D&D 5E Archetypes to add to 5e

[Parmandur]

Hmmmm... like with many things from Mearls of late - almost a George Lucas in the rough - I'm not sure if I would agree with a number of his proposed revisions. (I suppose letting Mearls speak is one strategy that could successfully convince me that WotC should not make 6e.) IME, a lot of the appeal that I have seen for Warlock has been the mix-and-match aspect, so combining Patron and Pact strips the biggest aspect of that customization from the Warlock. Up until the Hexblade came out as the unofficial "fix" for the Sword Pact, I saw a lot of fun, interesting combinations. I'm not sure if I would necessarily want all Hexblades to be tied to Fiendish patrons though.

That's disheartening.

The Invocations would still be a thing in this scheme, which is the real customization point.

The video in the OP went into detail about the wild new archetypes arising from the blood's love of various movies and anime, so look at the future.

 

[Greg K]

And when we look on the DMs Guild, there are a lot of EXTRAORDINARILY "WTF" esoteric (sub)classes, but there are also a lot of ones that get repeated, such as a Shaman. One could potentially point to the Druid or the Circle of the Shepherd, but I still don't think that it really scratches the itch that people have with the archetypal concept.

The Circle of Shepherd does not scratch my itch and that is being polite (what I really think of it, I cannot say due the Eric Noah Grandma rule). The same for most of the Shaman classes at DMs Guild which are based off of the WoW shaman. Even Mearls stated, in Happy Hour, that he wanted to do a Shaman class for D&D and that it would based off of the WoW Shaman

 

[Greg K]

One of the things Mearls discussed in the Happy Fun Hour about the Warlock is that if they had to do it again, they would merge Patron and Pact to give the Subclasses more distinct powers and flavor.

Hmmmm... like with many things from Mearls of late - almost a George Lucas in the rough - I'm not sure if I would agree with a number of his proposed revisions. (I suppose letting Mearls speak is one strategy that could successfully convince me that WotC should not make 6e.) IME, a lot of the appeal that I have seen for Warlock has been the mix-and-match aspect, so combining Patron and Pact strips the biggest aspect of that customization from the Warlock. Up until the Hexblade came out as the unofficial "fix" for the Sword Pact, I saw a lot of fun, interesting combinations. I'm not sure if I would necessarily want all Hexblades to be tied to Fiendish patrons though.

That's disheartening.

Like Aldarc, I don't agree with many things from Mearls of late- actually, this has been for a while (The same is true for me with regards to Jeremy Crawford) . Pretty much, the only thing that I have agreed with Mearls on is that the Ranger needs urban options and that some classes need their subclasses earlier to avoid them breaking the design guidelines which weren't finalized until after several classes were designed ( But, hey, they still release subclasses which breaktheir design guidelines rather than provide a variant class feature which would fix the issue). Personally, I think that all classes should have their subclasses at first level which would open design space, avoid breaking their design guidelines, and allow more archetypes from Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Sandals Sword & Planet, Medieval Fantasy, High Fantasy, and real world cultural Legends & Myth to be better represented)
Anyway, I digress.
Stripping the customization away from the Warlock is, imo, a bad thing. Like Aldarc I think the customization was a good thing.. Personally, I wish the cleric's armor and weapon proficiencies, and hit die were moved to an additional cleric choice at first level depending if the cleric 's religion/order (somewhat similar to the Warlock Pact).

 

[Pauln6]

There was a Raven Queen warlock UA, but it didn't make the cut. Perhaps a bit to specific? The Hexblade has ties to the Shadowfell in it's lore and a couple of it's abilities - you don't have to build them as a gish.

Yeah I think the issue I have with the existing ones are no ability to shadow jump, and limited access to shadow themed invocations or spells. The hexblade's focus is on cursing and smiting. I'm not a fan of sorcerers anyway but the shadow sorcerer doesn't really have any shadow magic to call beyond Darkness and going out if your way to pick shadowy spells to maintain the theme would eat into your very limited number of spells known.

The 3e shadowcaster, while underpowered, had a ton of thematic and interesting stuff choose from. Something more like that could be more fun. I've seen one interesting fan version of a shadow Warlock that allowed access to phantasmal force with enhanced damage output (made quasi real by shadowstuff). That's the sort of thing that floats my boat.

 

[Blue]

Just a summary from some of the great posters here.

ARCHETYPES
Some archetypes that fit the D&D mold and would word as subclasses, with examples:

Barbarian Transformer: "tooth and claw" physically transformed when raging. Goes back to the original Norse ber-serkir who where believed to literally transform into bears. In literature, Beorn in The Hobbit and Barak from the Belgarian series.

Bard: college with access to druid spell list. Goes back to 1st edition, which in term goes back to the Victorian reinvention of druids, and the myth of Taliesin.

Sacred Fist: Monk + 1/3 divine caster. Friar Tuck

Rogue Dungeon Delver: Traps, hazards, etc. Indiana Jones is the ur-example of this, but the expert comes up regularly in various novels and movies.

Rogue Enforcer/Thug: STR based. Many, many examples.

Monk Opportunist: Improvised weapons, use of terrain as weapon, etc. Jackie Chan. Too bad the drunken master didn't cover this.

Pugilist/Brawler/Martial Artist (STR based) - Fighter or Barbarian? Very many examples.

Witch - Warlock? Druid? Wizard?

D&D-ISMS
Some D&D-isms, that we don't have examples but seem like a good fit considering what is currently available. Took out some examples that could already be built like bounty hunters or fighting bards or didn't fit the subclass types we have - for example any sorcerer that was about what the sorcerer did as opposed to it's origins.

Bard
Jester (there is an Unearthed Arcana)
College of Hymns/Hierodule - divine
College of Dirges - necromancy focused. Ouija Board the Necrodancer.

Cleric
Domains: Chaon, Sea, Trade, Love/Passion, Travel
Vow of Peace (though may not make the best adventurer)

Druid
Warden: Plant druid, shape shift in a tree, extra attack at 6.
Herbalist: Does things with herbs (like natural alchemist?)
Circle of Stars: Astrology/Divinination focused. Mystics who read the stars for omens. Illusion?

Fighter
Weapon Master/Sword Saint
Tactical/Cerebral - INT secondary

Paladin
Witch Hunter
Undead/Vampire Hunter
Arcane (gish)
Oath of Liberty/Freedom (Holy Liberator)
Oath of Inquisition

Rogue
Trapmaster: set and disable special traps, thrown oil/caltrops/flasks of oil, etc. Fred Jones, Mystery, Inc. This might also include demolitions / sappers.
Shadow Dancer

Sorcerer
Abhorrent/Aberrant - H. P. lovecraft/far realms inspired.

Warlock
Pact of The Ancient Dragon
Pact of the Genie Noble
Instrument Pact Boon

Wizard
Alchemist (though covered by Artificer)
Wu Jen
Generalist (not an archetype, but it came up a lot that people wanted it)

CLASSES
There were a few that were likely their own classes instead of a subclass:

Shaman / Spirit Shaman
Warlord
Pet class
Psionic - may (should?) also include some subclasses
Summoner
Non-armored Divine Caster/Holy Wrath

There were a bunch of other suggestions without description, like names that may have been from earlier editions of D&D but with no description, etc. Others seemed more like non-mechanical reskins of existing classes like casting via runes could be a wizard or artificer.

 

[Azzy]

Speaking of which, a bard archetype that induces psychedelia in others would be frigging cool.

Syd Barret gets his own archetype? I hear higher levels can be a bit of a let down.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think there is a lot of low hanging fruit for the Sorcerer and Warlock still left to pick, but, yeah: most of the ideas in this thread are either narratively esoteric or mechanics driven.

Warlock and Sorcerer have small towns full of unfulfilled archetypes, for sure.

 

[Greg K]

And there should be a few more cleric domains corresponding to some of the more well known real world gods such as Love - Venus, Sea - Neptune, Trade - Mercury.

Not exactly what you want, but here are some third party sources on Greek inspired D&D

Pantheons IV: Gods of the Holy Mountain by Joe K is available from the Dungeon Masters Guild $.99. I don't own it yet, but it has has the following 4 domains:

• Love Domain (obviously Aphrodite)
• Hunt Domain (obviously Artemis)
• Mountain Domain
• Wine Domain (obviously Dionysus)

The following are free:
The Love Domain from Mage Hand Press's website Middle Finger of Vecna mentions Aphrodite

A revised Tempest Domain for Sea God from Rich Howard of All Things Gaming and Tribality. It mentions Poseidon

And, in case anyone is interested and keeping with the Greek themes, here are are some additional domains and archetypes for other classes

Warlock Patron: Bacchus (Roman version of Dionysus) from forgotmydice

12 Archetypes Based on Greek Myths from coyotetale at Reddit Unearthed Arcana

• Barbarian Path: Path of the Untamed War (Ares)
• Bard College: College of the Sun Oracle (Apollo)
• Cleric Domain: Divine Thunder Domain (Zeus)
• Druid Circle: Circle of the Grain (Demeter)
• Fighter: Retarius Fighting Style (Poseidon)
• Monk Way: Way of the Grey Owl (Athena)
  Paladin Oath: Oath of Matrimony (Hera)
• Ranger: Moonlit Hunter (Artemis)
• Rogue Archetype: Highwayman (Hermes)
• Sorcerer Orgin: Inomorata Origin (Aphrodite) :there is a warning of sexual themes
• Warlock: The Twisting Vine (Dionysus)
• Wizard School: School of the Volcanic Forge (Hephaestus)

This Homebrewery article is on Greek Races and Classes. It has a prophesy domain.

• Barbarian Path: the Path of Dionysical Revelry
• Bard College: The College of Ethics
• Cleric Domain: Prophecy Domain
• Druid Circle: Circle of Mysteries
• Fighter Archetype: Hoplite
• Monk: Way of the Olympic Games
• Paladin: Vow of the Polis
• Ranger: Cthonic Slayer
• Rogue Archetype: Peltast
• Sorcerer: ? (Something is missing)
• Warlock: the Bringer of Gifts
• Wizard School: School of the Pythagoreans

Chosen of the God Races from Natural Crit article is about playing children of various various Greek deities

 

[Greg K]

I agree with Crawford here, most of the 'standard' tropes are covered.

Perhaps, but many are done so poorly, imo.

 

[Greg K]

Both 2nd and 3rd edition (and pathfinder) descended into wackiness in order to sell books,

In my opinion, so did 4e and does 5e.