D&D 5E Archetypes to add to 5e

[Undrave]

Very much so. We can always play a cleric with the criminal background reflavored and call that a holy assassin. Wanting new archetypes really isn’t about wanting a role playing concept. It’s normally wanting a mechanic from another class.

Or more precisely a new mechanic that's better suited to the concept.

I'm not arguing against new crunch. I like new crunch. I'd prefer my new crunch to actually be new though, and not something I could have done easily via MC or whatever.

To use a musical metaphor, MC to me feels like a musician switching from piano to strumming his guitar constantly, while a new archetype is more like using a key tar. It has elements of both blended together but it's always this new combination of elements instead of constantly switching.

 

[Umbran]

I hear he wandered around the old west, disguised as a Shao-lin monk.

I heard he's a chicken, I tell ya! A giant chicken!

 

[Fenris-77]

@doctorbadwolf - There's also a pretty large range of what the holy part of holy assassin should look like based on different people's impressions of what they think it ought to be. Someone who wants a Cleric half caster there wants something very different than someone who wants serious knife in the dark bad-assery with just a soupcon of spell assist.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Or more precisely a new mechanic that's better suited to the concept.



To use a musical metaphor, MC to me feels like a musician switching from piano to strumming his guitar constantly, while a new archetype is more like using a key tar. It has elements of both blended together but it's always this new combination of elements instead of constantly switching.

Yep. Even the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster have things that no rogue/wizard or fighter/wizard can ever have, that help the character feel like they match the concept, in play.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

@doctorbadwolf - There's also a pretty large range of what the holy part of holy assassin should look like based on different people's impressions of what they think it ought to be. Someone who wants a Cleric half caster there wants something very different than someone who wants serious knife in the dark bad-assery with just a soupcon of spell assist.

Absolutely! Which is why the Vengeance Paladin and the Acolyte background (presumably taken by a rogue or a gloomstalker Ranger or shadow monk) don’t obviate the validity of the divine agent rogue concept.

 

[Undrave]

@doctorbadwolf - There's also a pretty large range of what the holy part of holy assassin should look like based on different people's impressions of what they think it ought to be. Someone who wants a Cleric half caster there wants something very different than someone who wants serious knife in the dark bad-assery with just a soupcon of spell assist.

Personally, the less spell slot tracking the better so magical class features with a divine bent would be better for my taste...

Another cool thing would be to use the Mage Hand Legerdemain feature as inspiration for one based on Thaumaturgy or something.

 

[Blue]

I'm not arguing against new crunch. I like new crunch. I'd prefer my new crunch to actually be new though, and not something I could have done easily via MC or whatever.

I was trying to get even more restricted - I wasn't looking for wish lists or classes from earlier editions, but actual archetypes that the game can't handle. That's why I've tried to stress the example character - if you can't point to someone from myth, legend, stories or movies it's not a recurring archetype. From there, determining it's something new, or at least partially new, is the next filter.

We've had some genuine ones. Baerserkers who actually transform into bears or other animalistic humanoids while raging like Beorn from Lord of the Rings would make a great barbarian subclass.

It's funny, one of the things that I think made the creation system able to handle a lot is the background system. So you can have soldier sorcerers, criminal bards, or whatever.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I heard he's a chicken, I tell ya! A giant chicken!

Mask of a Thousand Feathers

 

[Arnwolf666]

Now I like seeing clever mechanics created for new classes or archetypes that don’t step on the toes of other classes.

Personally I think the holy assassin is best as a 1/3 caster and rogue archetype.

 

[Fenris-77]

For pretty much any assassin I'd rather keep the mechanics focused on the assassin part. I'd even be ok with just spells as per/X abilities kind of like the shadow monk, just maybe a few more. For the specific build I want personally there I actually quite like Rogue X/Warlock 2. Some spells, cantrips and at will disguise self is pretty awesome. Not what everyone is looking for though, I know, especially because you need to kind of re-skin the patron to get the 'holy' part rolling.