Unearthed Arcana Revived, Noble Genie and Archivist Revisited in UA

The latest Unearthed Arcana replaces the Revived, Noble Genie, and Archivist subclasses with new versions called the Phantom, the Genie, and the Order of Scribes.

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[darjr]

Bigby’s Handy Handbook

 

[darjr]

Genies are from the Desert??!?!?

 

[MarkB]

-I would like Order of the Scribes more if they got rid of the "pet" element. That very concept is rather niche, and I'm concerned about how regularly I'm seeing it. I don't see why that is either needed or appropriate to this particular wizard subclass. "I'm very devoted to the written magical word, and therefore I have a pet" doesn't seem to follow, and a subclass's mechanics need to follow from its concept. If they retooled it a bit to nix the pet stuff and work on the feel, it could become a generalist wizard.

So basically, we have a Warlock that can work for a Sha'ir, and a Wizard that they could potentially put through another round of revision to work as a Generalist Mage. Not bad.

Anyone else think Order of the Scribes has Generalist Mage potential if they ditch the pet?

I'm not keen on the way the pet is implemented. I'd almost prefer an actual animated spell book than this floating novelty lightbulb.

Maybe go with something that provides more flexibility - like the book being able to temporarily absorb the essence of some magical effect it's exposed to, allowing the character to gain limited access to a spell they've seen, even if it's not on their spell list.

 

[cbwjm]

I liked the wizard scribe subclass, up until level 10 with and 14. I'm happy with a magical book and quill it's rather flavourful, I've always thought the changing damage types is fine, but then suddenly having the manifest mind or whatever from the archivist seems to me like it is out of theme for the subclass (at least they gave it hit points, I have a player with the artificer archivist subclass and the invulnerable brain he has flying around is so annoying). I want a magical libram but not necessarily one that is alive. I'd probably remove all instances of the spellbook being awakened from the subclass.

The level 14 ability is crazy, sure you can save yourself and lose some spells in the process but not being able to cast them again ever until a wish is used for each spell is rather harsh. You lose the spells, need a wish to be able to recast them, then you need to find them again. Also there's the teleport ability but that ties into the manifest mind ability which I already don't like.

The only thing I like about this is that this is one of the few times where they have an ability that has a negative impact rather than just being something that only adds benefits to your class (only other ability that comes to mind is the Berserker's frenzy giving the barbarian exhaustion and the Evoker ability that will harm them if they use it too often). Still, I think that I would probably change this to remove the penalty of needing a wish spell to restore their ability to relearn those spells again.

 

[Fenris-77]

Genies are from the Desert??!?!?

You've never rubbed your empty trifle bowl towards the end of a party in the hopes that another bottle of wine might appear?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Both flavour and rules-wise, all three of these seem at the very least solid. The Rogue is powerful but not overpowered - he certainly wouldn't be a "definite pick" for anyone except people who wanted that gothic style. The Genie Warlock is extremely fun and pretty solid. And the Scribe has a ton of style and is possibly the only non-boring take on such a class I've ever seen in any edition.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Phantom: Needs some way to be "ghosty" before high levels.

Genie Pact: Is the bottle a free bag of holding at level 1?

Scribe: Just make the book a familiar, and have it be animate before level 10. The level 2 feature really doesn't say "Your spellbook is sentient" to me. Also, the free spell scroll ability is pushed in power more than necessary; doesn't need the spell level bump when it's already effectively an extra spell slot.

 

[ccooke]

Genie Pact: Is the bottle a free bag of holding at level 1?

Well... it's something like a bag of holding, except it has generous but still present limits on storage capacity.
And if you put too much stuff in it, you won't have anywhere to sleep.
And when you're inside it, you can't be guarding it.
And it has explicit rules on how it can be destroyed, spilling all of your stuff around.
And you can only put in or take out things that you (or, later, your party) can carry.
And you can only enter it once per long rest.

All in all, that looks fine to me. It'll get used for storage, sure, but it won't be overpowered.

 

[Chaosmancer]

On top of that though is the absolutely bonkers Wrath ability though. Oh sure, +2 damage on every attack doesn't seem like a lot, but remember this is the warlock. Grab agonizing and you max out at 4d10+4d6+44 damage by high levels. And this is just a permanent boon as long as you have your vessel.

Editing myself, I missed that the bonus was once per turn, which makes it less insane and more reasonable

The level 14 ability is crazy, sure you can save yourself and lose some spells in the process but not being able to cast them again ever until a wish is used for each spell is rather harsh. You lose the spells, need a wish to be able to recast them, then you need to find them again.

I think the issue with "finding them again" is that if you wrote it in a backup spellbook, then you can drop spells, and then just cheaply replace them by using your quill to recopy the spells into your normal book. Which makes it much less of a cost.

Genie Pact: Is the bottle a free bag of holding at level 1?

Not really, since it is limited to once per long rest being accessed. You could put stuff like excess gold or artwork into it for money, but nothing you might want with more than 24 hour warning.

 

[Kurotowa]

On top of that though is the absolutely bonkers Wrath ability though. Oh sure, +2 damage on every attack doesn't seem like a lot, but remember this is the warlock.

Fun thing I want to do, with the level 10 ability? I'm sure it doesn't work, but it doesn't specify if the willing creatures can only remain for the same number of hours.

No to both. Genie's Wrath activates "Once during each of your turns when you hit with an attack roll", not on every attack. Then Sanctuary Vessel specifies that "everyone is ejected if you leave".