Quickleaf
Legend
Hahaha! Yeah, with Assassin and Sneak Attack, Ankabut can put a nice little alpha strike down.
Being high level definitely lends itself to hubris on the part of the players though. It can be a rude shock when one discovers that there are some pretty tough customers waiting in the monster manuals.
It's not what's in the manual; it's how you use it.
"Day" means the same thing it does in downtime. At least 8 hours per day muse be spent on the activity. If you're wanting to craft something in "spare time", a few hours here and there, well, if you're willing to go through the rigamarole of tracking hours go for it!
I think a good assumption would be 2 hours of crafting during "spare time" taken at the end of an adventuring/traveling day is reasonable.
So if you wanted to track by hours, you might record something like: genie prison 8 / 160 hours.
Thanks for catching the vague language! That phrasing dates back to AD&D where the Inner Planes were often environmentally hostile. The intention is that – when traveling to the Plane of Water, for example, but NOT when leaping into an ocean – you would have water breathing and immunity to crushing pressure. Or when traveling to the Plane of Fire you'd be immune to the natural fires of that plane, but NOT from a fireball or efreeti's hurl flame. Or when traveling to the Plane of Earth you'd be immune to the crushing tectonic activity there, but NOT immune from an earthquake or earth elemental's attack.
However, that begs a question about the narrative: How do we explain a sha'ir being able to breathe underwater on the Plane of Water but NOT in a body of water on the Material Plane. My assumption was it had to do with favors owed to the sha'ir by genies of the corresponding element, or commanding minor elementals to aid him/her, or something to that effect.
However, that's a bit contrived. It may be better just to cut that section of the subclass feature entirely? I mean, advantage on so many saving throws is probably sufficiently powerful on its own, right?
Perfectly respectable strategy. My sense of Akilah is that she's strongest when it comes to interaction & exploration, but relies on others to do the fighting for her. Which makes sense for a vizier.
Not all combats are created equal. This one in particular emphasized dealing damage fast & there wasn't too much movement. Lal has an advantage in combats that last longer, have multiple enemies (ideally with several focusing on him), and require more movement. He's quite mobile. In addition to having a bit more out-of-combat utility than the standard barbarian, I also think it would be interesting to explore "non-standard uses" for his "rage" (e.g. performing feats of Strength like holding open a portcullis, hauling a rope holding a PC dangling over a chasm, etc).
[SECTION]Bladed Pirouette
Starting at 3rd level, when a creature misses you
with an attack while you’re raging, you may use your
reaction to do one of the following of your choice:
• Move 5 feet without provoking opportunity
attacks.
• Impose disadvantage on that creature’s next attack
before the end of your next turn.
• Deal slashing damage to that creature equal to
either your Strength or Dexterity modifier
(provided you’re wielding a slashing melee
weapon).[/SECTION]
Coupled with his AC 17, this makes Lal a very reactive character in combat. For example, if there were - theoretically - an attack on Tajar's throne room, and Lal was near the entrance when an attack missed him, he could move 5 feet without provoking AoO to potentially block the entrance. It's a very versatile feature than encourages you to draw enemy aggression towards Lal. Which could be a fun roleplaying opportunity with sentient foes, since that likely looks different for Lal than the typical D&D barbarian!
[SECTION]Dance of Death
At 6th level, you gain one of the following features of
your choice.
Whirling Rend. When you score a critical hit or
reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a slashing
melee weapon, you can make a melee weapon attack
as a bonus action.[/SECTION]
When it comes to combat, it's always in Lal's interest to go "crit fishing" through any means at his or the party's disposal. Haste, for example, would be a brilliant spell to cast upon Lal (and could be interpreted as some kind of trance state). Also, Lal is the ideal one to make a "finishing stroke" against an enemy; narratively, you could play this as being merciful and saying a prayer over the fallen, or that he's just oblivious to what he's doing and the momentum of his tabor keeps him swinging wildly.
[SECTION]Display Weapon Prowess
At 10th level, you can take an action outside of
combat or before any enemies have acted within
combat to display your prowess with a quick sword
dance. Make a Charisma (Performance) check
opposed by the Wisdom saving throw of any hostile
creatures with a CR less than your character level
witnessing your display. Each creature failing the
save is left with shaken morale. If combat is
avoidable, the creature will attempt to parlay or else
back away slowly. Whereas if combat is unavoidable,
the creature is incapacitated until the end of its first
turn in combat. A creature that succeeds the save
cannot be affected by your Display Weapon Prowess
for 24 hours.
Generally, only sentient creatures that have a
conception of greater and lesser skill can have their
morale shaken. At the DM’s discretion mindless
creatures like zombies may be unaffected.[/SECTION]
This affects CR 10 or less hostile creatures. That includes things like ogres and hill giants and wyverns! Surprise obviously mucks with this, but this is a very potent subclass feature – so potent (especially given that Lal gets advantage on initiative checks from Feral Senses), that it's one I'm hoping we'll playtest to see whether or not it needs toning down.
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(it moves!!)
