Reaver

[JNAProductions]

HIT POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d12
Hit Points at 1st Level: 12+Constitution Modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (7)+Constitution Modifier

PROFICIENCIES
Armor: Light Armor
Weapons: All Simple and Martial Weapons
Tools: None

Saving Throws: Constitution and Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Stealth, Arcana, Religion, Perception, Survival, Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion

EQUIPMENT
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
-Leather Armor
-Any two weapons you are proficient in[1]
-Any one simple weapon[1]
-Any one pack
[1]: If the weapon is thrown, you get two extra copies. If the weapon uses ammo, you get twenty pieces of ammo.

Reaver


Level
Proficiency
Bonus
Features
Cantrips
Known
Spell
Slots
Slot
Level
Invocations
Known



1st
+2
Pact Magic, Reaver's Arts
3
1
1st
-


2nd
+2
Invocations
3
2
1st
2


3rd
+2
Reaver's Path
3
2
1st
2


4th
+2
Ability Score Improvement
3
2
1st
2


5th
+3
Extra Attack, Path Feature
4
2
2nd
3


6th
+3
Undying Fortitude
4
2
2nd
3


7th
+3
Reaving Blow
4
2
2nd
4


8th
+3
Ability Score Improvement
4
2
2nd
4


9th
+4
-
4
2
3rd
5


10th
+4
Path Feature
4
2
3rd
5


11th
+4
Improved Undying Fortitude
5
3
3rd
6


12th
+4
Ability Score Improvement
5
3
3rd
6


13th
+5
-
5
3
4th
6


14th
+5
Rending Blows
5
3
4th
7


15th
+5
Path Feature
5
3
4th
7


16th
+5
Ability Score Improvement
5
3
4th
7


17th
+6
Rip And Tear
6
4
5th
8


18th
+6
Greater Undying Fortitude
6
4
5th
8


19th
+6
Ability Score Improvement
6
4
5th
8


20th
+6
Path Feature
6
4
5th
8



Pact Magic
At level one, you gain pact magic. You have the number of slots indicated on the table, and regain them whenever you complete a short or long rest. Your spell slots are always cast at their highest level. Charisma is your spellcasting ability, and you may have a number of spells prepared equal to half your level plus your Charisma modifier.

Reaver's Arts
Also at level one, you learn how to properly rend the world asunder. You may wield two one-handed weapons at the same time, one in each hand, and when doing so, may make an attack with a weapon you did not already strike with as a bonus action on a turn where you use the Attack action.

Invocations
At level two, you learn two Invocations-magical tricks and abilities you've acquired.

Reaver's Path
At level three, choose which path to follow. This grants you features at levels three, five, ten, fifteen, and twenty.

Ability Score Improvement
Usual levels, usual deal. :P

Extra Attack
At level five, you may attack twice when you take the Attack action, rather than once.

Undying Fortitude
At level six, you gain six additional HP, and gain one extra HP whenever you take a level in Reaver. You also gain proficiency in one save of your choice.
At level eleven, you gain eleven additional HP, and gain one extra HP whenever you take a level in Reaver. You also may choose to, when you would die or be dropped to 0 HP, instead ignore the effect that would kill you or instead drop to 1 HP. You may do so once, and regain the ability to do so after completing a long rest.
At level eighteen, you gain eighteen additional HP, and gain one extra HP whenever you take a level in Reaver. You also gain proficiency in one save of your choice.

Reaving Blow
At level seven, you may now use any versatile weapon wielded in one hand with the higher damage die. Additionally, if you kill a creature or drop them to zero HP with a melee attack, you may follow through, using the same attack and damage roll against a creature adjacent to your original target and within reach.

Rending Blows
At level fourteen, when you hit a creature with more than one attack in the same turn, you deal additional damage equal to the weapon damage die. So, for instance, if you were wielding two longswords (1d10 damage each) and you attacked a foe three times, hitting with all of them, you would deal (before Strength modifier) 1d10+2d10+2d10 damage.

Rip And Tear
At level seventeen, you may now wield two-handed weapons in the same manner as one-handed weapons. Additionally, you may make two attacks as a bonus action in a turn you Attack with your main action, or one attack with your bonus action if your main action was anything other than Attack.

Path Of The Blood-Soaked

Blood Tokens
At level three, whenever you slay a creature, you may use your bonus action to coalesce a Blood Token. You may have a number of these at any given moment equal to your Constitution modifier. As part of an action, you may consume a Blood Token to add your Constitution modifier to any d20 roll or damage roll you make.
These tokens last until used, but may not be given away.

Bloody Rebirth
At level five, you may use a Blood Token as a bonus action to spend a number of hit dice, up to your Constitution modifier, and immediately regain HP equal to the total dice rolled plus your Constitution modifier. You may also, as a reaction upon being reduced to 0 HP, use two Blood Tokens to do the same thing.

Blood Bombs
At level ten, you may hurl a Blood Token as a projectile. It is a thrown weapon you have proficiency with and has a range of 40'/120', dealing 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. Hit or miss, it explodes in the target's square, dealing 4d10+your Constitution modifier necrotic damage on a failed Constitution save (DC of 8+your Proficiency Bonus+your Constitution modifier) or half on a success.

Ample Blood
At level fifteen, you increase the number of Blood Tokens you may have at any given moment by your Proficiency Bonus.

Bloody Body
At level twenty, increase your current and maximum Constitution by 4, to a maximum of 30.

Cantrips
Blade Ward
Chill Touch
Control Flames
Dancing Lights
Fire Bolt
Frostbite
Mage Hand
Poison Spray
Ray Of Frost
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Thaumaturgy
Toll The Dead
True Strike

1st Level
Absorb Elements
Arms Of Hadar
Bane
Burning Hands
Cause Fear
Command
Compelled Duel
Detect Magic
Dissonant Whispers
Faerie Fire
False Life
Fog Cloud
Hellish Rebuke
Hex
Ice Knife
Inflict Wounds
Longstrider
Ray Of Sickness
Shield
Thunderwave
Witch Bolt
Zephyr Strike

2nd Level
Alter Self
Blindness/Deafness
Cloud Of Daggers
Crown Of Madness
Dust Devil
Earthbind
Enlarge/Reduce
Flaming Sphere
Hold Person
Invisiblity
Levitate
Magic Weapon
Mind Spike
Misty Step
Phantasmal Force
Ray Of Enfeeblement
Scorching Ray
Shadow Blade
Shatter
Silence
Spike Growth
Tasha's Mind Whip
Vortex Warp

3rd Level
Bestow Curse
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
Enemies Abound
Erupting Earth
Fear
Fireball
Haste
Hunger Of Hadar
Hypnotic Pattern
Lightning Bolt
Sleet Storm
Slow
Vampiric Touch

4th Level
Banishment
Blight
Confusion
Dimension Door
Elemental Bane
Evard's Black Tentacles
Grasping Vine
Ice Storm
Phantasmal Killer
Sickening Radiance
Storm Sphere
Vitriolic Sphere
Wall Of Fire

5th Level
Antilife Shell
Cloudkill
Cone Of Cold
Contagion
Danse Macabre
Enervation
Far Step
Hold Monster
Immolation
Insect Plague
Maelstrom
Negative Energy Flood
Steel Wind Strike
Synpatic Static
Wall Of Stone

Spell And Sword
Requires: Extra Attack
When you take the Attack action, you may replace one attack with a cantrip.

Armor Of Shadows
You may cast Mage Armor at-will.

Beast Speech
You may cast Speak With Animals at-will.

Skilled
You gain proficiency in any two skills. You may take this more than once, however, each one taken after the first only grants one additional skill.

Devil's Sight
You may see normally in both magical and non-magical darkness, out to 120'.

Resilient Mind
You gain advantage on Concentration saves.

Eldritch Sight
You may cast Detect Magic at-will.

Vigor
You may cast False Life as a 1st level spell on yourself, at-will.

Gift Of The Depths
Requires: 5th Level
You can breathe underwater, and you gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

You can also cast water Breathing without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Mobile Melee
You may, on a successful melee attack, move the target up to 5' in any direction.

Magical Blows
Requires: 5th Level
Your attacks are treated as magical.

Hamstring
When you successfully strike a creature with a melee attack, you may reduce their speed by 10'. This does not stack with itself.

Brutality
Requires: 11th Level
You may add your Charisma modifier to all damage rolls you make with weapon attacks.

Whispers Of The Grave
Requires: 9th Level
You may cast Speak With Dead at-will.

[MrStabby]

First thoughts are that it is a bit too combat focussed. Not that many abilitis and features for out of combat and those that are all seem to be invocations. It might be worth swapping out some of the class abilities.

Second impresson is that this is a powerful, but probably OK option a game by the core rules, but starts to become a little unhinged with things like multiclassing and feats aded o the mix.

For example, the class is tough with loads of HP. That's its thing, and that's cool. In turn it has a lower armour class having only profiiency in light armour... but a couple of levels of paladin to get heavy armour and to be smiting from short rest spell slots is crazy.

Pact magic feature is in principle broadly OK but possibly a little overtuned. A lot of this is not due to the core mechanic but due to the spell list. 4 level 4 spell slots per short rest is powerful, but not broken at level 17. 3 level 3 slots per short rest at level 11 is more of a worry for me.

The spell list isn't really adding resatility as much as it is raw power. This isn't like throwing out fireballs as an opportunist or an occasional dimension door. The spell list is full of things that take a bit of a combat monster and just double down on that. Look at the spells - so many of thm scale realy well. Armor of Agathys, Command, hellish rebuke, hex, fog cloud all at level 1. In general I would want to be really careful of spells that don't tax the action economy - buffs that can be cast well before a fight due to long durations, reaction spells, bonus action spells, summon spells.

More specific notes
Reaver's Arts
Yeah, its like two weapon fighting, which is actualy pretty awesome at this level.

Invocations
Spell and sword is a bit crazy good. Eldritch blast+hex are on the spell list and as you still take the attack action you can still use reaver's arts. With something like a half high elf background picking up booming blade you could do things like booming blade, shove away, offhand attack with whip or similar.

Armor of Shadows
Its good due to the class design to be in melee, but it might not be the best of everying here and at high levels it won't protect you that well.

Beast Speech
One of those situational things, but a nice addition.

Skilled
Very potent in some campaigns. Wil allow your character to cover a lot of bases when there are hoes.

Devil's Sight
Very powerful on the warlock... similar here.

Resilient Mind
Good on a warlock, better still here.

Vigor
Not bad, but compared with the other optons, probably not that exciting.

Gift of the depths
Good exploration tool

Mobile Melee
Probably OK. Look out for PAM/Sentinel issues,but probably fine. The name suggests that you might move. Was it intended to shift the target?

Magical Blows
A nice touch. Good to have in here. This one probably suffers from lack of an ability to swap these about.

Hamstring
This is good. Potentially very good. Combined with the Crusher feat and the mobie atack invocation you will be getting a lot of battlefied control and a very modest price.

Brutality
Lifedrinker... but sooner. And all damage rolls, not just weapon attacks. Not only is this giving a free agonising blast but t now means your spike growth is doing D4+Cha damage for every 5 ft moved! Your Scorching ray at level 11 is beter than a draconic sorcerer and deals 8d6+4*Cha damage. Even just looking at a typical at-will turn with no resource usage you can hit an enmy with an attack as part of an action, throw 3 eldritch blast bolts at them, attack again as a bonus action for more atacks than the fighter, and that's the figher's main thing. Just happy magic missile isn't on the clss spell list. I think this might need some rethinking.

Whispers of the Grave
Yeah, this seems fine.





Undying Fortitude.
I like it at level 6. Pushing the HP envelope gives the class its own flavour. Wihtout rage it doesn't outdo the barbarian in ability to soak damage, which is good. Another save is probably not needed; this is a super-powerful ability and it kind of feels you are stepping on the toes of other classes. At level 11 I think it gets a bit much - you are soaking a LOT of damage here though the ablity to drop to 1 HP is a nice and thematic little bonus. At 18 I think that some more HP are fine - its less of an issue at this level. The saves I think are too much here - you are creating a character with no weaknesses. Something like a monk will have great saves but modest AC and certainy not particularly high HP. This is closer to Paladin type defences, which I would argue are a bit overpowered. I would be tempted to put the level 11 ability to level 6, cut the levell 11 ability (you get an extra spell slot, an extra cantrip and an extra invocation here. It wouldn't be a dead level at all.


Reaving blow.
I like the first half. I think it adds something to the visual of the class and makes it really stand out. The second part... I think that you might underestimate this. What is the probability an attack is a critical hit? What is the probablility it is a critical hit given it hit? What is the probability it was a critical hit given that it both landed and that the damage roll was enough to kill the target? It isn't overpowered by itself and is a cool ability. I just want to make sure that its power is factored in; it is however worth comparing it to something like GWM that also requires a bonus action and is balanced round that.

Rending Blows
I think this might expect to specify weapon attack in the first sentence. Clarity also needed for things like greatswords. Its good damage, and it wil increase on a crit but its probably fine for level 14.

Rip And Tear
I think this might benefit from a "simple and martial" addition to stop enterprising PCs from trying to dual wield carts or charging into battle and flailing madly with a bear in each hand. It is however a pretty big ability - basically, its an extra attack over whatever you had before. If you used your action to cast a spell its one more... if you attacked, its still one more than you had. Arguably its better than the fighter ability as it supports dashing and attacking, or readying an action and attacking. Its very flexible. Dual wielding greataxes is a further step up in power. Yes its good, but its also 17th level. It seems pretty solid here.







Blood Soaked
Blood tokens... these are tricky to balance. Someone with great roled stats can have a good Con modifier and these are really powerful. Same class that roled poorly might get almost nothing out of these. Supporting any skill use does put it on par with the bard's jack of all trades ability AND only a bit behing the Paladin's aura of protection and half as good as the war cleric's channel divinity all in one ability. Again, beware of the ablity to pick up magic missile.

Bloody Rebirth
Are the hit dice consumed? If not this is a bit silly... if they are, its still very, very strong. Its like dwarven fortitude only you can roll more dice, its a bonus action not an action and it has a reaction usage as well. And this is at a level where you aso pick up extra attack, and invocaton, a cantrip and your spell slot level increments. I thnk that the second half might need a rewrite to work as it is clearly intended to - as reactions happen afer the trigger, you will be at 0hp, you will be unconscious... and you can't take reactions. You may ned a "whenever damage would reduce you to..." in there to positon the reaction earlier - though this also makes it a bit stronger as it will stop this breaking concentration. Honestly though, I think that this ability is not only too strong, but might be a bit un-fun. Between this and the uge HP pool you make doing any kind of damage to this character a painful, slow slog.

Blood Bombs
It says something for how powerful the other class features are that this looks bad. 4D10 will probably be less than your attacks at this level. Also, these are not listed as either martial or simple weapons so you don't have proficiency with them. I get wanting some weaker features, but I think there are other ribbons you could provide that might be more entertaining.

Ample Blood
Going from 3 to 8 blood tokens in one step is pretty big. As you can pool thse, it also opens up inentives to murder people or to kill rats to boost the number, which might be a bit disrupive.

Bloody Body
Probably fine, but a bit passive. Also with everything else your class features will be giving you six HP per level more than a fighter. 120 HP is a LOT to chew through and might make things a bit boring. Its a good theme, but this might be pushing it a bit far (not saying it is, but just to think about).

[JNAProductions]

Removed Spell and Sword. Just not needed.
Modified Brutality to only apply to weapon attacks.

Added proficiency with your Blood Tokens.
Changed basic Blood Tokens to clarify that the Hit Dice are spent.

If you have recommendations for how to trim the spell list, please let me know. Spell lists are a weak spot of mine.

[MrStabby]

Removed Spell and Sword. Just not needed.
Modified Brutality to only apply to weapon attacks.

Added proficiency with your Blood Tokens.
Changed basic Blood Tokens to clarify that the Hit Dice are spent.

If you have recommendations for how to trim the spell list, please let me know. Spell lists are a weak spot of mine.

Hmm. I would do two things. Firstly, a cull of spells that interact too strongly with being a melee powerhouse. The class is strong enough there aready.

Secondly, add some other spells back in for each subclass.



Cantrips
Blade Ward
Chill Touch
Control Flames
Dancing Lights
Eldritch Blast (iconic for a different class)
Fire Bolt
Frostbite
Mage Hand
Poison Spray
Primal Savagery Too much needs weapon attacks and this would bug me!
Ray Of Frost
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Thaumaturgy
Toll The Dead
True Strike

1st Level
Absorb Elements
Armor Of Agathys
Arms Of Hadar
Bane
Burning Hands
Cause Fear
Command
Compelled Duel
Detect Magic
Dissonant Whispers
Ensnaring Strike
Faerie Fire
False Life
Fog Cloud
Hellish Rebuke
Hex
Ice Knife
Inflict Wounds
Longstrider
Ray Of Sickness
Shield
Thunderwave
Witch Bolt
Zephyr Strike

2nd Level
Alter Self
Blindness/Deafness
Cloud Of Daggers
Crown Of Madness
Darkness
Dust Devil
Earthbind
Enlarge/Reduce
Flaming Sphere
Heat Metal
Hold Person
Invisiblity
Levitate
Magic Weapon
Mind Spike
Misty Step
Phantasmal Force
Ray Of Enfeeblement
Scorching Ray
Shadow Blade
Shatter
Silence
Spike Growth
Tasha's Mind Whip
Vortex Warp

3rd Level
Bestow Curse
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
Enemies Abound
Erupting Earth
Fear
Fireball
Fly
Haste
Hunger Of Hadar
Hypnotic Pattern
Lightning Bolt
Sleet Storm
Slow
Summon Shadowspawn
Summon Undead
Thunder Step
Vampiric Touch

4th Level
Banishment
Blight
Confusion
Dimension Door
Elemental Bane
Evard's Black Tentacles
Grasping Vine
Greater Invisibility
Ice Storm
Phantasmal Killer
Shadow Of Moil
Sickening Radiance
Storm Sphere
Summon Aberration
Summon Greater Demon
Vitriolic Sphere
Wall Of Fire

5th Level
Antilife Shell
Circle Of Power
Cloudkill
Cone Of Cold
Contagion
Danse Macabre
Destructive Wave
Enervation
Far Step
Hold Monster
Immolation
Insect Plague
Maelstrom
Negative Energy Flood
Steel Wind Strike
Synpatic Static
Wall Of Stone

This would be my first cull.

[JNAProductions]

Most changes made.

Keeping Agathys and Rebuke, for 1st level, though.

And keeping Danse because it's both cool and not OP.

[MrStabby]

Most changes made.

Keeping Agathys and Rebuke, for 1st level, though.

And keeping Danse because it's both cool and not OP.

Spell selection is tough. The reasoning behind these is maybe wrong, and not something I am certain about...

AoA was on the cut list for a few reasons. Firstly its a prety iconic warlock spell, its not like fireball that gets on multiple lists and lots of subclass lists as well. Its kind of a warlock staple and stepping into this space somwhat diminishes what is special about the warlock. Add to that that it is a spell that is best when you are throwing yourself into melee, something the Reaver can do better than the warlock anyway. There is areal risk that you are taking a warlock special feature and then doing it better than the warlock.

The second reason is raw power. Its a great spell. Moreover it is a flexibe spell. With your short rest based casting, the ability to keep popping out spells before you take a short rest that will last through the rest is a big power boost. The only time you wouldn't want to use this is if you still had HP remaining.

The third reason is benchmarking against other martials. If you took your monk, ranger, paladin, rogue, barbarian and fighter and ranked them by how good they are at core martial abilities, i.e. damage and tanking capability, where would the Reaver come? With a bundle of extra HP and some good damage buffs I think its looking pretty solid in the rankings withough even factoring in things like spellcasting. Giving the class a way to boost both damage and defence so easily is tipping he class from being reasonably represnetative to being an outlier and you still get to use other spell slots for other contingencies. Adding more abilities that pile on front line damage and add efence is just making you better at fightering than the fighter.

The fourth reason is playstyle. This one is a lot more subjective. You have a lot of HP as the reaver. Thats kind of a core feature of the class and its fine and kind of cool. I worry that this takes it too far. Even from a 2nd level spell slot you are still looking at 20HP per short rest so about 60 per day, and this is on top of your undying fortitude bonus and high hit die. This is a lot to chew through - potentially diminishing tenson and the risk of things like critical hits or failed dexterity saves.


Danse is somewhat similar. As a warrior type class your job is to pin things down in the front lines, tank them and smack them. Adding more boddies, more effective HP, more damage is just taking your ability to do a martial's job and doing it beyond what other classes can. This is why I sugested losing al summon spells. For a caster like a wizard, concentrating on a spell ike this precludes them using a lot of their other class power as they can't also conentrate on a wall of force or a hold monster or whatever. Concentrating on this spell doesn't really slow down the reaver much as they can still pile in and use their attack action unhindered.


I am not saying you are making terrible choices, but thought it was worth showing my reasoning.

[JNAProductions]

Explanation taken on Armor.

Danse I don't think is as much of an issue, since it's a high-level spell.

[MrStabby]

Explanation taken on Armor.

Danse I don't think is as much of an issue, since it's a high-level spell.


Yeah, agree with that - and if the DM finds that a Reaver is out-martialing other warrior classes they can add an occasional AoE to help bring them into line.

[JNAProductions]

Thanks a ton for the feedback, by the way.

I really appreciate it! :)