D&D (2024) Is Oath of the Noble Genie Green, Yellow, or Red?

[Horwath]

It actually kind of awkward for the first 2 levels compared to other Paladins who have the strength for heavy Armour, but you go dex instead, before the first subclass features kick in.

This is just a manifestation of the mistake of not having subclasses from 1st level.

 

[WanderingMystic]

I don't think that's the intention. They just need to clarify the wording so it's not misinterpreted.


There will 100% be times when more damage or pushing several enemies away, potentially even off cliffs or the like is better than those. The damage value isn't large, but that's fine. That stops it being the default option.

They use the same wording as the bladsinger. No where does it even imply that you use it instead of your dex. " You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your charisma modifier" You are the only person I have seen who seems to believe that you use your cha instead of your dex.

 

[mellored]

It actually kind of awkward for the first 2 levels compared to other Paladins who have the strength for heavy Armour, but you go dex instead, before the first subclass features kick in.

The only penalty for wearing heavy armor without Str is -10 speed.
Medium armor also doesn't have a Str requirement.

Still a bit awkward, but you can swap to light at level 3.

 

[mellored]

All similar abilities in the PHB don't mention requiring a free hand, this requirement is specified across the board in the rules for Grappling itself, so there is no need to repeat it every time.

What similar ability lets you grapple with a 2 handed reach weapon?

More interesting to me though is that on my first reading without having put any thought into it, I was envisioning this ability as invoking the ground itself to reach up and grapple the enemy.

Then they need to remove grappled and just have restrained.

Which is what Ensnaring Stike does.

 

[Nutation]

Is Oath of the Noble Genie Green, Yellow, or Red?

I'm familiar with the red/purple/black/blue/gold rating system, but not this. Could you define your terms in the OP?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm familiar with the red/purple/black/blue/gold rating system, but not this. Could you define your terms in the OP?

No, it's a poll question, but Green is it's good enough, Yellow mean fine, but needs work, and red is Hell no period.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Voted Red. Bad narrative in my opinion. Paladins Oaths are not sworn to individuals and gain power from them... that's what Warlocks do. And what we already have in the Genie Patron.

Paladins have ideals and their uttermost conviction and belief in those ideals give them their abilities. And there's no ideal for "elemental power". If WotC wants to come up with an Oath that might use elemental magic to facilitate a Paladin's actions in carrying out their Oath, fine... but the Oath itself shouldn't be to a person. Just my opinion.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

This subclass currently adds it's Cha bonus to Light Armor along with Dex, much like how the Bladesinger currently adds it's Int bonus to Mage Armor along with Dex.

 

[Mort]

The elemental strikes seem fine to me because you get to choose when you land it, which makes it very flexible. Thus it's fine if some are stronger or weaker, so long as the overall package is good.

Unarmoured defense is fine because they're a Heavy Armour class and they normally start with Chain Mail (AC16). At L1, even if you have a +3 CHA mod (which is the most you're going to have, realistically, as it is a secondary stat after STR or DEX), and have Studded Leather, the best Light armour that even exists in 5E (short of magic armour), you only have AC15. If you eventually, at like, Level 12 or something, got your CHA bonus up to +5 (presumably after getting STR or DEX to 20, and likely using most/all your Feats on ASIs), you still only get it with Studded Leather at best, so would have an AC of 17. Still lower than Full Plate (AC18), which most PCs can afford somewhere between level 3 and level 6 (a looooooong time before 12).

The advantage is that you don't get penalized on Stealth Checks, but that's literally it.

That's the option here - Oath of the Noble Genie Paladins can potentially be decent at Stealth - but here's the thing - it's a bit of a trick, because to actually be good at Stealth, they'd need to be DEX-based, and if they're DEX-based? Guess what! This ability gives them no meaningful benefit! Because you have to choose to add CHA or DEX, and as your DEX is likely higher than your CHA, you'd always go with DEX.

You have to get into multi-class-based min-maxing before this CHA-based unarmoured defense is anything but basically a ribbon ability, and even then its questionable given you need to be L3 to get it.

I'm a bit confused. Unless you wish to Multiclass, you can dump strength, so you will easily have a Dex and Cha of 16 at 3rd level. That means at 3rd level your AC will be 18 (Studded leather plus DEX plus CHA) without a shield. And because STR is not a focus you can get CHA to 18-20 without huge difficulty, which is great for a Paladin anyway and even better with the AC boost.

Seems like a pretty strong ability and subclass IMO - especially with 2 weapon fighting being improved and being a definite Paladin option now, especially for this subclass.

 

[pukunui]

I'm familiar with the red/purple/black/blue/gold rating system, but not this. Could you define your terms in the OP?

It’s the new “vibe check” rating system that WotC is using in their feedback survey for this UA (and presumably future UAs).