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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Nature Corrupted: The Entomancer, a summon-centric anti-ranger.



Silkensword
2017-09-26, 10:04 PM
Ever want to... bugs?
well here's your opportunity. Let me know what you all think about this bugboy!!

link to google doc, PDF version in progress (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xcyceavZHy0iZZIIxZmGWeqV7GOBde2b7I8nZc35iwc/edit?usp=sharing)

Potato_Priest
2017-09-27, 12:57 AM
Howdy Silkensword. This looks pretty interesting.

I'm just going to go through and comment on things as I see them.


At level 7, they are considered to be permanently in stealth, until detected.

I don't believe there is a rules term for being "in stealth"


The target can attempt to save once per their turn.

This should specify whether the target gets to make a saving throw at the beginning of their turn, by spending an action, or at the end of their turn.

If the target gets to make a saving throw at the beginning of their turn, they could move and act normally on the turn that they escape.

If the target gets to make a saving throw using an action, they would get to move normally on the turn that they escape, but wouldn't be able to take an action, since they would have already done so to make another saving throw.

If the target gets to make a saving throw at the end of their turn, they would be able to take an action before they got out on the round that they escape, subject to the normal penalties of the restrained condition, but would not be able to move.


When the Atrax Spider hits an creature, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, the creature doesn’t notice the bite and the Spider doesn’t break stealth.
You could perhaps phrase this better as "The creature does not notice the bite and the spider's position is not revealed."


If a target dies to an attack made by one of the Sphecid Wasps created by the entomancer, another wasp with the same stats hatches from the corpse of the target after 1d4 rounds.
How long do these wasps live for?


And now we get to the path of the Dragonfly. I consider myself something of a pet class connoisseur, so this is where I shall spend the bulk of my mental energy.

Before we look at balance vs other classes, I'm going to examine ways to make this thing flow better.


The entomancer gains the ability to enlarge their summons even further. The size of the creatures is now "huge," they lose 2 DEX, but gain 2 CON and 2 STR, to-hit, HP and AC change accordingly. The summon can now be mounted by up to 5 medium sized creatures. The damage dice for piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage are doubled.
This should be an option, not mandatory. In some situations (especially dungeons and indoors) a large sized summons might still be preferable.

Path of the dragonfly summons' attack bonus should scale with either level, proficiency bonus, or EP.

Also, you might want to note that the power of the dragonfly summons (the ironclad beetle in particular) is rather high at first and then stagnates, with a sudden jump at levels 6 and 10. Even with their massive increases in HP throughout this time, the to-hit bonuses of the creatures stagnate, making them less appealing at higher levels.

To fix this I'd reccomend reducing their starting health to whatever that of a 3 hit die creature with hit dice according to type, and then have them gain hit die with the player (hit die would be dependent upon the bug chosen: 1d12 for ironclad beetle, 1d8 for imperator dragonfly, etc. Their hit die would go up a die size (d10 to d12, d12 to d20, etc) when they are made huge.)

My last comment is one of flavor only- Why do these arthropods represent the antithesis of the powers wielded by druids and rangers?

Lalliman
2017-09-27, 01:16 AM
I know nothing of balancing summoners, but I do have one comment.

Why does a d6 caster have heavy armour proficiency? That just doesn't add up thematically. How can you be sufficiently combat-trained to have heavy armour proficiency yet remain so inept that your HP stays at d6?

Silkensword
2017-09-27, 03:46 AM
(paragraphs upon paragraphs of potato priest being an actual angel)
My last comment is one of flavor only- Why do these arthropods represent the antithesis of the powers wielded by druids and rangers?

The theme of the class is that they are rejected by nature, and that they use magic to control the lowest forms of life, as they are the only part of nature they can truly control. You can sort of see it as an abusive relationship, and the theme of the class is definitely rather dark; rejected by the harmony of nature, the entomancer bends it to their will, rather than the druid who represents it, or the ranger who upkeeps the natural order!

I just woke up but I'm going to include your suggestions because, damn, those are good points you have!

Potato_Priest
2017-09-27, 02:46 PM
paragraphs upon paragraphs of potato priest being an actual angel
Aww, thank you. :smallredface:

Here's a couple more thoughts.

All of the summoned creatures (including the eye, since it has a couple actions it can take in combat) should have a sentence that determines if they act on the summoner's turn or roll initiative for themselves. Personally I'd reccomend having them act on the summoner's turn to avoid slowing things down too much, but it's up to you.

Levels 7, 15, 11, and 19 appear to be dead levels with no features. If other class features get improvements at those levels, it should say so on the chart, and if other class features don't get improvements at those levels, something else should happen. A new spell slot level is enough to justify an otherwise dead level, but more slots of the same level is not.

Silkensword
2017-10-03, 06:08 PM
Levels 7, 15, 11, and 19 appear to be dead levels with no features. If other class features get improvements at those levels, it should say so on the chart, and if other class features don't get improvements at those levels, something else should happen. A new spell slot level is enough to justify an otherwise dead level, but more slots of the same level is not.

I put some work into fixing that! Let me know what you think if you have a look :redface:

Bloodcrusnik
2018-04-04, 10:48 PM
How is this class, It seems really cool. I would love to play it once it's finished.