D&D Subclass Contest Chat Thread 2: Joke Entries Win with Alarming Frequency

[Old Harry MTX]

Looks like there are a few ready for reviews, so I will hop on them before I get overwhelmed.

Spoiler: Cleric: Earth Domain

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Domain Spells - Command is a bit of an odd choice for this, I might consider catapult as a level 1 spell. It's pretty fitting. For second level instead of hold person you could consider Earthbind as well. However, that does strip some power from the subclass to do that.

Bonus Proficiency - Nothing wrong with this, but I feel like you should also get the Mold Earth Cantrip. It's utility and fun and so very, very fitting.

Tremorsense - I like this, it's very fitting, it makes sense, and I like how it grows in size over the levels to make it good as a dip, but not broken.

Mountain Stance - Can you voluntarily end this early? Also, I think this is a little weak to be honest. I wouldn't mind seeing something added onto that, and extra bonus for not moving rather than others just not being able to move you. Maybe a bonus to AC, maybe an abillty to throw a rock at someone as a bonus action, maybe if they try and move you and they fail they take damage, maybe difficult terrain around you for a certain radius, just a few ideas.

Geyser - This feels weird. You are an earth domain cleric and you are doing damage with hot water? I get that water is under the earth, but it still feels odd to me. The damage also feels high to me, cool looking, effective, but high. I could be convinced of this otherwise though since it is a level 17 ability. Where did you get the numbers from?

A cool take on the Earth Cleric, I like Cleric and I like this subclass :)

Wow, I haven't read the earth domain yet but from what I can see here it have a lot of things in common with what I'm writing! XD

[Oerlaf]

Looks like there are a few ready for reviews, so I will hop on them before I get overwhelmed.

Spoiler: Cleric: Earth Domain

Show

Domain Spells - Command is a bit of an odd choice for this, I might consider catapult as a level 1 spell. It's pretty fitting. For second level instead of hold person you could consider Earthbind as well. However, that does strip some power from the subclass to do that.

Bonus Proficiency - Nothing wrong with this, but I feel like you should also get the Mold Earth Cantrip. It's utility and fun and so very, very fitting.

Tremorsense - I like this, it's very fitting, it makes sense, and I like how it grows in size over the levels to make it good as a dip, but not broken.

Mountain Stance - Can you voluntarily end this early? Also, I think this is a little weak to be honest. I wouldn't mind seeing something added onto that, and extra bonus for not moving rather than others just not being able to move you. Maybe a bonus to AC, maybe an abillty to throw a rock at someone as a bonus action, maybe if they try and move you and they fail they take damage, maybe difficult terrain around you for a certain radius, just a few ideas.

Geyser - This feels weird. You are an earth domain cleric and you are doing damage with hot water? I get that water is under the earth, but it still feels odd to me. The damage also feels high to me, cool looking, effective, but high. I could be convinced of this otherwise though since it is a level 17 ability. Where did you get the numbers from?

A cool take on the Earth Cleric, I like Cleric and I like this subclass :)

Thank you for the review!

Domain Spells. I thought about those spells but I justified it that it can easily be roleplayed within the earth theme. For example, a hold person spell might manifest as barely visible stones that hold the target fast. Options for the command spell can also be justified accordingly. I usually try to have as little non-PHB spells as possible, but it's hard to stick only to them.

Bonus Proficiency. Mold earth is definitely a good idea, but I think that balancewise it's either a Bonus Cantrip (as in the Light domain cleric) or Bonus Proficiency, but Earth has definitely a lot to do with tanking.

Mountain Stance. I intended this as a defensive ability of some sort that you can't end voluntarily. It does seem weak on paper, but there are some things to consider here. It requires a pure ability check to move the character, so legendary resistance does not apply here. And the stance protects from magical effects also. And for the purpose of the stance, being knocked prone also constitutes as being moved as you fall.

Geyser. Yes, it is subterrannean source of water. Meteor swarm (20d6 bludgeoning + 20d6 fire) is a 9th-level spell that is basically fire and earth. This ability is a 17th-level magical ability that cannot be counterspelled, so it should be weaker in damage.

[sengmeng]

Looks like there are a few ready for reviews, so I will hop on them before I get overwhelmed.

Spoiler: Path of the Crimson Diaper

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Glistening Abs - Appropriate, effective, and makes perfect sense to me. This does happen to be a pet peeve of mine in building, I don't like it when you have to invest in a stat for 2 levels and then it becomes way less important. Sure you aren't taking away medium armor prof or anything, but the optimizer in me shudders at having to start my build at level 1 to use this ability.

Phallic Symbolism - This sucker, on the other hand is pretty powerful. You are giving a 1 handed reach weapon with 1d10 damage as a one handed weapon. This makes it vastly superior to anything else out there, especially when you add on PAM. I think it should be okay overall, but be open to changing it in playtesting if/when it gets to powerful.

It isn't wrong, but it is a little unusual that you didn't add a rage feature to a barbarian class. That is typical, but not wrong.

Slow-mo Action - Love it, cinematic, effective, and not broken really at all.

Bro Code - The extra damage is negligible at level 10. So, it's fun, but not a big deal (although my initial reaction was that it was to much). I am more concerned about the advantage at will as a reaction. I like the idea, it makes sense, but I would like to see it have limited uses. It still gives a good flavor, and it fun and helpful but ends up being less overwhelming.

Break Ranks - This needs a top limit of the bonus, you could really game the system on this with enlarge and summons to do a lot of extra damage. I would think 4d4 would be a decent maximum.


This subclass has great flavor, it has great visuals and in the end it's actually pretty simple while still giving more options of what you can do. As I said before it's a little bit of an odd choice that there is nothing to do with raging on a barbarian subclass, but whatever :)

Thanks for the feedback! The goal of course was to make the most ahistorical Spartans, so I feel like I did that. I did have other things I thought about giving then, but I already crammed 5 features into 4 levels of subclass. I disagree with your evaluation of Break Ranks needing a limit, because taking full advantage of the possible 12 adjacent allies requires two separate spells (and two allies actions) or a lot of hired mercenaries. It's just so much setup to pull off that I feel the difficulty of doing it scales just fine with the damage.

[nickl_2000]

Thank you for the review!

Domain Spells. I thought about those spells but I justified it that it can easily be roleplayed within the earth theme. For example, a hold person spell might manifest as barely visible stones that hold the target fast. Options for the command spell can also be justified accordingly. I usually try to have as little non-PHB spells as possible, but it's hard to stick only to them.

Bonus Proficiency. Mold earth is definitely a good idea, but I think that balancewise it's either a Bonus Cantrip (as in the Light domain cleric) or Bonus Proficiency, but Earth has definitely a lot to do with tanking.

Mountain Stance. I intended this as a defensive ability of some sort that you can't end voluntarily. It does seem weak on paper, but there are some things to consider here. It requires a pure ability check to move the character, so legendary resistance does not apply here. And the stance protects from magical effects also. And for the purpose of the stance, being knocked prone also constitutes as being moved as you fall.

Geyser. Yes, it is subterrannean source of water. Meteor swarm (20d6 bludgeoning + 20d6 fire) is a 9th-level spell that is basically fire and earth. This ability is a 17th-level magical ability that cannot be counterspelled, so it should be weaker in damage.

For the mold earth, it would be a little bit unusual, but you are giving a passive ability in the tremorsense (and something that won't kick in right away, you won't be running into invisible creatures early on very often). You subclass, your call, but I think it wouldn't be overpowered and you could get away with it if you wanted to.

I still think that just stopping movement isn't all that powerful on it's own, especially since you can't end it. Maybe something else smaller, like you get advantage on saves vs losing concentration while you are in there? Sure, there are other ways to get that, but it is still a bonus nd fills it out a little bit more and makes you feel better about it.

Agreed, it should be weaker than meteor swarm. The problem that I have is the comparison of a 17th level ability to a 9th level spell as opposed to a 17th level ability vs other 17th level Cleric abilities. When looking at the other 17th level cleric abilities, the only damage dealing ones are ones that add 1dx or 2dx once per turn. Compared to this, that is basicailly an additional 8th level spell. With that in mind it still feel like it is doing to much damage to me. If it did 10d6, 10d6 damage I would personally feel more comfortable.

That being said with all this, take it with a grain of salt. It's not my subclass, it's not my table. Feel free to ignore my thoughts and go with what you want, my feeling won't be hurt.

Thanks for the feedback! The goal of course was to make the most ahistorical Spartans, so I feel like I did that. I did have other things I thought about giving then, but I already crammed 5 features into 4 levels of subclass. I disagree with your evaluation of Break Ranks needing a limit, because taking full advantage of the possible 12 adjacent allies requires two separate spells (and two allies actions) or a lot of hired mercenaries. It's just so much setup to pull off that I feel the difficulty of doing it scales just fine with the damage.

You did make an accurate, an a little bit tongue in cheek, depiction of Spartans. That's fine, as I said above, not my subclass just my opinion. You are likely right that it's not that big of a deal with the max damage.



and new entry, new review

Spoiler: Ranger Archetype: The Bunker Buster

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Catapult would be extremely appropriate as a level 1 spell for this subclass if you wanted something a little different.

Ballistic Plating - The +2 to defense is huge here. Considering that you are an archer, you probably aren't moving all that much anyways, so there is a decent chance that you are going to be getting the +2 all the time. Add onto that as possible cover that you are getting and you could easily get a 22 AC without a shield all the time (or 22 AC with a shield when you are in combat). I think the flat +2 is a little much with bounded accuracy and a +1 would be better (or a +1 that turns to +2 when you get to a higher level).

Hole Puncher - My only complaint here is that it duplicates part of sharpshooter, something that this subclass if going to get. I don't know if there is a way around it, since this feels like one of the core abilities of the subclass though.

In the Trenches - The prone ability here fits, the resistance doesn't feel right to me. I just don't see in my mind how being in a trench can make it so you take less damage when you are hit. Also, this ability guarantees that you will be prone in combat more often than not. So, without any magical items, you are running a 22 AC. If you go sword and board, run up to someone and go prone, you are now running 24 AC without any magical items (25 with the defensive fighting style). That makes you one heck of a tank, especially if you also get resistance to damage from all B/P/S at the same time.

[gloryblaze]

and new entry, new review

Spoiler: Ranger Archetype: The Bunker Buster

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Catapult would be extremely appropriate as a level 1 spell for this subclass if you wanted something a little different.

Ballistic Plating - The +2 to defense is huge here. Considering that you are an archer, you probably aren't moving all that much anyways, so there is a decent chance that you are going to be getting the +2 all the time. Add onto that as possible cover that you are getting and you could easily get a 22 AC without a shield all the time (or 22 AC with a shield when you are in combat). I think the flat +2 is a little much with bounded accuracy and a +1 would be better (or a +1 that turns to +2 when you get to a higher level).

Hole Puncher - My only complaint here is that it duplicates part of sharpshooter, something that this subclass if going to get. I don't know if there is a way around it, since this feels like one of the core abilities of the subclass though.

In the Trenches - The prone ability here fits, the resistance doesn't feel right to me. I just don't see in my mind how being in a trench can make it so you take less damage when you are hit. Also, this ability guarantees that you will be prone in combat more often than not. So, without any magical items, you are running a 22 AC. If you go sword and board, run up to someone and go prone, you are now running 24 AC without any magical items (25 with the defensive fighting style). That makes you one heck of a tank, especially if you also get resistance to damage from all B/P/S at the same time.

Thanks for the feedback! I definitely considered Catapult, but Snare fits so well with the idea of setting traps and fortifications that I didn't want to leave it out. I also wanted the spell list to be relatively low power/low impact since many of the subclass features are pretty strong.

I think you're right about the +2 being a bit high, +1 seems a better breakpoint. The idea was to sort of replicate the AC bonus of a shield even when using a longbow, but the ability to semi-reliably create half cover for yourself later probably means its worth bumping down.

Re: Hole Puncher, I was definitely considering just leaving it out all together, but I decided against it for 2 reasons: 1) I want the subclass to have that ability for flavor purposes even in a featless game, since feats are an optional rule, and 2) the other level 7 ability is pretty situational since it requires that you have a minute of access to the site of a future battle (so it typically can't be used when infiltrating enemy-controlled territory, like most dungeons).

The flavor idea behind In the Trenches is that by hunkering down, you can brace yourself better for hits. Sort of like how you take less knockback in many fightning games if you get hit when crouching. I'm also not super worried about abuse with SnB, since the subclass does nothing to improve your mobility or reduce the movement cost of standing up from prone, so a) you'll be pretty easy to kite and b) even if you can keep up with a fleeing enemy, you're never going to benefit from BPS resistance or your Ballistic plating bonus since you'll be on the move.

Also, your damage will be pretty low if you go with a SnB build, since your level 11 feature only provides a damage boost to ranged attacks (and even then, your damage will still be lower than other rangers, since the boost is situational and it even turns itself off midway through your Attack action if they fail their first save!) The goal is to create a tenacious and durable but immobile ambush predator who can outlast foes, so there's very little you can do to "draw aggro" to yourself and tank for a party. You're unlikely to go down yourself, but you lack the battlefield control tools or exceptional damage output to force enemies to focus on you before they just gank the party wizard.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Worldeater Monk is done. Wildly different from what I expected when I began but I like it a lot better. Original intent was going to be ~Galactus/Unicron but this is Kirby/Miroku(Inuyasha). I have a race called the Aez, PC oozes, clap this on a pink one and you have a Kirby.

I had initially intended a grappling focused build but I had forgotten how awkward the monk MADness makes them. I’ve gotten around it in the past with an Iron Body feature that lets them replace Dex w/ Str for AC, but the more I thought about it here, the less value it had.

Spoiler: fluff stuff

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In the fluff there are references to the Infinite Sun of Orbos. That’s a homebrew world at the end of the multiverse. Orbos is a planet sized Beholder whose eye stalks are moons and a massive ocean is its central eye which perpetually stairs at the supermassive black hole consuming the last remnants of existence. They call the Black Hole the Infinite sun bc the quasars and Accretion Disc twist making it look like a bit like an Infinity symbol in the sky and they say it never sets bc the Beholder has to stare at it lest the excrucian forces it conjures (monsters to facilitate unexisting all things) renew their assault.

Any 20 level campaign on Orbos is expected to end with the PCs blowing up the black hole sun to reboot the multiverse.

I hope you enjoy this small piece.

[Kuulvheysoon]

And so is the Indomitable warlock patron. I expected a lot more anchoring effects when I came up with it, but as I wrote it it lent itself better to serving as the hub of the battle, drawing enemies into it and anchoring others as necessary. Toss in a good dose of party support and you have a subclass.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Worldeater Monk is done. Wildly different from what I expected when I began but I like it a lot better. Original intent was going to be ~Galactus/Unicron but this is Kirby/Miroku(Inuyasha). I have a race called the Aez, PC oozes, clap this on a pink one and you have a Kirby.

I had initially intended a grappling focused build but I had forgotten how awkward the monk MADness makes them. I’ve gotten around it in the past with an Iron Body feature that lets them replace Dex w/ Str for AC, but the more I thought about it here, the less value it had.

Spoiler: fluff stuff

Show

In the fluff there are references to the Infinite Sun of Orbos. That’s a homebrew world at the end of the multiverse. Orbos is a planet sized Beholder whose eye stalks are moons and a massive ocean is its central eye which perpetually stairs at the supermassive black hole consuming the last remnants of existence. They call the Black Hole the Infinite sun bc the quasars and Accretion Disc twist making it look like a bit like an Infinity symbol in the sky and they say it never sets bc the Beholder has to stare at it lest the excrucian forces it conjures (monsters to facilitate unexisting all things) renew their assault.

Any 20 level campaign on Orbos is expected to end with the PCs blowing up the black hole sun to reboot the multiverse.

I hope you enjoy this small piece.

Blurg, updated capstone. Limited Spell eating is less time consuming than a potential 17 additional attacks.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Been a while since I stopped by, eh? Well, I saw the opportunity for a pun and couldn't resist.

By the way, have there been any spell-brewing contests lately? If not, I was thinking I might run one.

[Twelvetrees]

By the way, have there been any spell-brewing contests lately? If not, I was thinking I might run one.

There have not, but I'd love to see one again.


And good to see you, Ninja_Prawn!

[Ilerien]

As promised, 5e take on Dwarven Defender is delivered. I decided to take an unpopular fighting style and run with it.
The fact I'm too busy to present an entry earlier than the very deadline is worrying, though. :(

[MoleMage]

Time to vote!

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...6#post25211976

I guess I forgot to update the first post of this thread between contests so I went ahead and did that too, including the representation table up through contest XXV.

[nickl_2000]

Got in there and voted, sorry about the short voting message and lack of reviews on later entries. Life has been completely nuts for the past 2 weeks, and I ran out of time.

If anyone really wants me to respond and PEACH let me know and I'll get to it when life normalizes.

[Snowben Gaming]

Hello there!

I'm back. Sorry for just vanishing without saying anything about 2 contests ago. Life got a tad hectic.
But I'm here to stay now, starting with the next contest... Which is beginning like, today lol (talk about coincidental timing)!

[nickl_2000]

Hello there!

I'm back. Sorry for just vanishing without saying anything about 2 contests ago. Life got a tad hectic.
But I'm here to stay now, starting with the next contest... Which is beginning like, today lol (talk about coincidental timing)!

I get it 100% life gets in the way, things happen, it gets difficult. Glad you are able to make it back though.

[Snowben Gaming]

I get it 100% life gets in the way, things happen, it gets difficult. Glad you are able to make it back though.

Glad to be back. Life has calmed down for the most part now, so I'm good to go.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Congrats nickl, that was a well-deserved victory. It's not often someone racks up 20 points!

[MoleMage]

Time to call the voting, let's see what we've got!

In 3rd place with 9 points, it's gloryblaze with the Bunker Buster Ranger Archetype. Make cover work for you, but not your enemies!

In 2nd place with 11 points, it's Ninja_Prawn returning with the Wizard's School of Fish! It's a different kind of line but it's still being held.

And our winner with a commanding 20 points, it's nickl_2000 with the Ley Line Sorcerer. Magic flows through the earth and through you.

Our theme winner was Warriors of Old, finally claiming that first place slot after several contests as runner up. So You Don't Have To came in second and will return in the next voting pool.

Congrats to our winners, and I'll get Warriors of Old up shortly!

Done with the last, in with the old! Our new thread is upon us!

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...arriors-of-Old

[Snowben Gaming]

Warriors of old...

Definitely gonna do something based on the Harbinger of Doom epic destiny, just not sure what class would best fit.

[nickl_2000]

Congrats nickl, that was a well-deserved victory. It's not often someone racks up 20 points!

Thanks! Sometimes, things just come together very well and they land with people.

[nickl_2000]

I decided to go WAY back in time and go a little silly. So, I proudly give you.

Ranger Subclass: Elf

[Twelvetrees]

Way of the Firestarter is up. And here are some reviews of the other entries!

Spoiler: Elf

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Elven Magic

You have trained in Elven magic since the year of your birth a long time ago

I'll admit, this dry humor got me good.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but choosing Ranger known spells at level 3 is only choosing one spell, isn't it? That seems rather paltry. Is this meant to give you access to the Sorcerer spell list in addition to the Ranger list? If so, you may want to reword it to be something like "Starting at level 3..." instead.

Additional Elf Spells Known
Have a pretty table.

Ranger Level	Spell
3rd	Charm Person
5th	See Invisibility
9th	Haste
13th	Confusion
17th	Polymorph

Polymorph is the only spell here whose presence I don't understand. The others make sense for an Elf, but that one stands out. It also sticks out because it's a 4th level spell and the additional Ranger spells at 17th level are 5th level spells. Polymorph is quite useful, but I'm pretty sure if an Elf wanted it they would have picked it up somewhere in the four levels prior.

Elven Eyes
Heh, there it is, the reference to secret doors. This is good fun.

Elven Camouflage
I like this, I really do, but it makes it possible to have a Ranger who is better at sneaking around than a Thief rogue with Supreme Sneak. Outclassing a rogue at what they're best known for feels bad.

Maybe leave it at just the Cloak?

Sword and Sorcery
A basic damage and spells known bump. Works for me.

Elven Majesty
The trap bit is interesting and the rest is functional, but I went in expecting something more from a feature named Elven Majesty.

Spoiler: College of Laments

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Requiem
I get where most of this feature comes from, but the presence of chill touch is confusing me. How does it fit in with the identity of this college?

This feature is fun, as a whole.

Dirges
There's a sizable portion of the bard's spell list that has concentration spells. This feature clashes with using those spells, so I'm leery already, without even having read the dirges.

The short range makes these difficult to use as well. Bards tend to be squishy.

Dirge of Apathy
Hold on, for one Bardic Inspiration die, you get all these effects and there's no save? That feels strong.

Dirge of Awakening
I want to call this busted, but it entirely depends on what foes a DM throws at your party. No, wait, definitely busted. It breaks the action economy and is on the same level of power as a moon druid Wild Shape.

At the very least, I think the CR needs to be lowered. Creatures retaining spells seems like it could get out of hand quickly, so removing that would help as well.

Dirge of Bolstering
This is nigh-useless unless you have allied undead creatures. I haven't seen a way for this subclass to make that happen yet, so it feels like this dirge has an unstated prerequisite of knowing animate dead. If you want to make it easier for players to use this, giving a College of Laments bard the ability to cast animate dead would help. If you have allied undead, this is probably fine.

Dirge of Decay
This is the equivalent of spirit guardians except with a larger area and no slowing effect. The save is generally easier to make, but I don't think it matters when this doesn't even take a spell slot to use. Something needs to change. Either a higher cost to use or a lesser effect.

Dirge of Grief
This is complicated and needlessly so. Having the grief be dependent on the confusion roll causes confusing and inconsistent results. Decoupling them from one another would help. If I may, my suggestion would be to have the grief automatically affect a confused creature. I might take away the disadvantage on the saving throw, in that case.

Dirge of Mortality
This feels strong in a similar way to Dirge of Apathy. It also works really well for anyone rolling a pile of dice, like rogues with their Sneak Attack, and causes their damage to spike. I'm not a huge fan of the extremes in damage this is liable to cause. Would you be interested in making this change low rolls into average rolls instead? Something like changing 1s and 2s into 3s? That still feels strong, but also more reliable.

Dirge of Sorrow
This is broken.

Affecting saves is good. Cutting all damage in half at low levels and stacking with resistance is ridiculously good and doubles the longevity of the party. This makes Cutting Words look bad in comparison.

Exchanging this the latter half of this feature for the ability to simultaneously cast bane would be closer to being reasonable, but it still might be too strong.

Secrets of Necromancy
This is fine. Making one of the spells automatically be animate dead and giving the player the option to choose one other would help make Dirge of Bolstering make more sense.

Herald of Despair
The last half of this feature makes sense. The first half sets my teeth on edge, especially when this combines so well with the last half. I can easily envision a scenario in which a College of Laments bard gives Bardic Inspiration to everyone in their party and they get to add it to initiative and all of their foes have disadvantage on initiative. And then the bard regains half the Bardic Inspiration they spent with no action by telling a party member terrible news.

It is thematically fitting. But it feels like power creep. Limiting it to only affect a few foes would help dramatically. Switching it out for something else would work as well.

[Ilerien]

Requiem
I get where most of this feature comes from, but the presence of chill touch is confusing me. How does it fit in with the identity of this college?

This feature is fun, as a whole.

Actually, I created this subclass several months ago for fun (and for a one-shot for 6th level characters). I don't remember what was I thinking at the time. Probably something along the lines of "let's give a squishy bard a decent damaging cantrip with a range of touch coz it will have to stay close to the front lines to use dirges anyway".
I think toll the dead would be far more thematically fitting indeed. Or maybe just scrap the cantrip? I felt I should give something more with this feature than just "advantage" on inspiration dice when applied to undead.

Dirges
There's a sizable portion of the bard's spell list that has concentration spells. This feature clashes with using those spells, so I'm leery already, without even having read the dirges.

The short range makes these difficult to use as well. Bards tend to be squishy.

This is exactly the reason: I envisioned dirges as comparatively strong powers that require massive investment of resources: both inspiration dice and the concentration slot. Considering magical secrets, even necomancy-oriented, I feel like this bard can fill their spell list with mostly non-concentration spells and be a useful spellcaster still.

Dirge of Apathy
Hold on, for one Bardic Inspiration die, you get all these effects and there's no save? That feels strong.

Yep. Limited by range and concentration, but still strong.
Would it actually help if I remove the speed reduction or the "no reactions" effect?

Dirge of Awakening
I want to call this busted, but it entirely depends on what foes a DM throws at your party. No, wait, definitely busted. It breaks the action economy and is on the same level of power as a moon druid Wild Shape.

At the very least, I think the CR needs to be lowered. Creatures retaining spells seems like it could get out of hand quickly, so removing that would help as well.

Breaking action economy here, definitely. Not that conjuring 8 pixies (or wolves, for that matter) breaks it, right?
Moon druid's Wild Shape doesn't require concentration.
Removing the ability to cast spells feels right, though. Limiting the CR too, probably to half the bard's level?

Dirge of Bolstering
This is nigh-useless unless you have allied undead creatures. I haven't seen a way for this subclass to make that happen yet, so it feels like this dirge has an unstated prerequisite of knowing animate dead. If you want to make it easier for players to use this, giving a College of Laments bard the ability to cast animate dead would help. If you have allied undead, this is probably fine.

Adding animate dead is a great idea! Dunno why I haven't thought of it myself: I was definitely rereading necromancer wizard's features while writing the subclass.

Dirge of Decay
This is the equivalent of spirit guardians except with a larger area and no slowing effect. The save is generally easier to make, but I don't think it matters when this doesn't even take a spell slot to use. Something needs to change. Either a higher cost to use or a lesser effect.

The question is if an inspiration die isn't worth more than a 3rd-level spell slot. For this bard? I'd think it might be.

Dirge of Grief
This is complicated and needlessly so. Having the grief be dependent on the confusion roll causes confusing and inconsistent results. Decoupling them from one another would help. If I may, my suggestion would be to have the grief automatically affect a confused creature. I might take away the disadvantage on the saving throw, in that case.

A confusion roll is just bound to cause some confusion! Kidding, you have a good point here.

Dirge of Mortality
This feels strong in a similar way to Dirge of Apathy. It also works really well for anyone rolling a pile of dice, like rogues with their Sneak Attack, and causes their damage to spike. I'm not a huge fan of the extremes in damage this is liable to cause. Would you be interested in making this change low rolls into average rolls instead? Something like changing 1s and 2s into 3s? That still feels strong, but also more reliable.

I actually thought of this alternative myself and decided against it because it makes some other classes' options redundant or almost redundant: think Great Weapon Fighting or Empowered Spell. Maybe increase, for the lack of better term, critical threat by one step? Champion fighters would be grumpy, but this effect is probably less common, and they'll still benefit from it. Without single damage rolls shooting into stratosphere.

Dirge of Sorrow
This is broken.

Affecting saves is good. Cutting all damage in half at low levels and stacking with resistance is ridiculously good and doubles the longevity of the party. This makes Cutting Words look bad in comparison.

Exchanging this the latter half of this feature for the ability to simultaneously cast bane would be closer to being reasonable, but it still might be too strong.

"The target of the attack is treated as having resistance to all damage types for the purpose of this attack"? Wouldn't stack with resistance this way.
But still, you have a good point, I'll try to brainstorm how to debuff attacks/damage just slightly in 5e-sque way without forcing the DM to make a bane roll for every attack in range.

Secrets of Necromancy
This is fine. Making one of the spells automatically be animate dead and giving the player the option to choose one other would help make Dirge of Bolstering make more sense.

Definitely!

Herald of Despair
The last half of this feature makes sense. The first half sets my teeth on edge, especially when this combines so well with the last half. I can easily envision a scenario in which a College of Laments bard gives Bardic Inspiration to everyone in their party and they get to add it to initiative and all of their foes have disadvantage on initiative. And then the bard regains half the Bardic Inspiration they spent with no action by telling a party member terrible news.

It is thematically fitting. But it feels like power creep. Limiting it to only affect a few foes would help dramatically. Switching it out for something else would work as well.

If the bard wants to blow all of his inspiration dice on initiative checks for the party, sure, why not?
Would generating just one die from delivering bad news help?
Actually, I though of the last clause as a stimulus to roleplay that grim (and maybe sadistic) bard (and to take expertise in deception :D) that tells some Isolde expy about black sails, or as a way to make taunting an enemy mechanically relevant. The idea is the news should we world-shattering for a person they're being delivered to, and hoarding news party members would consider that grave seems all but impossible. And if you follow exactly this scenario for a final battle of a campaign, it's just plain cool, don't you think?

Thank you for the detailed review! :) Several ideas could be implemented right away, but, well, too much work at hand IRL. I'll probably get to writing a revised version with your comments in mind in a day or two.

[nickl_2000]

Thanks for taking a look and comenting!

Elven Magic
I'll admit, this dry humor got me good.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but choosing Ranger known spells at level 3 is only choosing one spell, isn't it? That seems rather paltry. Is this meant to give you access to the Sorcerer spell list in addition to the Ranger list? If so, you may want to reword it to be something like "Starting at level 3..." instead.

The intent was that you can choose from the Ranger list or the Sorcerer list for all your ranger spells for the rest of your career. I fixed the wording to be more clear

Additional Elf Spells Known
Have a pretty table.

Done

Polymorph is the only spell here whose presence I don't understand. The others make sense for an Elf, but that one stands out. It also sticks out because it's a 4th level spell and the additional Ranger spells at 17th level are 5th level spells. Polymorph is quite useful, but I'm pretty sure if an Elf wanted it they would have picked it up somewhere in the four levels prior.

So, all the spells I chose existed in 1st edition as spells a "Magic User" could cast. For some reason my brain confused things and thought Polymorph was a 5th level spell. I've replaced it with Conjure Elemental, which is more elfy and 5th level as well.

Elven Eyes
Heh, there it is, the reference to secret doors. This is good fun.

You can't have an old edition Elf without this!

Elven Camouflage
I like this, I really do, but it makes it possible to have a Ranger who is better at sneaking around than a Thief rogue with Supreme Sneak. Outclassing a rogue at what they're best known for feels bad.

Maybe leave it at just the Cloak?

It is similar to the Supreme Sneak ability and a few levels sooner. However, see this as pretty equivalent to the Rogue's ability rather than outclassing it. Especially since the Rogue has the ability to use expertise in Stealth whereas the Ranger only does if you are using Tasha's rules. Would you feel better about this if I removed the attunement section? That does make a significant difference overall.

Plus this is in the OD&D rules "Elves have the ability of moving silently and are nearly invisible in their gray-green cloaks." I figured that this pretty much perfectly fits the Elven Cloak and Elven Boots. Also, I personally don't see a point in only giving the cloak, the boots are fun but really don't do much compared to the cloak.

Sword and Sorcery
A basic damage and spells known bump. Works for me.

I felt like giving more spells and more damage is about as good as you can for Sword and Sorcery

Elven Majesty
The trap bit is interesting and the rest is functional, but I went in expecting something more from a feature named Elven Majesty.

I wasn't completely satisfied with this myself since it is so passive. The trap part I pulled from Legolas being able to walk on top of the snow, but I ran out of source material from OD&D to apply (especially at a higher level). It would be a good idea to drop the rest completely and do something more fey related with it.

So, I leaned into Tolkien Elves and took it to an extreme (with limits). Let me know what you think please!

[Twelvetrees]

Spoiler: Elf replies

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Thanks for taking a look and comenting!

It is similar to the Supreme Sneak ability and a few levels sooner. However, see this as pretty equivalent to the Rogue's ability rather than outclassing it. Especially since the Rogue has the ability to use expertise in Stealth whereas the Ranger only does if you are using Tasha's rules. Would you feel better about this if I removed the attunement section? That does make a significant difference overall.

Plus this is in the OD&D rules "Elves have the ability of moving silently and are nearly invisible in their gray-green cloaks." I figured that this pretty much perfectly fits the Elven Cloak and Elven Boots. Also, I personally don't see a point in only giving the cloak, the boots are fun but really don't do much compared to the cloak.

I think there's an attainable middle ground. What if you made wearing both require only one attunement slot?

I wasn't completely satisfied with this myself since it is so passive. The trap part I pulled from Legolas being able to walk on top of the snow, but I ran out of source material from OD&D to apply (especially at a higher level). It would be a good idea to drop the rest completely and do something more fey related with it.

So, I leaned into Tolkien Elves and took it to an extreme (with limits). Let me know what you think please!

Fey Transformation
All Elves are distant relatives of their Fey cousins, but there are those that learn embrace that heritage. At level 15, as an action, you may transform yourself and embrace your fey heritage. For the next 10 minutes, you gain the following features

• You glow with and ethereal light providing 10 ft bright light and 10 ft dim light
• You gain advantage on all Charisma checks
• You gain advantage on all Dexterity saving throws
• You deal additional damage, doing a total of 2d6 damage on every weapon hit
• You may walk over liquids per the water walking spell and can over traps without triggering them.

Once you use this ability, you may not use it again until you complete a long rest.

Very minor: I think you want "an" instead of "and" in the first bullet point. In addition, the last bullet point probably ought to have a "walk" in between "can" and "over"

The fourth bullet point could be reworded as "The additional damage from your Sword and Sorcery feature increases to 2d6"

The mix of combat and noncombat abilities is a nice touch!

But where's the bit that allows an Elf to walk atop snow?

Spoiler: College of Laments replies

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Actually, I created this subclass several months ago for fun (and for a one-shot for 6th level characters). I don't remember what was I thinking at the time. Probably something along the lines of "let's give a squishy bard a decent damaging cantrip with a range of touch coz it will have to stay close to the front lines to use dirges anyway".

Oohhh, the classic confusion on the range of chill touch would do it. That makes more sense now. Despite the name, chill touch has a range of 120 feet, which trips everyone up.

I think toll the dead would be far more thematically fitting indeed. Or maybe just scrap the cantrip? I felt I should give something more with this feature than just "advantage" on inspiration dice when applied to undead.

Toll the dead would work.

I'm a fan of the rest of the feature and I'm not sure it needs to change. It's mostly a ribbon feature and a fun one at that.

This is exactly the reason: I envisioned dirges as comparatively strong powers that require massive investment of resources: both inspiration dice and the concentration slot. Considering magical secrets, even necomancy-oriented, I feel like this bard can fill their spell list with mostly non-concentration spells and be a useful spellcaster still.

Works for me.

Would it actually help if I remove the speed reduction or the "no reactions" effect?

Removing the "no reactions" piece would help.

Moon druid's Wild Shape doesn't require concentration.

Fair, but it also replaces a party member instead of adding another.

Removing the ability to cast spells feels right, though. Limiting the CR too, probably to half the bard's level?

I like it.

The question is if an inspiration die isn't worth more than a 3rd-level spell slot. For this bard? I'd think it might be.

Is it worth more than a 4th or 5th-level spell slot? Remember, this scales at a similar level to spirit guardians.

I actually thought of this alternative myself and decided against it because it makes some other classes' options redundant or almost redundant: think Great Weapon Fighting or Empowered Spell. Maybe increase, for the lack of better term, critical threat by one step? Champion fighters would be grumpy, but this effect is probably less common, and they'll still benefit from it. Without single damage rolls shooting into stratosphere.

That could work but you're right that it would conflict with Champion fighters.

You're unlikely to have another bard in a single party, so maybe you steal something from the College of Valor and make it so allies can add your bardic inspiration die to their damage rolls? That might be too good, but it's another idea.

Would generating just one die from delivering bad news help?

Yes, it would.

Actually, I though of the last clause as a stimulus to roleplay that grim (and maybe sadistic) bard (and to take expertise in deception :D) that tells some Isolde expy about black sails, or as a way to make taunting an enemy mechanically relevant. The idea is the news should we world-shattering for a person they're being delivered to, and hoarding news party members would consider that grave seems all but impossible. And if you follow exactly this scenario for a final battle of a campaign, it's just plain cool, don't you think?

I won't deny the cool factor! I may be worrying too much about this but there are a lot more ways to boost character initiative now.

The PHB had:

• Alert
• The bard's Bardic Inspiration
• The barbarian's Feral Instinct

Later books added:

• The Gloom Stalker's Dread Ambusher
• The Swashbuckler's Rakish Audacity
• War Magic's Tactical Wit
• The Twilight Domain's Vigilant Blessing
• The Battle Master's Ambush maneuver
• The Oath of the Watcher's Aura of the Sentinel

This ability further stacks initiative heavily in the party's favor.

Thank you for the detailed review! :)

[nickl_2000]

I think there's an attainable middle ground. What if you made wearing both require only one attunement slot?



Very minor: I think you want "an" instead of "and" in the first bullet point. In addition, the last bullet point probably ought to have a "walk" in between "can" and "over"

The fourth bullet point could be reworded as "The additional damage from your Sword and Sorcery feature increases to 2d6"

The mix of combat and noncombat abilities is a nice touch!

But where's the bit that allows an Elf to walk atop snow? [/spoiler]

The Boots of Elvenkind don't require attunement in 5e, only the cloak. So, I modified it to require attunement for balance. Additionally I put in a clause to re-create those items if they are lost (I would hate for a player to lose a subclass feature if they were robbed).

Thanks for the proofing, that helps a lot.\

And I added to the Fey Transportation so the last bullet says "You may walk over liquids per the water walking spell and over traps without triggering them. Additionally you may walk atop loose solids such as snow and sand without sinking into them." I thought I was referencing it subtly, but it wasn't clear enough. So subtilty can get thrown out the window! :)




I will try and get my first reviews out either today or sometime tomorrow.

[Ilerien]

Oohhh, the classic confusion on the range of chill touch would do it. That makes more sense now. Despite the name, chill touch has a range of 120 feet, which trips everyone up.

Apparently, tripped me at the time of initial writing, and then I forgot about it.

Toll the dead would work.

I really like toll the dead's flavor being tied to that bell sound, etc. Feels about fitting for the image of that grim bearer of ill news or even a courtier responsible for composing laments.

I'm a fan of the rest of the feature and I'm not sure it needs to change. It's mostly a ribbon feature and a fun one at that.

Quite true! Though keeping within the theme and mechanical role in the party, this bard would probably use its concentration to keep a dirge up, so major buffs and control spells are out of the picture, which means it would be reduced to just doing damage, and bards aren't that really great at it. So... give it just a bonus die to necromancy cantrips? Maybe at level 6 instead of level 3.

Removing the "no reactions" piece would help.

I'm thinking of tying this to a saving throw. Want to use a reaction? Make a wisdom or charisma save. Or just flat-out impose disadvantage on any attacks it makes as a reaction.
Speed reduction isn't that meaningful when the creature you're debuffing is already close to you. Might be useful to prevent it from escaping, though.

Fair, but it also replaces a party member instead of adding another.

Lots of grey areas there, but I get it indeed. :)

Is it worth more than a 4th or 5th-level spell slot? Remember, this scales at a similar level to spirit guardians.

Interestingly, my initial writing contains half proficiency bonus worth of inspiration dice, and I was sure the forum version has this too. Apparently, this is not the case. And I remember the very first idea for this dirge being damage racking up over time to represent progressive decay: 1 die at the time of activation and 1 die more every round cumulatively (and it was capped at, like, 1 round per proficiency bonus). Felt like too much to keep track of, though.
I think I'll just make it one inspiration die + half bard level.

That could work but you're right that it would conflict with Champion fighters.

You're unlikely to have another bard in a single party, so maybe you steal something from the College of Valor and make it so allies can add your bardic inspiration die to their damage rolls? That might be too good, but it's another idea.

This I like! Strong enough to warrant concentration, not strong enough to be broken. Thanks for the awesome idea!
And even if there are two bards, well. Making the awkward rule from Dirge of Bolstering into a general one should fix it: a d20 or damage roll can't benefit from different effects that allow to use an inspiration die in some way.

I won't deny the cool factor! I may be worrying too much about this but there are a lot more ways to boost character initiative now.

The PHB had:

• Alert
• The bard's Bardic Inspiration
• The barbarian's Feral Instinct

Later books added:

• The Gloom Stalker's Dread Ambusher
• The Swashbuckler's Rakish Audacity
• War Magic's Tactical Wit
• The Twilight Domain's Vigilant Blessing
• The Battle Master's Ambush maneuver
• The Oath of the Watcher's Aura of the Sentinel

This ability further stacks initiative heavily in the party's favor.

And the bard's Jack of All Trades, though not that big of a buff. ;)
True, they're indeed far more common after TCE came out. Disadvantage on a raw check (without taking into account success or failure rate) is a -3.325 penalty on average. But if we actually do take them into account, advantages and disadvantages give you or take from you the most if you beat the DC on a roll of 11+, and have practically no effect at the edges of the spectrum. Since initiative in combat is essentially a big pile of opposed checks, stacking up initiative buffs on a single party member will most likely have diminishing returns.
The problem here, in my opinion, lies in the most of those effects being self/single target (with the exception of the Watchers Paladin), while this one, essentially, buffs the whole party. I think limiting the range to 30 ft should help to balance it, more or less.



Edit: carved a bit of free time. There's a new revision of College of Laments in stock now. :)

[nickl_2000]

Spoiler: Wizard Arcane Tradition: White Necromancy

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This is a stream of concious review, I tend to write down things as I think them so that you can get an idea of how I'm processing it.

White Necromancy - So, if I'm reading this right. You have access to the spells in the spells available listing. If you write all those spells for a level, you immediately also get access to the rest of the Cleric Spell list? This seems really, really powerful for a Wizard to have full access to Cleric spells as well as Wizard spells. So, my hope is that there will be other weaker class skills to balance this out.

Charisma being the casting ability for spells written using this feature, is that intentional to balance it out or is that a typo? If it's intentional, I kind of like it as a balancing mechanism to the overall power of that, Charisma does seem an odd choice rather than Wisdom though.

Rebuke Death - It's an interesting ability, although rather weak since it hurts you as much as it helps them and it requires that they use a resource. That being said, I think this should be a weaker ability to balance out the spell choices from the other level 2 ability.

Life Bond - This feels like emergency healing for bounce purposes. it does somewhat invalidate the Rebuke Death ability since rebuke death really isn't all that useful anymore. As in, why would I spend an action with touch range to give someone back HPs when I can yo-yo heal them as a free action, from a distance, on each and every one of my turns. It may be worthwhile here to have an action cost to Heal/harm, instead of a free action at the start of your turn, make it a bonus action. That way you can only heal one person a round and rebuke death doesn't get thrown in the waste bin.

Necromancer's Sacrifice - I see you are using charisma modifier here again, so I'm going to guess that above was on purpose.

Enduring Sacrifice - I like this as the capstone, sure it doesn't give you more abilities, but it does give you the ability to do your abilities a lot more often, which is certainly something amazing.


So, abuses that I can think of for this, I don't think they are excessively bad but are worth considering.
Multiclass into Warlock at least 2 levels, since you need charisma for casting a spell abilities this isn't a bad thing to consider anyways. Then take the Fiendish Vigor Invocation. Those 1d4+4 temp hp regained at will can go a long ways for a character like this. Even better if you are a Fiend where you can get more temp HP from Dark One's Blessing.

Spoiler: Totemic Demonslayer

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Small copy/paste error in Ranger Spells known, since it says Cookie Tastiness.

Fiend Hunter - I like this, it's favored enemy from old with some additions.

Summon Spell Dampening - I think there is a bit of a wording issues. When you say conjuration spells I assume you mean Conjure Animals and the like. However, Conjuration is also a school of magic. Unless you plan on blocking the entire Conjuration school of magic you should make this more clear. My first reaction on this is that it was way to powerful, but it requires an action, only lasts a minute and can only be done once per day. I think you are perfectly fine with this.

Lesser Totem Tattoos
Ape - Twice with melee attacks on the same round?
Baboon - Typo in clim speed.
Boar - Is it exactly that damage or that damage or less? is that in a single hit or a round?
Deinonychus - Why does this need to be unarmed? You have to hit, it takes a bonus action to activate, and they have a DC13 save. This would be fine to be any strike.
Allosaurus and Snake - These two appear to be the same thing

I notice that a lot of these are focused on strength based unarmed strikes. If that is your focus, you should at least give some bonus to unarmed strikes all the time, maybe a 1d4+str? Or at least give the Ranger access to the Unarmed Fighting style from Tasha's.

Greater Tattoos
Ankylosaurus - This isn't much better than the Sea Turtle, I personally find that I don't fight people with magical weapons all that oftne.
Giant Wasp - Is this a 1 time thing, or multiple times per round. If it's one time, it is to weak at the levels you get this.

In general with the Greater Tattoos they feel a little weak to me. You get to use a greater tattoo 3 times per day at level 20 and they seem fine, but not epic level character power. Just my 2 cents.

Spoiler: Way of the Firestarter

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Fire Lash - Can you grapple from 15 feet away? Also, if you are grappling someone with the whip can you also attack with it? Or can you only attack the grappled person?

Fear No Fire - Dex being your caster modifier is a little bit odd here. Any particular reason why you didn't use Wisdom as per the standard 5e monk ability?

Firewalks - You are flying, but you leave footprints? This seems a little bit odd to me. I understand the intent here, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in my mind.

Spontaneous Combustion - Is the save vs Wisdom per standard Monks or Dex per everything else in this subclass? Also, I would make it so that you have to see the creature as well as being within 30 feet.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Fire Lash Whip ignore fire resistance somewhere around level 6. It's a class defining feature and I would hate to not be able to use it if someone resists fire damage.

Spoiler: Bardic College: College of Laments

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Requiem - I love toll the dead here over chill touch! The undead creature rolls and picks the higest result? I think your intent was that you roll twice on your inspiration die and choose the higher of the two, but it sounds like you are giving the undead critter advantage instead with the wording.

Dirges well to be blunt, your dirges are really overpowered. You can do move damage per turn in an area than several spells that are considered the best of the game, you can boost the heck out of animated allies, you can cast a better version of confusion, you can give use cutting word on anyone with 20/30 feet without any extra action or uses of your bardic inspiration die. Constant bane with no save and they also take more damage. Then add onto that that you get the inspiration back one a short rest and you are a full caster who can cast non-concentration spells on someone. A bard of this type would absolutely rule the battlefield.

Secrets of Necromancy - Seems fine to me, and makes perfect sense.

[Ilerien]

Requiem - I love toll the dead here over chill touch! The undead creature rolls and picks the higest result? I think your intent was that you roll twice on your inspiration die and choose the higher of the two, but it sounds like you are giving the undead critter advantage instead with the wording.

Perhaps it would be more clear if I reword it to "whenever an undead creature's d20 roll benefits from or is hampered by your bardic inspiration die, the die gets rolled twice, and the highest results of the two affects the roll". Can't think of any less clumsy wording. :D

Dirges well to be blunt, your dirges are really overpowered. You can do move damage per turn in an area than several spells that are considered the best of the game, you can boost the heck out of animated allies, you can cast a better version of confusion, you can give use cutting word on anyone with 20/30 feet without any extra action or uses of your bardic inspiration die. Constant bane with no save and they also take more damage. Then add onto that that you get the inspiration back one a short rest and you are a full caster who can cast non-concentration spells on someone. A bard of this type would absolutely rule the battlefield.

Area damage is just spirit guardians, more or less. Animated allies aren't that great to begin with. Burst benefit is significantly better than the one necromancers get (especially considering Requiem), but a necromancer can create and/or control more undead. I wouldn't say confusion proper is strictly worse, it affects multiple targets after all. Constant bane-like effect (I assume your mean the 3 save-debuffing dirges) has narrower application than bane itself: your friendly battlefield controller will have to use appropriate spells to take advantage. The one debuffing attack rolls? Fear immunity is pretty common.
Getting one die back on a short rest isn't free. I imagine requiring some creativity from a player at my table to benefit from this. Might be poor game design to rely on it, though. Still, too thematic a mechanic just to scrape it.
To be completely honest? I think this one needs lots of playtesting: while dirges sound overpowered on paper, there are these limitations of concentration, range and kind of each of them not being a universal solution to every problem, and this bard doesn't know all of them: 4 dirges at levels that matter the most. Maybe I should bring it down to just 2 dirges at 3rd level.
As esteemed Twelvetrees pointed out above, bards generally rely heavily on concentration spells. True, a bard can play a blaster, a healer or even a bit of secondary support or controller without concentration spells (having magical secrets in mind), but this still takes away a lot from the style bards generally excel at.

I will probably tone dirges down even more anyway. :)

Thank you for this review! I appreciate it so much when fellow homebrewers give feedback on my entries.

[nickl_2000]

Perhaps it would be more clear if I reword it to "whenever an undead creature's d20 roll benefits from or is hampered by your bardic inspiration die, the die gets rolled twice, and the highest results of the two affects the roll". Can't think of any less clumsy wording. :D

I like that wording so much better than what it on there!

Area damage is just spirit guardians, more or less.

This is kind of my point. It's pretty similar to Spirit Guardians, a level 3 spell. So, a level 5 Bard gets to do Spirit Guardian damage, at a larger AoE and can do it 4 times per short rest. That's pretty scary in my mind.

Animated allies aren't that great to begin with. Burst benefit is significantly better than the one necromancers get (especially considering Requiem), but a necromancer can create and/or control more undead. I wouldn't say confusion proper is strictly worse, it affects multiple targets after all. Constant bane-like effect (I assume your mean the 3 save-debuffing dirges) has narrower application than bane itself: your friendly battlefield controller will have to use appropriate spells to take advantage. The one debuffing attack rolls? Fear immunity is pretty common.
Getting one die back on a short rest isn't free. I imagine requiring some creativity from a player at my table to benefit from this. Might be poor game design to rely on it, though. Still, too thematic a mechanic just to to scrape it.
To be completely honest? I think this one needs lots of playtesting: while dirges sound overpowered on paper, there are these limitations of concentration, range and kind of each of them not being a universal solution to every problem, and this bard doesn't know all of them: 4 dirges at levels that matter the most. Maybe I should bring it down to just 2 dirges at 3rd level.
As esteemed Twelvetrees pointed out above, bards generally rely heavily on concentration spells. True, a bard can play a blaster, a healer or even a bit of secondary support or controller without concentration spells (having magical secrets in mind), but this still takes away a lot from the style bards generally excel at.

I will probably tone dirges down even more anyway. :)

Thank you for this review! I appreciate it so much when fellow homebrewers give feedback on my entries.

I will agree with you, I would want to see it in practice at different levels to see how it actually will play and concentration does limit it significantly. However, a bard still gets shatter, Earth Tremor, Healing Word, Blindness/Deafness, Charms, Synaptic (and others) to choose from when they are playing a dirge. It could be player pretty darn well given the right player.