D&D Base Class Contest XV Chat Thread

[Damon_Tor]

Thoughts on the Occultist:

Generally: I like it a lot. I feel like you should simplify the mechanics and broaden the fluff.

I like the core mechanic, talisman creation. It's cool and versatile. A class built from the ground up as the "Spell Storing Item" class is neat.

In terms of the fluff, I'm not really buying the connection between talisman creation and forbidden lore. Again, I like the mechanics behind the talismans, but I still don't see why it's an ability unique to the guys who read from the forbidden section of the library. If you free the core class from this overspecific roleplay niche your subclasses would be free to explore more varied themes.

I'm not at all sure why the spell progression switches to Mystic Arcanum halfway through. For warlocks, this makes sense as a way to limit their higher level spells to 1/day where their lower slots regenerate when they take their lunch break, but the Occultist has daily slots at all levels. If this is to limit their talismans to only work with 1st-5th level spell slots... well, just say you can only use 1st-5th level slots to make talismans. No need for a second system to track.

To the specific talismans, in general I don't really see why you need multiple types: almost all of them are, to one degree or another, the equivalent of a Talisman of Spell Storage. Does the Talisman of Anti-Magic really need its own entry? Do we really need a Talisman of Anti-Possession, a Talisman of Protection, and a Talisman of Spell Storing with Protection from Evil and Good? Even if they all function slightly differently in one way or another, the conceptual overlap makes them feel very redundant. My suggestion would be to eliminate the other types entirely and just build the whole feature into the Spell Storing talisman. Maybe generally allow for "upcasting" the talisman to create charges (as implemented currently in the Talisman of Anti-Magic).