D&D 5e Subclass Contest Chat Thread

[nickl_2000]

See italics.

Sorry for the double post.

Hmm. I want that image of going blind with rage and panic (like Jalan from Mark Lawerence's Red Queen's War), but it's tough to implement. Would triple rage damage entice you? Or is that too much? Don't forget that with Panicked Attack, you'll be wanting to Reckless Attack as much as possible, so it will be a straight roll when you're in blind-mode.

So, at level 14 triple rage damage would be +9. For the trade off of not getting advantage on your attacks. Since, I don't have the ability to get advantage on the attacks, I am less likely to want to use GWM or using the -5/+10 section of it. When you remind me of the reckless attack option, it does make it better for a sword and board barbarian or someone who isn't playing with GWM though. Maybe you could give some other effects during it that would be useful for a barbarian, like immunity to fear and charm (I mean, you are already panicked, how could it be made worse?)

Yes its supposed to be a number of hours equal to your rogue level rounded down. I'll clarify that in the next revision.

It is still 2 times per short rest like a druid.

I agree on adding proficiency to each form's attack bonus.

Also ya I missed that the owl has flyby. Its weird you'd think the raven and the hawk would have it too. The idea was that the rogue could use cunning action to disengage and use the forms various movement modes, tiny size, and environment to avoid attack by being out of reach. My favorite is going badger and burrowing after a disengage to avoid attacks. My worry was that the added utility and higher potential to avoid retributive action from enemies would make a full strength sneak attack too powerful. If I get a second opinion that the reduced sneak attack is too weak then I will likely change it.

On the combat durability, would moving the HP bonuses to level 3 and level 9 be a better and possibly smoother progression?

The reason behind the Multi-Morph hit-dice heal is that since your already changing your physical form you can expend extra effort in the form of hit-dice to remove any minor wounds you may have suffered. I used hit-dice because it is a limited resource and unlimited healing would be sort of broken. You're more durable but its takes extra effort that you cant constantly maintain, and eventually you'll get too tired and worn out to keep doing it.

Badger only has a burrow movement of 5 feet, so that wouldn't be super effective to getting away from someone if you don't also dash to get more separation from someone, and it's a trade off since your AC is going to be very low in comparison (and you can't use magical item or have your attacks be magical to overcome resistance/immunity).

Making the HP bonus and prof to attack a level 3 ability makes sense to me. One way that you could approach it is to give swim, burrow, and flight speed at level 9 as well as speak with animals at will instead of 3. That gives you something to look forward to at level 9, and the forms are still effective without flight/swim earlier on. This also prevents some of the cheese of flyby/burrow until the enemies are better equipped deal with it.

[Lvl45DM!]

Considering I rewatch Conan the Barbarian at least once a year, I can only adore this subclass.

Altough, I'm not totally convinced by the 14th feature The Riddle of Steel. In my opinion, the 14th level is a bit late to introduce new mechanics, whether they are maneuvers or modifiers to fighting styles.

Also I wonder, did you introduce the inability to use the fighting style while raging for balance or flavor issues?

Yeah thats a fair call about the 14th level. The other obvious thing to do is Action Surge if I'm stealing from Fighter.

It was 90% flavour 10% balance. They get the Heavy Armor proficiency as well

[nickl_2000]

A few more entries, so a few more reviews :)

Spoiler: Sorcerous Origin: Ultimate Magus

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Soulbook (1st) - Multiclassing question. Are spells in your soulbook considered spells that can be cast as a ritual in the book of souls or wizard spellbook, or would they need to scribe it twice? Since you have spelled out that it can be those things you may want to mention that. Random side note, it would be possible as a changeling with point buy to have 18 charisma and therefore have 5 spells prepared, but only 4 in the book. Not really a big deal, but just worth mentioning.

Ultimate Savant (1st) - I'm not completely sure that I agree with the rituals for a sorcerer here when you are giving a book. You are already adding massive flexibility to the spells that a sorcerer knows and the spells that they have prepared through the soulbook, do you need to give the rituals as well? I would be fine with allowing a sorcerer to cast spells from the soulbook as a ritual, but I feel like it should still cost a spell slot to differentiate them from Wizards. Alternately, you have plenty you are offering at level 1, I think you would be safe dropping this entire ability and you would still have a solid and exciting level 1 for this subclass.

Ultimate Lucubration (6th) - Don't forget to mention that this is either levelled spells only, or add a cost to cantrips. There is certainly a time when it would be useful to cast minor illusion without an components.

Magus's Intuition (6th)/Ultimate Metamage (14th) - This could have some serious repercussions on the overall damage of a sorcerer, for example being able to twin your cantrips at will should effectively double your damage output (to an even greater effect if you are allowed to twin BB/GFB). Otherwise, you can make it so that all of your non material component spells are un-counterable. Overall, this gets even worse when you add in the level 14 ability. Now I'm able to cast two cantrips in a round, and then quicken a levelled spell every single round (or cast 3 cantrips each and every round). That could potentially net a lot of damage for a sorcerer, especially since you can Empower the spells to re-roll bad rolls


At level 14:
You are now doing 9d10 (50) with firebolt at will, re-rolling all the die you want (I'm not sure on the math for this one, but lets say it increases damage to 60). This is if you only cast cantrips, while you are at it you can also reduce your cantrip damage to 40 and also quicken a levelled spell for free to do even more. Doing this doesn't cost a single metamagic point to do either.
A rogue at level 14 does 1d8(rapier) + 5(dex) + 7d6(sneak attack) = 34.5 damage at will.
A fighter with PAM is doing (1d10+5)*3 + 1d4+5 = 38 damage.
A barbarian with PAM is doing (1d10+5+3)*2 + 1d4+5+3 = 38 damage
So, even with twinning your cantrips only, you are already out damaging your rogue, barbarian, and fighter companions with at will damage. Then you get to cast you levelled spell as a bonus action after that to go even higher.


Mantle of the Archmagus (18th) - I do love this ability, it may make the metamagic reduces a little more broken, but I've already mentioned that.



The flavour of this subclass is great and there are a lot of cool things going on. I really think it patches some of the more significant holes in the sorcerer class very nicely. I think the metamagic ability need to be re-examined and replaced (at least the level 14 one) though.

Spoiler: Primal Path: The Path of Steel

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Trusted Steel - Don't forget that you get extra movement at level 5 when you aren't wearing heavy armor. You should probably allow that in heavy armor as well.

I am not sure on the reasoning for taking away the fighting style when you are raging. A barbarian can't get a fighting style through a 1 level dip into fighter and they don't lose it then. It doesn't seem overpowered to allow them to keep it.

Strong Flesh - No issues here at all

Steel Will - What happens with this when you get to level 20 and you have unlimited rages? Can you re-roll all saving throws?

The Riddle of Steel - Nevermind on what I said with the fighting style above. Clearly you had this planned out.

My main problem with this subclass has nothing to do with what you wrote as opposed to just the way some classes are designed. I hate it when you get something like heavy armor at level 3, where you are either encumbered with a horrible AC for 2 level until you get here or you have a 14 Dex to get as good of AC as possible and then it loses a lot of it's effectiveness. I don't have a solution to this problem, but this is more a personal rant than anything wrong with your subclass.

I like the subclass, it does a good job of offering something new and interesting to the barbarian without completely stealing from another classes thunder.

[CountDVB]

Guys, I would need an advice on the Martial Artist.

On one hand, I believe that the class is already quite loaded, considering that it have all the features of the Battle Master (although all functional to the mechanics of the maneuvers or to enrich the flavor of the true technical combatant), on the other I have the feeling that giving only the Relentless feature of the Battle Master at 17th level is not enough for a level considered a milestone.

So I was thinking of borrowing into something directly from the Fighter's base class, but considering that's probably late to introduce a Fighting Style, and Indomitable is redundant when paired with Diamond Soul, there's only Action Surge left as a choice.

Do you think there is a need to add something at 17th level? And if so, is Action Surge a too powerful feature?

Hmmm... well, Action Surge makes pretty good sense and if you feel it is overpowered, you could just as a ki cost to it? It does definitely look all right.

If you feel like it needs more oomph, I recommend maybe also taking inspiration from the Unearthed Arcana's Brute subclass for Fighter, which is actually a favorite of mine.

Maybe another thing could be adding a feature that changes your Hit Die from d8s to d10s?

I hope my feed back is good!

[Old Harry MTX]

Hmmm... well, Action Surge makes pretty good sense and if you feel it is overpowered, you could just as a ki cost to it? It does definitely look all right.

If you feel like it needs more oomph, I recommend maybe also taking inspiration from the Unearthed Arcana's Brute subclass for Fighter, which is actually a favorite of mine.

Maybe another thing could be adding a feature that changes your Hit Die from d8s to d10s?

I hope my feed back is good!

I took a look at the Brute, and I have to say it's a very cool class! But it seems to me that he has a very rude feeling, while I was aiming for something more martial and elegant...

The idea of replacing the hit die with a d10 isn't bad either, or more simply adding 1 hit point per level as for the sorcerer's Draconic Bloodline, but giving this ability in addition to everything else at 3rd level really makes the class too strong, while giving it at 17th level in place of Action Surge seems to me a bit senseless...

Let's go for a classic Action Surge then!

[CountDVB]

I took a look at the Brute, and I have to say it's a very cool class! But it seems to me that he has a very rude feeling, while I was aiming for something more martial and elegant...

The idea of replacing the hit die with a d10 isn't bad either, or more simply adding 1 hit point per level as for the sorcerer's Draconic Bloodline, but giving this ability in addition to everything else at 3rd level really makes the class too strong, while giving it at 17th level in place of Action Surge seems to me a bit senseless...

Let's go for a classic Action Surge then!

The subclass is a good alternate to Champion in terms of being simple yet efficient and would reflect some Fighters preferring just the more blunt brute force.

Maybe you could tweak the bonuses around.

I do think maybe Action Surge combined with Ki could be interesting since it'd help add a bit more synching with the class, but it looks quite well regardless :)

[Crim the Cold]

Posted new revision of the Moonlighter. Thanks for the suggestions nickl_2000!

[CountDVB]

I tweaked it a bit more and hopefully it works here!

[Old Harry MTX]

Posted new revision of the Moonlighter. Thanks for the suggestions nickl_2000!

Mmm, can you add here a quick change log?

I tweaked it a bit more and hopefully it works here!

I like the new wording of Hymn of Revelation! I also like the idea of Concert of Prayers, but, if I understand well, you get the help of your deity if you take less then 14-20 with a d100, the DM choose the effect, and you can't use that again before 7 days? It's a bit situational, isn't it?

Why don't you change it in something like: Roll a d10. If you get a number other then 0, the deity helps you. You can cast any spell from the bard or cleric spell list of a level not higher then the result of the roll, without material component. You can't use this feature again before <some> days.

[Ilerien]

Why don't you change it in something like: Roll a d10. If you get a number other then 0, the deity helps you. You can cast any spell from the bard or cleric spell list of a level not higher then the result of the roll, without material component. You can't use this feature again before <some> days.

It's basically Divine Intervention feature from the cleric class. Would be odd if a bard/cleric were able to use essentially the same class feature better than a cleric.

[Old Harry MTX]

It's basically Divine Intervention feature from the cleric class. Would be odd if a bard/cleric were able to use essentially the same class feature better than a cleric.

I had completely missed that.

[Lvl45DM!]

A few more entries, so a few more reviews :)

Spoiler: Primal Path: The Path of Steel

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Trusted Steel - Don't forget that you get extra movement at level 5 when you aren't wearing heavy armor. You should probably allow that in heavy armor as well.

I am not sure on the reasoning for taking away the fighting style when you are raging. A barbarian can't get a fighting style through a 1 level dip into fighter and they don't lose it then. It doesn't seem overpowered to allow them to keep it.

Strong Flesh - No issues here at all

Steel Will - What happens with this when you get to level 20 and you have unlimited rages? Can you re-roll all saving throws?

The Riddle of Steel - Nevermind on what I said with the fighting style above. Clearly you had this planned out.

My main problem with this subclass has nothing to do with what you wrote as opposed to just the way some classes are designed. I hate it when you get something like heavy armor at level 3, where you are either encumbered with a horrible AC for 2 level until you get here or you have a 14 Dex to get as good of AC as possible and then it loses a lot of it's effectiveness. I don't have a solution to this problem, but this is more a personal rant than anything wrong with your subclass.

I like the subclass, it does a good job of offering something new and interesting to the barbarian without completely stealing from another classes thunder.

Ah, I meant to add the fast movement thing to level 6, just so for 1 level you have to make a choice but your body acclimates to it.
And the fighting style benefit not being during rage was more flavour than power. You can either use your knowledge of the Riddle of Steel, or give into your primal rage. Its one of those abilities that really changes in effectiveness depending on campaign. If you spend more than a few fights without any rages its a good fallback, but if you can rage every fight due to resting its a weak ability.

About the 10th level ability...thats a very good question. I'll limit its use to one per round I guess, not much else to do.

[Ilerien]

About the 10th level ability...thats a very good question. I'll limit its use to one per round I guess, not much else to do.

How about this?

Beginning at 10th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll. If you are raging and fail the saving throw, your rage ends immediately, and you can't enter rage by any means for 1 minute. If you aren't raging and succeed, you start raging immediately provided you have the ability to enter rage normally. It still counts against the limit of rages per rest. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it until the beginning of your next turn.

The conditions may be flipped without much fuss, I'd say.

[Lvl45DM!]

How about this?

Beginning at 10th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll. If you are raging and fail the saving throw, your rage ends immediately, and you can't enter rage by any means for 1 minute. If you aren't raging and succeed, you start raging immediately provided you have the ability to enter rage normally. It still counts against the limit of rages per rest. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it until the beginning of your next turn.

The conditions may be flipped without much fuss, I'd say.

Ohhh yes that makes sense. Ending rage rather than going in, and that provides more weight to not having the fighting style in rage anyway. Way better.

[Breccia]

Added my submission, the Thief-Acrob(cough) the Gymnast.

It's a pretty simple Rogue archetype that borrows from the Monk.

The hardest part of the subclass's creation was when and how to add the Unarmed Attacks. A Rogue gets a pretty significant benefit from attacking twice, as it's effecitvely "Advantage to Sneak Attacks", so I ended up pushing the Bonus Action to Unarmed Strike back to 9th level instead of giving it immediately like Monks get.

[Crim the Cold]

Mmm, can you add here a quick change log?

Changelog added!

[nickl_2000]

Spoiler: Gymnast

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This review is very stream of conscious, so I apologize for that.

Special Requirements - This is a bit unusual for 5e, as they have usually tried to move away from pre-requisites for subclasses. Instead, when the official subclasses want to make sure someone has access to a skill, they give it at the first subclass level. That being said, it's not necessarily wrong or bad and it certainly fits the theme of the character.

Unarmored Defense - The last sentence about unarmored defenses not stacking isn't necessary. That is both the RAW and RAI as written. Though, it doesn't hurt to remind people, WotC often does it in a sidebar during UA articles anyways. This will stack with bladesinger, making for an incredibly armored rogue/wizard when in bladesong. I was a little worried about this giving a rogue to high of an AC, but when I actually thought the numbers through they end up being just about even with the typical rogue at early levels. In the long term, this will end up being much higher though.

Wind Sprint - Phew, this is killer on a rogue who gets a disengage or dash for free. Even better if you can increase through other means as well.

Jump Kick - I'm not a huge fan of the damage progression here. There is a reason that finesse weapons only get to 1d8 damage. Personally, I would rather see it max out at 1d8 instead of 1d10. I'm a huge fan of the monk though, so I tend to be pretty defensive of someone being as good or better at martial arts than a monk (so take what I say with a bit of a grain of salt).

It is a bit against typical design that the rogue doesn't get an additional use of their bonus action at level 3, again not necessary a bad thing, but unusual. I did see that you added the unarmed strike as a bonus action at level 9, though. So that does make up for it somewhat.

Light as a Feather - This is a cool feature, but a bit dense in the amount of things that are going on. You get acrobatics to prevent falling damage (as a side note, you should set a DC on the check to prevent damage based on how far you fall, that will take some stress away from the DM), climb without losing speed, better speed while balancing, and the drop attack.

The drop attack is interesting, but I just don't see coming up all that often where it would be better to use that over the sneak attack. When you get this feature at level 9, you need to drop 60 feet onto someone to equal beat your sneak attack damage and it gets higher as you level up. I can honestly say that wouldn't have even come up at my current table, even with playing at it for 5 years. Since, you are already getting a significant number of features at level 9 already, you may want to consider dropping this for simplicities sake.

Spinning Kick - Seems like a good time for this. it's better than an off-hand strike, making it an improvement, but not massively enough that it's broken. As a side note though, you should require that the PC take an attack action to get this bonus action. As you have it written right now, my Gymnast rogue will ready an attack for their main action and use their bonus action to make a spinning kick. Now, I have doubled my overall damage per round at only the cost of a bonus action.

Hurricane Kick - A rogue's main damage is based around the fact that they land a sneak attack. With this ability, you are increasing their chances are a significant increase to their overall power. I wouldn't mind seeing this dropped entirely, since there is already something else given at level 13.



My overall opinion on this subclass if that you have to much going on. There are at least 2 features at each level, and often times each feature gives multiple abilities. Beyond that, many of those abilities have special rules (you can only use half you movement, you can't dash, you have to make a DC save of a certain level, etc), that build as you level. These could be simplified down by removing the level requirements to aspects of the feature and just give the full feature at a certain level, it will make the subclass flow more easily and be easier to understand.

You have a great idea, and a very unique one. There are great features that borrow effectively from the monk without making the monk less effective (something that is often difficult to do well).

Spoiler: Way of the Punchimancer

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I don't know, it feels a little underpowered right now. You may want to think about adding in some abilities

I look forward to seeing the whole thing, I do love a good monk subclass.

[sengmeng]

Way of the Punchimancer is ready for PEACH; the spell table isn't filled out but it should be identical to other 1/3 casters.

[Breccia]

Spoiler: Gymnast

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This review is very stream of conscious, so I apologize for that.

Special Requirements - This is a bit unusual for 5e, as they have usually tried to move away from pre-requisites for subclasses. Instead, when the official subclasses want to make sure someone has access to a skill, they give it at the first subclass level. That being said, it's not necessarily wrong or bad and it certainly fits the theme of the character.

Unarmored Defense - The last sentence about unarmored defenses not stacking isn't necessary. That is both the RAW and RAI as written. Though, it doesn't hurt to remind people, WotC often does it in a sidebar during UA articles anyways. This will stack with bladesinger, making for an incredibly armored rogue/wizard when in bladesong. I was a little worried about this giving a rogue to high of an AC, but when I actually thought the numbers through they end up being just about even with the typical rogue at early levels. In the long term, this will end up being much higher though.

Wind Sprint - Phew, this is killer on a rogue who gets a disengage or dash for free. Even better if you can increase through other means as well.

Jump Kick - I'm not a huge fan of the damage progression here. There is a reason that finesse weapons only get to 1d8 damage. Personally, I would rather see it max out at 1d8 instead of 1d10. I'm a huge fan of the monk though, so I tend to be pretty defensive of someone being as good or better at martial arts than a monk (so take what I say with a bit of a grain of salt).

It is a bit against typical design that the rogue doesn't get an additional use of their bonus action at level 3, again not necessary a bad thing, but unusual. I did see that you added the unarmed strike as a bonus action at level 9, though. So that does make up for it somewhat.

Light as a Feather - This is a cool feature, but a bit dense in the amount of things that are going on. You get acrobatics to prevent falling damage (as a side note, you should set a DC on the check to prevent damage based on how far you fall, that will take some stress away from the DM), climb without losing speed, better speed while balancing, and the drop attack.

The drop attack is interesting, but I just don't see coming up all that often where it would be better to use that over the sneak attack. When you get this feature at level 9, you need to drop 60 feet onto someone to equal beat your sneak attack damage and it gets higher as you level up. I can honestly say that wouldn't have even come up at my current table, even with playing at it for 5 years. Since, you are already getting a significant number of features at level 9 already, you may want to consider dropping this for simplicities sake.

Spinning Kick - Seems like a good time for this. it's better than an off-hand strike, making it an improvement, but not massively enough that it's broken. As a side note though, you should require that the PC take an attack action to get this bonus action. As you have it written right now, my Gymnast rogue will ready an attack for their main action and use their bonus action to make a spinning kick. Now, I have doubled my overall damage per round at only the cost of a bonus action.

Hurricane Kick - A rogue's main damage is based around the fact that they land a sneak attack. With this ability, you are increasing their chances are a significant increase to their overall power. I wouldn't mind seeing this dropped entirely, since there is already something else given at level 13.



My overall opinion on this subclass if that you have to much going on. There are at least 2 features at each level, and often times each feature gives multiple abilities. Beyond that, many of those abilities have special rules (you can only use half you movement, you can't dash, you have to make a DC save of a certain level, etc), that build as you level. These could be simplified down by removing the level requirements to aspects of the feature and just give the full feature at a certain level, it will make the subclass flow more easily and be easier to understand.

You have a great idea, and a very unique one. There are great features that borrow effectively from the monk without making the monk less effective (something that is often difficult to do well).

I appreciate the time you spent doing this. Thanks!

Spoiler

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And there's nothing wrong with stream of consciousness. I wrote a lot of stream of consciousness while I was in high school, which was right about the time the...

The class does have a lot going on, but that's mostly because I looked at the first two drafts and said "movement bonuses by themselves aren't really a great selling point". Even with such things as Cunning Dash, running up walls and leaping over long pits wasn't strong enough, to me at least, to be an archetype feature all by itself.

The restrictions are based on the idea of the Gymnast gradually improving over levels. It was between this, and the Gymnast going from zero to sixty (literally?) and being able to sprint straight up walls. I'll try again, but I really like the idea of gradual improvment. What do you think about a "point system" where the Gymnast unlocks/upgrades the abilities?

I'll admit, the Bladesinger is news to me, and I share your concerns after reading them. How about I swap the disclaimer about Unarmed Defense to specifically block that instead? "Class features that add your Int to your AC do not stack"?

Jump Kick: Unlike the monk, Jump Kick is never magic damage, so I'm not as concerned about the damage as you are, but I'm also not going to rule out capping at 1d8 just to be on the safe side.

The Drop Attack is mostly spelling out flavor text. I don't have a real issue drop(cough) leaving it out.

I was quite close to moving the Bonus Action attack at level 3, but I thought that was too much power too quickly.

I have no problem requiring an Attack Action to use the Bonus Jump Kick. That definitely fits the concept of spinning into the fray.

How would you feel about Hurricane Kick being a separate option from Spinning Kick, that forfeits Sneak Attack?

[nickl_2000]

I appreciate the time you spent doing this. Thanks!

Spoiler

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And there's nothing wrong with stream of consciousness. I wrote a lot of stream of consciousness while I was in high school, which was right about the time the...

The class does have a lot going on, but that's mostly because I looked at the first two drafts and said "movement bonuses by themselves aren't really a great selling point". Even with such things as Cunning Dash, running up walls and leaping over long pits wasn't strong enough, to me at least, to be an archetype feature all by itself.

The restrictions are based on the idea of the Gymnast gradually improving over levels. It was between this, and the Gymnast going from zero to sixty (literally?) and being able to sprint straight up walls. I'll try again, but I really like the idea of gradual improvment. What do you think about a "point system" where the Gymnast unlocks/upgrades the abilities?

I'll admit, the Bladesinger is news to me, and I share your concerns after reading them. How about I swap the disclaimer about Unarmed Defense to specifically block that instead? "Class features that add your Int to your AC do not stack"?

Jump Kick: Unlike the monk, Jump Kick is never magic damage, so I'm not as concerned about the damage as you are, but I'm also not going to rule out capping at 1d8 just to be on the safe side.

The Drop Attack is mostly spelling out flavor text. I don't have a real issue drop(cough) leaving it out.

I was quite close to moving the Bonus Action attack at level 3, but I thought that was too much power too quickly.

I have no problem requiring an Attack Action to use the Bonus Jump Kick. That definitely fits the concept of spinning into the fray.

How would you feel about Hurricane Kick being a separate option from Spinning Kick, that forfeits Sneak Attack?

I can see the point of growing, and if you eliminate a couple of other flavor features it will likely make it seem less busy overall and make the processing of the subclass easier.

As for bladesinger, I may specifically spell it out this doesn't stack with the bladesong AC bonus. The only reason I have a problem is that they are both keyed off intelligence and a natural boost.

As for hurricane kick, the only time you would want to use it without sneak attack is when you couldn't get sneak attack. Personally, I would tie it to some resource like the Monks flurry of blows. Instead of being able to do it all the time, you use a Ki each time. If you allow it's use X times per rest, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it as it is written.



I will try and get the rest of the reviews out tomorrow.

[MoleMage]

So I'm going to actually make a subclass again this time, but I'm not sure which of the following to do. All of them but one involve other homebrew I've made, since I'm trying to expand some of my ideas.

Option A: Druid: The Circle of Spirit. Ascetics focused on self-enlightenment (borrows from Monk).
Option 1: Arcanist: The Chalice Implement (Borrows from Cleric, similar to the Divine Soul Sorcerer). (The arcanist is part of this collection)
Option 2: Rogue: The Chirurgeon (borrows from my Alchemist, whose formulae were recently updated when I wrote the Witch)
Option 3: Wizard: The Philosopher (also borrows from the Alchemist)
Option 4: Wilder: The Ki-rin Bloodline (Borrows from Theurge. Both Wilder and Theurge are part of the same collection as the Arcanist).

What do you guys think? Any opinions?

[CountDVB]

So I'm going to actually make a subclass again this time, but I'm not sure which of the following to do. All of them but one involve other homebrew I've made, since I'm trying to expand some of my ideas.

Option A: Druid: The Circle of Spirit. Ascetics focused on self-enlightenment (borrows from Monk).
Option 1: Arcanist: The Chalice Implement (Borrows from Cleric, similar to the Divine Soul Sorcerer). (The arcanist is part of this collection)
Option 2: Rogue: The Chirurgeon (borrows from my Alchemist, whose formulae were recently updated when I wrote the Witch)
Option 3: Wizard: The Philosopher (also borrows from the Alchemist)
Option 4: Wilder: The Ki-rin Bloodline (Borrows from Theurge. Both Wilder and Theurge are part of the same collection as the Arcanist).

What do you guys think? Any opinions?

Well, they all sound inteesting though given I am scrub who only reall knows 5e stuff and some of the UA info... I'd have to go with Option A, Druid with Circle of Spirit. Given how ki is a natural energy, seeing a Druid subclass picking that up would be interesting.

[sengmeng]

So I'm going to actually make a subclass again this time, but I'm not sure which of the following to do. All of them but one involve other homebrew I've made, since I'm trying to expand some of my ideas.

Option A: Druid: The Circle of Spirit. Ascetics focused on self-enlightenment (borrows from Monk).
Option 1: Arcanist: The Chalice Implement (Borrows from Cleric, similar to the Divine Soul Sorcerer). (The arcanist is part of this collection)
Option 2: Rogue: The Chirurgeon (borrows from my Alchemist, whose formulae were recently updated when I wrote the Witch)
Option 3: Wizard: The Philosopher (also borrows from the Alchemist)
Option 4: Wilder: The Ki-rin Bloodline (Borrows from Theurge. Both Wilder and Theurge are part of the same collection as the Arcanist).

What do you guys think? Any opinions?

I also like option A, with option 1 as a close second. I don't know if the others are conceptually different enough from existing things or feel coherent between the things being mashed together. I might not be fully understanding them though, and a good fluff write-up could make them fit better, and wildly original mechanics can always help distinguish two thematically similar subclasses. I just think A and 1 will be easier for you to do those things with, as I can already see interesting things in the ideas.

[Breccia]

Option 2: Rogue: The Chirurgeon

Aww, man :(

[MoleMage]

Aww, man :(

No relation.

(I actually made a list of potential Alchemy subclasses back in July, these were the most promising two.)

[Twelvetrees]

Added the Naturalist.

Area of Study and Creature Specialist are going to need some revision. If anyone has the opportunity to PEACH the Naturalist, I'd appreciate suggestions for these pieces in particular. Some of the abilities don't mesh as well as they could with the idea of someone who knows a lot about a specific creature type. And some are just unbalanced.

[CountDVB]

Looks like we got a bunch of stuff here. I wonder how the next contest will be.

Should we do a holiday-themed subclass contest? XD

[Ilerien]

Alas, noone wants to PEACH the Chameleon. I feel like it could use some polishing, but, tbh, I'm out of ideas myself. :D

[CountDVB]

Woodcarver definitely looks pretty awesome though I would recommend a couple things:

- For tool proficiency, if you're already proficient in wood carving tools, maybe double proficiency bonus (similar to Rogue's Expertise)

- As for the wood carved critter summoned, not sure if it would be a Plant-type, a Construct-type or both (someone more knowledgable than me could probably answer). It would seem like a Construct, but then again, Druidic magic.

- Might wanna describe things on wooden armor such as flammability or something, though not sure there.

- Root Down is useful, but probably the least fitting with the others, least in the context. Maybe do something where you could create magic wooden weapons or whatnot (not sure how overpowered this would be though...)

[Twelvetrees]

Starting to review in randomized order, starting with Old Harry MTX's Martial Artist.

Spoiler: Martial Artist

Show

I'll admit, I'm worried that taking the Battle Master and giving its features to the monk and then adding more on top of it will be too strong. That's my first impression. Now to examine it more closely.


Combat Techniques
The Battle Master's Know Your Enemy feature has a line about Fighter class levels. You may want to clarify if you intend for that to be monk levels in this case.

Maneuvers
If used in combination with Stunning Strike, opponents will automatically fail the saving throws for Disarming Attack, Pushing Attack, and Trip Attack. That seems fine.

Goading Attack combines well with the monk's ability to Dodge as a bonus action, allowing you to give an enemy disadvantage on every attack. Potentially powerful, but it's resource expensive and depends on a failed save.

Iron Skin is bland but functional.

Warrior Within will most benefit binary uses of superiority dice, which means that this feature will push Martial Artists to take Precision Attack. Being able to turn a miss into a hit is of larger importance that a few more points of damage, especially if that hit can be used to land a Stunning Strike.

Action Surge somehow feels less exciting on a monk chassis. I think this is because it feels like a duplicate of the effects that can be granted by Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. It's still useful. Extra actions always are.



Looking everything over, I wouldn't personally be too enticed by the Martial Artist unless I wanted to make a disarming specialist. Being able to automatically disarm stunned targets and then pick up their weapon and run away at monk speed could be fun, if a little repetitive.


Suggestions
Perhaps Iron Skin or Action Surge could be replaced with some method of converting ki points into superiority dice or vice versa. Being able to dump ki points into causing more damage would certainly shore up that aspect of the monk.

Edit: Hey Molemage, we're at page 50, so we'll need a new thread. Anyone got any fun name suggestions?