D&D 5E Balancing the Rune Knight

[WarrenM]

For all the people suggesting the Rune Knight be dialed down... let me point you at the Arcane Archer. A Fighter subclass with severe use limitations on its special abilities that's widely considered somewhere between "too restricted to be much fun" and "so weak it's complete garbage". The Arcane Archer is what you get when you're too stingy with a Fighter subclass abilities.

So what I'm saying is, I played a Rune Knight in one adventure, and it was in no way overpowered. Granted I wasn't trying to minmax my build, but still, it's no Loremaster. I highly recommend people give the Rune Knight a fair try as printed before they nerf the hell out of it, and that you consider Battlemaster your benchmark rather than the Arcane Archer.

I absolutely agree on the battlemaster comparison. No one wants another subclass that has little use, and comparing RK to the worst or incredibly narrow subclasses will result in another dead subclass.

I'm thrilled that this class gives non weapon damage options, tons of flavor and modular options.

 

[Iry]

I'm trying storm, but my party is not one able to abuse the disadvantage on saves. I think it would be fair to remove dissadvantage from saving throws as an option on use. I'd still be very happy with the result. The action and reaction use seems a good trade for the abilities.

Yeah. Even if you take away the disadvantage on saves, Storm is absolutely delicious during skill challenges.

I personally value skill challenges more than combat. Most combats are winnable until your resources are very low, but you never know if you are going to win a skill challenge. Especially a social one.

 

[WarrenM]

Storm and hill runes could lose the bonus action activation and instead, activate as a reaction, only usable once each for one turn. This would make them less cumbersome to use and reduce their power significantly.

This puts them more in line with the other powers. Would Hill rune then need to give physical damage invulnerability for the turn to balance or is that too powerful.

The Storm rune would then be equivalent of one heightened spell or used to negate a crit. When it becomes two uses per short rest it could seem still in line with its meta magic equivalent. This offers a powerful support option for a single class fighter rather than a encounter ending one.

 

[WarrenM]

The Ise Rune needs a buff for sure. Currently activation increases Str by 2. I suggest making it 4. Alternatively the rune could add to Hit and Damage making it more beneficial for dex fighters or multiclassers. Otherwise it won't see play or activation. We can't forget that every bonus action activation for the fighter is a loss of an attack with PAM or GWM.

 

[physix]

I stand by my assertion that the UA Rune Knight is fine as it is and is not OP. And I've played the UA Rune Knight through to a level 18 campaign, multiclassed with a War Cleric and Sorcerer to make the ultimate gish. And trust me, my character wasn't clearing the floor of monsters effortlessly.

(Legendary resistance trumps any forced disadvantage from the Storm Rune and you spend most of your time granting advantage of saving throws to your teammates to save them from Disintegration.)