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MoleMage
2021-12-01, 11:20 AM
It's time for our next subclass contest! Subclass Contest XXVII: So You Don't Have To II


The class must fit the theme of the contest. For our twenty-seventh contest, we are reviving So You Don't Have To. These classes are about sacrifice or support. You want to give up hit dice to boost your allies' damage? Sacrifice spell slots to grant temporary powers? Lead armies from the front with potent auras? There's a lot of wiggle room in this theme, so have at it!
Your class must be posted in this thread. If you wish, you can use external formatting, such as Google Docs or Homebrewery, though I recommend sharing it as a PDF to ensure that it works on most computers.
You may only create one subclass, which must follow the normal progression for the class it belongs to. Please specify what class it is for. You can use any base class published in official material (including the Unearthed Arcana posts), or any existing homebrew class (don't make a whole base class just for your submission). If you are going to use a homebrew base class, make sure you get permission from its original creator and post a link so we know where to find it! Failure to get permission will be grounds for disqualification.
Until the contest is finished, do not publicly post your subclass anywhere else, other than the discussion thread for these contests. If you are found to have done so, that subclass will be disqualified (though you will be allowed to post a new one if you wish, within reason). Privately sharing your work is acceptable.
Your subclass must be complete by the end of the day on January 2nd. The next day, I will put up a voting thread. Any submissions or edits after that point will be considered invalid. A two-week extension will be implemented if at least three requests are made in the chat thread.
A single extension of two weeks is available if at least three people request it in the chat thread.
Have fun, be respectful.


Chat thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?622798-D-amp-D-Subclass-Contest-Chat-Thread-2-Joke-Entries-Win-with-Alarming-Frequency
Voting thread: Coming January 3rd.

BerzerkerUnit
2021-12-01, 11:17 PM
Monastic Tradition: Zerth'Arai

Among the Githzerai there is a martial art passed down from the second Zerthimon. The 2nd was incapable of telepathic assaults and planar transport of his fellows and focused entirely on temporal manipulations. This subschool of the Zerths became known as Zerth'Arai. Born in the heart of Limbo, where raging chaos gives rise to questionable causality, the Githzerai masters of this art have used it to hunt their ancient foes the Illithid and defend their temples from the terrifying denizens of the plane they call home.

Some have claimed fighting Zert’Arai monks is akin to fighting fate. When their blows appear telegraphed you find you’ve already been struck. Some exhibit after images when they move or their flurry of blows casts ephemeral shadows of blows they might strike in the future.

Zerth'Arai allows its practitioners to manipulate the ebb and flow of time itself. Practice allows initiates to borrow the force of future blows or share their own time with allies. Journeymen can steal seconds from foes for their own use or share them with allies. Masters can shift the flow of causality, shattering fate and forcing it to reform different than before. Grandmasters can step between the moments and annihilate their foes before they even know they are dead.

Borrow Potential
Beginning at 3rd level after choosing this tradition you learn to borrow the force of potential blows from the near future. Used judiciously, the loss of power in the future isn't noticeable, but an initiate can siphon great strength from those future moments for explosive power that may eliminate the need to even strike a blow in the moments that follow.
Once per turn when you hit with an unarmed attack you can deal additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus. Alternatively, when you take the attack action on your turn you can choose to apply this extra damage to every attack you make until the beginning of your next turn. When you use the feature in this way you can only take one action or bonus action on your following turn.

Continuum Transference
Also at 3rd level you learn to share moments of your personal time line with nearby allies. When you use your Step of the Wind or Patient Defense features you can allow a creature you can see within 30 feet to use their reaction and gain their benefit instead. A creature that Dashes can move up to your speed as part of the reaction. A creature that Disengages or Dodges retains the benefits of that action until the beginning of your next turn, regardless of what they do with their action on their own turn.

Temporal Scythe
At 6th level your mastery of the ebb and flow of time allows you to reap moments from foes. When you hit a creature with an unarmed attack you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your Ki DC. On a failure the creature suffers the effects of the Slow spell until the end of your next turn and you can apply the benefits of the Haste spell to another creature you can see within 30 feet for the same duration. A creature affected by Haste in this way does not lose the ability to take actions when the effect ends.
A creature targeted by either aspect of this effect cannot be targeted by it again until the duration expires.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus and recover all uses after a long rest. If you have no uses left you can continue to use this feature by spending a Ki point for each additional use.

Well of Udyr
At 11th level your art allows you to shred causality forcing fate to reconfigure itself. When a creature you can see within 30 feet is hit by an attack or affected by a spell, you can use your reaction to force the attack or spell to target another creature within 30 feet. The original attack roll is compared to the new target’s AC or the new target makes a saving throw. If the affected spell has a concentration duration, you may concentrate on the spell to maintain its effect, it otherwise ends immediately. This follows the normal rules for concentration. This technique creates a visible distortion in reality that originates from you but allows melee attacks to strike creatures beyond their normal reach and spells intended for one's self to fall on another. This feature has no effect on spells or attacks that target an area.
You can use this feature once and regain its use after a short or long rest.

Zerth's Warudo
At 17th level your attunement to the march of time attains perfection. You can cast Time Stop as an action. When you cast Time Stop in this way you can attack other creatures with unarmed strikes without prematurely ending the effect. These attacks have advantage and are automatically critical hits as if the targets were paralyzed. Alternatively, you can cast this spell as a reaction when Time Stop or similar magic is used within 1000 feet of you, in which case you and the triggering creature resolve your turns normally.
You can use this feature once and cannot do so again until you complete a long rest or spend 15 Ki points to do so.

Oerlaf
2021-12-02, 04:26 AM
Paladin: Oath of Altruism

Paladins who take the Oath of Altruism believe that there is no holier thing in life than helping others without expecting anything in return. They are eager to sacrifice their lives for those they have sworn to protect.

Tenets of Altruism

The tenets of the Oath of Altruism drive a paladin to do their best to help others.
- Everything for Others. Strive to do anything that you can for other persons.
- Nothing for Self. Use your powers only to help others. Do not misuse them to help yourself.
- Less Lucky Than You. Don't have any mortal needs. There are so many less lucky than you.
- Circle of Nature. Everything in nature is connected. Respect life that surrounds you.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed

Oath of Honor Spells


Paladin Level
Spells


3rd
goodberry, sanctuary


5th
aid, enhance ability


9th
beacon of hope, elemental weapon


13th
death ward, guardian of natureX


17th
dispel evil and good, reincarnate


XThe spell is encountered in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.


Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
- Protect the Fallen. You can use your Channel Divinity to defend those who have fallen prey to foes. Whenever a creature within 30 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to cast the sanctuary spell on that creature without expending a spell slot. In addition, any creature that attempts to attack the warded creature and succeeds on its saving throw takes 5d8 radiant damage.
- Divine Sacrifice. You can use your Channel Divinity as a bonus action to give up some of your life force to win the battle. Your next attack deals an additional 5d6 damage if it hits, and you lose 10 hit points, whether or not the attack succeeds. If a target of your attack has attacked an unconscious creature since its last turn, you automatically score a critical hit against that target.


Aura of Survival

At 7th level, you emit an aura of survival that prohibits dishonorable deeds against your allies. You and any creature within 10 feet of you do not gain death saving throw failures in any other way than naturally failing their saving throw at the start of the turn. In addition, if such a creature rolls a natural 1 on a death saving throw, it only suffers one death saving throw failure instead of two.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Divine Intervention

When you reach 15th level, you can ultimately defend you ally. When another creature you can see within 30 feet of you is hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to die immediately in order to remove that creature from harm's way. For 1 minute, creatures cannot attack the warded creature, and the warded creature is immune to any damage but cannot take any action themselves.

Touch of Life

Starting at 20th level, as an action, you can temporarily magically restore life to a deceased creature by touching it.

You can raise a creature that has been dead only up to 1 minute. In addition, the target's soul must be free and willing to return. If the target's soul is not willing to return, the feature does not work.

When you use the feature, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health. Normal poisons and normal diseases are cured in the process of raising the target, but magical diseases and curses are not undone. While the feature closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life. The dead creature's equipment or possessions are untouched by this feature.

You can revive someone killed without dealing damage or someone who has been turned into the undead creature and then killed again (essentially, an inanimate body). The feature has no effect on celestials, elementals, fiends, and undead creatures. The feature cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.

When the feature's duration expires, the target immediately drops dead as though it had never been raised.

The original death of the creature is used to determine the time limit for using this feature.

Using this feature does not affect in any way the ability of another caster to use *raise dead*, *resurrection*, or *true resurrection* to restore permanent life to the target.

The feature lasts as long as you concentrate (as if on a spell), up to a maximal duration of 1 minute.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest or use the Divine Intervention feature.

sengmeng
2021-12-11, 06:41 AM
Sorcerous Origin: Lich Heritor

Ok, you did not in any way earn this. You didn't study for decades, you didn't do the rituals, you didn't sacrifice any orphans or whatever, and you sure as the Abyss didn't learn any spells beyond the most basic cantrips and magic missile, but somehow, you have a phylactery and a persistent life as an undead spell caster. Maybe your dad was a lich? Who knows.

When you take this subclass at first level, you gain the following abilities:

Phylactery
A seemingly innocuous trinket holds your soul. When you reach 0 hitpoints, your body crumbles to dust and a new one grows from this trinket in 1d4 days. Unlike a real lich, your phylactery isn't particularly hard to destroy, having 5 hp and 18 AC, but it's also really easy to miss its importance. No magic can reveal its true nature.

Tomb-Stained Soul
You count as humanoid or undead, whichever is most beneficial to you at the time. You do not add your constitution bonus, if any, to your hitpoint total from levels in sorcerer.

Shed Corporeality
As an action, you can become incorporeal or corporeal again. You take half damage from bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, and can move through objects and corporeal creatures as if they were difficult terrain. Your speed is halved and you cannot take fall damage. You do not make sound unless you intend to while incorporeal, and you appear as a ghostly, translucent version of your normal form. While incorporeal, your spells only affect incorporeal creatures.

Beginning at sixth level, you gain the following features:

Possess Ally
While incorporeal, you may move into an ally's space and spend your bonus action to allow that ally to use their reaction to take any action they normally could as an action or bonus action. If they cast a spell, you can use your spell slots, if you have one of that level, to cause them to not consume a spell slot.

Force Spell
By spending 1 sorcery point, spells you cast while incorporeal can affect corporeal creatures, but if it is a damaging spell, its damage type changed to force.

Beginning at fourteenth level, you gain the following features:

Flying
While incorporeal, you gain a fly speed equal to your walking speed.

Metashaper
You may use your reaction to enhance the spell of an ally who you share a space with, with any metamagic option you know, costing sorcery points as normal.

Beginning at eighteenth level, you gain the following feature:

Benign Commandeering
While in an ally's square and incorporeal, you may use your action to end your turn. Your ally is now moved to that position in the initiative order, and you are at the same initiative but behind that ally on the next round.

Ilerien
2021-12-14, 11:37 AM
Otherwordly Patron: The Companion

Your patron is a powerful extraplanar being of compassion, harmony, honor and integrity. Despite your patron's peaceful nature, it has no tolerance for evil and responds to threats it poses accordingly. Perhaps, your agreement with your patron is an example of such a response.
Guardinal paragons residing in Elysium, including Talisid and the Five Companions, are good examples of entities capable of making pacts of this kind.



Warlock level
Feature


1st
Expanded Spell List, Gift of Elysium


6th
Lay on Hands


10th
Eldritch Bond


14th
Mystic Gift



Expanded Spell List
The Companion lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.


Spell level
Spells


1st
beast bond, bless


2nd
aid, summon beast


3rd
life transference, lightning bolt


4th
death ward, polymorph


5th
reincarnate, summon celestial



Gift of Elysium
Also, at 1st level, you can share arcane power bestowed on you by the Companion. As a bonus action, you expend one of your warlock spell slots, and target creature within 30 ft of you gains a warlock spell slot of an equal level. A creature cannot have more than one warlock spell slot at any given time as a result of repeated application of this feature. A creature can expend this slot as normal or when it hits with a weapon attack, dealing additional 1d8 radiant damage + 1d8 more damage per slot level. If not expended, that spell slot disappears when the creature finishes a short or a long rest.
Additionally, when you advance to the 2nd level in this class, you learn beast speech invocation. It doesn't count against your limit of invocations known.

Lay on Hands
Starting at 6th level, you can draw on your bond with the Companion to heal wounds with your touch. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your warlock level × 5.
As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool.
Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one.
This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.

Eldritch Bond
Starting at 10th level, you can share supernatural gifts of the Companion with other creatures. When you finish a long rest, you can perform a short ritual that a number of willing creatures up to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1 creature) can participate in to forge a special bond with you. Each creature gains one of eldritch invocations you know (you can share different invocations with different creatures) for 1 year. If an invocation has any prerequisites other than warlock level, the creature must meet them to gain this benefit. If you somehow cease to possess an invocation shared with a creature, the bond disappears. When you perform this ritual, you can alter or sever any existing bonds, but altering a bond requires a creature to participate in the ritual. You can't support a number of bonds greater than your Charisma modifier (minimum 1), and a creature can't benefit from more than one application of this feature simultaneously.
Additionally, you learn guidance cantrip. It's a warlock cantrip for you and doesn't count against your limit of cantrips known. You may cast guidance as a reaction if a bonded creature within 5 ft of you attempts an ability check, though only on that creature.

Mystic Gift
Starting at 14th level, you can give away even the most secret and powerful arcana your patron has shared with you. You can expend a use of your Mystic Arcanum to bestow a Gift of Elysium. If you do, target creature gains a warlock spell slot of a corresponding level.

Empty for now