D&D 5E A Touch of Class (EN5ider): Class Review

Recently ENworld ran a kickstarter for a "A Touch of Class" which was a compilation of revised classes for the 5E game. As printed originally some of the classes were really bad or perhaps out right broken/to complicated in some cases. Due to an being a member of EN5ider I got the PDF free which I will print out and bind as the postage made the cost of a real copy of "A Touch of Class" to expensive for a 70 page book (it was close to being able to buy a new PHB).

I also tend to be fairly brutal when reviewing new classes. I usually compare them to the closest thing in the PHB they are equivalent to and they have to pass the "would I want to play this" test. Note all of the PHB classes pass that test except for the Elemental Monk and Beastmaster Ranger. In some ways I am a powergamer, I like being good at whatever it is I am doing, I do not take the most powerful option (I might pick being good at healing or skills vs damage). When I actually get to play in effect this means I usually get to play the healer and have come to enjoy "Guy the Cleric" (I have played Champion Fighter, Light Ceric, Valor Bard, Way of Fists Monk, Diviner, Avenger Paladin in 5E mostly lvl 1-5).

Some of the classes also have follow on articles with new subclasses, I will be focusing on the original class and archetypes. The reviews will be brief but I will try to explain what the class is doing or trying to achieve without reprinting the entire class and how effective the class is at doing that and how it would fit into a D&D party.

Alchemist

Several months ago I started a thread about "Do Alchemists Suck". Put simply it was probably one of the worst classes I had seen designed for 5E and it did not compare well for example to the artificer playtest materials in UA let alone various DMGuild classes and homebrew ones or even the Pathfinder version of the class in that system. This class may also be the most heavily revised of the AToC classes.

The new Alchemist has 2 subclasses which are the Science of Creation and Science of Destruction. Bombs and Frankenstein basically. It is hard to compare to the PHB classes as it has a d8 hit dice and light armour but its only a half caster like the Ranger and Paladin and it is bad at fighting. The new on also has an odd scaling mechanism for damage with multiple attacks and scaling attacks where the PHB classes usually have multiple attacks, scaling cantrips, or more dice for damage. The alchemist gets 2 attacks at level 5 (same as Eldritch Blast), gets a AoE upgrade at 9, and then an extra dice of damage at 13 and a 30' radius at 17 and they can deal elemental or poison damage.

The Alchemist can also cast its spells as a ritual and gets cure on its spell list which means unlimited healing if you have time (cure as a ritual). You can also pick a variety of options as you level up in effect similar to talents from Star Wars Saga or Invocations from the 5E Warlock. Some of them are interesting like being able to spend your hit dice without having to short rest, immunity to poison or the option to use wish at level 18.

The science of destruction Alchemist is more or less the Champion Fighter in terms of simplicity and it can sacrifice it spell slots to deal more damage in effect smiting at range.An enhanced bomb deals spell deals 3d8 damage per level of the spell slot used increasing to 4d6 at level 14+ stun effect and a 60' radius. You can take class features to enhance the bomb such as a delayed effect, excluding your allies etc.

The Science of Destruction seems slow to come online, damage looks generous but you are a half caster so spell slots are limited and your at will attack is a fairly middling 1d10. I'm not convinced its that good at blasting and I do not think it compares that well to an Invoker, Light Cleric, Fiend Pact Warlock or even a blaster focused Lore Bard so it kind of fails the "would I play this class" test at least from level 1, it doesn't look to bad from level 9+.

The Science of Creation alchemist gives you a pet to use. You can command this creation and spam your basic bomb. Interestingly the pet can be of a beast or monstrosity CR equal to half your level, its enhances like the Beastmaster Rangers pet and it is a bonus action to command it. A level 16 Alchemist gets to play with a T-Rex for example and the pet is better than say a Mon Druids wile shape (CR 1/3rd your level). Tome of Beasts also has new beasts in particular to pick from if the DM allows it such as the Savager (CR 8 uber dire bear stats similar to T-Rex large sized). At level 14 you can use Dragons, Humanoids and Constructs as well and some of them deal magic damage for example. The Alchemist stinks as a spell caster and as a combatant so this pet is a major class feature and you can command it and spam your basic bomb.

The Science of Creation I think passes my "do I want to play this class" test although a major downside is if your pet gets splattered and then you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle until you make a new one. Its an interesting way of adding a pet to the game, gut feeling is the balance is about right, and it ticks all the right boxes for me (interesting, doesn't suck, new and innovative, well designed). Both Alchemists also get a bit of utility although so do Lore Bards if you want to compare the Science of Desctruction to a blaster focused Lore Bard with hex eldritch blast, fireball, and wave of destruction. The Science of Creation is my pick for playing.

There is also another article with more subclasses for the alchemist- science of Illumination, Mutation, Regeneration. Think skill monkey, beatstick and healer but they are beyond the scope of this post.

The Cardcaster.

This is a class I am still struggling to grok and the rules seem a bit unclear over how many times you can cast your spells and you need a tarot deck which I am not familiar with so it kind of introduces a mini game. I think it is trying to be some sort of caster with a semi randomised prepared spells with some limitations like the warlock. You refresh what options you can pick from and I think you can use them XYZ per day and you get some cantrips based on your subclass.

I don't really get the class, it kind of fails my "do I want to play this class" because of it, mechanically I am not sure how the class functions and I really do not want to use tarot cards as a class feature nor do I own tarot cards.

It does have a very interesting looking gish subclass class though the Knight of Swords which if the class functions the way I think it does might actually be the best arcane gish caster yet.
If anyone has actually played this class or at least gets it, feel free to comment below. Mechanically I just do not know.

The Diabolist

This class is another pet class that I suspect was outright broken when it was originally published. It used to let you have 1 pet for every proficiency bonus you had and each pet could have a CR equal to 1/3rd your level. A 9th level diabolist could have 3 CR 3 critters. Not to bad at lower levels but then by level 18 you could have 6 CR 6 critters and each one can get 2 or 3 attacks. The pet could be some form of minor undead, a demon or devil and you could pick them from the Conjured Horrors article on EN5ider.

The new one keeps the CR 1/4rd level but now you only have 1 pet. You have the option of making that pet an undead with various immunity and resistances. You can also cast some cantrips and get an ability every level since you are not a primary spellcaster as such with level 1-9 spells. You also get a scaling class "cantrip" necromantic touch which is similar to vampiric touch and is at will. Your pet goes on your initiative and requires no action to control. Its weaker than the Alchemists pet but you have better at will options with your cantrips and necromantic touch and you also get masterful presence (dex+charisma to AC) which combined with your necromantic touch gives you better melee options than say wizards.

In a worst case scenario of your pet dying and you lack the points to summon another one you are also in a better position than an Alchemist who loses their pet or a wizard or sorcerer who has run out of spell slots. At low levels your pet is also probably fairly weak such as a zombie or skeleton but you have cantrips, dark touch and masterful presence to fall back on. At higher levels you get more power pets, your cantrips and dark touch scale, and you get various class abilities making you immune or resistant to various things.

So does this class pass the "Do I Want to play this class test". From a flavour point of view personally no, I'm not really into fiend summoning etc. Mechanically though I think it does. I don't think the class is as powerful as a primary caster but pet+ OK at will damage+ interesting class features I think adds up to enough to keep it out of the unplayable/meh category and I would have to test it out.

The FeyWalker

The Feywalker is basically a warrior type (d10 HD, lt/med armor, martial weapons) and it probably comparable to the PHB Beastmaster Ranger. Originally published I thought it was one of the more interesting classes both in flavour and mechanics with 1 odd thing. It got its second attack at level 7 while every other warrior class got it at 5. The revised AToC Feywalker gets its at 5. So what is the basic function of a Feywalker? Its basically a misty step type warrior (fey step@ lvl 2, bonus action 1 per short rest per point of proficiney bonus) with a pet and fey themed abilities is perhaps the best way of describing it. It gets two attacks a round and its source of extra damage is the pet and subclass features which in theory enable it to compete with rage/smite/spells/action surge etc the other warrior classes get.

So at 1st glance why do another pet class where the beastmaster Ranger is kinda meh. Put simply the Feywalker pet is better. You use your bonus action to command it instead of your action, and you get the same benefits as the Beastmaster (adding proficiency to AC etc). Additionally your pet also scales with the option to have multiple pets or a bigger on at higher levels (pixies, dryad, awakened shrubs.trees, dire wolf, rhino, sabre toothed tiger etc). Most of the basic beasts from the MM and some dinosaurs are available and they can all get the "beastmaster" template and can be commanded as a bonus action. Not a bad deal IMHO compared with a bonus dice of damage (hunters quarry) or the benefits of a weapon style. Your pet can also fey step using your use of its ability. Put simply you can have an attack action use your bonus action to command your pet, which can use its bonus action to fey step and then unleash its attacks.

The Feywalker also picks up an extra skill and it has 3 subclasses. They are Beast, Plant and Entropic primal spheres. The subclasses do not give you that much as most of the Feywalkers features are built into the base class. These are not all the class features you get with the subclasses just the main ones.

Beast
The beast primal sphere give the feywalker the beast animal followers and you can pick up 3 cantrips one of which is shilleagh. You use your charisma for these spells and if you do not mind using a staff you can key your attacks off charisma as well as dex and strength. the other cantrips are mostly defensive/utiolity+ poison spray and you pick up the animal handling skill (thats 6 with background). Capstone ability you get +2 str/dex/con and your new cap is 22. Most of this sub class ability is very nasty beasts.


Plant
You advanced pets are limited to awakened shrubs and trees, but you have the best cantrips and pick up the nature skill for free. You can pick up acid splash, shocking grasp, firebolt or ray of frost for example. Its capstone is immunity to various conditions and advantage on saves vs most of the rest.

Entropic
You get 3 random cantirps and can reroll them every time you level up, and you pick up insight and acrobatics as skills (7 total). You companion(s) are fey type creatures and at level 7 you get a damage upgrade when you feystep (1d6/3d6/5d6/7d6 bonus damage lvl 7/9/13/17). Its cap stone is extra damage (4d8)+ a condition on a failed save when you feystep. This means you can feystep have 2 attacks and deal an additional 7d6+4d8 damage.

Overall I like the Feywalker. If you like skill monkey type PCs with some cantrips and a pet this class is for you and if you like rangers I think you will like the class and if you like the beastmaster ranger this one is for you IMHO. This class passes with flying colours in the do I want to play it test.

The Morph

What is the Morph? Its similar to the PHB Moon Druid that can wildshape and can't cast spells. Its is wildshape on steroids. Starting from level 8 you can do it 3/short rest and it scales up to 4 times by level 15 and at will at level 20. You can select a variety of class features to enhance the wild shape or turn yourself into other creature types that are not beasts. There are 2 subclasses the Primordial Beast and Trickster. The Trickster is the weakest one and its supposed to be a rogue type and you are kind of like a doppleganger, the Primordial Beast is the Moon Druid on steroids. You are also proficient in con and dex saves so go figure.

There is not a lot to say about this class. Whats more broken than being a bear at level 2 in 5E? How about a bear resistant to non magical weapons and a bonus action attack? At higher levels you can pick talents that let you turn into Elementals and Dragons and Oozes and constructs (CR level/3 rounded down). You can also pick up the Polymorph spell at level 5 enabling you to turn into a CR 5 critter at lvl 5.

This class is out right broken at low levels being a Moon Druid on steroids in regards to its shape shifting. A Moon Druids shapes do not scale that well and the Morph has the same problem but you can turn into other things than beasts. With Tome of Beasts and Volos Guide you also have more options to turn into as well. So yeah this class is great at low levels, if you roll meh ability scores and at higher levels there is enough top make the class useful. So does this class pass muster? Sort of its powerful enough but it depends on how you like your power levels, OP at lower levels probably meh later on depending on what splat the DM allows.

The Noble

This class seems more or less unchanged front he original. This is EN5iders take on the warlord class. This was the 1st EN5ider class. Not a lot to say about this class as it has been covered over the last year+. There are 3 subclasses the Path of the Heart, Path of Bravery and Path of the Tactician. Its more or less a cleric type replacement/support class with Path of Bravery being the warrior subclass, Heart being pure support and Tactician somewhere in the middle.

I would have to see the classes in action but one of them the Path of the Heart is potentially out right broken in the right party. The right party being some combination of Rogue, Warlock and anyone using the -5/+10 feats. This is because you can grant at will attack or spell casting granting to other people. A support class like cleric doesn't tend to do that much damage, this one here can do its thing and give up its action to enable an ally to do its best attack or situation ally best attack (eg a ranged attack). Ideally that extra attack is a sneak attack, eldritch blast or -5/+10 attack and it fits the best situation.

The other two subclasses are a bit more restrained they can do the attack granted thing 1/short rest but they are better at combat. They have been revised with better weapon proficiency that are less clumsy than the original noble.

Either way the class is basically a take on the 4E Warlord and I am not touching that argument with a 10' pole. Do the classes pass muster mechanically? The Path of the Heart does in the right party, the other 2 look OK as you probably won't suck. You can also add in feats like Healer, Inspiring Presence and the 3pp Commander feat to enhance the support part of the class. So yes this class just gets a tentative pass although I think I would rather just play a cleric or bard if you are playing on pure power.

Occultist

The Occultist is a strange sort of class that doesn't really fit into the traditional roles of the 5E PHB classes. The closest class I can compare it with IMHO is Monk as the class is a type of skirmisher as far as I can tell. It also helps that the class has a Dark strike ability that scales at the same rate as a Monks unarmed strike, supernatural movement later on and 2 attacks a round at 5th level. You probably want to go dex based and wear light armor. You are proficient in con and charisma saves and pick up another save at level 6 and 18 which is almost unique- Transmuters have that option at level 6, Rogues and Monks get more saves at higher levels. For extra damage you can turn your dark strikes into necrotic damage and add your constitution onto them as well. Not quite as good as a Monks extra attack or flurry. At level 10 you get dex+con onto your AC and gain resistance your choice of slashing/bludgeoning/piercing damage. Otherwise most of your abilities come from the subclasses. So far you are a skirmisher that deals less damage than Monks and probably Rogues, and are fairly useless vs things immune or resistant to necrotic damage ie undead. There are 3 subclasses that more or less turn you into a abomination, were creature or Vampire.

Abomination
An abomination is basically Frankenstein. Damage is still low but this basically turns you into a tank with damage reduction and resistance/immunity to various effects. It looks good but then you realise Monks and Rogues also get a variety of defensive abilities and deal decent damage. It might be marginally better at the price of a lot less damage on a skirmisher. Does this subclass pass my do I want to play this? Well short answer is no I would just play a Monk or Rogue instead.

Vampire
You become undead and can drink blood to regain hit points (with disadvnatage to hi). You gain vulnerability to sunlight and lose your resitances and immunity in sunlight. M'kay.
You can charm things, summon children of the night, turn into a bat go into gaseous form etc. 3 of these options are level 11+. Yay. I would play an abomination instead and see that one for my opinion on it vs Rogue or Monk.

Werecreature. Well its better than the Vampire, perhaps better than abomination, still not very good still fails the would I play this test.

Overall the Occultist fails as a class IMHO as it is strictly inferior to things like Monk and Rogue at dealing damage and the various immunity/resistances etc are mostly situational and do not do enough to close the gap and are often inferior to something as simple as uncanny dodge. The class does not even compare that well to dual wielding and that is already generally acknowledged as being weak. Damage is not everything but you do not have spells to make up for it, skill monkey like a Bard/Rogue either, and you deal less damage than both Rogue and Monk and are worse at tanking damage than a Moon Druid or Barbarian. The class needs something like a bonus action attack a'la monk, a bonus dice of damage a'la hex/hunters quarry, frenzy/rage or a 3rd attack in there somewhere and even then it seems marginal.

Conclusion
Overall A Touch of Class I think is quite good with perhaps 1 class I would not play at all (Occultist), 1 class I do not grok (card caster), and several I think are very good. Overall the Feywalker is my favourite and I think it is the best designed with all the subclasses looking quite playable/interesting. I also like the Science of Creation Alchemist and the Diabolist/ Morph/Noble all being playable IMHO. The gish Knight of Swords Cardcaster also looks good, I just don't get the class so feel free to help me out there.

A Touch of Class is also good for EN5ider patrons as you get it for free and EN5ider is already good for the amount you pay especially for the basic deal which is player orientated ($2 a month IIRC?). Of the 7 classes 3 of them had takes on pets and they all looked interesting and it was a niche the PHB did not cover or did not cover very well (Beastmaster). On of the pet classes is weak with a great pet, another is in the middle while the last one is good at combat with the weakest pet that is still useful.