Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9710752" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/uIuDRcT.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 526px" />Rounding out the second half of Chapter 2, we get 16 new Subclasses for the 12 core options. The Monk, Ranger, Rogue, and Wizard stand out in having 2 new subclasses each rather than one. Much like the preceding new classes, every subclass here increases a character's power in one of three Vaala Aspects along with Vaala Augmentation options to empower their class features. There's no suggestions or discussion for how existing non-Itza classes and subclasses would make use of Vaala, so the Aspect subsystem is relegated to just these options.The Path of Scars Barbarian imbues tattoo-like scar patterns on their body to obtain supernatural powers. The practice began in the ancient Altanesi Empire, but has since spread to other cultures. They specialize in the Id Aspect, and grant proficiency in Medicine as well as either calligrapher's or painter's tools. The subclass revolves around magical scars which are chosen from a list of nine options, and the Barbarian can choose additional ones as they level up. The scars tend to be persistent benefits and most of them only when raging, such as +1 to their Unarmored Defense AC while raging, gaining proficiency in a skill and doubling that proficiency when raging, melee attacks never have disadvantage while they're raging, once per long rest stabilize when they drop to 0 hit points, or gaining temporary hit points upon entering a rage. Some of the scars can be taken more than once for stacking effects. At higher levels they gain increased uses of their scars, such as being able to apply them temporarily to willing creatures, losing access to their scar's benefits until the next long rest in exchanging for healing themselves of damage and conditions, and a capstone where they can turn their scar into a summonable Beast with a Challenge Rating of 1 or less.Thoughts: The various scars have quite a bit of useful features, making this a worthwhile dip for a class, and being able to "lose" the benefits of scars to regain hit points or remove conditions is a nifty defensive feature. The capstone ability is rather underwhelming, as by 14th level a Challenge Rating 1 Beast is going to be a rather pitiful ally.The College of Nightmares Bard draws their power from the wicked fey of the Fell courts. Their favored Affinity is Fai, they gain emotion-based bonus spells known, get a rest-limited advantage and rerolls on Charisma skill checks, can spend Bardic Inspiration to subtract the result from a target's successful save against enchantment and illusion spells, and a capstone that can stun a target for 1 minute on a failed Wisdom save that also deals psychic damage for every round they remain stunned.Thoughts: While advantage once per rest on Intimidation or Persuasion might seem appealing at first, it doesn't out-diplomance the College of Eloquence Bard in the official rules. The subtraction of Bardic Inspiration from enchantment/illusion results is an inferior version of the Lore Bard's Cutting Words, with its only upside being able to declare it after knowing that an enemy save is a success. A pretty underwhelming subclass.The Battle Domain Cleric believes not in raw bloodlust, but a more cerebral approach to battle and focuses on strengthening their allies to change the outcome of conflicts. They can choose one Aspect to be favored, and their bonus domain spells are a mixture of buffs and battlefield control. They also start out proficient in martial weapons and heavy armor, can spend a reaction to cast a cantrip or make a weapon attack against someone attacking a nonhostile creature, and their Channel Divinity lets them enter a mystical trance that requires concentration but grants nearby allies one of seven broad benefits each turn such as half proficiency bonus to AC, attack rolls, etc. Their higher-level features include bonus weapon damage of any one type chosen when the feature is gained, to being able to expend spell slots as a bonus action to grant boons to allies based on the slot level. Their 17th-level capstone turns allies into radiant pillars that blind and damage nearby creatures.Thoughts: As mentioned in the prior post, the variety of "half proficiency bonus" stacking class features can synergize for some bounded accuracy-breaking shenanigans, and this subclass' Channel Divinity is a major contributor. The lower-level reaction-based counterattack can synergize pretty good with reach weapons, and as it's 1st-level can work nicely with dips for Paladins and Rogues in increasing their DPR potential. The ability to spend spell slots to give buffs to allies is rather underwhelming for the supposed benefit, as a lot of them can be mimicked by lower or equal-level spells but with higher duration. As for the 17th level capstone, it can potentially have a wide-ranging AoE, but as it doesn't discriminate between ally or enemy it will require some exact positioning to avoid friendly fire. Overall, this subclass' best abilities are low level rather than high.The Circle of Change Druids believe that stagnation in all its forms leads to tyranny and empowers the forces of Null. In order to ensure the survival of reality, they encourage chaos and change. Their favored Aspect is K'aab, their circle spells focus mostly on debuffs with a little bit of battlefield control, and can create Chaotic Bonds between themselves and friendly creatures which share a pool of Change Points that can be spent to alter the rolled result of ability checks and attack rolls by a result of 1 per point spent. The druid's higher-level features include being able to form bonds between creatures that causes damage they deal to each other to be shared/rebounded on the attacker, the ability to cast a copy of a spell cast by another creature as a reaction, and a 14th-level capstone granting allies part of the Chaotic Bond the ability to take on the same form as the Druid's Wild Shape when they use this feature (albeit at rapidly reduced duration).Thoughts: This Druid is a very useful team player, and the Chaotic Bond's pool of points are broad enough in utility to work for just about any party. As the points outright change the result of a die rather than being a static bonus, it can help edge one closer to "natural 20s" to get critical hits. The spell-copying and group-based Wild Shape at higher levels also has potential. A very strong subclass edging into overpowered territory.The Gladiator Fighter most likely gained their training in Tyveria or Sikaria, where grand arenas and physical sports are popular pastimes. Their favored Aspect is Id, they are proficient in the Performance skill, and gain an Unarmored Defense like feature where they add Dexterity and Charisma to their AC, and like Barbarians can still use a shield to gain this benefit. The fighter can also 1-3 times per short/long rest spend a bonus action to call out a number of creatures equal to half their proficiency bonus, forcing them to spend their reactions, and each reaction grants a +1 bonus to the fighter's attack and damage rolls. Their higher-level features include being able to inspire allies to add 1d8 to a variety of rolls after the fighter makes a successful attack/grapple/shove attempt, gaining temporary hit points equal to their Performance check whenever they drop a creature to 0 hit points, regain a use of Action Surge when they have none left at the start of combat, and their 18th level capstone lets them add a Performance result to a melee weapon's damage roll once per round.Thoughts: This subclass can be a good dip for Hexblade Warlocks for the unarmored defense boon, but at 3 levels it is pretty punishing for most caster builds. The ability to inspire other party members in adding to their non-save d20 rolls and damage rolls for succeeding on attacks is a very powerful feature, and the temporary hit point gain will trigger quite often as a Fighter is going to be a party's major damage-dealer. Additionally, the forced expenditure of reactions helps with crowd control and letting allies better maneuver, to say nothing of shutting down the potential for enemy counterattacks and counterspells. A good class, while still remaining balanced.Way of the Covenant Monks are followers of the Dragonbonded Covenant, an organization of mortals and their draconic allies tasked with protecting the world against the invaders of Drakha. Their favored Aspect is Id, they gain proficiency in one Intelligence-based skill of their choice, have advantage on Intimidation and Persuasion checks when dealing with draconic creatures, and gain six techniques based on each type of dragon. These techniques require ki points to spend, and are a mixture of combat and utility such as adding their proficiency bonus to AC until the end of their next turn, absorbing a touched target's life essence by damaging them to regain hit points, or being able to Dash and gain a burrowing speed while being able to make an attack as they then burst through the ground/wall. Their higher-level features include being able to spend ki points to divert some of the damage from an energy-based effect (acid, cold, etc) to a nearby creature, generate an aura of protection as a reaction against an attack to grant those inside immunity to one damage type of the monk's choice, and their 17th-level capstone lets them spend up to 12 ki points once per short/long rest to deal extra damage (1d8 per ki point, only in increments of 2) from the six main energy types for dragon breath weapons on an unarmed strike.Thoughts: This is a very front-loaded subclass, as it gets a huge amount of abilities just by entering it. The Covenant's major weakness is that its features are very ki-hungry, particularly the 17th-level capstone which costs more than half the daily expenditure of ki points. The 11th-level protective aura is perhaps the most useful feature, as for the cost of 3 ki points it can be a useful "get out of KO free" card for the monk and nearby allies against potentially lethal blos.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/9eiWGsj.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 263px" />The Way of the Eight Paths Monk follows a philosophy that believes that every living creature is part of a greater cycle, and this philosophy is represented as eight branching paths of various concepts and virtues. Upon obtaining this subclass, the PC chooses one of the Paths, which have nature-themed names such as the Leaf, the Moon, or the Wind, and which also determines the particular benefits of certain class features. Their favored Aspect is K'aab, they also gain advantage on a particular skill check in line with their Path, and can spend a ki point to gain advantage on saves against a certain kind of effect/condition depending on their Path. Some of the advantages are no-cost and persistent, and tend to be rarer ones such as advantage against the incapacitated condition, although the Stone grants persistent advantage on saves against becoming poisoned or exhausted. Their higher-level features let them spend "ki smite" and add ki points to add their Martial Arts die once/twice more to add to the damage of an unarmed strike, spending a bonus action to gain a short-term buff once per long rest (or spend 3 ki points to use again) in line with their Path such as healing a touched creature or gaining tremorsense for 1 round. Their 17th-level capstone lets them gain the benefits of two paths instead of one for the purposes of class features, and they can change which two paths these at the end of every long rest.Thoughts: The subclass' persistent advantage on particular skills makes it dip-friendly for quite a number of builds. The 6th-level ki smite can be a useful means of burst damage, albeit a costly one. Several of the 11th-level abilities can be good, but also costly and a bit high-level for what lower-level spells can accomplish. The 17th-level capstone is rather underwhelming given that it's just "be able to two do lower-level things at once" rather than a significant ultimate ability.The Oath of Radiance Paladin originated among the Galadyan Light in Ysval, encouraging the strengthening of community to repel supernatural evil. The ethos has become popular enough to be adopted by other nations and cultures. Its tenets encourage helping those less fortunate, maintaining friendships and strengthening bonds, fighting against the forces of Null and those who promote darkness, and other stereotypical "good-aligned holy knight" stuff. Their oath spells focus heavily on healing and defense, they can choose their favored Aspect, and their Channel Divinity options are either granting temporary hit points to allies or an AoE attack dealing radiant damage that also turns Null and aberration creatures as though they were undead. Their higher-level features include bathing one nearby creature in light upon smiting a target, granting advantage on the next attack roll against the lit up creature; blinding a creature who fails a Constitution save whenever the paladin deals radiant damage to them. Their 20th-level capstone buff grants resistance to necrotic and physical damage types, they can make one extra attack per round against aberration and Null creatures, and the paladin and allies within 30 feet regenerate 10 hit points per round.Thoughts: This subclass is dependent upon campaigns heavily featuring Null/aberration creatures to be at its most effective. That being said, they make for good team players via their smites due to the advantage-granting light for attack rolls and being able to blind creatures they smite or otherwise deal radiant damage to. Those abilities kick in at mid-levels, however.Fai Hunter Rangers specialize in protecting the material world against the Fell creatures of Dreamspace, and are most common in Allaria. Their favored Aspect is Fai, and they gain bonus spells that focus heavily on debuffs. The ranger also has advantage on saves against against being charmed and against illusion magic, and they can spend a reaction to potentially counter a creature's teleportation attempt should they fail a Wisdom save. Once per short/long rest they can deal additional damage with a weapon attack and even more damage against feyd* creatures. Their higher-level features include gaining a qirin (magical horned beast) mount as a persistent ally that grows more powerful with the ranger's class level, and their 15th-level capstone lets them spend a reaction twice per long rest to instantly copy and cast a magical effect used by another creature.*This isn't a misspelling, feyd are basically Valerna's equivalent to fey. Once again, this is the first time we see mention of this creature type in the book, and we won't learn about them until much later.Thoughts: Similar to the Oath of Radiance paladin, except that unlike the Null the feyd are a more situational monster in not featuring as one of the prominent "bad guy" factions in the setting. Being able to shut down teleportation is rather situational, and the black qirin doesn't really bring anything new or astounding to the table in comparison to existing NPC/pet companion subclasses.The Shadowstalker Ranger makes use of concealment and the lack of illumination to ambush their foes. Their favored Aspect is K'aab, and can turn invisible as a bonus action for one round after successfully hitting a creature with a weapon Proficiency Bonus times/long rest. Their higher level features include gaining 60 foot darkvision (or +60 feet if they already have it), ignore disadvantage on Perception checks due to light obscurement, increased movement speeds while in dim light or darkness, they and their allies can travel up to 16 hours a day without worrying about exhaustion, and their 15th-level capstone grants them advantage on attack rolls when at least one conscious ally is within 5 feet of the targeted creature.Thoughts: Invisibility, even short-term, is very useful for ambush and hit-and-run tactics, and combined with their extended darkvision makes them very accomplished stealth archers. The Gloomstalker still beats it in terms of general utility and being nigh-undetectable to creatures with darkvision, so its thunder is stolen by a core option.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/CaIGMNX.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="719x1806" style="width: 307px" />Crimson Hawk Spellblade Rogues belong to a crime syndicate of the same name, making use of magical powers to elude pursuers. Their favored Aspect is Id, and they have a number of spell slots equal to their Proficiency Bonus which always uses a heightened spell level based on their class level, much like a Warlock. They only have access to a small selection of spells, invariably being well-suited for sneaky endeavors such as Invisibility, Dimension Door, and Passwall. They can also apply their Sneak Attack to an off-hand attack once per short/long rest, and the text explicitly states that they can use this to deal Sneak Attack twice per turn. Their higher-level features include gaining proficiency with the poisoner's kit, immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition, can reroll a number of dice on a damaging attack equal to their Proficiency Bonus once per short/long rest, and their 17th-level capstone lets them mark a target for death. The marked target gains the frightened condition against the Rogue for 24 hours if they fail a Wisdom save, and for an equal duration the Rogue intuitively knows their location and has advantage on all attack rolls against the marked target.Thoughts: Very strong subclass, particularly as it grants access to some potent spells that the Arcane Trickster cannot cast. The ability to easily trigger Sneak Attack twice (thrice if we include reaction attacks) is going to make it an extremely strong DPR build, and for that reason I believe it's too powerful.The Dreamspy Rogues belong to various spy agencies and assassin's guilds, using the nature of Fai to intrude into the minds of others. They can learn various Arcane Espionage tricks based on their level, and all tricks use a shared resource pool of Proficiency Bonus times/long rest. There are 14 tricks in total, all of which let the Rogue cast a specific spell such as Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, or Silent Image. Their other initial feature lets them reroll a failed Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma ability check up to 3 times per long rest. The Dreamspy's higher-level features include permanent immunity to a wide variety of divination effects (mind-reading, scryping, etc), the ability to cause a struck target to take disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks for 1 round on a failed Constitution save, and their 17th-level capstone lets them assume a supernaturally unremarkable form for up to an hour which causes onlookers to forget their presence should they fail a Wisdom save; damaging a creature grants the victim a bonus roll to save.Thoughts: Like the Crimson Hawk Spellblade, this subclass grants the Rogue access to a variety of useful spells for cloak and dagger stuff. However, as this subclass hews strongly towards that style of play, it might be less useful in campaigns that are more "kick in the door."The Blood Sorcery Sorcerer taps into the Aspect of Id in order to manipulate the magical powers of blood and emotions. The bonus spells they gain access to are centered around enchantment and necromancy, and once per long rest can immediately end the effects of one poison or disease affecting them. Their higher-level features include effectively adding their Charisma modifier twice to the attack rolls and save DCs of blood magic and enchantment spells, causing creatures they damaged with a piercing or slashing attack to continue bleeding and take continuous necrotic damage (and thus produces doses of blood for Maghyri to use), can drain hit points from others and heal themselves by spending Sorcery Points, and their 18th-level capstone grants permanent immunity to necrotic damage and lets them spend 5 Sorcery Points to long-term charm and form a telepathic bond with a creature much like a vampire's thrall.Thoughts: Being able to add your Charisma modifier twice to a subset of spells already breaks bounded accuracy in half. As it's unlimited-use, that feature alone makes this subclass overpowered. The ability to easily "milk" a target of blood is tailor-made to be used for maghyri characters.The Fell Crown Warlock made a pact with one of the masters of Dreamspace, becoming far more than a servant as they are tasked with being their patron's elite agent in Valerna. Their expanded spell list draws upon illusion and debuff/necromancy options, their favored Aspect is Fai, and they automatically learn Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, and Sleep spells at 1st level, They also gain a magical mask that initially grants advantage vs illusion effects and can spend a bonus action to shoot nightmare beams at targets dealing psychic damage and the frightened condition. Their higher-level features include gaining resistance to psychic damage and learning the Dominate Person and Dream spells. Their mask gains new abilities with level, such as being able to "consume" a spell's dream reflection cast by another, which lets the warlock cast it once themselves, or a later class feature that forces the minds of two creatures to be linked that causes both to take damage whenever one is hurt. The warlock's 14th-level capstone lets them open a rift to the dream realm for 1 minute to swallow their foes, dealing damage and causing them to be transported out of the material plane for a limited duration until they escape.Thoughts: The ability to potentially impose the frightened condition on targets as a bonus action is a very strong feature. As the spell-devouring doesn't negate or counter the cast spell, the warlock can use it to effectively double-cast magic in tandem with an allied caster, and since it recharges on short as well as long rests it's a great way to grant a party effective bonus spells.The Makaab Weaving Wizard learns deeply about the natural world so as to better reshape it via magic. Their favored Aspect is K'aab, and they can treat a large number of druid spells as wizard spells while also halving the gold and time spent to copy such spells into their spellbook. They can also cause nearby natural materials to reshape into common handheld objects Proficiency Bonus times/long rest, such as weaving grass into a basket, wood into a club or spear, etc. Their higher-level features let them replace the damage type of "elemental" spells, temporarily imbuing weapons to deal 1d8 additional damage of the aforementioned damage types, can store one spell of 5th level or lower per long rest for 48 hours into a non-manufactured natural object, and their 14th-level capstone lets them quickly reshape natural material into larger and more complex objects, such as wood and metal into a sword or carved stone and timber into small structures.Thoughts: The ability to replace damage types with another and add such types to weapons makes this wizard great at overcoming common enemy resistances and immunities. As their spell-stored items last for 48 hours, it's a good way to get an effective bonus spell between long rests, even if limited in use. The ability to fashion items out of natural materials is a bit underwhelming when compared to actual spells that can do similar things, and is likely going to be of situational use in most campaigns.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/7lklDii.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 307px" />The School of Entropy Wizard views the magic of life and death as complementary, and thus are more multi-faceted than vulgar necromancers. Their favored Aspect is K'aab, they add a bonus necromancy spell to their spellbook every time they gain a level, and can choose to heal a single target instead of damaging them when casting a spell that deals damage. Their higher-level features grant them Revivify and Animate Dead for free, can recover an expended spell slot once per short/long rest whenever they kill one or more Undead with a leveled spell, can animate low-powered undead as an action for 1 minute once per short/long rest, gains the ability to create unique Xibac Undead (detailed in the Bestiary chapter, basically undead but with a variety of elemental/necrotic magical attacks) once per long rest via an hour-long ritual, and their 14th-level capstone has them become immortal and gain a variety of undead benefits and immunities. However, they can't restore hit points naturally but can be affected normally by healing spells.Thoughts: As the conversion of damaging spells to healing doesn't specify leveled spells, this can be used in conjunction with damaging cantrips to effectively gain infinite healing. As one of their other class features specified leveled spells, this is a huge rules oversight. In comparison to the base necromancer, the bonus necromancy spell vs half cost for copying those same spells is overall better in granting you free spells immediately. When it comes to animated minions, the School of Necromancy subclass' granting bonus hit points and damage roll boosts is overall better than gaining access to the new xibac undead. The ability to animate skeletons and zombies immediately but for a short duration might be useful if the Wizard needs to replace undead minions in the middle of combat, but that's a situational thing.Thoughts So Far: While there are some worthy entries, the subclasses in this section overall are in need of another editing pass. Bounded accuracy breakers are a particularly common sin, and then there are things like certain subclasses being too front-loaded or getting eclipsed by existing core options. Overall, not a fan of this section.Join us next time as we learn about the most infamous creatures of this setting in Dragons of Valerna!</blockquote>

Verification