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

[animorte]

I have officially posted my first entry ever! I welcome any criticism with gratitude. I intend to spend more time balancing and refining.

Rogue: Hourglass

[Damon_Tor]

I have officially posted my first entry ever! I welcome any criticism with gratitude. I intend to spend more time balancing and refining.

Rogue: Hourglass

Looks good. One thing I noticed: Chronal Aptitude needs to be reworded to keep you from accumulating infinite dice.

[Lvl45DM!]

Man its been a while.

Druid: Circle of Nature's Avenger is up and raging. I realize the capstone takes a sharp left turn but it felt...right. And pretty funny.

[RickAsWritten]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm made some changes based on your excellent suggestions and have some notes/replies in italics below

This is awesome. I'm going to hit you with some nitpicks, mostly mechanics that need clarification.

Unstoppable Force is great, but it doesn't actually say you can pass through occupied spaces when you use the ability, which would seem to be the implication. If you use the ability to go through a wall or door and don't deal the object enough damage to destroy it, what's supposed to happen? Great ability and it looks fun, but I feel like the mechanics need to be clearer.

Good point. I will add a clause to allow for moving through enemies. I'm not sure how to approach the object damage part. It is definitely my intention to allow for some Kool Aid Man-esque shenanigans, but I guess if you don't deal enough damage to destroy an object then your movement is stopped.

Immovable Object: The dice roll affecting both the length of the wall and the duration seems way too swingy: a 5-foot forcewall that lasts 6 seconds is useless in most scenarios (and still eats the resource) while a 50-foot forcewall that lasts a full minute can basically be a win condition. IMO, make the length equal to 5*conmod instead, then have just the duration be based on the psi roll. This is also a pretty strong ability: I would swap this with Psionic Restraints, so you'd get this at 6th level and Psionic Restraints at 3rd.

I like that change for the length and will adopt. Also agree about the level swap. I was debating that one internally as I wrote it, but ultimately went for the cute naming theme over balance.

I don't have any objections to Shared Fury on a mechanical level, but I'm not sure what's supposed to be happening in a narrative sense. The ranger is looking for tracks and the barbarian helps him by... what? How does "sharing his fury" help the wizard identify a magical effect or the cleric tell if somebody is lying? Maybe the name just needs a rethink?

Hmm...maybe change it to Clarity of Rage? In moments of high stress or emotions, people will forget about all the small stuff bothering them and focus on the single task at hand. This ability would be the Psi-Fury nudging their brain into fight-or-flight to help them focus.

Psionic Restraints is cool, but you need to say what kind of action it takes, if any. Is the initial grapple supposed to be a free action that only consumes the psi-die? Or is this supposed to be a complement to a standard grapple you perform using the attack action as normal?

I intended it to be a complement to a standard grapple. I'll have to chew on the wording a bit to make sure that is more clear.

I like Psychic Terrain's ability to leave a trail of rubble behind you as you charge in. The bonus-action rubble-clearing seems useful in some niche cases, especially where you have particularly dangerous forms of terrain created by spells.

Guarding Fury is good. Solid feature, no notes.

Psychic Juggernaut adds some neat synergy between the restraint and the charge, which is great (depending on how the timing of the restraint is supposed to work, see my question about that above).

Overall: looks like a blast.

For The Weaponsmith, I love the theme and I think that is an area of design that is lacking in 5e, both in the blandness of weapons and the missing archetype of the weapon expert/specialist. I've always wanted to play an artificer that wields a giant version of one of those hammer-staplers; that goes around stapling people's armor together at the joints, and this subclass pretty much lets me do so.
The only nitpick I have is that it is not explicitly stated that the damage die starts at 1d4. It is implied and pretty easy to suss out, but it might be better to state it outright. Otherwise, excellent work. I really enjoy it.

[animorte]

Looks good. One thing I noticed: Chronal Aptitude needs to be reworded to keep you from accumulating infinite dice.

Thanks for the tip! It has received a minor update, a strict limit.

[Damon_Tor]

For The Weaponsmith, I love the theme and I think that is an area of design that is lacking in 5e, both in the blandness of weapons and the missing archetype of the weapon expert/specialist. I've always wanted to play an artificer that wields a giant version of one of those hammer-staplers; that goes around stapling people's armor together at the joints, and this subclass pretty much lets me do so.
The only nitpick I have is that it is not explicitly stated that the damage die starts at 1d4. It is implied and pretty easy to suss out, but it might be better to state it outright. Otherwise, excellent work. I really enjoy it.

It actually starts at 1d6: they're intended to be moderately more effective than existing weapon options. The base weapon stats are found in the header at the top of the tables and modified by the rows below as you add features.

[RickAsWritten]

It actually starts at 1d6: they're intended to be moderately more effective than existing weapon options. The base weapon stats are found in the header at the top of the tables and modified by the rows below as you add features.

Welp...I feel silly; totally missed that. Thought it was just part of the header, so my eyes skipped right over it. Maybe make those cells a different color or put a hard border around them to differentiate?

[Damon_Tor]

Welp...I feel silly; totally missed that. Thought it was just part of the header, so my eyes skipped right over it. Maybe make those cells a different color or put a hard border around them to differentiate?

Hopefully fixed the issue in a few ways. Updated the dice progression example to exclude all but the ones available (so from 1d4 up to 1d12, excluding 1d4, 2d6 and 2d8) to avoid confusion, relabeled the relevant row to "Base Stats" in both tables, specifically referenced the top of the tables as the location of the stats in the feature text, and then I also changed colors of the base stats row, so they should stand out nicely.

As another note, my research on appropriate weapon weight and cost modifiers was very basic. If anyone sees anything that stands out as wildly inappropriate, please let me know.

[animorte]

Hopefully fixed the issue in a few ways. Updated the dice progression example to exclude all but the ones available (so from 1d4 up to 1d12, excluding 1d4, 2d6 and 2d8) to avoid confusion, relabeled the relevant row to "Base Stats" in both tables, specifically referenced the top of the tables as the location of the stats in the feature text, and then I also changed colors of the base stats row, so they should stand out nicely.

I have a few notes on the upgraded die size. So, the weapon you create has the base weapon’s damage die +1d6 (increasing up to base weapon damage +1d12 later, I get that). Correct?

But you also have a few weapon mods that note in the table “+1 die size”. It looks as though that extra mod for die size is in addition to the original bonus of +1d6. How will that alter the final base weapon mod of +1d12 and +1 die size for damage. (Advanced, double grip, bulky, and loading. That’s what I’m referring to.)

Overall this looks super cool and I’m glad you came up with it. Many video games these days allow you to modify your weapons.

[animorte]

Unstoppable Force
This special movement allows you to move through an enemy creatures space. Each creature in that line must make a Saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.

What kind of saving throw does the enemy you’re attempting to pulverize need to make? Strength to challenge the juggernaut? Or Dexterity to gtfo of the way?

This reminds me I made a 3.5e class some years ago based on the Unstoppable Force/Immovable Object concept. That’s about the only similarities though. I definitely like the direction you went with this.

[RickAsWritten]

What kind of saving throw does the enemy you’re attempting to pulverize need to make? Strength to challenge the juggernaut? Or Dexterity to gtfo of the way?

This reminds me I made a 3.5e class some years ago based on the Unstoppable Force/Immovable Object concept. That’s about the only similarities though. I definitely like the direction you went with this.

Oooh that's supposed to be Strength. Good catch.

[Damon_Tor]

I have a few notes on the upgraded die size. So, the weapon you create has the base weapon’s damage die +1d6 (increasing up to base weapon damage +1d12 later, I get that). Correct?

But you also have a few weapon mods that note in the table “+1 die size”. It looks as though that extra mod for die size is in addition to the original bonus of +1d6. How will that alter the final base weapon mod of +1d12 and +1 die size for damage. (Advanced, double grip, bulky, and loading. That’s what I’m referring to.)

Overall this looks super cool and I’m glad you came up with it. Many video games these days allow you to modify your weapons.

Ah no, I see the confusion. The 1d6 IS the base weapon. You aren't starting from an existing weapon on the PHB weapon table, you always start with a generic base weapon of 1d6 then build your custom weapon from that base. So to make a "versatile rapier" you would choose the melee weapon as your base, pricing as your damage type, then add the precise, advanced, and mixed-grip properties.

I went through a few iterations of the feature, and one of them had you pick an existing weapon and modify it, but the system became too complex, with rules for both adding and removing traits.

[animorte]

Ah no, I see the confusion. The 1d6 IS the base weapon. You aren't starting from an existing weapon on the PHB weapon table, you always start with a generic base weapon of 1d6 then build your custom weapon from that base. So to make a "versatile rapier" you would choose the melee weapon as your base, pricing as your damage type, then add the precise, advanced, and mixed-grip properties.

I went through a few iterations of the feature, and one of them had you pick an existing weapon and modify it, but the system became too complex, with rules for both adding and removing traits.

Ok. So that basically means your base weapon will start off slightly weaker than normal, but gain better modification benefits and deal more same later anyway? Hence the balance of some moods increasing damage. Make sense

[Damon_Tor]

Ok. So that basically means your base weapon will start off slightly weaker than normal, but gain better modification benefits and deal more same later anyway? Hence the balance of some moods increasing damage. Make sense

Recent change on this front: the base weapons are now 1d8 martial weapons, with a new "User-Friendly" property that makes them count as simple. Before this change the break-even point was an int mod of +3, which I felt was too high a requirement for a third level fighter.

This should mean that even with an int mod of just +1 you should still be able to get good use out of this subclass.

[animorte]

Recent change on this front: the base weapons are now 1d8 martial weapons, with a new "User-Friendly" property that makes them count as simple. Before this change the break-even point was an int mod of +3, which I felt was too high a requirement for a third level fighter.

This should mean that even with an int mod of just +1 you should still be able to get good use out of this subclass.

Very nice.

This question is still a concern to me though:

How will that alter the final base weapon mod of +1d12 and +1 die size for damage. (Advanced, double grip, bulky, and loading. That’s what I’m referring to.)

I’ll rephrase: After your weapons are at 1d12 base damage, there are extra mods that still bump the damage up (advanced, double grip, bulky, and loading). What will the new damage die be?

[RickAsWritten]

Recent change on this front: the base weapons are now 1d8 martial weapons, with a new "User-Friendly" property that makes them count as simple. Before this change the break-even point was an int mod of +3, which I felt was too high a requirement for a third level fighter.

This should mean that even with an int mod of just +1 you should still be able to get good use out of this subclass.

So I put together one weapon of each type of what I would choose if I was playing this subclass. I didn't choose only the most objectively powerful options, just what I think would be the most fun. I'm working under the assumption of a +3 INT because that is relatively easy to attain on the naturally SAD fighter. So I've got:

Meteor Hammer 12gp 1d10 bludgeoning 6lb. Finesse, reach, heavy

Took: Extended, Precise, Bulky

Hand Trebuchet 56gp 1d10 bludgeoning 6lb. Ammunition (range 80/320), loading, reload (8)

Took: Pistol Grip, Loading, Magazine

The melee weapon is a pretty awesome finesse, reach weapon that is impossible otherwise, and the ranged weapon is a weird gun thing that pretty much just a one handed heavy crossbow. It allows the archer to hold a shield which is maybe troubling to some DM's, but I don't see an issue with it.

Would an option to drastically reduce range (like down to thrown dagger, can't kite range) in exchange for a die size increase be viable? Maybe locked behind Bulky?

Also, can I take an option more than once...say Extended for super reach?

[Damon_Tor]

Very nice.

This question is still a concern to me though:

I’ll rephrase: After your weapons are at 1d12 base damage, there are extra mods that still bump the damage up (advanced, double grip, bulky, and loading). What will the new damage die be?

Unless I'm missing something, there shouldn't be a way to increase damage past 1d12 given the current modifiers. It begins at 1d8 and there are are two options for each weapon type that increase that by 1 die size each (double grip is melee only, loading is ranged only). Before the martial change it started at 1d6 and there were three options which increased the dice by 1, so the end result should have been the same for both. But that said, if there were to be a size increase past 1d12 it would be 2d6.

So I put together one weapon of each type of what I would choose if I was playing this subclass. I didn't choose only the most objectively powerful options, just what I think would be the most fun. I'm working under the assumption of a +3 INT because that is relatively easy to attain on the naturally SAD fighter. So I've got:

Meteor Hammer 12gp 1d10 bludgeoning 6lb. Finesse, reach, heavy

Took: Extended, Precise, Bulky

Hand Trebuchet 56gp 1d10 bludgeoning 6lb. Ammunition (range 80/320), loading, reload (8)

Took: Pistol Grip, Loading, Magazine

The melee weapon is a pretty awesome finesse, reach weapon that is impossible otherwise, and the ranged weapon is a weird gun thing that pretty much just a one handed heavy crossbow. It allows the archer to hold a shield which is maybe troubling to some DM's, but I don't see an issue with it.

Would an option to drastically reduce range (like down to thrown dagger, can't kite range) in exchange for a die size increase be viable? Maybe locked behind Bulky?

Also, can I take an option more than once...say Extended for super reach?

Great creations! Yes, the reload property allows for the use of a shield with the weapon, at least for a short fight. But then again by the time you get your infusions you can do that with magic too.

The intention is that each option is only available once (will clarify). For the basic table I had decided to only include properties which already exist as weapon modifiers in the base game (reload was a stretch because it's a firearm-specific property found in the DMG, but I felt its inclusion was important). Double reach or a "buckshot" effect would be the purview of a 15th level special feature, but those are pretty good suggestions, so I'll work on adding them.

EDIT: Added the Expanding and Close Quarters options to Revolutionary Armaments. Close quarters doesn't give you a dice-up (mostly because 1d12 is already possible on the ranged weapon options via loading and bulky) but the feature eliminates the 5-foot-disadvantage issue for ranged attacks while giving you advantage on attacks made vs someone within 5 feet of you. The feature decreases your base range, but isn't mutually exclusive with sighted or scoped.

[animorte]

Unless I'm missing something, there shouldn't be a way to increase damage past 1d12 given the current modifiers. It begins at 1d8 and there are are two options for each weapon type that increase that by 1 die size each (double grip is melee only, loading is ranged only). Before the martial change it started at 1d6 and there were three options which increased the dice by 1, so the end result should have been the same for both. But that said, if there were to be a size increase past 1d12 it would be 2d6.

Haha, ok I think I’ve got it. I was thinking the base damage would improve over time on its own for some reason, my apologies.

Versatile Weapons always increase their damage dice by 1 size when wielded in two hands.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can reconfigure your signature weapon design as you please, but the number of options selected cannot exceed your intelligence modifier.

These two things are a good example of I’m getting at.

Say, you are at 18 Intelligence (+4). This means you can have 4 mods on one weapon, right? Two of those mods can increase the damage die, effectively putting it at 1d12. Then you decide to wield your versatile weapon in 2 hands, effectively increasing the damage die one more time. So it would then be worth it to list what comes after, yes?

I believe your 1d6 was correct in accounting for this and I was just comprehending it wrong.

It’s been a long day and little sleep. My apologies again.

[Damon_Tor]

Haha, ok I think I’ve got it. I was thinking the base damage would improve over time on its own for some reason, my apologies.


These two things are a good example of I’m getting at.

Say, you are at 18 Intelligence (+4). This means you can have 4 mods on one weapon, right? Two of those mods can increase the damage die, effectively putting it at 1d12. Then you decide to wield your versatile weapon in 2 hands, effectively increasing the damage die one more time. So it would then be worth it to list what comes after, yes?

I believe your 1d6 was correct in accounting for this and I was just comprehending it wrong.

It’s been a long day and little sleep. My apologies again.

Double Grip and Mixed Grip are exclusive to each other, so you shouldn't be able to have them both. So you could either have a 1d10 versatile (1d12) weapon or a 1d12 two-handed weapon. Looking at this you might ask yourself "why would I have a two-handed weapon if a versatile weapon used in both hands is just as good?". Which is a great question I'm not sure I'm prepared to answer. Let me think about that a minute, lol.

[animorte]

Double Grip and Mixed Grip are exclusive to each other, so you shouldn't be able to have them both. So you could either have a 1d10 versatile (1d12) weapon or a 1d12 two-handed weapon.

Oh, I was looking at Double Grip and Bulky. Those two added onto an already versatile weapon. But I see what I keep doing; I've been pretending as though you're taking pre-existing weapons and adding these properties. When in reality every single weapon made by this subclass is completely from scratch, with absolutely NO properties except Melee or Ranged, as you state at the beginning. The additional properties are added as a part of the crafting, or Weaponsmithing.

Ok, we're all good now. I understand. Proceed to ignore my silliness.

[Damon_Tor]

Circle of Fury: Neat idea.

I would simplify Nature's Armory. I like linking the new damage dice to shillelagh, but I would just unify all the weapons it effects to "1d10 damage, or 1d12 when wielded in two hands." and maybe just say you can use Shillelagh on any melee weapon with which you are proficient. No need for a table that way. I would also allow you to cast Shillelagh with the same bonus action you use Primal Fury to streamline turn 1.

Primal Fury needs a duration.

Nature's Wrath confuses me a bit. Why is this only for melee spell attacks? Am I missing something elsewhere in the subclass that lets them make melee spell attacks in place of melee weapon attacks or something? Otherwise the effect is cool, and I really really like the "critical blast" effect.

I want to like Nature's Mercy, it fits a druid very well in a thematic, poetic kind of sense, but it just doesn't seem very useful in most contexts, not enough to justify being a capstone. The only really good use I can think of this is to be able to interrogate things you've killed? But that's a very narrow use for an ability that comes very late in the game. (And my confusion regarding "melee spell attacks" repeats itself here.)

[Jervis]

Are there any noteworthy melee spell attacks I don’t know about on the Druid list? 5e doesn’t have many amazing ones in general, and the only one i’m thinking of for Druid is a cantrip.

[Damon_Tor]

Are there any noteworthy melee spell attacks I don’t know about on the Druid list? 5e doesn’t have many amazing ones in general, and the only one i’m thinking of for Druid is a cantrip.

There's Flame Blade. But it's not a spell to build a character around. My guess is, he got shillelagh mixed up with magic stone in his head. If so, easy fix, just change the class features in question to key off weapon attacks.

[animorte]

Are there ways we can market this contest? It's a really cool idea and even if a lot of people might not compete, they could still enjoy some creative designs and participate in votes.

[Lvl45DM!]

Circle of Fury: Neat idea.

I would simplify Nature's Armory. I like linking the new damage dice to shillelagh, but I would just unify all the weapons it effects to "1d10 damage, or 1d12 when wielded in two hands." and maybe just say you can use Shillelagh on any melee weapon with which you are proficient. No need for a table that way. I would also allow you to cast Shillelagh with the same bonus action you use Primal Fury to streamline turn 1.

Primal Fury needs a duration.

Nature's Wrath confuses me a bit. Why is this only for melee spell attacks? Am I missing something elsewhere in the subclass that lets them make melee spell attacks in place of melee weapon attacks or something? Otherwise the effect is cool, and I really really like the "critical blast" effect.

I want to like Nature's Mercy, it fits a druid very well in a thematic, poetic kind of sense, but it just doesn't seem very useful in most contexts, not enough to justify being a capstone. The only really good use I can think of this is to be able to interrogate things you've killed? But that's a very narrow use for an ability that comes very late in the game. (And my confusion regarding "melee spell attacks" repeats itself here.)

I may have misread Shillelagh. To be clear I misread Shillelaghs spell description not the word. I just mispronounce and misspell the world. Sha-la-la. I am removing the melee spell attack stuff.

I think letting a druid go berserk, cast their signature spell, move and attack all in 1 round is alot? Primal Fury has a duration of 1 minute

Yes Nature's Mercy is pretty weird, but you are a Druid. If you can't find a use for the Mind-Flayer you turned into a squirrel that you can talk to, charm, dominate, Animal Handling etc, now that they aren't just non-hostile, but have a different alignment, I don't think you're trying hard enough. I could leave the part where the Awakened animal is charmed but it feels...silly. I did remove advantage on saves against being charmed etc.


Also, thoughts on changing Natures Wrath a bit, simplifying it? Elemental is fun but hmm. I mean, doing extra frost damage in the arctic is useless.

Ok keep Natures Wrath as it is OR

Lvl 10: Nature's Wrath: Mother Earth's anger surges through you, empowering your strikes with the righteous wrath of plant and beast. Any melee weapon attack you make deals extra d6 weapon damage as ghostly fangs, thorns, stingers and branches maul your target.
If you score a critical hit, in addition to the usual benefits you can force your target to make a CON save or be Poisoned by spectral snake fangs or scorpion stingers, a STR save or be Restrained by phantom plants or a DEX save or be Wounded by ethereal claws.
They all last one minute get saves at the end of the round etc.

[Old Harry MTX]

Ok guys, i posted The Hermit, a sub-class that at the moment does not satisfy me at all. Even if the result is somehow elegant, at least IMHO, for now it is nothing more than a copy-paste of various barbarian signature features, with some words replaced. I still have doubts about the interaction of features with spell attack rolls only, I am considering making them more generic for all spells.

Either way, there is still work to be done!

[nickl_2000]

My own ideas are running dry, I'm sure I will come up with something, but I wanted to be better on reviews than I was in the past. As a reminder, a lot of times I give a stream of conscious review about what I am thinking as I read it. I also didn't look at other reviews, so I based it entirely off what I saw, not any other discussions.

Spoiler: Barbarian: Path of the Psi-Fury

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I like the idea of a barbarian that uses mental stats, so I'm excited to see what this has to offer.

Unstoppable Force - If moving through an opponents space is it considered difficult terrain? If you are using the option rule of opposed checks as part of the DMG it is, but I could see this overriding that. I also am seeing flashes of the cool-aid man with this, breaking through walls and I'm highly entertained by the possibilities. The balance of the ability seems fine. You can do a lot of damage with it at early levels, but you are limited to a straight line. Also something to consider, what happens if you use your bonus action to use this ability and your action to dash? Can you use it for all the movement, or just the distance from your normal move.

Psionic Restraints - I don't see if there are opposed checks, or an attack, or what that makes this ability take place. Also, on the second round of using it, I would have it replace the attack again instead of a full action.

Clarity of Rage - The ability here seems okay, the fluff around seems a little off to me. How does pushing against fight or flight make it so you do better in a mental ability check? I personally would look at changing other the ability or the name/fluff to make them match a bit better.

It is a little unusual that a barbarian doesn't have anything to do with rage at level 3. It goes against the grain and design of the wotc subclasses, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but something to know that as you are considering this subclass.

Immovable Object - I'm not a fan of the fact that this is immune to damage and there is no way to break it outside of 2 spells. Done right in a dungeon, you can easily block 1-2 enemies into a corner

Psychic Terrain - So how does this interact with something like Spike Growth. Spike Growth is difficult terrain, does it make it so you can move freely without damage, or you take damage but you don't get slowed? How about something like stairs that is difficult terrain?

Guarding Fury - So they way you have this phrased to cure someone else you also need to charmed. If you are charmed you can use a psy die to cure yourself. Then you may also spend another to cure others. Is that your intent? Or can you spend a die to cure others without the one on you first?

Overall its an interesting subclass. It's a very dynamic take on a class that has a tendency to be one dimensional.

Spoiler: Martial Archetype: The Weaponsmith

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I don't see an significant issues here, I do wonder if there could be a problem with this class making weapons for others. Especially when you can make a weapon that is higher damage, two handed, and finesse. Meaning that you could apply Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master to a finesse weapon. I honestly am not sure if this will break anything in the long run, but it is something to consider for your design.

I do worry that you don't provide anything other than the weapons. You can make weapons, but they are still mundane weapons. If you pick up a magic weapon at level 5 you really aren't going to be using your subclass abilities until you hit level 10.

I wouldn't mind seeing some other things you can do with this class. Maybe you can make a special attack x times per rest with a special weapon, maybe something else.

Spoiler: Rogue: Hourglass

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Vigilant Acuity - I don't see issues here, similar to Swashbuckler but a little less powerful since int comes up less often than cha.

Perceptive Imposition - How do you trigger the breaking of an hourglass? Is it a bonus action, action, is it done as your roll like Bardic Inspiration to give a bonus? If you use your reaction to grant the benefit to someone else as well, when do they have to use the bonus. As in, I used my hourglass to get a bonus on my attack roll this turn and also use my reaction to give it to someone else. That someone else get a bonus to their attack roll, for only their next turn? Until they use it? How exactly?

Chronal Aptitude - This seems overly complicated with being limited to int mod times per day at the end of a long rest. I wouldn't bother when you are at 9th level already. Just give one use back at the end of each short rest. This isn't broken at this level at all and is significantly easier to write, track, and understand.

Temporal Status - I'm not sure on the point of this ability on a Rogue (or this spell in most situations). Time Stop may be fitting to your theme, but it really kind of sucks, especially for a Rogue. Basically you are giving yourself the ability to move around since once you cast and spell that impacts someone else or do damage to someone else it ends.

I like the time aspects of this, I like the idea on the rogue. However, I would suggest you completely drop the 17th level ability for something else way more useful. Foresight may be to powerful, but it would be fitting to the theme and actually be useful.

Spoiler: Druid Archetype: Circle of Fury

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Lvl 2: Nature's Armoury - I understand the different damages based on light, simple, and martial weapons. However, I think it's an overcomplication that really isn't needed. There is very little reason anyone would be using a club when they have proficiency in a weapon that will do a d12 damage. I would personally just boost the damage for all of them to the same thing for the sake of simplicity and have it keep the same damage type as the base weapon.

Lvl 2: Primal Fury - I have one significant issue here, and that is that a Druid and "rage" more often than a barbarian. You get 2 uses per short rest as a Druid, Barbs get 6 max until level 20. As in at level 2 you will rage possibly 6 times in a day vs the Barbs 2. So, the solutions.... don't make it the same as a barbarian, make the rage weaker or different (give different abilities, weakened abilities, etc). Doing this will allow you to keep the flavor without stealing everything from the barbarian.

Lvl 6: Furious Speed: - Personal opinion, 2 attacks at level 6 is plenty and this isn't needed.

Lvl 14: Nature's Mercy - Huh, this one is interesting. Since you don't charm the awakened animal, they would immediately come back as another creature that would likely attack you (since it did before and why wouldn't it now). I guess I don't completely see the advantage of doing this, what does it gain you? What do you imagine as being the usage of this ability?

[Damon_Tor]

I think letting a druid go berserk, cast their signature spell, move and attack all in 1 round is alot? Primal Fury has a duration of 1 minute

In my experience, a build that needs two different bonus actions to be ready for combat feels bad. Now in this case shillelagh is a cantrip, which gives us another problem: the pressure on the player to simply "always cast shillelagh" whether or not combat is expected. That may or may not ruffle your feathers as a DM, but it's just an annoying extra thing you could avoid by simply allowing it to be cast at the same time you use your rage feature. Because shillelagh can be cast for free and thus be "always on" as a result, combining the two into one action wouldn't actually change the power level of the class at all, it would just make it more user-friendly.

As an alternative, you could put an 8-hour duration on shillelagh as a part of its upgrade.

Yes Nature's Mercy is pretty weird, but you are a Druid. If you can't find a use for the Mind-Flayer you turned into a squirrel that you can talk to, charm, dominate, Animal Handling etc, now that they aren't just non-hostile, but have a different alignment, I don't think you're trying hard enough. I could leave the part where the Awakened animal is charmed but it feels...silly. I did remove advantage on saves against being charmed etc.

Sure, there's a ton of roleplay opportunity in this sort of thing, but it's effectively a ribbon: the DM isn't compelled to give you any information or cooperation he wasn't already planning to. Ribbons are fine. Good, even, I like ribbons, they're great at helping the players and the DM find ways to tell their story collaboratively. But not as a capstone for a subclass that already sacrifices mechanically because it goes against the core role of the class. (<--That's not a criticism of the class, it's okay for a class to sacrifice raw power to broaden capabilities). A slight rewording to reduce the implied power of the ability (it imitates two/three different high-level druid spells, even if it does so in a mechanically neutral form) plus a shift to a lower level in the subclass would help a lot. For example, if you change the wording to make it more like it's an improved way to cast a mashup of "animal messenger" and "speak with dead" for example then all of a sudden it doesn't seem like it has to be such a high level ability, and those spells have a function which are closer to how this feature would be used.

At the same time, the ability as written is vague enough to invite abuse. Reincarnation has rules to decide the new race of the target, but this feature has no instructions on how to decide the new species. Who decides? The Druid? The Target? The DM operating as a "hand of fate"? All of those have drawbacks. Also, there's nothing stopping the druid from using this on a friendly creature, in theory, also leading to potentially strange results. Say a party member is at 0 HP and dying, taking damage from some effect or another that makes death almost certain. Could the druid could kill him himself and have him come back to life as a T-Rex? On the same token, if the beast selected is random or if the DM decides it could just as easily be a hindrance. Sure, you just killed that mindflayer, but instead of coming back as a squirrel he's now a sabretooth tiger, and he's still exactly as interested in eating your brains.

Also, thoughts on changing Natures Wrath a bit, simplifying it? Elemental is fun but hmm. I mean, doing extra frost damage in the arctic is useless.

True, many creatures you would fight in the arctic would have resistance to cold. You could simply let the druid choose an element from a list of the "natural" elements (fire/cold/lightning/thunder/poison/acid) instead of linking it to the current surroundings.

Ok keep Natures Wrath as it is OR

Lvl 10: Nature's Wrath: Mother Earth's anger surges through you, empowering your strikes with the righteous wrath of plant and beast. Any melee weapon attack you make deals extra d6 weapon damage as ghostly fangs, thorns, stingers and branches maul your target.
If you score a critical hit, in addition to the usual benefits you can force your target to make a CON save or be Poisoned by spectral snake fangs or scorpion stingers, a STR save or be Restrained by phantom plants or a DEX save or be Wounded by ethereal claws.
They all last one minute get saves at the end of the round etc.

I'd be sad to see the "blast on crit" effect go, that was one of my favorite parts of what you'd written. I'm okay making the extra damage just be more weapon damage though.

[Damon_Tor]

I don't see an significant issues here, I do wonder if there could be a problem with this class making weapons for others. Especially when you can make a weapon that is higher damage, two handed, and finesse. Meaning that you could apply Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master to a finesse weapon. I honestly am not sure if this will break anything in the long run, but it is something to consider for your design.

It wouldn't be much different from sharpshooter + crossbow mastery except that the base die of the weapon is two sizes larger: effectively you're giving that build +2 to damage per attack. This subclass allows for quite a bit of extra build diversity that didn't exist otherwise, but I don't see that as a bad thing.

I do worry that you don't provide anything other than the weapons. You can make weapons, but they are still mundane weapons. If you pick up a magic weapon at level 5 you really aren't going to be using your subclass abilities until you hit level 10.

That's an interesting point, one I hadn't really considered. Perhaps build into the 7th level feature an ability to preserve the enchantment of a magic weapon when you scrap it for parts, then transfer that enchantment to a signature weapon you build from those parts.

I wouldn't mind seeing some other things you can do with this class. Maybe you can make a special attack x times per rest with a special weapon, maybe something else.

I'll give it some thought, thanks.

[nickl_2000]

Following the trend of making angry subclasses, I put my own entry in there with the Monk, Way of the Rage Master. You can be an angry, hulking, raging monk!

It wouldn't be much different from sharpshooter + crossbow mastery except that the base die of the weapon is two sizes larger: effectively you're giving that build +2 to damage per attack. This subclass allows for quite a bit of extra build diversity that didn't exist otherwise, but I don't see that as a bad thing.


That's an interesting point, one I hadn't really considered. Perhaps build into the 7th level feature an ability to preserve the enchantment of a magic weapon when you scrap it for parts, then transfer that enchantment to a signature weapon you build from those parts.

I'll give it some thought, thanks.

In agree that it gives some build diversity, and not only for you but for allies as well. That is a very interesting ability to it and something cool you don't see in fighters all that often.

I like the ability to preserve the magical essence of a weapon and put it into your signature. I would limit ranged to ranged and melee to melee to avoid trying to figure out what happens when you put something like a flametounge on a bow.