Sterling Vermin presents the Scholar, Early Draft - an intelligence based non-caster

[sterling vermin]

With the final release of the Pugilist class (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/184921/The-Pugilist) and its additional archetypes (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/186640/Additional-Fight-Clubs-for-the-Pugilist-Class), the Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. is looking for our next major project and the Scholar class makes a strong argument for its consideration! In today’s update we reveal an early draft of a class that applies critical thinking and book learning to the tasks of adventuring. If you’re looking to play a character that adventures using their considerable intellect without relying on spellcasting, check out the Scholar and share your thoughts!

Take a look it’s in a book. (https://sterlingvermin.com/2016/07/06/the-scholar-early-draft/)

[Amnoriath]

Holy Trapezing Dilettante, the amount of proficiencies this thing gets is staggering, up to 6 tools, 1 strong save, 5 skills(one of which is free floating), most weapons/armor, and it gets an Extra Attack. I am not sure if this is suppose to be a scholar or 5e's Batman in 5 levels.

[ravencroft0]

I like it, but you have a lot going on in such a short span of time. I can almost see how you would get 4 skills at start-up if you were implying that the background is the class. I do agree with Amnoriath's impression, although I was thinking Sherlock Holmes. I like where you're going with the invocation-like abilities.

If this character is supposed to be built around the concept of the background and the class being one and the same, it needs to be addressed somewhere, otherwise a scholar gets 4 skills from the class and 2 skills from a background, not to mention the double proficiency on 2 of those skills. That's a little O.P. and Rogues currently are the skill monkeys of the game and do a fine job of it.

Your physician and warlord are interesting concepts, and, again, I like where you're going with this class. Keep it up!

[ES Curse]

Seems interesting. As others said, you get a lot of skills for your class; you may want to reduce that given backgrounds already give two skills. For the class skills, I would make it "pick any two" like the bard. It's an easy way to give the Scholar any flavor a character requires. For my comparisons, I'm going to heavily reference the Bard, as it is the Scholar's "skill-monkey support character" competitor.

Critical Analysis seems weak after level 5 compared to Bardic Inspiration, but stronger before that..
-Critical Analysis: Add your proficiency to skills/saves/attacks a number of times equal to your INT mod per short rest (Functionally, Prof*INT*3=18-24 free d20 points per day for INT 3-4, becomes 27-36 points at level 5)
-Bardic Inspiration: Give away a number of d6 bonuses equal to your CHA mod per long rest, becomes per short rest at level 5. (d6*CHA=average of 9-12 d20 points per day for a CHA mod of +3, 12-16 points for CHA +4, becomes 3*d8*CHA=48-60 free d20 points per day at level 5 with CHA +4)

Expertise is the best of the Rouge and Bard's versions, but justified in that the Scholar is a master of skills without spells or sneak attacks. If this class becomes too front-loaded, the second part may need to move from 6th level to 10th.

Erudite Applications: Warlock Invocations for skills instead of spells. I like the concept, and will likely post some ideas after looking at the class features. This is the class's second defining feature after CA.

Quick Study: Knowledge Clerics have to expend a Channel Divinity to get this effect for 10 minutes. Then again, the Cleric one can be saved until you know what's coming up, so you're basically trading versatility for potency.

Physician Field: Solid, possibly a bit too limited. Doctor's Orders is a much stronger Protection Fighting Style at the expense of CA points. The short rest healing is nice, but pales in comparison to a Life Cleric or any full caster with Cure Wounds. Maybe add some kind of defensive buff on short rests to reflect having a doctor tend to you and prepare you for combat?

Warlord Field: Heavy Armor proficiency makes this a better Valor Bard. Perhaps remove Medium Armor and shields from the base proficiency list and add it here instead of heavy armor? The orders bonus seems a bit too good; the Battlemaster has to give up one attack from the Attack action on top of the bonus action, and adds a d8 instead of your INT mod. Tie it to the attack action like the Battlemaster and you should be golden. It does seem to scale worse than the Battlemaster, though.

Overall, the class seems strong early on but scales poorly. Probably just needs some minor tweaks and later-level features.

Erudite Application ideas:
-Leap of Faith (requires Acrobatics proficiency): You can cast the spell Jump at will without expending a spell slot
-Mad Dash (requires Athletics proficiency): You can cast the spell Expeditious Retreat at will without expending a spell slot
-Organized Infiltration (requires Stealth proficiency): Once per long rest, when the party makes a group stealth check, you can expend 2 Critical Analysis points. When you expend these points, all party members who are not proficient in the stealth skill can add your proficiency bonus to the check, and any party member's disadvantage from wearing armor is not applicable to their roll for this check.

[PotatoGolem]

I'm going to break from the mold and agree with this class having more skill points. Yes, it's more than a rogue or bard, but it doesn't get sneak attack or spellcasting, both of which are strong. I really like the invocations being tied to skill proficiencies, which definitely requires having lots of skills. The tool proficiency is sort of a ribbon, since most tools are largely useless. As of right now, this feels like the definitive skillmonkey- lots of skills, but fairly weak outside of skills and meh in combat