Search results

  1. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    I spent a little time today mocking up a Spellfire Sorcerer. It harder to make broad judgments about it, because as a Sorcerer your choice of spells and Metamagic matters as much or more than your subclass. But I do like what's there. Spellfire Burst rewards regular use of Metamagic, rather...
  2. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Yeah, Dance/Genie goes way too hard on that one stat. Overall Genie Paladin isn't even that bad, if you're not doing some crazy minmax that sacrifices other important traits. Plate armor is AC 18, Studded Leather armor with Dex 20 and Cha 14 is AC 19. That's a pretty small difference. All it's...
  3. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Alternative AC calculations are, I believe, all armor alternatives. That is to say, both they and armor set your AC to a fixed number plus bonuses, and they're intentionally mutually exclusive. This Genie Paladin feature is designed to supplement Light armor, so mechanically there's no way to...
  4. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Yeah, you can dip one or two levels, but three or more is a full blown multiclass. And the cost of a full multiclass increases exponentially. I did look at it, but Genie Paladin + Dance Bard isn't optimizing for anything but raw AC. That's a nice thought experiment, not a real character. Like...
  5. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Yeah, that's why I'm looking at a TWF Genie Paladin. Take Defensive Duelist and skip Dual Wielder, to leave your Bonus Action free. That seems like a good balance of offense and defense. The other attractive option is to go all in on being a defender; sword & board, Defensive Duelist, Protection...
  6. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    I spent a little while planning out character options for a Noble Genie Paladin with a one level dip in Warlock for Blade Pact. And my conclusion is... I'm not sure it's worth it. Not unless you have a really specific character fantasy to live out. Pros: You get to be Cha primary Dex secondary...
  7. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Yeah, if you're going to do this I don't think you want more than a one level dip in Warlock for Blade Pact. The question is, is it worth a level to go from 20 Dex 14 Cha to 14 Dex 20 Cha? Your AC and weapon attacks are the same. Your spells and aura are better. It rules out TWF, because you...
  8. Kurotowa

    D&D Adds Two New Books to 2025 Slate, Including New Eberron Book

    When you've got a large audience, it's impossible to make everyone happy. There's just too many conflicting tastes. So you've got to choose what to prioritize. Do you count your demographics and try to make the largest one happy? Do you try to be inoffensive and minimize the number of unhappy...
  9. Kurotowa

    D&D Adds Two New Books to 2025 Slate, Including New Eberron Book

    The Internet encourages hot fast takes, when emotions are high and information is low. Wise folks are willing to reconsider those hot takes, if cooler heads and greater context make it appropriate. And then there's the ones who double down because they can never admit to being wrong. The less...
  10. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    If you're using Light armor you're not SAD because you still want Dex secondary, and if you're using Heavy armor then there's nothing new or different about the Noble Genie subclass. Also I'm highly suspicious of the action economy of Shillelagh builds under actual play.
  11. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Mage Armor isn't armor, in a technical sense.
  12. Kurotowa

    D&D Adds Two New Books to 2025 Slate, Including New Eberron Book

    More likely just one of each, and then you pick the appropriate choice off a sub-table. Like the Crafter feat, more or less.
  13. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Casting my attention to the Spellfire Sorcerer, a rules interaction occurs to me. Counterspell works by forcing a Con save, now. Does that mean Heightened Spell Metamagic works on Counterspell? To the best of my reading I think it does. Now normally, this would be a profligate waste of 2...
  14. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    The design issue is that there's a wide gulf between a mostly non-combat pet, and a combat pet that scales with level and has upgrades to keep it relevant. Anything in between those two is just sad and useless. If you want the former, Magic Initiate (Wizard) for Find Familiar has you covered...
  15. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Indeed. I've been mocking up what you can do with it, and I see basically two branches. One is you focus on damage and use one of the TWF Finesse Paladin builds people had already been kicking around, just with a slightly better AC. The other is you really double down on the extra AC and go...
  16. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Oh heck, I didn't notice this on first read. Bladesinger lost Light armor. They don't get it from their feature anymore, and Bladesong is now incompatible with any armor. That's a big balance consideration.
  17. Kurotowa

    D&D 5E (2014) Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

    Very interesting. This is the first "dependency" book in 5e, I think. By which I mean, this is a supplement to Rising From The Last War. Devs have repeatedly mentioned in interviews that setting lines had shrinking sales because you were only selling to people who bought the prior book, and that...
  18. Kurotowa

    New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

    Scattered thoughts: Noble Genie Paladin is really cool thematically. And the "Add Cha mod to AC if you're in Light armor" immediately makes me want to stat up a dual wield finesse Paladin with Defensive Duelist. But I know if that feature goes through there's going to be a crazy Bladelock...
  19. Kurotowa

    D&D 5E (2014) Magic healing of inborn conditions

    Philosophically, we have to ask where the line is drawn between magical healing and magical transformation. What conditions does magic, especially divine magic, react to as an injury or curse, and what conditions are simply the person's natural state as part of their race's biodiversity? Sure...
  20. Kurotowa

    D&D 5E (2024) Goblins and Orcs Not Being Green

    To be fair, it's not just the orcs in WoW. Baseline draenei are blue, fel charged ones mostly turn some shade of red or purple, and light charged ones turn light grey or ivory white. And I'm not even going to try and count the half dozen different flavors of elf. Physical transformations and...
Top