Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Unearthed Arcana: Rune Knight, Swarmkeeper, The Revived
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 7834115" data-attributes="member: 53176"><p><strong><em><u>Rune Knight</u></em></strong></p><p>[ATTACH]114936[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>Bonus Proficiencies </strong></p><p>Some ribbonish things that let you understand how to read and inscribe Runes onto your equipment. Kind of necessary for the Verisimilitude but not much game impact other than that.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Magic </strong></p><p>The Real Draw of this subclass, this lets you temporarily enchant armor, shields, or weapons. You start off only knowing two, but you can swap them out on level-up and eventually know more. Of note, this ability lasts until you finish a long rest. Which can in practice be longer than a day, or in theory be never, if you are that abominable Coffee-Lock or something similar.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Options </strong></p><p>Right off the bat, this class uses your INT for a saving throw. An uncommon, but not unheard of, tertiary stat for Fighters. For good or bad, this stat use draws even more parallels to the as of yet unpublished Artificer. Personally, I feel like a bit of cross-pollination in subclass design is inevitable and leads to fun things like where everyone in the group has the same theme applied to a different class. The wording implies (via the use of the word "You"), that only you can benefit from these runes, so no handing out items to the party. Also, they are all written in what is presumably supposed to be the Giant Language.</p><p></p><p><em>Haug (Hill Rune): </em>Advantage and Resistance VS Poison, with the additional benefit of being able to pseudo-Rage once per rest for a solid 60 seconds without any restrictions. The poison bit is hardly anything to write home about, but the not-quite-rage bit on the other hand is going to make Barbarians look at you with the stink eye, due to your potentially better AC in the low to mid game.</p><p></p><p><em>Ild (Fire Rune): </em>Tool Expertise. I like it when Expertise is spread out more. The short rest part of this ability is vaguely reminiscent of<em> Bigby's Grasping Hand, </em>However it is both more potent (because it uses a save, and it Restrains instead of Grapples) and less powerful (it only lasts until they make a save). Still, a very potent tool against Rogue and Mage types. Note: This can be applied to a longbow, making the power much more devastating than if it was on a sword.</p><p></p><p><em>Ise (Frost Rune):</em> Advantage on Intimidation and Animal Handling checks is a bit underwhelming compared to the Expertise of the last rune. The short rest ability of this one lets you up your STR by 2 for 10 min. Which is basically +1 to hit and +1 damage on melee attacks, and +1 on STR saves. Again, this is going to make the Barbarian cross with you, even if it is technically lesser than what they get. But more importantly I do so loathe the in-combat "Stat Math" of previous editions, there has to be a more elegant way of doing this.</p><p></p><p><em>Skye (Cloud Rune):</em> Advantage (instead of Expertise) on slight of hand and deception checks. Letting you be even more Rogue-Like. The Short rest power on this one is possibly one of the most fun powers I have ever seen, letting you redirect an attack from any target unto another target, up to 30' away. That Crit the Blackguard did on your party Rogue? Well now it's going right into the belly of the enemy Mage!</p><p></p><p><em>Stein (Stone Rune): </em>Insight (adv again) and 60' (or +30') Darvision. The short rest power on this one is a single-target sleeplike condition. This rune is vaguely reminiscent of a Warlock.</p><p></p><p><em>Uvar (Storm Rune): </em>Further cribbing from the Mages (this time Diviners), adv on Arcana (for what that's worth), and immunity to surprise, which is really rare and quite potent. I can see Wizards considering this for a 3 level dip now. The short rest power is cumbersome. You enter a "state" (basically like a "stance") and during that stance you can can grant adv or disadv on any one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check as a reaction. Just skip the "state" part and make it a "flash of prophecy", directly letting you use the reaction whenever. It works smoother, like butter.</p><p></p><p><strong>Giant Might</strong></p><p>"By the Power of Greyskull, I have the Power!" This is basically another type of Rage that makes you big, and gives you bonus dice damage. Unfortunately it requires a bonus action, and a lot of those runes you want to use up there also require a bonus action, as does your Second Wind, and possibly you two-weapon-fighting(this power works on every weapon attack, making that an attractive idea). Which means this subclass is totally bloated on Bonus Actions, and probably needs a different way to make this work. The good news is that despite being a STR themed power, this totally works with Ranged attacks! Appropriate if you want to throw rocks, but very nice if you are going for a not-rogue dex-fighter.</p><p></p><p><strong>Defensive Runes</strong></p><p>Another way to use your reaction, this time you throw up a small shield to protect any other creature you can see, not you, just them. Of note, this power doesn't have a per-rest limitation, so you can shield all day long. Also, you get another Rune, which is great.</p><p></p><p><strong>Great Stature </strong></p><p>You hit your second Growth Spurt, gain up to an additional foot in height, and do extra damage with Giant Might. Kind of fun, but I can already foresee people hating the fluff bit about being taller. For some reason people just balk at any kind of ability that changes how their character looks.</p><p>Also, yet another Rune, bringing you up to 4.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Magic Mastery</strong></p><p>You double all your Rune per-rest uses, and get another Rune. Which makes 5/6 options yours. At this point you need to carry around 2 extra weapons and a shield or 3 extra weapons just to house your Runes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Blessing of the All Father</strong></p><p>Would you believe it took me this long into the subclass to make the He-Man connection? Anyway, when you get swole from Giant Might, you can also make any other creature within 60' of you swole too. Which is seems really fun if you have another weapon user in the group, or just hilarious if you make the Wizard a giant.</p><p></p><p><u>Thoughts</u></p><p>This subclass blatantly poaches from and recycles so many things. The Giant sorcerer, the Runesmith PrC, the Artificer, the Barbarian, the Rogue, all sorts of Mages, the Brute, and the Masters of the Universe. And much like a kitchen sink, it needs a bit of cleaning and polish before it goes pro. Namely bonus action scarcity hits this subclass like a truck.</p><p></p><p><strong><em><u>Swarmkeeper </u></em></strong></p><p>This is a weird feeling, the first time I have come close to predicting something in a UA, and it was in a thread talking about Ranger pets.</p><p></p><p><strong>Swarmkeeper Magic </strong></p><p>Extra spells are especially good for the Ranger, who has a very restricted list. <em>Faerie Fire</em> and <em>Web </em>are nice, the others are more thematic than general purpose, but can be put to good use regardless.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gathered Swarm</strong></p><p>"3rd- and 11th-level Swarmkeeper feature" What? Is that a thing now? I've never seen a listing like that before. The only notable thing it does at level 11 is scaling damage. That aside, this summons a Swarm of Fey Spirits to act as an aesthetic particle effect around your character. They can look like tiny beasts, which gives a lot of leeway on how this looks:</p><p>[spoiler=List of Tiny Beasts with stats in D&D]</p><p>Badger</p><p>Bat</p><p>Cat</p><p>Crab</p><p>Cranium Rat</p><p>Flying Snake</p><p>Frog</p><p>Hawk</p><p>Ligotti (basically a tentacle)</p><p>Lizard</p><p>Owl</p><p>Poisonus Snake</p><p>Quipper</p><p>Rat</p><p>Raven</p><p>Scorpion</p><p>Sea Horse</p><p>Spider</p><p>Stirge (ew)</p><p>Traxigor (an Otter)</p><p>Tressym</p><p>Velociraptor</p><p>Weasel</p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p>And that's not including obvious swap outs, like Bees or Butterflies, or basically whatever other tiny animal you can think of because they are spirits who crib the look of the animal, not the stat block. Which is a relief, because I don't think anyone could handle a player controlled swarm of actual Stirges. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek! :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" /></p><p></p><p>Anyway, the mechanics of this swarm let you cover your weapon in them as a bonus action, and use it to attack for extra force damage, and push or pull the target 5' every time at your discretion for up to 60 seconds. regardless of the creatures size. And you are now imagining a Spirit Crab surfing on an arrow that was launched at an ancient Red Dragon. Who then slaps said dragon with the back of it's claw, which forces the dragon to take a step back. And really, who wouldn't take a step back after getting claw-slapped by an arrow-surfing crab?</p><p></p><p>The only downside to this ability is that you can only use it WIS mod times per day. A shame really.</p><p></p><p><strong>Writhing Tide </strong></p><p>You can now ride on your swarm. But only when you activate the above feature. Honestly, this is ability is a bit underpowered with that restriction, and could safely be switched to "always on"</p><p></p><p><strong>Scuttling Eyes</strong></p><p>It's a scouting tool that is overall less useful than <em>Find Familiar. </em>Come on now, we started off so strong with this subclass. It does get to use your stealth stat, but even then this is a level 3 ability at best. At level 11 you should be doing something like causing the swarm to engulf someone else. Speaking of which...</p><p></p><p>Edit: Oh wait, I see, you teleport to the familiar instead of the other way around. I'm still not a fan of this ability.</p><p></p><p><strong>Storm of Minions</strong></p><p>You can finally make your swarm, well swarm. Lets see here</p><p>2d8 necrotic damage save for half is meh</p><p>1d8 healing is interesting. You could potently become immortal for the duration of the power, healing every time you get knocked down.</p><p>It's a Smart AoE, so no bugging your friends.</p><p>CON save vs being blind is going to basically never happen in your favor at this level of the game, especially off of WIS, which is your secondary stat at best.</p><p>The range, area, fact it doesn't doesn't use concentration are good.</p><p>It's rechargeable by using a level 4 spell slot, which is also interesting and gives us an idea of where it's supposed to be. Over all, it's a bit meh for it's level and even more meh as a capstone. Knocking it down to level 11, then making the capstone something like "You cause your body to disperse and become the swarm" Is the angle they should have went with.</p><p></p><p></p><p><u>Thoughts</u></p><p>It starts off strong, but ends up lacking a bit in the later game. Making Scuttling Eyes level a secondary level 3 power (using level 1 spell slots, and without the teleport thing that was out of left field to begin with), knocking Swarm of Minions down to level 11, and then making up a new capstone would be the formula for improvement. Also maybe make some kind of reaction power for the swarm to do when you get hit in melee combat, that would be a nice touch, but that shouldn't be the capstone either.</p><p></p><p><strong><em><u>The Revived </u></em></strong></p><p>The Devas are back, in Rogue Form.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tokens of Past Lives</strong></p><p>Proficiency slots are kind of meh for Rogues. This one however, rotates out every day, which is cool enough to make this interesting.</p><p></p><p><strong>Revived Nature</strong></p><p>You become a Warforged. Which is a handy set of abilities for a Rogue to have, if a bit creepy.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bolts from the Grave </strong></p><p>Mechanically, this is great! You manage to combine Cunning Action and Two Weapon Fighting into one bonus action. The Restriction being that you need to have missed (or otherwise not used) your sneak attack (which is the primary reason for using Two Weapon Fighting on a Rogue in the first place) and it's a Ranged Spell Attack, so melee combat might not be the best idea.<s> Ideally, you just used your bonus action for Cunning Action, which means you should be Hidden, Disengaging, or Dashing at the moment, leaving that deadly melee combat behind you (remember, in 5e you can Move a little bit, take an action or attack, then move the rest of the way). </s> Oops, sorry, you have to make the attack Immediately after using cunning action, which makes takes all the fun out of it. They definitely need to change that restriction.</p><p></p><p><strong>Connect with the Dead</strong></p><p>You cast <em>Speak With Dead</em> once per rest. As a twist, whenever you do so you randomly gain one proficiency. If it wasn't for the random bit, you would would see these Rogues reenact that once scene from Hamlet every time the party sets up camp. Which is amusing, but I would imagine it would get old fast.</p><p></p><p><strong>Audience with Death</strong></p><p>Advantage on Death saving throws. Additionally, you get to ask DEATH a question every time he comes knocking for you, and whenever you get knocked out, your brains scramble a bit so you can change your personality. I can imagine a Rogue working with the party Cleric so that the Rogue purposely brings themselves to a near death state just to ask questions now. As interesting as that is, do we really want a causally suicidal subclass?</p><p></p><p><strong>Ethereal Jaunt</strong></p><p>Teleportation as a bonus action is nice, and synergizes well with Bolts from the Grave. Though I have to admit, it took me three rereads to figure out what was going on with this power. Something about it didn't flow right. Maybe it's because this is the last entry on a long UA and I'm on a diet so my blood sugar is low.</p><p></p><p><u>Thoughts</u></p><p>If there was ever a UA indicator of Planescape, this subclass would be it. This is some Dustmen kind of flavor. Otherwise, Rogues don't tend to get much out of their subclasses in general.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Leatherhead, post: 7834115, member: 53176"] [B][I][U]Rune Knight[/U][/I][/B] [ATTACH alt="magic-runes-laddie.png"]114936[/ATTACH] [B]Bonus Proficiencies [/B] Some ribbonish things that let you understand how to read and inscribe Runes onto your equipment. Kind of necessary for the Verisimilitude but not much game impact other than that. [B]Rune Magic [/B] The Real Draw of this subclass, this lets you temporarily enchant armor, shields, or weapons. You start off only knowing two, but you can swap them out on level-up and eventually know more. Of note, this ability lasts until you finish a long rest. Which can in practice be longer than a day, or in theory be never, if you are that abominable Coffee-Lock or something similar. [B]Rune Options [/B] Right off the bat, this class uses your INT for a saving throw. An uncommon, but not unheard of, tertiary stat for Fighters. For good or bad, this stat use draws even more parallels to the as of yet unpublished Artificer. Personally, I feel like a bit of cross-pollination in subclass design is inevitable and leads to fun things like where everyone in the group has the same theme applied to a different class. The wording implies (via the use of the word "You"), that only you can benefit from these runes, so no handing out items to the party. Also, they are all written in what is presumably supposed to be the Giant Language. [I]Haug (Hill Rune): [/I]Advantage and Resistance VS Poison, with the additional benefit of being able to pseudo-Rage once per rest for a solid 60 seconds without any restrictions. The poison bit is hardly anything to write home about, but the not-quite-rage bit on the other hand is going to make Barbarians look at you with the stink eye, due to your potentially better AC in the low to mid game. [I]Ild (Fire Rune): [/I]Tool Expertise. I like it when Expertise is spread out more. The short rest part of this ability is vaguely reminiscent of[I] Bigby's Grasping Hand, [/I]However it is both more potent (because it uses a save, and it Restrains instead of Grapples) and less powerful (it only lasts until they make a save). Still, a very potent tool against Rogue and Mage types. Note: This can be applied to a longbow, making the power much more devastating than if it was on a sword. [I]Ise (Frost Rune):[/I] Advantage on Intimidation and Animal Handling checks is a bit underwhelming compared to the Expertise of the last rune. The short rest ability of this one lets you up your STR by 2 for 10 min. Which is basically +1 to hit and +1 damage on melee attacks, and +1 on STR saves. Again, this is going to make the Barbarian cross with you, even if it is technically lesser than what they get. But more importantly I do so loathe the in-combat "Stat Math" of previous editions, there has to be a more elegant way of doing this. [I]Skye (Cloud Rune):[/I] Advantage (instead of Expertise) on slight of hand and deception checks. Letting you be even more Rogue-Like. The Short rest power on this one is possibly one of the most fun powers I have ever seen, letting you redirect an attack from any target unto another target, up to 30' away. That Crit the Blackguard did on your party Rogue? Well now it's going right into the belly of the enemy Mage! [I]Stein (Stone Rune): [/I]Insight (adv again) and 60' (or +30') Darvision. The short rest power on this one is a single-target sleeplike condition. This rune is vaguely reminiscent of a Warlock. [I]Uvar (Storm Rune): [/I]Further cribbing from the Mages (this time Diviners), adv on Arcana (for what that's worth), and immunity to surprise, which is really rare and quite potent. I can see Wizards considering this for a 3 level dip now. The short rest power is cumbersome. You enter a "state" (basically like a "stance") and during that stance you can can grant adv or disadv on any one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check as a reaction. Just skip the "state" part and make it a "flash of prophecy", directly letting you use the reaction whenever. It works smoother, like butter. [B]Giant Might[/B] "By the Power of Greyskull, I have the Power!" This is basically another type of Rage that makes you big, and gives you bonus dice damage. Unfortunately it requires a bonus action, and a lot of those runes you want to use up there also require a bonus action, as does your Second Wind, and possibly you two-weapon-fighting(this power works on every weapon attack, making that an attractive idea). Which means this subclass is totally bloated on Bonus Actions, and probably needs a different way to make this work. The good news is that despite being a STR themed power, this totally works with Ranged attacks! Appropriate if you want to throw rocks, but very nice if you are going for a not-rogue dex-fighter. [B]Defensive Runes[/B] Another way to use your reaction, this time you throw up a small shield to protect any other creature you can see, not you, just them. Of note, this power doesn't have a per-rest limitation, so you can shield all day long. Also, you get another Rune, which is great. [B]Great Stature [/B] You hit your second Growth Spurt, gain up to an additional foot in height, and do extra damage with Giant Might. Kind of fun, but I can already foresee people hating the fluff bit about being taller. For some reason people just balk at any kind of ability that changes how their character looks. Also, yet another Rune, bringing you up to 4. [B]Rune Magic Mastery[/B] You double all your Rune per-rest uses, and get another Rune. Which makes 5/6 options yours. At this point you need to carry around 2 extra weapons and a shield or 3 extra weapons just to house your Runes. [B]Blessing of the All Father[/B] Would you believe it took me this long into the subclass to make the He-Man connection? Anyway, when you get swole from Giant Might, you can also make any other creature within 60' of you swole too. Which is seems really fun if you have another weapon user in the group, or just hilarious if you make the Wizard a giant. [U]Thoughts[/U] This subclass blatantly poaches from and recycles so many things. The Giant sorcerer, the Runesmith PrC, the Artificer, the Barbarian, the Rogue, all sorts of Mages, the Brute, and the Masters of the Universe. And much like a kitchen sink, it needs a bit of cleaning and polish before it goes pro. Namely bonus action scarcity hits this subclass like a truck. [B][I][U]Swarmkeeper [/U][/I][/B] This is a weird feeling, the first time I have come close to predicting something in a UA, and it was in a thread talking about Ranger pets. [B]Swarmkeeper Magic [/B] Extra spells are especially good for the Ranger, who has a very restricted list. [I]Faerie Fire[/I] and [I]Web [/I]are nice, the others are more thematic than general purpose, but can be put to good use regardless. [B]Gathered Swarm[/B] "3rd- and 11th-level Swarmkeeper feature" What? Is that a thing now? I've never seen a listing like that before. The only notable thing it does at level 11 is scaling damage. That aside, this summons a Swarm of Fey Spirits to act as an aesthetic particle effect around your character. They can look like tiny beasts, which gives a lot of leeway on how this looks: [spoiler=List of Tiny Beasts with stats in D&D] Badger Bat Cat Crab Cranium Rat Flying Snake Frog Hawk Ligotti (basically a tentacle) Lizard Owl Poisonus Snake Quipper Rat Raven Scorpion Sea Horse Spider Stirge (ew) Traxigor (an Otter) Tressym Velociraptor Weasel [/spoiler] And that's not including obvious swap outs, like Bees or Butterflies, or basically whatever other tiny animal you can think of because they are spirits who crib the look of the animal, not the stat block. Which is a relief, because I don't think anyone could handle a player controlled swarm of actual Stirges. :eek: Anyway, the mechanics of this swarm let you cover your weapon in them as a bonus action, and use it to attack for extra force damage, and push or pull the target 5' every time at your discretion for up to 60 seconds. regardless of the creatures size. And you are now imagining a Spirit Crab surfing on an arrow that was launched at an ancient Red Dragon. Who then slaps said dragon with the back of it's claw, which forces the dragon to take a step back. And really, who wouldn't take a step back after getting claw-slapped by an arrow-surfing crab? The only downside to this ability is that you can only use it WIS mod times per day. A shame really. [B]Writhing Tide [/B] You can now ride on your swarm. But only when you activate the above feature. Honestly, this is ability is a bit underpowered with that restriction, and could safely be switched to "always on" [B]Scuttling Eyes[/B] It's a scouting tool that is overall less useful than [I]Find Familiar. [/I]Come on now, we started off so strong with this subclass. It does get to use your stealth stat, but even then this is a level 3 ability at best. At level 11 you should be doing something like causing the swarm to engulf someone else. Speaking of which... Edit: Oh wait, I see, you teleport to the familiar instead of the other way around. I'm still not a fan of this ability. [B]Storm of Minions[/B] You can finally make your swarm, well swarm. Lets see here 2d8 necrotic damage save for half is meh 1d8 healing is interesting. You could potently become immortal for the duration of the power, healing every time you get knocked down. It's a Smart AoE, so no bugging your friends. CON save vs being blind is going to basically never happen in your favor at this level of the game, especially off of WIS, which is your secondary stat at best. The range, area, fact it doesn't doesn't use concentration are good. It's rechargeable by using a level 4 spell slot, which is also interesting and gives us an idea of where it's supposed to be. Over all, it's a bit meh for it's level and even more meh as a capstone. Knocking it down to level 11, then making the capstone something like "You cause your body to disperse and become the swarm" Is the angle they should have went with. [U]Thoughts[/U] It starts off strong, but ends up lacking a bit in the later game. Making Scuttling Eyes level a secondary level 3 power (using level 1 spell slots, and without the teleport thing that was out of left field to begin with), knocking Swarm of Minions down to level 11, and then making up a new capstone would be the formula for improvement. Also maybe make some kind of reaction power for the swarm to do when you get hit in melee combat, that would be a nice touch, but that shouldn't be the capstone either. [B][I][U]The Revived [/U][/I][/B] The Devas are back, in Rogue Form. [B]Tokens of Past Lives[/B] Proficiency slots are kind of meh for Rogues. This one however, rotates out every day, which is cool enough to make this interesting. [B]Revived Nature[/B] You become a Warforged. Which is a handy set of abilities for a Rogue to have, if a bit creepy. [B]Bolts from the Grave [/B] Mechanically, this is great! You manage to combine Cunning Action and Two Weapon Fighting into one bonus action. The Restriction being that you need to have missed (or otherwise not used) your sneak attack (which is the primary reason for using Two Weapon Fighting on a Rogue in the first place) and it's a Ranged Spell Attack, so melee combat might not be the best idea.[S] Ideally, you just used your bonus action for Cunning Action, which means you should be Hidden, Disengaging, or Dashing at the moment, leaving that deadly melee combat behind you (remember, in 5e you can Move a little bit, take an action or attack, then move the rest of the way). [/S] Oops, sorry, you have to make the attack Immediately after using cunning action, which makes takes all the fun out of it. They definitely need to change that restriction. [B]Connect with the Dead[/B] You cast [I]Speak With Dead[/I] once per rest. As a twist, whenever you do so you randomly gain one proficiency. If it wasn't for the random bit, you would would see these Rogues reenact that once scene from Hamlet every time the party sets up camp. Which is amusing, but I would imagine it would get old fast. [B]Audience with Death[/B] Advantage on Death saving throws. Additionally, you get to ask DEATH a question every time he comes knocking for you, and whenever you get knocked out, your brains scramble a bit so you can change your personality. I can imagine a Rogue working with the party Cleric so that the Rogue purposely brings themselves to a near death state just to ask questions now. As interesting as that is, do we really want a causally suicidal subclass? [B]Ethereal Jaunt[/B] Teleportation as a bonus action is nice, and synergizes well with Bolts from the Grave. Though I have to admit, it took me three rereads to figure out what was going on with this power. Something about it didn't flow right. Maybe it's because this is the last entry on a long UA and I'm on a diet so my blood sugar is low. [U]Thoughts[/U] If there was ever a UA indicator of Planescape, this subclass would be it. This is some Dustmen kind of flavor. Otherwise, Rogues don't tend to get much out of their subclasses in general. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Unearthed Arcana: Rune Knight, Swarmkeeper, The Revived
Top