your goddamn chest.” (Storm Herald.) It’s not a bad subclass and honestly compared to some of the existing Barbarians (Beserker, Battlerager, and honestly Storm Herald is bad too) it’s pretty strong. But it’s just so, so boring.

I need to preface this by saying that Barbarian is probably my least favorite class in 5e and for what it’s worth I’m certainly more interested in playing Path of the Beast than say Battlerager, but I can’t help but feel that this subclass just lets you hit things better as the class that does nothing other than hit things. The only real positive I see to this subclass is the flavor, which absolutely carries it above the likes of Totem Warrior and Zealot. (Both of which I think are objectively stronger than Beast Barbarian.)

Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)

It been mostly unchanged from playtest even though as I stated Clockwork Soul was one of the subclasses I was a little worried about. But even then the subclass just feels so boring to me. It seems like this subclass is entirely designed to be the “no fun allowed” character who just says “No U” to everything the DM does. Don’t get me wrong it’s certainly a strong defensive subclass but I feel like if you want to play a defensive spellcaster you’re more likely to play an Abjuration Wizard or a Cleric in general.

And the lore just doesn’t really click for me? I can understand how you’d have dragon blood magic, shadow soul magic, and celestial infusion magic. But how the heck do you get a Clockwork Soul? I know Mechanus is a thing in D&D but I feel like for the average normie this won’t make any sense.

Also RIP in piss Heat Metal from the subclass spell list. Here’s my suggestion for spells if you want to play a CSS:

LEVEL 1 - Absorb Elements, Armor of Agathys, Featherfall, Mage Armor, Shield

LEVEL 2 (Aid and Lesser Restoration are good but Aid chews through your spell slots) - Enhance Ability, Enlarge / Reduce

LEVEL 3 - Blink, Counterspell, Fly, Gaseous Form, Haste, Slow

LEVEL 4 (Tasha’s Summoning Spells are good but Freedom of Movement is highly situational) - Banishment, Polymorph

LEVEL 5 - Animate Objects, Passwall

C TIER

College of Creation (Bard)

It has a lot of interesting abilities. Performance of Creation in particular is arguably one of the strongest abilities for someone who knows the equipment page well in the PHB. The problem is just that unless you have a very specific build in mind I don’t really know why you’d play the College of Creation? It feels like a Conjuration Wizard... but it’s a Bard. Perhaps the biggest irony is how much stronger this subclass feels when compared to the Conjuration Wizard, but you really have to be in the mood to play a conjurer.

Oath of Glory (Paladin)

Having some experience playing this subclass in a one-shot (Theros yay!): it’s very hit-or-miss. The spell list is amazing, the Channel Divinities are mediocre at best, the aura is garbage (10 foot +10 movement aura LUL), Glorious Defense is insane, and Living Legend is a capstone ability so of course it’s going to be good.

I think the main reason you’ll pick this subclass is for their subclass spells. And don’t get me wrong: Guiding Bolt and Haste are crazy good. But considering that Paladins usually want to blow everything on Smites?

When I played this character it was a 9 level dip into Paladin with a 3 level dip into Warlock. I didn’t use a melee weapon and opted for Eldritch Blast spamming. And that’s essentially this subclass as a whole: it wants you to be a spellcaster, which is great if you multiclass into a spellcaster (Aura of Protection is always good) but it feels bad as an actual Paladin.

The new Fighting Style that lets you get some cantrips as a Paladin might make this subclass better, but you’re still stuck being a half caster. Can’t escape the feeling that an actual caster would be better.

Path of Wild Magic (Barbarian)

It’s fun, is all I can really say. The subclass is built almost entirely around the Wild Surge table you get at level 3 and all the effects are strong. (Thankfully none of them are OP like in UA.) Unstable Backlash means that with luck you should eventually get a good Wild Magic effect.

The use of a d3 for Bolstering Magic is still a crime. It should just be a d4, with the spell slot restoration thing being “reroll on a 4.” (Or better yet: “roll a d4 and take half the roll, rounded up.” I still think having an RNG chance to get back a Haste or Fireball is a bit too strong.)

B TIER

Fey Wanderer (Ranger)

All I can say is thank god this subclass got better. It went from a weird pseudo-Paladin to a subclass with its own identity and theme. The only ability that’s really weak currently is Dreadful Strikes since it encourages you to spread out your damage for no particular reason. Horizon Walker had a similar problem but you could still focus damage as Horizon Walker. And you were doing more than a d4 of extra damage.

But beyond that this subclass is great! The subclass spell list is very strong. Otherworldly Glamour gives you some utility as a party face. Beguiling Twist... is honestly a little hit-or-miss. But it’s made up for by Fey Reinforcements and Misty Wanderer. Having a non-concentration summoning spell along with near-unlimited Misty Step is so insanely powerful to keep out of harm and to keep your DPS up.

Fey Wanderer seems really good at a lot of the things a Ranger wants to do. It’s a good skill monkey (being good at Charisma which other Rangers usually aren’t), a good damage dealer, a strong defensive support, a great single-unit summoner, and incredibly slippery and mobile. I don’t know if it’s enough to make me play the class (Ranger’s flavor is still iffy for me overall) but it’s definitely on my list for subclasses to try someday!

Order of the Scribes (Wizard)

Order of the Scribes is the best default Wizard, which is its biggest strength and its largest weakness. Getting a free colored pen is fun and flavorful, being able to get all your spells back if you lose your spellbook is insanely useful, always having an Arcane Focus is great, being able to replace the damage type of your spells is MASSIVE, getting to cast a Ritual Spell with its normal casting time is situationally fantastic.

Getting what essentially amounts to a free familiar is amazing. Getting what essentially amounts to a free spell slot (to upcast a second level spell) is great, and is honestly worth multiclassinging into for a lot of classes. Being able to negate incoming damage as a Wizard (IE squishy d6 hit die baby) is huge, even if you lose a lot of spells in the process. (I assure you by level 14 you’re going to have some useless spells that you’re never going to cast.)

But the problem with Order of the Scribes is that it has to compete with Divination, Evocation, Chronurgy, and War Wizard. If you have any specific build you want to go for then the specific schooled subclasses are better. But if you “just want to cast spells or whatever” Order of the Scribes is a lot of fun.

I actually have a character who’d fit Order of the Scribes very well, it’s just that Chronurgy feels so much more fun even if it doesn’t fit him as well. And that’s literally the exact problem with Order of the Scribes summed up in one anecdote.

Peace Domain (Cleric)

You may be forgiven for thinking this subclass is just a Life Cleric that doesn’t wear Heavy Armor, but the Emboldening Bond and the upgrades it gets are incredibly useful. Protective Bond in particular is such a massive power boost to the tanks of your party, giving them mobility and letting them take damage for squishy allies.

Peace Domain is by far the best party buffing spellcaster. They make everyone else amazing, and while that may not be fun for everyone I’m a garbage Yuumi main so it’s right up my alley.

Circle of Wildfire (Druid)

“iT dOeSn’T hAvE fIrEbAlL aNyMoRe It’S bAd BeCaUsE nO fIrEbAlL” oh get over your Fireball fetish Reddit. Circle of Wildfire is carried pretty much entirely by its flavor. It’s such a unique take on a Druid it’s impossible not to find at least some build to make with this subclass.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad subclass! The summon feels weak but you get two of them per short rest. Having a powerful subclass feature tied to short rests is really nice as a spellcaster. All your other features are very useful and flavorful, though my one complaint is that Cauterizing Flames is hard to use in Theater of the Mind.

It’s just a very fun and unique subclass that offers a unique flavor to Druids that they don’t normally have. I’m sure a lot of players will be motivated to try a Druid just to take a crack at this class. Hopefully they realize that only you can prevent forest fires.

A TIER

Phantom (Rogue)

I’m actually surprised how much I like this class to be honest. I made a Phantom Rogue once as a joke for a one-shot and to my surprise the subclass is actually very powerful and fun! It surprisingly just feels like a better Rogue, but considering how strong Rogues are normally that’s all the better for Phantom Rogue. You can easily fill any skill proficiencies your party needs thanks to Whispers of the Dead, and Wails from the Grave really lets you increase your DPS.

Tokens of the Departed got a major boost from UA since it now lets you use Wails from the Grave more, but the flavor of being able to ask the souls of the dead for information is also great. Ghost Walk is just insanely useful in general, and Death’s Friend lets you do double Sneak Attack damage every turn! Imagine how much damage you’d do with a crit!

The flavor is the one thing that I think hurts this subclass, as it’s really hard to make essentially an undead Rogue without immediately being labeled as an edgelord. But if a party ever needs a Rogue to do all the things that a Rogue does this character is perfect!

I’m personally awaiting the day to bring back Bill, the Undead Kobold Detective.

Way of the Astral Self (Monk)

JoJo subclass. I like JoJo. This subclass was overpowered in UA but the final release manages to capture the same feeling without being broken. Let’s go over the features one by one:

Arms of the Astral Self gives you a JoJo stand rush against everyone close to you, letting you recreate the flavor of JooJ without breaking action economy too much. But being able to prioritize Wisdom is huge to keep your Stunning Strike DC high while still getting good attack damage. But it’s still not OP since Dexterity is tied to your AC. It’s perhaps a little strong for multiclass builds (you can use your spellcasting modifier to attack) but multiclassing into Monk has always been kinda iffy, and Shillelagh has existed since the PHB was released. It should also be said that having Reach weapons as a Monk is huge, since you don’t have to get the Mobile feat to do hit-and-run.

Visage of the Astral Self is a nice social feature for a subclass that doesn’t normally get social features. Body of the Astral Self gives you more defense and offense. And Awakened Astral Self just further increases your defense and offense.

Excluding weeb shit this subclass just has awesome flavor. I’m actually planning on playing this subclass soon. (I’m playing a Cleric / Monk multiclass and I’m only level 2 in Monk currently.) I’m surprised myself that my first Astral Self character isn’t a fucking JoJo OC, considering that I already have a grand total of about 5 JoJo OCs.

Twilight Domain (Cleric)

Twilight domain also surprised me with how interesting it is. I don’t really have much to say other than it has a good mix of defensive, offensive, and utility abilities. Your subclass spell list is very strong for the most part. Eyes of Night and Vigilant Blessing are both just generally useful. Twilight Sanctuary isn’t insane but it’s consistent and it’s nice. Steps of Night is very strong and has a nice aesthetic. And Twilight Shroud is a good boost to your Channel Divinity.

The honest truth is that Twilight Domain feels kinda weak by comparison to some of the other Clerics. It’s no Forge, Grave, Life, or even Order Domain is all I can say. The fact that all your features only work in the dark is iffy if you don’t have shadows to sulk in. But along with just generally having good abilities the flavor is really what carries this subclass.

Here’s a meme:

Armorer (Artificer)

Artificer is one of my favorite classes so it’s no surprise that a new Artificer subclass excites me. Armorer fills a niche that I think Artificer didn’t have, and surprisingly it’s not the “tank” archetype. Armorer is still a good tank but the Infiltrator armor also gives you an option to play the subclass at range.

What I like is that Armorer is a subclass that doesn’t have a summon and puts more focus on your infusions. Armor Modifications is such a great feature that really brings the customization to Artificer. It truly lets you make your character your own instead of focusing on concrete class features. It doesn’t surpass Warlock Invocations for customizability, but it’s still great to get two personal magic items of your choice.

Yeah this subclass is going to be used a lot for min-maxing. Giving Wizards easy access to Heavy Armor is a little scary. But really if a Wizard wants to take a 3 level dip just for armor and the Guidance cantrip let them. Let the squishy boys have some AC for once.

Circle of Stars (Druid)

Full disclosure: I’ve been wanting to make a Stars Druid after the Rise of the Mountain expansion came to Legends of Runeterra. My first Druid had Telepathy (I took the Telepathic feat as a joke since I had a floating ability score) and it helped me realize how crazy a Druid with telepathy was for espionage. After seeing The Trickster celestial card from LoR I felt the artwork hit all three of my qualifiers for a character: class I want to play, great theme, and furry.

(Artwork by Kudos Productions. Made for Riot Games.)

My personal interest in this subclass aside: it has such a wonderful aesthetic that’s perfect for any character who wants an astral connection. The features are also great: Guiding Bolt is a strong spell to have as is Guidance, and having reactionary Bardic Inspirations is nice for a spellcaster.

But of course the main feature of Starry Form lets you still play the game normally while also benefitting from your Wild Shapes. Stars Druid is probably the second best Wildshape Druid despite not actually Wildshaping. Free Bonus Action attacks is huge, extra healing is always helpful, help with concentration (and Flight later) is really swell, and resisting all damage while not-Wildshaped is very helpful and lets you play as a pseudo Frontliner.

Stars Druid just does so many nice things and I think it’s a great subclass that can fit into any team comp. Druids are already insanely useful (arguably one of the strongest classes in 5e) so to have one that can do so much is massive.

Soulknife (Rogue)

Much like Phantom Rogue this subclass feels just really good in general. You can boost your skill checks and also add not-Bardic Inspiration to your attack rolls to do more guaranteed damage. However this subclass is by far the best Rogue for infiltration. Yes: even better than Assassin. (Though I’d perhaps suggest learning how to use a Disguise Kit.) 1 mile telepathy, teleportation, and invisibility all seem to be built for infiltration. If you have a DM who likes infiltration, espionage, and other encounters that don’t involve combat then Soulknife is by far the best subclass on offer.

But of course you aren’t picking Soulknife just to sneak around! The Psychic Blades are easily the most useful feature not just for Rogues, but for many builds! Having an unlimited supply of thrown weapon suddenly makes a lot more builds viable. My dreams of a ranged Paladin or ranged Barbarian are somewhat crushed by RAW, but there are still some niches that can be filled with unlimited throwing weapons.

Fun fact: you can’t do extra Rage damage with thrown weapons, but you can use Reckless Attack on thrown Finesse weapons. What’s more interesting is that you can’t use Divine Smite on thrown weapons, but you can use Improved Divine Smite on thrown weapons. But of course you can always talk to your DM to see what their final ruling is.

Rune Knight (Fighter)

You can become Giant which makes my stupid furry ass horny for Volibear and Nasus.

I mean I’ve gotta be honest like 75% of the reason I’m hyped for Rune Knight is to become a giant. But the runes are also very strong, giving the subclass some Battlemaster-esque gimmicks that have a bit more magical flavor than the other martials. I also really like that the subclass gets boosts to their skills, allowing you to help out of combat as a Fighter.

There isn’t much I can specifically praise about Rune Knight because the whole subclass is fantastic. It’s a very good mix of defense, offense, and utility both in and out of combat.

The Fathomless (Warlock)

Sheeyutu Nagakabouros. Nagakabouros-shee-shok.

Having played a Fathomless Warlock in UA I can safely say: it’s a good subclass. Having a consistent source of Bonus Action damage is nice, and being able to use it defensively is also great. Extra spells known as a Warlock is nice (and Evard’s Black Tentacles is a great spell!) And a teleport with a mile distance is rather crazy.

So much of the subclass is built around the tentacle which is great because the tentacle is such a great Bonus Action damage source. I really wish I had more to say but the power of this subclass starts and ends at how great having what amounts to an extra Eldritch Blast as a Bonus Action every turn is.

S TIER

College of Eloquence (Bard)

Yup. One of the best subclasses in this book was also in Theros. It helps that my favorite D&D character of all time was a College of Eloquence Bard.

This subclass got so much better since UA. Reliable Talent for Charisma checks at level 3 is fucking nuts! And on top of that Unsettling Words is a great way to soften enemies up for devastating spells. Universal Speech at 6th level pretty much singlehandedly enables the “peaceful” route with a lot of enemies, allowing you to talk your way out of problems.

But this bard is the king of inspiration! Unfailing Inspiration fixes the biggest problem with the Bard class, and Infectious Inspiration multiplies your Bardic Inspiration to a ridiculous degree. This Bard is just so reliably fantastic at Bard things, all while still being a full spellcaster that can make it harder for enemies to deal with spellcasters. It doesn’t get anything special from its subclass but you only got 3 features from your subclass as a Bard anyways. Baseline Bards are amazing and the insurance on your features from this subclass makes it all the better.

The Genie (Warlock)

If the fact that I stick Warlock levels into literally every build didn’t prove it I really like Warlocks, and Genie Warlock is easily the best Warlock subclass. Period. I actually have a post in the works where I go in-depth as to why Genie Warlock is so good. But in short:

Being able to choose between four subclass spell lists is crazy good. Like ridiculously good. A single level in this subclass gives you a Bag of Holding, a (single person) Leomund’s Tiny Hut, and a damage boost to all your attacks every turn!

6th level gives you damage resistance which is always good, but I seriously can not stress how ridiculous non-concentration Flight is for a Warlock. Your spell selection and spell slots are already so limited, and this subclass lets you get all the utility of flight pretty much whenever you please. Just think about how strong Aaracokra are and then consider that this is basically the Aaracokra’s only racial trait.

Sanctuary Vessel lets you upgrade your Leomund’s Tiny Hut power to affect the whole party. By this point you can indeed Long Rest in the lamp, and I need to stress how less suspicious a lone lamp is to a giant bubble of magical force. You could easily hide the lamp somewhere and (if the party is traveling light) be practically undetectable.

Oh and Limited Wish? So you know how the best feature of the Bard is their Magical Secrets? What if you got to choose (practically) any spell of 6th level or lower whenever you please? The only “problem” with Limited Wish is that you have to know every spell that you can pick from, but whenever “too much choice” is a problem in a game of infinite choices you know it’s a good feature.

Genie Warlocks do everything that Warlocks want to do so well. More damage on all your attacks to maximize the value of cantrip spamming, mobility to keep safe without spending spell slots, more high level spells, and giving the party a safe place to rest and recharge. I played a full Genie Warlock and absolutely loved it. I highly recommend this subclass to anyone who wants to play a Warlock. It’s just so versatile and useful I’m sure anyone can find a way to enjoy playing it.

[saltystoat]

BEST BOOMING BLADE 5E GUIDE

Here in this article i will be sharing some interesting facts about one of the renowned spell in Dungeons and dragons which is Booming Blade 5e, i will be sorting out the most important advantages to use booming blade, whereas some disadvantages also. With all this i will be telling you the best time to use Booming Blade 5e in play, So let’s start this off with a boom and bounce right into our Booming Blade 5E Guide! Please note, Booming Blade is available withinside the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. As you are casting this spell, you need to make a melee attack with a weapon in competition to 1 enemy withinside the spell’s range. If you do now not make a melee attack while casting this spell, Booming Blade will fail. Should you hit the intention, you will now not most effective observe the same effect as if you had been growing a regular melee attack, you will moreover encase your intention with booming power until the start of your next turn. If your intention willingly actions while protected with the power, they may take 1d8 of thunder damage and forestall the spell. At the fifth diploma, the melee attack will deal a similarly 1d8 of thunder damage, and the damage the intention takes from shifting will boom to 2d8. At the eleventh diploma, the melee attack will boom to 2d8 and the shifting damage will boom to 3d8. On diploma seventeen, the melee will boom to 3d8 and the shifting damage will boom to 4d8.

BEST REASONS TO USE BOOMING BLADE 5E

As a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard, you normally avoid jumping into melee combat. In the case that you are ever forced into melee combat, you can use Booming Blade to help off-set the initial issues that you had with hand on hand combat. This trouble comes from the fact that you want to maximize your spellcasting capabilities as an entire lot as you can. And at the manner to do this, while you are growing your character, you will most probable positioned your lowest roll into Strength.

This is to now not say that your character does now not need Strength, as it dictates your carrying capacity. But even as you deal most of your damage with spells, you gloss over the fact that you might be forced into melee combat sooner or later in the course of your adventure. Having a lower Strength moreover technique that you can not carry a heavy weapon like an ax or a big sword an excellent manner to deal severa damage.

On top of that fact, a spellcaster’s hit die is normally lower than a character who specializes in melee attacks. A Warlock uses a d8, while every the Sorcerer and the Wizard uses a d6. Luckily, Booming Blade is a cantrip that requires no materials, so you can stable it every turn if you want.

SOME DISADVANTAGES OF BOOMING BLADE

While Booming Blade calls a good way to make a a achievement combat roll, it is nonetheless considered a spell. If you've got got been to benefit a similarly attack somehow, you will now not be able to take it if you stable Booming Blade. This is one purpose why it did now not make our list of the Best Wizard Spells in 5E. All consequences that offer a similarly attack require that you make an attack first, thus, casting Booming Blade will invalidate your desire to take a 2nd attack.

If you are a achievement collectively in conjunction with your Booming Blade, that does suggest that you had been close to enough to your intention for them to make a counter strike. That technique your enemy does now not want to byskip from their power bubble at the manner to hit you back. Unless the attack requires your enemy to move, they have a walk spherical to your booming power trap!

This leads without delay into the maximum vital con of them all – all of the training that could stable Booming Blade will normally placed on lighter weight armor! Another perk of having a higher Strength stat is that you can placed on heavier armor because of the reality your character can carry more weight. Heavier armor technique you can take more hits, as those hits have an terrific chance of being absorbed thru manner of way of the armor. If you are wearing a few element crafted from leather, that is appropriate for a spellcaster, your hit elements are more likely to take a majority of the damage.

BEST TIME TO USE BOOMING BLADE

You want to apply Booming Blade even as you're forced into hand-to-hand melee combat, and even as it is at a higher diploma. The fact that your opponent does now not need to move out of the booming power field to hit you because of the reality you want to be right there even as you're carried out making your attack. Having the extra damage hit your intention permits to make up for the fact that you have a low hit die.

[wearesorcerer]

Spell: Sending -- or “On School Distinctions“

5e players might be wondering why I’m talking about a spell which isn’t on the Sorcerer spell list (it’s a Bard, Cleric, and Wizard spell in 5e and a Warlock invocation [though much better than the 3.5 invocation, which allowed an unwilling recipient to roll Will and, on a success, deal 1d10 damage to the invoker]). The answer is simple: Sorcerers and Wizards in 3.x (including Pathfinder 1e) share a spell list and it is on that list.

I’m also not going to be talking about why you should take this spell. After all, it has infinite range and can only fail 5% of the time (= rolling a Nat 1) if the recipient is on another plane. That’s quite handy, even if you only get 25 words out of each casting.

So, why talk about it at all?

Simple: the school doesn’t make sense.

The wording for sending hasn’t changed much in 5e from its 3.5 form save for the addition of one important clause: “The creature hears the message in its mind.” This was completely absent from the 3.5 version of the spell, which didn’t describe in any fashion what was transpiring. Were you appearing before someone a la Obi-Wan before Luke in The Empire Strikes Back? Were you communicating telepathically? Was the effect similar to whispering wind in that it transmitted sound? We were given no details on the subject.

5e’s clarification is somewhat helpful, but there’s a glaring problem with it: why on Earth is it an Evocation spell?

The school of Evocation is complementary to the school of Conjuration: while Conjuration creates or moves matter, Evocation does the same with...well, it’s called energy in D&D, but most of the time it isn’t:

Fire is a chemical reaction (combustion) and a not-quite plasma. Thermal energy is heat, but fire spells don’t usually create just heat, but flames.

Fun fact: a flame is a gas that emits light, but there aren’t enough ionized molecules in most flames for them to become true plasmas (generally, only the hottest flames are plasmas).

Cold effects typically conjure actual ice or snow, though they could theoretically conjure areas of intense cold (draining the heat from that area, I suppose).

Electricity effects resemble lightning, which can also be plasma, and in general electricity is the flow of matter that possesses electrical charge (though electromagnetic energy is a thing).

Force effects are highly debatable in what they represent.

When telekinetic effects are treated as Evocation (Force) effects, they could be an actual example of Evocation manipulating energy.

Really, the only damage type which is unequivocally “energy” damage is sound. This would allow sending to work as an Evocation effect if it generated sound (as is possible in 3.5).

Here’s the thing, though: the cantrip ghost sound (3.5)/minor illusion (5e) creates a sound exactly as sending might, but is considered an Illusion. Since subschools went away in 5e, it’s helpful to note that ghost sound is specifically a figment -- an illusion that “creates a false sensation,” which is a poorly worded way of saying that it creates an external stimulus. Holograms are figments: the light is real, but the object the light seems to make isn’t. (I’ve discussed this issue previously.)

If sending created a sound or image, it really should be an Illusion, shouldn’t it?

Oh, but it gets better.

Sending can be seen as a higher level version of message,¹ which is a Transmutation effect for some reason. (Transmutation has long been treated as the “miscellaneous” school, even though there’s been a Universal one since at least 3.0.)

If sending is telepathic, as it is in 5e, one would think it would be an Enchantment effect or possibly an Illusion (Phantasm).

So there we are: it’s reasonable to classify sending (without 5e’s clarification) as one of four schools and two subschools. With 5e’s clarification, it could still be three schools, since it still occupies one that doesn’t otherwise make sense.

There are many such corner cases where the school of magic doesn’t really make sense, but this is largely because of how D&D has chosen to classify magical effects -- largely, though not entirely, by what they do rather than how they work.

¹ Incidentally, the 3.5 version of message is overall better than the 5e version save that the 5e version doesn’t specify if an observer can read your lips.

[once-upon-a-scenario]

Karasuno as DnD players

Hear me out, I know a group this big would never work out, but just imagine the chaos that would be a session with all of them, even if it would take half an hour to get through one turn. Just a little idea I had, as a commemoration of the fact that I had my final dnd session for the summer tonight. I’m most definitely not super proficient with the game, so sorry if I got anything wrong. Hope you enjoy it!

__________

Daichi Plays a human warlock. He wasn’t into the whole spellcasting deal at first, but then again, eldritch blasting something ten times over is a viable strategy if you think about it. Always strategizes before a battle and goes in as prepared as possible. Reasonable luck with rolls, but nothing special. Keeps meticulous lists of his spells and cantrips. He DMs sometimes and is always the type who tries dropping heavy hints because he knows his players all collectively share 1 braincell. They miss all the hints, predictably, so he ends up having to railroad them. Always does his best to keep them alive and allows like 248273 chances of extra saving throws if someone’s HP dips below 1.

Suga Half-elf bard. The embodiment of chaos theory. He tries to be helpful to the party, but it usually ends up backfiring spectacularly. Gets embarrassed when he has to play out an action, even more so if it’s something his character is doing alone, without the rest of the party. But when he gets into it, he gets into it. Always the person to accidentally stumble onto the solution to the puzzle without realising it.

Asahi Human life cleric. Was slightly torn between paladin and cleric, but ultimately decided he does better as a healer, rather than a DPS. Hates combat, had to reroll his character 4 times already cause they keep dying. It’s like he attracts high rolls from enemies. Scores uber high on any intimidation rolls, though. Slightly traumatized by any PC who tries to seduce an NPC, or NPC who goes for a PC.

Nishinoya Halfling rogue. He likes acting all sneaky, even though he’s never like that irl. Definitely a chaotic neutral at best, skirts the line of chaotic evil sometimes. The type to kill an important NPC on pure accident, or because he pissed them off without meaning to. Gets super attached to his PCs or nice NPCs. Tried DMing once and everyone who played that session described it as a strangely fun train wreck.

Tanaka Dragonborn monk, don’t @ me. At first, he chose dragonborn as the race because he thought they were cool, but as he played on, he ended up getting genuinely invested in the lore of them and can now write a whole essay on why they’re the coolest. As for monk, he simply liked the idea of being able to punch the living daylights out of someone. Probably chose Way Of The Open Hand as his monastic tradition. He did consider Way Of Shadow too, but since he’s in the group with Noya, he decided they have enough sneakies.

Ennoshita Main DM. Save him from the hell that is eternally being the dungeon master and never the player. Despite how fed up he is sometimes, he always prepares intricate worlds, taking into accounts which players are in the party, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Makes wonderful homebrews occasionally, but sticks to pre-existing storylines most of the time, as it’s less work. Either rolls super high on enemy turns or super low, no inbetween. He has killed many a PC and always feels bad about it. Still hasn’t forgiven himself for the fact that Asahi’s on his 4th character

Kageyama Human paladin. Paladins are cool, right? One might even call them a pillar of the team. The “one” refers to Kageyama exclusively, and he will die on the hill of paladins being the best class, as they’re a combination of melee and spells, as well as support. I’m not sure if he struggles with memorizing spells or if he knows all the existing paladin spells by heart, but it’s one of the extremes in any case. Solid true neutral, took the Oath Of Devotion. Follows Kord, the god of athletics and sport, because what else did you expect?

Hinata Elf barbarian. He likes being tall, and don’t try to get him to cast spells, please. Always forgets Rage is an option and comes a hair’s breadth away from dying because he doesn’t use all of his abilities. Doesn’t care how weird the combination of race and class is. Bonking people with a great axe is a wonderful strategy and Hinata Does Not Care, especially cause he’s the party’s main tank and a great DPS.

Tsukishima Elf artificer for sure. Coincidentally, his character is still taller than Hinata’s, even though he swears up and down it’s a coincidence. Which it actually is, but he feels a silver of smugness at that fact, which he would never admit to anyone. Makes the most wonderfully, uselessly useful inventions. Originally wanted to take a pure spellcasting class, like wizard or sorcerer, but decided to have fun with the game. Chose Alchemist as his specialization. Probably tries the charge other players for the potions if they need it in the middle of combat. Doesn’t go through with it, of course, but it was worth a try.

Yamaguchi Half-Elf Druid. He loves the idea of a character so connected with nature, + it feels good to be relied on as the tank. Likes exploring the world and asking for extensive history of everything, which gives Ennoshita unrivalled anxiety. Nothing is scarier than a nat 20 on a history check for a homebrew and Yamaguchi is here to remind Ennoshita of that. Definitely chooses the Circle Of The Moon as his druid circle because he’s cheesy like that.

[writingonjorvik]

5000 SC Giveaway - The Lucky Six Campaign Tips & Tricks

So I’ve been running this 5000 SC giveaway for about a week now and there’s only three entries! The idea of the giveaway was obviously to get y’all hyped for our SSO inspired D&D campaign on Homebrewed, but also to encourage y’all to look up and learn a little bit about D&D so it won’t be a totally new experience. Don’t worry though, outside of myself, none of the folks on this podcast have played D&D before.

That said, asking people to dive into D&D is kinda a big jump and so I thought I’d give some tips along the way about classes, their basics, and hopefully point some of y’all into some close guesses. And, again, you can ask any of our players ( @centeris2, @emilie-catnight, @icewraiths for Ali & Gala) for hints too (some of them have put the answers out already and you can find the answer to number one on my Insta (@amelias.hart)). But here’s a run down of all the D&D character classes. If you’re still not sure, I used a lot of inspiration from subclasses to make choices (like Amelie, our stand in of the MC, has some serious magical origins, one might even say they’re sorcerous), but there may not be one to one (Aideen is close enough to a radiant dragon). And where all the classes I used for the Soul Riders are from core D&D 5e, some of their subclasses aren’t.

Barbarian - Barbarians are fighters filled with unbridled RAGE. In fact, it’s one of their core mechanics. But being impossible to hurt and impossible to avoid isn’t the only great part of these brute force tanks. When they get subclasses they typical channel that rage into types of magic, like storm powers or summoning the spirits of animals.

Bard - Ah, bards. They maintain everything about traditional bards, from the ability to perform well and persuade and audience, but their Jack of All Trades feature meets that the things they’re bad at their good at and the things they’re good at they’re great at. Sure, you could just be a magic singer with healing word, or you could swing two swords while you play your new rock album. 

Cleric - Clerics are the only class required to be religious and for choosing a god to work for they get to be absolute tanks and keep the whole party alive. They also scare the hell out of dead things, and depending on their god, can clone themselves, teleport, create thunder storms, or blind their enemies to death, and still have a prayer circle afterwards.

Druid - One with nature means one with shapeshifting. Druids work with animals, turning themselves into an animal, and then commanding all of the living creatures around them. Depending on the circle they join, they can sleepwalk, summon hordes of woodland creatures, or turning into that giant fuck-off bear for another hour without blinking.

Fighter - Fighters are the easiest class to play because they’re an actual jack of all trades (shoots fired, bard). Fighters hit good, shoot good, and shield good, and depending on their fighter archetype get better at horse riding, learn magic, or turn into a weeb and become a samurai.

Monk - Monks are martial arts specialists from any martial arts movie. They’re superhumanly fast and strong, catching arrows out of the arrow, and eventually becoming immortal because they’re just that one with the world. With subclasses, they can turn into the avatar, a ninja, an even more divine soul, or a storm god.

Paladin - Paladins are the pretend have to be religious class. Everyone things that because they typically take oaths with gods they have to believe in them, but paladins’ oath can be from themselves and their belief to kick ass. And if I was able to put my hand on someone and tell them to get the fuck up with an ability like Lay On Hands, hell yeah I’d have an oath with myself than some deity. Paladins are clerics if clerics could do damage (shoots fired, clerics), giving up some of that healing ability to righteously smite anything that steps in their path.

Ranger - One with nature, one with magic. Rangers often get considered a “utility class” because their abilities mostly focus on tracking and they only get like one thing they can kill really good. But explanded ranger subclasses are awesome, with rangers that can travel to different planes, rangers that are basically rogues, and rangers with hordes of dire wolves that you don’t want to mess with.

Rogue - Rogues are the sneaky stealth masters of D&D. If they’re hidden, they do fuck off amounts of damage with sneak attack, and when they aren’t, they’re either dead or flipping out danger like a pro. Rogues also get expertise, but with being stealthy, so if you blink, they’re gone. 

Sorcerer - Sorcerers are born into magic, innate. Whether that means their grandparents were dragons or if they met a radioactive spider, they got their magic as more or less a blessing and it’s not something they have to train for. And what that means if that the rules don’t apply to them. Out of spell slots? Spend a sorcery point. Need your spells to be silent? Spend a sorcery point. Want to cast your spell twice for one spell slot? Spend two sorcery points and what the world burn.

Warlock - Warlocks are magicians who made a deal with a patron to get magic. That could be a devil, a fairy, or the all-knowing and interplanar bringer of the end of the world Cthulu, but who knows! They can’t do as much magic but the magic they can do is hella powerful that don’t need to do it a second time, and with the most powerful cantrip in the spell list, it doesn’t even matter. Eldritch blast baby.

Wizard - Wizards are nerds. They spent years studying magic, mastered it, then went back to school to learn more. They’re any college’s dream student, because they only pay half price on one school of magic to learn literally any spell on their spell list, which means that just because they didn’t major in fireball doesn’t mean they can’t still do it.

Apothecarist - Apothecarist isn’t a core D&D 5e class. It’s not even officially published, but I did say there was one homebrewed class in the answers. Apothecarist is an original class I’m making that one of the players will be playing in both of our campaigns. It’s a battle doctor who told magic to fuck off (unless they decide not to later) and hordes herbal remedies that actually work. When they finish their PhD, they can horde more herbal remedies, get really high and make better ones, or fuck off with magic themselves and build abominations.

Those are all of the currently released classes in D&D 5e. Mystic and Artificer are supposed to be released, but since they aren’t (and mystic is broken) they didn’t make this list. I hope this helps for anyone still guessing. Y’all have until August 3rd to put in your guesses when the show comes out!

[gambithq]

PORT DALGREN

Not quite the bustling metropolis that it once was, Port Dalgren is considered one of the most dangerous ports in Haelion, even though it lies along the calmest portions of the Rift. With a strong presence of black market activity, frequent pirate raids, and political unrest derived from an overly-complicated government that can’t seem to gain nearly as much influence as any of the many underworld rulers of the city, most respectable people have moved out of Dalgren in the past two decades, leaving it a haunted kind of place: homes standing empty and dilapidated, taverns filled only with the most unsavory of folk, and a tense uneasiness permeating the air no matter where you go.

Taxes on ships coming into and out of the city are high, citing the fact that geographically it is the safest port to dock in along with its proximity to Lodorwind, meaning that most imports to Dalgren are either rare items shipped by people unwilling to take the risk of docking anywhere less safe, or highly valuable items shipped by the überwealthy, willing and able to pay the extraneous docking tax. 

Those sailors who are not pirates are often looking for further work around the town, a way to get themselves out of Dalgren once they’ve gotten in. Taverns are filled with the rumors and mutterings of the criminal underworld, making Dalgren an excellent place for those with criminal sensibilities to find short-term, well-paid work, and a haven for mercenaries, pickpockets, extortionists, and other kinds of thieves. 

By day, Dalgren is filled with the sounds of ships docking, sailors arguing, and cargo being moved from ship to dock to ship again, but by night, the city comes alive, establishments lighting up with arcane electricity and magic seeping through the air as pirates and black marketeers test out their new goods. 

THE SHIMMER

The Shimmer is the faction of Haelion’s black market known for dealing in powerful and often illegal magical artifacts. They are generally considered the most dangerous faction of the black market due to the fact that most high-ranking members of the Shimmer are accomplished mages. And Port Dalgren is widely considered to be their home base on Haelion: through illegal taxes and extortion, they control the flow of exotic magical goods in and out of the city from other ports and from northern Lolander, taking the best of the best for themselves and storing it in well-guarded warehouses around the city.

The Shimmer is dangerous because of its employment of advanced mages of all kinds, utilizing the value of magical talent in seeking out its leaders, guards, and runners. Its leader, Arshan Minah, is known to be a powerful and ruthless warlock, and has been known to show her face in Dalgren before; she believes that magic belongs to the common people rather than to the elite who can afford academies like the one at Lodorwind, and plans to horde and then distribute powerful magical artifacts to the common people -- likely, at an extortionate rate that will keep her in comfort the rest of her days. 

OUT OF CHARACTER

From fellow travelers at a small inn a few days past Farthorpe, the Gambit overheard rumor of a stash of powerful magical items being moved through nearby Port Dalgren by one of the most powerful factions of Haelion’s black market, the Shimmer. Though Port Dalgren is a slightly southward detour from their intended path towards Lodorwind, they decided to look into it and see what they could find.

One new characters will be joining the party while the Gambit is stopped in Port Dalgren -- the Assassin, Zan Myrdo (played by Christine). Please welcome them, create bonds with them, and have your characters meet up with them during or outside of the heist.

Missions for the heist itself, as well as other missions in and around Port Dalgren can also be found below the cut. To claim a mission, please message the main and include the name of the character with whom you’ll be taking the mission. Port Dalgren missions should, to the best of your ability, wrap up around the 22nd of March, and heist threads should take priority over external missions, as they are all interconnected.

HEIST MISSIONS

The Gambit gathered intel from local rumors, taverns, and Nightjar and Ophelia’s stakeout of the area, and sat down to divvy up jobs and make a formal plan to get in, get the artifacts, and get out. the jobs needed to pull off the job without a hitch are below:

1. DISTRACT THE GUARDS. a small group of hired guards stands watch outside the warehouse, patrolling from point to point every half hour. distracting one guard and pulling them away from their post will give the others the half-hour window they need to disable traps, enter the warehouse, and get out, but that guard will need to be distracted and pulled from their post for the entirety of the half-hour window. ZAN & SYLVAR

2. DISABLE TRAPS. the warehouse is rigged with magical alarms of various kinds, most of them impossible to disable without seriously advanced magic, but managing to take down the alarm spell that surrounds the area and the glyph of warding on the back door will allow some of the party to get through the back door once it has been unlocked from the inside. after that, whatever other damage can be done to their alarm system to distract and confuse the Shimmer will help keep extra guards at bay for long enough to get in and get out. OPEN

3. GET INTO THE WAREHOUSE. the most direct path into the warehouse without bypassing any advanced locks or tripping any advanced traps is through the sewers -- once in, two people should be enough to unlock a back door from the inside, letting the rest of the Gambit through and into the warehouse to tackle the inside guard and get the artifacts. but beware: the sewers in the warehouse district of Port Dalgren are rumored to be full of monsters. NIGHTJAR & BREN

4. RAID THE VAULT. no one knows how the vault inside the warehouse is secured, so you’ll have to figure out how to get into the vault itself once your compatriots have gotten you inside.  then, once you’ve made it into the vault, all that’s left is to steal as many of the magic items inside as you can manage and get out undetected.  OPEN

OTHER MISSIONS

1. ASSESS THE ASSETS. The trouble with magical artifacts is that it can be difficult to tell -- particularly with the complicated ones -- what they do, and how dangerous they might be. Deep within the abandoned old suburbs of Dalgren lives a powerful wizard who specializes in safely assessing the magical capabilities of any item; someone will need to take the artifacts stolen from the Shimmer to them and have them evaluated -- and maybe do your best to sell off a few of the less-useful ones for extra tal as well. ( REWARD: up to 150 tal ) OPHELIA & JUNIPER

2. A TAVERN BRAWL. At the Crooked Cane Inn, rumor has it, a man has sat for well over five years, every night, insisting that whoever can beat him in a fight will be granted a powerful magical ability in return. What is the ability? No one knows. How strong a fighter is the man? No one can truly say. But one thing is for certain: the Crooked Cane’s patrons are always hoping for someone to take him up on his offer, and willing to gamble a fair amount of tal to see who will win. ( REWARD: 40 tal and a surprise reward ) OPEN

3. REDBEARD’S REVENGE. The infamous and terrifying pirate, Captain Redbeard of the pirate ship The Cruel Return is seeking vengeance on who he claims to be a “corrupt government official.” Though he won’t provide any more details, he is willing to provide a hefty reward for anyone willing to break in to the official’s manor and pin his flag to their sheets while they sleep to give them a scare in the night. ( REWARD: 60 tal ) ZAN & OPHELIA

4. THE POTIONEER’S ERRANDS. A renowned potion-maker known only as The Maestro is looking for someone to fetch him a few rare ingredients from various shops around town. As a master potion-maker he is working on some experimental potions, and has promised to make a potion that can do anything in the world for whoever is willing to fetch the ingredients. What’s the catch? Well, the ingredients he needs aren’t exactly the sort that can be bought -- each one must be stolen, swindled, or taken from unsuspecting people. ( REWARD: 60 tal or one potion of choice ) OPEN

5. A GOLIATH’S LOVE. Paavos Kanéth, the bouncer at the Gryphon’s Head Tavern near the docks, needs someone to deliver a letter to his lover, a pirate named Jack Fox who is supposed to be staying somewhere near the docks for the night. The problem is: no one has been able to find Jack Fox anywhere, and the Goliath bouncer has sworn vengeance on anyone who fails to deliver the letter for him. ( REWARD: 40 tal ) PHOENIX & ZAN

SHOP INVENTORY

if you would like to purchase any gear or supplies from the shops in Port Dalgren, message the main. as a port city, Port Dalgren is known for its access to exotic goods from the islands and Lolander, especially arcane components that are brought in to be taken north to Lodorwind. the following items are available (estimated prices listed):

rare herbs, spell components, or potion ingredients ( 20-75 tal )

cloak of silent stars ( 70 tal )

echo bottle ( 65 tal )

immovable rod ( 48 tal )

bloodweed ( 30 tal a vial)

serpent’s tears poison ( 40 tal a vial )

antitoxin ( 15 tal a vial )

spellbook ( 75 tal )

enchanted amulet or ring ( 45-150 tal )

[wizards-need-not-apply]

The Namesake: Wizards vs. Sorcerers in 5e

Since it’s introduction in 3rd Edition, the Sorcerer has always had a dogged existence. Back in that edition, when a wizard cast a spell, the knowledge of that spell would disappear from their heads once it was over, which is why Wizards always had their heads in their spellbooks: they had to, in order to keep spells in their heads! This was a system called Vancian Casting. Sorcerers, by contrast, used a new system of magic, called Spontaneous Casting. In this system, the knowledge of a spell would not leave the caster’s mind after expending all of their spell slots. This shook up the world of casting, and a few of the writers for WoTC were not pleased. As such, life for the Sorcerer was rough: they didn’t get nearly as many cool prestige classes, metamagic was harder for them to pull off, and there was more or less little reason to play a Sorcerer.

Two editions came and went, leaving us with the current rendition of the Wizard and Sorcerer classes. Opinions are divided on the current state of Sorcerers, some saying that they’re just as powerful as they were in 4th edition, where they received a significant power boost. Other say that things haven’t really changed since the days of 3rd, with WoTC keeping the class down on purpose. So... what’s new, and what changed?

Leave some, take a lot:

In 5e, Sorcerers got something that they’ve been clamoring for since 3rd edition: exclusive access to metamagic! Metamagic, for the uninitiated, is a way to customize spells on the fly, making them safer for allies, shoot farther, or shoot faster, letting the sorcerer cast multiple spells in one turn! To do this, sorcerers would call upon Sorcery Points, which was a special pool that fueled their metamagic.

However, things were not all sunshine and rainbows for the Sorcerer. In fact, them getting metamagic may arguably be the only good point they got in 5e. You see, when they got metamagic, they also took a lot of the punch out of the metamagic system in general. For one, there are really only two metamagics really worth considering: Quickened Spell and Twinned Spell. Quickened Spell lets you cast multiple spells per turn... in the past. In 5e, there is a hard cap of one spell and one cantrip per turn, so chances are, the most you’ll be doing is hard casting one spell, and then quickened casting a cantrip. Which isn’t bad, but not nearly as abusable as the Quickened Spell of the past. Twinned Spell does exactly what it says on the tin: it lets you double cast a spell. This is really good, not only for offense but for defense as well. Twinning Haste for your melee friends will give you many pats on the back, and it’s pretty much the best trick you can pull off for levels to come. All of the other metamagics are usually too situational, or only come up in fringe cases, leaving a big power gap between the two mentioned earlier for an offensively minded Sorcerer. For more controlling Sorcerers, you’re still going to be picking up Twinned Spell, since it’s just that good.

In addition, Sorcery Points, the thing used to fuel metamagic, is also stretched way too thin. In addition to fueling metamagic, Sorcery Points are also used to grant additional Spell Slots, letting the sorcerer (sort of) cast more spells per day. The problem comes with trying to tie in both at the same time. If you use a bunch of metamagic, you won’t have any extra spell slots later in the day! And if you use a bunch of spell slots, well you don’t get to use cool metamagic! Combined with the fact that Sorcery Points only refresh during long rest up until the level 20 capstone, this leaves the Sorcerer at a Catch-22 compared to other casters. Most other casters only have to worry about Spell Slots every day, while the Sorcerer is left in a dilemma. If you are too liberal in your usage of Sorcery Points, then you’ll run out of gas very quickly compared to other casters. If you’re too frugal with your Sorcery Points, then you’re sort of missing the point of playing a Sorcerer in the first place!

Adding onto this, Sorcerers are also often criticized for not being able to make enough individual decisions throughout their career. They get a measly 15 spells known, and they can’t swap their spells until they level up. They also have a lot of “dead” levels, where they don’t get much besides an extra spell slot, another spell, and maybe an origin feature and a metamagic choice. Yes, Wizards have about as many dead levels, and yes, Warlocks only get 15 spells as well. But the inflexible selection of spells for Sorcerers sets them apart from both of them. Wizards can swap their spells at will every night, letting them flip their role anytime they want. Warlocks get plenty of pact features, invocations, and Mystic Arcanum to pad their levels.

A lopsided battle:

Things are already dire for the Sorcerer, but things get even worse when you compare them to the other full casters, especially Wizards. The Sorcerer spell list is essentially the Wizard spell list, but with a lot of spells taken out. In fact, Sorcerers only get one exclusive spell: the inconsistent, but fun Chaos Bolt, introduced in Xanthar’s Guide to Everything. By comparison, Wizards get 32 exclusive spells, not including spells granted by subclasses. Combined with the fact that Sorcerers are the only full caster (depending on how you define Warlock) that does not get ritual casting, and Sorcerers are by and far the worst utility caster.

The main claim to fame in the past was that Sorcerers could cast more spells per day, in exchange for their lackluster spell list. In 5e, this is technically true, but only under two conditions: 1. The Sorcerer does not use any metamagic and 2. The party does not take a short rest. I already discussed the implications of the first point, but the second point is a curious case. Almost every single class has some sort of short rest feature. For Warlocks and Wizards, they can recover spell slots. Sorcerer’s don’t get this feature at all. They don’t even get any short rest benefits until level 20, where they finally get the ability to recover... 4 Sorcery Points every short rest. This is pathetic, especially compared with a level 18 wizard, who gets to recover a 9th level spell slot or lower for free every short rest. You can’t even recover a spell slot above level two with this feature, and besides that, Sorcerers have an arbitrary limit of restoration at fifth level spells anyway!

Sorcerers are also tied with Bards as the slowest growing full caster class. Both Bards and Sorcerers started with a mere two subclasses, getting three more in the future. Compare that with Wizards, who started with eight subclasses and got two more in the future. At the very least, Sorcerers tend to get more Unearthed Arcana content compared to Bards and Warlocks, and they did get a throwaway origin in the Plane Shift: Kaladesh article. On the subject of subclasses...

Kick in the teeth: Lore Master Wizards

Most content found in Unearthed Arcana has a good chance of making it to the full release of a published book. Such was the case for the Divine Soul Sorcerer, which is a sort of Cleric Sorcerer based around healing people. The Lore Master Wizard is also a subclass found in Unearthed Arcana, but it has a zero percent chance of making it to a book. I dare say that the Lore Master Wizard is the most universally hated UA subclass ever published by WoTC. It showed how little they cared for the Sorcerer, and how much they loved the Wizard (surprise surprise that a company that has “Wizard” in their name would be biased towards Wizards).

So, how bad was this subclass to nab it that dubious title? Well, for starters, the subclass does not mention the word “metamagic” once, instead opting to give the subclass a lot of “pseudo metamagic”. Some of the features are straight up stolen metamagic that uses spell slots instead of Sorcery Points. Because of that distinction, they can sculpt their spells more widely, more powerfully, and more often compared to Sorcerers. On top of that, it’s a straight up overpowered class. At level two, they can change the typing of any spell with a damage type to any other damage type. This would be bad enough, since this feature used to be a metamagic that is surprisingly absent from the Sorcerer class. Add to the fact that one of the damage types you can swap to is Force damage, the best damage type in the game, and the fact that you get to change the saving throw on your spells, at no cost, you get the most front loaded caster subclass to date. Hell, Sorcerers don’t even get metamagic proper until level three, and this subclass out does them in versatility for levels to come!

At level six, Lore Masters get to do a bunch of the aforementioned pseudo metamagic by spending spell slots. Just one level one spell can net you extra force damage (which is the best type of damage), and for another spell slot level, you can do Extended Spell, without having to take Extended Spell, which is a normally fringe metamagic. A third level spell slot lets you increase the DC of a spell saving throw. At level ten, you get the biggest slap in the face possible: you can just swap out any prepared spell for any other spell on your list. The biggest downside to a wizard, completely gone! Their capstone ability is just milking it: at level 14, you get to cast a spell from any spell list. Yeah, ANY SPELL FROM ANY SPELL LIST. Nevermind that wizards have the most bloated spell list of any full caster, they get to steal the Ranger’s spells too!

People, especially fans of the Sorcerer were outraged. In just one subclass with six features, they managed to out do an entire class proper, and they managed to be a great deal better than many of the Wizard’s own subclasses! People flooded their social media accounts to complain, and they never looked back until they made the School of Invention Wizard, a sort of “Lore Master v2″. That subclass is an arguably better Wild Magic Sorcerer, but it has the distinction of taking the “erudite, wizened master of magic” that the Lore Master was, and turned it into a “bumbling madman.” It even goes so far as to mock the old Lore Masters, saying that “wizards of other traditions often think of them as lunatics.”

Not all doom and gloom

Despite all of the weaknesses of a Sorcerer, they still garner plenty of fans. Hell, they managed to charm me, which is saying something, since I’m usually down for taking the most optimal choice when possible. Sure, they’re the worst full caster, but it’s not by a horribly large margin like in older editions. In fact, the power gaps in 5e are mostly small in comparison. Sorcerers make for a distinct, fresh take on full casting, that feels much more defined than the pyrrhic Wizards. They’re also much more fun to roleplay as than the stick in the mud that keeps their nose in a book all day. Given the choice between the two, I’ll take Sorcerer any day of the week.

[creativerogues]

Ye Magick Shoppe for 5E

By Dracomortua:

Your players' ship arrives at the docks at last. They go up to the first stevedore or whombler they see and say: 'Excuse me there, hard working fellow - but where is the local magic shop?':

Suddenly this all takes a sharp turn and the DM goes 'Out Of Character': "What? Magic shop?" You kindly explain that there isn't such a thing. Says so right there in the DMG, see? It is impossible for one to exist in a 5e D&D world. Period.

Your sassy players do not give up. Someone points out such shops exist here in reality on Earth, despite having no provable magic. There are even different kinds (lots sell incense and religious stuff, some selling bits o' stone, people may want to stare at your crystal balls and it just goes wild from there). They point out a variant human's feat can give any commoner a bunch of cantrips and one first level spell. So why doesn't anyone own anything enchanted?

This guide gives you RaW self-defense. You can have as many magic shops as you like without breaking any rules. The trick is to put items in them that are interesting, fun and even useful despite the fact that almost nothing is an uncommon or rare magic item.

Table of Contents:

1/ Non-magical items: just like the shops you find in our world, filled with oddities and mystical knick-knacks that don't do much but may be useful as treasure, in lore or even components for your own magic items.

2/ Books & stuff to make books: Everyone who can read wants books. Many ritual casters, some warlocks and all wizards need spell books.

3/ 'Common' magic: how to expand on this short list of magic items.

4/ Why are magic items so hard to buy?

5/ Where your Shoppe is & how to find it.

1/ Curios & Curiosities: non magical items of interest:

1/ - Exotic loot: Furniture made of exotically curving wrought iron, marble with glowing runes inside or exotic shapes and designs around a silver mirror. These things look nifty, keen &/or trendy. Perhaps they have dragon designs in a bed frame, a well carved gargoyle for a working drain spout or anything with nifty (but meaningless) runes on them. Harmless - but artsy! - sometimes more valuable than semi-precious gems. You can make up cool stories about them perhaps...

2/ - Items that relate to legend, lore &/or magical history (possibly containing trace residual magick). Examples: some hero may have used a weapon / armor / shield in a great battle; a great sage may have sent calligraphy (& spell notes!) to a friend; a holy man may have used a wooden spoon in cooking miraculous foods that ended the plague; or a noble sorcerer could have an important signet ring for many decades. Any could be useful for divination, teleportation or even similar related magics.

3/ - Semi-precious gemstones / uncommon yet precious metals: The 1st Ed. 'Gygax'-DMG had a list of 'Repudiated Magical Effects' (pg. 26-27) for each gem-type. Did you know onyx causes discord amongst enemies? Anyway, you can make use of tables like these to make meaningful components for magic items.

4/ - Exotic, esoteric, cult-oriented and religious objects: This is any tool or art-objects used in religions or cults. This includes holy symbols, incense burners, sacrificial-ceremonial weapons and any crystal fonts &/or bottles. This would include Holy Water and other magical equipment.

5/ - Devices used for wizardry, sorcery and thaumaturgy magic (summoning, rituals, etc.) Such as: cauldrons, chalk, blank tablets, various candles or ceremonial daggers. Basically: any spell material-component imaginable.

6/ - Alchemy & accouterments: This includes non-magical potions of chemical potency. Consider: hallucinogens, stimulants, 'thunder stones', acids, explosives and all tools to make them with crude medieval science. More?: quicksilver (mercury), gunpowder, dragon's 'liquid fire' (an early napalm), effective cleaning detergents (like ammonia), exotic salts, beakers, telescopes / microscopes, filtering devices and accurate weigh scales.

7/ - Parts of animals / beasts &/or monsters: These parts or whole creatures bottled / with preservatives (honey and alcohol work without 'formaldehyde') - or dried, shrunken, stuffed or magically preserved. These parts may even be skeleton parts or even stuffed-mutilated versions of the original. Non-magical 'monstrous' examples: shrunken goblin heads, preserved stirge in a bottle, an ogre skull or some wyvern scales. Many mages are keen to have a stuffed alligator hanging in their study, yet no one knows why.

8/ - Adventuring gear that looks cool and maybe does something vaguely magical: pick almost anything from the player equipment list. Stick a few runes on it, add some special materials, have player's hands tingle when they touch it and WHAMMO you can put it in Ye Marvelous Magick Mysteries store. Seriously. Players want to fall for this. A Pike of Pointing (it points at stuff on its own... somewhat). Or Magical Toilet Paper, which is self-rewashing silk. Eew.

2/ Spell Books & Other Bookish Accoutrements:

1/ - Inks, normal & exotic: Actually, even 'normal' inks can be expensive. Colored inks & dyes are typically purchased by the nobility for writing, though this was most often used for clothing. Actual pseudo-magical ink used for writing magical scrolls (for any class) or even 'non-magical' wizard books need some rather rare stuff.

2/ - Paper: thin skin like vellum or parchment, pressed plants like hemp or even traditional paper from trees. Pages need to be formed and cut, threaded and bound. The actual binding and cover may have waterproofing from as simple as oil-wax to special wards to keep your information &/or spells safe. You can add such things to the above lists: inkwells, feather-quills from various beasts or monsters, ink blots, signet rings, waxes for seals, and more.

3/ - Documented & 'non magical' wizard spells, books & scrolls: Where the market for low end spells must be huge, those above 3rd level are nearly impossible to find. Both cantrips (for training students) and first level spells are easily acquired however (and commonly traded). Consider that even the dimmest mage has a listing of three cantrips and four First Level / Circle spells.

4/ - Special binding, protection &/or traps for your books, lair & abode: Mostly non-magical - but still fun! Water proofing, fire resistant materials (asbestos is considered alchemical component), self-exploding materials, simple traps and hidden compartments. Magical wards of a weak variety ('touch this gem on the cover and it rings three notes, just like a chime...') are easy to make with Magic Mouth and won't break your campaign. Also, sealed metal covers with interesting locks - surviving everything shy of a Fireball.

5/ - Various non-magical and random books: Literacy in medieval times was RARE ( though not so much in D&D - even barbarians can read) so books were considered pretty exotic-mysterious. So the romantic exploits of a famous enchanter-vizier would typically be useless - but still fetch a good price.

6/ - Plot building / hook-style books: Any topic you wish to entertain your player group! 'Dragon Watching For Beginners', 'Tales of Five Fine Feathered Bards, A Kenku Troupe', 'Carving Wands In Your Own Home!', 'Butchering Trolls: The Food That Keeps On Giving', 'Exotic Dances of the Succubi', 'Legends of <hero name> and His Kingdom of <place name>', 'Know Your Runes: Guide To Reading Magicks'. If you are interested we can generate a list of dozens of those quasi-semi-magical books... just let us know?

Almost Magical Things & Magic Item Parts:

1/ - Components for making magic items: these things either make such enchantments possible or at least reduce time &/or costs required. This can be virtually anything from strange substances (meteor metals) to parts of any monster. The study desk used by an arch mage that now has runes that crawl and dance around its magical wood. An ornate bottle filled with dragon's blood. A scroll or small book listing of (possibly true?) demon names, may contain partial or complete pictures of such creatures in their natural state. A sprig of Magewood that still grows in its pot (albeit slowly). An ingot of Mithril. Gold, enchanted by the blessing of an angel (still glows very slightly). A petrified eye of a basilisk. You name it, it is cool... but it is only faintly magical.

2/ - Valuable lore: these are more than just books on trivia as mentioned above. This should reduce costs of researching existing or new spells / items.

3/ - Plans, schematics, designs &/or construction-lists for any real magical item. These formulas can be very expensive yet are completely non magical. As a DM you can make the materials as rare-expensive-complicated as you like to get players out questing.

4/ - Long-lasting spells: True that there is no longer a Permanency spell in 5e - but lots can be built with this list of long-lasting spells. If a permanent spell is fixed in one location it is not sold in a magic shop but rather presented to your party as lore, below. Also consider magical beings can be bound via contracts or special items. These papers or amulets are typically non-magical but are very valuable. Example of this include: a demon's amulet, a conditional contract for someone's soul, etc.

5/ Actual Magical Magic Things: Consider 'common' magic items (and rarely 'uncommon' - if you are so brave). 

Scrolls: cantrip and 1st level are easily found on equipment lists. Players needing ritual &/or wizard spells of 1st or even 2nd may find it in this shoppe.

Potions: The 'common' Cure Wounds is standard equipment. Also interesting: Climbing is listed as 'common' and as easily acquired as such healing devices. You can (harmlessly) sell potions that buff any ability. Now you too can get clever on with that Elixir of Blacksmithing to fix that broken magic shield or whatever.

Plot-reasons: why are those REAL magic items so hard to find-buy:

1/ Magic items bend and twist the reality around them: Just as legendary monsters have their lair and surrounding area epic effects, so too can magic items manipulate their environment. If anyone can buy a magic item then it wants to be found. Typically finding (and keeping) any item pends on legend, prophecy, karma, scheming of heroes, will of gods, plans of heritage spirits or what-have-you. Rarely it can seem to be pure stupid luck. Smart players should be rightly suspicious if they get an item without any trouble.

2/ Magic items actually don't do much: From the commoner trying to plant crops to the noble attempting to reduce corruption or build an army, magic items don't help much. For example, a +1 sword really only has one application: cutting foes. Thus +1 scissors or a +2 printing press could be far more relevant & useful.

3/ Magic items cost much more than their production value. Most magic items do not do much. Example: a fighter with a +1 shield is a wee bit better off than a normal shield and chain - but upgrading armour to plate makes a far greater difference.

4/ Mystery: It is possible that people's minds easily forget legends or even make up stories of their own.

Places to hide (or not hide) your Magick Shoppe

1/ - Dedicated shop out in the open - like any other retail outlet:

Magic shops in our world want to be found. This makes it useful but it does take away some of the charm.

2/ - Normal shop that is typically for something common:

You go to a blacksmith for weapons. Why would any enchanted weapon NOT be at a blacksmith's shop? He can vouch for the authenticity and structural soundness in a way that any other vendor might not be able to.

3/ - Back Alley a.k.a. Diagon Alley of sorts:

It would make sense that the reclusive wizarding types have their own hermetically sealed area of business. If so, Rowling rightly points out, all sorts of things quasi-magical would be sold there (for better or worse). She makes a point of having a separate store for each magical component ('buy your fuzzy creature / familiar' or 'get a wand' or 'get your magical text books for school'). Remember these stores do not have to carry too much: lots can be done safely with cantrips, feats and hedge wizards.

4/ - That Mysterious Vanishing Shop:

This one makes a lot of sense if you put in anything that is actually magical. Instead of your party just popping in for a dozen Healing Potions and six new 2nd level scrolls (for the wizard) before going back into the dungeon, you hide it up your trusty DM sleeve. Upside: easy plot hook. Downside: feels a bit railroady as it only shows up when you want it to. Recent compromise in this sub-Reddit: [you can give characters a key to get back to this shop]()

Thanks for reading. Now you too can go on and fearlessly put a magic store in your world - and now you can fill it with interesting and fun items. Good luck and please let us know how it worked out.

[elkrs]

Red Suns II: Scope and Pillars

And the Serpent grinned, for he new the Albad's true name, and with it, his nature.

Extract from an Akkaradi legend

I wasn't sure when I started this how successful it was going to be. It was more for myself I think, a way to codify my thoughts and get them down in writing so that I could set about building a world in a detailed manner. Anyway, the first post got over 300 hits and I got some good questions and feedback, so it goes without saying that I'm pretty motivated to do more!

Last time we looked at a couple of things, though primarily we began to explore the city of Basharoud. Moving on from that then, I'd like to focus more on the world as a whole, before we start working on any more details. This will give us context for the smaller details we create and will let us figure out the rules of the world so that the stuff we create going forward fits into those rules.

WORLD PILLARS

World pillars are key rules and facets of your world that are key to the identity of the world. They tend to very broad-strokes and allow us to instantly and easily define our world. Think of them like those terrible internet top 10 lists. They give the basic, key information, but lack detail. That we can fill in later. So, let's have a look at the Red Suns pillars.

Water is almost non-existent

On a desert world, it was always going to be the case that water is scarce, though in this case it is rarer than rare. Someone on Reddit asked me what the people who don't live in Basharoud do for hydration, considering they don't have access to mother's milk. This is something that we can explore here. There are a few cities in Akkarad and each one has its own method of hydrating the populous. They will be covered in their own posts.

In place of water, many use milk. The milk of a goat or a sheep can hydrate and sustain a person for the animal's lifetime and is a good source of water. However, there must be other methods too, ways the people who do not have animals or milk to stay alive. One method is the Abbal, a long folding tube that travellers may thrust into the sand and dig down with until they hit a water spring. Once they do, water will be drawn up the tube and will bubble out of the top. This way they can get a small amount of water to drink, though it will be sandy and warm. Other methods may include fruits and vegetables, cacti and succulents or boiled sea water. All of the above prove one thing, to survive in Akkarad, one must work for their water.

The dead do not stay dead

Akkarad is a place where magic is well known. Most consider it evil (see below) and for good reason. Everyone who dies in Akkarad must be cremated, otherwise they will rise again as a crumbling corpse one month hence. No one really knows why, though they assume it is the magic in the sand or the sorcery of a dark warlock. It could be the gods or the djinni, but the only known fact is that it happens. Many times the dead have risen, finding their living families and tearing them apart before crumbling into black sand.

Magic is feared, most assume it is evil

As per above, most people have at least heard of evil magics being cast and mystical, ancient beings who wander the sands or live in subterranean temples. Such things are simply another fact of life here. However, magic here is strange and chaotic, different to a standard fantasy setting. Wizards and sorcerers are fairly common, though most are not powerful and merely perform minor tasks for coin. Occasionally, a great being from out in the dark spaces between the stars will select a mortal pawn to make their warlock. When magic users become powerful, invariably one of two things happens: the first, that person will use their power to oppress and destroy, controlling and deceiving. The second, the person will rise to face oppression and rebuild, but will die in the sand like the rest of us. Some mages use their powers to create water for their people, but most abstain from this behaviour as people begin to depend on it. And no one lives for long in Akkarad, not even wizards.

True names are powerful, and secret

Everyone has a true name. Most do not know their own, and it takes a great pilgrimage or an extremely trying circumstance to learn one's own name. Knowing someone's true name is like tying a noose around their neck and holding the stool. You have control. Using someone's true name in magic ritual can bind the spell to them, allowing you to exact your will over them. Knowing a dragon's true name will bind them to you, making them subservient. It is a great power, but a difficult one to find. If you wish to know your true name their are several ways to try, but no guarantees. For some, walking out into the desert for a few days with no water is enough to learn their name. For others, it might take a magic ritual or horrific torture. There is no definite way to find out.

The gods are plentiful, prolific and often juvenile

In fantasy we are often used to great, omniscient gods who rule over the peoples with unfathomable power. This is not true of the gods in Red Suns. They are childish beings with great power who squabble constantly, using their mortal worshippers as pawns to insult and attack their deific counterparts. Most gods walk the earth as mortals do, able to disguise themselves and blend in they enjoy the charade of playing at being human. Of course, there are dark gods and light gods, and each has their own area of focus and dominion. Some strive to help people, some strive to crush and oppress them and still others just like to mess with them.

THE GODS

So, the pillars above have set out some interesting boundaries for us to play with, and we can edit and update these as we become more familiar with our vision of the world. As a result, we can begin to build a pantheon here. Now, this will not be the complete pantheon, merely the a portion of it. I think this world should have a distinctly large and varied group of gods, and so we can keep adding to this list as we go!

Ashkul

Ashkul is the god of salt and wine, delighting in revelry and feasts. He is usually depicted as an overweight satyr with black horns and white lips. He is celebrated at a festival named after him every summer solstice and is worshipped by revellers and travellers alike. He is married to Kuffa, though has fathered children accidentally with Muanke.

Muanke

The goddess of riddles, stories and luck, Muanke is often considered to be egocentric and selfish. Often depicted as a human with the head of a snake Muanke is usually worshipped through atonements and sacrifices and her followers are often travellers and storytellers. She once bit Ashkul and envenomated him. From the wound grew the twin gods, Selieki and Bekkat.

Selieki and Bekkat

The twin gods and the children of Muanke and Ashkul, Selieki and Bekkat are mischievous and enjoy interfering with mortals. Selieki is the goddess of lies and Bekkat is the god of male lust. As a result, they have been the end of many marriages. They are worshipped by the hedonistic, the carefree and the sly. They are usually pictured as a dog with two heads, one a goat (Bekkat)and the other, a spider (Selieki).

Kuffa

Wife of Ashkul and goddess of righteous revenge, she is the antithesis of her husband. Where he is content to sit, eat and revel, she is always in motion. She cut off Muanke's toes for impregnating her husband and is worshipped everywhere by the scorned and oppressed. She also forced her husband to stand naked against a tree while she fired arrows progressively closer to his groin until he gave up the name of the woman he had been sleeping with in secret. The woman was human and Kuffa turned her into a stallion in perpetual heat.

Siddik and Hedall

Siddik was the god of music and sprinting and was married to Hedall. He was often depicted as a songbird and was revered by musicians all over. His wife, Hedall was the goddess of strength and desperation, and was usually represented by a blue lion. It is said that Siddik did not love Hedall, but their marriage was arranged. Siddik would often lament and weep about his life, seeking instead solitude and travel. One day Hedall came home to find her husband weeping again and grew tired of it. She confronted him and they began to fight, she overpowered him and transformed him into a woman. She turned herself into a man and their roles were reversed. Siddik is said to be only one of the now male Hedall's many wives.

More gods will follow in the future. Why not design your own and let me know!

[madness-of-alice]

#critical role#critical role spoilers#critical role c3#critical role campaign 3#note watches c3#ludinus daleth#laerryn coramar seelie#exu calamity#yes I am 100% certain that speak with dead was not available to Ludinus in relation to Laerryn.#even without considering the fact that it's not on the wizard or warlock spell lists#Laerryn died in the heart of Avalir as it was engulphed in flames and leyline-altering magic#and as it was /plummeting to the ground as its engines failed/#there's absolutely no way there was anything left of her body#let alone something whole enough to cast speak with dead on#but the fact that contact other plane is on the warlock spell list further enforces my theory#that Ludinus is a Great Old One warlock and not a wizard#but I digress

(via 12pt-times-new-roman )

I do want to point out:

Ludinus knowing Laerryn's name is not, in and of itself, proof that he was alive during the Age of Arcanum.

Laerryn was on his list of "people to reach out to." But this document was in his home in Molaesmyr, a city he arrived in 500 years post-Divergence. Why would he keep that document, knowing that Laerryn fell with Avalir and that her body was irrecoverable? Why would it be pinned on his wall like it's important, over 500 years after Laerryn's death when speak with dead is off the table?

We know that Avalir itself is known about in present-day Exandria by esoteric scholars and specialists. Imahara Joe has a book that talked about it, so it's not like it's completely forgotten, and honestly, the entirety of the Ring of Brass were so involved with Avalir's internal politics and inner workings that there's no way their names weren't written down a hundred times over in various records, reports, and news clippings. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Ludinus was able to get ahold of this information, especially with Laerryn being so prominently involved with Avalir's most intricate arcane mechanics and experiments.

So I think that this list was of people Ludinus wanted to contact using the contact other plane spell. It reads as follows:

You mentally contact a demigod, the spirit of a long-dead sage, or some other mysterious entity from another plane. Contacting this extraplanar intelligence can strain or even break your mind. When you cast this spell, make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, you take 6d6 psychic damage and are insane until you finish a long rest. While insane, you can’t take actions, can’t understand what other creatures say, can’t read, and speak only in gibberish. A greater restoration spell cast on you ends this effect. On a successful save, you can ask the entity up to five questions. You must ask your questions before the spell ends. The DM answers each question with one word, such as "yes," "no," "maybe," "never," "irrelevant," or "unclear" (if the entity doesn’t know the answer to the question). If a one-word answer would be misleading, the DM might instead offer a short phrase as an answer.

Personally, I think that Laerryn would most definitely count as "the spirit of a long-dead sage," as would most other pre-Calamity archmages (which I can only assume Vishtaron and Vatora were). The spell is on the wizard and warlock spell lists, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility for Ludinus -- plus, it even plays into his particular flavor of anti-theist magic, since it's essentially a non-divine version of commune.

[tigerkirby215]

I can’t make builds so let’s talk about the latest UA

I can’t make builds right now so let’s talk about Feats. I’m honestly a big fan of feats but I do think that ASIs are a little too strong by comparison in 5e. I feel like in order to compete with ASIs in 5e a Feat needs to do one of two things:

Offer new unique abilities that provide a large boost to your character’s capabilities so that taking them is worth sacrificing an ASI. (Feats like Crossbow Expert, Great Weapon Master, Warcaster, etc.)

(Half Feats) Provide a nice bonus to reward you for slower progression, or for having an uneven ability score to increase. (NOT ATHLETE, but feats like Linguist, Resilient, and the racial feats from Xanathar’s)

For the most part feats do accomplish these two concepts well but there are some feats that are laughably weak (Keen Mind, Weapon Master) while others are way too good. (Lucky.) I think that Feats should remain as options for players who want to build a specific build. They shouldn’t be the “best” choice but rather they should be inherently optional for those who want the power boost they provide.

With that in mind we got an Unearthed Arcana for Feats, and since I want to do more on this Tumblr than just make League of Legends builds I figured I’d throw my thoughts out into the wind.

Artificer Initiate

The main strength of this feat by far is that the spells are added to your spell list. This means that Artificer Initiate is a very easy way for just about any spellcaster to get access to Bless and Cure Wounds / Healing Word. These spells are fairly independent of their spellcasting modifier so getting both of them as a Wizard, Sorcerer, or even Warlock can be good in a pinch.

Other than that the ability to cast spells with tools is nice but ultimately pointless. It’s good if you’re playing an Artificer / Wizard multiclass but Artificers can already cast spells through their infusions. Ultimately this feature of the feat would work better if there were more Intelligence casters in 5e.

It’s a very fun feat for roleplay and has good utility, but I don’t think anyone’s going to be begging to get this feat.

4 / 5

Chef

How the mighty Gourmand and the “mighty” Song of Rest have fallen. Okay let me start with the obvious: the “treats” you can make are complete fucking trash. They’re laughably underwhelming and serve more as a ribbon ability than anything.

As for the Song of Rest-esque effect Song of Rest was already a grossly underwhelming ability for Bards. It’s really sad that it was so underwhelming they flat out gave it to everyone (at the cost of a feat) but I don’t think that harms the Bard class too much.

Just overall the feat really doesn’t live up to the fantasy of being a cook. Two underwhelming abilities for the price of an ASI? No thanks.

2 / 5

Crusher

“Hi I’m playing a Champion Fighter with a Warhammer!” The utility of this feat starts and ends with the critical hit modifier which I’m gonna be honest is insanely overpowered.

“But what about moving people? My Monk can now push people off cliffs!” Have you ever played a Minotaur? To be fair you probably haven’t. Pushing people around will hardly ever be useful. There’s perhaps niche utility in pushing someone away so you can run without provoking opportunity attacks but the Mobile feat does this so much better while also giving you additional movement.

Perhaps the only niche use of this feat is that it can increase your DEX, making it a good Half Feat for Monks that isn’t fucking Athlete.

1 / 5

Eldritch Adept

I really like this feat. It’s kinda become a running gag on this account that I really like sticking Warlock levels into things, and while it isn’t just for the invocations that’s definitely a big part of it. There’s a lot of really cool invocations that you can grab to make your character mildly magical without messing them up by multiclassing. To name all the invocations you can get as a non-Warlock:

Armor of Shadows is, has, and always will be the invocation you take more for character flavor than for practicality. Reddit has been theorycrafting how to break this feat with an Abjuration Wizard but I think that’s a bit too niche.

Beast Speech is really cute conceptually but will rarely be useful. I can guarantee that every single Druid and Ranger is going to hoover up Eldritch Adept just to talk to their animal companion though! (This would’ve been a nice feat to put in my Kindred build if it had existed at the time.)

Beguiling Influence... take Skilled instead. Maybe some niche use for the Half-Elf Rogue who wants proficiency in literally every skill in the game.

Devil’s Sight! This is the main Invocation people are going to be looking for! Magical Darkness is incredibly hard to use effectively and this invocation is pretty much the only way to make it not completely useless?

Eldritch Sight: at-will Detect Magic is never a bad thing but it always suffered from opportunity cost. This makes it available for Bards.

Eyes of the Rune Keeper: just get the Comprehend Languages spell tbh. It’s a ritual after all.

Fiendish Vigor is alright. Decent on an Eldritch Knight as a backup Second Wind.

Gaze of Two Minds is far, FAR too situational to be useful.

Mask of Many Faces is a god-tier invocation for Arcane Tricksters. It ticks me off that you can’t take this feat as a non-caster for a regular Rogue to gain access to this.

Misty Visions depends on what your DM lets you get away with using Minor Illusion for.

Thief of Five Fates: just get Bane from another source.

It kinda bumbs me out that this feat is restricted to just magic users, and I feel like that part of the spell could be removed. Also kinda bumbs me out that you can’t blow two feats to get Agonizing Eldritch Blast (Magic Initiate [Warlock] + Eldritch Adept) but I sort of understand why that’s a thing. But invocations are the perfect example of something worth losing an ASI for.

5 / 5

Fey Touched

Here’s the first feat that I think is a little too good. Let’s get the elephant out of the room first: Fey Teleportation. The differences between the two feats are as follows:

Misty Step from Fey Teleportation comes back on a short rest.

Fey Teleportation is locked by race.

Fey Touched gives you two spells.

Fey Touched lets you add the spells to your spell list.

Oh and let’s talk about some of the spells that are in the Enchantment / Divination school: Bless, Command, Detect Magic, Dissonant Whispers, Heroism, Hex, Hunter's Mark, Identify, and Sleep. (Just to name the notable choices.)

This feat should’ve been a full feat (no ASI.) Adding both Misty Step and Hex to your spell list as a Cleric or Paladin is more than enough to make this feat OP. If Artificer Initiate is a full feat than this should be too.

5 / 5 - OP award for being OP

Fighting Initiate

This should be a half feat. Actually: this should be merged with Weapon Master. I personally already Homebrew the Weapon Master Feat to do this along with the effects of Weapon Master (+3 weapons, +STR or DEX.)

If this was done as an eratta to Weapon Master (instead of its own feat) the feat could be taken by Wizards who want a way to defend themselves, Rogues who want more options Scimitars cough while also honing their own skills, or Barbarians who just finally want a fighting style. I’m glad something like this is finally being considered but please just buff Weapon Master instead.

4 / 5

Gunner

Crossbow expert for guns. A lot of people interpret this as a silent endorsement of guns in D&D or a hint at a potential official gunslinger (sub)class but really I just think Jeremy Crawford got sick of people asking him “does Crossbow Expert work with guns?” on Twitter.

gun / 5

Metamagic Adept

IE the feat that’s making Reddit throw a hissy fit. Does this suddenly make the Sorcerer class useless? Well excluding the fact that Sorcerers get way more sorcery points, metamagic options, and the ability to turn their spell slots into Sorcery points (and vice-versa)? Put bluntly your options are:

Make (Charisma Mod) creatures succeed their saving throw for your spell. (Rarely going to be used unless you’re already a Charisma caster.)

Double the range of your spell. (Maybe useful for a Cleric to extend the range of Cure Wounds idk.)

Reroll (Charisma Mod) damage die. (Kinda useful for spells that roll few dice.)

Double the duration of your spell. (Perhaps some niche use with certain spells.)

Can’t use Heightened Spell

Can cast one spell / cantrip as a Bonus Action. (One use of a bonus action spell isn’t really worth a whole feat.)

Cast 2 spells without verbal or somatic components. (Can’t be counterspelled!)

Make a spell of first or second level hit two targets. (Actually has some niche use for certain spells. Particularly nice to get extra value out of healing spells.)

(UA)

Change the damage type of a spell. (Maybe useful for Tempest Clerics? But barely.)

Ignore cover. (Very rarely useful.)

Reroll a spell attack once. (Kinda meh; might be useful if you have a very big attack roll spell but you probably won’t.)

I think the main thing Reddit is upset about is two uses of Subtle Spell for a Wizard but... if your player took anti-counter spell insurance instead of an ASI let them have it? Chances are you’re way too counter spell-obsessed if the Wizard casting a good spell once and awhile ruins your game.

As for the feat itself? The two that rely on your Charisma mod are hard to use for that exact reason. Beyond that there are some interesting ones beyond “anti-counter spell insurance” but I feel like two Sorcery points to use on metamagics isn’t enough. Probably a testament to how underwhelming the Sorcerer class is as a whole.

3 / 5

Piercer

It’s Savage Attacker and Brutal Critical combined in one half feat. I guess if you’re using Piercing weapons but I can’t shake the feeling that Savage Attacker would be the better option.

One interesting thing to note is that essentially all ranged weapons do piercing damage, and this feat doesn’t have a melee limitation like Savage Attacker. This could be a good feat for a bow fighter to do more reliable damage.

The irony though is that even though this is essentially just Savage Attacker I’m forced to say it’s overpowered since it provides more utility than Savage Attacker (assuming you don’t use weapons that don’t do piercing damage) as a half feat. This isn’t really a testament to this feat being overpowered, but rather that Savage Attacker should honestly probably be a half feat as well.

2 / 5

Poisoner

This is how poisons should work! It’s perfect for someone who wants it, and it looks well-balanced overall. The gold cost, action economy, and CON save requirements makes this feat fair for the DM.

It’s interesting that this feat allows you to ignore resistance to poison but not immunity. Poison was one of the elements Elemental Adept couldn’t affect which was part of the reason that Green Draconic Sorcerer was so bad (among the zillion and one other problems with Poison damage.) Overall this feat is really awesome but it’s held back by poison damage as a whole in 5e. Basically if this was for any other damage type than poison it would be great (which makes me wonder what this feat would be like with flaming poison.)

4 / 5

Practiced Expert

This is basically a slightly worse version of the Prodigy feat but it’s a half-feat and it’s for all races instead of just for humans and half-races... honestly  Prodigy is such a shit feat that I see no issue with this. I already let non-humans take Prodigy in my campaigns. My only real complaint is that this feat proves that Prodigy (as well as the Skilled feat) should probably be half feats.

4 / 5

Shadow Touched

Darkness is very hard to use without abilities to see through it (Devil’s Sight.) But other than that what can you get? Disguise Self? Just take Eldritch Adept instead for unlimited Disguise Self. There are very few low-level Illusion / Necromancy spells when compared to Divination / Enchantment. There are some midway decent ones (Inflict Wounds) but is it really worth it to lose an ASI for Darkness and Inflict Wounds? Put bluntly: no. Maybe some niche use for Darkness spam Warlocks to get an extra “spell slot” but it’s still underwhelming.

2 / 5

Shield Training

It’s nice to be able to grab a shield as a caster who likely has their off-hand open anyways. It’s also nice for a fighter to be able to “chance stances” and drop their AC in exchange for harder hits. The only part that bugs me about this feat is that the fantasy of an arcane caster using a shield as a focus is weird to me. I feel like there should at least be some sort of gold cost to convert a shield into a “not-quite Ruby of the War Mage” that can be used as an Arcane Focus.

3 / 5

Slasher

This feel like the best of the damage feats since it actually lets you do some unique stuff. Being able to slow enemies (without fucking Sentinel) lets melee fighters keep their allies safe, and giving allies disadvantage to hit you allows you to be a lot sturdier.

The sad truth is that this is probably the most underwhelming of the damage feats though. It’s very hard to use this feat as anything other than a Swashbuckler Rogue, and in order to get Slashing damage as a Rogue (Scimitar) you’d need to blow another feat or do some multiclassing. Slows in melee range are largely useless, and the crit is unreliable. I really want this feat to be better.

4 / 5

Tandem Tactician

Here’s the one feat I honestly have a big problem with. I don’t think being able to Help as a Bonus Action makes this feat OP. (It’s nice for anyone to be able to gain access to a useful Bonus Action without multiclassing.) But the problem lies in the fact that this feat lets you affect two people with the Help action. This makes the ability to give two melee allies (such as your Rogue) Advantage even more broken. People can already testify to how strong Mastermind Rogue is for its action economy increase.

And the best part? This feat still fails at giving Bonus Action Economy to “everyone” since backline characters can’t use the 10 foot range Help. I’d much rather this feat be given 30 feet, and Mastermind Rogue given an eratta to have its ability reach 60 feet or something idk.

1 / 5 - OP and dumb award for being OP and dumb

Tracker

“LOL RANGER IS OFFICIALLY USELESS NOW XDDDD” Jokes aside Hunter’s Mark and tracking abilities is good value for a half feat. Magic Initiate (Warlock) or Fey Touched are still probably better than this feat, but if you need the Survival skill then this is helpful.

4 / 5

FINAL RATINGS

Favorite Feat: Eldritch Adept

Least Favorite Feat: Crusher

Most OP Feat: Tandem Tactician

Weakest Feat: Shadow Touched / Chef

Overall this Unearthed Arcana excites me because I’ve always liked Feats and thought that they were cool. In my opinion it’s much more interesting to create a character with unique abilities over one that’s just traditionally strong. A lot of these feats need revision but I hope that practically all of these get published so we can make some truly unique characters with them.