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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Totemist



Arrghus
2017-12-23, 09:25 AM
Made this in a sudden rush of inspiration, starting to look complete enough to subject to peer review.

The Totemist (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PoLmi88BJM0zIUkOc214F-oLz1F4d46n)

Soulmelds (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eSD6k8KqDWtEun0WKtOjsNm4VvKk0G3D)

Please Evaluate And Criticize Honestly.

Arrghus
2018-01-12, 07:25 AM
Bump.

Added an introduction in the style of the corebook's class descriptions.

Lalliman
2018-01-12, 08:27 AM
I don't have time for a comprehensive read right now, but I'll bookmark it and come back to it tonight.

In the meanwhile, can you give me some insight on what this class is supposed to do, so I'll know what to look out for? I have a really hard time getting a first impression. It's presented as a martial class, but I don't see any Extra Attack or other damage-increasing features, only a bunch of utility benefits through the soul melds. What is the combat functionality of this class?

Ixidor92
2018-01-12, 12:05 PM
So I actually tried to port stuff over from the magic of incarnum book as well, and I like a number of things you did here to bring the totemist over. That being said, I do have a couple of questions and suggestions.

-unarmored defense: This ability only specifies that you don't need to be wielding a shield, not that you don't need to be wearing armor. Is that intentional or a typo? Regardless, this ability should only function if the character is not using a shield or wearing armor. It is far too strong otherwise.
-Meldshaping/binds: Skimming through the soulmelds, I see one continuing problem. Almost all of them are extremely weak or extremely situational without binding them to a chakra. This seems to be your big limiting factor, but it has the effect of making the class look very unappealing until around 10th level when you actually have a few different binds available to you. This is also a little puzzling since a large number of the chakra binds listed don't seem powerful enough to warrant the limit. As an example: the ankheg breastplate doesn't have a single ability that I would consider locking behind anything past 5th level. Then their is the behir gorget, which has a a couple of fairly benign binds, and then it's throat bind seems to be balanced for 9th level. I also noticed that as I go further down the list of soulmelds, they seem to get stronger.
There are a couple of options here: Either rebalance the chakra binds so that they are more appropriate for the level at which they are unlocked, or make some chakra binds beyond just the totem chakra available at early levels. My personal suggestion (though it would require a lot of work) is to look back through your soulmelds and rebalance the powers of the binds. In addition, I would also improve a lot of the base effects of each soulmeld. Right now most of them are boring and extremely situational. Since soulmelds are the main feature of the class, I feel like they should have a more consistent power curve than what is currently there.
-Mandalas: I like the concepts of most of these, though the actual use of their abilities seems a little all over the place:

-Dragon: No complaints with this mandala until the final ability. The breath weapon in and of itself is fine, but it should not use the recharge mechanic for monsters. That is a mechanic designed with singular encounters in mind, and over the course of the day will allow a quite powerful ability to be used too many times. I would instead allow this to be used once, maybe twice, before needing to take a short rest. As a side note: the recharge mechanic should also not be used in any soulmelds, due to the reasons stated above.
-Celestial:Instead of using the cure wounds spell here, I would give a pool of d6s that they could spend to heal others. Look at the circle of dreams druid and celestial pact warlock for examples. The level 15 ability also seems a little weak for that level, mostly since radiant damage is not a damage type the character is likely to come against. I would add some other effect in addition to the radiant resistance. For example: you could add an ability that lets the totemist enter a form which has any bite, claw, or tail attacks deal additional radiant damage equal to half your totemist level. Have it last for a minute or so, and it recharges on a short or long rest.
Necrocarnate: I feel the abilities here are a little too plain (fair warning: I really like the idea of necrocarnum being the most horrid, evil thing a creature can do, so I am biased here). While the draconic resistance at level 3 is fine, owing to those damage types being more common, I don't think just gaining necrotic resistance at level 3 is particularly strong. I would roll the necrotic resistance into the necrocarnate health ability at level 7 (gaining both an immunity to disease and a resistance to necrotic damage) and give a more active ability for 3rd level. Off the top of my head, gaining temporary hit points whenever they drop an enemy to 0 HP seems appropriate. In addition, while the ability to cast harm is certainly potent, I think it belongs in a soulmeld, rather than as a class ability.

-General subclass talk: As a whole, each of the subclasses has the same problem right now. That problem is that they don't really interact with your choice of soulmelds at all. Your character is almost certain to have a natural attack of some kind, so why not have at least one of the subclasses interact with that? Look at the common abilities of your soulmelds and see where you can incorporate them into the subclasses

-General early level talk: The biggest problem I see with this class right now, as you may have gathered from my suggestions, is that it isn't front-loaded enough for 5e. This is one of the problems that crops up when trying to port stuff over from 3.5, but in classes in 5e tend to have several potent abilities in their early levels to give players a sense of power and identity. As an example: lets compare a 3rd level totemist you've given here to a 3rd level fighter.
At 3rd level, the totemist knows 5 soulmelds, and can shape 3 of them. However, they can only bind one to their totem chakra, meaning only one of the 3 soulmelds is going to see any regular use. They have totem defense, which ensures they likely have a decent armor class, this is fine. They have wild empathy, which is cool but definitely situational. And then their mandala choice either gives them one type of damage resistance, or the ability to cast cure light wounds as a 1st level spell once per long rest.

Compare this to a 3rd level fighter: They are likely either wearing heavy armor or going a dex build, which gives them comparable armor class to unarmored defense. They have a fighting style to help their preferred combat (likely either dueling, great weapon fighting, or armored). They have adrenaline rush to give themselves a quick heal as a bonus action. They have adrenaline surge to give themselves an extra action in combat. And then depending on their choice, they either gain spellcasting ability, gain a series of special combat maneuvers they can use, or the ability to crit more often.

Cursory glances to other classes show the same disparity: Rogue gets sneak attack, expertise, and clever action. Barbarian gets rage and reckless attack, clerics get cantrips and channel divinity. Right now, the totemist's best selling point at early levels is the ability to gain a bite attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage and 1d6 of some elemental damage based on the soulmeld used.
I would go over the early levels in this class, compare them to other classes, and ask myself "what does this class do that is unique and appealing compared to these other classes?" Because if it doesn't, then people are not going to want to play it.

Lalliman
2018-01-12, 01:28 PM
The breath weapon in and of itself is fine, but it should not use the recharge mechanic for monsters. That is a mechanic designed with singular encounters in mind, and over the course of the day will allow a quite powerful ability to be used too many times.
You can adjust the numbers until they make sense for a commonly-used ability, but the real reason you shouldn't do this is because it adds an extra die roll to every single turn. Not only does it cost time, but the player also has to remember time and time again whether he has to roll his die at the start of the turn.


unarmored defense: This ability only specifies that you don't need to be wielding a shield, not that you don't need to be wearing armor. Is that intentional or a typo? Regardless, this ability should only function if the character is not using a shield or wearing armor. It is far too strong otherwise.
While this is probably an error, it should be noted that even if it works while wearing armour, your AC wouldn't be any better for it. 10 + Dex + Con replaces your AC, the Con isn't added on top of what you already have.

Anyways, having read it in a little more detail now, I agree with Ixidor's points. I've found the hidden Extra Attack feature, but even so the class has very little going for itself. It has a breadth of options, but very few of them provide a considerable power boost early on, certainly not of the calibre of Rage or Action Surge.

One extra thing that Ixidor didn't touch on: This class is explicitly supposed to be Strength-based, and yet I see very little reason to play it that way. Dexterity will give much better AC with Totem Defense, in addition to being the generally-superior choice already. Some of the natural weapons are Strength-only, but there are also several Finesse ones that don't seem notably worse. So there seems to be no real reason to play it as it was seemingly intended.