jmartkdr2
Hero
Alternatively: there's no reason you couldn't make a fighter subclass or two to cover the swordmage narrative space. But to do so you'd invalidate the EK as an option, because the swordmage really is just "an EK but better."
D&D (2024) New Classes for 5e. Is anything missing?
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I'm currently working on
Assassin- Between a rogue and a monk in terms of design ethos and combat style. Can damage like a frontliner but needs to duck out before reprisals, and has the features to do just that.
Swordmage- Currently undergoing a ground up rewrite to be less specifically elemental, less needlessly complex, and more punchy. Has a bonded weapon called an Aetherblade, an aegis that gives them a unique AC calculation and the ability to absorb energy, and I'm working on balancing a combination of martial manuevers and spells. This may instead end up as the Mystic, which is an esoteric warrior rewrite of the Monk.
Captain- Martial character with a "presence" aura that gets wider with levels, help as a bonus action with the aura, and "gambits" that are support-oriented abilities that cost Mettle. May change Mettle and the Swordmage's Aether to Focus.
Has some ideas that might be best served in a separate class, the Scholar, but I need a hook for that class that makes sense of it being a combatant. The tactician subclass is a very scholarly captain, who gets to build their own library and have people do Research for them. All captains can reduce the time and cost of Training, and can train someone with a weapon or tool while adventuring.
Binder- A full on summoner and binder of supernatural powers and creatures. Very little blasting ability, but strong control and access to most summoning spells. Gets a special familiar that they can spend spell slots to turn into a combatant, or cast summoning spells on to transform it into what they summon, with certain buffs compared to a normal summon, like advantage on concentration checks to maintain the spell, more HP, and Wild Shape style keeping of the familiar's mind and mental stats, as well as proficiencies and features intact while in the other form. Subclasses are "Goetic Seals" and the whole class is very much a ritualist that has figured out how to use ritual magic to bind power to themselves, gaining pact magic casting and ritual casting
Casting above 6th level spells is optional, as some Vestiges (similar mechanically to invocations) grant spells, and high level Vestiges include options to learn a 6+ level spell and gain the ability to cast 1 spell per day of that level.
You also gain Ritual Tools, which are the Blade, The Bowl, and The Bell.
The whole thing is like a mix of the warlock and wizard, and the Abhorsen from the series of the same name, and the mysticism of western alchemical traditions.
Archer- Archer should be a class, so now it will be. base class features Focus points or dice, ranged attack trick shots, and stuff that allows you to concentrate in order to gain a state of greater lethality, stuff like that. Subclasses include Dragoon (mounted archer, something of a ranged combat focused knight), Trickshot (mix of gunslinger and knife thrower, expert in 1-handed ranged weapons and melee weapons with the thrown property, faster and tougher than most Archers), as-yet unnamed mystical archer that combines arcane archer with zen archer, more or less, and the Deepwood Sniper which has wilderness lore and stealth mechanics and can ignore long range when using the concentration mechanic of the base class.
and I'm at a concept phase with some other ideas
Jack- replaces the rogue, the actual jack of all trades, leaning on the "professional of a craft" usage of the term Jack. Something between a rogue without the sneaky stabby focus and a mundane cousin to the artificer. Gets expertise and the jack of all trades feature bards get, and a feature that allows you to hamper enemies with your attacks, dealing small extra damage and leaving them with reduced speed, unable to use reactions, blinded, causing them to move in a random direction, etc, as you confuse, trick, kneecap, throw a stinging powder you learned about while learning to do some sort of smithing, etc.
Scholar- As stated above, I may take some of what the captain is doing and move it here. Key features would be the ability to impart and gain proficiency more quickly than the normal downtime rules allow, the ability to do research during a long rest, a [cool latin name] that is basically a "mind palace" they can enter to perfectly recall information.
Maybe a class that has ritual casting but no spell slots or cantrips, and the ability to study a creature and give allies extra damage against them?
I'm just not sure what you'd do in a fight other than give bonus damage to allies. Maybe that would come through with the subclasses.
Assassin- Between a rogue and a monk in terms of design ethos and combat style. Can damage like a frontliner but needs to duck out before reprisals, and has the features to do just that.
Swordmage- Currently undergoing a ground up rewrite to be less specifically elemental, less needlessly complex, and more punchy. Has a bonded weapon called an Aetherblade, an aegis that gives them a unique AC calculation and the ability to absorb energy, and I'm working on balancing a combination of martial manuevers and spells. This may instead end up as the Mystic, which is an esoteric warrior rewrite of the Monk.
Captain- Martial character with a "presence" aura that gets wider with levels, help as a bonus action with the aura, and "gambits" that are support-oriented abilities that cost Mettle. May change Mettle and the Swordmage's Aether to Focus.
Has some ideas that might be best served in a separate class, the Scholar, but I need a hook for that class that makes sense of it being a combatant. The tactician subclass is a very scholarly captain, who gets to build their own library and have people do Research for them. All captains can reduce the time and cost of Training, and can train someone with a weapon or tool while adventuring.
Binder- A full on summoner and binder of supernatural powers and creatures. Very little blasting ability, but strong control and access to most summoning spells. Gets a special familiar that they can spend spell slots to turn into a combatant, or cast summoning spells on to transform it into what they summon, with certain buffs compared to a normal summon, like advantage on concentration checks to maintain the spell, more HP, and Wild Shape style keeping of the familiar's mind and mental stats, as well as proficiencies and features intact while in the other form. Subclasses are "Goetic Seals" and the whole class is very much a ritualist that has figured out how to use ritual magic to bind power to themselves, gaining pact magic casting and ritual casting
Casting above 6th level spells is optional, as some Vestiges (similar mechanically to invocations) grant spells, and high level Vestiges include options to learn a 6+ level spell and gain the ability to cast 1 spell per day of that level.
You also gain Ritual Tools, which are the Blade, The Bowl, and The Bell.
The whole thing is like a mix of the warlock and wizard, and the Abhorsen from the series of the same name, and the mysticism of western alchemical traditions.
Archer- Archer should be a class, so now it will be. base class features Focus points or dice, ranged attack trick shots, and stuff that allows you to concentrate in order to gain a state of greater lethality, stuff like that. Subclasses include Dragoon (mounted archer, something of a ranged combat focused knight), Trickshot (mix of gunslinger and knife thrower, expert in 1-handed ranged weapons and melee weapons with the thrown property, faster and tougher than most Archers), as-yet unnamed mystical archer that combines arcane archer with zen archer, more or less, and the Deepwood Sniper which has wilderness lore and stealth mechanics and can ignore long range when using the concentration mechanic of the base class.
and I'm at a concept phase with some other ideas
Jack- replaces the rogue, the actual jack of all trades, leaning on the "professional of a craft" usage of the term Jack. Something between a rogue without the sneaky stabby focus and a mundane cousin to the artificer. Gets expertise and the jack of all trades feature bards get, and a feature that allows you to hamper enemies with your attacks, dealing small extra damage and leaving them with reduced speed, unable to use reactions, blinded, causing them to move in a random direction, etc, as you confuse, trick, kneecap, throw a stinging powder you learned about while learning to do some sort of smithing, etc.
Scholar- As stated above, I may take some of what the captain is doing and move it here. Key features would be the ability to impart and gain proficiency more quickly than the normal downtime rules allow, the ability to do research during a long rest, a [cool latin name] that is basically a "mind palace" they can enter to perfectly recall information.
Maybe a class that has ritual casting but no spell slots or cantrips, and the ability to study a creature and give allies extra damage against them?
I'm just not sure what you'd do in a fight other than give bonus damage to allies. Maybe that would come through with the subclasses.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Well, not really. It's much more magical than the EK, but can't be quite as good a warrior without magic as the fighter. It could be more powerful overall, like the Paladin probably is, but it could also be more in line with Battlesmith Artificers.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
The Bladesinger is closer to a Swordmage than the Eldritch Knight is.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
does it invalidate something, the zealot barbarian and the paladin live sufficiently well together why could it not be the same?
jmartkdr2
Hero
I generally feel that the best way to do a swordmage (as a baseline for general gishes) is to make it it's own class. I'm just noting that the minimum to make a swordmage is a subclass.
jmartkdr2
Hero
Zealot barbarian is still a barbarian with rage and all - a paladin getting rage would be unbalanced.
Mechanics do matter.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Oh for sure, I was just trying to communicate the the EK isn't even a swordmage subclass, really. Especially before SCAG gave it weapon based cantrips.
I still really thinkk D&D is missing a Super Soldier class. The Warrior version of the Warlock where you pick up minor powers and focus on classic super powers.
Mythology, Religion, Comics, Literature, TV, and Movies are filled with heroes with super powers
Hercules, Achilles, Odysseus, Atalanta, Jason, Perseus, Samson, Gigamesh, Enkidu, DC Metas, Marvel Mutants, Captian Amerian and all his wannabes, Warhammer's Chaos knight, Grail Knights, and Spess Mahreens, almost every super soldiers, seft mad scientist creations, and almost all people "Blessed by the Gods"
Mythology, Religion, Comics, Literature, TV, and Movies are filled with heroes with super powers
Hercules, Achilles, Odysseus, Atalanta, Jason, Perseus, Samson, Gigamesh, Enkidu, DC Metas, Marvel Mutants, Captian Amerian and all his wannabes, Warhammer's Chaos knight, Grail Knights, and Spess Mahreens, almost every super soldiers, seft mad scientist creations, and almost all people "Blessed by the Gods"
bedir than
Full Moon Storyteller
Completely untrue.
While you could claim the idea that the inspirations for the cleric and paladin are the same, claiming that there are no clerics in the literature means ignoring history
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