D&D 5e Subclass Contest Chat Thread

[DracoDei]

Reviews will follow, but first I want to mention a few changes to my entry and that while nickl_2000 was very kind to review my entry, a second (and third?) point of view would be nice.

I've continued to tweak things. Most importantly I added the following as an option at 6th class level (and thus also at 8th):

Spoiler: Take My Eyes, That You Might See. Take My Ears, That You Might Hear.

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[*]Take My Eyes, That You Might See. Take My Ears That You Might Hear:
This ability has two major options, each with sub-options. All target a single creature within 30', have a duration of Concentration, unless otherwise specified the maximum duration is 8 hours. The effect also ends if you and the target are ever separated by more than 30', or if the sense you give up* is restored to you. They also fail to manifest in the first place if you have immunity to the condition(s) that specific application would inflict on you.
*This includes if you gain blindsense while concentrating on the Eyes option.
Eyes: You go blind and have any blindsight you possess suppressed for the duration of this ability. Pick one of the following for the target:

• They can see as normal for their species for the duration of this ability, even if born blind. If they are from a species with no sense of sight they gain the visual abilities of a human. Any pre-existing blindness effect is suppressed (but not removed) and they are immune to being blinded for the duration.
• They has advantage on sight-based perception checks.
• See Invisibility. This has a maximum duration of 1 hour.
• Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
• They gain low-light vision as an elf.
• (You must have a cleric level of at least 13 to select this option.) True Seeing. This requires the normal material component, which is destroyed, but you can simply hold it, rather than having to apply it to the target. This has a maximum duration of 1 hour.

Ears: You go deaf for the duration of this ability. Pick one of the following:

• They can hear for the duration of this ability, even if born deaf or from a species with no sense of hearing. Any pre-existing deafness effect is suppressed (but not removed) and they are immune to being deafened for the duration.
• They have advantage on hearing-based perception checks.
• Whenever they have both expertise and advantage of on hearing-based perception checks, they also gain Blindsense 5'. This has a maximum duration of 1 hour.

Once you have used any of these options you may not use this ability again until you have finished a long rest.

I'm still thinking about putting some sort of nerf on using offensive spells while under the effects of Vicious Defense. Maybe disallow spells that involve an attack roll, except for Bolt of Resilient Guidance?


Critique, working in REVERSE order (and skipping my own entry) so as to critique the stuff that has probably gotten the least review. Don't know how far I will get. Might do more in another post, or edited in to this one.

Spoiler: Path of the Spirit Vessel

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I assume you regain your spell slots on a short rest? You don't seem to specify anywhere.

You give the sorcerer progression of spells known. Given that the other columns top out at about what a warlock would get at 7th level, I would think that... actually never mind. Sorcerers seem to have the same "Spells Known" progression as warlocks, and that is what I would say the arcane trickster and eldritch knight are closest to being 1/3 casters OF.

To a few, the rage becomes too much to control, and they can regain their sanity by appealing to the shaman and his mysterious allies.

-Consider adding "only" before "regain", or otherwise editing to make this sound less casual at the end. Right now it has this weird vibe of: Oh, yeah, I'm going insane, but it is totally no big deal, really....

Spells Known of 1st-Level and Higher:

Given that Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight have to take most of their spells known from certain schools, I think you might want a similar limitation here. Perhaps simply say that only damaging and enemy-targeting spells can be cast in Rage, and then throw in some requirements to keep someone from hitting that level without having any such spells known? Probably want to add extra language to exclude stuff like Friends and Charm Person, although, say, Crown of Madness could fit, so you don't want to just go with "No Enchantments for that portion of your spells known".

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the warlock spells you know with another spell of your choice from the warlock spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

This last sentence sounds like it was taken from any spontaneous caster OTHER than a warlock, since they don't have spell slots of various levels, they just have a bunch at ONE spell level at any given class level. Try something like "The new spell must be of a level you can cast." or, if the multi-classing rules don't stop this from working smoothly, perhaps more akin to: "The new spell must be equal or lower in level than your spirit vessel slot level.".

You perform an hour long ritual which can be accomplished during a short rest, during which the weapon must be within your reach.

Do you also gain the usual benefits of that short rest, or are you just pointing out that the times line up nicely?

Is ritual casting of spells NORMALLY considered restful enough you can still roll hit dice to regain hitpoints and such? I don't happen to know.

If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon to your hand as a bonus action, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand.

This is pretty nasty for getting weapons into the King's Court and other places you wouldn't normally be able to take one (at least without raising eyebrows).

Are you planning on adding a 14th level ability, or do you feel that balance is best served by not having one?
In the second case a paranethetical note in the same font as your ability title explaining that might be wise.

At 10th level, when you go into a rage and have no spell slots, you gain one spell slot.

Recovering 1/2 your spell slots seems like a pretty big deal. I know there are precedents for "If you are out of this resource, recover it when X" (Monk's Ki points for one), but it still could be... more powerful than expected. I guess it depends on how much of the power comes from the spells, and how much from the invocations. It would also be a lot weaker if you only normally recover your slots on a Long Rest, which would make this probably the main way you would recover the slots (and warlocks get them back on a Short Rest, so that ought to be fine?). Again, I don't know 5e well enough to say "This is/isn't a problem." with any sense of confidence, only to raise questions that might be worth thinking about.

((Skipping over my Self-Sacrifice Domain.))

Spoiler: Mageblood

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Overall it isn't BAD, but it seems a little lacking in creativity given its similarity to Arcane Trickster. Probably unavoidable given the nature of being a 1/3 caster option for a rogue, but I still am less likely to vote for this than I might have been if you had picked a different pair of classes to work with.

Quickening Pulse is an interesting meeting place between metamagic and Cunning Action.

Arcane Nemesis: Being revealed if you HIT with a spell, but not if you MISS, seems like an odd distinction to make. Is there some sort of precedent I don't know about? I would also break the last sentence of this out into its own paragraph for clarity.

Does the capstone not work with, say, Magic Missile even if you target them all at a single target? Since you didn't HAVE to target that way. What if it is cast from a 1st level slot, but you hand a higher level one available (which would have given you more than one missile)? I realize that you don't want to give Sneak Attack more than once a spell*, but just saying you have to select one individual attack for it to apply to before you resolve any of them would seem sufficient to me.

*Although you could get two a round if you used Quickened Pulse? Not familiar enough with 5e to say for sure.)

While I was setting up spoilers for reviews I didn't happen to make at this time (but, again, might in an edit or separate post), I happened to notice things about two classes. Posting them, because "Why not?" even if it is out of the reverse order I am mostly going to be going in.
Soulsworn Archetype: I would recommend a larger font for the line with the name on it.

The Skald: Before the deadline you will want to remove the "Insert cool quote here!" bit, one way or another.