Zardnaar
Legend
EN5sider is 1 year old now and I have been a member for around 6 months I suppose with a $2 per article pledge amount which gives me the articles and adventures. What is EN5sider? It is a monthly series of 5E content where you can pledge the amount you are comfortable paying. It is similar I suppose to the old Dragon magazines and you get small articles about 5E covering a variety of topics and there is also an adventure although you have to pledge $2 per article to get them. $1 per article gets you the articles minus adventures.
This thread is a brief review of the class archetypes released so far along with 1 new class for 5E. I allow my players to pick these classes in home games, they are not legal for AL games which is totally irrelevant for me. But Zard they are not official classes how do I convince my DM to let them into the game? Well that is your problem but this thread is partly about that as I find some of the material is an excellent addition to the 5E game often filling in some blanks from the PHB such as missing 3.5 domains or what have you. Some of the material seems on par with the more powerful classes in 5E PHB, other material might be a bit underpowered compared to the PHB. Which is fine as the PHB has some hits and misses in it as well. THis is just a general impression of the classes from reading them and I have seen some in use as my DMs allow the material as well. I will name the article and give an indication what it is about.
Circles of Power.
One of the 1st EN5ider class articles and one of the best IMHO. This article offers 3 new Druid subclasses which is not to bad as the PHB only has 2 in it. THe PHB Druid feattures are heavily slanted towards the Moon Druid and this articles offers some more options. The 3 new Druid circles offered are the Circle of Birds and Beasts, Circle of Elements, and Circle of Life.
The Circle of Birds and Beasts is focused on interacting with Animals. It seems balanced maybe a little bit underpowered compared with Moon Druids but it is more focused on a different aspect of Druidism instead of beating/ripping face. Animal friends can be useful in combat however so I think this Druid is fine.
Circle of Elements. This circle is roughly a mix of the Land and Moon Druid from theHB. You can recall spells like the PHB land Druid and have access to better elemental wild shape forms like the Moon Druid but without all of that classes abilities. I like this Druid a lot and it is nicely balanced and if yuou want a fire Druid who can cast fireball and turn into an elemental this may be the class for you.
Circle of Life. What do you get if you cross a Circle of the Land Druid with the Life Cleric? This Druid is more or less that result. Its better at healing than a normal Druid, not quite as good as the life cleric but you still get the blasting Druid spells. I like this circle a lot and think it is well designed.
Strands of Life.
Not a class article as such but it is full of more healing spells. Worth a look if you are a life Cleric IMHO.
Volumes of Forgotten Lore: Arcane
This article offers some new archetypes for the Bard, Sorcerer and Wizard.
College of Names
Dread Origin for Sorcerer
Shadowcaller Wizard
I have not seen any of these classes in play although they look interesting. For example the College of Word bard gets advantage on certain spell effects such as cure spells where you can roll twice and keep the est result which is nifty. The Dread sorcerer is an undead themed one while the Shadowcaller Wizard evokes a 2E shadow wizard and is themed around darkness and shadow.
The Art of Peace.
This article introduces a 2 new Monk arcetypes. The Way of the Shifting Flow. The class is built around disrupting enemy abilities (attacks, spell DCs, ki points/superiority dice) and otherwise being a general pain. The Way of the Watchful Gate.The class seems built around using the monk dodge action to gain reactions to hit enemies in the face if they miss you. A new background- Envoy is also included in the article.
A Paladins Dark Vows
This is one of my favourite EN5ider class articles It has 3 new flaws that can get a Paladin into trouble (Aggression, Naive, Blind Obedience) variant class abilities, and 2 new Paladin archetypes.
Oath of the Purge
This oath more or less turns a Paladin into a pyromaniac. You get fire themed spells added to your spell options including fireball and a searing weapon channel divinity option. Probably not as powerful as a PHB avenger Paladin, looks a bit better than Paladin of Courage. Purge they enemy in holy (unholy?) flames.
Oath of Supremacy.
You get the boss type spells as Paladin spells (command, dominate, hold person), and you can compel your foes to kneel before you with channel divinity or grant them disadvantage to attack you. Balance wise it looks fine and it looks fun as well.
Overall one of the better class articles with a dark theme IMHO.
Volumes of Forgotten Lore: Divine
This article add 3 new domains to the game- protection, travel, and shadow which brings back memories of 3.5 Forgotten Realms and a urban Druid variant and the Theologian wizard tradition. There is a lot in there but the domain abilities are very straight forward relative to the name of the domain. The Theologian can steal a cleric spells at level 2,6,10,14 as part of its class abilities which is interesting as normally only Bards something similar. A wizard than can heal if you want to.
Chessmasters and Commanders-The Noble Class
This article adds a new class to 5E- the Noble. There are 3 archetypes for the class and the class is heavily based on the 4E warlord. You get to pick from the Path of the Brave, Path of the Heart, and the Path of the Tactician. It is hard to rate this class without seeing it in action and the Path of the Heart might be broken in the right party and a bit useless in other parties as it is purely a support class inspired by the 4E lazylord IMHO. Some of the wording is a bit awkward here and there and I would have to see the classes in action to form a stronger opinion one way or the other.
This thread is a brief review of the class archetypes released so far along with 1 new class for 5E. I allow my players to pick these classes in home games, they are not legal for AL games which is totally irrelevant for me. But Zard they are not official classes how do I convince my DM to let them into the game? Well that is your problem but this thread is partly about that as I find some of the material is an excellent addition to the 5E game often filling in some blanks from the PHB such as missing 3.5 domains or what have you. Some of the material seems on par with the more powerful classes in 5E PHB, other material might be a bit underpowered compared to the PHB. Which is fine as the PHB has some hits and misses in it as well. THis is just a general impression of the classes from reading them and I have seen some in use as my DMs allow the material as well. I will name the article and give an indication what it is about.
Circles of Power.
One of the 1st EN5ider class articles and one of the best IMHO. This article offers 3 new Druid subclasses which is not to bad as the PHB only has 2 in it. THe PHB Druid feattures are heavily slanted towards the Moon Druid and this articles offers some more options. The 3 new Druid circles offered are the Circle of Birds and Beasts, Circle of Elements, and Circle of Life.
The Circle of Birds and Beasts is focused on interacting with Animals. It seems balanced maybe a little bit underpowered compared with Moon Druids but it is more focused on a different aspect of Druidism instead of beating/ripping face. Animal friends can be useful in combat however so I think this Druid is fine.
Circle of Elements. This circle is roughly a mix of the Land and Moon Druid from theHB. You can recall spells like the PHB land Druid and have access to better elemental wild shape forms like the Moon Druid but without all of that classes abilities. I like this Druid a lot and it is nicely balanced and if yuou want a fire Druid who can cast fireball and turn into an elemental this may be the class for you.
Circle of Life. What do you get if you cross a Circle of the Land Druid with the Life Cleric? This Druid is more or less that result. Its better at healing than a normal Druid, not quite as good as the life cleric but you still get the blasting Druid spells. I like this circle a lot and think it is well designed.
Strands of Life.
Not a class article as such but it is full of more healing spells. Worth a look if you are a life Cleric IMHO.
Volumes of Forgotten Lore: Arcane
This article offers some new archetypes for the Bard, Sorcerer and Wizard.
College of Names
Dread Origin for Sorcerer
Shadowcaller Wizard
I have not seen any of these classes in play although they look interesting. For example the College of Word bard gets advantage on certain spell effects such as cure spells where you can roll twice and keep the est result which is nifty. The Dread sorcerer is an undead themed one while the Shadowcaller Wizard evokes a 2E shadow wizard and is themed around darkness and shadow.
The Art of Peace.
This article introduces a 2 new Monk arcetypes. The Way of the Shifting Flow. The class is built around disrupting enemy abilities (attacks, spell DCs, ki points/superiority dice) and otherwise being a general pain. The Way of the Watchful Gate.The class seems built around using the monk dodge action to gain reactions to hit enemies in the face if they miss you. A new background- Envoy is also included in the article.
A Paladins Dark Vows
This is one of my favourite EN5ider class articles It has 3 new flaws that can get a Paladin into trouble (Aggression, Naive, Blind Obedience) variant class abilities, and 2 new Paladin archetypes.
Oath of the Purge
This oath more or less turns a Paladin into a pyromaniac. You get fire themed spells added to your spell options including fireball and a searing weapon channel divinity option. Probably not as powerful as a PHB avenger Paladin, looks a bit better than Paladin of Courage. Purge they enemy in holy (unholy?) flames.
Oath of Supremacy.
You get the boss type spells as Paladin spells (command, dominate, hold person), and you can compel your foes to kneel before you with channel divinity or grant them disadvantage to attack you. Balance wise it looks fine and it looks fun as well.
Overall one of the better class articles with a dark theme IMHO.
Volumes of Forgotten Lore: Divine
This article add 3 new domains to the game- protection, travel, and shadow which brings back memories of 3.5 Forgotten Realms and a urban Druid variant and the Theologian wizard tradition. There is a lot in there but the domain abilities are very straight forward relative to the name of the domain. The Theologian can steal a cleric spells at level 2,6,10,14 as part of its class abilities which is interesting as normally only Bards something similar. A wizard than can heal if you want to.
Chessmasters and Commanders-The Noble Class
This article adds a new class to 5E- the Noble. There are 3 archetypes for the class and the class is heavily based on the 4E warlord. You get to pick from the Path of the Brave, Path of the Heart, and the Path of the Tactician. It is hard to rate this class without seeing it in action and the Path of the Heart might be broken in the right party and a bit useless in other parties as it is purely a support class inspired by the 4E lazylord IMHO. Some of the wording is a bit awkward here and there and I would have to see the classes in action to form a stronger opinion one way or the other.
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