Blackguard Class(WIP)(PEACH)

[demonslayerelf]

While working on one of my major projects, I ran into a 3.5 conversion problem, and realized that the Blackguard wasn't in 5e, but tons of evil NPC's were blackguards.
So, I decided to make the blackguard in 5e, as close to faithful as I could get, without making it overpowered. It's not finished yet, but I'll be updating it constantly.

Here it is!

The Blackguard (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rkJZqo8zf)

Feedback is always appreciated.

[Calen]

Sneak attack plus smite seems rather excessive.

You could try something alongs the lines of a bonus that you can use when you have advantage on the attack and use your smite feature. Ideas include...

Deal an extra 1d6 damage.
Push your target 5ft.
Saving throw vs prone.
Target cant take reactions.

[demonslayerelf]

You say excessive, but both of them are weaker than the famous ones. Their Sneak Attack is half that of a rogue, and their smite is a bit different, but is less than a paladin.

And, while the suggestions are appreciated, this is just a conversion. I'm doing what I can to make it really close to the 3e class. I changed the smite and spells, so as to make it separate from a Paladin at least somewhat, but otherwise I'm keeping it as faithful as possible. Which is, it has both Sneak Attack and Smite. A little weird, I know.

I get the intention behind it, though. It's not that they're sneaky or hidden, it's because they're betrayers. Literal backstabbers. I might change it to reflect that a bit more, but then I think it would be pretty useless in most cases.

[Composer99]

It's a good start, I'd say.

Out of curiosity, what motivated you to go with the Black Magic feature you've written, rather than half-casting?

Other questions/remarks:
(1) Based on the name, is it safe to assume Insidious Action is meant to require an action to use? It's not specified in the text.

(2) The Ill Rigger feature is, I assume, the Aura of Despair port.

(3) Dark Blessing's Armour Class modifier is very sensible mechanically, but doesn't feel right thematically. I can see why, from the maths perspective, you wouldn't want blackguards to add their full Wisdom mods to their AC in medium armour, or add them at all when in heavy armour: I just can't see how a feature called a 'blessing' would be so restricted. Maybe have it as a feature you can activate for 1 minute, once per short or long rest, where you add your Wisdom mod to your AC?

(4) More on Dark Blessing: both an AC effect and a 1/turn saving throw effect seems pretty potent, possibly overly so, even at 14th level. By way of comparison, paladins get cleansing touch and warlocks get the likes of Hurl through Hell or Dark Delirium, all of which are nice, but are only usable occasionally. Maybe break the saving throw feature out? You could probably move the AC part of the feature to an earlier level that way.

[demonslayerelf]

It's a good start, I'd say.

Out of curiosity, what motivated you to go with the Black Magic feature you've written, rather than half-casting?

Other questions/remarks:
(1) Based on the name, is it safe to assume Insidious Action is meant to require an action to use? It's not specified in the text.

(2) The Ill Rigger feature is, I assume, the Aura of Despair port.

(3) Dark Blessing's Armour Class modifier is very sensible mechanically, but doesn't feel right thematically. I can see why, from the maths perspective, you wouldn't want blackguards to add their full Wisdom mods to their AC in medium armour, or add them at all when in heavy armour: I just can't see how a feature called a 'blessing' would be so restricted. Maybe have it as a feature you can activate for 1 minute, once per short or long rest, where you add your Wisdom mod to your AC?

(4) More on Dark Blessing: both an AC effect and a 1/turn saving throw effect seems pretty potent, possibly overly so, even at 14th level. By way of comparison, paladins get cleansing touch and warlocks get the likes of Hurl through Hell or Dark Delirium, all of which are nice, but are only usable occasionally. Maybe break the saving throw feature out? You could probably move the AC part of the feature to an earlier level that way.

So, the first thing I need to say(On the point of Black Magic) is that I didn't want this to just be a Paladin port. It's why I did the whole "Smite Points" thing. But they're actually close to full casters in 3.5, albeit they only go to 10th level so it's hard to see that, so I didn't want to totally rob them of spells. Now, I'm not into 5e's warlocks, but I decided to look at them for a spot of inspiration, since this class was kinda warlock-y, in the sense that you're consorting with fiends and the like. Short rest spells felt like maybe a bit much, but their Mystic Arcanum, I figured, would be pretty perfect, because it can go as high as necessary(I ultimately decided 6th level, slightly above a half-caster progression), and it wouldn't get in the way of the other features, but also wouldn't be totally ignored. They don't get enough spells to be considered a caster, but they get a pretty potent effect or combo once or twice a day, or to keep a couple undead or fiends around themselves at higher levels.
(That was a lot of text and I apologize)

(1) Yep, and I fixed that.

(2) Basically, yep.

(3) Then it would basically be the Bladesong, and that leads to some ridiculous AC's. Like, the absurd 33 with only 3rd level or lower spells. I figured that the wisdom thing would be a nice in-between for the Monk's AC and Bladesong, but you're right in that it doesn't quite feel right. Ima thinks on it.

(4) It kinda seems that way, but consider that Pallys add their Charisma modifier on all saving throws they make at 6th level. It's partially that I was keeping the AC math low, but as mentioned in (3), that should probably change into a different thing. Ima need to thinks on this too. :P