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

[Psyche]

College of the chameleon:
Flavor: S
Power: A
I love it! the only bad thing here is divine strike not affecting spells.
Top - notch versatility, amazing flexibility, and specialization all rolled into 1. Not as strong as it could be but that is a good thing. Very good.

[Psyche]

Rouge of the hourglass:
Flavor: S
Power: A
Clarity: C
If only I could figure out what the difference between an hourglass trinket and an hourglass die is. I love it though!
Again, it could be stronger but that's what makes it amazing.

[animorte]

Rouge of the hourglass:
Flavor: S
Power: A
Clarity: C
If only I could figure out what the difference between an hourglass trinket and an hourglass die is. I love it though!
Again, it could be stronger but that's what makes it amazing.

They are basically one in the same. Each Hourglass Trinket is represented by a d6. I think I fixed the clarity on that by referring to it in every instance with "Hourglass Trinket” and rephrasing in some areas.
I appreciate you taking a look at it and giving a fair rating!

[Old Harry MTX]

I made a small fix to the Hermit, specifying in the Trance text that this feature can only be used during battle (like the Barbarian's Rage). This way at the end of a fight you can't cast a cantrip with concentration for the sole purpose of keeping the Trance state active.

I also took a look at the other entries. I state that I have not run any math, and I apologize in advance if I often reply to some features simply by saying "I would have done that this way..." or with "wow, that's too strong!". I wrote everything straight away, and I found all the entries very interesting.

Spoiler: Barbarian: Path of the Psi-Fury

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Barbarian: Path of the Psi-Fury

I'm not very familiar with psionic classes for comparison.

Psionic Power Seems cool.

Furies of the Mind I really like both options.

Guarding Fury It feels really strong to me, especially the part where it extends the effect to other creatures.

Psychic Juggernaut These options also seem very strong to me. Maybe you could choose one at the end of a short or long rest?

Spoiler: Martial Archetype: The Weaponsmith

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Martial Archetype: The Weaponsmith

At first glance I like it very much, even if it gives me the feeling of being inspired by the flavor of the Artificer rather than actually borrowing its mechanics.

Martial Innovator The core feature, overall i like it.

Improvised Innovation Add nice flavor without breaking anything.

Iron Monger I don't like the part of you producing and selling weapons because in my opinion it isn't managed well in D&D, the rest is a nice standard improvement.

Arcane Infusions Very good.

Revolutionary Armaments Cool, but in my opinion it comes a little too late. I'm not a huge fan of mechanics or such extensive option sets being introduced at such high levels. I would like to see it combined with Martial Innovator or at the most in place of Iron Monger, with the necessary power corrections.

Spoiler: Bard: College of The Chameleon

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Bard: College of The Chameleon

Okay, so instead of borrowing from a class, this subclass can borrow from whoever they want. It goes well with the Bard class, which is a true factotum.

Minor Aptitude Focus Makes perfectly sense with the concept

Major Aptitude Focus It seems to me that doing so is eclipsing the Valor Bard, and probably other subclasses as well.

Multifocus Wow, this is too strong!

Spoiler: Roguish Archetype: Hourglass

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Roguish Archetype: Hourglass

My limit, but I admit I don't understand which class it borrows from. ^^

Vigilant Acuity Nice

Perceptive Imposition Your hourglass trinkets are actually dice? It says that it starts as one d6, but then you say that you have a pool of d6s equal to your proficiency bonus. Ok, this part seems to have been fixed! well!

I like the concept, but it seems very strong. A lot of options, converting a disadvantage into an advantage seems very weird to me, giving it to another creature with a reaction makes it way stronger than bardic inspiration.

I don’t think that the fact you recover the dice only at the end of a long rest is enough to balance this feature.

Chronal Aptitude A standard upgrade, the spell list is nice and themed.

Recalibration This one is strong but i like it flavor wise.

Temporal Observance Nice.

Spoiler: Druid Archetype: Circle of Fury

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Druid Archetype: Circle of Fury

I like the feeling of an animalist zealot, even eco-terrorist.

Nature's Armory I like Shillelagh and its mechanic, so I like a feature that expands it.

Primal Fury I don't understand if this thing can be done every time you spend a use of wildshape (e.g. turning into a beast) or if the correct wording should be: “As a bonus action, you can spend a use of wildshape to enter a primal fury…”.
Giving advantage on DEX or CON saving throws and ability checks is strong, since they are both among the most common saving throws. Also, I feel that a druid is probably more WIS centered.

Are there no conditions that stop primal fury before 1 minute?

Blade of Grass, Shooting Stars Why not a standard Extra Attack? How does it behave in case of multiclassing with the other 5th level Extra Attacks?

Nature's Wrath I haven't run the math so I don’t know if it is balanced, i think yes. I would move the fact that attacks count as magical at 6th level. Replacing critical hits with an AOE is very cool, I like it!

Nature's Mercy Very cool flavorwise, but it needs a limited number of uses.

Spoiler: Monk: Way of the Rage Master

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Monk: Way of the Rage Master

Instead of “Way of the rage master” I would prefer something like “Way of the Raging Boar” or something like that, just to give the feeling of a martial art, but it is a subjective opinion, a trifle.

Embracing the Anger The idea to tie it to ki points is nice, but doing so you can rage only once at the beginning, but gradually you learn to do that more times than a barbarian. Maybe it could be reconsidered somehow.
Why increase the damage die size instead of adding a bonus like the normal rage?
Again, the HP increase is nice, but still I don't know if a classic resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing should be better.

Taunt With a name like that, I would have expected something that would disadvantage hit rolls against others except you.^^
The frightened condition is strong, maybe I would increase the ki point cost to 2.

Iron Muscles Very nice, maybe i would move the ki cost to the main effect, but it is probably an unnecessary nerf.

Embodiment of Anger A standard borrowed feature. Maybe the only problem is that no other feature before this one has ever referred to Wisdom or Constitution. The Ki save DC actually uses Wisdom, but still tying Wisdom with rage seems a bit…odd. ^^

Spoiler: Arcane Tradition: Ultimate Magic

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Arcane Tradition: Ultimate Magic

Unbound Arcana Wizard and Sorcerer spell lists are very similar, so it should be ok.

Savant of Chaos This means all the sorcerer spells or only the one that appears on the sorcerer spell list but not in the wizard one?

Spellcasting Versatility Wizards already have Arcane Recovery, maybe i would remove the “Creating spell slots part”, keeping only “Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points”.

Metamagic Nice and mandatory.

Speedy Recovery Nice, I would probably reformulate it into something like “As an action, you can spend your use of Arcane recovery to gain a number of sorcery points equal to…”, but it is only a form defect.

Spell Mastery I understand what you tried to do here. You wanted to apply metamagic options for free to spell mastery and signature spells, but they come out too late for this feature.
Maybe the result is a bit overcomplicated, I would probably just let you choose one or two metamagic options you know and reduce their cost by 1 point, this way you also avoid the problem that they have different costs in sorcery points, so it wouldn't make sense to pick one that costs only one point and make it free.

Spoiler: Barbarian: Path of the Blessed

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Barbarian: Path of the Blessed

Wrath of the Gods The damage increase seems a bit high, but I haven’t run the math. Maybe you can reduce it to 1d8 but converting the normal damage bonus of rage in radiant damage too?

Vigor Wow! This is strong! It’s better than a fighter second wind. Are you sure you don’t want to reduce the range to 10 feet (at least up to 18th level), and reduce the healing to HALF your barbarian level?

Goading Smite Again, this seems to me a bit strong, especially compared to compelled duel or to goading attack. I would probably change it in something like “As a bonus action you can spend one use of your Wrath of the Gods feature to cast compelled duel or shield spell”.
The totemic barbarian can actually take a similar feature at 14th, choosing the bear aspect, but still it’s four levels later, so I don’t know…

Safeguard This one is basically an Aura of Protection. It makes sense and is a nice capstone, but is probably a bit too strong if considered together with the rest of the features.

Spoiler: Artificer: Diabolist

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Artificer: Diabolist

The subclass is nice but it seems that you have borrowed only the flavor from a warlock.

Devil’s Advocate Nice.

Diabolist Spells Seems good.

The Contractor Why can you summon a number of fiends up to CR 1 AND up to your proficiency bonus? Overall, it seems nice.

Hellfire Proficiency Seems good.

Fiend’s Arsenal Cool.

Highway to Hell I need to run some math but it seems nice.

Spoiler: Paladin: Oath of Anarchy

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Paladin: Oath of Anarchy

Tenets Very nice.

Oath Spells Standard.

Channel Divinity The healing part didn’t convince me completely, I would reformulate it in something like “Whenever you take damage, you can tap into your lay on hands pool and prevent up to half of the damage taken”.

Savage Sundering Nice.

Aura of Rage Seems nice. Strong, but nice.

Undying Fury Nice.

Unstoppable Fury I know that it’s a level 20th feature, but isn't it a bit too much?

Spoiler: Monk of Oozes

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Monk of Oozes

So you borrowed the rage mechanic from the barbarian and little else, and then developed it in another direction from both the flavor and the mechanics point of view. A little off topic, but it should still be fine.

Oozes Defense I like the Constitution swaps, but blindsight is a very strong ability, maybe scaling it to half your level should be better.

Hungered Trance The name didn't convince me, why a hungered trance for a feature that basically “Oozes” you?
Acid damage seems cool, I don't know if applying it only to the damage bonus could be better.
The constitution part is weird but probably fine.
So you basically make a critical hit each time you make an unarmed strike? Seems a bit too much.
Resistance to slashing damage feets the theme.
The reach increase is something more that in my opinion has no place with everything else, you should take something away.
No conditions that stops the hungered trance?

Absorbing dodge Again, it seems to me that this feature gives a little too many things, I would remove some of them.

Split attacks It still seems like too many options to me. At this point I would prefer something like the Barbarian: Path of the Totem Warrior, that lets you choose one option when you reach the level.

Engulf This one seems nice.

[Psyche]

The druid: Circle of Fury:
Flavor: A
Clarity: C
Power: B
It's nice I guess...
i like everything except the level 14 ability, it's SO unclear as to what it does.

[Ilerien]

Spoiler: Arcane Tradition: Ultimate Magic

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Arcane Tradition: Ultimate Magic

Unbound Arcana Wizard and Sorcerer spell lists are very similar, so it should be ok.

Savant of Chaos This means all the sorcerer spells or only the one that appears on the sorcerer spell list but not in the wizard one?

Spellcasting Versatility Wizards already have Arcane Recovery, maybe i would remove the “Creating spell slots part”, keeping only “Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points”.

Metamagic Nice and mandatory.

Speedy Recovery Nice, I would probably reformulate it into something like “As an action, you can spend your use of Arcane recovery to gain a number of sorcery points equal to…”, but it is only a form defect.

Spell Mastery I understand what you tried to do here. You wanted to apply metamagic options for free to spell mastery and signature spells, but they come out too late for this feature.
Maybe the result is a bit overcomplicated, I would probably just let you choose one or two metamagic options you know and reduce their cost by 1 point, this way you also avoid the problem that they have different costs in sorcery points, so it wouldn't make sense to pick one that costs only one point and make it free.

Thank you very much for the review! :)
Savant of Chaos applies to any spell that appears on sorcerer's spell list, so yeah, about 2/3 of wizard spells fulfill the requirement.
Spellcasting Versatility as it is ensures the iconic ability of a sorcerer to bring a ton of higher level spell slots to the table by sacrificing all their lower level spell slots. My Divine Soul sorcerer from an ongoing campaign raised nine people from the dead once during a day of downtime at level 10, if memory serves. I feel like Arcane Recovery + only spell slots => sorcery points convertion lacks the versatility advertised.
The wording of Speedy Recovery is indeed clumsy, thanks. Good catch! :)
As for Spell Mastery, I thought of just providing a discount on selected metamagic option, but I like my current solution more because it's tied to wizard class features (even if we, as with Lore bard, give access to base class feature earlier) and doesn't result in shenanigans like making every spell subtle.

[animorte]

Spoiler: Roguish Archetype: Hourglass

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Roguish Archetype: Hourglass

My limit, but I admit I don't understand which class it borrows from. ^^

Vigilant Acuity Nice

Perceptive Imposition Your hourglass trinkets are actually dice? It says that it starts as one d6, but then you say that you have a pool of d6s equal to your proficiency bonus. Ok, this part seems to have been fixed! well!

I like the concept, but it seems very strong. A lot of options, converting a disadvantage into an advantage seems very weird to me, giving it to another creature with a reaction makes it way stronger than bardic inspiration.

I don’t think that the fact you recover the dice only at the end of a long rest is enough to balance this feature.

Chronal Aptitude A standard upgrade, the spell list is nice and themed.

Recalibration This one is strong but i like it flavor wise.

Temporal Observance Nice.

First, I want to say you really put in the time and effort to look over everybody’s entries. I greatly appreciate it.

It is direct inspiration from the Bard for a more supportive option for the Rogue. I liked the time theme and looked a great deal at Clockwork Sorcerer and Chronurgist Wizard. Also a little bit of Ekko, League of Legends.

I went over my wording for Perceptive Imposition for like the 12th time, haha. It’s had several clarity issues.

I also nerfed it a bit. The starting dice is d4 and levels up at a similar rate. It is also restricted to being used only by the Rogue itself, but still can assist others. Now it pulls straight from the action economy, instead of basically a free use for anybody at any time.

[bandti]

Thanks for the review, MTX!

Spoiler: Feedback Responses

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The subclass is nice but it seems that you have borrowed only the flavor from a warlock.

That's a pretty good point, and I was actually working on some custom infusions to remedy that. I will say that the the subclass as a whole was kind of based on a Pact of the Chain Warlock at the beginning, before evolving to what it is now.

Why can you summon a number of fiends up to CR 1 AND up to your proficiency bonus? Overall, it seems nice.

The limit is there mainly for later levels, where, if you remove the prof bonus limitation, you could potentially summon 20 CR 1/4 creatures at 17th level, which would severely break action economy. Its honestly just a personal balancing preference, but you could remove it if you really wanted to.

[bandti]

Added custom artificer Infusions to hopefully reinforce that warlock flavor! Feedback is welcome.

[nickl_2000]

Thank you! Responded inside in italics

Spoiler: Monk: Way of the Rage Master

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Monk: Way of the Rage Master

Instead of “Way of the rage master” I would prefer something like “Way of the Raging Boar” or something like that, just to give the feeling of a martial art, but it is a subjective opinion, a trifle.

Good call, it does sounds better using something like that

Embracing the Anger The idea to tie it to ki points is nice, but doing so you can rage only once at the beginning, but gradually you learn to do that more times than a barbarian. Maybe it could be reconsidered somehow.
Yup, I wanted to tie it to Ki to only allow a few uses early on. It does get to the point that you effectively get infinite uses, but a bonus action is a pretty high cost for a monk and I tried to reduce the power somewhat in response. Additionally, it's difficult to "rage" more than once per combat since it take a bonus action to drop it and an additional bonus action to get another

Why increase the damage die size instead of adding a bonus like the normal rage?
A few reasons, the first being that it encourages the use of unarmed strikes. Something that is generally avoided outside of the bonus action or flurry of blows. The second being that it gives a bigger bonus for to the unarmed strike or flurry when you use it in the early levels than a flat damage bonus does. However, in losing the bonus action on round one it balances out the damage somewhat to make it good but not excessive. Last is that while I'm borrowing from the Barbarian, I wanted it to be different and this is a similar way to accomplish extra damage without it being exactly the same.

Again, the HP increase is nice, but still I don't know if a classic resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing should be better.
This is a conscious decision to give more HP in a different way. It also limits the overall power a little bit (since you can get THP through other means, but resistance to BPS is much more rare).


Taunt With a name like that, I would have expected something that would disadvantage hit rolls against others except you.^^
The frightened condition is strong, maybe I would increase the ki point cost to 2.
I wanted something that hits harder than just disadvantage since you are giving up an attack. I did increase the ki cost to 2, thanks.


Iron Muscles Very nice, maybe i would move the ki cost to the main effect, but it is probably an unnecessary nerf.
I don't think it is necessary, you already spend ki and a bonus action to rage and you have to spend a reaction. So, the action economy cost of this is very high. It's a good reduction in damage, but only for one attack as well.


Embodiment of Anger A standard borrowed feature. Maybe the only problem is that no other feature before this one has ever referred to Wisdom or Constitution. The Ki save DC actually uses Wisdom, but still tying Wisdom with rage seems a bit…odd. ^^
Yup, but weakened since so as to not outshine the actual barbarian. Constitution makes sense where it is coming from, do you think it would make more sense to be constitution and dexterity?

As for the Wisdom in general, it does seem odd but it would feel even more odd of you had two different Ki DCs (one for stunning strike and a different one for taunt). In an effort not to overcomplicate, I used the standard Monk DC.



Thanks for taking a look!

Also, I think it is awesome seeing so many new faces and how many reviews we have seen so far. Keep it up! 1 more week until voting

[Itsfrank]

Spoiler: Barbarian: Path of the Blessed

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Barbarian: Path of the Blessed

Wrath of the Gods The damage increase seems a bit high, but I haven’t run the math. Maybe you can reduce it to 1d8 but converting the normal damage bonus of rage in radiant damage too?

Vigor Wow! This is strong! It’s better than a fighter second wind. Are you sure you don’t want to reduce the range to 10 feet (at least up to 18th level), and reduce the healing to HALF your barbarian level?

Goading Smite Again, this seems to me a bit strong, especially compared to compelled duel or to goading attack. I would probably change it in something like “As a bonus action you can spend one use of your Wrath of the Gods feature to cast compelled duel or shield spell”.
The totemic barbarian can actually take a similar feature at 14th, choosing the bear aspect, but still it’s four levels later, so I don’t know…

Safeguard This one is basically an Aura of Protection. It makes sense and is a nice capstone, but is probably a bit too strong if considered together with the rest of the features.

I tried to balance out some of the stuff. I'm very new at this homebrew thing. I remember reading something that when you borrow something from a different class try not to do it better and stronger than that class. I try to keep that in mind

Thank you for the help! I put my response in the italics.

[animorte]

I would like to apologize for those entries I have not been able to address and critique due to time constraints and the like.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed viewing everyone’s different concepts though!

[Jervis]

College of the chameleon:
Flavor: S
Power: A
I love it! the only bad thing here is divine strike not affecting spells.
Top - notch versatility, amazing flexibility, and specialization all rolled into 1. Not as strong as it could be but that is a good thing. Very good.

Sorry it took me a while to see that. Thanks!

[nickl_2000]

Tomorrow's the last day, voting begins in Monday when I wake up

[nickl_2000]

Bravo and congratulations to everyone who entered the contest. The voting thread is available, please jump in and vote!

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...4#post25543174

The voting thread will stay open until the end of the day on August 22nd.

You don't need to have entered into the contest to vote, so go ahead anyone!



Also, let me know if I missed anyone or screwed anything up. First time posting this!

[nickl_2000]

You have listed “My Way is Different” twice in the table, each with a different description. Need to roll a new one?

Otherwise, looks great! And thank you again for taking on this responsibility.

*will edit this to add my votes later

Thanks, got it!

[Jervis]

Thanks, got it!

The link for way of Anarchy links to something else I think. Not a big issue just something I noticed.

[Damon_Tor]

The link for way of Anarchy links to something else I think. Not a big issue just something I noticed.

All the links appear to go to the Path of the Psi Fury.

[nickl_2000]

The link for way of Anarchy links to something else I think. Not a big issue just something I noticed.

All the links appear to go to the Path of the Psi Fury.

Dang it, I suck at this. Let me get it fixed

[Jervis]

Dang it, I suck at this. Let me get it fixed

It’s ok my dude. Easy mistake to make.

[nickl_2000]

It’s ok my dude. Easy mistake to make.

I think it got it this time

[RickAsWritten]

All the links appear to go to the Path of the Psi Fury.

Mwahahaha, let the evil plan commence! You can't vote for anyone else if I use my psionic rage powers to change all the links to only lead to the Psi Fury. Mwahahaha.

[nickl_2000]

Mwahahaha, let the evil plan commence! You can't vote for anyone else if I use my psionic rage powers to change all the links to only lead to the Psi Fury. Mwahahaha.

Thankyou for the creation of the thread nickl_2000! I've opened the link of my "Hermit" but it seems to take to the Barbarian Psy Fury ^^

Anyway, in a few days I will be back home from vacation, then I will take another quick read to the entries and I will drop my votes!

EDIT: all the links seems to take me to the Barbarian Psy Fury, even if the address seems to be correct (the number at the end is different). I don't know why o_O

I tried to do it the easy way (and logical way for it to be designed in my IT related mind). Use the link for the first post and just change the postcount= to the next number for the rest, thinking that it would refer to the overall thread in the URL and postcount would reference the specific post within a thread. Turns out I was wrong and that isn't the way it works.

[animorte]

Dang it, I suck at this. Let me get it fixed

We're all here working together as a team. You're good!


Except for this one...

Mwahahaha, let the evil plan commence! You can't vote for anyone else if I use my psionic rage powers to change all the links to only lead to the Psi Fury. Mwahahaha.

Brilliant indeed.

[Old Harry MTX]

I tried to do it the easy way (and logical way for it to be designed in my IT related mind). Use the link for the first post and just change the postcount= to the next number for the rest, thinking that it would refer to the overall thread in the URL and postcount would reference the specific post within a thread. Turns out I was wrong and that isn't the way it works.

You never stop to learn... I would probably have done the same as you.

[nickl_2000]

The votes are in!

In 3rd place, with 8 points, we have The Hermit by Old Harry MTX .

In 2nd place, with 12 points, we have the Barbarian: Path of the Psi-Fury by RickAsWritten

and *drum roll* in first place, with a whopping 23 points we have Martial Archetype: The Weaponsmith by Damon_Tor!


Congratulations to all the winners! Our next contest will be food and foodies, which is the winner by having the most 1st place votes. My Way is Different and Bigger is Better will move to the next contest due to being tied for second.

[Old Harry MTX]

(if I screwed up in counts let me know and I will adjust)

Hum, I'm not sure because I checked it from phone, but the Hermit seems to have two 2nd preferences (Damon Tor and Jervis) for a total of 8 points O_o

(don't get me wrong, honestly I don't care, I partecipate for the fun)

[nickl_2000]

Hum, I'm not sure because I checked it from phone, but the Hermit seems to have two 2nd preferences (Damon Tor and Jervis) for a total of 8 points O_o

(don't get me wrong, honestly I don't care, I partecipate for the fun)

Yup, sorry about that. Hopefully it will be the last of the missed votes.

[Jervis]

Not that it really matters much but Chameleon got two votes, one 1st vote and one 2nd. Not a big deal admittedly though.

As for the next contest i’m feeling some blood hunter. Maybe a non edgy BH subclass based around cooking monsters.

[Old Harry MTX]

Not that it really matters much but Chameleon got two votes, one 1st vote and one 2nd. Not a big deal admittedly though.

As for the next contest i’m feeling some blood hunter. Maybe a non edgy BH subclass based around cooking monsters.

OK, if you manage to successfully write a non-edgy blood hunter you'll have my vote.