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Spores, Brutes, and Inventors: Unearthed Arcana Brings You Three New Subclasses
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<blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 7732057" data-attributes="member: 1003"><p>I'm looking at these sub-classes from a number of angles.</p><p></p><p><strong>Circle of Spores</strong></p><p>Overall Rating: 4/5</p><p></p><p><u>Thematic</u>: Fantastic. The standard Druids we have seen so far are "animal kingdom" druids. Let's have a fungus druid. It's great. Lots of themes to work with.</p><p></p><p><u>Rules</u>: Some great ideas.</p><p></p><p><em>Circle Spells</em></p><p>Extra prepared spells are always nice. Good mix too. It's weird to me they get Chill Touch instead of Poison Spray though. I understand not wanting to be overly reliant on poison damage, but Poison Spray is really too perfect for the theme, whereas Chill Touch seems off.</p><p></p><p><em>Halo of Spores</em></p><p>This seems a bit wonky to just get some extra damage per turn.</p><p></p><p><em>Symbiotic Entity</em></p><p>I love that this turns Wildshape into a more generic resource, like Channel Divinity is for clerics. If they were rewriting the PHB they should change "Wildshape" to "Channel Nature".</p><p></p><p><em>Fungal Infection</em></p><p>1 HP seems weak, but it's a "free" ally. The main problem I see is the need to kill the enemy with your Halo of Spores. What are the odds you'll ever get the killing blow with those 6 HP of damage? It doesn't seem like you'd actually get to use this often unless you have a bound prisoner to HoS until they're dead (which is dark). If the designers intend to ever see this get used it should be someone you'd damaged with HoS within the last minute.</p><p></p><p><em>Spreading Spore & Fungal Body</em></p><p>Both nice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Brute</strong></p><p>Overall Rating: 3/5</p><p></p><p><u>Thematic</u>: Meh. None of the abilities really matches the name of the flavor text at the beginning (they apply to Finesse and Ranged as much as Str). It's even more than one-dimensional than Champion.</p><p></p><p><u>Meta-Design</u>: If this is supposed to be Champion 2.0, I'd much rather they were honest about that. Just say you're fixing the Champion. Don't make new players choose between two similar sub-classes, especially if one of them is really better than the other (which a new player won't be able to judge for themselves, to it's essentially a gotcha). The whole design ethos of 5E was supposed to be "Clearly distinguished sub-classes, no bad choices". Brute breaks that. (I have the same complaint about Hexblade; just fix the Blade Pact)</p><p></p><p><u>Rules</u>: They're fine. You want a survivable fighter that does boatloads of damage? Check.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Invention</strong></p><p>Overall Rating: 2/5</p><p></p><p><u>Thematic</u>: What is going on here? They invent stuff? Doesn't every wizard invent stuff? Aren't all wizards high-INT mad scientists? The abilities don't really match the idea of "Invention" either. See below.</p><p></p><p><u>Rules</u>: Mixed bag here.</p><p></p><p><em>Tools of the Inventor</em></p><p>I feel like this one could really define the class if the player leverages all the extra rules for crafting in XGE. Or it's nothing, if they don't.</p><p></p><p><em>Arcamechanical Armor</em></p><p>This feature plus Tools of the Inventor come together to tell me "This sub-class should be called the Artificer and we should rename the Artificer something more accurate, like Bomb-Thrower". Thematically, TotI and AA give you an Iron Man vibe.</p><p></p><p>But if you're going for an Iron Man vibe, the armor needs to be better. Especially since it takes one of your attunement slots. It's worse than Mage Armor, never improves, and reduces the number of magic items you can attune to by one. What?? The theme is cool but the execution is hot garbage.</p><p></p><p><em>Reckless Casting</em></p><p>WTF?? How desperate would you have to be to ever use this? You have zero guarantee the spell you'll get will be useful, and it might be harmful. What if you're surrounded by allies and get Thunderwave? A reasonable selection of spells prepared would never leave you with worse choices than rolling randomly. This is the dumbest idea ever.</p><p></p><p>Also, thematically, how is this Invention? This is basically Wild Magic but even more dangerous to the caster and allies.</p><p></p><p><em>Alchemical Casting</em></p><p>This should be a Metamagic Ability. Buring a spell slot to change damage type seems really dumb, especially when wizards can swap out spells daily. A reasonably prepared wizard will never have only one damage type of spells prepared.</p><p></p><p><em>Prodigious Inspiration</em></p><p>Nice ability. Makes both Alchemical Casting and Reckless Casting even more pointless, as you're that much less likely to ever be witout the spell type you need.</p><p></p><p><em>Controlled Chaos</em></p><p>Not "Invention". And if you get a bad result you end up doing even more damage to yourself or your allies. Puke.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Irda Ranger, post: 7732057, member: 1003"] I'm looking at these sub-classes from a number of angles. [B]Circle of Spores[/B] Overall Rating: 4/5 [U]Thematic[/U]: Fantastic. The standard Druids we have seen so far are "animal kingdom" druids. Let's have a fungus druid. It's great. Lots of themes to work with. [U]Rules[/U]: Some great ideas. [I]Circle Spells[/I] Extra prepared spells are always nice. Good mix too. It's weird to me they get Chill Touch instead of Poison Spray though. I understand not wanting to be overly reliant on poison damage, but Poison Spray is really too perfect for the theme, whereas Chill Touch seems off. [I]Halo of Spores[/I] This seems a bit wonky to just get some extra damage per turn. [I]Symbiotic Entity[/I] I love that this turns Wildshape into a more generic resource, like Channel Divinity is for clerics. If they were rewriting the PHB they should change "Wildshape" to "Channel Nature". [I]Fungal Infection[/I] 1 HP seems weak, but it's a "free" ally. The main problem I see is the need to kill the enemy with your Halo of Spores. What are the odds you'll ever get the killing blow with those 6 HP of damage? It doesn't seem like you'd actually get to use this often unless you have a bound prisoner to HoS until they're dead (which is dark). If the designers intend to ever see this get used it should be someone you'd damaged with HoS within the last minute. [I]Spreading Spore & Fungal Body[/I] Both nice. [B]Brute[/B] Overall Rating: 3/5 [U]Thematic[/U]: Meh. None of the abilities really matches the name of the flavor text at the beginning (they apply to Finesse and Ranged as much as Str). It's even more than one-dimensional than Champion. [U]Meta-Design[/U]: If this is supposed to be Champion 2.0, I'd much rather they were honest about that. Just say you're fixing the Champion. Don't make new players choose between two similar sub-classes, especially if one of them is really better than the other (which a new player won't be able to judge for themselves, to it's essentially a gotcha). The whole design ethos of 5E was supposed to be "Clearly distinguished sub-classes, no bad choices". Brute breaks that. (I have the same complaint about Hexblade; just fix the Blade Pact) [U]Rules[/U]: They're fine. You want a survivable fighter that does boatloads of damage? Check. [B]School of Invention[/B] Overall Rating: 2/5 [U]Thematic[/U]: What is going on here? They invent stuff? Doesn't every wizard invent stuff? Aren't all wizards high-INT mad scientists? The abilities don't really match the idea of "Invention" either. See below. [U]Rules[/U]: Mixed bag here. [I]Tools of the Inventor[/I] I feel like this one could really define the class if the player leverages all the extra rules for crafting in XGE. Or it's nothing, if they don't. [I]Arcamechanical Armor[/I] This feature plus Tools of the Inventor come together to tell me "This sub-class should be called the Artificer and we should rename the Artificer something more accurate, like Bomb-Thrower". Thematically, TotI and AA give you an Iron Man vibe. But if you're going for an Iron Man vibe, the armor needs to be better. Especially since it takes one of your attunement slots. It's worse than Mage Armor, never improves, and reduces the number of magic items you can attune to by one. What?? The theme is cool but the execution is hot garbage. [I]Reckless Casting[/I] WTF?? How desperate would you have to be to ever use this? You have zero guarantee the spell you'll get will be useful, and it might be harmful. What if you're surrounded by allies and get Thunderwave? A reasonable selection of spells prepared would never leave you with worse choices than rolling randomly. This is the dumbest idea ever. Also, thematically, how is this Invention? This is basically Wild Magic but even more dangerous to the caster and allies. [I]Alchemical Casting[/I] This should be a Metamagic Ability. Buring a spell slot to change damage type seems really dumb, especially when wizards can swap out spells daily. A reasonably prepared wizard will never have only one damage type of spells prepared. [I]Prodigious Inspiration[/I] Nice ability. Makes both Alchemical Casting and Reckless Casting even more pointless, as you're that much less likely to ever be witout the spell type you need. [I]Controlled Chaos[/I] Not "Invention". And if you get a bad result you end up doing even more damage to yourself or your allies. Puke. [/QUOTE]
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