Unearthed Arcana New UA: 43 D&D Class Feature Variants

The latest Unearthed Arcana is a big 13-page document! “Every character class in D&D has features, and every class gets one or more class feature variants in today’s Unearthed Arcana! These variants replace or enhance a class’s normal features, giving you new ways to enjoy your character’s class.”

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[Hussar]

So, just like a regular smite.



Most of them aren't about extra damage, but condition effects. The damage is just a bonus on the conditions.

No, it's not like a regular smite. Regular smites only burn a slot AFTER a hit. With the spell, you have to cast beforehand. You very well might cast and then miss this round. Next round, you manage to hit, but, wind up killing the target without needing the extra damage or effect. Or, you might hit and the baddy makes its save. Or, you hit on the first round, and then the rest of the group kills the baddy before your effect makes any difference - Fear doesn't make you easier to be hit after all, just makes it harder for it to hit you. If it dies before it attacks, then, well, that was a waste of a spell wasn't it?

The condition effects are often so minor that it's just not worth wasting the extra damage that you would be doing if you simply used your smite. Oh, and never minding you might need your bonus action for other things.

That being said, I WILL be using Wrathful Smite from time to time with my Conquest Paladin simply because of my aura effect (reduces the speed of any feared target to 0). But, I'm now 6th or 7th level and this will be the first time I'd even consider using any of the Smite spells. They just are not worth it. I mean, again, I'm playing a Conquest Paladin. That means I get Spiritual Weapon as a class spell. That burns up my Bonus Action right there and I'd MUCH rather have that SPiritual Weapon out there than wasting slots on a single target status effect.

 

[Parmandur]

I would think it would be relatively hard to "whiff" those spells? I avoid them for the reasons I listed but the general mechanic is still up to a minute while they apply to the next hit. That's not as reliable as the standard smite but seems pretty reliable still. I don't remember any issues with losing the spell, just occasionally the target when I did try them out.

only if you fail to hit someone for a full 10 rounds.



I... guess that's one way to view them. And certainly many players portray them as "hammer & nail" kinds, but there is no reason for that. Given that the originations of the term that became paladin was used for judges and magistrates of the Roman Emperors there is no reason to assume or play them as anything other than deep thinkers.

I agree that the Smite Spells are definitely still worth it, but Mearls on the Happy Fun Hour when they covered Paladins discussed how they found people in practice have hoarded their Slots just for the standard Smite.

 

[Parmandur]

only if you fail to hit someone for a full 10 rounds.

Oh, yes, I agree in principle. I was talking more about why a lot of people feel more like going with straight Smite in practice.

 

[tglassy]

Rogues are woefully behind the curve in games with feats enabled unless they reliably get in that off-turn SA, since there is no feat that increases Rogue DPS like the -5/+10 feats.

In these games (which I suspect is "most games) the Rogue is a middling melee combatant; weak defenses and only average offense. To excuse the weak defense the class' DPS needed to be stellar. In games without feats that might actually happen, but I've never played 5E without feats.

Tl;dr: until there's a feat that ups the Rogue's DPS to a substantial degree, comparable to the Fighter feats, a Rogue desperately needs to unlock the 2nd SA potential.

You can call this "hyperbolic CharOp nonsense" all you want, but that just amounts to you sticking your head in the sand. It is stark reality in actual play experience talking here.

You mean like Sharpshooter, one of the two feats that do what you mention? Cause Rogues can get Sharpshooter. In fact, ranged Rogues, from what I can tell, are awesome. In FACT, give a Rogue Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, which you can do since Rogues have just as many Feats as a Fighter, and you have a powerful character who can use a crossbow in melee. If they don’t have advantage, use Aim. If they do, you get an extra Attack as a bonus action. Take a -5/+10 on every shot, and you’re doing some serious damage.

 

[Hussar]

Someday I would LOVE to sit in on @CapnZapp's table because every single thing he says is true in 5e is the complete opposite at my table. Rogues are "woefully" behind? Certainly not in any game I've ever played.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I can slot divine favor, bless, crusaders mantle, or elemental weapon and use one slot for longer benefits.

Divine Favor is very suboptimal unless the extra 2.5 average damage is the difference between living and dead minions, or you're caught entirely in ranged combat in which case you can't Smite. You need to hit 4 times with that spell active to barely surpass a 1st-level Divine Smite. Against a single enemy, it's even worse than Searing Smite, and I have no love for that particular Smite spell.

Bless is a great effect but requires a use of an entire action. Which means unless you cast it either in anticipation of an obvious upcoming combat encounter, or you scouted it well, or you're taking your first turn of the encounter with all enemies more than 30 feet away from you, it's better to attack + cast a bonus-action spell (which Smite spells are).

Crusader's Mantle, again takes an action to activate so same issue as Bless there. And your party needs to hit 8 times with it to surpass a 3rd-level Divine Smite, so unless your party has a Fighter ready to Action Surge and/or especially a caster ready to pop Animate Objects, it's not going to be an efficient use of your 3rd-level slot.

Elemental Weapon, at least has the hit bonus going for it, but again, generally weaker than a 3rd-level Divine Smite for the same slot.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the "longer benefits" are overrated, especially when you consider what the effect is, and often the action (as opposed to a bonus action) you have to spend to get that effect.

Wrathful Smite with its crippling frightening effect that forces an enemy to burn actions on Wisdom checks to end it, or Blinding Smite to deal just 4.5 less damage than a same-level Divine Smite while making the enemy unlikely to hit you and your party more likely to hit them, those are often much better uses of your spell slot and your action economy than the above-mentioned spells.

 

[CapnZapp]

You mean like Sharpshooter, one of the two feats that do what you mention? Cause Rogues can get Sharpshooter. In fact, ranged Rogues, from what I can tell, are awesome. In FACT, give a Rogue Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, which you can do since Rogues have just as many Feats as a Fighter, and you have a powerful character who can use a crossbow in melee. If they don’t have advantage, use Aim. If they do, you get an extra Attack as a bonus action. Take a -5/+10 on every shot, and you’re doing some serious damage.

The value of Greatweapon Fighter and Sharpshooter lies in the +10 being as large a portion of the total damage as possible. That is, you want to make as many attacks as possible, where the weapon die size being less of a concern. Or in other words, the opposite of how a Rogue operates. The Rogue definitely doesn't want a -5 attack penalty!

What a Rogue wants needs isn't to be told "you can take a -5/+10 feat too". What a Rogue needs is a PHB containing a feat that provides roughly the same relative damage increase to a sneak attacker, that the -5/+10 feats give to a fighter (or ranger etc).

Whether you think those feats represent a 25% or 50% damage increase is not something I care to argue about (again), so let's just agree these feats aren't it, since the Rogue is dealing higher base damage.

Personally I don't put an especially large value on the skill-monkey part of the Rogue class, since that doesn't have much to do with pulling your weight in combat, assuming she still wants to be a party player (and not sneak off solo). So my suggestion is straight-forward:

1) rewrite the phrasing of the sneak attack ability so the Rogue no longer needs to jump through very un-5E-like hoops to get its second sneak attack. That is, don't require a newb to master the reaction rules. Don't ask the rogue to messily act on the turns of others just to gain the very necessary second helping of sneak damage! In fact, why not simply state that Rogues start out by being able to deal their extra damage once a round, which increases to twice a round at 5th level.
2) add a feat that adds an extra helping of sneak attack dice. At level 11 for instance, a Rogue can normally deal 6d6 sneak attack damage; effectively a total of 12d6 if both sneak attacks hit. With this feat you gain +6d6 sneak attack damage for a maximum total of 18d6 at this level: likely 12d6 on the first sneak attack that hits, and another 6d6 if both sneak attacks hit.

 

[Gladius Legis]

That means I get Spiritual Weapon as a class spell. That burns up my Bonus Action right there and I'd MUCH rather have that SPiritual Weapon out there than wasting slots on a single target status effect.

With Spiritual Weapon you have to hit twice to surpass the damage from the same 2nd-level Divine Smite. And there's a not-insignificant chance you miss at least once with that spell, so it could be 3 rounds or even more before the damage becomes worth the slot.

So, multiple bonus actions over multiple rounds to do nothing but damage that often doesn't match a same-level Divine Smite, or one bonus action at the start to frighten the enemy and make them waste actions to shake it off? Easy answer for me there.

It just seems you're approaching the topic with an inherent prejudice against the Smite spells when you don't consider that many of your favorite spells have the same issues against same-level Divine Smites, and often for worse effect than the Smite spells have.

 

[Maxperson]

only if you fail to hit someone for a full 10 rounds.

You're going to show me how you arrange things so that you don't take damage for 10 rounds. That sounds very useful.

 

[Laurefindel]

So my suggestion is straight-forward:

1) rewrite the phrasing of the sneak attack ability so the Rogue no longer needs to jump through very un-5E-like hoops to get its second sneak attack. That is, don't require a newb to master the reaction rules. Don't ask the rogue to messily act on the turns of others just to gain the very necessary second helping of sneak damage! In fact, why not simply state that Rogues start out by being able to deal their extra damage once a round, which increases to twice a round at 5th level.
2) add a feat that adds an extra helping of sneak attack dice.

I... kinda like that. I never approached this "issue" from this angle. Not high on my priority list of issues but still, good thoughts...