Just wanted to note that Mold Earth, of the elemental cantrips, is actually the one I have found far and away the most useful. "Loose earth" actually means any soil that is not filled with plant roots (like in a dense forest), so it actually applies in most other places. It can be used to create instant cover, or, because it is instantaneous, you can cast it underneath an enemy to make a 5' cube of dirt move from beneath them to around them, trapping them in it. Also very useful underground in anywhere that is not a stone tunnel: you can completely shift and manipulate the earth around you, hiding or blocking an enemy.
D&D 5E Treantmonk's Guide to Everything Xanathar
jgsugden
Legend
Seconding the underestimating the benefit of mold earth. You're instantly moving 5 feet of loose earth from one location to an adjacent location with just a wave of your hand (no verbal or material component). D&D does not define loose soil, but common English does as anything not firmly fixed together. Basically, if a shovel could move it, so can this spell - 125 cubic feet at a time. You can't shape the earth too well per the language of the cantrip (although the name is misleading if you can't), but you can do it over and over to create massive changes to the landscape. It isn't useful in every environment, but when it is useful, it can be very useful. I'd say that nearly any natural environment is fair game, and there are places in developed areas where it can also be used if you think about it. In some games that will limit the benefits, especially at earlier levels. At higher levels, you can use real spells to get access to the loose earth beneath or behind construction - and then you can wreck havoc.
It can be used to create barriers and moats. It can take a foundation out under a building or vehicle. You can use it to block passages. You can use it to collapse natural ceilings. You can use it to bury features or objects. Change the course of a river. Create floods. And all of this can be done quietly as there are no verbal components.
Heck, a first level spellcaster can make pretty good coin just working in the construction and demolition business. He can excavate a construction site with this spell faster than a crane.
* "Huh. What would happen if I just block off where this underground river exits this chamber...."
* "So the rope bridge across the chasm connects to what now?"
* "I move all the earth around the base of that tree away."
* "I remove all the earth around the right side of the base of the tower."
Or how about uses by NPCs? The PCs go to rest in a forest and wake up on an island.
DMs are left up to their own devices to address what happens when you remove the earth from beneath a creature or building, but even conservative approaches are going to be fun.
It can be used to create barriers and moats. It can take a foundation out under a building or vehicle. You can use it to block passages. You can use it to collapse natural ceilings. You can use it to bury features or objects. Change the course of a river. Create floods. And all of this can be done quietly as there are no verbal components.
Heck, a first level spellcaster can make pretty good coin just working in the construction and demolition business. He can excavate a construction site with this spell faster than a crane.
* "Huh. What would happen if I just block off where this underground river exits this chamber...."
* "So the rope bridge across the chasm connects to what now?"
* "I move all the earth around the base of that tree away."
* "I remove all the earth around the right side of the base of the tower."
Or how about uses by NPCs? The PCs go to rest in a forest and wake up on an island.
DMs are left up to their own devices to address what happens when you remove the earth from beneath a creature or building, but even conservative approaches are going to be fun.
ad_hoc
(they/them)
Mold Earth can't be used to restrain creatures.
The earth that is moved must be moved along the ground. It can't be moved onto a creature.
It's also just common sense. A cantrip isn't going to have a no-save restraint ability. That is something for a high level spell.
Oh, to be clear, I'm not using it to restrain a creature. It's just as an instant pit trap that takes them more of their movement to get out of, and putting the dirt over the top makes it hard for them to see out. No damage or conditions, just having to climb out of a hole.
ad_hoc
(they/them)
You still can't put the dirt back over them.
I see the benefit in limiting their movement, but in most cases it is a waste of an action. A 5ft hole is a pretty easy obstacle to clear.
haphazarduk
First Post
Its better than that
This but also more; A good comparison is the Death Cleric Touch of Death (TOD) feature which gives 5 + 2xlvl necrotic damage.
The Death Cleric gets this as a free action on a hit so its never wasted and its undoubtedly good (although resist necrotic/immunity is quite common amongst mid level undead until the Death Cleric gets their bypass at 6th).
However consider the following; Path to the Grave gives full benefit immediately out of the gate. If you have a way of doing lots of damage you can double that damage at 2nd level. As mentioned above it gives vulnerability to all damage but the emphasis should be on VULNERABILITY. Even if the mob normally has immunity for that damage type it has vulnerability for this attack so its useful when fighting undead, golems, fiends etc.
It does have an opportunity cost and I think, on balance, I would have made it a bonus action or even reaction but, with the right planning and party (rogue or paladin), it can make a big impact. And remember it will be quadruple weapon/SA damage on a critical!
Hap
This but also more; A good comparison is the Death Cleric Touch of Death (TOD) feature which gives 5 + 2xlvl necrotic damage.
The Death Cleric gets this as a free action on a hit so its never wasted and its undoubtedly good (although resist necrotic/immunity is quite common amongst mid level undead until the Death Cleric gets their bypass at 6th).
However consider the following; Path to the Grave gives full benefit immediately out of the gate. If you have a way of doing lots of damage you can double that damage at 2nd level. As mentioned above it gives vulnerability to all damage but the emphasis should be on VULNERABILITY. Even if the mob normally has immunity for that damage type it has vulnerability for this attack so its useful when fighting undead, golems, fiends etc.
It does have an opportunity cost and I think, on balance, I would have made it a bonus action or even reaction but, with the right planning and party (rogue or paladin), it can make a big impact. And remember it will be quadruple weapon/SA damage on a critical!
Hap
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Chris Hohl
First Post
My comments as to what I disagree with (I do agree with most of the guide):
Conquest Paladin. One of the biggest caveats mentioned here is the "lack of fear abilities to capitalize on the aura, but it seems like Treatmonk is ignoring the ways that the Conquest Paladin can access fear (discounting multiclassing and/or magic items). To that point, it isn't like the channel divinity is the only fear the Conquest Paladin has access to. To begin with, the expanded spell list gives the spell fear at level 9, which is obviously quite good when used in conjunction with the aura. Furthermore, Paladin's have wrathful smite, which syngergizes extremely well with a conquest paladin. Also to note, Shield Mater (and anything that knocks a creature prone) is extremely potent on a Conquest Paladin because a creature who is feared and prone in the Paladin's aura can't get up, which is obviously devastating to many opponents. Once you take into account Multiclassing, Feats, and Magic items, it clearly becomes even more viable, with such things like dipping 1 level in Hexblade for cause fear (and the other hexblade benefits like +cha to damage, allowing you to reduce the MADness of your Paladin), or the Dragon Fear feat if you choose a dragonborn, or items such as the Mace of Terror. Overall, I'd rate this subclass green.
Grave Cleric: I think both Path of the Grave, Circle of Mortality, and and Sentinel are all being undervalued here and I'd pump them all up a single color level. While Circle of Mortality may seem like only 4 healing from HW, the fact that it maximizes healing shouldnt be understanded, and allows the grave cleric to use a different healing spell in place of HW to allow someone (or multiple downed someones) to get back up and into the fight without worrying about immediately going down again. Mortality is extremely strong as long as you have someone in your party who has the ability to single attack nova, and while that does demand a slight amount of group planning, its quite strong when paired with things like a rogue or paladin or a variety of other one hit nova classes/subclasses. Finally, Sentinel can turn a crit hit into a normal hit, which is clearly amazing especially paired with characters like Bladesingers who have a high AC but low hitpoints, making crits the main reason why they may go down. Subclass should be purple here.
Arcane Archer: I honestly think this subclass is over-valued. As anything but a 3 level dip it seems extremely sub-optimal, and even then it's pretty sub-optimal in comparison to a battlemaster. I honestly can't think of a single reason why you'd want this over a battlemaster, which isn't good. I'd drop it down a level.
Horizon Walker: I again think this subclass is under-valued, as it is capable of some of the highest self sufficient consistent ranged damage (right under battlemaster) while having probably the best mobility out of any martial focused class. This is easily green with it's combinaton of high sustained ranged damage (haste + xbow master + SS + DS), and incredibly mobility, and is even pretty strong as a martial. While it has some ribbons, Distant Strike is so good that this subclass deserves a higher rating, and being able to pump out 5 attacks with sharpshooter at level 11 while teleporting around shouldn't be taken lightly.
Conquest Paladin. One of the biggest caveats mentioned here is the "lack of fear abilities to capitalize on the aura, but it seems like Treatmonk is ignoring the ways that the Conquest Paladin can access fear (discounting multiclassing and/or magic items). To that point, it isn't like the channel divinity is the only fear the Conquest Paladin has access to. To begin with, the expanded spell list gives the spell fear at level 9, which is obviously quite good when used in conjunction with the aura. Furthermore, Paladin's have wrathful smite, which syngergizes extremely well with a conquest paladin. Also to note, Shield Mater (and anything that knocks a creature prone) is extremely potent on a Conquest Paladin because a creature who is feared and prone in the Paladin's aura can't get up, which is obviously devastating to many opponents. Once you take into account Multiclassing, Feats, and Magic items, it clearly becomes even more viable, with such things like dipping 1 level in Hexblade for cause fear (and the other hexblade benefits like +cha to damage, allowing you to reduce the MADness of your Paladin), or the Dragon Fear feat if you choose a dragonborn, or items such as the Mace of Terror. Overall, I'd rate this subclass green.
Grave Cleric: I think both Path of the Grave, Circle of Mortality, and and Sentinel are all being undervalued here and I'd pump them all up a single color level. While Circle of Mortality may seem like only 4 healing from HW, the fact that it maximizes healing shouldnt be understanded, and allows the grave cleric to use a different healing spell in place of HW to allow someone (or multiple downed someones) to get back up and into the fight without worrying about immediately going down again. Mortality is extremely strong as long as you have someone in your party who has the ability to single attack nova, and while that does demand a slight amount of group planning, its quite strong when paired with things like a rogue or paladin or a variety of other one hit nova classes/subclasses. Finally, Sentinel can turn a crit hit into a normal hit, which is clearly amazing especially paired with characters like Bladesingers who have a high AC but low hitpoints, making crits the main reason why they may go down. Subclass should be purple here.
Arcane Archer: I honestly think this subclass is over-valued. As anything but a 3 level dip it seems extremely sub-optimal, and even then it's pretty sub-optimal in comparison to a battlemaster. I honestly can't think of a single reason why you'd want this over a battlemaster, which isn't good. I'd drop it down a level.
Horizon Walker: I again think this subclass is under-valued, as it is capable of some of the highest self sufficient consistent ranged damage (right under battlemaster) while having probably the best mobility out of any martial focused class. This is easily green with it's combinaton of high sustained ranged damage (haste + xbow master + SS + DS), and incredibly mobility, and is even pretty strong as a martial. While it has some ribbons, Distant Strike is so good that this subclass deserves a higher rating, and being able to pump out 5 attacks with sharpshooter at level 11 while teleporting around shouldn't be taken lightly.
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By my reading of Hound of Ill Omen, (the level 6 feature for shadow sorcerers) there's no limit to the number of hounds you can summon at once, and none of them require concentration. Of course this gets significantly worse at higher levels, but at level 6, burning 6 sorcery points over two rounds for two dire wolves that don't require your actions, can flank for each other to grant advantage, can knock their target prone, and do 10 damage per hit seems great for boss encounters.
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
Hmmm... I was going to start a thread but perhaps this is the better place.
A "gish" is a character who fights, and uses magic to enhance his fighting. So "how does this character fight" is always something to keep in mind.
(because the reverse doesn't really work - you can use magic to make your sword/fighting better, but it's hard to use your sword to make magic better...).
I was thinking about converting a 7th level pathfinder character to 5e as a mental exercise, and said character has a potent, ancient weapon (bladebound archetype) so hexblade screamed as the obvious way to go (this is the tl dr version, let's keep it focused here). Buuuuuut.... I have to admit that it really bothers me that a college of blade with a hexblade dip is a *much* better "gish" than a pure hexblade. Better skills, more spellslots, better fighting because of the inspiration dice being used in battle... In fact, with the combo of medium armor, shield, shield spell *and* the inspiration dice, the hexblade/college of sword combo is looking as some pretty sick AC (5 armor +2 dex +2 shield + 5 shield spell + dice so 24 + whatever the dice says).
What does the hexblade gain by not multiclassing? Slightly higher level spells? Is that really going to compensate for all he gets from college of sword?
A "gish" is a character who fights, and uses magic to enhance his fighting. So "how does this character fight" is always something to keep in mind.
(because the reverse doesn't really work - you can use magic to make your sword/fighting better, but it's hard to use your sword to make magic better...).
I was thinking about converting a 7th level pathfinder character to 5e as a mental exercise, and said character has a potent, ancient weapon (bladebound archetype) so hexblade screamed as the obvious way to go (this is the tl dr version, let's keep it focused here). Buuuuuut.... I have to admit that it really bothers me that a college of blade with a hexblade dip is a *much* better "gish" than a pure hexblade. Better skills, more spellslots, better fighting because of the inspiration dice being used in battle... In fact, with the combo of medium armor, shield, shield spell *and* the inspiration dice, the hexblade/college of sword combo is looking as some pretty sick AC (5 armor +2 dex +2 shield + 5 shield spell + dice so 24 + whatever the dice says).
What does the hexblade gain by not multiclassing? Slightly higher level spells? Is that really going to compensate for all he gets from college of sword?
Excellent guide.
Personally I'm playing a Hexblade, started around level 7, currently level 13. It's almost embarrassing just how good it is, and I've actually got a couple of things that have never come into play (Accursed Specter, and Soul Cage spell). As a full caster, I'm not quite as good as the party Wizard, but the two of us pack a lot of punch in the tough fights. As a fighter, which is my main thing, I feel like I'm just as potent as the Fighter and the Monk, even if I don't use any spells. I have enough skills especially Cha-based ones. So really, I'm in danger of being that annoying PC who can do everything. I'm going to multi-class to Paladin from 14+, which I think will kick things to yet another level of power, as far as melee goes - scary stuff.
Obviously, any Warlock is somewhat dependent on the campaign/DM style, as far as long rests vs short rests goes - for me, I actually try and push things forward sometimes, rather than be that annoying player who wants a short rest all the time... a Hexblade doesn't need spells all the time, they are essentially a Fighter who can also put out some uber-spells from time to time - bordering on OP, IMO; as I say, it's almost embarrassing to be as good as the other fighter-types, and also as good as the spell-slingers (in short bursts). In the game I'm playing in, we're running around the outer planes, so it's been difficult to find Humanoids to kill - not a problem, just saying that over many levels of play, I still have loads of stuff I've only ever used once or even never, and he's still arguably the most powerful and versatile character in the group - just hitting stuff with his sword, he's a really good fighter type, then he's got options for spells, and other powers, that are like really good icing on a great cake. Oh, and loads of flavour, if bad-boy types are your thing.
I've also got a player in the game I run who's a Rogue/Hexblade, now level 7; to me it's not as focused as a pure Hexblade, maybe built for the long-run? I dunno, to me Warlock has loads of options already, multi-classing adds more options but do you really need them?
So in my experience, Hexblade is definitely a better Gish than the Eldritch Knight (which I played from 1-7+ before swapping to Hexblade). Multi-classing might be useful, but isn't necessary, and personally I'd run straight Hexblade until you find the future abilities are not very exciting, or (like mine) you find your high level spells are making you too much of a Sorcerer and so multi-classing channels the power-ups into your melee capabilities, allowing the real spell casters to have their own place to shine.
Personally I'm playing a Hexblade, started around level 7, currently level 13. It's almost embarrassing just how good it is, and I've actually got a couple of things that have never come into play (Accursed Specter, and Soul Cage spell). As a full caster, I'm not quite as good as the party Wizard, but the two of us pack a lot of punch in the tough fights. As a fighter, which is my main thing, I feel like I'm just as potent as the Fighter and the Monk, even if I don't use any spells. I have enough skills especially Cha-based ones. So really, I'm in danger of being that annoying PC who can do everything. I'm going to multi-class to Paladin from 14+, which I think will kick things to yet another level of power, as far as melee goes - scary stuff.
Obviously, any Warlock is somewhat dependent on the campaign/DM style, as far as long rests vs short rests goes - for me, I actually try and push things forward sometimes, rather than be that annoying player who wants a short rest all the time... a Hexblade doesn't need spells all the time, they are essentially a Fighter who can also put out some uber-spells from time to time - bordering on OP, IMO; as I say, it's almost embarrassing to be as good as the other fighter-types, and also as good as the spell-slingers (in short bursts). In the game I'm playing in, we're running around the outer planes, so it's been difficult to find Humanoids to kill - not a problem, just saying that over many levels of play, I still have loads of stuff I've only ever used once or even never, and he's still arguably the most powerful and versatile character in the group - just hitting stuff with his sword, he's a really good fighter type, then he's got options for spells, and other powers, that are like really good icing on a great cake. Oh, and loads of flavour, if bad-boy types are your thing.
I've also got a player in the game I run who's a Rogue/Hexblade, now level 7; to me it's not as focused as a pure Hexblade, maybe built for the long-run? I dunno, to me Warlock has loads of options already, multi-classing adds more options but do you really need them?
So in my experience, Hexblade is definitely a better Gish than the Eldritch Knight (which I played from 1-7+ before swapping to Hexblade). Multi-classing might be useful, but isn't necessary, and personally I'd run straight Hexblade until you find the future abilities are not very exciting, or (like mine) you find your high level spells are making you too much of a Sorcerer and so multi-classing channels the power-ups into your melee capabilities, allowing the real spell casters to have their own place to shine.
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