D&D Subclass Contest VII Voting Thread

[MoleMage]

And that's lucky number seven down, with an unlucky number of entries at 13. We couldn't have done this better if we tried.

Simple rules. Vote for your number 1, number 2, and number 3 picks. You can't vote for yourself. A number 1 vote is worth 3 points, a number 2 is worth 2, and a number 3 is worth one.

Also enter your top two picks for the next theme from those randomly pulled from the list of future themes. The winner will be our next theme, while the runner-up will be guaranteed to be in the voting next cycle. A number one pick is worth 2 points, and a number two pick is worth 1.



Entry
Creator
1st
2nd
3rd



Rogue: The Lucky Scoundrel (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23734498&postcount=2)
theVoidWatches
0
0
1



Barbarian: Path of Dumb Luck (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23735713&postcount=3)
nickl_2000
1
0
2



Paladin: Oath of Fortune (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23740815&postcount=4)
Icecaster
1
1
0



Sorcerer: Fate Sorcery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23741966&postcount=5)
Man_Over_Game
3
2
0



Warlock: The Fatekeeper Patron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23742461&postcount=6)
superninja109
0
0
0



Ranger: Longshot Conclave (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23743410&postcount=7)
Vogie
0
1
0



Any/Other: Beloved of the Dice (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23748781&postcount=8)
sengmeng
1
0
2



Warlock: The Gambler Patron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23759364&postcount=9)
Kingsluger
0
2
0



Rogue: The Fatethief (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23760218&postcount=10)
SleeplessWriter
0
1
1



Monk: Way of the Chance Dancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23762897&postcount=11)
Oubliette
3
1
2



Druid: Circle of Omens (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23776306&postcount=12)
MoleMage
1
1
1



Bard: College of the Bold (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23777843&postcount=13)
Fnissalot
0
1
0



Cleric: Destiny Domain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23785173&postcount=14)
Ivellius
0
0
1




Classes unrepresented in contest 7: Fighter, Wizard. This is our most diverse contest so far, with 10 out of the 12 base classes represented and one "Other/Homebrew" category class.



Theme
Description
1st
2nd


Something Borrowed
Subclasses which use features from other classes
5
1


It Is Written
Subclasses based on destiny or prophecy
0
1


Subsystems Online
Subclasses that use new game mechanics
2
4


The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Subclasses specializing in "stationery combat"
3
4


Scaling Strangely
Subclasses that scale from unusual values
0
0



It is Written and Subsystems Online both carried over from the last voting thread since they were tied for runner-up. Please contain your theme votes to these five themes. If the one you wanted to vote for isn't here, blame numbergenerator.org and hold out for next time. Feel free to make new theme suggestions still, I will add them to the overall list and they will have a chance of being rolled for next month's contest.

This thread will stay open until the end of the day April 7. The following day I will recheck all vote counts and declare a winner, then post the next contest thread. Good luck everyone!

[Man_Over_Game]

Subclass votes:

Chance Dancer
Oath of Fortune
Beloved of the Dice




Chance Dancer (Flavorful, mechanically and tactically interesting, consistent, and it references existing mechanics. I feel like this is something I could actually learn, and I question why it's not already in a book. Well done as my #1 spot!)
Oath of Fortune (I like the idea of having combat Divinities, followed by a non-combat tool, both of which appeal to the subclass concept. It's a bit dull, to be honest, but as I play it out in my head, I feel like it'd play as a Paladin with a solution to any problem that helps others succeed more often, and that's exactly what I'd expect a Guide of Luck to be.)
Beloved of the Dice (A risky gambit that has a lot of interesting mechanics. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to balance it all, but the work and theory itself is enough for me to bump it up. I also like that the class-specific benefits reference well-known mechanics, which is a major plus in my book.
Longshot Conclave (Well balanced, just not very tactical or adaptive. Randomness doesn't always equal fun. Combined with the fact that ranged combat is already a bit dull (and the additional range will only exacerbate that), and I get this feeling like it could be a bit more tactically interesting early on. The mid-level features are really quite interesting, and I think it's more important to have the "colorful"/interesting features to be available right off the bat.)
College of the Bold (Really flavorful abilities, but I feel like they need some major tuning for them to be worthwhile. For example, a 17-20 with Disadvantage is a 4% chance, which is a big deal for a subclass feature)
The Gambler (Really risky move, and I like that, but I don't think it'd be very balanced, considering each card is a spell slot and not a spell).
Destiny Domain (It's clean, and almost in line with other Clerics, but it's very weak. Early level features are: increase initiative, gain two skills, and use the Bard's Cutting Words feature once per Short Rest. If it was a bit stronger, I'd definitely raise it up).
Lucky Scoundrel (Tactics mostly seem like they'd revolve around metagaming. "Ok, so if I attack and then give you Luck, and you make sure you use it before my turn, I don't ever get a penalty, so just make sure you get rid of it ASAP". Mostly a numbers crunching game, which doesn't add much "color" to the battlefield. I think everything seems balanced, although the wording could be fixed a bit. I'd just have everything revolve around your number of Sneak Attack dice, and losing/gaining them back, since that's basically what you do but with more words).
Fatethief (Has a lot of interesting mechanics, but it's all a bit confusing, and all using abilities that are self-contained. That is, it hardly uses existing mechanics and instead creates its own, which creates a lot of lookup to run it properly. This is opposed to duplicating spell effects (like Suggestion), or using existing combat mechanics (like Advantage).)
Circle of Omens (I like the new changes, but I just have a hard time accepting something with a ton of complex, unique lookups. The Battlemaster's maneuvers are all simple and easy to memorize, where yours are not. This is before including the rules needed to properly apply the Omens. Think about how many times someone would have to pause to read a specific table for a specific subclass, on a class that is already a full caster and Wild Shape).
Path of Dumb Luck (As flavorful as the concept is, the first few features are a bit...dull. They don't do much to make the Barbarian feel lucky in real gameplay, and he'll likely resort to doing the same thing he was doing at level 1, except now doing them until level 10. The first subclass feature, in particular, has to be the most "colorful" ability of any subclass. That HAS to be the singular focus for the subclass, in order to draw people into taking it. In this case, it's an extra 1d4 damage.)
Fatekeeper (I feel that most of the abilities are a bit too weak, and a bit too empty. I feel like the strategy would be to curse the boss and....wait? It could use some explosiveness and less passive abilities. Note that the most similar subclass feature to this is the Hexblade's Curse, which has a bunch of abilities, including an increased crit range. This is before mentioning spells as usable as Shield and Wrathful Smite. This is minor: As useful as Bane might be, I think it was a poor choice to include it as an option, as it causes an Invocation to become obsolete. I feel it's important to create new content, not replace what already exists).



Next contest votes:

Subystems Online
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

[Ivellius]

One of the nice things about providing comprehensive feedback is that I've already looked at all of these at least once! My votes:

Class Options

Way of the Chance Dancer - While I don't think the flavor was all that interesting, mechanically this just felt right to me on so many levels. Creative, I guess is how I felt about it, and it feels like something fairly unique to the class. I do, in hindsight, suspect I'd feel better about the capstone if it were limited in some way--either once per rest or can't affect the same creature more than once in a day.
College of the Bold - Again, innovation carried the day for me here. This is just such a thing for some characters to do, and it incentivizes you to get in there and hit things. In the Face of Danger is a bit high-powered, but that's a tuning issue.
Path of Dumb Luck - As a "tiebreaker," this one made me laugh more than the others. If you can make "smashing things together" a viable course of action, why not?

I really think these contests are raising the level of homebrew, so to speak, though I also think almost all of the entries had a flaw or two I had trouble overlooking. I guess that's a back-handed compliment; it's not really intended to be.

Contest Choices

Subsystems Online
The Pen Is Mightier

[SleeplessWriter]

1. Chance Dancer: It's pretty mechanically solid and could be a lot of fun to play as a nice battlefield manipulator. The capstone is a bit powerful, but it's not too bad.
2. The Gambler Patron: Gotta admit, I love having random effects and resources, and this one had some nice flavor to it too.
3. Path of Dumb Luck: Just the idea of a dumb but incredibly lucky barbarian bumbling through everything in life is hilarious to me. Mechanically it could be improved a bit in some areas, but flavorwise it's pretty good.

Theme Votes!

1. The Pen is Mightier: I wasn't going to vote for this one, but then I saw that gosh darn pun.
2. Something Borrowed: I have a few ideas for this one, currently teetering between a totemic raging ranger or a divine trickster.

[nickl_2000]

Votes:
1- Druid circle of omen. I personally have a thing for options. I live a class that let's me choose from a boatload of options allowing to make the character firing to my ideas. This druid does that really well. The omens are interesting and flavourful, and it looks like it would be fun to play.
2- Ranger Longshot Concave. The biggesy thing I adore about this subclass is the it gives you a reason to take ranger into the higher levels. The tier 3 and 4 features are great and something I would really be excited to get.
3- Way of the chance dancer. I personally feel the capstone is to powerful, but I rarely let that get in the way of voting for something since it is so rare to get to those. It's a very interesting and flavourful subclass that looks like it would be a lot of fun to play.



Themes
1- something borrowed
2- the pen is mightier (and not just because I hear Sean Connery's voice in my head from celebrity jeperody on SNL)

[Oubliette]

Votes
1. Beloved of the Dice is just hilarious. It's just the sort of screwball I love to have in my campaigns.
2. Circle of Omens Druid fills a hole that divination wizards leave in the truly mystical seer slot that is so essential in campaign story, of someone who is just so in tune with the world that they see things. Not always clearly, and not necessarily by training, but they do see.
3. Fatethief rogue. I played Warlock in 4th edition specifically because they got a few abilities like these.

Themes
1. Something Borrowed
2. Subsystems Online

[Fnissalot]

God this was hard... So many good subclasses in this contest. I am not sure these are the most balanced, but they are the ones that are thematic and either I found most interesting to try or they have abilities I would enjoy using.

1. Fate Sorcery
2. Gambler Patron
3. Destiny Domain

1. Pen is mightier than the sword
2. Subsystems Online

[Kingsluger]

Voting:
1. Dumb luck barbarian
2. Fate Sorcery
3. Beloved of the Dice

Themes:
1. The pen is mightier than the sword
2. It is written

[MoleMage]

My Top 3:


Fate Sorcery: I feel like sorcerers don't get enough love (probably related to the number of sorcerer reworks I see posted), but I like the progression of this bloodline, and the idea of a spellcaster who is reactive, rather than the normal proactive.
Fatethief: As with the Fate Sorcerer, the Fatethief rogue builds upon earlier features in a way that was compelling to me. Also I liked the flavor text for each ability.
Lucky Scoundrel: I'm still not sure on how the math comes up, but it is just so interesting-looking to play.


I'd give my customary honorable mentions, but to be perfectly honest I had no class that didn't make the second round of consideration this time (which is usually my criteria). So...I guess honorable mentions all around?

And for my contest picks:

Something Borrowed is my number 1 this time. This is a break from my tradition of voting for It is Written as my number 1, but I think after the number of destiny-based classes we got as a subset of luck we need a break from that theme.
Subsystems Online is my number 2 vote. Honestly, I think I make a subsystem more often than I don't for these (Blood Shaman, Circle of Omens, even the Happy Mask Patron had the mask system), so it might as well be official.

[theVoidWatches]

I know this isn't exactly controversial, but...

1. Fate Sorcery

2. Way of the Chance Dancer

3. Circle of Omens

For the next contest I vote for

1. Something Borrowed

2. Subsystems Online

[Vogie]

1st) Oath of Fortune
2nd) Fate Sorcery
3rd) Way of the Chance Dancer

Other-1st) Something Borrowed
Other-2nd) The Pen is Mightier

[MoleMage]

Alright everyone, the voting period has ended and our results are here!

IIIIIN Third place, we have that Druid Circle which can read the upcoming luck as easily as looking at birds. With 6 points, it's MoleMages druidic Circle of Omens.

In Second Place, we have nothing, in keeping with the tiebreaker rules established in the last thread, because...

In First place, we have an official tie! As both Man_Over_Game and Oubliette submitted votes, and as each of them had the same number of 1st-rank votes (3), each of them takes their highly respectable 13 (again with 13?) points into a first place tie! Named in chronological order of submission, our first place subclasses are Man_Over_Game's Fate Sorcery sorcerous origin (Twist Advantage! Cast spells as a Reaction!) and Oubliette's monk Way of the Chance Dancer (Roll for your enemies! Use prescience to shape luck!).

Congratulations to both of our first place winners!

Meanwhile, in the next contest discussion, we had an overwhelming rally around Something Borrowed in the home stretch, so look for that contest shortly. And our runner up this time is The Pen is Mightier than the Sword, so you'll have the chance to vote for it again next time.