D&D (2024) Are You Happy with the Selection of Subclasses?

[doctorbadwolf]

Honestly we are due for an Undead themed book.

Abi Dalzim Presents: Scourge of the Undead. Or something

I really want a Shadowfell book, maybe they could do both in one.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It's because sorcerer is torn between having bloodlines based on magical creatures and strange planar energies, and people wanting it to just be 'wizard, but hot'. And so anything thematic which pushes towards bloodline influence, but which detracts from 'wizard, but hot' gets a large pushback.

So the result is sorcerer eating the design space of all these cool and thematic influences, while also having those things shamefully tucked in a corner where they can be safely ignored by the people wanting their 'wizard, but hot'.

Eh…not really?

People want a Sorcerer that is nfluenced by planar energies, places of power, interaction with beings of power, etc.

And sure, that could be a “vestige” warlock of some sort, but I think it has more freedom in the Sorcerer.

Of course, I’d love to see a Binder that encompasses that, and is the master invoker (summoner) and can cast certain non ritual spells as rituals, with flavor of something like a Alistair Crowley style Hermetic Occultist, but that won’t happen so i have been making it on my own.

 

[Scribe]

Yeah I dont get the issue with the Sorcerer thematically, nor the issue with Clockwork.

Wizards study.
Sorcerers 'are'.
Warlocks borrow.

They are all different in how they access magic.

 

[ninjayeti]

Not exactly what I would have gone with, but its fine. Sorcerer is the only one that seems really off. There are several others where I would have swapped out one of the choices (no hexblade?) but I think most of the picks are reasonable.

 

[Kobold Stew]

A Subclass is essentially a Feat chain.

We see it differently:

• a feat chain is not tied to a particular class; a subclass is.
• a feat chain can be left; you can begin without the need to co all the way; a subclass can't.

 

[Parmandur]

We see it differently:

• a feat chain is not tied to a particular class; a subclass is.
• a feat chain can be left; you can begin without the need to co all the way; a subclass can't.

Well, Feat chains barely exist in 5E: bit what I'm saying is that a Subclass is just a preprogrammed series of abilities similar to what a Feat could grant. And we don't know that there will be a Weapon Mastery Feat, so Subclasses that interact with that system are significant.

 

[Parmandur]

For reference, here's a list of all the subclasses we've seen in the playtests so far:

Just as a fun note:

Of 48 Subclasses, 6 are from Tasha's, 5 are from Xanathar's, 4 are all-new, and the remaining 33 are from the 2014 PHB. They dropped 7 (3 Clerics, 4 Wizards) for a net 8 more Subclasses than the old PHB.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

And sure, that could be a “vestige” warlock of some sort, but I think it has more freedom in the Sorcerer.

Trouble is, sorcerer has extremely unimpactful subclasses. Playing draconic or storm feels like not having a subclass. So I've always felt subclasses based around cool planar energies or magical creatures are wasted on sorcerers.

It's why I liked the original dndnext playtest sorcerer so much. It felt like it was going to have a huge amount of identity in its subclass.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm fine with them.

I let players use subclasses from all different sources, so ultimately it doesn't matter which ones appear in 5E24. They'll still get to show me options from other books that they want to possibly use, and if I have to do a bit of editing to them for 5E24 use, I will. No big deal.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Trouble is, sorcerer has extremely unimpactful subclasses. Playing draconic or storm feels like not having a subclass. So I've always felt subclasses based around cool planar energies or magical creatures are wasted on sorcerers.

It's why I liked the original dndnext playtest sorcerer so much. It felt like it was going to have a huge amount of identity in its subclass.

The Sorcerer is odd in power allocation and like…what part is being overestimated? Like, do they think metamagic is hypersupermega powerful? I don’t understand.