[GUIDE] Inquisitor Lim's Miniguide to the Chronurgist

[Deathtongue]

Full disclosure: Unlike the Bladesinger and the Evoker, I have not played a Chronurgist up to level 17. I have played one up to level 3 over a period of a couple of weeks, so this is mostly theorycrafting. However, just based on my playing of levels 2 and 3, I can already tell that this subclass is going to be incredibly strong and versatile.

Based on feedback on my previous miniguide being too long at 40 pages, I'm just getting down to the bare essentials.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rFLCaPO31XB-MqFz3uDydXDrmU1hTzL6YqJRogAD2iA/

[MaxWilson]

Full disclosure: Unlike the Bladesinger and the Evoker, I have not played a Chronurgist up to level 17. I have played one up to level 3 over a period of a couple of weeks, so this is mostly theorycrafting. However, just based on my playing of levels 2 and 3, I can already tell that this subclass is going to be incredibly strong and versatile.

Based on feedback on my previous miniguide being too long at 40 pages, I'm just getting down to the bare essentials.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rFLCaPO31XB-MqFz3uDydXDrmU1hTzL6YqJRogAD2iA/

Incapacitation breaks concentration, and Momentary Stasis is a Con save with lots of uses which incapacitates from a distance. Ergo it's a concentration-breaker as well as action-denier, and BTW doesn't break Invisibility or cost concentration.

Agreed that the subclass is broken strong. Strongest wizard subclass, hands down.

I do want to note that Legendary Resistance is *not* the only protection from Convergent Futures. As with so many things magical, Darkness or Invisibility works too. Chronurgy wizards should therefore prioritize True Seeing, although that still won't help against Fog Cloud or just plain Hiding. (And dragons are proficient in Stealth!) Edit: good, you updated the doc.

[Satori01]

The subclass “reads” as strong. Play strength might be less ideal than Whiteboard Dreams.

Most of the subclass abilities have Long Rest reset timers, and other *Use* restrictions.

Momentary Stasis is useful as a Concentration stopper against enemy spellcasters,
(you can even use Chronal Shift with it), but expending half of the daily uses of your 2nd level subclass power, and a likely 1/4 of your 6th level subclass power uses, is a big resources expenditure to break Concentration on a single spell.

I’m not saying the combo isn’t good, and it can absolutely be an encounter changer.
That said, the same can be true for Malleable Illusions as a 6th level subclass power.

Arcane Abeyance will appeal to players that like to fiddle. Spreading Concentration out amongst the party is the most obvious benefit of the power.

Expending a 3rd level slot to cast Leo’s Tiny Hut as an action, (on a 1 hour timer no less), means in practical terms you just UPCAST the Rope Trick spell.

Magic Circle and Mord’s Private Sanctum *will* mess with monsters, but requires some planning to pull off.

The same is true with Glyph of Warding Chicanery. An upcast 4th level Bestow Curse, saved as a mote can help wreck a monsters’ day lasting 10 minutes and not costing Concentration, at the cost of a 3rd and 4th level slot.

This subclass can shut down some encounters, but when low on spell slots and Subclass power uses, is not going to have the bells and whistles other Wizard Subclasses have continual access to.

[MaxWilson]

Momentary Stasis is useful as a Concentration stopper against enemy spellcasters,
(you can even use Chronal Shift with it), but expending half of the daily uses of your 2nd level subclass power, and a likely 1/4 of your 6th level subclass power uses, is a big resources expenditure to break Concentration on a single spell.

You've got that mixed up. Momentary Stasis is the 6th level ability and will definitely cost one of your ~4 uses. You can optionally use one of your 2 uses of Chronal Shift at the same time, but only if it's super important, otherwise you probably want to save Chronal Shift to support your encounter-winning spells like e.g. Fear, or for helping PCs pass their saves.



Magic Circle and Mord’s Private Sanctum *will* mess with monsters, but requires some planning to pull off.

The same is true with Glyph of Warding Chicanery. An upcast 4th level Bestow Curse, saved as a mote can help wreck a monsters’ day lasting 10 minutes and not costing Concentration, at the cost of a 3rd and 4th level slot.

This subclass can shut down some encounters, but when low on spell slots and Subclass power uses, is not going to have the bells and whistles other Wizard Subclasses have continual access to.

Endurance matters, you're not wrong about that, and at-will powers like Hypnotic Gaze and Malleable Illusion are great. But a wizard's true strength lies in spellcasting, and a wizard's best abilities are the ones that synergize with a wizard's best spells (e.g. Bladesong + Shapechange), which are never at-will but are sometimes long-lasting (hours, months, or permanent).

I think you're underestimating Chronurgy. The initiative bonus is solid, all day long, and the limited-use abilities are plentiful (10 times per long rest by 10th level, assuming 2 short rests, and 14th level Convergent Futures is at-will) and powerful (Find Familiar for everyone in the party?!? Unlimited Magic Jar Deaths?!?). Compare to the well-regarded Diviner which gets its reputation based on only TWO uses per day of a powerful ability.

If the Chronurgist had only subclass abilities and no wizard spells you'd be right to sneer at it, but by 14th level the Chronurgist is the only wizard in the game with the capability to drop a two-hour Magic Circle on a major demon like a Goristro as a familiar's action right in the middle of combat and then spend an hour after combat Planar Binding the demon and *guaranteeing* that it will fail its save... And unlike the Diviner, it doesn't even cost a daily resource to do so and may not even cost you exhaustion, because unlike the Diviner's Portent you can opt to use Convergent Futures after you've already seen the roll!

Chronurgist can Wish (Planar Binding) right in the middle of combat *even better* than the Diviner can. That's only one of the Chronurgist's abilities.

Hands-down the most powerful wizard subclass unless the DM lets Malleable Illusion + Mirage Arcane do everything the spell suggests it *might* be able to do (create lava, create or remove arbitrary buildings, dig mile-deep pits as an action and have them do actual falling damage, etc.) in which case it's probably a tie. And it's not even really clear if Mirage Arcane is supposed to be able to do that stuff anyway, or how those things interact with Truesight if so (does someone with Truesight still fall in the mile-deep pit?).

[Veldrenor]

I think you're underestimating Chronurgy. The initiative bonus is solid, all day long, and the limited-use abilities are plentiful (10 times per long rest by 10th level, assuming 2 short rests, and 14th level Convergent Futures is at-will) and powerful (Find Familiar for everyone in the party?!? Unlimited Magic Jar Deaths?!?).

Can you use Convergent Futures like that? Magic Jar allows you to possess a humanoid. When your host dies it ceases to be humanoid (since corpses are objects, not creatures). Since it's no longer a humanoid, it's no longer a valid target for possession and I would think you cease to possess it. At that point you would make the save and could attempt to use Convergent Futures, but Convergent Futures requires your reaction and Magic Jar says you can't take reactions.

Even if the "You can't move or use reactions" clause only applies when you're in the gem and not when you're a disembodied soul between host and gem, I would think that using Convergent Futures at that point would still be limited by exhaustion. Once your host dies and is no longer a valid target for possession, you're back to using your stats instead of the host's. If you activate Convergent Futures at that point, you gain the level of exhaustion. Magic Jar doesn't say that your soul is immune to, well, anything; conditions, spells, damage, etc.

[Segev]

Hands-down the most powerful wizard subclass unless the DM lets Malleable Illusion + Mirage Arcane do everything the spell suggests it *might* be able to do (create lava, create or remove arbitrary buildings, dig mile-deep pits as an action and have them do actual falling damage, etc.) in which case it's probably a tie. And it's not even really clear if Mirage Arcane is supposed to be able to do that stuff anyway, or how those things interact with Truesight if so (does someone with Truesight still fall in the mile-deep pit?).

Mirage arcane (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirageArcane.htm) says the following:
You make terrain in an area up to 1 mile square look, sound, smell, and even feel like some other sort of terrain. The terrain’s general shape remains the same, however. Open fields or a road could be made to resemble a swamp, hill, crevasse, or some other difficult or impassable terrain. A pond can be made to seem like a grassy meadow, a precipice like a gentle slope, or a rock-strewn gully like a wide and smooth road.
Similarly, you can alter the appearance of structures, or add them where none are present. The spell doesn’t disguise, conceal, or add creatures.

The illusion includes audible, visual, tactile, and olfactory elements, so it can turn clear ground into difficult terrain (or vice versa) or otherwise impede movement through the area. Any piece of the illusory terrain (such as a rock or stick) that is removed from the spell’s area disappears immediately.

Creatures with truesight can see through the illusion to the terrain’s true form; however, all other elements of the illusion remain, so while the creature is aware of the illusion’s presence, the creature can still physically interact with the illusion.

Key components of this include:

The terrain’s general shape remains the same
This one means you can't open a big pit in the middle of an open field, or put a mountain there It has to remain roughly the same.
Open fields or a road could be made to resemble a swamp, hill, crevasse, or some other difficult or impassable terrain. [emphasis added]
This would seem to dispute the first point, but as long as the creavasse is narrow enough, and created by minor raising of the terrain, it doesn't break down too badly.
A pond can be made to seem like a grassy meadow, a precipice like a gentle slope, or a rock-strewn gully like a wide and smooth road.
Each of these are adding solidity or things on top of the reality, not "digging in" to it with illusory holes.
Similarly, you can alter the appearance of structures, or add them where none are present.
This one is interesting, because you can alter a structure to be dilapitated, or even a ruin. If you make a city wall into a ruin with gaping holes, can people pour through? This one is the one that most suggests holes can be created with the spell.
The earlier "creavase" and "difficult terrain" could, then, if this is interpreted that way, be similarly interpreted.
Creatures with truesight can see through the illusion to the terrain’s true form; however, all other elements of the illusion remain, so while the creature is aware of the illusion’s presence, the creature can still physically interact with the illusion. [emphasis added]
This answers the question about truesight and seeing through it. Yes, if a pit is possible where the ground is solid, the person with truesight can fall into it. (He can see it faintly, anyway, so it's not like it's hidden from him by his truesight.)

So, yes, if you can make a mile-deep pit where the ground is solid, someone with Truesight still can fall into it. Presumably, if the spell ends, he finds himself on top of the ground anyway, because despite the tactile illusion being very real, it's still an illusion, not a "phase through matter" spell. I, personally, would have fun adding doors, windows, and archways to structures to easily gain access.

[MaxWilson]

Can you use Convergent Futures like that? Magic Jar allows you to possess a humanoid. When your host dies it ceases to be humanoid (since corpses are objects, not creatures). Since it's no longer a humanoid, it's no longer a valid target for possession and I would think you cease to possess it. At that point you would make the save and could attempt to use Convergent Futures, but Convergent Futures requires your reaction and Magic Jar says you can't take reactions.

Even if the "You can't move or use reactions" clause only applies when you're in the gem and not when you're a disembodied soul between host and gem, I would think that using Convergent Futures at that point would still be limited by exhaustion. Once your host dies and is no longer a valid target for possession, you're back to using your stats instead of the host's. If you activate Convergent Futures at that point, you gain the level of exhaustion. Magic Jar doesn't say that your soul is immune to, well, anything; conditions, spells, damage, etc.

Magic Jar says you can't take reactions while in the gem, but the save happens prior to re-entering the gem. (The best counter-argument is to say "if you're dead you probably went to 0 HP first and are Unconcious," although that would make Magic Jar pretty useless because when would you ever regain consciousness? It's a messy spell if you read it closely.)

Let me be clear though: I have no issues with your rulings above. I think they are reasonable, and they result in non-unlimited Magic Jar, but the Chronurgist is still a fantastic subclass even when that particular exploit is closed.

A related exploit is to Magic Jar into a creature immune to exhaustion, like a (Shadar Kai) Gloom Weaver or Soul Monger.

[Satori01]

You've got that mixed up. Momentary Stasis is the 6th level ability and will definitely cost one of your ~4 uses. You can optionally use one of your 2 uses of Chronal Shift at the same time, but only if it's super important, otherwise you probably want to save Chronal Shift to support your encounter-winning spells like e.g. Fear, or for helping PCs pass their saves.



Endurance matters, you're not wrong about that

I think you're underestimating Chronurgy.

Max, you basically “personsplained” what I wrote. Using 1 use of Chronurgist 2 level power and 1 use of the 6th level power is 1/2 of total 2nd level subclass resources and 1/4 of 6th level subclass resources.

I’m not undervaluing Chronurgy, it is a STRONG subclass.

It is a top contender for a “Shutdown Caster of the Year” Award, 😄.

That said an Illusionist with Mirage Arcana, can highjack a square mile of the most densely populated city in your campaign world....and make the buildings and terrain change every 6 seconds....for 10 days.

The Roleplay power of that alone, is tremendous!

Kinda hard to dock your galleon in Waterdeep, when the bay has been turned into a grassy field.

Knowing the land is an illusion, does not change the fact, that you still interact with the illusionary terrain as real, despite knowing it is not.

Chronugist will own 2-3 combat encounters a day.

[MaxWilson]

Max, you basically “personsplained” what I wrote. Using 1 use of Chronurgist 2 level power and 1 use of the 6th level power is 1/2 of total 2nd level subclass resources and 1/4 of 6th level subclass resources.

No, you said it would definitely cost 1/2 of your Chronal Shift uses and possibly 1/4 of your Momentary Stasis, but that's backwards. Correcting an error is the opposite of mansplaining for reasons I shouldn't have to explain.

Just say "oops, my mistake" and let's move on. The whole point of Chronal Shift is that it's plentiful, effective, non-concentration, and in addition to all your spells. Finding a good use for one of your four-ish uses is a *good* thing.

A Chronugist can cast Mirage Arcana too, he just can't warp it around every six seconds. It's a powerful spell from any wizard, although Dispel Magic rapidly shuts it down of course.

Chronurgist's power is not just about "owning 2-3 combat encounters," it's about how you snowball one encounter into accumulating advantages in future encounters. You like Illusionist so I shouldn't have to mansplain to you how it works, because Illusionists rely on prep too.

And there are tons of noncombat applications.

[Veldrenor]

No, you said it would definitely cost 1/2 of your Chronal Shift uses and possibly 1/4 of your Momentary Stasis, but that's backwards. Correcting an error is the opposite of mansplaining for reasons I shouldn't have to explain.

Chronal Shift can be used twice per long rest. Momentary Stasis can be used a number of times equal to your Intelligence Modifier per long rest. They said using Chronal Shift was 1/2 and Momentary Stasis was 1/4, then you said the same thing. When they pointed out that you said the same thing they did, you said no you didn't, you were correcting a mistake they made. But you said the same thing they did, what error were you correct...oh. Ohhhhhhh, ok, I think I get it. You weren't correcting:


Momentary Stasis is useful as a Concentration stopper against enemy spellcasters,
(you can even use Chronal Shift with it), but expending half of the daily uses of your 2nd level subclass power, and a likely 1/4 of your 6th level subclass power uses, is a big resources expenditure to break Concentration on a single spell.

You were correcting:


Momentary Stasis is useful as a Concentration stopper against enemy spellcasters,
(you can even use Chronal Shift with it), but expending half of the daily uses of your 2nd level subclass power, and a likely 1/4 of your 6th level subclass power uses, is a big resources expenditure to break Concentration on a single spell.

Because their example used Momentary Stasis and possibly used Chronal Shift to reinforce it, which would expend 1/4 of Momentary Stasis and likely expend 1/2 Chronal Shifts. There's probably a way you could've written that more clearly than you did.


The best counter-argument is to say "if you're dead you probably went to 0 HP first and are Unconcious," although that would make Magic Jar pretty useless because when would you ever regain consciousness? It's a messy spell if you read it closely.

I would think you regain consciousness as soon as the host body dies. When the host body drops to 0HP it gains the "unconscious" condition. Since you're using the host body's stats, that means you act as though you have the "unconscious" condition as well. When the host body dies, it ceases to be a valid target for possession and your possession would end. Since you're no longer possessing them you stop using their stats, so you regain consciousness because they were the one with the "unconscious" condition, not you. That creates some weird questions, though. The host body dies, ejecting you and letting you regain consciousness. The host body dying also triggers the Charisma save. The save and regaining consciousness are both set off by the same event, so which takes priority? Do you regain consciousness, then make the save so you can use Convergent Future? Or do you make the save first, can't use Convergent Future because you're still effectively unconscious, then regain consciousness as you're shunted back into the gem? I agree, it's a big ol' mess of a spell.


A related exploit is to Magic Jar into a creature immune to exhaustion, like a (Shadar Kai) Gloom Weaver or Soul Monger.

If your DM uses one of the five humanoids immune to exhaustion after you hit level 14, absolutely. But there may be no Shadar Kai/Duergar Despots/Lord of Blades in your campaign. Or they may exist but you never encounter them. Or you may encounter them before you have access to Magic Jar/Convergent Future and not again after. Or you may pull off the exploit and your DM says "that's neat, I'll allow it this session, but next session it stops." I'm not sure how to assess the power of an ability whose application will be determined largely by the DM.


the Chronurgist is still a fantastic subclass even when that particular exploit is closed.

Eh, the Chronurgist is good certainly, but I don't know if I'd go so far as "fantastic." Then again, from the way you talk about the Chronurgist and its interactions with certain spells I get the feeling that you and your table play a different sort of game than me and mine do, so we're going to have very different opinions of its strength.

[MaxWilson]

There's probably a way you could've written that more clearly than you did.

Yeah, apparently so. I thought I was being more clear than I apparently actually was.


I agree, it's a big ol' mess of a spell.

Yup. It gets even messier if the host body gets transformed into a form that is no longer humanoid, or (even worse) if the host body was originally non-humanoid and was temporarily True Polymorphed into a humanoid just long enough to be Magic Jar'ed, but then the True Polymorph caster stops concentrating. It's not clear at all what's supposed to happen when the body (temporarily or permanently) goes from humanoid to non-humanoid.


If your DM uses one of the five humanoids immune to exhaustion after you hit level 14, absolutely. But there may be no Shadar Kai/Duergar Despots/Lord of Blades in your campaign.

Technically you can make a Gloomweaver from an object using True Polymorph, because it's only CR 9. And there may be campaign-specific ones as well.

You could even just hire a bunch of peasants and borrow their bodies via Magic Jar just long enough to cast your must-succeed spells (like Planar Binding), and then let them sleep it off afterwards and switch to a different body. It's an extremely strong at-will ability and the exhaustion isn't as much of a rate-limiter as it first appears.


Or they may exist but you never encounter them. Or you may encounter them before you have access to Magic Jar/Convergent Future and not again after.

Dig up the body and Wish for Resurrection.


Or you may pull off the exploit and your DM says "that's neat, I'll allow it this session, but next session it stops." I'm not sure how to assess the power of an ability whose application will be determined largely by the DM.

Eh, the Chronurgist is good certainly, but I don't know if I'd go so far as "fantastic." Then again, from the way you talk about the Chronurgist and its interactions with certain spells I get the feeling that you and your table play a different sort of game than me and mine do, so we're going to have very different opinions of its strength.

Well, I'm mostly talking about why I wouldn't allow it as written. You're right that the DM can allow it but nerf some features, but... six of one thing, half a dozen of the other. We're both saying that it's too strong to be allowed to work per RAW.

[Veldrenor]

Well, I'm mostly talking about why I wouldn't allow it as written. You're right that the DM can allow it but nerf some features, but... six of one thing, half a dozen of the other. We're both saying that it's too strong to be allowed to work per RAW.

If by "it" you mean "Magic Jar + Shadar Kai + Convergent Future" then yes, I absolutely agree, that combo is too powerful if you ever manage to pull it off. If by "it" you mean the Chronurgist overall, I was most certainly not saying that it's too strong. The tables I play at would never have a problem with it, while the tables you play at sound like they would. Different tables have different play conditions and so the power of an ability will vary greatly. For example:



You could even just hire a bunch of peasants and borrow their bodies via Magic Jar just long enough to cast your must-succeed spells (like Planar Binding), and then let them sleep it off afterwards and switch to a different body. It's an extremely strong at-will ability and the exhaustion isn't as much of a rate-limiter as it first appears.

My fellow players and I would never have thought to do this. First, we generally don't hire people during the campaign. Except for buying something in a store, paying commoners to do something that we could do ourselves is not in the playbook. We're the story's protagonists, not Johnny Q Farmer. When the campaign is over and we're narrating our character's epilogue, then we can hire people and build a keep or whatever. During the adventure, we adventure.

Second, paying off villagers to use their bodies as exhaustion batteries is morally questionable at best. We've had evil characters over the years, sure, but the #1 rule for them has always been "don't get caught." Inter-party arguments are fun; full-on PvP is not. And the above would absolutely get us caught.

Third, none of us have ever learned Magic Jar or Planar Binding. They're expensive, even if they weren't we hate spending money on optional consumables, finding the materials gets tricky, and there's too much risk involved with using them (with Magic Jar you risk the loss of your body and insta-death, and with Planar Binding you intentionally place yourself in a Monkey's Paw).



Technically you can make a Gloomweaver from an object using True Polymorph, because it's only CR 9. And there may be campaign-specific ones as well.

Dig up the body and Wish for Resurrection.


Yes, you can absolutely do those things if there are humanoids immune to exhaustion in your campaign and your character has met/is aware of them. But you're using True Polymorph or Wish to do it. It's probably different for you and yours, but for me and mine, level 17+ doesn't matter. Once you can rewrite reality or permanently turn into an adult dragon the game is basically over, everything after that point is just having your victory lap.

[Deathtongue]

One of the few upsides to quarantine is that I get to play D&D over Roll20 every day if I feel like it. And I've advanced a Chronurgist to level 6 in just two weeks since writing the guide. My thoughts on it so far:

Momentary Stasis is better than I gave it credit for. The ability to have it readied without interrupting your concentration or wasting your spell slots is really good. It's still going to fall off hard because lol CON saves, but for the time being a 'good' CON save is like +6.

Temporal Initiative + Gift of Alacrity is an almost unfair combination. Gift of Alacrity is just so damn good on its own, I often blow my first level spell slots on it when I start the day and immediately take a short rest for Arcane Recovery.

Chronal Shift is really good, don't get me wrong, but the 30-foot range kind of makes it a pain in the neck to use. You know how many times someone has used Web or Phantasmal Force or Blindness/Deafness and I've been unable to mess with the save simply because I couldn't get there in time? Way too often. I'd really like to play more aggressively, but low-level wizards are kind of made of paper even if you're playing an Abjurer or a Bladesinger.

[Dork_Forge]

Nice guide, thanks for taking the time to put it together! Would you change your guide any now that you've put it through play testing?

My thoughts on the abilities (tbh no real desire to read through the spells right now):

Chronal Shift: This is good, but personally I would have rated it Blue because it has so many limitations (30 feet, need to see the creature and a reaction on a Wizard) and may not even end up benefiting you since it's a reroll.

Temporal Awareness: Always a fan of adding to initiative, the only thing I don't like is it just copies a War Wizard ability with different fluff and that leaves a bad taste.

Momentary Stasis: Seems like a good way to shut down some casters or Mobile enemies and a good control fall back if you're running out of slots. If this had been a Sorcerer thing then I'd think better of it, but a Wizard is likely better off casting most of the time. Agree with black.

Arcane Abeyance: I like this ability and it's fluff, the 4th level limit seems about right without being too restrictive though I'd rather it was two uses per day instead of once per rest. Wish it was limited differently but as listed definitely a Gold.

Convergent Future: I actually like how this is done, a very powerful ability with a very powerful limitation that accounts for reasonable work arounds. Could you abuse it with Magic Jar? Sure but if you start hopping in and out of people to avoid personal exhaustion then you're being pretty darn evil and that doesn't fly in most campaigns. Possessing a humanoid that is immune to exhaustion? Tbh so niche an abuse that is so unlikely to actually happen it shouldn't be a concern for design purposes. I'd probably bump it down to Sky Blue at most just because of how much you'll actually get to use it.

I like the Echo Knight and I mostly like this, just a shame how underwhelming the Graviturgist is...

[Deathtongue]

Chronal Shift: This is good, but personally I would have rated it Blue because it has so many limitations (30 feet, need to see the creature and a reaction on a Wizard) and may not even end up benefiting you since it's a reroll.I rated this ability so highly because it's so versatile. At higher levels, using it to force saving throw failures is probably the best use, but if you're doing exploration or town phase, it's just so versatile. Portent (which is definitely sky blue) has an advantage on range and action advantage, but what I don't like about Portent is that sometimes you roll something like a 13 and a 16 and that it's hurt by mass AoE save-or-sucks -- if you're targeting three fire giants with a Fear, you don't know which ones are going to fail the saving throw.

I think that over the long run, Portent is slightly better, but only slightly. This still deserves a sky blue.


Momentary Stasis: Seems like a good way to shut down some casters or Mobile enemies and a good control fall back if you're running out of slots. If this had been a Sorcerer thing then I'd think better of it, but a Wizard is likely better off casting most of the time. Agree with black.I'm using it at level 6 right now to stretch out my slots and have an option to use for readied actions when I'm concentrating on something. It's very good right now but I can tell it's going to fall off. But by the time it falls off (around level 11 or so according to my prediction) I'll have a lot of other options.

[Dork_Forge]

I rated this ability so highly because it's so versatile. At higher levels, using it to force saving throw failures is probably the best use, but if you're doing exploration or town phase, it's just so versatile. Portent (which is definitely sky blue) has an advantage on range and action advantage, but what I don't like about Portent is that sometimes you roll something like a 13 and a 16 and that it's hurt by mass AoE save-or-sucks -- if you're targeting three fire giants with a Fear, you don't know which ones are going to fail the saving throw.

I think that over the long run, Portent is slightly better, but only slightly. This still deserves a sky blue.

I think Portent wins mostly because it's a known quantity, a reroll can certainly be useful but you're not "forcing failure," you're creating another opportunity for it to happen randomly. Though throw this together with something like Bane and the debuff element is certainly very powerful. Though it's not just action economy Portent has on its side, it also has no range restriction.


I'm using it at level 6 right now to stretch out my slots and have an option to use for readied actions when I'm concentrating on something. It's very good right now but I can tell it's going to fall off. But by the time it falls off (around level 11 or so according to my prediction) I'll have a lot of other options.

That seems like it's best use, what makes you estimate level 11 as the drop off? And the readied action thing is interesting, how often have you done that so far?

[Deathtongue]

I think Portent wins mostly because it's a known quantity, a reroll can certainly be useful but you're not "forcing failure," you're creating another opportunity for it to happen randomly. Though throw this together with something like Bane and the debuff element is certainly very powerful. Though it's not just action economy Portent has on its side, it also has no range restriction.One of Portent's other advantages is that you can create a situation where the monster is forced to fail what would normally be a good saving throw. If you have a '3' for your Portent dice you can force high-WIS monsters to fail an initial save against, say, Wrathful Smite or Suggestion.

Chronal Shift is much better used for AoE spells like Hypnotic Pattern or Fear or to force monsters to fail a save they got unusually lucky on -- Frost Giants can still roll a 20 on the INT saving throw against Enemies Abound after all. It's still not a guaranteed thing like Portent is, but it's still so good I'd happily give it a Sky Blue. It's of a usefulness between Bladesong and Portent.


That seems like it's best use, what makes you estimate level 11 as the drop off? And the readied action thing is interesting, how often have you done that so far?1) CR10-12 is where monsters start consistently having multiple saving throw proficiencies (often Constitution), with a good base CON being the most common even among the minority of creatures that don't have 3-4 saving throw proficiencies.[/quote]

2) Level 11 is when you fill out your level 1 to 5 spell slots for the foreseeable future. And by now, you have enough spell slots to regularly throw out spells that have a better effect without running out of juice.

The combination of these two factors make the ability really fall off. It doesn't become useless or even weak, since there are still plenty of monsters you can use Momentary Stasis on, typically fiends and spellcasters. But it won't be a go-to ability.

[MaxWilson]

Chronal Shift: This is good, but personally I would have rated it Blue because it has so many limitations (30 feet, need to see the creature and a reaction on a Wizard) and may not even end up benefiting you since it's a reroll.

It may be helpful to view it as effectively the ability to recast any single-target spell or effect that has just failed (e.g. Planar Binding, Feeblemind, Necromancer's Command Undead, Disintegrate) as a reaction, with no spell slot cost or material components required, at 30' range.

(Most of the spells you'd want to use it with already require you to see the target anyway. Planar Binding is a notable exception.)

If it was worth spending a high-level spell slot on to cast, it's worth a reaction to recast.


I think Portent wins mostly because it's a known quantity, a reroll can certainly be useful but you're not "forcing failure," you're creating another opportunity for it to happen randomly. Though throw this together with something like Bane and the debuff element is certainly very powerful. Though it's not just action economy Portent has on its side, it also has no range restriction.

Portent is only half known though. Just like Chronal Shift it can be wasted without changing the outcome, except that it's invisible when it does unless you actually go ahead and roll the die anyway.

Portent is better when the desired outcome (failed save) is rare, because it won't usually be wasted. Chronal Shift is better when the desired outcome is common, for the same reason. Agreed that Portent is better overall. If Chronal Shift were the only good Chronurgist feature they'd be a strong subclass but clearly worse than the Diviner.

[Dork_Forge]

It may be helpful to view it as effectively the ability to recast any single-target spell or effect that has just failed (e.g. Planar Binding, Feeblemind, Necromancer's Command Undead, Disintegrate) as a reaction, with no spell slot cost or material components required, at 30' range.

(Most of the spells you'd want to use it with already require you to see the target anyway. Planar Binding is a notable exception.)

If it was worth spending a high-level spell slot on to cast, it's worth a reaction to recast.



Portent is only half known though. Just like Chronal Shift it can be wasted without changing the outcome, except that it's invisible when it does unless you actually go ahead and roll the die anyway.

Portent is better when the desired outcome (failed save) is rare, because it won't usually be wasted. Chronal Shift is better when the desired outcome is common, for the same reason. Agreed that Portent is better overall. If Chronal Shift were the only good Chronurgist feature they'd be a strong subclass but clearly worse than the Diviner.

I'm not following the half known part, are you referring to Legendary resistance? Or that without the metaknowledge of what the creatures save is you can't be assured a failure?

If it's the latter I think that is a valid point for anything over a 4 or so, if you've got a Portent die <4 and you're fighting level appropriate monsters with a competitve Int you're pretty much guaranteed a failure. When you hit level 5 I think you could probably safely bump that up to a <5 or >6 since you get the double whammy of prof increasing at 5th and raising Int at 4th.

[MaxWilson]

I'm not following the half known part, are you referring to Legendary resistance? Or that without the metaknowledge of what the creatures save is you can't be assured a failure?

The classic dilemma with Portent is not wanting to waste a Portent on a save that was going to turn out favourably anyway. If you need to roll a 3 or better to save against Hold Person from some mook (and therefore not lose concentration on your own big important spell like Wall of Force, and take a bunch of auto-crits to the face), do you spend your Portent 17 or do you save it for when you really need it? 90% of the time in that scenario Portent is wasted just giving you what you already had: success.

Chronal Shift has the opposite problem: you never spend it unless you already failed that check, but when you do spend it, you might get what you already had: failure.

Ditto for enemy saves except that there you *want* to roll low.

In both cases you know one die outcome, but you don't know both die outcomes, and you have to choose between them anyway. It's decision-making under partial knowledge.

[Deathtongue]

Guide update: I'm up to level 8 by now. Temporal Initiative and Gift of Alacrity are still incredibly strong. In fact they're even better because I'm at the level where I have enough spell slots to hook up the entire party with Gift of Alacrity after Arcane Recovery. I played this character on roll20 without a fixed group, so one day I might be the only caster and another day the closest we have to a tank is a Shepherd Druid.

I know we harp on initiative a lot, rating Alert one of the top-tier feats JUST for the +5 to initiative, but let me tell you there's a huge difference in resources expended and kick-buttery when everyone is going first. People can throw out fireballs before the monsters get out of formation, people feel safer using buffs like Haste and Sacred Weapon, and people get their rages and Bladesongs out on round one. I already rated this feature gold in my guide, but if there was a color above gold I'd put it there. Yes, I consider it even better than Arcane Abeyance and Convergent Future just based on how utterly we've crushed some combats when every PC gets to go first.

[MaxWilson]

Guide update: I'm up to level 8 by now. Temporal Initiative and Gift of Alacrity are still incredibly strong. In fact they're even better because I'm at the level where I have enough spell slots to hook up the entire party with Gift of Alacrity after Arcane Recovery. I played this character on roll20 without a fixed group, so one day I might be the only caster and another day the closest we have to a tank is a Shepherd Druid.

I know we harp on initiative a lot, rating Alert one of the top-tier feats JUST for the +5 to initiative, but let me tell you there's a huge difference in resources expended and kick-buttery when everyone is going first. People can throw out fireballs before the monsters get out of formation, people feel safer using buffs like Haste and Sacred Weapon, and people get their rages and Bladesongs out on round one. I already rated this feature gold in my guide, but if there was a color above gold I'd put it there. Yes, I consider it even better than Arcane Abeyance and Convergent Future just based on how utterly we've crushed some combats when every PC gets to go first.

Pass Without Trace is similar, in some ways even better: the whole party gets 1-2 actions before any monsters get any.

[Deathtongue]

Pass Without Trace is similar, in some ways even better: the whole party gets 1-2 actions before any monsters get any.
I think Pass Without Trace is underrated even in CharOp guides, but it does come with some caveats that would keep me from rating it gold. A big is that there are going to be some people who are still going to have a crappy stealth check even with a +10 bonus. Most clerics and paladins and many fighters are still going to enjoy a 14-16 passive stealth DC most of the game. The other one is that the 5E D&D hiding rules are incredibly rough on people who want to do anything but hide. If the party consistents of CharOp or people who played rogues, it's not an insurmountable problem, but it's hilarious how easy it is to break stealth if you're not careful. I experienced this while playing Out of the Abyss; we had a druid but people routinely did things like light lanterns or have loud arguments in the middle of the passage. The final one though is that constant Pass Without Trace is actually kind of hard to do prior to T3. The Ranger could probably live without using Hunter's Mark, but the druid is faced with the unenviable choice of not getting to cast Guidance at all and/or having to find another 2nd-level spell slot after they drop a Conjure Animals/Faerie Fire.

Sky Blue, definitely, but it's no GoA. Gift of Alacrity is always good for minimal investment. Ideally you'd want both, but that's not possible in a lot of parties due to spell availability or just the makeup of the party and even players.

[MaxWilson]

I think Pass Without Trace is underrated even in CharOp guides, but it does come with some caveats that would keep me from rating it gold. A big is that there are going to be some people who are still going to have a crappy stealth check even with a +10 bonus. Most clerics and paladins and many fighters are still going to enjoy a 14-16 passive stealth DC most of the game. The other one is that the 5E D&D hiding rules are incredibly rough on people who want to do anything but hide. If the party consistents of CharOp or people who played rogues, it's not an insurmountable problem, but it's hilarious how easy it is to break stealth if you're not careful. I experienced this while playing Out of the Abyss; we had a druid but people routinely did things like light lanterns or have loud arguments in the middle of the passage. The final one though is that constant Pass Without Trace is actually kind of hard to do prior to T3. The Ranger could probably live without using Hunter's Mark, but the druid is faced with the unenviable choice of not getting to cast Guidance at all and/or having to find another 2nd-level spell slot after they drop a Conjure Animals/Faerie Fire.

Sky Blue, definitely, but it's no GoA. Gift of Alacrity is always good for minimal investment. Ideally you'd want both, but that's not possible in a lot of parties due to spell availability or just the makeup of the party and even players.

(1) Passive stealth of 14-16 is still plenty to sneak by most monsters. Most monsters have Perception less than +5, and with the passive Perception penalty from relying on darkvision (darkvision = darkness is lightly obscured = disadvantage on Perception = -5 to passive Perception), a Stealth roll of 14-16 handily beats them. Choosing at random from a Beholder, a Fire Giant, a Behir, and a Pit Fiend (because I happen to like all of those monsters)...

Beholder's Perception +12 becomes passive Perception of 17 in the dark. Even a Paladin has about a 50% chance of sneaking up on one in the dark (with +3ish to Stealth from proficiency, he needs to roll 5+ at disadvantage on d20).
Fire Giant has Perception +6 and no Darkvision (I never noticed that before). In the dark the giant has no chance of noticing the PWT party, and even in shadows it's pretty unlikely.
Behir has Perception +6 and darkvision. In the dark even a Paladin is almost guaranteed to sneak up on one, if PWT is available.
Pit Fiend has truesight and Perception +4. In this case darkness doesn't help, but PWT still gives the Paladin with +3 to Stealth a 100% chance of sneaking up on the Pit Fiend.

(2) The benefits of stealth are not limited to just the action economy during surprise. You can also refrain from starting combat until you are pretty sure you know what you're facing, and are in a good formation (squishies farthest away from tough hitters, tanks up front, maybe in a chokepoint).

(3) Shadow Monks can keep Pass Without Trace up all the time by level 6ish, as long as they spend 1 hour in every 3 resting and meditating. By level 6 it's totally reasonable to just tell the DM that barring time pressures or other needs for your concentration, you intend to keep it up 100% of the time while travelling/exploring. Yeah, it means you don't always have full ki, but PWT is so powerful that who cares.

[Deathtongue]

There's more to stealth in 5E D&D than just having a good stealth score, though. Like I said, 5E D&D is really rough on stealth.

p.177: When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check's total is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively searches for signs of your presence. You can't hide from a creature that can see you, and if you make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase), you give away your position.

The long and short of it is that 5E D&D doesn't care how high your stealth check in certain situations. RAW if you light a lantern in the Underdark or move out from cover into someone's visual range, people will be able to know you're there.


By level 6 it's totally reasonable to just tell the DM that barring time pressures or other needs for your concentration, you intend to keep it up 100% of the time while travelling/exploring. Yeah, it means you don't always have full ki, but PWT is so powerful that who cares.For the 95% of parties that don't travel with Shadow Monks, I don't think this is a reasonable standing order. PWT only lasts for an hour; If you're using it while exploring, I think a DM would be well within their rights to, say, roll 1d10 to determine how many hours pass before a potential encounter comes up and ask if for how many hours you're going to burn spell slots. In places with a time crunch, like raiding a dungeon, you could get by with fewer slots but then you'd have to cast it again after every encounter unless you don't want to use your concentration. I can see a Ranger regularly going entire combats without using their concentration for something else, but not a druid or a Trickery cleric.

[MaxWilson]

(3) Shadow Monks can keep Pass Without Trace up all the time by level 6ish, as long as they spend 1 hour in every 3 resting and meditating. By level 6 it's totally reasonable to just tell the DM that barring time pressures or other needs for your concentration, you intend to keep it up 100% of the time while travelling/exploring. Yeah, it means you don't always have full ki, but PWT is so powerful that who cares.


For the 95% of parties that don't travel with Shadow Monks, I don't think this is a reasonable standing order.

Of course. There's a reason I specified "Shadow Monks." Having PWT up all the time is a feature of Shadow Monks just like Alacrity is a feature of dunamancers.


Ranger regularly going entire combats without using their concentration for something else, but not a druid or a Trickery cleric.

Moon Druids sometimes use concentration, sometimes don't. Skulker Goblin Moon Druids are already hilariously awesome and keeping PWT up for several encounters in a row is totally viable and fun for them, boosting their personal combat power as well as giving the party that delicious surprise, like a free Action Surge for everybody every combat, but better.

But unlike the Shadow Monk, a Moon Druid probably can't afford to keep PWT up all the time while travelling. They are more likely to explicitly pre-cast it before entering the dungeon.

[Deathtongue]

Update, I'm now at level 9 with this character. These ratings might be biased by how the DMs I'm with prefer to have two or three Deadly encounters that don't have 'boss' monsters, but large amounts of medium-CR (CR 4 - 7) opponents backed up by chaff. Few things to note:

1) You know what I've used Chronal Shift most often for? Getting allies to reroll saves they've barely failed. I thought I would use it much more often to force saving throw fails, it's just that it's really hard to arrange with the distance and reaction limitation. I'm still thinking of keeping it Sky Blue, because the times I have used it for forcing a fail on a Fear or a Suggestion upended the encounter and I can tell it's just going to get better as the game goes on.

2) In practice, Momentary Stasis is a lot better than I gave it credit for, CON save or no. Having a ranged incapacitation that's not a spell (getting around Magic Resistance and Counterspells) or subject to concentration limitation usable 5 times in a day is great. Definitely deserves a Blue, especially considering its availability.

Again, my viewpoint is definitely biased by the way my Discord Server's DMs structures adventures, but that's how I see it.

[MaxWilson]

Update, I'm now at level 9 with this character. These ratings might be biased by how the DMs I'm with prefer to have two or three Deadly encounters that don't have 'boss' monsters, but large amounts of medium-CR (CR 4 - 7) opponents backed up by chaff. Few things to note:

1) You know what I've used Chronal Shift most often for? Getting allies to reroll saves they've barely failed. I thought I would use it much more often to force saving throw fails, it's just that it's really hard to arrange with the distance and reaction limitation. I'm still thinking of keeping it Sky Blue, because the times I have used it for forcing a fail on a Fear or a Suggestion upended the encounter and I can tell it's just going to get better as the game goes on.

2) In practice, Momentary Stasis is a lot better than I gave it credit for, CON save or no. Having a ranged incapacitation that's not a spell (getting around Magic Resistance and Counterspells) or subject to concentration limitation usable 5 times in a day is great. Definitely deserves a Blue, especially considering its availability.

Again, my viewpoint is definitely biased by the way my Discord Server's DMs structures adventures, but that's how I see it.

Props for explicitly describing your DMs' favored encounter structure! That's a huge key variable which often goes unmentioned in guides.

[Deathtongue]

It's been awhile since I've updated this guide, since I haven't played at the Discord server where I got up to level 9. I had to start from scratch and I'm now at level 14. Some caveats:

1) The discord server I'm at does super-deadly 0-1 encounter workdays. This does bias encounter design towards the casters, however the server also drops a LOT more magical items for martials while making spellcaster-friendly items like wands, staves, and spell gems rare.
2) There's a lot more theater of the mind instead of Roll20 battlemaps. We occasionally use maps with Avrae, but that's only a 1/4th of encounters.
3) I intentionally sandbag my Chronurgist, not using abusive techniques like Planar Binding, Simulacrum armies (just the one), putting Rings of Spell Storing on familiars.
4) There's a decent amount of money, enough so that while I can't go ape with Planar Binding / Simulacrum I don't have to worry about spell components or copying spells.
5) Pretty much any official material is allowed. There's some UA and homebrew material for races and subclasses, but nothing much worse than you'd see in the books (no Loremaster for example).
6) We roll for stats. I got an incredibly good roll, with post-racial starting stats of 18 for INT, 16 for DEX, 18 for CON.
7) I play on average about four three hour sessions a week. There are enough DMs on the server to support my habit. This explains why I haven't been on these boards much; why spend time talking about playing D&D when I could instead, you know, actually game? What can I say, I'm a D&D junkie.


In these squished Battlemaps, Chronal Shift is ridiculous. I was kind of down on it with the previous server, but getting to use it twice pretty much every encounter? Yeah, I'm killing it. Doesn't even have to be for my spells, I've used it to wreck enemy initiative rolls, to make an Oath of Conquest Paladin's aura work, to even just rerolling saves.
Momentary Stasis definitely does start to fall off after level 10, even if it's not subject to Magic Resistance. It's also not as good against boss monsters for obvious reasons, which I fight a lot more of. But it was so useful from levels 6 - 10 that I can't justify giving it less than a blue rating just because it's not that hot in T3.
Throwing in some upcast Fortune's Favor action? Very, very nice. A 4th and a 3rd level spell slot to affect the whole party? Not bad at all.
My initiative bonus is 1d20+1d8+9. I sometimes don't go first, but I usually do. Giving everyone else a 1d8 bonus makes me one of the most popular people in the party.
Arcane Abeyance? It's as good as you think it is. I mainly use it to pass out buffs; there's a huge difference between having one party member with Protection from Evil and Good and two party members with Protection from Evil and Good. Or Haste. Or Greater Invis.
I have Catnap and when we have had the time, I have passed out two Arcane Abeyances. I haven't done it all of the time, but with two of the martials packing a Greater Invis and a Haste the enemies just may as well go home.
Because it's a single-encounter workday, I'm a lot more into stuff like the above three bullet points. I'd still be pretty good personally for extended workdays, I just wouldn't be able to share the love.
The server allows an extra feat at level 10. I used it to take Metamagic Adept for Extend Spell and Subtle Spell.
Temporal Shunt is as good as I predicted it would be. I doubt it would be worth it in longer workdays, but, right now a 5th-level spell slot for a chance to remove some evil spellcaster or bruiser monster about to roll a critical hit? Hail to the king, baby.
I've used Convergent Future a few times. You know where it REALLY shines? In noncombat situations. Noncombat encounters tend to revolve around one or two key checks. People have tried incredibly risky things around me like use Suggestion on the Captain of the Guard or try to Sleight of Hand an incriminating letter into the Duke's pocket or even convince Warchiefs to accept ridiculous peace terms. Unless I know the workday is going to be a combat-only day, I save Convergent Future for those nonsense situations.


The biggest thing I want to point out is that as I get into the higher levels, Chronurgist doesn't really change my tactics other than allowing me to crush non-combat encounters that other wizards wouldn't really get to. Unlike an Illusionist or Evoker or Bladesinger or even a Necromancer, your tactics don't really change or diverge as you get more and more of your subclass. You're just an extra-strength wizard. And jack-of-all-trades tend to benefit more from an overall power boost than specialists.